High Rollers DnD - High Rollers: Curse of Strahd #29 | Wrath of the Swamp Witch

Episode Date: March 2, 2021

Ireena makes a deal with Baba Lysaga but the team are still trying to escape her wrath! 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. summer is like a cocktail it has to be mixed just right start with a handful of great friends now add your favorite music and then finally add Bacardi rum and there you have it the perfect summer mix Bacardi do what moves you live passionately drink responsibly copyright 2024 Bacardi it's trade dress and the bat device are trademarks of Bacardi and Company Limited. Rum 40% alcohol by volume. Last time on Curse of Strahd. In the ruins of Berez, a village drowned in rage by Strahd, the party have attempted to help the were-ravens rescue their stolen children by the witch Baba Lasaga. Trying to free the children from a pen topped with human

skulls, Jesper used the sun sword, but in doing so triggered ungodly screams to echo out across the swampy village and draw the attention of the witch Baba Lasaga and her scarecrows. In a fighting retreat, the party stumbled into a den of giant snakes as the witch flew towards them and in an intense battle another member fell. Barely standing after the snake's poisonous bites Jasper was struck by a powerful necromantic spell and killed transforming him into an undead creature. As things looked hopeless Irena the vessel of the Tatiana's soul stepped forward and offered herself to Babalasaga to be taken to Strahd, causing the witch to pause momentarily. Demanding the sun sword, Tatiana threatened to end her life if she did so. With Jesper dead and things looking bleak, the next few moments will decide everything. Yeah, we find ourselves, you guys are in the ruins of Berez, with all of this really just happening. We are still in

initiative as Babalasaga floats about 30-40 feet above you in a giant hollowed out skull that she's flying around in in a sort of chariot. This version of Babalasaga is younger than you perhaps expected her to be.

She appears to be a kind of woman in her 40s, 50s long long, dark raven hair, and she bears an uncanny resemblance to Strahd himself. She is currently looking down on Tatiana, who has her rapier pointed at her own throat. She's kind of holding the blade against her own throat and is staring down at Tatiana, for the moment ignoring the rest of you um you had all just managed to free yourselves from this kind of inky pool of blackness that babalasaga had conjured um you've all managed to get to uh the outer edges of this kind of 40 foot circle um having

pulled yourselves free uh and that is where we begin There are still some scarecrows beginning to filter in through the fog and approaching towards you all and we begin. Kicking off everything is Ismark the Lesser who is the next to act in the initiative and you see Ismark look towards Irena and Tatiana and there is this kind of intense look of confusion and uncertainty of what to do next.

Looking at the kind of diastrates, looking at Jesper's body, there is definitely a moment of pause where Ismark doesn't really know what to do. And so he doesn't do anything. Not sure whether he should run to rescue his sister or whether he should allow her to do as she wishes you do begin to hear the flapping of wings in the distance um you begin to hear a kind of coming towards you um these scarecrows make their final move now moving actually into the area where irena rose and the maya are all kind of stood and they begin filtering through this ruined manor house it takes

their whole turn to move but they are now beginning to kind of try and surround you once again for more of these scarecrow like creatures begin filtering through emerging into the gardens these you know sewn sack like features above them and then finally in the very very distance you just hear this as you can see this walking giant hut slowly making its way through the swamp towards the group of you um and that brings us all the way back to rose van andy after rose is rian and maya um you are up next after this maya so rose what would you like to do i don't know what i can do in this situation. You are currently clutching the sun sword. You would pick that up off Jesper's body.

You and Dog's body are on one side of this 40-foot radius blackness that kind of just dominates the ground. Babalasaga is literally hovering above you guys. This area that you're in is like this old garden of this manor house. There's not really much cover. There's like ruined trees and shrubs and trellises, but you're kind of stood in this big, open manor's

garden, looking around you. I guess I'm going to cast Cure Wounds on myself. Okay. At second level is my action. Sure. to cast Cure Wounds on myself. Okay. At second level as my action. Sure.

That sounds like a smart thing to do. 11 hit points back. Woo! You feel this kind of surge of energy return to you. But yeah, the situation definitely seems to hang for the moment on whatever Irina and Babalalasaga are about to do i will just look at irena i guess and say you can't do this i don't know what else i've got sure okay the maya um maya will uh stay close to rose since she now has the sun sword the sun sword is currently the myers top priority um okay and then the buyer will take uh shots at scarecrows nearest to rose sure yeah

there are two which are kind of coming around the corner towards roads and dog's body um nice so i shall do it thing here's it go okay that would be a natural 20 nice nice nice so that's 25 launches out d6 plus 2 3

so don't forget it's crit rule it's maximum on the dice nice so that'll be 6 is that 8 so 9 10 11 damage total any other bonuses and is any of this magical damage

or is this all just normal bow damage this is all just normal bow damage for the time being just to save some spell spots and stuff and I will do I can attack twice so I'll do it again normal bow damage for the time being, just to save some spell spots and stuff. Okay. And I can attack twice, so I'll do it again. Okay. So the first arrow thuds into this scarecrow.

You see impact, but similar to Rose's arrows when she struck these things before, they don't seem to be as affected by these non-magical weapons. Corbians. And the second one is 18 and 23 to hit. That also hits, yeah. Nice. Good rolls, Marie. Yeah, six, eight damage on the second one is 18 23 to hit that also hits yeah nice three yeah six eight damage on the second one eight damage so and again that second arrow thuds in but you see it kind of just it does hit an impact but the scarecrow doesn't slow down it just seems to kind of absorb the impact and keep coming um in a desperate run uh anything else maya so you kind of move up next

to rose skirting the edge of this kind of 40 foot radius else maya so you kind of move up next to rose skirting the edge of this kind of 40 foot radius sphere in the middle you kind of have to use all your movement to get around the side of it um and you end just a short distance away from rose and dog's body on the other side of this looming black pit um you can see rose is pretty injured i think dog's body's pretty injured as well right kim like dog's body's pretty you know he's got all these like claw marks down his back where he's been running away from these scarecrows trying to protect his mark and the others um and yeah you see just rose call out to to uh tatiana arena uh you can't do this um is what it appears to look like babalasaga will you see see, I'd say that Rose,

you would be able to pick up on this pretty easily and maybe Tom Meyer would be able to read this in her expression. There is a genuine fear that Irina will harm herself and you can see her eyes kind of nervously and chaotically flick between the blade, Irena's throat, and everything else. She is going to... Okay. So you watch

as she kind of twists her head, just like, yes, you are. You are desperate, aren't you, girl? And then she kind of just brings her hands up, almost in surrender.

But at the last second, Rose, you notice there is an ever so slight movement to her fingers. And you see Irina, her eyes begin to flicker as if she's almost falling asleep. And she is. I will now roll to see if Irina falls asleep. And she is. I will now roll to see if Irina falls asleep.

So you watch as this kind of ever so faint shimmer of magic seems to kind of almost fall like dust from above the large scale thing. Irina doesn't notice it. And as she's kind of there, you see her eyes. She begins to blink and her hand seems to start drooping at her side and then her body just slumps forward unconscious um and lasaga is just like and the skull floats down to the ground and that's where she ends her turn the skull is now Irena. Dog's body. Flip. Can I get to Irena's body? Yeah, you're within range to rush up and move towards her.

Yeah, for sure. Oh, dear. Oh, dear. What a pickle. What an incredible pickle. But then there's also two scarecrows about to attack rose as well you and rose yeah they're they're still another turn like they're gonna they'll spend their turn reaching you guys um but yeah they're gonna come in and attack you do um if if rose was to move are they

is she within their um opportunity of attack sphere no not yet they still have to move up to you guys so imagine that they're on the very outskirts of this garden but they're like they'll be able to move and attack their next turn but right now she's currently free um um i'm just see irena just kind of slam into the ground. And then this witch, this skull chariot lowers through the air. And you can see Baba Lasaga, this manacle black-haired woman, desperate to collect the body. Rose, you need to go now. Take the sacrifice that Tatiana's given you and go.

And then... Can I, like, push Rose behind me? And, like, just... So that I'm between anything that comes between, like... I mean, you can move in front of her. Yeah, you can move in front of her. It's not so much push, but more

sort of like you just step in front of her and put yourself between Rose and these scarecrows and Babalasaga, for sure. I don't know what to do sure i don't know what to do i don't know what to do either do you know what fuck it i'm gonna i'm gonna grab rose and start pulling her with me and i'm gonna start moving away um okay yeah that's what i'm gonna do so unless rose is resisting which is up to rose um i think at this moment having just had to kill zombie Jesper, Rose is probably not resisting anything that dog's body...

If he's pulling her away, she's not... She's going. So you can move at half speed. So with Rose, carrying Rose, you can move half speed, dog's body. Okay, that's 20 foot for me. 20 foot. So if you dash as well, you can go 40 feet this turn.

And then can I be... Yeah, I'll shout the same at Ismark as well. Ismark, you need to leave. Like, she's given us this opportunity. We have to go. And the mire as well. I won't leave her! Like, Ismark doesn't look like he's going to be leaving, Irina. No way.

Then you'll die! You'll die, and then you'll be no use. You're calling out to him, but you're not sure if any of that's going to get through to his mark at this point. Tom Meyer. Within 120 feet of me, how many skeletons would I be able to hit in a 30-foot area?

So you can do, like, a what? Like a 30-foot area? So you can do like a what? Like a 30-foot sphere? What's the exact description of what you're trying to do? It's a 30-foot wide, 10 feet... Sorry, 30 feet long, 10 feet wide, 10 feet tall, any orientation within 120 feet. You can catch two of the Scarecrows. You can catch two of the Scarecrows,

like two Scarecrows in one, or Babalasaga and one Scarecrows. You can catch two of the Scarecrows, like two Scarecrows in one, or Babalasaga and one Scarecrow. Ooh. I guess the two are the ones that are closest to Rose and, by extension, the Sun Sword, right? Yes, there are two that are moving towards her. In that case, I'm going to cast acid surge uh at those two um and that they need to make a dexterity saving throw of 14 uh first one fails

second one fails perfect i think this is a custom spell i made for kalyana and forgot to remove from my homebrew creations which is pretty cool um really okay yeah it's a reskin of tight it's a reskin of tidal wave um and i made acid damage but you're more welcome to use it i've got it now um i just did 21 damage and they are both not prone okay Okay, 21 damage to these scarecrows. And it's acid damage. They're not actually vulnerable to acid. I think the acid should. They probably should be.

Yeah, you watch as this acid wave just... This conjured kind of... The swamp water that this village is kind of surrounded in. Because moving through this whole place, it's just a a swamp it just surges up like a wave and it takes on this kind of dark brackish black color and as it kind of sprays over these two scarecrows you watch as their wooden opponents and straw begin to melt and burn i'm going to give them vulnerability to this because i think it makes sense if they're vulnerable to fire vulnerable to acid also makes sense. And you just watch as the two of them melt into nothing. They just...

So they become like a sludge. I just wanted to slow them down. Okay. Cool. And then, yeah, I'm going to try and run basically with Dog's Body and Rose. Yeah. Okay, you won't be able to get as far as though, guys.

This map isn't exactly like perfect for spacing. Right now we have dog's body and rose are the furthest away um the two myers are next uh irena is next to babalasaga and then is mark is is actually sort of a little bit closer um he's closer where dog's body and rose is um anything else the mire on your turn I can bonus action my grasping vine but don't know if I should so won't in that case I will make a persuasion

check for me dog's body based on what you were saying to Ismark last time persuasion plus one on that. I made a 13. 13? You can see whatever you're saying,

it's lost in seeing his sister, this beloved sister that he has done so much for at the mercy of this witch, and Ismark just runs at Babalasaga in a true kind of fashion. The flail spinning in one hand,

the axe in the other one, and he's just, get away from my sister! And he will charge towards her and make his three attacks. No! The first one is going to be a 21, which I believe is a hit. I have to jump between a few different stats here.

Oh, dear. God damn it. I'm going to have to play this entire game again to get this achievement. God damn it. Yeah. Second attack is also a hit. Oh, no.

And then his third attack is also a hit. All three of his attacks hit. I take it back. He's a pack to kill, then. I imagine he does. Seven's about to kill her. Seven points of damage. Eight points of damage. 15, 21, 24 points of damage to Babalasaga.

As he runs in, the flail spinning, the hand axe. Whack, whack, like a real warrior, kind of just charging in with this expert skill he ducks under and places himself over irena's body kind of legs aside either side just spinning his weapons to form like a defensive barrier of steel um and babalasaga is like smacked a couple of times by the silver flail and she just hisses like i shall you. I shall watch your blood drain from your flesh. That is Ismark's full turn. And you see him with, like, the kind of leather mask from his burns,

one of his arms all wrapped up in leather, just kind of standing defiantly. In the distance, Rose and Dog's body, you see approaching, flying across the river towards you guys. You see these dark shapes beginning to fly, wings flapping overhead, as the two of the were-ravens from the Wizards of Wines, Davian and Stefania,

both, you see them not in like human forms, but in this hybrid, these kind of giant raven-like heads with these long beaks, these long kind of feathered wings, and then these muscular arms and legs just kind of swooping in, both armed with spear and sword, as they are going to fly in. They're not, unfortunately, their whole turn is only going to be to basically fly and get next to Rose and Dog's body, basically. Meanwhile, Maya, Rhiannon Maya,

you see two of these were-ravens, two of the other adults from the Wizards of Wines, also flying in, but they're a little bit further away. They're not going to be able to get as close, but you can see them beginning to approach from the other side, kind of swooping in. Obviously, because they've got their children to safety uh they you got their children to safety and now they feel that they can go on the offensive however scarecrows uh tom meyer is mark and then dog's body and rose um dog's body they're gonna focus on you really because

you're currently like pulling rose away uh two of them basically run all of the the four of you down um and they're gonna they're gonna make attacks against you so tom meyer two core attacks against you first one is a five to hit second one is a three to hit you just kind of sway and move this writhing mass of fungi and insects just kind of pulling you out of the way of the blows as this scarecrow tries to rain them down upon you and then it just regrows instantly

yeah one attacks Ismark, both attacks hit Ismark I believe Ismark had taken a little bit of damage as well first one is seven points of damage to is mark from that one seven points of damage to is mark from the second attack so you watch as is mark like while he's swinging and fighting off babalasaga this other scarecrow comes at him from the side he doesn't see it and just covers him with these scrapes and claw marks um forcing him back onto the defensive dog's body two on two of these scarecrows making two attacks each all directed on you uh that is

going to be an 18 for the first one and a 20 on the second attack from the first Scarecrow. Are you in hybrid form, yeah? I do have resistance, yeah. So I do have resistance. That's like the highest damage. That would be nine half to four points from the first attack. Second attack is four points of damage, half to two from the second attack. And then the second Scarecrow.

Yep, that's another hit. That's a 19. But the second attack misses, so only the first attack from the second Scarecrow hits. And that's another nine, half to four points more of damage. So, this flurry of attacks just... Are you still up?

Yeah. But you have just activated Bloodlust Bloodlust, you're under half, right? I'm going to do some saving throws The one that came in to me Can he make a Con save as well for my Halo of Spores?

Oh, yes he can He fails Awesome, I do 2d6 of Damage which is 7. Kind of damage, Tom. That's a reaction to do that. Necrotic. That's fine, yeah.

You watch as the insects and bugs and mushrooms kind of eat away at the scarecrow's form, kind of beginning to chip it away. It doesn't react to the pain, but it is bothered by this swarm of, you know, spores and insects all around you, trying to fend them off. You hear the sound of the giant hut coming ever closer.

Rose Vanandi. I'm sorry, Chris Trott. You're going to have to wait. I'm playing my own game back here. It's fine okay um fighting tech fires

oh goodness I think seeing the ravens coming in and the fact that Ismark is refusing to go sure

uh Rose is gonna take a couple of shots at Baba the shit face yep please just to try and help

Mark can I Slayer's Prey her you can please um 19 plus 9 You can. 19 plus 9 to hit. That hits very much. And second attack is 11 plus 9, so 20 to hit.

Yep. Yep. Both hit. Yep. Yep. Yep. Okay. First one. Two arrows kind of strike in. She brings up her forearm and the arrows just kind of rip through.

First one is six damage. Second one is also six damage. And Slayer's Prey is five damage. Five points of damage. Yeah. You just watch as she kind of brings up her arm the two arrows like one thuds through her palm and the other goes through her like fleshy forearm and they just stop and she's just like and she just like snaps them up but you can see that she definitely is in pain from these attacks there's no resistance there like they do strike her as if she was a you know mortal enemy um yeah anything else i think that's all i can do if i move i'll get attacked so uh i'll stand my ground for now okay uh maya riannon maya maya mayrannon

may my rannon Uh, Maya, Rhiannon Maya. Maya, Myrannon. My, Myrannon. Um, I will move, I'll move up following Dog's Body and Rose, keeping close to those two. Um, and then I will fire back at the Scarecrows. Yeah, there's a, at this point, yeah. Well, if you move up next to rose and uh uh dog's body you'll be in melee range of these two scarecrows so you can hang back a little bit and stay at ranged or you can move up to engage them in melee yeah let's see okay i'll engage them

first then i'll shoot i'll shoot the scarecrows first okay yeah you can always shoot and then move up next so yeah so i want to use use my gathered swarm ability on one of them, probably the one closest to Rose. Okay. So I get the extra D6 of piercing damage if this hits. 11 plus 5, 16. That hits, yep. Nice.

2 D6 plus 2. Oh, man. It's a 7 damage for that one. And then I'll shoot again. Just the 1d6 this time. 3 points of damage. 9. Probably not going to hit a 9, is it?

9 does not hit. I thought 9 was damage there for a second. No, no, no. It's a 5... 7 damage for the a second. No, no, no. It's five, seven damage for the first one. Okay, perfect. So half that to three. Fantastic. So the first arrow kind of thuds in

all these insects surge after it. And you can see that these ones are being worn down as they desperately try and, you know, follow up on their attacks. Anything else, Rian? Do I move up now? Yeah, I'll move up now. Okay.

So you move up next to him, just present more bodies. Just keep in mind you have disadvantage on any ranged attacks, as long as you have an enemy within five feet of you. My crossbow feat, I do not. i oh do you have a feet that prevents that oh crossbow expert so i don't have disadvantage being within five feet perfect all right in that case yeah you move up and uh you are now engaging as well um fantastic baba lasaga what would she do on her turn she's very annoyed she's very very very very very very annoyed at all of you Yep, is mark especially she doesn't like his mark right now

She is gonna position herself so that as dogs body the Maya and Rosa all running away She kind of positions herself so that is mark is directly in front of her I actually know because he's standing over Irene his body.. She doesn't want to harm Irina's body. But the three of you, Maya, Rose, and Dog's buddy are all clustered together, and she's going to... A little orange bead appears over a finger. Here we go.

She snarls at Ismark. I will deal with you later. And then she chucks this over to try and get the ones who are running away. I need all three of you to make dexterity saving throws, please. Let's just kill her. Why are we running?

16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21. 24. All right, so Rose and Dog's body, you're going to take half damage. Maya, you are taking the full amount of damage, but it is fire damage, which you are resistant to. So you take half damage.

And that was a terrible, terrible roll on my first set of dice. Good! I'll pick seven. This dog doesn't want to fry. God, that's awful. You need's 10 for me you only need 10 yeah i mean we don't have that much health left so could still do it 24 half to 12 points of fire damage so you will take 12. i'll see you later

later i'm going for a nap so maya maya falls unconscious um i'm up but not by much so you watch as this kind of orange bead explodes around you see maya one drop down uh tom maya you just feel this surging burning pain all over your body um it kind of just engulfs uh the other maya uh dog's body and rose dog's body you managed you both managed to kind of dive um behind like this kind of like stone fountain in the gardens and it absorbs enough of the flames that the two of you are left smoking and smoldering but still conscious um as she does that uh then she will that's her. She doesn't really want to risk too much, so she will have... She will duck inside her cauldron,

which gives her cover, and then she will hover up in the air, basically. As Mark will get an opportunity attack, but with the cover, it just smashes against the skull chariot, and then she kind of rises up into the air like Bowser in Super Mario World. And looms over all of you once again.

Dog's body. Nice. Oh, what does this fireball do to the scarecrows that were attacking us? Oh, that's true. Yeah, I forgot to make a saving throw for those guys. That's a failure. That's a failure. They're dying.

Yeah, both scarecrows down little silver linings tiny silver linings I need to make a wisdom saving throw because this could go real bad for Rose luckily I've got advantage what the hell is the DC the DC is 8

I rolled 14 is my lowest so we're alright for now bloody hell why does everyone want to die Rose go we can't leave them

Remire is unconscious next to me We can't leave them! What are you doing? Remy is unconscious next to me. Unconscious, yep. Can I... Fuck me. Pick them up. Tom, you're off. I've got a medical... He's unconscious today.

Yeah, I've got a medicine kit. Healer's kit. Do you know what i'm gonna i'm gonna uh i don't okay just i don't know what to do there's too much going on so bubble saga's up in the air um is mark is uh standing over arena can go back, pick up Irina and start like just... She's probably going to kill me. You won't be able to get back because you moved all of your movement carrying Rose. You can get to Irina and maybe pick her up and then that's going to be

pretty much... Yeah, you're then going to... That's going to be your turn. This is probably going to be death for me, but... Rose, listen to me Go! You need to go now! And then I'm going to go back and get to Irina and try and assist

Ismark Okay You get up, you scoop up Irina's body Tom, Maya It's like Rose is running in one direction and Dog's body is like, get out of here. It's like, what? I am! I have a goal.

I should go run the lot. What am I going to do on my own? Party of one with a sun sword. Good news. In doing that little run action, I just completed my move goal. I'm going to cast Darkness. I'm going to cast Darkness on Babalasaga's cauldron.

Okay, what, up in the air? On her. Yeah, she's floating about 20 feet up in the air at the moment. That's cool. So you see this globe of darkness. So it will move with her. Oh, does it? Interesting. Yeah. If I cast it? Interesting. Yeah.

If I cast it on an object that isn't being worn or carried, which, I mean, she's inside it, but, I mean, she's not wearing it, then it moves with it. Okay. Checkmate. I'll give that to you for now because I don't know the rules

on how does things like darkness affect vehicles because D&D. But yeah, sure. So you kind of stick this inky blackness. No, but the intention of the rules is that you can't put it on somebody's sword. So it's the same kind of principle is that you can't put it on something

that somebody is in control of. But I'm going to say for now it works. The inky blackness sticks to the kind of outside of the skull and projects this large sphere around the cauldron um point keep in mind none of you can now see babalasaga either so it's you can't see her she can't see you as long as she can't see through darkness she's a moving ball of darkness i think we know pretty much where she is but not exactly you have advantage of disadvantage on all attacks against her is what I mean,

and she has disadvantage on attacks against you. Yeah, and the Grasping Vine I cast somewhere near the edge of this mass around what was Jesper, is that 30 feet away from any of the guys I could pull them towards us? I can't remember exactly where it was in the theory of mind. I mean, you're on sort of like one side of this circle um other maya is on kind of like the southern side of it rose dog's body uh are on were on the other like on the right hand side of it coming down um alongside other maya you could either pull... You could try and pull either Ismark or Dog's Body. They're the only two people that you can really try and grab

and pull towards you. And I guess grabbing Dog's Body means dropping Irina as well, right? Maybe. You don't know. Sure, I'll just pull Ismark. Do they get a saving throw if they're unwilling concentration i lose grasping vine carry on okay there you go so darkness concentration expends out the grasping vine so the grasping vine withers away um and we are left with that uh my bad is mark seeing this moment of darkness, will look at Dog's body and just say,

Go! Take her! Get out of here! And he's gonna basically, he's gonna hold his action to run when Dog's body runs. Because he can't fight Babalasaga up in the air, he can't do anything, so he's gonna basically run when Dog's body runs. The aware ravens

float in. The two that were next to Rose, they land on either side of you now, fully kind of, like, catching up, and they will look down, and you hear Adrian kind of speak in a squawking voice just like, Rose,

grab on! And he, like, offers, like, one of his arms, like, he's, like, willing to, like, basically pick you up and carry you. Nice. Okay, sure. as like one of his arms like he's like willing to like basically pick you up and carry you nice okay sure and then he looks over stefania grab grab that one and she points and they point at the maya and stefania this kind of female were raven will scoop up maya's other body um and they will basically try and carry you guys and lift you up into the air and fly away with you. Scarecrows are all dead. All of the scarecrows are dead from the acid wave, the fireball, and them being hit.

You now see on the very outskirts of this manor, this walking chicken-legged hut that begins emerging. And this time it is now actually within range, dog's body. You see it scoops up a giant rock with one of its giant birdlegs' feet,

and it will rear it back, and it... In fact, it won't go for dog... It sees the ravens, and it... Irina. Also that, it sees the ravens and holding arena as well also that it sees the ravens the were ravens there's two more coming from the north and it this hates the were ravens so it's going to target one of the were ravens that is a hit uh who throws a rock a house chicken house tom i mean you've had one of these other were-ravens, they brace for the blow,

and they do get knocked off, and you can see, like, kind of blood kind of spurts out of their mouth, but they right themselves, and they are still flying. But the hut is within now rock-throwing range. Rose Van Andie. Can I... What? rock throwing range Rose Van Andie can I what

what are you laughing at Tom only only in this damn show would you hear that the house of rock throwing range stupid game what the hell? You've played Final Fantasy VII. You've seen the death house or whatever it's called.

It's basically that. Yeah, yeah, yeah. All right, Rose, you all... Can I shout and cast Cure Wounds on the unconscious mire? Sure, yeah. I'd say that they'll keep you within range to be able to do that, Stefania and Adrian bring back

half of the mire oh I rolled quite well 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13 15 hit points that's the best I think I've ever rolled on secure woods that's a big heal

yeah it's huge and well timed unless there's anything else uh I just want to say to them you have to get dog's body and arena get dog's body uh adrian just

calls down like my brother my brother and sister will try but we must get you out of here you carry the sword and they're like pulling you away, basically. Maya, Rhiannon Maya, this is. How do you do? Is other Maya like in range of me? Other Maya is about 50 feet away from you

and you are about 10 feet off the ground being held by a giant crow woman. A raven woman sorry You can communicate I want to have a pathically Let's say for communication share the same thoughts. I want to get up a Meyer out as well I want to get I want to help Well, what are you doing? Dogs body you're gonna be up in a minute

Oh my god I don't know what to do It's okay Thoughts and prayers for us mean a whole lot more I can She's already got the darkness So she's got that I think

oh my god I don't I think I'll just I'll forego my turn I'll let myself get whipped up away okay so you're just gonna basically do nothing I don't know what to do okay yeah if you don't know what to do then you can just be like I don't know what to do. Okay.

If you don't know what to do, then you can just be like I don't know what to do, and then that's your turn. Yeah. Sure. You can just take some shots. You've got your crossbow. If you just want to shoot at something, you can shoot a Bambalasaga. She's surrounded by darkness,

but you can still shoot in the darkness. True. I've got darkvision. Darkvision doesn't help with magical darkness. Ravens are already being attacked. Yeah. Okay. I don't want to risk getting the ravens attacked, so... Okay, you already are being attacked.

I had a rock thrown at me by a house. True. Yeah, I'll just say, Go, fly as fast as you can go uh bubble a cyber on her turn the the chariot the skull chariot rises up another sort of 10 feet in the air and then you watch as the sphere of darkness disappears from the the chariot she dispels magic just vanishes um and she just looks around and you can see her teeth are like pulled into this grimace and her eyes narrow give me back my son's pride uh and she will actually she can move that she will begin to move the chariot down,

back down towards Dog's body. Like she is like focused on Dog's body. Who's got Irina. Dog's body. It's your go. I'm so dead. I'm so very dead. Is she within range of me at all?

What's that? Melee range? Is she in range of me at all? What's that? Melee range. Is she range of me? She's probably, I mean, she would have kept above, so she's like 20 feet up in the air directly above you. Okay. Well, first of all, this dog needs to make a brain save. Please roll two ones.

Oh, that is so good that I have advantage because one of them was a five. The other ones are 13, though. 13's fine. So, God bless those were-ravens. I am going to desperately shake Tatiana. Please wake up. Please wake up.

Please wake up. You can spend your action to wake her up if you want. You can shake her awake as an action. I'm going to spend my action waking her up just by furiously begging, please wake up.

Please wake up. Please wake up. Please wake up. Please wake up Let's not go and she's kind of like yeah, she comes to just like what? And then Movement no, I'm gonna stand here on I'm gonna stand here and I'm gonna die for this lady All right, you can her on the ground. 30 feet of movement. I'm going to set her on the ground. It'd be 15 if you're carrying Irina.

All right, you set her on the ground. And I'm going to carry Irina. I'm going to put her down and start to pull her away as far as I can from Lysaga. So you can move 20 feet. You should get about 20 feet away from Bubba. Can I go in a direction away from

Rose and Remire? So I guess... You can kind of start heading off towards the... Yeah, towards the west, basically, because you have the giant walking house to the north. Rose and the were ravens are behind you so you can either go east or west is the two options you can go west

would definitely be the furthest away from the were ravens um so you start pulling west it is peaceful there it was nice knowing you i think irena is pretty capped out on spell slots and stuff as well. Where is our character sheet? Here it is. Oh, no, she's still got some spell slots. She's still got some spell slots, but she can't do too much. Dog's body, you're, like, really hurt, right? She will healing word dog's body.

Oh, real bad. I'm pretty bleeding and gross, yeah. For eight hit points. On fire. Eight hit points for dog's body. you're like really hurt, right? So you were healing word dog's body. Oh, real bad. I'm pretty bleeding and gross, yeah. For eight hit points. On fire a little bit. Eight hit points to dog's body. Oh, thanks. As she kind of lets out this, she sings this kind of beautiful crisp note

and you feel your kind of wounds beginning to, you know, the pain lessens. You feel your energy return. That's her bonus action. As her action, she will basically get out of your arms so you no longer need to carry her, and then use, like, make sure she stays with you, like, with her movement, basically.

She's just like, no, dog's brother, you have to... If she takes me, it buys you the rest of your time. She has to take me back to Strahd. Now that her spell has not worked, she may take me again. You need to get the others and leave. Don't risk yourself for me. Uh, the Maya's on Maya. She's pretty pissed off with us.

And I'm pretty scared. It's okay. I can do this all day, Babalasaga. I'll cast Darkness again on her cauldron. Okay. Yeah, you cast Darkness on her cauldron. Yep. If she's going to use full actions, counterspelling it, then I want to run with

Dog's Body and Irina. So you get next to those guys. You're kind of already on that side, so they kind of run into you, and then you're kind of all grouped up together now, the three of you. All right, perfect. Leaving just good old Izzy Izmark. Seeing his sister flee, he will follow. He's not going to try and fight Babalosagra if he doesn't have to.

So he will join Tom Meyer, Dog's Body and Irena's group that are running off to the west, leaving Rose and Remyer with the Were-Ravens to the south. The Were-Ravens go. Two of the Were-Ravens swoop down. They will pick up probably Ismark

and Irena. They will grab the two of them. Irina is like, no! And then the were-ravens just grab her and pick her up off the ground and they begin to basically fly away as well. Rose and Rimaia,

they will just fly you guys. They have to move at half speed but they start flying you south to try and get over the river to try and get some distance between you. The hut, however, follows behind its master

and sensing that these were-ravens are still thingy, the one that is currently carrying Irena, it will try and throw a boulder at at and it is a natural 20 24 32 36 40 47 points

of damage halved is 23 yeah you watch as this were raven of damage halved is 23. Yeah. You watch as this were-raven this is who would this be? This would be one of the brothers. Bring up their

names now. No, don't sing that, Tom. That's my trigger. It makes me cry. It makes me cry so much. This elvira uh this is elvira uh adrian's um brother and you watch as the rock he pulls irena in to protect irena the rock snaps his head around and breaks his neck and he plummets out the sky irena will take a little bit of fall damage um as she punts out

Irina falls unconscious as she hits the ground you just see Irina and falls unconscious Babalasaga shrieks you hear Babalasaga shriek out stop stop, stop, to the hut, and it just freezes in place as it does so.

Rose. I can't do anything. I'm very far away, flying in the air. I mean, I'd say that long range, you're still in long range for your bow. How far away am I? At this point, you're like... I mean, I've been kind of being very vague

with the distances on the camera. I'd say you're about 240 feet away from Babalasaga in the house. You'd have disadvantage on his shots. She's in darkness anyway, so I would have had disadvantage anyway. So I'll take a couple of shots at the Babalasaga. That's true, she is in darkness.

She doesn't yell stop, because she doesn't know that Irina is dead. It's all unconscious, not dead. You're welcome. 16 to hit. 16 with a disadvantage. Against Babalasaga, even with disadvantage, that still hits.

So you take a deep breath and you just look at the darkness and try to imagine where she will be and just very zen like the arrow loosens and seems to strike something so eight damage on that uh second attack 10 is my lowest plus 9 so 19 to hit 19 still hits I only rolled a 1 on that though so 5 damage from the bow and then

Slayer's Prey is 4 4 points 4 more points you do hear a shriek coming from inside the darkness as your arrows connect with something. Anything else, Rose, on your turn? No, I don't think so. I don't think I can do anything

else. Just... Okay. Re-Maya, and then Babalasaga, then Dog's Body. Re-Maya. I will join Rose. I will join Rose on that arrow. Good time. Sure. So disadvantage on each attack let's do it I'm gonna do hopefully try and do

favored foe and gathered swarm as well do some stacking oh okie dokie oh no disadvantage oh still gonna hit though boop boop advantage. Okie dokie. Oh no, disadvantage. Unnatural 20.

Still gonna hit though. Boop boop! Okay, so I'm gonna do 1d6 plus favored foe plus gathered swarm, so that's 3d6. Okay. Oh come on! Nine more points.

Still damage. And then I'll do it. So you kind of bolt surrounded by insects and bees heads in, and then something like the crossbow jams for a second. You have to clear the bolt out of it as you just hear the snapping of the crossbow strings. Oh, my God. The queen of the numbers won on dice rolls.

I can't. She is. But no, but then she also rolled a natural 20. It's just swings and roundabouts for three. It's either really high or really low. That's it. No middle ground. Every time there's a 20, there's a 1 around the corner. If she rolls in that 20, there's a 1. It's a good thing I'm not

on the stock market. I'll be like, hotel, hotel, hotel. What are the trends? We don't know. Just while Mark's figuring things out, just checking in with Chris Trott. Chris Trott, how are you doing? How do you think this is going? Wow, what a great show. I should watch this more often.

I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. We had a whole thing for when your character was going to appear and we've not got to it yet. It doesn't make sense for you to just appear in this fight. I'm not being sarcastic. He's actually enjoying it, Mark. I feel bad.

I feel bad for him, is what I'm saying. Well, don't. So, Babalasaga, you see the black sphere doesn't dispel this time. It doesn't disappear. Instead, in a swirl of kind of putrid green and red mist, Babalasaga herself appears on the ground. She kind of seems to teleport down to the ground. She looks around and seems to be looking for like where irena is where

all the targets are and then she sees irena and the dead uh were raven on the ground and her face just contorts um and she begins she uses her movement to basically move over towards as close as she can get she's not going to get there just yet. It's going to take her another round. And instead, for her action, sensing the rest of you as an interference, she raises her hands up, and from the swamp and the ruins and the garden, you begin to hear this incredible loud buzzing of insects, and 1d4 insect swarms appear.

My people are here. Yes. Three insect swarms appear. My people are here. Yes. Three insect swarms appear about 60 feet ahead of Babalasaga, which basically puts them around Maya Tom, Dog's Body, and Ismark, and the ravens in the air.

These insect swarms just seem to swarm up as creatures. I'm going to have to add those in as a manual entry. Insect swarm, what's that? Initiative bonus. That's one. Wait, nobody else can heal Irina, can they?

Nope. I don't think that they have any healing spells. Babalosaga might. And yeah, you just watch these insects just swarm around. And she says, kill the rest. Leave that one. And she points at Irina. Dog's body.

How far is Babla Sags from me? From you? She's 60 feet. And how far is the nearest swarmy swarm? Next to you. It's like these things have appeared in the space because one has appeared next to the raven that's carrying Ismark, one's appeared next to you, and one's appeared next to Tommeyer.

It's like bees and mosquitoes and these thick kind of stinging beetles. They get stuck in my fur. They get stuck in my fur, and I don't like them. I'm gonna turn to Ismark and Tomwire and be like, get Irina out of here!

And can I attack the nearest swarm with my blood spear? So that is 17 plus 8 to hit. So that is 17 plus 8 to hit. So lots. Hits? The fuck is wrong with you, Tom?

What have I said now? What have I done now? It's just that every instruction has been literally what we're doing. Run away. But none of you are fucking doing it, are you? They are doing it. They are. You might as well just say

stay alive. Okay. Well, I can't say that to you, because you're technically undead. Fucking get out of here, you twat. You punk twat. I rolled a lot to hit it, so I'm just going to go straight to damage,

which is a D8. So four plus six, so ten points of whatever spear damage. I'm using my spear. It's still got my Crimson Rite on it. Hold on, wait a minute. Because I've got my hybrid form, I've got one more, so it's actually 7.

Yeah, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11. 11 points of spear damage and 2 points of lightning damage. 2 points of lightning damage. Yep, okay. So the swarm, when you do stab into it, it is a swarm of insects, so even though the spear is magical, the effect, you skewer several of them, but there's just still this burning swarm all around you kind of thing. It is less effective with this type of weapon.

But yeah, you stab into it, you kill several of them, but there's still plenty more to kind of swarm and begin moving towards you. I got one more attack. 15 plus 9, so lots. 6 plus 7, so 13 points of regular damage and 6 points of lightning damage. So what's that total? 13 plus 6 is 19, so...

19. 9 points. Again, this time the lightning crackles down the spear and you do see it disperses a large section of the swarm. Still several buzzing clouds of insects around you, but much significantly reduced in size from these two attacks. Anything else, Dolge? That is murder, she wrote.

That's all I got. It's time for a death saving throw by Irina. It's a three. It's a failure. One failure. Tom Meyer. It's a three. It's a failure. One failure. Tom Meyer. She better start healing. Bubble Asaga better start healing soon.

I will do a poison spray on the infestation that's surrounding me. Okay. So they have to make a con save. 14. Okay. Yep. A whole lot of bugs. They fail. 14. Okay. Yep. A whole lot of bugs. They fail.

2d 12. Poison damage, yeah? That's 12 damage. Against the insects. Necromantic. Wait, no. Poison, yeah, you're right. Go on.

Say it. Say it. Do you want to change your mind, or do you want to do the poison damage? You say it. Just say it. Say they're immune. How say it. How much damage? It's 12 damage, isn't it?

It takes 12 damage. They don't have immunity to poison. It's just fucking with you. They ate ropes. They ate ropes. They ate ropes, man. If it was a rope swarm, you'd be in trouble. That was the hill I was going to die on, Mark.

And I stand up and left on that hill. Yeah, no, the poison cloud, like several of the insects just drop dead out of the air. But there's still plenty of them. They're still swarming around you. Okay. Anything else? Yeah, I mean, I

will stay, I guess, within 60 feet of Babalasaga ready for the next attack. Ismark flails desperately at these insect swarm in front of him. All three attacks hit. Four, five... Nine... Isn't Ismark flapping away with one of the

birds? Yeah, they didn't get that far because they had to swoop down and pick him up so that he's not actually gotten further away um you've also just completely thrown off

my maths there Kim um 5 sorry he got he got 45 9 14

20 23 half of 23 is 11 um um uh so you watch as he's just like swiping at these bugs like ah 23, half of 23 is 11. So you watch as he's just like swiping at these bugs, like, ah, get off of me.

We have to get to Irina. And he's just like swiping around, trying to get them off of him as desperately as he can. The were-ravens go. The were-raven can't really fight back because it's carrying Ismark. The other one is dead. Irina and, sorry rose and maya they float you across the river to get you like at as far away as possible out of range um and yeah they're just gonna basically keep flying to try and keep the the two of you

alive at least uh while they they try and retreat. The hut afraid to... Oh no, Babalasaga did cry out to kill the others and not you. So the one that's holding Ismark, the raven, it will throw a rock, but this time the raven manages to dodge it. The raven manages to pull itself to the side as this giant

rock pulled from the ground, this moss-covered rock is thrown beside them. The giant hut does move a little bit this giant rock pulled from the ground this moss covered rock is thrown beside them but the giant hut does uh move a little bit closer uh oh god yeah although i've lost it oh it's there that's why uh getting dangerously close now um to you guys about 100 feet or so away. Rose. You're now about 300 feet away. I can still shoot at that. A couple of shots then, can I?

Disadvantage if you shoot at Babalasaga. Or her hut. Can I do it as a hail of thorns at Babala Poop? Yep. Please.

Yep, there's no other creatures around her, but you can definitely target the hail of thorns on her. Yeah, she just takes the damage from it. Sure. Oh, shit, wait, no. What is the range on it? Doesn't hail of thorns explode? Maybe.

Yeah, but she's not here anymore. After this, it's Remire's go. So, it's insects, then Remire. No, because it's cast on my... It's cast on myself, or my weapon. Does it say, like, on the next attack you make? It's on the next...

It's the next time you hit a creature, so... Yeah, it just uses your... while. Yep, it just uses your next attack that hits. Yeah. Seven, eight, nine, ten, eleven, twelve, thirteen, fourteen. Sixteen to hit. With disadvantage, yep, that still hits. Yep. So.

You need to make a dexterity saving throw. That is 11. Failure. So 2d10. Six. Seven. Eight. Piercing damage.

Eight piercing damage. Yep. A bunch of thorns erupt around her. I will shoot again. 18 to hit. 18 hits, even with disadvantage. You're dead-eye sharp shooting shots. Even at this long range, you manage to arc the arrows.

Ooh, full damage eight nine ten twelve damage on that one and then my thing players pray that six i rolled full damage on that one too nice six on top of the twelve yeah you watch it's just this this rain of arrows and thorns just kind of surround babalasang. And you can see now, like, covered in these cuts and welts, she's just screaming this primal... Like, just screaming. There's no words.

It's just primal rage. Anything else, Rose? Nope. I'll just continue to fly away, I guess. Okay. All right, the insects uh so this is going to be against dog's body uh maya and uh the raven carrying ismok um maya that is a 22 to hit yeah

oh four points of piercing damage. Cool. I'm just going to hellish rebuke it. Okay. X10 save. All right. Save that. It fails.

Great. 3D10 damage. Oh, not as much as I thought. Nine. Oh, nine. Well, it takes extra damage from this kind of eruption of flame around it and you just watch as you burn as it strikes you and bites into your flesh the the fungi and your body just erupts in this kind of greenish flame that just burns the rest of the insects away uh dog's body was an 18 to hit you yeah don't hit me for a whopping oh that's actually

six points of piercing damage as it just bites and stings so it'll be three because you are currently in hybrid forms uh and then against the raven one they don't seem to be able to get through the raven's feathers and body just kind of bites bites bites but doesn't seem to cause any actual harm to the creature uh reemire um can i um ask the were raven to put me down now that we're on the other side of the bank and try and get it to ask it to go back and help the others yeah you can ask them to do that they'll have to do that on their turn but you you can definitely basically say like, yeah, that's a free action to just talk to them and stuff. Okay, cool. So I would like to do that.

And then, yeah, carry on shooting Barbala Saga. What's the range on your hand crossbow? Because the hand crossbow doesn't quite have the same range as a longbow. It's not... 120. So you are out of range. The crossbow bolt will not... not technically you would have been in range last turn but we'll save for this time

it just doesn't have the strength to get across the river okay I'll just ask the rare ribbon to put me down and go help the other ones okay crossbow expert helps no that means that she can take an extra shot yeah it doesn't increase the range

unfortunately okay you've put me in a difficult positions here that means that she can take an extra shot. That just ignores the five feet. Yeah, it doesn't increase the range, unfortunately. Okay, you've put me in a difficult positions here. So, you just see Babalasaga kind of looks up. Just like, fine, you can all have your lives for this day, but the girl will still be mine. And she throws her hands up and you watch as the very ground the swampy village that you've been in seems to shimmer and shift and warp and suddenly you are no longer in a swampy ruined village you are instead in a dense forest that seems to just cover a one-mile area.

So you completely lose sight of Irena and Baba Lasaga. They just seem to get completely blocked by just thick, dense trees. The ground, although it's still this kind of swampy mire, almost resembles that of a wood. Rose, the were-ravens, you guys are still in it but yeah like you just completely lose sight of everybody um as this this forest seems to spring up around all of you um shit yep and then that's her turn dog's body so can't see Irina at all. It's like a forest has just sprung up around

you and there's this thick foliage of trees. You just can't see her. Are the bugs? She fell and you guys... Yeah. Are the bugs still around? Yeah. The bugs are still around you. Maya killed the ones around it.

And the hut? The hut's still there uh you can hear the hut but even the hut is like you can probably see maybe parts of it sticking up out of the trees but but irena was like i was stood over her right because i was carrying her and no because she fell off the raven. She fell off the raven. The raven scooped her up, you guys were moving, and then they got separated. So you were only about ten feet away from her, but she's like, and you're completely surrounded by these trees now.

Out of the box thinking, given the ring of protection that I was using and how it made me feel when I was near her, can I perhaps use that to try and find her? You can certainly try. Basically, that would involve you picking, like saying, I'm going to move in where I think she is

and then probably making a survival check to try and locate her. Yeah, and I'm probably going to get attacked by these chompy swarm boys. You will. If you move out of their area, they will get an attack. I'm going going to get attacked by these chompy swarm boys. You will. If you move out of their area, they will get an attack. I'm going to do it. It's what Dog's Body would do, I think.

Yep. That is going to be a 10. So the insects just don't even get Ponstorama. You kind of swat them out of the way and then chase it in the right direction. So yeah, give me a perception check. I do have advantage on perception checks that involve smell and hearing. So hearing, yeah, if it's with hearing, I was going to say if it's just smell,

this whole thing smells like a forest as well. Like there are all these really powerful aromas that are throwing off your scent. But if you use hearing, sure, I'll give you that. Cool. So perception, you say oh sorry was it uh perception yeah you can use perception i'd say that that's like you can use your hearing to try and detect her and you're using the ring to try and guide you as well uh i

rolled a 16 minus one uh um so 15 i'd say normally that probably would be a failure because this is like a really thick, magically created forest that sprung up around you. But with the ring as a benefit, it's going to basically be your turn is to move and then you're using your action to try and like sniff her out and hear her and find her and use the ring. You stumble in, you kind of push through these woods, you lose sight of everybody else,

and you then find in like a small kind of pocket of trees babalasaga hunched over irena um and she has her gripped and when she sees you this this be the end of your turn um or after you've used your action um she looks up at you and says one move and i will not be able to save her i'll just just hold up my hands. And that's the end of your turn. On Irena's turn, she has to make another death saving throw, so it could all end right here if I roll a one. 17. One success, one

failure. The mire. Tom mire. I will do my best to just stumble through the forest towards where I thought she was. So that's going to be basically my... Yeah, you're going to have to do the same thing.

So it'd be a perception check, but with disadvantage because you don't have the benefit of the ring. What about if I am literally the land? Well, here's the thing. Here's the thing, the mire. As you, both mi mires you would think this at the same time this is not a natural forest this isn't actually a wood

this magic this is an illusion but you can't see through it zombies we can't control bugs we can't control land we can't control this is heresy I will mega perception then oh here we go.

Lowest is a five so far. Second one's a five. You stumble around. You try and go in the direction you think they were, but you get confused and turned around. Yeah, you just stumble through and just can't find anybody. Yeah, well, I'll use an action to dash as well, but yeah, I mean, whatever.

It's more that you can't find out where anybody is. Like, you're running around, unable to find anyone. Ismark will try and fend off these swarms. I think he's probably going to kill them this round. Let's find out. Yes, he will. With these damage rolls, he will. So you just hear, like,

and then something is happening somewhere uh the were raven uh carrying is mark sounds like there's a struggle and you might be able to just hear like put me down i need to find her like no i need to get you out of here and they're so they seem to be engaging in a fight uh they do do as you ask maya um stefania will set you down on the ground and then begins trying to fly up and to go in the direction that she last saw everybody. But again, even for you, you're looking around and you're just in this thick, dense wood now

as you try and do so. Rose, do you want Adrian to do anything or do you want, like, do you, like, shout any orders up to him? He's happy to take your orders on this. do you want like do you like shout any orders up to him he's he's happy to take your orders on this um i think she'll try and is there what can i see from where i am so i'm in the air at the moment it's just forest everywhere for like and you look around it's a mile it's a it's like a mile radius around you like the whole nearly the whole village is engulfed by this illusory forest.

Do I think, because that's my favorite terrain, that I would be able to find people within it? That's the thing. It's not your favorite terrain. It's not a real world. It's not following the same rules of magic. I guess she'll just... There's nothing really she can do at the moment if this is an illusion

so okay sure you hear the sounds of biting insects but they've also don't seem to know where they are dog's body so they come chasing after you Rhiannon Meyer anything on your turn I think I should probably say to Rose they didn't come chasing after you um rian and maya anything on your turn um i think i'll just

probably say to rose um we we should maybe think about moving the others may be able to find us but until they've solved their issue yeah the the were raven is kind of like flapping overhead trying to like look around and things like that um they seem to be as lost as you are and uh if the other maya other maya hears your thoughts um you know well it's your thoughts it's not individual thoughts it's the same thing um but yeah uh dog's body so we come down to this this is pretty much like like at the moment the main reason to keep initiative is because of baba lasaga dog's body and irena um baba lasaga is like dragging irena away and you see her lay her hands on her and you do see like the wounds close up not heal but she is gonna uh spare the dying um so you just watch as like you know she is no longer dying uh but still unconscious and she's dragging Irina away but she has like this long thick

kind of like her hands are like claws and she has this one long nail poised at Irina's artery and she's dragging her away what do you do? how fucked up does Lasaga look? I would say

being you're in your beast form you can probably smell the blood and hear her heartbeat she is human like this isn't like an undead creature she's hurt like you don't know if like one blow will take her out but her heart is beating fast you can smell blood just like pouring down from like all these wounds her breathing is quite heavy and she's just dragging irena's body away and trying to use this threat that if you come closer she's gonna kill her and she does look poised she is she does seem to be holding like an action you can see almost actually i would say that what you see is like um green black magic is being held in her hand

like she's she's holding hand like she's holding a spell she's holding a spell to cast but she hasn't cast it yet I forgot to roll for bloodlust at the beginning of my last turn well that sounds like a good time to roll for it now yeah I'm just wondering like should I

roll twice because I didn't roll for it when I was playing you weren't in combat so just roll twice just I didn't roll for it when I was checking. You weren't in combat so just roll twice. Just roll once, sorry. I rolled a 5 and a 13. You passed. So that makes it worse because now Kim has to make the decision.

Now Kim has to make the decision. Damn you, Dyson! You will not take this from me. My son will be pleased. I don't know if you'll really kill her then. I'm just... I missed one ability. One long rest. No.

Okay. What do you do? Am I going to do it? I don't know that you're really going to kill her. I don't know. I don't know that that's going to happen. What do you do? I need you to make a decision.

I'll spell, though. Is Dog's Body gonna be the hero that we need? Eventually. He's flip-flopped so much during this. I don't know. I don't know what to do! Kim, what are you doing? I need you to decide right now.

Roll the dice for it if you're unsure. Dog's body believed that her sacrifice was the good thing to have everyone go alive. And there is a spell being held up to her neck. So no. He's gonna back down.

Because he thinks that spell's gonna go off. And he's gonna back down because he thinks that spell's gonna go off. And I feel like Dogspotty, in his years of living in the swamps, of living in our woods, and living in Barovia, trying to survive, he would have heard of just how powerful

the saga is. I think the thing that worries me is the spell going off and killing Tatiana I think that worries me I don't know, I kind of want to do it I kind of want to do it, no I'm doing it, fuck it I'm going in, I'm calling the bluff

I'm calling the bluff and I'm going in So you charge to attack? Bye lads Alright, the held reaction the held action was to cast the spell on you. I need you to make a constitution saving throw. There we go. She was never going to kill Tatiana, but instead it was like as soon as you lurch forward,

she throws the spell in front of her and these black tendrils. I rolled 19 plus four. Half damage. 23. Half damage. It is necrotic, which I believe you're resistant to, right? Yep, because I'm an ACR. All right, so you half then half again.

45, halved to 22, halved to 11 necrotic damage. I'm still standing. All right. You kind of almost walk through I'm still standing. All right. You're done. Like, you kind of almost walk through as these black tendrils are just impaling your body, spread through your body, but you walk through it like just fur and flesh

just melting and burning away. And you can see in a panic, Lasaga is, no! And you bring the axe up. Make your two attacks, dude. It's going to be with the blood spear. 11 plus 9 is... I rolled a 7 plus 4,

so 11 points of spear damage and 2 points of lightning damage and two points of lightning damage. Two points of lightning, second attack. I rolled a 10 plus 9 is 19. I rolled 8, so 8 plus 7 uh 15 points of damage and i rolled five points of lightning damage so you watch wading through and it's painful dog's body like they're apart like you're not even sure some of your muscles are going to work ever properly again like the damage the fibers are taking is you kind of force yourself through this spell and then the first blow just cuts her down this face and as

it does like the blood pours out and the the kind of beautiful visage is momentarily ruined it begins to almost wither and age before your eyes and then she's just like no start! Strahd, my son! And then you bring the axe up and just straight into the head and just impeds down and you just see her eyes just turn black. The body goes slump. The whole forest illusion vanishes and all of you find yourselves looking

into this ruined garden where there is a statue of Strahd, a broken statue of Strahd in the middle and beneath it you see Dog's body axe into Barbala Saga's head, pull it free, and then Dog's body probably fall to like a knee, super injured,

and yeah, Barbala Saga is destroyed. I do have some bad news. The hut seems to still keep moving Dr. House MD yeah that was a cool as shit we can see that now you can see the house

you can see it was stopped for a moment and then as soon as the body of Babalasaga hits the ground it just begins churning up the ground like it's in some sort of rage or rampage. Its big leg kicks a building to the side sending straw and stone flying.

You know, it can't make noises but it seems to be greatly agitated. Tom Meyer. Now that I can see the hut, I would like to cast Entangle, I guess, on the that is it's going to be running into i know it's a strength save but it also turns it into difficult terrain so it will slow it down

a bit are you going to cast it like a head so as it runs towards them it gets caught right yes uh uh yeah there's no point even attempting a strength save on this thing but yeah difficult terrain the area all right sure sounds good uh and that's um pretty much me the were ravens all four of the three remaining were ravens the hut it must be being brought to life by our gemstone that babala saga took we just need to get inside and take the gemstone out. Once we do that, the hut will stop. We must do that now. And they'll look down at Rose and Maya and Ismark, and they'll say, we can take you,

but you must get inside and remove the gem. Can you do it? Drop me by Arena. She needs me. All right. And then what about you, Maya? They're like, can you get the gemstone free? Yes, well, I will help. I will help. They will fly you.

And Ismark's going to be the first one to get an attempt at this. Maya, you're going to get there the second turn. Ismark's like, yes, of course, go! And the were-raven flies him towards the hut. The hut takes a swipe at the were-raven as it comes close. It connects, and the raven is, like, almost thrown to the side. Not quite fully dead, but you do see them take a blow. But as they drop Ismark, he's just going to try and grab onto the hut

and haul himself inside. I'm going to give him a dex save. That's a natural 20. He, like, lands on the lip of the edge. He's just like, ah! And he swings himself inside, and you can hear him sort of land. But that's the lip of the head. He swings himself inside and you can hear him land, but that's going to be his turn.

Rose, they drop you next to Irina. Can I cast Cure Wounds at first level on her? Go for it. She's like dying and stuff, you know? Spare the dead.

So... Yeah, she's like dying and stuff, you know? Ah, spare the dead. So, six hit points back for Irina. Okay, yeah, Irina's eyes kind of flutter open for a moment. And she takes a breath of air as she opens her eyes. Anything else? Good. anything else good uh i think probably try and can i try and move arena somewhere where she's more in cover like away from the hut i'm just thinking you can drag her 15 feet away that's pretty much all you can do yeah okay i'll do my best to to take her to a safer ish place safer place absolutely all right you start pulling her away uh riannon maya I'll do my best to take her to a safer-ish place. Safer place.

Absolutely. All right, you start pulling her away. Rhiannon Meyer. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So I would like to... Can I... Can I cast Cure Wounds on Dog's body? Okay, so rather than going for the hut,

you ask the Were-Raven to drop youounds on Dog's Body? Okay, so rather than going for the Hut, you ask the Were-Raven to drop you off by Dog's Body? Yeah, so I'll cast Cure Wounds on Dog's Body and then make my way up to the Hut. Okay, yeah, you won't be able to do both in this turn, but you can get dropped off by Dog's Body, heal him, and then the next turn they'll try and get you to the Hut.

Start making my way, yeah. Alright, cast the spell on Dog's Body. Dog's Body, it will be your go next points how many points for four points four whole points um just as a point uh i i kill her with the blood spear so um yes my 2d6 yeah Temporary hit points. Nice. So I got 8 temp hit points back. I do, however, still need to roll for bloodlust. So I rolled a 14 and a 5.

Y'all, it is so good that I have this amulet from the ravens. And then I am going to... I think seeing that Irina is safe and Rose is safe, I am going to actually just move myself away from everyone because I think as Dogspot is getting weaker and weaker and weaker, he's just worried that he's going to lash out at his friends. Keep in mind, temporary hit points don't affect your blood frenzy thing like temporary hit points sit on top so yeah okay uh okay on irena's turn she is going to use her mantle of inspiration so she kind of

pulls herself up and she looks at rose thank you but we need to get out of here and then she's just like she begins singing this like deep beautiful barovian song uh everybody uh maya uh dog's body rose and irena you all get oh sorry both maya's dog's body and um rose you gain four five temporary hit points and all of you can move your use your reaction to move your speed without provoking opportunity attack so you can all start pulling away basically or you can move closer to the hut up to you we need to stop that before we go is mark is already there his mark is inside we need to help him where'd you move away or towards hut hmm or did you. Or do you just not move? You don't have to.

It's an option. It's Tom the Myers going next. Where they were. All right. Okay. So neither further or away

but just closer to everyone else. Okay. Sure. Yeah. What does everyone else do with their movement? How far away is the hut

from where? It's probably about 60 feet. Okay. How far away is the hut from where... It's probably about 60 feet. Okay. It's like in the manor. It's like stomping on this ruin of the manor. Is the were-raven... Are the were-ravens still hanging back after they drop off? They're with you.

They dropped you off. They're next to you. Yeah, they're next to you. Okay. I'm just aware that I'm very much on seven hit points so if I go near that hut it's probably not a good thing anyone with more health want to give it a go

my new character the house uh hopefully not anytime soon yeah I know Tom anything else on your turn? If not, it's Ismark, and that's going to be a big factor on what happens next.

Oh, right. I thought we were just doing everyone's reactions. Well, I was waiting, but nobody's doing anything, so I'm going to you now. Okay, cool. Okay, so Rhiannon goes towards... Yeah. Okay. Nice. I am going to cast Earth tremor so the area that was not 10 20 feet covered the

10 feet in front of me that's now difficult terrain too okay i'm just gonna make it very just slow this thing down no it's a smart move because if ismark can't stop it this turn it will stop it getting to you exactly all right ismark uh has to make a strength check to basically pull the stone free um he rolls a three and that's a failure so you hear him just like ah like you can hear crying coming from inside um he doesn't have any special abilities he's just a normal dude um so the were ravens the were ravens will fly maya up to uh the hut if that is what you so wish maya um the hut tries to get close to all of you but as it steps in like all these vines shoot up it breaks through the vines but it's struggling to move, and you see the earth tremor slowing it down

as it tries to wade through this earth that the Maya has conjured. I think he thinks that he's just won the game. I'll tell you what. I'll tell you what he's done is he's stopped some of you taking 4d10 plus 8 damage. That's what Tom's just done. What can I say? Rose, Maya, Dog's Body, what do you guys do?

You're welcome. Can I lift my arms up for a little boosty? Is there a Were-Raven taxi around? They can do, yeah. Rose, it's your turn first. What do you do? Oh, no, I'm going to continue and get arena

back you start moving away because i'm if i'm hit once i'm out and okay so you're moving away with irena maya rihanna maya and then it's dog's body so can i can i use my gathered swarm ability so am i in the am i in the tree at the moment to the tree? Yeah, they basically, because they were already flying you, they've picked you up and taken you up. So on your turn, you can get inside the hut, yes. Awesome. So can I use my Gavid Swarm? So can I, like, shoot the tree to activate, like, my attack action

and then use the swarm and then grab onto the gem and then use the swarm to then grab onto the gem and then use the swarm to push me back five feet to help me pull it out. Yeah, give me so we won't make attack rolls and stuff give me a strength check but give yourself advantage as well. Ismark is also pulling

it and you can see as you land inside the hut, it's like a witch's hut with like shelves and stuff scattered everywhere and embedded into this tree trunk in the middle of the thing is this glowing green gem. And Ismark has hacked his axe into it and he's trying to wedge it free. He's like, ah, Meyer, I can't get it free. And he's pulling on it so you can go up. And with the two of you combined, you both try and wrap your hands around it

and then use the insects to pull you away as an extra piece of strength so yeah give me a strength um check with advantage okie dokie so that is a 18 with that the insects swarm around you and you feel like this column building between you and the trunk you and is mark both like he starts screaming uh and you just begin to see wood chip away. It breaks and then your hands fully grip around the gem and you feel just energy and life flow into you. Other my you feel like this euphoric like sense of life burst through you both and you pull yourselves free and the whole hut just goes into the disused ground. You and Ismark probably take about 10 points of damage as you are like thrown to the ground and like stumble out. Okey dokey.

As this whole hut just collapses with you guys inside it as you and then the dust clears and without having introduced Chris Trott's character that will be today's episode of the last episode in the last five minutes

we got five minutes but we're not going to introduce his character in five minutes trust me next episode yes and falling out the front door of the hut hey guys it's me but we're not going to introduce his character in five minutes, trust me. Next episode, yes. And falling out the front door of the hut. Hey, guys, it's me. I'm the house door. Take me with you.

Oh, man. Thanks for running the stream, Trot. Thanks, Trot. I'm sorry. The thing is, is like, yeah, like if certain things had gone a different way, that would have been over a lot quicker. Hey, is that not testament to you not fudging D&D and trying to make everything happen?

This is just pure D&D. It's pure D&D, baby. Honestly, I saw us running away and she wasn't going to be defeated. Some very good saving throws. Some clever tactics um good kind of like character decisions and just and some some unlucky rolls on my half like the darkness spell took babalasaga out for like a turn and frustrated her to the point where she left her flying chariot things like the um dog's body finding her when she used the the hallucinary terrain um you know stuff like that. Amazing.

Good rolls. Managed to get away at the right time and just turned what could have been a very deadly encounter into something manageable and winnable. Still deadly for one. He died last week. That's fine.

Still counts as the same encounter. God damn. It does. However, for all of us. Still counts as the same encounter. God damn. It does. However, I will say this because I'm assuming next week you guys will try and find the relic inside the hut and things like that. Go ahead and level yourselves up. Everybody level up this week.

Because you have effectively, you've beaten Babalasaga and you've recovered another one of the relics, which is definitely a level up worthy event. Which means, Trot, you can also level up your new character for next week yeah trot gives you more time to learn what the character can do and how the character will be think of it that way i never do that mark what are you on about i know i know um but yeah i am sorry that you didn't get to fully play i didn't want to didn't want to fudge the encounter so it just was a thing totally fine i don't have a problem with it oh man i can't believe because i do i

feel awful but i'm glad you don't it's all good it's all good it's all good we still did it with just one death as well i mean yeah so just as a point i mean hit points for dog's body rose i know rose was on seven at the end dog's body must have been damn low and that's it that's it from us chris trot will actually get to play on sunday we'll see you then bye see you Thank you.