The Glass Cannon Podcast - Giantslayer Episode 322 - Gone with the Skinned

Episode Date: April 5, 2022

The heroes try to cope with an unexpected loss so close to the end of their journey. 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

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Price and participation may vary. Extras, taxes, and delivery additional. Expires April 8th. You are listening to the Glass Cannon Network, the premier source for role-playing game entertainment last week on the glass cannon podcast you hear walking down the hallway footsteps coming towards you in a voice a very familiar voice the voice of your dead father al Alistair Coyne. A skin-stealing monstrosity struck from the shadows.

It hits you with the first claw in a critical spot, hitting you like right below your temple in a way that like you start to feel dizzy with the force of the blow. And caught the slayer off guard. Then the creature starts to tear at your flesh with the rend and skins you. Oh no. Your skin is completely torn from your body. Is it just... What? But as the rest of the party fought for survival...

It is only us now, Sheriff. Lexington is like backing away. And he's just like, stay in the fight, Lexington! Stay with me! Another life was ripped away. With the last ounce of strength, he lifts up his iron fist, grabs Baron with its unnatural strength and pulls him closer. Tightness!

Shove it up his ass! The adventure continues. We just see this river of blood. Nestor's flayed skin. The deadhead crochet. And all of you surrounding Nestor's flayed body.

Now. so with the glass cannon podcast or at least this first iteration of it, the Giant Slayer Adventure Path coming to an end very soon, two things dawned on me. One, I think we're going to go one more episode. I think it's going to be 326. Oh, that is such an ugly, not smooth-looking, quarter-of-a-century-ish number. I hate it. I really hate it.

Why don't we banter for four episodes more to make it 330? We'll get it to 330. I thought about it, but you wouldn't know this. A lot of people don't care for the banter. You gotta dig deep to find people making those comments, but not a lot of people... Big fans of the bant

fans of the bant i like shortening banter to bant um yeah no i think it's going to go to 326 uh just for various reasons um but uh that that was one thing and then the second thing i've realized is if people don't follow us on the soc that's short for social media uh or watch saving so much time today with all these abbreviations we get we get railed at for wasting too much time maybe we won't need we won't need that extra episode you know all these shortened words all right you know i should say maybe 326 maybe it'll be 324 at this rate. I'm fine with either. I just wanted to... Sorry to interrupt, but I have to mention something I saw on the subreddit, which was... I guess there was a thread about Shorten...

Or not Shorten. It was a thread about iconic phrases of the series. And I saw one of our greatest Shorten ones ever that I had forgotten about, which was, uh, the mid calm rogue dip flank bone. Rogue dip flank bone. That is fucking great. Rogue dip flank bone.

Wow. I forgot about that. Oh, you had one in a live show recently. It was so i was gonna text you about it was like uh little sneak attack damn zoni on the flank john people don't know us and our brand it just sounds like we're speaking a different language the other day i said something to my infant daughter, like, you want to have some milk zoni? And I was like, what is happening? I'm getting them all, Lee!

One by one, they're toppling. Like so many dominoes. I wish I could remember what it was. It wasn't milk zoni, but it was something like that. Milk zoni? This poor kid. He's growing up in a bilingual household. It really is.

The other thing I realized is that if people don't follow us on the social or listen to the FOD, short for Cannon Fod, they may not know what's coming next. I think there are people who actually listen to the show week in and week out and they don't listen or follow us on our updates or our newsletters and whatnot.

They may not know. So I just want to talk about that briefly and have it segue into our excitement about this. But after Giant Slayer ends, whether it be 324, 326, or 330, this goes to 330, I'm going to lose a year of my life. I'm going to lose a year of my life. We are then, GCP 1.5, as I've mentioned a few times, just casually to kind of get it out there, is going to be us playing Strange Aeons, converted to second edition. So when Giant Slayer ends, for the next couple months,

you're going to get all those episodes of the tour, since we started in LA in 2018, that otherwise were only available on our Patreon. You'll be able to get all those episodes of the tour since we started in L.A. in 2018 that otherwise were only available on our Patreon. You'll be able to listen to those, I'm thinking Monday through Thursday, we'll release a new episode every single day, four days a week. And we're going to still be touring during that time. And then once that's done, we're going to be doing the show, you know, like we did SideQuest SideSesh, and releasing those episodes in between our tour dates. So Glass Cannon 1.5 is going to be Strange Aeons. The one difference is, starting with Book 3, we're going to be converting it to second

edition. Although I should say, we've already converted to second edition, because the author of Book 3, Ron Lundeen, just sent me the final draft. Nice. So it's done. sent me the final draft. Nice. So it's done. It's done. Done. Ready.

He's already working on book four. And you know all the mechanics, which is the best part. That's the best part. It's like, talk about a game I know really well. I think all of us really know well. Pathfinder 2E. We've been sitting on this knowledge for seven years. It's like we're playing the game with offhanded. because our natural game taking that minus two to attack yeah exactly

our natural game is second right um but i'm excited about it and i wanted to see what you guys thought about it uh 2e we've got some work to do we've got to play some more 2e um we can't just learn it live on the road um but are you guys excited to jump in and and and and maybe not if you're not excited how are you getting excited about it well i was gonna say it's bittersweet for me just because i i do love pathfinder has a special place in my heart but the thing is i'm playing legacy of the ancients you know what i mean so like i'll still have one e in my life and i remember making an argument a ways back internally i don't know if i said it on air but about saying like well we can't play two e and one e like at the same time like keep going back and forth it's going to foul us all up and i feel like i said it on air because

i feel like there were comments that were like you can totally do that um and the more that i've now gotten to know the two systems over time i'm like yeah we can totally do that. And the more that I've now gotten to know the two systems over time, I'm like, yeah, we can totally do that. Because they are very different. They're playing two different role-playing games. So I don't think we're going to get too confused in it. And I'm really looking forward to it. Because I love Strange Ants.

And I want to play more of it. Yeah, I'm excited for that. I'm excited to have one continuity like that and incorporating the live shows into what we're doing and just i think the show will that the the adventure will benefit from us playing more regularly as well yeah rather than just like once every six weeks or something like just playing like you know i think we'll be more in a groove with it and i think it'll be a better... We have so much fun playing that show. Yeah.

Book three is considered one of the better books that are written in the pantheon. I can't wait. I've been enjoying the live shows so much, especially lately. Me too. And yeah, just the chance to play it more often is just really great.

And it's also, it's nice to go back to something that's not super high level. It's nice to set back the clock a little bit on that. Although I would be sad if we weren't also playing Legacy of the Ancients. Because I love first edition. I mean, Legacy of the Ancients is scratching a lot of itches for me right now. But I, too, am super excited to play more Strange Ions. I'm excited that we can use it as a learning opportunity for second edition.

Because I've only played second edition, I don't know, dozen times maybe no more than that but still not very many times yeah and i don't know i think it's super cool and i think it's also super fun to be able to have the author of the book adapt this adventure that we're loving to second edition himself yeah that's pretty cool yeah i told him i was like you know if there's stuff that the editors at paizo changed that you were like how why did they change i'm like put it back in director's cut yeah yeah if there's mechanics that you like realize after the fact we're like maybe a little like just change it and uh so he did make some changes which will be nice a totally fresh take for people that might have played the adventure before i'm so excited i'm

i'm just i'm pumped yeah i was gonna like grant talk but i'm gonna talk over him yeah so uh poor grants for 45 seconds i've uh felt bad in particular on some uh episodes like they were skid has been talked over and i desperately did not want to talk over skid so i was waiting for that to happen and then joe just chopped right in um anyway um yeah no i agree with all those high level assessments uh and sentiments i think on a very micro level should house or live another episode or get to the 2e conversion i'm just excited to play someone who carries a shield that has shield block like that's such a more active yeah like there are things about pathfinder 2e and it may not it might ruin the economy it might make it to where i'm less effective but i love taking the

damage out of the hardness of the shield the shield breaking having it be something it's just a thing on my sheet right now in pathfinder 1e so there are things where both systems excel and people are excited and vocal about online but just that part really makes the different build come alive a lot more. Like right now, I don't feel that much different than Sir Julie tool wielding outside of the fact that that's reflected in her damage. You know, I don't get to actively use the mechanics. Sink it, ground you into who the character is a little bit more in that way. Right. Even though we're coming into this in like the second third of this adventure adventure it feels like a clean slate in many ways like we're starting fresh

you have to rebuild these characters from scratch and uh even though we're still learning 2e where we don't know it as well as other games uh i there is a clean slate aspect of it that i really like well i like the the idea to me is that it's a gaming experiment and that's always fun. We're playing a new game. We're also going to be converting characters. So you want to see how the narrative shifts based on mechanics. It might be small shifts or there

might be large narrative shifts based on the mechanics to move characters from one to another. We did it many, many years ago when we first got started, Skid and I, we converted our characters from 4th edition D&D to Pathfinder. And they were third level, I think, at the time, something like that. So it was like, what were you, the fourth level, their fourth level. So it was like, what do you think this conversion would look like?

And that was just a fun gaming experiment. And so we get to do that now. And I honestly don't have a lot of ground. I don't have anything on my 1e bucket list like i i'm like i'm enjoying playing legacy because i'm enjoying playing a class i've never played before but like there aren't too many of those anymore and i haven't played any 2e classes yeah i played a lot of rangers so far but like nothing else yeah and so i'm excited to dig into new mechanics and learn the new system.

And, you know, as new books come out and new mechanics come out, like it's going to be live happening. Like no new stuff is coming out for one. So it'll be fun to, to like, if we do a session,

that's a, you know, it's a stream for all from our homes. And then like a few days later that, that airs. And then the following week we're in San Diego or something. It's like, I just, I just listened to that episode lasts. And then the following week, we're in San Diego. Or something. It's like, I just listened to that episode last week.

And now there's the continuation of the story. It's going to feel so much more immediate. And we can just pour more energy into one story. Yeah. And one group of characters. Whereas now it's split between two stories. That is going to be an amazing benefit, I think, for everybody. Yeah, that's huge.

That's one of the main reasons we did it. It's like, we're just doing too too much and it dilutes um the overall quality of both and our and in our brain space as well keeping track of everything i think you'll like show up like first day of school with your little notebooks and being everyone taking notes like grant for at least the first couple apps that's true it's for the audience too like it'll be so great for them to not need like the recap as much right i mean they'll they'll if they're listening to the main show like they'll be kind of up to date on the story and and aware of what's going on in a way that they aren't right

now so yeah i think it'd be great and also i always find with exceptions but mostly on those tour stops where we do two shows within a couple days of each other, the second shows are always great. Yeah. Yeah. Because we're in it. We're so loose. We're very present with the story.

And it's going to feel like that now all the time. Yeah. The notable exception being Indianapolis the first time. Oh, yeah. Oh, drunk Matthew. That was a fun one. with his sunglasses on inside to be fair i was not the only one with my sunglasses on that's true i did consume a blue drink that i should have an electric blue beverage um well uh that that is going to be very exciting that's going to be happening very soon

um so uh hopefully people are looking forward to that um but something that's happening in today's episode is something that will be happening for the last time i can officially say uh during the giant slayer adventure path and that is the level up the level up the final one did you guys know it was coming no i didn't think i made a prediction on cannon fire that we weren't gonna level up and i agreed with that prediction i thought this we were done this was it uh that was a shock a total shock it also worries me considerably yeah well i'm equally worried uh i hate giving you new powers but uh yes 17th level i remember you guys saying so this is the uh highest level character i'll ever worried uh i hate giving you new powers but uh yes 17th level i remember you guys

saying so this is the uh highest level character i'll ever play and i was laughing to myself there's one more level uh but you got 17th obviously there's another elephant in the room which is uh dealing with a death of a character this close to the end there's a lot to discuss um so we're just gonna we going to jump right into it. Let's talk about Nestor not in character for a second. How's everybody feeling? Should we start with Skip? I'm really pretty bummed. I had this whole thing of where I saw him after all this.

And I think I was talking about it with someone. Because you sent out an assignment of just think about this and write it up and everything. And I was just like, well, my vision was that it would be mysterious. It's just like, we don't know what happened to Nestor. I wanted to wrap it up kind of like the end of Unforgiven, where it's like, uh, the rumor rumor was that he had gone to San Francisco and prospered in dry

goods, but there was, you know, something like that. Um, but it's just like anywhere, you know, this is like when the,

when a moonless night, you know, giants like shiver thinking that this might be the last night for them oh something like that so i was i was a little bummed that that didn't that there won't be a nester like out in the world that i can dream on after this is over but uh uh yeah that's that's it that's uh it's none of my feelings it's brutal it's brutal you come this close to the end you've got your your dream scenarios in mind i'm sure like if that was barren how i'm not saying even more brutal to try and weigh them out but i mean you're

pitching a no-hitter uh going to the end here and it would just be crazy and it could have happened to you it could have it could have very easily happened to me it seems like that that save was super high on that that flaying ability and uh yeah i think nester got like a 24 i want to say something like that so it was pretty high if it was a 24 i think it was dc 26 i think i rolled a natural eight oh i think so yeah it was yeah brutal but the results of it and then party composition you talk about you, you know, four players versus five players. You've had parties up to six players and that's too many things. But right now we just don't have that hold to fill. And I, I, I, in the moment I sensed a lot of kind of anxiety around wanting to solve a way to, to, to fix this with Nestor.

But, you know know i kind of felt resigned like it just seemed like matthew had a lot of great ideas and i was just like i think this is you're like he's dead jim yeah yeah that's kind of how i felt it's like someone like still delivering cprs like come on damn you breathe that like the doctor's definitely it's a stop call it you need to call it it's like the moment with dr corday and dr romano and and and then lucy in er after the the episode with the stabbing and then like you none of you know what i'm talking about what are you talking about no this is the famous seven or eight listeners are cheering so there's an er episode where noah wiley and kelly martin get stabbed by a patient

who finds a cake knife or something and And then they both go into surgery and Kelly Martin dies. But then it's a classic. It's like, no, no, no. She's not gone yet. They just keep kind of giving her like internal CPR. And the other one is just like frozen in shock. It's an amazing episode. A better example would be an episode of Scrubs where

Zach Braff, it's very early on in his days as an intern or resident. I think he's still an intern. And he's working the shift when someone's dying and he just won't, he doesn't want to call it. And Dr. Cox, who's his mentor, is like, you need to call it. And he's like, no, I won't do it. And he's like, you had a good day.

One, you know, everybody wants to pitch a no-hitter but uh we will just try again tomorrow and so he has to call it that's a better example because it's a better show that's also a good example but it's a different example it's a completely different moment all right i'm going to do a different example that i actually thought about at not at the time when you were a resident when i was training well that's why i quit. Say Joseph's teaching. I quit and went into podcasting. In Philadelphia. I was... Can you imagine the fury?

Joe was your father. In that room. I thought you meant the fury of your father when you left your doctor. Oh, no. To podcast about AIDS. No, no. I'm just imagining Joe dropping a pair of forceps and being like, Chicken and chicken!

Doctor O'Brien, please.. O'Brien please Dr. O'Brien please No I thought about this After hearing the last episode I was like listening back And I thought of that moment That exact moment I didn't think of ER or scrubs But I thought of going to the doctor and saying it's over Because you Metro

You were insistent to try and save him and i'm listening back and i'm like there's there's no way man we don't have the ability there's no way and uh but doesn't have any skin but i right but i kept thinking of the abyss when ed harris is over uh well i've always forgot her name she's a three-name person mary elizabeth yeah mary elizabeth master antonio and she's down and that but in that one they don't call it it's the opposite it's like it would matthew did actually work because he's just like you know what does he say it's like you never ever backed away from a fight in your life and he's like slapping her unconscious face yeah and then she just wakes up and lives and i was like if only matra slapped

him if only i'd slapped your skinless face that's right the one thing you didn't try i shaved i didn't think of it though because of uh because of nester because i thought of like i was like you know nester never will never stop until he got this revenge and i just imagined it screaming in his face like you're not gonna let this time you gotta kill volstice get your ass up yeah it's like mary elizabeth nester antonio i don't want to i don't want to make it seem like I'm glad he's dead because I think it's devastating and for both the story and the podcast. And I blame Troy for that. Um,

but talk about a way for Nestor to go out skinless, bleeding, bleeding out, like just like just with that last ounce of strength, shooting that final, that final, uh, salvo into this.

Yeah, that was, that was pretty cool. And I was thinking too, there there was a there's a garth ennis comic i think derrick robertson did the art but uh uh punisher kills the marvel universe yeah and there's one i think one of the things like uh wolverine like loses all the skin on his face but it's like his regeneration like keeps him alive for a while so he's just walking around with no skin on his face like that i was just thinking about that like image you know what matthew just made me think of i i hadn't really put this together but i think that you should be pretty pumped and i think that you should hold nester in a place of rare honor in pathfinder

history because i don't think too many pcs can say that they got the creature that got them that's true yeah that's a good point you got the guy that got you and that's very nester yeah you took him down with you his last act was vengeance yeah it's the last act alive the last words are yeah yeah stick this up his ass that was amazing you're not gonna get a better more epic death this end this close to the end uh the ecorsh has a power that i was like really thinking about using but it i felt like it nerfed me so i didn't do it it would have been more dramatic but it can as a full round action grab the skin of its victim and wear it oh yeah yeah and so the only reason i didn't do it is that it makes you into a medium creature because you can walk around looking like it but the act of doing that would cause all of you to make a save to be just like kind of like a kothulu type save

so i thought about doing it just to make like really hammer home the drama but uh it would have made him his ac dropped by like 10 if i did that well once again i don't know how much that's going to come up in 2e but once again 1e showing that like every mechanically beneficial choice you make is anti fun narrative yeah that's true i mean to be fair if you had done it to anybody but nester it would have been way i think it would have been way more affecting because like baron already wants to shoot nester well i had like contingency plans in my head because i had been holding on to this waiting for a pc to be separated and so i was thinking like what's going to happen if it's parent what's

going to happen if it's sir will or metro and so i had all these thoughts in my head and when it was nester it's like all right go plan nester and that happened but i was going through my head like metro would have been in rough shape that's a fortitude that's a tough fortitude save for dc what is it i think it was dc 26 yeah i would have had to roll a natural 16 or above oh wow baron i think would have been a i was most worried about it being baron because i think that would have been an amazing way for baron to go but i think you would have been an amazing way for Baron to go. But I think you would have to roll a natural two or one. It was a spell spell like ability or poison.

Just kidding. I think I had to roll like a five or lower. So there's a 20 percent chance. Yeah. OK. It was a better chance than I thought. And then, sir, well, you've got high for it. Yeah.

Well, you would never hit him twice to even break him. That's true that's but if you had rolled 220s and crit him twice then uh yeah a natural three would save so only a natural two and below that's why i left power attack off because i wanted the hits to go through but with you even still i would have had to roll oh actually you wouldn't have you could have totally hit i think you hit him for like 46 or something like that. Maybe. I was rolling well. That definitely would have hit. I wouldn't have to crit. I desperately want to know someday who would have shown up in each person's moment with

it. Yeah. That would be so awesome to hear. Giant Slayer. End of campaign. Hang. End of campaign. End of campaign.

Hang Sony. End of campaign. Streamalicious. P.O.S. D.I.P. P.O.S. Sneaky that damn on the flank, John. What a bunch of

idiots we are. Wait a minute. Did you never even say Rentown? It must have been too serious of a moment. I don't think I... You didn't take him

and take Nestor to Rentown? It must have been very calm like, and now I'm going to... I have to take you to Rentown. No, I was... We did.

Would you rather live in Rentown or Cleveland? I think Cleveland. Cleveland is way better than Rentown. I don't think we did would you rather live in rentown or cleveland i think cleveland is way better than rent i don't think you get played in cleveland you get to keep your skin in cleveland yeah no i didn't because i knew what the save was coming after that and how brutal that was going to be um obviously horrible uh and uh you know there's no way around it. I'm interested to see what role play erupts from it. Can I talk one second again out of character before we go in?

There might be some character element of this, but mechanically, this is horrifying. And Matthew and I were talking about this after the session. This is a massive amount of range damage that we've just lost. Right. Now, Baring gives you great range damage, but he's limited by range. And he's only one. Like, anything can happen to one character at one time. Crowd control.

Any kind of crowd control. Misfires, too. Misfires, too. So, I'm scared. Yeah. I'm scared for all of us now for the rest of the campaign because of losing Nestor. I mean, not to give away my strategy, but Nest nester's dead and so i guess it doesn't matter but a lot of my battlefield control strategy was just centered around giving nester as much time as possible to get off enough rounds before the

enemies got too close yeah yeah you could give nester 160 feet usually comfortably if it was the enemy was going to move towards us because of the 110 plus range on his bows. And it really allowed for like that cushion of time to make decisions for everyone. Yeah. There's a massive game changer here this close to the end. Be interesting to see how you bounce back. Let's talk about these level ups. Let's get this out of the way. Get the nitty gritty out of the way.

Skid, thanks for coming in today. I appreciate your time here. If you want to go grab the sushi. Grab a beer and eat some cookies. You know, everybody send Skid the order for the sushi. Just to save time here. We're referring to Skid as Garcon from here. Garcon, the sushi.

Garsoon. Who wants to go first? Mid-ep-sush-dip. Mid-ep go first mid-ep stooge dip i'll go first sir will's not terribly exciting so i'll go first what's new uh oh i do want to say that uh as i was putting this together i was like holy shit talk about uh milestones because i think the character we played troy and skid were fake 15th level characters so once we hit 16 that was new territory now we played, Troy and Skid, were fake 15th level characters. So once we hit 16, that was new territory. Now we're hitting 17.

And we entered some other kind of crazy new territory that I wanted to mention. Assuming that Skid's character brought in his 17th level or close, even if it isn't, I think we'd still be okay to say this. this over the seven years of this campaign this level up means that we have compiled as a group over four million experience points wow really it's 5.2 million which were 1.3 million each oh oh i thought it was 1.05 million each no that's 1.3 million so over 5 million 5.2 points wow holy shit yeah isn't that wild that is wild in one campaign and you could still go higher like if this was wrath of the righteous we just keep going yep i mean think about killing you know like a goblin for 100 xp or whatever 300 xp whatever i think it's 100 xp but or it might even be lower i'm thinking in 2e terms because i because of emerald spire but that's in any case 5 million xp it's a

lot of boys in the forest yeah all right so so sir will at level 17 no new spells unfortunately which is a bummer uh but uh does get a new feat and i didn't choose because i want to kind of throw it out to you guys i narrowed it down and there's just kind of very different versions uh of approach for uh what we think these final combats might be and so i'm going to kick it to you guys and see uh what you'd be interested in me taking here um all right so one feat that i looked at is called smite evil magic and it basically gives me the ability to attempt almost like a barbarian sunder spell i can use a a a smite to sunder a magical like spell so i can i can like like dispel magic basically if for anything but the attempt to get that wrong on air and then

have it go out to everyone, I say choose that one. Yeah, exactly. But, you know, it could be huge, possibly. Another one is this is much more like we would use this every time. Pretty much divine fighting technique. I owe my day. So this is basically if you fight with a long sword, anytime you hit with a long sword attack you can give all of your allies uh plus two sacred bonus to uh attack uh saving throws and skill checks for a minute

so that would be like almost every combat you get a plus two now you already get some sacred bonuses so i'm talking to baron might not be your favorite uh hello but baron has to choose between usually uh between attacking or putting it to saves or to ac um so this would kind of cover more of his bases but yeah it's a tough call the thing that i'm thinking of here is the saving throws the plus two to saving throws you never know could really be helpful as we just learned right uh all right then last one this one is a straight up ac bonus protector strike when i use smite evil i can take my ac bonus and not take it and give it to any one ally it is a plus seven deflection bonus oh that's pretty sweet shit so i can smite evil and just give any one of you a plus seven deflection

which doesn't stack with your existing deflection to ac wow is that contingent on you hitting the thing you're smiting no no when you choose the target of smite evil you choose any ally within sight they gain your ac bonus i don't get it you get it instead and so the other reason of maybe not taking it is because i'm a little debuffed then as like a front line but uh in some cases it might be the perfect thing to up Metro to over 30 AC or something. Someone's in a sticky situation. Right.

I think for the most part I have sensed in my perception may be incorrect and you all might have different reads on this. I think we've had the most trouble not being able to counter spells and special abilities rather than like ac and combat a lot of the time so that's what and like i'm always like how do we counter uh that darkness spell how do we do that i'm just thinking ghostbane dirge against incorporeal features so particularly against uh i would have to look up lyrantius the naga who's still out there linearatis linearatis yeah that's the reason i was thinking this spell thing. Yeah.

Like I could end a spell effect. And, and I'm imagining anyone else we might see might have some nasty spells. And I, I don't know if we're as well equipped for that, uh, as we could be, but you know, that's just me thinking. All right. No, I got your, what do you guys think? Choose the one that doesn't make me have to make a judgment call. Uh, I think the easiest one for that do this might even want

i think that's the one i mean you mean add the evil or i mean add the ac no add the ac bonus that's easy yeah yeah that's pretty straight up i mean that seems very protectorish of you yes so does the spell it's very in line with my character. They both are very paladin. Yeah, but remember, I have to hit against CMD to do this successfully. And it's like... To smite evil? To break the spell. If it's like on a creature, like if they're buffed, or if it's on an object, it's 15 plus the caster level that I have to hit.

So it would be DC 31. You're never going to hit the dragon. You're never going to CMD the dragon. Right. So... Just AC bonus. do the ac bonus i mean the fighting style one is fun too because that plus two to saves is not yeah all right well you know what come back to me anyway that's it it's just a feat uh and and then if you want to roll hp oh yes and

does lexington get any bonuses in the level up uh yeah he gets oh no he just gets a uh he just gets hp so uh he's not on a feat level i was hoping he would now uh unlock immortality oh that would be nice uh you want to roll lexington's hp or yours uh let's do mine okay so it's a d10 d6 d10 zoni bam what'd you get buddy eight four good i thought you're going to say eight, and I was going to shit. All right. Shit cheese with. Shit cheese with. What'd I eat?

And then let's do Lexington real quick. What's that? That is a D8. D8. Don't have any. Don't have any. Okay. Come on, buddy.

Four. Eight. Oh, yeah, Lex. A tale of two roles. Okay. Come on, buddy. Four. Eight. Oh, yeah, Lex! A tale of two roles. Okay. All right. And now we're coming back to you to choose your feet. Yeah, because I just remembered one when Matthew said, when you fight the dragon, there is a dragon feet.

I just forgot to put in my notes. Okay. Come back to me. Okay. I was coming back to you, but we'll move on. Matthew, do you want to talk up Metra? I can tell you a little bit. Okay.

I'll tell you everything. I want to know everything uh so metra gets uh another level eight spell okay i'm not gonna tell you what it is makes me sick just thinking about it i also get a feat and i chose expanded arcana which gets me basically just an extra spell known or if you do what I did and you choose not the highest level, but anything lower, you get an extra two spells known. Yes. The only reason I know it is one of my monsters that I'm reading up about in one of these campaigns has this feat multiple times.

You can take it multiple times and just get a bunch of ponies. So what did you choose to take? Eighth or two seventh? I took one seventh and one fourth. Oh. multiple times and just get a bunch of ponies uh so what did you choose to take once uh eighth or two seventh i took uh one seventh and one fourth oh i'll tell you what the fourth one no actually you know what nah you know in a real game you just say here's my sheep yeah that's true that's true i'm so you can tailor the adventure i'm told that's told that's frowned upon that's what you're doing is frowned upon yeah um because now i'm forced to stymie you in the moment no no no you can't do that no that's okay

if you don't you sure you don't want to tell not for me for the listeners i won't listen you won't listen even on the edit wait who said that see i took i took dimensional anchor oh yes please don't use that against him now that you know come on uh you've uh you've seen this in action now a few times dimensional anchor uh very cool very cool that is that is incredibly helpful for uh your current situation that's an eighth level spell no that's a fourth level a fourth level spell nice dimensional anchor there's a seventh level and an eighth level that you'll... We'll see. We'll see if they come up.

We'll see. Little Dimension Anchor. There's only so many combats left they could... I hate it! It's so terrible. Classic, expand our can. Dimension Anchor. Just flying through this conversation with all these truncated words.

Airport, shmairport, am I right how what's your hp uh d6 d oh boy this this could be bad yeah this don't even just be excited if you get a two would you get there on a category one two three six Two, three, six. What? No! You had six eyes. I can see it. No! Six eyes. Grant rule. Stupid grant rule. You gave me those hungry six eyes.

Oh, hungry six eyes. Five. Oh, that worked out okay, considering a bad start. I didn't really fully consider how the grant rule strikes more often the lower the die is. It's a greater chance of D6. Yeah, every die smaller you get a much better chance. Did you create the grand rule when you were playing a barbarian? Yes, indeed.

Yes, it was in the Rune Lords campaign. D12s for life! Oh, God. I mean, if you haven't listened to uh the strange hands campaign there is a hit point roll off that will be coming up in your future one of the most dramatic things in the history of the network we've ever done hundreds of people just for a hit point roll

uh all right bar. This is it. First of all, big round of applause. Baron's made it all the way from first to 17th level. I have to ask, as I always do, did you finally go for that kinetosis dip? It's time for a little samurai action. Samurai dip! We're talking. Samurai's challenge. 2022, Tom Cruise looks really tasteless in The Last Samurai dip! We're talking... Samurai challenge.

2022, Tom Cruise looks really tasteless in The Last Samurai, but I think it's... No. I honestly debated going a cleric dip. Just to be able to do that mid-battle 1D6 channeling? Or a UMD, a scroll of something we actually needed. But yes. I was thinking about that as well but i i i am now a 10th level inquisitor wow seventh level gunslinger 10th level inquisitor

amazing so powerful the the great thing that happened there's a couple great things that happen i get to do judgments four times a day now. A lot of things went up a tick. My judgment of justice, which allows me a sacred profane bonus on attack rolls. My judgment of protection, which gives me an AC bonus. My judgment of purity, which gives me a bonus to saves. And my judgment of resiliency, which gives me DR, all went up to plus three. However, on receiving critical attacks, my judgment of bonus on your confirmation roll or my judgment of protection bonus goes up to a plus six against confirmed crits yes on the confirmation roll and if i have uh both either the damage uh or the two hit judgment on those go up

on plus six for me to confirm or unconfirm critical damage. Wow. I've decided I was in between two feats there. There was a feat that was called favored judgment, which essentially allows a rangers favored enemy class bonus of plus one to anything. So I was thinking about adding giants onto that list and getting an extra tick of AC or damage or to hit against giants, uh, probably would have been very useful throughout the campaign. I instead took instant judgment, which instead of using a swift action to change my judgments,

I can now instantly change them from AC to saves. If I have a tough save to make, for example, fast healing. That's like an immediate action or something. Yep. Immediate. That's great. You great do it off turn yep as well wow that's huge that is very cool and it feels like the more i've studied the scriptures of torag the closer i've gotten with him it makes sense to have now you've got him on speed dial got him on speed dial i mean we're pretty close

in the you don't have to go through his secretary to uh switch judgments uh and then finally i got some spells uh that are pretty neat um i kind of don't want to tell what level spells two level fours two level twos level four inquisitor spells they're a lot beefier than a level four uh sorcerer spell yeah for sure for sure. One of them is, uh, I have defeated you with level four sorcerer spell. Don't rub it in. I won't. Yeah. You should feel free to tell me is I'm not going to use them against you.

Um, we're going to use them to tell a good story together. What is hungry pit? Is it level four? I believe it is. Curious. Yeah, it is.

Biscuit. Um, I hungry pits. All five, sir. I took a invisibility level two so i can give myself a little invisibility bonus so i have to that's really not the big one not greater just regular it's regular old invisibility for level two one of my level fours i decided on stone skin little boosh yeah hundred points damage reduction 10 points each time at 10th level it's a staying alive spell the other you're just trying to you're just trying to win please do please stay alive

please stay alive stay alive no matter what occurs i had a choice for the level four spell that was really uh difficult to make it was between a spell called judgment light i love that movie great soundtrack though better soundtrack than a movie uh and for the soundtrack that would play when i would cast this spell as one action um basically any judgment i have inactive it would let off a light based off of those judgments so if i had judgment of destructive active a red light would erupt for me and enemies in the area would take 48 points of damage and if i had the judgment of protection active amber light would erupt for me at the same time granting allies on the burst a plus two sacred bonus to ac

and cmd and a plus four bonus AC against critical, critical confirmation attacks. Um, so basically that paired with the instant judgment would allow me to buff the party with an action and have it be relevant to the context of the battle. There are a lot of options here. You know, there's giving everyone, um,

DR three magic, uh, for one round per caster level um energy resistance i can reduce the caster um uh check on spell resistance checks on things i can unveil invisible enemies but there was another spell that was just all the more enticing to me and it's called oh and i also on the judgment light i liked that it was a counterpart to what uh the naga was doing with the with the chromatic race like a nice version of prismatic spray right with this uh one i went with named bullets oh man oh no there it is named bullets what the hell is named bullets you have used the target with deadly accuracy against a selected creature type wow and uh subtype for human eyes or

outsiders just specific he would be casting this on a bullet yes right that's the target wow or a creature you know and can name right and we have been chasing one creature that we have known and can name do you want to know well three yes three there's a bunch of people i could name this after uh old sir will bullet when used when used against the selected creature the ammunition never misfires and is unaffected by concealment okay and uh at a range of 30 feet or less the attack targets the selected creatures touch ac that's for people like i could cast this on a arrow or a thrown weapon as well so you can have this bullet like do you have to do it is it a standard action it is a standard action you can do it but i will you

can 10 minutes forever so you just pretty much oh it only lasts 10 minutes a level yeah but i do it but you pretty much have this bullet and like your bandolier ready to go and you say and i load with that bullet yes i would i would say that a quick reload or something and then uh when the target hits the selected creature you must overcome that creature's spell resistance which is probably going to happen against these last enemies or the spell has no effect a normal hit scored using the target against a selected creature is considered to be a critical threat and deals one extra damage point per caster level wow so it's a critical threat and regardless of you automatically it you get the plus 10 damage yeah yeah a natural critical threat deals the same extra damage but that damage is not multiplied

due to critical so i think the extra 10 points of damage just stays 10 it doesn't go up to 40 or whatever right um this is something i was actually because when galabras got to the point where he was going to be able to cast it this was something i was planning to do with synergy with baron all the time i was just like whatever we knew the name or like something that we're about to face i would i would bless you know your bullets in that way i've been planning it until you know whatever happened happened but after having heard you said that prior to this recording i like to think now that there was a deleted scene from the series where gel and baron were sharing this potential tactic one day and bar Aaron has just been working hard since that moment to make that come true himself.

So it's like your version of the cannonball special. Yeah. Yep. Pretty wild. And it's pretty wild because we know it's going to happen. We all know that moment is coming. Yeah. I mean,

that's what's so neat right now for me is like the feats and spells that we're choosing. We're building toward some very specific encounters that we know are coming. Yeah. Which is so fun. That's terrifying. Is it a standard action to cast the spell? Yeah.

So, I mean, I'm thinking there will be some point of no return that I will have reasonably an hour and 40 minutes to pick from and hope that we'll see what happens in the battle. And I've, you know, I just think it'll happen naturally and it'll be against one person. So did you pick AFE Joe? I did. I did. I am going to go with smite evil magic grant.

You win, you win. You're right. You're right. I'm going to do it. I just came back to the fact that uh the plus two to hit is not really gonna matter much the plus two to saves is kind of nice but maybe getting rid of some spell effect could be so huge uh and also ac bonuses they just don't

matter that much if volsta swings at metra he's gonna hit metra so uh even with a plus seven to your ac so uh i think yeah i'm gonna go with smite evil magic and then you know what it's just like sunder magic you're sundering magic i have to do a cmb against the creature and if it's on volstice you know it's going to be ludicrously hard to hit but maybe with a bottle cap what's a bottle cap is it plus eight is that what it is it's half our Yeah. So it's a plus eight to the CMB. And if I already have Smite Evil on, there's a chance I could like, not just end of an effect, but at least suppress an effect for up to five rounds. You didn't say the juiciest part of the spell, the very last sentence.

What's that? If an evil outsider. Oh, yes, yes, yes. Evil dragon. Evil dragon. Oh. Or undead creature created the spell effect. Created the spell effect. the very last sentence. What's that? If an evil outsider, evil dragon, evil dragon, Oh, or undead creature created the spell effect. I had my plus seven charisma modifier to the CMB check.

Wow. It could be pretty sweet. So I'm going to go with that. And then I just, they have to be evil. Uh, they have to be evil. The dragon has to be evil or undead.

Uh, they don't have to. Yeah. Um, I, I buried the lead. I forgot one thing la vallee uh-oh 17th level paladin gets a little ability called aura of righteousness oh yeah oh oh oh it's so good i just want to now i want to keep playing uh many many more levels that duchy on the left hand. Righteous. Right. Don't read it.

I have to know about it. I'm going to tell you what it is. OK. Aura of righteousness. And this is why I want my friends to remember. Try to stay close, especially early on. It's a good thing you don't have to charge or anything for any of your combat. I know. I know. It's tough. It's tough. I know, I know. It's tough, it's tough. But it makes Sir Will, who once was immune to fear, now also immune to compulsion or enchantment effects.

Oh, great. Additionally, anyone within 10 feet of him gets a plus four to any save against compulsion or enchantment. Wow. Spell or spell-like abilities. Holy moly. No, I'm sorry. It's just compulsion. I shouldn't say I'm sorry. It's just compulsion. I shouldn't say enchantment. It's just compulsion.

So if somebody's trying to make you do something, then, yeah, you get a plus four bonus. But you have to be within 10 feet. It's a real tight radius, but that's what all the R's are. They're almost all 10 feet. And does that only affect people of a certain alignment? No. Okay. No, it just says every...

Oh, he also, as part of that gets dr5 evil so i have dr5 now you have to have pure evil weapons to cut through it how cool um yeah so anyway that is so exciting to know you can't be compelled compelled compelled compelled don't do something that's such a more relaxed way for me to play i sure i live constant fear of that, having my mind taken over as a character. Yeah, it's the worst. Baron, you want to roll HP? I do. What are you? What's Inquisitor? That's going to be an 8.

D8. Okay, here we go. Last one there, Baron. Okay. 3. 6. You did okay. I walk in not expecting 8. i walk in hoping for six well that's the difference that's the difference between you and me i know instead of a gun uh you know i was thinking this rule also kind of means you should i don't know what

the math is but you should be buffing the HP of every monster we fight probably by 20%. Just to balance that out. If by the game design, we're only supposed to be rolling one die for HP, our HP should be a lot lower. Well, I rarely use the HP they suggest. What is wrong with you? He already does it anyway. Yeah, I change the HPs all the time because it'll say on all monster stats like uh 286 hit points and then in parentheses you know 10d8 plus 21 so and

you'll be like all right so 10d8 that's 80 80 plus 21 that math was bad quickly um all right so you've leveled up you're in bad shape though and you are a party member down let's say we open the app on um like a close-up of the nest where the rocks presumably were making their home and we just see the nest sitting there. And just blood starts to drip. Blood. Drop, drop, drop, drop. And then a steady stream of blood

as the rain has washed over the dead bodies of Nestor and the Akorsh and sent this river of blood down the long walkway leading to the ledge that then goes down into the rock's nest. And then we come back to where Metra, Sir Will, and Lexington, and Baron are standing over these bodies. Nestor's newly steeled hand just lying limp and open. What do you do what do we do sheriff baron is already kind of done

the funeral rights that can be provided someone but both in this place but also kind of notably unemotional unsentimental something that he thinks Nestor would like

um and kind of you know covers up his body and god we've left two bodies in here Dalgrith and Nestor yep we put Dalgrith back in uh Redfall's uh

torture chamber you didn't throw him out the moon door we talked about it I think we choked about it okay I thought you were like come on man you talked about putting a note on him please bury it would be funny if you threw him out and like you could see it and maybe 10 feet down you see the note just gets detached

yes the note that has the and if memory serves it wasn't like anything positive towards dog it wasn't like please bury this body it was like send potions of cure serious or something it was like it was very in your benefit but to get the note down there, you needed something heavy. So you were going to use Dalgris' body. I mean, from that height, Dalgris' body would be pulverized by the fall. So the burying would take care of it. It's like Mother Earth would take care of the burying.

That's true. He's a great hero. So Baron takes a knee down at this otherwise sanctified body as far as it can be, understanding that the way that Nestor lived his life will determine where he goes and where for asthma will guide him. And he pulls out the arm. Did you take off the arm in the last episode or you just said you grabbed me

by it? I grabbed you by it and puts the arm down on the side places his, you probably have to pry it like off of your, off of your shirt. I think it froze shut when Nestor died. Oh, I like that better, yeah. So he undoes each finger from Baron's duster. And he puts his left hand down on the bicep, right where the metal ends.

And gets his right hand down. And he pulls from his sheath on his back something he rarely does and that's the plus one hand x he pulled from grenzel decks cold dead hands from way back at red lake fort and he just with a butcher's precision goes straight through it with a cleaver and he looks at it and he considers the times in the past that he's had to take this power

he says this may not have gone to the right man either time the first time Nargrim Steelhand went on a man who was pure of heart, but lacked the spine and the power necessary to walk the walk, the path that Nargrim took in life.

The second time it may have gone to a man who, whose reach exceeded his grasp and whose desire for revenge and lust for power to achieve those ends was not what Torag, the defender, the keeper of the forge, intended. Now I know that there is one person chosen by Torag to take this forward into battle. One person

who is worthy of the mantle of this dwarven hero. That person's you, Sir Will. Sure, fine. I don't know. I'm... I don't know. I'm... I'm at a loss. You honor me greatly, he bows his head.

But what good will it do me? I... I have my weapons. I see no... large-scale lance that I need to use, and I fear what control it may take over me. To blindly attack any giant I see, perhaps that is not the way Iomedae wills it. If there's anyone that I trust to see through the bloodlust that this appendage grants its wearer. Anyone whose heart has endured all of the trials and tribulations

that has felt it is yours, Sir Will. It is you who I trust to take the power of Nargrim Steelhand to its final destination. It's not me. And he places it down on the ground with a clank, like laying down a gauntlet. Like echoes, gong, gong, gong. Sir Will looks down at it,

the camera zooms in on it. Baron's hand is on his holster. It's ready to shoot you as soon as you pick it up. Goes back to Sir Will's face, shot from below, he's looking down at it sweating. You failed the test. You failed the test. Boom!

Off the ledge. Shot, shot, shot, shot, shot. Fall. That was a great scene. That was fun. That was fun. He looks down and it... I very much desired this. He looks down at it. I very much desired this. He looks down at it and he just...

Sheriff, would you allow me to think on it? Something is giving me pause. I... Perhaps I will take it and carry it then until the time is right would that be okay that's alright but if you take too long I'm putting it on myself

that's my ultimatum I understand Sheriff I will wear this burden if need be but I believe that well that's all I'll say on that for now he'll reach down and lift it up put it into a

saddlebag and think about it he's just a little concerned I don't know I don't know does an aura of righteousness allow you to not be affected by the hand's compulsion to attack the first giant you see? That's interesting. That's interesting, isn't it? Cut your hand off and I'll let you know. You do it and I'm like, no. Barely finished the sentence. Turns out, no. Well well now we now we all know guys want to rest

well you know what's funny is uh it's uh as suggestion and suggestion is a compulsion spell i believe uh so yeah he would be immune to it he would be immune to that. Is it suggestion? Yeah, enchantment, compulsion. Yeah, and it says compulsion spells and spell-like abilities. I don't think you have long to consider, Will, but take your time. Thank you, Sheriff. Again, you do me a great honor, as does Torag. He raises his eyes to the skies, the clouds whipping by, the rain in his face. But perhaps now we should get off of this exposed ledge, get Nesta's body inside.

And I feel that I need some rest. I am weary. And we should not tarry long. We're being hunted. Yes. What would we do at this point? Would it be like, would we just kind of use the castle as it were and like walk normally? Will we look to Metra at this point and be like teleport us to the most advantageous place for us to rest back to that chapel?

Like, how do you think we would like it being 17th level characters i'm just thinking about it now would it be like silly of us i think we would teleport because uh or or dimension door or whatever just because it's to go back to rest so it's the end of the day if you have the spells yep yeah remember because i i think there's some confusion you can teleport and dimension door within the confines of this bubble it just can't be like let's go back to Trinidad and check it out, everybody. We just don't want to use it willy-nilly, but at this point, we'll use it in rest. You don't want to waste spells. Right.

Makes sense to use it here, I think. And that chapel was the scene of the place that Sir Will was granted a reprieve from the madness and gave him the clarity of mind to regain his his bearings in battle and maybe it's the place that'll give him the alignment he needs to determine whether or not to take on this hand yeah that's a good point he's like I will pray on

the sheriff let's go to the chapel and we'll profane the chapel with the flayed body of an evil man chapels are like bounty paper towels for evil the chapel with the flayed body of an evil man. That's right. Chapels are like bounty paper towels for evil. They're designed to soak that up. So it's perfect. All right, let's go

then to that map. Are you dimension dooring so you don't have to roll the D100? Yeah, if we're within... Oh, my dimension door range just went up. Oh! Nobody likes a bracket. So it would be... It's like 900 feet or something. Okay.

Correctly. Zip into the chapel. So you're back in this chapel or this musical shrine. Remember, there's a stained glass door that led into it. Very elegant room. Wood paneling. There's that marble bench that runs along the entire perimeter of the room. Four marble pillars, one of which held a secret compartment for various sundries collected by Rinfall. a latticework pattern on the ceiling so it looks

nature-y in here. And then the two stained glass windows opposite of each other, one bearing the image of the rising sun and then one with two identical cloud giant women of great beauty with magical harps in their hands.

Vroom, vroom, vroom. Vroom, vroom, vroom. Sheriff Metra I I must say I wish to maintain the utmost courage and face of this great evil that we seek at the top of the castle Nestor for all his

ways was invaluable when it came to felling giant creatures I worry about our ability to stand up to them now what are your thoughts Sheriff do you do you feel that we are outmatched

Nestor gave us by proxy Do you feel that we are outmatched? Nestor gave us, by proxy, rubbed off on us. The inability to fear. You may be immune to it through your closeness to your god. Nestor truly didn't know it. He was set on his path. And he could not be dissuaded from it. It is that very essence.

That one item from a complex man. That we must try to extract for ourselves moving forward. We must acknowledge our fear as you have, but then dash it on the rocks, like Nestor did time and again. May have been bravado, but he never let it stop him. Why,

there was never a... There was never a visible weakness in that armor. He never once showed any hint that he doubted himself or his abilities. I just don't want you to end up like him, Sheriff, that's all. His eyes downcast. Don't worry about me. Metra, you also tend to walk forward with absolute certainty and capability. You've proven yourself a master tactician on the battlefield.

Saved our hides many a time. What do you think, moving forward? I think we're going to need all the help we can get. I've seen many, many fall. Many simply cease to exist. This one will hurt if we are to succeed. What strategies do we have to

might we find another in this castle? We could, although Volstice seems to not like to keep prisoners very much. Outside of those he is interring in order to coerce, to work for him.

Sir Will, you said you traveled here with Adriel. Have you sensed any of his presence the entire time we've been traveling? I have a desire myself to meet him for my own selfish reasons, but... I have not. And Sir Will lifts his helm off, sets it down, sweaty hair in his face, and pulls it back. My God, do you use conditioner?

I must smell quite awful. Lexington has not either. He would make it a point to let me know in his own way if he had sniffed out the

dragon, what did I call him? The dragon's, dragon's soothsayer. The soothsayer. We have seen, we have not seen, he looks at Lexington, nor smelled any sign

of the soothsayer. I, I think we could even perhaps look for him. Now that we've made it outside, perhaps around the castle wall somewhere, he is hiding out, biding his time. He is extremely clever. He has the ability to move

through the air at will. He can be invisible. He could be anywhere. We just need to let him know where to find us. That is one option. Well, the, uh... we just need to let him know where to find us that is one option well the uh only option we have is to move forward and if that is with a new hero

such as you describe Adriel we'll go with four if it's just the three of us we've gotta face down this problem ourselves there's no the three of us, we've got to face down this problem ourselves. There's no way out of this castle. Of course you're right, Sheriff. He starts unbuckling his armor.

There is only one path. The only way out is forward. There is another option We both turn Lexington Looks at Metro Tulsa's head Yeah

The arm begins strangling Sir Will to death We're so into the scene we don't notice Metro's like Have you heard of the Heaven's Gate cult? Go on Go on. Go on. This entire plot has been a Hale-Bopp thing? Wow.

It's a really, really long time. Really long time. Start tanning off pamphlets. I'm glad you've chosen to come here. I've been working on some literature. Can you tell me what exactly Herbalife is? There is another option. Perhaps this is not a fight we can win.

Perhaps this fight is beyond our capabilities. And it would be best to leave the castle now and mount a defense amongst the small folk. Gather our armies and prepare to meet Volstis for one final stand. We've seen what his armies do to other armies. It's the type of thing we're going to have to take out surgically, I feel.

Not with brute force. But there is one other contingency that's been keeping me from sleep, Metra. It's the bomb we found in the innards of the castle. The spider... It's a spider's corpse?

What the hell is it? It's like an abdomen, thorax, and head of a giant spider that's been reconfigured into a very intricate, very dangerous-looking bomb. Do we... That's the other option Baron's thinking about. Like, do we just take it all down and kill ourselves if things get worse to worse it's like a cyanide pill in the the back of your

teeth is a jaw soldier thing and what could we do to do that because that's outside of baron's capabilities but it seems like something metric could do yes indeed sheriff i think if we are to move forward and feel as if the odds are so stacked against us that we cannot win, maybe, Metra, you will need to dimension door into the tunnel. Aha. Yeah, that's a simple way to put it. Set off the final bomb. End it. But I don't think we're there yet. ended.

But I don't think we're there yet. I feel that... Look, you told me right here in this castle when I arrived of the fate of the dwarves of Kragadan. If we allow Vulsus to prepare himself enough

to take to the sky, an entire legion of land-based small folk will be nothing. They will go up in an instant. Perhaps his weakest point is here, now. He knows we're coming. There is no

question of that. But even perhaps his arrogance will be his undoing. Very well. But we must accept the fact that we may not succeed. And then what? We should pin a note to Dalgry's party and drop it out.

It's always the note option. It's always the note option. It's always the note option. Update the note, will you? Please assemble army and then bury. We may not succeed, but we have a reason to try. I think we can all agree on that. You have your daughter's memory to fight for. The cause is just. I don't dispute

that. I just question whether we are equipped to meet it. Don't underestimate the powers of those who will our victory. The gods themselves, perhaps.

Or even those more powerful than us that live here on this plane. We do not know that are moving in the shadows, but wish for good to conquer evil. There is so much we have done, Metra, to weaken him, to weaken this place, even if we were to fail in the final moments. I have faith that we have set in motion the defeat of Volstus beyond any doubt. But if it is not us,

Iomide or Torag, Selenrei or Desna, they will send others. Others will come in our stead and we have done great work weakening him. I believe, no matter our fate, in the end, he will fall. So let us weaken him as much as we can. I've always operated moving forward without knowing I could do the job. I did that since True Now was attacked by those bands of orcs. And when they brought in that giant with chains into the city, I saw the commotion that happened,

and I'd never done anything like that before. But I stood up, and I lived to tell the tale. But I didn't do it, and I didn't stand up because I knew I was going to win. I did it because I knew that's what was right to do, and that's what I'm going to keep on doing. I did it because I knew that's what was right to do, and that's what I'm going to keep on doing. There are two unexplored areas that you know about right now, both basically above where you are now. there is the observatory that Metro went to that has a walkway leading sort of northwest on this castle, if we were to use the cardinal directions

based on the placement of the map. And then there is the upstairs of the room where you fought those fire giant guards, upstairs of the throne room, which has been nagging at you other than that you think you've shockingly uh covered all of this castle that you've found maybe this secret door you miss but with baron's stone cutting you doubt even that um which is crazy i remember when i first pulled out these maps being like,

how am I going to run this adventure? This looks, we're going to be at this for years. And now there's like... And we were. And we were. And we were. Book six we were for years? Well, at least a year, right?

I don't know when we started it. I got to go back and listen to predictions because I forgot. I can't remember. But yeah, now it's just, this is just only a handful of places that haven't been defog of war. Did 250 happen at the end of the book, at the end of book five?

I don't know. When did we come back? From? We came back in like 240 or... Yeah. 253. No, 250 was live, wasn't it? Yeah.

Yeah, that was pre-pandemic. Yeah, 252 was the last pandemic. We finished book five right after we came back from our... Oh, okay. So it's been less... Well, but it's been a year. Yeah. Of just this book.

Yes. And according to you, which you couldn't stop mentioning, we skipped half the book, apparently, before we got in the castle. Oh, yeah. I can't believe you guys skipped all that. They were swarming on us, running us into the castle. I'm counting the hours.

I'm counting the minutes you guys wait before you get into the castle. Yeah, I mean, I think I've just been talking to other people. A lot of people skip the majority of the encounters that are possible in the crater. In Caldera. Just because at a certain point you trigger a thing that has to happen. And so now you've got to rush to get this castle before it goes away. I don't think.

I mean, there are. There was probably like four or five other encounters in the Caldera. And rooms. And the tower. The tower went underground and had a bunch of just extra information you would have had coming into the castle was there any small or wolf sized magical items

there was a whole room full of magical items that were all for small characters they killed an entire legion of halflings it's called the halfling room he'll pray it's to rest. Yes.

Night's rest. He'll pray. Night's rest. Hitting night's rest. Three, two, one. Done. Rested for a night. At that.

Random encounter table. I'm still doing every water closed. Yeah. Oh, God. So funny. How many times? It's the Borrello. All right.

He found you. Oh, God. Now you can take's the borrello all right he found you oh god now you can take on the borrello in your sleep that's that's that's dark souls 2 pursuit ai level like the borrello comes in riding an oram forax let's go oh the oram forax what was it about the borrello that just we couldn't get past incor Incorporeal. That's right. Sir Will says, in a narrative language that I'm not going to use, basically, I don't understand anything Troy said about that other place besides the one that's over the fire giant room, but let's go to that other place that's not over the fire giant room.

Whatever that was. It was some sort of observatory. I don not over the fire giant room, whatever that was. It was some sort of observatory. I don't know where that is. I don't remember. Metro was cautious about that one because of the ledge that's exposed, uh, leading deeper into the castle, but you certainly could.

What do you want to do? I want to go above the throne room. Okay. And you still haven't made your decision after a night's worth of prayer. As far as the arm goes, you're still bearing it. It's just like, how are you feeling? Oh, yeah.

Yeah. He slept on it and said, I need more time. Hey, man. Hey, man. So what are you thinking about the arm? Well, I'll tell you, Sheriff. I've said many prayers in my time, and many have not been answered. And this is one of them, so I'm still

waiting. I'm confident I will hear back as soon as I find a lance that is huge. I have a speed dial to my deed. If you need it, I mean... Alright. Then we move on. Baron is concerned

at this decision not having been made yet, but we'll move. Yeah, I'm just, yeah. Move forward with it. Hesitant. Okay. Then happy to go wherever Metra and Sir Will want to go. Hoping that in one of those unexplored areas, there will be maybe someone to help. Maybe some, yeah, anything.

But not confident of that. I mean, yeah, I guess we know what's happening, but I have no idea how. Like, I do not know what to expect, so let's just go. We'll pick one and go. Okay, what do you choose? You're the tiebreaker. Do you want to go Observatory or Throne Room? So do you want to go whatever is't Volstice or Volstice

above the throne room we've been to the throne room already yeah above the throne right Volstice's room over the throne room or do you want to go to the observatory it's got to be observatory is that what you wanted oh wait did Joe pitch me

I'm hard I'm leaning on you hard I wasn't listening to your arguments. I wasn't sure whose was who Joe really just positioned it to where like, I really want to, why do you not want to go to the observatory? Cause I want to go fight Balsus. All right,

let's go to the observatory. Um, you go to, we had a big old scene about, we got to make our last ditch effort to finally do this. In spite of all the odds, let's go check out the other one. Well, I just see it as like looking for any last little advantage.

Yeah. Ability to. Yeah. And to Nestor, I think Nestor and Skid and Grant and Baron were in like lockstep as far as like exploring every nook and cranny of this place. were in lockstep as far as exploring every nook and cranny of this place. As far as, as much as he disagreed with Nestor, it is strangely like a dying wish,

in honor of him. Let's honor Nestor by going to the observatory. No, it's true. It's like the planarium. This is what he would have wanted. That's what Nestor would have wanted. So, the observatory. I've seen it.

Yeah, he's seen it. Okay. All right. So, let's go to the map. You've got to be nervous now, Matthew, you bastard. And then, to recap, too, we have Lerantius? Leranidus? Leneratus.

Leneratus. Leneratus. We have Nalalbor's sister and I think that's about it for right now as far as the naga oh I thought that was the dragon what's the dragon's name oh I don't know I don't think we know the dragon's name

here is the observatory you guys see yourselves on the map there okay once again there is a stained glass dome covering the room, and it filters the outside light in a dazzling display of colors. Obviously, it's still storming out. You hear that pitter-patter of rain on top, but it's still dayish.

There's still light outside, enough so that it's spraying colors about the room, and a huge silver telescope stands beneath the dome, mounted on a massive wheeled trolley on tracks that runs a full circle around the room, and then to the northwest, there is a just walkway leading deeper into this floor. Perception around the room, since we haven't been here in a while. Okay.

It's so weird. I'm like, I was reaching my dice. I'm like, why? Skid, did you get the sushi? Speaking of which, did you grab that sushi? Matthew, please refer to him as Garçon. No, no, apologies.

You can say all of it if you want, Skid. Make up a perception. Thank you. 35 for Metro. 35 for Metro. 38 for Baron. 40 for Metro. 35 for Metro. 38 for Baron. 40 for Stone County. The apex is about 100 feet above you.

It's a huge round room. And you look around, you're like, man, if we could just detach this, I bet you we could get 50 000 gold pieces that's what you immediately think 50 grand that's because you baron and metro used to have an insurance claims adjuster business are you excited for the spinoff show when Baron and Metra just flip old layers? And then get it insured? Yeah, exactly.

But yeah, you don't see anything else of import here. You do notice that on the walkway leading out, there is a portion of the walkway that has a hole in it. a portion of the walkway that has a hole in it. And you've seen these holes I think in that top, top attic room where you fought the Leng spiders. You saw a similar hole. And you think this must have been

from the assault on the castle when Volsys took it over. But the hole is full of webs, just like the webs that you saw. Ah, so you're patching it. Upstairs. shall we make our way to the northwest yeah and you've already looked through that telescope yes i did right you said it was just kind of it's a perfect view it's like the uh if you use the telescopes in elden ring

it's amazing like you just you you're standing on the ground and you use the telescope and it gives you an aerial view it's just a magic telescope this one gives you a perfect view of uh the land beneath very cool very cool oh can we identify where we are yeah oh yeah is there like a body of water or perfect view yeah you appear to be mountain rain north of the mind spin mountains oh we've been traveling north into what's north of the mindspin mountains oh we've been traveling north into what's north of the mindspin mountains is it orc territory you came from yeah it's it's uh the the holds of belks and aren't they north of the mindspins uh eventually eventually yeah yeah uh i'm pulling up the map as well yeah check out the map of glarian uh but you look to be heading north northeast we're probably flying right over the tomb where we got the hand right now.

Oh, wouldn't that be great? Just drop the hand back into the tomb. It's like we time it perfectly. Do this math. Hopefully a wolf will bring it down the stairs leading in. Impossible. It's true. Yeah, northeast is the hole of Luxon.

Crazy. All the way back to where it began. En route to the world wound. Oh, boy. Yes. Yes, he's going to ally with the demons. Oh, yeah. If you smell it on the wind, it's Zanzibar.

All right. Should I make our way to the northwest? Yes. Yep. I'm happy to lead if you'd like me to but you're also very stealthy so I will stealth up and be doing perception checks as I do so down that hallway

um um okay unless you wanted to sir will no no I can't do any stuff so like do you want my question is do you want to stay separated or do you want to forego stealth to stay together I'm fine either way we can stay together and i can just do perception checks then all right sounds weird yeah it's kind of weird with a mixed party in

terms of stealth anyway yeah let's just stay together so we'll move i'll do a perception check walking down the hallway for a 35 i'm gonna get in front okay um so baron sees what he can behind the haunches natural 20 lexington 40 perception okay so standing there or move as you move down we probably do one at the at the entrance to the hallway and then like every 10 or 15 feet we learned from nester how to spot tracks we're trying to imitate what he did as much as possible and looking around okay and the places he would kind of if we get to the the hole we would stop and you you all get the plus seven bonus to spotting traps now now that i'm dead wow did we did we raid your corpse for anything you have anything good i had some stuff on there damn it think we... It's one of those things I think...

I don't know. Steel hand was one thing, for sure. Yeah. The rest of it seemed kind of special, too. We'll see. We'll see. Oh, he had a plus five cloak of resistance. We could just cut this up here.

We'd loot off his corpse. He would expect nothing less. Yeah. It's true. You listen up ahead, and the dominating sound is that which is coming from the hole. Because even though there are webs sort of, we'll say, blocking passage in and out. You guys are small. You could get out if you wanted to. It's open to the air, and so you just hear the rain and the storm and the thunder and the wind whipping by,

and the webs are fluttering. Buffeting winds, yeah. And ever since you woke up, the castle, you're more aware of the movement of the castle. It almost feels like it's flying. I don't want to use the word erratically because that sounds dramatic, but it does feel a little more like turbulence. Yeah. Interesting.

Okay. If we don't see any danger, Sir Will will move forward to this first thing. What is it again? Is it a window? Hole in the wall. The hole in the wall? Is it a door? What is that?

Oh, you mean on the left. I'm sorry. The hole is on the right. That's a that's all yeah and those are just windows yeah they're just windows out uh sir we'll step up and look out the window and nothing unusual just a storm outside just see you can see the roof of uh look out here this is what you see below like a roof uh of the lower level yeah of uh you know because there are towers that peak out of the top of it so some floors end at a certain point and then towers go up yeah so you're in one of those towers and there's this one walkway just like hanging over uh the you know i should give you a better view i don't know if you'll get it like i get it but it's kind of like you see the the apex of a roof oh yeah okay yeah mm-hmm uh okay cool

and uh we can we see anything through the webbing of the the hole in the wall just rain when's the last time you used the lyre of building not that we would want to here but i think it's like once a week you can use it i can't remember i believe it's once a week so i just do you don't remember the last time you use it yeah i use it once um okay yeah i don't think we've been in here a week all right let's um that's one the library is once per day okay all right we'll keep moving troy as long as we don't as long as there's no danger that interrupts us or anything we we'll just keep walking and perceiving. And staying within ten feet of each other at all times. Okay.

Keep walking and perceiving. As you get towards the end of the hallway, or the perceived end, you see a set of stairs. Leading up. Oh. So maybe this is the real... Maybe this is the real thing. Shut your dicks, man! But we still have the gloves of reconnaissance. So we can still look through if there's a door at the top.

You do not see a door at the top. In fact, you see... The door at the top is open these are giant size steps you know like climb jacks and whatnot uh but you see a landing at the top oh jesus uh all right why don't you just tell us where to find skid's character god damn it all right let's let's go up and then oh god okay we'll go up yep let's go up. And then... Oh, God. Okay. We'll go up.

Yep, let's go up. Okay. We get to the... Leave Lexington behind, of course. Now I want to see above the throne room. Matthew, why... Well, let's just see what's on this landing, and then we can go back to the throne room. No, we're seeing this through.

Wow. Well, depending on what we see... That's such an angry dad you guys made this choice you made this choice we're doing this that's it we're getting ice cream i don't care if the line is two hours long and it's 95 degrees outside we're getting ice cream i was just talking to somebody who just took their kids to disney world i said i heard it's busy he was like it was unreal yeah i did too literally two days ago talked to friends who just got back from disney world it actually was

a listener of the podcast they were like it was so crowded and so hot and it's just weird because it happens to be that today in new york it's about 16 degrees freezing so it was so cold we were standing outside at my daughter's soccer game standing outside freezing and they're just like it is 95 degrees in florida like what okay so we get to the top of this ledge as drenched in sweat as if we had just visited disney world troy is this isn't all right we'll turn around troy we'll go over the throne he has pushed his mic away he's doing too much reading yeah no i'm really just thinking thinking through too much of that too yeah too much thinking okay glad this isn't a live show

it's that sucks it's like this moment you guys do things and i'm like i have to make a decision right now i'm thinking like just knowing how stressed out you get for our live shows now like if we keep doing this for several years as the main show we're playing book six at 15th level just imagine how stressed you will be before we go out on stage really the only option is the tpks at book three and then we just start a new ap that's that's just to reverse three books we just start a new AP. That's all. Just do the first three books of every AP. Will you just call the podcast New Beginnings from here on out and just play the beginning of every adventure path? Yeah.

The first three books of every Paizo adventure path. Guaranteed. Never done before. Only the first three books of every AP. The only people stupid enough to do it. I imagine this is why I suffer from panic attacks. This is all this pent up like, ah, ah. Okay.

You walk up to the landing very slowly. If I was going second by second, I'd have you roll climb checks and Metro would be failing a couple. And she just embarrassingly cast fly to burn that spell for the day and fly up the uh alright so you cast fly and you get up there with ease so you don't look stupid in front of your friends also so I have fly on me in case for whatever happens next

alright and then the rest of you just uh follow afterwards and the room you see is quite impressive. It is a huge apartment

furnished with a plethora of precious carpets, pillows, and tapestries. There's a multitude of life sized, polished silver statues of all kinds of giant birds of all kinds of giant burged of all kinds

of giant birds perched on the walls or suspended from the ceiling I say burge burge the world's tallest building. Because of birds. And the ceiling is decorated with mosaics of beautiful cloud giantesses resting on misty beds or riding rocks among the clouds. An array of shiny silver braziers stand along the walls, and a huge bed lies under the

northern stained glass window next to an ornate chest of drawers. There's a large round table sitting near the middle of the room, and a cupboard stands against a wall to the east. and a cupboard stands against a wall to the east. Your first impression is you imagine this must have been the chamber of the former ruler of Zephyr Hall, the cloud giant lord, Azarth. A just and wise ruler, as Renfall spoke highly of him.

But clearly this room has been taken over by a new master. There are dozens upon dozens of maps of Avastan laying all over the table, marked up with notes. There's a staircase leading down, a winding staircase to the south west what do you do perception check if there's anybody guards somebody in this room if there's any eyes

can you see invisibility at all times? I see invisibility and on the ethereal plane. Is there anything on the ethereal plane in this room, Troy? Not that you can see. What kind of answer is that? Why do you have to say it like that?

Why do you have to say it like that? Just to give you that little bit of doubt. Can we see the room? I'm sorry. I just want to roll 20. Yeah, I was just letting you guys bullshit while I did the popcorn reveal. I mean, I want to roll perception just before we even get in there. Yeah, for sure. I'll do that as well.

My perceptions are usually pretty useless, and that holds true. 39. Lexington got an 18. That was the highest among our party. 34 for me. Oh, jeez. There's the true. 39. Lexington got an 18. That was the highest among our party. 34 for me. Oh, jeez. There's the map. Oh, it's huge.

That's a huge room that looks... Oh, look, there's a fireplace. Wait, fireplace linking? Is this over the fire giant room? Did we... Is it two routes to the same place? Did we get to the same place? World engineering.

Yeah. 34. Did you just make that place? World Dungeoneering. Yeah. 34. Did you just make that up? Yes. Just tell us. There's no way. 25. 25.

There is one more floor below. And that's the room above the throne room? That is the room above the throne room. And as far as you know, the only unexplored room left in Zephyr Hall. Get the fuck out of here, dude. So do we think if we don't see anything in here that he's hiding in between? Or? I think Skid might be playing Volstice.

Oh, no. That's what I'm thinking. Oh, no. He's going to be so angry that we gave up on trying to save him. And he's only going to take any pity on Matthew for trying for so long. So sandwiched between this room and the fire giant room

we believe to be the final possible location of our quarry. I mean, I wouldn't rule out this room. Sure, sure. No, no, of course. It seems like the ultimate place to have a... What is on the floor there's like a like a line of blood or something on the floor yeah this just kind of showed up on these maps

from the pdf okay um i wish you had said that more often throughout this adventure yeah i've never been sure um i always want this just it's a line on the floor i don't know i think it's an error really but yeah it's weird because it shows up in other places too interesting yeah because it seems like does it often show up in the places where you could fight volstice i'm not gonna answer all right 39 on the perception check okay and what are you looking for specifically? Volstice. We're looking for... We're looking for Volstice. Or Leonidas. Not Leonidas.

What's the dog's name? Leonidas. Leonidas? Leonidas. Then we will fight in the shade! Shock! Gerard Butler walks through. This way! You can see invisibility.

You can see on the ethereal plane and you're looking about this room obviously you can't see around the corner where this fireplace is that i've revealed um but just looking at what you can see you don't see anyone hiding how tall are the ceilings very tall great i'll take off into air. Fly up. Baron will cast invisibility on himself. Do you want one? He's here. Clank, clank, clank. Yeah, and I need two, so maybe it's not worth it.

Then you'd probably get one from Metro over there. Wait, what happens? I can cast invisibility, but I don't want to use that many uses of that level because the spells are dearer to me of resource so if you do you have i can do two on them i you know what just don't do it for now because i honestly okay don't do it for now i don't think it's better if sir will is seen honestly okay then i will i'll be seen with you great yeah you should be drawing attacks yeah i don't mind you being invisible okay then i'll be seen with you. Great. Yeah, you should be drawing attacks. Yeah, I don't mind you being invisible. Okay, then I'll be invisible.

Yeah. All right, well, if Grant's going to do it, I'll do it too. That's how you live your life. Now, sir will. Actually, in a lot of ways, it's pretty useful. Grant has a lot of cool stuff. Yeah. This is a good life.

You could do worse. I want to make my way generally over towards some of the maps with notes on them. Place yourself where you're going to go. Where are the maps with notes on them? On the table, the round table. The chest of drawers is this square to the north. And then as you're flying around, you see there's a bunch of shelves or like a little cupboard. Keep in mind, there are several tiny five foot size things

that the 45 foot Volstis could step out from behind. Yep. So just be aware. There's a three foot tall crate that he could emerge from behind. Is he hiding back there? He is way for thin.

It's a wet term. You don't know what he looks like. Wouldn't it be funny if he was a halfling? And from behind a regular size barrel. He steps the storm side no one's ever seen it it's just a half

we saw him riding the giant I still think the like very best thing that this entire adventure could do is if it made um what's his name the first bad guy we fought Screed if Screed was somehow like it's a Wizard of Oz type thing you know and he's like actually controlling this whole thing that'd be fun who in a Wizard of Oz type thing, you know, and he's, like, actually controlling this whole thing. That'd be fun.

Who in the Wizard of Oz gets shot when being kept prisoner by some so-called... You should see the director's cut. It's very special. Sir Will begins to trot into this... Well, Lexington does the trotting, but he trots into this room, what looks like, alone. This small halfling on top of a wolf. Oh my God, that's so cool. In the sleeping chamber of a once great cloud giant lord.

What a life your character is in. Seriously, it's so wild. And he's just looking around, hoping that Baron and Metra are still there. And he will start walking into the room. He'll walk over to the fireplace. How about that? Okay. He'll start kind of over in that area.

And you see that the fireplace looks to have been cemented over. Oh. Or like completely filled in. Okay. I mean, you would too if you had a fire. You wouldn't want people just kind of walking into your bedroom.

It would be the first change I'd make. Is there a check to see how recent that masonry is? Yeah, what's your knowledge masonry? Stonework. Craft masonry. I have a... Yeah, give me a fisherman's check. I'm a dwarf, you know?

You're a dwarf. It looks like it's happened in the past couple months. Okay, so not in response to us going up and down a fireplace and murdering everyone that we saw. No, probably after taking over the castle. Got it. That's what you usually do when you move new house. You make a couple improvements. Yep.

Fine. They put their money into sealing up the fireplace. Cementing over the fireplace. Okay. Okay. Metro maps. Metro is flying Uh At a uh

Gentle coasting speed Toward the maps Okay Go to the maps And uh Let's go to the map You see I descend

Look at the maps Uh Just dozens of these maps And they're all Marked up with notes sort of detailing various plans for conquest. You don't get the sense of the

order of these, but it's kind of like, alright, we'll take over this section here and I'm going to bring an army in from the north, another one in from the south, and then we'll fly the castle over here. Like it is... Baron, you're the one that first notices it's brilliant. It is a brilliant plan.

And that there's been updates to it. I guess Baron's not over there, but if you were to see it, you would know that it's brilliant. Metro, I don't know what your battle strategy knowledge is. I'm invisible. I'd eventually walk over there being careful of traps. You've been living on the shadow plane I complimented Metra on

Her battle prowess Earlier this episode You're both intelligent enough to know That it looks brilliant and it's been updated By you know The loss of Uratash The loss of Uratash and his army

And then it's been updated by the loss of Skirkatla. It's been updated by the new undead army that took over Highbury Castle. Like it is, he has all of the information and it looks like, despite everything you've done to him, he's still in good shape to take over the world. But a lot of changes have had to be made. He's making, it seems like, new allies.

Alliances. Yeah, you see little notes like, contact Phil and Lang. Like, other dimensions. There are demonic symbols instead of words in some places. Metsha pulls out her microfiche camera and begins furiously taking spy photos of him. There are demonic symbols instead of words in some places. Mettra pulls out her microfiche camera and begins furiously taking spy photos of it. Actually, in all seriousness, can we open up the bag of holding and just kind of swipe as many of the maps as possible into our bag?

Sure. Sure. Just in case. Yeah. Just want to do a quick detect magic on the whole pile. For the trial. Yeah. Yeah. War crimes trial. For Vol. Yeah, war crimes trial.

For Volsus' war crimes survival. Are you wearing your latex gloves? I am. Well, Metroid is never ungloved. Okay, good. I'm glad you're not contaminating this scene. Something we learned on the Shadow Plane. You don't walk into a cloud castle

without wearing latex gloves. Does that make sense? Do you have your booties on? Don't have my booties, but I am flying. You are flying. Fair enough. Sir Will is going to move over to the table.

That's the alternative. You either have to wear the booties or you have to fly. You have to wear the booties when your baby is born, too, by the way. That was fun. So you come over to the table as well, Sir Will. Once again, now you see deeper into that alcove in the northeast is like a cupboard. And then there's this impressive looking chest of drawers to the north. All right.

So we swipe all the maps off the table into the bag of holding. They just disappear into an interdimensional space. And then I guess we should go check out this chest of drawers. Can I detect magic on the chest of drawers within when we get in 60 feet of it? It radiates magic. Okay. Where are we going next? So we'll go to the chest of drawers Within when you're getting 60 feet of it It radiates magic Where are we going next Go to the chest of drawers Let's hang out

Let's let that detect magic roll for a good half a minute Yeah how many hours Or 18 yeah 18 seconds If you let it hang out The maximum time It may be fair to say it is the most number of magic lores you've ever seen in

this adventure. Oh my gosh. Oh God. I can now make a knowledge orcana check to determine the school of magic involved in each. I'm not going to do that. And then I can attempt to identify its properties with spellcraft. each. I'm not going to do that. Is it a trap?

And then I can attempt to identify its properties as spellcraft. Is it a trap? Is it meant for us? We should check for traps. If we open it, will it alert him that we are here? Can I check it for traps? Sure. Give me a perception check. Trying to

remember everything she learned from Nestor. And can you, if it was, what can you find out as someone who's unskilled in... It's just a perception check. It's just a perception check. The rogue just gets a bonus to that, that's all. Bonus to that perception check. And I don't have disabled device, so I couldn't disable it. Right, right.

Just to know if there is a trap there. I meant to ask that during our level up. I never take a disabled device on a character that doesn't have it, like a rogue, basically. Can I take a level and disabled device? Sure. It might not be a class skill. You just... Okay.

I'm going to... I took one little... I have plus five to it now after watching Nestor the Master. Do you have Thieves' tools? I stole them from his corpse. Oh, jeepers. We're going to talk about that later. Yeah, Thieves' spoiled Thieves' tools.

Every time he's been unlocking something, He's kind of looking over his shoulder And then he looks back and you start whistling 39 Nice dude It does appear to be trapped Alright I step back 50 feet And let Baron Good luck chef

And we leave the room Is it magically trapped or If it is I believe you wouldn't have the ability to... Disable it. Disable it. All right. Don't even try. Baron reaches into his bag.

Don't even think about it. Pulls out 50 feet worth of rope. Ties it to one of the chest of drawers handles and then walks to the end of the hallway. Oh, God. No, we're not doing it. That's fine. Do you want to look at the rest of the room before we open it? We've got to open it if Nestor was here. I mean, the first fucking thing we find

is the greatest Nestor moment. Oh, God. Oh, God. Is Skid's new character in the Chesterverse? We'll never know. We'll never know until we open it. Yeah, this is an interesting situation very interesting all right go

for it go for the rope no you understand situation I don't think with a plus five I have any chances they know he does not so I don't think like even with a take 20 I would assume what I'm gonna-20 would still set off the trap. The hope that I have is that the rope thing is like a smart, if it's an area of effect burst. I don't know what it's going to be. But like I want to be away from it as it goes off, as it opens.

Must we open this thing? Or are we drawn by greed? Have we learned nothing from Nestor's death? We could also be hopeful that it has some items that will help prevent our deaths at the hands of the Stormtower. It's more what Renfall said about the mighty items. That's what was driving Nestor and Baron to look for everything. And that's what killed Dalgrith, me wanting to continue to explore this place and going into places we maybe shouldn't have. And he feels bad about that and he's like

is this his only chance? Is this his best chance? We can come back to it if you want to look in the middle but Oh, I'm just saying, Sheriff he looks around suspiciously He knows we're here He knows everything we're capable of

Why would he leave something that could help us in a place so easy to get to and leave it unprotected? It is... a trick. Alright, do you want to go down the stairs and fight Fulces? Or we go

find Skid's character? Rare. We've looked everywhere i cast augury uh i don't know i don't i don't know what to do uh my gut is to leave it um he's not driven by greed and he's very suspicious about what's in there and he doesn't feel like you know he's gonna leave stuff for us to help but i could be just talking myself out of something that would be obvious if we weren't overthinking it. So, yeah, I think whatever happens will be like a Monday morning quarterback thing. I think we should try to open it.

But I see the arguments against. I feel it's kind of Chekhov's gunny. And from a narrative standpoint, it's like kind of disappointing to not know what happens. But like, that's not really what Baron. I'm trying to get back into Baron's head about what he would do. I mean, we just found incredibly valuable intelligence on the table. Yeah. There could be even more valuable stuff.

Was there any notes in those notes? It could be lies though. It could be. Did he write down the combination on the other underside of his tape dispenser? There is a weird thing that says left three, right two. But you don't know what it means. Have we looked over the rest of the room? It's just this chest, this table,

and the cupboards. Should we look in the cupboards? And then decide on the chest of drawers. Check for traps on the cupboards. Give me a perception check. Oh no, I rolled a Joe. Oh no. That's a 23, I rolled a Joe. Oh no. That's a 23.

I rolled a 39. Okay, doesn't appear trapped, doesn't appear locked. You don't detect any magic from the cupboard. Open the cupboard. You open the cupboard and it just has precious looking blankets and quilts. Everything in this room is nice and neat and clean. And you've seen this a lot in a lot of these rooms like you think the giants would be i guess these aren't hill giants obviously but

they're everything is spotless every room you walk into the the the room with the dining room everything was neatly arrayed and ready for a meal um but you haven't seen any servants we take a couple of the blankets out and rub them on Lexington, then put them back. That's just rude. That'll show them. That's what that way. If the Storm Tyrant has a dog, the dog's going to go crazy. Yeah.

Can I just do a perception check around the room, just to make sure we're not being observed? Mm-hmm. As far as you can tell, you look up in this ominous, huge room up at the ceiling. And you don't see anyone looking at you, but yet you feel constantly watched since you walked into this place. All right. What do you want to do about the chest of drawers?

Or do you just want to go downstairs? You really want to open it. You really want to clearly do it. I'd say Metra should open it and have your shadowy magics ready to help you and uh thanks you don't want so few hit points my own i think it's i i don't think it's going to be like a i think a trap like this will be more like 32 negative levels or something like that you know what i mean that will also kill me. Yeah. Let's just leave it. All right.

Okay. Fuck. We're going down these stairs? Wait, wait, wait. Is there a spell that could be used to disable this trap? I don't know. There's knock, which unlocks things, but I don't know a spell for disabling device. I will reveal one of the spells I took. Oh, that's what this is all about.

I added this chest into the adventure. I just wanted to find out what it is. Ah, damn it. Now what is it? Limited wish. Oh! Shit. What?

You're going to pull out... You got a limited wish? That's expensive. Shit in my mouth. Oh, God. No, thank you. All right. I don't know.

I just wasn't ready. I've never seen this in play since I was a child. I've never seen anything like this. I never even saw it in play when I was a child. So, the final bullet point. So you can duplicate any sorcerer wizard spell or non-sorcerer wizard spell at various levels. And the final point is to produce any other

effect whose power level is in line with the above effects. And that gives a couple examples. But I would think a limited wish should be able to... Yeah, to disable a trap. Disable this magic trap. Do you rob it, and then a genie comes out and says, what is your wish, young sorcerer? It's very limited, though.

Well, make sure it's limited. I'm very tired. I've had a long day. I've been granting wishes all day. That brings up the less expensive method, which is also something one of Skid's previous characters could do, which is summon a monster and tell the monster to open the thing while we're somewhere else. I cannot do that. You're also just assuming that it just does something to the immediate area.

It could be an alarm. It could be a curse. Right. It could be a curse. I just just want to ask what is your limited wish to open this chest to disable this trap so we can open the chest of drawers i'll allow it let's see textbook all right so that was a 1500 gold piece diamond to open that i. Wow. I hope there are some gems in there. And you just see lightning crackle all over the chest. Oh, so it was a damaging gem. Okay.

And then, oh, God, and we used our limited wish. Yeah, dude, that's why I used a rope. Let's go back and go to sleep. Yeah. Let's grab whatever's in this chest and go back. I'm a sorcerer's man. I'm a sorcerer's man. I got six more if I want to.

Oh, that's right. That's right. That's how long we have 1500 gold pieces. How many limited wishes do I get? Okay. Yeah, that's awesome. So you want to oh that's right that's right so it's how long as we have 1500 gold pieces how many limited wishes do i get okay uh yeah that's awesome you don't know what the trap was yeah what was it it was a uh chain lightning trap so even if you did that 50 feet away depending on where you're sitting with it it's 15 d6 electricity damage plus 50 so whatever you roll you add 50 and you all get hit by it and metal armor affects it even worse probably yeah if i we never really get into that um but if you have metal armor you

take more damage but it could have been a lot of damage uh but instead it's gone damn it i wish i just set it off well i could just take the damage yeah and then heal myself it'd be easy but instead it's open but at least it's we got we went the middle path, though. I'm glad it's open. Yeah, and I forgot that she can cast the same spell multiple times a day. Alright. You know what? We're all friends here. Let's just not use the

spellcraft. Thank you. Thank you. You've rolled enough. 17th level. You've earned enough credit at this point. Experts in the field. Skill checks. These no longer interest me. You find a huge suit

of mist mail. What? I don't know what mist mail does, but it's huge. I think you can transform into mist while wearing it. That's probably what it does, or like immediately upon getting crit or getting hit, you can turn into mist while wearing it. That's probably what it does. Or like immediately upon getting crit or getting hit,

you can turn into mist. It might be like... You transform into a thick fog. It transforms into a thick fog. It's not great, honestly. It's not a great thing. Huge shoot of mist mail. A huge plus two great sword.

My God, that must look so amazing. A medium plus two short sword. My god, that must look so amazing! A medium plus two short sword, two potions of cure serious, a potion of haste, a potion of heroism, a potion of neutralized poison, a potion of protection from energy fire, a potion of protection from energy fire. A potion of remove curse.

Oh. A scroll of chain lightning. Oh. A scroll of giant form two. Oh. A scroll of prismatic sphere. Oh. A scroll of scintillating pattern.

A scroll of word of recall. Wow. A staff of electricity, a storm lord's helm. Storm lord's helm. Storm lord's helm, which I believe is a wondrous item, which would resize. Two large horns jut from the sides of this iron helm, each of them

carved with runes representing storms, thunder, and lightning. The runes give the wearer the ability to control the elements and bring forth a great storm. Once per day, the wearer can call upon the magic of the helm to call a thunderstorm, as if casting the control weather spell. Like that spell, it takes ten minutes

to call the weather and an additional ten minutes for the thunderstorm to manifest you know very situational uh once it does the where it can then call lightning for 10 minutes after the storm's up so if you got 20 minutes to get that storm going um it would have been cool uh if you had it earlier i've never heard of word of recall that is a really cool spell what does that do it's a sixth level cleric spell you just speak a word as a standard action and it teleports you instantly back to your sanctuary oh which is like any place that you're very familiar with that you name and set as your sanctuary and what was a scintillating there was a scintillating uh i feel like it's a distraction type thing scintillating pattern pattern okay i got that you said that right it right before word

of recall oddly enough i looked up scintillating pattern and it took me right to a d20 pfsrd not like here's a oh yeah here's salvador dali painting uh it's a eighth level sorcerer wizard spell a twisting pattern of coruscating colors weaves through the air affecting creatures within the spell affects a total number of hd creatures equal to your caster level. Creatures with the fewest HD are affected first, and among creatures with equal HD, those who are closest to the spell are affected first. HD that are not sufficient to affect a creature are wasted. Six or less unconscious for 1d4 rounds.

You're not going to really deal with this. Seven to 12 is stunned for 1d4 rounds, then confused for an additional 1d4, and then 13 or more confused for 1d4 rounds then confused for an additional 1d4 and then 13 or more confused for 1d4 rounds. I looked at this but I was just like I need some more there. I need some more target. Now you get one casting of it for free.

Stormlord's Helm, a wand of airwalk also contains 1580 platinum pieces 13,290 gold pieces, 20290 gold pieces 20,900 silver pieces And a fortune in gems Amethyst, aquamarines, black perils

Deep blue spinels And smoky quartz Worth a total of 40,250 gold pieces The statues in the room Again, like the telescope If you ever could get them out of here They gave us the price a hundred thousand gold pieces so if you could save this castle and just like remodel you could be you could be have more money than you'd ever need

as you cast limited wish and that electricity crackles on the chest of drawers. That crackling makes a sound. It's loud. And you hear a noise coming from down the stairs. Oh, no. That sounds like someone in pain moaning. Something like that. something like that baron's invisible baron will go look over the edge of the stairs okay what's this sheriff you look down and you just see stairs winding again

winding so that you can see the next level level. Oh, it's down those stairs, not the stairs we walked up. Yeah. Yeah, and how long does everybody's invisibility last? I think it's max, is it max 10 minutes? I don't think it's max. One minute, then 17 minutes.

We probably are visible by now. Yeah, after spending enough time in this room. What do you want to do? Is it time to look down there? We distribute the items however they make sense. Sure. Do it off air. Plunder Nestor's corpse.

Divvy up the trej. Okay. Okay. Well, sounds like someone in pain Again I'm wary of a trap but If it's Adriel I want to know Oh that just dawned on Baron's face

The idea that he could be trapped And tortured Someone of his bloodline Alright we We've gotta go This is it The finale of giant slam sir will says sir will says strangely met a moment yeah i've been watching too much uh winning time oh yeah he looks directly at the audience

he's like i'm going downstairs this is the fucking finale uh all right i'll start heading downstairs uh sir will first yeah then baron and baron yeah then stay within 10 feet just in case uh you're all visible metro you still flying yeah you have still the ability to fly i'll cast it again if it's been more than yeah because it's the same it would have been 17 minutes as well so I'll cast fly again cast fly again so she's just lightly walking down these steps checking them off all your spells

checking them off you proceed down the stairs slow going like all the stairs in this enormous cloud giant castle have been and And you hear that sound again of a man moaning as if in pain. As you walk into what you think to be the last unexplored room in Zephyr Hall, you see that this level of the castle's main tower has been devastated and partially burned by some cataclysmic force that opened a huge crack in the tower's outer wall.

The frescoes that remain on the walls are obscured with soot, and the floor is strewn with fragments of stone and the broken and burnt remains of furniture. Some of the debris has been piled up in an ominous and prodigious heap near the middle of the hall. You see in that crack in the wall, again, spider webs covering it up. Leading to the outside. Rain pouring in. Maybe there's a puddle of water on the other side where the webs are. You see another fireplace. Also cemented up. Just like the room above.

Also cemented up, just like the room above. In front of the fireplace is another web, a large web that stretches from floor to ceiling in an intricate pattern, weaving in and out of itself. And in the middle of the web, sort of suspended in the air, stuck outstretched, is someone that looks very familiar. But even though you start to recognize this person, something is very strange about them. The body is that of Jimmer Hardy.

The body is that of Jimmer Hardy. What's strange is that it appears both of his hands have been cut off. Oh, no. And we'll see you next week. Oh, but it's Jimmer! Wait a minute! Oh, I'm going to fucking see you next week, motherfucker! Yeah! Woo! oh I'm gonna fucking see you next week motherfucker yeah woo

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