The Glass Cannon Podcast - Giantslayer Episode 110 - Don't Worry, Be Mappy

Episode Date: July 4, 2017

Brutalized and clinging to life, the party attempts to unravel the mystery behind the cave paintings. For more podcasts and livestreams, visit glasscannonnetwork.com. To become an official member of the Naish, subscribe today at http://www.jointhenaish.com. Want to be a part of Glass Cannon Nation? Follow us at twitter.com/glasscannonpod instagram.com/theglasscannon facebook.com/glasscannonnetwork tiktok.com/@glasscannonnetwork Get the best apparel and gaming accessories in the biz at https://glasscannonnetwork.com/store If you enjoyed this, we have several other series featuring Call of Cthulhu - Time For Chaos Delta Green - Get in the Trunk Pathfinder 2E - Glass Cannon Live! Strange Aeons Pathfinder 1E - Legacy of the Ancients Traveller - Voyagers of the Jump and so much more! Join us every Thursday night for Campaign Two of The Glass Cannon Podcast – a playthrough of the Pathfinder 2E Gatewalkers Adventure Path! Videos premiere on YouTube Thursday nights at 8PM ET with a companion podcast available at midnight. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week on the Glass Cannon Podcast. It's like spatters on all over your clothing, on the floor. You can't tell whose blood is whose. There's trails of blood from where Nestor ran out. Reminded that we are not necessarily the most powerful creatures in all of creation. That is certainly true. Can we check out the paintings? Absolutely.

Baron wants to see if those three indentations match up to the tripod that we found earlier. Guy's going to have to spend some time in here, I believe. Life finds a way. Life? That's very poignant, Skid. I made that up. I just came up with it.

It's not from anything at all. And then set up camp there, and then do a watch where we keep an eye on the room with the paintings. I think that the number one priority at all times should be the preservation of my life you want me you want della just to go invisible and scout up ahead alone yeah and you realize that this is some sort of compass we can either go take the way that goes back the way we came

or deeper into the cave back Back from what came or deeper. That was another cave jack. Oh, hey. Hold your gun. Roll for initiative. The adventure continues now. Hello, my lords and ladies. It's your nerdy uncle Skid here to welcome you to episode 110 of the Glass Cannon Podcast. We've talked about it.

We've got a lot of the fan get-togethers, spontaneous fan get-togethers going on around the country this month. It looks like everybody had fun at the Lexington, Kentucky get-together this past weekend. Pictures were great. We've got three more events coming up on the 15th in Boston, Greensboro, North Carolina, and Portland, Oregon. Then we've got another one coming up in Hawaii on the 29th

at the end of the month. If you're anywhere near those, please show up because it looks like everybody's having a good time gaming and hanging out, making friends, and doing trivia, all kinds of other stuff, winning prizes. So if you can make it, that's great. If you're going, take pictures and send them to us.

Let us see. So, yeah, so happy that you guys are doing that. It just looks like it warms our hearts to see everybody getting together like that. So thank you for that, and thank you for the organizers putting it together. Natalie Kirchner, chief and foremost, you guys are doing a great job. But all that aside, let's jump right into episode 110. Don't worry, be Mappy. I honestly thought that the return of my neon green D20 was going to be the big story of last week's episode. But it turned out to be the near TPK of this crazy powerful party.

And it just goes to show yet again, magical things F you guys up. That's true. Bad. Now, it certainly didn't help to have your arguably major main damage dealer be taken out immediately. But I was nervous. We say this before. I was nervous. I was nervous.

But I mean, I was legitimately nervous. I'm sure you guys were. Yep. It was a humdinger. I was legitimately nervous. I'm sure you guys were. Yep. It was a humdinger. I was nervous. I was witnessing my hit point count go down and down and down and I was pretty sure I was

dead. 2d6 bleed? Yeah. You don't realize how much how bad that can be. Yeah. Maybe it'll be 2 points of damage. It could be 12. I mean, Lexington got 11 bleed like at least two or three times, I think. Some of you only stayed conscious

because I happened to roll a couple of threes and fours on that. It's just amazing to see how that all turned out. But you were able to find a way. Find a way with what little strength you had left with Umlo unconscious and Nestor unconscious on the verge of unconsciousness life finds a way life

that's very poignant I made that up I just came up with that it's not from anything at all Troy Skid just made that up that's really good Skid put that on a t-shirt I'm thinking of putting it in a movie about something you should get a really good actor to deliver that line that would be great someone like I don't know I'm thinking of putting it in a movie about something you should get a really good actor to deliver that line that would be great

I'm just spitballing here but like Jeff Goldblum Sam Neill I like most of Goldblum's work how about David Attenborough's brother Richard Richard let me just go around the room here David Attenborough's brother. Ooh. Richard. Richard. Let me just go around the room here,

and I want to know what everybody's hit points are at. I'm going to start with the characters that are currently unconscious, of which there are two. Umlo. What's Umlo at for HP? Umlo's at negative five. Oh, man. He was one more bleed away were it not for Sir Will's amazing two points of healing that he gave him.

Well, I had been holding that potion for a while, so I guess it just went bad. It soured. It soured. And what about Nestor, the near-dead Nestor? No, he's also... I'm also at a negative five, coincidentally. Wow. Just a couple of negative fivers.

Now, I believe Baron and Sir Will are in the best shape. What are they at? Sir Will is at 57. Oh, okay. 39 for Bear. I knew I should have attacked you guys more. And what about Lexington, though? Lexington's beat up.

Lexington, 29. 29? Wow. How much HP does Lexington have? This doesn't seem fair. He's more than Della. He has 84 hit points. He has more HP has 84 he has more hp that is one magical wolf and a lot of this came from that feat that you took you invested the feet yeah my my ninth level feat yeah in lexington horse master it's a wolf right

wolf master it's a wolf beast master they should have called it. Yeah, Beastmaster. And Della, what are you at? Ten. Ten! So close. She took a lot of big hits there. Yeah. Early on, too.

What's your total HP? 82. 82. Wow. All right, so before you guys came, I told you to do up your healing and whatnot. So you've done that. How many wand charges do you have left? We have one wand charge left.

I used all my infernal healing, all of my cure light wounds. Wow! Well, to be clear, we just told our old hit points. We used a bunch of wands and we're all at different hit points now. I'm sorry, Will is not. Will stole 57. He didn't get any healing because he was the highest at that point. You're still the highest.

Yeah, I'm still the highest, and that's half of my hit points. So you guys burned all the wand, drank all your potions. Are there any potions left? I do have a couple potions. I have a cure medium. I drank my last medium. Yeah, I used my last one on low. I just like the idea of Nestor going down that hallway,

pulls out his potion, and just collapses on the ground. From the bleed. The bleed damage. Stella actually will drink one of on the ground. From the bleed. The bleed damage. They'll actually, we'll drink one of those potions. Hey, nice. Seven. All right, so if you imagine this gruesome scene, almost everyone suffered bleed damage,

so there's just blood everywhere. You've done your magical healing, so the wounds have started to heal up, but there's just blood everywhere. Besides the healing, what do you guys want to do here? Before all of this hell broke loose, Nestor and Umlo were starting to wipe away at the floor

because they saw these lines crisscrossing and whatnot, and then you were obviously interrupted. What do you guys want to do? Well, I mean, there's a lot to investigate in this room. I'm interested in the bisecting lines on the floor, seeing if we can figure out what that is from or for, and the painting of Rosag. Are the paintings gone?

No, the paintings that came off the wall were the paintings of the animals. And the ones that went underneath us were the... Yes, yes, yes. So the animals themselves became three-dimensional and then the paintings moved as well. Are we still at danger of fascination from the paintings that remain? No, no, no. Those you have destroyed all of the dangerous paintings. Oh, those

are the ones that I forgot. But yeah, the paintings of the four locations that you... You read the runes, I believe, two episodes ago you guys at the paintings of the four locations That you read the runes I believe two episodes ago You guys at the end of the episode Read the runes to realize that One was tied to Adoromi

One was tied to Jogrethir One was tied to Mimrith And one was tied to Rosag Am I wrong? Did you not read those things? Did I just give it away? Because if I didn't, anyone who speaks giant can recognize those

runes above each one to say such things. Yeah. And process of elimination. Right. Just as far as playing out what happened in the immediate aftermath once Nestor is brought back to consciousness. Before Nestor is brought back to consciousness.

Before Nestor is brought back to consciousness, Della is going to pluck a couple hairs off of his head. His closely cropped head. Really? Okay. You creep. Ow! He's unconscious. And dying. It wakes him up.

Heals him! Oh, not if it puts. Alright, so you took his hair. ow he's unconscious and dying it wakes him up heals him all right so he took his hair all right I don't know what you're doing with that that's really weird so when Nestor does get

regain consciousness she says I thought I was downfalling was that you who was it who was it saying me who ever brought me back I thought I was done for then. Was that you? Who was it? Who was it saying me? Who ever brought me back?

I was done for. It was a little bit of teamwork from Sheriff Ashpeak and little Deputy Della. Well, Mr. Lawman, I knew I could count on you. You're a man of honor and order, i i respect that and i thank you and you i know you can let me go not easy smiles he says and then he like starts up wait a minute he's i'm low all right i'm i'm fine. I'm fine. I'm on low. I'm fine.

I'm fine. I took a bit of a spill, Nestor, but I'm all right now. Thanks for your concern. No, just, yeah, no, I don't. I thought you were in a rough situation. I'm sorry I ran. I just wanted to make sure that you were all right. Where were you running, by the way?

Just trying to get out of harm's way. Make the rest of us in harm's way? No, I was going to help. See, look. Now, I'll demonstrate this. See, this here on my back is called a bow. And you put these things, and there's arrows in them. And the they can they can they can deal damage from quite a long way away and so that was what i was trying to establish is some distance between me and what was you fighting you right unfortunately and you

may have been privy to this i don't i don't want to reiterate anything but i was bleeding to death so i was trying to get in a position where i could not only help you by shooting at these things that were trying to kill you but also also drink some of this potion that I drank already. So what you're telling me is by bleeding to death, you can let your arrows travel around corners and into different rooms. No, no, no. That's what I'm hearing. Well, you could see me, right?

Just a wee bit. Well, you did. You spotted me. So I was there. I was just trying to get... See, now there's a thing called cover. I was just trying to get this. See, now there's a thing called cover.

So you try to get just a little bit of something solid between you and the thing you're fighting, and it helps you to stay alive a little bit better. Now, it doesn't work as well if you're bleeding to death, which is, as I said, what was happening to me. So I don't want to go through Combat 101, but you seem a bit confused, so I just wanted to lay it out a little bit. Della, this sounds to me like sarcasm. It sounds to me like mansplaining. Oh, well, let me explain. And you're welcome for the demon's blood. I can tell you all about mansplaining if you give me a moment.

Oh, no, and thank you for the demon's blood. I don't know. The rest of you are mad. I mean, it's lovely stuff. Sir Will starts twitching. Oh, sorry, son. And I'm... We're all still just...

Covered in blood. It spatters all over your clothing, on the floor. You can't tell whose blood is whose. There's trails of blood from where Nestor ran out. From you guys moving around, you're leaving this behind you. I mean, everyone except Sir Will and Baron, I think, experienced bleed damage, and even Sir Will got it towards the end.

But now, you're starting to come to, you're chatting with each other, razzing each other a little bit, and you see that what Nestor and Umlo were starting to move away is revealing some sort of geometric pattern on the ground. So what do you mean, what they were starting to move away is revealing some sort of geometric pattern on the ground. So what do you mean what they were starting to move away? It's just like dust on the floor? Silt and dust, yeah. Sediment deposits and whatnot. So if you continue clearing that away.

Yeah, I'll definitely do that. geometric carving that spans almost the entire floor, consisting of eight long lines radiating outward from a central point. And the central point itself is bracketed by three indentations in the floor. Four of the lines point toward the four murals on the wall, point toward the four murals on the wall and are each divided into equal segments by small, regularly spaced carved notches. So I've drawn this here for you to see it. Eight lines, four of them point towards the paintings, and each of them have little tiny lines, equally spaced, leading to it.

And then in the middle are three indentations on the floor. Baron wants to see if those three indentations match up to the tripod that we found earlier. And Baron gets a bottle cap Oh yeah They sure do So if you take that tripod that you found In the previous room 19 episodes ago

It feels like it It fits in perfectly Nothing happens But you even I believe when you found it, you realized that this was part of something else. So you've put this piece into place. You get a bottle cap.

Well done. There's no reaction from the hammer with the carving on it that was found with the tripod. It doesn't glow or gain any new power. No, as far as you can tell, that hammer was just to sculpt. Yeah, artisan tools. If you want to get into sculpting.

Did you say there were notches on the walls as well? Not on the walls. No, just on the lines leading up to each of the paintings. Now, there's a ring on top of the tripod, like a brass ring. Is that right? Yeah, it's... Let me just make sure I get this correct. Three-legged bronze tripod whose top consists

of a bronze ring bisected by a worn bronze rod. Hmm. Hmm. So you've figured out something here. You see that somehow this is connected. What's going through your heads?

I'm thinking... Oh, go ahead, Joe. No. I'm thinking about trying to... Does the top of it move? We could line it up to these different marks somehow. I'm thinking about an Uncharted game where you move the light behind the constellation

and it shines where the treasure is. No, it feels like you've got one more piece of this puzzle, but you're missing another piece or two or three. And do those rocks that we saw in the other room that had runes on them, were they corresponding to the runes in here? Would it even be worth thinking about moving any of those in here? Probably not.

I mean, the only thing you know about the runes is that the runes were numbers in the other room. Each rock corresponded to a number. That's all you know. Yeah, I was going to say about moving those in here. Yeah. Yeah. But there's a ton of them, right? There's more than ten, anyway.

Yeah, and having been hit in the face by one, Baron, you know they're not super light, like moving all of those in here. So it might be a day's work. But can we check out the paintings? Absolutely. What do you want to look at? Del is going to go up to the Mimrith one. What's your craft painting skill?

That'd be a plus zero. Okay. We'll do knowledge history. I only have that on train, so let's see what happens. If anybody has it as a regular skill, you can either aid or roll your own check. Nope.

Natural three. Anybody have knowledge of this? Pembroke does. No, I don't. You hear that off in the distance. Pembroke does. No, I have knowledge of religion. This is a religious thing, LaValley.

I hear you. I hear you. But the book says knowledge history. And I don't think for myself. Would a dungeoneering check help us figure out what's missing from this setup? Perhaps we should just explore more and see something

that seems like it would fit on it. Yeah. Who has linguistics? Della does. All right, go ahead and roll linguistics? Della does. All right, go ahead and roll linguistics. I'll roll to aid. Okay.

Don't aid. Jesus, man. 13. You guys are going to have to spend some time in here, I believe. I mean, can you take 20 on the linguistics check? Nope. Nope. Nope.

Nope. Oh, Nope. Nope. Oh, you should. Yeah, that's how translation actually works. Yeah, if you're actually studying something. It's like how the Rosetta Stone happened. You can... All right, so Del, if you just stand in there and looking at the paintings

without knowing your history or without having any painting experience in your back when you were more of a dancer. More of a dancer. That has been established. The paintings themselves look ancient, but you do see that

there has been some recent touch-up work to them as well. Interesting. Sigourney Weaver from Ghostbusters 2 has been retouching these paintings. It's possible, Grant. Can I detect magic on the paintings? Sure. I detect magic on the paintings.

You do not detect any magic. You just see these archaic, giant runes that read Adoromi, the Priestess of Crystals, Jograthir, the Hunter, Mimrith, the Maker, and Rosag, Preserver of the Forge. So the ones that we recognize,

especially like Jogrethir in particular, what is the mural or painting of? It is of the cave? Of the cave, but from a different time. Like when you went in the cave. But is it just like inside the cave, or is it like seeing the cave from a distance, like where it is located in the mountains?

What's the actual picture? Yeah, what is the actual image we're looking at? You know where you were standing in Big Willie style when you were like, come and get me, come and get me, bat. It would be like a bird's eye view from there. Okay, so it is above. Yeah, so you see a little bit of the outside, but you see the cave inside. And it looks different. It looks like probably what it looked like during Jogger Thyr's time when he was alive.

I mean, it's still a cave. It's not the Ritz. But it looks, you know, you saw something that was more worn by time, something that had been turned into a drake cave. Right. worn by time, something that had been turned into a Drake cave. Right. So I want to see what it looks like, what the mural looks like on Rosag, Preserver of the Forges painting.

Like, is it mountains? Is it with some sort of location? I mean, what does the location look like? The one that's connected to Rosag, you said? Yeah, yeah. It is a large stone temple in the middle of a lake. Ooh. I have a feeling that whatever is going to complete this tripod

is going to give us the full information about where these things are. The locations. And I think it's got to be further into the dungeon, probably. Dungeon. Mm-hmm. One would think. It's like the map to Earth, Battlestar. Yep.

The Arrow of Athena. Yeah. The one that's connected to Adiromi's chapel just looks like a small chapel overlooking a canyon. A much nicer version of the dilapidated chapel that you came upon. Because remember, it had holes in the ceiling, and there was, like, rock that had fallen, or stone that had came upon. Remember it had holes in the ceiling and there was rock that had fallen, or stone that had fallen down. And then the last one connected to Mimrith the Maker

is a stone temple in a swamp. That's, okay. Did we pass that swamp? I don't remember a swamp. So they were both stone temples, but in different locations. One in the middle of a lake. So there's one in a lake and there's one in a swamp. So they were both stone temples, but in different locations. One in the middle of a lake. There's one in a lake, and there's one in a swamp.

And is there any... Do we have any other context clues as to which one would have the clay and which one would have the prayer? Mimrith would be the clay. Yeah. Out of Rome. Rosag. Rosag is the prayer.

At least that's what Etana told you. And Rosag is the lake? Yeah. Yes. At least that's what a tenor told you And Rosag is a lake Yeah, yes And they're beautiful They look beautiful But also you see that Adiromi's chapel Looks beautiful as well And you know what that actually looked like

When you went there It was worn The brambles in the church itself You couldn't even walk across it It was all difficult terrain So this is from a long time ago. So there's no depiction of a giant man-eating Venus flytrap. No.

Interesting. Not even in the touch-ups. Okay. Could Sir Will do maybe just an intelligence check to try to analyze why these hash marks would be evenly spaced along what they might mean or be for? You can roll a survival or knowledge geography.

I can do survival. A few of us can do that. I can do geography. Let's all roll independent survivals. Yes. That is the best thing to do. 21 for Baron. 6. That is the best thing to do. 21 for Baron. Six. Nothing for Sir Will. Nothing for Della either.

So Baron... Survival was the check, not geography. Right. You're just looking. You're looking at this, trying to place it, trying to piece everything together, and you realize that this is probably some sort of compass. Right.

So, Baron, now that you know that this is a compass, and you're figuring it all out, and which way is north, which way is east, which way is west, you see that the gradations along each line are representative of distance. Right. So, in terms of the two that you don't know about, and this makes sense because you've been to Adiromi's Chapel.

So if you figure that that one looks to be 20 miles north-northeast of here, you've been there. Jogratir's cave is 24 miles east, northeast of here. So the two that you still need to go to is the one that's connected to Rosag, which appears to be 10 miles south-southwest of the Dark Passage. So when you guys came to that crossroads with the Veds, there was a portion going southeast and a portion going due south. Odds are one of them may lead you that way, but you don't know what side the Dark Passage is going to leave you on.

And those are both normal-sized passages? It's not the tiny one? Okay. is going to leave you out. And those are both normal-sized passages? It's not the tiny one? Okay. And then the one with the swamp, the one connected to Mimrit the Maker,

that one is east-southeast, approximately 25 miles from these caves. Oh, wow. So odds are, before you even got to those main gates where you fought the Etten and the Smilodons and the Hill Giant, you had options to continue going south

and that's where, somewhere in that direction. So you have two locations left to go to that are on complete opposite ends of the valley. I've been wondering if the adventure ideally intends you to come here first

and seek out all these locations from here. Yeah. And we just happened to cross like two of them. I would say, I would love to hear about more people's journeys through this. I don't want you guys reading it until we finish the book, but I would say that almost everybody goes a completely different way.

You saw how many options. How many times did I say, all right, from here you can go north, south. It's a tiny passage to the east. And there's a lot of times you just skipped over stuff or made decisions to go another way. It would require a GM to really force you in one direction or another,

which you did not do. Nope. But it does make me think of something Skid just said, which is perhaps we could set this up like a bat cave, like Bruce Wayne style. Maybe it could be like, no, it could be our base of operations. Now that we're in the valley and not right next to a chapel on the side of a tent with a hook with a nail in the ground. Maybe we could.

Where is everyone else right now? They're back at the right. Yeah, they're right. They're right outside the entrance. Might be safe. Could I clear it out? Could I do a knowledge religion to try to understand why exactly? Because this seems to me like a religious thing in the sense of it's tied to Minderhall and the lighting of the forge.

Can I do a check to determine exactly what these primitive cave drawings that came to life, are they protectors of this place specifically? And would it stand to reason that giants don't come here for that reason? Or was it just because we're small folk that we triggered those things to come off the wall? Yeah, you can absolutely roll knowledge religion for that. Come on, Will. There we go, 20.

That's exactly what you think. That giants can... That they would attack any creatures entering this cavern, including giants. So it could be a Batcave. You think that looking at how these paintings are ancient representations of what you know them to look like now,

that whoever first made the Dark Passage left these paintings here and viewed them with a protecting power. Well, it also stands to reason that Atena is like a lone guardian of an ancient religion. Right. So this is falling out of favor. And she's talked about how there was a time

when Minderhall's Valley flourished, when Minderhall's minions and followers came here, and it was a place to be revered, and now it's gone to shit. And Earthash is trying to bring it back again. Now, was it a place that was based upon the, this is a home base for our conquering of the world around us? Like, was that Minderhall's thing? Or was it like, this is a place of our own?

That where we are a Garden of Eden of sorts for giants at a certain point in history. Mecca for giants. Yeah, like a mecca for giants where, like, the idea is not, was not to take over the world like it seems to be happening now. Well, yes and no. I mean, what Skid said is right. A mecca for giants. A mecca for followers of Minderhall.

But Minderhall is very much about, you know, giant supremacy. So it really depended on who the preachers were, who the priests were. Like, if it was a priest who was out for world domination, like Earthash, then people would go in one direction. Then he said that Minderhall was about world domination. than people would go in one direction. Then he said that Minderhall was about world domination. Right. If it was just about long-lived giants, then maybe it would just be a place to celebrate giant culture.

I have a question. Remember when we were in the cave with the mongrel cave giant that Della disarmed? We got some indication that this has been here a long time, but has recently been re-excavated. How does that line up with, A, does it feel the same way here and sort of down that passage that Nestor went? Or does it seem like maybe they stopped here with the re-excavation?

And how does that line up with the retouching of the paintings? And how was that able to happen if the paintings are supposed to guard anyone who comes in here? Right, right, right. Who's been retouching things up? Who's been, you know, cleaning the passage again? What do you think? I mean, we knew that, what's his face? The guy we disarmed and dropped in the water?

Hoorah. Hoorah. Hoorah. We knewah. Hoorah. We knew he wasn't that intelligent. I might be metagaming a little bit, but it's rude. I just don't know. He doesn't seem like the kind to... I mean, maybe he's just a guardian. Well, let's just take it logically.

There has to be... What are the options? Either it's someone who is able to hide from the paintings, or it's someone that the paintings don't attack for some reason. I wonder if it's Farron, if she ever came out here. Because we figured it out from Atena,

and this is going back to the only people who know or care about, either her or someone, Urithash works for Urithash. Maybe not Farron, but maybe somebody like Farron, who is a secret acolyte of Atenas. And also think about what you know. What you know from the minute you entered Binder Hall's Valley, there were rejected conscripts.

There were people that make it to be accepted into the army, and there were people that are turned away. And so who are these people? Why aren't they down in the giant village celebrating with their families? Why aren't they in the fighting pits or being sworn in in the cathedral? These are the untouchables, possibly. Quite possibly, Nestor. As Stella said, that woman didn't seem to be super intelligent. Maybe they're given this task to kind of,

they're mongrels, keep them out of the good ones. Here's the other thing I've been thinking about, which is that if Urathash is seeking to relight the forge, then it stands to reason that he knows at least some of the stuff that we know from the woman. I forget her name. The Oracle. Atena.

Atena. So doesn't it stand to reason that he's on the exact same path as us? Like he's doing all of these like preaching things at night, but during the day, don't you think he's puzzling out trying to find these places to bring together these things? So like could it be him that comes in here and is like trying to clean the paintings and figure it out, but he hasn't figured it out yet?

I doubt it. I mean, it doesn't seem like it's that difficult. He's a pretty smart guy. Yeah, especially with the tripod. You'd think he would put that in there. There's three indentations in the floor. I mean, maybe it's just disregard. Maybe he is not a follower of Minderhall like Atena was, and they have some sort of rivalry.

So either maybe he doesn't care, or maybe it's part of that waiting for Atena to die. Or maybe he doesn't know, and Atena's not telling him this information about this map. To some degree of clarity, I think we could gain, if any of us is equipped with the skill whatsoever to remove the retouching from these paintings. Is there a way to do that, Troy? Oh, God, that's complicated. Craft alchemy or something? If anyone has the spell Erase, you could probably do it. Otherwise, you're going to need some

alchemical paint thinner. We know exactly where Pembroke is. You could go and get him and bring him here. Della knows he doesn't have Erase, but he might be useful in the knowledge checks. I mean, at night, just get a broom, fly right to the Dark Passage. Yeah. He's right outside.

He's not far. They're not on the roof anymore. He's just a couple miles away at this point. Yeah. No, I know that. A couple miles. Not even. Didn't we set up camp right outside the entrance of the cave?

No, of the cathedral. They're right outside. They're right by the cathedral. Oh, I thought it was in the wall. I thought it was in the cliff wall. On the other side of the cave? No, of the cathedral. They're right outside. They're right by the cathedral. Oh, I thought it was on the wall. I thought it was on the cliff wall. On the other side of the wall.

The cliff wall right behind the cathedral. The Oculus Tower. Is that that far from the cave? Yeah, it's miles. Oh, I didn't know. We'd have to go

through the poop chute. We'd also have to go back through the family. Plus, when you entered the Dark Passage, you walked for at least a mile. Right. In the Dark Passage. If we wanted at least a mile. Right. I mean, in the

Dark Passage. If we wanted to do it, I mean, Della could get out and fly and get him. Sure. He could fly back, too. But then we'd have, they could trade places or something. They'd have no protector. One thing you do know, is that, depending on which direction you go, you have to go, eventually,

the complete other way to get to the other thing. So, you're going to have time. It's just a matter of, like, now with this information that you have to go eventually the complete other way to get to the other thing. So you're going to have time. It's just a matter of like now with this information that you have, where do you go? Right. I guess it stands to reason that we don't really need anything else more specific in this room right now. Yeah. We kind of know where to go. We know the locations.

I mean, we know there's something else to this tripod. We know the locations generally. But I say Pembroke is definitely going to be interested in looking at this. But we don't have to do it now. I think we should clear out the cave and see if we can figure out any other items that might make sense here. And hopefully we don't die doing it.

After resting. Yeah, we definitely have to rest. I think we could probably rest in this room. Can we explore a little bit down the hall that Nestor had started down just to see if there's any danger because it might be better to rest kind of around there and maybe have a watch that just like quietly watches this room all night, a rotating watch to see if anybody comes in to like touch up a painting.

I mean, they would obviously recognize that the creatures were all gone, the paintings of the creatures. I also recommend we take the tripod with us. Sure. Why not? I mean, does that sound reasonable, Troy, or are we way off base here? No, that's totally reasonable. So, yeah, if you go back the way Nestor went.

Well, this will be our first time entering. Sure, yeah. So what's the plan? Do you just go a few hundred feet in or just start walking along our first time entering. Sure, yeah. So what's the plan? To just go a few hundred feet in or just start walking along? Yeah, yeah, yeah, exactly. Just, I mean, literally like 50 or 60 feet, like just to make sure everything's safe that way. And then, you know, Nestor or Adela, if they wanted to scout ahead a little further

to make sure that there was no danger coming, and then set up camp there. I could go invisible. And bring the tripod with us and then do a watch where we keep an eye on the room with the paintings. Okay. Who wants to go? A couple people?

All of you? Do you want Della just to go invisible and scout up ahead alone? Yeah. Okay. Della will do it. All right. Della, you go invisible and you just start scouting up ahead until you see something different. Yeah.

Roll a stealth check. Well, you're invisible. I'm invisible. So you're going to get like a plus 20. Plus 20. So you walk maybe 300 or 400 feet, and you see that the cavern splits, and it goes back the way that you, the direction that you were. Okay.

And then forward deeper into the cavern. And if you remember back a couple episodes, when you guys, before you decided to go the way that Baron felt a little thing, there were multiple directions. So you figure that one is going to lead back that way, but there might be other caverns that way and whatnot as well. Because when you first walked in, you had three choices.

You felt up top, you felt north, you felt south, nothing, Because when you first walked in, you had three choices. Right. You felt up top, you felt north, you felt south, nothing, nothing. You felt something forward, you went forward. That's where you fought Hurag. And then from there,

you ended up at this cave. So there's one path that goes back the way you were coming, and there's one that goes forward. I mean, how am I on time? Do I have to recast? How long is invisibility? One minute per level. One minute per level?

So it's been eight minutes. You're visible. But you don't sense any danger. I'll come back and report that. Yeah, because if you're stealthing, you're moving at half speed that whole way. Okay, so... You would think that unless anyone else came into this cavern, this is probably as safe a place as any. And what Sir Will determined is that these guardians were here

and it kept even the giants out. Right. So this is as safe a place as any. So I think we're probably okay. So let's do it. Let's set up a camp in this little cave here and then keep an eye on this room. Because we can take turns,

see if anybody comes in throughout the night. And then finish exploring after we rest up? Yeah. Okay. We can go the and see if anybody comes in throughout the night. And then finish exploring after we rest up? Yeah. We can go the way that Della just went. Sure. I'm down with that. Sounds good. Alright, rest up. Get some HP. Alright. Burn some cure light spells if you haven't already.

Yeah, burn all the spells. Well, I'm going to immediately cast Cure Light Wounds on myself twice. Remember you used one on Nestor. Does that count? He's saying the next morning. The next morning. No, I'm all out of it.

That's the only one I could use the last day. You know what I could do is I will give the belt to Della or Nestor, but I was thinking Della, because literally just having that belt will make you heal more overnight. Oh, yeah. That's true. Because of the bonus to Constitution. Yeah. So you can take the belt.

Sleep on the belt. Yeah, sleep in the belt. And you can keep it for the next day. I mean, I think it's a temporary bonus for 24 hours, so you have to wear it. You want to take it for the next 24 hours? It actually wouldn't take effect until 24 hours. Well, it's a temporary bonus. It's a temporary bonus.

So you do get the bonus. Yeah. But I'm not – I'm very unclear on how that works. The reason why they put it in, I think I've read it before, is so that people just don't swap right away. Yeah. Like they want you to wear it 24 hours before you get that bonus to your constitution. Is it the same as a headband? But you still have the bonus.

You definitely get the bonus the second you put it on. The second you put it on. But there's something about the lack of permanence to it where like some spells can take it away or something. It's complicated and I'll have to look it up. Don't worry. Don't worry. Someone will tell us. How about, so is that cool?

You know, Sir Will will be like, Della, this should help you heal more overnight. I'm fine. Della's going to suggest that Nestor wears it because she can always heal herself, but Nestor cannot. Okay. So it's plus four. Plus four to constitution.

Additional two points. Excellent. Thank you. I'm going to burn off my cure lights on myself. Yeah, I'm going to use one of them. As you guys are resting is anybody talking about anything like anybody talking about these near death experiences

like is there what's happening my hit points just went to 39 from 57 that felt that felt really really really good it's alright though it's alright

I would rather nest a habit yeah what was happening is really, really, really good. It's alright, though. It's alright. I, uh... I would rather Nesta have it. Yeah, what was happening emotionally like with this near-death experience? You've been kind of cruising for a while. What happens now? I mean, I think it exposes a tactical weakness, right? Like, if we can't...

If Nesta can't get at range, we are pretty squishy. Yeah, if... If Nesta gets blindsided in the first round, you know, so it's... I mean, that's why it's always important to scout ahead and everything. But in this situation, it was... We never thought those things were going to come off the wall. Right. No, but I think Deb is right.

I think that that is the primary tactical weakness of this group as it is currently comprised. And as such, I think that the number one priority at all times should be the preservation of my life for everyone here. So Baron definitely, it's not just being a man of law and order. It's why he helped save Nestor's life. It's because he knows that he has a ledger that is unbalanced and a grudge that is unrevisited. And if he had let Nestor die in this cave at this juncture without that being resolved, I think he would have haunted the group for the rest of their lives. Yeah, you're right. That's completely true.

I would haunt you forever. I'd make it more business. Yeah, I mean, I think Della was... I don't think she's shaken. I mean, she's seen rough combats before. She didn't go unconscious, but she was pretty hurt. But we were cocky about how we walked into the room. We split up.

We treated it like it was completely safe. So it's, I think, another reminder to just... I think we got punched in the mouth. We've been kind of waltzing for a while. And now... Yeah, we got taken down a peg or two. Reminded that we are not necessarily the most powerful creatures in all of creation. That is certainly true.

Okay, so rotation on watch? Sound about right? Yeah, I mean, I need to do a full eight hours for spell purposes. Yeah, now I'll take... Right, yeah, so I'll take any watches. I'll take the first watch. Don't mind that at all.

All right, I'll take the second watch. Excellent. I'll take the first watch. Don't mind that at all. All right, I'll take the second watch. Excellent. I'll take the third. Thanks, Troy. The party died on the third watch. That was another cave giant. Oh, hey!

Who do you got? Roll for initiative. If this was the comedy cartoon version of this, I'll take the third. All right, he'll take the third. What? Was that you? No. Was that take the third. All right, he'll take the third. One eye on it!

Was that you? No. Was that you? No. Was that you? I'm going to take a lot of this. All for one. Oh, and also,

there is one thing that I've been thinking about that's been troubling me. What is it? What do you think it is, that little green pill that you found back in that tent? We never did find out what that was. Yeah, he sort of reaches in at this couch, that little green pill that you found back in that tent? We never did find out what that was.

Yeah, he sort of, like, reaches in at this pouch. What little green pill? Pulls it out. Oh, was that a secret? Did anybody know about that, Troy? I can't remember. Della did not. No, no, you just put it in your pocket, so.

Yeah, nobody knew about it. Unless you talked about it, sir, Will. Well, I've gone through your things at night when you sleep. Also not surprised. And I noticed that. It seemed out of place. It's Tylenol. Where did you find it?

He pulls it out. He's like, I'd nearly forgotten this. It was from the tent, the tent of the alchemist witch woman. The oculus? You've been hiding it all this time? Oh, I had forgotten about it. I'm not sure what it is. Can I spellcraft it?

I can't remember what we... You couldn't because you lost your powers, right? That's why we didn't know. Correct, correct, yeah. Spellcrafty, spellcrafty? Or is it a craft alchemy? No, you can... I think it might be craft alchemy.

Let me just make sure. Detect magic. Joe, that extra heal I gave you was my next day's heal. I thought we had already rested. Yeah, roll a spellcraft, Matthew. Matthew. Matthew. Crystal Matthew.

21. 21. It is a volatile vaporizer. That sounds exciting. What's that? This lime green pill is inedible But turns a potion Into a cloud of mist That can be shared by multiple creatures

Oh Damn it, that cure moderate When placed inside a potion flask Or the restoration The potion bubbles and froths itself Into a pungent 10-foot radius cloud. With one restoration spell, we could have all been okay. We could have all been fine. Any creature within the cloud, when it appears, gains the full effect of the potion.

It has no effect on creatures that can't breathe, blah, blah, blah. You can resist it if you want. Using the pill destroys it and the potion. Oh, that's so cool. Each pill can only be used on potions of a particular spell level. Using it on a potion of a different spell level has no effect. Oh, so what's the spell level? Second.

So not restoration. So not restoration, but cure moderate. I have a cure moderate if we want to. The vaporizer also works on alchemical infusions, but not mutagens, extracts, or magical oils. Oh, that is such a cool item. I think we should use it. You could pop it in one of Baron's beers

and then give you all the beer powers. I say we use it. Right now? Yeah. So medium's 2D8? I mean, if we find something tomorrow, if we come up against something tomorrow, we're in terrible conditions.

Yeah, we're in terrible conditions. Let's do it. So we all roll for a cure moderate? I think it only gets rolled once, right? One person rolls. You know what? Just for fun's sake, we'll do Exploding Die.

Nice! I thought you were going to say, for fun's sake, we'll make Joe roll it. Nice! I thought you were going to say for fun's sake, we'll make Joe roll it. That's not fun at all. Nope. Grant's rolling. 2d8 plus 3. That's a 2. Come on, Grant. Come on.

3. No! God! Everyone gets 8 points. Everybody gets 8 points of healing. Oh, man. And Lexington. Oh, man. And Umlo.

Don't forget Ums. Yeah, that was worth... I thought it was pretty much better. 3,000 gold. I was going to say, that pill must be so expensive. Yeah. I literally... You can get it for first, second, or third level spells.

The third level spell is 3,800. I mean, to me, that's one of those things when you're flush on cash in a town, buy a couple volatile vaporizers. I don't know. What's enlarged person? A third level spell? First level spell, isn't it? Depending on...

Yeah, it's first level. Oh, so imagine just, boom, everyone gets enlarged with a volatile vaporizer. Yeah. Or you could waste it on a potion of cure moderate. A potion of invisibility. Everyone goes invisibility. Right. I was just thinking that, too. You literally used it on the lam of cure moderate. A potion of invisibility. Everyone goes invisibility. Right. I was just thinking that, too.

You literally used it on the lamest possible spell. Good job, Eric. We need it. Oh, my God. We're not going to survive, LaValle. Yeah, that's true. That was like a poor man's channel. Right.

A million dollar channel. That basically was a Sir Will channel. A million dollar channel. Yeah, that was. Two ones and a DC. No, it was amazing because it felt so good to have group healing, and then I realized we used to be able to do that for free. Yeah, enlarge person is level one.

We could enlarge the entire party. One potion. That'd be great. What with the lower level one? Yeah, the lower level one's cheaper. It's like 1,500 gold or something. Yeah, one of those is 2,200 gold for a cheap one. If we're facing an array of giants,

Sir Will pulls out the potion, just drops it. Drops it, smash it on the ground. Or just walk into Minderhouse Valley. That's right, we're giants. We belong here. Bring us to the fighting pits. I love it. And then it wears off on the walk to the fighting pits.

Get him! All right, so you guys set up your watches. XYZ. You get a little more healing. Clean off the blood from your sodden clothes. And maybe morning happens. Who knows? You've lost all track of actual time,

having not seen the sun in a while. And I believe you wake up with Nestor now entering this day at a minus two to all attacks. Oh, no! Fucking please! Della and Nestor roll a save. And everyone else!

Oh, no! You lay down with dogs! Fortitude, right? Yep. Fortitude. 21. Wait, don't forget you have the belt on I do 23 17 for Dylan

Come on Will Come on That should be alright 22 Alright what about Lexington And Amlo I think Dog should take a minus to the save against Fleas. It would be so good.

Should get him a collar. Roll Umlo there, Chris. Oh, yeah. Right. Lexington is good, too. Okay. Whew. Man.

I hate these Fleas, dude. He gets like a 15. Okay. So you're all infested now, but only Nestor is sick for today, and you're all fine the next day. So we don't suffer the penalties, but we still have it. Right, you still have it. The save doesn't... Right.

Oh, wait, didn't Atena clean them off Adela? Yes. Oh, yeah. Adela doesn't do it. We'll say that Adela has been spending her nights very far away from you guys at camp. So yeah, Adela, you're fine. Everyone else is infested, but Nestor is at a minus two today. The good thing

is, tomorrow, you're all fine. Can we go back to that large, ugly woman and get her to do the same thing she did with her? I mean, this is disgusting. Look, you can see them on my skin. Oh, look! Nestor, put that away. Have you seen a flea that big? Oh, dear God.

They're in my armor. They lay eggs, dear God. Oh, dear God. They're in my armor. They lay eggs, you know. All right, what? All right, so now we're going to head to 300 to 400 feet to that crossroads that Della found. Are we going to bring... Are we going to carry the...

Crossroads. ...tripod? Yeah, we had it in the bag of holding. Yeah. Let's bring a lunch. That bag, I'll tell you. What are you talking about, magical wolf man? Get out of here.

Get out of here. All right, so we get to the crossroads. We can either go take the way that goes back the way we came or deeper into the cave. Back from whence you came or deeper. Deeper. Should we just confirm? Deeper. Should we just confirm that it goes back to where the entrance was?

That's the direction. Yeah. Or do we want to... I mean, whichever way we go. We can always circle back that way. It could also be a tiny little alcove of a room that was behind a wall in that room. Up to you guys.

Let's just go deeper. So you guys go deeper. You go about 150 feet and the passage opens up again. It looks to continue kind of and the passage opens up again. It looks to continue kind of on the direction you're going, and then a much wider passage, basically north. So it splits again.

It splits again, yes. Does that correlate with any of the directions of the places we need to go? I know one was south-southeast or east-southeast. Was anything north? No, both things that you're looking for are both to the south relative from the painted cave that you were just in before.

So it stands to reason we're going in the wrong direction, like wasting time. But ultimately you just need to get out of this cave. Yeah, it's just a matter of getting out. So which way getting out, you have no idea. Yeah, we don't know this. I say let's keep going. Well, there's two ways, right?

You can go the wide way north or continue down the thin passageway. And I'm saying north and west just for argument's sake. It's not exactly precisely. Thin passageway because that way we could get the drop on any giant-sized creatures. Okay.

There aren't any more. All right. Are there any footprints or anything? Roll perception. Or survival? Oh, survival. Sorry, yeah. Just use that number for survival.

18. Della doesn't do better than that. 18. You see footprints going to the north. You see footprints going the same way that you're heading and footprints on the path you just came from. So every which way. So no help. No help. And they're all giant

footprints? They are all large creatures. Any beasts? Or are they all like feet? Or boots or shoes? They're not boots and shoes they are barefoot uh claws like some some some of the feet have claws on them i don't know if some of the feet have claws on some of the feet have some of them are like three toed some are four toed joe i didn't realize you were

such a foot man until right now that's his jam well, things changed in episode 100. That's his toe jam. So it must be dinosaurs. That's the only explanation. Of course. All right, here we go. Continuing on to the north, I guess. Or no, the thin passage, Troy. Thin passage. All right, so you're going towards thin passage.

Narrow passage would be the preferred nomenclature. Narrow. Narrow. Not thin. Thank you, Skip. Thin passage. Oh, my Godomenclature Narrow Not thin Thank you Skip Oh my god passage you look so thin What is everyone doing for a light source Same thing

At this point Nestor's potion of darkvision is worn off Yeah so I mean I just imagine Having light cast I'll cast light on whatever you want So let's cast it on the lance So it's kind of high up in the air As we're trotting along And it sheds light in 20 feet cast light on whatever you want. Let's cast it on the lance, so it's kind of high up in the air as we're trotting along, and it sheds

light in 20 feet all around. Nestor can slip off into the darkness if he needs to. We're still having Nestor lead the party, though, right? Well, he can't see. Oh, right. If you're holding the lance up, you can see 30 feet. Leading the party, you mean, but I'm not scouting ahead is all I'm saying. Yeah, no, but he'd

be good to be at the front for traps. Yeah, I can stand in front just to look for traps. You can go two by two or one by one. Tell me party order. Well, I'll be at the front. I'll be at the front as well with the light. Us two together. All right, Nestor and Will up front.

You want the two dwarves next? Sure. We'll go Baron and UMS and then... Della bringing up the rear. A little depth. Guarding our six. In the back. Guarding your six. We've back. Guarding your six.

We've got a bogey coming in hot. On my map, you'd be guarding their three. Oh, my God. Who cares? All right. So, now, do you want to cast anything light-wise on Nestor? Or, Nestor, you want the ability to sneak into the shadows and take the mischance. God forbid anything happens. Desna forbid.

Alright, you're skulking along. Nestor and Will roll a stealth check. Good one. Good one. 26. Ooh, 18. Okay. Go 100 feet in.

200 feet. Three. It's winding. Now you've lost all sense of direction. You don't know if you're going north, south, east, or west. But there is only one passage that you're following. 400 feet. 500 feet.

600. 700 feet. 400 feet, 500 feet, 600, 700 feet. And eventually you see that this meandering passage widens up ahead into what looks like another natural cavern. And you can see columns formed from grayish-white calcite up ahead. The air feels damp, and you can see moisture collecting on the walls around you that are just forming small puddles near your feet.

And you can hear... Bats. Bats. Bats. Bats. Bats worms. I know the sound of a bat when I hear the sound of a bat. And that's what Hoorah was hanging up in a couple episodes ago, right? Yes. You had a bunch of dead bats on a string, no less.

Well, I'm going to do a perception check right quick before we go any further. Generally. 27, 31 if it's a trap. So

you don't see any traps in front of you. That cavern itself is still probably about 40 feet away, but you do not detect any traps in your vicinity at all. You also do not detect any life. But what did you roll for perception? 27. 27. While you don't detect traps, you do hear footsteps behind you.

Oh, no. Oh, come on. And you hear, you do hear footsteps behind you oh no come on and you hear and anyone who understands giant knows that that's gibberish knows that that is just pure gibberish hears the words hurrag

come grumchog intruders oh god see you next week Here's the words. Hurrah! Come! Grumchog! Intruders! Oh, no. Oh, God. See you next week. No! Come on!

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