High Rollers DnD - The House of ir'Nae'uith (Part 2) | Altheya: The Dragon Empire #86

Episode Date: December 4, 2025

Ophelia faces off against a Dryad in Blackwing's home as the heroes wrap up their search for lost relics! Altheya: The Dragon Empire Campaign Setting begins in Q1 2026! Register interest and support the journey to release here: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/rollandplaypress/high-rollers-altheya-the-dragon-empire Can't wait for Part 2 of each episode? Join our Patreon to get early access EVERY week (+ a few other bonuses)! www.patreon.com/HighRollers⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ _______________ Boost your Charisma with some HR merch! ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://highrollersdnd.teemill.com/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Add official High Rollers Minis to your TTRPG collection here: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://only-games.co/collections/high-rollers⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Bless your table with the Clever Toad Dice Set: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://dispeldice.com/collections/high-rollers⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Enhance your bath time experience with the official Altheya themed DiceBombs at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://geekyclean.com/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠! Check out ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.highrollersdnd.com/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ for all the latest HR News! Love the podcast? Give us a glittering 5 star review! ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/high-rollers-dnd/id1401508198?see-all=reviews⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Music courtesy of Epidemic Sound, TCT Adventures (Solasta: Crown of the Magisters), Monument Studios and Jolene Khor! Check out Jolene Khor and all her wonderful work on High Rollers on Spotify: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://open.spotify.com/artist/1WX3ICiTmf4GpHwImnQMs6⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠v Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Pickax. Get no frills, delivered. Shop the same in-store prices online and enjoy unlimited delivery with PC Express Pass. Get your first year for $2.50 a month. Learn more at pceexpress.ca. Welcome back to part two of Altheir, the Dragon Empire. Our heroes are currently in the home of Blackwing, the house of Irneueth.

They have located several of the belongings that Black Wing has sent them to recover, as well as found some potential magical essence. Perhaps not all of them though. Perhaps there are more here that can be discovered. Oh, we'll scour. But, yes, you have found a few different things. But in the process you have also encountered Springheart, the Dryad, who Black Wings saved and befriended

seemingly some time before, who has not reacted well to meeting Sister Ophelia Delarosa of the House of Blood. and that is where we pick back up right now. Felia has been restrained by an entanglement spell as the dry-aird spring heart has retreated to her awakened tree home, and now we find ourselves, yeah, in this tense and awkward situation. So what would you guys like to do? Tell me your name, a fay creature that despises me so.

Why should I tell you my name? You are your kind, burned my home. I am not going to give you my name. Why, why is this, why is this one traveling with you, Graffath? You are, you are filled with, with life and, and, and, and, and, and goodness. And yet you travel with one who serves death, who serves just destruction and pain. She came to our lands as an emissary, as a diplomat, to learn and to find out new things. It is deception. They have sent them to trick you, to spy, on you to find weaknesses. They cannot be trusted. She has only ever acted in our good,

and she has protected me. I do not understand. I do not understand how you can say these things, and this one can serve the lands of death, the ones who march and strike down life, not for anything other than death itself. I could do you one good thing. If you'd like me too. If not, then... I want nothing from you. Oh, I won't tell you then. I want nothing from you and your bringers of death and fire. You have done enough.

The Greylands have done enough. They have taken enough. Springard. Look, I know you're upset. Let them leave. Please, let them leave. They will not do anything to arm you. Give me a persuasion roll with advantage.

please gruffeth. Please may I use Un Petit Fate? Un petit fei. Oh God, 19, 20, 21. Okay. Right. 21. There is a sort of pause, a sort of long moment.

A dryad sort of bows her head and sort of ceases whatever spell she was concentrating on and the vines let go of Sister Ophelia. Um, hey, I will trust you, Graveth, you, you carry with you the light of life and, and the living. But I do not trust this one. I do not believe that Blackwing does either. either. And why would they send me? Because you have tricked them or they, or something is wrong.

I, or, I, you have tricked these people. I do not know. I do not understand these things. You are not, you are so strange. You are alive, but you are dead. You are half living. You are some half living thing. I do not like you.

That's fine. I don't like you either. If I may, Jesus. Sister Ophelia, please leave the house. Spring Art, I am sorry for the distress that has been caused. Hey, thank you, thank you for your apology. I do not, yes, I do not want them here. It is not good that they are in the home of Defei.

Can I give you a fair warning? And you can decide whether or not you wish to trust my words. If my words are true, then you can trust me. I'm sure you are aware of the foul creatures that are invading at the moment, no? What? What creatures? More undead? So you don't know about the unsealie? The unsealie? They are banished to the dark places.

Have you made an alliance with the unsealie, creature of death? No, but if you wish to believe me or not, that's up to you. But they are coming here. And they are looking to destroy. If you believe me or not, that's up to you. You have let them inside the city. The defenders of Vathalian would not allow the unseal. They are weak.

They could not take this place. They have been here for a long time. Apparently, we just got here. Springheart looks to you, Graf. I'm sorry to say it's true. It's why Blackwing left. What? But how?

The unsealing, they are banished to the shadows of the Faywil. How? The elves, the centaurs, the other fae, they should have the strength to oppose them. Well, I do not understand. And you see this dryad is, and it's just genuine, like, naive disp, like just doesn't seem to really be able to comprehend what you're sort of saying to her. It seems to be a creature that, you know, struggles with. perhaps grander concepts than is capable of, you know, the idea of a coup,

the idea of the Faye changing this much has not reached this place, this sanctuary to which she has belonged. There is a sort of, a sort of realization comes upon your gruff. You remember the guards outside the tapestry that this blood, the conqueror is coming to take the tapestry, has some sort of device to destroy the magical protectors, perhaps even enter into protected homes. And you have seen what these unseely do to fake creatures.

You don't think that this dryad, even with this tree, would be strong enough to resist that if they come here. And there's probably nothing Graf can do, right? I don't know. You tell me? This is, I don't know. is, there's always potential. That's, you know, the nature of the story. But I just need convincing.

I can't transport the tree, though. I have to figure something out. But yeah, you see that Springheart looks to, especially to you and Gruff, like Rowan and Gruff. Rowan just walks in at this point. I found some nice... Things are a little bit tense here right at a moment, Rowan. What's on the floor is why it's all curled up.

I feel these legs. Ophelia in the face stuff. Oh, Ophelia in the face tough, yeah. Unfortunately, what Ophelia and Graf is saying is true. We had to fight our way through unseely forces in order to get to this house. No, no, this cannot be true. What are we going to do?

And she sort of hugs, like kind of leans against her tree and presses her head against it. My friend, why have you not come home, my friend? And would Gruff know that if we took a part of the tree with us, could she come with us? I will say this, Gruff. I'm not going to give you a definite yes or no. What I am going to tell you is that as a druid, as a man of experience, was travelled, knows a little bit about the natural world.

One can take a cutting from a tree, plant it, nurture it, care for it, and it will grow. You have no idea what that would mean for this Springheart, for this Dryad. Will that kill her? Will that allow her to be in two places? Will that become her new home? You don't know. Springard, please. She's just sort of

Not sobbing because there's no tears But you just hear her just repeating Like what are we going to do What are we going to do Can you tell me how did Black Wing bring you ear You and the tree I don't I don't remember I don't know

I we were told When we sensed the dead ones coming We fled to our trees We tried to fight But I was not strong enough and I went into the sleep, the dryad sleep. I went into my home and culled up and just tried to hide, hoping that I would survive.

And then the next thing I knew I was here, and Blackwing had brought my tree. I don't know. Springard, I'm going to be honest with you. The unseely, they're coming to the tapestry. We encountered them on the way here. That's why I was so hurt. That's why Rowan and I was so.

hurt. Oh, what am I going to do? The unsealie, they are hot, they are creatures of suffering and pain. They will burn my tree. I want to try you something and it is dangerous and it is daring, but I don't want to leave you here. I want to try and bring you with us to Blackwing. Just sort of nods its head, nods her head. I need to try and take a cutting of the tree. You hear this like sharp intake of breath and almost this defensive, like, no, I, I, But I, but my tree. I have a choice. We leave you here. And I don't know what will happen.

I don't know if Blackwing's wards will protect you against the unsealy that are coming. Maybe they will. Maybe they cannot come inside the home. Blackwing is very strong in magic. Perhaps that will protect me. And then, and he will come, they will come back. And they will,

they will rescue me again. The Ansele, they have a device. They have a device that is breaking the defences in this area. That's why they're able to come here. You're saying that they cannot be safe? I want to try and take you back with us to Black Wing. And I don't know if it's right, but I just... We need to bring the tree, right?

But I can't... But you... how can you carry my... I don't know how to do the whole thing, but if I could take a cutting, once we get to Blackwing, maybe we can make it grow again. She seems very uncertain. Groff's very...

What are the rest of you guys doing? How big is it? It's a full scale. It's a full willow tree, basically. It's not a bonsai. It's not a bonsai. I advise you listen to Groff. Whether or not you listen to me or not is up to you, but I advise you listen to Groff.

They have wisdom. beyond anyone that I've ever met. And they've always steered the majority of us true. You are, you are so strange. You speak of trusting Gruffeth, one who is full of life and light and kindness. And clearly, you have faith in them as well.

But I do not understand how you could... Why you... How you are so connected to the realm of death and ash and dust. Do you not realize? Do you not know what this will cost, what it will take from you? Well, it won't take anything from me as far as I'm aware. It'll only make me a better person. It will take everything from you.

It will strip you of everything that you are. What precious life and light I can see within you, it will turn to nothing but dust. It will burn you like it burned my grove. Well, if there is nothing left of me, then I have nothing to be afraid of losing. I am. Shakes their head in your direction and looks towards gruff.

What are the rest of you doing? Well, I'm going through my spells to try and figure out some that might be able to assist with preserving and protecting the tree. Yeah, sure. Also, like, again, I'm, you know me, I'm open to creative solutions. It doesn't, you don't have to have, oh, it just so happens I have shrink tree. You know, you can just be like, is there a way I could use this bell or could I use this narrative thing to try and do a thing? Yeah.

I am open to creative solutions. I'm thinking of ways in which I can preserve the life within the tree for a duration. so that it doesn't immediately die and the travel back or anything like that. And there's, I have Death Ward. Okay. It's when I touch a creature, I can, the first time it would hit zero HP,

which up to 1 HP instead. I almost want to... So if, when, if Graff's taking a cutting, you mean? Yeah, it's whether I cast it on the dryad or I cast it on the tree itself, something to... Do you an arcane roll? Okay. Elkane roll.

That's good. I can't have passed. Yeah, I love the idea. You're gonna get something out of it. I just wanna see if I can give you more. Oh, 21. 21. You think, Cynthia, it's like you kind of take a moment and you, you know, this conversation is happening, you think.

And you know you have this, this spell, this power to protect a living creature from that grip of death. With the way that the planes work and things like that, you know, that's normally to protect a living creature from that, that final, you know, wounding blow. Sure. But you do think, and but you do think. You know that your magic, you know, these runes, whatever they are, bronze dragon magic, or what are your own magic, you're not sure. But you know you can also give your runes to a creature, and that helps protect them from damage. Because the worry here is not that whatever this relationship between this dryad and this tree,

you don't think it's like damage, you don't think she's going to be a risk at like falling to zero hit points. It's much more symbiotic, it's much more, you know, intrinsic and esoteric than that. But you do think that maybe, maybe, if you were to cut sort of a large cutting, you could try and use your magic to fortify that cutting. Yeah. And, like, help bridge that connection between her spirit and that branch.

It would certainly help. Yeah, I mean, I need to... It's just a question of, do I have the resources to build up the ruins in order to do that. Sure. I can spend source three points. Yeah.

Yeah. What about Rowan and Daisy? I just want to check with you guys if there's nothing you want to do. There's also rooms that you've not been in. Yeah, if you want to go in there, it's just saying. I'll be off. No, you don't, that is literally making a joke.

You absolutely don't have to. Rowan's kind of caught, deer in the headlights kind of thing, just not knowing how to help. Yeah, I think. Also, he had an idea of sealing off the room with his performance of creation. However, he's spent that, so he can't, like, fake walls or anything like that. So he's a bit of a loss, to be honest.

Sure. Okay. I don't have anything that is of use. Well, like I said, feel free to get creative, but if you don't have ideas, you also don't have ideas. Yeah, that's fine. An idea. Yeah, that's fine. I'm wondering if there's a way

she was brought here by Black Queen's magic and there is magic all over this place. Maybe if we bring things from these rooms that you discover that has their magic in it, we can channel it in some way to at least try and make the journey back to encompass Spring Art. There were some scrolls that we could maybe look through

in the study. Maybe there's something about dryads or some, maybe, did we look through the scrolls? We just looked at the folios. Briefly looked to them, it was written in Sylvan. You didn't understand the language, so I didn't take it with you. I can use my magics to protect the tree if we do decide to make cutting. It might then survive the journey back and, well, secure its life for when we want to regrow it.

And as I'm saying that, like, a pulse as I use a sorcery point and runes appear and then a pulse and more ruins appear. Sort of charging up, like, woo, zanthius glowing brighter and brighter as these runes build in light. Maybe we can just look around again and see if there's any kind of spells or potions or anything that have you checked the other rooms? We could...

Just this one. Okay, well, let's try some of the other ones. Be quick, though, because you know, we know they're coming. I will go into one of the next rooms. Sure. Well, there's only two rooms that you've not been in. They're down the hallway, glancing in. You can see one is a gallery, which contains various paintings,

similar to someone who Phelop says that sort of seem to shift and move. These seem to be of Fay figures of this city, people of importance, various resplendent. elves and other fay-like beings, one fairy, you know, daintily sat on like a sort of stone fountain, that sort of thing, of impressive figures. There are also in between the paintings of pedestals with various oddities placed upon them, but you'll need to go in the room to have a better look. The other one is the kitchen, which has said has like rows of strongly smelling herbs and flowers hanging from the ceilings, maybe what looked like some sort of alchemy table

at the back, but that's what you see from those two rooms. I'll go to the kitchen if you go to the other room. Okay, I'll look at these little things. All right. So, yeah, Roman, you go into the kitchen, you find, yeah, like, strong, earthy smells. It's quite nice. There are, you see that in the middle,

there are these sort of almost, almost like allotment style, like little patches of dirt and soil, and fresh vegetables and fruit have grown out of them, ready to be picked. You see strange, purple-like, skinned orange-like fruit with like a rind that you have to peel uh these kind of bright pink banana like sort of shapes um there are also various like vegetables in the ground you know

like ferns and things sprouting up that look like they might belong to like root vegetables and things like that um and then yeah at the far end there is a sort of alchemy bench um there are it looks like most of the things there it has either not been used in some time or has me while there is a sort of pouch of something there's like a kind of little leather pouch of something on the alchemy table itself hello little pouch i'm going to have a little glance is there also any written word or anything like that any little books nearby doesn't seem to be potion recipes or anything like that does not seem to be no all right i'll have a little look in this pouch then it's like a very fine silvery sand in here hmm tiny tiny rock

Yeah, the tiniest rocks you can imagine. There's a lot of them. It's millions, hundreds of millions maybe. It's going in the satchel. Okay, yep, you have a bag of dust, a bag of sand. A bag of sand. Pocket sand, yeah. Yep.

That's what you find in here. For Daisy, you, nothing, the Alchemy Bench, like you look around, and there's like empty bottles, there's like empty little powders, there's really not anything here. here. It looks like either stuff was grabbed before it was vacated

or it has not been used in a very long time. For Daisy in the gallery, you see all these beautiful paintings. They're all lit by magical glowing lights. It's kind of almost like spotlights on each of these paintings and then in between are these pedestals.

On the pedestals, you would see the first one is a strange glass-like sculpture that you, it seems to be like pointing, it's like hovering and it's pointing in a strange direction. The next pedestal is, I don't think you've seen a direct, have you guys seen an imp before? I think we have.

Maybe have, yeah. I think we have. Because I think in the lamplighter stuff, you see a petrified imp, like an imp that's been turned to stone, and it's on a pedestal, it's like a, thank you for the noise. There is also an ornate wooden sculpture of a deer-like creature

with way too many antlers and too many eyes on it. And then finally, one that really sort of draws your eye is in a glass sealed glass container is a white rose that is covered in frost and almost seems to be emanating cold from the fire itself. Um. Dantias, have you still got the magic thingy and the thing? Sorry?

I feel like there's magic in this thing. Yes, just bring it to me within 30 feet, ideally. Can I hold up the little raven? Yeah, the pedestal had some sort of glyph on it, which is deactivated. Is it in a container? It's in like a glass container, but it's kind of, you can see that it's rime-frosted, the glass. I'll pick up the glass. Okay, can I get a Constitution saving throw from you, please?

It cold. It cold. It's so cold, it, ow. It ow. Um, um... 17. 17 is enough, that's half damage though, I'm afraid. Oh. So 17, so it's eight cold damage, that's already halved. Um...

Ow, it's sore! I'm gonna... Come and look at it here. Oh, okay, sorry, Gruff. Okay, you put it down. I'm pretty dang. I'm not going to hold on to something that hurts. Okay, well, coming through. Yeah, magical.

Look it in it with the arcade with Detect Magic. I mean, yeah, I guess. This is another essence. This is a fay slash ice essence. So it's a fay essence that has properties of ice, so it can be used for creation of ice or cold-based enchantments and things like that. Again, it's another major, another major,

I can't believe it, drop sack. There's a second one. I didn't expect to get two. Daisy, wait, did you say this hurts? Yes. How much? Don't touch it. What do you mean?

How are we going to transport this? Have you got another sack or something? I didn't have a sack. That's a piece of fabric. I know, but... I mean, I want it. I want... Well, no, but do you think it would help with...

Because this is a flower thing. Maybe it's... Maybe it could freeze something. and preserve it. I don't know. Preservation magic. I don't know. I like the sound of that.

But at the same time, there is also this other essence that maybe that would be helpful too. Can you look at these other pedestals? Does anything look magical? There is a very minor enchantment on the weird glass sculpture. You don't need to cast, I don't find to tell you, what I will tell you is the detect magic spell

will say this weird like cone that's like hovering in the air. It will change orientation every hour. So it basically is like a little mini clock. That's all it does. The wooden sculpture is just wooden sculpture. The imp is a petrified imp. It has been turned to stone.

That's a real imp. That's a real imp that has been turned to stone. What a miserable. Is it making a rude gesture? No, he's like, he looks scared, like, oh fuck. His last words, I can read them. But he's only, you know, he's only small.

I don't wanna take the imp. Why? Why would I want the imp? I'm joking, I'm joking. The garden. This thing is rotating things. I would take that. I'd have an imp for the garden.

A feeling you want an imp. It's like garden owns for a garden imbs. Yeah, garden imps, yeah. Anyway, and this rotating thing seems pointless. Why can't we just tell the time by the sun like a normal person? Well, you don't have a normal time here probably. Oh yeah, right.

Okay. Time. It's, uh, I mean, I, um. Can I go and find something to, like a piece of fabric or something to, drape over this. You can find a piece of fabric. I'll give it to that.

Okay, I'll pick it up. Constitution, same, sorry, please. Oh, great, we're all going on in it. Never mind. 17 plus 8, 25. Oh, yeah, yeah. So 12, half damage. So 12, oh, yeah, you're right.

Oh, this is bad. Is it like an ongoing effect? You still holding it? You're holding on to it. That's why I've put it down. Let's go into the next room. I'm still there. Uh, next round, can you make another constitution saving throw for me, please?

Oh, it's still going. Uh, that's a nat one. Can I give them the fat? I've given you... The fabric. 22, hold damage, because you didn't half that one. Yep. Um, so you get this piece of fabric, you wrap it and try and hold it in a sack. It begins frosting the sack, like the actual, uh, this is actually just supernatural cold. Produce flame.

Okay. Underneath it. Okay. How, so you're gonna keep, so you've got it in the sack. It's enough to prevent the... So you set the sack on fire? No, not set the sack on fire. Like there's a produced flame to stop the frost from coating the entire sack and up to my hand.

Okay. You could just probably create, in that, the hand that's holding the sack. No, because that will set the sack on fire. I don't want the sack to, I don't want the flame to be on the sack. Okay, so you're trying to use produce frame to keep the temperature not freezing. Yeah, nominal, but you're not trying to heat it. Not heat it. Okay.

Prevent the frost from spreading. Okay. All right, I'll allow it for now. Can we, I don't know how we transport this. Well, like this, it seems like probably the best way of doing it too handy. That seems like it's going to be really irritating. Oh, no, absolutely. Can you grab the other...

Daisy and Zendia's probably return, I imagine. There's a really... What is that? We found another essence. Very, very cold. Very, very cold essence. We might be able to use it to preserve. There's also...

Oh, Daisy, did you grab the big sack? Oh, go get that. Yeah, thank you. My hands are full. But we also found another essence that also we might be able to use... Now we have two, we have spares, that we can use to preserve the tree.

And you're out in the hallway, right at this point, you've not gone into the atrium. Are you going to go into the atrium, or are you in the hallway? Back with the group and the... Most of the group is in the atrium, failure is in the hallway. Oh.

Oh, I'm going to go to the atrium. To gruff. Okay, it's important because you have to detect magic up. Yeah. Your detect magic goes off again when you see the weird metal cube with a spider in it.

Oh! That is also an essence. It is a Fay poison essence. I cannot believe it, what a joyous day! Um, that, yeah, the metal case, the spider itself is a living essence. It is a Fay essence, but it is also a poison essence. Where did you get that from?

Oh, lucky Derwin. Excuse me? You've named it Derwin. Is it called Derwin? Do you, are you carrying the Spider box? I was, yeah. I would need a, uh, dexterity saving throw from you, please, Gruff.

I did not realize you had picked it up, my apologies. Oh yeah, so I meant that I picked it up. Ah, my apologies, I did not realize you had meant that. Natural one. Excellent. Let me get some dice. Do you have poison resistance? Yes. I thought you did.

Oh, that's good. That is gonna be, well, it would be 20 points of poison damage, but that is now half to 10. And you would normally gain the poisoned condition, but I will say you don't because you're resistant. So it sinks its fangs into you, and you feel it's like burning poison. That's rude, Derwin, let go.

Oh, I don't like that. I don't like that one. That's very rude. Okay, all these essences are hurting you right now? Yeah, this one in the set is, it would try to turn you into dark skin. Yeah, I was able to resist that one a bit more, but I'm just gonna put this one on the ground.

I could probably help with that one. The cold one? Yes, or any of them. I can help with the other one if you do one. I will give row. Give Rowan the sack with the bark essence. Sure. Just put it on the floor in front of me.

I will put the floor. Put it on the floor. Just bark essence, we might be able to... That is ant bark. That is the bark of an end. Can we use this to assist with the tree, help its regrowth, perhaps? Maybe...

The ants do carry strong primal magic of health and resilience and things like that. I am not a mage. Maybe. Blackwing could probably... it does something. Can you transfer yourself into this? No, no. I must stay with my tree. This is, the end is not of my tree, but perhaps there is a way to use its magic to, I don't know. Are we leaving within the hour? I assume we are. Probably. I don't know what time it is. I can't see the sun.

Okay. Should we call him? With the little... I'm gonna... Not yet because if they transfer, brought us back now, we haven't got, we haven't done anything to bring Spring Art back with us. It's not a communication, as in, it's not a two-way conversation, is it? It's just a... Let's go. Let's go.

Should we take cutting then? Yes, I... Spring Art, are you okay if I do this? I don't know. I don't know if this will work, my love. I don't know. I don't know either. But if they come here,

they're certainly going to destroy the tree. I don't know what to do. I will do everything I can. Seems to be as lost as all of you. I will use all of my protective magics in order to try to make this process as painless as possible. Give me a persuasion role with advantage. Oh, okay.

I mean the first one, you've shown some confidence in your ability to do the right thing. Like, Ruff seems quite unsure, which, you know, isn't enough for her. Yeah, exactly, yeah. I feel like the runes will help. Persuasion, you say. Yes, please.

Oh, my God, 23. She looks to you. and conceit, like, you know, you're glowing with these runes, you're creating magic, like, yes, if you know magic, I will trust you, if you think it will work. And from my Icana check, that's giving them the runes, not on the tree. It would be, you would basically, it's not really giving the ruins, like we're, you know, it's not using the mechanic as it is.

It's channeling that protective magic of your runes and the death ward spell and almost using that in a creative way. to strengthen the bond between her and the cutting. So it's almost like to help transfer her essence to that cutting to ensure that it's a strong enough bond that they survive, basically. Yeah, in that case, I will, I guess, yeah, one hand on the tree, maybe one on their shoulder as well. I'll then cast that death ward spell.

And also, just in case, give them five of my runes, they will sort of spill off my arms. This is all part of the same process, right? So who's going to make a cutting? Looking at the cuttings around the room, I'm guessing none of them are from the tree. They're from something else, okay. There are several branches.

You could go for a larger branch, you could go for a smaller branch. I try and find a pot with soil in it or something, like a plant. There's sacks of soil here. Yeah, I want to maybe open the top of the sack and have soil ready. The soil is very rich

And this is bay soil Like it's rich and aromatic And there's a strange Almost glint like a golden sort of glitteriness to the soil itself As you sort of yeah Spoon it into one of these large pots You're sort of now holding that

And the sort of ent and you've got the folio And oh God you're not going to carry all things On the floor I'm not going to I'm not going to be I'm not going to leave it stable just now And someone else can pick it up because I have too much. I can't carry all this loot, guys.

Sister Ophelia, what is going on? I do not understand any of this. I don't know, I think they're going to cut the tree. Are we fighting the tree? I don't think we're fighting the tree yet. Ah, very well. I think we're okay. Are we okay? Are we okay?

Ever, we're not, ever, we're not fighting the tree, ever. It's not a yet situation. We're not fighting the tree. Very well, I will stand down. I'm just always ready to fight a tree, I guess, when I'm here. Yes. Yes, we're fine.

Please, Sister Ophelia, this is an opportunity for peace. Please, not fighting, please. Yes, I'm trying, I'm trying. There's a tree that hit me. The tree hit me. I was very calm. Can you collect up all these asses and the Xantheists will need?

Careful with it's frosty. Be careful. Are there any sticks around here and some string? Yeah, you can find some sticks and string, yeah. Can I, like, make like a little stick man with the twigs and some string and cast unseen servant? So use the sticks to make like a little guy,

and then I'll say a prayer to the grave far and put it on the ground, and then... I think that this works, but there is, like, Springheart almost hisses as she hears this prayer to the grandfather. Carry on. But also, there is, there is like a crack in reality as you invoke sort of antithesis of this realm,

but something slips through, this almost crack, and that little stick almost as you bewitch it. Imagine it, like, decays and sort of winds into, like, nothing, like really quite violently, like... And what emerges is not a full spectre or a shade, but the sort of remnants of some undead ghost, and you would hear in your mind, the house of shadows is always ready to serve.

Wonderful. There's this unseen servant, which is really more like a kind of echo of a ghost, really for an Ossian cast a manifest, and this unseen servant is now yours to command. Welcome, welcome to the Faye, lovely to have you. If I would, May, could I please ask you to carry some of these objects here

back to our realm? Which ones would you like it to carry? I would say it can probably carry like two of these essences, or another large object. If you do the essences, both essences. Will that definitely transport back when Blackwing transports us?

Do Unseen servants take damage? I don't believe, I'll check, but they are basically... They can take damage, but... I think they're like a magical force rather than a sort of an actual creature. Yeah, they're a force. Yeah. I think in that case, the icy flower and the spider, probably... Maybe...

I was also going to say, Gruff, can I get another dexterity saving throw from you? The spider is not happy about being carried around. Five, fail. That is going to be, luckily, very low this time. That would be 10, half to five poison damage. I'm absolutely going to put you in time at Durham if you don't start behaving. Maybe put that one down.

But yeah, I will tell you 100%. The unseen term, if it carries these, it won't take any damage, it can't be harmed by them. Because it is a magical force. It's basically like telekinesising these objects. The ice one and the... The spider. What did you call him?

Derwin. Derwin. He's a great oak. Might be good. Goblins, right, spider. Yeah, the shroud will kind of... Scoops up the sack with the rose in it, and then you see this, and it's like a very faint outline of like a ghostly figure.

Right, don't drop him. Takes it and sort of hocks it. And now, to you guys, it's really they're just floating in mid-air, that Ophelia can sort of see this vague outline as this servant of the House of Shadows, this sort of kind of falls in next to Percival. to carry these things. Wonderful, now be ready to fall in with us

when the magical force takes us back. It will follow your commands. Amazing. All right. Rowan is going to cast animating performance on the Bark Essence. Okay. And spring it to life.

Hello, Barky. It's a kind of big square piece of wood and like the carpet in Aladdin. It just sort of flops up. Hey. You're coming with us. nods, rocks back and forward in some simulation of a nod. Okay, so I think we're good.

Yeah, no, that solves that. As this happens, you hear from outside the estate, you hear this cacophonous kind of crumbling of stone and shattering of wood and glass as something enormous, followed by a heavily armored, boots, it begins to make its way through the grand plaza just outside of the estate. And you hear this sort of bellowing voice. That one has been a thorn in the queen's side

for some time. Yes, to mortise it, bring down the protections. Daisy, you're good with knives. Please, can you take a cutting? I'll guide you, but you are better with knives than I am. Okay. Okay. Believe, come on, Daisy.

Okay. So it would be, if Daisy does it with the blade, it's going to be a very, it's going to be quite a small cutting. It's not going to be a large branch or anything like that. This is like a small cutting. The thing is, I don't have any nature. I don't have decks.

I don't know how to do it with knives. I don't have an axe. I mean, yeah. You can cut a branch up, yeah. I don't have nature. In that case, I'll do it. I'll take the cutting. Okay.

Can you just make an attack roll for me, as if you were swinging an attack at this, that tree. I was gonna say, does armor of Oakenthorns help, it doesn't, does it? But you do get your full, like, wisdom and stuff now, so it should be a decent, decent issue, attack. Okay, maybe.

It probably doesn't have to it. Sure. Yikes. 1415. Does hit the awakened tree, because it is animated right now, and it has a sort of self-preservation. Oh, before I do it, I'll be like,

I'll put my poor on the tree and go, please, trust me, I'm sorry, but this is the only hope. You swing the eggs. Springheart screams and just berries, like, ah, and just, like, looks away. As you cut this branch off, she, like, it's like she's in pain. Like, you've just ripped her own arm off, as she just lets out this howl. Kind of, like, begins to, like, cradle her arm as this branch falls to ground. But then you see runes. like a links in a chain, stretch from her to this branch,

and you feel all of that magic in you, Sentheus, like, surges, that spell basically activates now, and you feel this strong connection between the two is now bonded. You watch as the rest of the tree withers rapidly. It crumbles, and it begins to break away as it turns into flex as if it's, you know, rapidly, it begins to break and turn to dust, and you just hear this sobbing from this dryad from Springheart,

and she begins to just very gently, just through gasping sobs, is saying something in a language that none of you speak. Can I really quickly put the branch into the soil? Yeah, you can. For you, Daisy, you're not the strongest, but you heft it in and sort of pat it down and scoop the soil up around it,

You feel that immediately, like, it reaches out and it wants to take root and draw nourishment from the soil almost immediately. Can I imagine, like, I almost put one arm around Springheart, just clutching her to my chest. She's incredibly weakened as you kind of engulf her. With the other, can I cast cure wounds on the sapling? You certainly could. Almost like, I want it to be like a, I got mending as well.

So like a combination, just like that earth magic. Just trying to. Yeah, you don't need to roll for the healing, you're not going to effectively heal it, but you pour, are you just putting like a level one spell in this or? Can I also put my healing hands into it? Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Probably two level ones. Two level ones. The two of you work together as you pump healing magic in and that mending and that primal,

just magic of the druids. And that almost helps the cutting, you know, root and you watch as little branches and sprouts of green begin to flourish out of it. if it was a new dawn, and we see it almost sped up as it begins to take root. But you also feel, in your arms gruff, spring heart begins to shrink, and she grows smaller and her vines grow shorter and shorter until she is maybe the height of sort of like a little five or six-year-old.

Like she's in the same way that this is now a young sapling, so too, as this dryad shrunk and become youth. in herself and now just sort of like in childish tears, it's sort of just pulled into your fur and just sort of in the crook of your arm, really. And I think that... That instinct would take over and he'd be like, shh, it's okay, little one, it's okay.

And he's almost like singing half lullabies and just trying to calm her down and cradle her, Daisy gets her. Can I hold the raven statue and just try and activate and say, Blackwing, please, we need you now very soon, very quick, Please, please, hurry. You activate the token and it, the little raven,

the wood begins to crack. Ah! And it cracks and it turns into a raven, like a living creature. It flies up from your hands, and here in the atrium, in front of the now withered, pretty much half-broken,

sort of trunk and corpse of this tree, it flies up, and as it spreads its wings, lines begin to form out, forming a doorway, but it's not instantaneous. That is one round. Yeah, it takes time. You hear a cacophonous roar, some sort of unearthly beast,

as you all feel something is ripped from this house. Not physical, something intrinsic, something magical is torn. and consumed. And then a second later, something smashes the front door down. As you see, an enormous chunk of stone has just almost been bold through it, collapsing the doorway and now leaving it exposed.

You look out and can see this enormous 15-foot-tall, plate-mail, same sort of jagged, broken, rusted spikes and pieces of chain hanging. off of it. His head is sort of twisted at the neck, almost uncomfortably at an angle. One of his eyes is so much larger than the other, and a sort of jagged crown of black metal has been nailed, like bolted into his head. In one hand there is this enormous cudgel-like mace, and in the other he's holding up a lantern with a sort of almost demonic-looking moor on the front of it and you all would sort of recognize not fay magic but magic of the helian pit

as a phelite lantern some sort of demonic device is being held up and you can almost see it's like mouth chewing on some sort of magic that's being consumed this little drink it's done his job It reaches back. Go on, ransack it. As you see this figure gestures forward as blood, the conqueror begins to conjure forth his forces. They're still at a fair distance. They're sort of at the far end of the plaza to you guys.

What do you guys do? I prepare an action for slow in that area. So if they get within that area, I'm going to slow. You're going to try to slow them down. Yep, yeah, seems to be sending forth. You can see, and I think you guys would recognize it, I think you've fought one before. You would have fought a vault spawn troll,

but these bear a striking resemblance to that creature. These like armored trolls that just, even at this far distance, you can smell. They reek of just foul muck and stench and rot. And they're kind of stumbling forward, along with several other unseely guards that you fought before. but I'm just like, there, I can see something.

What are you doing in there? But yeah, so, Rowan, you prepare to cast slow? What about the rest of you? I guess I know that you're preparing a slow, right? I'm preparing slow. You guys have thought along inside. I want to combo up with Rowan when the slow is cast.

Yeah, when the slow is cast, I'll point to Rowan and do a W-O-F. I'm doing Wall of Fire. I almost wanted to be a V-shape away from the door, so as they're heading towards it, it's likely to be there going to be encompassed with it. I love that, love that, perfect. To hold the back when that comes to it.

Sure, sure, sure, sure. Okay, great. Ophelia? Yeah, Ophelia will touch the nape of her neck and activate the Scarabama and then she'll, yeah, activate her rage and then radian action that if they come through the wall of fire, she will charge. The first one that comes through.

Okay, great, perfect. What about Daisy? and gruff. No, hold an action to hold a psychic blade and throw it at if anything comes through the fire. Radiom blade, just throw it, just try and take it out straight away. Okay, perfect.

What about gruff? I'll activate the armour of oaken thorns, bring my shield up, and I've still got spring high under one arm, and I'm just going to take a defensive stance and just... Take the dodge action, basically. Yeah, but just have that shield in front, just ready.

Perfect. You see that the outline of the door is now mostly completed, it's beginning to fill in on the inside, with all sorts of symbols and runes, almost looking like the front door of Raven Spire Tower, but it's not completed yet. Next to our hero pose,

we also have an animated piece of wood and an unseen servant. Yeah, and personally, I'm assuming we'll do this. First, you really take the stance, yeah, over a feedier. God, we look so cool right now. Yeah, so you kind of got you guys all lined up. Basically, the first wave of enemies, we'll say, like, the trolls,

as soon as that wall of fire comes in back, they reel back, oh fire upon fire, man, they're like, they're dead. terrified of the fire. So they back off, but the unsealie don't look as intimidated by it, and they're just like, shields up, and they kind of form up and plow through it. Several of them are burnt to a crisp as they do so, or badly burnt.

Ophelia, you rush in, just give me one attack roll, like, this is, we're going to kind of simplify a few things. I slow them before. Yeah, so that goes off, right? So you see them like the ones that get through. Well, I'm going to basically, we're not going to do a full combat here, but you see the slow, the trolls are like in fear

and now slowed as well. The other on Celia as they get through, maybe a couple of them succeed and they're the ones that get through unharmed, but the others that get incinerated as they're slowed mid-fire. That's horrible as slow, and then Daisy, you give me an attack roll as well

for the same thing, so just the attack roll. I just want to see how high you get. 17. 17. 17. I did reckless. Perfect. 27. Perfect.

So, like, Aphelia, you, like, engage, you and Percival together, you engage, like, you know, three or four of these soldiers as they come running in, and you're sort of clashing blades and you strike one down and defending from the other one. Percival's next to you kind of blocking and attacking. You don't take out as many of them as you, like, you're kind of holding them there, and then just... If Ophelia was there, I'd get sneak attack as well, so I'll probably hold until Aphelia's next and then tie my blade.

And that's it, and so as you're kind of holding them off, you just get as this blade of like, like, takes one out, and then you kind of clash with the next one, and then as one's rushing towards you, another blade of like, takes it out, as the two of you basically are kind of blockading it, you know, the ones that get through the spells you're holding off for the interim.

Do you guys change anything up? So as, like, as you see, you hear blood go like, is there something that needs doing, I suppose one must do it themselves. for you, my queen, and sort of brings up the cudgel in an almost night-like suit, and begins to lumber his way towards Blackwing's estate, basically. So what are you guys doing? It is filling up on the inside, maybe about halfway full.

Halfway full, okay. As in the inside, like the outline's been completed. So they are now basically through the Wall of Fire, right? Like some of the lower-level soldiers have got through. the trolls have been scared, but I would probably say that with blood sort of making his way forward, they're sort of like, oh, very well,

and they're now trying to turn slowed as they are, they're going to try and join blood pushing through the fire. Okay. I'll probably just try and hide places around the room to then, like, spring out on them when they don't expect it. Great, give me yourself, absolutely.

A bit more. Yeah, we already know that you can hit these guys, so this is now changing your tactics. 28. 28, okay, perfect, yeah. Nice. All right, perfect. All right, what is everyone else doing?

I will make a note of that for now. I think Ophelia will get all, um, spider climb up onto the roof and get ready to face down blood, like face and face. Cool, yeah, so the whole front of the house has been ripped off, so you'll kind of go out onto, like, you know, climb out onto the ruins and so you can meet him at his eye level, basically. Perfect.

All right, I'll come back to that in a second. I'll have a simple, vicious tone. So you just start using your magic to kind of assault the minds. Do you have a particular target in mind for these? Big blood guy. You want to go for blood himself. Okay, perfect. Great.

60 feet range, so... Yeah. Tom's frantically looking through spells. Can I have casted haste on Ophelia? Yeah, for this action, you can do that? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, I'll do that, so Aphelia now has basically two turns. Nice.

And again, I'm not going to worry about concentration and stuff. This is, like, much but a bit more sympathetic. Well, the wall of fires would have been gone now anyway. Yeah, so they kind of like begin pushing their way through it. Okay, and then what about Gruff? Um, can I use my... spirit boon with my little hair spirit and I want to basically do a dragoon night jump up but because I've got I want to use my shield to basically shield bash and like just drive that

okay like as I land just and you want to go after blood as well or do you want to go for like the trolls because he's got these two trolls with him and then you've got blood himself I think most of the lower level soldiers have been killed I think seeing that everyone's going for blood maybe I'll go for the trolls one of the trolls yeah perfect so you give me an attack roll as if you were making that dragoon jump. Don't worry about the damage and stuff now. Just give me the attack roll. 17 plus 8. So yeah

that's going to be a great success. And Rowan, it was normally a saving throw for Tone, isn't it? Sure. I'll make a saving throw. 15? He's going to fail. Don't worry about rolling damage and stuff. And then we've got the hasten of feeling. So you watch...

Spherphelia like goes to run forward and then Dazey... With your stealth thing, are you going to go for the big guy? You're going to try and take out the trolls? The trolls. The trolls? Perfect. Yeah.

So you almost wait. You kind of duck into hiding and wait for this moment. Gruff, you leap into the end, bring the shield down. Bam, you slam onto the top of one of these trolls, like kind of flying back. Its helmet now wedged onto its kind of squat, his neck almost like collapsing in. And it's blinded. It's like, oh, what's going on? And then fum, thumb, fum, fom, fom, fom, fom.

With radiant blades as it stagg us back, its wounds begin regenerating. But it's, you're just like, what's going on? I don't know, it's kind of like stumbling around in a kind of almost comical manner, but it's completely, you know, now no longer threatening everything. One of them does manage to kind of like rush up and he's probably going to get some, you know, to do some damage as it manages to break through. As your vicious tone, blood suddenly like holds his head,

like, what's that racket? I can't stand it! And he's like holding his thing and he's like now with his good eye scanning around, Afila, you rush up. You want to give me an attack roll to attack blood? So I do Vex for the first strike. So it's an actual 20 to hit for the first strike. Yeah, don't worry about making multiple sex.

You dart in with the haste, almost I'm imagining very alicard, like almost, you kind of like you see the rapid movement. And like, fifty steps like, you kind of dart around in, plunging Vresti. This, you immediately can tell you're a seasoned warrior, you're not going to be able to stake out blood, blood even with all of you fighting together if you were planning to escape this is a bigger fight and he's a terrifying foe you are nicking at him so you strike at vulnerable

points you're trying to slow him down get him away he kind of like tries to grab you and things like that and eventually you leap back onto the sort of rooftop of the Blackwing estate as he kind of like and he fixes his eye upon you I'm gonna say everybody but I probably think like Xantheos and Rowan you guys are there as the troll barrels through you guys are gonna take, I'm just gonna just roll this as flat damage, rather than making attack rolls and stuff, because it's a bit more of a cinematic thing.

So that's gonna be, you guys are gonna take 15 points of damage as these trolls like swing these wicked scimitars and you're like ducking and they nick you a little bit as you're thrown to the side as the two of you are concentrating on your spells as this troll pummles into you, but blood fixes you, Ophelia with this eye. I need you to make a,

what kind of saying throw is this, a wisdom saving throw, please, yeah. Nat one. Nat one, okay, it's just gonna be bad. I'm gonna add a little bit for the critical failure there as well, I know they're not normally a thing. So you're gonna take 18 points of psychic damage, but you feel some horrific curse

as the royal eye stares at you, and you are cursed. You feel your body growth begins to sort of appear under the armor. Like your face, half of it begins to melt and distend as you are affected by the Formians like horrific, warping hex, or royal hex. You also gain the level of exhaustion. Your body is so drained of energy and willpower.

What was the save on that, sorry? Wisdom. Wisdom, okay, yeah. But yeah, you feel your body kind of mutate and warp and stretch, and it's agonizingly painful as this takes upon you. As you look back, those of you who land to gruff, you sort of landed and pulled back just in time to see the two boys getting pummeled by this troll.

Daisy, you've hidden back into the dark shadows. You glance over Daisy and see that just the last little bit of the door needs to be filled in and then it will be completed. So one more round, basically. I'll, in the group chat, say, Door's almost ready, keep an eye out. Perfect. So, what do you guys do?

Blood is focused intently on Ophelia right now, outside, sort of in the street right in front of the house. There is a troll in the hallway, sort of chasing after Rowan and Zanthia, smashing into the walls. Can I add some distance support to target that troll now? Yeah, absolutely. Yep, perfectly.

So do you want to make your way back to the door and you're just from distance, just lobbing radiant blades? Yeah. Trying to draw in slight attention. I'm just trying to provide that back up to... Covering fire. Yeah, I just want to be continually moving. Sure.

But providing the backup to them. Okay. Give me an attack roll just to see how, in terms of a degree of success. 43? Yeah, that's going to be a great success. That's going to help do so. What does everyone else do it? I was just going to say, is it feeling anywhere near gruff?

I would say that like, because the front of the house has been, basically destroyed by this rock that blood through. Like, you can see Ophelia sort of, like, on top of the building. Like, she's, if you look up, she's stood on, like, a loose timber beam that's been sort of left hanging. And you can see her, like, kind of struggling a little bit. She's left out of blood-curdling scream. Her body just rotates, you know, twists, yeah.

Like, probably your foot rotates the whole one area. Oh, nice. Yes. And you hear, like, bone crack and snap and stuff. Oh, yeah. I probably just shout, Ophelia, to me! And just like, I'm gonna hold a cure wounds. So just like restorative kind of thing.

Okay, yeah. And if you look, you'll see he's starting to charge. So what I need to do is I need to cast wild resurgence to gain a spell slot back. Sure. And then you would see like the healing magic starting to be cast. Oh, nice, yeah. Yeah, you can do the healing magic in this turn,

so if you just want to roll those hit points, you can cast a healing spell on a video. That's absolutely fine. Fulip down on the whip, like, come down. Like, whip it and then unhook it, basically. Yeah. Would people be, adverse to me spending the last point of fate.

No. Go for it. Go for it. 16, 17, 13, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24 points. Oh, hell, yeah. What is Ophelia doing? So you're going to swing back and make your way to gruff, but you still have a full action if you'd like to do something?

Yeah, she'll think she'll just, yeah, climb back up on the roof, like face down blood again, to be like, round two, bring it on. Okay, so you just want to keep engaging blood, but now on the ground level, basically, close to the door. Okay, what is Rowan and Zanthias doing? Do you want to go first? Whilst Rowan is running around, away from this troll, he's going to be shouting,

Barkie, get to the portal. I would like him to waddle to the portal. Okay. There's a side action. Yep. On top of that, I would like to try and polymorph one of these trolls. Oh, yeah, love it, the one that's chasing you.

Yes, 50. Yeah, you do it. Like, you literally, with the magic, you throw out this polymorphing spell. I will stop hitting it. Yeah, I figured, yeah. I turn it to a frog that's got a weirdly humanoid, Zanthia's face.

Oh, great. Perfect. Wow, that frog's hot. So I did a concentration save. Ophelia is still hasted. But I think in between all of her dashing around and fighting blood, you'll see a kind of golden orange beam spread towards it

until its one good eye is engulfed by a fireball. Preacher is big enough that you can target this outside and is going to engulf him. You know what? Don't worry about rolling the damage. I'm just going to roll to see his save. He is going to fail. I think as well, Daisy, you can switch your target to blood

once the troll is polymorphed. The group of you with Ophelia's melee attacks as well, you sort of fend him back. He gets to the point where he's like, his eye is all like burnt and crisp and he's like shuddering back. He unhooks like the demon lantern that he's kind of been carrying

and he breathes something in and pulls magic in it and you see his wounds immediately begin to heal and things like that. But he's sort of hurt. He's forced back, and he sort of brings out his giant cudges, like, well, I won't be forgetting your faces any time soon.

Go on, little rats. Don't think I don't see that portal. Backs away are you come from. And don't forget, the Queen's Justice finds home eventually. as the doorway complete blood sort of skulks back and sort of begins to withdraw, leaving you an opportunity

to pull yourselves into the now-finished doorway which becomes a real physical doorway to push into. Barrel through it. Quick, quick, everyone, quick. Go, go, go. Grab your Unseen servant, grab the bark. You grab all the things you need to.

Grab all the things that you need to. You've got plenty of time as blood does seem to have been perhaps willing to go on to other targets at least. But in that brief encounter, you definitely get a sense of like, yeah, something that a fight that would be a lot more difficult were you to truly face them down. But you burst through the door and find yourselves

in the lower section of Ravensbyter Tower. The door immediately shuts behind you as you find yourselves in that large, round, you know, sparsely decorated but quite calming and cool place at his right, uh, the Black Wings Tower. I guess we'll run into the room. It's like frantic, it's spinning. Is this, is this, uh, do you know back?

Is everyone here? Is everyone here? Barky? Barky, Rowan. Ophelia, truff? This plank. There you are. This strip of square bark, just no face, just. Beautiful.

Waddles. So I love it. Pass of all, a respectful friend. both here? Yes, it's wonderful, wonderful. The servant of the House of Shadows. Amazing, okay. They have the things.

Oh, that was awful. We've managed it. Ophelia, you see Aphelia's features are beginning to slowly revert back, but it's, you get the sense that that curse could be a lingering or even become permanent if it was enough, you know,

like, as you've escaped and the effects are beginning to slowly rescind. Holy suffering, Sions. The curse was horrendous. My foot. Hang on, it's twisting. Oh, don't look, don't look, everybody. Ah!

It's back, it's back. Don't look, Barkie. Where's your eyes? As you touch Barkie, can I have a Constitution saving for it, please? Shit. Oh, 15 plus something, 18. You are fine, you managed to, your own sort of runic magic also, and your patterns and song resists being transformed.

as you touch it and your fingertips become a bit like, oh. Blackwing, black wing are you here? There is the faint coying of birds and the jingling of sort of unseen bells and descending from their spiral staircase. You see the figure, ah, my friends, you have returned. It seems to be some trouble that you encountered.

Yes, a bit of a rush, unfortunately, in the end there. Blood, the Conqueror, decided to assault your Harris, I'm afraid, and the district. They were, my house has been, my estate is destroyed? Not destroyed, well, not as such. No, it's fully destroyed. You see, the Faywild is very much worse now than when you left it, and the tapestry was there, it seems like.

It caused them a lot of trouble, but now they've kind of moved in. I feared that the unseely would take the city. I did not realize that they would resort to such barbaric methods to destroy what was there. That is unfortunate. Is Springheart okay? So I think, yeah, at this point, Gruff... Yeah, because you've had the shield over her and you just had her covered. Yeah, I think Gruff would have come through the portal,

but is almost kneeling, kind of, he's not listening, he's just, he's, spring heart. You pull the shield back and yeah, probably sort of, yeah, like, you know, five, six, something like that, you know, a human sort of like sizing, you know, the little tree face, there is more of a human feature to it now and sort of looks at you with these big sort of doe eyes as, yeah, this young spring heart, sort of go off. Are you all right, little one? I'm, I am okay. I am small. I am smaller, but I am here.

You are small, but you are brave, little one. Where is my tree? Is here. Is here, I've got it. She sort of goes over to it and hugs the little branch. Blackwing, please. We need your help. Oh, Springheart. I... I thought that you...

I hoped that you would have been safe. I did not I did not realize I had forgotten sort of as immense remorse just oozing as he looks down at this

It wasn't for that little trinket fetch That trinket Trinquit trinkiegwee Ophalia's entire face was more I mean yeah your face didn't get Properly yet Give us some time Give me a minute

Okay Give me a minute Yes the curse of the formori is rather unpleasant. Oh my God. Best it has not stayed her. A greater effect upon you. In appearance and in mind, yes.

Oh, we did all we could to preserve the connection between the tree buds? No, you have this, I did not even consider it. The fact that you have brought and the fact that you have managed to bring her here at all is that is some great sorcery. and sort of looks. And I think, like, doesn't know exactly how you've done it,

but I think maybe would infer that Xanthius is sort of the more prominent mage. Fine sorcery indeed. Thank you. It was Gruff's idea. That gruff. Gruff are not fucking true. Thank you.

Fine. Ophelia is on one today. So, let me fight with everything. I don't want any friends. It was groth's idea to bring the tree back, yes. Sans just had the magic, yes, but it was a gruff's idea to bring the tree back. It was an idea to fight with it.

The tree was me. I did nothing. We've also procured all of the items you requested and hopefully some more that we. I must apologize. I did not realize this would be such dangerous. Well, I knew it would be dangerous, but not to this level. If they were able to breach the tapestry, if the unsealee, how bad is the city?

Very. The harlequin. The harlequin. What was their message? They said that it was worse than someone that knew you. Harlequin Just giving through notes Skimming through notes Yeah, I know, I can't remember There is only one who I know

Who would give themselves such a moniker We didn't see their face But they are trying to take care of The people who remain, but from the shadows Yes They implied that perhaps it was time for you to return I am but one weaver gruffeth They need everyone.

Looks around. I will do what I can, but it will take more than one weaver to undo what has been done there. If his things are as bad as you say, it would require an army, but I will do what I can. This harlequin,

if that is what they are choosing to go by, I will, find them, offer them what I can. I had hoped that the unseely would be satisfied with just being in charge. Perhaps I misjudged their desire for vengeance, their desire for suffering. To be honest, I think perhaps I had stopped caring about my old home. There were only painful memories that remained. Can I go over and just hand them the jewelry box? Takes it.

Your home hasn't forgotten about you yet. Opens it up. Clothes it. Hold it close. Thank you. Consider your favor repay. Did you find what you were looking for, that thing? Yes, uh, in abundance, in fact.

And glad. Whatever else you found, keep air yours to do it as you wish. As for this little one, it is not right for me to, to, Is there a place for her with you? Oh, I suppose, and we could plant the tree, maybe, and we have a garden. In the garden. We have a garden that used to have a tree. But I might need your help with the magics. I'm so worried.

I can assist me with that. What Xanthias has done, it's excellent. This, this, and I can see that. The light of healing light, and the magic of druids has been poured into it. This sapling is strong. It will survive. Good. It will survive.

It will maintain Springheart's connection, but she is young now, and she will need to grow as all dryads do. But there is your magic. He sort of seems to recognize that it's the sort of three of you's magic, has also influenced it. She is less Faye now. Oh. This is no bad thing.

This is. Her connection now is part Faye and part of fame. We couldn't leave her. We couldn't leave her to what happened. Oh, Al-Feyan. I'm grateful for that. It is my great shame that I had forgotten. Can I give them the rolled up parchment, the rolled up canvas?

Not for just now, but maybe consider finishing it. And it might remind you a bit more. but... Places it down. They place it down. I thank you, Daisy Thistleheart. But that, that painting... No, no.

Cannot be finished. But thank you. I will take the things I sent you for. And our business is done. I will come and speak with you again, but now I need time. If you do need our help again with what's going on, I think Gruff also feels like it's a horrible thing that's happening in the Faywield, and if we can help, then we would be glad to.

Perhaps not all of the Faywield, but perhaps we can bring, and perhaps we can help Vathalian, but the Faye Wield as a whole? No. Oh, it will take something much greater to return that place. The elves have left, most of them anyway. But perhaps Vathalian can be helped. Or at least take those who still linger there and find a new home for them. They need help.

There is so much suffering. Yes, the unseely, they know suffering. They know suffering. They know suffering. It's changing the Faye-wild. You, Sister Ophelia, speak of this. Well, the silver rivers, they were changing color. No, that... changing color. How?

They were not entirely silver. There was something else in the waters, purple, reds, colors like my home. The blood of the Illuverath. Oh, that is a worrying sign. I will look into this. I will look into this. I will speak with the Harlequin. They will no more.

For now, for now. Go, rest, enjoy the fruits of your labors. Do you want your green boots back? What? No, no. My Frederick wouldn't keep them. Are you sure? Yes, yes, they are.

I wore them in my days of traveling and adventuring. They are boots of levitation. They will take you to new heights. Enjoy. And the, the missus. tasty cape that you had. You want that? No, no.

The only things I require are the ones I sent you for. As I said, you are welcome to any of the other treasures of my home. That is the cape of the silver river. It will take you to places beyond what your feet can bring to you.

Enjoy it. I've got a pouch of tiny rocks. What do these do? It is not so grand as my boots or cape, but... Can it help the sampling? No, but it will help you, I imagine. That is... It is dust that will make you disappear.

It will sprinkle it upon a creature, and they will vanish from sight. But once it is used, it is used. Oh, right. A small, a small token. But enjoy it. Thank you. Pocket sand. Oh, shit.

I am desperately sad that asked what it was before he did pocket gentleman. Because I was going to be like, oh, what are you using for that? Oh, the pouch of dust I got at Black Winds. I'd be like, great. The thing disappears, but it's now invisible. Yeah. But yeah, Blackwing, sorry, they will just look at you and say,

thank you. And gather up the things. We'll take the blanket and hold it close. We'll probably gesture and have an unseen servant carry the folios away and things like that. But we'll just incline their head. Thank you. And thank you, Sister Rufi. For this warning of the Illuvirath and for traveling to a place that I know is not friendly to you.

I know we have our differences, but you're hoping. is beautiful. It is. It is. And as someone who misses their own home greatly, it saddens me that yours is changing. Your home is this realm. Your home is here. Your home, osseous, yes?

Yes. It is a realm of life. It's a realm of mortals, of decisions. It is a realm of possibilities. The Faye-Wield, the Grey Lands. They are places where destiny is set. Mine is a realm of life. The Grey Lands is a realm of death.

You met Springheart. Her grove was burned. It was an objective. Nothing. The forces of the Greylands could have walked around it. They could have travelled. The Dryads posed no threat to them. The Grave Father demands that all becomes dust. It all becomes death.

Remember that your home is here, and it is a wondrous. and it is a wondrous place. Thank you. I will. And as long as I'm here, I will strive to end. This silly feud, it doesn't need to keep going on. As will I, this sort of, you have proven a good friend. You too. With that, Baquan will take us their things,

and they will head upstairs. I'm assuming you would all like to make your way. Yes. And with that we'll bring the session to a close. Nice. What a good at. Hell yeah. Would you like a little extra reward?

I would like ten extra rewards. No, I'd take it back on one. Percy Pigs? Would you... Well, they're not... You can either have Percy Pigs or a level up. A level up! Oh, I don't be like Percy Pigs though.

Now, I will warn you. This will be the last level up for some time. Okay. As it will require, the next level up is going to require the completion of a major quest. Oh. Okay. As you have reached a full milestone, because I believe this is level 10 now. So imagine that you're sort of like to unlock the next sort of tier of, you know,

to go up in like the next tier of adventuring, that's, to get in there, that's going to require a really big quest, which I believe I'm going to start. as the Xanthius completion. Oh, fuck, okay. The question of Zanthius. The essence. Yes, the essences. What do I get at the same?

Zanthius, discuss. Yeah. Very cool. Hell yeah. But you may level up to level 10. Oh, I do love a cinematic, quick combat like that. That was just, I didn't want to do a full combat because also I want to save blood.

It's also like a nice big Germanic. We're probably going to. No way to win, but it's just do everything you can, just to push them back as long as you can. No, I like that. And sometimes that's easier to do in that more cinematic kind of style than an actual, like, right, let's roll initiative. Right, three hours later.

But anyway, with that, thank you so much for joining us, everybody. We will be back next week for The Jingle Jam, our special Jingle Jam episode, which will be nice and live. We will see you then. Take care. Bye-bye. Bye-bye. Bye-da.

Thank you.