High Rollers DnD - High Rollers: Curse of Strahd #33 | Mouth of the Beast

Episode Date: April 27, 2021

Following Vasilika's trail the team encounter a cave full of wolves! 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. We'll be right back. welcome back to curse of str Strahd. The last time. Our party are in search of a young woman called Vasilika on behalf of the abbot of the town of Krezik. Having tracked Vasilika down into the mountains, through the woods, they came across a young boy sitting on the shores of a lake, holding in his hands a wolf's head. Inquiring with the boy, they discovered that Vasilika

had traveled with them, and after being attacked, tore apart several of the creatures with her bare hands before heading off to the north in order to pursue those that had come after them. The party, having gotten this information, were then ambushed by a set of three individuals who turned out to be werewolves themselves, having smelled Dog's Body's own lycanthropy. Accompanied by a couple of direwolves, the party had a brief encounter, which they proved to overcome quite easily.

And now they must travel north to try and find if Vasilika is still alive. And that, my friends, is where we begin this week. Unless there is anything you guys want to do ahead of time, my understanding was that you, Rose, had picked up a track of where these individuals had at least come from

and was in pursuit to try and track down their lair or their camp or wherever it is that they are currently located. So unless there's anything anybody wants to do, we will just jump straight into you guys arriving at that location. Hell yeah. All good with me.

Okay. You do currently have an army of NPCs with you as well, which is going to be so much fun for me just we did that just for you mark anyone else is there anyone else in the surrounding area that we can just you know hey tag along do you want to come along you know what you know what what a funny joke why don't i roll and see if there is anybody I'm Trappy the Trap! I'd love to come with you guys!

Yay! You're welcome. We need more happy people. You currently have, in your party of NPCs, you have Irina, also Tatiana. There's some weird awakening of her soul. You have Ismark, the lesser or the greater. We still don't quite know.

He does seem to flip-flop between the two. Esmerelda, the Avenir, the monster slayer who is pretty pretty useful and pretty potent um as well as a young boy called dwyer uh who has come with you the young boy in fact who had tried to run away with silica and i say young he's probably sort of a teenager he's probably like 16 um He's not like little, little. He's like 16. You guys travel and Rose leads you through the hills. And you're not traveling that long before they lead you. Above the tree line, carved into the side of a rocky mountain spur, is a wide torch-lit cave that looks like the gaping maw of a giant wolf the very earth and stone has almost formed this wolf-like uh maw skull jutting out of the mountainside and it looms

before you and it is very clear that this is where those individuals had come from. But along the way, you find other signs that allow you to find this place. Blood. Considerable amounts of blood. And even now, you can see at the very front of this cave, some sort of battle has ensued. There are claw marks carved through the stone you can see blood splatters up along the stony walls the torches are doused something happened here you should all be able to see a map tip please tell me if you cannot I not

excellent that means a bunch of stuff nobody can see it right you guys are all in the same boat I can't see it goody goody goody thank you roll 20 yay yay yay

let's try so en route this is for the players Let's try So on route This is for the players Oh hello To give a bit of flavour While Mark sorts this out Alvaski Doesn't like this wire

And is holding himself back Away from him With some mutterings under his breath. Okay. I mean, you called him bait last time. That was the only name you gave him. There you go. You will.

Welcome. Flavor. It's like sprinkling some cinnamon in. I don't know i don't know the same name is a real pain in my ass uh okay right you guys should all now be able to see the map and you can see this cave entrance i have enabled the dynamic lighting so um you can see it seems to extend further in. There are torch sconces, some of which are lit, some of which are not. But yeah, the cave mouth, the open jaws of the wolf's head form about a 15 foot high canopy of rock over the cave mouth. You can see it's held up by natural pillars of rock, almost look jaws like the teeth of the jaws.

The ceiling rises to a height of about 20 feet inside the cave there are torches in iron brackets lining the walls it is eerily quiet as you approach um i think i'd cast writhing tide after seeing all the blood and the skirmish signs so this is like you summon the insect swarm to kind of surround you right they're all like fat and slow from their feeding last week so they're all like it's just a bit lethargic yeah like from from the more feminine tiefling maya we see all these bugs just beginning to like sprawl out and fly and buzz

around in a great cloud um around them love it nice um how are alvaski and re maya looking after getting a little crunchy from a i mean they're fine this week yeah they're fine. I think I'm alright, yeah. Oh no, it was Tom Meyer. It took a bit of damage. Oh, was it Tom Meyer? Tom Meyer, sorry. Yeah, it was Tom Meyer. I mean, the wound's healed. Yeah, you've had some healing.

I've had a bit of healing, I'm alright. Hi, Bart. Kim's just like, fuck's sake. I just wanted some friends. Just wanted some friends. Maybe you will. Might get some. I guess we'll see at the next moon. Our Vasky's a hugger. You can tell.

Uh huh. Really? Sure. Really? I don't know, I'm just making my own observations as Chris Trott. Alright, let's carry on. Oh boy, we're in a mood today. It's been a long week.

It's been a long week. It's been a long week. It's been a long week. It's been a long week. It's been a long week. It's been a long week. It's been a long week. It's been a long week. Alright, let's carry on. Oh boy, we're in a mood today. It's been a long week. It has been.

Sniffing. Sure. Sniffing stuff. I mean, yeah. If you want to make a perception check, I will say that you don't. Right now, there is the overwhelming stench

of blood that's kind of masking the front of this cave. I rolled a five and a seven minus one, so all I smell is blood. Yep. Basilica is yep Basilica is

uh this person this traitor is here and Basilica has a bond with it so what we do is we put it close and then we

use it to lure out Vasilika. There might not be... I assume that's why you brought him here. Yeah, Dwyer isn't moving far from Dog's Body and Rose, and Irena. Like, he's kind of sticking close to you guys. We brought him here so he wouldn't be killed by wolves or anything else in the forest.

He wouldn't survive in the forest on his own. There might still be wolves in here. We haven't seen the whole pack. And him being dead would jeopardize us getting Vasilika back. He's working. He's one of the abbots. He's one of the abbots in forces. No wonder he wants me dead. Anybody who leaves the village, they get tracked down.

The abbot will be most displeased with you for taking Vasilika away. She didn't want to be there. You're just one of his pets, one of his things that he's summoned or whatever. But she didn't want to be there anymore. She wanted to escape. That's why I took her.

That's why I helped her get out. She doesn't want to be like you. And you can see he's kind of hiding behind Dog's body and Rose, but there's definitely animosity towards Alvarski. Dwyer would know who Alvarski is, so. Alvarski says nothing in response to that. He doesn't rise to it.

Regardless of the politics between you, we need to find this Vasilika, and ideally not have her rip us in half like she did with the wolves back there. Yes, a potent bargaining tool, this Dwyer.

Dogsbody, any ideas on if you think there's still wolves around here? It's very quiet. Duh. I smell blood. Lots blood blood everywhere blood blood gallons of the stuff um let's go in I gotta yeah yeah uh I just gotta go in and see I mean unfortunately

that one and I point at Alvarski does have a point do I and this girl have a connection can I have a look and see if there's any tracks that might tell us which direction that Vasilika maybe moved into this cave. Sure, you can make

a survival check. For sure. 17. I think it's obvious enough some sort of encounter, some sort of fight happened here. 17. I think it's obvious enough. Some sort of encounter, some sort of fight happened here. Through the blood, you see a set of quite petite human footprints that seem to have just walked through the blood spray, and they do lead deeper into the cave.

You don't see any tracks in blood leaving, going back the way you just came. Somebody who came here thought something and then went further in. Sure. You don't see any bodies, though. And judging with that survival check, Rose, there's enough blood here that they would not have been alive.

The walls are like coated in the stuff the floor is like dripping with sticky it it looks old again i'm not you didn't make a medicine check you made survival but like not that old like a day or two kind of it's beginning to congeal maybe um but there's a lot of it Dwyer how long have you been sitting on the beach? it's hard to remember a few days maybe

when after we were attacked and I saw what Vasilika did just time just seemed to it's hard to remember I'm sorry I think it's been a while Just seem to... It's hard to remember. I'm sorry. I think it's been a while. Okay.

Well, nothing left to do but follow the footprints through the blood. Sure. Always the best. You guys can move in as you see fit. Cool. Cool. Rock on down to wolfie town sure um are you just moving normally mine you're just like walking in and you're gonna lead the lead the group uh i mean i'm gonna have a little sneaky a little sneaky okay i don't want to okay well in that case you move at half speed and you can make a stealth check for me, please.

Watch this. Boom. Nine. I just slammed the teeth on the way in. Oh, do I? Why would he have advantage? I thought Rising Tide was you only. Oh, not that one i meant the um the other one pass without a trace yes uh wait no ignore me for the combat last time right yeah no ignore me i yeah okay so maya's kind of leading everyone in and is trying to move quietly but the kind of the vines the fungus definitely there's a strong odor that comes from tom maya um but also the the body moves

in such a kind of unusual way it scrapes uh against the stone yeah blood pool click i drip yeah um yeah also walking in with like if everyone else has any trepidation or fear, like this is a dark cave, whatever. I'm just walking in like, fear ain't nothing to admire. Yeah, I'm gonna, normally this cave would be pretty much pitch black. I was going to try and set up lighting.

I think Rose, you don't have dark vision. I don't know if anybody else, I think everybody else does have it, except the other humans. But this is, once you get past this initial area. It does seem to get dark when you get inside Oh, I do have dark vision nice Cool. Yeah, it's gonna carry on forward. So I see what I can see see see but all that yeah, you do notice There appears to be the cave splits to the left and right uh maya um two

different paths uh you can see that there is a kind of five foot high ledge between the two that divides it you can see that there are kind of ragged furs um what looks to be like a brazier of coals long dyed out um a couple of like spears uh laying up against the stone wall and things like that almost looks like it would be a point where somebody would keep guard but there's nobody here uh rose i might need your tracking which way did she go? Miss Basilica? I can't see very well. I need to light a torch, too. Can I light a torch, please? Yeah, so that means that you won't be able to use any two-handed weapons, though,

if you're currently holding a torch, by the way. So you won't be able to use your bow, for example. That's okay. Okay. So yeah, Rose kind of pulls out a torch. This roaring flame. And yeah, Rose kind of pulls out a torch. This roaring flame. And yeah, if you follow the trails, it does seem to lead towards the left hand side.

Okay. Cool. Ping. Yeah, you see it seems to extend further down, further in. Cool. Okay. further in cool okay in which case can i skirt carefully around the corner sure do you want to make a stealth check for me as well uh arena is mark will just kind of follow up with you guys uh esmeralda will move in start moving moving up as well. Not the best.

What'd you get? 14. 14. 14. Oh, okay. The torch just kind of flickers. This orange glow kind of lighting your way, bouncing off these stone walls.

And you can hear this constant as the wick and the, the, you know, oil soaked pitch, uh, that is set a flame, you know, quietly burns.

Um, you continue moving through, uh, you don't seem to sense. And I think, what is your passive perception Rose, as you're the front of the pack at the moment 15 15, okay

as you start moving your way down Rose, as you get to sort of about here I would say you can hear there is something up ahead trying to be quiet uh you can hear bestial breaths in the dark coming from beyond where you can see you can just hear like a very gentle, bestial breath. I'll hold a hand up to the rest of the group and just like tap my ear and ask them to listen as well, just so they're aware and hope that they do okay okay um do i get a

sense of where it's coming from specifically if it's um i don't know i would say it's hard to tell in these caves um you can make another perception check so that was off your passive perception so if you want to make an active perception check to try and sort of like stop and see if you can listen and pinpoint where it's coming from. Because the thing is, is any sound in here, like your footsteps, the torch, it's bouncing off these close, narrow stone walls, right? I got a 19 on that one.

You think it's coming from up ahead and to the left, somewhere around there. You can see a little bit further in now, and you can see that there is another ledge that seems to lead up into another section of the cave, like a slightly higher section of the cave. I guess I'm going to keep moving up a little bit but skirting towards this ledge side a bit more okay so you're kind of keeping this um guard post ledge to your side uh as you step forward just a

little bit closer you catch third movement to your left hand side as if something's been waiting to pounce there um and you see a furry wolf form basically about to dash out and and grab you you're not surprised because you didn't know there were creatures there so this is the point where we're just gonna roll initiative okay you saw like Rose kind of tap a rear but that was it none of you really moved up you were all kind of still down in the yeah you've not your token hasn't moved Tom say well I mean to move cuz do you want to stop then that's where you is so Rose initiative luckily no surprise she did 18. 18? 18. Irina. It's a 14. Dog's body.

Tree. Tree. Oh, epic. Maya. This is re-Maya. My re. Four. Four.

Tom Maya. Eight. Eight. And Alvasky. Tamiya. Eight. And Alvarski. Ten. Ten. I forgot to put fucking Esmeralda on the list. Double digits. I'll just have to go to the end.

Double digits. All right, I'm sure. Absolutely huge. Well, luckily, Rose, you are going to have time to react. As you can see, there are more of these creatures. They look like wolves. You see one very clearly at the far end of this little cave, but there are definitely more there than just one.

But for now, you can only really see maybe one, maybe two. And they are about to pounce. Where are they in relation to me right now? They are far left. Okay, so they can kind of see you, but you can't quite see them. Oh, hang on. I've scrolled around.

Yeah. Okay. So they're just to your left. You can see the remnants of another campfire burning and they appear to have pressed themselves up against the far wall trying to keep out of sight. But they are to your far left.

About sort of... These squares are all about 10 feet, by the way. So 10, 20, 30, 40, 50. Yeah, they're about sort of like 50, 60 feet away. Can I... You can just about see them in the dim light of the torch. Move. can i you can just about see them in the dim light of the torch move and i want to kind of go up these stairs a little bit get a bit of a higher guard post i mentioned

earlier it's only about five feet high but yeah there's like a little kind of carved into the steps you can kind of start rounding up on those, trying to kind of get some height and position yourself. A little bit higher ground. And can I put... I'll just drop the torch. Okay. On the floor.

Sure. Okay. At the bottom of the stairs. Uh-huh. It's a smart move, actually. so i'll draw a little torch here and i will line up a silver arrow plus and take so you pull out a silver arrow yeah there's definitely at least one wolf target that you can see barreling towards you so you can definitely take a shot at that uh this is the torch is only really giving you dim light so i'm going to give the creature a little bit of concealment so it'll get like a slight ac boost

okay uh can i also do slayer's prey on him please yes whatever that one is 24 to hit uh 24 will still hit even with the cover of darkness with uh the dim light you narrow your eyes and kind of use your ears um and launch the arrow it sails through the air striking one of the creatures 12 damage and it's a silver arrow so hopefully it does the arrow pierces through into the wolf's skull and it drops to the floor cool is there another one i can switch my slayer's prey on tape uh yes i think that this one would so this one's dead i'd say that there's just about another one you can see just tucked around the corner this this almost like little cave um you can see just tucked around the corner this almost like little cave

you can see, it looks like a kind of little den, you can just about see one and we'll mark that as your slayer's prey target okay 18 plus, no 16 sorry 16 plus 9

25 to hit, yep that's gonna hit too. Silver arrow again Oh, I rolled a 1 on my damage though, so 5 damage. 5 points of damage. Okay, Mike make sure you mark off those silver arrows because you just a couple last time as well. They're rare

resource out here. This arrow does thud into the wolf's kind of flank and you hear it kind of yelp and howl, but doesn't seem to kill it like the previous arrow did. And this thing is still going to press the attack.

Anything else, Rose? I will just inform them that there are plenty to go around. The guys that there's lots of wolves okay and as you kind of call that back to your companions they these

wolves come barreling out of this little den 10 20 30 whoops 10 20 30 they just come charging out.

About five of them, five big gray wolves are going to come. 10, 20, 30, 10, 20. It's kind of about here. This one's going to get here. They come charging, howling like a pack. Oh, all of these furry bodies uh spinning around they do seem to kind of back up as you're as you drop the torch below onto the stairs uh they do seem to back up from that and then they seem to sense that there is uh something perhaps um uh elsewhere

that's a different one i need to move um yeah they do seem to sense that there are other living creatures uh not too far from them but that's pretty much their whole round is to is to uh dash um and just kind of surge around as a pack these squares on the map are 10 feet by the way um which is why they're a little bit slower yes uh irena is is far at the back kind of like keeping a rear guard with her her brother um but she will 10 20 uh 30 get to there and then she will dash up uh 10 20 30 sensing that something is wrong but that's going to be Irina's end of turn. Alvarski. Okay, I'm just looking at my abilities. I think I can take a dash action.

If you spend a key point you can, yes. If I spend a key point it's just a bonus action, right? Yes, if you spend a key point you can dash as a bonus action I believe. Ding dong. 10, 20, 30, I've got 45. So you can go another one and then a half square you should be able to actually move half squares on this and then i can do that again so so if

you're trying to go up that is like a five foot high ledge okay i'll go this way then yeah you either have to go through or you have to try and sort of like jump or climb up um 5 15 25 i'm just gonna go into this little nook here uh did you dash you dash to do that with your bonus action yeah because i'm doing my yeah you run up alvaski and you see this pack of like five wolves screw like coming running down this cave corridor. Yep, yep. Doing my regular unarmed strike on this one with my regular attack. Here it comes.

Big, huge 16. 16 does hit. Yep. And it hits the wolf. Six damage. Six points of damage. Your first, oh, is this, this like a punch or a kick? A regular punch.

So you punch the wolf in the face, in the skull, in the muzzle. It does kind of snap its jaws down and then it just turns up frothing the mouth. I believe I get an extra attack but I've used my bonus action already so I don't get the extra.

You can't unarm strike, no yeah i can't add that on so it's just another extra attack then so that's a nat 20 ding dong 28. uh oh okay so here comes insane damage that's a one what well remember that this doesn't do crits the way that we do crits um so you're gonna have to just roll this manually so it's your maximum dice six plus one okay so seven points the same one that you just hit yes with that you bring your kind of elbow down and this time you hear the wolf's neck snap um as you as you you know clobber it uh clobber it down um on the back of its neck and you you hear something snap and it just drops to the ground uh with one last kind of like oh cool happy with that okay i think i had a bit of movement left so because that one's dead uh i did 10 20 30

oh no i don't really have much left so I'm going to stay there ok alright Tom Meyer you hear this yeah in that case I'm going to 10, 20 30 in front of Valvasky and Rose-ish

right next to this one I want to with my cantrip I want to just thorn whip one of them uh so it's a 21 to hit that does hit uh for 10 damage uh is this the one there's one with an arrow sticking out of it or there's uh there should be one two three why have i only got enough okay i'll just do this um um there's three others whichever one uh out of it with the arrow in it uh because this is only with the arrow it's not yeah it's not huge damage so the thorn the whip of thorns wraps around the creature's throat and with a kind of yanking motion uh you feel something rip and tear and pop and

the body just drops again to the floor uh rose your hunters your slayer's prayer whatever uh on that one will end do you want to swap it switch it yeah i'll just switch it to the next one in yep okay so yeah rose you watch is this one that was kind of like almost stalled by the torch at the bottom of the stairs, the mire's whip of thorns just kind of yanks it and it drops dead in front of you. Oh, man. And also, I may as well use my reaction to deal 1d6 necrotic to any creature that moves into my space.

Do you have to activate that first, or is that just anything, basically? It's just a reaction. So if there is one within 10 feet of me, I'm pretty sure there is. Is this all creatures or all enemies, does it say? You can use your reaction to do 1d6 necrotic damage to one creature when it moves into my space. So just the one closest to me that's, I guess,

now got the Slayer's Prey. Is it when it moves into your space or if it starts there as well? Or is it like if it's just in that aura? Or starts its turn there. So yeah, when it starts its turn. So when it starts its turn. Tom is thinking this is a little bit weird and I'm worried these wolves

are defending themselves. Maya, however is thinking kill them. Okay. Well, as the Tom Meyer, you know, is doing this, and these spores, these reddish spores begin to emanate from your body, you do see another larger wolf this time seems to emerge from around the corner.

Ah. More. More. More wolves. 30. 10, 20, 30. And then 40. So I'm just going to place this one. Alvaski.

Alvaski and the wire. This larger wolf comes barreling towards you, kind of leaping over the body of its fallen companion, snarling. You also hear something in the distance. You hear at least two more wolves howling. So 10, 20, 30. In that case, the one that just entered the space, I may as well just go to him instead.

Sure, so was it con save? Con save, yeah. 15 uh that is a fail that's four damage worth it worth all the time i spent doing that one four points of necrotic damage yes yeah every little helps tom okay so you see uh those of you who are at the front of cave, another one of these larger wolves appears on this top ledge at the back of the cave in the direction that you're traveling. There's like another one of these slightly raised ledges, and you see another wolf kind of emerge from a back cave, looking at you with very intelligent eyes. But Alvasky and Maya,

the large wolf that has appeared in front of you is going to make attack against each of you. So bite against Alvaski and claws against Tom Maya. And that is going to be a 20 to hit you, Alvaski. Yeah. And that's going to be a 15 to hit you,

Tom Maya. Oh, damn it. Yeah, that's good. Okay, Alvaski, there's only three points of piercing damage but can you make a constitution saving throw for me please and that's gonna be five points of damage to you tom meyer 11 on my palm okay as it bites into you just yeah it kind of bites into you trying to drag you to the floor. It's not too bad a bite, but it definitely grazes the flesh and the skin on your arm.

And then, yeah, the same for Tommai. The claws kind of rake across your form, howling as it does so. Those two dashed. So we go to Rimaia. I would like to cast Zephyr strike as a bonus action okay um and then i will mosey on up to here and then i'll make um yeah i'll use my movement because you get like an extra 30 feet of movement don don't you? Yeah. Oh, my D&D Beyond's just crashed. Hang on.

That's okay. Yeah, so each of these squares is 10 feet. So 10, 20, 30, 40, 50. Yeah, you can easily reach this while you're in. Yeah. So just make two sword attacks against that big wolf that just came in. Two sword attacks against the bigger wolf. Okay. So I can't get my D&D

beyond back. Hang on. That's okay. Old school. We might have to go old school with it. There we go. It's back. Nice. Okay. 24 to end for the first one. 24 will indeed hit. And this is with a mundane sword,

right? This isn't a magical sword or a silver sword or anything like that okay yeah very important to know d6 plus two so it's four damage and then i'll use the uh zephyr strike d8 force damage as well right yeah roll that separately because force damage is uh very different yeah six points or normal damaging yeah six you run in and you strike thrusting the blade the blade doesn't cut as much as you hoped it would but then there's this almost rush of force as you rushed up so quickly the strike hits and then there's almost like an aftershock of force and that definitely seems to tear the flesh more than your own strength did um as it rips through the creature's furry hide uh yeah nice i'll make a

second attack uh 23 to hit that will hit you don't get the zephyr strike on this one do you i think you just get it on no just once yeah cool so that'll be five damage for that one and then i'll use my cross for the third one you get a bonus action yeah oh you already used your bonus action to cast zephyr strike though uh it's a cross let me have a look at that again yeah i think it's as a bonus action you can make a free shot if i remember it right by all means tell me i'm wrong yes it is yes no you're right bonus action you can't not this time you can next time it's only because you can't set fit strike but yeah so you go up two slashes into this larger wolf but uh doesn't quite have the effect you was hoping it would um dog's body you see where your friends rush off to the north um um this ledge that's in front of me you said it was five foot it's like five foot

high yeah so it's it's fairly easy to like climb up it'll just be double movement to get to the top of it um so it'll be 10 feet to get up and then 10 feet to move into the square so it'll be about 20 foot of movement to get on top 20 foot to get there and then 40 to get there That's right. Could you well you can't you can't end in the same space as an ally? Although it's actually a 10 foot square space. So yes, you can As right, yeah you are yeah Okay

Yeah shoes in the spot is fine i'm gonna shrink you guys down because technically that's a 10 foot space so you can both occupy it um so you're both on this kind of stairway now walls are huge okay and yeah i just didn't i just couldn't be bothered doing like half squares there isn't a wolfie within range of me is there not if you get to the square that you entered no because you're technically there and roses there um could i uh bonus action then hold an action uh yes you can in which case bonus action i'm going to activate crimson right on my great axe and then my action will be to attack when an enemy is in within range of me okay sure and i will roll damage all right so you're holding an action you're kind of preparing

yourself that if anything yeah yeah you took two damage from your crimson right damage for crimson right it's thunder down um lightning damage so my great axe is going to start crackling okay cool cool cool uh after dog's body i'm just going. uh esmeralda will move up uh 5 10 15 20 25 30 5 10 15 20 25 30 and ismark comes rushing he's gonna dash esmeralda when she finishes her movement will cast magic missile Esmeralda, when she finishes her movement, will cast Magic Missile at probably to try and thin out some of the wolves behind. She'll do a second level Magic Missile, two missiles on one wolf and two missiles on another one. So that's going to be two, five, seven points of damage

to one of the ones in the back. points of damage to one of the ones in the back and then oh five plus five ten points of damage to another one at the back uh so these two uh wolves behind the larger wolf uh esmeralda's like blast of magic seeks through the air slamming into them um but that is going to be the end of their turn. Rose! Oh, well. Can I take a couple of shots at the one that I've got Slayer's Prey on?

Yep, one of the normal wolves. The normal one. Smaller wolves, we'll call them. Small wolves. Small. Small. 25 to hit. 25 hits.

The swolve takes six points of damage, please. And then... Six points. And that's the one that got the new Slayers of Prey. Yep, so this arrow thuds into the side. Again, not quite enough to kill um but definitely enough to wound heavily okay did you get the two from slayers prey yes i did yes okay second arrow uh 15 plus night so 24 to hit that will hit same target yeah with the slayers slayers prey on it

yes please uh okay seven damage on that one. Seven points of damage. The Smurf, this one also is deceased. That second arrow, this one hits into the side of it, and then the second one embeds it into its eye. It just flops to the ground. I will move my Slayer's Prey to the large wolf next to the mire. The big one. Okay.

Big boy. All right. Ann announce that one is your slave's praise okay um rose i think that you would be i think you and dog's body can tell that the big wolf is a it's a werewolf it's not like a dire wolf it is a full werewolf these other ones seem to just be regular wolves but werewolves do tend to you know have semi-control over smaller wolves and things like that so they're probably just acting in that regard uh at the end of your turn uh the normal wolves the smalls uh will go the last two remaining heavily injured as they are seem driven almost uh to a point and they will gang up on tom meyer uh who is right in front of them and they get lots of bonuses to attack so that's what they're going to do.

Stack damage. They have advantage because of pack tactics. So two attacks come in at you. 19 or 15. So at 19, I'm assuming hits. It does. It's going to be 5, 6, 7, 8, 10 points of piercing damage. And can you make a strength saving throw, please? 10 and strength saving throw do you say sorry yas please eight you are knocked

prone my good sir as the wolf kind of jumps up onto your chest bites it sinks its teeth into you um and it drags you to the floor the second one is going to attack as well with advantage whoops uh that is going to be the highest there is a 15 to hit damn it om nom nom nom uh seven points of damage hey druids are pretty tanky uh they are pretty tanky i love it pretty tanky uh they are pretty tanky i love it as they both bite into you heavily wounded as they are but they still seem driven uh to attack in some sort of bloodthirst uh that is the end of the regular wolves the smalls uh irena 5 10 15 20 25. We'll move up behind. I think she wants to try and save what few spells she has left. She doesn't have too many left.

She will use a Bardic Inspiration on Rose. You may have a D8 Bardic Inspiration to use within the next minute. So attack, roll, saving throws, et cetera. You know how Bardic Inspiration works. So she sings out this kind of beautiful ethereal uh song uh that you seem to feels like it invigorates your muscles um and your spirit uh leading you to attack and then for her action uh she will just ready and attack if anything comes close to her alvy. Alvasky's just going to pummel this big old doggo. Big wolf. In front of him. So he's not going to use

key points here, so it's just two unarmed strikes and a bonus flurry. And a third unarmed strike, yeah. That first was not so good. Eleven. This, the larger wolf, very dexterous, very agile. Ducks under the blow, almost sensing it coming like a like a trained fighter

second one 17 Second one will hit And why didn't do the damage? So there we go. Here it comes a whole six Wow six points of damage, but your fists do count as magical So as it connects it seems to almost reverberate with force Definitely seems to wound the creature. Okay, and my bonus flurry. Flurry is at 22.

It also hits. And that is a whole whopping 10 magical fisting damage there, Mahat. Yeah, this one definitely, with some sort of roundhouse kick or maybe a knee to its face or something, you definitely sense that that deals a heavy blow to the creature and it seems to react heavily injured as it is. Definitely an impressive blow. Anything else, Alvasko, on your turn?

No, that's all I'm doing. I'm conserving my key. All right. Tom Meyer. So I want to to like the thing i want to latch out some red vines over the into the body of the dire wolf that's on the ground i want to infest that and wild shape into a dire wolf okay these are regular wolves but you can die you can wild shape into a dire wolf, right? I can make a dire. Yeah. Okay.

CR1. And a dire wolf is size large, I believe. Yeah, it's a large beastie. And you'll get advantage because you're next to an ally, so you get pectectics, baby. Pectectics. And keen hearing and smell. I believe once I wild shape, that's all I've

got. That's pretty much it. So you kind of push Remire out the way as you assume this larger form. You kind of erupt in size and shape becoming this kind of twisted, fungus-covered dire wolf

as you copy the form of the one that you became. Sort of these red vine tendrils kind of coming out of pieces of you. Oh, man. It's also the one that just died as well, so it's got like an arrow sticking out of it and it's got cuts and stuff like that. Lovely.

You increase its eyes and strength and you have become a direwolf. I am become wolf. And that's basically my entire tank, because there's an action to do that. Here I am. Hi, Hal. Hi, hi. The werewolves themselves.

They will... The two that are further away will jump down. 10, 20, yep, 30. They can get within a striking range of the new werewolf that they can send. I've just seen the little image of that dog jumping. It's like half of it was drawn by one person dog's body uh the third the the final werewolf is going to basically leap over the torch um and is going to land pretty much on you but next to you um so your read to action will go off you only get the one attack though on a ready to action okay uh shall i roll that now yes please do

17 to hit uh that will hit um eight points on the dice eight nine ten eleven twelve points of axe damage and 2 points of lightning damage 14 total as the axe cleaves down you carve through parts of this giant wolf's form leaving this kind of crackling wound as the skin and the fur splits it kind of leaves it

coursed and burnt with lightning as the axe cleaves down however still they go that's just a readied action so that was your reaction uh going off um there are going to be a few attacks alvaski uh the one that you've been punching is going to turn on you fully now um the other one that uh just arrived is going to turn all of its attacks on tom meyer because you're both currently in their way they can't really get to any other targets while you guys are there uh so uh first swear wolf um well uh that is gonna swear wolf uh that is gonna be a 15 to hit you on its bite alvasky right on the money right on the money that's gonna be six eight points of piercing damage.

No constitution save this time. And then its claw attack is only going to be a twelve to hit. That misses. That misses. So you managed to duck under the claws, but the bite, the teeth, the jaws sink into your side once again. On you, Tom Meyer,

that is going to be, the bite is only going to be a nine to hit um its cause is going to be a 23 some dice some dice it's going to be nine points of slashing damage to your new dire wolf form as it kind of rakes its claws over your own kaiju star. The third one, it had to use a dash to get to where it is, so it doesn't get to make an attack this turn. Remyer. I'm going to take

three crossbow shots at the big old werewolf in front of me. You've got crossbow expert, so you don't get disadvantage for having an enemy next to you. So, yeah so like a cool gunslinger from the west you empty three bolts into the uh into the werewolf is that so that's the one that you hit previously right because that's the one in front of alvarski yeah uh so that'll be a 16 to hit that one that does hit nice it's a d6 plus two i'm going to use my um gathered swarm as well and do an extra d6 piercing damage okay still piercing so unfortunately we'll be somewhat

resistant to this so two sixes 12 12 uh so half that to six so yeah even with the insects kind of uh lending power to the attack or trying to bite into the creature there's some sort of resistance there that is absorbing some of the damage but the first that's the first bolt anyway um second and third uh eight for the second one and eight will not hit uh the 11 will also not hit. Almost sensing these attacks coming, the creature quickly ducks to the side, dips and weaves away from the final two bolts that you rapidly fire out of the crossbow,

not seeking their targets. Anything else? You got a bonus action? Just move? I'll move back a little bit. Yeah, behind Irina. All right. It will take a reaction to try and bite you.

Is that an opportunity attack? It is, yes. I don't take opportunity attacks. At all, ever? As a part of my mobile feat. Oh, I see what Seppi Strike does there. When I make a

melee attack against a creature, I don't provoke opportunity attacks from that creature. I'm going to be Mr. Rawls' lawyer. Crossbow isn't a melee attack against a creature, I don't provoke opportunity attacks from that creature. I'm going to be Mr. Rawls' lawyer. Crossbow isn't a melee attack. Oh! I thought I was being so smart. Is Zephyr's strike still up?

I think it goes when you spend the extra damage, I think. It lasts a minute. Oh. Zephyr's strike. the extra damage i think it lasts a minute oh that's right until the spell ends your movement doesn't provoke opportunity attacks once the spell ends you can give yourself advantage on one more second no no no whether you hit miss your walking speed increases once before the spell ends you can give yourself yeah okay uh whether you hit or miss your walking speed increases okay so yeah zephyr strike means you don't get the opportunity attack so you kind of rush

backwards so mobile feet no Zephyr's strike yes wild I mean you only get the d8 once but yeah it's pretty the not provoking opportunity attacks is the best part of it, for sure. Yeah. Nice. All right. Well, Remind dips and dives out of the way. Dog's body. That was busted.

Well, it's like, do you remember that steel wind strike I used against you? In Erois, the one where you attack everybody and do 60, 10 damage or something. But you attack everybody you can see. Like, that's another high level. That's a high level that's a high level range of spell it's great 19 uh i rolled 19 25 to hit that will hit yes 10 points uh axe damage two points lightning damage to 12 points of damage damage biting into the same creature, kind of another cleaving strike on the opposite side this time.

You know, the wolf definitely kind of... growls and snarls at you. One more for luck. Eight plus six is... 14. 8 plus 6 is 14 does that hit? it does yeah

these creatures aren't wearing armour or anything like that they seem to mainly have to rely on their agility and dexterity 8 points of axe damage 5 points of lightning 13 points total 13 points um eight points of axe damage five points of lightning so eight nine ten eleven twelve thirteen thirteen points total thirteen points single-handedly with these three blows you're carving into this werewolf uh kind of tearing it apart as you do so dog's body um heavily injured

you can see it bleeding heavily already kind of whimpering and and uh looking kind of turning its neck around almost as if considering retreat. Anything else, Dog's Body, on your turn? No, that is all. Okay. Sensing that the creature is injured and wanting to flee, Esmeralda will hop up, kind of kipping up onto the top of the ledge alongside Dog's Body,

and she's going to make a bunch of attacks against it. I need to get her stats up because i didn't add her to the encounter esmeralda uh so she has got uh two attacks with her rapier uh sorry with her hand axe and then one attack with her silvered short sword uh so hand axe uh is going to be a hit second attack with the hand axe is a hit. Silvered short sword is a hit as well. Lots of hits here. This is going to be 3d6 plus 3, 3. That's going to be

3d6 plus 10 for all three attacks. Oh my god. That's not per attack. That's all of the attacks added up. However, I rolled really shit damage. That's only 14 points of damage. I rolled four on 3d6. So she kind of hacks in, hand axe, hand axe,

and then stabbing down with a silvered short sword, almost like in a rage. You just hear her kind of like, ah, die, beast! As she, you know, hacks into this thing, desperate to try and finish it off but sadly not quite enough to do so so following up uh sorry i just moved irena it was thingy that moved up like that uh following up is mark yeah uh mark will pull out the heavy crossbow he picked up from the werewolves from before

and will aim it at the one that Dog's body and Esmeralda are fighting and he's going to shoot his heavy crossbow. You got this, King. He's not a king today. He's Ismark the Lesser today. That's a two plus one. He just kind of aims this big heavy crossbow and just

the bolt bounces off the stone walls like ping ping. He's just like, screw this thing! And he throws it to the side and begins pulling out his flail and his axe. No, you got that funny last time. He did, but he's like, I want to fight! And he pulls out his melee weapons and we'll just use

the rest of his movement to move up behind the Mirewolf. Rose! Stupid crossbow! Can I get it? He doesn't want to load his effort i'm guessing that i can't really get to said werewolf here um yeah you can yeah like this thing's big enough they are like 10 feet yeah okay they're not quite i've made them large but yeah you can definitely still strike This thing's big enough. They are like 10 feet. Yeah. They're not quite.

I've made them large, but yeah, you can definitely still strike it because it's fighting dog's body. I would like to bust out the old sun sword, please. Okay, yeah. And take a couple of flashes at it. Yeah, you pull out just this handle, kind of like putting the bow away, slinging it over your shoulder

and pulling out this antique sword's handle. You summon the command word to speak it in your mind. And this radiant blade of light lights up the cave. And you see all of the wolves almost shy, blinking their eyes against the sudden harsh light. That is a 22 to hit. That will hit. Eight radiant

damage. You stab it forward and as the wolf is distracted, Dog's body already injured it. It looked like it was about to flee. Esmeralda leaps up in this flurry of attacks and in the confusion you just kind of step up thrusting the blade of light into its chest the blade lingers there for a moment and then as you kind of pull it free you just watch as the creature falls to the ground and its form begins shrinking and twitching its body kind of shrinking back as it

takes on the form of a young woman uh still wearing tattered cloth, like, you know, basic leather jerkin and torn trousers. But it does revert back to a humanoid form, dead at your feet. Blech. Blech. Excellent. Am I able to take my second attack with a bow guess maybe not i would say that no because you've already drawn a new weapon uh the way that like drawing and stowing weapons

works is like as part of your movement you put your bow away and got the sword out you don't really have you'd have to wait until you've got another move or action to stow and draw out the bow. Since they're wolves and Rose is Rose, she will take probably just another step back and consider that her thing

for now, because she'd prefer to be at range from these things because she knows them. She knows what's going to happen. Yeah, I think that you can start putting the suns sword away and so next turn you'll have your bow ready to go but yeah it's going to be the rest of your turn to kind of like stow that away and pull out the bow and stuff uh for sure okay cool uh the two regular wolves that are still remaining kind of half hidden underneath one of their larger brethren uh the only real target they can get to is the dire wolf, Maya.

So that's what they're going to attack. They get pack tactics. Maya wolf. They get pack tactics. They have advantage. 23 to hit from the first one. And that's an actual 20 on the second one. So the first one is going to be...

Nine points of damage. And then it's going to be eight plus sixteen points from the second one. Oh my god. Okay. Still up. These wolves are just jumping onto your lupine form. I'm just biting their jaws in all around you. Distracted by all this

combat going on around you. Oof. Oof. Still in dire wolf form? still in dire wolf form still in dire wolf or my wolf my wolf form okay um i think irena wouldn't want to heal like the wolf she doesn't know that how that works um so she's the same no it's not the same it's waste are you kidding it's an absolute waste like Katie is a druid would you ever want

someone to heal you in wild shape form of course not because it's fake hit points the real hit points I'll take it no yeah

she will I don't think I ever used that but then yeah wild shape was a bonus action for me because I chose a better one that's true that's true

what the hell what the hell I can do 1d6 of damage for free that's right 1d6 you know what she will Tom Meyer yeah

no she wouldn't she doesn't really know you that well and she finds Alvasky creepy so she's not going to bardic inspiration Alvasky she's going to bardic inspiration is Mark yay Alvasky Alvasky's going to keep pummeling you know just punch punch punch that's what he's got

uh so he's gonna do that so one directly in front of me of course oh it was on 18 it rolled to four so 12 just barely hits this thing it does try to dodge out the the way, but you managed to land a solid punch. Eat bludgeoning. This is my... Eight points, yep. Second.

That's your first attack. Second strike. Oh, that's 12 as well. Ding dong. Hits. Okay, that's also a six. I love rolling ones. And then my final punch.

This must be a record at this point. He does roll a lot of them. 17. Hits. a lot of them. 17 hits. And then 11 points. And with this, this is like, you know, do you have an idea

of what this attack would probably be? Like a kick or a punch or like a, what'd you do? I think it would be, you know, when you raise the leg,

I believe it's called a Mawashi Geri. And then you slam down Axe kick. on the leg I believe it's called a Mawashi Gary and then you slam down axe kick on the back of the wolf's neck yeah like a big axe kick you bring your leg up and as it comes slamming down you definitely hear something crack a big heavy

snapping of bone and this thing drops to the ground and like before you see its form beginning to kind of like twist and bend. Its limbs shrink, its fur dies down, leaving behind the corpse of an older-looking man. This man looks to be, you know, in his later years, all big, ragged, grey beard, but he's very much now dead.

Dead now. Dead now. Just for the sake of tokens, I'm'm gonna clear up some of these so we know where everything is uh cool uh tom meyer one of these creatures and two of these regular wolves remain yeah i want to get rid of the smaller ones they're a pain uh so i want to chomp down on one of those so hack tactics is if there's my ally within five feet of them so i guess this is just a regular bite right this is a regular attack yeah because you don't have any allies next to the oh big move eight we need to hit first or is that oh that is to hit uh

the awkward uh you go to bite um and just the the agile little wolf jumps out of the way as your jaws snap where it used to be. I fell to beta instincts I'm sniffing his arse that's my entire turn. It doesn't get multi attack on a dire wolf? Apparently not, no it just says it just says bite. I don't think you do on

that one. Oh okay, alright. Oh wait is there a better wolf somewhere? Can I have that one oh okay all right oh wait is there a better wolf somewhere can i have that one instead i think it's bears i can't remember i think it's bears get multi-attack yeah all right so yeah the the chomp goes wide and does not fails to connect um the final werewolf uh in its large wool pine form is going to begin to run away. You are the only one who gets an opportunity attack, Tom Meyer. Oh, here we go.

You're going to have to wait for your reaction. My first bite was meant for this one. 23. 23. That's your deal damage. 2d6 plus 3 damage. 10. And it has to make a strength save.

It's going to be halved because it's not a silver weapon and it's a strength save isn't it because you can knock them prone this will have a huge effect that's a 23. oh that's higher than 13. so you do get a china chomp but you fail you kind of try and drag it down with your giant jaws but it breaks free and that's going be 10 attached to its legs 30 and then it's gonna dash 10 sorry 40 then it's gonna dash 10 20 30 40 uh so it just begins dashing away fleeing into the dark caves beyond um howling and and uh and yammering uh you begin to hear the sounds of almost like that strange sickening transformation as well and a human voice uh begin to hear the sounds of almost like that strange, sickening transformation as well, and a human voice

seems to accompany it, kind of going from this howling to the sounds of something more human. The mire, re-mire. Yo, yo! I'm going to take another three crossbow shots at one of the little wolves you will play.

Use individually, because you might kill them and then you can always target the next ones. Nice. So 12 to hit for the first one. 12 does not hit the first one. It manages to kind of dodge to the side of the bolt. Second one. 16.

That will hit, yes. Nice. So I'll do my fly piercing damage as well for this one. So 2d6. So that's 8. 10 damage. Bolt and the insect swarm that descends upon the smaller wolf utterly consumes it.

The bolt pierces through its skull and then the insect swarm just devour what remains. Feast. Yeah, feast, my children, feast. Insects have got to be in a food coma by now, right? Yeah, they're getting pretty gluttonous. There is still one left. Would you like to bring us action against the final little wolf?

Yes, please. It has one hit point. It is also dead. Yay. So you kind of one bolt through its neck and then it just collapses heavily injured as it was um leaving none remaining you still have a move action if you would like to move um i think i think i'll stay where i am i think i'm all right there thank you okay uh i reena will look around uh does anybody look heavily injured did you do my go oh fucking i've i had it scrolled up for the wolves hit points i'm sorry kim it is you it's not even

irena yet it should it should be um rose after you i had it scrolled up so yes sorry dog's body you go i'm gonna double dash after uh the werewolf which i believe will make me next to it but i can't attack it because i'm i'm out of so what's your movement speed it's normally 45 40 40 feet and then so 40 so you can go 80 80 so if i just make you bigger this is easier to track so 10 20 30 40 50 60 because you have to go around at 70 80 you do so you are right on this werewolf's heels um but unfortunately don't quite have the ability to attack um as you are chasing after this thing as it's trying to get away um but you do manage to catch ability to attack as you are chasing after this thing as it's trying to get away but you do manage to catch up to it as you do so anything else dog's body that's it for me all right you just chase it further into the dark your own dark vision sort

of beginning to adjust now as there is little ambient light around as the pursuit, the hunt continues. Rose. So I can run and get to here. Okay. Can I try and take a couple of shots? I don't know if they'll hit, but I would say

this thing has almost no cover. You can make an attack, but this is going to be very hard. Yes, you can just about see it, but it's going to be a difficult shot. But this is what archers and rangers, you know, high archers and rangers can pull off. 22. Oh my God, you still hit it.

You bounce the arrow. You actually ricochet the arrow off the stone wall. You kind of bounce it off the wall to the side of the ledge and the banking shot of it leads it into the creatures. Yeah, into the werewolf.

Can I put my slayer's prey on it as well? Because it's the only one left, so the werewolf. Can I put my Slayer's Prey on it as well? Because it's the only one left, so it would have transferred over. Yes. Oh, I rolled full damage. I rolled 8, 9, 12 damage on the arrow, and then 4 damage Slayer's Prey. Okay.

The arrow kind of flies through, bouncing and then ricocheting in. Dog's body, you just hear like a through past your ear, and then ricocheting in. Dog's body, you just hear like a... through past your ear, and then this arrow embedded into the thing. Nearly hit you. I'll try again.

Watch me here. That is a 23 to hit. That will also hit, yeah, the second ricochet. Having used the first one to kind of hone in the shot, the second one follows shortly after. Seven points of damage. seven points of damage seven points of damage two arrows you hear dog's body is these silver arrowheads embed into the werewolf like you just hear this like hissing they've shifted to a hybrid form now dog's body by the way so they've kind of got that uh you know bipedal distended wolf kind of form

the hunchback and they're just like silver and they're just kind of snarling and cursing to themselves as this arrow embeds into them uh rose anything else i think that was pretty much your full turn right no i've taken everything all all my turn technically you had a bardic inspiration so even if you missed you could have used that bardic inspiration and probably hit as well speaking of bardic inspiration Irina will just kind of begin to follow 5, 10, she'll probably linger back a little bit to kind of look after

Dwyer who's been sort of like hanging very very far back but yeah she'll just move up and that's it that's what she's going to do Alvarski he's going to go as far as he can um okay how far is that 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 about there you can see what's going on however he cannot reach with anything so that's about you can you could use your regular action to dash

you don't have to use a bonus action because if you can't do anything else, you might as well action dash. How much do I care? If you want to. You don't have to, obviously. I'm going to stay here. Okay.

All right. And nothing else, Arvatsky? That's about it. All right. He moves with a a swift grace and anytime he was grabbed by the wolf it was like just a doll being thrown around there's no expression

yeah he doesn't react to pain right so every time he got injured there's just like nothing there yeah he's very creepy uh Tom Meyer uh so I can't uh see myself on the map just FYI because I'm a wolf now but I want to use my action dash to

to zip forward you should be able to see yourself you're this big wolf I think my token's been deleted so my line of sight is gone but yeah I just want to use my action dash to get in behind the wolf that dog's body is chasing so like around the corner the route that she didn't take or he didn't take

uh i'll do that one and get all up in the ass of the thing uh no how about now it's yeah i've got to set the vision oh it's there okay so I'm action dashing so 10 20 30 40 50 and then I get all up on this dude yeah the ledge will slow you down by 10 feet I've got 100 feet of movement with an action dash

so boy okay alright I'll get up on that nerd I'm a mile wolf now so yeah if this thing tries to run away I'll get up on that nerd. I'm a mile wolf now. Um, so yeah, if this thing tries to run away, boom, I'm going to bite its head off. You're there as well as dog's

body. Okay, so you're just going to chase it after it. Uh, yeah, it is going to do exactly that, but I think with two of you there, the wolf is smart enough that it's going to disengage. It's going to action disengage and then it's just going to go its feet. Yeah. That's not fun. Action disengage it's gonna action disengage and then it's just gonna go it's uh boy feet yeah that's not fun action disengage make the hit yeah make the hit but as you get there is this kind of uh

there's a slight feminine voice to it and it's just shouting carol carol we are being attacked it's just kind of like shouting out as she runs forward. Remyer. That's all he can do. Action to disengage and then move action. Yeah. I will dash after seeing Tommeyer dashing off. I'm going to go after him. One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight.

That's 80 feet up there. Okay. Bam. So a big old run um just kind of chasing after it with the the zephyr strike giving you that extra push of movement as the insects swarm around you giving you extra speed um you chase on after as well dog's body uh i will move up 40 feet. And I'm going to... Right, you can keep pace with this thing, can't you? Yeah. So I'm going to use bonus action, Blood Curse of the Marked, which basically I mark a creature I can see within 30 feet,

and until the end of my turn, whenever I deal right damage, I rolled an extra Hemocraft die of right damage, so an extra D6, basically. Okay. Yeah, you get extra D6 of lightning damage. Yeah. Since I've been a Bloodhunter, yo. I've just never used it.

11 plus... What am I? Greataxe. 17 to hit. That will hit. 9, 10, 11, 12, 13. What am I? Great axe. 17 to hit. That will hit. 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20,

21 points of damage. That's with all the lightning, curse, all that. Yeah, like one big chop with the axe into the werewolf woman's back. You just hear her like, as like she screams, like her back arching from that first attack natural 20 you cut her head it's just a backswing of the axe just and just the head comes flying off as the great axe connects and yeah just completely gets thrown to the side and the body just falls to the ground.

The headless torso reverting back to the humanoid form as you do so. Yeah. Well, we'll jump out of initiative, but Ismark and Esmeralda will basically run up as well. Yeah. You guys have your position. It's dead. There does seem to be a complex series of caves.

You can see that where these werewolves came from appears to be a series of bed caves. You can see that hay and bedrolls have been laid out in these small little alcoves. It almost looks like a sleeping area. Where's Dwyer at? Dwyer has just been... He lingered all the way at the entrance um and yeah hasn't come in since the wolves attacked cool i've asked he's just gonna

meet up with the rest uh dog's body and i go up here gonna go up here be on your guard this one was calling for another there's more here I don't understand the situation there's a lot of enemies here

Vasilika got through them all don't know unharmed that's what we're here to figure out she was last seen going this way and that's why we're here to try and pick up the trail

we'll have everybody basically meet up as you're having a conversation where Dog's Body was. Big ol' wolf, my arm. Do you stay in that form, Tom Meyer, or are you gonna drop out of it and go back to my arm? I'll stay in it for now, because I've got, like Dog's Body, some keen hearing and smell, so I

wanna have a little sniffing. I wanna start sniffing. Okay. Sure, make start sniffing. Okay. Sure, make a perception check. Sniff bros. With advantage. 16 and a 17, so... 17.

Wait. To the northeast, you can smell bodies, corpses, rotting, sort of decaying flesh coming to the from the northeast just around this little rock from where you are uh i have no idea as maya how a wolf would communicate so i would just start walking in that direction and hope that people follow. Would the other Maya know that, though, because you're connected? Oh, that's great.

I mean, yes, we will say that, obviously, that's an established thing. It does break a little bit. It makes Tom much more effective in wild shape. But, yeah, other Maya does know what Tom Maya is doing, it does break a little bit it makes tom much more effective in wild shape but uh yeah it's uh yeah other maya does know what he's what tom maya is doing um so you but the rest of you the rest of you just see the maya walking around this rock and heading off away from you uh you see that there are some stone steps leading down into an area tom maya you can see from this distance there is something shiny, piles of stuff at the far end of the room

what looks to be like a figure, like a hooded figure in the far corner of the room and laid out on the ground a number of bodies covered in sheets appear to litter the area in front of the figure

who appears to be kind of like stood in a ritualistic position creepy hey re want to communicate that with everyone yeah i just say like stench of death ahead follow the wolf

and then just want to do it a less creepy way that's inviting nah all right so two mics what do you guys do do you want to you continue are you going to go investigate tom or i'll uh lead the pack uh so if people are following behind then yeah i'll push ahead okay the npcs will follow basically we does. Yeah, you guys, you make your way down there. When you get closer, rough-hewn stairs lead down to a torch-lit cave in a very bizarre sight.

You see maybe six bodies, some of which are human, some of which appear to be wolf or lupine, covered in dirty blankets or some sort of sheet whatever can be mustard capes cloaks sheets at the far end of the room there is a wooden statue it bears the rough likeness of a wolf headed woman draped in garlands of vines and night flowers the their hands raised up. Piled around the statue's base is a large amount of treasure. You can see all sorts of things kind of laden at its base. You see piles of coins, you see gemstones of all different colors, pieces of jewelry, appears to be a drinking horn, a fine drinking horn, a censure like a priest may use,

all piled up at the base of this strange statue of a woman on the other side of the dead bodies. Strange, this place. Would Dog's Body recognize it or know anything about it? I don't think Dog's Body remembers much of this place would dog's body recognize it or know anything about it i don't think dog's body remembers much of this place you just remember like pain and suffering and then and then escaping right like um i think the only thing you would really remember is that when they transformed you there was like a they they made you fight like others had to fight you um as a kind of test of strength to make there was something about proving that they that you were strong enough and things

like that you remember that being a part of the con you know something that happened but it's it's kind of all a bit of a blur really uh the the name that the woman was ringing out though kirill god that that feels like you should remember that but you don't it feels like you should you feel like that name yeah that name god why do you remember that name okay uh what about the rest of you seeing this strange sight uh there does appear to be there was a bit of a more of a cave to the north. There's also the other avenue you didn't explore. Oh, there's more

cave to the north, is there? Yeah, it seems to be that's where this werewolf was running. She wasn't running towards this. She was running more northern. Yeah. Okay. Hmm. I mean, there's something going on in here,

so I'm going to keep on nudging forward and just be a shield, a Mirewolf shield for everyone behind me. Yeah, Alvaskian wants to go the direction that the werewolves aren't going. That's likely where vasilika is okay yeah well you go down there's like i said there's a couple of humanoid shaped bodies underneath sheets maybe two or three the rest of them all appear to be wolves there's like seven in total so about four wolves and three people uh the other thing you notice as you get closer, pushed to the far edge of the chamber, you see wooden cages.

Each one wouldn't be able to hold... It wouldn't be able to hold an adult. It looks like that they might hold halflings or children. But they're empty. There's a hooded figure there the hooded figure what you thought was a hooded figure was actually the statue of the wolf in the dim light the wolf mistook it as like a

hood but it's actually a wolf's head like a crude wolf's head carved gotcha yeah piles of treasure at the base of the statue um the the strange wooden cages and then the dead bodies the um the person that's at the statue can I use hunter sense there's no person unless you mean

the bodies okay no nevermind what's size and shape of the bodies Mark Humes you can't ever give Tom shit about not listening ever again okay because i just explained this so never make fun of tom ever again there are three humanoid bodies four wolf bodies under the sheets yeah the human okay tom you remember this

the question i mean are they children? Yeah, are there children-sized bodies? That's my question, not the... I mean, if they were kids, they'd be older kids, for sure. Right. All you can tell is that there is a humanoid shape. There's not a wolf shape. There's not, like, a hybrid werewolf shape.

It's the shape of, like, a human person. So what might... I mean, they could be older like teenagers or maybe they could be you know tall for their age but they're not like you know giants or anything like that they're you know it's hard to tell without they're bigger than crate size what am i what am i not giving trot shit for i wasn't listening well that's retracted well it's nice knowing you guys

cool so i want to move down to this to the 12 bodies down here there There's 12, right? How many are there? I'm not even answering anymore. The wolf moves down to the bodies. Yeah, you can smell them. They're dead. These are corpses, 100%. Cool. It's Barovia. Who knows what they are?

They're a corpse? What? No, they're alive. How close are you getting to the bodies, Tom? I'm getting within biting range. Hmm. Hey. They bite? They have a little nibble? No. Do they chow down on Maya?

They do not. The bodies do not stir. Oh. You don't hear anything. It's eerily quiet. All right. I've asked you just to a generic sweep investigation does he recognize vasilika here um it's not necessarily a check so would you go over and start pulling the sheets

of the bodies is the yes the only way you're going to be able to check for sure so you go over and you start pulling pulling the sheets off um the three humanoids that were there uh appears to be two young men and a young woman or i'd say young kind of in their like 20s maybe they have been very brutally murdered or killed um looking at them their wounds and in fact i wouldn't say you'd need to make a medicine check to really determine the details of like how they were killed and stuff or an investigation check but looking at them they were like they're they're gory messes these bodies um they look rough they look dirty they are not basilica none of them are i turn around i look at the direwolf form of the mire and say they're dead basilica's not here

it's a waste of time let's move on that really got tom that really got him no shit all right i mean if you confirm it's not basilica then yeah i'll just uh i'll turn around and uh start making my way up to that northern part where uh the other dire wolf was headed towards or not dire wolf the other one was going okay

anybody else um yeah no i don't like this dog's bodies are the deep the deeper we go into the cave the more dog's bodies feeling like creeped out and not his usual chipper self um if anyone's particularly looking like he's getting very tense and very like you know grinding his teeth and just looking around nervously everywhere he doesn't like this the two can off I'll just follow them I've looked at these bodies because he

doesn't want to be treasure or anything then. Nobody wants the piles of treasure. That's not my mission. That's it. I am the Maya. You are the Maya. Is there a way of knowing where the bodies

came from? Are they from Krezic? You can investigate them i would say that looking at them they definitely they don't look like they came from krezik they look similar to the when the werewolves you killed reverted to form they have that same rugged dirtiness of like people who have been living rough um their hair is all unkempt they're they're covered in dirt and scratches and bruises where they don't have these horrid, gaping wounds

and things like that. They look like werewolves. A dead. What does it matter? Can't you tell? A dead. Would Rose recognise anything about the statue and any of the stuff just from werewolf related things or esmeralda

or esmeralda i think she'd probably ask esmeralda if she knew anything given that she esmeralda kind of looks around um she'll do a bit of csi in uh she looks around i don't know anything about this statue it's quite crude i've not seen anything like this in Barovia, really. The vine leaves and things like that is strange. It doesn't... Werewolves aren't normally religious. This has worship. This is religious.

It's almost like this treasure is an offering to this being, but I don't know who this is. In terms of the bodies uh i mean no weapon marks no claw marks these wounds i mean these people were ripped apart this is handfuls of muscle and flesh have been ripped out of them um this is quite brutal but no i don't believe other wolves or weapons did this they're dead i had to i had to it's too easy oh my god. The statue, the treasure,

yes, this is all very bizarre. I've never really seen werewolves act in this manner. The pack makes sense, but this sort of worship is very off. And these cages. Keeping prisoners, perhaps? Or keeping

animals here? Well, why are we here let's remind ourselves of that they're not in the cage and they're not under a sheet they're not here let's move on time is wasting fair enough

the abbot is waiting Tom Meyer as you kind of continue exploring the northern area, there is a very loose, it's not really a secret door, a kind of dirty grey cloth has been pinned up against the far end of this little tunnel, and the grey cloth has been painted or like um marked with paint to try and make it look like stone and cave but a quick glance you you can easily tell that this isn't you know this is this is a very poorly concealed secret door or not even a door it's like

a curtain um that can be pulled aside yeah well i'll just uh tear it down instead of pulling it to the side and uh you just kind of like jump up on it and like tear it down instead of pulling it to the side and uh so you just kind of like jump up on it and like rip it down with your great big paws and things like that yep and then the same noise as a undead tiefling infesting a recently dead corpse of a direwolf

I'll bark to get the other guys to follow and then um have a look at heading on through the Looney Tunes door. It appears to lead into a curving, very narrow, you know, 10 feet wide corridor that winds upwards. And there are stone steps carved into it. It seems to curve around leading up. Sweet. steps carved into it it seems to curve around leading up sweet yeah i'll uh have everyone follow me and continue to be my maya wolf shield uh and just get on filling up

this corridor yeah i'm not sure if there's much point in stealth at this point uh you barked weirdly i start howling as i run up the stairs uh just give me a second here i just need to do some stuff oh turn around i promise you it's not a dead end. I just have shit I need to do. Well... Why can't I select you? Let me select you! I'm behind you. I can't stop selecting you. I can't stop selecting you.

Oh, we missed out on secret tunnel? Damn it. Secret tunnel! Secret tunnel! Secret tunnel! Through the mountain! Secret, secret, secret, secret tunnel! How many monsters

are there? You mean friendly ally? That's the face of many. Many monsters. You like this face, many monsters you like this face we had more spell spots as you guys have wound your way up this stone corridor

let me read you some text the stairs eventually lead you to a outcropping as you step outside let's just grab everybody and move you all of you over we're on the moon so we'll have time at the top yeah esmeralda is mark and irene are all going to be behind and then we'll kind of squeeze all of you guys in behind here and then i've got i've got to fight ina's token, I don't know where she's gone but she'll be around the exit

to this stone corridor leads to a rocky outcropping a 20 foot diameter ring of stones dominates a rocky ledge on the mountainside within the ring you see splattered blood as well as a young, very Within the ring, you see splattered blood,

as well as a young, very pretty, very pale-skinned, almost alabaster, like Alvarski, woman. Long blonde hair, bright blue eyes, wearing what appears to be a tattered, stained, deep blood red wedding dress. It's tattered stained deep blood red wedding dress it's tattered and torn and she is chained her legs have been chained to stakes that have been embedded into the stone itself and she is just tearing and screaming and pulling and yanking on these chains and you see her kind of in the very middle of this

stone ring around the ring keeping their distance uh and you can see them all weapons at the ready they're carrying like great big woodsman's axes some of them have got large hunting spears and bows you see six humanoids one of whom appears to be wearing kind of rugged looking chain mail as well with a uh you know on top of it with a giant two-handed sword uh flight with alongside them are three large wolves dire wolves not like smaller wolves like you fought before three dire wolves just like the maya and they are basically waiting weapons at the ready cautiously as you guys emerge

and all you can hear is just this kind of from this woman who is trapped in the stone circle I ain't saying nothing everyone else is behind you the rest of you can kind of peer over the giant direwolf

in front of you, but you can't quite see all the details just yet. I mean... I'll nudge. You can have a little peeky. You can definitely hear this woman grunting and making noises and things like that.

The man with the chainmail and the great sword... grunting and you know making noises and things like that um the man with the chainmail and the great sword if you're looking to kill more of us we can make that fight happen but there's already been a lot of blood spilled in my home of late

so why have you come travelers late. So why have you come, travelers? I smell something familiar. Something I have not...a and cowardice run away from the back I'm gonna push forward sure and just glare this ring when you see the ring

for the dog's body it's like flashes of memory you remember being thrown into it naked uh just you know no weapons as wolves were set upon you as people came down with large sticks and beat you uh you desperately trying to fight them off even though your hands were tied and bound bound um just flashes of days maybe being here uh being tested and this this man's voice is horrifically familiar you remember just calls of just like where the pack must be strong make sure that they are willing and fitting for our for our family these kind of voices calling out the night mother will not tolerate weakness

I think yeah I'm gonna bring my axe forward it's still got crimson right on it so it's crackling with energy and without even looking back at everyone I'm just gonna say

kill them all okay well that makes things certainly easier free the creature and that's where we are not gonna roll initiative

because it's 5 to 10 yeah we are gonna take a two weeky breaky breaky wakey oh the final episode for two weeks for the final episode of curse of strad it's the final oh my god for two weeks nice well alright a big old fighty fight nice that's gonna be easy to remember in two weeks time it's like

we're right there just about to do a fresh new combat six werewolves three direwolves and whatever the fuck Vasilika is um oh god yeah maybe Vasilika will attack them maybe she'll attack whatever is nearby we don't know mr head werewolf seemed pretty confident yeah he did yeah yeah yeah yeah

get your boy back get you get your boy out front dwyer where's bait get your boy he was still at the yeah alvasky was the only one who checked on him and he's just at the start of the cave just like, I don't want to go in here. I thought Irina was tending to him. No. Yeah. No, I mistook Esmeralda's icon for him. I thought that was him.

No, Alvasky was the only one who was like, where's Dwyer? And I said, he's back at the start, just like hasn't moved. And he's like, like okay and then he just carried on I love it I love it we try and listen Mark

sometimes we don't sometimes that information drifts away sometimes what the hell wasn't meant to be a robot

that's alright Christophe I can do weird voices too and one day you'll actually fucking listen to me oh my god it's the weirdest thing that yeah it's it's it's like sometimes i know you know you're running the stream i appreciate that um and it's definitely it's like i feel like there's selective hearing sometimes you know like oh i've heard something that i'm interested and want to use and then it's like a room description just like this i definitely get into like a like mid combat mid turn of someone else's turn of just

like looking at all my spells and abilities like figuring out what my next move is super quickly i think what what makes it funny to me is i described those bodies like three times it wasn't just one time that you didn't hear i described like i'm pretty sure kim and kate you can back me up on that like i described it three times what they were and it just made me laugh when you were like are there any what are these bodies like are they humans that wasn't my question it wasn't it it sounded like that's what your question was if they were children were if they were children. If they were children. He was wondering if the bodies fit into the crates,

but he worded it wrong. So it sounded like... It sounded to me like, are these bodies humanoid is what I heard, or certainly what I thought I heard. There weren't any crates there, were there? Please tell me there weren't any metal crates there. We'll check the VOD. We'll check the VOD.

Or we can move on from this nah are you kidding we raked Tom on the metal crates thing for months we gave him a shit time for that we we no no no

Chris Trott has given you so much shit about that that was a great one thanks very much everybody Chris Trott has given you so much shit about that. That was a crazy one. Thanks very much, everybody. We will see you on Sunday for Arois. Take care. Until then, we'll see you then.

I'll see you. Bye. See you at the end. Bye. Thank you.