Deep Dive
Shownotes Transcript
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I was looking back through my emails and it has been nearly a year since I first emailed Zach to say, "Hey, shall we bring the Rotating Heroes podcast back? Would you be down?"
And it has been such an overwhelmingly amazing year generally for me, getting to be on Dimension 20 and all the other things that are happening. But also just, you know, getting to work with Zach has been unbelievable. All the lead up to launching the show, relaunching the show, then launching the show, then launching the public feed.
all of that kind of stuff and it's just been absolutely wonderful I've loved every single second of it and I want to say a huge thank you to you for being here for listening to the show for supporting the show I'm so glad to be bringing these older arcs back and on this public feed because I think they are genuinely brilliant I think Zach's storytelling is marvelous and I can only hope that I live up to a fraction of what he's able to do with these the later arcs
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fear your presence as you stealthed in. Do I smell anything edible in the big pile of stuff they seem excited about? Roll a logit. Oh, that's a 21. Yeah, it looks like they have some food in here. On this little fire, they are cooking some kind of bird
So immediately Gray is like, okay, they're excited because there's a bird. You can't eat any of that yellow stuff. I'm like, why are they excited? Neatly stacked cylindrical yellow things. Yeah. How big are they? They're small. They're like probably, a wolf is probably the same height as them on Tulane. You know what I mean? They're like gnomish size. They're considered a small human. Would a wolf scare them? They're armed.
And they're like kind of backed up in a corner, but yeah. I can give you the help action on an intimidation check. Yeah. Cool. Do you want to, let me know what you want to do. I would like to try and scare the shit out of these little fuckers. Okay, cool. Make an intimidating check with advantage.
I think I'm going to say 12 was not that high. How were, how are you trying to intimidate them? Well, coming in, like how, like when you first see serious black as a dog, like slowly walking in, like they, you hear,
They all turn around and look. They're scared of you, but they're not running from you. They pull their weapons. Let's roll initiative. No. Fourteen. Four. Twelve. Then I'm going to roll for Miko. As this happens, these dinky little kobolds look up.
Snarl at you, pull out their little blades. They have little sharp daggers with them as they look up at you guys. Harland, you are going to act first. As you see, five kobolds pop up from the fire that they were looking at, just staring at my ass, ready to fight. I want to just sort of lunge at them. I don't want to kill them. I just...
want them to go away. But maybe we should kill them so more people don't come back. Are they advancing or would you say that they are menacing? Are they readying for us to charge or are they advancing? I think it's not their turn yet, but they will advance. There's no retreat.
It doesn't seem like they're going to run. This is more like about protecting what, like whatever these gold cylinders, these cylindrical marked golden things are, whatever they are, these huge stacks of them. Yeah. There's like a greed in their eyes. You recognize like when someone is like a kill. From the horrible man. Very similar.
There is a similar energy, but you even like people in your pack who are like probably taking too much food. Yes. Now I've got this new bling and is the fire like, are there logs? It's like a small fire. Like there's like some sticks and stuff, but, um,
It's not like a roaring razor or, you know. Okay. Like, it almost looks like they, like, broke off shit in this pyramid that was, like, old, ornate stuff and made of fire. Ancient artifacts. Yeah, like, they're, like, burning tapestries. Okay, I'm going to attack one of them. Cool. Yeah, there's definitely one within distance to attack. Okay, I'm going to do that. Cool. And pack tactic? I will say for this first one, it is not within five feet.
Okay. Of an ally. If you wanted to, you could close distance, ready an action to attack when I close distance, and you would get pack tactics on your react. Yeah. I'll do that. Yeah, yeah, cool. So...
Harlan stalks up to the front kobold who's like kind of shaking with their dagger but like would kill you if they had the opportunity and like it's like why is it like you can tell it's like confused as to why you haven't attacked him yet and he's locked his eyes are locked on you Miko is gonna get a little closer because they are pretty far away
and has heard the commotion, but still staying far back with the baby, but also like, what's up in here? So that's going to be Miko's turn. Tuffy, it is your turn. And I'm outside with the baby. So Miko will, I think, head back to where you are. And like, what is that noise? I don't know. You look so worried. I haven't been in there. You're deeply worried. Yes, yes. This is a lot of pressure on me. I am the leader of this whole thing.
Okay. You leading outside here? No. Nico, like, moonwalks. What are you doing? What are you doing with your feet? I don't know. It feels good on my feet. That is awesome. Try it.
Miko's going to spend his turn just kind of rubbing his feet in a circle as he spins backwards. You've got to teach me that. I will. Listen, I'm going to go. I need to just, I know that I said that I was going to stay with Baby, but I just need to check. Can I make some sort of hearing? Yeah, make a keen hearing check. With advantage, make a perception check. Ten. Ten.
Yeah, it sounds like a commotion in there. It's hard. Like, there are other creatures in there, but I think you don't fully understand what you're hearing. You can use your movement to move towards something or away from something or whatever. Your action would be to, like, bite on something or whatever. But you can use your action to take a double move. So you can close a further distance in a shorter amount of time.
So you can use your whole turn to move closer, otherwise you kind of lose it, you know? Yeah, I think I need to gain ground just to get everybody in my way. Cool. So I will say with a double movement, you can run all the way in there and be next to Gray in the temple, and you see these kobolds' arms drawn, their sharp teeth in their hands. Oh, do you still have that druid staff? Always. So you can't get through the doorway because it's too long. Yeah.
You're hitting your mouth on the doorway. Okay, so I drop it right outside only to gather it when we leave. Okay, cool. I know where it is. And I go inside. Cool. And that is the end of your turn, saddling up next to Graham. After that, the kobolds are gone. So now there are three wolves. Huh? Just so they know there are three wolves. Now they see these three wolves. So the kobold in front of you is going to take a swing on you, Harlan.
And another one, I'm gonna say three kobolds are gonna take. - There are three? - Well, there's five total. - There's five, I thought there were four. - We heard two talking, but there's five. - Shit on a brick. - So I'm gonna say two attack you, Gray, and one will attack you, Tuffy. So first one, one hit on Harland. Gray, it's two hits on Gray. And last, a natural 20 on Tuffy.
- Okay. - That's extra damage. - That means the double the die. All right, so one hit on Harland. Harland, you take five points of piercing damage. Three damage, six damage to Gray. - Ouch. - And then after that, the natural 20 on you. So that's double die, seven damage. This is, you have what, 18 health? - Oh, God. - You guys, these kobolds though,
not super strong in the scheme of like regular characters, can do some damage to some wolves. So you all, that was their turn. After that, Gray, it is your turn. Okay, I'm gonna attack. Is there one that's within five feet of both me? Yes, for sure. Okay, great. That's gonna be a 14 to hit. Hits. That's gonna be eight points of damage. And eight points of damage, and then the- The strength, strength check.
Okay. Makes this strength save, but is you almost rip out this kobold's throat in front of you. It's like, ow! Just squirming like...
deeply, deeply wounded by this. After that, do you do anything else with your turn? Or I'm not sure if that's it. After that, Gray, it's back around to Harland. Harland, you are still sort of by yourself because these two close distance with you and the other three are near them. So let me know what you do. Am I within five feet now? Because I readied an action line.
Oh, I'm sorry. Yes. Well, the problem was you readied an action for something that didn't happen, unfortunately. They acted before me in the mission. Yes. So I will say that you can attack one of them on that turn. I'll give you two attacks essentially this turn because you didn't get to actually attack last time. But unfortunately, you don't get advantage because you are still by yourself.
But you get two attacks. Wait, but where did I go? So you went forward and he never moved because they closed his attack. Because by the time I moved, I was surrounded already. They came up and closed. Oh, so can I? So you're getting into attack twice, but it's each a straight attack. You can move to him to get pack tactics, but you will take two attacks of opportunity from the two on you. I'll attack. What do you have? Four. I got an eight. Okay. So that misses, unfortunately.
17. That hits. Okay. Five damage. Five damage? You badly wound one in front of you. It has this sort of like leather armor on it. Okay. But you're able to like bite through it and crunch into its chest. It's really gross. He's like, I don't know how to... I'm used to fighting murlocs. After that...
Harlan's turn. Miko's like, you guys okay in there? Help! We're going to step over this stick. I think he leaves the elf baby in the hallway behind him to step forward. Still within sight. And I think with that, he can get to the one closest to Gray. And he's going to try to take an attack with pack tactics to knock this one out.
Hits for sure, luckily, because he had a nat 1 and an 18. And this one's dead. No roll necessary. It had one health left. Miko just is like, hey, what's going on in here? And bites the head off of a kobold. After that, Tuffy, it is your turn. Lay of the land, two next to Harland and two next to you guys and one dead next to you. So you still have pack tactics if you attack any of them over here. Mm-hmm.
Yeah, I've got to attack. Cool. And I roll twice. Roll twice, take fire. Natural 20, baby. Awesome. Got right back at him. Tuffy, your pack is in danger.
This is time for a leader to step up and defend his pack from whatever the fuck is happening here. You've seen Harlan take some serious damage. You yourself took some serious damage. And you roll, you pounce on this creature. Roll that strength, I'll roll that strength save with disadvantage on your nat 20 to see if you knock it out.
this this cobalt goes down hard uh and roll damage uh so take roll two uh it's two d4s right is what your normal roll is so roll four d4 and add two or add whatever it is oh is that all no it's two ones and two fours oh even so so that's 12 12 damage um yeah uh
Tuffy, you don't love the thrill of the kill, but this thing is threatening you all too much. And with that, you slice its throat open with your sharp-ass wolf teeth, killing this creature instantly and throwing it to the ground. This is even the playing field tremendously. It can talk! What?
So there are now three kobolds up. It is the kobold's turn. Okay. So two are still going to take attacks on Harl. One hit. Three damage to Harl. And then the last one is going to take an attack on you, Tuffy. That hits. Four damage. So you've taken like 11 damage or something like that? Okay. That is the end of the kobold's turn. Now we are at gray. Gray. I think...
There's one near us and two left behind. Yes. Okay. Grey badly wants to run and help Harland, but something in her head lets her know that she will get swung on. And that it's just as easy for Tuffy and Miko to help Harland. So some part of her says, no, keep your head in the gate. Don't be swayed by your emotion. Do the smartest thing that there is to do. And she's going to take an attack on...
This last kobold in front of her and Miko and Tuffy. That's going to be a 13 to hit. That does not hit, unfortunately.
Yeah, you are thinking in these terms of strategy that are a bit unusual for... I mean, wolves definitely have strategy, but in straight-up combat strategy, that is sort of a different subset. And in this moment, the kobold is able to snap its head back just out of reach. After that, we're back up to Harland. Yeah.
You have these two kobolds in front of you. One of them pretty hurt. Okay, I'm gonna go for the hurt one. That one. Harland, yeah, it's hard. You're by yourself up here and unfortunately can't make purchase on this one. It seems like they have a little bit of a pack tactic going on. I don't like this thing. The dice tray is treating you wrong. It is now Miko's turn. Miko's gonna attack the one close by.
Again, like, I think I get what we're doing. Yeah, Miko hits. And this one has been hit or has not been hit? Has not. Miko hits it for, oh, sorry, eight damage. This one is also brutally injured on death's door. Like, as Miko has proven to be very effective in this fight. Just like...
Mika's also a little smaller, just kind of like a small, mean wolf. After that, Tuffy, it is your turn. There's this one that's deeply injured in front of you, and then Harland's out there by himself fighting too. If you run to Harland, you have to take a swing of opportunity from the one nearby, but otherwise you can just attack the one on you. The one that's almost dead. And the one near Harland is not.
there's two near harland one's hurt but the other is fresh and then the one near you is very close to dead well i feel the very strong urge to check on harland as i always do and i feel like also this is another option you can disengage which is an action so you won't get an attack but get up to harland and then he would have it right that's i want to get close but you won't get to attack if
But you won't get an attack on him. And the kobolds will go before I get to go, right? Yeah. So those are your three options. Run over there, take an attack, but also attack, kill the one next to you, or try to, or disengage and just be a body next to Harlan.
I want to give it attack and I also take one. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I want to do that option. Okay. So this guy's going to swing on you as you run away from out of his reach to help Harlan. He does hit. So that is five damage. How many hit points are you at? Two. You've taken 16 damage. How much did you have total? You have two hit points left.
All right, so there's the wounded one in front of you that... Wounded me. Well, that one wounded you behind you as you ran away to help Harlan. But Harlan's fighting too, one of which is hurt. Oh, so now you get to attack. Okay, yeah. And I will attack the injured one. Cool, and you do this with advantage because Harlan's right there as well. So 11. 11 does not. After Tuffy is the three remaining kobolds.
This one over here is going to take an attack on Miko. Nat 1. Miko has incredible luck. Miko is very lucky. Something we could have found out earlier. So, there are two kobolds in front of the two of you. You're both pretty badly injured, correct? I'm okay. Okay. He's bad. I'm gonna... If there's any way for Harland to notice that...
Tuffy has just once again turned around to help him and just got his shit fucked up in the process. And Harland can put himself in front of Tuffy. Harland, make a... Is there any kind of check on your sheet that feels like...
Fills in line with what you're trying to do. That I'd allow a roll of some kind to like try to persuade them to hit you or be more like a target. Hmm. I think a persuasion roll makes sense or an intimidation or one of those two. Maybe persuasion. Okay, cool. Mine. Okay. One of them is going to take an attack on each of you. Okay. Harland, I'll roll yours first. So it hits.
Six damage. Okay. Oh, shit. Slashes you with a dagger. Next attack will be on does an 11 hit your armor class? No. Oh, bitch. You see the blood in your eyes as you've been slashed across the head. You feel woozy and this thing slashes out at you. You instinctively duck your head away from this blade under it. It would have straight up possibly killed you.
if it connected. After that, Tuffy, you've very narrowly avoided going unconscious and then having to make death saves as a wolf with no healer in the party. After that, it is Gray's turn. Gray's gonna turn to Miko and say, "Help them!" And is gonna go after the one right in front of me and Miko that's injured.
That's going to be a 14. That hits. Sorry, he had 15. No roll necessary. This dude is toast. You deck this kobold, driving its own knife into its chest. Gray punches it. Good job. Gray roundhouse kicks it. After that, Harland, it is your turn. Okay. You have pack tactics finally. Fantastic. You can roll with advantage.
14. Hits. Thank God, bitch. So that one in front of you is injured. Great. Yeah. Oh, so there are two left. Yes. The two in front of you are the only ones left. Okay. Six. Six.
Damage. The injured one, you are able to just slash his guts out with your teeth. It's fucked up. Okay. It feels weird to relish him, but yeah, you bite him in the stomach any time. Oh, God. After that, the last one is standing. Miko rushes up. It's like, okay, and takes a flying leap.
14 hits. Amazing. And does eight damage to this one as well, almost killing it as he jumps through the air, slashing at it with his sharp-ass teeth. It's still up, though. Tuffy, it is your turn. You get to take this attack. 14.
That is their exact armor class, as this last one, who definitely would have taken a swing at you to try to at least get one of the wolves, is hit. And no roll necessary. This thing had one health left as you take the finishing blow on this last kobold. Its dagger clatters to the ground. You guys are in this pyramid. Five dead kobold warriors. I'm sorry.
I'm sorry. Me too. Why are you sorry? Shelter wasn't worth this. Miko runs out, comes back with the baby. He's like, see, this is violence. Is Miko uninjured? Miko's uninjured. I'm going to look at Miko and say, Miko, can you go to where these little
two legs, kept their food and see if they have any meat food for Harland and Tuffy to eat. Uh, yeah, of course. Uh, he goes over to like kind of the fire area where they were maybe like cooking some stuff. Natural 20. He finds like, like several, like they were doing some meal prep. Uh,
they had a bunch of Tupperware they caught a couple of like basically like wild turkeys and there are these like big old birds on the ground perfectly cooked wow I'm going to I'm going to take as Miko's doing that I'm going to take the basket and put it over and for the first time in my life be unafraid of fire and I'm going to like
go over to near where this fire is and put the baby near it so that the basket can get nice and warm and if there's any dampness in the towel or whatever it can dry off and I'm going to look over to Tuffy and Harland who are both I'm also injured but I look I think better than Harland and Tuffy look and I'm going to say Miko found some turkeys why don't we lie down by the fire and rest oh that sounds great yeah I'm not getting up I can't go anywhere
And Miko comes over and starts licking you guys. Yeah, I'm going to join Miko and start licking their wounds as well. Let's just, let's lick it off. Let's lick it off. That feels nice. And Miko also says like, I think there's some pretty cool stuff in here. And motions to near these piles of, I don't know what they are, like these like kind of cylindrical flat circled things that are really shiny and it's a soft metal. But there are just stacks and stacks of them. Does anybody want to make any like investigation checks or anything like that? Yeah, I'll do that.
And you can do it, Miko can help you. That is a 14. On a 14, the first thing you would notice, with these kind of like cuts into it that are really not, having not really done much to it. Yeah, like you notice that the fire, it's clearly like they broke down stuff in this temple to make a fire. It was like dry wood, so they were like, this will be better than anything outside as it started raining outside.
There is this weird kind of smooth wood, rounded, essentially like a hoose-looking thing. It looks like a big wooden peanut. And there are some kind of marks on it that you realize are the daggers where they tried to break it up, and it didn't do anything. It's like...
And it has this little hole in the center. Everyone make an investigation. Sixteen. Ten. Six. Yeah, like you look around. Seven, sorry. Gray, you look around and you notice on the wall there's a depiction of these kind of like
elvish gnomish looking people that like look they look very much like the the initial druid that you met but like it seems like it's a different culture a different species uh different kind of being they have this that thing is depicted on the wall and it shows um you're looking at pictures again for the first time and you're trying to rationalize what this is but there is a depiction of of
what looks to be like a smaller version of the creature smiling in that object on the wall. Like they have depicted the papoose-like thing on the wall with a baby in it. But with a baby in it.
I'm looking up, I still have like blood in my fur, but after I've made sure that like Harland and Tuffy have some like turkey in front of them and are like resting by the fire, Grey is seated up in that way you see wolves, like if you see like any like wolf crescent moon art where her butt's on the ground, seated, but her front legs are fully extended. So that's that regal like head is way up kind of seated and her tail is kind of up and swishing up.
She's looking around at all the carvings in the temple and out loud speaking, very much like the way a scientist in a sci-fi movie would do the alien room. She's like, these are howls. What do you mean, like howls? Like talking? Like howls? The same way we have things we need to tell each other over long distances.
The elves here needed to tell each other over long spans of time. These are house. They're stories. Okay. This place, if these walls could howl. And they can. Oh. He rolled a two. I'm going to start sort of just narrating through what I can see to my companions. And I'm going to look over...
at the shape and go, these are, the object on the wall is shaped like the object here, which means that the people that made this place wanted us to know something about this because it on the wall is a story about it here. I'm gonna go investigate the Papoose and I see that striking it didn't work.
but I see the smiling baby in it and I'm going to nudge it up the little mountain of coins towards the baby in the bassinet, the baby in the basket. Uh, yeah. Gray, you use your nose to push it. It's sort of like oblong. So it rolls kind of weird, but yeah, rolls right up next to, uh, the baby, uh, baby Freya in the basket. And,
baby looks at it it's that's like one it's like not like like a baby baby yeah and uh like kind of slaps it to your surprise you see this baby just get like crawl towards it it's just like dump its head in and and just feet dangling out sits in the papoose and then just kind of roll around and then just sit in there and smile uh then go to sleep great i know i'm injured but
Did the druid point his staff closer to you? Because you... It's like you're more awake than the rest of us. It's incredible, these hologram things. You just figured it out. He jumped right in, I think. Well, it's not some... I don't know. I think even before we were awake, it's always been sort of strange, you know? The whole world is full of Tommies. Tommies of other Tommies, even. It's... I've never been able to...
about thinking about, but I have always thought about. Any wolf knows what it means when a deer track is heavy in the dirt or soft. We all know what it means when the wind changes and you smell something you didn't smell before. But there are puzzles like that everywhere. And there are many that we just couldn't see before, and now we can see them. When you say that, Gray, you're looking at
the different howls on the walls and you see one that has something that maybe the kobolds didn't notice there's like a little indent with like a little wooden it's almost like a drawer with like a little uh rope handle on it in the wall i'm gonna look at the happy baby in the booth and i'm gonna scoot down the hill there and sliding on the coins i'm gonna look over and make a connection in my head between these stupid slippery yellow discs
And the thing that the horrible man said before, where he said, I'm going to get rich. I'm just going to go like something there and come back to that later. And I'm going to go over and say, I think the little Scaly's missed this. And I'm going to try to open the drawer. Cool. You can pull on it with your teeth. You pull it and it...
hits the ground this little wooden drawer it actually shatters when it hits the ground because the wood is so old like uh but uh when it hits the ground you see a couple of items that were being stored in here just pop out of the splintered wood where where that drawer came apart you see a small black dagger you see what appears to be it's hard to say like it feels like kind of like what
what those kobolds were wearing or even any of the people you saw were wearing, but it's this shiny, almost like these piles of metal around, but like a different color. It's like a little more like moonlight to you. You see like a, almost like the druid staff, but like a small one, just a smaller one. And then these two little, what other creatures that stand on two legs wear on their feet.
I'm going to call to my friends who I know are resting, but I'll say, I think we should come look at these. This is something special. All the way over there, right? Miko walks over, just like passes Tuffy with ease, like dibs, call it. All of this stuff's mine. Harland doesn't move. Harland does not. Harland is depressed. Is this another one of your pup souls?
Pupsels? No. No, I don't think so. Maybe. Well, maybe. That's interesting. Is it a puzzle? You look at the walls with the different howls around it. And though it doesn't necessarily feel like a puzzle, it feels like you probably solved what was here. But there is more information, it feels like, to be gleaned from the different depictions. I think I'll look out and I will sniff around. I'll look at these four objects really quick. Is there any... My eye kind of goes...
I think that the dagger and the armor don't catch my attention that much, but I think I want to just give a closer look at the boots and the staff. Cool.
Is there more? Do I like... Make a... I'll allow you to make either a nature or an arcana check, maybe? Cool. I'll do a nature check. Or if you want survival, maybe, like... Okay, yeah. I can do, like, a little sniffing. Yeah. And Miko's gonna, like, nose around and give you the help action. 12. 12.
Yeah, like those other things maybe weren't super interesting to you. But you notice that this little like gnarled piece of wood, almost like bone-like at one end and then comes out to a point. I think you see a howl on the wall that sort of looks like it represents that. I'm going to sort of...
pick that up in my mouth and absentmindedly just sort of wander off to start looking at more of the carvings on the wall. And I think, Gray, I fully just get lost in it. That's going to be the rest of what I'm doing. Yeah. So the walls are covered with stories. You see, I think, what you would come to understand. You see these objects and you see if you can find them on the walls. You see, eventually find...
what appears to be depictions of each. There is that black dagger that you found on the ground. It's more of a sword in the hands of these other creatures. It looks more like a slashing weapon. And you see a small folk holding it up
You don't see any things that seem like murlocs or kobolds here on the walls. That seems like maybe that has happened way since these people lived. You do see these weird apes on the walls, almost two-footed or humanoid, but more animal-like. You see them fighting those. You see the one with the dagger, it is holding it up against this winged creature.
It's like the drawings are pretty rudimentary, so it's like hard to get much detail out of it. But yeah, like it's like seems like the stories of heroes and villains and things like that across the walls. You do find where that piece of wood you found was. And there is a depiction of someone using it, whatever that means. And it seems like whatever it is pointing it at is like,
shackled or like it is like something happens to it and it, and it cannot move. There's a, this sort of shiny, uh,
clothing thing and a warrior is wearing what appears to be a depiction of that and and like fighting and and it seems like uh that is part of what they would carry with them into battle uh those little black uh shoes or you know like foot coverings or whatever uh paw coverings uh you see someone there's one frame of them running and then one frame of them running vertically so those are yeah like i think you'd spend the next couple hours like
exploring the idea of these things and you see those things. Yeah, also, I'm not sure what my companions are doing, but I think Grey's going to spend as long as she needs, like, looking at all of those. And it's eventually going to come back over to her companions with the stick in her mouth, look at the other objects, look at the little pup and the bassinet and the papoose. Mika, stay still. Okay. Okay.
I'm going to shake the stick in my mouth. Okay. You shake the stick in your mouth at Miko? Yeah. Okay. There are, I feel like two options. One feels like it maybe doesn't quite apply as much to Miko. And maybe one that would use more of this. There is something to be used in this piece of wood.
One feels like both less to do with the situation and less to do with Miko and would require less of it, and one feels like it would require more. I want to... As I start doing that, I suddenly stop and I say, and I do the thing that requires less effort and has nothing to do with Miko. It doesn't seem to do anything, but you do feel like something charged within this. All right, I'm going to do the thing that does have to do with Miko. Miko goes... Miko goes...
um miko can you move you're trying to move and you can't miko shakes in place but like only it's like his body is vibrating um uh i the thing that so far we've seen harland do and roan do i with the i drop the stick and play like oh god i want to do that so bad we go frozen in place it's elf magic it's elf magic
The stick. They put a power in the stick that moves sideways through the world. It's not from you can't see it or smell it. It's a big wolf that pins you down, but you can't see it or stop it. I feel completely pinned down by some big wolf. I'm sorry. I'm sorry.
Something tells me that Miko wouldn't be able to do it if he had the stick. We could try. Okay. Miko. Yeah? Can you, are you able to, can you move now? Can you, you're able to move? After some time, Miko kind of comes out of it. He immediately picks up the stick and looks at you and says, nice try, asshole. And then it doesn't work. Don't call me an asshole. I'm sorry. Okay. Okay. Wow. Now I'm just spitballing here and I'm a little woozy.
Does it seem like all this stuff is for a two-legged creature? Well, they are, but I don't think two legs would expect a group of wolves to have been awakened. So I think that even though this is not for us, we can make it for us. I guess what I'm saying is these paw coverings, we can't fit in them. Well... Who can? Try. We'll try.
A deeply wounded Tuffy puts his paws in these like straight up shoes. But you see, you look down at your paws and you see them like shrink wrap around your paws, like to become fitted. And you feel like, Oh, something's happening. Jump up, jump up on the wall. Like if you were trying to bound into a tree. Are you kidding me? Just jump up on the wall.
And we'll say you guys have had a short rest, so you have recovered a little bit. I'm feeling okay. These boots are supportive. Yeah. And you, yeah, you're able to climb up these walls. Your back legs are just sort of dangling. Holy shaz. Look at this. Look at this. It's working. It's like your picture. Oh, it feels good. It feels good. You see this wolf just sort of dangling its back legs. It's just like oddly floppy. Oh, yeah.
Oh my, it's real elf magic. You're up on the wall. You gotta try this, Harlan. It's not for me. Come on, I can take off the shoes. You can try it. I'm sure it'll work for you. It's not for me. He just sort of sits with the baby. Harlan just feels like he's been fucking up so much today. He feels like he didn't deserve to be awakened with them. And he just can't get in the spirit. Harlan.
Listen to me. We're a pack. And I know that you might feel guilty for leading us into a battle that we, you know, got hurt. But we're all here. We're all still alive. We're all together. And I know I'm a little bit younger than you, but frankly, you need to get over it. You almost died, Tuffy. You almost died coming back for me again. You don't come back for me another time. Fine. Not with the pup now.
If you promise me that you'll be in a little bit more better spirits, then I promise you that I won't check in on you anymore. I can't promise to be in better spirits. Hey, deal's off. Deal's off. I'll pretend if you want me to. Please. Fine. Wow. Cool. Cool. Socks. Harlan, you don't have to be in better spirits.
But you do have to use the gift you were given. Why? Because then all of this was for nothing if you don't. We've lost our pack. A being that understands far more about this forest and this world than us needs us to do this. The magic elf wouldn't have known that I'm too old to use his gift. You're too scared. Easy for you to say. And Harland just curls up next to the baby.
Oh, Miko just was too close to this conversation. He's watching it and just kind of slinks back. Yeah. Do you guys do anything else tonight? I'm going to collect not only that stick, but that black dagger as well. And hold on to that. And I'm going to look at the sort of armor that's there and nudge it towards Miko.
Cool. Miko looks at it and kind of nudges his body into it. It's sort of like for, I'll just say what it is because I'm having a hard time describing it in wolf terms. It's a mithril chain shirt and just kind of slinks it on and it's like, wow, look at this. Like shimmies, like here's this like kind of slinky chain noise. Do I look good?
No one said anything? You look good. You look good. It just took a second, so okay, whatever. Yeah, he has that on. I'll look over and I think at a certain point, does Harland actually go to sleep after curling up or no? Probably not. I'll suggest that some of us stay on guard near the entrance to this, even in the rain. Tuffy.
do you want to keep guard with me absolutely uh miko goes straight to sleep he's like i got the next one um looking up at the sort of fire which i think oh also gray will will keep the fire going yeah like you you realize it's getting smaller and then yeah there are little other pieces to the side that they haven't used yet so you realize when they go in there gets brighter toss some on over by the door looking out into the rain in the dark
keeping a watchful eye out on the path leading up here. I'm just going to look over at you and say, I don't think either of us... It's possible to know something without understanding it. I think we both know what Harlan's going through, but I don't think we understand. It's painful to watch. I can't imagine being so close to the end of your life like he is. It must be a drag. I think it is a drag. It's... I think this was a very big adventure for...
to ask of a wolf so close to the end of their life. I think that, I think for you and me, we can feel our youth and can feel that there might be a wildlife ahead of us. Time to make sense of this. That if we survive this mission, that maybe we could find a way for the world to make sense now. I think
Feels like maybe this is a little cruel to have to change so much when he's already so tired. I never thought about it this way, but I can't imagine learning all this new information with, you know, the analog brain that he's got. I need to be easier on him. We just need to make sure that we can get the most out of him. He's still very strong. Very strong.
And we need him to believe in himself if we're going to survive. But I think he needs... I just wanted to check in because I think I was not... I think watching him give up a little bit, even for a moment, is very frightening. Did you hear me? I told him he needs to get over it. I feel so stupid. No, I... No, no, no.
And here, I think Gray is hitting the limits of her newfound intelligence. She goes like, you can say something to someone that's true and have it not be the right thing to say. Yeah, yeah, I can. Specifically me. The way you put it like that, God.
I don't, I think what I just said is right, but it feels very complicated. - These like mind explosions happening with these bulls. - I'm like, yeah, well he does need to get over it, but maybe it was wrong to say that. - Brains fizzing. - Just the mental effort of like. - These are some of the leadership roles that I hope to one day, you know, pick up. You know, Roan doesn't talk the same way he talks to the cubs as he does to the hunters and gatherers. - There's, yeah, exactly.
You would say something differently to different people based on who they are, even if you feel the same way. Yes, that makes sense. It's a lot. I got one more crazy thing I just can't not say. And I don't know if it's too weird, but what if we put the shoes on the baby? I don't hate that idea. I really don't.
Because I was thinking, you know, everything's like small. And again, I'm just getting all this brain stuff. But it seems like, you know, we kept putting it on Miko because he was the smallest thing. Yeah. I don't know. You're the seer. Miko wakes up and is the mention of his name. What? What'd you say to me? We were just talking about how many zingers you had today. Have you always been this funny? I don't know. So proud. I don't even know.
Miko takes over for you guys. Is there anything anyone else wants to do before getting on? I'll say one as we're going to bed, I go, um, shoes on the baby. If the baby goes up on the ceiling, how do we get the baby down? Interesting. Cool. With that, Miko takes over from watch and I'll say you guys get a full night's rest. The next morning, I'm going to roll some things.
You guys wake up, fire's out at this point. You have your items. Probably there's all this bright yellow stuff in here, but I don't know if you know what to do with that. You don't have a bag. Well, we have this little papoose, right? What's a papoose? A papoose is like this, like...
I don't know the exact definition of it, but I consider it to be sort of a pouch that's like a baby holder with a protected head thing. Okay. So it's just like a thing that is designed to hold a baby and protect it. And this is sort of a magical... It seems like you smell some sort of properties on this thing that will be extremely effective at doing that. I'm going to grab a couple...
I'm going to grab a couple of these little golden discs just with my mouth and I'm going to spit them and hide them in the blankets of the papoose. And I'm going to look at my friends and say, I'm stupid two legs like these. And we might need a stupid two leg to help us before this journey is over. Miko, swallow a couple more. Is that enough? I don't know. I have no idea. You really are going after them. Jesus Christ. Yeah.
Uh, throws up. Some of them. Too many. Um, well, uh, I can, uh, I can carry the baby first. What do you guys want to do? Do you leader? Me? No. I, okay. I think we keep having these.
You guys take off the next morning. The sun is out. It feels like a new day. There's not a, you, you successfully sought shelter from this storm. And as you step out of this temple, you see a path going East out of this area. It's like more of that, like kind of hewn rock area.
like it's sort of like, it feels like a cobblestone trail that eventually tapers off into just sort of like a dirt path. And as you guys start going along this trail, um, suddenly from the trees above you, you see this sort of, you see branches shake and then out of nowhere, a, uh,
green noxious gas comes at you guys and hits you. And in the confusion of this gas, you see several shapes duck in and out. You hear Miko go, hey, wait, hey! And you see three hairless gray apes bound together
through the gasp, holding the papoose and jumping away from you all into the trees nearby. Let's roll initiative as we end this episode. - Not the bear! - 17. - Seven. - Seven.
And our decks is the same. That's it for this week on the rotating heroes podcast. A very fun app. Wow. You guys got a bunch of cool stuff that we can talk about in the arc bark, but we are hitting a very dangerous stride. Well, yeah, let's go around one more time with our socials. And if anyone wants to plug anything, Dova, Maddie, Cordova all around, baby.
Easy. Rosebellins, Exotic House Girls, Dimension 20. Clear, clear. At BrennanLM on Twitter, at BrennanLeeMulligan on Instagram. Check out Dimension 20 on YouTube or on Dropout.tv. Hell yeah. And that's Ako Yama and other things. Yeah. What a fun app. We'll see you next week for the Arc Bar. Thanks. Wahoo!
I hope that you've enjoyed that episode of Rotating Heroes. This has been Arc 5 with Matt Cordova, Izzy Rowland, and Brennan Lee Mulligan with Zach Oyama as your Dungeon Master. As always, please, if you've enjoyed this episode,
Take two seconds to drop us a review and help new rotators find the show. And if you're enjoying it and want more rotating heroes in your life, then make sure you check out the rotating heroes, Patreon, which is patreon.com forward slash rotating heroes pod, or just in the description below you right there. We also have a discord. There's loads of other ways that you can get involved with the show. So make sure you go check out those links. Thank you so much for listening to this episode. And I hope that you have a wonderful,
wonderful time.