The Adventure Zone - The Adventure Zone Royale: Episode 11

Episode Date: October 23, 2025

The Trial of Evocation, Part IFour of the massive elementals battle for glory and prizes – but the reward for last-place is death. Royale Theme: “Wizard Disco” by Louie Zong: https://louiezong.bandcamp.com/album/wizard-discoOriginal Music by Griffin McElroyAdditional Music in this Episode:  "Unforeseen Consequences (Remastered)" by Techthiest: https://techtheist.ru; "Simple Song" by Jar of Flies: https://jaroffliesofficial.bandcamp.com/; "Touchpoint" by Jason Shaw: https://audionautix.com/; and "Redemption" by Scott Holmes Music: https://scottholmesmusic.com/.Border Angels: https://www.borderangels.org/ Happy MaxFunDrive! Right now is the best time to start a membership to support your favorite shows. Learn more and join at https://maximumfun.org/jointaz

Previously, on Taz Royale, Aspirants, you are now in direct control of the elemental you have evoked. To the east, you see a towering tree. You recognize it as a Christmas tree. To the northeast, you see a two-story ranch-style house. And then to the north, you see the water team, the Titanic. Every once after you all, the other teams came to my eights and convinced to gang up, hide in the trees. Hide in the trees.

But if everybody agrees to be cool and work with us, I can help and let you go. Well, now, it seems we've got a fair fight on our heads. Welcome back to Taz Royale. We are in the throes of the finale of the trial of evocation. Our evokeymon are fighting. Your evocemon are dueling to the death. Only one team will die. Everybody's first, guys.

What's that, Juse? Every episode could be somebody's first. Yeah. I hope not. This is like a narrative. We're really assuming a lot here. So if we could back. And every episode could be somebody's finale.

That's right, Dad. We should try to have a satisfying conclusion. At the end of every episode. A satisfying beginning and ending. Man. Now, to be fair, Justin, they might just not like us anymore. That's entirely possible. I just want a bunch of people who have stopped listening because they're like,

I could have swore that was the end. It was so satisfying. To set this stage, our four evocamon are currently battling it out on the Isle of the Octave Ziggurat. You all embodying the elemental swamp thing, a 25-foot-tall, goopy, mucky, swampy, creature, have found yourselves aligned with the Christmas tree elemental, the team comprised of Hastie Jane, Rickus's good buddy, as well as gunk, Dr. Legume, and Burger Man. You two are squaring off. Burger Man is one I've been trying to shoehorn it.

Like, every time you roll to see which NBC you interact with, I always pray it's Burger Man, but he is remaining in the shadows so far. You are squaring off against two elementals. One, a big old house. The house has been created and occupied by the gladiators, rays, days, haze and blaze. And they are joined by the fucking Titanic, a giant metallic living ship, which has been created and embodied by a few wizards you haven't met, Oregon, Hilda, and Enigma, and one that you have run afoul of a couple times already here on the island, the gentleman from Wisbury. So we have the house in the Titanic versus the Christmas tree and the swamp thing. Tale is oldest time.

Tale is old as time. Natural, natural predators. Christmas tree is a bit banged up, largely because of you. They were trying to join in the ambush against you until you, I mean, hurt them really bad and then convince them to join your side. And so that is, everybody else's house is a little banged up, Titanic's a little banged up. I think Swamp Thing has not been hurt yet. So you also spent most of the last episode hiding. Well, don't say it like that.

It was a really good strategy. I was really proud of you. So next in the order is the Christmas tree. They size up the Titanic in the house, and they realize, like, the house is going to be much easier to defeat. Just a reminder of the stakes, the first team to be eliminated, it will perish. The other three teams will receive sort of rewards based on how they place from there. So nobody really wants to go out first here. With that in mind, the Christmas tree is going to charge for. towards the house and shoots out a few tendrils of garland. I'm going to roll a D20 on the table here

as they try to ensnare it. That is a seven. They are unsuccessful. They smash out a few windows with their with their tendrils as they attempt to wrap it up to weaken it. But they are unsuccessful. All the damage that they have done appears to be purely cosmetic. Next up is the Titanic. Noticing that the Christmas tree is a bit weaker, I think they are going to go for them, just based on the strategy of no one wants to go out first. Everyone wants to kill someone before they themselves get off the Titanic. Do they take an opportunity attack if they moved by us?

Who moved by you? Oh, you know what? Yeah, you're right. In order to reach the Christmas tree, they are going to have to wander by the swamp thing. I will let you roll that opportunity attack since it was your idea, Travi. I guess just the basic attack of Swamp thing here is the... That's a 19 on the dice.

Great job, Trave. Thank you. Yes, it's a 19 plus 8 for the Tindral lash. So go ahead and roll 2D8 plus 5 bludgeoning damage. Yeah, 13 on the dice. Ooh, boy. So 13 plus 5. they are going to take 18 points of damage.

You also, with a tindral lash, they have the grappled condition. So their speed is going to be reduced to zero, and they have disadvantage on attack rolls against any target other than the grappler. So strategic change here. You hear the gentleman from Wisbury sort of psychically project out, oh, okay, I see how it is. You want to

A tete-a-tete, a duel? I like my odds. He is going to try to drop the anchor of the Titanic directly onto the head of Swamp Thing. This is a plus eight roll. Yes, 14 plus eight is going to hit the AC of... Swamp Thing's AC is 17.

So yes. You take... 21 points of bludgeoning damage. Okay. Mark on the token on this big tabletop we're playing on. And I guess that's the end of his journey. Can't save because that's an action to try to break out of grappling, I believe. Next in the order is the house.

Can we talk to the house? Sure. I guess through psychic. Talking as a free action, absolutely. Hey, gladiators, I know that. like we haven't like hung out or anything, but real quick, just to kind of like get you guys on the same page of where we are in the situation, even if like you guys take one of us out first, the Titanic team is just going to turn around and knock you out, right?

Like their goal is to get the gold. But if the three of us were to take them out, it's a pretty even match as to which one of us would get gold, right? That doesn't really sound sporting. Three on one? This is days, by the way. That's what you were going to do before. Oh, yeah, that's a good point.

This is Hayes. He's got you there. You do have actually a pretty good point there. But did you see how big and heavy he is? This is Blaze, by the way. Did you see how big and heavy? How are we going to kill a ship? That's crazy.

I think it would probably be smart for us to focus on the weaklings first, so then we can engage in honorable combat. That doesn't sound honorable. Like, you heard it, right? I did hear it. Make a, make a persuasion check here. In order to convince them to fully change sides.

Well, that's a three, Griffin. Yeah. Three plus one, it's a four. If that makes any difference. Sorry. There's nothing honorable about going back against an agreement, and we had an agreement with Titanic first. I get that.

Yeah, I understand. But the seeds of doubt have been sown. Not on a four, dad. That's not on a four. If anything, the seeds of certain- Fallow ground, my man. Deep roots. Okay, they are going to,

you see the house sort of unnaturally bend at its midsection and a... That's a foundation issue. You got to get that checked. You got to. A burst of flame shoots out of its chimney towards the Christmas tree.

There's a 13 plus 6, a 19, which almost certainly hits a tree. Yes. Okay. And, okay, the Christmas tree takes 19 points of fire damage. They are back to bloodied. You see some of the ornaments starting to fall and shatter to the ground off of the Christmas tree. No, baby's first Christmas broke.

Start to sag. And we are back to the top of the order, which is... The popcorn's on fire. No. Swamp thing is up. Now, I believe Rixus was last to pilot, so we will. I don't think it's very interesting

for me to take a turn as Scorpo. Well, what would you do, Griffin? As Scorpo? You know. What does Scorpo do? You hear Scorpo psychically say, well, hell, grammont, you tell bugs what to do, right?

So what do you want me to do? I would suggest that you use your sting on the feet of the house. He looks down at the nasty feet of this two-story house and says, you want me to sting its big feet? It's a big nasty feet. Yes, you have a, you have a sapping sting, do you not? Yeah, yeah, I guess so Because if you can attack the feet

I have an idea for The rest of it Okay If I ever get another turn It's a little bit gross I don't know my tail's gonna reach it So he is going to tindreel lash at the house's feet And

It gets a dirty 20 So you see him whip his lash around the feet, dealing 10 points of damage to the house. Who is not quite bloodied yet. And then for the next action here uses reel. The sewer thing pulls each creature grappled by it up to 20 feet straight toward it. That includes the Titanic and the house. So it just kind of pulls them both away from the Christmas tree into range. of you or something.

Okay, you have both of your opponents sort of bound up here. Next to me order is the Christmas tree. You hear Hasty Jane say, hold them still! And they are going to launch a volley of pine needles at your two opponents. They get a five and a one on their decks saves.

They are both going to take 15 points of piercing damage. With that, some of the siding is starting to peel off of the house. Almost all the windows are broken. The house is in pretty rough shape. The Titanic is going to try to break grapple. That is, wow, they have a... Oh, is at the start of its turn?

It is. It needs to make a constitution saving throw to avoid taking the damage from being close to the swamp thing, because we have toxic aura. Oh, fuck yeah. Like one of those friends that only talks about themselves and doesn't like let the other person vent their things. That's our toxic aura. They have immunity from poisoned status.

Oh, no, and they also have immunity from poison. They are a big boat. Yeah, that's fair. Hard to poison a boat. Hard to poison a boat. That's always been my experience. God knows I've tried. Okay, so this is a string saving throw 21.

They are going to break grapple. And they are just going to try. charge full steam ahead into team Christmas tree here. I mean, was that Titanic's turn, or were they just escaping the grapple? Breaking Grapple is the action, and he's going to move away. This is another opportunity attack, Dad, why don't you roll this one? He's going to try and move towards the Christmas tree just to kind of, like, get out of range of swamp thing. So this will be a D20, Dad plus eight, I believe.

Okay. that would be 10 plus 8 18. Does an 18 hit the Titanic? It does not. Wow. Oh, boy. Yeah, the Titanic has an AC of 19, which is very good,

because otherwise he was going to be stuck in a pretty gnarly loop there of being pulled back in over and over and over again. Can you tell me about the feet of the Titanic, Griffin? The feet of the Titanic, it doesn't appear to have any visible feet. As it moves, it kind of like carves a trench through the earth. It does not seem to be anthropomorphized quite as much as the house was.

What method of ambulation does it seem to be employing? Magic. Okay. Here you go. Okay. Great. So it's just so the house, can I just get, I just wanted to ask her for it. Yeah.

The house needed feet to walk around. Yeah, for whatever reason, the house got feet and no one else really did. I just wanted to see there's an internal logic here that I just want to absorb myself in for future historians to have some reference. It's like a Baba Yaga hut. It is sort of like a Baba Yaga hut. The Baba Yaga.

Is Keanu Reeves in the house? Have we looked? What do you mean? Like the Baba Yaga? Obviously, you have not watched the recent ballerina movie as I did on a flight, Travis. I don't think anyone's watched a recent ballerina movie, Dad.

I did on a plane. Except you. Except you. Yeah. I will say I saw John Wick in waiting for Goddow. That is where he is. I'm so fucking jealous that you got to see that, man. Um, okay, so, uh, the house you see.

Waiting for dog. Oh. Like, has the dog in John Wick? Yeah. Yeah. So the lights start to flicker inside of the house. Uh-huh. Beckett would have loved that, Travis.

Thank you. You. feel a pulse of necrotic energy channel through this house. And because you have it sort of ensnared, it's not going to spend its action trying to break out. It is going to attack you with this. Now it does need to make a con save, right? Or is it also immune to poison? Let's see, let's see, let's see.

No, yep, it does need to make con save. Because you can poison a house. You can absolutely poison a house. Oh, yeah, that's when the love goes. That is a 19. That was really good. Many episodes is a house about it. Pretty good role.

Just frequently poisoned. So it is going to cast inflict wounds. Wait, a house sounds just like homes. Whoa! Whoa! It's a Sherlock story, but a doctor. Oh, that's not very good. Six plus eight, 14 is not going to hit Swamp Thing.

It's any partial damage? No. Okay, yeah, you see it, try to do something spooky, and nothing happens. You hear a voice say, oh, man, this is kind of like dark magic isn't really our stuff. Why did we make a fucking haunted house? This is so stupid. This is Ray's, by the way. Shit.

Hi, Ray's. Hey. All right, back to Swamp Thing. And now, Hell, Gramet, you are. You do have, obviously, teamwork is encouraged here, but you do have the final saving at the top of the initiative order. And it also needs to make a con saving throw for being in golf. Is it engulfed? Engulf is an action, I think.

Engulf is not an automatic delio. Yeah, that is something you do on your turn. You have not engulfed. The only thing you engulfed was, yes, right. Okay. And we do have access to our own magic, right? You do have access to your own magic. It does not, as you've discovered in the last episode, it doesn't quite scale.

So, you know, the bugs you create will be the size of the bugs you would create as hellgrammit. but you do have access to all of your spells, yes. Okay, in comparison, I know it's a big house, but is it bigger than a normal house? It is a two-story ranch-style home. Okay. Then I cast swarm on it. Okay. And I'm going to shoot a whole mess of termites through its open mouth.

That's very good. I like that, actually, a whole bunch. lunch. What level are you casting the spell at? I am casting infestation. I guess, say eight. He doesn't know. No, it has to be first level because it doesn't scale up until I hit level five. You reach fifth level, yes, because this is a cantrip and cantrip scale with the wizards level and not with the spell slot level. Okay, right. But I would also, but if I may, and I know this is bending a little bit. Would you not say that being infested with term...

Oh, for sure. No, I like the termite thing a lot. It is... You're going to make an attack roll, or is this a... No, con save for them, okay? This is... Their con save is pretty good. Termites is a very fun idea, very gnarly.

I'm going to say you cast this... It'll be 3D6 instead of just 1D6. Okay. If they fail their save. Con save plus six. Ooh. Ooh. I mean, that's pretty good. 23.

Oh, yeah. That beats the 13. It's quite good. Here's what I'll say. No damage dealt, but the house does seem to be quite distracted by the bugs. You hear the sort of frenzied, panicked conversation of these four almost identical gladiator voices. as these bugs start to climb around inside of it. You didn't deal any damage with this attack,

but they are, I mean, they are grappled by you. They are very distracted by these bugs. They are in a bad sort of way. Next in the order is the Christmas tree. Christmas tree is, what can they do? Are you asking me? Oh, oh, oh, oh, needles on the ground. Did you have it written down somewhere?

Are you asking? Yes, Travis did as a child get a pine needle in his foot for a long time. Okay, they are going to use flaying leaves, or I guess needles, launching a barrage of razor sharp, cold iron needles from its branches. Did I ever say you guys after that I was able to hear the thoughts of pine trees? Did I mention that? I did not know that. Yeah.

Okay, all three of the competitors here are within range of this attack. Everybody is going to make a dexterity saving throw, trying to beat a DC-15. Even us? Yes, even you. Who's next? Laura, let's you roll the Dex Save for Swamp thing. Your Dex Save here is only plus one, so you need to get a 14 or higher.

I'll just roll a 20 here, yeah. Titanic fails. The House succeeds. I roll the 7. Okay. This one is 8. So, there's just this huge, storm of

sharp needles that come flying into your swampy body. Holy shit. Jesus Christ. What? Okay. The Titanic is, the deck of it is barraged by these needles.

You see chairs, furniture that was up there come flying off. The house... The deck chairs, they're completely rearranged from how they were before. Oh, man.

Tell me. It seems futile, but for some reason, it's working. And a bunch of the other deck chairs, somebody's already put their towels on them to reserve them, so we can't use them. Yeah, brutal. That's bad. The house sort of clumps down to the ground and plants its foundation and only takes half damage from the attack, but the house is still looking pretty rough.

You all take the full brunt of it because you are sort of in this exact moment so focused on keeping the house all tied up. You take 34 points of piercing damage. And you are bloody deer at 37 hit points out of 92. You hear the voice, you hear Burger Man say, Sorry about that. I thought you guys were out of the way. Eat shit, Burger Man.

Okay. And... Eat shit, Burger Man. Just a quick rundown. Now that I realize you all can't see the health of all of these tokens. Titanic is still above half health. The Christmas tree is just below half health.

You saw it starting to wilt a bit. The house looks really bad. The house looks quite rough. All of its windows busted out, siding hanging off. And you, as Swamp Thing, like, you can feel it becoming harder and harder to kind of move your, like, all of the swamp that makes up your body. it's getting harder and harder to move it all along with you. Parts of it are just kind of like sloughing off as you go. Okay.

Next in the order is the Titanic. Seeing that its house friend is kind of on the ropes is going to make a kind of desperate play here. You see the Titanic just sort of start to lean and fall over onto the Christmas tree, trying to crush it beneath its massive weight. Oh, ma'am. And rolls a. 29. What?

The 29. How? How to do that? An 18 plus 11 is a 29. Wow. Yes, you should be able to see these rolls in the dice log. I don't know if they're showing up publicly. Yeah, it's just real big.

Well, wait till you hear about this, man. That is 3D12 plus 7. They got a 10, a 12, and 11 on the dice rolls. That is 40 points of bludgeoning damage. They are now pinned underneath of the Titanic. And you see the top of the Christmas tree has snapped, like, completely off and rolled a few feet away. Now the Christmas tree is definitely the most injured of all of the things here. And the house, I think, knowing that it's either probably the house or the Christmas tree at this point,

they are both at their weakest, is going to try to make an attack roll against the Christmas tree to finish it off. However, you do have it grappled. And so it will have disadvantage on this attack roll. Oh, wow, they rolled a five and a five. Plus five is ten.

Neither of those attacks are going to do it. Knowing that... It needs to make a constitution saving throw if the house does. Constitution saving throw for the poison, yes. Thank you. You're welcome. It's just like our main thing.

You know. Sure. 18. Yeah. So I believe you can save. Okay. You now hear the voices of the gladiators. We're back to the top of the order. It is a swamp thing and it is Loravith kind of at the head.

You hear, hey. So actually, now that we think about it, the four of us have been talking. This is days. And we think it would actually be a great idea for the three of us to team up. against the Titanic. That sounds great. We, and it would be a great contest.

And is this, is Loravith on that team? Hmm. Seems very convenient now, doesn't it? Loravith, we talked to your buddy and, um, he said that you were like,

this is Hayes, by the way, he said that you were like a really honorable warrior, uh, yeah, type. So, uh, yes,

I offer, I think it is the, They are only honorable to offer a partnership once. Okay. Okay. So, buddies. You are up, Loravith. I'm gonna, I'm gonna, uh, is there a window within reach?

Oh, yeah, for sure. All the windows are busted out. I'd love to, they're all busted out. I'm gonna punch in one of the windows. Okay. I really just, I'm, I'm not interesting anymore. Okay. You have a, uh, a multi-attack.

You make two things. and can use in golf. So roll a D20 is going to be plus eight. The number you are trying to beat, I will tell you, is 14. Okay, so I got 17 plus 825. Yes, absolutely. You are going to roll damage. That is going to be 2D8 plus 5.

That is 7 plus 5. Okay. That is the first attack done. What else? I'll go ahead and just How are they looking after that first attack? The lights are starting to flicker off as if there is a

Like the fucking Torkelsons going to bed Like one by one the lights are starting to click off In the house they're looking real bad House Yeah Do you yield Absolutely All right second attack goes right

At the hole of the Titanic Oh shit And it's majestic figurehead, the classic beautiful mermaid that we all know at the front of the titan. You know the figurehead or the mermaid. Perfect, beautiful, busty mermaid at the front of the Titanic that we all love. Okay. Plus eight. You're trying to beat a 19.

Roll a D20 for me. A five. It takes pretty bad role to not win when you got an extra eight. Yeah. But a five is going to do. it and it doesn't feel too great. You're vine. You try to punch Titanic right in its juggie front.

Now you embarrass yourself and you look like quite a jerk. Oh, good save. You guys remember the old days back in episode 10 when we rolled really, really good? So good. Those were really good. Okay, as part of the multi-attack, you can make two attacks and use in golf. Your second attack against the Titanic bounces harmlessly off of the hull.

You hear the house say, So you're going to let us go? Yeah, I'm not addressing the house. The house is yielded. I don't know why I have to speak to House anymore. The house is it to the death? Is that what it has to be? Yeah.

I mean, must it? The first team to be eliminated dies. That is the, those are the stakes of the game. Must we? I'm asking you. I'm yelling. I'm yelling. now. Swamping is yelling.

Okay. Must ring! You hear Hasty Jane say, yeah, it would be great if you could kill them before we die! It's just a question of if you want to engulf them or not. If you don't want to, you do not have to. You have it grappled. You have fulfilled the conditions. Of the Titanic, right?

You have the house. You have the house grappled. Part of your multi-attack is you make two attacks and use engulf. If you do not want to use engulf, because the house is yielded and you, do not want to try to finish it off. Yeah, I'm not gonna, I'm not gonna finish it off. No, absolutely not. Okay.

I can't. I can't. It's not, that's not, that's not, no. That's not the Loravith way. Loravit, if we don't do something to take out the house, then the tree is gonna die, and they were allies first, right? I, I, I, I'm, can we, we're talking within our own head, yes. Yes, this is not allowed, yes. Kind of like conversation.

Okay. I'm struggling to strike the final. I know below. I understand that's what the game requires, but I'm struggling to finish off an opponent who's already yielded, especially when it means his life. I'll do it. It's a trade, right? Life, a spirit for a spirit. We have a team that was willing to help us, and now this team with failure in sight is willing to help us. Who do we want as a future ally? I don't want either one. Yes, Bugman, imagine our surprise that you are loath to form partnerships. So, I tell you, Richtus, you strike. You hear the voice of Scorpo say,

Yeah, Rickus, you should take this one. Okay, thanks. Okay, Scorfo. Frankly, none of us were on pins and tender hooks one. I don't know about your opinion. It is, Scalbo. It is important. Okay, Scorvo.

That Rick does take this one. Yeah, I was going to. Thanks, Scorlo. So with them grappled, we have advantage. Yes, you've only used one of the attacks of the Maltesecac if you want to. Okay, so a 14 and a 6. We'll take the 14 plus 8. Yeah, absolutely.

Okay, 2D8 plus 5. You would have to roll pretty shitty to not... Six plus 511? The house is surprised. You hear a gasp of surprise after they yield. As the tendrils of swamp thing smash in through the windows and begin wrapping around rafters and beams and splatting onto the floor,

up floorboards. It is a violent destruction, a violent deconstruction of this house as all of its planks and drywall and insulation and roofing

tiles are ripped into the swampy form of your body and pulled downward. eliminating the house and the four gladiators from the competition. Mark Zaddiators. As that happens,

Rictus, you see standing right where the house was moments ago, that statue of the specter of death that you bargained with and were cursed by before this trial began. You see it nod, and as that happens, you feel the curse release. And it hasn't been affecting you as badly

inside of this swamp thing body because, you know, it was a curse of the body and you don't really have your own at the moment. But you can feel this dark, presence, leave your consciousness, and moments later, the statue vanishes. God, what the hell was that? Yeah, I was cursed. I was cursed.

Sorry, I was cursed by death. But it seems cool now because I fed it. I feel like, wait, are we, are we still in Swamp Thing or something gone? You're still in Swamp Thing, the house. Ah, I feel like I was one-third cursed. And now I'm not? Oh, one-fourth cursed I am. Yes.

Corbo, hey, yeah. Yeah, so cool. Okay, we're rounding up that, Scobo. That's creepy, creepy. Give me an insight check, Richtus. That is 17 plus 2, so 19. It occurs to you as innocuous as it kind of seemed. Scorpo's instruction that you should be the one to do it,

you get the sense that he knew what was going on. He knew what this curse was and what needed to be. be done to to break it. We'll talk about this later. We'll talk about this at home, Scorpos. Okay. Okay. With now, with the threat of death off the table, we are now battling for place to see what kind of awards will await you after the completion of this trial. Next in the order is the Christmas tree.

So the Titanic is on its side, pinning the Christmas tree. tree to the ground. I think instead of trying to escape the grapple, the Christmas tree is going to attack with its tendrils to try and hold it down to the ground so you all can kind of team up on it a little bit. And that is at 24. You see these frantic tendrils of garland and strings of lights whip across the deck of the Titanic. They are going to take 22 points of 6.2 points of slashing damage. Are they... Nope, not quite bloody yet.

And they are also grappled. So, it's a mutual grapple. It is. We are up to the Titanic now. The Titanic, you hear the voice of the gentlemen say, ah, you've eliminated my teammate. Disappointing. But I knew that.

You were the ones I should have teamed up with. This whole thing could have gone so differently. Such a shame. You're a shame. The billowing smokestack of the Titanic is going to burst out a deafening, thunderous honk. I need a dexterity saving throw from Swamp Thing. Trab, why don't you roll that one for me? A four.

Gee. Okay, with a four. Plus so one. Okay, you are unsuccessful. Swamp Thing, you take 11 points of damage. That has brought you down to 26 out of 92. And you are launched backwards 30 feet. You careen towards the edge of the

octave ziggarot, and very luckily, you land on the observation deck, this one sort of small outcropping hanging over the side. If you had been sort of anywhere else on the island, that, you know, big honk would have been enough to push you off of the edge to your, not death, but elimination. And then we're back to the top of the order, swamp thing. You are up and we'll say it's hellgrammit's turn since Richtus, you dealt the... But I didn't get to choose it to do. I have a thing I've been wanting to do. Okay, yeah, that's fine.

Yeah, you have been, you have wanted a thing. Okay. Then, yeah, technically you took Louravis final action there, so it is your turn, Rikidus. I'm going to target the Titanic's greatest weakness and hurl a chromatic orb made of ice at the side of it as it lays on its side. Oh, wait, I can't hit the damage. I thought you were going to, but I thought you were going to say Hubert. Well, yeah, I mean, I guess that's... You already rolled...

You already did roll damage, which is... Yeah, that was maybe preemptive. Presumptuous. It is grueless. Wait, the hubris of that action, maybe is enough to bring down the Titanic, Griffin. It is grappled. And on its side.

Yeah, that doesn't... I don't think grappling is... Oh, it is prone, isn't it? Yes. Yes, you have advantage. Yeah. You would need to get... get closer, you need to be within five feet

to have advantage on a prone attack. Okay, I move closer. You do have the movement for that. Okay. Okay, then D20, you have advantage, so you'll roll twice, and then add your spellcasting modifier. And that's a seven.

Shit. Okay, so an eight. Eight plus what? For spell casting modifier, it's plus five. 13. Does Chromatic orb deal any damage? on a miss. Let me see. Probably not. I think it's only, you only deal like half damage on like a save,

right? Yes, you're correct. It does not take damage. Uh, kick ass idea. You see your, uh, your iceberg that you have generated from this chromatic orb, however, go wide, uh, and, uh, fly off into the distance. Uh, give me a history check, Rictus. Oh, okay. Well, there's a Nat 20 plus five. Yeah, perfect. The his fucking librarians over here. We can't do any adventure, but like if you need us to tell you where to find some. Yeah, I can see back to the dawn of time.

I just can't hit the broad side of literally the Titanic. There's a future he can't see. Since you have been here on the island of the Octave Zigarot, you have been subject to quite a few instances of really powerful divination maps. of memories that are not your own entering your mind and influencing your ability to cast different spells. With a Nat 20, you are fully cognizant of the fact that like the Titanic, the history of the Titanic, the sinking of the Titanic is like not a thing that you knew or should have known. It was just kind of like instinctive in this moment you remembered the story of this old ship. And it is enough to kind of like even in the heat of combat kind of shake you a bit.

Next is the Christmas tree. They are now going to try to escape. They are being sort of slowly squish into the ground. So they are going to make a strength saving throw here. that is sufficient. They got a dirty 20. They are going to plant their roots

down in the ground and attempt to recover some of their arboreal vitality here. And they are going to do so to the tune of 25 points of damage. They are up to 44 out of

126. You are at 26. The Titanic is almost bloody but not quite. Okay, next up is the Titanic. You see it stand up. It's going to write itself. That's its move, getting up from Prone.

It is going to swing its anchor chain around and launch it at U-Swamp Thing, seeing that you are now the weakest of the competitors here. Yeah. That isn't. 18 plus 11. What? It's still, oh, yeah, it's still grappled, right?

What do you mean? By the tree. No, the tree got up and broke grapple to move away. Oh, okay. Yeah, that also broke their mutual grapple, right? So a 29, and that is going to hit Swamp Thing for? Should, should. So no dexterity?

No, this is a attack, attack roll. For 23 points of bludgeoning damage as the anchor smashes down into you swamp thing, you are now, you feel like you are losing your connection to this elemental that you have created. You had gotten into sort of a routine, into a swing of things here, and now it feels like that is getting harder. and harder and harder to maintain, you are down to three hit points. I see. And we are back to Swamp Thing, top of the order.

We'll go to Hell Grammet. Scorpo cedes his turn to you because I do not want to keep taking bonus actions as Scorpo. I thought you like B&D, I do like D&D. Scorpos seems to be, every time he seeds his turn,

he is doing it to Hell Grammet, and you feel like he is doing that, Hellgram it kind of like purposefully. Well, of course, he recognizes greatness. Yeah. Can we talk just for a moment, since we're in, connected mentally? Yeah, how's your day? It's good.

Not bad. Almost dead. But listen. Yeah. Why don't, I think going up against the Titanic is a lost cause. Right now we're fighting for second place or third place. I say we turn our attacks on the tree. So at least, perhaps we'll have a better shot at second place and the second place rewards.

Okay, I'm glad you all agree. I'm trying to decide the difference between Travis the player and Richter. Okay, I mean, whether or not there is dissent, is your turn in the initiative order of the Swamp Thing cockpit. So it is your call. Hell Graham, I just wanted to kind of let you guys know where his mind was at. So he's going to turn towards a tree and cast scorching ray. Yeah, okay, scorching ray. That is, I believe, an attack role, right?

Yes, it is. Scorching ray, you hurl three fiery rays. You can hurl them at one target within range or at several. Make a range spell attack for each ray. On a hit, the target takes 2D6 fire damage. Yes. You can cast this as a third level spell, if you so choose, which would add another, an additional ray. So you would have four attacks here.

I would say the giant Christmas tree has got to be pretty dry by this time. Do you guys have three? Do you guys have third level spells? I don't remember. No. No, only second level spells. Okay, I take it back. You cannot do that.

So you have three attacks here. Yeah, I mean, the tree is looking quite, quite barren, even though they have healed up a bit. And they will have a weakness to fire damage here. You do have to hit your attacks, though. Right. Okay. So here we go. Do do, do, do.

That would be a 10. A 10 does not hit. Your first ray goes wine. Yeah. Sorry about this hasty change. It's like, it's purely a strategic. Yeah, because, like, you hit us with needles too. Sorry.

You hear a voice say, Let me guess it's hell grab it. Yeah. Okay. You have two more attacks here. Teahee, tee. Okay. That's a little better.

23. Yeah, 23 hits. Go ahead and roll damage. That's 2D6 and we'll double it. Oh, hold two. Four points of fire damage. to the Christmas tree. Okay.

Okay. And a 24. 24 hits. It's 2D6 fire damage and we'll double it. Five double ten. Okay. Five double ten. You hit the tree with two of the three scorching rays.

You shear off a few of its branches. and you see the Christmas tree take a step back. You hear the voice of Dr. Lagoon say, I told you we couldn't trust them. I mean, we did kill the house so that you guys wouldn't go out first. So like, yeah, so I spared your life, pal. That's a pretty good move, kind of, when you think about it. You're welcome.

Give me a D4 roll rickness. this is sort of going back to the the Hasty Jane thing. If you get a four, they are not going to come after you. That's it too, Griffin. You hear Hasty Jane say, No, no, no, focus up. We can take down the Titanic if we...

But whoever is in control of the Christmas tree is not having it, you see them reach back a few tendrils of Garland and whip down at you. This is a, let me get a D20 roll here. This is plus 10. 20 is going to hit.

You see the Christmas tree damaged, but still upright, furious at the betrayal, like the third or fourth betrayal of this one sort of free-for-all combat. Bring one of its flaming bows. right down on top of your head swamp thing. And as it does, uh, you, you feel yourself sinking down into the ground, being absorbed, uh,

by the dirt turning back into dormant swamp. And as that happens, you feel your senses start to fade. You feel this, uh, horrible choking as you all are, uh, in this element. destroyed and everything goes dark and then a second later you four are standing on the steps of

the ziggurat next to all of the other aspirants waiting for their turn to take on this trial you see they are looking quite scared just at the ordeal that you all have faced and you all can see the form of swamp thing fading into the ground as in the arms of the angels as the other two elementals continue their fight it is...

Sorry, Loravith wanders over and he scoops up a handful of swamp things to remember him by and then he looks as that handful starts to turn face. and melt in his hand and then he drops that handful on the ground and finds some real grass to go wipe his hand. That's really good. You all can see the Titanic cast a shadow over the ziggurat as it rears up and brings the final blow down on top of the Christmas tree, which was in a pretty bad state.

And with that a horn sounds above the ziggarot. You see forming right alongside you the gentleman, Corrigan, Hilda, Enigma to one side, to the other. You see Hasty Jane, gunk, Dr. Legume, and Burger Man, all of whom look at you all kind of nastily. Even Hasty Jane in this moment looks, I don't know, kind of shaken. And she gives you a nod, rictus that you take to mean, like, we are cool. But you get the sense that there is some bad blood there. And as that happens, a small leather sack appears in all four of your hands. It is cinched with a small clasp.

And the clasp on all of the sacks that you have been awarded is. a sort of a dull bronze color. And you see Trace appear and say, congratulations, aspirants, you have survived. The trial of evocation. Okay, Loravith raises his hand. Trace says, yes, Loravith. Do we have to clean this up,

or you're going to send someone else for this, yes? Trace. I am absolutely wretched. Look at us. She says, ah, yes, clean up. Thank you for reminding me. I must reset for the next group to take on the trial. I don't need to clean up.

I need fire. I need to burn my skin. She waves a hand. You see all of the damage that was dealt in this melee, just as it did in the last trial, just instantly vanish. As four more quartets begin to walk out into the field, She looks you up and down and says, oh, yes, you, you are, um, you are quite filthy. Please, will you all, like, take, just take, take your shoes off or something before you go inside.

I have scorching ray if you want me to burn it off you. It is, there is an aroma. I can taste my own smell. Maximum Fun. A Worker Old Network of Artist-owned shows. Supported directly by you.