High Rollers DnD - The Stormwall (Part 1) | Altheya: The Dragon Empire #77

Episode Date: September 9, 2025

Coralsong has summoned an incredible Stormwall to hinder the party's progress! It's time to split the party once again to tear down that wall! The battlemap for this episode is available for FREE on Patreon! Get it here: https://www.patreon.com/posts/138371029 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/1WX3ICiTmf4GpHwImnQMs6⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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Be like goldfish. Welcome back! Thank you, thank you. Tom dared me to be loud. No, do it louder. Welcome back to Althea the Dragon Empire. Our heroes are currently helping a member of their party, gruffetheth of Trey Morrow, to become a knight, to To fulfill this dream, he must complete three tasks for the Knightly Order, the Circle of Loyal Hounds.

And for the second test, they have come to the coastal, tropical region of the Suncrest Isles. A long stretch of golden coast and scattered islands on the southeast corner of Elmira. Gruff's quest is to slay two champions of Ojania, the wicked and cruel goddess of the deep sea. The first, Agamox the Doomclaw, was slain in a terrible. battle in the fishing village of Netting on Sea, and the heroes found clues pointing them towards the remaining champion, choral song, singer of Ojania. She has taken refuge in an underwater wreck of an imperial warship called the Glory of Palladrax, which is hidden among the blood kelp forest, a huge stretch of wild and dangerous fauna in the waters below Twin Peak Isle. In their quest,

the party saved Yuga, a caparin, a turtle person, and a trio of Silmir. pixie-sized mermaids from the Faye-wield. Yuga took them to his home of Paperea, a settlement built around a strange vein of metal tied to the deity al-Fae. They sought advice, brief respite, and also gave some mysterious fay herbs to the Silmir. They learned a great about a great beast

that Coroson calls a pet and obtained a poison to help put it to sleep if they are to find a way for it to affect its bloodstream. but their delay has allowed Coral Song to perform a ritual that has surrounded the shipwreck with a powerful magical barrier of storm and tide.

And that, my friends, is where we pick things back up today. I believe that we are still in Paperea and you guys had been informed about this barrier and we're about to make your way out. Yuga has offered to sort of be as a bit of a guide, and a scout for you to help show you the way and provide any knowledge that they can.

Yeah. Yeah, I think we basically were just about to head off, right? We had a plan on how to get the poison into the bloodstream. It does involve a little bit of Rowan being a snack. Possibly. Or perhaps creating some illusion that could be snapped upon. But this news of this barrier is definitely something you will need to investigate before you may proceed.

First things first, before we get into any other roles or any other business, it is time to assemble the crucible of fate. I have not been a fateful boy recently, but today... Today? No! Oh, my God! What would that be for me? Two, again! Oh, dice for me.

Oh, full fate, fully faithful six. Oh, lovely six, that's a dice for you. Dost. A fate for me, that's two in Spanish. Guadro. Oh, that's a... Four in Spanish. See, we're learning.

Yeah, learning is fine. Yeah, learning is fine. And a one, lovely. One. Uno reverse. Yeah. So it is three to two as we are down a Daisy. And she's not here.

I will control Daisy should you get into any combat scenarios. No, we won't. We're going to talk the same. Sure. Diplomatic talk with Stormwall. Yeah. Yes, the Storm wall. Stop it.

Stop it. Stop it. Oh, shit. It's all done. Are you finished window? I've finished it all. No, no, no, no, no, no. Well, no, no, no, shut up. You finished part one.

Remember, there's five more books to come in, like, four, five years' time. Oh, my God. He's got, he's got, like, nine more books to write before that, Kim. Come on now. Oh, sorry, did he go to the toilet again? Love you, Band, he just went to the toilet, smashed out three more books. No problem. Love you, Band, love you, Brandon.

Can't wait, genuinely, can't wait. Genuinely can't wait, so excited. Anyway, so you begin to make your way back. If there is any point, this is going to be a bit of traveling time, but because you have Yuga, I'm going to say that you are probably easily able to avoid any hazards. As Yuga knows, this area very, very well. But you do have a bit of travel time. It's going to take you a couple of hours to get to the perimeter of where the storm wall is being conjured.

Yes. And to learn more about it. So if there are any things you'd like to discuss, any preparations you would like to make, Now is the time. Um, you know. You two need to be slightly more careful than us to. Yes, we weren't able to. Because we have a tingle.

You do have a tingle. But, I mean, we might have ways to stop. If the song is magical in nature, I might be able to help with that. Ophelia, you're very ragey. You tend to scream through all the effects most of the time. Well, I try my best to. Yeah.

To scream at the fay if I have to. again. No, you really did scream at the Faye. That was quite untoward, actually. Look, we saved their lives, for starters. Yes. And then, look, they could have just been a little bit more grateful, as all I'm saying. They didn't need to be so mean. Yes, but remember that they were at the time, and probably still are, very high. I'm so jealous. Okay. But we will be careful. I'm sure we'll have it in hand.

Worst case, you three just go up ahead. in front of us, protect us like you always do, right? Oh, yes, up front, yeah. Yeah, I'll protect you, yeah. Of course, easy. So, now, Grufford, I took a few notes. I know. Well done, I didn't know you out of that not.

So we know a ritual's been cast in order for this to sustain itself. So is the plan to find and disrupt the ritual taking place, or are they likely to be inside it? That would be smarter, wouldn't it? Thinking about it. Well... Hello, my name is Graf.

Hello, hello. I grow up, I'm broo. My name is... Lovely Welshman. Martin Sheen. Zanthius. Zanthius, Oregon. What is it, what?

How are you? I'm fine, thank you, yes. Well, a little bit nervous. Also, I don't really want to go back into the water. Right, we're in the water now, though. Right now. Are we above? You're making your way.

No, you're under the water. Oh, it's a swimming talk. This is a swimming talk. Oh, okay. I hate... I hate the water where I cover me out. But Maria was inside caverns under water. Like it was in like an air pocket. Yeah, yeah. Underneath.

Sorry, I thought we were in the airlock still. No. I'm assuming you are traveling. A swim and talk. I mean, I couldn't say for sure until we see it. But I might actually be able to do something to at least get us through the stormwater, but I need to see it first.

Oh, without even stopping the ritual. I'm not sure. It would probably be a case of whether or not my... My magic is strong enough. Okay, is there anything you might need? Might not be. I guess just a bit of faith. No materials.

No materials. Okay. And we're not gonna get swept up and or shocked by the storm. Well, if it's just a storm wall, if you can get us right through that, that would do a lot. And would cut down the journey significantly. Yes.

I can't make any promises, but I can give something a try. Okay, was a try. But if not, if that doesn't work... We'll have to investigate further, and you're right, Rowan, there probably will be some sort of spellcaster or source of the storm that we need to find and deal with. But we know what we're up against. We fought them many times now.

They're probably going to be mostly the same. No lightning, no thunder. No thunder. Resistant to cold and fire. Fire does nothing. Potentially other things. Well, fire still does something. It's just that because you're underwater, it's automatically hard. because everything has resistance to fire underwater, basically.

Your psychic spells seem to do a lot. Yeah, I have a weird amount of those. I'm surprised, actually. They work, yes. So all in all, easy day. Well, subjective, but we'll do it. My legs are already tired. It's good to be optimistic, yes, yeah.

Don't rest on your laurels. Without Rowan's created, propellers, the little devices he made to help you get through, Rowans, Rubbers, my apologies, TM. You made new ones. I don't believe you can, because you've used it happening. Once a day, I don't want to use my performance of creation. We haven't long rested, have we?

You've had a short rest, yeah. So it is slow going, because you are kind of like wading or like half, like, you know, loosely swimming, trying not to wear you guys out. But also the blood kelp, this is like a jungle of this thick, fibrous, red, you know, deep red, thick, thick, fronded vegetation that just grows everywhere. Little patches of other things here and there,

rock formations, coral, little things like that. But you are constantly almost wading through it. Yuga, who's up ahead this kind of deep sea turtle, like, you know, little beaked turtle man. He's got his big shell. He's got a bandelier covered in these, like, big gourds that you occasionally see him gulping air from. So every few hours he takes, like, a long drawer

on, like, one of these gorge. and then puts it back, and that seems to give him like several hours of air that he's holding. You can also see he has brought with him like a long, a short-hafted spear,

and he has a very crude-looking crossbow on his back as well that he's brought with him as well. He's using his sign language because you've seen him use this, like this kind of unique form of sign language, which you think you have comprehend languages up, don't you, right?

Whilst I had it, yeah. It's only an hour, though, I think. Okay, so you might want to recast that as you draw closer. Because otherwise he has no way of... Because you guys all have Daisy's telepathy, whereas he is... You have yes, you have good. Yes is good, that's all you need.

I probably would have said close to me knowing when this is going to wear out that I'm not going to understand you again, but I'll probably do it closer to the time. He will say to you, he's like, I will give you a sign when we are close enough for you to... Which one? And he will... He'll sign something which will mean like now and he'll teach it to you.

like speak now, basically. So it's like three of his big things to his lips, and then he, like, touches and then points at you. And that's, like, him saying, like, cast the spell so he can speak. Okay. You travel for about an hour. There is one point where, as you are traveling, Yuga, like, stops everybody, and you see he pulls out this long,

kind of almost, like, flexible read. And he starts, like, swishing the sand in front of the front. as you watch all these, like, very, very tiny little starfish float up, and they very rapidly, like, spray out some sort of poison into the water around them, and he is, like, swishing the air to, like, blow it all away, and it slows you down as he kind of clears this minefield of this stuff and clears way for you to kind of continue swimming on,

but eventually you draw closer and closer. So when you get within a short distance of where Gruff, you are sure that the wreck is, you have this sense from your commune spell that you cast previously, a sense of direction towards this source of gold that you had tried to locate. You're drawing closer and closer,

and you begin to see that in the distance, almost like a great storm was raging and blowing the trees and kind of disrupting the sand and the silhou. built in that area. You can see, even in the distance, this great force is causing some sort of disruption up ahead. And as you draw closely, you begin to see through, like, the fronds begin to sway more

dramatically. And when they do, some of them part long enough for you to see this wall that seems to just go up and up and into a great dome of churning, violent, like, seawater, crackling with lightning, it is just full of all the fury of the worst storm you can possibly imagine. And it creates this vast, thick wall that is surrounding your current destination. Yuga will stop and make the gesture to you, Rowan,

of like, cast your spell. Yep, I cast comprehend languages. We are drawing closer to this. I have not seen this before, but I think, and he kind of gestures where you can almost see the currents of the wall, almost split into two directions. Okay. As if the current is flowing from something into an emerging together,

and he points and he says, I know there is a rock that grows, coral that grows here, that has the power of the storm sometimes. When there is a storm above the water, the coral sinks to it, and that draws some of its power down, and the coral grows.

It becomes itself. There are pillars of this. We call it Thunderstone. in these directions I think this is coming from there. Okay, so it's the current where it's siphoning

in to... Well, no, you can see it's from the outskirts, the current is flowing from something and sort of passing over each other and that is... It's almost like the force, the source of this storm war

is coming from these two directions that Yuga is pointing. Right, okay. Okay, I thought it was sucking the storm into the thing and create... No, it's always the opposite. Yeah, okay. And that's probably where the corals,

the thunderstorms are. Yeah. Are we connected via NIM, at least... Yeah, yeah, yeah, I'm just so this is what you could... You can't speak to Yuga with NIM, but you can all speak to each other. I think... Yeah, I think when Daisy did it, it was like eight hours.

Yeah, I'm not going to worry about it, yeah. She's got enough radiant points to spend it again, if need be. Yeah, I relay basically all that information. So, something. we destroy these coral stones then? Yes, how do we destroy one of these coral stones? Well, I'd like to try something before.

It might, I mean, looking at the fury of this storm, I'm not sure that what I have will work, but I'd be curious to see what happens at the very least. Okay, yeah. And then maybe that will help. Before I give you to try. So do you want to get closer? Because you're not currently at the wall yet.

Is there looking over there, are there any sort of other defenses? or other forces or anything like that you haven't you you're literally seeing the wall through like gaps in the fronds like this is like you're seeing glimpses of it you you're still a little ways out from the either the two directions that yuga is pointing towards where this thunderstorm is located and seems to be generated and they're quite far apart like this isn't like they're within a few hundred feet of each other no these are like quite a distance away from each other but you would have to get closer to the storm wall if you

want to like get right up to it because you can see that it's clearly blowing the fronds and the blood kelp away so it's creating kind of a clear space around itself a little bit as well oh i see okay is it also so violent you can't see through it yes yeah from what you can see it's it's like a wall of just constantly flowing churning water mixed with lightning all the sand and silt has been swept up into it as well so it's opaque you can't see through it how close do you need us to get, Graf? I can cast this spell from 300 foot. Okay.

Okay. And it's control water. Yeah. Until the spell ends, you control any water inside an area. You choose that is a cube up to 100 foot on a side and choose one of the following effects. And I was going to choose part water. So you can do flood, part water, redirect flow and whirlpool. So do you want me to read out the...

No, I know. I know. the spell, I looked it up, so, but I, you know, I know the, I know the intention here, basically. You can get closer, yeah, absolutely. Like, if you say to Yuga, like, we want to get closer to the wall itself rather than the Thunderstone, like, he'll take you there, absolutely. Basic gestures to inform him with that. Yeah, yeah. So, like, he, like, he, you can sort of relay it by saying, like, because you can't speak

back to him with that sign language, but I think, like, you can probably dip the meaning. I'll point and be like, close. Yeah, and he'll sort of, like, you want to get close. and then you can be like, yes, and then it's be great. Yeah, the old thumbs up. I guess we'll go carefully as well, just in case there are more things beyond, or this side of the walk, I suppose.

Sure, like, is this like you guys want to move stealthily, like through the blood kelp, or is this like you're just keeping an eye out? I guess so long as there's no traps on the ground, like the starfish, I suppose. Like, we could try and stay low and... Yeah, Yuga's... Yuga will keep an eye out for any natural hazards, but obviously things like patrolling monsters or guards, you guys probably want to keep.

keep an eye out for that stuff. Yeah, I can go stealthy. It's like, well you can try and do both, but you're gonna have fewer chances to succeed, if you get what I mean. Was Yuga's intention to drop us off or to come with it? So he's coming with you as he needs to, basically. He will follow you until he is either told not to,

or he thinks it's too dangerous to do anything. Or he's died, he does. Don't say that. I'm just saying it could happen. It could happen. We don't know what's going on with Matteo, Matteo. Matteo. You know, Matteo Patio upstairs.

Matthew the Passio. And we all walk over him. So what I would say is I give you guys a choice here. You can all make stealth checks. You can all make perception checks. Or if you want to split it and have some people do stealth and have some people be perception. You just have to beat totals for each score to like detect any dangers or move quite.

And we do both each. You can't do both. Do you each have to choose one thing? You can't split your attention that well. I got a plus eight on perception. I think you're doing perception then. I have a plus one. Yeah, Daisy will do stealth, obviously.

A plus one, minus two. Yeah, plus four. I'm gonna do perception, because my stealth is plus 13 to stealth. Oh my God, I'm gonna do stealth. Natural 20, so 28. You're not doing. Daisy rolls at 19 for stealth, so 32 for stealth.

What are you doing, Ophelia? I'm doing perception. So perception, so if you do perception and add that to graph's 28. I got 21. So 21 as well, so to 20, Gruff's 28, that's 49. Natural 20.

Natural 20. So is that stealth you're doing? Yeah, stealth. So add that to Daisy's 32 and that becomes 44. Jesus, hell, yeah, brother. Which one should I ruin? No, this is it, I believe. So we've done two perception, two self.

Yeah, so you can do whatever you want. I'm going to get that one on perception. Yeah, Yuga will do the other one then. He'll do... It's a four. You do perception on Yuga will do stealth. Yeah, Yuga doesn't do too much better. gets a nine on stealth, so eight.

Nice one, Yuga. But the thing is, is combined with the other, you guys did so, so well, you actually overcome the threshold for both. I don't even move, I just float in the currents and it just takes me in the right direction. I am one. You. You all move cautiously, and with Yuga acting as a bit of a guide

to avoid any natural hazards, this means the rest of you either focus on keeping the group quiet and unseen or on looking out for any dangers. I will tell you two things. you, there are no, like, guards or wandering monsters in this, like, just random section of the wall. Okay. But it's too far away for you to really see, but you can see more as you draw closer to the wall,

the storm and lightning kind of billowing out from something in the distance, which you imagine is this stone column. Thunder. And you think you can hear, even though it's underwater, the sounds, almost carrying this rhythmic chanting in this guttural language that you've heard the deep children speak, and it's almost magically being carried,

but still very, very faint for you to hear it this far, coming from that direction. So you do think that these pillars do have some sort of presence to them. So those of you who did the perception checks, you pick up on that. Can we get a taste of that chanting and then we'll all join in?

Yes, of course. It sounds rachlachma. No, I take it back on and join. Yeah, there you can. Make it throaty enough that you want to do it. That sounds awful good. So you can hear that. So there is some sort of enemy presence at these thunder stones.

When you draw closer to the point where the fronds now are being whipped so violently, the blood kelp is almost being torn out in sections, you are all like struggling as you can feel the force of this just, surging current trying to pull you into the storm wall itself as you get closer and closer. It is completely opaque as like just sand and debris and the blood kelp itself has all been torn into it and it's just storming around and even just super loud. It's very loud like even under here it's like this rushing water. I guess it's not really a problem if we can talk in our minds.

Exactly. And Yuga's using sign language. but also there is an almost cloudiness almost as if there was fog and cloud mixed in to this water as well. It doesn't take much sand to do that. No, exactly, so it's all blocked up. I will say,

you, I'm all the welcome to just cast your spell graph. If you'd like to analyze this, you can do either arcane, religion, or nature checks to learn more about this effect. Because I would tell you, like, I would say that those of you, especially like probably Gruff and Xanthus, who are, and Rowan, because you're all full spellcasters,

this is not like any spell you've seen. Like, this is probably something more than just a spell. This is for anyone or just... Anyway, yeah, any... Religion, and I roll a nine. A nine. Doing Arcana. 14. 14.

All of them are plus ones. I'll do it. Doesn't it hurt to roll? I'm going to do nature. 12. 12? So 14 is the highest, or... I've got 12 for religion.

12 for religion. I'll have Daisy Roll plus zero, I think. So what's Daisy getting? An 11. So I think Xanthias, you're all a bit stumped to this. I will say that, you know, even those of you who got like a 10 or higher,

this is clearly more than just a spell. That much is obvious. This is too big, it's too powerful. to just be some arcane or normal spell. This is just the storm contained within this. Well, what I would say is you, Xanthias, because you've also come the closest to glimpsing something of entirely divine and all-powerful nature.

You've touched sovereign. Yeah. And you would feel a sense that there is, because Ojanja was created it was embered by sovereign and that's what drove Ojania from once a peace, life-giving goddess to now this cruel and hateful being

was being this ember of sovereign that was placed within them to bring them back to life and you can tell that this storm wall it is born of magic but it is infused with divine power right okay it is infused with the Ojanah So just a level beyond.

Yeah, this is like a favour that has been called in from the goddess. Right, damn. To stop us, of all people. We're idiots. Dumb as hell. Yeah. I mean, you definitely think that there is some element

of choral song's magic at work here, but it has almost like Ojanja has lent some of her own power to enhance this. So do I... You said it was Control Water. right? Do I get the impression that creating a tunnel in this water? You've got 14? I'd say you don't know. There's a chance gruff spell might work.

You don't know. So if you make a hole here, hopefully to the other side, I don't know how far it goes, is the only thing. We still need to go through the air in that case. Yeah, the other thing I was going to say is actually gruff because you've got a pretty good perception. perception, I think Daisy and a few other people do as well. Like, there is the water and storm, there is lightning through like the water, right? There's like lattices of lightning, like, all shooting through it as well. If a question, it might be metagamey, so feel free to go, that's metagamy Kim.

Sure. I'm not going to answer it. I'm not going to dignify it. Okay. Call lightning, right at the end, says if you're outside in a storm and you cast this spell, the spell gives you control over that storm instead of, creating a new one. I'm guessing that's not going to work in this case, though.

That is very metagaming, and I will not answer that question. Because, yeah, in the same way that I'm not going to tell you if control water will work or not, I've given you the information that your roles have required. Yeah, I mean, I would say as much as, you know, that this storm is beyond any storm. Yeah, I think a level four spell ain't going to cut it. It might help, but it may not control water. But it's not gonna, like, yeah. It'll be a great way to get creatures in the water

out of the water, though, for fire. Combot attack. It's true, that's true. Very good, very good combo. The other thing I would say is, like, having analyzed this storm wall now and sort of looking at it, Yuga in sign language will sort of also contribute. I feel Althea, primal magic,

here. This, whatever this is, is coming from the Thunderstone, as I mentioned. I can feel its energy coming from these directions. But there is more than just these points of thunderstorm. There are many pockets of Thunderstone spread out in this area, in the blood kelp, many of them. I do not think just destroying one, I fear it may just jump to another. Oh. How wide is the circle of this as well? Huge.

Yeah, okay, so it's not just a case of, because I was thinking they're probably gonna defend the most from Perporea side, but getting around to the other side would probably take so long. And what we need is a power of divinity. So I think you need to succumb fully to. Yeah, crown steel.

I'll rip my shirt. I was gonna do it anyway. Sure. And just a, ding, ding, ding, ding. Try and smash this thing. Yeah. Wham! I don't do that, I don't do that.

I think it's a solution of sorts. We'll, look, you know. If you need to. Graff would never ask that of Santith. Kim would ask that of Tom. Yeah, because it's cool as hell, right? I think, unfortunately, as you say, there's a touch of the divine in this,

and sadly, I am not a champion of Althe. I don't understand my relationship with Althe. I don't understand why she has blessed me with this ability to cast these magics and why that has gotten stronger. I think it's because Althea knows you're very, cool and a leader. I'm cool. I'm from

ice art. I meant. Never mind. Is that a joke? No. Yes. I mean, I could try and commune with Althe, but I don't, I think it's probably too little

too late. Coral Song is a champion of Ojania. I am not a champion of Al-Qa. I'll see. So how do we get through a storm war, powered by a god. Anybody would like to make any roles? You're more than welcome. There's a range on the NIM chat.

It's several miles, I think. Oh, okay. Yeah, it's quite distance. Because there's a part of me that feels like if the magic jumps, how long does it take to jump, if it is jumping into a target that is now also destroyed, can it still jump? Does it land nowhere?

Maybe it's a communication thing. we have to sink up our destructions of, I'd like to make a check, please. Well, I know, I think that with that line of following, I'm not going to ask you for a check. Xanthias, you kind of stumble on something as you're kind of talking and thinking this stuff, there is like some...

Because you're a sorcery, you've never really learnt magic, but you feel magic, right? As a source, you have this innate feeling to it. And one with the force. And you know, when you channel magic, that idea of, you know, channeling two things at once is exceedingly hard,

because there's an element in magic, in the nature of magic, that is very hard to balance things evenly. Okay, if we destroy one of these pillars, it jumps to the next one and it continues the barrier. What if we destroy two at the same time, that might disrupt the whole barrier because it wouldn't be able to maintain

and it would collapse away, but you would need to do it nearly simultaneously. Yes, yeah, yeah. Goody. Split the party. Yes. But if it can't jump to it, then where does it go? It can't go anywhere.

It certainly wouldn't be able to find the next one. It wouldn't be able to follow any of the ether streams. That's used? I have an idea. You're rambling in it. I have an idea. Global chat. It's not a good idea.

Well, it's a very good idea, but it's not, it involves us not being one. We'll have to split into separate teams. We've done this before. We had team, what was it, Killshot? And the other one? The other team? Other team didn't have a name.

No, I'm certain we had a name, but we had a name. There's no way we went into that fight with no name. Was it Gruffin Friends? Graffin Friends. Well, we can do that now. Team Killshot and Team Gruffin Friends. No, wait, you were part of Killshot. You can't be Gruffin Friends.

Yes, I remember that fight vividly. Sorry, I was eating Crown Steel. You got it. Okay, I have an idea. So, if we destroy one of these, what was it, Thunderstones? Yes. Okay, then the magic has to jump somewhere. It has to jump into a,

into the next stone. If the next stone has already been broken at the same time, then the magic wouldn't break, which creates a weakness in the entire thing. The entire wall, or maybe just a large part of it, would then collapse, and we would be able to get through. I always thought we'd just break the two ones that currently have the power.

You could also do that? Well, that too. I think that's what Mark originally. I mean, as far as anything, both of those ideas would work. It would probably be... more likely to succeed if you choose two active thunderstones.

Because then you're breaking it in two places and even if it tries to jump, it's got two connections it has to repair or four connections it has to repair. But Xantheus's idea could also work where it tries to jump and that next one's already broken. Anticipating where it could jump and breaking that. Because that's the thing is you'd have to anticipate

which one it's going to jump to. If you go for two existing ones, it will disrupt it. I thought you meant the existing ones. Yeah. I kind of did. But now I'm second-guessing myself. I think I might have mis-listened to something. You, Zantheis.

Some higher power might have missed something. Call me surprised. Well, either way, either way. Disrupt the system, break down the wall. Disrupt the system, break down the wall. That's my plan now. And that's what it's called. At the same time.

Yes. How far apart of these things? I don't know. They are quite far. It is some distance. we would not, you would not be able to help each other if anything were to go wrong. It would be a great distance.

Yeah, and our communication would have to entirely rely on Daisy's connection. That's fine. I mean, that connection's not going anywhere, so. Great. Unless something happens to me, then it would go down. All right, we'll make sure. Do you have to hold that connection? It's sort of, but it's more like if I get knocked out, I think it goes away. Okay.

I have to mention our water breathing is the same thing. I'm the one who casts the water breathing. Yeah, but if you go down, or if any of us go down, we'd lose concentration with it, though, right? As if it's not cast anymore? No, it just comes back. It lasts 24 hours, it's not concentration. Oh.

So even if you go unconscious in the water, you're fine. Sweet. It'll continue to breathe. You go, or Broan, can you communicate this? Have you? Wait, I can say some of the sign language. Whatever. At this point, let's just say,

Have you encountered anyone that has been enchanted by the songs? We stay very far away from the singer. We try to avoid her as much as possible. I have not met anyone who has fought or interacted with them and has returned. If anyone has, they were taken and are gone, lost to us. Well, if we do opt to split apart, then it guess it may. makes sense for me and Ophelia not to be in the same team. Yes.

If we both get enraptured by this song, then it would be trouble for the other member of this team. You have abilities. I can heal, you can heal. We should be split then. There is a sense, Graf, I'll tell you this as well, with this idea of Xanthius' plan. This is a very powerful spell,

and there is some divine element here. But if the enchantment is being worked on these pillars. You could destroy them. This thunderstorm is a destructive war material. It's hard. It's like stone, so it is going to be quite tough to break, but it's destroyable. Okay.

Another option could potentially be that a spellcaster, because, you know, again, Xantheist, you've examined this, a spellcaster might be able to disrupt the ritual enough on one of these pillars to effectively be the same as destroying the pillar itself. Okay. So you might be able to perform. sort of a counter-ritual to break the connection to that particular pillar

of that certain level. There will be a method to do so. Good one. Yes. I'm looking at my survival stat and I'm thinking of gruff survival, of storms, of, you know, the cold seas and all of that

and understanding of this kind of thing. I would like to make some sort of check or pursue the line of thought. that if you were to use lightning or thunder to overcharge a pillar, would it then, because you can see the lightning and the storm, would that then spread to all of them and perhaps destroy all the pillars?

Makes the five of a lot for me. Because this one's a little bit more of a, this is a theory and follow up on it. 21. 21. You don't think so. You think that that's a cool idea, But what you think is, from what you've seen of this,

because you've only seen small portions of this stuff, right? And the smaller pieces seem able to overcharge and break. You're literally watching this lattice of lightning flowing from these places. You think that these natural formations of this stuff probably can absorb more lightning and thunder than you guys could ever output, right? Yeah.

What I will say to you on a 21 is this natural coral, you've seen it, it's used as armor, I'll tell you that the Thunderstone itself, it will be immune to thunder and lightning effectively because you just can't do enough to overload it. Sure. It will likely be resistant to slashing and piercing

because it's hardened stone. That also probably means it's going to be resistant to other types of damage as well. But for 21, I'm not going to give you all of those. I'd say you would know it would be immune to poison and psychic and necrotic, because it's stone, it's non-living matter. So if you want to destroy them,

that is something you might want to keep in mind as well, that this is a physically resilient. It's like steel. They use it almost like steel in weapons, right? So it's incredibly durable, but also it has this property of its likely, very resistant to lightning and thunder, possibly other elemental powers as well.

Okay, thank you. But yeah, I'm for the cool idea, but these are built to absorb immense amounts of thunder and lightning. Pissing into the storm. Like, in theory, you are right, Kim, but you look around the team and you're like, there's no way, like, we just couldn't generate enough of that power. You would literally need, like, a divine being

to, like, channel the entire power of, like, a world storm into this. Okay. World storm. Fuck, yeah. Um, okay. the high storms. Yeah, I always imagined him just being like, flying across the show army.

Yeah. Fuck, I'm gonna have to read it again. Okay. You need to read Discworld. That's true. That's also true. That's also true. But yeah, again, like more than have,

if you guys have more checks, if you guys want to come up with plans, if you want to make any preparations. So Yuga will come with you. I am not much of a fighter, but I have some connection to Althe, I can use magic. Great. So I will come. You would also help balance the teams, because it would be three and three.

So do we want to do the splitting up or... All right, never stand the line. Disrupting. We have a group leaders. Well, the disrupting is just so you'll still have to split up. It's just you either choose to destroy the pillar or you can do a ritual to disrupt it. And just as long as they're done at the same time.

Yeah. They have to be done almost simultaneously. Okay. So now, I mean... We are talking seconds. It's either Gruff and Roan are the team leaders. Or it's me and Ophelia because we can't be on the same team as he. Well, Gruff is the leader of this whole mission so you get to decide who becomes leader for these teams.

Right. We just become leader. I mean, they're not to be listening right now. We're gonna mutiny. We haven't even started. Oh, well, when you start, get ready. What exactly does this mutiny look like? We're gonna be leaders, I guess.

We're gonna be leaders, I guess, yeah, a little bit. It's just gonna be as tight and lonely, really. And as leaders, what do you, what is your course of action? Go to the stones and kick their asses, right? Go to the stones and kick their asses. Right, and how does that look? What define kick their ass? What's your vision for the next five years?

What is you see yourself? So we're not gonna be on the same, we can't be on the same. Unfortunately, a damn shame. We're going to have to strategize, synergize. Blue sky thinking. I mean, a blue sky could be very helpful right now. I think we can get you the answer by end of day tomorrow. Put a pin in that.

Put a pin in that. Put a pin in it. Have it on my desk by five. Five by five. Okay. Jokes aside though, yes. Yeah, in all seriousness. Do you guys be the leaders?

You're the more responsible. That was the shortest mutiny, I think, I've ever experienced. Honestly, it ran out of his team perfectly. If we left on our own thoughts, I don't know where we'd go, to be honest. No, we'd be here. It's best to let them tire themselves out. Yeah, bless them. I'm exhausted. That's great. We're about to fight a DemiGos.

No, we can do that. Well, the DemiGos champion. True. And we've done that once before. And that was easy. Earset. Yes, oh, and yes, we haven't actually discussed. The Great Devour.

The Eel. No, we actually, is the Great Devourer in there or out here? I'm guessing it's in there. I hope it's in there. I hope it's in there. We only have one dose of this poison and it involves Rowan getting eaten. It's an idea.

And then to mention Doring out. Yeah. I've only done that once ever. Well, yes, that's true. And that was out of a haunted place recently. So, yeah. I mean, my thought is that Coral Song and her pets are in there and she's doing some sort of carry on

whatever this ritual is that she's been kidnapping people for and related to these attacks on the surface recently. She may know we're here, but I don't feel like this is just for us. Flattering as it is. It would be nice to think that. No, I'd like to think that, yes. I think they're doing something else. Exactly.

In there. So we need to disrupt it quickly, which means we need teams now. Okay, yes, all right, yes. Leader my leader. You are in one, I mean the other, because we are both healers. Yes, and they... then you two need to be in separate teams. Yes, so one of you is joining one of us.

And then let's do Daisy and Yuga first. Oh. That makes sense, yeah, do the sensible children first. Zanthias, you come with me. I wasn't last picked. Ophelia, you go with Rowan. Do I get a saying this? No.

What's your suggestion, Rowan? I'm fine with it. I was just thinking that Ophelia could protect you. With. Excuse me. Just chis. I mean, she's got it, Veracity.

I'm just thinking of the synergy. I'll put up on a desk by end of day tomorrow, 5 p.m. Are you blue sky? Are you mutinying as well? Yeah, no, I'm thinking. Well, Daisy will say, well, it's also that way, well, I suppose, because if we need people that can cast spells as well, you know,

if we want to disrupt the ritual, maybe we need people that we've got people that can cast spells in both teams. That's what I was thinking. Is it a spellcaster? He's a spellcaster. But how disrupt do you, Graf? I don't really understand the terms of disrupting.

That's fair enough. It's more about overwhelming it with its own, with magic of your own, right? Unfortunately, all of my magics are water magics. Mine are all mostly singing. Mine's all, performing. Necrotic. Blood.

Blood and. It scares me. I suppose I have, it's very nice for me. From certain perspective. Yes. Anyway, Daisy and Yuga. So, who wants, who do you think will best suit Daisy?

out of Groff, Zan, Ophelia Roane. I think the great thing about Daisy is that you're... You just fit anywhere. You fit anywhere, you're... Yeah, but I don't know, like... I don't even know, and she holds up one of her glowing blades, like, am I gonna be able to do anything with this? I mean, I guess if they've got guards or something, I can kill them, but...

I don't know if this is gonna be good against a rock. True. I mean, veracity isn't gonna be much help, to be fair. I wonder if you should go with you, Rowan, because you can speak to each other. We have a synergy. You do, you can synergize. Mm-hmm. I like this.

That's good. That's good. That's good. I will come with you, friend. Like that's what you're doing. That's really good. No, it's a power stance. That's really good.

That's really good. I learned that one in Ashindra. A wide stance. Yeah, really spread your letter. It's anyway. Okay, so what's our team names? Very important business. Gruff and Friends Kill Shot.

We just go back to that. Well, I'm with you this time. No, you're right. I would like to be in kill shot though. No, we're team kill shot now. We're team, okay, gruff, Xanthius, Daisy. I want to be Team Thunderstruck. No, that is good.

That's really good. That's very good, yeah. It needs to be a play on the idea of us disrupting a storm. Yes. What about for us, we could be like team lightning kill? Lightning kill. Storm chases. No, it doesn't. That sounds a bit done.

Well, whatever. Shot shot. Shock, shock, shock. Shock, shock. Shock, is really hard to say. Shock, shock. I can't say it. Just shock, shock.

Shock, shock. Shock kill. Team shock kill. Just kill shot. And not even one aims to easy have the word kill in it. Just pointing that out. Well, but that's what I throw this.

I know. And then they die. Very good at it. Let's just stay with kill shot. Kill shot. That was currently face you just made there. Kill shots. Kill shock.

Oh, I don't think we should be called kill shot. No, kill shock. Just kill shock. Kill shock. Kill shock. Kill shock. Kill shock.

It all shock's good. Because then it's team kill shock and then team Thunderstruck. That's true. That's true. I'm so beyond this. Thunderstruck's amazing. Thunderstruck is great. Are you happy with the team? I'm really happy. You're right. Yeah.

Yuga through, you go through Rowan will tell Gruff like the directions and the, because you know you're a guide, you know how to navigate and things like that as well. So he'll give you the rough instructions of how to get to the next pillar. These are going to be about a thousand feet apart. Oh, boy. So it is very unlikely you will be able to help each other. So I know that there is some potential maybe to like quickly try and join the others,

but if you have any spells you would like to cast on each other before the group splits, now is the time. That's a good point. Is it advisable to do another water breathing on everyone? No, you're fine, yeah. You've still got, I think, like 18 hours of water breathing left. Majority. This is more like, and I would say,

Say that you can get to both locations in under an hour. So if you're all like, maybe like just over 10 minutes. So if you have any spells that last an hour, they will last until the next, until you start the next encounter. Rowan, would you like this? And I put my hand on his shoulder and I cast a mage armor at level.

That's great. I mean, we're gonna be together for the team. Yes, but. Also, if I'm gonna say, because Rowan has physical armor, the major armor won't benefit him. My AC is, It, a major armor won't help him.

He has the fancy armor. Yeah. I appreciate that, thank you. If you're looking to protect, some runes will come down my arm. I've never really protected anybody else before, so this is kind of new. I can give some of my runes to people to ward off the house. I've got my little buddy. Oh, you've got the carapace, do you want?

I have my stone. You think you, what if you need to go? Use it for yourself. Use it for yourself. Well, I can just recharge them. Okay, I'll hold him. Do you have a form of protection for yourself? He goes in his shell.

There it is. He's all protected. Should right there. Can you ask you, if they're in any danger, they need to get out. Like if, if, you know. I'll translate that into the signals.

The priority is that protection. Yes. Thumbs up. Just gives you all a big thumbs up. Okay. I've passed the message. Other spells, other spells, other spells, other spells. I don't really have anything else I can call.

Dominate person. No, the mine, I've just... I can both. but it doesn't last very long. No, so I'll save that for, if we get. It's just an option if there was things that you would like to do or anything you would like to do before you split up. I can create.

Because yes, I'm forcing them to split the party. What an evil DM. So if I death ward between the teams, when one team falls, the other team falls. That's not how death ward works. Kind of is. Do you mean warding bond or death ward? Yeah, I mean warding bond.

Yes. Yes. That is how that spell works. Would anyone like a Death Ward? No. What? No, not a warding Bond. Death Ward. Death Ward's a different one. It's probably more beneficial for... You're both?

Me. Yeah. Because Death Ward is the one way. If you go to zero, it puts you at one instead. Yeah. At least then I can still heal. I guess it would also preserve any ongoing effects you have as well because you don't ever actually go to zero with Death Ward, right? So, yeah, you would stay at one effectively. But then once it's spent, that death ward is gone,

and then if you get knocked down again, then it ends. I can stabilise as well if the worst should happen. I have an ability to do that. Okay, if the stone fights back. Yes. If it grows arms and legs. Oh, my God, I hope it doesn't. By the Great Father, just let this be easy.

Oh, it'll be easy. There might be guards. To some extent. Oh. You're protected. They'll warded. Yeah. Hey, Rhee.

Yeah. There might be... The feeling's hoping it's easy, Rhee is just like... There might be guards around, so keep vigilant. Yes. I was born vigilant. I can at least do that. Well, we have fallen with eyes on the back of the head.

Well, I can just sense when things aren't right. Ow, my eyes. I believe we have a slight upper hand in that we have Yuga, who knows this area quite well. So be vigilant yourselves as well. And stay in constant communication. Yes. Updates, important things, and also the simultaneous breaking

of the Thunderstone is the most of the best we can. If we need to just burst right through all of the enemies and go straight to the stone, we can do that. For that benefit, Xanthia, because you were the one who came up with the theory, it will need to be within seconds of it happening. Like a turn? A turn, a push too.

But that would be risky. Ideally, you want it within a turn of the same. It's worth sounding off all the alarms as soon as you destroy them. Yeah, but does it, um... I'll figure out I won't get there. Yeah. Okay, I think I've done everything I need to do. Is everyone... To anticipate what I think was your question,

it will not be instantaneous like you destroy one and then it immediately shuts the thing down. It will cause like a kind of short set. So you'll have like a few seconds of it. Yeah, no, the question was, does it like restore the adjacent one to full and then we need to destroy it again? Oh, well that you don't know. Yeah, okay.

Because if it does just restore, then we have a second. try, I suppose. Or it might make it invulnerable. Anyway. I am fully ready and prepped. You restored all the spells from that thing I gave you, the incense. As many as you could. As best as you could. I had a little bit of that. You've got, everyone's got potions and things like that. Oh. Potions. Do you have one, Ophelia? Because we've got like those vitality potions. Like, I don't know, it's worth taking those. I have a minor one.

my Fiola. I've got... I've got jars of blood. Okay. Plenty of blood. Plenty of blood. Okay. It's okay. I've got plenty of jars of blood. Yep, I've got a minor potion.

And what? I'm not going to say it because it's a bit of a running joke at this point and I think people are sitting... No, honestly, just hit the meme. No, I'm going to hit the meme. They love that shit. They don't. Because it's only temporary hit points. I might give Daisy heart vitality potion, which is just going to give it 10 HP.

It just stays until it gets spent, basically. If you say it one more time, we'll make a shirt out of it. Laminated ornate painting. I don't think of a shirt. It would. Daisy is going to drink her thing in game six temporary hit points. Not as ugly as a wrestling t-shirt, but, you know. We have five temp already, right?

Oh, that's right, actually, she won't then, yeah, because she do have five because of the meal at thingy. And the... Meal. The... Succulent underwater meal. Um... I think.

Therefore, you stink. Sorry. I think, therefore I stink. Wow. Deep. So deep. How do you not think? So...

Causal. What were you thinking prior to that? I think we should all have a big group hug. This might be the last time. We have to see each other. Well, no, it won't be the last. No, come on. Don't say that, Rowan.

Absolutely. We'll see each other again. Group hug anyway, just in case. He sniffs his armpits. He's been thinking a lot. I've been thinking so much recently. You're underwater, so you can't smell anything. Now you're trying.

No, you breathe it, so it's just like, it's just like taking in a big sniff of air, but it's very weird. Your gills have to, but yeah, there's no smell, basically. It's just everything smells like ocean down here. And how do I stick? Anyway, bring it in, everybody.

Bring it in, everybody. It's okay, we got this. He'll be fine. Hugo, we're part of the team. What is this? This is a morale boosting embrace. He just sort of comes over and tries to, he's never hugged anyone before.

His shell is really round, so you can't really reach. Half the circle is him. Literally, like, yeah. And he's only got little short arms, so he's just sort of like. Love him. Yeah. Okay. Now, everyone, before we go,

Yes. Just remember, trust in yourselves, trust in each other. And if it goes really bad, go back to the surface and find Sir Joran, okay? How high is surface? Quite a far away. It would take some swimming.

We'll figure it out. We got this far together. We've been through difficult situations together. We've got out of the vault together. We can do this together. We can do this. Yeah. Piece of cake.

I love a cake. I love a cake right there. You separate. I know, I think both teams go one direction to begin with an L.A.S. Oh, well, actually, we were going this way. I really thought we were going this twice. Sorry, everybody. It was like, he was going the right way. Yeah. It's just looking at this guys. We didn't communicate there. No. We are going. We are going. We are going.

Communication is key. Why we're doing this. Okay. All right, let's go. Serran shoots out coming around you around you. I think it's the idea that it's Xanthius and Ophelia go-to-walk together, figgeting there on opposite case. And then it's like, no, no, no. What's your favourite kind of cake? Ghetto, I love a ghetto. Please stop talking about your strange food.

It just takes your way. Hugo, your separate ways. Delta split. And you travel for a short distance until you arrive. For those with, for Rowan and Ophelia, Yuga will point out as you begin to make your way. and I'm going to keep your rolls from before, so you're moving quite stealthily.

As he parts the fronds, and you look out onto a bit more of like an open section where the wall has ripped up all of the fronds, an open section of the seafloor? That's another term for splitting the party. Parting the fronds. Is that going to be an episode title? That's what got the laugh out of you?

No, me thinking of a joke. Split the fronds. Part the fronds. And then I was like, What did it happen? So no one told her love was going to be this way. Fronds brought you, and it's just every, all of them are like just gelp in Central Park,

just all inanimate off-ed. Yeah, yeah, that was better than mine. It was better. Anyway, carry on. What's the deal? That's, like, felt. Anyway, we have a good laugh. When you guys make your way there, you can see

in the middle of this slightly cleared section of ocean floor where the fronts were being ripped up and there are these rocky outcroppings. You can still see there are still clumps of it. There is this slightly raised up rocky kind of formation and atop it are almost like fingers or a claw reaching upwards are several pillars of the same dark blue.

gray coral that you've seen adorning the armor of the deep children, the creatures of Virginia. And you can see it is crackling, like lightning is arcing all over it. There is almost these like thunderous heartbeats like by echoing out from it. Stood in front of the pillar is a multi-armed deep child draped in almost robe-like seaweed, it has this crustacean lobster-like face and its forearms are gesturing and you can see lightning is coursing between all four of its arms as it is channeling. It is, you know, somehow, you know, perhaps watching over this ritual. You don't think they're controlling it, but are perhaps protecting it or monitoring it

or something. Next to this storm binder is a hulking guard. There he is. This thick, carcannous, crab-like protector with a huge armored hull is literally stood like a guard dog behind its master, offering it some protection. As we see, so this is going to be Yuga, Rowan, and Ophelia. As you guys appear, I want you over on this side.

We got ourselves a battle map, blah, blah. Not just a battle map, Tom Hazel, a split battle map. Wait a minute. Oh, oh, sick. This was planned from the start. I thought that was the wall. Control water wouldn't work. I thought that, yeah, I thought that was the stormwater.

There was a reason, like, I would have totally allowed that control water to work, had it not been that this was divinely created. Like if this was like a spell, like absolute, or if this was just normal water, but I think we were just, and just as a point, as you still could have tried, I just would have had to roll and you would have had to be a very high DC.

It would have been like a 2530 DC. Still possible though, within that 20. On the other side of things, team gruff, Daisy and Xanthius, you appear, and you can see that yours is closer to the sea floor, your pillar. And just for reference on the battle map, we have this kind of raised outcropping and this section here with these three pillars,

this is the Thunderstone. You are about like 30 feet away from it on your side. Yeah, and then on you guys, yours is this section over here. There is a sort of little rocky like valley almost with a seabed. You have a raised section of floor up there and you see the same thing. One of these storm binders and its body guy.

What I am going to do, podcast listeners is I'm going to take a picture of this and I'll post it on the Patreon for free if you don't look at it. So you can follow the battle with us. Yes, it's a bit of a complicated one. So this line, I've used these walls of ice here to provide the dividing line.

These are completely separate. You cannot travel between them. Obviously, you can go off the battle map. Let's try and keep it on the battle map where we can, please. Don't forget, you can swim up. This is a 3D space. I have flying platforms here if you would like to go up and over as well.

The bad guys may very much do that in your case as well. Fair not. And yeah, and that is what you see before you. I will probably say that they have not noticed you. However, there is not any cover here. So the second you begin to draw closer or move in, they are going to know your present. But I will give you a moment to chat amongst

yourself and figure out if you have like a game plan here. This is team leader of Team Thunderstruck, receiving over. Oh, hello, yes, this is Killshot, not the team leader. Killshock. Killshock, sorry, Killshock, not the team leader, Zantius. It's cool team name, Zantius, this is Roan. Hi, I'm Roan.

Hi, hey, hey, Rowan. How are you going? It's, well, I think we've, I think we've made it too. We made it too. You did, okay, what can you see? How many, how many are you facing? Two, we see a really hulking, a beast of a coral creature.

Oh, just a giant, giant, like, crab man with giant claws. Abruits, absolutely brute. Brute, yeah, no, I can see a brute as well, yes. And then we see a multi-armed weaver of lightning seemingly channeling the energies or monitoring it, I don't know. Hang on a minute, are we at the same place?

I look around. Rowan! Hey! Oh, I got on the wrong team! I went the wrong way! This whole time! I should have known. Brantically swim back. as you are separated from your team.

Shit. They're dying. Helping! Oh God! Oh God! It's ruined, why aren't you here? Someone told you life was gonna be this way. Fronds!

I'm just imagining fronds, the show. Just like kelp flopping around wetly in like the part, in the fountain. Could I be any more way? We were off. on a brick. He's splits into. Oh fuck.

And he's got a sea monkey as a pet. He does. Oh my god. Coming to CBS this ball, France. France. Fuck. It's a follow one from SpongeBob Biscuit.

Right. Yes. Oh my God. What the hell? What was that? It just hit me. The visual image was really heavy. The loudest comeback of a joke.

We've discovered joy. Yeah, Rowan, I think we can see the same things. Yeah, we also see that forearmed, Storm Freak thing. That's a very odd. Yeah, sorry, I mean, well. Each to their own. Are you able to get to your Thunderstone, maybe?

Yes, and I think if we get any closer, we might get spotted. we need to come up with a plan. Yes. Do we attack? Do we go straight for the stone? Thoughts? Well, we have an opportunity to get a little closer, I think. Maybe we might be able to get closer without being spotted,

but we're quite far away right now. We could get to the stone on the left here, Ophelia, maybe. Yes. Hover there until they get a little closer? Could do, yes. How many gruffs do you think are between you and the goal? How many graphs? I would say,

San's tail. 40-50 gruffs? About, yeah, it's about maybe 45 graphs. We're closer than that. We're about 30. Oh, sorry, no, I'm looking at the wrong team. Yes, Rowan and Ophelia are about 45 graphs away. You guys are probably like, well, that's like at nearly 100.

Double that. Yeah, maybe. Gruff ain't five foot. We'll like five foot. We're about, you're a five-foot cube if you round it all down. If you mince me up. I think we're about 80, maybe 90 daisies away. Yeah, Daisy is a good one, yeah,

Daisy is a good metric. Should we play distraction, distract the guards, or should we take them out first, to get rid of the threat entirely, and then go for the... Well, to help you with this plan, this is an above table thing, I'll give you some mechanics here. You should see what I'm doing under table. Oh.

I'm not. Don't threaten me with a good time. For this. For this. For this. That's what the thumbnail is going to be now. It's fucking not. Let's see how this fight goes,

because it might go very differently. If this is the final episode, it's just more of us in front of a fountain. Anamorphed into burns. It's just me doing the, could I be anywhere? So, you can destroy the pillars, normal attacks, normal spells, all of that goodness.

As I said, keep in mind there may be some damage-resistance and things like that. If you want to disrupt the ritual, what that will require is to get within five feet of the pillar and then use the magic action or take an action to begin to use your own magical abilities to try and disrupt the effect of this ritual. So it doesn't require a specific spell?

It doesn't require a specific spell. You will just use a magic action. You will then choose to either make an arcana, nature or religion role. Oh. But you can get a bonus to that role equal, if you expend a spell slot, you will get a bonus equal to one plus the level of the spell slot.

So for example, if you spent a second level spell slot, you would get a plus three bonus to whatever that role is. It is a flat DC, and you will need to succeed multiple times. I'm not going to tell you how many times, if you'd like to disrupt it. knowing what I know all of a sudden

I will give you a hint as you make successes I'll be like you feel that you know you're making progress you feel that this is close to being disrupted I will give you that sort of information this is Rowan from team Thunderstruck hi Rowan Santias not team leader

from Killshock sorry I didn't know what team you were you should probably start the team Killshock here reporting in Killshock on the line Oh, hi Koshu. Hi, Ophelia, from Thunderstruck. Okay, we're all here, by the way.

I know, yes, yeah. Time is somewhat of the essence here. Okay. I ever thought it's unlikely looking at this size of this thing that we're going to be able to disrupt it instantaneously without them noticing. Okay. So whether we try and have one person

disrupt and the other two hold off the other two, or we just go for them straight up, and then once we've dealt with the two coral creatures, we go for the stone afterwards. I think that sounds like a very sensible plan. Yes, remove all threat. Remove the threats first. Two to remove the threats, one to disrupt the stone.

So once we've, hopefully we all deal with them, we can then reconvene and choose a time to disrupt. Yes, try not to break the thing instantly. Or have them alert their... Superiors. Can't let them get away either, yes. All right. Okay.

Well, good luck. Wait, do you have your nets? What nets? I gave nets out to a lot of people. I have the nets. You have some nets. I have all of the nets. You have all of the nets?

Yes. You gave me all of the nets. I think I gave you one of the nets. I gave you all of my nets. Yes. Are they fired? Hmm? Or are they just nets?

They were the weighted nets. It's nets. So you just do that. Wave meat. Yeah. It's nets. It's, hey. It's a grapple, right?

It's a grapple. And these are fish people. They hate that shit. I imagine, if I was a fish person? Santhias, I rather enjoyed your idea earlier of comboing our magic spells to do some fire under here. Hey, I, yeah. So I'm going to do that.

Okay, what, you're going to split water? Mm-hmm. Okay. How close do you need to be before you can... Well, if they are, I guess you need to make sure that they land on a surface, I suppose, because they would just fall, right? We're close to the ground, though.

Your side, yeah, the column is close to the ground on their side. So they're like, they're swimming. They're like maybe like five, ten-ish feet up above in the air. It's a hundred foot. Cube. Cube. I mean, that will basically do that entire section, I would say. It'll be half the map.

Let's try and get closer first. Maybe we can open up with you. exposing them to air, me throwing a fireball, or something like that, and Daisy, you throw off a couple of daggers at the same time. Maybe we can take them out quickly and instantly. Sounds really cool. That's a really cool plan.

What are we gonna do? Team Thunderstroke has to come through. Well, I have the nets, so I can throw a net to slow. I have my whip, I can slow one of them down with a whip. As a reminder, whip will be at disadvantage under water. Yes, so that'll be tricky, but the nets might be more effective. I can cause some psychic damage on the weaver. Okay.

Which will hopefully disrupt what they're doing if you want to go for the hulking, great thing. Sounds good, okay. Yes, I'll take that. At the same time? Yes, do the same time. Double disruption. Yeah.

And if you struggle to net the big one, we can switch and you can try and net the more spindly one. Yes. Maybe. Do you want to give me a net? Would you like a net? I can give you a net. Yeah, I'll give you a net.

Net? Yes. Get. Okay. Pah-pah-pah-ba-ba. Yuga, would you like a net? Would you like a net? He...

Yuga will look at the two of you. Look at the enormous, super muscular crab man. Mm-hmm. I am not sure the net will hold that beast. Yuga says, really good idea, Ophelia. But he doesn't need a net. Okay. It's likely we're going to...

to be so strong anyway. So powerful, yes. That we won't even need to look at the nets. Let's just keep them as a side fallback plan. Good. But he loved the idea. Yuga sees you saying something to Ophelia and he's like, he must be explaining

that I've just said it probably won't work. And then he's like, good, good. Perfect translator. Yeah, excellent. He loved that, by the way. Brilliant. Nice suggestion, Zanthius, good job. Sorry, sorry, quiet on comms please.

Sorry. Right, so what's the plan here, folks? Are we moving up, what's... Get us the cue when you're 30 daisies in age. Yes, well we, first thing is we are gonna try and get a little bit closer, I think, with the method of stealth, which we are really good at, I'm gonna, I am gonna unfortunately make the hard case.

There is, like, nothing for you to really hide behind. Okay, it was open brown. It is open water from where you guys are, even if you were to get all the way up here, It is gonna be very obvious that you guys are traveling. I would say you can try it. Which way is this Hulkie Lad facing? Is he facing that?

This guy, yeah. For you guys, he's like facing inwards, yeah. Inwards, but these guys, yeah, this guy, he's like facing the other way. He's like facing out from this. He's probably, like, turning around, but right now he's looking this way on your side. What's his little patrol pattern?

Huh? Oh, he doesn't seem to be moving. He seems to be saying very close. to his friend. It's one of those ones. You could, I would say you can try stealth. The only way you could do that is to literally like swim along the floor of the ocean and hope they just don't see you.

Either that or I guess this is more mechanics question. If we did all just swim in at the same time and enact our plan, would we have like a free turn or would it then just be they spot you? I'd say that you guys, I'd say that like we will roll initiative. But you guys can have advantage on your. your initiative. Cool. OK.

Oh, yeah, that's a new surprise. Yeah. So that's highly likely means it is more likely you will go first. True, true, true, true. That is the true, true, true. He does tell the true true, true. Thanks, we can, what do you want to do, graph? We could even just go straight in now, charging.

How close do you need to be to cast your fire spells? I just need to be, I suppose, I don't need to be within the pocket of air, do I? I can cast a fireball through the water and then... Because it starts as an orange, bead, it travels and then explodes. As long as when the damage occurs, they are not underwater, they won't have resistance to fight.

In that case, I, 150 foot of range, so... You're in range now. So we can do it from here. You probably would literally swim up a little bit so you can just see it. What about you, Daisy? Do you need to get a little bit closer? Yeah, I need to, like, get within

like 30 feet. You're fast, though. Yeah, I can, I mean, I can swim up fast, but I don't want to go in on my own. I'll get, like... Yeah, I need to go. with someone and also I'm better at finding if somebody's there next to them okay um yes so I could I mean I will throw my fireball into whatever pocket of water you create

and then it's likely it will also hit the Thunderstone as well sounds good which hopefully I don't smash this thing and I don't imagine it will be so easily destroyed by fire but I'll throw a It'll probably be a bit more than that. Right, I'm going to cast control water. So because you concentrate on it and then you choose to do the effect, right? Yeah, so yeah, it's a range 300 foot. Okay, so yeah. So yeah.

So you can just do it from here. Yeah. Is this something I can also at the same time? Well, if you are, begin to cut, if you're casting spells, it's going to be initiative for everybody, basically. But you have advantage because it is a price round. Are we doing the full stacked initiative? Yeah, yeah. You guys are rolling initiative as well. Yeah.

But it's like all on the same table, essentially. Yeah, well, I'm tracking on two different Tayas. Okay. I have two tables, B1 and B2. Cool. B1 is Ophelia Rowan and Yuga, and then B2 is Xanthias Gruff. B1. Not B2.

So would we do, we're constantly jumping between teams, or we do like the initial... I'm just, I'm going to try and follow initiative as it plays. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Gruff is able to do a control water. Can we do an action prior to? Yeah, yeah, absolutely, yeah. So you think about what you want to do because we're gonna just all go at once,

but you will have a bunch of which. I turn to Ophelia, and in mind, speak. Ophelia, Team Thunderstruck. Team Thunderstruck. Ophelia, Rowan. Hello, Rowan. Okay. I don't speak to you that often,

but I do believe in you. I think you're gonna do phenomenally well. Aw. I trust in your power, your tenacity, and your violence to get us through. What about the Grave Father? I give you Bartik Inspiration. Quiet on Coms, please.

Quiet on Coms. All right, so Barna Conspiration to Ophelia. That is, I will say that you can do that just before we roll the initiative. Thank you. So don't forget you will have advantage in initiatives. So, Xanthius. I got 18. 18.

Ruffeth. 18. Daisy, by the way, rolled a Nat 20 on the advantage, so 25. Wow, okay. Ophelia. 18. 18. 18, Rowan?

19. Oh shit. Yuga did not roll so well. I only got 12 with the advantage. Now do you forgive me, I have a weak link. All that guys. Shit. Fuck this guy.

Daring you speak. That's me against this sweet turning boy. We're numbers, guys. He's the best of us. First of die. Oh, he's not. Mateo is the best of us. Matteo is. Matio, the Patio.

That's funny. Okay. Okay. I will put this, I will change this just so it's easier for me to record the number. All right, okay, I've got everyone's initiative. Hey, nice. Cool, that's a really cool time to probably go on break, right?

Oh, it certainly is. Right as the combat starts. We will take our five minute break here, everybody. We will return shortly to see how this battle goes. Net. Hell yeah. I cast net. See in a bit? Bye.

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