Arc 3 Ep. 4: River Crossing PART 1
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What is up, Rotators? It is me, Jasper William Cartwright. I hope that you're having a great time and enjoying Arc 3 of the Rotating Heroes podcast. I'm here very quickly to tell you that Arc 8 is all out and available right now over on the Patreon. So if you are a previous Patreon member and maybe you've already listened through Arcs 1 through 7, you're just going back...

to listen, well, you can now listen to Arc 8, which is a brand new arc with Victoria Longwell returning and Erika Ishii, and of course with Zack Oyama playing instead of DMing this time. It was an absolute blast to do, and I hope that you will go over to the Patreon and enjoy it! But in the meantime, we have an adventure to be had, and we'll do that right now with this, the first part of episode 4 of Arc 3. Take it away, past Zack!

Welcome back to the Rotating Heroes podcast. You're here, it is Arc 3, Episode 4, and we're with, as always so far for the fourth time, the Rotators of the Third Arc. Joining me on this hot summer April day, we have...

The unforgettable Freya, a.k.a. Victoria Longwell. Victoria, how are you doing? Oh, I'm good. A little warm, but good. Thank you. Yeah, it's a scorching April day. It's a scorcher. I feel... I just went on a walk to get coffee and a flannel, and I came back...

Silly. And changed into shorts. Yeah. It's tough when that choice is so quickly noticeably wrong, that clothing choice. I fucked up. I fucked up. I really fucked up. Speaking of not fuck-ups, someone who is the opposite of a fuck-up, someone who's just killing it across the board, we have our friend, the Voxodon druid, Gribb, a.k.a. Jacob Wysocki. What's up?

You kind of cut out on my screen and froze for a second. And that was up face. And it felt like I got hacked in a nineties movie. Yeah, dude, careful. Watch out. I'll get you. I can get through your back gate. You, um, I can see you playing like a, like a, one of the leaders of a cool hacker. Oh, it would, it would truly be a dream come true as a young person of size. I often found myself playing the role and make believe of like the guy who was the hacker or like,

I don't know why, but I had a lot of old keyboards growing up, and I would just bring them into the driveway and pretend that I was typing on a bunch of different things and swiping screens and stuff. And I was an only child, and I would just do that alone. I would play with myself. Oh, no. That's a fun prop. That is a fun prop, I think. A compelling prop. I want to say I had at least four keyboards.

You're spinning around clicking and clacking. Oh yeah. I haven't thought about that in a long time. Probably for the best. Oh, I think that's a joyous. Yeah, that was fun. Thank you. That was fun. Yeah. But I'd love, I guess I'd love to be a hacker. That'd be a dream come true. Gosh.

I could see, and speaking of a typecast situation, the guy who works for the corporation that is out to get this hacker, I could see in what is also probably the best intro he's ever gotten, Rufus Cutler, a.k.a. Devin Field in that dream role, right? What do you mean our firewall is down? Get it back up!

That's me. That's my tape. Really good. What do I pay you people for? Me screaming at the IT guy. Yeah. This is... You're in a suit. Would love to. Slicked back. American Psycho. Yeah. I once auditioned for a random...

I did not get the job, but one of the few auditions I've ever felt confident for was the character's name was just Office Bully. And I was like, yes, more of this, please. More of these opportunities across my desk.

Like, in the zone. I feel like every now and then, it doesn't matter how stupid the show is. If I get something that is just so perfectly developed, let me do it. Let me do it. I don't care that this is the dumbest show in the world. Right. And you know what? One day. It's nice to get teed up. I have never heard that story of Jacob's Keyboards, and it was the best. Jacob's Keyboards. It's such a specific...

detail about him in a way it's one of those things that is surprising yet makes complete sense yeah like i believe it without a moment's hesitation but i am like oh wow i would not have guessed that that happened it's a more it's yeah it's a more tender yeah it's a more tender reveal yeah i'm trying to think of victoria's role in this sort of hacker movie you see yourself as angelina jolie i mean what what's

Just full bearing of just- Yeah, what side of the law do you see yourself on? Yeah, that's true. What side of the law? God, you know, I want to say the breaking side, but I'm probably on the law side, right? Unless I'm somebody's mom. Maybe I'm just kind of like a fed up mom who is also supportive. I think you could be a great noble, the noble detective who's actually investigating this and is like, maybe these hackers aren't so bad after all, and it's this evil corporation that's terrible. Wow. But you're like the investigator in charge of- Really? You know.

kind casting. You're like going into D&D kind of terms. This is sort of a lawful good type. You like believe in this system, but you

you know are playing by the rules except for these these chaotic good hackers are not quite doing that and devon is of course lawful evil in this scenario that's right perhaps even chaotic evil if there's like hints about me being totally crazy yeah yeah yeah there's a little layer to that i could see that when you finally break at the end it's very uh chaotic yeah right

They would always do that on House of Cards where there'd be some businessman character and his thing would be like, and he's into weird sex, so that's how you know he's crazy. Yeah.

- That's the laziest writing I've ever heard. - Okay, sure. - Please give me a detective job though. All I want is to wear like a long coat and interview people. - Yeah. - I can see your character jogging around the beltway at like five in the morning. - Yes. - Prior to your day of being at the FBI. - Thinking about what it all means, where it's all going. - Maybe like the journalist who accidentally put his out the like password because they were just like-- - This is better.

Journalist is better because I was going to say the problem with detective is like cops are bad. And I'm not a cop. I'm not a cop. I'm not a cop. No. Yeah. And so detective feels like, oh, maybe, but maybe you could still be a noble detective, but journalist is perhaps the pure. Hell yeah. Like a tech shy, a tech novice journalist who accidentally solves the like big, the big backdoor component or something.

I think I know what I would be in this scenario. Oh, yeah. What are we doing? Someone else can throw it out what they think I am, but I have a pitch. Look, the whole crux of this plot is based on a floppy disk that has a sort of a pixelated image of Devin shooting me in the head.

pretty early on in the movie. And I'm like, please, I was just in the, I was cleaning up and you know, like this is the thing that breaks it all open. And, uh, you know, it's what's that Will Smith enemy of the state. So you're like the guy who created whatever program and got shot in the beginning of the movie by me. Yeah. I mean, that's giving me more credit than I was saying initially. I'm realizing, but, um,

Yeah, something like that would be cool. Like, I'm bleeding running through a mall. Yeah, like you're the catalyst piece of the Run Lola Run. Yeah, that's fun. Bleeding running through a mall is a very, like, Jackie Chan movie kind of thing. Yeah. I had a sketch that never got made that was a college humor idea that was...

the kind of born identity thing where you're wounded running through the store picking up like you know like shit to like put your wound together but it's like you're also just kind of shopping for dinner that's fun they should have made that do I want husked corn or brussels sprouts how do we get a grocery store instead of an episode today we're just gonna hammer this first draft out okay cool interior computer lab

Well, I mean, shifting gears into D&D, let's get started with a little recap, shall we? Last time on the Rotating Heroes pod, Gribb dreamt of a fiery connection to a distant area of the forest where a familiar Loxodon image beckoned him forward. But in the waking world, Freya had seen some sort of disturbance nearby their camp and went to check it out and found a displacer beast ready to pounce on her.

The Rotators got into a long, drawn-out slog of a fight with this displacer beast and one nearby the camp near Rufus and Grib. They fought for a while, hitting them with axes, shooting them with lightning bolts, Freya running back to camp, single-handedly holding off one of the beasts on her own, and eventually came out on top.

but grebe was not the only one to have a fantastical dream rufus found himself seeing a humanoid red-eyed beast in the tree line telling him it's time to wake up the next morning our adventurers continued on into the forest and found their path obstructed by a rushing river and that's where we're at today so picking back up where we left off uh you all are at the edge of this river it's a like

50 foot wide river it's flowing like from your right to left presumably back out to the waters you came from Grib but I mean a long circuitous route but maybe that way you're looking at it and it is like a huge like amazing like beautiful river with like some whitewater rapids and stuff but yeah make a perception check to see what what you see from here not a great start over here it's just gonna be a one

Just a six for me. I get a 19. Wow. So Grib, you're just kind of stuck thinking about your tattoo.

How his mom got in it. Who can blame him? A little frustrating. You're looking at it to see if there's a way to like, you know, you know how like you can get a tattoo covered up. Yeah. If there's a way to block them out, like put a fence up. I imagine it's kind of like you remember those like there was an era where folders had like gel in them.

had gel in them? Yeah, it was kind of like a lava lamp version of a folder. Oh, yes, yes, yes. I'm trying to squish Zwom out of the tattoo. Kind of very sparkly, imagey. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

So I'm being squished out to the side. You're barely paying attention to this river. Yeah, Rufus, you're distracted by Grab as well. What's going on with that? What's happening with your tattoo? Was Zwam in the tattoo? It is a completely new phenomenon for me. You're strange. You can't get me. You can't get me. And I heard some of that. I could pick up on some of that audibly.

See, that makes me feel a little bit crazy that you can hear it. Well, it doesn't make me feel good. I'm sorry that this is inconvenient thing you, Rufus. Sheesh. He toots with his trunk. Sheesh. Brea, while they're doing this, you do notice that like a little further upstream from you, it seems like there's the remnants of a bridge. Hey, hey, knock it off.

Gentlemen? Yes? Do you see what I see? It looks like there's like a broken down bridge up there, or was at some point. Maybe we should... Rufus turns to see it. My god, it's Cutler Bridge! This bridge is like... There's not... From your perspective, if you guys get closer to it, it looks like...

Basically, the bridge is gone. It's like just the posts that are in the water. There are like a few like larger logs that are like hammered in that still remain. But generally, like the walkway of it is completely gone. It's just been decades of just disrepair. Yeah. Make a perception check to see if there's a sign that says Cutler Bridge. Okay. Let me check. Or you know what? Make a luck check. Okay. Five. Damn. That's okay. Okay.

So as you guys get closer... Please believe me, this was once Cutler Bridge. I know for a fact this was Cutler Bridge. I know there's no signage, but that's what the name of this bridge was. In a five, there's a sign that is just kind of ruined. It looks almost like there's a D and then space bridge. So you don't know what it says, but... No Ds in Cutler, right? Can Grib do an investigation check on...

Or a perception check on the current sign. Yeah, sure. Make an investigation check. Oh my gosh, another one. The crush continues. I need to put these dice. I need to sage my dice or something. Someone's in love. Hey, Grib. Yeah. On a one, yeah, this probably said Cutler.

Oh, by golly, he's right for once. I'm sorry for doubting you. Thank you, Grib. Grib. Okay, it's not important what it's called. It's clear that this is the way across, right? So, looking at it, everywhere you've been traveling the past two days has been really overgrown to the point that it's like,

Discerning a trail is pretty hard. You know, between all of you, all are very inclined to like natural terrain in a lot of ways. But outside like so that that's been easier than it could be for a lot of people. This is like the first thing you've seen in a little bit since like maybe last night that is evidence of some kind of trail.

So like, uh, while you came to this like river from like basically the woods going down this way, you see that maybe there was a trail a little bit ways back the way you came from. That was maybe where this actually ended up. And then across this bridge, it seems like while it's still very overgrown, that seems like where a trail used to be. So, and it also seems like the shortest distance across, like some places it's a little further apart. Well, it looks like we should, um,

Maybe we should trudge forward and see if there's a way we could traverse this spot up there. Yes. Let's cross the bridge. If it's the... Go ahead. No, I was just going to say, it appears that there is no bridge. There was a bridge. Right.

Yeah, it looks like four big posts in the water. Got it. Look, I see that you don't see what was a traditional bridge, but that cutlery construction is going to hold. We'll be able to get across at least those posts. What is the plant growth situation on this riverbank or underneath the pylons and stuff? Is there moss, algae? Make a perception check. Everyone can if they want.

Six. Twelve. Seventeen. On a seventeen, yeah, it looks like there's a lot of plant growth on obviously both sides of the river. It looks like there's maybe some algae on some of the rocks in the river. There are some rapids below these poles, like a little downstream of them.

that make it seem a little dangerous. On the poles themselves, on a 17, yeah, it does seem like there's a little bit of vegetation, like a vine or two. Particularly in the middle, there's one post that's kind of vined up. Interesting. But yeah, that's what you would see. Okay.

That's what Freya would see, I guess. I don't know if the rest of you are seeing, but I am seeing some growth, some vegetation. So we could cut it down and use it to form logs that could get us across the bridge. I could just...

chop down some trees with my axes, can't I, Genk? Well, you can, but that's not exactly what I was thinking, if I may. Okay, well, I don't know what else there could be. Well, Grib, what were you thinking? I have to check with our DM here. Is there a way for me to use plant growth to sort of construct a walking bridge?

Well, yeah. Also, you can look in your character's inventory and there should be some things that could possibly help. But to fully construct a walking bridge feels like a stretch. You could maybe get some sort of vine situation to make it easier to cross. But as far as to cut down logs and make a full bridge or make a full walkway would be like a full day's work. Got it. Okay. Got it.

But maybe I could do a vine that's stretched across so we could hold on and walk or something. Yes. Cool. Yeah, you could do something like that. Great. That would be my pitch. What level spell is that? It's a level three spell. And the wording's a little bizarre. I don't quite understand how. Yeah, do you mind reading it again? This spell channels vitality into plants within a specific area. There are two possible uses for this spell, granting either immediate or long-term benefits.

If you cast the spell using one action, choose a point within range. All normal plants in a 100-foot radius centered on that point become thick and overgrown. A creature moving through that area must spend 4 feet of movement for every 1 foot it moves.

You can exclude one or more areas of any size within the spell's area from being affected. And then if I cast a spell over eight hours, I enrich the land. All plants in a half-mile radius centered on a point within range become enriched for one year. Enriched? Gorgeous. The plants yield twice the amount of food when crossed it.

So you're putting like conditioner on this plant. Yeah. That's the thing I guess I'm confused is like when it says that a hundred foot radius centered on one point. So that doesn't mean I can make like a hundred foot radius grow. That means one. Yeah. And,

uh i think hmm i think it's also like enriching it probably doesn't mean that it becomes like a full rope that you can climb on fair so i'll say that if you make a wisdom check just a raw wisdom check you can maybe use it to like it'll uh dictate the level of success great cool

So just roll a d20, add your wisdom modifier. 15. Okay. So with that, and you're using the spell? Yes. Cool. I'll say that the vines kind of grow out from this middle log, and you see it was just kind of connected to this thing, and they kind of twirl out from it. Yeah, it makes sort of a very...

delicate looking connection between the posts closest to you guys, kind of like starting it, and one out from that. So there's one last post that doesn't have any vines on it, but the ones closer to you have a little bit of a vineage situation that you can, that will make the threshold for like, you know, what kind of checks you make a little lower. So it's not like a free pass, but it makes it a lot easier. Yeah, it's not foolproof.

And yeah, you guys look over and see Grib just connecting with the natural world, almost like a Green Raiden-esque. Yeah, it is for sure a Green Raiden vibe, not as uncontrollable as the storm. And it's more of like a pulsing energy, like a throbbing heartbeat. Grib, your powers are incredible. Beautiful. Why, thank you. He blushes. She blushes.

Wow, this is an intimate moment. I'm glad you two are connecting. Zom looks at you, Rufus. No, thank you. Down here. Down here. What do you propose, Grib? Are we going to swing from post to post and then try some sort of a jump on the third? Or what? What could we do? We could do a bit of what they...

I learned this in kayaking camp at a very young age. Kayaking camp, eh? We can hold hands and sort of whip across. And as long as we're intertwined, we can create the gap. We can be our own vine. Like monkeys connected by each other's hands. Whip each other across. Yes. Could you imagine something pretty funny? Think about this for a second. Go on. Think if you put a bunch of monkeys in a barrel.

What on earth would they be doing in a barrel? Who cares? They're in there. Several of them. You're so funny. Stupid. It's a creative image and it's what I won't soon forget. You guys just enjoy yourself for a little bit laughing about just the first time you've ever heard of the idea of it. Yeah.

Cool. Well, yeah, if you are like working together, I'll say that like you can choose athletics or acrobatics checks to cross this. In relation to what you sent me earlier about me having a favored terrain type, does that factor into this at all with my forest favored terrain type in terms of the way I navigate these vines? No.

because it says my proficiency bonus is doubled for proficient skills when I make an intuition or wisdom check related to it. So I don't know if that's within an umbrella of whether or not that would affect my jumping around with vines. Cool. Looking at your character sheet, you see those little black dots next to the different abilities? Yeah. Those are the ones that you're proficient in. So if you have... Gotcha. It looks like you have your athletics you're proficient in. So yeah, I'll say that...

What does it say? Your proficiency bonus is doubled for skills that you make with that. Yeah. Huh. Wow. Wow. So, yeah, you get to add... So your proficiency bonus is three, so that becomes an eight. Oh, wow. God. Holy cow.

So, yeah. So I think the easiest way is just like give people the help action. If they're like holding you, it might get a little dicier once you get more in the middle because it's like it's like kind of jammed up. Like, I don't know if there's enough enough room for everyone to like hold on or stand. So, yeah, whoever is going first can can use the help action with someone else. Other people can give that person the help action. So they get to roll twice and take the higher one. OK, now is it overkill for us to maybe like does anybody have a rope if we like

tied a rope to this side of the bank in case anything goes bad. We have like an anchor point. I have 50 feet of rope. Oh, wow. Hemp and rope. I've got some fine hemp rope in my bag. Should we need any hemp? Fort Cutler, we have our own hemp farm in the yard.

There's a big tag on it that's like, clearly this was normally being sold there. They gave me a family discount. It was really nice. You still had to pay for it? Well, of course. We can't just be giving it away even if it's my fort. But I got a 5% off and a coupon if I buy more. Well, this is great, Rufus. Thank you. This is a huge contribution, Rufus.

His contribution is big. Wow. Thank you. Very good job. Thank you. Make a sleight of hand check to just tie it off to something. Or just maybe a dexterity check, whatever's easier for you or better. I got a six. Okay. You're not really sure how to tie knots. Could somebody else give it a go? Yeah, could one of us try? Yeah, you take the rope and go nuts. I was just providing the rope. Okay, well, I'll see. I'll take a stab at it. Okay, I got a 13.

Cool. So on a 13, you're able to like securely fasten it to that sign we were talking about earlier. And then maybe, yeah. Do you want to tie it to the other end to the person or is that what y'all are doing? Yeah. Should we do one around the waist? Yeah. Yeah.

And who are we tying? Who's the lightest? If I'm not mistaken, it made it seem like it's going to be like one at a time, right? Crossing or? It's pretty far. So like, I don't know that one person can get all the way across. Like maybe one person can get all the way across before anyone goes, but it's 50 feet across. You're probably going to run out of some rope by the time, like if it is just 50 feet. That's true. Got it.

Am I the only one with rope? That would also, maybe if the rest of you have rope, we could take rope part way. I don't have rope. I have no rope. Wow. Looks like I was the most prepared for this expedition. Interesting. Something for all of us to remember. I'll be sure to file that away.

So yeah, what are you guys going to do? What do you think, Grib? What do you think, Grib? Freya, what do you think? Thank you, Grib. Thank you. No, it's okay. I'm sure he forgot I was here. I didn't. Do we think, are we doing one person halfway, stops halfway, and then another person? Mm-hmm. How are the four posts arranged? Is it like two and two, two and two? Yeah.

So it looks like the, just like the left side of the bridge is there. The right side is all washed away. So it's like a straight line all the way across. Okay. Okay. Yeah. Let's have someone get to the second post and then maybe see if we throw back the rope. Got it. And get to the first, get people up. Great. Yeah. So we all, one person is going to go to the second, another person will join them. Third person will join them and then we'll do the second half. Great. Perfect. Okay, cool. Um, so, um, great. Who's going first?

I'll be the guinea pig, I suppose. Are you sure? I think that's appropriate. I shouldn't risk the leader's life. Of course. So, you first, Grib. Grib, are you sure? This is so brave of you. Well, I figure I've got the biggest bones, so it might be the hardest for me to get pushed around.

so you guys are gonna help grip jump across this first uh section you're tied i'm i'm presuming yes to the sign yes and i'm gonna cast guidance on myself cool great so just make that uh check with uh advantage because they're giving you the health action make an acrobatics or an athletics check to jump to this um i got a dirty 20 without my d4 wowie nice you guys see um

Grib, with surprising, almost a ballerina-like grace, leap to this first check. Yeah, Grib, you're able, with that dexterity check, you're able to leap and with a surprising grace, grab onto this first post. You grab it and you notice that with the vines and stuff, you're able to hang on. Oh, wow.

These posts are... This one feels secure-ish. So you're on the first post. Huzzah, Grim! Great work. Gorgeous. Great, yeah. Grim holds on and is feeling pretty confident, and he's going to go for the next. Cool. So now this one, you don't have a help action. Great. Because you're like 10 feet out. So no advantage. No advantage. You can still have that guidance. Great. I will use my guidance. Ooh, four. Hope this guidance is huge.

Grib, you just kind of, you jump and you don't quite make it there. You close the distance with those vines, but you're not going to be able to hang on at the level you want to make. Make a strength check or an athletics check to hold on and keep yourself from falling into the water.

Ooh, dirty 20. Ooh, ooh, Gribb. Gribb's, you know, as we've mentioned many times before, Gribb's rippling biceps pull him up onto that second post. He's able to clamber onto his vines.

and make it back up at the height he'd like to. We've been kind of naturally fasting in this journey just as we've been traveling. So Grib is exceptionally tight and doesn't have a ton of moisture in his body. So you can really see the veins. And you can kind of see those small veins that those yoked dudes get. Those little guys. This is like cutting season for Grib. He's not bulking up. He's cutting.

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Look, I can appreciate the male form without... I'm amazed that Zawam's voice from the tattoo carries through to me to hear it. Anyway, good job. I heard my throat yelling. Careful, Zawam. We need you in good health. All right. Well, now it's one of our turns to continue across. Yes? Yes. I can go if you'd like to go last. Certainly. Okay.

Now, how is this going to work in terms of help? Will Freya get help on the first post and the second? Because Grib is on the second. There's not really that much room on a post for two people, I should say. Got it. And then the picture of it, Grib's sort of hanging on the side of this thing. It's sort of like a ninja warrior obstacle. Got it. So the vines are giving some help there, but it's probably not... Putting two people on one might be precarious in a way that...

could be bad here, but, um, whoever, uh, goes first, we'll get the help action from the person who's on the shore. Yeah. It's up to you guys. How you, how you do it. The water's rushing under. Hey,

Hang on, Grib. And I suppose it wouldn't make a difference if I only went to the first post and then Rufus met me there and then we went for... Because I guess they're all the same size. We're still going to run into that same post. We all just have to go one at a time and just shift down. Yeah. So we can continue to... If we want to keep jumping. Yeah. Okay. So once Freya goes, I'll go another one and then Freya will like frogger. Yes. Okay.

Great. I'm going athletics. And you would do this with the help action, so you get to roll twice, take the higher. Okay. 26! Tight. Yeah, you...

Rufus, you kind of like help Freya go, like try to like put your weight behind it. Do a bit of a swinging, like. Yeah, you're kind of just moving one arm. But as you let go, you see Freya like do like the end of a Olympic gymnast routine spin in the air and like perfectly land on top of the post with two feet. Incredible. I can't believe I did that for you.

I guess I just want to say, cause I've never gotten to say it out loud about the dice. I did crit on that last one, right? Oh, you'd crit. Yeah. Let me know if you crit just cause we got to honor those crit. Gotta honor the crit. Hey, congrats. Is that first crit? I,

I think it's the first time I knew to say crit is what it is. Wow. So Freya, you feel very attuned to this place. Like as you fly through the air, the rushing water on you, the wind whispering through the woods, something about this terrain is really speaking to you.

This feels really natural to you as you survey the rushing water. Great, yeah. As I stop, I'm sort of getting a spray from the water that is invigorating. My sight sharpens. My hair's blowing. Imagining, like, the flutes from Titanic kind of creeping in. The flutes from Titanic are creeping. Do-do-do-do.

There is a little bit of a, yeah, it does feel like James Cameron directed this moment. Yeah, very Avatar, like, on top of the, yeah, vines. We are at the bow of the ship. There is no Jack behind her, but she is out here, arms spread. Yeah, Freya, this is amazing for you. After that, yeah, Freya's on the first boat's,

Grib's on the second post. There's still two more posts in front of you, and Rufus is still on the shore. And I'm on the shore, so we need Grib to move down. And I shall. Grib, you're looking in front of you. This is the one where the plants came from. Yeah, you can make any kind of checks you want.

Well, in the dex world, correct? Yeah. I mean, just in general, if you want to survey, like, you know, your perception from here might be different from when you were on the shore. Got it. Got it. Got it. Yeah. I want to I guess I want to see, like, how the the pillars sort of like if it looks sturdy, if it's leaning a certain way, like so I should grab at a certain angle to, like, compensate for the lean. Yeah.

I'll do a perception check. Dirty 20. I'm back, baby. I've come back from my ones. Noice, mate. Sorry, mate. I'm on fire. Safe. On a dirty 20. Yeah, safe. Grib, you're looking at it, and the vines came from this and kind of grew from this area. This post doesn't look great.

It looks like the center of it. I mean, it's like firmly in the ground, but somewhere in the middle, it looks a little rotten. What are we going to do? I notify to the team, like, this one is quite tricky. Okay. Grib, how's that third post look? Unfortunately, very bad. Very bad. No. My flutes stop. Oh.

Bray's hair just goes...

falls straight down. This is not good news. Not what I wanted to hear from this. How do we get around this third post? Does the fourth look any better? I'll do a check and look at the fourth if I can. I think on that Dirty 20, the fourth one doesn't... You're noticing some rotting in this one that you didn't notice from the shore, the fourth one from here. It looks about the same as the ones you were just on. Got it. On a Dirty 20...

You look, just because that's a high enough roll, you're looking around and you notice below you there's something in the water. What the fuck? Swimming around below you, you see a large shape that's looking at you and then kind of swims away. Do you ever look in your eyes like you saw something? Yeah, I don't even say anything. I just look with my eyes and I kind of do like Kenan Thompson eyes where it's like, oh no, something's wrong.

So I can't do like, could I do like a nature check or something to see if I can like recall the shape if I'm like, that's a barracuda. That's an ocean fish. Wow, 23. Woo! On a 23, Grib, you're not unfamiliar with waters. Maybe not waters like this. You're from Solonport and you've heard about sort of seafaring creatures. There's something about this that looked maybe like a crossbow.

Come on. Yikes. Okay. There's a crocodile in the water. Why are you singing? Are you happy about it? It just helps the sound carry better over the rapids. That's true. Zwang pipes up and is like, we all should be singing all the time. No, Zwang. This is me singing. Go ahead and let's hear it, Zwang.

Well, that sounded like it was inside my head. I'm the scat man. I don't like it. I love it, Swarm. Good job, Swarm. Good show. This is not the time. There's a crocodile below you, Grim. You're right. I...

There's a part of me that feels like I could use mold earth to, like, pile dirt against this pylon to make it more... Yeah. I mean, it's... There's... Molding earth, you'd have to mold it from a specific spot all the way up to here. You feel like the base... On the 20, you feel like the base is safe. It's just sort of, like, the middle of it is not as sturdy as it could be. Got it. So there's an area you could stand on. Mm-hmm. And, like, I mean, enough of it feels safe for you to think that, like...

The whole thing won't fall over, but part of it is not as solid as you'd like it to be. Got it. I feel like because it's janky, I want to get off of it and go to the next one as soon as possible. Cool. So I am going to, instead of wait for you guys to catch up, I'm going to go to the next one. You're going to double hop. Are you already on the bad one?

I'm on the bad one currently. What? No, you're not. You're on the one before the bad one. Yes, you're the one before bad one. Great. The third one is the one that's messed up of four posts. Got it. Is there any way to skip it? There's no way we can get past it. I mean, the next post is like 20 feet ahead. I turn back. If I go under, you continue. Just trust me. Huh? Just trust me. And I jump. Cool. Make your chat. Oh, no. I failed. Oh.

What'd you get? A one. Let's really feast our famine with you, Grib. You're in your head about this. You jump and you don't even hit the post and you just land in the water. But is it? Wow. Make a, all right, so you're in the water now. Make a dexterity saving throw.

Ooh, a dirty 20. I'm either rolling a one or a 18. That is all I've rolled tonight. Grib, you're in the water. You get fully disoriented as this white water like rushes around you and you're sucked below downstream of where this bridge is. There's a bunch of rocks here and you're able to, with that dirty 20, navigate that and not like smash into a rock, but you're stuck in a swirling whirlpool underwater.

I have a question. Is Grib still tied to the rope? Oh, yes. He should be, right? Isn't it on me? No, it's attached to the shore. Yeah, the rope is to the sign. So Grib would still be on this rope. So I'll say that because you're still tied to the rope, you're in the whirlpool, but above water. Got it.

it's still long enough that it would catch around there. But yeah, you're stuck in these rapids. You're being like hammered by this current. That's where Grib's at. Can I try pulling the rope since I'm still at the shore? Can I try to pull Grib out of there? Yeah, it's going to be pretty tough. This is like, you are like basically 50 feet back on a rope on a shore. I think it might feel like you can help more if you're closer. But yeah, I don't know.

It would be a pretty high strength check to just pull him out from here. I want to try.

Okay, make a athletics check. That's very Rufus. Yes. And so will this be doubled? No. No, this will not because it's a different check. Got it. This is just like pulling a guy out of the water with a rope. Great, okay. Who is a lot heavier to you and downstream. Yeah, this is just like a semi-impossible feat. I think this is like disadvantage territory. So make it with disadvantage. Really? So I should roll twice? Yes. Oof, this is not going to work. Okay.

Let's just all remember that you wanted to. Well, I got an 11 and an 8. All right. So, like, Grib, you're in the water. This current's hammering down on you. You're looking for this crocodile. You feel your body go, like...

I'm like, you're in the tiny bed. You don't know why. It actually just kind of pinches my butt a little bit in a weird way. It's uncomfortable. And Rufus is like tendons popping on the shore, just pulling with every inch of his feet dug in. Should have stretched. Yeah, just full Olympian going, ah! Like pulling as hard as he can. Excuse me if I'm overstepping my bounds, but as he fails, can he hear my voice go, if I fall, move forward.

Keep going forward. If I fall in, keep going forward. Rufus, make a perception check. See if I hear... See if I'm reminded...

Ooh, guess what? Well, that's a 23. Okay. Yeah, you heard that clear as day. Something about the acoustics here. He's like popping off his whirlpool and spinning into your- And in fact, to be the idiot question, that's a crit, right? When I get the B on the die here? Yeah! Yeah, that's a crit. You got a crit on that 20. You hear his voice whisper perfectly in your ear. What a thing to get the crit on. Yeah. I hear this. Remembering something that just happened. I'm reminded of something I was already told.

That's growth, though. It's like when you go to that weird subway where you can hear someone, that whispering arch, where you can hear someone perfectly from the other side. It's like, huh, what are the...

What are the acoustics behind this? Wow, interesting. Well, you found a spot like that. Yeah, at the science center. Rufus, yeah, what do you do? I mean, what does anyone, it's up to anyone what they do. That was sort of Grib's, I mean, we're not in initiative, but Grib just went, so if anybody else wants to take an act. Yeah. Rufus, you look like you heard something. What did you hear? Yeah.

He wants us to keep moving. You're closest. I think if you could, maybe you could grab the rope and try to pull him up. I don't know. Maybe it would work better from you. I will also say, on that perception check, there might be something in the woods behind you. Oh!

Yes. Hold on. Here I am on the... I go, what am I going to do? What am I going to do? Rubus, what's wrong? I'm turning around and I turn my back to my friends and I go, just a second, just a second. And I'm thinking...

and sweating, considering maybe I should run. And then I look into the woods and I go, wait a second, I see something. Hold on, what's back there? You hear some leaves move, like something stepping on them. Show yourself, forest beast. Rufus, who are you talking to? You say that and you look out and you don't hear anything. Huh, so there's something invisible behind me or something.

What can I do? Can I stick? Can I go check it out? Or is it up to you since I can't, but if I can't see it, can't tell you what to do here. There is something, I mean, yeah. Okay. You remember your night last night. I think Rufus would remember what happened last night. And I see Rufus.

Rufus. Rufus is sort of being confronted with his own sleep demons. And perhaps they're in the waking world. And I don't know what I want to... Rufus. Yeah, okay. He said to keep going. Yeah, but just one second. And I run into the woods. Rufus, you run into the woods. Make up another perception check. Okay, I got a nine. You don't see anything. Okay. Okay.

Well, I've looked around. There's nothing there. I run back out of the woods and back to the bridge. Never mind. Let's move forward. Oh, thank goodness. Okay. I suppose I could try to grab the rope or I could just try to go to the next post, right? We're supposed to keep going, right? Rufus? Yes?

Are you with me? Keep going, I think. Okay. I guess I'm just going to try to jump to the next post. Do it. Okay. Just want everyone to remember that I am on my period. What? This is the first I'm hearing of this. Oh, God.

I rolled a 14. Cool. With the vines in place, you're able to jump to that. And you're also like kind of the rope that is attached to Grib is taut at this point. So that is helping as well. You're able to get to the second post easy. Great. On that 14. Grib, you're in the water. Make a perception check. 12. You see the shadowy form in the water. It's kind of muddy looking. Come out of the mud. You see a crocodile come out.

And it is gone. He's coming towards me? Yes. Everyone, let's just roll initiative so everyone can react to this with their skills and stuff. So I'll roll for that guy. Cool. So this crocodile comes at you. 16. Grib's with 16. Oh, thank goodness. 19. Five. So this guy got a 14. Grib, you go before you see this crocodile swimming towards you. Grib's kind of panicked, and he's not sure if this is going to work, but...

If he was a crocodile, it would work on him, so he's also going to turn into a crocodile. Son of a bitch. Holy shit. Grib, you turn... As you look into this creature's eyes, you connect with it, and you somehow mirror this crocodile in front of you and turn into this muddy crocodile in front of you. Rufus looks at this and goes, Grib is dead!

The crocodile has somehow defeated Grib and turned him into one of his minions. I don't think so, Rufus. That has to be what I saw. Is that your action? Yeah, Grib's never been a cold-blooded creature before, I don't think. Yeah, it's up to you. You were an ape one time. I don't remember any other animals specifically. Yeah, I think I've only been an ape. I think that was the only thing I turned into, yeah.

So what are you going to make? I mean, now that you're a crocodile, were you hoping that it wouldn't fight you? Is that what you're saying? I think so. I think that was... Yeah, it's going to identify with you. Yeah. Make a persuasion check, um...

Smooth talk, Miss Crocodile. Yeah, just make a persuasion check. Great. Because this thing was coming to eat you, and maybe it's not that intelligent, but I don't know if it would know enough to calculate a different choice at this point. Okay, great. I rolled a six. Okay. This thing's going to swim forward and bite your head? No! Okay. Yeah, that's fine. Great, great, great, great.

That's fine. Does a 12 hit? The armor class is 12, so it does. Ty goes to the runner. So this creature bites you. You get hit for three damage, but it is grappling, and it's holding down with its crocodile jaws. That's fine with me.

Rufus, I accidentally skipped you, so it is your turn. Well, it's time for me to do what I do best. Shoot my bow. Yes. So I'm going to pull out my longbow from the safety of the shore, and I'm going to hope that I can discern which crocodile is my friend and which is my foe, and I'm going to shoot at this fucking crocodile that's grappling my friend. Goddess guide him. Cool.

Rufus, make one more perception check. 21. As you pull out your bow to look at Rufus, looking behind you, you see the familiar eyes of what looks like one of the displacer beasts from last night. Is behind me? Yes. Yes.

If I fall into the water, just go. Yes. I did hear that clear as day recently. It's pretty clear to me that I need to get on this fucking first post. So before I can fire the arrow, I

I'm going to just charge forward blindly and leap for the first post. Cool. And you can do both, I'll say, if you want to. Can I? Then in that case, I'm going to leap across and fire my bow midair down at the crocodile as I leap and spin around. I already rolled my bow. Yeah, what'd you get? Dirty 20.

Dirty 20. Rufus, you nailed this crocodile in the head. We're all damaged. Eight. Cool. You nailed this crocodile in the head. It's still grabbing Grib, but it's got an arrow stuck in its head, and it looked badly hurt by this. And make a dexterity check to see if you land on the post. Yeah, let's see how this jump went, huh? Or whatever kind of check you want. Well, can I do athletics? Yes, you can do athletics. And you can add that three from there.

Athletics 14 and then plus three, seven. Awesome. Yeah, Rufus, you firmly plant on this first wedge. You're easily, to your surprise, I imagine, this was much more in your wheelhouse than you thought it would be. Yeah, I'm hyped from the adrenaline of what I just accomplished, but also playing it cool.

Freya, I'm not sure if you would have seen his cool move, but maybe you were looking at him, maybe not. Freya! Freya, did you see? Rufus, I did see. That was very well done. Very well done. Freya, as you compliment Rufus for his admittedly great shot, it's your turn. Great. I'm going to go ahead and- You're on the second post now. I'm going to- Okay, I am on the second post.

But I'm going to go ahead. Oh, do I run first? No, I'm going to go ahead. Okay, maybe I'm going to do what Rufus did and go ahead and mid-leap do a javelin throw at this other crocodile. Amazing. Do it. Yeah, make your attack and then, yeah, just do your attack first and then make your roll for jump. Okay, so 16 for my javelin.

Cool, that hits. Yes! Five. So this, next to the arrow, a big javelin lands in the back of this creature. It's still clamping down, but it looks badly wounded by that. Okay. After that, yeah, make your jump check. I critted again! Yeah! These jumps! We're at 26! 26!

Not to be outdone, Freya jumps through the air, hurling this javelin at the creature. And so you are the second or third? I was on the second. I'm jumping to the third. So this is a bit of a risk. Okay. Okay.

So as you jump, you would have had to make a dexterity saving throw to avoid this crumbling nature of this post, but you were able to just kick the crumbling part off of it and land perfectly on top of it. No check needed. Freya is firmly on this third post. Freya is back in the flutes. The flutes are back. Rufus, did you see? Yes, and you would have never thought to do that had I not done my thing.

Rufus, behind you, you see the displacer beast howling at the edge of the water. It doesn't know how to get to you. She comes.

well, let's just hope it doesn't notice that rope. It's like a bigger creature that feels, it seems like it's like kind of testing it, but it like, it would be very difficult for it to just go across. Yeah. It's like the way a cat kind of pause at something. It's sort of swatting the rope. Yeah. It almost looks cute. It's playing with the big string. It is actually your turn now though. Um, grit, uh, we, because we skipped your turn previously. Uh, what do you do? Okay. So I'm on the first post.

Yes. Do I have any better shot now with me grabbing the rope and assisting Grib in some way? Have my odds improved there, or should I try to get to the second post? Well, everything's the same, except there's now a crocodile biting his crocodile head, so it seems like it's probably going to be tough.

And, you know, I think you would know that, like, as a crocodile, or, you know, I don't know if you think he's dead, but, like, as his current form, like, he probably has a better chance to get out of this situation on his own. I still am going to maybe, because I feel secure on the first post, this displacer beast is behind me, and I have maybe a little time to get to the second post. I'm going to continue to do what I do best and take one more shot with my bow while I have the opportunity. Oh, yeah.

Rufus. Yeah. Yeah, Rufus is, like, grabbing the post with his legs, like a weird half. Yeah. Like, yeah, like, I wrapped around it like a survivor challenge or something. Yeah. Yeah. And notching my bow from there. Let's see how I do. 19. Yes. Oh, yeah, that hits for sure. Roll damage. Big money, big money. 12. 12.

Okay. That arrow thuds in next to the other arrow and the javelin in the back. Grib, you feel this crocodile still biting down Fade as it dies. Amazing shot. And Rufus, do you want to take any movement? Well, so I guess I'd just like to... Do I have enough movement to maybe jump to the second post now? Totally. Great. Okay. So I'm going to do an athletics jump to see if I can just...

go right up the momentum of this adrenaline rush and jump right to that second post. Amazing. Roll. Nine. So...

On a nine, you leap to the second post. Your foot slips on a vine. And you added that three? No, I didn't. Then it would be a 12. Okay, that's enough that you're, it's like, your foot slips on it a little bit, but you're able to grab the top of it. And that, in conjunction with the rope, is enough for you to get up and you steady yourself. But yeah, you're stuck there. Okay, so I'm sort of panting, breathing heavily on top of the second post going, whoo! Okay, good. You're welcome, Grim. Rufus, you did great.

Thank you. I knew I would. It's nice that it paid off. Grib, it's now your turn. I suppose I will just try and swim upstream. Yeah. Yeah, yeah. You're a fucking crocodile now. So yeah, make a dexterity check to just swim upstream. 17.

Yeah. With that, you're able to, like, the current's pretty strong, and this thing was biting your head. You're able to shake it off. I kind of do, like, a death spiral just because I've heard about it in crocodiles. It's like, well, I might as well try a death spiral. Like, I'm a crocodile. So I do a death spiral to get the other crocodile off of me. You see Grib once again display the ballerina-like grace that we saw earlier as he spins this up. Even as a croc, he's got the moves. He's so beautiful.

Grib, as you shake it off, you see this other crocodile go downstream from you, kind of whip around that whirlpool. And as it goes past you, you see some form, an even bigger form in the water. Grab that crocodile's body and shake it to pieces. And you look and see the biggest crocodile ever seen. Good God, Grib. This is a Lake Placid. This is a Lake Placid. Oh.

This thing is five times as big as the crocodile. And he's eating the current thing. It's busy eating this thing right now, just so it's not necessarily coming for you. It is in the water. Great. But you've shaken out. You're basically under the post at this point.

Great. That's... I only have one action, so that's the most that I can do. I'll continue to swim next time. Cool. Now we are at... Freya, it's your turn. Okay. Are you on the second post? I'm on the third post. Grib's basically below you. Great. And it does sound like... Because I was going to say, is there a world in which we climb atop Grib and he swims us the rest of the way across?

but maybe not if there's this big thing in the water. I don't know. Probably maybe not worth the risk. What's the situation of the rope? What's the status of the rope right now? The rope is, I guess, still tied to Grib on his crocodile body. And connected to the shore. Yeah. So you could go all the way back or you could just kind of cut it or it's up to you. Maybe you cut the rope and we determine how much we have left and move forward with that. I don't know. Yeah, because we could maybe use that to be able to...

get a help action for the last person to get across, you know? Yeah. That's just what I'm thinking of continuing to cross. Right. And potentially tying it to something on the other end of the shore to get Grib up. Like if I cut the rope and then... It's around me. Yeah, you cut the rope and then it stays around me and then I can get across to you. That's right. Yeah. Okay. And just like water ski across? Oh, that's interesting. Okay.

Oh, no, I misunderstood what you were saying, but... Well, because now I'm realizing it is complicated, because if it's connected to him and the river, and I keep taking it, that doesn't do me any favors in terms of continuing to cross. No, but I can secure it to the side of the river that we want to get on. Yeah, absolutely. Okay, great. Something like that. But I also think it's just, like, there's only two more hops. I don't even think we'll need the... Okay, so I can jump, but I just want to make sure we don't think I should get on top of Grib and that he and I should swim across. Yes.

Gentlemen? Up to you. I think technically I could hold size-wise. I think I could. I'm a large piece. So you would know that that larger gator is, or a larger crocodile, is on the other side of this whirlpool kind of situation. So it's not like right next to you. It could make a check to hear you. Right. Okay. You think for this turn, at least, it's busy eating this crocodile.

Unless you get knocked down all the way to it. Okay. I think I might shimmy, since he is right underneath my pole, I think Freya might shimmy down and climb atop Grib in crocodile form. Amazing. Make just like a dexterity check, very low DC to see if that works. Great. 17. Perfect. Yeah, you're able to like shimmy down the pole and hop on Grib like he's a log right at Disney. Yeah.

after that. Freya, were you going to use the rope or do anything else with it? Actually, that's interesting. What...

Rufus with the rope that is cut right now get it to me and could I tie it to my javelin and throw that onto the shore does that do anything or is that too precarious do we think does that get no because then it's still tied to grip so that's not really helping anyone yeah I think the simple plan is like you and I will forge forward he's gonna cut the rope hold the rope he's got it in case something goes bad right and then great I'll jump across holding it yeah correct yeah that's

That's like the meta of it. Cool. Then I'm done. I'm ready to go. Giddy on up. Cool. Great. So Freya is on a grip. Rufus, what are you doing? Okay. So I've cut that rope. So I'm holding that rope and I tie that around my waist and I shout to them, keep it, keep this held tight. I won't need it, but if I do, please. And then I'm going to go ahead and,

make the jump for that tricky now did she knock the rotten piece out of that third post so now it is safer what was gonna crumble off is not there yeah great all right well i'm gonna do a freaking uh athletics check and jump jump for it vomit 15 nice that's plenty rufus you land firmly on this uh once rotted uh topped post but uh now is securely i

but is now a safe enough jump. And you're basically above them at this point. Wow, I mean...

Is Grib big enough to take a second? It looks like there's a little extra space on there. I don't know. This isn't a Leonardo DiCaprio in the Titanic situation. This is a Motel 6 situation. Come on in. We're leaving the lights on for you. Yes. Rufus, instead of shimmying down, is going to just fall off, let go, and just fall off, and then spin around and land like bear hug style.

trying to jump onto... At least that's what he's trying for, to jump onto Grib's back. Amazing. Wait, so you're facing backwards now? Like, I just... I fall off backwards and I turn over midair to grab him. Cool, make a dexterity check. See if you can do that. Or an acrobatics check. Okay, acrobatics check. Please. That's a crit. Yes! Wow!

Yeah, Rufus, with the confidence of someone from that movie Underworld, you jump up. Evidence is playing in the background. You see some doves just like slow motion fly around you as, I don't know, considering how the first couple posts went, you have a shocking amount of confidence for a backwards flip into...

And you land, Grib, it doesn't even hurt. It's a 10, 15 foot drop, but he's able to handle it with such grace that it doesn't even make a splash. So any worry you had that you would provoke this larger crocodile is gone. How does Grib's cold scales feel on your skin? Wake me up inside. Wake me up inside. That way it got. You hear his mom go, eh.

Zwom's R&B career, dude. R&B? Shut up. Shut up. I want Zwom to be like the Isley Brothers. You think I could do that? Yeah, I think so. I think you could do anything, Zwom. So you're all three in the water under this post. You're past the heavier current part. I guess Grib, you can just swim them out of there. I would love to swim.

We hope that you enjoyed that episode of Rotating Heroes. That was DM'd by the one and only Zach Oyama and the players were Victoria Longwell, Jacob Wysocki, and Devon Field. Remember, if you're enjoying Rotating Heroes, then please go ahead and check out the Rotating Heroes Patreon, which is where you can get early access to all of the episodes.

You can get them in full as well, so not part one and part two. And you can also get the exclusive talkbacks, which is where the crew dissect and talk about everything that happened in obviously totally the most serious possible way. So I don't even know why you'd think anything else. This episode has been edited and produced by Zakoyama and Jasper William Cartwright, which is me.