Icebound | Ep. 27 | Rule of Might
03:59:40 Share

Welcome to Legends of Avantris. I'm Queenie, Miss March if you're nasty, and you're listening to Icebound. Here's what happened last time. Is anybody dead? Sound off! Tag alive. You're in Arjenholm. What has happened? What has happened to my beautiful tavern? We made a minor miscalculation. What do you bring an ogre here for?

Strange creatures you have in your company. I understand why you did not bring them to the giant's step, but when you get back to the Legion, you'll find me at the grub shack. You look down the street, but following the voices out in this direction, you can see this gliding, massive dragon seemingly towards the gate that you crashed through. Towards the gate that we crashed through? Yes. No! No!

No, I haven't seen anyone that matches those descriptions. And they had an ogre with them, you say? I'm afraid I can't be of any help. We can't. There's nothing we can do to repay you. You've helped us out, and... He offered to watch Tack. Tack will be safe. I'm gonna pay him back anyway. Gotta make up for all the awful things we said and all the stuff he did for us. I don't know how we're gonna get all the way over to... He called it the...

Accursed Glade. Alright, it looks like we're doing this. Open all of the pens. Okay. Alright, my friends, my crew! Oh, survivors of Ogerton! All you have to do is claim the freedom yourselves! We go from town, from city, we leave? You do not belong in these pens. We are going to fight.

for Ogre Man and the land. We demand a parlay with the Princess of Wrath. They are not part of your tribe. We are the tribe of Ogerton and we demand equal place in this Horde of Wrath that she has called forth here.

She transforms just 30 feet above the ground into a humanoid creature and you see her cold pale blue eyes look upon you. Cold pale blue lips, her beautiful features as she turns and takes you in. In the heart of night where the boundary between second and third day of the third month blurs, your path leads you to the giant step

territory claimed by the formidable Stormfist Legion, a tribe of Goliaths whose fealty lies with the indomitable Princess of Wrath. This district, once the proud domain of Silver Dragonborn, now bears the weight of its new masters.

Elegant and artful architecture has been reinforced with stone and metal, supplanted by fortifications and utility. Streets have been widened and straightened. Towering walls of rough-hewn stone encircle watchtowers and feasting halls and well-worn training grounds. The air carries the cold, clean scent of the winds of Drakkar and the warm, earthy tones of heart, hearth, and forge.

In this bastion, you find yourselves driven to reclaim the freedom of the ogres you've come to call allies. United in purpose, you stand ready to fight with those you seek to liberate. Yet, before threats could turn to the clash of metal and magic, the Chief Goliath's urgent call of his warning horn pierced the night announcing your presence to the city of Argentholm and to its ruler.

From the zenith of her keep, the silhouette of the princess of wrath cleaves through the night sky. In her descent, the world seems to hold its breath. The temperature plummeting in reverence, or perhaps fear of her presence. With a primal grace that belies her monstrous form, she lands between you and the Goliath Legion, transformed in a cascade of shimmering ice and assuming her human guise.

A vision of dread beauty and cold majesty. The Princess of Wrath stands before you now. Moonlight and torchlight illuminate her tall and commanding stature. The fabric of her gown, a garment seemingly intended only for the privacy of a royal chamber, clings to her like a second skin.

Even in the haste of her awakening, the Princess of Wrath exudes primal magnetism. Her skin nearly glows like freshly fallen snow. Her piercing blue eyes gleam with power. Her form a teasing hint at the strength and force that thrums beneath. In this moment, the Princess of Wrath is the embodiment of pursuits that haunt the dreams of warriors and poets alike.

What are you all doing? I believe

Just so we can maintain game state. Mm-hmm. Grimnir was kind of like the... the big fucker in charge of our little band.

Yes. Okay. But she just, she hasn't even turned yet, right? So like, is she just standing there? She lands, she turns, she looks you over, and then she returns her gaze to the kneeling Goliaths, who have all lowered their head in reverence for but a moment. But when she turns and looks at you, that is the moment that I'm asking, do you bow? Do you do anything?

I do, I literally, I will not speak initially, I will not initiate any kind of words to her. I will stand there and with my grim determination and look her in the eyes. And I'm sitting right next to him with my anchor held. I'm not kneeling. Standing next to your ear. Standing next to your ear, exactly right.

You hear the voice of... and remind me, Grimnir is the name that you understand to be the chief? Because I have two names. No, that's your name. No, thank you. Thunderfist form. That's my Goliath persona. I believe that Taishen and I had been up in the upper level of this, like,

That's right. You're still on the second floor looking down. We're at the window. Okay. So I wanted to... We're still there, then. Cool? Yep. All right. Where's Queenie? I think I was standing next to you in Barnabas. That's what I remember as well. You hear the Princess of Wrath speak down to the chief. You may rise, Korovac. And he...

stands immediately and you see the others start to begin to ascend in this moment. What seems to be the trouble, she asks. And Korvak, these intruders, they attempted to steal the ogres. Look at what they are doing to our people. And she turns. I believe I know these people. I recognize them from before winter. Yes, great dragon, we have met before.

before. You look different. It has been some time. You sentenced our captain to death. For you saw as clearly as I did that he would not survive the land. That's right. I remember very clearly. You were the ones trapped in the ice at the southern peak of the Withered Lands. Yes, we are. And now we hope to parlay with you

We have a common enemy and I believe we have a shared goal. Where are your companions? There were five I left there on the ice. They are still present.

And she looks up and are you endeavoring to hide in this room? The moment I see her, because we probably can't overhear the conversation, the moment I see her look up to where we are, I would immediately duck down below and my hat would still be sticking up above the little point. I would immediately try to get away from her gaze, but my hat would be sticking up. Yeah, you might stick your head in there. I have a splinter in my hand. Get down!

Princess, this is absurd! They have attempted to loot, they've infiltrated our district, they have... They are trying to break free the ogres, they are dangerous thieves! There is no thieving going on here! You cannot lay claim of ownership to the ogres of Ogerton! That is why we wish to parley with you, Princess of Wrath.

You deemed us worthy to live on the ice all those months ago and we have traveled across this harsh and desolate land and we claim our own tribe to stand in this great horde you have assembled not to be channeled to the Stormfist Legion. You petition to become a tribe here. Aye, we do.

They are not meant to be vassals to Goliath or anyone. These are no vassals. Have you been treating them as such? No, no, we feed them. We give them shelter. We train them in the art of war. They are part of the tribe. When we found them, they were abandoned,

destroyed city. Not hospitable, not ready for life. They were kept in this building. This is no more than a barn. You're treating these ogres like livestock.

I'll say that to the goliath. Korovac looks taken aback, but determined and grim. He stares at you with his one good eye, and he spits on the ground, "These were the best accommodations we could make for such short notice. This number of ogres, we would have bid them homes!"

- Her Royal Highness Queen of Wrath, may I speak? - Yes. - And I'll bow my head to her. - Queenie, is it not? - It is, it's nice to see you again. The same grace that you gave us when you saw us wandering in Drakkar and found us to be capable of taking care of ourselves in this land, would you do the same to these ogres if they do not want to live here?

If they want to venture out into the car on their own and they believe themselves capable of finding their own home and their own lands, would you offer them that same kindness that you offered us? For I do agree with Barnabas here. What they have been provided is not a true life. They are subject to these people and they are not being treated fairly. You may have found them, but I believe that you should offer them the right to choose.

and let the land decide. I cannot offer them this choice. And things are different now. I cannot offer you this same choice. There is an enemy coming. A war. They would be in danger. Anywhere here but our home. You understand? Yes, I do. The same way we were in danger the moment that we stepped foot on this land. Dracar is dangerous.

Whether there's a war coming or not, this land is not forgiven. We need everyone to weather the coming storm. But the best fighters are the ones that come willingly, yes? I'm glad I threw down the gauntlet and challenged you to survive. You have demonstrated great strength in lasting this time. That is true. And we are all incredibly strength. We're all incredibly powerful. And if you force us to stay here, I'm sure we will fight.

But we will not fight our hardest. And those warriors that Drakkar carved will not be the best warriors they could be. But if we are given the choice to fight alongside you, someone we choose to respect, then the warriors that Drakkar has forged will be the most fierce warriors you've ever seen. That is a choice you do have." She takes a moment to think about it and consider, "Tell me, where have you been these past few months?"

I don't know the names. I'm a simple farm girl from Yona, but all over the lands. It seems that you've been quite busy. In just the past day, stalls destroyed, a market interrupted. Oh, yeah. Was this not you? I'm going to lean into Taishan, and I'm going to be like, can you hear anything they're saying? I'm not getting any of this. Should we open the window? I don't know. The way she looked at us, I don't want to draw her eye. Well...

Maybe there's something we can do. She hasn't attacked yet. It's possible she's-- they're reasoning with her. What do you think? I think we open the window. If anything, if something turns, we have to be ready to help! Oh no! Broken! And we're just like... The shattering of glass breaks the tension.

Come down from up there. And you hear the princess shout out. Okay, all right. Do what she says. We scramble out, but I stop shy of standing behind you and your Barbos. You have heard our offer.

The five of us and the ogres of Ogerton and the humans, all of the survivors from that ruined city are all one united tribe that wish to stand at your side against the coming threat. Let us do it on our own terms. Let us do it as free men and women. You may do it as a tribe here. I will consider this.

petition seriously, but I am not going to entertain the possibility of freedom. You swear fealty to me. Being your subjects is not part of our pilgrimage. We have the same goal, but we can achieve this goal by being allies, not subjects. You have the artifact that we have been quested to possess.

Obtain. I can pledge to you that if you give us the artifact that your kingdom will not be destroyed by the threat from beyond and that your kingdom may grow and remain. For if you do not, your kingdom will meet the same fate as every other kingdom in the world. Destruction. Let them come. They cannot take the artifact from me.

Nor in you. Are you mad? That is mine. I took it and I'm glad I have it. You would forsake everything you've built. Your arrogance will lead to your doom. I have seen it in the ruins. You think throwing a few bones around just tells you what's going to happen?

I rule this land. I rule these people. Tens of thousands of lives are under my guardianship, under my wing. I am not going to go down. I will fight. I will survive. Now, if you wish to stay here with me and become my loyal subjects, then I will consider a path forward for you and these ogres you care so deeply about.

But the Hexature armament is off the table. That is solely mine. I, um... Actually, what I will say. Go look at her. And how do we play in your plan? If we were to join you? If a war comes, then fight by my side. I have already defeated one.

I'm confident that we would be able to handle together any threat. After all, you're so strong, aren't we? Yes. This is why we have been set on this quest. This is why fate has led our paths to where we stand right now. We are strong. If you continue your path, do you really believe that all you need is what you have accomplished thus far?

The kingdoms you have mastered here. And the artifact. I don't feel very much like being interrogated in my own home. But I will entertain your question. Yes. And I have so much more that I can do. So be it. We will have to construct a pyre. Arrangements are to be made. An initiation ceremony to welcome you. However, I cannot just take the ogres back. No. No.

What I did when we found them, and the kindness of Korobak, it would be cruel for me to renege on my initial command. You've been missing for months. What to do? Perhaps if you deal in terms of strength, do you not? Why don't we challenge the Stormfist Legion to them?

Yes! Yes! A fight! A fight! What? Aye. Korvac. Perhaps save all these lives. You invoke a ancient ritual here, as though you were a true Drakarian. I am no true Drakarian, but I am happy to fight. That much is clear. I'm happy to kill, if it means that all of the poor souls that barely survived the doom that came to Ogerton

Do not live like cattle in a barn! Why wait? We're right here, aren't we? And if we win, what does that mean for the Ogres? They will remain with the Stormfist Legion. And I will deny your petition to become a tribe. You'll have to leave. Or perhaps you can find some other banner. So if we win, we don't save the Ogres, is what you're saying? Oh no, if you win, you win the guardianship of the Ogres.

And the humans. No, no, they're under my wing. We will start right here and right now. Oh, you gotta be kidding me. For the survivors of Ogerton. Bonobos, you lost your damn mind. So eager. We will challenge you in the pit. And he points to the massive domed building that is at the center of the giant step. Pit? What do you mean pit? You have a pit? This is getting out of hand. You ought to stop this.

What will we be granted if we are to lead the ogres as a newly formed legion? You will be granted a name, a banner. You will be granted my protection. We will find you a home here in Argent Home and we will prepare together. I have one additional request. There's a human. She goes by the name Daisy. We would like her, not all of them, but just her.

If she is here, that is. If she is under your protection, if she was found with the rest, and regardless, even if she wasn't, if she is anywhere in your car, we would like for her to be held protected under our banner. She is one of us. I do not believe this human is with the others in my keep, but I can tell the ivory clutch to look out for them. What should they look for?

And I'll describe Daisy in the best detail that I possibly can. The bow that I made for her, that I strung for her, that's on her back. The last clothes that she was wearing. Scar on her throat. Where is the ivory clutch? Busy. Thank you, Corvac. Yes, it would be a pleasure to bring more of her kind under my wing. She was last seen headed south from Ogerton.

And you accept the possibility that months have passed? She may, if she is like the others, have perished in the ice. Yes, we do. Drakkar is a dangerous place, is it not? It is likely. But she is spunky, she is strong. She is much more like us than even she realizes. If we can do it, I believe she can too. And I just want your advice.

Confirmation that should we survive this, she is included in that deal. She would be part of, she would be beneath our banner with your protection. Who will be your champion? Oh, thank the gods. You're all single combat? Yes, yes. Who is your champion?

- Carnivac, the unbroken! - I volunteer to kill this guy. - Oh, my money is on Barnabas. Oh, you're making a big mistake, buddy. Oh, this is gonna be good. Don't stop this, don't stop this at all, all right? Let this ride. - Yournir, do you think you could take him? - I believe I could end this man's life, yes. - Princess, what is the nature of this ancient rite? - This is a combat arena.

And within, we settle many debates. The nature of the ritual is as Barnabas said, a single combat, unarmed to the death, no magic, only strength. Barnabas, do you think you could take him? I think I could take this. I think all of us could take this guy. Look at him. He's a kind of coward that keeps people in barns. I think even Scrim could take him. You're crazy. That guy's four times my height.

And probably weighs like ten times what I weigh. You won't have to, Mr. Sabascotch. Now who is the one with hubris? Unconfident. Well, hubris is not something Barnabas has ever lacked. But before we do this, I asked you a question you still have not confirmed. Before we agree to anything, I want the terms to be clear. That we know exactly what we get if we win this, when we win this. Because I'm sure that Barnabas will be the victor.

Your own house, a banner, land, the ogre people under your guardianship with you and this one soul, Daisy. Make a persuasion check. Is it before I roll that I have to twist? Or is it after I roll? Before. I'm going to do three twists. Just, well, I mean, what is my persuasion? Probably. My persuasion is only plus two. Yeah, so now it's plus five. Now it's a plus five. Three twists.

You heard it here. Right? Three twists are good, right? Three twists. That's great. I think that's totally fair. It's not. It's not. It's okay. Eleven. That's good. That's okay. The humans are very special to me. I can grant you these other things, but this Daisy belongs with her people, and she belongs with me. Well, she's a crafty young lady, son, and you'll never find her. So, sorry about that. Perhaps she'll turn up. We are under no...

We're under no responsibility to swear ourselves to you, correct? Oh yes, to earn any of this, you must earn the right to the ogres by defeating Korovac, and you must swear fealty to me. Anything less and we would have a different conversation, I think. Can we have a conversation in the barn and then we'll let you know how we'd like to proceed? Please, I'm not cold. I'll wait here. I wouldn't think so. May we?

before we make decisions about our lives. I'll nod. Yeah. And I'll turn into the barn. Go back to the barn. I'm freezing my ass off. I'll keep an eye on Korvac. Is that his name? He keeps his eye on you. We must accept this deal.

You make your way back inside of the barn and you reach a point where you feel you can whisper without earshot. The five of you sort of have to pass through the ogres as you transition. And those of you who look behind, either at Korovac, who is clearly enraged by this turn of events, not just in the infiltration that you managed to pull off, but in the possibility of his authority being challenged.

And you watch as the Princess of Wrath turns her back to you and begins to address him and a few others, clearly very high up within the Legion. The five of you find yourselves on the other side. Ogre's looking down dumbly at you, sort of looking around. They stand there until you see Manius also walk up. Manny, what do you do?

Oh, you're just right. We got to do this. I was just really hoping Daisy was here. She's not foolish enough to get caught by these people. She was surviving on the ice even when she met us. Yeah. She could live on the land for years. But that doesn't mean that one of the people in her...

I wanna say employ, will not find her or spot her. She has people in the air, on the ground. Someone eventually will find Daisy and she will not be protected by us. - Wow. - And now I fear that she knows Daisy's important to us, at least to me, and she could be used as a weapon.

A bargaining tool. If that happens, we'll kill her. Daisy? No, the princess. You're a little reckless. I am not ready. If all we have to do is kneel to this. But what does it mean when we kneel? I do not want to give up my freedom. Oh, you know, she said that if we lose, we leave.

So if it's certain death that we wander away and die in the wilderness... We will not die in the wilderness. And just so we're on the same page here, you do realize that if you lose, you're dead. You're not losing. I'm fine with that. You're not gonna fucking lose. Come on. I'm not going to lose. I'm going to win. I'm going to see the light leave this Korovac's eyes.

I've been in dozens of pit fights. That's not the most important thing right now, Barnabas, whether you're going to win or not. The most important thing is that we are offering to this dragon that she can cull on us and we will do her bidding. That freedom that you fight for, we are offering to give it up.

I think that if we say that as we are able to leave if we want, I'm happy to kneel. I'm happy to follow their rituals as long as I have the choice to leave. And so do all of the ogres and so do the rest of us. That's what you think you have the choice. Well, we will clarify. You can clarify all you want, but we're making an agreement here. And I know maybe I'm the only one who had experience with the Fae. But the moment you make a deal like this, you risk a lot.

You may think we have choices going forward, but the moment we kneel, we might lose many of the choices we hold so dear to us. We set out to heal the scars that are on this land, to bring Drakkar back from the brink, to turn away from Yorner's vision. We can't do that if we're puppets of the queen.

We can't do that on our own, either. I know, I don't know what we do, but I don't think we should be so quick to kneel before her and swear ourselves to her. When I was granted visions on the new year, the triad presented me three paths that we could accomplish our goal. Three options. One was to fight her and kill her. The other was to...

Sneak and take, but the third was to ally. I have no issue allying with her, but we are not becoming allies. We are becoming her slaves. That was not in your vision. We will have land, power, and control. We will have the ogres, and I have not wanted to upset you, but it is very unlikely that Daisy still lives.

I'm not stupid. I know how difficult this land is. She should not factor into this decision. There is nothing for them to find. I think she should. The same way if Scrim were out there in the middle of nowhere and I was certain that he had met his doom, for there is no way Scrim could survive alone anywhere, let alone Dracar, I would still factor him into my decision. And Daisy's alive. Let's be real here. Come on.

I warned her that if she came with us, it would likely mean her doom. Aye. It was the fate. Our own fates, our own paths, through the car that whisked us away from her, leaving her alone. And while she is skilled, winter has come. I believe Barnabas should take this fight. I believe we should take the land and take the...

and take the colors, take the banners, whatever it is. Take the ogres under our wing, just like the humans are under hers. And then I will consult the runes, and the triad will show us the way. And I, I know I will win. I know I must fight this. My lover is here. She is with us, so far from the sea. I believe in you.

I have faith that Barnabas is going to win, and I'm a part of this deal because my soul has already claimed to horrific damnation for all of eternity. So what's one more deal? Throw it on the pile. I'm in. I believe in you too, Barnabas. I think we do it. I believe Barnabas may win. His fate will decide. But if you lose, I will make sure that I guide the rest of us

Man, it's a shame that I can't spend this gold anywhere. If I could bet on this, all of it, all the house, right on Bonobos, you're gonna win, buddy. You're gonna rip this guy's arm right off. Beat him with it. Beat him with his own arm. Come on. It'd be awesome. Give him a show. I will. It's not going to be pretty. I haven't been in a pit fight in a while. I may be an old man, but I feel... I feel her with us. Queenie. You're near. If you care for Daisy, if she still lives, taking this deal...

and Boram the Boast winning is the best chance that Daisy has to live. - No, our fate, no. I don't agree with that. I think it's the best way for you to justify this choice today. 'Cause this is the easy choice, let's be honest. We give up our independence. We give up the only thing that we've had since stepping into Icebound, stepping into Drakkar, since being Icebound.

And that is our ability to choose for ourselves no matter what this awful place throws at us. We give that up today. And that's easy because we will have land, which I don't care for. I have land back home. We'll have the ogres, and that's great. But when she calls upon them to die for her war, we lose them anyway. When she calls upon us to fight and do her bidding, we must do it.

So what are we really fighting for? That's my fear. But... Miss March, you know that I care for freedom above all else. I think you are deep in your bloodlust right now and your sights are set on destroying that man out there. I think this situation is perilous and I think a decision has to be made and I think that it does not matter in this moment what I think. What else would you have us do, Queenie? Secundus is on his way.

He simply days behind us. We have no idea where Daisy is. Maybe I'm a fool. And the Princess of Wrath stands right outside this door. Yes, and maybe I'm a fool, but I say we challenge the Princess of Wrath. To single combat? No. Her against us, she knows she's a dragon. She knows that her against one of us would be idiocy. But do I think that all of us together could take her? Yeah, I do. And if I'm gonna die for this place, I'm gonna die in a blaze of glory.

Not as a puppet or a minion of that woman out there. But if this is the choice that you've chosen, if you would rather fight that ogre, get some land and bide your time and wait to see what happens, then by all means. I love y'all. And it's a vote. I say we do what you would like to and I'll support you. I'll even make you a little sign, Barnabose, that says, Go, go, Barnabose, go. It is not a vote. I am on this pilgrimage alone.

Oh, I don't mean today.

and win. We could negotiate it, but regardless, as I said, if this is your choice, I have agreed to go along with you, even if it is not what my choice would be. You will not convince me, however, that it is the right choice. I do not tend to convince anyone of anything. All I do is see what is. I will accept the combat for the group

Unless anyone has anything else to say. I thought Barnabas was going to be our champion. I will accept it with Barnabas as our champion, yes. I'm in. I think in the short term, we watch Barnabas rip this guy a new one. You know, we buy ourselves some time. Nothing is saying that we can't fight Hork or steal this thing at a later date. It gets us closer, and it buys us time. We can swear fealty all we want. What does that mean? It's words.

And...

This Queen of Wrath is a beast of nature, a beast of the land. Yet she wants to play queen and she wants to hold court. This is against her nature. And it is this playing politics that will lead to her doom. I can see it. She might not be the first queen, princess or ruler otherwise to get a knife in the back. My goal is to survive. I was set on this quest because if I fail,

Great doom will come to Mahmoud for more, and so I will do what it takes to continue. Shall we continue? Aye. I will turn silently, and I will walk back out. As you turn, Manny looks down. Manny confused. No fight? There will be a fight, man, Manny. I will be a champion for all the survivors of Ogerton.

and we'll get you out of this barn, and I'll join you right here. We accept the terms you have set forth, and Barnabas will be our champion in the sacred combat. I so hope that you would. Follow me, and we'll make our way into the arena. She turns and runs her hand through her hair, and you can see now that

flying above her are very, very small shapes. They are starting to circle around the top of the hippodrome. And it takes you a moment to realize that these look like, from a very far distance, kobolds.

None of the kobolds that you've ever experienced so far on your car are winged, but these happen to be. And as you cross through the entrance, this threshold, you pass underneath the massive gates of the space. You can see that ogres and goliaths alike are also pouring in through...

one side or the other, but following you, the princess seems to be leading you directly into the arena. As you cross through the threshold, you can see these massive tiers built out of timber and metal and stone. You can look down, and this is a huge, open, airy space.

The diameter of this arena must be 200, maybe 300 feet. And the walls are perhaps 40 or 50 feet tall to reach the sort of sandy, pitty ground. This is not an open-air arena either. You note that the entire dome seems to make a ceiling, seemingly to protect from the harsh winters of Drakkar, keeping this space available for combat all times of year.

And you continue to walk through and down into the space, passing these enormous brassieres, which... Nope. Nope. I always fucking psych myself. I psych myself out. Yep. These enormous brassieres. Yep. Both hands? You gotta learn how to do the... Anyways. Shut up.

You, uh, braziers? Braziers. Braziers. Braziers. Braziers. Braziers. Braziers. Braziers. Braziers. Braziers. Braziers. Braziers. Braziers. Braziers. Braziers. Braziers. Braziers. Braziers. Braziers. Braziers. Braziers. Braziers. Braziers. Braziers. Braziers. Braziers. Braziers. Braziers. Braziers. Braziers. Braziers. Braziers. Braziers. Braziers. Braziers. Braziers. Braziers. Braziers. Braziers. Braziers. Braziers. Braziers. Braziers. Braziers. Braziers. Braziers. Braziers. Braziers. Braziers. Braziers. Braziers. Braziers. Braziers. Braziers. Braziers. Braziers. Braziers. Braziers. Braziers. Braziers. Braziers. Braziers. Braziers. Braziers. Braziers. Braziers. Braziers. Braziers. Braziers. Braziers. Braziers. Braziers. Braziers. Braziers. Braziers. Braziers. Braziers. Braziers. Braziers. Braziers. Braziers. Braziers. Braziers. Braziers. Braziers. Braziers. Braziers. Braziers. Braziers. Braziers. Braziers. Braziers. Braziers. Braziers. Braziers. Braziers. Braziers. Braziers. Braziers. Braziers. Braziers. Braziers. Braziers. Braziers. Braziers. Braziers. Braziers. Braziers. Braziers. Braziers. Braziers.

And you can see Goliaths have poured in. There are huge sectioned off spaces within the tiered seating within this massive coliseum or hippodrome or arena that you walk into and

And not all of the sections are being filled. It's the middle of the night. Only a contingent of Goliath seem to be filling one side. But you do not expect more of an audience other than them and the few hundred ogres that you had found in the farm woken up, readied for battle, and are now following to see just where this next part of our story takes us.

The other feature that I'll describe in the arena that's meaningfully important is the sides of these walls. As you look down into the space, you can see that jagged metal spikes push out from the sides, but they are...

These look like stalactites, but you imagine that each one is like an arm sticking out maybe 8, 10, 12 feet long before tapering off to a deadly sharp point. The princess leads you to this spot and turns. I'll be watching from my viewing box here.

This podcast is brought to you by our Patreon. Become a patron today at patreon.com slash Legends of Avantris and gain access to tons of exclusive perks, including a monthly movie night and a weekly Patreon exclusive campaign set on the high seas. Shroud over salt mine.

You can also go to thecrookedmoon.com to pick up your own copy of our first published supplement, The Crooked Moon, a folk horror tome for Dungeons & Dragons 5th Edition. And don't forget to snag all of the extra goodies like dice, miniatures, plushies, a tarot deck, and more. Thank you.

You're standing in a hippodrome that dwarfs the one that you fought in, in Ogerton. This is city-scaled, and it clearly can handle thousands of participants, viewers, and has an arena sized to match. The stands, the actual T-sides,

tears of seating are slowly being filled by lookers-on. People who have awoken perhaps initially because they were told that there was going to be a fight

But now that is both true and the fight has, the context has changed very much. A deathmatch, a single combat between a champion of strangers from outside of Drakkar, outside of the city of Argentholm, and Korovac the Unbroken, the chief of the Stormfist Legion.

The Princess of Wrath turns, indicating where she will be watching from, a box about halfway up the various tierage you can see is sort of round ledge, for lack of a better term. Almost like a private viewing box that you would see at the Super Bowl, right? And she turns to you. Anything else before I enjoy the entertainment?

Is there anything left to say? She walks up and she puts a hand on the side of your face and you feel this sudden drop of temperature get pulled away from your skin. You are used to cold temperatures and this is...

somehow more frigid than plunging your hand into ice, somehow more frigid than picking up said ice and pushing it against your face. You worry almost for a moment that the stinging, burning sensation of hypothermia will immediately kick in before she removes her hand and says, "I suppose not. Good luck. I hope that you'll be joining my flock soon." And she turns and starts to walk slowly, gracefully up the steps.

you hear a voice behind you. I lead you to... Gate. And turning behind you, you can see not one of the guards that you passed, not one of the, uh... Uh... Uh...

close inner circle of Korovac, who seems now to be missing entirely. You haven't seen him since he started making your way to the Hippodrome. This is another Goliath, and he seems to be standing there to invite you down to however it is that you get into this arena, the five of you. Is it not, like, is it not obvious? I think you've done, and he leads the way. It's...

It's something that you would have been able to find, but it is not obvious. You wouldn't... There are no ladders to climb down the side of this combat arena, and you can see that there are large gated entrances that would lead into the center, and presumably he's taking you down, down, down underneath the stands in order to get there. All of us are going to the arena? We're not going to expect to intercede? All five of you are invited.

and he leads the five of you down through those stairs. And once you reach the bottom, he sort of stands there looking ready to activate a counter lever that seems to activate the gate. - Potipus, look at me. - No. - Spent a lot of time around illegal boxing rings, pit fights, all sorts of stuff, all right? I know you've done the same, and I know you don't need me to say this,

but you gotta win don't toy with him don't mess around and him quickly please that's why i'm doing this i'm not doing it for the audience there doesn't need to be a single soul watching these goliaths don't have the true spirit the ones that i've known all right and won't say anything else good luck good luck mr stabber scotch see you on the other side if i don't make it good luck to all of you and i will

I'll take one last puff of my pipe. And I'm going to basically hold it and look around and say, I suppose I need to leave my things. We'll watch over them, Barnabas. And we'll make sure they stay safe, don't worry. You're coming back, so you'll get them back soon. Mr. Saberscotch, you can take my pipe. Oh, um, wow. I look forward to giving this back to you. Barnabas. Mr. Yorner. I know I do not need to say this.

Stop at nothing to survive. We don't have magic. I can't break the rules. And I will pick up my shell out of where I keep it, and I will just kind of look at it. I know I need to do that. You're here with me so far from the sea. And I'm going to gaze into it and hold it up to my ear, possibly for the last time.

As you move it and turn it in your hands, you see that opalescent shell shimmer, and you feel like you can almost see your lover in it. You see it as clearly as though you were looking through the bottom of the ocean. And when you pull it up to your ear, you can hear the waves. You can hear the surf, the surge, the sound of...

not just the surface of the ocean, but of the depths themselves. And you hear her voice. It tells you exactly what you want it to say. It's as if it reads your mind, always knowing the right words in the right order come to you, and relief comes just after. You're right. Would one of you hold on to this for me? And my flask. I'll hold on to them for you. Thank you, Ms. March. And this is...

If I die, you can uncork this and drink it. It's liquor. It's good luck. Made of pineapples. It's rum. Would be our honor to drink it, but with you. You fight for righteousness, and you've always let your spirit guide your fists. He doesn't stand a chance. Now you have to live, because we are going to talk about that that you've been holding out for months!

I didn't want to say anything because I knew you'd act like this. You son of a bitch! Yes.

Queenie uses the bees to create a little treasure chest and it opens up and she puts both the shell and the rum into it as watching as Scrim is watching it and the bees form a little key and lock the chest. And then the bee key goes into her honeypot. I will lean down, almost kneeling to get at Queenie's eye level. I know I don't need to tell you this, but don't let Scrim get to it. I wouldn't, I promise you.

- And Queenie will run over to you really quickly and just jump up and give you a huge hug on your neck. - I'll give you a good hug. - You're gonna be all right, you know. - I know, Miss March. We'll do it for the ogres. No one will live in a barn. - We can't do this without you. - No one will be livestock. Not anymore. - You gotta come back to us, Marnabose. - I will. I promise. - Knock 'em dead. I mean, well. - Literally. - Literally, yeah. - I've got my good luck. I've got my seabird. - Do I get the sense

that any kind of buffs would be, uh, would be sort of deemed cheating. Make a... Oh boy. Is this a Mok'gara or what?

I mean, for all chance. This is a pretty cool... I'll solicit the roll here. My mind immediately went to sort of insight in terms of like reading how Princess of Wrath inferred no magic. Yeah. Speaking of Aurora Borealis. Oh, yeah.

That is a steamed ham dice. Really? This time of year centralized entirely at this table. Mikey is presuming that I'm able to like, I'm a fish guy, so me having claws would not be, like that's not magic. It's inherent to your nature. It's inherent to my nature, yeah. You wouldn't tell a wolf it can't bite.

Um... 24. 24. You get a sense that she meant spellcasting in the sense of spellcasting, magic in terms of illusion or...

That sort of thing. Whether or not an innately magical feature would be frowned upon, no, no. So if you are magically strong, if you have the ability to perform a dragon's breath, then that would totally be within the rules of the game.

Though I understand that actually there's some debate as to whether or not Dragon's Breath is magical. For the purposes of this conversation, innate abilities don't count. Whether or not you could pass off something as an innate ability because it's not being cast within the arena, even with a 24, feels like something that you'd have to risk.

Okay, but I get the sense that if I start like chanting a spell while he's fighting, that they'd be like, what the fuck's going on? Get that guy out! You do get the sense that that would be a violation of the spirit of the rules, that strength and raw brutality in the arena is what is going to be enforced in terms of what sacredness there may be with this ritual. And you also...

are cognizant of the Goliath who's standing 10, 15 feet from you at the entrance to this arena, at the gate underneath the stands where you currently find yourself. I will approach Barnabas and I will say, "The Fates, the Weird, and the Triad will see you through."

And, uh... If I may... I may! I'm going to reach into my pouch and scrap like a little bit of soot or like some sort of like face paint, right? Uh... In the name of Alnum... And under one eye, I'll draw a little triangle. In the name of Odin... And in the name of the land. And I'll draw on your forehead. So you have sort of a triangle of triangles. Um... You are blessed. Please stay.

And I'll nod and I'll step back. Mr. Yornir, I thank you and I know you may have red hair, but you've been nothing but good luck on this voyage. Thank you. I will kind of give everyone a nod and I'll walk out to whatever arena. You give a nod to the Goliath and he, with a great amount of effort, pulls down a metal lever and you hear the clanking of metals and all of a sudden the...

crisscross gate of timber and bolted metal starts to lift up, and you start to walk out into the arena. The brassieres are on fire and illuminating the entire space. You're welcome. Stop dropping rolls! Ah!

They call me Fire Chicks! The braziers are already warming the space. You don't need the warmth. You have your natural triton abilities to remain warm even in the cold, dark depths of the sea. But it...

Brings an insane light as shadows play against the tears the stands you see the the spikes seem to almost move underneath the energy of this fire and you begin to Walk out not seeing your foe just yet, but it's a giant arena as I said 200 maybe 300 feet wide underneath your feet is hard pack a combination of very very fine dirt and sand

But it almost feels like stone underneath your feet as you start to make your way out. At the same moment, as you are all watching Barnamos duck underneath the gate and face this next challenge, Second Goliath arrives. I am to take you to the Princess of Wrath. She has requested your presence in the box. - All right. - Well, lead the way.

Follow me. And he signals to the other Goliath who pulls the lever into a second-bury position, and you watch as the gate that was rising up begins to come to a close. As he leads you down underneath the arena itself in the direction of the Princess of Wrath, you are...

taken into almost like a catacombed area. You get a sense that there's these rafters above you. You see silt, this same sort of sand coming down from the ceiling as you're walking down and through. And it's

another few minutes of walking as you are led by these two goliaths into a larger room, what clearly looks like sort of a prep room. Is it getting colder as we go down? It's difficult to feel if there are temperature changes. It is still Drakkar, and in...

I haven't been enforcing things like Constitution rules, even though it is sub-zero, because when you've eaten, when you've had shelter, when you've been adjacent to fire, even though it's negative 10, negative 20 degrees, very, very, very cold, perhaps even colder, you have enough recharging of your batteries, in my mind, for you to narrowly miss those until we get to more serious weather conditions.

So when you're walking down a few stairs and then ducking down underneath this arena and making your way, you don't feel a tremendous drop in temperature, to answer your question. You make your way into what is clearly like a prep room for champions or gladiators, people who are prepping. There seems to be...

armor and pieces of leather and garments and weapons of all shapes and sizes. You can see big spiked mauls on the wall. You can see big hammers, a variety of different shaped swords. All of this is being not sharpened, but sort of handled by another group of Goliaths that you run into in this space. And then you hear a click.

Behind you, the two goliaths have closed a door. And one of them looks at you. "You shame us. You shame us by infiltrating our space, by tricking us, by trying to steal from our chief." And you can turn and you see, realizing that there are two others here, these are the two guards that you initially met.

Oh my god!

I'm gonna use my reaction to cast first strike so you have advantage on initiative. Let's fucking go. These guys, they made a huge mistake. Hold your rolls. They zigged when they should have zagged. We'll be back. Boned. Because we ain't in the muck, girl. It's nothing but heating up down here. I was gonna say, we're about to hack the caddies, guys. Oi!

Your sports ball team is from a slightly different geographic region than my sports ball team! You deserve a job! Get on! Ahhhh

Barnabas, you are standing there on the surface of the arena, and you watch as more and more ogres, fewer, trickle in and take their seat on one side of the arena. There are many, many, many different empty seats, but there is a large contingent of goliaths who all seem to be equally sitting on the edge of their seat.

From above, you can see that there are rafters, openings in the surface of this ceiling, and inside there are these white-winged kobolds who are swooping and flying down and making their way to the viewing box where you can plainly see the blonde hair of the

Princess of Wrath, her stature still so dreadful and yet majestic, staring down. She no longer seems to be wearing the gown that she was initially confronting you in. She seems to have made a change just for the occasion.

and she stares down looking at you and on the other side Korvac seemingly walking towards you slowly patting his hands with some of the picked up sand from the floor of the arena. She raises her voice and yells out and it echoes within this huge space. Warriors of Drakkar!

We gather for a trial as ancient as the ice that binds these lands. Here, strength reigns supreme. It is the currency of our survival, the only truth in a world shaped by strife. Two champions enter the sands of our arena for the right and responsibility of guardianship for the ogres who came to us not more than a month past.

as is my right and my pleasure. I bestow upon each of you a gift. It is a tradition when resolving disputes in this way to invoke the Colossus's embrace. Show me your strength and your will. And she raises her arms out wide next to her, almost like a wingspan of a dragon, before they clap together, and you are hit with a...

sudden drop in temperature, a huge blast of cold wind hits your face. It is as though you are sailing the coldest sea voyage that you could possibly imagine, and frost covers the entire surface of you. You look down, and the heat of your body is already starting to melt that frost as you realize that...

The floor of the arena is getting farther away. Your hands are starting to get bigger in relation to your muscles as well. Your muscles coil underneath you and you, almost like serpents,

nodding around your shoulders and you feel a huge surge of strength. You grow large and larger and larger, 10, 15, 20 feet tall and you watch as Korovac seems to be growing the same. The two of you mighty titans, you realize this is not a 200 foot arena. You are in an enclosed space with another 30 foot titan. Barnabas versus Korovac. I need you to roll for initiative.

This is gonna be so Pistymist-less. A giant Kaiju battle with NINEMOS! First roll to fight natural 20. Your advantage, too. Gorovax better, uh... I'm not. I'm not part of that fight.

He has to be within 15 feet of me to be advantageous. Oh, is that a-- Queen. Barbarians are advantageous. I just wanted to see-- That's true? I'm 23. I'm 23. All right, all right. I'm also gonna need you to tell me how to play a sorcerer right now. Okay, I got it, I got it. 23. We're gonna need to do the housekeeping of creating some arenas, so let me do this. Let's fucking go, please. Let me roll for an initiative here. Okay.

All right, initiative for everyone except for Barnaboos. 20 to 25 or higher? 29. 29? What in the ass? She's hopping mad. I rolled a natural 20. Golly! 15 to 20. 19. 17. 19, 17. Where is... Yep, okay. Uh...

And I'm going to assume that Yorneir is fewer than-- You did advantage us, did you? I did. Oh! Oh! Sorry, I'm reading your spells. I got a 16. Okay.

Full casters, folks, it's a challenge. I would say for the first round, you are under the surprise condition. Yeah, that's pretty fair. Come on! Very fair. Which I think is a condition. I don't know. Surprise round! That's how things work in fucking Dungeons & Dragons 5th edition. No one's gonna yell at me for that. The condition means in the first round, you don't go. Yeah, you just don't take an action. Right. Right. Which means you can have a varied amount of surprise, because there are creatures, classes, and races, I think, that have, like, you can't get surprised as a thing.

Yeah, something like that. You are all shocked when you hear the breaking sound of ceramics at your feet. And all of a sudden, there's this almost ignition. You shield your eyes from what is a bright light, a very bright light of fire, and worry for a moment that there's going to be some sort of a bomb. But instead, you just see this sound

hissing sound almost as whatever material is in here gets hotter and hotter and sprays choking gas out in almost all directions like a smoke bomb.

It has this almost light lavender quality to it as it hugs the air and chokes the entire space in this dense, thick fog-like substance. You go from a very clear, dark, torch-lit room to almost a foggy day. You can barely see visibility-wise from one side of the room to the other, but the Goliaths are already on top of you.

For the sake of mechanics, if you attempt to cast a spell, you'll have to make a concentration check first, otherwise the spell casting fails. And it's a spell slot. You will still lose the spell slot if you attempt to do it. And the DC for all concentrations moving forward, even if you are successful, is 15, not 10. Good thing I just cast Brutal Blade. Ha ha ha ha!

Well, I'm gonna have to punch him. So, let me just quickly go over here for a moment. Okay, one is gonna go to Taishen. Nine is gonna go to Yornir. Two is gonna go to Queenie.

Seven is going to go to Scrim. Oh my god. Eight and three are going to go to Queenie and Scrim, respectively. All of them are wielding these weapons that I described earlier: maces and war hammers and hard-hitting items. But the four in the back, they've pulled different weapons off the wall. You can see they're standing next to a large supply of javelins. Oh dear lord. Are there any animals in the room?

Make a perception check. Um, I'm here. You're an animal person. Uh, perception! 13. 13, you feel very confident that there are no animals in this one. I love doing that. 26, you get the info that it is not correct. There are so many rats. Just throw your rock out and there's gonna be an animal. So many rats. What about all these, dude? They're throwing shit. They're throwing shit.

Okay, one definitely misses, but this is against you, Taishan. But if second attack hits, I believe that's going to be a 23 to hit.

Okay, just checking I mean you might use some some weird shit you're gonna get Fifteen points of bludgeoning damage as you're smashed by this war hammer You're near you are also going to experience two quick strikes The first is 21 and the other one is 18 to hit. Yeah That's going to be

11 bludgeoning damage and 15 bludgeoning damage. The number two is going to attempt to hit Queenie. That's going to be a miss and a hit with 20 plus. Yeah. Okay, you are going to take

17 points of bludgeoning damage. That's going to be on scrim. That's going to be, one's going to be a natural 20 and the other one's going to be a 25 to hit. No, even if I shield a natural 20, I still get hit by a damage. Yeah, he's still getting hit. I'll take it. I'll allow it.

The first hit, the natural 20 is 25 points of damage. And the other one is minimum damage, 10. I'm sorry, nine. Nine is blood, 25 and nine. What? It was a crit?

And a javelin is going to come at you, Tyshen. Okay, I was just going to be cool. That is going to go wide. It's getting foggy already. Number four is going to take a crack at Queenie. That's going to be a 16 to hit. Misses. Okay, that's going to be a-- Number six is going to take a crack at Yornir. That's going to be a 17 to hit.

Yeah, that hits. Okay. Oh, Scrim's in front of me. Does that count as half cover, full cover? I mean, only if you hold him up. No, no, no, I'm 6'8". I'm 6'8". I wrote for you, C.J. I weigh 225 pounds. That's going to be 13 piercing damage for you, Yornir, and we're going to do, and the other one goes wide. It goes through your hat, and you hear it go brrrr.

just behind you and-- - And the hat gets taken off my head and pinned to the wall. - Exactly right. - Oh god. - Your hat just leaves your head. - From the hair, yes. - Your disgusting comb over. - Oh no. - Now it'll have to be. - I have a full head of hair until that happens. - And that is what's happening. Let's get to the top of that round before we rejoin Barnabas and Kurovac. Queenie, you may go. - Oh my god. - Okay.

This is no good. I would have moments to ask my friends a question. I'm assuming. Moments. Yeah. Do we want protection or should I take out, remove some of them from combat? Have we seen these abilities before or is this new? This is new. I would...

I'm dying! I'm a triad! I'm a human!

I cast Wall of Bees around us. Wall of Bees? What? Wall of Bees? What does that do? I create a wall of whirling, flailing, grasping, magical human arms. Wall of Bees. That's not human arms. Don't eat human arms. I didn't change it from something else. I didn't change it from something else at all. That says bees. That says bees, you liar. Why would you lie? You get out of this table right now. Got it!

Shit! I read it to them beforehand and Andy looks at me, he goes, I will give you anything to take that spell. I don't care what happens tonight, you take that spell and you gain this. You take the spell, you

and you read it to Derek. - You try to do something nice for a friend. You try to give him something bee related. It was just human arms the whole time. - Why are there so many human arms? - Well, I learned it's baked in man. Tight guys lose. - Jesus. - To be fair though,

The bees have arms, they just aren't human. But yes, so I'm gonna create a, because it says that I can do a circle. Yeah. So I'm doing a circle around us. It is, it will encompass all of us. It is 10 feet high and five feet thick. And we are all heavily obscured. Oh, shit. That's floor to ceiling. You are heavily obscured visibility-wise. But I have to roll to make sure that I cast it. You Oprah Winfrey bee.

This protective column of-- All of their arms are just clinging. You are surrounded by this cacophonous sound. Natural 20. This is the Feywild version of Carl Bees. Carl Bees. What's up, guys? What's up, guys? What's up, guys? Yes, so we are now for 10 minutes

heavily obscured behind this wall of bees. - Now, from these guys really around us. - Yes, they cannot get to us. - People who are consumed by the wall, read me the rest of the-- - It doesn't say-- - It should be grappled. - Well, it says any creature attempting to move through the wall takes 66 piercing damage and must make a dexterity saving throw or be grappled.

Until the grapple ends, the target is restrained. At the start of each of its turns, it takes 3d6 piercing damage. Okay, you managed to squeeze the magic out. You can feel the suppressing quality of this smoke. Whatever herbaceous, bitter smell that's acrid in your lungs getting into your system, you know that you were very fortunate to get this out, but you were able to successfully make the use of this magic, and your bees are there at your side, ready to protect you and your friends. Perfect.

Wait, so we're in it though, right? We're in it. So are we going to take the damage and be grappled? No.

Only if we try and move through the wall. I'm presuming that the wall-- So we're essentially in a turret. I'm presuming that the wall is like a column right here. You're in the donut room. We're in the donut room. It's to keep these guys out. But it's to keep them out and from not being able to attack us. These guys are being consumed by the bees, and I will-- what do I go? I will treat them as though they are moving through it when their turn starts. Oh, they're cool. Thanks, Derek.

Oh, we were expecting these! We were expecting these when she went off! That doesn't make any sense! She's a hermit! What the fuck? Okay, I have to make a constitution saving throw if I'm going to cast a spell, but is it specifically for maintaining-- is it the same as maintaining concentration on that spell? Because I do have advantage when I make those constitution saving rolls.

But if this is not to maintain the concentration, like to get the spell through, I'll just roll straight one die. What's the feature you're using? Resilient Con. Oh, you have advantage on concentration checks. Yeah. Resilient Con is your proficient in concentration checks. Whichever one is the one that gives you the fucking... But you have an Eldritch Invocation, which gives you advantage on concentration checks. I get checked. Capital C concentration. The way I ruled... Special rule concentration. The way that I wrote the magic item that they threw down...

it is forcing a concentration check to make it. - So your advantage. - So because I'm using the same language unit, I would say we keyworded it and you can map it, you can hook into it. - Okay, and the concentration check on here will be the, just beating a 10, like, 'cause there's no damage, right? - It's a 15. - It's a 15, thank you, that's the part that I missed. - Is it a saving throw or is it just a con-- - It's a concentration check. - And I am just adding my plus four to this. Yeah, okay.

I'm gonna attempt to cast a spell. So let me see if it works, and then I'll describe what happens. I'll tell you what I'm doing. Great. It doesn't work. That's my turn. Oh god. Do you do anything else with your turn? I can't move anywhere. What's your plus to come?

Oh, that's a threat. You got like two fives. I rolled a ten. Oh, devastating. Oh god, that's freaking brutal. Taichen? That's heartbreaking. I should've plussed at least one or two. I will also... yeah. Slip my mind. I'll plus three. That's wise. I'll plus three. Taichen's hungry. Yeah...

I thought, I'll plus three. I'll roll for a spell. I'll just roll once with my plus to con. Well, you get plus three. Okay. Because you're using three twists, thank you, chat. Three twists, thank you, chat. That's a 20 to cast. And...

I'll say, uh... Our friend is up there fighting for the freedom of an entire race, and you're attacking us because of your pride?! Uh, and I will, uh...

From my mouth erupt a plume of fire that'll blast out into the room and I'll spread it with my hands and I will create a massive wall of flame that will cut off, uh, this- Man, you guys and your walls. Fucking Jesus. Get fucked, get fucked, okay? This- this section right here, uh, just like...

I've been trying to use Wall of Flame on Felix for years. Yeah. You finally found a good way to do it. So a massive... I mean, I don't know how big the room is per se, but it's a... You're plenty. Yeah. It's huge. It's like 60 feet, 20 feet high, a foot thick. Oh, it's 20... Wait, it's 20 feet in diameter. Oh, or a ringed wall. Yeah, yeah, yeah. You don't change the shape of it? Oh! I don't mind if I do go...

Yeah, that's really cool. Oh, let me just check. You can't see what, oh, there. Sorry.

I got fire tokens. In fact, the monsters you're fighting are just flipped over fire tokens with numbers on them. That's very funny. Because I definitely remember to make tokens for this session. This is my wall of flame. And now, so if I want to cast a second spell, would you like me to reroll the card? The moment you do, the smoke is consumed because it's flammable. All of the oxygen is pulled out of the room and you're killed instantly. Everyone is dead. No, I'm kidding. Oh my god. Sorry, everybody. Yeah.

Let me just... The wall appears. Each creature within its area must make a deck saving throw on a failed save. A creature takes 5d8 damage or half as much on a successful one. That's if they are in the wall or adjacent to the wall? When the wall appears, each creature within its area and it extends out 10 feet from its frontal. Oh, shit. That's a fucking thick wall.

Yeah, it's a little bit of a B-4. Holy shit! I mean, these guys have to stay awake for the rest of their lives. So, 9 and 10 see this flame, and they get consumed by it. Would they have to make dexterity saving throws? They have to make dex saving throws. Jeez. And take 5d8 on a failed save. Oh my gosh. They don't have health, they can like push through it, but it's pretty good. The highest was an 11.

I'm sure. That's a dummy thick wall. That's a very dummy thick wall. I posted a picture canonically of the wall in the thread. I changed the spell so that you can refresh, so that you can read it properly now. Oh, did you? It now is bold and italicized humanoid. I'm sure you didn't. I wish you had.

I did. Oh, well, it's not... We have to refresh. I'll refresh the page. From the wall, these two will take 27 points of fire. 10 and 6? 10 is correct. That's going to be 26 fire.

And 26 fire. Neither of them save. They are consumed by the flames and you can hear their screams as they are. Are they dead? They're just screaming. They're just screaming. These guys are going to have a lot of life. Do you want me to reroll Khan if I want to make a second spellcast?

You've already cast one spell, so I believe you can only use a cantrip at this point, but you can endeavor to. I'm a sorcerer, Derek, and I can quicken spell using sorcerer points to cast an action spell as a bonus action. That's very sexy. Why don't you go ahead and try? And you have someone to teach you how to play sorcerer. Look at that. Look at that. For 47 hours. Wow. All you have to do is this one thing. Only 47? That's it. Wow, that's amazing. But do you want me to reroll the clock?

It's anytime you cast a spell. - Yeah, got it. - That's true. So we roll a... 12. 16. Concentration is plus six. - That's a saving. - Yeah. - Con is just plus two. - No. - He said it was a saving. - Concentration check is a saving. That's a concentration saving. - You said it was a flat con. - I said concentration check because that's what I wrote down here. - A concentration check

is basically a saving throw. Oh, so you do add your proficiency bonus and... Okay. So you get plus six. Well, would that change what it was for you? No, no, no. My saving throw is plus four. Oh, okay. It's proficient, but it's cons like plus... I'm not proficient.

- Oh, so you didn't take Brazilian. - Brazilian card. - No, that's, yeah, I said the wrong one. - I said it. - You had the right answer. - I thought you was Scorching. - I thought it was plus two. - You succeed. - You succeed. - And I will cast at a, I don't know, fifth. - That means you cast the first spell on hard mode. - Yeah, I mean, I thought it was at a plus two. I will cast Scorching Ray.

Which is at a 4th level. And I'll summon these Orbs of Fire and blast out... Are they attack rolls? They are attack rolls. You'll be disadvantaged. Put it out there. Two additional arrays. So it's five arrays, so I'd have to roll ten times.

Come on. Well, I don't know what their AC is. That would be a DC, right? Yeah. That'd be a 14 to hit. Probably. That misses. Okay. That counts. 16? That hits. Oh, nice. Okay. 16. So I'll just go around the ring. I'm going to shoot five times. We'll go 7, 3, 8, 1, 2, 1. Because our vision of them obscured is just one way. That's insane.

All targets behind the wall are heavily understood. So you can see them, but you can't see them. They can't see them. That's 21. So I'll hit seven and two. No, because we're behind my wall. That's why I asked. The wall of bees. And 17. That hits. So I'll hit seven, two, and one. I'll hit seven, two, and one. There's a wall around us between us and them. They're like in the bees' wall.

That's a good question. I would think, 'cause we're like right there, and sort of like being within five feet, you could see them and stuff. Seven takes ten points of damage. We're heavily obscured. Seven will take ten points of damage. And two, oh, two will take eight points of damage. Eight. And one will take seven points of damage. Seven.

So you only hit three? I hit three. Okay. You are launching these orbs of fire. I like to think that you punched one and then jumped up and did splits and from your feet came the other two orbs that hit the, you know, something really badass and martial art-y like that. And a few go wide, but you can hear the shock of fighting powerful magic users as yourself, even from trained veteran fighters like these goliaths. Your Nair.

Before your interview goes, we have a question we'd like to ask. We are heavily obscured. From them. Obviously from them and from here and from these guys. Can we see them, though? I don't see how we can justify making it a two-way mirror, right? Like, if it's heavily obscured looking in, why wouldn't it be heavily obscured looking out? I just want to make sure.

Like, don't change any of Taishan's turn depending on how you roll, not just moving forward. Heavily obscured is one moment of advantage. Well, I rolled a disadvantage on everything. Well, then we're keeping it. I didn't know you did that. Well, but that's because this guy and this guy are left in melee range. Yeah. Oh, I thought I was rolling disadvantage because they were all in the wall. Either way, those would give you disadvantage. Is it disadvantage? I believe so. That's heavily obscured if you're blind.

It's an unseen attacker, right? It's sort of how you rule it.

If someone's invisible, you can still attack them, it's disadvantage. It's not super elegant in terms of 5e. Yeah, I would have liked a plus or minus AC. I'll have to think about that spell, especially the humanoid arms. However, I'm gonna say that this is a thick wall of bees that are endeavoring to essentially swallow the majority of your attackers, and

You might have to take disadvantage for, even though they're literally being stung to death at this time. Yorner, you're up. I will, being bludgeoned to death, it's very clear that they mean to kill us. And so I'll turn to my friends and I'll say, "Kill them all!" And I'll raise my staff

and Katara-style for my water skin, and water will shoot out, and dust will raise off the ground. It'll swirl and swirl and swirl, as all of a sudden, you see it almost coalesce into different chunks of rock-hard ice, as the spell says, and centered about right here. One, two, three, and-- Do you have to be able to see it? Nope. Okay, good. Went within range. Okay, good, good. I'm gonna center right about here, and I am going to cast

You succeeded on your check. I need to make the check. You will endeavor to cast. I'm casting either way. I use this best slot. And so I would like to use several points, if that's okay. Do it. I'm going to use three. Yeah, that's fine. Thank you, Chad. We've got a lot to use. Thank you, Chad. And I used dozens. We have dozens to use. There you go. 14 plus me. It's 50. Yeah, I got it.

Then, so the spell, let me read it. It is called Ice Storm.

A hail of rock-hard ice pounds into the ground in a 20-foot radius and 40-foot high cylinder. Set it on a point within range, each creature in the cylinder must make a dex saving throw. The creature takes 2d8 bludgeoning damage and 4d6 cold damage on a failed save or half as much as a successful one. Hailstones turn the storm's area of effect into difficult terrain until the end of your next turn.

All right. Let's go around the horn. Tell me who's making the save. Eight. Eight's making the save. And what is the DC? The DC is 17. And the save is? Dex. Dex. 16, 13. Three, that's three, six, five. Which one's next? Sorry, so eight, three, and six failed. Five? Fail. Four? Fail. Ten. Ten.

Succeed. Okay, so ten succeeded, everyone else failed. I am going to roll the damage real quick. Roll out of damage. Uh, it is 4d6. One, two, three, four, and it's 2d8. Um, one, uh, that's not a Mourn Your Die. Should I be picky right now? I'll just do it, fuck it. So...

So as I sort of raise my staff, this swirling hail storm will explode outward almost and pelt them all. Four, eight, nine, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22. Is that everything? 22 points of damage to everyone except 10 who takes 11 points of damage. Right, 11. Can you give me the numbers again?

Eight, three, six, five, and four all take 22 points of damage. Jesus. Okay. And then 10 takes 11 points of damage. 11 points.

Okay. And as I, once I put my staff back down, I'll sort of lean, because I just took half of my health and wounds, I'm now bloodied. Uh... Part of the, you know, with all of this hail going on, the hail and snow will sort of, uh, shimmer over me as I go invisible to my wounds, actually. Ooh. Ooh.

- Start of the round, I'm immediately going to have to deal with the wall of bees for everyone surrounding Queenie and her allies. How does that work again? - Dexterity, well so first they will all take 66 piercing damage. - Yes. - Just automatically. - Can I have some D6s? - Yeah, please. - It's three, four, five, six, thank you. It's 12, it's 14, it's 19, it's 20.

22 points of piercing damage they will take automatically, and then they need to make a DC, a dex saving throw. One moment. Oops. We can read you the numbers. Let me just quickly do some math here. It's very fast, quick math for sure. That's gonna be there, that's gonna be there, that's gonna be that amount, okay?

And then they all have to make dexterity saving throws. Okay, I'm just gonna roll for the... No, that's not how that works. What's the DC? 17. One succeeds. 12 fails. So that's two fails. Three fails. We need to find some way to mark them. I have them here. Okay. Seven, eight, and a nine I'll roll. Two.

Seven fails, fails, and succeeds, so nine succeeds. All right. So they are grappled, and at the start of their next turn, they'll take 3d6 piercing damage. One and nine are going to step out of the beats. Okay.

because they are not grappled. They manage to roll out of the way, and they take five feet, step backwards, and start looking to the weapons on the wall very quickly. Seeing that you guys are inside of this, they're just going to throw the weapons that they happen to have on hand into the space to see if they can hit anything. So, number one,

Number one is going to throw his war hammer, and that's going to be at disadvantage, so that is going to miss. And for his-- oh, they're not going to multi-attack because they're ranged now. And then number nine is going to do the same thing at disadvantage, and that is also going to fail. So you just hear-- these weapons fly forward, and they just hit the bees and are carried away and out by the net

The bee chads are like, "Yeah, totally not even gonna hit him through this, okay?" Now we're gonna do the wild, stinging, swinging attacks of the ones that are adjacent to Scrim. At disadvantage, that's gonna fail. Second attack, that's going to fail. Next two attacks, we have Scrim at disadvantage, that's going to fail. That is going to be a 15 to hit. I have 17 to hit. Okay, and against Queenie,

That's going to be a... I think that hits, 23? That hits, yeah. Okay.

That's going to be 11 points of bludgeoning damage to you. And then the next one at disadvantage, that fails. Next one at disadvantage, that's going to be 20 to hit, a dirty 20. So that's gonna be 16 points of bludgeoning damage. To who? To you, Katweenie. Oh, okay. Sorry, I'm rolling for concentration, 'cause it's concentration. Oh, okay. So you said an additional 16? Yep.

And those are the conclusion of the Goliaths who are in melee range. Ten and six are going to back out of the Wall of Fire. Do they take damage just because they started their turn there? - I think they do. It might be ending, let me stay honest here. When it appears they take damage, one side of the wall selected by you gets spelled in as that sign.

to each creature that ends its turn within 10 feet of the outsider inside the wall. A creature takes the same damage when it enters the wall for the first time upon a turn or ends its turn. They rush out-- So they just pass through it. Yeah, they rush out of the flames, patting themselves out, clearly singed if you could see them through all of this chaos. However, they have a general sense of where you are, and so they're going to all make javelin attacks at this advantage. That's gonna fail on Scrim.

That is going to hit on Yornir that's going to be, perhaps because you're so tall, 14 points of piercing damage as the javelin sticks into you, Yornir. I'm also invisible. I don't know if that matters. I rolled at disadvantage. These are random attacks. What was the hit to him? 14 damage. Oh, I see. It was 22 to hit. What's your ASA? It's 16. I think. Is that right? Yeah, I think so.

It hits. Okay. It hits him square in the head. The next javelin flies wide, and the next javelin against Taishan is going to be a 18 to hit. That's his AC. 18 to hit. Oh, so I meet it and beat it, right? That's how that works? Unless you want to do anything about it. 15 piercing. And that is the conclusion of their turn. We transition now to the top of the arena. To part of us? Yep.

As soon as the clap sounds and you realize the enormous size of your new form, you are drenched by, I'm sure, seawater, and turning, you realize that Karavac seems ready for you. He's standing and almost in like a...

warlike state, almost like a trance. He's looking down and looking up and looking down and then looking up and you get this tremendous sense of concentration. He almost looks at you with a expected come and bring it attitude, but he says nothing except breathing heavily. What do you do with your turn?

As I'm getting larger and larger, as seawater is covering me and barnacles and all sorts of sea life, my arms will shift as well as my legs.

Because I grow two huge crab claws and I'll boom out. Ah, you brought me in here! And you've unleashed the Kraken! I am the sea monster! I am Barnabas Dreadwake! And I will kill you as I thunder forward and lunge with giant crab claws. And I'm just going to make three attacks on him. Recklessly. Okay, and now these are...

Technically unarmed strikes, but you're using your crab claws, correct? They're natural weapons. They're natural weapons? They're natural weapons, technically, mechanically speaking. That's one. What is the dice size of that? A D6. Because of your increased size, each of them is going to be a D12. Let's go. Nice. Ha ha ha!

- I'll let you know, they're all 19s. All natural 19s. - Whoa. - So, you need 12s? Oh jeez, oh jeez. - I should have warned you ages ago, but I'm running 18 combat. - I just gotta find my new 12. - Why'd I do this to myself? This is so crazy. It's just crazy. - Oh, not bad, not bad. 17.

17, 23, plus 24. That is 47 points of slashing damage. Wow. As I snip into him. Did you roll to hit? Yeah, they rolled 28. Okay, yeah, you're fine. I presume I hit that hit. 47, you say? 47 points. Okay, and that's for a total of? Natural slashing damage? Yes. Okay. Actually, no, magical.

- Yeah, I'll hold onto that, okay. That's very cool. You dig your claws into both of his arms and sort of slide back for a moment on, he slides back for a moment on the sand. But even as you crunch in and you try

try to either sever muscle or tissue or bone, perhaps. It is like slamming into a stone pillar. And he turns... And he pulls away from your claw's grasp and comes back up with an uppercut. - Advantaged. - Oh, yes, that's correct. The first is going to be, thank you. The first is going to be a 23 to hit. - That'll hit.

The second, because he's using multi-attack, but I'm going to cram all the damage into flavor for the purposes of, yeah, the next one's higher, and the next one is also higher. So all three of those are going to be, that's going to be 11.

That's going to be 53 non-magical bludgeoning damage as he shrinks down and flies up with a fist that feels like a brick. You get clobbered right in the jaw and the fight is on. Since it's gonna take a million years to go back and simulate this, let's simulate a few more rounds. Back to your turn. - Not bad, but not good enough.

That'll be a hit. I'm presuming. Yeah. That'll be a hit. That'll be a hit. Oh, cha-cha-cha. That is gonna be... cha-cha-cha. When you win this, you can crab rave. 23, 29, 29, 53 points of slashing damage. 53. Woo!

You push into him, and again, even though your hands are claw, literal bone manifestations that come out of you, each time you hit like that, it's kind of like hitting something extremely hard with a hammer, and you feel this vibration going up your arm. It is like punching stone. You are doing some damage, but not nearly as much as you expect.

and I'm going to use my bonus action as my hands return as their claws, as they'll and from my back, there'll be spiked tentacles that grow. - Oh, okay. He's going to race around you to Andy's side.

Exactly right. And as your tentacles emerge, he's going to slide around on the slippery sand and then race forward, grabbing you by the waist, managing to actually break

barrel hug you as wide as your belly is and you suddenly are starting to it's starting to dawn you on on you you are fighting somebody who's physically stronger than you are and he pushes and pushes and pushes I need you to make a strength contest I did not call athletics or strength um your turn okay

19. 21. He pushes you 15 feet into the edge of the arena and all of a sudden, as you slide, you take... This is bad.

You take 18 points of piercing damages. All of a sudden you feel something slip like a dagger into your back and you realize that you are being pushed against and he is starting to press his advantage against you. That was one of his multi attacks and he'll attack again as he continues to drive his elbow in. - Can I know the actual total of each attack? - Yes, you may. The first one is going to be a 19 to hit.

I'm going to whip up one of my tentacles and attempt to parry it. And with that, I am going to roll a d8. And that will make, it'll still hit. Okay. It'll still hit. The next one is going to be a 16 to hit. That misses. That misses. So I will roll damage for these. As he drives in,

14 points of bludgeoning damage as he pushes against you with a one elbow attack. It's your turn, you're not mechanically grappled, I was just wrapping my arms around you for the purposes of flavor and the attack. - I didn't come here to die. There's still something I gotta do. As I am going to, it's my turn, I'm gonna use my bonus action to, its tentacles will sink back in.

As I get my claws back, I'm going to make two attacks. Or three attacks, rather. Come on. Battle hit. Battle hit. Battle hit. Nice. And then 15, 19, 43. 43. Wow, you're consistently doing just an absolute fucking buttload of damage. Three attacks at advantage feels pretty good. I'm going to move. If I can move, I don't know if I'm impaled on it.

No, you'd be able to slide off of the spike and endeavor to move. Boo, boo, boo. I am just getting on the other side of him.

You slip around to the other side, and he matches you in almost a dance. He pushes some blood away from his own mouth, and he's staring at you with his one grim eye. You see death in this eye, and you're starting to understand why Korovac is called the Unbroken.

He may be an undefeated champion, and the reason why he would be warlord-in-chief of a warlike Goliath tribe such as the Stormfist Legion. He looks down at you and he goes, "That's too bad. You won't escape this arena alive!" And he rushes forward and gives you a ruthless headbutt.

or at least he intends to. I cannot parry, so you can just, it's 17 as the AC. One moment, that's gonna be a natural 20. And that's going to be a 20 million to hit. Oh, you need to know, it's gonna be a 29. Oh, you don't need to know anymore? Okay. He lunges forward with his head and you're able to pull back just in time, but he's too quick.

He jabs you once with his wrist and then crushes you in a bear hug. Again, this time getting your arms in between his. And he tenses his muscles, absolutely like pushing out and bulging, almost exploding out from underneath his skin as he reaches in. And neither will your friends. And you take. This is awful. Not us. This is awful. Poor Barnabas. I'm definitely gonna get bloody from this attack.

It's a fucking beef train. Okay. He didn't even worry about it. He's a meat train. Yeah, he's a meat train. Barnabas has no bothers. Are you getting any damage reduction from these? Oh yeah, it's halved. It's all halved. But still, I mean... It's still a lot of damage. It's still a lot of damage. I mean, you're fucking dead. This guy can't fight the rage of the ocean. I don't know why, but something about the way you said that reminded me of Pauly Shore in Insane Man.

- Like a fucking cake, dude. - You take 63 non-magical bludgeoning damage. - I'm bloodied. - And we'll pause at bloodied as we come back to the top of the round, shifting back over to Queenie, Scrim, Taishan, Yornir, and friends. - I'm going to, I'm assuming it's my turn. - Yeah, you're talking. - I'm going to attempt to use my bonus, well, is this, if something's an item, does it count as a spell?

- What do you mean? - My honey pot allows me to put up essentially Hunter's back. - No, it's not suppressing features and abilities. It's using a spell slot that triggers the concentration check. - So I am going to put up, no, I'm not going to 'cause that would drop my concentration. - It gets too tricky to rule stuff like that. - Well, if you look at Natasha's feature,

That just makes the Hunter's Mark not a spell as well. That's right. So I presume it would act the same. Man, it's been a while since we started Icebound. I believe that she has a variant of Hunter's Mark as her innate ability. I think it's before Tasha's. That's what I was trying to remember. No, it is. It didn't used to be, I don't think so. But it says in here, requires concentration in the wording that Derek wrote. Oh.

Never mind. I thought that it wasn't. I thought we had talked about that, but it does say maintain concentration. But that's still not a spell. Yeah, but I'm not gonna drop my concentration on the wall of these. So I'm just going to turn towards one. And being so short, I'm gonna shoot between Taishin's legs and launch two arrows at number one. And I'm disadvantaged.

23 for the first hit. Yep. Their AC is 16. And 22 for the second hit. And that's just two d6. Okay. Which ones are you targeting? Number one. Okay. Oh, both of these. Yeah, go for it. Great. 16 points of piercing damage. To number one? Yeah. I can do math. And that's my turn. Very good.

Scrim, you're up. Failing to cast the spell that Scrim was trying to channel his inner magics and choking on this horrific smoke that's in the air, I would like to attempt to cast another spell again, because the spell doesn't require me to be able to see. At least three, right? I was gonna say three. We'll do three. Thank you, Chad. What's your plus? Four? Yeah, so it's plus seven total. That's good. And I'm rolling with advantage again. Okay.

17 plus 7 is 24. Hell yeah! Let's go, let's go. Nice. Beak off by surprise. The first spell kind of sparks and fizzles in his hands. He's not holding the Brutal Blade. I'm not holding the Brutal Blade. And Scrim redoubles after getting beaten and bruised, and...

He says, "Come on, come on, you have to work, you gotta work!" And in this moment, this dark mist begins to pour out from his hands. In fact, it might be hard to even see with the rest of the smoke that is in the air. There's chaos in here. And I'm going to cast Draining Mist.

Great fucking choice. So the only one that won't be hit I think is number one because it's a 15 foot radius. Wow. So number one is just out of the way. I love this spell. Yeah. Enjoy. The mist begins to pour and I need 9, 7, 3, 8, and 2 to make constitution saving throws. Alright. 9, 7, 8, 3, and 2. 9, 7, 3, 8, 2. Yes.

Okay. Let's go bottom up. My DC is 17. Two. It's a con saving throw, you said? Yes. Succeeds. Two succeeds. Okay. Three fails. Okay. Seven fails. Okay. Eight succeeds. Okay. Nine fails. So nine, seven, and three will take 15 points.

29 points of damage. Necrotic damage. Seven and three will take 29 necrotic. And then I heal 5, 10, 15, 5, 10, 15, 20, 25 temporary hit points as this horrific dark mist

pulls their life force from them and into me. - They are open wounds being what they are. They're covered in stinging welts from the bees that are surrounding them, and you pour salt into those wounds. All of a sudden, you watch as droplets seem to get pulled directly out, turning into its own kind of swarm and begin to pour towards you. They don't entirely reach you. They turn to shadow, and you feel suddenly nourished, your wounds themselves closing.

Okay, and then I don't have a bonus action that I can really do So I say ah That's the ticket much better and then that's the end of my turn Everyone's like 25 temporary hit points. Jesus It's the max that I can get. Kai Shen

As you do that, before you go, Taishan, let me just quickly do some math here to add up the pieces here. Oh, okay, okay. And then that's going to be...

I need to have a secondary math DM over here who does this while I'm flavoring everything. I feel that. Can we get on that, Jamie? We have anyone out there that wants to live under the DM desk. Of the ones that you've been fighting, three is but a thread of mortality. He did not die.

I'm sorry Taishan you're up Starting off seeing how Everyone is taking hits and all these enemies are still alive. I will punch out two Juts of flame but this time

instead of orange-red fire, uh, golden fire, and I will, uh, twin out Cure Wounds at Queenie and Yornir at third level. Nice! Hell yeah! Uh, and... Let's see, it's fucking huge! Uh, and it's- oh, uh, oh! Well, actually, I think- hang on, I have to roll to keep my concentration on the wall of fire, 'cause I think you hit me.

Oh yeah, big money. Big money. Cool. It's 15. I'll roll a cap. That's just to hold my concentration on wallpipers. Just checking, just checking. I want to make sure that the DC is 15. All part of the cards. Oh yeah. No problem. 20 for the cast. So I will roll, this is to heal both Queenie and your... Nice. Big money. Not bad. Yeah.

Eight, 13. 18? 18 points of healing. As the golden flames will kind of almost-- For both of us? Yeah. As the golden flames will kind of extend out to the two of you, and as it wraps around you, it almost coalesces into these golden dragon's wings, as you feel the warmth wrap around you. Aw, thank you, Joshy, that feels nice. Of course!

Stay strong! And I will quicken another Scorching Ray. Okay. At third level. And once again, roll to do it. I'm gonna dread this. You son of a bitch. Alright, there's only a natural 20, that's okay. Oh my god. Brutal.

That was a time to dread, let me tell you. That was a time to dread. A time to dread is my favorite sort of a time to dread. Yeah, I love that one. I went from a natural 20 to a 2. To a 2, Derek. You too, Cap. That's it. My turn's over. My turn's over. Life can be hard sometimes. You're near, you're up. You're near, you're up. I hear you screaming in the distance. Totally changes everything I was going to do. If he crits me again...

I'm fucked. I do a quick animal check. Any animals in the room? Make a perception check. It's disadvantage that you're heavily obscured. Oh yeah, yeah, yeah. It's disadvantage. Everything's heavily obscured. There's bees. There's a wall of fire. There's a huge number of bees in the room. I don't know if you count those as animals, though. No, I don't. No. They're magical creatures. They're summons. Um. They're spirits. How...

I guess I can't really see anything. So we're literally just in this column of swarming bees and we can't see anything else. Everything's fucked. We're all back to back. Is this still going? Stormstorm? But they're all disadvantaged on us. It was a one time blast, which I just learned. I thought it was like a permanent storm. Yeah. It's difficult terrain, but that means you're all-- It's a big ass spell. Can you figure stone out and have an animal? Yeah, I can. Yeah, I was trying to think of a cool animal to do for that. A little wiggle.

I can't do the whale. We're all dead. We all die instantly. I'm falling! Oh, what are we doing? We're both falling! We're both falling! We're both falling!

Add an additional layer of flare. I know there's a lot of chaos surrounding all of you as Rich plans his turn. However, even among the cacophonous bees and the sounds of screams, your shouts to each other as allies and the sounds of the Goliaths attacking you, saying things, shouting, you can still hear these...

Massive pits. Yeah. Just like earthquakes. And you're watching as sandy silt falls down and as these massive blows strike directly upon you. What the hell is going on out there? It's almost like war drums. There's ice chips that are falling from the ceiling. Oh god, oh that's got me there again. Yeah. Um. We'll be cool. You'll be reaching dodge action in 30 seconds. I will say, uh, because I'm beat up and we're surrounded, I'll say.

I do not wish to call on you like this, but... Holden. Oh, Father, we need your help. And mechanically, I'm throwing my Jasper Stone, and you'll hear this flapping of wings. As flapping and flapping and flapping, you will see a giant raven.

- Oh, man. - Flap in and materialize as eyes start to shift and transform into another giant raven. With a pair of giant ravens on the battlefield. - Caw-caw! - Each one missing an eye. Their heads turn in unifins. And with the glowing icy blue emanating as-- - We just dealt with ravens, Rich.

I know, I'm sorry. I'm sorry. This is relevant to his backstory. He's really cool. I'm saying I'm traumatized. It's very cool. Is there a large token anywhere? Yeah, two large tokens, actually. All the trolls, Shrek is behind you.

We have so many trolls behind you, Rich. What's the other one? I'm here as a raven. Where'd you throw this one? This one I would throw back here, if I can. Just like chuck it. I have this image of the stone flying and in the flame, all of a sudden, a bird emerges on the other side, predatorily. It's gonna attack five. Corn! Corn! Corn! Corn! Corn! Corn! Corn!

And I will like lift off from where I am and I'm just gonna go back in the, I don't know. Is that what ravens sound like? - They sound like crows. - That's more crow. - Is that more crow? - That's more crow. - I can only do crow, I can't do ravens, I guess. - The word that's used in the soy app is like corn. - I use my action, but it means corn. - I think they sound like I am a raven. That is, I am a raven, that's me. - Raven. - Raven.

Plus-- I thought they said nevermore. They do that too. Nevermore. You're absolutely right. They say nevermore, but sometimes when the mood is right-- What's the difference between a raven and a raven? One more time. It is a 16 to hit.

That's on five? That is on five. It's going to rip in with its giant raven talons. You picked the least injured of all of them, fortunately. I can't say. Basically, I commanded it to just fucking kill you. I'm just remarking at the coincidence. I'm trying! It is worth commentary. Are you in the bees now because you're so large? Yes, probably.

What? Oh, I'm definitely going to beat you. I am definitely going to beat you. My raven butt cheeks. He's knocked out immediately. My raven butt cheeks are being stoned. 60 bees grab all your feathers and just de-feather you instantly. Take 25 points of piercing damage upon getting large. Oh, okay. 25 points? Yeah. Bzzz.

I can't believe I left in humanoid arms. That's fucked up. Oh, that's the wrong thing. Yeah, they're not even stinging you, they're just... It's supposed to be literally like a wall of light. They're yoked.

Looks like that scene in Back of the Scream. Oh, it actually is double attack, look at that! Did you take the 25 damage? I did. Okay, good. So the talons are going to do 13 points of damage, and the beak is going to attack, and that hits as well. That's going to do six points of piercing damage. Jeepers.

Six points of piercing damage to number five? Yeah. You need to make a dexterity saving throw or be grappled by the bees. Could I fly and like hover above my friends knowing this? It goes all the way to the wall. No, no, but on top of everyone. Mechanically, could I think to be like leap into the air so that I'm being clipped by bees? I think you would know enough about your abilities to do that and you would be 10 feet up. Yes, let's fucking go.

It's extremely reasonable. I think that's very reasonable. What a benevolent DM. I think that's much better than you taking 25 damage. You wouldn't put yourself into a wall of bees if you could help it? I don't think so. I'm like a giant reindeer, I'm getting clipped by bees, but I'm part of it. They're punching you. Just use the bucket trip to get up the wall. Speedrun this bitch. Speedrun this bitch. You voted on King Hippo, I voted on Mighty Tyson.

Mr. Dream. New York said Mighty Tyson. I did? Yeah.

Instead of what? Mike Tyson? No, I forget what you were saying. I don't think I said Mighty Tyson. No, you did say Mighty Tyson. Why? I can't remember why. I thought it was Mighty Tyson. Mighty? I don't... You said Mighty Tyson. Chad! Yeah. Oh, Titan. Mighty Titan. We both turned into Mighty Tyson. Yeah, yeah. You said Mighty Tyson. Everyone's got a plan until you punch them in the face. All right. Okay. Done.

The monsters will relentlessly, fearlessly continue to attempt to kill you. They will. Two, three, eight, and seven will take seven points of piercing damage from the bees as they are grappled. Okay, two, three. Eight, three, and seven. Okay, three dies. Eight. Dammit.

And seven. Uh... That's gonna be this, and that's gonna be this. Okay!

They are becoming accustomed to the bees now. They're no longer flying around. You can watch as these bees are crawling on top of them, stinging them, falling off in order only to be magically replaced by more bees, and yet they are ignoring them and continuing to swing inwards. That's cool.

One and nine are going to make Javelin of Tanks against first Taishen at disadvantage because of the heavy obscurity. That's going to miss, and then Raven Ear. Raven Ear? Raven Ear's okay. Again, that is going to be a 15 to hit.

Oh, hold on. That hits. And so that's gonna be 16 points of piercing damage as the javelin goes straight through your bird form and sticks into the timber ceiling above you. Then we're going to get, at disadvantage, two attacks on Taishan. That's going to be a natural one. That's going to be a 21 to hit. That's very cool.

It's going to be 13 points of bludgeoning damage as a war hammer through a wall of bees slams into you like a sledgehammer. We're gonna do two at disadvantage against Queenie. Miss, miss.

That's going to be two disadvantage against scrim. That's going to be a 15 and a 20 something. That's 21. - I'll allow it. - You will allow it for 15 points of bludgeoning damage. There's also a mace flies in, smashes into, you can feel cartilage crush under the weight of this blow and they are still swinging.

I'll very quickly do the javelins that are flying through. That's gonna miss. Number five is going to take a large battleaxe and attempt to stop the raven from attacking him. He's going to...

Oh, these aren't at disadvantage. Those are just two attacks, and that's a four and a three, so that's done. Four is going to javelin in towards Queenie. That also misses, and ten is going to javelin towards Taishen. That is going to be a 17 to hit. Well, there it is, and that is the monster's turn. How are we feeling, everybody? Should we top the round here, or should we Barnabas over here? No, we can go Barnabas. Let's Barnabas. Yeah, Raven takes Firewall.

Oh, because it's closed? With Intentive. Yeah. Oh yeah. Roll it up. Yeah, roll it up. Let me just see. You have to make a Raven save. Oh, how do I make my Raven save? Deck 17. Well, his plus to Raven saves is 42, so...

Yeah, it's deck 17. That's deck 17. I think your wall of fire is very similar to my wall of humanoid arms. I think I pass. He has to make a deck 17. Roll very low. Okay. What are we doing? My raven's taking fire damage. Oh yeah. Because it can't fit. Oof-da.

So much for rolling low there, buddy. Which team are you on? He's like, nah, nah, nah, nah! Oh, so he's Australian.

30 points of fire damage. Okay, so 15. Vengemite! I'm gonna roll the rest of the game. Nar! Nar! Nar! You are released from the bear hug and the surprisingly nimble for his strength, Karabak, jumps backwards. You can see where you've pummeled him, where you've gone in with your claws. Those wounds are bleeding, but this guy is relentless. I rolled natural 20 for the first attempt. Oh, okay, let's fucking go. Gotta give it up.

Brutal critical, don't forget. 18. 18? Yeah, 18. Does that hit? That hits... 18 is the AC. Two attacks. And then a 20. So that is all this... I'm gonna roll to roll all the damage. And then that. Do crits push him back? No. No. 10. Probably should. 12.

That's the first one, 12. Oh man, I rolled terribly. 12, 18, but 18, actually I'll add the damage. 18 plus 24 is 42. 42 points of damage, I rolled very terribly.

And then because of that, I can use a bonus action to make another attack 'cause I cram. - Yeah! I mean, couldn't you technically just string these along forever? - It's limited by bonus action. - Oh. - That's a limiter. That's smart. That's good game design. - And then that is going to be-- - Well, if only he were a crow, he could have been called Croa. If he was from the same island as Toa.

16 points of slashing damage. - No. - As I am, I'm feeling it, I am bloodied. Like if he crits me one more time, I am down. And so I am just, I am not even speaking, I'm just looking at him and I am just filled with anger as I'm just-- - You are lashing out and taking chunks out of him. You know that he's hurting too.

He's bleeding. There's a flap coming down from the top of his head of his own forehead. It seems to be going into his eye and making almost a tear. But even despite these gory details, he is--

a man of will, and he seems to be completely ignoring the pain and going in with full strength after full strength after full strength. He looks at you and he looks up at the sky.

He roars like this and he punches his wounds. He punches his wounds. He punches his wounds and he seems to punch the blood from Stop Bleeding and you mechanically understand that he is healing himself with a bonus action, a once per day feature that I've given this particular creature. Oh no. Oh no.

He looks invigorated by this, but it uses his bonus action to do this, so he won't be able to benefit from all of his attacks. He instead goes in for a sweeping leg kick. I need you to make a dexterity saving throw. - I'm gonna add five to this. - I'm adding five. - That's not good. - Oops.

My blue's not enough for you, you gotta hit yourself. The next saving throw that is going to be a 16 plus five is a 21. A 21? Yep. One moment. Ooh, I think you might've got him.

Yes, you succeed. You are able to, despite the dizziness in your head, the pain and bruising around your body, you are able to step back and just underneath one of your legs, you feel the sand hit the bottom of your bare foot, and it's your turn to go. Karavac reassumes his position, ready to grapple or attack, you're not sure which.

Natural 20. Oh! Let's go! Timely! Oh wow. I don't think that hits. Oh no. Wow. 14. Nope. 18. To be fair, you've been killing it, man. You've got bonus action to make another hit on him, just 'cause, you know, I got a crit. Okay, that'll hit. So that's still three. Nice. I'm gonna roll the Brutal Critical first. Could be--it's a lot better than the first one. So that is nine. That is 15. And then...

15, 25, 37, 37, 61 points. Damn. Of slashing damage. Damn, okay. With three hits. Yige, Yige!

Despite his roar, for the first time you're starting to hear and he races around you again using surprising speed. He flips to the other side and endeavors to push into you. He rams into your waist and tries to push. Go ahead and make a strength or athletics check.

You're faster than you look! I'll give you that! Come on. Oh! Twenty-two.

- 24. - Wow! - He pushes you back to 15 feet using this part of his replace multi attack and you take, you feel the same piercing sound crunch into your back taking 17 points of piercing damage as he pushes into you. He makes two more attacks. - How many attacks did you do last round? - Four.

Oh, this was at advantage, so 24 to hit and with his two other attacks and 25 to hit. He's going to... I have 26 hit points. Well, we're a little preoccupied. Also, if we do manage to get out, he's going to be 400 feet tall and then he'll stomp on us. He's only got 2K. There's only one person in this campaign I want to stomp on me.

Same. I should've used five twists, that's my bad. And it is Secundus. Puts on my manure stomping boots. Yeah, we should be burning all the twists. Yeah, that's my bad. Remember the number 24 for me, I'm having trouble doing math. 24, 24, 24. Jack Bauer. And 19, one moment.

- You're taking half damage from him. - 43 points of damage as he once again uses that same effective elbow maneuver. He punches, crunches in and crunches in. You can hear the gasps from the crowd, the cheers. You can hear the sounds of the ogres.

- You're not. - Yelling, you're not sure what the sound is, but you're looking into the stands and you're not seeing your friends in these moments of pain. You're not seeing them, but instead blinded by rage, the seawater refreshes you and you pick back up, endeavoring to survive this terrible ordeal. Your turn? - My turn? Oh shit, okay, I don't take him out now, that's it.

I think we need to twist every single one of these attack points. You think so? Yeah, he's only missed once. Yeah, he's only missed once out of like, you know, 24 attacks or something insane. But yeah, I mean if we- I mean- Every single one needs to hit. Yeah. Right? Can you just damage? Like can you just push it? I mean, if we have enough, we're gonna put out 15. We have a ton, right?

Or maybe we can do a few on each? You know what I mean? Let's do three on each. Three on each? A very thoughtful move. 15 seems like a lot. Yeah, let's do nine. Let's do nine. Do nine. Thank you. Huge! Battle hit. There we go. Three on each. 20. Battle hit. I need a crit. No crits. But I got three. It's okay. It's okay. It's okay. All hit. All hit.

Well, if you kill him, you get an extra bonus action. That's true. I'm going to write his HP down right here on this card. Oh, God. God, I'm so nervous. Oh, could be worse. Could be worse. Okay. Could be worse. 12 plus 12 is 24. 48 points of slashing damage. How do you want to do this? Oh!

Let's fucking go. That's close. That's a race to the bottom. I will be impaled, and I'll be looking around...

and I will see that there's this Goliath in front of me and I think about all of the Goliaths that I've known. I think about my history, my past, and the meals that I've shared, the hunting that I've done, the dancing that I've done, these memories that have come back since the Mind Flayers unlocked that captain's chest in my memory. You don't deserve to be chief of anyone.

For my lady. And I am just going to basically try to give him the snip all the way up. And then with that, while he is double over, I will attempt to, for my first attack, and double over, grab him around the head and give him the old...

the snip around his head. - You run your claw up his chest, creating a huge gash opening like this, and he looks down dumbly as he starts to see his own attention, and it's just enough of the distraction that you need in order to wrap both of your claw hands around his neck and pop.

Like a Pez dispenser, his head flies. A massive head, a thousand pound head off of a 30 feet Titan will land like a boulder crashing into the sand, blood spilling out in all directions, immediately soaking the ground and floor of the hard pack and it rolls until finally coming to a stop with just a dumb look.

out into the crowd, you hear the sound of both cheers and silence as the Goliath Stormfist legion immediately shuts the fuck up. - You would have got me earlier, why now? - The body hits the ground and the head start to slowly

shrink back to their original size as the boon very slowly begins to drain out of them like water from a balloon. Top of the round, let's get back into the action. Meanwhile, we're in a room that's literally on fire. Killing football who are you? All is on point! I am once again just... I was born 30 miles from you!

I'm just gonna shoot through Tyshon's legs again at number one. 26 for the first hit. Natural 20. It becomes a 15. What's their AC? 16. Okay. And who are you attacking? Number one. Okay. Number eight. All. All.

10 points of damage. 10 points of damage. You make your attack, and you continue to, I think, maintain concentration on the bees walls. You've been doing this the whole time? I'd forgotten if it was concentration. Yeah, it's concentration. I rolled for all of them, but I didn't get hit last round, so. Very good. End of your turn. Scrim.

Uh, I have no more spells. Uh, I will, uh, in one quick motion, HAHA! Uh, loose the brutal blade in a swirl of smoke, it will pop into my hand, and I will make, uh, two attacks at number seven, but at disadvantage. Very good. I pass my turn. *Gasp* *Gasp* Tai Chen! Um... *Gasp* Ah, fuck! Where are you?! We're fucked. We might all die. Seeing that the Walls of Bees is still up, and that's heavily obscuring us,

The only thing the Wall of Fire is currently doing is burning your nerf gun. I will drop Concentration on the Wall of Fire, dispersing it. I will then, I will once again Twin Spell

Let's fucking go. I will twin spell and say to Scrim and Queenie, "Accept the gift of the dragon!" And cast Dragon's Breath. I will! At a fourth level, which will give you the ability to breathe dragon fire, which as a... I have to then concentrate on that. Oh, let me do this thing first.

Give me two, give me two points just in case. I got you fam. Mace, you're leveling up. This is badass. Or no. What would you say, is that a nine or a six? I actually don't know. Check the opposite side of the die. The opposite side is a 12? It'll be somewhere. It should add up to 21. Oh, it's a nine. It's a nine. So the base is right here and the point is the top.

Okay. So you can see on the 14. Okay, okay. We're good. It's all good. That's like a 17. You're good. Oh gosh, okay. I can cast the spell. And let me make sure I have the sorcery points for this so I don't cheat. Nose said exactly what I was thinking. He feeds him the spicy curry from Super Smash Brothers Brawl. The JPEG that drops off the plate of Japanese curry. It's like 20 pixels. They drink the fire blossom tea. That's it? That's what it is? And...

Twin spelling out you both Gained the breath of dragon fire fourth level. That's which means that you can Yeah, what's the? It's fire fire breath a 15-foot cone creature in that area has to make a deck saving throw taking

3d6 on a failed save or half as much on a successful one when you cast it as a spell 3rd level or higher the damage increases by 1d6 for each slot so it would be 5d6. 5d6 and a cone. What is the dex, how is the dex check determined? Is it based on our spellcast DC or his? With Dex it's mine. Uh, yours. It should be dex 17. Beautiful. And that is my turn. It should be the same either way. Well done. Thank you, that's an action. You're near.

That is an action. Yeah, so it's a bonus action for me to cast it. It's an action for you to use it. I think. This always confuses me, but... We'll do... Do another d20. That's not... We'll do beak talons. Beak talons both hit for me. Beak talons again for all others. They all hit.

Um, so the, uh... Talons. Heels. Males. Heels. Talons. Something, something. Feathers. Beak, Talon, Feathers, Ka. We'll roll both beaks. I can say Ka. Oh no. Five, six, twelve points of piercing damage for the beaks. This is all five. Oh, sorry. That was, um, that was for five. Yep.

And then I'm swooping down to attack seven, who's like right next to me and sort of on the border of the wall. Okay. And then five, seven, eight, nine, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21 points of damage to number seven. Killing him instantly. Damn. What was the other one that I killed? Three. Thank you. That's my turn.

They are all going to go in very quickly. Two and eight are going to take 11 points. I promised to kill eight, and thank you for letting me know regarding number two. Okay. So eight's dead? Yep. Okay. Can you move eight off? Can you pull eight off? Yep. All right, thanks.

Wow, okay. Let's go with ranged attack against Yornear at disadvantage. That surprisingly hits. That's going to be 13 points of piercing damage. A ranged attack against Tyshanna at disadvantage. You will see it hit me as I flash with blue light and I fall to the ground. Oof. 10 feet. Don't crash me, don't crash me, don't crash me, don't crash me! If that matters.

Five or ten feet. Oh, did five die? The one that Yornir was? No, five is still alive. Tyshan, 19 to hit. I will cast Shield, and an explosion of flame that once again is golden and coalesces in kind of like an enveloping dual wings of a dragon come around me. You'll see my AC mechanic. One, three, two, 20...

Three. Nice! Boom! The javelin that would hit you, this burst of sudden kinetic fire just barely misses and hot iron barely sinks into you as you dodge. Then that's going to be a disadvantage attack on Queenie, disadvantage attack on Daishen, and disadvantage attack on Scrim.

15? No. Not even close, baby. Disadvantage on Queenie... Man, disadvantage sucks. This is a giant reason. A natural one and a 20, that's hilarious. Number five is going to take two multi-attack against the Raven. That's going to be a bajillion to hit, and that's going to be... Oh, yes, they both hit, so that's going to be 12 points of bludgeoning damage, and then...

13 blood damage, and he's just smashing into this thing with mace like a baseball bat. And that's the conclusion of the monster's turn. How much damage did it take? 12 for the first attack, and then 13 for the next one, wasn't it? My raven took damage too, right? All of that was the raven. It explodes into, not blood and viscera, into a flurry of snow. We just drove it! But not before turning into some sort of a ray gun. Ha ha ha!

- Oh, I love him. He's very Wallace and Gromit. - Is your fire breath considered, if I use it, it's a spell or is it because you already cast the spell? - Now that you have it as an ability, I will not make a concentration check to use that. Queenie, you're up. - It's gone, Tira. - I'm gonna turn towards number two and I'm gonna let loose the fire of hells. - I'm dragging hells.

You do so. Number two. Does he have to make a dexterity? Dexterity, 17. 12. It's 5d6. Oh, it's 5d6. I think you just fry them all. 14 points of fire damage. Okay, that kills number two. Go ahead. Take him off the playing field. And I have two attacks per action. Does that count as only one attack?

Is using the fire an action or read the spell? Oh, yeah, it's probably not an attack. It's a bonus action. The spell's a bonus action, but I think you might be right that I know that one's a bonus action and one's an action. Okay. So the spell is a creature, the creature can use an action to exhale energy of the chosen type in a 15-foot cup. So it's an action for the creature. Sorry, I led you astray. That's okay.

That's my turn. Scrimblow. If I attempt-- don't call me Scrimblow. That's a lot of words. If I attempt to walk through the bees, will I be grappled? If you fail your dex saving throw. It's just a straight up dex saving throw? It's not like athletics or acrobatics? No, but you will immediately take 66 piercing damage. 60? I can withstand that. My problem is my dex saving throw's not very good. Jesus. It's against DC 17. Yeah, that's a problem.

I mean, if I can squeeze around Yorneir, I can blast up her nine, but that's about it. You can blast through his legs. I would say also, you can't end your turn in another creature's space, right? You could difficult terrain, get underneath Yorneir's

crotch area yeah do a little fire blow and then and then back out all right i'm just gonna go i'm just gonna hit nine uh deck saving team 17 on nine you probably hit it's a cone it takes time to flare out um 16 amazing they have terrible banks five these are fantastic five v6 oh okay not great

That's 12 plus 5, so 19 total points of fire damage and then I'll basically slip back to where my spot is. To number 9? Yeah, to number 9. Thank you. That's my turn. I should. I will house...

Invites you to like a quick landscape at home. I mean, I guess just these guys are gross. They're all like heavily obscured. Yeah, everyone's heavily obscured. Just randomly fired. Yeah, I just randomly fired. Everyone's looking pretty rough is what I will say. Exactly. They're no wrong answers. Yeah. They're no wrong answers. All right.

I will cast Scorching Ray at a third level and once again flare out with these balls of fire erupting from my moves. I move forwardly and kind of like spin my legs in almost an axe motion as these cartwheels of flame will lick off and... Well, that ass. That's how you do it.

That's a work-all. 16, 16, 16. Okay, now all that happens. And I will roll for each one at a third level. It is, I believe, four hits. Yep, four hits. So I'll do two on nine, two on one. And it's disadvantage. Is that what we said? Yeah, you're making me a race attack. I am absolutely not. You're good, bro. So the first one will hit nine.

- Second one on hit nine. - Rolling like hot fire. Keep it up. Oh, come on! - Third one on hit one. - Can you do it? All four? At this advantage? - Oh!

- That counts. - It was still rolling. - That counts. - You bang the table. - That counts. - Intimidate the dice. - It's just to intimidate the dice. - I was like fuck! - What is it? Not Yahtzee. - I was gonna say Tumble. - Tumble, Tumble, Tumble. - Yeah, please. I don't need it. - That's still pretty insane. Three out of four there. - Should it be two?

Two for each, and this will be on nine. Pretty good. Seven, eight, thirteen, plus five is... Eighteen on number nine. Eighteen on number nine is gone. He's dead. You killed him. You've murdered a man, Taishan. I'm gonna look at spells. I don't know what I'm gonna do.

And the number one will take 11 points of fire damage. Also killing him terribly. Which one, number one? He's almost like sickles of flame. Yeah, number one and number-- And just bake him, just fucking cut him in half. Which one's the one you just killed? Nine, yeah. Nine and one? Nine and one. All right, see you now. Yorn here, your turn. Oh boy. Are you Yorn to be wild?

That was cute. It's okay. I like that a lot. So, like, realistically, I don't have any clue what's going on over here. No. How long do these bees last? Ten minutes. Yeah, I think it's ten minutes. Until I drop them. I would have been dead by now if it hadn't been for the bees. No, I mean, they're good bees. Good bees, this. What can I say? They're very good bees. You just pushed through the bees. That's what I was going to do. They do, like, a fuck ton of damage. They do. They do, like, eight million damage. But...

If I do freedom of movement, do I become immune? Can you just turn into a bee? Probably to the grapple, but not to the damage. Can you just teleport? Turn into a bee and then just be like, bees don't sing, man. I'm a bee. I can't teleport. It's an eladrin thing. I am going to... You will...

I'm gonna do. I'm going to, I'm holding my staff, but I'm gonna do this and a snow will start to flurry in my hand and they will turn into, it will turn into a snowball. And I'm just like, "Oh, oh!" I'm just gonna chuck a snowball. Just blind lane and see my hand on that guy. Oh my god! That's pretty damn good. That definitely hits. Yeah, that definitely hits. Yeah, that hits.

That's fucking amazing. I chuck a snowball at this guy. Which guy? And cast Hail. Yeah, I love Hail. I don't know, you pick. You can make it random, yeah? I mean, it's just like, you know, he's just like... I'll roll a d4. I'll roll a d4. I'll get a camera update on one of those. You hit four. Hit four. It does 1d8 bludgeoning damage. It needs to make a constitution saving throw. Yep.

Uh, fuckin' 20 plus. It passes. So I do six damage. You do great. What the fuck? And then he gets hit by a snowball. Um, that's it.

Weird, I can definitely math. Okay. They're going to, there's no longer a wall of fire, they're staring at a tornado of bees. I'm sorry, they're actually wriggling human arms. We are now fishing a bear on the ground. They're just small arms that look like bees. Exactly right. And they've still got a shitload of javelins behind them, and out of frustration, they're just, assuming that you were inside of this massive thing, they're just gonna start chucking.

You're near behind us is like a porcupine Yeah Scrim 17 to hit son of a gun you met I got you you got me really 17 bar Oh very nice, and I can't catch a nice AC. Oh, that's gonna be 15 points of piercing damage to you That's good Is this a new round mm-hmm?

Well, no, it's the end of the round. Yeah, you had your turn and then this, but like, we've done two of these since we came back here. I cast Shield the last time. When they attack, so you haven't gotten your reaction back yet. Oh, I haven't gotten it back yet? No, because they went.

They went and that's the end of the round. We went and then he came-- Yeah, but you'll be in reaction until you go again. But he did. So-- I think he would have had his reaction back. He did. He has his reaction back. He had a whole turn again. Because they-- He went. They would have gone. They went and then he cast Shield. Then I went, Scrim went, he went. And then we did all of this and now we're back again. Oh yeah.

Oh, it's Maul? I thought it was Scrim's turn. No, I'm getting panels. You're fine. Yeah, sorry. I just became the Golden Dragon. I say something like Bathing in the Golden Dragonfire, and I, the Golden Flames were encircle Scrim. What do you mean? And he will enjoy a improvement on AC of +4. That's enough.

That is enough. I take back my 15 damage. That's all right, my hit points. Get back in there. A dirty 20 to hit you. Oh, that misses. My AC is 47. Life can be really hard sometimes. 13 points of piercing damage to you as another javelin flies in, hitting you, and then falling to the ground around you. That's the conclusion of their turn. Queenie, top of the round, you're up. I am going to...

Look towards four and I'm gonna fire an arrow at four. That's gonna be, yeah, 29 to hit. You hit. Putting the range in range. Eight points of damage to number four. Okay. And then I'm gonna attempt to hit him again. Okay. And I miss. Okay. Scrimbo. Scrimbo.

Sorry, I meant- No, it's fine. Call me scrimbo, scrimblo. Scrimbo, scrimblo. Okay, it's your turn, scrimble-ima-ding-dong. That's a good one too. I'm gonna attempt to just make Eldritch Blast attacks at this advantage, I guess. Okay. And you can also randomly choose the target if I manage to hit. Son of a gun.

Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. Disadvantages are so pivotal. We could have twisted these. No. 16 hits? Yeah, that's good. Who were you fighting at? I fire in this direction, so if you want to randomly say who it hits, that's fine. You hit number five. Fuck. No good. 1d10. Two. Plus five. Nope, just two. Two voices!

He has three health. Wow. Oh my god. This is fucking brutal. Taishen. You got me.

You won't keep us from our friend any longer! It's time to end this! Uh, and one more time, I will lob out a massive blast of flame as it strikes centrally. The wall of fire will once again cut straight across, uh, directly in front of them at now a fifth level. Roast them.

Dealing fuck all. How much damage? What is the damage range? Give me five. Just a minute, give me the damage range, like minimum, general, like average, like what are we rolling here? It's 6d8 when it begins, and then if they attempt to move through it, if they end their turn behind it, it would be doubled up. So on average it's 27 damage. Okay, and they have to make a dexterity saving throw or it's half? And he's gotta pass the con check.

I got to pass the con check first and foremost. Use fire. Use fire. But I do want to make a point. You put the fire out and you haven't even passed the con check? That's very optimistic. I do want to make a point, though. Give me five, give me five. I'm already rolled. I think it's really amazing that you learned how to play sorcerer after that awesome episode. Listen, I would like to go out on record and say I have spent every sorcery point that I have.

I've activated the Avatar state. There you go. I really can feel the power. It's obvious. Okay, so this happens for sure, I think. They all have to roll when the wall appears, each creature makes a dex saving throw.

You rolled a disadvantage. We're rolling a disadvantage on this, right? Nothing. Oh, I thought we were-- Didn't you roll twice? Ten fails. I always roll a disadvantage to attack outward. Six fails. Five fails. Four succeeds. Four's about to get fucking caught. But four's the one who's gotten the least hurt of all of this. He's the only person who has any chance of surviving this, depending on what you roll. Oh yeah, this is good.

Is it more than 30 damage? No, it's not. But it could be. Hang on. There's something I can do. There's something I can do. He says, wait, wait, wait. Sorcery, sorcery. Trying to convert back into points. You can roll a powered spell. I can, but I have to convert a spell slot

Yeah. Does that take a- There's a bonus action. You're good. I can use a sorcery- I can- You can use your sorcery points to gain additional spell slots, or sacrifice spell slots to gain additional- Holy shit, he learned how to play New Year's Eve. Okay, okay everybody! We're fucking- Oh, wow! Now Mace is dangerous. I sacrifice two- First you learn how to read, then you learn how to read. Okay, okay, okay.

Holy f*ck! Okay, okay, okay. It's still enough to empower your spell. Okay. I have to- well, so it's one- alright, that gives me two sorcery points back. Yep. And I'm gonna immediately spend them on empowering the spell, and I'm gonna sacrifice two of them to re-roll the damage die. So take your back. Mace, I'm so proud of you. Yeah, this is- Hang on. If we could just one-shot them, that'd be great. Yeah, that'd be great. I've mastered the elements a thousand times in a thousand lifetimes, and I will do it again. Better! Okay. Nine...

16 19 22 I almost added this 22 27 points of fire damage. 5d8. How do you want to do this? Heyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy

He takes three damage from convection. No, no, no. He steps on a beak. Ow! And it falls into the fire. Ty Shen is mad. We've been separated from Barnabas, our friend, who in my perspective is up fighting for his life, fighting for the freedom of all of the ogres, doing everything he can in a brutal one-on-one battle, uh,

to really set the tone for what the rest of our lives are gonna look like in this space. And we're being cut off by these absolute fucks. Not on my watch. And I will expo- like, I'll take an absolutely deep breath and you'll see my chest and my stomach almost, like, engorge.

And then I will just explode out a massive blast of flame as it arches through the air and just as it strikes the ground, the ground explodes. Flames just lick out all towards the enemies, just envelop up them and it crawls up them and just scorches them to death. When it lands, it swims out like a wave. And for a brief moment, the Goliaths realize the...

- This wall of fire has gotten closer. They hear your roar and they instinctually back up, up, but the wall is behind them. They push into metal and stone, but they cannot escape the heat of the flames and this wall of fire ends their screams quickly. - Holy crap!

The sound of booms and crashes above you, like a war drum, has also ceased. All you can see in front of you is the surprisingly silent flickering curtains of fire that Taishan has summoned. You're all hurting, breathing heavily, and you know that a good amount of time has passed.

You have no idea what has been happening above or with your friend Barnabas, but you have managed to hang on to your buried lives. You have grown familiar and accustomed to this feeling with your allies at your side. You look around and the chaos of battle is strewn all about you. And looking into each other's eyes, you can see that, like yourselves,

There are injuries, wounds, sweat, some teary eyes from the adrenaline of combat, but everyone seems to still be whole to themselves and alive. The four of you breathing heavily are, find yourself in the quiet of this space underneath the combat arena. What do you do? We need to get back up.

I don't hear anything. It was unbelievable amounts of noise and crashing and now there's nothing! We are wounded, and there may be more. They have turned on us. They could betray Barnabas as they did us. Scrooge, can you unlock the door?

Yeah, yeah, I'll try and I'll run up to the gate that they locked. Is it a normal door? Is it a large gate? Does it have a lock? It's a large door and it does not seem to be locked. As soon as you pull it, it swings wide open. I'll try. I'll try.

And then he goes, and I swing at the door. It was unlocked! Scream, great work, let's go! I put too much into it. There's no time! Leave him!

You're on your steps over the-- I die! I roll over the Pugilist. This is the big one, this is it! I can't jump! The four of you race back, retracing your steps up a few flight of stairs, left, right, left, right, and then eventually you find yourself walking through the archway of the door that leads into the tunnel towards the gate.

You race up to the gate and you can see through the crossed beams of this massive, massive portal that the scene that lies before you.

Barnabas, you have begun to diminish. As immediately after the combat, which only took a few minutes really, the boon, the colossus's embrace has begun to fade just as it did much more quickly for your defeated foe. And what are you doing when they finally are able to peer through the beams and stare out into the arena?

I will pull myself off this plate before I strike. As you shrink, it just slowly splits. There's too much blood. There's too much blood. You can't get off of it. It's just living.

Holy shit You're able to get away from the spikes towards the center of the arena I look for the princess of wrath if I can see her in her on her terrace

You can see and hear her. She is standing at the front of the balcony of the space that is her viewing box, and she is clapping. I will look at her as my hands will turn back to normal as my rage drops and my transformation drops. And I will look up at her and says, "It's done then! "We have our freedom and the freedom of the ogres!"

Spread the word! Korovac died, Barnabas and his companions are under the protection of the princess. Tomorrow, tomorrow evening, they will be initiated and Argent Home, our home, will be the same home as theirs. A new tribe of Drakkar.

Does the crowd react? The Goliaths are not cheering. They're not clapping. They are looking down at their defeated chief, and there's quite a bit of whispering commotion going on as they are looking back and forth, trying to gauge what comes next for the Stormfist Legion. The...

Princess turns and with a few gestures, you can't hear the words, but you imagine what she is saying as she's conveying, spreading the word. Flight, a winged flight from the kobolds at her side immediately take off and they start flying up through the holes in the ceiling of this domed building.

Hippodrome and out into the city, presumably to share the news. And I'll look around for my friends. You look, and it's at this point that one of them has engaged the gate, and you can see the same gate that you had come through is lifting up, and you can see very plainly the four of your friends have not just been watching from that tunnel through that portal. No, we're covered in blood.

Blood and honey. Blood and honey. Sponsored by the horror film Blood and Honey. Oh my god. We have to name this episode Icebound Blood and Honey. That's really fucking good. I'll look and I'm horribly wounded. I am dinged up, gashes, completely crushed. As I will look and I will say, what did you do to them?

The princess leans over the balcony and looks. She takes one step and another and stands right there on the edge of the railing before jumping what should be a 50-foot drop from her vantage point before she even

Drops five, however. She warps and twists and in a shimmering shower of ice, she assumes her dragon form, glides down to the battle arena, and again drops the form just in time to land into the arena, onto the hard pack, and... And races forward. She yells out, "Vornar!"

And she turns and you look and in the crowd you can see a younger Goliath, but very, very evidently the brother or at least some relation to Korovac. And he is racing forward. Yes, my princess. She just points and gestures towards the four of you. I'm more betrayed. Your brother? Yes, as you say, princess, as you say.

She jumps and again in the same twisting motion she ascends the 50 feet at an angle and immediately reaches him at the bottom of the tiered stairs. And you watch as her huge white dragon talon wraps around him before shrinking back into its human hand and pulling him up.

This is very evidently a relation, a sibling of Korovac. He is similarly well-built. And even in her human form, he is...

Holding against her, she is completely still and it was deception. He dishonored himself. It was not the Legion. We knew none of that. And he starts to turn blue right around here. Let us hope that you show more wisdom than your brother. You aren't the new chief of the Stormfist Legion and I would hate to see you end up like him.

And she drops him. They are under my protection. Hear that? They are under my protection. The princess of wrath's word is law. You have earned, and she turns to the five of you, your place. You've earned the guardianship of the ogres. And you've earned a home. Welcome. I'll nod deeply. Were you strong enough after all that? After what you did to our captain?

after what you made me do to him. Are you not entertained? Korovac was one of the better fighters I had seen in centuries. I would say that you are strong enough to join me. With our own banner, our own land, our own place at your side. What about those ogres who would wish to leave? Who would wish to have their own freedom? Find their own fate, their own fortune, their own destiny outside of Ardronolm? It isn't safe.

Drakkar is under a terrible threat. Perhaps we can talk more of freedom when we are no longer at war. And talk more. I would hear of your journey here. I am sure we have much to discuss. We do. Rest. My ivory clutch will be back shortly to show you to your new homes so that you can heal and prepare for your naming ceremony. I will think of a good name. You do that.

And I best consider the freedom, war or not, before you ask us to kneel. Princess. I need you all to make a perception check. Ooh! I definitely fail, but I will look. That was a 1. 22. 9. 24. 9. In bros. It's wisdom. Come on. Yeah, I know, but like, we're in bros. We still got the game. I'll wallet. A 14?

14 as well. Not bad! 24. Yorner? Nine. I'm at the worst. You are all focused on the princess. Taishen and Scrim, as you are looking in the periphery, your upper periphery, you get a moment where you look up and you see the flicker of a shadow. A white kobold perhaps passing through the rafters.

There's no more movement, but you're momentarily distracted. And when your eyes are back down, the Princess of Wrath has turned and has started to make her way up the stairs towards one of the exits. I'm going to finish my sleep. Thank you for the entertaining evening. I look forward to our assembly tomorrow. Most of the city will be there. Don't miss it.

and she walks, eventually fading, not fading, but out of view from your vantage point, presumably to go outside and transform to a place where she would be able to return to the Biting Bastion, the castle, the keep. Oh my god, Barnabas, I'm so glad to see you. You look like hell. Speak for yourself. You look terrible. Yeah, well, we got jumped. Ten of them. Those bastards, they lured us into a room and they jumped us. Well...

Does she have any like assistants or like, you know, vassals or servants or anything running around that I could turn to to be like...

Where are we staying? Oh, you can see that from the reception box, yeah, from the reception area, there are white kobolds without wings who have made their way down and around the stairs, and then eventually you can see them open up another gate on one of the other cardinal directions of this arena that you find yourself standing in. The goliaths are following...

Vornar's orders, and they are clearing out from the arena, effectively leaving you with a handful of these white kobolds, and they run up to you. We are to show you the district that you can make your home. Yes. It is empty now. Many of our brothers and sisters, they are stationed at where we found the ogres.

Please, lead the way. We could certainly clean up. It is on the other side of the city, directly south, between the Deep Delve and the Cursed Glade. Then we must gather the rest of our kin. Aye. Word is spreading. These ogres and the others that are spread across the city, I understand, are already starting to also be guided by...

Frost Hammers, like us. This is good news. But let's not delay. We are wounded and tired. I'd like to... Is Vornar... Does he come down? Vornar, once released, turned to establish his new authority with the Goliaths. The body has been left unceremoniously in the center of the arena, and...

The crowd of Goliaths have effectively cleared out. You do not see Vor-nar. Vor-nar. The cursed glade. That's the one the soup pervert told me about.

Nimrodel. Oh, of course, Nimrodel. Yes. Nimrodel told you that his people, the Shadowvale Kabal, they called that their home for the most part. Yep. So it seems that wherever you're being put, an adjacent area to the elves. Perfect. But you've not heard the district name the Deep Delves yet. Yeah. All right.

I went out of the suit for her. And I would say that you return the items that Barnabas no longer had on his person in order to engage in unarmed combat. You have to go back to get the anchor leaning on the interior of the portal, but you're led that way. And these white kobolds start to

transport you, convey you out of the Hippodrome through the streets of the Giant's Step and to a common street, one that'll allow you to make this wide range around the donut that is Argent Home

over the course of the next hour or so you start to you would reach your destination, but as you are reaching in and pulling out the items that you have Queenie of Barnabas and You reach into your pocket to pull out the pipe you recognize suddenly something that is in your pocket that wasn't there before a small piece of parchment oh the hail

And you start to walk your way down the beaten cobblestone path as you make your way outside. So I just notice this is in my pocket. Yep. I will, I'm reaching for the pipe, I give you the pipe, and then I go back in my pocket, I'm like, wait a minute, what? What?!

- What's wrong, Mr. Zapposcoach? - How many people around us that are not us? - I would say that there's eight or nine white kobolds that are supposed to be your escort. But they're scattered around. They mostly are just waiting for you. Almost sort of like we're guiding the way, but if you stop, we'll stop. - Ow, ow, ow! Twisted my ankle, give me a moment.

Your daddy help me again again. It's probably from the door again. Yeah. Oh Oh weird. It's better now. All right, we can continue Come on everybody no, it's fine. You know old injury. Well very just put it into my

into my clothes and continue. You find a home fort in your cloaks or in your garments and you begin to walk.

You are tired. You had a day of rest during daylight, and that was what nourished you, restored your abilities, your innate magic returned. But just one encounter with these fierce goliaths, as tricksy as it might have been, has you reeling again and ready to hit whatever bed you may be led back, led to.

Do you discuss anything as you continue to make your way through the Night City? I would kind of, you know, in a weird, like, you guys know that Scrim is weird, right? He's a little weird. But even still, you notice that Scrim is kind of acting a little like a little extra anime. Ah, yep. Well, as soon as we get back to where there's a comfy bed, I could just pass.

pass out, but I really, really am gonna, I gotta go for a walk. I gotta get some fresh air. It's been a crazy day. I mean, look at us. We look brutal. Ah, I just wanna see the bed. I wanna know where it is. I don't wanna get lost. And then I'm gonna go for a walk. Just a walk. I gotta clear my head. I gotta do it soon or I might lose my mind.

Mr. Stab has gone, who the fuck are you talking about? I'm just going to go for a walk. A walk is good to clear the senses, but after the day we've had. I hope you enjoy your walk. You'll come back and tell us all about it, yeah? I'm not going to make you. I'm not going to make you walk with me. But I think we should do it.

Wait, I'm sorry. You asking me to come with you or cash in? All of us. Especially you. Especially you. May we get in private, please, and to our quarters, because we need to rest. But I just want to see them. I just want to see them, and I want to go for a walk. You want to just look at the beds and then go for a walk? Just confirm that the beds are there and go for a walk. We are going to rest. Thank you. I am not in the mood to walk.

Mr. Stabitscott? I mean, if you really want someone to protect you while you're walking, I'll come with you. That's what it is. That's what it is. And Barnabas, I really think they're going to want to go for a walk. I mean, considering the fact, I mean, to be fair, Scrim doesn't have a point. We thought we were getting escorted up to see the princess and we were jumped by ten Goliaths. So I don't necessarily think until we have that...

that, um, meeting thing or whatever, the initiation, that we're really safe here. So if Scrim needs us to accompany him, it's not really gonna kill us to go on a walk. We almost died. The sky will be bluer, the snow will be colder and brighter! Scrim, restrain yourself.

Can we take a bath first? I'm covered in blood. Why would you want to take a bath before the walk? We're probably gonna get all sweaty. I'm covered in blood and the ashes of our enemies. You know how he is on a walk. He starts running around shaking his butt saying, "You're not gonna catch me!" And then one of us has to chase him. And then we all get sweaty chasing Scream through the streets before we finally catch him and drag him back to the room. That is true.

As you're having this conversation, you're passing back through the marketplace. It's a more direct route than what you had to take as you were sneaking in the city. But you recognize some of the milestones. And passing through, you eventually reach what you can only assume is the edge of the District of the Deep Delve. Unlike the...

quarters of the Goliath district where they had very much refashioned the architecture to meet their own aesthetic desires. These buildings look largely unchanged. They are very much of the make, that sort of elegant strength that you've come to

associate with the silver dragonborn that came before, the ones who originally built this place. And the windows are all dark. It seems almost lifeless. And you pass this area guided by your kobolds, and eventually they...

reach a street indicating that this is your street. This is the street where the ogres are being led. And you can even see some are being guided into various buildings and homes.

Presumably, this was originally the home of more Frosthammers like themselves. But with that population now having moved to where Ogerton was, it's an empty street, empty buildings. And they've been made yours by the word of the Princess of Wrath in addition to her protection. You choose a building and you find yourselves inside your own home.

a beautiful space with that same shared architecture. The hearth is already going. It seems that the welcome mat is being rolled out for you. As soon as I take a step in, I look around, this is great! And I try to turn around and leave. You turn around and you can see two Frosthammers are standing there with their spears. Can we help you? Yes, by getting out of the way. Scream, it is time to go. For a walk.

It is time to go to bed. Hey, calm down. We've had a long day. Hey, you. Little frost hammer guys. Can we go on a walk? We've had a long day. We're beaten up by your people. We will protect you. Oh no, we gotta. You saw what he did to that big old glass guy, didn't you? You don't want that to be you next, right? We have been asked to make sure that you are safe. Oh yeah, definitely. We will keep you in sight. You walk ahead.

Scrim, untrace. We are turning in for the night. Thank you. I hate to admit it. Good day. It will be a long night. We will watch. Damn. I didn't think they were going to stuck to us like glue. What's going on? Where did you get this? Give me it. Give me it. Give me it. Give me it. You may read it.

But you may read it! You may read it, and I'll turn it to you. It's MY note! You gave it to me. What? At least you can read it too! I will explain. I'm the owner of the note! What does it say? If you give it back... I'll give it back! No! Spit it out! Spit it out! Drop it, drop it, drop it! It says, "About an hour southwest in the mountains, they say..."

I knew she was still alive. - But how did I get my pocket? It was in my pocket! Holy crap! - Is this some sort of trick? - I don't know, maybe. - I'm gonna tell you a secret. Us rangers can communicate with small beasts, Grim. See any rats scuttering about? Maybe a bird or something? - No! - Were you looking? - No! - All right then.

It might not be as scary as you think. I'm just astounded. I'm so happy that she's alive. All we have is this note. Is it her signature? Can you tell? I mean, it certainly looks like something Daisy... Actually, have we ever seen her write before? Sending letters? Didn't they send written messages? Yeah, from the vassal setting. Would we have seen any of those messages to be able to compare their handwriting? Hmm. Um...

I don't know if you've seen Daisy's handwriting. I don't think so. But we didn't account for every minute and second of all of the things. I would say that it would be nearly impossible, but if you wanted to make an intelligence check or some relevant intelligence check to make a deduction, then I would allow the rule. Intros. Oh yeah, this is her writing. I'm sure of it.

It's alright. She's alive. She wrote that. And somehow she magically put it in my pocket. Well, you would know you were the one who's the most close to her. How would she get this into your pocket? I literally just explained it. Little rats, creatures. I am... I could slip any of you guys a note with my bees. Daisy and I aren't that much different.

I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like,

It's not about him. Let me ask you a series of questions. Oh, me? Any of you. Oh, all right. Did we announce our intentions to meet or reunite with a human named Daisy? Did we announce to who? Yes, we did. Did you have this note in your pocket when we did this thing?

I don't... I don't know. I was retrieving the pipe for Barnabus and it was in that pocket. I think I would have known if the belt was in there when I put the pipe in my pocket. If you're talking about all the hours ago before the fight, I don't think so. And after we announced our intentions to reunite with the human named Daisy, this note appears in your pocket. It may be.

I suggest we get some sleep. - Well, I mean, we could always send out a small group of us to check. We don't need the big guy to come with us. We don't even need you to come with us if you wanna stay here and protect him. It could be a covert ops mission, the int bros and me. - What if it's a trap? - We don't have to get so close.

We can get close enough, see if we spot her. If we can't spot her, and believe me, if she's there, we'll spot her. We just come back. We need to be careful. I know. We thought we were safe, and we were attacked by almost a dozen Goliaths. And barely survived. We were betrayed at the drop of a hat. I know, and I said in that barn, I didn't trust any of you. We need to survive.

I know, but I also want to protect Daisy. So do I. Then let me go. Well, you mentioned that she could use critters to get a message here. Scrim is a master of the arts of tomfoolery. Slide of hand. Slide of hand. And I wave my hand, and from between my fingers, like 10 gold coins appear, and then they disappear. I don't know.

Tell you what Aang does, the air whistle thing. I don't know how someone could have slipped it on to him without him knowing, but...

If you believe that she could get a message to us in that format, do you think that you could do the reverse? Instead of us potentially walking into a trap, you could send a message. I didn't take that spell because I was informed I had to take Wall of Humanoid Hands. Your options for Wall of Humanoid Hands are send Critter Message?

What the hell? Ranges every time. Ranges every time. And so as much as I wish I could, and I can technically, but unfortunately on this day I cannot. But in the morning you could wake up perhaps. No, because I ain't a warlock. Manny. Oh, you're all right. You're cool. Come in. Come in. He ducks in through the door. And then I poke my head out and I look at the coals and I'm like,

BANG! I slam the door. I'll have it. We were just going to bed. I agree, Queenie. I hope more than anything that she's alive and that this is a genuine note. But we are wounded. Especially Barnabas. I'm fine. It's just a bit of a... It's only gotten paler twice. From the back all the way through. Run through. Taishen's draconic font is depleted.

We are weak. Let us sleep, and then we can hopefully reconnect with her in the morning. You help ogres! And you, suddenly this massive bear hug picks you up, Yorneir, and again goes into you, Scrim. Manny has clearly come here to thank you, and when he is done with his hugs,

He says, "Thank you," and he turns around and starts to make his way back out. Make sure that the ogres settle in the buildings and that they are safe. Manny, sleep in bed tonight. Before you go to sleep, yes. Just make sure your people are well. I will. You can walk about the city as you'd like. If you want to get your own meal, your drinks, or explore, you don't have to stay in any here.

No more pens. No more pens. Tomorrow, we train to fight. Yes, good. Aye. We have a lot of work to do. I forgot you were all a bunch of librarians and priests and stuff. Oh, no. Library. Oh, that's concerning. I'm the equivalent of Sundays. Oh.

Are there enough bedrooms for each of us to have one? Yeah, for some reason I'm picturing a townhouse. This is a very nice two-floor area. There's no basement or anything like that, but there's a kitchen. And you've clearly been put up in one of the much nicer rooms.

Villas, for lack of a better word. This is not as luxurious as the faux luxury of Ilgerton, but it has a very quaint charm and is spacious enough especially for just the five of you. This would have been a family home for a wealthy silver dragonborn some centuries ago. Good night. And Manny goes to find whatever home makes sense to him at that time. The door shuts behind him.

I want to find her as much as anybody else does. But she's made it this far, for this long. A few more hours overnight shouldn't make a difference. Unless she leaves. Diamond is marked. Well, I don't think we can afford to let a night pass when we've told her and the princess has sent her clutch on Wayne to find her.

to keep an eye out for her. Well, you're certainly not going anywhere. Well... You take one more step, you're gonna bleed out. I'm not stealthy either. I don't need much. I could take Scrim, I could go by myself. If this letter is genuine, then she is not far and she is well. She's not going to leave the second she finds us. And she's not going to die overnight. You don't know that. You don't know who could find her, what could happen. And if we are wrong...

or if we are found, then we all die. - Then let me go by myself. I'm not asking to get you in danger. I'm not asking to get Scrim in danger. I'm asking to go find my friend, to not risk one more night of something happening to her, not after what happened to her sister. - Do we know how easy it is to get out of the city, period? - That's a good question.

No. You are familiar with only the walls of the Giant Step District, but you entered through the tunnels through the mountain into the marketplace, and you have no idea what the perimeter of a city like this might look like. Is it cliffs of ice? Is it totally open where the...

City limits simply diminishes in settlements and structures until you can walk out into free wilderness. There's only one way to tell, it's to go. I think... Or to ask. Small folk, you're near if you can turn into one of your beasts. The three of you won't be detected. Taishan, I don't know how stealthy you are, and also being a golden dragonborn, it might be too much of a risk. I wouldn't want to leave you anywhere, Barnabas. I could give you some tea.

I only fear that tonight we're under heavy watch. If you go, even if it is genuine and she is there... I can do this on my own. You run just as much a risk of bringing the princess's forces to Daisy. And she's already said that if she finds her, she has no safe bastion except to be claimed into the princess's direct custody.

And that doesn't change whether she's alone in the mountains or with us. But they're watching us. And I'm sure they're looking for her. And she is less than an hour away, according to her note. Unless it means she's an hour southwest of... We're deep in a cavern system. If she's an hour southwest, once you get out in the mountains, she could be very far away. Yonia? Yes? May I please have my note back? Yes.

I started on a pod of tea. Thank you! And I stick it back in my pocket. The night draws on and the questions of how to deal with this new piece of information, the promise that you've made to the Princess of Wrath swirls around in your minds. Everything else that you have on top of that, the weight and burden of what brought you here to Dakar in the first place.

is dizzying, and you sometimes address it head on, other times talk around it, and other times try to avoid the topic entirely over the warming tea of Taishan, but... Sorry, just whenever we have a moment. You look down and you realize you're staring at the leaves at the bottom of the cup, and the night is getting long. May I see the note? May you join me

Me? All of you. We're right here. I would like to see if this note is genuine. So join me in a ritual of the old faith. You enjoy your rest. If you have a way to do that, yeah, absolutely. Let's prove it. I'll take out a bowl, a little bowl, and I will take some kindling and I will put it into the bowl and just maybe a couple twigs that I have on me.

And I will take some flint and tinder and just get a very small fire. I will take some incense out. Can we close our eyes? If any of you have a memory of Daisy, or perhaps something of hers, may you please present it as part of this ritual. I can offer just the memory of the time we met when she struck down the woodland animal we were hunting.

Or Queenie did. It's muddled now, but we greeted her with Scrim's classic greeting from New Friends. As you were speaking these words, you put the two images together. They look very similar, but that was not when you met Daisy. That was when you met Honey. I mean... Honey, I'm sorry! You met her at the entrance to the elven home that eventually burned down.

Knowing that you would have to deliver, not knowing that she was in there for one thing, but also realizing that you'd have to deliver the news of her sister's death. And she was peeking out through the window. I think of that memory only to recall the time we had to tell her that her sister died. Jeez! And that's the memory I offer instead. I'll reach into my herbalism pouch and I'll throw in some herbs and the fire will grow a little bigger. And different incense and sort of fragrances will start to sort of spread through the room.

Anyone else? I don't have anything physical, but the memory that I have is I've learned a lot from all of you, especially Barglus, and the importance of freedom. And that's why I had one of those ogres take one of those chain links and turn it into a loop. I thought it was kind of symbolic of taking the chains and turning it into your own thing, reclaiming it for your own. I gave her that loop and she put it around her neck. And that was a nice moment. She smiled. She looked a little confused at first, but she smiled. And that's a memory that I hold dear.

I'll add some more herbs and the fire will grow bigger. I have the memory of when I gave her her new bow with the string that was fashioned for her, the pieces from her sisters, and how she'll always be able to carry honey with her every day. That's the memory I carry of her. I, after the doom that came to Ogerton and the days that followed, we taught her how to roast a boar, how to season it, how to

Prepare it, carve it. She... She wanted to learn how to be able to prepare a feast for her... kid. She was a natural. I remember when we told her of her sister's death. She did not shut down. She did not crumble away. She did not wither like a... daisy. She wanted to survive. And this is who she is. And I'll take the note. And listen, we're about to pass a night to scrim, but I'll throw it into the fire.

no why and i will whiff into it then i will sit back i will peer into the weird the way i have never done before daisy if you are alive show me i will cast scrying

Super Scribe, because you gotta repeat the shit. She needs to make a... I'm hoping that'll affect the DC. But anyway, she needs to make a Wisdom saving throw. The save modifier is... Wait. The target must make a Wisdom saving throw, which is modified by how well you know the target. If the target knows you're casting the spell, it can fail a saving throw voluntarily if it wants to be observed, but it's not. So her roll is subtracted by five, because I'm familiar with her.

and then minus four because we have a possession or a garment as part of the ritual. - Sorry, you're gonna have to give me this in a minute. I need to find her stat block. - Oh! - Oh. - She needs her actual stat block. - Yeah. So if we're doing like,

magic from the Northmen? Are we gonna take a bunch of drugs, get on all fours, bark and fart on each other? Ooh! Yornir's definitely hallucinating, right? And when he inhaled this smoke, he's sort of communing with the weird. Just because I think

You scry too much and it becomes cheesy, so I want it to be like a more impactful thing that I'm just gonna cast every other day. Man, hold on. But you can. It's on your character sheet! It's my character sheet, guys! It's on your fucking character sheet. Interesting. Okay. Interesting. So she needs to make a wisdom saving throw. Okay. And it's minus nine. And it's minus nine. Now, I don't know if we can, we probably can twist it. Let's talk about scrying.

If you were scrying on anybody, what are they wisely saving against? Like, how does this happen in the world of magic? Basically, at least how I'm viewing it, right, is that the weird, or sort of the lore of the weird is that it's sort of like

this essence, this magic, the force that just connects everything, right? And so Yornir would basically be trying to peer through the weird and try to locate the person that he's seeking. And so I think the idea is that, you know, wherever she would be, just like constitution can happen while you're unconscious, right? It's this sort of inherent...

power of the mind that can stave off this nat- this scrying power, or the power of, you know, Yornir's ability to sort of peer through the weird. So I'm basically trying to break that so that I can find her. Okay. In this sort of natural web. You are... So she would have this feeling of, like, intrusive being watched that she was trying to push out of her mind? Is that what she is...

Like, I'm trying to think about what Daisy is actually endeavoring to do. Like, is this a natural? No, no, no, she's not consciously doing it. Okay. Yeah, it's basically just her, just like when you're unconscious and you make a constitution saving throw, you're not thinking, oh, I'm gonna... What's your DC? My DC? It's like 16, 17, 18? 17. 17. And she has a minus nine? Yeah. Come on. Minus nine. She fails.

I don't have to roll. I open my eyes. She physically cannot pass. And they are both glowing with almost like this purple, or this light blue sort of incense smoke. And mechanically, I create a sensor near her, ten feet away, and I can look through the sensor magically, as long as she's on the same plane of existence as me. She is. And I can watch her for ten minutes. You...

feel an instant transportation almost, as your sight in your eye shifts. What is normally murky, perhaps even blind, suddenly opens up and you can see more clearly through it than you can through your uninjured.

and you don't even have a sensation of flight. It is like pulling back a drape of reality as all of a sudden you are looking at the side of a mountain pass, a path on the side of the mountain. There are trees thin at this altitude, but there are trees of fur and other things

Why do I always forget tree names when I'm trying to do my descriptions? Um, Christmas trees, fuck-- Pine. Pine. Pine. Holy shit, spruce. Uh, you can see these, uh, you recognize the, uh, flora instantly, and you, uh, peer through this, and very quickly you realize that you are following someone who is moving quite quickly.

The sensor has to continue to move forward, and there's this not pleasant moment where your stomach has to lurch just a little bit because you are catching up with somebody who is jogging, moving at a good clip. Yeah, it stays within 10 feet of you. Exactly, exactly. And so as you are following, you see a figure in the night. You see a cloudless, under the cloudless moonlit sky, you are...

looking and following a recognizable shape. The shape of who you can only presume to be Queenie. Daisy. Wow, Daisy. Okay. But...

But... She's gone. Her furs are the same, what you recognize, from the last time you saw her from what you can tell. Perhaps a few... A little bit more banged up, worse for the wear. You recognize the bow that's strewn back behind her back. You recognize a few satchels. But more importantly, you recognize a helm. Almost a... It's a...

head piece of armor and moving even closer in with your sensor, you are trying to get a sense of what this shape is for it looks alien and strange to you. You cannot make out what is the nature of this helmet, for lack of a better word, when the sensor has to stop because the figure stops.

And turning, you realize the figure has stopped to look back at Argentholm. You've been traveling away. You've been traveling southwest to wherever the destination indicated in the note is. And you are, however long or far into this journey, you're not sure, but Daisy turns, and what you see is what is clearly the harvested bone of some creature.

And where her face would be, you see these almost insect-like eyes. You can see the jaw almost grinning and a bone like that. She's made other adjustments to her armor, and she turns for a moment and peers back in the direction of Arjen Holm before turning.

getting her breath and continuing forward. Unremarkable 10 minutes passes other than these details that you are taking in, soaring around with your sensor. You've seemingly caught her as she is making her night travel back to wherever her shelter is before the sensor fades and blinks out. - Badass. - Just like Kaisa. - I, like my eyes are going, you'll see, I'm sort of like swaying almost,

uncharacteristically. Very Northmen, right? Where these stoic guys take all these drugs and they're like naked and they're barking. I'm not going that crazy. But I'm just sort of kind of swaying and maybe chanting under my breath and singing that song that was- that badass song that was just playing. That song was fucking awesome, by the way. And you'll see almost like a single tear roll down my face. And I'll snap out of it. She lives. What? You saw her? No way! And that was hers.

It allowed me to find her. She... is... has taken care of herself. I knew she'd make it. She's even more skilled than when we left her. Yes! That's great news! Yes. I did not want to hold on to hope, but she is... gifted. More than I realized. We need to find her before the clutch does.

We do. I implore all of you, we must rest first. I do not want us to make an emotional decision in the cut down in the night. If all of you do want to go, then I will follow. I will allow you to make the decision. I'm trying to be the mature one here. Shocking, I know. It is. I wanna go. But I know that Barnabas can't take ten feet away from this place. He's gonna keel over any second.

That was a ship term. I can get her. We can't all go. We can't all walk through these streets with all these eyes on us. Tomorrow night we're going to be busy and who knows what's going to happen after. Who knows if she'll stay? Who knows if she'll go? But right now we know where she's at. I can get her. Why don't you trust me? I may not have been able to save her. If you wish.

I could take maybe Scrim, but even then it becomes more dangerous. You will take Scrim. I cannot protect you, Scrim. I don't need protection. We just gotta move quick. We'll move quick. You will hinder me. Because in that terrain, I'm not... I won't be impeded by it like you will be. Then just leave me. We'll figure it out. You can ride my bees. If you trust them. Whatever you say goes. I'm gonna make myself eggs. If they have it.

Three of you enjoy a long rest doing that while you start to prepare to make a nighttime journey in the direction that you know the note indicated. And that's where we'll end tonight's session. Beautiful.

Thank you so much for listening to the Legends of Avantris podcast. We hope you enjoyed the session. If you want even more campaigns to listen to, become a member of our Patreon at the Pearl Dolphin tier or higher to unlock Shroud Over Saltmarsh, a patron-exclusive campaign set on the high seas. You can find that at patreon.com slash legendsofavantris. If you want to chat about the episode with the Avantris community, join us on Discord at legendsofavantris.com slash discord. We'll see you next time.

We also post content nearly every day on YouTube, TikTok, and Instagram. So make sure you follow our socials at legendsofavantress.com slash social. And make sure you check out The Crooked Moon so you can terrify your friends with a folk horror 5th edition supplement published by us. Get your own copy at thecrookedmoon.com. Thanks again and we'll see you next time.