Last time on the Empire Initiative. Armed with
a map provided by the clock, the crew travels
to the Black Forest. Along the way, Rain and
Zavari complete their studies, but their journey
is waylaid when they discover a headless corpse
on the trail and hear the sounds of battle nearby.
Eager to help, they intervene in the fight and
engage the blood -sucking Sturges and terrifying
Bone Stalkers attacking a lone Tabaxi druid.
After the battle is won, the druid introduces
themselves as Drift and tells the team that the
corpse they discovered was the last of his polycule
who lost their lives to the terrible monsters
of this nightmarish forest. Dot and Drift pray
together to Sylvanas for the lives of his fallen
lovers, while Rain sings a song of rest. Meanwhile,
Zavari responds. receives a letter from Graham,
her brother's best friend, with dire news. This
is Episode 7, Black Forest Ham, Part 2. You guys
are following a spooky trail in a dark forest.
so drift is able to he actually like leads you
to like a slightly you know wider path you guys
were following like a like a deer trail of sorts
so it's very thin and he finds he like he's he
knows how to like navigate this forest so he's
able he's able to kind of bring you guys to a
spot where there's a more clear path um which
is a lot easier for your horses to manage yes
charlie bigbottom's perfectly at home perfectly
at home. And probably like when you guys, you
guys took like a really short, short rest because
you guys took your like five minute one. Yeah.
But he probably like, you know, threw up a, threw
up a net and caught some, caught some flies while
you guys were, while you guys were resting. And,
um, Rain, I would like you to roll, A wisdom
check for your horse. A wisdom save. 15. 15?
Okay. Zavari, I would like you to do the same.
Just a flat one? Yeah, it's a wisdom save. I
don't know what the bonus for your horse would
be. I rolled an 11. I don't have the horse stats
up. I should have thought about that. I should
have thought about that too. It's a zero. It's
a plus zero? Yeah. So what did you roll? An eight.
An eight? Okay. So your horses have been traveling
in pretty much complete darkness for several
hours now. It's not something that they're used
to at all. And it's starting to, like, get to
them. They're both starting to, like, you can
kind of tell. you guys you know you've been with
your horses long enough you can tell that your
horses are getting anxious and um like and Zavari
your horse is um You like you like because you
guys are leading them probably right you're like
leading them to this trail and You're to a point
where you could get on top of you know get on
them and ride them because there's enough clearing
But like so far when you put your hand on your
horse's side she like jumps a little bit mochi
mm -hmm she like jumps a little bit like you
know to be like her her like side twitches and
you can tell that she's like jumpy and like You
know easily rattled right now Rayne, you're trying
to lead your horse onto the trail. And, gosh,
what was your horse's name again? Che. Che. Che?
Yes. And Che has stopped dead in her tracks.
Her knees are locked. She is not trying to step
down onto this trail, not trying to move from
where she is, because she's had it. She's basically
to a point where she's had enough. of, like,
this panic, right? Because, like, the only thing
they've been able to see this whole time is flashes
of lightning. Can you give our vision? Yeah.
Let me read the rules, because I can maybe give
it to monitors, too. Okay, I can give our vision
to up to three million creatures that can see
within ten feet, lasting for one hour. Yeah.
Up to two million creatures? Three. Three? Two.
Well, that's at least for an hour. Yeah, at least
an hour for them to calm down. I'm willing to
say you can do two creatures for an hour and
a half each. Because it would just be them two
then, because Charlie Bigbottom's fine. Yeah,
Drift doesn't have a mount. So two creatures
for an hour and a half. Yeah. Okay. Two creatures
for an hour and a half. I will extend my eyes
of night. So what does that look like? You know,
that's a really good question. Um, I touch, um,
Che, your horse, and, like, kind of put my, like,
hand on their head. And before they can freak
out. Like, she's, like, trying to, like, she's,
like, mad that she's letting you. Yeah. You know?
And their eyes start to glow, like, a faint red
color. And then I've got, like, a phase, and
you can just see after that. Okay. A little laser
eye surgery, essentially. Yeah, there's shitty
-ass laser. That only lasts for an hour and a
half. Give me another wisdom save. I rolled a
nat 20. She got a 6. She got a 6. Because she
can see? Um... I would say that you can give
her a bard. Okay. Oh, shit. it's okay love it's
okay oh whoa it like landed on all of my other
dice plus six plus twelve twelve okay good so
with a twelve she's like clearly like startled
by the sudden ability to see in the dark like
it kind of like backs up a little bit and sort
of pulls for a second and jerks her head around
but after a few minutes she settles down a bit
And you see her kind of taking some deep breaths.
And, you know, now would be a good time to hit
her up with, like, a sugar cube, probably. Oh,
yeah. She's getting. Yeah. She's chilling. Within
that 20. Your horse, like. Doesn't give a shit.
Yeah. Blinks and, like, can see. And it's just,
like, she immediately, like, chills out. She
calms down. Mochi's just chilling. Hell, yeah.
Like, she's just happy. But, yeah. So, you guys
have managed to, like, calm your horses. um you
know for the time being but the the darkness
is definitely like taking a toll on them so you'll
definitely you know uh want to keep that in mind
the though you hopefully won't be in this forest
for too too much longer definitely gonna be here
longer than an hour and a half yeah so um yeah
and charlie big bottom is like i don't get it
get in the dark yeah exactly it's like y 'all
are dramatic what the horse doing just eating
bits like petting his bristly thorax like good
boy charlie savari was just she couldn't see
to be fair charlie is a good boy He is a good
boy. She is still unnerved by the big spider.
I could imagine. She has not gotten over her
fear of spiders yet. More handcuffs. Yeah, spiders
are rough. That's true. Lots of spiders in this
whole thing. Especially giant spiders. But yeah,
Drift is like, what did you do? Oh, I made it
so they can see. That's incredible. And he kind
of waves his hand in front of Mochi. And Mochi
follows the hand. He's like, wow. I didn't know
such a thing was possible. Only to a very select
group of people. Of course. Of course. I was
going to offer to light a torch, but I guess
you've got it covered. Not for an hour and a
half at least. The ability's here to be used.
What magical shit can we do? Just fucking light
a torch. No. No. He lights the torch in an hour
and a half. Oh, then Ray's like, no, that's ringing
the dinner bell. Yeah, I mean, well, he's like,
yeah, to be fair, the torch would definitely
attract something. Yeah. Especially these days,
like, and he kind of, like, looks over his shoulder,
and you can see, like, directions, they'll kind
of, like, like, I guess, actually, make an insight
check. I shouldn't just give you this for free,
technically. Whatever. You guys have, hi, do
you guys have passive insight? especially the
one thing i don't have a really high number for
18 is my passive insight oh yeah and i rolled
a 30 20. oh yeah 13 is mine right it's obvious
to you that like drift is still like really shaken
up and like he keeps he's keeping his head kind
of on a swivel and his ears on a swivel as well
um he like definitely seems like fearful of another
ambush you know I go up to him. And he's been
kind of like leading you guys a little bit. Hey,
Drift. You know, I am really grateful for your
guidance right now. And we should stay on guard,
of course. And then I touch his shoulder and
I cast heroism. Oh, nice. But you know what?
We just got to get through this. And you are
doing a great job at leading us through this.
And I'm just, I'm grateful. You know, he kind
of like, he takes your words into serious consideration.
And you're being too kind to me, my new friend.
But I do know where, I do know that the pond
is just a few minutes, a few minutes through
this trail. I just, they just came out of nowhere.
I don't know. We got separated. And I think that
was the problem. And he's kind of like, he's
kind of like trailing off. And you can tell he's
like, you know, reliving his experience. And
he kind of, you know. But you're right. The task
must be done. There's time once we get out of
the forest to grieve. But we need to get through
the forest in order to be in a safe place to
do so. Yeah. You're right. You're right. Well,
um, yeah, the pond's not too far from here. It's
in a small clearing. It's actually quite a beautiful
place. A treant used to live there. Sounds magical.
Yeah, it was. Hopefully it can be again. I fear
it's too late for our treant friend, but maybe
we can at least... Make sure you can rest. Absolutely.
He'll bring you kind of up here. And as you guys
are like, as you guys are approaching the pond,
there starts to be like a light misting of rainfall.
Kind of like dripping through the trees above.
So, you know, just you can hear like a very soft,
like almost like fuzzy noise of this like very
light rain coming down. Can I cast Vigilant Blessing
on myself? It just gives me advantage on the
next initiative roll that I do. Yeah. Cool. And
Drift will, you know, he'll kind of turn around
to you guys and go, you know, we might want to,
like, drop off, like, the horses. Yeah. Just,
like, near, like, near the opening of the clearing
just in case, you know, there's something dangerous.
Well, I mean, besides the Aayla. Which is the
creature that he's here to cleanse. This creature
is semi -incorporeal, so it can fly pretty fast.
It can easily fly past us and attack the horses
if it wanted to. I think. Anyway. Do you know
what type of creature this is? Yes, it is a fae.
It is a dark fae. Yeah, so yeah, and here's what
explains you, you know, the Aayla is a creature
that it starts as like a kind of like a lichen
or like an infection on a treant and it's a parasitic
creature. It draws more and more energy from
the treant until the treant, you know, dies and
then the Aayla is like born of the treant's husk.
they're vile vile creatures and they poison the
uh the earth with their presence their ecosystem
he'll bring you kind of as close to you know
as close as he can get before he's able to like
see what he's looking for um and he's that kind
of uh out front he like peeks his head around
over here and then will kind of like quietly
like gesture you to come closer and like As you
guys were coming closer and like the fuzzy sound
of the rain, it like seems like it's not very
loud, but when you get a little bit closer, you
realize it was drowning out the sound of like
some creatures interacting in front of you guys.
And you hear like a groan and like splashing.
Now seems like a good time for me to put my hand
on Rain's shoulder and cast protection from evil
and good. Specifically through fey creatures.
Can you remind? That gives them disadvantage
on attack rolls against you, and you can't be
charmed, frightened, or possessed by them. You
can also write it on the board so that we can
all try to remember. So it takes advantage on
attack rolls, and they can't be charmed, frightened,
or possessed. Oh, that's good. Not for any particular
reason. Just get to know in general. Yeah. I
wish I could concentrate on multiple spells.
Is there an item for that? That's a good question.
Uh, rules as written? No. Do I have a homebrew
item that does that? Somewhere. Yeah, I do. I
do. But you guys haven't found it yet. Okay,
it's somewhere out there. It's many things of
the world we don't know. So I get protection
of good and evil. I go straight into Moonglide.
Is that okay? Do we, like, pre -battle mode?
I mean, you can. You hear stuff, but you're not,
like... You guys are engaged. So... In an issue
or anything, so, like... I feel like I'm gonna
preemptively go into Moonglide. He kind of, so
he's kind of like looking, he's kind of checking
out the scene and he kind of turns around and
looks at you guys and he goes Something's already
engaged to, how was it? He kind of just kind
of like chuckles, he's like And then you hear
And you hear And you see like a flash of light
and then And we should proceed cautiously. So
you look around the corner. And so you see the
pond is not like super large. It's a really like
modestly, it's like a modestly sized pond. And
there is this husk of a tree in the like northwest
sort of corner of the pond. There's like a big
rock. it's like the tree is like has like the
it it's like a tree but its bottom doesn't like
the the bottom of its trunk isn't like one solid
piece it like splits into two almost like legs
and you can see it's kind of like leaning sort
of permanently just almost into like the water
um and the bark is it's got these like bulbous
sort of like pock marks all over it. Not pictured.
And it looks like it has several arms coming
off of it. There's no foliage. There's no life
to it. It's clearly like an empty husk of a tree.
And you guys would know probably that this is
a corpse. that you guys are looking at. Trees,
of course. Yeah. And you see, out of the top,
so it's kind of hollow at the top. And out of
the top of it, there's this thin, wispy vortex
of smoke. It's very, very thin. Like a string,
almost. And it is stretched out. and coalescing
into like this almost like hag like looking creature
um with uh windblown hair and it's like wearing
like smoky black rags it's like it looks corporeal
almost if that makes sense there's like a a mist
coming off of it and it has kind of like like
she she has like a humanoid upper body and she
has these long long like arms and like pointed
claws on the ends of her hooked fingers and she
is engaged in battle with another creature yeah
and in place of hips it's just like smoke it's
just a twist of like smoke in it and you can
see like the the trail of it having traveled
from out from inside of this treat and over to
the creatures that it is engaged in battle with.
And, you know, as you're kind of like surveying
it, you didn't notice it at first, but like on
the trunk of the tree, like sort of towards the
top, you see like a couple of butterflies, like
orange and green butterflies. And like probably
about two or three of them just kind of resting.
up there they didn't move at first so it didn't
draw your eye you were obviously looking at the
battle but like you know at second glance you
see like a couple of butterflies there this beautiful
lady she's fighting like over the water and she's
she can fly obviously she's flying she doesn't
seem to be affected by like gravity um she seems
like sort of weightless And she's fighting with
two creatures that are the same type of creature.
So you see these, like, these green... They sort
of look like treants, but not quite. They're
much smaller, and they have not... They don't
necessarily have, like, bark, but they're kind
of made of, like, vines and lichen and moss.
They have these bulbous, like... yellow glowing
eyes these like slitted nostrils and they're
the nostrils are like running this like black
oily liquid is like running out of their nostrils
um and it kind of has this like it has like a
beard of like gray moss and it's like just absolutely
covered in like mud and muck um both of them
so you guys see two of these guys are engaged
in combat with this ala currently and they look
very angry and these guys are like they're like
humanoid size they're not like that's what i
said like they kind of look like a tree but they're
much smaller they're bushes yeah basically oh
that looks about right so you guys are probably
you guys aren't this high up it's this far up
but this is a pretty good you know representation
roll for initiative 30 20 23 oh 16. wow geez
just real quick wow he got a two oh plus three
but it's still only five um so then turn over
is going to start with dart when is it going
to be rain then it is going to be the ayla then
zavari then The two bush monsters. They're called
Bajanix. Not right now. They're spelled weird
too. Oh yeah super not right now. One is red
and one is purple so that's kind of what we're
gonna do. Yeah I like bush and way better. Then
Drift is last. Now it's up to you guys if you
want to like immediately like jump into this.
They um Actually, roll for stealth for me. They're
all fighting, so they have disadvantage, but...
22. Wow. 19. Yay. I have a plus 6 now to stealth.
Oh! 26. 26? I don't need any. Knowledge is power.
Plus jackal tree. Yeah, so none of the creatures,
like, that are currently fighting notice that
there's anyone watching them or that there's
anything going on. The, like, the bush ant creatures,
they are, that are, like, fucking snotting black
oil, are, there may be, like, claw attacks at
it. The... Ayla is very, like, dexterous and
is, like, avoiding a lot of their attack. You
can see that they do manage to hit it. They can
hit it, but they're mostly missing. And she has
shot them. Like, you guys witnessed it. She,
like, she, like, throws out her fingers and there
are bolts of lightning that go out, like, arc
off of her fingertips. And she's, like, shocking
them. And then they're standing in the water,
so they're, like, you know, they're... They're
jerking and freezing up for a moment while they're
getting shocked. And you can see, like, the excess
electricity is, like, sparking across the top
of the water. Drift kind of, like, whispers.
He's like, how long do you think they've been
fighting? Something very long. Do any of the
creatures look significantly hurt? Make an insight
check? Or perception? I got a natural 20 for
perception. So, no, no. None of the creatures
look particularly... injured um and you can see
it's starting to like kind of disperse a little
bit but there's like a thin trail of this like
black sort of liquid you know coming from behind
them where like potentially these bajiniks enter
the water yeah these bushins enter the water
um but like the the substance it's like it's
like sizzling and sort of eating away at the
like like at the like grasses and plant matter
on the on the floor but you can see it's it's
like seeping down and getting you know getting
absorbed into the ground ala is the bad thing
right yeah i would at least the thing that we
should go for first um i trust trees more than
i trust weird floaty smoky people How does that
say? So, yeah, Drift told you that he is here
to get rid of this Aayla. He tells you what the
Aayla is. And so you definitely know that that
is your target. He will tell you, like, the Bushens.
He'll tell you that they are not necessarily
friendly. But they're, like, neutral creatures,
typically. Mm -hmm. And that they look how they
always look. Oh, they just look like that. He's
like, yeah, they just look like that. Okay. So,
with that information, what you will basically,
like, don't get near them. They're still dangerous.
But, like, they're not, like, invasive. They're
not bad to the environment, basically. The Aela
is the target. So, you know, with that being
said, I'm willing to, like, say, you know, you
guys start anywhere on, like, this sort of end
of the pond without actually having fully approached
the pond before they, like, notice you. So if
you want to, like, position yourselves. And there's
a little bit of, there's, like, some, this is,
like, tree, trees and stuff. So there's a little
bit of cover here if you, I like that. And there's
still, like, a pretty, there's still, like, a,
you know, the trees are. Burying Heights, there's
like a canopy of trees overhead too. Yeah. Can
I? No. What do I do? I'm tempted to take a risky
maneuver here, guys. Like the dark special? The
dark special. Do it. Can I start off over there?
Sure. And drift is going. kind of cautiously
hug that side as well. So, Dart, you are leading
us off. You can't see it, but I can. You're 75
feet from the Ava. 80 feet from one of the Bajaniks
and 75 feet from the other. And then you are
90 feet from the other side of the pond. It gives
you kind of an idea of, like, what. sort of disses
you're working with. And I can, like, scroll
this up. I think my arrows are accurate to, like,
800 feet or some nonsense like that. Yeah, no
doubt. Put you back in the crotch. There you
go. Hell yeah. Thanks. You know. You know me.
In the crotch. I know you as well as some of
my NPCs. That's true. Some. It's like one. Well,
yeah, you're right. Sorry. It's like, you've
been romancing? Okay. Nah. Nah. Not naturally.
Well, if you include, uh, Mavina's, like, animal
companion, Mavina's animal companion definitely
knows Mavina better than I do. That's true. You
know? Fuego. And, uh... Fuego. You have another
griffin. Marietta. Yes, that's right. But she
doesn't like to fight. Is that right? She doesn't
like people. Oh, yeah. Understandable. Yeah.
Yeah, I'm sure they know me better than me. I'm
sure they know me better than I do, too. Yeah.
Sometimes the NPCs do know the character better.
Shit. But yeah, so it's all you, buddy. I can
happily, I'm happy to scroll this around. I know,
it's like, it's really big. I can make the map,
like, to the size of the screen. I figured out
how, but some maps just need to be bigger, so.
I will also say the water looks, like, kind of,
like, murky and nasty. It doesn't look, like,
necessarily, like, poisonous or anything, but
it does not look great. The water on there looks
way better. That's, like, how it's supposed to
look, but not how it looks now. What a filter.
Yeah. That's pretty. A funky filter. Just draw
dirt clods everywhere. We should clean the river.
Okay, I'm done. Oh, we're trying to. I know.
That is literally what Jared was saying. That's
so funny. I didn't even think about that. Dart,
what's your play? Man. What is my play? Do you
two want to just start trying? What do you guys
have to do to make this? Like, to start... Gotta
get rid of that hand first. Okay. I think killing
it is, like... Numero uno step? Yeah. I will...
I'll fire the long bomb at it, you know? It'll
take a shot. All right. See what happens. Maybe
I'll get its attention. 22. You got a 22? Mm
-hmm. Yeah, that definitely hits it. Are you,
like, shooting, like, a regular arrow at it?
No. Oh, no. I want to use one of my sharp magical
arrows. Those do extra damage, right? Plus three
arrow. Geez. I gave you that shit? Oh, the oil
of sharpness. That's right. I have a limited
supply of them. I have 24 of them, but I do have
them. All right. Yeah. So, I mean, yeah, you
definitely, like, you definitely fucking nailed
this thing. Good Lord. I'm going to use my piercer.
That's better. Eleven points of regular damage
and one point of psychic damage. Okay. You shoot
your arrow and it's kind of like... It's weird
because at first it seems like the arrow catches,
but really it's just tearing through a chunk
of fabric. But as it passes through this creature's
body, it's significantly slowed and it sort of
falls behind it. But you can tell that it...
tore a chunk of its semi -corporeal form away
and it definitely hurt it and it and it and it
notices it immediately just and it locks eyes
with you and uh dart it has like these sort of
like beady eyes with like no pupil or iris or
anything and they're just glowing blue and just
I'm not intimidated in the slightest. We're used
to this. And you can see its whirlwind body underneath
it. It's like whipping up faster and angrier.
I better shoot at it a second time. 22 again.
Jesus. Killer. It can't take the psychic damage
a second time to the same target, so I don't
give it all that 1d4, but that's okay. Buck sticks.
can't use piercer again either uh that's six
more damage hey it's something though it's still
very solid yeah that one kind of like tears at
the edge of it so it like it doesn't it doesn't
push all the way through and tear a big chunk
out of it like the like the first arrow did but
it's still like you can tell it's still doing
damage to it and and um and it's just getting
more and more riled up and it is all eyes it's
like It's, like, locked into the dark, if that
makes sense. And, like, it has, like, a focus,
like a rage. You can see the wind, like, building
up underneath it. The water is, like, splashing,
you know, from the, like, vortex of wind. There's,
like, a whirlpool in the water underneath that's,
like, washing the feet of the Bush -ents. Bush
-ents is, like, the slang term. Yeah. Dart, do
you do anything else for your turn? Yes, I do.
Okay. Can I use my full movement, which I think
would probably take me, like, there -ish, at
the edge of the pond? Let's see if I remember
you were, like, here. Could be a triangle at
the edge of the pond. Yeah. Yeah, that's your
full movement. Okay. Yeah, you nailed it, actually.
That's exactly 30 feet. Sweet. All right. Thanks.
I'll, uh, I'll stay there. That's, that's, that's
good. I thought about Misty stepping even closer,
but I don't need to get, like, right in its face.
I feel like, ooh, what you got to do? I'm ranged.
It's like, okay, I got that raised dead, cooking
up for ya. Uh, Rain, it is your turn. I got my
pointer on the front. I'm showing you. I'm 75.
What, you're, yeah. Okay. Well, I don't want
to hit them. I don't want to hit the... You're
15 feet from being on screen. Okay. Well, I would
like to not be the only one who can, I don't
know, whip up a storm underneath them. And not...
Never mind. So she's going to use flight in the...
Her tattooed feathers fly off of her and create
a wind tunnel underneath her, which causes her
to be able to fly. And I feel like Flux is holding
her core to make sure that she's able to stay
upright and weather the storm, really, if that
makes sense. Helping you shift your weight and
manipulate the flight. Indeed. So I'm doing that.
Even with Moon Glide, I can't make it to them.
But what I can do is fly up. I would like to
fly up. I want to be above or like maybe 10 feet
up off the water. And then like a little ways
away. So like, yeah, like right here and like
up on top of this. Yeah, so that's 40 feet. Yeah,
you can easily get down. Yeah. And then I would
like to test out one of my new spells. Ooh. Wait,
yeah, because the flight is a bonus action. So
I would like to try my handspring handship. Okay.
So I create a missile of Eldritch Energy and
send it at a target you see within range. Make
a ranged spell attack against the target on a
hit. The target takes 1d4 force damage. It'll
be 2d4. And it can't take reactions until the
end of its next turn. Oh, okay. So... I feel
like it is not black. Like, I feel like the hamstring
and, like... What does your Eldritch be? Like,
this is Reigns, not Umber Wars. She got stuff
from those movies. That's not Umber Wars related.
Those movies. So I feel like it's like a light
blue, probably. That makes sense. Yeah, so I'm
going to try to hit this with a ranged attack
that I am not proficient in. Well, it's a spell
attack. Oh, it's a spell attack. Oh, that makes
sense. Okay, yeah. So you just use your spell
casting for Bard. Okay. Because it's a Bard spell.
Oh, Nat 20 plus 6. That's two beans. So yeah,
it crits. It crits. So yeah, you launch this.
You said it's a blue beam? Yeah. Is it like a
laser beam? Or do you throw it? I'm just imagining
it. Is it like a javelin? Yeah, I feel like what
it is is because it's a bard attack and she's
like a singing bard, I guess. So I feel like
she'll, like, take her hand and, like, go across
her mouth and it pulls, like, magic out. Not
like she's pulling it out, like, in front of
her. But, like, she's not pulling a javelin out
of her throat. That's not happening. Corrosion
arc. No. But it's, like, this gaseous blue thing,
energy. Like a stream of. Yeah. That she's able
to just, like. seeing the magic into a javelin
in which she is holding and then she can like
chuck it. Yeah, so yeah, you, I mean, yeah, you
nail this thing with it. So you crit, so you
roll double damage. Okay. It's a four to four.
My poor thumb. I feel it. Your poor thumb. Your
poor thumb. It's a sad day for thumbs, guys.
Yeah, love your thumbs out there. Listeners at
home, please make sure you are appreciating your
thumbs. Because, damn, if you don't have thumbs,
I feel your adaptations. So, eight, eleven, thirteen.
Yeah, so you throw this, like, javelin, and it,
like, it, like, sinks into her. Like, it doesn't,
like, go through or, like, sinks into her. And
then she kind of, like, jerks her head and, like,
locks eyes with you across the pond. And then
she turns her head and looks back at Dart. Yeah,
the rain just got the hell out of her. Are you
moon gliding over the pond? And flying, yeah.
And flying. Mm -hmm. I have a name. Master of
Raven's Flight going. Oh, right. I forgot about
that. I was like, how are you doing that? Dope.
I'm souped up brain right now. I better go get
into the battle. But I couldn't make it all the
way. So I had to chest my way to it. So that
didn't fight her. So it is the Aayla's turn.
So she's got this, you know, big, angry whirlwind
building up underneath her. And she... uses her
40 feet of movement to zoom as close to the dart
as she can get. She like, and there's like a
splash line like along the water, you know, like
a boat or something would make. There's like
a stream line along the water of her like path
over it. Get some. She, as she flies away, the
bush, and they do try to like swing at her, but
like, because she's like, because she's flying
and it's not like a corporeal, like basically
it just does not, like attacks of opportunity
do not work on her, basically. And she is going
to, you're lucky. So she is going to, kind of
claw at you like this. And when she does that,
as she's forcing her hand forward, it's like
tearing through the wind and sparking up this
electricity. And she launches some streams of
lightning at you. Make a dexterity save. You
got it. 26. Easy work. Yeah, so you are going
to, so yeah, it's easy for you to, you know,
to dodge this. You kind of, you're able to like
kind of jump out of the way. But the electricity,
you know, beating electricity, it's sort of drawn
to you. So while you do, like avoid most of the
damage, you still take 14 lightning damage. Hot
diggity daffodil. She can't do anything else.
Because she can't reach you. She doesn't have
any more movement. So the Ayla is going to conclude
her turn. It is Zavari's turn. Me. I'm going
to do what I do best. I'm going to blast. Because
the range is 120 feet. I'm going to blast the
Ayla. 27. On the first beam, and then a 18 on
the second beam. Okay, uh, that was both hits.
Cool. Her armor class is 18. I had a choice.
11 on the first beam, 8 on the second beam. And
I'm gonna push her away from me and guard. And
just push her, like, directly back. She gets...
Thrashed. She gets blasted backwards, yeah. And,
like, the wind areas are, like, kind of, like,
almost, like... deadens for a moment as she and
you can see it kind of like rushing up under
her to kind of like catch her and like and like
prop her back up and um i mean she looks like
you know like she's been taking some some decent
damage like she's not quite like bloody but and
that's my turn it is the the bush guys turns
the bush ends the vaginics vaginics So the water
here where it's kind of like lighter is maybe
like no more than three or four feet deep. The
deeper part of the water is, you know, probably,
you know, anywhere from like six to ten feet
deep. The blue, or sorry, the purple beige in
it, he is going to like dive into this deeper
water. and he's like surprisingly agile in the
water he's like you know um and uh and it kicks
he kicks these powerful legs that propel him
um so his his swim speed is faster than his walk
speed so yes if he swims most of the way he can
actually get to and then he like reaches the
shore and kind of you know just emerges out of
the water as a lumbers forward and he'll he'll
kind of stand right actually i'll stand right
here at the edge of where it gets deeper and
he is going to spray acid at her so he like kind
of like leads its head back a little bit and
then just out of its nose a oily black spray
Just like a water gun jettisons out at her. Yucky.
We gotta make a deck save. And she does save.
So she manages, she does get hit by it, but she
manages to avoid some of the damage. And now
like the whole crunch of this creature is just
covered in this like oil. Because like it's gotten
everywhere. It's like in the water. It's fucking
nasty. It's like a little bit viscous, kind of
chunky now that you're looking at it. The other
one steps over to the husk of the treant and
just like starts hitting at the base of it. And
you can hear like the hollow sound of it, you
know, kind of reverberating. And he's just kind
of like angrily, you know, it's like almost like
he's doesn't understand that, you know, this
creature is dead, almost. It's like, you know,
if that makes sense, it's like seemingly nonsensically.
But when he does that, the butterflies inside
of the hollow treant become disturbed. And you
saw just like a couple of butterflies chilling
hanging out there. But like from inside, a huge
swarm of butterflies flies out. The picture in
the book is like just butterflies on the trunk
of a tree. Strangely adequate. But they basically
just look like butterflies, literally. yeah it
is a big foreboding looking swarm of butterflies
like that is not normal and the butterfly swarm
will join initiative okay oh but it rolled super
low which is bad because it goes last it's also
good because it goes with this wrap and then
and the Bushend is like, looks really confused
and starts, like, kind of panicking. It is Drift's
turn. You'll have to call out to him. No, I mean...
Drift, what the fuck is this? Well, um, he will,
um, he'll say, it appears that there was some
sort of symbiosis going on. Yuck. Those are death
butterflies. And they're aptly named. Butterflies
make you die. Unless you go twice as high. Yeah,
so he's like, yeah, those are death butterflies.
But be on your guard. For sure. And he... Oh,
perfect. So he is going to run. over to Dart.
And he'll say, I think your range is going to
be key here, my friend. And he will reach out,
and as he's like reaching out, you can see his
paws starting to glow with like a red sort of
glowy, fiery spark, like cinders in his hand.
And he touches your quiver for one hour until
he stops concentrating. anything you shoot an
arrow at from the air from drawn from that quiver
takes an extra 1d6 fire damage he is casting
flame arrows on your quiver flame you know hotman
cool i used to do this for my wife so um so yes
he is he is spending his turn buffing your arrows
and he is going to um with his bonus action uh
cast shillelagh on his staff to get it ready
to start thwacking things. Because Shillelagh
is not concentrated. Luckily. That is your turn.
So now it is time for the Death Butterfly Swarm
to descend onto the bush end. Basically, you
see like, this is, it's a ton of, it's like thousands
of butterflies. And they just, what, go ahead.
It's a kaleidoscope. Oh. It's what a group of
butterflies is. It's a kaleidoscope. Of deaf
butterflies. It is a kaleidoscope of deaf butterflies.
Yes, brilliant. And they just like engulf the
whole creature. Like, they take up a huge amount
of space. And you just, you just can't even see
the bush. guy anymore and they're going to start
biting him you just hear and just the butter
like you don't you can't tell what's going on
like you just see it's completely engulfed in
these butterflies and uh you know sounds like
maybe it's not doing well jerk is like dear god
so let us guide me i'm hamfacked Tell us about
your character's favorite third place. Where
did they like to go when they weren't home or
working? What was the vibe? Who else did you
spend that free time with? All right, I will
go first. Dart's third place was the healed swimming
hole. Nice. I would describe the vibes there
as like... the summer off from school type vibes.
I spent my time there with the other young frog
folk, but I would describe it as a very, like,
I'm going to say Mark Twain -esque existence.
Hanging out, fishing, swimming, skipping rocks,
the usual. Like a banjo. Yeah. Making little
boats out of leaves. Yeah, making little boats
out of leaves and playing music together and
just, that was our little hangout spot. That
sounds so nice. Rain had a third place she had
to go and a third place that she wanted to go.
Because she wasn't great at school and she was
on the access ball team, she was required to
do extra study hours at Mervin, which is a house,
or like basically a house that they revamped
for the athletes to study in. And I'd clock my
hours and be there, but I never really studied.
I basically just took naps. But I had to be there.
But when I wasn't there, I was at, I'm not even
going to change the name because I feel like
the name is fitting, the White Horse Inn. That's
so funny. I know. Very fun. It's sort of a similar
vibe. Numbers Val, her third place, when she's
not working or at home, which she works at home,
so when she's not working and at home, her favorite
third place is a local college bar called The
Cat. That's what the kids call it. That's not
the actual name of it. And they do trivia night
every Tuesdays and Thursdays. And that specifically
is what she attends, the trivia nights. She has
anything to do with numbers. I feel like she's
got it. Oh, yeah. I mean, she slays math trivia,
but that doesn't come up a lot, unfortunately.
But I feel like she just retains information.
But, yeah. But the thing is, yeah, she has, like,
a student in. She's not Milburn's Val when she
goes there. She's Trivia Tina. Creepy motherfucking
Tina. For Zavari, when she was home growing up,
she didn't really have a third place given her
status among society. So, one of her favorite
places was in the... uh estate when she like
you know didn't have to be in like the classroom
or anything like that she loved to be in the
music room um it was previously just like some
old just like an older room that like nobody
used and czars insisted that they add a room
full of instruments and they obliged and zavari
loved it she started taking lessons for the heart
and it became her favorite instrument And that
was probably her favorite place to be. Her second
favorite place to be was probably out in the
gardens. And she could just, like, you know,
have alone time to herself and write in her journals.
Now it is Dart's turn. Aren't ecosystems so fun,
you guys? Nature. Can I fire a flaming arrow
at the spooky tree? You can. I was like, we need
to set that shit on fire, but it's the body of,
like, a tree, and so it's, like, too weak. You
can. We should ask if it's respectful to set
the corpse of a tree on fire. Or is that something
Sylvanas will find? You're standing right next
to you. Is that a Sylvanas no -no? I mean, the
treant is gone. And I think that... Fire is re
-burned. Well, like, when we walked up, the swirlingness
that that thing was was coming out of the tree.
And then the butterflies came out of the tree.
I don't like this tree. Everything bad came from
that tree. Yeah. I'm going to shoot a flaming
arrow at that tree. Okay. Go ahead. I would say
it's fairly easy to hit, but yeah, go ahead and
roll it. It's not moving. It's pretty big. Yeah,
so you hit it with the flaming arrow. Go ahead
and roll damage. Did you say the flamingness
was an extra 1d6? Yeah, it's the d6 of the fire.
12? 12. Yeah, I mean, so your arrow pierces it
and the flames sort of scorch it a bit. What
I want to do is roll a straight d20 at disadvantage
because this thing has been splashed with water
during the fight and is wet, but it may catch
fire if you get a 10 or higher. I got an 18 and
a 15. Okay, so yeah, it starts to, it starts
to catch fire. You like shoot, you know, the
inner rim of one of the hollows and like that
edge is really thin and dry and it starts to
like flame up and it's, it's beginning to, the
flames are beginning to catch. Use a slow burning
wick on your arrow. Oh, can it be one of the
crackling wicks too? Yes. Those are so nice.
It's like a campfire. But in this context, it'd
just be terrorizing. That was arrow number one.
Arrow number two, I'm going to shoot at... I
can't remember what it's called. The thing. The
A -hole? The A -hole, yeah. The A -hole? Basically.
24. Yeah, alright. Sure. Definitely. What am
I going to say? No? At least someone said no.
Yes, when its home is on fire, it has an AC of
25. Suckers! Damn! Imagine we fight them and
she's like, yeah, no, 25 actually doesn't. Eventually.
I have something that I'll put up. Me too, when
it's at 5. We just have to, we have to fight
this. It's like over here within a building,
it lowers the AC, but you know, it's fine. Question,
because I don't think I... remember this right.
Do I add my dexterity modifier to my damage?
I don't think I do. Yeah, you do. For your arrows?
Yeah. I have not been doing that. Oh, I thought
you had. No. You don't add modifiers to spells,
but you do add modifiers to weapon attacks. Okay.
Then 16 damage. I wish I'd been doing that for
that last fight. It is, uh, so, so yeah, you
hit it and the flames, like, they get, like,
the flames get, like, kind of, like, when it
hits the whirlwind, they get kind of, like, kicked
up inside of it. You can see, like, the flames,
like, like, swirl up into the creature. You can
see it kind of light up from the inside for a
moment as it's, like, burning the inside. It's
not like the fire at all. Doesn't do extra damage,
it just fucking hates it. It is starting to look
severely diminished, aka bloodied. It's even
more fucking just off a dart. Yeah, I think that's
cool. I'll just... Yeah, I'm good. I'm good.
I'm gonna stay here with Drift. Wait, I'm sorry,
hold on. I forgot about a thing that I can do.
I'm gonna use my Warpriest ability, because it's
a bonus action. And I'm going to fire another
arrow at it. Nice. I rolled a nat 1. Not as nice.
Nope. But I have inspiration. Do it. It's my
last inspiration. I'm going to do it because
I don't want to waste the other one. 16. Still
doesn't hit. I believe in you. I was going to
on my next turn. It's okay. It's okay. Sometimes
you just don't hit. Yep. Sometimes. And now I
have no inspiration. It's okay, you'll get another
one soon, I'm sure. I'll have to say something
really funny. Yeah. Anything else? No. Before
Rain's turn? No, no, it's Rain's turn. Well,
Rain believes in Bella with Sambargo. Okay. And
she looks over and is like... You're doing great,
Bart. I look at you physically. Did I have the
marker? You're doing great, Dart. Keep it up.
I'm glad anti -inspiration is a different thing.
That was dyslexia, I'm sorry. So I give my last
Bardo of the day. I was going to say, I'm going
to... put this pixel torch by, by dart so that
we know he has the fire. Oh, you got it. You
got it. And then I, how far am I from the ailer?
I'm scared of the butterflies. Like I was thinking
about trying to ask for the fire. Oh wait, nothing's
over there. Fuck. You know what I could do? I
could fire a ball. Well, the... To it. The guy.
Oh, shit. No, I can't. That man is involved in
it. I don't want to hurt the end. He's getting
fucked up in there. I mean... Hard to say if
he's dead or not, if he's going to live through
this or not. He did fail his concept, so you
wouldn't know that. From the tree of mine. I
set that tree on fire. It's, like, actively on
fire or just, like, little on fire? It's a little
on fire, yeah. It's not like... My fire is black
fire, so I don't think that that would attract
fire. Or like butterflies. How far are you from
the trees? Forty. Yeah. And then... How far am
I from Belay to it? Fifty -five. Well, I'm going
to go fly to the Ayla. And... Bang, bang. But
I want to be on this side. You got the movement.
Yeah. I will come down, because I'm beefed up
Reign. I need to be brave and confident. She's
flying in the air, too. You know, like, you could
be fighting her in the air. Reign, yeah, exactly.
Reign wants to, like, punch her down and hit,
like, her head from above as she's coming down
first. Boom. Yeah. Sorry, I have to move these
things. Go ahead and roll. 19, what? Eight. So
you fucking rock her. And, like, when you punch
into the top of her head, like, she feels, like,
solid at first, but then your, like, hands are
where it, like, sinks through. Have you ever,
like, what are those, like, the fluid that's,
like, solid when you smack it? Oobleck? Oobleck?
Yes. Oobleck? Oobleck? Yeah. I can't remember
what the property is called. but it's like that
like as soon as you hit it it's like solid but
then you start to sink into it and it like almost
feels kind of mucky but there's nothing like
on your fist when you draw back but like yeah
you can see so it's kind of like it's punching
into that weird yeah it's like good for training
gloopy sand yeah 10 damage and she's kind of
you know she kind of she kind of like bobs down
and has to like right herself and you can see
that like she's Again, like, the whirlwind underneath
her is a lot less powerful. She's a lot more,
you know, diminished in power and energy. I am
then going to take my extra attack to hit her
during my action. And then I can't do, like,
period blows or anything like that because I've
already done the... Wait, what was your bonus
action? Uh, bardo. Oh, yeah. um but okay i have
a question does my alter center of gravity is
that a bonus action do you think or is it like
a reaction so i thought it was like i thought
it was like setting strength so it's like if
you hit you could choose to use it okay yes i
would like to do that um i then i would like
to do that and i hit right you have to roll to
hit well i just hit Yeah, you're making a second
attack. Oh, you're doing it with the hit you
just made. Yeah. I'm dragging. No, you're good.
Yes, go ahead. So I'm going to use three energy
points. So I'm going to do Ultra Center of Gravity.
This is our brand new playtest of it, so I'm
really excited. So I am going to use the full
three energy points. They have to make a constitution
saving throw of 17. Or speed reduced to zero
and fall prone. Dexterity modifier removed from
AC and disadvantage on dexterity check spin saves.
You said con save? Yeah. 4 plus 4. That's what
I like to hear. So basically what it is, is that
when Rain punches this Ayla, she has wherever
she touched or punched... is now their center
of gravity. And so it messes, it alters their
perception of how gravity is affecting their
body. And so it causes them to have disadvantage
of dexterity checks and saves. And then because
I used the full three energy points, they have
their dexterity modifier removed from their AC.
So their AC is lowered. But then they can try
again for another constitution saving throw.
Lower to 15. So it's easier to hit them. And
then at the end of each turn, they can try again
to do a constitution saving throw. I'm excited.
Okay, let's try this. So it's like... So it's
trying its best to use its whirlwind to kind
of ride itself. And his head is like extra heavy.
And it's sort of like... It's sort of like flying
semi -inverted and it's kind of like wobbly.
Does it try to fall prone now or is it on its
turn? I think it's on its turn, right? It says
constant safe throw or speed reduced to zero
and fall prone. Oh, gotcha. So, yeah. And so
it like lands in the water kind of. Like semi,
like right here on the edge. So it's sort of
in the water. There's like the wind is like.
swirling under it trying to like lift it back
up but it's kind of you know it's all wonky and
uh it's like somewhat sinking into the ground
almost but still like physically on the ground
uh and that would end the third so it is the
ayla's turn um so speed is zero disadvantage
on dexterity checks and saves and saves I think,
though, it can get up now. Or, like, what do
you... I need to do a playtest of it. Um, so
it has, like, roll to be able to get up, isn't
that right? Or stay up, I guess, probably. Yeah,
yeah. So, yeah, so it is going to, like, lift
its head for a moment and kind of reach out,
and it's going to try to claw at you with its
claw attack. So that is... 18 plus... Yeah, uh...
It's wanting six to hit? Yes. So you get hit
with its claws, and you resist poison, isn't
that right? Uh, yes. Well, I have advantage for
poison, I resist the poison. Oh, fuck. Um, so
you're going to take eight slashing damage and
seven poison damage from its claws. And it is
going to make another claw attack at you. Oh
my god. My die! It hits a 17 on the floor. Uh
-oh. That hits, probably, right? 17 plus 8? Yeah,
sorry. I'm late. I got it. Yes, it does. Do floor
dice count? Viewers at home, I'll start up a
poll in like seven months. I'm just guessing
how long it'll take for you to hear this. Probably,
yeah, that's pretty accurate. Just kidding. Um,
oh, I rolled another 17, so it was meant to be
that. Yeah, it was meant to be. Hit me one more
time. Yep. Am I, because I'm like, what, am I
five feet away or am I ten feet floating away?
I guess that's five feet. Eight slashing damage.
And seven poison damage. Rolled the same amount
of damage, too. You can't do mental math very
well. Her third attack is a bite attack. Jesus.
Well, I have... Wait, they should have been at
disadvantage on attack rolls. Oh. Because they
have protection of good and evil. That's right.
But you can just start it for now if you want.
Well, it definitely did not hit you thanks to
the disadvantage. That's why I'm in. I'll roll
the last one because, like, you did... It was...
It was eight and seven. 22 hits you, right? Yeah.
Yeah, so it wouldn't hit you anyway, so. Okay.
Yeah. Okay. I know. That roll's really good there.
Um. Well, it has a plus 8 to hit, so. Yeah. Um.
But the bite misses. So she tries to bite you
and it misses. Ha ha! And her lightning is not
recharged. So that is her turn. And she's going
to try to stay up. She has to make another con
save. Yeah. No. No good. Got an eight. So she's
back on the ground, unable to move. Still at
15. Still at disadvantage on dexterity checks
and saves. Mm -hmm. So blast him. Go blast him.
Or what? Man, it's the right turn. Since she's
not at the crown, does that mean I would get
disadvantage? On ranged attacks? Yeah. Yes. Okay.
Oh shit, sorry. Wait, disadvantage or advantage?
Disadvantage. From ranged. Yeah, but if something
is laying on the ground, it's harder to shoot
at. As per, you know, rules of the written. But
advantage on melee attacks. I guess I can just
bite the disadvantage. I'll just Eldritch Blaster.
Extra attack. Anyways, continue. Where's it going?
You didn't? Oh no, you didn't. Alright. Second
beam? 17. 17 hits. 13 damage. Rain, roll your
other punch. 16. 16 hits. 9 damage. Ooh, yeah.
So, you actually punched it an extra time. So,
had it down on the ground and punched it while
it was down. And then, Zavari, you shoot, you
know, two of your black flame blasts. at it one
of it hit one of them hits do you move it yeah
it'd be good if she moved it and it like hit
it up into the air and then i just like it should
be just threw it up more combos team combos that
just pushes it back it says right yeah it's unfortunately
so specific yeah i guess if you were shooting
from underneath it you could figure out a way
to do that Then you can blast it up into the
air. I'd be willing to say that. Or like on a
seesaw. So yeah, and you like, so when you blast
it, it like rolls. And it like kicks up like
a bunch of grass and like twigs and leaves and
shit. And it's just like, and it's like crumbled
into a pile. I just saw a video about. Being
a halfling means that you can occupy the same
space of creatures that are larger than you,
so you can get under them and then do the repelling
blast to shoot them up in the air, and then they
take fall damage. What you don't do to do repelling
blasts. If you're not considered small, you're
considered medium. What you willing to do for
it? Not that. I'll carry something smaller. I'll
carry something for repelling blast, but I won't
do that. So, do you do anything else? Mm -hmm.
I'm nice and far away. Relaxing from the distance.
Yep, it's my safe space. That means it is the
bushings' turns. He's gonna walk up to this thing
and start slamming down onto it. And he gets
advantage. So that's cool. Oh, and he needed
that advantage, but he hits with his claws. And
I'm gonna go ahead and roll his other claw attack.
And he hits with that one as well. And this thing
is like... It's still just like... It's still
completely crumpled. And this creature's big
fists are pounding down onto... And it's fucked.
It is fucked the fuck up. That is so funny. Crumpled.
The other Vajinik. You don't know what happened
to it, but it has not come out of the swarm.
And you cannot see it or what it is doing if
it is doing anything. It's doing its job right
now. Dying. It is Drift's turn. And Drift is
like, too far away to whack it. Hmm. What can
he do here? Honestly. He is going to cast Entangle.
That moves up a bit. And he kind of like taps
his staff on the ground. And on the third tap,
he digs it in just a little bit. And you can
see these like vines kind of sprout like a thin
vine. And then when it reaches the edge of where
he's targeting, these big, thick vines just start
reaching out and grasping onto the creature.
It has to make a strength save, which it fails.
So the crumbled, crushed ala is now restrained
by the plants. So he's just making sure it's
held down in place. to be, you know, finished
off. The death butterflies, having finished off
the daedric they were swarming, they start to
return back into the tree, but the tree is on
fire, and the smoke kind of smokes them out,
and they start to like fly around kind of frantically,
but they don't like, they don't like settle or
attack anything. this turn because it takes a
lot of they don't have like a ton of movement
this part of us don't fly that fast um so they
kind of but they're starting to approach this
vajinik and the uh ala here at least that area
right they're starting to approach at least the
other the other vajinik or or something they're
going in that direction could also be going towards
rain The fire is spreading. I will roll to see
what severity. It's still pretty small. It could
still be put out, but there is a large piece
of it that's on fire actively. But it hasn't
spread to the whole corpse yet. So it could still
be put out, but there would be significant damage.
That's kind of where we're at in the burning.
Currently. Dirt. It's your turn. Let's walk up
and shoot it. I mean, I could do that. I'm gonna
shoot another flaming arrow at the tree. 16?
Oh, yeah. A static object like that's gonna have
an AC of like 8, 6, something like that. So,
yeah. pretty easy to hit um go ahead and roll
like a straight d20 um because it's already on
fire so we won't do disadvantage anymore to see
how much extra fire we're getting rolled an eight
an eight um yeah so it starts like another like
separate flame very similar to the other one
that you had so you can kind of you're probably
expecting it to grow at roughly the same rate
Um, but it's definitely burning away more of
the tree. And I will just say that it does the,
like, damage you did last time again. So, yeah,
that entire side is, like, severely damaged now.
I'm gonna fire my second arrow at the Aayla that's
entangled on the ground. Okay. So you do have
disadvantage, unfortunately, but... I also have
Bardo. You also have Bardo. And Daisy is lower.
So you still have a pretty good chance of hitting
it. A 19 and a 12. They're both plus 10. Yeah.
So you hit it. You hit it. And you're getting
there. Let me take a look here real quick. Because
I definitely rolled 11. Yeah, did you and then
plus my for my dexterity which I always forget
to add and the plus one for my air or my bow
So it's no under plus three arrows I'm not using
those. I just use them for my opening file. Gotcha.
Gotcha Yeah, so you fucking so that's what 16
damage this flaming arrow just flies true and
It engulfs the creature in flames. The wind that
the creature is made of kind of creates a fire
vortex, like a small one, you know, as the creature
is burned up. And burned away. And it's just
like a smoke, like a mist. Cool. Well, that about
does it for me. Rain, there are no longer any
active enemies right now. I mean, as far as you
can tell, you don't know exactly what the swarm
of butterflies is going to do, but... Well, I
feel like if we just leave this... I mean, I
don't want the bush ant to get hurt, but also
it could eat the Aayla. And like... But it doesn't
leave a body. Oh, the ala just missed. It just
evaporates. Well, that's probably why they lived
in symbiosis. They couldn't eat the ala. Oh,
I thought they had symbiosis with the spooky
tree. That's why I set it on fire. I mean, the
butterflies, I mean, they like the spooky tree
for a certain reason. Can I roll to see why?
Besides, like, housing? Um, well... I mean, I
suppose Drifter... He kind of told you what they
were already. He was telling you that they...
Death butterflies are called death butterflies
because they eat dead stuff. Mm -hmm. Typically.
Like, they'll eat stuff that's not dead if they're,
like, starving or if they're threatening its
home. But other than that, they go after... and
including undead as well but they go after like
bodies they're they're scavengers mainly they're
poisonous as well although you know dart might
think they look delicious to be honest i'm slightly
turned off by the death moniker yeah yeah but
so they're they were attracted to the death of
the treant and then they were like this is quite
cozy Rain doesn't... Rain knows only you can
prevent forest fires. So she wants to go put
out the fire event. Or like... If you do let
the flames burn and the tree and husk just burn
away, then the butterflies won't have... They
won't be able to live there. They'll have to
go somewhere else. Okay, I'm tracking. So she's
just going to sit over here by the fire and just
relax. So the bush end, the Bajanik, if you guys
are just like disengaging from it, right? Like
the fight in and of itself. The Bajanik, he like
splashes into the water and dives into the deep
part. and the butterflies can't like follow him
there. He swims across to the other part of the
water and then starts like lumbering away back
into the woods. The butterflies they kind of
like they sort of swarm around the tree and you
kind of see them do this like big ring around
it almost like they're like acknowledging. the
the destruction of their home in a way um but
then they like fly off in a big swarm like deeper
into the forest to go find something better to
do um but the whole the whole situation sort
of like it takes you know it takes several minutes
for everything to settle down but it does settle
down and the treant you know corpse burns and
starting to crumble and uh like kind of cave
in on itself and it's just becoming it's basically
just becoming like these like burning cinders
it's like like a charcoal grill over there if
you had like a you know some meats to smoke now
would be the time dead dead tree and wood smoked
meat could be good well this is god so the brain
does not like that idea Yeah, I don't think anybody
really likes that idea. I'm looking to see if
I have meat in my inventory. You did catch, when
I told you last time you foraged, that you got
a bunch of fish. Oh, I have fish. You probably
have fish, yeah. What is your movement? It's
60 feet. Oh, there we go. So it's plus half of
my movement, so my movement normally is 40 feet.
Colossal stance is 20 feet because it's half
my movement. Because I'm heavier. Well, I have
more gravity on me. It's like Zavari talking
to Rain. I'm planning on getting a scroll of
haste. I thought that would be helpful for you.
That would be fun. So it would double your movement
and add two to your AC. You guys do still have
Morag's food pills. Which are haste pills. She
gave you three of them. Fuck. Who has the food
pills? I do. I have three food pills in my inventory.
Yeah, but obviously it's haste, so it gives you
exhaustion when it's over. But you can rest it
off. Yeah. I just had thoughts of a hasted race.
But it's not a bad idea to still have the scroll,
though. Yeah. Yeah. I'll take one of those food
pills. Not right now. Just throw everything at
that. I never even needed to use my bardo. Yeah,
yeah. Well, you were rolling too good. But yeah,
so the scene settles. And Jo's like, I wonder
why those Vagenics were so angry. Maybe that
Triant was their friend? Maybe. Or she was causing
more damage. and they were trying to do something
about it but i do feel like maybe they were friends
well i'm glad everything is settled down and
he kind of he said he like walks up to the edge
of the water and he'll like kind of reach down
and scoop it up and give like a little like and
it's like gross looking like it's nasty and he's
like he splashed it off he's like yeah that's
what i thought this entire pond is corrupted
I need to purify this pond. That's okay. I have
a feeling that that's how it would be. And he
reaches into like his pack. And in his pack,
he pulls out like, it's like a chain. And on
the chain, there are these like teardrop shaped
like metal charms that are like, you know they're
just like that like it's like that big like they're
like a couple of inches you know big and they
have like a they have like a cork on the side
of them like a little tiny cork corking them
close um they're like tiny little gourds yeah
they're like tiny little silver gourds um and
he unclasps one of them and uh he says um this
is spiritual water blessed by sylvanas himself
Ooh. Fancy. Does it always stay cold? Um, no.
Why did you ask? It's dark. Would you mind praying
with me? Not at all. While I purify, while I
do the purification. Yeah, I'll pray. Um, so
I've got to kneel at the edge of the water and
uncorks it. He's kind of, you know, saying, you
know, softly like, uh, Oh Father, please hear
our prayer. This pond has been corrupted by a
dark fae. It is disrupting the local ecosystem
and wreaking havoc on the natural order. I ask
you to bless us in our pursuits to... do away
with this corruption. Oh, Father, please guide
my hand and let us, with my brother Dart here,
be bathed in your light. Can I describe my prayer?
Yeah, please. I sit down in like the edge of
the water, crisscross applesauce, you know, and
I got the fingers out like this. But I don't
say, oh, I just croak really loudly. Yeah, no,
I love that. Very personalized. Holy croaks.
It's amazing. Yeah, no, it's like, it's... I
love it so much. So we are going to roll, we're
both going to roll concordance, which is kind
of like, it means like, you know, how, like an
agreement with your God, right? So it's just
a huge money. And then you have like an amount
of, piety amount of favor with your god currently
silvanus doesn't know you well but he does like
you so you get a plus two does he have bardo
for this um bardo is not worth for concordance
no i rolled a nine a nine plus two is an eleven
and um drift rolled a 14. i don't i don't think
it's time yet there's something we're missing
i'm gonna I'm going to swim in the water. I'm
going to see if there's something in the water.
Okay. Go ahead. Yeah. So you swim in the water.
It's like murky. It's mucky. There's like, you
know, it's just unpleasant even for you to swim
into. Make it an investigation check. Oh, yeah.
Dirty 20. Literally. as you're you know you're
swimming around in the water and you kind of
like you know you get to the like end at like
the bottom of the pond and it's sort of like
on the side of like where the treant's corpse
was and you see like what looks like a limb of
like a tree that has a very similar sort of bark
to the treant and you can see it has these like
pot marks on it um and like towards the wrist
like so like for you see it have like some kind
of like lichen some kind of fungus some kind
of infection right and in the husk the infection
is all dead down here in the water a little bit
of there's this like purple sort of like fungus
or like lichen that's still growing on this creature
it's the It's basically the infantile form of
an ala still living on this limb inside the water.
I can see where the growth is. Yeah. I mean,
it's not like a huge limb. You could definitely
pull it out of the water. I kind of want to caustic
touch it. Okay. So, yeah, I mean, you can. Yeah,
let me. acid touched the nasty growth on it so
yeah you use you your like hands start to secrete
or like your body i guess how because yes you're
a frog you get secreted anywhere you see my body
is filled with a system of fluid -filled canals
fluid filled canals but yeah actually i would
just go ahead and say that the acid works like
how however you want to administer the acid to
it it like starts to eat away at abolition and
it kills it i mean yeah as you're like you know
putting acid on it of course the acid's like
kind of like floating up and stuff but like you're
still damaging it and like you know it's doing
a thing Yeah, it's magic water. It's magic acid,
okay? Don't try taking it. I didn't mean to.
No, it's okay. I don't know how acid works, so
I'm just like... You're justifying yourself to
me. Yeah, it works. It works, it works. I'll
swim with it back to the surface and throw it
on the fiery... The stuff. You're good, you're
good. I think it works, you're fine. No, I mean,
I know, but I'm... You're making your double
tap. I'm finishing burning off the husk, because
I don't want there to still be, like, stuff for
death butterflies to come back to. I'm finishing
that job. You're good, you're good. I got it!
You do, you do. So you get, you know, you come
up out of the water, and you're just like, what
was that? And you threw it into the fire. Was
that more of the creature? Yeah, it had some
yucky grossness on it. I think that's what was
befouling the water. You might be right. Well,
in any case, let's try again. Yeah, let's do.
With advantage this time. I don't need it. I
rolled a nat 20. You feel so taunted. Someone
other than Hasno Denny. Yes! The second character.
Inexplicably, the trees overhead part just enough
and a beam of sunlight comes down over Dart and
Drift as they're praying. And the water inside
the vessel begins to glow. And then Drift will
lower his paw into the water with the vessel
in his hand. the the whole pond begins to glow
this like soft blue light and you can see all
of the gunk drifting to the top of the of the
pond and like dissolving away you hear the birds
tweaking tweeting sorry tweeting happily singing.
There's frogs again. There's... Tweaking birds,
man. Yes. Holy goodness. A dragonfly kind of,
like, comes around and, like, darts around Dart's
head and then lands right on you. And then, like,
there's... Yeah, yeah. You eat it and it feels
really good. Like, yeah. Silvanus gave you a
heavenly snack. Um, yeah. It tastes like... Cleansiness.
Yes, fresh. And yeah, right before your eyes,
this murky, nasty pond becomes this brilliant,
beautiful, bluish, clear water. You definitely,
um, you get, um, actually, yeah, because of that
Nat 20, I will say, that dart gets divine inspiration
divine inspiration uh has already had it once
it's you add a d20 to your roll yeah any roll
no what's funny about that is i've never used
the two frog points you gave me at one point
we figured out what the frog was i was just hoping
at some point you'd want to do something froggy
and the frog points would make sense there yeah
One day, frog points. Yeah. If you guys have
any ideas, what frog points. We're still holding
on to those frog points. But yes, you get a divine
inspiration. And a regular inspiration for, you
know, kicking ass with the croaking. That was
fire, yeah. That was a good role -playing moment.
But yeah, I mean, what are you guys doing as
you guys are watching, you know, the purification?
I'm just sitting by the fire of a tree. Making
sure it doesn't spread, but also just rain isn't
super religious. So watching, taking in like
the customs of like, this is one she can get
behind, right? Where it's like nature and cleansing
and all that kind of stuff. Zavari's version
of Church of Asmodeus she can get behind. Knowledge,
self -improvement. Yes, yes. So she is like just
absorbing and accepting and watching in peace
and trying to take just like a moment and also
just waiting for Zara to reply. Where's my man?
I'm on fire. Oh my God. What does Rain listen
to when she's yearning? When she's longing for
her partner? What does her jam? Well, I'll pull
up the RARS playlist that we have. Plug in. Yeah,
find our playlists on Spotify. Yay. I feel like
it would be... Hmm. Because, like, earlier...
Like, she's trying to relax, but all she has
in her head is every time we touch. That's her
yearning song. Yes, apparently. At least this
time. Thank you for listening to Roll Forth.
This has been the Empire Initiative featuring
Samaria Hawkins as Lady Zavari slash Lady Latria,
Ryan Musgrove as King Dart of the Hopkins, Rachel
Voss as Rain Vosgrove, and our wonderful MD,
Shanna Cantu. We've mentioned them a couple times
in our podcast, but do you know that we have
Spotify playlists for all of our main characters?
They all have different vibes. They're all different
genres and very interesting collections of songs
that just remind us of our characters. And we
also even have playlists for our favorite ships,
like, you know, Raris, you know, Rain. You get
it. I know you get it, yeah. But even a few secret
playlists for some ships that we may have as
well here at our table. But, you know, while
you're there listening to our podcast and listening
to our playlists, take some time for you and
listen to a song maybe you would have listened
to like 10 years ago. Go down that nostalgia
rabbit hole of music that just makes you feel
good. And please, stay safe, friends. A personal
fun fact. I learned how to draw and add stuff
to the maps.