The Glass Cannon Podcast - Giantslayer Episode 45 - The Marshin' Chronicles

Episode Date: April 5, 2016

The heroes take their first tentative steps into Ghostlight Marsh as they begin their search for the Vault of Thorns. Their slog through the swamp quickly turns perilous as they face a scourge the likes of which they've never seen! 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. You're all fifth level, yay! Yay! Let's talk about new powers. I feel like I haven't done this in 50 episodes. The heroes grow stronger, revealing new powers. At level five, gunslingers get to add dexterity to their damage. I got a feat, but I actually took extra hex so I can now brew potions.

So the one that I took for fifth level is called Bolster Companion. Talk to me, Skid. What happens at fifth level for Galabras? Nothing, really. And prepare to strike out into unknown territory. So you guys jump on the old jolly boat and make your way through the fog within Ghostlight Marsh. With their confidence at an all-time high. Lorca's personally killed more people than John Wesley Harden.

What could possibly go wrong? Up ahead, you see the brush part. This is, uh, you've never found anything quite like this. The adventure continues now. Hey, welcome back everybody out there in Glass Cannon Nation. Joe here to say, well, thank God it's Tuesday, right? We got a great episode lined up for you today. But before we get into it, I do want to do something a little bit different. So bear with me for a second.

First, let me say, if you haven't listened to last week's episode, go back and listen to last week because we got spoilers coming ahead right here. After last week's chaotic battle on the Chellish Devil, we closed a chapter on the adventure. We saw what is most likely the end of the Melira story arc. And for the foreseeable future, we can safely assume that we are leaving the boat and heading into a haunted marsh that even the legendary Knights of Ozem avoid at all costs. I can only imagine that we'll be far safer than we were on Rag's death trap of a keelboat. But that's beside the point. What I want to do this week is take you back, back to true now. You remember those days? Chief Defender Halgra and her newly-but-mitzvahed daughter,

the elf druid Silvermane, an old drunk Omos from, and we can't forget Kesson Plum, who sold his lover Gormley down the river for a chance at some political power. And, of course, the one and only Tom Exposition. When we were last in True Now, we attended a council meeting that set the stage for where we are right now in the story. And so here's what I want to do. I want to do a flashback of sorts to that meeting

so that we can go back over the details of our mission and what we're supposed to do here in this swamp. For those of you that have binge listened to the podcast and remember episode 30 because you listened to it yesterday, this is not for you. For anyone else that knows the council meeting already, like the back of your hand, feel free to skip ahead to this week's episode, which starts around the 11 minute mark. For those of you that would like to refresh your memory like we wanted to as players, after all, episode 30 aired over three months ago. It was just before Christmas. Stay tuned for a look back at the Council of

Defenders. Okay, so once we defeated Screed, the cave giant, and the flood troll that he brought to True Now, the council still had some concerns about their safety. Here's Chief Defender Holgra, played by future Golden Globe runner-up Troy LaVallee. True Now's council of defenders is worried that the town's orc troubles are far from over. Basically, the council fears another attack on True Now in the near future. What we would like from you is for you to go to Grenzeldek's lair and deal with this giant chieftain and her orc tribe before they can attack True Now again. We know exactly where she is.

It's an old abandoned outpost near the river Esk called Red Lake Fork. Which we all know now is actually Red Lake Fort. As the meeting went on, Halgra called Silvermane up to speak, played here by Future Kids Choice Award nominee Troy LaVallee. by Future Kids Choice Award nominee, Troy LaVallee. So this veteran old elf, played by Donald Sutherland, walks up, and he has watched over the True Nouns Hope Spring for as long as, Gormley, when you were a kid, he was running the Hope Spring. Lork, when you were a thuggy teen, he was running the Hope Spring.

And he just kind of steps up. Well, actually, he's a mute, right? Right. So he doesn't speak, but he does a form of sign language that Halgra knows. And so Halgra translates here. There is a place known as the Vault of Thorns. It is a demiplane that was once created by the Druidic Council of Thorns, of which I, excuse me, Silvermane, was once a member. Sorry, translating. The entrance to this vault is located within an area known as Ghostlight Marsh.

It's a swamp to the northeast surrounding the confluence of the Kestrel and Esk rivers. Okay, so he says that the vault contains a cache of items that can help you in your fight against

this twisted heart menace. Ooh! Every RPG player that hears a cache of items immediately begins to salivate. But where will we find this Vault of Thorns, Silvermane? In order to find this demiplane, this Vault of

Thorns, you should look for a marker in the form of a circle of thorns carved into a stone near the banks of the river Esk. We saw this marker last episode, just before we were attacked. This marker should put you on the right path through the swamp to find the vault. But, as it is on another plane, the entrance to the vault, to the demiplane, is hidden.

At this point, Silvermane reaches down to the floor and pulls up this leaf-embossed brass lantern. This is known as the lantern, the lamp will produce a beacon that points directly to the circle of standing stones that marks the vault's entrance. druidic circle, you need only wash this supernaturally fueled lantern's light over the central standing stone within this circle of stones to open the portal into the Vault of Thoughts. What's a will-o-wisp? A will-o-wisp is a spiritual denizen of the Marsh. The impere is dancing lights. And at this point, Baron asks, well, why didn't you just do this before? Gormley gives Kess and Plum the stink eye.

Lork gets promoted to lieutenant. And Galabras gets a house. After that, the meeting basically breaks up. But we, the players, well, the characters, classic, approach Tom Exp uh to get more uh exposition and tom never disappoints tom here is played by future roast of mary kate and ashley olsen attendee troy la valley so basically ghost light marsh is a vast tract of swampland along the shores of the River Esk. Hal Grady told you this. The current border between the hold of Belkson and Last Wall runs right through the swamp.

Both orcs and humans tend to avoid the marsh due to countless tales of strange floating lights. Now, Last Wall's northern border with Belkson has been pushed back multiple times over the centuries. As I'm sure most of you, anyone who knows their history, would know this. Now, when the second of these borders, Harkis Blockade, that Halgrim mentioned, was overrun by the orcs, some stood resolute,

seeing themselves as sort of protectors of the land. And this Council of Thorns that Silvermane talked about, it was a militant druid circle who despised the orcs' defilement of the land that these creatures conquered. These druids attempted to stand their ground.

However, while the druids' fight was valiant, the Council of Thorns was eventually driven back to the swamp And defeated by the orcs Come closer Shh, shh, everybody shut up Here's the real story Faced with sure defeat at the hands of these orcs

The druids of the Council of Thorns Made a final stand in the swamp. But they sacrificed themselves in a bloody ritual. They didn't just die. They weren't just murdered by the orcs. They sacrificed themselves. As the druids' dying bodies just slumped into this swampy muck, Oh, the spirits.

But, what do I know? I just sell cars. Oh, Tom, you are one of a kind. Well, as you can see, there is a very ominous history to this marsh. And after three months in real life of traveling up the river with Rag and his motley crew of half-orc lunatics, we're finally about to set foot in it. So let's see what happens. As always, thank you for supporting the show by emailing and rating us on iTunes or whichever podcast app you prefer. If you want to write into the show, email glasscannonpodcast at gmail.com. All right. Now, let's get back to the present. Here's Episode 45, The Martian Chronicles.

Here's episode 45, a lot of name calling. It wouldn't end. It wouldn't end. The only person that really didn't have a horse in the race was Galabras. He did not have any interest in the belt of Incredible Dexterity. I wanted to, but I'm not going to fight anyone for it. That's kind of how I feel. It would be super nice. Right.

So what did you guys decide? It was mainly, let's be honest, as usual, it was mainly a Grant versus Joe thing. Well, it's two ranged characters. You know, that's why. The two people that use decks. And, you know, well, we'll talk about this later on if we level up. But I also get to add decks to my damage soon.

And I only really do ranged yeah exclusively but i think that um i think that uh you guys are being so nice because i've talked to you both outside of this and you both it got really nasty man i think uh i think though that we have a belt solution if we can talk to Captain Rag Blood Tusk. Well, it's funny you should mention Captain Rag Blood Tusk. Because after you take the bodies and throw them overboard or whatever you do with them, good old Rag, for the first time in two days, comes limping out of the captain's room, out of the chart room. Vomit all over his shirt.

Covered in puke, blood, and he... He's never been more attractive. Now Gormley's into him. That's like witch cologne. Dry vomit. I mean, he looks really cut because he lost a lot of weight puking. Like a fighter. He had to cut weight before the big gladiator battle.

He's finally ready to fight Holly Holm. So he comes out and he says, Halrex, Halrex told me what you did to save the boat. I'm so sorry that this journey has been

fraught with such peril. I had no idea that it would be like this. Sure, we have river drakes, and sure, we have other bullshit from time to time, but saboteurs, drugged apes, and orc raids? Not on my watch. That being said, I want to thank you for everything you've done. You'll always have safe passage on my keelboat. And it may not be much, but as a token of my appreciation,

I'd like to offer you something that's very close to my heart. It may not seem like much to you, but it's something that got me through a lot of tough battles back in my fighting days in the pits of Urgeir. It kept me alive, and hopefully it'll do the same for you. And he hands over his victor's belt. And we play dumb. What is that?

You've never seen this before? We didn't go rooting through your shit at all while you were a pastel sick. I had a forensics team sweep for prints. We were looking for pain pills. We're looking for milk thistle, as I recall.

You all don't seem surprised by this. Oh! What's that? Wow! What are its abilities? I have no idea. Oh, I can't wait to tell you. So he hands it to you, and obviously you know from before, you dirty thieves,

that it gives you a plus two to CMB and CMD, and you can enter a rage once per day. That's awesome. And that rage lasts for five rounds. And if you ever take damage equal to 50% of your hit points, you automatically enter the rage whether you want to or not. And what's the downside to that? At the end of five rounds, you're fatigued. So any combat that lasts ten rounds, that can be kind of tough.

But while you're raging... Wait, Skid, you play a barbarian in one of my other games. We haven't dealt with any barbarians, although I should tell you that General Tark Singeskin, the general that you blinded and maimed and beat and killed, in the first round of combat, when he screamed, he entered a rage. That's why he was doing, like, 19 points of damage. Yeah, Skid, I think you've got some splaining to do.

I think I do. And cue the music. Nerd. Skid's got some splainin' to do. It is time for Nerdy. Oh, man. Thank you for that. What did you want me to explain?

Rage. Barbarian rage. Oh, rage, yeah. Okay, yeah. So, and this is the same thing ben varine has the same thing uh the actor not the wolverine right uh is uh you are able to summon depths of anger from deep inside and you become much stronger and much tougher for a certain number of rounds per day. Once the rage has ended, you immediately go into a fatigued state,

which gives you, I think it's minus two to most of your relevant stats, bonuses. And that lasts for double the number of rounds that you spent raging. But, you know, one thing I took, I played a Barbarian in Skids game, so we have this Barbarian coaching tree like from Bobby Knight all the way down. And at low levels, I kind of used it like Nas in Fast and the Furious,

like we're almost to the finish line, and you use it to just really super power yourself up for the end. There are feats you can take like Heart of the Fields to avoid fatigue afterwards. But it's kind of like a super boost when you use it. Yeah. Yeah, rage is cool. You get like a bonus to strength and a bonus to con. Constitution.

And you get temporary hit points. They're not temporary hit points technically. They're your actual hit point. But you don't lose them before you lose your normal hit points They're not temporary hit points Technically They're your actual hit point But you don't lose them Before you lose your normal hit points So that's the dangerous thing Is if you get knocked unconscious Your constitution goes back down

And you lose all those hit points That you gained By having the extra constitution So just being knocked out Can kill you outright. Right, because your con goes back to normal and it makes your threshold smaller and you just straight up die.

Yeah, it's basically like you're borrowing on the bank, basically. You use those hit points below zero earlier in the fight to stay alive and fight like crazy, but then when you go below zero... It also is much... It's more dangerous at higher levels because your hit points are based off the number

of hit die you have. So you get a higher health bonus the more hit die you have. So like, I gain like 60 hit points when I rage in my other game at level 12.

Well, here's the million dollar question. Who's taking the belt of incredible dexterity plus two? And who's taking the victor's belt? I think Gormley should take the victor's belt i mean she earned it with rags well what i was saying my thing with the belt of incredible dexterity was yes there are times when

it would benefit grant more than it would be or or Baron better than it would benefit Lork. But I just feel like in these kind of games, like if two characters can use it, and the thing about dex is everybody can use dex because it helps your AC as well. So if you're up in front getting hit all the time, you are less likely to get hit if you have a building incredible dexterity. I just like rolling for it.

Like that's my thing it's like more than people want it right also it's not like it fuses to your body you know you can exchange it and go back and forth right five sessions from now you might find a belt that you want more and then it's like all right who wants my belt of incredible dex plus two yeah who wants my hand-me-downs but that being said you guys are avoiding the question well no in this case yeah he would take the belt of incredible dexterity and I would take the gladiator belt. What's it called? It's called the victor's belt.

Is it an actual item? It's created for this game. Oh, okay. It's an enchanted caster level. From a lore perspective, it's also cool that it's going back to a half-orc. Yeah, yeah, yeah. No, I love it. And also, like, when Jasun died, I thought very seriously about cool that it's going back to a half work yeah yeah yeah no i i love it and also like when

jason died i thought very seriously about dipping into bob barbarian level just like because i feel like he's got to be so angry you know um but i wanted to kind of focus on the ranger path of things uh but this gives me you know a little taste of that you know seeing and i think there's been plenty of times when lork has acted pretty angry in a fight. So this will really give a mechanical boost to that. I mean, Joe himself gets angry every time he rolls under five. So every five minutes. Yeah, we should have that be like a house rule.

As if Lork takes half hit points or if Joe rolls below five on a die, without his own choice, goes into a rage. Also, Lork has personally killed more people than John Wesley Harden at this point and I'd hate to think

that he wasn't angry when he was doing it really calmly splitting people's throats yeah so you mentioned dipping now here's a question

for you so you are now Gormley has seen the marker with the circle of standing stones etched on it, so you know that is what Silvermane told you to look out for. So this is the point when you can embark and start exploring Ghostlight March. Now, I think you guys had a pretty brutal battle. I think people are pretty war-weary.

Some spells have been burned. So do you guys want to set out tonight? It's late afternoon now. You're a buffoon. You are a fool. You're such a bastard. And since you don't get fifth level until you rest, I'm assuming you guys just want to go into Ghostlight Marsh fourth level as

you are. And Baron has six hit points. Then let's roll. Let's just go. You all right let's go you'll have that belt off the chest piece galabras's intestines were literally spilling out of his belly that's true that's minutes ago uh okay so i smelled the popcorn you can't be you have to be down low too right gil yeah i'm well i'm i'm like half well but so you guys are going to wait through the night, say your goodbyes. Now obviously Rag's going to wait for you. He's told you he'll wait.

If you don't come back in a week or whatever he may just take off. Assume you're dead. Send out a search party. But if you guys go through the night and rest, you're all fifth level. Yay! Yay!

Let's talk about new powers. I feel like I haven't done this in 50 episodes. It's been a long time. All right, now as usual, Whose fault is that? I don't care about your saves. I got a plus four to my fortune. I just want to know what makes your next level cool. Did anybody multi-class?

I did already. You did, it's good. Well what did you go what did you go with more fighter or back to no no I'm staying with

cleric forever oh okay talk to me Skid what happens at fifth level for Galabras nothing really nothing

I mean I get an extra second level spell and that's basically oh right because this is really fourth level cleric first level fighter

yeah yeah okay yeah well that was that was uh anticlimactic why'd you start with me should have started with me okay grant you went rogue right he's gonna go rogue if you keep bothering him um man uh so this would have been the level Well actually level 6 Would be the first level I would consider

Multiclassing The reason being is that at level 5 Gunslingers get to add dexterity Bonus to their damage dealt in battle So there are two points Of commonly held wisdom Of where you multiclass as a gunslinger Now let me ask you this

Do 5th level gunslingers get to make their exploded guns not explode? Really, too soon. Ask him for a friend. It's only one episode. I think he's going to go rogue. Look at him. He's getting ready to go rogue. It's amazing that you crafted that double-barreled gun,

because had you not done that, you would literally be a gunslinger without a gun. Well, I also wouldn't have fired a jammed like i did it just because it was kind of a desperate cool moment and i wanted your podcast to be fun for people to listen to but if you want me to play prudently and wisely i appreciate it but yeah it's gone forever because it's not magical and so now you're doing decks your decks bonus to damage as well. Correct. That's awesome. That's huge. The other point at which I might multiclass, not to be spoiler alerts for everyone else, is level 12. Because at level 11, I get to choose a signature deed,

which means that up close and deadly would be my signature deed, and it would never cost grit. Barrett's not going to lift to level 12. That's what I was saying. I was like, well, what will the name of that gunslinger be? It'll be Ron Ab. Stare Bear. Just bear and red heart backwards.

Okay, now, didn't a reader, a listener write in about something we were doing wrong with the drawing of the gun? Do you remember, Joe? No.

Oh, they said something about shooting in melee range do you ever do that do you ever shoot at somebody that's right next to you i take five foot step backs yeah typically yeah i think we might have missed one of those but like yeah you have to be five feet away unless you have a point like master point play master because it provokes an attack of opportunity right right and which i always thought i just didn't think i thought that a gun slinger would have some ability to avoid that because it's a lot different to me like having a bow right next to somebody versus like, of course you shoot from five feet away with a gun. You just point it right at him and shoot.

I remember Baron saying, I put the gun right up against his chest. So technically if that happens, you would incur an attack of opportunity. Speaking of attacks of opportunity, terrible segue, Gormley. That was that. That was poor. That was a stretch. Old Gormley attack of opportunity, whatever your last name is. Call.

Call. Call, call, call. What happens with Gormley at fifth level? A couple of things are going to happen. So I get to cast third level spells now. Oh, boy. Which is fun. Only two, but that's going to be some...

That's dangerous. Those are big. Don't tell us. Again, the witch spell list is limited, so you don't get the... But there are some fun ones in there. What did you get to just choose two per level? Like new spells when you level up?

Two of my familiar, yeah. So I get that. And a couple things happen with Howie, actually. Howie, the unsung hero? Howie put that web out there. That's true. Kept us all alive. That's true.

Howie and I can now communicate as if we speak the same language. We can communicate verbally. Wow. So by the way, Troy, you have a new character to play. Oh, man. You've got to cast the voice of Howie, I guess. Think of a cool new accent to do. Unheard of on this globe.

You know what you should do? Just go straight Southie Boston. Yeah, that would be great. Just go with Howie. He is a Celtics fan. He has a green sting, Scorpio. That's true. All right, maybe I'll make him a...

I don't know, you guys don't read the Tumblr, but when I put up Malira's stat box, I said Mal him On the I don't know You guys don't read the Tumblr But I When I put up Melira's stat box I said Melira As played by Rachel McAdams And her Companion Snake

As a chokehold Voiced by Sir Ian McKellen That's right So I'll have to Think of a good Boston actor Okay so

So that happens That's pretty big And I I got a feat But I actually took Extra hex So I can now Brew potions

I took the Cauuldron hex. Double toil and trouble. You have done too much summer stock. There's one more little thing that happens for Garmlet 5th level, and that's just that she can fly now. That is a minor detail. The power of flight at will.

The flight hex That I took at first level Has now developed It started at feather fall Then gave me levitate Once a day And now I can fly For five minutes a day

As a move action? Yeah I mean By all the fly rules As if I cast the spell Flight on myself So it's a standard action To enact it

No No it's not It's Part of the hack is that the witch just grows lighter as she gets more powerful. Wow.

So there, I mean, there are different ways you can fly and I was reading up on the rules. You can fly as if you're moving

and that's how you ascend at a 45 degree angle or I could levitate up and then fly once I'm up. Wow. So you'll never die now. Well, until someone shoots me

and I fall to the ground. And everyone else will die. I was listening to the last episode like Galabras laid on the ground for eight rounds

unconscious and no one did anything. Well, no one. She stabilized me. Right. And then I hopped as soon as it became a thing, I hopped out.

As soon as the way was clear, eight rounds. Lorik. Love you, Galabras. Lorik, talk to me about Ben Vereen. He levels up too, huh? Yeah, yeah.

Ben Vereen leveled up. He just gets more hit points. He gets an extra rage round per day, which is nice. So he gets six rounds of rage. Oh, that's fun. And now, does Ben Vereen level up? Like, is he fifth level with you? Or when you got him, you got him at first level?

Yeah, I got him at first level. So now he's second level. Yeah, but it doesn't work that way for Animal Companions. They basically start at second. They start with 2 HD. Oh, okay. And, you know, they go up from there. So now he's third level.

Yeah, so now he's third level, and he got a feat, actually, because he's third level. So he took Dodge, so he has a higher AC, one point higher AC. So I just want to try to make Benverine a little more survivable. That's my goal. Which also leads into Lork's ability. So at fifth level, a listener actually wrote in and asked why Lork wasn't casting any spells. Because at fourth level, if you have a high enough wisdom,

you can get access to some low-level spells as a ranger. And then when you're fifth level, you full-on get first-level spells. You get access to first-level spells. And the reason is because Lork is not a spellcasting ranger. He's an archetype called a skirmisher, which has never come up in the show because the first time it matters is fifth level. So starting at fifth level, when you would normally get access to spells, i just felt like lork is not like a spell casting kind of guy

magical guy so uh you replace the ranger ability to cast spells with something called ranger tricks and it's sort of like rogue tricks and now from now until the end of his life uh every two levels three episodes right every every two levels that he survives, he learns a new trick. And there are all different kinds of things that you can do. There's a wide range of them. So the one that I took for fifth level is called Bolster Companion. And it allows me, if Benverine can see me or hear me, or see and hear me,

and he gets hit by an attack. I can, as an immediate action, I can increase his AC by four. And if the attack still hits, he takes half damage. Oh, wow. And I can do that four times a day. That's cool. That's really cool. That's survivable. Plus, you put a trick into just keeping Benvarine alive

yeah and I took an AC bonus for him so his AC it would be pretty tough to hit you know for lower level creatures whatever

just because I want I and you know if he dies he dies like it's totally possible it'll happen but then I'll you know get another

animal companion and I want to have I've never done this before in a game like I've never had a strong animal companion and that's what I I'd love to have

a survivable tanky animal companion. And who's controlling? I got confused about who's controlling Van Vreen now. Are you still just rolling to push him, or he'll listen to you? No, now he learned attack. So he knows come and attack. Come and attack, yeah. But the problem is I was realizing in retrospect,

I was like, oh, of of course he learned attack just in time for us to go into Ghostlight Marsh which I can only assume is loaded with undead aberrations and shit like that

which attack doesn't matter they won't attack it so it's like as long as we fight something corporeal oh really so they won't go

after anything yeah you have to learn attack again which is attack level 2 then they'll attack undead things if Ben Vereen becomes a zombie will you continue to care for him, which is attack level two. Then they'll attack undead things. If Ben Vereen becomes a zombie, will you continue to care for him

and use him as your companion? That would be very freaky. Just feed him pork brains. One more thing. Fifth level actually is big for rangers because you get your next favorite enemy. So I'm able to add a new favorite enemy. You were going back and forth on this.

You were asking me about it and I told you, go fuck yourself. You've got to figure it out for yourself. Right. So in order to balance it out, realizing that Benverine was not going to help much if we encountered any sort of undead spirits in this marsh, I took undead. So favorite enemy, undead. So if we ever come across undead, I'll get bonuses to perceive them,

to track them, to hurt them. And your first favorite enemy was giant, and you got a plus two to that, so now you get a plus four to giant? Yeah, so now my giant goes up, so if we fight a giant, I'm plus four to hit and damage. That's awesome. And you guys all got feats at fifth level, too. Oh, right. I forgot about that. See, Galabros,

you did get something. Galabros forgot. Pause for edit. We put a lot of work into preparing for these episodes. I did it a week ago. I can't remember. I know I did it a week ago. We'll figure it out.

Baron, what did you take? I ended up taking Rapid Shot. I ended up taking Rapid Shot. And they have a double-barreled gun. It's really, yes, there you go. Rapid shot, which I, and they have a double barreled gun. It's really, uh, yes, that is true.

Uh, it's really so that I'm on the way if I live long enough to get it, um, to be able to do attack of opportunities with my range weapon. So, very cool. But there's, with a lot of range characters in this game,

wait, snapshot, uh, rapid shot is a prerequisite to Snapshot? Yes. Oh, wow, I didn't know that. So, yeah, there's, for range characters, one of the criticisms of how Paizo set it up is that you're kind of on a train track

to get to the more useful stuff because so many of the higher level feats require all these other prerequisites which doesn't exist for as many melee classes so um kind of on a train they're like the the wizards of combat i think i took craft wondrous item i think that was you did actually we talked about it we did okay oh so now I can help, I can enchant weapons and make... Oh, no, no, no, that's a different thing. That's, yeah, yeah. Yeah. You can make cool shit.

I can make wands, I can make, you know. That's huge. You can make belts. You can make, like... You can make rings. Yeah, rings. Of protection from evil. Yeah, that would be a good thing to think about.

Maybe. So you'll be making wands and magic trick while Baron is brewing ales and Gormley is brewing potions and Joe is just going to die. Yeah, I did. Actually, my fifth level feat was deadly aim. So I took deadly aim at fifth level. Oh, so no minus four to shoot into melee. No, the deadly aim is like power attack for bows. So I get to minus to hit bonus to damage i

actually really wanted to take precise shot and then realized that i couldn't because i don't have point blank shot yeah it's a prerequisite but if i'm using it for my ranger feats special feats i can but this is not a ranger special feat fifth level regular feat so you have to qualify for the whatever and i didn't have it so but that would be it'd be really good if you had a belt of incredible dexterity plus two that would that's what i was saying really well now with your deadly aim you can just kill baron exactly exactly uh gorms fifth level feat did you talk about i took extra hex so i could get cauldron yeah i could have taken brew potion but then the taking the cauldron hex gives me a giant bonus to craft alchemy.

Well, as terrified as I am about all your new powers, you guys should be equally terrified to enter Ghost Light Marsh. Finally! So you guys, I'm assuming you sleep through the night, and you, I'm going to let you... Actually, there's something I do want to take care of

overnight before we set out. What would you like to do? This is something that I keep forgetting to do, but we got reminded by a listener on Twitter, Colt Handy. I want to check out Roderick's Hope Knife. Oh, right. The one that was blackened? Yeah.

Actually, it's funny you should mention that. I just found it on Hero Lab. Oh. Oh. So you guys never examined it? No. Like never spellcrafted? I think you poorly, maybe you, yeah, you just forgot to spellcraft it.

So. Classic. I think you poorly maybe you yeah you just forgot to spellcraft it yeah so classic so you want to do a little spellcraft yeah I'm going to do a spellcraft 18 18 spellcraft surprisingly

you just got it Galab Roderick's Hope Knife is actually called Brynja's Love. Because as it was burnt, all that was left on there, it just said

my love. Remember he... Right, I remember that. Yeah, so it's called Brynja's Love. And it is stark silver, glows with light equivalent to a light spell when it's drawn. It is a plus one dagger.

What? Infused with the soul of the fallen hero, Roderick Grath, and the tears of his fiancee, Brynja Kelver. Once per day on command, the wielder can grant the weapon the Ghost Touch weapon's special ability for one minute. Wow. During this time, Brynja's love sheds light equivalent to a daylight spell, weapon's special ability for one minute. Wow. During this time,

Brynja's love sheds light equivalent to a daylight spell, and the wielder gains a plus three sacred bonus to his CMD against disarm and sunder attempts directed at the Hope Knife. Wow. That is like a really powerful dagger

that we've just been, like, especially for undead creatures, because that ghost touch allows you to do that well. In Especially for undead creatures because that ghost touched us. In corporeal creatures. Time to fight some shadow rats. I'm going to hand it right to Lork.

Thank you. What was the Twitter follower? Colt Handy? Colt Handy. You get a bottle cap, sir. Well, actually, I gave him a bottle cap already

and he traded it in to get mentioned on the podcast. There you go. Perfect. Keeping the bottle cap economy rolling. Yeah. We got to keep the,

yeah. That's crazy. You guys, I forgot you never spellcrafted that. I know. That is so awesome. I just randomly came across that looking through things on, on,

on here. And I was like, Oh, that's, that's, I did. We ever, I couldn't remember if we ever checked it out.

I'm realizing how awesome it is that Lork has quick draw too, because if it's, it's like all of a sudden we get into a situation where you need it quick, it's like it doesn't take a round. So who's going to take it? Lork. Yeah, I'll just take it. You're the only one that would get in melee range. That would be in melee combat.

Here's a question. Who's going to hold on to or who has in their possession the Ghostlight Lantern? I have it. Galabras has it. And where is it? Is it like strapped to your back, in a bag? It's in my backpack. In your backpack.

Yeah. Okay. All right, so. Although actually now that we're here, I think I'm going to just take it out and wear it on my belt. Take it out and just kind of have it hanging from your belt. I also have to give something to this man over here, which I've been waiting for.

This is the other thing that you crafted. We never did. To me? To Lorkmasterflex? I'm giving it to Lork for being so brave in the battle and so giving with belts. I've actually been brewing this.

Now I'm the asshole. I've been brewing this since the Battle of Bloodmarch Hill. And what I hand to Lork is an ale with a drawing, crude drawing, but kind of dwarven runic-like of what looks like J'Sun on it. And it says J'Sun's Ale on it. Oh. on it and it says just sun's ale on it and it is an ice cap ale which is a rare and unusual brew fortified by a process of repeated partial freezing during which ice is continually skimmed off resulting in a draft with more than 10 times the alcohol content of ordinary ale

let's do it ice cap ale grants a plus two alchemical bonus to the drinker's strength and constitution for one minute as well as a plus four alchemical bonus on saving throws against compulsion and fear wow tired of rolling shitty and got a dead son try it just sunlight but this this this goes further into how baron baron psychology deals with trauma however after this initial yes but it gets better however after this initial surge of energy the drinker becomes fatigued and takes a negative four penalty on decks and strength based checks for an hour in addition the drinker loses all memory of events that transpired during the 1d4 minutes directly following consumption of a draft of ice cap ale. That's awesome.

He just gets blackout drunk. He gets into a bar fight. I make a blackout. I just figured that sometimes you just want to, in your own private times when you're upset and you're angry like we talked about earlier about what happened, you might want to rage out and forget that it happened. Oh, my God.

That's amazing. Thank you, dude. Drink that during a surprise round. Yeah. I mean, that'll stack, I think, with rage, too, because it's an alchemical bonus. So that's just insane. It's a drunken rageaholic.

Yeah. It's St. Paddy's Day at the bar. Yeah, totally. All right. So if anybody else doesn't have any, if you have no further business, we'll say that you bed down for the night. The crew, the remaining crew,

obviously, gosh, knock, dead. The remaining crew, they're feeling a little bit better, a little worse for the wear, but they're not partying tonight and gambling. Sort of a somber night and Halrex is still captaining the ship but you get the impression that Rag is going to take over

the next day none of this will really affect you because as the next day comes you take the Jolly Boat ashore before we leave I would like to say a little goodbye oh shit so Gormley goes up to Rag oh shit she says I guess this is goodbye for now little goodbye. Okay. Oh, shit. So Gormley goes up to Rag. Oh, shit. She says, I guess this is goodbye for now.

I guess so. It's been glad you made it. Well, I just wish we had some more time together. Well, stick around. I'll be back. I always come back. Troy is uncomfortable.

Troy is uncomfortable with this role playing. Excellent to know. And then Gormley just like, she takes one finger and just gives him a little caress under the chin and then leaves. Poor Rag. I guess he'll have to just go a couple more weeks uh without any action well he better stick around he better stick around yeah he still got the the journey to red lake fort

uh i got one more thing oh god pile them up i want to uh when we had first learned about going to Ghostlight Marsh, and the lantern and everything, it was like, you have to put a will-o'-wisp in the lantern, and we were asking what it is and everything. And we heard a lot of background about it, and I don't remember all of it, but I did know that Lurk wanted to know how to fight a will-o'-wisp if it came to that.

And so I would like to say that either during the will-o-wisp if it came to that and so i would like to say that either during the journey or this last night whatever you want to do i just want to take 20 on a knowledge dungeoneering check you can't do that you can't you can't take 20 you can't take 20 on those checks unless you are a bard and you're of a certain oh oh i never knew that i guess i'll just roll it and roll shitty is knowledge what's knowledge for an aberration

which knowledge dungeoneering that's dungeoneering okay yeah and it's like my highest knowledge okay try it as a ranger

I'll give you guidance oh that's good oh how about a bit of luck bit of luck there we go we can do this come on so plus one

oh god twenty one We can do this. Come on. So plus one. Oh, God. 21. Okay, 21 means you actually got, I can give you two pieces of information. Sweet. Because you got over five on the DC. One thing you know about them is that they are immune to all spells

and spell-like abilities that allow spell resistance. So they're immune. So see you guys later. I'll just sit this one out. Yeah. And the second thing you learn is that they have an exceptional ability known as natural invisibility. is that they have an exceptional ability known as natural invisibility.

So they can just, as a move action, just go invisible anytime they want. Oh, wow. But they can be hit by a regular attack if they're immune to magic? Invisibility obviously makes it very hard, but you can hit them? I think they're vulnerable to regular weapons.

Okay. I think. If they're immune to magic, they have to be vulnerable to something, right? You didn't happen to gain Glitter Dust since you leveled up, did you? In fact, someone did. You have Glitter Dust? Oh, perfect. I did take it.

I got an extra second level spell and I took Glitter Dust. That is the best spell in the book. That's amazing. I love Glitter Dust. Well done. We needed that versus Melira. Yeah. Okay. Cool. Can we take the

Jolly Boat of Short? Yeah. Alright, so you guys jump on the old Jolly Boat and make your way through the thick soup of the fog within Ghostlight Marsh. The fog's more for flavor. You can see everything

but let's say you can't really see too far ahead of you because it's a soupy atmosphere. You remember that Silvermane said once you find the marker, you're basically just supposed to head north and hopefully you'll eventually find your way through. And you already know that you need to find a will-o-wisp husk

to place in the ghostlight lantern in order to open the demi-plane known as the druidic vault of thorns. In purposes of what you're going to be dealing with here, as you start walking through, there's a lot of slow-moving streams, pools of stagnant water, scattered hummocks of mud and waterlogged reeds all along. It's pretty tough movement.

On average, the water that you walk through is four feet deep. Wow. So it counts as a deep bog. What does that mean? It means that it costs four squares of movement to enter a square that is water. That's the downside. And agile feet won't cover you there because you're basically wading through it. And so I guess Ben Vereen has to, like, swim?

He either has to swim or you have to carry him. Okay. But there are parts that are land. Oh, yes, there are parts that are land. But sometimes you have to walk through water. Yeah, I think it's like Vietnam with your rifle over your head. Right. Now, the bonus to it is when you are in the deep bog, you get cover.

Okay. Okay. So if you can swim, you can... Partial cover. Yeah, provide get cover. Okay. So if you can swim, you can... Partial cover. Yeah, provide partial cover. And it's four squares of movement to move through it. You can roll a swim check, but if you nailed a swim check, you're still

only moving at half speed or quarter speed. So it's up to you. Does water combat rules apply? No. Right? No. None of you are halflings or anything like that, so you wouldn't be underwater. So if we're swinging in a fight, we're swinging above the water. Swinging above the water, yes.

How deep is it? Four feet deep. I'm just about four feet. Right, so you're going to want to be on land as much as possible. Okay. Oh, I have the scroll of water walking. Now, this is something I mentioned to you guys in an email, but the listeners don't know.

I let you guys rest last night, and you became fifth level upon resting, and I let you regain all your hit points, as we've always done, all your spells and whatnot. But starting now, we're going to go by the actual Pathfinder rules for rest with a twist. The actual Pathfinder rules for rest are when you rest eight hours, you get all your spells, you get all your stuff like that if you meditate your abilities. But hit point wise,

you only gain back your level in hit points plus your con bonus. This is a huge difference. Now, obviously, if your cleric still has channels left at the end of the night, you can burn all those channels, try and get as many hit points as you can back, because you're only going to get your HD back, plus your con bonus now when you rest. So over a long period of time, that can just wear away at you. If you're out in...

It can be a game-changer. We've always done away with it, just because... If you're saying, okay, you're traveling over land and you don't have encounters or anything for weeks, you get everything back. But in terms of where we're actually tracking days, I think it's a lot more fun, adds a lot more danger to doing it by the real rules. As you guys are going through the swamp, these streams become wider,

and you're basically moving from a chunk of land that's 20 feet, 50 feet wide, 50 feet long, 20 feet wide, both going through water. Chunks of land going through water. After a few hours of slogging through this, up in the distance you hear like, cha-cha-cha-cha-cha-cha-cha-cha-cha-cha-cha-cha-cha-cha-cha-cha-cha-cha-cha-cha-cha-cha-cha-cha-cha-cha-cha-cha-cha-cha-cha-cha-cha-cha-cha-cha-cha-cha-cha-cha-cha-cha-cha-cha-cha-cha-cha-cha-cha-cha-cha-cha-cha-cha-cha-cha-cha-cha-cha-cha-cha-cha-cha-cha-cha-cha-cha-cha-cha-cha-cha-cha-cha-cha-cha-cha-cha-cha-cha-cha-cha-cha-cha-cha-cha-cha-cha-cha-cha-cha-cha-cha-cha-cha-cha-cha-cha-cha-cha-cha-cha-cha-cha-cha-cha-cha-cha-cha-cha-cha-cha-cha-cha-cha-cha-cha-cha-cha-cha-cha-cha-cha-cha-cha-cha-cha-cha-cha-cha-cha-cha-cha-cha-cha-cha-cha-cha-cha-cha-cha-cha-cha-cha-cha-cha-cha-cha-cha-cha-cha-cha-cha-cha-cha-cha-cha-cha-cha-cha-cha-cha-cha-cha-cha-cha-cha-cha-cha-cha-cha-cha-cha-cha-cha-cha-cha-cha-cha-cha-cha-cha-cha-cha-cha-cha-cha-cha-cha-cha-cha-cha-cha-cha-cha-cha-cha-cha-cha-cha-cha-cha-cha-cha-cha-cha-cha- As you walk forward, there is a plot of land that you can stand on, or there is a bog behind it that you can stand on.

Who's standing where? I'll stand on the land being short. That seems prudent. Okay. I'm going to be in the bog. Gormley's going to take the bog as well. Galabras and Gorm be in the bog. Gormley's going to take the bog as well. Galabras and Gormley in the bog. I'm going to stand on the land so that Benverine can stand next to me on the land.

So Baron, Lork, and you drop Benverine next to you or on the land behind you, Galabras and Gormley. That sound, that ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-ch starts getting closer. Up ahead, like on a chunk of land that is sort of northeast from where you're standing, you see the brush part, and you see the head of a snake, and then another head of a snake,

and then another head of a snake, and then another head of a snake. Five heads of a snake as a huge hydra. Oh, what? What? Oh, wow. Comes pouncing towards you. Oh, my God. No.

Roll for initiative. Oh, my God. Oh, wow. That is insane. This is the largest creature you've ever found. This is a huge creature. We could use a little nerdage to explain what a hydra is to the uninitiated. Because that is terrifying

it is really scary that is the actual artwork too on the figurine nerd skis got something plain to do it is time for

nerdage hydras are they're big fucking reptilian monsters with multiple heads uh any of you classics majors out there will know that uh hercules fought one and as one of his labors and uh and from that story you would know that once you cut off a head of a hydra two more grow to take its place or if you just watch Captain America Winter Soldier So I had a really great

I had a really great mnemonic in college For remembering the labors of Hercules in order That had something to do with eating mud Okay we don't have time for that What a jerk What a jerk I am actually interested So yeah, so this is...

One person and the nerds thrown at a time, apparently. Hey, I'm... It's my name in the song, okay? It's not your name. It's not Matthew's got some splainin' to do. Stay in your lane, Matthew. So yeah, so it's a physically huge... I'll take a picture of this.

It's a huge base of this creature. So I'm scared. picture of this. It's a huge base of this creature. I'm scared. You've never fought anything quite like this. They're also huge. They're really big. Have we mentioned that they're huge? What did everybody roll? Anybody over 34?

So just the Hydra. It's a set of a piece. We're having fun. Okay, no. Anybody over 20? 25. We're having fun. Okay, now, anybody over 20? 25. 25 for Barone. Okay.

19 for Gormley. 19 for Gorms. 16 for Lork and Benverine. Okay, and Gully? 18. Oh, okay, so Gorms, what did you roll, 19? 19. Okay.

Very good. Oh, boy. All right. It is Baron's turn. Remember, if you are in the bog, that first movement will cost you four squares. And any movement in the bog, you know, around the bog or anything, four squares of movement.

20 feet, essentially. What you gonna do, Baron, when a Hydra Comes running for you Uh Baron's Going to traverse towards The Hydra um but Um You can't really shoot Him cause he's so far away and I don't want to get in that

Water I don't want to get to the edge of the water Cause I don't want to be dragged in the water Um I'm gonna move uh 20 feet closer towards him the water because I don't want to be dragged in the water. S-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s- which is that, uh, if he gets within 20 feet of me, I'm going to shoot him. Shoot him. Okay. Gormley. Gormley's hair instantly grows up to 10 feet in length.

And as it's growing, it draws the wand of cat's grace. Oh, that is so cool. And I will use the wand of cat's grace on work. Ooh. Nice. I love it.

And cat's grace. That gives you a bonus to dex Plus four to dex Plus four to dex For how long? How long would the wand be? I don't know It would be whatever

Probably three minutes Yeah I would imagine Is it one minute per level? The spell? Cat's Grace? If it is yeah That's probably three minutes

While you guys talk about that One minute per level One minute per level So three minutes Oh and I have a move action Oh I'm sorry I'm going to step up one square onto the land. Drawing the wand, is that not a move action?

Or your hair did it? The hair did it instantly. Ah, okay. So you're going to move up onto the chunk of land that the rest of the party, with the exception of Galabras, is on. Galab, you're up. I am going to cast Shield of Faith on myself

and stride up onto the lands myself and stand next to Baron. Okay. Comes up, stands next to Baron. Lork and Benverine. I'm going to have Benverine stay and I'm going to have Ben Vereen stay, and I'm going to have Lork do his new ability of deadly aim. Now that I have the Cat's Grace, which boosts my ability to shoot at range,

I'm going to do a deadly aim rapid shot. Deadly aim rapid shot on the huge. Now, do I target heads or should I just shoot the body? Do I say? Knowledge check. What would it be? Knowledge arcana. Knowledge arcana.

Nope. I don't know anything about it. I should have rolled it. So you tell me what you want to do. Yeah, so I'm going to take aim at the bulk, at the body. At the body. Okay. So, okay, first shot.

And it is flat-footed. Natural 19, 25 to hit. Nice. That is a hit. Beautiful. And that is 10 points of damage. Whoa! Nice.

Yep, makes a big difference with that deadly aim. And then second shot, 24 to hit. Woo, 24 hits. Oh, man. We're starting off great. Do eight points of damage. Okay. And I'm going to tell Benverine to stay.

Benverine, stay! Okay. Good salvo. Opening salvo there for Old Lork, Iron Tusk. Okay, the Hydragins pouncing towards you Baron, you get your shot Oh, great So I'm going to rapid shot at him

Okay With my double-barreled pistol Wait, wait, wait You can't rapid shot if it's a Ready to action Okay Because it has to be a full attack action Okay

Oh, you're absolutely correct I moved So I'm going to deadly aim at him. Okay. That is a 14 against touch. 14 against touch. 14 against touch hits. Yes. There you go.

That is 8 points of damage. I'm sorry. That is 12 points of damage. Deadly sorry. That is 12 points of damage. Ooh. Deadly aim. Yeah. Good job. Okay.

It. Sorry. How tall is it, by the way? Very. You don't. I don't have the... It's like two Wilt Chamberlains stacked on top of each other.

Oh boy. It's coming right up next to us. So it charges where it has a swim speed. It can go straight through, and with its pounce ability, it then gets the bonus to hit. It is now going to make five attacks. Jesus.

God. First attack at Baron. 17. Miss. Second head at Baron. 23. Hit. Six points of damage. Second head comes in. Wait, does this mean there's five separate heads right now, is that right? Right now there's five heads.

Oh god. Third attack at Galabras. 22 to hit. Yeah, that just hits. 10 points of damage on Galabras, the third head gets Galabras. The fourth head, this thing has crazy reach obviously where it is huge.

Very, as I told Matthew. This one is on Lork, misses. And the last head, also on Lork, 14. Miss. Nice. Okay. Round

two. Barry. So, we were talking earlier about firing and melee am I currently under any attack of opportunity from where this guy is does he just threaten everywhere am I going to do that no matter what happens yeah I mean he's got

he threatens 10 feet around him all around him so even taking a 5 foot step I guess isn't going to matter for that Yeah, I mean, he threatens 10 feet around him, all around him. So even taking a five-foot step, I guess, isn't going to matter for that. Correct. He threatens 10 feet around him. So that five-foot step should take me out of his range. I don't think so.

No? No. All right, then I'm just going to stay where I am, and he's going to have an attack of opportunity for every fucking head. Maybe. Maybe not, but maybe. Quite possibly. Okay. He would have to have combat expertise.

Yeah. Combat reflexes. Combat reflexes, I'm sorry. So, step one. Cut a hole in a box. That's a good idea we could distract it oh really it's never seen anything like that in the swamp i am going to attempt to rapid reload and rapid shot this guy so filling one barrel and pulling one trigger after the other. All right. So attack of opportunity. Okay.

One head comes out. Ten. Misses. Yes. Nice. Nice. And I'm going to get up close and deadly on both of those. Nice.

Okay. Fire away. 13 against touch, AC. 13 against touch is a hit. Yes. 19 points of damage. Holy shit. What?

That's amazing. What in the world? That was deadly aim, right? Plus four from deadly aim Plus four from My dex bonus and plus one From point blank shot Did you add plus two from the Oh plus four is from your dex bonus

With the belt? Yep This is my second attack Hold the second trigger and say I don't like snakes Under your breath So it doesn't hear you Yeah It doesn't want

To antagonize you 22 to hit 22 That's touch again Yeah Yeah that's hits Oh Minimum damage

But it's still 11 points of damage Oh wow Oh baby Fantastic It's like hail Hydra But it's a hail Of bullets At a Hydra At a Hydra At Hail Hydra, but it's a hail of bullets.

At a hydra. At a hydra. Okay. Gorms. You said Knowledge Arcana? Yes. Knowledge Arcana. 16.

16. A 16 will tell you that, similar to what Skid said, that, similar to what Skid said, when a head is chopped off, two regrow in a certain amount of time. There are two ways to kill the Hydra. Fire. You can attack the body,

or you can cut off all its heads. And in order to cut off a head, you need a slashing weapon to sunder a head. Okay. So it's still an attack roll, though? Yes, it's still an attack roll. Not a combat maneuver? Correct. Okay. off a head, you need a slashing weapon to sunder a head. It's still an attack roll, though. Not a combat maneuver. Correct. You just sunder. You're just trying to cut off the head. That's all you know. Gormley is going to rise

into the air. She's going to levitate up. Okay. And once they... She's going to be very high since they are extremely accurate with the measurement. Okay, now does that provoke? Is she in within range right now?

Yeah. I think it's a move action. You're moving through threatened areas. Yeah, you are. Am I currently in a threatened square? Yes. All right. I can't.

The pawn is between me and him. Yeah, I'll do it. Okay. It attacks. It does have combat reflexes. Okay. So it gets multiple attacks of opportunity. 18 on the die. It hits Gorms for five points of damage.

Now, wait. How many are you limited to? How many attacks of opportunity? It's your dex bonus. It has to do with your dex bonus. Correct. So now I'm up in the air. You are up in the air.

Great. Gormley's going to cast Lightning Bolt. On the body. On the body. So that's five. Whoa! Two, three, four. There you go.

Five D6 damage. Holy shit. She's coming into her own here. 16 damage, and you get a reflex save. Okay. All half. 16, DC 16. 26.

All right, so you take eight damage. Eight damage. Electrical damage. Eight damage. Electrical damage. Okay. Good job, Gorms Calabris. Electro! I'm going to go big.

Go big or go home. Please don't go home. I need to. No, I'm going to stay for the rest of the recording. I'm going to try to crush its body with the Hammer of Oskroth and fail to do so. Okay, giant Calabras swings away and misses. Swing and a miss. Lork and Ben. Yeah, now that Calabras is all up in it, I don't want to take the reduced attack for the range.

So I think I'm going to try to... I'm going to quick draw. I'm going to drop the bow, quick draw Screed's Falch, and I'm going to try to cut a head off. Fuck it. Yeah, do it. Okay. See what happens.

So you are attempting to sunder the head, which is an attack roll. It's a regular attack roll? Yeah, regular attack roll against its armor class. Okay. And then it has X amount of, each head has X amount of influence. Okay, I'm going to do a power attack then

with the Falch. Miss, unless a 10 is a hit. It is not. All right, and then Ben Vereen will Full attack action This thing Ben attack And it First attack hits

Natty 18 On the die Natty 18 3 points of damage with a With a claw 3 points of damage okay a claw. Three points of damage, okay. Second claw, miss, and then a bite. Thirteen to hit the body.

Thirteen misses. As Ben Vereen attacks the body, all the heads begin to sink and fall like it's dying. Wow. Whoa. heads begin to sink and fall like it's dying. Wow. And then it reawakens

fast healing. Ah. Ben took it below zero. Fast healing brings it back up, so you guys have almost killed it. Oh, wow. Courtesy of Baron and Gordly. Wow. Kind of like lightning bolts in a film.

Yeah. I read a lot about Hydra fights, and they either go really easily for the PCs or they're TPKs. In this case, you guys are obviously badass, but it does have five more attacks before it inevitably falls to a gunshot from Baron. So let's go.

First attack on Ben Vereen. 17. I'm going to bolster Companion. Yeah. Do it. Boom. So it no longer hits. So you play a little music and he dances.

Yeah, I'm like, Watch out! And then he dodges out of the way. Second attack is at Lork. 21 to hit. That is a hit. Giant Hydra head. Something out of Dark Souls.

Just... Eight points of damage. Third attack at Galabras. 16. Miss. Fourth attack at Baron. Miss. Fifth attack at Baron.

And its last attack! Also a miss! And top of round three, Baron's up. Yes. Fifth attack at Baron. It's last attack. Also a miss. Hey. And top of round three, Baron's up. Baron's going to free action reload. Okay. It goes to attack of opportunity. Misses.

So the question is, free actions, can I do both barrels? They're free actions. Like, I'm not loading up six barrels. It should be fine. Yeah. With the alchemical. It's a free action. You can do both barrels? They're free actions. Like, I'm not loading up six barrels. It should be fine. Yeah. With the alchemical cartridge. It's a free action. You can do as many as you want.

Okay, so I'll rapid shot him. Okay. And I will say right now that if he dies, I'll shoot it both times. Whatever. Oh, that'll do it. 22 to hit.

22 hits. 19 damage. And the Hydra died. Fifth level. Yeah, seriously. Yeah, I mean. That lightning bolt. It seems a lot scarier than it is.

And you've got to think, party makeup has a huge thing to do with it. When you've got a gunslinger that's doing 19 damage against touch AC for a huge magical creature, you're going to take it out pretty easily. But if you've got a different party makeup, it's a very difficult fight. This actually reminds me. As the Hydra falls, Baron blows the smoke off both of those barrels,

and he turns to the group and says, Fellers, we're going to be fighting a lot of magical creatures here. I think it's time to divvy up this potion of Burning Arrow. We have a potion of Burning Arrow which is capable of enchanting

50 projectiles with an additional 1d6 worth of damage, and I propose that we split it amongst our crossbow bolts, arrows, and bullets. So that we each get about... Where did we get that? We've had it for a while. I can't remember.

And how long does it last? Forever. It's just permanent? It just permanently changes. I mean, you expend the ammunition. It's expended when you shoot the ammunition. So we'd each get about 12 to 13. Sweet.

So if we fight a magical creature or something that has crazy DR, we can use our fire, use our fire stuff to get it. Awesome, man. So you guys, you guys have your big,

you guys have your big battle on the boat. Um, Galabros almost dies. Uh, and, uh, a lot of bad shit almost went down. You kill an innocent man,

although you don't know that. Uh, you finally, uh, get a chance to rest and you wake up feeling invigorated and stronger and more powerful and more magical in some cases as you level up to fifth level. You trudge through this swamp, this very eerie swamp,

and the first thing you come across is this scourge of Ghostlight March, a giant five-headed hydra, and you handle it very easily, very nonchalantly. Kill it in under three rounds, and the thing falls into the water. Splash. Starts fizzling out, and all around you, you just hear whispers in the semi-darkness.

You hear all these whispers, and that combat seemed just a little too easy, and you can only wonder what else this ancient marsh, where not even orcs will travel into out of fear, what lies beyond, has to hold. And you have a week to think about what you're going to face next time. Great. Fuck you, Troy. Fuck you. Outro Music