Getting to know you

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 only got to cast aspersions at me. From the director of Mr. and Mrs. Smith and The Bourne Identity comes a new film. This your first job? I know what I'm doing. I'm 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, this is Scott McAvoy. I play Marcus Santa on Dungeons and Randomness Group 3. If you're listening to this, you're obviously a fan of ours and we thank you very much. We really appreciate you guys. Glad to have you here. As always, we appreciate you, but we would love to have you go out and rate us on iTunes. That is the number one way to keep us up on top of the charts so more and more people see us.

Also, if you're paying attention, Jason has been tweeting out videos of late. He is very good at these things and they are very entertaining, including a surprise visit out to Oregon that he made recently. Check that out, it's really good. Also check out the fact that he got lost at some point, so watch for Izzy's directions. Other than that, check us out on Twitter. You can find all of our characters out there, including some very notable NPCs. And thank you very much for your time and attention. Let's go around the table and do that thing where we introduce ourselves.

I'm Jason, I'm the Dungeon Master. Going around the table, starting with Merlin. Hey, I'm Merlin. How's it going? I play Mason Darktree. He's a human, he's a slayer, and I'm ready to kick some butt. And Jen? Hi, I'm Jen. I play Arrow of Grimness and I'm hoping that this last chance for the Crimson Shield goes well, so I'm anxious. I'm anxious. Ready? And Scott. Oh, I'm glad you called me. I have a monologue all set up for this. Ew. No, actually I'm Scott. [laughter] I'm Scott, I play Marcus Santa, the most loved character in D&R. Loath? Especially in Oregon. Yes, especially in Oregon.

Oregon. Um, sorry. This is a good start. This is an excellent start, guys. After the last session I figured you could use a laugh to start this one. How's that? Yeah, um, you know, I can't think of anything that happened in note in the last time we sat down. I really can't. I was going to do a recap. I can't think of one single thing that happened. Really? Not a thing. You're going to go there? Really? No. I think we won a game of cards or something last time, I remember. It was poker tournament, right? Poker or Euchre, I can't remember. CH. Alright, seriously though, the public execution of Commander Grace and Fils.

Minor details compared to what we accomplished. Oh man. People hate you. And? And Fils Momflo. Very, very sadly. Marcus struck a deal with Captain Tymbal and some would say that deal went south immediately. Some would say it went according to plan. It depends on who you ask, really. But the team was spared in the tournament of champions and you ended up winning the whole thing, maybe with an asterisk next to that? It depends, again, on who you ask. But the important thing is that you are all alive and you... Hey. Yeah. How's about we pick up right after the public execution there?

So these bodies are still swinging in the breeze. They are still hanging there. And the crowd is beginning to disperse. The event is over, so to speak, and everyone is just kind of breaking off and doing their own thing. Poe is going to pull Marcus aside. Yes, Poe. Did you know that was going to happen? Fils Mom, no. Captain Tymbalt, I had been informed that Commander Grace may have been a traitor. And that Tymbalt was looking for information and proof that that's what had happened. She didn't do anything. She just... I know. Why do you think I tried to get her out of the arena?

I was trying to keep her safe. Didn't you strike the deal with him? I mean... I made the deal to get her out of the arena. I had no idea he was going to execute her anyway. I thought I had gotten her set free. That is my mistake. Look, I'm going to go take a walk. I'll meet you back at the barracks later. Okay. Poe is going to take off. What would Marcus like to do at this point? Not real sure. Not thrilled with what's gone on. But I need to report back to the rest of my team and let them know what happened. So I'm going to go find Mason and Aralov and discuss it with them.

Or at least inform them of what has happened. Okay. So where would Mason and Aralov be? Well, Mason said he was going to the bar, so I'm going to head that way first. Okay. So I imagine he's hanging out at the wards. It's possible. Mason may have also been already drugged off of that place, you know, carried on the shoulders and all that business by, you know, people who wish to live vicariously through a champion. His adoring fans. Yeah. Well, you know, fans of anybody who was like, Oh, dude, you kick so much butt. It could be somebody else later. But you know, for now, it's Mason.

It seems like the guy who would take a free drink or several. Oh, yeah. If you got something, definitely want to pass on to him. He could be there long enough for that. But I figure he's not going to stop. He's going to definitely enjoy the day off. So is this a thing where you want to wait until the team or is it just you want to try and seek him out right now? If I know Mason is out celebrating, I see no point in ruining the day. The team has earned their relaxation for the day. This can wait until tomorrow. All right. Although word is going to spread pretty quickly through the city.

Like that's. Yeah. And there's really no way for me to run around and grab everyone. I don't know where Arilov is. So I'm assuming it's going to get out anyway. I might as well head back to my barracks and prep a few things before we have our meeting tomorrow with Tenbolt and find out what our next mission is. All right. OK. So how's about we how's about we jump to tomorrow? The the very next morning here, you would have all had a chance to get some rest and kind of know. Oh, yesterday before I headed back to the barracks, I would like to swing by and check on Rodswell and make sure he's still recuperating and he's OK.

He would still very much be unconscious, but yeah, resting. Right. That's what I want to make sure he's OK. He hasn't been killed while we were wandering around. No, no. All right. That's what I'm checking on after what I see up on the gallows. So I don't blame you for checking, though. That's you know. So, yeah. So let's say next day you've all had a chance to get some rest and you're you're you've all pretty much assembled to to get ready and go meet with Captain Tenbolt. Poe looks distraught. Just distracted, like the the like you can tell that that what happened yesterday did not sit well with him.

I would probably notice that and try to engage him. Is is something the matter? She talked to Marcus yet? No. Grace wasn't the only one hung yesterday. They killed Fi's mom. What? They they just paraded her up there and hung her. They didn't they didn't she didn't do anything. She just she just kind of cried. Was Marcus involved in this? No, you heard I told you I got her out of the arena because I thought she was innocent. I had no idea they were going to hang her. I had I would have done more in the beginning of it to secure her release. That is my fault. I can understand why you're upset.

Yeah, that's. I'm glad that I wasn't in attendance. Is there anything else you guys would like to say before you kind of go meet with Tenbolt? Marcus? Yes. What is your next command for us? Actually, before we head off to see Tenbolt, I need to speak with each of you individually outside for a moment. It won't take but a minute. And once we're done, then we can head off to see Tenbolt. Erlov, if you would follow me first. Mason, I'll send for you and Poe shortly. Certainly. All right. Once we get outside, say, Erlov, I know you're upset with me for not mentioning the fact that Malchus is still around.

And I apologize for that. We didn't we didn't exactly have the time nor the reason to bring it up. If I had known that you were that upset about the situation, I would have brought it up immediately. And for that, I apologize. Of course, we are facing him and I need to know two things. One, are you truly that mad at him that you could face him in a fight? If not, I need to know this so I don't put you in a situation where it could cause problems for anyone on this team. She would think about it for just a moment. And I don't know is it a completely acceptable answer?

Everything that I know about him right now and thought I knew about him before, I would have no problem ending his life if I felt like that was what needed to happen for our mission to be successful and for us to be successful in making this world a better place. That's that's acceptable. I can handle that and I can deal with that. And one other thing. If for some reason during our travels, I do not make it out, either I am captured or I am killed. You and the rest of the team are under direct orders to not come back for me. There is a reason for that.

But what I need you to do if I am captured or killed is go through my journal. All right. There is a letter in there that I am hoping you can decipher. You are the only one in our team that I believe could figure it out. That is all. You will know what to do when you see it. Yes. All right. Can you just go in and send Mason out for me? Of course. So I would go back in and nod to Mason. You'll walk around her, but can I do that whole trying to get in her way? Just just kind of joking around a little bit, then straighten up and head towards Marcus. She would smirk a little.

All right, Mason. Yeah, I do wish to let you know that I did have nothing to do with with Flo's death. I tried to save her by getting her out of the arena. Having her in there would have been a death sentence. Had I known this was going to happen, I would have done more to try and save her. I understood, man. It sounds like it sounds like one of the things where, you know, improperly wooded crap and you couldn't really remember, you know, I may have underestimated Captain Tenfold for that. It will not happen again. All right. I need to know one thing from you.

You are excellent in combat. You do not have a problem ending anyone's life. I have seen that and you are very good at it. And for that, I am very happy with having you on my team. Thanks. If the condition calls for it, do you have a problem ending the life of somebody who is standing there again and doing nothing? I don't necessarily mean an innocent person. Because I'm against killing an innocent. You've seen I was not happy with the whole flow situation. If I didn't care about the situation with her, or if I thought she was just useless, I wouldn't have bothered trying to get her out of the arena.

I'm just trying to clarify. Okay. What are you referring to? What happened in the arena? Yes and no. You're a survivor, correct? Right. If it came down to killing an innocent or running away, which would be your first choice? I prefer not to kill somebody who is no threat to me. Okay. That's acceptable. I can deal with that. That's all I really needed to know. If and when we run into my former teammates, the former members of the Crimson Shield. Yeah. One of the members is Fee. That was Flo's mom. Flo was his mom. He is your target. You mean the motherfucker who left his mother to swing?

Yeah. Came back to life and then ran out on the Crimson Shield. He is your target. He is fast. Not quite as fast as you, but he likes to knock people down and keep hitting them while they're down. He is the one you need to take out. Mason's expression gets incredibly dark. I will kill him. Thank you very much. Can you send Po out here please? I will. Mason will walk back in. Hey Po, you up? Po just kind of nods and walks out to meet Marcus. He doesn't do the same thing. He definitely seems like he's in a worse mood now. Alright, Po. I'm going to say this again to you.

I am sorry about Flo. I had no idea that was going to happen and I wish it hadn't. I wish I had done more to prevent that from happening. I want you to know that I will not make the same mistake again. I learned from my errors and I will correct that in dealing with Captain Tenbolt or Commander Tenbolt if he is that now, if he has been promoted. As you know, we are going on our next mission shortly. If we run into my former teammates, the former Crimson Shield, I need to know that you will still be beside me and you will not go running over to Una. Una has not been very complimentary to you.

She thinks you are worthless basically. She laughed at the idea that you could ever be part of our group. I don't see it that way. I've seen you do things that I didn't think could be done. Throat punching, dragon porn, are you kidding me? It's incredible. If we run into her, I want you to show her that she was wrong about you. The entire time you were talking about Flo, he's kind of got his eyes on the floor. And then towards the end of that, talking about Una, he kind of looks up into your eyes. I got no problem taking out Una. She made her choices and she's going to have to live with it.

Just like she had no problem beating the shit out of me in front of you guys. If we run into her, that's who I want you to take out. Don't worry about the rest. Everybody has their assignments. But she's the one that is going to be the biggest problem and I think you are the best to handle her. Alright. Alright, let's go. Let's get the rest of the team and we'll head over and see Captain Tenbolt. So, going into the same offices where you would go meet Commander Grace when he was alive. You notice that they're kind of moving things. And it would appear that Tenbolt is wasting no time in taking over Grace's office.

And with a measure of pride, he's kind of standing in the middle of this fairly large office as movers are kind of taking out the old desk. And they're going to get ready and bring his stuff in. And he sees you kind of moving around these labors and he just kind of waves you in. Almost absentmindedly, just "Oh yeah, come on in." And he has a smile on his face. I trust you all slept well after the tournament? Yes, thank you sir. Yes sir. So, I take it you're all ready to go on your next mission? That's what we're here for, sir. Excellent. As I previously mentioned the last time we spoke, we have come across some new intel.

We know where the White Ravens have their headquarters located and that is what you'll be in charge of today. We have it on good authority that I'll wait for this giant truck to pass. It's the movers moving his stuff into the office. Yeah. It's just down the hall. I mean, that's unnecessary. Decadence. Yeah. We have it on good authority that it will be largely unguarded. What we'd like you to do is destroy every man, woman, child, whoever might be there. What we're assuming is that the bulk of their supplies would be stored in this cavern. And he's gonna whip out this map and just show you the whereabouts.

Sir? Yes. Pardon my interruption, but did you say child? Yes, I did. Then we have a problem, sir. I'm not murdering children. I will take out enemy combatants. I will order my team to take out every man who is holding a sword, every woman who is holding a bow. But we're not killing children. Certainly they could be reformed and brought into the Overwatch. Mason, nod slowly about that. Like, yeah, yeah. We don't have the luxury of being tender. Do you know what happens when you murder a child's father in front of them? I'll give you a hint. They don't help you kill the rest of anyone they ever knew.

Most of the time they end up growing up to hate the regime that killed their parents. It's pretty simple, really. While I understand it's distasteful work, it's what you signed up to do. Now that being said, I don't really care how you do it. If you want to cage them up and bring them back, fine. You still need to wipe out any resistance in the area. Destroy everything in that cavern. Is that understood? Yes, sir. And he's kind of keeping an eye on you waiting for another objection before he goes on. Sir, I will make sure that this job is completed to the best of our abilities.

You understand that the ravens have been a problem for us for a few years now. I seem to remember you stating, sir, that the ravens were nothing but a thorn in the side of no military or tactical value, but okay. We're tired of the thorn, Marcus. I'd like it removed. I'd like it removed today, if possible. Well, it's more than a one-day trip there, so if you have a teleportation device, we'll be happy to take care of it in one day, but otherwise you're going to have to give us a little time to get there. He's kind of regarding you. It's really nice having him directed at somebody else for a change.

That's kind of nice. Thanks. I understand travel time, Marcus. And your tone would suggest that you may have a problem with some of the things I've done since I've taken over Commander. Only one thing, sir, but we'll discuss that at a later date. Yes, we will. And he's... it looks like he wants to say something else to you, but then he just kind of goes back to talking about the mission at hand. As you know, the bulk of the ravens are residing in a clearing near Kalkas, and he's kind of pointing over to where that would be on the map. I'm pretty sure you know the clearing I'm talking about.

You visited it. The cavern is on the edge of the Evergreen, just north of these mountains. If you do meet up with any resistance, it should be minor. They should be expecting an attack, and you'll be using that to your advantage. A small team would be an excellent way to get the drop on any remaining ravens. Destroying and cutting off their food supply and rations would be an excellent way to pretty much drive out whatever threat. They will be forced to get desperate, bite off more than they can chew, and we can cut the rest of them down when they try to attack an encampment.

Is this cave that we're looking for near the place where we ran into the elves? This would be miles away. Alright. I need to know these things and as much information as I can in order to properly plan this. Of course. Are there any other questions before you get started? Other than, has our gear and our prizes from the tournament been provided? They have. Okay. You can pick them up on the way out actually. Is it just the shield or are we bringing any other troops with us? While I would like to assign extra troops to you, the more I give you, the less likely you'll be getting the jump on anyone.

Understood. There should only be two to three dozen left in the caverns. That's an estimation of course. But if you pick them off a few at a time, I'm sure that the ravens won't be much of a threat to you. I mean, you've just completed the tournament of champions. You're all expert fighters. I'm sure you'll figure something out. Alright. And there's something kind of snide in his voice as he says that. Like he's kind of looking at Marcus as he says it. Alright. Permission to requisition anything we need out of supplies? Like what? Explosives for bringing down a cave?

We can requisition you some explosives. Okay. Thank you. Other than that, I think we're ready, sir. Would not be a Crimson Shield mission without a fucking chain of explosives, would it? Nope. I think if we do have the Crimson Shield design when it's finished or whatever, it should totally be wrapped in explosives. Title, "We Blow Shit Up." Alright, so I guess you guys will be taking off. Unless there's anything you want to do in the city before you leave. Anybody have anything they want to go do? Might as well go say goodbye to my family. Yeah, you do that.

I need to pull Arilov aside for one second. Will you wait for me, Mason? Sure. Mason, good. I'll go with Mason when he goes to visit his family. Just be a moment. Arilov, remember how I said that if I don't return from combat, you need to go through my stuff? Yes, sir. If I don't return at any point, you need to do it. Alright. That's all. Go ahead. Alright. Thank you, sir. Okay. So let them go say goodbye to their families. Poe's just kind of sidled up next to you. He doesn't really have anywhere to go or anyone to talk to. Alright. Poe, you want to come with me when I go check on Rod's Wall?

Make sure he's still okay? Yeah, sure. Alright, we're going to go swing by and make sure Rod's Wall's healing. You all just want to cut to where you'd meet back up? Sure. Well, the reason I went with Mason is because I was going to have a quick conversation with him. Oh, go ahead. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So on the way to talking to his family, I would be kind of getting his attention away from whatever he may have been saying or doing, besides just walking. Mason? Yeah? I'm not sure how well this is going to go. And we've seen what happens when people don't come back from missions.

Branded traders, family killed. Mm-hmm. You may want to instruct your family to begin preparation to leave the city and find another place to live until this is all over. Mason slowly nods for that. I would just hate to see your family in these families' place. Mason tries to avoid showing additional emotion. That was all she was going to say. So, okay, while you'd be talking to your family, a warning would kind of be slipped in. It's like, "You might want to go on vacation." Yeah. I hear Esterhold is nice this time of year. Start packing. Something. Okay. It's a good thing the city's not on lockdown like it used to be years ago.

That, yeah, that, yeah. I would also jot down a quick note to my mom. I've already sent her one, but I'm going to send her another and just let her know that I was thinking about her. No warnings or anything because I already did everything I can for her, so. Mm-hmm. So we meet back up with everyone else. Yep. And I would imagine you are taking off for the Evergreen and yet again taking off for the Evergreen a chain of explosives. Who is holding, there is no Jadzia to hold your explosives for you, so who's going to do that? That will be me. Marcus will carry them.

All right. He does stay back in combat, so that's good. Exactly. Yep. Unless needed, but. Go ahead, hit me. I have explosives. Aha! So, okay. Riding off to the location that's been jotted down to you. This is going to take a while. You're talking from the Overwatch to this specific area. It's going to take a little over a day. Just because of the rocky terrain and all that. You're essentially going around these mountains and then into the cusp of the forest itself. And if everything is where... I did, Scott. I did. That's what I'm saying. It's happening. I'm not asking her whether that's...

I'm bigger than her. Let her hit me. I don't care. You think I'm fucking traveling miles and miles at 16 fucking hours in car to not take pictures and video of my friends? No. That's not a fucking... I'm not asking. The hell was I saying? Oh yeah. We travel. There's my derailment for the day, I guess. We travel. Go ahead and make a perception check, please. All of you. Ooh, 24. Me see nothing. And 24. Wow. Mason and Airlove apparently work pretty well as a team. Because they are... they're kind of scoping out the forest as you're making your way through. I would imagine you've dismounted by now.

Because now it's all about trying to be quiet. And quiet is the Crimson Shield specialty. Yes it is. Well, I was about to say, some of the less quiet members aren't around, so, you know. And just... everything is exactly where it's supposed to be. This trail that you're on right now should lead to the White Raven's headquarters. If all goes well and this intel is correct. Here's what I would like you to do. Everyone roll a stealth check, please. I guess Poe should too. I might not see anything, but I'm stealthy. That should be five higher than what it is, so 20. 14.

Better than Airlove. It's hard to be stealthy with bat wings. Well it's hard to be stealthy with bat wings. That's not a tiefling trait. That's a fucking malkus trait. That's not... he does not speak for all tieflings. They're not all monsters, come on. Rob will never listen to this. It's okay. So while 14 and 15 aren't incredible, and you're kind of making a little bit of noise, as Airlove is walking, she is going to make a decent amount of noise. Like kicking rocks and just not very sure of her footing. Like this, you are definitely crunching branches underneath of your feet.

This is not my best stealth moment. It's not. It's definitely not. And you can hear rustling in the bushes. Like you can hear something or someone making movement. And it sounded like the rustling was moving away from you guys. Possibly a rabbit. Possibly a rabbit. Never know. And continuing down this trail... Is it headed down the same trail we're headed or is it headed perpendicular? It kind of seemed like it skittered off into the forest. Like into the thick of the woods itself. Like you just heard a "ch-ch" and this bush kind of moved and then very quickly you can't quite make out what it is but there is definitely movement in the trees.

So another few minutes goes by and you are walking down this path. Do me a favor, everyone roll a perception check. Oh yeah. What she lacks in stealth... Well she stomp around so everything moves and then she can see it. It's like one of those hunting dogs that flushes out the birds. 31. Good job. Erolove is going to pick up on something up ahead of the trail. And there is a branch that is leaning down a little lower than she thinks it should and looking closely at it you can see a pair of boots perched up there. I will touch Marcus's arm and point it out to him.

So you point up at the branch? Well nod my head in that direction discreetly. Okay. I thought you were going to go "Ooh, ooh" and jump up and down. "Decades! Lame!" Okay so you were pointing that out to Marcus. What does Marcus do? Marcus is going to reach over, touch Mason, point at the boots and make a bow and arrow motion at him. Does Mason have a bow and arrow? He does. Okay. I don't think I've ever heard... He isn't used to it. He's usually used to attacking anything on the ground with his giant sword. Yeah. He can have that bow out lightning fast and take a shot at it.

Well how about you go ahead and do that then? I shall. Hmm. I have no target to roll for so it's d20+9. I'll do that in the roller. Bonus of 9. 26. Oh 26 will definitely hit. Go ahead and roll damage please. Yep. Hold on a sec. 15. A d20+10. Whoops. That's the greatest bow ever. Rolled d20s. Let's try this again. Let's do it instead of one die 10. Like a regular bow. I didn't even catch that. That would have cleaned... My bow is amazing. Oh well. That's so awesome. 15 anyway. Awesome. Okay. One second. Alright so here's what we're going to do. Everyone if you would position your characters right in this region right here.

So you got the drop on this raven who was perched up in this tree and figured he was going to get the drop on you. So this thing strikes this raven and he falls clean out of this tree so he is going to take another 5 damage on top of the 15. So let's throw... where's that raven? And kind of after that you can see them kind of start springing from the tree line here. And that one is going to take 20 damage. Alright let's put Poe on the battlefield with you guys and everyone roll initiative. There is not an opportunity for us to roll initiative. Why is there not enough initiative?

Oh that's right. You have to be added to the initiative trial. That makes sense. There you go. Sorry. Silly details. I remembered adding "a team" to the other one. It's got to be hard keeping... well I would say it was getting hard to keep all 4 teams straight but well only 2 teams play on a regular basis. True. We rolled a 9 for initiative or something that didn't take so let's... Jeez we're all terrible at it. Eww. Yeah that ain't great. You may not even make it to our moral quandary. Yeah I'm the only one who doesn't get a +6 to his initiative. Which one got hit?

That would be 1. Okay noted. Number 1 is going to pick himself up. So he's going to stand up and he is going to use Bullseye Bolt. Which is the slightly weaker version of what Lior uses. And... what kind of target air love? And ooh... yeah that'll definitely hit. Who's going to say it? It's almost a crit. Let's just... They're also in a +14. Yeah well... Yeah this is kind of what they do man. Alright man number 3 is also going to use Bullseye Bolt on Mason. Ooh that's going to miss. Big parry. 2 is going to fire his Bullseye Bolt at Mason as well. That will hit.

And 20 damage. Alright. And Marcus your turn. No. What do you mean no? How did Una get here? I'm bringing in reinforcements. No. That was worth a try. It's called cheating. That was my level 6 power. I was about to say, do you really... Like if you had the ability to make... I would not suggest a chance. I was about to say, of all the people you could bring into reality in front of you... As Marcus... Would Una be the person? There's a free action, she kicks him in the penis. And then vanishes. Group 3A, home of more penis and ball torture. Alright. Let's see. I'm going to...

Mason, which one are you going after? I prefer not number 1 because the first guy I hit I get additional damage due to the new weapon. Okay. I just wanted to know who to hit Astral Seal on. Let's see. Wow, that's only range 5. That's not very far. Okay. I'm going to have to move up to there. And I will throw an Astral Seal on... Number 3. And I will hit. That'll hit, yep. Nice. Alright, and I'm done. Alright, remind the good folks at home what Astral Seal does. Astral Seal gives a -2 penalty to all defenses. And the next ally who hits him regains hit points equal to 2 plus my Charisma modifier.

Nice. Woo! So they get 5 hit points back for whacking number 3. Very nice. Number 4's turn, Bullseye Bolt against Marcus. That'll hit. And damage... 18. Mason, your turn. Mason asked Marcus is he switching up for a sword. Do we kill him? Yes. Alright. Let's see, that is 1, 2, 3, 4, 5. Oh, only 5 to go. Cool. I will turn on Berserker's Charge for my stance. I will charge forward. And the charge with the melee basic. Okay. 16 bonus to strike. And roll. So this takes a little while. And hit. That's a crit. Oh, that's a crit. Yeah. Alright, let's roll it out. Okay, to start, the challenge seeking weapon that I now have gives a 1d6 additional bonus damage.

Because nobody has struck this bad guy first. So this is first blood it's drawn. So let's roll a d6. Let's start with a 6. I'll add it all together at the end with the damage roll. So we got a 6 from the seeking weapon. Because I hit, I am activating my power strike which is going to add another d12 of damage. So let's get that on next. Clear out. That's another 6 for a total bonus of 12 damage. Alright. And then let's actually roll damage. Oh, and no, yeah, the challenge seeking weapon, because it is a critical, does not give me any bonus damage. Because the benefit is...

Really? Yeah, the reason being is that if you hit, you know, basically you're drawing first blood. Yeah. Yeah, and that's fine. I mean, I'm still glad to have a magical weapon. I'm not bitching. And you get 5 hit points back. Excellent. I will take that and put those 5 hit points on and I've dealt 24 damage to him. 24, gorgeous. Alright, and I believe that... Nope, no, Sohae Flurry is a free action. So I will actually attack him once again. Because I've landed a blow, that's part of the requirement to hit. I roll once again, but as a non-melee basic. And that's a hit?

My apologies. I believe I did not actually click the max damage button on my... to hit before. Yeah, because I rolled a 2. So you got another 10 damage coming to him. It would have been a total of 40... 34? Yes. Yeah. Alright. I rolled a hit with the Sohae Flurry. Rolling damage now. So he's bloodied already. That's 9. Shit. 9 more. Damn, very nice. So I just launch into him, try to go for a throat strike, and then as he's reeling back I swing yet again. Just a blazing speed monster. And that is my turn. Okay. Uhh... Airlove, your turn. Alright, I am going to move...

If I get the right little thing here. Okay. Let's see. 1, 2, 3... I have 6, correct? Uhh, you do. I'm gonna remove if that's okay. Sure. Okay. So I was right here. I'm gonna go right there. And I'm gonna use Visions of Blood, At Will, all that good stuff. Close Blast. Oh wait. Shoot. So you're on Mason and Marcus? No. Oh, okay. I couldn't get as close as I wanted for that one, so I'm doing a different thing. Alright, so I'm going to use Fires of Judgment instead. And it is an area burst 1 within 10, so I can target basically the middle square and it'll hit both of them.

Or, yeah, each enemy in burst. So, let's see... I'll look at all three of them, but not number 1 over there I don't think. If it hit number 1 that would have to be like the nuclear option of attacks. Yeah. Everyone on the board gets hit. Okay. It's a burst 20. That's a hit. Who does she think she is, Bree? That's a hit to everyone. 2, 3, and 4. Nice. Outstanding. Very nice. 10 damage to everyone. Very nice. Very, very nice. Anything else? I get temporary hit points for using an encounter power. Did it do that automatically or did somebody else do that? No, you gotta do that.

Sorry, I was looking at Una. She has 5 temporary hit points right now. It threw me off. And because I hit number 3, do I get an additional 5 regular hit points? No, it's first person to hit. Oh, okay, cool. Did that 10 damage come with any other debuffs or anything? Uh, yes. Sorry. The target also slides 1 square. And allies in the burst gain a +2 bonus to saving throws until the start of my next turn. So, 1 within 10 of, we'll say, this bush right here where it was kind of in the middle-ish. Just so that can be a landmark. So, anyone within 10 squares of that bush that's an ally.

Okay. So, everyone. Yeah. Pretty much. So, are you sliding these guys 1 square? Uh, yes. In what direction? What's pose movement? Hold on, Errol. It's 6. 6? Yeah. Can you slide him instead of there, um, 1 closer to you to here? Uh... Because then Poe can get to him and attack him. Right there? Yeah. Alright. Trust me, Poe can get there at least. That's why I was counting it off. That's 6 spaces from Poe and then he can hit somebody on his turn. And then you can step away on yours. Alright. Uh... Bleed it up leader. Yeah, my turn is done. The big brain on Brett. Um, uh, Poe's turn. 1, 2, 3, 4, 6.

So, he is going to sidle right up to number 4. Mosey right up to him. It's a cowboy here. Errol, do me a favor. Uh, roll a perception check, please. Sure. 24. It's the same white raven we killed last week. Yeah. You didn't play last week. No one played last week. No, we were having cake. Yes. Um, watch the videos on YouTube guys, you'll understand what the fuck that meant. In this case the cake is not alive. Nope. Um, Poe looks exceedingly hesitant about hitting this person. But, after a few seconds he is going to curl up his fist and try and punch him in the throat.

You can do it, Poe. And he is going to miss. I will note that for later. Uh, white raven number 1. Let's see here. Let's move closer and let's use crossbow on Marcus. That'll hit. 13 damage to Marcus. Ouch. Uh, white raven number 3 is... damn. Also going to use his crossbow but against Mason. Eww, that'll miss. That'll miss a 3. I rolled a 3. That misses guys. Did you know that? Um... They rejoice. Scott, I mean it's not the comeuppancy deserves but I mean it's... No, the fans want to see Una smash Marcus' head. Yes, yes they do. He dies at the hand of just punk raven number 2 here.

Dude, Izzy wants to see that more than anybody else. Trust me. Uh, let's see here. Uh, crossbow. Okay, number 2 is going to use his crossbow against Air Love. And hit and damage. Uh, 13 damage. Marcus is bloodied and Air Love is bloodied. Uh, Marcus, your turn. Alright. How long does Astral Seal work? I'm going to do a triggered thingy. Sure. Triggered thingy. Yes. I have a triggered thingy and I'm going to use it. I'm just pulling it up real quick. I'm guessing that's Infernal Wrath? Um, actually, I'm going to be using my Curseforged Armor. Oh. It is a daily. And the enemy takes a negative 2 penalty to attack rolls, save ends.

And when the enemy saves against that penalty, the enemy takes a negative 1 penalty to attack rolls, save ends. Gotcha. Okay. And Marcus. Marcus is going to... Man, I hate the idea of using the word already. Getting a plus or a 2 bonus to all your defenses when you use your healing word is always nice. Yeah. Alright. Well, that's second wind, a healing word. In this case, he has the feat Shielding Word, which will give him that benefit. Oh, that's right. It's cool. And you're right. In most cases, a healing word would only be "butt tons of healing," but now it's defense, too.

Yeah, coming from Marcus, yeah, that's "butt tons of healing." Marcus, heal it. Wow, I should have healed Fie's butt. It's the cutest of all. Alright, we're going to throw a healing word over on Arilov. She's in bad shape. Thank you. So that is... what is it now? 3 die 6 plus... 3 die 6 plus 6 at this point. 6. Yeah. That is grossly excessive. 19 plus your healing surge back. Man, fuck you. Thank you. Now that I'm trying to kill you, it's just... I worked hard. Can I point something out? Sure. I have yet to use healing word on myself in the last 4 rounds of combat.

So I have not saved myself with this trick yet. I've saved everybody else. That's good. You're a good healer/leader. Exactly. That's very good. Alright, White Raven for... I am no longer bloodied. You are not. I am at full health. White Raven number 4 is going to shift backwards and then he is going... He's going to use his crossbow against Poe. And he's going to hit Poe. That should remove any doubt from Poe's mind about what he needs to do. That'll be 9 damage to Poe. That'll bring Poe down to 46. Alright. Look back one more time. Bring him down. Alright. Still in Berserker's Charge.

I rush forward doing this type of motion. Kind of a serpentine and slashing him with the charge. So we're looking at melee basic. And we roll. As soon as the system figures out what it's doing. Hit. Awesome. Roll damage. 12. 12 damage will kill him. So that is the end of White Raven 3. Boom. Dead. Whips his sword around over at number 2. You're fucking next. And action point. Charge. And melee basic. And roll. And hit. Let's roll some damage. Is that his first hit? No it's not. So he's just going to get us straight up 12. Oh and shit I should have announced Power Strike.

Yeah it's not. He took 10. Damn. Next time I will pop my Power Strike on him. I've got a second one but we're cool. Alright that is the end of my turn. Airlove, your turn. Alright I am going to use a minor action to Maledictor's Doom number 4 and number 3 I think it is right by Mason. Or 2 sorry. I can't see his number. And that is a close blast 5. Each enemy in a blast. -1 penalty to attack rolls and saving throws until the end of my next turn. In addition whenever the target is hit by a fear attack before the end of my next turn I push the target 1 square as a free action.

And then I am going to do Sunstrike against Whiteraven number 4. That's going to miss. Alrighty that's the end of my turn. That one kind of misses everything. Yeah. Oh god that is a 1. Pose turn. He's going to try and use a flashbang against number 4. Wow okay that will hit. 12 and 4 is going to be blind until save ends. Yay! I'm sure he's hating it though. Yeah he's probably not a fan. Didn't see that coming. Oh! Number 1 is going to use crossbow attack against Marcus. And hit. 7 damage. Okay. Cool cool. I'm going to bring in number 2. Let's see what I use here. You know what just drop back 1 and use a crossbow attack against Mason.

Ooh that will miss. You forgot to include the -2 though. Just saying. I did. Shit you're right. Well it still missed. That's good. Marcus your turn. Marcus is going to... If that was his turn then he needs to try to make a save against it but he's at -1 to save. 19. Okay. That will save the bottom. Yeah Marcus your turn. So he's at -1 until he saves again. Okay. Marcus will move 3 spaces up towards... He'll sidle straight up to cowboy number 1 there. And we'll take a healing strike against him. Which... Let's see which way I hit this. And I hit! With a 19. Solid. 2d8+4 damage. 12 damage.

And I get to spend a healing surge. Hooray! Yay me. Well let's see. Healing surge and then wizmod then conmod and another 1d6. You do get all that because it is a healing type. So I get one healing surge which will get me 11 and then 1d6 you said? Plus 3? 1d6 plus charisma. I thought wisdom as well but yeah that's fine. Just take that and be happy with it. I get 11 and another 7. You know what? And then a dragon appears. Let's see. There. And I am done. Alrighty. You are no longer bloodied. White weaved before his blind. He's gonna kinda stumble forward and swing his clumsily bow.

And miss obviously. Let's see here. Oh! Well he will save so he's not blind anymore. So that's something. Mason your turn. Alright. Once again we're charging. Zips around him and makes a strike. Where did Mason go? Where did you go away? Okay. And roll. That's a hit. That definitely is a hit. I am activating my second power strike for this fight. Let's roll some damage. First off rolling the damage on the side here for my extra one weapon. So 4 and I'll add that to the next roll for damage. And what you got? 18. Total of 18. 18 damage. Gorgeous. Gorgeous. Definitely bloodied.

Turn is over. Hurt in a bunch. Aral of your turn. Sure thing. I am going to use my move action to take a step. Shoot. Actually let me think about that for a second because Mason moved. It may not work. I have to pick something else now. Thanks Mason. I am to please. Okay one sec. If you can move over and help me with number one it would be greatly appreciated. He is bloodied and I can't hit him very easily now. And you can hit him easier. Yeah. I just have to pick what I am going to do. I am just going to use sun strike. So instead of moving there I am going to move closer this way.

And then use sun strike. Hit. That is a hit. 8 damage. 8 damage. Gorgeous. Is that it for you? Yes. Poe. Okay Poe's turn. Poe is going to reach out and try and grab this White Raven 4. So let me see. Oh wow. Wow Nat 20. Okay. So he has definitely grabbed this raven up. He has kind of gone in this barrow type thing. White Raven number one. He is going to fall back one space and use his crossbow against Marcus. Because that has worked pretty well. I have a reach of one. Can I do an opportunity attack against him? Yeah. Well no well he shifted. Okay. Yeah I had to think.

Oh no wait he shifted. But normally yes. Like if he were to move more than one space. Yes. Kicking. So that did hit Marcus. And 7 damage. You are bloodied again. White Raven number two is still fighting for his life with Mason over there. The steel cyclone. You know what? He's going to use his club. No you know what? No. Not going to use his club. He's going to drop back one and use his crossbow because that just makes more sense. Unless you miss again. The reason I was going to get an opportunity attack was the ranged weapon use not the movement. Sorry just when you took a step back and fired at Mason that's what reminded me.

Do they have feet that makes it so they don't get an opportunity attack when they use a ranged weapon within melee striking distance of me? Well that's true actually considering you have a reach of one. Yeah so I guess you do get an opportunity attack. Yay. I am going to do my... And because I'm one away from him I can do a ranged and I'm going to do Sunstrike as a ranged basic. Or does it have to be melee because it's... I think it has to be melee. Real quick. No problem. That's it? Yay. It's not very much damage but it's something. It all adds up. Yeah. 3 damage! 3? 3.

I smack him with my staff. Marcus your turn. Marcus will... 1, 2, 3, 4, 5... I'm not running away from you Arilov. I'm positioning myself so I can hit... Yep it's cool. Number 2 with an Astral Seal. We'll make it a little easier for Mason to kill this guy. That will hit so he is at a -2. -2 to all defenses. -2 to all defenses and hit him and he's a +5 pinata. So I'm done. White Raven number 4 is going to bring up his club and try and hit Poe in the face. Not in the face! Not in the face! Yeah that will definitely hit. Aw that's a pretty smile. 5 damage to Poe. Bring him down to 41.

Mason your turn. Alright. Let's charge again. Doing the dance around him. Thanks for your patience. Not a problem. Quit being so Canadian. Marilla just tell me to go fuck myself one time. Just one time. We'll see. Alright that's a hit. 35. And roll that damage. 15. 15. Look at him. Beautiful. You dead yet? Anything else sir? No that is it for me. Aralom! Alright. I'm going to do summons of justice but I'm going to move a little bit first to make it more effective. Right down here next to Marcus. And I'm going to be attacking White Raven's one and two. Let's see. You will find out if they hit.

That's a miss. The other one is a hit though. One too. Yay. Alright. 11. Summons of justice. And that will... Kill him. Knock him prone. Oh okay. Definitely knock him prone because he's dead. I was going to knock him prone and drag him three squares. Can I drag his dead body three squares? Sure. Why not? I don't see why not. Get over here. That's exactly what I was thinking. There you go. And now he's dead. Flop him across the ground like one of those Garry's Mods or whatever. Anything else? I'm dazed until the end of my next turn. Kho is going to use another throat punch on this guy.

You get a bonus because he's held? It hits. Okay. Damage 18. That'll bloody him and he is stunned until the end of Kho's next turn. Nice. White Raven number one. It's the coolest not to use the crossbow against Marcus. Unless it misses. Come the fuck on. It's the first one. Yeah, against you. Yeah. Marcus, your turn. Mason, you going to take down number one? I am. Alright, in that case I will ask to steal number one. And I will hit him. So he's at a minus two and a plus five pinata. Oh, did you get your five points back, Mason? I did indeed. Okay, just making sure. Alright, I'm done.

I've been slowly regenerating. White Raven number four is going to... Yeah, he's stunned so he's just gonna kind of... He's still locked up in Kho's grip here. Trying to grab at his throat. Going "cluck". Yep, so Mason, your turn. Alright. Well, with that charge still active, I've got a seven to move. And that's totally as much as it needs to go right there. Melee basic. Let's roll. Let's make sure to add that plus two that I've been forgetting to do each time. From the... sir, or what do you call it? But I've been hitting, so I'm pretty thankful for that. Let's roll.

Thirty-five. Let's roll some damage. Thirty-five will hit. And I'll add five to my hit points. That'll kill him. Twenty-two. Alright, brought him down. Oh, that's the third one brought... Well, actually, that's not true. Air Love killed the last one. Yeah. Alright, so it's my turn, right? Yep. I gotta figure out what I'm gonna do here. So, number four is the only one left. He is within range of some things. I think I'm gonna do Sun Strike, because I don't want to waste anything necessarily. Hit. That is a hit. Eleven. Eleven damage. Good, good. Anything else? I can slide him one square.

Just... He's kind of grabbed by Poe, but... Oh, never mind then. I'm not gonna break that. Poe's turn. Let's go with... Let's go with this broadsword, I guess. So, he is going to rear back. He's gonna let go of the grab, and rear back with the broadsword, and hit. Fifteen damage will kill him. Hooray! We survived! Okay. Okay, so that was obviously an intended ambush for you guys. Yep. Is there anything anyone wants to do before you guys continue on this trail towards the cavern? Clearly they know we're coming. Yeah. Suggestions, Markus? Well, they know we're coming down the path.

The smart thing would be to get off the path, first and foremost. We know where we're supposed to go. We know what we're supposed to do. If we know about where it's at, if we shadow the path, say, fifty feet off to one side, it'll give us a better view of what's coming, and possibly see anything that's coming along. But I'm open to suggestions. I think that sounds fine. Ereluc, do you have solid nature? Plus eight. That's better than mine. Yep, better than mine as well. Definitely better than Po's. Alright, I will attempt to lead us where we need to go. Alright, I'm gonna pop a couple healing surges here.

Yeah, rest is good. Just bring me up a bit. Yeah, Po's gonna pop one. So that's a sixteen on nature. Okay. That's not incredible, but it's not terrible. So while it's taking a bit longer than it would have if you were on the path, you are kind of finding your way to where you need to be. Let's do this. After, after, okay, after a while, the entrance to this cavern, or at least that's what it looks to be, is in sight. And you can see it from, you can kind of see it from the tree line. Like you, you, like you would guess that you'd be, you'd be pretty hidden right now.

Who'd like to roll a perception check? I will. Okay. Thirty-three. Holy shit. Thirty-three is excellent. This, this, so this, this cavern is kind of shrouded with, with some bushes and, and it's kind of set back a bit. If you weren't specifically looking for it, if you didn't pretty much know it was there, you could walk right by it a thousand times and never know. You also don't see a living soul anywhere near it. I will turn to Marcus and, and tell him that it looks suspiciously clear, but this is clearly the place. Okay. Nothing on the outside of the cave indicates, can we see, you know, old, four old campfires, potentially tracks of large groups moving?

I think we would have to move closer to see tracks, but, I'm pretty sure all the campfires would have been inside the cavern from what I understand. It's nature being that it's very well hidden. Right. Yeah. Yeah, that would, you have a really fortified hidden place. Let's build a campfire just outside of it to really draw people in. Yeah, that's... You want to be hospitable. They'll leave a light on for you. White Raven Motel 6. Would you guys like to move closer or send in a scout or... I think we should send Mason in to scout a little, maybe. Yeah, I'll take a look. 20 in stealth.

In plate mail. In plate mail. Mason's going to kind of creep up to the entrance of this cavern. And... Make a perception check for me, please. 16. Mason doesn't see or hear anything. It's suspiciously quiet, almost. Like, for this being the headquarters of this militia group, like, you'd think that there'd be someone present, someone hanging around. After a few seconds of, like, nothing transpiring, nothing's happening, Poe's going to kind of wander across the treeline here and join Mason unless someone stops him. Which doesn't sound like they are. I'll glance at Marcus.

No, it seems like Poe has something on his mind. I'm going to let him go. Poe's going to kind of creep up next to Mason. Hear anything? No, man, that's weird. Poe sticks his head in there and just yells, "Hello!" I hope Mason shows him in and leaves. Do you want me to try going in? I'll go. I can sneak in. Just hold here and I'll let you know if something happens. Alright. And he kind of takes a side step, like, next to the cavern. Go ahead and roll a stealth check for me. Alright, I'll kind of signal back and, you know, basically make it sound like I can't hear anything, you know.

Hand motions. And then I'll stealth into the cave. Twenty-two. That's a pretty damn good stealth check. So, making your way into this cave, it's pretty evident that there were people here recently. You can see tracks, you can see... They're pretty evident, too. This wasn't something where they were hidden. You can see where there's kind of a soft sand here and there that you can definitely see footprints of all shapes and sizes. Like, everything from, you know, just grown men and women to what appear to be children. They kind of funnel into this labyrinth of pathways.

You can kind of see where it looks like it devolved into, like, two paths which may divulge into, like, two or three other paths. It's kind of a... It's kind of this minotaur-esque maze that, unless you knew where you were going, you might be able to get lost pretty quickly. Go ahead and roll a perception check for me, please. Alright. Twenty-two. You... Mason here is the faintest of sounds emanating from further within this cavern. Cavern. Let's try that. And it sounds like movement. It's kind of echoey and it's tough to hone in on exactly where it's coming from, but there's definitely some kind of movement in here.

It sounds like it's coming from fairly far away. Alright. How would you like to proceed? I'm going to move back and report what I heard. Well, first I'll come back to Poe. Alright, so Poe's still standing there. Did you hear anything? I think so. Movement further back in there, but from what I can tell, it looks like pretty much anything in the earlier is cleared out and extensive. A lot of caves. Go ahead and roll a perception check, please. Alright. Twenty-five. Natural twenty. Poe looks pretty concerned. Not alarmed, but there's definitely a concern in his face.

He's just kind of... How do you want to handle this? What do you want to do? He kind of looks at you guys, "Man, you and I, we don't call the shots here, man. We just have to let him know. And, you know, his face gets hard, man. I ain't killing no kids. That ain't right, man. Those guys we dealt with, they're soldiers. They knew what they were getting into, but no kids." Yeah, yeah, I agree. He nods in agreement, "Yeah, no kids. Alright, let's head back. Be quiet." So, they're going to make their way back to Marcus. Sir? Yes. Early areas are... Nobody's around.

I think they moved back into the further areas. There's a shit-ton of caves in there. You easily get lost. I think I heard movement in the back, but I'm not sure. It must have been further away, but I wasn't going to start wandering around in there all by myself. Good call. No need for you to get lost in there. We'll have to try and come rescue you at that point. Alright. So, this far in... We have two choices, folks. We can try and find another entrance to the cave, which means wandering through the forest here, attempting to find one. Or, we can plant the explosives at the base of this cave, blow it up, and report back that they knew we were coming and left.

So, we destroyed this cave. Since they know we're coming, we have to assume that they are going to have the other cave entrances guarded as well. Now, depending on how many people are around each cave entrance, could cause more problems for us. We could run into a force that we can't handle, especially since they know we are coming. Somebody has tipped them off. I say we blow up this cave entrance that puts a dent in whatever they were running around here, plus reverbs down the caves. It'll rattle them. Hopefully they run out and potentially run into other problems elsewhere.

And we report back that not only did they know we were coming, they had set traps, and we have a traitor in our midst. That Captain Tenbolt needs to find and remove before we can continue these missions. Does anybody else have any suggestions? Poe's going to speak up. What if that's the only way in and out, man? I mean, if there are kids in there, we're just trapping them. If that's the only way in and out, then they have made the mistake of making a spot only with one way in and out. That makes no tactical sense. If that's a labyrinth of caves underneath there, there are other ways out of here.

I'm more concerned with making sure they can't come out immediately after us. And if we just blow up the entrance and there's that much space underneath there that they can fit that many people, they'll have time to dig themselves out. I glance around at Mason and Poe. And then back to Marcus. Yeah, Poe looks really trepidatious about this. Like, he's not digging that idea. You can kind of see it on his face. I'm open to suggestions, folks. But if we can't come up with another plan, those are our two options right now. We can't leave and just leave them open like that.

We have to shut off the hole to where the other entrance to the caves could be miles from here. It puts them at another disadvantage of "get away." If they knew we were coming, let me explain it this way. If they knew we were coming and they left that as their only way in and out of the cave, then they are less of a threat than we thought because nobody would leave that one way in and out of a situation. That's trapping yourself. If they knew they had that much advance warning that we were coming, they should have left the area. Unless they had another way out.

What you're saying is sound logic, sir. If I... I'll put it... I'll state one more thing for you, Poe, in particular, and possibly Mason. If I thought that was their only way in and out, I wouldn't blow up the entrance to the cave. We ain't putting them directly to the sword. So it kind of sounds like everyone's just thinking, definitely thinking about this. Right. And Poe's gonna kind of speak up again. Is Tenbolt gonna be pissed that we didn't take care of this? We just sealed off the one entrance. We're not... I mean... Tenbolt will take... Tenbolt will take his anger out on me.

Of that I have no doubt. But by putting me in charge, he has to have some faith in my judgment in the field. If he was here and wanted to make the call, I would let him. But once he puts me in the field, he has to trust my judgment. And if he doesn't, then he can remove me as leader of this unit. You three have put your faith in me. You don't seem to have a problem trusting my judgment on this and my sound and my logic. If we go in there and try and chase them down, we are on their turf. They know those twists and turns much better than we do. There could be traps lining that thing as far as the eye could see.

And every corner could be another set of guys we have to fight. That's suicide. That is not something I am going to put us into. If we put the explosives out, put it this way, how about this? If we put the explosives down there and blow it up, we can look around the area and see if there's people running out. And if there are any troops, we can take them. If we have the advantage or if at least it is going to be a good fight. But I'm not going to blow up that cavern, watch a quarter mile down and see a hundred white ravens come running out and then say, all right, we can take these guys because we can't.

We are not. We're not an army. We're a tactical combat unit. We pick and choose our fights. Right. Perhaps we give them a brief warning of the fact that we are indeed closing off this entrance. Problem with that is if we do that and there is one right next door or a hundred feet from there, we're going to have every combat troop running out of there after us. Because they're going to, they already know we're coming. Somebody is ready for us somewhere. Mason, do you want to take the explosives? You know where the pinch point is down there to where you can seal off multiple parts.

Sound like you had something else you want to say? This is the last chance that we are being given as the Crimson Shield to prove to our commander that we can do what we have been tasked to do. I think that we need to consider that very carefully when we make this choice, sir. Well, as I said, I am open to other suggestions if you want to wander around and try and find another hidey hole that they have and see if there's anybody guarding that, we can. But at the same time, if we blow this hole up, they're going to come scattering out of somewhere or they're going to go deeper underground and find their next opening.

Wherever it is. And we'll get to see them coming out there if it's anywhere close. I have a hunch and it would make tactical sense that it's not going to be anywhere next to us. And I can put two cave entrances nearby and go, okay, well, we'll hide in this one and then come out the other one. The next one's going to be a quarter mile away, half mile away. Which is why I think it's still safe for us to warn them that this entrance is going to be exploded. If they're not that close, they're not even going to hear us. But if they are that close, then it doesn't make tactical sense, as you've said.

If you want to stand at the entrance of the cave and say, "5, 4, 3, 2, 1, boom." Okay. You want to just yell in there, "We're going to blow this one up. See you guys later." Oh, so be it as well. If you really feel that strongly about giving them a warning, that's fine. But I will tell you that technically you don't warn your enemy, you're going to do something. When there are women and children involved, rules change. Poe's going to kind of chime in. We have to at least give them a warning, man. I mean, you're dead set on blowing it up fine. But if there are kids anywhere around where that could cause a cave-in, they deserve to get a warning.

I'm going to, yeah, Mason steps up. I'll do it. I'm fast enough to avoid arrows. I'm cased in body armor. If they get a couple of potshots off on us, I can take them. I'd give them a nod. Alright, I find this acceptable. Poe's going to chime in. I want to go with you. Certainly, certainly. Alright. Here you go, Mason. Here's the explosives. Alright, so Mason will shoulder the explosives and put away his weapon and start heading back over there quiet as he can. Poe is going to follow. Is Erolove actually going to stand at the entrance of the cave and shout anything, or was that more of a "haha"?

No, I will. And I think that Poe and Mason are agreeing with me that that's what needs to happen. Right, I just didn't know if Poe was going to do it because he was already walking up there with Mason. No, I'd go up there too. I think that's more like backup. Like if Erolove is going to stand at the entrance of the cave and they're going to go in and find that choke point where it starts splitting off. Yeah, I'll wait until they're on their way back from setting the explosives and everything. Okay. So that's Mason not much of an orator, so it'd be good to have somebody there who can actually say good words of awesomeness.

"Muthafuckers, I'm gonna drop some explosives down here, so if you asses wanna get your butts out of the way, probably be a good idea." Fucking run would cover it too. That was the best Mason impression. Thank you. Yeah. Alright, so Erolove is going to position herself outside of this cavern. Yes, right at the entrance. Mason just ticks a knee and is ready to strike it, but waits for Erolove to start talking. So, okay. This is how I picture it. So the split off is a bit further into this cavern. So while you can, like, you won't be able to, it kind of curls around, so you won't be able to see Erolove, but you can definitely hear her if she starts yelling.

Like it's more of an echoey, kind of a distant, but you can definitely hear her. You can hear her pretty clearly. I can make a whistle or something like that when I'm in position. Yeah, yeah, something like that. I wouldn't mind moving in far enough so that I can still see them to keep eye contact. Yeah, okay. You can totally do that. Sounds good. I'm also going to use my Symbol of Hope, which is a daily conjuration. I can conjure a Symbol of Hope in an unoccupied square within range and the symbol lasts until the end of my next turn. Unless I sustain with a minor.

Any ally within five squares of the symbol gains a +2 bonus to saving throws, and any ally who starts his or her turn within five squares of the symbol gains five temporary hit points. I'm going to cast that as close to them as I can, depending on how far away they are while maintaining visual contact. So that when they set it off, if they need saving throws, they will have a bonus. Nice. Also, as a tiefling, I believe you have low light vision. I will check on that. I'm almost positive. I do. There you go. Alright, cool. So while Mason and Poe don't, you'll definitely be able to see what's happening.

Alright, let's do this thing. So, at the choke point, where it kind of funnels into a narrow passageway and then kind of diverges into a couple of different pathways and then it splits off again and again. How would you like to try and set these explosives up? First off, which direction did Mason thought he heard the movement? This would have been coming from the left. I wonder if there's a way to set it over on the right with the... Go a little bit further one over the right path and try to blow that one instead. Without really giving much away, not like, "Oh, hey, I'm going to go over here." It's more like, "Hmm, I believe this." Without really even talking like, "I believe this is blah, blah, blah." Not really trying to bluff, just like, "I'm going to give him as much of a fighting chance as I can." So you're going to kind of just set it up in that pathway there.

Sorry, I was reading this guy. Hardcore. Wouldn't that be the greatest if we set that up? All right. So the explosives are kind of set and we've used these a couple of times before, so there is definitely, there's a fuse, like kind of a longer fuse. What would you like to do here? You want to just get ready and bend down, try and light it up? Getting ready to, but we'll start doing the noise first, and heck, I can light it a little bit further on up the wick if I feel like it's dangerous enough. Okay. So you kind of motion back to Air Love and have her yell something.

The Crimson Shield is not without mercy, and I'm going to obviously be talking louder than I want to into my microphone, but we will be bombing the entrance to this cavern, and if you do not have another escape route, you may want to make that apparent to us pretty damn quick. After a few moments here. I'm holding my breath. Mason's sweating everywhere, like, ugh. So this echoes throughout this thing, and everything kind of goes silent while you're waiting. And now there's definitely a ton of movement definitely coming from the left, and it's definitely, it sounds like panic.

It doesn't sound like the movements of people getting ready to take up arms and defend themselves. It sounds like, holy shit, we got to get out of here. Women and children screaming. Not screaming, but it definitely, like you hear, you definitely, it sounds as though, like there are some younger voices, maybe some old, some sick, something like that. Mason? Yes. Grab the explosives. Alright. Move back. Alright. So we duck back a little bit further into that other cave, the one where the sound isn't coming from? Yes. Sounds good to me. We are, we're hiding. Sort of.

We're just giving them room to evacuate as needed. You're going to stay in the cave while they evacuate? Yes, and if there are, if there are clearly troops, then we will do what we need to do. I would probably shout out to Marcus at, you know, incoming or something like that. So okay. Incoming would probably be a bad idea to yell. Yeah, probably not. Just get us to duck around the corner. He'll be fine. Okay, I'm looking for the explosives being lobbed back at me. No, okay. I knew this day would come. I guess I'll just duck back and kill him by his own team.

Grab Poe obviously, be like, "Hey man, back up, back up." Yeah, and I will, you know, sprint down there to be with Mason and Poe or meet them halfway or whatever so that we're kind of together. Okay, so you guys have backed up to the point now where it's more towards the entrance? A little bit, yeah, but... A little bit more. Probably halfway between where they were and where I was and off to the right. Okay. Do me a favor, you guys make a perception check. Okay. 27. 13's not good. 27, there's a secondary noise. This sounds more like people holding weapons, kind of clattering, kind of like maybe shields clattering, maybe like the rattling of swords.

And that sounds like it's coming your way. From the right? From the left actually, the same place where the panic was coming, it sounds like maybe someone is kind of taking up arms to buy them time or defend the cavern entrance or whatever, but it definitely sounds like someone's coming your way. I will say to Mason and Poe, there are troops with them. I can hear them. Think we should let them go? They're coming your way. They're coming in your direction. They're not headed towards the entrance? Well, you guys are standing at the entrance. Well, no, we're like part way down into it, like halfway between where... because I had walked in far enough that I could see where Mason and Poe were.

And then we met halfway between that point and where the explosives were. Right. So picture this thing as... let me see if I can draw it real quick. Okay. I have a lot of work that I've attempted to do on this board and I can only draw like in grid form, I think. So this could be hideous. I don't know. So like if that's the entrance to the cave, right? And then it... you're walking into it. And then it kind of funnels into a point and then kind of diverges into different paths. All right. Yes. So you'd be... like I mean, my understanding is you'd be like here.

I mean, it's a larger space in this. It's much longer from the entrance to here. But I mean, my understanding is like you were going to place the explosives somewhere in here. So to clarify, what my plan was is I was actually planning on putting the explosives since we knew that... let's see... the left hand side was the one where there was no voices from, the right hand side was the other one, right? Yes. So I was planning on putting the explosives like around this area, which I know probably would knock a few rocks to the right, but not anywhere near enough to... you know, like theoretically they'd be able to get out okay.

Right. But then now we're hearing this. So basically what we ended up doing is... my understanding is we hit up this way a little bit further. So that when they came running, yawned down this way, they would miss us visually and just be like, "Get the hell out." Well, you have those swapped. What? Okay. Yes, but that... yeah, but he's... like I get what he's saying. Sorry, I'm getting my left and right swapped, but you understand what I'm saying. Hide further back in the cave, stay hidden, let the people run away, and then do that thing. But now we're hearing, "Oh crap, now here comes the actual militia parts from wherever place we were ducked in." Change of plan.

Okay. I've got an idea now. Yeah, so as I'm starting to hear them come up, I'm like, "If we could just hold them long enough..." From my understanding, they're coming from the same tunnel as the people we heard moving about. Yes. Yeah, but my understanding was the other way around. No, they're coming from the same tunnel. Same tunnel. But they're coming towards us ahead of whoever it is that's panicking behind them. Okay, let's try to clarify this. My understanding is we were in the one tunnel that had no sound coming out of it. We heard the sounds, but they were coming from the opposite tunnel.

That was kind of like as planned. Now we're hearing new sounds coming from our tunnel. Is this correct? No. Now we hear even more sounds coming from that other tunnel. All the sounds are coming from the left side. My perception check made me hear the additional sounds. So mixed in with the people from the same side. We're still hidden away from them. Still under the understanding that we should let them go. I think we'll assess once we see more information, but we'll stay where we are for now. So let's do this. Okay. Wow, this could turn ugly. So Mason's still holding the explosives.

Right. Okay. Because we didn't want to leave them laying there. Right, no. Yeah. You can't just leave those laying about. So after a few moments, six white ravens, they look to be pretty able-bodied. Like a little younger. But yeah, they have obviously come up here to defend the area. And they kind of reach the entrance and they're looking around. They're looking for any set of explosives or people who might have been yelling or anything. They don't see anything. You can kind of see that they've stopped in that area and they're looking around. Now, how hidden are you guys trying to be?

Are you trying to get the jump on them or? I'm trying to let them go. You're trying to, like, right. Okay. But what they heard was someone was going to blow up the entrance of this cave and they're looking like, I mean, they're not leaving. Like they're, you know what I mean? Like they are very much here to fight, to defend. So clearly they're not trying to escape at this point. They're just coming out to attack us because we said we were going to blow it up and they clearly have some other way to escape. Well, they aren't, however you'd like to look at this, like you could look at it like they're just here to fight you because they have a way to escape.

Or maybe they're trying to buy time for people who are, who aren't ready to leave yet or may have a slower time getting around or however you'd like to look at it. But the people with weapons, they look to be like early twenties. Okay. I am going to step forward with my arms out. I still have my staff in one hand, but I'm clearly like on the not offensive gesturing realm of things. And step forward enough so that they will likely be able to see me. Alright, let's change maps here. Let's do this. Sounds good. Let's, let's just kind of have a, let's place you guys on the map in case this turns ugly.

Alright, so to recap the situation, you have now let these guys get in front of you. So they are blocking the entrance and exit to the cave for you guys. You are holding a set of explosives. You are cut off from Marcus. There are six of these white ravens. That's double the number that you have in your party currently. And Airlove is walking out to approach them, correct? In a very peaceful manner, yes. Right, right. Yeah. Yes, I am. Okay. So you're, you're, you're addressing them. Yes. Mason hasn't gone for a weapon yet. Okay. Are they elves or are they humans or?

These, these guys appear to be human. Okay. Are they male? All of them except for one, yes. What would you like to say to them? I'm thinking. Okay, that's okay. White ravens. We are here merely to follow our orders. We do not want to kill any women and children that are not combatants. And that's why we've given this warning. Um, so one of them is going to kind of step forward here. They've got swords drawn and a few in the back have their bows and arrows out. Don't be stupid, man. Get your people out. That's, that's not going to happen. We're not going to let you blow up this entrance.

I'm sorry, but you're going to have to just leave those explosives and go or we're, we're going to have to kill you. Oh, we were going to leave the explosives anyway. If the explosives stay here, they're going to be lit. So now you guys got a Mexican standoff. Indeed. Hey, we can stare at each other as much as we want. Get your people out. If you, uh, if you're bad enough to take us, then you people can come right back in, right? Um, they're going to start looking at each other. Do you have another exit that you can escape through if we blow up this entrance?

Look, we, we ain't drawing weapons right now. We ain't killing you where you stand. Maybe consider what we're, you know, what we're offering you right now. I don't think you're coming from a real strong bartering position. There's twice as many of us as there are you. Do you know who I am? I don't. I'm Errol of Grimnius. And I am telling you, you need to get your people out of here. The way I see it, you're telling me I need to get my people out of here because you're going to light explosives, correct? That's correct. The explosives he's holding in his hand, correct?

That's correct. And what's to stop us from killing you and taking the explosives, annihilating that threat? I don't think it's quite as easy as you're making it sound. Look, we don't, we don't want to hurt you, but... You, you gotta realize we're not going to let you do this. You're not giving us a lot of choice here. And you can see the, uh... You can see the, uh, the three people in the back, they've kind of got their bows drawn. You're giving us a lot of choice either, man. You're like, kind of keeps an ear out. Are you people moving? Kind of like, you know.

If we die here and succeed at our mission, then that's better than going back to the Overwatch in shame and failure and accept death there. And then they send twice the amount and just do the job we were going to do without giving you any kind of warning. Or sparing any women and children. Look, we can't, we can't let you take this entrance. The only other one we have right now is blocked and we won't be able to get, we won't be able to get our people out. Wait a minute, wait a minute. Can these, uh, explosives be divided? Um, the way it is, is kind of a liquid.

Um, it's, it's kind of a alchemical design. It's kind of mixed together in this, uh, like, kind of like, uh, like it could be worn as a belt. Like it is a belt of explosives essentially, but. Basically different chemicals in different glass chambers that once they break and meet each other they explode. It's not quite like that because there's a fuse. Like it's, it's lit very much like a bomb. But the way it's, the, the, like, it's flexible. Maybe they're sealed in wax or something. It's very much like you go fucking with it and bad things could happen.

Alright, how about this? You use this side over here? Kind of like looks back, you know, the same place they're coming from. We can, we can get around not using it. We make a show of force and, um, you know, we didn't seal the whole cave up. We just got this side. I figure, at the very least, buy you some time. We ain't here to kill you. We don't want anybody of you dead. You're not, you know, up on our good side. But there ain't, there's no reason, no reason to kill you all. Your death will make no difference in the war that's coming. What if that calls us a cave-in?

That's why we're asking you to get your people out. We realize we're fucking up your home. But, again, we go back, we don't show that we did what we did, even given attempt. They're just gonna kill us and send more. And they're gonna butcher you all. You say that we're not giving you choices. Our choices are more slim than you can imagine unless you've been a part of the Overwatch. Uh, they're, they're, you can see they're kind of mulling it over. Like, they're, like these are, these are kind of young kids. Like, they're, you can tell they're not in charge of anything.

That maybe they're, they're, they're in their position right now because they're the last ones left. How about this? Three of you stay here with us. Three of you go back and talk to your people and then return and have your answer. How many people are outside? Our commander. And that's it? Yep. Let us get everyone out. Unscathed. You give us your word that there's no one out there waiting to ambush us. You got it. If you'd like, we can bring him in here with us or we can go out to him so that the explosives are not in the cave while you're evacuating people.

That'd be, that'd be good. Yeah. Just get anyone out there that's hiding to show themselves so that we know that there's no one waiting for us. Certainly. Mason takes a quick look over at Poe and is like, "You okay, man?" This, like he's, he's incredibly tense. Like you can, like you can, yeah, you can just kind of see it on his face. Yeah. He's like a quarter off his muscles cause they're so tense. He's just like ready for anything. Mason would theoretically have all the time in the world to go for his weapons. He'd be like, you know, time freezes for him, but yeah, he's still just ready.

Uh, these, so what, they're going to take, three of them are going to go back into the cavern and three of them are going to kind of stay here. Kind of boast you all. It'll take long, mens, you know, go take care of it. And, uh, they're, they're kind of, kind of sprint back down the, uh, the cavern system. Um, are you going to go get Marcus? If the white ravens that are watching over us are okay with us passing by them and doing that, then yes. Yeah. That's, yeah, that's kind of the understanding. All right. Yeah. Again, Bo's drawn kind of like, it's all very Mexican standoff-y.

All right. So we will, uh, carefully exit. Keeping eyes on them the whole time. I can just see Mason like turning around and walking backwards so he can still keep an eye on them. Stealthing, like, uh, we call it like, um, yeah, sidestepping. Yeah. So this should be fun to explain. I'm sorry, what was that? I'm just saying, this should be fun to explain to Marcus. Oh, yeah. Um, so, uh, once we get out of the cave, I will signal for Marcus to join us. Well, Marcus will stop at the entrance to the cave, but that's as far as he's going. Right. I said once we got out of the cave.

Okay. Sir? Yes? There are six armed young men, one woman, a total of six, and they are the only guards for a group of women and children, and they don't have any other exits. The other one's blocked up. And you know this how? We spoke to them and based on my understanding of the, the things that I was hearing inside the cave. They're promoted to guards because they're the oldest they got there. Probably the most able-bodied. So there's six combatants and that's it? That is all. And they weren't lying about it. There aren't 15 more in the cave waiting to come up just in case those six couldn't do the job.

Hell, they were more scared about running out, you know, sending other people out just to a giant ambush and, you know, an army strike. I believe that the things they have said are true. I believe that they do not have another escape route that is accessible at this time, and I believe that everyone who is in that cave is either elderly or under the age of 25. Under the age of 25 doesn't mean anything. Gavin was 19 and was a hell of a commander. The six that we saw were definitely not Gavins. They were scared young people who had been thrust into a position that they are not trained for.

Yes, they know how to fire a bow, they hunt, etc. But they are not combatants. Okay, so what's going on? They are going, they split into two piles of three. Three of them went back to discuss things with the rest of the group that's in there, their elderly advisors, etc. And are going to decide how they would like to proceed. We have given them the option of leaving the cave with their elderly and their children and non-combatants and blowing up the cave entrance. After they've left. We're blowing up at least a majority of the cave entrance. As much as we're able with our explosives and placement.

Alright, so they're going to bring the women and children out is what you're telling me? Yes. What else are they bringing out? They don't have anything else to bring out. I mean there are the six that we spoke with. No supplies, no anything that could be used against us other than those six. If you'd like to discuss it with them further you're welcome to come back into the cave with me. No. You made this field judgement while you were in there. Yes I did. And I will choose to trust you. But if this fails, if they come out and there's fifteen men ready to fight, if we survive that fight, there will be repercussions.

Understood sir. Tell them to get their people on the move. Yes sir. I will turn around and go back into the cave. Alright. So by this point the other three have returned. And their people are kind of mobilizing and getting their things together. Did you hear that? Yeah. You didn't hear it. We spoke to our commander and we advised him that you would be evacuating your non-combatants and that we are not going to attack them. We are going to set the explosives on this side of the cave after you have successfully evacuated. Alright. He's not very happy with me. Yeah we can deal with that though.

They are going, so up the trail here, up that one cavern, you're seeing just a ton of men, women and children. Some of them may have a limp or they don't get along very well or they're sick, they're very old, they're very young. And all of them are kind of carrying their supplies and it looks like they have bedding and food rations and things. They're all kind of making their way out of the cavern here. And the six white ravens are kind of like positioned at the mouth of this cave just kind of looking out, just kind of trying to make sure that they're not going to be ambushed.

And go ahead and make a perception check for me too please. All of us or just? Well this would be, actually you know what, in a second you can scout. Twenty-three. Okay, twenty-three. Before you see it, you hear it. And it sounds like fluttering wings, like flapping wings. And then kind of flying out from the back of this cavern here is a white raven and it's going to kind of streak past you. Unless you take a swing at it or try to stop it in any way, shape or form, it's going to kind of fly past you and out of the mouth of the cave. I'm not going to raise a hand.

What was that? With my thirteen there? Marcus, do the same. Twenty-three. It was a raven, Mason. Marcus would do the same thing and unless you're going to take a shot at it? What shot do I need? Well, let's see, do you have a ranged attack of any kind? No. Unless I use one of my powers. That's up to you. I don't even know if I have one that would work on for that. Well let's see here. I'm pretty much just a, well if I'm standing at the mouth of the cave, because I said that's where I would stay. That's true, you could take, like you could see it kind of coming and it's got kind of a low flight until it reaches open space and it's going to take off.

So just a melee basic? I, if you'd like, yeah. Yeah. Bat her up. Exactly. I heard fuck you, dude. Twenty-eight. Marcus is going to bat this raven out of the air and it's going to kind of hit the ground and its wings still fluttering. But it's obviously stunned and not able to get airborne. It's going to die. Like he hit it pretty fucking hard. Are we still kind of between, I mean are we at the entrance of the cave as well or are we somewhere deeper on the other side of the white ravens? This, like he would be just outside. So I think this would be a thing where unless you're really trying to see outside, like everyone's making their way outside basically.

So this is... I figured we were still pinned on that other side where they weren't coming out. Right, well this is... Pinned being, you know. Right, so this would be a thing that pretty much only Marcus saw, wait this second. Okay. They are going to see the fluttering fucking, the raven on the ground, like that's obviously going to be a thing. So we can see it? You guys probably blocked from view from all the people streaming out. Right, that's the thing. They are going to see it in a moment. Okay. So I'm going to grab the raven since it flew down and examine it.

Okay. Pekka's fucking eye's out. You're supposed to be on my side. I'm on the raven's side right now. Don't fuck with ravens. They... yep, this thing is obviously going to die but there is... It looks like this small cylinder kind of tied to its leg. Alright, I'm going to take it off and put it in my pocket. Alright. Kill the bird and send it on its way. I wonder if I could. Are you going to attempt it? Uh... yeah. Alright. Go ahead and roll a hero check. Good job. 27. 27 will heal this fucking raven so it's not going to die but it's definitely a little disoriented and kind of fucked up.

But it's not going to die. Nope. Should be on its way soon. So... what do you use? Just let it go? Just kind of... Yep. Just going to let it go. Alright. So it kind of like... kind of takes a few awkward flaps and it's kind of perched on a branch. It's kind of like... it obviously is disoriented. About that time, I guess they're refugees now. They are going to start streaming out of the mouth of this cavern. I'm going to keep a rough estimate of how many people. Not necessarily a tick and tally count but I want to know a good idea of about how many there were.

Marcus has one of those little Walmart clickers on the side every time somebody leaves. *ticking* Okay there's four of you. This is... you're looking at dozens and dozens. You're probably around five to six dozens. Somewhere in there. And they're making their way to this cavern. They're all just locking eyes with you as they leave. Everyone's incredibly... With Marcus? Yes. As they leave. He's kind of standing at the mouth of this cavern and they're definitely... I mean they're looking at all of you as incredibly suspicious. Almost that side step. And they're trying to just get out of your way and they have nowhere to go.

You can just tell they have no place to go. Inside the cave. There's still a standoff going on with these... the white ravens and the rest of the party here. Alrighty. Was there anybody who was walking out that looked semi-in-charge? Like directing traffic maybe? Besides the odd... besides the odd able-bodied person who just is trying to help someone with their stuff or that there'll be a couple of people like grabbing chests. And they're trying to like just trundle off with the stuff. Like it's... it doesn't look like anybody's really in charge. It doesn't look like anybody thought that this place would be found.

There'd be no reason to think that. Alright. I want to just grab one of the able-bodied people and just tell them head into the Evergreen and find the elves. They will take care of you. Wow. Um... this... this is a... this is a female. Like a young lady. And she's... she's gonna kind of look you in the eyes and... and... and like she's gonna kind of register and then just pull her arm away. Like it's insulting that you'd help them out after... That's fine. ...kicking them out of their own home. So they... they are all making their way... they're all making their way into... kind of into the thicket.

Just... just... just getting away from you. Now we need to decide what's gonna happen inside the cave. These ravens are... they... they kind of appear to be relieved. That... that you at least let the women and children and the... the old people go, the sick, all that stuff. Like you let civilians out of the way. And the... the one that had spoken to Erolove before kind of steps forward. I appreciate you not... I appreciate you not cutting them down. Certainly. That being said, we still can't let you blow up this cavern. I'm sorry but there's something here we need and... we have to protect it even if it's with our lives.

And you can dig it out? We may not have that kind of time later on. I can't... I can't risk it. I'm... I'm sorry. Who are you to decide? What you gambling on anyway? I understand we had a deal. And again, I appreciate you letting... letting the innocents go but... Hold on, hold on. You ready to die over this? What's so damn important that's up there? I figure at this point you might as well let us know because number one, you kill us, you keep it secret. Number two, we kill you, we're just gonna go back there and look anyway, right? Um... so... Is that a diplomacy?

Uh... yeah. Roll a diplomacy. That's a four. Wow. Yeah, that sounded about what it sounded to. That's okay. That's totally fine. So, before this... before the young guy can speak again, Po's gonna interject and say, "It's the gate." And he's speaking directly to Marcus. Or uh, to Mason. The what? What gate? There are several of these gates scattered. Um... they're... we're not exactly sure where all of them are but... It's pretty important and... we can't let you blow it up, I'm sorry. And he takes one step back, kind of away from you. Po! We? I'm... I'm real sorry, I can't let you blow this up.

Why? And... Po's going to... he's going to grab the hilt of his broadsword and draw it. I'm gonna look Po right in the eye and drop my staff. I won't fight you. I don't want to fight you either. I... just hand over the explosive and go. Where are we gonna go, Po? Where are we gonna go? You know what they're doing is wrong. You can't believe in it and you still... you still just kind of blindly follow orders? Yeah, yeah, let's call it like that. Considering what we just did. Everything that built up to this. I think you know what we're about. Because following orders would have been letting all the women and children go.

Orders were to slay every single white raven we could find no matter their age or their condition. You were there when we were given that order, Po. How can you... how can you say that we're just following orders blindly? Look, I know deep down you're good people. I know you don't want to hurt anyone who's innocent. I know you don't want to hurt anybody who's defenseless. But take a look at who you're fighting for. Especially now that Grace is dead. I... do you really want to follow Tenfold? Do you think he gives a damn about you or anyone in that city? Whatever.

That's alright. You're gonna send us back. You're gonna send us back to him. Without any sort of evidence that we did what we're supposed to do. The alternative is you stay. What? Do you really expect me to believe that these people are going to let us live? Additionally, that's true, man. We said what we said. You know they're just gonna send a contingent down here if we don't succeed with what we're supposed to do. Last night I sent a raven out from the city. We should have all the backup we need. At least... At least in the meantime to keep anyone off. To keep anyone out of the cave.

We can't hold them off forever but hopefully it'll be... It'll be all the time we need. I'm supposed to keep the gates safe. That was... That was one of the things I was supposed to do. And... Things have not gone according to plan recently. But... I can't let you blow this up. This is the weirdest double-cross I've ever heard of. Your friend, Una. She's effectively one of you and... He's shaking his head. You kinda quietly said to me, "You stabbed that guy." Look, he's like, "Look, man. Clearly, my hands are not bloodied from this." "What are we gonna do, man?" They knew what they were signing up for just like I did.

I... I didn't... I didn't want to kill him but I couldn't... I couldn't risk blowing him to cover yet. I did not sign up to kill my own teammates. The bottom line is you... I don't think either one of you believe in what you're doing anymore. Mason lowers his eyes. He's, you know, registering what he's saying. You're right. A war is coming. Fuck yeah, it is. We're on the wrong side. How do you know? If... If Captain Tenbolt is like every other... Commander Tenbolt is like every other... Commander in the Overwatch, then yes, clearly you're right. But Commander Grace was not Captain Tenbolt.

Commander Tenbolt. And there are other good people in the Overwatch. How do we know that at the top of that is a good man or a bad man? Because Grace was a raven like me. Think about it. My face just falls. The missions he was sending you on... Do you really think they were helping out with any war effort? It was mostly just to keep you out of his hair. Just to... He took the reins from Tenbolt to make sure that there wouldn't actually be anything done to hurt the ravens or the elves or anything happening in the Evergreen. The fact that you fell ass backwards and actually captured Breanna is astounding.

But completely unforeseen. That's why I had to help set her free. Or at least give her a fighting chance. Sadly that meant beating the living shit out of her so she could get some sleep and then... Unlocking her shackles. That's how I know there are no good people left in the Overwatch. I watched the last one hang. And you're so very sure that you're willing to condemn the rest of them. These are just scared people, man. They got a wall. They got a military force. Granted, most of them are made of metal, but... It's hard to say absolutely everybody else is on the wrong side.

There's always going to be grey, but... And you're so sure that everybody in the White Ravens is as... Ugh, forget the term. As white as they might seem. That there is no grey. There's no hidden agendas. No... No Tenbolts waiting in the wings just to take over and do the same damn thing. You mean like Malkus? I never met Malkus. I'm not going to pretend like I know the guy, but... I trust Brianna. I trust Liara. They've never really steered us wrong. I don't get the vibe that they're out to take over anything. They just... Look at where they live and he gestures around this cave.

They literally live in a hole in the wall and now they don't even have that. Neither do Mason and I. I just hope my family made it out, man. That's... I don't know if I should be saying that to you, but I figure you figure it out by now. I went to go see my family. Give them a little bit of a running shot. They figure out things went south. They might just get cut down on the road. So... again, you believe it's wrong just like I do. You actually... Yeah. What about Malkus? That kind of snaps Poe back into reality for a second where like, "Oh shit. Yeah." Do you really expect him to go along with this plan of yours?

To let us go back in shame to the Overwatch? You've seen the way he kisses ass to Captain Tenbolt. Sorry, Commander Tenbolt. I think he'd sell you out in a second. If it would save his own ass, I think he'd watch you both hang. Which is why we're dead if we go back to the Overwatch. Well then don't go back. I commit my family to the same fate of... of... of... of... flow if... If I turn... and hell, I've been killing for them for years. I mean, who's to say somebody's not just gonna find me and put a knife in me and say this is for whomever it is that I dispatched?

But then again... you know... You're right, man. This... I can't keep doing this. Look, I'd be happy to explain everything later. Like I said, I... I think you're both decent people, but... This is not the time. I... Give me a reason to trust you, Poe. Uh, and he's kinda turning that over in his head for a second. Uh, and then he puts his sword away. Uh, and he kinda raises his hands out in front of him. If you truly believe in what you're doing and... what you think you have to finish here... Then go ahead and kill me now. And you know I ain't gonna do that. Hell, you stood right next to us.

You, uh... We finished the tournament together. You punched a motherfucking lizard in the throat. That was awesome, by the way. But, uh... Yeah, I ain't gonna hit you. Hell, he kinda unbelts his sword and kinda kicks it to the side. You know how quickly I can draw a weapon. Now you can... Now I can't. I got a knife or two on me. I'll admit it, but I'm not taking those away. You'll have to forgive me there. I turn to the other ravens and tell them... There's no turning, Marcus. Our commander, waiting outside the cave. Expecting us to be blowing something up. The way I see it, if none of you make it back...

That buys us a bit more time than if... One of you gets back. Hey, at least take the explosives and open up the other hole, right? In case something goes bad, then you got another way out? Yeah. Yeah, that's probably a good idea. I'd say run and go detonate that now. If things still go sour, you do have another way. So, no delays, right? He hands it right over to, uh... Over to Poe. Poe's gonna kinda nod and back up a few paces, and then... He's gonna turn and kind of sprint down the corridor. I'll turn to Mason. We need to talk to Marcus. Right. So, leaving...

Leaving the cavern's entrance here. And I hope that's canon. That's hilarious. What? We did take a while. Oh. No, no, yeah. It is. I think that makes perfect sense. So, leaving the cavern's entrance here... Leaving the cavern... Would Marcus even still be there? No, Marcus left. He counted off five minutes in his head and said, "Job is not done. He's leaving." Is he still within sight when we get out of the cave? Horse moves fast. But he had to make it back to the horses. That's where I'm heading. 'Cause we walked in here quite a ways. Mm-hmm. Yeah. So... How about you roll a Perception check?

If it's a high Perception, then you kind of see some motion somewhere. 35 and a high Perception check. She's got a 16 to start. She can't roll a... Hey, I didn't even crit on that, so... Good. You're saying it's impossible for her to roll a low Perception check. 16's a low. No, we've heard that one before. Yeah, it happens every once in a blue moon, but yeah. Yeah, old eagle-eyes air love fucking spots Marcus, and it would be a bit of a jog, but yeah, you could catch up to him. All right, I'm gonna jog out there. I picked up my staff, by the way, on the way out.

Yeah, I would imagine that. She's quicker than I am, honestly. I'd have to continue to sprint to get that benefit, and that doesn't make sense. It's a combat thing. He's a wind sprinter, but not an Endurance Runner. Right. Plus he's wearing a plate. Well, it's not like Marcus is running at a full sprint back to get to the horses. Right, I would imagine though there's some urgency. It's like, okay, five minutes have gone by. Swiftly, like, yes. Yeah, they're probably dead. I should go now. All right, um, so, air love's gonna approach Marcus. Marcus. What the hell is going on?

We're not blowing up that cave. Why? Because to do so would have been the death of us, and I think there was something about no suicide missions. Correct, but you could have dropped it there and gone like the original plan was. We got the people out, there are no innocents left in that cave. Right, and we would have had to fight our way past six white ravens who are, granted, not combat skilled, but also Poe. Also Poe? Poe was a white raven. So said he is. Is a white raven. So he's a traitor as well. Starting to see a pattern with followers of Kord. So you left him there and took off for what?

To come back to town with me now to report this? What do you think is going to happen when we report this to Captain Tenbolt? I'll probably be blamed for it, and that is fine. I can deal with Tenbolt. This was the last chance for the Crimson Shield. And then I could point out that Tenbolt had a traitor with us. If Poe was with us and I have been telling Tenbolt there have been traitors in our midst for all this time and he couldn't see that and still sent him along, so be it with Poe. That is his choice. I have no use for him anymore now. What would you have us do?

Follow your conscience. My conscience tells me to go back and report what is going on. She would smile slowly. My conscience is telling me that the reason that I joined the Overwatch was because I was convinced by a very charismatic leader who never really was loyal to the Overwatch in the first place, and that would be Commander Grace. Really? We know Commander Grace has already been hung for being a traitor. So you're telling me you're not coming back to town with me? I'm not. I'm not saying I'm joining the White Ravens, but I'm not going back to the Overwatch.

That would be my death. I can understand that. Mason? Is he caught up to us yet? Yeah, by this time, yeah. You probably heard at least the last few lines. Give me a moment. Alright. Look, they're gonna hurt my family. If I go back, not only will they kill me, but they're just gonna hang them too. You saw what happened with Flo, man. They don't give a fuck. What about you, man? You got family? You got any reason to tie you there? What the hell? I have no family. Look, I might seem like the biggest hypocrite. I spent three years in trenches, barely staying alive, killing anything that moved, all because somebody would point and say, "That dies, and that dies." And hell, I've been able to sleep fine at night, man.

Call me a monster. Look, I'm not gonna kill no children. I'm not gonna kill people that aren't combatants. This is just wrong, man. Being with them is just committing people to die that ought not die. I agreed to let the women and children leave. That was the deal. I had no interest in seeing them die either. In fact, I told one of them to head into the Evergreen and find the elves. But I am not joining up with the White Ravens. There's a very specific reason why I dislike Malkus possibly more than you do, Aralav. Do not even begin to try to say that you know anything about what I've been through with that.

No, I said possibly more than. You're right, I don't know, but you don't know what I've been through either. Have you ever met Malkus? I experienced the aftermath of Malkus. Hardly compares. It is when he directly, by his actions, caused the death of my family. Now, do you want to continue down this path? I still fucking hate him more than you do. That's fine, but I'm not going to join up on any side that considers him an ally. I didn't say I was. I said I'm not going back to the Overwatch. I joined them because of Commander Grace. Commander Grace is not the person that I was led to believe he was, and this entire project has not been what I was told it would be.

And that is your choice. That's a breach of contract, and I have no ties to the Overwatch. Understandable. I wish you well. Mason, where does your family live? Eyebrows raised. What? I want to give them a heads up and get them out. I watched Flo hang for no reason, and I will not see your family put through the same thing if you will allow me to help. He nods a little bit. Poor quarter. Kind of gives the general directions. Okay. Now, do they know you're out here? Can they be ready to move quickly? Because they're not going to have a lot of time. My family is descendants from a bunch of thieves and brigands.

They can move fast enough. Okay. I will give them as much heads up as I can. I'm not going to say anything about the visit if he doesn't because that's his place, not mine. That's all he's given him. That's fine. If Poe has turned, he is a white raven, you say? Yes. He always has been. He let Bree go. He's the one who let Bree go. Yeah. Then I'm heading back to town. You two, I will wish you best of luck, and I hope we never cross paths again. Because if either of you are on the side of the white ravens, we will be enemies at that point. Understood. Of course. And to coin the phrase, "Cape Swish and Walk Away." No, you can't coin the phrase.

Someone else already coined it. Let's steal the phrase. Let's steal the phrase, "Cape Swish and Walk Away." I will mount my horse and ride off in the other direction away from Marcus. Do me a favor and roll a Perception check. Nineteen is plenty enough to hear it. There is an explosion that has sounded off from the cave. It's definitely large enough that you can hear it even from where you are. So, dollars to donuts set off those explosives where the other entrance was blocked off. Alright. At that point, I'm assuming we have not gotten that far before the explosion happened?

No. Okay. I'm going to turn back to Mason. Are you joining the white ravens? I'm going to pretend like I didn't hear them and just ride off. Okay. Too bad. Too bad. God. Well, I would kind of say that's a good time to stop this evening. Sounds good. We've got a lot of things to talk about in the next session and you guys probably have about 600 questions to ask. Yes. Three B, C, and D, evidently. Well, I'm not exactly sure how to handle this. We all knew that you weren't going to defect. I thought I was going to fucking kill you. Why? Because your character is so horrible and sleazy.

Yeah? But have I ever been sleazy directly to a teammate without reason? No. The only teammate I've ever actually been that way with was Oona and all I ever did was point out exactly what she was saying and going, "Are we supposed to believe this?" and she'd get pissed. It's true, man. You actually make a really good devil. The lawful evil dudes. They're very, very good about, you know, words as far as you know. The devil, Scott. The devil, devils. As opposed to demons, the chaotic creatures. But the lawful ones are usually much more dangerous because they'll talk you, you just talked yourself into a total binding contract or whatever and unbreakable and yeah.

Let it be noted that the demon bloodline is the tiefling bloodline, not the devil bloodline. Well, the devil... The way I figure it is... well, you know what, I'm going to talk to Scott off the air. Because I have an idea. I have this idea that, "Oh, well yeah, but looks like we may be getting the band back together." It'll be the most awkward reunion ever. Indeed. Minus the healer, still. Yeah, well, Oona kind of heals. She's slapping people on the ass with her healing hand. Well... Damn. That was intense. I was waiting to see how that would play out. Like, I really didn't know how that would work.

I didn't either. Theoretically, I mean, yeah, it's one of those things you gotta balance. Do you really just... I mean, honestly, I was thinking, you know, controlled blows, nobody dies, but yeah, we were definitely outnumbered. And then when Po stepped back, it was like, "Alright, fuck this. This guy can punch throats. I'm just going to spend their days the whole time. He's just like speed-bagging my trachea." See, if I was in there, I would have told you just grab the explosives, light them, and throw them past the White Ravens as far as you can. Run.

But the White Ravens were between us and the exit. That's the idea. Throw their position and let us die. Well, no. The idea being throw it towards the entrance of the thing, they're going to scramble one way or the other. And you guys would be able to get out. Right. I hear what you're saying. Or turn around and throw it down the cavern and say, "Fine, you want them, go stop it." I'm tired of suicide in character, so... There was five different ways I was looking at that situation going, "There's easy ways out of this for my team," and I can't say a damn word.

So... I love that you just kind of sat there. Like, you didn't say anything. Like, you let the situation play out. I wasn't there. That's very, very cool. I've helped people in the past with the wording they were looking for. Like, with Una, when she was trying to say something, type it in real quick for her, but you guys are in negotiations. You're on your own. Fair enough. I was waiting for things to get into combat with Po, because the thing about Po is, he's not as inept as he's pretending to be. No, he's excellent in combat. That's... He's a little more excellent in combat than you.

Like, in the tournament he was kind of forced to step up and like, "Alright, I'm not trying to die here." But before that he was a bumbling clod, like the fight with Una. He was just trying not to die. He's not a bumbling clod at all. Like, he's playing a part. Like, that's how he got to be where he was, is that people dismiss him. People think that, like, "Oh, this fucking idiot." Like, that's how he got to be where he is. I didn't dismiss him. Wait until people find out that Marcus didn't frame Lieutenant Grace. Well, you did! It was... Dude, you fell ass backwards into it!

I know, but I was right. That would be true. Tenfold had no idea. No one did. It was just... I'm sure we'll be playing, like, maybe that little question game that we've been playing on Group 3A. I'm sure that'll be fun. But yeah, I'm gonna let you guys go. That was damn fun. Thank you guys very much. Thank you. That was... Yeah. Alright. You guys enjoy yourselves. Have a good night, guys. Night, guys. Bye.