170. The Lich Lord, Pt. I

[00:00:02] Speaker A: Hola. Hola. How are y' all doing? [00:00:09] Speaker B: That's not what I thought you were. [00:00:11] Speaker A: It's barely dnd you're sort of Dungeons and Dragons podcast. It's your boy Danny, man. I'm here with the crew. We're gonna go in, kill some people and shoot some people and not hug anyone with guns. [00:00:29] Speaker B: You got spells. [00:00:30] Speaker A: You can shoot people with spells. [00:00:32] Speaker B: Okay, this was not what I was expecting, but that's what we're doing. [00:00:35] Speaker A: We're killing some people. [00:00:37] Speaker B: That's true. [00:00:38] Speaker A: Or things that were people, probably more. More accurately. That's true. [00:00:42] Speaker B: That's true. Not a whole lot of. Not a whole lot of living enemies here. We're coming for the end. [00:00:46] Speaker C: Dead. [00:00:47] Speaker D: Okay. [00:00:48] Speaker B: Welcome back to Bailey dd. It's a shorter Dungeons and Dragons podcast. This is another accidental adventure. Well, no, there's just. [00:00:55] Speaker D: Now I can see that you just [00:00:57] Speaker A: did it all over again. [00:00:59] Speaker D: Yeah. Yeah, you really did. You kind of stepped on toes there. [00:01:04] Speaker B: Okay, it's another episode of the accidental Adventures, episode 170. But before we get to all that, our legit question. Micah, tell me if I've got this wrong. You can keep on eating your salad, but tell me if I got this wrong. If your character were a disease, what kind of disease would they be? [00:01:22] Speaker C: Illness, disease, things like that. [00:01:25] Speaker B: Any illness, disease, or malady. You are muted, Abby. This is the way I actually have [00:01:31] Speaker D: mine for the first time. [00:01:33] Speaker B: Do you guys want the DMNPC to be tello. [00:01:36] Speaker A: Thespis? [00:01:38] Speaker C: I wanted to bespit. [00:01:39] Speaker D: I wanted to be Thespis. Oh, let's do Shista. [00:01:44] Speaker B: There's really only a couple times you guys are gonna be able to do that. We'll do Shista. And let's start with. Let's start with the gingerest person here. [00:01:54] Speaker D: Wow. [00:01:59] Speaker B: Just hate. That's just hate. There's no other way to put that. That's hate. Micah shrugged. [00:02:06] Speaker D: Like you're no longer invited to the wedding, Craig. [00:02:13] Speaker A: All right. Dur. [00:02:13] Speaker B: Go get him. [00:02:15] Speaker A: Crap. I think for both mo means of agonizingly terrible pain and the sea themed person that he is, I think, like, scurvy would be, like, probably the one I would say. Ron Grimm is some. Just. It's all good in the hood until it's not, and then it's death. You know, that's a. [00:02:42] Speaker B: That's a good answer. Yes. Micah, you can't. Oh, the. That's bad. I want to read that, but I'll leave it alone. Yes, you can go ahead. [00:02:54] Speaker C: I have, at this moment, no answer because my brain is not thinking and does not work. All. [00:03:02] Speaker B: All that is going on is red [00:03:04] Speaker C: sirens in my head going, hey, the meds that you need to take, take them. But I will say. But I will say I feel like Craig would be. This isn't too funny, but it also just makes sense for Craig. There's this, like, thing that. Where your bones keep growing and they keep developing and, like. [00:03:33] Speaker D: So, yeah, I forgot the name of [00:03:35] Speaker C: it, but I know someone who has it. But it's like your bones, the. The bone material just keeps developing and growing, and, like, you have to get surgeries done and stuff. And, like, your teeth will grow a lot, and, like, stuff happens. And I just like to think that Craig's bones are always growing. [00:03:52] Speaker B: Well, on behalf of everyone listening to D and D or barely D and D, I'd just love to say, what the heck? And we'll keep. [00:04:00] Speaker C: The real world is scarier than pretend world. [00:04:09] Speaker B: All right, let's go with Gribble. [00:04:14] Speaker C: Greta would be walking pneumonia. I feel like he had walking pneumonia of the soul for a long time, where it's like, something's wrong. But you. She's still going. And I also feel like if she was a disease, she would just make people cough a lot. [00:04:36] Speaker B: I feel [00:04:38] Speaker C: you're muted. You muted yourself. [00:04:40] Speaker B: I don't. I don't know why I did that. We don't have to talk about it. [00:04:44] Speaker D: This is the way we're gonna talk about it. [00:04:46] Speaker A: Oh, we could talk about it. [00:04:48] Speaker D: We're talking about it. [00:04:49] Speaker B: All right. [00:04:50] Speaker A: Act. [00:04:52] Speaker B: See, for Shista. [00:04:57] Speaker D: I haven't gone. I'm sorry. That was really intense. [00:05:02] Speaker B: She doesn't want me to call her first every single time. And then suddenly she wants to be asked. [00:05:06] Speaker A: Sit down. [00:05:08] Speaker D: I literally told you at the beginning of this. I said, for the first time ever, I know mine. And then you didn't pick on me. [00:05:14] Speaker B: She's calm. [00:05:15] Speaker C: She's young. [00:05:17] Speaker B: Go on. [00:05:18] Speaker D: Roe would be that disease from, like. From, like, 15th century France where. Where the whole town danced uncontrollably and couldn't stop. [00:05:32] Speaker C: So, Rose disease would be mass hysteria. Yes, I think so. Yeah. [00:05:41] Speaker B: I dig that, actually. I think it's really good. That's a good answer, Jekyll. I just rolled a dice on top of another one on accident. That was cool. Shista would be just. That would be the plague. She'd be the Black Death. Oh, that makes sense, I think not only for the agony and the suffering, but also for the scale and the threat to society. [00:06:05] Speaker D: Threat to society. [00:06:07] Speaker B: I also think to characterize a little more. I Also think she'd be the Black Death because, I mean, just rats. Imagery and thematic things aside, the Black Death was attributed to rats and then was really fleas. And I think that's very esque in the way that, like, she is the great enemy when she's just this like, pile of bones that's a conduit for this worst power, you know? So I think the black plague fits her very well. What are you doing, Abby? Are you taking selfies? Oh, you're just checking your hair. [00:06:43] Speaker C: It looks. [00:06:44] Speaker D: No, she's taking selfies. [00:06:46] Speaker C: I'm okay. [00:06:47] Speaker B: No, those dose. I thought Abby was just over there being like pre fight something, and I was like, oh, that's not behavior I associate with you. But okay, no problem. [00:06:57] Speaker C: My hair is so cute from this specific angle. [00:06:59] Speaker D: It really is. It is cute. [00:07:03] Speaker C: I noticed that, Jackie, and it looks so good. [00:07:07] Speaker B: Thank you. She said this is already dumbo. That's why I said it. We're not laughing about the same thing. Jackie dyed her hair and she messaged in chat. I'm brunette. I just put a little correction, went vegan. Your hair looks good. Jibble. [00:07:31] Speaker D: Okay, sorry, I wasn't. I was. I was. I was fishing for comments. Compliments. Yeah, I was gonna say I wasn't, but let's be honest, I was. [00:07:41] Speaker B: And when you fish for compliments about your friends, you'll catch them. Are we ready to roll? I think. I think that's the letter. [00:07:50] Speaker D: Wait, wait, wait. Sorry, I just had to put a gif in the chat for you guys, but. Yeah, ready. [00:07:57] Speaker B: She couldn't have done that while we were moving forward. [00:08:01] Speaker A: Impossible. [00:08:02] Speaker D: It was time. It was time specific sensitive. [00:08:06] Speaker B: No, I. I see, I see. I got it. Okay, well, for the note taking, Neds. Also, I don't remember whether or not I said this on recording last time, so I don't think I did. It's a level 15 session. It's really criminal of me that I didn't shout level 15 and have everybody roll their numbers and everything last time. I should have. But the fun guys are a level 15 party, which is crazy. Daniel, once you're level 15, what does the Dungeon Master call them? [00:08:32] Speaker A: What? [00:08:34] Speaker B: The Dungeon Master's Guide. [00:08:36] Speaker A: A tier? Yeah. [00:08:38] Speaker B: No, but it has names for each of the tiers of parties. Like how to con. How to conceive of them. Like, level five is. Is like local heroes number 10. [00:08:51] Speaker C: I think it's cool, kids. [00:08:53] Speaker B: Okay. [00:08:53] Speaker D: All right. [00:08:54] Speaker B: Well, there was. I was talking. I think it's cool. Anyway, It's a level 50 party and that's cool. Level 15 and level 17 adventure for the date is 3488pb. CB call. The 18th and. What? No, I'm right. No, I need to get one date right? Because last time wasn't. [00:09:18] Speaker A: Was last time. I was listening to it today. Yeah. [00:09:22] Speaker B: Travel and then. And then we're starting in the next morning. [00:09:27] Speaker D: No, no, it should be the 12th. [00:09:30] Speaker B: No. [00:09:31] Speaker D: What? [00:09:31] Speaker C: How. [00:09:32] Speaker B: I can't keep being wrong like this, okay? [00:09:34] Speaker D: Because the last one was the 10th, so if we did a day of travel and then we slept. [00:09:42] Speaker B: Yeah, because last time I thought it was the 16th, then you corrected me to the 10th, then I forgot to read. [00:09:51] Speaker D: Also, it's Topep is the day of the week. [00:09:55] Speaker B: She can't keep getting away with it. [00:09:58] Speaker D: So sorry. [00:09:59] Speaker B: The 12. All right, thank you. Thank you, Loremaster. Okay, and the. The title for my note taking nerds is episode 170, the Lich Lord. [00:10:14] Speaker A: No, [00:10:19] Speaker C: No, [00:10:27] Speaker B: Next time's gonna be a lot worse. Don't worry. Next time it's gonna be so much worse. [00:10:37] Speaker C: I would. Can I please. I would like to peek behind the curtain and ask. Never mind. [00:10:44] Speaker A: Got him. [00:10:45] Speaker B: Okay. That was brave. [00:10:46] Speaker C: Curtain. [00:10:47] Speaker D: And say a prayer that Thespis lives. [00:10:50] Speaker B: Okay, Abby, did you have a question before you. [00:10:54] Speaker C: So is this. Are we doing. Are we doing episode 171 tonight, too? [00:11:01] Speaker B: No, no, it's gonna be like, 170. And, you know, there's. How there's the Lion King and then the Lion King two, and then they did the Lion King one and a half. [00:11:09] Speaker A: One and a half, Baby. I watch that all the time. [00:11:13] Speaker B: It's gonna be. It's gonna be episode 170, and then if we need to go to two, which we probably will, it's just gonna be 170, parts one and two. That's it. It's gonna be the liter, part one, and literally part two. [00:11:24] Speaker C: Listeners, you can open your ears again. The curtain is closed again. And there. You don't have to peek anymore. You can come back. [00:11:30] Speaker A: Did you say you can open your ears? [00:11:32] Speaker B: Yep, she did. And the really disturbing thing is a couple of them closed them. You and I can't do that, but they can. Anyhow. This is. I need to get things rolling here. It's a mess. I really shouldn't be drinking so much water so early. I'm gonna piss. My God. Entering the session after an evening of traveling through the dark land of Death and find. Oh, I just punched my mic. Sorry. After traveling through the land of death and arriving to an unexpected bevy of allies, the fungi's had the strangely juxtaposed experience of having pleasantries with friends and in seeing old acquaintances and allies they had forgotten about from a very long time ago, some of them more than a year. And you all had time to make connections, to affirm old friendships, to be encouraged of the allies around you in this grim this grim task you set out for some relationships were even deepened and bonds strengthened more than before, and the group prepared and readied themselves. That's just a genuine description. Jackie. That's just a genuine description. I'm sorry, respice aside, that's just a genuine description. Oh, okay, so is also good oh, I like throw. But this is the next eve Having eaten a hero's feast, strategized with Alandra and fallen asleep. It is early, early in the next day. No light greets the eyes of the fungi's or their allies in the choking dark of a morning which is hardly distinguishable from night, the strange atmosphere feels both stagnantly warm and yet a chilling breeze sweeps by at odd intervals, perhaps not temperature, but maybe even a wave of bitter realization that is rolling across each of you as you awake. The thin veil of magic which protects the joined forces waking below feels especially thin in this moment, insufficient to keep away the dismal land of death all around you, and all the more the terrible day which lies inescapably ahead. For the next 30 or so minutes the assembled warriors ready themselves, eating lots of rations, donning armor, polishing weapons, referencing arcane texts, praying to deities, sending to loved ones, while the liminal light of morning struggles feebly to lift the oppressive darkness hanging from the black storm above. All around is the soft clatter of assembling armor and gear over overcome all the more by the tense silence of those themselves willing or excuse me, of those willing themselves to take step after step toward ruinous bloodshed. Ahead, the arcane golems tower around you all and wordlessly the various teams begin assembling themselves, ranging from close allies to those laying aside grievances or differences to for the common reliance of those who will face doom together. Here the party has time you all to role play with any NPCs if you'd like to force moment. I have a couple things that I would like to like. Some things I'll introduce as well, but if you want to pick out some things briefly, you can. One of the things that I'll say just rather quickly is as you Abby scream froze for me and it's grow it froze on her putting food in her mouth so on my screen, her screen froze and it was just her going like. Like she was hitting herself on the head. But back to the test moment. As you all awake, any of you all with passive perceptions of 19 or higher. Anybody got a passive 19 or higher? Okay, row as you are waking up, you can. And Greta, I think, but I think Abby's gonzo at the moment. [00:16:10] Speaker D: I see her. Do you not see her? She's. She raised her hand. [00:16:14] Speaker C: I have a passive 10. 20. [00:16:16] Speaker A: I have more. [00:16:16] Speaker C: I have 20. [00:16:17] Speaker D: I got 22. [00:16:19] Speaker B: I was not prepared for the energy I was going to be met with just then. Abby, would you mind turning your camera on and off? For some reason, for me, it's a green pixel screen of death, but that's just for me, so I made it. Anywho, with 19 and a 20, you all can just overhear some distance away over all the sound Alandra is having. She's on a stone call, as we say, and it sounds like a subdued but emotional conversation with someone unclear on the other side. So that is something you hear as you wake up. But any kinds of interactions the group is trying to have before you guys set off. [00:17:01] Speaker A: Ron Grimm is gonna spin, is gonna try to have gotten up before everyone and gone to whoever has rations and trying to heat them up and make them better rations than he can. Even though I don't. He doesn't think he'll be able to do it much justice, but he will try all the more in the morning. [00:17:22] Speaker B: Rangrim, as you get up a little early, a little earlier than everyone else is getting up early. A captain of your own time, accustomed to rising far before light, and you begin preparing food with the implements you have at hand. Go ahead and make me either an artistry or a survival check. [00:17:37] Speaker A: You. [00:17:37] Speaker B: Your call. [00:17:38] Speaker A: Auto survival. Oh, yeah. 21 Survival, baby. [00:17:50] Speaker B: Okay, understood. 21. You make something really pretty good. What is it that you make? It was a staple of your time on the ship, and it. It comes out like, good. Not bad. As Daniel goes and grabs a charger, Ranger kicks something really good. It's a classic, sort of like bread stew from his sailing days. And I know that Daniel's doing that both for the sake of role play and also because I know it boosts a feature for him. And so as Rongrim is ladling out food and bowls for a number of allies, he doesn't have enough for everybody. But for given folks for whom he can [00:18:30] Speaker A: a. [00:18:31] Speaker B: You guys can almost see sort of silhouetting him like a shadow lifting up behind him every Once in a while, the like vague, thin shape of. And like, thin as in like, like, like limnal in illusory of this short, squat, orangey figure. Sort of like almost like a wisp of wind caught up and disintegrating behind him as he ladles out the food. And you all recognize this very similar to those spirits that sometimes come coalesced him when. Coalesce around him when he battles. So he must be honoring the memory of a loved one as he does so. Any other role play? [00:19:06] Speaker A: No. [00:19:08] Speaker B: Okay. There doesn't have to be. I have my own and we can get booking. Okay. Oh, go ahead. Well, I knew all I had to do was transition to move on, and then someone would come come up with something. [00:19:25] Speaker D: No, I think. I don't. What? No, I really didn't have anything. I just felt like something needed to be done, but I didn't know what. Like, I felt like Ro would say something to people, but I. I don't know what. She kind of did the whole inspiring thing as a. [00:19:42] Speaker B: As a rather grim preparation falls over everyone, and everyone's just slowly assembling themselves and readying things. Tello walks up Ro and actually goes, hey. He's like, halfway through, he's got his greaves on and he's pulling a pauldron up over a shoulder, a leather one, and he's strapping it in and buckling. It's something you guys are always doing, but we never roll playthrough. And he's tweaking with it. And as he's running a hand around his armpit in the back of the arm to try and buckle, he's like, hey, I have a weird request. I know this is stressful for everybody, but. And I'm not like, I don't know. Obviously, we've got this whole thing going with Omega, but then what does it mean to all of us? It's kind of complicated and stuff, but I don't know. Do you think you could pray for us? Is that weird to ask, bro? I just feel like you're kind of the one who knows how to do that. Maybe Greta. I don't know, but I just feel like we could use every little last bit of help we could get. [00:20:51] Speaker D: Yeah, you know what? [00:20:52] Speaker C: That. [00:20:54] Speaker D: Yeah, I think that would be a really great idea, actually. [00:20:58] Speaker B: Yeah. Okay. [00:21:00] Speaker D: No, I don't think that's. Yeah, I don't think it's like, Greta, honestly, you should basically, yeah, you should, like, you know, do some praying, see what happens, [00:21:12] Speaker B: honestly. [00:21:17] Speaker D: And I think. I think when Tella says that she she. Because she wants everyone to, like, be included. I think she goes and gets like, Greta, she gets Thespis, she gets Kai, she gets like all the paladin as [00:21:41] Speaker B: you're grabbing f Moon goes like, okay, but I'm right in the middle of my arm. Okay. Like, putting on those massive bones. All right, this is important, but put my armor on. [00:21:57] Speaker D: It'll just. [00:21:58] Speaker B: You gather up all a moment. [00:21:59] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:21:59] Speaker B: All the individuals. You know, you're getting looks from some of the people in the group who don't know you as well, but they're just preparing themselves. [00:22:04] Speaker C: Yeah. [00:22:05] Speaker D: And I think she kind of just starts it off with. With all of them, and then, like, joins or invites anyone else to, like, stand like, in a circle with her [00:22:17] Speaker A: and, [00:22:19] Speaker D: like, just begin praying. Like. And I think she would start. I think she would. I think she would start with the Maker and everything, and then she would kind of go into letting anyone else say anything to their. To their specific God or anything. [00:22:38] Speaker B: Yeah. Not everyone speaks. People allow you the space in the room. And Thespis just listens. But you know, his head bowed, eyes closed, and every once in a while, when you say something with which you powerfully agrees, he does the seven stars, because it's kind of like a. It's. It's also a symbol of agreement for the Church of Swoon. [00:23:06] Speaker C: And it's like crossing yourself. And also. Amen. [00:23:11] Speaker B: Yes. Yeah, it's the yes, Pastor from the back of the church. But Ehmund Kai joins in briefly as well, and he acknowledges Ceylun. But then also he says something to the effect of. In the darkest twilight you still shine. Selune. Be with us, pale mistress. And should we step beyond the veil of the grave, Maker, return us to from where we were made. And there's various words from various people. [00:23:59] Speaker A: Wrong. [00:23:59] Speaker B: Grim. [00:24:01] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:24:02] Speaker B: As many individuals are praying very, very small, very, very quiet and still, you hear a little voice at the edge of your ear that just says, [00:24:19] Speaker A: I [00:24:19] Speaker B: haven't forgotten what I said to you. Even my remnant will be redeemed. And that just, like, kind of drifts by your mind in the middle. It's very disconcerting and unexpected. Kind of not the time. But you have that experience in the middle of others having this much more clear and ordered and intentional experience. Eventually the. The prayer ends. And let me see the details on this. [00:25:05] Speaker A: While you're thinking of details. Can I. Yeah. [00:25:08] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:25:09] Speaker A: Okay. I think Ron Grimm, in the midst of that also, in a way of knowing that this Maker is a being with amazing powers, he. He kind of like takes the second, assuming that. And then he then nods to all the people here and he's like, as long as they survive. And then I do my little prayer by myself. Yeah. [00:25:40] Speaker B: Okay. Breaking away from the group. Understood? Yes. In the process of this, at the end of his words, Efmund uses this as an opportunity to cast ceremony. And in the course of this prayer, he is going to do the ceremony of dedication and he is going to do it over. He'll do it over Ro, who started the prayer. So for the next 24 hours, whenever you make a saving throw, you can can roll a D4 and add it. So the next 24 hours you can roll a D. You can add a D4 to every saving throw. So you've been blessed by ceremony. [00:26:36] Speaker D: Holy crap. [00:26:37] Speaker B: This doesn't go on too long. It's a weird energy around the prayer because people are both. It's like a really powerful experience for some. But then also people need to finish pretty quickly. It's like four or five minutes. Then people are back to putting on armor and scarfing down food. And soon enough, the group begins the march. The massive party, more than 20 individuals along with the golems are begin hiking the low rim of the arduous shadowed mountain. You all cross narrow ravines and. Oh, I use the same word twice. Well, what are you gonna do? You all cross narrow ravines and arduous crags. In the morning twilight, the walk around the base of the mountain, you leave behind that field of energy which was warding you all and protecting you. And you just begin slowly but surely marching around the low base of that mountain. Everyone's trying very hard to be quiet and. And Kim, the short for. Let me find her name, short for Kimdon, the servant lady. She casts pass without trace over all of you in this flourish green energy. And so you all are quiet. And as you all have this march, this tense march, the golems now to you, it's hard for them to be quiet. You all. The walk feels much longer than it is. You know, you're only walking for a few minutes, but you feel like you're walking for a very long time. In the course of treading around this morose landscape, the really big lion fellow that you met last time, Leonin, the massive lion like barbarian with the double sword and scar over the face, he walks up near you all and he begins in a quieted, hushed voice speaking with you all. And he says, you all remember his name is Nyogweni. He walks and says, fun guys, there's an expression among my people. And I wanted to tell it to you all today before we got out to the field. I know that momentarily here we're going to, we're gonna break split apart. But I wanted to tell you all this first. The. Can you guys still hear the music? Yeah, no, I can. Well, I, I, oh, now I can't hear anybody. Huh? Oh, and it took over my headphones. Now I can't hear anything. Okay, well, I will hope you guys are not talking back to me. So Yogweni continues up. Okay, it's an exciting little moment. Oh, it's no longer even a Bluetooth option for me. Okay, I'll get that figured out on my end, but cool. Somebody do some role play really quickly cuz I can't hear anyone anymore. Oh no, it's suddenly back. It's suddenly back. We're fine. Okay, that was an exciting journey. So as you all are walking through this really dark place, Yogwenny continues and he says, before we got there, there's an expression among my people, as the sun rises, so it falls. And we know that if you know why the sun rose on a given day, then you'll fall the same whether you see the sun or not. Today I, I won't get to see the sun rise over the beautiful Kasav, but I spent some time remembering it in my mind. And he physically points to his forehead get the feeling he might not be much of a public speaker, but he can continues and he says, if I don't see another sunset, if this is my last day, I remember why I rose today. I was for my people and what we believe. But also the part I'm getting at for you all is all of us also came here for you and we don't know you. And I don't know you guys at all. You seem nice, but, well, at least most of us. And he looks at that halfling rogue lady who just doesn't. She's here for the money. But he continues and he says, if you find yourselves swallowed up by shade and death today, know that I rose with the sun. And whether or not any of us see the sun again, you won't be alone. And he gives you a really big toothy smile that also exposes, oh, those are big canines. And he just like pats one of you, Craig, on the shoulder and keeps walking. And there's just this really long tense silence. [00:31:47] Speaker D: How long until we get to the like, how long a walk is this about? Do we know? [00:31:53] Speaker B: About five, seven minutes later, you guys have rounded the base of that very small mountain, and before you is a raised valley. It is a harrowing sight. In the middle of it is a spindle of stone, perfectly black, above which the constricted eye of the tyrannical storm slowly rotates. I would make you all make that charisma saving throw again, except having eaten Hero's Feast, you are immune to its effect. So. And actually, that's a killer move that you all made because you all in Craig's aura would be immune, but your allies would be exposed to it. Except that since everybody ate a Hero's Feast, no one needs to make the saving throw, which is just big ups, massively huge call. That is a huge call you guys made correctly. Beyond that incredible black spire of Black Blackfang, five smaller towers, each more than five stories, stand in grim reverence at equidistant points, surrounded by unorganized groups of thousands upon thousands of undead. Each team recognizes their own towers, different points in the distance. But the foremost belongs to you all. And it occurs to you that that's the reason this mountain was chosen, so that your tower team would have the most time to get through, while the other tower teams attacked theirs. So that you all, as the slay team, would have the opportunity to get past that tower and still have time to reach Shistha, while the others had time to fell their lich lords. And as you all walk forward in this tense group, there's just this moment of this is it. [00:33:56] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:33:57] Speaker B: And with a single word. Oh, go ahead. If you're gonna say something, say it. [00:34:01] Speaker D: Oh, I'm so sorry. I was just gonna. Okay. I was gonna look around and just, like, nod to everyone that I can see and just say, like, try not [00:34:15] Speaker B: to die with that. And some grim exchanges. Alandra whispers. Some of the dust flashes around her, and she says, go. And different teams break off, running away from each other. As the assault teams break away, some are conjured away with power. Right. Thespis and F. Moon step together with Kaladra and with the security golem, they just disintegrate into light and disappear somewhere else. And another team teleports his way as well. The. Sorry. Okay. Yes. Some are conjured away in flashes of magic. Others change forms and take up on great wings as Polymorph or Wild Shield consume them in light. They begin flying away with their allies toward different towers. Still others begin breaking into pounding runs on unrelenting legs, having only the option to sprint a couple thousand feet toward their tower. Alondra Atal. And the Four great security golems remain at the starting point in the open valley of stone. They don't move anywhere. What are you all doing? Your tower lies ahead. [00:35:35] Speaker D: How far away is it from us? Did you say how many? [00:35:39] Speaker B: Maybe five, 600ft. [00:35:41] Speaker A: I like to do two things. I like to bring out my flail snail shield because I feel like spells are going to be cast at me and then I like roll my shoulders and I say stay behind my shield as I go into like this fit of rage to not have to do that as a bonus action later. So understood. [00:36:05] Speaker D: I. [00:36:06] Speaker B: You growl, the spirits appear around you. V. [00:36:12] Speaker D: I cast bark skin on myself. [00:36:15] Speaker A: Okay. [00:36:16] Speaker B: With a pluck of your string, your skin hardens all over you. Craig pulls out his sword and pulls his shield around. As it begins to glow with power, you all start walking into a jog. [00:36:29] Speaker C: I'm going to say it out loud. I cast aid on Boz, Ron, Grimm and Craig at the first at the second level. So that's plus five maximum and current hit points. [00:36:42] Speaker B: Heck yeah. [00:36:43] Speaker C: I cast it at the third level on Rogue. Hello. And Greta. So that's plus 10 for Ro. [00:36:52] Speaker B: Phenomenal. [00:36:52] Speaker D: Thank you. [00:36:53] Speaker B: Does anyone else have any other preparatory actions they're taking as you all are are turning a walk into a jog that's going to break into a run soon to meet this tower in the distance. Preparatory spell casting. [00:37:04] Speaker A: Okay. All right. [00:37:05] Speaker B: I will assume no additional spells, but let me know if. If somebody's tap casting a prep spell, this is the time to tell me. [00:37:10] Speaker C: I might, I might, I might, I might cast. But I just don't know if beacon of hope is concentration. I'm looking up to see and I'm talking. I think you can't say that tell me to stop. [00:37:21] Speaker B: Okay, that's true. But somebody correct me if I'm wrong. [00:37:26] Speaker C: I'm done. [00:37:27] Speaker B: Okay. As the party begins their run, the vast scores of amassed undead in front of you all turn. It's not like there's a big group. The valley is just filled with. With thousands, maybe hundreds of thousands of undead in massive unorganized regiments shambling about these sun bleached skeletons, some of them completely unclothed, others draped with remnants of what they wore in life. And as they begin turning, some sprinting toward or some slowly shambling toward, other groups running to their towers, but the majority moving to yuhl. The only figures in the way you all out of your peripheries, you all can see. Alandra begins to whisper something to the golems, which immediately flare to life with crashing steps. The massive magical machines powderize stones beneath their thunderous strides and they lift their arms upward and then their hands. And peels of brilliant light scream out of their palms, launching forward at blinding speeds and they just burn through, incinerating undead at great distances hundreds of feet away, cutting long slot long swaths out of the attack attackers. At this point many of the undead begin shifting their approach and moving toward the golems which are just marching to meet them, blasting huge cylinders of light into them from in between them. Atal, that dark skinned Southeast Asian woman, the one who who ran the arcane academy. She begins walking calmly forward. You all were told the day before how would you help abate these undead forces? What would they do? And Alondra's only only answer was a Atal has it. And where Sara the rogue did not seem impressed. Atal is walking calmly forward before fire catches at her feet and heat waves begin to rise from over her brow. Yes, Daniel, that is an excellent idea. Craig uses cosmic instrument. He's his blade. Flesh to life. The fire climbs rapidly up her garments burning more and more intensely until her and entire body becomes a raging funeral pile funeral pyre. A silhouette of a person walking within a column of flame, still moving toward the marching undead. Suddenly, with a flare of fire growing forward, she grows larger and where her body withers away and the fire burns a larger reflecting form, brilliantly bright at every angle. The stunning beauty of an ancient gold dragon walks out of the fire. The tail unfolds in accord and the wings as the neck elongates and long barbuled whiskers fall down. This crown of of horns rises up around the head and she is just stunningly beautiful. The gargantuan living myth moves like liquid metal, every dim drop of light caught up in her opulent scales which seem to almost emanate a brilliance of their own before her great wings sweep downward around her. Her serpentine shape wheels upward into the sky, twisting and twisting higher and higher in a ribbon of color and majesty before she dives back down toward the throngs of risen dead. She and roaring fire erupts from her gleaming jaws and hundreds of skeletal soldiers fall in an instant into blackened piles of ash before the living legend who's just sweeping over their forces, burning away scores of them. Arrows and spears fall like rain across her path, bouncing harmlessly off of her molten hide as she rips their numbers apart. Finally, behind her, Alandra's eyes begin shining with a pale light. The pale sorceress strides slowly forward until her steps stop Treading ground and begin walking upward into the shadowy sky. As she's just walking up into the air like somebody who turned creative mode on in Minecraft. Boats of brilliant light flare around her nimble hands as she mutters and bolts of bright white light stream away from [00:42:04] Speaker A: her [00:42:06] Speaker B: striking skeletons one by one and just ripping them apart. As these figures remain to draw away the bulkhead of the forces, the great majority of undead are pulled away from your path, allowing you a straight sprint toward the tower in front of the strange edifice. Hundreds upon upon hundreds of shambling skeletons still remaining because there's too many to be fully pulled away. Hollow and bleached and dead have begun shambling toward you. All their movements lack strategy, but their numbers are oppressing. Their hands are armed with ancient rusted implements and they all thrum with a dull reddish energy in the space of their lacking hearts beyond behind them. I'm almost done with descriptions. And then were rolling behind them, the Tower of Lich, Lord Kalaska int rises upward. A truly bizarre structure. It's a building that's a skeleton itself. If less recognizable, it's not a lordly abode. Instead it's an otherworldly facsimile of a worked structure. Red stained stone, as though the blackish mineral was dripping with great deposits of iron from its sparse recognizable structure. There are no walls in this tower. Instead the stone is formed into five towering pectagonal pillars. There's five pillars that rise up out of the ground which continuously seep a heavy slow mist from between their gaps. Each of the tower's five floors are thick formations of gleaming obsidian, strangely juxtaposed to the crafted pillars to which they cling as if they weren't hewn but unnaturally grew at 10ft distances between each other from the different heights of the tower. So in other words, there's five pillars that are five stories tall. And then instead of having walls and floors, there's just these floors of obsidian that seem like they grew between them. And then fragile stairways leading between as they're sprinting. Craig shouts his command word Duranvest. And the wings rip outward from Godspeed in molten metal of light. And he's not flying yet, but they are out and pushing him forward. And he's shining with his own light. Tendrils of cracking energy arc between the floors in the wallless gaps of this tower. So it has no walls. But every once in a while red arcs of energy will but between the floors like nets of lightning suddenly forming its barrier and then departing as if the tower were not an edifice, but instead a really large ritualistic conductor of arcane power. The tower lies ahead maybe a couple hundred feet. You all have broken into a full run. Undead are lining up in front of you. I need everyone to roll me. Initiative. [00:45:02] Speaker A: Oh, yeah. [00:45:03] Speaker D: Can we. Can we see? Like, can we see? Just for my own visualization during all this, can we see the other towers? Like, are we gonna. [00:45:15] Speaker B: You can in the one, like, falls or something. You can in the distance. Yeah, each one. Each one is like. Is like. Like the nearest to you all are like, 1200, 1400ft away, but they get further away in the distance. Some of them are like, half a mile away, but you can still make them out, barely. And Black Fang just looms in the center of them, reaching maybe 500ft in height. [00:45:41] Speaker D: Okay, And I have written from last time that we're 1001ft from black thing. This tower is. Is that correct? [00:45:49] Speaker B: Yeah. Okay, that two. [00:45:51] Speaker A: That. [00:45:52] Speaker B: Who that is. [00:45:53] Speaker A: Sorry. [00:45:54] Speaker B: I threw literally nine stink bugs into the toilet. [00:45:57] Speaker D: Oh, my gosh. [00:45:58] Speaker B: I'm so sorry. You have to keep enduring this, Lando. And I see another one, actually. Have you considered that they just want to play dnd with you? [00:46:14] Speaker A: Frick. [00:46:14] Speaker B: No. They just want the big globe light that is directly above my head, and they, like. [00:46:19] Speaker A: That's also probably neck while I play. [00:46:22] Speaker B: What? Everybody get on initiative 14. Okay, [00:46:28] Speaker C: I got a 16. [00:46:31] Speaker A: Hello. [00:46:32] Speaker C: Got. [00:46:33] Speaker B: I got an eight. [00:46:35] Speaker D: Hello. [00:46:35] Speaker C: Got a 22. [00:46:37] Speaker B: Whoa. [00:46:38] Speaker A: Dang. [00:46:39] Speaker B: Okay, Tella, what did Craig and Wrong get? [00:46:43] Speaker A: Craig got six. Rongrim, 13. [00:46:48] Speaker B: Okay, understood. All right, I'll write out some initiative. And as you all charge into combat, the last thing that rings in your brain is the heated warning of. Of Alandra that you are to slay the Lich Lord, expending as few resources as possible for shiz the lies immediately beyond. And there is no time to spare if you all do not immediately set upon her after killing the Lich Lord sword, your allies will surely die. Okay, tell us the top with a freaking 22. And then, Greta. Oh, Greta, you're gonna be starting us off. You're the two highest initiative roles, my guy. [00:47:28] Speaker C: Good, good, good. [00:47:29] Speaker D: How did this happen? [00:47:32] Speaker B: Much better than last time's Initiative. Much better than last time's Initiative. Okay, then it's gonna be Ron Grim, 13. With a 12, and then Boz has an 8. What did you roll, Lando? A 2, a 3. Or I guess a 3. Yeah. Is your wisdom. [00:48:00] Speaker A: I have a. [00:48:01] Speaker B: No, no, it's dexterity. Initiative is just dexterity. Yeah, that's true. [00:48:05] Speaker A: Yes, Daniel, Just for my sake. So. I know because this character sheet's not [00:48:11] Speaker B: a character sheet, but it is. [00:48:13] Speaker A: Does have everything. [00:48:14] Speaker B: It is a mystery to navigate. I feel you. I've done it before. [00:48:17] Speaker A: It is. She's rolling on damage right now. Two D6 and a D8. Just base. [00:48:24] Speaker B: Yes, yes, that is exactly correct. Okay. Oh, and also, not that you should have to unravel this on your own, Daniel. That's a D6 of slashing and D6 of radiant. But star splinter does an extra D6 of radiant against undead, which everybody freaking is. [00:48:42] Speaker A: Yeah, yeah. So. [00:48:43] Speaker B: And if you're within 15ft of me, you get 3D4 fire on top of that. That's also true. [00:48:50] Speaker A: Is that. Is that everyone or just Craig? [00:48:53] Speaker B: That's everyone. Five rounds of combat. Anyone making a weapon? Yes, Exactly. And that's 15ft, you said? Yeah, within 15ft of me. [00:49:05] Speaker C: Boss, can you tell me what feature that is? [00:49:07] Speaker B: That's just my subass. Okay, so we are going to start these first couple rounds without a map. This is going to be theater of the mind and then we're going to transition into. So this is going to be much more narrative than it usually would. These are some low level enemies. We're not going to get too stuck on like, position and movement and all that. This is going to be very descriptive. So as you all are sprinting toward the tower, alight with your various magics, there are 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 skeletons who come rushing at you all on a small group at the top of initiative. What is Tello doing as they run toward him? [00:49:48] Speaker C: How many creatures was it? [00:49:50] Speaker B: 7. Seven skeletons in a small cluster rushing toward you, all shambling. They don't really make a noise is what's unsettling. Like, as they're moving, their bones are and they're like making this, like, sound, but there's no hissing, no roaring, no moaning. They're just open jaws are just clattering loosely back and forth. Each of them have rusted weapons in their hands, some broken as they're running toward you all. [00:50:14] Speaker C: Okay, I have some questions about. [00:50:16] Speaker B: I have some answers. [00:50:20] Speaker C: I'm thinking of casting fear and I just want to clarify if I. A 30 foot cone projecting from myself. When I move, that cone also moves with me. [00:50:31] Speaker B: Yes, yes, that makes sense. [00:50:33] Speaker C: Right? So, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. So if I just, just. [00:50:43] Speaker B: Could I have. Could I have Tello make a strategy check for me? [00:50:49] Speaker C: Yeah, that is. Oh, strategy is intelligence. So that is. That's a 17. [00:51:02] Speaker B: Okay. It may occur to him that Those fear is a useful spell. He is running with a group of some of the world's most powerful warriors toward the skeletons. If he, like, has some brief effect that. That that overcomes them all, but then immediately his allies are mowing them down. That might not be the most lasting use of a spell. Now it's. I'm not saying he shouldn't use it. It's just an idea. His. I mean, his allies are probably going to run by and start wrecking shop. So some sort of. Of a spell that would, like, war them off for a bit. Might not have as many as much purpose as just trying to cut their numbers down. At first, he spent a lot of time fighting with his allies. [00:51:40] Speaker C: I got it, got it, got it, got it. Thank you. So then how far away are they? [00:51:46] Speaker B: Let's say they're 30ft away from everybody. [00:51:48] Speaker C: Three feet. [00:51:49] Speaker B: Okay, 30, 30. [00:51:54] Speaker C: He's gonna. [00:51:55] Speaker B: But he can close that gap. [00:51:56] Speaker C: But he's gonna run up. I think it's so scary being the first to charge because I'm like, what if my allies don't follow? But they're going to right away at least. [00:52:07] Speaker B: Suddenly all the fungus are like, forget [00:52:09] Speaker C: this Byee run up. He's going to use 30ft of his movement. He is going to attack with his rapier. [00:52:21] Speaker B: Okay, roll the hit for me. [00:52:23] Speaker C: Get in there. That is gonna be a. [00:52:35] Speaker B: The math will get you. [00:52:37] Speaker C: That's gonna be a 12. A 22. It's gonna be a 22. [00:52:41] Speaker B: 22. That's like a 12, but 2. But 10 more. That will definitely hit. Okay, and then I'm gonna easily and handily. [00:52:48] Speaker C: Great. [00:52:49] Speaker B: Okay, Greta's on depth with Roe up after that. [00:52:53] Speaker C: Five damage. Let's go five. [00:52:57] Speaker B: Okay, then. Large swath of. [00:53:00] Speaker C: Go ahead. [00:53:01] Speaker B: Yep. [00:53:01] Speaker C: I would like to. Cunning action, bonus action, disengage and just jump back five feet. [00:53:08] Speaker B: Phenomenal. Everybody's running forward in Tello, the second tallest of the group and rather fleet of foot. [00:53:15] Speaker A: Foot. [00:53:15] Speaker B: He just steels himself, takes in a breath, and he goes, okay, okay. And he just pulls out his rapier and runs forward. And as he runs up to one of them, it like careens its blade around with clattering motion. But he's just. They're pretty slow. Intella's much quicker and he takes a quick step to the side, jabs in, and he just in with his rapier with one quick jab. And where he's trained to trying to catch flesh is it just harmlessly passes through their ribs until it cuts at the spine. And it seems to Fracture one of the vertebrae in the spine and the skeleton from a single blow that he jabs out really quickly. It's not the most expert move, but the skeleton kind of, like, limps strangely to the side, and part of its vertebrae cracked. And it already looks cracked. [00:53:59] Speaker C: It looks dusty. [00:54:00] Speaker B: It may not be the beefiest guys in the world. Dusty. I don't know about that adjective, but all right. And then he takes a little quick, quick, like, step to the side as it misses him with an attack. And he's fully engaged himself. Greta, what are you doing? [00:54:14] Speaker C: Greta is going to act really quickly and think really well, and she is going to do quick math to figure out which of these things is the better option to do. And she's going to run up behind Tello and she's gonna cast. She's gonna do Sacred Flame and just, like, cantrip those guys. [00:54:48] Speaker B: Absolutely. Yeah. They're cantrip worthy. [00:54:51] Speaker C: Roll the hit for me. She's gonna pick a different one than Telo attack. [00:54:56] Speaker B: Okay. Okay. [00:54:58] Speaker C: And she is going to. She'll attack the one next to the one that Tello attacked. [00:55:03] Speaker B: Understood. [00:55:04] Speaker C: But she's gonna stay about 10ft back, so she's gonna. [00:55:07] Speaker B: She runs up nearby. [00:55:09] Speaker C: She's gonna stay another skillet. Hold on. Sorry. So sorry. She only has 25ft of movement, so she's only gonna go up 25ft. Sacred Flame has 60ft of movement, so she's gonna roll the hit. Make 1D8 Radiant damage, if it matters, plus her wisdom modifier, which is math. She's gonna do 9.9 radius cantrips increase [00:55:35] Speaker B: in damage as you usually. Sacred Flame is a deck save, and [00:55:42] Speaker A: also, [00:55:44] Speaker B: as you level up, they get more powerful. So actually, you're rolling 3D8. Where is that notated in the player's Handbook? All the spells are listed in the [00:55:55] Speaker A: back at the very end of the spell. It'll tell you that. [00:55:58] Speaker C: All right. It's not on that when I look it up online. [00:56:01] Speaker B: Oh, my goodness. What's your. Yeah, that's the. That's the value of the physical book, my guy. What's your spell save? [00:56:09] Speaker C: Dc the 18. [00:56:13] Speaker B: Okay. So incredibly, I rolled a nat 20, and the skeleton got a 22 on his side save. [00:56:19] Speaker D: Oh, my gosh. [00:56:19] Speaker B: Super unlikely. So, Greta, as you run up and plant yourself and pull out your symbol and shout. And. And this. There's this. A fire. The skeleton is like rushing toward Tello, and it lifts a spear and it steps forward. And it step forward is completely unaware of you, but it ha. It completely witlessly. Luck luckily happens to step forward and out of the way of your bolt of power is. Buy it now with 60ft, your bolt of fire does go. Absolutely. Blow up a skeleton that wasn't at all near you all, just one that was completely walking away, gets powderized, and you're like, well, that's not the one we needed. [00:56:57] Speaker C: But do I get that xp? [00:56:59] Speaker B: Totally. Yes. Sure. [00:57:02] Speaker C: That's gonna be the end of my turn. [00:57:05] Speaker B: Excellent. Roe is up. Wrong. Grim is on deck. [00:57:07] Speaker D: It's a Mia. Okay. I have a question about a new spell. Zach, I'm so sorry for all these questions. So on. Well, first of all, I have. Well, yeah, okay. So on with burst. Okay. Which is a cantrip from the Osmodricon for the listeners. It's. It talks about how the damage is taken. It says, creatures within 5ft of you take this amount of damage. 10ft of you take this match and 15ft of you. Is that like. Are we talking cone. Are we talking radius around my person? [00:57:42] Speaker B: Radius, radius. [00:57:44] Speaker D: Okay, good to know. So I have to be careful about my allies, correct? [00:57:48] Speaker B: Yes. [00:57:49] Speaker C: Okay. [00:57:49] Speaker B: It's everybody. [00:57:50] Speaker D: Okay, that's what I thought. Okay, so since we don't have a. A map here, is there a way that I could. I have 30ft of movement. Is there a way that I could get in front of telling them and. Or to the side of them and do damage where there's no effect? [00:58:12] Speaker B: We're playing this very theater of the mind. [00:58:13] Speaker D: Okay? [00:58:14] Speaker B: If you. If you sort of run at an angle, you can move away from your allies. Now you're going to wind up in the middle of all of the skeletons, but you could. You could squarely position yourself in between four of them away from your allies, where you wouldn't hit them because it's a max range of 50, 15ft. [00:58:29] Speaker A: Right? [00:58:31] Speaker D: Yes. [00:58:32] Speaker B: Yes, you can do that. You can do that. [00:58:34] Speaker D: Okay. Ro is gonna do that. She's gonna run up 30ft to where you said and use her movement, and she's going to cast Burst for the first time ever. And when she does it, she's just gonna hit like one really hard strum on song Splitter. And like, you're gonna see like, these waves of energy come out. Like, almost like if there's like an earthquake rumbling and creatures must make a constitution saving throw. [00:59:05] Speaker B: Okay, I missed the dice tower. All right, what's your spell save? [00:59:12] Speaker D: Spell save is 18. [00:59:16] Speaker B: I got a 17. The skeletons are rolling so high. He's these little cr. 1/4 guys. So they just, just, just fail. Go ahead and roll that damage for me. Jackie, also. [00:59:25] Speaker D: Okay. [00:59:26] Speaker B: Thank you for helping my homebrew spells come to life. I really appreciate it. [00:59:29] Speaker D: Okay, so creatures within five feet of me are gonna take 13 points of damage. Are there any creatures within 10ft of me? [00:59:45] Speaker A: Yes. [00:59:45] Speaker B: Two of them are within five. Two of them are within 10. [00:59:48] Speaker D: Okay. Creatures within the 10ft of me are going to get eight points of force damage. [01:00:02] Speaker B: Okay. [01:00:03] Speaker D: And one is with 15. Sorry, I'm looking. Okay. 3D4. [01:00:10] Speaker B: That's okay. [01:00:13] Speaker D: Are going to get. Hello. Okay. Are going to get 10 points of force damage. [01:00:25] Speaker B: Oh, more. Okay. [01:00:26] Speaker D: Yeah. Weird. I rolled better on those. [01:00:29] Speaker B: How do you want to do it on two of them and then crack? [01:00:34] Speaker D: So on the two, I think it would just be cool. Is when the force damage goes through them that in that purple and gold magic, they just kind of crumble into, like, a pile of. Of bones and dust. [01:00:49] Speaker B: Heck, yeah. Ro. As you. As you run forward, it's not like a full slide, but you, like, skid to a stop in front of all the skeletons who are loosely turning toward you, the weapons swinging in their hands. And as you do one on your unsong splitter, that gets that reverberated metal sound, that distorted sound is that there's that wave of. And as the energy bursts out from you, the two nearest to you just. They, like, fly back. And you hear the. And then there's the. Of all their bones and the. Of their armor and weapons falling to the ground, two of them explode backward away from you, and then the three nearest that then all, like, shudder, and a bunch of their bones, like, their ribs fall away. Some of the bones split away from their legs. One of them drops a weapon. One of their hands, like, all the bones on one side of the hand flies away. One of them, their jaw flies off. They all look really cracked. [01:01:41] Speaker D: And as a bonus action, I would like to throw song splitter at whichever one looks the most damaged. [01:01:48] Speaker A: Sick. [01:01:49] Speaker B: That's awesome. Jackie, the 115ft away from you looks the most damage. [01:01:52] Speaker D: Okay, so that's gonna be. That's gonna be an 18 to hit. [01:01:59] Speaker B: 18 will hit. [01:02:01] Speaker D: Heck, yeah. And so that is gonna be five points of damage. [01:02:08] Speaker B: How do you want to do this? [01:02:11] Speaker D: I think it should just. I. After I strum it and I throw song splitter at him, I think it should just, like, kind of like a boomerang, almost like sound slice through its neck and then come right back to me. [01:02:25] Speaker B: The silvered loot axe just magically through the air. The aerodynamics don't work at all, but the magic propels It. [01:02:30] Speaker D: Yeah. [01:02:30] Speaker B: And as the blade comes around it just. And there's this fake like sound as metal strikes bone and the head just does three full rotations before hitting the ground. As the neck explodes away at all the bones to the ground. Only four of the skeletons remain. Three of them cracked. [01:02:47] Speaker D: That is the most damage Rose ever done. She killed three in one turn. [01:02:55] Speaker B: You're up. Then the skeleton. [01:02:56] Speaker A: Oh yeah. [01:02:57] Speaker B: Boss is up after that. [01:03:00] Speaker A: Now when I run 30ft away, I'll be 30ft away from boss. So I'm not gonna get the fire damage right? [01:03:06] Speaker B: Yes, yes. Sadly. [01:03:07] Speaker A: Okay. That's okay. Yeah. Already within the rage, I grab my trident one handed with my shield out and I think with the first one I'm gonna in in the walking, not the walk like. Yeah. The marching towards it. I will throw it as it comes off the chain. Just for fun. [01:03:29] Speaker B: Giggles. Yeah. Yeah, yeah. [01:03:33] Speaker A: Well thank goodness I. I didn't rate. I didn't reckless cuz. I got, I got an 18. Does that hit the boy? [01:03:43] Speaker B: An 18 will hit. [01:03:44] Speaker A: Oh good. That's good. I got 27 damage on my first hit as I like throw my trident through. [01:03:57] Speaker B: That'll do it. [01:03:58] Speaker A: Okay. And I, I think I'm gonna use like the cracked bone body to like propel myself forward and then grab while I'm in the midst of all those skeletons. And then I will try to hit another one. 19 to hit. [01:04:13] Speaker B: That'll hit. [01:04:14] Speaker A: I rolled a four on that. That was crazy. [01:04:17] Speaker B: You have a plus 15? [01:04:19] Speaker A: I do have a plus 15. [01:04:21] Speaker D: I love it. [01:04:23] Speaker B: That's like a, that's like a CR23 monster. [01:04:27] Speaker A: Plus 12. Plus 13. 25 points of damage to the second guy. [01:04:32] Speaker B: That'll do it. [01:04:34] Speaker A: And I just roar. A mighty yell and triumphant excitement. [01:04:39] Speaker B: But also heck yeah. [01:04:40] Speaker A: Kind of trying to be respectful. [01:04:43] Speaker B: Understood. Wrong there. As you, as you're like sprinting forward with your powerful like you take that, you take your trident and you do that cool thing that people do with spears where they throw them up and then catch them underhanded. [01:04:55] Speaker A: Yeah. [01:04:55] Speaker B: And as you toss up and catch at you and as the chain magically elongates and one of the skeleton raises up its shield and you throw remnant through the shield, it just punches straight through the metal. Folds it inward like a knife going through aluminum. And as the arm explodes away and the trident punches into the spine of the creature, you then grab the chain and you pull, pull yourself magically to it. And as you lift up your legs, your legs crash into its shielded arm and into its body and it explodes away. In front of your feet. Before you land, you turn around, whip trident around your head. And as the other one brings up its sword, it blocks with the sword and you just go. You just push straight past its defense and you push its arm through its body as it explodes away into bones. You're nearby. There's now only one of them. Or no, there's two of them left, the two most fractured. And they both look completely unperturbed, mindless. And they begin lurching further forward toward others. It is their turn. One of the skeletons is going to stride toward Tello, who is close [01:06:09] Speaker D: now. [01:06:09] Speaker B: Okay, this is where things get dangerous. It has one whole attack. I rolled a three. Oh, that's pretty hot. Is a seven gonna hit Tello? Okay, so where Tello stands, one of the skeletons walks forward with a rusty chipped ax and just lifts it up. And. And as he brings it down, Tello takes one deft step to the side and it lodges in the stone. The skeleton begins pulling back for another strike, but it's slow. It's like Dr. Dragging it across the stone. It takes time for them to move in ways that would be easy for a creature covered in flesh. The other one is going to take this, like, broken old halberd that maybe is just a rusted shovel. It's kind of hard to tell. And it is going to swing at Ro, who's right next to it. [01:06:57] Speaker D: Of course it is. [01:06:58] Speaker B: Okay. That was the coolest roll ever. I rolled it down my dice tower. It rolled out of the tray and. And then spinning like a beyblade, it rolled around the rim of the, like, mouth at the bottom and then fell back in. That was awesome. And it's fitting cuz it was a 22 to hit. [01:07:16] Speaker D: No. Yeah, that hits. Even with my bark skin. Oh, I have to roll constitution save, don't I? [01:07:24] Speaker B: Technically speaking, O, you're going to use four points of reaction here. You can hold on. Yeah, there's four points of piercing your way. As the halberd shovel reaches out and cuts past. And Nick's part, I'd like it. [01:07:41] Speaker A: I like to reduce it by 19. Okay. [01:07:45] Speaker B: You take no damage as the blade is coming towards you. The blue wispy silhouette of that taller spirit, like, flies up and literally reaches up and pushes the halberd out of the way. And it just doesn't even take. [01:07:57] Speaker D: Holy crap. [01:07:57] Speaker A: It also deals as much damage as you want it to. Back to its act. [01:08:02] Speaker C: And [01:08:05] Speaker B: as it pushes the halberd out of the way, the spirit steps forward. And there's this really interesting interaction as the skeleton looks toward it as if it can see the other spirit or the undead can recognize the spirit, rather. And as it looks up, the bluish spirit emanating this path of energy leading to Orangrim lifts its head up, places its palm on the. On the skeleton, and the red light inside of it just dissipates, and all the bones clatter to the ground. [01:08:35] Speaker D: I just. Can I. Just. For flavor, can I just say that I look back at Rongram and, like, nod like. Like. Just like his pump in the air. [01:08:46] Speaker B: Oh, I love that. [01:08:48] Speaker D: Thank you. [01:08:49] Speaker C: That's awesome. [01:08:50] Speaker B: That's awesome, Jackie. That is the right energy. That's the energy we want. Okay, it's Craig's turn. What's he doing? [01:08:59] Speaker A: Oh, Craig's turn. I was. [01:09:01] Speaker D: Y' all both have to play. [01:09:03] Speaker A: I thought. [01:09:06] Speaker D: Yeah, I thought. [01:09:08] Speaker B: Boss. It's boss. I never learned how to read. It's boss's turn. [01:09:11] Speaker A: Yep. [01:09:15] Speaker B: Is that a Roll the hit. [01:09:16] Speaker D: Right, right, right, right, right, right. [01:09:17] Speaker B: Roll the hit. Let me see. [01:09:20] Speaker A: Pretty sure. Very nice. [01:09:22] Speaker B: Yes, I believe so. Oh, I meant that music cut out. I almost got it right before it went, and then I caught it at the wrong time. [01:09:29] Speaker D: It was really close. If you hadn't said it, it probably. Okay. [01:09:33] Speaker B: Oh, that's funny. No, I got this. Done. Done. A six total. [01:09:38] Speaker A: 11. [01:09:38] Speaker B: So 17. Oh, okay. I was say. [01:09:40] Speaker A: That makes a lot more sense. [01:09:42] Speaker B: I was gonna say. I don't. I don't think you're mathematically capable of getting a 6. 17. Go ahead and roll for damage. [01:09:49] Speaker A: Okay. [01:09:52] Speaker B: It's kind of a formality at this point, but, you know, [01:09:56] Speaker A: damage is damaged. 12. [01:10:00] Speaker B: How do you want to do it? On the last remaining skeleton boy, he whips him with the thorns. That is true. So as Boz steps forward, he plants a wise step, raises his hand over his head, and from his offhand with the Druid's defense, the weave of roots seem to elongate out, and it wraps around the spine of the skeleton. The thorns burst out, and the skeleton collapses, and the party sprints forward. You all move closer and closer now, running toward this tower. And on the first level, there are these patterned bursts of electrical power that run up the edges, but you time it so that you run through before another wave comes by. And all six of you all run into the first floor of the Lich Lord's tower. As you all stride in, it's a bizarre space again. There's just five pillars, the ground beneath you, and then, like, 10, 15ft up that obsidian seal biggest there's no walls. It's just this. It is 5, 10, 15, 20, 25, 30, 35, 40, 45, 50, 55, 16, 65, 70. It is 70ft in diameter. Pretty big. Yeah, it's pretty big. Also, these pillars I'm describing are each, like, 12ft in diameter. Oh, they're really large. And where they're bursting out of the ground, this dark mist is falling away from them. And they. It like this red energy is. It feels like it's drawing energy out of the ground up to it. You can also see at this point, at this proximity. Right. Right before you run beneath it, that this red towel, this red power, is like pulling together and twisting up in the sky toward blackvane, as if they're constantly drawing power toward it, siphoning in that direction. As you all run into that first floor, it's totally empty. There's no one there. It's just this hall, quiet. And there's this stairway before you that twists and leads up to the next level. And it's not like carved stairs. It's just obsidian stone grown up at this weird angle before it moves up into the next level. Behind you all, maybe 40 or 50 skeletons are breaking off from the other number and starting to move toward the tower where they saw you all run in. What that party do? [01:12:17] Speaker D: So we're inside the tower now. Are we still in initiative? [01:12:20] Speaker A: No, here's. [01:12:21] Speaker B: Yeah, here's what I'll say. [01:12:21] Speaker D: Okay. [01:12:22] Speaker B: Until you all run into your next group of skellies, you're out of initiative. Oh. But then once you run in, once you run into your next group, I'm going to put you back into the same initiative. So right now, it's just whatever anybody wants to do. [01:12:33] Speaker D: Okay. [01:12:34] Speaker A: Shall we go up? [01:12:36] Speaker C: Wait. Dm. I would like to make a strategies check, and my wi fi is really slow. I would like to do a strategy check. Can I please do that? I would like to do a strategy check on whether or not the skeletons. So we. We're going to go up these stairs is what I'm guessing. Are the skeletons going to follow us up the stairs? Is that what I'm. [01:13:06] Speaker B: Seems like they might try. [01:13:08] Speaker C: All right. I would like to. [01:13:12] Speaker B: Looks like it's gonna be a race up toward the Lich. [01:13:14] Speaker C: I would like to cast a spell. And I would like to cast Abby Fox. I would like to cast. I would like to cast guardian of. Let me. I'm thinking about casting Guardian. Architectural guardian. [01:13:32] Speaker D: Okay. [01:13:32] Speaker C: I would like to run over to the staircase. Right. Huh. I'm not gonna do that. [01:13:41] Speaker B: Okay, wait. [01:13:42] Speaker C: I am gonna do it. [01:13:43] Speaker A: Okay. [01:13:44] Speaker B: All right. [01:13:45] Speaker C: Can I do a strategy check to see if that's a good idea, or is that just cheating? [01:13:48] Speaker B: No, no. You, as a player, has to make decisions. [01:13:52] Speaker C: Okay. But I do think that they're gonna follow me up the stairs. [01:13:55] Speaker A: Yes. [01:13:56] Speaker B: Right now you're in the bottom of tower, and a bunch of skeletons are walking toward you. What are you doing? [01:14:02] Speaker D: Can I. Can you clarify? Alandra told us these towers have to fall, correct? They have to physically. [01:14:10] Speaker A: The Lich. [01:14:10] Speaker B: The. The Lich Lords have to be killed. [01:14:13] Speaker D: Okay, but do their towers have to be destroyed? [01:14:17] Speaker B: The art of metaphor was not lost on you. That might be a ridiculous task. [01:14:22] Speaker D: Okay, that's what I thought. [01:14:23] Speaker B: But I might not hurt. [01:14:26] Speaker A: I just. [01:14:26] Speaker B: Okay, Right. Running up the stairs. Craig joins him. [01:14:29] Speaker A: Hello. [01:14:29] Speaker C: Is as well. [01:14:30] Speaker B: Okay. The rest of the party runs up. You all begin running upstairs. Which also, just as a record for someone who starts every day by going up six flights of stairs, is its own task. You all have just run 300ft, fought a bunch of dudes, run 100 more feet, and now you're running up flights of stairs. Now, the fun guys are very well conditioned. Yeah, you guys are in great shape. So you're keeping pace, but you're feeling it burning in your legs. And you guys, it's not just running upstairs. You're having to, like, navigate and shift your weight. And, like, you're having to not fall off the slick stairs. In fact, I actually need athletics or acrobatics checks for everyone as you run up. It's not a high D.C. this is going to be D.C. 9. But if anyone. [01:15:11] Speaker D: Acrobatics. [01:15:12] Speaker B: Slip off of the slick, sharp stairs to the floor below. [01:15:15] Speaker D: Oh, no. [01:15:17] Speaker B: Acrobatics or athletics. DC 9. Not a high DC Also, for the record, everyone here. Ivan said. Okay, you have a per diem if you want to use it, but you don't have to. I'm gonna save it. Okay. [01:15:34] Speaker D: I got it. [01:15:35] Speaker B: With athletics. [01:15:36] Speaker C: Pause. [01:15:37] Speaker B: Or with acrobatics. Athletics. [01:15:41] Speaker A: Right. [01:15:42] Speaker B: Or acrobatics. Oh, no, then it's seven plus six. [01:15:50] Speaker A: Five. [01:15:50] Speaker B: Yeah. So that's 12. [01:15:52] Speaker D: 13. [01:15:53] Speaker B: 13. Excellent. Okay, plus five is 12. [01:15:56] Speaker D: I got a 12. [01:15:58] Speaker B: Excellent. Hello. [01:16:01] Speaker C: Hello. Got a 17 and just a clip I. Greta got in that one. Oh, no. [01:16:09] Speaker D: Greta Green. [01:16:12] Speaker B: Krieg and Rongrim. [01:16:14] Speaker A: Krieg got a 12. Rongrim got a 29. [01:16:19] Speaker B: Oh, my gosh. Okay, so here's the thing, Ranga. [01:16:26] Speaker A: Yeah. [01:16:27] Speaker B: In. [01:16:27] Speaker A: In a. [01:16:27] Speaker B: In a moment, that is. And I repeat, to be clear. Not funny, you guys. Are running up the stairs and it's this uneven, slick ground, the sharper the edges and everybody's like navigating and some people trip slightly and pick themselves up. And it's not funny at all that the old lady in the group gets a NAT one, slips on the edge and goes and she makes the sound and tumbles over the side of the stairs. That's a NAT one, so no problem. Lando, thanks for the heads up. Your. Your level, your sheet is leveled, right? Okay. So because you got a 29, Daniel, I will give you the opportunity to go ahead and give give me a dexterity saving throw to try and catch Greta as she goes over the side of the stairs. Dexterity SAT1 is a NAT1, but you got almost a 30, so you know, [01:17:27] Speaker A: okay. Oh, for a NAT20 for 22 on my deck. [01:17:32] Speaker B: Say, baby, that is phenomenal wrongdoing. What does it look like as you keep Greta from just old lady falling [01:17:39] Speaker A: off the edge and pounding into the ground? I've kind of like put my oh in a non bad way. Like I think what he's gonna do is like, he sees it. He's like, oh, no. And he's like, catch the tridents. A bit farther away as she grabs onto it as he like immediately like pulls her up. So that way even if she does fall again, I'll be able to like catch her before she falls again within my grasp and like keep walk. I. I put her on my shoulder if it would be helpful because I think Rongrim's going to just keep four steps at a time. [01:18:21] Speaker B: With a hard yank, grab Greta. A little bit of wronggrim's breakfast stew comes back up, but you are hoisted over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes. And you guys sprint further up the stairs. You all make it up the next round of stairs. Also, by the way, that stairwell is. That's the check. That's all of them. If you pass that dc, you're fine for all the other stairs. So you guys make it up the first floor. As you do, another pulse of energy races up the tower. And there's this unsettling feeling, like this, this thing is alive with energy. You all race up a second floor, a third one. As you all begin making your way toward the third floor, you all can hear and coming down the stairwell ahead of you as you all are moving up it are another six skeletons. [01:19:05] Speaker D: Boo. [01:19:06] Speaker B: We're moving back to initiative Order. Tello's at the top. Greta next. What are you doing, Tello? [01:19:11] Speaker C: Do these look any different than the [01:19:12] Speaker B: ones before, they look like skeletons with weapons. [01:19:16] Speaker C: Do they look. [01:19:17] Speaker B: No, no. [01:19:18] Speaker A: They don't look dangerous. [01:19:19] Speaker B: Okay, no. [01:19:20] Speaker C: Then I would like to do. I would like to run forward and attack with the rapier. [01:19:27] Speaker B: That makes sense, but yet. [01:19:31] Speaker A: Got him. [01:19:32] Speaker C: Oh, that is gonna be. Does a 28 hit, [01:19:40] Speaker B: guys save these rolls? Yes, a 28 will hit the skeleton. [01:19:51] Speaker C: That is gonna be 12 damage. [01:19:55] Speaker B: Okay. [01:19:56] Speaker A: Oh, sick. [01:19:58] Speaker C: No, sorry. [01:19:59] Speaker B: It's gonna be eight. Eight. [01:20:02] Speaker C: Yeah, I got it wrong. [01:20:04] Speaker B: It's okay. Happens to the best of us. [01:20:07] Speaker A: Okay. [01:20:09] Speaker B: Tello runs valiantly toward the stairs, and he's a little more clever with this one. As he's learning them a little better, he walks in and he, like, steps to the floor, an obvious motion, and one of them lifts up a little. This one's just got, like. Like a long piece of sharpened rock, just that it picked up off of the ground. As it lifts it up over its head and takes a slash forward. Tello takes an obvious step and then just quickly steps to the side, like a fighter ducking a punch. And each easily moves the side of it. He takes the rapier, jabs it through the back of the skeleton and does an expert same cut as he did the first one, learning that this is an area where they're weak. Through the ribs. It fractures part of the vertebrae again, and it looks like it's ready to collapse. It's cracked. Anything else? [01:20:45] Speaker C: With this turn, I want him to bonus action. Disengage again. [01:20:49] Speaker B: Okay. He takes a quick spin off of the stairs and steps to the side so that he's no longer on them, not facing the others. Greta's up next. Ro is on deck. [01:20:57] Speaker C: How far away are we from these guys? [01:21:00] Speaker B: 15ft. You're right up in each other's faces. [01:21:03] Speaker C: Okay, she's gonna cast sacred flame again on a different one than what Tello attacked. [01:21:08] Speaker B: He needs a Dex save. Okay. I did not get a nat 20 this time. I failed, like, 14. [01:21:18] Speaker C: Okay. What is this? [01:21:19] Speaker A: Dice. [01:21:20] Speaker C: Wow, that's. [01:21:20] Speaker B: I believe it's 3D8. Am I wrong? Dur. [01:21:23] Speaker C: No, it's. [01:21:24] Speaker B: I think it's 8. [01:21:25] Speaker A: Yeah. You got it, girl. You got it, girl. [01:21:29] Speaker B: Get it, girl. Get it. Get it, girl. Maya, you're so fluffy, I squeeze you. [01:21:44] Speaker C: That's going to be a 19. [01:21:46] Speaker A: Okay. [01:21:47] Speaker B: How do you want to do this, Greta? [01:21:49] Speaker C: Explode him. [01:21:51] Speaker B: Okay. You take a confident step forward, and as another one lifts up this, like, decrepit bow that looks like it's gonna snap once it fires, it pulls back this arrow, and then you just. You, like, whisper something and there's this. [01:22:06] Speaker C: I want. I want like. I want like a bolt of like bright like lime green go inside of his eyeball and then like explode the head. [01:22:19] Speaker B: Yes, Greta, Yes. As that. [01:22:21] Speaker A: As that. [01:22:21] Speaker B: As that lingering fire away. It just into the eye and there's just a moment as it like kind of stops. And then it. The skull just pops and the bones just fall down the stairs. Phenomenal. Next up in Initiative is wrong Grim. Then his skeletons and bosses on deck. [01:22:38] Speaker D: After that, I thought it was me. Am I wrong? [01:22:41] Speaker B: It is Ro. I've never learned to read. Messing up Initiative. Zach is back. It's been a while, but I'm here to stay. [01:22:48] Speaker D: I'm not gonna. Cuz the force damage in here is a little tricky. So she's gonna cast cut at one of the skeletons in front of her. And are. Are they considered unarmed? [01:23:05] Speaker B: No, they're all. In fact. [01:23:06] Speaker A: No, they do have arms. [01:23:07] Speaker D: Wait, is it unarmed? Hold on. What is it that I have advantage. All right. [01:23:12] Speaker B: Okay. [01:23:14] Speaker D: Has advantage to hit against unarmed creatures. [01:23:16] Speaker B: Oh, okay. Yeah. They are not. [01:23:18] Speaker D: So they. They are armed. So I don't have advantage. But [01:23:23] Speaker A: two of them, specifically. [01:23:26] Speaker D: How does. [01:23:27] Speaker B: Is this the one that just deals its damage? [01:23:28] Speaker D: I think so. Which is why I'm trying to out figure out the advantage thing. [01:23:33] Speaker B: Well, not gonna lie. This was written in an evening where I wrote like 12 spells. And if you dream at 2am so [01:23:38] Speaker D: it might just be wrong emotion in there, you strike outward and creature within range deals. [01:23:44] Speaker B: Yeah, they just take. [01:23:47] Speaker D: So that's gonna be 3D6 at my level. [01:23:51] Speaker B: Oh, okay. [01:23:53] Speaker D: So that's gonna be still. Oh, I didn't. I rolled pretty low. So that's going to be six points of damage from Cut. Slashing. And then I think at the same one that I just. [01:24:06] Speaker B: Bonus action. [01:24:07] Speaker D: Bonus action. Song splitter. [01:24:09] Speaker B: Yeah. Hit for me. [01:24:11] Speaker D: Not a. Oh, no to not one. [01:24:16] Speaker B: So, buddy. [01:24:19] Speaker D: So she throws a Missy. [01:24:22] Speaker B: Excellent. Ro. You run up and you. And you like. And as you play the note, there's just this. This magical line of energy just across the sternum of the skeleton and it cracks. The skeleton stumbles slightly. And then you pull the. The loot off. Like, go to throw. And as you do, you just. The ground in here again is not even. It's like grown obsidian. And you trip over ground that should be flat. And as you. You do, it's like an awkward trip. And then you launch songs better at a weird angle. I need a deck saving throw from Tello. [01:24:54] Speaker D: Oh, from Tello. [01:24:56] Speaker B: That one, buddy. He's over by the stairs. [01:25:00] Speaker A: Embrace. [01:25:01] Speaker C: Embrace. Brought a. A Dex saving throw from Tello. [01:25:07] Speaker B: Trying to step out of the way really quickly. [01:25:09] Speaker C: Be a 25. [01:25:10] Speaker D: Oh, thank God. [01:25:13] Speaker B: The ax comes by intelligence. And as he ducks down, it carves off just the little top of his afro and then it. [01:25:21] Speaker D: Oh, sorry, Tello. [01:25:22] Speaker B: Tello turns around and he goes, I'm not one of the skeletons. And then he whips the rapier back around toward the undead. Now it is Frogdib's turn Initiative. And then the skellies are up. [01:25:33] Speaker A: Oh, yeah, this is this many. He's. Oh, and he's within the fire this time. Right? Because I'm only gonna be 15ft away from boss. [01:25:44] Speaker B: Hell yeah. Not that you need. [01:25:48] Speaker A: I got a 33, [01:25:55] Speaker B: Daniel. A 33 will hit. [01:25:58] Speaker A: Good, good, good, good. 11 I do. [01:26:01] Speaker B: They have an AC of 13. [01:26:03] Speaker A: I do 20, 24 points of damage as I just come careening up and just with my trident, like. Like a. Like a Spartan warrior going up with this huge shield. I just go to stab through one of them, and then I do the same thing with the other hand with another one. [01:26:23] Speaker B: Man, if we did give ways of success, that would have obliterated that thing [01:26:28] Speaker A: did not die with 23 points of damage. [01:26:30] Speaker B: No, it did. I just moved. Mean that. Like, imagine if it had degrees of success too. [01:26:34] Speaker A: That's true. I got an 18. [01:26:37] Speaker B: That'll also get. [01:26:44] Speaker A: 33 points of damage. [01:26:46] Speaker B: Yep. [01:26:47] Speaker A: With my second one, [01:26:50] Speaker B: as you pound forward and you bring it down through the head of the skeleton, just. Just ripping the bones apart in the middle and scattering the others to the side. You pick the trident up, whip it around, and like a blade, you take the sharp head and just whip it around and rip the next one in half. As the bones scatter away, there are only three remaining. Now it is the skeleton's terms. Two of them are right up in your face frong. So they're going to take a couple of attacks. Ooh, that's pretty big. Sixteen. [01:27:20] Speaker A: Does that hit? No. [01:27:23] Speaker B: Oh, I was being mocking. But the next one's a 23. That'll hit. [01:27:26] Speaker A: Oh, dang. It will Barely. [01:27:28] Speaker B: Okay, so one of them, you knock the. The blade away with the shield before another one runs up and jabs you just closely with a spear, you're gonna take five points of piercing, which reduces to two. So you get a little cut on your chest from one of them. [01:27:45] Speaker A: I know. [01:27:50] Speaker B: And then. Oh, there's another one. This one is right next to Tello. And misses. Okay, Boz, you are up. What are you doing, Blizzy Blaz. Boz is gonna whip his thorns at him. That's right. He is. Roll to here. Another from your gauntlet as another brambly root juts out. [01:28:14] Speaker A: 28. [01:28:17] Speaker B: Yes. That will hit. Go ahead and roll for damage. You guys are going hard on these skeletons. Daniel, this has really big. Holy. Hunters versus the Kafka's energy. [01:28:31] Speaker A: Oh, yeah. That was a good fight. [01:28:34] Speaker B: Sorry, one second. That's okay. Is it? It's 3D6. No. Yes. That is 15. How do you want to do it? So it's really technical how he does it. He's going to whip his thorns at him. Okay. And as the root flashes, it, like, adheres to the spine. Spine. But then a bunch of smaller tendrils of roots. And not only does it stab into it, but the other roots pull at the rib cage and collapse it inward. And the skeleton just collapsed into a pile of bones down the stairs. There's now only two left, and it's Craig's turn. [01:29:21] Speaker A: Oh, crap. [01:29:23] Speaker B: So boss is jingling everywhere he's going. Almost didn't mention. [01:29:27] Speaker A: There's two left, right? Yes, two left. It is hard to grab D3D, two D4s letting you know Craig's gonna go up there. I don't. This is undead. Right. So I get an extra D6 of stuff. So that's a 19 to hit and. [01:29:49] Speaker B: Yep. [01:29:49] Speaker A: Do I. I don't need to delineate damage, so two full. [01:29:52] Speaker B: You really don't. It's Zach. Yes, Zach. Okay, before. About to say this before we went to the tower, I don't think it really affects much, but since I forgot to say, I just wanted to throw it by you. I think he was going. I wanted to. On a tune. Cloak of the Wraith and tune Bre of shielding. Yeah, yeah. I'm cool into this. Yes. Neither have been used so far, but I just wanted to pull it. No, no, I. I appreciate that. And I would say that this is still early enough on that. That, you know, that doesn't feel. Yeah. Yeah. So cloak of the Wraith is unattuned, and the broacher shielding is attuned sick, which you're resistant to force damage, right? Resistant the force damage. Immune to magicness missile. Immune to magic missile. [01:30:50] Speaker A: Nice. On the first hit, I got 20 points of damage. On the second one, which was a. A 30 for her is 28 points of damage. So 20 and 28. [01:31:05] Speaker B: Phenomenal. How do you want to do it? On both, [01:31:09] Speaker A: Craig goes in with his shield and in a. In a similar fashion, just, like, goes in and shops off both of the heads. And just like. As the two shielded guys just keep going up the stairs like little walls. [01:31:22] Speaker B: That's awesome. Marching shoulder to shoulder like. Like Greek phalanx, you all charge up the stairs. Craig cuts one of them in half and doesn't just knock the bones apart. Star splinter is so sharp that he literally slices through the bones, which goes scattering into pieces. And then with the second one, as it runs up to him, he takes his shield and hits it through so hard with the shield, he just knocks it apart. He just. And it flies away to the edge of the tower as the bone fragment. And an important little view you guys get as the bone fragments fly at the edge of the tower. They near the gap where they would just go through the wall. And then as they pass through it, arcs of energy move through them and they incinerate a lot of the bone fragments before they fall away out of the side, you guys. So passing through that space might be kind of dangy. You guys then sprint up the stairs. A second wave of skeletons slain. You all run further and further. You wind up another level. The further you guys are getting up in the tower, the more that hairs are starting to stand up on the back of your neck. The air is beginning to taste ionic, like metallic. And you all are starting to feel power all around you. Like, have you guys ever been next to, like, a really, really powerful machine or battery where it's giving off an electromagnetic field and your body can just barely feel it? Yeah, you can. You can literally feel or like when [01:32:48] Speaker D: you're on the lake and a storm is coming and yes, the lake starts to feel bad, and you're like, we gotta get off this lake right now. [01:32:55] Speaker B: Yes, that kind of a feeling. And so as you all march up further and further up, you reach the fourth floor. Starting to get a little winded, but keeping your composure. And now, as you all run up to the fourth floor, you all hear in the distance both. This whole time, you're hearing dragon roars and fire. And as you all see, you all steal a glance behind you. And the golden dragon wheels through the sky, roaring as it dives back down. You all watch as more skeletons are amassing toward their position. There are explosions of light in the background where golems are still probably fighting along with Alandra. But you do notice some larger skeletal figures moving toward them. Oh, there are skeletal giants in this land that are moving forward as well as look like massive beasts that are a couple stories tall and skeletal moving toward them. But the dragon roars and Peels dak back down and continues to bring fire down on them. You also hear from some distance away, a subtle, like a muffled explosion. And you watch as one of the other Lich Lord Towers flares with light and begins smoking. I'm not quite sure in whom that might be in favor, but you are hearing magical conflict at another tower. [01:34:12] Speaker C: I wish I had fireball. [01:34:17] Speaker B: And as you all move toward this fourth floor, there is a final stairwell. Oh, [01:34:27] Speaker D: he's frozen. [01:34:30] Speaker C: Or he's the worst mean person ever. [01:34:34] Speaker D: Well, the music stopped, too, so I think his Internet probably went caputs for a second there. [01:34:41] Speaker C: Looks like he's gonna, like. He's about to, like, put a basketball in. [01:34:45] Speaker A: It does look like he's throwing a piece of trash away. [01:34:52] Speaker B: Can you hear and see me? [01:34:54] Speaker D: We can now. [01:34:56] Speaker B: Is the music back? [01:34:57] Speaker D: Yes, it is. [01:34:58] Speaker B: Awesome. Where did I leave off? What was the last thing I said? [01:35:02] Speaker A: You're throwing a ball into a game. [01:35:06] Speaker B: Basketball. [01:35:07] Speaker C: What? [01:35:08] Speaker D: It looked like you were dunking a basket. You were like, Landon. [01:35:11] Speaker B: Landon didn't respond. He just did. Look at the wrist. That was it. [01:35:15] Speaker D: I think you were saying, the final staircase is in front of us. And then you. [01:35:20] Speaker B: The final staircase rises up at an angle to the fifth floor. And in front of it, there are two skeletons. Okay. As well as. Now there is a very large skeleton. There's like a hollow head with massive eye sockets, and then these big gaps on the side that look like huge ears. There are tusks coming out of the front of the head, Ivory tusks in the skull. And the skeleton's shoulders stand at about 8ft tall. There's a loxodon skeleton here with a massive mallet in hand. And there's two other skeletons ahead of it. They stand in the way of the stairwell. We go back to our initiative. [01:35:54] Speaker D: They're, like, farting it. [01:35:57] Speaker B: We go back to the top of the initiative. Tello's up. [01:35:59] Speaker C: Okay. Tello is going to shoot with. Gosh, I wish he could hide right now. I know he's going to shoot with his in bandit Boshbow, and he. I think he's gonna use one of his silvered arrows. [01:36:24] Speaker B: Okay. [01:36:25] Speaker C: If I can find my notes for my silvered arrows and let those do. Yes, he's gonna do silvered arrows. He's gonna shoot. He's gonna roll to hit is what [01:36:38] Speaker B: he's gonna do at the big. Lock it on skeleton. Yes, Greta. Greta only has one roll for this session, and it's a one [01:36:49] Speaker C: freaking. [01:36:50] Speaker A: How [01:36:54] Speaker C: does a 14 hit? [01:37:00] Speaker B: A 14 will hit [01:37:04] Speaker C: because it's a big hunk of bones. Let's go. [01:37:06] Speaker B: Big old hunk of bones. Oh. Not all enemies are hard to hit. [01:37:11] Speaker C: Yeah. [01:37:12] Speaker D: Dang it. [01:37:12] Speaker C: I should have. I have. When I. If I want to use my guiding bolt, I have to use it before I have to decide. Okay, but just to check, I have my one D8 plus six. If I choose to use a silvered arrow, do I add the 1D4 radiant? [01:37:31] Speaker B: Yes. [01:37:32] Speaker C: Okay, well, hold on. [01:37:33] Speaker B: Is 1D4 radiant? Is that a part of the item? [01:37:36] Speaker C: I think that's a part of the. The silvered arrows, which I'm using now. [01:37:40] Speaker B: Okay. I bet I said something about that in the past. Understand? Understood. [01:37:44] Speaker C: So he's gonna. [01:37:47] Speaker B: Yeah, go ahead and roll. [01:37:48] Speaker C: He's gonna do 10 damage. [01:37:51] Speaker B: Okay. Damage is damage. [01:37:54] Speaker C: And he has 10 left. [01:37:56] Speaker B: Tello walks up and lines up stride and fires the bolt which sinks into the bones. It. It, like, connects into one of the bones, fracturing them, and, like, slightly moves the creature's shoulder out of joint. There's no response from it. The red energy inside of its skull just flares slightly in it. [01:38:17] Speaker C: Tell us about a step backing. Hold kind of position himself, like, behind the party. [01:38:23] Speaker A: Okay. [01:38:24] Speaker B: He easily moves himself backward. Greta, you're up next in initiative. [01:38:28] Speaker C: Okay. [01:38:29] Speaker B: Oh, oh, also, as a reminder, how many charges does his crossbow have? [01:38:33] Speaker C: It has three charges per long rest, and I've used none. [01:38:37] Speaker B: Okay, so just remember, we haven't gotten to the Lich yet. And remember that Shifta lies beyond this. So for choosing when to use those charges, just remember that. [01:38:47] Speaker C: Thank you. [01:38:48] Speaker A: Thank you. [01:38:48] Speaker C: Thank you. [01:38:49] Speaker B: Absolutely. Greta's up. Greta. [01:38:55] Speaker C: Greeta does. [01:38:58] Speaker A: Greta is a cleric. Right. Do you have a destroy undead? By this point? [01:39:05] Speaker C: I do. It's only CR3 [01:39:10] Speaker B: and less. [01:39:11] Speaker A: Right. [01:39:12] Speaker B: She doesn't know. [01:39:14] Speaker C: What am I. What do I know? That they're low. Cr. [01:39:18] Speaker B: You want to try? [01:39:19] Speaker C: I'll try. Okay, well, then I'm going to use my channel, Divinity to destroy. Wait. Oh, my God. Yeah, I would like to do that now. [01:39:35] Speaker B: Okay, describe that for me as you channel the power of Ioun to destroy. To try and command these undeath to fall back beyond the veil. [01:39:48] Speaker C: She's just gonna open her mouth. So what language do Loxodon speak? Is it whatever, like, patrol language her around? [01:39:57] Speaker B: Yeah. [01:39:58] Speaker C: Yeah. Well, she's going to speak in all of the many tongues that she knows and that she knows magically, and she's just going to like. Oh, wait, I wrote a little thing. She's going to say, Goddess of truth, grant us knowledge in our mind. So our Actions may bring about the light of truth. And she's to going to say that in like a bajillion different languages and kill all of the people. CR3 or lower. [01:40:31] Speaker B: Greta, as you hold up your symbol, as you pull it out of your cloak and you shout, you like, raise up. Raise up your hand, that green emerald tattoo coming down from your mouth and the many different tongues flares. And you. You like, say, goddess of truth grants us understanding. And as you say all that, like, it begins, like, immediately another language, like, laying over you in whispers. And as you do and you hold up your symbol. Your symbol. It has the one eye on the outside, but the inner eyes, the metal, like, turns into light and begins spinning. And then the eye inside of that spinning in the opposite direction and then the one inside of it until it's like a. What's it. What are the things called where they can spin in multiple different directions inside of each other? [01:41:13] Speaker C: Other gyroscope. [01:41:15] Speaker B: You know what I'm talking about. Anyway, to bring that up with. Yes, a gyroscope starts different directions, and as it flares with light, there's this. This peel of green light. And then you all watch as the red light dissipates out of all three of the skeletal figures and they just to ash. As all three are instantly vaporized, Their bones are turned to ash. Their weapons. [01:41:46] Speaker C: I'm gonna. I'm gonna homework. They do have to make a wisdom saving throw. [01:41:51] Speaker B: Not if they're a certain cr. They have to make a wisdom saving throw not to be turned. If they're below a certain level, they just turn to ash. [01:42:01] Speaker D: I love that Abby was like, I'm gonna make a homeless work. We've made it a verb. [01:42:06] Speaker B: Now there's like this stunned moment as the party's just like. And Tello turns to Greta and goes, we'll lead with that. As the group stops and takes a breath, you all look up another stairwell. I want to do a different. I want to do this song. [01:42:27] Speaker A: My bad. [01:42:30] Speaker B: You all. No, no, hold on, hold on, hold on. Let me. Let me find my. Let me find my song here. Okay, this is. We'll do this one. You all stop and look up another stairwell. Yeah, this is the song. Oh, Daniel, not. [01:42:45] Speaker A: No. [01:42:46] Speaker B: I don't know. [01:42:47] Speaker D: Now I'm sad. Now I want to cry. [01:42:49] Speaker B: I don't like the bucky one. Still make. Daniel did a gif of the dusting of the Avengers, but it was the bucky one, and that makes me sad. [01:42:57] Speaker C: Not bucky. [01:42:58] Speaker B: And as you all take a breath, you Steel yourselves. What is your marching order as you go up the stairs? [01:43:08] Speaker C: Dm, I have a question. Are we still on initiative? [01:43:14] Speaker B: We are going to roll a different initiative. [01:43:16] Speaker D: I did not hear you. [01:43:17] Speaker C: We are out of initiative. [01:43:19] Speaker D: We're going to roll a different initiative. He said. [01:43:21] Speaker A: Said. [01:43:22] Speaker D: I know. [01:43:23] Speaker A: I think I would like to have Ron, Grim, and Craig at the front. [01:43:29] Speaker D: That makes sense. [01:43:31] Speaker A: So we can be a little wall for y', all, you know? But if you need to get in there before us, you just let us know. [01:43:40] Speaker C: Well, it all depends on the initiative, so I'm good. [01:43:45] Speaker B: Okay. With Craig and Ron Grimm at the front. And then me, Arbitrail. Oh, he went up and. [01:43:52] Speaker D: Yeah, it did do the flippy thing. [01:43:56] Speaker C: I would like to be behind Ron, Grim, and Craig, if that's okay. [01:44:01] Speaker D: I will be next. Can two people be next to each other? Could, like, me and Greta be next to each other on the stairs? [01:44:06] Speaker A: Yeah, yeah. [01:44:07] Speaker C: Besides, I'd like to put Tello behind Boz, if that's okay. Or next to Boss. [01:44:12] Speaker D: Yeah, that sounds. That sounds like good order. That sounds good. The two. The two little. The two little ladies in the sandwich [01:44:24] Speaker B: is a sick map. [01:44:25] Speaker A: Right? [01:44:25] Speaker B: Right. [01:44:27] Speaker D: I want to know what some of these things are, but it looks really cool. And there's an ancient black dragon on the side of the map too. [01:44:35] Speaker B: Yes. There's two sleeping. Oh, and now she's in the middle. Okay, Noona, if you're gonna do this, I need you to go ahead and do it. [01:44:42] Speaker A: No. [01:44:43] Speaker B: Oh, no. Move over here. Go back to your bed, Luna. There you go. [01:44:47] Speaker D: Tpk. [01:44:52] Speaker B: Okay, so you guys come up the stairs. Craig and Rangrim are up front. And then we said. Greta and Row are behind them. [01:45:04] Speaker A: Yes. [01:45:05] Speaker B: Okay. And then I'll put. Boz. I'm gonna go ahead and put you on the side over here. Just because you're heckin fast so you could get around people. Let me know if you don't like that placement. And then I'm gonna put Tello leading up the back here. Okay. So the party runs up the stairs. Let me do some describing. As you all rise up from the fourth floor, you move up above the hollow floor, floating staircase. Not literally floating, but in its architecture, like it grew up. As you all come up to the fifth floor, this is the most disconcerting of all. The levels of the tower. Beyond the tower, in every direction, you can see the landscape, which is weird. There's no wall and no ceiling to this place. So you see the black churning storm ahead with the flashes of lightning, you see far away the dark mountain range draped in shadow. You can see Black Fang up ahead rising as a hateful spire. You see armies of undead battling a dragon. You watch as one of the giant skeletons heaves some sort of a massive stone and strikes the dragon which roars out in pain with some golden blood falling down. You can hear thrums and flashing of the energy from some of the nearby towers. You can see flashes of light. And as you all look in front of you, the throne room itself is similar to the levels of bone below, rising upward without walls grown between the five rising pillars. On this fifth and final floor there is no ceiling containing the structure. No roof forming less of a final room and more of an open rooftop arena. Honestly it's a lot like Saruman's tower in the Lord of the Rings. Remember at the top of the tower he just has those big spikes, they jut upward. Rapid puts. GANDALF yeah, it's like that. The tips of the five powers around of pillars around you sharpen into heinous points dancing with bands of visible red power which seem to gather and rise into the dark spy sky above toward Black Fang as if they're feeding the storm that's spiraling above it. The uneven floor is copiously etched with hanging paint with glyphic designs which thrum with a sickly light in the center of the hollow building's crown. So all these lines I have on the ground, it's like carved into the stonework here. This whole space is one big magic circle with all this glyph work all over it and it's just pulsing [01:47:31] Speaker A: with [01:47:31] Speaker B: a sickly red energy that appears to be helping to conduct and channel the power of the tower. In the middle of the space or kind of back middle right here floating is a skeletal figure. And then another two right here and another here. So in the middle of this actually let's, let's describe it in this order. Near this pillar and near this pillar are two large skeletal figures like the ones below the stairs. One has broad wide shoulders, heavy, heavy bones. And it has a fully. It looks like a massive, like a 7, 8 foot tall humanoid except there are three. There are four fingers on the hands instead of five and the legs turn backward and then come down to cloven hooves. There's no humanoid skull but instead a bovine skull that rhymes up with horns. It's the skeleton of a minotaur with a huge one sided cleaving axe in hand. Opposite the other side is a massive dragonborn skeleton with one large horn like it was a blue Dragonborn in life. It's holding a very large halberd like pike weapon. In the middle of the room, coiled up are thousands of smaller bones like. Like the bones of a 20 or 30 foot long snake with a 2 foot broad head. Coiled up in the middle of the room in a pile. And floating behind them all is a skeletal figure draped in deep purple robes with gold trims. There is the decrepit decaying form of a humanoid. Humanoid body. No eyes hang on the skull. No lips cling to the mouth. There is only a paper like remnant of skin draping the bones. A clothing of their own. The fingers are upturned and held in offset positions as if halfway through casting a spell. The jaw raised, slacked open with little threads of red light moving between the teeth. You all can recognize with your arcane understanding that the clothes are not fine dressings meant to evoke power. No, they're stitched with little glyphic patterns as if even these clothes are just drapes for a crypt which is channeling power as it floats in the middle of the room. I would like, as you all run in, a perception check from anyone proficient in arcana. And I would like a strategy check from Rondgrim. [01:50:01] Speaker A: Oh crap. Why am I doing that? One [01:50:06] Speaker B: boss got a NAT one, buddy. That's rough. I am sorry. It's an overwhelming sight. [01:50:15] Speaker C: I got a 23. [01:50:18] Speaker D: Okay, I rolled a nat 20, so I got a 32. [01:50:27] Speaker B: Holy crap. [01:50:28] Speaker A: I'm adding my per diem just to make sure I get a really good roll. And that makes my strategy check a 21. [01:50:37] Speaker C: Nice. [01:50:37] Speaker B: Excellent rungrim. Right off the bat, you notice some key things. All three other skeletal figures, the Minotaur skeleton over here, the Dragonborn, they're standing still, but you can see both weapons are in hand. Both feet are leaned forward. They look still, but they are set for action. This is your prepared trap. In game turn. They both have readied actions that are going to be triggered. This big pile in the middle of the rooms of bones looks unsummoned, but it's actually in a coiled position. It is also readied with an action, so you get the feeling that they have the jump on you, so to speak. Greta and Ro, you both notice from where the skeletal figure is floating in the middle of the room with its hands frozen in the in these evocative positions. And its mouth halfway through speaking, oh, it's about to finish a spell. And as you all stop in, it just encloses its hands and all these glyphs flare like energy down its arms. And there's a flash of red from the eyes. And a spell is going to go off as. I need everyone to roll me initiative again. [01:51:50] Speaker D: But what if I don't want to? [01:51:54] Speaker B: Damn. [01:51:55] Speaker A: Oh, that's a better number than I saw. Hell yeah. Oh, yeah. We're doing much better with our initiative this time. [01:52:02] Speaker B: I was. Got a 16. Okay. Heck yeah. [01:52:05] Speaker A: Hell yeah. [01:52:07] Speaker B: Actually, this isn't the music. Hold on. Let me pick some different music. Okay. We're gonna. [01:52:17] Speaker D: Way worse. [01:52:18] Speaker C: Greta got a 16. Tello has a. Seven. [01:52:31] Speaker B: Oh, buddy. Have I gotten. Have I gotten Craigs and wrong vims? [01:52:37] Speaker A: Not yet. Can I use Craig's? Can I use Micah's Perdium? [01:52:45] Speaker B: You can. [01:52:46] Speaker A: Okay. I'm going to use it right now. Okay, cool, cool. I just want to get the two big boys up in front so I can do my turns quickly. Craig got a 17. Ron Grim got a 21. [01:52:59] Speaker B: That is a good way to roll that initiative. Okay, let me roll some initiatives as a note. Ro, don't forget that you have the blessing from. [01:53:14] Speaker D: The D4 on saving throws. [01:53:17] Speaker B: Correct. You are dedicated. [01:53:18] Speaker D: But that didn't work on. That didn't work on my initiative, did it? [01:53:23] Speaker B: No, it's on the saving throw. [01:53:24] Speaker D: Okay, that's what I thought. I. I was like, wait a minute. [01:53:28] Speaker B: Okay, I have one more initiative to roll. Give me a second here. [01:53:34] Speaker A: Is there somewhere that tells us the cool effects we get from Heroes Feast? [01:53:39] Speaker D: Is that in general, I can tell it to you right now for 24 hours. You're cured of diseases and poisons. You're immune to poison. And being frightened, you can do wisdom saving throws at advantage. And you have plus 13 temporary hit points. [01:54:00] Speaker A: Thank you. You. [01:54:01] Speaker D: You're welcome. [01:54:03] Speaker B: Okay, somebody talk out some other role player strategy real quick as I. As I write down some initiative and then I'll. I'll get us rolling. So somebody say something real quick. [01:54:12] Speaker A: I think Ron Grimm's going to also yell out to everyone and say the the three skeletons are ready to attack. Okay. [01:54:25] Speaker B: Okay. And as Rongrim shouts that the hands close on the lich like figure. And you all watch as from where you all standing on the stairs, this plume of black smoke lands down beneath you all and then begins to rise up around you all. And Cloudkill is cast on the position where you stand. This black heinous smoke lifting upward. And as the smoke lifts up around you all and everyone draws their blades, that is where we are going to end. Part one of episode 170. Having burst into the room of Lichlord Ynt. I'll leave it on the cliffhanger there, and I'm not going to give a whole lot of other message. The Patreon's cool. I haven't said that in a long time. If you're one of the dedicated listeners still listening to us and you haven't rated us on Spotify, please feel free to do so. But if you don't, that's fine, too. We're not going to keep this going a whole lot longer. We're going to come back next week with a crazy episode. Life's an incredible adventure, and you're an important part of it. Listeners Skibidi, wap and Data.