Latest / Smooth Critical / C1 Ep.10: The Lotus and The Hellebore

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C1 Ep.10: The Lotus and The Hellebore · Smooth Critical

0:20
Welcome back to Smooth Critical. I'm your DM, Avni.
0:23
Quick question, Avni, are you OK?
0:25
Avni, are you OK? Are you OK, Avni?
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Oh man, I am awesome. I cannot wait to see if you guys
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decided to fight Cluward and take him up on his offer of
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potentially winning 4000 gold pieces.
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But before we get to that, let's say hi to my three gorgeous
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gladiators. He my.
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Hello, it's Abe. Harry.
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Bonsal Willowind. And Charlie?
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Bo Bo Bo Bo Bo Bo. Charlie, you better edit some
0:58
sounds in the background for that one.
1:01
All right, let's start our recap.
1:03
You all woke up to the sound of a crash.
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A rock was thrown through Drummond's window and attached
1:08
to that rock was a threatening note from a follower of Peshwari
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telling Drummond to drop out. Drummond went to Peshwari to
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confront her and you all followed.
1:17
Peshwari claimed she didn't know who threw it and doesn't agree
1:20
with how they went about trying to get Drummond out of the race.
1:23
You all spoke to Drummond separately and convinced to
1:25
think about the people of the village.
1:27
He mentioned he knew some important merchants and one of
1:29
them was someone both Abe and Bond knew, a wood elf named
1:33
Nerix. Later after some planning, Bond
1:36
went to convince Drummond to hire them an illegal cleric
1:39
while Beau, Abe and Bunty went to Betsy's to get a blowgun for
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Bunty. Then the monos went to the arena
1:44
where they intimidated their semi final match into dropping
1:47
out, so they jumped straight to the finals.
1:50
They were going to fight the sibling mages when Clover
1:52
stepped forward and offered to fight in place of the Sibling
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Mages. If he won, the sibling mages
1:58
would get their 2000 gold pieces.
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But if the Manos won, they would win not only the prize pot, but
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an extra 2000 gold pieces from Cloward himself.
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And that's where we are now. I turn to the both of you.
2:13
If we fight him, we can use me as bait because he I'm sure
2:17
wants revenge. This feels like a really bad
2:19
idea, but I also really want to do it.
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There's got to be a catch, right?
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A cat, ha ha. But.
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Seriously. I turn towards Cloward and I
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say, just fighting against you. No, nobody else.
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Just me. I feel like we've got to do it.
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Yeah, I mean, if it goes well, this could also help the
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election. What if he wants us to win?
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What if he wants to make the point that outsiders are coming
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in to beat up to backseat? Well, maybe, but I think that's
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worth 4000 gold coins. That's a very good point, Bond.
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I retract my statement. I look over to Drummond and see
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I want to see what his face looks like.
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He he said. He grew up with Cloward.
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Yeah, I think you don't have to insight check him.
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It's pretty clear that he's also intrigued by this offer.
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He kind of like raises his eyebrows at you guys and goes
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kind of like a, well, this might be interesting, go for it if you
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want type of thing. Wait one second, guys.
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Trust me and I'm going to step forward and kind of address the
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crowd and shout and be like people of La Grande's village.
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Do you want us to fight Cluard? Is this what you want?
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Let's see the crowd stars hooting and hollering.
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Yeah, you already killed the son.
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Let's see a fight between you guys all.
3:39
Right. I just want to either there will
3:41
be revenge or there'll be something interesting.
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We take your challenge, Cluard. Cluard removes his coat, his
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body is lean and scarred. He gestures to a thin tabasi
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artificer standing behind the arena wall and looks to you guys
3:58
and goes. Well you guys have your your
4:00
magic weapons in your armor, so I hope you don't mind if I get a
4:04
little something here. And the artificer approaches,
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holding a strange syringe filled with glowing gold liquid.
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Cloward holds out his arm. The injection sinks in and his
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body shutters. Spikes erupt along his tail, his
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claws grow longer, his teeth sharpen, and he double s in size
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and grins. Now this should be interesting.
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So this deal was made under false pretense.
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Our lawyers are going to hear about this.
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It's just another another one of Bo's disguises.
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Our attorney. But he's an entire LLC.
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Bose definitely run some Saul Goodman scams before.
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All right, Roll initiative. You guys are 100 feet apart.
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Abney, I'm also going to regain the key point I used to activate
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my arms because we're rolling initiative, so I'm going to use
5:02
this ability now a. Little clever good.
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All right. Did anyone get above a 20?
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I got a 20, it was a Nat 20 if that makes a difference.
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What's your decks? 0.
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OK, you know, I'll let you. I'll let you go first.
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Of the blade ward that I cast before last fight or what was
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supposed to be a fight has worn off.
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Can we say that? I recast it as we finished
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talking to a clue word. OK.
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Thank you. Did anyone roll between a 15 and
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a 19? Yes, a 16.
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OK, Bo, what'd you get? An 8.
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OK, great. Top of the round Bond.
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You guys are 100 feet apart, opposite ends of the arena.
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OK, I am going to move, spread some distance between us.
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I'm going to move towards one of the wooden posts and sort of go
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behind it, get some cover and cast.
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How? How far up is it towards him?
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Like the nearest post? The the nearest post to you guys
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is 50 feet away. The nearest post is 50 feet
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away. It's. 100 by 100 by 100.
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You're in the center of one of the sides.
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OK. And the posts, there's the PUT,
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there's only a post in the middle.
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They're in the corner, so you're 50 feet away from a corner.
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Well, I'm just gonna run kind of like up and to the left 30 feet
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diagonally and cast kiting bolt at him.
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So I will make a range spell attack that is a 18 on the dice
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plus my spell attack which is a + 6.
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So that's a 24 to hit. That definitely hits, and you
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leveled up too, so you get an extra bump to Wisdom and what
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else do you get? I took Faye Touched as a feat,
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so now I have a a free cast of Misty Step and another secret
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spell which I will reveal later. Incredible all.
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Right, so Guiding Bolt, the next attack made against Clayward now
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has advantage for the end of my next turn.
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So he is going to take 4D6 radiant damage.
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That is going to be 8 damage. He kind of gets like blasted in
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the shoulder by that, yeah. Anything else you want?
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To do and that is no. That is my turn.
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Cool. All right.
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It is Cloward's turn. He is going to run up 45 feet
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kind of towards Yubon closing that distance.
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So you guys are now, because you ran a little to the left, I'd
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say you guys are within 30 feet of each other and he is just
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going to hold his action. All right, Abe and Bunty, your
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turn. All right, Bunty, just keep your
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distance and and shoot when you can.
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Can I just like ride? I'll just ride on your shoulder
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and shoot. OK, but try not to get involved
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that much. I'm trying to keep you out of
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this. I got to be within 25 feet,
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otherwise I got to roll with disadvantage.
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Thank you for that, Bunty. All right, so I'm gonna use the
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charger feet and I'm going to run at him as so I'm gonna use
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my bonus action to dash and move.
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Great. Actually, how far am I from him?
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Sorry. He moved 45 feet up and to the
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left, so let's or up into his right, your left.
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So let's say you're about 80 feet away from him right now.
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Perfect. Yeah.
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So I'm gonna I'm gonna use my my bonus action to dash and close
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that entire distance. As you get within 30 feet of
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him, he is going to do his action all right.
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So both Bon and Abe give me Dexterity saving throws.
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That is a three. It's a 19.
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Abe, you pass, Bond you don't. You see as Abe runs up, he's
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finally got 2 of you within 30 feet of him.
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He starts whirling like a tornado and his tail is flicking
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around and the spikes that had just grown on his tail start
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shooting off in every direction. Let me roll for full damage and
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then Abe, you'll take half. Well, shit.
9:08
That is 26 damage. Well.
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Shit, Jesus Christ. Is there any way for me to
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deflect to missile on these or is this just where I'm just
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going to? Take No, this is a this is a
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saving. Yeah.
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You can only deflect it on something attacking you.
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So 26 damage to Bond and 13 damage to Abe.
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That's so fucked. Yeah, OK.
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But this is this is something that has to be recharged.
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So you see that all the tails are or the spikes are off of his
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tail right now Abe, you can continue your charge at him as
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you just get pierced with a bunch of needles.
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Yep, yeah. So they kind of fly at me and I
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just keep running through the needles.
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You get hit by a couple of them, but you keep going.
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Oh sorry, Bunty needs to roll a Dexterity save him through too.
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Yeah, I mean, Bunty's down, no? Bunty's down shit.
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That was fast, yeah. Should I should not have
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listened to Bunty? I should have left him where he
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was. Sorry, I didn't know what was
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going to happen. OK, so now it's your turn.
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Bunty's going to make his death saving through and he falls off
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your shoulder onto the ground, so you've kind of left him 10
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feet away from Clover. Bunty passes one pass.
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All right, I'm going to collide with Kluert and make my attack.
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Great, so with the charger feet you run an extra 10 feet towards
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him. It's a 22 to hit and then I'm
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going to use a key point for Flurry of Blows.
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Great. And the first attack I will get
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an additional 1D8 damage because I've moved at least 10 feet
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along the path towards the person I'm attacking, which is
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part of the charger feet. You have advantage on it from.
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Those so roll to see if you quit on that first one.
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Nope, same exact thing, 22 and then I'm rolling my flurry of
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blows to see if I hit them. That's an 18 and a 19 to hit on
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this the next. Two, both of them hit.
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He's just shirtless with pants on right now, so.
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Let me roll the damage. 23 points of damage, so I'm going
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to collide. With him first one or?
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This is all of the attacks. So I'm going to collide with him
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with the first attack where I just kind of like shoulder
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charge him, shoulder check him, and then as he stumbles a little
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bit, I'm gonna kick in one of his shins and then swipe across
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his face with a punch. Great.
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Did you get within 5 feet of him?
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Are you trying to, like, get all the way up there?
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Yes. Yeah.
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Wow. Yeah.
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He he just poof, stumbles back a little bit, catches himself, and
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then you bump, bump. Get him again.
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Anything else you want to do on your turn?
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Nope, I got nothing else. All right, Bo, it's your turn.
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You're probably about, like I said, 80 feet away from Clover
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right now. Could I move to a place where,
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if he was to move and do that attack again, he would still
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only be able to get two of us but be within 60 feet of him?
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Does that make sense? Yeah, yeah, totally.
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Right now it's it's a 30 foot range.
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So he got Abe is now right next to him.
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Bond is 30 feet away from him. So you can get 60 feet away from
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him and and be out of that range.
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Cool because I I feel like he could still move closer to me to
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get me affected but I don't want to have.
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Yes, yeah, there's. Were all three of us cool?
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All good then I will do that. I'm going to pull out my bow.
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Awesome. And I fired some shots at him.
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That's a 10 to hit. So it's not going to hit, but I
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really want to beat him. So I'm going to use a heroic
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inspiration. Awesome.
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And it's in that one. I shouldn't have done that.
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That was bad. OK, so you with clearword easily
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dodges it. It wasn't a good shot to begin
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with, but he does come some kind of sick back bend, so it goes
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over him. All right.
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Anything else on your turn bow? Nope, that will be all.
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Cool, He is going to use his first.
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He's going to do a legendary action, so right now only Abe
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and Bon are within the area. Cluward emits a roar that
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reverberates in the arena. Each creature within 30 feet
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must make a Wisdom saving throw, so Abe and Bon.
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That is a 17. Nice.
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It's a 2. OK, so Bon, you completely pass,
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nothing happens to you. And I'll just like to say this
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is also a rechargeability, so don't worry right now.
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So, Abe, you are dazed and under the effect of a modified slow
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spill until the end of your next turn.
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An effective target speed is halved.
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It takes a -, 2 penalty to AC and Dexterity saving throws, and
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you cannot take reactions on your turn.
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On your next turn you can only take an action or a bonus
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action, not both. And you can only make one attack
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with the attack action, which I don't think matters right now
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since your level 4. This attack was fucking designed
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for me is what it sounds. Like.
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So if you cast a spell with somatic components, there's a
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25% chance that the spell fails as a result of the target making
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the spell's gestures too slowly. Awesome.
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All right, so. Is there a way?
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Like can you roll at the end of his turns or?
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It only lasts until the end of his turn.
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OK. Yeah, OK, Bon, it is your turn
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now. Top of the round.
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OK, I am going to cast my super secret spell.
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I'm going to cast dissonant Whispers Awesome on Cloord.
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So I point at him and he hears A discordant melody in his mind
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and has to make a wisdom saving throw.
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Cool, that's a 13. 13 does not pass, so my spell save is 14.
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Awesome, thanks to levelling up. And so he is going to take 3D6
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psychic damage. So that is a.
15:03
So he's going to take 9 psychic damage and then immediately use
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his reaction to move as far away as he can from me using the
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safest route. Great.
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Yeah, he runs away. Abe, you cannot take a reaction,
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so you do not get an attack of opportunity.
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He runs 45 feet away from Abe, so now he is 75 feet away, away
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from you Bon, and he's pretty much almost back where he
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started at the other end of the arena.
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OK, and then as a bonus action, I am going to use Healing Word
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to get Bunty back up. Awesome.
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So Bunty heals 2D4 plus my wisdom.
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So that is 6HP. Great Bunty is back up and he is
15:50
shaking in his little boots that do not exist.
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He's shaking in his Cape. Guys, that was really scary.
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I do not like that. I'm gonna go away now.
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Thank you, Bon. I love you, Bon.
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You're welcome, Bunty. Anything else you want to do on
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your turn bond? I'm going to move further out to
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the left, sort of split, split our distance a little more.
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Charlie's to the right, I imagine.
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Yeah, OK, so with dissonant whispers, can he approach you?
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Or was it just for he actually has to take his reaction and
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dip? And he just had to take his
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reaction and dip. Cool.
16:27
All right. He is going to use his movement
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and get right back up towards Abe and then he is going to roll
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to see if his tail spike comes back.
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The tail spike does not come back, so he is just going to do
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his regular attacks on Abe. His first one is going to be a
16:46
bite attack. All right, I'm going to use a
16:47
wording flame that he has to roll with disadvantage.
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Your AC is -2 now Abe. So what is it?
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It's a 15. That is 17 to hit with
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disadvantage, so that hits and then he is going to do his two
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claw attacks against you. Let me just roll right now.
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That's going to hit and that's going to hit.
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OK so the bite you are going to take 8 piercing damage and then
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with the claws that is a nine on one attack and a 10 on the other
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attack. How are you doing, Abe and.
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I am down. I am down.
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OK. He, he, his his legendary action
17:27
was perfect to nullify me completely effective against a
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monk. Yeah.
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I would like to also say whenever you guys want your
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corrupted cleric to work, you'll work at the top of the round.
17:38
So someone just has to call it out.
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Cool Abe and Bunty Abe, give me your death saving throw. 17. 17
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passes. Bunty is going to.
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He's 10 feet away from Cloward. He's just going to back the fuck
17:54
up to where the beginning. He's just going to move as fast
17:57
as he can backwards. He doesn't have an incredible
17:59
speed and he is going to attack with his blow dart with
18:04
disadvantage because he's outside the normal 25 range.
18:08
Hey can he attack first? Oh yeah, he can move back 10
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feet just to be 20 feet away just to give a little space and
18:14
then attack. So he's going to attack
18:16
normally. That hits.
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Awesome. That is 3 piercing damage.
18:22
Can he beat ADC 10 Let. Me, let me do his poison damage
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so he has three piercing +2 poison and then clearword is
18:32
going to make a DC-10 Constitution saving throw.
18:37
He's God. And that I mean that passes so.
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Yeah. Cluard takes the poison damage,
18:44
he takes the he takes the piercing damage, but he is still
18:48
up. And then Bunty is going to
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continue his movement backwards and get away.
18:53
All right at the end of that turn, Cluard is going to, he's
19:01
going to see if his disorienting roar recharges just to see.
19:05
It does not. He instead is going to use a
19:08
different legendary action, so he's going to attack with his
19:11
claws. Once on Abe, who is down, he's
19:14
going to get to roll with advantage.
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He says to you, you killed my son, I'm going to kill you.
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Your friends are safe. They'll only get knocked out
19:23
like you did to my other members, the CVPP.
19:27
But you, you're dead, and you will see my son in hell.
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I mean, I can't say anything, so it's just funny.
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He thinks his son is in hell. He was a bad cat, we all are.
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That is going to be a 24 to hit and you have now 2 failed that
19:46
saving throws and then he is going to.
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Wait, we'll wait 2 failed debt saving throws, Yeah.
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Yeah, it's an auto crit. So I'm dead.
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You. Only you.
19:56
No, you had one successful saving throw.
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Yeah, but don't you need to you? Need 3 fails.
20:01
I see so the next. One.
20:04
OK, I see. So let me let me explain to.
20:06
Everyone what how those debt saving throws work real quick.
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If you get you need to get 3 successful saving throws which
20:15
is 10 and above. You add nothing to it and then
20:19
you are stabilized. You're not up, you're still
20:21
knocked out, but you're stabilized.
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If you get 3 failures then you're dead.
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Dead. Cool.
20:27
Jesus Christ I was like oh shit, I killed.
20:31
I thought I was. I was like, Oh my God.
20:34
We're like 30 minutes into the recording, like, all right.
20:40
I mean, if it happens, it happens.
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I mean, he is trying to kill you.
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Yeah. All right, Bo, it's your turn.
20:47
Fuck. I think when I see this, I'm
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going to look up at Drummond and give him the the signal for the
20:53
healer. Drummond nods, and the healer is
20:55
literally right next to him, dressed in the same white suit
20:59
hat and a duplicate cane, and he just knocks over to the healer
21:02
and the heal healer nods. That's not suspicious at all.
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Well, if he's back up next to Abe again, then he's back where
21:11
he was. So I'm still, like, 60 feet,
21:13
right? So, yeah, Fuck.
21:16
Cool. All right, here's what I'm going
21:18
to do. I'm going to put away the bow as
21:20
my free action. I will if you'd let me.
21:25
Like use a bonus action to draw Cluwart Sun's sword.
21:29
Definitely. And then say and.
21:32
I don't know if this is. I also want to use witchbolt as
21:34
my main action, but at the same time I also want to call him out
21:39
and like say something to Cluard.
21:40
Is that fine? And call him out for sure.
21:42
Cluard, he didn't kill your son. I did look and then I'm going to
21:45
hold up the sword. I'm going to charge up to Cluard
21:49
and. Give me give me a deception
21:50
check when you say that, though. He's going to incite you.
21:53
Sure, that'll be a 17. That'll also be a 17 so very
21:59
interesting. I think he is confused at this
22:04
point. I don't know if he fully
22:06
believes you, but I because Abe just when he asked Abe if he
22:10
killed his son, Abe just nodded his head.
22:12
Yeah, like very much was like Yup.
22:15
And he's the one who called him out so he can't tell.
22:20
But as you're charging him, he goes.
22:22
Guess I'll have to kill both of you then as.
22:24
Long as he's a little bit distracted, yeah.
22:26
So I'm going to charge up to him and then I'll cast.
22:29
I still want to like kind of position myself so that again,
22:32
he can't get all three of us. So if I have to like kind of run
22:34
in a semi circle or something like that, I will.
22:37
What is the range on which bolt? Which bolt?
22:39
60 feet so I can go from anywhere, but I want to get
22:42
closer to Cluard. As long as you don't get within
22:45
30 feet of him, you should be fine.
22:47
All right, awesome. 16 to hit. 16 hits.
22:53
Awesome 18 damage. Very nice.
22:57
OK, anything else you can or want to do on your turn?
23:01
I think that's I've exhausted all of my actions.
23:04
Great. So at the start of the round the
23:06
cleric is going to turn and cast mass Cure Wounds.
23:11
So it's a 30 foot radius sphere. So Bo, you're did you even take
23:16
damage, Bo? No, I'm I'm totally fine.
23:18
I don't need it. So Bon Bon and Abe, this is the
23:22
one time you get to use the cleric.
23:23
So Bon and Abe, you guys get, it's going to be level 6, so you
23:28
get 6D8. Nice.
23:30
Is bunty as well I. Think Bunty ran too far?
23:33
Back Bunty moved a little far back, but he I think he plans on
23:37
staying back. Fair enough. 30HP back to you
23:43
guys. Oh my God, thank God we got this
23:46
guy. Yeah, I'm back up to Max.
23:49
Yeah, I'm one point within. A.
23:51
But your debt saving throws are all erased and start from
23:55
scratch next time if you get knocked down.
23:56
So please do not claim to be dead again.
23:59
Yeah, sorry for the listeners. If anyone's if anyone's a big
24:03
Abe fan, I'm sorry about that. Yeah.
24:08
And if anyone's a Big Abe hater? Yeah.
24:11
Sorry, guys. Yeah.
24:12
And I apologize for the Abe haters.
24:14
AKA Cloward. Dangling that in front of you.
24:17
Be disappointed. I will say when I got a message
24:21
from someone after episode 1 where you described Abe as being
24:25
like very handsome and then you said and he looks like me, they
24:29
could not stop laughing. For the record.
24:34
Incredible. For the record, I don't know if
24:35
I said it looked like me. You guys, did you know?
24:38
I know you definitely did. Good thing we have it on
24:42
recording. Yeah.
24:44
I edited episode 1 so many times I prompt.
24:49
For the record, is true because it is on the.
24:52
Record. All right, Bon, it's your turn.
24:54
Top of the round, all right. I think strategically I am going
24:58
to make a decision to hold my turn until after Clutward's
25:02
turn. Great.
25:03
I have an idea but I'm worried about it.
25:06
Cool, Clutward's turn, he is going to see if his tailspike
25:12
recharges. It does.
25:15
So Bon and Abe, you guys are still within that 30 feet.
25:19
I need everyone to give me Dexterity saving throws.
25:23
Is the is his effect of the roar still affecting me like I went?
25:28
Down. No, because you're.
25:29
Yeah, you went. Your turn was over.
25:31
Anyways. It only lasts till the end of
25:33
your turn. Cool, there's a 19.
25:35
And 19 passes. Nice, that's an 18. 18 passes,
25:46
28 piercing damage half to 14. OK, Jesus.
25:51
And he is going to, and I totally forgot to do this last
25:55
time, he is going to bonus action dodge until the start of
25:59
his next turn. Attack rolls against him have
26:01
disadvantage and he makes deck saving throws with advantage.
26:05
OK. All right, Bon, do you want to?
26:08
Yes, I'm going to take my turn now.
26:10
I am going to use my action to cast hold person.
26:14
So he has to make a Wisdom saving throw.
26:16
Awesome, that's a four. Let's fucking go.
26:20
OK, all right, huge. All right, so hold person is
26:27
going to be he is paralyzed for the duration of the spell and at
26:32
the end of his turns he can repeat the save, ending the
26:35
spell on a success so. Nice.
26:38
To clarify, if we hit him, it ends the hold person.
26:41
No, he has to roll at the end of his turn.
26:44
Paralyzed condition. While you have the paralyzed
26:46
condition, you experience the following effects.
26:48
Incapacitated so immediately his dodge does not work.
26:53
Speed is 0. Say you automatically fail
26:55
strength and deck saving throws. Attack rolls against you have
26:59
advantage and any attack roll that hits is a critical hit if
27:03
the attacker is within 5 feet of you.
27:05
So you have to it has to be melee, like within 5 feet.
27:07
I'm I'm up next, right? Yeah, Bon, are you done with
27:10
your turn? I use your reaction to hold your
27:12
turn and. I don't think that was my
27:15
reaction. I I think you can just hold your
27:17
turn and it's pushed back. Forward permanently.
27:20
It's permanently now. Yeah, Yeah.
27:21
OK, cool. Yeah, no, that, that is going to
27:24
be my my turn. All right, Abe and Bunty.
27:29
Bunty goes. I actually still think I'm going
27:31
to. I'm going to go within normal
27:33
range, but I'm not going to go within 5 feet actually.
27:37
Should I bite off his face? No, Keep your distance, keep
27:40
your distance, Keep your distance, Bunty.
27:43
OK. And I'm gonna, he can't even
27:44
make opportunity attacks. So I'm gonna back up 10 feet and
27:48
then I'm going to dash 10 feet. Awesome.
27:51
And activate charger again. Amazing.
27:55
And now I have. It'll it'll be an auto crit and
27:57
you'll get the double and. I'll get the double and I forgot
27:59
to use necrotic damage on my first round of attacks, so here
28:02
we go. All right.
28:04
Are you a roll with advantage? OK, it doesn't, as long as you
28:08
hit this one. So that's an 18 on the 1st.
28:11
I'm using Flurry of Blows as well.
28:12
So I'm using key point. Another key point that is a 22
28:18
on the 1st Flurry of Blows. Hits.
28:21
And that is a 17 on the second flurry of blows.
28:26
Yep, all three of them hit. OK all.
28:27
Three of them hit, so they're all all crits.
28:30
OK, so double the double the die, not the bonus.
28:32
Yeah, double the die and Bunty does some damage to him also.
28:38
This is an insane turn for OK with everything I've got.
28:43
I back up and I charge into him. I shoulder check him and then I
28:47
just go in with the spectral arms using my spectral mall.
28:51
The total damage. You can push him, right?
28:53
I can either choose to push him or do damage.
28:56
In this case I want to just OK, nevermind Max out damage, but
28:59
yeah, that is an option for the Charger feet.
29:02
The total damage that I do to him on this turn is 60.
29:06
Cool. Awesome.
29:07
And how much of that was necrotic?
29:10
Not all necrotic damage means your Max HP goes down.
29:13
I just thought it was cuz it was the same as the monks.
29:15
OK it's just damage. It's not.
29:17
For him, it's just damage. Yeah, he picked up a dirty
29:19
needle off the ground and. Just yeah, I don't know on.
29:22
His arm. That's fair if I'm there yet.
29:25
OK sorry is that half of his Max HP?
29:29
He is not at half yet, no. OK, yeah.
29:31
And that wasn't a single attack. Yeah, OK.
29:33
No, I mean just in general with all these attacks, he's not at
29:36
half HP. Terrifying.
29:38
Awful. Cool.
29:40
All right, Bo, it's your turn. OK, this is up to you.
29:46
Am I 30 feet away from him because I or would I be on like
29:51
the edge of 30 feet? Would I be able to get to him in
29:53
one movement action, or do I have to use a bonus action dash
29:56
to get all the way up to him? You tried to stay far enough
29:59
away to not get hit with it, so you can't be within 30 feet of
30:03
him, so you'd have to use bonus action dash.
30:06
I was wondering if I was on like the edge of the 30 feet and
30:09
could move 30 feet to be within 5 feet of him or?
30:13
You still need to like get all the way up to him, so you would
30:16
have to use your bonus action dash.
30:18
Yeah, but. He he's this old person, lasts
30:22
until the end of his turn, so. Yeah, it's just the bonus action
30:26
means I can't get the extra D6 or use which bolt so.
30:30
Fair enough. But it's all right, I will
30:35
charge up to him using my bonus action to dash.
30:39
I will also draw my dagger and. You're going to use Cluard's
30:43
son's sword, is that correct? Yes.
30:45
Are you gonna activate the? Oh, that's a bonus action to
30:47
activate. The channel, yeah, and I get
30:50
advantage on hitting them right? Yep.
30:53
Awesome. That'll be a 18 to hit.
30:57
That hits. So normally I would get 3D6.
31:01
With my sneak attack this will be 6D6.
31:10
That will be 25 damage on my first attack.
31:13
Nice. And then I'm attacking with my
31:17
knife as well and that will be a 23 to hit.
31:23
Definitely hits. And it'll be an additional 5
31:27
damage. Awesome.
31:29
Gluever just stands there, kind of frozen in the in a very angry
31:33
pose as all of you guys just start beating on him.
31:38
Incredible. Anything else, Bo?
31:40
That will be it. OK, end of his turn, Cloward
31:44
gets to roll with some saving thrower again.
31:47
Yes, that is correct. OK, he rolls a 15, so he gets
31:51
out of it. No.
31:53
But that is the end of his turn. Yeah, it's good, Bon.
31:56
It is your turn. OK.
31:58
I am going to, yeah, I'm going to cast the whole person again.
32:03
OK, he's going to roll. That's an 18.
32:08
He passes. Fuck.
32:10
All right then. I mean, that was an incredible
32:13
like amount of damage, just truly between Bo and Abe.
32:18
I know I'm imagining Sig, Curtis and Armstrong dapping up.
32:23
For that, do we know if he looks bloodied now?
32:27
Close. God.
32:29
Fuck, Jesus Christ. All right, Bonus action.
32:32
I've got nothing. So I am just going to, yeah, I'm
32:36
just going to hold where I am. OK, now it is Abe and Bunty's
32:40
turn. Bunty is going to roll to attack
32:44
and then he's going to back up. Cool.
32:47
Bunty does some damage, Abe. Yeah, we're going again.
32:51
I'm right up with him. I I can't back up this time
32:54
because I he would get an opportunity attack.
32:56
Yeah. Does he have to?
32:58
Does he have to roll ADC on Bunty's poison or is that like a
33:01
one time pass? Yes, let me roll ADC on Bunty's
33:04
poison. He passes.
33:06
Makes sense. Yeah, Our little guy, Our little
33:09
guy, he's he's chipping away. He's doing what he can.
33:12
Stonecutter his credo. Slowly but surely, the Bunty
33:16
wins the race. That is a 17 to hit on the first
33:24
attack. That hits I'm.
33:26
Going to use another key point for flurry blows that is a 15 to
33:32
hit on the 2nd. That does not hit.
33:34
OK. And that is a 16 to hit.
33:39
That hits. OK.
33:43
So 15 damage from the two unarmed attacks plus the 2D
33:48
fours two and a 2. So 18 damage total on the attack
33:54
for that being necrotic. Nice.
33:56
So I'm just going to keep punching him.
33:59
I'm in a boxing stance right now.
34:01
I go for one, I hit him, he dodges the second, and then I go
34:05
for one into his gut. Cool, he is going to see if he
34:09
gets his roller back and it comes back.
34:14
All three of you are now within 60 or within 30 feet.
34:17
Everyone give me Wisdom saving throws.
34:21
Luckily, that one's pretty good for me.
34:23
Technically it should be good for me too, but the role was so
34:26
bad. OK, hopefully that is enough.
34:32
That is a 16. 16 does not pass. 17.
34:39
A 17 does pass Oh. Thank God. 19.
34:45
Yeah, you're all good. All right, so same thing happens
34:48
again, Abe, You know the drill, all right?
34:51
Yep. That is Bow and Bunty backed up
34:55
away, so he's fine. That is Bow's turn.
34:58
You are within melee distance, right?
35:00
Because you closed. Yes, I wish he was still held
35:03
but I'll make the most out of it now.
35:05
Cool, then I will attack him with the short sword.
35:09
I won't activate it still, that'll be a 22 to hit.
35:16
That definitely hits. And A is still right there, so I
35:19
still get sneak attack. Awesome 16 damage.
35:26
Nice. And then I'll attack with my
35:27
dagger as well. That'll be a 22 to hit once
35:32
again. That hits.
35:35
Two damage and then I will also activate my witch bolt and just
35:39
kind of like that slight magic tether just surges with
35:43
electricity once again and he he takes a little damage from it.
35:47
All right, he takes three more damage.
35:50
Awesome. He is bloodied right now.
35:53
OK, All right. Anything else, Bo?
35:56
That is everything, yeah. Top of the round is Cluard.
36:01
He's going to roll to see if he gets his tail spike back when he
36:05
gets it back. And all three of you give me
36:09
Dexterity saving throws. I could tell from from Ovni's
36:13
grin you can. You can use it immediately when
36:16
he gets it back. He doesn't have to, but if if
36:19
all of you are within 30 feet, it makes most sense for him to
36:22
use it. It's with disadvantage, right
36:24
With the. No, you get a -, 2 to deck
36:28
saving throws. Got you.
36:31
Nice. Like a -. 2 to my modifier, not
36:35
to the role. No, no, no, two, you add it up
36:37
and then you just -2 okay. I am going to like seeing what's
36:42
coming, reach into my pocket and or I guess pulled my hand
36:47
against my pocket where the amulet is and just use it and
36:51
give myself a 13 on the die roll and get an 18 overall.
36:55
OK, so you pass. I got a 21.
36:57
Oh wow. Pass 4 does not pass.
37:00
OK so Bo and Abe you take half damage, Bond you take full
37:04
damage. 34 damage to bond, 17 to the other two.
37:13
I am down. Jesus Christ, dude, yeah, I'm
37:16
down. OK, Bo, you still standing?
37:19
Yep. OK, the next person is Bon, make
37:23
a debt saving throw. This fight is rigged.
37:27
Stop the count. It's a 14. 14 passes.
37:32
At the end of your turn, he's going to use his other legendary
37:35
action to attack Abe on the ground.
37:39
Guy fucking hates me and I and I understand.
37:42
I respect the. Game it hits and you get 2
37:44
failed debt saving throws. Abe no, and now it is your turn.
37:52
Abe with two debt saving throws. So Bundy is going to try to run
37:58
up to you and give you the health potion before you roll
38:00
your debt saving throw. Because usually Bunty comes
38:03
after you. Technically in the grand order
38:05
of things he's on your turn, but he's after you.
38:07
If Bunty gets above a 10 you will get the healing potion.
38:11
Otherwise you have to roll before he gives you the healing
38:13
potion. Yep.
38:15
That's a Nat one from Bunty, so you have to roll your debt
38:20
saving throw before Bunty can do his.
38:24
All right, all my fingers and toes crossed.
38:29
That's a three. I am dead.
38:32
Abe is dead. Oh my.
38:34
God. OK.
38:38
What the fuck? So, Abe.
38:45
Motherfucker. Not you of me, just the
38:48
situation. No, actually, you of me.
38:53
Respectfully, fuck you DM. It's only episode 10, OK.
38:57
Fuck. We step away from the arena for
39:01
a moment. Abe, you're dead.
39:05
But the moment after death is not darkness.
39:08
At first, there's only the absence of pain.
39:11
The ringing of the fight fades, the clash of claws against your
39:16
chest and the thought of the final strike, the roar of the
39:19
crowd, all of it dissolves like mist.
39:22
You open your eyes and you feel soil beneath your hands, cool
39:28
and damp. You find yourself laying down in
39:32
a garden. What do you do?
39:36
I think I know I'm dead and I look around to see if I see my
39:41
parents anywhere. You look around and what you see
39:46
is an endless garden with gentle terraces of Moss and dark earth.
39:52
You look up, it's quite beautiful.
39:54
Trees arch overhead in a quiet canopy.
39:57
There are leaves drifting down in slow spirals that never quite
40:00
reach the ground before dissolving into green light.
40:04
Flowers bloom everywhere, thousands of species you've
40:07
never seen before. Some glow faintly, some grow
40:11
through stone, some open and close if if they are breathing.
40:16
Yeah, I like instinctively reach for my journal, but it's not
40:18
there. You, you don't have anything on
40:21
you. You have just your clothes.
40:22
Nothing on you, nothing around you.
40:24
And at the center of a small clearing sits a woman and
40:28
Aladron with light green skin the color of spring leaves and
40:33
hair the color of morning sunshine.
40:36
She kneels in the dirt as though tending a garden she has
40:39
cultivated for centuries. On each side of her is an
40:42
unearthed flower. On her right is this vibrant
40:46
white Lotus, its petals flawless and luminous.
40:49
Resting in a small bowl of Clearwater On her left is a
40:53
black hellebore, its petals thin and brittle, curling inwards as
40:58
if winter has already claimed it.
41:00
She looks up. Her eyes are calm, ancient and
41:04
uninterested in urgency. She says softly.
41:09
You're early. Come sit.
41:11
And she gestures to the earth besides her.
41:14
I'm so sorry. I think I know who you are.
41:18
I would hope so. Sylvira.
41:20
Yes, Sylvira, the silent bloom. Can you send me back?
41:25
My friends are about to die. She gives a small chuckle.
41:31
And I don't know what Bunty's going to do without me.
41:33
Abe, Abe, Abe. She sighs, and she continues
41:37
tending the flowers as she speaks.
41:39
You should know that my domain is not only life, but death.
41:44
I am the circle of life. People must die.
41:48
People must live. That's just I know, but it's go.
41:52
It's not fair. This isn't fair.
41:55
My parents got killed, my brother's in prison.
41:58
All you did was give me Bunty and and then I just died and
42:03
then I just died without any answers.
42:04
I'm. I'm sorry, it just.
42:05
Doesn't seem fair. I I didn't give you Bunty.
42:09
Oh, I didn't. I didn't give you Bunty, No.
42:11
But the flowers? Yeah, I, I, I like flowers.
42:15
And she keeps tending to her garden.
42:17
Her fingers brush the dying hellebore.
42:20
It shudders, and slowly the petals begin to soften and a
42:24
purpley color seeps back into them, this dark, vibrant purple.
42:29
And at the same time, the Lotus on her other side begins to
42:32
wilt, it's bright petals Browning at the edges.
42:35
Life and death, they're the same motion, just viewed from
42:39
opposite directions. So I just stay here forever now
42:44
with you or my parents here. No, your parents are not here.
42:50
Your parents? She thinks for a moment.
42:53
Yes. They're not in my everlasting
42:55
garden. They're somewhere else,
42:59
somewhere darker, more dangerous.
43:04
Their souls are somewhere that most mortals cannot reach.
43:10
So I I plopped down beside her. She rotates the flowers in her
43:15
hands, and now the Lotus begins restoring itself, the petals
43:20
knitting back together while the hellebore crumbles to dust.
43:24
I. Pointed that Can't you just do
43:27
that to me? Can't you just restore me like 1
43:30
of the flowers? But just for a little bit, I'll,
43:33
I'll come back. I can't mess with the order of
43:36
things, but who knows, you might not be here for very long.
43:42
So let's spend the time you do have here talking before we
43:46
figure out where your natural place is.
43:49
And here we're going to jump back to the fight.
43:52
Bo. OK, it's your turn.
43:55
Abe is dead on the floor and Bunty is screaming bloody
43:59
murder. I look at the situation you
44:04
said. You said clearword was just
44:06
bloodied. Yeah, he's bloodied.
44:07
He was bloodied. I forgot to tell you during
44:09
Abe's turn last round, but yeah. Yeah, fuck, I guess I got to
44:14
make this decision on my own. Bunty, go go help.
44:20
Go help Bond. Yeah, OK, I'm going to.
44:21
I'm going to take Cluard's sun sword and I'm going to throw it
44:24
down on the ground in front of him.
44:26
You win or the the majors win or whatever.
44:32
We're done. We're not going to fight
44:33
anymore. You killed.
44:34
You killed the person who killed your son.
44:37
It's it's over. OK.
44:38
Are you going to let us live or are you going to decide to kill
44:41
us? Bon, you're up at 13 HP right
44:44
now. Bunty runs over and gives you
44:46
the greater potion of Feeling, and Claire returns to and goes.
44:51
I didn't want to kill all of you, just the one that killed my
44:55
son. And now we're even.
44:59
Thank you for succeeding the fight.
45:01
I will take my peace and go and I you're out of initiative.
45:07
As he's walking away, I'm going to hopefully, well, like, the
45:10
crowd is still kind of quiet. Yeah, they're like, shocked.
45:13
Yeah, I'm going to look at at everybody and turn all around
45:18
and I'm going to point a clue word and say, is this your mare?
45:22
Is this the man you want to lead you?
45:24
My friend, my friend was not alive.
45:26
He was not breathing or at least standing when he attacked him
45:30
and ended his life. I'm going to gesture.
45:32
I don't know how he killed him, if he just like clawed up his
45:35
dead body or something like that, but I'm assuming it's kind
45:38
of gruesome. I'm over tending, tending to Abe
45:42
and just sort of saying a prayer.
45:44
Yeah, I'm just going to gesture at him.
45:46
He wasn't an active combatant. Look.
45:49
Yes, he killed Cluard's son after Cluard's son tried to kill
45:53
us. And.
45:54
And you're going to let this violence, this fear control you?
45:58
Look, you don't you don't have to listen to outsiders, but
46:02
listen to yourself, OK? You have you have three choices
46:07
here. One of them is using your fear,
46:10
other people's difference to try to control.
46:13
You need to make you snivering little, you know, just puppets.
46:17
And honestly, Drummond, you're the same way.
46:22
You're also trying to to screw over the people here.
46:25
You don't want to give them money because you like being
46:28
better than other people. And and if, if any of you want
46:33
to be better, if any of you want the tobaccy to be better than
46:37
you should let Peshwari support Peshwari.
46:42
You know, not this guy. This guy fucking sucks.
46:46
Like, I don't know how else to put it.
46:49
Drummond, Drummond, you're you're fine, but you got some
46:52
things to work on. As you're making this speech,
46:57
two things are going to happen at the same time.
47:00
Cloward is going to double back and address the crowd.
47:05
Cloward turns to the crowd and goes.
47:07
I'm not here to kill Bo or Bon or Bonsi.
47:14
I am here to take revenge on what happened to my son.
47:19
I think I for an eye, that's the only way we're going to win in
47:24
this dog eat dog world. Many of you know me, many of you
47:29
might not agree with some of my politics, but I'll tell you one
47:33
thing. I will always defend the people
47:37
of this village. If that means you guys want to
47:41
have merchants, fine, I'll talk to Peshwari.
47:45
We'll get merchants, but let's have it be to backsy merchants.
47:49
Let's make a Tabaxi merchant Guild, send them out and have
47:52
them come back. Let's stimulate our economy with
47:54
the Tabaxis. Let's not rely on any outside
47:58
races. We are here together.
48:02
These people think that they could come in, that they could
48:05
disrupt our way of life. They can just make some grand
48:10
old speeches and get whatever they want and influence the
48:13
people who have lived here for centuries.
48:16
My family has been here for centuries.
48:20
And who is he to tell us what to do?
48:23
Who is he to give empowering speeches?
48:27
You think for yourself. If you want to agree with him,
48:31
that's fine. But I know in my heart I am
48:34
doing what is best for our village.
48:38
While that is happening, Drummond jumps into the arena
48:41
with the cleric. You see that he hands the cleric
48:46
a shit ton of gold from his pocket.
48:49
And then Drummond starts to speak.
48:51
Because this has become political.
48:53
Drummond goes. Well, I would just like to say
48:57
that I never intended for the Manos to get killed.
49:01
I actually like these boys. They are quite nice.
49:05
In fact, Abe here tried to defend me this morning and find
49:10
out who threw that rock through my window and it was a follower
49:15
of Peshwari. We are all here.
49:18
We. Don't really have any
49:19
confirmation of that. Bo, be quiet, we are all here to
49:23
try to do what is best for La Grande's village.
49:27
All of us just have different ideas.
49:29
And Bo, I resent you for thinking that I would not help
49:33
the people of this village because I do not think that they
49:36
are as good as me. I resent you, but I will still
49:42
help Abe. And with that, the cleric bends
49:46
down and casts Revivify on Abe. We're going to jump back to Abe
49:53
right now. You and Sylvira are still
49:56
talking. I wanted to meet you, Abe, and
50:00
I'm sorry that it had to be under these circumstances, but
50:03
you carry many interesting things inside of you.
50:09
A strange path brought you here. You talked about your parents.
50:13
I know they were chasing immortality.
50:16
There's an empire that worships it.
50:18
I know you found out about that. And there was that ritual that
50:23
brought Bunty to you. I can't just tell you all of the
50:26
answers right now, but I want to maybe help guide you to them.
50:33
You've been standing very close to the roots of several ancient
50:36
stories. She turns to the flowers again.
50:40
The dead hellebore slowly revives, and the Lotus begins to
50:44
rot. As for immortality, mortals
50:48
misunderstand it. She gestures to the garden.
50:52
Everything here dies. That's the point.
50:56
Even here. Of course here, have you not
51:00
seen these two flowers just go through the cycle of death a
51:04
million times in front of your eyes?
51:07
But the Imperator, he can't die. She chuckles.
51:11
The Imperator can die. Of course the Imperator can die.
51:15
He's immortal in the sense of he can last for very long.
51:21
Maybe nature takes its course on him very slowly.
51:25
And you know, he is favored by Astraxian and Astraxian, he is
51:30
the most powerful out of all of us here, powerful in a different
51:35
way, she says, hesitating. We all have our own domains, but
51:41
his power comes from anger, from violence, from what people
51:47
generally think of power is. But we all have power, different
51:52
powers. But I won't say that a paladin
51:56
of Astraxian, like the Imperator is, is not maybe more powerful
52:03
than a paladin of Silvera when it comes to fighting a battle.
52:08
In that sense, the Paladin of Astraxian is definitely
52:12
physically stronger, but there are powers in many different
52:15
ways. Tonight, would you entertain me
52:19
with 2 answers to two questions? I'll do what I can, but I can't
52:25
tell you everything. Am I on the right path against
52:28
the Imperator? Is he the one that I should seek
52:33
out? Is he bad?
52:35
He saved a kid, but he did so many bad things.
52:39
He led to the death of my parents and the madness of my
52:43
brother. Abe, tell me the story of why
52:48
you hate the impairedor. You say that over and over
52:52
again. He led to the death of my
52:53
parents. He's the reason my brother is
52:55
mad. But did he kill your parents?
52:59
Did he make your brother mad? No, but if he had just answered
53:03
their questions, if he had told them how he got immortality and
53:06
how maybe they could get it for other people too, they wouldn't
53:10
have gone seeking it out in the bareillion shards.
53:13
I know it's not like a direct, I know he didn't kill them with
53:17
his own hands, but like, I'm not stupid, I get it.
53:21
But he's so callous and he didn't care about too lowly
53:25
researchers enough to even entertain them.
53:27
He he threw them out of the city for even asking the questions.
53:31
But the Imperator acts on the commands of Astraxian.
53:39
The Imperator. Honestly, I don't know if he
53:43
100% knows how his immortality works.
53:48
It's a gift from Astraxian and the Imperator likes to flaunt
53:54
around that. He knows he's immortal, he knows
53:57
he's all powerful, he knows this and he knows that.
54:01
I don't think I don't think he is the best person.
54:05
He has done some very awful and nasty things in life and if your
54:10
goal is to take him down, I will not stop you.
54:14
Honestly, that is a mighty goal for you to have, but I don't
54:18
think he is the reason for everything that has happened.
54:26
I nodded. This.
54:29
Oh, I have so many other questions to ask you, but I need
54:32
to know. Wait, can this be like a not
54:36
part of the two question thing? Can I ask you like a third like
54:38
sub question really quickly, just like am I, am I going to
54:42
like the like good place after the garden or am I going to the
54:45
bad? Place like.
54:46
Do we know how my judge like how my soul has been judged and who,
54:51
who takes care of that? Is that you like it sounds like
54:53
you like me. I feel like could we, could I
54:55
stay here? Where am I going?
54:59
Well, believers of different religions go to wherever their
55:04
final resting place is, and I. Don't really believe in the I
55:07
don't really believe in anything.
55:11
Well, if you want to believe in me, there is a place for you
55:16
here in the Endless Garden. It's a peaceful place and once
55:22
you pass over here permanently, it will be teeming with many
55:27
people from many ages who have believed in me and belong here
55:31
in the garden. We could set you up with a
55:34
little house surrounded by flowers, by a lake, whatever you
55:39
want, by a Creek. There are birds here that live
55:42
and die. Life would be peaceful here if
55:45
you chose to stay here permanently.
55:48
Yeah, I consider that. And that makes me decide my
55:51
final question, which is I have to know, are my parents?
55:56
Are they dead? Because you said there were
55:59
somewhere else where souls are that mortals find it difficult
56:02
to go, but does that mean they're dead?
56:04
Like, are they gone forever? They're not dead, but they're
56:11
not fully alive. They're somewhere in between,
56:18
but they are on the Material plane, they are on Exumoria.
56:23
And before you leave and you start to kind of see that things
56:27
start to get a little hazy. Yeah, as that's happening, I say
56:30
one more thing. I'm like wait, wait, I have more
56:32
questions. Was was this?
56:35
Listen, Abe, Abe, Abe, as you leave, I'm going to tell you
56:40
something now. Oh, thank you.
56:42
I'm going to tell you something quite important, but I believe
56:47
even if you don't choose to be a follower of Silvira, I want this
56:52
information to be out there. Wait, I'm, I'm leaving.
56:56
I thought we just talked. About it seems as if someone is
57:00
trying to bring you back. She lifts 2 new flowers from the
57:04
soil, and this time they're different. 1 is a bright red
57:07
poppy, open and vibrant, and the other is a thin pale moon
57:11
flower, already collapsing on itself.
57:15
You learned about one of my sisters, this Mira.
57:20
I know we may not look alike to you mortal, but my sisters and I
57:25
were created at the same time, so long ago I don't even
57:30
remember how. Not all of us gods are related
57:34
to each other, but thus Mira is my youngest sister, and I was
57:38
the oldest. Thus Mira, you know she was the
57:41
one mortals worshipped in the Rebellion Empire.
57:45
The Moonflower shrivels completely, but there was a
57:49
middle sister. She was never a goddess, not
57:54
truly. She was something else, a
57:58
convergence of ideas. She's everything and nothing all
58:03
at once. No body or form on the material
58:07
plane, but only concepts strong enough to shape her.
58:11
Somewhere out there, the dead flower twitches as Silvira looks
58:16
upwards. The strongest idea was in the
58:20
Rebellion Empire. It was immortality.
58:24
And the moonflower slowly begins to bloom again.
58:27
She grew jealous. The Rebellion people prayed to
58:30
the Samira, but my middle sister believes she should be
58:34
worshipped. She was the embodiment of the
58:36
idea they cared about most. She wanted devotion, but that's
58:42
hard to do when you have no name.
58:44
Sylvia presses a finger into the soil.
58:47
So she sent an emissary. She tore off a part of her and
58:53
put it on the material plane, and she sent them to the monks
58:57
of the Astral Selves. She glances at you.
59:01
Monks are interesting. They do not ask gods for power.
59:06
They look inward into their souls.
59:10
Her gaze sharpened slightly, and that's what made them easy to
59:13
convince. The red poppy begins to blacken.
59:17
The belongs believed she could help them reach transcendence,
59:21
immortality. But my middle sister could not
59:24
grant life without end. That belongs to me, the cycle to
59:28
me, to decay, to renewal. So my sister corrupted the idea,
59:33
and the poppy Withers completely.
59:36
What she offered was something else.
59:38
Souls that never leave, souls that cannot return to the soil,
59:43
souls that continue after death, but not in the shape that should
59:46
exist. Sylvira watches both flowers. 1
59:50
revives. The other dies again and again
59:55
and again. Finally, she sighs softly.
59:59
It's a very ugly kind of immortality.
1:00:02
You carry it with you in ways you do not yet understand.
1:00:06
She reaches out and presses the poppy and the moonflower into
1:00:09
your hands. For now, try not to fight the
1:00:13
garden. Her eyes drift across the
1:00:15
endless terrace of blooming plants.
1:00:18
You may return here eventually. There is beauty in falling
1:00:22
petals, and at this point everything begins to whiten
1:00:26
around you. The garden blurs, leaves
1:00:29
dissolve into light, and Sylvira's voice becomes distant.
1:00:33
You should go on, they're calling you back and tell your
1:00:38
little friend that his mother is waiting for him and white light
1:00:43
floods everything. Sound returns and pain slams
1:00:47
back into your chest as breath fills your lungs and you're
1:00:50
lying on the floor of the arena, back to life.
1:00:54
Hey, babe. I sit up.
1:00:56
You're back. Oh, thank.
1:00:57
Thank the gods. And Drummond is Drummond is
1:01:00
still making his speech. Did we win and?
1:01:02
As you can see here, Abe is back to laugh.
1:01:06
And I care about the people of this village, even if they do
1:01:11
not live here, even if they are guests, I care.
1:01:14
I turn to where cluart is and I start to charge.
1:01:18
Hold Abe down. Yeah, yeah.
1:01:20
Hold Abe. Just Full disclosure, I came out
1:01:22
of this thinking we're still the.
1:01:23
He's that one HP. You have one HP.
1:01:28
Got one thing on my mind. Easy man, easy.
1:01:32
And I start to heal you up using some of my magic.
1:01:35
Yeah, the memories of the conversation also start to flood
1:01:38
back in as well as like, what just happened.
1:01:41
Yeah, I'm, I'm a little reeling. So while that happens, Bo, you
1:01:47
are going to roll a persuasion check for your speech pro
1:01:50
Peshwari and I'm going to roll one for pro Cluward and I'm
1:01:55
going to roll one for pro Drummond.
1:01:58
And we are going to see how the crowd is reacting to everyone's
1:02:02
speech. I.
1:02:03
Believe I have it marked down that I still have a luck point
1:02:06
so I'm going to use that. OK.
1:02:09
His persuasion. Yep, all.
1:02:12
Right. Cool, that'll be an 18 for me.
1:02:19
The crowd looks at Clayward, narrowing their eyes a little
1:02:24
bit. They do not seem to agree with
1:02:27
what he said. OK, I'll take that.
1:02:29
But they look at Drummond and they look at you, and both of
1:02:33
you got an 18 on your die. Oh my God.
1:02:37
And it seems like maybe the crowd is split now between
1:02:42
Peshwari and Drummond. Peshwari, you you said this
1:02:45
incredible speech, but Drummond got out there and saved Abe's
1:02:48
life. That makes that makes sense.
1:02:51
And with that, the announcer goes, well, everyone.
1:02:55
What an incredible fight. I guess the winners are the
1:03:00
sibling mages with 2000 gold pieces, and the sibling majors
1:03:05
are kind of standing there also unsure about what just happened.
1:03:11
The crowd starts to murmur and everyone just kind of leaves
1:03:16
unceremoniously, just kind of going back to their own places
1:03:22
and there is a lull across everything based off of what has
1:03:25
happened. And Drummond turns to you guys
1:03:28
and goes, well, would you guys like to head back to my place?
1:03:33
I think there are some things maybe we should talk about.
1:03:36
Do you want me to like, stay somewhere else?
1:03:38
I I understand if it's awkward. Bo Bo, I, I, you spoke your mind
1:03:44
and I respect you for that. But I think there are some
1:03:48
things maybe we can still talk about.
1:03:51
So let's head back to my place right now, OK?
1:03:55
Thank you. Of course, Bo, I do.
1:03:58
I gesture at him and the cleric. Thank you.
1:04:01
The cleric goes, I just got a lot of money for this, so I'm
1:04:05
just in it for the money and kind of hey.
1:04:08
Man, do you? Hey, thanks.
1:04:12
I guess honestly, you could have given it like another minute or
1:04:15
so 'cause I was talking to Sylvira.
1:04:18
Well, in another minute or so, you're dead.
1:04:21
So. I mean, I was dead.
1:04:22
This only works one minute after you die.
1:04:25
Well, you're dead forever. Forever.
1:04:27
OK, OK, OK. So well, thank you.
1:04:30
Is this dream rules where now that Abe has woken up he has to
1:04:33
write everything down? So I.
1:04:35
I literally as we're doing this, I shake his hand.
1:04:37
I pull out my notebook. I've been typing the notes from
1:04:40
the conversation, but I'm going to start writing down what
1:04:43
happened OK as we walk. And I'm assuming you're just
1:04:46
writing it out loud so we hear my.
1:04:48
Parents are not dead. They are in.
1:04:50
Are you saying it in front of Drummond also?
1:04:52
Smira was Sylvira's sister. Are you saying this in front of
1:04:55
Drummond? I can Avni, can I keep casting
1:04:58
the message cantrip so that he thinks he's saying it out loud?
1:05:02
No, he's gonna be he's gonna be talking out loud if he decides
1:05:05
to write. I'll hold off on writing.
1:05:07
OK, as you exit the arena right now, someone, one of the
1:05:12
officials turns to you and goes. I was really hoping you guys
1:05:16
would win. Let's see.
1:05:18
So you won that one. You won that one.
1:05:21
OK, 700 gold pieces for you guys.
1:05:24
Oh. Thank you.
1:05:25
Of course. Thank you.
1:05:27
Yeah. And you guys are walking over to
1:05:30
Drummond's place. And Abe, you kind of, you put
1:05:35
your hands in your pocket to check for your notebook, to
1:05:38
check for your calligraphers tool, and you feel something in
1:05:41
them. And you pull your hands out of
1:05:43
your pocket and in one hand is a bright red poppy and the other
1:05:48
hand is a dead moonflower. And as you watch, the moonflower
1:05:54
slowly begins to bloom and the poppy slowly begins to crumble.
1:05:58
And then they both disappear. Huh.
1:06:03
Well, Drummond says as he takes you back to his place.
1:06:07
First off, before we have our conversation, I think it would
1:06:11
be best if you guys took a shower, cleaned up a little bit
1:06:16
and took a little short rest and then meet me in the lounge where
1:06:21
we can have our conversation. How does that sound?
1:06:24
Yeah, sounds good. I'm like out of it, clearly
1:06:27
thinking, pondering as I walk up to with you guys to our rooms.
1:06:32
Hey, are you, are you OK? Yeah.
1:06:37
Well, Bunty, Yeah. Are you good, little guy?
1:06:40
I was so scared. His eyes are like red and puffy
1:06:45
all around it. I.
1:06:46
Was so scared that my brother was dead forever.
1:06:49
I thought, you know, if you're dead, what am I supposed to do
1:06:54
with my life? I don't like these two as much
1:06:56
as I like you. No offense you guys, but like, I
1:07:00
don't know, I got so scared. You're my only family, I mean.
1:07:05
I just give him a hug. I interrupt him and I give him a
1:07:08
hug. I say I was scared too.
1:07:10
He starts crying again. I love you so much.
1:07:13
And he starts kissing you and it's so wet.
1:07:16
It's just so fucking. I love you too, Bunty, but stop
1:07:19
kissing me. And then I put him down.
1:07:21
Next time I'll only stop kissing you if we promise not to die,
1:07:25
OK? But if you are going to keep
1:07:27
dying, then I'm going to keep kissing you.
1:07:29
Yeah. Guys, I met God.
1:07:33
One of them, at least. Yeah, I think we have to unpack
1:07:37
that. Yeah.
1:07:39
Yeah, you said you met Sylvira. I met I met Sylvira, my parents
1:07:43
are not dead. And she also just did like very
1:07:47
quick things. And I'm now I have my journal
1:07:49
out and I'm writing these things down.
1:07:51
She also said that the imperator is not like maybe, maybe not
1:07:55
like the worst guy. I mean, he's done a lot of bad
1:07:58
things according to her and according to us, but like, and,
1:08:01
and she also said it would be, it's an honorable thing to seek
1:08:04
him out and take him out. So maybe our pact still stands,
1:08:07
but also maybe maybe he's not the one we're looking for.
1:08:11
I don't know. I'm a little confused.
1:08:14
What do you mean the one we're looking for?
1:08:15
I'm not really sure she it was, she was kind of vague and I feel
1:08:19
like that's probably how all gods are.
1:08:20
Also Thesmira, Sylvira's sister. Did you know that bond?
1:08:24
No. Yeah, and they had a third
1:08:27
sister who doesn't have a name and she was jealous and she and
1:08:31
she also Virelian shards worship this Mira, Did you know that?
1:08:36
I mean, I kind of was was. Putting it together.
1:08:39
Putting the Med together, But no, that's incredible.
1:08:43
And and oh also Bunty, is your mom still Vera?
1:08:47
No, I don't think so. She like heavily implied that.
1:08:52
I don't, Azovni, I don't. I think she said she wasn't the
1:08:56
one who gave you the ritual. Yes, but then she said say hi to
1:08:59
my boy. So I was.
1:09:00
Confused. No, she she said.
1:09:02
Tell your little friend that his mother is waiting for him.
1:09:06
Oh, OK, I see. Which is not necessarily her.
1:09:10
I don't think Sylvia is my mommy.
1:09:12
I remember my mommy not being green and not having golden
1:09:17
hair. I remember her being.
1:09:22
Without form. Yeah, like.
1:09:25
Nothing. Yeah, yeah, like total
1:09:28
blackness. OK, so the unnamed third sister
1:09:31
is Bunty's mother. OK?
1:09:32
And that's where it came from. And it makes sense why it's
1:09:35
similar to like. Celine.
1:09:36
Well, I call her mommy. OK.
1:09:38
Bunty. You guys can call her mommy if
1:09:40
you want. No, I don't think we need to do
1:09:42
that. Well, I think it's, Bunty said.
1:09:47
He was a gift from the void, right?
1:09:49
So should we call her like void mommy or something?
1:09:52
We. Could call her I.
1:09:54
Like that void mommy. Oh, also really important, the
1:10:00
Imperator is not immortal. Oh, he can be killed, huh?
1:10:03
OK. OK.
1:10:04
Well, that's good to know. Yeah.
1:10:06
OK, also we should seek out the way of the astral self monks.
1:10:10
There's a lot of things to do, guys.
1:10:12
And then I pull. I'm like but.
1:10:13
Also, this is this is good information.
1:10:15
You should. You should die more often.
1:10:21
I'm just kidding. Please don't ever do that again.
1:10:23
Yeah. And then?
1:10:24
I I come, I wanna give you guys hugs, so I pull you in.
1:10:27
That was pretty scary. Yeah.
1:10:29
I'm going for a big hug. I'm glad that you you're back.
1:10:33
Me too that. Was pretty scary.
1:10:36
Yeah, just it honestly didn't seem fair, so I'm glad I'm back
1:10:40
too. I mean, I guess this could be a
1:10:42
lot worse. I think we've might have done a
1:10:45
blow to Cluard. Yeah, what happened?
1:10:47
So you guys like, how did the fight end?
1:10:49
I don't know. I was knocked out.
1:10:51
I was like kind of full of emotion and stuff from you dying
1:10:54
and everything. So I kind of surrendered and and
1:10:59
told everybody not to vote for Cluard because he's cruel and
1:11:04
stuff, but also not to vote for Drummond and just to vote for
1:11:08
Peshwari instead. So I might have fucked over our
1:11:10
chances of finding out where that horde is.
1:11:14
However, I think I think there might be a chance we can get
1:11:17
Drummond and Peshwari to work together, maybe, hopefully.
1:11:23
Nice job. I wouldn't say it was a nice
1:11:26
job. Bo, you, you did the right
1:11:28
thing. I can't believe Abe died.
1:11:33
Yeah. You had no other choice.
1:11:37
Thank you. Thank you for stopping me.
1:11:38
Yeah, and honestly, maybe this goes to show that I shouldn't
1:11:41
kill everyone that I am in combat with because it could end
1:11:45
up with me getting killed. Yeah, that's probably.
1:11:48
You know, if there's any lesson to pull from it other than all
1:11:51
of the other useful shit that you've learned in in the process
1:11:54
of death is probably that. Yeah, killing people?
1:11:58
Not good. Not always the way to go.
1:12:01
I should have listened to you guys on that one, but I'm glad
1:12:03
I'm back. Can I do some sort of like
1:12:07
religion check as Abe is describing the story of his
1:12:12
conversation and just sort of like a general religion check I
1:12:15
guess? What are you exactly trying to
1:12:19
do with this religion check? I guess I'm trying to gain a bit
1:12:22
more information or connection to this Mira through this sort
1:12:26
of information. OK.
1:12:30
There's a 15 on the dice +7, so 22.
1:12:33
Great. Are you guys in one of your
1:12:35
rooms? I would imagine we're in Abe's
1:12:37
room. OK, you're in Abe's room right
1:12:39
now and the window is cracked slightly to let the air flow
1:12:44
through As you're hearing Abe's story and as you're thinking
1:12:50
about this Mira, a gentle wind blows through and ruffles your
1:12:55
hair a little bit and it feels very comforting.
1:13:00
It feels like this Mira is signaling to you that this is
1:13:05
all true. Yes, she is my sister.
1:13:07
Yes, I am the youngest sister. All of this is true statements,
1:13:13
and as the wind ruffles your hair, you get this sense of
1:13:20
dread when Abe starts talking about the unnamed middle sister.
1:13:26
Yes, Void Mommy. Void Mommy.
1:13:28
As Abe talks about Void Mommy, the wind kind of knots your hair
1:13:33
up a little bit in the back. It's going to be a bitch to
1:13:37
brush through. Oh.
1:13:38
No. It kind of makes you feel like
1:13:42
unwell when he talks about void mommy, but confirmation that
1:13:47
what Abe is saying it from Silvira is true.
1:13:51
OK. Cool.
1:13:52
I assume each of you wants to go shower up in your room.
1:13:55
Yeah, Get ready. OK.
1:13:57
Do any of you want to do anything as you shower and take
1:14:01
your short rest? I'm going to reflect on the
1:14:05
conversation and think of part of me is also a little As much
1:14:09
as I miss Monty, I'm a little unsure because if the unnamed
1:14:16
sister was who created him, I don't know.
1:14:18
It's just that feeling of uncertainty as I'm getting ready
1:14:22
and cleaning up. Definitely.
1:14:25
You guys take your long hot showers.
1:14:29
You see that Drummond has given you some.
1:14:33
He he gets one of his workers to deliver you guys some clean,
1:14:38
comfy clothes, sweatpants and a sweatshirt that says Drummond's
1:14:44
crew across the sweatshirt. And you guys throw them on and
1:14:50
make your way down to the lounge.
1:14:52
And that's where we're going to end this episode.
1:14:55
Oh my. God.
1:14:58
It's an intense 1. Drummond definitely tried to
1:15:00
have an entourage at one point and it fell through, but he
1:15:03
still has the merch. Oh yeah, you can tell.
1:15:05
These weren't made for you. These weren't made for you.
1:15:08
They were made somewhere in the past.
1:15:10
They. Got they all got like nicknames
1:15:12
embroidered on them it. Was supposed to be the rival to
1:15:15
the quid word protection process.
1:15:19
Yeah, it says yeah, opposite of the CVP.
1:15:22
You could tell these were like his bar mitzvah sweatshirt type
1:15:24
things. Oh.
1:15:25
Man. Yeah.
1:15:27
Wow. I can't believe you had died.
1:15:29
I know I was in shock. As good as as good as the Void
1:15:34
Mommy is, the Void Mother is another really great game to be
1:15:39
calling this person future. I just wrote down the void, to
1:15:43
be honest, but I'll, I'll write down void mother.
1:15:45
Damn. Yeah, awesome.
1:15:48
Oh my God. That was awful.
1:15:51
I mean, it was great, but it was awful.
1:15:53
Well, I was so. Stressful.
1:15:55
I'll be honest. Like, I didn't know Abe was
1:15:58
gonna necessarily confirm to Cluard right there and then that
1:16:01
he was the one who killed Cluard's son.
1:16:03
And I was like, well, he did. So it feels only right that
1:16:07
Cluard would target him. And honestly, like at the
1:16:11
beginning of that, I went into the fight and I mentioned I
1:16:13
think in game that strategy was to have him focused on me, but I
1:16:17
didn't realize he had so many attacks for everyone else as
1:16:20
well that it didn't really. Matter he also just he kept
1:16:23
getting his attacks packed yeah he like every.
1:16:26
Only only twice I think. Yeah.
1:16:29
No way he hit three times at least with those things anyway.
1:16:35
Oh my God. I still have the the last role,
1:16:38
the three. Yeah, yeah.
1:16:43
The dice giveth and the dice. I know for for all my dice
1:16:46
haters, this time it really came to bite me in the ass.
1:16:51
Hey, I honestly think it worked out well story wise.
1:16:54
Yeah, in hindsight, I mean, there, there have to be
1:16:57
consequences. And I honestly, I appreciate
1:17:00
that the clerk brought me back. I didn't know if that was going
1:17:02
to happen like right away this session, but also fair enough.
1:17:06
Makes sense? I loved, I loved you meeting a
1:17:09
God and immediately just being like, wait, I have 5.
1:17:12
Questions. Yeah, I actually have so many
1:17:14
things let. Me ask 3 followers question.
1:17:17
She's just like. This is only a minor question.
1:17:19
Part wisdom on you. You're like 2-2 smaller
1:17:22
questions and three larger questions.
1:17:26
In a weird way, I think it's kind of fun that we have a loss
1:17:29
under our belt, too. Yeah, yeah, as gladiators.
1:17:32
My God though, 4000 gold would have been nice.
1:17:35
Yeah, 4000 gold would have slapped.
1:17:37
I think the last episode I said that this was the episode that
1:17:40
it was gonna die. You were right.
1:17:42
You were right. I think I you you deflect also
1:17:46
you didn't use deflect attack a single time I guess.
1:17:49
You couldn't. He couldn't.
1:17:51
He couldn't the 2. Times the reaction.
1:17:52
Was gone. Yeah.
1:17:53
Oh. Fuck the both times that I
1:17:55
could. His reaction was gone.
1:17:57
Oh, sorry. I mean, it was effective.
1:18:00
Like I said, that attack was designed to nullify a monk, so
1:18:03
that was very well done. In my head I was thinking with
1:18:06
the 2 with the legendary action and then the area of effect the
1:18:10
saves our wisdom index, right? Yeah, they're pretty much up
1:18:14
Abe's alley. So yes, there is a, there's a
1:18:17
chance that he fails, but he just got you just got bodied,
1:18:21
unfortunately. Sorry.
1:18:23
Yeah, I also because he kept getting hit with them.
1:18:27
I had to stay within 30 feet to be able to impose disadvantage
1:18:31
with my thing. Fuck, is that why you?
1:18:33
My range was 30 feet, Yeah, otherwise I would have left.
1:18:36
I was like, Abe's going to get smacked.
1:18:39
I was like, in my head, I was like, Bond, fucking leave, dude.
1:18:45
I maybe if you hadn't done that I would have backed up but.
1:18:48
Oh man. The warding flame is 30 feet.
1:18:50
Well, now we know if you like the podcast, make sure to follow
1:18:55
and rate US on Spotify or Apple Music or join us on our social
1:18:59
media for updates, official art and more.
1:19:02
We are on Instagram at Smooth Critical podcast and Blue Sky at
1:19:06
Smooth Critical. OK, well this was a very fun
1:19:09
episode, even if it wasn't how honestly any of us thought it
1:19:13
was going to go down. But I had a very fun time with
1:19:17
you guys and I can't wait for next time.
1:19:20
Bye. Bye.