EE-2-11 - The Decayed One

SUMMARY

Our group of adventurers, along with their small contingency of Dwarven Blackguard, have made it to the edge of the forest, near where they had entered previously in the search for Grimfang. They awake on a hazy day and prepare themselves for the trek and battle ahead. Though they run into little trouble along the way, they reach the camp and hear the sounds of gnolls milling about. A quick scout from the top of tree reveals Grimfang himself for the first time, a gnoll larger than any others with a skeletal visage, wielding a weapon none have seen before. After some brief planning for how to attack the camp, action starts.

SHOW SPONSORS

This episode is brought to you by Gabe and Jeff, over at Inter-Party Conflict, Chaiikaii, Fred on Fyre, Evora Dawn, and Dungeons and Randomness. If you'd like to join them in supporting the show, consider joining our Patreon.

SHOUT OUTS

This episode doesn’t have any particular shout outs in it, however I wanted to take a moment to give a shout out to some of the sources for the sound effects in this episode. While we do use some of the sound effects offered by BattleBards, I have spent some money over the last few months to expand our catalog of sound effects. Some of these have come from recent Humble Bundles, which was where I got my start in expanding this catalog. To further expand it, I have also picked up some sound effects packs from ASoundEffect. If you would like to explore the world of sound effects for your own endeavors, here is a list of artists used to get you started: Audio Alchemist, Epic Stock Media, Fusehive, Gamemaster Audio, Evil Mind, Sound Spark.

CAST

Damian - The DM

Chris - Rem

Christa - Ariel

Chantalle - Kenina

Caitlin - Tempest

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MUSIC

A huge thank you to all of the musicians who allow us to use their work. If you are interested in learning about them, check out our Music Page.

Fimbultwinter – Vindsvept (Intro)

[Grasslands] Vast Grasslands in Night – Andrii Mardanov [BB] (1:51)

[Grasslands] Gentle Plains in Day – Alexander Buttsynov [BB] (3:02)

Before the Storm – Tabletop Audio (3:17)

[Grasslands] Gentle Plains in Day – Alexander Buttsynov [BB] (4:19)

Rising Tide (Faster) – Incompetech (4:20)

Ripples – Incompetech (4:43)

Before the Storm – Tabletop Audio (5:11)

[Grasslands] Gentle Plains in Day – Alexander Buttsynov [BB] (12:39)

The Illusionist – Scott Buckley (13:38)

Daytime Forest – Michael Ghelfi (16:21)

Troubled – Duende Sounds (16:47)

[Gnoll] Passive – On Patrol – Pete Chapman (18:31)

[Gnoll] Passive – On Patrol – Pete Chapman (21:13)

Accursed Existence – Adrian von Ziegler (22:17)

Ice Demon – Incompetech (24:13)

Daytime Forest – Michael Ghelfi (26:31)

Ice and Fire (peaceful part – looped) – AndySV (28:00)

Mirror Image Spell – Filippo Buresta [BB] (33:03)

Ominous Jungles – Epic Stock Media (33:12)

[Gnoll] Passive – On Patrol – Pete Chapman (34:34)

Various Percussion Loops (#16) – AndySV (35:05)

[Dwarf] Female Dwarf Rally – Nicky Baker (38:03)

[Dwarf] Adult Dwarf Mourns – M Lewis Sauerwein [BB] (38:53)

To The Sky – Dark Fantasy Studio (39:03)

[Chainmail] Shortbow Arrow Hits Chainmail – Jean-Baptiste [BB] (41:59)

[Gnoll] Combat- Gnoll Offensive – Pete Chapman [BB] (49:29)

[Chainmail] Longbow Arrow Hits Chainmail – Pablo Betancourt [BB] (52:38)

[Gnoll] Passive – On Patrol – Pete Chapman (57:21)

[Striking Wood Shield] Greatspear Caught on Wood Shield – Pablo Betancourt [BB] (1:10:00)

Shadow Forest - Dark Fantasy Studio (1:13:19)

Exploration Mystery (loop) – Audio Alchemist (1:15:16)

Daytime Forest – Michael Ghelfi (1:15:48)

Last Stand – Vindsvept (Outro)

SYRINSCAPE

Portions of our background audio is courtesy of Syrinscape. They have a great mixer that we run through our set up while we record to help build the scene during our sessions. If you’re interested in trying out Syrinscape for yourself, they have provided us with a link to a 30 day free trial.

BATTLE BARDS

Thank you to BattleBards for opening up their songs and sound effects library for use in the show. You can sign up for your own BattleBards account here which will automatically add our coupon code to your account. Or you can use the coupon code Erylia for 15% off when you subscribe to BattleBards Prime!

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:00

This episode of Adventures in Aurelia is brought to you by Gabe and Jeff from Interparty Conflict and Jai Kai, Red on Fire, Avoradon, and Dungeons and Randomness on Patreon. You can join them in supporting the show at patreon.com slash adventures in Aurelia.

SPEAKER_05 0:37

I'm Krista, and I play Ariel, who's an Asmar sorcerer.

SPEAKER_01 0:42

I'm Chris, I play Rim, a human paladin.

SPEAKER_03 0:45

I'm Chantel, and I play Kanina, a Tiefling sorcerer.

SPEAKER_04 0:49

I'm Caitlin, I play Tempest, a water genasi ranger.

SPEAKER_02 0:53

And I'm Damien, and I'm playing a bunch of gnolls and dwarves. So, who remembers what happened last time?

SPEAKER_01 1:02

That's how every episode starts. The girls got the sword.

SPEAKER_03 1:06

Rem made a map.

SPEAKER_01 1:08

We made a map. We met the black guard in the morning, we took off, and we have arrived at the edge of the forest in the evening. We fought some sort of undead, null thing.

SPEAKER_04 1:18

Rem doesn't trust Lydia.

SPEAKER_01 1:20

Rem doesn't what?

SPEAKER_04 1:21

Trust Lydia. We didn't trust anybody.

SPEAKER_02 1:23

Yeah, Rem Rem's not a trusty fellow.

SPEAKER_04 1:26

I have a note that says Rem won't talk in front of Lydia. So.

SPEAKER_01 1:29

Yeah, so basically we have arrived at the edge of the forest, had one encounter, which we destroyed the undead thing, and that's where kind of where we stopped. With much deliberation of how we were going to get the sword in between.

SPEAKER_02 1:47

Okay, um, this is going to be a very large session. To to kind of speed things on, I'm gonna start with everyone at camp the night of the 30th of Bellanus, as you guys are basically taking your last rest after riding hard for like a full day, I believe is what it took to get here, because you just rode straight through. Yeah, you guys woke up early, rode straight through with minimal resting, and you're kind of taking your one rest before you guys start making your way into the forest, hoping to kind of do this whole thing in the course of the next day. It's gonna be a long rest.

SPEAKER_05 2:31

Yes, I mean it's we're gonna sleep overnight.

SPEAKER_01 2:33

Well, unless we're interrupted.

SPEAKER_02 2:35

Essentially, is there any kind of roleplay you guys would like to go through the night before?

SPEAKER_03 2:41

Or if you'd like to just start with straight to the morning, uh I I think as long as we have time in the morning, it might just be better to do it in the morning when we wake up. As long as we have time to roleplay a little bit before we get it.

SPEAKER_02 2:52

I mean that that would make sense. You guys would probably be pretty tired um essentially having rode all day hard.

SPEAKER_01 2:58

Well, Rim would probably spend an hour or two before sleeping, not in roleplay, but studying the map he drew.

SPEAKER_02 3:07

Alright, so the party wakes up in the morning of the 31st of Bellanist. You guys wake up. Um, it's a slightly foggy, misty morning, and I imagine that considering what you guys have going on, you probably would have gone to sleep a little early. So you're probably waking up almost as early as you had done the previous day, like 4 30, 5 a.m. in the morning before sunrise and everything. Is there anything you guys wish to roleplay do as you wake up specifically?

SPEAKER_01 3:45

Well, Rim would be going to talk with the dwarves about a plan. Does Rem speak to anyone else in his party or does he just Well, I mean, I don't know what they're doing, but because they've been here before. Dwarves haven't. So he would be going to them. Plus, they're uh the closest thing to an organized group of militants as opposed to a ragtag band of them. Okay. So this is your first adventure.

SPEAKER_02 4:13

For Rem's ritual, he gets up and makes his way to a gathering of dwarves. And time stops.

SPEAKER_03 4:22

I would say Kenina's probably also getting up and doing some morning exercises because she's probably antsy for the day, and you know, she'll probably be sure to grab Ariel. And she'll kind of uh exercise within earshot of Rem and the dwarves, so that if she does overhear things she wants to pitch in for, she will.

SPEAKER_02 4:41

Okay, so we know what Kanina and Ariel will be doing. Tempest.

SPEAKER_04 4:49

She will wake up and groggily go and sit with Rem and Dwarves to catch the last of like what's going on, but she is definitely not exercising. She is not a morning person.

SPEAKER_02 5:00

So Tempest wakes up probably to Kenina hyping Ariel up for their exercise, sees Rem walking away, and then I imagine gets up and goes to follow him over to the dwarven circle.

SPEAKER_00 5:14

Taking her sweet dog.

SPEAKER_02 5:17

So I imagine that the scene Rem and Tempest walk up to is the dwarves probably gathered around, um, offset from the fires that I imagine would have been going to get food, warmed up for the morning. You know, last meals and all. I speak. You know, you see them all sitting with their their weapons out and they're checking all their gear, making sure everything's ready to go. Um, all the dwarves, you know, along with their standard, this this very dark black armor that they have, um, carry a shield and a war hammer. Seems to be the standard issue wear of the dwarven blackguard.

SPEAKER_01 6:03

Okay, so Rim would have basically laid his map out for all the dwarves to see. Mostly to the to the girl dwarf that seemed to kind of be leading him, the cleric. And he's going to be kind of like pointing at things and be like, hey, this is where we approached from last time. Uh we ran into at least two patrols. We're not sure if there's more. This is what I could see of the encampment. Looks like a few buildings, some uh wagons are off to the side, and some um debris.

SPEAKER_02 6:31

So, just for for my own headcanon of this, how zoomed in is your map?

SPEAKER_01 6:35

It'd be what he could have seen from the tree. Okay. Uh, it'd be kind of a like a distant shot. You would be able to tell that there's like, you know, maybe three or four buildings. You kinda see the wagons. He couldn't get a head count, so he doesn't know what's in there. Yeah. But it'd be the kind of surrounding terrain, things like that. Just basic, basic information. Um, but he would also be like, this is where we were when we encountered the uh patrols. Uh they may still have or may be patrolling heavier than they were at the time. We need to keep an eye out for that. Uh, we will try. Your group and me especially try to travel as quietly as possible. I know that's not easy in our armor. We can send out our uh ranger as a scout ahead of us to let us know if she can see any patrols that we can then set up for ambush. Try to keep our spell casters in reserve to keep as many spells as possible for a larger engagement. Uh, we will be acting as the sweepers until we can reach the edge of the camp.

SPEAKER_03 7:34

Yes, there were some that were quite limber as well, so we'll want to keep an eye out for them because uh they seem to hop quite through the trees quite quickly.

SPEAKER_01 7:42

Yes, they are very fast.

SPEAKER_03 7:44

They were in my face before I knew it last time we encountered them.

SPEAKER_02 7:47

Ah, it seems like you've killed a lot of these bastards, eh?

SPEAKER_01 7:50

Uh, we've killed a fair number.

SPEAKER_02 7:52

Yeah, uh, you know, since you've been doing such a good job taking care of them, hopefully there's not a bunch of them. You know, they're not able to keep replenishing their numbers.

SPEAKER_01 8:00

Uh we didn't get any kind of headcount. Uh, I knew when we were approaching, but the first time we were attacked by these, we were attacked by a very large group, though.

SPEAKER_02 8:08

Well, uh, you know, that gives me a little bit of hope, so I guess we'll we'll hope for the best.

SPEAKER_01 8:13

I would suggest approaching uh through denser trees and forest and try to trying to avoid open ground. They seem to cover open ground very quickly.

SPEAKER_02 8:21

I appreciate the warning there.

SPEAKER_04 8:23

We're fast as hell.

SPEAKER_02 8:26

So, uh, what do you think our our plan should be for uh setting upon their camp?

SPEAKER_01 8:32

As we're armored, I believe we should be the tip of the spear. Uh leave our ranged units. Do you have any are any of your uh warriors for range?

SPEAKER_02 8:42

Uh I mean we do we do all have a bit of uh magical contingencies, but do any of you specialize in ranged? None of us are archers or anything.

SPEAKER_03 8:54

Should we possibly pick off a few on the edges before we go full on into their opening?

SPEAKER_01 8:59

Or we'll we'll have to make that decision upon seeing what they've got.

SPEAKER_03 9:02

Of course. It'll all depend on kind of where they're laid out and such.

SPEAKER_01 9:05

I'd like to keep, however, you, Tempest and Ariel in more of a reserve as a uh as you do much better at range, allow us that are armored to engage them face to face, and then we can team up on taking them out and ganging up on them.

SPEAKER_02 9:21

You did say that there's denser forests, and then there's uh kind of open areas.

SPEAKER_00 9:28

Yes.

SPEAKER_02 9:28

What about having uh all of us kind of take up stance in one of the the more open areas and draw them forward, and all of your people, the ones that you're saying, should be in reserve with their ranged weapons, uh kind of stay in the denser parts of the forest and be able to attack while we draw their their forces to us.

SPEAKER_01 9:50

I would like that to be able to happen. I'm I just don't know if as they'd be coming from an encampment, if they would actually follow us into the forest after seeing this, or if they would retreat back to their own, and then we have to approach them.

SPEAKER_03 10:01

If we lure them into a false sense of security and not let them know how many of us there are, then we could lure them back into a uh a trap, so to speak. We could also set up the area that we ambush them in with uh other Well, we have to hope we can actually get that close to them without being seen. I mean we got fairly close last time, but we ran into some scouting parties, which like you said, we will have to keep an eye out for.

SPEAKER_01 10:22

Yes, and the only difference being last time I was the only one that was quite as loud as I believe the six of us are gonna be this time. You you all are very quiet.

SPEAKER_02 10:32

And uh But we will not be. In these scouting parties, did any of them get away?

SPEAKER_01 10:37

Not that we know of, but again, we didn't see all of them. They could have had one escape and we never saw.

SPEAKER_02 10:42

Okay, so as at least as far as we know, they shouldn't be on high alert or anything.

SPEAKER_03 10:48

I mean, we did leave the bodies there as well, so there's always a possibility that they might uh r have run across their corpses of their fallen comrades.

SPEAKER_02 10:58

I see.

SPEAKER_01 10:59

Well, I would not count on them being caught completely unaware.

SPEAKER_02 11:02

That's what I was about to say, that we should uh probably plan for uh plan for them to to know something's been under been attacking them within their own own area.

SPEAKER_01 11:16

The last the scouting parties we ran into was at least six, so they know that something out there can kill at least six of their number. So they may not be as willing to charge into a forest if they do not have overwhelming odds.

SPEAKER_02 11:28

Well, if uh if they refuse to come to us, then me and me and my men were willing to lead the charge for you. I will I will be there as well. And a couple of them around the around the circle that you guys have kind of formed at this point, are tapping their their war hammers on their shield and just I would prefer to possibly split the armored party, leave a few in in guard, in rear guard with the uh arranged folks, and we an area we can also retreat to if we need to.

SPEAKER_01 12:00

Who are your best casters?

SPEAKER_02 12:02

And uh she looks around and is like, well, um none of us are really the like stronger than the other. We're all trained in the the same arts of casting. We all go through the same rigorous training. Um I personally have a lot more experience, but not leading anything quite this big.

SPEAKER_01 12:27

I'll leave it up to you to choose two of you to remain in rearguard with the uh the ranged forces, all the three of others and myself will move forward.

SPEAKER_02 12:39

And uh she she kinda looks looks around um and goes, uh uh Frederick, I want you to uh help keep Toral safe. You know this is her first major mission. And Corgom and Rourke, I I know that you guys know what you're doing. And uh they kinda look at each other I and bump their chest together, and you notice that the two that she addressed appear to be twins.

SPEAKER_01 13:08

So Rim is also going to make sure that he pulls like a shirt out of his pack. It's a darker or green color that he pulls down over his armor to kind of mute any kind of shine he happens to have. We're gonna try to travel swi swiftly and quietly.

SPEAKER_02 13:26

I think you know as good as I do that uh you kind of get one.

SPEAKER_01 13:30

Yes. As swift and as quiet as we can be, I know that's not gonna be very Yeah, exactly. And he's gonna turn to Sleepy Tempest, be like, You awake. Uh you better get awake. You're gonna be our eyes.

SPEAKER_04 13:47

Okay. Am I going up in a tree again?

SPEAKER_01 13:50

You're going out ahead.

unknown 13:51

Oh.

SPEAKER_01 13:52

We'll be there, we'll never be far behind you. You can always retreat.

SPEAKER_02 13:56

And uh at this point, Adriel uh fishes into her pack, pulls out a relatively small bottle, undoes a cork, takes a swig, and starts passing it around. Don't finish it off. We're gonna want another one when we get up there.

SPEAKER_00 14:13

What's this?

SPEAKER_02 14:13

Uh it's uh strong dwarven liquor. Got some earthy notes, a little bit of spices in there to bring out the flavors.

SPEAKER_03 14:22

Battle tradition.

SPEAKER_02 14:23

So the bottle gets passed around. Rem will just pass it, you won't actually take a swig.

SPEAKER_04 14:28

Tempest will take two to make up for Rem.

SPEAKER_02 14:32

I imagine then it probably went Rem to Tempest, and as Rem is passing it, she uh looks over and is like, Yeah, sure you don't want I uh I mean I guess she took it for ya. Um, you there. You're supposed to be a le in the lead. Careful.

SPEAKER_04 14:51

It helps me wake up.

SPEAKER_02 14:54

You bet it does. And uh as the bottle gets passed back, she slaps the cork back into it, tucks it into her bag, you see her wrap like probably some of her underclothes around it. And the dwarves all make their way over to kind of their their quote unquote side of the camp, start breaking down their stuff and uh taking care of their horses, finding somewhere to hitch them up for the day.

SPEAKER_05 15:23

So, uh when we go over to like our area and stuff, Ariel will be like rummaging through her bag and notice that she's has these potions that she hasn't ever used before. They've just kind of been sitting there forever. Um, and she'll be like, oh, we probably could use these today. And then sh uh she'll go up to each one of you and hand you each uh a healing potion. She'll be like, uh, hey, I found this in my bag and I figured, you know, just in case to keep it on you in case, you know, I can't get to you to heal right away or something.

SPEAKER_03 16:00

Oh, thank you so much, Ariel.

SPEAKER_05 16:02

Yeah, keep it handy for like emergency, because you know, I I can heal. Of course. I should just say that to all of you guys. And then um if it seems like we still have a few minutes, she's gonna put some herbs and water into some sort of cup or something. Oh, and over the fire and some key.

SPEAKER_01 16:27

So we will begin heading through the forest, trying to maintain some semblance of quiet.

SPEAKER_03 16:34

Maintaining quiet and also or peering around to make sure no scouting parties stumbled across us.

SPEAKER_01 16:40

And hopefully Tempest is out ahead far enough to maybe get some scouting done.

SPEAKER_03 16:44

Tempest is out ahead scouting. Whole goal is to see them before uh they see us. See them before they see us.

SPEAKER_02 16:50

Rem, yes. Go ahead and roll me a flat D20. Or what do I see? As the party makes her way through the forest, Tempest is put into a lead position to kind of scout her way through. About how far ahead do you think Tempest would be?

SPEAKER_04 17:10

Around 80 feet.

SPEAKER_02 17:11

Alright, go ahead and give me a perception roll.

SPEAKER_04 17:15

Seven.

SPEAKER_02 17:16

So Tempest is making her way through the forest. Um, I don't know how close to where you guys had previously entered you guys would have gone, but at some point she does end up kind of crossing over the markers that you guys had left before. Did you guys remember to take them down on your way out?

SPEAKER_03 17:37

Yep, we left them up so that other parties could find them easily if we needed to, in case we weren't cutting.

SPEAKER_02 17:44

As you find these markers, do you decide to follow the path you had laid before or to continue walking kind of alongside of it, but staying away from the path previously laid?

SPEAKER_04 17:58

I'd say parallel to the path. Because we don't want to exactly retrace our steps in case they've got their own traps.

SPEAKER_02 18:06

I mean, if you want to risk getting lost, that's on you. So she kind of gets a gets a feel for where this path is. I imagine probably crosses over it once, doubles back a little bit later just to make sure that she's still going in the right direction. And after what has been literal hours upon hours of traveling through the forest, you guys can hear sounds off in the distance. It's hard to hard to really pick it out. If if you didn't know what was here, you might mistake it for a pack of wolves meandering through a clearing. But do you guys know what's in the forest? Do you guys know what you're making your way towards? So you have a pretty good idea of what you're walking up on. Tempest.

SPEAKER_00 18:55

Yes.

SPEAKER_02 18:56

What would you like to do? You're at least a couple hundred feet away. You you don't you you don't actually see anything ahead of you.

SPEAKER_04 19:05

Is there a tree I can easily climb?

SPEAKER_02 19:07

Yeah, I mean you're in a forest. You would have no problem finding a tree that you believe that you can climb.

SPEAKER_04 19:12

I would like to climb a tree.

SPEAKER_02 19:14

Alright.

SPEAKER_04 19:15

And look through my sky glass in the direction that I think the camp is in.

SPEAKER_02 19:20

Okay, go ahead and roll me an athletics check.

SPEAKER_04 19:26

Nine. Rolls over. Five.

SPEAKER_02 19:31

The rest of the party is, you know, starting to catch up to Tempest as she stops for a second. And you see her turn and look over to a tree. Start trying to climb up it. Branch snaps, breaks, she slides down the tree a little bit, looks for another hand hold, reaches up. She gets up one branch and misplaces a handhold, falls down, catches herself just just barely on a tree. Starts making her way back down.

SPEAKER_03 20:02

Are we like caught up to her at this point? Are we still- Yeah, you are you guys are all just staring.

SPEAKER_02 20:07

Having a problem, triumph? Yeah, the the dwarves have all kind of stopped. They don't know you guys very well, so they've all just kind of stopped. Tilted their head.

SPEAKER_03 20:16

No. Canino walk up over to Tempest and be like, uh, Tempest, can I give you a boost up? Sure, I guess. Yeah. So yeah.

SPEAKER_02 20:25

Go ahead and make an athletics roll with advantage.

SPEAKER_04 20:28

Tempest is getting frustrated. Athletic? Yes. 19. Way better.

SPEAKER_02 20:35

So they give to those live branches. So at this point, the the distance ahead from scouting has kind of been made null and void, but you guys, I mean, as well, you would have heard it even beforehand. The the sounds coming from a couple hundred feet away. And Tempest makes her way up the tree. Okay. Um, you make your way up a couple dozen feet in this tree to where the canopy lightens up a little bit, and you see what looks like a small stone throw away, a large clearing with a couple like ramshackle hut-ish things. Look like they're put together from the panels off of sides of wagons. The bottom of the wagons making up some poor excuse for a roof filled with bows from the pine trees in the area around you. And through the camp, um, you see a couple towers that are mostly like probably a cart tipped up on its end with some sort of sladding to make a ladder to climb up and get a higher vantage point. And off to the Southeast corner is quite an interesting sight to behold. There appears to be one trade cart smashed into the top of another at like a 90-ish degree angle, forming a bit of a throne-esque design with a knoll larger than you have ever seen. You would imagine, you know, especially because they are in kind of this cart throne. You've got some things to give a base measurement off of, about probably eight and a half to nine feet tall. And sitting kind of, I mean, curled is the wrong term to use for something as beastly as this. But sitting curled up next to this cart throne is a large wolf-ish looking creature. It's a quadruped, uh, canine-esque, ugly ass face, matted, scraggly fur, probably gnawing on the bones of you've got a spyglass, so I'll just give it to you. It looks like it's actually gnawing on the bones of a knoll.

SPEAKER_03 23:17

Oh. Lovely.

SPEAKER_02 23:19

You know, maybe maybe a little bit of meat left on there, big haunch. You also see another one of those creatures. You had seen just the night before. Skin barely hanging on, you can see skeletal bones. And throughout the rest of the camp, on those towers, you see a couple, like each each tower has a knoll standing on the top of it with a bow and a small supply of arrows. You see a couple other knolls meandering through the camp. Uh, just based on your count from your vantage point, you believe there to be probably nine gnolls.

SPEAKER_04 23:58

Nine out and about possible structure.

SPEAKER_02 24:02

Yeah, I mean you you haven't seen any enter or leave. Now, kind of breezed over it, but we've got to talk about this this knoll a little bit. As your spy glass passes over this thing, it breaks. You have a cold chill. Just just shake your whole body. This is a very large knoll, but everything about him that you can see is skeletal. There there may be some hair and fur like growing down along his his back to to be a bit of a mane. And grasped in his hand is this large spear that has like it's a gnarled black twisted shaft. And sticking out of the skull is a darkened spear blade, and you can see veins of pulsating green light that run down the length of the spear, and there almost seems to be kind of a black aura around him. So it it's almost unfortunate that this is Tempest doing the scouting because she hasn't gotten this feeling before. The way that some of the other party members might. What is going through Tempest's head as she kind of pans her spyglass around this camp?

SPEAKER_04 25:36

Well, there's definitely gonna be a feeling of oh boy, he's big. And there's a few of them. And she's pretty much as soon as she's done scanning, going to slide back down the tree and start relaying all of the information, like gesture for everyone to come to the base of the tree and start going over. There's there's nine out and about, there's one really big one, one dog, one zombie-looking guy again, like the one we killed.

SPEAKER_01 26:13

Just to help with this, when she gets to the bottom of the tree, Rim is already gonna have his map laid out.

SPEAKER_04 26:17

Yes.

SPEAKER_01 26:17

So she can use it.

SPEAKER_02 26:18

She can point.

SPEAKER_01 26:19

And be very, very quiet.

SPEAKER_02 26:21

Tempest. Did you make your way back down the tree? Can you go ahead and roll me a stealth check?

SPEAKER_04 26:28

18.

SPEAKER_02 26:30

So Tempest makes her way down this tree as quietly as she can. And Ram has a map laid out on the forest floor, or is he just kind of holding it? No, he's got it on the floor.

SPEAKER_04 26:42

So, pointing at the map, there's one here.

SPEAKER_01 26:46

Don't mark it, she's pointing.

SPEAKER_04 26:48

There were three around the fire in the middle. One on a watchtower way over there. One on a watchtower over there. And then over here. That's where the bone one is. Okay. And then there's the big ass one who's on a chair, who I'm pretty sure is the big bad.

SPEAKER_01 27:07

He's gonna write B B-E over that. Big bad evil.

SPEAKER_04 27:11

B-B-E-G. And then he's got what I'm assuming is his pet dog next to him, who is also Big Bad Evil Dog. I didn't see any more. There are structures that you've seen before. But there are structures. There might be more in there. We don't know. We could separate out and take out the ones that are up on the watchtowers. But we also have to assume that they're going to be the first to you know call out and alert the rest of the people. Because that's their job.

SPEAKER_02 27:47

To retroactively describe, there's also like a kind of a pit thing that's filled with bones and carcasses. Food bowl. So you guys, as the party, pretty much have free reign to pick where on this map people would like to enter this combat.

SPEAKER_01 28:09

After a minute of kind of st of of study, Rim will kind of nod and then he'll be like, Alright. Here's the way I see it. Tempest, you, Frederick, and Torrel are gonna go to the west and try to sneak up behind the guard tower. Hold in position till you hear my horn blast and see the distraction that I believe Nina can create. Nina, you, Ariel, and Adriel will wait here. I will signal you, and when I do, I want you to do whatever you can to create a large distraction, and Ariel and Adriel, I'd like you to focus on this tower.

SPEAKER_03 28:48

Yeah, I'm good at making distractions. Uh, what's going to be the signal?

SPEAKER_01 28:52

It'll be a horn blast, you'll hear it.

SPEAKER_03 28:53

Alright.

SPEAKER_01 28:54

I, Hargram, and Rorick.

SPEAKER_02 28:56

Aye.

SPEAKER_01 28:57

We're going to circle to the south.

SPEAKER_02 28:58

Chest bump.

SPEAKER_01 29:00

We will attempt to take out the southern tower guard.

SPEAKER_02 29:03

Aye, you're making us walk all the way over there, huh?

SPEAKER_01 29:06

Well, I'd like to try to take out as many as possible as quick as possible. Anybody has a better idea for that, I'd be open to hearing it.

SPEAKER_03 29:13

As long as uh I have a good line of sight and there's quite a few of them grip together, I could probably uh attack multiples at once, and uh I'm definitely have a few spells in mind for creating a distraction, but uh at the same time, if you guys can make sure to line up uh some of these gu bad guys for me, then I can definitely I think we're gonna go off of your cast will be the major visual that we can go off of.

SPEAKER_01 29:38

I'll give you the blast, and then we'll wait to see. Everybody will be ready, and when you're ready, we'll go.

SPEAKER_03 29:43

Alrighty, that sounds good. And uh Tempest, uh, if I could ask a favor, uh if you happen to notice me setting uh fire unnecessarily to the surroundings, if you could uh possibly take care of that. I'll do what I can, but I kinda need a bucket of water to work with.

SPEAKER_04 29:59

So we might just have to wait until we're fine.

SPEAKER_03 30:02

I just don't wanna set anybody in the group on fire. Damage control. I'll keep an eye out.

SPEAKER_05 30:08

Will a water skin help? And Ariel holds up her water skin.

SPEAKER_04 30:13

Sure, I'll take this, I'll keep an eye out, I'll do what I can.

SPEAKER_03 30:16

Yep, just just as uh, you know, uh warning just for the group. Just try not to set any of us on fire.

SPEAKER_04 30:20

And I'll try.

SPEAKER_01 30:21

Rim Rim is gonna look up at the sun. What about what time is it? Ish. Midday-ish. So seeing that the the sun is relatively directly above, Rim will say, we're gonna take a long way around. Everybody be on your guard, but expect the the signal in about an hour.

SPEAKER_02 30:39

I it's uh a little while to wait.

SPEAKER_01 30:42

Well, this is gonna be big. I don't want to chance alerting them ahead of time.

SPEAKER_02 30:47

No, you've you've got a point. We all uh we all need to hang back until until about an hour's past.

SPEAKER_01 30:52

And me and the boys got a long walk.

SPEAKER_02 30:54

Adriel, you know, pulls her pack back out, fishes that bottle out again from this morning, undoes the cork. Takes a little bit longer of a drag than she did the first time, hands it off to the next person.

SPEAKER_03 31:11

She'll take a swig herself. She's she's a little bit nervous now that she knows that she's kind of gonna be the uh opening act to this big fiasco.

SPEAKER_02 31:19

It helps the nerves. And you know. Yeah, nothing. Liquid courage.

SPEAKER_03 31:25

Yeah, liquid courage. A little bit of liquid fire.

SPEAKER_02 31:27

I think we could all use a little bit of extra courage today. Unfortunately, it doesn't give us any like special buffs or anything.

SPEAKER_03 31:34

Yeah. Well, good luck, everyone. We'll do our best.

SPEAKER_02 31:38

She takes a bottle, shakes a little bit, holds it up towards the sun, it's like. Hopefully I'll be drinking you the rest tonight. Gotta save something for celebrating, right? Of course.

SPEAKER_01 31:51

God's willing. We'll see each other in a couple hours.

SPEAKER_02 31:56

Actually, just hangs as everyone's like thinking of the gravity of the situation, and Adriel just looks at all you and it's like, well, uh, I'm in the group that's staying here, right? Uh so I guess yeah, it's now up to me to head out.

SPEAKER_01 32:10

Uh keep an eye on them. Make sure that if they start to do anything fishy, we might be too far to see them.

SPEAKER_02 32:15

And she she looks over at Tempest, just, hey, try not to let 'em die, okay?

SPEAKER_04 32:20

I'll do my best.

SPEAKER_02 32:22

And uh, and she looks over at uh at Rorik and Corgram, and she's like, Hey, try not to let 'em die, okay? She looks over at Ariel and Kanina. Try not to let me die, okay?

SPEAKER_01 32:39

So is she telling them not to let me die? Yeah. Or is she okay? And like look at her for a second and then look over them and be like, let's go, boys.

SPEAKER_03 32:46

Aye! And same same to you, Adriel. Don't let us die.

SPEAKER_05 32:50

As everybody's leaving, Ariel's gonna grab her um scroll necklace and hold it in her hand and pray to Cosane and uh say I trust you with this, and then cast Nage armor. With my sorcery point.

SPEAKER_02 33:09

Okay, um everyone take your people, find your sp your spot. So the party has all split up into three groups of three, all of them trying to find their most advantageous points in the forest around this knoll encampment. Is everyone in position in a way that they're happy with?

SPEAKER_00 33:35

Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Yep.

SPEAKER_01 33:37

Okay. Well. And then after taking another deep breath, he's gonna think of Nina. And he's gonna let the horn hang from its leather lanyard. He's gonna draw the long bow that he has, knock an arrow, draw it back, and him. I don't know what the guys are gonna do because I'm gonna control them. He's gonna step out to where he has a clear line of sight of the tower guard and hold until he sees Nina's distraction before loosing his arrow.

SPEAKER_03 34:31

Okay, and then after hearing the horn, uh, Nina will go ahead and peek out from behind the tree that she's kind of been lurking, and seeing the two knolls in that lovely straight line away from her, she'll go ahead and cast distant spell and cast her Agonizar Scorcher to hit both of them.

SPEAKER_02 34:52

Alright.

SPEAKER_05 34:56

Yes.

SPEAKER_04 35:07

Tempest 17.

SPEAKER_02 35:12

The last second before we enter initiative is Kanina.

SPEAKER_03 35:18

So Kanina hearing Rem's signal, uh, will go ahead and peek out from behind the tree, cast her mantle of flame upon herself, and wreathe herself in flame so flames will just kind of spark out from her skin and start swirling around her, and her eyes light up like little beacons. As she kind of lines up her side on these two knolls that are lined up ever so perfectly, she'll go ahead and range her spell so that it hits twice as far. And the sparks from around her glow brighter and shoot out in a huge line of fire, setting them alight.

SPEAKER_02 35:58

That's gonna be a four for the first one. And a twenty for the second one.

SPEAKER_03 36:12

Very nice. Alright, so I got three sevens. That was very nice. So that's 21. I also, because I have Mantoflame on, get to add my charisma mod to the damage. So that is plus four. So that is going to be a total of 25 damage.

SPEAKER_04 36:27

It makes sense that the second one is the one that saved. Because it hit the first one, and then not as much fire made it to the second one.

SPEAKER_02 36:36

This uh streak of fire comes roaring out, and the first knoll that you see seems to have taken the brunt of this fire, soaking up most of the flames, bursts into fire, and is killed before he even knew you were there. The second knoll is uh seems to have been a little bit protected by the knoll in front of him, though still takes a significant portion of damage you see. He uh he was like eating beforehand and he drops the food and starts like jumping up and down, stamping like the ground and patting all over himself, trying to put out the the singed fur.

SPEAKER_05 37:18

I wonder if since they're around the campfire, he thinks that like flames jumped off of it.

SPEAKER_02 37:22

So at this point, we officially enter the top of the initiative order because Kanina kind of started everything off. And because of all of the tactics, I wanted to let her have that first move instead of going into a full surprise round. Adriel is first in the initiative. She is going to step out of the woods to where she can see the knoll up on this makeshift tower that was literally like 10 feet away from all of you. She is going to look at it, raising her war hammer into the air. She says something in dwarven, and you see the tip of her hammer lighting up as she strikes in its direction and launches a bolt of light at it. Um, she is going to hit with a 17 on her guiding boltness. Whoo, a guiding bolt. And the knoll on this tower is going to have this light strike him in like the side of the rib cage. Is he wasn't expecting anything, he probably was turning to see the fire that just erupted behind him and got blindsided by this bolt of light and takes 12 damage. It is Frederick von Firebeard's turn next. And he is going to begin a low dwarven kind of droned chant. And the area around him begins to swirl with some positive energy and spirits um looking a bit like dwarven valkyries begin swarming around him. And he has cast spiritual guardians. He is choosing not to affect Tempest or Tauril. He can't see anyone else though, so he'll have to drop the spell when he gets in range of you guys. Next up, we have Grimfang, who was sitting in his throne, so is going to have to use half his movement to stand up, and then difficult terrain to lumber down off of the cart. So he noticed He noticed the large streak of fire fly from this direction, and then Adriel did get out of the cover. Rem, it is your turn, Tempest, you're on deck.

SPEAKER_01 39:58

So Rem will, having seen the fire, the streak of fire, and knowing that was the last part of the signal, will loose the arrow that he has been holding, which is a 20. 20 will hit. Max damage, that is 11 points of damage to the knoll on the tower.

SPEAKER_02 40:16

He's actually getting an attack from behind the knoll, so this knoll probably has an arrow like rip through his shoulder meat, sticking out a little bit on the other other side of him, and is very confused, turns and looks in Ram's direction.

SPEAKER_01 40:34

Do you have more? Yeah, I'm gonna I'm going to move towards him two squares. Uh, and while moving, he's gonna be drawing another arrow and knocking it and getting ready to fire on his next turn. That will be all he does this turn.

SPEAKER_02 40:46

It is now Tempest's turn.

SPEAKER_04 40:49

Tempest is going to uh step out from behind the tree that she was hiding behind. And take it an extra second as she looks out and knocks an arrow to really focus and concentrate on where she's trying to hit. And it's a bonus action. Use slayer's prey and focus my eye. And shoot the arrow. That's a 19 to hit.

SPEAKER_02 41:18

A 19 will hit. Okay. Kill him.

SPEAKER_04 41:21

Unlike Rem, I rolled minimum damage. So nine points of damage.

SPEAKER_02 41:28

Is that the end of your turn?

unknown 41:31

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 41:32

Next up is the knoll that Rem had just attacked, who was wielding a bow and was turning in Rem's direction after this sudden arrow came out from behind him. Rem moved even closer to him, making his target very clear. Draw back and releases an arrow.

SPEAKER_01 41:54

Does a 15 and glances off the chainmail under the shirt, exposing it to the sun.

SPEAKER_02 42:02

And he grunts, pulls back a second time, and releases a second arrow at Ram. He's gonna miss with a 9. Next up is Korgroom, who's actually going to delay so he can move in the initiative order. Next up is the Worg, who spends half its movement to stand up, and confusedly is looking towards the south, towards the north, and towards the northwest, because there are now enemies all around, and he doesn't have a good way to go for any of them. Though his master had started moving in one direction. With his other part of movement, he's going to pretty much stay in step with Grimfang. Next up is another one of the gnolls who action had started happening behind him. This knoll is going to turn towards the northwest and rush off 60 feet using his dash into the direction of Tempest's group. Next up is going to be Rorik and Korgrum. That's why he delayed to move into initiative order. So yeah, they basically weave their way through the little bit of a trail that they were still down, making their way over towards the tower, of which Rem has already said he may kill the creature before they can do anything. But now they are closer to the action. And I imagine that um during Korgram's initial turn, he just goes, Are you ready, brother? Next up is the undead looking gnoll that is going to rush over towards the flaming thing in the trees and has actually just Enough movement to reach Kanina. It has a wooden club that it kind of drags as it's moving forward and just whips around into the trees. Um, you do still get your half cover, so that was plus two to the AC. And it got a natural one! No! Okay, with its club attack, and then in frustration, it starts snapping its jaws into this tree as well. Followed up with a natural two!

SPEAKER_03 44:32

Oh my gosh! I make a very intimidating presence.

SPEAKER_02 44:37

They don't connect, so it doesn't deal any damage, right? Nope. That is the end of the uh undead knoll's turn. Kanina, you're up next. Oh, nice.

SPEAKER_03 44:48

So seeing this knoll run up and try to hit her, she's gonna go ahead and cast burning hands. So she'll go ahead and hold her hands out with my thumbs touching and aim it at the knoll in front of me and the one behind him. And both of the knolls have to do a uh deck saving throw.

SPEAKER_02 45:08

Well, this dike can go fuck itself. There's another natural one on that weather legs. And oh, so that's a 17.

SPEAKER_03 45:17

So that one saves. The decks was 14. So one fail, one saves. I'm gonna go ahead and use my ring of the evoker to re-roll one dice. 18 damage.

SPEAKER_02 45:29

18 damage on the undead one, and so it would be nine on the one in the tower.

SPEAKER_03 45:38

Kanina probably has a slightly unnerving grin on her face because she does very much enjoy using her fire spells, probably a little too much.

SPEAKER_02 45:48

So, um what little flesh matter was left on this undead knoll burns off, and you leave ashen bones in its place. And um, the knoll on the tower is like barely hanging in there at this point. Is that the end of Kanina's turn?

unknown 46:09

Yes.

SPEAKER_02 46:10

Ariel, you are up.

SPEAKER_05 46:12

Alright. So she moves to the left and she points up at the tower, and she speaks in Celestial, and some little firebolt comes out of her finger straight at him.

SPEAKER_02 46:25

Is that an attack roll or is that a save?

SPEAKER_05 46:27

I have to roll the hit. It's an uh attack roll.

SPEAKER_02 46:30

You get advantage. Uh that that'll hit. How dead is this knoll?

SPEAKER_05 46:37

It's a seven.

SPEAKER_02 46:38

Very confused, like suddenly a group of adventurers had swarmed out of the forest right next to his watchtower. He thought he was doing such a good job watching. Um, multiple attacks from every single person involved, multiple bits of fire. This knoll watchman falls over off the back of his tower. Also dead.

SPEAKER_05 47:03

Did he even get a turn yet?

SPEAKER_02 47:04

No. Is that the end of your turn?

SPEAKER_05 47:09

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 47:10

This knoll that still has yet to act, that was near the fire pit, um, could could be considered lucky going last and also not being dead yet. Turns around looking multiple directions and sees some targets have actually come within range. He's gonna go after the twins. And with his spear is going to thrust twice at Korgrum. I mean, it was close, but a 16 is not going to hit. Ooh, though a 20 is going to hit. He found that that little bit of a of a slot in the armor that he could jab the head of this spear into for max damage of 10 damage. Rusting into his leg with both hands. Next up is Toril's turn, who is very green to these kind of situations and is going to continue aiding in like more defensive and staying back approach. He's going to summon a spiritual weapon. Is actually going to cast it within range of one of the gnolls that is coming at you guys. And make a melee spell attack against him. And is going to hit with a 23. 18 on the die. So is going to take six damage from the spiritual war hammer that she has summoned. After Torol's turn is going to be Adriel. It is now round two of combat. Round two. Who is going to have Grimfang is charging right in front of her. She's actually going to take a step back and cast another usage of guiding bolts at Grimfang. And unfortunately, she's gonna roll like shit, and a 10 is going to miss. Frederick is up next, who is going to come out from the trees, get his shield up, and stand within a range that they will begin taking damage on their nostril. Next, it is Grimfang's turn. Grimfang is going to slowly and almost glidingly make his way across the field. He is going to, with that spear, lunge out once with it at Adriel's direction. She's going to get her shield up in the way, kind of shoving the tip of the spear off to the side. He's going to draw back and try and break through the side of her block. And that one will finally hit with a 19. Oh, that was bad for her.

SPEAKER_00 50:08

Oh. Oh no.

SPEAKER_02 50:10

Adriel is going to take 16 points of damage as this spear like pushes through her block and catches her in the shoulder. Keena. Go ahead and roll perception.

SPEAKER_03 50:26

That is a uh natural 20 plus 2, so 22.

SPEAKER_02 50:30

You would obviously be keeping track of the battle going on around you. You see this attack go through and manage to spear Adriel in the shoulder. And you swear that as the spear tip makes contact with her blood, that you see it turn black and travel along the shaft of the spear following those green pulses. And he pulls his spear back, and you just hear this very It seems I'm the one with first blood today. Rem, it is your turn.

SPEAKER_01 51:08

Rem is going to loose the arrow that he knocked last turn. That is 14.

SPEAKER_02 51:15

14 will hit. Alright, so that's gonna be four damage. The knoll, like it's like you skinned some some knuckle skin off with that arrow. Looks down and sees a bunch of begins drawing back the next arrow.

SPEAKER_01 51:31

Rim is going to move him and the boys around opposite sides of the tower. And for his bonus action, he's going to stow his arrows or his buff.

SPEAKER_02 51:42

Okay. End of your turn. End of my turn. Tempest, it is your turn.

SPEAKER_04 51:46

Okay. It's been a couple seconds to reach back and grab another arrow while everything is going on around her. And she's still still all squinty. Aiming again at the the one up on the tower. Finish it off. That's not good.

SPEAKER_02 52:07

There's a a nine. A nine to hit is unfortunately not going to hit. Okay, uh, so it is now the knoll who Rem keeps trying to stick arrows into his turn. I got him both times. Is going to turn over and follow Rem as he had moved around the tower that he's on. And lose an arrow in Rem's direction. Does an 18 hit.

SPEAKER_01 52:36

Yes, currently.

SPEAKER_02 52:37

Rem is going to take 10 points of damage. Maximum damage. And then I'm guessing that the uh 22 is. Yes, that will hit. For another seven points of damage. Okay. The warg is going to come around to the other side of Ariel and Kanina's group right up to Ariel trying to help his master out and snap out at her. A 23 to hit?

SPEAKER_05 53:11

Yeah, a 23 hits.

SPEAKER_02 53:13

For nine points of damage. Make a strength saving throw.

SPEAKER_05 53:18

12.

SPEAKER_02 53:19

The force of this war's charge and the strength of its butt knocks you prone. Oh, this is the one that's going to take spiritual guardian damage. Fails the wisdom saving throw and takes 3d8. Rolled amazing damage. And that knoll is going to die after taking 21 points of damage from this. Korgrim and Rorick have the perfect opportunity to become flanking buddies. Um, I believe that one was the one that I said was Rorick. Moves around to the other side of the knoll that they had charged up to, giving himself a plus two to swing with his mighty warhammer. He is going to hit with a 22 for 8 points of damage. And then it's going to be Forgram's turn. The same exact uh uh attack roll for another 23 because of getting the flanking bonus. And it's going to deal five damage, which is enough to smash this knoll's skull in and beat it into the ground like a real game spike. Effective. And Kanina, it is your turn.

SPEAKER_03 54:43

So, seeing Ariel is in peril, uh, Kanina will go ahead and cast Agnazar's Scorcher at the Ward.

SPEAKER_02 54:50

Uh, you said that was a deck saving throw? Yep. Ooh, nine on the die. That's gonna be a ten.

SPEAKER_03 54:58

Okay, yes. The Taxi was 14. So he is going to take 3d8 fire damage.

SPEAKER_02 55:08

Roll good, you could just one-shot him.

SPEAKER_03 55:11

I'm gonna go ahead and re-roll one of my dice using my ring of the evoker. Okay, so 12 initially plus my charisma is another four. So this is 16. But I'm done. You're done?

SPEAKER_02 55:22

Okay, Ariel, it is your turn.

SPEAKER_05 55:24

So I'm going to use half my movement stand. Bonus action, I'm gonna chug one of my potions. 11. So I get all of my health back.

SPEAKER_00 55:34

Wow.

SPEAKER_05 55:36

And then after she does that, luckily she had it like on hand. She just like reached into her bag, popped it real quick, and at the same time her other hand was icing up, and she cast frostbite on the work. And he's got a roll, a constitution save.

SPEAKER_02 55:56

Ooh, that's like the total opposite as the last roll. An 18. Yeah, key saves.

SPEAKER_05 56:03

So she was like focusing on like uncorking and getting it drank that it just didn't work. Is there even space for me to move if I wanted to over by Nina? Yep. I'm gonna risk it. I'm gonna I'm gonna risk going away from the report.

SPEAKER_02 56:22

Okay, he will take that attack of opportunity against you.

SPEAKER_05 56:25

Yeah, I'm just gonna hope Rolo.

SPEAKER_02 56:27

Well, luckily he doesn't crit on a 19 to 20. But that's gonna be a 24 to hit.

SPEAKER_05 56:33

Yeah, that has opportunity.

SPEAKER_02 56:35

She takes nine points of damage. Make a strength saving throw.

SPEAKER_03 56:42

Damn it.

SPEAKER_05 56:44

Uh 18.

SPEAKER_02 56:45

Okay, you are not knocked prone.

SPEAKER_05 56:47

Thank god. Oh, so do I that means I get my movement. Sweet.

SPEAKER_02 56:51

So it's the next Noel's turn, who is in Frederick von Firebeard's uh spiritual defender aura thing, and means he's going to make a wisdom saving throw. And rolling a four isn't going to help. So he's got seven hit points, and it's three d eight. One. Six hit points. One five hit points.

SPEAKER_00 57:22

Five.

SPEAKER_02 57:30

Okay, and there is one one left. Um, yeah, it's basically time for everyone to dogpile Grim Fang.

SPEAKER_05 57:39

No, there's still there's still a guy up in his tower.

SPEAKER_02 57:43

Well, next is Toral's turn, and there's literally not any other combatants that sh actually that she can even see. Because literally there's a building here blocking Grim Fang in the warg, and there's a building there blocking the one in the tower.

SPEAKER_05 57:59

I'm sure she she hears stuff going on there.

SPEAKER_02 58:02

She's gonna just make her her double move.

SPEAKER_04 58:05

Yeah, that's the problem. None of us over here can get line of sight without double moving, which means we have to wait another round to make any.

SPEAKER_03 58:15

At least it's it's getting shorter though, the whole initial. Everything's gonna be dead.

SPEAKER_02 58:21

She's going to move and then use her action to dash to move 50 feet into the camp, and also use her bonus action to move her spiritual weapon 20 feet closer to her. And then next up is going to be Adriel, who was not looking so hot and is in quite the predicament for herself.

SPEAKER_00 58:44

I'm sorry, Adriel.

SPEAKER_02 58:46

Well, after feeling the full brunt of Grim Fang's weapon, she's gonna go for the five, take the attack of opportunity.

SPEAKER_05 58:55

Come on, Adriel.

SPEAKER_02 58:58

The 17 is just going to miss her. Oh like it's as it's like, yeah, she steps, he's thrusting with the spear, and she managed to like punch it off to the side with her shield. So that was 5, 10, 25 to get over to like the other side of everything with her move, and she is going to action cure wounds and level one to cure herself. Nine hit points. Frederick's gonna move. He is going to move 50 feet into the camp, and he is really hoping that nothing's gonna show up to ambush Tempest at this point. Come with us! We're going into the camp!

SPEAKER_00 59:47

I'll be right behind you.

SPEAKER_02 59:50

It is Grimfang's turn. The angry knoll does still see the fire in these trees. Takes a couple steps forward and thrusts his spear into the trees where Kanina is. So his first spear attack is going to miss with a natural one. And the five for a ten is not gonna be much better, is it? Nope.

SPEAKER_01 1:00:16

Rem, it is your turn. Okay, so Rim, because he stowed the bow, he's gonna move forward uh towards where Grimfang and everybody is, the shortest path he can find. And as he passes the twins, he's gonna be he's gonna look at him and say, boys! And he's gonna throw his thumb over his shoulder and say, kill him, pointing at the knoll on the tower. Aye! And then he's going to use his full movement and his uh action to move 60 feet towards Grimfang. While stay just outside of the 10-foot range. And then uh for his bonus action, he's going to pop and drink his potion. Okay. Seven.

SPEAKER_02 1:00:54

Tempest, it is your turn.

SPEAKER_04 1:00:56

I'm just gonna double move and hope that everything isn't dead by the time I get there.

SPEAKER_02 1:01:03

This this knoll on the tower is going to get like one final attack. Crit one. Guess this die's gonna go go over into timeout too.

SPEAKER_01 1:01:13

Room didn't even look back, just sailed over.

SPEAKER_02 1:01:17

It's okay. He is going to hit with the 23 to to get a one on the die. For who? For Rory. To deal three damage. Um, the warg, all of his targets had moved, but another target has showed up is going to be Brachisker. I mean, Grimfang could have quite possibly killed Adriel on the next next attack. So she's taking this punishment instead. Um, so yeah, the warg is going to move five feet towards Adriel and try and bite. Uh, so the problem is when you roll a bunch of dice, crit ones happen a lot. Now, what's weird is I haven't gotten a crit twenty on any of these to balance out the like seven crit ones I've rolled tonight. So he missed. Yeah, so that's that's gonna be a miss. Um, okay, so Rorik is going to. I guess he'll just Sacred Flame because climbing a ladder and swinging a Warhammer doesn't make much sense. Okay, dexterity saving throw. Yeah. Corgrim and Rorick are both gonna do some sacred flames. And the 13 is going to fail the first deck save against Warwick's Sacred Flame, which dealt 8 damage and fried him.

SPEAKER_01 1:02:38

Rim's kind of smiling like an evil smirk as he hears that death behind him that he left.

SPEAKER_02 1:02:43

So, Korgrim is going to move around the battlefield to the other side of his brother, and you know, does an arm grasp as they went. Good job, brother! Canina's turn, and the only living combatants being Grimfang and his org.

SPEAKER_03 1:02:58

How far away is the Worg from me?

SPEAKER_02 1:03:00

Tennish feet. Alright, and there's nothing between me and the org? Um, there is a barricade in between you and a dead undead knull.

SPEAKER_03 1:03:10

Well that I am going to go ahead and cast twin spell, which will allow me to target two creatures using a spell that doesn't have range of self and that doesn't already target multiple creatures. So I'll spend a sorcery point to do that. Okay, and I will go ahead and use firebolt to basically whip out both of my arms and the directions that I can see them in, and 23.

SPEAKER_02 1:03:37

Yep, that that hits that hits a lot of things.

SPEAKER_03 1:03:40

Okay. So we'll just focus on Grimfang for now. 14.

SPEAKER_02 1:03:45

Alrighty.

SPEAKER_03 1:03:46

The second will be 21.

SPEAKER_02 1:03:48

Uh, that'll hit.

SPEAKER_03 1:03:50

So that's gonna be uh 10 damage.

SPEAKER_02 1:03:53

Alrighty. That streak of fire at the warg, you know, like bored through his chest cavity, and he falls down dead. The only enemy combatant at this point is Grimfang. Let's see if you guys can kill him before he kills one of you. So it is Ariel's turn.

unknown 1:04:13

Kill him!

SPEAKER_05 1:04:14

Ariel has 30 feet. Is there a way for her to get through so she doesn't have disadvantage on her attack?

SPEAKER_02 1:04:20

You can you can just barely squeeze through the trees.

SPEAKER_05 1:04:24

Okay, so yeah, that's what she's gonna do.

SPEAKER_02 1:04:26

Use all your movement to get to the very edge of the map.

SPEAKER_05 1:04:30

And uh she's going to say light upon you in Celestial and snap her fingers. Then she's going to not feel anything coming from Cosane and pray for favorite of the gods. Yeah, no. And then she's gonna use her inspiration. Come on! Nope. Oh no. Even worse, though, no.

SPEAKER_02 1:04:56

Okay, so Ariel pulled out all the stops and they kept on stopping.

SPEAKER_05 1:05:02

Yeah, she's super flustered from that. She's been hit by a bear before, and now she's like getting smacked by the dog. She's gonna spend her free action praying to Kosein.

SPEAKER_02 1:05:16

Okay, next up is Torril, who is going to spend all of her movement to continue trying to get across the battlefield. And also slowly drag her spiritual weapon behind her. And she's going to get all the way over to just a little bit behind Rem. It is back around to Adriel's turn, who is going to do another first level cure wounds on herself. Oof. For five points. And after that is going to be Frederick. And Frederick heads into one of the huts to see what's going on inside because no one has investigated the sheds, even though they have been quiet. Next up is Grimfang. Um, Ariel made herself known and tried to do something to him, of which he knows he uh he resisted or that it missed, but he doesn't know what it was.

SPEAKER_00 1:06:12

Oh no!

SPEAKER_02 1:06:13

Step down and make an attack against her. Does a nine hit?

SPEAKER_05 1:06:20

No.

SPEAKER_02 1:06:24

So the dice have balanced themselves out. It's a natural 20.

SPEAKER_05 1:06:28

Oh fuck, guys. There goes Ariel.

SPEAKER_02 1:06:31

Oh, he gets one more damage. So that is seven piercing damage and one necrotic damage. But now you have witnessed this little trickle that runs up along the shaft of his spear.

SPEAKER_01 1:06:52

Rem, it is your turn. Rim is going to run forward to Grimfang. All the way up. He's gonna run right up behind him. As a bonus action, he is going to cast Divine Favor. And then he is going to swing with his now glowing war pick. For 12.

SPEAKER_02 1:07:11

The 12 is not going to hit as it glances off of one of the studs in his leather armor. Alright, nothing happens. But it sticks around, huh? For a minute. Tempest, it is your turn.

SPEAKER_04 1:07:23

Tempest runs up and now gets all squinty-eyed at the really big one. And is going to try and shoot at him around Ram. Uh 15.

SPEAKER_02 1:07:38

A 15 will hit.

SPEAKER_04 1:07:41

Yay! 14.

SPEAKER_02 1:07:43

14 points of damage.

SPEAKER_03 1:07:45

Woohoo!

SPEAKER_02 1:07:46

Kanina, it's your turn.

SPEAKER_03 1:07:48

Uh Kanina's gonna go ahead and but but she's is she still in range of Grimfang's pokey stick?

SPEAKER_02 1:07:54

Currently, yes.

SPEAKER_03 1:07:56

Okay. Um, well, I guess she won't leave the range of it, but she'll go ahead and go in a straight line towards Ariel, so she's one block farther away. So she's going to go ahead and cast her last Agonizar Scorcher at Grimfang.

SPEAKER_02 1:08:11

That is a nine on his deck save.

SPEAKER_03 1:08:15

I'm gonna go ahead and use my Ring of the Evoker to re-roll one spell dime. 20 damage.

SPEAKER_02 1:08:23

Oh boy. He's not, but he is uh getting very, very bad right now. He's in a bad way.

SPEAKER_03 1:08:31

Kenina, having seen that he uh is trying to threaten Ariel over there, she'll kind of move herself forward and line herself up and kind of will up the last of her big spell energy and throw uh Agonizar Scorcher his way, lining up a line of fire straight through him and singing quite a bit of his fur. What little he has of it. I imagine that mane you said that he had that was going down his like skeletal spine will just like kind of floof into fire.

SPEAKER_02 1:09:03

Ariel, it is your turn.

SPEAKER_05 1:09:05

Ariel's been praying for the last six seconds, and she's just like, please, Kosein, help me with this one. And she's gonna say her celestial again and snap her fingers and try for level two daddy.

SPEAKER_02 1:09:19

I give up.

SPEAKER_05 1:09:20

That's a natural one. So once again, Ariel's just feeling over in over her head right now. Feeling a little bit neglected by Kosein.

SPEAKER_02 1:09:31

So uh Torril is going to join up with the ranks of the doors. Well, there's no one in there! As he makes his way out of this this shack. It is now Grimfang's turn once again. I want you to hit me. Does a 20 hit? Yes. Six points of piercing damage and four points of necrotic damage. Does a 16 hit? No. I got my shield now. It is now Rem's turn.

SPEAKER_01 1:10:03

Okay, so Rim will attempt to strike with his glowing war pick yet again. Uh I'm gonna use my inspiration. Eleven on my attack, which was three better than what I rolled the first time.

SPEAKER_02 1:10:17

Um, that comes around to Tempest.

SPEAKER_04 1:10:21

I'm still squinting at him. Uh, Tempest is going to shoot him again. 16 to hit.

SPEAKER_02 1:10:29

A 16 will hit. No questions this time. It's a it's a nice even hit.

SPEAKER_04 1:10:33

Seven.

SPEAKER_02 1:10:34

He's still hanging in there. Kenina, it is your turn.

SPEAKER_03 1:10:37

Alright. Whoop out the sword! Seeing that he is quite injured at this point. Um and what is my strength or my dex bonus? Whichever one's better. And I guess, you know, having her mantle the flame on, she'll almost like project flames to go around the sword. There probably won't be too much because they don't go too far from her, but she'll step forward right towards Grimfang and swing with her full strength with the sword.

SPEAKER_02 1:11:04

You do still get a plus two for flanking with Ram.

SPEAKER_04 1:11:09

And isn't it a masterwork sword?

SPEAKER_02 1:11:11

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 1:11:11

So you also get another plus one to hit. Okay.

SPEAKER_03 1:11:18

That's a 19. Oh, 19. 22, 23. Yeah, okay. Okay. So my damage. Okay, it's it's let's see. It's it's my full strength sword hit against Grimping enough to kill him with four damage. It's not. Damn it. Can't roll perception.

SPEAKER_02 1:11:43

Five. Okay. Um, is this the first time the king has ever struck something with a sword?

SPEAKER_03 1:11:49

Yes.

SPEAKER_02 1:11:49

Okay. You feel a faint tingling in your hand. To accurately describe it, have you ever had an aluminum baseball bat and struck like something wood? Kind of like that.

SPEAKER_03 1:12:01

Reverberation almost. She's, you know, uh a caster. She doesn't really use melee weapons to begin with. Uh, so she's also probably holding it in a very awkward stance, but holding it much like a person with a baseball bat would. Using it almost like a swing, just trying to make sure the sharp pointy end is kind of toward him. And basically swinging with her strength, because she's not doing any kind of finesse with this. So she hits him, and just by the like the brute force alone, she's hitting in him and damaging it, but that's pretty much it.

SPEAKER_02 1:12:31

Ariel, it is your turn.

SPEAKER_05 1:12:33

Uh, so Ariel is gonna just like half-heartedly fight upon you and with like a question mark and snap. Thank god! 21 is the hit. When she snaps her fingers this time, radiant lightning is gonna shoot towards him, and it's going it's gonna look like like a glowing celestial script like spinning around him for 17 damage.

SPEAKER_02 1:13:08

Alright, Ariel. How do you wanna do this?

SPEAKER_05 1:13:11

Yeah, the so the the script floats around him and like attaches on onto him and starts glowing, and then he is just incinerated from the like and with uh radiant light.

SPEAKER_02 1:13:26

And he crumbles into ash, leaving nothing behind. What about a spear? Nothing behind but a uh blackened spear that appears to be wisping off of black smoke.

SPEAKER_01 1:13:40

Rim will cast detect magic on the spear. Fuck yeah, it's magical. He's looking for school.

SPEAKER_02 1:13:46

Uh necromancy. Nobody touched that.

SPEAKER_03 1:13:50

Uh, I think we remember what happened last time we touched something that looked uh quite as interesting as that.

SPEAKER_05 1:13:55

Ariel will take off her robe and lay it over the spear, spin it, so that way we can hold it without actually touching it, and then she'll pick it up and be careful with it.

SPEAKER_03 1:14:06

Yeah, Tanina will go ahead and like hold up the sword above her head and just be like, yeah, we did it. Kanina, I guess, will go ahead and grab a bag of ash. She'll scrape as much of grim things for maze as she can into a little pouch. Tie it to the We look at the dwarves and we're like, you'll pouch for us, right?

SPEAKER_02 1:14:24

Everyone go ahead and roll perception. Ariel. Six. Kanina. Eight. Ram. Sixteen. Tempest.

SPEAKER_00 1:14:34

Twenty-one.

SPEAKER_02 1:14:35

Uh Tempest. As Kanina is kind of looking at the sword and the sunlight now that everything is settled down. You notice a glint across the blade near the hilt of it that you hadn't noticed before. It's almost like it's got a faint white scripted glow to it.

SPEAKER_04 1:14:59

Well, that's weird.

SPEAKER_01 1:15:01

Also, is there any other magical items within 30 feet of me?

SPEAKER_02 1:15:05

Them, the the uh the items that they received from the king, and the sword that Kenina is holding. Okay.

SPEAKER_01 1:15:12

And if I concentrate on the sword, what what school do I see?

SPEAKER_02 1:15:16

I would hazard to guess, just off the outset, evocation.

SPEAKER_04 1:15:20

See, I wanna go like take a look at it closer since I noticed, but I don't think I have the knowledge. I'd just be like looking at it like, ooh, Shaney.

SPEAKER_01 1:15:30

So, you know, Rim Rim will let Kanina know, hey, that's uh that's a s a magic sword you've got there.

SPEAKER_03 1:15:36

It's uh Oh really?

SPEAKER_01 1:15:37

School of Evocation.

SPEAKER_03 1:15:39

Oh, I thought it was just nicely crafted.

SPEAKER_01 1:15:41

Maybe you can ask the the Smith himself what he did to it.

SPEAKER_03 1:15:44

Hey, we did what we uh we he asked us to do. We helped kill Grimfang with it, so.

SPEAKER_01 1:15:49

While Rim, because Rim's got detect magic going for 10 minutes, basically, he's gonna make like a slow path around the entire encampment to see if he notices any other magical words. Okay, magic right here. He'll wander over to that area and start kind of like shifting stuff out of the way to see what he can find that's magical.

SPEAKER_05 1:16:06

Uh, while we're doing this, Ariel's gonna be walking around and making sure everybody's not needing any healing. Uh, Rem, what is your health?

SPEAKER_01 1:16:16

Rem is currently at less than half.

SPEAKER_05 1:16:19

Okay, and then uh Adriel, is she at full now? Does she heal herself to full?

SPEAKER_02 1:16:24

I think she's close enough.

SPEAKER_05 1:16:26

Okay. Then she's gonna just make a comment to Rem and say, hey Rem, we both need a heal. And uh I can I can take 10 minutes when you're ready to get our health back up.

SPEAKER_01 1:16:38

I I can heal myself too if you want to save some of that.

SPEAKER_05 1:16:41

I need to heal myself more than what my little heel does.

SPEAKER_01 1:16:44

So how m how much do how bad are you feeling?

SPEAKER_05 1:16:47

I'm 17 out of 34.

SPEAKER_01 1:16:49

He's gonna grab your shoulder, he's gonna look deep into your eyes and be like, you'll be fine, and you're gonna get 17 points of healing.

unknown 1:16:56

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 1:16:56

Okay, I'll just I'll just tell you tell you this up front. The the one thing that's really pinging off magic for you in this pile, all sorts of schools and magic in one item.

SPEAKER_01 1:17:06

Okay. He's gonna dig until he reaches that.

SPEAKER_02 1:17:09

Inside one of these crates, because th this whole thing is like crates and barrels from carts that they have looted, you are going to find a staff. Go ahead and take that.

SPEAKER_03 1:17:20

How big is the warg head?

SPEAKER_01 1:17:22

Is that the only magical item that was there? That is the only magical item that is within the And there is nothing in the in the pit of bone. No. He's also gonna be using his eyes to look for like gold and things like that too.

SPEAKER_02 1:17:33

Oh yeah, I mean, we can go over over the loot. Um, the warg head, I mean, it's large, so it's like a 10 by 10. Um, think about the size of a lion's head.

SPEAKER_03 1:17:44

Okay. I was thinking about taking the head and possibly the paws back as, you know, some sort of, I don't know. Proof of combat. We have defeated a significant creature.

SPEAKER_02 1:17:55

So do you guys guys wanna wanna hear a little bit about loot stuff? Yes, please. And note, the uh the dwarves that also risk their lives are probably gonna want to wanna like half of the half of the gold out of this. Sixteen gems worth 100 gold pieces each, 600 copper, 7,000 silver, 1300 gold, and 80 platinum.

SPEAKER_01 1:18:18

Like trade goods or anything.

SPEAKER_02 1:18:19

Well, yeah, I mean sixteen gems.

SPEAKER_01 1:18:21

Well, I I meant like no expensive furniture.

SPEAKER_02 1:18:24

Most of like the luxury stuff. You you can see as you've picked through some of this that there's like nice, probably multi-hundred gold piece tables that have been smashed and broken to pieces. You know, yeah. You look at the side of one of the shacks and it's like that's a fifteen thousand dollar hutch.

SPEAKER_03 1:18:45

And can I take the workhead and pause it? Sure thing. Thank you.

SPEAKER_02 1:18:49

And that's where we're gonna end tonight.

SPEAKER_03 1:18:54

We did it, guys!

SPEAKER_01 1:19:07

We hope you have enjoyed this episode of Adventures in Aurelia. If you are liking what you hear, consider rating the show and leaving a review on Apple Podcasts or Stitcher. If you know someone who likes fantasy stories and think they might like the show, help them find us by showing them adventures in Aurelia.com, where they can listen to episodes, read our blog, and find links to subscribe to the show. We are also available in your favorite podcast apps. If you like to support the show, you can donate to us monthly on Patreon at patreon.com/slash adventures in Aurelia. One dollar a month gets you access to all of our bonus content and helps us raise the funds needed to improve the show. If you'd like to get in touch with us, you can send us an email to feedback at adventuresinarelia.com. Or you can join our Discord server at adventures in Aurelia.comslash Discord. We'd love to hear from you. We'd like to thank BattleBards.com for allowing us to use their songs and sound effects in our production. If you would like to bring these sounds from the world of Aurelia to your home games, sign up for BattleBards Prime. Your BattleBards Prime subscription will give you access to a stream of all songs from their catalog, as well as 20% discount on all purchases. Use the coupon code Aurelia, that's E-R-Y-L-I-A, when signing up to get 15% off the cost of your subscription. Lastly, we'd like to thank the artists who allow us to use their music on our show. Kevin McLeod, Infocompatech.com, Tabletop Audio, VinSwept, Sirenscape, Alexander Nacarata from S Serpent Sound Studios, and Adrian von Ziegler, Michael Gelfi, Derek and Brandon Feichter, and Scott Buckley. You can find links to all of these wonderful artists at adventures in Aurelia.com/slash music.