High Rollers DnD - High Rollers: Curse of Strahd #11 | The Broken Bonds

Episode Date: June 23, 2020

Everyone knows that deals have consequences... right? Support the High Rollers and get early access to podcast episodes (and more) on our Patreon: www.patreon.com/HighRollers Thanks to @jackgtmusic for the Aerois/Curse of Strahd mash-up intro! Music courtesy of Epidemic Sound Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Pickaxe. app for details. You know what's great about ambition? You can't see it. Some things look ambitious, but looks can be deceiving. For example, a runner could be training for a marathon, or they could be late for the bus. 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 welcome friends to high rollers presents the curse of strad a gothic horror adventure of chills thrills and many blood spills i am your dungeon master mark humes and the players joining me are as follows chris trott as yesper the Vistani Bard, Kim Richards as Shadows Beyond the Veil, a Tabaxi cleric, Katie Morrison as Rose Vanendi the Human Ranger, Tom Hazel as Xeros Mistan the

Dragonborn Fighter, and Rhiannon Gower as Siki Mistan the Dragonborn Sor sorcerer. Last time on Curse of Strahd, after Ziki's death in the search for the Tome of Strahd, Zeros carried her body to the desecrated church in Vallaki and sought a deal with Asmodeus. Unknown to him, Ziki was forging her own pact with the dark powers of Barovia, and both made sacrifices. On returning to the Blue Water Inn, the hallowed bones of St. Andral, animated and possessing of some holy spirit, attacked Ziki and Xeros leapt to her defense, destroying the bones and the effect upon them. The rest of the party returned from the

Burgomaster's mansion just in time to aid Xeros and Xeke against the enraged Father Lucian and a desperate escape from Vallaki ensued. Now the party rushed towards a Vistani campsite near the town in hopes of finding allies and shelter. we pick up today my friends it is a bleak dawn as the gates of the lackey are just behind you the gray dismal clouded sun is just beginning to kiss the horizon and spread a little light throughout the land, but it is also beginning to rain soft drizzling rain as Your boots and your claws Stamp into the mud of the trail path leading from the west gate of the lackey and head into deep unknown woods

Jesper at the forefront, you lead them not too far, not far from the main gate to Vallaki itself, to a woodland trail that leads south into the forest and the woods near the town. And from there, you can see in the distance a small hill where a few scattered Vistani wagons, only a couple of them seem to wait.

It is not that far from the town itself, you think maybe a couple of hours on foot, but it is a location. You know that there are guards within the town of Valaki that are on high alert and are perhaps searching for suspicious folks. You have only just narrowly managed to avoid their attention, leaving

just two guards as witnesses to your evacuation. So my question is, what would you guys like to do? I'd like to know how this walk went. How awkward was it?

The two hours that you've been traveling so far. I mean, it's wet, it's cold, but the light is beginning to reveal itself. You don't seem to have been pursued thus far, but you can hear that there is a lot of activity in the town itself. There's a lot of shouting.

There's a lot of calling, even though it's distant now echoing from, you know, a couple of hours away. It must be loud enough that it's being carried on the air. I imagine while we were kind of going out of the lackey near the gates and beyond for about half an hour, there was still a lot of focus on the task of not getting caught. But I feel like after that, once we feel like we've got clear that the sounds are going distant, those other thoughts start coming. are going distant those other thoughts start coming and where there's a bit more time to you know ease off the thoughts of being caught and on to uh other pressing matters things

well uh the if i remember correctly rose cars pass without a trace so you haven't left any tracks in the mud or anything like that but you are you have not traveled too far from the gates of Vallaki so there is still potential threat if you were to be discovered but yeah you are now traveling down a twisted winding woodland path that seems to lead south

through the trees towards this small hill that you can see just rising up kissing the tops of the dead gnarled branches I imagine unless correct me if I'm wrong everyone's dead silent

no one's really communicating much I'm talking as much as I normally do I think the only person that might be perhaps offering a couple of words and more from a not wanting to disrupt the silence but more of an

informative thing is Mark who is carrying up the rear is constantly checking behind maybe giving like sort of things like still no sign of them can't really hear them anymore but can't see them and then but I can see them. And then long periods of silence and then maybe sort of like checking again.

Just like a short, like still no one as you begin winding your way through. Ah who's going to be the one to talk about this first? Well my question is, how long does, in that case, how long does the silence last? Does it last until you arrive at this destination? Or are you going to talk about this en route? I don't think Rose would. Unless everyone else brings it up. I think Shadow is slowly seething. I do think Rose would. Unless everyone else brings it up.

I think Shadow is slowly seething and holding her tongue until she knows it's safe. Okay. It never is. I feel like it's like Tiki is walking. She's looking at her longer claws, like clenching her claws into fists to try and hide them. You can see that your arms are thinner. You look a bit more haggard.

You don't feel much different. You don't feel as tired, but looking at your limbs, you can definitely see that you don't look good, certainly. But you are alive. You've got breath in your lungs, and you can feel see that there's you don't look good certainly but you are alive, you've got breath in your lungs and you can feel your heart beat is it beating slower? is it? that's an interesting

question, one you're not quite sure of the answer but yeah well you travel in silence along this curved path as it, and it doesn't take you very long before you begin to see something. The woods part to reveal an expansive clearing. Small grass-covered hill with a few low houses built into its sides. Fog obscures the details,

but you can see that these buildings feature elegantly carved woodwork and have decorative lanterns hanging from sculpted eaves. Atop the hill, above the fog, are a couple of abandoned bistani wagons,

barrel-topped, that surround what would have once been a campsite. There is a small, faded, sputtering column of smoke pouring from a deadened fire. That is what you see. There are horse tracks. You also begin to see a few bodies laying around the camp as you draw closer. As you part your way through the fog, you can see the silhouettes of corpses laying in the mud. Great.

I've had enough. This is too much. First, Valaki, and now this. I turn and look dead at Zeros. Why? Why did you do it?

We don't have time for this, Jesper. Do we not? The Vistani camp. Everyone is dead. Everybody dies. They have their time. Oh my god. That's Zeke-y feeling. There are a scattering of bodies as you kind of come to a

standstill and the fog begins to cling around your legs there's maybe a dozen or so but not most of them are not Vistani you see a couple of Vistani bodies they're bright clothing just catching the rising light. They seem to be marred by frost or by flame. But many of the bodies are wear darker clothes,

dark browns, dark greens, dark grays. And they all have mutilated ears, long hair, more elven features some appear to have been dragged from the little homes that have been dug into the hill crossbow bolts blades sticking out of them

and at the very top of the hill by the sputtering fire is one large Istani man, quite muscular. He doesn't appear to be wearing a shirt, but the trousers and the belts are unmistakable. And his throat is slit neatly across the jugular, deep with skill. I understand, Zeros. It takes

everything from you. You think I wouldn't have jumped at the chance to bring Madame Ava back? What she could have done if she had lived? How she could have guided us she had lived, how she could have guided us. But I did not,

because it is wrong. Yet you made a deal, did you not? You're no better than him. You didn't have the strength, Jesper. The strength! Is that what you call it? And I stand close to Zeros.

You call this strength? To give in to emotion, to make reckless decisions, not considering the consequences. You call that strength, do you? I'm protecting what I protect, and I brought her back. You failed. Deal with it. But she stands here now. Where's Madame Ava? I hope she's at peace.

Ziki, I'm sorry what he's done to you. It wasn't him. I... I'm sorry what he's done to you. It wasn't him. I... I made a pact too. What? My death binds me to this place, yes, but you know that. I'm here now, and I'll always be here. If...

If this is what it means to come back from death then so be it I will lay waste to every creature in this place until Strahd is dead that is Mike that is my mission now that is what I must have a choice it's not for you to decide it's in darker. You've made a deal with something that's never for free. You're going to regret your actions. What was the cost for both of you? Given your lack of response, I think it must be quite a big cost.

Strahd must be destroyed. And if you don't destroy him? Then my soul returns to Barovia. Where it has been once and where it will be again. Xeros? I'll just kind of nod. I'll just kind of nod. And you think

you think your deals will be honored? You think you trust the beings that have the power to do this? To give you trinkets? To bring you back to life? You think they will honor that or that they do this in your best interests? Are you that stupid? Are you that naive? If they give me one more month with Ziki, then yes.

At what cost? At what cost? At what cost? You will listen to me because I will say this once and then I will never speak of it again. Life is about balance. You cannot have light without dark. You cannot have a life without death. You see the consequences breaking this cycle reaps? The price of undeath? You're standing it right now here in Barovia. These bodies around you. This undead Strahd unleashing suffering and pain on a whole realm of innocent people for his eternal life. Grief is a part of life. Grief is the price of love.

I walk with grief every day of my damned life. My life's work is to help with people, deal with that loss. Your deal, Zeros, and you, Ziki, was selfish. You, Zeros, it was you not having the strength to face up to something that is a fundamental part of life, and now your selfishness has potentially cost the life of a frightened old man. Are you going to make a deal for him? Are you going to share his suffering? You made a deal with the devil. And the devil always wins. So I hope you can live with the consequences of your actions. I hope you make this time worthwhile. And you, Ziki,

I thought you would be better. I thought you would smarter. And then I just turn and walk away. Oh, my God. I think as you do so uh yeah is mark and irena kind of watch and listen is mark kind of bristles at some of the stuff being said and he begins moving over towards uh xeros and ziki irena looks towards where shadow's gone they kind of share a look together and then Irena follows Shadow whilst Bismarck goes towards

Zeros and Zeke as he approaches you Zeros he just puts a hand on your kind of shoulder for what it's worth my friend I can understand and he just kind of nods

doesn't look like there is anyone here that can help us I can understand. And he just kind of nods. Doesn't look like there is anyone here that can help us, but perhaps there's some supplies. I'm going to go look around. And he just begins heading off towards some of the houses to start looking around. Irina comes up to you, Shadow.

Kind of follows. Kind of... Just kind of lingers behind you for a moment um and probably just uh waits but is is not trying to intrude but is there if you want to talk to someone else but is also staying quite distant if you want to just go off on your own. But she kind of stands around awkwardly looking like she wants to say something but doesn't have the words to say. What about Jesper and Rose?

What about you guys? I'll probably go to both of them. I think that what Shadow says sums up a lot of the way that I'm feeling. I lost a brother. I didn't make the same choice you did. It would not have been right. Ziki, I can't say that I'm not glad to

see you alive. However, you have to tell us the consequences of the deals that you've made. We need to know in detail what we need to expect, because if this comes back to bite any of us, then we need to be prepared

for that. And then I'll walk away towards Shadow. Okay. Ziki, Zeros or Jesper, anything from you guys? Anything you guys want to say or do? Now is definitely the time. I'll give him a little bit of space, but I'm definitely going to say something.

If you want to squeeze it in now do it I got nothing I think Zeros yeah I don't know if Zeros has much to say he made his choice and I think I mean he still feels like it's the right thing but he doesn't know how to communicate it, in a sense. Yeah. Well, maybe that's Zeros' way, is he just doesn't say anything, he just doesn't argue back. Let's them think that they've won the argument, per se.

Even if he knows what's right for him. He knows it's selfish, but also, he didn't do it for them. Yeah, exactly. selfish but also he didn't do it for them. Yeah, exactly. So we just kind of see Zeros kind of glancing over everybody else but no words are said.

You want him dead, yes? We do. Here. When you ran off from the house we found this. I throw the Tome of Knowledge on the floor. It's the wet grass. Read that. See yourself in it. Don't become the same thing. I walk off to where Shadow is going. This old, battered home stares up at the pair of you

from the grass. Faded and ancient. Man. Anything for you two you just leave the book there to walk away I think Ziki will pick up the book make a note that Ziki you have the Tome of Strahd yes but mark off that you do not have the tome of stride

yes but mark off that you do not have the tome of stride anymore and if either of you wish to read it it is a handout that you should be able to see in roll 20 it is yours to read as you wish nice alright well we know that shadow and roll 20. It's yours to read as you wish. Nice.

Sure. Alright. Okay. Well, we know that Shadow and pretty much everybody except Ismark, Zeke, and Xeros have gone off somewhere. Where do you head, Shadow? Like, whereabouts do you head? There is this very small round hill. They have these larger houses dug into the sides on the

outer edge, and then at the top of the hill is this sputtering campfire and a few abandoned vistani wagons as well as bodies so i think probably i'd be attracted towards the the campfire the abandoned campfire at the top uh top of the hill and i think yeah i'd just storm off up there and i just i'd probably just be staring at the bodies just like just thinking about what i just said'd just, I'd probably just be staring at the body. It's just like, just thinking about what I just said and just being like senseless. This is all like this,

this stupid, like we're surrounded by strides, anger and, and you know, the consequence of this, you know, you, you get me, you get me.

I think just, yeah, I do. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, there's a couple of things you notice. I mean,

it's very easy for shadow to notice that. Yeah, there is one figure, uh, at the, at the, at right at the campfire. Uh,

looks like he was stood there shirt off, um, judging by his kind of gut and his weight and his demeanor, probably a drunkard, quite a violent drunkard judging by the big scars on his knuckles. Um, the, you know, scars on his back and on his torso. A bit of a thug, almost. Throat completely slit, very clean, assassination style, you would imagine. Jesper, you know that the body that Shadow sees at the top is a man called Luvash who

had a brother called Aragel. You didn't know them very well. They took over this camp when some of the elders here died. They were always a bit of a violent sort so not the type of people I think Jasper probably would have spent too much time with. But they were

Vistana. They were your brothers. They were family in a sense. They were just maybe family you didn't want to spend too much time with but they were vistana then you know they were your brothers um they were family in a sense they were just maybe family you didn't want to spend too much time with especially when they were drinking um the other vistani aren't around the campfire the other vistani are closer to the edges of the woods and you can see that those bodies have been marred by frost and by flame half of them them look like they have been, you know, parts of their bodies have been frozen solid, covered in rime. The other half look like they've been badly

burnt, scorched by some sort of fiery explosion. And they seem to be heading towards the woods. The other bodies which are scattered all around the camp, mainly around the houses, are Dusk Elves. Again, Jesper, you know of Dusk Elves. You know a little bit

about them, but they're kind of a very reclusive, quiet sort of people. To Shadow and Rose, they would look like Wood Elves from Faerun to you. They would look like Wood Elves that you would meet along the Sword Coast or anything like that, but their ears have all been mutilated, so

their tips have been cut off, scarred healed up um they look very sullen they look quite drab and and it's quite sad in a way and they have been peppered by vistani crossbow bolts by short swords um yeah it looks like some sort of battle took place here in a a sense. Rose, I'd say with your kind of natural hunting skill, you would assume that the ones near the forest looked like they were chasing after somebody. You also suspect that quite a lot of Vistani left here. Like, didn't just, like, you know, a lot of Vistani here survived and have since left.

There are horse tracks, there are wagon trails that lead onto the road and then away from here, basically. I think Rose would probably tell Jesper that to try and sort of give him a little bit of

comfort that people did get away. Yeah. Just to say wagons have left this wasn't everyone no there's only a couple of wagons there's only a couple of wagons left

and most of them look like they've been ransacked supplies taken that sort of thing no horses some great battle conflict of interest in taking this land, I don't know. They always were reckless. I wish we could know what happened here.

This is not wild beasts. This looks like they turned on each other or something Irina's kind of looking at them sadly as she kind of wanders between the bodies yes those that are still sane try and stick together

something must have driven them to this I don't know what I wonder if it started with this gentleman here and I indicate Luvash. Given such clean a cut, and he has not moved, maybe that was the first strike. That reckless man. What did he do? You know him?

I knew of him a little. A little brazen. I didn't want to get to know him much more than treating him with respect like I would another Vistani, but he wasn't in control

all the time of his emotions. A little reckless. A little drunk. So, maybe he pissed off the wrong people. I don't know. ZeroSanZiki,

what are you guys doing? You're kind of at the bottom of this hill the rest of the team have all gone to the top of it is Mark rummaging around in some dead elf's house Zeros is pretty angry like he's just

yeah staring at them yeah watching them do their thing but almost stopping himself from just going up there and just I don't know yelling well

yelling with steel yelling some sort of draconic words throwing some sort of draconic claws do it jeez Throwing some sort of draconic clause. Do it. Jeez.

Zeke? I think Zeke would just... I think she'd just be... She'd be holding the book, her hands shaking, really teary-eyed. I think she'd just look at Zeros and be like, What have we done, Zeros? What have we done, Zeros? What have we done?

We did what we had to. Help me. Convince me that we did the right thing, please. I was so scared. And I couldn't go to Lyra. She wasn't there. I just wanted to go back. I wanted to see you.

I wanted to go back to what was familiar and that was the only way I could. I wanted to come back stronger. And you got what you wanted and I got what I wanted. Stupid. You came back and now we kill Strahd.

Stupid, Xeros. I was so weak and stupid, and now I'm stupid again. I can't... How has it come to... How? You're stronger than them, Zeke. I was scared. I wasn Ziki. I was scared. I wasn't strong.

I was scared and stupid. Look at me. I'm a monster now. How visually... How different... What are the major differences? Major differences, Ziki now looks much more gaunt. She looks, like, quite thinner than she was before.

Her eyes are dark, like she doesn't sleep. She looks like somebody who, she looks like a Dragonborn who has gone through a lot, like, looks quite starved. like, looks quite starved. I mean, there's definitely an element of, like, she doesn't look undead, but it's not a far stretch to that becoming what she might look like. Her claws are sharper, her fangs sharper. A lot of that softness that was there for Ziki before

has gone, and it's now been replaced by this shadow of death. That's how I would describe it. Shadow of death that's how I would describe it shadow of death sure hmm I got nothing it's a zero assist says nothing uh anything else anybody else any anything they want to do uh i'm gonna be carrying on uh looking through rifling asking

shadow and rose like should we follow this up what do we do what's our next should we find another camp we seek refuge here among the corpses do we make a deal with the devil maybe not that last one

I don't say that slap shadow as as Jesper is asking these questions, you can't help but notice that as the rain is kind of falling around, this fine sheet of

rain that's falling all around you, you can't help but glimpse kind of stood around the campfire watching. The rain leaves impressions of where people would be standing but there's nothing there. They just appear to be watching, stood there silently like statues. Is it detailed enough to maybe think that they're Vistani or... It's just an absence of a person.

It's like a humanoid shape. Just about a dozen. Oh, just a dozen. Okay, just a dozen. Cool! And it's only because it's raining that you can even see that something is there. The others probably don't even notice it. Can I maybe... Your highly tuned senses to the undead

yeah this is going to be very foolish potentially but I guess put it down to so much going through her head can I almost unconsciously just raise a paw up to near one of them doesn't seem to change

you see the outline of this one seems to be maybe a woman, like a feminine form. Just the slight curve of the shape of the body. And as your claw gets closer, suddenly the rain just falls through it as if there was nothing there. And have the rest disappeared? No. Just that one. How can I help you

there's no response just the sound of rain pitter patter pitter patter against your cloak against the cloaks of your friends the ground splashing into small puddles made in the empty spaces

of wagon ruts and boot prints. I just give a long sigh. I am sorry, lost ones. I have no more words for everything I've seen here. I wish I could help you, but I know not how. If it is grief, if it is loss, I'm meant to guide souls

to the other side, but I don't know how here. I wish I could help. Not a whisper, but like a faint echo from the body of the larger man. A rasping sound from the throat, from a torn throat.

A gurgling wet breath. And then there's nothing. Just the pale, cold, dead flesh of a dead man. Anything else? I guess, um... Can I go over to the body and just... I guess there's nothing. I'm all out of spell slots, so...

Can't do nothing fun. I think maybe... I think maybe... Day, couple of days. Yeah. Judging by the body. And see that it was... He was obviously stood looking into the fire when it happened.

There's tracks around him you're not an expert tracker but somebody might be able to determine stuff yes Chris Trott the brother wasn't there right it was just Lavash not Aragel just Lavash's body Aragel isn't there I know that that's all I know

sure yeah if you've got spells or if you want to do skill checks I know that. That's all I know. Sure. Yeah, sure. Yeah, if you've got spells or if you want to do skill checks, anybody, now is a great time. Or if they want to do... I feel like maybe a religion check or something.

I just... I think Shadow would want to be... wanting to do something for these... I think Shadow would want to be wanting to do something for these I think she would associate what the ghosts or what she thinks are the ghosts with the unhappiness the trauma that has happened here

and she would take the kind of gurgling as a sign from the body that maybe something needs doing but she's so out of her depth she doesn't know the customs the rituals she doesn't know how to help the souls so i think yeah i don't know if you want to make a religion check yeah sure i'll actually make it more of an insight check it's less of a religion more of a trying to determine what may be trying to 19 what might be trying to do 19 you get the sense that whilst these

these outlines you're not sure if they are ghosts like actual undead spirits from everything you've seen of Barovia this land enjoys toying with people what happened with Rose and the body

um the spaces in the rain might just be that sort of effect like something obviously bad happened here like there was a lot of death maybe places where a lot of death happens tend to coalesce this sign of malevolent energy that preys upon people um or tries to trick people tries to inspire misery and despair. The gurgling sound out of the throat could have been maybe the last attempts of, like, an echo of a spirit trying to communicate. It's the kind of thing that, like, the Speak With Dead spell, like, if you had the energy left to cast that,

that would be a way for you to communicate with them and things like that. If we take a long rest... that, that would be a way for you to communicate with them and things like that. I'd say that you get the impression that those are not ghosts, but rather the malevolent presence of Barovia trying to basically make you miserable. Cool! Effective!

Also, Bristol, doing the same thing today with the constant rain. That constant drizzle. Can I turn to Jesper and Rose? Are they, I'm guessing, you're here. Yeah, Irena, Jesper and Rose are basically stood around you. Okay.

Jesper, what you said about Madam Ava. Oh, the spirits are communicating. Easy. Sorry, I was just a little bit still heated there. Wow. I was just getting a reading from the other side. And that's how it came through are they fine? cats be cats

cats be cats cats do be like that though my one's snoring upstairs but sure Jesper what you said about Madam Ava what you said about Madam Ava what I said

to the Dragonborn my life's work is to help people deal with grief and loss if you need any counsel, any help

I am here for you. I am not the best, but maybe Rose can attest for me that I try my hardest. I think we should perhaps keep an eye on those two. Zeros in particular. A deal with Asmodeus, there will be tricks and inevitable betrayals. I don't quite understand whatever power Ziki has made a deal with the spirit of Barovia

is not something I'm familiar with but we need to be careful of course the worst part is we're all tied to the same destiny they want Strahd we do the worst part is we're all tied to the same destiny. They want Strahd, we do.

Will our goals still align? We must make peace with that. And we must deal with the consequences together. I know that much. We cannot escape it. Irina kind of steps forward. We need to find out the full details of Zeros' deal he's holding back

Ziki I don't think meant harm but Zeros I worry about just looking at the weapon that he has from this deal there's something else at play here he hasn't told us

everything Irina kind of puts a hand on Jesper's arm but surely yes you are correct I don't know much about these devils from your world and such but if he made a deal to bring Ziki back and

Ziki's destiny is to help us destroy the devil but Von Zarovich does that not mean that this devil is at least trying to help us accomplish that they surely if there must be devils always have their own interests in mind. They can make very attractive deals. They can make it seem like they have your best interests in mind. And they often do because they want to use that for their own gains. Do not trust it. As long as they are still against Strahd, then we should still try to remain allies with them and make sure that we look out for each other even if it is

difficult at times. Zeros, as you are stood there watching these people, Zeke next to you trembling with the book in her hands, you feel that fiery watching these people, Ziki next to you trembling with the book in her hands. You feel that fiery heartbeat. When you were clutching the dagger, making the deal, you kind of felt this pulse. Like an intense

pulse of warm fire. This time you feel it coming from he who grins, the sword you were given. And you hear a voice. i ah next oh hang on here comes the voice changer mark ah my dragon warrior i do believe i own some information I owe you some information, do I not? Is this in my head?

In your head, yes. So I guess I reply in my head too, rather than just standing there like, well, what is it? You don't know? You try. I'll try. You think back. There is no response.

You must speak if I am to hear you, my warrior. What do you need? So, Zke, you hear anything Xero says, you hear. He has to speak out loud. Can't think these. I just realized my

camera is down. I need nothing. It was part of our arrangement that I give you information on your enemy. I have come to deliver a piece of information. Perhaps more will come when my tasks are completed. But for now, I will make it clear to you. Strahd has made a deal with me. He intends to

escape Barovia, which has become a prison for him. He hopes to conquer the mortal realms, destroying life and spreading his tragic misery to all he can find.

What do I need, Zeros? I don't... I don't know. What will returning his soul do? Oh, I imagine it will, in a way, make him not mortal again, but, well, having a soul makes you vulnerable to certain things. But that is not for you to concern yourself with. It will be nothing dangerous to you or your sister, I assure you. I give you one last piece of information before you must get on with the tasks I have given you.

The dagger you recovered was a part of my bargain with Strahd. He intended it to deal with some of his more dangerous enemies, the ones who could stop him. Whomever it slays, it banishes their soul to Avernus, one of my realm. I don't know the exact names that were inscribed upon the blade. I know that one belonged to some powerful mad wizard, one to a celestial of all things, a vampire hunter, an ancient enemy of his, and to a shapeshifter. And of course, you already know, Madam Ava. Good luck, my warrior.

I look forward to you completing the first of your tasks. It may be easier than you think. What was his deal? There is no more from the sword. Why would that be? Zeke is looking at Zeros. Freaking out. Who are you talking to? I'm talking to his modius.

The dealmaker. What about? What were you saying? He owed me information about Strahd. the deal maker what about what were you saying he owed me information about Strahd and he delivered okay well that's good right

it's stupid no I shouldn't say that of course it's not he's delivering more to me than these three I look up the hill at Rose and Jesper and Shadow. Ooh, spicy! They... I understand where they're coming from. They're allowed to be mad. I would be too.

Do we continue with them? I don't know. Do we need to? It would be safer for us... or for them, to not be with us. I don't know what's going to happen, Zeros. I don't know. Like Shadow said, a life has already been lost. You hear bootsteps, footfalls, as

Ismark comes out of the house that he's been rummaging through. He has a longbow, a set of arrows, a few knives, looks like a small bag of rations and foodstuffs as he approaches. He's like, well, I didn't find much,

but it should be enough to keep us going for a few days. How are you feeling, my friend? You are well, Ziki. You need to eat. We need to make sure that you get extra rations. I found a little more for us to carry. You should eat more. Thank you.

Get your strength back. Thank you. I'll try. I'll try. I don't know how much that will help, though. But I will try. Thank you. Nothing like a good

bit of food on the road. It'll put your spirits back up, I'm sure of it. And do not mind too much what they say, Zeros. They don't... It's like you said, they can't understand. Do you?

Yes. I think so. If anything were to do you yes think so if anything were to happen to Irina I would do anything to get her back I would do anything a deal with this devil so called that they've said you've made a deal with if it's not

it's not Strahd then it's fine by me we have to look after our family. We have to look after the people we love. Otherwise, what's the point in all of this? If we're so willing to give them up, to sacrifice them, then what's the point of fighting against Strahd? Why not just all live in misery?

Why not all just live and be next waiting in line to die? No. No, I want to kill him and save the people I love at the same time. I want it all. I wouldn't say that around them, Ismark. Well, we need to keep things civil.

We need to work together. So let's just say that I get you and I've got your back. All right? Come on. Let's get back with the others. let's just say that I get you and I've got your back. Alright? Come on. Let's get back with the others. Okay. Yep. Yep. Yep. Yep. Yep.

And he comes up, he puts an arm around Zeke's shoulders and he's putting... He's found what appears to be small, wrapped up... They're like sweet cakes, but they look like they last shoulders and he's like putting like he's found what appears to be like small like wrapped up they're like sweet cakes but they look like they last for a long time they're wrapped up in like cheesecloth and

like wrapped with wires he's like come come eat eat make sure you get some if anything these Vistani and the Dusk Elves well they know how to make some good food so they've still got their souls after all he kind of slaps Zeke a little bit on the back and he's like, come.

Yeah, good joke. It's Mark. He doesn't know. He's just like, yeah, they've got their souls. Yay. And he'll start making his way up to the others. He'll start making his way up to the others. He'll start making his way up to the others and joining everyone else. What about the rest of you? What about Hill Squad?

What about those three as Xeros called you? Misery Squad up here. Probably I'd be telling them about the shapes the shapes in the, the rain and the body gurgling and, and trying to say something. Just update them on that. Yeah, sure. If Shadow is explaining that, is there anything that I can do in terms of sort of tracking with my experience to see if I can work anything out to help her?

Absolutely. experience to see if i can work anything out to help her absolutely uh i would say make a well it depends on what kind of information you want to know if you want to know like how many creatures were around the campfire where they went um survival if you want to find out like more information if you want to try and csi the crime scene and kind of be like i want to know who killed him and how they did it and stuff like that, I'd say that's probably more of an investigation check. And yeah, those are my

those are what I think the two kind of options you have for like that sort of knowledge. I might survival it because we can kind of see how people were killed kind of looking like assassins. Yeah, I might survival it. So it's plus five.

17. 17? So there were probably about five people stood around the campfire, one of which was stood next to the body that you have here of I can't even remember his name. Luvash? Luvash. People stood around the campfire, one of which was stood next to the body that you have here of...

I can't even remember his name. Luvash? Luvash. There was a fellow stood next to Luvash, and they all looked like they were kind of like looking into the campfire. And then very, very quickly, judging by the tracks, judging by the chaotic nature of it, stuff went down. There was a skirmish. People ran down to the Dusk elf houses uh they went inside people were dragged out you can see that like several you know men were dragged out of beds or like you know pulled out of the way killed somebody ran off into the woods and the

vistani gave chase and they're the ones that have been killed with magic, some sort of fire spell and frost spell. Then most of the Vistani split into two groups. One was led by an individual, and they headed off west in the direction that you were leaving Vallaki. So they continued heading west. The rest all used a road that circumnavigates Valaki and goes back east towards Castle Ravenloft and towards the village of Barovia. Those were most of the Vistani. The vast majority of them got in their wagons and made their way east,

heading back towards Barovia or Castle Ravenloft or the camp where Madame Ava was killed. They seem to be going that direction. But a small group of maybe sort of like six to ten of them headed west from your current position. Sticking to the roads. They all stuck to the roads. They didn't appear to be going through the woods or anything like that.

I relay this information to the team. Jesper, I don't know if you would want to maybe follow where that smaller group went, since we seem to be going in the same direction. I guess that's our only good lead

right now. There could be a chance we could have some help. Or we could help them in some way. They might have information on what happened here. They could aid us. I could probably speak to this Louvash. But I need to rest for quite some time to prepare the magic for that

so that would cost us whatever time this group words I'm very confused right now there's a lot going on it's already been two days

you said? Yes? Since they were killed? Then we've already lost them. We're not going to catch them up. We can only hope that we find where they settled next.

So if you need the time... Unfortunately, there's not much shelter around here from the rain so I mean there are the little houses there are the dusk elf houses we could use these I suppose yeah

um it's been about maybe an hour or so since you kind of arrived like with all the sort of like talking and well not even that maybe like 40 minutes or so um since you arrived here the only question i have is do we wish to return for the horses and perhaps to see what happened to the old man father lucian Father Lucian.

It's difficult as much as I'd like to see my two horses again. It's too risky for us to go back. They know what we look like. They know what we've done. Word spreads fast in a town. I think they will have definitely upped their defenses.

I think we were lucky to get out when we did. It might not be a good idea to return. We should press forward, but also get some rest. It's been quite an intense day or so. quite an intense day or so. Alright, let's seek shelter in these Dusk Elf houses

for now. See what the other two are doing. The Disgraced Dragons. You see Ismark is leading them up the hill towards you. Seems to be carrying a bundle of gear. As he arrives, Ismark arose. He looks at you.

I wasn't sure if you needed any more, so he throws you a bundle of arrows that he's pulled out from some sort of house. Quite nicely kept, wrapped in leather so that they don't get wet very finely made Very much for a t Well need to make sure we keep a supplied as much as we can I found some a few bits of traveling where some weapons some food mainly

But a lot of these houses seem to have been ransacked so Not much left. Well. What's the plan? Rest here. We need it. Make a new plan. Follow a trail west where some small group of Vistani may have fled. Let's see. Imagine he looks at Irina. I guess the only other village west of here is...

Yes, probably Krezik. Krezik is quite far, but it's on the very edge of Barovia. But it's walled and there's an abbey there that belonged to the mourning lord. That could provide some safe haven. From what I remember, the devil tends to leave it alone. It's quite far out of the way. There's a lake there with a

tower, an old tower. And yes, there's also the Svalik woods. They can be a little dangerous. The wolves get quite aggressive out on the far regions. But Kresek is safe, at least, I think.

Hopefully it's not like Blackie. Did I know the rough location of where the, uh, the dragon... Argonvostolt. Argonvostolt. Yeah, you know the vague direction So on the map you could follow it

You know that if you head west from here There's a crossroads You follow the crossroads west There'll be a trail that leads to the south And curves around And Argenvostholt is an old manor that's On the edge of the Lunar River It's on hills overlooking the river

It's kind of in the direction we're heading It's on the edge of the Lunar River. It's on hills overlooking the river. It's kind of in the direction we're heading. It's in the direction. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And like Irina and his Mark Trot, and because I know you know the map, you vaguely know where Krezik is as well. You know Krezik. You've probably passed it on your way

out of Barovia before. So, yeah. Alright. Well, yeah. Alright. Well, there's a few houses. Most of them have got a couple of beds in them at least still, so we could pick a few and get some rest if that's really what you want to do.

We can set up a guard, swap out every now and then. Sure. Okay. Sure. Ismark kind of leaves it over to you guys for you guys to decide how you want to do this oh yeah i'll start walking back towards the houses

and uh just have a little look around be awkwardly distant from the two dragons but give a glance now again uh we're resting i say to those two um yeah i mean i'm just sort of following at this point like i'm just sort of around because Zeke said to be around.

You guys do what you want to do. I'm just sorting some stuff out at the moment. I think Zeke will take a while to follow. I think she'll just stand in the rain for a bit and just watch. What's she looking like? What's her kind of body language? Yeah, I'm asking Rhi, yeah. She's just, I guess she's just like clutching the book, like not really looking at anyone, sort of looking at the ground.

Well, there are numerous, there are a number of Dusk Elf houses for you to, for you guys to choose from. What time is it, by the way? What time do we go on a way? It's just after dawn, so it's, you know, a very faint white light, a greyish light, really. It's not really white, but it's kind of a greyish light. It's just after dawn.

All day and party all night. That's what you want to do, yeah. During Curse of Strahd, just travel only during the night. We've fallen into that pattern. Yeah, so Irna and Ismark will basically take a cabin. They'll take one house,

if you will. You have to enter them from the front, so it's worth just noting you can't come out the back of the houses. You kind of have to enter them from the front. Oh, facing away from the hill. Okay. Yeah, facing away from the hill. So each entrance faces away from the hill. Facing away from the hill. Each entrance faces away from the hill and then it's partially built

and dug into. It's a little bit like a Hobbit house. It's kind of dug into the hill a little bit. Place you guys where you guys want to go. I'll go with Rose and Jesper. I guess Rose, would we go where Jesper is? Are we going to have a

three no dragonborns allowed squad in one house? They're allowed. They just clearly don't want to talk to us right now, salty little dragons. It's smart to avoid one person being on their own because I'd probably go with Shadow. Okay.

I don't think there's enough beds for three people in one place, but one of you could easily sleep on the floor with a bedroll or something like that. Yeah. Okay. I'll sleep on the floor. It's like in the graveyard, after all. Alright. Okay. Cool. So there in the southernmost one is Markan Arena.

In the southwest house, and we're in southeast. and then C100 in the southwest and we're in southeast 6pm and then you've got 5pm and 7pm basically where your houses are on a clock and you guys are going to take a long rest yeah

we're not doing rotations we're in three houses let's go I don't need to sleep I should probably be busy and around. Staying awake. Yeah. Ismark is definitely going to basically take a couple of hours of watch

at least. And I think that he Rose and Ismark have done this before where I think that, yeah, you guys will probably do that, right? You take two hours. So that gives you at least two, like half of your rest covered um you guys when you guys take long rest by the way you can basically have two hours of

watch for free like you can spend two hours of that eight hours being on watch so like xeros could take two hours or ziki you know ziki's awake the whole time anyway so for some reason ziki doesn't seem to be sleeping although none of you except Zeros would know that um well I assume she just sleeps the same time as me you do alright so Ziki you're in with Zeros I'm guessing

yeah and then we've got the three of you in the house and then Irina and Ismark okay so Rose is going to take a watch Ismark is going to take a watch Ziki is awake the whole time. Anybody else? Yeah, I'll take two hours. Yeah, if I can take two hours, I'll

help out. Yeah, and you can basically just kind of be outside your house and everything else. So, who wants to take it in what order? Does anyone want to take first watch? You've got four periods First, second, third and fourth

So Jesper takes first, who takes second? I'll take that Rose takes second Ziki, I'm assuming you are awake for everything, so whatever happens you'll be awake at the same time Third watch? Yo

Oh yeah, Shadow, I'll take last watch Maybe people will be more cheery after a little sleep. Alright, perfect. So, you guys all bed down as the soft rain drums against

the clay tiles of the Dusk Elves' homes. The wind rattles wooden shutters. You can't help but feel the presence of sleeping in a bed that a few days ago was occupied by somebody else.

A living being called this home once. Now nobody will call it home ever again. You sleep in it. There's a silence. A soft quiet that permeates through except the pitter patter of the falling rain.

Shadow, I believe you were taking the third watch, yes? Am I correct? Yes, that was me. Then I would like Shadow and Zke to make perception checks.

Oh! This girl got a plus six, y'all. Nice. 21, 22, 23. Wait, no. No, I got that wrong. It's 17. You here, those of you who got 17... So we got a 17.

What was your total, actually, Ziki? Yeah, 17. 17 total, and then Shadow got like 20-something crazy. Both of you hear footsteps approaching from the trail that you took to reach this hill.

You hear the mixed armored boots of guards. You hear what sounds like flapping wings and the clockwork cogs of soldiers of the lackey. You hear one guard call out, You hear one guard call out, We must... We should check the buildings, see if they're here or not. The hound couldn't find any of their tracks, but... Lady Wachter says that they have magic, so we should check, just to be sure.

All right. Should we send the devil to... fly around? You hear a kind of screeching. Ask. I don't know what that thing is saying, but... I think it's just going to do what it wants. Let's just get this over with quickly.

As you can hear this muted voice coming from... Where you entered the area. What do the two of you do? Is that abyssal or infernal? It would have been infernal. I chose the wrong language for this land.

Can I quietly wake Rose and Jesper? You can, yeah. As you kind of move them, yeah, some of these guys start moving around. I'm afraid we have visitors, and I think they have a little flappy thing with them. Ah, we need to go. Where are they approaching from? The Palaki?

The, yes, that place. The entrance. The same road we came up by. Let me exit to the south. Hopefully we can arouse the others. I'm going to go to Ismark and Irina.

Okay. So, yeah, you quietly open the door, Jesper, and the three of you can now hear these soft voices. They're whispering, but it's being carried. The rain is kind of dumbing the sound a little bit, deadening the sound a little bit,

but you can still hear sort of, you'll check this building, I'll check this one, kind of echoing across the hills. Do you look towards where you can hear the voices, or are you just moving, trying to sneak to the other... I think I'll try and, yeah, definitely try and keep them, keep aware of where they are, at least.

Okay. You glance over in that direction, and it's hard to see everything because the hill between you and them blocks most of your sight. But you see, flapping in the air, flying above the campfire that has now long gone out over the last few hours um you can see one of those devil-like creatures that when you first rescued irena were trying to kill is mark and her father these little spined devils flapping wings like uh fiendish looking birds and it's circling it's like flying around looking down at the hill

I'm gonna pick up speed then and you wanna try and stealth across to Irena yeah that is a stealth check my friend 13 this thing is actively searching

so I will have it make a roll 13 plus 2 so as you so you would go out and then you'd be stealthing so you go about half speed so 5 10 15

and then would you dash across would you basically be trying to like get across them as quickly as possible yeah that'd be the point where I saw it I've actually got 40 foot of movement oh okay so you get an extra so you get 20 and then another 20 so you go 42

15 25 30 35 40 yeah so you're nearly towards their house when you just hear a see them this house So you're nearly towards their house when you just hear a Ah! See them! This house! And that is where we are going to roll

initiative. Damn it. I'm guessing she's not going to open it up, right? Yes, I'm assuming so because she did hear these guys coming. The only people who are not awake yet are Ismok and Irena. Oh my god, nine. That's the highest initiative I've rolled so far. Set both of their initiatives to one.

Right, Zeros, total initiative. Nine. Nine. Rose? Ten. And Rose? Ten. Shadow? Twelve. Yes. Ten.

Wow. Speedy boy. Ziki? Eighteen. Eighteen. Ziki, you are the first to go. You can see... No, slots back, do they? no, sadly not

you did not complete a long rest this happened about 5 hours in we're kind of late all those guards from Vallaki came looking for the people that fled and this was a place en route from Vallaki so they have

checked it I reset my hit points all my spell slots are out so that was easy but I can't remember how many hit points I was down to like 20 something put yourself to 25 let's literally call it in the middle

25 it's nice and in the middle. Um... So I'll fill up my spell slots. Yes, no, sadly... No long rest was completed. You do technically get the benefits of a short rest. So if you want to, if you get anything back on a short rest,

if you want to spend hit dice, you may. Uh... Okay. Well, I get my channel divinity back, but there's no undead, isn't there? Yeah, I know. Maybe. Because your channel, it only works against undead, doesn't it? Because you're base cleric.

I think you have to have special channel divinity for fiends. I will probably roll some hit dice, though. Absolutely, yeah. You guys can take a short, like, yeah, it's, You guys completed like five hours of rest, basically. Yeah, I've healed up a bit. So it's not too bad. It's not bad for you.

You're not a spellcaster out of spell slots like poor Shadow is. Yeah, that's true. I'm basically... I'm Xeros. And I'm fully healed. That's all. I'm basically... I'm Xeros. And I'm fully healed, that's all I need. Screw it, I'm gonna roll one more. Let's do it. I've rolled exactly the same. Let's hope you get a long rest in at some point today.

Yeah, thanks. Zeki had a rest. She did? at some point today. Yeah, thanks. Zeke had a rest. She did? Yeah. So, Zeke, what do you do? You hear these figures approaching and they are moving clockwise, so they're going to get to you and Xeros first

if they continue. Okay. But you hear this kind of screech like, I see them! I see them i see them south south um i just said i think i think we're in trouble zero so i don't know i think they're coming um i'll cast um bless at level one on myself and zeros okay you guys both have bless. Channel fragments of Lyra's power. So that's 1d4, right?

Yeah. Pretty much any. Saving throws and attack rolls. Yes. Wonderful. Do you want to move? Any bonus actions? Let's see.

5, 10, 10, 20, 20. I think I'll stay in the house. I think I'll wait on Xeros and see what Xeros does. Okay. And then... yeah. Can you do like a held movement action? No. You can't. So basically, Zeki is just in the back of the house waiting to see what you do. Hmm. If I I run she stays there yes but you're the only one who can see this figure

but coming over the hill you see this is no this is no human. This is no man. This is a devil. Standing about eight feet tall, purple skin, a tail with these long tendrils that come out like a beard and end in these jagged barbs. You can see a figure with a long glaive, ragged, infernal-looking armor just comes charging

over the hill for the Burgomaster as it comes barreling over. Ending its turn. You then hear the clank of clockwork gears as some

clockwork soldiers do the same thing. 25, 30, 5, 10, 15, 20, 25, 30, 5, 10, 15, 20. They're all dashing over the hill. Dashing over the hill.

You see two clockwork soldiers also charging towards you. And then the spined devil shall go next. Twenty. And then, very much

like before, the creature will attempt to fling its tail spines at you. But doing so from a long range is a disadvantage. Flings them out towards you and it misses. You see this tail spine thuds into the ground.

It does get two attacks actually with disadvantage still. So there it is. It's happening again. 13. It's happening! 13, I'm guessing, misses. Yeah. Yeah.

15. So, these two tail splines just embed into the grass, the wet, rain-slicked grass in front of you, as it's just pointing down at you, like, ah, ah, care, care! Shadow, be on the veil. Um... Shadow, be on the veil. I guess... So where's the flappy one?

Which one's the flying one? The flappy one is this one here. Okay. It is currently flying over the campfire for podcast listeners. So at the very top of the hill, it's flying over the campfire. Okay. I guess I'll turn to rose and say you can't see it in the building by the way there's no windows that look out onto the hill

inside the building i heard it though i heard that you can hear it yeah you can hear it yeah um i don't know if it's within range but if it is shoot the thing in the air, and maybe we can blind it. And then can I ready an action to when Rose moves in... You will need to move out of the house to be able to see this thing. Right now, you cannot see anything outside this house. Yeah, I'm not attacking. I want to ready an action that I'm going to, when Rose moves to shoot this creature, to sight and

shoot this creature, I want to cast light on the arrow she's going to shoot it with and the idea of maybe blinding it so it can't report aerial surveillance. Can I run as well when that happens?

You can't run as well. You ready an action to cast light, that's it. No, literally you are readying your action and that action is to cast light. Okay. So if you want to move, you've got to move now. I've got to move now, okay. Can I move to just outside the door then?

So I'm not blocking Rose but I'm just outside the door. The door is this way. Your door is the other way so I'll go the other way. It places south. Sure. Okay. As Shadow moves outside

you hear the huffing and puffing of two very normal guards, two very human guards. Man, they fell into the wrong crowd. I blame their burger. As they basically spend their turn running up. Rose, your turn. You see a shadow dart outside.

You can hear the sound of boots and clanking metal. Boots and cats. Boots and cats. Boots and cats. I will move out the door. Other way?

It's like five. It's like ten feet to get outside. It's to the south. Faces away from the hill. Sorry. About ten feet of immutability. So I will move here. So that's about 10.

So that's like 15. Can I take two shots at... Thingy. I've got 150 foot range. Then you are still within short range yeah that's what i was just measuring yep so you can fire twice at the the flying devil um the rain doesn't really affect you too much it's quite a light rain um and yeah as you pull back the arrow shadow you conjure a source of light on the tip first of all um put slayer Prey on it and then I will shoot it.

What's the range of Slayer's Prey? Within 60 feet, so I can't... Yeah, it's currently 120 feet away. 16 plus 9 to hit? Yeah. 2 plus 9? No. The 16 plus 9 will definitely hit the the two plus nine doesn't comes pretty damn close though it nearly nearly pierces one of its wings as it

scorches it flies past um the first one hits it light isn't just figure that like it's a 10 foot you touch an object that's until the spell ends the object sheds bright light in a 20 foot radius and dim light for an additional 20 feet it's kind of like

a torch level of blight I'll make a roll for it but it's probably not going to fully blind it it'll probably make give it some disadvantage but it won't blind blind it

what's the total on the damage there, Katie? Eight. Eight points. Just to check as well. These are not silver arrowed, are they? No.

The arrow strikes the creature and you see it kind of scrabble at the light as it does so. I will make a deck saving throw for it. How about that? So it manages to throw tiny claws up in front of its eyes as this bright light strikes it in the chest.

And then it snatches the arrow free and throws it to the ground so it lands below it. But it's kind of like blinking. But you can see the arrow wound isn't as deep as you would have expected it to be from your mundane arrow. And then the second one just narrowly

misses the creature as it flies past. Jasper? I'm going to continue to move towards the house. So 5, 10, 15. I'm going to bash on the door, saying Luna, it's Mark. Gonna bash on the door, saying, Irina, Ismark, we need to go.

Yeah, the door flies open, and you can see Ismark is pretty much ready to go. He doesn't have his scale armor on, but he has leather armor that he must have slept in. He's got his bags and stuff packed. But you can see Irina is still buckling her armor on, and he's just like, come on, there's no time, leave it. You have to leave it, we have to go. And she's trying to carry it and stuff like that.

They were awake, but they just hadn't managed to have... They hadn't been awoken before the attack happened. So they are in the process of ready to leave. Okay. If that's the case, then I'll use the rest of my movement. 5, 10, 15. So that's 30, I think, where I am now. Then I'll start to action.

Just at the base of the hill. Just running into the woods, basically. So directly south is big woods I'm going to ensure the dragons are coming with us too okay nice speaking of the dragons Zeros Mistan yeah I'm struggling to think what to do

because if it's difficult I want to move but also I don't want to leave Ziki on her own if they're this close so like it's almost like a I want to move, but also I don't want to leave Zeke on her own if they're this close. So like... It's almost like a... I almost... I'm basically asking... Is... If I can do like a held move action. If she moves, I just follow her. You could hold your action to dash for her.

The other thing I'd say is you could just pick Ziki up and carrier Because it'd be effectively an uncontested grapple and then you're like shoulder carrying her like come on kick the door open And then you run out. Oh If she was stronger, we could take it in turns. I could carry her then dash and then Me up Grappling a creature you move a half speed joint car so what you're saying is it's pointless well it's in pieces like this where you're going after her you could you could carry her outside um and then ready yourself or you could just hold your turn and take the dash action when she does when she moves but you're only going to 30 I mean they know where we are

I mean they certainly are charging towards the person they've spied which is Jesper yeah but I mean um okay I'll go through the door of my one I guess I can see Jesper, Shadow

and Rose across the bottom of the hill yeah it's not night time my one. I guess I can see Jesper, Shadow, and Rose across the bottom of the hill. Yeah, it's not night time, so you can see each other. I'll kind of just nod towards Jesper, and then point towards

the woods. And that's just as much of a direction as i can give like while they can't see us as such oh actually do i want them to see us no it's all right i just do that i do that so what is what you're doing sorry just to remind me because you talked a lot just uh letting know yet laying yes for know that i'm here and that i am going to be following and then okay but you point them towards the woods. Yeah.

Okay. All right. Zeros and Jesper, you can see. 5, 10, 15, 25, 25, 35. It was mainly the inability to move. It's kind of like, yeah, just leaving Zeke there. That's weird. 5, 10, 15, 25, 35, 35. That's weird. Yeah.

A shadowy looking creature looks almost like a large dog dashes down the hill and then it darts into behind one of the buildings, the one closest to Zeros, and then

just seems to fade away as it curls up into the shadows being cast by the building hitting from where the sun is rising. It seems to vanish. Irena and Ismark both

pull themselves out, and they are basically going to spend their movement dashing over to where everyone else is. They can basically get over to where everyone else is. They can basically get over to everyone else. And they're just looking around like, what are we doing? Are we running? Are we fighting?

As we go back up to Ziki Mistan. I will follow Zeros out of the house. 5, 10, 15, 20, 25, 30. I think I'll go that way, heading of the house. 5, 10, 15, 20, 25, 30. I think I'll go

that way, heading towards the woods. Okay. I might dash. I might do a little dash. 15, 20, 25, 30 and go there. Sure, okay. So you basically just run off into the thick woodlands.

It doesn't take you long before gnarled trees slowly begin encompassing around you. There is no trail. You're just kind of running past brushland as you journey into the wooded tree area. The devil creature,

the bearded devil, darts forward, seeking to fight someone, basically. 5, 10, 15, 20, 25, 30, 5, 10, 15, and basically emerges

kind of next to Jesper's shadow, Ismark, brandishing this glaive, and in a deep, rumbling voice voice you just hear like we have you now followed by the clockwork uh thumping of animated clockwork legs 5 10 15 20 25 30 they also 15, 20, 25, 30. They also...

Damn, all of them have caught up, then. Yeah, they are just dashing. They use their whole turn to dash, but that is pretty much what they do. 5, 10, 15, 20. This, the flying devil, will actually start descending

and it will dash. 20. As it takes cover behind one of the Dusk Health houses just on the clip of its roof, it dive bombs down out of the reach of Rose's arrows. Shadow beyond the veil. A very angry looking devil man with a beard. A beard made of iron barbs.

Was I first in the initiative? I thought Ismark. No. You are not first in the initiative, my dude. You are quite midway down. Okay. No, I thought we were back up.

Yeah, we have just gone through everyone because they were just dashing. They haven't really done a thing. I can't decide whether or not I thought we were back up. No, we've just gone through everyone because they were just dashing. They haven't really done a thing. I can't decide whether or not to disengage and run off into the night or... That's your call. ...or start fighting. I'm going to... Can I...

Can I disengage? And... Can I use my feline agility? So when I move in my turn in combat you can double your speed until the end of your turn. So I can move 30 feet. So if I disengage... How many of these squares were

the usual 5? 5 feet. You can easily get into the woods with your feline. So 5, 10, 15, 20 into the woods with your feeler 5, 10, 15, 20 I'm off the map, I'm somewhere I don't know where I've gone I'll work out the exact distance

but yeah, I'm just going to disengage and move 60 away These guys Same thing 25 God damn it. 25... Uh...

60... 30, 35, 40... Two human guards, dressed in armor, are like... They're charging like, We found them! We found them! Get them! Where's the dog? Where's the hound? They're calling out rose your turn two human guards basically come barreling down to join the rest of their forces

outside the house that you were staying in so i'm just as a as a note i'm i'm particularly familiar with the forest. It is my favorite terrain. Terrain. If that makes differences. So I think, yeah, we can travel pretty well. You tell me, what does it do? What does favored terrain do? I can't remember.

It's one of those abilities that I don't know very well. It's just... I've just scrolled right past it So Favourite terrain type Your proficiency bonus is doubled for proficient skills When you make an intelligence or wisdom check Related to it while travelling

In your chosen terrain Difficult terrain doesn't slow your group's travel Your group can't become lost Except by magical means You remain alert to danger even when you're engaged in other activity you can move stealthily at a normal pace while alone so that's not right now you find twice as much food um okay while foraging and while tracking creatures and blood okay i'm adept at traveling and surviving but yeah it affects the main The key things there is the fact that difficult terrain doesn't slow you down

and you can't get lost. So as long as you're together as a group, yeah, you're not going to get lost traveling through these woods and stuff. Cool. All right. Well, what do you want to do on your turn? You want to run for it? You should run.

I'm probably going to... God, I'm not scrolled properly. Yes, but you're after this. Yeah, it's fine. Once you get to the edges here... Yeah. Once you're here, you're in the woods, basically. But I think I will take a couple of shots.

So you only move a little ways in, turn around. Before I go. Sure. Probably at the big, scary-looking dude. The devil? A bearded devil? probably at the big scary looking dude the devil I will slayers pray and take a couple shots

Jesper and Zerus you're after this so just get your turns cleaned up cool 14 14 hits 14 hits you are very accurate with your bow 13 yeah they both hit okay good yeah both hit 14 hits, you are very accurate with your bow. 13! The person is not particularly well armed.

Yeah, they both hit. Okay, good. Yeah, both hit. Okay, good. So... Oh no, just as it happened. She's on roll 20. There we go. That's alright, it's back. It paused.

So... 11 damage on the first arrow. That's alright, it's back. It paused. So, 11 damage on the first arrow. Okay, very much similar to last time, the arrow does not quite cause as much damage as you would hope. 5 damage on the next arrow, and then

Slayer's Prey, which is 5. Damage. Yes. So these two And then Slayer's Prey, which is five. Yeah, that's the one. The Marge. Yes. So these two arrows thud into the creature, and you see it kind of just grunts, snaps them off, brushes them to the side. And the holes, the Icarus wounds left

are not quite as deep as you would hope. But yeah, you take your two shots. Anything else? Otherwise, I think it's Jesper. Nope, I just disappear into theper. Nope, I just disappear into the woods. Okay, Jesper. Your crew is making a run for the woods.

Zeke, Shadow, and Rose have already made it in. What do you do? You currently have a bearded devil, a clockwork soldier, and two guards, well, two clockwork soldiers and two human guards basically surrounding you at this point. Disengage and run.

That's what I'm doing. Nice. Okay, so you just... 40 foot of running. You easily get into the woods and very much like Shadow, you disappear further ahead. Cool. Zeros.

All right, I'm going to go 5, 10, 15, 20, 25, 30 down here. I'm guessing this is not quite the woods. Where's the woods? Right. I mean, I could make it there, but I also want to split their party a bit, so I'm going to shoot a

scorching ray at them with my sword. He who grins also shoots. Which is kind of cool. Well, Scorching Ray is actually three beams. You choose, I believe it's, you cast it if you check the spell. Yeah, I may as well shoot the human.

The human and the two little quark work boys. And just get their attention. Like, hey, over here, hey. the two little quark work boys and just get their attention. Like, hey, over here. Hey. Hey. Do you have a spell attack bonus on that? It says I have plus three.

That makes sense. You're not. Yeah. Yeah, so I'll cast the charge. Okay, I guess that's the first one. That's the human. So six points of fire damage is this. You hold the sword aloft. You have to hold it it up and from that gap in between the two blades you just watch as

this spiraling storm of fire shoots out like a beam uh and it catches the man in the chest lights like the fur like the fur mantle around his neck goes up in flames. His gambus is on fire. Oh my god! He begins flailing around as he is set on fire. Well, here I go, killing again. The clockwork boy, that's a nine. This one, it kind of

unnaturally dodges to the side. Oh, and then the other clockwork boy, that's a 15, 18 to hit. 18 hits. Seven points of fire damage. So the same thing, there's no screaming, but parts of its body seem to kind of be superheated, glowing hot embers. Parts begin dripping and melting like copper, melted copper,

as it just hits the wet grass with a sizzle. But it turns, and yeah, it seems to awkwardly move towards you, sensing an immediate threat. Ow, ow, what the fuck, ow. I'm on fire. Oof, owie, my bones. Are you done?

That's me, That's me. I am done. Hmm. Oh, it's just that. Anyway, it could have gone. What are you thinking about the dog? Thinking about dogs again. It actually can get you.

So, appearing seemingly out of nowhere, like a creature that was invisible that becomes visible, a giant hound made of blackness appears and tries to strike you, Xeros. You make a bite attack with advantage.

I knew it would get me. Yes. Yeah. That is going to be 10 points of piercing damage and can you make a strength saving stroke, please? Oh, strength save, my favourite. Oh god, really? 12 with a plus 9.

You are knocked prone, Zeros, as this thing bears you to the ground and is biting into your neck as its paws are placed upon your back as you watch all of your allies running into the woods. All of your ally. Except one.

You see, Irina will do what the others are doing. She doesn't even need to disengage. She just runs into the woods following Rose and Shadow and everything else. But I'll tell you who doesn't fucking run. Seeing his bro on the ground,

Ismark the Lesser will disengage. In fact, no, he's not going to disengage. He's going to fucking take an attack of opportunity because he's a boy. He's going to get himself killed. I love it. Yep, he really will. The bearded devil swings at him Misses

As is 1, 5, 10, 15, 20 25, 30 His mom, the lesser to the rescue 5, 10, 15, 20 25, 30 He has to dash, but he's just like As he just comes barreling over 10, 0 As he's bringing his sword And his axe out He's just like, as he just comes barreling over. Zen, Zeros!

As he's bringing his sword and his axe out. Brother! Brother! As he charges towards you. It's awesome. We can squeeze one more combat round in before we have to finish tonight. Ziki, what are you doing?

Do you want to keep running? You turn around and you can see Zeros being born to the ground by this creature. I'm going to move 5, 10, 15, 20 up here. And I'm going to cast Guiding Bolt at level 2 on the creature. Bam, bam. Okay. Go for it.

So that is a ranged spell attack. Here we go. That's a 20. That is going to hit. Woo! And then it's 4d... 5d6 radiant damageo. Damn. 19 damage.

19 damage. Nice. You summon a radiant sphere of energy that streaks through the air and as that as it hits the shadow the the hound you can see parts of its body that were kind of almost emanating this dark mist begin to sizzle and burn it howls this terrifying deep uh blood curdling cry as it strikes and you can see it like turning its head trying to get away from the light that's now surrounding its body um seems to be an

intense discomfort as you do so um anything else on your turn um no i'm good i'm good uh the bearded devil will turn to the two clockwork soldiers and the guards

deal with that one. I shall give pursuits after the archer. As it begins to barrel towards Rose in the woods. I like it. And yeah, he comes barreling into the woods, Rose, with a glaive risen. Yeah, yeah, he's pointing towards you.

Now you are in I'm going to give you some cover bonus, Rose, as you have trees and foliage to kind of dart and hide behind but it is going to try and attack you once with its long glaive and then once with the iron barbs of its beard uh so does a i'm assuming a 23 will hit you rose yeah maybe yeah maybe uh that is going to be 4 points of slashing damage then I need you to make a

constitution saving throw as this glaive cuts into your flesh you notice that the blade is serrated and unnaturally sharp 12 just enough you manage to quickly pull your arm away before the cut goes any deeper naturally sharp. Twelve. Just enough. You managed to kind of quickly

pull your arm away before the cut goes any deeper. But yeah, you can tell that this would have left a very grievous wound on your body had it hit. But as it does so, its barbed beard spikes out towards you, trying to strike you. But a seven to hit, you managed to leap

to the side. See? Roll 20 is just giving me normal rolls today. As you managed to leap to the side see roll 20 is just giving me normal rolls today uh as uh you managed to lean to the side as the spot oh yeah exactly it's an attack beard and that's this whole turn uh the two clockwork soldiers that you have to dash but they will surround is not oh no greater well you can call him bro here that's just his nickname in. Well, you can call him that. That's just his nickname in Barovia. You can call him what you want. In fact, actually, the spined devil, the flying devil,

is going to start flying back towards the road from where it came. You see it just like... Poop. Beginning to fly away. Shadow beyond the veil. Let's get more. So I guess seeing Rose getting nipped. Yeah, how far into the woods did you go, by the way?

Did you work that out? I worked that out. That's the full 60, because I disengaged, and then I did my... So you were 60 feet into the woods, basically. Yeah. I measured with a little... I think you were about 20 feet into the woods, basically. Yeah. I've measured with a little...

I think you were about, like, 20 feet into the woods. I think. Yeah. So I've measured with this little ruler thing that I've just discovered. Holy crap, that's cool. Well, I mean, yeah, we'll just say that right now you are, like, a good 50,

40, 50 feet away from Rose and the dark. Okay. I would like now we're into a bit of mine sure i will cast a flame on him could you make a deck save of 14 please or guess what he does also have advantage as magic spells seem to be less effective against him and that is a natural 20 I rolled a nat 20 so he throws the creeper off to the side as the divine fire

strikes into the tree not igniting it but enough to cause it to leap back anything else on your turn shadow would you like to move deeper into the woods I just want to let me quickly check the range on something else because I forgot to no I can't carry on I'm want to... Let me quickly check the range on something else. Because I forgot to...

No, I can't. Carry on. I'm going to stay. I'm going to stay while Rose is being crunched. Dashing the two guards. Attempt to surround Zeros, who is now on the ground. They try and surround the two bros.

But that's their turn. And they dash Rose the two bros but that's their turn they dash rose two bros killing all the gods yeah you currently have a angry beard devil rose in front of you i do i will take out my short sword and do I get multi-attack with that as well? Yeah, yeah, yeah. You get to make two attacks. Anytime you take the attack action.

Thrust. A couple of swipeys. Sure. Twelve. That's not as good without the bow the 12 he deflects it with his glaive sending it to the side it's happened again hey at least with the bow you were

hitting even with low rolls sadly switching to the blade you're not quite as skilled and he manages to deflect these parries the blows to the side as you do so any movement because he's next to me you will get an attack opportunity yes okay yes but seeing Rose struggle, he will dart towards... I'll say, we need to disengage and run.

Lose him in the woods. Run now. I'll hold him off. And I'll do an attack. I'm going to use bardic inspiration because what I just said was awesome to myself. You can give yourself bardic inspiration as a bonus action. So great.

Do you have extra attack as a bard or do you just make one? I have a second attack as part of my... Oh, because of your sword, your college. College.

So I will do the first attack. I'm also going to use the flourish with the bardiciration of defense. Give me an AC of an extra D6. So anyway. First attack.

You remember all of that. 20. That's a hit. I'll do damage now. That is how the game works, yes? Here we go. Oh. I didn't do that. Here we go. Oh. I didn't do that.

Here we go. Roll. It rolled a d20 for that drop, so... Yeah, I know. I clicked the... Weird. That's 10 damage. Okay, so very much like Rose's arrows,

your strike does not seem to have the same force through this creature's flesh as you would through a creature made of flesh and bone. I also get a D6 on top of that, which I assume will be half as well. So that's two extra. Another two points, yeah. So you kind of cut through its body. Yeah, sadly, it does not quite have the impact.

22 for the dagger. That's also a hit. Yep. And... So that's seven on the base damage, and then an extra little flourish of two. Do you get the flourish to both attacks, or just to one?

I'll double-check, Mark Humes. Double-check. I'll take it Mark Humes Double check I'll take it for now but just double check that for the future I'll take an extra 2 damage now Do extra damage equal to the number you roll on the die Okay so you have to Spend extra bardic inspiration to do it So if you do it on the first attack

That's one use of it and then if you do it on the second That's another use of it Okay Sure Do you want to do that i'll just just do the first one and reserve my second and then you also get you get five

to your ac as well because you roll five on the dc okay yes so my armor class is 20 right now okay is that you done that's me done, Mark. Zeros. You are prone, surrounded. Okay, so I can still attack.

I just need to stand up. Yeah, use half your movement to stand up. So 15 feet of your movement to stand up. And then you have a lot of enemies around you. You know when you said we can squeeze in one more round? You're about to regret that. I want to multi-attack the dog

and everyone that hits, I want that to be a sweeping attack. He's got advantage from things. You have advantage on the first attack from the guiding ball. And then I want to act insurgently again. Yeah, well don't forget you have to spend superiority die for every sweeping

attack you do. That's fine. Let's see if you hit. Less? He does also have less. He's surprisingly confident. He does do a lot of damage. So I need to do 1d20 plus 1d4. So d20 with advantage.

So 16 plus 10. That hits. Right, yeah. Don't forget your bless. Oh, wait. Can I bonus action my sword as well? You've already rolled the dice, Thomas. You can bonus action.

No, you can move between actions. You can't take a bonus action Can I bonus well hang on actually do I need to use a bonus action to use? thingy action search no Between that then okay. Sure. All right. So this first one is just a normal here. It's not flaming currently So normal damage you. Give me your damage. D6 plus 7, that is 12 damage to that one. And a D8, which is 5, to...

...human number 1. Yes. Does that do that to the first guy as well? Sweeping attack? No. Okay. Second attack,

which doesn't have advantage. 19 costs a million. Did you roll the d8 for the first guy? Did you roll the d8 for the first guy? Yeah, that was five points of damage. Okay, you didn't tell me that. I don't think. I think you just rolled it.

That guy dies. Because, did he? I didn't hear him because I was listening to other stuff, I guess. I got lost in the explanation of the sweeping attack. So the sweeping attack kills the first guard. You cut through the creature. The cut isn't as effective, kind of similar to the devil.

It seems to absorb some of the blow. But then you bring the sword back and the second backhanded strike just impales the human guard who clutches his stomach and then falls to the sword back, and the second backhanded strike just impales the human guard, who clutches his stomach and then falls to the ground, cold, dead. Oh. Holy shit. Okay.

Well, I'm going to keep doing that until the next guard die. The next one was 29 to hit the devil dude. So 2d6 again, plus 7. You're hitting the dog, yeah. This is 10 damage to the dog. So same thing, it absorbs some of the blow. Looks very weak, but... And then 4 damage to the other human guard. You cut quite a severe blow across his arm.

Now I bonus action to light my sword. Action surge and do that all over again. You speak deep infernal command word as the sword roars into life. Flame erupts down the blades. It was 4d6. Well, 2d6 of its fire. Roll it separately because damage resistance is a thing.

Oh, 24. 24. On the dog. No, not 24, 14. I was gonna say, 14 still hits, but yeah. Oh, does it? It did raise my eyebrow. So that's 13 regular damage. And then 6 fire damage. With a flaming stab, you pierce through the dog's skull

as it just burns into cinders, evaporating away. Pull it free. The shadow mastiff is dead. Holy shit. Eight damage to the other human. Maybe a deal with the devil is kind of worth it. You stab backwards with the sword

and you just impale through the guy's jaw up into his skull pull it free as he falls to the ground dead you have been marking off superiority die for all of these because I think you only have one left now I only have one left you also have no targets

in range but you can move and make an attack I've only got 15 so I can't really get into range You also have no targets in range, but you can move and make an attack. I've only got 15, so I can't really get into range. Who is the most healthy clockwork dude? The one I didn't shoot. Yeah, it's the one north of Ismark is the one that is the most injured. Sure, I'll do another attack on this dude as well. I guess, can I do a multi-attack?

Like a movement between the multi-attack? Yeah, yeah, you can. Yeah, yeah, yeah. That's an actual thing you can do. 13. 13 does not hit. It's agile enough to slip duck down beneath the blade. Almost. You see Ismark just grinning as he watches you slaughter a bunch of guys.

What about 16? Less. 16 hits? 16 hits? Neat. 16 hits. That's 15 plus another 3, 18 damage. Without the fire fire you just crush

the clockworks like just bring the whole sword down keep in mind those of you who are worried about Zeros being too strong he's using every single resource he has to do this he's using all of his superior or he die and his action surge he's a badass but he has to use all of his

resources to do it I'm a fire tornado right now. Burning bright, man. Burning bright. This is the right situation to do it, dude. Yeah, absolutely. We're in trouble. You see Ismark just grinning

as he just watches you tear all of these dudes apart, and he's just like, I knew I could count on your brother. One, two, three, four, five! dudes apart and he's just like I knew I could count on you brother monster kill monster kill Irina will kind of looking back and hearing

Jesper say to just disengage and run she will run up beside Shadow she basically has her weapon free and she's just going to ready herself to protect Shadow if anything comes within range but she's kind of waiting for now and then finally we end with good old Ismark the Lesser

himself as he attacks the remaining clockwork soldier yeah twice with his long sword and then once with his hand axe his first attack is a hit as he deals 10 points of damage to the fuckwit soldier. He brings the longsword down in a secondary strike, also hitting. Oh, look at this boy go!

Another 9 points of damage. As the second strike he smashes open it breaking many of the internal components on one dude he puts his boot on him shoves the uh the clockwork soldier yeah he turns in a kind of like fury she said nothing tears apart the last remaining clockwork soldier uh and then he basically is like come on my brother and then he he basically uh starts moving uh he's gonna move like 30 feet into the wood line towards ziki actually nice uh and that seems like a pretty good point to uh call it because i'm going to guess Rose and Jesper, you guys will ultimately disengage and then

run away, I'm going to assume. Yes. At least I will. In that case, the last thing I will do then, because Ziki would go, but I don't think Ziki's going to be... Ziki, would you do anything against the devil, or would you just keep running? Uh,

I'd just keep running. Okay. In that case, all I'm going to do is I'm just going to take the devil or would you just keep running uh i just keep running okay in that case all i'm going to do is i'm just going to take the the devil's turn now because that and then the then it's going to turn into a chase um so he will attack uh yes because you guys both go after him as well so rose and yes but go after so he'll make one attack against yes but and one attack against rose so against yes but he uses his glaive. 15 is a miss, I believe, because of your defensive flourish. You just parry it with a crossguard

from both of your weapons. And then Rose he attempts to strike you with his beard. There you go. There it is. There's the natural 20 again. Attack me or talk, shake! Attack me! That's 9 points of piercing damage. I rolled a one on the damage but i need you to make saving throw which saving throw con saved you are fine you feel like this uh slick liquid

coating the barbs entering your skin but you manage to kind of like like rub your hands over the wound and kind of throw most of the liquid before it gets into your bloodstream um as you feel this poison kind of coursing through your body setting that limb on fire on your guy's turn you disengage and the pair of you basically start darting and as a group you make your way into the woods pursued uh in fact the the devil is the only thing left and it doesn't pursue you it just watches you from the edge of the forest um knowing it doesn't have any more allies left it just kind of watches from the edge of the woods just kind of like with its weapon raised um as you guys flee into the woods and that is a perfect place beard raised yeah yeah he's attacked oh holy crap well what an episode what an episode that was some of the

best rp i really loved everything you guys did at the start there that is a big from from your dm love that um and then a cool little desperate fight at the end as well we'll come back yeah hey uh ziki you sure we need to stick with these dudes? Because, I mean, I'm just saying. Go off with it, Mark. If you would like to split the party, that will be a very interesting game. And, yeah, I'm sure.

We'll double the length of the campaign, that's for sure. Well, no, I don't think we will. No, I think that it will be over very, very quickly. Well, thank you very much, everybody. It's been a great episode. We hope you enjoyed it. We'll see you next time. Take care.

Nice. Bye-bye. Bye-bye. Bye, everybody. Thank you.