Caught Between

This transcript is machine-generated and may contain errors in names, terminology, or attribution.

[clink] [clink] Pickaxe. Coming to Apple TV+ on August 9th. You're the Marine? Yeah, you're the ex-con. Yeah, I did time, but you don't gotta cast aspersions at me. From the director of Mr. and Mrs. Smith and The Bourne Identity comes a new film. It's your first job? I know what I'm doing. It's a little late for a crit change. Starring Matt Damon. Everybody in New England is after us. And Casey Affleck. Go, go, go, go, go! What are you doing? Taking notes. Taking notes on a criminal conspiracy. The Instigators, rated R. Streaming August 9th on Apple TV+. This summer, during the biggest sporting event of the year, Peacock turns to two broadcasting legends for the Olympics coverage you can't find anywhere else.

Um, I think they mean us. Oh, s***. Um... [clears throat] With an incredible duo sure to take home the comedy gold. Olympic Highlights with Kevin Hart and Kenan Thompson. New episodes Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Only on Peacock. Episode 123 of the DNR Podcast is brought to you in part today by Noble Knight Games. Guys, if you go to Nobleknight.com, you can find over 50,000 different products to help out with your game night. Or if you're just kind of a hoarder and collector like myself. They have CCGs, RPGs, full-on booklets for games that have long since gone out of print.

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If you're into Legend of Zelda. And there's even an awesome little hardcover book. I don't want to get into it because people are still getting their crates like just now. They're just going out today as I'm recording this. So, I don't want to spoil a bunch of stuff, but it is a really neat nerd Christmas thing to kind of get in the mail. You don't know exactly what's going to be in it, but you kind of got a theme, a general idea. So it's kind of like a gift you send to yourself each month, and it's actually a really cool thing. So go to LootCrate.com/dandr and check it out.

And one more thing before we get to today's show. We've been talking about Dark Legacy, the Dragon Epoch on Kickstarter. We talked to Brian Tillman. We had a little interview with him a couple of episodes back. Really nice guy. Well, his campaign just got funded, so now it's all about stretch goals. So if you were on the fence, if you were just kind of thinking about it, please go check it out and hop on board before it closes out. It's only got about a week left to go, so check it out and let us know what you think of it. Let's do that thing regarding the table and introduce ourselves.

I'm Jason, I'm the Dungeon Master, starting with... let's start with Lisa. Hey, I'm Lisa and I play Elorath Beestinger, the halfling barbarian. And Loran. Hi, I'm Loran and I play Cole Dualfang, the long-toothed shifter druid. And Kira. I'm Kira, I play Ingrid Pike, the gnome sorcerer. And Valerie. Hi, I'm Valerie and I play Sore Greywing, the halfling ranger. So guys, last time you cleared the Divide, you're done with all that, and you are moving on, you made camp with the ravens. Thank God. Yeah, I... We didn't die. Nope, you did not die. In fact, you saved someone's life.

Narrowly. Yeah, narrowly, but you did it. No, no, no, we're counting... we're counting that as a win. Fair enough. So you did end up saving someone's life, you got them out of the woods, carried them with you, and then you made camp with the ravens. Obviously, Don Hurst that night was not an option. They have been locked down. You've been told that they've been locked down now for a little over a week because of the whole situation with the orcs. Travelers aren't really allowed in or out right now. So let's pick up the next morning here. You guys are packing up.

You said that you were going to get ready and take off and continue your journey toward Lockfort. You still have a long ways to go. What would you like to do here? Could I check on Shanala, aka ShanayNay, about the hunter? Sure. So this guy is still kind of lying by the campfire here. It's been a thing where they've kept an eye on him all night. So it appears as though his fever broke. Like he was sweating pretty profusely. But he looks to be resting a lot more comfortably now than when you first got there. His bandages have been changed. The bleeding has pretty much stopped.

So they've taken pretty good care. Shanala would still be lying near the fire. Not asleep, just sort of lying down. Kind of shallowly resting next to this guy. Is he conscious? No. Okay. No, no, not yet. Alright. Yeah, that'll be awesome for too much. And you said she was resting. Just sort of laying back. Okay, so she's awake. Yeah. Okay. Is she sitting? Lying back, but yeah, she's just kind of propped up. Okay. I'm going to stand next to her and overlook the hunter. How was he last night? He seems to be more comfortable now than he was when he first got here. I think he'll be fine.

In a few days rest he might even wake up. My party and I, we're probably going to head out today. Do you mind him staying? He's in no shape to travel. We figured he'd be staying with us. We'll send word to the other ravens and let them know what's going on. Right. About that, do you have one? Yeah. Yeah. Okay. We may need to send a message to Brianna about Evelyn and Aaron. We figured that too. Any message you have to send, just give it to us and we'll send it right away. Alright. As he's about to leave the tent, he's going to stop himself and go, "How do you guys handle breakfast here?" There's a chest full of dried meats.

That's the extent of luxury you're going to find. That's fine. Thank you. And then he's going to leave and head back to everybody else. Everyone else pretty much getting ready? Yep. I'm going to be getting my stuff together, getting myself ready to go. So it's a fairly short trip back to the road. These ravens obviously would wish you luck and make sure that your rations are fully supplied. You guys have food and water. You're in as good a shape as you can possibly be in to get ready and hit the road again. And though it was a short reprieve, it was nice to kind of lay your head down and know that someone's got your back in case there's something going to attack you in the middle of the night.

Or just making sure that you guys didn't have to stand guard. You can all just sort of relax for at least one evening. It's kind of nice to get that. But unfortunately, it's time to toss that aside and get back to your little journey here. So they're going to wish you luck and it's a fairly short journey back to the road. Now the way this is set up, the road itself, obviously you can continue heading east and that is eventually going to take you to Lockford. Or you can head west and that will take you back toward Donhurst. You're a pretty short distance away from Donhurst, but again their gates have been locked.

Do we think they might be open during the day or are they keeping them locked all the time? Well the way it was worded, Roland pretty much said that they've been on lockdown for a week. That's day or night. It's not like a Lockford situation where they're just trying to guard themselves at night. Because orcs don't care what time of day it is. Can we just like knock on the gate? We could give it another shot. You sure can. Yeah, if it's daytime there might actually be somebody awake. Yeah. So you are going to get ready and start heading west again then. Do me a favor everyone and roll Perception.

Wow, okay. Collectively we perceive nothing. Well no, that's not entirely true. Soar, Cole, and Elorath are going to see a figure in the road. Ingrid is going to be distracted by the beautiful sunrise in the area this morning. Just wisp on along. Yeah, it's simply gorgeous. But yeah, there's going to be a figure in the road coming up that appears to be walking toward you all. Are we doing the Bronat again? I think we should do it again. What are you all talking about? Have you seen the sunrise? It's beautiful. Unlike the last time I was a male tiefling and a bunch of people, this is a lone figure.

Appears to be female. Pretty heavily armored. So it could be a town guard situation, could just be one lone person walking. You're not exactly sure yet. Can we tell like, human, elf? Human. Okay. Have I seen this person yet? I would see the party would eventually be like, "Hey, check it out." We could say, "Hi, I have really high diplomacy, and there's just the one." That's what I was thinking. I was like, "There's just the one. Hopefully." Ambush. Yeah. So Ingrid's just going to wave. She's just like singing, "Oh, what a beautiful morning." I hope I get a plus two on all my rolls today.

Oh yeah. It was such a nice day last time. Karen? Yeah. Sorry. I wasn't sure when to jump in. No, no, no, no. That would be you. Yeah. I mean, she will see you wave, and she'll just keep walking towards you until she got directly in front of you. And she'll ask, "Were you guys the group that was at the gate last night?" Yes. Who's asking? My name is Josephine, and she'll reach out to shake whoever's hand. Ingrid. Hi. Okay. Hi. Everyone calls me Joe, so do that, please. You guys are traveling away? We're headed towards Lockford eventually. Eventually. Like right now?

Well, right now we're heading back to Dawnhurst to see if they'll let us in. But then we're planning on heading towards Lockford. I mean, Dawnhurst has been closed up for almost a little over a week. I don't see them letting you in. So they let you out, but they wouldn't let us in? I wouldn't exactly say that they let me out. I left. Why? I was on my way east when they closed the gates, and I have been waiting for a group to come along, or somebody to come along, so that I could continue my journey because I need to go check on a few people. Being stuck inside that city hasn't really helped me in that mission.

How did you get out? So I scaled the wall, but I don't think that's a way back in. You have to time it just right, otherwise the guards catch you. So what you're saying is that there's no reason why we're heading in this direction? I mean, I don't see them opening the door for you. They haven't opened the door for anyone in or out. I look at Ingrid with an annoyed look on my face. Well, we can certainly still try, but I guess we probably shouldn't expect much out of it. You guys don't mind if I come with you to Lockford, right? I could pay you. It's not safe to travel the roads alone, and this is my opportunity to get out, so I'm in a little bit of a pickle here.

Ingrid's going to assess Joe, give her a look, and be like, "Do you have anything to offer? Would you be able to assist us? Would you be helpful, or are you going to be a liability?" I mean, she'll hold up her mace and she'll show off her shield that she has on her back. I can fight, and I'm really good at healing people if you guys need some assistance in that area. And Ingrid's going to give Cole a little look and say, "It sounds like you would be a good person to have along." So, who would like to be the one that rolls a flat d20 for me? I think Karen should be the one.

I was going to say, I think Karen should be the one. So we can see how her luck with the party is going to be. Okay. Now, the sunrise was quite beautiful. It was not red at all. So does that mean that the day will probably be just as beautiful? Oh wow. Nope. Thanks, Karen. Nope. I rolled it once and it didn't land on the table and it landed on an eight. So... On an eight? Grasping at straws. So instead of that five, it's a seven, right, Jason? No. God dammit. That's a five from where I'm sitting. I should have rolled that 19 earlier. That's nature's way of punishing you for never doing a stinger.

Oh, I thought that's why you were making her do the 20. Punishing her, right? Not us. We'll see. These monsters are oddly just attracted to maces. It's the weirdest thing. It's crazy. It's like she's got catnip on. Crazy random happenstance. So let's just put that five in the back pocket right now. We're not going to need it right this second. You guys are going to travel down this road for a while and you're traveling east. There's one main road here, but it does branch off and it is totally up to you if you want to take the... You know, just take a path off and explore or whatever, or if you're just trying to get as far down the road as you possibly can before nightfall.

But no matter what you choose along the way, you guys can chit-chat and kind of get to know each other. You just kind of accepted someone new into your party, at least for the interim. So feel free to do that and I'm going to leave you to it until you get to a certain point in the road. I had a question about this side path. Does it look particularly ominous? No more ominous than any of the other roads. Honestly, it's just little off the beaten path type of things. There's some stuff that leads to farms and fields. Just like when you're on the main road somewhere, there'll be little dirt paths and things that you can take.

Not straight up axe murder territory, chainsaws swinging from the tree branches or anything like that. Like the fucking fork in the road from Beauty and the Beast. That's what I was thinking. So no, no, no. This is just little like you. There'll be paths that lead into the woods. Now honestly, what you're coming up on is there's a gap between the blistering peaks and the hazel mountains. Now in between that is a place called Dragon's Reach. And after you get past that, you're pretty much going to hit the Silver Glade proper. Excellent. Actually, this is a really rough part.

Next to the Divide, which is pretty much the most dangerous stretch of land that divides the east and west because of all the orc activity and all the stuff, the bandits and stuff in the Deadwood and the Pyre Forest. The gap between the blistering peaks, hazel mountains, and then you're going to go between two forests. And that's Bandit's Rest and the Silver Glade. Both very dangerous for completely different reasons. So what does Josephine look like? I mean, not anything special. She's just wearing like basic chainmail armor and she's about like 5'7", 5'8"ish.

She has pretty long, like a dark auburn hair, but she keeps it like up all tied up tight on top of her head. And then she's just got blue eyes. That was... Hot. Okay, sure. Would she give me a piggyback ride if I asked? Yes. Okay. She's excellent. She's pretty friendly, so... You can just sit on her shoulders and she can grab your tiny little gnome feet just like, "Yay!" Exactly! That's a good friend because that's like another 40 pounds or so. I mean, she's strong enough for that chainmail, so... Training weight. Yeah! Do some lunges. It's arms day, whatever. So, as we're walking, Ingrid's going to ask, you know, "So where exactly are you headed to?" Nowhere in particular.

I have some friends that I was gonna go check in with. And I, you know, I got stuck in Donhurst when they closed the doors, so I'm a little late to meet up with them, but... Just kind of... I just kind of like to travel around and make sure my friends are okay. Where are your friends located? All around. Like, I have friends in multiple cities and towns and... I just... Like I said, I just like to travel around and make sure that everything's going good for them. Like to check in. I see. How vague was that? I'm sorry. Do you know anyone in Lockford? I don't. I don't know anyone in Lockford.

That's too bad. I was really hoping... Have you been to Lockford recently? No. It's been a while. I kind of do a circular path through. We're supposed to be heading there, and all we hear makes it sound like it is not a very pleasant... Well, I was going to say makes it sound like we probably shouldn't be calculating our odds of survival is very high. I was hoping maybe you might have something to say to the contrary. I mean, I've traveled through Lockford before, but I've never stayed. So I'm not sure exactly how things are there. Okay. Well, still, if you're a healer, that can only help.

And you guys, you're actually going to Lockford? Yes. We're with the White Ravens. They've wanted us to do some reconnaissance on Lockford. They've already lost two parties there, and we're supposed to check it out. See if any of them are still alive. But only see. White Ravens, huh? White Ravens. I didn't realize that they were sending groups out this way. I thought most of them were by Overwatch. Most of them are, but they're... Well, now they're trying to secure more areas of Theria and help some of the parts that are not doing very well. So they're trying to spread out.

That's good. There's places that really need help. Yeah, there really are. And most of us, that's why we signed up. We haven't had a lot of luck so far, though. So maybe you're a good sign. Maybe. Ingrid's just going to Smiler, though, and since that was meant as being friendly. You guys are going to walk along this road for hours. And eventually, the mountain peaks are going to start to come into view. They're going to be a lot closer. And you're going to get to a point. So these two sets of peaks kind of lead into this valley where there's just kind of a...

The road narrows, but it's still super wide. And there's little patches of trees and things. Nothing you'd call a forest, but there's a little cover. Like, light cover sprinkled on either side. Actually, you know what? Do me a favor and roll a history check. All of us? Yeah, please. Okay... Nope. Cool. Sora and Josephine are going to know that this area has had a little bit of a problem with two things. One is there have been some bandit raids and things on merchants. Like, easy pickings type stuff because there's not a ton. It's not like in the Divide where it's a thicker forest that you can hide in.

This is like a smattering of trees. So, you know, under cover of night, you're hiding with some light cover. Or archers can pick off people taking a caravan or a wagon across the mainland and just trying to make their way. The other thing, this area is called Dragon's Reach for a reason. Now, traditionally, there is a moderate amount of dragon activity. Mostly in the Hezon Mountains where the dragonborn live. And this area you'll see them fly through but not really attack anything. They usually pick off wildlife in the mountains or the valleys near the mountains.

Not necessarily the road so much. They won't attack something that's going to attack them back for the most part. They're not that vicious and murderous normally. Unfortunately, recently things have been a little different. I would like everyone to please roll a perception check. Okay. I don't, I don't, I can't. I got a crit! Aww, shit. I got Ingrid! You noticed something! I noticed something! I'm so proud of you! Ingrid, Sora, and Cole are going to hear something in the distance. [roar] They're going to hear the bellow of a dragon. They're going to hear a roar.

And Sora's going to start looking around. And after a couple seconds she's going to find the source of this noise. And ahead on the road in the sky she is going to see a fairly large dragon. This isn't, it doesn't look like it's quite full grown but it is definitely way larger than the ones you've encountered before. There only appears to be one, but it is, it is traveling in your direction. Sora can't tell if it's spotted you yet. Uh, what type of dragon is it? Red. Do we have any cover? Again, just the treeline I was talking about. Like it's very, very light cover.

Red dragons? Strahd was a red dragon, yes? Mm-hmm. Okay. Uh... Try and find cover? Agreed. I assume that we're letting the party know. There is a, there is a big old dragon. There is a dragon. Yeah, I'm gonna look up into the sky. Kind of point at the dragon and say, "We gotta go." Nature check as far as where, uh, where we could possibly like, weigh this out? I mean that's not really so much a nature check, so much as just common sense. Uh, you know, like the only, the only thing you have near you as cover is, uh, Is the treeline. Yeah, the very flammable objects that's, uh, Jesus.

But hopefully it wouldn't be flaming things if it doesn't see us. Right, exactly. That's the hope. Right. Now let's do that. So, you're, you're saying you're gonna make for the treeline? Yes. Alright, do me a favor, everyone roll an athletics check for me. Yeah. I, I can do that. Now unless, unless one of you rolls very poorly, everyone's gonna make it to this treeline. Almost the red! I just want you to know... Now I'm scared. ...that I have a negative one. Sorry, that was the first time I got... Was that okay? Phew, everyone is gonna start taking off for this treeline.

Elarath is going to sprint clean ahead of this party. Uh, and she is, she is booking it like a track star. Hehe. Um, Josephine is not going to be as fast. Uh, actually she is going to lag far behind everyone else. The only person who is, uh, even remotely close to her is Sora. This dragon is going to, uh, be a lot more vocal and sound a lot closer. I mean, if anybody would be looking toward the thing, just booking it in the direction of this treeline. Everyone is going to make it to the treeline except for Josephine. Oh no. Before the dragon is overhead. And then you're going to hear it make a noise.

Everyone except for Josephine, do me a favor, roll a perception check. Almost a crit! Oh my god, that's two! What is with the, what is with the single num- mmm, okay, sure, 19, fine. 19 is not bad, man. Honey, you have a plus 12. Yeah, yeah, yeah, look at the result, not the roll. What are you talking about? I haven't rolled a double digit, like, so far and it's kind of irritating me, but that's fine. I, I- You're the one under cover of trees, just saying. Fair enough, I'm sorry. Hahaha, it's okay. Um, it could be, it could be Josephine's chainmail armor slowing, slowing her down.

Uh, Sora, Elorath, Cole. Yeah, Sora, Elorath, Cole are going to watch this dragon almost halt in midair. It's going to flap its wings in the opposite direction and, uh, hover for just a second and then start to descend toward the ground. Oh no. Uh, rapidly. Do me a favor, Josephine, roll one more athletics check. *gasp* That is an 18, that is much better. This dragon is going to slam into the ground. Uh, and a less hardy warrior would probably be tripped up by the shockwave that, that, that is underneath of her feet as she's running. This appears to be motivation for Josephine though and she is going to book it even faster toward this treeline.

There's, again, a smattering of trees around you and some of them are thick enough that they do offer some pretty decent cover. There's a couple of bushes, uh, none of this is going to be real, uh, real great protection if this dragon really gets a bead on you though. Um, so, this dragon's going to hit the ground. Everyone, do me a favor, roll Perception. Can I do something? Sure, what do you got? Ghost Sound. That's... Okay. That's a bit better. Should we use that just yet or should we see if it just goes away? Well, Ghost Sound would allow me to make a sound that would distract it away from us.

What's the range on it? That is what I'm checking. Okay. Let's see, Josephine is going to rocket behind one of these trees, um, and I, I would think it's like, uh, like, like in a shootout type of thing. Just, Cole, Josephine, like, hiding behind the tree and just eking around the side of it, just kind of like, do you see it? And this dragon is looking in that direction, but you can, you can see it turn its head up a bit and you can hear it sniffing at the air. And I'm going to ask everyone in the party to do me a favor and roll a Stealth check. That I can do.

That I can do. Oh my God. Why, Jason? This dragon is going to continue to sniff the air and start to stomp forward a bit, but it doesn't have a, it doesn't have a clean line of sight on anything. And it's just sort of staking out the, uh, sticking out the area here. And it's going to close the gap a bit. Continuing to sniff the air, continuing to, to scope the place out. Uh, well, after about 30 seconds, he's going to be right on top of the party. Oh no. On the other side of these trees. Let's, let's do a fun thing here. Fun. Yeah, sure. I'm going to say, should I try the ghost sound now?

Oh no, shh. Oh. It can hear you. If you guys don't want me to try it, I won't, but it seemed like an option. What would Ingrid do though? Would Ingrid just go for it? I doubt there'd be much consulting. I was going to say, since Ingrid has no perception, she probably has not noticed that the dragon is even that close. My fucking god. So she, she is like hunkered down. But if, uh, if she would have actually noticed the dragon is that close, she would probably try it. Well, that was, that was before the, the dragon advanced. I would say the entire damn party can hear the thing.

See, I'm definitely going to go with the cow sounding, you know, being distressed and trapped. Fifty feet away. Like it's wounded as far away as possible. I'm guessing the opposite direction to you guys. Yes. Alright. So from behind this dragon, there's kind of a cry. Sounds, sounds like an animal in the throes of death or hurt or perhaps has broken legs, something like that. And this dragon is going to whip around immediately. Like turn its head, still facing, like the body is still facing toward you, but whip its head around, sort of scanning the area.

And there would be bushes and stuff behind you before you get to the road. This dragon is going to stomp back toward that. And it does not take long for this thing to get fifty feet away. But it is honing in on this sound. Now you guys are faced with a choice. You can stay where you are and hope that the dragon loses interest or hope that it just figures you got away. Or you can make a break for it right now and just run further into these trees. Run away! Well, um, like, dragon brains. Like, how smart are they? Are they like dogs? They get distracted and they forget about everything else?

Is it like the T-Rex in Jurassic Park, the first one? Where it's motion sensitive? Yes, it'll only see us if we move. Don't move or I'll bustle. It's not quite like that. They're smarter than dogs. They're not the fully formed creatures that they are in the books. So they're not like shape-shifting, godlike people. What they are are really big scary animals and they're really good at hunting, mostly because of their size. And if something gets in their way, they pretty much either burn it down or rip it out of the ground or whatever. Now with you guys, it will lose interest if it figures it's...

If it can't get a scent or a sight on its prey, if it figures it's like, "Alright, well look." They obviously got away or something. But it's not going to be smart enough to figure, "Oh, they made that sound." It'll just be kind of perplexed for a second, like, "I heard a cow. I'm not seeing that." I was promised a cow, there is no cow. So basically we should stay as still as possible and just hope it loses interest. Yes. Both of these ideas are dicey as shit, but okay. So you're staying put. Yes. Yeah. Making no noise at all. I am not going to make any of you roll a stealth check again.

Aww, you're so nice. What I am going to do... Oh no. ...is roll a flat D20 for this dragon. If it gets as high as your lowest stealth check, it is going to detect you. Oh no. Now this is no modifier. This is just, the dragon's going to get there and realize, "There's no cow." The fuck? And then, well, what was I doing? And then turn back around. Well, the lowest stealth check from the party was an 11. What up? So if we keep the trend of D20s, we'll be fine. Right. This dragon is going to sound very frustrated. It is going to claw and swipe at the bushes and the small trees near where it heard this sound frantically after a few moments.

Because it's getting frustrated. It's like, "Now wait, I know I heard a cow. I am not going crazy." After a few moments, it's going to give up. And it's going to turn its head slowly back toward the treeline. And it's just kind of listening. And it's going to turn its head up again and sniff at the air. And after a few moments, it's just going to frustratingly flap its wings and take back off into the sky. Oh my god. I can't handle this stress. Oh my god, my heart. Oh my goodness. Poor old man heart. [LAUGHTER] Do me a favor, everyone roll a perception check for me.

Oh Jesus Christ. Oh. Dang. A lot of you are pretty frazzled. I really do have the worst perception. I was going to say, a lot of you are pretty frazzled. I'm guessing. That's the excuse. Sora and Cole are going to watch this dragon soar off north into the Hezon Mountains. Very far away from the road. Probably to go find some easier prey. Some actual cows or goats or something. Something that won't put up much of a fight and it's a little slower and could pick it off. I don't want anybody to move. I don't know about you, Cole, but I'm not telling anybody that it's going away until it's far away.

Oh it's far away. It can travel way faster than you guys. So it's totally safe to come out? That's what I'm saying, yeah. It's not going to hear you and spin back around or anything like that. I'm going to look at the party and whisper, "Let's get the fuck out of here." Now. It's gone? Yes, it's gone. Let's get the fuck out of here. Okay, let's do that. She was going to look at Ingrid and say, "So, about that luck you were talking about." We didn't get eaten? We'll call that good luck. Okay. Dude, good call on the cow. That was awesome. I'm just really glad it worked.

I'm guessing you guys are going to continue on toward Lockford? I believe so. Okay, so. The sun is high in the sky now. You guys have been on the road for hours. And you probably got about five, maybe six hours of real daylight left. Which should, if you guys hustled, should put you right outside of the Silverglade. Oh my goodness. Let's get our hustle on, guys. I always appreciate a good hustle. Do we know anything about the Silverglade? Let's roll a history check. That was very game, Shelley. Let's roll a history check. I have a 14. Almost a crit. That is the third one tonight.

Are you serious? Are you serious? I am super serious right now. I get a fucking almost a crit. Really? Am I plus two? Okay. Alright. Okay. Could be worse, man. It could have been worse, yes. You could be in a dragon's belly. Yeah. Or that. That 19. Hey, this is a good time to know about the Silverglade. Yeah, this is a great time to know about the Silverglade. That's perfectly fine. That's, yeah, sure. Okay. Well, let's see here. Elorath and Cole. Let's see. Yeah, Elorath and Cole are going to know more about the Silverglade than anybody else in the party. The Silverglade has had a very long history of violent wildlife.

Now, long before the werewolves, there were groupings of Eladrin that lived in the forest. There were whole clans. There were elves that lived there, too. The elves and Eladrin have both went missing in that area. Now, the Eladrin obviously all over the mainland have either completely vanished or there have been sightings of one or two lone individuals. But the elves are still going strong. The elves in that area have all but disappeared and no one's exactly sure why. There used to be a clan called the Dragonsoul Clan that lived in the Silverglade. Gone.

There are all kinds of things in the Silverglade that can kill you. Chief among them currently are werewolves. They predominantly hunt at night, though if you're in the forest and it's daytime, there is a pretty solid chance you're going to run into one or two. The problem with the werewolves is that they tend to hunt in packs. They are devastatingly strong and fast and have been known to tear whole groups of people apart in minutes. They're expert hunters and trackers. They're pretty much one of the most frightening things on the planet. They do not stop.

Their goal is to surround you, knock you down, and then tear your fucking throat out until you can no longer fight back and then move on to the next person and the next person until there is no fight and then they can just eat. So that's pretty much what you're facing in the Silverglade. Is there a way to bypass the Silverglade? The problem with the area that you're in right now is because you're approaching from the west, your only other option is to give the Silverglade a wide berth and you can sort of follow the river that runs parallel with Bandit's Rest.

Now, that would be another check to see if you know what's in Bandit's Rest. But two things. One, that would take you toward another forest. It would add some time to your journey. And two, you'd be going off the main road. Well, do we want to at least see what we know about Bandit's Rest to make a decision? I can't guarantee another history check from me. Yeah. That is a party full of you. Do I get anything extra for that, Jason? Actually, yeah, I'd give you a plus two to that. Okay. I mean, I'll just roll it, you know. Yeah. I got a 19. Very nice. Okay. Woo hoo, Nat 1.

You want werewolves? I got this werewolf shit. Bandits? What the fuck? Yeah, same here. I've never seen a bandit before in my life. Oh my god, Cole, we both got 19s on that last one and we both got Nat 1s on this. Let's high five. High five. Well, Amber is going to be filling you in on Bandit's Rest. Bandit's Rest got its name because the most reviled and friendless individuals from places like Brightport, mostly Brightport, actually fled into the forest and established their own bandit colonies. Now, it started as a place where it would be a hub for people who would attack merchants on the road, stuff like that.

Now it's become a hub for people just trying to survive because bounty hunting is a very lucrative profession if you don't die. And there are some people in Bandit's Rest worth tens of thousands of gold. The other thing you're going to encounter in Bandit's Rest are slavers. Actually, that is the headquarters of the new vol. That is where they set up camp. Bandit's Rest is a sprawling forest full of mostly people. There isn't a ton of wildlife. A lot of it is hunted, but what you're going to run into a lot is people, which can be dangerous. You can sometimes reason with people at least.

Ingrid's actually going to vote for going towards Bandit's Rest by virtue of the fact that we can reason with people. So you explained everything that Jason said? Yes, I will say everything that Jason has said. I don't know. Bandit's Rest, it still sounds a bit dicey. Silverglade has werewolves. Does anyone in this party have anything silver? Anything. When you put it that way, I guess dealing with knives is better than dealing with bullshit wolves. At least if they're people, we can reason with them, and if we can't reason with them, we have a better chance of fighting them off than we do a werewolf.

That's true. I don't know, what do the rest of you think? It's the better option. I don't know how trustworthy you think that these people are. I mean, I know you say we can try to reason with them, but they're not the most savory of people, you know. They could say that we're okay, or they could not say anything to us, and then turn around and pretty much stab us in the back. You could do that too, we don't know you. Well then, I don't think they're trustworthy, I just think our odds are better of surviving if we're fighting them instead of werewolves.

Plus, if they want to stab us in the back, we just have to make sure that we stab them first. I like the bandits better than the werewolves, for what it's worth. I guess we're going to Bandits Rest then. Yay. Alright. *laughs* Okay, so here's what's going to happen. You guys are going to continue on. Now this means that you are going to head north, just briefly, and that is going to take you off the main path. Going to get to a fairly large river. Now this river is floating, this is going to be channeling south, so it's actually a pretty strong current.

And you're going to get to a place... Do me a favor actually, everyone roll a perception check. Okay. Yeah. There's actually some rapids in this area, there's a lot of jagged rocks dotting the water. And this looks to continue on for quite a ways. It's actually really quite loud, the water rushing through makes quite a racket. Which is a pretty good thing for you guys, because it would make it much tougher for someone to track you, sound wise at least. And the way this river is set up, it kind of runs this large ring around the southern base of Bandits Rest.

So anyone trying to come at you, it would make it a bit tougher to get the jump on you considering they'd have to cross the river. However, if they were to get the jump on you, you most likely would not hear them coming if they were to run up on you from behind. And you're going to walk along this river for a few hours, and you can see that the sun is starting to set. It's going to be another hour before it will be completely pitch black. Yeah, it's going to start to dip a bit. And that golden hue kind of hits the sky. Everyone do me a favor, roll one more perception check.

Hey. Josephine and Sora are going to hear some screaming coming from behind the group. And looking back on the opposite side of the river, now this is a bit apart from you guys, and again there's some rocks and trees on your side. Very, very light cover. So I'm going to give you the option to either hide or just stand there, because again there's not a lot someone could do from that side beyond fire some arrows at you. And it's a pretty big gap, so it would be fairly tough for them to hit you. What kind of screaming is it? This sounds like someone being chased.

As a matter of fact, it sounds like someone being screamed at. It sounds like they're saying stop, or it's very threatening. At us? You are going to look up the river a bit, and on the opposite side it looks like one person chasing another person down. It looks like two men, one of which is a tiefling, chasing down what appears to be either an elf or half-elf. And they're on the other side of the river? Yes. How wide is the river? It's actually pretty sizable. To put it in game terms, this would be about 15 spaces wide. Dang. It's a big ass river. Not to mention the current is going to be difficult for you to get clean across at.

It's going to be some effort. There's like trees and stuff? Along the side where you are? Yeah. Again, this is leading into the forest, so there's some trees and rocks dotted on your path. It would be pretty easy for you to hide. As I say, Josephine would step behind a tree so that whoever it was couldn't see her. Not particularly being stealthy, just being like, "Oh, they're out of my line of sight." Yeah, at the very least they can't strike you with an arrow. Yeah. What about everyone else? Do we notice Josephine moving behind the tree? I mean, it wouldn't be like I ran, or she ran to get behind it.

That's part of the reason why I'm wondering if we've noticed. I would say yeah. I would say that's more common sense territory. It's like, "Okay, let's just stand back here." Ingrid will probably join then if she's noticed. She will also get behind a rock or something. I will attempt to hide, but I will shift into my wolf form. All right. What about Sora? Uh, I don't know. Is there anything else you can tell me about the two people? Well, what it appears to be is this tiefling seems to be lagging behind a bit. This tiefling's just slightly heavier, not quite as athletic as, again, it looks to be an elf or half-elf.

So one, they're in an outdoorsy setting. Two, this guy is lithe. He's pretty thin. So he is galloping as fast as he can away. And you can just hear, again, just over the water you can hear them shouting and then just moving branches and trees aside. He's just sort of sprinting, jumping, galloping, doing whatever he can to get away. Um, are they like, are they basically like right across from us in the river at this point? They're actually going to be a little bit behind you. So they're running on the opposite side of the river and yeah, they're going to be a bit behind you.

If you had to put a distance on it, they would probably be about 50, 60 yards away somewhere in there. It's a pretty sizable distance, but it is, the one, the tiefling is being loud enough that you can hear. What would Elorath be doing? If she saw the other people hiding, then she'd probably like step behind a tree as well, so that she could still see. Okay. Can I like wait until they're like at least closer to us and then shoot an arrow at the guy that's chasing him? Sure. But not like a deathly arrow, like in his foot or something. Sure. Well, here's the thing.

Once this, this, this, this, this elf or half elf is, is going to get a good distance away from this tiefling. And it's going to become apparent to this guy that he is not going to catch him on foot. And he is going to ready his bow and arrow and take aim at this guy. And I'm going to give you one chance to make an action if you'd like. Yes. Okay. So Sora is going to ready an arrow and here's what we're going to do. I am, I'm going to have you roll a regular basic attack, like your regular ranged attack here. Okay. But I'm going to have you shave two off of it because of the difficulty of the shot.

Okay. And I don't want it to like, just, you're not trying to put it in the guy's face. You're just trying to stop him. Yeah. But we're going to see. Okay. Seventeen. And I already did the minus two, so it is. Right. So Sora is going to ready an arrow and let this thing loose. It's going to soar just off to the right of this tiefling shoulder, missing him completely. But it is enough for the tiefling to take pause and start to scan the tree line. Now, as Sora, now, you said that you want to try and take, you want to try and take cover immediately after that.

Oh yeah. Do me a favor, roll a stealth check with a negative two. Okay. I can also do that. Oh wow. Yeah. Damn son. That is gorgeous. So this tiefling is going to scan the tree line just to see if he's still under fire and sees nothing. So he's going to ready his arrow again. And this, this, this elf or half elf is starting to get far enough away where he will not be able to hit him. So he's going to get one shot at this with a negative two. No. That is a 28. He's going to let loose his arrow and strike, strike this, strike this elven person in the back. I'm going to shoot him now.

I'm totally going to just. Okay. You can take another shot. Go right ahead. Okay. Like same thing or? Same thing. Go right ahead. Still with a minus two? Yep. Okay. Goodbye. Ah. Sora is going to let loose another arrow and it is going to go far left this time. This tiefling kind of knows the score at this point and, and look, he got his job done. He is going to, he is going to duck down and then start to retreat in the opposite direction. And the elf is going to tumble, tumble forward. He was in full sprint mode. This arrow is going to strike him in the back and he is going to start to tumble forward and he is going to fall directly into this river.

No. Okay. Keep going. Yes. The current is going to swiftly start carrying him in your direction. The gap is going to actually start closing very quickly. This elf is going to start slamming into rocks on the way there. So he is going to hit two rocks and just sort of bounce, go limp and then start to be carried down the river toward you again. Okay. I am going to turn around really quickly and say we need a branch now. I am going to take off and find a branch. Nature check to find a sturdy one I guess? Yep. That would be, that would be a nature check. Let's see how good at, at this coal would be.

It is pretty damn good. Oh yeah. So coal is going to come back with a pretty thick branch. This is, this has got some length on it. And let's see how lucky you are with this guy. Let's, let's roll a flat D20. If, if it is a 10 or above then he is going to sort of bounce in your general direction because this river is pretty friggin' wide. And if it is not he is going to start to travel, he is going to bounce in the other direction away from you a bit. Yeah. Yeah, he is going to start to bounce in the opposite direction. On the opposite side of the river there are some, there are some rocks.

He is going to hit almost, almost at the point of no return for you guys. He is about, if you, if you had to, he is about 45 to 50 feet away in this river. And he is going to slam against these rocks and sort of be kept there. The current is so strong that it is actually forcing him against the rock. You can see him start to, to float back out. But for now he is pinned, like momentum has him kind of pinned against these rocks. And the tiefling? The tiefling has fled in the opposite direction. He is, apparently he was just trying to get this guy and it looks like he is dead to him or going to die.

And he is not about getting shot at. How possible is it to like tie like a rope to an arrow and then like shoot it across? Into the guy's body? Yeah, into what? Just spear him and then reel him back in. Yes, that is completely possible. Like, I don't... You can harpoon him? I think, I think Sora wants to play that one game in Legends of the Hidden Temple where you are trying to cross the moat. Uh? Are you trying to like get a hold of a tree on the opposite side of the river and just like climb across the rope? Climb across the rope? Um, I don't know. I was either thinking something like that or like have it like by the guy enough that, I don't even know if he is conscious, but like...

I was going to say, does he even seem conscious? Have him like grab onto it or something. Um, everyone do me a favor, roll a perception check. Hey! Why are we doing stuff for a dead body? I see everything. Cole, Cole and Elorath are going to look at this guy and he, there is a really big blood spot in this guy's, this guy's shirt in the back. The arrow is broken off, it looks to be, it looks to have snapped against a rock, but the nub is still sticking out of his back. And his one arm seems to be functioning, the other one could be broken, but he is very, very feebly trying to clutch against this rock.

Very feebly, like he might be barely conscious, he might have suffered brain damage. You might, you don't know, but he is in rough, rough shape. Doesn't look like he'd have the strength to swim. Should we do some like, zip line sort of thing? Can any of us swim? Is there a swim check? I don't even know. Oh, that would be, that would be pure like athletics. Oh, that would probably be me then. I'm going to put the stick down on the ground and start walking because there's nothing I can do. Then Sora will pick up that stick and she will tuck it under her arm as she tries to find the easiest way to get to a little bit of a higher altitude.

Dude, what the fuck are you doing? Why are you going after him? He is, he is dead. We don't know that yet, we didn't know about that other guy either. Well, yeah, except at least with the other guy we were able to keep checking and we weren't going to drown trying to retrieve his corpse. Well, if I'm the only one retrieving his corpse, then it's only me who has the chance to drown. She says that she's like trying to climb up a tree. The conversation is going to stop me. I'm going to look back and I'm going to see you try to climb the tree. In the most, in the most canine way possible, I'm going to like, elaborate a sigh and walk up and let you use my head as leverage to climb the tree.

Oh yeah, fuck yeah. That's all you're getting from me. You don't even know that guy is alive and you're going to risk your life for someone you don't know that you don't know is alive. Yes, yes I am. You don't even know who he is, why that guy is out here. I don't even know who you are. But I didn't meet you in Bandit's Rest. I didn't meet you in an area full of unsavory people. You know that you broke out of Donhurst, right? We don't know why you were in there. You could be telling us anything. Um, Jason, can I get on a tree? Do me a favor and roll an athletics check with a plus two for Cole's help.

Athletics or acrobatics? Well you're not jumping up the tree. This would be more athletics just to see, just to see how quickly, like climbing a tree isn't crazy. Kids do it. It's not, not crazy. Okay, yeah, you're going to get up the tree fairly quickly. Okay. Little bit of a struggle, but not too bad. Okay. Let me ask a question. You, okay, you brought this branch with you? Yes. So this branch has some length, just kind of like dragging it into the tree. Okay, this branch isn't going to reach that guy. What do you mean? Like it's not long enough to reach where he is, but if he had bounced off a rock and went on your half of the river, you could probably swing it.

Well, what about on the other side of the river? Well, if you were to make it to the other side of the river, sure. Like then the branch would work? I don't, well, okay, the only problem is how are you going to swim and take the branch unless you're just going to try and throw the branch. Well, see, I got a plan for this. Okay, hit me with your plan. I want to tie a rope to the end of my arrow and then shoot it into a trunk of a tree on the other side of the river. Then I want to zip line down that rope. Using the branch? Possibly. That's kind of what I'm thinking.

That's okay. I like your outside the box thinking. Let's see how this works out. Sure. Now, is the party going to do anything? Before we get started with this insane plan, is the party going to do anything? That is not me pressuring you guys. I just want to know for clarification. Can I roll a perception check to see where the nearest cross point could possibly be? Sorry hasn't explained your plan to any of us, so none of us know what she's trying to accomplish. Like if there's a place in the river where it's kind of calm enough for us to possibly cross? That would be perception or nature.

I'll take nature because that seems to... I figured. Ahhhhhh. Or not. Thirteen. You're not seeing one nearby. You're guessing that obviously you'd be checking... it would be a thing where you'd be guessing down river. You're not seeing anything nearby and you're guessing it would be a ways away. Right. And we're heading up, right? Well, you'd be heading east which would be down river. Oh, okay. He would obviously beat you there if he were to see a ball of rock. He's gonna have a wicked speed boost. And that's if he doesn't bash his fucking head open on rocks.

Joe's gonna leave it against a tree with her arms crossed and just watch what's happening. Yeah, since Sora has not explained any aspect of her plan short of "I'm going to rescue this guy," Ingrid is going to just step back and... Because she wouldn't even know how she could help. She doesn't know what the plan is. I'm still in my wolf form. I think one more time Elrath is gonna be like, "What are you doing? What are you going to do?" I'm going to get to the other side of the river and get this guy. You gonna pull him? Maybe. Um, so, um... Is that in character?

Yeah. Okay. How strong... No, no. Can you swim? Well, I mean, it's totally up to her. I mean, I think she understands. I think she understands the... I'm just making sure I understand it. So, okay. So I think Elrath is gonna be like, "Are you going to drag him?" I think so. Let me. I can do it. She's gonna tie her, like, longer hair back. And I don't know if it's the first time, but you guys can see that her hair is, like, shaved on one side of her head. And she's gonna take off her armor. She's gonna be like, "Let me. I'll do it." Because she could see that he was alive.

So... Let me do it. So you're climbing into the tree with her? Yeah. She's gonna gingerly place her flail at the bottom of the tree. And she'll look actually right at Joan. She'll be like, "Can you watch this?" Yeah, I got it. Thanks, friend. Okay. Do me a favor. Roll an athletics check to get in the tree. Since I took off the armor... Mm-hmm. How do I... Oh. Okay. That'll just be a plus one to your skill check, because you're not getting the negative anymore. Okay. Okay. So it'd be a 15 then. Yeah. Elrath's gonna climb to the tree. Same thing as Sora. Do me a favor, Sora, and roll an athletics check to fire this arrow.

Okay. So what I'm going to do is... I've been holding a branch, and I'm going to pass that off to Elrath. Then I'm going to line up my bow, take a deep breath, and fire. Okay. So that... Oh, your athletics is a one. It is probably a good idea that you are not doing this. So here's what's going to happen. This arrow is going to... Now, this is... You said there's rope tied to it? Yes. Okay. So this is going to stretch the distance from up in this tree down toward the trunk of a tree on the other side. And pulling it taut essentially creates a zip line. Now, this is a big awkward branch that Elrath is holding.

What would you like to do? Can you tie that other end off? I don't want you holding it on. No. Yeah. I want to tie that to the tree that we're on. Right. I kind of figured. There's absolutely... You have a big sturdy tree to tie it to. There's no reason for little, like, sore to be holding onto this. Yeah. Totally. Okay. So what's the plan? Get him, swim across? Is that what you want to do? Swim across? Get him, bring him back over here? Is that what you're wanting to do or what are you wanting to do? I just want to get him out of the river. Okay. I'll get him out of the river then.

Then she's going to put the branch over the rope and she's going to look at Sora and not say anything. We'll just look at her and just be like, "Okay, here we go." And she's going to go for it. Flying out of this tree is going to be little Elorath suspended pretty far above this river. As momentum is going to carry her down toward the ground on the other side, obviously you are not going to ride this all the way down and slam into the ground. You are going to fall at a certain point where there would be solid ground. I would like you to do me a favor and roll an acrobatics check.

Okay. Oh, no, come back here. All right. So this one will also need that one because I took off my armor. So it'll be this plus one. Come on now. You can do it. Eighteen. So Elorath is going to, again, fly out of this tree, soar over this river. And at a certain point she is going to let go as soon as there's solid ground underneath of her. And she is going to plant her feet firmly onto the ground. And there's going to be just a moment's hesitation while there's going to be just a bit of a sting in her ankles. And the sound of the rushing river is going to be behind her.

And then she's going to turn square at the river. And what would you like to do? I think first off she's going to raise both of her arms in like a huge grin. Did you see that? And then she's going to run to the guy after a second of doing this. Yeah. Do me a favor. Roll a perception check. Jesus. Okay. Everyone can do it. But yeah, I sure the fuck will. Elorath specifically. Twenty one for Elorath. Twenty one, Cole, twenty eight. Cole and Elorath are going to see that this guy is alive. And again, still feebly swinging one of his arms at this rock. The problem is this rock is sort of smooth on one side.

It's slippery and he has no grip. So just sort of feebly clinging. And he's going to start to slip off of it just a bit as the water is pounding against him. And it's trying to pull him back into the center, toward the center of the river and whip him downstream. So it would look to Elorath and Cole specifically as though you have precious seconds before this guy is going to be torn off of this rock and ripped down current. She's going to grab for him. Okay. Now, the way this is set up is you're going to have to get at least waist deep before you'll get to the rock, which means you're going to have to cling to the rock with him in order not to be swept downstream.

Okay. Okay. Before... Oh, damn. Precious seconds then. Okay. I just had an idea. Because if I have to wade out into the water to get to him, I want Elorath to take the arrow out of the tree first and tie the rope around her waist and then go out to grab him. Nice. Is there enough time to do that? We'll see. Okay. So Elorath is going to, let's say, to speed this up instead of untying the arrow. Oh, yeah. Just pluck it out and then... Yeah. Just, yeah. And just tie this around her waist as quickly as possible. So let's see how long this guy is going to hold on by rolling a check.

Come on. Come on, dude. On 10 or higher, he is going to cling to this rock for just another moment. No! This elven individual is going to start to slip off this rock and be carried downstream. Now, you have a choice ahead of you. Yes. Since you are tied off, you could dive into the water after him, or you could just accept defeat and just say, "Look, this guy is not saveable." She didn't come all this way for nothing. She's going to try. Once I see that, because I'm still up in the tree looking over, once I see that he's slipping and he's starting to go downstream, I'm going to yell at Elorath.

Let's see if Sora notices. Do me a favor and roll a Perception check there, Sora. Sora would notice. I want to yell, "You better go get him now!" I wish you could hear. I imagine you were pointing your finger when you did that, too. Oh, damn straight. So you seriously did that? Yeah! Okay. I just need to know for clarification purposes, and since you did hear the tiefling yelling that was a bit further up, it's pretty believable that you can hear Sora, who's even closer, just on the opposite side of the river. Now, this rope is tied off to the tree, so you only have a finite amount of distance to catch up to this guy.

So it would pretty much involve diving into the water and then trying to swim downstream to catch him before you run out of rope. Yes. So do me a favor, Elorath. Roll an Athletics check. Okay. So this will be plus one. Yep, so that'd be plus eleven, I believe. Okay. Yeah. Come on. Son of a bitch. Seventeen. Seventeen. Elorath is going to dive into this water as the party watches helplessly from the opposite side. This elven body is going to go pretty much limp as it slips off the rock and starts to flow downstream pretty quickly. Elorath, once in the water, is going to start to swim furiously downstream to catch up before she runs out of rope.

And she is just going to get her fingertips on this guy's shirt collar as the rope snaps behind her and she runs out of room. I am going to ask you to roll a raw strength check to see if you hold on to this guy. Okay. Come on. Come on. Come on. Tuxedo shirt wearing baby Jesus. Give me this one. Not twenty! I actually choke him to death through whiplash. No! Shh! That would be unbelievably mean. Why would I do that? Oh my God. Elorath is just going to get her fingertips on this guy and specifically the shirt collar. Her right hand is going to grasp around it and through sheer force of strength she is going to hold on while the rabbits batter her from behind.

It's actually going to swing her into an adjacent sharp rock and she is going to take damage as her shoulder strikes this rock with no armor on. So she is going to go ahead and take 2d10 damage. She is going to take six damage from that. So that's not terrible. But she will hold on to this guy but she is going to be in a bit of pain for a couple of reasons. One, these rabbits are just going to keep battering her and battering her as she is just using all of her strength to hold on to this guy now. She doesn't have to swim. And second, this rope is going to start to dig into her because she is being held stationary but pulled downstream.

What would the party like to do? Since it's tied high up in a tree can any of us even reach the rope? So we're again. Okay and I'm probably not that heavy. If I were to go on to the other side of the rope. So basically I'm hanging on in between Elrath and the tree. If I hold on to that would other people be tall enough to grab my ankles and pull me down so the rope is now towards the ground and then we can all pull it? You mean me and Josephine basically. Other people who you just insulted. Just saying. Why? Because I was going to say Ingrid couldn't reach you so.

Well I'm just thinking to get the rope as far down as possible so then we can all really start pulling on it. How are you letting us know that you need help? Are you letting us know at all? Yes. Yes yes yes yes yes. I'm going to. When I see this happen I'm going to yell down to you guys. We have to pull them in now. So I'm going to climb out of the tree holding on to the rope. Go a little bit out and say someone pull me down. I am going to turn back into my shifter form. And you can visibly see that as once I am back in my shifter form there is a very present scowl on my face.

And I am going to help. Do me a favor. Make an acrobatics check because this is just a little bit off the ground and you would have to jump to grab her ankles. Alright. Yeah. Oh yeah that's good. Cole is going to leap up and grab at Sora's ankles. And make contact and start to pull. So here's the thing. Sora I'm going to have to ask you to make a raw strength check just to hold on to this rope. Now it's not as bad as the one that Elorath had to make obviously because Cole is not rapids. Not yet. But there is no. There is some weight distribution and your ability to hold on to this rope that we're going to have to deal with.

So go ahead and make a raw strength check for me. That is going to just be enough to hold on. Just be enough. And as you're pulled down toward the ground this rope is going to lower to the point where other party members can grab onto this. Meanwhile every second that Elorath is in this water she is going to just continually be battered with waves over and over and over again. Every once in a while there will be a piece of floating debris or something like that that could clip her and do some serious damage. Or at the very least make her let go of this guy.

So time is of the essence. Can she try to hook her other arm around him? Like if she's got one arm on his collar can she try and get her other arm around his chest or something and just bear hug him? You absolutely can. While trying to hold his head above? Oh okay. Right. The risk with that is that you could both be pulled under. Okay. Because I would imagine her one arm is just being used to just try and keep above water because... Yeah. Good point. Breathing is kind of a big deal. Sort of necessary. Yeah. A bit. Yes. A bit. Well Ingrid is back by Josephine so she's just going to sort of give her a look.

I don't know how much help I'm going to be but I'll try. She's going to go and just sort of help try and brace Cole a bit. Yeah, Jo will follow her over. Wait, obviously. Should we just be pulling on the rope and not Cole? Because isn't Cole like down on the ground now? Well we're going to help him by pulling on the rope. Yeah. So that's... yeah the rope is low enough that everybody could reach this. Right. Okay. Alright so everyone do me a favor and who's going to be the main person pulling here? I would assume Josephine. I don't have very good strength. Okay.

Elarath in the water potentially drowning. Josephine wrapped her arms around this and is pulling. I'm guessing Ingrid is going to do the same. Josephine looks to be the main puller so the only thing we can do at this point is to see if Ingrid can assist. Sora's going to let go of this rope and Cole is going to continue to hold on to Sora and essentially try and restrain her and grab the rope. I was going to ask... I was going to say if she let go and he's holding her by her ankles would she flop upside down like a sack of potatoes? That was what I was picturing.

You know like you pick up a small child and you just like hold them like that and you're like what are you doing? That's what I'm imagining. Sorry. I'm going to have Sora roll an acrobatics check with a negative five. An acrobatics check with a negative five? Yes. Okay. And if you'll want I drew a picture. Um so minus five. That's beautiful. That's with a negative five? Yes. Wow. That's actually still pretty good. Sora is going to hit the ground but Cole is still going to grab her. Now Cole you're trying to restrain Sora. Sure. Oh my goodness. Okay. Do me a favor and roll an athletics check. *sigh* Thirteen.

Should I roll my athletics check for assisting Josephine now? Um it would be a flat D20 plus two because... wait are you trained in athletics? No. Okay then just a flat D20. Okay. Okay that is actually going to be a negative one penalty so that's a zero on the roll. Oh god. Yeah. Sorry! Can it at least be that I don't move? That is... okay so that athletics check is not going to beat Sora's defense so if Sora wants to try and wriggle away, Sora can. Yes. Alright. Is Cole going to try and grab this rope at all? Yes. Okay. So do me a favor. Sora, Cole, roll a flat D20.

That's not what I want. Damn it! Oh wow. Nope. Holy crap. Bye. Um... Is that when I have the highest roll? Um... Oh my god. Elorath, do me a favor. Roll an endurance check for me. Oh my god. Okay so this will be a plus one again because I took off my armor. Mmhmm. Yeah! Twenty one. Hanging in there. Can I name this guy Bob? Bobbing in the river? Ah. I know it was stupid. Elorath is going to dip below the water for just a moment and then she's going to be submerged and then pop back up like her head is just going to pop above water for a moment. And there's going to be a log that is coming downstream and let's see if this hits.

No. It would be versus her reflex. Twenty one versus reflex. I'm guessing that's going to hit Elorath. Uh, yes. My reflex is fifteen. Yeah, okay. So that is going to strike Elorath and that will be twelve damage. So far she has taken twenty damage in this river. What would the party like to do? Pull on the rope again. I was going to say pull on the rope again. Continue to pull on the rope. Can I like yell out as that log like hits me? Sure, you can try to inspire them. Oh no, just in pain. So that they realize they need to stop fucking around. Okay. Get me out of the river.

So here's what we're going to do this time. I'm going to have the party as a whole if you're all pulling. This time just a raw strength check. Every single one of you. Okay. Because there's not one single person who is pulling in and everyone joins in. This is more everyone at once. Twelve, nine, seven, and three. We're going to combine that. They are going to pull as hard as they can on this rope. And Elorath is going to start to inch toward the shore. Elorath, do me a favor. Roll another endurance check. Nat twenty. Fuck yes. I grew up in Ebony Harbor. I'm hoping that I can at least swim in a river.

Well swimming and then swimming and this is another like another story. True. But yeah, you're doing fantastic. By the way, if there's something in your backstory that would have aided a swim check, let me know. But yeah, you are doing well. You're keeping your head above water and you are holding on to this elven individual. Is his head above water? With the net, what am I going to make sure that he's like breathing like, "Eh, eh, eh." Come on Peter, let's go. You are not allowed to die. Peter? He was just bobbed five seconds ago. I know. I'm going to call him a different name every time.

Okay. Everyone do me a favor. Another raw strength check. Somewhat better. Hell yeah. Much better. The seconds are going to tick by as the party pulls and tugs on this rope and eventually it's going to get to the point where Elerath is going to get her footing below her and she can crawl her way towards solid ground. And she is going to, with the aid of the party, get to dry land and just sort of fall exhaustedly on the shore here with this elven individual. I'm going to immediately check up on Elerath. Me too. I would be immediately rushing over to Elerath's side to see if she's okay.

I want to go over and try and get them away from the river. What would Josephine be doing? Josephine is slowly walking over to the man. Can I do a perception check to see if I notice anything about him? Sure, please do. 18. He is breathing, albeit very shallow, and he's sort of curled up on his side coughing up liquid. But again, appears to be alive and if the river weren't bad enough, he still does have an arrow wound in his back that is, again, the arrow is snapped off so it's just sort of this little nubby piece of wood sticking out of his back now as the back of the shirt is soaked in blood, the rest of him is just soaked.

Elerath is doing much better than this individual, although she is quite banged up herself. There'd be a cut on her shoulder from that rock and there'd be some, I'm sure she's going to get some bruising from the rock and the log. She'll look over to Elerath and ask her if she's okay for a second while I take a look at this guy. She's probably going to be like coughing just a little bit because she's like probably a little winded that was tugging around her midsection, but she's just going to be like, "I'm fine. Check him out. Save him." And then I'll lean down and do a heel check.

Ah, very nice. Well, the first thing is that Josephine would have to dig this arrow out of this guy's back. So probably with a flat edge of a blade, something like that, just sort of dig in and remove that blade and then she would be able to, she'd be able to heal the affected area. And with a check like that, Josephine, being a cleric, would be able to pull that off actually really, really well. It's not triage, obviously. It's a bit above that. So the arrow wound in this guy's back is going to be healed over. Cool. I'm doing a happy dance over here. Yeah.

When Joe said that, when Elerath said that to Joe, Cole's going to look at Elerath, put a hand on her shoulder, as sincere as possible. Are you sure you're okay? I'll be fine. I've had worse. All right. With that, the scowl is going to grow back on Cole's face and he's going to go, "All right." And then he's going to walk away. Sora, a word? When he walks away, Ingrid's actually going to try and make sure Elerath is sitting up and doing okay and fuss. She'll probably go and start putting her armor back on after she drip dries for a little bit. So, Sora will get up and follow Cole.

Okay. Cole's going to stop after a certain point and wait for Sora to catch up. Never do that again. She's going to look up at him with a very stern expression on her face. And she's going to say, "Never touch me again." Don't put our party in jeopardy again and you won't have to worry about me touching you. Do you know what could have happened to Elerath? You better save him. That seriously came out of your mouth. I'm sorry. I didn't want all of this to be for nothing. All of what? We came here to avoid getting killed. You did what you could do to save him from that tiefling.

And you come up with this asinine suicide plan that put Elerath in danger, that put one of us in danger. You realized that I did not ask her to do this. She volunteered. I was perfectly okay doing it on my own. She helped me and I thank her for that. And I was trying to help her get this job done that I realized that I had started, but she did not have to help me in that. She only helped you because you fucking guilted her into it. Are you fucking kidding me right now? Are you fucking kidding me right now? I guilted her? You did the same thing with Eren in the cave with the vampire.

And the only reason why I didn't blow that out of proportion while we were in Aubrey is because I care about you. I didn't know what Bree was capable of. I didn't know what Alex was capable of. Everything that was stirring up in me since then, I let it out on them. And they didn't deserve it because I care about you. So you need to make sure that what comes out of your mouth does not translate into you will feel bad about not helping me, but I'm going to do that because that's exactly what you did. That's not what family does. They don't make each other feel bad about each other.

And that's exactly what you did. You cannot save everyone. I'm sorry. Weren't you the one that left that cave first? I left that cave first because I thought we were evacuating. Yeah. You thought wrong, didn't you? Yes, I did. You hid behind a rock and you left because you were afraid to get hit. That's what happened. Don't you dare tell me what I know that I was doing. I know exactly what the fuck I was doing. The dude put words in my mouth that I most definitely did not say. If that's the case, then you make sure you don't put words in anybody else's mouth.

Look, sword, look, and he's just going to take a breath and he's going to calm down. Despite what's going on right now, I care about each and every one of you. I don't want to see anybody else die. I don't want to see anybody else that I care about that I give a fuck about die. And if that means I have to check you on your shit or I have to check anybody else on anybody else's shit, then that's exactly what I will do. And if that means I have to be the one that everybody hates because he's so upset that he lashes out on everybody else that he first meets, that's perfectly fine because at least I know that the people that I care about are still alive.

Don't do that again. You can't save everyone. I know firsthand how that is. I commend you for your bravery and for your effort. We probably would not have saved that hunter if we didn't work together, but you have to admit that the way this happened just now could have went way up shit creek without a paddle. Sora is going to take a deep breath and she's going to say, "I thought my first impression of you was wrong because of what happened yesterday. I thought we just got off on the wrong foot, but not letting go of me when I'm trying to save someone, two people, one of them, our party that you say that you care about, as I'm trying to help them, you're not letting me do that.

You say you care and I believe you, but boy do you have a funny way of showing it." Cole is going to cross his arms. You're right. I do have a funny way of showing it, but at least you know that I do care and I'm going to continue to show it this way in any possible way that I can. Like I said, people's opinions of me are downgraded because of it. Like it. So what? I know who I am and I know who I care about. Sora will look up at him again and say, "Just don't touch me." And then she'll walk back over to everybody else. Cole will take a deep breath, still standing where he was, uncross his arms, and when he exhales he's going to turn back into a wolf and then he's going to join the rest of the party.

Guys, I think that's a pretty good time for us to stop for the evening. That was so good you guys! Yeah! Oh my goodness, I'm so fucking happy. Oh my goodness. Dude! I got Misty! That was so good! Oh, Loran, I want to hug you right now. That was really quite good, guys. It's been needing to happen for a while. Ohana means family. I hate to cut this short, but I need to turn on a fan or I'll die. Oh my god, me too. Bye. We've been on a call for six and a half hours. I'm kidding. Oh, you just turned my ear back on. That whole dialogue just left my entire body still shaking.

We did so good, Loran. Alright guys, I will talk to you in a while. Thank you very much. Bye! Bye! Bye!