Last time on Crown of the Kobold King, our heroes ran into a group of Kobold defectors
rallying against the Kobold King and wanted to join Lorcan, a vampire god.
Scarab was able to get the location of the Kobold King from the cult leader and avoided
bloodshed with a natural 20 diplomacy.
The group kept moving and they found a room with sounds of someone weeping inside.
They walked in to find no one initially, but Monet looked under a bed to find a sobbing
homunculus that immediately attacked.
After disposing of the pathetic creature, its spirit seemed to possess a mechanical
anvil which then attacked and almost killed poor Edward Songfoot.
Our story continues now.
Take it away, Cody!
How is it, Edward?
You wanted a few seconds of silence for the break, right?
Perfect, I like that.
I think pathetic came off a little strong, you know?
I think calling it pathetic was a little strong, I think you should just do it again.
No.
I think you should do it again.
Just next time, can you call it a shitty loser instead?
Can you call it a shitty dumb loser, stupid for having sad feelings, stupid dumb sad dumb?
That's what I tell myself every morning.
Just look in the mirror and say that.
Sad dumb loser.
As the wailing of this spirit dissipates, the last remnants of it reverberate off of
the stone walls in this abbot's chamber, and you find yourself standing now in an awkward
silence trying to take in the chaos that just unfolded before you.
What the hell was that?
Is everyone okay?
We good?
I'm gonna go look at this thing.
How are you?
I'm alright, Mr. Rootmoore.
No, don't lie to me, son.
You can tell me the truth.
I'm not real bad, Mr. Rootmoore.
Okay, let me take a look at you.
Rootmoore, no, I'm more hurt, I swear.
I swear.
He's at 1 HP.
Oh, I promise, oh, I promise.
Niled.
Okay, that's better.
I was on another character that's like, why do I have only plus four to medicine?
That was a different character.
Yeah, but it didn't actually even take any HP.
Professionals.
Shit, what, who?
Exactly.
Monet drinks a potion.
Oh no, no.
Felicia drinks her drink.
Rootmoore's gonna treat wounds on Ed with a 19, so he got it.
Two D8 hit points.
12 HP back to Ed.
Oh.
Edgrin.
It's on roll 20 now.
I know, I need to look at roll 20.
You can just read.
It was already on roll 20.
Oh, you got the nameplate.
Awesome.
Edgrin.
It's been on there the entire time, actually.
No, it hasn't.
The quality is bad.
Not the nameplate, but his damn name.
We already discussed this in the previous episode where the name on this actual picture
is very tiny.
For me.
I can read it.
For me too.
You're not alone.
Maybe y'all should get glasses.
Are you 40, Felicia?
We're both wearing glasses, Felicia.
Maybe you should have worse eyes.
It's kind of rude to assume you know how it is to not be able to see well.
I didn't assume that.
Controversy.
How's Edgrin looking right now after that?
He is now at 13 out of 14 HP and he has zero stamina out of 10.
He got any resolve?
Yes, he do.
And he will use one of them to get his stamina back.
And so while he's doing that, you guys have 10 minutes to do other stuff.
Well, I would like to search this room starting with the anvil.
Rubemore is going to use a resolve as well.
Any kind of special roll to check this guy out?
No, you can just give me perception.
Oh, we're starting good, fellas!
With a 28.
Nice.
28.
You see an anvil?
Yeah, nothing about the anvil.
At this point, the anvil has been heavily damaged, cracked in half, and is now split
on the floor.
The mechanical arm holding the hammer is now in shambles and the hammer itself is not a
usable mallet.
It seems like it was once maybe a great maul of sorts that had been cut down and repurposed.
But nothing really useful left of it.
Looking that over to look over the rest of the room, you do see a couple things of note.
There are the remains of the skeleton that was on the anvil, now slumped on the floor
in its original position, and something you missed on the desk earlier are two obsidian
reliefs.
One is a half-finished owlbear statue that you imagine would, even in its unfinished
state, at least fetch a small amount of money for some sort of collector of dwarven curios.
Unless I can finish it.
Unless you can finish it.
And then the second is a carved face on an obsidian slab that has some dwarven text underneath
it.
Rude Mower, I need your eyes over here.
I'm in the middle of resting to get my stamina back.
Wake up!
I'm fine.
I'll give you eight more minutes!
Ten minutes later he walks over.
Just staring at you with my hands on my hips all the time.
Go ahead and give me a religion check.
Let's go with this religion check.
Twenty-two.
That's enough to know that this dwarven face is meant to be a reflection of Droskar.
And underneath it, in dwarven text, is written, our people have lost their way.
They flee the shelter of your great forges.
Our fires dim, my master.
We have failed you.
No use to you here.
I now come to you.
I shall join you in the Grim Forge, whether to serve at your anvil or stoke its flames
with my soul.
Lost their way.
They woke up.
That's what happened.
Hmm, Mr. Mordroskar.
I don't know what an owlbear is either.
Oh, I do.
No you don't.
It doesn't exist in this universe.
I did in first edition.
I mean, there's probably, because this is...
I know, I know.
Oh, look at this.
Archives of Nethi's second edition entry, Owlbear.
Alright it still needs to update.
The body of a powerful brown bear and the keen senses of an owl, the owlbear is a dangerous
territorial predator, fearlessly attacking any creature that strays into its domain.
Oh, what is this?
A statue of an eagle boar?
Crazy, I should finish it.
Now can I do a roll on this to see?
If I surmise that it's something that was a work in progress, can I perhaps?
Give me a crafting check.
Finger out and fix it.
Not a big one.
That was a weird sound.
12.
Enough to see that it is definitely a work in progress.
The obsidian seems to have been a large rectangular prism that has been slowly chipped away in
order to form this like rough shape of the front of the owlbear.
So you can see the four legs bent at the elbows in like a territorial stance as well as its
owl shaped head with large plumage, but the rear of the creature is still the unshaped
obsidian stone.
I would love to pocket this for later.
12 is also enough to estimate that if you were to find the right buyer, even in its
unfinished state, it's probably worth about five gold.
Okay, yeah, this looks like a fun little trinket.
How long would it take to finish it?
Depending on the skill of the craftsman could be days, weeks or months.
So not right now.
Yes.
Yeah.
Go ahead and pocket that.
Work on it later.
Is there an item name for it or can I just put it in my gear?
Just put it in your gear.
Or my wherever that is.
There's also the, if you want to do another crafting check on the relief or if you want
to do any kind of mercantile roll that you might have, I can give you an idea of the.
It'll be the same for both.
Let's go with a 20, 21.
This piece in its completed state, as well as its intricate carvings you imagine could
go for a much higher price.
30 gold pieces by your esteemed estimation.
Dang.
Does it serve any purpose outside of the art?
No, it seems almost to be a, a toil dedicated to and a letter written to Droskar combined
into one.
Perhaps the one who made it felt that his efforts could be conveyed to his God of the
craft.
Yes, a root board.
This doesn't serve you any purpose.
Does it?
No, I refuse to work on that.
It's Droskar.
Of course.
But so yeah, we could toss that.
Do what you will with it.
We could toss that in the money bag.
Oh, you know, eventually.
Yeah.
This one though, this figurine, I would like to take it for myself.
I'll make more money of this.
I'm sure.
I feel like I should offer this option again.
Edgren here almost died.
We could take him back to town.
I would leave that up to him.
This is true, but also he did make a good point.
The butcher and the hunter.
We don't know how much time they have.
We don't know how much time he has.
Now I'm not, I'm not, I'm not just trying to get back, not just trying to get back to
town.
I'm fine.
But, and I'm sorry, Edgren, I hope you take no offense to this, but he is a bit of a burden.
Yes, Edgren, I've been meaning to talk to you after that fight.
Remember run away if you need to.
No need to be a hero.
Right you are, Mr. Rootmoore.
If ever I find myself in a scenario in which an anvil comes to life, I will surely run
away.
Good, good, good.
That's not the only scenario, Edgren.
That would be sarcasm, Mr. Mone.
I was not expecting the anvil to jump to life and clobber me bits.
I'll be more careful.
Yes, that was unexpected from all of us.
I'm not saying that you're not capable.
It's just that you don't have any armor.
You're with an unfamiliar weapon.
I don't feel that you're safe here.
Do you understand?
I'm not trying to make you feel bad.
It's just I don't want you to die needlessly when we could be helping you.
I understand.
Thank you, Mr. Mone.
And I am a woman.
Aye, Mr. Mone.
Okay, sure.
So we checked the desk, we checked the anvil.
No, we didn't check the anvil itself.
You checked the anvil itself.
You did not check where the anvil was where now there is a slumped dwarven skeleton.
Yeah, let's check that skeleton.
Okay.
Did anyone take down the mask relief or the face, the dwarf face?
No.
I can put it in my thing.
And please mark down that it is worth 30 gold.
And I imagine you're all going to look over this skeleton together again.
Yes.
Grab it by the ankles, shake it.
As you hover over this long rotted remains of a dwarf, you can see that the purple and
black robes that it were wearing have now tattered to unuse.
But something that stands out for you is around his wrists are two shining bracers.
You also note that his right hand holds a gauntlet and the gauntlet itself is soot stained
black and it hangs limply at his wrist.
Interesting.
Touch it.
Identify it.
Witch, the bracers of the gauntlet.
Let's do the gauntlet first.
Sure.
22.
What'd you roll, crafting?
Yeah.
20.
Looking it over, you can't gain much.
It seems to be some sort of just old, dull soot stained metal plated glove.
There's an air of something about it, but you're not quite sure.
Detecting magic?
Anything within 30 feet?
You do detect an aura of magic.
And if you were to concentrate still, you would see the aura around the bracers and around
the glove.
Oh, I want to know what that glove is.
Yeah, we'll do the bracers now.
Okay.
What are we rolling?
Crafting again?
Or arcana.
Crafting it is.
Damn.
Fuck.
Eight.
Damn.
Got you beat.
13.
21.
Monet, you recognize these as bracers of missile deflection.
Hell yeah.
What are those called now, Emad?
They might still be in here.
Arm bands of arrow go away.
Slingy long sharp thingy gloves.
Yeah, they're still called bracers of missile deflection.
These bracers are made from plates of durable dawn silver and gleam like the summer sun.
Activate reaction, manipulate frequency once per day, trigger a ranged weapon attack, hits
you but doesn't critically hit requirements.
You're aware of the attack and not off guard.
The bracers send them missile off course.
You gain a plus two circumstance bonus to AC against the triggering attack.
If this would cause the attack to be a failure, the attack misses you.
Yeah, one of you two should take it because Rupemore has his shield.
He can do that with a shield.
It should probably be for you.
You sure?
I mean, with her earth armor on, her AC is 23.
Okay.
Yeah.
My my set AC is 21.
That's up to you though.
I feel like I'm getting all the cool stuff right now.
Sometimes that's just how it do.
Sometimes that's just how it feed.
Sometimes it just are.
Sometimes it do be that way.
Did you roll in the gauntlets feed?
No.
You should because we felt that.
Oh.
Or the gauntlet or the glove.
It's like a single thing.
Is it?
Also Arcana?
Yep.
Natural 20.
Yeah.
Oh.
That 20.
So that for 26.
Yes, finally.
Good 20.
Honestly, so true that drop though, because these dice have been.
Being so rude to me.
Really?
These particular ones.
Finally.
And so far I've gotten a 15 and a 20.
Monet, the first thing you notice is that this dwarven gauntlet, a left handed gauntlet,
is a plus one striking gauntlet.
Whoa.
But although you cannot determine the true nature of it, there seems to be some form
of insidious dark magic emanating off of it.
You wonder if this might be in some way cursed.
Yeah.
But to what end you're not sure.
That sounds so fun.
Don't we have a scroll of removed curse?
That I don't think it works on items.
I'm pretty sure it only works on like if you have a condition where you're cursed.
It could be very wrong, but I think that's how it is.
I think you need something very special, someone who can craft to remove the curse if it's
on an item.
Yeah, remove curse spell cannot do that.
Yeah, as I understand it, typically when you have cursed items like that, traditionally
remove curse does not remove the curse from the item, but it does allow you to, at least
in like old D&D, if you had like a cursed sword and it's like, you can't let go of the
sword, then remove curse would allow you to let go of the cursed object, but it would
still be a cursed object.
So if you pick it up again, square one.
Oh, it's so tempting just to put it on.
Oh my God.
Well, why don't you put it on?
I know.
Plus one striking, like just an unarmed attack.
Edgred!
Does anybody know where I would find the bracers of missile deflection these days?
I just went to gear and typed in bracer and it was like the third option.
Yeah, control F, you know, make sure you have the all tab selected.
Okay.
What do you guys want to do with the gauntlet?
Pick it up, put it on.
I want to put it on so bad, but...
Do it.
Are there any more checks we can make on it now that we know what it is?
You feel like you know all you could know.
The nature, while it is easier to identify that a curse exists due to the particular
nature of curses, they could be anything.
So it's hard to know without seeing firsthand.
No pun intended.
Now is this a Droskar?
I'm sorry if I missed any details, does this seem like an item of Droskar?
That is what Rootmore is thinking.
I was going to say, character wise, like entertainment wise, I want to just put it on and see what
happens, but that's not playing my character.
Rootmore is not interested in putting this on unless he knows exactly what that curse
is.
You could roll me a religion check.
Okay.
I'm curious if the item is cursed because it's Droskar in Torag's... on his block.
So you putting it on, like, I don't know, as a warrior of Torag, would it do the same
for you?
Be like a reclamation type thing?
Yeah.
If this is Droskar related, I don't want to offend who I follow.
Perhaps it's cursed because Droskar people here.
It's possible, but let's find out with the 21 religion.
Too big for my head, I can't put it on.
21, you have heard of gauntlets like these in the employ of the servants of Droskar.
In fact, they are known as the Grasp of Droskar.
Only given out to Droskar's most devout and faithful followers.
Everyone turns and looks at Monet.
Yeah, I mean, honestly, I was going to say, like, before you decided to roll religion
on it, I imagine her, like, picking it up, looking at it and being like, it's kind of
weird, you know, looking at it and then just...
I do.
I just...
She has no intelligence.
Okay.
She is really not smart.
As you're doing it, no!
As you place your left hand into the glove, you begin to experience excruciating pain.
We'll say four points of excruciating pain.
Does that have, like, spikes going into your hand or something?
You feel the muscles and bones in your hand begin to twist and contort as you feel your
hand forming into a fist.
As it does so, you see that the glove itself begins to transform into a supernaturally
hard ball of black stone.
Wow.
Your hand can no longer be used for anything and is no longer considered an open hand.
But the hand can be used for gauntlet strikes or for Grasp of Droskar's activated abilities.
So now your left hand is a plus one striking stone ball.
That could be pretty cool.
That honestly works pretty well for her.
I was gonna say, that's sick.
She doesn't even use weapons.
Yeah, she doesn't use weapons and she only needs one free hand for her elemental blast.
Bro, that would have fucked us.
Yeah.
Your abilities now are as follows.
Wait for one action, once per hour, you gain a plus one item bonus on all athletics checks
for one minute.
For two actions, once per day, you can cast Ray of Enfeeblement with a spell attack modifier
of plus 10 and a DC of 20.
Feel free to add Grasp of Droskar to your character sheet.
It's a fifth level item worth 155 gold.
That's sick.
Oh my god.
I'm so glad you're the one that put it on.
It would have ruined my character.
Yeah, same.
Do you fire one handgun?
How do I reload it, Cody?
How do I reload it?
You could tell, I was gonna say, you could tell Droskar, no.
You could tell Rootmore is a little bothered by this.
She's not mad at you or anything because you had no idea.
I mean, here's what I don't think that she notices that.
I think she's probably like, she was, I think she was just probably doing it like she found
something and like put it on just to like see how the gauntlet feels.
And then she was probably gonna be like, does somebody want this?
And so she just put it on her hand turned to stone.
So she's probably just like, what the fuck?
I doubt that she's seeing like his disappointment on her face.
I think, or on his face.
I think she's probably like, my hand, I can't open my hand.
Yeah, not a hand of Vecna situation.
Oh, the hand is mine now.
Monet, no!
So unless you like say something to her, then I feel like she'd probably just be like waving
her hand around like, like you see her arm like flexing, like trying to open her hand.
Monet, settle down, settle down.
It's, it's cursed.
I'm not doing this.
This isn't my stone.
This is not my stone.
I know.
Monet, it's cursed.
It's, I mean, I know.
It's on you.
It's going to stay on you.
Your value just went up.
I mean, I can tell that it's on me.
I can tell.
Monet!
Thanks, Rootmore.
Oh, you're very welcome.
Glad to be of help.
But you won't be able to take it off.
I can tell.
As you can see, I have a lot of strength.
It's a, it's a Droskar thing.
So why didn't you tell me?
I was in the middle of looking it up and then you just put it on.
Go ahead and add an unarmed strike to your weapon category.
Plus one.
And then give it the plus one and striking features.
Okay.
Dope.
Is that 2d6 or 2d4 depending?
Yeah, 2d4.
It's pretty good.
Yeah.
Anytime you roll striking, it's amazing.
So that's why he was making an automated anvil because he lost a hand.
What a fool.
Could he not have used that hand?
I know, right?
Loser!
That's Droskar for you.
Just a loser.
Big stupid.
Anything else in this room?
No, nothing else.
And then this is a door, right?
This S. Correct.
What's your hit with that?
Plus 10.
That's real good.
Plus 10, 2d4 plus three damage.
That's pretty good for a fist.
That's really good actually.
Pretty good.
How's that, five to 11 damage?
You're never unarmed.
And then remember, once per hour you can spend an action to get plus one to all athletics
checks or once per day you can spend two actions for that raven feebleman.
Okay.
So if we're done in here, there's a door over here to the west.
Or we'll check it for traps.
Scarab is going to mount Pig and make sure that his gun is loaded.
And also check for traps.
26.
He's good.
The door is not trapped, though you do notice it is locked.
Ah.
May I try this ring of keys?
Oh, Scarab says.
Yeah.
Go ahead and roll me a d20.
19.
It is not one of the keys.
Monet!
Yeah.
Come crush the door.
You know what to do.
I don't know.
Use that fancy hand.
Actually, can I do a check to see if I hear anything weird?
Hear, smell?
Sure.
Give me a general perception.
25.
Nothing at all.
And I guess I just try shoulder bashing it.
Force open the door.
Go for it.
Athletics.
Kick at it with your big ball hand just hanging to the side.
So with that once per day plus one.
I'm not going to do that right now.
Once per hour.
Once per hour?
Plus one to athletics?
One minute per hour.
That makes her athletics plus 12.
13?
Plus 12?
I didn't do the...
I'm not doing that right now.
Her athletics is plus 11.
Still pretty good.
No, I already said I wasn't going to do it right now.
Natural two.
What about the hinges?
Ruttmore starts removing the hinges from the door.
What about these?
Clunk, clunk, clunk.
As you shoulder into the sturdy wooden door, it does not give.
Maybe try punching it with your fancy hand.
Doesn't do a whole lot of damage.
Let me try.
It's 2d4 plus three.
I mean, she could...
Yeah, if you attacked it, it would be way better.
We'll do an athletics.
Try to force it open.
Oh, 20.
And you smash open the door.
Oh, look at that.
That's made me useless.
It's the one thing I had.
Oh, Bode, you're fine.
Don't worry.
I mean, it is Droskar, but you're fine.
Okay.
Can you get over the whole it's Droskar thing?
I simply cannot.
It's not like I'm worshipping the man or anything.
I know.
It's just I found a glove.
It was cool.
It's shiny and stuff.
I agree.
I don't blame you, Monet.
None of witses.
I already feel useless bad enough as it is, Rube Morin.
You know how much I care about your opinion of me.
As you kick open the door...
You're still my droll crush.
I can't fucking talk.
Sorry, Cody, continue.
Drill-scrusher.
Kicking open the door reveals a short hallway, 10 feet wide, 20 feet long.
It's a rather plain stone hallway, aside from on the walls on either side.
You see depictions of dwarves raising their heads up to the sky with their hands cupped behind their ears, as if listening in.
Oh, maybe it's a clue to listen.
Let's walk up this hallway to the next door and listen.
Scarab wants to check the hallway for traps.
I didn't do that.
From the outside of the hallway.
Monet would like to do her Earth Armor and cover herself instead.
Eighteen listening at the door.
Sixteen checking for traps.
Scarab, no traps.
And Rube Morin, you hear what sounds like the barest traces of whispering.
Someone's on the other side of this door.
It's just this room, the things on the walls, it's just very blatant.
Yes, yes.
We should probably keep this in mind.
Could I rule another perception to hone in on it and see if I understand the language?
Sure.
I guess a big important from a head movie, are they listening in the direction of the door that we have yet to open?
No, each of them seems to be standing almost shoulder to shoulder with their arms up, head looking to the sky.
Their eyes are closed and their hands are cupped behind their ears.
It's the door we are facing. Does it look more interesting than the one we just came through?
No, this one also appears to be the same kind of sturdy wooden door.
Okay.
All sixteen to decipher the language.
Strain your ears as you might, you still only hear the barest traces of whispering, almost like grass moving on a breezy day.
This isn't...
I don't know what they're saying.
This isn't the Grim Forge, is it?
Grim Forge? I feel like I should know about that, but I don't.
I've been hearing word of Grim Forge, Grim Forge, we've seen forges.
But I feel like there's something more. Just be careful.
Yes, I'll check this door for traps and if there are no traps, I'm just going to slowly open it.
Aid.
Uh, oh shit. Seventeen plus twelve.
Twenty-nine.
I'm sorry, god damn it. Twelve. Twelve.
I went to look at it, but the cat hit the die.
It's not seventeen plus twelve, I didn't roll that high.
It might have been a seven plus twelve.
Okay, a nineteen then.
Yeah, plus one.
Plus one. So twenty is enough to know that, like before, the door is not trapped, but it is locked.
Oh, it's locked.
And what about these keys?
Give me another shot.
Give me another d20 on that.
Sixteen.
As you cycle through and try each of the keys, one, when you go to turn it, does in fact turn and you hear a soft click as the door unlocks.
Scarabite, pretend like it's locked.
Oh, you'll speak too soon.
Monet, we need you.
Okay, okay, I got it this time, I swear.
Hey, let me get these shitty keys out of here first. These shitty keys that totally don't work.
We need a strong woman to bash the door open.
There's only one person here who can save us all.
Monet just stands there like, like, like rotating her new stone wrist.
We need power.
And then she runs and shoulders the door.
Come on.
You don't forget your pee pee.
On the unlocked door.
That is a twenty five.
Oh yeah.
You slam into the door and it may as well have been paper, because as you do, it clatters clear off of its hinges, falling into the room before you.
Door crusher.
She turns around and lifts her hands up. Yeah, still got it.
Oh yeah. No, I don't want another room like this.
Looks like someone's spreading wide.
As you slam your way into this room, you find yourself in a rather strangely shaped stone room.
It's got a little hole in the middle.
It is octagonal in its construction and along three of the walls, the southwestern, the northwestern and the northeastern are simple wooden benches on the wall above the benches are holes.
One large depressed hole above each bench.
And as you enter the room and the explosive noise of the door clattering to the floor subsides, you can now clearly hear what sounds like scattered whispers.
Oh, this room sucks.
I hate it.
I hate it. This is bad.
In the center of the room, there is a unusual looking device that resembles a stone trumpet.
It is facing the northeastern wall at the moment, but it appears to be on a swiveling pedestal.
I was gonna say coming into this room, it looks like a locker room shower.
Wait, how far does this swivel?
Why does it? Why does it swivel?
Why indeed? Tell me. Tell me your secrets.
Need to roll for a Cody explanation check.
Something I would like to do. Scareb is going to get off of Tricky.
Tricky won't stand in the hallway.
Adgren, do you recognize this room?
I'm proud of you, Mo-
Monet. Monet.
I'm proud of you, Monet.
Monet says to herself-
He's now wearing a sticker on his chest that says, hello, my name is Adgren.
I'm proud of you, Monet.
No, Monet, great job. Fantastic work. Real good stuff.
Real good stuff.
Okay, so I'm sorry, what do you want to do in here?
I'm just saying, Scareb is getting off of Tricky. They are separated.
Scareb is in the room, Tricky is not in the room.
Rootmore asked Adgren if he recognized this room.
No, Mr. Rootmore, I've never been here.
Come make yourself familiar!
No, no, no, no, no, you stay out. Last time we were in a weird circle room, I almost died. Monet saved my life.
Monet is going to walk up to the trumpet.
As you pass the northeastern wall, where there's that bench and hole, you can't help but notice that the whispering seems a bit louder on your right.
Almost as if the whispering seems to come from the holes above the bench.
See, I'm really curious, if we sit on these benches, close our eyes, put our hands through our ears, are we going to get slimed like a Nickelodeon award show?
I don't want to!
No, it doesn't sound appetizing.
Can I take a closer look at the trumpet and the mechanism that sits atop?
Sure.
What do you want me to roll?
Do you have crafting?
Nope.
Okay, just give me a general perception.
Oh no, your perception sucks, I remember.
What's good in there, in hope?
That's an eight.
You rolled a one!
Well, it has a mouthpiece, and you can rotate it.
Monet is just going to spin it.
So you're trying to examine it with a closed fist?
Yeah.
Seeing as how it's pointed at the northeastern wall, you note that it is lined up with that hole in the wall, and it won't rotate anymore to the right, but fiddling around with it, it will rotate to the left.
It seems like its full range of motion extends from the southwest corner of the room to the northeast corner of the room.
It can turn, see where the benches are, it can reach each of them.
So it's pointing here?
It's pointing to the northeast, a la right here, and it will rotate to the left all the way there.
Exactly, thank you.
But it will not go beyond, go that way.
To the southeast in either direction.
So it'll only go northeast, northwest, or southwest.
Scarab as a spelunker, an Indiana Jones type, would like to take some time in this room to listen from each hole and perhaps figure out what this mechanism does.
Sure.
In the grand scheme.
Which, where do you want to start?
Let's start where it's facing first.
Start at the northeast?
If you guys are cool to take some time and figure this puzzle out.
Yeah, Rootmore wants to do the same thing, I mean this is all dwarven shit.
Yeah, I want to see if the sounds are any louder in any spot, because I'm curious if blowing this horn is just going to summon something from whichever hole.
I think that while y'all two are sussing that out, Monet would just come and sit on this bench and look up at the hole.
Which one? On the northeast one?
Yeah.
So you're kidding church.
Monet, as you sit down and Scarab, as you inspect, the hole does seem to be bringing in some form of noise from where you're not really sure, but you're not picking up the same whispering sound you can hear in the rest of the chamber.
Instead, it's almost like a vacuous quiet, and then you can hear faint skittering and the squeaking of rats.
But again, very faint, few and far between, largely nothing coming from this hole.
How tall are these ceilings?
The room has fifteen foot high ceilings.
The holes are about five feet up off the ground.
So at standing level, they're like just barely above your head, Rootmore.
Wow.
I imagine this is an alarm center, but it seems weird for it to be like in the heart of this place.
Yeah.
And it seems like what you would do is just blow into this thing, I would assume alerting.
Is there a what the fuck role Rootmore can-
Well, we can check further on the other holes, right?
Because we just found that this one is quiet while there's whispering elsewhere.
Yeah, we haven't tried turning it at all, right?
Well, Monet went to turn it.
Yeah, she swiveled it left and right.
Yeah, that's right.
She slapped it around the range.
I wonder, I figure the issue is you point it at a hole below, something happens based on which direction you're pointing.
Yeah, it's for communicating.
So.
It's for communicating to what and where, I don't know, but-
I feel like this might be some sort of like trial thing.
Because there's that too, why- oh.
The picture's on the walls outside!
It's for announcing.
Like, because it's next to that guy's room, so.
Are you here to listen or to speak?
Yeah, because this room that the guy was in, this is like the leader room, pretty much.
It's for announcing.
It's for speaking.
But why are the benches, then?
The benches and the pictures.
This is some religious thing, doesn't it?
Of course, everything's religious.
Whether you like it or not, everything is religious.
That's a very silly thing to say.
Oh, trust me, I know.
You want to check another hole?
Yes. Who said that?
The hole.
I heard something.
Let me look in that hole.
The hole.
The Northwestern?
Yes.
Okay.
You know what? No, no, no, fuck that.
Southwestern.
I'll check the Northwestern.
Should all sit.
I mean, we could.
Uh-huh.
Scarab, what you hear, you can hear something that sounds like the breathy whispers of a
distant, yelling voice.
It's yelling something in draconic, and you recognize it as a cobalt voice.
This is a medieval security room, like, camera room.
That's pretty much what this is.
That's what I'm thinking, but...
What you can make out is the very muffled cries of...
When I get out of here and I get untied, I'm going to kill you.
You almost recognize the voice as that of the white cobalt that you left in the kitchen
of the cafeteria.
This is a cool room.
Huh.
Root more for you.
You can hear where the majority of the whispering that fills the room is coming from, for as
you put your ear near the hole on the Northwestern part of the room, you hear first the whisperings
before they begin to form into mumblings.
Erastal, protect me as one of your hunters, as a gatherer of the land.
Protect me from the foul undead who defy your nature, who defy the nature of this world.
Protect me, your faithful hunting servant.
Rootmore stands up.
He's going to go to the little horn thing and turn it towards where he was and speak
into it.
What would you like to say?
My name is Rootmore Redmayne.
We are here to help you.
Please, tell us where you are.
And then you run back to the circle, I assume.
Okay.
So as you listen in again, you hear...
Prayers be answered.
I'm in the Arthuari.
The Arthuari.
Northwest.
Ding ding ding.
Figured it out.
I know exactly where he is.
Erastal, guide them to me.
We must go.
Look here.
This one over here.
It led to the kitchen area.
He's clearly...
I heard him.
The white kobold.
He was speaking and clearly still held captive.
That one over there, silence, probably leads to the well hall or the room where we met
the vampire lovers.
This third one.
There's that big ornate door that we passed.
Oh, yes, yes, yes.
Must be, must be.
I've been writing the map down this whole time.
We have to move.
And I've been looking at it.
There's a room we have not been to.
Come with haste.
We must move.
That's a terrible hop on tricky.
And personally, yeah, that Northwest spot, probably it.
Probably it.
Well, as you turn to leave this chamber...
Uh oh.
I'm gonna move you back there, Monet.
Yup.
As you turn to leave, Ruubor, you feel your foot.
Something gives a tug.
Uh oh.
And you can hear in this chamber a louder growing of...
Swallow, swallow, shh.
And behind you where your shadow casts on the floor, a strange, misshapen, shadowy head
begins to rise from your shadow, clinging onto yours.
Roll for initiative.
No!
Here we go.
Oh, shadow creature!
Come on, man.
Oh, heck.
Garbage!
Oh dear.
I'm so excited.
Ruubor's about to fart a heal spell.
Better do a knowledge check first.
I don't know if it's undead.
Get off my shadow.
Ew.
What'd you get, Ruubor?
Seventeen.
What'd you get, Monet?
Twenty-six.
Sorry, twenty-seven.
Holy shit.
Wow.
And scarab.
Sorry, Monet.
Thirty-two.
Geez.
Wow.
What did Edgrin get?
Bounce check.
I'm just making sure he's in initiative, that's all.
I understand.
For getting...
Poor little man hiding in the hallway.
He's doing as he's told, though.
It's very good.
Stay.
Staying safe.
Stay.
Edgrin.
No matter what happens.
He got a nineteen.
Nice.
Ah, beat me.
Felicia, do you have negative things on you right now?
No, I...
Those are positive thingers.
The pictures on your token?
Oh, no, that's a...
Stone and elements, right?
Yeah.
Okay, so you are...
Yeah, you're jacked up and good to go.
Yeah, I've got my earth armor on me and I've got my Animant's Chell build.
I've had this rat stain on me for five episodes, I think.
Rat stain?
Yeah, when we fought the rats.
That's why Rootmore has that mark on him.
Because one of the rats bit him.
Where's Twinkle?
Don't worry, that's important.
Okay, as you all assume your battle positions as this creature begins to emerge,
it seems to take note and as it does its head slinks back down inside of Rootmore's shadow.
Scarab, it is your turn.
It's a more shadow!
Shoot it!
Where's the light source?
Don't worry about that.
Okay.
Shadows exist in the dark.
Remember when we went to... on our trip, we went to Arizona,
we went with your parents, Felicia, into the cave?
Mm-hmm.
Remember the cave guide?
Mm-hmm.
He turned the lights off to show us how dark it is.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
He was standing in that hallway, he was like what, 10 feet away from us?
He turned the light off?
Nothing.
Completely invisible.
And he just ran at us from the darkness, that was terrifying.
I don't remember that part.
Yeah, he came at us like this.
From out of the hallway.
He just appeared, it was nuts.
I've never seen that kind of darkness before.
Man, I like that guy that when he starts to run and you close your eyes
and then he's not running anymore, but he's in front of you now.
Okay, here's what I'm going to do.
Scarab...
Fucking Felicia.
No one knows what you're talking about.
I don't either.
I was sitting there just looking at her trying to figure it out.
I know.
The man who when you...
Scarab is going to...
So as far as Scarab can see, this thing has disappeared into the shadow.
You have.
Technically speaking, you have observed this creature, but it is currently hidden to you.
So you have two options.
Either A, you can attempt to attack it, but you have to make a DC 11 check first.
And if you do not succeed, you lose that action.
Or B, you can attempt to use the seek action to use your perception check
against the creature's stealth DC in order to make it observe to you.
This is what me gonna do.
Number one, recall knowledge.
Very good.
Any special one outside of perception?
Yes, that will be...
Unless I've absolutely never seen something like this.
Religion.
Oof.
Yeah.
Oh my god, it's a picture of me.
Does...
Would seeking...
Stupid.
That's what I look like.
I don't.
Seeking would allow me to locate just...
Well, I guess I wouldn't...
What I wanted to do was knowledge check.
I've got a bad religion, so I could just roll and hope for the best.
It's a bad religion.
14.
No idea.
Okay.
Next thing I'm gonna do is a ready and attack.
When it makes itself...
When it comes out of the shadow, I will fire on it.
Okay.
And that's it.
And it is the shadow's turn.
Before me?
Before you.
Dang.
Pretty sure, let me double check. I'm gonna be fair.
Yes, it beat you by two.
What did you learn from your...
No.
Check? Nothing, okay.
But the moment it shows itself, bang.
And you will have that opportunity, because as you stare into the spot where it disappeared, you see a...
Long, spindly, shadowy arm emerge from the shadow creeping up behind Rootmore.
Make your attack.
I'm gonna use a PP.
Go for it.
Rolling twice.
Get it, get it, get it, get it, get it, get it, get it, get it.
Rolled a seven and a 15. That 15's gonna go up to a 27.
That's a hit.
To hit.
Hell yeah.
Ah!
That's gonna be 13 magical piercing.
Ka-pow!
13 magical piercing.
Magical just because it's an upgraded weapon.
Magical piercing.
As you shoot through the shadow, you see a wisp of its shadowy essence kind of coalesce behind the bullet and seal closed.
You feel like you did something, but not quite as much as you anticipated.
Like I thought, this isn't good!
And that hand that reaches out at you, Rootmore, will rake itself along your back.
Oh no!
Ooh.
No, don't say ooh.
Don't like that, please.
How's a 29 treat you?
Oh god, that is, that is, that's a hit.
Gee.
Okay.
Almost a crit.
You take 14 points of spiritual damage.
Oof!
And then, for its second action, you begin to feel that tugging at your feet again, almost like it's trying to rip your shadow away from you.
No, I need that, please!
You are Enfeebled 1.
Ah.
Ugh.
And then the creature's head slowly begins to sink back into the shadow again.
And it is Monet's turn.
Oh, it just ruined my damage into hit.
Gee.
Monet would like to...
I know, this is crazy.
Oh boy, pulling out some new shit.
You can turn the light on in here!
No, but she is going to cast light.
Yes, come on.
On Rootmore.
Okay.
Here we go, this, I was...
She's gonna cast light on, yeah, just on him.
Range of touch, right?
Uh...
Range 120 feet.
Okay.
Oh, hell yeah.
Nice.
Which object of Rootmore, his armor?
His, yeah, his butt.
Or his bald head.
His booty.
One of him's cheeks.
Rootmore, your pants begin to glow as Monet casts light on you.
Oh!
And below you, your shadow is cast in four directions.
Fancy.
As now the light comes from above.
I still got shoes.
Yeah, but like...
I think it like, him body would glow.
Well, it's kind of like when you, if you have a lamp, right?
You have a light bulb in the lamp, the stand still casts a shadow off to the sides.
They shouldn't be powerful shadows.
But there will be shadow nonetheless.
Okay.
And now in contrast, behind each of you, you can clearly see your shadows in the darkness as well.
And Monet is going to step right up to Rootmore.
And that's, that's her turn.
Okay.
Vernute.
And it is Ed's turn.
Uh, Ed is going to move up to the door and see what's going on.
And see all of you in your combat stance.
And he places a hand on his chest and throws his other hand back, his head raising up towards the ceiling.
And he sings out, they cannot keep you down.
And all of you get a plus one to your attack rolls, your damage rolls, and your saves against fear effects.
For one night.
As he casts courageous anthem.
Also light casts bright light in a 20 foot radius and dim light 20 feet past that.
Yes.
What'd you say, attack damage and fear saves?
Uh, yes.
Cool. Okay.
So what is it called now?
Courageous Anthem.
Hell yeah.
It was a bard cantrip.
Change the name of that.
This blasphemous name out of here.
Talk about these buff.
Yeah.
Renaming it.
Yep.
It's inspire courage.
Just with the remastered.
It's called courageous.
Yeah.
Already had that set up.
From beautiful D.
Beautiful D.
For his last action, he's going to launch a bullet past you attempting to hit the shadow.
So as he does so, he's got to do a DC 11 check first, which he fails.
So the bullet ricochets harmlessly off of the ground.
And it is now.
Root mores turn.
So in order to hit this, we need to roll like a perception check to find it.
Yes, it is currently hidden from you.
So in order to reveal it, you would have to do a seek action or you can try to hit it while it is hidden with a DC 11 flat check first.
Let's do that.
DC 11 flat check.
Where are you?
You clinger nasty.
Nope.
Can't see it.
OK, so the action to attack is then lost.
So you got two actions left.
Oh.
Can I swing?
So if I don't seek, can I still swing at it or I just.
I'm sorry.
So the first action you were doing was what to seek to find it.
That's not a DC 11.
That is a perception check against the creature's stealth DC.
OK, so I thought you were swinging at it first because you can you know where it is.
You just can't see it.
That's why it is.
It's not unobserved from you.
It is just hidden.
So you know where he's at.
You know where he's hiding.
You just can't see him directly.
So you can either seek using your perception against its stealth DC to see exactly where it's at while it's hiding.
Or you can attempt a normal action.
But if it is a target like attack or a spell, then you have to do a DC 11 flat check.
And if you fail that, then the action is lost.
The first one.
That's what I was trying to do.
The perception.
So we'll go and reroll that for a stuff.
It was a five.
So it would be a 17.
That you are not able to observe it.
And you can repeat that seek action multiple times if you want to.
Now, if I wanted to swing at it, just a blind swing, then it would be a DC 11 flat check or lose the action.
OK, so that's what I'm going to do now.
Do you see 11 flat check with a with a vicious swing?
Come on, baby.
Mr. Trey natural 20.
Beautiful. OK, now roll to hit.
OK.
Plus 11.
Thank you.
Edgren.
OK, so nine.
Twenty to hit.
OK, as you stare down at the shifting shadows at your feet, you pinpoint the creature and you swing.
How much do you have for oh, yes.
Vicious swing.
Nine bludgeoning damage.
Just plain old bludgeoning.
I mean, it's a plus one.
So I don't know if that's considered magical or not.
It'll say if you've got a rune on it.
Oh, yes, yes, you're right.
Magical bludgeoning magical.
Take everything we can get.
And just as we scare as your hammer collides with the floor, you see wisps of shadow coming up off of it.
But you feel like it didn't fully connect the way you thought.
That counts for your hand as well.
That is a magical weapon.
And you said it was nine.
No damage.
Yeah, yeah, you're right.
OK, beautiful.
That's it for Rootmore.
Scarab.
Oh, boy.
So they're seeking.
Just trying to think of my economy here.
Yeah. So one action seek or or just let it fly and hope you get above that 11.
I'm going to let it fly.
All right. DC 11 flat check.
I got a six.
And your action is wasted.
Yeah.
Hmm.
You failed your perception.
I'm going to reload.
I'm going to fire again.
DC 11.
Come on, D20, do me well.
Another six.
Another six on the die.
The bullets just ricochets off the floor.
Rootmore, this sucks.
And it is.
I'm not having fun here.
Get it off of me.
Hey.
The creatures turn.
How do you like that light creature?
You don't want to be talking into your fancy horn.
Scarab from the shadow next to you, you see the head begin to rise.
As it pops out of your shadow.
Let's go, fella.
And as its large, almost dwarven shape hovers above you, it turns its head towards Rootmore and its hand extends out and begins to glow green.
Before a flashing beam of green light shoots at Rootmore for a 25 to hit.
Oh, that hits.
Your invention sucks.
Did you make that thing out there in the front room?
It's stupid.
You're lazy.
Rootmore, give me a fortitude save.
I don't want to.
Fortitude, not bad.
Natural one.
Why did you say that?
I knew.
I knew you said not bad.
Maybe we're going to roll so low.
I got a plus 10.
Every time.
Rootmore, you are now total enfeebled four.
Oh.
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I don't know.
Okay, so they're seeking.
Come on.