High Rollers DnD - High Rollers: Dark Souls RPG | Jolly Cooperation! (Part 1)

Episode Date: February 18, 2022

Steamforged Games sent us an early copy of the new Dark Souls RPG! Engage in jolly cooperation with us while we explore the cursed world of Lothric and prepare to die... many, many times! Pre-order the Dark Souls RPG: Collectors Edition here: https://hubs.la/Q014m7pz0 Support the High Rollers and get early access to podcast episodes (and more) on our Patreon: www.patreon.com/HighRollers Music courtesy of Epidemic Sound Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Pickaxe Hello everybody, welcome to a little special, quite rapidly assembled crew, a mighty crew, to go through a brand new roleplaying game, a joyous roleplaying game. I'm going to be your Dungeon Master, Mark Humes, you may know me from High Rollers, you're probably watching there as well. But today, we are going to be playing the brand new Dark Souls role-playing game by Steamforged Games. Our good friends at Steamforged Games have sent us early copies and we're going to be playing. I'm joined by some familiar faces

and some fresh faces as well. As we gather, we gather around the bonfire. Majority cooperation. Majority cooperation. Praise the sun. I am joined by... We got... We're gonna go with Tom and Kim. You know them from High Rollers. You love them.

And on this side we've got Ravs. Who you've seen on High Rollers. And then angry Tom. We've got Tom Clark. Howdy partners. Big Souls fans, everyone. Hell yeah. Thisdy, partners. Big Souls fans, everyone? Hell yeah. Hell yeah.

You love it? This guy I know, this guy I know. I'm a hardcore gamer. Yeah, I play Dark Souls. Play them all? You've completed them? You're the Dark Souls master? Speed run?

Yeah, like an 18-hour speed run, maybe. Nice. It's on the leaderboard, yeah. I mean, probably not, but it's an achievement. And then, Kim, you've not played Dark Souls, but you have been investing a lot in the lore. I the lore i love the monsters so i'm one of these people who reads the wiki and watches all the let's plays because i'm like i want to play it but i can't make it past the first asylum demon right so oh i'm sorry i'm sorry just throw some fire bombs at him he's dead in like three hits i know a lot about the lore and the monsters because

i love it i'll tell you what you do know a lot about and that's a certain fifth edition role-playing system We're not gonna say it's other name, but you know that I do Apparently and that's kind of the basis of this game So I don't want to do like a big lengthy rules explanation of like this is exactly what's different I will do as we go exactly But if you're familiar with fifth edition it uses a lot of the similar stuff to that. A couple of key differences just before we go into it. One is hit points are called position, and they are actually used to fuel some of your abilities.

A lot of your class abilities, weapons, armor, all have their own abilities, and you spend position to do that. The other one is, this being Dark Souls, death is a whole big thing. You will die. What? When your position hits zero, there's no saving throws, there's none of this like I'm gonna heal my friend. Nope. You are dead.

Oh, you hit zero position. You're dead. But you will respawn at the nearest bonfire and lose all of your saved up souls and souls in this are experienced. Can we pick them up again? No. So once they're gone, they're gone. At least that's not in the rulebook. Or at least I've not read that in the rulebook. Let's make that clarification. The darker souls. So there's going to be some...

This is my first time running it. I've poured over the rulebook as much as I can. I've customised the adventure a little bit. I might get some things wrong. I'm sure there's going to be some folks from Steamforged in the game in chat who can probably correct us and get things right. But that's it. Let's quickly go over. Obviously, you know, don't go too much into the characters, but what classes or origins and classes you guys have picked.

And also tell us your character names. We will start. We'll start with Mr. Tom Hazel. Hey, what up? It's me, your boy. I'm a cleric today, and unlike the regular cleric from game, I have attunement slots and individual casts of certain spells. Like my healing spell, I can only do it five times before, I guess, a bonfire.

You rest at a bonfire. Yeah, absolutely. But my name is Dexter Build, except I have a mace, which scales with strength. And cleric sacred chime, which I think would scale with intelligence in this one. I guess so. That's useless. I think it is based on wisdom. But still, Dex Build's definitely the wrong name. Not optimal.

Not optimal. Oof. And that's me. I'm a jack of all trades. And I've got some backstories and memories and goals and things. Yeah, that's another thing I should probably mention. A big part of this game as well is you don't need to have an elaborate backstory. The game actually encourages you to basically, you don't really remember much.

You have these very bare fragments of memories. And then it's kind of like the games where if you want to, as you go on, you can begin to be like, I remember now the touch of my wife. Oh. As you go on, you can begin to be like, I remember now the touch of my wife. Oh. That's the advantage of my saving throw. The way my wife used to touch me. That will help me stab this demon to death. It's so much better in one-handed attack.

I'm just saying, okay, these are the mechanics of the game. So you've got that, so you don't need to have too much of a backstory, but yeah, there are some pre-made things which you can use to get mechanical advantages in the game. Nice. Let us jump, let's do Mr. Tom Clark, let's just jump it around a little bit. Okay, I'm playing the deprived, everyone's favourite Dark Souls character, that hot piece of garbage. You make them, give them blue skin, make their nose like four times longer than their hands. Yeah, like them as weird as possible.

Randomize the face a hundred times. Oh yeah, just keep going until their eyes have inverted. Just a red hot mess. I've got a club and a board. Is that it? That's literally it. Oh shit. Literally it.

Doesn't have armor or anything. I'm a lowly murderer um who died in an explosion nice well we'll see if that comes in what's what is your character's name i'm gonna be called nice perfect very souls um and that's it that's me that's you nice kim deprived i am playing a knight so nice classic um uh very classic dark souls i've called myself Sir Jolly of co-op. Okay. And I'm pretty much what you can expect a knight to be. I'm very strong and I have a high constitution.

I've got a long sword and I've got very knight-y abilities. You are classic knight. You've got the sword and shield. You take less damage from stuff. You're the one from the cover art. I'm very much that. You are classic knight, you've got the sword and shield, you take less damage from stuff. You're the one from the cover art. I'm very much that. You are Mr Dark Souls. I am Mr Dark Souls.

I should have thought it was like that, shouldn't I? Just like the Master Chief. It's a good class because you do have good AC, you've got good position, you take less damage but you are quite slow so you have a minus one to all dexterity based on this stuff. Wow. Which is, you know, it's basically the RPG's equivalent of fat rolling. Your fat rolling. Your fat rolling.

My favourite thing in the world. It's in the game when they do really slow animation where it's like, Yeah. Oh god. Pretty much. And then my sweet, sweet Scottish boy. I am playing Mercenary. I've named myself

ward Wakefield uh you know I've got my little my boy gutter with me servant I'm a fencer was my origin so you know good with the the old sword you are the dex build I am the dex build and literally I am this is my highest, I've got the sellsword twin blades you know the classic speedrunner's weapon hell yeah, you know I was an apprentice to a sorcerer at one point I don't really remember that anymore because the last thing I remember is a man standing over me with a bloody knife doing the classic Dark Souls thing you know I've tried to put a little bit of that into this

So I'm trying to put a little bit of that into this. Unless every NPC ends whatever they're saying with a creepy laugh with no in-depth sense. You never get to the end of the dialogue. You're spamming A. I want every NPC interaction to be... Cool. All right. Well, those are the characters. We will just jump straight into it

and then we'll kind of explore the differences and things as we go. Like I said, it's going to be our first time running it, there might be some mistakes, there's probably going to be a lot of me looking through the gigantic tome of the rulebook as we kind of go through things. But yeah, well, in that case, shall we begin? Let's begin. I will begin with the obligatory uh creepy mysterious voiceover your eyes slowly your eyes slowly open the sensation of flame spreading across your body receding quickly as your senses come alive you awaken sat in front of a base hastily built fire gathered wood and ash piled up as a rusted blade has been embedded into the middle of it. Its embers flicker, barely alive, but a small amount of warmth

still lingers. You remember little beyond your name, a few scattered fragments of a drive past a memory, but nothing to give you any hint as to where you are or why you are there. Others sit around the fire looking just as lost as you are. And you find yourselves in a chamber. I have built a small chamber. If you want to place your minis inside, we will just use this as a general tracker. Oh, I didn't get one for you because I didn't know what you were going to play. Oh, I'm Clarence.

You're our Clarence, aren't you? I'm a Clarence. There you go. Thank you. Oh, man. That's the closest I've got. Cool. So, yeah, all sat around, yeah, kind of in a circle around this bonfire.

You awaken. No memories. And, yeah, what would you like to do? Wait, did we all just awaken at the same time? Yeah, you all kind of come from our deaths. So we're all just like... Screaming. It's not like there's no sensation of pain as you awaken, Yeah, you're all kind of coming from our deaths. So we're all just like There's no sensation of pain as you awaken but there is this kind of like lingering like you were very close to or like

Near a fire and then your eyes open your senses come alive. And yeah, you are looking around at each other No memory of why you're here how you got here? Oh, well, I'm gonna throw myself backwards. Because my last memory is an explosion. Sure. What's going on here then? Yeah, I'd say that you two would probably still remember each other, right? Cause you have this like bond of like, you know,

the Lord and his- My Lord! I'm gonna stand up and I'm going to take both of my swords and go, you're there. You can carry these. Oh yes, my Lord. Of course. I guess I tuck them into my tiny loincloth.

Probably cut the skin a little bit as you slide them in. I'm kind of a network of scabs and scars anyway, so sure. Yes, my Lord. but yeah is that in your inventory now that's just i guess so i guess i'm not carrying his weapons all right sure we will remember that hey nice i'm into it i'm into it well as you guys are doing this yeah you do see that like the two of you as well waken and you see each other kind of looking around

um there is there's a bit more detail to the room, but, you know, your immediate kind of senses are drawn to each other. And the flame, I guess. Yeah, and it's like a dying flame, right? There's barely anything left. It's just the flickering, lingering heat of a dying fire just before you. And how did you two get here? What? Betrayal? There was something.

Who are you? Strange man. where are your clothes oh i'm not allowed clothes my lord won't give me any are you a house elf i'm a house his name's gar i'm lord wakefield it not decent. The man's naked and smelly. Give me your robe, then. No. Then naked I'll stay. Ooh, the darkness came and took my life,

and now I stand before you. The embers are dying. And before you... Ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho Sure. I'll check and see if I've been, like, stabbed. No, I want to check his body. I want to make sure he's okay. Put a little rag out, polish his armor a little bit. Oh, God, you're a bit dirty. Well, maybe make a perception check then, Rabs, but with advantage as gutter is kindly helping you by, like, you know, trying to clean your armor and pull it away and things.

With advantage, thank God, because that was a six. And that is also a six. Six total? Oh, wait, name plus name plus perception, ten. Ten. Yeah, you look over, you don't see any wounds or any signs of anything.

You've got your equipment. I mean, you think it's your equipment, you're wearing it, right? But no, no sign of being stabbed or anything like that. Oh, you think fine, my lord, you're wearing it right you know but no no sign of being stabbed or anything like that oh you see find me lord you're all right that's enough don't touch me um but yeah looking looking around those of you who aren't lord wakeful and gutter uh for the for was it sir jolly uh and then dexter dexter bill a great cleric No, not very good. You do notice that the walls of this chamber are like thick, thick black streaks just kind of like pour down it. Almost like smoke has like coalesced

and then it's slowly kind of dirtied and grimied the walls. There is a decrepit chandelier hanging by a dangerously frayed rope above you. You can just hear a very faint noise. And there are a few broken and shattered pots in one corner. Pre-shattered? Seemingly so. As if somebody had rolled through them. Someone has been here before! Possibly. Titanite behind there. be i mean i mean there

might still be something among the shards but it does look like somebody has already come in and broken them there is also a door a set of double doors lean to the north and if you'd like a piece of paper to draw your own map uh to kind of keep it a sense but i do have the little mini minis there as well okay and then there's a corridor that heads east i think i'd be drawn to the fire and i want to kind of like put my hands around that is there any like oh this feels nice there's unusually nice like monster respawning nice um i mean well that would require a long rest and you are pale and hearty um but there is definitely, you get the sense that like this fire should have died out long ago. Like this fire, there's no way this could have kept going,

like it's there's barely anything there, there's no wood, it's just ash and then this sword stuck through the middle of it but there's just a bit of warmth just lingering there. Oh sweet, free sword! Can I try and pull the sword out? You grip it and your hands begin to blister and blacken. And I'm going to get D4. Keep trying. Yeah, of course you can. I don't want to let go yet. Until he becomes a Lord of Cinder himself.

Yeah, absolutely. So you'll take two points of position as like, yeah, your hands get scorched and scalded by the thing. Oh, it burns, Mino. It burns. Make a strength check for me. So just a D20 plus strength. 17.

17. You heave and there's some give to it, but not quite enough to pull it free. It's going to be an 18 to pull this free. But you can keep trying if you'd like. Oh yeah. As my hands burn more. Take another four points of position.

Whoa, Minna! Oh, 19! Okay, sure. So you take another four points of position. Yep, yep. It's pretty good. He got a thing. Four points of position, and then, sure.

I've got four. I'm in position. You're bloodied. I'm bloodied, sweet. You are. And let me see. Let me find a sword. I also, when I'm bloodied, I get plus two to wisdom,

and so now I realise this was a terrible idea. Sure, you pull out a broken straight sword. That's the worst weapon. As you pull it free, yeah, you notice that where it's been plunged into the stone, as the blade comes free of the ash, supernaturally being held there, the edge is broken. I will tell you that a broken straight sword, it has a strength of 10 requirement. It'surally being held there, the edge is broken. I will tell you that Broken Straight Sword, it has a strength of 10 requirement. It's 1d6 of slashing damage.

It's a light weapon, and you can spend 1 position to deal plus 2 damage on a successful attack. So wait, this game's equivalent of giving us the Broken Straight Sword is not some dude throwing it through the ceiling, but some naked guy. I would also say that when he pulls that sword free,

there is not much warmth left. That fire is nearly dead. You can no longer level up at this bonfire. Warm yourself on my hands. They're quite burnt. It smells of bacon in here. Yes, that's me. As this is going on, Lord Wakefield,

there is also the other thing I forgot to mention in the room is there is a series of bass reliefs on the... what wall is this? The southern wall. There is a series of bass reliefs. Western wall, sorry. Can I walk up to the center of the wall and just punch it? I'm looking for a secret wall. Sure. Take one position damage as you punch the solid a secret wall. Nice. Sure. I'm looking for a secret wall. Take one position damage as you punch a solid stone wall. You can bring your hand back. And yet you actually, like, the best relief is, like, these solid stone sculptures engraved into the wall itself. The one that you punched in particular would have been,

it shows, like, a knight with their arms out out like in a crucifixion kind of pose and there is flame pouring out of their chest and into the world around them and that's the one that you punched okay cleric tell me what is your idea of what do you intend to do next you have darkened the flame What wretched souls have I been delivered to here? We must seek a stronger flame, lest the land swallow us all. You are loving this. I'm so into this. So he's panicking, he's burning himself, and he's punching a wall. I am surrounded by morons.

Wonderful. Well, there are two exits from the room. If you're done with this small chamber, there is a door to the north and there is a corridor to the east. I'm going to stroke the flaming statue man. Okay. And I'm going to be owed to be a Lord of Cinder. Yeah, I think that there is definitely, you get an impression of there is a sense of nobility

about the knight being depicted. You don't recognise it as a particular figure. There's no memory of who this might be, but you definitely get a sense of nobility. This is a powerful individual. Oh, a lord just like yourself, me lord. That's right, gutter. My hands hurt. I'm going to take his hands and put them to my cheeks to keep myself warm. Great, I'll stand there and look longingly into his eyes.

Beautiful moment. But yeah. Oh, Lord, thou wilt be the one to guide us to Strongerflame. Perhaps I will. It just depends if you get in my way. Where to, me lord? That way. You want to put a pointer in the hallway? Sure, yeah, okay. Yeah. Do you all want to go with that? Sir Jolly, are you going to follow behind these miscreants or do you want to check out anything else?

If anything, like a little rat was watching this group, they would have seen Sir Jolly at the kind of like, you know, Lord Wakefield kind of, you know, bumping himself up being like, yes, maybe I'm the chosen one. You would have seen Sir Jolly kind of open his mouth to interrupt, but then, there might be traps in that corridor, so he can go first. So I'm just going to step back, cross my arms and wait. Dut-ter, go check for traps yes my lord i just stopped running

around okay yeah so you run down the corridor uh i won't bother to describe it in too much detail as you you pelt your way down here but it is a corridor that you do notice immediately to your uh left to the northern wall uh this side being north um there is a door there's like a wooden door that you can see in there's like a slight breeze coming from it. There are tapestries on the wall, you ignore those. That's fancy people stuff. That's fancy people stuff. And it does, the corridor immediately turns to your left, so heading north. Cool, yeah, just keep going.

Keep going. I've not found any traps yet. True. That was the task. You were told, look for traps. Find the traps. Okay, perfect. Brilliant.

So as Gutter runs down, what are the rest of you doing? Are you following behind or are you kind of cautiously waiting in the little fire room? I'll follow just a little bit behind, examining the tapestries as I pass by. Okay. He has my swords after all. That's true. Trying to stay vaguely near him. So he does have your swords.

What's the light like here? Is it? Pretty dark. Like the flame that was there previously, the bonfire was illuminating a little bit. That has now diminished and you are basically in near darkness. There's just enough to maybe see a few feet ahead.

Shit. Do we actually have Esther's flasks? Yes. We all have an Esther's flask. Okay, we don't have to pick them up. No, no, no, no. You all have, yeah, you have your equipment and then you have this strange glowing amber flask.

And you would know what that does. Like your memories of how to fight and what your equipment does is all there. Gutter, well, in that case, as if we have Lord Wakefield sort of move his way down and then you guys can position yourself. Gutter, you are the first to, as if we have Lord Wakefield sort of move his way down, and then you guys can position yourself. Gutter, you are the first to, as you wheel around the corridor,

looking for traps, as your lord has mentioned, you immediately come face to face with another long corridor that ends in another wooden door. This one, however, is occupied. You immediately turn as three lumbering, hollowed, undead creatures turn. Another one on the floor begins to pick itself up, and then two more which look a lot more better armed and armoured at the door at the end of the corridor also lurch to life. And that's pretty much gonna be initiative. Okay.

So I've got... That's a three. Oh, yikes. That's a two. That's a three. So I've got... That's a three. Oh, yikes. That's a two. That's a three. So initiative works a little bit different in this.

So the monsters all have fixed initiative values, and you're basically rolling to see if you're faster than them or if you're slower than them, right? And all monsters go pretty much at the same initiative. All the monsters go at once, and then you guys either go first or after. The way we roll, these guys jumped out of pots on us, and we didn't see it coming. Sure.

So we've got Wakefield, Gutter. I'm also just going to write this down for future knowledge. And then Dexter. Okay, so Wakefield, you've got a seven. Yeah. Gutter? Three. Oh, jolly.

Two. Dexter? Three. Brilliant. You're all going after the monsters. So the three who are already standing immediately swarm on Gutter. They just pounce on you.

They have undead, they're literally just clawing you with fingernails and pieces of wood that they've picked up. The one that was prone stands up and he's going to move over to you but won't get to attack this turn. And then the two at the far end actually draw rusted blades

and they begin marching down towards you in a slow methodical thing. Again, they're not going to quite reach you this turn. But you do get walloped by three of these things. Let me know that it's not traps but... The first one... The first one is a hear that around the corner.

The first one is a 12 to hit. I've got a C of 12. Brilliant. Oh, wait. You are bloodied. Yeah, so I'm actually 14. 14. So in your injured condition, your adrenaline kind of spurs you on as it swipes overhead.

Do you want to explain bloodied? Yeah, bloodied is being half health or lower, and every class gets special bonuses when they are bloodied Everyone has monsters to talk. I told you guys that but I didn't tell the enemy. Yeah, that's yeah Not all monsters, but a lot of special monsters Wow. Okay shit So things like hollowed like undead creatures and these guys look to be like castle guards But they've long since decayed into undeadness But the first one is just gonna to miss you, swings and misses. The second one is going to be even worse. It's also going to miss. Let's change my dice.

17. That will, however, hit for a 21. And you are going to take three points of position damage. Ooh, he's got one. Oh, my God. Spicy. So these three kind of surround you. Easy, easy, Ted's easy. And then the other three basically all now surround you

and you are completely surrounded in this stone corridor by these hollows. And now you guys will get to go first. And with this, you decide who goes when. So not like in other certain games where there's a very set initiative in this, you guys will go last. so it means you decide your order and who wants to act.

Oh, okay. So, yeah. So, wait, how far is he actually from us? He's at least a move. He's like, he rushed down the corridor and then he, you know, basically turned and ran down to the next one. I could probably get him in my movement. I think so, yeah.

I think because you moved up following behind him, whereas you two maybe are a little bit behind that. Stay behind, yeah. So we'd say that, yeah, Lord Wakefield can get there in one move and still attack but you guys you would have to dash or double move all right uh i'll i'll come on round then and i'll be like gus are you not any better than those pathetic hollows and i'm going to like draw my blades from his from my life because i'm behind i'm going to lean forward and go for his loincloth and swing out at the hollow.

Right you cut the loincloth off immediately. That's gone. That's my only piece of armour so what I'm now just... You're just naked. You are dong out sir. But Lord Wakefield brings his swords to bay and yeah you can attack. There are four regular hollows and two hollow soldiers who do look better armed and armored all right i'll attack the this one here on the right

sure i mean just a normal hollow or a hollowed soldier hold soldier hollow so one of the more but the more armored ones okay yeah okay uh oh that's not good uh A 12. A 12 against a hollowed soldier is not going to be enough, unfortunately. This one does have like armor. It does have like a round buckler, like a rusted metal dented plate. And it does kind of clang against that. Okay. That's me. Okay.

Well, I guess. Well, don't forget, I will say. So have you got both of your weapons drawn? Yes. So as a bonus action, you can make an attack with your offhand, because it is like fifth edition. So you can make that, and then also you can spend position, because your twin blades, that's their special powers,

you can spend position to do another attack. That's after a successful attack. Oh, a successful attack. But if I hit with this offhand attack, maybe I can do that. Yeah, maybe. All right, I'll go with the offhand swing. Okay, yeah, it does a little bit less damage.

You don't get your modifier to the damage. That's two. Two, okay. You just kind of clang your methyl against this creature, and its undead face kind of turns to you. Gutter, your dick is distracting me. Sorry, my lord. Well, do you want to go next, Gutter, before these guys come running around the corner?

Sure, well, if my dick's distracting him, I guess I'm going to cover my dick with one hand. You've got a plank shield. Forgoing my shield. Because I guess that fell on the floor because I didn't have anything drawn. Well, we'll say that your plank shield you can easily pick up. Okay, fine. I'll be covering myself with my shield and just try and hit one of the regular hollowed with my club. Perfect.

Go for it. So attack roll with your club. That's a 12. 12. And don't forget as well, position. So again, this is probably something I mentioned before the camera started rolling. Your hit point, your position, you can spend to get bonuses to dice rolls. So it's a one-to-one for attack rolls and ability checks,

and there's no limit. You can spend as much as you like. I know you only have one, but this is more for everybody else. And then for damage rolls, you can spend up to five position to get a plus five or as many as you want. So plus two. It's pretty good. It's a good way to do extra damage.

So 12 in total is still enough to hit the regular hollow. This guy doesn't have any armor. He's just in rags. The club goes down. Yeah, just club him straight on regular hollow. Nice. This guy doesn't have any armor. He's just like in rags. The club goes down. Yeah, just club him straight on the forehead. Nice. And that is three damage. Three points of damage.

Okay. You do strike the hollow, and this kind of fetid pus and liquid comes spraying out of its mouth. Its jaw kind of dislocated and distended, but it just turns to you still alive still ticking i mean i'm a cleric and someone needs healing uh so can i get there in a movement uh you'd take two movements because i said that you you two were a little bit further away

because well followed after his minion bravely if i'm action dashing yeah uh that is yeah that's probably it. That's me, I'm running around the corner, my heely hand lifted up... You've got your little chime. I've got my chime. Don't forget, you have to have your chime equipped, so you can't have a weapon and the chime... To cast spells, you either have to use your shield...

Oh, yes. So remember, what weapons you have in which hand. So, like, for example, if you have a shield and you want to use your hand, sort of two-handed, Kim, your AC goes down by two and you can't use your shield special abilities. Got it. So remember that.

All right. So that's you done. That's excellent. And then Sir Jolly, same thing. Yes, I'll just saunt around. Saunt around slowly. Into this mess. And maybe just push the cleric back a little bit

So I can just kind of you know Stand in front Nice perfect Still reaching for gutter Well I think that the It's my bare ass You guys would come out the corner I was technically clothed before you came round

And now I'm naked And he's whirling He's covering the front with his shoes so they get a full moon. So I think I'd just be like I'd just walk back around the corner. Well I think the three hollows that initially attacked you are still going to try

and attack you Gutter but one of the soldiers is definitely going to turn on Lord Wakefield because you did strike him. One of the hollows is going to, on Lord Wakefield because you did strike him. One of the hollows is going to... The one that was prone is going to push past to try and go for the knight. And then I think the other elite hollow is probably going to go for Lord Wakefield as well. I have a quick question.

Yes. Are we in human form or are we all horrible? So I think that the idea of this is it's more like Dark Souls 3 because as you guys have started now, you look like humans. You look like normal. There is a thing. Whenever you die, well, this is the thing. So when you do die and you respawn at a bonfire,

you have to roll a d20, and there are penalties. You can lose stats. You can gain bonuses. You can actually get bonus stats or hit points as well. One of them is you become dissected and you look like a gross undead creature and you get like a minus charisma and stuff like that. Do you actually have to find like humanity to...? That could be a thing. It's not gonna be in this adventure, but it is a thing.

But the other one I should say if you die and you respawn and you roll a d20 on a result of a 1 you are permanently dead and you have to make a new character. Okay! And you respawn and you roll a d20 on a result of one you are permanently dead and you have to make any character You actually get a plus two to a stat of your choice Okay, yeah, I'm throwing a one is like you have to say for corrupt Well, we're gonna find out probably what happens when someone dies. So is this a new round of combat? This is a brand new round of combat. While using my shield I get plus one position at the start of every new round of combat. So it's a weird healing shield. It is! But if he ever gets hit by a critical hit, it breaks the shield.

Three attacks against gutter. Yeah. Start of a new round. That's going to be a 21. Ooh, that's a hit. That's three points of damage. I'm dead. So Gutter, you're going to... Wait, hang on. Where does he spawn? He spawns at the bonfire. I will warn you of this.

We can either do it one of two ways. You can just rush back in, but as soon as you do, any enemies go back to full position. They get all of their position back if you rejoin the fight or you can explore other parts of the dungeon whilst they're fighting until they all die wait so what if we haven't hit them yet well what's what's only taking a little bit of damage so if we like finish this fight and then gutter comes around the corner they just like there again uh no like if you complete the fight, then they're dead. Oh, okay, cool, cool.

But if a fight's ongoing, so it does say in the rulebook specifically, if a dying character respawns at Bonfire and rejoins an in-progress battle, all enemies regain form. And I'll say that as an out-of-game knowledge thing, so you guys can be like, I don't want to fuck with you. You could be a real asshole with that. You could be a real asshole. Or the other player can, like, go off and explore other bits of the dungeon,

maybe get into another fight, and then die again. Wait, does he need to roll a d20? He does need to roll a d20. Thank God we covered that. That's why I brought it up, because I knew how close he was. It's a 19. That's probably a good one. Probably too bad.

No, it's not. Dole senses. You awaken slower to react to threats as they present themselves. Reduce your initiative by good one. No, it's not. Dole senses. You awaken slower to react to threats as they present themselves. Reduce your initiative by minus one. So you wake and you're like you find that your body's just not reacting yet. You're groggy and it just won't go away.

Puts me in the head. So what we're seeing is the very first one just knocked Gutter out. They are going to turn on the rest of you. And they will probably push past Sir Wakefield and two more will go after uh sir jolly um so uh so let's do the three night it's at three normal hollows against sir jolly uh that's gonna be a miss that's a natural one uh that is gonna be a 15 to hit sir jolly nope nope uh that's gonna be a 11 to hit so jolly Nope. Nope. That's going to be a 11 to hit. Nope. I am 18.

But the two more elite looking ones are going to go for Sir Wakefield. They're going to bring their rusted swords down. That is going to be a 13 to hit. Nope. Sir Jolly? No. Sir Wakefield? 18 to hit. Yeah, that hits. That's going to be a hit. Oh no, he's pulling out more dice. I've got to get bigger dice now. Bigger dice? Oh.

That's gonna be seven points of damage as this thing brings its rusted sword back. What is that damage? It is Dark Souls. Thing is when you did like what four damage to him or something like that? Three. Three. I'm trying to figure out if that's a lot of damage against these guys. Ah, no. Three points of damage is not a lot of damage regardless of the time. I think we've gone down the wrong path.

This leads to another boss halfway through the game. We'll find out. That is all the enemies. So now you guys get to take your initiative and then after they've done, Tom will find out what you want to do. Damn. I guess I'll start slashing slashing i'm gonna start going are you one handing or two handing your sword uh one hand okay nice um so thank you

oh i rolled a natural one natural one that's a miss plus four to hit five so with this i think that there's no one to make misses if you want to spend loads of position you could maybe still hit i have 13 position yeah i rolled a five so i think what i need to get up to like a 13 or something like no i'm not going to spend a lot of position on this all right that's true all right so so jolly done uh living up to our high rollers name start! Start slashing! Start slashing, go for it! So you've got the two elites in front of you. I'm now bodied. Okay. So I... That does give you a plus one to hit and damage.

Yep. Because you get your plus two dex as well. Yep. Ooh, 17. Hitting one of the armour boys that just hit me. Is that the total or is that... Oh yeah, even higher than that. It's 18...

Plus four. Oh, I got 22. Easily hits one of these guys, yeah. You actually find a gap in the armor with your scimitar, your curved blade. Okay, so that is a d8 plus 2 slashing, so that's getting me a d8 here. Big damage. Where's my 8? Ah, it's...

Yep. Nope, wrong one. Yeah, you got it. Oh, 4. 4 points. 4 damage. 4 points of damage. Now Now that was a successful attack. Would you like to...

So, yes, I can immediately make another attack at disadvantage. If you... Oh, if I spend three positions. It is one less because you're blunt. Oh, one less, two positions. OK, I'll do it. OK. OK, that's a one. LAUGHTER

And then you mark off two positions. Yeah, so... Nice. Three HP, very cool. Off-hand attack? Sure. Okay. As long as you're not using a shield.

12, 16, 17. 17 will hit, yeah. You strike the creature again. Okay. So it's just the D8, no modifier for this one. D8, no modifier. Nope, other one. Nope, other one.

Three. Three more points. It's just the d8 no modifier for this one. D8 no modifier. Nope, other one. Nope, other one. Three. Three more points. These slashes definitely kind of, you slice into this more elite looking creature. Definitely like those were some solid blows and still held together. No real signs of it being particularly injured at this point.

I am going to use my wooden shield ability. Once per short rest... You don't have your shield because you've been dual wielding. I do not have my shield, that's a good point. Okay. It's a very good point. You could swap though, any point you can swap. I keep there.

Alright, so Dexter, our cleric. I would like to, with my cleric's sacred chime, I want to whack one of these boys. I'm guessing... are you within like five feet? Yeah, yeah, I'm saying all you guys are within five feet. This is a very rough approximation, this isn't an actual battle map or anything. Alright, I'll try and hit one of these guys in front of me. So do you want to go for the elite looking hollows or one of the normal looking hollows?

One of the armoured ones? Normal. Normal. Because I've only got plus three to hit. So I'll do that. 13? Colours. One of the armoured ones? Normal. Normal. Because I've only got plus three to hit. So I'll do that. 13? We'll still hit one of these things. Yeah, there's no armour on these guys. Oh, I don't have a D4. D4 me. Counter-op. Thank you.

Oh, shit. That's a four damage. Four total? Yeah, four total. And I can spend... So this is the one that Gutter hit earlier, and it nearly looks like it's been ripped apart. This is like nearly falling apart, but still just barely holding itself together. Nice. And because I hit with my Sacred Chime, I can spend one position to restore two position to a friendly creature adjacent to me. And if that's you, then I'll...

That's pretty good. Yeah, so you mark off one position and then uh lord wakefield gets two perfect there you go right yeah thank you that's you guys done you're waking at the bonfire confused i've just been killed um oh god oh i feel like i should come and save you well we'll take you at least a full round to rejoin the fight, because you'll have to run down the corridor and then move again. Did that hollow die? It was very close, I think. Very close. Oh god. Still alive.

Oh god, that feels bad. So if any of them are dead and then I come along, do they get back up? I'm going to say dead ones won't, no. Right, okay. But that could be wrong. I need to check. Gonna keep peeking round the corner until one of them dies. Yeah, just like... But there is a doorway to the north. You could go and explore that. I'll do it.

Split the party. I feel like I should go and be saving me lord. You can go save me lord. Did I respawn with my loincloth? No. Oh, what? You need to have enough wax to repair that. Or find some pants somewhere.

Uh... Yeah. Because you died without it, you don't respawn with it. Oh god. Wait, so how was I holding onto my estus flask? Somehow. It's just the prison pocket.

The prison pocket is great. This is a smaller, longer Estus. Why is it glowing so much? The sun does shine there. At what point do I technically join the combat? So if you double move and then you're like, I want to join the fight, then what have you. If you just want to hang back, as long as you're not participating, we won't say you're joining. So you could literally be like the kid behind the bully, like, go on, me lord. I want to be run up and be stood.

Like, period. Me lord, are you ready, me lord? I'll surprise him. Sure. You're welcome. Until you actually, when you say, I want to join the fight, then we'll have that be the count. Yeah, it's fun. All right.

All right. In that case, it's back to the enemies at the top of the round I gotta make some attacks. Two elite hollows attacking Lord Wakefield. Miss. Followed by another miss. Dice rolls are terrible Four hollows now all on Sir Jolly. That's a national 20 on Sir Jolly. That's a national 20. Oh! So that's gonna be... So what are the crit rules? I believe the same as fifth edition.

So we're gonna do it the raw way though, which is you roll twice the dice. So this is gonna be three plus seven. That's gonna be eight points of position. As this thing, it just lunges at you, catching your throat and like getting its fingernails under your helm, ripping at your flesh. It somehow got behind you and then did that really slow crit animation.

Oh my god, you got backed up. 16 still misses? Yes. Yep, all miss apart from that one critical that manages to land that lucky but devastating blow. They all miss. We go to you guys. Man, I'll do a heal, like an actual proper spell heal,

which is just touch range and 1d8 plus one. Yep. So, boom. Seven plus one, so eight healing. You just get all of that back. Nice. What was this? Is this like you hold the chime up and like...

I dong it. Dong! Scarily. Yeah. Wooo! You feel like you're golden. Is it like a flame? Like you see like a little kind of flicker of flame or light?

I have no magic. I just pour my Estus Flask. Just onto my helmet and it just goes through the grate. Nice job. I'll pour yours. It's a fake priest. You're a charlatan. Yeah. Yeah the grave. Sure. I'll pour yours. He's a fake priest. You're a charlatan.

Yeah. Yeah. Nice. Cool. All right. So that's next to go. So who out of you two wants to go next? Do I take a swing?

Yeah. I'll take a swing. Well, you're surrounded by four of these normal dudes. These like regular deads. I'll probably just roll another one. Sure. 11 plus four is 15 to hit. Already a hit.

Yep. And then I rolled a five on my attack dice. Five plus two, so six, seven. Seven points. Another one of these, not the one that Dexter cut, but one to the side of you, one of the original three. You cleave through it, and again, like this deep gash, nearly sevens it on my leg, but it's just barely holding there. Ooh, could I spend one position to deal

two damage on a successful attack absolutely you can yeah then i will do that it dies yes one x3 and one hit point left so yeah you cleave through it cleaving it in two and as it burns you hear kind of like it turns to ash and there's this kind of gentle kind of noise almost like a flame being burnt uh and yeah uh i will keep track of your souls for now. Okay. Because if you all die, it doesn't matter. Fair. Cool.

What are we seeing? And this is Estus Flask, a... Action. Action. Can I use my bonus action to take a swing? No, because you have to, with two-weapon fighting, you have to make an attack, and then you get to bonus action. Okay.

But no, Estus Flask is your whole glug, glug, glug turn. All right. Then I'm just going to keep fucking swinging. Okay. Because I'm bodied. Might as well. I'll turn around and hit the other shit guy. Okay, yeah.

Like the one that was heavily injured, right? Yeah. Sure. Yeah. Oh. Eight, 12, 13. Already a hit. Yep. Yep. You don't need to roll. This is one point of damage will kill this guy. Okay, he's dead. So two of them are now, two of these regular hollows you kind of cut through, and the one that Cutter and Dexter had already injured, you just rip through. I'll try and make an attack. Oh, it's going to be two position. Yep, I'll try and make an attack for the cost of two position. Okay, against an elite one or a regular?

Is there another regular within range? There are two irregulars, yeah. They're both on Sir Jolly at the moment. All right, I'll do that. Take a swing. One of the weaker ones. 15, 16. Hits.

16, okay. Okay. That is three, four. Okay. And... Cut it severally, one of its arms is like barely cut up, you can see it bleeding. Okay, bonus action slash? Sure.

Okay. Uh, 10... That, uh, 14. Hits. Okay. No modifier in this, 14. Hits. Okay. No modifier in this. No modifier. Just the dice roll. One.

All right. Extra point. Hey, it will count, sir. That was a lot of dice. So, yeah, this one, you kind of, with a flurry of strikes, you cut it apart, but still standing, just barely. Cutter, what would you like to do? Oh, I feel like I'm going to join.

Please do. Yeah, boy. So you just come running in? Yeah, come running around. But I want to draw my... Can I offhand wield my broken short sword? Yeah, if you want to lose the shield. So you've got club and then the broken short sword.

Hold the club shield between my butt cheeks or something. Sure, sling it on your back. It's got a piece of rope hanging to it. Come around, hopefully fast rolling the whole way I'm assuming by the way whenever you go anywhere you are rolling but we've got no stamina

yeah I will say that as soon as you seem to join the fight the one that was heavily injured previously, its wounds kind of glow with flame and it comes back to full health I'm going to blast him with my club.

Take this. It's a 10. 10 will hit. These guys are particularly weak, these regular ones. That is 3 damage again. 3 points of damage. And then you can stab it with the sword. Here's an 11. 11 hits, but you don't get the modifier. It's just the dice.

Cool. That's 5. Oh, that's enough to actually kill it. So that one you can whack it with the club and then thrust the broken blade into it, twisting and it just collapses, burning apart into ash again. Thank you, my lord. Good work, Cutler. Thank you, my lord.

Alright. Enemies go this turn around. There's only one of these sort of undead regular hollows and then the two elites. The regular one's going to go for you again. So, Jolly, it ago this turnaround. There's only one of these sort of undead regular holos and then the two elites. The regular one's gonna go for you again, Sir Jolly. It's a miss. And then the two regular ones, one elite is gonna probably, they're both probably still gonna keep going

for Lord Wakefield, I think, sensing that you are in there. I have 17 AC without Embodied. Okay, but you're not using your shield, right? Yeah, I have 17 without the shield. It would be 19 with the shield. Okay, nice, all right. So that's gonna be a miss miss on the first one, and the second one's also a miss. They're just missing, missing, missing. You guys are dodging and rolling and timing parries and all of that good Dark Souls nonsense. But yeah, you guys get to go around.

How are you looking? Free possession. He's got his Estus Fosk. Yeah, you could do some moves if you want. Death's fun. True, yeah, I mean, I'll let you guys see how you guys get on and then I'll decide if I heal at the end of it. You say that, Ravs, I'm going to tell you now, you currently have, ooh, you have 75 souls. If you die, you lose them, they'll be gone forever. Ooh, I don't want to lose those.

Yeah, I'll let you guys do some attacks and stuff. If you die, you lose them. They'll be gone forever. I don't want to lose those. Yeah, I'll let you guys do some attacks and stuff. I'll dive in front of you onto the last remaining garbage hollow. Yeah, there's one regular hollow and then the two elites. Trying to jump on its back. That club, I'd stab him. Nice, love it. The club is a 16. Hits.

Four damage. Four damage. Four points. And the sword is a 24. Hits. Oh, my God. For five damage. That's enough to kill it. Boom.

It kind of comes back from the dead. Just like a tornado. Stabbing and slashing. But your AC is like 10 at the moment, isn't it? Because you don't have your shield. It's minus two to your AC. No, it's 12. Yeah, so that's with the shield though.

So without the shield it would be- Oh, is it? Cause it says, oh, it says buff plus two here. Yeah, the buff is what you get from being bloodied. Oh, okay. Oh, I should actually say plus two on there. Okay, so yeah, it's 10. It's 10 AC.

That's fine, you just killed that guy. Yeah, and I'm. Okay. So yeah, it's 10. It's 10 AC. That's fine. You just killed that guy. Yeah, and I'm on top just stabbing, just nonstop. Ripping him apart. Cool. There's only two of these elite ones left. Within the framework of this RPG, because obviously in Dark Souls,

we all kind of know that we die, come back, you know. But do we know that this is what should happen? I'm screaming. We saw Gutter die and is now somehow behind us and naked and then just barrels through and murders. I think that for the sake of it, it is certainly unusual. Okay, okay. I mean, we're all insane. But then you also, yeah, that's the thing.

It's like you all awoke at that bonfire with no memories, no knowledge of what you're doing here or anything. It's not the strangest, but it's pretty strange. Also, we're all giggling. Yeah, a lot. I am literally just gonna giggle and down some of my Estus Fire. You wanna drink your Estus as your action?

So yeah, you roll your position dice. Uh, six. You get six position back. Laughing while glugging it. Yes. Oh! That's one charge of your Estus, which you have three of.

Okay, expanded. Cleric, I fear I am the only sane one here. The perfect response. Just in the middle of the play, like... So Jolly. Oh well, here I go. There's only these two elites left now. Nine plus four is 13 to hit.

Sadly, these guys, yeah, they're, what ramshackle armor they have, it lifts its little buckler, pooching, bounces off. You could, you can, yeah. It's been positioned to increase the dice roll. You can do it after you know the result too. How much you wanna spend? You got 13, right?

I got 12 left to spend. Yeah, but i got i got uh 12 left to spend yeah but you got a 13 to hit didn't you uh 13 uh yeah 13 to hit okay do you want to spend to increase that can i spend to 14. you want to spend to 14. 15. how does this work do you have to say in one go or can you be like i think you have to say in one go? I think you have to say in one go, I think. I'm going to sacrifice two just to be sure. Fifteen? That's a hit. Yeah!

All right, spend your two position, but you do hit. Don't forget, you can spend position to increase damage as well. Oh, shit, yeah. I'm out of one. So that's three. Three points? I'm going to spend one more position to do two more points of damage, so five damage. That's true, you get to do, yeah, that's your special longsword. My special boy abode.

Nice, yeah, well you do strike a blow against one of these elite warriors and just stumble back. Oh, so it's just me now, right? Yes. What is it to swap weapons and... It's just part of an action. Okay, cool. Yeah, I'll switch to my

mace i'll two-hand it oh you're two-handed so minus two to your ac for the time being then oh neat okay um is it a versatile weapon it is a versatile weapon nice so yeah i get it out i put it in one hand i accidentally put it in my left hand i'm going through the menus i'm just going I'm panicking. Fire bombs! I don't want those! Yeah, and I'll try and hit this guy. Bam. 12, spending 2, because I know 15 works. So I'll spend 2 position. To a 14, which is a miss.

Oh wait. No, hang on. I meant to 15. So 3. It does seem like you could just keep spending it. There is no limit on how much position it's going to turn off. I was aiming to get to 15, so I... Can I do three then? You can only spend it once per turn. You can only spend position once per turn.

Okay, so yeah, that's something we need to remember. You can only do it once per turn. You can't trigger critical hit fix. Yeah, yeah, yeah. You can only ever spend it on yourself. It't say that like you can't just be like i'll spend another one uh yeah one more so yeah i was i was aiming for 15 sure i just i just mathed bad yeah so uh yeah i'll use three and that'll be a hit so uh it's 1d8 and i don't think i have any bonus to this oh plus one plus one four four points is this the one that's already been injured

uh isn't this the only one left no there's two of these elites yeah i'll do the injured one all right uh oh there's an injured one and then there's a completely unbothered one all of these armored yes these are both yeah um and yeah just as a point of reference in the future you can only spend position once per turn so That's fine, yeah. I think your abilities are fine, I think weapon abilities and stuff is different. It just means on those default ones. Yeah, I don't spend it more than once anyway, that's fine. So that was you done, that's everyone taking a turn, right?

Yes. Alright, monsters, the two guys remaining. So I have 13 AC then, that's assuming I had the shield. If I don't have that, I'm 13 AC. Okay, right. Because the shield is two? Two, yeah. So yeah, 13 then. Alright, well in that case, yeah, we'll do one attack against you,

but I think now that these two have both engaged, we'll go one on the clerk. That's going to be only a 12 to hit you. Thankfully, didn't hit. Miss. That's going to be a 14 to hit. Oh, you're a 13. Oh, bums.

Damn. It's a rusted sword, bums. Damn. It's rusted sword. That's nine position. Oh, man. You know what? So with my mace, I have a special move where I can spend two position to increase my AC by two.

Yeah. I would have survived that hit. Well, you can see you can... Yeah, I mean like you... No, I mean I would have. I'm dead. I'm gonna just die. You're just gonna die? Okay. Alright. Oh, shit. Nine! I've got ten health.

Just as a note, the three of you have a hundred souls currently. You just lost a hundred souls. Oh yeah, because nothing died while you were coming round, did it? Oh yeah. So, roll a d20 for me please, Tom. Okay, shit. please, Tom. Okay, shit. 14.

Let's find out what it does. Can I steal his souls like a vacuum cleaner? No, you cannot steal his souls. They're his souls, they're gone forever. I come back as a red spirit. Ooh, wow, no, an invader. There is actually a thing in here for having summon signs. Really?

So you can have invader ones as traps, and you use an NPC stat block and it's like an AI. Oh, cool. It's like a potential trap. That's cool. Where is death? It's gone, Zoe. I should have marked it.

I think it's the whole book. I'm out of this round of combat. You died. It's not what you'd see inside. Mm. They should have a buzzer that comes with the book that you press to say sorry. Sound effect.

Indifference. Death does not care about you. Why should you care of it? You are merely one more thing cursed to resist your natural end. No changes occurred. Oh, great. So nothing good, nothing bad. All right.

But you do lose out on those souls. Nummy, nummy souls. Yummy, yummy souls. Yeah, and I don't even know what it costs you to level up. Actually, we can't even level up at this bonfire anyway. Not anymore. Okay, so yeah, that was the two guys' attacks. The three of you jump back into a combat. You've got two of these things left.

I'm way overprepared for this. Because of how long this combat is taking. I'm way over prepared for this. I'll just start slashing. The weaker of the two. Sure. There's one injured one and one's completely un-injured. Let's go for the injured boy. That is a 18 to hit. 18 will hit. Okay, and that will be... 8 damage.

8 points of damage to the injured one you said, yeah? Yeah. That is enough to finish them off. So you watch as the little wakeful thrust the twin blade in and pulls it to the side, and this bones, this hollowed creature falls apart. Do I get those souls? You do technically get those souls.

Nice. So that was worth 50 souls, that one. So you're all on 150, you're on 50. I will again do my, I spend 3 position owl to make another attack. Ooh. Uh. See, this is it. Uh, that is six slashing damage. Wait, seven? No, wait. Is it plus one to the damage?

Not for this attack, because it's a normal attack. Plus two to dex and 30 AC. Yes, yeah, it is, yeah. Yeah, seven then. Seven points, okay. Uh, and then offhand attack. Okay.

Uh, oh, sorry, that was at disadvantage. Ah. Uh, 8, 9, 10, 12, 12, I'll spend free position to hit. Yes! Okay, yeah. Alright, yep, so that does happen, so we get the 7 damage. Now offhand, okay. That is a 16. Hits. Just a d8.

Do-do-do. Four. Another four points. Wait, did you do the damage to the one you boosted? Yeah, I did. Oh, okay. Yeah. Remember, you can't spend more position. So yeah, nice. So another flurry of strikes. Lord Wakefield tears down one of them and then slashes into the other.

Gutter or Sir Johnny? I feel like I'm just gonna keep stabbing this one on the ground 15 to hit 15 will hit just barely five six seven yes seven would you like to boost that your damage because you didn't boost your attack roll so you can spend position to boost damage i will spend one position to deal plus two damage that's true you can do that eight nine yeah good this one is nearly on its on its last legs just a few pieces of meat hanging together by loose sinuous threads. You just want to go nuts on this one? Sure.

Just turn and leap over them, jump onto it. Okay, nice. Ooh, that's a bad miss. My offhand little baby sword, that's a super bad miss as well. Just flailing around.

I'm just running, just rolling around him screaming. Yeah, trying to like find pots to break into. Yeah, but dude. Nothing. Literally nothing. Nothing. Dexter, is there anything you'd like to do at the bonfire? At the bonfire?

Yeah. Cry. Cry. Okay, nice. Yeah, no, I'll kind of do the same as before, just walking around the corner, but not, like... Like, purposely limping a bit. This remaining one is going to miss with its one attack.

But, like... Because I've got low... Oh, that's true. That's a very good point. I'll roll a d4. One, two, three, and then four I'll re-roll. Of course it's not. Three.

So Jolly misses. Okay. So, yeah, you guys go again. Of course it's not. Three. So Jolly misses. Okay. So yeah, you guys go again. This thing is on two hit points. Keep screaming and chopping. That's a hit with the club. 15, go. Five hit points.

You pop its head and it breaks its head off. It just stood on top of it, just smashing until there is no head. It is just mush. Cool. So everybody but tom is on 200 souls uh tom has 100 souls i think i should be on they killed one of the regular hollows before that's true you have 175 well mentioned good good play uh no, listen, there's no inspiration in Dark Souls Please!

No Maybe later But yeah, you now see as I mentioned, you ran down this corridor there is, the corridor that you're currently moving down, Dex, there is a wooden door on the left-hand side, the northern side here

and then as you guys have run down the other corridor where you fought these hollows, at the end of the corridor there is another wooden door. You do hear sounds of something moving behind it. I'm going to step over Gutter, who's still on the ground, and be like, that was my kill, boy, and keep walking down the hall and chug my Estus files. Oh, me lord, I'm so sorry!

Do another roll of your Estus. Four. Okay, so I'm on seven. Yes, all of your spells refresh as well, Tom. Oh, neat. You get all of your Estus fast, all of your spells. Well, because I was in bonfire, yeah. So your Estus dice, Kim, if you move your book,

it's a little bit further along. Can I choke my last charge? Can you have combat between players? You can. I'm not going to say no, this is Dark Souls. When does combat end? The combat with the monsters has ended. But if I was to hand in my shield and then say, I'm declaring combat with the monsters has ended. But if you... If I was to hand him my shield and then say, I'm declaring combat with you,

every round of combat, he will heal one from the shield. I will say that you can't... Can we just pass around the healing shield? The healing shield only functions to pretend to attack. Right, like, he can't hit each other. If I'm in combat, I just keep dodging towards each other.

It's weird. The magic of the shield, of this plain plank shield, only works when it's combat against monsters. Wow. So bizarre. Aren't we kind of monsters? No. We were the monsters more than one.

Isn't man the monster? Are we the bad guys? Okay. No. Nice try, but no. Gutter is still going to believe it would work. So he's like passing it around. Please use my magic healing shield.

It looks like, you know, a bit of a toilet seat or something. Basically, like an outhouse door. Yeah, that's it. With a little moon shape in it. A little moon shape, exactly. All right. So next thing, you follow up behind them. Yeah, were you getting the door

at the end of the corridor? Yeah, I went towards the door. Oh, you got- The noise behind it. Yeah, you go up to the door. Oh, I want to scurry up ahead, and like open, start opening it for him. You try to open it and it's stuck. It's like a jam, the door doesn't open from this side.

Oh God, do that message come up? Classic. It does, it literally does. What'd you do? I'm gonna roll into it. Roll into it. You hit like a thud, you kind of throw your shoulder against it. You hear a voice come from inside. Oh, someone there, aye? There it is. So immersive. There it is! So immersive. You don't sound like hollows. I can tell. I'll let you pass. And then you hear something heavy being lifted from the door and it opens and it reveals another room in beyond.

Can we see the dude? Yeah, well you don't see the dude immediately, but you do see the room beyond. It looks like it was once a bedchamber chamber of a noble lord but it's long since been abandoned the once plush bed has been ripped apart the wood used to barricade the windows and doors a man dressed in a long leather coat and wearing a wide-brimmed leather hat seems to occupy the room he looks very worn and tired and he steps, he peers out, he's just like You're no Hollows. The thing is I've heard your impression of a very particular character in Dark Souls and if it's this guy, fuck, we're screwed. All right, we'll find out. But yeah he kind of looks around Awake are you? Do you know why we were there in that room? I know. I know quite a few things about the castle.

Well, step in, friend. You're safe here. If you've dealt with these cretins that were outside my room. The name's Greon. Pleasure to meet you. You can see that as he talks, he's playing with a knife, like a throwing knife. He's balancing it over his knuckles and twisting it in his hand and things like that. He's just like, ah, yes, don't know where you are, do you? This is the Lake Castle. Doesn't really have a name beyond that.

I'm going to sheave my swords and just... No, my lord. You don't have a loincloth anymore. Oh, yeah. If it's a bedroom, are there like chests of drawers or anything? It looks like there were but they've all been broken apart. But what there is is there's the bed

sheets and it was a four poster bed so it has those curtain drapes. Those have been just discarded into a pile. What about the dudes we killed? Did they burn away? Their armour was mostly just like, the ones who had armour, it was like rusted plates.

It wasn't really armour. It was kind of just barely hanging together. There's probably some filthy rags that you could turn into pants. Perfect. Or you could tear... Roll for pants. Yeah, you don't even need to roll. You just get pants.

It's a seven. They're not the best. Perfect. But you could get some of these sheets of the bed, like the bed linens, and wrap those around you and stuff like that as well. You could make an impromptu toga if you wished. I don't want to be that cover of the top. Little mini skirt.

Yeah, really small. As soon as he's done that, swords in. Quite familiar with each other it seems. These be little.. Ah, indeed. The Lord, eh? Yeah, I'll wander into the room, I'll be like looking around, seeing if there's any like... Well, just more creepers around. There's no creepers, you do know that on the other side, so where you've entered,

on the direct opposite side, the northern wall, Yeah, there's another doorway that's been barricaded from within, so it looks like he's barricaded himself in this room. But there's another door leading out of here. And he says, so, woken up, eh? Maybe we can help each other. I'm looking to maybe try and get out of here. Maybe we can do a little favor for each other. I'll tell you something about you, and then you help me.

Or you help me, and I'll tell you something about you. I've got a few trinkets I can offer to sweeten the deal. And what exactly is it that you want? There's a portcullis barring entry or exit into the castle. Now, it's a bit too dangerous for me to go and open it myself, but you look like a competent bunch. If you go and open up the castle's portcullis, come and let me know when you've done that.

I'll tell you what I know about yourselves and I'll give you a couple of treats. Where is this portcullis? Oh, it's just down in the courtyard. You'll need a key to get in. And he pulls out of like a leather pocket, a small iron key. And when you touch it it it says hallway key. But he offers that and says this will open the door that you must have passed on your way in from that corridor back there. Or I suppose you could risk trying to get into the tower beyond this door but it's dangerous. Archers on the battlements will spot you. That's right, I'm good at dodging. Well, if you think you're up to it,

you can... by means, I'll open the way for you. Do you know the way to the nearest flame that one passed back just bled dry? Oh, well, that's a terrible omen if the fires are dying out. A terrible omen? I think... Errr it's not the way. Actually, I do know where the other one is. It's up in the chapel with the sister.

It's one of the gatehouses. The room above it is a small chapel. There's a bonfire there. I tell you what, if you bring me the sister's lantern, I'll sweeten the deal. I'll give you something real special. Who is this sister? Is it your sister? No, she's like a nun. A nun sister.

Oh, I'm sure she's totally fine. We could kill a nun. We could take down a nun. If you bring me a lantern, I'll give you a right good reward. Is that back the way we came? Yeah, it's by the courtyard. It's above where the gatehouse is. Some of it's blocked off. There's all these kind of cretins roaming around.

Dost thou have any spoils we could buy now? Nothing to buy, no. But if you open the gatehouse for me, I'll definitely give you a treat or two. Bye. I guess let's go. Do you want to go back the way you came and go through that locked door, or do you want to try and go out onto the Batmobile? So which way was the sister? Was the sister in the tower?

She's in a tower above one of the gatehouses. So you guys don't know because you've not seen this stuff yet, right? You said the tower was through the barricaded door. That's one way to go. Or you can go into the courtyard and then try and find your way from there. I mean, it might make more sense when you actually, you know, get outside. But right now, you haven't seen it. You've got a key.

Yeah, I mean, maybe. What about you, jolly any plan any thoughts to share with the team lots of thoughts but i don't think any of them are gonna get any answers because everyone is just bat crazy oh yeah absolutely all weird or creepy or a mixture of all three i think so why are we why why are we killing the sis sister why was that the immediate thought oh i said he's got trinkets for us a lantern so we have to kill you get the lantern for me you're a man of religion why are you killing sisters i think i am i may have been but no it's not do, for I have died.

Well, you speak like a fancy religious man. Thank you. You do the sparkly, sparkly heels like a fancy religious man. Yes, I do. I do. Maybe I am. I believe in God now. What? Wonderful. Any particular God or... All of them?

Goodbye. He's gone. The sun. The sun. The sun, okay, yes. Lord Whitefield. What a great exchange. It's an instant amaze.

We could go and get that lantern. It might make the road ahead easier. Which way, my lord? What do you all think? Through the tower or through the courtyard? I think we have a key. We should use the key. Does sound like a plot point.

What is this plot point you keep talking of? Oh, I don't know. It's voices in my head. I keep seeing messages come up. Messages popping up before my eyes. Right. Yeah, Wikipedia. Let me look up the strategy guide. Cool.

Well, you guys can make your way back. You can make your way back to the corridor with the tapestries. As we leave that man, I'm going to pull a little current stone and throw it on the ground. It just says, thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Is this the route towards Carver?

I get that, but I'm like, would that jolly be further on? So that would be if you character, imagine you're, like you've come in through a door. There's like a room with the weird creepy guy. Opposite where you came in, there's another door that leads to the back,

to the tower. Or you can go back the way you came and then there is's another door that leads to the back of the tower. Or you can go back the way you came and then there is a wooden door leading off from the tapestry hallway. And you did mention that you wanted to briefly look at the tapestries but I think then combat happens. So I don't know if you want to revise that. I'll just look at them. As we're walking by I'll just be looking at them and running my hands over them. Okay. Just feeling the nice tapestries. Yeah, as you kind of make your way back to the locked door, the corridor here is

lined with faded, tattered tapestries. The tapestries, the first one depicts a great tower with a terrible long-limbed beast shrouded in mist laying waste to soldiers. The second shows a hunt except the horses and the hounds are skeletal and they chase a ragged, shapeless evil with a distorted human face. The last is a knight bearing a shield with the icon of a heron, surrounded by flames of all different sizes.

At the edges, claws and tentacles reach out. Hmm. But you get to the door. Shit, okay. Uh, yeah. There's probably like items scattered around this place that has all the lore deep in its flavour text. Oh yeah, yeah.

Maybe, maybe. There was also this doorway in the room you started in that you didn't explore. Yeah, but keys. Yeah, no, no, it's fine. I'm just reminding you. Yeah, let's crack it open. Crack it open. You slot the key in the lock, turns, opens, the wooden door opens,

and you get the sudden rush of fresh air. There's a slight damp cold mist that kind of rolls in. Like a white mist? No, we're very good. Oh, yeah, solid mist there. Just step through. Ow. No, we're very good. Oh, yeah. Solid miss there. Just step through. No, this is... It's kind of faded.

And the stairs, there's like a set of wooden stairs that lead down into the courtyard of a small castle. And, yeah, you see the courtyard before you. The courtyard itself, it's quite large. You can see directly on the opposite side, there seem to be some battlements. And it's quite hazy, so it's difficult to see in too great detail from where you are there does also appear to be as you go down into the courtyard to the left the east of the castle there is a stone step that

leads up into a grand central keep that is like the main part of the castle and then to the west you can see two tall gate towers and an entry into a portcullis and then there seems to be you don't know what else is beyond that man there's a lot of places to go that's a lot place to go but this is the perfect time for us to take a quick break where you guys can have a think what you would like to do I just want to get to the next bonfire We get to the next bonfire. That's literally all I want. So it feels exactly like that.

Oh, God. We've got to spend them. I've just died, so I'm like, fine. But still. Yeah. Jesus. Well, you do. Yeah.

I mean, he said that he thought that there was a bonfire up in the chapel. In the chapel. Mm-hmm. Let's head there. Let's head to the chapel. One of the gatehouses. Yes, gatehouse. Yeah.

Cool. Man, this is cool as yes. Gate towers, yeah. Cool. Man, this is cool as hell. Yeah, I like this. It's pretty, it's, yeah, it's definitely like, it's got that kind of cool, salty vibe. Brutal as well. Like two of us have died already. Yeah, I mean, I think just taking out

that death saving throws, right? Like zero hit points, you're dead. Yeah, man, you're gone. I'm zero, that's it, see ya. Yeah, and you died. And when you're spending position to do cool stuff that's way like you were on like three at one point because you kept spending yeah um so it's also like i like kind of kind of gaming it as well like i'm gonna spend three hit points so i can

be bloodied for my next yeah yeah and i think that it kind of encourages that yeah there's definitely some like i think that now we're moving away from being so close to the bonfire, the whole like, I'm going to run into combat should hopefully become not as much of a problem. Oh yeah.

Damn. I mean, not that it was a problem. You can do it. It's just it kind of screws everyone else. Yeah, it kind of mixes things up. Yeah, you have less. Anyway, break time. Break time.

And then we'll be back. We'll be back in like five to continue on our little adventure here. Awesome. See you soon. See you in a bit. Bye.