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Ep. 179 Team Hell No - Bellum Draconis
16 Plays2 days ago
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Intro written and produced by Joseph McDade
Music kindly provided by Fesliyan Studios
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Transcript
A Humorous Introduction with a Peculiar Noise
00:00:03
Speaker
How was that sound? so that was the It was me ah i'll opening a drawer. Sorry. What kind of fucking drawer is that? Is that drawer into hell? it's It's still really stiff on it. It's a new IQ. It's still really stiff on the yeah things.
00:00:18
Speaker
Nice. Mute world's drawer.
00:00:22
Speaker
Mute world's stiffness.
Welcome to the World of Eris: Characters and Setting
00:00:57
Speaker
Am I calling it 5e.5? 5.5? The 5.5. Whatever you want. I can't change it. 5.5e podcast set in the magical homeward world of Eris in hell.
00:01:09
Speaker
You did half of Mark's speech. That's quite impressive, Mike, really.
00:01:16
Speaker
Hello, everyone. You son a bitch. He's getting them in now while he still can't. The thing is, if it was in the episode, we could at least use it. at This is in the episode, and we are using it. This is the opening.
00:01:31
Speaker
Hello, everyone, and welcome to this week's episode of the Fellowship of the Tabletop of Elementor Connors. We are a live play 5e, 5.5e, D&D 2024, fuck it, podcast, set the magical world, own brew world of Earth in hell.
00:01:43
Speaker
Joining me for this week's episode, you have P.B., plays the rules consultant, human cleric Emron. become a hell diver ian who plays the dragonborn barbarian paladin drago hi guys my name is mark and i am playing the human blade singer seth farrow even but last but no means least is the breed to our bard the common bear to our owl bear the wizard sleeve of cheese dungeon master danny i know what you're up to mark i know what you're up to there uh bonjour bonjour bonjour
00:02:17
Speaker
Oh, of course. yeah We don't have our resident law keeper, Ol'Gel, to navigate through these unknown times.
The Helldivers' Journey Begins
00:02:25
Speaker
And that is because, listener, you are joining us fresh off the back of whatever it was Karstan got up to in his exchange with Sean Dralakar. Some of our players today don't know the outcome of that as we are recording these back to back as we are.
00:02:45
Speaker
At this very moment in time, however, we are not returning to the group who are on the ship part of the Counter-Alignment. We are not returning to Karstan.
00:02:57
Speaker
We are instead visiting for the first time in the second chapter of the Counter-Alignment, the party known as the Helldivers, also known as Seth, Emron, and Drago.
Earthquake Challenge: Staying on Trunks
00:03:14
Speaker
For two days, you have travelled eastward, out of Goldport slash Snake Run Keep, to the Dralak trade town of Snake Run. For Emron, for Seth, it has been a number of months since your first visit, the same night that the steel nightmare appeared in the skies.
00:03:34
Speaker
Along with Drago, the three of you return this makeshift travelling camp securely back onto Trunks' wagon. As the day dawns on this third day of your travel and snake run now but a few hours away, you stand and gaze upon the last sunrise you may see for a while.
00:03:57
Speaker
Seth then maneuvers into the familiar and comfortable driving position, re-steering trunks onto the road. An hour into this journey, an almighty earthquake roars beneath you, halting Trunks in his tracks.
00:04:14
Speaker
I need everyone to make a dexterity saving throw to see if you can remain on the wagon as Trunks goes from ah ah a canter to a near stop instantly. Shit, my balls. My first crit of the night, and there's going to be many. 24. 24, thank you.
00:04:32
Speaker
I did not roll a crit. Oh, sorry. Oh man, I just saw... Okay, that was very weird. Alright, Seth. That's great. No, no, no. When Mark rolled, it appeared on my D&D view, and I saw the dice actually get rolled, which is quite weird. You're welcome.
00:04:48
Speaker
You're welcome. and I got 23. And Emron, you are thrust off the back of the wagon and sustaining three points of bludgeoning damage as you fall on your ass onto the dirt road.
00:05:03
Speaker
Start as you mean to go on, boys. Seth, I need you to make an animal handling check to kind of regain control of other frightened Trunks. Ah, absolutely. I'll handle that animal.
00:05:19
Speaker
Here we go, 15. And within a few seconds, you're able to calm and kind of a mixture of ah a firm hand and soothing words.
A Mysterious Message from Syangar
00:05:28
Speaker
Trunks is kind of centered again.
00:05:33
Speaker
Drug amongst all of this, Emron falling out the back of the wagon, Seth focusing on Trunks for a few moments. Undoubtedly you're surveying the horizon to see any more sign of what caused the earthquake.
00:05:48
Speaker
And you just hear a deafening silence
00:05:54
Speaker
for a few moments. And then each of you, a message simultaneously from Syangar,
00:06:03
Speaker
It has begun. Trace has revealed the Princess Stone. Tolkelon's Legion has surfaced.
00:06:16
Speaker
As you look towards your destination to the east, glowing green pools of light fill the horizon. You look back to the north. the skies now turning a hue of green against that impossible red now emanating from the steel nightmare.
00:06:38
Speaker
What do the three of you do?
Approaching the Ominous Green Sky
00:06:43
Speaker
You all heard that
00:06:48
Speaker
that. Emron picked himself up from the dust. Yep, heard that. So this is it. We're up against it now. Good job we left when we did. It's very foreboding, the colour of the sky.
00:07:07
Speaker
The shots of green hue.
00:07:12
Speaker
Where we're going, there's not a lot of light.
00:07:22
Speaker
Yeah, that that doesn't bite. Doesn't, don't, yeah. I don't know. We'll just see what happens, yeah? We'll just ah go with the flow. Do you mean we're going to need to be able to see it in the dark or do we need to be able to take torches with us?
00:07:36
Speaker
No, it's more the metaphorical light. Oh, okay. Sorry. about i you If you actually could bring up my dark vision is shit. So it'd be good to have some light there.
00:07:47
Speaker
Okay, I think we've got some amongst us. I just totally wondered then we were going to be bit fucked if we couldn't see fuck shit. Okay. um That was a bit, yeah.
00:08:01
Speaker
Clip-clop. Everyone says as he climbs back into the back of the car. What the fuck is Clip-clop?
00:08:11
Speaker
Yeah, it's an expression we have about let's get get the fuck going. So when you're feeling like being mean and say, why are we still talking about this? ah You can just go clip-clop. And that's like a nice way of saying, should we fucking keep going?
00:08:26
Speaker
Right. Should we get the fuck on with it then? Yeah, clip-clop, yeah. so That's what he said. And Seth will reach for and just pat trunks on the bum and off they'll go.
00:08:36
Speaker
And it's a difficult journey now with a kind of on edge, elephant-y
00:08:45
Speaker
steed. You're moving through ah a maintained road, but it has been impossibly quiet your entire journey. You haven't seen travelers in what is the only road that crosses between Dralak and Sleetgaard.
00:09:05
Speaker
And that doesn't seem to change as you're moving into this morning sun, always kind of squinting as you ride east as fast as you can, being really mindful of keeping an eye set on the terrain as it's coming to make sure you're steering and prompting trunks appropriately.
00:09:20
Speaker
That sun is kind of masking a lot of what is appearing as you're getting closer to to snake run.
00:09:29
Speaker
And on your horizon now, as you're into clean sands, you're seeing little bursts in the earth of green light sprouting up like weeds, like like
00:09:44
Speaker
fragments of vegetation. You press on and those kind of fractures and fissures get slightly bigger, get kind of more um the size of of a dish than a single weed.
00:09:58
Speaker
But every five minutes of travel, These green cracks are getting bigger and bigger and bigger.
Encountering Magical Phenomena Near Snake Run
00:10:11
Speaker
there anything you do as you take in these images? Akiva, you seeing this? What is this about?
00:10:22
Speaker
ah My name is Seth, not Akiva, by the way. I'm not talking to you. Shut up. All right, yeah.
00:10:30
Speaker
Um, everyone sort of just, he sort I can imagine him sort of stood behind, I imagined, um, Drago and Seth are at the on the driver's seat at the front. Um, is it? Yeah. That's the only way to see forward. on Yeah. Everyone's sort of like hold, ah just, you know, behind, just like holding onto the, the sort of the, the, the beam that goes across the back and sort of leaning and sort of just peering behind them. Oh,
00:10:57
Speaker
Well, at least we won't struggle to find a gate to get in, I guess.
00:11:07
Speaker
Is there a worry that all the things that are coming out are going to be coming up when we go in? I guess at least they'll be all going in one direction by the time we get there. Maybe they've all got out. I don't know.
00:11:20
Speaker
Maybe when we get closer, we might have proceed on foot rather than driving trunks all the way up to it. I don't think this Elefantine deserves to go to hell.
Strategizing for Hell's Gateway
00:11:30
Speaker
No, I agree.
00:11:31
Speaker
as as As brave as we know Trunks is.
00:11:38
Speaker
Yeah. Okay. So Danny, I reckon as soon as like, I don't know, 10 minutes walking distance, maybe uncouple, we'll stop and uncouple Trunks from the ah carton. Oh, is this like collecting the letting the donkey go in Lord of the Rings?
00:11:55
Speaker
it just feels a little bit like it, doesn't it?
00:11:59
Speaker
it would yeah It would probably be appropriate now, given the, the rate in which you're seeing these fishes grow into kind of more sizable, um, scars on the on on the earth at this point.
00:12:13
Speaker
Yeah. Okay, so Seth would pull the cart to a stop and just kind of motion Drago with his head and then run to get out.
00:12:23
Speaker
And then he'd get off as well and then spend just a couple of seconds quickly and definitely undoing the jackals that hold trunks to the... cart and then just ah go to walk away and then stop and then just turn back and just go up to the the trunk of trunks and just give him a quick like kind of nuggy on the trunk bit and not say anything and then ah leave it a second like he's going to say something and then doesn't and then turns to where Drago is assume waiting and yeah walk towards him
00:12:58
Speaker
Ian, does Drago have any magical armor on? No, he's pretty much naked because he's barbarian, so he doesn't wear armor.
00:13:08
Speaker
Okay, I'll just try to see. Will you benefit from any armor? blowf Buffed your AC is my question. No, I don't think so. um My buff is already... i will know it's it's It's whether you benefit from any armor bonus in your AC, because I can buff your armor, but if you don't benefit from any armor AC bonus, then that doesn't matter. I mean, I have an AC bonus because I'm not wearing armor, but I don't think that would... Yeah, no, it's fine. And I can't buff Seth's because his is based on magical armor. That's fine. ill just say You can buff my chest.
00:13:40
Speaker
I was just seeing if I could give you guys my the blessing of my um of the forge and give you your plus one to AC, but if you don't have any armor that would work on, that doesn't matter. That saves that then. um not Put it on yourself?
00:13:53
Speaker
i have a magical arm I have magical armor, so it doesn't matter. It's very specific. It has to be a non-magical um recipient, basically. Fair enough.
00:14:05
Speaker
That's fine. Okay. M1 sort of... is stood probably near where Drago is and he's taking a moment. He's got
Entering Hell: A Sensory Overload Experience
00:14:12
Speaker
a shaker, his hammer out and he's sort of just kneeling sort of with the, with the the hammer resting on on the front of him in that sort of like that sort of pose. youy knights as they take a moment. He's just praying to Alito, just asking Alito to watch over them. And even in this time where they're going to a place where it may be, they are far from Alito's gaze,
00:14:35
Speaker
Enron says, Elido, I know we may be going far from where you can see, but i ask that as long as I hold you with me, that your gaze perhaps finds me and my companions in this quest we're about to undertake.
00:14:57
Speaker
Your words kind spill into the morning air.
00:15:04
Speaker
No response.
00:15:08
Speaker
so I know he's there in my heart, so I don't need a response.
00:15:16
Speaker
And do you all kind of continue now on foot east?
00:15:22
Speaker
Yeah, yeah, I think so.
00:15:26
Speaker
As you begin to get into stride,
00:15:32
Speaker
The fishes are kind of beginning to grow now from singular cracks of glowing green light coming through the earth into windows, into
00:15:50
Speaker
what you would connect with portals. And while they aren't sizable yet, they're beginning with each space to look as though they would fit a person or at least a human through.
00:16:09
Speaker
Are these as big as the ones we saw when we were attacked those demons in the in the city? that They're not the not like demon gates, the hell gates that are actually kind of constructed and purposeful.
00:16:19
Speaker
These are kind of popping up everywhere and just splitting the earth. But okay the actual kind of um magical ring and the the the glow inside it and the um
00:16:37
Speaker
the kind of
00:16:40
Speaker
shapes visible beyond it, yes, those are really similar. but but ah but But it's more like a crack in a glass rather than the hole in the glass kind of thing that we've seen before. It's becoming the the more of the hole in the glass. It was the crack, and now it's becoming its own hole. you these These are looking like the portals that you have seen things emerge from.
00:17:00
Speaker
Okay. How's best to proceed then? Jump.
00:17:05
Speaker
Jump. Well, I was going to say, do we want to just go as quick as we can? Do we want to be careful about it? Everyone sort of looks at the the the other two and then himself. Don't quite think we're that built for stealth, but, you know, we're going to do whatever you guys feel is best. Dragah, you won't be here before, didn't you? You tell that story of it.
00:17:25
Speaker
what what we ah What's the plan going here? the DM questions. that The gate is in front of us, did you say? is It's everywhere. It's everywhere. It's everywhere. The cracks in the land are becoming gateways. So Drago knows that as soon as they step through, that's it. They've traveled.
00:17:42
Speaker
Okay. um So Drago would... Take a moment after what you just said, Seth, and looks towards the skyline and just takes in the land of Aerith and his surroundings, almost as if it's the final time.
00:18:02
Speaker
And then looking at both of you, who he's going to take Dengon's deception from his back and he's going to plant it in the ground and he's going to put both hands on it.
00:18:18
Speaker
Listen to me. We stand at the edge of the hells, but not as victims. We're not fools chasing glory.
00:18:32
Speaker
All of us here are warriors who chose this path.
00:18:37
Speaker
He's gonna indicate to the the gate. Whatever waits for us beyond this gate, fire, demons, Tolkelon himself,
00:18:54
Speaker
they bleed.
00:18:57
Speaker
We make them bleed.
00:19:00
Speaker
I don't fight beside you because fate demands it.
Drago's Motivational Speech Before Battle
00:19:06
Speaker
i hate fate. I fight because I trust you.
00:19:12
Speaker
Both of you. I've seen what you can do. i can see what you can endure. we will be tested. The hells will try and break us.
00:19:26
Speaker
It will make us doubt. It'll make us fear. But we're not so easily broken.
00:19:34
Speaker
He's going to take the sword, put it back on its back, walk towards the gate. We walk in together. We fight together.
00:19:47
Speaker
We walk out together. And then with a final step. Or not at all. um Before he goes in, he's done Inspiring Leader.
00:20:00
Speaker
Fuck yeah. Everyone gets 17 temporary hit points. Nice. Yeah. Shit.
00:20:09
Speaker
I'm buffed. Seth, before you walk, is there anything you do?
00:20:17
Speaker
Um... Yes, he's going to, i assume during that he's been stood next to, uh, Emron, listening to that inspiring speech and it will, as they slowly walk forward, go, that was bloody good speech actually.
00:20:35
Speaker
That's all what he's going to say. ah Because he's bricking it. He's absolutely bricking it. And he's hiding it with little quips and jokes to mask the fact that he is scared. And it's that fear of the unknown that overrides so much of his fear.
00:20:51
Speaker
And he wants to get there now. Because by being there, he can see it. He can understand it He can fight it. The fear of the moment is in his mind. Fear is the mind killer. So he just wants to, yeah, get there. So we make a little quip and then beeline towards Drago.
00:21:08
Speaker
And then lastly, Emron. Emron takes a minute, looks around as Drago did, because this potential last look upon Aerith.
00:21:21
Speaker
Puts his hand on his chest where he's the symbol of Aledo is underneath his armour.
00:21:29
Speaker
Lidl, I hope you're watching and doing what you can. And he sort of steps with the others, looks to Seth, looks to Drago, and says to Seth, once more, Seth, black or white, either way, we stand and face this once again.
00:21:52
Speaker
Aye.
00:21:56
Speaker
And as you three approach, where these fissures have become more apertures, become sizable doors of magic, heat spills out first, dry and suffocating, not like the desert that you're used to, but hotter.
Adapting to the Hellish Bog Environment
00:22:17
Speaker
and And when inhaled, you kind of feel all of your internal systems just prune up.
00:22:26
Speaker
followed then by a smell, sulphur, decay, something metallic.
00:22:35
Speaker
Before entering through you you gaze upon this wound in the world and you see shapes shifting on the other side of it. Glimpses of jagged horizons, collapsing silhouettes and distant spires that that flicker in and out of existence.
00:22:56
Speaker
Who steps first? Or do you step together? Together. Together. Seth goes first. No, together.
00:23:07
Speaker
Seth turns around and just like first. As you wade through this heat and step into this sort of green nebulous light, you cross this threshold.
00:23:17
Speaker
Gravity appears to lose meaning. Up and down unravel. You're hurled through a violent kind of cascading pile of planes.
00:23:29
Speaker
Fire that doesn't burn but kind of consumes your thought. Wind that screams with distant voices. Flashes of ice that are so cold. Thoughts begin to crack.
00:23:42
Speaker
Your bodies stretch and compress and and contort in impossible ways. Your shadows tear from your form. before snapping back into place and tearing again.
00:23:57
Speaker
Time is fractured. You fall for maybe seconds. You fall for maybe hours. You fall for longer. You don't know. At one point, Seth, you feel the weight of unseen eyes pressing into your spine.
00:24:15
Speaker
Emron, you feel a divine strength vent out of you like rising steam. Andrago, the ever-present, soothing static sound in the top of your hearing range that you always attribute to Akiva maintaining a connection, falls silent.
00:24:36
Speaker
Then, all three of you, impact. You land on a firm yet bobbly surface.
00:24:47
Speaker
The portal kind of kind of snaps shut behind you with a thunderclap of imploding air.
00:24:55
Speaker
Silence follows. You lie in a fell fire bog. The ground around you is soft and yielding, not like mud, but something thicker, something organic.
00:25:11
Speaker
It shifts under your weight and releases these kind of slow air bubbles that burst with quiet but sickening odorous pops. The air, ever humid, clings to your skin and carries this sense of rot as you breathe it and inhale it and manoeuvre in it.
00:25:32
Speaker
The sky above you is not sky, but a ceiling of bruised green and brown clouds that roll overhead.
00:25:42
Speaker
flashes inside, not of lightning, but something slower, something more deliberate. The light never fully brightens, but never fully fades. There's always this kind of sense of never true day and true night, just this oppressive half light in this realm you find yourselves in.
00:26:01
Speaker
And around you, this landscape stretches in all directions. A drowned wasteland of scorched earth and stagnant green pools of toxic hues.
00:26:13
Speaker
Twisted, root-like structures claw up from the bog. Some still smouldering with a green, flicked flame. The ground itself looks like crusts of burning and then re-burnt, like a lasagna, if you will, a different scorching.
00:26:34
Speaker
And yet, surveying this landscape, Drago expecting to see a grand citadel. You are leagues from that, it seems. You are in a wasteland.
00:26:45
Speaker
All you do spy, ah distance, is this rised, crack earth. Beneath that, a cluster of vulture-like creatures from this distance tear into the carcass of something too large to fully make out.
00:27:00
Speaker
Their wings are ragged, stretched thin over bone, feathers replaced with patchy, tar-like growths. They haven't seen you, they're too far to see you.
00:27:12
Speaker
But there is no wind. There is no birdsong. There is no northerly breeze that brings with it a briny saltness that you have been used to. Only a faint cackle of green light in the distance.
00:27:29
Speaker
What do you all do? Okay, so Drago's going to turn to face Seth and Emron. He's going to give you both a level look.
00:27:46
Speaker
Listen.
00:27:50
Speaker
Tolkelon is always watching us. He knows we're
00:27:59
Speaker
He has an all-seeing presence while we're
00:28:06
Speaker
The last time I walked this path, I was a lot closer. This gate seems to have brought us, as Drago looks out along the plains and towards the vultures that the DM so aptly described.
00:28:23
Speaker
This gate has taken me further away. Our journey will be watched. We need to move as one carefully through this.
00:28:39
Speaker
Everything we do feels amplified. Movements, actions, hell, even thoughts. Follow my lead.
00:28:57
Speaker
And it's not until you finish that instruction, Drago,
00:29:03
Speaker
that you notice eyes appearing in the glows of green light as they burst from these bogs.
Navigating and Understanding the Infernal Attention Meter
00:29:13
Speaker
Motherfucker.
00:29:16
Speaker
Now, says name what's happening is... I said it like three times. Whilst in the vile plane, which is this layer of hell we find ourselves, the players are also encountering another mechanic known as their infernal attention meter. It kind of works like a DEFCON warning system. But there are ways in which they will act whilst in the vile plane that will draw the attention of Tolkilon.
00:29:45
Speaker
They have things that they can do that can also mask this attention to go back down the scale. When they entered the Hells, they are at the intention level one, and things look relatively normal.
00:29:59
Speaker
But just by mentioning his name, Drago, you have all moved up to the attention level two. Now, this will bring various penalties. It will also bring various opportunities as this changes.
00:30:12
Speaker
Motherfucker. The players will not always be aware of when this score moves. I will be keeping track of some things that will be announced and some things that will not.
00:30:24
Speaker
But back to the team. Fear of a only increases fear of the thing itself. Why not just jump us in at level 10 and just fuck it?
00:30:35
Speaker
And there is a... As you inspect these kind of eyes that appear in flickers of light for seconds... There is also a kind of pulse as well.
00:30:46
Speaker
The mother there is no wind. Groans and cries temporarily fill a soundscape around you.
00:30:57
Speaker
And you feel like shiver up your spine, Drago.
00:31:05
Speaker
And you swear for a moment, you see something incredibly familiar and kind in the distance. If you'd like to focus on that for a split second longer, I'll ask you to make a perception check.
00:31:21
Speaker
ah Yeah, Drago would double take at it. Almost like seeing a deja vu in the matrix. Perception, do you say? Mm-hmm.
00:31:33
Speaker
How's a solid 10?
00:31:38
Speaker
You think you just saw a massive backpack attached to a tiny creature. Motherfucker. Just for a split second. Yeah. Way over the other side of that big pack of vultures.
00:31:50
Speaker
I'm still... ah mentally Drago's still sound here he knows he's been here before so he understands kind of what's going on even though the hope kind of bubbles in his chest at seeing Folly's fucking backpack he he knows enough to know that backpack is in an unmovable state on the Aerith world and just takes a moment to compose himself on that one come on let's move forwards what did you see?
00:32:22
Speaker
Um, what just then? Yeah, you were looking wistfully in the distance. I wondered if there was something there we need to know about. An apparition, Mirage.
00:32:33
Speaker
Don't trust everything you see down here. right. Okay. There's tricks of the mind at play. Created to stir your darkest fears.
00:32:49
Speaker
okay Do we have a heading? Which way are we going? Towards the vultures. Are we going to try and go around them? or through Definitely around them.
00:33:03
Speaker
Okay. Carefully, I assume. Yeah, there's a big... That shadow there.
00:33:14
Speaker
That creature, they fell. It'll be interesting to see what creature that is.
00:33:23
Speaker
Okay. A DM question. In terms of like cover and coverage, um what we're looking at in terms of the environment around so is this fortress, are there like shrubberies or rocks that we can hide behind? It's a boggy landscape, so there are kind of bits that submerged and there are kind of clusters of collections of kind of dirt, gnarled roots and some kind of dead plant and dead vegetation. and There are occasional stone outcrops like so like ah ah a road or or ah a settlement existed here a very long time ago. and all that kind of remains are some some molded stone.
00:34:02
Speaker
um But it's really inconsistent land. Picture kind of Deadmarsh's vibes from Lord of the Rings. Okay, so it's yeah there is as much water here as there is, I won't say solid earth because it's not, but but walkable kind of bog.
00:34:22
Speaker
if that makes sense. But but it's it's it's kind of a chopping and changing in terms of levels and things like that. um But there is definitely a way that you could kind of approach this basin. So what you're kind of looking at where these vultures are feasting is um like a clear, wide berth of more solid ground.
00:34:41
Speaker
compared to far more boggier terrain out there, either side of it. And there is not like a clear path or anything, but there is a clear route where the earth is less boggy and more fixed that is pulling you.
00:34:54
Speaker
I can't even give you a compass heading because you don't have that reference on on this plane, but in a direction that you also saw the vision of that that image of that backpack as well.
00:35:09
Speaker
hey jo
00:35:13
Speaker
Draco. Yeah, yeah. Sorry. I was waiting for you to respond. I didn't realize this was a to and fro conversation. why I just, I didn't want, I thought you were looking wistfully. Again, and can we trust paths then?
00:35:25
Speaker
I don't be like an ass about it, but like, or so like you said that things could be imagined if they're- trust your feet, yes. No, no, but like the path there, and he points to the obvious path.
00:35:36
Speaker
but kind of around where the vultures are is that is that too obvious to go or should we find our own way or will that be pulling us towards where where where where you know he he wants us to go i've never really thought about it that much in depth i've just kind of seen a path and walked it yeah ah ah umm Seth's going to have a going to kind of leave that thought lingering in Drago's mind, just cast as one right BDI over the area and kind of really look, really look and just not looking to see if it's an illusion or anything, but just like, despite it being the most obvious, is it the most, ah is it the safest? Is it the one that gives the most coverage um and get his kind of like survival head on a little bit and think, okay,
00:36:30
Speaker
despite that being an option, what other options are there? yeah so Or basically finding the best route to avoid alerting these vultures that might might not be that really obvious route. A nature check does does not seem appropriate here because there is no kind of frame of reference for you. So this is more so pure survival instinct. So so go ahead and make a survival check.
00:36:51
Speaker
Okay. ah That is 12. Okay, so the the kind of central basin itself, despite kind of being firmer ground, is um relatively flat and open.
00:37:06
Speaker
Around it are patches where there is bog, and then there are kind of structures or or at least um larger elements of terrain that would kind of make it more difficult to traverse on foot, but you'd be able to kind of lose yourself within areas Kind of gnarled roots, dead trees, collections of um kind of ah old palisades and old old kind of siege-breaking equipment, it looks like, from this distance.
00:37:36
Speaker
There is also on one side what looks like a kind of decaying giant skull.
00:37:44
Speaker
that has kind of bog-fell lights within it, but is the kind of most sizable object that you can clearly and understand the reference for um from this distance. Like, you you're still about 300 feet away from this, from the point where you've kind of landed.
00:38:03
Speaker
Cool. Seth would just kind of explain what he sees, kind of muttering it to himself, to Emron and to Drago if they were nearby. um
00:38:13
Speaker
I think that way is probably the best and it'll point to the way with the skull, the one with the most coverage, visual coverage to block between Vulture and them, knowing that the three of them aren't the most stealthiest and quiet and deft of three. um If we are going to be attempt this quietly, that that probably might be our best route.
00:38:35
Speaker
Okay, well, let's just make the decision, let's do it. I feel like the longer we sort of stand here...
Stealth Signals and Overcoming Animated Roots
00:38:44
Speaker
And if it all goes it all goes badly, we go on the attack quickly, huh?
00:38:50
Speaker
I think quickly and try and end anything any fight as fast as we can to draw as little attention as possible, probably. hi Agreed. Drago just nods. He realises that he's the third wheel here in a group that's kind of got their shit together. so
00:39:14
Speaker
yu You're the most spry of us all, Seth. Do you want to to take the lead and I'll go in the middle and Drago, you sort of can then come barrelling in from the rear if things go piton.
00:39:30
Speaker
Sure. Yeah, I'm happy with that. oh But I'll do, you know, the gesture stop and he'll raise his hand have to stop us if we if if we need to be extra quiet and I can just have a listen.
00:39:46
Speaker
Yeah. What will be the sign for go
00:39:51
Speaker
ah Thumbs up.
00:39:56
Speaker
Good. all All is good and so we can continue. All is good or go? All is good and therefore we can go. That's very complicated. Thumbs up, go.
00:40:09
Speaker
Open, palm, stop. That's it. Okay. Why could you say it to you? We could pass it down the chain.
00:40:19
Speaker
Anyway. and Everyone puts thumb up. Yeah, thumbs up.
00:40:25
Speaker
So your approach is controlled and quiet? Yes. Make a stealth check for me. All of us? ah Yes, all of you.
00:40:37
Speaker
I'm going to apologize and I fucking got a crit! I told you! It's going to be the night of useless crits by the looks of things. 23. 23? Yeah. I move like the wind.
00:40:50
Speaker
Okay, that's 23 for Drago. Seth? I just did mine. i'm so I'm struggling to get mine up. Do you see my dice rolls as well, Seth? Because i see yours. Yeah, i saw i so I saw a dice roll and it's really off-putting because i don't know what i rolled.
00:41:04
Speaker
We're just going to go to Seth first. You got a 23, mate. Thank you, thank you. 23. Two 23s and then Emron. So um I rolled a 2, but I have minus 1 to my stealth check.
00:41:19
Speaker
so that so so that's a one can I give my heroic inspiration that I have still from being a human to i don't think so I think you have to call it at the start I mean I have my own heroic inspiration what because um
00:41:35
Speaker
I'm going to can can i can I expend it to re-roll that dice please ah if if you haven't learned the outcome yet so yes okay I'm going to expend my heroic inspiration and try again That's a bit better. Okay, that's a 14 this time.
00:41:53
Speaker
Okay. You attempt to move quietly.
00:42:00
Speaker
And Imran slips on something and is just able to swing his trailing foot around in time to stop an almighty kind of crash of your armor against the kind of boggy stone that's now emerging. Okay.
00:42:17
Speaker
and you so you muffle and silence any sound that was about be made.
00:42:25
Speaker
As you kind of reach the perimeter of this basin, but don't enter into the flatter land and stay kind of secluded, In order to move around using cover, you're going to need to make a few leaps to leap over the bog if you don't want to kind of contact it. And kind of given the putrid smell and the kind of acidic nature of the land around it, it would not take a um a doctor to to recognize that contact with that is going to be painful.
00:42:57
Speaker
And I've seen all your strength scores. This is not a role that any of you need to attempt at the moment. Everything is kind of ah close enough and compact enough that you're kind of only leaping over small one or two foot pools at best.
00:43:14
Speaker
And you reach a point of rest after a few kind of controlled jumps.
00:43:24
Speaker
where everything kind of opens up a little bit more and it might be worth taking in a bit more of a view. You are, however, also closer, but hidden given those roles from the vultures themselves and might be able to get a closer look at what it is they are gnawing at from your location. You are roughly 80 feet away from a small ah group of them working on a corpse.
00:43:54
Speaker
Would you like to inspect further? Would you like to continue? would you like to do? Can sort of peer at it from where we are? Just seeing like, do we get to I get an idea of A, the number of actual winged creatures are more accurately and what it what it is they're feeding on from where we are? Also, as he's doing that, and wherever he peeps through, um Seth's going to cast Minor Illusion in the space around, like every he pops his little head up, the space around that will just form...
00:44:24
Speaker
what looks like more shrubs or more bush or more gnarled root over him that if emron pokes his head through the illusion his eyes will pop through it okay and obviously he can see through it but it will give more coverage just in case the vultures are looking over in that direction they just see a weird pair of eyes sticking out of a root of a tree nice nice that like like it like like i like that's already happening because you said there's some eyes nothing out of the ordinary that we've yeah yeah totally you're trying to blend in with with yeah whatever hellish um quirks work on this plane yeah okay go for it Emron, roll perception check
00:45:02
Speaker
okay um a passive of 12 is better than my 11 are old Okay, 12. twelve This isn't flat terrain perfectly, so you can't quite see all of the features, but there's about four juvenile vultures, recently babies, that are kind of pecking away at the flesh of four, so excuse me, three um ah humanoid shapes.
00:45:29
Speaker
With that role, it's hard to kind of ascertain any more than that, but ah somewhere between medium and large, and definitely humanoid in kind of anatomy.
00:45:42
Speaker
looking directly into the basin, that's all you see. There are a couple of kind of larger trees around the edge of the basin that are are dead, rotting, that don't appear to have like nests that would connect this to to to um ah them living here regularly.
00:46:04
Speaker
But otherwise it's a hard see more than that with that roll.
00:46:08
Speaker
Okay, everyone sort of ducks down and sort of looksta Looks like there's about four of them packing up three roughly humanoid shapes.
00:46:20
Speaker
I mean, I think it'd be great to poke around, but I think we'll just move on and just keep going. Aye.
00:46:28
Speaker
Yeah, no poking around. We don't want to annoy them now, Will. No. yeah
00:46:36
Speaker
let's should keep I'll keep it different yeah they don't you okay you see clip fucking club yeah close enough that works yeah yeah um just uh heads up like to cover our noises if we do make a big noise and he's looking directly at Emma when he says this um if we do make a big noise um just uh to cover it, I need to keep an ear out for any noises that like naturally we hear around here because then I can minor illusion and make it like that noise hopefully cover the noise of the fall or whatever it is. So just ah you know just keep keep your ears peeled for anything that like wind or something. I can't hear anything. It's horrific.
00:47:20
Speaker
But just... um
00:47:23
Speaker
I'll try to hook it up. No, no, just just good to know any kind of noises so I can copy them. and Anyway, um okay, i'll I'll go ahead. Drago is still this direction and he's going to point to the way they're kind of going.
00:47:36
Speaker
Yeah, yeah, yeah, okay. It's interesting where for a second there, Seth, where you think about noises. Now that you're getting a little bit closer to these creatures, the the silence, the the the the weighty silence that that has kind of
00:47:52
Speaker
accompanied you thus far, you can just discern the kind of a guttural, tearing, nibbling, fleshy noises of these young vultures feasting.
00:48:04
Speaker
um And that's been the first sound that had been heard since that wail when Drago first mentioned Tolkilon's name. But essentially now you're kind of at ah a bit of a...
00:48:15
Speaker
um ah
00:48:21
Speaker
The route you're choosing to take will require some now athletic skill to traverse. Now the bogs are kind of getting a bit denser and bigger. um
00:48:33
Speaker
And I'll kind of show you what that landscape looks like in a second. But as you're kind of moving out from your rocky crop and looking for the best route around this worrying, um alarming scene,
00:48:52
Speaker
You just see a tree root
00:48:57
Speaker
around Emron's feet, beginning to animate, wiggle.
00:49:05
Speaker
And then it slowly weaves its way around you, not pulling you, not not kind of wrapping you so you're immobilized, Emron, but kind of caressing you.
00:49:19
Speaker
It doesn't really, no higher than the top of your boot. going try and kick my foot off that thing. I was going to sort maybe, and then maybe use the, the, the, the haft of his hammer just to move the weird caressing tree root away.
Guidance from Preko: The Ritual Circle Quest
00:49:37
Speaker
And it kind of knocks off. dad No kind of real test there.
00:49:45
Speaker
Then instantly latches onto the hammer. All right. pull the hammer off it. And as you do, it pulls back.
00:50:01
Speaker
So you might have to pull this with a bit of gumption, you feel. Ding on to deception. I roll a 13 to hit.
00:50:12
Speaker
Pull up Toklon's stack block. ah Actually misses. You just... Fucking what? Go to strike this route...
00:50:24
Speaker
And for whatever reason, the bark just... Well, it's not really bark at that point, but but the the membrane on its outer edge just feels like stone.
00:50:36
Speaker
Okay. and Oh, oh. Sorry. Just from that, I think Seth see that happen as they the parties pause and see the kind of effect of it And he's going to reach down and press his two kind of forefingers, and two forefingers, his middle finger and his index finger against the root. And... um and Stop whispering in a slightly quiet and then slightly louder voice as he builds up to a spell. I'm going to cast the cantrip infestation upon it.
00:51:05
Speaker
um it needs to succeed a constitution saving throw. a minus 10.
00:51:16
Speaker
Roll a 9. 9, okay. and It takes 1d6 poison damage.
00:51:26
Speaker
As there's this like little cloud of like mites and um bugs and fleas kind of crawling in and around it now. um And if it can, ah then if because the route says moves five feet in a random direction, it can move and its speed is it is at least five feet.
00:51:44
Speaker
Roll the d4, north, south, east, west, and then it goes in that direction. But if it's immobile, then it can't. It has a speed of zero. Yeah, so it doesn't do that. Go and roll the acid damage. poison damage Yeah, it's 1d6.
00:52:00
Speaker
And that is going to be five points of ah poison damage. So you cast that.
00:52:09
Speaker
Spell lands. And the root gains a bit of vitality. It kind of blooms almost like one kind of fungal spore just kind of grows on its one side of it.
00:52:26
Speaker
It looks healthier as a result of that. I'm glad we chose to avoid the vultures, but we're getting fucking whooped by a fucking weed. M112, when one hand clasps on the hat of his hammer, I'm going to reach in my pocket, I'm going to bottle of holy water and pour the holy water on the vine that's holding my hammer.
00:52:50
Speaker
Vine disappears.
00:52:53
Speaker
It just needed watering. You pour it on and it kind of shrivels instantly and dissipates. Ooli water. I made some, if you remember. Oh, sorry, you weren't there for that bit, Drago, but Seth, remember I spent a long time making a lot of oli water before coming to the much have you got?
00:53:11
Speaker
I've got five bottles left. It's good to know. A whole lot time and you made five. I mean, whole lot of time and you made five. I mean, I'm safe. We never actually specified it. So if the DM wants me to have made more, I'm just saying, because it's it's a thing that can do every, it's an hours long ritual I could have just been doing.
00:53:29
Speaker
but How do we know this isn't just your piss?
00:53:34
Speaker
um My piss wouldn't make a vine shrivel.
00:53:40
Speaker
And there's a voice.
00:53:44
Speaker
so staring at Emron and both of you and saying, how do we know it's not your piss?
00:53:50
Speaker
And then Emron, you said, my piss wouldn't make the vine shrivel. Yeah. A voice comes in.
00:54:01
Speaker
Are you sure about that, Emron? It's pretty rancid.
00:54:09
Speaker
You've been pissing on Frego, haven't you? You've been pissing on Frego. Oh, ah we hear this. And then the name is said, prago
00:54:16
Speaker
and then ah see the name is set
00:54:21
Speaker
Revealed is a kind of white, to translucent image of him. Sat swop or kind of kneeled to stay low alongside you.
00:54:35
Speaker
You're here. We're coming as promised. Okay, I don't have long. You're quite a distance from citadel.
00:54:50
Speaker
But that is not where you need to go. Okay.
00:54:56
Speaker
I've escaped.
00:55:00
Speaker
headed the same fortress that you need to get to.
00:55:06
Speaker
The source of the curse that's possessing the steel nightmare. That is where I am.
00:55:14
Speaker
I can guide you, but it will be difficult.
00:55:21
Speaker
Do whatever you can to avoid us being... well Do whatever you can as long as you don't put yourself in any danger. We'll be able to get to you, don't worry. I'll only be able to give you a few instructions, but... Presently you're maybe a week away on foot.
00:55:38
Speaker
That's a bit long. I need to move you faster. Oh yeah.
00:55:45
Speaker
Over there. And he gestures to the far end of the basin.
00:55:53
Speaker
is an old ritual a circle that we use to move around these hells quickly. It looks damaged, but I might be able to get it working.
00:56:06
Speaker
If you can get there, I might be able to least move you to the next closest one and save you four days at best. think I'll worthy. And we'll go from there. Understood?
00:56:17
Speaker
yeah Okay. Okay. Um... All right, Emron sort of... Right, do you want to go... Seth, do you think we can get round stealthily or do we have to go through those things?
00:56:31
Speaker
Hold up. We trust this guy that just told us, hi, I escaped. Come meet me here.
00:56:42
Speaker
No, but at the same time, we don't have much of an option. Hang on, there's a Tett Prego... What was the thing that was said between us at the end of the last cycle?
00:56:58
Speaker
And he just kind of wobbles for a second.
00:57:06
Speaker
You asked me to make me hate you. And then one looks to Drago. It's him. It's okay. Okay, we trust him.
00:57:18
Speaker
i hope. We do at this stage, yes. Right, first things first, I don't like voices in my head. Second thing, yes, Amron. If you say we trust him, then let's make haste.
00:57:34
Speaker
I don't think we need to go through. I reckon we could continue to skirt around this way. ah For now, at least, it looks it looks like we could continue as we have been. Okay, i'll I'll try and be careful.
00:57:47
Speaker
I must go. again When you get to the circle,
00:57:53
Speaker
cast something. Something strong. Something strong? Yes. Okay. But be careful.
00:58:04
Speaker
Is that directed towards Emron? as All of you can hear this. Okay, right. you Be careful. Eyes are beginning to look this way. I must leave. And the image fades.
00:58:16
Speaker
Roger. let's not clip or glob much fucking longer. Let's, let's get going. Uh, and i Seth will take off, not at a pace, but with a, and it renewed sense of purpose and urgency. Now, like he's got a direction, he knows where to go.
00:58:29
Speaker
And every now and then be looking back and he'll constantly have his spell book, thumb and hand ready to, to cast minor illusion at any moment. if there's too much noise, um, he would be almost pulling this tab out and instantly,
00:58:44
Speaker
ah getting um the sound of the vultures up to cover any noise that might affect the party. Good to know. I'm now going to segue you to a ah virtual tabletop on D&D Beyond that we can use to to kind of scale and navigate ah this. So far, so good.
00:59:05
Speaker
plant almost bested us and Emerald almost fell over. all right. We had holy water. It's okay. Holy water. been down too long in the midnight sea.
00:59:18
Speaker
So what you're looking at here is ah
00:59:23
Speaker
the basin described to you in the middle, where the where the land is a bit more forgiving. Around the perimeter, however,
00:59:32
Speaker
Detritus, debris from stories and encounters past, kind of half sunk within the crust of of this bog. Everything that's green on your screens, that's kind of intermittently placed, is that kind of fell, boggy ichor.
00:59:50
Speaker
In the northwest corner of this map where you start in the southwest, there is this circle as described by Prego a moment ago. In the northeast, however, is that skull that you spotted from ah few hundred feet away, which has some sort of glowing object inside it.
01:00:12
Speaker
In the middle of the basin, three corpses lay flat with small vultures or at least hellish takes on vultures you're you're connecting here, work away at the kind of intestinal parts of these creatures.
01:00:28
Speaker
How do you wish to proceed here? Let's go to the skull. It's got a glowing thing in There's clearly a pot point there.
01:00:39
Speaker
Which is the way that Seth has indicated we're going.
01:00:46
Speaker
Good question. You can see the terrain a bit more, Seth. You can kind of make that call. Yeah, he would have pointed. He would have not been pointed to the skull. He was he would have been pointing towards the circle.
01:00:58
Speaker
Look at the big circle with the exclamation mark above it. We're going there. Looks like a plot point. Yeah. and and yeah yeah It looks to us like the only way to get to it, up to avoid the pools of...
01:01:12
Speaker
boiling like a lake lava and is to go via where the corpses are. They're kind of at the most gateway of this path to the... Unless there's ah there's a tree to the left, to the west, that we could jump.
01:01:26
Speaker
I'm trying to get sense of distances. o It's like a 16 foot, 15 foot jump. That's doable, isn't it? Pretty strong. um So yeah, he would gesture towards the west approach um and kind of skirting around, jumping over towards where that gnarled tree with the hanging basket of doom is, and then perhaps jumping over. he'd communicate that to the group. I think we should go this way, this way, this way, and then jump to the platform and avoid the vultures.
01:01:59
Speaker
i mean, mechanically, we can jump up to our strength score. So... It all depends on how much your strength score is for a long jump.
01:02:12
Speaker
I'm well strong.
01:02:16
Speaker
So immediately to your twelve mid to or west is that kind of boggy pool, but in the center of it is some old kind of timber that used to form a palisade. You'll kind of cover at the moment on the edge of this basin is this rocky outcrop. So you could edge into the basin and then move back out again, or you can attempt to kind of jump over the debris or use the debris as a half jumper to then get out over to the other side.
01:02:42
Speaker
How would you like to advance? Or go the other way. Find what's in the skull. Go check out those corpses. Turn back and go home. What would you like to do Kill the vultures.
01:02:54
Speaker
Both? but Let's go investigate the corpses and then skull. Drago's getting antsy here. You can just see him kind of moving back and forth in that space. Can we just make a decision and fucking go Is the tree trunk just above the rock to the north of the rock? Is that more cover, Danny?
01:03:12
Speaker
Can ping it so I know what you're talking about? Sorry. um Yes. Yes. That would count as more cover. So there is a raised stump that elevates about six foot above the kind of line of those corpses, which isn't too much of um of a maneuver from your position now.
01:03:31
Speaker
I think everyone's going to, everyone's going to say, look to the left of the rock behind behind and sort of the little palisade. I think we get over that straight route to the cover behind it. Let's start faffing about. Okay, let's go.
01:03:43
Speaker
And Seth, Seth take off. Yeah, okay. followers are amazing Moving stealthily. All three of you make stealth checks then if you're following that suit. Can we? A disadvantage, of course.
01:03:56
Speaker
Why we at disadvantage? No, you will not hear Oh my god.
01:04:05
Speaker
I think I'll come to you last, Emron.
01:04:09
Speaker
we'll start with Drago. 17. Thank you. Seth? Shit, just came up and I was just putting it in. It is 16. Thank you. Emeron? So I got a crit on one dice roll.
01:04:23
Speaker
Yep. But I got a one on the other dice roll at disadvantage. And it's a minus one. So technically it's a zero. if you could get zero. don't know. I just get one. Fucking Steiner over here. Here's what happens.
01:04:37
Speaker
Again, the minute Sephiroth actually got there first and see him, whatever happens, instantly he's going to cast the noise of vultures.
Ambushed by a Giant Fiend: A Cliffhanger Ending
01:04:47
Speaker
Okay. He's going to panic and throw that noise around the area to hopefully mask whatever happens. Using thaumaturgy?
01:04:54
Speaker
No, using... What do you call Minor illusion. Minor illusion, thank you. yeah of all people i know. I'm so sorry. here is what happens
01:05:08
Speaker
Swiftly and athletically, seth sir Sir Seth Farrow Reaver does a kind military-grade roll over the rocky outcrop, hedges into the basin, and does ah a nimble sprint across and backs up against this stump, facing you again.
01:05:24
Speaker
Drago, sheer force, just leaps behind from behind this rock, lands deftly, dexterously onto the the boggy terrain and controls a walk to the same position next to Seth.
01:05:42
Speaker
Emron, having seen one kind of more stout and athletic member of your team finesse their way over, one kind of strong and controlled member of your team leap their way over with great success, you attempt both those things at once.
01:05:58
Speaker
And what happens is as you roll onto the rocky outcrop, you leap and fall flat onto a kind of collection of hollowed, tiny skulls that crack underneath you as your metal slams and makes a big metallic noise followed by a cracking.
01:06:19
Speaker
And then what happens in a split seconds where Seth... instinctively thinks to cover that sound with something else creates this minor illusion, creates this sound of more vulture eating.
01:06:33
Speaker
that what you said? Yeah, the sound that you described earlier of kind of the noises, the squawking, the tearing. The guttural chewing and tearing. And as that sound
01:06:45
Speaker
kind of rings out,
01:06:49
Speaker
ah great shadow swoops right out over from the top of this stump that you two are backed against and hovers and flaps as this giant black winged fee fiend darts in and sinks talons into Emron.
01:07:13
Speaker
We're going to roll initiative. Except we're not. so What? we're going to do that next week. Oh! Tune in to the Fellowship of the Tabletop, Bell and Draconis. Oh my God! You're going to want to tune in, guys! I'm the worst stealth character.
01:07:30
Speaker
Yep! Yep. Team hell! We're doing it. We're really doing it. We're sure doing it. Sorry, I rolled initiative at advantage. It's fine.
01:07:43
Speaker
Yes. God damn it. Let's do this. Let's do this. Farewell. We are the Fellowship at the Tabletop. Tune in next week to find out what's going on. Farewell.