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Arc 1 · Episode 52

To be a Champion- Part 2

2014-03-31 · 2:17:34
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MasonAraloveMarcus
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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. Hello Therians. My name is Dan Phelps. I play Rodswell Joybattam in group three. I also play Duncan Joybattam in group one. And I just want to thank you for downloading the podcast this week. I want you to make sure that you are checking out dnrpodcast.com for all the updates on us on the website. We have new articles going up shortly.

I believe Brian had one. Is that true, Brian? Pretty much. Pretty much everyone has written character journals. That's been a big thing recently. Um, so we have those going up consistently. Also any updates to the show will be there or on our fan page which you can get to by liking us on Facebook. Make sure you review and rate us on iTunes and subscribe. That always helps with our numbers. And thank you for checking us out. Alright. Let's do that thing where we go around the table. I'm Jason on the Dungeon Master going around the table starting with Jen. Hello.

Good morning. Well, it's morning here. Hello future people. I'm stealing that line from someone else. Um, yeah. I play Erolove Grimnest. Very happy to be here but also a little nervous right now because Jason. Next. What did I do? I didn't do it. I haven't done it. I bet you've been all vague and mysterious all morning. Oh man. That's, I'm, I, I get nervous before potentially large sessions involving... Paul. Yeah. Oh, sure. Scott. Hello, I'm Scott and I'm the village idiot. Or, no, that's not my character. My character is Marcus Santa and I play the human cleric. And Merlin.

Hello, I'm Merlin. I'm playing Marcus, um, I'm not playing Marcus. I'm playing Marcus the Dark Tree. I am a human guy that slays everything. No, only humans. You're a human slayer. Shut up. Oh yeah, people have been asking me so I should probably say it again. Erolove is an invoker. She's not a cleric and she worships the Raven Queen. Yes. And Dan. Hi, I'm Dan Phelps. I play Rodswell Joybatam, human warpriest. So, quick recap. Things got a little sticky in the last session. Captain Tenpult is apparently not pleased with your squad for some reason. Now, you guys have entered the tournament of champions and you've done pretty well in that you've cleared two of the three rounds.

Making it all the way to the third round which, um, as of now I would guess is going to be difficult for you guys. You've spent a lot of your healing surges. You've used most of your dailies. You've, uh, that first round kind of crippled you a bit. Now, during the second round of combat, Fae's mom, Flo, was introduced. She was given almost no protection except for a broadsword and whatever you guys could provide for in the arena. And Rodswell was unceremoniously dumped onto the arena floor as well. Neither of which had any idea that this was going to happen.

Neither did your squad. So that was interesting in combat. You have managed to clear out the second round which was a pack of White Ravens who, at least some of which, recognized Rodswell and he recognized some of them. Now, how's about we pick up right after the second round and you guys would have a chance to rest and get your stuff together while the other teams kind of run through the arena floor just like you did. So, let's pick it up in the locker room. Is there anything you guys would like to say to each other? Right now, this would be a time for you guys to kind of recharge.

So, Flo is kind of beside herself. She is not cut out for this. This is not...she's not a fighter. This is traumatizing for this poor woman. I would be keeping her company as best I can. I don't have...I can think of something to say real quick if you want. Or you can finish describing things and then I'll say something to her. Oh, that's totally up to you. We can do that in just a moment. Do we get an extra point back by chance, those that have been through two fights? Yep. Thank you. That'll help. Yes. Rodswell looks at Marcus. Yes. Glares at him. Kind of one of those where your head's halfway down but your eyes are shooting straight up the top of your head, you know what I'm saying?

Yep. Marcus. Yes, Rodswell. Can you explain what he meant by saying that Flo was the mother of a traitor? Yes, unfortunately, I believe I can. We had an incident where we were sent into the Evergreen to destroy a prototype and it appears that half of our group has turned on us. I would be holding Flo's hand. Including Una and Fi and Jedzia, who is our commander's daughter. They have joined the White Ravens and I have serious concerns that Una may have been a White Raven the entire time. And who's this man that forced me into battle? That would probably be Captain Tenbolt.

He is, was to be our commander but he was not around when our group started so it fell to Commander Grace. Why Captain Tenbolt pulled you in here, I do not know. I'm pretty sure that Commander Grace will have words with him when he returns but Commander Grace has left and I do not know where he has been. Also, we have never had any encounter with Captain Tenbolt where we have been anything less than model soldiers. We don't understand or know why Captain Tenbolt is so obviously displeased with us. I don't know if anyone else noticed that when we were out there.

When we won, he was not happy. The fuck's up with that? Look, I know what a boy did is inexcusable bullshit, you know, a Fi kid. But man, he's pointing over at Flo. Man, there's no fucking way she was intended to survive this, man. That ain't right, man. I don't care how hard you are, how bad, how you roll. Man, even bad men love their mama. It's inexcusable. It is, but I have a hunch that Captain Tenbolt may have been testing us by putting her out there to see if we would defend her or if we would turn on her. I don't know why he would do that. Or why he would be so unhappy that we didn't do that.

I don't know. Can I explain something to you? Sure. Up until now, I was giving you information based on the fact that I was going to be safe. And now I am thrown into battle against my will, unbeknownst to me why. And now you're telling me that people that know that I have turned, that I have joined your side, are over talking to the White Ravens as we speak. That's a death sentence for me. Not while you're here. Apparently none of the White Ravens that were here with us seemed to want to attack you. We don't know how long ago those people were captured.

Did you recognize any of them? A few. I wasn't close to any of them, but I had seen them around, yes. Okay, well then they probably saw you too. Right. But up until now, the White Ravens and the group that I had traveled with had no knowledge of me being here. And now the other half of this party will obviously be telling me. Wait. The group you traveled with? Didn't Captain Tenbolt say that you traveled with Malchus? Yes. So how long ago was it that you're talking about? He's been gone for seventeen years. I look over at Marcus. You didn't share any of the information that I gave you?

I haven't had a chance. We have been from one situation to another, and no sooner had we come back that we got thrown into this. Explain, please, sir. The group that is working with the White Ravens to try and bring down Overwatch is the group that Malchus was with. The ones that signed the treaty that started this all. Was with. He didn't exactly pay attention real good in schooling, but even I know he's been gone for a long time. Yeah, we have not actually physically seen Malchus. We have Rodswell's word that he is here. Bree's word that he's still alive.

Why didn't anyone see fit to tell me this? It was reported to Commander Grace. If he did not share that information, then I don't know why. You are my commanding officer. It is your responsibility to communicate information to me that is relevant. That is necessary to do the job. Is Malchus anywhere near us? If he is not, then he is not my immediate concern. I don't know. Is he anywhere near us? If he is, I don't know it either. All I have heard is the reports from Rodswell that he is here, that he is on the continent and from Bree that he is still alive. That is all I know.

I don't know where he is. I know that theoretically he's going to be coming here eventually. I'm going to roll an insight check, please. Right ahead. Thank you. She says 27. She is insightful. She is. That's kind of her bag. That's my bag, baby. What are you looking for information-wise out of that? What do you want to know? Is he telling me everything he knows about Malchus? I'm going to say yes. I don't think I've admitted anything. It doesn't sound like it. Alright, I'm going to turn to Rodswell and ask him, is there anything else that you would be willing to share with Malchus' sister, please, sir?

Smile creeps across Rodswell's face. All I will say to you right now is that your brother is alive as far as I know. Last I saw him, we traveled forward in time 17 years, but any other information that I have is staying firmly in my brain to make sure that I have a reason for you to keep me alive, and I hope you understand that. Of course. I will say I have no reason to harm you. How long ago did you see him, if that is something you can answer? It's been about a week, right, Jason? A little under. About five, six days. I will try to, I will take a few deep breaths and try to calm down.

Flo probably noticed that my hands were shaking, and I will nod to, sorry, I keep wanting to call you Duncan. I would nod to Rodswell and say thank you. You keep me alive, I'll keep you alive. I like that plan. Is that a deal? Yes. Who else is happy that they killed some motherfucking dragon men, by the way? Man, they had armor on top of armor, man. I could crack them cans, but oh man, you hit that skin. Po's going to speak up. Their throat is actually pretty vulnerable. I don't know if anybody noticed this, but not a lot of scales right in the east kind of point to the throat region, like right in here.

That was fucking awesome, man. Ah. Well done, Po. Well done. The cheat sword wasn't working. Oh yeah, no, it's on the technique. I can totally show you. It's fine. Flo, this is not anything that I could have expected, and I am so sorry that I had any hand in bringing you into this. I am, I don't know how to express my feelings right now about you being here in this combat. Flo's just kind of, she looks like she's almost shut down, like she's so in shock that this is happening. That minutes ago, that she was in the middle of this arena, surrounded by screaming fans and being attacked by people for no apparent reason to her.

Whatever happened with Fi was completely out of her control, and there's nothing she can do about this. How tall is Flo? Flo would be right around the 5'8" region, I believe. She's the same height I am. I was just curious because I would pull her into a hug, being careful not to crush her with my armor and stuff. Just trying to get through to her without slapping her or anything like that. Right, right. God, that is not what she needs right now. Yeah, she's going to kind of gently squeeze you back, because you guys did keep her alive. Yeah, she should have died in the arena.

You guys kept her alive. If they let you stay here when it's time for the next battle, please stay here. She just nods her head really rapidly. If that was an option, if it was between that and going back out of the arena, yeah, stay here, yes. If I remove part of my armor and put it on her since we're the same height, and not too far off from the same build probably, would I be able to take a knock to my AC and give her a bonus? Yeah, I'd let you do that. Take a knock to your AC and give hers a bump. Yeah. So let's see how much of my AC is from my armor.

Not sure where to find that. I think it's like five or six. Because I have chain. Yeah, I have chain. So why don't we go ahead and give her three and I'll keep two. So I take off the entire chest plate tunic thing and put it on her, but I've still got the leggings and the arm gauntlets and stuff. Okay, that'll bring her up to 18. Okay. And that will bring me down -- let's see, I'm going to give a sticky note. Yeah, it's probably good to keep track. Flawless. Flawless is the same AC I do. Okay, so I said I gave her three, right? Yes. So I'll be at 16. Okay. Unless anyone wants to say anything else to each other, I'm going to do something real quick.

So just a quick question. Okay. Captain Tenbolt is going to kind of walk into this room. Do me a favor and roll Perception there, Erolove. Okay. What the hell? You're not Perception. Yeah, I wasn't paying attention. I scrambled to try to look professional while, you know, down to basically my skivvies on top, which would probably just be like a linen shirt or something, not anything like provocative. You artists out there. Yeah, that's -- [laughter] By the way, thank you very much, Alison Chadwin, for -- No, your artwork is awesome. Yes. We're just amused at the lack of armor on the most recent piece you did of -- On the one character whom we've described as wearing bulky, incredibly bulky armor.

That constantly messes with her stealth check. Boobies! Hooray for boobies. So, okay. The 15 -- the biggest thing you notice about Tenbolt is that, again, while he doesn't appear to be too incredibly pleased, he's not -- it's not like he's walking in here with an ax to grind. It doesn't seem like he's coming in to chastise you. It doesn't seem like he's more kind of surveying, like, how do you guys look after that last round? Like, he's coming in just to kind of see -- It's giving us a once-over. Kind of, yeah. How dare you guys survive two rounds? [laughter] That was not part of the plan, and it's pretty rude of you, to be honest.

Why do you suck at dying? Let's give him the -- go ahead. That's going to be a catchphrase, I think, that why do you suck at dying so much? I like it. Well, what were you going to say there, Mason? Mason was going to give him the fist-to-chest salute, the sharp one. He's, again, going to give you a snappy reply, like the snappy salute right back. The formality is still in place. Yeah, I definitely would have saluted as well once I got upright again from attaching her armor. So Tenbolt's kind of standing in the middle of this room just looking at you all.

How is everyone feeling after that last round? Sir, ready to kill, sir. We're doing fine, sir. I would loft a brow. Any pants over to Rodswell? And you. How are you feeling? Health-wise, I feel fine. It's good to hear. Marcus. Yes, sir. Could I speak to you privately? Yes, sir. And I'll follow him out. Okay, Tenbolt is going to leave this room, and they're going to go into, like, an adjacent locker room that's empty. As soon as the door shuts, what the fuck is that? Oh, God, this is... Okay. Firstly... Oh, those have hats. That was Gavin's thing. Aww. His hat is out there somewhere.

It still lives. It would actually be in the White Raven encampment. Um, that is the next quest for you guys. Find Gavin's hat. So, Tenbolt... Um... So Tenbolt and Marcus are alone. Marcus. You understand what's happening in the arena today, don't you? Uh, yes. You're attempting to get us killed. I'm more testing you, but... Are you aware of the situation between myself and Commander Grey's? I am aware that there seems to be a disagreement on how this group should be run between you two. It's a little larger than that. I am under the firm opinion that Commander Grey has lost sight of what we're supposed to be doing with this army.

He's pandering and weak. He would rather wait for Rodswell's former group to attack us, to take the overwatch on the offensive, and that's just foolish. We have the numbers. We should stick to the plan that His Majesty had already come up with. On top of that, while he kept me in the field, he took full credit for the group I put together, the Crimson Shield. And then, at the first sign of failure, he was going to dump them back onto myself. Now, currently... Currently, Grace is... Busy. He is readying troops, and we are actually going to Winterhaven soon enough.

You strike me as someone not satisfied with their current position. You don't want to be a grunt for the rest of your life, do you, Marcus? No, sir. I didn't think so. I would also like to say that you've dealt with Gavin's death remarkably well. I would think a lesser man would be distracted in the arena today. You seem to have kept your head on quite the swivel. My teammates are under my charge. It is my job to make sure they get through this. Now, honestly, I could care less about the Larva Woman. I don't care about Fi's mother. Whether she lives or dies is really of no consequence.

But you seem to have quite the strong attachment. I have the attachment, sir, in that I believe she is innocent and does not deserve this. Bring her in for questioning, find out what she knows, but I have no reason to believe she knows of anything. Well, I'm sure we could find someone to interrogate her. This was more or less just to see what you would do with her in the arena. As for Rodswell, he's more of a pawn. I could care less whether he lives or dies, too. I would imagine he does have some information, but Grace was more concerned with his usefulness than I am.

I don't really think he's anything more than bluster. I'll be blunt with you, Marcus. I want Commander Grace out of the way. I want to lead this army, and I would like to do so sooner than later. Well, considering Commander Grace has His Excellency's ear, I don't know how you're going to get that done. While I agree with you, we need to prepare, and I would rather fight outside of this city than inside of it just for the sake of the citizens. I've heard that you're... adept... at forgery. Is that true? Yes, sir. I've had training in reading and writing and the ability to copy things.

More importantly, you've had Commander Grace give you written orders before. Yes, sir. It wouldn't be outside the realm of possibility that Commander Grace would be distraught over his own daughter fleeing the Overwatch army and becoming a traitor. It certainly wouldn't be out of the realm of possibility that he would want to reach out to her and see that she's safe. Would you agree? I can see the concern of a father for his daughter, yes. If I got you the necessary materials from Grace's desk himself, would you be able to draft me something that would look convincing I could bring to the council while His Majesty is away?

I could. You want me to write a letter to Jadzia, his daughter, just inquiring about her well-being, or do you want me to lead more of that? I want this to be a full-on warning. I want this to implicate Grace. There can be no doubt this would have to lead to his death. Two other questions then, sir. What happens to the team? Well, I would enjoy it very much if you could finish this tournament. Now, what you face in the final round is completely up to you and your decision right here. Actually, a follow-up question then, sir. Specifically, what happens to Rod Swell and Flo?

I still believe they are both innocent of any charges and I have no reason to implicate them. Again, Fi's mother is of little consequence to me. She has been branded a traitor just by implication of her son. But beyond some basic questioning, as little violence as possible, I assure you. I really don't see a need to bring her any further harm in the arena. As for Rod Swell, that's completely up to him. If he wishes to fight by your side, fantastic. If he doesn't, then he can return to his rest and then prepare to work in the study as I believe that was where he was supposed to go.

He had expressions just starting there at least, yes. Okay, the last question I have, sir, is what's in this for me? Now see that, that is what I saw in you from the beginning, Marcus. We get through this war, we crush Winterhaven, which shouldn't take long. Destroy any of the rebels opposing this army or the city, the White Ravens, we clear out the forest. And I can see you moving up to the rank of captain after I take Commander Grace's position. Okay, because I need to know these things because if this is discovered, we will both assuredly hang. I don't see a reason why either one of us would tell anyone.

Okay, let us let me get back to my team and we will get through this final fight. I would prefer if Flo was not in it. I will take Rod Swell along with us and then once if I survive, I will be willing to do this. Tenville's gonna stick his hand out. And I'll shake it. All right, I'll make the arrangements in the arena for you. Thank you, sir. And I'm going to head back to my team. This will be interesting. Okay, then Marcus has rejoined the team in the locker room. Welcome back. All right, I have a bit of good news for everybody here. Arilov, you're going to want your armor back.

Flo is not going to be joining us in the arena for this final fight. I made a deal with Captain Tenville to get her out of this. Thank you, sir. And I would turn to Flo and start unstrapping the armor. Flo looks absolutely relieved. I would give her a great big grin. And I'm going to walk up to Flo and I'm going to say, "I honestly do not believe you had anything to do with your son's actions and I saw no reason to put you in danger in this. I am sorry for everything that has happened to you. Good luck with the rest of your life." And I'm going to walk away.

Flo is going to speak up real quick. Okay. What did Tenville want exactly? I would be starting to give Flo a hug and I would stop when I hear that and then give her a quick hug and then hold her hand again while I listen. He wanted to congratulate me on how well we've done so far. He wanted to see how I was going to treat both Rod Swell and Flo. To see if I would try and use them against everyone or if we were going to protect them. And how I would react to that situation. He wanted to congratulate the team on how well we've done so far and wish us luck in the next round.

And he wanted a personal favor from me. And I traded that personal favor for Flo's life. 22 on insight. It's the truth but it's not the whole truth. Good enough. Is the personal favors nature the only thing you're hiding from us? I can't go into detail with what he asked of me. I understand that. I understand that. I'm asking if there's anything else that you're hiding from us. Probably. But it's not for want of telling you. It's, I will put it this way, it will be to protect you. I'm taking this burden on myself. Okay. 27 on insight just to verify that last statement.

That's true. Everything I'm going to do is going to be on me. Right and then the statement about wanting to protect us etc. Again, like I told Captain Tenbolt, if anything goes wrong it's me and him that are going to hang. I don't want anybody else blamed for it. Okay, I see. Alright. Marcus. I would give him a smart salute. Para-log. Yes sir. Yes Roswell. Hey Teggie, you're the commanding officer here. I'm the field commander, yes. When we get through whatever we have to do, I need to talk to whoever is in charge of you. Roswell, I will also tell you that when we get through this next round, I secured the fact that you can return to your home that you have been granted here and go back to your studying or whatever it is you wish to do.

That no longer interests me. Okay. I have to see that you win. Because if you don't, I die. There's no hiding from me anymore. I will be hunted like an animal. I was going to say, you will be welcome to join us if you wish. If you wish to join the army, I can, I'm pretty sure I can get Captain Tenbolt or Commander Grace's ear and have you join us if you wish. What I can do on the field is far less than what I can do if I have the ear of your commanding officer. I will be happy to introduce you to and do anything I can to make sure that he understands the information that you can give him and how valuable it is.

The only thing I want is to live in peace, but I cannot do it if you lose. You understand that? I understand that. We do not plan on losing. Let's kill some motherfuckers. So you guys are pretty much ready for the next round? Yep. Everybody healed up? Yeah, you guys might want to spend healing surges, do what you gotta do. I did that before we ended last time. I'm at 35 out of 38. I'm close as I can be right now. Let's take Flo out of the initiative so we don't have to worry about Flo. Still gotta worry about Po though. Well, Po's a throat-punching motherfucker.

He owes me one. Yeah, Po is part of our team. Yeah. Yeah. Alright. If you guys want to place your characters somewhere down in this general vicinity, outside of game, there were two very different options for how this third round was going to play out. As of now, there's only one other group that has made it as far as you guys. It's another military group. Now, depending on whatever option Marcus picked with Tenbolt, what you'd be facing in the final round would be very, very different. So Tenbolt is kind of... He's kind of made it a habit to make a little speech before each one of these rounds.

And he kind of takes his place, and he starts to address the crowd and they kind of hush. Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the third and final round of the Tournament of Champions. The Crimson Shield has done a remarkable job of cleaving through the opposition so far. In our recent acquisition of the town of Durnhollow, there was a slave trading post called the New Vol. Now, the Crimson Shield was good enough to eliminate all of the New Vol within the town. And what was left was a pack of former gladiators. You gotta take on laser, ice, and the rest of them.

No! Hey, didn't somebody warn you about killing off their favorite NPCs? I don't recall that warning. I believe you LOL'd. Maybe. That sounds like something I would do. Yes. Technically you're killing off. I'm doing nothing. Unless Poe does it. Unless Poe does it, you're right. And I think technically I'm the only one who knows these four, so... And you have, of course, no responsibility in our actions. We get a choice. We can either die or kill them. That is true. That is completely true. Everyone roll initiative. Justifiable evil is the worst kind of evil. Well, that's kind of what our campaign is based on.

Hell yeah. 25. To clarify to everyone at home, the team is going to be facing grill, laser, nitro, and turbo. The New Vol gladiators. You gonna get the background for the American gladiators rocking in the background too? The show needs more Mike Adamle. That's what we need. Or do we? Let me tell your brother, those gladiators look pretty tough today. Oh, that's new gladiators. That doesn't count. We're not talking about new gladiators. Rodswell, your turn. Huh. Rodswell's not used to going first. What'd you get for rolling high? Don't worry, Rodswell. They can't reach us in one turn, but don't move too far up.

Let them come to us. Can we see what they're armed with? Grell has a big ass hammer, whereas the others seem to be sporting gladiatorial swords. Okay. I just wanted to make sure they weren't all wielding crossbows, and I'm telling everybody, hold back, hold back. No, no, no, no. They seem to be really short range dudes. And for the listeners who don't get to hear the episodes right away, you want to go ahead and describe these guys? What do they look like? Well, Grell is a very large mole, and if you recall, he has no tongue, so he won't be shouting anything going into battle.

Or at least nothing with words. Nothing really out of the ordinary about Grell, except that he's really fucking large. Like, approaching seven feet large. He's large. Yeah, he's pretty imposing. Hodor. Hodor. The other three are in standard gladiatorial gear. These guys have been pretty much battle bred and raised in arenas and pits and fighting circles. Such as three big burly guys? Pretty much three big burly dudes. Cut ups, guard, these guys have seen battle before. Awesome, thank you. Not a problem. Okay. So, I am going to do Mark of Victory on Grell. Okay.

That means that everyone gains a +2 power bonus to attack and damage rolls against him. Okay. And then, I can take another move action instead of attack, right? Since I was a miner? Uh, yes. Then I'm just going to move on back? Not all the way. I'll move right there. Cool. Okay. Now, you said he takes a -2 to what now? Mark of Victory, until the end of the encounter, you and your allies gain a +2 power bonus to attack and damage rolls. That's interesting. Why did you have to move forward to do that? It's an action burst five. Okay. So again, I ask why did you have to move forward to do that?

Because he's not within five spaces. Oh, you have to hit Grell to do that? Okay. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Okay, that's weird. Yeah, one enemy in the burst. Okay. It's something he's doing to Grell, not something he's doing to us. Yes, no, I was trying - I was like, what the hell? Like, there's no roll against Grell, so that threw me. Okay. Yeah, I'm marking him, so. Yep. I'm a douche. No, I was thinking like you were, Jason. I was thinking it was a burst from him. Right, to the party. It's like, why did you have to move up to do that? Like, he just wanted to be the center of attention for a second.

And he's frogging it up to you. I just wanted to stand in the middle of my arms. Well, that was hammy. Alright, fine, I guess. It was like Final Fantasy battles, when they run out, they attack and then they get back into place. Probably. He probably did like a little pose after he snuggled up there. I did all that, but there's a reason for it. Ever the showman, that's where Duncan got it from. I was a bard at one point, so. Well, maybe you could pick that up if you lived through this. You could maybe entertain people in the Overwatch. Mason, your turn. Alright.

So, I'm going to set up with Berserker's Charge and look back at the commanding officer saying, "I hit harder with this." Whip Full Blade around through the air and just bolt charge right up to him. Hmm. Let's do an MBA. Glad he takes direction. So well. Hey, I kind of sold you on the whole taking direction thing. Uh oh. Are we doing this again? That's because Grell isn't human. Yeah. He's only half human. Mason is a human slayer. That is a 18. That'll miss. That will miss. Alright. Anything else? Turn done. Fair love. Your turn. Wait, is that 18 with the plus two?

It is not. That's right. Now it's 20. That'll still miss. Okay. Alright. So, we were told to wait and stay back, correct? Yeah. A little late for that now. Okay. So do you give me some kind of command to move forward then? Go ahead. Okay. So, let's see. Attack at will. Concentrate on Grell. He's been marked. I think I only have five, so I'll stop right here. Alright. Checking out the range on some of my stuff here real quick now that I'm up there. Since Grell looks the most badass, I'm going to use Sunstrike against him. It's not will. Divine implement radiant standard action range 10.

One creature. Wisdom versus reflex. So, let's do this. You're targeting Grell's reflex. That's probably really good. Yeah. Or not. Or not. We've got some shitty rules coming up here. Not again. It's alright. Poke and go throat punch everyone. Alright. I'm done for my turn. Alright. Laser. I like how you actually labeled them laser nitro and turbo in the initiative tracker. It makes it easier to keep track of them. Yeah. That was such a running joke that went wild all of a sudden. That's pretty much what this show is. I don't know if you've noticed for the last two years, that's pretty much...

References! That's, yeah. Go back and listen to episode one sometime. That's all it is. Most of that episode is just Roseanne references, I think. And Streets of Vagina. Yeah. Yeah. Alright. Let's see here. Streets of Vagina. I've always thought that's what that was saying. Let's see here. Laser is going to move up and use his short sword attack against... No. You know what? Yeah. He's going to use his short sword attack against Mason. 21 will hit. Does it? Does it really? Well, I just... Yes it does. It does. Go ahead. 12 damage! Alright. And that'll bring us to Grell.

Hmm. Wow. Grell's going to use... He's going to pull back his hammer and use double sweep. And he's going to try to attack you twice with his war hammer. That first one will hit. The second one will miss. Alright. So... war hammer strike. 12 damage! That will bloody Mason. I had a bloody Mason once. Damn it. I can't use... Okay. It's post turn. I was going to use flashbang, but Mason's right there. Two, three, four... Shit. Throw it up and over his shoulder. Yeah. I got to get close enough to... Yeah. Yeah. Fuck it. I'll try it. That's the spirit. Yeah. Him and Una went to the same school.

Ah, fuck it. I guess I'll try it. That's... Ah, fuck it. University. Three. Fuck you. Sure, fuck it. Fuck you. I like that. Two, three, four, five. Alright. He's going to use flashbang and that will create a burst. Boom. Right there. So I will be targeting Grell and Nitro. That will hit Nitro and that will miss Grell. Shit. So eight damage to Nitro and he is blind until save ends. Sweet. And that will bring about Marcus. Alright. Marcus is going to move up five. And Mason's in a pretty bad way. Yeah. You're awful quiet, man. What? Oh, you're really quiet. Oh, I am? Sorry. You were.

I apologize. Must have bumped the mic a bit. I will throw a healing word onto Mason since he is so dinged up. Well, thank you. No problem. Additionally, there's one thing we've been forgetting. When I get a healing word, I get a plus two bonus to all defenses until the beginning of my next turn. Oh, good lord. Yeah. That's a big thing to forget. Jeez. Yeah, because it's showing a healing word and I thought we had switched it to a shielding word for that. Yeah. That's a... Yeah. What we need to do is print out PDFs. Ah. That's what we need to do. Can you roll me a 2d6 plus seven, please?

Ten plus your healing surge. That was a shit roll. I'm pretty much ready to rock anyway. So now plus two bonus to AC for a little while. Yep. And I'm done. All right. Nitro. Nitro is going to stumble forward here blind as a bat, but kind of feeling his way over towards Mason. And he's going to try to use his short sword and he can't see shit. So that's a negative five to that. And that'll miss. Shocker. And he's still blind. Damn. OK. He did not save out of that. Turbo. I thought that there. Nitro. I just love that so much. Have my babies. Let's see here. Turbo is going to use hamstring cut against Marcus.

Yikes. Oh, that'll hit. Almost a crit. So that is 14 damage and you are slowed. Save ends. OK. That'll bring us back to the top. Rodswell. OK. Can't get much closer. Going to use range basic attack on laser. You have a crossbow, right? Yes. That may be the first time you've ever referenced the character on the field by name. Yeah. Well, you haven't. It's not just numbers. Names. It's nice. I've had names before. Usually call him cowboy or something like that. Dude. What? Oh, that'll make sense. That's why you don't use the crossbow. Yeah, that's an eight. That's going to miss laser.

OK. Is there anything else? No. Mason, your turn. Now he'll never reference anybody by name again. Did the crossbow hit anybody in the stands? Let's say no. Let's say they ducked out of the way. It's like, holy shit. Well, these are high walls. They're not like on eye level with you guys. That would be dangerous. Yeah, but it was an eight too. I remember. So there's a kid in the fifth row going, I got his crossbow. By the way, that was almost a crit. Miss. But yes, we need two realms of t-shirts. One's almost almost a crit and then almost a crit. Miss. All right. So.

All right. Look back to Marcus real quick. Hit the big motherfuckers, right? Yep. All right. So I'm targeting grill switching to the battle wrasse stance and let's take a swing at him and we roll. Hits a crit. I quit. My lord. Here we go. Can I get a fuck? Yeah. Oh, yeah. Or hell yeah. Let us see the power of this fully operational death star. OK. So with the critical, the particular weapon I have, the full blade has a high crit. And due to that, it allows me to roll another weapon die when I land a blow. In addition to this, I'd also like to throw in a power strike because I did land the blow and I've been doing it incorrectly.

So I'm going to actually be rolling two D twelve. Oh, don't forget the plus two from the from the BMR. Thank you. I'm going to go ahead and add in right now. So let's go to D twelve plus two and ask before I actually get my max damage. That's twenty one. And now let's check what the max damage of your of my weapon is. It's not enchanted. Well, yeah. Let's see. Now, how do I get max damage on here when I roll the dice damage? It's not a thing. Oh, actually, I think it is just a mo. Here we go. Maximum damage. And then I add twenty one and then I roll as it were.

So the damage comes off. Geez. Thirty nine damage. Sorry. That took so long for the build up. That's all right. Thirty nine damage. And I'm going to go ahead and use. So hey, Flurry and take another swing at him. So he just goes into a berserker blitz and slashes the hell out of him with a sword. Oh, that one's going to miss. It's all right. I'll take that. Still duly noted that thirty nine didn't even bloody growl. So she was a big, tough dude. So I noticed I was an action point. Oh, do you want action point? No, I'm going to wait. Thank you. OK, no problem. I'm going to.

I'm going to use fires of judgment, which is a divine fire implement and counter power, which means I'm going to get half my hit points in 10 hit points. I mean, half my level in 10 hit points. So I'm going to add those real quick. All right. And each enemy in burst, which is an area burst one within 10 squares. And I'm going to land it up in between. For some reason, their names aren't showing up. Whichever one has the little exclamation point. That would be nitro. OK, sorry. I don't know why it's not showing. Oh, there it is. OK. And growl and it's a wisdom versus reflex rolling it now.

I forgot to add the plus two on grill, but I think that still misses. And one. Yeah. Oh, yeah. Natural one. And a 17 misses on nitro. Damn. All righty then. Anything else, man? No, that's it. All right. Laser laser is going to use his short sword against Mason. Get a plus two for flanking. He does because he gets blind. Yeah, it's a blinding. Yep. Blocks that. Well, it's still in. Short sword. 13 damage was it? Oh, no, I'm right. OK, girls turn. He is fucking pissed. He kind of lets loose this noise, just kind of a disapproving grunt kind of thing. And he's going to reel back his war hammer and try and take two swings downward at Mason.

Oh, OK. That's a critical. OK, and the second one misses. But then again, the first one probably hit well enough that he doesn't need to hit with the second one. 27 damage. He's down. Hold on a second. Let me. Yep, that'll bring him down to negative three. It's a good thing that second one didn't hit. Fuck you. OK, a crit for a crit. That was pretty sweet. They're actually kind of evenly matched on the. That's nice. Damage wise. Poe is going to kind of spring forward here and take the long way around to get flanking. Not that it matters this second, but it could come in handy later.

And Poe is going to look over to Marcus. I'm going to say go with the sword this time. Oh, OK. The Lux kind of won out eventually. Poe is going to use his broadsword against. OK, well, that's almost a crit. OK, against laser and let's see damage. 13 damage against laser. So awesome. Marcus, your turn. Marcus, well, he slowed, but it's not going to matter much if I am going to shift one there. So that I can use my last healing word to help out Mason. That would be me. Twelve plus a healing surge. That should bring you back up a little bit, at least. Hooray for living.

Yeah. Thank you. All right. And I've shifted and I've done an action, so I think I'm done. All right. So we have Satan Nitro, who is still blind. OK. He is he's going to kind of hear the commotion from Marcus and shift forward and try and like clumsily swing his broadsword at Marcus or short sword. And that'll totally miss. And let's see if he's not blind anymore. OK, well, he's blind and deaf now. He's blind. Turbo is not going to let you get away from him so easily. Marcus short sword to actually, you know what? He's going to move down here so that there's not really flanking, but whatever short sword attack.

OK, never mind. That's a two. I guess he will let you get away so easily. So how about that? Rotswell, your turn. Does Mason have healing surge left at all? Why, yes, he does. Would you like to use one? Yes, you can make a saving throw, don't I? Oh, yeah, you do. Ten. Not quite. Actually, ten is successful. Ten is better. Ten or better. Ten. OK, I'm no longer slower. I'm going to use Resurgent Sun on laser. 27. OK, 19 damage. Gorgeous. And yeah, Mason can spend a healing surge. Done and done. Anything else, sir? Nope, that's it. Mason, your turn. All right, thank you. Let's see.

Going to switch into motherfucking Berserker's Charge. I would imagine you'd stand up first? Oh, yes, stand up first. Thank you. Let it be noted in case any of the fans go, "Why the hell is he sprinting and not doing opportunity attacks?" I have an item called "Batch of the Berserker" that allows me to, as long as I'm charging, ignore any opportunity attacks. And that's the dealie. So stand up, then my move action, my standard action is to do the charge. And I zip right up here. And it is time. Melee basic. All right. And we roll. And we roll. And that's going to be a crit 1.

Natural 1. Son of a bitch. All right, turn is over. Arrow love! Okay, so I'm going to move up to here. And I'm going to tell Marcus, you may want to have people move back before I finish what I'm starting. And then I'm going to use Maledictor's Doom, which is a minor action, blast 5, Divine and Fear. Keep in mind, most of us can only shift 1 without getting massive opportunity attacks. Oh, that's fine. I just need -- mostly it's -- let's see. Poe and Rodswell are the ones that I'm concerned about. Okay. All right. So I'm going to do Maledictor's Doom, close blast 5.

Each enemy in the blast, which at this point with the close blast 5, I won't hit Turbo, but I will hit all the other bad guys. Each target takes a -1 penalty to attack rolls and saving throws until the end of my next turn. And in addition, whenever the target is hit by a fear attack before the end of my next turn, I can also push the target 1 square as a free action. No good. And I will check that off if used. It's an encounter power. And then I'm going to use Summons of Justice, which is also a close burst 5. Oh, this one's a burst as opposed to a blast.

One or two creatures in the burst, Wisdom versus Will. So I'm going to attack Grell. And I'm going to attack -- Laser. Laser? Okay. Yeah. All right. Oh, I forgot. Oh, no, never mind. Well, that was Nitro anyway, but okay. Yeah, same thing. Oops, sorry. Well, they have the same stats. Okay. That will hit Grell. Yes, I crit on him. Crit Grell. Yes. All right. So now we need damage. Okay, so with the Summons of Justice, I can do 2d8 damage plus Wisdom, and it's radiant. And then I can pull a target 3 squares. And then with the Covenant of Malediction, which is my path as an invoker, I can also knock the target prone.

The effect is that I am dazed until the end of my next turn. So I -- You also get plus 2 with the Mark of Iction. Yes. Okay. I forgot to add that on the attack, but since it was a crit, it didn't matter. Right, but it will go down power too, so. Yes. So I'll say max damage, and then because it's a crit, I get to add another die of some sort. Let me check that out real quick. I believe it's a d8. I believe so as well. It is a d8. Yay. Let me get the right dice on here. There we go. Eight. Nice. So I will add a 10 bonus to include the 2 from the Mark. And roll 30 damage. 30 damage?

Very nice. Yay. Impressive. Grell is still not bloody. I need to say, motherfucker's still not bloody. [laughter] I know you're prone. But I am going to slide him right up to my feet, basically, on his knees, prone. Okay. So let me move him right there. Got it. Okay, question. This other thing you're setting off that you need us to get away from, how is that still going to work with you being dazed? Yeah. I can do one attack while I'm dazed, and I don't need to go anywhere necessarily. It's a blast, so it's going to go forward from where I am, a block of 5. I can show you.

Let's see. One, two, three, four, five. So I have to be in the middle, so it's going to be basically like that. Oh, say it. Mason needs to move too. And he's not next to anybody because I moved Grell, so he can safely move as much as he wants. That's strange. I don't see a block. Oh, there it is. Sorry. I had to let go apparently. I'm working on that. Laser's turn. Let's see here. Blind laser. One night, one night only. Nitro's blind. Laser's okay. That's where I got confused. Damn. You know what? Short sword to Rodswell. And that's a crit one. All right. Come on, laser.

You're better than this. Grell is going to stand up and he is going to -- hmm. Hi there. Yeah. I basically subjugated him in front of me and all his buddies. Yeah. He's going to shift over one space. On your knees, little girl. Actually, no. No, he is not. That's what I said to him. That's what she said. He is not going to move there. He's scared. He is going to use double sweep and take two swings of his war hammer down at air love. I'm ready. That's a crit. Shit. Jesus Christ. All the criticals. Okay. All right. So let's do that first one. That's max damage. I'm going to be doing some interrupts too just as a note.

Yes. Okay. I'm being told I should do it now before I take the second hit. Okay. Yeah, I would do that. Because I could be a trigger from the first hit. Sure. Go ahead. Okay. Let me pull it up real quick. Wow. Firstly, infernal wrath. Okay. Makes sense. It doesn't have a die on it, so I'm going to roll it manually. It is a 1d6 plus intelligence or charisma modifier. I have a plus two intelligence. Okay. I add an additional plus two for the mark. All right. Six damage. Six damage to Grell. So he hits you with that first -- you have bloodied Grell. Holy crap. He hits you with that first hammer strike and it's a doozy and you blast him in the face with this fire and that bloodies Grell.

Okay. Then he's going to rear back and hit you with a second one, but before that there was a trigger? Yeah, I think I might have another trigger. One sec. Sorry. Okay. Take your time. If it's your armor, you already used that. I thought I might have had another one too. I'm just checking real quick. Yeah, no. The armor was a daily, so that one doesn't count. But yeah, I think that's the only trigger I have right now. Okay. Grell is going to strike you with this second hammer blow and completely knock Air Love out. He took you from full health to negative nine.

Yikes. Um, so shit. Poe is going to shift behind a laser. He's going to look over to Marcus, who is a little busy, but -- Let's see, Marcus is a little tied up at the moment. Well then, Poe is just going to ball up his fist. Okay. And take it upon himself. Low shot. Pound throw punch. Oh! First miss with it. That will be a miss. Well, that sucks. These are armored gladiators though, so that kind of makes sense. Marcus, your turn. He could punch through Dragonborn. Let's not look too far into this, man. Let's just let it go. Alright. Maybe he's distracted. Yeah. Well, I'm kind of stuck right here, so I am going to -- let's see, does being blinded take anything down on your defenses or not?

The only thing it does is you -- well, negative five to any attacks, and then you can't -- you can't flank with anybody. Right. Okay. You grant combat advantage. Negative ten to perception. Yeah, you grant combat advantage, negative ten to perception. Yeah. In that case, I'm going to do a healing strike on him. Okay. On -- that's nitro, right? Yep. And I missed. That'll miss, yes. But one ally within five squares can spend a healing surge. Hey! Welcome back to the board, Aralov. Thank you. With your -- with your -- Plus -- sorry. Two twenty-six plus -- Oh, that's right.

Yeah, plus four. Plus ten. Go right ahead. I -- I just want to say that I -- every time I listen to Scott's accent, like, pronounce Aralov, she always sounds like a Russian spy. Aralov. You wish to help us here? That would be good to know. At least it's like an extra from spies like us or something like that. Show me the Mikrofilm. Aralov. Nitro's turn. He is going to take -- let's see here. Good lord. This poor blind bastard. Say "reminder." He's blinder than before. Ten percent more blindness. He is going to use his clumsy-ass short sword attack against Marcus and -- ooh, that'll hit.

A critical. That's a crit. A crit! And he's blind. Wow. Oh, one and twenty. Ha ha ha ha. Oh. Yeah, that's true. Yeah. That is nineteen damage to Marcus. Ouch. And Turbo. You know what? Turbo's also going to use his short sword against Marcus. There we go. And that'll be a crit once, so never mind. He wasn't even blind. What the hell? Oh, let me roll a saving throw for eighteen. He's no longer blind. At a negative one, but that didn't matter. Still, yeah. Still. Okay. Back to the top of the order. Rodswell. Okay. Uh, Rodswell looks over at Marcus. Do I have your permission to heal, sir?

Permission granted. Who wants a healing word? I'm at nineteen, but Marcus is at four. Marcus is at four. Please give it to Marcus. Yes. Uh, healing surge plus -- I hit roll and I didn't do anything. There we go. Eight. Um, there you go. Thank you. And, uh, I take it we need to get people away from this guy? Was that the -- Wait a minute. Uh, Jason, question. Before we continue any further. When Arilov went down, did that interrupt whatever spell she was going to do? No, it's not something that needed set up specifically. It's just that that's what I was planning to do next.

Oh, okay. All right. So that's something. So that's something you had set up and then said, all right, next turn, this is going to go off type deal. No. Well, it's by the end of my next turn, I have to do what I wanted to do in order to get a bonus, but that bonus wasn't going to make or break the deal. Okay. Uh, no, I'm going to -- Rotswell, at least get away from the front of her. Um, I'm going to use -- Get you behind me. Yeah, exactly. I'm going to use inspire fervor on, uh, Grel. Okay. So let's roll. Oh, what about 22 or 23? Sorry versus his AC. Yeah, that'll miss.

What about if I use my heroic effort? Uh, are you using your heroic effort or are you just asking me if you're going to use I'm using heroic effort. So it's plus four and that'll hit. Okay. Oh, okay. So that hit him. Um, I'm gonna do my damage roll first. This is plus two because I can't add that. Oh yeah, I can. Yeah, you can. 18. Um, now, in addition to that, every -- each ally within two squares of me, so that's -- everyone except Marcus? Everyone but me. No, everyone except, uh, Mason. So, um, they can shift up to two squares as a free action and any ally who ends this shift adjacent to Grell can, uh, make a Belemaic attack against them if they want.

Fuck yes. Belemaic attack, alright. Let's -- Belemaic attack. Um. I'll do my best. Wow, shit. So everyone can shift two? Yeah, for free. So, okay, who's going first? I -- I shifted out already. Right. Erolove next? I'm gonna stay here. I think she's staying there, yeah, so she can -- No, 'cause she's shifted away and shifted back one. Is that possible? Well, now, okay, she would be prone. Do you at least want to stand up? Like, instead of shift, you can stand up. Can I use that instead of shifting? Yeah. Fuck yeah. Well, I mean, to shift -- okay, cool. As a reaction -- Uh-oh.

-- to Erolove's -- Wait, wait, wait, wait. Did Poe get out of there too? Not yet. Uh, not yet. This is -- Oh, 'cause you're going in the order of the initiative? Yes. Then Mason would have gotten out of the way. No, I was asking who wanted to go next. Mason was out of the reach of the ability, so. Well, since I wasn't gonna go anywhere, I would have probably gone last, but -- I just -- Oh, no, I feel like I've been tricked. Um -- You're like, "Here, you want this?" I didn't even think of that. Thanks, Jason. I would -- now, I'm saying, to shift, you would have had to have stand up.

Just logic. Yeah, but I wasn't gonna shift anyway. Was you? I'm not going anywhere. You seemed awful eager to grab that fruit a second ago. That's 'cause you dangled it. Well -- Fruit dangler. Don't touch what I'm dangling. That's the, uh -- that is -- Ew. -- that is the, uh -- that's the lesson we've learned. Uh, the -- because you have stand up, Grelle's gonna use Pursuing Shove, and as Erolove stands up -- let's see if that hit -- that is a hit to her fortitude. That's a shocker, Erolove's fortitude's so high. Um, both Grelle and Erolove are going to move three spaces away.

It's gonna take you away from all this. Yes. It's gonna sweep you off your feet and drag you away from all this. Okay. Air Supply plays in the background. I'm on a love -- I'm so lost without you. Fuck yeah. Po -- I'm still gonna fuck him up, by the way. Yeah, that's fine. That's fine. I'm just -- okay. So Po is gonna shift two down here. Uh, let me see. Uh, Marcus. Yes. You wanna shift? Uh, I can shift two. Make an attack. Damn, I would shift right in front of Erolove, but she's gonna let loose a Mind Blast here in a moment, so I'm gonna shift there. Okay. I would say that that is still not a safe place.

Yeah, I'm right on the edge, but I can't get out of the way, so -- Well, you could've moved left, right? Left would not be good, right would be good. Directly in front of you? You're shifting two, right? Yeah. To there? I'm gonna shift one on my turn and do an angled blast instead of a flat blast. Okay. If that makes sense. Yep, I can shift over here anyway. That works. So you're gonna hit that area? No, no, no, no, no. I'll redraw it. I'm going to shift and then I'm going to affect these squares so that I hit less good guys. Okay. Alright, then I'll shift -- let's see if I'm here.

I can go one, two and get right there. You are already safe, but that's fine if you want to move two. Well, I want to get up next to Laser there, and Po, and give Mason an easier chance at -- Yay, I'm not gonna hurt any of my friends. I'm gonna get a flanking for Mason. So we good? Yep. Okay. Mason, your turn. Alright, so yeah, I'm gonna take that flanking initiative. That's pretty sweet. Dash down there and let's roll. That is a hit. Sweet. I'm gonna throw in my last power strike for the day, or for this fight anyway. Let's roll an extra 12. Ah, two. So mighty.

Plus the two from -- Rob Swahl. -- Rob Swahl's thing. Actually, that one's not debuffed for that. Is he? Because I think he just hit Grell. No, no, no, that's something you all got as a party. No, it was only against Grell. Was it? Yeah. That's what I thought, yeah. He just specifically said, "Screw you, Grell." That's right. Okay. So 11 damage and Laser is bloodied. Sweet. Let's take this motherfucker out. And actually, action point, I look over. Hit him again. Take him down. All right. Action point. I still have -- all right. Switch stances to Battle Wrath. Now go for Melee Basic.

And we're looking at -- whoa. That is a hit. Sweet. Let's roll damage. 17. Gorgeous. Turn is done. All right. Aral of your turn. You're cozied up next to Grell. I am cozied up next to Grell. He was very kind to dance me over here. All right. So I know what I'm doing. So I'll be getting a plus one to Speedy, for being Speedy. I get a plus one because of Blood Hunt. And I get a plus two because Grell is marked. And I am going to use the Invocation of Ice and Fire. It is a daily. With Cold, Divine, Fire, Implement, and Azone. So each creature in the blast, which will be Grell, Turbo, and Nitro, I will be attacking with Wisdom versus Reflex.

So we'll start with Grell. Oh I forgot to add my bonuses. I had like a plus four. That'll still miss his Reflex. On Turbo, I have a standard roll. No pluses. That'll hit. And Nitro, standard roll. That'll hit. All right. So then I'm going to go ahead and roll damage on those two. And roll. Thirteen. And that's Ice and Fire and Divine. Good lord. So she sang a song of fire and ice? Yes. It's Invocation. I'm an invoker, not a singer. We're not going to get sued. The blast creates a zone of flaming hail that lasts until the end of my next turn. Any creature that starts its turn within the zone takes five Cold and Fire damage.

It's a sustain miner and the zone will persist. Wow. Okay. Laser's turn. Damn. Oh, laser. You know what? Shortsword attack against Marcus. That'll hit. Eleven damage. That'll bloody Marcus. Yeah. I can just imagine the crowd's reaction to suddenly there's flaming hail on the arena floor. Oh, it's badass. Yeah. Even as a tiefling, you'd be winning these people over. That's pretty cool. Gril is going to take five damage for starting in the zone, I believe? That's correct. All right. So poor Gril. Poor Gril. Actually, he gets an extra one because he's bloodied and anything I do against bloodied people is an extra plus one versus attack and damage, which I forgot to add to Nitro and Turbo.

I knew I was missing something. So they each take one more damage. Okay. So Gril is going to shift over one and he's going to use his double hammer strike against Erolove. Bye, guys. Oh, that is a hit. And oh no, this could get nasty. That is a hit. Motherfucker. That was barely a hit. So close. Oh shit. Okay. That first one was 21 damage and that takes you down to two, negative two. Rodswell likes me. I'm hoping this next hit doesn't kill you outright. That's what I'm hoping too. Okay, wait. What would we, what are we hoping not to get here, guys? Let's see. You're down to negative two.

You have 38 health, so we're looking not to get 16? No, 14. So 14. Oh, jeez. Just do it. Rip off that bandaid. We need a drum roll. Oh, Jesus. This is not great. Just fucking do it. 18. Bye, guys. Move on. Can't. There has to be a dramatic pause as Jason realizes exactly how much damage he's rolled on you. The multitude of storylines go spliff in the air. So many plans. No, I'm fine. Well, I'm still here. That's why I said Rodswell likes me. I was nice to him and he was nice to me. He said he was going to keep me alive. There's, we'll have to, as of right now, Grille has just murdered Air Love Gridness in the arena.

Air Love is dead. Motherfucker. Are the fans screaming at him because they just fell in love with me? I think it's kind of a mixture. The fact that you're a tiefling in the Overwatch series, there's always going to be detractors, but you just pulled off the badass raining fire ice crazy shit and then Grille pretty much just races forward and bashes your fucking head in twice. That was not pretty and not cool with the fire and the ice and everything, but I mean, it's effective. Poe is going to look distraught over that. That really fucked Poe up. That was not cool.

Poe wants the glory, but doesn't want to have to get his hands dirty. Go jump on Grille. Poe's going to use Sword Dance and attack Nitro and that'll miss. He's distracted. That was Laser. Laser, yeah, sorry. For some reason, Nitro was highlighted. And then he is going to shift to down right behind Grille and use Sword Dance again. That's also going to miss. Come on. Markus, your turn. Oh boy. Yeah, this isn't going to be a problem here, guys, because I can't hit a bloodied opponent very well. That is becoming more and more a problem in this arena. It's what happens, unfortunately.

What I can do is, let's see, blast five. Jen, can you clear those AOEs off? Maybe. Does anybody know how? Right click on them and then delete those. There you go. At least that one can... Awesome, thank you. The other one stays. Well, I guess I can't sustain it. Never mind. But they'll take damage, I guess, since it's still going to rain out. I shift here and do a blast five. A little too late, but let's go here. One, two, three, four, four, five. So I'm going to fire off Moment of Glory. Each enemy in the blast, if I hit, I go, I knock them prone three squares.

I can push them back three squares and knock them prone. Each ally in the blast resists five until... You and each ally in the blast resists five to all damage until the end of my next turn. So that will get me and Poe, but let's see if I can't knock down... I missed turbo and I missed grill. I can't hit anybody now. But that gets Poe and I resist five at least. All right. Are you done? I might as well pop my action point so I can use a healing surge. That will at least bring me up a little bit. And add your bonuses to defenses. Hurray! Gotta do something to try to stay alive here.

You're popping Second Wind, essentially. All right. Nitro's turn. Oh man, this is not great. Nitro is going to... Take five damage. He's not... oh yeah, he did. Yeah, you're right. He is. He's gonna sidle up right behind Poe. Use his short sword. Flanking with grill. That's a miss. Wow. And then turbo will also take five damage. He will also advance on Poe. Short sword attack. That'll hit. 14 damage to that poor bloody Poe. Top of the order, Roswell. Okay. I have a healing word left. Anybody want it? How many hit points does Poe have? Oh, yep, sorry. Poe has 21 out of 55. 21 out of 55?

Jeez. I would say if you're going to use that, use it on Poe, but if you want to hit somebody, go ahead. Well, I can do both. Healing Word's a minor action for me, so... Okay. I would say go after grill and throw a healing surge on Poe. Okay. I was gonna say air love, but that's... It doesn't work on full-time. Generally, I know. Healing surge plus eight on Poe. Okay. Do I have to move air love's corpse out of the way? Like what? If I'm dead, I can't take more damage. I mean, I'm true dead. I'm not... Right, but I mean, I just mean if I want to stand there to get flanking.

You can stand over my corpse. It's cool. We're buddies. You're protecting my corpse. Yeah, that's what I'm doing. We should probably move her from the field then. Yeah, sorry. In denial for a second. Let's do that. Okay. Go ahead. So we use searing brand on grill. 32 hit on grill. Okay. Um, damage roll. Let's go. Two. 18 damage. And he's blind. And blind. Okay. Anything else? Yeah, that's it. Mason, your turn. Alright, I'm gonna carve up a motherfucker right here. Look at Marcus. Like, just hold him still. Something Marcus would be great at. Bear-hugging someone. Huh, makes sense to me.

That is a miss. Motherfucker! Looks like I, oh, and no, I did use my action point, so I am done. Uh, laser's turn. Uh, he's gonna whip around and use his short sword on Marcus. And miss. Jason, did you give Poe back all of his points? Oh, I didn't! Jesus, you're right. Eight plus a healing surge. Yeah, jeez, I didn't even, I totally blanked on that, my bad. No problem, that's why I was looking at him like, "He's still bloodied? He wasn't that much?" Yeah. No. Man, I totally blanked on that. Um, yeah, let me give him that now. Boop. Okay. Uh, Grell. He's blind. Bloody blind.

Yeah. You know what, double hammer strikes on Rodswell. Uh, with a negative five penalty, so this will probably miss. Yep, that one missed. I'm invincible today. That one'll miss. Having a good day. Yeah, at least someone is. Poe! Poe's gonna use throat punch on Grell. We gotta wrap this up. Um, that'll miss. Fuck that action point. Uh, throat punch, Grell. Son of a whore! Did you have a two from me? Ooh, I didn't. That'll still miss. Okay. Alright, good. Good, good, good. Fuck. Well, that includes the flanking bonus, correct? Yes. Okay, just making sure. Still missed. It's just 'cause Grell's a monster, like, his AC's fucking retarded.

Uh, go ahead, Marcus. Marcus is popping through everything here. No one's died yet, do you realize that? Um, yes. Well, none of them have, no. Well, none of-- I should clarify. Uh, alright, I'm going to... I'm gonna stay right there, but I'm gonna pop him of resurgence. Which, that same close blast five, everybody-- Let's see, we're gonna try and give everybody a minus two to their defenses until the end of my next turn. Which is... That'll miss. And I hit Grell. Well, that was Poe. Oh, that was Poe? Ah, alright, sorry. 27 versus 42 will hit Grell, though. Okay, good, and I hit Grell.

So they're all at a minus two, and everybody, every ally in the blast can either choose to gain five hit points or make a saving throw. So you get five, ten hit points, everyone. Everyone but you, Mason, sorry. Mason's doing pretty good, though, so... Nitro and Turbo were not hit by the blast, and therefore don't get the debuff, correct? Correct. But Grell is way hittable now. Oh, yeah. Should be, he's at a minus four at least. Yes. Uh, Nitro... Okay. Nitro's gonna use his short sword against Marcus, and that'll miss with a crit one. Turbo. Turbo. Turbo. Uh, is gonna shift down and use a short sword against Rodswell.

That'll hit. Damn. Nine damage to Rodswell. Ow. Rodswell's turn. Rodswell. Max reacts. Yeah, that's Max. Sorry about that. That's only four. You had five, ten hit points. Oh, yep. Okay. Don't, don't go ahead and take your turn. Rodswell is going to use Prius Curse on Grell, who is still blinded. Does that change anything that he's blinded, or is it... Nah. No, that doesn't. Okay, plus two. Oh, what was that? Hang on a second, sorry. I accidentally clicked on someone else. There it goes. Plus two. Uh, okay, well, oh, there's plus four, so it's 22 plus, versus AC. Nope, nope.

Okay. That'll miss. Then, uh, Rodswell will shift away? Mason, your turn. Alright. I'm going to try to chop this motherfucker down so I can get to moving. And the basic. And we roll. That is a hit. Nice. Roll the damage. Extra bonus from stance. Roll. That wasn't right. Uh, please add three to that. So, sixteen. Down goes Laser. Man, I wish I had an action point, but I'm going to have to move down there in my next turn. Down goes Laser. Down goes Laser. Ahhhhh. Grell. Coming after you, motherfucker. Jesus, Grell's got so many debuffs. Grell. Grell is going to... Oh, I never rolled a saving throw for his blindness.

That's right. He is not blind. So he is not blind, guys. He is going to shift down to Rottswell. He is going to make two big old hammer swings at Rottswell. And he is going to hit Rottswell with the first one. He is going to miss with the second one. Okay. Fifteen damage to Rottswell. Okay. Uh, Poe's turn. Well, Grell is pretty hittable now. Yeah. We got to go for Throw Punch. No, you know what? Oh, I can't use a daily. I already used it. Shit, Throw Punch it is. Uh, so let's see here. That is at a plus six because of flanking with Rottswell. Negatives. Yeah, so if this doesn't hit.

It missed. Oh, ha ha ha ha. Start wielding your sword, Poe. Yeah, it's time. I don't know what... Whatever cosmic luck Poe had. The magic is gone. Yeah, it's... Sorry to interrupt there, but yeah. No, it's true. Marcus, your turn. I rolled a two. Yeah, that was a bad roll. Marcus is going to use his shining symbol, which will do a close blast three. Hold on. I drew myself in that for some reason. Why are you not working right? You're going to catch Turbo and Nitro in it. Yeah, basically that's what I'm going to do. Turbo and Nitro with the attack. Let's see here. We'll go...

And I will miss. Nah, it'll miss, yes. And I'll hit. So I do... Turbo has been hit. Damage is 1d8 plus four. And he gets a minus two penalty to all attack rolls until the end of my next turn. Ooh. All right. And Nitro's turn. Nitro's going to use his short sword against Marcus. That'll hit. 18 damage. That'll reduce Marcus to one hit point. Damn, that was a... Oof. And Turbo. And Turbo... Let's see here. He gets a negative two to attacks, right? Shining symbol? Yes. Yeah. Minus two to attacks. That'll still hit Po. 19 damage. Damn. Good lord. That'll reduce Po to 21. Rotswell, your turn.

That was needed, sorry. Okay, I'm going to use Sunburst on... Excuse me. Sunburst on Grell. Right there. Plus four. Go. That will hit. Yes. Damage on him. Plus two. 17 damage. 17 damage to Grell. And, in addition to that, me and each ally within five squares gains five temporary hit points. Oh boy, thank you. So, not much I can do. As a reaction, when you hit Grell just now, that's going to bring him down to one knee. Grell's going to... Punch you in the dick. Grell's just wobbly-legged and beat to hell, like you have taken it to him. And Grell is going to put his hammer down.

And he's going to look up to Rotswell. And just kind of give a look like, "Alright, finish me, you've earned it." Poor Grell. Okay, sorry. Well, Mason, your turn. Alright, I don't think Mason really sees it. He is planning on charging Grell. That was his next turn. Holy crap, you can get that far down? Oh hell yeah. When I charge and go into Berserker's Charge, I can get a plus two bonus to my speed. Sheesh. Alright. I'm a charging motherfucker. Alright then, run down there and melee a basic attack. Alright, Grell's not going to fight back, so it's just a hit.

Say "cou de gras" if you will. So Grell goes down. How are you choosing to finish Grell off? I was planning on running forward, doing a leap into the air, pose for a moment, and bring the sword just straight down like a pogo stick. Alright. Grell just goes down, just in a heap. And he just kind of keels over and you can see this puddle of blood forming underneath of his body, this massive frame. Look up to Rodswell real quick. Do you kick him in the nuts or something? Was that a notable kill? Um, Grell, yeah. Damn, you asshole! That was Rodswell's last chance.

Until Rodswell's dead, there's always another chance. You never know. Yep, you'll never fight again, hahaha. Yep, never say never. You never know what's going to happen. I can get in. The other two gladiators are going to witness this and they're also going to put down their weapons. Son of a bitch. Wait a minute, he didn't have his weapon on. Um, that will take Grell down. And, uh, pose, pose to her and he's kind of standing next to Turbo. And pose is going to look over to Marcus like, what do you want me to do? Like, they're not going to fight. Marcus is going to hold his hand up, because he's pretty wobbly himself here, to Grell.

And then turn to the crowd and look up at Captain Tenbolt and say, "Is this enough for you?" And judge the crowd's reaction. Tenbolt is going to stand up and this crowd is just like, kill him. They're totally against these guys and for you. Like, just murder, kill them. They have no attachment to these guys. They don't know where they came from. They don't care. To them, they're just gladiators. Tenbolt's going to give it a few seconds and kind of like, survey the crowd, look around. And then make a motion where he drags his thumb across his throat. I will look over at Mason and at Poe and say, "Finish them." Yes, sir.

Poe looks just disgusted. Like, Poe doesn't, he doesn't want to do this. This isn't, this isn't... Marcus doesn't look thrilled with it either. Poe's going to drag his broadsword out. And with the quickest motion he can muster, he's going to chop at the throat of Turbo. And Turbo's going to go down. And Mason will behead the remaining Nitro. And that will take you guys out of combat. Um... hmm. I'm going to run over to Aralove now. Yeah, you guys have something to discuss. Alright. For better or worse, you guys have just won the Tournament of Champions. Um, and that there's...

Rats? Yeah. It's like Jack Chick winning the Piston Cup. Big fucking deal. Let's, let's... I would imagine you guys are respectfully taking Aralove's body back to the locker room at the very least. Like, trying to... I imagine it's also not, um... You guys have memories enough to know that, well, Marcus does, that... Rodswell is a healer. This is a discussion that has to be had. There are, there are consequences for this. And this isn't just the ones we talked about the last time Rodswell healed somebody. This is in the same week he would be attempting it. This is, this is a big nasty nasty thing.

So, um, how about we join you guys in the locker room and we... We let you guys hash this out. I have to say that the bright red blood on my dusky red skin is very attractive while I'm laying on the floor in a pile. Oh man, this is terrible. Poe seems pretty distraught over this. Like, it's not... like, it's affecting him a bit more than you would figure it would. Mason will kind of help to console him as best he can, kind of clapping him on the shoulder. Got the motherfuckers that did this, but, uh, yeah. Marcus is going to look over at Poe and say, "Not as glorious as you thought, was it?" Don't fucking hand me that, okay?

They surrendered. It wasn't even, it wasn't even a fight after she died. It wasn't... You're right, it wasn't. But it shouldn't have been a fight in the first place. But this is what it's like to be in the army. Sometimes you have to do things that you don't want to do to get the job done. And that was an order, as you saw from our captain. Disobeying it would have meant that we would have joined them. Yeah. As glorious as everybody seems to think, winning a war is, this is the truth of it. There's a lot of blood on our hands for this. And for everything you're going to do in the future.

This wasn't for war. I know, this was entertainment. She ain't got no face no more, man. Let me get her cloak, at least. Need to drape it over. We have to see if we can find some way to bring her back. I can't in all good conscience, after what you went through last time, Rod Swell, ask you to bring her back. Even if you did promise to keep her alive. That's his call. I didn't promise anything. Yes you did, we made a vow. You promised. This giant eagle flying over, going out, "You promised." Sounds like Yenward. Well, let me tell you what the consequences of such a thing would be, because Rod Swell would know.

So on top of the penalties we've talked about before, and the extreme emotional physical duress, doing this twice in a week is like running a marathon twice in a week. This is something you would train for, something you would try and recoup for, and to do it twice in a week is... It's almost asking to die. That is something someone suicidal would do. It very well could theoretically kill Rod Swell to attempt it. And nothing's guaranteed, but it could kill Rod Swell to do it. Airlove would not want him to do that. Airlove's not here to debate. I know, I'm just saying.

If there's anything we can do, man... And she's good. She's still got more to do for this. The Raven Queen's not done with me. Off the cuff here, what would be Rod Swell's thoughts on the matter? He can't do anything immediately anyway. He has to rest. Right. Even by the book, he needs an extended rest before he can do it. The main thing that he's thinking right now, because he... It's basically a matter of... He kind of sees himself as being a dead man anyway, you know? Unless they take him seriously. So I think Rod Swell still wants to have his meeting. Alright.

Because he couldn't do anything right now anyway. Right. So this would be a thing with... You'd have to basically just put Airlove aside and try and treat her as respectfully as possible while you... Stash her, Airbunk. Oh, man. So, yeah. Okay. So you've all earned an extended rest. Obviously, you've all earned at least the rest of the day. I don't think even Tenvolt wouldn't send you out now. That's good, because I think that would be the first order Marcus ever refused from a commanding officer. Yeah, that would just be, "No." No, Dick. So here's what we're going to do.

Marcus has got to speak to Tenvolt anyway. Because they have some business to conclude. I imagine Rod Swell could tag along. Sure. And the rest of the party could get some rest. Just me and Poe at this point. Yeah, just, "Yeah, God, there is no rest of the party. There's only two guys." Poe, I need a drink. Let's go, man. Yeah, one second, man. Poe's going to walk over to Rod Swell. You could bring her back? I can try. If you can, please do. And he's just going to kind of put his hand on Rod Swell's shoulder and just kind of a reassuring, "Please, do that." And he's going to go ahead and join Mason.

Let's, okay, let's catch up with Tenvolt. Let's have Marcus and Rod Swell. Now, is this the thing where you're going to get cleaned up first, or are you just going right to see Tenvolt? Coated in blood and gore. Actually, I will leave that up to Rod Swell. Do you want to get cleaned up first? There's no reason. He knows what we look like. That's true. He's a warper. Yeah. Is he, are we going to go to his office? Is that it? Or... Let's say yes. Let's say that you're going to meet him at his office, because this is all wrapped up for the day, and this is, like, people are funneling out, and this is a big deal.

Now, normally there'd be like a "cash and prizes" ceremony type of thing, but that's something he's going to do in private with you, because this is, yeah. Tenvolt's going to see you approach the office and just wave you in. Alright, well I'm assuming at that point he has seen Rod Swell as well, so... Oh yeah. He absolutely has seen Rod Swell. Just wanted to make sure. Yeah. Uh, you gentlemen did a fine job. I have to commend you. I didn't know how challenging it would be for you to slay the mole and the gladiators, but you did an excellent job. And he's really regarding Marcus the entire time.

Sir, um, I don't ask this lightly, but permission to speak freely? Please do. Bullshit. You knew what you were setting us up for. You knew there was a good chance I was going to lose a party member here today, and I'm not thrilled with that. This, this smile kind of creeps across Tenvolt's face. You understand that Grace had a long time to, to monitor your skills. I, I'm really just getting a chance to see what you can do, and to be honest, when was I ever going to get another chance to actually survey you in combat time after time? I understand that, sir.

But I do believe you weighted the scale against us, hoping we would fail. I absolutely did. And I'm pleasantly surprised that you've disappointed me. You understand that three of your teammates are out there. They're, they're traitors. And what if you were to run into them again? I need to know that when the time comes, you can make a decision that will end the life of someone you have an attachment to. Now, I understand that the gladiators you fought today aren't, you know, friends of yours. It's not the same as if you were to run into Fi or Jadzi or Una.

But I needed to know that there would be no hesitation. Them surrendering at the end was just icing. I can't believe that they did that. That's fantastic. I mean, don't get me wrong. It's, it's, I'm sure shocking and sad for you. But in the end, you did what was expected. I hope you understand where I'm coming from here. I do. But it leaves a very bad taste in my mouth that I fought to set those people free and then you had me execute them. Again, I understand. But their entire life was combat anyway. They were going to die eventually. They would have fit in well with my group and been two more soldiers I could have used.

Perhaps. I'm not going to debate that. But I had to have a worthy challenge for you in the arena too. And to be honest, you didn't want to face what I had for, let's say, if you would refuse my offer earlier. Alright, we'll deal with that later, sir. Rod Swell here wanted to speak with you. I had initially given him my assurance I would do everything I could to help him reintegrate himself back into this society. You have changed that situation on us. Really? Yes, by exposing him as a traitor to his cause if there were any other spies, you have just alerted them to his presence.

I believe that was done when half of your party defected. Immaterial. You have now told the spies here where he is. We don't know that they have given them that information. Well, again, that's kind of regardless after day. How does that change his situation? Does he no longer wish to work in the study? I don't know. Rod Swell, what would you, where do you stand on this? What would you like? He looks straight at Tenpalt. What do you want to do about the Chief Lynn? The woman. Yes. Honestly, we could replace her or, and he's kind of looking at Marcus. What would you like to do?

I would prefer to have, yes, she is vital to my team and the plans that we have in the future with where this team can go. She is an ace in a hole that our main adversary does not know is out there. All right. That's an excellent point. There's only one person in the city that could bring her back. And if memory serves, you've already used that earlier in the week. If memory serves. I use it on somebody who very likely is going to go tell your enemies that I'm here. So my question again is, what would you like to do? I can tell you right now that I can let you in and let you aware of every single army that has joined up with the White Ravens as of the time I left.

Of course. I can also, I also have information about Winter Haven and possible issues that may be going on there as well. I have a lot of information that you might want, and I need to make sure that you win or else I die. You understand that? I do. And what would you like in exchange for this information? So you're not asking me to resurrect the woman? That's up to Squad Leader Marcus. If you believe you can do it, I would be grateful. So the decision's in my hands, so you're throwing this to me, correct? I can't ask you to sacrifice yourself for somebody else.

That's not something I would ever do is ask you to give up your life for another. Can I meet with Carter? I'm afraid he's not in the city currently. When will he be here? If his mission is a success, he should be back within a few days. When he is here, can I meet with him? I think he would like to speak to you anyway. I understand trust is an issue with yourself and I right now. I can tell you this. It can't not be, considering that you just threw me to my death, basically. I understand, and I apologize we have to meet under such circumstances. What I can tell you is that if you were to heal the Tiefling woman, I'm sure she would have some sort of information on Malchus that we could use, as do you.

If you have accurate knowledge of the army they're building, the soldiers that they have taking into battle, any weaknesses that Winterhaven may have, structurally or internally, then I would consider it a personal favor to get all of that from you and I would reward you greatly. Do you need anything now? He's going to look back to Marcus. I would imagine you would all need a rest before any res attempt would be even thought about. We need a rest no matter what. We're banged up, sir. Before that, the matter we spoke of earlier, it would only take a few minutes to draft a letter.

Correct, sir. Let me... Rodswell, is there anything else you need? Otherwise I need to tie up a couple of loose ends with Captain here. Um... no, I'm fine. Tenfold's going to stick his hand out to Rodswell. Okay. Um... Rodswell sticks his hand out, shakes his hand, and says, "As a goodwill gesture, I can give you a bit of info now, if you'd like." That would be very helpful, please. Do you know of the gate? No, please. Go on. Um... well, I was hoping you would know of it. Within the White Raven's territory, I guess? There is a gate, and none of them know quite what it's used for.

Your enemies might not be as smart as some people think they are. At least as of the last time I spoke with them, they had no idea what to do with it. But I sense that it's very powerful, and if they figure it out, it could be something that could cause a problem. The gate is secondary to me. What I just heard you say is you know exactly where the White Ravens hang their hat. Oh. You know where they live. I just kind of assumed you did as well. I'm sorry. I'm going to hand you a series of maps. I want you to write down any information that you have. If that's something you're just telling us, I'm wondering what else you know.

The White Ravens have been a thorn in our side for quite a while, and if we can snuff them out where they live, then that would be extremely beneficial for us. There's this kind of Therian world map sitting at his desk. Available for purchase at dnrpodcast.com. Shameless. And he's going to motion for Rodswell. Please mark down the exact location of their base. Rodswell hesitates. I'm sure you know as well as I do that once I give up information like this, I'm going to become useless to you. I'm a man of my word, Rodswell. You have to understand, taking people at their word has gotten me in trouble in the past.

I understand your hesitation. That's not a problem. I assure you, you were placed in an unfortunate situation. I simply had to prove a point. Nevertheless, you are still needed. There's the matter of the tiefling woman, but I'm sure that you're holding back some information for personal assurance. It would be done with me not to, honestly. Right. Well, I see our relationship as mutually beneficial then. We would do everything in our power to make sure that you survive your second resurrection attempt in our city. I assure you that if I give you this location, that's not the end of it.

I understand. Rodswell pointed the map. So you're giving him the correct location of the White Ravens? Not a good bluffer. I just want to make sure that the people at home understand that you have just sold out the White Ravens in total. That's their headquarters. That's where they live. You've given it to them. I don't have much of a choice at this point. Alright. You've got to sing "That's where they'll be." Yeah. I want to point out, the gate thing was... The reason that he brought up the gate is because of Rodswell, like, he wants to know what that thing is.

And he thought that if he was going to go resurrect Erolove, he might die. So he was hoping that he'd say that, and the guy would be like, "Oh, that thing. Here's what that is." That's not what happened. Yeah, Tenbolt is not interested in artifacts or magic or anything. It's just about the pure military might of it, and the fact that you know exactly where their greatest enemies next to the elves in the Evergreen are. Like, where they lay their head down at night? That's what he wants. I know that now. Yes. Well, that's going to make things interesting. There may not be white ravens to come back to when Group 1 finally gets done.

Wow. So that'll... that's it for Rodswell, I guess. That'll be... unless there's anything he wants to say. Nope. He's going to go rest up for the resurrection, I guess. Alright. Thank you, Rodswell. If I can do anything to help, let me know. Rodswell nods, doesn't look too happy about leaving, but he leaves. So, Marcus. Yes, sir. Well, let's get this letter drafted up so that we can move forward. I would greatly like to have this wrapped up before His Majesty returns. As would I. Tenbolt produces parchment and his wax sealing kit from Grace's desk itself. So, you're getting the impression Grace isn't around at all.

Right. And he's going to hand you everything you need. Are you going to go ahead and do this? Yeah, I might as well do it right now where nobody else is around. Right. No, this is very private. So... Yeah, no. Doors closed. Like, this is very... yeah. Locked. So, do me a favor and roll a bluff check, but add a +2 to it because forgery is something that you have experienced that. Wow, 26. Almost a bluff. Or, almost a crit. 26. That is as good as I can get. Yeah, that is an excellent forgery. Like, anyone who would be investigating this would be extremely hard-pressed to tell this letter from something Commander Grace would have written himself.

Wow. Okay. So, you're going to give this back to Tenbolt. There you go, sir. Thank you. I'm going to take this to the Council right away, and I don't even see why there'd be a need for a trial after evidence like this. If any questions were to come up, I could count on you as a witness. I have stated that I have my doubts about everything that went on before. I can produce writings that I have in my journals, if need be, about my questioning of what's going on. Actually, let me get a copy of that. That would be helpful, I think, to sway the Council. Okay. The only one who would really speak in the Commander's defense would be His Majesty, and he'll be out of the city for at least a few more days, so we can move forward with this right away.

And if nothing else, presenting him with that evidence is going to look very damning. It'll do more than that, I assure you. There are some members of the Council who have had their doubts about the Commander now for quite some time, and his complete mismanagement of the Ebelmir girl, his own daughter, Turning Trader, I'm sure this is the final nail in his coffin. Thank you again, Marcus. It's going to be a pleasure working with you. I hope so, sir. I need to go get some rest myself. Of course. And he sticks his hand out to Marcus. And I shake his hand and then salute, and turn and leave.

Let's say that the party's gotten some rest. In fact, let's say that it's the next day, because this would have taken you into evening, and yeah. So let's say that you've all gotten, I don't know how well a night's sleep you would have gotten. Erolove slept like a rot. Man, she slept like the dead, right? Oh, that's not funny yet. It's funny if she comes back, it's not funny if she doesn't. Well, no, I'm hoping she makes it back. Let's toss things over to Rodswell here, because this is another situation where you're putting your ass on the line. Mm-hmm. And yet being a complete scumbag on the other end, so it's really tough to feel, I wonder how listeners will feel about you.

We got some questions in the mailbag. Mm-hmm. Yeah. Erolove is lying on, let's say that they've taken you to the same place, basically, where you perform Fi's resurrection. So, on a table. Okay, you're going to perform the resurrection, correct? Yes. Okay, this time there's a twist. Okay. You're gonna roll a flat d20. Okay. Okay. Now, because Erolove has not been dead for 24 hours even, we're gonna have you roll a heal check to begin with. And unless it's a spectacular, even if it's a spectacular failure, it's probably gonna bring her back without any hitches, because she's only been dead for hours.

Right. When you cross another threshold of days and weeks, that's when things get more complicated. Now, the main thing we're gonna be rolling is to see how this affects Rottswell. Okay. Now, you're gonna get all the debuffs and negative effects from the regular res spell as it stands, but there is a slim chance that you could die performing it, because you've done two in a week. So, first of all, do me a favor, roll a heal check. Okay. Do you want to swap now? Oh, Marcus is for sure. I'd be there. Poe is definitely there. Poe seems very interested in this.

Like, he's quite interested. You can do him there. And he's gonna be there for sure. And he's gonna be there for sure. And I'm gonna grab Rodswell to make sure he doesn't fall and hurt himself when he's done. You're on catch patrol. That's me. I would probably be hyperventilating a little bit at first. Just kind of like the whole shock and taking stock of where I am and stuff. Rodswell. Yes. You're gonna roll a flat d20. As long as it is in a one through five, Rodswell's gonna live. Oh, fuck. Does he get a bonus if the Raven Queen is in favor of this particular action and doesn't necessarily need him to die in exchange?

That there is no bonus to this. This is just... Alrighty. This is... I tried. Eight. Okay. Whew. Yay! Rodswell lives another day, it appears. Yeah. Still completely spent. Passed out. Eyes rolled back into his head. Dumped. Dumped. Yeah, so it's a good thing that Marcus is there. Erolove is probably gonna grab whoever is closest and squeeze them really, really tight. That's either gonna be Mason or Poe. Are they just like on either side basically the same? I would imagine, yeah. Yeah. We're flanking her for the bonus. An added bonus to comfort. I would probably hug Mason since I'm more familiar with him.

I hug her back and pull Poe into the other side of him. Pull him into a hug too. Group hug. Poe kinda separates himself. He's like, "Oh, right, oh right." Just kinda separates. He seems to be very happy that she's alive, but just like, "Alright, alright." You get the fuck over here, man. Come on. Hee hee hee hee. Fine. And he kinda leans down and hugs. Don't worry, I won't touch you or nothing. You're weird like that. I muted my mic at exactly the wrong moment. So good. That's what editing is for. Yeah, I would be probably weeping a little, not in relief more than necessarily anything else.

Okay, so she would kinda like rub her face on Mason's shoulder to scrub the tears off her eyes and stuff and she would immediately have the Raven Queen be praised and look around at who's there. Captain Tenbolt is kind of waiting in the wings. As in the same room or not? Kind of. Like, he's just outside the room. He's standing where Fi's mom was the first time we did this. But willingly as opposed to "Get out of my way, let me through!" Right. No, you're not under guard this time. That's one of the big things. This is not a security issue. This is more Tenbolt waiting to see where this goes.

I would go ahead and turn and slide off the table to my feet, wobble a little, and then give Captain Tenbolt a salute, assuming he's within eyesight even if he's not close enough to hear what's going on. Oh, he's close enough. He's going to walk into the room and salute you right back, Grimnus. Welcome back to the land of the living. Thank you, sir. Her voice is still a little bit shaky and her hands are kind of trembling, but she feels kind of weak, but she's doing her best to stand up straight. He's going to address Marcus. Did Joybottom survive the resurrection?

Yes, sir. He's sleeping right now. He's unconscious. This took everything out of him. I'm going to need some help getting him back so he can be rested. Of course, he appears to be alive. Excellent. There's going to be an event in the town square in about an hour. I don't know if your group would like to attend, but it appears as though Commander Grace has been working with the White Ravens the entire time, and his daughter defecting may have been no accident. He has been found guilty and will be hung in front of everyone. What? I'm sorry if this causes your team distress, I know that over the last couple of weeks you've become close with the commander.

He gave us our start. He put this together as far as we knew. Sir, if I may? Yes, please. We're in the military. We follow our commanding officer, whoever that may be. With all respect, sir. Of course. Not to butt in, but would Marcus have to roll a bluff check if he did his little what thing? Yeah, that's exactly what I was just getting ready to. This won't happen again where he gets to get away scot-free without making a bluff check. Usually he's very good at... Nope, not this time. I was like, what? I think everybody remembers that. I was more like, already?

Yeah, usually he's very good at skirting the boundaries of that. Yeah, very good. You kind of have to at this point. So Marcus' what? That comes off as... Super fake. I got a 28 on insight. Yeah, I think everyone should roll an insight. Even Poe should roll an insight check on that. Brodswell can't. No, doesn't matter to Woutswell. Wow, okay, even Poe knows that that's bullshit. Even Poe. Gavin pops up out of the grave and goes, "Liar!" Bullshit! So everyone in the room kind of sees that there's something off. Not necessarily... At the very least that probably wasn't as surprising as Marcus led on.

I'm going to give him a quick look and then go back to paying attention to Captain Tedmold. Poe's going to give him not such a quick look. In fact, he's going to linger on Marcus with a face that's like, "What the fuck?" Are you serious? He wears his emotions on his sleeve a bit. Do me a favor... Everyone roll a perception check. 27 for Erolove. 13 for Mason. Marcus got a 25. Erolove and Marcus are going to notice when Tenbolt's talking about Commander Grace and the fact that he's going to be hung. Poe looks upset. Very concerned. Interesting. Tenbolt's going to continue.

You'll be reporting to me directly from now on. Yes, sir. I was quite impressed with what your team did in the arena today. This is long overdue, but congratulations on completing the tournament. Thank you, sir. You were the only team to be able to complete the tournament. It appears the team that was in the running with you faced some unfortunate odds in their last round. You will be awarded new weapons and armor, but that can wait until tomorrow. I want to make sure that you're completely rested. We're going to be sending you into the Evergreen. We've come across some new information and we have found the White Raven's headquarters.

We're going to be cutting the head off that snake and hopefully our trouble in the Evergreen will end. Yes, sir. And he's going to nod and just walk away if no one has anything else to say. Now, here's a question. Does anyone want to watch the public hanging of Commander Grace? Is this a thing like you feel like you would attend or? I definitely would not. Okay. Is it the next day you said? No, this is like in an hour. This is one of those things where they've, he's pushed this through quickly. I'm more concerned with getting Rod Swell situated and making sure he's okay.

If I can get that done in that time, then yes, I will attend it. Yes, it shouldn't take long to drop Rod Swell off and yeah. Sake of potatoes. I mean, like after he's dropped off at the temple and like the people are watching him and making sure he's cared for. I mean, that's kind of all you can do. It's more of a recoup thing. Mason will ask if attendance is mandatory to his commanding officer. No Mason, it's not. You don't have to do this. I have to because I'm responsible for this group and I need to see what actually happened. What they're talking about with him being a traitor.

I don't know if they're going to present evidence that is hanging or just make a statement, but I need to see it. All right. I'm going to... Is that a bluff check again? No, that's honest. Oh, okay. Again, very good at skirting just in right. He's a politician. Yeah. What about Poe? Poe going? Poe is definitely going. All right, man. I'll catch up with you later, man. All right. We're going to get you laid, man. Poe just kind of nods. Mason? Yeah. I'm going to go grab out of my locker five gold and toss it to him. Go have a drink on me, man. Oh, hell yeah. Thank you.

I'll catch you later too. See you. I think I'm going to go get cleaned up. Probably a good idea. Your face is no longer smashed. Yay! And I have both my horns. So awesome. But yeah, man, the ladies are going to love TOC when I ride here. Oh. Sorry. God damn it, Merlin. Hey, I'm usually the one that causes the train wreck from the GM. I know. I just... All right, so the public hanging of Commander Grace. We've never had a hanging on the show, actually. Yeah, we did. Did we? Ironhide. Yeah, he was strung up. Well, okay. Strung up and... I mean, being hung from the neck until dead.

Like, that is... Like, hide. They tried, yes. So in the town square here, in the city central, this is a... They like to make these big public spectacles of things like this as a lesson to anyone else who might be thinking about, yeah, performing some kind of crime. Poe and Marcus are in attendance along with lots and lots of civilians. Patrick Grace is dressed down. He's in civilian clothing. Like, this is completely... This is made to be completely disgraceful for him. And he is... His hands are tied behind his back. And he is being marched up to the noose.

They have these gallows set up. This is kind of a permanent installation. As there were a lot of public hangings. And they placed the noose around his neck. And there is a man who is in charge of reading off exactly why this is happening. Patrick Grace, for the crimes of treason, conspiring to aid the enemy and espionage. You have been found guilty on all counts. Your sentence is to hang from the neck until dead. Before the sentence is carried out, do you have any final words? And Grace is kind of tearing up at this, because there's nothing he can do about this at all.

And very quietly... Do me a favor, roll a perception check there, Marcus. Very quietly... He says, "I love my daughter very much." And the hangman flips a switch, which drops the floor out from underneath of him. And with a very sudden jerk, you can hear Grace's neck snap underneath the weight. Also in your perception check, you can very visibly see Poe tense up. Almost like he was going to charge the gallows. And he stops himself. And then they march up a second person to the gallows. And this would be Fee's mother. No! Now I wish I'd gone. I would run up there and rescue her.

Captain Tenbolt on that? He is not. He is not. He's not anywhere near. He is not anywhere near this. And they do the same thing. They place her right above one of the dropout hatches. And they place a noose around her neck. Florence Larva. For the crime of aiding a traitor of the Overwatch. You have been found guilty. Your sentence is to hang from the neck until dead. Do you have any final words? And she is just crying. Streaming tears down her face. And after a few moments of silence, they just flip the switch. And the exact same kind of crackling neck snap. And both of them are just kind of swinging in the breeze.

And I think that's probably a good time for us to stop for the day. Yeah. Probably. You sure you don't have anybody else? And then we step up. No, no. That's a no. Yeah, you can feel free to hate me now. Oh no, I don't hate you. I hate Captain Tenbolt right now. He's a terrible, terrible man. I'll have words with him. And he'll smile at you. And dismiss you. Possibly. Possibly. We'll see. God, that's... The other hand of that, you know, as far as trying to find the only silver lining to such a situation. She would have lived out her the rest of her days in town, you know, people breaking her windows and bullying her and crap like that.

Her life was utterly screwed after this. She probably would have had to leave one way or the other, yeah. Yeah, I mean, it was the whole him throwing her under the bus like that. Yeah, you keep telling yourself that. You keep doing that. That's good. Sorry, is Rodswell taking some moral high ground? And then Rodswell is also... His unconscious form is drug up the stairs. No, I'm glad that didn't happen. I debated... Once you mentioned that Flo was on there, I debated speaking up and I'm just going... I'm staring at this at my screen going, "How can I let this happen, but how do I stop it?" I can't fight the will of the Council at that point.

Dude. That's so fucking awful. I actually started breaking up at the end of that. I had to get through the sentence. It's like, "Fuck, this is so terrible." I know, man. That's so fucking terrible. We have a mailbag to do. So do you want to end the call and I'll call everybody back in a few minutes? Yeah, you just want something to eat. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I'm gonna eat water, stuff. Yes. Okay, I'll call everyone back in just a few minutes. >> All right. See you in a bit. Bye. Thank you guys.