Beneath Dark Wings | Ep. 21 | Hoot and Holler: Part 1
02:59:11 Share

Hey men, welcome to Legends of Adventress. I'm Toa Komonui and you're listening to Beneath Thark Wings. Here's sort of what happened last time. Tribe elders held

competition to figure out who would go out into the world and find these wind spirits. It seems as if your spirits though are with the Windbenders. Are you alarmed by this? We'll wait until we have a meeting tonight, and then we can get some rest. He thinks we're so powerful that he made us his elite stride force called the Wings of the Raven. That's true. We are his sworn warriors to bring peace to the land.

through the power of friendship. I believe that our task was actually to protect the one of the seals and I do not believe that that has anything to do with what is happening here. And suddenly you hear a

and some sort of explosion directly above you. And you see a number of owl aracocra, swords drawn as they fly around scanning. Some are going after us, cutting down civilians in the town. There are creatures, large,

that seem to be in the shape of an owl, but formed from storm clouds as they fly around and boom with each wing beat. You guys handle the square. I'm gonna go save as many people as I can. Reinforcements are coming. Keep fighting. Come on, come on. We gotta abandon the town. - I'll start to run. - I have a tunnel. Pull it closed and the door slams shut as you are in a tunnel in complete darkness.

You all, uh, you all, uh, are, are standing in darkness as a long tunnel goes deep into the earth, as you hear the sliding of stone and wood, as the, uh, trap door to the secret tunnel hidden behind a huge barrel in the cellar of this alien slam shut. And, uh, it is just...

The six of you. Many, many, many, many figures are holding torches, walking ahead. And it is just you and Warrior's Heart that are left in the back. And as the torchlight flickers, you see that her fur is matted with blood. She's been scraped up. There's a large gash going down along the side of her neck into her armor. It's hard to tell exactly how much

damage that she's taken, how much injury she's sustained. She says, "Come on, we have to go! We have to see how many people survived!" And she starts to limp forward with her shield and her sword still drawn, and she guides you through time. What are you guys doing? Are you okay? Do you need any kind of healing? Oh, she looks terrible! I can't heal you, but just let me know if you need healing. I can heal you, but still be like, "Ouchies!"

I'm fine, I'll be fine, it's okay. Can I check her out? I'm trying to run behind her, but also inspect her and see if she's limping or if she could use some healing or... Why don't you make a medicine check for now? I'll look at Lefty.

Do you mind? And I just grab her and try to carry her. Very respectfully. Make a persuasion check. I got 13. 13 for medicine. What did it tell me? Four. Four. She starts to struggle against you as Persia, like, no, I don't need to be carried. I...

And she eventually gives in to being picked up and carried. But she's not happy about it. It is just to make it quicker, don't worry. And Persia, I think with that medicine check, you look and you see that

From what you can tell, there doesn't seem to be anything horribly fatal, but you can tell that there's definitely some gouges in her armor in the weak points where she's taking a good number of hails. You can see the blood running down her leg and down her orange tail.

I'm gonna put a hand on her shoulder and say, "Don't worry, I'll make sure he doesn't do that again." And I'll pump 10 points of light on hands. Okay. You do that. And so, as you are led down the tunnel,

You see that, that heart keeps looking back nervously and she's like, "I think I sealed it up good enough. I just hope they don't come after us." - Do we have time? I might be able to help seal it up better. - What can you do? Anything, anything. - I just need 10 minutes.

How big is the tunnel? It's-- it is narrow. It's probably at most like six feet tall. Like you would actually probably more like five. Oh, I got this. And like you have to be ducking to all-- to all make your way. Yeah, no problem. I got this. I'm gonna take ten minutes to cast Fabricate.

I can just convert raw materials into product of the same material. So I'm just gonna ask her if I will if everyone is has made it in and we're not expecting anyone else to come this way I can seal this off for good All right, everyone stand back if you need to it's gonna take me some time if you meander ahead I'll catch up and I'm gonna take 10 minutes to cast fabricate and convert raw materials into a 10-foot cube and

I guess which is less than what I need or more than what I need to just seal off the wall with dirt unless it's made of dirt and stone I can do whatever you know. Okay. Depends on what's around me I suppose. Yeah and so what's the radius on that? It's well I can cast at a range of 120 feet the casting time is 10 feet the duration is instantaneous and it says that I can fabricate a large or smaller object contained within a 10 foot cube or 8 foot connected 5 foot cubes. Okay.

Blah, blah, blah. So, big ten-foot cube. You channel your transmutation. I'm going to use my dagger to draw on the ground and draw a circle. Yeah, so you draw a circle and your dagger is slicing through the earth. And then once you finally finish channeling and finishing drawing those magical arcane runes, it glows with this silver light, as does your dagger, and suddenly you hear this soft rumbling as the earth around you moves.

It looks as if there's just a random dead end in the dirt and it would look the same to any air poker on the other side. All right, I should do it. I didn't know you could do that. I'm still working on it. It's a newer thing. I'm working on it. That sounds really cool. Yeah, it's tiring, but hopefully it'll hold. We should be all right for now.

Oh, well, thank you. I'm not used to applause, I guess. No, that was really cool. Thanks. Did anyone else survive? Do we know yet? We got as many survivors as we could. Fartnox isn't looking good. Yeah, get him out here. Rip Fartnox.

You fucking guys. You fucking guys. You're the one that made me feel blue. You tried to pull out the ring and then Richie just... You did this. You put Anus and Spartanox in the same game game. You know. Ben says, "That lizard folk cleric. Thanks to you all, we managed to save a lot more civilians and our forces, but it's bad.

They got the job on us, and look at us, didn't even see them coming. I don't even know how they knew we were here. Do you think that there was someone that informed them? I don't know. I mean, I got the message from Badger Den that they had heard some strange rumblings, and that I didn't hear another word from them. That's not good. That's not good at all. I mean, we know that the Aarakocra aren't just watching everything at all times. They...

I mean, of course it's possible there's some sort of a leak or an informant, but it's hard to know with how much they see. Let's try to hurry if we can. I forgot I'm still holding her, right? Yeah, you're holding her. I hope Fonnox is okay. She goes, yeah, me too. As she nods, but there's a look of grim...

Welcome to B&B Therapy, ladies and gentlemen. And...

Should we walk down the tunnel? Yeah, let's keep going. You've been walking down here, you've been following, there's some torchlight flickering down the tunnel. And she says, we've been having, because they keep to the trees, we've used the underground to ensure that they find us. Now that doesn't seem to be working. This is desperate, but I really think that you guys are the heroes and the saviors that the Birdman promised.

Wait, the who promised? Ravenman! Xur, she's referring to my job. Oh, so not, more of a figurative Birdman. Yes, correct. Well I suppose he could turn into more of a literal Birdman. As you're all led through, she says, she mentions that about how they used the underground, it was no longer there.

The tunnel continues deep into the earth, the roots growing through from the trees above, these massive roots from the trees that are far more colossal than anything you are used to. And it winds through the earth, and probably 30 minutes of walking later, you...

you see the flickering torques light of the individual ahead of you start to rise upward and then disappear.

and then it continues and continues. Eventually, you arrive at a small hatch that is swung open, and you can see the darkened canopy of the forest above you. As soon as you arrive, a huge furry hand reaches in and

and you see Ulanda's fear-bowled face looking at you, and he says, "Well, glad to see you all survived." I high-five the hand. And he just grabs your hand as you high-five it, he just grabs it, and he yanks you up. He yanks you up and then assists, pulling all of you out, and you are-- I'll climb out with my caps on. With your climbing speed. Yeah. With your climbing speed. Oh, no, no, no. I just did my nails. Make an Exterior Saving throw.

Jesus. I fall. Oh no! And then I keep trying to climb until I successfully get out of the damn thing. Oh no, no, I meant to grab his hand. To dodge his hand. Because he's not registering at all.

- So you're easily grabbing out? - No, I easily would have said, "Don't help me, I will climb out myself." - Okay, so he grabs at you and then says, "Oh, nevermind." And you easily climb out of the hole and you all dust yourself off. And as you see, you're in a very, very dense thicket of vines and brambles and bushes. And you hear flapping.

overhead, and you look back behind you and you see the glow of the burning village behind you, well off into the distance, about a mile away. And you look around you and there are a few huddled figures, gnomes, tabaxi, firbolg, the occasional lizardfolk. This is a remnant of the villagers that you can see.

As you... Let me change the music. As the quiet kind of returns and you are sitting there and... Let me change the music real quick. Some woodsy goodness. Some woodsy goodies. Some woodiness. Some woodsy goodies. I don't take one word.

That should be what the money is called in the root campaign. Where's the goods? I can't watch the goods. Do you like a carrot, my friend? Sorry. You start to see the

rays of dawn peeking through the canopy of the forest as it seems the darkened silhouettes of these ally or co-cruppier begin to swarm around you. Rather than descending, they're flying off, returning up the tops of the trees. With the smoldering village behind you, I need everyone to make a second check on me.

- No good. - And, Bridget got a four. - Okay.

- Perception? - Perception. - I got a nine. - Jeez Louise. - Well, I got a nine as well. - 16. - 16, Iris, as you approach after narrowly dodging Wanda's awkward hand, you manage to perch yourself up and dust yourself off. And as everyone else is kind of scrambling and kind of awkwardly being heat up, your cat senses focus

and your eyes narrow and you start to see off into the distance. Points through the forest. A faint red glow, orangey glow, off to one side. And then, several miles away...

and then several miles away as if there are a number of villages burning off the edges. I will relay the message. I mean, this was coordinated. They know everything. They must. If they attack to the villages, do we know if this one's safe? Has there been any sign of Aarakocra?

Are we in a village? No, you're in a thicket. Oh, oh, oh. We're like outside of the village. Outside, okay. In the forest. Are there any nearby villages left that look like they haven't been affected? I don't know. How did they find us? And she looks over and you see as

You see as there is, there's two gnomes that are holding a slumped figure, just completely gushing with blood. And as Harg immediately runs over, and you see Hood fall back, you see green scales.

And, Richie, I swear to God. Sorry. You see green scales as you see a lizardfolk with the throat almost fully torn out of

by a Talon Strike, stabbed in various places. And as Heart runs over to him, and Umranda puts a hand on her shoulder and shakes his head, and you see that the clawed, scaly hand raises up and is clutching something.

It's still alive? Whatever this thing is? He's barely alive. It's Farnox, right? It's Farnox. Cool, I'm going to cast Spare the Dying. Okay, you do that. And so as he begins... No, actually, I'm going to run over and I'm going to cast Death Ward. Okay. Is that...

It prevents him from dying. Oh. And so as you see him gurgling and blood is pouring out, you see him raise up and he looks at Hart and places something in her palm and she clutches it and he says, Go to the garden.

"FURN THEM ALL!" And Iris runs up and your paws touch his scales and all of a sudden this almost unnatural still surrounds the immediate area as your paws glow with this swirling teal mixed with this gold white as it washes over Farnox. And as his eyes start to roll back, suddenly you see that there is almost a stasis

that he's put stillness of the tomb, but yet you look. There's a peace to him. The blood stops. His eyes do not roll back and he seems to be

preserving a state of however that spell works. Can you help me? If he drops zero, he just goes to like one hit point, I think. Okay. So then... It's not the one that I did on the little girl that prevents them from, or gives them additional time to be raised. So anything that would have knocked him unconscious, it wouldn't be unconscious. Got it. It's a fourth level spell. Got it. So you run over and you do that, and...

his eyes roll back and as it drops he looks at you Iris and he says thank you what was a name like that darling I couldn't let you go anywhere please go to the garden

Iris, can you help him? Of course. Can you make him okay? I will do my very best. If he's got some kind of horrible affliction on him, it's going to stay on him for days on end. It could take time and he could slip away in the night. Do we take him to this garden place? Where's the garden for now? We should not take him anywhere that there could be additional danger. One hit and he's...

My magic has only stayed at the hand of death for a mere moment. If I had to guess, the garden he's referring to is the capital city of the Aracobra. He wants us to burn them all. But I'm feeling quite weakened. I'm not sure about the rest of you, but my magics are... It's been a long night. ...expelled.

I'm gonna say, just make sure he doesn't die. And I want to turn and I just want to start looking for other people that are like sick or hurt and like hand them water and stuff and rations. Did we make it through a full rest last night? And then we're woken in the early morning or did we not make it through? No.

No, you guys got there during the day, and so I think you did a little less. I thought we, I had in my notes that we went to sleep, but then were awoken by these noises. I've only got one of each spell slot used up from last time, so we must have rested at some point, because after the Makutsu fight, I would have burned everything. You got there during the day, like the afternoon, and then you slept into late night. Yeah, we go to bed at 7 or 11.

I've used most of my points. Okay, so not still on the third level. So you've definitely been doing some things. Yeah. I feel like pretty bloodied. Is it like early morning? We saw the sun rays peeking through. Are they going to bed? Is that why they're all flying to the top? This is around the time they go to sleep, right, Laga? Yeah. Oh, yes. This is the character voice I'm using for that. Pardon.

I'm going to use my last third level to read golden energy and cast masculine word on everyone. Oh,

Okay. So you see a number of individuals. Six, up to six creatures. So I'll determine who seems to be the most wounded. Not casting it on myself if people need to not be healed. Because I'm fine for now. Okay. So you find the most injured of everyone that's there. There's some people that are

or dripping with blood, even after that lamb hands him the card, he's actually one of these individuals that needs the healing word, and it radiates out. And as this golden glow kind of illuminates this, just briefly,

You see that just how in lovely, buff shape... Hold on, give me a second. We're not in combat right now, right? Nope. Nope. Seems as if they're flying off. I'm going to use my Pearl of Power to regain a Spellflock. Bingo bango. I'm going to cast... I'm going to cast Beacon of Hope first. Oh yeah. And then I'm going to do it so it's max healing. Nice. Okay.

So, you see this pillar of sand appear around Iris and the light glows out and bathes over these huddled figures. These civilians that look almost on the verge of death as they all... as...

As their wounds close up and there's a calm, you hear murmuring and whimpering from everyone around you that there's tragic, tragic loss of life. Their livelihoods, their homes, everything. These people have lost. So you and I'll get nine points of healing. Now, darlings, how do you lot? Who's feeling the worst? I'm fine, but thank you for asking. I'm like at 30%.

I'm still, like, kind of trying to run around. I'm still bloody! You can see I'm still bloody. I'm, like, bleeding. But... But I can help you, too, especially if your magic's still up. I have some...

Some resources still left. Do you need any help? I feel okay, but I look great, so it's okay. Lovely. And I'm going to take my three second level spell slots and I'm going to cast Cure Wounds on the three of them. So you guys will get... And it's maxed out, right? 21 healing each of you. 20? No, no, wait.

If anybody else needs additional help. Oh, I'm so tired. I just can't expend any more energy. And I just kind of look at her. I don't actually look tired, but I look at her like, is she going to listen to me? No, no, I want to help. I just don't know who needs help. How are you guys feeling? Good. I'm good. I'm fine. Thank you. Are you okay?

Oh, no, just allergies. I'll cast a second level of Cure Wounds on you. Oh, no! You got blood in my allergies! That's really good.

I don't know if Rachel can keep it up. Yeah, that's not supposed to happen. I just... I run over to her and I pat her on the back kind of aggressively, not knowing my own strength, and I pop the second level cure wounds into her. So, if that Beacon of Hope is still going, it'll be 18 points of healing. Wow. Thank you so much, darling. After healing a lot,

How are the rest of you feeling? I still have some resources that can be expanded if we're going to be marching on. Oh, I'm fine. I have my own magic. And he places a hand on her shoulder to see if the last of his energy is a green glow. As her wings close up a little bit more, he's like, oh, that's the last of it. And thank you for saving four months. I think he was talking...

about where his people come from. The garden. And where is that? And, uh, Heart nods slowly and she says, The Garden of Nuel. It's where the worshippers of Garrix reside. Magic protects them from the eyes of the court. But no non-believers are supposed to go on the planet.

We have this. And she opens up her palm, and you see that there is a beautifully crafted pendant that seems to be made of ruby and gold, of some reptilian eye with a vertical pupil that seems to be connected to a chain. And there's a soft glow to it. Red and gold.

Her chest just starts sweating. Lovely. You see. I'm the most strong of all of us. It's actually pretty light. You do look really strong, though. You're not taller than I am. Yes, I am, darling. I would like that to be. Well, I feel like Svarno's given to me. If you look on the verge of death, it would be a shame if something happened to you while you had that on you. Make a persuasion check.

Awkwardly avoid this conversation. Is it persuasion? 12. She says, well, you have a lot of shiny gold stuff and I think that I... That is exactly the point, my darling. Har, don't feel like you have to give that up.

Why not give it to you? Keep it. There are some times I don't listen to her and it's okay. I just get a peed in later for it. Or she just aggressively ignores me. Exactly what her just said. That's the worst that could happen. Just hang on to it. It'll be safe with you. You'll keep it safe. Well, she's very magical and very wise and very rich. She might be able to tell you something about it. What do you think I'm going to do with it? I'm not going to steal it. Oh, you are.

My entire point is Vartanaksh over there almost perished. Had I not saved his life, if something were to happen to you when I was not there, you could die. If anyone should have the incredibly beautiful, golden, inexpensive magical thing that can get us into somewhere, it should be the cleric. You, I guess you are a cleric. I am not. I didn't even think of that.

Make a persuasion check at advantage. Yes! I helped! Uh, 16. 16. She says- she looks down at it and says, "Well, I guess I don't know how to talk to creepy lizard godworshippers." None of us do that. Here, you can use your magic.

Thank you. And she hands it over. Where am I going to put this? Creepy, I don't know. It's really, it's gorgeous. And she... She looks at us. That was a bad fear. It's the worst. Literally what I do. She looks at all of you and she says, well, we're going to have to figure out how to get to the garden. If that's where we want to go. But I mean...

You guys are the ones that were sent by the Raven Man. You're the heroes. What do you want to do? I don't think we know how to get there. We could, I mean, very rudely wake up Farnox and have him give us directions, but I think we need to let him sleep.

Well, he'll just leave like a trail of blood and then he'll follow us. What, like breadcrumbs? Yeah, but bloodcrumbs. I'm not going to lie to you when I say that I am... You shouldn't say that. I do not think that we should be attempting to give Farnox the ability to follow. He might feel...

pressure to do so. He's not in any kind of health to be venturing on this journey with us. He gave me this ruby trinket. I'm sorry, he gave us this ruby trinket because he knows we needed to get into the bathroom. He would not have done that if he planned on joining us. And based on how close he was to death, I don't think it would be wise for him to do so. I was going to stay away from him.

One of the other random critters. Healed up a few of them. How many villagers are there around us? There's probably like fifteen. Wow. Um... Well, I think certainly we need to get some rest. We should try to sleep if we can. You've... Most of you have used most of your power. I think Felix might be okay, but... Never better.

I think for you to gain your strength back. I would not have expended all of those spell slots if you were just going to rest.

Well, if you're feeling up to it, we could at least perhaps travel there. And it may be safer in the daylight now that they're going to bed. Now that it's morning. Is it like approaching morning? Yeah, so as you're all sitting here discussing, I have both of you roll medicine checks because you were going around and helping. Everyone will say it's advantage from Iris' healing. Oh, nice. Dirty 20. Dirty 20. I love it. 16. 16. So you have all...

basically triage the whole situation. All the villagers are somehow still covered in wounds, in burns and some wounds, but none look on the verge of death anymore. And as you look up, you see the sun is rising higher in the sky. As the sun is rising higher and higher, it seems to be past dawn, but the sun is rising quickly.

I'll leave it up to you. I think you just healed this all up and if everyone's feeling okay, I'll feel alright, I think. Well, Kanda, should we- are you coming with us? Should we move when everyone's asleep? Well, I think at the very least, I can- I will come with you. Can you be a little louder, mate? Oh, yes. I'm having a hard time hearing you, sorry. I will come with you, yes. And who will stay with all of these poor defenseless villagers?

I think it is best that they get out of the forest. There's quite literally no reason for them to sail here any longer. If the rebellion has for the most part been squashed, and if our job now is to be the muscle for the rebellion, then we should not have these creatures here just as fodder for the birds. They should get out.

What do you think Felix? Well, uh, Hart, do you know where this garden is? I have an idea, yeah. It was always a place that I was told to stay away from and wasn't good for heretics and non-believers to wander into, but... It sounds like you're the only one who has any idea where we might be going, and I gotta be honest, I

Wait, so he wants us to burn... burn the garden?

And he wants to go to the garden and burn all of the bird people. The Aarakocra. Yeah, he wants to burn the capital city. He hasn't stopped talking about it since we met him. Let's do it. What? Let's burn the capital city.

Look what they did to these poor defenseless villagers! I can only imagine it's worse everywhere else! All those are the fires! Can you imagine how many innocent people were killed tonight? If you remember, I spoke with Anubis, and his guidance led me towards fighting this battle. And I will do where I will go when my god leads. He's not led me astray so far. Alright. If that's what we've decided, then of course I'm going along. I just...

This makes me uneasy. I just got a bad feeling about this. But would you prefer we do it-- I feel the same way. I don't feel great about hurting a whole lot of people, but after seeing what they did here, I'm very conflicted. I don't-- I don't-- there is no-- there's-- I mean, where else are we going to go? We were sent here for a purpose, and we're going to fulfill that purpose. We've been given orders, and I'm going to do it. I don't like it, but we have to save these people. These people are innocent people, and it's just going to be a very bloody road ahead of us.

And especially if they're the ones responsible for capturing the wind spirits that once protected my home islands. They... these are evil people. You're right. You're right. And I need to do what I need to do to keep my people safe. Llanda, have you ever come across an Aarakorca that was good? Or were they just infiltrators trying to figure out where you guys were hiding? Or they turned against you?

Any of them that I've seen have been enforcers, soldiers, patrollers, jailers, executioners. I do not see the civilians in the treetop cities. Yeah, but there must be like little baby ones. We can't kill them? No, of course not. There must be, but do they care for our babies?

You can't know. You've never seen them, the civilians or the babies.

So who would you be to say that they don't care for yours? You've only dealt with the enforcers and I'm with Felix on this part. Anubis has led me in the direction of going towards this gardens and this city and putting an end to the horrifying regime of the Zarakocra, but he said nothing about destroying the innocent lives that are there. I do not believe in the burning of the entire civilization of them, but I do think...

that if there's anyone that can make their way in and put a stop to the horrific machinations of these people, then we should do that. I will not touch a innocent child, a mother, a family, a commoner, but I will fight their guards and I will fight those at the head of this snake. General Zurn told us to infiltrate the fort. How we decided to do that, it depends on us.

Maybe we just fight against their soldiers or... I just think that if we meet with the garden, which sounds like we're going to do, they're only gonna see one way through this. Once the treetops start burning, it's gonna be indiscriminate. That's all I'm saying. As long as you all understand what we're about to do. I think you forget that every poker can fly. They see the treetops burning, those that want to leave can.

Those that want to fight at the tops will stay and fight. I guess we'll find out. Or we can run around and leave. I don't think we have any other option. Well, I think let's not make any rash decisions until we get to the garden and figure out what we can do there. If you're not feeling, I say we leave. Heart, is there someone that can stay behind to protect these people?

They need to leave, not stay behind. I agree, but someone should stay with them as they leave. Heart looks at you and nods, and she turns to Wanda and puts a paw on his arm and says, Wanda, it should be you. You should guide everyone back to safety. Stay low to the ground. Find tunnels. If you hear rumbling, run! Run! This...

I don't know. Find... If you can send out scouts to find the others. Just find anyone that survived. But rally them to someplace safe. We have the power of the Raven Man. You know what they promised us. Then you should make your way back to Zurn. You should head to Zentra, if you can. Well, they...

Give us safe passage? Did he not come out and offer his protection? That's actually a great point. If you could lead them back the way that we came, back down the cliffs and back up to that... the Korovakian fort, they would surely take you in. Especially if you said that we send you. Well, they said they wanted to make sure that we finished the job. That we...

And that is why they sent us here. Yeah, tell them we're handling it. That we overthrew the military first before they would give us protection. We're still here and we're still fighting for you. We're going to handle it. We're going to take care of it. But you guys have to get to safety. And all you will be to us is a distraction, a deterrent. If you stay and anything was to happen to you, we all now are connected to you.

That would be the one thing that could swing everything in their favor if we're distracted worrying about your safety. The military would obviously understand this if they have any idea how war works. The least destructions on the battlefield, the better. Well... I just have- They honestly don't know what they've got you to do. I have a bad feeling just that they said that we would earn their protection.

by being successful rebels, by leading the rebellion. They're more interested in making sure that we help them and they helped us overthrow the court. - Well, is there some way that you can go outside of the forest and just wait while we take care of all this? And once all is said and done, we'll all meet up and we can take you all in Dzentro, perhaps resettle this place without some horrible dictator government.

In the morning, it takes a few days to get there, in the morning I will cast Sending on one of the guards there. And I will let him know that it is by my order that you were sent. And if I find a single hair on any of your heads, they will feel the wrath of my God. Because I was not sent here.

She looks around at you and then all of you say, So you'll tell them that we're with you? Of course. We would not let anything happen to you. Let's get a group persuasion check.

- At advantage. - Natural 20. - Nice, gotta get up. - But the natural 27 counts. 26. - 21, oh no, sorry, seven, 15. - Dirty 20. - Dirty 20. - 20. - 20, okay, with all, with five successes. - They're dirty more too. - You see that there's a calm that comes over Heart's face.

as she looks to all of you. - Whiskey. - And her nose kind of wrinkles a little bit, and her ears, her orange ears fold back a little bit, and you start to see some tears kind of well up in her large cat eyes. And she says, "Thank you so much. "I didn't think that we'd be able to ever leave, "especially to go to Zentra, of all places. "I am gonna come with you guys, but everyone else,

Umlanda, you have to make sure that you find all the survivors, everyone else, and get them back to Sentra. Tell them that you're with the Raven Man's chosen. He looks down at her and nods slowly, um, and says, well, I do know the way back. There's one thing I'm good at. It's getting through this underbrush. He gives her a little pat on the head and ruffles her ears a little bit. And, um...

And with that, he looks at all of you and says, well, I guess I'm going all the way back again. Good thing I don't get tired. I've always been a hiker and a walker and a nature walker. Thank you. Be safe. Take your time and make sure that these people are all right.

I will. Farnox will be very angry with me when he figures out that I carried him and dragged him all the way, but he will understand. I do not think that his people would like very much that he let us all get ambushed. Tell him he tried his best. We will. And with that, I'll say that the civilians and the survivors of the Alliance...

all, except for Hart, all begin to pack up and slowly kind of nurse their wounds. And you see that Hart and Umand are talking and they're exchanging letters and documents and she's writing out a few things and handing them.

you see this scroll that she pulls out and places it in its massive hand, the size of her paw on his hand is absolutely colossal, and he grabs it and he takes it, nods at her, and puts it in his pack.

And with that, it probably takes about an hour for everyone to get ready. So if anyone short rests, if that's anything that anyone can benefit from mechanically. Oh yeah, I can. Thank you, friend. Enjoy a long rest. Short rest. Short rest. Not a long rest. You sleep for an hour. It's a power nap. It's a new mechanic. Cat nap. Cat nap. But that's only for a short rest. That is only for a short rest. Is that a minute for a short rest? No, it's ten minutes for a short rest. Okay.

- So you all... - No. - You see, with that, you see this sling

a large sling that Umlanda has fashioned over his back. And you see a lizard head poking out from the side. It seems as if there's kind of this awkward backpack that he's fashioned. But even though the horrible scarring will probably remain, Farinox is very clearly breathing and he is almost... He seems to be very awake, but he doesn't really seem to be processing what's going on. As...

Umana sticks his large thumbs between the straps of this sling. He says, "Well, I didn't think we'd be retreating so soon, but it's been a long war. I guess we can wait a little bit longer to win it. Even if we all fail here, there will eventually be a revolution that will succeed. Hopefully it's you. I think it will be." We'll do our best.

Like always. I think this is different. This is going to be different. And just please, whatever you do, keep everyone safe and don't worry about us. We'll handle them. Well, keep her safe points to heart. She's going to need it. Goodbye, friends. Goodbye. Goodbye. He turns and leaves and you see a long procession.

of wounded civilians and revolutionaries making their way out into the underbrush and you see that Umlanda is lifting up a huge low branch and guiding people into a very dense thicket. And then once he backs into it, he takes one last look at all of you, he gives a wave and then drops it and disappears from sight.

until it's just the six of you and Hart. He's just like a really nice guy. I hope we see him again. He's so nice. I think that he's very capable and his skills are unique enough, I think that he'll be able to lead them stealthily and hopefully he can collect all the remaining survivors. Anyone else concerned that

The Zentrum military is only willing to provide them safety should they succeed on this mission. Yes, I'm very, very, very, very concerned. I thought things were changing. I thought that when we talked to Zurn, they wouldn't keep doing things like this. This is bad. This idea that they were forced to give up their lives

This is not good. This is not good. Something is going on and I'm not convinced that General Zurn, High General Zurn knows everything that's happening. I don't think he doesn't. I think once Ira sends him a message tomorrow, whomever... Oh no, I imagine that that will probably have an effect. We cannot be certain. But the fact that I even have to do it, that they were ambushed in such a way and...

It's either death in one way, in either way. It's almost how they seemed to feel. Should they go back to the military, the military would not provide them any help whatsoever. Even though they'd been in this forest doing the work of the military for God knows how long. It sounds like we may need to circumvent General Ferdinand and just talk to CERN directly. In case Ferdinand was the one that is authorizing this, preventing protection.

CERN might not know about it. I will send two messages to Norrie. One to Furman to let him know that they are on the way, and one to CERN to let him know that if he truly wants us to complete this mission and has his favor in us, that he will directly instruct Furman to protect those that we've sent for refuge.

I definitely don't trust Furman either. No, I don't. Either he was willfully ignorant of all the things that I saw while I was there, or he knows of them, which makes him complicit and very evil. And I told the High General Zurno everything that I knew, and he said that he would speak to Furman about it, the things that were going on in his branch of what he was in control of. It's very concerning. He may just be another corrupt eye, and Zurn needs to know about it.

Well, I think if we're ready to go, we've been taken very good care of in Zentra. I think that Xurn thinks of us very highly. If it weren't for us, Zentra would not stand. So we should be taken very good care of there. There should not be a reason for us to put innocent people in danger or, as Felix was saying, kill innocents.

at the request of someone who is only treating us as such because we literally saved their civilization. I agree. Keep them at the border at the very least. You know, give them some shelter. They don't have to let them into Korovaki if they're worried about their fucking papers. But at least give them somewhere to hide during all of this. They always promised us help but they said that nothing was free.

Then we had to earn it. Well, we saved their city. And now, as the forest burns around them, they, they owe me more than I owe them.

They will do this for us. We're Ice of the Raven. We're not just some schmucks that came in, helped and peaced out, right? We have some power too, damn it! We're the wings of the Raven. Oh yeah, we're the Ice of the Raven. I mean, wings are really cool though. I'm not good with anatomy. They're close enough.

Anyway, are we feeling ready to go? It's getting late. Lord Under the Mountain, I apologize for my outburst, but the lives of these innocents are at stake here. Please send us some kind of guidance. I apologize, friends. I get a little worked up when I see those that cannot help themselves being pawns to those that should be able to. I just thought that that's how it worked. It should not.

And if it is, then we might not be fighting for the right side. I trust the High General. I do. I think that his intentions are good. But there's still corruption. There's still corruption afoot. I do not believe that he has trust by the Associates. I agree. Something's not right here. Cities can be a lot of fun, but they breathe once. We need to fight as a last. They don't like the... It's a very good analogy. They don't like the court. They're trying to end it.

Isn't that good? Yes, it's very good and that's why I'm here and that's why I want to make sure that we succeed in our mission. But does it spark you? Why do they want to end the court? Why is the court bad? Do we know why the Aarakocra are attacking those on the ground? Is it possible that they have infiltrated with lies and deceit in the Aarakocra believe that they are defending their home?

Do we know that the Aarakocra are fighting, that they are initiating, or that they believe they are defending? We do not have all of the information. We are blindly trusting someone we know has been deceived. That's not for me to understand. But it should be. When you choose to take a life, you cannot use ignorance as a reason for taking the wrong one. I agree. I agree.

But what I will say is... I've seen enough to understand... that there's no good in the regime that exists here. There's nothing worth saving. Not just this, they've slaughtered innocents. These people have been rebelling for decades or centuries, I don't even know how long. How long has it been? Since I can remember.

decades, maybe centuries. All these poor people down here on the ground. How can you not be sure that they are being puppeted by a higher power, one that at this very moment could be the people leading us into the spray? Perhaps that's right, but... I'm just... And when the sand settles...

Do you want to look down over the destruction and say, "I made a mistake because I was ignorant" or "I waited and I did the right thing with the knowledge to do so"? I'm going to find the Windukes and I'll make a decision then. But that's my goal right now. Felix, what say you?

Well, I think our only course of action at the moment is to find the garden, first and foremost. I'm telling you I'm not going to like what we're going to find there, I just have a really bad feeling about it. But at least, like you said, we can at least gather some more information, see what they can offer, and then we can move from there. And until then, I owe all of you my life in some way or another, so I'm going to help Toa, and I'm going to help you, Iris, and I'm going to help everyone.

So if finding the Wind Dukes is our next step after that, I'm okay with that. But I'm with you, Iris. We need to get more information, and even though I don't like it, I think the garden is our next stop. I agree. I just don't think we should so quickly rush into burning the trees around us. Trust me, I'm very much with you. I don't want to do this again.

Question for the DM. Do I know that the answer... Sorry, not the answer. The angels, the seven entities that banish the chained god, were those the Wind Dukes of Akka, the Spirits of Air? Yeah. Okay, and so there are seven of them? Yes. And one of them is here in the Akkakia court and is being held captive? Yes.

- By the Yucatsi court? - The information that Zurn gave you was that the signs pointed to involvement of the Wind Dukes somehow, how many, or like if they're captured or whatever it is, is TBD. - Well, Makutu told us something as well, right? - He told you that the court had already had the four wind spirits that were from Toa's Island. - Okay, got it, got it, okay. Got it, yep, cool.

So I think our objective was to find out more about the wind spirits, the Dukes, potentially being held captive by the Okaxin court. We don't know, but I agree. Hopefully we don't have to burn this whole place down. I think that will only cause more bloodshed. I think we're trying to help a bigger issue here and, you know, free these people of this totalitarian rule. But, you know, there may be other ways of doing it.

Not just you. Well, at this point I thought I was leading a good rebellion. And apparently I wasn't. I'm gonna try to... I sent Rhonda with ways to find the other informants in the other villages that may still be alive, but they may have all been found. I may have failed everyone.

And if I can help in any way and define these dukes that you're looking for, you're all we have at this point. You can help by not getting so down on yourself so early. We don't know anything yet. Let's just keep doing what we're doing. We're going to get some answers. And then we'll all feel better. All right? You're with us. We'll make sure nothing happens to you. And you're not to blame for anything that's happened so far. Well, thanks. Thanks. We'll make it right. We'll make it right.

And I thank you for sending my people to Korvacchia. Is it free there? I hope so. Well, I think the point is that they'll be safe there, and then once we take care of these nasty Aarakocra, then they can come back and you can build a new government here. That would be nice! I think...

I guess we should go to the garden. - Let's go. What a way. - Lead the way. - Okay. I guess, I guess this is it. And she kind of sniffs around her tail,

flicks through the air, her ears perked up. That's so cute. As she looks around, she kind of scampers on top of logs and uses her claws to get up to sides of trees to get her bearings. And then she lands back down. Her armor is a little too big for her clattering around. As she looks, she says, I think it's this way. And she points and begins to lead you. You don't like the thing, do you?

No, she's stupid. She's very small, Ferretta Baxi. She's so small. Unusually small. Yeah, like freakishly small. And it's annoying, don't you believe? Disgusting. I know, thank God. I'm so afraid I was the only person that felt that way. No. And you keep looking at her with large eyes. It's disgusting.

It's only watering because you're nauseous. Oh, thank God, Luffy, I was so worried. I knew we were going to make great friends when I decided that a few days ago. All right, we may go. If you have anything you'd like to say about her that's mean or anything, I will listen to it. I just can't speak. Lose a nozzle. That's probably for the best.

And so you continue on your way. As you make your way through and the forest, you travel for hours and it probably takes you a full eight hours and then you have to push forward.

And he says, it's not much longer now. As the sun once again begins to sink back into behind the horizon, but it's very difficult to see through the trees and the canopy. It's very difficult to honestly get a sense of what time of day it is. You can tell vaguely when there's light and when there's darkness. But as you make your way through this forest, you see that as you progress, you see plumes of smoke.

rising up through the trees occasionally. And you see one or two villages that still stand, but, uh, Harp tells you that it's not worth the risk of endangering them if they haven't fallen, and guides you forward. As you push through, the night gets dark, and, uh, are you going to proceed stealthily, quickly? How would you care to proceed?

Stealthily, for sure. Yeah, as soon as night falls, right? They're up. Yeah. You begin to hear the fluttering of wings. You're not sure. Can I use a twist? Oh boy. I have a roll for you. Me too. Yeah, for sure. Yeah. I'm gonna use one as well. You're using one? Doesn't matter.

Because you're not disadvantaged anymore, right? No, not since I got the cape. I'm going to use a twist as well. So I remove four twists. But who's using a twist? Oh, that was worse. All four of us. I got a ten. Yeah.

I don't know, I rolled a 3. I rolled a 2 and a 3. I'm gonna keep my 10. Okay, so we're at 16. Wow, we're just gonna get slaughtered. Yeah, I got a 7. Hold on. We're off, though. That's better. I rolled a 19 that time. Yikes. I have a 16. Okay. I got a 10. So we used how many? Sorry? We used 4. We used 4, so yeah, we should have 16. So my total is 21. 21? Yeah. Okay. And what did Lifty get? Sorry?

I got a seven. Seven? I'm gonna roll for heart and caprice. Heart is definitely disadvantaged because of her clingy armor. Okay. So, as you all make your way through the underbrush, are we not using light sources?

That is up to you guys. Well, I know most of you guys have darkvision, but I didn't know if Heart had a torch. Does she have darkvision? She has darkvision. Alright, I'm going to cast darkvision on myself. Okay. I'll put my really cool glasses on. So you're all able to see in the dark. I'm going to jump on your back. Except for Lifty. So Lifty, it gets very dark. And as the

As the night falls... Do I get his stealth roll then? You would expect. You're kind of moving around, like knocking into shit. Actually, you had a pretty decent stealth roll, right? I got a seven. Oh, okay. So you're knocking into shit on Toa's back and you just pack a little bit. And as you're making your way through the forest, you hear the...

You... We expect to see the moonlight. You remember it had filtered through nicely, but seems to be almost eerily dark as you hear the low rumbling of thunder. And it booms louder as that same familiar storming cloud seems to envelop the entire forest as the...

As you start to hear the dripping and pattering of rain far above you, as luckily you don't get drenched because the canopy catches most of it, you occasionally get the drip of water down on you. As the storm continues to rage all around you, wind whips through the forest, you forge ahead and you attempt to make your way

as quietly as possible. As you creep forward, Heart is looking around, like, "Did I... was it here? Okay, now I think it's here." And she leads you deeper and deeper into the forest until you... the trees get closer and closer together. The underbrush gets thicker and thicker. Massive, swarming vines. And

huge fronds of these beautiful plants that seem to be basically matching the size of the trees all around you relatively as you get closer and closer to where your destination is. And as you arrive, as you arrive to this low moving, you stand at the precipice and you look down into this

into almost a valley, this lowland that seems to have this huge row of tightly interwoven trees all around it in almost a near perfect circle.

And these trees do not seem to be the massive ones that make the huge canopy of forest. These are a lot smaller, tightly knit. And as you approach, you seem to get this strange sense in your stomach as soon as you step down into these bones. As the... There seems to be something present.

You get the sense of eyes watching you as these large verdant trees all around you rise and up ahead it's almost far more lush than the rest of the forest. But as you get closer and closer, you see on the bark and out of the branches and the trunks of these trees strange shapes that almost look like faces emerging from the

the trunks into the bark and in the trees themselves you see faces the shapes of faces as so if we were familiar with Curse of Strahd we'd imagine these might be werewood trees Edelwood trees Edelwood trees I don't know I don't know something

This podcast is brought to you by our Patreon. Become a patron today at patreon.com slash legends of Avantris and gain access to tons of exclusive perks, including a monthly movie night and a weekly Patreon exclusive campaign set on the high seas. Shroud over Saltmarsh.

You can also go to thecrookedmoon.com to pick up your own copy of our first published supplement, The Crooked Moon, a folk horror tome for Dungeons & Dragons 5th edition. And don't forget to snag all of the extra goodies like dice, miniatures, plushies, a tarot deck, and more. Thank you. You arrive at this ring of treats that spreads out all around you.

And you try to look through, but then every single gap that you peer through, there seems to be another tree blocking it. And there seems to be a row of rings that are interspersed, as if it's just one person could walk their way through. And as you arrive here, Heart kind of is trembling a little bit, and she looks up and she says, "This, I think, is the garden."

I get a sensation that something's watching us. Do you know what is watching us? I think they are. Who's they? The cult. The cult. Iris, do you still have the... Stage whisper. Stage whisper. Iris, do you still have the... The shiny. Stage whisper. The shiny. The shiny. I'm like right next to the mic, sorry. Yeah, but we can't hear you. I can't hear you very well. Okay, sorry. Of course you can.

Well, should we take it out? Is this where we used this thing? I'll just kind of take it out and I'll just hold it in my hand. This place feels really creepy. I kind of like it, to be honest. It reminds me, not exactly, but it reminds me a little bit of tombs. It's a little darker, it's murkier. You can smell the ground beneath your feet. I really like, I enjoy it. But trees don't grow indoors. Who cares about the trees? I'm talking about the wet earth beneath our feet.

Did Pharnax ever mention why the trees have faces in them? I don't think he even mentioned the trees have faces. Those are not faces. No. I can't see anything. Oh, that's right. No, if you... Here. And I pass you my goggles. Oh, that's gross. Take it back. Stop it.

These horrible faces! I mean, this is quite what I was imagining when he mentioned this beautiful garden type place. Do you think anyone used the words "beautiful garden"? Well, I pictured that usually gardens are beautiful, aren't they? Wait, let me say that again. Do I recognize any of the faces in the trees? Uh, make an intelligence check. Just for fun. I don't know if maybe you don't know.

17. 17. You don't recognize any of the faces, but you do get the sense that there is a distinctness to all the faces. Not much more than eyes and mouths and maybe some noses.

But you can start to pick out, "Oh, that looks like an Aarakocra face," or "Is that a gnome face?" or "A tabaxi face?" or "A bugbear face?" or "A human face?" as you start to realize that there are very clear, distinct features to these faces.

Oh, here you go. I thought I knew that tree. Well, they're very creepy. I mean, perhaps these trees are here to scare off danger. So that if any bad person comes up, they'll be like, oh, this is too much for me. I best turn around. Maybe that's why. That doesn't seem like a very solid security protocol. Well, I mean, we don't really have any choice but to go through these trees.

Is it right? I believe so, yes. This is where the garden is. I think they're watching us. Eyeless, take this everything out and- It's in my hand, Doctor. I don't think anyone's going to come to greet us. I'm just hoping that as we traverse through the trees that they'll see it in my hand and say, "Okay, let's not-" Kill them on sight? Kill them on sight. That's true.

Are you going to go first though? Of course. I feel like, you know, being paid to travel is you. It should be me, but I can't see you. You know, you really wanted to go to the shiny thing, so if it has to be you, it has to be you. Well, when you first asked, I said of course. Oh. Great, go ahead.

You see her pull out her shield. You can tell that I'm afraid to say anything that would make Lufty upset because I don't want her to become friends with the other cat. That would have been very obvious. Anything for you darling. I hope you feel comfortable. I'm seeing you in like a whole new light. She would never want you to be comfortable.

And Heart doesn't even register this. She pulls out her shield and she keeps a paw on the hilt of her sword as she begins to walk through. Is it a tiny sword? It is about her size. It's a short sword. And... Hey, ma'am, can you grab me a salt barrel with a brother? Me too. Thanks, boo. Thanks. And you begin to walk through. And as you step across this threshold...

It's almost as if the sound of thunder and the dripping of rain almost is completely muffled all around you. As an incredible stillness overcomes you as you begin to make your way through these trees.

And as you duck and weave and continue, it seems like these rows of trees are never gonna end. And as you look down, you feel this soft, fertile earth. And it feels like there's a little bit of give to it, almost a bounciness. Like it's the most lush, verdant farmland.

lush verdant soil that you've ever walked upon. And as you look down, you start to see that that doesn't seem to be the case, but it seems to be covered in a layer of ash. As your feet begin to kick up ash, as it seems to, particles flick in the air, and in the darkness it's very difficult to see occasionally, you'll inhale it.

As there is, the ash is mixed with the smell of fertile soil. As the trees wind upwards, you see the dark gray bark, almost black, of the trees all around you rising up. And even though there's an unsettling quality to these trees, you look up and they have these just

just full, full boughs filled with these huge leaves that give you a cover from all of the dangers that fly above you. And there does seem to be a sense of safety here as you make your way through, but you feel that sense of eyes watching you from every corner. And you feel this strange warmth around you.

as you begin to make your way through, and as soon as you begin to turn the bend around the, uh, what you hope is the last line of trees, you see a flash

of blazing red and gold fire swirl and almost blinds you for a moment as you... as you... as it dissipates and you see the garden. From it being perfectly pitch black in the ring of trees, suddenly you step through the threshold and it is lit.

You see a massive brazier, pillar of flame, stones all around it with this raging, swirling, golden red fire that rises up like...

A massive canopy of green leaves. As you look out ahead, no longer is there the dark gray wood. It's nothing but shades of green. Vines, bushes, trees, flowers dotting the ground. As you see this grass lush perfectly, the...

Tall grass, short grass, just perfect sheets. And it's almost like you've stepped into a fantastically pristine version of nature. And you see a single silhouette standing before you, about 20 feet ahead. It's nothing more than a hood. As you see there's something blazing near his hand as he holds up a lantern.

You see that this lantern is made out of a skull of some kind, as it blazes with a golden red flame. Its eyes flash once again for a moment, you realize that that's what it was, almost blinding you all once again. And you hear a voice call out from the hood. "What business do you have in the Garden of Renewal?"

I pulled out the symbol. We were sent here by Fonox. He is... He was near death. We stilled his wounds, let him back into the living, but he handed us this and told us to head to the garden.

He steps forward, this figure, and then as the flame dies down in the lantern, you have to see that it illuminates a scaled green hand. As you see the other hand reach up, pull back, you see a long snout covered in scales, a fin furling back, shades of orange and yellow amidst the green scale of the wizard folk. Seems to be

far older than any lizardfolk that you've seen. Cracks in his scale. And as he approaches, you see as the firelight casts glows, even with this pillar of flame that lights up this garden, you start to see that the flame is illuminating patches of red scales and gold scales covering parts of his skin. As he approaches you,

You present me with Farnox's holy symbol. Did he give it to you willingly? Well, he gave it to the other cat, and I've been carrying it as I am the healer.

And you see, at this point, you had barely noticed, but here's starting the clanging of metal as Heart is fully hidden behind Toa, and she peeks her head out and looks at him like, "No, that's exactly what happened. Yes, no, we're here. Farnox sent us and we saved his life." And she darts back behind Toa as this little-- - Well, the Lüfty Eye actually saved his life, darling. I don't know if you heard when she said that Eye was the one that saved his life. - Yeah. - Eye saved his life.

I did hear that, I feel so generous. And to many others in that moment too. So many. In case you were- And he steps forward, his eyes narrow, you see there's a blazing flame almost in his old eyes as they narrow and look at all of you. Yet, he doesn't join you. No, he was near death. He was in pretty bad shape.

I believe he was actually unconscious after he presented us with the seal. He...

allowed himself to rest his mind at ease and he was carried away by a large bugbear man? Was that what he was? Um, I believe it was a fearbog or a furbog, depending on who you ask. Oh, one of those. Jammety was a bugbear. Yes, Jammety was a bugbear. The drunk one. With the really big arms. He was just big all around. Bugbears are drunk. Fearbogs are very kind and nice. And clunky ears. He had like, kinda like, like fuzzy cow ears. He did. I didn't notice. He was a big bugbear.

We didn't want him to come on our journey because we were afraid that he would get further injured. He was gravely wounded. We saved his life. He lives because of us. Look, I saved his life. I know what you just said to me. I mean, she saved his life. I've said, Aras, save his life. That's how I am. I said, you better save him. And she did. And you have all come.

for the power of Garrix. Oh. I'm not quite sure what that means. The only reason any of our members should hand over their symbol and send them to the Garden of Renewal is if they believe that those outsiders and non-believers deserve the power of Garrix and will use it to destroy our oppressors. Is that you?

Do you have maybe like a pamphlet that we could flip through and see, you know, if it fits what we're looking for? Well, I destroy things all the time. Actually, yes, I do.

That last part is very accurate. I'm a cleric of the grave. And I believe that the decay, deterior- the deterioration of the body leads to fertile soil from which life grows anew. The cycle of life begins with death. And that is all you need to begin your initiation. But I can speak for my friends, I'm far more dark and dreary than they are. Yeah. I had a houseplant once and I killed it and it didn't go back. So...

- Okay, nice, good job. - I have a question. - Sure. - Would we know, or would Felix know how gods feel about other gods? Like worshiping multiple gods, right? Like we just went through the whole Raven Queen trial and I've been someone of the Raven Queen my whole life, like would I know that you'd be like, no way, or hey, do what you gotta do to get a job. - I would say make a religion check. - Gladly.

Okay, well, thank you, Dai. Uh, religion, you say? It should be plus in. Uh, it's plus five, so I got a twelve. Twelve. Thirteen. Thirteen. So, I would say that you probably have the, I, you would have the sense that the Raven Queen, everything that you know, you're not a very godly person. Right. But you know that at the very least, um,

that the Korovakian government was fine with other people worshipping other gods, but they strongly suggested that the Raven Queen was the best one to worship. You know that gods are very real, and you know that some people have paid homage to other gods. But as far as whether they would be angry, you get the sense that the Raven Queen might not be too happy if you believe that, but as far as other gods, you have no idea. - All right, cool, thank you.

um do you mind me asking what's your name friend my name is olfax u-l-t-h-a-x

Well, my name's Tawa, and this is Felix, and this is Iris, and this is Lufty, and this is Hoosier, and this is Hart, and our good friend Pharnox, he sent us here in good faith, as you can see. And so the next step of our journey is to perhaps rest, if you would have us here, and then we'll go on and bring down the oppressive Aarakocran dynasty.

How do you plan to do that? Um, through, uh, strength and violence, perhaps? We're very good at violence, I've noticed. He means war and destruction and burning and things that Farnax was very fond of. Through fire. Dragon's fire. To wizard's fire, but sure. Sure, I mean, anything that could help. You need rest. Yes. Yeah.

You will receive rest. Sleep beneath the fig trees in the grove yonder. We will see tomorrow. If you are worthy of Garrix's might, and if you intend to do what must be done to bring about the end...

of the oppressors that fly above us. Perhaps tomorrow too we could have counsel with your militia and talk a little bit more about our enemy, their weaknesses and what you have witnessed. We are not from these lands and could use all of your wisdom and insight. We have wisdom to spare.

Insight as well, but we do not have a militia. We are mere worshippers to the flame. We simply are the torchbearers, the flamebearers that bear Garrix's fire until the time is right to burn down the Eres, something we have been working for for hundreds of years. I've seen all of you in the flames.

What does that mean? Like, you were able to define that we were coming here? She knows of which I speak. I do. No, I have no idea which is which. I do know she... No. I have no idea which is which. Seeing into the flame. Oh, yes, that's how I speak with my daughter. Oh, see...

Well yes, when you're communing with a deity, sometimes they prefer to do it in very powerful natural elements. The fire is incredibly powerful. That's how you speak to your god as well, as you look into a flame. We've seen our own do that very thing. Yes, I have my own. I look into the foam in the top of my beard and sometimes I see things. I get it now. Yes darling, it's actually very similar to that, only one of them is real.

No, she has a guard. I wasn't talking about her guard. I'm talking about the visions in the phony bear. I'm sure, but I would think... So, be fair, I'm usually pretty well in the bag at that point, so it could just be, you know... You're at least half in the bag at that point. Yeah. And then perhaps La Poire then shows up. There's a big jolly face in the beer foam. I could see that. That seems reasonable.

"It's a funny girl." "Can that be canon there?" "Our god cares not for us. He cares only for destruction, but when promised destruction, he will send signs to those worthy, those who bear the scales." He pulls down his, uh, the collar of his robe, and you can see gold and red scales rising up. "This is nice. This is very pretty."

Are the gold and red indicative of him sort of transformation? Is he originally more red or more gold? Is he going towards a particular color? He's green. So he's a green lizard. But that like matches the fire pillar. So the gold and the red, is it spreading? Like, does it seem like some kind of trans conversion? It seems as if there is some kind of growth of red and gold scales on him that would not have been. You saw Farnox and he did not have any of this. Oh.

- Clonox was completely green. - He was completely green. There was a little bit of coloration maybe of like yellow and orange and like the frill that he had on his head, but he's mostly a green lizard. - I wouldn't know anything about dragon business, right? I would have no clue. - Probably not. - Felix, do you know why he may have red and gold scales?

Well, um, I'd be happy to do an arcana check to tell you everything that I know that I've read about Garrix. Or, a religion check, I'm sorry, did I say arcana? I didn't mean arcana. You know, I... I don't want to brag or anything, but, uh... You've read a lot of books as well, I'm asking you. I, uh, you know, I know a little draconic, and I've read...

many, many books. I've heard of Garret's, I just don't, you know, I just don't know what I know. The god of this world knows what I know. And you may roll a religion check to see what you know. In Nekbep, with the presence of all the dragonborn, would there be any... Oh, make religion check an advantage. ...

21. 21? That's what I got. 21. So, I would say that, Felix, you would know that from your studies that Garrix particularly was taught in these schools as basically the horrible, tribal, sacrificial

evil, dark religion of the savages, some of the savages that lived in Erios. And you know that it is something where it was nothing but negative. You learn this in your religion class of some of the other gods that are worshipped in the continent. And it is very bad and it's all about sacrifice and death. Iris. Iris.

you would know that there are probably, there are two primary gods that are worshipped by the dragonborn, which are Tiamat and Bahamut. And however, you had encountered in Nekbet that there were

swaths of Dragonborn and maybe others that worship other gods from a Draconic pantheon. And Garrix was worshipped by those that cared not for the squabbles of this war of good and evil. And it was just about those that cared about destruction and cared about kind of a respect and appreciation for the power of fire over anything else.

And I would say that both of you would probably understand that this is because Garrix is removed from this war that he is depicted as a gold and a red dragon, which would be the good and the evil. The fire transcends both. So they would both know that those are the two fire-breathing dragons. They're gold and red.

Yes. That's sort of... I'm going to relay what you told me to answer Toa's question, but heavily imply that I don't take everything that I learned in...

my classes as like the 100% truth, you know, knowing what I know about the military now and as I'm growing up, like I don't necessarily believe all of what I was taught, but that's what I was taught. As a worshipper of Muradin and being a Dwarven speaking Draconic, do I know if Muradin has any sort of dislike for deities like yours? I was thinking make a religion check.

Probably not. Although I may be a proficient in religion. Oh, I am. Twelve? Twelve. You're not familiar with Garrix. You know that Moradin and dwarves in general, it's like, if it's not a dwarven god, why bother? It's a colossal waste of time. So you probably get a sense that, like, yeah, he wouldn't care for it. Okay. Colossal waste of time. Okay. Where are the spectres?

I'm pooped. Toa has been walking me around all day. She's very tired. I can tell she's very tired. Her calves have terrible knots in them. That's true. In the grove, you fig orchard, you may find a restful sleep, an illuminating sleep. What does that mean? This grove is protected by...

Our magic, my magic. The owls cannot see through. They dare not come even here. The power of storm, the power of air and water are no match for the power of fire. Not when wielded by a dragon god. Sleep. Sleep.

And we will see tomorrow what is in store for you, whether you are worthy of the power to destroy. With all due respect, you're not going to try and burn us in our sleep, are you? Not tonight. And he turns and begins to speak.

He turns and begins to walk away. Wow. Eight. He seems to be honest.

Well, um, thank you for letting us rest in your fig grove. Let us know if there's anything else we can do, um, throughout the night. But, uh, I think we all need plenty of rest, so thank you. Tomorrow, we shall see if you've earned it. And he walks off. And, um, you see that there's a small pathway down. It's, uh, these are almost guided by vines and other, uh,

bits of foliage as you make your way through this beautiful garden. And you see up ahead, as you make your way into the fig grove, that there seems to be a center point where there's a small grove of trees, a ring that seems to shield a central point.

As you look around, you see a number of figures tending to this garden, carrying lanterns of their own, tending to the flame. They all seem to be lizard folk. None seem to have the gold or red scales that Olfax had. - Is it clear that he's like way older than all the others? - Yes, I'd say that's very obvious that he seems to be considerably older than the others.

But it's, from what you know about lizard folk anatomy, there seem to be male and female lizard folk of all varieties as they begin to tend to their garden. And you are able to settle down in the fig tree. There doesn't seem to be anyone really around you. You get the sense though that as they all tend, they don't seem to be paying you any mind, but every time they turn, there's kind of one eye pointed in your direction.

Um... Well... This feels... Despite how kind of weird and creepy and strange this is, I feel like we're in the right place. Well... I don't think any of us feel great about it, though. I think that they could help us. The fact that this place is totally protected is... is... is incredible.

I think we can finally get a good night's rest. Do you think we need to keep watch? They're watching us for sure. At the very least, I'm just going to have Beatrice keep an eye out. That's a good idea. I think the rest of us can just take the night. Perhaps you cast your thing. May it be predicted. I don't think casting spells is really a good plan. I trust Beatrice watching. I don't want to do anything shifty.

I'm not a quarter.

I'll take some seed out. Here you go. Here you go. I'll feed her some seeds from my pack. Did you just make capsules? That's scary. I've got some dried fish. I've got some seeds. I've got some dried fruit. Did you say you had dried fish? Can we just eat? Oh, no. Did you eat all my dried fish? I thought we talked about this last episode. No, I didn't eat all the dried fish. I was going to ask if I could have some. I'm quite hungry.

Oh, um, let me see, uh, yeah, I mean, this is probably a few months old, but if you'd like, and it's like some big fillets of flounder that have dried up and they just like, drip. As Iris is devouring some fish, you hear like a little jingling of metal, and you see these large green eyes, and the

flanked by orange fur as you see Hart trying to say, could I have some please? Oh, yeah, yeah, of course, of course. I've got quite a lot of fish on my journey here, so take some please. Would anyone else like some dry fish? I've got a whole lot of them. Would you like anything else? Well, if you're offering, I'll try some. I have some jerky.

I have some turtle jerky in here. I have some dried fish. I have some dried seagull jerky. I have... Do you have anything that's not like a dried sea mammal? Like a yellow salad? Like a lamb base? I have some... There's some wild boar jerky. It's pretty old, but it should be fine. It's dried. I'll eat that. You can have my fresh stuff. Oh, has anyone had shark before?

It's very delicious. Can't say that I have. Well, he has a lot of spice. Trust him. Trust him. And I'll hand out just some, like, strips of shark. And, uh... I mean, it's not... It's bitters fresh, but... I'm gonna, like, stage eat it and drop it on my shoulder. I'm gonna see this creature run and drop it in your... You do that. Well, good night, everyone.

And, uh, Beatrice, just keep an eye on us and be a good girl. I'm not the real little scratch behind the ear. Um, do birds have ears? Behind her ear hole. Yes. Ear hole. Her ear hole gets a little scratchy scratch. You know, general, like, you know, ear hole. She gets an ear hole scratchy scratch. If you guys don't mind just kind of huddling around a little bit, that way we can for sure be safe and not surprised in our sleep.

Yeah, I would think we would all, like, kind of just be pretty close together. Yeah. Dakota just, like, smack down. Yeah, I'd be hitched, kind of leaning against my shield and kind of work. And just before I go to bed, I want to place out my figurines of the four wind spirits. Mm-hmm. And just try to get a sense of...

Do I sense anything different than what I've sensed in the past few days? Are you going to... Is it going to be part of your evening ritual? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Okay, make a religion check, please.

That's an actual one, so I think two. As you set out your figurines, you get nothing. It is hard for you to... No, one, excuse me. A one. A one. A one. It is very hard for you to get a handle on anything, and you feel... You've been getting a... You've been getting...

the occasional feeling and guidance previously, but here you feel nothing and you feel a little bit alone. - I'll Surge. - Breathe deeply and go to bed. - Okay. - I too go to sleep. - Can I get a perception check for Beatrice, please? - Sure. - Oh boy. - Oh fuck, let's go find those stats I wrote down all those days ago.

I think they're like right in the beginning. Yeah, there you go. Okay, so she gets advantage on perception checks. And she's proficient. But it's a wisdom check? Well, so she has plus three. So it is wisdom, but she's proficient. That doesn't answer my question. Plus three. Yes, it's a wisdom check. 19. 19. Okay. So, as you all... As you all...

Oh, jeez. As you all sleep, you dream. No! No! There is darkness. And you feel at peace. You realize now that you're in a beautiful meadow. The soft soil and tall grass is cradling you as you stare up to the

the inky blackness above you, which you assume is the night sky. And as you sit there at peace, there's a flash of light that almost blinds you as you see a thin line

blazing light appear and materialize above you and it gets larger and larger and larger and now you realize that this is no light it is a massive reptilian eye opening up directly above you a blazing incredibly narrow slit of a pupil staring down at you it's like an eye of sorrow an eye it is raging

Gold flame, red flame swirling in unison. - No thank you. - And as you look around, you start to see silhouettes of figures surrounding you. You're in danger. Swords raised up, axes, it's hard to tell the races, they just seem to be vaguely humanoid shaped. Looming beasts lurk behind them. Great tall trees as well.

And suddenly you blink and fire erupts all around you. And in a single instant, in your mind, everything is burning. You hear shrieks, screams, cries, the raging fire all around you. And you feel like you should be burning as well. You feel the heat all around you. It's almost oppressive, but you feel no pain.

And you see everything around you start to wither and crumble and burn. And there's nothing left as the eye gets larger and larger above you, showing the devastation of this flame. And you see nothing but fields of ash. And suddenly you blink. And suddenly you see a massive tree.

and another massive tree and another massive tree and a beautiful city built into these treetops. Gorgeous wooden structures and also built around and into these massive trunks and you see it and you see life all within.

And then one blink later, everything is on fire. Everything is burning, bridges are collapsing, ash, rubble, all plummeting to the forest floor. And then a moment later, the field of ash again. And everything is still. Everything is dead. Everything is destroyed. You feel a sense of unease. But then, it's a flash of color. The eye is no longer there anywhere around you. You're alone in this field of ash and burnt soil. A flash of green.

Tiny little flick as you look directly ahead of you. There's a single green sprout rising out of the destruction. And then you all wake up. In the dream, were we alone? Or were we all six of us in there? All of you was individual. Okay. It was all individual business. Have we got, is this like a middle of the night we all wake up? Or is it just in the morning? It's in the morning. You finish your long rest. We survive the night.

Um, see? I nearly chucked my skin and like... Am I burning? Am I okay? Okay. Did I sweat through my globes? You're fine. Oh, jeez. Oof-ta. You okay? I haven't sweat like that in, well, anyway. It's been a moment. Wait. Why are you guys all freaked out? Oh, did you have the same dream idea? I don't know. What did you do?

Everything was on fucking fire! Yas, and I did. Wait, so did I! There was a big eye in the sky. Exactly. We all had the same dream, Felix. Did you have the same dream? It was very real. It was horrible. But at the same time, it was like... It was a cleansing. And then there was just a... The sprout of something. I don't know what that was, but...

I'm not sure I want any part of it. Well, maybe the green sprout at the end of the dream was to show that new life would rise from the collapse of the era. Yeah, but like, I don't know, in the dream, nothing was bad that got burned down. It just kind of was on fire. No, there were all those silhouettes attacking with the weapons and the looming beasts and the...

My bad. You should listen more when the DM tells us about our dreams. I missed that completely. It was awful. But then that eye, it just instantly incinerated everything. I saw a beautiful treetop city. And then it was ashes the next moment. Perhaps that's our next goal. It just seems very... I mean, clearly when we...

Clearly we are meant to destroy something that, at least on the outside, seems very beautiful and impressive. I don't like this, Toa. I don't like this at all. Do you think that I would just have devoted my entire life to learning these things just to use them to burn everything to the ground? Your whole thing is burning things!

You have a flaming sphere, you have a flaming ball, you have a flaming bolt. I'm supposed to be helping people, Toa. Just because I got mixed up in whatever happened doesn't mean I wanted to do those things.

Well, we have to remember that doing that those treetop cities that they're oppressing people. They've been oppressing people for centuries. All I've ever been is just a tool and a pawn for people who are directing me to wantonly slaughter people. I don't want to do this anymore. I want to learn. I want to help people with the things that I've learned.

So do I. And I think we will help these people. I think we can be targeted. We don't have to burn the whole thing to the ground. We need to cut the snake off at the head. Or whatever that saying is. I agree. I'm just... This dream concerns me. Deeply. What do they say? A fish rots from the head down. It's what they always said back home in the Makani Islands. So we cut off the head. We preserve the rot. We don't have to kill innocent people.

We'll kill the fish head, we'll burn it! And then the rest of the body can be dried and eaten like jerky, but fish jerky. It's more of a metaphor, I think. Or is it an analogy or a metaphor? What's the difference? Have we discussed this? I don't know how to feel, but I think we need to just keep going and learning what we can. Do we have a long rest? Yes. Yeah, you all want to do a long rest. Oh, with D&D Beyond, it's two button presses.

There we go, long rest and done. Alright Toha, I believe you. I'm staying the course. I just think that we, you know, there's two sides to every story and we should hear both sides before we do anything crazy. Agreed. Agreed. Um, are there any like figs on the ground that seem like fresh, ripe? Well, I would say you'd be able to see that there are a few figs on the ground just resting gently on the earth. Does anyone want some breakfast?

I start throwing figs out. You do that and I'll... Does it look okay to eat the figs? Make a nature check. Are figs a laxative like a prune? Probably. That's like fiber and fruit, right? Prune is a plum. Fig is different. It's an entirely different fruit? Totally different fruit. Do I trust Tela if he looks at something and says it's okay to eat? That's up to you. I trust you. I would trust you. You have survival skills, right?

- I guess do it at a glance, like my passive survival would be-- - They look like figs. - Okay. - They look like plump figs. - I've already eaten like two big figs. - Then I'm gonna eat the fig. If he ate the figs, I'll eat the figs. - I've been eating figs for so long. - The figs that you are eating are bursting with flavor. They're incredibly juicy and plump and delicious. There's a sweetness to them. And you don't die, at least immediately. - Okay. - I wanna just take a few. - Okay, you do that. - To go.

Because how often do you see pigs, right? Sorry? So I think we need to find Ulfax. I agree. There's some things I want to ask him. Just in the morning stuff, I'm going to send out the two sendings that he's going to. One to What's-His-Fuck. Furman. Furman letting him know that we sent...

We essentially sent the wounded rebels their way. They're not fit to fight. They'd be more of a detriment to the cause. We need them to be looked after. And then I'm also sending word to Zurn that he knows that I sent them his way. And then I'm going to send word to Zurn saying that we sent them that way and please send word to Furman saying that he received my message and that Furman needs to care for us

those that arrived there. - So you send out the spell to Furman and you wait and you hear back and you hear in your head, it's only like 25 words, right? - That's a lot. - That's a lot of words. But it's essentially the gist of like, were they unsuccessful? I will keep an eye out, but I am very displeased. And you will then get something from Zurn

that says in your mind's eye, or your mind's ear, I suppose, "I will make sure that Furman embraces them. "They will be safe and protected. "I'm glad you are alive. "Find the Wind Dukes."

I change my mind. The only person I want to burn alive is Furman. Thank you so much. And that is what you hear back. That is what you hear back. So Furman sounded like convincing, like Furman. No, Furman sounded like an asshole per usual. All he cares about is if the rebellion succeeded. That's all he seems to care about. And Zurn is saying, I will make sure that they are protected. He's very much preparing spells. Um, then...

Ooh, what is that? Ooh, I wanna hear a cryptic rhyme!

The spell doesn't take into account any possible circumstances that might change the outcome such as the casting of additional spells or the loss or gain of a companion. You cast the spell two or more times before finishing your next long rest. There's a cumulative 25% chance for each casting after the first you get that you get a random reading. So the first one's the most potent, everyone after within a long rest period is less successful.

So I'm going to set up my altar to Anubis and light my flame. And Lord Under the Mountain, I hate to query you in such a way, but I am conflicted. I want to follow your orders. I want to be the hand that guides your judgment, but I am unsure of where to go. Do we follow the guidance of the Lord?

These minions, or these followers of Garak's, do we take down the Eyrie? Do we enact your judgment against them? And that's what I'm going to say. I'm standing like outside of her circle, just have a very certain look on my face, just waiting. I'm speaking in hieroglyphics.

I'm basically just anxiously waiting for her response. Iris, you pull out your lamp, you set up all of your businesses, and you light the flame. And it does something that...

It's never done before. Seemingly being in this grove, the flame is twice the size than what you're used to. Almost as a natural effect. I'm really awesome, so I don't even flinch. As it flares up. And it's still just a flame, just a larger one. I was so prepared for that. And you stare into it, being very prepared for that business. And you hear a message from Anubis.

And it says... Can we flavor it that everyone hears that? Yeah, sure. You know what? That's great. Yeah, 100%. I'm like intently watching her waiting for the news. You hear... Like the shadows form into the shape of the dark... The flames appear and in papyrus font in the air you see...

- Can we do my idea? - What was it? - The smoke kind of forms the black jackal's head. - Oh yes, yeah, exactly, exactly. And it's smoke billows up as the oil burns as the jackal head emerges and the power of the fire in this grove seemingly amplified as you hear kind of boom out, potent is the might of fire.

claim it, but temper its ire. - That is cryptic rhyme. - Damn, Mike, you are on point, brother. - Did that rhyme? - He literally just came, he came that up with that, like during this like two minute break that we just had. That was amazing. - That was like the first 40 seconds of that. - Here, Mike, you've earned yourself some inspiration. - Oh, thank you.

- Ah, DM inspiration. I can't wait till I natural 20 one of you guys. - I can't wait until I negate that. - Fuck. - Can you say it one more time? I wanna write it down. - Potent is the might of fire. Claim it. There's a bit of a dramatic pause that Anubis did. Claim it, but another dramatic pause, temper its ire.

Very cool. That was so cool, boys! Oh my gosh, he rhymed. It's so cool. Yeah, that was cool. Wait, can you teach me more about Anubis someday? I would love to, Joe. He's very cool and seemingly helpful. He's giving us free reign to do what we want, but also saying don't screw things up.

Very wise words. In not so many words. What was it, Lufty? I think you wrote it down. I saw you scribbling. Do you want me to read it to you? Yeah, just one more time. It says, "Potent is ze might of fire."

Claim it, but dramatic pause. Temper it either. I did like that dramatic pause. I'm glad you jotted that down as well. Yeah. Stage cues are very important. Very, very important. Exit stage left or heavens to Murgatroy or any of the other ones. What does that mean? Go ahead.

What is a Murgatroyd? It's a Snagglepuss reference. Next, it's stage left. He also says, "Heavens to Murgatroyd." Anyway, that was too meta. I'm sorry. What is a Murgatroyd? What in the hell? I don't know quite what it is. It's what they say in my room. Well, that gives me a lot of comfort. I spend a lot of time tempering fire.

I brought my smith's tools just in case, but maybe we could use this to our advantage. Oh yeah, here's your... All of your stuff is all this molten fire. Yeah, I know. It brings me a lot of comfort. That was great. And does your god have anything to say about all this dragon-y business? I can't really do all the cool stuff that she does with her god. I just kind of get, you know, bad heebie-jeebies or good feelings about certain things. So far...

You know, I haven't really heard much from Murdin, but most of my worship of him is through my dad's work and through the Angolan. The further I get from him, the more disconnected I feel from Murdin, especially in the Raven Queensland. So hearing that from Anubis definitely makes me feel a lot better. That being said though,

If I am taking this poetry correctly, fire doesn't, in this case, it is very destructive. But I think we could use it to our advantage and maybe temper it and not make it so. I've worked enough in it, pretty familiar with it.

And if we can craft a couple of javelins or two out of it, I don't see any harm. But I do think that we have a lot more investigating to do. And if we have Garak on our side and we can use his might when it's appropriate, when we've agreed as a group of when to use it in a safe and non-hazardous manner,

You have to wear your safety goggles. Oh, I have a pair of those. I'm casting Mage Armor on myself. Does that like burn your eyes? You do that. I was thinking the same thing. Are they like night vision goggles? Because when we came around the corner and the fire went out, your eyes would have been seared right out of your skull. Yeah.

They're like those, what are those glasses that all the 8th grade kids have that change from sunglasses to normal glasses? Transition lenses. Cool! That's awesome. Thinking about Toa with transition lenses just adds to the aesthetic. Very cool. So... Catwish, is that a god?

Oh, that's right! Yes, yes. The god of the shifting sands. That was so cool! You're so cool to get out to backseat do that! Did you hear that? No, no they can't, but I can. So is that what you guys do in neck bed? Well, it's what some of us do in neck bed. That's so awesome! I know. I'm also really afraid from that dream. I didn't like it at all. Oh, yes.

But Anubis makes me feel better about it, so I'm sure it's fine. Oh, you have the same dream? Yes, of course! Oh, well, well... Then are you on the same page that we're going to use the fire but quench its ire? What was it? Tame its ire? Temper. Temper. So, I will be the first to say this, I believe, as I wasn't here at the beginning of the conversation. Has it dawned on any of you that the dream was actually given to us by the nature of this grove?

I do realize that there is a power of magic around the Grove that is the god they worship. The Eye of Garrix is the eye, I would imagine, that we saw. This is not necessarily a symbol of doom, but they have already spoken to us that fire causes destruction and then renewal, which is the symbology of that dream. They also might want us to feel a certain way. Maybe he senses our hesitation.

He said that we were going to have enlightening dreams.

I hope we don't have to go through another trial like we did with the Wraith of the Wind. I don't want to have to worship three, four, five deities that upset the wrath of the world. Why wouldn't you? I feel like going through a trial is exactly what we want to do. I don't worship the Wraith of the Wind. That's right. I showed her respect and I did a trial for her, but she's not my cause. I think gaining the grace and the power of any deity would be

would be greatly beneficial. They just seem kind of like all or nothing though. These lizard guys? Oh no, sure. I'm not feeling the most comfortable about Garrix, but Anubis has said that it is his will that we proceed. Though I believe...

I wouldn't know anything about the use of the word "temper" and then "blacksmithing" I wouldn't make that connection. Probably not, totally.

Is there blacksmithing where you come from? No. No. No. But I would. Yeah, my mall is a big stone head tied to an orb. It's like tied down. Like an Easter Island kind of thing. Yeah, it's like a car. I was picturing like a wooden tiki man. It could be wooden too. Yeah, I guess. Maybe it's on stone. Yeah, I painted it like wood because it's what most tiki heads are.

Is there a tiki face on it? Yeah. Oh yeah, you see? Isn't that cool? Oh, that's neat. That's some custom business. There's even like paint on there. Yeah, yeah. So this is very, very early in growth. Your broth looks like my, like worked on it six months.

As you can see by the completely painted mini. That certainly isn't going to happen today. Definitely no combat. So what do we tell him? What are we... When we talk to him, are we gonna just nod and "Yeah, we'll do it." You know, what if they're like, "We need you to swear."

destruction and we're all like... It sounds like Anubis is saying that we need access to this power and we gotta do what it gotta do. But then now we feel we should lie to him? We're not lying, we're telling them exactly what we're going to do. We're going to use the power that we potentially may have access to to free the rebellion. That's it. But are you willing to fully allow Garrix into your heart?

to get his power? I'm not exactly what you'd call religious, but I'll see where the day takes me. Well, that's what I'm saying. What if that's the first question he asks? I'll make a decision when the time comes. I don't have to commit anything. You're not a lizard person. You're not a Garrix. I'll commit when I need to. Thank you, Rookty.

It's not like every boyfriend I've ever had. I don't know how to respond to that. I thought you did worship the Raven Queen in some regard. Well, I mean, again, it was more of a you should do this thing, and I was like, well, I want to be in the military, and I just kind of followed along with it, but I'm more of a...

Make your own path and learn and science and all that good stuff, you know? Good hard work and learning as opposed to the other stuff. I agree. I think it served you very well. Thanks. Praying has helped me quite a bit, but...

It's not for everyone. Yeah, I don't certainly judge anyone, of course not. It's each their own, I always say. Exactly right. I should pray more. I don't pray nearly enough. But yeah, it's not for everyone. I also think that this will be another situation where we end up respecting your existence. As Iris said, we're not necessarily committing our whole lives to it. Hopefully not. I guess we'll find out, won't we?

So shall we go? Yes. So we go and seek out all facts. All facts. All facts. So as you all decide, you know, Harhar looks at you and says, I'll do whatever you all decide. You're the hero sent by the Raven Men. You're destined to save us. And so she stands up. She seems very nervous, but she follows where you head.

And as soon as you basically pack up and make your way into the grove, you see that there's a few more of the lizardfolk cultives in their robes. You see that there are some skulls adorning some of their vestments. Some have these gnarled black daggers made of this strange stone or metal, even wood maybe.

They're tending to the plants, and you see from the large center grove, the ring of trees, Ulfak steps out, almost as if waiting for you. He holds his lantern alight, and he looks at all of you and says, So you have decided to claim the power of fire? Uh...

Yes, yes we have. Come into the ring.

And he steps into the ring of trees. Is that immediately the outer ring that we came through? That's the inner ring. After you talk, I'll be right behind you. All right, let's do this. Everyone try to stay close to me. You look in, and as you see, none of these trees have faces on them. They seem to be just this relatively small ring of trees, and...

And, uh, once again, just completely lush and full of, uh, with thick, bright canopies. And, uh, you step through and, uh,

Once again, you kind of get this flash of gold and red flame of light as you step ahead, as you look up and you see a small, relatively small, compared to the rest of this garden, grove of perfectly lined trees in a circle with a roaring, emanating, undulating mass of gold and red fire above this ring that seems to be completely covered in ash.

And at the center, there is a small mound with a tiny little sapling growing out of it. We then look closely, and there are little, in the midst of this whole patch of just ash and burnt soil, you see tiny little sprouts wiggling up.

from the earth. As the older lizard folk steps forward, his lantern glowing brighter and brighter and brighter as he guides you into this circle. And he looks at all of you and says, "You are the ones I saw on the flame. "You have been blessed "by the will of one of our own, "but you have not earned yet

the power of flame, the power of fire. You must prove that your hearts are made of fire and you must swear to use it to destroy the evil that has destroyed so many lives and crushed the lives of all of the innocents on the forest floor. What say you? I say aye. So don't be anything wrong with crushing evil if it's truly evil.

I agree. I plan to crush the evil that has killed so many, so many innocent people and have presumably captured the spirits that protect my home very, very far from here. And destruction does not only affect this land. Very well. If you wish the power of Garrix and the oil of the Edelwood...

You must prove yourselves. Are you ready? Ready as we'll ever be. Ready for what? What are we going to do? You are going to reveal the nature of your heart. Prove it is on fire. Reveal its contents to the Grove and to Garrix, and prove you have what it takes.

to deliver his promise. Prove your power over flame itself, and you will have that power. Are you ready? Yes. Yes. Yes, I'm ready.

- Very well. And he beckons you all to the center of this ring and let's move the map. As you all step in,

to the center. Ulfax steps back to the side and immediately the orb of flame around you bursts out until there is nothing but a ring of trees around you and flame all above, blocking the sky, blocking the canopy of trees. You feel the heat as it bears down on you and you...

look to find Ulfax and he seems to have disappeared into the ring of trees. However, his voice booms out and he calls to you and he says, "Which one of you shall stand trial first?" - Oh boy. - We definitely take turns. - Yes. - I will do it. Can I step forward? - On the show? - I was going to suggest Iris anyway. - A godly woman.

A fitting candidate. What is your name? Iris of the Sands. What is it that causes your heart to ignite into flame? The protection of the innocent. Those that cannot protect themselves. Those that would be subjugated against by others with power. And so what is it you seek to destroy?

- And what will you regrow from the ashes? - A civilization that governs itself in a way that all those that are part of it are protected. That those that are innocent may live full and happy lives, that their judgment comes only in death. - Make a religion check advantage, please. - Fuck it.

- 19. - 19. As you say that, you feel this warmth.

as the swirling gold and red fire shoots down from the inferno above you and almost bathes you. But as it coats you, your fur does not burn, your flesh does not burn. You feel this incredible sense of power. However, as this also happens, it splits off into two arcs as the swirling red and gold flame burns

split off into two arcs on either side of this grove now is a separate ore of red and gold fire. And once again, the fire leaves you and you feel a warmth not just from outside of you but also from inside your arms. And you hear the voice boom out, "Very well. You

have been granted the power of Garrix. If you can prove to master the power of fire, who is next? That was easy, Tony. That's right, I think you should probably go first. He pushes me into this. He pushes you. Goddammit, no! What is your name? Felix Ackerman.

What sets, ignites your heart on fire? Well, I'm going to find my brother and set right the wrongs that I committed. And so what do you seek to destroy? The people who did this. The people who lied to the people of Corvacchia. And what is the renewal you will grow from the ashes? We'll make the military right again.

We'll make it so General Zurn can lead a just nation and have people be free again. No more corruption. Make the religion check advantage, please.

- 25. - Okay, once again, the pillar of flame engulfs you and then once it fills you with that same warmth, it splits off and arcs and back into the orb and you see that the flame is starting to take shape on either side of this grove into something more than just an undulating ball of fire. - Very well, you have the power of fire should you be able to tame it. Who is next?

That wasn't so bad, was it? No. And then I try to push Tony and he doesn't go anywhere. Oh, I see what you're trying to... Okay. I'm going forward. I'm in.

What is your name? My name is Toa Winchay Sikomanui. What ignites your heart into flame? The memory and protection of my ancestors and the traditions of my homeland. And what is it, therefore, that you seek to destroy? I seek to destroy those that...

captured and imprisoned the wind spirits that protect that homeland, that seek to release the volcano god Tiki Roa, and seek to destroy all the traditions and everything that I've ever known. And what renewal will you grow from the ashes?

I want to bring those wind spirits back home. The spirits of all of the winds, the north, east, south and west that protect our homes so that the Makani Islands can live a happy and fruitful and safe and peaceful life forever. Make our lives a second advantage.

- Use a twist! - Can I twist a thing? - Use a twist! - You may. - Do the thing. - Much better. - 13. - 13. - Much better. - You feel the flame shoots down on you in this swirling red and green flame, and as it fills you, you feel it start to fill your core, however it's hot,

- And you take 11 points of fire damage. However, with that, after you-- - Why didn't you tell me Felix? I can't believe you didn't tell me! I don't know what you're talking about, Jack! - But you do feel, you do feel the same warmth. You don't know what they felt, but the warmth of--

I feel you. And it storms out. And you're to see a bit of a head start to form and it looks draconic on either side of the flame, a gold fire and a red fire as these draconic heads start to form on either side. You have been granted the power of fire should you be able to tame it. But you should be certain that you mean it. Who is next? I'll go.

What is your name? I respond in Draconic. My name is Herja Anvilheart of Clan Anvilheart of the Grizzlepaw Mountains. What ignites your heart on fire? The warmth of an anvil. Papa's lap.

and the embrace of my mom. And so what is it you seek to destroy? Tyrants, and the evil in their hearts, and the sick enjoyment in their eyes separating families and children from their mothers.

And so what is the renewal you wish to grow from the ashes? I want to regrow love and family and a goddamn sense of community. Make your religion check an advantage. Let's cash. Move organizers across a Vantress. Nice.

- All right, it's religion? - Yeah. - 24. - 24. The blade hits you and as it swirls around you, it kind of takes this golden red sort of form in your eyes and you see the

molten fire of the forge, because the distant clang of a hammer on an anvil, and then it dissipates. You feel a warmth of fire in you and shoots out, and it's, on either side, there's very clearly two forming, draconic shapes on either side of you. You have been granted the power of fire, forge master. Should you be able to tame it? Who is next?

We all just look at Lufti. Caprice steps forward, he succeeds. Who is next? Oh, that was really good, that whole thing about music, and how it's empowering to the soul of whatever man, that was very good, Caprice. Well, I guess it's me. I'm Lufti. What is your name? I thought it was called it out! I'm Lufti.

What ignites your heart on fire? Well, I guess to know myself, to know my true self and my true power. And so what is it you seek to destroy? Well, I seek to destroy the one that doubted me and to destroy all others who doubt the small ones they do not know.

And therefore, what is the renewal you wish to grow from the ashes? I wish to grow acceptance and empower them and let them stand on their own two feet.

Make her lose and take advantage. Good lord, you're gracious. Hey! Fifteen. Fifteen. Okay. The flame engulfs you as...

As you feel the warmth envelop you and you feel almost a burning sensation on your skin, but you manage to resist it and it shoots back up. There is one more. Who is next? Heart, who's trembling now, steps forward. - Oh no, me! - What is your name? Warrior's heart! What ignites your heart on fire? It's in my name! I wanna be a warrior!

I want to be a warrior that protects people. And what, therefore, is it that you seek to destroy? Them. The Okaxian court. Every single one of them that has oppressed us for so long. And what is it, what is the renewal you seek to grow from the ashes? Peace.

Freedom! Life! And no more fear! And she'll roll with advantage as well. I've got goosebumps.

with two natural ones. - No! - Give her a twist. Give her a twist. - Can we give it to her? - If the players would like to give Nancy a twist, that was the most inspiring thing I ever heard. - One in 400 chance, ladies and gentlemen. - Two natural ones. - Aw, poor heart. - And with that, the pillar of flame, and this was a natural 18. - Yay!

- Wow, okay, the first time I think that a twist has ever been used on an NPC. - Worth, hashtag worth. - Too small. - As the fire shoots onto her, it looks like her fur is about to catch on fire as her eyes go wide.

her narrow pupils narrow and her green eyes go wide and you see that her fear is suddenly melting away as a smile comes to her face and she feels the power envelop her and it once again bursts out and shoots into the two forms which are now clearly these large effigies of dragons. One red dragon.

one gold. They both let out a roar and says, "You have all been granted the power of flame. Now see if you can temper it. See if you can control it." Anyone want for initiative? Badass, man. I have advantage on initiative. Eat. Eat. Well done. Paint the camera red.

Are we gonna Battlecam it up? Battlecam! Okay, pardon me. 20 to 25? I got it. Uh, 20. Uh, 21. 21, so Toa's first. Then Persia, 15, 20. 17. 17 for Felix. Felix. 10 to 15? 14.

Fourteen. Who's left? Lefty, what do you got? Five! Five. We're gonna... Heart will be Caprice. Heart will be Caprice. And can we... All the penises. Let's use, actually...

Do you just want to use frost for her because she's a cat? I don't. Where do you see the second penis? It's a little more abstract. Is it the curly teeth at the top? No. Not one I see. Maybe there could be multi-penises. Is it the other weird green thing that...

- Well, at least play find the penis, so. - With that, these, on either side, they seem to be made of flame and flesh. You can just see that there's ash, there's burning material within it, almost giving it a physical form within as a golden and red dragon takes shape in a roar to attack you as you hear the command of Ulfax. Okay, Toa, you're up.

I will... Shit, what do I do again? I am going to turn here. Do I get a sense that I'm meant to attack one of these guys? Yes, Olfax gave you the command to control fire. To deliver the fire. Do we get any sick fire moves? I have some. So I'll take my toad up and I'll spread my legs and I'll kind of...

drop down into a battle trance and then I will charge at him. - They're like legit dragons though, right? They're not on fire? - So they're made out of fire and like burning material and ash come swirling into this. They're not like scaly dragons. And I will recklessly attack twice. - Okay. - Sorry, 17 plus eight, so 25. - 25.

And, ooh, 14 to hit. 25, 14 misses. Okay, so... 25, so... That's the first one hits. 7, 12... 12 damage. What number is that? Number 1. Number 1, okay.

Your maul swings in and slams. You hear the crackling. The second one, however, the fire almost blinds you as this is the gold dragon. It almost blinds you and you miss your second maul attack. This one's gold, this one's red? Yes. The stat blocks are the same, but for flavor. Hersha, you're up. Hersha's going to move up to number two. Got it. She's going to use her bonus action to cast...

Okay. Wisdom is... three, so... Got it, okay.

And then the spell ends if you attack any other creature. If you cast a spell that targets a hostile creature other than the target. If a creature friendly to you damages the target or casts a harmful spell on it. Or if you end your turn more than 10, you can remove the target. So if anyone else attacks it, it will also, it will end. So I'll move up right behind it one more. Towards Andy. Yep. I'll still feel him be like...

Okay, you guys, I've got this one. You take care of the other guy and I'll smack it with my... You hear the sound of a hammer on an anvil that clangs out and this magic washes over it and this red dragon looks at you and lets out a roar and is ready to attack you. 17? 17 hits, barely. Okay.

Nice, max damage, so 10 points of magical bludgeoning. 10 points of magical bludgeoning to number 2. And I will... Smash it and you see the Ashen Form fly across this grove. And I'll expend a second level spell slot to Divine Sway for 3d8. Okay.

14 points of radiant damage. 14 points of radiant damage. You channel in, once again you hear that clanging and it bursts in and smashes this thing apart. Second attack. Okay.

- I'm gonna start this with an eight. - An eight. This one dodges out of the way as the wings flap. And with that, it is Felix's turn. - So I've been so careful not to use fire on fire things, but this is too flavorful, so I'm going to do it. Five, 10, 15, 20, 25, right there. And I'm just going to take aim at number one with my dagger out invisible. And I'm just gonna say, you want fire? I'll give you fire. And I'm gonna cast fireball to fourth level. - Okay.

And Toa and Iris will be safe. Dex saving throw? Yes. 16. Oh, that is awful. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 plus 9 is 14.

- Redeem myself there a little bit, 25 points of damage. - 25 points of damage, and you point out, and this little bead fires out, and you hear a loud explosion, and flame bathes you, iris and toe, but you are completely unharmed. However, the action form within this thing that's blown, taking a good amount of damage, seems to be fully affected by it. - Okay. - With that, it is their turn.

as they are both going to, uh...

Arc around and Richie's gonna go closer to Nikki. - Got it. - Yup, and it's gonna arc right there. And both of them are going to rear back. You see a crackling flame building and I'm gonna need a deck saving throw from everyone. - Two people, so-- - Everyone? - Heart and-- - Oh, except for Phoenix, apologies. - Thank you. - Yeah. - Heart and Lufti get to add two to their saving throw 'cause you're gonna tip me.

Does this have any effect of disadvantage on me for the ring?

For what ring? Ring of the pink elephant, like the cape. No, no, it's a saving throw. Is it all just one roll or just two separate rolls? So each one is not gonna double bait everyone, they're basically meeting at the center here. Natural 20. Can I reuse a twist, I just got three. Plus my 12. Yeah, yeah. We've got like a billion of them. Might as well use them up. I got a 19 by the way. I also got an 18.

- Oof, rolled a five. - Fourteens of the DC. - Okay, so I will fail with a nine. You guys, you and Heart added two to their saving throw? - Yes, so Heart succeeds. So I guess, hers don't fail, so you're gonna take half of 20 points of fire damage, or very low, as the flame bursts out from each of these dragon forms, and you see this little sprout kind of whip

back and forth from the sheer heat, but it does not catch on fire at all. However, you manage to dodge it out of the way. Herja, you take the full brunt as you're right in front of this red draconic form. The rest of you are able to dodge, but it still singes you a little bit. - What was the amount? - It was, so 10 if you succeed. - It was 10. - So 10 if you succeed. And Heart as well takes,

And she holds up her shield as well. So 20 for the full? 20 for full. As you are getting the full iron because you are compelled to duel. I am, I succeed on my concentration check. Okay. And with that, it is our turn.

I'm going to use my movement to get behind the dragon. And then I am going to... So number two is like a flame breath, target at me, but it hit other people? Yeah. Okay.

It's a 15-foot kill. I am going to cast Bless at a third level and give everyone Bless except for myself. Hashtag. Heyo! Too blessed to be stressed, baby. You raise up your weapon and it glows with this turquoise light and you all feel this warm sand. I would have done that before I moved. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And then Iris then walks over behind you as you all feel the blessing of Anubis. I was hearing his command earlier. It is a...

Okay. And you roll to attack rolls and saving throws. It's Heart's turn, and she is going to listen to your command. She's going to use her Tabaxi Sprint. She's going to shuffle up. She's actually shockingly spry with that. She's going to actually go shoulder to shoulder with Iris, and she gives Iris a smile. Ah!

And she's looking, she's trying to impress you. She's like, wow, okay, okay. And so she's going to, how does Bless work, by the way? She gets a 1d4 to attack girls in the same place. 1d4, one's going to be a natural 20. What? And the other's going to hand. So she is going to slice in with her sword, and she is going to with

With both heads she cleaves and you see this action form breaking.

- Do you have not range? - Oh my God, all I rolled is zero. How is that possible? - Because they changed their randomization. I saw it happening on my stream too and I haven't figured out why. They definitely changed the way that their random number generator works. - Well, all except. - 100%. - Well, congratulations on your zero roll. - Yeah, you have a negative one. - Okay, and so she slices in both and she looks at me like, "That was cool, right?" And she slices in. Okay, with that, it is Luffy's turn.

Come on, Sean. You said you're okay? Yeah, yeah, I'll be alright. Okay. I'll take care of this guy. Is mine the red one? Yeah. Come on, baby.

You can either get next to him or there. Yeah, it's either way. It's fine. It's in my chair. I am going to attack. I'm gonna take my Brewer Spoon and just, "I hope you don't get burned!" and then whack it into him. Got it, okay. And then I'm going to spend a ki point and

Just follow it up with two bops. You got it. Ah! Zetops! Um, and... 13, 15... The AC 17. Oh shit. I guess I just... Oh! No. So this is for the 13. 13...

- 16. - 15. - 15. - Hits. - Hits. - Hits. - Hits. - Okay, so thank you. - Well, you're blessed doing work. - Two blessed to be stressed. - Two blessed to be stressed. - Thank you. I even wrote it down in addition to putting this in front of me and I still forgot. Okay, so those two hits. - What else? - Jesus.

- 18 total damage. - 18 total damage. So as you are about to smack your spoon and you're trying to punch, you feel like you're going to miss as the heat is in your eyes, but you suddenly feel the guiding force of Anubis landing your fist to strike true and you smash into this. And even though you're punching into fire, it does not harm you as you blast apart this thing. - That's good to know. I'm gonna like fade, faint and stumble backwards and disengage to move.

I like that. 10 defeat is another one square if you want to keep going. That's what I meant. And so you jump back from that. With that, it is Toa's turn. Top of the round. I will hit him again. Advantage with Furious Strikes. That's a miss. Am I the last in the round? Yeah. Thank you.

- Six, 79 plus eight is 17. - 17 hits. - That really hits for the first one.

14, then 12. Your blast! Your blast! Your blast! That actually helps a ton. This is what very cool is. Look at that. That's what we got. It matches my little d4. I'm going to paint him at some point. This is beautiful. Rolls are a shit, but a 4, 5, 11, plus...

11 plus 10 is 21 damage. 21 damage. On that bad boy. Okay, you're smashed into 21 damage here. Okay. And I'm just going to kind of whip around there. Yep. Okay, you're actually smashed in one after the other. These dragons are roaring as they're trying to maintain their shape. Don't you do it more of the other one.

- Herza, you're up. - I'm just doing my thing. - Did I notice if Felix's firebolt had any sort of negative fire, like if it was resistant to it or the monster took the full brunt of it? - I would say that you probably make a perception check at disadvantage. - Oh. - Three, yeah. - Yeah, so you would not have noticed, you were focused. - Add four more damage to that. - Got it. - I keep forgetting that I'm Rage.

I'm going to sidestep, off-tank this thing over yonder, and uh... Many worlds, handle it! Handle them! Eyes on the prize, big guy! And I'm gonna bonus action try to knock it prone with my shield. So athletics contest.

- Natural 20 plus 24. - I rolled an eight, so that's not gonna help. - You smack your shield into it and it moves like one inch and it's just flying, like roaring at you. - And then I'll just use my action to make two more flail attacks on it. 21. So that'll be...

Six points of bludgeoning. Smack into it with that. And then I'll put a first level Divine Smite into it. Nice one, nice one. For an additional nine points of Radiant. Okay. And then I'll do my second attack, which will be 21 as well. I'll do... Oh, is that max damage? Fuck yeah. So that's ten points of bludgeoning. How is it looking? Ten points of bludgeoning. It's still holding strong. Okay, I'll put another...

divine smite into it. First level.

That'll be nine points of radiant. - Okay. Okay, as you're taking this thing and you're smashing into it, smashing into it, with each strike, you're channeling the power of Morden and the Molten Flame is smashing this apart. It's still hanging strong, but you are doing some damage to it. And with that, point in the round, you hear Olfax's voice boom out.

Well, can you resist the power of fire? I need everyone to do the contusion saving throw as the flame intensifies.

Is the Eye of the Storm shrinking? Natural 20! Nice! Oh, haha! I didn't forget Nikki. Natural 20! I'm so glad. Look, I have a little altar going. I am so blessed right now.

- I give it a 13. - 25. - 22. - 23. - 15. - 15. So everyone that hit a 14 or higher,

- Succeeds. And so you're going to take half of this damage, which was 16 points of fire damage if you failed, half eight points if you succeed. As the fire rages out all around you. - Is this constitution? - Constitution, yep. You're resisting the heat. Felix, you're up. - So eight if you pass, eight if you pass. - Eight if you pass. - I launch another fireball at it. - Okay. - And I protect the four people that are in range. - Okay, once again. - Take my contract.

16 dex. 16 dex, got it. Give me a 13. Oh yeah. 22. 28 points of damage. 28 points of damage, okay. You guys still have blood, so you're good. Yeah. Oh. Oh yeah, I'm gonna put that in here.

with your ultimate. - I'm just standing back and unloading fire on this thing. - And you're just lobbing fire on your fire, and once again, it blasts everyone else. It is struggling to maintain its form. It is looking weak now at this point. As it's getting blasted apart, you see bits of ash and charcoal just flowing across this battlefield. With that, it is their turn.

And, um, is it marked by Utoa? It is indeed. Okay, so, uh, they're just going to go all out on both of you two. As, uh... They are advantaged against me. Advantaged against you. So it's going to be a bite, two bite attacks on Utoa. Watch and we'll see if they regain the fire breath. Nope. Nope. Okay. Uh, that is going to hit as the, uh, bite chomps in on you and advantage. So you're going to take...

This is relevant, right? You're gonna take seven points of piercing damage. So three. And three points of fire damage. So six total. As you tear into it, it's gonna go for another bite attack on you. That is going to be a 20-something. Yep, that is going to be... Jesus, seven points of piercing and ten points of fire damage.

as it tears into you. - You feel it at the teat. - Persia, it's normal for you, right? - Natural 20 on Persia. - Oh no. - Within range. - She's not within range. - Piercing and fire has nothing to do, doesn't really affect it, right? - No. - Okay, that is going to be...

- 25 points of damage as it tears into you. - That's a lot. - And it's going to make another attack against you. - So 25, half of that is 12. - Why would you take half? - 'Cause of concentration check. - Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. - Do I add loss to that? - It's a check. - Yeah, yeah. - Saving drop, saving drop.

Yeah, I make it 12 and 17. Nice. Okay, so you maintain Conquering, but it tears into you. However, the next bite, you're ready this time as you raise up your shield and block the maw of this flaming red dragon. With that, it's Iris' turn. I'm going to turn to this-- how is the dragon in front of me looking? He's looking rough.

I am going to cast Inflict Wounds at the second level to reach in and inflict a wound. How does that work? Is it a spell attack or a saving throw? It is a 19 to hit. That hits. And so as my hand comes into contact with it, you see as its skin begins to blacken and mummify where my hand is touching it. Okay. And I'm going to do 40, 10 necrotic damage to it. Yep. Okay. That's a lot. 30, 10.

- Yeah, I could use one more D10. - That's a lot of D10s. - Wow, four D10s. - That's a 10, 19, 26, 29 points of necrotic damage. - 29 points of necrotic damage. Iris, you reach your paw and your fur does not catch fire, neither does your flesh as you grab a bit of charcoal

as this dark, you see this dark necrotic energy as all of these wrappings and these beetles kind of pour out of your paw and start to swarm all over and the fire begins to get dimmer and dimmer until all of the charred action remains look like just a mummified skull before for one second it beats its wings and then crumbles to the ground into nothingness. - Nice, wow.

Anything else you're doing? I am going to use my bonus action to take a health potion. Okay, you down a health potion. Not Caprice. A heart is going to... She cannot use her Feline Agility because she's the last turn. So she's just gonna dash.

- Good job, good job, Iris! - Oh, I killed it? - Yeah. - Oh, so I'm gonna use my feline agility, 'cause it doesn't require an action, and I'm gonna get as close to her as possible. - It's not difficult to her, it's not-- - No, no, it's gone. - It's a pile of action. - I should be able to get there.

You can get as far as here. I'll get right there. Heart is just going to sprint, and you see her huffing and puffing as she's running off with her armor, dashing 60 feet towards the red dragon. She should be able to hit. And she'll still stand right there. Cool. And here? Yep. With that, it's Luffy's turn.

That was gross. I'm going to run. Well, first I'm going to yell at him, I'm not so hot now, huh? And then I'm going to run. I forgot my start. Here? Here? Here? Here? Here? Here? Here? Here? Here? Here? Here? Here? Here? Here? Here? Here? Here? Here? Here? Here? Here? Here? Here? Here? Here? Here? Here? Here? Here? Here? Here? Here? Here? Here? Here? Here? Here? Here? Here? Here? Here? Here? Here? Here? Here? Here? Here? Here? Here? Here? Here? Here? Here? Here? Here? Here? Here? Here? Here? Here? Here? Here? Here? Here? Here? Here? Here? Here? Here? Here? Here? Here? Here? Here? Here? Here? Here? Here? Here? Here? Here? Here? Here? Here? Here? Here? Here? Here? Here? Here? Here? Here? Here? Here? Here? Here? Here? Here? Here? Here? Here? Here? Here? Here? Here? Here? Here? Here? Here? Here? Here? Here? Here? Here? Here? Here? Here? Here? Here? Here? Here? Here? Here? Here? Here? Here? Here? Here? Here? Here? Here? Here? Here? Here? Here? Here? Here? Here? Here? Here? Here? Here? Here? Here? Here? Here? Here? Here? Here? Here? Here? Here? Here? Here? Here? Here? Here? Here? Here? Here? Here? Here? Here? Here? Here? Here? Here? Here? Here? Here? Here? Here? Here? Here? Here? Here? Here? Here? Here? Here? Here? Here? Here? Here? Here? Here? Here? Here? Here? Here? Here? Here? Here? Here? Here? Here? Here? Here? Here? Here? Here? Here? Here

30 and a half, yeah, yeah, he's 40. Okay, cool. Sorry. Cool. Big family base coming through. Yeah, so I'm going to just swing over my head and just bop him. Okay. And then follow it up with like a punch and a kick. Yep. Which will drop Compel Duel. Got it. Which is fine.

Okay, so... Yeah, we don't want an attack into that. You run up and you see that this thing is taking a good amount of damage, but hers is covered in burns and her lashes don't... You off-tanked well, but it's time to let the third tank go. Yeah, so that's... D4. We need... Where's our off-tank heals? Well, that definitely hits either way, but I'll throw them there for fun. So that's a whole bunch.

- You add two force to that. - Yeah. - So 22, no 21 and 13. - 13 misses, so one quarter step hits. - You don't add anything to your arm? - You add something to this. - Oh, I'm sorry. I wasn't even thinking of it. - So 17, yeah. - 17 hits. - So they all. - So they all. - Yay, bless! - Two bless, two be patient. - You really got to watch me.

Okay. Nice! So, 12, 24, uh, 33 damage. 33 damage, okay. Um...

And then I'm just gonna... And back up ten feet. Okay. Once again, guided by Anubis, you feel like you're going to miss for some of these because of how bright this golden fire, no, this red fire is. But once again, that guiding hand of Anubis, smack, smack, smack, and you are tearing apart the physical structure of this creature. Herja, you're up. I was up?

15, 20, 25, 30, 35, 40. Barbarians and monks, man. You got it. I'm just gonna make two reckless swings right at him. Hit. Anubis for the win! You're so blessed. Yep, you're blessed to be stressed. It's a 16, so no matter what I roll, it hits. 17. Once again, Anubis is guiding your hands, Toa.

Nice, there we go. Those are juicy! 22, 32 damage total. 32 damage total. As you're smashing into it, let me just make sure I forget about those. Yeah, that was, you were off by two? Yep.

It's struggling to maintain its form now as it's looking rough and it's letting out this crackling roar. - And it's real cold. Oh, I don't have any potion left. - No, I don't either. - I got one. - Oh wait, Revitalizing Brew is a Greater Healing Potion, right? - Yeah. - I'm gonna risk it. I'm just gonna not do anything. - Okay. Hershey, you're up.

I'm gonna move 5 feet closer to... Parts to the right. Yep. Move that that way. This way? Yep. Okay. And I'll use my Bornist Action to try and knock it prone. Okay. With my shield. Oof. 8, 9, 13? 17. Okay, that doesn't work. Once again, you try to shove it, but it is maintained. This one's not trying to run anywhere. It's here to test you. Okay. And then I will...

use my action to make two more attacks against it. Okay. Plus... Oh my gosh. This will hit. 17? 17. Barely hits. Barely hits. And then the other one is a... So good. Oh no, this one's a 21. This is a 16. 16. Barely misses. Only one. One does hit, however. So this will be four points of bludgeoning. Okay. And I will divide this by a deficit. Okay.

You won't? I will not. Okay. So, it manages to dodge out of the way, and you smack into it one more time, and it does manage to burst off some of its skeletal form, but...

And do you have my blessing to say whoop-ass? With that, you hear the voice boom out with Ulfax. He says, you've seen the destructive power, now see the restorative power. And all of a sudden, vines and plants start to grow out of the vine and slither all up you. I need everyone to make a dexterity saving throw. No!

We're all blessed, don't forget. Plus two to Heart, Iris, and Lofty. I think you're more than ten feet away from me, Toa. Can I use a twist? I got a natural one. Yes, do the thing. Do the thing. I don't want to get my arms constrained, so I can't cast spells. If you could just subtract a twist for me here.

- Oh no, you did. - I rolled another natural one. - One in 400 chance. - I rolled two natural ones in a row. - Well, I got a 22. - That makes sense. - So what is the effect? - You will be restrained in route. - Does that...

What does grappled actually mean? You can't move and you have disadvantage on dexterity saving throws and attack rolls. I don't really care about physical movement. I just care about... So if you're making an attack roll, that would be disadvantage? No, I don't. As long as I can cast my spells. You can cast your spells. So everyone who got a 14 or lower, the vines wrap around

and constrain you, you still have use of your arms, but you are unable to move as you're losing place. - Cool. - Felix, you're up. - I cast Fireball on Dragon. - Okay. - Deck 16. - A nine. - Did Heart pass? - That's pretty good. - Yes, she passed. - That's gonna be 12, 13, plus nine is going to be... - 13 plus nine, what did I say, 22? - How do you do this?

Oh, plus another 12 is going to be 34. 34 points a day. With a much overkill, how do you want to do this? I want to summon as, like, I've been just launching fireball after fireball at these things. I want to do it in a way that is going to impress Garrix himself. Okay. So you've lobbed fireball after fireball, bursting apart the gold dragon form. Thanks for the mail.

And you turn as everyone around you once again, you channel your own mastery of fire. - I cast it here so that way Lufty doesn't have to worry about it and everybody else passes there. - You cast that bead and it erupts and the power of fire is that you see this raging creature made of fire and ash.

However, the flame from your fireball greatly outshines and is completely engulfed and everyone has to kind of shield their eyes for a moment and the fire rages around them and you use your mastery to make sure that all of your allies are unharmed and when the fire returns back into nothingness, there's nothing but a pile of ash beneath you. And the voice booms out once again. You have shown your mastery of fire, destruction, and renewal.

You may gain the power of Garrix. You will bring the destruction to those that oppress us. And you will grow the renewal out of those ashes. And you feel a warmth come over you as, as,

the golden red fire shines down and fills you with, once again, more warmth and more power. And with that, as the flame shrinks and shrinks and shrinks until just that original orb, as that original orb swarming, it then dissipates for just a moment, and you're all of late. Ah!

- Yes! - Yes! - That's why he said that, it's 'cause I was flashing this at him. - Oh my God. - I was already here. - I DM, I DM, I know how this works. - I had a fear, but I wasn't sure, I wasn't sure. - Thank you, bud! - Yay, what a twist! Am I right, y'all? - Wow. - Awesome. - That's so nice. - That's just nuts.

Thank you so much for listening to the Legends of Avantris podcast. We hope you enjoyed the session. If you want even more campaigns to listen to, become a member of our Patreon at the Pearl Dolphin tier or higher to unlock Shroud of Ersalmarsh, a patron-exclusive campaign set on the high seas. You can find that at patreon.com forward slash legendsofavantris. If you want to chat about the episode with the Avantris community, join us on Discord at legendsofavantris.com forward slash discord.

We also post content nearly every day on YouTube, TikTok, and Instagram, so make sure you follow our socials at legendsofavantress.com forward slash social. And make sure you check out The Crooked Moon so you can terrify your friends with a folk horror 5e supplement published by us. Get your own copy at thecrookedmoon.com. Thanks again, and we'll see you next time.