High Rollers DnD - High Rollers: Curse of Strahd #24 | Rituals of Yester Hill

Episode Date: November 3, 2020

Xiikii has to pay for her actions... but instead decides to run away, splitting the party! 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. June 2024. Find out what makes Mazda different at Mazda.ca. Because the Skip app saves you so much time by delivering stuff like your favorite cool treats, groceries, and bevvies, you get more time to have the best summer ever. Like riding roller coasters, learning to water ski, applying sunscreen to your dad's back. Yep, definitely the best summer ever. Squeeze more summer out of summer with Skip. Did somebody say Skip? Ah, welcome back to Curse of Strahd, to our special Halloween episode with special guest Dungeon Master me master me jester in a very manly voice after being led to the wizard of wines winery by the mysterious companion esmerelda the party discover the winery is built on land that is free of barovia's curse and they grow rich vibrant

grapes to provide wine to the poor souls of barovia they also meet with a family of were ravens that run it the the Martikovs. The Martikovs explain their history and the nature of the magic that empowers their land around them, as well as their recent troubles with the witch Babalasaga and Strahd himself. Babalasaga has kidnapped three of the Martikovs' children and assaults them relentlessly. They invite the party to rest at their home and agree to help one another. But during the night, Ziki sees visions of the dark powers speaking to her from the mists. They tell her that the power and the gem that empowers the land could be used to fight against Strahd. Ziki goes out into the field in an almost daze-like state and finds herself digging up a glowing green jewel.

Just as she does, however, the winery is attacked by Baba Lasaga's servants. Xeros and Dog's Body rush to aid Ziki as the others help the were-ravens hold the house. But as the battle clears, Xeros and Dog's Body can see that Ziki appears youthful and radiant with a glowing green jewel embedded in her forehead. And that, my friends, is where we're going to start today. I think I'm losing an eyelash as well.

Oh, no. Zeke is about to lose a lot more. Just a little bit. Yeah. Yeah. We'll let you fix yourself. Nina's going to come in in a minute and fix it. Fix it, please.

Thank you. Make up. Make up. Come on. Take as long as you need. Take as long as you like. It's fine. Oh, my God.

What is that on your forehead, Vicky? I know. I know. I just want, you know, there's no rush. You know, no. You know what? Nothing to worry about. Yeah.

Should we come back to this next week, actually? Yeah. Beautiful. Thank you. Thanks, Neans. Okay. Real diva. Yeah, I've got my whole makeup team and everything ready to go.

Halloween's an important time of the year. So, what do you guys want to do? Dogs, Molly and Xeros, you are stood outside the mansion. I believe Jesper had also come outside, but was just too far away to see the full effects on Ziki. Rose is still in the house, who was covering it from above with a bow and arrow. And yeah, I really pass over to you.

I will say this, the Martikovs are all back in the house uh they are aware that something you know ziki's out in the field they don't seem to have noticed any more details but xeros and dog's body you cannot escape the clear situation um ziki looks completely different she looks rejuvenated beyond even what she did before you coming to barovia she looks full of life and energy youth you know and then there's this glowing green gemstone embedded in her forehead now radiating power so is there still fighting at the house um it's being cleared up like you have maybe got like a few seconds before the martikovs call the all clear so if any of you would like to do anything without drawing attention of the martikovs

now is the time i mean i think instinctively i'd run up and try to block the view to Ziki from the house as much I can like standing in front of her although I know about dog's body kind of like questioning glances over to dog's body there's no way that you can prevent dog's body from seeing what's happened but you do move

in front of Ziki Jesper sees you move in front of her but it could just be you're going to help her or you're just checking on her. But yeah, you do temporarily block line of sight. I guess the important thing is dog's body and Jesper, what are you guys doing?

So, I guess in terms of just what happened, we've just killed the big thing and Zeros just threw my axe back to me in a total groan moment turn around, glowing thing on our head what's that?

Zeki, what's that? I'm sorry it's the gem it's the gem that was in the ground do you want to make a perception check or are you just like only just walking up It's the gem. It's the gem. I'm sort of coming out of this point. Yeah.

Do you want to make a perception check, or are you just, like, only just walking out? I think I'm only just walking out, hearing this emotion, seeing Xeros strangely go in front of Ziki, and just kind of getting my head around what's going on. Sure. Is everything all right? Jesper walks up, yeah.

Is there anything left to? Go. Go. Zeke go. They're gonna kill you. I need to, I need to, I need to, I'm just, Zeke's just gonna start running. She's gonna start running away. Where are you running to?

Zeros. Just out to? Just out of the winery. Yeah, out of the vineyard. I'll kind of look to Dog's body. You see Zeke just take off. I'll kind of look to Dog's body. Not a word of this to anyone. And I'll chase

Zeke as well. Not a word of what? Where is she going? Where are they going? Zero stand. Always. Is there something out there we need to face? We should go together. No, they said that we should meet up with them

near the witch's place. Why? What are they doing on their own? We shouldn't split up like this. It's dangerous. It's all right, Jesper. Deros, they gotta do... Those dragons, mate, they gotta do their own thing, right?

If that's their cursed patron... Forcing them to do something strange again. Well, better they're doing it over there and over here right i guess so well everyone else is safe inside at least for now uh rose from above yeah you see the same scene you you don't see hear the words but you can see ziki and and xeros run away ziki facing away from you so that you don't see her forehead. But yeah, same with you, Jesper. You just see the back of Zeki and Zeros running away.

Seems like the fighting in the house has stopped. The Martikovs, the Were-Ravens, have seen off the last of the plant creatures. Irina and Ismark are kind of checking up on each other. Esmeralda kind of moves outside and is just curiously watching everything going on. Yeah, the Martikovs in the distraction, I'm going to make a roll for them. Zeki, you're just running, right?

You're not trying to be stealthy, like hide. You're just like running as far away as you can do and Zeros is chasing after you. Okay. Okay. away as you can do and xeros is chasing after you okay okay as yes but do you do you and dog's body make your way back to the house or are you just kind of lingering out in the winery for now yeah i just kind of curse under my breath at those two running off and i'm like well at least we're safe and i'm gonna check on the others kind of thing and walk in yeah a couple of the martikovs have

a few scrapes but nothing particularly serious and they seem to heal quite quickly as well you can see some of their wounds already beginning to heal um but yeah as you get back davian the older martikov the one who was a little bit suspicious of you all when you first arrived uh you can see he's he's watching where the dragons have run off to and he's looking in the direction of where they were or where they were stood and when you make your way back he's just like what are your two friends

what are they doing where are they going we've just been attacked and now they're running off like that what was she doing out in the night anyway Zeke and Zeros have gone they've run off away from the winery the night anyway. Zeke and Zeros have gone? They've run off away from the winery.

That girl, the white dragon girl. She was up to something. She went out in the night. Make a deception check for me, dog's body. My best. Before I start

speaking. 19! Okay. Davian sort of seems to... He's just like... He kind of goes quiet. One of the older men... One of the other men... Mateus, I think his name was? This is where I'm not going to remember the characters' names

because there's so many of them. Erwin? Erwin, sorry, yes. Erwin turns and is like, that's enough, father. They've already helped us fight off these creatures. Perhaps they're, yes, if they're going off to head off Babalasaga, that's only a good

thing. I don't know why, I do find it strange. Why was that, why did she go out in the middle of the night? She didn't even seem to to sleep she went off into the winery just before these things attacked it's lucky that her that you were able to get to her there are two strange creatures i never understand their reckless decision making but they always seem to do it with the best intention in mind. At least. So for now, I trust them. Well, alright. Yeah, and they just...

Yeah, that seems to placate the Martikovs for now. It is still night time. Very dark. Ground difficult to see. Vines cloaked in shadow. Who knows if that will be the case in morning. Oh.

Oh. Oh, no. Who's going to take the consequences of what they've done? People left behind. Oh, I wonder. Hmm. So, those of you who stay behind, what are you guys going to do like are you going to stay here or

um I will gather the rest of us aside from the and just ask what do we do why we can't leave them on their own running off into the forest like that. The whole point to resting was because it was dangerous.

We needed rest before we went there as a group. I don't like it. Whatever it is they're doing, I hope it is of their choice and not of the devil, the demon, whatever it is that controls them. I agree with Jasper. This is Mark speaking. I've, ever since Zeros made that pact,

he's not been the same man. He's different. And I fear that his desperation to help Ziki, she is also involved in this. Whatever it is. Irena is looking in their direction and she's looking out into the vineyard. Hmm.

It is powerful what siblings will do for each other. But I fear that perhaps we have put too much focus on Zeros' allegiance to this devil I'm not worried enough about Ziki

to die in Barovia is a traumatic experience I wonder if something or someone has spoken to her in that time. What do you imply, Arena? Barovia, you've seen what it is like. You've seen what this land can do to people.

Look at Strahd. There were powers in this land can do to people. Look at Strahd. There were powers in this land before Strahd became a vampire. They're said to be part of the mists. Perhaps. It matters not, really. If the powers of the mists no longer favor Strahd

that is a boon to us in a way but we should watch Ziki carefully Barovia has a long history of good intentions being turned wrong by dark powers right

either way they are helping us supposedly so we should help them do we stay here tonight and she looks to Rose and Dog's body or should we get after them as soon as possible it will be daylight soon

at least that will be safer to travel in true I feel the longer they stay out there on their own, the more at threat they are. I don't know why they did this. They know how dangerous the road is. And the woods around here, they can't navigate them.

Dogsbody, you said go to Ziki. Why? I didn't. You did. I did. Why? I didn't. You did. I did. I did lots of things. Right. What are you hiding, dog's buddy?

What are you hiding? If we're to work together and face Throd, we can have no secrets. None. We can have no secrets. None. We know of yours. What has happened to them? Big one.

Exactly. We killed the thing. And then she just said she had to go. So I said go and she goes. Why? I think that's what she said.

It could have been one of the voices in my head. I don't know. I've got lots of voices in my head. I've got your voice in my head right now. Oh, wait, there's another voice. Father? Father? Is that you?

Nah, you died years ago. What? Where am I? Huh? What did she say before she went? I don't know. I wasn't paying attention. Can I insight check Dog's body?

I always I don't like you guys rolling like inside Deception against each other I think it's if Rose Suspects he's lying Rose suspects he's lying If you want to make an insight check just to get a read On Dog's body's body language I guess That's a different thing But I think Kim's doing a pretty good job

Of RPing Dog's body's actual Body language as is Of just very sort of like defensive and sort of like i don't know i'm crazy i feel like he's always been like that right he's always been a bit like what he has there's definitely a shift in dog's body though like he's more defensive yeah i think esmeralda also steps up and slams a silver axe into, you know, whatever you're nearby, like a doorframe or something. I made something clear before.

Whatever those two are up to, if it endangers us or these people here, you should tell us. Thank you for that, threatening me again. If it endangers us or these people here, you should tell us. Cute. That. Threatening me. Again. Didn't take you long, did it? You're keeping something. You're hiding something. The only thing that's threatening me right now here is you. Perhaps directly. You'll see this, right? She's threatening me with a silver axe.

I've done nothing, and she's threatening me with a silver axe. I've done nothing and she's threatened me with a silver axe Right a reminder Yeah, cuz you won't let me fucking forget will ya No, I won't She just very calmly looks at dog's body just shakes her head No, I won't. Oh By the way, love's something i saved for you because you said you wanted it he takes um like you know the severed head that he took from the

tower it's been on his belt like on a in like a sack or something he's just tied up so it's been covered up yeah he said you wanted it have it i'm done done this i'm out and this is the first time by the way you've seen dog's body properly angry like as he does not like elsmerelda so he just throws the sack yeah absolutely she's horrible to him she's absolutely horrible um and yeah he she watches the head roll down kind of just. There's anybody who's watching. Esmeralda is trying to stay calm, but you can see every muscle in her body is tightened. She's coiled like a spring, ready to go.

Yes, we'll turn to Esmeralda and say, If you think this is helping, it's not. Drop the act. It's not helping anyone. We have more important issues at hand rather than your personal vendetta against Dog's Body's Kind. We have greater problems. We do. Yes.

He's hiding something that's not working. Slamming axes into the ground in front of him doesn't work. I've told you once, Vistani, they're kind.

I mean, sure, trust him for now. Use him as a weapon, use him as a bodyguard, whatever you want, but, I mean,

I've fought enough of them. I've killed enough of them to know that eventually they snap. Maybe he won't take a leg maybe it'll be your arm maybe it'll be your head but if you want to keep trusting him fine but i think that our paths are separated here i'll stay with the martikovs i'll help them if you want to go after your dragonborn friends do so i just talked see if I can find out something from this and she'll pick up the head

that dog's body threw I think it would be useful to have you with us Esmeralda especially with where we're going and especially since I don't honestly know what the dragonborn are up to and if we'll even see them.

If that's the case, we're down on numbers. We need to get those children back and we can't do it without having as good a chance as possible and that means you coming with us. Please. Frankly, I think if Esmeralda cannot work

with Dogspotty, then you're more a jeopardy than a benefit. We need both of them here. This is not going to work. This is Barovia. From what we've seen so far, and if we've just lost two people, we're not going to get far. Rose, I'm happy to come with you

I appreciate that it's difficult it's difficult for me too I'm in a position where I'm working with someone that I don't trust but I can't afford not to right now and I think that we all need to put those

things behind us Tom stop fucking drinking that we all need to put those things behind us. Tom, stop fucking drinking. I'm happy to travel with you. If that's what you want, I'll come with you. Certainly, I still have plenty of, and she looks at Jesper, skills and assets that could be of great value to you.

I recommend you speak with Dog's body. He is hiding something. I can see that plain as day whatever happened with those dragonborns he's covering for them for something and if you're going to travel and if you're forced to trust somebody well you better know exactly what they're about and if he's keeping things yes but perhaps you should go and challenge him more directly he was avoiding everything you said perhaps he doesn't want to speak of it in front of me perhaps he doesn't want to speak of it in front of the martycobs whatever it is find out i'll prep my things if you wish to travel with me come and let me know and ensure turn around meanwhile ziki how far do you run

when do you stop do you stop do you find a place what's the plan I think Ziki would just knowing as little as she knows would just run south just as

as south as she can get before she realizes she's not being chased right now you run for maybe 10 15 minutes you know numerous times you have to stop and catch your breath um make a con save for me actually let's see how far you can go before uh you start running out of stamina. It's a seven total. Seven.

You don't get very far. In fact, the whole thing is exhausting as you desperately run south from the Wizard of Wines, which I'm now trying to find. You run south. You cross across the vineyard itself. And by the time you find road again, you're already out of breath. Comes in big, ragged gasps.

But your body can go on. You know, you're struggling to breathe because you're not used to running this far. But something is giving you strength. It's giving you strength to your limbs. It's giving you the will to carry on. Did you take any damage last fight yeah i got knocked down and then esmeralda healed me if you're missing any more hit points heal yourself to full by the time you kind of come to oh okay

um you come to a trail that seems to be heading uphill it continues south for quite a ways deep into the woods um but this road trail basically the point you're at you either have to go north back towards the winery or you travel south towards what looks to be a large hill in the distance maybe some druidic stones atop it. I think she would just keep going, like walking, just walking forward, not looking back.

It's not long before Zeros catches up to you. Zeros, you eventually catch your way up to Zeki as she's making her way down this woodland trail towards this hill in the distance what's happening what's the plan are we leaving why you don't don't follow me why are you here go back please you think i choose them over you ziki i i i don't want to risk anything happening to you. I can't. This has gone too far. It's all gone too far. What's going to happen to you if you wander too far into Barovia alone?

I've already died. Fuck, I can just fucking die again, I guess. I don't know anymore, Zeros. I don't know what to do. We'll figure it out. Just together. You're not going alone.

I just... I'm so stupid. I've... I can't do this. Glowing green power. No matter what I do, it's not enough. I can't keep doing this and hurting people and trying to convince myself that I'm better than what I think I am.

I'm useless here, Xeros. I'm not like you. I can't fight. I can't... I'm not... I don't know. I paint. That's... I just paint. That's all I know how to do, and so far it's not been particularly useful. You still bring joy to the people around you, Zeke. Do I? I haven't been feeling that lately. For a long time. While you're dancing with skeletons, I'm killing them, remember?

We need you. Protect me. with skeletons. I'm killing them, remember? We need you. Whatever it takes, Ziki, I've told you this before. Whatever it takes to keep you alive, to keep you happy, to keep you safe. And if you're unsafe now, tell me.

I just... I just need to go south. I need to go to the mountains. What about the others? I can't keep doing this to them, Xeros. I can't keep lying to them. It's not fair. Either way... It's not fair it's not fair to them I'm not leaving Ziki

if you're going to the mountains I'm going to the mountains if you're going back to them I guess I'm joining you with them as well. I don't know what to do. I feel like I need to go south, but... I feel like I need to get stronger. That seems to be the only way. And lead the way.

Okay. So, the trail, a wooded actual path trail, leads south towards this hill. You can see maybe the shadow as you've been walking. The top of the hill, there seems to be the shadow of a great dead oak tree. It's leaves, long fallen, long dead. Standing stones, perhaps grave markers or ancient relics of a different era sit in the earth. You think you see shapes moving between them, but it's hard to tell in the kind of hazy dawn light that's just beginning to creep up.

The other option, of course, is to travel through the woods heading southeast. You get the sense, Ziki, that to the southeast is the destination that you seek the mountain mount gakis the ones that the mist told you of in the dawn's light you almost begin to see those similar figures the the man who is too tall with too long limbs the great slug the spidered woman all kind of just on the very edges of your periphery amongst the mist themselves almost beckoning you you also feel powerful there is a power in you now that you've taken a moment kind of unloading these feelings these emotions to xeros there's a well of strength that you hadn't quite felt the gem in your mind you can call on its power i don't quite have a full item for you ready yet but

there are spells that you will be able to cast using charges. But the main thing is this gem that you have. Not only will it keep you kind of somewhat healthy, but it has a power over the land. You can actually cause plants and life to bloom to kind of delay the Barovian curse around you. Maybe even call on it to aid you when you need it. The land itself kind of

your beck and call. Oh, cool. I will, for next week, get you a full item, but I did not have time today. It's all good, it's awesome nice which direction would you like to head in before I cut back to the other two, what is the plan

I think before Ziki goes any further I think she's going to take off her Lyra necklace and maybe tie it to something tie it to the oak tree. The tree and the hill are still quite far away. You'll have to make your way towards them. But if you wanted to head towards the hill

and head up the hill, you could do that. Yeah, I think she'll do that. Okay. Okay. I will just read this out, and then we'll kind of cut back to the other guys the trail through the thick woods leads to a hill covered with dead grass and cans of black rock dark ominous clouds begin to gather high above even though it's dawn single bolt of lightning strikes the hilltop. A big wall of fog begins to emerge on the very outskirts of Barovia.

Meanwhile, the rest of you, what do you do? Dog's body? Do you eventually meet up with the rest, or are you doing your own thing? I would actually like to go after the dragons. Just straight away after the confrontation with Esmeralda? Yeah, I think... I've been thinking about it, and I think the absolute pure hatred from Esmeralda has really genuinely hurt him.

And he's actually only ever known friendship from the dragons. So I think he's going to go off. Sure. I think he's also, he has a genuine fear that Esmeralda's going to kill him. And he doesn't like that. Maybe. So he's off. He's off.

So I would like to track the dragons. Sure. I mean, they didn't really make any attempt to mask their trail uh fresh mud earth you can smell strong scent from the dragons you'll be behind them you'll probably arrive after their heart-to-heart conversation but um or perhaps you know if they make their way to the hill you might arrive like a couple of minutes after them the time it took for the conversation with esmeralda but yeah you make your way would there be a chance with dog's body's ability to track that he spots ziki's necklace in the tree which i think that the plan is that she hasn't she's going to tie

it to the tree at the top of the hill that's correct right really yeah yeah so make your way up to the top of the hill this old dead tree and tie it to that yeah yeah in which case if the timeline yeah if the timeline doesn't match up then i'm just going straight off straight after him um would you let rose and yes but no or are you just shooting straight off i think he would head off because he's so angry. He's just, honestly, Esmeralda's actions and words angered him so much and kind of rose something in him

that his head's just filled with that angry buzzing that he's not really in his good mind. I mean, he never was in his good mind, but he's definitely not in his good mind now and he doesn't even think about it and he just walks off. Yeah, sure. Okay. Sounds good okay sounds good yeah definitely i'd do the same um in that case jesper and rose like if you go looking for dog's body you you don't find him he's he's not in the house you can't find him in the in the grounds um i mean rose it would be hard for you

to track them all the all the dragons like dog's Body himself is a big lad. Not making an effort. Yeah, I was going to say, it didn't sound like you were going to make an effort to conceal where you were going, so. He's barely thinking, really. He's just trying to breathe, take control, not lose control. Like, just, yeah.

Sure. Yeah, Rose and Jesper, what's the plan? Irina and Ismark will basically follow you two uh team human yeah party one of three um yes was gonna be pissed he's gonna like his hand on something like a wall noticing that dog's body can't find him. It's like, what is this? We're falling apart. We have nothing left. People are dropping, running.

I don't know what else we could have done. There's no point in this. This is just asking for death for all of us. We can't split up. But they've left us. They've left us without even telling us what's wrong. And that's what's

pissing me off more than anything, is that they didn't even come and talk to us. They're acting on emotion. I understand it. But it does not help our cause. This is the problem I have with Esmeralda. She caused Dog's body to run away when we needed him the most.

And now we have to face and find two groups of people with less people in search of them. Who knows what's going to happen to him. I don't care what happens to her. If she wants to help, so be it. So long as she never puts an axe in front of any of us ever again.

I'm going to go look for Dog's Body. And hopefully, Dog's Body's good at finding the two dragons. That's what I'm going to do. They might not have gotten too far. Zeke was pretty hurt. Dog's body's pretty fast. But we can only try, can we not? Why give up now?

I can track. I can absolutely do that. I think you can find them, Rose. And Jasper, I think you're right. Keeping a cool head. I think this is perhaps the role that you are meant to fulfill. Keeping all of this together. I know it is difficult, but you've done a good job so far.

I hope that you can continue this, even if things get more difficult. Thank you. Is Mark and I with you? The frustration is that we're not the ones tearing this group apart, but we're the ones who are left to deal with it. I think Dog's body means very well, and this Esmeralda,

she has obviously lived a very hard life and traveled alone for a lot of it. I can see why perhaps her actions have upset him. Let us find him. The dragons we will deal with.

True. We are being affected by powers greater than all of us that's why we need to all stand together to face those greater powers let's leave now let's hope that we can catch them Rose do you think that you can find them

I think so I hope so unless they're very good at covering their tracks I don't think Ismark is like I don't think Ismark I hope so. Unless they're very good at covering their tracks. I don't think Ismark is like... I don't think Ismark... I don't think Zeros is good at covering anything. The man is so loud and large, he would...

Well, I'm sure that we would hear him from Voleki from here. I'm sure you can find him. We could abandon dog's body like Esmeralda wants us to but he is there's something about him that I think is important to our fate our destiny we are

connected and he is I think that he is loyal Esmeralda is not you I think he is loyal. Esmeralda is not you. I think he is loyal to you, but perhaps is acting more in anger than anything else. I don't want to leave anyone, but this is very difficult. This is a position where, Jesper, you are the only one who came into this place with me who hasn't yet had something happen.

We lost Shadow. Shadow was the person that I trusted here. Now that she's gone, you're the only person who, of this original group, hasn't died and made a pact with some other person. Or is someone that we met along the way who happens to be a werewolf, which is not something that I wanted to deal with. I don't... I don't know if I can trust anyone, but I know that

in this place, I'm not going to get anywhere if I don't try and let that happen and keep this party together. I'll do everything in my power to make sure that happens. We're dead otherwise. Let's go.

Okay. Who do you want to track first, Rose? Are you going to go after the dragons or are you going to try and find Dog's body? Because you don't know that they're going to the same place. I'll try and find Dog's body first. Okay. Again, very similar to Xeros. Unless Dog's body is trying to be quiet and stealthy,

he's kind of easy to follow. You're not in your hybrid form, are you, Dog's body, or are you? You're in human form? You make your trail. You're going to be behind dog's body a little bit from the conversation and trying to find him and stuff uh but you end up following the same road uh all of you end up following the same road to a large hill um and we'll cut back to the dragonborns as you guys are making your way up towards this large tree uh zero senziki

let's see here um you can see yeah you can see the various cairns the kind of burial mounds of loose rock and stone have been formed on a kind of tiered hill um it's quite steep um at the top of which is a large kind of stone circle and then this enormous old oak tree that stands at its very center. There is a pathway that leads up the top, but it's a little bit of a trek to get up there. Do you guys want to investigate anything as you go, or are you just going to go straight to the stone circle and then the big tree?

I mean, I'll be perceptive of any dangers. Now, there's less of us. I am a lot more wary of threat. Marvelous. In that case, could you make a perception check for me, please, Zeros? For sure, for sure, for sure. Here we go. Boom, boom, 19.

19. Okay. As you guys make your way up, you eventually arrive at the top of the hill, which is where there is a wide ring of black boulders and smaller rocks that collectively form a makeshift wall, enclosing a field of dead grass. Lightning strikes the edge of the ring from time to time,

illuminating a ghastly 50-foot-tall statue made of lightly woven twigs and packed with black earth. The statue resembles a towering cloaked man with fangs. Zeros, as you are making your way up, you can see that scattered inside the circle are graves, or at least they're meant to look like graves you can see in several of them 12 in total you see humans clad in nothing really but rags and dirt buried amongst the graves pretending to be dead as if they are waiting for you to get closer.

Uh, yeah, okay. No. No. No. Do you see, does Ziki see that as well? Did Ziki, do you want to make a perception check for me? Let's see if you see it as well. Yeah. Is there any point oh okay 20 20 you also see this you see that yeah they are uh

these people have buried themselves willingly you can see that the way that these graves have been dug they can pull themselves free if they want, but it's like they're sleeping almost in these makeshift graves in a circle around this giant wicker statue of a cloaked man. And behind them all, behind this stone ring, is the large dead tree that you could see from afar. Yeah, I'll stop. As if she hadn't seen it i'll stop ziki from moving forwards um how close are we if i speak you're close enough that yeah i mean you'll probably you would see these guys as you reach the top of the hill let me just make some maths here so it's like 5 10 15 20 yeah you're like

i'd say 25 feet um my god you're kind of stood at the edge of this ringed circle um and they're all around you so you've seen them but you don't think that they know that you they they don't know that you know that they're hiding there um okay holy crap so we just walked into a freaking vampire minefield i mean i don't know are they vampires i'll never tell there it is a big a big fanged wicker man let me just um me just... You can have a think for a minute, because I've got to just build a quick encounter here. Just in case.

Well, just in case. I want to have the stats ready to go. Yeah, that's good. Add those guys. That thing. I'll never tell. Waiting for a hazel special that one

that's a catchphrase the hazel catchphrase and six of these guys oh so just twelve that's cool just a little twelve what a problem

just a little twelve I will add in Ismark the lesser as well, just in case he gets there. And I'll call this Siki and Zeros Fun Time. Fun Time!

Vampire Adventure! So yeah, you have walked up to this circle. You know that there are these and they look humans like humanoids they look like barovians but like ragged and with mac thick manged hair and covered in dirt and scars and tribal tattoos almost um and they have buried themselves in the mud and the dirt, piled rocks over them to make it look like graves of bodies all around this wicker statue. Yeah, I mean, if we're this close,

I'm kind of like wordlessly trying to communicate with Ziki, like kind of looking the way that we just came from and nodding that way or like gesturing towards the tree if she has to go that way um yeah i'll nod to xeros like an agreement like yeah let's let's not do this and yeah okay so you guys start backing off like gonna go back the way you came yeah interesting i mean to go around the hill, right? We're not going back to those schlubs. Well, there

appears to only really be this hill is completely surrounded by the woods, like, this is, like, an open patch of land in amongst the thick woods. The only way back that isn't running through the woods themselves is back the way you came.

Okay. Maybe you can hear the faint sounds of a river coming further south. What do you do? I just... Yeah, let's go back and maybe head back towards the mountains. I just wanted somewhere to put this, and I just hand out the Lyra necklace. I don't think she'd like what I'm about to do.

I'd rather she didn't see it. So as you're whispering this, are you kind of like backing off back the way you came? Backing away, yeah. So as you start making it, you see these burial mounds scattered across the hill. People start pulling themselves free. And you see these tattered, you know, grimy humanoids.

You cannot leave now. We require blood for the ritual. We must bring it back. Bring it to life. Dragon blood. Yes, this will make the effigy more powerful. Oh, perfect. You just hear like, the effigy, the effigy, the effigy, the effigy.

Bring it to life, bring it to life, bring it to life, bring it to life. All of these 12 individuals that have pulled themselves free are now echoing your statements. Okay. Can we run? Can we try and run? Well, right now there is this stalemate of they are surrounding and they are slowly walking towards you in this big group.

So, yeah, you guys can start to run. The second you run, we're going to roll initiative. If you'd like to do something different, now's the time. You didn't say how much blood they need. That's true. That's true. That's true. I didn't... Well spotted, Kim.

This is how I always prepare myself for such encounters in real life. This is what I think. It's Barovia, though. It's Barovia. It is Barovia.

We've got her on the side of caution that they will just take all of it, you know. Safe assumption. When blood is involved, you can never have too much. You can take all of it, you know. Safe assumption. When blood is involved, you can never have too much. You can never have enough blood, you know.

Oh, God. I think I'm about to do something I'm going to regret. Yes, Tom Hazel. What if you spare our lives and we deliver you more blood than you could need for this ritual? One of them, maybe like some sort of shaman this you can see now that amongst the 12 they're divided into two groups all men all different men and women some of them have uh great clubs or great axes or rusted swords like two-handed

weapons and that they were hiding in the graves amongst them. The others appear to be more shamanistic with kind of rods and staves covered in fetishes and bones and that sort of thing. One of these shamans Dragon blood is quite powerful. How many others would you offer us

to bring back our beloved tree? A family of twelve or more. There's some murmuring amongst all of them. Much blood. Lots of blood for the master. Perhaps. Make a... Hmm.

This would be more of a persuasion, really. This is like, let's make a deal. Sure. Hey, I'm an evil dragonborn, guys. I just want to remind you. He is an evil dragonborn. Come on, let's, you know, be fair to him. This is the play that Seeross would do.

This is the RP. 19. Where are these family? Do you speak of the were-ravens of the winery, perhaps? I do. Baba Lasaga has told us of them they are strong if we were to attack them there is a chance that we may all fall

why should we trust that you will not deliver us into their hands to be killed if you attack them alongside Babalasaga they can't ward her off but if you attack them alongside babalasagash they can't hold her off but if you help and you would not interfere you would leave if you let us go we'll be long gone one of the other figures one with a great club calls out just like

brother these two dragons would be more than enough their blood is rich and powerful it would be more than enough let us kill them as they stand take it why risk ourselves for seven when we can have these two now rich and powerful. It would be more than enough. Let us kill them as they stand. Take it. Why risk ourselves for seven when we can have these two now?

You see the shaman is thinking about it. It's a compelling offer. I'm going to have to do more than one persuasion check, I feel, here. Zeke, do you want to do anything? Wasn't it twelve in the family? Or something like that? Um, no. I remember it was a huge family, but I think...

You said 12. It's 1, 2, 3, 4, 5. It's seven adults, and then there are three kids at the house. So 10, I suppose. 10. Well, let's imagine we both said 10. How about that? Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Two dragon blood, 10 where raven blood but that you're here now and there's less risk to them killing you now so what are you gonna bother what do you yeah what you got ziki barbara saga has three of their children already you could wait until barbara saga is gone take the children and use them as a bargaining tool. Maybe bring them to you. I'm sure they'd come willingly for their children. Holy shit. Oh, yes. I like that Mark is now on the receiving end of deals.

Mark loves giving out deals and now we're like you guys are giving him a deal and he's like how fucked up do i want this to be it's not that it's i have to consider because obviously when you're playing your character you know your character quite well so i know the deals to like prod the buttons with this i've got to put myself in the mind of these random bloody druids and be like right what's their kind of deal what would they go for uh i think that they're like bring us the three children that babal Lasaga has. And you let us go to get these children. Why don't we just leave

now? Ah. Because we will be able to find you. Hunt you down. Take out dragon's blood. Or we could kill you now now I am contemplating it the master and he looks up towards the wicker statue the master would be quite pleased

with the blood that would be provided but the were-ravens are a thorn in the master's side. Perhaps there is another way. Rather than us waiting, if you know of these were-ravens, we shall follow you back to their winery. You shall bring them out from their home where they can fire their crossbows at us.

Lead them into the vines, into the shadows. And there, my brothers and sisters and I will cut them down. How can we trust you not to take our dragon blood once you've got those i swear upon my master we will have no need for yours once we have the were ravens oh my god how did he turn the deal onto me? How did he do that? Because that's what I do, Tom Hazel. Yes.

For a second, I was the dealmaker, and then all of a sudden... You thought that because I'm a cute tiefling that I would not be me, but I'm still me inside. The devil always the devil. Am I a friend? Conceivably. An adversary? Papan?

Potentially. But a savior? Certainly. Very cool. All right, I'm waiting for Ziki to answer this one because I'm just going to be like, yeah! Do it! Take him!

Kill him! Yeah! Do it! Take him! Kill him! Yeah! Kill the children! So as a reminder, his offer is basically, these 12 druids and barbarians will travel back to the Wizards of Wines with you.

You lure the were-ravens out from their house and help these guys ambush the rare ravens god they're so fucked oh my god trying to think i've what could i do meanwhile dog's body is like sniffing the ground and following the tracks you see up ahead uh dog's body this hill you can see the shadow of the great tree the lightning striking in the distance and just like to your blurry vision from quite far away it does appear to be two familiar looking shapes and several others standing in

the very faint, hazy mist filled morning. And then several minutes behind Dog's body Rose is like examining the muddy ground like, yes, he went this way. He's following the trail south.

As Jesper, Rose, Ismark and Irina are following behind them he uh he stopped pee on a tree right there right yeah in three four minutes uh rose will find that tree um and be like he peed here carry on stinks need some more water yeah really dehydrated yeah do i see the um the effigy this big old effigy thing you would just see you would just see yeah like the tip of um this wicker man uh against the shadow of the giant oak tree would dog's body know anything about i mean it looks like strad I'll tell you that much for free looks like strad that's

uh what would dog's body do how dumb is dog's body feeling um I'm giving the dragon twins time to think about this yeah give dog times to think about what the fuck the dog's doing and so i can see that that they're talking to people right yeah i mean it's difficult to say there's like are they shapes are they scarecrows are they statues like they're very still So I have heightened senses that mean I can get advantage on perception checks that rely on smell or hearing.

Sure, if you want to make a perception check. Sure, you can make a perception check. I rolled a five and a two and I have minus 1 to perception so yeah no you don't hear shit don't hear shit I'm just going to keep walking up to him then

just be like oh friends there's that decision made Nziki and Zeros these figures now like in the time that you've been thinking and talking they've kind of formed, like, a circle around you. They've got you not cornered, but it's gonna be difficult

to get away from them now. Oh, man. Oh, man. Hmm. Can I try and, like, summon the jewel power, maybe? Call upon the mists? And try and, like, trap them? What would you like to do like trying to

summon up like some vines like trying like stuff trap them so me and xeros can then just absolutely uh let me just get up the boop spell i'm thinking of wonderful that one will do vampire skill 20 foot 20 foot square um but yeah i'll say that the effect is enlarged because you're casting it through the gem cool so ziki you kind of as this is going you feel like your heart beating faster and as your feet are touching the earth you can almost feel the roots of the forest around you of the plants the trees there's two things that happen one you are going to get your effect but first that tree at the top of the hill it's dead but it's not just dead it's feeding off of blood it is there's a word that comes to your mind you're not sure if it's the gem or knowledge or some old forgotten piece of lore or maybe the

dark powers themselves but you'd heard of these trees called golthias trees now golthias tree is a tree that has grown from the stake that killed a vampire. And it gives the tree a dark sentience and a thirst for blood. That tree you cannot command. But the rest, the roots of the trees of the forest all around you, the very earth, the stones itself, as you concentrate, you feel them erupt with power as they surge upwards to try and grab the figures all around you i'm gonna make a lot of saving throws here strength saving throw what are my bonuses awesome so we're looking at

plus three for those guys and plus nothing for those guys and what's your spell save dc ziki it is 14 14 right somebody help me count for these so one uh that's a fail. Three, that's a pass. Four, that's a fail. That's a pass. That was a natural 20. That's five. Six, that's another pass. So I think that was four out of six.

Four passes, yeah. Yep. And then the other six, this is the druid-y looking fellows. That's a fail. That is also a fail. That is the third fail. That's a fail that is also a fail that is the third fail that's a pass that's a fail one more is a fail so only one succeeded there so you watch as um out of this 12 seven of them are engulfed by vines and stone and earth that kind of reaches up like a giant draconic claw and takes firm grip of those still standing they cry out just like oh wait traitors

traitors kill them kill them brothers and sisters as they're struggling to free themselves and that is going to be where everybody rolls initiative oh yeah here we go natural 20 with a minus two 18. so i have no spell slots left i'm just can tripping all the way you want all 18 18 for me. 18 for Dog's Body, did you say? Yes. Zeros Initiative? Sorry, I couldn't look at the thing.

18 as well. Rose? Six. Six? Jesper? 22. 22. Unfortunately, you're not going to get here for a while. And then Zeke? Mine was an 11. 22. Unfortunately, you're not going to get here for a while. And then Tiki? Mine was an 11.

11. So, yes, but you are still far enough away that you're, unless this fight comes to you, it's going to be a while before it gets to you, but I'm going to keep you in the initiative order as is. I guess you don't even know there's a fight happening at this point. No, that's it. They're making their way towards you.

They're still, like, wanting the piss off this tree yeah he really is dehydrated it's quite bad uh the one free druid looking the one free druid looking fellow reaches out a hand and tries to do the same thing to you and xeros like summon these rocks and vines to entangle you, but as he reaches out and speaks these words just like, my dark lord, let the land become my tool. It's not a work. Why? Why can I not summon the land? Why does it

not answer my call? And you can see he's trying to cast a spell, but it's not having any effect. You can feel in your mind, Ziki, that your own power is keeping him at bay from controlling the land around him. Cool. As he does so.

The others are all going to desperately try and get free. Fail. Success. Fail. Fail. Fail. So one of them manages to break free, but they basically try and do the same thing they're like uh let me try brother tries to grip the grand um and fails um dog's body you are

you're quite far out so it's probably gonna if you you see like the earth and these vines erupt and engulf these figures that were standing around xeros and ziki but there may be sort of 200 feet ahead of you so you're still gonna have to spend a few turns running up to them if you want um so i can definitely see that they they've something is yeah you see like yeah you see something is going on some sort of spell the earth itself has come alive and has ripped you know gathered around many of these figures stood around the two dragons alive and is, you know, gathered around many of these figures stood around the two dragons. Dragonborn, I should say.

Piss! I'm going to... They're quite far away, aren't they? You are. You're still like 200 odd feet away. So whinging and complaining and muttering to myself, take a deep breath in,

transform into my lovable dog self dog wolf self um and start running and running and running towards them um so how far did you go now have 40 zero by the way i now have 40 foot movement and i can also add a dash my long jump distance as well so so if you dash it's 80 feet basically 80 feet so i yeah i'm about 80 can i jump in that last bit and do 10 feet uh no because your jump basically takes up some of your movement to jump that distance yeah it's more that like if you can move up to 80 feet, that jump is part of that 80 feet of movement, if that makes sense.

I would probably say as part of the transformation, Dog's body lets out a big, loud howl. Very familiar. People who know and love him. Nice. I'll slam my sword into the ground

and set it on fire with a bonus action. Now, before I do something, what do I know about Burning Man wicker festival carnival things? Like if I set fire to the actual wicker thing, is that going to be a big ritual that I've just started?

Or... I mean, you don't know. You're right, I don't. And I do love to find that. Why would you know that? I feel like I want to create a beacon for the others to find us, so I want to use a Scorching Ray on two of the guys, and then the third shot will be on the big wicker boy.

Now you want us back. I see. So you're two raid. Are they on the guys with the weapons, the two-handed weapons? Because four of them are free of the vines. Yeah, like anyone that's in bigger danger than the others. So I make a spell attack plus four. So the first one is 23 the next one is a nine and on the wicker thing 13 okay um roll damage for me double the damage against the wicker thing so the first guy that i did hit was eight damage. And then on the wicker thing, it's ten.

Ten? And is that doubled already? That's already doubled. Already doubled. Okay. So the beams fly out of He Who Grins, your giant greatsword. It strikes one of these berserkers in the chest. You see him kind of just like... And comes running at you. His cloth and his mud kind of caking his body

um parts of him is still on fire but he shows no abandon as he rushes towards you uh the other one dodges to the side as the the second beam narrowly passes the third one strikes the wicker man in the chest and you watch as the whole thing is lit It goes up as if it's been soaked in oil or some sort of accelerant. Dog's body, Rose, everybody, you see this beacon at the end of the trail at the top of this hill, this statue just ignite.

As it does, you hear... Yes! As the smoke begins to take the form of a familiar face. But also, Ziki, as the fire erupts through the Wicker Man, you see at the very heart of the Wicker Man is another glowing green gem. You couldn't see it before in the dark, but now the light illuminates it and catches the light. The same gem that you found in the earth and is now embedded in your mind in your body another one a second gem exactly like

the first one you found is in the very chest of the wicker man itself all part of the plan guys all part of the plan all part of the plan okay i basically for rose uh yes but irena and ismark's crew you guys are still fairways away so i'm just going to assume for your initiatives you guys are just going to run as fast as you can so arena is doing that dog's body uh sorry zero senziki four of these berserkers charge towards both of you two on each um and they are frothing mad as they attack uh they are reckless so any attacks against them you guys make will have advantage um but their attacks likewise against you also have advantage uh so zero so do the first attack against you that's i rolled a three twice there so a total of eight which is a miss okay i want to i want to riposte him okay go for it and then

i'll do the next uh so i believe when it misses me with an attack i can use a reaction and expend one superiority die and just attack him um you add the superiority die to the damage nice uh so boom 21 to hit yes it is on, so that's 22 damage. And a superiority die, which is a D8, I believe, is an 8. Nice. Oh, my God. Christ. This is the guy that you hit before with the Scorching Ray.

As he just makes this wild swing, you just gouge across his chest. He wails, but almost in, like, excitement. Yes! Thy blood is aflame like my master's! And just screams at you. Oh, okay. Next guy was a total of 17 to hit. No, misses.

Misses, okay. And then Ziki, two attacks against you uh both with advantage uh that is a nine was my highest on the first one that was a really bad roll I'm rolling really bad uh and then that one is a 21 yeah that'll do it

four uh nine points of slashing damage as this one has a big rusted greatsword. Brings it down to bear on top of you. The remaining two berserkers will attempt to save out of the entangling effect, which one succeeds.

And the next one, that's cocked. The next one also succeeds. They pull themselves free from the stones and the vines and will basically charge you as soon as they are able to Ziki okie dokie I would like to

cast primal savagery on the one that just hit me you have advantage if it's an attack roll yeah yeah yes melee spell attack let's go so that's uh 22 for the first one and 21 for the second one yeah first one i'll hit nice let's go Let's go. So that is a 2d10 damageo. 16 damage.

16 points of damage. Before, when you used this before, because it makes your claws and your fangs longer, like you kind of take on a form of beast. This time it still does that, but it's more, it's not as feral as you looked before. Now that your kind of body is more replenished, it's almost elegant in the way that, yeah, like your claws and your fangs,

your claws almost have thorns on them. They're almost empowered by the very land around you as you tear through this guy's flesh. But very similar to when Zeros hit him, he just, they or she just seems to relish it. Just like, yes, yes, death and blood for the master. Spill the blood. As their own blood scatters across the floor.

Ismark and Rose, you continue rushing towards, as does Jesper, I'm assuming. You guys are all just running as fast as you can. Yeah. Because you were quite far behind. Is Dogbody still running after the druids? Yeah, I'm going in initiative order. Okay.

You are after the druids, so it'll be your turn in a minute. The druids, the ones that are free, not able to summon the land against you, they will instead turn to conjuring flame, I guess would be their best option really now. Oh, no, they've got some other spells uh they will both um kind of raise their hands up and you watch as their skin takes on a bark like texture uh it becomes rough and thick grooves of wood and moss kind of grows all over them as they pull out these long clubs and they will begin

making their way to you. Oh, in fact, this is a cantrip. So yeah, not only do they cover themselves in bark skin, but they will also cast shalala turning their club. You can see thorns and vines growing around it. Yeah, they make their way towards you, but that's all they can do.

That's their full turn. The other remaining four will make their saving throws. Fail. Fail. Fail. Fail. They're still restrained, completely restrained, by these entangling thorns as they desperately try Dog's Body.

You moved eight feet, so you're about 120 away. I'm going to keep moving up. All fours running along. I do have a crossbow, but nah, I'll keep moving up. Do I get there on this turn? So you're 120

feet away. If you move another 80 feet, you would be 40 feet away next turn. So you're 120 feet away. If you move another 80 feet, you would be 40 feet away next turn. So you are now at the base of the hill, looking kind of at the midsection where Zeke and Zeros are surrounded by these figures. You can see these kind of broken cans all over and a giant flaming statue of Strahd right in the middle. And you think you catch like a little twinkling green glow in the middle of it. I'll leave you guys

alone for one minute. Xeros. Chaos Emerald? Uh, I uh, want to, so all these boys, they're within like 30 feet now, right? Well, they're basically on us, aren't they? Well, yeah, there's four of them

are within five feet of, two of them are within five feet of you two of them within five feet of ziki and you're stood next to each other so okay i want to use my fighter thing called second wind to heal myself with a bonus action because i am still hurt from the last fight. Oh, 10, 13 healing. Amazing. Nice. Lovely. And then I want to use my dreadful aspect. I want to pull any fire I can from this burning wicker man to terrify everyone around me. So each creature of my choice I can see within 30 feet

make a wisdom saving throw of 12. Okay. Within 30 feet make a wisdom saving throw of 12. Okay. Within 30 feet of you, yes? Yeah. So this is the six berserkers and two druids. Yes, yes, oh yeah. So, first berserker, passes. Second berserker, natural 20.

Third berserker, fails. Fourth berserker, 19 plus berserker fails fourth berserker 19 plus a lot uh actually plus one so success so one failure three successes so far 18 on the fifth one success sixth one fails two uh first druid fails second druid passes so two of the berserkers and one of the druids are kind of rear back as these flames seem to take on a demonic form around you. This giant visage of Asmodeus engulfing your own, silhouetting you against the rising sun.

As, yeah, they are... That's some of them. That's some of them. they'll be verified for a minute that's that's uh all i got now yeah okay um the what was it two berserkers and one drid uh they will basically run away so they'll disengage as an action and then they just flee they just run run away as quickly as they can um the others however will still make attacks against you with the other two having moved up before uh so this time we'll say that uh three on xeros no sorry two on xeros two on ziki because there's four remaining and then uh one druid on

xeros so reckless again for the two uh berserkers. So, Xeros, the highest there is a 20. Oh, okay. That'll hit. Seven points of slashing damage. Nice. 23 for another 14 points of bludgeoning damage. Oh, he hit harder. Okay. Zeke, first two attacks against you, 23.

Yeah. For eight points of piercing damage, let's say. It's got a big spear. And then that's going to be a 19 on the last one from the berserkers. Yep. For 13 points of damage. a big club smashes you in the side and then the druid with his shille him so 25 to hit 13 slashing

25 with another d8 on top 1 26 you watch as the blade, the flaming blade of he who grins digs into the creature's into this druid's neck and shoulder

nearly kind of cutting all the creatures, into this druid's neck and shoulder, nearly kind of cutting all the way through into major arteries, but it seems to get caught in the collarbone. You yank it free, blood sprays everywhere. Unlike the berserkers, the druid is not so happy about this, and you see him kind of shudder, almost in shock, still alive,

but only just barely, as he raises up a weak, bloodied hand in front of him and yeah that's pretty much it Ziki I would

like to use my breath weapon please and get some cold on these boys is it a cone or a line it doesn't say it's based on your ancestry i don't know it doesn't give it to me straight away it will say under dragonborn hang on i can get this up quick traces traits yeah it does say under the uh under the actions breath weapon whatever your color is white oh hello I've got it.

15-foot cone. Yes, and what's the saving throw? It's 13. Okay, so if you don't want to hit Xeros with this breath weapon, you can hit, I'd say, four of them? Yeah, let's do that. Sure. Okay, and the DC, sorry, I know you probably just told me.

13, sorry. 13, sorry. No, I've just got a lot in my brain. And wearing a wig does not help. Right, the first one, which is a Berserker, is a 21. That's a success. The next one is a natural one, so, well, like 4, which is a fail. Third Berserker is also a fail.

It's an 8. And then the Druid is going to be a 17. So 2 succeed, 1 fails. Cool, so 2d66 so half damage on a success oh i think she's vanished oh no just in time existence it's literally just as she was about to roll damage too I can roll damage for her it's fine okay Ziki is are you guys 6th level 7th

you're 7th okay so it's 3d6 it's a good job I rolled because I just rolled very very high I rolled 16 damage on 3d6 so 16 damage to 2 of the berserkers eight damage to another berserker and eight damage to a druid yeah ziki kind of this ice uh cone of ice erupts around these druids and you can see some of them

throw their hands up desperate to try and fix She's back! The Matrix took her for a moment No, we can't hear you though The Matrix has taken her voice Oh wait, no, she's back You got me? It's back Everything just went Just went

I rolled damage for you Yeah, I rolled damage for you and got 16 cool thank you so it's very good very good damage um thank you yeah your ice erupts around and yeah captures uh several of them but again still i mean these guys aren't pushovers they are pushing through to fight uh as your companions uh rosie esper uh irena, and Ismark will just continue running up. I'd say you guys are now probably sort of, yeah, you're going to be within sort of like 300 feet. So, Rose, you can probably start taking long shots at this point if you wanted to with your bow. But you're still far ways out just yet.

The druids on their go. the druids on their go. The one surviving druid who has not a lot of hit points left will weakly raise up a hand and a pulse of thunder erupts. Zeke and Zeros need you to make constitution saving throws. My favorite.

My favorite strength is... Ooh, a natural 20 for me. Okay. You guys are... You take half damage on successful saves. Ooh, a natural 20 for me. Oh, crazy. You take half damage on successful saves. For a whopping... Oh!

Oh! It was four damage total, so you take two thunder damage. Ow! Okie dokie. Useless. The other druids will attempt to save. Okie dokie. Ow! Ow! The other druids will attempt to save.

One fails. One fails. These guys cannot get out. Fails because it needs 14. Fails. Yeah, four of these druids are just trapped in these vines and stone just unable to get free. The last remaining one with its quarter staff will take a swing at Zeke with

Shalala. 17 to hit. Yeah. Shalala. D8 plus 2. 9 points of bludgeoning damage as this druid brings it slamming down. Uh-oh.

After the druids go... Dog's body. 40 feet ahead, you can see the dragons being absolutely swamped. The wicker man is still burning. I forgot to roll damage for the wicker man. Ten more points of fire damage to the wicker man. You can see parts of it are now fully ablaze.

The stone, the glowing green gemstone, the heat is beginning to you can see the heat sizzling around it uh there's almost a crack beginning to form along it um as the heat manifests shit no no no no no no no no cool okay good good job Good job, Zeros I'm gonna run up No, just destroy the land I didn't think I was gonna destroy the gem I thought it was more powerful than that You didn't know there was a gem in there

You didn't investigate it, yeah You didn't get a chance to There was 12 men that you spotted Yeah 12 very loved men and boys Trying to kill me Dog's body I will run up and position myself in front of Zeke 12 very very loved men and boys trying to kill me. Dog's body.

I will run up and position myself in front of Zeke in a somewhat heroic position so that everyone targets me and not Zeke. I will activate

my blood curse of oh god there's so many different terms for things that blood hunters can do. Crimson rite. Blood hunters are a bit Oh, God. There's so many different terms for things that Blood Hunters can do. Crimson Rite. Blood Hunters are a bit confusing, yes. There's so many

abilities. I'm going to activate my Crimson Rite right of the storm, so I scratch myself with my claws and lightning bursts out of me, and I'm going to go to town on whatever clown is right in front of me with my great axe. I'm going to give you choices on whatever clown is right in front of me with my great axe.

Well, I'm going to give you a choice. I'm going to give you choices here. You can go for two quite burly-looking berserker people, so a man and a woman with these kind of big, heavy weapons. You have advantage to attack them if you go for those guys. Or there is a man with a very angry-looking stick who is attacking Zeke. there is a man with a very angry-looking stick who is attacking Zeke.

Can I go for whoever is attacking Zeke? Those three people are attacking Zeke. Which one would you like to attack? Okay. In which case, I would like to attack the early man that I have advantage on. That sounds smart. Okay, I rolled...

Highest I rolled was an 11, plus 7 is 18. I rolled a 12 on my D12. 12, 12, 13, 16. 16 points of great axe damage and 5 points of storm damage.

So... Blow comes hammering down uh you see they do try and leap out of the way the axe kind of cuts a deep long gash along their arm their body convulses from the lightning but they just yes more more pain for the master master she's rolled at 18 plus 7 on the second attack I'm gonna I rolled an 11 again 11 12 13 14 15 15 points of great axe damage and two points of storm damage this time second slash comes in same thing just like yes as the blade strikes into their body um that's it end of turn end of turn and i'm just gonna turn and be like hello it's me so how high up is this gem is it like mega high up

in this wicker man thing I'll tell you let me get the open thing the statue is approximately giant statue what do I describe it as 10 feet tall I think you said 50 foot tall is what I described it as 10 feet tall i think you said uh 50 foot tall is what i described it as actually

50 foot tall um and it's in its in its chest so i'd say it's like 30 feet up oh that's a big head actually um okay it's like it's in the center of the torso so yeah so way out of reach i mean you can climb up it if you if you move up to it and climb up it. Kill first. There's lots of people here. That fire's burning away. It's got to be a kill for now, so I'm going to use a sweeping attack,

which will be damage to anything within five feet of me, which is pretty much everyone. Is it everything, or is it one target and then another target within five feet? Yep, just one. one actually you're right um you're playing too much borders gate there so um hit whoever is uh strongest and then i'll sweeping attack whoever's weakest um sure so boom well you've got the druid who you nearly killed is very low and then there is a berserker who is very injured next to you as well i think i'll go with the uh berserk i want to hit the berserker with the sweep the main attack this one is on uh no whoever's i want to hit

use the 8 damage on one of the most damaged guys, if you know what I mean. That's the druid on the berserk. Okay, fine. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Fine, I'll do that. So it's a 20 to hit.

And do I have advantage against that guy as well? Against the berserkers, you have advantage to hit. Yeah, you always have advantage. They're reckless attacking every turn because they're crazy. Fair enough. Well, in that case, it's a 20 to hit so 17 plus so 23 damage to him and then a d8 to druid man or druid man dies he was on one hit point god damn it i knew it you bring down this cleaving

blow that nearly cuts this berserker in half but he's still holding on like his arm is like hanging off by a thread but he just brings the weapon up in one hand for one final blow but the druid as you spin the the blade around just neatly cuts the head clean off so it just tumbles to the ground um in the the wet mud wonderful and i don't have any good bonus actions to do, so that's me. Okay. Irena will continue running up. The Berserkers.

The one against Zeros. The frightened ones, do they keep making saves? I believe they do. I think the horses did when I used it on them before, but then the horses kicked me in the chest, remember? So, let's see.

Wisdom saving throw target is frightened. If it moves more than 30 feet away, then it can attempt another save. Okay, so this turn, what they do is they move 30 feet away, then they'll make the saving throw at the end of their turn. DC is, that's a fail on the Berserker. Second one is also, that's a one and a two. I'm rolling trash today.

All three of them continue. They're still frightened. Ah, flee! He carries the flames of the devil himself run ah so they just run away from you uh however the remaining four berserkers and remaining druids uh the uh the remaining druid who is free will still make their attacks um two on zeros uh oh dog's body's here now so they'll make two on xeros still one on dog's body one on ziki and then the druid will decide who it wants to hit next turn when it's his turn zero use my hot bod to protect ziki or no you cannot they can move around you uh and stay within your threat. 17. Miss. Zeros. Right, hitting him back.

Oh, does 17 hit? It doesn't hit, no. So you're going to use riposte. Yes. Oh, God, a 14 to hit. Or do I have advantage? You would have advantage against these guys. Yeah, it's every attack until... Perfect.

27. 21 damage. Oh, and a D8 25 damage i'll be running out of those superiori die though yep i've come totally out uh 22 to hit on the next one uh that one does hit that is going to be 11 points of slashing damage. Another heavy blade strikes down. Dog's body, let's do attack against you. That's cocked. Stop hitting on the dice.

18 to hit Dog's body. Yeah. Yeah. That is going to be 9 points of bludgeoning damage, Dog's body. It's a great club. Smashes you in the face. Half that. What's half of that? What do we round it down? It's like five

or four. You round down, so... So four. Four. Zeke. It's a natural 20, I'm afraid. Oh, no! It's a natural 20, I'm afraid. No!

Oh, no! It's time. It's time. Don't worry about it. It's time. It's never time. I deserve this. 23 points of damage. I'm down. I'm easy. Easy down. Again. Slaps right in the back.

Yeah, and then that's it for the berserkers the rest of them are all done uh uh yes one has fallen i will let her blood seep into the hill and feed our master take it ziki death saving throw please yeah boy that's a fail, my dude. Oh, nice. Here's Mark the Lesser, runs along the trail. Rose, you are now... You would have moved your maximum movement speed, which is...

You're about 240 feet away from this shenanigans. You can see in the distance this blazing wicker man. You can see the madcap melee blazing wicker man. You can see the mad cat melee. What would you like to do? So I could take a shot at disadvantage. You could? It's long range.

What's the range on the bow again? Just read it out. 150. Oh, 150. Okay, so yeah. So you're just out. You're still in long range. Yeah, I'm still out. Yeah, just shoot Z, so yeah. So you're just out. You're still in range. Yeah, I'm still out. Yeah, just shoot Zeke. I guess I'll try. No, I'll try and hit one of the big targets that's like...

Well, you have advantage actually because they're reckless. So it cancels out and becomes a normal roll. It's a straight roll. It's a straight roll. You have advantage to attack them, so... Okay. 19? Yeah, hits. Yeah, these guys aren't particularly hard to hit they're like wearing like leather

hides or like scraps of hide 11 points the arrow streaks through the air in this kind of fade like just barely misty sunny morning and strikes it in in this kind of fade, like a just barely misty, sunny morning. And strikes it in the back.

Kind of grunts. It was one of the ones that hit Ziki. I shoot again? Yeah, you can shoot again. Yeah. 21. Hits. 6 damage.

6 damage to that one. The same one, another arrow as he's kind of reeling from the first arrow stands up. Arrow goes in his shoulder this time. They have reinforcements, my brothers. We must kill them all. Yes, but let's do, we'll do one more round of combat and then we'll wrap things up for tonight. Yes, but you's do... We'll do one more round of combat and then we'll wrap things up for tonight.

Yes, but you are 240 feet away. So I don't know if you are speedy boy. No, you're actually faster, aren't you? Well, 200 feet faster, probably not. Well, no, but what's your movement speed? She'd be running for like several turns now. So you would have had an extra 10. So if they were 240 away, you would have had an extra 10 so if they were 240 away you would have had an extra 60

feet you're 180 feet away nice welcome to the combat i mean nothing i can do that's within yeah right so you spend your turn dashing so if you dash as your action, you're 100 feet away at the end of your turn. So I will try and make a note of this when I do all of this stuff for next week. The druids go. A bunch of them are going to make their saving throw against restraining. In fact, actually, no, Zeke is unconscious. All of the vines and stones of the druids crumbles. At last, we are free! Now we must punish these

invaders. Start with that one, the werewolf. Burn him to the ground, my brothers. Four of them, the four that had previously been restrained, all hold out their palm, and a, yeah, mote of fire appears in their hands.

This is a spell attack. What level spell cast were they for? Damn it, they don't get a bonus. So it's just a spell attack. That is a 20 to hit you on the first one,

dog's body. 14. As in, oh, to hit? To hit, yeah. Nope. Miss. Okay. Third one.

22. Yep. That's two. The last one is a 11. So miss. Nope. You don't have resistance to fire damage, do you? Sludgeoning, necrotic, piercing radiant, slashing

I'll just roll it all together then 10 points of fire damage total from both attacks as these fireballs just come raining down from above you on the hill the one remaining druid in melee will attempt to shillelagh you as well that's a natural 20 dog's body oh my god that'll hit me yeah Mangred in melee will attempt to shillelagh you as well. That's a natural 20, dog's body. Oh, my God.

That'll hit me, yeah. 16. 18 points of damage as this guy just... And the thorns kind of embed in your body. Oh, you can half that, so 9 points of damage. Because you are in your hybrid form. And it's your turn. because you are in your hybrid form and it's your turn

uh saving throw uh i need to make a wisdom saving throw because i am a certain threshold of points oh um but i have advantage because the kind-raven taught me to be kind Yes, and it's only DC 8 so I really hope you roll a 1 and attack Xeros I really fucking want to see that

I rolled a natural 20 That's cool! It's not as cool as turning on Xeros but it's cool I did also roll a 3 so there we go I would like to... So I have a healer's kit. What action is it to administer that to the dragonborn at my feet?

Well, my first question is, are you proficient in the medicine skill? No, but I can lick myself. You can lick yourself. So the heal the healers kit unfortunately for you won't do anything beyond what you can normally do with medicine so you can use it to stabilize ziki um you just don't have to make a check to do it you you can't give her any hit points or anything like that um but you can just basically expend the use of the healers kit i think they have um four uses i think is it 10 uses so you mark off a use um and you stabilize ziki um but that's your whole turn to do that uh i will do that is there a way that

i can also pick her up and leave like you can i will get four opportunity attacks against you. Technically, I'd get five. The druid's there. I mean, technically, you're going to get four. But I will make them all against you and not against Zeke. Because I'll just have you sort of cradling Zeke to you so they can't hit you. Tom's dying.

Please. Please what? I mean, so you can you can see dog's body like healing ziki like if you want to be like get her out of here go like you can shout then yeah i'm doing that i'm doing that get out of here i might might die! I might die! You're going to take him? But it's what it's what dog's body would do. And he doesn't. Ah, interesting.

So their reckless ability, it's only on attack rolls during their turn. They don't get it on their opportunity attacks. So this is just four attacks and then the druid gets one. Because I was thinking that they'd all have advantage on these as well, but They don't get it on their opportunity attacks. So this is just four attacks and then the druid gets one. Because I was thinking that they'd all have advantage on these as well, but they don't. Right, first berserker. That's an 11.

Miss. Second one. 13. Miss. Nope. 20. Hit. Hit. 21. Hit. First attack. Eight points of bludgeoning damage. Half to four. Hit. First attack. Eight points of bludgeoning damage. Half to four.

Four. Second one. That's max damage. That's a 12. 15. Half to seven. Seven. And then the final opportunity attack. The druid with his shillelagh. 11.

So dog's body, you just pick her up. The attacks, I want to flavor this as like, they do hit you, but they just glance off your big, hairy, muscular back as you just... And you dash 30 feet towards Rose and Jesper, just cradling Zeke next to you. 40 feet, sorry. You're just cradling Zeke next to you. 40 feet, sorry. You're just

cradling Zeke close into your body as you just rush away from the battle. Zeros? Man, if only I could get away from them. I want to drop the Wicker Man on them, but there's no way I could do

that without them getting Attack of Opportunity on me. So, I have to disengage. I mean mean it'd be really cool though if you got up to its legs and like chopped its legs off and made it fall on them that'd be really it would be awesome wait they've used their reactions they have all on the dog so whilst they're focused on dog's body running away you could take the opportunity to dash past them now there are four druids like on the hill with the fire in their hand that were attacking dog's body that two of them would get opportunity attacks as you have to rush past two of them but they don't have shillelagh or anything like that on them like they might they're not as competent in melee. I'll let them try.

Sure. My intention is to, yeah, hack at one of the legs with my fiery sword, break the wicker man and have it fall on everything on top of this hill. Well, let's do the first things first. Two opportunity attacks by two regular druids. 18. 16 plus two.

Seven plus two is 9. So only one hits. How many hit points you got? How much damage are you trying to do? You tell me first. I'll tell you mine if you tell me yours. Okay, I'm going to do this.

I am holding up the points of damage behind my other hand. Okay. I'm covering my mouth which is going to say how much you have i've got i've got 10 10 you got 10 it's fine you only take two points of damage um i just wanted to like eek out the drama a bit um yeah you run past he just clocks you on the back with his quarterstaff. You run up to the legs. You're going to have to still attack the Wicker Man, but it's AC 10 to hit the Wicker Man.

For sure. But I've got a big fiery sword. So I am going to hit this real dang hard. Oh, my God. Only 13 to hit, but I do... It's 23 damage to it. Oh, it doubled because of the fire. You cleave through the leg,

just cleave through it with a sword. The flame erupts and engulfs the Wicker Man even more. You hear the sound of something like cracking inside its chest. You hear like a crack, and then the whole thing begins to fall. I'm going gonna make deck saves for the four druids on the hill and um the rest of them had moved 30 feet down it's 50 feet tall so yeah everybody including the berserkers so i'm making a lot of saving throws here um apart from the ones that ran away

uh two berserkers and one druid did run away so um so that would be five druids four berserkers deck saves we'll make it like dc 13 seems about right one is a failure two is a failure three is a success four is a failure so that's the berserkers. So three failures, one success. The druids. Failure. Success. Failure. Failure.

Success. So three of everybody succeeds. The rest of them, how much damage would a falling on fire 50 foot tall wicker man do? Probably quite a lot when you could just make your own make your own let's say creature takes d6 of formal damage this is a large creature i'm gonna say let's say three d10 bludgeoning damage and then fire damage on top of that oh my god oh do you want to roll it for me actually tom roll 3d10 that's going to be the bludgeoning damage oh god that's garbage okay 12 so 12 points of damage to uh a bunch of these guys

and then roll uh It's on fire. How much damage does it normally do? It takes 2d6 points of fire damage each round, so do 2d6 fire damage as well for me. Seven. So 19 in total. And 19, okay. One of the berserkers,

one of the berserkers, the one that you nearly killed, is crushed to death. One of them is nearly crushed to death two of them are nearly crushed to death but that's barely holding on um that one's saved so we'll do half damage for them half of 19 is gonna be nine so you watch as this giant wicker man collapses. The oil and the wicker that have been set aflame scatter across the hill. You do catch a glimpse of something glowing and green, kind of ting, ting, ting, ting, ting, ting,

fall down the hill towards the base of it. But yeah, that's your turn, right, Zeros? Yeah, you see that some of the berserkers are pulling themselves free. They are on fire. They're going to keep taking damage as long as they're in the flaming wicker man. Perfect.

But yeah, they are all covered in it. Good job. That is their turn. The berserkers pull themselves free. Roll 2d6 damage for me. For sure, for me. For sure. Six. Six.

Two of them burn to death as they are struggling to pull themselves free. Oh, my God. What a turn. What a turn. Nice play. The one that was afraid is no longer afraid. He passes on his saving throw. And he turns around.

Well, yeah, he turns around and sees that. The three that survived, they don't care about Dog's Body and Xeros. He has destroyed our effigy of the master! Slay him! Drain his blood! And they charge towards you, kind of pulling themselves free of the wreckage as they descend upon you with weapons and they will be reckless.

Oh, if there's a time to die it's among fire. Fifteen? Miss. No. Fifteen? Miss. Miss. Twenty? Hit. Oh, that hits. That's gonna be enough as well. Miss. Miss. 20. Hit.

Oh, that hits. That's going to be enough as well. 4 plus 3, 7 points of damage. Are you still alive? I've got one health. I think he's got one. Oh, my God. Amazing.

Jesus. Ziki, you are stabilized, so you're not dying, but you are still unconscious. So that is it for you, I'm afraid. Ismark will continue chasing up. Rose, you have got the last one. You can see this giant effigy has fallen apart. You can move a little bit closer.

You can get from 180, you can get to 150, so it'll just be a normal attack. Okay, I guess I'll shoot again. Shoot zeros. 20. He's on one hit point. 20 hits. Tempting. 22. Not zero.

And then 22 to hit. Both hit. What was the damage? 10 on the first one and 8 on the second one. 8 on the second one. One of the on-fire berserkers, two arrows just

into his back. No! we must avenge our brothers um and yes bro i hate to do this to you man because i know you've just been chasing after these idiots the whole time but that's where we're going to wrap things up for curse of strong today uh from this absolute mess of an encounter what a mess yep as soon as Rhi said I want to go up to that tree and hang my little locket off of it I was like oh no oh no it gonna happen

it a bad yeah it was us leaving it was two people against a actual balanced encounter for five no that encounter is not balanced for five. That encounter is incredibly not balanced. It's horribly against you, that encounter. So the fact that you have survived is impressive.

We have done a ton with just the three of us. No offence to Rose and Jesperper but like holy crap we chipped in some damage rose chipped in some damage um but yeah that was uh oof that was a close call there up on yesterhill tristrot remembers yesterhill that went that went very differently to when we thanks for watching everyone today uh just uh want to thank everyone. Goodbye. Oh, no. Oh, I'm sorry, Trot. I'm sorry. Oh, was it bad time?

It was where Chris Trot's Curse of Strahd came to a very premature end. Oh, okay. Okay. They killed him on that hill. We killed Strahd on that hill.

Actual Strahd. that hill actual Strahd we bullshitted our way through that fight though there was a bag of holding with 50 twig blights there was me just making shit attack rolls like I got charmed and couldn't hit any of the rest of the party

the entire fight Smith bullshitted his way with portents through some he used like an item any of the rest of the party the entire fight smith bullshitted his way with portents through um some what's it he used like the he used like an item to cast sunbeam or something and he was a divination wizard and he was like strad rolls of one and trot didn't have any legendary resistances We just melted him away. It was so weird. Oh my god! Yeah. It was pretty bad. But this one, you know,

we got a bit of a different outcome. And who knows? We'll still see what consequences lay in store for the dragon twins after all of this. Yep, yep, yep, yep. Yeah, you survived that, but we might still kill you yeah well and if you go back to the winery they might still try and kill you too but we'll see we'll see what happens next time on curse of stride Thank you.