High Rollers DnD - High Rollers: Aerois #98 | The Weapons Facility (Part 2)

Episode Date: January 21, 2021

Into the weapons facility for a Metal Gear Solid style stealth mission! Support the High Rollers and get early access to podcast episodes (and more) on our Patreon: www.patreon.com/HighRollers Music courtesy of Epidemic Sound Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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So unless there's anything that anybody wants to do post kind of getting the bike to the base or if there's any conversations or anything people want to have, we can just take a long rest and then jump ahead if you guys want. Yeah. I need to go and collect my um my purchase in the morning yeah with like like let's assume ayla that like on you know after getting the bike and stuff you pick those things up um do you want to start the next day with ayla kind of giving those out i think she would probably uh put them in people's rooms on the ship, on the storm chaser, or wherever they are.

She would put them, like, slip a little note with them, maybe, like, terribly written. I think she'd probably, like, on one for Lucius, it would be like, doesn't match your fancy stuff, sorry, don't have to have it if you don't want and like little just little notes like that and she'd slip them under people's doors and you probably can't read them very well but she'll she'll do that so i guess when you guys wake up from your your rest your long rests um there is like a little packet like not a package but a note and there is a kind of strip of cloth, like a highly patterned, coloured, pigmented cloth in the same colours of Aayla's, like the tartan that she wears.

And it's obviously been made to replicate it, but it is like a strip of that specific cloth with little handwritten notes there for each of you as well when you wake up. Aww. Nice. That's so sweet. written notes there for each of you as well when you wake up. Aww. That's so sweet. I think Sentry would tie hers to the handle of Her Majesty's

Rose and have it dangling off the sword. Nice. Yeah, I think Nova is going to tie hers. She's going to tie her scarf back on her waist and then tie it so that it's braided into that as well

so it kind of loops around that. Yeah. Nice. You add these little pieces of cloth and stuff. Lucius looks in a mirror and is like, I suppose it could hmm, it's got to be somewhere where it works.

I'll work with a tailor on this one there'll be a spot for it i'm sure maybe like tuck it like a handkerchief or something like that yeah like a little he tucks it as a handkerchief for now yeah little square of it flapping out um quill uh i think um he's trying to find a way to add it to his new wing. But it's like, I don't know how to use this thing. Nova put it together, but she never actually told me how to take it apart, really. It'll go on my belt for now.

Yeah, so you tie it on the belt, which is, you know, Aayla wears hers on her belt as well. So it kind of matches. I think if she sees them all wearing it, she probably would do a double take with it because she didn't actually probably expect them to she thought they would just like put it in their pack or something and put it away so she'll be a little bit chuffed um and i think it would you know maybe i think most of you would be aware enough that you know ayla's mentioned that it's like her family like tartan basically okay it's you know

so there's definitely an implication there of giving it to all of you and ayla there is like something of um i think maybe seeing everybody with this like little scrap kind of all assembled together it doesn't quite awaken a memory but there is this immense sense of um you know like homecoming when you've been homesick for a long time and then you finally get in your house and you're in that familiar setting and it just feels right. There is that kind of sensation that seeing these people that you've spent so long with and you've risked life for all kind of wearing the same colour

that definitely catches in the chest and catches in the throat a little bit when you get there. Yeah, I mean, that's why she did it. She did it because she thought, well, I don't have a family really, and these guys are probably my family now, and they deserve to represent that somehow. That's nice. Super lovely. Ayla, I don't know proper tradition with where to put this, but I figured I'd wear it the same place as you.

Oh, that's fine. Honestly, you don't have to wear it if you don't want to. It's whatever you want to do with it. It's fine. Ayla, have I tied this correctly? I tried to mimic you again, but I wasn't sure if there was a specific knot or anything. If it's on there, it's on there. It's fine. As long as it's on there. I tried to mimic you again, but I wasn't sure if there was a specific knot or anything. If it's on there, it's on there. It's fine. As long as it's on there. Oh, actually, you kind of tied it on like this. Okay, hang on a second. Let me just try and do this again. I want to make it look right, Ayla.

That's where you're putting it. I suppose I could put it there, too. I was thinking of getting a whole suit made out of it. Would that suit, Ayla? Oh, my God. I'd never seen that much What would the clan wear? Would they all wear just subtle nods to it or would it be more of a

I'm just trying to figure out the fashion. Skirt type kilt. It was a sash. Yeah. Absolutely doesn't work with me fashion-wise, but I will do my best. I didn't think.

Honestly, you don't have to wear them. It's just, you know, I figured that, like, and it's not exactly the same as mine because mine is, like, woven with wool and stuff, but I couldn't get anything better, and I thought that, yeah, I don't know. It's just because, you you know clan and stuff don't have one you guys are kind of yeah okay i'm gonna go now bye

on the deck um the hammering and the banging of the storm chaser being repaired if that's if that's where you guys stayed again is kind of echoing around you hear Sprocket and Lily shouting orders at their crew nobody else is on the ship, like all of your crew are staying in somewhere in the city but anybody of you guys who's still there

you catch sight of it yeah, what's the plan now this morning, is it teleportation circle go time or any last preps that you guys will make yeah I think so yeah just make sure we know the runes to get back to Gusthaven yeah that doesn't take long

you can literally visit so the teleportation circle for Gusthaven is located in the nobles district it is like a small fort that's been built. So the teleportation circle is basically watched by guards in guard towers.

There are guards on the perimeter because obviously it could be an invasion point, right? If anybody got those circles and used it, they would potentially be able to launch an attack through it. So it is guarded. It is protected. Normally, you have to pay a fee to come and learn the runes.

In the case of Gustaven, it is waived for you by the Sky Prince, and you basically, both Quill and Lucius, you can spend, I think it's like 10 minutes, studying the pattern, and you learn it. And it's magically imprinted. You know the sequence to now use teleportation circle to come to gust haven are there like simon says training

magic tech toys like a practice not like toys but there is like a like a mage like an apprentice mage whose job it is to make watch over the is just like, yes, there will be a teleportation circle proficiency test. We do request that you replicate it using this system. And it's kind of like a bop it where it's like, okay, input the code as you see fit and it lights up. And if it's correct or incorrect, it corrects you and stuff like that.

And yeah, after like 10 minutes, you guys have pretty much locked it in and then magically you're like, oh yeah, I just know it now. And you can use it whenever you need to. I was always good at magic and colors. This is easy. Yes, some people do find it easier. Do you request, Lord Alanasto, do you see the different symbols in different pigments?

This is something I'm quite curious of. Some people, when they see a certain symbol, they might hear music, or they may taste or smell a certain sensation. Do you see them in different colors, perhaps? Oh, yes. Almost all of my senses are invoked in different ways, but they are always associated with a specific color. That is fascinating, my lord. Numbers are too. The runes themselves have no inherent colour.

What you are experiencing is purely your own sense of... What do you mean? They're all different colours there. No, I assure you that to myself they all appear as the same, a pale glowing grey. Oh, I'm so sorry. Oh, no, no, please. It's fine. How terribly dull. Yes!

I suppose it is. So everything... Not everything, just these particular sequences. Magic in particular. Some magic has colour, obviously. Some magic may appear blue or green to me. But it is interesting that these runes appear unique to you.

Some people hear music, chords attached to each one, or they may smell foods. Excellent. I suppose people see things in very different ways. Mine's a little overwhelming sometimes, I will say, so I wouldn't mind a little more of your vision. Interesting. Well, you've completed the proficiency test, so please, you are welcome to use this at any

time. We do request, if possible, my name is Timaeus. If possible, please do send me advance warning that you are about to arrive if you have access to long-form communication spells. It just helps us make sure that we are not

threatening you when you arrive and also make sure that we do not have any big parties expecting to use the circle at the same time okay very well thank you very well and he just Timaeus kind of bids you farewell and yeah you now

have the rune circle for Gustaven locked in excellent so Moonstar also intends to follow us through have the rune circle for Gustaven locked in. Excellent. So, Moonstar also intends to follow us through once we place the correct runes. It's now a question

of what sort of approach we're taking. It's stealthy, I imagine, is the best one, but, I mean, entry echo is probably more of a requirement than um what was the name of alnissics alnissics yes alnissics uh while graceful big and loud um so echo uh is probably the form you want to take for that one uh use that to scout around I'll use an arcane eye and um try and scout as much as we can.

Get as much information silently, stealthily, invisibly to inform our decisions. Wonderful. Okay. Good. Where are you going to cast the spell? Have you done all your spell prep? Have you swapped out any spells, Talmud, stuff like

that you've done you need to? No. I'll do that now real quick would you like me to do the teleportation circle there and you can do the one on the way back sure yeah I'll drive there because I'd like to drink

okay perfect and yeah Moonsar will basically be waiting for you wherever you've pre-organized to make this. Mask on, fully loaded up with gizmos and things like that. Yeah, and that's the plan. So the five of you and Moonstar traveling through, yes? Yep, that's the plan. So Lucius, it takes you 10 minutes.

Sorry, a minute. You sketch out this circle on the ground, 10 foot diameter circle, etching each of the runes into certain locations as you were taught. But this time replacing those runes with the ones that Quill describes to you. It helps you shape.

The magic, as you surge magic through the ground and into the ley lines, you feel a connection to somewhere distant. And springing into life becomes a doorway of swirling blue and orange. You can't see through it, but you know it has activated and it has connected to somewhere else. Right, I think it's ready. Are we going to go in invisible?

At least. I think it's a good idea. Echo. I'm sure they're going to see this on the other side, so it's not like this is subtle. So as a point, literally, you don't have tight... Once the portal is summoned,

so we'll retcon this a little bit. Once the portal is summoned, it's around. You have six seconds to travel through it. We have to cast it again. Yeah. Right. And also,

will Echo work at that range? Like, like, if it's too far. We wouldn't be able to do that. No. True. We wouldn't be able to use Echo.

So once this portal is up. I can cast invisibility on four of us. Entry. One, two, three. Say whoever doesn't want it. Say now, because I'm going to start casting it. Oh, look, she's casting it. Who's she not casting it on?

Quill. Quill. Me. All right. So all but Quill and Moonstar vanish from sight as Lucius is completing the last few moments of drawing out the circle itself. I think while I'm drawing, I'm like,

you should probably cast invisibility now if you're going to do it. Just line it all up. Yeah, I'm going to say, like, you should probably cast invisibility now if you're going to do it. Just line it all up. I'm going to say you guys would plan this and communicate. All right. No other prep? I don't think so. I'll just cast a bless on myself, Sentry, and Ayla.

Okay. So D4 does skill checks and stuff. The portal, the swirling blue and orange doorway rips open. Go now or be stuck on this side. Go. Quick. Through the messenger ring. Go, go, go, go, go.

You all jump through. Moonstar follows. And you feel yourselves pulled as if the very center of your chest was tethered to a line and yanked. You feel your body kind of almost thrust through. You are not aware of in what direction, how long for, you just have the sense of movement. And then you all find yourselves in a lit by a very faint dim glow. This should work, and you should all have vision. A square room, not much bigger than the portal itself, the runic circle on the ground, which gives a dim glow.

It is worked stone. There are no lights. You arrive in a chamber is there anything on the ceiling? or is it literally just a stone room top to bottom? stone cube faintly glowing magic circle on the ground which is the teleportation circle as you emerge through the portal,

it shuts behind you, leaving you in very faint, dim light. There is a door in front of you. There is a wooden reinforced door. It looks like wood with studded metal plates. Being the only non-invisible one, I'll duck into a corner.

Yeah, Moonstar will actually put a thing down for Moonstar, yeah. I will get a better token for Moonstar next week. So yeah, flanking on either side of the door, Quill and Moonstar move in. Moonstar will make a stealth check. Oop. A little bit of a clatter as her weapons and things hit the stone wall, but otherwise slips

into place. I'll messenger ring. Who wants to try the door? Shall I go? I don't mind. I could try. Go ahead. I love you, Sentry, but you're very metallic and loud. I'll try it if you don't mind.

Okay, go for it. Excellent. All right, moving on. Okay. The doors, Lucius, you notice don't open outwards like normal doors. They wouldn't open out. It appears that they slide. There is some sort of latch that you turn a handle

and it unlocks these two hooks and then you slide the doors apart. Almost like doors on a docks or a warehouse might do. They slide into the wall. Ready yourselves as I pull it open gently. Okay. It opens as you kind of begin sliding open. You can see that it leads into what appears to be a docks of a sort.

You can see various crates, barrels, what appear to be some arcane cannons that might be mounted on an airship, some ballistae that might be mounted on an airship, that might be mounted on an airship, some ballistae that might be mounted on an airship, scattered around a kind of fairly large docks. You can see a big open stretch of white sky and the temperature drops. As soon as you open these doors,

frigid wind and flurries of snow kind of scatter in through the air. You can see that you are high up in the sky, maybe just seeing the tips of mountains on the horizon as you look to the other side of the docks, and it just kind of falls away into open air, like the tips of mountains. You can see two wooden kind of platforms that extend out

where an airship might come to rest um and you can see at least a couple of figures uh kind of leaning up against the wall or sat on top of a crate looking a little bit bored um dressed in kind of loose smugglers like armor and uh with a few weapons at their side i'm just looking a little bored, really. There appears to be a wooden gangway, like a kind of wooden balcony above you, that seems to stretch around the room as well. And a staircase

to the far south. I think I'll skirt in. Obviously I'm invisible. Ooh. And then tell everyone else through messenger ring, come through, let's close the doors behind. What's your passive perception, Lucius? It is 16.

16. The other thing you notice as you begin stepping out into the room, in the, and I'll mark them on the map. I'll just draw like a little Free hand or something put them in red Where I'm marking the map there appear to be you need to put on a different layer. Oh Wait, no, I see him. Yeah, you should just be able to I think it's because I put it on the yeah I put it on the Where the line is there's one there

You might not be able to see this one so in the corners of the room and on the northern side um up on not on the ceiling but above the gangway uh there are three they almost look like large heavybows, a set of two of them kind of built, melded together, not melded, but like welded together on a rotating clockwork pivot. And they tend to scan. They're almost like moving backwards and forth with a kind of crystalline eye set into the bottom of them.

And they're kind of scanning across as if examining the room. We need to be careful. I think there's some sort of magical sensors or something like that. Is that the right word, Nova? They might detect us despite our invisibility. This is all through messengering. That is the right word. Wonderful.

So we need to be cautious. They're in the corners of the room. Maybe it's worth staying central or behind crates and things on our route. I don't know the best. I hear footsteps above you as you guys are whispering in the messenger ring.

You kind of hear like a... Quill, if you're next to Moonstar, can you update her that there's people in here that you need to be cautious of? And sensors? Okay. Yeah, I'll use message to communicate with Moonstar

and relay that. As for following you guys, we're still visible. I can't follow you, so don't close the doors. Right. Can you close it behind you? Thank you. Sure. Everyone come in. I think up and left the doors. Brett, can you close it behind you? Thank you. Sure. Everyone come in.

I think up and left is okay. Stay under the platform. Well, I'm going to need, even though you are invisible, those of you who are invisible will have advantage, but I do need everyone to make a stealth check just for things like moving and noise and things like that. Ooh. I forgot

to get my dice out. I need those. Whoopsie. What a dice. Moonstar will move over and kind of darts for cover and ducks behind. Oh, no. Hole four there.

Doesn't matter. But you have advantage. Oh, wait, you have a straight roll. Oh, because she has have straight roll. Oh, because she has disadvantage. Yep. 16 for Nova. 20. General question.

Who got below... Who got below 12? You guys move where you want to move um and as you begin you guys move where you want to go where would your characters all head towards you can see that there is a large section of crates and barrels right in front of you there appear to be two um step ladders that lead up to the second floor gangway. There also appears to be another room to the

north and south as well, but both have closed doors. And there's a stairway that leads up onto the wooden gangway to the south. Nova is probably going to head towards the north of this room, kind of near where one of these crossbow turrets are.

She's probably intrigued by it. She wants to see if she can figure out if it can detect magic, if it can see through invisibly from what Lucius said. Okay. Quill, are you staying where you are or are you going to move? I'm going to stay where I am, but I'm planning on casting an arcane eye at some point. The door's shut. I think the plan was to shut the doors if you don't leave that room. That's okay.

It can get through, like, a half-inch gap. Okay. So let's, like, slide the door shut and leave a half-inch gap. Cool. Yeah. All right. Yeah, as you're making the move, Sentry, whereabouts do you move to, do you think?

I'm going to give you a cat to use a arcane eye I think Sentry just very tentatively follow the rest of the group so she'll just carefully tiptoe yeah just trying to be

as quiet as she can that's her priority that's nice as you do even though you're invisible century your heavy armor the stone here like there is a very kind of uh maybe it just like catches on like a loose piece of stone or you kick like a loose uh piece of wood that's fallen down by accident or maybe it's shutting the doors. Whatever it is, it's almost like there's no way you could have seen it.

It's just your nature of you being bigger. It does kind of scatter. And you do hear a kind of, uh, from above. And then you see those of you who are kind of looking back the direction you came like a uh a very elven face maybe a half elf kind of peers over and is looking down into the warehouse like what's that noise it's just kind of looking around must be my imagination just messenger ring and just be like i I don't want to move. I don't want to move. I just make noise

all the time. Should I just stay by the door, maybe, and make sure the exit's clear? Yeah, maybe stay there for now. Yeah, just for now. Let us scope out the room and then we'll give you guidance on where to go.

You've got this entry. Very still. So have you. Okay. I feel like you're saluting, so I'm going to salute back. But you're invisible, so I don't know. I heard an army. I am.

I am. I am. Excellent. As a point, just in case you're being confused by the map, this place is not in space. That is just wintry sky. There was no wintry sky option on the map maker. The wall just drops away.

It's clearly up in the air. Yeah. So, Mark, you mentioned earlier that there were mountains in the distance. Yeah. Well, not even that distant. Like, fairly close. Snow-covered mountains. Are they identifiable?

And it is freezing cold. Huh? Oh. Are they identifiable? You could make a nature check to see if Nova would know where you are maybe by the sight of some mountains yeah maybe

I rolled an 18 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25 25 judging by the frigid temperatures the size of the mountain range, it's massive wherever you are the rough elevation elevation you suspect you might be somewhere um in northern elsaraf which is the northern continent of eros like the top

northern continent but on the very northern edge where it gets frigidly you know frozen cold um and yeah there's just this sway the mountains of mountains, you know, of snow-covered mountains stretches out before you. Speaking of being cold, I'm gonna put my heater on because it's bloody freezing. Elsaraf. Elsaraf. Elsaraf. Elsaraf.

Elsaraf. Elsaraf. Elsaraf. Elsaraf. Elsaraf. Elsaraf. Elsaraf. Elsaraf. Elsaraf. Elsaraf. Elsaraf. no we've never seen this yeah DLC unlocked I paid $5 for this DLC

maybe worth it that's what you can see from the little bit of the open dock that seems to stretch out from wherever you are it's almost like this whole dock building it's like a big square hole big enough that

an airship could maybe be stationed here. And looking around, Nova, I think you would recognize enough of this similar to the Gusthaven docks. This is clearly somewhere where an airship could be resupplied, or things could be taken off an airship, or maybe loaded onto an airship.

Some sort of docking station, maybe. What's everyone else doing? The sentry just freezes in place. The guard, who seemed to kind of peer over, just kind of looks around, seems to be suspicious and is trying to look around. And then maybe you hear some footsteps,

like going further away, and then somebody coming downstairs. I'm going to messenger ring and say, it might be worth Ayla or someone strong going near the steps in case we have to subdue them quietly. Nova, do you want to check out the scanny sensory magical thingies and see where we can go to avoid them? I do want to check out the magic-y sensory magic-y thingies, but I'm not too sure... Oh, I did get it right.

It's difficult. Yes. I'm not too sure how close I should get. Like, if it can see through invisibility, I'm going to sure how close I should get. Like, if it can see through invisibility, I'm going to get shot right in the face. Maybe we should focus on subduing the guards first. Very well, behind these barrels then, if you could, Hela. Guard begins making their way over to where they heard the sound, looking around. They stop for a moment and look at the doors to the room

where there is this, like, half an inch gap and almost seems to look at it like, huh, that's weird. Did I leave these open kind of thing? Can I, while they're distracted, grab them from behind, put my hand over their mouth and try and snap their neck.

Straight for the neck snap. This would basically be... So you're going to try and grapple first. You're making an attack action. So you make a strength check. I'll oppose it with strength or acrobatics to grapple. Okay. I rolled 19, and I have plus 7 to my strength.

You grip him in a thick neck hold. You grab them. As soon as you grab them, your hand goes around their mouth, and your arms go around it. The invisibility drops on you. Those of you around Quill, you're still kind of in your little room. Lucius, maybe

you can see that one of these turrets in the southern left side is beginning to turn back towards where Nova is. Whether or not it will see them, you don't know. It's got some time. It's not, like, immediate. Like, Aayla's probably gonna have a chance to move. So you've got this guy

grabbed. Aayla, is the next thing you want to try and just snap the neck? Yeah, I don't know if I can do, like, a knockout type thing, or if it would have to be, like, a... It doesn't have to be lethal. You could choose to just, like, sleeper hold them if you want.

Can I sleeper hold? Can I sleeper hold? Well, I mean the thing is, she's not raging and she's also not aware of who these people are yet and she doesn't know if they're just Gustaven people. I think it's more like the fact that you're not raging is a big factor.

So this would probably be a sleeper hold. I will quickly call out saying bring them over here quickly now. So this would probably be a sleep hold. Yeah. Quickly call out saying, bring them over here quickly now. You're about to be detected. You can move at half speed when you've got somebody around. By the way.

I'll say that quietly so that she can follow my voice. Try and go over here. Okay. And put them behind the thing. They're struggling. They're kicking. Roll a d4 and then add your strength. So as if you were making an unarmed strike, basically, but use a d4 instead.

And we'll do this as damage to them. Add my strength. Strength modifier. Strength modifier. So plus seven. So two plus seven. Nine. Add my strength. Strength modifier. So, 2 plus 7. 9.

So, you can see that their face is going red. They're like... They're not unconscious yet, but they are very quickly doing it. So just make another strength check to keep the grapple. They try and slip free. Are you muted again? Sorry, 22.

Yeah, you keep the grip, roll another D4 and add strength. So over two rounds, like 12 seconds, like Ayla drags this guy behind these crates, like gets into the ground. 10. Just watching. seconds, Aayla drags this guy behind these crates, gets into the ground. Ten. Just watching. And just goes limp. Yeah, just kind of goes limp,

falls into unconsciousness. That was brutal. Well, I don't want to be shot by things. And I will duck into the corner, probably. Yeah, okay. Yeah, I will duck into the corner probably. Yeah. Okay. Yeah.

Drag them up into the corner. None of the turrets, Nova, looking at it, you don't think any of these turrets can see into the corner. Like they kind of rotate, but they don't quite go far enough. The other ones, there's one across the way in the far bottom right-hand side that has like a clear view of almost the whole docks, but it doesn't seem to register whatever Ayla did. Like it just doesn't seem to react.

Whether she was out of range of it, you don't really know. Range. So if I'll draw like on the map, I'm sorry, podcast listeners, but I will try and describe it. There are these three kind of turrets. I'm not going to draw, this isn't their exact range.

I'm just kind of showing you some of the kind of like what they might see. So there's like these turrets and they do move. They do kind of rotate, but they seem to have like a vision, a cone of vision on them. I guess this is what Nova's working out. Yeah. Yeah, Nova can seem to. And you don't know how far they can see. You don't know how detailed their vision is,

if they can see invisible creatures. All you know is that the far bottom right one didn't seem to react to what Ayla did. What's the plan, Nova? Interesting. And then you've got one unconscious guard. Ayla, if you look at what they're equipped with, they appear to be carrying kind of like a basic short sword

a hand crossbow the bolts have a very pungent smell of poison on them and you can actually find there is a vial of poison in their pouch apart from that he looks to be like a half elf young half elf man

dressed in a chain, like, chain shirt, loose, loose white shirt, leather trousers, boots, good sturdy boots. No overcoat. Yeah, do I get any sense of, like, if they're, like, a house... With the temperature, they'd be wearing, like, a thick, like, fur coat,

or, like, a kind of, like, thick fabric coat. Do I get any sense of what if they work for one of the Gusthaven? No insignias or anything on them. Blonde half-elf

with some weapons and some poison. Okay, I'm going to tell them through the messenger ring about the poisoned darts and the poison on him I'll relay that as a message to Moonstar yeah Moonstar's actually

you can't see Moonstar anymore by the way she slipped out and is currently crouched behind a bunch of barrels outside is it worth she brings up a hand to her mask, taps it to the side of the mask, and Ayla, you hear a whisper. You kind of hear like a whispered voice.

Any clues? Did you find anything on them? I'll relay what I found. Nothing. Weapons. Poison. Standard clothing. Nothing. Weapons. Poison. Standard. Standard clothing. Nothing recognizable. Probably a low-level laborer or a low-level pirate for the

Cloud Barons. We need to do something about these devices. It's going to be difficult to move around here, but we need to get more intel. If these are Cloud barons, should I be not just making them unconscious, you know, killing them? Or I didn't want to do it in case it was someone from

Gustaven, you know? These are low-level goons. I'm more interested in the bigger fish here. As long as they don't alert anybody. As long as they're quiet. Right. Any ideas how we go forward, Nova? Should we disable some of the devices? Yes, but I have no idea how.

Century and Go as well. What are you guys doing? We'll let Nova figure that out. I'm scouting around with the Arcane eye as well to see if I can spot any entryways or smaller entryways into next rooms or if the devices themselves have any connectors. Are you going to send the arcane eye up the stairs?

So as you get to the southern area you can see that there is a stairway that leads up onto this wooden landing that goes around the room. And the turrets are actually set into the upper floor as well. Yeah, I think I'd take the shortest route sticking to the sides and corners as much as I can. Like, the thing's only an inch in size, but it's still somewhat visible on these sensors, I guess.

Yeah, okay. Nova, what was you going to do? Sorry to interrupt. I just wanted to make sure that the centering core got a chance. I was going to suggest that we, classic kind of stealth mechanics games, we maybe cause a noise, like throw a rock or something,

to lure someone over so they can do the classic, huh? What was that? Neck snap! Okay, yeah, you can try that. Yeah, if you want to do that, you can see there is at least, you saw one more guard on the kind of north

right-hand side of the room. Seemed to just be kind of like sat around some barrels. Was actually kind of distracted and looking towards like, it seems to be like looking inside like opening up and is rummaging around in one of these crates when Aayla grabbed the other one

Quill as the eye moves south you see a yawning very tired looking guard he's kind of got his eyes closed leaning up against the wall by a set of wooden doors that look very similar to the ones that you use to exit the teleportation

circle chamber. Just kind of leaning, kind of stretches a little bit. Another elf dressed in a similar manner, armed in a similar manner. But yeah, there is a doorway on the southern side of the room that you can see. And then moving the arcane eye up the stairs, as it looks up towards these turrets, And then moving the Arcane Eye up the stairs, as it looks up towards these turrets, you can just see, yeah, clockwork gears that seem to facilitate it rotating. Yeah, seems to have definitely some sort of magical construction. Not quite, you know, apart from that, you can't tell.

However, it does also notice, and I'm going to move the Arcane Eye to another, if you scroll down, there should be a secondary map that the Arcane Eye can see. Okay. Why can't you see... Oh, that's right, because I need to add it to Lucius so the audience can see.

So as it moves up the stairs, you can see that there is another set of rooms off this gangway. There appears to be a room to the left-hand side of where the arcane eye emerges. There is some sort of like a bars, like a kind of narrowed bars, like a jail cell set into the wall

for this room and the room, in fact, actually no, I changed that. Yeah, you can see that there are a couple of rooms okay if they're narrow bars then I should be able to get through there yes sunny so if you move the if the arcane eye

continues if you can send it forward looking inside this room it appears to be a well-furnished office. There is a figure. It's not really much of a desk, more of like a workshop. Standing in front of this table of weapons and schematics is a grey-skinned dwarf.

You've seen a dwarf like this before, the partner of Maximilian Taldros. She called herself a Durgar. Grey-skinned, white head. This Durgar is male. Seems very muscular. And both of his arms have been replaced by mechanical arms. His legs have this kind of mechanical armored exoskeleton around them

and this big, broad chest with this kind of screaming phoenix tattoo kind of enscrawled over his whole body. And he appears to be kind of muttering to himself as he looks over some sort of schematics. to himself as he looks over some sort of schematics. Next to him is a maybe eight foot tall, swirling storm, like air and kind of cloud figure with pieces of metal armor as if kind of like containing the whole thing together,

some sort of elemental creature. So we fought an air elemental when we needed to get the wing built yeah this doesn't look like this looks like like a much superior air elemental this is like an air elemental that's been given a humanoid shape and then it has been given armor and a weapon and it's kind of standing guard in the corner of the room okay i mean I mean, yeah, I'll communicate all of that through the messenger ring. But also mainly mention the schematics and weaponry that's on that desk

that he's tinkering with. Sure. Can the arcane eye hear or just see? Oh, I don't believe it can hear. Let me just double check. He appears to be talking to something. He holds up like a small stone doesn't matter

because I have the feature observant I can lip read that's true and I guess that works even if it's through another sense so he's holding up this stone you can't hear anything but you can read his lips

and you hear him kind of speaking. Aye. Yes. The last shipment's already on its way. I know. Tell that damn researcher that we'll have it. Aye, yes. Very well.

Democles seemed pleased. Seemed pleased with the security aye I know it's soon I know alright would have thought we'd ever found a place like this alright keep me posted and then he seems to put the stone down

and goes back to his work damn again sharing all as I hear and see it and then he seems to put the stone down and goes back to his work. Damn. Again, sharing all as I hear and see it, or see and see it. Nova, you wanted to try and pull a guard over. What are you going to do? So, just super quick,

because I'm dumb and forgetful, and it's been a long time since I've used a cantrip can I use a cantrip while concentrating on invisibilitaire it depends, does the cantrip say it's a concentration spell no it's mage hand if it doesn't have concentration

I'm not invisible so if you call someone over here they will if you bring them over here, there's still three other people. If you bring them over here, it will. Don't worry. So my idea is to basically use Mage Hand, let's see, 30 feet,

if it's not going to drop invisibility on other people, to... It depends if you attack something. Kind of... Not attack something, to make something make a noise, like push something over, or tap on something something to make it to make something make a noise like push something over or like

tap on something just to make a noise so someone does the classic like huh what was that yeah wouldn't casting

another spell drop it anyway uh no as long as it's not that's what I was asking is uh yeah

it would drop invisibility because oh actually maybe casting a spell does okay there you go so it doesn't end it for everyone but if you attack or casting a spell does... Okay, there you go. It doesn't end it for everyone, but if you attack or cast a spell,

it will end it for the target. It will end it for Nova. So it's not because it's a cantrip, it's just because under invisibility's rules, if you cast a spell, it ends invisibility. Yeah. In which case, is there anything around that I can just throw at these crates to sort of...

Unless you've got something on your person, no, there's not anything on the floor or anything like that, no. If you've got an item on your person, you could throw that, or you could push the crate over next to you, or... I'll message a ring, everyone, including the very visible Ayla, I'll message a ring, everyone, including the very visible Ayla, and say, I think we should lure them over and do the same thing that Ayla just did with this. I don't know why I'm pointing and you can't see me. But is there a good place that I should... I might just go and push that crate over.

Oh, you can't see where I'm pointing, can you? The crate near us. I might go and push the crate over. Yeah, which crate see where i'm pointing can you the the crate near us yeah which one which crate do you push this one uh so there's two next to nova yeah okay um that one yeah so you move up to the one next to nova and with a kind of shove um it kind of tilts on its side and there's like smaller crates stacked on top of it and one of them goes tumbles to the ground and you hear this kind of tilts on its side. And there's like smaller crates stacked on top of it and one of them goes tumbles to the ground and you hear this kind of loud crack and smash.

Well, be prepared everybody. Especially those that are visible. Okay. The one who's on the southern wall appears to be asleep and does not get stirred by this. The one there's another guard who's by a large ballista and appeared to be rumm does not get stirred by this.

The one, there's another god who's by a large ballista and appeared to be rummaging through a crate, does kind of snap up and is like, huh? Hey. And then he kind of looks around, looks back to the south. Oi!

Wake up! Something just made a noise in here and you hear the sleeping god like, it's probably like a fucking rat or something. Like, yeah, you think it's a rat, but like rat but like how many with like a thousand feet in the air it's not it's not a fucking rat all right something's in here ah jesus all right what do you want me to do do you want me to go tell the boss no don't tell the boss come and help me look all right yeah fine um and they begin sort of like making their way over. Ayla, give me another stealth check.

You are no longer invisible and just pressed up against the wall and behind a crate. That was muted. That's a natural 20. So 25. 25. That was lucky. Oh, shit. As these two guards begin making their way you've got a choice um moon star is visible ayla is visible uh the rest of you

are invisible who is going for what you have one kind of coming from the side and one coming from the south who's going where moon star looks like she's gonna jump so she's waiting oh are you going for one or you want me to go for one? I will messenger ring and say

those that are already in this mission should probably do it. Messenger ring, that's your turn. You're not going to have a chance to grab something. I'm going for the one at the top. I'm going for the one at the top. Alright, I'll go for the south one then. Okay, so Century's going to go for it. So Century, you and

Moonstar both go for the same one, but I think you're going to get there first because you're closer. So, okay, so what are you guys going to try and do? Grab them and kind of, you know, wrap your hand around them again? I was going to ask if I could try blinding Smite and try and blind them.

Okay. How does blinding smite work? So the next time you hit a creature with a melee weapon attack, it's a con save throw, and then the target's blinded if they fail. Okay. And is it like a bonus action to cast?

Yeah. Okay. So you'd cast that, like you empower that energy. You become visible as this guard is like, what? Yeah. I'd say that you guys have the surprise round

because you were both hidden. So you both get to basically, yeah, take an action here. What are you going to do? Just go straight, try and blind this guy. Try and knock him. Yep.

Okay. Yeah. All right. So he fails. He's gone safe. just go straight try and blind this guy try and knock him yep okay yeah alright so he fails he's gone safe so he's blinded nice so this kind of shivering blinding like it's just like oh christ he just like calls out as he's like he's like ah by the stars

it's 3d8 radiant damage as well right okay roll that for me It's 3d8 radiant damage as well. Right, okay. Roll that for me. I think you'd have to hit him as well with an attack for this. Yeah. We'll do that in a minute. All right. And then just roll an attack to see if you hit.

Oh, yeah. That's going to be a hit. 21. Are you trying to knock out or kill? Knock out. So, yeah Campano, are you trying to knock out or kill? Knock out. So, yeah, there's this blinding light as Her Majesty's Rose kind of whoosh, smacks this guy on the side of the head, and this blinding light, you just hear, there's a moment of like, ah,

and then just unconscious as the guy falls to the ground. Ayla, what are you doing? I'm going to do the same thing as I did with the other one to try and keep him quiet, if I can. Please. Just the old strangle. Yeah, strangle. That is an 18 plus 7? 74 plus d4 plus unarmed strike damage

that is a one plus seven so eight so eight points of damage uh so this one you do the same thing you get your hand round hand over the mouth it doesn't like it's trying make noise, but you're kind of keeping them quiet and then keeping in a sleeper hold, going bright red, kicking and struggling, but not quite out. Century, as you kind of step forward and this blinding light seems to erupt, this spell energy coalesces. There is a kind of the southwestern turret.

You can see it almost seems to react to the magic and is like drawing in closer. What do you do? In fact, actually, no, you've used your action to attack. So I think you would like, as you're striking this guy, the turret is moving around. The only, Moonstar sees it and will try to, she basically pulls out like a hand crossbow

and tries to shoot at the turret itself. Some sort of bolt equipped in it. This bolt flies out of Moonstar's hand crossbow and this thick web-like material kind of stretches out over the turret itself, completely engulfing it. You can see it, like, its gears whirring as it's trying to break

itself free, as she's just like, I don't think that's going to last very long. We need to move now. I've only got one of that. That was the only of that kind I brought. Right, let's move. We'll pull the bodies behind the crates, and we need to move straight away

somewhere else out of that thing's line of sight I can smash the turret the one maybe do you want me to smash it you've got like a couple of seconds before this thing goes oh I won't have time then

I'll just drag this body again behind this little crate. So Sentry and Aayla are visible. Sentry, are you going to drag the body as well? Yeah. 15, so I can go there. So you start

dragging them back. Moonstar will dash back behind this barrel and crouch down where she was before. Aayla drags back and throws next to the other guy um after a few seconds the webbing kind of gets torn and shredded and pulled apart as the turret breaks itself free strands of webbing still kind of hanging around it uh quill there's definitely a kind of like the durgar seems to look up he's looking towards the mirror as if like he's heard something,

but it was, you know, isn't quite sure what he heard. Okay. Try and keep noise to a minimum, guys, remember? You almost alerted this guy up here. Ayla, do you want to give me another damage roll for this last guy you've got grabbed? Because I don't think he's going to get out.

No. Four plus seven. Sleep. We need to subdue the... What's up there, Quill? There's a Dwargar looking at some schematics for some weapons. He's also tinkering

with some up there. But there's also this stronger air elemental thing up here too. A guard? That might be the place. But I can keep looking around the upper balcony to see what else is up here. Okay.

I think we need to make a move fast and maybe we should just get the jump on these two. How do we get past the turrets without them shredding us to pieces? Because it seems like they probably will. Try and destroy them. Everyone, put your attacks on them at the same time. Anyone that has range.

That will be noisy. I can't dispel magic. I know you can't, Aayla. I can. I think that if these things they're not just mechanical. The fact that they were able to react to Sentry's magic implies some sort of magical ability. Maybe that we can shut at least one of them down temporarily.

I can't dispel. I can counterspell. So I might be able to prevent an attack from coming in once or twice. It's quite dangerous. Well, quite expensive for my magical ability. Well, it's either that or we try and find the exit out of this place. I don't think that this... this can't

just be the whole facility. True. We could skirt through the south. Yeah, we could look at the southern door. See what's through there. While I'm'm invisible i'll go have a look yeah okay uh so i'll just go underneath yeah okay nova comes with you so you guys make your way down past this lower gantry there's no no you don't hear any more movement or any signs you guys make your way around the crates and the barrels the the

turrets you walk nova they don't react whilst you're invisible they don't hear any more movement or any signs. You guys make your way around the crates and the barrels. The turrets you walk, Nova, they don't react. Whilst you're invisible, they don't seem to see you. It seems that their vision is as if it was a living creature. They don't seem to notice you. When you get to the door, which is down here, it's not locked. You can slide it open like you did previously with the other door. You can slide it open like you did previously with the other door. And it seems to lead into what appears to be an elevator of sorts,

a kind of like service elevator. There are these four large cranks in the corners, a large metal platform that looks like it can go up and down, big heavy chains attached to the top and bottom of the platform. It looks like it's used to move goods down to this dock. Right. I'll relay that information to everybody. Do you want us to go investigate?

Or should we stay together? Is that the way that Quill already scouted with the eye? No. No, he went the other way. went on the balcony and he's looking at the rooms that are on the sort of top uh second floor of this area um he's looking at those this elevator could go a whole floor above that and below it goes well above that yes the elevator seems to it doesn't seem to stop at that floor above. There's no, the rooms that Quill is looking at

can only be accessed by this kind of like wooden gangway that goes around this docking area. This elevator goes much higher up and it also goes down, it seems. Either we all reconvene where we are at the south and take an elevator to a different floor or we deal with this Duagar person

now. Does he seem like the guy who's in control of this place? If we get rid of him then maybe that would work. He's communicating with someone. Well he's got his schematics and weapons. I thought they might be interesting to grab but

the elevator up sounds like the best way we can always come back and do that if he's communicating can he call for reinforcements if he's communicating with someone else we should take him out okay can you handle that We should take him out. Okay.

Can you handle that? Do you want us to all meet outside the room? Well, it sounds like he's got some muscle in there. Okay. While this conversation's going on, can I be investigating the turret in the southwest corner? You have to go up the steps to get to it because it's on the southwest corner. So you have to go up the steps to get to it, because it's on the upper level.

Oh, okay. I'm guessing there's no one else here. It's just the turret and then the room with the Duggar in it. I'll move you to the second floor area. You won't be able to see the arcane eye, but yeah, when you move up to the second level

looking up, yeah, you can examine it. the strands of webbing have almost all dissolved by now um whatever moon stars kind of bolt did is long faded yeah you can see that it has some sort of yeah like i said mechanical clockwork uh pivoting system but it has this glowing crystal uh almost like an eye and then it appears to be a set of two crossbows connected to another there's definitely magical elements to it for sure obviously this is quite a

short period of time but can I recognise any sort of runes or anything that sort of basically influences its targeting um you would in that short period of time no unless you have like sort of more unless you had a spell like a detect magic or identify probably identify maybe um would be able to do something like that and even then that would maybe only highlight what it does ways in terms in terms of influencing it, I mean, it's no different to another construct, right?

It's probably immune to any sort of magic that would influence its decisions, stuff like that. Okay. Does it look like I could jam the clockwork, though, quite easily? You could certainly try. Crossbow bolts out.

You don't actually see a place where the crossbow bolts are. It's almost all internal. You can't actually see where the crossbow bolts would be on it. But in terms of jamming the pivoting system, you could certainly try. If you had something to wedge in there, you might be able to lock it into a certain position.

Maybe when it's the furthest away from where the party is. I have a dagger. That could work. I picked up. Yeah. I'm not sure how long it would last, but... Yeah, you kind of have to...

It's about 10 feet. You might have to use your levitate to reach it, because it's quite high up. You're not going to be able to just reach up there right okay unless you've got a box to stand on or something i think she's disconnected all of a sudden i think she rage quit yep i saw that and i was like i was waiting for the answer i was was like, nope, that's a DC. Uh, well,

Kim will be back in a minute. Century quill. What about you guys? And Ayla, um, down the second floor, you're going to meet up with Lucius. Do you want to try and get up,

up to the second floor? There is a little step ladder near you. Um, I'll have to. She back. Yep. Kim's back. We lost you.

We lost you there, Kim. I think she's still gone. She's still gone. Oh, there we go. There we go. Back. You back. Yeah, I was just going to say, abandoned plan. I think it was an internet blip.

Abandoned plan, just because I think it'll take too long, and also if I cast Levitate or anything like that, I'll have to drop the last bit of invisibility. And I imagine this is going on while Lucius is trying to communicate with everyone else. So... Yeah. Layla Sentry, what about you guys?

Is there a way I can maybe tie up the guards? Like, keep these guys incapacitated while we're exploring? Good question. I have some rope. Let's see. Yeah, like, I mean, you'll lose the rope because you'll have to leave it behind, and tying up three people is probably

going to take a fair chunk of it. Yeah, you could definitely tie these guys up, bind them all together, bind their hands and feet so they can't, you know, get about. Um, put a bit of rope in their mouth, try and, as a rudimentary gag as well. All three of them are out cold, by the way. They are just...

Okay. Probably going to be at least an hour before they wake up. Okay. Cool. All right, yeah, mark off that rope, Ayla, and then, yeah, you guys can be tying these guys up. Um, Quill, what about you? I think we should just get in the elevator and go uh it clearly isn't the place

uh i think we can just ignore all these people and head up i'm okay with that i agree i yeah i think we need to get as much intel about this facility as we can and then we can return to the Durga and his elemental friend sure just small problem me and sentry and moon star are very visible so is Quill so we've only got two invisible bodies left how best do we want to do this I can disable one of the turrets in the corner I can dispel its magic right on your command thenill, and everyone make a dart for the southern door. I'm assuming you guys with the communication rings, you can time it

so that Nova can say, okay, it's looking away now. Quill comes out the room, tries to dispel it, and then we'll see what happens basically. You don't actually need to roll anything, Quill. When you get it in range and you cast a spell magic on it,

it temporarily... Well, you don't know if it's temporary or if it's permanent, but the whole turret just kind of goes limp and doesn't move anymore. And it's like the glowing crystal goes dim and seems to shut down basically. Perfect.

Excellent. And while the other one is in the corner, because I've still got the other one in my eye, I guess while I see that not looking in that direction, I'll run down to the other lift as well. Yeah, and kind of time it up. Century, making a bit more noise. Yeah, you guys all make it into this kind of square chamber. You kind of all have to squeeze to get on this kind of 10-foot lift lift. Do you want to go up or down? This will be the last thing we do for the episode. Important people

are usually above others, right? If you want to go to the source, it doesn't seem too hard to work out how to navigate the lift. You set it and then pull a lever and the lift begins pulling up. You go up a fair ways, you know, maybe

50, 60 feet. As you get up to the top, thick white snow begins to drift down. Howling wind and a flurry of white fills your vision. You appear to come up in a sort of covered shed, a kind of faint trace of a roof with a small metal railing.

You appear to be in a great courtyard of maybe some sort of facility or keep. You can see that there are stacks of metal and wooden crates stacked around this huge courtyard. There are several buildings, and at the far end, there is a rising tower that seems to stretch up. You can hear the faint sound of some sort of howling wind, pulsing magic from the distance, but it's almost like a thick blizzard as you arrive,

and you can't really see too far beyond the walls of this strange fort. What is apparent, even beyond the thick walls, is you appear to be in the air, and you are stood on some sort of solid ground. As the white flurry drifts away, you can see shapes of more guards and more of these air elementals moving amongst this large courtyard. And yeah.

Welcome to the facility. And that is where we are going to end today's episode with you guys, the elevator kind of emerging from the top and then this scene unfolding before you. And I know Kimberly Richards knows what I'm referencing. Hmm. I have ideas with that we bring today's episode to a close uh we're gonna wrap things up on yogscast because i

know there's another stream but we're gonna continue a little bit on high rollers dnd to read out all these amazing messages and stuff so if you are the Yogscast and you would like to stick around for our messages and stuff, come on over to High Rollers D&D. We're going to read some of that stuff out there. But if you joined us and you want to move on to the next room, thanks for joining us. Thank you, everybody.

Bye on Yogs. Yeah. After party. After party. We should still be live on HR right now. Welcome to High Rollers After Dark, after party. We should still be live on HR right now. Hey, welcome to High Rollers After Dark, everybody. Now we can get real. Yeah.

Don't taste the gas. We should get a very serious show that breaks down what happens and stuff, but it's just a lot to ask when we've already done three hours. Yeah. Cool. If we were to analyze real quick. Successful stealth mission so far. We're actually doing it we highlight that so far yeah but that's the most we've ever done stealthily ever ever in five years in five years yep not bad Not bad. We did it! All century, century stompy feets.

Just can't quit. Four out of five. I don't think you've ever made a stealth check, have you? I've never succeeded a stealth check, ever. No. I don't think the century succeeded a roll. I don't think that it's even... Yeah, I don't think that it's even that you've not succeeded a stealth check you've always just done bad it's always been a single digit stealth

check I've never seen you roll like a double digit stealth check yeah it's never good amazing I love that though let me tell you that is going to be put to the test in this little adventure I think so

yeah nice uh oh apologise in advance my bad dice rolls That is going to be put to the test in this little adventure, I think. Yeah. Nice. Uh-oh. Apologize in advance for my bad dice rolls. Just falls flat out of the elevator. I'm just going to stay here, guys. I'm going to go for a quick wee while Tom begins the donor readout. Yeah, leave it on the screen and then, yeah. Rhiannon, just don't go anywhere just stay put

that's it stay in the elevator it's better that way you guys you guys assume you have to stealth it and you're not just like right get in there let's just kill everybody like you could do that i mean well i mean we don't know what we're up against Well, I mean, we don't know what we're up against, champ. I call that a win. Bye, everybody. Bye. Bye.

Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye.