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Ep. 57 Stalactites and Stalagmites - Bellum Draconis
120 Plays1 year ago
We’re going on a Roper hunt, we’re going to catch a big one, what a beautiful cave….we’re not scared.
Follow us on our Twitters - @FellowshipTable
Intro written and produced by Joseph McDade
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Transcript
Welcome to the Kingdom of Sleetguard
00:00:00
Speaker
Yes, also on that about finding our stronger cells, Alpha, is there any chance you can tap into that kind of rage? Red Ross?
00:00:42
Speaker
Hello everyone and welcome to this week's episode of the Fellowship of the Tabletop Bellum Draconis. We are a live playfivey D&D podcast set in the magical homebrood world of Eryth in the Kingdom of Sleetguard. My name is Mark and I am the Dungeon Master. And also with us for this week's episode we have Ian who plays the Tiefling Warlock, Nyx Karel. Hello! We've got Danny who plays the half-orc monk, Moroke, the Broken Towers...
00:01:10
Speaker
Speaking in tongues, we've got Will who plays the divination wizard Old Gal. Oh, hello. Hello. We've got Callum who plays the Warforged Artifice at Alpha. Ah, hello. Will who plays the human cleric Emron. Hello. And Darriny who plays the High Elf Artifice at Rainshadow. Why, hello. The six of you now, I've just realised. Welcome to the show, to the history mix. Wow. The history mix?
00:01:36
Speaker
None of you got that. Some of our listeners got that reference.
Ridgeback Swords Recap
00:01:40
Speaker
It's fine. I feel like that's a young person reference. Yeah, probably. Is that because Danny's wearing your hat backwards? If you did get that reference and you are part of the enlightened section of humanity, do tweet all of the other people in this to let them know exactly what they've just missed out on. Along with your birth date, because I'm pretty sure you'd have to be in the 90s or 2000s together. Is this a skateboarding thing?
00:02:06
Speaker
No, this is from Six the Musical. Oh! Oh, not seeing that yet. Well, there you go. You're all losers. Is that like Wicked? Was that how When Wicked came out? No. It's like Henry VIII's wife with jazz, isn't it? That's the general premise of it. Getting it straight up, no. A really reductionist reading of it, yes. You're annoying a lot of people listening right now. And if you are to send Darren hate tweets, then...
00:02:36
Speaker
do it. What should they do, Callum? What do they do? And you can find us all on Twitter. It's called X now. Oh yes, it's X now. And you might have to pay for it by the time you're listening to this, so who knows? Yeah, true. At which point we won't be on there.
00:02:55
Speaker
And we will also then, if that's not an option though, you can always set up a GoFundMe page because I want to buy Callum a chair that raises him slightly higher. It's just his camera needs pointing him down. When you speak to him on the flipping phone, he will angle his phone camera up above his head as well. I don't know why.
00:03:15
Speaker
You can basically see the top of my head when I'm doing that. I just assume that Caleb's actually just sat on the floor. That's actually how the camera would actually tilt any further down. That's it. Yeah. Seequally, I've been getting shorter and shorter and trying to hide it. Well, speaking of trying to hide it, I feel like we're hiding what happened on last week's episode of The Fellowship of the Tabletop.
Interrogation and Tension
00:03:34
Speaker
And with that really, really fucking awful segue, let's speak to someone with some sense, Danny, our chronic clerk, to give us a recap of what happened in last week's episode of The Fellowship of the Tabletop.
00:03:46
Speaker
In the last few pages of our adventure, the party find themselves on the eve of a gory battle with the Ridgeback Swords, which turned into a battle as well with a group of mud methods. After the conflict had finished, one surviving member of the Ridgeback Swords revealed their employer to be Lord Aric Vossen, a known person of influence in Sleekard, Dralak, and surrounding kingdoms.
00:04:13
Speaker
After interrogating the remaining mercenary and finding out more about their intentions to cross the border, Morota took it upon herself to end his life prematurely. This was received with mixed reaction amongst the group. Chiefly, Emron and the pair clashed, to say the least.
00:04:38
Speaker
The debate ended with Morota revealing that Vossen was a slave trader and the remaining mercenary involved in that activity and it has been picked up since.
Visions and Preparations
00:04:51
Speaker
On the subject of Emron, still confused by this ancestral angelic visitor known as Tilwa, the party hope to now venture forward with some curious
00:05:08
Speaker
activity happening within the orb held by old Gell.
00:05:33
Speaker
So the rest, you may all click the button on D&D Beyond for a long rest now and return your health points, et cetera. And the rest, the all watches pass without any issue whatsoever. I think I'm pretty sure old girl had a vision of staying there and everything being hunky dory or roughly into the affirmatories and fewer of the negatories than the affirmatories.
00:05:56
Speaker
And his affirmatory is where affirmatory it was correct. There were no issues. The Russell cart might have crossed it on the road at one point, but no one ever stopped by. But the watch passes without any to do. The morning light comes and with it a slight gust and breeze. It's like haze of misty rain in the air that stays for the first few hours of the morning. The fire is lit.
00:06:22
Speaker
breakfast is served, and as members of the group start to wake themselves up, it's a journey ahead of them. But before that journey takes place, I wasn't sure if there were any discussions or conversations or attunements that wanted to be set up before we start making our way towards the cavern of the Roper. Let's imagine for argument's sake, Rains, you're down by the fire first. I was going to say sharpening a sword, but that's not what we would do, tinkering with your squirrel.
00:06:49
Speaker
That's the euphemism version. What Raines will be doing is that Raines will have, before he'll have set out some Rubik's cubes, there will be just a series of what looks like iconic data on them.
00:07:00
Speaker
And in between that is this orb that he has been given that has the ability to defy gravity. I know that's a musical reference. And Raines has just attuned himself to that. He started to scan it the night before and just got off the charts readings from it in terms of which school it belongs to, as if to say there is something
00:07:25
Speaker
beyond your mere comprehension of just putting this into whether it's transmutation, evocation. This is powerful. Rains gets the impression it's dangerous. But he remembers his conversation with Olgel about potentially needing something of this ilk. So
00:07:45
Speaker
He is pursuing the path of wisdom and new knowledge and is attuning himself to this accordingly. So that would be how Raine spends, well, the significant portion of what he has done during potentially any part of a watch during the night. Awesome, right, for anyone else, was there anything else you wanted to, I know we've got quite a few items up in the air at the moment, any attunements that want to take place or conversations before
Journey to the Roper's Cave
00:08:10
Speaker
we have? M1 will have attuned himself to his shield that allows him to reflect the damage he takes.
00:08:15
Speaker
I was just wondering if you said you were going to melt down because it was shit. Yeah, I'm going to attune to it anyway. It's fine. Suddenly we've changed our mind. Fair enough. Magic. I think Alpha would actually had his coin and possibly just kind of made like a little chain out of it, just out of little bits and pieces. It was kind of hanging around his neck at the moment. One thing that I think he would have
00:08:45
Speaker
Also done his clothes that he's been wearing. Had him for ages, been through a few battles, probably like tough scattered. I think he would have actually taken an opportunity to get changed. He would have took his clothes off and I will have already put on the uniform from the Ridgebacks because Alpha is trying something new. Doesn't even do this in private. It's kind of completely stripped down.
00:09:13
Speaker
The question is as curious as I am. Perfectly smooth.
00:09:24
Speaker
Like in what was the film? I was going to say Taboo then, but I've forgotten. Dogma. Dogma. I know I told you it earlier, but I forgot about it. Yeah. You have forgotten already. Jesus, right. Okay, so awkward pictures of Alpha Nude aside. Not awkward, actually. It's just a body, I guess. Pretty awkward. It's a weird mechanical body. Nothing weird about that at all. It's like a car.
00:09:49
Speaker
Yeah, you see an oil cars and exhaust there, right? Nick's word because he doesn't sleep would spend the watch.
00:10:03
Speaker
tuning to his, I've forgotten the name, so I'm going to say time tuner that he got from Old Girls, Love Shack. Oh yeah, that thing. Oh shit, yeah. And don't forget you got your spell book back as well. Yeah, I was going to say once he's attuned to it, once he feels comfortable with it, he'll be reading through that spell book and where it says that he has to draw like any incantations or any signs or markings, he's going to start just practicing
00:10:29
Speaker
what it takes to cast those spells, whether just drawing little like runes in the dirt, trying to like really shit. Like if someone gives you like a really good artist picture and then Nyx draws it, it would be a stick figure. So that's what where he's going with it and taking the time to to learn. Nice. OK. And oh, oh, girl, anything from you or Marta?
00:10:57
Speaker
Nothing in particular. I imagine that Gel is kind of having a glance into his old crystal or probably standing there with a hoot on the top of his turban looking in the general direction they're going to be headed next. He's just going to be effectively looking into this orb and piecing together
00:11:16
Speaker
what he thinks is going to happen compared to how the morning is going so far. And he'll probably kind of look over to one or two of the group, note their position, kind of nod and go back to the orb and just wait for people to be ready to go. I think Marota will having had some
00:11:39
Speaker
heated exchanges before the long rest, I think she will have just remained quiet for the rest of the time and given everyone their space to process whatever they need to do.
00:11:50
Speaker
And, uh, if I remember correctly, um, this is, oh, gail, you're, you're taking point in terms of the direction in which we're heading to the toilet. Yes. Epic cabin. Cool. Absolutely. Oh, gail knows the way. Fabulous. Oh, that's a good, that's a good pairing. Now I can see that. Oh yeah. It is time. Right.
00:12:09
Speaker
And in time it is indeed. And finally, we do come to a natural, slightly awkward moment where the fires are put out, everything's collected, equipment is looted from boxes where necessary and the camp of bridgeback swords is left and you head out onto the main road passing through and away from this hidden enclave with the lake.
00:12:29
Speaker
And as you embark from your journey from these lush, cooler lands of Sleekguard south, for the south you go the more arid, the more rocky the expanses start to become. You start to enter into the borderlands between Sleekguard and Dralak, while the transformation in the landscape is profound. The air, once almost kissed by the moisture of the northern climes, begins to grow heavy and parched.
00:12:53
Speaker
Gone are the whispers of the gentle breeze. It's replaced by the hushed reverence of the desert's breathless stillness. The sun, once gentle, now reigns supreme with an unrelenting fervor. Its rays cascade on fiery darts and pierce the canopy overhead as the trees slowly dissipate back on the dying lands of Dralak appearing in front of you, almost at an instant.
00:13:22
Speaker
Each footfall stirs the dry earth beneath your feet, sending a plume of fine dust that clings to the air as you walk, giving away location. You notice this, and your eyes scan the horizon for any other matching plumes to give way to travelers, mercenaries, or worse. You are alone in these parts. Old girl is taking you on a route that is not the usual trade route to the south and into Dralak.
00:13:52
Speaker
The scent of the land
Cave Encounter: The Mysterious Dwarf
00:13:53
Speaker
even transforms from vibrant aromas of sleep guard to this musky and arid terrain. As much a transformation of the senses as it is of the landscape, if a treat's in memory as you venture deeper into Drelak where nature's most potent and unforgiving elements seem to reign supreme,
00:14:13
Speaker
And as you continue down, Old Gail starts to lead us further down. And this is over a series of series of days here. Night and day pass, the ground stays consistent. The sun ever present, ever hot. Supply is good, but still no one, no life, no people. Hard ground underneath your feet cracked and parched itself. Stretches out at one moment between desert and a canyon.
00:14:40
Speaker
This is a parched, desolate place where even the earth seems to hold its breath. The air is so still. You see, probably as a hoot flies around in circles over it in a distance, you notice it. Stop.
00:14:55
Speaker
and to come to rest upon the mouth, the moor of a large cave. Jagged, rocky terrain, it yawns open like a wound in the canyon itself, framed by almost jagged, sharp-edged rocks, beckoning only the most desperate and the most curious. We have reached the cave of the Roper.
00:15:21
Speaker
in your current location, the canyon to your back, I imagine it, excuse me, like Petra almost, if anyone's seen that in Jordan, one of the seven wonders of the world where it's just like flat ground and then boom, it's just a massive dam.
00:15:36
Speaker
wall of rock and within there is this cave front. So where the sun currently is does give you shade outside of the cave at your current location. It's not like you're being beaten down by it as well. At the moment, it's kind of mid-afternoon by this time. You've been walking for a couple of days with rests taking place in between those.
00:15:57
Speaker
yet we are here now. Supplies are good, water rations are good, you're in a good position in terms of your health, you're in a good position in terms of your supplies as well. You walk up and you're entered into the shade, the first shade you've had in quite a while during this day especially. There's a moment of pause as you stare into this large and dark abyss that sits in front of you and remember what it is you are to face.
00:16:28
Speaker
What would you like to do? Rains will step forward and immediately just glance around at the terrain around us
00:16:39
Speaker
Well, Reigns is acutely aware that there's no bounty on this because any hope of bounty has long since gone because of the sheer souls that this thing has claimed. However, it's been said that it's like a cave of wonders, isn't it? That apparently the bounty itself is that if you kill it, the loot itself is particularly bountiful. Reigns is just glancing around to see if
00:17:02
Speaker
Anyone else, there are any sense of footprints, dust tracks, as much as you can get on a dusty track with a wind blade over, but is there any sense of campfires, anything that anyone else has been stupid enough to try and take this on in the immediate past? Yep, give me an investigation check please, Raines. Sure. That's a 12. You notice upon your walk up
00:17:26
Speaker
And actually in the general vicinity, you can start pointing out these kind of blackened, flattened areas where small sticks and rocks have been burned. It's not one of them. There's five, six, seven, eight, nine. As you get closer to the cave mouth and against the wall, either side of the mouth of the cave, you notice more of these. You notice some dusted-over bedrolls. You see the odd pot and tin and can, kind of like cooking utensils left outside.
00:17:56
Speaker
You see what seems to be the remains of a backpack now well worn through with the biting winds of the sand sitting sentinel against the wall. There is an abundance, there has been an abundance of activity here at some point. From when and from which location they arrived is unknown but all you can tell is there are too many separate points
00:18:22
Speaker
for it to be one group. Either that or it was one group that went in and out and then set up a different camp each time, which would make no sense. So yes, you get the sense of multiple people visiting here. How long ago is unknown? Well, I'm taking a glance around what I can see here and I get the impression we ain't the only folks to try and claim the Europa's bounty and the
00:18:49
Speaker
I'm getting the sense no one who's come before it has been successful, which isn't particularly encouraging. Well, I was about to say, we didn't know this was going to be tricky, but equally, we have come prepared somewhat with old Gell. If his divination is all that he seems to have shown us over the past few days, he's not stayed as wrong yet. You're challenging me?
00:19:21
Speaker
Did you sleep too close to the fire last night, Emron? Why? Your voice sounds strained. It's a bit of smoke and it's a dust from Dralak. You can hear it. It must be running a bit wrong. Do you need like a potion? No, I've got these herbs. They're called strepsil.
00:19:47
Speaker
Just thought I'd ask. You can buy a structure for any good pharmacy. Alright there, girl. We're... What you seeing? We're actually in a big old cave. It's right in front of us. I'm seeing that as well. If that makes a diviner, then I must be one too. You know what I mean. What are you seeing? Do we know how far in it is?
00:20:13
Speaker
Well, yeah, it's kind of further in the cave. We can't just kill no rubber when we don't seize it. How far in? What do you want me to do, count my steps? You got big feet, boy! No, but we assume that you might have seen what comes next a little bit, you know.
00:20:28
Speaker
Well, shit, I done told you sometimes I sees what is, what isn't, what could be. I'm not like some sort of, I just, I just read your media future. I just tells you how we beat this boy. He's in there. We go in there. We beat this boy. We come out with all the goodies. Right. Fabulous. Question. Anyone see any greenery? Any sign of a life that goes beyond dust and
Crossing the Treacherous Lake
00:20:51
Speaker
sand? And I only ask because
00:20:53
Speaker
Apparently this thing don't like water too much and I'm just trying to establish just how much of it we might be able to find. They're not going to find much here. Just what we're carrying, Rains. That is disappointing. I don't know. It's better than walking all the way down to find a massive cavern full of water.
00:21:15
Speaker
that we'd have to drop ourselves into from a great height. Actually, funny enough, yes, I'd rather that didn't happen, but I wouldn't mind finding a cabin that we could drop the big thing into because, as I said, it doesn't allow water. No one got no tricks up their sleeves. We've been travelling for days. Now you're looking for water? What's wrong with you, boy?
00:21:35
Speaker
I'm not looking for any kind of water. I'm just going off the brief that we were told that apparently two things that could help us win this fight, you and the presence of water. And from the last two minutes, I'm getting the impression that one of those things might not be as fruitful as first considered. I'll let you decide which. Well, you better spell it out, boy. Given that we have been resting, we know what we're facing, I have prepared the spell create or destroy water. So you know.
00:22:05
Speaker
Well, shit, someone's got the brains. You go first then. Holy boy. Actually, speaking on that, will we see an appearance from your celestial self? I don't know, Nick. I've seen pretty badass. Like, is there a way that we can draw out of you? Maybe if, like, Marota beats on you a little, would it just kind of... I've been trying to, like, you know,
00:22:31
Speaker
bring it on, but I don't know whether he needs some of us to be dying for that to happen. I don't know what makes him do his thing. Well, if we need him, I hope that he does come out and give us the hand. But until then, what are we waiting for? Let's go and get us some ropies. Yes. Also on that, about finding our stronger cells, Alpha, is there any chance you can tap into that kind of rage? Red Ross?
00:23:01
Speaker
Yes. Bye, sandwich! Possibly, but I would prefer to reserve that ride until we are in view of the creature. I will attempt to do so, but alas, I cannot promise anything. It still seems to be something I cannot control.
00:23:22
Speaker
Seems like we're really prepared for what's to come. Nah, we'd be fine. It's not a problem. I'm just curious. Who's got the biggest, you know, the biggest punch here? I'm looking at some punch here. Oh no, not me. Definitely not.
00:23:35
Speaker
I'm just thinking, when we's gonna take this thing down, when we weakens it, when we do all the stiff we're gonna need to do, who's got the biggest, you know... Yeah, on the subject of biggest punch, that might not be... The other thing we were told is that the roper up front is particularly deadly. We might want to find ways we can find it whilst keeping our distance or at least being mobile enough to get out of the way. I have a question. It might seem dumb. But what the fuck is a roper?
00:24:05
Speaker
Maybe it's for the best that you don't know just yet, Nix. Yeah, you're going to find out soon. See, now, that's not as exciting as you think it is. He raises a good point. How do we know that the creature we see in there is indeed the creature that we are indeed hunting? Exactly what I was going to say. Thank you, Alpha. How do we know that creature says what it says it is? I think what we were told was that this creature could look
00:24:33
Speaker
like it was a stalagmite or a stalactite. I get the feeling that we're not joking, like this could be a thing, like what is a roper? You want me to like say that's the boy right there, you just you know. I mean that would kind of help because by the sounds of things I'm just going to hit some random stalagmite. Well you could try that might not be the right one though, what you want me to say a co-word? You want me to say like
00:25:18
Speaker
What the fuck is a roper? I mean, I can give you... Okay, all this briefing was effectively we should expect something large, something gargantuan. It's particularly dangerous, uptight, stay away from its mouth, it's quite bitey. Uptight!
00:25:25
Speaker
Coney boy!
00:25:33
Speaker
Yeah, don't don't get too close or if you get close get out. That was pretty much that what we were told by order. Terrible around water doesn't like water will do anything. Yeah, you got I got that one. I got that out of everything. I'm just like, it's technically as well. So just the mouth lizard has the means to pull you in towards said mouth. So imagine like a land squid, a big land squid like a there we go. There we go.
00:25:58
Speaker
Thank you, Raines. That is more helpful than anything else. A big land squid is what's waiting for us at the base of this cave. Marota, you look like you want to say something. Marota's walked in at the point when Raines said all his information. Marota rolls her eyes and has already advanced without the rest of the group. And she was never seen again. It appears Marota had left us.
00:26:24
Speaker
Turns out the entire cave is actually a giant mimic. Mark, when I look down this cave, I've got awesome fucking darkvision, but is it dark? Is it light? What's the... It's dark, but you can see through it because you've got darkvision. Can everyone see through it without their special eyes? I'm going to have to light a torch. Sweet. Old girl rocks up to Nyx, kind of spits on his orb, rubs a bit and casts some light on it.
00:26:54
Speaker
So, your orb now emits. I mean, I'm a big fan, old girl, you know this. Spit on my orb. Spit on my orb. Sometimes you just gotta give it a cheeky rub and it, you know, lights right up.
00:27:11
Speaker
Fondle it. Right, okay. So we've got an orb, we've got a torch, we've got darkvision, yeah. I mean, Marota, I know you're already in, but the rest of us. Oh, everyone's following Marota. Can't let her die on her own. Again. Might as well all die together. Right. So on that, the cave dips down slightly forward. I'm very much at the back of the group. I'm just going to say that out right now. Very much at the arse end of this group.
00:27:41
Speaker
I assumed you would be when I placed you all. Very good. Yeah, Rains will fall in relatively near the back, probably near Alpha if everyone's gone off. I want you to think of this group like the human centipede, and I am the shit-eater at the back. Everyone technically beyond Marota would be a shit-eater. But he's nothing but shit. He doesn't do any of the shitting. That's the thing. My tail's swishing.
00:28:08
Speaker
That's why you're at the back, because the tail would flap in your face when you're trying to eat your shit. That's why. That's a grim... But then again, it's right there. Alva doesn't got butthole. Like a fleshy toad. We told you. Me and Imran built a port there, but it's his USB docking port, like if you want to charge him. Is it USB-C? That means things only get weird. The EU demanded we made him USB-C. I've got to follow those EU laws.
00:28:36
Speaker
As Reigns is walking alongside... That joke will age horribly when we come to listen to this in years to come. Reigns will fall on one side of Alpha and he'll just start to activate the Arcanic armor. He's sticking with studded leather because of the briefing of staying back, so he's sticking with the Lightning Launcher. And he's just going to say to Alpha, you've been walking around for a few days, I don't know how you... Are you packing the pistol? And I don't mean there's a euphemism.
00:29:06
Speaker
He'll just say because he knows Nick's a linear shot. I'm afraid I've not had the capability to repair my pistol. It is still malfunctioning. You got that crossbow? Indeed. I have been able to modify it slightly. Good. I think you're gonna need it. And don't forget this time to
00:29:32
Speaker
You're also going to need water. Apparently. And he's going to glance over his shoulder at Nyx. He's going to say as quietly as he can, the thing that you pull out of you. Don't forget that this time. You mean Beta? I mean, yeah, that. I figured it might say you pull a cannon out of you. Nyx is just going to laugh at that. So, yeah, that. He is Beta and he is my companion.
00:29:55
Speaker
Yeah, you forgot him last time. You forgot him the last couple of times. Don't do that this time. We need him. I foresaw no reason to extract later during those times. It's good to see this relationship hasn't got any weirder since I've been away.
00:30:11
Speaker
Yeah, but like, seriously, we should follow Marauder, or she gonna die. Oh, we were walking and talking. Indeed. Oh, girl, like... Yeah, we're walking as we're talking. Come on with this. Move on. And just before we do carry on, on Reign's advice, I will obviously just activate Beta now. Just for clarification, I'll be doing the Force Ballista version of Beta.
00:30:35
Speaker
You head down, down, down, it seems like for a while down, there's a mustyness in the air. Down, down, down, down, down, down, down, down, down, down, down, down, down, down, down, down, down, down, down, down, down, down, down, down, down, down, down, down, down, down, down, down, down, down, down, down, down, down, down, down, down, down, down, down, down, down, down, down, down, down, down, down, down, down, down, down, down, down, down, down, down, down, down, down, down, down, down, down, down, down, down, down, down, down, down, down, down, down, down, down, down, down, down, down,
00:31:03
Speaker
You see moss and lichen on the walls slowly. There's a dampness to the space and to the air, but the footing underneath ground is solid still. A lot of the sand is blown in from the external desert into the cave itself. It's about 10, 15 feet wide. You start to notice these thin tendrally kind of entrances and exits of the cave as you walk through.
00:31:30
Speaker
Finally it kind of bases out and starts moving forward and you see Morota ahead of you, ten feet away from what seems to be some large pool of water. Large as in you can't see the other side of it.
00:31:49
Speaker
It stretches like a vast black abyss. The surface is really, really still, resembling almost like kind of polished obsidian under the dim flickering light of old girl's ball and Amron's torch. And the ripples, waves, detemar, this kind of perfect calmness. Instead it lies in a deceptive tranquility, pitch black mirror that seems to draw you in with the most magnetic force.
Perils of the Living Cave
00:32:17
Speaker
You notice, dotted across the space, however, a number of stones, large sand-covered stones that seem to have been brought in by ex-adventures because these don't match the same style of stone in the cave. Obviously, they've been used as stepping stones to step around the space.
00:32:38
Speaker
note on the Roll20 map we've got, the ledge around it isn't a ledge. It's the way the program works. It's supposed to give you a sense of it going down. So it's literally just water's edge. It's kind of water or you're at the cave's entrance kind of thing. There's no way kind of to traverse around it without going through it in the traditional sense of walking around it, that is. If you can think of something awesome.
00:33:03
Speaker
Yeah, exactly. If you can think of something awesome in order to get around it, then obviously, you know, we'll play it that way in, but yeah, that's what you see in front of you as you go. Well, it's a drop, did you say? It's a drop down probably about 10 feet and then... Into water. Then the water below, yeah. And then about 10 feet ahead of that. So 10 feet ahead of that is a stone. There's a number of the stones kind of dotted about all kind of 10 feet apart that seem to give you the idea of them leading off to certain entrances and exits. And as you get close, I shall...
00:33:33
Speaker
reveal a little bit more of the space for you as well. It should give you a bit of a better sense of location as you start to get closer to the edge of the water and therefore a sense of the spaces we've got available here. How do I make it go? Yeah, there you go.
00:33:56
Speaker
One thing you do notice, just to give you it all, on the far side of this long pool, you notice a number of entrances and exits. There's two entrances to the left of your current location, around to kind of three o'clock at your current location. There's another one further up to the north. There seems to be two entrances there, and oddly, directly opposite.
00:34:17
Speaker
35, 40 feet opposite to you is this really thin sinewy little gap in the rock face above the water, the same level as you are at, 10 feet above the water.
00:34:28
Speaker
And it's this tiny little enclave, and you can just seem to make out a small fire, like a little pyre. And you can only see, you only know there's a fire because you can see a silhouette of what seems to be a humanoid figure kind of sat in front of it with its back to you, just facing the fire back to you. Okay, 50 feet away, everyone.
00:34:51
Speaker
That's your current location. There's a number of shrubberies, small kind of growths, and like I say, kind of lichen stuff growing around the edge of the water now under here, small and stunted, given the lack of sunlight that reaches down. Well, rain's your one in water. Yeah, that I did. This is unexpected. How do you fair in water?
00:35:22
Speaker
I am fine. He's been in river before, don't worry. Upon searching for both you and Marota, I have learnt that I do not need to breathe underwater. I can maintain position underneath for quite some time. Add that to the list, Alpha. Add that to the list. How are you single?
00:35:46
Speaker
The question for Mark, is these rocky outcrops in the water, could they act as stepping stones? Yes, they could. They very obviously have been used for that in the past. I'm going to, sorry, I'm just going to run and jump onto that first one.
00:36:06
Speaker
Holy shit. The, you can't tell how deep the water is because it's this kind of inky bluey black with very little light in it. You can't see the bottom obviously from your current location to answer your question. Well, um, in terms of the jump there, 20 feet, do I need you to, I need you to roll something for that, don't I? Yeah. Well, yes, I could take, uh, I want to say athletics. I get 10, I get 10 feet as given because of my strength score. So the rest is fine then. Yeah. So you're fine. You can just make that anyway. Okay, cool.
00:36:38
Speaker
So you're here and it's big enough for you to stand on it and there's probably enough room for you to get someone else on there as well if you want to do as well. I'm going to jump to the next one because that's 10 feet to my east and then again to the next one to the northeast because that's also 10 feet.
00:36:58
Speaker
At that point, I'm just going to see if I get any more visual information because I'm a bit further in. You are indeed. What you do notice is there is an entrance to the way you're heading as well. You can tell it curves round.
00:37:15
Speaker
So there is some kind of additional part of the cave there for you to see. You can also, when you turn around and look to your left, you notice more that this silhouetted chap is in some kind of dead end to the north. You notice to the east that there are two thinner entrances.
00:37:37
Speaker
one that seems to go deeper in and then bank down, one that almost instantly banks down again as well. You get a sense of no other life or anything else or any other movement except just this odd dripping sound as the water coalesces on the ceiling of the rocks, the static tights on the ceilings and dripping down into the water below. It feels like a constant cycle of that. And we can see this figure at its fire. Yep. Everyone's going to jump the rocks because I've got a jump of 15 feet.
00:38:07
Speaker
And then everyone's going to shout over. Hello there. At least the droids you're looking for. General Kenobi. I believe I am the droid you're looking for. The vigor stops moving, but doesn't turn around. I'll do. It's their response. How big do you look?
00:38:35
Speaker
Small. You can take him. I'm going to try and dwarvish. Very serious. I will say hello to him. I'll say, I would like good day to you in dwarvish. How's that sound?
00:38:52
Speaker
The figure had jilted around quite quickly and turns and looks now more halfling than dwarf, but you can definitely tell a couple of features that look more dwarf. It is a dwarf and he responds in dwarvish, but what he responds in dwarvish barely makes sense. You just hear.
00:39:10
Speaker
You don't understand. We thought it was just a cave, a dark hole in the ground. We ventured in thinking we'd find treasure, but it's alive. I tell you, the very walls, they moved. They moved like writhing snakes. It appears that the wolves delved too deep. Oh, God. Everyone will turn to the others. Yeah, this dwarf says the wolves were alive and it's like snakes. So, yeah.
00:39:41
Speaker
Good news. That seems illogical. I think this creature is... I read about it once, that there are certain creatures in the world that are so powerful that when they inhibit a piece of land for so long they literally start to bend it to their will and it becomes a part of them and works against any intruders, which in this instance I do believe would be us.
00:40:06
Speaker
Just to be absolutely clear and sure, 100%, that little thing over there is not the roper. No, that's a dwarf. We're sure about that. Did you ask it? I don't hear what you say. Did you ask it? Are you the roper? Not exactly meeting the description there, Nick. Well, turn to the person. Where's the roper in Dwarvish again?
00:40:34
Speaker
It flinches at that word and turns around and stands up on the water's edge at this point. You see as one's tan skinned is now pale and sickly as hair, now long matted and streaked with grime, unkempt beard, thicket of weeds almost, his clothing's all tattered, dirt-stained, mish-mash of some old adventuring gear, signs of extreme wear and tear.
00:40:54
Speaker
general demeanor just seems that someone who's just broken on the brink of madness just this wide-eyed darting nervous almost expecting danger from every shadow as he his eyes flit into the water as he's as he's saying to you
00:41:10
Speaker
I'll separate it from the others. This is in common now as well. My friends, they went ahead, they were the stones. They're not what they seem. Some kind of guardian ancient wrestlers didn't let us pass. Took one of my friends, my friends, there's four of them. I was four, three of them. There were three of them. They might still be there. They might still be alive. You know, pass the lava, pass the lava. Which way did they go?
00:41:39
Speaker
He's going to look at roll 20 and... Has he got a tablet in his hand? Emron, what's going on? He's just checking roll 20. It's just about right, give me a second. He points kind of round the corner, points your north basically. He's kind of going to gesture towards that location, your north.
00:42:03
Speaker
And then he's going to take a second and he's going to try to like, he sees eyes kind of like he's wanting to cry, but there's just nothing, nothing there. And then, and then there were them, the ones they're hissing, their eyes glowing in the dark, they whispered about offering to a roper sacrifice to keep it satisfied.
00:42:21
Speaker
Just stay away. I beg you leave this cursed place before it takes you. My friends, they might be saved. You might save them, but they might be gone down to stone devoured or worse. There's no escape from the horrors down
Strategic Planning and Reflection
00:42:34
Speaker
here. And one more thing.
00:42:37
Speaker
If you and with that, he takes one more step forward in this furthered approach and his foot slips and he falls into the water and you just see for a second and turn over and then literally his body gets dragged down beneath the water. Instant stillness again. No, no, no, no, no, no, no, get the fuck out of there.
00:43:03
Speaker
So I don't know about anybody else, but the only way for us to go forward, I mean, Marotta, can you make the next stone and the entrance just off to your right? I'm going to try, but I'm going to have to roll because it's beyond my regular reach. Ah, see, it's in my range.
00:43:26
Speaker
I'm going to do it. Mark. Okay. I'm going to try and get to the next stone to the east, but it is slightly further than what I get as a given jump. Yep. I should have really checked this beforehand, really the jump rules. I know this stuff about 10 feet. If you have 10 feet, if you have 10 feet of movement, you can get... When you make a long jump, you cover a number of feet up to your strength score. If you move at least 10 feet on foot immediately for the jump.
00:43:55
Speaker
I've rolled in acrobatics just preemptively. Most players, so you get 10 feet anyway, don't you? Do you? You get strength score anyway. It's your strength score if you're doing a long jump. If you're doing a standing jump, it's half your strength score. Yes. Spend how Matt wants to rule it. 10 feet, okay.
00:44:24
Speaker
Um, I feel to check this before Andrew, shouldn't I? Right. High jumps, uh, jumping over long jump, 10 feet, jump, run 10 feet, jump, your strength, ability score, high jump, 10 feet was modified plus three. No running start half the distance. Your strength, ability score. No, I'm going to add, I'm going to add, I'll make it a skill challenge. That's no fun. Um, so what we've done acrobatics. Yes. Okay. What'd you get?
00:44:55
Speaker
18. Shit, okay, that's no fun. Yep, you managed to, from a two footer jump, bang, take off and land kind of quite deftly on the next rock along. Sorry, I purposely moved you along the morota. That's cool. The entrance to the cave, sorry, the kind of mouth of the next part of the cave is just two or three feet away at a stop and a skip away for you to get yourself in that position. How high above the water are the standing stones run?
00:45:25
Speaker
So they are about two or three feet above the water. Yours and the aforementioned crazed adventurers platforms are 10 feet up. The others are all just above the water level. So there's no kind of upwards jump to have to make or crawl. If they were quite high up, I was going to like, could I like use rope to wrap around the top and then create like little rope bridges between them. You could try. There are stalactites from the ceiling. There are rocky outcroppings. It's very jagged.
00:45:54
Speaker
the whole space, so if you want to try and hoop-lay your way. I'm thinking of those that can't jump right far. Looking at it, do we have to go across them? Because it appears there's room around the outside. No, there isn't. Sheer drop. Just in case you didn't catch that, this is sheer drop. Sheer drop. Literally, as we walked in, sheer drop. Sheer drop. Sheer come. So no.
00:46:24
Speaker
Um, because of the sheer drop, what I'm going to attempt to do is I'm going to use my 30 foot of rope. Then I'm going to throw it to Emron to try and create a tie line between these points. So at least it can help people get across.
00:46:42
Speaker
This is dumb. This is a dumb idea. I'm going on record. This is a dumb idea. Did you not see what happened to that little man? I'm actually inclined to agree with Nick. This is pretty stupid. See? Even Reigns thinks this is stupid. We can leave if you want. Well, I vote out. Yeah, I'm relying on a great jumper. You remember what happened when I tried to cross that swamp.
00:47:08
Speaker
Well, when rotors got roped, I've got 50 feet of rope. Between us, we can probably, using the walls and the rocks, we could probably do some to try and help folk get around to the nearest entrance. I mean, there's two over here in the road, so I don't know where anything goes, you know. If only someone had a familiar or some creature that could fly out of us.
00:47:34
Speaker
Yeah, that would be pretty damn useful, huh? Speaking of which, I only got little legs, but I mean, if someone willing to tie me up, I hate to get sucked under the water. But hell, a hoop? That's what a man says. And I'll send, yeah, I'll send the hoot out. Which way is he going?
00:48:05
Speaker
Probably the towards Marota probably the same kind of way over there for now Well, who's who's got the rope is it is it the is the intention to give the rope to? If if if a hoots coming over I'm going to hand one end of the rope to hoot Okay in which case Yeah, yeah, I'll point at him run I'll point back to you. Yeah, no problem. And yeah, I'll get the bird to to pass that back
00:48:36
Speaker
as in to attach the two so that they've both got an end of the rope. So they've got a means of. It is also quite a high, quite a high ceiling as well. We're talking about 40, 45 feet above us as well. So if there's some kind of hanging kind of zip lining kind of thing.
00:48:55
Speaker
in the works or something, there's space above for that to take place. I think that's what we're thinking. Certainly, for those people who can't jump very far, I think rigging up some kind of system is what Emron's approach is probably going. Hang on. So I'm just trying to draw it in to make it easier. But I'm intending on drawing or tying a tether from Morocha's position to Emron's position. Yeah.
00:49:25
Speaker
What? And then have you? These are quite low aren't they? These are low rocks. Unless I can tuck, unless they're a stalag. I can't remember which one's hanging down. That can. A stalagous mites. Mites that you can tie on to. Hang on, I'm just having some trouble doing this.
00:49:47
Speaker
It was like majorly wishing I took the jump spell at the start of today. Mark, are we able to reach the stalagmites to be able to like tie on to them or not? The ceiling's about 40 feet high, but then the stalagmites probably come down about four or five feet. So you're two feet up. No, no. If only I could fly. Hang on a minute. Can a hoot physically...
00:50:14
Speaker
carry things carrying capacity. It'd have to be relatively light. Um, a lot of rope like that might be a person might have something. Yeah, there's something I'm going next. What do you got? No, I think old girl, like age before, just age before. Well, here is the point. Are we trying to get someone like, I don't know, setting up all these ropes, someone who can bounce off the walls and stuff? Is that what we trying to do?
00:50:45
Speaker
I was trying to get all of you over here. Marota and I are probably more than capable of doing this without the rope. It's the rest of you we're probably worried about. Well, shit. I would say my weight is also a concern. No, that's true, too. Oh, damn. No, after you, Nix.
00:51:05
Speaker
Fine. I've never done this before. I read it. I was reading about it last night, and Nix will take out that book that Emeron gave him. Okay. And then he'll start just drawing with a pointed finger out into the air. Just a couple of symbols. No magic or anything follows his finger. For all intents and purposes, you're just seeing a guy hold up his hand and then just kind of make shapes in the air. Eventually,
00:51:34
Speaker
A spectral hand materializes out in front as Nyx casts Mage Hand. Oh shit! I can tie stuff with this or hold stuff, right? I don't really know. What do you do? The hand doesn't talk back.
00:51:57
Speaker
Yes, it was very affirming everyone's reaction to that. Thank you. Well, that's good. Nick, well done. So if you get that to go get the rope for Marotta and you tie it up to that stalagma there and we use my rope, we can probably get some kind of.
00:52:11
Speaker
people will have to go hand over hand and be able to make their way over to the other entrance. That's brilliant. And then Nix kind of just concentrates his thoughts, furrowed brow as he pictures the hand moving forward to the marauder and the hand slowly starts moving, but can only move 30 feet. So it hits some invisible wall before it can actually get to marauder. But Nix then just kind of scrunches his face harder as if he's trying to push it through the invisible wall.
00:52:39
Speaker
I think I've reached the limitations of what the hand can go! Well, if you're... Hang on. Why don't you... Hang on. The next one. Ahoot has the other end of my rope. So Ahoot can just give that to Nix. Well, there we go. Problem solved! So, hold on. Who's going to give the rope to Nix or to Nix's mage hand? Because one would fuck me off. Who could lift it? Your hand could do the knot.
00:53:11
Speaker
Okay. Yeah, let's do it. Marks just sat there going, it was a simple, like, crystal maze challenge. We've got a rope particular. I think we should leave. It was supposed to be five minutes. Failed at the water. What do you want me to do with the rope? I'm tired of fucking not, damn it. I'm tired of the job holding onto the rope. You're just tired at not.
00:53:38
Speaker
Where am I tying it? Direct! Direct! Perhaps one of these would help. I completely forgot I've been going through my inventory. For fuck's sake, Alpha! I've got climbing pitons that I didn't realise. I've just been going through it. I must have done something there. Oh, wait, climbing pitons. Hey, yeah, we can tie them.
00:53:59
Speaker
you just climb the fucking wall with them yeah i know so yeah i've got like hammer and pitten so i'm just gonna whack one into a wall uh nearby um and yeah it's just a nice little anchor into a nice rock wall to climb one attach one end of the rope to
00:54:17
Speaker
Nick, hopefully that will assist you. I still, and Nick's at this point, almost Professor X, his fingers are on his temples as he's trying so hard to keep concentration on this hand that's limply holding an end of a rope. Just going, yeah, that's great. What am I doing? I think you're superfluous now, Nick. Can I drop this thing? Yes. And as Nick's relaxed, the hand dissipates, the rope drops down. Well, that was just...
00:54:46
Speaker
Too much effort! I really hope that nobody held the other end of this rope, which just drops into the water. Yeah, what happened when the rope got chopped into the water? Nothing to the rope. It just hits the water like nothing else and just causes some ripples to, uh, furl out from its point of entry. I'll be disappointing. I'm still not going over this damn water, though. That's what the rope's for, fucks sake.
00:55:13
Speaker
So what's Alpha doing right now? Right, Alpha, how many peatons do you got? Peat, I have 10. So if we can hammer them into the wall as you go along and use the rule, we can make our way around the edge of the water to where Marauder is.
00:55:39
Speaker
Very well. So the rope is a safety line and we're using the pitons to... The pitons are being used for climbing and skating across the wall. The pitons in you should be able to thread the rope around them so you've then got essentially just something else to kind of hang on to, yeah. So moving anti-clockwise around from your location kind of up to three o'clock around the edge of the water. I imagine that way, like Danny's drawn. That is fantastic. That is lovely.
00:56:02
Speaker
That is, yeah, DaVinci-esque. All right, who is going first? Amrita's already over there. Fuck no. I think I've got the pit under the hammer. I think I would have actually kind of been trying to do it as I've been going along. So we'll try me. I can jump it, Connor Mark.
00:56:21
Speaker
You can do the next jump to the next one. The final one is slightly further. I've got a strength of 15. Oh, you're fine then, yeah, yeah. No, it's standing, so it's halved. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. You have a distance of seven right now. Doing acrobatics. Kind of athletics? Athletics, yeah, it's fine. Very good skill challenge. 18. Fine. Yep, you make it on and you make it over.
00:56:48
Speaker
Alpham, you're up first for this. This is going to go horrendously wrong. Could you please give me... We just hear a splash. My roach would never want to hear a splash. Plunk. Could you give me an athletics or acrobatics check to start this off please?
00:57:04
Speaker
Okay, we'll go with an athletics check. Got a DC of 16. Okay, excellent. That's great to hear. I've got something that might help. Flick through the book. Flick through the book. And he just kind of guidance, even though it's too late to cast guidance, I'm casting guidance on you. It is too late for that one. Ian knows.
00:57:28
Speaker
your ding, ding, ding, pass along, ding, ding, ding, ding, get along, ding, ding, ding, pass along, six, seven, seven, eight, and you're just passing around the hardest kind of apex, and as you reach out for the eighth one, there's one more after this before you can hook around the final corner and be where Marota is. As you pull your other arm up to kind of hit in the piton, the rock chips away, and you start to lose your footing and start to lose your balance slightly. Could you please make a, oh God, I want something like a,
00:57:59
Speaker
perception check to see if you can notice a quick handhold, something else you can grab onto, a bit of lichen, something else to grab that you can get yourself situated to, please. This is going to go horribly wrong. Seven. You don't notice anything. You start to fall backwards to the sides. That's kind of creaking down the side of here. Still some feet to go before you get any lower. You do notice though, even with a seven,
00:58:25
Speaker
up to the left there is a slight ledge the top of the top of it seems to have been worn away at some point unnaturally by something else but with just one last push you might be able to get your hand up and arm round and grab a hold of it could you give me an athletics check please to see if you can just push off the last bit of energy off your right hand to reach with your left to see if you can grab this final um final chance of salvation this is where i'm going to die 12
00:58:52
Speaker
meets it beats. You manage to grab a hold of it. But in the meantime, the crossbow falls off your back. Bloop. Oh shit. Into the water. It starts to sink down lower and lower. You are not dead. You are holding on with one arm. Piton is still safe. Fuck this. Fuck this. Oh, gal, can you see me getting over this? Can you see me getting over this? Yeah, this is kind of like, uh, I'll be honest. I didn't see this shit happening.
00:59:19
Speaker
I am beginning to agree with you, Nix. This was a bad idea. When people start agreeing with me, this is not a good sign. You make it to the other side of the lake. Nix and Old Gal, you're the last two that remain. And that remains as well. Well then. I'm king. What have you got? Taking good print, my father's still alive. Sucks for you! What have you got?
00:59:47
Speaker
I've got another rope. Hey, everyone, if I send this over, we then see. Can I tie this around me and then if I'm not going to die? I thought, hadn't Alta been putting rope along as he went? Yeah, he should be the hardest one.
01:00:01
Speaker
I'm going to scale that. You've basically got one of those big old mountainside walkway things going on now. I'm just wondering if you're over there, that if I send another bit of rope over, we can send it to and fro and tie it round people. So if you fall into a drink, we can pull you out, I'd say. To drink. Brilliant, Will. Does that sound like a thing we can do? Well, I reckon we're all sure that I can hoick you out of a little wee little dip.
01:00:31
Speaker
Wonderful. Reigns will start to tie the rope around himself, his right, and he'll give the other one to him. Remember, right over left, left over right. Yeah, I got you, I got you.
01:00:41
Speaker
You don't know how to tie a knot? I don't know how to tie a knot. Why is he telling you to tie a knot? It just doesn't make any sense. Why would someone tell you how to tie a knot if you didn't know how to tie a knot? You guys have travelled together for a long time. I'm assuming that he would have seen you tie a knot at one point if you've already got the rope on you. You don't know how to tie a knot, do you? This entire time has he been tying knots for you? Everyone, this entire time, have you been tying knots for the Prince? Just so you were aware, that's said you did. I've been able to do that for years. It's pretty basic. Why didn't you do it then?
01:01:10
Speaker
It's more fun watching you make a tilly yourself. And what Rains will do is he'll give the other end of the rope to NC and go, fly, fly, fly away, my little squirrel. And what will happen is NC will take the rope over to Emrom and will deposit the rope the other side before flying back and diving into the bag. But no, NC is going to... NC, you're supposed to come back and give me all the confidence and go in the bag of holding and NC is just going to shake its head from the other side. I'm quite happy watching. Thank you.
01:01:37
Speaker
Okay, I've got the rope. We've got you. Your damn squirrel gives me more sess than Nyx. And what Rains will do is he starts to just pull himself across and we'll start to... Wait! Make his way over. Come back. While I get the sense you're calling me back to make a penis joke. Come back! I'm not coming back. I sat down outside that damn hut and you made me look like an idiot. I'm not doing it. Just come back!
01:02:04
Speaker
Nope. I'm going to make my way over. Guidance from afar. It just dissipates. Right. Give me an athletics or acrobatics, athletics or acrobatics. Yep. We'll go acrobatics. 15.
01:02:33
Speaker
You get past the first two pitons. There's a slight slip on the third one. The rope slips under your foot slightly. You put your foot back on, moving around, get past the apex. You see the scurried marks that alpha left on the wall of the eighth. You reach around the wall, and for a second, you can't feel where the entrance is. The darkness is
01:02:56
Speaker
You can't see because it's around the corner and you panic for just a second before you feel a hand grab your hand and start to kind of guide you round. As you come around the corner you realise it's Emron, the rope is in his other hand, you've made it round to the other side. There we go. Great. NC here and Raines will take the rope off him and we'll go. Thanks for the role of confidence by the way.
01:03:21
Speaker
Can you take that back to one of those and then see we'll just fly over and we'll drop the rope on the other side. We'll just tap it as he's finished and gone. I was impressed by your mage hand, by the way.
Troglodyte Cavern Challenge
01:03:33
Speaker
And we'll then just take back up and fly back over to the other side. That's this text of I was impressed by your mage hand, by the way. Just dissipate the rope. Thanks buddy. You want to just hop in my coat here? Stay with me.
01:03:48
Speaker
Okay, I'll keep fucking going because seriously this just just just this is bringing back some bad memories Oh, no, I appreciate that. However, I know that I make it across. Do you know if I make it across? I don't know. I got things put in place that if you fall I can stop you from falling I can save you boy. So you better go first That works out, okay Okay yourself
01:04:14
Speaker
Have I tied myself? Can I guide myself? Is that a thing? I think so. Let's fucking try it. I know I can guide myself. Okay. It's always debatable with you. Do you know how to play D&D? We don't know. I'm a willing creature for myself. Uh, Nick's, well, yeah, he'll guide himself. Draw some fucking objects in the air and then touch his heart. Okay. Okay. Right. So I'm going, I'm going.
01:04:45
Speaker
Right, give me an athletics or acrobatics check. And if you're using guidance, you can chuck on that. Did you tie the rope around yourself as well? No, I did not. Just checking. Thank God for guidance. It was a 10, which is no, it was 11, which is now a 15. Oh yeah. Nice, nice. You stepped from your current location.
01:05:15
Speaker
One step on and you freeze. Yes. Knuckles wipe any like holding onto this rope. Too many memories of everything else that happened before and your feet feel numb. You can't like feel where they are. You're really nervous and your limbs go a bit.
01:05:30
Speaker
bit dumb with your limbs. You try to move your foot and your foot just doesn't hit the rope. You don't realize this. So the camera and maybe your girl, maybe they get to see this, but as your foot misses, something just seems to just nudge your foot from behind onto the rope, like a power and energy, something you're going to miss. And your foot just then randomly just kind of down and across, moves directly onto the rope. And then you move the rest of the way, find something was obviously looking over you. Maybe it was your guidance. You managed to make it all the way around to the eighth piton.
01:06:00
Speaker
You see the scored marks again, you get to the final awkward corner and you stop again and you look into the water and you think for a second, you can see some red eyes looking back at you and very, very quickly, very, very quickly get the fuck out around the corner. Okay.
01:06:19
Speaker
I'm expecting something spectacular here. Whips out a broom. Yeah, it just flies over. I'll call a hoot back to me and I'll just, yeah, I'll make my way across. No kind of fear. Absolutely fine. Alright, roll with one. Athletics or acrobatics? I think he also reminds me a bit of In the Sword in the Stone. What's his name is described in that.
01:06:48
Speaker
What, the wizard? Yeah, I get Archimedes. She's in the thing today. What is your role? 21.
01:06:55
Speaker
21. You Cirque du Soleil style. You walk along, like you said, with absolutely no fear whatsoever. Just complete confidence. But no one can fucking see you do this except this demon maw in the water and us, the ephemeral players that are reviewing you over the top. It is effortless as you make your way and then hop onto the side of this new area.
01:07:20
Speaker
part of the cave, absolutely no fucks given whatsoever. What's the chances that the war resurfaces and tells us we've gotten the wrong entrance? Actually, it's fine. It's lovely and cool in here. The opposite side. No, you stand now in a cave area that kind of wiggles its way to the north. There's a little kind of node directly north and then a bit to the northeast, it kind of wiggles around to the side. Strangely, you do notice there's a torch that's lit.
01:07:51
Speaker
already there in that small area. Let's go explore. I just got a little word of advice. I'm only a little one. Anyone happy just to wrap me up with one of them ropes and just keep a hold of it? Yeah, sure. I'm not going to be the best one to hold on to you, but you can borrow the rope that I sent. I appreciate that. I loop it through the rope belt that I got going on. I can't remember which one of you needs to do this, but I suggest that someone do this too.
01:08:24
Speaker
as in tie themselves to the other end. Oh yeah, tie yourselves to a rope and just get someone else to hold onto it. I am more than happy for you to travel with me out there. Oh, that's perfect there. Very kinky, very quickly. No, me and Goblin Daddy, we got this going on. Yeah, you hold the other end. Very well.
01:08:48
Speaker
And yeah, I'm telling myself. Don't yank too hard, Alpha. Who's your goblin daddy? And what does he do? I would have no need to pull hard on old girl. You might pull it off, boy. With this going off, everyone's going to walk deeper into the caves. It was, sorry, it was mentioned, all of it mentioned about the rope thing. This isn't new news to you guys, is it? No, it's not.
01:09:13
Speaker
Okay, good. Just checking. Just checking. Cool. As you start to make your way, Marojo and everyone, thank you for pushing us forward. I'm moving us away from the old man dick jokes. It's a whole nother level now, guys. The cave narrows down and opens up slightly into a small kind of 30-foot area, a 20-foot area with nothing in it. Save. All you notice is a couple of humanoid footprints moving in the same direction as you are currently walking.
01:09:39
Speaker
You notice as you move through there are simply lots of these small kind of dead ends, these small barrows, these small moments of these cave literature that are not in use and some of them have kind of been clawed out slightly more for the use of adventurers or for people who are trying to make their way through. The cave
01:10:00
Speaker
continues this Labradine approach and kind of bottom out the bottom of this cave, it moves towards the east in a thin, kind of five foot narrow walkway through a long, long entranceway there. It's single file. Please, just as we get to that moment, could I have our order just so I know, because it's single file. Oh, girl's second.
01:10:28
Speaker
In that case, an alpha will be third. I'm not sure if you moved yourself on purpose to the front, but... No, I didn't. I don't know. Yeah, I don't. Yeah, I didn't. Marocha will go first. I'm ass back, right far back. Like, not even following properly. There's a good 10 feet in front of me and the next person. I'll then drop in there, then said Nick said behind me.
01:10:53
Speaker
Yeah. Sorry. Um, I just, um, and when I moved you back slightly, because, Oh, gail said that definitely second. And because I was tied, yeah, because alpha is tied to, Oh, gail. Okay. Step on the road. Otherwise you'd be down a third then. Cool. Just cause it's then every time we come across one of these, I'll just ask for your order. It doesn't mean there's definitely something bad approaching. Um, it's just useful to, um, to know just helps build a bit of suspense. Um, especially.
01:11:22
Speaker
Now. Now, when there is a bunch of shit going on in front of you, you walk into a huge open cavern of space, and in front of you, through the dim lights, Marota, you are of dark vision, don't you? Yes. You see a huge open cavern, no water, but in the very center of this huge open cavern, you see a cascading pile, a mountain of bones, skulls, human body parts, et cetera, piled up, and around it,
01:11:51
Speaker
are a number of these creatures that seem to lurch and lunge over these bones, gnawing away at them. They seem part lizard, part stone, part human, standing up on hind legs, almost dragonborn-esque legs, long claw hands, but short, stunted necks with lizard-like features, massive eyes that obviously allow them to see in this incredible darkness.
01:12:20
Speaker
You recognize these, Marotta. You've heard about these before. These are things that appear sometimes in the depths of Dralak. You've heard these stories as a child, stories growing up. These are droglodites. They have not yet seen you. You stand on the precipice of a large space, flat,
01:12:46
Speaker
Small rocky outcroppings, but nothing really discernible in terms of cover. One, two, three, four, five, six, eight of them in this space. You remember knowing that then they are particularly weak and particularly strong, but the numbers give a pause for thought for a second. The air here smells rancid. You remember something very clearly about the stench and about not getting too close to them. The smell almost makes your eyes water.
01:13:16
Speaker
pause for a second. Old girl pauses behind you, Alpha, and Miranda reigns behind that. Nick's back in the previous room. There's a moment's pause as mostly you decide how you're going to work this what you're going to do next.
01:13:30
Speaker
And as you turn to the others, that's what we're going to leave it for this week's episode. We're going to finish up the table top, and decide how we're going to deal with these troglodytes. The whole hour we die to cross a small water. I knew that was going to happen. Plus, plus two days of travel and... No, no, really it wasn't that, was it? It was crossing the fucking lake. It was a crystal maze slash escape room. First call.
01:13:58
Speaker
I once did an escape room and I broke a key that I wasn't supposed to break, snapped it in the lock so I couldn't actually finish the escape room and the guy was not happy about it.
01:14:12
Speaker
I wonder why. Not very good at them. You're not meant to use your own keys. No, I broke the key. They're supposed to be. I was so excited. I was like, hey, you found the key. Snap. Oh, crap. Snap the key off in the lock. And yeah, we were at the first group of the day. Excitement turns to dread. And then all of a sudden they have to get the fire brigade to get you out of the fucking escape room. Yeah. No, he just walked in. He was like, oh, I'm going to have to cancel the next one now because we can't use it anymore. I was like, oh, God, sorry. It's the flimsiest key in the world. And I'm very strong, obviously.
01:14:40
Speaker
Anyway, there you go. That's what we find ourselves. That hard anyway is the worst transition, but I'm going to jump on it anyway. If you want to tell us how strong you are. If you want to keep up to date with the podcast.
01:14:53
Speaker
You can do so on our X page, which is at Photoshop table. And if you wanted to go, or want to step further and follow us, you can do that too. I'm at iWorldA1. Darren's at... Darren... Page06. Callum's at... The D20Gamer. Danny's at... Total Party Thrills. Oh, Will. Oh, I know. Yeah, Will. I think that's me. Fellowship NPC, PC. Uh...
01:15:23
Speaker
can be found at... Natural20will. And art illustrious, amazing, sexy as fuck, DM can be found at... It gets me every time, hastily rolled DM. Until next time, guys! Farewell!