Deep Dive
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What's up, Rotators? It's me, Jasper William Cartwright, and back again to tell you that Ark 9 has officially concluded. Like, actually, officially, I know I technically said it had finished last week, but it actually has finished now because we've just released the talkback for Ark 9 Episode 4. If you don't know what the talkback is, or as we like to call them, Arkbark's,
They are basically where us, the crew, get together and talk about what just happened in the episode. There is arc box for every single episode that you've listened to. So if you want to go ahead and check out those arc box, you can do over at patreon.com forward slash rotating heroes or clicking the link in the description below.
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Take it away, Pest Sack. That was a fun show. All right, so let me know what your plans are and what you're going to do. And also, I'm happy to come in. It's pretty far, so maybe we all go in together. Let's all go in together. I will say, though, if you all go in, everyone has to roll these. Oh, yeah. Well. Okay. I mean, I'm stealthy. I don't know how lucky I am, but I'm pretty lucky to know Squeegee, who's a cool guy. You're like Squeegee's hype man?
I guess we're kind of hyping for each other. I mean... Symbiotic relationship. Can I take off my armor? Yeah, you definitely can. But you still just have to make those luck checks. Right, right, right. Okay. And yeah, let me know what spells you're doing, et cetera. I'm going to do this too, just because I haven't done it. I'm going to use magical awareness also, which I would learn the location of a magical item or spell in the vicinity. I can look at the exact range, but that might...
I don't know if that's gonna give me a... Yeah, what is the range on that? 60 feet. So I won't do it yet, but I'll do it once we get inside. Okay. And I think you would, just to throw it out there, like that would be kind of like a luck check situation. There's maybe not one necessarily that you see here. I don't think the gun tape is technically magical, but yeah. I just meant like something freaky. You know what I mean? Yeah, yeah. Let me know...
Sure. Oh, yeah, yeah. Oh, okay. Cool. I see. Cool. Okay. I can speak with animals. I don't know if she's trying to talk to this dog. Make an insight check. Okay. Great. Six. Okay. Yeah, you could probably talk to this animal. Really? Whew.
On a six. And I say, if the owner's been to hell, that dog might not be full animal. All dogs go to heaven, though. I do believe that's the case. Yeah, that's just something I believe. It has nothing to do with the pop culture writ large. It's just something I believe.
I can ask a beast for a small favor. Like, should I try that first or what's the deal? He's pretty far away, so we'd have to get closer. But I can also talk to him. Well, I don't know how, what's the range? It doesn't say a range. Can I do, can I do protection from evil and good on you? Is this dog a fiend? Perhaps. Hey, the owner's been to hell. I'll take it. I'll give it to you. Thank you. You're welcome.
Cool. So is Squeegee, or sorry, Spiders Man the only one going in there? I think I will do, sorry, I'm going to do magical awareness on the gate. Like, you know what I mean? So 60 feet of the gate, just to see if there's any like alarm spell or any kind of magical thing that might be tripped. Cool. You see teeth shine and this aura appears. You're not getting any pings on the aura. Okay, but I'm getting some pings on my teeth.
Nothing happening. Okay. Sounds like I'm good to go in. Cool. Uh, spiders. So are you doing like pass without trace or anything like that? Are you, uh, not even, he's just a stealthy. So I guess it's, I think my goal is to go in there, maybe use spider mage hand to get some stuff from farther away. Um,
And if not, we'll see what happens. Cool. Arf-some. Arf-some? Arf-some. Squeegee, make a stealth check as you make your way into this. Okay. Watch. This is how Spider's Man does it.
It's a 24. Whoa. You see Squeege. You know, you've seen people hop a chain link fence before. It's the loudest shit in the world. But Squeege jumps on it and there's just sort of this like negative aura of sound. It's like someone turned muted a TV and he just slinks up this thing like it's made of silk and plops down on the other side. Let me know how far you're going. What's your movement? I have 35.
feet. Okay. So I kind of like drop and I just turn back to them if I can just kind of like drop to the ground and do like a Spider-Man pose. But like spiders are falling off of me. Great. You see all these spiders just sort of falling around. Teeth gives a thumbs up. Freya's eyes are very wide. So I guess I head towards the gunk tape. Okay. Thing. I have to pass the creepy dog.
Yes. It's, it's like 200 feet away. The gun takes actually a little closer. Oh, okay, cool. So yeah, make your, so you can do like a dash action. Yeah. You make 70 feet. Yeah. Well, I guess maybe what do I know about gunk tape? Like, do I just need to like scoop some essentially? Um,
How much weight can you get with a Mage Hand? Probably like five pounds, I think is what it said. Yeah, something. Probably not very much. I think you could do it with Mage Hand. Okay, cool. So I'm going to go. I have a 30-foot range on Mage Hand, so I'm just going to go. Oh, sorry. Make your luck check. With great luck comes great responsibility. Just a flat check. 20. No. Nat 20. Oh, yeah. Yeah.
Yes, that of course passed. I'll say, okay, so the way that this is going to work, it would have gone up to one through two on the next one. I think it's going to say one on the next.
Okay. Maybe not the best benefit of this. I mean, sadly, the nat 20 could be better in other situations, but I think you get a little extra benefit out of it. I'm happy. Squeegee, you have never known luck like this. This is a new me. Just like Freya's her new friend. And just like teeths is...
The same old talented teats. So you're 105 feet after that dash action. Squeegee, make another luck check. Okay. Three. Uh-oh. Passes, but next check will be one and two. Squeegee, you're...
walking forward, the chunks of scrap metal near you are blowing in the wind. Spider's man, spider's man, don't wake up the dog. As you get closer, you see this dog
It's breathing deep in its sleep, and you hear this sort of guttural like, as more smoke billows out of its nose. The dog, it almost looks like there's heat coming off the dog. Can I do like a nature check? Yes. Is it a hot dog? Teeth roll, just perception inside you. 13? Yeah.
No way. No way. That's crazy. Two nat 20s. Holy shit. Who got third in this game? Right? Screech.
Not only your ranger sense tingles. I've never gotten this many nat 20s in years of D&D. Oh my God. And they're all recorded. Everyone will know you are lucky. Everyone knows he was lying. As your ranger sense tingles, your spider's man sense. Yeah. You're looking at this
dog this hot dog if you will and it is a very hot dog uh you would know that nothing about this feels like it is of this um plane of existence this is a hellhound holy hell it is not considered an animal that's why you could not speak i see um but it is a dangerous looking beast in front of you would you say it's a fiend
I would say. Oh, thank goodness. I feel thankful. But in Act 20, I would especially say this is a medium fiend while protected against evil. Yeah, they were all with disadvantage. There's some bones around it that had been chewing up and some of them look maybe humanoid. Oh, boy. Oh, my God. What? This dog is... This hellhound has killed people. I don't know if I can just leave it here.
We'll see. I won't jeopardize the mission. Okay, so I'm just getting closer to... So you are now 105 feet away. I am into the area. It's only about 45 feet away. So make one... Oh, make another stealth check at this point. I forgot to make you roll for that last round, but let's just start now. Okay, so I kind of like turn around and I try to wave to them and be like, watch, I'm going to be stealthy again. Spam. 27.
He's the least charismatic person, the stealthiest person I've ever seen in my life. Yeah, Spider-Man continues to slink on forward, making literally no sound. So you've gotten within distance. You can do the Mage Hand thing this turn because you didn't have to do a Dash Edge. Okay. Okay.
So little spiders kind of crawl off of Squeegee, and they just kind of shoot little spider webs so it looks like a hand of spiders is floating. But really, they're just kind of crawling in unison. Wire work. Yes, exactly. Exactly.
It's like really good wire work. It's like, whoa, that's some Henson wire work. So it kind of like floats over there. With that spider mage hand, you're able to scoop up this viscous looking duct tape fluid and bring it back to you in this turn. Make another luck check. One. No! As you do this...
Statistically very cool, though. As you do this...
- The gunk tape is so viscous that it sticks a little to the edge of the gunk tape container and pulls the whole thing over and it goes, and it hits the ground with like a metal barrel. As it does, it clangs and you see this dog wake up and look up like, but it's like a demonic sounding like bark.
I'm imagining like a predator mouth on a dog. I mean, yes, it is very like, you can see the light through the sides of its mouth. There's clearly fire coming from within it. It looks around with these beady orange eyes. On that one, it looks up and sees you and it's going to take off after you. You are, it is like 50 feet from that.
And so it's going to start running. And it takes a full dash action to get close to you. So it is run. It is close distance to be right next to you. No. But it is unable to do any actions this turn. So it's within like melee range. Yes. Okay. You see fire billowing up within it. So, and we haven't gotten the gunk tape.
It is still floating to you. Oh, it is still... I'll say that that floated to you this turn. It did float to me? Yeah. Okay, cool. So I use my Nimble Escape, which is a goblin feature. Cool. And so I disengage as a bonus. Cool. That's great, because it would have definitely tried to bite you. And I don't want that. And so...
I guess I just like dash, just like arms running in the air. Like the Simpsons, like a cloud of smoke that looks like a person, but spiders. And I'm just screaming like, it's not a regular dog.
So you make a full dash action away. After that, the dog is going to... How far do you get away in that turn? I guess 70 feet would be my dash. The dog is going to run 50 feet to be 20 feet away from you, and...
Gosh, can it even do this? It actually can't. It just is gonna close. It's gonna close distance with you and get 20 feet ahead of you. It's gonna take a full dash action to be ahead of you to try to cut you off. Oh dear. So that's all it can do this turn. The distance is fucking it up. Oh my gosh. So it's now my turn? It's back around to you. Okay. So I turned to that dog. I'm like, go to hell, hound. And.
It's time for you to stick in place. So I fire a web. Okay. I conjure a massive thick sticky webbing. Let me see. Yeah. Okay. Range of 60 feet.
So it fills the web around this dog. So it's to make a deck saving throw at the start of its turn. And on a failed save, it's restrained. Cool. And how far forward do you get at that point? Oh, yes. So it's 20 feet in front of me. Maybe first I want to fire the web and see what happens before I... Does it make the deck check on its turn or when it gets hit? Oh, yeah, you're right. It would. So...
Yeah, I don't know. I think it would on its turn.
Okay, cool. I will... So it's difficult terrain automatically. Okay, cool. Does it get held in place or anything like that? It's restrained if it fails the dex check on its turn. Great. Well, I will roll that on its turn, but do you get... At this point, you had gone in like 140 feet, right? And you took a full dash? Yeah. So that's... I got halfway probably. But you're about halfway back. So...
I guess I just get to the fence. Like I kind of like go however far I can go. That's like not in the direct line of the dog. So it's about 70 feet away. I think at this point, um, you can kind of, uh, bow around it since you used a spell, you can't do the dash this turn. So I'll do 35 feet, 35 kind of arcing around it. Cool. So you're still about, I would say at this point, uh,
Yeah, still like 35 feet away from the fence. Now it's the dog's turn. The dog is going to make that dex roll. And let's see. How long do we think this has been happening? My spell only lasts 10 minutes. Oh, it's only been like 30 seconds. Yeah, it's like each six seconds a turn or something. What does it have to roll for the dex check? That's what I'm looking up. Sorry. Teeth looks at her and is like, that's a real hot dog. You ever seen one? No. No. No.
No, I haven't, Teets. Freya's like trying to concentrate on her spell. Doesn't want to be rude. See Freya just staring forward with like moon-looking eyes like, uh-huh. Like yanking on her arm. Please don't do that. Sorry, what was your spell save? Fourteen.
he rolled that this hellhound rolled a 10. And so you see it just pulling its feet, trying to like wrestling against the spider webbing. It can't get away. Probably still like,
Over 15 feet. Yeah, probably. It badly wants to use a move on you, but it cannot. Oh! So you're about 35 feet away from the fence. You all see this at this point. You see this hellhound barking, trying to pick its legs up, really badly wanting to attack you. Screech, your turn again. Stay the hell away from me.
That's right. Yeah. You're a bad dog. Bad dog. Screech. Okay, so I'm like, you know what? You're a menace.
You're a menace. Okay. You should be. You killed things. You killed people. My friends, probably. I don't know. There were some humanoid bodies. Maybe they were enemies, but they didn't deserve to die. And so I just pull out my bow and I fire right at the hellhound. Wow. Roll your attack. I'll tell you if you hit.
17. Hits. Wow. Okay. It hits and does 10 damage. Nice. So you see this arrow slam into the shoulder of this hellhound. Takes 10 points of damage. It still looks pretty strong. It missed its brain, you guys. Oh, and the arrow also flew on like a spider web. Yeah.
Uh, yeah. Carried by spiders. Uh, more incredible wire work. Uh, after this, uh, uh, do you move towards the gate? Yeah. So I move 35 feet. Cool. Um,
I'm going to say you have to climb the fence. So you're on the other side of the fence. The dog is at this point 20, I think about 20 feet away. Does it have to make that check again to not be restrained? That's what I'm checking. It's restrained as long as it remains in the webs or until it breaks free. So it can use its action to make a strength check against the saint, like 14. And if it succeeds, it's no longer restrained. It'll make that strength check.
It passes. So you see the stock rip out and run towards the fence. Oh, no. Squeech, make a climb check to get over that. For like acrobatics? An acrobatics, yeah. Not good, but I have good acrobatics. 10. 10, okay. Not great. With that, you start climbing the fence, but you are not able to get over it. You can use a dash action to try to get up further.
Okay. And make another acrobatics joke.
Lower. Yeah. Oh, no, it's 10 again. 10's pretty low, so I think on that you are only... You're still climbing the fence in this turn. Can Teeth throw a rope over the fence? Sure, yeah. You see Teeth throw a beautiful silk rope. This is strong like a spider. Wow, you're doing it like I would.
We're all doing each other's things. I can't wait to not know any other goblins. So this hellhound has gotten to the edge, makes its way to the fence at this point. And it is going to... Are you all there with Squeege? I'm on the outside of the fence. Okay. Squeege, it is going to take its breath attack on you. No, no! And it is going to roll...
kind of a lot of damage. Everyone make a dexterity saving throw. What did everyone get? I got a... I passed. I didn't do the math. I passed. Definitely. Trust me. 21. And I got a 16.
You got a six. Okay. Since you're on the other side of the fence, you'll already take half, but Justin, you will... Sorry, Spiders Man, you will also take half because you passed. So everyone takes 11 points of damage. All right, and so you would half again if you passed. I would half it again, so I'll take six probably. Yeah, yeah. Cool. So it is right outside and just belch fire at you. Squeech, you've been...
This is the most damage you've probably taken ever on an adventure. I'm a little bit excited about it. Yeah. This is great. This is a good story. And you know, if my parents die, wow, this is going to be great. You know, or if a loved one dies, it's going to be really good. And I look at Freya and I'm like, ooh. Oh, did I say that out loud? And Freya's like, still really trying to concentrate. God, hot dog. Cross buns.
uh squeegee it is back around to you uh i'll say that rope basically provides a help action for you to like climb over if you want to make another acrobatics check to try to or you know acrobatics or strength or athletics i'll do acrobatics cool yeah so roll with advantage yeah all right so yeah uh
24. Cool. With that, I'll say Squeegee pops over the top of the fence. This dog is barking at the fence, but you have all made it out of the scrapyard. Squeegee, are you going to continue to fight this animal, or are you guys trying to get out of there? Freya teats, this animal had humanoid-looking bones around where it rested. I think we need to shoot it in the brain with some spider arrows.
Personally, I don't think it's our mission to kill hellhounds. I think we're trying to get through a gate. But if it's meaningful to you, I guess I'll kill a hellhound. Spider, spider, spider, spider, spider. Spider's man, yeah. Spider's man. Listen, I'm killing and I...
I really understand why you want to do it. We got to get back to Aggie. I mean, think of Aggie. What about Aggie? But again, similar to Teets, if it's very meaningful to you, I will help you slay this beast. Getting a begrudging yes. Somebody said, let's go to Aggie. Let's do the other thing. I have a question for you guys. What do you think Aggie is short for? Oh, a guy, definitely Aggie.
Ag. It's short for ag. Aggie is short for ag. I was thinking maybe agriculture. Oh. That's beautiful. These are all equally valid ideas. I hope it's ag. I just want everyone to know I just got overwhelmed thinking about Aggie and ag was all that came out. No, no, no. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. No. Perfectly reasonable.
So I'll say you make your way over to the last destination on this list, the fighting ring. You see what you saw last episode, this sort of more modern feeling structure with like kind of like spiky, almost teeth like structures coming out of the ground. I get a chill. Are you cold? No, bigger teeth than I have. Yeah.
You hear sort of a rowdy crowd cheering as two goblins continue to bash each other's heads. And you see this pale goblin that you saw from last time fighting. And you hear the crowd. You see this pale, bald, really burly-looking goblin fighting this other goblin. Just fully domed this other goblin, knocking it out. Maybe it's dead. Who knows? That's a domer. Classic. Way far away. You see a guy go...
Would you say there's a lot of people that have been domed? Here? There's a certain amount of people. It's not uncommon to be completely domed here. I'm just asking if there's a domer pile.
Yes, in the corner of the fighting ring, there's just this straight up domer pile. Okay, just checking. The whole crowd is screaming, trash, trash, trash, trash. On the dais next to Sheldra, you know, the big goblin in charge, you see this little tiny gnome-like creature address the crowd. It's a little more goblin-like. It's...
Freya, it would look similar in size to cribbage, but it was unfortunately not your friend. No. I thought I recognized that for a moment. You hear their voice and they're like, "Is there no challenger willing to face trash? No warrior willing to sacrifice their own skin for a chance at glory and a prize from the champion's charner?" Points to this side.
There's, you see from here that it's like, it's mostly some like junk and like old weapons and stuff. Uh, but there are some like, uh, some nicer goods, like some nicer fabrics and leathers and silks and stuff. And then you do see that there is a bolt of the basilisk, uh, stomach skin in there. Um,
So they're calling for any challenger. You see the crowd is all cheering and excited, but it's like they're excited to watch. None of them are looking to jump in there immediately. Maybe some warriors are looking around like, do I finally do it today? But everyone looks a little scared. Just like watching them stutter step. Yeah. Yeah.
This guy's like, come on, man. Come on. You should do it. This is what you say you love. What do we know about the rules of fighting? Does it have to be one-on-one? It's one-on-one. And the other rule, the other major... That's what...
The main rule that you would know of, especially for, like, I think there are other times when there are other types of fights going on, but that's what's going on right now. And the other major rule is that there is no armor allowed. Oh. So whoever goes in there cannot wear armor.
And you see this guy there just shirtless with this little warning star hitting his head like, Domer, domer, trash, trash. Freya's really concerned seeing it. Look, Freya, you seem really strong, but I don't want to just push you into a no armor sitch. No, both of you have done valiant things that speak to your abilities. I do notice something, though. He doesn't have any armor on.
I don't think you can wear armor in the ring. Oh, dear. What are you like without armor? Yeah. How do you feel when you let down your walls? I don't know how to answer that.
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She doesn't love the idea of fighting for sport, but sort of begrudgingly holds her greatsword up and says, I volunteer. You see a lot of gasps. Spiders, man. I just was trying to add to the drama. And I up Freya's hand and I use Bolstering Magic and give her a D3 to all of her attacks and ability checks.
And I grab Freya's other hand and a bunch of spiders just crawl down my arm and they deliver 10 dead bugs for you to eat if you need help. Each one is worth... It's Goodberry, aka yum yum dead bugs. Freya holds down a gag and is really touched. Thank you so much. This is very kind. You're welcome. They taste bad.
You see the crowd look, sigh, spray up. Like, you know, some of these people are the same people that probably looked at her just kind of weird just because they haven't seen like an elf before. So there's like weird vibes here. I, I,
Okay, so Freya, this sort of crowd of goblins parts to let you through. Are there any other preparations you want to make before you go? And while this is happening, like Teets is just looking at...
What's his name? Drash? Trash? What's his name? Drash. Drash. And is like taunting him, being like, you ain't shit. Teets. Teets. Fran's gonna whoop ya. Spider's man. Before I go in, I am gonna do a...
I'll lay on hands to bring myself up to full strength. So I'm going to do it for 11. Great. Yeah. Teets, you're looking at Drash. I'm looking at Drash and I'm like, you ain't shit. You've never fought a day in your life. I literally just fought down here. Yeah, fucking right. I am shit.
I am shit. Sure, you're shit. Okay. Yeah, you're a piece of shit. No, everyone's just shouting my name. Piece of shit. Stop it. Piece of shit. I'm trying to get the crowd to like... Make a persuasion check. Ah, charisma. My worst scores. Let me look at the tiny number, and it's an 11. Can I go on to the persuasion?
- An eight? - So you see the dumbest looking person in the crowd next to you go, "Piece of shit, piece of shit." In a way that like makes you feel like the whole crowd saw that and clocked it and were like, "No, I don't think I'm gonna show up." - Freya puts her head in her hand and is kind of like, "God, it's Sophie."
This little kind of like gnome-like creature like motions for you to come forward and he was like, "The rules are simple! No armor and one left standing!" To the death? But like, you know, if someone dies, people die here all the time, but it's not like everyone's goal.
I see. I understand. We saw the domer pile. I mean, there is a domer pile. There's some wiggling guys in the domer pile. It has happened before. Freya, are you ready for the battle? Freya's ready. She does feel like a tingling of nerves. You step into this ring.
down to this crowd, you feel the energy of the crowd around you shouting and yelling at the fence. Some people look like they have bet money on Drash. Some people are looking at you inquisitively like they maybe should bet money on you. Drash, you see before you, he's standing pretty tall at four foot five. So maybe just extremely built.
He looks at you and he says, you little lost elf. And roll initiative. Oh, seven. Okay. Drash rolled a five. So you are actually first. Yeah. Okay. Freya just sort of reminds herself before this starts after Drash's insult that an elf always holds their head high.
She starts to cry a little. No, okay. Here we go. She's going in with her greatsword first, starting with what she knows. Teeth looks over at Spider-Man and is like, this is the best day of her life. All those eyes on her. Oh, I wish. Yeah, getting to fight her nemesis, a superhero. This is the best day of her life. She's the superhero is what I mean. So my hits are 15 and 22. My total damage is 19.
Sheesh. Drash stands before you, was just making fun of you, and you lay into him with a massive blow. Your sword shines with this green divine light from your natural domain, and he takes a pretty deep slash and looks up at you surprised that...
Because he hasn't... I don't think he's, like, faced the real challenger today is what it feels like. And he, like, focuses back up. He's like, what the fuck? So I think that's probably the end of your turn. You don't have any bonus actions or anything? No. Okay, cool. So Drash looks up at you, like, holding his side from where you slashed him. He, like, you know, kind of moves his Morningstar around. And he's going to take two attacks at you. Okay. He only hits once, but he doesn't do... He does...
Kind of a lot of damage. He hits you for 10 damage with his Morningstar. And a Morningstar is like... This spike ball just like slams into your side. You know the feeling of what would have been armor protecting you not there anymore. Ha! Okay. He missed his other attack, so he is just gonna be standing there in front of you, just like pacing like...
He smells like he's been in a fighting pit all day. The crowd yells and screams, "Trash, trash, trash." Piece of shit. The guy next to you, "Piece of shit." Yeah, this guy's cool. No one thinks I'm cool.
- I may have made the wrong choice. Freya, your turn again. - Okay, so Freya like touches her side for a second, but is like, she's almost like energized by that, like a heavy tackle in a football game and goes in hard now, not holding back at all, swinging her sword down at Drash. - Cool, roll your attacks. - Okay, 13 and 14.
The 13 misses, but the 14 hits. Okay, great. I'm going to Divine Smite again. Hell yeah. Hell yeah. Can I yell something from the crowd? Sure. I'm yelling, remember, you can eat those bugs anytime you want. Each is worth one...
hit point? That's what Spider's Man calls his life force. All the goblins around you are like, yes, hit points. And I look at Drash and I say, remember, you're a piece of shit. Hey, I'm shit. He admitted it. Did you roll those D3s on top of it? So I can't roll those for damage, I don't think, but I did do it for my attack. Okay, cool. Uh,
So for damage, I got 16. 16 with the smite? Okay. That's right. Yeah, once again, your sword crackles with this divine energy as you hit him, and he's, like, stumbling around. This is hitting him for a lot. He's woozier than he would have been in any other fight he's been in today. But, like, you see him, like...
some sort of strength within him, he is still able to stand this. He looks at you. He doesn't understand what this magical energy is. A lot of the people who come in here are not very magical at all. But he takes a look at you and he's like, I don't play that way. Yeah, you play like shit.
I don't play like shit at all. Gotcha. Let's see if this works. You don't play that. I don't, I'm saying, look, it hurt a lot and I didn't really, I'm not happy with it. With your new armor class, does a 13 hit? Just. Ooh, okay. And so an 11 also hits. Freya, you're going to take a good bit of damage.
Yum, yum, bugs. Yum, yum, dead bugs. Frey, you take 22 points of damage as he nails you with his Morningstar twice, just laying into you. He's like knowing that he has to finish the fight soon because you are hitting him so hard. This is an all-offensive fight. Yeah, he slams you for 22 points of damage.
Okay, so Freya gets hit hard, tastes a little bit of blood in the back of her mouth, steadies herself. She's like,
really woozy. And she makes eye contact with this guy and lifts up her hand full of bugs and just dumps all dead in her mouth. Squeezed cheers louder than he's ever cheered in his life. Incredible. Wait, just to rules clarification, that's Goodberry, right? Does it take an action to eat them? I don't know. I feel like it might be a bonus, but you tell me.
- You tell me, is it like a bonus to... - It might be, it could be an action. - Here, let me just clarify. - Before you, yeah. - Just in case you don't wanna do that, I just wanna make sure. - Yes, yes, yes. Eating a berry restores one hit point and a creature can use its action
- Oh, so I can only take that. - You can only have one at a time and it uses it. - That's okay, that's okay. - So let me know if you don't wanna do that. - Okay, so Fran spits up the bugs. - I understand. I fully understand now. - Doesn't count. - I understand. - A bunch of goblins look at each other. Yeah, doesn't count, doesn't count. These are the rules of the fighting ring. - But, okay, I lied. I'm not gonna do any spells.
I'm just gonna... Okay. Okay. So Frey tastes a little bit of blood in the back of her mouth. You're feeling woozy. The whole crowd's cheering around you. It's... She sticks out her sword like into the ground and steadies herself. Kind of like lets forth a big old frustrated yell. She doesn't like trash. And attacks him one more time with her great sword. Incredible. Roll your attacks. Okay. 28 and 16 for my...
Whoa, both hit. Roll damage. Okay, I'm going to go ahead and add my last Divine Smite for this. Okay. Your last first level? It's just my last first level, yeah. Cool. My total damage is 19. 19? Okay. Awesome. So this guy's fucked up, but still standing. Freya, make a persuasion check for the crowd. Okay.
Can we help Freya out? Yeah. By, like, helping to try to rally the crowd? Yeah.
I rolled a 25. A 25? It doesn't need help? No, I don't need it. Cool. As Freya nails Drash another time with this magical sword strike, you see the crowd kind of like looking at this in a new way. And yeah, if you guys want to help with this, like the crowd starts like, should we cheer on Freya? Like, is this like... Yeah, hold your head high, Freya! Yeah.
Freya, yeah, yeah. The guy next to you, the total dumbass. Freya, yeah, yeah. Freya, yeah, yeah. But everyone on a 24 persuasion check starts going, Freya, yeah, yeah. Freya, yeah, yeah. You see some people looking like, I don't know.
But this has been enough that Drash will roll one of his attacks with disadvantage as he is upset by this. Great, because Freya's in a really bad spot. He's looking around like, what? I'm like, no, cheer me! One miss, one hit on Freya. You know, his attack, he gets to roll two d8s and then you add three to it.
And so that's the potential for 16, 19 damage in a single hit. He rolled two ones. So he did five damage to you. As he like hits you, definitely hits you, but it's like a much weaker blow. Something has happened to him. Something has ruined his, uh, uh,
his like cockiness, but he's looking fucked up. - Okay, I'm like truly concerned about what to do here because my health is so low. - How far is Freya? Are we allowed to like try to help from afar? - You feel like if you tried to help, that could be a, it's definitely,
not allowed, but there are maybe worlds where you could try it, but it's up to you. It's a risk. Freya, how are you looking? I'm at 12 points. Okay. Nobody has any, like, reanimating stuff to their names, do they? Can I just say, give us an honor? Give us an honor. Yeah, I guess I'm just gonna hope that this guy is fucked up enough that one last attack on him
polishes him off. Are you sure you want to attack him or do you want to use your turn to eat one berry? One dead bug. Watch, he attacks me back and kills me with... If I'd have had 13, I would have died. Pray, yay. Pray, yay. Okay. I can't totally hear because she's so messed up and her ears are even a little bloody, but she's pretty sure this crowd is yelling her name and
As someone who hasn't been remembered, to her mind, for most of her life, this fills her with enough of a swell that, truly, with tears, she gets up and attacks this guy once again. Big swing of her sword. Incredible. Roll your attacks. 26 and 23. Two hits, for sure. Wow.
Would you say like the audience is like, like all leaning forward, like breathless, like waiting to see the outcome? Of course. Thank you.
- No, I'm just trying to have a feeling. - Yes, you see, like, the whole crowd has been cheering for Drash all day, and you feel this change of energy in the air as Freya is the first person to start besting this, like, well-known warrior around your town. You even see Sheldra look forward. She's scratching her chin in a way that, intrigued by this fight in a way that she hasn't been at all all day.
As Freya takes her attacks. I did 19 damage. Freya, how do you finish Drash? Freya feels as she's going into this double-sworded attack, uh...
that she has been filled with enough adrenaline. She knows this attack is going great. She hits him with a big slice across the chest and then goes for the gut and in her mind, hears her friend say, I want to see that dark blood. You hear Griv and Rufus's weird attitudes come through in your brain as you fucking kill Drac.
but also if you want you have a bunch of berries on you but as you run Drash through the crowd screams Freya some people throw their money down pissed off some people scream just having made so much money because they had no idea that you know gambled against odds that you would win Freya you have defeated Drash um
The whole crowd goes nuts. The little goblin runs up. The little tiny gnome-ish goblin comes up and grabs your hand and gets on a little ladder and holds your hand up. The winner is... And everyone cheers. Wow. Can I... The dumb guy next to me, can I be like, do you have any flowers? All of them. And I grab a flower and I throw it over him. Wait, my flowers!
Oh, don't worry. And I have like a bunch of spiders like spin a bunch of webby flowers. Incredible. He takes them and runs away. Freya, you're led out of the rink by this little gnome goblin guy. Sheldra looks at you and says, what's your name again? Freya. Freya Black. You could make a lot of money here. Really? Well, I really have no use for money. Just to get back to my friends.
I don't know who they are. And the little gnome takes you, and I think you all would meet up at this point, over to the champion's chorner. Can I, before we go to the champion's chorner, a place I'm longing to go, can I give two berries to someone to take to Drash, or is it too late? Yeah, the little guy grabs him and is like, well, okay, and picks it and throws him into Drash's mouth, who just spits it out. He is like,
Basically mortally wounded, but he won't fully die. I'll say. I hope you don't mind, Squeege. I just... Oh, no, I don't mind. You know, like with great spiders comes great responsibility, Squeege. And you're basically my Aunt Frey here, okay? So I trust whatever you do. I hope your Aunt Frey has a good trajectory in the story. Oh, yeah, no. It's my Uncle Ben who dies.
I wasn't sure if there was going to be a spider version of that. My uncle. Ben. While this is happening, Teeths runs over to Drash and whispers in his ear, you're not anything. You're a piece of shit. He just like kind of rolls away from me and goes, I am a piece of shit. And then Teeths feels a little bad and does a little show and goes, that's
- He turns back over and he's like, "Okay." - Don't worry, you can be a has-been and still be happy. - I'll say that you grab the basalus, the bolt of the basalus stomach skin, and you all head back over to Aggie's where he's been working away. Like you hear like these like kind of like, like wood shop noises almost as you approach. And he pokes his head out of the door and he's like, "Oh, thank God you're back. You got everything?"
Yep, we got, I got some spider hands worth of gunk tape. Okay. Four jars. Incredible. And I did get the basilisk skin. Yes! He was like, can I just, do you mind if I take it? You seem really suspicious the way you're fiending for it. Sorry, I'm just excited. Can I do a perception check? Yes, yeah. You can do an insight check or anything.
We should have really checked him out before we just ran off to get stuff. He had a six. I think he's a good guy. Trust him. Yeah, whatever. I'm just... I'm sorry. I'm just really excited. I've been... I told you, I've been stuck down here for years. So it's like this... We have like... We have to make our move tonight or we'll miss our opportunity. I'm sorry if I seem too excited. But yes, let me see that stuff. And...
Yeah. You see him take that stuff. He's like, invites you all. He's like, please come in. And he has like a little workstation set up. There's like a big thing covered with like a big canvas sheet. And he like goes over to a workbench and he gets his scissors out and like
His hands are moving super fast as he's working on stuff. You see him kind of slabbing on the gunk tape kind of material onto the cut up pieces of the basilisk skin. And he essentially measures everyone and he sizes you all up. And he's like, all right, now throw it. He has essentially in moments, it feels like manufactured suits for you all to wear. Wow.
to cover your body. It's kind of like a, not a scuba suit, but it fits over your clothing. You put this on, and do you all put them on? Does it cover our heads? It does not. Okay, then I smile as I'm getting into it. Okay, cool. Yeah, put it on. You all put it on? He takes the crystal jars and goes, and puts it on top of your heads.
to make little helmets and seals it. And he's like, "Okay, we have to make our move tonight." And he pulls the canvas off of the thing next to him. And you see this sort of manufactured looking version of one of those ranch beetles. And he's like, kind of hops in, the lid pops up. He's like, "Get inside, hurry." And as he does this, Daddy Longlegs appears holding stomach. - No!
- Daddy! - He walks into the room, stumbles in, looks down, roll an insight check. Everyone can as well. - Four? - 22. - Nine. - I don't wanna give the bad news. - Freya, it's ketchup. - Oh! - But you all, I don't think, maybe on a nine, you would feel like this isn't entirely real. And he's like, "Squeege."
I mean, Spider's Man. Yeah, that's who I am right now. I'm looking for my son, Squeege. And I know that for him to become a hero, he, you know, a lot of heroes have origin stories. And I just, as I'm definitely dying, I just want him to know that I believe in his ability to do what he needs to do to save everyone. And I'm clearly dead. This is real. I'm really dead. No, he's really dead.
He just sort of sits down in a chair. You can tell that he thought about lying down on the ground, but it looked a little dirty. And then he just sort of sits down. I wanted it so bad that it happened. And now that it's happened, I don't want it anymore. Brian knows it's ketchup, but is like kind of tearing up because it's just such a sweet gesture from his dad. Teeths is blown away. This is life changing for teeths. Aggie looks at this with the hood up like, okay.
Spiders man, we have to go. Yes. Mission. We must avenge my father's death. Whoever. Yeah. Okay. And it closes the hood and like starts like, it's almost like a steampunky kind of like robot version of one of these bugs. Uh, and he takes off out of the little stable, walks off into the street and you see, um,
at a similar time of day, you saw a ranch hand going towards the gate with his line of beetles. And you see this beetle that you're in climb into the line. Wow. As you get closer and closer to the gate, the ranch hand holds his hands up and he's like, we have our offering, you know, for the gate to keep us safe, you know, whatever it is. And you see the protectors of the nest look at it with these weird eyes
zealot bug eyes that they have and like yes for that which matters most and you see um a smaller gate within the gate like the whole thing could open and split in half but you see like a smaller gate open that lets in all these beetles one by one as they walk into a dark room and you as you
As you go through the gate, you see the light of the city pass you behind and you are suddenly in a dark cavern as the gate closes behind you. You look up and you see torches light up around you and through the lens of the ship, you just see what feels like at first just darkness centered in the center of the chamber. And there's this like kind of hot muggy air. But as more and more torches light up,
you see in front of you what could only be described as a worm the size of the Titanic. No! Stuck in this cavern. It's got this, like, purplish-gray skin as it, like, seemingly has been here for a very long time, just unable to move in this one spot, look down at you all, and with this just, like...
horrible rumble. It just starts going and you feel the ship just get moving, moving, moving and get sucked into the worm itself. And that's where we'll end the episode. Okay. Awesome job collecting all the materials you need. Wow. I love that. And getting into the belly of the beast. Yeah.
So that was this week's episode of the Rotating Heroes podcast. Stick around next week for our arc mark where we talk about everything that happened today. Thank you to the players, Justin, Marissa, Victoria for a wonderful episode. Do you have anything you want to plug today?
As always, please check out my podcast, Hosted with Talia Tabin, Friends Talk, Frasier and Feelings. You can find us on Twitter, Instagram or Patreon. I think by the time this comes out, I'm going to release a short film that I wrote and directed. Oh, cool. And so if you want to check that out, you could probably find it on my website. I'll definitely link it to the Patreon. Okay, cool. Thank you. Yeah, it's just marisastrickland.com. You'll find it. It's called Give Me a Sign. Awesome. Justin?
you know listen to nature talks to itself it's the first podcast by nature for anybody and oh check out infinity train it's a show i wrote on and i think you'll like it yeah i feel like there's a lot of crossover with dnd stuff and yeah um cool well thanks for listening we'll be back next week thanks bye
Well, I hope that you enjoyed that episode of Rotating Heroes Arc 4. Your rotators for this arc were, of course, Victoria Longwell as Freya Black, Justin Michael as Squeege, and Marisha Strickland as Teeths. If you want to hear more Rotating Heroes in your life, then you can get more than you can probably handle over at rotatingheroes.com.
Patreon. You can find the links in the description below. We have got a bunch of really exciting things coming, like potentially merchandise. If you want to be a part of that and help us get there, you can either join the Patreon or just drop us a little five-star review in whatever podcasting app you're using and help new people find the show. That's it. Bye!