High Rollers DnD - Vermillion Auxa-9 (Part 2) | Altheya: The Dragon Empire #59

Episode Date: April 17, 2025

The party ascends to the top floor of the proto-magi vault to encounter the leader of the Red Wing: Vermillion Auxa-9! _______________ 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 Support the High Rollers on Patreon and get early access to Podcast episodes, vods and more: www.patreon.com/HighRollers 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

Pickaxe. Riders, wave, step, look out. Riding a bike in the Ride to Conquer cancer is like being part of humanity's greatest. The money you raise, the time you spend, the energy that you give is helping people live, is giving people hope, and that's just so beautiful. Care of the fire for cancer research. Join the ride at ridetoconquer.ca. My parents have had a lot of time on their hands lately. At first, it was nice. Hey mom, can you drive me to soccer practice? Sure can. We're having slow cooked ribs for dinner. It was awesome.

And then it became a lot. Some friends are coming over to watch a movie. Oh what are we watching? I'll make some popcorn. Thanks to Voila, they can order all our fresh favorites from Sobeez, Farmboy, and Longos online, which is super reliable. And now my parents are reliable. A little too reliable.

Voila. Your groceries delivered. Just like that. ["Pomp and Circumstance March No. 1 in E minor, Op. 16, No. 2 in D minor, Op. 3 in C major, Op. 4 in D minor, Op. 5 in C major, Op. 6 in D minor, Op. 7 in D minor, Op. 8 in D minor, Op. 9 in D minor, Op. 11 in D minor, Op. 11 in D minor, Op. 12 in D minor, Op. 13 in D minor, Op. 14 in D minor, Op. 14 in D minor, Op. 14 in D minor, Op. 14 in D minor, Op. 14 in D minor, Op. 14 in D minor, Op. 14 in D minor, Op. 14 in D minor, Op. 14 in D minor, Op. 14 in D minor, Op. 14 in D minor, Op. 14 in D minor, Op. 14 in D minor, Op. 14 in D minor, Op. 14 in D minor, Op. 14 in D minor, Op. 14 in D minor, Op. 14 in D minor, Op. 14 in D minor, Op. 14 in D minor, Op. 14 in D minor, Op. 14 in D minor, Op. 14 in D minor, Op. 14 in D minor, Op. 14 in D minor, Op. 14 in D minor, Op. 14 in D minor, Op. 14 in D minor, Op. 14 in D minor, Op. 14 in D minor, Op. 14 in D minor, Op. 14 in D minor, Op. 14 in D minor, Op. 14 in D minor, Op. 14 in D minor, Op. 14 in D minor, Op. 14 in D minor, Op. 14 in D minor, Op. 14 in D minor, Op. 14 in D minor, Op. 14 in D minor, Op. 14 in D minor, Op. 14 in D minor, Op. 14 in D minor, Op. 14 in D minor, Op. 14 in D minor The with Oxa Vermillion 9, or Vermillion Oxa 9, whichever way you want to pronounce it. They have entered into the administration chamber and after a little discussion and conversation about opportunities, there is the potential to remove the Crownsteel from Xanthius, but at high risk of killing him in the process.

And when it was pointed out that perhaps he could go elsewhere to a different proto-majai, another ascended one, it was made on the point that, ah, that simply can't happen. And sensing high value subjects present, Vermilion Oxanine has elected to try and incapacitate our heroes,

and do goodness knows what with them. High value subjects and Gruff. And Gruff, yes. Yeah, that's true. And Percy, Percy's kind of low interest as well. Rowan can go too. Yeah, well Rowan's of interest, but it's more like ew.

Claimed by another. Don't want to cause any problems, you need to go. You're hitched. But we bring ourselves, the last thing that happened is two creatures have been teleported into this space. A hideous creature with mouths all over its body. A sort of panther-like creature with an eyeball on its tail. And then Vermilion Oxanion conjures

a green barrier around himself. As he does, you would notice three sparks of colored energy fly off of the barrier, and do seem to appear flying into different directions. Okay. Perfect. One appears. I'll put it up here actually, and the other two, you don't know.

But you see a red spark of energy appears on one of the gantry ways near the creature with too many mouths, this little orb here on the mini map. It seems to just hover in place, flickering, as the green barrier sort of surrounds Vermillion Oxenine as we are rolling initiative, everybody. Okay, okay. G L H F everybody.

We also have- G L H F everybody. G L H F, G L H F. We also have no fate, by the way. Oh! Exactly zero fate. You too? Yeah.

Oh! Daisy. Five. A five for Daisy. Oh, low. Xanthias. I got 11. 11 for Xanthias.

Gruff. 13. 13 for Gruff. Rowan. 20. Oh, a lot. 20. Avelia.

Another one. 20, 23. Another one. And Avelia. Another one. 23. 23, another one. And Percy. Percy got a 16. 16, okay. With that in mind, yes indeed, Vermillion Oxenine is not willing to talk this one out

and is too far to, perhaps is the avarice of the Crownsteel or something else has made sure that, yeah, wants to keep your wall as subjects. Yeah, I'm like, off limits, not taking, we don't want this anymore, we'll just go out. Ophelia, you are the first to act. Now, I will make it clear,

like, while you have a thing about what to do, lot of mechanics in this flight, as always, bonus action if you want to like make checks and ask me like figure out stuff out, or you can just make guesses. It's totally up to you as well. Oh, sorry, I forgot to put Vermilion's shield on. Oh, he's in a box.

Oh, he's in a box. It's like a green prism of energy around here. Oh, you need a little shield, do you? I think Ophelia will... You have my speed to my advantage in this occasion. I think I'll run up the steps, go to the red orb and investigate the red orb. Okay, so you're gonna move, so five, 10, 15, 20, 25, 30,

gets you to here. Yeah, it is a free action to touch, like do you want to touch it? Are you examining it? What would you like to do? Ophelia would like, you know, give it a little touch, give it a little poke, see what it does. When you reach out your hand,

the red energy seems to kind of connect and you feel this sort of fiery power build within you, Ophelia. You now have the psionic spark red, which you can use to channel into an attack. Oh. Okay. Interesting. Yeah, cool, okay.

So then Ophelia, I guess you'll then move towards this creature with them too many mouths in front of her with her remaining movement, and I will take a swing at him, see how it goes. See how he feels about it. Okay, so kind of lurking on the edge. He is tall enough, this walkway is about 10 feet off the ground, so you are able to lean down

and strike at this creature. Alrighty, I know what this psionic energy does. This is EX9001, AKA many mouths. Oh, many mouths. That is an E. Do I still have your body inspiration? Body inspiration, I think you would, yeah, it's asked about 10 minutes.

Yeah, if you think so. Sure. If you think it's been that time. Sure. Remind me what it does again. So you can roll a D8, and you can add that to an attack roll ability or saving. And then there's a little bit of extra

depending on what you do with it. All right, I'll use it on my attack roll then, and I will give myself another six, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17 to hit. 17 to hit, Minnie Mouse, is a hit. Also a con save, please. Constitution saving throw. 14 to hit. 17 to hit, Minnie Mouse, is a hit. Also a con save, please. Constitution saving throw. 14 to beat.

Very well. 14 to beat, unfortunately that's a 20 for me, total. So, five, six, seven, eight damage on the first hit. Music's going off. Sorry, this is Minnie Mouse, how much damage? Eight slashing damage. Eight slashing damage, fantastic. Then I'll strike again.

That's much better, 24 to hit. That hits. Sick, and then I'll use a blood point from my previous encounter. Wonderful. Add a D6, so that is five, six, seven, eight, nine, 10, 11, no, just a 10. 10 more points.

Yep. All right, and you've got your Vex for your next attack because you struck with those, so next time you attack this creature, you will have advantage. So yeah, I feel you rush up in veracity with all your fencing skills. You kind of cut into this creature.

It sort of lumbers back. Oh, no, no. Which mouth says that? All of them. Okay. Well at least they're all in agreement. If I, you have 20 more feet of movement. Do I provoke opportunity if I move back? If you move out of its reach, yes. Okay, cool. Then I will stay within its reach for now. Okay, all righty. All done?

All done, thank you. All right, Rowan is then up next. After Rowan, it will be, oh, my dearest apologies, actually, before Ophelia went, one of the creatures should have gone. Oh! I'm just gonna drop that to a 22. I'll send 21. So that it can go now. Okay, cool. Okay. Which, which, which, which? It should have gone. I'm just gonna drop that to a 22, so that it can go now.

Okay, cool. Okay, which, which, which, which? It should have gone first. The eye creature. Ah, gross. Which is EX4589, AKA eye dog. Eye dog? Oh, I love that.

I love eye dogs. Oh, the bear is your dog. This is my dog. Eye dog. Let's see how much you love them in a minute. So the first thing you notice about this creature is as it begins to move, its form seems to shimmer and there's almost like two or three of this creature

occupying the same space. It kind of shimmers and distorts, displaces itself one way or the other. It is gonna run up to, fuck, Xanthius. Who is currently at the front. Yeah. He's at the front and it is going to rend you with a bite. Try me, coward.

That is only an 11 to hit. Nah. Nah. Brand. So you managed to dodge to the side. And then it will shoot a random eye ray at Rowan. Let's see what eye ray. Random eye ray. Can you make a wisdom saving throw for me please, Rowan. Let's see what Iray is going to be. Random Iray. Can you make a wisdom saving throw for me, please?

Rowan. Natural one. Perfect, so a failure. You take four points of psychic damage. You cannot take reactions until the end of your next turn. On your next turn, you can't move, and you must use an action to make a melee attack or range attack against a randomly determined creature

within range, which is currently only really Gruff as a melee attack, unless you have a range attack. So you are basically confused as this confusion ray strikes you, suddenly like Gruff and all the creatures you can see, all of them look like the family in these hideous amalgamations. You're not sure what is real anymore. You don't know where you are.

So for all intents and purposes I've lost control. For your action, yes. So your next action that you make has to be a melee or ranged attack against a random target. You can't move. You can still use bone sections, but you just can't take reactions. So I'll remind you of it on your turn, which I believe is now. Hello. Hello. So do you have like a range,

because you've got like vicious mockery and stuff, don't you? Yes, I could do, for example, Starry Wisp. Sure. Well, in that case, like basically treat any creatures in the range as hostile and we'll randomize whichever one you attack. All right, so we've got one, two, three, four, five, six,

seven creatures in range. Yeah. What is the range on it? Actually, it has to be a ranged attack roll, so this is like you, it would need to be like something that requires you to make a roll, basically. So I don't know if Starry Wisp does or... Yeah, it does.

Okay, great. Range spell attack. What is the range on it? It's... 60 for? 60, yeah. Yeah. Although, what I would say is, if not to influence you too much,

but obviously if you were to make a range attack, you would be at disadvantage because you think Gruff is currently like a potential enemy, right? So like, that would impose disadvantage on your roll. So I would rather melee attack Gruff-eth than... Imagine that Gruff-eth has just turned into like a horrific amalgamation and looks like

he's about to attack you. You don't know what's going on. What would Rowan do? Imposter! And I would attack you. Okay, yeah, make a basic attack. You would be pretty sus. It's only a two, so that's not gonna hit for sure.

Plus four, no plus, yeah, plus one. So you swing wildly and Gruff, you duck under Rowan's blows, Rowan just in a panic, kind of turns to swing at you. As soon as the sword sort of passes, you know, and you miss, you blink and you can see Gruff again, but then all these colours and look, the world is twisting around you, so you're still affected, but your attack is done. You can do whatever else you want on your turn.

Don't trust anybody. Rowan, you silly bugger! Oh, you're okay now? but your attack is done. You can do whatever else you want on your turn. Don't trust anybody. Rowan, you silly bugger! Oh, you're okay now? All right. So you've got bonus action if you'd like to use it. Bonus action, I'm going to Bardic Inspire Gruffeth. Oh, makes sense.

Don't let that happen to you again, okay? He goes, he takes away. Nice, he missed. So you get a D8 now to use on attack, saves and stuff. All right, Percival is actually up next. Percy! OK. Let's see.

I'll have Percy. I'll have Percy go to Ophelia. How about that? Off he goes. Up the stairs towards you. Up the stairs towards Ophelia. You've that? Off he goes. Up the stairs towards you. Up the stairs towards Ophelia. He's got 13, 20, 25, 30.

He can get behind you. Then he won't be... Oh, actually with his Halberd he can attack. Yeah, I'll get him to do that. Okay, so he doesn't have his shield, so his AC is low, but he's in Halberd mode. Halberd mode! Uh, 16 to hit.

16 does hit many maps. God of Love's men! You were so convinced. He's to hit. 16 does hit many mouths. Oh my god, I love men. You were so convinced. He went, he's not hit, and then he went. He reached a d10. Full damage, 13 damage. Oh my god.

He's a man. Yeah, this over your head, I feel like, train like a, like a lanch neck just plunges the halberd in as you're fighting many mouths. This creature right, go away. Just ignore it, Percy, just ignore it, it's fine. I don't really believe it. Anything else, say, Percy?

It's gotta stay put out of its misery. I think that's Percy's job for now. Yeah, he's good, he's a good boy. Ox of a million nine, a milliona 9, I keep putting it. Vermillion Oxa something or other. So a few things are gonna happen here. You can see behind this kind of, you know, it's semi-opaque. You can see Vermillion Oxa 9 sort of is playing,

doing something to this console. And we'll just look and say, EX9001, deal with these interlopers. And we'll use his bonus action to, and spend one fate. Thank you. Data fate point back to use rapid enhancement. As you watch the air around Minnie Mouse almost become like diamond and sort of glass around him,

as like it has this scintillating prismatic aura as he will surround him with some sort of shield. Oh. That is a bonus action. As his main action, he is going to look down to you, Xanthius, raise his staff, and through the shield, some sort of beam attack is going to look down to use Xanthias, raise his staff, and through the shield, some sort of beam attack is going to try and strike you.

I've just like, batted away this Displacer Dog. That is gonna be 21 to hit. Eskues? Eskues are 21 to hit. I did roll very high. It was unshieldable 21, yeah. That'll do it. Oh, I think it's gonna be stinky damage there.

That is gonna be 19 psychic damage. Oh, that was stinky damage! That's pretty bad. But also, as this beam strikes you, the world in your vision almost ripples and distorts like broken glass. You can now only see yourself and Orxanine. You cannot see any other creature.

Oh, damn. Like they become any other creature. Oh damn. Like they become invisible to you. Like I'm in a different plane. Yeah, maybe. Or you just can't see. So even the dog. It's like the air around it warps and you can no longer see that thing.

Like everything except you and Oxenoid vanish. Can I still see a shield? Yeah, you can see the environment totally fine. Oh I see, right, okay. Yeah, you can see the environment. You just can't see other creatures. And then, instead of its second attack, it is going to use Twisted Reflection.

And out of the three of you at the back, I'm gonna roll a D6 to randomize this. One, two, Rowan, three, four, Gruff, five, six, Daisy. Rowan, you watch as... I'll place them right in front of you. You watch, all of you, see the light bend and twist as a almost like 2D, sort of, like a piece of glass come to life version of Rowan,

sort of breaks three and it becomes 3D and real and becomes a perfect version of Rowan, sort of breaks three and it becomes 3D and real and becomes a perfect duplicate of Rowan. Dark Link. Hello? What? Who are you? Who are you? You're me!

I'm me, you're not me, are you? That's an imposter! Oh no. Oh no. Perfect. And then yeah, this imposter's like, wait, I got it, it's an imposter. And it's gonna swing at you for a 16 to hit. Ooh, that won't hit.

It won't hit. So you can parry it, the two of your blades kinda clash against each other. Rowan, stop it. No, you stop it, you're not real. Where'd you come from? What is this? I'm from the Azar steppe, I'm real. Gruff, I was totally the real one, right?

You saw me first. I don't know. Gruff, your turn. Right. I am going to ignore Rowan, sorry, because a poor boyo is about to get munched. I will run forward towards Santheus. Okay.

As I do, the Armor of Oak and Thorns activates and starts. Bone section. Spreading the thorns and bark up my body. And also, so I'd like to position myself, I guess, yeah, in terms of the map, I'm now next to Xanthius and the iDog. And the Mirror Rowan and Regular Rowan are behind me, as well as Daisy. What I'm gonna do is I'm gonna bring up my shield.

This is probably a bit more kind of for flavor than the actual mechanics, but as I bring up the bit more kind of for flavor than actual mechanics, but as I bring up the Shield and kind of set it down in front of myself and Xanthias, it actually erupts in a vibrant blue flame as I cast Fire Shield. Oh, okay. And basically it

Wispy Flames wreath my body for the duration, shedding bright light and dim light. And I have chosen cold damage. So basically it's gonna, you know, burn so bright it burns cold. And you gain resistance to? Resistance to fire damage. Yeah. And then when a resistance to... Resistance to fire damage. Yeah.

And then when a creature attacks me, stuff happens. You deal cold damage back. Nice. Very cool. Love that. I'm not even looking in your direction. Great. Like I'm just looking at Vermilion Ox Knight, even though my dog is just gone to me, so I'm not. And that is why the boy-o needs protecting.

I'm not, yeah, I don't even say thanks or anything. Never would anyway. You never do. End of turn Never would anyway. You never do. End of turn, Draft? You never do. Yes, end of my turn. Xanthus is up. The orb surrounding this guy. Green shielded prism.

Is it like a circular thing, like is there space? Or is it like a, almost like an exosuit thing? No, it's like around his desk or around its desk. It's like a, and it's not round, it's like jagged prism, sort of crystalline shape. I can see into it. You can see him, yeah. Cool.

Can I Misty Step into it? You can try. For fuck's sake. Because I'm going to. Okay. Because I can't see anyone else. I want to get close to this guy. I want to get through the shield.

And the best way to get through the shield is to Misty Step into it. I'm in the shield. I am. 25 for that, yeah. You, so that's what you do, bonus action. Bonus action Misty Step. That is a power move.

You feel yourself impact something before you arrive past through the shield. The shield blocks teleportation and planar travel. Oh, does it? You immediately need to give me a constitution saving throw. Constitution, that's not the word. Son of the arse.

Yeah, like I completely disregard the shield you've placed down as well. That is a 16. 16, you take half damage, you take seven poison damage, and you are not poisoned the condition. As you feel like some sort of magical energy enter your body as you try and pass through this thing, you immediately get the sense that if you had attacked it

or even shot a spell at the shield, you likely would have had the same, like it would have lashed back at you with the same magic. You then immediately fall 30 feet. Well, yeah. Boom. Which is, I'll let you make an acrobatics check. Did you say I have a poison check?

Do I have reactions? You don't, no, you're saved. Do I have reactions back? No, it'd be the end of your next turn, unfortunately, because you can't feather four. Can you give me an acrobatics check so you can reduce this damage from four? Acrobatics.

Acrobatics. Acrobatics. That could be, so. Whoa. Look at the size of that, acrobatic. 18. 18, yeah, I'd say you take only two points of fall damage. I actually rolled really low on full damage there.

I managed to get out of this. So maybe it's like you dig, if you'll allow me, I think it's really cool, the crown to a hand goes into like the stone and you manage to slow yourself down. I just slide my way down. It does save me from like a bird flying into a glass door. Yeah, you're like. Ah! It's just like an imprint.

That would be hilarious. All of you see there is some sort of light. You see Xanthius vanishes and then there is a spark of green magic and you see almost like green lightning shoot off and then Xanthius reappears and falls down. Where did he go? And Xanthius, because you have impacted with the shield,

I will tell you now, you get the sense that the magic of that shield, that is a proto-magic spell of 10th level. Oh! And it blocks damage, it blocks spells, it blocks teleportation. Fab. It is. And it's something he's cast. It is something that has been cast around him.

Cool. With my action, I obviously. So it's your bonus action. Because again, I can't see anyone else. You can't see anything else. I would like to use an action to try to figure out, I guess, the origin of the shield in that case. Give me an Arcana check.

An Arcana, yeah, hell yeah. Rather than trying to figure out the specifics of that origin, I'll just give you information about it. 15. 15, enough. Okay. You remember the three sparks that flew off the shield when he created it. Yes. And you're pretty sure you saw a red, a yellow, and a blue one.

I would have seen a felia take one. Pick up a red, like some sort of red energy. You have a feeling that the origin of this protective layer is something to do with the prism and the very vault you're in and it's likely some sort of powerful protomagite thing. The only thing that's probably going to take it down is itself and it's something to do with those sparks of energy that you saw. And I...

When the other two... They went up.... They went up. They just went up. But I don't know, I don't know how to up. I know there are these two portals on either side, but like... I mean there's also like, if you have the ability to fly, like you can fly up there. I will tell you that they are approximately...

Let me check my distances. The first platform, which is this one, is 60 feet above you. The other one looks about 100 feet above you from the main floor. So there's a 40 feet difference between the two. First one, 60 feet up. The next one, 100 feet up.

In that case, I will just shout out to him, bring my friends back to me! No. You. Request denied. Okay, and I. Enjoy examining this metal that you carry, this mineral. It seems to have enhanced your power, but not enough.

Ooh, don't, he's gonna, ooh, he's mad! Ooh, he's mad! You've got some movement left, Tom, if you'd like. Punch him. Daisy, you're up next. Thing is, I can see the portals, but I don't, I can see on the mini map, they go in different places, but I don't want to run through a portal in case they just go to the barracks

where 20 million people are waiting for us on either side. So I'm not gonna to use my movement. I think my only thinking is to go up. OK. All right. Yeah, you haven't told anyone that, though. So we wouldn't know. That's the other thing.

In my mind, no one else is around me, so I'm not sharing too much. Yeah. I mean, you will hear Zanthias bring my friends back to me. He doesn't seem to be able to see you. In that case, end of turn? End of turn. Daisy.

Clue. Can I? Be as. Just want to move over to the corner closer to... After the next thing. Can we move over into the corner a little bit there? Yeah, just somewhere there. 15, 20, 25.

And I want to shoot... Eye dog. Okay. Please. Sure, for a radiant blade. With a Digger. 21 to hit. My dearest apologies, if you're attacking Night Dog, it is with disadvantage,

as its displacement ability makes it very hard to see where exactly it is. No. Sorry. 15. 15 is not enough. The Radiant Blade, you think it's gonna strike it, and then it's like it passes through it, and the creature is actually slightly.

It hit one of them. That's annoying. It's not the real one. And then another one seems to reappear as it's displacing it. I hit that because the other dude had a shield. Yeah. I wouldn't have gone for him.

So does, now that I hit it though. That was your action. Does it, do I know that? Still has this kind of shimmering thing. Unless you have some way to see through illusions or not rely on sight. No, I guess I can just try and hit again with my daughters. That's a shield guy as well.

Is the brain cell activated there? No. No. What'd you like to do, Daisy? Bonus action. Try again. Try again. Disadvantages, unfortunately.

19. It does hit. The second one. And you still have Gruff next to it, I believe, so sneak a sec. I have an ally next to it, so it's no control. Eh. Me too. I'm gonna do this. Uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, it's revealed itself now, throw now, and you feel like the other blade strike true. Again, it tries to like shift and warp its position, but this blade strikes true,

sinking deep into the creature's flank. It lets out this maw and fork and, oh, as it kind of like lynches to the side, lurches. Anything else on your turn, Daisy? No, I think I have expended all of my things. All right, then it is Many Mouths. Sheerly Many Mouths. Many Mouths is gonna turn on its two nearest threats,

and to you and Percival, it is gonna make a claw attack. Ophelia, 20 to hit you. That'll hit. Oh, it's got reach. That is gonna be, it does have reach. is going to be 12 points of slashing damage, and you are grappled as it picks you up in its hand. Can I hellish rebuke? You absolutely can, yes.

I'd very much like to do that, please. Dex 12 save, please. Oh, certainly. In fact, actually, no, it will use reaction. As you launch the flames, that shimmering shield of prismatic energy around it, reflects the spell back at you. Oh shit! Can you make a dexterity saving throw for me please?

Oh my God, do I see it coming? Do I have danger? You do see the shield shatter and break. Gannondorf. You see it coming, yeah, you absolutely see it coming. Danger sense pops off. Cause she's now bounced it back. Oh shit. Six, seven, you absolutely see it coming. Danger sense pops off. She's now bounced it back. Shit.

Six, seven, nine. Is not enough. Fuck. Full damage to yourself, please. Oh! Ganondorf tennis. So you failed the saving throw. When you say full damage, you mean

you need to make a roll, right? Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, sorry, yeah, yes. That's all right. Make the roll and say the damage. Why does it have a D10 over there? Oh, fuck. Now she rolls well. 15 damage. Why doesn't it have a D10 on there? Oh, fuck! Now she rolls well. 15 damage.

So that 12, it would have been 6, because you are raging. No, I'm not raging. You're not raging, yeah. I haven't activated it. You haven't activated Rage, so yeah, 12 slashing damage, and then the full fire damage from your Hellish Rebuke. You watch as that reflective shield shatters around the creature. It does, well, until it's reapplied.

But you see it kind of break and shatter. Reflect. And you are still grappled, unfortunately. 13, was it 13 that yours did? 12. 12, 12 and 15, so 27, fuck. Okay. You are grappled, it pulls you into its body. And if you start, at the start of your turn,

you're gonna take damage from the mouths biting. Okay, okay, cool, cool, cool. Against Per your turn, you're gonna take damage from the mouths biting Against Percival that is gonna be a only a Twelve Really is the best. He like knocks it aside It's not grappled, but would have had the same thing He would have yeah, so he's actually holding you to his chest, and it looked like if he grabbed Percival, he would have held him to the back, where there are more mouths.

He's not very nutritious though. Bone marrow! I know! Bone marrow! Eye dog really likes Percival. Oh yeah. We go to, unfortunately I feel it is immediately your turn, at the start of your turn, you take,

oh I think that's very low, you're only gonna take six points of piercing damage. That was a one. So you take six points of piercing damage as you are bit by the mouths of this creature as you are being held close to it. So gross. You are not restrained, you are only grappled

so you don't have disadvantage on any attacks or anything like that, but your speed is currently zero. Faradus, Faradinkum. And you also still feel this like power flowing through you. Yeah, so it doesn't, does that do anything? Does that? You would need to tell me if you, you feel like you could channel it into an attack roll.

So if you were making a cantrip attack roll or a melee attack or a ranged attack, you feel you could channel it into that. Then I shall. Okay. Yeah, I think Ophelia would rage, but as she's raging, maybe that power from the silent energy links with her rage energy and she plunges in

veracity towards this thing, charged with this extra energy. Love that. So you have advantage because you vex this thing. Ah! Okay, nice, nice, nice, 20, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, So I built monsters around them. 15 damage on the first hit. 15 points of damage. Ouch. Going again. Sorry, that is without the extra energy. Can you roll an extra D8 for that first amount of damage?

Lovely, lovely. Six. Do I add my... No, so it's just the, whatever you roll, the dice is added to it. So it's a six. Another six. You then, and it seems to be almost like fire,

but it's not magic. This is like, this is psionic fire. As it flashes this creature, this red energy spilling over its body, it reacts and yeah, it takes the damage from it. Amazing. And then you get your second attack. Natural 20!

Oh! Mother Tracker! I should say that energy is expended in your second attack. Natural 20! Oh! Mother Tracker! Here we go. I should say that energy is expended in the first attack. It's alright, I've still got a Blood Point dice to use, so I will use that for this attack. That does maximize as well, so what are we looking at here? DA and a D6.

DA and a D6, max. That's 14, plus your modifiers. Plus five, and then plus two for the rage. So 14, so... 21. 21 five and then plus two for the rage. So 14, so 21. 21 and then roll the dice. Oh fucking hell, okay 21, 22. 21, 21, 21, 21, 21, 21, 21, 21, 21, 21, 21, 21, 21, 21, 21, 21, 21, 21, 21, 21, 21, 21, 21, 21, 21, 21, 21, 21, 21, 21, 21, 21, 21, 21, 21, 21, 21, 21, 21, 21, 21, 21, 21, 21, 21, 21, 21, 21, 21, 21, 21, 21, 21, 21, 21, 21, 21, 21, 21, 21, 21, 21, 21, 21, 21, 21, 21, 21, 21, 21, 21, 21, 21, 21, 21, 21, 21, 21, 21, 21, 21, 21, 21, 21, 21, 21, 21, 21, 21, 21, 21, 21, 21, 21, 21, 21, 21, 21, 21, 21, 21, 21, 21, 21, 21, 21, 21, 21, 21, 21, 21, 21, 21, 21, 21, 21, 21, 21, 21, 21, 21, 21, 21, 21, 21, 21, 21, 21, 21, 21, 21, 21, 21, 21, 21, 21, 21, 21, 21, 21, 21, 21, 21, 21, 21, 21, 21, 21, 21, 21, 21, 21, 21, 21, 21, 21, 21, 21, 21, 21, 21, 21, 21, 21, 21, 21, 21, 21, 21, 21, 21, 21, 21, 21, 21, 21, 21, 21, 21, 21, 21, 21, 21, 21, 21, 21, 21, 21, 21, 21, 21, 21, 21, 21, 21, 21, 21, 21, Please. You watch as this thing goes from still kind of vaguely healthy as these two blows from a raging aphida. You drive veracity in it, like carving down through this creature's, the mouths in its chest

like split open like sieves. This green, poisonous icker dribbling down its body. As you tear into this thing, it is bloodied, it looks weak, you are fucked this thing up. Yes! If Ophelia's doing that, could she look at Vermilion Orcs Nine and just say, the power of the Grey Father is not inferior.

You will prove to be a valuable asset when your remains are collected. Your trinkets will be an amusing addition to our collection. Not amusing, I'm really cool and scary and deadly. You are still grappled by this thing. It is still alive, so your movement is still zero. Fair enough.

You have used your bone section action, so that's you done, Ophelia. Yeah, I am done, so. Eye dog. Do I see him say that? You see him say that, yeah. We can see him. Who's he talking to?

I mean, you remember that your friends were here. Were? They're just not here. Yeah, but I mean. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Gruff, my dog, is gonna bite you. That I think is gonna miss, though. That is only a 14.

Does not hitch. All right, then it's gonna use a random eye ray upon you. It also, so it's triggered my fire shield, right? Yes. So it's 2DA. Six and a five, 11 points of cold damage. 11 points of cold damage. Yeah, so it bites you, reacts, it immediately learns that this thing is,

oh, I don't want to attack this thing. This thing burns. It kind of backs up almost from you. And then Daisy is actually gonna then shoot an Eye Beam at you. Random Eye Beam. Can you make a wisdom saving throw for me, please? Oh, goody.

14. 14 is a success. Ooh, I'm expected. Just barely. You still take three points of psychic damage, but you feel this overwhelming sense of fear try to break through and like take hold of you, but Nim calmly is like, there is nothing to fear. We have the advantage here.

This thing is wounded, we can take it. And you feel that fear dissipate as you overcome its fear ray. The eye of this thing reminds you of the legends of vaultspawn, like beholders. This eye ray is firing. Alrighty. The eye dog is actually gonna remain there. No, in fact, it is gonna run away

and it's gonna to go after Daisy, so Gruff, you get an attack of opportunity. It's disadvantage. Seven and a six. It's going to be a miss, I think. So, yeah, I don't think it's going to do anything. Yeah, this thing is very quick, nimble. Six, seven, eight, nine, yeah.

Yeah, it's a miss, unfortunately. After iDog, we go to Rowan. Hey! Which one? Which one? Stop trying to be me! Stop trying to be me! No! I'm gonna polymorph you. Okay.

So wisdom saving throw. Would it use Rowan? No, it's fine. Yeah, what'd you polymorph it into? A cat. Okay. Whoosh. Meow.

See, I'm Rowand. You're a cat. Meow. Oh, he's so cute. Meow. Now, that was an action. Yes. Can I speak with the Vermillion Orcs of Nigh?

Speaking's a free action. Okay, I roll the eyes into the back of my head, and I put my arms out, and I say loudly, assuming control of Ascended One's vessel, message for Vermillion, Auxer Nine, weak. Give me a deception check. Oh my god.

I mean it's a great play, it's a great idea. Deception. Yes. What performance? No. No, his performance is very much music based. We've established that Roman is more a musician than a natural motherfucking drill.

Real? Real. Hell yeah. Hell yeah. Neutral motherfucking. Real? Real. Hell yeah. Hell yeah. I witnessed it, it was pure. I'm in a real Brennan moment right now. I'm in a real Brennan moment.

I hate having my shit fucked. I hate fucking shit, bro. Yeah, Vermilion Oxx and I will sort of pause and it's like, relay message. But that'll be, oh yeah. Six seconds, I remember, six seconds. But Vermillionoxx and I believes that you have been taken over by some other force

and you are representing your ascended one. Hell no. Good play. But, does still seem to believe that like, well okay, there's still an opportunity to collect my subjects or something here. But yeah, should I? No, yeah, go on, what's the next step of this, I think,

right, before we move on, because this could change things, so it might change what Oxa does. Hurting or injuring ambassador of Ascended One and allies will come at severe diplomatic cost. There is a pause. Perhaps trade negotiation can be applied. Several of these life forms are of great importance to my Ascended One. Surely an agreement can be reached.

An agreement can be reached. I'm gonna pause the initiative. Oh shit! As Orcs of Nine will hold up a hand to all of the others, any effects, and will in fact, like there is some sort of telepathic message, you are dropped, Ophelia, by the creature. Your effect ends and you can now see everybody's amphias.

I'm back, what's happening? What do you mean? You've been there the whole time. Shh, sh, wait. We desire several of these subjects for experimentation. The ambassador shall be allowed to leave this facility and take two of them. Guys are really struggling here. But you can't, if you talk at any point... If you guys want to do like actions, I will allow it,

but we'll keep the initiative on if something kicks off. Can I connect whispers to the team? You can, absolutely, you can, yeah. Who are you picking? Uh, Rowan, Gruff, me, Xanthius, because he's really interested in you for Cronstall. Okay. Am I allowed to walk over?

I would say, I would say any sort of, right now this is very tense. This is like a deadlock, right? It's like a deadlock. If you look like you're gonna do anything that might either attack him or do something weird, that's probably gonna be like undo what Rowan's doing. What about a little heal?

No, no, no, no, no, no. It's just glitter. It's just glitter. No, no, no. Also, I will make it clear, you are very aware that Oxaline is very knowledgeable of magic and so would absolutely recognize like healing spells or spells and things like that.

So just keep that in mind. But for right now, because this is a very natural performance, like there he believes that this is a real thing that's happening. You've got Whisper of the Actives in your head. But just don't take the piss with it, is what I'm gonna say. You can't have a full blown conversation.

No, no, no, but just to give ruin a... Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Help. Yeah, to give ruin a way to... Please help. We do not agree to this trade. However, there is a valuable asset to both of us in the form of unknown material.

Yes, this material is of great interest. We, there's a moment, the celestial and the mineral, we would accept these as an offering. Don't you do? We have laid claim to all around ambassador that have entered. I'm gonna need another deception check. I'm gonna count you've got one success.

This is only require another deception check. You get a certain number of successes and you might pull this off. There. He's done it again. Another natural 20. Oh my God! Oh, jeez. Are you joking?

He's really not. How many have I rolled this session? Like four? The story wants it to happen, Maurice. You built this fucking thing. Knock that over. I built this. I'm so sorry.

We don't need it. I'm sorry. You haven't even touched the mechanic of how I'm fighting. I'll walk you in a portal. Use it in the future. No, no, don't walk through the, I just want to make it clear that there is. Use it in the future. No, no, don't walk through the, I just wanna make it clear that there is so many mechanics

in this fight. You fucked my shit. Yeah, but this is incredible though. I'm sorry. You here, we were unaware that you had laid claim on the Ascended. Unacceptable. unaware that you had laid claim. Unacceptable. We apologize to the Ascended One

in possession of this form. Perhaps just the mineral. We require some payment for we have suffered many damages by these representatives. Just the mineral, but you have to send the subject alive. I'd like to live, Rowan. We accept apology as part of the trade agreement. The material is extremely valuable.

However, given the circumstances, we wish to have all claimed entities with the Ambassador alive for our needs. You can claim the material. We... I cannot guarantee the subject's survival, but I shall endeavor with my greatest ability to render it resurrectable if necessary. This should be more than sufficient for an ascended one of such power. We concur very well. Subject, present yourself so that this agreement can be reached.

I'm really sorry, this is the best I can do. You're doing so well, Rowan. I will. Did he just roll? He's psychic, isn't he? He's a big psychic boy. Oh, he tried to catch it. Yeah, he tried to hear you little...

Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Oh, daddy's mad. He dice the rolls very high, too, and it rolled very low. That would have been very funny. He honored the roll, it's a fact. I will walk, because I'm currently like down at the bottom of this plinth, right?

I'll walk down towards you. Well, no, if you're down at the bottom of the plinth, you feel a magic spell try to basically be cast on you. I will turn around and look towards Gruff. Do I see that... You can bring me back, right? Do I sense that he's trying to detect the thoughts? Give me a...

Or does Nim detect that, like, based on what's going on, should... I would say Nim would be aware. Nim would say to you, and this isn't through the telepathy, this is like more through the spiritual bond, so you, Nim's like, little one, the others should be aware. I think it may be able to hear us. Cancel the whispers. Okay.

Nobody can do it anymore. Okay, you feel that connection go. But yeah, I'll turn to, like I guess to everyone about looking at Gruff, like you can bring me back, right? Not right now, I need to commune. I need to connect with the spell. Can you make a, the anti, if it's levitate, I think it's,

or actually it would be telekinesis. Make a strength saving throw for me, Xanthias. Does it matter that it's out of the dice tray completely? 12. You feel your body seized by a tele-hope force as Xanthias is lifted up to become level with Oxanine. Gruff, if this thing kills me, you can bring me back, right?

Rowan? Subject. I can stabilize you. We advise you to be silent and still. We know people. We know people. A lot of people. The barrier will disappear as Xanthias' body is floated directly towards Boxer IX.

Can everybody but Tom leave the table? Oh my God. And can you cover your ears and not listen in please? Oh, sorry Tom. I love you boy. I'm sorry for what I've done. G.O.L.I.K. You just stopped this entire fight.

That was incredible. With two nat 20s. That was unbelievable. Just took two nat 20s. Yeah. I love it. I'm sorry. I can't believe it.

As much as I jest, I love it. But, man. Oh. It might not die. Cool. I guess, I'm guessing this thing like twists me around as well. So I'm facing directly towards it. Absolutely.

You are twisted around. Oh, dude. Tom. This is no see thing. How much do you want this to work? Because you have agency in this as well. This is a big part of your character story. So,

Xanthias does. Okay. The Crownsteel doesn't, obviously. So really it's a question of which is stronger, right? Sure. Now, but at the same time, Xanthius doesn't, right? Because it's awakened this power in him.

Let's not worry about Xanthius right now. I am asking Mark, the DM, is asking Tom, his friend, and the player of Xanthius, do you want this to happen? Or do you want there to be a narrative reason that this doesn't work? As a player, not as worrying about the stream. Let's not worry about the stream and the story. You as a player, what do you want to happen here?

Because I think both sides, we can make a cool story, but it's what you want. In terms of still making this a good show, could I answer it, but write it down and only you see it? And then at least... Yeah, yeah, absolutely. Yeah, do you want a piece of paper? I absolutely have an answer.

Well, it's just here, write it on that and then just show it to me. I guess. I very much appreciate the question. Of course, that's what we do. Hang on, let me just walk over to you. Here you go, here you go. I very much appreciate the question. Of course, that's what we do. Hang on, let me just walk over to you. Here you go, here you go. I love this.

Okay. But I do, yeah, thank you for the question. Oh, of course. Let me describe what happens. You float there in front of Oxynine and your body is paralyzed through the force of telekinesis holding you. You watch as you are brought closer and closer

and this robe kind of is shrugged off of Oxxon's shoulders as these nine manipulator hands reach out. The staff begins to carve a beam of energy down towards your chest, and you feel the magic, your own runic magic that keeps this thing from getting out, that stops it infesting your friends and stops it killing you, is disabled. The runes.

The runes. Oh shit. For the first time, since you gained this power, it's like a light has gone out in your entire body. Your skin grows dark and you feel this intense, intense pain in your chest. As you feel yourself begin to die, your heart being pierced by this crown steel.

And you watch as that magic is disabled, the little hands of Oxanine begin to chip and try to dig in and cut the flesh to try and take it away. You feel pulses of healing magic trying to stabilize you, but you don't think it's gonna work. You are pretty sure that this thing is going to kill you. And that's when your mind flashes and you find yourself not in the Plaza of Ashenrest, you float in space, Alfea, a blue, green, gray, swirling mass behind you and directly in front of you,

the broken moon of the crown. You hear a very familiar voice that you heard from the gold-skinned man at the fountain. from the gold-skinned man at the fountain. Mm-hmm. Do you want to be strong? I don't need you. I don't need you to be strong. Without me, you are nothing.

Without me, you are nothing. You cannot have revenge. You cannot survive. But with me, you can be greater than all. No dragon. No proto-magi, no god can stand against us. I think I would like when it says you are nothing without me. Initially there's that flicker of gruff in the caves saying that, you know, saying that I am something without the crown steel.

But then at the mention of this revenge, it's almost like an image of this long golden hallway, this throne room type thing, and at the very end of it this figure, this golden figure. You see more of that figure now, more than you've seen before. They're not a dragonborn or a dragon. There's something otherworldly, but androgynous and human about them. And you see cracks, like they themselves have been broken

and are held together by just this golden light, black and red. You see the remnants of a broken crown on their head. God damn it, they're cool. Is there a moment where there is hesitation? The mention of that revenge, there's just a picture of like these Gildayn hallways and the father that I don't necessarily recognize, but an idea of that would be the thing that would shake. Your time is not done.

The Sovereign will return. Can everyone come back in? This could have gone so many ways, but your answer. What have you done? Hey everyone. I feel like my ear's so hard. Yeah? But I could just hear like Tom's.

Tom's through it, that's fine. Only the loud bits. I have a very piercing voice. Just went right through. Oh man, this is the coolest fucking shit. You all watch as Xanthia's body is lifted into the air and floated towards Oxynine. Oxynine shrugs off their robe of their shoulders and nine manipulator hands extend from their chest.

They raise the staff and a beam of light projects onto Xanthius' body and for the rest of you, you watch as the runes that are almost always now present somewhere on his body wink out. His body goes dark. There is no sound. Xanthius' face is frozen in pain, but no sound escapes. As Oxenline begins to cut and dig with these manipulite hands into his chest, busts of healing, trying to salvage what he can, as they begin to try and carve away at the flesh to extract the crown steel. And you think it's working. You think that he seems to be making progress,

the manipulite hands extend and grip. And then something happens. The Crownsteel does something you have never seen it do before. Xanthius still frozen in his expression as the Crownsteel begins to glow with a golden radiance that becomes so blinding you cannot see.

You hear Oxaline, no! And when that light fades, a smoldering corpse of just Oxaline's lower half is left. A great crack in the wall of the prism is now spreading. Shhhhhh. The two experiments just clutch their heads and roll to the floor, moaning and weeping as everything begins to crumble and break.

Stone begins to fall down. Ophelia and Percival, make a dexterity saving throw for me, please. Fucking hell. So is Ophelia and Percival make a dexterity saving throw for me please. Fucking hell. So as Ophelia gets planted. Yes. Thank you. 19 for Ophelia.

What the fuck? Percy gets 10. Percival takes 10 points of bludgeoning damage as a huge chunk of crystal falls down. He manages to maybe help you get out of the way, but part of him is crushed. The rest of you see more pieces of crystal falls down. He manages to maybe help you get out of the way, but part of him is crushed. The rest of you see more pieces begin to fall down. The corridor behind you has seemingly opened up,

but the vault is breaking. You see it collapsing and smashing and breaking. What do you guys do? I'm running towards Xanthius immediately. Yeah, you run towards Xanthius. Is he still floating? No, he falls to the ground unconscious. Am I allowed to run as he's falling?

I would say he hits the ground hard, but you run to his body. I would Feather Fall if I saw him fall. You Feather Fall him and then Gruff manages to catch him. So Gruff and Rowan, you've done something. Daisy, what do you do? I run down the corridor towards where the orbs are to try and get ready to grab the green orb

when everyone's out. Okay, so Daisy leaves this room, basically. I'm gonna put you up here for now. Ophelia and Percival, what do you guys do? Yeah, Ophelia grabs Percival's hand. We need to run! Percy, let's go! So you're running down to the entrance as well.

With your movement, you can easily get outside. Gruff and Rowan, I need you both to make dexterity saving throws. Xanthius, you're gonna automatically fail, but I will allow Gruff. I would give you a choice, Kim. Gruff can fail the saving throw automatically and protect Xanthius so he doesn't take any damage,

or you can make the saving throw to try and protect yourself. What's he looking like? Oh, unconscious, not dead, right? You are at zero hit points. Okay, okay, okay. Can I, can I? I'm worried I had to check that. I'll fail the throw, that's a given.

Okay. Can I cast Cure Wounds on him? I would say right now no, because there is an immediate threat, but perhaps as you get him out after this, perhaps. And does his chest look? So you see the runes are flickering back on, and they are almost,

they're now beginning to seal up the Crown's deal. It's a good point. Make a constitution saving threat form, please. Oh, fuck. Yeah, no, it's- It is con we use for you, isn't it? When we do your checks. I believe it is.

I'm almost certain it's constitution. Pretty, yeah. Yes, constitution saving throw, please, rough. 19. 19. No, sorry. 22. 22.

You feel the power of this thing. Like, you remember that sort of presence when you were near Crown Steel and you know you didn't notice it you were carrying such a small piece. This piece that's in his chest is it's like it's something has happened to it and you feel this this power but it's the runes seal over it and then that is cut off immediately. But you grab him you take 10 points of bludgeoning damage as another piece of stone and crystal slams into your shoulder but you cover Xanthius' body and then you begin dragging him up and away.

Rowan, what'd you get on your side? 22. 22, you dodge to the side as part of the corridor collapses in, making that gap now smaller. As Gruff and Xanthius, you begin to drag the body. You can cast Cure Ruins on Xanthius if you would like. Um. I'm worried I might have been Wisdom.

We'll check it. I have even more points to that. Okay, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. I have, yeah, I would have been up to 27 or something. Um. Level four. I have one last level four from the shrine. Okay.

You can restore hit points. Xanthus does not regain consciousness. Yep, yep, yep, yep. He's unconscious mentally. Do you want me to roll? It's eight D8 plus four. Yeah, definitely roll it. It makes it, something might happen to you.

Those of you, Daisy, Ophelia, and Percy, as you guys are running to the corridor, Daisy, you get outside. The door is open, like the corridor is open, the orbs are there, ready to be taken. Ophelia, as you're running down, part of that corridor is gonna try and collapse. You, Daisy, and Puss will make another

dexterity saving throw for me, please. Can I try to like, bolster up some of the corridor, like rage and stand under it, try and hold it open? I would say you can do that, but you will automatically fail the saving throw. That's fine. OK. Yep, absolutely. Oh, OK.

25. You succeed and you have evasion, so you take no damage, Daisy. Eight, two, eight, three, eight. What's three times eight? 16, 24. 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31. 31 points.

What do we get on Percy's saving three? Saving three. 19, yeah, 20, you two. He succeeds, he's fine, he dodges out of the way. You take another 10 points of bludgeoning, half to five, because you're raging, as Ophelia is now standing, sort of like holding parts of this corridor up

as the corridor itself is beginning to collapse. This chamber, Gruff, Rowan, you see this whole chamber is collapsing. That crack spreads out, and as it breaks, the whole room begins to cave in. The three of you, you dragging Xanthas' body, hobble your way, Ophelia holding up the corridor, you manage to get outside to where Daisy is waiting.

You can see that even in this chamber, the walls are no longer flashing color, they are just a dead, dull gray. Green orb? Green orb. Center thing? There is a moment where nothing happens, and then it like,

and a faint green light kind of falls in. Everybody in! There is a moment where nothing happens, and then it like, thw? Come on, hurry! Can we get out? Can we leave? As you guys rush towards them, I need everybody to make one final dexterity saving throw for me. Again, Xanthius will automatically fail this, but he is, so you're gonna just protect him, okay? Can I cast... Spare the dying on Xanthius.

You can. Spending an action will prevent you from being able to dodge out of the way of any debris. I've just done a big old heal. Alright. That's fine. And it is Danger Sense. You see it coming. What do we get there? 23. Again, you take no damage. You dodge out of the way just nimbly like... Nym almost guiding, giving you graceful steps as you do. You automatically fail 10 points

of bludgeoning damage to Gruff. Would my shield of, armor of Okenthorn give me the temp six for casting Cure Wounds? It would have technically, yes, yeah. Feedy got 22, Percy got 11. Percival's gonna take another 10 points of bludgeoning damage. Rowan. 16.

16 is just barely enough. You manage to, as it falls to the ground, Percival now like cracked his bones or broken and sort of stumbling. But you get to the group of the survivors that you rescued earlier. You make your way into that lattice-like egg. What do you guys do?

Rowan, the stone! Can we get everybody in here? I don't know. I don't know how it works. Red orb. Can't get everybody in. Red orb. Red light.

That's how we came in, maybe that's the way we go out. I have a green orb. You can fit, you can fit. Well there was the other two orbs up there. Could I have taken them with me? I will say yes. If, yeah. I would have imagined that you would have just

grabbed all three. Grab, yeah. Red orb? There's an orange orb. It's orange. Oh shit, it's orange. You can fit four people in the light lattice work that was the entrance.

You remember that from when you came in, it could only fit four people. Can I start casting elementalism like I did when I tried to come in? Red light. Yeah. I will. Okay, you cast Elementalism.

Nothing's happening. Well, I'm assuming none of you are stood in it. Like they're all crowding around waiting to be told what to do. Oh, four people in, four people in! Rowan, Xanthius. No, get them in first. Okay.

Okay, yeah, you shove like the four woodsmen in. As soon as they step on it, they sort of step on it, there is like a flicker of power, and then they disappear. We know how to do the red. The corridor where you came in is breaking down and is completely collapsing now. There is nothing beyond it.

A few seconds go by. What do you do next? How many of them are left? There were nine, so there's five left. So, we've left them four. nine, so there's five left. Four. So, I just do another four. She sends another four in, like the farmer, the son,

and Theravall will actually shove his lady in with them, and she's like, no! And as soon as she steps in, the four of them vanish. Everyone around me, remaining people around me. Three, four, five, six, seven. What about Pascal as well? What about Pascal? Pascal and Theravall are left. Yeah? Pascal and Theravall are left.

That's true, yeah, Pascal and Theravall are left. And then there's eight total people, including us. I've got the Rune Stone of Hearth and Home. Me and up to eight people can be teleported with it. Okay. You try the Rune Stone. Yeah. You are not on the material plane right now.

Oh, you are in a dead end. It's not working. Send four through, there's two. As you try and do that, the corridor collapses again. Rowan, take Xanthius, Pascal, and... No, one of you go, you save me. Take Xanthius. A lot going on.

How many of those are left? Eight total. You need to pick now. Uh, not me. I will stay. Xanthius. Yeah, Xanthius out, not me. Uh, I'll go with Xanthius to make sure Percy comes out.

Yes. Right, so if Xanthius Ophelia step onto it, there's two more. Who's going? Pascal and... Pascal. Theravar won't go. He won't go? He's waiting. Oh, get on then. Yeah, he'll be like, go, go, go. Yeah.

I'll go with Xanthias, I've got the only chance at least. Those four vanish. Those of you who are left, I need a dexterity saving throw as this chamber collapses as you dash for that platform. There is one point of fate left. I'm gonna in fact, for everything that's happened, I'm gonna just burn my fate, it's not there.

Everything that's happened. But there is one fate point. Can I do something like cast a spell or something? If you do, you will take damage. Yeah, this is Percy. And this is the whole, there is a chance that this will break the system that gets you in and out. Use the food, are you guys okay?

If you fail this, there is a chance you might not get it. I think she's gonna fail regardless of fate. Is it anything? Yeah. I was just wondering if I could use wild shape to turn into the biggest shape I know to try and hold You can do that? The wall up.

Sure. Hold it up. I'll let you try that, yeah. I don't know what the biggest shape is though, so I don't know what's breaking... But also keep in mind, like, a bigger shape means you're not going to be able to talk about that space. Like, I will tell you this, Gruff, if you don't get on that platform right now, you are gone.

And it's not your... Like, Gruff will no longer be playable in this campaign. OK. Where did you get on that platform? So it's Gruff, Percy, Rowan, and Tharavile. Yeah. Okay. I got a 16.

16? I got a 21. 21? Okay, what did Percy get? Percy got a nine. Percy got a nine. You may as well try the fate, then. I have tried the fate.

I have with fate. That was with fate, so you burned the fate. Okay. You watch as all of you jump on, Tharaval is like, something like hits his leg and you hear like a tearing rip. Percival reaches out, but he's basically the last one as he's reaching.

You see his whole back being crushed, he reaches in, gets the heart and puts it into Rowan's hands as his whole back being crushed. He reaches in, gets the heart, and puts it into Rowan's hands, as his whole body is crushed. Fuck. Oh, I got the thing at least. Oh no. You escape.

There is a cry of blood as this Durgar, this Theravall, his leg has been completely ripped off, and he is unconscious at zero hit points, just bleeding out. But you escape. And he's with us. Yes, Percival's bones are not, but Rowan, you hold this black wooden heart in your hands.

And with that, Xanthiusias in your mind you would In the city of the emperor, your dragon emperor, you will find a piece of my prison. Find it, consume it, and what you desire shall be. And that is where we end today's episode. I'm the good guy. I'm the good guy, guys.

What have you done? I am gonna defend Thomas here. No, no, no. Because this whole thing was not expected. That was not an accusation. That was a what have you done? Maybe Tom didn't do anything. I don't want an answer.

I don't want an answer. I'm not gonna watch back. I'm not gonna, I don't wanna know.. I'm not gonna watch back, I'm not gonna, I don't wanna know. What happened happened. It was cool as hell. It was cool as hell. I can't believe that troll.

That was amazing. That was incredible. That was so good. That was really good. That was so good. I mean, it was just such a good idea. Such a good idea. It was an incredible idea.

You rolled the shit out of it. I'm so sorry. No, don't be sorry at all. Like this is what the game is about. I love that. That was amazing. That just turned into the cool thing. And honestly, that just forced me to come up

with some fucking cool shit that is fucking rad. All right, all right. Like, oh dude. Yeah, please also realize audience that Mark came up with that, Steve's heads. On the fly. That's how we do. That's heads. On the fly. That's what we do.

That's how we're gonna do it. That's what we do. And the fucking noise it made when that burst of light just demolished it was so, oh god. So let me, this is not a peek behind the curtain, but I will remind you all that pretty much all of you, save Ophelia, you know the story of what is known as the Equinox War, the battle between the protomagai and Sovereign and the gods.

And you know what wiped out the protomagai was something called the Bright Storm. And it was Sovereign's power that annihilated the protomagai. And there is something of that blinding golden radiance that delivers unto you a reminder of that story. That is such a perfect consequence. This boy can fit so much Bright Storm in him. Yeah, you can.

Oh, before we finish up, I just wanna confirm, the family's dead, right? Did they make it out? Because it would have crumbled! So maybe they made out! Oh no! Are they unleashed? They're in a mirror.

They would have had to go past all of the like... No, they just fell out the bottom. How much fate did I burn? All of it? You said all of it! Five, five times. Five? One for each member? Well, I will also say that the family,

yeah, you think about the family. There was also that Prismatic Door, Project Chimera. Yeah, that's good, yeah. If the family got out, so did maybe whatever was in there. My T-Rex was shot. I will also, one thing I want to say is, I did check with Tom, there was a big question about agency and what Tom wanted as a player,

as well as what Xanthias wanted as a character. Of course. And that is a big discussion was had about that, of course. Exactly, let me trust you guys. But yeah, honestly, wow. I can't believe that. As a point, like, don't worry about this, but just as a thing, you can get in the portals,

you get the shield is green, so you get the blue and the yellow, you attack the shield, it disables the shield. Oh, now you can deal damage to him. He's got a bunch of, and then when the shield comes back, there's other effects. I was gonna drain the entire area of color, so you didn't know which colors were what,

and you had to figure it out. You know what, we should save all this. I want to room by room explore this vault in a behind the screen sort of thing where we can just talk about this entire thing. We can absolutely do that. But we got out and Percival's heart is still intact so we can rebuild.

Yeah, well with that. Some big choices. We'll have to find another body. And as a point, on those last saving throws, it was gonna basically be a major consequence to whoever failed. So, for Gruff and Rowan, it would have been either like loser limb or like a permanent injury

or something like that. Like Theravel got... Basically, exactly that, right? And Percival was just destroyed, but obviously can still live on with the heart. But if you hadn't gone into the portal, like if you tried to do what you did, Gruff, it was gonna be just a like,

no, that is, you are done, like that's it, character dead. Like non-resurrectable character gone. That would have been a major consequence of that. But you guys pressured it, you rushed out, you put all the NPCs first, like good true heroes. But yeah. I didn't initially. Which is very cool. Minus the one who literally would leave.

Yeah, yeah. I'm just saluting my boy Percy. Yeah, yeah. RIP, F's in chat. Percy mark one. Well, yeah, Percy one. Mark two, to be honest. That was like the upgraded.

Titanium next. He better be. It's like Jarvis being, it comes back. It's gonna be the vision. He was the best of us. Does Serum come back in metal? You sent that bird to die down a hole. I made a mistake!

Right, with that, that is the end of today's episode. What a fucking episode. What an ending to the vault. To the first protomagic vault. What an ending. That's only the first one. That's the first one. Well, second one.

Well, kind of, yeah. Well, 1.5. Yeah, we'll do it again. But yeah only the first one. That's the first one. Well, second one. Well, kind of, yeah. Well, 1.5. Yeah, we'll do it again. But yeah, very cool sharing. Chris Trott. Well done, Trott. Thank you. Well done, Tom.

Good rolling dice. Well done, Mark. I can only do that. And cool idea. To be honest, even if you just rolled high as the idea, it still probably would have done something. Yeah, it was a solid idea. Yeah, because I can't believe it.

It's like- It's only come up in great ideas in a great environment, so. The dice knew, man. The dice knew. They were like, oh, that's a really cool idea. 20. 20. I can't believe it. Great ideas and a great environment. The dice knew, man. The dice knew. They were like, oh, that's a really cool idea. 20. Different 20s as well.

I did that one and then you picked this one. I think that was like your third or fourth as well for this session. Yeah, it was. Oh, for God. Amazing. There you go. Right.

We got some messages to read. We got to finish up. That's going to be it for the episode. We're going to read out some messages now. Thank you all so much. We'll see you next time for more Hyrollers. See you next be it for the episode. We're gonna read out some messages now. Thank you all so much. We'll see you next time for more Hyrollers. See you next time. Bye. Bye.

Oh my god, bye.