Session 073: Cultists Under the Church Report

Evil cultists are hiding under the church.

General Summary

 
06/08/2024
Wild Cards
 

Redfall 20, 2023 KC, evening

  Thornwinds   Recap
The party had explored Thornwinds, and learned that Garm was here. He had some look-alikes as well as a Drow Bard assisting him. There was intel that they were at an abandoned church with an undead problem.   The party planned to go visit in the morning.  
 
 
   

Summary

The party awoke to find Calliope burning with fever, too ill to join their investigation of the old church where Garm had reportedly been spotted. Leaving their companion to rest aboard the ship, they made their way through the town toward Bone Arch, encountering only a halfling woman struggling with her misbehaving child along the road. After a fifteen-minute walk beyond the city's edge, they crested a hill and gazed down upon their destination - an ancient church surrounded by a vast, neglected graveyard.   The sight below was both haunting and intriguing. The old church sat one hundred feet down the hillside, its weathered stones telling tales of countless years. Around it sprawled a cemetery filled with tombstones, mausoleums, and burial plots that stretched toward distant marshlands. Most unsettling were the five skeletons wandering aimlessly near a crumbling mausoleum, their bone-white forms adorned with remnants of armor that clinked softly in the wind. These undead appeared to be naturally risen rather than magically animated, a common problem in old burial grounds.   Shadow decided to investigate the mausoleum stealthily, creeping closer to observe the wandering skeletons. Her approach went unnoticed until she ventured within striking distance, when one of the armored skeletons suddenly lashed out with bony claws, raking across her flesh. Combat erupted as the party engaged the five undead guardians, each skeleton falling with a distinctive blue spark of static electricity as their animating force dissipated. The battle was swift but decisive, with Shadow's arrows, Sas's bludgeoning strikes, and coordinated attacks from the others reducing the skeletons to scattered bones.   With the immediate threat eliminated, the party entered the mausoleum belonging to House Tolera. Inside, they discovered an angel statue overlooking burial plaques bearing the names Alera and Gareth, along with inscriptions in an unknown language that Shadow carefully preserved with a charcoal rubbing. Their investigation revealed broken crypt stones and a love letter from someone named Alistair to Amelia, speaking of unexpressed romantic feelings. Despite thorough searching, they found no secret passages or mechanisms within the ancient tomb.   Shadow then employed magical detection spells to survey the broader area. Her enchanted ring revealed a complex tapestry of supernatural energies throughout the graveyard - faint traces of both good and evil magic intermingled from decades of burials, consecrations, and occasional desecrations. The church itself radiated stronger positive energy, marking it as truly sacred ground. Among the tombstones, they discovered a Ring of Animal Influence on the grave of an elf named Elrohir, though their attempt to use it for communication with Artie failed when they learned owlbears were classified as monstrosities rather than animals.   The party approached the church itself, a simple non-denominational structure with rows of stone pews and a lectern at the front. Barlo noticed a small piece of wood fall when they opened the door - likely a primitive alarm system. Inside the spartan interior, they discovered that the lectern concealed a hidden mechanism. After Barlo confirmed it was free of traps, they activated the device, causing the lectern to slide aside and reveal a ladder descending into darkness below.   Leaving Artie to stand guard at the church entrance, the party secured a rope and descended into the hidden passage. The tunnel was carved from black stone markedly different from the white stone of the church above, with a red stone pathway running down its center. Recent footprints in the dust indicated others had passed this way recently. Shadow cast a concealment spell to mask their approach as they followed the sloping passage toward distant voices echoing from ahead.   The tunnel opened into a large underground chamber filled with ancient sarcophagi and stone pillars. What they witnessed there stopped them cold - Garm stood in the center of the room alongside two chrome-colored mirror duplicates of himself, conducting some kind of trade with five black-robed cultists. A body in white robes lay nearby as the cultist leader handed Garm a metallic casing, speaking of a relic they had guarded for a long time. The party realized they were witnessing the exchange of what appeared to be Vecna's hand case.   Shadow acted swiftly, casting a spell that filled the chamber floor with magical brambles and thorns to trap their enemies. The cultist leader shouted for attack as his followers began moving through the painful spikes, their scimitars glowing with red energy as they enhanced their weapons. Garm demonstrated remarkable agility, leaping clear of the magical trap with supernatural grace while his chrome duplicates moved with similar fluid precision.   The battle that followed was fierce and chaotic. Shadow's arrows found their marks while Bastion manifested spectral dragon wings for protection and unleashed devastating magical strikes. The cultists proved formidable opponents, their enhanced weapons dealing both physical and psychic damage, with one managing to stun Barlo temporarily with a particularly vicious strike. Sas transformed into a massive hyena, her new form pushing enemies aside as she retained her druidic spore abilities even in animal shape.   As the combat intensified, Bastion's steel wind strike spell carved through multiple cultists with lethal precision, while Shadow's fireball from her magical necklace engulfed the chamber in flames. The cultists' blood hunter techniques allowed them to enhance their weapons, but they could not withstand the party's coordinated assault. Barlo's rage-fueled claw attacks proved devastating, his critical strikes enhanced by his supernatural fury as he demanded answers from Garm about his betrayal.   The tide turned decisively in the party's favor as cultist after cultist fell to their combined might. Shadow's precise archery incapacitated the cultist leader with arrows to both knees, while the others were either killed or knocked unconscious. Faced with overwhelming odds and the destruction of his allies, Garm finally called for a halt to the fighting, disengaging from combat and raising his weapon in a defensive but non-threatening posture.   With most of the cultists defeated and Garm surrounded, the party forced a tense standoff. Garm claimed he had obtained what he needed from the exchange - the mysterious relic now in his possession. The party positioned themselves to prevent his escape while demanding explanations for his actions and the nature of his dealings with the cultists. The session ended with both sides wary but willing to negotiate, the underground chamber littered with the aftermath of their violent confrontation as questions about Garm's true motives and the significance of the traded artifacts hung heavy in the air.  

Scenes

Journey to the Church

The party travels from their ship to an old church outside the city, leaving behind the sick Calliope.
  • Calliope falls ill with a fever and stays behind on the ship
  • The party travels through the town toward Bone Arch
  • They encounter a halfling woman with a misbehaving child on the road
  • The party walks 15 minutes outside the city proper
  • They reach a hilltop overlooking an old church and graveyard

    • Discovering the Graveyard

    The party observes an old church with a large graveyard containing tombstones, mausoleums, and wandering skeletons.
  • The party spots a decrepit church 100 feet below on the hill
  • They observe a large graveyard with many tombstones and mausoleums
  • Five skeletons are seen wandering aimlessly near a falling-apart mausoleum
  • The skeletons appear to have remnants of armor and make clinking sounds
  • Shadow decides to approach the mausoleum stealthily to investigate

    • Skeleton Combat at the Mausoleum

    The party engages in combat with five skeletons near a decrepit mausoleum in the graveyard.
  • Shadow attempts to sneak up to the mausoleum but is attacked by a skeleton for 3 piercing damage
  • Combat begins with the party fighting five skeletons
  • Shadow kills a skeleton with a claw attack and bow shot, seeing blue static electricity as it dies
  • Artie (Shadow's companion) attacks with beak and claws, dealing damage to another skeleton
  • Sas flanks and kills a skeleton with a club strike to the skull, also seeing blue sparks
  • Bastion kills another skeleton with rapier strikes and flings the skull at another enemy
  • Barlo attacks the final skeleton with his moon sword but it remains standing
  • The remaining skeleton counterattacks Barlo but misses
  • Shadow's companion Artie continues attacking the armored skeleton
  • Shadow shoots the skeleton with her bow, killing it
  • Sas delivers the final blow to the last skeleton with bludgeoning damage
  • All skeletons are defeated, each showing blue static electricity when destroyed

    • Exploring the Mausoleum

    After defeating the skeletons, the party enters the mausoleum to investigate.
  • Barlo enters the mausoleum first, finding a 25-foot space with an angel statue at the back
  • The mausoleum contains various plaques on the walls, some broken, marking burial sites
  • Barlo rolls a skull toward the statue to test for traps, but nothing happens
  • Barlo examines the plaque under the angel statue and reads two names: Alera and Gareth
  • The party discusses the blue sparks from the skeletons, determining they were likely naturally animated undead rather than necromantically raised
  • The party discovers the mausoleum belongs to House Tolera
  • Shadow takes a charcoal rubbing of an inscription in an unknown language (possibly Halfling)
  • Barlo attempts to move the angel statue but fails
  • Party searches for secret mechanisms by tapping plaques and investigating the area
  • Barlo finds a love letter from Alistair to Amelia in a broken crypt stone
  • Investigation reveals possible skeleton footprints but no evidence of secret passages

    • Magical Detection at the Graveyard

    Shadow uses magical detection spells to scan the church and graveyard for supernatural presences.
  • Shadow casts Detect Good and Evil from her ring, lasting 10 minutes
  • Spell reveals faint traces of both good and evil energies mixed throughout the graveyard
  • Church shows stronger good alignment compared to surrounding areas
  • Shadow also uses Detect Magic, picking up abjuration magic on tombstones
  • Faint necromantic energies detected throughout the area
  • No strong magical presences or items detected, just residual spell energies
  • The mixed magical energies create an unusual supernatural atmosphere
  • Bastion finds a Ring of Animal Influence on Elrohir's tombstone
  • A floating skull appears and Artie destroys it with his attacks
  • Bastion attempts to use the ring to speak with Artie but learns owlbears are monstrosities, not animals

    • Entering the Church

    The party investigates the old church building and discovers a hidden entrance.
  • Shadow and Artie search the church perimeter but find no hidden passages
  • Barlo checks the church door for traps and notices a small piece of wood falls when opened
  • The party enters the simple, non-denominational church with rows of pews
  • They discover a lectern with a hidden mechanism
  • Barlo casts Find Traps and determines the mechanism is safe
  • Activating the mechanism causes the lectern to move aside, revealing a ladder leading down

    • Descending into the Church's Hidden Passage

    The party discovers a hidden passage beneath the church lectern and descends into a tunnel system carved from black stone.
  • Shadow leaves Artie (her owl bear companion) to keep watch at the church entrance
  • The party ties a rope to secure their descent down the ladder
  • Barlo discovers the tunnel is made of different black stone than the church above
  • The party finds recent footprints and a red stone pathway in the tunnel
  • Shadow casts Pass Without Trace to help the party move stealthily
  • Barlo hears voices echoing from ahead as they approach a lit opening

    • The Underground Trade

    The party discovers Garm conducting a trade with cultists in an underground chamber beneath the church.
  • Party sneaks through underground tunnel and discovers large chamber with sarcophagi
  • They observe Garm with two chrome mirror duplicates meeting with five black-robed cultists
  • Cultists have a dead body in white/eggshell robes on the ground
  • Party overhears trade negotiation - Garm trading something for a metal hand casing
  • Cultist leader mentions they've held onto a relic for a long time
  • Garm receives the metallic hand encasing from the cultist
  • Shadow casts Spike Growth to trap the enemies
  • Combat begins when cultist leader yells 'attack!'

    • Combat in the Underground Chamber

    A fierce battle erupts between the party and Garm's group of cultists and chrome duplicates.
  • Shadow shoots arrows at the cultist leader, hitting once for 23 damage
  • Cultists begin moving out of the spike growth, taking piercing damage
  • Multiple cultists enhance their scimitars with red glowing energy
  • Garm leaps out of the brambles using some kind of enhanced movement ability
  • Sas moves closer and uses chill touch on a cultist for 11 necrotic damage
  • Bastion casts scorching ray at 6th level, shooting rays at cultists and Garm
  • Garm and his chrome duplicates use monk-like movements to avoid most damage
  • The cultist leader tries to escape through spike growth, taking 17 points of damage
  • Shadow uses a bead from her necklace to cast fireball with 20-foot radius
  • All cultists fail their saves and take 26 fire damage, while Garm's group takes half damage
  • Shadow casts Hunter's Mark on Garm at 3rd level for 8-hour duration
  • Barlo enters rage, pulls out his shield, and attacks a cultist with his claws
  • Barlo kills a cultist with three claw attacks while talking to Garm

    • Escalating Combat

    The battle intensifies as both sides take heavy damage and use powerful abilities.
  • Bastion manifests metallic dragon wings for protection, boosting his AC to 22
  • A cultist strikes Barlo with a blade, dealing radiant and necrotic damage
  • Barlo fails a wisdom saving throw and becomes stunned by a cultist's attack
  • Sas casts Chill Touch on a cultist, preventing them from healing
  • Bastion casts Steel Wind Strike, killing two cultists with powerful strikes
  • Shadow casts Healing Spirit on Bastion to provide ongoing healing
  • Sas wild shapes into a giant hyena, gaining 44 hit points and retaining her spore abilities
  • The hyena form pushes enemies out of her space as she transforms to large size
  • Bastion uses his Steel Wind Strike spell to attack multiple enemies, killing three cultists
  • Shadow continues attacking Garm with her bow, dealing significant damage using her Piercer feat
  • Barlo rages again and attacks with his claws, landing critical hits and using his Slasher feat
  • The remaining cultist leader becomes unconscious from accumulated damage

    • Combat Resolution and Negotiation

    The party continues their battle against cultists and Garm, eventually forcing a standoff where Garm agrees to negotiate.
  • Sas wild shapes into a giant hyena but misses her attack
  • Bastion uses his metallic wings ability and attacks with non-lethal damage
  • Shadow shoots arrows at the cultist leader's knees, incapacitating him
  • Barlo attacks with reckless fury, dealing massive damage with critical hits
  • Garm disengages and puts his sword in a defensive position, indicating willingness to talk
  • The party surrounds Garm and his chrome duplicates, forcing a negotiation
  • Combat ends with most cultists defeated and Garm agreeing to answer questions
  • Garm claims he got what he needed from the exchange
  • The party positions themselves to prevent Garm's escape while demanding answers
    •        

    Session Conclusion

      ...   Experience & Leveling
    t Combat Experience: 5000 (1000 ea) | Total: 105,500 (Next Goal: 120,000) t     Current Location ...
     

    Rewards Granted


     
    Experience
     

      t Combat Experience: 2500 (500 ea) | Total: 104,500 (Next Goal: 120,000) t   t Combat Experience: 5000 (1000 ea) | Total: 105,500 (Next Goal: 120,000) t  
     

    Missions/Quests Completed

       

    Related Reports

    Npcs

    Halfling Woman

    A nondescript halfling woman encountered on the road with her misbehaving child. She was trying to manage her crying child during the brief encounter.  

    Wandering Skeletons

    Five undead skeletons wandering around the mausoleum, some wearing remnants of armor including ring mail, chain mail, and leather. They appeared to be naturally risen undead rather than magically animated by a necromancer. When destroyed, they emitted blue static electricity as their animating force dissipated.  

    Garm

    The main antagonist who has obtained some kind of artifact through a trade with cultists. He appears with two chrome/metallic mirror duplicates of himself and demonstrates high combat abilities, able to dodge magical attacks with monk-like movements. He initially fought the party but eventually agreed to negotiate when cornered, claiming he got what he needed from the exchange.  

    Calliope

    A party member who falls ill with a high fever and must stay behind on the ship. Her condition prevents her from joining the party's investigation of the church.  

    Cultist Leader

    A black-robed figure with a gravelly voice who leads the cultist group. He possesses a metal hand casing (relic) that he trades to Garm. Commands the other cultists and initiates combat by yelling 'attack!' when the party is discovered. Eventually shot in both knees by Shadow and incapacitated for questioning.  

    Black-Robed Cultists

    A group of cultists in black robes who demonstrate blood hunter-like abilities, enhancing their scimitars with red glowing energy. They work with the cultist leader in the trade with Garm and engage the party in combat. Most are defeated during the battle.  

    Chrome Mirror Duplicates

    Two silvery, chrome-like beings that appear to be mirror duplicates of Garm, similar to ones the party encountered in the Feywild. They accompany Garm and seem to follow his lead in combat, demonstrating similar abilities and defensive movements.  

    Locations

    Underground Chamber

    A large underground chamber beneath the church containing multiple ornate sarcophagi and coffins. The chamber has stone pillars, runic markings on the ground, and appears to be an ancient burial site. The chamber is dimly lit with various glowing elements and serves as a meeting place for secret exchanges.  

    Church Hidden Passage

    A narrow tunnel beneath the church lectern, carved from black stone with rusty metal ladder rungs. The passage is about five feet wide and six feet high, sloping downward with a red stone pathway running down the middle. Recent footprints indicate others have passed through recently.  

    The Ship

    The party's vessel where they spent the night during a rain shower. Calliope remains here due to illness with a high fever.  

    Bone Arch

    A location near the city that the party travels toward on their way to the church.  

    Old Church Graveyard

    A large, poorly maintained cemetery surrounding an ancient church. Contains numerous tombstones, mausoleums, and wandering undead. Located 100 feet below a hill, with marshland visible in the distance. The area is permeated with mixed magical energies from years of burials and various consecration/desecration rituals.  

    Tolera Family Mausoleum

    An old stone mausoleum belonging to House Tolera, containing an angel statue and wall crypts. Features inscriptions in multiple languages including Common and an unknown script (possibly Halfling). Some crypt stones are broken, and the structure shows signs of age and decay. Contains the names Alera and Gareth on the main plaque.  

    Elrohir's Grave

    The tombstone of an elf named Elrohir where a magical Ring of Animal Influence was discovered. The grave had a floating skull that appeared and was destroyed by Artie.  

    The Old Church

    A simple, one-room non-denominational church building that serves as sacred ground. The interior is Spartan with rows of stone pews and a lectern containing a hidden mechanism that reveals a secret passage. Made of alabaster white and ivory-colored stone.  

    Spells

    Detect Good and Evil

    Cast by Shadow using her ring, this spell revealed faint traces of both good and evil energies mixed throughout the graveyard area. The spell lasted 10 minutes and showed the church had stronger good alignment, while detecting various supernatural creature types and consecrated/desecrated areas within 30 feet.  

    Detect Magic

    Used by Shadow to scan for magical auras in the graveyard. The spell detected abjuration magic on many tombstones and faint necromantic energies throughout the area, but revealed no strong magical items or active spells - only residual magical traces from past rituals and spells.  

    Speak with Animals

    Attempted by Bastion using the Ring of Animal Influence to communicate with Artie, but failed because owlbears are classified as monstrosities rather than animals in the magical taxonomy.  

    Find Traps

    Cast by Barlo on the church lectern mechanism to ensure it was safe to activate. The spell confirmed there were no traps present on the hidden mechanism.  

    Pass Without Trace

    Cast by Shadow to help the entire party move stealthily through the underground tunnel system. The spell adds +10 to everyone's stealth checks, allowing them to approach the chamber undetected while investigating the meeting between Garm and the cultists.  

    Spike Growth

    Cast by Shadow to create a 20-foot radius area of brambles and spikes on the ground. Enemies moving through the area take 2d4 piercing damage for every 5 feet of movement. Used strategically to trap Garm and the cultists during the trade meeting.  

    Hunter's Mark

    Cast by Shadow on Garm at 3rd level to track his location and gain advantage on perception/survival checks to find him. Cast at higher level to maintain concentration for up to 8 hours, ensuring the party can track Garm if he escapes.  

    Chill Touch

    A necromancy cantrip cast by Sas that deals necrotic damage and prevents the target from healing until the start of the caster's next turn. Manifests as a skeletal hand that attacks the target.  

    Scorching Ray

    Bastion cast this spell at 6th level, creating six rays of fire. Three targeted cultists and three targeted Garm, though Garm's group used defensive movements to avoid most damage.  

    Fireball

    Shadow cast this spell using a bead from her necklace, creating a 20-foot radius explosion that dealt 26 fire damage to cultists who failed their saves, while Garm's group took half damage.  

    Steel Wind Strike

    A powerful spell cast by Bastion that allows multiple melee spell attacks against different targets, killing multiple cultists with devastating strikes and allowing teleportation between targets.  

    Healing Spirit

    A healing spell cast by Shadow at 3rd level that creates a transparent owl bear spirit that heals creatures when they move into its space or start their turn there. Provides 2d6 healing and can be moved as a bonus action.  

    Wild Shape

    Used by Sas to transform into a giant hyena, gaining 44 hit points and becoming a large beast. Retains druid abilities including spore-based attacks while in animal form. The transformation pushes nearby enemies out of her space due to her increased size.  

    Misty Step

    A teleportation spell cast by Bastion to quickly reposition himself during combat, allowing him to teleport and then close the gap to attack enemies.  

    Items

    Ring of Animal Influence

    A simple wooden ring with carvings of various animal creatures around it. The ring has three charges that regain daily and can cast animal friendship (targeting only beasts with intelligence), fear (targeting beasts), or speak with animals. Found on Elrohir's tombstone and discovered to be ineffective on Artie since owlbears are monstrosities, not animals.  

    Metallic Dragon Wings

    Spectral wings manifested by Bastion from his draconic heritage that grant AC bonuses and can be used as a reaction to protect against attacks. They appear to be from a silver dragon and provide protection equal to his proficiency bonus.  

    Moon Sword

    Barlo's magical sword that provides light in darkness and has special properties, though it has no effect during daylight hours. Used in combat against the skeletons and to illuminate the black stone tunnel.  

    Love Letter from Alistair

    An aged and moldy piece of paper found in a broken crypt stone, containing a love letter from someone named Alistair to Amelia. The letter expresses unrequited love and mentions flickering candlelight, suggesting romantic feelings that were never fully expressed.  

    Charcoal Rubbing

    A charcoal rubbing taken by Shadow of an inscription in an unknown language (possibly Halfling) found in the Tolera mausoleum. Created using charcoal from a tinderbox to preserve the text for later translation.  

    Rope

    A rope tied by the party to secure their descent down the ladder into the hidden passage beneath the church, providing a safety line in case the ancient ladder fails.  

    Metal Hand Casing

    A metallic encasing that was over a hand, described as a relic that the cultists have held onto for a long time. This item is traded from the cultist leader to Garm during their underground meeting. It appears to be Vecna's hand case and is significant to both parties' plans.  

    Enhanced Scimitars

    Weapons used by the cultists that can be enhanced with red glowing energy. The cultists slide their offhand up the blade, causing it to glow with red light like heat before the glow fades. These appear to be blood hunter-style weapon enhancements.  

    Necklace of Fireballs

    Shadow's magical necklace containing beads that can be thrown to cast fireball spells. She used one bead to cast an 8d6 fireball with DC 15 save during the underground combat.

    Notes

    As the party returned to the ship to take a long rest Calliope began to come down with a cold. She starts sneezing, feels a chill. Says if she doesn't feel well, she will stay behind.   During the night, a slight rain comes down, causing some more rocking than normal. No real mechanical issue -- but Sleep was a bit rough.   Some colds are not "cured" by magic and it is safe to say this is one of them.    

    Redfall 21, 2023 KC, early morning

      Port of Thornwinds   As morning comes, the party finds their way through the town, through the Bone Arch.   At one point they do see a child being a brat because they lost a stuffed animal, but the mom was persistent in making them come.  

    image-thornwinds-old-church.jpg

      They leave the town. They get to a hill and see the church below. It looks old, and one corner is looking weak and starting to fall apart with some missing bricks. It is about a 100 feet below, with many burial plots and tombstones everywhere. This is a large cemetary. Off to the right, about 25 feet is an old mausoleam with some skeletons around it. No real rhyme or reason to movements, and they don't appear to be "guarding". There are many mausoleams, and many are decrepit and falling apart.   Lots of pastoral hills around, and then shifts toward marshlands and then some strange old forests. No real noise from the walking undead, loose pieces of Armor.   Shadow & Barlo believe that is where they need to go. Shadow begins to creep to see what happens.   NOTE: the undead can and do just rise up from the ground. Not just due to necromancers. This is why many prefer cremation.   Shadow and the party creep up. One of them seems to shuffle its head a bit as she gets closer. And as she almost gets to the door she walks just past one -- it strikes at her.      
     

        
    

    
5 Skeletons
     

    The Battle:

     

    R.1

      Shadow in the Snow reacts. Claw attack (20) then moves back. Swings around and shoots an arrow at him. hits. More than enough, as the arrow goes into the eye socket. They see a slight blue electrical spark up and go out as the neck breaks.   Arktos moves up, attacks, with all 3 attacks.   Sas W.T. Rayce moves, so she can flank. Shillelagh. Hits and kills it. The force of the club goes down and splits the skull in half with shattered Bone everywhere. The slight blue spark at the end as the last bits of Bone break. It falls down. They seem to not like bludgeoning.   Bastion Bladesinger casts Misty Step then strikes out twice with his rapier. Stabbed in the eye and the skull breaks off so he flings it at another Skeleton. There was a blue tinge as the skull broke off.   Barlo walks forward and pulls out his Moon-Touched Sword and strikes. This is one with some Armor pieces, so it wasn't enough to take it down. He is a bit downtrodden as Sas took hers down very quick. "oh, you're still up."   It strikes back with a shortsword it seemed to have been holding, and Barlo deflects with his sword. Barlo says: "I must be fighting the leader over here, he is really tough!"  

    R.2

      Arktos moves and attacks, two misses but the last one hits with a slash. This one has some Armor, so the Metal protected it.   Shadow: "it's okay buddy." She attacks with the bow, misses. "Wow, Barlo you are right -- he is hard to hit." That arrow hit a piece of Metal that flung off.   Sas: "I got you Barlo" and attacks. The bludgeoning blow smashes down, and the Leather turns to dust and Armor breaks apart as it goes to the ground. Barlo: "Hey"... as the blue spark reacts   
    

☠️ Shadow in the Snow
☠️ Arktos
☠️ Bastion Bladesinger
☠️ ☠️ Sas W.T. Rayce
      
    

    
t Combat Experience: 2500 (500 ea) | Total: 104,500 (Next Goal: 120,000) t
        Shadow asks if Bastion knows if the spark is necromantic... it could be, but is also pretty common with such undead being "naturally" reanimated.   He suggests reburying to see what happens. Shadow suggests exploring the mausoleum. Inside the walls are lined with plaques for those interred here. In the rear is a large statue of an angel of some sort. Below it is a plaque.   Barlo grabs one of the skulls from the defeated skeletons and rolls it across the floor. Nothing seems to happen out of the ordinary. Barlo goes in and reads the plaque   Two names on the plaque.  
    Elara and Gareth of House Telara   and some other script...
      Outside, above the door was some script. It says House Telara above the door.   The "other script" is in the Halfling Language of Luiren as Bastion can tell.   Barlo pushes slowly and ramps up to see if he can make the statue move. Shadow takes a rubbing of the inscription.   Bastion is looking for any mechanism or device... he does see a piece of paper in one of the broken crypt stone, it has a bit of green mold growing on it. It is aged.   Letter:  
    Dearest Amelia,   The flickering candlelight dances on these cold stone walls, mocking the warmth you always brought. It's strange, writing to someone who can't hear, yet the words tumble out like a dam finally breaking. There's a freedom in confessing to the empty air, knowing it can never reach you, but the burden is heavy nonetheless.   Remember that day by the lake, the one where we swore our futures were intertwined? We were young, naive, convinced our bond was unbreakable. But life, that cruel puppeteer, had other plans. My path took a darker turn, a path you wouldn't have walked with me. Fear, Amelia, Fear of losing you, drove me away.   I told myself it was for your own good, that the Darkness clinging to me wouldn't taint your Light. But the truth, the truth that twists like a viper in my gut, is that I couldn't Bear the thought of your disappointment. I was a coward, Amelia. I chose the shadows over the Sun, over you.   The years since then have been a desolate wasteland. Every success, every fleeting moment of joy, has been tinged with the bitter ash of regret. I see your Ghost in every sunrise, hear your laughter in the wind. It's a constant reminder of what I threw away.   They say time heals all wounds, Amelia. But mine festers, a gaping hole in my Soul. I know you wouldn't want me to wallow in self-pity, and perhaps that's the point of this letter. To finally release the truth, to let go of the "what ifs" that have haunted me for so long.   You deserved a life bathed in sunshine, Amelia, a life filled with love and laughter. Instead, I gave you Silence, a void where our shared Dreams once resided. Forgive me, if forgiveness can even reach you beyond the veil. You will always hold a piece of my heart, Amelia. A reminder of the Light I extinguished, the love I let slip through my fingers.   With a love that echoes in the Silence, The one who failed you, Alistair
        Shadow investigates the area as well, they are looking for any secrets or passages or devices, as well as foot prints... nothing They begin to tap, touch, push everything -- Bastion with his sword taps for hollow spots...   Nothing seems to happen.   Bastion asks why they are there. The others said to investigate the church, rumor was Garm was here and the City folk complained of the undead here.   Barlo notices the broken stone is missing a few letters (where they found the old letter), leaving the letters "...LIA" as the only letters left.   Shadow notices the church is not far. She uses her Ring of Alertness and casts Detect Evil and Good, while Bastion does something... (hard to hear)... Detect Magic I believe   As she looks at the church there is a mixture of both all around these grounds -- faint mist of both in various places with some places almost mixed together so much it is almost a third type. The areas seem to have had sacraments done when the Dead were first buried, but over the years there have surely been messed with and had some negative or evil applied...   nothing stands out too much.   Except for the church is blessed with Good.   Abjuration is all around as well as Necromancy. No real strong presence of Necromancy or magic items -- just bits of spells and old energies still residing here, as well as the presence of so many Dead that has long been here.   He then notices one tombstone has a ring, a magic ring on top of the stone. Bastion goes to the ring...   A floating skull is now moving towards Arktos...   The name on the stone is "Elrohir", it is an elven name.   The ring is simple Wood. It has Illusion, Divination, and Enchantment on it. He notices the ring is simple with carvings of various animal creatures on it. It seemed someone placed it there.   ..Arktos hits at the skull... it shatters. Barlo waves with the spectral hand since he used Mage Hand.   NOTE: Mage Hand reads "A spectral, floating hand appears at a point you choose within range". Only an arcane trickster gets an invisible mage hand. I will have to remind the party this.   Bastion picks up the ring. He examines it and with an Arcana (20) he notices this is a common ring from many elves.  
      it is a Ring of Animal Influence, Bastion tosses it to Shadow saying she could speak with Arktos...   She casts Speak with Animals from the ring... doesn't Work since he is a Monstrosity Creatures.   Bastion takes it back.   The church has a good blessing of some kind keeping out the evil near it -- this is sacred ground. It is very old. A simple one room. Not dedicated to any single church.   She walks around the perimeter with Arktos as they look for any other entreance or something that stands out.   They are confident that there is nothing to be found around it. Barlo was checking door for traps. No traps found.   He opens the door, carefully. He notices a small flake of Wood flutters to the ground, they are sure someone placed it to notify them if someone had opened this door. Barlo puts it back when everyone enters... he is sure he put it back where it possibly came.

    Stone pews are in rows. Much of the decay outside is not as bad in here. This interior seems the least run down.   They look for tracks. Shadow looks around, goes to stage and podium. There are stale candle and incense from who knows when this was last used for such purposes. Shadow is looking for papers, but instead finds a simple hidden button. Also looks for religious iconography.   She points out the button to Barlo.   No real iconography, a generic church for whomever wanted to use it.   Sas casts Find Traps as no one finds any with physical searches. She detects no traps. She is confident of no traps.   "push the button, barlo" shadow says.   So he does. a hum of mechanisms... Sas grabs Barlo's wrist as the lectern shifts to one side. a tight tunnel goes down with a ladder. The Fear is if an Owlbear can climb up or down, so they leave him to protect the lectern. Shadow tells him to "give a hoot" if anything happens. The bond they have allows him to understand. He finds a comfortable place to lie down and keep watch.   Shadow looks to possibly tying a rope to the lectern. She does it (dex: 14)   The hole is dark. goes down about 20 some feet or something, so Barlo sees the base. It seems the ladder is rusty, a blackish stonework. A button at the bottom.   A hallway goes down, 6' high, 5' wide with a slight downward slope.   There are some markings and prints that Shadow finds going into the tunnel. The stonework in the church was white, but these tunnels seem like a darker stone. Barlo pulls out the Moon-Touched Sword and sees how the stones are black. they go down ...   the middle of the path is a reddish stone. dull red, like a red path. Almost like a brick, but natural.   Marching... Sas in rear. Bastion in middle. Barlo in Lead. stealth...   Shadow casts Pass Without Trace as they begin to walk. at a point they see where Light is at the end of the tunnel, and it appears to open into another area... slight murmurs of a discussion.   Barlo puts his finger to his mouth signifying to be quiet. Hard to discern much from discussion from here...   As it gets to the end they see it opens into a large room.   large pillars, some destroyed. Old room. Old ceremonial sarcophagis.   They sneak in, hugging a wall to the left of the passage. To the other side is some ornate runic design on the ground. A handful of individuals.   Garm is talking to someone. Some individuals in black cloaks, one is talking to Garm. Garm has two in brown cloaks who look like they are made of chrome looking like him. Similar to the Metallic Mimic they met before.

    There is also a Dead body near the party. No one recognizes the priest. General acolyte robe, no discernable religion.   They try to see if they can hear the conversation.   Seems like a trade   Garm: "I have what you asked for..."   the other one is hard to understand as he speaks with a gravely voice: "...we have had this artifact for a long time and its nice to see its value finally coming to help us..."   He pulls out something from a bag and hands to garm, you see Garm has the Metal encased arm and he hands it over.   the party whispers... stop him? follow him? shadow: "do we do this now? I can..."   She shoots out with Spike Growth centered on the two doing the trade.    
     

        
    

    
7 Cultists of Thornwind
2 Metallic Mimics
Garm Pavond
     

    The Battle:

     

    R.1

      The main cultist: "What is this?"   The party isn't sure how violent they should be...   Barlo: "Garm, you son-of-a-bitch -- you have some explaining to do. Start talking before we wipe everyone out."   Shadow moves out, "Don't move and you don't get hurt". Holds her action.   note: Sage Advice on multiple attacks, no readying multi-attacks Because it is on your turn   Barlo moves forward... Waiting for a response...   one of the black robes looks to the boss who yells "ATTACK!"   So Shadow unfurls her arrows at the boss. Misses, then HITS. She uses her swarm to move him, or attempts to. Fails.   One of the guys is on the edge and he takes some damage as he exits, the same one who had looked to the boss. As he leaves he pulls out a scimitar and he slides his off hand to the side of the blade. It takes on a red Light as he does so, it momentarily glows red hot...   The next one runs out, takes some damage, does the same thing.   Garm leaps as far as he can, which is enough to get out of the brambles -- he seemed to have done something before he did so, not a spell, but some other feature. He pulls out a rod, off his belt and it has a glowing rapier point come out of it.   Sas moves, casts Chill Touch which connects.   Another one leaps out and pulls out his blade.   Bastion moves forward. Scorching Ray (at 6th level) 3 on Garm and 3 on ..., hoping to Knock out Garm, not kill...   NOTES on Nonlethal Damage I was going to let him try to do an Arcana Check to see if he could control it, and I will allow that moving forward if it comes up. Just as I will allow a DC check for ranged attacks.   As the rays come in you see some force avoid the energies. Garm gets hit only on the last one.   The Leader of the cultist can't do the cool Jump thing, but he still attempts after seeing the others do it. Then sprints, taking damage... He does the same thing to his scimitar as he pulls it out..    

    R.2

      Shadow pulls off a bead from the Necklace of Fireballs and throws it. All the cultists hit take damage, but not so much for Garm and the two mimics--they move in ways to avoid the bulk of the damage. She then uses BA to cast Hunter's Mark on Garm (at 3rd level, 8 hours), which drops the Spike Growth.   Barlo pulls off his Animated Shield, Rages, then moves forward as he looks at Garm saying: "hey, we don't have to do this. We can talk! Tell us what the fuck is going on here.." And he attacks the cultist. Not reckless as many are around... HIT. HIT. he is hurting... off-hand hits... Non-chalantly as he is trying to taunt/intimidate Garm.   One cultist attacks and misses.   Garm attacks Bastion, 3 times.   One of the cultists hits Barlo, he takes necrotic... and fails the wisdom save. Takes Short-Term Madness which stuns him... (rules says 1 minute, I changed it to a new saving throw each round for 1 minute -- that is too much for combat, let's say it is due to something the characters are still unaware of going on behind the scenes...)   One of the mimics hit, misses Barlo. Then hits (bludgeon and psychic)   Sas uses Chill Touch to hit a cultist.   At attack at Sas, hits -- from the other Mimic, so it has psychic damage as it hits with its fist.   A cultist misses Sas, then a miss on Barlo.   Bastion uses his Blade Ward song. Then attacks with Steel Wind Strike, the first one takes down a cultist. Hits a second. But misses Garm. He returns to his original spot. Tells Shadow: Throw me a Potion!    

    R.3

      Shadow casts Healing Spirit at Bastion. A transparent Owlbear appears. So she then shoots at Garm 2x with the bow. The first one strikes (damage 22, and swarm attempts to shift him- he succeeds), second attack hits (29). She then doubles her speed with the feline agility.   Barlo passes his saving throw (natural 20, 12) He feels his tail twitch and he is able to move.

    A miss on Barlo.   Sas' spores attack Garm as he moves towards her, he then hits (nat 20)  
     
    Halo of Spores TCE p36 Starting at 2nd level, you are surrounded by Invisible, necrotic spores that are harmless until you unleash them on a creature nearby. When a creature you can see moves into a space within 10 feet of you or starts its turn there, you can use your reaction to deal 1d4 necrotic damage to that creature unless it succeeds on a Constitution saving throw against your spell save DC. The necrotic damage increases to 1d6 at 6th level, 1d8 at 10th level, and 1d10 at 14th level.     Reminder to V. from S. about Symbiotic Entity
    Symbiotic Entity TCE p36 At 2nd level, you gain the ability to channel magic into your spores. As an action, you can expend a use of your Wild Shape feature to Awaken those spores, rather than transforming into a beast form, and you gain 4 temporary hit points for each level you have in this class. While this feature is active, you gain the following benefits:
    • When you deal your Halo of Spores damage, roll the damage die a second time and add it to the total.
    • Your melee weapon attacks deal an extra 1d6 necrotic damage to any target they hit.
    These benefits last for 10 minutes, until you lose all these temporary hit points, or until you use your Wild Shape again.   Subclass source: TCE, page 36. Also found in GGR, page 26.
     
     
     
    As the attack comes in, Bastion uses his Wings to raise her AC, protecting her on the second hit making that a miss. The first one is 33 radiant damage, then the third one hits (13).   Miss on Sas from Mimic, as well as a miss against Barlo from cultist.   Sas Wildshapes into a Giant Hyena.   Barlo gets hit by a Mimic. Two times.   Cultists misses.   Bastion gets some healing from Shadow's Healing Spirit. then he does the Steel Wind Strike again, kills a cultist. misses garm as he moves to the side. Bastion moves up with this.   The main cultist misses  

    R.4

      Shadow moves the Healing Spirit to Bastion. Attacks Garm, uses her piercer feat to change the damage..  
     
    Piercer You have achieved a penetrating precision in combat, granting you the following benefits:
    • Increase your Strength or Dexterity by 1, to a maximum of 20.
    • Once per turn, when you hit a creature with an attack that deals piercing damage, you can reroll one of the attack's damage dice, and you must use the new roll.
    • When you score a critical hit that deals piercing damage to a creature, you can roll one additional damage die when determining the extra piercing damage the target takes.
      [aloud]   She then attacks again.   Barlo strikes out, including a crit (12) to a Mimic (gives him disadvantage on attacks due to grievous hit)
  • at this point the characters have all seemed to notice something is trying to happen at such high and low peaks of their life lately...
    • Barlo then says to Garm: "hey - we don't need to kill you over this, we can talk about this. You really fucked up when you did what you did on our ship."   Garm looks at him "I got what I needed out of this, he's got your hand. I don't have anything else you want."   Shadow: "That remains to be seen."   Garm disengages from the Hyena and goes into a protective defense stat. Then a Mimic does the same.   Hyena goes to attack and misses. (got a 1 then a 9)   Other Mimic looks to Garm, then the others and steps back with himself also going into defensive mode.   Bastion gets more healing. He then attacks and then two True Strike attacks.   An attack from Garm who was just hit by Bastion, it seems he didn't like being hit, but it seems all th estrikes miss. Bastion says: "You aint going nowhere until you explain what's going on."   He looks at Bastion "I came to get one thing and I have it. It has no regards to you all. If you want the hand, that's the guy who has it."   Shadow: "We know!"   Bastion: "That wasn't what I said."   The cultist leader looks to Garm "What the fuck, pal?!" He strikes out twice and misses.  

    R.5

      Shadow moves. Attacks with non lethal attacks in the hope to take him down alive. The second strike hits as she intended.   Barlo runs up to someone, looking at Garm. Hits (crits, 12). again attacks. hits again.   Garm "I got what I needed out of this and you continue to attack."   Shadow: "you need to give us answers."
      Garm: "If it is answers you want, I will gladly give those." stares at bastion with his sword brought up at him "shall i stop?"   Bastion: "Tell us what you got and what you plan to do with it."   Garm disengages, steps back and puts the sword up again in a defensive pose. the first Mimic does the same.   Sas holds   Mimic holds   Bastion is getting a bit impatient for answers... looks around and sees that the conflict is done. He moves to block his path.   Bastion tells him to put his sword away. Garm has the Light go down, and puts it on his belt...   Garm: "So, we will talk."   Shadow is keeping her bow ready.       
    

☠️ Barlo
☠️ ☠️ Bastion
☠️ Shadow
☠️Unsure, possibly bastion?
 
               
     

    Transcript

      Transcript  
     
    Not here. We're going to go to the church. which person did she interact with? She interacted with in the Bard's.
    There was someone in the Bard's guild that was wearing suspiciously similar clothing once I described it to her. And then you guys found out later on that she had been seen with, Garm. It seems like two females were all we heard about. So what we'll say is, well, is there anything you guys want to deal with? Because you guys were talking about staying on the ship.
    is there anything you guys want to do before you guys got to the ship?
    I don't think so. No. Yeah, we think so. Yeah. We stopped in the shop, did a little bit of shopping at the Sea Folk. That was early in the day. Yeah. One. Yeah, yeah. so we'll say, as you guys know, you said it was good evening. So that's obviously that was. Wait for a moment. Yeah. As you guys head back to the ship, Calliope starts sneezing, like.
    And, you, she starts feeling a chill. as you guys do get to the ship, she does say, she's probably going to have to say, if you if she's not feeling well in the morning, you guys might want to just leave without her. go ahead and, everybody will. Well, here, let's do this.
    sass. shadow. Both. Give me a d20.
    14
    Eight. so the night is, pretty uneventful for the most part. There's, a little part in the middle, late in the evening where, there's a bit of a rain shower. The nothing too, outlandish. The. The ship does rock a bit more, though, because of this. but you guys have no real ill, real issue with it.
    You guys might sleep a little bit less than you would have, but it's. You're not having any loss of rust of any kind. when you guys do wake, though, Calliope is definitely not feeling well at all. She has a very high fever. and what we're going to say is that sometimes the colds, as much as there's healing spells and everything else, sometimes they don't always work so well with certain types of illnesses.
    And this, even if somebody was to try your. I'm pretty sure that it would be fine. So I'm not gonna have anybody waste any health spells on her. so we we don't get too lost in the the weeds on this, but that you guys have. It is morning time. Calliope is going to stay in her bed.
    What would you guys like to do?
    I think you're going to go to the church right? Let's do it. Yep. Birch.
    Go ahead and, bastion, you give me an intelligence check.
    With intuition, actually. And, do that with that advantage with, our little Ranger assisting.
    Perfect. you and, shadow, kind of take the lead, of course. bastion being the kind of individual who can find us. well, according to a sage background, he can find books anywhere. and of course, with the ranger background that can find her way anywhere. you guys find no problem in finding your way through the town?
    getting to, towards Bone Arch. Give me one second. Actually.
    and, Barlow, since you haven't ruled anything, you go ahead and give me a d20.
    Barlow as well. And go ahead and give me a d100. 200.
    about the only thing of real, substance that happens on you guys is where there is a moment where you see a, elven woman. and she will say a halfling woman. she's walking down the road with her child, who's kind of misbehaving a little bit, but it seems as you guys kind of pay attention to.
    She's just crying because she has lost her doll. but they kind of do the whole come on, come on. And that's about the only thing, really, of any note as you guys walk through the town. but you guys do come across the church. Sure enough, you have to leave the, the city proper. so it's a good, let's say about, like, 15 minutes walk after the last kind of main structure.
    And then you do come across over a hill, as you come to the top of the hill, you look down and, you do see a very old church down at the bottom. 100ft down, I guess would be from the hill that you're on. one. You see, many, this is an older church that somebody has to leave.
    the somebody have to get off the internet so that, you know, the church's, you guys get to hear, you know, the choir. It makes me think of, like, back in the 80s. Get off the phone.
    As you guys look down, the. You can see that it looks like a very old church. in one corner of the church, it's not totally falling apart, but you can see that there are some bricks missing. but it's also old because of how many various tombstones and plots there are here. so it doesn't look like it's as well kept.
    and we will give me, anybody that wants to look around getting a perception check. I do. Sure.
    23 1818. 11. So as you look down the hill, like I said, about 100ft below, down, you see the, the church, and the burial plots and tombstones kind of there. Why? I mean, think about, like, have you ever been to, like, like any of the military cemeteries? Like, how big of those properties are? This is kind of the area here.
    It's pretty large property, but there's a lot of, like, tombstones and little mass, mausoleums kind of things for the more wealthier. and in fact, there is a, off to the right, we'll say about like 100, about 75ft off to the right. you do see a, a mausoleum that's pretty decrepit. it looks like it's kind of falling apart itself.
    And you do see five skeletons, kind of like molding about there. it doesn't seem like you could tell what doesn't seem like they're really actively doing anything. They're just skeletons standing upright and kind of shuffling a little bit over about. And.
    I wonder what these skeletons are doing here.
    Are they shuffling in a pattern? are they walking in a pattern? Like back and forth? Back and forth. Try to find your perception. Check. Oh 1818. it doesn't look like there's, like, any real rhyme or reason to what they're doing. and you said they're guarding the mausoleum in front of them. Doesn't look like they're guarding either.
    It just looks like they're kind of meandering about a little bit. And as far as being able to see the recent tombstones of how many years ago was, you'd have to go closer to where the tombstones are. But you can tell these from this distance that most of them look kind of really outdated. This burial area hasn't been used actively in quite some time.
    Once the surrounding area is said, we're on a hill, right? Yeah. It's it's trees. Yeah, it's little shoes. you can see as you get further away from the church, it definitely looks like it turns into some marshlands a little bit. which kind of ants are bleeding off into some, like, strange, forests? The shores? Yeah.
    Melissa lost hers. Finding the swamps of the mouth. Yeah, I'm sure she.
    My dad found the, Roku remote in the bathroom.
    You have a Roku, TV in the bathroom? yeah.
    Are they? So you said. I'm trying to picture this. You said there's eight in the graveyard. There's a mausoleum. So as you look forward, you see the church, and then off to the right of it, some distance is the, a one of the many mausoleums. But this one looks like it's, it's kind of fallen apart.
    Not not to say none of the other ones look like they're falling apart, but this one definitely looks like it's falling apart. And as it's kind of surround, it's got a few various skeletons in that local area. just and it's they're just kind of standing there, kind of looking around a little bit, maybe take a couple steps.
    but it just seems like there's no real purpose to what they're doing or anything. Okay. Are they are they making any noise or are they just walking on the quiet? Yeah. You don't seem to hear them making any noise outside of, we'll say that you kind of pick up a little bit in the wind. especially with your 23 perception.
    a little bit. You can hear the bones clanking a bit. you can see also, that it looks like, two of them at least. How many did I see? There was actually five. yeah. You see, at least two of them look like they, have some loose pieces of armor. Still kind of on them.
    in shambles for the most part. But various bits of, like ring, chainmail and, metal and leather kind of still just kind of on the bones. And so you're hearing those clink as well, but they're just to that mausoleum is what you're saying. Yeah. Okay.
    I'm going to hazard a guess that that's the direction we would need to go.
    Yeah. so probably trying to not scare anybody away from going to that place, investigating once. So I'll go some of the magic. If someone is going to magically resurrect a bunch of skeletons and tell them to meander in a certain spot, probably not for no reason real quick, since since I know you have a religious back, proficiency.
    Give me a quick religion check. Maybe somebody slowly creep up closer and see how the skeletons react. If you do react. All right, go ahead. Stealthy. one real quick. That would know as well, though, as most people would know, have a little bit of knowledge. Is that not every undead is raised from by some necromancer. there is there is a problem in many places where the undead tend to rise for unknown reasons.
    Whether or not it was a necromancer, they just never found it out. this is why a lot of more modern a lot of people do tend to bury, burn the dead kind of thing. But there have been societies that have have had burials, for one reason or another. And of course, over time they've had problems, though, where some of those burials have come back.
    So it's not always animated by, a wizard. And that's what I want you to know. Okay. So you would know that, this. Okay. So I'm not I'm not I can't I'm not assuming that someone put these there. It could just be happens. It could be the way. Yeah, I just I didn't want since she she would know that bit of it that of course I'm not saying it isn't so.
    Shadow will Delfi. Yeah. 14 stealth. approach the mausoleum and see if they have any reaction. All right. Once. I don't think you need to be stealthy. I guess I'm just like, I'm not going to, like, bulldoze my way in, and I'm not going to go, like, out of sight, kind of in that mid, like, slowly creeping like you don't want to wake up the sleeping baby to see if, if there's any reaction.
    What was your, check the 14. passive perceptions of wisdom. Right. It is a wisdom thing. So wisdom. Yeah. All right. so I'll say as as you kind of creep up, there is one of them that kind of just, and it seems like it's head kind of shuffles a bit. You're not sure if it heard you or not?
    but none of them seem to to look at you directly, and none of them seem to have to aggressively at this moment. I'm going to keep going until I get to the mausoleum then if they're not reacting yet. All right. So as you as you follow all of them a little bit behind her. Yeah, yeah, she's the first one is, so give me a quick stealth score.
    Another one. Yeah. With this last bit here you can do it with an advantage. So since you've gotten this far because my rolls have been sucking. Yeah. Even worse, 17. How close did you want to get to them? I want to go all the way. Feet or within feet of the mausoleum. Right. So if I want to go as far as I possibly can before there's any sort of aggression from the skeletons to see if I can make it to the mausoleum without a reaction.
    so what we'll say is, based on my check of them, their perception, which was really bad, they don't seem to notice you. And so at this point, you are pretty much within five feet of them. Oh. I'm going to give you the chance, since you guys did sneak up and they haven't really noticed you, is there anything you want to do at this moment?
    Is there a door on the mausoleum? you do see a doorway? it looks like a, It's an open door, kind of thing. It's not. you can see actually on the bottom, of it, though, there is, like, old splintered wood. So there might have been a wooden door here at one time, but over time it has fully degraded.
    I'm going to go all the way up to the doorway. All right. Which means you're going to have to walk past, And as you do, walk past one of them, it is going to swipe at you. and with that, we will come up. We will kind of do an initiative. I will set up a map.
    We're just going to say it's, but does a 20 hit? It does.
    So you take three points of piercing damage as this, skeletal hand comes at you and kind of scratches you a bit. so.
    and let me put together a little map here. Since this is just a random.
    Part of.
    I'm not sure how big mausoleums need to be, but that'll work.
    The doorway will be this part right here.
    On the inside. As you kind of peer in a bit.
    See that? There's things, kind of on the other side, and, like the statue in the back inside of there.
    You have a bit of a,
    He's yelling.
    So you guys would be coming from the south of this map. I'm not saying whether or not that is south or what the cardinal direction of, but based on this map. So go ahead and put you guys. Where do you guys think you guys were? you would have been there probably this one next to the doorway here.
    shadow.
    and then of course, don't forget already, if you brought us, I did, he'd be with, everybody else.
    So I don't know how close you guys were to, shadow and everything, but we'll say you guys can be, like, around somewhere. Where does.
    Oh, and then I'll put that question.
    And it's better to be still stealthy. I was just going to walk on the road whistling and chanting to. One of those stealth didn't do very well anyway.
    So you.
    Want.
    Alt control. Pretty high. Barlow. Shadow. just says.
    You see? Go ahead. No, I did not tell him that. But.
    Like, that was a little quick. We.
    Did frantic? I have to step away for a second? Yeah.
    Hunter is having difficulty going to sleep and using me as an excuse, saying that, I said that, he could watch on his tablet if he was having trouble. He. Oh. God, I love when they play that well, mom said. Well, dad said.
    Maybe.
    What did you guys do for the fourth? we went to my sister's house. Nice. Yeah. Nothing crazy. Yeah.
    I didn't do anything. Did something on the third? That was it? Yeah. We, We see home. It didn't really. I'm still having troubles going places, but, you went up to the. We have a park, a three story parking structure. So we went up to the roof and watched the fireworks. Oh, cool. Yeah, there was a bunch of people do that.
    I'm. I'm. No, there was, there was a couple families up there that were setting off some fireworks, which they're probably not allowed to do, but, so we were watching them and then the city, they do their own fireworks. And the closest one was Tustin High, which is like a mile from us. So we were able to see theirs.
    Nice. And then, the neighbors actually had some extra sparklers, so they were super sweet and gave them to the kids. So Atticus said it was totally worth it.
    Yeah. I just lay down on the deck and my little chair and just leaned it all the way back to about 9:00 and started seeing fireworks.
    I we got I'm on our side now.
    And.
    It's.
    And kids these days, they just won't go to sleep. Nope. I just needed a cup of water. He says.
    This is active, intelligent minds. They have no, keep them dumb. Stupid. They're like real humans. Now. It's Opie. They like, talk everything. You know, they have their own opinions. Like, who said they could have their own opinions? Right? Know, you have to say we tell the kid what to do, but that's enough. Having a wife with their own opinions.
    Oh, shut it.
    I couldn't hear it. Thought what was flying across words. Let's start making fun of Jamie. Although I suppose it depends on who our next president is, whether women are allowed to have opinions or not. Yeah. well, the good news is, is I saw that, in, like, six out of the seven battle states, Biden was polling pretty well.
    Bastion and Barlow, both, d20 were quick.
    On. Hold on. Give me a second.
    On it. Great.
    Submission of a mind? Yes. Just 20. Yeah.
    Okay. Thank you.
    And together. That's a. It's just for my own sake. But.
    Not Amelia fighter anymore. I going to do. You're. You're not a melee. Oh. Ranged. I totally. Well I have my swords, but they're not, attuned or equipped right now. That's it's when you change your specializations in Congo. Yeah. I went from Marshall to, ranged.
    Oh, the good thing is you still have mobility, right. Yeah. You have mobility. So. Well that's only after you have. Is that on this one or is that on these that you had it on China. Oh sweet. Then we're good. But that's after you attack. You go one, just pick one of the jam and run and then.
    Yeah. Because plus you and you can just shoot somebody else because don't you get like a disadvantage if you're within somebody hostile within five feet of you. Yeah. Yeah five. Feel hostile. It's it's a very what. it's the idea is it's their in their hair and. Yeah, if you try to shoot somebody else, they're going to kind of mess with you a bit.
    It's like playing football and you try to throw the ball and someone's like, oh, when is that been a rule? since they wrote the Player's Handbook back in 2014, of them.
    I don't recall that ever being a thing that I couldn't hit somebody further away from me. If somebody within five feet of you. Yeah. Just because I'm ranged, it's. Or is that for any melee to know it's any any rate to which I. If you were doing a human. Yeah. Ranged attack. You mean that's somebody farther away? The person in front of you is going to try to block you from shooting.
    So that's where the disadvantage, as long as it's a hostile, you can have your allies. Right? Right. Because five feet you get this practice. It's it's assumed they're swinging at you trying to grab your bow. You know positive. You know. Yes.
    Well, it's it's once again it's one of those rules. It's in the book. But since most people don't ever really read the book, I guess I'm just usually never up close. So I never lied before.
    Taking the,
    That's number.
    Well, you get two attacks, right? 2 or 3, I do. Yeah. I mean, you could just basically your punch. Just do an unarmed strike. Step away. If you can't see. That's big issue, but it gives you the. Yeah. Either that or I might just do two claw attacks and then run.
    There's always you with mobility. You don't have. Yeah, I can do at least I can do one claw attack and then run away and he won't get an attack claw opportunity. And then. Yeah, you can shoot him after that.
    And I should have dropped a is that like, growth instead?
    Yeah. Range of attacks and close combat. Attacking the range. Aiming arranged attack is more difficult when a foe is next to you. When you make a range attack with a weapon, a spell or some other mean. Oh, really? It's also even a split. You have great advantage on the attack wall. If you are within five feet of a hostile creature who can see you and who isn't incapacitated.
    But I didn't realize even that it's a spell or some other means I don't. For some reason, I thought it was just a weapon. So just. There's a rule and I will forget.
    We might conveniently forget it too. I didn't say it. Could be. I'm just saying I might end up forgetting it. Oh. Convenient for us that we will conveniently not remind you. so that's, just go ahead and do your, initiative role and figure out exactly where you want to place your guy. Oh, sorry, I forgot that I left before I did initiative.
    No worries.
    No. You can. You don't have to be right next to Artie's right there. You have a little bit of freedom. It seems everybody decided to be very far behind. Shadow. Let her get quite a few feet ahead so I can. I can move kind of wherever I want for the moment. Yeah, it's can good reason. Yeah. Right. Yeah.
    Wherever you. Is that within reason? That's what. You okay? Yeah. Okay. So that definitely would have been more in the end. what I'm going to say, because you guys were being stealthy, you let me just do this real quick, because you guys did say you guys were being stealthy. About the only stealth through. All I ever got was from shadow.
    I don't know if the rest of the group was, though. Well, that's. Then. Let's ask that question. Were you guys being stealthy? Yes. Then let's go ahead and get some stealth checks and then we'll see if maybe you guys get a, surprise around here. The first guy was attacked anyways, a shadow. We'll see if the other guys were surprised.
    And then it was a US shadow. one, two. I don't remember. 817.
    18. Eight. 17. I think 17 was your second silver. Yeah. First of all, was like a 13. Yeah. It's low.
    We'll even see if any of it matters. so, shadow, you would be the first one up as as the hand comes across your face, what do you do? I am going to do a claw attack back.
    Oh, that is a. Dirty 22. no, I should do this because I can see it, I believe. I would hope a dirty 20 that's going to hit. That's a.
    Oh, that is six points of slashing.
    And then I'm going to swing around. this way.
    And run and then shoot him again, but this time with my bow. So with your mobility, you're able to disengage. Get past him. Go ahead. Him. that's a well, I rolled a 19 plus a lot. Oh, we'll get there. We'll hit. Okay. All the things my force damage, my bow.
    22 plus nine. 31 damage. How much? 31. How are you gonna do it? I'm going to get him right in his eye socket.
    As the as the arrow goes into the eye socket, the force of it, and with all the little, owlbear spirits, you see that? It even breaks the skull off the, off the neck bones. And as it does so, you see, like a tinge of, like, blue, very slight blue kind of light. just kind of appear almost like static electricity as it happens.
    And then the skeleton falls down like the blue light comes out of it. kind of. Kind of just as the bones break. the last bit, what was animating it just kind of like just sparks up just a bit. Very faint, just like almost static electricity, kind of in that little part. But you're able to see it happen.
    okay. Oh, the, and then I don't think I have any good bonus action, so I think that's good for me. Yeah. Oh, Artie, he's my bonus action. Okay.
    What's his speed? His speed is 40, so he's going to run up to this guy.
    On ramp to that guy, and he. How convenient.
    I'm pretty sure he has three attacks, but you might want to double check that later. Later? Well, I don't want you to have to stop. And I just wrote down extra attack equals three attacks. But I know that the companion is different than you're doing differently. I don't know, so I'll just do two.
    One with his beak and one with his claws. Oh, no. He's beak. Isn't that one. oh no. It getting it 11th. Yeah. Or your 11th level. Or 12. Right. Well what are we, 12 then. 12. He's got three. He has three attacks. Okay. Well, his beak was a that one. his claws to hit was a natural 18 plus eight.
    So 26. Okay, that's going to hit. And then his third attack to hit would be, 18 to hit. Okay. That'll hit okay. So he has two eight plus eight.
    14 slashing for him. Total 14 slashing. okay. And that's it. Do me a favor. Actually wrote me a d20. Oof! Five five. And did you have any net 24 net ones? And then he rolls your roll. Yeah. The the first time? No. Just already. So I'm on the, the.
    That's it for me. I'm gonna be all.
    All right.
    so we're going to see, his passive perception was nine. Which was two. so he is, he was surprised as he then took all these hits. Now he's aware that you guys are there.
    he we'll say pretty much they have to get a.
    Let's say we get 18. So he definitely does not get it. So he is surprised he is dead. Says you're up. Best on deck. Below me.
    All right.
    I'm going to move to this guy so that I'm flanking. Right? yeah. That'll be good enough already. And it is a little hard because already so big, I'm like, quick. Which way? Yeah, that would kind of like, okay, how about that? with me, with a delay. Okay. Kevin, 25 minute, it's going to hit 17.
    And for.
    Okay. So I think poison is not going to their immune to the poison as that as the amusing, poison hits. You see that? It doesn't seem to connect with the, the bone. but. Each one of those five was.
    except there's one thing they're like, what was the actual war? Oh, 14 okay. That's why because there's crits on the 19 or 20. I think that's the main bonus it had out of it. So, so, yeah, it's gonna be 17 points then.
    That. Oh, but that is enough. So how would you how would you like to do this?
    right on a skull between the eyes. Just the ax right there. Firm. Rex is in a. I don't know, it's a, It's not my ax. My.
    Big club. Club. My club. Sorry. Club. Right between the eyes. Yeah. So as as the club breaks down and shatters into the bone and to the skull plates and, just then down through the bridge and the teeth, you do see that? you're able to you see a little bit of what you guys saw with the other one as well.
    Just as the bone starts breaking. It's not right when you first hit it, but the last bits of bone that you start breaking through, you start seeing that little bit of blue static electricity, as the bones break apart and the whole skeleton just falls to the ground as gravity instantly takes over. Anything else? be all righty.
    Bastard. All right, so you're on deck.
    All right, so I'm going to use a. I might not be able to do this. I'm gonna use Misty step. Okay. To teleport to right here. and then I'm going to close the gap, and then I'm going to just do my two attacks. Yeah.
    So I just mark Misty step, and then see some attacks.
    Oh 28.
    28 will hit,
    Is it gone down with with 18? for now. So 18 is not enough to take it down yet?
    I just forgot to apply to a, Barlow, you're smarter than I am with a daddy. Rolls. Vulnerability works. Vulnerable means it's it's double damage whenever the dice roll is like a crit. Yeah. So I can. So what I should say, going back when you struck it, you can tell that you caused extra damage. Just even though you can see the poison was just kind of not even, like, just kind of slid right off of the bone.
    You can also tell, though, that how easily you broke through it. That's impressive. I forgot about that. Yeah. so with the second attack, Spartans. Yeah, that's going to do it, though. how would you like to do this? want to stab it in the eye with the rapier and take it out and then fling it at the next one?
    Okay. give me a, I guess just do a Dex check.
    18, roll a, check. Hold on. That was it the same? It's the same.
    Yeah. Well, looks fine. So, I would have if I, roll a, d4 or d6 to do a d6, one. All right. So, so you pierce through and as you kind of pull up, you're able to kind of fling that skill. And as it breaks off the neck once again, you see the tinges of static electricity in the neck bone as it does, the life is taken out of it, and you fling it across to the other one, and as it hits the other one, it kind of bangs right off of it and takes one point of damage.
    All right, I am right here, hopefully confusing the skeleton. And Barlow, you are, okay. And I'll walk forward toward this guy. Oh, God. I'm not sure if he's looking at me or anything. As I'm walking toward him, I pull out, the moon sword evidence and I'll. It doesn't have any effect because it's daylight, and I'm going to recklessly attack this guy myself.
    Oh, say that.
    To.
    First attack, 25. Hit. Which someone's. Shitty seven. Damage. yeah. 23 is going to hit. It.
    23
    1916. So you run up to it, you slice across it. we'll say that this is one of the ones, actually, with a bit of armor on it, as you kind of, you cut across some of the leather, old, decrepit leather and chainmail. it's still standing, though, in front of you.
    Yeah. I didn't run up to it. I walked into it. Okay. And now I have a very shocked look on this. You didn't go down with my two swings after I just watched that first one's head. But it's not like, oh, you're still up. Okay. That's it. You got it. the one in front of you. He's going to see if he was surprised.
    That's a natural 20. So he was not surprised. As he takes the blows, he's going to go ahead and return the, But I'm pretty sure, that a 15. Is that going to hit? 15 just misses. As you see, this one actually has a short sword, though you didn't notice as you walked up to it. But you notice now that it strikes out at you with a short sword, but you're able to easily fended off with your moon blade.
    and this doesn't seem like they have multiple attacks, so that is his attack. And, that one is dead, actually. Let's go ahead and just take your knife. I must be fighting the Liam over here. He's really tough.
    He uses excuses. Or maybe using your normal bludgeoning would have been a.
    Yeah, I was just about to say. Aren't your fist bludgeoning, though? You guys as well. I think my fist was the last of my. Oh, yeah. Same thing with shadow. Your your fists are not, bludgeoning. You end up doing up, with a slashing. I know they're slashing. I just thought because he's a barbarian, I thought he was a barbarian with a heavy maul.
    Oh, that's right, that's right. No, I don't have to have maul anymore. I don't use any weapons. Really. All right, that's right. You're right, you're right, that's right. You had him turned into the, the Gantlets. Yeah. So. That's right. Oh, well, but that's the reason why I don't use a sword. But I say that that's also have bludgeoning or.
    No, I don't remember. Oh, thanks a lot. But yeah, I'm looking all right. So, shadow, you are, All right, I am going to first send Artie over because he hasn't had any action in a while, so he's raring to pounce.
    All right, so his beak first. He's going to try to bite him. Oh, I know that's vision. Talk about song. it's because when we had the chance to get that mark of the adventurer, one of the options was legendary. And I was thinking about taking odds. Me. So my attacks with the slashing, with blitz, that's what it was.
    But I get I also I just remember because the Gantlet was something that we kind of came up with too, because you were about to just throw the the whole weapon away. But. They could make it into a thing or he sent right as a 12 hit. no, actually it does not. Okay. So then his claws 11 and okay.
    Natural 19 that so he strikes strikes and then what's the what's the third attack? natural 19 no. I'm sorry, what kind of an eight claws slashing. Okay. It slashes out. And how much damage could be six. As with frustration as he kind of, was, we'll say this is also the. Because I did say, like, two of them had some armor.
    So this will be the other one where you do see some bits of metal and he's hitting the metal on that last one is able to kind of cut through a bit, but the, the skeleton is still standing. It's not. I just said, it's okay, buddy, and she's going to shoot.
    28 to hit, 28 to hit. even though I see like, sass is kind of in the way there. so it would have. Oh, should I move on? It would have taken off to. I can move up, Ricochet on her back. You still had enough to hit. I'm just kind of pointing out, just think about when people are in the way, because it gives a little bit of cover.
    but you had more than enough to do it, so it's the damage. what's your damage?
    Okay. Ten 1416 plus 925 and none of it's poison, but no, but there's force. Okay. with that is enough to. Well, as we'll just say that as it goes into the central, armor bits, you can see it kind of like you hear the breaking of bone as the arrow then comes out through the backside of the, the armor, and it instantly falls down.
    There's still the one in front of. And anything else you got?
    oh. Sorry. I was looking at the other cluster. Yeah, she has another attack. She gets to natural one. Natural one? Give me a favor. She just not. Yeah, yeah. Break my bow. No, 17. So just, That's it. I got.
    And you're right, Barlow, that one's really hard to hit. yeah. The only natural 20 we've had was just already, outside of combat.
    You can. Eaton hasn't gotten a natural 20, Already didn't get a natural 20. I thought there was. No, I didn't got a one. oh. That's what, a second. That's what saying. Well, yeah. You're natural. 20 wasn't with a, attack roll, was it? Right? No. so he is dead. So take, you know, he is that particular.
    Yeah. That will take him off. So you are now up as you see the standing skeleton standing in front of Barlow, who has Barlow's eagle already broken as he is taking two hits on it and did nothing to it. An arrow from shadow. We will actually even say just a foot insult to injury. That arrow actually hit one of the pieces of metal, and flying off.
    That it boop Barlow on the nose? No, when it flew off. I'm not going to add that much insult to injury.
    Let's impose. There. So we're going to come up here.
    We say, I got you, Barlow. thanks. Yeah. You do 26 to get nine. Bludgeoning that nine is actually an 18 as it strikes down because these guys are vulnerable to the bludgeoning blow. you you smashed down on it. in fact, you hit it so hard, you can see some of the leather as it breaks down through, just like some of it turns the dust a bit.
    And, the armor starts breaking apart as it falls down in a pile below this skeleton creature that stood between you and Barlow. Now it's gone to the ground and you can stare at Barlow.
    Hey, I see the blue spark as well on this one. And yes, as the last bit of, energy, holding it together is gone. Fashion. I know you're not, necromancer type, but do you know what that blue is? Is that, like, the animation spell? Maybe, I don't know, give me an account check.
    2626. no, what we'll say is that, It's possible that, there could be some spark of energy that is, from some necromancy, the energies or whatever. But you're pretty certain, based on watching each one of these fall, that this is probably just natural magics. that is pretty common when such, animated dead are seen and, and disposed of.
    I go on to say that this is just a pet cemetery, guys, and these things just naturally come back to life. It's pretty much what the problem is. Yeah, it's a good way of looking at it. That's not creepy. We can rebury them and see if they come back.
    Or shall we go down in the mausoleum and see if there's any more? Yep. Check. I wasn't sure. Maybe shatter doesn't want to go first this time. I'll go in first. Where about guys? I won't follow after Barlow. Going where? Sorry, I was right. And send them into inside the mouth. Yeah, I heard you. As you walk into the mausoleum.
    You see, it's, 1020.
    But a little bit over 25ft until you see the statue at the back. you can see that, This, it we'll see it. It looks like an angel of some sort. but you can see below it it looks like there's, a one little, plaque that's underneath it, on the sides, you see, just a bunch of various little, old plaques that are there, some of them look broken, though.
    it looks like that these are the kind of just where they would bury the dead inside of those things.
    Okay, I'm going to grab one of the skulls up. One of the ones that they get disintegrated, and I'm going to pull it all the way up to the statue, roll across. give me a rolling. No, I'm just kidding. yeah. As you grab one of the skeletons that wasn't demolished, it rolls across. you don't seem to notice anything out of the ordinary as it, slows down and it comes to arrest against the, the base of the.
    Where it seems that somebody was interred underneath the statue. Okay, okay, I'll go and carefully as you go in, wait, that someone was interred under the angel? Well, like, there's a plaque, so. Oh, okay. Possibly. They were kind of. Oh, the fact looks very much like the ones on the walls on the side. So that's reason why I think that, probably where the CCP buried them.
    Don't. I thought. Right. I won't go in. And back. You know, all the way up to the statue and see if I can read the plaque. Sure. give me a perception check.
    Yes.
    This.
    Was. Okay.
    was the plexi,
    Give me a second.
    So, on the plaque, you see, two names. This.
    Says Elora and Gareth of house teller.
    I don't see anything unusual in here, guys. Some guys will come in and look. What's your languages and language? You knows? what you're doing? Goblin comment and intercom. You can see, some script underneath that. You're not sure exactly what it says.
    Was there any name or anything on the like going into the market? Liam? How sometimes there's, like a family name on the top as you answer. we'll say that you did see, since you're still outside, you would be able to see, above the door. what thing would just do you speak, common draconic dwarvish goblin to back.
    See?
    Yes. That's similar to. I mean, I don't imagine we'll find to see anywhere. Yeah, I'm surprised it's not on my list. I think.
    I know what script they use.
    Know. One second.
    One is that they use the normal script. Just that it's hard to read. you wouldn't know what the words mean. but we'll say that actually, Yeah, I guess they would have it in English. in common as well. So. Yeah, they would, you would see on the outside with it said House to Lyra, above the door.
    And then it looks like it says it kind of in a different kind of, no, I guess it would be the same there. Right. That's fine. We'll just say house until her house to Laura would have been above the door. Yeah. Sorry.
    And there would been, So there was some script that you couldn't read, though. Barlow. on the door, underneath where it had the, where it says the letter and Gareth of House to Laura. You can see it. It's with the same kind of letters as common, but it's it seems almost like, garbage. not garbage, like Greek fuel is back.
    Is it recognizable? Even if we can't read it? like, I know what Italian looks like, but I can't read Italian. Well, but it would be almost like, Yeah. although, yeah, I guess would be the same thing. So use the same romantic, romantic romance language. letters. What should.
    This. Yeah. Get over here. You know, all of it. I don't know all of them guys here learned I go, I go in history would be the best thing I can think of. Shadow. If you wanted to try to figure out what you might think, it might be, I'm an, we'll say bastion in front of the statue and say, what is this?
    We'll say history or intelligence.
    I will let, you into it. He's young, with history. I don't know what he's saying. okay. But it's your turn off in the languages you.
    You have. Sir. Who are you asking? I'm looking. I'm looking at Besson's sheet. Brooklyn. Okay. Yeah, he had to go because the kids are in first. Both of them. Both of them? Only one of them is shouting with both of them. Okay, that's tough. Yeah. And what was your shout out? My. What are your languages? Languages are outside of common to back see draconic Dwarvish and Goblin.
    dwarves. Dwarves use different type of script. So runes. Right? Yeah, yeah. More runic. And then, like hard runes generally. And Sylvan, we don't know what it was in this world of swords. Yeah, right. But it could be different. It's a bit mixed because it could be hieroglyphic. Yeah. A lot of the cultures actually are using a lot of the forgotten, real stuff, only because that's where the settlers came from.
    Oh, you guys have learned a little bit of it's not like common knowledge, but in your guys's adventures, you guys have met some scholars of, learned folk, and that's some of the things you guys have kind of kind of come across, is how it seems like with the old rule that used to be here of Toril, some of those people from Toril have come here.
    So. Okay.
    Even though, what I would say as well, with the bastion gets here set up. Actually, I'll just leave it up. That way you can decide what he wants to say. So at that time.
    Any time I see it, I think behind the statue is a movable or so. Or they ask. It's at the left and right of us or what? Second heritage. We type a whisper. Oh, so he's ready? okay. What do I know? Give me a second. He's giving you a whisper so that you can decide if you want to tell us.
    There you go. Or you can model. there's two rectangles to the left and right of us. Is that like, there's a side. There's, like, a long wall of various, little crypts, like little crypt stones. Yeah. And, so, like I said, some are broken and whatnot.
    And then I wanted to check the statue, see if it's movable, because last time we encountered the statue, something like this in a church that was able to, go out, give me a, look how how much strength where we almost died. Are you going to push? I will just barely push. I'm going to push slowly and ramp it up until I'm giving it full force to see if it actually moves, I'm sure.
    Give me a strength check, then. Right. This is,
    Halfling language, you guys. I don't speak it, though. Oh, would it be normal to think that we'd have parchment and ink? Or at least Bastian would have parchment? I don't know. Is that in your inventory question? Do you have any parchment? You have your sketchbook, though? True. I want to take a, rubbing. okay. what are you going to use?
    I don't think you have, like, any pencil or chalk or the tinderbox. I give her a piece of charcoal. Perfect. Oh, yeah. I have a tinderbox, too. I use the charcoal. Good idea. And you take a rubbing of the, the inscription. Yeah. Okay. It's probably nothing, but she's curious.
    Give you something?
    Okay, so you had that, Barlow, your strength check was ten. you kind of like you said. You were kind of, like, barely. And then trying to nudge it up a bit more. nothing seems to really budge a bit. as you were kind of getting to a point where, like, without breaking it, you could feel like you were getting to a point that if you put more pressure on it, you're just going to break it.
    because of how old this is, I often start looking around it to see if there's, like any mechanisms or anything like that I might be able to. sure. Give me a but investigation or, yeah, let's do an investigation. So that's technically what you are doing.
    When do, what I'll say is that you start investigating the statue, and you don't see any type of mechanism. Nothing like that. in one of the little broken crib stones off to the side, though, you do see, it looks like, a piece of paper, green with a, like, a slight bit of aging and mold on it.
    The paper is green. He just kind of sees a just a flash of it in one of these little, like, off to the side, there's like one of the the broken heads, like plates that the name plates, it's been broken out. It's been broken. And you can kind of see there's like a piece of, paper that's in there.
    You gotta try to. That's why it stands out. I took a piece of paper. okay. This one is actually written in common, so you don't have to worry about that.
    When you see a letter.
    There. You know, so it says, dearest Amelia, the flickering candlelight dances on these cold stone walls. Well, as you kind of read through it, it seems like it's kind of, a bit of about love, but unrequited unlike. It seems that All Star had some love for this. Amelia. And, just never really got a chance to really fully express it before she passed.
    Of it onto the rest of the. And I look on the floors to see if there's been any disturbance in the dust, like a swinging, hidden swinging door or fence or anything like that. go and do an investigation check.
    Rolls suck to night.
    1212. you start kind of prodding and hearing, and looking around for any type of, the only thing that you do spot is, it looks like at some point you could tell that maybe some of the skeletons, maybe kind of walked through here, but it doesn't look like they walked into a wall and stopped or anything like that.
    so you're not really getting any, you're not finding any any evidence of any secret passages or anything like that or anything untoward.
    He's going to just start pushing every plaque, like going along the wall and hitting all the plaques. Sure. But then like a little tap, tap and like a pound, they would come back to me. Give me an give me a swing check. I'm not trying to break them. I know what he like. Tap on. Hey you guys are both doing it.
    Yeah I thought you were doing that. I'm going around just tapping my the hilt of my sword on things to see if there's any. All those boxes. Okay, then all three of you guys give me strength checks. Almost. Good, right? Yep. You're not doing that best. So you're sitting in the middle of a room reading that level interference.
    Okay. Yeah. Okay. Dramatic interpretation. Oh, I agree with you. Oh, I know these walls are worth. Yeah, I've been rolling, like, eight, five, four, six. Time to get new dice, stupid. I'm rolling all my dice, and they're all failing me. Bastion, what's your strength? Check. Oh.
    I think that is the universe's sign that I need to new dice. So. Yeah. You guys, you guys are kind of poking and prodding. nothing seems to happen. yeah. not, you know, finding anything. You're not spotting anything. You're not. Hey, guys, why were we here again? Just investigating the church. Yeah, there's been some disagreement. Yes.
    Garm was, Thought to be spotted here. Yeah. Spotted here. And then the town in general says that a lot of the undead have been coming up recently, like, you know, in this area. So it's kind of a twofer on the way up here. Is there any kind of the name of Alastair or Emily or Amelia on any of these?
    the, the, The Broken Stone that, the letter was found in, you could see that part of it's broken apart, so you don't the full name is not there, but it does end up having a Leah. Those letters are still recognizable. It looks like if it said Amelia, the army had been broken off with the rest of the chunk that's broken off.
    How far is the, church from here? I think what I said was this was like, just a little bit off to the side. so you're looking at, like 20ft. I think it was.
    Not too far away. like when you come out of the, of it, you can see it right there in front, like, shadows going to walk out and use a ring for. that or is it, I think it's seen that. Yeah. See, invisibility. Oh, wait. No, she's going to use detect good and evil.
    Detect good and evil. Yeah.
    let me see that. And while she's doing that, I will do, detect magic.
    Kind of cover all of our bases here. How come it's not in the compendium? Well, detect good and evil.
    Oh, detect evil and good. Sorry.
    Ten minutes. Okay. Aberration. Celestial. Elemental. Fey. Fiend or undead? Within 30ft of me.
    I also know if there's a place or an object that has been magically consecrated or desecrated. It can penetrate most barriers, but it's blocked by one foot of stone. An inch of metal led to three feet of wood or dirt.
    So what I will say is.
    And she's looking towards the church.
    It's kind of almost like, a strange mixture as as you kind of, as you cast the spell from the US ring and you start to see these various glows of energy, kind of almost like, emanating from the ground itself, it seems. And you can see almost like faint traces. So it's not like strong, like overriding, but just like, almost like a very faint mist, both good and evil in various spots of the church, some of it kind of mixed in so well that it almost, kind of becomes like.
    It's almost like a third kind of, alignment of its own. Since you think the spell really looks of those two main kinds. around the church, everywhere, here, everywhere. as far as, like, all the tombstone areas, this is, yeah. When people are, when most people are buried, there are some type of sacraments that are put to them.
    And of course, over time, there's probably been some never do, people with ne'er do wells that have probably kind of desecrated in, in various places. And all of this mixed together is just this kind of weird melting pot of it all. and the same thing with the Detect Magic. you're picking up like, nothing that stands out.
    Like there's not like a. Oh, my God, here's a bright light for either one of you guys. Really? if anything you notice, the church is probably the part that would glow the more the most, though, with any good or evil. And it seems to be more on the good side of it. but the the magic part, you get a lot of like, traces, though, especially with abjuration over, many of the tombstone spots almost.
    And you also pick up definitely, a faint bits of necromantic necrotic. Necromancy throughout the, I still can't say it, trope. That's the common thing. There's. Yeah, there's 15 different ways to say it, actually. let me just say I just love that you trip up every time, but yeah, yeah, every time it's wrong. So you're picking up, though, like what I will even say, though, with your background as a wizard and everything else.
    And, you're not picking up any strong like, presence of necromancy. There doesn't seem to be. Oh, it seems like all the magic that might be here you're picking up is not so much of, like, a magic item, just bits of spells that have probably been cast over time that have the residual energies are still kind of here.
    Plus, just having these many undead buried in a spot almost kind of presents its own kind of energy into the into the world. but there's nothing that stands out. I would say, actually give me, give me an investigation. a perception check so that for best. Fitting. what we'll say is, you do see one tombstone where now, with the detect magic.
    you do see a ring? top of the, tombstone.
    I go over to check out the ring. Okay. give me a second here.
    A name on the tombstone. Oh, yeah. And what's the name on the tombstone?
    Then you.
    Is it down by the river? Yep. Is it in a van? Down by the river. It's shadow. I would already react to seeing a, disembodied skeleton head floating right in front of his face. I mean, I imagine he's probably seen all kinds of crazy shit being with us, but he'll probably try to, like, swipe it or bite it, because there's one right in front of him now, moving away, moving towards you.
    But what?
    There's a little floating skull floating on part. Yeah. Yep. Came out of the grave. So for now, going explore for you are outside.
    Can I see it? You see, you turn around. Yeah. And that.
    I think she read that whole book. She might actually so the tombstone.
    Has the name El Rho here. you as a speaker of elven Sylvan recognize that as an elf name. And, You see this, little ring, It's a it looks pretty simple. would, but it's glowing with a, Goodness. What kind of would that.
    Form bright enough to where? I see where I'm detecting it. Yeah, because in the ring seems to have both, bits of allusion to it. a bit of, divinity divination to it and enchantment to the ring. and you're seeing as you look at the wooden ring, I don't know if you've picked it up or not, but you can see it's very simple, and it looks like there's like little carvings in it of various animal creatures all the way around it.
    Was just sitting on the the two. It's it's kind of like a tombstone. And then it's somebody had placed it on top of their.
    Priorities trying to bat at this floating skeletal head in cat or and roll it and.
    Making it until it.
    But it's his left eight. All right. you know, buddy, this guy's, Should I pick it up?
    Here. Yeah. Of course. That at the skull. He hits it, it shatters. Oh, you see the little. And then you see a little spectral hand in there waving either he tries about at that to kind of disappears. All right, all right. Picking up marbles, having too much fun as of now. Oh, no. And I don't know, you were not cursed.
    you are now dead. Yeah. Holding just a magic ring.
    I have to see if I can see what, what what it was, give me an going. Give me an Arcana check.
    009 20 than that 20. give me another d20.
    Okay. as you examine the ring, though, you you've heard of such rings? This is a, a ring. It's it's a pretty common ring with, especially elves and stuff like that. but a ring of animal influence.
    Ring. Animal influence. If you meant to say influence or animal influence.
    You and influence.
    So where it will all of is to you. This ring has three charges. It will regain one. The three of those expended charges. Every day at dawn while you wear the ring. you can use an action to expand one of its charges to cast one of the following spells an animal friendship sphere, which targets only beasts that have an intelligence of three or lower, though, or speak with animals.
    And it does not need attunement. That's pretty cool. Yeah. Somebody you do want to speak to them?
    What'd you say? I said it seems like. Want to speak? Oh, not you. Fashion. I said that you want to speak regarding.
    Your eye problems in the ring.
    I'll stick it on and immediately cast. Speak with. You cast now she's cursed. Oh, he's not an animal, though, is he? And you look at Artie. And what are you trying to say? That already? Hey. Hi, buddy. And I heard you. And you realize that he's still looking at an animal? He's mad. Is he a monster? She's not a monster, is he?
    You mean that? All right, off the back? Yeah, yeah, with a shot? Yeah, yeah, I'll get it back. I have I have thought about changing that, but that is just so much more fun. It's. Yeah, I know, I mean, we can throw the, Yeah, the helm of intellect on them. Very. Who? We've been talking about that forever ago.
    I'll keep that detect evil and good as we, walk towards the church and stuff. It's up for ten minutes. Okay. Heads up. What are you guys doing that's going towards the church? Yeah, I think so. Unless bastion wants to rob some more graves. As you get to the church, you do see, with the, the spell up,
    As you get closer to the church, you do recognize. You do feel that the church has some type of blessing? some good type of blessing on it, enough that it seems that actually kind of keep any of the the little mist of evil that might be in the area kind of really encroaching into it. so it seems like it is sacred ground as you get to the actual church and we'll say, like even just a bit of the, the area around it.
    but this is definitely a very old church. is it like a one room kind of church? It is. Yeah. It's definitely just like one big room. the.
    It doesn't even seem like it's even, like, dedicated towards any one deity of any kind. So this is this is probably more like a kind of like an open church, to whomever, which probably makes it a little bit easier when it comes to how a cemetery. And going, keeping mine up as well. I'm going to walk the perimeter with Artie, so he'll be sniffing for anything that shouldn't be there.
    And shadow wants to look to see if there's any kind of basement or window or trap door. So are you going inside or are you on the outside? Outside? So on the outside, go ahead and give me like a dorm cellar or anything like that. Go and give me an investigation.
    He's sniffing for things with his keen sight and smell. Oh, Artie, investigation or perception for Artie? Oh, it's still be investigating. You kind of investigating the area.
    And it be perception. Damn it. He has a -313 for Artie. Well, then just do you. And just do that with an advantage. Absolutely.
    dirty? No. What is my investigation? Five. So that would be a 2222. Yeah. We'll say that you feel pretty confident as you kind of investigate the area. Doesn't seem you're not finding any secret passage is. No, no, no apparent passages. it's pretty simple all the way around it.
    I'll go back inside and join the others. are the others going inside the church with Hassan? Yeah. Check the door. Actually, I'll be checking the door for traps. Well, I'll certainly go ahead and, give me an investigation on that.
    So, you don't see any traps?
    All right. let's try to open the door. Don't assume it's in because. And then, what's your perception? Your, passive. Passive. 1616. What's so pretty good? Yeah, all my wisdom stuff got bumped up a little. Level up 12. I took resilience and wisdom, so I thought, oh, nice. Now I. I was tired of failing wisdom.
    Says that's fair. As you as you open the door. you do notice this little piece of wood flake off to the the the top corner of the doorway? it's not very big, and it just kind of flutters to the ground as you open the door.
    Okay, we've done that to our rooms before, haven't we? Like, put a little piece of something in front of the door so we could tell if anybody's been through or not. oh, yeah. Have we done that before? But I don't know. Would we have recognized that? Maybe that's what it was. I mean, that's reasonable assumption. If you wanted to if you noticed it, you could come to that conclusion.
    I'm not going to say that I don't think your characters would have had to have done it themselves. I think that if they saw that, they could come to that idea.
    All right. We'll go in and close the door. What was it? A piece of paper. Piece of wood. So slight piece of wood, almost like. No, I don't see a toothpick. But it would be something along those lines. Liver. okay. and I will close the door and I'll stick it in the approximate space I first saw it fall from.
    From on the inside. Sure. give me a, Let's do that as an intelligence. Okay.
    Great. Roll. No modifiers. 13. Okay. You're pretty sure, but it looks as close as you can get it. based on, it wasn't like you saw before it fell, but that's probably about where it was. Yeah.
    as you guys look through this, church,
    it's pretty simple. very spartan.
    just rows of pews. the pews seem to be, Oh. stone. And they go on the left. On the right. neat rows for the most part. you can see definitely parts of that, that are kind of breaking. It seems like in here, all the, the decay that's outside is not as much on the inside of here, though.
    I'm not saying that it doesn't look a little rundown, but out of everything you've seen on these grounds, this is the least rundown. Part is the inside of this church. any footprints? Then give me an investigation. You can do with an advantage at this point. Spread out and look around to see. Yeah. Spread everybody else helping up.
    Let's do it with the bench. that's cocked.
    Even worse. 12.
    That's investigation, right? Yeah. Yeah. You're going around. You go up to the you see, there is a stage in, the area in the front. there is a, simple, little. Pedestal, like, podium. Yeah. Podium up there kind of thing. Lectern. any papers on the podium behind it? You don't see any papers?
    Suppose you're 13 or 10. Was your 12 okay? you you definitely. You could tell, like, there's, like, still, like, candle incense kind of smell here. even though it seems like, who knows, the last time it was ever used, as you do get to the, the the lectern looking you don't see any papers? But you do see, a simple wooden button.
    Ooh. All right, check this out. Okay. I still want to see if it's trapped first. Barlow.
    Yeah. Take a look. Just as a cursory glance. Is there any religious iconography anywhere? nothing that, like, points out to any single religion of any kind. It seems like, probably when people would use the space they would bring in, the symbols of their faith. so this is a not like a non-denominational, if you will.
    it's it seems to be like just a holy space that has been sanctified by many different, priests over the years and acolytes, but none of them have ever fully said that's one or the other. Barlow investigates the area, and you're seeing the mechanism. It's it's kind of hidden inside of the woodwork. So it's really hard to tell.
    But you don't seem to see anything that's trapped. can I cast iron traps? certainly a Jesus.
    So find traps and traps.
    you sense the presence of any trap within range that is within line of sight. The traps are the purpose of the spell. And since anything that would like the sudden or unexpected affects.
    Previous clutch spells here present. You don't learn the location of each trap, but you do learn the general nature of the danger posed by the trap that you sense. Just glad I had it equipped with in line of sight, all instantaneous. So you go up to the podium, the and the lectern, and you cast iron traps. And as the, final verbal component leaves your lips, you're sitting there and you're not picking up anything around you at all.
    You don't feel that there's any trap in this room or anywhere that you can see right now. I relate that to the group. Okay. Push the button. Barlow. Push the button will gather all together just in case. It's like a drop down. Should we tie a rope around his waist? Okay. as you push the button. Yeah, I'm looking at the floor.
    My feet on the trapdoor. again, you do start hearing a hum of and mechanisms moving underneath you, and I grab Barlow's wrist and the left turn, then begins to move to the one side. And as it does so, you see below you a hole that goes down with a, a ladder.
    That's something right? Fit down or no. Barlow are in the hole. It's it's like a, five foot kind of thing or less. it's going to be tight for Artie. if he goes down, will he be able to get back up? The problem, really, with Artie, those. I don't know how well he can climb up and down ladders.
    Right. That's what I mean. If he if he he could jump down. But can he get back up? Yeah, that it looks like it goes down. Probably. A good 20 or 30ft down. Artie might need to keep watch. Yeah.
    All right, buddy, stay here and keep watch. Maybe he has, What's it called? A, boot, a hoot, a hoot. Give a hoot. I'll tell him to. To give a hoot if anything is coming. is that joke in there somewhere? No. Here is hoot and a hoot. with the bond that you have made with him, he you feel like he understands, and you see him kind of like, find a good, comfortable place that he kind of feels like he can see around and be ready for you, to react.
    Is there. Can we tie a rope to the lantern or to the lectern just in case? And do you think. Do we think it's strong enough? Or, if we like, tie it to one of the benches? Is it close to a pew that we could tie it to, just in case the ladder start to deteriorate? Oh, so you're saying, I mean, yeah, I mean, if you want to tie a rope to it.
    Just in cases, since everything else is crumbling and falling apart.
    so, yeah, you're able to, give me just, dexterity or investing or intelligence check whatever one you want as you tie this knot. Oh, I know, okay, 14 I'm rolling. Like shit. Was a dexterity or intelligence dexterity. Okay. you feel like it's a pretty good knot. Oh, cool. We're good. I want to give a hoot.
    I have, like, put down the whole. Well, yeah. Yeah, that's exactly what I want to make the location a try to do, like. Yes. Yeah. Sean. What? Barlow said I'm telling Artie to, like, hoot down into the hole, hoping that it will echo if anything happens.
    All right. Is is the whole way. The whole way below is the whole lit on the way down the ladder. no. As you look down, it goes down into darkness. that's only because the fact. Yeah, yeah. You guys have the cats have dark vision, so you'd be able to see the bottom picture. Okay, I'll go down.
    All right, let's check it out. As you as you climb down the, the stairwell here. you're noticing, like, the stonework in the. It doesn't look like it's from here. the stonework is in only because, there's still light at the top part. you noticing the stone is, like, almost like a black stone. and, a, an old kind of rusty metal that makes the, the ladder as you go down.
    As you get to the bottom, you do see another button down there. This one is made of stone. And then you see that the, there's a hallway that goes down, it's about five foot wide, so, you know, and then it's a probably about like, say, six feet high. And it seems like it kind of goes down at a, a downward slope, not steep, just a slight downward slope.
    So we have a button and a hallway.
    You think the button just closes the lectern? Yeah, probably supposed to. Behind it. You need some support.
    Any disturbance in the dust on the floor down here? give me an investigation.
    Try different guys. Better 1919. No, 17. 17. here, you're seeing a bit more. not it's not like there's there's no. Wait. Yeah, and sorry, my brain is stupid tonight. 19. It is 19. And I don't think you did, actually. Yeah, because you only did outside. but here you are definitely seeing a little bit of markings.
    you're seeing it seems that, you can't really tell how many different people have come through here, but you can tell that there's recent markings, footprints coming through here, going down towards the, through the tunnel.
    You said that the the stone is different than what's above the church. The church? A lot of stonework that's up there is very, alabaster white, a bit of ivory, kind of a lot of white light colored stones up there. But it seems like this tunnel was carved with some type of black stone. And as you are now in this area here, well, actually, down here you don't see color because you're just using dark.
    And so it's all black and white, but it's definitely on the darker side. Oh, it's dark is down here. Okay, I will, I saw a light go up. Move light. Get on the real light so I can see more detail. so as you as you do pull it out. you definitely see, a darker stone that's down here.
    kind of like what was in the tunnel with the, the ladder.
    And you do see footprints and, like, is this is this corridor or whatever walking down wide enough to be side by side? Two people know it's about five feet, so it's pretty narrow. Okay. but like I said, it's around like, six feet above. Okay. We'll stay out on the foot path of the feet. Yeah. The footprints.
    Oh, I see them. Yeah, because it was really wide. See? Footprints on one side of the hallway.
    Let's just walk on like, Okay. that should be there, too, I think. So, you'll see. Also, on the on the floor two, the middle part of the road. the middle part of the floor, actually, now that you put up the sword, it's actually got, like a red kind of stone that kind of, goes down, like, almost like a red path.
    In the stone, it's like a red stone that they've kind of. It's it's a very. Oh, red, almost like, it seems a little bit more like, that rust, but like a brick. I guess I could take a break. Red. Yeah, it's a little bit like, kind of like a brick. Kind of, I guess, but a little bit more natural.
    Not if that makes sense, but. But the same kind of goes down the color of the passenger, I guess, of a brick. And that's kind of a pathway. okay.
    I head down the block and then are you, let's go ahead and do a, a marching order. So we'll just do, going to the left. I'll be right behind. I will take up the rear, Arlo. Mean, first of all, it's like, I'm not sure what's right. We're walking to the left. You go left to the left.
    All right. So I'm to get behind me. There we go. Yeah, I'm. I'm gonna take up the rear just in case anything surprises us from behind. And then. Are we being sneaky stealthy? Anything. Oh, so we're trying to be careful? Probably. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, maybe if you apply it. Yeah, yeah. So, we we try is my ten minutes of that detect evil.
    By this point, it would have, it would have, oh. Say as if it's gone. I'll cast, pass without trace. Yeah. Because it would have been ten minutes walking around the walking to it, going around the thing and then investigating the inside. So yeah, at this point it would have been burnt off. What, are we going to come back?
    Pass without trace. That's without a trace. And then everybody go ahead and give me, stealth, school passing it. Yeah. So out of ten, out of ten to it. Okay, 2719 array 2912 plus ten a 22 versus. Wait, why is a plus ten? pass without trace. Oh, okay. Yeah. So 22. So it's 27. Barlow. Yes. And, 29 and 32.
    No, 29. 22. What am I to mess? No. Yeah. 32. No. Ten what? 1119 I see what, 2719 20 to 29 with at this point you're just throwing random numbers. Okay. So it felt like 30 or 30, from 29, 27, 1922, it looked so definitely pretty good. that should be in the low end on it. as you guys kind of do come through here.
    And then, that Barlow, you were you got the high perception, what was your passive HP -22? And then go ahead and give me a, a perception check for the go and do it with advantage. So as you kind of got everybody with you and. But you're the point man. what we'll say is, as you kind of walk through this hallway,
    You get to a point where it looks like it's kind of there's an opening where there's light coming in at the end of the hallway. there's literally light at the end of the tunnel. Exactly.
    And a little light. you're hearing sounds. Voices. you really can't make it out, with a perception of 14 of what you hear. But you you do hear. Oh, shit. That's right. They think I'm with you guys.
    Yeah. You hear some type of, discussion at some point, it seems. And wherever this thing opens up. And the rest of us hear it. Now, I'll turn to everybody behind me and having shorts over to my face, I'll do that. You have a, the international symbol for being quiet. we'll say that interdimensional thing everywhere in the universe smells of that.
    Yeah, let's say at that. And then I'll knock out the light. I'll put the sword away. I was going to darken. Can you guys see? Okay, so does it sound like the voices are heated or just a discussion? You can't really make it out. It's. It sounds like. It's almost like echoing off the walls, if you will, too.
    By the time it gets to you, it's just there's a it's just noise. You can't tell what's and what the emotion is that's in it.
    As we creep closer, can we, determine if it's a lot of voices or just a couple? it's hard to make out from where you're at. A lot of, toward the light. Yeah.
    as it it begins the white and up here a bit. as you get towards the end and the, it seems that the.
    Walls are a little bit less orderly, if you will, a little bit less structure, as it kind of white ends up a bit, too. And we will go ahead and. Hold on here. I don't want you guys to see everything, though. And I didn't make it from seven. So to this.
    We'll start to one of the more of like a natural cave formation. kind of like it's definitely been dug in, but it's, Oh, yeah, it's definitely not as is. The red is still there. Yeah, there's still a little red pathway kind of in the ground here.
    Oh it is clear this out.
    At this time, some work.
    So, in the bottom right hand of the map.
    you guys aren't there.
    As you guys are kind of coming to the at left.
    ignore the little red little thing that's across the way there. That's that's not there. That's just meant to represent the, I guess, the end of the hallway, if you will.
    What would you guys like to do? Okay, that's that's keeps asking for the voices. Yeah. You can.
    The room starts to kind of open up a bit into, a much wider room. You're seeing, like, some pillars in here. I just feel distance here.
    Yeah, I guess that's fine. as as it kind of opens up a bit.
    Actually, this is.
    Obviously.
    you kind of seeing, some pillars in here? this seems like a very old, old room. and as you kind of just start kind of peering in, you are seeing what looks like some very old, but very ornate tombstones or, sorry. coffins or what is the one that's more ceremonial and kind of sarcophagus of, like, more sarcophagi?
    I'm thinking it seems like it's a pretty large room, and it goes off the, in this case, north, if you will. You're not really sure the directions at this point. It doesn't matter.
    Yeah. How many of those did you take? you're seeing, like, a handful of them right here. like from where? Well, from where you guys are, you can only see, like, maybe, looks like 2 or 3. Maybe sarcophagus sarcophagi. This, I'll keep going in slowly and listening for direction. Thing opens up where the voices might be coming from, even though it is echoing.
    Sure. give me a louder.
    Keep ears open. Right. You're hearing the. The sounds are coming way up here, so I just don't know. How far do you want to go into the room? or if you want to sneak around in through the room or want to sneak around. Oh, we are still sneaking. Yeah, yeah, just. Shadow kind of wants to sneak around to these in the sarcophagus.
    Hug a wall? yeah. We'll run to the corner of the wall. go, like, over here. There? Yeah, exactly. All right. As possible. So, yeah, as you guys start kind of coming in, but, you know.
    So, as you guys do, come in here, you're seeing, like it looks like to the north that there was something about,
    You're seeing, like, it looks like there's, like, some type of ornate runic kind of stuff on the ground place there. you're also seeing, quite a few individuals. right here you're seeing, we can't see that far, but. Oh, to see to see that here. Realize that. Never mind. Yeah. Okay. Because. Yeah. is it lit in here?
    So it's a dim light, so. Yeah, I might as well just turn it off because it's not brightly lit, but you can see that there's like, various, so, we'll say that there's glowing stones. We'll just make it that way. That works.
    With, two.
    Oh, I see about so. Yeah. Oh, shit. As you look down through the rooms, this is always the part of, like, trying to figure out how vision works and stuff like that. So, like, I can look down. Frick it down the street. yeah. And the. There are, there's a bit of glowing, actually. I guess there would be,
    Well, there's no actually lit up. This this map is a little, incorrect in that sense. The map works for other purposes. so there's, like, they're not seeing, like, all this red stuff. Just ignore that. There's no mystical energies or anything like that, but you are seeing in the center here. you do see Garm, and it looks like he's having a conversation with somebody else here.
    you're seeing one, two, three, four. There's five different people with black robes that are talking, and one of them is talking to Garm. And behind Garm, you see two individuals. actually, she should have been here. Two? No, actually, she's not gonna be here. It makes more sense. you will see. So behind Garm, you see what looks like, Garm behind him.
    But you actually realize now that they have, like, a. Silvery mirror, chrome like appearance about them.
    And what they look like are. But they're very much look similar. The Garm. you you're picking up, a memory of when you guys were in the fey world in the, The chrome. Well, and you guys saw what look like mirror duplicates of yourselves. It looks like Garm has two of those with him. Oh, and before that, right about here, you see a dead body on the floor.
    And we do see this. The circular room's runes. We just don't see the red threads. Not there. But there are the ruins on the ground. Work down there that. Do we recognize the dead body? You do not recognize the dead body?
    You don't even have the role for. Oh, never met this person. You have no recollection of this person. And we make out any conversation yet. I will give you since this. This. Oh, no. You've never actually been to this place. Though I don't think this is a little bit further east than where you normally would have gone. So never mind.
    I guess you would have been. Yeah. You keep make up your mind. I'm trying to think, though, because, like, we're in, we're very close to Bastian's. Like where his character's from. So let's do it. disadvantage history. Check. Oh. Hold on. Oh, there we go. Oh, disadvantage. Okay, Roland, can you. I was going to give a very slight chance.
    19 or 20. I know it's a little bit higher than 20. Yeah, it's. Yeah, but I was going to give it a chance and maybe you would have bumped into this person. Is the dead body also in black robes? no. You actually notice that it looks like he is, it looks more like white. more white.
    almost like, eggshell. but you do recognize that as much as it looks like a, general kind of, acolytes robes.
    On. Wow. The conversation. we hear it now. Better, go ahead and give me a perception check.
    And any of us try to listen for the conversation. Go forth. Let me get a drink. I'm actually.
    Gonna get a good one. Wants to. Come on.
    Only single digit rolls.
    Want somebody? It. Yeah. I got a Nat 20. I hope I hear it. That's why for a 3220. Oh, 19 plus.
    Hello? Yeah, give me a second. I lost everybody, he's searching. Oh. There's nothing, I got disconnected. No, we didn't lose this.
    the whole time, I was like to kind of say something else on. Oh, cool.
    so. Bastion got a 25 perception shout out there to. So,
    You're picking up. It seems like they're.
    It's almost like it seems like there's some type of a trade going on. you hear at this point.
    You would hear Garm telling him that he. I have what I told you I would have. And, I just want to make sure that you guys have what you were supposed to bring for me. And from the. It's hard to make out, really, from the gentleman in the cloak, in the dark, in the black robes, because he has a very gravely voice.
    But he does say, we've held on to this relic for a very long time, and it's nice to see that it's a value that's finally coming in to help us. You see, the gentleman in the black robe, pulls out something out of a bag and he hands it over to calm. Gar and pulls out of his bag what looks to be the metallic, the metal encasing that was over the hand of Iggy, and he hands that over.
    And, you have the other stone as well, right? And the gentleman in the black robe says, oh, of course I know that wasn't as important. No way. I'm sorry. Nope. I had that wrong. I'm back. My bad. Let's back up. Abstract. Sorry. I was going to do that much. Are you clipping your nails? No, I'm playing with magnets.
    Come. Down. Clipping nails. So I just keep hearing like a click, click, click. Sounds like nail clippers. so he he says I, he has what he had what he wanted to trade for the gentleman. The black robe says how it's finally going to come into value. And so they exchange, so, wait. Yep. Since you backtracked, Garm has the metal hand case.
    He's handing it over to the gentleman in the black robes. Okay.
    Should we stop them in the black? PogChamp? All of them turn the channel. When he grounds over all of them cuz.
    We want to do this now. Tell me when and I'll do it. Well, once I know how, I'm gonna be able to somebody else. Are you gonna get. All right, I can do it.
    You see, one of the, the chrome gentleman. That looks like arm come up to the arm. The other one comes up to him on the other side.
    You see them start exchanging words and whispers.
    You guys can do anything. I'm going to shoot it. Yep yep yep yep yep. What? He's shooting spike growth. seven shots. So where are you going to shoot it. Go ahead and put out the little, Okay. Let me find that. Where's the ruler? There. Ruler five. No use that. You know, is it? It's 20ft radius or 20ft diameter.
    I didn't look radius. Radius. 20ft radius. Yeah, it's unit radius. I want to center it. Yeah, on the two of them. Garm and the dude that has the metal hand. Now.
    Okay, so with that action, we will go ahead and put up an initiative.
    Oh, shoot. It's not going to.
    Answer once more. The same circle hurts him.
    Two.
    It's shrapnel. No, no, I say I beat shadow on this. You know.
    Let's see. Not. Yeah. I rolled my force.
    And all we heard the other guy say was that he had the relic.
    And a stone that he. That. No, the stone part I was going, I misspoke, but it it. Well, it is a stone. Oh, he was handing over, the one he was trading. Would you pick it up? He was trading for a, some other type of, artifact that they had that he needed. Okay. And an artifact.
    Okay. But we have no idea what he's talking about. Yeah.
    Yeah, I just as soon as she passed that, I was out.
    So this.
    So, Well, we bastions, follow shadow, I think. Cool. as the, it says cultist authorized, and they're just cultist is what I'm saying, that, the. Cultist or the gentleman that's next to Garm? he's the one that seems more surprised. You see him? Look at guard. I'm like, what is this? what about. There we go.
    So, shadow, even though technically you did that first act, I'm going to consider that just the act of aggression that starts it. So I'm not going to have a take away from your turn, but I don't want to be first. What are we doing? Trying to kill them or capture them? Actually, you know what the fuck?
    No, that's actually what's your favorite? That's the way you want to. I mean, you remember, we can just say we don't have intent to kill. Yeah, that's what my shout out was going to be your husband. Shout as we come in peace. Even though I just put it, they just love.
    It's not. Yeah. it wasn't going to be like you. Not like that. I was just going to yell at them. Guard! You son of a bitch! You got some explaining to do. Start talking and we start wiping everyone out, and then we'll start. Yeah. So shut out after he yells, she'll just kind of step out from behind the pillar and say, if you don't move, you won't get hurt.
    And then Barlow says his thing and she's going to hold her action. if they do anything aggressive or try to run.
    okay. And you're just going to you're going to just fire at them. That's the action. Yeah, just one shot. I don't think I can hold two. You just got that. Yeah, yeah. Oh. All right. I think that's how it works. I think so. I don't think you get to hold your entire action. I think it's just one thing.
    Yeah, and I think that was your action. Is that your action is the attack action. And in your attack action, you're not attacked twice? Yeah, I think so. I do get you attacked. I think so, okay. Okay. Cool. so, yeah, that's fine. but you can't do it, like, add to action and bonus action. So no no no.
    Yeah, yeah yeah. So then, Barlow, what are you doing? I'm, coming out to. I'm going to be walking in just one minute. Walk up just about this wounded, this, dead guy here to park. And, you know, staying that as I go and, waiting for response.
    All right. the first one, he looks to his boss, which seems to be the boss. The guy in the center, who kind of attack is like. All right, so let's see a little guy here. shit. We have any ranged attack, though. Shit. If he yelled attack, can I let loose my arrows? Then? If that's if that.
    If you feel that's enough to qualify, then sure. Yeah. It was either if they tried to run or if they did anything aggressive. And if he's yelling to his people to attack, I'll go for that. Okay. I'll shoot off the first arrow. Shoot me the natural one. go ahead and give me another d20. It would be this guy, the one that yelled attack!
    Okay, good. Oh, that was almost another natural one. But it's a 19. okay, so my second attack is a 28 to hit, and it's for the guy that yelled attack that has weakness. Case can't think. Okay, so, so the first shot missed, but the second one hits. Wait, what was the second? Sorry, 28 to hit.
    Yeah, that's going to happen. Yeah, yeah. and then with my swarm, I'm going to do something different. How much damage? Okay. So I'll just take out the swarm damage because I might do something else.
    914 plus. 23. 23 damage. And then I'm going to try to move him. Okay?
    It's a DC save. What is it? Strength on his part. DC 16.
    Natural 20. oh, for fuck's sake. Okay, then he doesn't do anything. Okay. Shit. That need a shot. How much damage is done? damage was. Left on 13 for 23. 0.333 damage. Yeah. All right. Anything else? no. Because my first attack missed. All right, so then I like a firework. Okay. Oh, yeah. That was a ahead into his run.
    And every five feet is a D4. He he ran out of it. He was in it with the count when it moves into or with, if he's moving out of it, he's like right there on the plus. I will go ahead and let him take one bit of damage though. So it's, it's two D4 for every five feet.
    So yeah, it was five feet that he traveled out of it. So go ahead and okay. seven. Piercing. So you see, as he looks to his boss, he's like, what do we do? But he was, like, killed. and then you're like, oh, like, fuck that. And so Aramis and the arrow hits. And so the first two, the guy sees arrows fly past him and he runs out of it, and as he runs out from the brambles are catching on his his feet.
    actually, technically, he would have moved five less because of that, actually thinking about it as well. They could because this is difficult terrain. you see him pull out a scimitar? as he does so.
    As he does so, as he's running, though, you see him with his off hand. He slides it up the blade. And as he does that, you see these? The sword? not like red fire, but it takes on this red light as it kind of goes down the blade. and it has, like, just for a moment, it glows like this red color, like heat.
    And then it just, the red gone as it gets to its his location. Yeah. Blood hunter. It's not blood. you didn't see any blood. Oh, the next gentleman, he's going to run down realizing what's going on as well. He's going to get there. Go ahead and give me one more thing of damage for him. Okie doke.
    Pick him up. Eight.
    Right. No. Yeah. Two. Force one. It's okay. that's. Oh, I guess I actually shoot just thinking about it. They could have been using their bonus action. Oh, no. He's there. Man, that bonus action is the. What's, his move attack. Yeah. Oh, no. You can use your action. That's right. Actually. That's right. It's actually they would be able to get a little bit more distance.
    That's what it is. And then you see him doing the same thing though as he runs out. he does something with his blade as well with the red. Garm.
    If his mere guy moved. What? He take damage? They had moved before you had casted. Oh that's right. You said they were whispering. Yeah. They came up to him and started whispering.
    One seven.
    Strength. Score. Half that distance.
    Is he going to try to jump the asshole? He.
    People over one. Come on. Bridget. Takes points. Vulnerable. Thorns.
    So that's,
    Yeah. You see him, leap forward out of the brambles. So he is, is leaps as far as he can, which happens to be outside of the range of the brambles. and that is actually.
    Jumping is weird in D&D. Well, you saw as he did it, though, he kind of did. It wasn't. It didn't seem like that was his natural jump. not so much a spell, as much as kind of focusing on himself as he moved forward. So it's kind of like, almost like casting the spell, but it's, something else.
    just try to see. One other thing, though, is, That's why I'm not spending too.
    We'll just say that what he does as he gets to his point. Oh, no, he can still move because,
    Because of stuff? Well, no, because he can use his, Oh, action. Well, no action. Movement. And then bonus action. but or also free action of you see him pull out a, a a little rod off of his belt. And as he does so, you see, like this very pointed light like, come out of it.
    Yes. It's like a death. It's like a lightsaber, but very thin as a kind of like a rapier, if you will. Like a rapier point of a lightsaber. And that would be his turn.
    The next one would run towards you guys as well. He sees everybody running down the center. He's going to run off to the side a bit to kind of help.
    You, he two, does the same thing with his blade that you saw. The other two do says you are up.
    As it's again, I am so far. It's all right, but it's far away. And.
    It's. Just very.
    All right. I'm just going to move as far as I can.
    Right. I don't know if I was blocked. That one right there. We'll see. And I will still touch this dude. You got it. So chill. Touch.
    25 to hit 26. Let's see. All sorts of 120ft. You didn't have to run up there. No, but I'm just generally trying to get closer to the action as well. Oh, that's okay. If I was going to hit. go ahead. And 11.
    11 three. Barlow. Yeah. I love yeah. Because see, I left the necrotic for some reason. Doesn't work with these guys. I got to get close. Those was at least going to use my movement.
    That's all righty. So as the skeletal hand comes out and, goes into this amorphous cloaked being, you see him cringe a bit as it kind of bites into him. Anything else? So.
    That's it? Yeah. the chrome guard. That's not the right. Oh, I see, it's not going to go that. Oh let's shoot. Let's get both of them. All right. Well I'll move them both right out of They will go ahead and do the same thing. He just did the job. Oh, man, I know it sucks, doesn't it?
    Unfortunately, I did put that in there. They can do that. I will, side plow. Really? Yeah. But force jump. Yep. See that this one. Which one? How's that going to work?
    The one that ran out. Because he can't replicate that.
    I guess he could have had one. He would have probably had. No, that doesn't make sense either. but he's going to have to do is going to have to just focus with,
    I guess just combat. So you see him get into a defensive stance.
    As well, the other he would jump there.
    Next to him to help protect him. And and then it's this cultist turn.
    Let's do this. That gets him close enough to the combat so he can hold an action. As he pulls out his blade, as he runs down, he pulls his blade out and does the same thing you saw the others do. and.
    Yeah. And then hold his action.
    Oh, the other one's faster, if that's what.
    Look at that best. You know, it's sitting there for you to. And that's good. Yeah. All right. That's in your.
    Fireball. Fireball and bada boom.
    That is just a big boom. I guess the. Second. Well, I'm definitely going to move forward so I can move to right there.
    Right from here. So see, I can't hit all of them.
    Let's see.
    I'm going to do scorching Ray six levels. Right? Is this is this guy still alive? Everybody's alive. All of these guys? Yep yep yep. And what are they all? What are these two look different? because from one. Okay. Like, I'm going to shoot three at this guy and three at this guy.
    And, yeah, this guy here was Garm. Yeah, yeah. The one the Queen's guard is the real guy. Okay, well, I want to just knock him out. I don't want to kill him. So let's see, where's the scorching rate again? What's it called? what's it called? with those kind of hits? Non-lethal. Non-lethal gets a little tricky with magic, but, you know, fireballs.
    But we'll play it by ear. He could, like, burn his legs. What, what I'm willing to do. What I'm willing to do is if he if the if the attack is enough to kill him, then I will allow you to pull an Arcana check to see if you're able to kind of pull it back at the last moment.
    Yeah, okay. That's how I'm going to play it, so I'll do it. Like I said, the first three at him, next three I have it. So we had our first raise ten first graders. 14. That's the second. Ray. No, the one at the top. First raise to 14. That's the hit. Yeah 14 to hit. And Ray two is a 14 then eight.
    So yeah the damage. Oh you're right. We'll have to see if it hits. But the damage for the first one's a ten. That's on the bottom. And then Ray number two is 14. Yeah. That's how it's set up. but I had you're right. I have to look at what AC is on him.
    So.
    Unfortunately only the sixth way is going to hit. Oh, eight and 19 doesn't hit. Jeez. And so it was the first three on the left, first three on the right. So Garm would be the one that takes that last hit.
    what we're going to say actually on this, though, is as the scorching rays come in to them, you can see them almost kind of like almost block it, almost like like a not a force field, if you will. But it kind of seems like they're able to kind of like kind of like with, like a, like a cheesy, like a monk esque kind of movements as they're able to kind of avoid any of those energies.
    And so as those six, rays of fire come to Chu, Chu, chu. And you see, though, with Garm himself, when that last one hits, he's like, oh! And it strikes him. Anything else? no. Yes. The the, garment. His little two guys have a higher AC.
    the leader of the cultists in the middle of the brambles. Guess what? He doesn't get to do the cool little jump thing. He did see the other guys do it, so he's got to try to see if he can jump. so 11. That's five feet. so he's able to jump five feet. That doesn't really help him too much at that point.
    He's like, oh fuck.
    He's going to go ahead and sprint that last bit and just barely get oh wow. So that's 20ft of movement. ten D4 which is actually 40ft. Wait. 2510 1520. How many force. So 20ft of movement though for as far as damage is concerned. So four, four times 0 or 2 per five feet, eight. All right. My pain meds just kicked in.
    My brain is mush. where's the roller? We call them dice advanced roller. Where is it, though? It's gone up.
    In roll 20. That's weird. Dice underneath or. No, it's it's just it's different. So eight D4 roll. 17 points of damage. So,
    It's not the, like, dice chart that I was used to. It's different. And actually, I think a jump is actually an action, isn't it?
    Or is. No, it's part of movement. No no no, that was just part of the. So that would be 25. No 45. It's a movement. He barely gets. Move one more bit. We'll give him that. but he two does the same thing with his scimitar. even though he's wincing in pain as he cut up his legs, with a bit of running, he had to go through,
    Shadow, you are up again. I no reason, by the way. Yes, yes, and I'm going to.
    Pull out her necklace and pull one of the beads off, and she's going to shoot fireball. Yeah. 20ft radius, 86 would be my spell save. DC, right? no, I think it's actually an item. Has a DC necklace is oh, it's a DC 15 plus. And usually in a more or less based on the creator of it, but it's all pretty generic.
    Yeah. So it would be a DC of 15 and I'm going to center it. The ruler back out 20ft radius.
    All right. All right. So I'll be ready.
    Dude, I can't really get Garm, but can I get all of the other guys here? Well, right there, it's going to get a 14. Okay? All right, I didn't move it. Like, can I get these guys? That might be better right there. Okay, I'll do that. Then. All right. so. Let's see here. So how's that work here?
    Do we have a DC save a 15. And if they pass, then they take half damage.
    So it's 15 d20 and hurl multiple beads or even the whole necklace. She's that. Wait. Okay, so it's a DC, 15 in. That's it doesn't say on the necklace. Let me like the spell ball says it is a dexterity. Yep. Five balls that's there. So you're. And then it's an eight d6. Well leader. So, one fails.
    Not great damage though. 15. You said. Yeah. Holy fuck. Okay, we're trying to different dice. No, keep that one. That's an that's a 20. So that's good.
    And still take half damage. Yeah. Yeah. It's not the greatest of damage. But it's all right.
    Little more than half. So the cultist all failed. They take 26 for six each.
    The fireball hits you see. well this is the. as it hits, you see all of the cultists take the damage. Is it half damage if they succeed or. No. Correct. So 13. As you see the
    Garm and his two associates. Oops.
    I fucked up some more there.
    Garmin. His two associates. as it hits towards them, you see them kind of, able to move in a, in a weird kind of, like, dance, like pirouette is almost as the flame kind of circles around them, and it kind of bites into them a little bit, but they don't take the full brunt of the damage.
    But otherwise you did pretty good on the other five guys. Do they look really hurt? Well, I mean, the only one that's probably looking really hurt would be the leader action. actually, yeah, actually, the other one is this guy. Now they're all pretty hurt. Yeah. Okay, so for my bonus action, since that was a bead and not a casted spell cast spell, can I do a spell for my bonus action?
    That is a bonus action spell. I believe the it's just hunter's mark. I believe that's okay. right now I'm gonna say yes. It's throwing them. You didn't cast. Yeah. Throwing the bead was my action, right? So I so then. Okay, I'm gonna cast Hunter's mark on Garm. You got it. So that I can also know where he's at.
    So that means. And that's a concentration, right? Oh, it is. So spike growth is gone because they're out of it.
    Just because I'm always horrible. Yeah. Concentration. All right. Anything else? I'm just, Can I up cast it? Can you. Yeah. Third or fourth. Can I cast it at a third level? If you can. So I can, And you cast a spell using a spell slot of third or fourth. You can maintain your concentration for up to eight hours.
    You go that way. If he escapes, I know where he's at. You got it. Is there a cast on that? no. Okay. It doesn't say he goes to spaces to cut him. Yeah, it just says concentrate for eight hours. Yeah. You mark your quarry, I should find a way of getting a all right or I have.
    Sorry. I have advantage on perception or survival to find him.
    I don't know, we can figure it out. If it if it happens, if it comes up. You got it? Yeah, exactly. No. I'm, meant I'm going to stay where I'm at. Just move a little bit over here. You got it. I can see Barlow. You are up, so I. Right? I want to pull the shield off my back and.
    Go into a rage as my claws come out. And in my rage I roll up to here. That's the guy. And I'm. Well, actually, no, I'll be on this side because I'm going to be looking at guarding this while I'm doing that.
    As well as the hey, we're going to do this, man. We can talk the fuck is going on and I'm going to attack the guy. And so.
    Get the shit about evil looking cold. One thing to think about though. So you're shield, you're just using that as a shield or you're using it as the animated. I can't animate yet because that's a bonus. That's glutamate next to it like that. You actually. Okay, cool. You're ahead of me. Good.
    And I will attack. I don't know if I want to go reckless enough to be surrounded. Some single standard for now. If it becomes an issue or not so bad. you know, go reckless. So first one, I 21, I hit him. I think so, yeah. All right. So 16 damage. Yeah. That makes a difference. One.
    So that's it for, assets not going. They're not immune to acid. Oh, he takes that full damage standing up there. He's still spending a second time. Yep 27. That's going to hit that beam. well I 13 damage is still standing, but he's definitely like 30, it seems. All right. And then that. Yeah. Three B attack. A 16 that
    It does. Yes. They don't have the grace me all right. Cultist and rogues. The Oh his buddies are the ones with the high AC. Yeah. And 16. That will do it, bro. How do you want to do this? like that, I was say like to because I'm talking to Garm. As I'm slashing these guys, I'm like, okay, not letting him know that this is, you know.
    Yeah. Oh, fucking bleeds. And that's it.
    Well, that was the one that just died. So let's turn over. I'm standing behind him, sees his buddy go down. He will have him just move up to the side of it.
    And as he strikes out with a scimitar. I really think he's going to fail on a six. unfortunate. Those numbers. Yes, but the person who fucking did it. So there's a whole,
    He's going to see if he hits this thing back. He doesn't fucking curses as his turn as a Garm sees everything going on.
    You saw the fire come out. I saw him throw like that. This is my Barlow mad dog at him.
    After the fire. Mad talking him more like a cat. But he did take the damage. It took mostly was from bastion. So he's going to move up the best.
    With his sword.
    That's not good at all. My concentration. Oh, will put this on my sheet.
    Which you may see. bastion. it is. Oh, that's not right. crap.
    My AC fluctuates, so right now is. What is it, 35, 18.
    Then, Crap. I didn't put this thing on my sheet.
    Would you not put in a sheet that there's not.
    Oh, the, get the fire right and he gets a metallic dragon.
    Does it boost your AC? Yeah. All right. Is, a sheet? Well, you see him strike out a said him. It was my rolls. And you manifest his wings that can shield you and others.
    Within five feet, you can use the manifest. The wings bonus is equal to my proficiencies piece. That would be 18 plus. Which would be 22. And that's just for one of them. No, that's his AC. No, that's my position. For how long? Yes. For this term. Okay. But, I can use it as a reaction.
    So how long are.
    Your a little bit echoey. Are you close to Veronica? No, no, no, no. Closer to normal. Yeah. I'm noticing more or less the whole time. It's your mic on. On rule 20. No, I don't sound echoey, I. Something changed there. I didn't change anything. Yeah, neither did I.
    See. Yeah. 22 and then, I can use the the number of my proficiency. I can use it that many times. I can regain everything at all. Long rest. you can put one of those little markers like this little things up on the right hand side. So track them how many times? but go ahead and burn one.
    but unfortunately, all three hits are still going to hit. He's hitting me four times. Three times. He gets three multi attacks. What? That this guys needs to go down. now let's he got I got really good rolls on all three of them. That's why. So the damage.
    So the first one's going to be 17 points of radiant damage.
    18 points of radiant damage is great. And. 17 points of radiant damage. All right, as he strikes out at you three times with his, lightsaber. I'm going to call it that, but light rapier, if you will, strikes out, you know, you could have just given him the sun blade, basically a lightsaber. maybe.
    That I was actually going to make it where it actually could be, like any kind of weapon, but I wouldn't just generic light saber. guys, I'm at 22, but with.
    To use your bastion grown. oh. But that would be his. So. All right. that would be his turn.
    Cultist. So that's how we do. oh. This guy gets, you know, only hits. Only hits me for 54. He goes up, he's going to attack Harlem.
    19
    Oh, really? 19. 19 hits.
    These guys don't hit as hard.
    So you take two points of slashing damage, right? Then you take six points. magic. necrotic damage. Okay. And. And then you take them 50 points of radiant damage. Yeah. I need a wisdom saving throw to.
    Oh, fuck. Oh, no. Come on. Hold on. Two. You don't want to fill this. Well, I'm saving throw. But he did.
    Was a pretty low 15. it's just she should have this really?
    I will let you roll. Go ahead and roll a d100. Okay. Choose your own death. A death by snooze. New. Let's move. As the blade out of the side, you feel every part of your body. Kind of like get, almost stuck in place. You are now stunned. oh. You don't know for how long. But you feel stuck and stunned.
    Who did this cultist cultist that hit him?
    I always forget this thing, so look it up real quick. Just, as a reminder. You're incapacitated. See? The condition. Can't move, can speak, only faltering. You automatically fell sick throes for strength and dexterity. And all TAC goes against. You now have advantage.
    What did I say in the past? That in the means, you can't take actions or actions, right? Good news is, you get to repeat the saving throw at the end of each minute. Minute. That's what it says. That doesn't make sense. Long of round. it lasts for minutes.
    Yeah. Is it. You know what the. I'm. I get that, but I'm not going to make it. we're going to I'm going to let you do the saving throw every round, every time it's your turn. I think that's I don't like that. So it's a brain saving throw. It's not like it's dexterity. So that would kind of make sense that his brain can still try to fight it off.
    Yeah. My thing is I this what's the ability called. The reason spark. Oh, you you made it up. Got it. No, no, no, I didn't make it up. Actually, it's, I'm using somebody else's homebrew. I'm using the template of the quarters of the reason for this. So I didn't make any of that. and what it essentially what it does is it gives you the short term, madness for ten minutes.
    But I think that saying every minute in combat, that sucks. This is dude for the rest 1 or 2 minutes in combat. That's not fair to take that you out of that possibility. So I'm going to say that every round you get a every time it's your turn, you still get it to a dude. Dude, I didn't know what sir.
    Yep. Okay. I'm changing that I don't like I think that's and that's make up. otherwise, yeah, I'd be ten, ten rounds of combat. I'm gonna be over by then. Yeah. So the first Garm, which I remember, which one was the first Garmin, which was the second Garmin, but unfortunately, it's gonna be the one next to you. He is going to take advantage of the fact that he can strike it into you.
    luckily, he doesn't get lightsabers. you can just hit for 50 points of damage.
    I mean, I'm not saying that his hits aren't gonna hurt. They just. They don't hit as hard as a lightsaber.
    15. Is. See, but that one's going to hit, 24. Yeah. See, actually, glad you didn't do the reckless. Well, there's advantage anyway, so I if I took reckless. But yeah, these have. All right. Right. It doesn't take it doesn't change anything. 13 points of, damn, bludgeoning damage. Right. And 48 got. And four points of psychic damage as they hit connects with you.
    You, cultist, says you are. Man. Watching two of my friends get all bloodied. See, I'm figuring out. How will that actually hurt you guys?
    Which is fine, cause I just have, like, awesome weapons. You got.
    spun. So you're like, Whoa. It's like a really slow thumbs up.
    I wish I could do, like, a group attack over here, but that would get Barlow to.
    All right, I'm going to try and take out, because I know these guys. I've noticed he's getting a little softer. I hate this dude right here.
    Chill touch for the gentleman. They want where I am. 24 to. No, I get I'm going to do it, for 10 to 13.
    Oops. So, as the blade go, as the hand comes up and starts, cutting into his neck, he takes some damage and still is chill. Touch the one where they can't. I can't heal, heal. Nice. That's a good one. So him and gonna kill. Until after.
    I really need to get some bonus actions. Actions? Well, you can also start looking when you go into, like, animal form. That can also help if they. Yeah. And that gives you a like a big old people. Yeah. And look at any anything else. That's it for now. All right. So the other guard saw you do that. So he's going to run up to you.
    He's going to strike out at oh. What. Look like when you went back a little bit when the two guards came up together, you said they started, like, dancing around each other. No, it was just flavored. The fact that as the fireball, when, attacked, none of all three of the guards. oh. Curses. So pretty much it was just that they were using their their movements in that space to avoid any damage of the fireballs going off around them.
    That's all that was. Okay. That's what I'm making. It wasn't something that some of the profession. Oh, no. Okay. Let's do.
    That one, two. I think.
    What's your, access?
    17
    Is hiding in your shell and action or bonus action.
    Remember, but if I hide my shell, I can't do any attacks. Yeah. So you take seven points of bludgeoning damage and then six points of psychic damage as the first strike hits. And the second one hits as well for eight points of bludgeoning damage as he strikes out a two that causes eight points of psychic damage. All right.
    And that says turn.
    Take it. Hold this here. But you said bludgeoning damage. What kind of weapons? They're just striking out at you with their fists, so they. Oh, yeah. It's, pseudo pod attack. Technically. Gotcha.
    Since they're.
    there's a 12 hit sass. No, 12 on him. Not my teammates. These 17. Okay.
    And 13. Oh, wait.
    There's 13. Hit. You follow? No. so he strikes out at you and misses.
    Now I'm getting low roll. See you guys. So it comes back around. He misses. Bastion, you're up.
    I'm going to do. Yeah.
    Is I'm going to populate some. Okay. So now my AC is 23. I.
    Then let me do some measurements. You're like you're not you're not going to touch me again with that shit.
    there comes the death attack.
    Yeah. Comes. So I'm going to do this. I can only do it with the three.
    So I'm going to go one. Hold on. Jeez. One, two. Three. Do I have to make a attack for each one? I think it's like a missile where one roll is supposed to count for all of them. I. Zephyrus. Right. Still win. Yeah, they're all separate strikes. Yeah. Just 13 hit it. Oh, no. It says make a spell attack against each attack.
    Each target. So each target is a different roll.
    Spell monster. But what are you looking at? Yeah. If you look at their random for. Oh for each one okay. So one two. Born to three. That's weird though that the spell. Only I have to fix that for you. So here's the second one. I'll just do it this way.
    2849
    That's some really good damage. So. So who's the first one? This was the first one. This was the second one. This was the third one. I suppose you.
    So the 13 is going to hit on the first one. And that is enough to kill them. So you take down the first one as you slice across him you go to the next one. I believe 28 might hit.
    Yeah. You should hope that hits at 28. Jeez, Louise with 40. That's nice. That's not. Yeah. And, unfortunately, with go, 19 is not going to hit as you. Oh, you strike out the first one, you take him down, you strike, you turn around, you strike at the second one. and then you run towards Garm as you get back into the spot you were at and you notice you just missed Garm.
    up to five. Yeah, but he can end it on. Oh, that's right up to 5.2 unoccupied space. You can see within five feet of one of the targets you hit or missed. So now you you don't have to. Yeah, you could do that. That's really cool.
    That's a good. Oh. All righty. still, this action. All right. and then I. And then I tell shadow to throw me a, potion. A health potion I got you. Don't worry about it.
    I'm going to add my turn. You got.
    The leader of the cultists finally feels like you can kind of join the fray. Not really.
    Move down there. Yeah, that's pretty much all these guys. There's. If it hits anything other than this guy, he's been. No, he's actually hurt him pretty bad. Yeah, he got hit a few times. He got hit with the fireball. He got hit with the, getting himself through the brambles. He's about to just say, fuck this. Well, we want that hand back.
    So he is going to die. Okay, so first and foremost I would like to cast at third level healing spirit. So my, what am I concentrating on? Hunter's. Mark. Mark. Yeah. So it should be. Yeah, it should be two d6, one d6. So, I'm going to center it on bastion.
    There's the description. I have a cube that I can see transparent. You're getting hugged by a transparent owlbear. Hugs. So cute. I think this is the question that we came up with last time. It says, are you listening? it says when the creature moves into the space on the first time on a turn or starts its turn there, does that mean putting it on him now doesn't heal him?
    Or does it heal him now and then? If when he starts his turn there on the next one, if I don't move it, he gets more. I think he gets the healing on his at the beginning of his turn. shit. Or a creature you can see moves into it for the first time on a turn or starts its turn.
    There it just says, moves into it for the first time on eight. Turn, not on their turn. That's it doesn't mean in the past, at some point in the past, you moved into that spot. So therefore, no, I just mean like my turn. Like he's moving into the space on my turn because I'm putting it on him. I think it this, this one, I believe it's been pretty clear as far as it's pretty much at the start of his turn.
    Or if he was to walk into that space, that's what they're saying. So if you walk into that space, you get the healing or at the beginning of your turn, if you're in that space, you get that healing. Okay, well, that's not really going to help him right now then. Not at this moment. It'll help him at the beginning of his turn.
    Right? But Garm goes before he does. So he could get fucked and he just had his turn. Okay, well, no on so has a very open opportunity to go towards you right now. That's true. Yeah. Well, okay, I'll leave it out because worst case scenario, if you are unconscious and start your turn in the space, then you get healing.
    So it's fine, right? Sure, sure. It's cool cool cool. okay, so that is a bonus action, right? I want his action. So I'm going to shoot Garm twice. Then with my bow. Okay. I can't do maths right now.
    So 20 went to hit. It doesn't hit, does it? depends. Dang. That sucks. I can't really fuck with you. Yeah, that's going to hit you. But he takes 21.
    I plus two. Oh, and then, for my swarm, I want him to, do a strength saving throw. DC 15.
    I will say right now, I did not give them any, what's it called? Saving throw proficiencies. Yeah, whatever. The thing is, I have, I tend to stay away from those. For the most part. I think I might make a modified rule on those, so that would it. I don't like how it's like you do it. They can say, oh, I ignore that damage completely, but I think that I understand.
    Legendary. Yeah. Legendary. But I think that I understand why legendary exists. Because at the end of the day, when you fight a person, they got one attack or one time to attack you guys. That's kind of why they're trying to get around that. But anyways, that's another day. He you haven't seen any of that happen right now. Did he save or not?
    I totally forgot I was opening of the shit and I forgot what I was looking for. Strength. Strike, saving throw. Strike on the, 25. Come on man. Damn. hey. Well, hit him with another arrow. Hopefully I would have done intellect. I really want to knock him prone and push him just because I can. Well, I can't 30.
    That should hit. Yeah, well, the first one hit two. okay. Oh. That's real good. Damage 29. Damage. Oh.
    Yeah. He's hurt. Oh, yeah. All right. I wish I already was here. Can you put his where? On bastion? Because that's where the healing spirit is. I think you made one right? Oh, yeah. I think you did. Beer totem. There you go. The hidden spirit rises from the corpse on the ground. Yeah. Oh, right. And then I'm just going to.
    Guess that his speed is not going to be as close as my 80, because I haven't moved in a while.
    Okay. Yeah, I'll go right there. I did my, feline agility so I could double my speed.
    Bala, go do your wisdom saving throw.
    Oh, guys. Hey, do me a favor. Roll a d20.
    And get another 20. All right, so as at this moment, you like, you're fighting against this thing that's kind of holding you in place, and you start feeling movement. Come back and your tail twitches a bit. unfortunately, at this moment, that was your turn. But that's better. You're no longer incapacitated. Yeah, but for me, I'm no longer raging.
    So all these damage. Oh, no. Don't hurt.
    15. Does that hit you? No. This.
    Instrument. Your shield is still out, right? It doesn't disappear. Well, you didn't hit it. Activated? No, it's. Oh, yeah. It's just in the hand. I wanted you to calm. But I can animate it again for that bonus action. Once you get. Those.
    Oh, so.
    Well, then I guess we'll have to go to the one that's closest. Oh, sorry. Says that's a natural 20. Oh, wait. My force. I've forgotten my spores. Whose turn is it? It's guards! Turn!
    Now, remember, there's something about your spores. Also, there's so many times you can do it or whatever. But what is it we want to do with them? whenever a enemy moves into a space within five feet of me or starts their turn within five feet of me, my spores attack.
    See you at a level 12 and, oh, within ten feet of me. Not my. God. About so one d8. So it's not a ton, but it's something. Yeah, something. For.
    And it's, necrotic damage.
    Remember, there's something about the.
    Is he doing multiple attacks on her? He's about to kind of hold up. I have to figure out what's going on with the spores first. Can you negate the natural 20 bastion? No, but the next attacks, I can. That's only like two classes. I can do that. Really great cleric. And, room rules. Yeah. I think that. It's not what I did with the, after.
    Look, I think Calliope also might be able to, Because I think that that might be part of the the new bardic inspiration which I gave her. It's like I thought it was just that she can give an inspiration. And as a reaction, well, it allows like a change of the roll or something like that. Like I have to look at it again right now.
    I don't remember or I guess like silvery barbs or cutting words or something like that to,
    Oh, yeah. So I can't remember what it was. All right. I'm not going to worry about right now.
    So minus four, because I remember there's a limit or something with it. so when it comes to the spores, I can remember what it was. it doesn't say anything about a limit of how many do it. see what a creature you can see. The room stays within ten feet of you or starts to turn there.
    You can use your reaction to deal one day for necrotic damage to that creature. Unless it succeeds on a constitution. Saving throw gets you spells APC. That's what is in that constitution. Saving throw first of all. Right. And then, it uses your reaction. Okay, that's what I do. There's limits to it of some kind. So is Constitution is.
    20 is the least. This guy you. It's almost as bad as Jacoby.
    Well, Jacoby, you guys down pretty quickly each time he, So. Yeah, the first attack was a natural 20. Let me just see what the attacks are. I'm going to use my reaction. What's your reaction? I can use my metallic wings. Oh, nice. So how's that worked? add four to her AC. So she's at 17, so now she's at 21.
    But so that when the help of the first one. That's for sure. Right. well, you don't have to use your. You don't have to do that thing until, until you see the hit. Right. Oh. Okay. Oh, so when it puts her, does it to what? What does it put her AC up to 21, 21. Does it lasts for that, that whole, turn of hers.
    Does it say. Unfortunately, it says it. She it shields you from that attack. That's it. It's just better than.
    Just the one. Well, but the problem, that's where it gets tricky. That's where it gets tricky. Because it has one attack and escort action. Is what's called the gift of the. Yeah, yeah. That's how. Yeah. Let's check the wing of the.
    Do the wings. Can they make you fly? No. You can. You is hit by an attack roll. You can use your reaction to manifest from formerly.
    Against that attack roll. Well it says that attack roll. That's actually pretty clear, right? Yeah. It's one attack roll.
    So yeah, it's not for the whole time. It's actually per attack roll and no attack. So the good thing is though is I'm going to let I'm going to let you use it on the second one. So that would actually comes into play helps the first one hits the second one misses because you helped. But the third one is also going to stuff it.
    So he gets two out of three.
    And. Are they pink sparkly wings.
    If Abby had anything to say about it. Yes. So yeah, it's from Alex, right again. So the wrath of shame, the first hits 19. Radiant damage. The second one, it misses as these, spectral wings come up and protect you. Oh, that's not too bad. And the third one is going to hit four. 13 points of damage.
    So how much damage do I take? Total? I forget what the first one was. 19 plus 13. What was it about the first one? I thought you the first hits. Oh, no. Oh, wait. I'm sorry. The first was actually twice that because it was a natural, well, take out the modifier. You don't double the modifier right?
    So how much? give me a second. Here. It's a plus five. So that's 14. So 28, 31, 32, 30. So it's 33 on the first hit. Okay. And 13 on the other one. 46. Yep. Sure. Oh, I'm not good at math. Is your brain mush to a little bit.
    Right. Yeah. Oh, shit. He has uncanny dodge. Interesting. All right.
    That's a natural one. So he misses.
    it's going to be a miss on Sarsa as well. Yeah, and that is your turn.
    As the. So, first of all, I guess I should say one of the cultists attacked Barlow and misses. And then you see the metallic chrome, gone, calm above you. He misses on you sass after you just took out all the major damage from the actual car. It is now your turn. You got flustered by the pink sparkly wings.
    Okay, so it was my turn. Yep.
    Okay, I'll give you a second to think about it. I'm going to have to dream. Okay. Guys, once more, your, Your spectral wings looks like.
    Which metallic dragon did you pick? Yeah.
    You're looking at me. You just need, you know, your husband. Oh, he just walked away. Oh. Never mind. It's like you're.
    With the kids. Finally. He also has, like, one moment. Yeah.
    And getting to tell him. Tier one, spell 3000.
    Well, that's cool. Yeah. Or he can also still cast it using spell blueprints. Oh. That's cool.
    Looking at wild sheep, I don't remember how we got high enough level that I can move. All right, I'm doing not. I don't know, I gave you a lot out, John. For a wild sheep. What's what's my challenge rating? Have I moved up? Enough with in levels. You guys are what level you're up to. No one. I think you've gotten slight because.
    Haven't you been an eagle before? Level eight, I think. Is it? Yeah. So we're level eight. You guys were level 12. Well well, well, so what's my challenge rating? So one. Yeah I think it's it's just going to be one from me that's as high as it gets for anybody. That's not the. Yeah. All right. Tier one.
    But no restrictions anymore on swimming as well. Yeah I think there's no restrictions. That's good. I don't have other big dinosaurs really. Oh there's that wall shape That's why they're not.
    Oh I'm sorry it's polymorph when people do that, not Wall Street. That's what.
    Big. Oh T-Rex. Because druids also tend to have wild sheep or polymorph as well. And that's on their list. I think my correct. I don't know I don't know what was on clerics and bards. Oh she has polymorph. So that's why I'm thinking that. Okay. But it also effects its different polymorph dermal wall shape.
    Sorry. Just checking. She's. Fine. We were curious. Well. Oh, well, he was the way of. What is natural wisdom. Yeah, yeah. Bastion, what do your spectral wings look like? Which, metallic dragon? silver. Oh, we'll see how that plays in the things.
    That sounded ominous. Well, thing is, if you're good at it, give yourself gift of the dragon. You have to. I have to figure out or. Okay, let's say, let's say bronze. Since we have a bronze dragon. Still. Just as well, let's just roll. Roll a d6. That was that. Use it to expel it. Yeah. That's true. You could probably change the color.
    Well, the thing is, I didn't say choose a color. The idea, I think, is that it should be some backstory thing that hasn't played out. Why? Well, everything has a backstory, really. I yeah, it's like I, I fell asleep, I had a dream, and when I woke up, I had the powers. A dragon came to you in your dream.
    Whoa, whoa. All right, so I am going to wild shape into a giant hyena. Ooh. Yeah. Okay. Shit. Shit.
    A giant hyena like a dire hyena. That's rad. It just. This giant hyena. Dire wolf is an option. It's a large beast. So I literally chose giant hyena because it had the second highest hit points and challenge rating. One perfect. The highest hit points with a giant octopus. That didn't seem appropriate. Yeah, I mean, you never know. I mean, I guess I could have given it a shot, but giant hyenas seem to make my team.
    So do me a favor. roll 60 tens. I think we have six. We're rolling them for the hit points. Six d10. Yep. Hit 3232. that's 44. Yeah. Wait, that's about average. Just one point below that, What am I doing that far? That's your hit points. 44 hit points. in the folder. Wild shaped tokens. I just granted you access to the giant hyena.
    So that way you can see what the stats are and everything. And so I put that ad on the board or where does she, push them out of out of any spaces. Can she, if she's going large and large. Yeah. They get pushed back. We could do that.
    Oh, I hadn't even considered that. So is it. yeah. The wolf would be good. Really? Because wolves, all have tactics. So you would get advantage on all your attacks at the network. You.
    Just cool back. Since what? Turn in the wolves. So do you want to move it? If you go here, only gar moves out of place. Or if you move it, they're both calm. And the the chrome one moves over one.
    I mean, it doesn't it doesn't do any damage to them, right? So just move them out of the space, that's all. Push them at both. Just shove them. Yeah. Thinking about it. Hold on. It actually doesn't shove them out of the space because you can have. Isn't that right? If you're like one space, one size below, you could be in this technically insane space of an ally.
    Well, that's the move through it.
    Right. But I don't think you can share space regardless with an enemy. You can't stop on an enemy square right now. We will, so that's fine. Yeah. Right.
    Right. Now we'll say that that'll work. You could straddle bastion.
    All right. And so that's, bonus action. No action.
    Can't attack. Can't. I love to wait. Is it an action to transform? Don't. I don't think so. Hold on. I got a pull up excuse. You can. You can use your action. Yeah, yeah, I think it's only circle of the moon that has it as a bonus. Action. Yeah.
    When the hyena reduced the creature to zero hit points with a melee attack at its turn, a hyena can take a bonus action to move up to half its speed and make a bite attack. Basically, if I kill somebody, I can move again. But your Add. Yeah. the, Yeah, I'll have to wait. it's a Garm two, which I believe is the one that's over by Barlow.
    Did we decide that I still have my spores when I'm in worship? I don't think you do. Okay, I know we talked about it. I can't remember what the answer. Okay. I will have to look into it. Oh, bro, do you realize the other thing that you can do? But I'm on a slash. super. What's four times 12?
    When asked me to do math, why? Because expanding one of your world shapes can give you temporary hit points four times 12.
    Four times your level. With my spores? Yeah. Wait. Where's that? What's your symbiotic entity? You get it? A level two.
    And your melee weapon attack. Steal an extra, one d6. Technically, I think, though, you would still have your other abilities because circle, Druids still keep their druid abilities. I believe.
    So she's a hyena with spores? Yeah.
    I would I'm going to say right now. Yes. Okay. Just we'll come back to it if I find some reason to change that. Oh, do you have, like, awesome mushrooms and fungus, like, growing in your hyena for what's not brought up, though, is something I also look at because I have I've looked at that. Yeah. And that's something I forget about that.
    Yeah. I mean it retains the benefit of any feature of this class, race or other source you can use. yeah. So I yeah, I don't wild sheep, but I could what I can wild sheep twice. And this takes up one of those slots and it gives me extra. So what I'm going to. Yeah. Exactly. Yeah. Yeah. That was super cool.
    So with the other guy doing the moves into so 20, 25 is going to hit you, right? Barlow? Yeah. And 20, that's 25.
    So you take.
    14 points. no. Yeah. 14 points of bludgeoning and one point of psychic. Okay. Okay. And the second hit is much less, eight points of bludgeoning damage and four points of psychic damage. Thinking that was his move. Okay. Cultist. So. Oh, he's dead.
    Let's.
    Let's go on. That's what.
    So then the cultists is going to attack you.
    Hey, that's, terrible roll as he strikes out at you and misses.
    You got a three? that's in Europe. So you take. Hold on, hold on, hold on, hold, hold on. Do you take 2d? 2D six? Do you roll it six feet?
    Okay, I'm a 28, Ray. Okay. Now this is whenever something comes out and back in. Yep. One, one time on their turn. Okay. Yeah. If you start your turn in it or if you move into it on your turn. Okay. All right. But I can do it up to you. Can't I just move out and then move back?
    Yeah. you've already been healed this turn. Yeah. You've already began to return. Okay. Yeah. All right, I'm going to do, this or cheater. Cheater this. But I can do it six times. Then this is all about cheating. How do you find ways of cheating? Yeah. Pretty much. Okay, so it's going to be one, two, three, four, five.
    So that way you can argue with since you got no, no this is really. I do it five times. I found a reason to here's three here's four oh ones. First five. Whoa. So it's A12345. Just like I said at the beginning. So the first ones I think that they pretty low is oh yeah. So the first one is 30 hit.
    Oh yeah 29 hit points. Perfect. Bam. You strike across the first one. You cut across his throat. You go to the second guy once his hit points. Oh you take him down to hit. what was the third? Was the chrome right. Was this guy under the crumb? That's going to hit. Points out right now. Yeah. That's enough shit.
    That's it was pissed. 123 and then 20. And then four hits. This guy. I was four is up there. Okay. Yep. let's. Yeah. That's going to hit and I can't fuck with your rolls because you're not shadow, right. Nothing. I said nothing. You fuck with my rolls. He's waiting. He's, weighing your dice, and that's not quite it.
    But what you guys might find out at some point. The fuck what? he's he's going onto your computer and messing with your the back end. It has to do. When you guys do those second rolls. Oh. What then? That ones. I don't. Yeah. 20 some like that. unfortunately, the 15 is not going to hit Garm.
    So as once again, as you get up the Garm, he moves out and it's it's like that slow motion. Like if you've watched acolyte the first episode, it's really much like that kind of thing where he just kind of moves aside as you just kind of slide right past them. All right. And what do you want? you can go within five feet of any of those people.
    You just struck out. I'm going to go. Right. Oh, damn it. I'll go right here. And then I'm going to attack this guy. Oh, shit. You guys have killed all but the leader of the cultist.
    What do you say? You didn't have it. We only needed one of attacking this guy. I was looking, Well, that was your action. I have an extra attack. Well, no, but you cast a spell, so you don't. You don't get a second attack. If you cast a spell.
    You have the. Unless it's a cantrip, because then you do have it. Where are you getting to do a cantrip and an attack? But using your second attack is when you're using an attack action. Well, then I'll do a cantrip. Well, no, no, you can't do that now, though. unless it's a bonus action cantrip, so. Right.
    Yeah. I don't think I have a bonus action.
    Okay. All right. I'll pay you to get three of the guys. Yeah, that's a shit ton of damage. Don't be greedy just because I've had four beers. Does it be you get to take advantage of the DM, wait till he has absinthe. Then you could take advantage of it. All right, so there it is. The boss's turn. Flashbacks of Vegas.
    Caesar's friends. All the fun. No chasing the green fairy. I. Suck! He doesn't even know who the fuck you guys are. He doesn't know why you guys are here. All he knows is he was here to do a deal, and you guys just struck down all of his guys. Who has the the way though he does.
    I can't let either of them get away. We don't know what Garm has, just some kind of artifact. But Garm gave this guy a hand.
    Man, why are all my spells concentration? Because nobody likes Rangers. Just a Ranger. I know just how much damage from afar that you have. That's what I just want to do in snaring strike. And I just want to do conjure barrage. And I just want to heal people all at the same time. that too much to ask?
    Well, I guess, what what's the, the marking thing that the hunter's mark. Mark? I guess that's where the, the new rules is going to be centered. Yes, Rangers, but it's going to give you a lot more powers to it. So, so, Fuck. I don't know what he can do. Oh, damn.
    I've been doing this fight all wrong. oh.
    I forgot my little. My little flying snake is inside my get up.
    so he's just going to have to fucking strike out at the, the giant hyena? He he's stuck. There's no, Fuck you. he strikes out with a scimitar and totally misses. Is a natural one. three. No, sorry. Five. Oh, but add three. That's eight. So it doesn't make for being a boss. One of them.
    Yeah. He's he's like, so what in the world? excellent. Yeah. Yeah. I was really hoping he'd get two now. Once that was. You see what that. Yeah. He shoots is only.
    Like. Oh yeah. That's five. All right shadow you are up. All right, well, since I can't do all the things I want to do, I will, bonus action. Move the spirit back on bastion, and then I'm going to shoot Garm. Hopefully. Yes, I believe that hits. No, it's okey doke. And actually, I'm going to use my piercer feet and reroll that d8 of damage.
    You one, I think. Did.
    When I hit with piercing damage, I can reroll one of the attacks damage dice and take the new one. So I rolled a two on the d8. Who? Yeah. And that's an eight, 11, ten, nine plus eight is 17 points of damage instead of the 11. So it's a 27 total. The difference is good a difference of six.
    Yeah. Six more. I'd already taken the damage. Right. That's what I was trying. Oh yeah. So six more. All right. so yeah. And then I will hit him again.
    27 to hit with another 20 damage. It's not really. So what's the roll on? 13. Yeah. Shit. Something else. Oh, and I didn't even do my my, My mum, mum, mum swarm damage either.
    I'm going to make him roll. Wait.
    Now I'll just do the d8 of damage.
    So add another three. Got. He's hurting pretty bad. Good, good. I'll see where I'm at.
    wow. I need to pay more attention to my character sheet. The good advice is that before the game, spent some time kind of remember what's on your sheet. Remember the items you have, what the spells do. It says that I have one use of divine sense on my character sheet, and I have no idea where it came from.
    The fuck are you talking about? I don't know, I'll show you. I even put it as one of those, the resources on the resource tab. It says one use of divine sense, and I have no idea. I have no idea where that's from. I know clearly I added it. I just don't know why. Because you're cheating. Yeah, I'm not cheating.
    Oh, that child are all right, Perla. All right. Finally I growl. I raids again, and I slip to this guy to push him. Three re-invest and I will go reckless on this number which hit the Guardian. Sent me $20 off. Who?
    For your birthday.
    He, Just pretty sure it's 20 hit. It's going to hit. All right. It's like the one that goes through 12 chance. No. All right. First damage was 18 damage. And he's still up. And I will do the three attack.
    Oh. Crit beautiful. that's going to hit giving the damage.
    That's raised to 21. Give me a d20.
    Another 20. Another 20.
    nothing happens.
    Right. And he's still up after that extra 20.
    The next. The last 20 is something different. That's that's that's your. Your notice. I will say this much at this point. Your characters are feeling that in the high peaks and lows of things that are happening to their lives, there's almost like the presence of, like, almost like an amplification that wants to happen. Does that make sense? Like just in those moments where it's just like something really good happens or something bad happens.
    There's almost like a precipice of it can go either way after that point. Does that makes any sense? What happens if you roll a 20 and then you roll a one on your second one? It would be pretty much what just happened there. More or less. You just roll this one and then they got a four. Nothing happened.
    Okay.
    So 20 means it's one, you know, one gets a one. Yeah. All right I tell you they're really good or really bad. Yeah. Really bad. Yep.
    Okay. Yeah. Anything else in look regardless. Regardless. Hey. Yeah. Just tell them that we don't need to kill you for this. Explain what the hell is going on. You really fucked up when you did something on my shit.
    That's my turn.
    Garm looks at you as you say that says I've got what I need out of this. He's got the hand.
    I don't have anything else. You guys want.
    That remains to be seen. And with that one, the next is dead. And it's cards. Turn.
    In a second. Here.
    I don't want this.
    Oh, fuck. On my special crit abilities to have it in my. Read your sheet. You want to turn it on to turn? Turn on Twitter? I want him to make a wisdom saving throw, of 15.
    Yeah. No, the one I attacked. When I get knocked on the, the plasma, the one next to you? yeah. Yeah. No, it's a wisdom. Wisdom of 15. he got a 16, 16.
    Nope. Nothing out. but because that was the crit thing, he has disadvantage. All this attack rolls. So the this.
    Nice. Yeah. What happened? He's got a disadvantage on attack rolls now because I grievously wounded him once I crit. Oh. The crit. But I've got to catch it. Yeah, yeah. That's right. I forgot about that last year. So nice. Yeah. Oh, he's. I built this guy's gift for this. Fucking. Forget it. EV. crush your feet. Oh, my monk.
    And it's amazing. Oh, yeah. that was like. Oh, I want to try them, but probably pretty similar to slasher. Then. No, but Crusher the blue to them around. Yeah. You can push them around. And then on a crit everybody gets advantage on for that round. Yeah. On him. Yeah. Or whomever. Yeah. You give everyone advantage on mine I just his disadvantage.
    So yeah that'd be cool With flurry blows through Sentinel.
    It's that. No monk. Hey, I need more context. Oh.
    Wait. You echo. What's bell? Is it? I guess they use a non cr that you can't take damage. You pretty much don't take any damage unless you attack somebody else. Oh, sanctuary. Is it sanctuary? That sanctuary was for somebody else. Sanctuary is. You put it on a creature and then no other creature can attack them unless they pass a wisdom saving.
    Yeah. It's not. There was something else. That was one where, like, you're pretty much invulnerable. Unless somebody unless you do an attack and. Right. Remember that one just.
    Yeah. I don't know.
    Oh, maybe it is just a stone for the.
    Other the same level. Never mind.
    I mean, if you don't know what the spell is that he doesn't have it.
    All those kind of things I planned on but didn't. But it's fun.
    Because he did just say go after him. I'm fucking.
    All right, so here's what he's going to do. He just, after Barlow kind of said, hey, blah, blah, blah. He said, hey, I don't have what you're looking for. He's got the piece you want. He's going to disengage from the little giant hyena. He's going to take a step back, but he's going to you're going to see him with his blade up in a very protective stance.
    And that'll be his turn.
    You are dead.
    Dude. Oh! Oh, wait. Calm one. Sorry. Hold on. calm one next to you. He sees what the first guard did, and he's going to do the same thing. Disengage. Step back, put his sword up in defensive stance. Now it's your turn. Now it's time for the giant hyena. This is the original guard. Yep. Right. That's the real one.
    Yeah. And this is the guy that has the hand case.
    All right, so hyena is going to go for this dude. So I'll just go with who I'm already right next to.
    Oh, my attack is six. I mean, they don't even hit. Do it. Right. But do me a favor and roll, d20.
    Nine.
    Does the hyena have multitask? Okay. just one. It's just the one. And I was looking at, like, the way it takes an animal with multitask. Or do I take an animal? higher HP. Yeah, I picked HP. Sometimes HP is the way to go. Yeah, that's what I thought. I went with, like, only one attack. But I'm gonna take the Irish pizza now.
    That's that's the aina or swipe. And they met our first bite. They missed anything else?
    That's all that they have action on the second arm looks at Barlow. It looks over at bastion. Well, let me rephrase that. Actually, he would have looked at his boss and the other, metallic and then looked at you two as he does a little disengage movement. He steps back and has a sword up at the ready.
    Oh, no, I'm sorry, I forgot. They don't have swords. He just has his fist up in the air in the ready. There we go. he is dead. Bastion, you are a.
    All right.
    I am going to use my movement to. Oh, right here. Before you move, you get 2d 6023677. Yay! All right, now this guy is going to. Take everything.
    So my normal attack. Damn it didn't hit anything. All right. And then I'm going to cast the true strike.
    Are you going for lethal or non-lethal? Non-lethal. Is this again?
    Is that, cantrip? Yeah. Okay, so I'm going to double cast it. 23. Hit him. Yeah. And that last one will hit.
    All right, so I can choose what kind of damage he's taking. So I'll have him take the radiant and thunder. So as you go towards him, you strike for the first time, you miss, the second one misses and the third one strikes. True. He takes that 20 points of damage and then he's going to use the action he was holding back as he strikes back at you.
    Can I use your reaction? what is it in this method?
    What is it? Oh, I was just going to use this with my metallic wings. Oh, right. Right, right. Oh, yeah. You'd still be able to use that. Okay, but I want to wait to see what he rolls. Right? Right. Yep. That's right. I got a low roll on that. So that becomes yeah. He's going to miss 15.
    Okay. And since it's technically a multi attack this is action. So what we were saying if you have multi. Yeah that was yeah. That's an attack. Yeah. 17 and then 18. No no no okay. So he strikes out at you with his three attacks after he sees you move up to his space and start attacking him. And he was trying to back off.
    But then you started striking at him. So he struck back at you. But he missed all three. And I say, you're not going anywhere until you explain what's going on.
    He looks at you.
    I have come to get one thing. I have it. It has no regard to you. If you're looking for the hand, that's the guy who has the hand. We know that wasn't what I said.
    He's trying to. He's his whole thing. Is that. He's trying to direct you that way. No, we get it. We're just not going to let him do it. But that would anything else special? no. last call to you. See him? Look at Garm. What the fuck, pal? Kind of thing.
    Can't give it up. Then.
    No, he's not doing good. And I did not give him any spells or anything that allowed him to make a quick escape.
    Fucking. We're on or.
    First that he's going to check? Nope.
    He strikes out twice at the giant hyena, and that's all he's got. That's not going to do anything. Shut up. That's. I don't really care what the cultist has to say, because Garm can answer all of those questions. I will move, really, man, we need him, alive.
    I mean. Spirit back over, and then I'm going to. It's only 1020. 30 ish for that guy. Non-lethal. So I'll aim for, like, his knees. I gotcha.
    So there's that. There's a left knee, and I shoot the right knee.
    Yep. One on each knee. And, All right, so that last one's enough. As that second strike hits, he he's laying down, holding his wounds, just kind of trying to control his breathing. We're going to put him at one hit point. He's holding on. That's it. I'll just yell at him. Now. Stay and don't move. Okay, we'll put him at zero and but yeah, we'll put that one.
    But he's unconscious. It's barely holding on. So that's what he is. Oh, he's not adventurer anymore. He took an arrow to the knee. Barlow. All right. this is the one that was in front of me before and just engaged. Yeah. Think. Okay, I'm going to run up to him and find him a little bit. I always want to keep Garm in my direct, field of vision.
    So I am going to, attack this guy. I will also go recklessly. Yeah, I will, that's it. That's, little. Sorry. But, Lord, sorry I couldn't hear you over the Speed Racer. Oh, 28 to hit. Yeah, it's going to hit. One of those.
    Well.
    I've been 13. Not sure why that 16.
    I can attack double crit. Oh. What does he get with two crits? well, it's going to hit first. All right. What's the damage? The do damage. Oh, that's a good one. That's really good. 33.
    And give me a d20.
    I just did I give you two of them, right. Yeah. That one doesn't count. Oh come on, man, that was part of his advantage. Roll as.
    And he's still up. Yep. Really? One more. Respond. Yep. 14 more. One. He's going to have a bit of hit points. Okay, then I will use my bonus action. But he's hurting pretty badly actually. Yeah. He's making okay. He's down to a quarter. I go wisdom saving throw please. He's 15.
    It fails it just by one. Okay. I would like him possibly need to the other guy, about ten feet away. About ten people I can. Yeah. He can't. Can't reach. Doesn't that reach right? No. okay. Actually, though, we'll take. This is a what is this? my infectious fury.
    Oh, wait. No, I'm thinking of the other guys. I think have it.
    Okay, there's I've. I haven't seen him reaching be able to attack from distance. I won't have a minute. Got notice. I was wondering is if it was kind of like a, armed, like a charmed effect kind of thing. Oh, gotcha. with this one, I guess the wording in it says kind of curse. Don't say it's a curse.
    Blesses you. You can curse your target with fury. So I guess it is a curse. So anyway, he's going to get a little bit of mental damage. Holy shit. 18. Wow. Psychic. That's that's great. That's a good one. Two plus one. Oh, so then that's one. Sorry.
    I got what I needed. This was a gun. Looks at that. I got what I needed out of this, and you guys continue to attack me.
    You need to give us answers.
    If it's just interesting one, I will gladly stop.
    He stares at bastion, the stairs. And you? Since you said that. As he pulls up the sword towards bastion.
    Shall I stop? Tell us what you got and tell us what you're going to do with it.
    See, here's the problem. This is his turn. He can strike. Three attacks just like he did last time.
    Oh, we told him we to. Yeah, we'll stomp our attacks on you if you stop.
    With that, he's going to disengage. He's going to take a couple steps over. He's going to put the sword up in a in a way of like defensive but not attacking way and hoping the fact that he didn't do any attacks. Hopefully that will convey his message. The first game, we'll see what he had done. We'll kind of mirror his image.
    Sass.
    First is going to hold. Guard two we'll disengage one step away from Barlow following the moves of the of the other two. Bastion.
    I say it doesn't look like this guy's going to give us any answers willingly.
    I mean, he did back up. He stopped fighting. To. But he didn't give us any answers. I think he's waiting for a conversation. If we kill him, we're not going to get any answers that way. They're not going to able to answer your questions. And that'll combat. That's kind of the problem right there. That's why I was at an impasse as well.
    And there's still a third party in this.
    Okay. So what I'm going to do is wait, if everyone is doing this thing. Oh, there's still one cultist standing over here by, no there's not. No, he's unconscious. He's unconscious. You're good point. The DM was thinking about the fact that he didn't have a red X on them. So yeah, I guess at this point. Depends really on party, on bastion.
    But everyone's kind of stepping back from the combat or injured to the point of not being able. Okay, well, can I take my my turn yet? My hero points. Yeah. Go ahead. Oh, yeah. Hold on. Let me go and do what you guys do. I have to, click seven. So what I'm going to do is I'm just going to move over here and bar his way.
    Oh, I will let you know that I specifically worded what I said to him. What did you say? I said, if you put away your sword, we will stop our attacks on you, only you. I didn't save everybody. He almost didn't put away his sword. So we can take care of his buddies. We don't have to take him.
    But we can take out his two other goons. So if you stay here. What do you want? I mean, yeah, your block his exit. Yeah, right. And then. Yeah, I'm going to run right over. You. Yeah, but. Yeah. Hold your action. If he comes by. Yeah. You no action.
    Actually I'll moved to this one because then I could go to either one of these spots.
    I think if we have a conversation, if we can wait until next time, that would be great. The two 1:00. Yeah, I just want, if we're done with combat, though, can we have the conversation next game?
    If it's like attacking, it's not on. I. Sorry, but my neck really hurt. No, no, I know, I know, I know, but I don't want comment angry I know, but we can. All right. So you guys have taken the cultist down to one the to the leader and he's on his knees, out of breath, unconscious but still clinging to life.
    You've got. Garmin, his two chrome buddies. So what's going to happen? I'm borrowing his exit. Okay. and I'm holding an action. If he tries to get past me, I'm going to finish him off. Okay? And I'm walking up to his two silver buddy. And I tell him, put your sword away. and you can tell us what's going on.
    Okay, so at that point, you will see my turn. He will, Deactivate his, his rapier as it turns into just a little rod. It says. So we will talk and we can leave it there.
    That's going to go. You guys talking to him back before you've taken out his minions? Yep.
    Oh, what is this? Pay no attention to what's going on back there. You talk to us? well, yeah, we're going to do the talking next time, right? Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. We're done, we're done, we're done. Shadows make a note. Shadow is going to hold. Keep her bow out and hold an action. If anything starts getting aggressive again, I gotcha.
    I guess everybody's on defensive. Yeah, no worries at all. Well, except one. Yeah, except Barlow. Barlow's always actually sitting on the cultists. Yeah. Yep. Oh, I started grooming you. Help a large city. You're a huge creature.
    All right, my friends. Hey, hey. Yeah. It's nice. All right, so I. Can I talk to you for, like, five minutes? You got that? Okay. I know, I know, this is going to be weird and and kind of stupid and silly when I. When I was coming up with bacon. Barlow. Remember I said I was making, like, a Wolverines head character?
    You know, it's not the rage in the claws. It was just like, gruff, kind of a loner wannabe. Brilliant at heart, basically. Logan. Well, now that we have a couple bars of adamantium. Is it possible, is there anybody that does magic that infuses stuff to inside of people. But.
    I'll have to think about how that would play out. We will if I don't do too painful. I'll figure out a way. Yeah, I can figure out a way of who knows about that into the story. okay. Because he knows about that type of metal and poured that on. I mean, it was just incredible. You would love that.
    Well, that's all I was thinking. I don't know, I was shocked, honestly, when he says, like, maybe, oh, yeah, I'll go to Canada for a few hours where they, they do torturous experiments. Let's. Yeah. I'll just figure out stuff. All right, but at least see where it goes. Yep. Oh, man. Oh, my.
    He wants to be Wolverine.
    So, do you guys have the elements? It.
    Just opened up a beer.
    I can lie, that's not where I expected everything to end up.
    Well, I didn't I didn't think I'd given them a way of exiting, but.
    Yeah.
    Yeah. In the end.
    Boy, we. Oh, what did I do? End up drinking it? Did I wait till the end?
    I just hit it. Seems like every time I get, like, a legal attack, it's against Sam. And then Sam, like, react, overreact. We. You get a little bit. Yeah, yeah. If you listen to the tape, you'll see what it is. It's like. Oh, just like like that. Somebody hit like. Yeah, but he wasn't. He wasn't as bad as he went.
    Oh no, it wasn't as bad as it was this fine.
    But it did make me feel like, holy shit. But it was just like the rules was clear. But then also then he goes off and kills four of them in a row. I'm like, see, that's like, that's how the game works sometimes. Like, I'm feeling you guys. And then you guys are killing me. Okay.
       
     
    09 - Thornwinds
    Previous Session ◀️ | Next Session ▶️
     

     
    * Dierde World Map (Biomes, Equirectangular) | MAIN *
    Dierde World Map | Equirectangular (Biomes)
    Table of Contents  
     

    Session 073: Cultists Under the Church Report

    Table of Contents

     
     
     
     
    Campaign
    The Wild Cards
    Protagonists
    Bastion Bladesinger
    /
    Sas W.T. Rayce
    Barlo
    Chaotic Neutral Tabaxi (Smuggler)
    Barbarian 8
    85 / 85 HP
    STR
    18
    DEX
    16
    CON
    16
    INT
    10
    WIS
    11
    CHA
    14
    Shadow in the Snow
    Arktos
    Report Date
    08 Jun 2024
    Primary Location
    Thornwinds
    Secondary Location
    Abandoned Church of Thornwinds
    Wild Cards
    Organization | Aug 22, 2024

    The Heroes of Outding Refuge and Kampos

    Dierde       Campaigns    The Wild Cards Campaign    WC Session Reports    09 - Thornwinds      Session 073: Cultists Under the Church Report
     
    Timeline of The Wild Cards
    Generic article | Sep 29, 2025

    A simplified view of key events for the campaign of The Mighty Menagerie

     

    WC Session Reports

      All Menagerie/Wild Card Session Reports

     
       
    I really do try to make most of this original, but since Forgotten Realms is an integral part of the world I can't help if anything is used without formal permission, but is still "fair use" as I am just using this for my private games.
    Article template
    Report
    World
    Dierde
    Category
    09 - Thornwinds in WC Session Reports
    Author
    id8tionist
    Publication Date
    7 Jul, 2024
    Creation Date
    7 Jul, 2024
    Last Update Date
    1 Oct, 2025
    Visibility
    Public
    Views
    177
    Favorites
    Comments
    0
    Work In Progress
    Tags
    session-menagerie

    Find your way!

    Resources

    WHO WE ARE

    LEGAL

    Get the news

    Our Shop

    Development

    EVENTS

    REACHING OUT

    A BIG THANK YOU

    To all our Our Patrons for their unwavering love and support.

    For the amazing images. His Titanship Christopher Dravus of Ironrise Games, Our Revered Deity Basic Dragon / Rin & His Majesty Caeora