The Glass Cannon Podcast - Giantslayer Episode 264 - Stinging on the Chain

Episode Date: February 9, 2021

The heroes must outrun a colossal black scorpion and her babies as they rush towards the last remaining chain! For more podcasts and livestreams, visit glasscannonnetwork.com. To become an official member of the Naish, subscribe today at http://www.jointhenaish.com. Want to be a part of Glass Cannon Nation? Follow us at twitter.com/glasscannonpod instagram.com/theglasscannon facebook.com/glasscannonnetwork tiktok.com/@glasscannonnetwork Get the best apparel and gaming accessories in the biz at https://glasscannonnetwork.com/store If you enjoyed this, we have several other series featuring Call of Cthulhu - Time For Chaos Delta Green - Get in the Trunk Pathfinder 2E - Glass Cannon Live! Strange Aeons Pathfinder 1E - Legacy of the Ancients Traveller - Voyagers of the Jump and so much more! Join us every Thursday night for Campaign Two of The Glass Cannon Podcast – a playthrough of the Pathfinder 2E Gatewalkers Adventure Path! Videos premiere on YouTube Thursday nights at 8PM ET with a companion podcast available at midnight. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Last week on the Glass Cannon Podcast. Now there are four chains dangling and the castle has moved from its position, just hanging directly over that one last chain. There's only one chain to go, and we're still in initiative order. Racing against the clock. What are we doing, chef? What's the plan? Up.

We're going up. Taking the fight to them. Get ready. Yes! Meanwhile, he's terrified. The heroes leapt across the caldera. Instantly appear on the caldera floor. With a colossal monster on their tail.

Moving in the direction of that final chain, presumably, you see the ash giants sitting astride the colossal black scorpion. Something even worse lay ahead. Cresting a hill to the east, you hear... What? Another colossal black scorpion comes up over the hill, and this one looks like it's covered in a bunch of smaller, moving black scorpions. It's a mama. It's covered in its babies, and it's about to get you.

Oh, my God. The adventure continues now. I am going to throw up. I'm going to throw up. I'm going to throw up, and I'm not even playing. I told you those yellow Russians were a bad idea, Troy. And you didn't listen to me. I know. It's already Valentine's Day, but I can't stop. Knob keeps for three months in the fridge.

When you buy it in bulk from Costco, it's hard to say no. Oh, God. I mean, I can't tell you. I don't know what I can tell you. I've been prepping this pretty much nonstop, but it's a very, very difficult book. And one of the major difficulties is that, especially early on, but spoiler alert, this is going to continue throughout the end of this adventure. It is so open-ended and so based on your actions. And so it's, it makes it infinitely harder to prep.

And it's so well, you could say, well, that's what Mineral's Valley. That's a fucking red light for it. So I get it, but here it's just, the stakes are so much higher. The rules are a lot more complex. And last week you had, I laid out a lot of options in front of you and and certain things went certain ways, and now we're here. And even today, I've tried my best to prepare for what I think could happen, and I feel sick because I feel like I'm going to have to just stop this recording four or five times to be like, okay, that's what you want to do? All right, give me 45 minutes so I can get that ready.

This is insane. It's insanity. But it's nothing compared to what you guys are going through. And that's why I said let's start recording because you're sitting here and you guys are going back and forth like, oh, we can do this. We can do this. I'm like, we should be recording this. I think this conversation is very, very interesting. Now, you've already been talking about it, but kind of fill us in a little bit on what you were chatting about and where you're at.

All right. First of all, you need to calm down. I can't calm down. You need to relax. How? This is big. I didn't think it was that big, and now you've got me nervous. Yeah, you freaked us all out.

Yeah, that's the thing. Sorry. Go ahead, Skip. Well, no, he's saying, like, now, oh, you did that? Well, now I have to prepare for 45 minutes. It's like, well, did we fuck something up? Like, if we had done something a little better, which is like, okay, now you can just ease on in to this book six. No, you did great.

You did great. You didn't do anything bad. This is what I don't understand. Like from the time we got here, you have been head in book, just like thinking of all the different options that are like from here. Right. And, and this is what you keep saying. And we're just talking and talking. And from my chair,

I'm like, there's no option. Like we are like absolute certain death is descending upon us and we have to run away. Like that's kind of the plan right now. And you're like, okay, okay.

Uh, just give me a second twice, by the way, a little behind the scenes, we've started recording this episode not not a not a not a word was uttered of actual content but we've hit record and we sat in silence looking at troy and he just knocks his mic away and says there's something i have to look up there's something i have to look up there's something i have to think about i need a hot

second right and so i now i'm thinking we did something wrong and then you say like no no you didn't do anything wrong and i'm'm like, he's full of shit. I feel like I know what it would be like to be one of Scarface's foot soldiers right before they went down in flames. Like he just had a cocaine-fueled psychosis. Yeah, like if you go back and listen, like, wait till you see how fast you just did that open. It was really fast. Yeah, your rate of talking was so high. I know, and I should slow it down because I would love if we just talked this episode.

And I left knowing exactly what you wanted to do. I'm like, great, I can just plan that. That is by far the listener's favorite. When we just chat the whole app and don't really play much Pathfinder. But this is part of playing. I mean, how many sessions? Go back to our Jade Region sessions.

We'd play four or five hours. Sometimes we wouldn't roll a die until two hours in because we're just talking, talking, catching up, planning, talking about where we're at. Role-playing. Role-playing. Not to mention that I – Telling Drew to put down the Jameson. Drew, you really shouldn't start this early.

You really shouldn't start this early. This is a boss fight. You really shouldn't start this early. You really shouldn't start this early. This is a boss fight. I tend to think of these things like if you're an initiative, there's only so much talking you can do about next steps as characters because it's like the moments are ticking by and I'll push you. just letting the players talk for a long amount of time about what their what their priorities are at this point for like what they want to do before the end of their lives because this is kind of what you're getting to it's not the decision of like oh you know do we open this

door or do we do we go to this other door what you know what i mean this is like big time decisions and so i think it's fun to talk it out and we've been talking for over 45 minutes about there's some good stuff in there yeah just what our options are i think you can better talk about those options if i show you the map and then i want to talk this out i don't this this is the banter today we're going to get right into tactics and uh possibilities because i'm sick to my stomach and i just i want this episode to be over with um and we're only five minutes in and i just can't wait to be over with this but i and i say that knowing this has the potential to be a phenomenal app it just makes me makes me incredibly nervous uh for a number of reasons that may or may not be revealed by the end of the show so let's go to the map and now keep in mind on this map uh well i'll show you

and then i'll explain what i'm saying because there's a lot going on here but let's get your raw reaction to what you're about to see oh my god oh my oh oh no oh no oh my god you could fit too you could fit our entire party on one link of the chain also not to mention all you could eat a black lobster seriously oh and there are two hill giants behind the scorpions uh those are ash giants those are the same giants that you fought uh on top of old smoky, let me explain something here. There is a colossal black scorpion. Then there are six larger black scorpions that are the babies. Larger? I mean, six large.

Colossal plus. In Pathfinder terms, they're large. And the only reason I don't have them, I have them spread out. Right now, they're crawling all over the scorpion's body. Yeah. Along with hundreds of other smaller ones. All of its babies are like writhing on it.

Swarm. The only reason I put them off to the side of her right now is because they're all going to get individual moves on their round. And I don't feel like, you know what? I'll just put it on just to make it even grosser there that's so disgusting so when she moves they're all gonna oh god it really made it worse oh really made it worse there is no god and then yes as matthew pointed out there are also two ash giants they are much further behind. Much farther behind they are from this colossal creature. They're another 60, 70 feet away

trying to keep pace. You would assume they've probably come from that other cave that was to the south of the when you guys entered the caldera through that mouth. Metro, you did your flyover. You saw blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.

And another cave opening to the south. You think they must have been coming from there. So that's probably the dad with the four giants riding it. And this is Mama Bear. Can I just say how close these giants are to being evil Steve Irwin? They're just so good at animal husbandry. They had a rookery for dragons. They've been breeding giant black, awful black scorpions.

They're covered in warts and pustules. I don't understand this place at all. Oh, God. Yeah, these scorpions are gross and just huge. This is a colossal creature, the big one, and it's mad. And it's coming right after you.

The ones that cut the chain to the north, they're still a bit away. And where you're staying in initiative order here for the time being, you don't necessarily have to worry about them right now. You're 40 feet away from this chain, which, yeah, as Joe said, it's a big, thick chain. Very climbable. Lots of options. The bottom of the cloud above you is, what, 200 feet above the caldera floor? And then you have

no idea how far it is from there to the actual base of the castle. Just talk to me. Talk to me about what you want to do. That's why I gave you this devil's bargain at the end. It wasn't the right use of the term, but the point was, you said you wanted to draw the broom, and I'm like, well, you might not want to do that because

before we get into round 18, this scorpion crests over the hill covered with its little scorpions, meaning it will act in round 18. So I wanted to give you a chance to take that back.

When I realized it was time for a cliffy, I said, ooh, let's bring back time and pop a little scorpion up in your business. So, Baron, you don't have to act. I still want you guys to talk, but it will be your turn and you do not have to pull the broom out if you don't want to. But just tell me what's running through your head. What is your goal here?

The goal is to get up into this castle without being attacked by these things, without potentially being grappled and eaten alive or being pasted to the floor and allowing the children to run through the sockets of our skull and eat our marrow out of our bones. Is it possible?

Ideally. Not to put too fine a point on it. And we've had a couple options. We've talked about different variations of Metra being able to cast Fly on people, someone climbing, someone flying, getting rid of the broom, perhaps even dimension dooring away from them, casting fly

there, buying us some time that way if there's any left. But a new idea just popped into my head as you were talking. Oh! What? We're talking about. Hold on a second. Can I clarify the situation? Did you just say it's Baron's turn and then their turn

no no just baron's turn they will then it's a new round no it's baron's turn at the top around 18 okay but sometime in this round sometime in this round yeah which is the biggest variable so so just before you speak grant whatever you do but what we one of the big things we're talking about is is metro going before these creatures? That's the thing. We don't know the variable. And where we stayed in initiative order here, what I'm saying is at the end of round 17, I am cinematically introducing them into the scenario. Where they will act in this round depends on their initiative, which has been rolled.

And you're saying that we were unable to tell where they were in the initiative order because they crested over the top of a hill. Crested over a little hill. Okay, so there's a little bit of the unknown there. So because there's a bit of the unknown there, about 80 feet away from us right now, Baron is thinking about using two grit points. One in

order to shoot outside of his first range increment against Touch AC. The second in order to use a full round action to target the head of the creature in order to make a full round action to target the head of the creature in order to make it confused for a round. Which is a D1 Hondo. D1 Hondo.

It's a game of chance, but it's more chance than we had before. Might be all the time you need. The other part of me is thinking about holding, waiting until Metra can act, casting on us, but then again, the scorpion might be on us at that point. I think the problem with that is you still got the babies. And the babies are large creatures and could almost certainly grapple you as much as the mama could. Yeah, but do they move as fast as the mama?

Do they have the same movement speed? They're on her. So they come with her. And Troy said they all get to act this round. They all get separate terms also um if the creature crested and then we haven't gone i mean that's an action that's that's that's a turn it crested in round 17 now it's round 18 right but it crested at the end of the round so like theoretically it metra shouldn't have had an action not seen them then seen them and have them go again

before she gets to go right right right so i feel like everybody should get an action, not seen them, then seen them and have them go again before she gets to go. Right, right, right. So I feel like everybody should get an action before they go. Cause we didn't see them before. That's fair. Um,

that makes sense. That's one argument. That's fair. Yeah. I, you know, that was, and that was just me waiting till the end of the round to say that,

but that's fair because that could have, uh, greatly affected what Metro would have done had she's seen it correct um so right now i think the the two plans are to for metro to use her swift metamagic rod wand what is it you you're picking metamagic rod there you go. Not a magic user. Swift Rod. The Swift Rod. And cast Fly on Nestor and Baron. Yes. And then Dalgrith, who is nothing if not the Sylvester Stallone starring in Cliffhanger of this group, will kind of climb up on his own and we will swoop back down to assist him more swiftly swiftly uh in in subsequent rounds that is the plan or dimension doors away if you have any left cast fly on all of us and we all leave at kind of the

same time yeah that's i mean if if i'm going to get to go before this the scorpion which which it sounds like you are it sounds like i am i think i would lean towards just doing fly and getting us out and like launching us if dog riff feels confident that he can you with you have the move speed to do what you were you were saying joe now take the metra i'll roll them away i got this don't forget he will climb a lot slower than you will fly yeah and and remember uh i always forget that dalgorth has those sweet boots uh boots of haste correct so click those little heels and look at them return back to uh kansas so that's how it works i think do you want to jump in and play this oh my god i'm fine with it i've made my peace with this idea

Let's do it I hate it 14 minutes in Let's go He really wanted it to go for a solid 30 I thought we'd get 30 out of that How's everybody's month going? Now we'll do the banter

Everybody good? Everybody having a good time? Having an exciting Valentine's month going? Now we'll do the banter. Everybody good? Everybody having a good time? Yep. An exciting Valentine's Day plan. Have a good Groundhog Day. Okay. Round 18. Also, I had a good birthday, by the way.

Oh, happy birthday. It was so funny. I know. We're recording this in the past, Grant. Honestly, everyone knows. It was so funny. Like, when you said it, when you were like, and my birthday is often overshadowed. I was like, please nobody say

happy birthday. Please nobody say happy birthday. And nobody did. And then everybody forgot and I was like, perfect. The overshadowed part is perfect with Groundhog's Day because he sees a shadow or not. I did text Nolan Ryan though to wish him a happy birthday.

It really upsets me. It upsets me that you have a closer friendship with MLB Hall of Famer, Nolan Ryan, than you do with your business partner, Grant Berger. Another year around the sun, Nolan. Love, Troy. Another no-hitter of a year. I just don't like it when people in general conversation sneak in that it's their birthday

so that you say happy birthday to them so that you have to. And you're like, can you meet Wednesday? Well, it's the day after my birthday, so sure. It's like that episode of The Office where Michael calls Jan. He's like, hey, Michael, I just wanted to wish you a happy birthday. It's not my birthday. Oh, I thought we shared the same birthday. Happy birthday, Michael.

Oh, thanks. That's just so smart. That's really funny. I just had my hand forced in a Michael Scott-esque way because it's been six years of my birthday being ignored. You should have been born on February 29th. My grandfather was born on February 29th. We got a buddy, old softball buddy, Marcus Potter.

Old Marcus. Is Marcus seven years old officially? That's what they do, those leap year people. They're like, today's my eighth birthday. Bring out the trucks. Did you know that we introduced... They're talking about introducing a leap second because 2020, based off of ocean currents

and other things that affect how fast the Earth spins, was one of the fastest years ever by about a second. A whole second, that's a lot. At some point. I think that's also like a... It happens over time and they introduce it but it's being introduced more quickly because of how fast 20 was yeah i just love that shit just read up on that sometime it is fascinating the leap year stuff and like how

long it like there's a leap day or i'm sorry there's um more than a leap day at some point that you have to do like every 400 years or. You have to set back three days, the calendar, and then it'll be reset again. It's wild. All right. 17 minutes. We tried, Troy. We tried. I was like, if I add the theme song in, maybe I'll let the theme song play a little longer up top.

I'll try to do it. Do a long tease. Yeah, give me a long tease for this one. All right. We'll just filibuster. right. Just filibuster. Just filibuster. Last week on the Glass Cannon podcast, and it's just like a 15-minute chunk of the episode. We start with the tug of war in turnout.

That's a real long tease for 264. Something really big must happen in this. This is epic. Gotcha branders in this one alright round 18 Baron what do you do Baron will hold to allow

Metra to act before him hopefully prior to Scorpion Mama from ruining my day Baron delays Nest. Nestor. Nestor. Oh, yeah. Okay, Nestor's going to delay, too.

Nestor will also delay. He had that itchy finger to grab his bow. Yeah, he was about to reach and grab a couple of arrows out of his quiver. And Metro's like, hold! It's such a nice, clean shot for Nestor. He could do so much damage with a full round attack. I know. But he's going to delay as well. It's also like in an actual animated fantasy piece

would be the type of enemy that the sure shot archer would hit right in the eye and pierce the brain of in one perfect shot after it killed so many barbarians. I know. I was thinking I was just going to go full Legolas on this thing.

That's what I was thinking. Maybe it doesn't have a lot of hit points. Yeah, right. Maybe it didn't get a full night's rest. Maybe it just got out of a battle with an adventuring party over the hill. Nestor also delays. It is Metra's turn.

Take the Metra. Go. I'll be on the chain. Fight me there. All right. So standard action, cast Fly on Baron. Quick and Meta Magic Rod. Swift action, cast Fly on Nestor.

And then Metra will take up 60 feet straight up into the air. 60 feet straight up. I think actually, by the text of the spell, you ascend at half speed. So you can fly over land 60 feet, but you ascend at half of that. You can ascend at half of that. You can. You can ascend at half speed and descend at double speed. Yeah. All right.

So I'll go at an angle. I won't go straight up in the air. I'm glad the Slayer read the text of the spell. Wow. I got a good idea. Instead of a gun. I never usually have to go straight up. Usually there's a ceiling.

It's true. Now there's endless expanse. You're in the sky. All right. So you go 30 feet up. No, I'll go 60 feet, but I'll go at an angle. 60 feet. An angle away from the scorpion. Away from the scorpion.

Directly over the scorpion. Okay, do Baron... Toward the chain. Toward the chain. Toward the chain. Okay, do Baron and or Nestor act? Yes. Baron will go ahead and double move thereby going I guess I mean 45 feet

towards the chain then are you wearing medium or heavy armor I am wearing mithril chainmail I believe mithril takes the chainmail down to light correct I don't think that does that heavy armors are treated as medium and medium armors are treated as light

so it was even better than I thought the school is in session, Joseph. So you have a fly speed of 60 feet. Right. And double moving. 20 feet? Yeah. Well, I still want to be close to y'all.

So I'll fly to where you are, basically, and then go an additional 30 feet up. Let's say for shits and giggles that at the base of the chain, we start to move into three dimensions. Go ahead, Metra and Baron, put yourselves where you actually are. Okay. So if I move 60 feet up, I've got to do my bag rest. Yeah, this is annoying. But just give me a sense of where you are in terms of the rest.

So I'm floating 30 feet above where I currently am situated on the map, which is on about the second link of chain. Okay. And Metro? And I'm going to go, I think about there. I got to do my Pythagoras. Okay. One second.

Great. And now Nestor, do you want to go? Yeah. He's going to double move and stay with the group. Okay. Do you stay right up near where Baron is? Yeah. Baron, I think you move to Nestor.

I move Nestor instead. I apologize. That's all right. Leave him there and then you get over there because he wants to be with you anyways. Okay. Dalgrith will act. How do you know it's Dalgrith's turn? It is Dalgrith's turn.

Is he delayed? Yeah. But it's his turn anyway uh dollgrath is going to click his heels uh and get a bit of haste i'm so nervous how much haste do you have left for the day uh i've only used this is my third round of 10 oh because i yeah i turned it off when we were doing all that running because it's like i know it wasn't necessary uh all right so oh boy okay so dalgrath is going to run for the chain and that is 40 feet which is one move action okay and then he will use another action to climb the chain, and you just see him grab onto it superhero style.

He's just like, just like a freakish gymnast, and he goes 20 feet up the chain. Okay. What is your climb bonus? I'm assuming it's very good. I'm just trying to see if you even need to roll for it. But these are climb checks. I have a climb speed.

You have a climb speed? Yeah, of 20 feet. Beautiful. All right, so you just move up 20 feet. As long as it's a vertical surface, I can climb 20 feet. Or I have a speed, climb speed of 20 feet. Is that affected by the haste? I was going to reread haste.

I think that it's all forms of speed, so I think it would be. But I'm going to double check it. Sometimes, I can't remember when I read it before, it said something about... I don't think it says land speed. I think it's all forms of speed. Like if you were a burrowing creature and you had haste cast on you, I think it also doubles your burrowing speed, I think. But I'll look it up.

I've got to say, this music you've chosen, Joseph, has made me very nervous. Well, I just did it. I'm gonna do it up until they're around. Now, once they act, I feel like we're gonna snap out of it, but this was all just like this moment of like this is the moment where we decide. It's perfect. It's gonna happen. Okay. Mama Scorpion's

turn. Oh. That came in hot. Mama Scorpion's turn. Oh. That came in hot. Mama Scorpion music. She is going to double move towards you. I just realized why he's been so nervous.

Why? Because they fly? Because they can climb the chain. Oh. The babies. Oh, no. Well, you know, we just have to last a round or two. She double moves.

At that point, the baby scorpions start coming off of her and crowding around the base of the chain. You're 20 feet up? Yeah. Okay. One of them starts climbing the chain. Oh, God. And gets off and attack.

Oh, no. Oh, no. Oh, this is it, man. Looks like only one of them is going to get up there. Oh, that's lucky. But will it grab if it succeeds the attack? Is your AC lowered while climbing? No, not for me So imagine this just like

One of them crawls off the body And you see she's covered in small little scorpions It looks like her whole body is moving like liquid all over It's just larvae and small scorpions. But these six are ready to fight. Goes to claw you. 37. Oh, Jesus.

Yeah. Yeah, that's a hit. Okay. Let's just talk about the damage. A one and a two on 2d8. That's going to be 16 points of damage. Fortitude save? Free chance to grab.

No, the stinger would have been the poison. Free chance to grab. Oh, it's going to grab you. The grab is the worst part. No, the constrict will be the worst part. Oh, no. Okay. 41. Oh, no. Okay. 41.

Oh, no. 45. Oh, that's ludicrous. Do you know what my CMD is? What is it? 36. So even if you build a character specifically designed to not be grappled, it doesn't matter. Oh, wait.

You know what? I'm sorry. That was the mama. I didn't use the babies. So it wasn't that damage. Let me give you the damage again. Oh, my God. I'm sorry.

That was the mama's damage. It's only 10 points of damage. And I took 16, right? Yeah. 10 points of damage, and it does not grab you. Oh, nice. Yeah.

Over! Come on, Dalgain. It's an oaf. The mama has a plus 39 to CMB. Jesus. And then toss in a plus four bonus for having the grab ability. It's a 43 flat when it succeeds on a claw attack. This one does not grab you, does not constrict you. It does hit you.

Let's go to round 19 real quick. It is Metra's turn. Uh, Metra's going to delay. Metra will delay. Baron, keep going! Uh, just to clarify on the map, because

I'm thinking maybe a Roll20 thing. This baby scorpion did this attack and attempted to grapple Dalgrith from a distance? Because right now it's quite a ways away from me on the map. It's not going to be able to get at you. It's only going to be able to get at Dalgrith right now. Right, I understand. I'm just trying to figure out the distance between them right now, because right now I see about 30 feet of distance between them. Use the map more as a guide and think more theater of the mind there's one at the base

and the other going to there's there's a chance that like maybe one or two more could climb up because i'm probably hovering about 30 feet away from that one that just attacked uh dalgris so uh before moving baron is going to fire one shot off from dawn strike into the scorpion to try to the mama change its mind. Or the one that went after... The one that went after Dalgris. Okay. Try to dissuade it.

Let's see what happens. Natural two. Misfire. Oh, no! Oh, no! Oh, no! No! Oh!

All right. That wasn't a fumble. Sorry. I didn't have to reroll. But that is a misfire. You take a chance. So, Baron is going to go ahead and move 60 feet ahead away from this. Okay, so don't forget, if you want to stay with the chain, you need to move 30 feet.

If you want to move at an angle now away from the chain, you can do 60 feet. Do you know what I mean? You'll have to go in like a zigzag pattern. If you want to go straight up and stay close to the chain, you have to move at half speed. At a 45-degree angle, you're doing a half speed. 45-degree angle, you can do 60. Straight up, you can do 30. Oh, because the chain is going straight up rather than 40.

Okay, I got it. I'm looking at how it is diagonal on the map. Yeah, it's 45. Sorry about that. Think of the map really just as it's 45. Sorry about that. Think of the map really just as a guide right now and just follow my words. Okay, so where I was was 30 feet above the chain because I flew to it, so now I am 90 feet in the air.

90 feet in the air away from the chain. I'm sorry, I'm descending straight up, so 60 feet. Ascending straight up, yes. So you're 60 feet up, yes. Got it. All right, so you went another 30 feet up after misfiring. Yeah. It is Nestor's turn. Nestor is going to ascend straight up, so 30 more feet.

So I think he's like 60 feet in the air now. Yeah, pretty much like on the other side of the chain from Baron. And he's going to move 10 feet away from the chain as he does that, 10 feet away from the chain. Okay. As he does that, and he is going to take one shot at the baby scorpion menacing Dalgryth. Okay.

That's a netty 18, so that should be a hit. That is a hit. Beautiful. All right, and... Oh, fiddlesticks. That is 18 points of damage. 18 points of damage.

It wails out with a screech as you sink an arrow right into its chitinous back. And it's Dalgut's turn. So, would a climb check of 38 succeed on the chain? Yes. Okay. So when you take damage, every time you take damage, you have to make a climb check against the DC of the climb. Or you fall? Or you fall.

And, but my, well, if you have a climb speed, it says you can also, from what I can see here, you can also take 10 for any climb check, even if you're hurried or rushed. And your take 10 is 38? And my take 10 is 38. Okay. So should be okay, right? Right now, yeah. So I think we're all right there and then um uh i'm going to um uh move huh geez you know what i'm just gonna go i don't know if i want to go so i think i can go 80 feet up the chain in a round uh but i don't know if I want to go that high just because of my allies and stuff like that.

But I'm going to go ahead and go 60 feet up the chain. 60 feet up the chain means that you're probably out of the range of this scorpion. It would have to... It doesn't have a... Well, it doesn't have a climb speed. Well, anyways. It's probably not going to be able to get you to attack. It's just going to get closer to you and then you've got to decide

how far away you are. Well, it would provoke, right? If it's just sitting right next to me. Yeah, it has 10 feet of reach. Okay. Then I'll do acrobatics to avoid the AOO and I'll move at half speed. Okay, so 40 feet up if you succeed on the acrobatics. If you fail, you'll stay right there. Okay. Let's do it.

Oh, by the way, I wanted to thank listener Chris from Tacoma, Washington over at Critter Miss, which I like this name, Critter Miss Tabletop Gaming Accessories. Handmade us all these really nice dice rolling towers. They're really cool. We've been using them. Yeah. Sorry I didn't shout it out earlier, but thank you so much. Mine is a distribution Android X19 recharging battery.

Pretty clever. All right, here we go. To avoid the AOO, that is going to be a 37. You avoid the AOO. Beautiful. And then I will move 40 feet up the chain. 40 feet up the chain, which means now it can move and attack you in the same round. But the other ones...

I'm going to act now. Oh! That is me! Okay, so Metra is going to ascend 30 feet straight up in the air. Okay. And then I need the scorpion that's on the chain to please roll. A will save. A will save? What?

It is not a willful scorpion. 13. That's a fail. You have been held, monster. Oh, yes! Monster! That's awesome. And freezes in place on the bottom of the chain.

And just double check that they're not immune to mind affecting. Is it a mind affecting hold monster? It is mind affecting. They are immune to mind affecting. I thought they might be because centipedes are. Thank you, Joe. I'm so excited. What's that?

They don't have minds? It's insects. I think insects are immune to mind affecting. It's like a vermin trait maybe? I think it's because they're hive minded, I think. But I don't know. That was very cool, though. I mean, are immune to mind effect. It's like a vermin trait, maybe? I think it's because they're hive-minded, I think. But I don't know. That was very cool, though. I mean, I didn't even notice it. I was just going to let it go, but I felt like we'd get a lot of hate mail.

There are only certain insects that are hive-minded. I like the trait in general as a pet. I'm sorry, Matthew. That sucks. A couple things are going to happen right now. How far are you up there, Dalgryth? I'm not saying you shouldn't be able to take your turnover. I'm saying Metro, I think, would know that.

Oh, yeah. Oh, no, but you... No, Metro wouldn't know that before she cast it. Okay. Without a knowledge check. I mean, of the entire creature subtext. If all insects are immune to mind-affecting... I don't think this is a special trait of this particular creature, is what I'm saying,

but I also see what you're saying. It doesn't say vermin traits. It just says immune to mind-affecting effects, which is something you would only learn through knowledge. All right, fair enough. But this wouldn't be a vermin. It's a large creature. It's a large vermin.

It's a large, disgustingly large vermin. How high up are you on the chain, Dalgrith? From the ground, I am 60 feet up. 60 feet up. 60 feet up. Two more of the babies climb up the chain. It looks like, at least at this point, that's all that they can get around the chain. The others are at

the base and starting to climb up. But two more climb up. They can only move at half speed, or quarter speed. But they're going to double move, and they're going to move half speed which is 25 feet so they both get 25 feet up the one that was near you is able to move half speed and get to you and take another attack that's not true if a full move is 25 feet i'm 40 feet away from that that with 10 feet reach It was already You were 10 feet up before?

I was 20 feet up 20 feet up It was 10 feet up So now it moves 35 feet up Are you within So that's what puts me 15 feet away from it Because I'm at 60 feet It's at 45

Oh I thought you were at 40 Okay so it just I moved 40 this round I see I see Alright so it scampers up A claw goes out. And he lifts his boot just in time. Snap, snap, snap.

At that moment. No! I don't even want to know. You hear a sound from above. It's the alarm for flying creatures. It's like... Sounds like a huge engine or something, mechanical or steam-powered or who knows what,

starting up, and all of a sudden, the chain goes taut. What? And you look down at the bottom of the chain, and it's starting to rip out of the ground. Oh, my God. The castle is taking off. Oh no.

We're on an express elevator to hell. It's going up. It is the top of round 20. And it is Baron's turn. Holy moly. Day 12, please. Amazing. Baron is going to spend a standard action to clear his Bay 12, please. Amazing.

Baron is going to spend a standard action to clear his gun of the misfire. It is now clean and ready to shoot again. He's going to spend half of his fly move action to move the 20 of the 40 feet away from the chain. So he has 20 feet away from it, and he's going to move an additional 15 feet up that makes sense i'm splitting the 30 feet of vertical i could have you're kind of zigzagging a little bit okay so that so i'll be 75 feet up and 20 feet away from the chain okay and then as a free action i oh no fuck i don't think i can do it um what do you want to do i wanted to take the i wanted to like look down at my holster and be like, hey, spider thing, get on this gun. Get off that gun.

Get on this gun. Get over here. Get over here. Because the slate spider can prevent misfires for a minute a day, which might be very useful in a life or death situation like this battle is. I think you said it was special when I first got it. Yeah, it's special and it's tied to that gun. I'm not sure how the figurine of Wonders Power actually works, but the one you got, in my estimation, it's tied to

the gun that it was attached to. The way you imagined it. Yeah. Okay. Then I will not do anything. That is my turn. I am in position, though, to give Covering Fire to Dalgrith as he scurries up the chain. Did you quick clear? I standard action cleared to save the grit for later. Okay.

That is Baron's turn. It is Nestor's turn. Nestor is going to take a... First, he's going to do Blood Reader on the baby scorpion that's attacking Dalgrith. It has 19 hit points left. Okay. Good to know. Beautiful. All right.

And there's two others attached to the chain right now. Okay. Oh, beautiful. All right, so... And there's two others attached to the chain right now. Okay, so he is... He's going to do... He's going to do full attack. Okay.

You have to do a hover check. Maybe don't move. Oh, yeah, good point. What's the DC? Don't... I think it's DC 15. And does he get a bonus to his fly with the fly spell on him? That's a good question.

Let's look. Because I can't imagine Nestor invested a ton of points in fly. The subject gains a bonus on fly skill checks equal to half your caster level. So you get a plus seven to fly. Okay. And what's the hover DC? 15. 15.

All right. I'll give it a shot. 10 on the die. I have a six fly. So you're good. If you had failed, would you descend? I think that's what I have to do. Descend at half speed or something?

I don't want that. Okay. Just something to look at in case someone does fail that. But you succeeded. Take your full attack. Okay. Okay. So first shot against...

Actually, first multi-mini shot is going to be against one of the lower scorpions that I haven't hit yet. Oh, okay. So I'm going to fire that off. So that is first one, and he's going to study target on that one, and that is 33 to hit. Oh, yeah. Okay, and that is 52 points. I won't roll the climb check to see if it goes on. It's just one shot.

It falls off. All right. The chain being pulled tight. Second shot against the one that I hit before that is closer to Delgreath. Natty, 16. Beautiful. That is another hit. The 27 points of damage.

Kills that. Nice, Nestor. Just picking them up. This is like a carnival game for Nest 16. Beautiful. That is another hit. The 27 points of damage. Kills that. Nice, Nestor. Just picking them up. This is like a carnival game for Nestor. My babies. And I'm going to take one last shot at the next one further down on the chain. The baby. Oh, got locked again.

Did I miss something or did the mama not go? The mama went. The mama can't climb it. Ah, beautiful. That is not go? The mama went. The mama can't climb it. Ah, beautiful. That is 19. 19 is a hit. Oh, nice. It's a big, big old target.

Another 27 points of damage on that one. You hit but do not kill that one. However, what did you say the DC of the climb was against the damage? The DC of the climb. The DC of the climb. So it has to remake the climb, basically. Okay. Natural one.

Yeah! Yes! So it falls and takes the appropriate falling damage, which in this case would be 2d6. 2d6. Wait, how much damage did you say you did to it? 27. 27, it has 10 hit points left.

2d6. Oh, man. Eight. I rolled eight. Oh, no! But it falls off and hits the ground with three hit points left. Two hit points left to its name.

Nice. Wow. Huge round for Nestor. Like shooting lobsters in a tank, mate. It is Dalgrith's turn. Dalgrith, what are you thinking? No enemies on you right now. There are three other babies, though, that could climb, but you're, what, 60 feet up at this point?

He's 60 feet up. He sees it go taut. It feels like it's about to start peeling apart and snapping. The castle's taken off. He's like, we haven't got much time. I'm going. And he just goes another 40 feet. He takes off haste and goes another 40 feet He takes off haste

And goes another 40 feet up The chain Okay so you are a hundred feet off the ground Hanging from this chain And he's looking up What does he see As he looks up along the chain The chain just disappears

Into the clouds This is horrifying And at that moment It just disappears into the clouds? It just disappears into the clouds. This is horrifying. It is. And at that moment, the chain rips out from the bottom of the ground, and the cloud starts taking off with Dalgrith attached to it, and the rest of you flying around it. I imagine the three remaining scorpions went to grab at it.

A couple of them got on. It lifted up, and they just lost their grip and fell to the ground and exploded. And the mother is sitting there. Just then, the other colossal black scorpion with the four giants riding it arrives, and they're reaching up as well. But the cloud has taken off, and all of you are out of combat. Oh, man! Oh, my God!

Wow. I mean, for a non-boss battle, that's the longest continuous combat we've ever been in. Probably longest ever, I'm sure. Now, here's the thing. You're out of combat in the sense that let's take a pause here and stop.

This thing is up. I'm going to say that it's starting to fly straight up. But if this thing starts to move side to side at all, you're going to have to follow it. So right now it is just pulled up and it's ascending. What do you guys want to do here? You're 100 feet away from the cloud cover. You guys are flying. What do you want to do? Does Dog Wreath want to do here you're a hundred feet away from the cloud cover you guys are flying what do you want to do does dog wreath want fly uh or do you want to stay on the chain i'll stay on the chain but let's wait to see if we really need it just because um okay did you hear that that was a

hero talking yeah because i'm saying i'm saying save the spell slot if there's a way that uh you know i don't know. But it could kill him, right, if something just swoops off and knocks him off. Yeah, that's not bad. But it's unlikely. I can send you the broom of flying. I can pull it out, whisper to it, go to Dalgrith. It'll jump on you.

You know what? I'll stay on the chain. I honestly think I'd rather be on the chain than on the broom. Like, I'd rather have magical flying to prevent me from falling. Oh, yeah. The broom I could get knocked off of or something. I don't know. I'm just thinking, like like what if dragons come swooping out or something if a dragon grabs me midair anyway i'm pretty much in trouble so so what i really want to do right now is to be able to shoot a batman-esque tracking device on this chain and leave rest and

come back later oh i kind of like that gps type type of stuff. Did you purchase the Batman tracking device? I own several. You should have got that in scalp. Is it on your character sheet? I own several Christian Bale films. And that is the Batman I would like to have. I thought you were going to say, I own several Christian rock albums. I do.

The Scorpions. Wait, no, they're not. Are they a Christian rock band? They're not Christian rock. No, they're great. Striper, Striper. Striper. Scorpions are German.

Yeah, striper, striper. Striper. Scorpions are German. Are we going to go into the castle right now or into the clouds and see what we see? Yeah. Okay. In that case, I want to stay on the chain but just fly close to me. So he's like climbing up and you guys are just hovering beside him.

What an image. This is incredible. I want to see this artwork. I know. It's going to be so cool. Looking from the ground at this humongous chain, bigger than anything you've ever seen, bigger than most towns you've seen, hanging down from the clouds, and just these four tiny figures, one on it and three hovering around. Floating.

I love it. I imagine Dalgreath, like, when it really yanks out of the ground there, you kind of, like, swing around to the other side like Chevy Chase in Christmas Vacation. Had a good grip on it. Yeah, probably jerked like crazy. Yeah, and it's swinging around. Yeah, it didn't have the same snap like when the scorpion snapped it because it was doing the pulling.

It's just a straight pull, and then there was a jerk. It came back down, and you're still holding on tight. I'm not going to have you roll a reflex save. This thing has taken off, so let's just theater of the mind here. You're climbing, and they're just flying with you. I imagine Metro is, like, spiraling up the chain. Yeah, we look like a helix, a DNA helix going up the side of it. You go another 100 feet or so, and you are about to enter the clouds.

Do you continue to enter the cloud cover? Perception check? Sure. Absolutely. 25 for... 90, 19. 39. 23.

36. Nothing. You see nothing. You look up and it's just pure white. The chain's starting to feel moist now. The humidity in the air is getting thicker. Don't forget, I said when you first came in, Metra, that like the cloud at some points with rain would be coming out of it.

So you're feeling, oh boy, this is going to increase the climb DC. I bet once I get into this cloud, that's what you think to yourself. The chain's getting wet, but you look up and it's just pure whiteness. You think once you enter that cloud, you're going to get concealment, which is going to help you in your ascent. But you don't see anything. You don't even see the base of what it's sitting on. So Baron has bonus speed faster than Dalgrith is climbing to be able to keep pace with him. And every other round that we move up, either cast Detect Magic or Detect Alignment Evil as I go up.

So I'm going to try to have, like, my own little radar, my own NORAD missile detection system going on. Are those standard passive sonars? Yeah, well, the thing is... Sorry, so for Detect Magic, for example, you'd have to hold it for multiple rounds to zero in on anything. Right. Same thing for detect.

If I detected anything at all, I would stay there for longer, tell everyone to hold. But one round I'll fly 60 feet straight up. The next round I'll 30. You can only do 30, yeah. But double moving I can do 60. No, you can only move half speed going up. Straight vertical.

Got it. Yeah, and then if you take your standard to cast, then you'll have to roll a hover check. It's not a bad idea. I don't think you can do it right now under the circumstances. No, no, sorry. You don't have to roll a hover check. If you go straight up? Yeah, you only have to roll a hover check if you're not moving.

I'm sorry. Okay. So you would take a standard to go 30 feet up and then another move, rather, and then a standard to cast. Just cone in front of us. Okay. Go off. All right. So you're going to move pretty much at Baron's pace because that's going to slow down the

pace. If you can, if you're only going 30 feet. Right. Uh, but you're going in sometimes it sways to the right. And so you're following it as well. You go into the cloud cover and it's just white. It's like being up in a fucking plane. You're just, everything around you is white.

You can't even see your allies as well as you did a second ago. It's gotta be so creepy. You're 200 feet from the caldera floor when the chain was still attached. Right as you go into the clouds, you look down one more time before you lose sight of the ground. And at this point, you might be 300, 400 feet up. The castle is ascending. You go into the clouds, maybe never to see galarian again keep moving up yeah okay uh detect magic detect evil nets nothing every 60 feet detecting magic nothing i just want to take this opportunity to remind you that I know this won't affect the cloud cover or anything, but I have constant sea invisibility.

Okay, good. Can you see anything else? Can you see, like, on the shadow plane? No. Not at the moment. You can see... I don't have true seeing. I don't have true seeing.

Okay. All right, so I just want to keep track of how far up we're going here. So you're 200 feet up the chain, and then you go up another 60? Uh-huh. Detecting. Nothing. I do another 60? Yep.

Another 60, a couple rounds later. I say we stop, make camp here. Base camp. Before we lose the light. You see a little bar in the middle of the chain? Oh, it's happy hour. I don't know. A little happy ski.

Pack in, pack out. It's like a cut to the four of us is hovering, like drinking beers. And then we just keep going. We have a fold-out hover chair. Yeah. You're 320 feet up the chain. Want to try for another 60 a couple rounds later? Before we do, I, as we go up, notice Dalgrith maybe having some labored breathing

and maybe dropping bits of blood onto the chain. some labored breathing, and maybe dropping bits of blood onto the chain. So Baron will reach into his haversack of divine spells and pull out a cure moderate to begin with, which will heal him for 20 points of healing on the first one. Amazing. Do you need more? Yep. The second one will be for another 20 points of healing. Amazing. Do you need more? Yep. The second one will be for another 20 points of healing.

Amazing. I am 19 down now. Okay, I will do one more. Actually, now I'm going to use my cure lights because I have more of those. Oh, wait a minute. This is like round by round. Okay, got it. So that was two, of which we were not detecting magic, but moving up.

Not detecting magic, but moving up or floating around so you didn't have to hover. I'll detect magic. Okay. Keep moving. And the third round, as we get there, if he's allowed to cast again. Which would then be 60, 90 feet. Yep. So you're not moving straight up. You're kind of going 30 out, 30. No, we're going 30 straight up.

Okay. So in three rounds, we go 90 feet. Right, okay. But each round is standard action. He's healing Dalgorth. Gotcha. All right, so you get to 350. You get to, I was doing 60, so I was just like skipping around. You get to 380.

Right when you get to 400. God. Everybody roll a perception check. Oh, no. I don't like this already. 38. 18. 39.

21. Can't see anything in the clouds. You look up. Nothing. You feel like maybe you can see, like, the rocky base that this thing is sitting on, peeking through, but it's just covered, surrounded in clouds. You're starting to see a little bit more of it the further you go up.

At that moment, Metra hears... All of a sudden... A ballista boat comes flying at Dalgrith. Metri hears. All of a sudden, a ballista boat comes flying at Dalgrith. What? Roll for initiative. Oh, come on. We can't see them.

How do they see us? How do they see you? I'd like to use Pathfinder's second edition rolls and take my perception roll as my initiative. Thank you. Oh, goodness gracious. I don't even know. I don't even know. Baron, what'd you roll?

30. 30. Nestor. It would be 15-volt Nestor coin. Nestor coin. Dalgrith. 25. 25.

Metra. 28. 28. 28. You're 400 feet up. There is X amount of feet left until you, until things change. You are completely concealed, yet something directly pinpointed you, Dalgrith. Let's see if it hits you in the surprise round.

pinpointed you, Dalgrith. Let's see if it hits you in the surprise round. Oh, and this is a good time to point out one of Grant's mistakes in the past, which is that I have been applying, for the last couple episodes, my defensive training to rounds when I am flat-footed or with touch AC. Defensive training against giants, giant subtype attacks, is a dodge bonus, so I would not be able to apply said bonus while I am denied bonuses to dexterity. May have affected the Tartarian fight when the gunslinger got the jump on you.

It is possible we'd have to go back and listen to the tape that those four bullets would have hit you. But hey, hands off the chest piece. But that also goes for, I don't think Joe's been doing it, but that goes for his defensive training as well against Giants. Keep that in mind, Joe. Flat-footed, you're climbing so your AC is different.

Here it comes. My AC is not different when I climb. I don't like your tone. Because I have a speed. Okay, here it comes. Macy's not different when I climb. I don't like your tone. Because I have a speed.

Okay. Here it comes. 17 to hit. Miss. Not even close. It is close if I'm flat-footed because of the surprise round, but I have improved uncanny dodge. It says I can't be flanked. You can't be caught flat-footed.

Uncanny dodge, you can't be caught flat-footed. So what's improved uncanny dodge? You can't be flanked you can't be caught flat footed uncanny dodge you can't be caught flat footed so what's improved uncanny dodge you can't be flanked you really can't be flanked and nobody can get sneak attack against you unless there are four more rogue levels higher than you prerequisites must have been fooled before won't be fooled again

won't be fooled again so if I'm remembering correctly uncannyanny dodge, you cannot be caught flat-footed. You cannot be caught flat-footed, nor do you lose your dex bonus to AC if the attacker is invisible. Okay. Wow. So then, yeah, it is a miss by quite a bit, especially if it was shot by a giant. So then he never has to take away his defensive bonus. Defensive training bonus.

Ooh, interesting. Yeah. Do you always get your dodge bonus from defensive training? I didn't know that that was a rule until you brought up to me. I didn't know it until somebody had written something else for it.

Yeah, I got a couple emails, yeah. So I never thought about that as a dodge bonus, which it is. You can't be caught flat-footed. I can't be caught flat-footed. It doesn't affect you, yeah. That's cool. But touch attacks would still deny it.

I wonder what Baron's 15th level feat would be. Actually, can you take... That's a rogue talent. I don't know. You can probably take a feat that gives you a rogue talent, and then you can take a... I don't think you can just take Uncanny Dodge as a feat. I don't think so either. But there's like a feat you can...

Rogue dip. You can do rogue dip, but you can also... The classic seven levels Inquisitor, seven level gunslinger, one level rogue. Start getting that sneak attack on the gunshots. I could be misremembered, but I feel like there's a feat you can take that gives you access to rogue talents. There are, like, I can do that as a slayer, but I don't know. I was actually going to take the illusion dip to join Sir Darlene on House Husky.

Oh, man. So romantic. It's round one. but here's the thing. You don't see anything. You are 400 feet up this chain. You can kind of see a rocky base emerging, but everything is concealed. So five feet

away from you, you can see okay. Anything beyond that, it's hard to really make it out, and this ballista bolt came out of the clouds. Now, you know siege engines take a while to load up and redo. How long? How many people? How many ballista bolts? You don't know. One came flying at you and missed. It's Baron's turn with a 30. Oh, God. So not knowing what's out there,

I guess the only thing to do is to keep on traveling towards it, correct? So then Baron will move. Yeah, it's like, what was that? It almost hit me. You know, if we're now in initiative, Baron can call down a judgment from Torag, which I like to think comes from the ground below because he's the forge father from the power of the earth itself and rockets from the ground below because he's the Forge Father from the power of the Earth itself

and rockets from the ground into the clouds like a reverse lighting bolt covering him with the holy protection of Toreg. So that's a swift action, and then he will move the remainder of his double move up towards this thing. Or he'll move once and do a perception in case he can see it, and then move again if he can't.

All right, so everyone now is going to be probably at different heights here. So are you 430 feet up? I will have double moved ascending directly. Actually, no, so I'll move 30 feet up, basically. Okay, so you're 430 feet up the chain. Nestor, what do you do? Nestor is basically going to do? Nestor is He's basically, he's just going to keep pace with Baron

Stay about 10 feet away from him, but stay at the same altitude Okay, so you'll be 430 as well? Yeah, on the other side of the chain I can picture this, just Nestor and Baron flying on opposite sides of the chain Yeah, just like peering, just trying to get a glimpse of whatever shot this thing

Dalgrith Wait, I this thing. Dalgrith. Wait, I rolled higher than Dalgrith. Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't sort. Oh, actually, you, Nestor, rolled a 15. I forgot to hit sort. So it goes Baron, Metro, Dalgrith, Nestor. So, Nestor, I know what you do.

Okay. It would be Baron, then Metro. What do you do? And can I do some sort of perception check to trace the source of the sound? The ballista, like the firing? Sure. Roll a perception, see if you can figure out the trajectory. 30. Up.

Okay. Great. Yeah, no, it's somewhere up. It sounded like it came almost directly above you. And it didn't pierce the cloud like the Bahamut Summit in Final Fantasy VII when the spear goes through the clouds

and the sun comes out. I don't appreciate that reference because I don't understand it. Metric, do you fly up to 430 as well, or do you do a little angular move? No, Metric's gonna fly over to Dalgrith and cast Fly on him. Good idea, because I think they may be able to detect you on the chain.

And that's why I shot at you. Like a tremor sense, that's what I was thinking. Alright, so Metric will stay at 400 feet then, because that's where Dalgrith is. Yeah. And it is Dalgrith's turn he's shot at. Like a tremor sense, that's what I was thinking. All right, so Metro will stay at 400 feet then because that's where Dalgrith is. Yeah. And it is Dalgrith's turn. Such a shame. But they, like, discouraged the one, like,

incredibly dangerous and clever way of getting up there. Yeah. It's just like, that's what triggered it. You don't know what triggered it, though, so. Yeah, no, we don't. No. I come at you, though. I call the door.

though so yeah no we don't uh no i can't try no i could have done it uh he is going to continue he'll push off the chain oh okay so he will release and just sort of like start flying up okay so do you fly 30 feet up as well to be like triangular with baron and nester yeah okay all right so dalgrif flies to 430 and this is where it would have been Nestor's turn. He's going to draw out his light crossbow. Draw out his light crossbow. Wonderful. All right. So Baron Nestor and Dalgrith are 430 feet up flying around this chain. Metra is 30 feet below you, having just cast Fly on Dalgrith. Round two. It is Baron's turn.

fly on Dalgryph. Round two. It is Baron's turn. Gosh, it's another 30 feet up, kind of switching places. You could also cast that heal now if you wanted to. But you didn't get to cast. I'll cast a quick heal on my buddy. Nice.

13 points of healing. Beautiful. Standard heal. Kind of like a double helix. Nestor and Baron kind of DNAing our way up this chain. We'll move to the other side as he moves up 30 feet. Okay, so Baron up to 460. Those he does. And just for my understanding of the environment, it is daytime, right?

Like we can't see, but it's like light out in this cloud. It's light out, yeah. They're not dark clouds right now. I'm picturing this like it's white clouds. You know, it's like an overcast white clouds. You know, it's like a midday sun like beating down. You know, it's just over the cloud cover. Yeah.

That kind of bright light haze like kind of penetrating through it. It also kind of hurts your eyes and can be very disorienting. Yeah. Even though it's overcast. Luckily, we have the chain. Yeah. See, I switched to the picture on World 23rd of the podcast. So these sort of artist rendition.

Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah, Joe's got a great point there with the chain, because that's why airplanes have horizon tools, because it's oftentimes difficult to ascertain where your orientation is relative to the ground. So there are aeronautical instruments designed so people don't constantly, like, drive their plane into the wrong things. Artificial horizon. Yeah. it is metra's turn metra you are now 60 feet away from baron who is

the furthest one up 30 feet away from your other buddies everyone flying now no one climbing what do you do i'll continue to go straight up okay so you'll go another 30 and you'll be at 430. This is so much fun. Dalgrith, what do you do? Dalgrith is going to load his crossbow and go another 30. Go. So only one shot. Maybe releasing the chain was it? Maybe it takes a couple rounds to reload it so big? Yeah.

Was it the same size bolt as that came from the tower? Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Ah, yes. Very, very large. Huge, huge bolt. Yeah, it might be a full round action. If that had hit you on the chain before she cast fly, that might have been it.

Yeah. Might have been enough damage to just see you. Oh, I was very frightened. Oh, I can picture that just taking it with you. Bye, Dalgrim. Yeah. And you guys are good with fly length of the spell, yes?

Yeah, it should be 14 minutes. Minutes per level. Okay, 14 minutes. Yeah, and we're keeping you in initiative so it doesn't go out before you reach the top, wherever the top is. Okay. Nestor. I am going to go another 30 feet up. Just keep, stay

at the same elevation as Maturana. Yeah, you don't see anything. Okay. Round three. Another bolt comes flying out. This time it goes after... Oh, let's see who it fires at. Got what here?

Four PCs? Talgrith again. Oh, let's see who it fires at. Got what here? Four PCs? Talgrith again. Oh, no. Talgrith. All right, so... See if it hits you while you're flying. Is your AC changed while you're flying? Probably not.

No, I don't see why it would. Okay. That is going to be a 22 to hit. Miss. Miss. Dodges out of the way. Curves his shoulders. Like an airplane.

Yeah, arch your back. Dodges it. It's flying out of the way. Baron, what do you do? Are you still down, Dalgrith? Would you like any more healing? No, down four points, so let's rock and roll. Okay.

I mean, I could use some healing, but I can wait. No, there's not... I'm beneath you. Oh, you're beneath me? Oh, dang. Don't say that, man. Don't talk about my friend that way. You guys are all the same, man.

Okay, then... Dang. Baron will continue to move upwards, then. Getting up to 490? Getting up to 490. Okay, Metro's 60 feet away from you. Yep, and I think...

Well, that's preemptive and a waste of a spell slot. That is all Baron will do. Okay. Perception check, if that makes any difference. It probably doesn't at this point. Still can't see any. Got it. Metra, speaking of spell slots, you've used quite a few.

Quite a few. Censoring the old caldera. It is your turn. Continue to helix my way up. Helix your way up. And you are now 460 feet. Dalgrith? 60 feet. Straight up.

You can only go 30, right? I can double move. Oh, yeah. I can double move, too. Oh, yeah. We haven't been doing that. Oh, I've just been half moving because I drew out my crossbow and I loaded my crossbow. Oh, I see We haven't been doing that. Oh, I've just been half moving because I drew out my crossbow and then I loaded my crossbow. Oh, I see. Well, Baron was doing standard actions and then moving and Nestor was purposely staying with him.

But now you could double move. Yeah. So you can double move and go 60 feet up. Right. Okay. Yeah. So we'll do two of us a little further ahead just to. All right.

That'll get you right up to where Baron is now. Great. So Nestor, it is your turn, and you are 30 feet away from Baron and Medra. I'm going to do a, just get close up with them, and I'm going to ready an action, knock an arrow in case I, if I see an enemy, I'm going to fire. Okay.

All right, so 490, you're right next to them, you're ready in action. If you see something, you fire. It is Dalgryth. I skipped Dalgryth. It would have been you and then Nestor, sorry. What do you do, Dalgryth? You know what, I'll just get with the party.

Okay. Let's move with the party. All right, so you're all at 490. Okay. No, I didn't skip you, I just ignored writing it down. All right, so you're all 490 feet up this chain, surrounded by cloud cover. There's got to be an end to this soon, isn't there? Yeah.

New round. Round four. Baron, what do you do? Baron will reach out to presumably with an arm's length metra to heal her. Okay. Four. Thirteen points of healing. Nice. Reach out to heal metra. Every once in a while as the clouds move around you, this cloud

castle is moving as well. You see the rocky base, this upside down, well, actually, no, it's a cone shape. Like an ice cream cone and the ice cream is the castle. You can see it through the clouds around you. Like a mountain hanging down from the sky. Yes, yes, an upside down mountain. And, you know, there's that strange perception, not trick, but change that happens as you see a mountain in the distance and then you get closer to it. And what seemed impressionistic from a distance turns into these crags and details.

Yeah. We're starting to see it in higher resolution and like, oh, could I go there? Is that maybe someplace I could grab? It's interesting. Baron moves another 30 feet up to get to 520 feet. 520 feet up. It is Metra's turn. I will keep pace with Baron.

Holding my breath every round. Metra moves 520 as well. How far can you see in concealment? No more than five feet in front of you? Correct. It is Dalgrith's turn. Same thing. He'll either stay with the party or go no more than 30 feet in front of you? Correct. Okay. It is Dogra's turn. Same thing. He'll either stay with the party or go no more than 30 feet ahead of them. Okay.

Do you want me to choose? So I'm just one of... If I'm with everyone right now... Or you can go to 550. If I'm with everyone right now, I will go 30 feet ahead of them. Okay. So everyone's 520? And I'll do the same thing and I'll already in action to fire if I see an enemy.

Okay, Nestor, you go to 520 as well? Yeah. Okay. Next round, round five. You hear a bolt. Sounds like every two rounds. Is that the pace? This one's coming at Metra.

No. This is the AC we were worried about here. Do you still have your images up? In fact, I do, Skin. Nice. So you're five. How long do those last? You set up a gun? Minutes per level. Okay. Alright, see if it hits.

Alright, that is going to be a 26 to hit. That does hit. Now, Rolls, there are seven of me. There are seven of you. Good lord. It's not the type of thing, like in second edition, like if I got close, I'd kill you No I don't know

Troy are you doing that thing where you know you don't have it Yes that's exactly what I'm doing Alright so 26 to hit there are 7 of you So I'll roll Fucking what a d10 Roll a d8 and re-roll on a d8 And re-roll on an 8 7 is metro

7 is metro 6 We roll on an eight. Okay. Seven is Metro. Seven is Metro. Six. So you destroy six images. Six images. Wow. Brutal. Very lucky roll.

Yeah, so just boom, one of your images disappears. Baron, your turn. You're 520 feet up this chain. Baron will move to a gentleman's. Well, he'll move 30 feet first. And if he sees anything or gets out of concealment, if he's still in concealment, once he gets to 550, he will move to 580. Okay, so you move to 550. You can't see more than five feet in front of you,

but the sounds that you've been hearing sound a lot closer. You hear like... That sounds a lot closer. Wherever this ballista is, you feel like you're a lot closer than you were a couple seconds ago. But there are grumbles rather than... Because we all have giant capability. Right.

We can't understand it. It's still too far away to understand it, yeah. Okay, then, Baron, Baron will move to 580. 580. Okay. Metra. I'll keep pace. All right, so Metra will double to 580 as well.

Dalgryth, 580. 580. Mester, 580. We're going to break the house. 580. All right. This is the round where everything changes. Round six.

Baron, what do you do? 610 to start with. Not even. Because at 600 feet, you reach an anchor point where the chain is anchored directly into the rock surrounding the mountain. Oh, no. Now roll a perception check. Absolutely. Crack die.

24. 24. You look up, and there is a platform extending from the base of the castle, resting atop this upside-down mountain. And up there, you see figures moving about. Huge figures. And you see the point of a ballista, another bolt, ready to fire. What did you roll for the perception?

24. 24. About 30 feet away, you see a hole entering into the rock itself, like a propulsion vent, and steam is coming out of it. Okay. You've only moved 20 feet to get to that chain. How far away was that hole again? 30 feet.

So I'll get to the edge of the propulsion hole, what you just described as a propulsion hole, and we'll... I don't want to get in front of it in case it, like, blows me away. I want to get, like, to the edge of it so I can put my hand in front of it to see if it's, like, something I could move against. Do you know what I mean? Okay, so you get to the edge of it. You can stick your hand inside of it. And it doesn't, like, rip my arm off or anything? No.

It's wet in there. You feel the moisture from the clouds. You don't know if this is part of the mechanism that moves it, but it's very moist in there. I am going to flavorly be waving at my party silently by that hole. They can't see you. Once they move up, I'm landing an airplane with a kind of wavy neon lights thing.

I'm just trying to wordlessly get them to follow me without letting the giants know, hey, we're going into this place if they can't see me. I don't know if we're under an undercrop or something. Metra. I will go up, see what Baron sees, roll my perception check, and then head over to the hole. Head over to right where Baron was.

All right, so you're both floating outside of this propulsion duct. Dalgrith. Metra will join Baron in his semaphore. Dalgrith gets to the anchoring point and loses his allies. Can't see anyone. And flies in the opposite direction. He'll fly over to the steam vent as well. Fly over to the vent as well.

And was that a double move? Yeah. Okay. Well. 20 up. No. 30 over. Yeah, so why aren't you guys doing anything else?

You were just waiting? That's a double move, right? Yeah. Oh, no. No, because we went over. But you went 20 up. That's 40 But you can only go 30 up, do you know what I mean?

Yeah, no, so if you went 10 up We went 20 up, that's 40 That leaves 20 to go So you're 10 feet away, so they're right in front of the vent You guys are 10 feet away from the vent Or you, Dalgrith, are 10 feet away Yeah, so I'll double move to get right next to them That's what I wanted to see

Nestor, what about you? Yeah, Nestor's going to fly up, see them over by the moist sky hole and join them. I knew you'd like that use of the word moist. So Nestor double moves as well over to the moist sky hole. This propulsion

duct is open. You could walk right in. It is wet at that moment. You hear the flapping of wings. Oh no! Oh no! And then breaking out

from atop the platform and flying towards you are two creatures. Two creatures that look like the mix of several animals mixed together Has a bear's torso and a head Clawed ape legs

And a furred tentacle arm And they shriek out And attack you It's a flight combat And we'll see you next week No Get in the moist hole Get in the moist hole

Get in the moist hole Get in the moist hole Insert yourselves in the moist hole Fly into Fly into the moist hole The Glass Cannon Podcast is a Glass Cannon Network production and is an officially licensed partner of Paizo Incorporated. Giant Slayer is copyright 2015. Giant Slayer and the Pathfinder Adventure Path are trademarks of Paizo. All Pathfinder images are property of Paizo and are used with permission.