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After our meet and greet with Snakk's brood, we found a warm place to crash and save up our strength for our encounter with Vikshi. Let's see if our little Kobold has what it takes to bring down a Dragon.
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Last time on curse breaker. If we're playing a game of who has the deadliest hometown, Snack is winning by a mile. We, dealt with Greygut and carried on until we met another one of Snack's old pals. Lissander had undergone some seriously not chilled transformations that made him very powerful and, very covered in eyeballs. We went amp versus amp, and Uli ended the show by triggering a giant crushing trap and, well, pop goes the drider.
Speaker 1:Beyond the arena, we found Snack's family and some reunions aren't all hugs and kisses. Keep your chin up, Snack. We've got a dragon to fight.
Tim / GM:We find ourselves in the large natural fisher chasm inside the mountain here. Snack has met with his biological father and all of his younger siblings that still dwell here. Genie said it's time that Snack chooses his dragon title. He has asked you to share his last name and become Snack Kalacius.
John / Doran:Oh, so that was, that was canon, and that's that's a real character decision, I think? Okay.
Tim / GM:Yeah. That's that's gonna be real.
John / Doran:Genie, Doji, are you sure this is actually your last name, Callasius?
Speaker 1:Of course, it was. What's wrong with Callasius?
John / Doran:No. Not I'm not just, you know, since you died and everything, like
Speaker 1:We don't have cool names like snack and gray gut, but it's from my culture.
John / Doran:Okay. Well, let's let's not get ahead of ourselves. We shouldn't, figure this out in case we just die anyways. So we should definitely come back to this, and I wanna take it very seriously. Yes.
Speaker 1:Oh, that's fine. We can we'll just put a pin in it then. Right?
John / Doran:Well, yes. I I want to make sure we have plenty of space full of formalities involved. I'm I'm sure there's a ceremony and, you know, with a a dragon nearby, we should probably take our time and do that after the after the dragon. Right, Genie?
Speaker 1:Yeah. Yeah. Let's, we'll just do it later.
John / Doran:This isn't gonna affect our bond. We know when we're fighting the dragon. Right? You know, we're still bonded.
Speaker 1:Try the eldritch blast, see what happens. Of course not, Snack. I just I wanted you to know that even though you don't look it, you are. You are a dragon. You're every bit of a dragon that that Vixi is, and you'll prove it today.
Tim / GM:Yes.
Speaker 1:Or tomorrow. Who knows?
John / Doran:I was told tomorrow.
Speaker 4:No. Genie could take your last name. The Cobalt.
John / Doran:Yes.
Thomas / Guy:Calling each other by our last names all the time, you know.
John / Doran:Yes. This is true.
Thomas / Guy:It's more about what you have on your business card.
John / Doran:I'm going to say yes, that I'm leaning towards doing this.
Tim / GM:Of course. Jean looks up at the rest of you and gives a little thumbs up like,
John / Doran:is my family still here?
Tim / GM:They have kind of, broken rank a little bit. Only about half of your siblings are still crowding you. Is anyone hungry? Some of the your younger siblings kinda, like, look at each other gingerly, and one of them says Yes. Yes.
Tim / GM:Very hungry. Yes.
John / Doran:Alright. Well, where where is a good place to eat? There's a lot of shit over here.
Tim / GM:They look down. They say,
John / Doran:this is the this is the clean eating floor. Oh, I see.
Hannah / Eryn:Hollywood pressed the vegetation the floor a little
Tim / GM:bare stone, and then they all look and they should they're like,
John / Doran:where's the floor? Where's the floor? Yes. Thank you, Snatch. Here we go.
John / Doran:And then I use create food and water,
Tim / GM:and the place just erupts into this, like,
Speaker 1:from, like, every angle.
Tim / GM:It just kobolds, like, shrieking and, like, scampering towards the center thing and, like, pulling on each other's tails and, like, yanking them backwards and throwing them across the room. To the rest of you, it looks like a pile of just, like, lizards and insects just squirming over each other. I Ew.
John / Doran:My pet Tiburon is, bony back. Mhmm. Isn't it sweet?
Speaker 7:I I suppose snack. It
Tim / GM:is Your father is still standing there with his arms crossed and kinda staring at you and says, I think you're so special, mighty, powerful balok.
Speaker 4:Looks like someone doesn't want to eat.
Thomas / Guy:Yeah. Snake's bringing home the bacon here.
Tim / GM:Bacon, that is a legend, a myth. It does not exist.
John / Doran:I still have some in my pocket, actually. It's a little wet.
Tim / GM:Come in here spinning your lies. I won't stand for it, my luck.
John / Doran:What precisely would you do that is worse to me than what you have already done? I have learned things on the service world, that you can rely on others.
Tim / GM:You think that's the truth? You think when it comes down to life or death that they choose you? No. Every cobalt is for themselves, surface or no. You've grown weak.
Tim / GM:He's not weak. He has all of us, and we would die for snack.
Hannah / Eryn:And Holly is gonna put her little cobalt arm through Ullie's, and then she's gonna do the same with your Tibios. Like, we're kinda standing next to each other, like
Speaker 8:Wall of snack appreciation.
Tim / GM:Yeah. Mhmm.
John / Doran:I I stand more firmly and smirk a little. We shall see who is right.
Tim / GM:Believe what lies you will.
John / Doran:Believe in you hasn't gotten me very far.
Tim / GM:He turns his back on you and refuses your food. He says, seek the door of markings. Die for real this time.
Speaker 7:What the fuck?
John / Doran:I hold my head high and walk past.
Thomas / Guy:Yeesh, what's with that guy?
John / Doran:This is how it's always been, Bert.
Thomas / Guy:I'm sorry, Snack. I didn't realize how hard you had
John / Doran:it when I lived, and my mother did care for me.
Speaker 7:Where does she know?
John / Doran:Well, she's she's not here. Anyways, the store of markings. We should deal with this dragon.
Tim / GM:Snack, based on your memory, you know the door that they're talking about. You haven't always heard it referred to as the door of markings, but, you are always able to smell like a volcanic sulfurous wind coming from underneath this door. There's a large, stone slab that looks like it can move somehow, but none of you have ever been able to figure out how to do so. Looking at this door, it's actually sort of like carved, like, relief carving, like a big tableau. It is showing a sort of, like, pictographic symbolic map of this mountain, and, it is showing kind of your proximity to the caldera, and you guys are quite close.
Tim / GM:Only one sort of tunnel remains. You assume that's what this is. There's also, in this door, a small recess in the upper corner, where it looks like the moon is or supposed to be, but it's a circular recess.
Speaker 4:Who has that disc?
Speaker 7:I thought you did.
Thomas / Guy:Probably either Snack or me. Snackie, you still got that disc?
John / Doran:I rifle around in the lamp and pull out the crowbar, and it's restock to it. I think someone pulled it off at one point, but This one. Yes. What are you thinking, Bert?
Thomas / Guy:Seems like a perfect fit for that hole to me.
John / Doran:I fly up and, just become, like, super quick. It's crashing at the wall. Yeah. So I am jostled a bit. First time flying since the the racing stripes.
John / Doran:So, yeah, I shoot off towards the wall and, like, spin around in a circle for a second, get my bearings, like, move up and, place the crowbar, up into the circle spot.
Tim / GM:Yeah. The circle, when you get it near that recess, actually kinda, like, sucks to it, and it was, like, very tightly stuck in place in that recess. The crowbar is still stuck to it. You see the door rise about a quarter inch, or this slab rise about a quarter inch, and it is hovering. It feels weightless when you touch it.
John / Doran:I put my feet on the wall and try to pull the crowbar off.
Tim / GM:When you do so, you actually pull the entire slab to swing open. Woah. Oh. There seems to be some kind of magnetic levity that is causing this whole thing to float when that disc is in place.
John / Doran:I guess I will leave the crowbar there and fly back down.
Tim / GM:Yeah. The way is exposed. As soon as that door opens, you smell a little bit of that sulfur. But along with it, you also smell clean, earthy air. As you travel deeper into this tunnel, you see that it's an overgrown cavern that is thick with moss and dangling vines.
Tim / GM:The usually clammy and chilled cave air is suddenly very cozy and warm. There are glowing blue and yellow mushrooms that outline a hot spring waterfall in the center of this chamber, and there's a sprawling blanket of thick soft moss. It's, like, very dark, but still kind of pleasantly luminous. Everything in here is soft and warm, and there's this constant low like rushing water.
John / Doran:Has anyone been past this door that I'm aware of as a couple? Has
Tim / GM:never opened.
John / Doran:Okay.
Tim / GM:Yeah. There's no sign of, like, creature life down here at all. Looks like all plants.
Hannah / Eryn:Can I investigate around the chamber to make sure it's safe?
Tim / GM:Yeah.
Hannah / Eryn:It is a non natural twenty.
Tim / GM:Oh, you scope out this entire place kind of from one end to the other. You see that there is a door on the forward wall that would lead out of here, similar to the one that you just used, except you're able to engage that levitation from where you are instead of finding another disc. It's just easier to open from this side. Your investigation leads you to believe that this place is perfectly safe and actually quite comfortable, to stay in.
Hannah / Eryn:I didn't find anything suspicious in here. So, maybe we can shut up the door and spend the night. Perfect.
Speaker 4:I'm gonna face plant into the moth. Yeah.
John / Doran:One moment. I must do something. I'm gonna turn around and go back towards the entrance Mhmm. And look around to see if any cobalts have been tailing us.
Tim / GM:I think not. Okay.
John / Doran:Yeah. None are near the door?
Tim / GM:No. Okay. You don't see any.
Hannah / Eryn:We distracted them with the food pretty good.
John / Doran:Yeah. Okay. Good. Yeah. Snack was just concerned about his siblings following, so I'm going to shut the door using thaumaturgy.
Tim / GM:Okay.
John / Doran:And that's it.
Tim / GM:Yeah. You guys are free to take a long rest in this area without fear of interruption.
Hannah / Eryn:Can I tell if any of these plants are anything good?
Tim / GM:You do find some good moss in here. A little bit of it.
Thomas / Guy:Love a good moss.
Hannah / Eryn:You know what? Actually, that encounter with the spider made me think about the time was it you, Bert, that stuck the moss in your ears?
Thomas / Guy:That was me.
Hannah / Eryn:Maybe we can fashion some sort of ear plug with this moss. Holly takes some good moss and tries to, use some components that she has. She has some crystal dust from the bismide stone that she ground up, and she just had in a little, like, tiny sack. And so she sprinkles it on, and she gets some water and kinda tries to make it like a little paste that's, like, squishy sort of Yeah. To see if she can make, like, little squishy earplugs.
Tim / GM:I think you're able to make a almost like a sort of clay putty Mhmm. That has a lot of this, like, kinda fuzzy, hairy moss in it. Mhmm. So it's a little tickly and itchy, but it'll it'll work for what you want it to.
Hannah / Eryn:Cool.
Tim / GM:Should protect you against sonic effects.
Hannah / Eryn:I'm gonna work on just trying to make earplugs for everybody.
Tim / GM:Okay.
Hannah / Eryn:Well, these should work pretty well if, we need to go to another concert by a spider, and Holly gives everyone these earplugs. Cool.
Thomas / Guy:Nice, Holly.
Speaker 4:So red dragons are fire.
Tim / GM:Mhmm. I'm
Speaker 4:gonna preemptively switch my patch. Mhmm. Maybe I do the Bart patch for now.
John / Doran:Yeah. Tibia, was it you that had mage armor?
Tim / GM:Mhmm.
John / Doran:I don't know if it makes sense to re play it, but that's super handy for snack. You did that once, and I didn't ask at that time, but I just wanted to mention it.
Tim / GM:Yeah. You're all kind of, laid out next to this waterfall under the glow of a a large blue mushroom kind of sitting in the long fluffy moss here in a circle talking to each other?
John / Doran:Unless we speak with Idris another time or try to, I believe the order is to kill Vixxie.
Thomas / Guy:That's the plan.
Speaker 8:That is a a large request.
Speaker 4:Did he say kill?
Speaker 8:There's an implication.
Tim / GM:Yeah. He said to take care of the problem.
Thomas / Guy:Are we gonna hit him head on or do we try to play some mind games?
Hannah / Eryn:Well, we keep hearing that he likes to sleep at nighttime. I I don't know if there's some way we could surprise attack.
Speaker 7:And keep in mind, we are not dealing with Vixi. Right now, we are dealing with Joe as Vixi.
Speaker 4:Which means Joe is around.
Thomas / Guy:That's right. I don't even know if trying to appeal to Vixi's weaknesses
Speaker 7:It may not work.
Thomas / Guy:Yeah. Because Joe is the one in control here.
Hannah / Eryn:Well, I mean, Joe has to sleep at some point too. Right? So maybe that's why Vixi is sleeping so much because Joe can't control him all the time.
Thomas / Guy:That makes a lot of sense.
Speaker 4:So he tells him to sleep.
Thomas / Guy:Yeah. So if we ambush him at night
Hannah / Eryn:We might not be getting Joe.
Thomas / Guy:We might be getting a bit of Ixiv before Joe wakes up.
Speaker 7:It is possible. Do we want that, or do we want to attack during the day?
Speaker 4:Is is the game plan to find Joe?
Hannah / Eryn:I mean, some of us could try.
Speaker 7:I don't think it is a good idea to split up. It should be one or the other.
Speaker 4:Joe is definitely the root of the problem. We'll have
Hannah / Eryn:to see when we get there. I mean, unless we can have eyes on him, I don't know if we'll be able to even
Speaker 8:Yes. It's
Hannah / Eryn:get there.
Speaker 7:One thing that it comes down to is we know where Big Xi is. We do not know where Joe is.
Speaker 4:But Joe would have to be in this mountain.
Tim / GM:That's right. He's gotta be close. Within a 1000 feet, I think. That was the number.
Speaker 4:So wherever the dragon is, Joe isn't far behind.
Hannah / Eryn:I think that Uli has a really good point. If Joe is in sight, maybe we should try to gear our attention towards Joe first if we can.
Speaker 7:Maybe while the dragon is sleeping, we search for Joe.
Speaker 4:Yeah.
Thomas / Guy:That's not a bad idea.
Hannah / Eryn:Start there instead of straight on attacking.
Thomas / Guy:But keep in mind, we could take out Joe, and then we're just dealing with a regular angry dragon.
Speaker 4:Well, we talked about not killing Joe.
Thomas / Guy:We might need Joe alive to help us with this Vindorn problem.
Speaker 4:The problem with finding him first is we have a very small window because as soon as he knows, he will turn the dragon on us.
Thomas / Guy:None of us has passed without trace. Right?
Speaker 4:I don't think so. We have someone who's been going totally invisible.
Thomas / Guy:Alright. So the plan is wait until nighttime, try to find Joe. Well, then what?
Hannah / Eryn:Well, I mean, if we're near Joe, maybe he can't get the dragon to, like, flame us, you know, or whatever. He's gonna hurt himself. So trying to stay close to him might be a good strategy.
Speaker 8:Keep him hostage from himself?
Speaker 4:Yeah. I was thinking taking him away Mhmm. For a second would break his connection, like, if he was in another plane.
Thomas / Guy:Sure. I do think there's a non zero chance that Joe is in a mental state where he hates us so much that he might not mind being roasted alive by a dragon if it meant getting us to.
Speaker 4:I think non zero is underselling it.
Speaker 7:And if we are able to subdue him fast enough, then it won't matter. He won't get the chance.
Tim / GM:Emery throws a pebble into the pond by the waterfall, and he says, how do we know what time it is?
Hannah / Eryn:A nature check.
Speaker 8:Well, you roll a d 20, Ari. And,
Speaker 4:I guess we're in the mountain. Right? Can I phase into the ring?
Tim / GM:Yeah. So you see Dave is, like, in, like, a sitting down position, then he's, like, holding something in his hands.
Speaker 4:I can't see anything around him, though.
Tim / GM:No. I can only just see Dave.
Speaker 4:Holding something?
Tim / GM:Mhmm. Is
Speaker 4:he, like, interacting with
Tim / GM:He's holding it with both of his hands, and then every now and then, he just, like, raises both of his hands. Then he kinda, like, shakes his head to side to side.
Speaker 4:Can I try and figure out what he's doing?
Tim / GM:Yeah. You spend a little time just watching him. Eventually, you're pretty sure he's fishing off the dock.
Speaker 4:Okay. Given my land flight knowledge, what time of day do you think it might be that he's fishing?
Tim / GM:The best fishing is at morning and night. You know that.
Speaker 4:Okay.
Tim / GM:But it could be anytime.
Speaker 4:I'm thinking it might be morning or night.
Thomas / Guy:K. Have we traveled more than a mile in here?
John / Doran:I can figure this out, I think. I use druidcraft to know what the weather is currently.
Tim / GM:I think he's also a druid.
Speaker 4:Why do you have druidcraft?
John / Doran:Because D and D Beyond. Yeah. I've got this because of the lotus white lotus flower because this spell lets me, like, make something bloom.
Tim / GM:Okay.
John / Doran:But This actually does allow me to know whether for the next 24 hours. Okay. It doesn't say explicitly, but I would think I could maybe get a sense of time of day, maybe.
Speaker 4:You know what? If it's raining out.
John / Doran:Well, if it's sunny, then it's probably not nighttime.
Tim / GM:Zach,
Hannah / Eryn:That's true.
Tim / GM:It is early morning. You guys were traveling all night.
John / Doran:It is early in the bright time, I believe.
Speaker 4:Yeah. See, that's what I said.
John / Doran:Yes.
Speaker 8:Or the other one.
Thomas / Guy:Okay. So we take a rest, and we should be ready when everybody's asleep in.
Speaker 4:Okay. And we don't wanna be kobolds again. Not necessary.
Thomas / Guy:Holly, are you alright with that?
Hannah / Eryn:Yeah. I think it's probably for the best.
John / Doran:Time to say goodbye? I would feel more comfortable if I'm the only one talking like this. This was fun though. I felt I felt attention.
Hannah / Eryn:Yeah. It was nice to kind of see the world from your perspective, Snack. Also very freeing.
Speaker 4:And if you ever wanna talk about your family, we're here.
Hannah / Eryn:Well, we're your family now.
John / Doran:Thank you.
Speaker 4:Your birth family.
John / Doran:Yes. Well, let's see if we survive the next 24 hours, and then perhaps I will take you up on this offer.
Speaker 4:Okay. Good day, everybody. Oh, yeah. It'll be actually odd.
Speaker 8:That was a real yawn. Tibia makes his little bone cot and falls asleep.
Tim / GM:Okay. Yeah. You all, curl up on the soft moss here and, have one of the most relaxing naps you've ever had in your life. You are so secure and so warm in this little chamber. It's, it's a shame to think of what's about to come.
Tim / GM:You all wake up and and spend a pleasant moment just kind of basking in the warmth and comfort here, and then it, sort of dawns on you that it's time to fight a dragon.
Thomas / Guy:Alright. We saw how it helped Dor. Now I got a death ward to give up.
Hannah / Eryn:Who's died the most? Me and Tibio?
Thomas / Guy:I am me, I think. Yes.
Speaker 4:Yeah. Stop giving shit to NPCs.
Thomas / Guy:Tibio, you're able to kinda help us out with that phone armor of yours. Right? Like, bring people back from the brink of death? So I'm kind of inclined to give it to Tibio.
Speaker 4:And and I'm prepared to heal people Yes. Thunderously.
Speaker 7:I remember a while ago, I cast mage armor on you. Is that something that was that okay? Can I do that again?
John / Doran:Oh, yes, Tibia. That was very handy.
Speaker 8:I cast mage armor on Snack.
Thomas / Guy:I guess death ward on Tibia.
Speaker 4:Does anyone need fire resistance?
Speaker 8:I've Probably all of us.
Thomas / Guy:Probably all of us can use it.
Speaker 4:Well, I'm I'm fire resistant already, and I think snack is too.
John / Doran:Mhmm.
Speaker 4:So I can give protection to from energy to someone if they
Thomas / Guy:as much as I hate to say it, I'm probably gonna be up in Vixi's grill a little bit more than the others.
Speaker 4:I will give you protection from fire.
Thomas / Guy:Thanks, Uli.
Speaker 4:You're welcome. I just have to make sure I don't surge. Nope. We're good. Okay.
Thomas / Guy:Well, is that all our buffs for today?
Hannah / Eryn:Holly's gonna cast false life on herself. And I really like this spell because it's like a it says one of the components is a little bit of spirits or alcohol. Mhmm. So Holly pulls a tiny little vial of it's like vodka, basically. And she takes some mushroom, like, decay just from the cave floor a little bit, and she, shakes up the vial and then does it in one shot.
Hannah / Eryn:And I'm gonna cast it at a second level to give myself 9 plus 1 d 4 temporary hit points.
Tim / GM:Okay.
Hannah / Eryn:And plus 3. So 12 temporary hit points. Sweet.
Tim / GM:Emery is tightening up his gear a little bit and oiling his blade and, seems to be muttering prayers to that spirit that lives inside him. You can tell that he's he's legitimately nervous about this next move. He stands with the rest of you, and he's kinda the last one to join the ranks. And you're all kind of gathering up the hill a little bit on this moss where the next door leads in. You can see just the sliver of, like, sunsetting daylight coming from the chamber ahead of you.
Thomas / Guy:Emery, thank you for joining us. You didn't have to do this. Maybe it's a little late to be telling you that.
Speaker 4:But, also, he's, like, partially responsible for all all the Joe stuff.
Tim / GM:I appreciate that. And, well, thanks for not giving up right away, I guess. Yeah.
Speaker 4:On you?
Tim / GM:Yeah. I was headed in a bad direction, I think, and, you all stopped that. So I owe you this, at least.
Speaker 7:Everyone deserves a second chance, Henri. You you have already turned it around.
Tim / GM:He looks up at you and says, not everyone gets one.
John / Doran:Emery, if I don't make it through this, you may have my immortal donkey.
Tim / GM:He, gives you kind of like a a reverent nod, like, trying not to break the severity of the situation. He says, I'll I'll take care of bidet. Sure.
Speaker 4:Is bidet still on your lamp?
John / Doran:No. Bidet is with door. Mhmm.
Speaker 4:Oh, that's right. Okay.
Tim / GM:Who is going to open the door? Snack
John / Doran:will Snack will do this. I will use thaumaturgy to open the door. Okay.
Tim / GM:As you open the door, snack, pink sunlight splashes over your group, and it's blinding for a moment. You enter the mountain caldera. A naturally round volcanic chamber so large that the far end is barely visible in the sulfurous haze. The chamber is mostly covered by a dome of rock except for a break in the western wall. Falling snow sparkles in the pink sunset as cold mountain air sends a flurry drifting down.
Tim / GM:There's a distant howling wind, and you hear the turning of a great wooden wheel beneath a waterfall. A pristine lake covers half the caldera with a narrow wall of cooled rock separating it from a pit of thinly crusted magma. A great bridge extends across the caldera. Another set of stairs on the other end of this bridge leads up to a doorway much like the one you're standing in now, mirrored on the other end. It is hot in here.
Tim / GM:It is hard to breathe through the volcanic haze and ash in this room. The general layout is there's a giant bridge that goes across this whole circle. On one side on the left is a lake. On the right side is pure magma, just a pool of it, But it's crusted over, so it's not bright or, like, orange y. It's just sort of a dark ash, but you can see every now and then it'll crack open and bubbles send magma spilling into the air.
Thomas / Guy:Damn, it's hot here.
Tim / GM:Do we see Joe? You don't see anyone. No dragon, no Joe.
Hannah / Eryn:Is there any sort of there's no structure or anything that looks man made?
Tim / GM:There is. Just that one bridge that runs through here is a man made bridge that runs from, the thing that you're on, you have to, like, go downstairs a little bit to cross the bridge, and then you'd go upstairs to get in the exit on the other side.
Thomas / Guy:And is it, like, separated by the bridge? Like, it
Tim / GM:Actually, the
Thomas / Guy:Is the hot pot separator?
Tim / GM:The the hot pot separator is actually made of cooled magma where the water meets the magma.
Thomas / Guy:Oh, sure.
Tim / GM:Okay. What they built the bridge on Oh, okay. Was that meeting center.
Speaker 4:So it goes down that center point of
Tim / GM:and
Hannah / Eryn:you said it's domed down the ceiling?
Tim / GM:Yeah. It's almost completely covered except for the break in the western wall where the waterfall comes in.
Speaker 8:Okay. That's where all the light No. Because the light comes from magma also.
Tim / GM:A little bit.
Thomas / Guy:If you're gonna fall off, I recommend the water side.
Speaker 8:Would you rather be boiled or incinerated?
Hannah / Eryn:Can't does anyone detect people?
Thomas / Guy:I cast detect people.
John / Doran:I already looked for Joe, and I did not see him.
Thomas / Guy:You know what? I'll cast locate objects to try to find Joe's juglung that has a 1,000 foot range.
Hannah / Eryn:Yeah. Nice.
Tim / GM:It is directly ahead of you.
Speaker 4:Mhmm.
Thomas / Guy:Ah, shit. Joe's up there.
Tim / GM:Joe is in the other exit side of this place in the kind of mirrored stairway that you're in right now.
Hannah / Eryn:You can't it looks closed, though, like a door. You don't see it open?
Tim / GM:You actually can't you can barely even see that door. It's it's pretty hazy in here, and it's it's so far away. It's like, I hate to say this, but it's like multiple football fields away from you guys.
Hannah / Eryn:How many feet would you say?
Tim / GM:Like, 600 plus. Okay. Should
Hannah / Eryn:I, try to dimension door over there?
Thomas / Guy:I think I can take a peek through the door, actually.
Hannah / Eryn:From here?
Speaker 8:All with your scary crazy eyeball.
Thomas / Guy:But this will just be a clairvoyance.
Speaker 8:Oh, never mind.
Thomas / Guy:And put it, like, right outside the door if I can.
Tim / GM:Okay. You see much more clearly. It's like an exact, like, copy of the door frame that you would see on your side, the stairway underneath it and everything. The difference is the frame of the door to your sensor appears opaque white. Almost like somebody just forgot to animate it.
Tim / GM:You don't see that same whiteness when you're looking at it with the naked eye from a distance.
Hannah / Eryn:It's warded? Is that what that means?
Thomas / Guy:That's very strange. Something something's different about that door when I look through my magic eye.
Speaker 4:What about your telescope, kaleidoscope thing?
Thomas / Guy:Oh, I could try that.
Speaker 8:Does that have a zoom feature?
Tim / GM:Yeah. We'll see so.
Thomas / Guy:Great. I think I never wrote down, like, what the different
Tim / GM:filters are. Yeah.
Hannah / Eryn:There's one that can see through walls. I remember that because I was like, that's so cool. Superman. Is it super no. X-ray man?
Hannah / Eryn:Some man.
Tim / GM:It was X-ray man. Alright. Okay. What? Okay.
Tim / GM:Yeah. You you take out the kaleidoscope and twist it to, increase the sort of zoom. Mhmm.
John / Doran:You got
Tim / GM:a you got a 5 x optical zoom on there.
Speaker 4:Mhmm. It's
Tim / GM:pretty good. It's no Carl Zeiss, but you zoom in on the door frame. And with the naked eye, you can see through that frame, and you can see movement in there. It's it's dark, but you can see something moving. When you shift the lenses in there, you look through the magic one, and you can see that there is an abjuration effect on this door, indeed a ward Yeah.
Tim / GM:That is protecting him from being invaded. Looking through the walls though, you can see pretty dimly that there is a large, large mass in there, and there is a smaller mass moving about.
Speaker 8:We did not guess that the Joe and the dragon would be together. We did not guess that.
Speaker 4:We assumed he'd just be hiding somewhere else.
Thomas / Guy:Yeah. I think they're both through their folks.
Hannah / Eryn:Well, why don't we try to stealth up to the door, I guess, as best we can?
Speaker 7:I can make 3 or 4 of us invisible.
Hannah / Eryn:I can do myself.
Tim / GM:You've all been standing here for more than a minute at this point. You see the giant water wheel that's under the waterfall. There's a large mechanism underneath it. It's this, sort of, long beam. It's like an aqueduct that holds water.
Tim / GM:But once it has gathered enough water from the water wheel, the whole thing tips upward and dumps water into the mountain below, and you can hear, like, all of these machinations happening below. You can hear traps go off, you can hear flames roar, and you hear a scream.
Speaker 4:So it happens every minute.
Tim / GM:Yeah. And then you see the aqueduct, like, slam back into position, and it begins to fill up with water on the wall.
Thomas / Guy:Mechanism looks old. Right? Very. Okay.
Hannah / Eryn:Wow. That's how all the traps are working.
John / Doran:Hey. Cool.
Speaker 4:Let's destroy it.
Hannah / Eryn:Maybe after we take care of Joe.
Thomas / Guy:I can say I'm not thrilled with the idea of fighting him here. There's not a lot of space.
Speaker 4:I don't know where else we would do it.
Speaker 7:If we set up by the door and all wait right outside it, we would get the element of surprise if they came out.
Hannah / Eryn:1 of us should hide out or a couple of us by the door, invisible. The rest of us can create a distraction maybe with the wheel. Draw them out.
Thomas / Guy:Well, I like Holly's plan. Try to set an ambush.
Speaker 7:But we only need one person to destroy the water wheel, and then the rest of us can be by the door already.
John / Doran:What if I go and speak with the dragon delivering the news from Idris? It's not
Thomas / Guy:implausible that you could have left us and gone on your own.
Tim / GM:You all here.
John / Doran:Hey. Hey.
Hannah / Eryn:We looked around.
Tim / GM:You all kind of, like, spin around it, looking for this echoing voice, but the way it's rebounding off all of the circular walls here, it's impossible to tell where it's actually coming from.
Speaker 8:I look at the water wheel.
Tim / GM:You look at the water wheel and you see a dark spot, near the top of the waterfall.
Thomas / Guy:I pull out my kaleidoscope again.
Tim / GM:Bert, you barely get a lock on it as you twist the scope to zoom in and see Law taking off from the top of the waterfall. And he is flying towards your group, and he's going he's like, hey. Hey, if you
Speaker 1:guys are doing this, I'm part of it too.
Tim / GM:And he flies over and lands on the bridge. And he's like, y'all, I'm ready.
Speaker 7:Okay. But you just be quiet.
Tim / GM:Any day perception check from each of you.
Speaker 4:13?
John / Doran:12.
Speaker 8:21. 22. 18.
Thomas / Guy:No. 23. Sorry.
Tim / GM:18, 21, 22. That's Holly, Bert, and Tibeo. You all see as law lands, and there's a sort of a underlayer of this bridge, a second tier a little bit lower down. You see cobalts creep out from underneath that tier, and they start crawling up the side of the bridge toward Law as he's walking towards you guys. He's like, I couldn't believe it.
Speaker 1:I I've been watching this guy for days and hoping that something would happen, that something would change, and here's what
Speaker 9:you are.
Speaker 7:What jokes?
John / Doran:Behind you, Law.
Tim / GM:He, like, turns and, like, looks off the edge and goes,
Speaker 1:oh, shit.
Tim / GM:And he, like, runs to get closer to you guys, and then you hear
Speaker 4:Good fucking lord, man. Couldn't keep your beak shut. If we're going invisible, we're doing it now.
Tim / GM:At the end of the bridge, in the hazy shadows between the smoke and steam, a pair of blazing snake eyes startle awake. And then the head lowers and the eyes begin to dull, and the expression relaxes on the face of the dragon. It takes a few steps out of this warded archway, and you can see the magic fight against its skin as it strides through without without issue. Well, it stands on its hind legs for a moment, shakes off a thin layer of volcanic ash revealing crimson scales like molten glass, and it speaks to you. Why?
Speaker 9:Why are you hunting me? For lamplight? For Buster?
Speaker 1:I let him live. How many times have I let you live after you've ruined me?
Speaker 9:You have no idea. Wasting
Speaker 1:your time on petty grudges when Orzo is going to turn it all to dust.
Tim / GM:I came so close, twice,
Speaker 1:to raising a formidable force. Something that could take swift coordinated action against him. And twice,
Tim / GM:you ruined me. But now, Vikshi strides towards you on the bridge, and as he moves away from the wall, large tubes pull away from his flesh, spilling liquid all over the ground. No. Rose colored potion spills onto the floor and drips down the stairs. Roll initiative.
Speaker 8:Mother. Alright, guys. This is a new rule. No more long planning before combat.
Speaker 4:I mean, at least we have better ideas of what we're doing now. Yeah.
John / Doran:I mean, 10.
Thomas / Guy:Probably wasn't that good of a plan anyway.
John / Doran:About how many kobolds, Tim?
Tim / GM:Hard to say. They're still coming, but you see at least 10.
Thomas / Guy:They're probably fans of victory.
John / Doran:Yeah. I'll say to the party, I will deal with the kobolds first.
Thomas / Guy:Are you sure, Snake?
Tim / GM:Yes. Alright. So I've got my side done. Let's get party initiatives starting with Holly.
Hannah / Eryn:15.
Thomas / Guy:19.
Speaker 4:Tib? 23.
Tim / GM:Let's kill
Thomas / Guy:him in one round, guys.
Tim / GM:Kill him in one hit.
John / Doran:Snack 10.
Tim / GM:And Uli?
Speaker 4:17.
Tim / GM:Okay. Alright. Tibio. Uh-oh. Of all people, you have the first move here.
Speaker 8:Alright. Tibio steps forward on the bridge a little bit
Tim / GM:Mhmm.
Speaker 8:And reaches out to either side, both physically and necromantically, and then casts, Thomas Mcabre Mhmm. And, calls out to the skeletons in the area Mhmm. The bones nearby Mhmm. To create 5 skeletons. Okay.
Speaker 8:Five Skelly buds.
Tim / GM:Yeah. You reconstruct the skeletons of recently consumed beasts, that the dragon had brought in here. So you literally see, like, horse bones, like, assembling and, like, cows and people, kobolds, of course, all sorts of things that are ready to take your orders. They're all at the bottom of the bridge at on the, like, magma run or whatever where the cooled magma is.
Speaker 8:Okay. So they'd
Tim / GM:have to climb a bit to kinda get up where you guys are.
John / Doran:Yeah. I want them to get up to where we are versus the kobolds Okay. Basically. Yeah. They'll be up there at the
Speaker 8:end of their turn. Yeah. I'll just contact you. I don't basically.
Tim / GM:Yeah. They'll be up there at the end of their turn to
John / Doran:Yeah.
Speaker 4:I'll just expect to
Speaker 8:I don't want them to do anything different from that. So just as things go along, I want them to do that. K. And then so the dragon is right outside that door?
Tim / GM:Yeah. It is on the bridge. You guys are on the same level as the dragon. Now you're all on the bridge.
Speaker 8:Okay. Okay. I'm gonna I'm gonna start moving that way.
Tim / GM:Okay. Next up is Bert and then Uly Holly.
Thomas / Guy:So the only one in imminent danger is Law because he's kinda getting surrounded by kobolds. Is that right?
Tim / GM:Law is, like, halfway across the bridge.
Thomas / Guy:Would you have me do, like, an insight check or something to tell if Law is fully in control?
Tim / GM:Yeah. Insight.
Thomas / Guy:Because I want to trust him. 18.
Tim / GM:Okay. Gathering from what you had seen in your scrying on Law, he was even, like, purging it from himself when he was under control. Yeah. You get the sense that Law has a pretty good resistance to this stuff or is able to overcome it and knows its danger. You you are almost a 100% confident that law is on your side.
Thomas / Guy:I guess I will move, like, 25 feet forward. K. Can I send the book to protect law? Is that too much of a range?
Tim / GM:Yeah. You can send the book to do it, but it won't get there by the or by his next turn. It's got a a top speed.
Thomas / Guy:Yeah. I'll do that. Okay. That's the only thing it really
Tim / GM:does. Yeah. It's on its way.
Thomas / Guy:In combat. Yeah. And then I will cast bless on the 5 real people.
Tim / GM:Okay. Here. So not Emory? Correct. Okay.
Tim / GM:That brings us to Uli and then Holly.
Speaker 4:I guess I'm gonna try and get closer. How close can I get if I run?
Tim / GM:You can double your movement speed if you run.
Speaker 4:So 60 feet. Mhmm. I'll go my normal speed Mhmm. And then I will ready.
Tim / GM:And what's the action?
Speaker 4:If the dragon starts flying towards us, I'd like to magic missile.
Tim / GM:Okay. Alright. Holly, your turn.
Hannah / Eryn:Question. Mhmm. If I am invisible, is my and I fly in my broom, is my broom invisible? No. Okay.
John / Doran:Just an
Thomas / Guy:innocent flying broom.
Speaker 7:Nothing
Tim / GM:to see here.
Hannah / Eryn:I'm going to cast mislead on myself. Self. Mhmm. 5th level spell. Yeah.
Hannah / Eryn:I become invisible, but an illusionary double takes over my spot. Illusory, Holly, is gonna kinda just try to draw back into the cave a little bit.
Tim / GM:Okay.
Hannah / Eryn:And invisible Holly is going to she's gonna try to get to a spot where she's out of danger but can kinda keep eyes on things. She's still facing the caldera and looking at everything, but just sort of wedged in. So, like, she's not in the middle of anything, but she's just after the side because I'm gonna cast a different spell when I'm next turn. So that's my game plan.
Tim / GM:Cool. So, yeah, you're kind of, like, at the very start of the bridge at the bottom of the stairs. Law, is gonna go. Seeing all the kobolds that are crawling up the side of the bridge, he takes another couple of quick sprinting steps and then throws out his wings again to fly towards you, and spends his turn doing that. Next up are the kobolds, which continue to climb.
Tim / GM:You see, about 5 of them have reached the top of the bridge and are chasing after Law towards you guys. You can see another group of them that are still climbing and more yet, that are underneath the bridge. Anyone who's paying attention would count about 20 kobolds in total.
Speaker 4:And my skellies.
John / Doran:I'm in
Speaker 7:my bathroom.
Tim / GM:Yeah. A
Speaker 8:cow walking straight up a wall.
Tim / GM:Snack, it is your turn, and then Emery.
John / Doran:I use my movement to get closer to the stairs Mhmm. Or go as far as I can. Am I at the bridge?
Tim / GM:Yeah. Yeah.
John / Doran:Okay. I'm going to use mass suggestion, which lets me target up to 12 creatures
Tim / GM:Okay.
John / Doran:Of my choice that I can see. Mhmm. So you said I can there's 5 that are up on the bridge, but I can see about 20 total?
Tim / GM:Yeah. Okay.
John / Doran:This is the command I'll give. Fellow kobolds, grab one of your allies and bring them back into the mossy cave now. So they have to make a wisdom save against this.
Thomas / Guy:Okay. Kobalts are very wise.
Tim / GM:Yeah. You okay with a collective roll here?
John / Doran:That's fine if you let me there's When? I guess that's fair. Yep. Sure.
Tim / GM:We'll do we'll do 3.
John / Doran:Okay.
Tim / GM:So, I got a 7. I'm gonna actually give them a penalty to wisdom instead of a bonus.
John / Doran:That checks out. Yep.
Tim / GM:Yeah. So that is 4 that you have at least. That is an 8 with penalties. That's, 8 total kobolds. The last group rolled an 18.
Tim / GM:Even with penalties, we'll bring that down to a 16. Where's that?
John / Doran:That's still fail. That's still fail? Yeah. Okay.
Speaker 8:How?
Tim / GM:It says charisma.
Thomas / Guy:Because your charisma is or your spell I see is 18, right?
John / Doran:Yep. The fuck? Okay. So I I asked them to grab a fellow kobold Yeah. To try to get the rest.
John / Doran:Okay. That's kind of a stretch, but
Tim / GM:Yeah. Yeah. So, yeah, I think, 12 of them, like, grab the ankles of other climbers and, like, drag them down or drag them up. Like, 2 of them at the top just kind of, like, put their arms around each other and start walking. Like, so it backfires a little bit in that not every suggested kobold took an unsugested kobold.
Tim / GM:This is what the suggested kobolds went together.
John / Doran:I snacked and not think of this.
Tim / GM:You see a couple of other kobolds that are, like, wrestling with each other. They're both trying to, like, yank each other into the moss room, but they struggle and fail, and they fall off the bridge into the magma. And they just burst through the crust, and you can see them both just like reach up as they sink below.
Speaker 8:Oh boy. Gollum style.
John / Doran:Alright. And for my bonus action, I will look at Vik Shee and I will say, you are mine, and I'll cast hex on it.
Tim / GM:Okay. Cool. What are you hexing?
John / Doran:Vik Shee.
Tim / GM:Or what does?
John / Doran:Oh, sorry. Dexterity. K.
Thomas / Guy:That's a good move, Snack. Oh, we'll have to work on the legal text.
John / Doran:Yes. Yes. Tibio, we need to speak after this.
Speaker 4:Okay.
Tim / GM:Tibio, you look back and the first thing you see is Emery, just, like, pelting past you with his long sword already out and are already aglow, just pop, pop, pop, pop, pop, pop, pop, pop, pop, down the bridge towards Law and towards Vicki.
Speaker 8:Damn.
Tim / GM:Next up is Vicki.
Speaker 4:Fucking great.
Tim / GM:This round was a gift. Vixi is still waking up. He took no legendary actions.
Thomas / Guy:Thank you, DM. Thank you, chef.
Tim / GM:Bless you, DM. He's still going to take his turn now.
Speaker 4:Oh. That's not a gift.
Tim / GM:He he skipped his three other actions he could have taken during this round. What the fuck? We're gonna die. Yeah. Vixi stands on his hind legs again.
Tim / GM:Some of the bridge crumbles beneath his feet as he pushes off the ground, gives a giant flap of his wings causing some of that crusted magma to fold over. When he takes to the sky, he begins to fly down the length of the bridge, breathing deeply as he does, and then you see this blue flame start in the back of his throat and then billow outward with black smoke and as it hits the bridge and incinerates a couple of cobalts that were still climbing, continues down the length of the bridge and gets closer and closer to your group. I need everyone to make the deck save of their lives.
Speaker 4:How close is it to me?
Tim / GM:Yeah. Your magic missile definitely goes off.
Speaker 4:Okay. Should I do deck save first?
Tim / GM:We'll have your action go off since you were, like, totally ready for that. What do you
John / Doran:you don't have to roll for magic missile?
Speaker 4:I had to roll for a surge
John / Doran:Oh, okay. Yeah.
Speaker 4:Which I have done.
Thomas / Guy:For for what?
Speaker 4:For the magic missile that I readied. Oh. Do I surge first or magic missile first?
Tim / GM:Magic missile first.
Thomas / Guy:Everything is fire.
John / Doran:This is, like Surge. Magic stack stuff going on right now.
Tim / GM:Yeah. I mean, we have, like, resolve order.
Speaker 4:Twelve magic missile damage.
John / Doran:K. We do have some of us have, inspiration.
Speaker 8:Yes. You should all have Bardic inspiration still.
Hannah / Eryn:Yeah. Holly's gonna use a luck.
Thomas / Guy:Wow.
Tim / GM:You all see magic missiles, burst out of Uli and pelt against the dragon as it's flying. You can't tell if the dragon noticed that it was hit. Yeah. As it flies, they just kind of disappear into its wing.
Speaker 4:My surge gives me a spectral shield for the next minute that gives me a plus 2 to my AC and immunity to magic missile. Okay. Which is funny. Yeah. And then I make my deck save.
Speaker 4:Yes?
Tim / GM:Mhmm. I
Speaker 4:am I like to imagine that everyone is darting out of the way, and I'm, like, still holding my ground.
John / Doran:Yeah.
Speaker 4:And, like, someone's, like, holy fucking move. 17?
Tim / GM:Okay. Let me real quick, let's get all those, saves in rapid fire here starting with, Holly. 5.
Thomas / Guy:Bert. 19.
Speaker 8:7.
Tim / GM:20. 17. All of you fail.
Speaker 8:What? Oh, so we didn't even need to roll?
Speaker 4:No. How is that even avoidable?
Speaker 8:It ain't.
Speaker 4:So how much fire
Thomas / Guy:did it? My my max would have been a 25.
John / Doran:Yeah. I could have done better. Okay.
Tim / GM:I apologize for the number you're about to hear.
Speaker 4:Oh. Oh, no.
Tim / GM:A lot of you have resistance to fire.
John / Doran:That's true.
Speaker 4:3 of us.
Tim / GM:The flames roll over all of you. Every person on that bridge takes 68 fire damage.
Speaker 4:Except for the ones resistant to it.
Tim / GM:For the ones resistant to fire. Is that me?
Thomas / Guy:So that's 34. Yes.
Speaker 4:I thought I gave it to Bert. Yeah.
Tim / GM:I got it.
Speaker 8:Never mind. It wasn't me. Okay.
Hannah / Eryn:So if I have 12 temporary hit points, I can lose those first. Yep. Okay. Who got the death ward?
Thomas / Guy:Tibia.
Speaker 4:Oh, thank god.
Tim / GM:Okay. As a sort of icing on the cake on top of that, the dragon perches on the platform where you guys started and shrieks so loud that you see rocks crumble off of the walls into the lake and into the magma. It uses its frightful presence. Everyone needs to make a wisdom saving throw or become terrified of the dragon.
Thomas / Guy:Yo, this shit magic?
Tim / GM:Yeah. Can
Thomas / Guy:I use this no ability once in this entire campaign?
Speaker 8:Me too.
Tim / GM:We'll say yes.
Speaker 4:Hey. Yeah. Wow.
John / Doran:I need his inspiration to reroll that. K. Fuck. I got a 22.
Tim / GM:Okay. That succeeds.
John / Doran:Okay.
Speaker 4:16.
Tim / GM:Fails?
Speaker 8:25.
Speaker 1:Succeeds? 14 fails?
Hannah / Eryn:18?
Tim / GM:Fails. Those of you who failed are terrified of the dragon, frightened rather. Your attacks have disadvantage against the dragon until you are able to overcome your fear. At the end of each of your turns, you get to make the save again. Once you make it, you are immune to this effect.
Speaker 8:I'm immune to fear anyway.
Tim / GM:There you go.
Thomas / Guy:Oh,
Tim / GM:not a problem. Alright. We are back at the top of the round with Tibio. Top of the round, Tia.
Speaker 4:We're all gonna die. We're fine. We're not fine. Well,
Speaker 8:he's giving up hope.
Speaker 4:Yeah. Tibeo has 1 HP. Tibeo has
Speaker 8:2 HP. Quit. And as a bonus action, he's slamming down his Ravenhelm.
Tim / GM:Okay.
Speaker 8:So that gives him 20 temporary HP.
Tim / GM:Nice.
Speaker 8:Nice. Yeah. We're fine.
Tim / GM:Yeah. Tibiote was fine. Super Iron Man. All the bones tighten up against him.
Speaker 8:So that was my bonus action.
Tim / GM:Your bone action.
Speaker 8:Yep. That too. And as my action, I am going to
Tim / GM:Vic, she's also within 60 feet of most of you at this point, perched on the door that you came in. I would say probably none of those cobalt made it home. Oh, no.
Speaker 4:So it's behind us now?
Tim / GM:Yeah. It's behind you.
Speaker 4:Fuck, man.
Thomas / Guy:What's his movement speed?
Tim / GM:His movement speed is bullshit.
Speaker 4:I didn't I don't know why you think we're at a level where we can kill the dragon.
Speaker 8:How far away from the other side am I where Joe is?
Tim / GM:You made some progress, so you're probably, like, just over 500 feet away.
Speaker 8:I'm gonna slap it to you, everybody.
Speaker 7:Is it more important to hit the dragon or get to Joe?
Speaker 8:Get to Joe. I'm gonna dash to Joe.
Thomas / Guy:Okay. I I think whether or not we get Joe, we're still finding a dragon.
John / Doran:I can be a lot faster than you, Tibio, if we need to get Joe.
Speaker 7:I think I can talk to him.
John / Doran:Okay. See you in 4 turns.
Thomas / Guy:It's gonna have to be one hell of a charisma check.
Speaker 4:Oh, fuck. Also, I have to make a concentration save on the protection from energy.
John / Doran:Mhmm. Yeah. That sucks.
Speaker 4:Yeah. 15 plus 3.
Tim / GM:Okay. Yep.
Speaker 4:Okay. You're
Tim / GM:fine. Tibio is sprinting down the bridge as fast as he possibly can. Bert, it is your turn.
Thomas / Guy:Bert is scared of this dragon.
Hannah / Eryn:Yeah. We're all terrified. Well, are you terrified?
Thomas / Guy:I sure am.
Hannah / Eryn:Me too. That's our telepathy conversation. I'm just scared.
Speaker 4:I'm just scared. Yeah.
Thomas / Guy:It's fucking scary.
Hannah / Eryn:Jesus. What have we done?
Thomas / Guy:Bert will drop a guardian of faith right at the base of the stairs. K. I ain't fighting this thing.
Tim / GM:Can't heal
Thomas / Guy:with bonus action. So my book was still on the way to law.
Tim / GM:Yeah. You guys can't see law.
Speaker 4:I was fried chicken.
Thomas / Guy:Oh, boy. Okay. Oh, no. I will recall the book. Who's up here with me?
Thomas / Guy:Anybody?
Tim / GM:Holly's pretty close to you. Tibio is the farthest across the bridge now. Snack, I believe, is on the bridge as well after having those massive just.
Thomas / Guy:I'm gonna I'm gonna redirect the book to Tibio.
Tim / GM:Okay. Yeah. The book gives up on its quest of trying to find law and doubles back for Tibio.
Thomas / Guy:Law not found. And then I will try to break this fear. Do I still get advantage because it's magic?
John / Doran:Yes. I forgot to roll concentration for hex. So, 14.
Tim / GM:Does not succeed also.
John / Doran:That time,
Thomas / Guy:I got a 29.
Tim / GM:Wow. Damn.
Thomas / Guy:To Lose fear. Fear
Tim / GM:that passes. Great.
Hannah / Eryn:Like this dragon? It's not so bad.
Thomas / Guy:Oh, I see. I got my statue friend.
Tim / GM:Alright. Uli and then Holly.
Speaker 4:So how far away is Tibio?
Tim / GM:From you, not too far. About 60 feet since he kind of spent his turn running last turn.
Speaker 4:And I don't know where Holly is?
Tim / GM:Correct.
Speaker 4:Yep. Okay. I'm gonna run towards Tibio. I guess I'm running away from the dragon. Right?
Speaker 4:Because I'm scared. I'm going to pop off a thunder wave of healing
Speaker 8:Mhmm. Oh, nice.
Speaker 4:For whoever's in a 15 foot cube of me when I do it.
Tim / GM:Okay. So up by Tibeo, it's it's probably just Tibeo and maybe Emery is close enough to get a little bit of that.
Speaker 4:Okay. So that is 7 HP. Woo hoo. Yes. Thank you.
Speaker 4:You're welcome. So I also get that too because it's an AOE, I think. Right? Mhmm. We decided.
Tim / GM:Thunderwave is. Yeah.
Speaker 4:Okay. And then I'm going to rage.
Tim / GM:Mhmm. Nice. And I'm
Speaker 4:going to pop up another thunder wave for that spell. 4 HP. Not a lot. Sorry.
Speaker 8:It's not nothing.
Speaker 4:Cool. A unicorn controlled by the DM appears in the space within 5 feet of me, then disappears a minute later. So there's also a unicorn that has joined the battle.
Tim / GM:Amidst all the chaos and burnt flesh that you can smell, you suddenly hear, hello. Steps onto the bridge and says, what is going on here? This is crazy.
Speaker 4:Oh, shit. I'm sorry. You might wanna run.
Tim / GM:He, like, looks down the side and says, hoo, long drop, and looks over to the magma side and says, even worse. What am I supposed to do here?
Speaker 4:Keep run run forever.
Tim / GM:Yeah. I guess it ran it spawned right near you, Uli, and so it just, like, charges down the length of the bridge.
John / Doran:It's too bad nobody was on that unicorn randomly.
Speaker 4:And that's my turn. Holly's
Hannah / Eryn:mouth just drops open as she's watching the unicorn appear out of nowhere. She's like, what the? Like, never seen one before.
Tim / GM:After Uli, it's Holly's turn.
Hannah / Eryn:Holly's gonna dimension door to Joe's hidey hidey hole.
Tim / GM:Okay. Yeah. From where you are, Holly, you are able to dimension door across the bridge. You are about a 100 feet away from the stairs that lead up to Joe's door.
Speaker 4:I'm gonna run, run, run Okay.
Hannah / Eryn:As far as I can go.
Tim / GM:Yeah. Use the rest of your turn, getting closer.
Speaker 4:I'm invisible. I'm invisible. Sneak.
Tim / GM:That's right. You're still invisible. K. Next up is snack. No sign of La or the kobolds.
Tim / GM:I see.
John / Doran:Is a dragon within 90 feet of me? Yes. Okay. I'm gonna hex it again. K.
John / Doran:And this time, I'll do constitution, I guess, as a disadvantage ability, and then I'm going to cast eldritch blast.
Thomas / Guy:Okay.
John / Doran:Alright. 1st oh, actually, hold on. Question on my item, the bracers.
Tim / GM:Mhmm.
John / Doran:What action or does it cost an action to use them for okay.
Tim / GM:It's a free action to, like, activate them.
John / Doran:Okay. So I'm gonna be using radiant energy just in case that is relevant. Eldritch Blast number 1. 26 to hit.
Tim / GM:That hits.
John / Doran:You paused too long there. Sorry. It's fine. It just made me nervous. 30 to
Tim / GM:hit. Yep.
John / Doran:Alright. And natural 20. Whoo. Woah. Okay.
Speaker 4:Roll it.
Tim / GM:Roll it.
John / Doran:Roll it.
Hannah / Eryn:Roll it.
Tim / GM:One more roll? Please. Yeah. Double crit.
John / Doran:Oh. Okay. Alright. So I'll I'll handle the first two attacks because there's a lot of dice involved here. Okay.
Thomas / Guy:So You get 3 hits.
John / Doran:Three hits. Yeah. Yeah. Plus a crit. Yeah.
John / Doran:Yeah. Maybe this is it.
Tim / GM:And this is radiant damage?
John / Doran:Oh, radiant. Yeah. Cool. 28, 38, 46, and then for the crit, 38 for the critical hit. Nice.
Tim / GM:So the first one kind of like pelts into him and then he almost like puffs out his chest when it hits him to show you how little it hurts. The second one kinda hits in the same place, and you see him actually flinch at that one. And then the last one, you actually get in his eye, and he just like shuts it tight, and you hear this and, it looks straight down at you after that with its good eye just kind of bursting with rage. Next up is Emri. Emri, takes out his sword again, Tibio and Uli being near him.
Tim / GM:You can see this dangling brass necklace that he's got on. You think he might be a little apprehensive about fire at this point in his life and has made measures to protect himself against that kind of thing. Mhmm. He he did not seem to be too terribly harmed by the fire breath that rolled over him. Okay.
Tim / GM:He begins to sprint back the other way towards the dragon. He sees the unicorn as he's running, and he holds out a hand to grab its horn, and he tries to whip himself on top of the unicorn, and he succeeds.
Speaker 4:Oh. Yes.
Tim / GM:He he throws himself up onto the unicorn. Let's say his shirt is, like, mostly burned off and he's, like, listening with this necklace on. And, he just kinda gives it, like, a and he, like, kicks it. And the unicorn turns around, and he begins to ride towards the dragon with his sword in one hand.
Speaker 4:Oh my god.
Tim / GM:He does not get to Vikshi before Vikshi gets to him. Vikshi is going to take a legendary action. It is going to first perceive. It does not collect any information on top of what it can plainly see. And then it is going to, make a tail attack, I believe.
Tim / GM:Oh, no. Sorry. A wing attack. Probably snack is the only one affected by this, actually. You need to make a dexterity saving throw.
Tim / GM:22. Just barely succeeds. You see it, like, bring both of its wings up and then it, like, claps them together almost, and you feel this gust, like, roll across you. And you've seen this behavior from dragons before. It's how they knock things off of cliffs.
Tim / GM:You just lower yourself prone against the ground and the wind just rolls right over you.
John / Doran:Nice. Do I take any damage?
Tim / GM:I don't think so. Oh, man. Okay. Yeah. None.
Tim / GM:Alright. Next up is Vixi. Sorry. It's his actual turn now.
Speaker 1:What? That was
Tim / GM:a legendary action.
Speaker 4:I don't like that he's laughing.
Tim / GM:Snack, the dragon rears its head back, and it starts to kind of do a, like, very quick, like, side to side sort of motion, and you know that it is just checking its depth perception against how far away you are so that it can snap you. It lunges forward. That's a 31 to hit. God.
Speaker 4:What the fuck? Yeah.
Tim / GM:It jumps off of this platform, lands on the bridge, and just opens its mouth and, like, closes it on either side of the bridge and just, like, scrapes it up trying to bite you.
Speaker 4:I feel like I remember a Critical Role episode where I feel like Scanlan got inside of a dragon.
Tim / GM:Seems like Scanlan would do. Uh-huh. That is 18 piercing damage snick. Mhmm. And 2 fire damage.
John / Doran:Sound of 1. Yeah. 1, baby.
Tim / GM:When it
Speaker 4:was only 2. Oh my god. Okay. DM's off the rails.
John / Doran:Am I still in his mouth, or am I, like, tossed?
Tim / GM:It was a quick thing. So he, like, went down, opened his mouth wide enough to reach both sides of the bridge, and then, like, came upwards and just, like, like, nipped you with a tooth on his way back up. He then is making claw attacks. Emery has ridden into view here, and Vixi reaches up and swipes at Emery. That's 31 to hit again.
Tim / GM:Yeah. You see the claws, rip into, the nah. It rips into Emery. And, he kind of like ducks away from it a little bit, but you do see these bright red cuts form on his back and shoulder where he is scratched, and then he comes in for another one.
Speaker 4:You coulda just killed the unicorn.
Tim / GM:This one is just, 25 to hit. Emery is still up. He is still on the horse.
Thomas / Guy:Oh, yeah.
Tim / GM:He now has a crisscross of dragon slashes across his back. Ouch. That is it for Vixi's turn. Tibio, go ahead.
Speaker 8:I'm gonna cast magic missile at a 6th level. K. Targeting the dragon. 8. Thank you.
Speaker 8:Yeah. Yep. That is 25 damage.
Tim / GM:K.
Speaker 8:And then I am going to continue to run towards Joe. Okay. Shoot that over my shoulder and then
Tim / GM:Alright. We got Bert and then Uli.
Thomas / Guy:Bert squares down the dragon. Okay. I guess. His book is still protecting Tibio. So he has bar casts spiritual weapon to summon a spectral divine book.
Thomas / Guy:The divine the divine book appears behind him closed and then quickly unfurls like wings right
Speaker 4:behind him.
Thomas / Guy:And Is
Speaker 4:it the sequel to your actual book?
John / Doran:Untitled sequel.
Thomas / Guy:I said 2nd level, but I'm gonna make that 4th level. I rolled a 2. Alright. Book blast misses.
Speaker 4:Okay. Yeah.
Thomas / Guy:But then I will do a regular brain gore attack. Okay. 27. That hits.
Hannah / Eryn:Hey. Hey. Hey. I hit him with the brain gore. I need to read his thoughts.
Hannah / Eryn:Fun.
Tim / GM:Alright. Let's get that damage.
Thomas / Guy:Eleven damage.
Tim / GM:You all see this, psychic ax head spiraling through the air, and it just kind of, like, goes and goes and goes and goes and goes. And then it, like, it just it was so small in scale when it hits Vixxie that it just kind of, like, passes through him and then comes back. And, like, Vixi doesn't even, like, move, respond. When you catch it, Bert, you get his thoughts as well. We're going to end this right now.
Tim / GM:No more games. No more waiting for them to find me. No more planning. It's all action. There's someone watching me waiting.
Tim / GM:Someone is here looking for me. Why are they coming? And then, when I'm through with them, then I can take down a Orzhov and it'll be how did I get here? And what? This place, it's this is my new kingdom.
Tim / GM:Yes. Yes. My new kingdom in the caldera.
Thomas / Guy:He's nuts, y'all.
Tim / GM:Yeah. You can tell that this is an active battle between Vixi and Joe in his head. Uli, it's your turn, and then Holly.
Speaker 4:So I'm gonna quick and spell a magic missile at a 5th level
Tim / GM:Mhmm.
Speaker 4:At the dragon.
John / Doran:Mhmm. Get them.
Speaker 7:Get them.
Speaker 4:28 damage.
Tim / GM:K. Nice.
Speaker 4:I do not surge. And then as my actual action, I will say, Tibio, I can dimension Doris if you want. Okay. And then I do that. Yes.
Tim / GM:Willy, after you send your last magic missile at the dragon, it is kind of like poised again looking to strike down at something now that it's, like, starting to get surrounded a little bit by foes. It's it's got its eyes on, like, on Emery who is, like, right next to him and Snack who's right next to him. And then all of a sudden, these magic missiles start pelting it from afar, and it starts to, like, shy away from them. And then when it brings its head back up, Snack, you can see there's, like, blood running down between all of his scales, and you can see that, like, his eyes are starting to get a little, like, tired and delirious. And you're you're noticing that every time you hit this guy, it is starting to make damage.
Tim / GM:He's bloodied.
John / Doran:Oh. Now the majority of the party has left the dragon fight.
Tim / GM:Yeah. Literally, everybody just wants to, like, race to the door.
Speaker 4:And then I pick up Tibio, and I bloop to the door Okay. Because we're in range now, because dimension door is 500 feet.
Tim / GM:Sounds good. Alright. Yeah. You are, you're kind of in the exact same spot that Holly started, except Holly has now reached the top of the platform. It is about to be Holly's turn, but there's going to be a legendary action between that.
Tim / GM:Vixi is going to perceive the room. He sees definitely that you guys have dimension door to the other side. Doesn't know that Holly's already at the gate because she's still invisible, but gets a lay of the land and, snack. You can see that, like, Vixi knows everything that's going on here or thinks he does. At that time, it's also going to make another wing attack against you and Emory right in front of him.
Tim / GM:That's a
Thomas / Guy:Has he moved since his last turn? Or, I mean, did he move in his last turn
Tim / GM:or something? He's just been perched on the edge of that platform.
John / Doran:Okay.
Tim / GM:Dexterity saving throw from you and Emery. Snack. Emery fails his his, dexterity check against this.
John / Doran:14.
Tim / GM:That does not succeed. Alright. You, both take, 8 bludgeoning damage and are prone. Is he prone? Weak effect.
Tim / GM:Oh, sorry.
Speaker 4:The unicorn prone?
Tim / GM:He was knocked off the unicorn, and they're both prone. No.
Speaker 4:The unicorn's like
Tim / GM:Fourteen bludgeoning damage. And then I'll roll concentration.
John / Doran:Wait. I still get this. Nope. It's broken. Oh, no.
John / Doran:Thanks.
Tim / GM:The, unicorn falls on its side and seems to be struggling to stand. Emery knocked prone off the unicorn, also is not moving. Now it is Holly's turn.
Hannah / Eryn:Am I at the other gate?
Tim / GM:Yeah. Holly, you crest the top of the stairs and you look through this archway. It's massive, large enough for an adult red dragon to move through, but you can also see a sort of rippling glassy force between you and whatever is inside this. Mhmm. You see Joe standing right in the archway on the other side with his hands behind his back, and, he looks distracted.
Hannah / Eryn:Okay. Holly's still invisible. She's gonna do a quick investigation for any small cracks or holes in the rock face, kind of close to the where the ground is, to see if there's any small little maybe a small creature could fit through a crack or a hole. I'm gonna use a luck point. Oh my god.
Hannah / Eryn:Dang it.
Thomas / Guy:Bad luck.
Hannah / Eryn:10 is my highest.
Tim / GM:To investigate?
Hannah / Eryn:Yeah. For a crack.
Tim / GM:From where you're at, you can see that there are cracks. You don't know if any of them would suit your purposes.
Hannah / Eryn:Okay. I think I'm still gonna go for it. Holly's gonna use her She's gonna get off to the side of the opening, where she sees a crack that looks good enough. And she is going to push her body against the wall and then crouch down in a little ball. Mhmm.
Hannah / Eryn:And then she's gonna polymorph into a mouse.
Tim / GM:Yeah. Okay.
Hannah / Eryn:As soon as she turns into the mouse, she's gonna try to get into the crack and get into the cave somehow and find a way and sniff sniff her a little way through.
Tim / GM:Sure. Give me a survival check to finish out this turn.
Hannah / Eryn:Okay. 15.
Tim / GM:You are looking straight into that archway looking at Joe. Joe doesn't recognize you, doesn't know that anything's standing there in front of him. He's just kind of staring across the battlefield. His head keeps, like, lowing down a little bit. You think he is, like, sort of in and out of control of Vixi.
Tim / GM:You spin your body in between 2 columns to be off to the side and sort of squat between those columns as you sit down and turn into a little mouse and you begin exploring. At first, you find a dead end, just no luck. You back out of there again, and you can hear footsteps not far from you as your friends are beginning to climb the stairs. You poke around again, and Holly, you find this tiny little, like, water runway where something has been, like, broken apart and water has been draining through for a while and you are able to squeeze yourself inside of this room. Joe is off to your right.
Tim / GM:Inside this room you can see a alchemy lab is set up against the wall with rows of potions next to it. You can see a large stone sarcophagus in the middle of the room. You can see a bunch of lab equipment set up on the sarcophagus. You can see pipes and tubes that are leading from these giant flasks like, down to the ground, and, like, these huge needles that are shoved into Vixi every night to pump him full of vampire juice. There's, like, chains everywhere and this giant leather muzzle that keeps Vixi under control.
Hannah / Eryn:I just go beep. Just kidding. I don't make any sound, but in her head, she'd tell up a tease, I'm in.
Tim / GM:Thanks so much for listening. I'm Tim, your DM and your genie.
Hannah / Eryn:I'm Hannah playing Holly Hyacinth.
Thomas / Guy:I'm Thomas. I play Engelbert f f Wisherspoon.
Speaker 8:I'm Tara, and I play Tibio Femur.
John / Doran:I'm John. I play Snack the kobold.
Speaker 4:And I'm Maggie playing
Thomas / Guy:Uli. Dear listeners, thank you for sharing this story with us. If you're wishing there was a way to support us, that's right, you can. Check us out on Twitter and Instagram at peapopodcast and leave us a rating and review wherever you're listening. You can even help us out with a small donation at buy me a coffee dot com slash pebop.
Thomas / Guy:Sincerely, Burke.