Battle? Actual combat? Well… dice are rolled, blood is spilled, steam is…. released
Knights of the Night
242_DnD-5E_These_Magely_Hands
[music] Hello, and welcome to Night to the Night Actual Play podcast. This D&D 5th edition adventure, Heart of Fire, was written and run by your DM Mike. And now, please enjoy episode 242, these Majorly Hands actual play begins immediately. [music] I'm Mike, your DM for the campaign, Heart of Flame. Starting on my right is... I am Jim playing the Daeden Fighter, Mountain Dwarf, Runehammer Clan member, still flushing out the character. This is Bob playing Gillig, Ranger of Torm. I'm Tom playing Dally, a level 3 sorcerer, Tinkerer, Forest Gnome Refugee, and adopted daughter of Thirl Runehammer. I'm Scott playing Dane Runehammer, Paladin of the Guide Torm, a member of the Runehammer Clan. I'm Thomas playing Barrow, the Dorden Fighter, part of the Runehammer Clan as well. John playing Curth, the Road Wizard, Ward of the State. When last we left, your group had arrived in the foothills. Following the road, you had encountered a returning patrol of dwarves. You rendered them aid and healing, doing your duty to your brethren, and also living up to the standards of your clan, your hearth and your god. They had been wounded because they had been way laid by a roving party of red tribe orcs, which they... Well, they did take losses and they didn't get hurt. They returned and destroyed each of the orcs to a creature. And then burned their bodies behind them. They had since been making their way directly to the city. So they didn't have any new information about terrace farms. However, farther south on your way to the terrace farm, you encountered odd tracks that you investigated, which you suspected were the shambling tracks of a undead being, and that led you to a discovery in this meadow. In this meadow, in the foothills, where you found what we were calling a blackened circle. And you had performed various examinations, both physical and magical. And everyone kind of exchanged some ideas about what they thought might have been going on. It was approximately three o'clock in the afternoon. We will say that Vantesh and Gellig are... Well, Gellig, we shall say, is maybe on a perimeter right now, kind of keeping an eye out for things going on around you. Because he said he was guarding the woods a bit. Or at least trying to keep a weather eye out, looking for possible ambushes and/or sign of anything else that might be wrong. I did say before we left last week that I was drawing my sword and advancing, but not all the way in. I'm letting him do what he does best. But I want to be close enough that if something turns south, if something starts to roll downhill, I can easily interject myself into the danger and make sure he comes away safely. For Gally, I believe also for Dame and for Curth, who represent the spellcasters here, we had already talked about some of the features of this blackened circle had. That it was a about a five foot diameter blackened circle where the ground is charred and popped, dried and almost like a black crumbly glass type, as if it's been scoured down to the bare earth and then charred. And then outside of that circle of blackness is a ring of green, growing, sprouting, living grass that is kind of healthy and more vibrant, if you will, than the surrounding area. And then outside of that ring was piles of what looked to be charred ash, like charcoal, white powdery or black, with little bits of blackened bits in it, that everyone presumed was... The remnants of them. Right. And in the midst of all that, the afternoon sun was being down to you guys, and since this is a lower latitude for you, it's a little bit warmer for you, kind of a grey afternoon overcast. You were surrounded by not the tall trees of the forest, but the sparse woods, you're kind of in a wide meadow, kind of nestled between the foothills here, behind you into your left, which would be east. The mountain range is blue, and that's the direction where you know that the terrorist farms are built into the side of the mountains, and that's where you want to probably begin to go back to. And then curve boldly crosses the circle and steps into the blackened center. Going right now, door is gone. Do I have that correct? Yeah, okay. Yes, I remember last, left. Didn't you pick something up? I had found something in there, and I tried to leave it out with my mage hand. Okay, what you find is the, first of all, the ground kind of cracks under your feet, almost like you're stepping on gravel. And that's when he goes over the white charcoley stuff, or... When he walks into the blackened circle. The blackened circle, right? So the inner part of the... He's all the way in the inside. Okay. And just outside of the charcoal area, watching him intently. He does not seem to have any type of effect. Your divine senses don't detect anything extraordinary. There's no flash of light, but you do see him bend down. And are you using anything to dig around the soil or using your hands? Mesa hand. Mage hand. That's right, that's right. It wasn't just these mage the hand. That's right, that's right. Just to be clear. So, and remind me, that is a cantrip, or is that a... It's a cantrip, but it's a tricked out cantrip. My point is that you don't need any, it's a gat will. Yeah, you're not using a slot. It is a vocal and somatic component. Okay. That's it. You see, or hear, kirth mutter something under his breath. You see this like sickly little withered limb. And what happens is a tiny object, maybe the size and shape of a coin. Your magic pulls it out of the charred ground. I'm looking at it. Alright, so it hovers up to your eye level and you examine the coin? Yes. Please give me a... Oh, okay. Our information, our cano. I haven't had proper training in this yet. So, you're not proficient in it? Correct. But I'm not bad at it either. Caution kirth says Dane Hammer from Distant. That was nice. I got a six. Okay, what you see before you is a charred and scarred copper piece. It looks like a normal coin. It has no evil, it doesn't seem to convince any type of power. Dally is probably leaning so far forward. My great sword kind of goes out to the side and taps her on the chest and pushes her back to an upright position. Yeah, it's your sword that's holding me from falling forward because I'm leaning trying not to... What languages do you know? Warfish. Common. Thieves can't. That's all. Okay. It's in Thieves can't. You see that the coin looks like it was crafted or minted and it bears Elden characters on it. You can't read it but you should be able to recognize the Elden script. Okay. Then the coin goes ting and flies into the air up over and over and over and then he snatches out of the air. He puts it in his pocket hand. Just a coin. He all were scared. Yeah, it's pretty. And at the center of a magical clusterfock. I'd like to perform just some quick magic on it to make sure there's nothing evil and dark about it. Please. Not in this realm, in this circle. In this charged circle of dead thing. You are overreacting my friend. I'm sure I am but I better say it's in sire caution. All right. As long as we agree. I found it. Yes, you found it but caution is the best option here. I have divine sense. Are you using your mage hand or are you handing over this coin to the holy warrior? I'm giving it to him. Just handing it. Okay. From flesh to flesh. Yes. Yeah. I'll handle it. Okay. And I then do divine sense for the second time today. Which is the total amount of times I can do divine sense in a day. Which lets me know if there is anything celestial, fiend or undead in relation to this particular object. Right. To all these eyeballs about a half an inch away from the coin. Everywhere he moves it. Well, actually, that's a good deal. Will you give me a intelligence? I can't roll. Did you speak Eldish? Yeah. Be no. I speak no more Storfish. I think that Vantesh speaks elvish. Of course. I'm not positive but I think that he may. But depending on how you want to listen to his community. We might have gained that. Four. Eighteen plus three. So twenty one. You see that it's a fairly common coin. You've seen these before. But having elvish coinage is still pretty rare. You do notice that the marks on it. In addition to the elven script. You suspect that it is a. Like a component for us. You suspect that it's a kind of focus. Okay. And the fact that it's copper and then it's a coin. It means basically what you've seen on the circle. It does have a residue of. It smells like magic has been pushed. Yeah. Your chaos magic is kind of tingling a little bit here. Where magic has been pushed through it but it hasn't consumed it. And you think the fact that it wasn't retrieved or it's just like laying there in the center. That it was used as a focal point or a focus for whatever this spell. And you've already talked about this last time. You know that whatever enchantment or spell that was used to create this and whatever this circle is that you're looking at is magic that is beyond your abilities. And anyone's abilities that you've referred up for quite a while. You just, it's way beyond me. You're looking at me. I'm just a tinker. I don't like magic. So this. Well. Yeah. That's right. Keep reading. Okay. That's fine. Well you're inherently magical too. Yeah. You're doing that. The second use of Divine Sense gives me no additional information about the point. Yeah. It was a good idea. So I give you inspiration for using your abilities. And I gave a curve for using your mage hand in this precarious situation. Potentially. I will give inspiration to you as well. So can I have it back? So yes. Absolutely. I want him though that a lot of chaos has been pushed through there. I don't know if you dwarfs are going to like that. Whatever. Throw another coin in the middle of that pit and see if it burns the whole entire thing to the ground. I don't think so. How do you throw your coins in there? I didn't say I had one like that. I'm saying that one. Yeah. Be careful. Okay. Thank you. Let's move on. So for now though Vantesh seems to be lost in thoughts. And he says I need a moment to pray. And he takes a knee and begins a contemplation. He is God of the world and the circle. And his belly. Before he starts I ask Vantesh if perhaps he could commune with form on the pathway to our destination. And I'll take the lead for the moment although inside but if I start to surface and I start to get a bit nervous about taking over the lead of the group in the sense of I'm not going first. I'm still keeping the same marching order. I'd like him to come with us if he feels the need to commune. That's fine. But we have a mission here and I think he would feel that we need to continue moving forward. He agrees. I mean you think that makes perfect sense. But when you look around you notice that you do not see Gillard. Gillard has vanished into the trees. That's just his job though. It's his job. He's scouting out the path ahead. So we continue on with the marching order we had before which we'd now, I believe, put Kirth in the first spot as we head towards the farmstead. As they start to get ready and march off, Gillard has a quick investigation in the entire area to make sure we didn't miss anything like that. Some pertinent clue. So that would be investigation or that would actually be investigation? Okay. Let's do an investigation. Well I mean that's what I was. Well hey I wanted to do that a while ago. I'm dreaming that. I'm not good at that. I let them handle what they need to handle. Okay well let's take some time here. You could even be inspired in your investigation. Let's say it's about a quarter after three. It's about a quarter after three in the afternoon right now. Okay. So as you guys start to pack some Gillard on. That would be a 16 on the roll to see if I see her through you going to. Now he's kind of disappointed in this place. There's serious magic mojo. Only a calling. Disappointed. Very disappointing. Check the area. I'm looking for different things like scraps of clothing. Maybe something else that was dropped. I talked to any of the squirrels that are around. I'm the same with squirrels. Have you seen anybody else like us or even a footed type of animal? So what happens is in one of the trees above you you hear a chittering little voice and it is a squirrel. Well compared to you it's a pretty big squirrel. But it's pretty small. In a normal sized black squirrel the animal comes down and flashes its tail and chatters at you a little bit. I feel it's a little bit of smell. We'll go here actually. I don't know. We'll communicate squirrel. Squirrel. You know that is a hesitation. As much as you can talk to them you know that these type of animals have very short attention spans. Probably get along. Right. So you know that you only have one maybe two questions to ask. So it's something you do complex slices. You were not talking. This isn't Disney. I asked if the squirrel was here at the beginning before the circle was here. It's a little educated. It runs around a circle chatters at you, stands up, lays flat and you interpret that as yes. And then I asked what the person looked like that was here before us. The animal. The squirrel chatters in here and runs up the tree. It runs up the tree. How does that mean? Does that mean elf? No it means it's scared. I want to ask the ranger what scares squirrels but I can't find them. Bears. Wolves. And then dragons. Lots of goblins. Elves. They always run away from them. And then in the distance to yourself you suddenly hear an echo. Distant but not that distant. The roar of many voices snarling up in frenzied rage. Ooh. Ooh. Orcs. That's a squirrel. He's doing imitation of Orcs. Clearly. He could throw their voices. He could throw their voices. They're really good at imitations. No wait. Wait. That was birds. So you hear Ethan Goblins found the multitude of voices? Ooh. Ooh. Orcs. That's a squirrel. He's doing imitation of Orcs. He's doing imitation of Orcs. He's doing imitation of Orcs. He's doing imitation of Orcs. Clearly. He could throw their voices. He could throw their voices. They're really good at imitations. No wait. Wait. That was birds. Both recognize the sound as Orcs. And they are shouting in Blood Challenge. Now Blood Challenge would mean that they're fighting amongst themselves. They haven't recognized on the earth. They have. Or is that they're laying down the gauntlet. Complicates. No. Basically this is something that they would... You've heard this before and it's maybe even affected you before. Or you've encountered this where this is part of their... Challenge to the world that here they come. And they're going to take what they want and kill what they want. And they're on their way. Okay. It's a way of striking fear when they're ready. From the south where we heard the noises. That's where we're headed. Is there trees? Is there forest land between us and... You right now are in... I mean we're opening. You're in the ghetto. Right. But in the foothills that you are in are forested. Deli asked him. Do they yell like that just all the time? Or when they see something and they're coming to attack it? They're coming. We need to take defensive measures. So I'm looking quickly around to spy what I believe would be the most defensible position. Would be back where we came over like at the top of a hill. So that we have a height advantage and they have to charge up at us. Is there... Would it be towards them where there's heavy trees or some type of tree cover? What would be our best defensive position? Well I guess... I have an insight. You haven't really seen them to observe them. So you don't know their numbers, you don't know their makeup. One would think that the nature of their cry, you could tell three works giving a blood challenge as opposed to 20, as opposed to 200. In a vague sense. I'm not asking for specific numbers. Just there should be some... You estimate about a dozen voices. Okay. You think it's a full rate. And unfortunately, Gellig who would be ideal for this is still in the trees. Up in the trees, right. And a couple different tactics that you've encountered for dealing with them. These are your mountains, these are your hills. You can find the meadows, you can find in the hills, you can find in the trees. Right, obviously. But there is also the advantage of having higher ground or having cover. Are we closer to higher ground or cover? You have high ground right now unless they come into the meadow, but they are coming from... Well the sound is coming from the south. Which is where trees are. And there is, yeah, it's not a heavy forest. It's a sparse forest right now. So if we back up, we're on a hill. I tell everyone in a loud, hopefully commanding voice that it doesn't have any shaking in it or nervousness. Because I've lost people in the past and I don't want to lose them again. To retreat back to the top of the hill, take up defensive positions, get ranged weapons out if you have them. Let's go. All right. As far as we know, when we hear that shot, does that mean they spotted us and they're coming? Or does that just mean they're in the area and they're looking for something to do? That means they spotted something. It's a challenge. Something has made them mad. Mad enough to declare a blood challenge. So most likely, this is part of what works. Fun the burnt body works and then they're pissed off and they're going up or whoever killed them. Makes sense. And I guess they have an inspiration for his... You're back to us. Exactly. I lead, hopefully, our small group of travelers, adventures to a high point, at which point I pull out my arranged weapon, which is a javelin, not much, but what are you going to do? You're good at it. Pretty good. Okay. And get ready for it. We need to take pictures to post. So what you see before you is an approximate map of the meadow. How long is each turn? Five seconds. Ten seconds. Six seconds. Ten turns in a minute. All right. You're working mainly. You guys could be wherever you were around this and when you hear... Right. You can tell me where you want to be. I thought it was bigger than that. It's a five foot wide with a thing around and then ash around that. Ash around that. Right. Yeah. I'm outside the circle. I can be. So I'll be like... I sense the hill right behind us and tell everyone retreat to the hill and set up defenses. You can take higher ground now. Yes. As you look at this, I'm going to just give you a brief description of what some of these features are so you understand. We have tall trees. What you have here are some rock out cravings like shale because it is a mountainous area. And what these will become even for dwarves will be considered difficult terrain. Oh, that's not the hill that I'm going to stand on. These lines here represent the grade of the hill. So it's higher up here, lower down there. What about these rocks? Are they boulders kind of thing? No, they're not boulders. They're shale. Yeah, they're like loose terrain, loose rocks. Right. It's just considered rough or difficult terrain. So what that means is when you try to go through it... It takes twice as long. It just takes right little extra movement. So 5 foot of movement actually is... I think it just takes an extra 5 foot of movement to get into it. So when you move out of it, you... Right. Okay. So... I would like to start in a circle. So you have heard the roar in the distance. You hear the sound of many boots. The jangle of gear. They're not trying to be stealthy. And do you hear what sounds to be a large troop heading in your direction? Okay. Do we take initiative yet? We have not taken initiative yet. So, Kurt, you have... 17. Barrow? Two. Dane? 16. Dally? 20. And unnatural. It's fine. They've got 17. Do you want to roll for Gilligan since he should be here shortly? I will roll for Gilligan. Actually, Dane, why don't you roll for Gilligan? I don't know what his... I think he's pretty fast because he's a ranger. So I'll just... We'll just stay with the bait. We'll always go from there. Oh, sorry, Gilligan. Three. There you go. He's probably got like a five. I'm very sure it's not a minus. So... Well, hello. Don't we move? Yeah. You hear people coming up the hill through the woods. Right now, the woods are still too thick. You're farther down the slope for you to really pick out individual numbers. We're going to start with Dally. You see shadows and shapes kind of moving in the afternoon light. What you believe your friends told you were orcs. Have you ever encountered orcs before? Never. You guys sure what to expect? You've heard them described before. Smelly and large and big pointy teeth. Yeah, but that's Gilligan. Right. Good point. So... Large... Well, to me, I default down to after Dang. I'm just waiting for him to tell me what to do because I'm kind of hiding behind him, but I'm not taking a turn. I'm waiting. So you're taking like a ready action? No, I'm actually moving my initiative down to right after Dang. Alright, so I'm going to make you a 15 now. Okay, she's no tactician. Kurt, what do you do? Kurt reaches down to the broken earth in the center of the ring. Drags his thumb in a particular shape and some rumbling starts to sound in the ground. Now, that's an action. You get a move action as well, correct? I don't know. Do you need to be there for your cantrip? Yeah. I said. Okay. So you were casting a spell and it's called what? Well, do I have to tell anyone? It's called... What does it tell me? It's fine or illusion. So I understand what you're doing. I'm creating sound effects. Okay. And what sound effects are you creating? It's going to persist for rounds. It can last up to a minute. Does it have a range or anything? Yeah, it can be up to as loud as a screen. Okay. It's starting out, the ground's rumbling, but then I'm going to begin another illusion that's rocks are going to come out of the ground and they're going to be grating together and it's going to be a giant goal. Okay. This is fine. I'm going to scare the bejesus off. Yeah, I have permit to move all that out. So, next would be... We've been ordered to fall back to higher up the hill. I'll be the last to move back. Last. So you move in front of... Cirth. Do I have that right? Right. Okay. You notice that inside the woods, kind of concealed behind the trees. Although you said it wasn't that thick, so you probably can see some shapes and shadows moving through the undergrowth. No, that's accurate. You guys can all see these hulking, dark shapes. You also see kind of in the gloom of the forest. On the shade there, you see kind of the pin points of light reflecting their eyes as they all look and you guys do a quick count and you see almost a dozen pairs of eyes. And then you start hearing this sound of like they're clapping their shields together. And... Gellig knows or suspects he knows what this might mean because you know their ways, right? They're a favorite enemy of yours as a ranger. Yes, I speak the language as well. Oh, you do? Yes. Great. Well, it's good to go ahead and sell your tongue. So... No, they actually use the Dwarven alphabet. No, they just sell that too. Would... You be known to be a tribe? Have you made any? I've come across them. I would imagine. Okay. Does anyone else know work? No. No. Language? No. I'm going to trust you guys in that thing. But you hear this very deep, ugly voice kind of shout out. It says sound clearly like orders. The cadence of the shields keeps on going more and faster. And it's kind of raising the hair in the back of your necks. This is possibly a rite of passage and a challenge is about to be issued. You see this enormous orc come out how tall. He is three whole doors. He is huge. He is wearing, well, actually comes into the light just underneath the trees. The ones that you can see right now, those two of them. One is clearly older. He's got stars all over him. His armor and the clothing he's wearing has been turned red from countless. Well, blood. Basic rite. It's been splashed on frequently. You can also see that the armor is wearing this chainmail that looks pretty grimy and dirty but still appears to be dwarven. A chainmail. You know that this is the red tribe orcs and part of their signature is that they get their name because they like to give them the blood of their enemies and their primary enemies or the dwarves. And to them, it's their purpose, their desire, their religion. I don't say religion, that's the one. It could be an amalgamation of several dwarves, farmers, that then fit him because it's lame and many orcs. That's a good way. It's been cash work. But to them, it's a trophy, a badge of honor to have your weapons and your armor taken from your foes. And everyone knows that the best armor and weapons in these mountains come from the dwarves. So that's where they, to them, it's also a signature of their power and their prowess. You also notice that he's got like almost like a sash, gunky, bloody model. It looks like a bunch of grey and red moss that's been draped across his shoulder. And you realize that the sash is actually the woven beards and moustaches ripped from the heads of the faces of dwarves. This is the world of darkness. It's awesome. I'm loving it. Is this a fashion show or a comeback? Let's go. Okay, so the younger orc there, he is carrying a spear and the big one, he growls this horrible sounding speech. I'm not going to do it because my throat's starting to get sore. And Gelly understands, and what this orc is saying is that the leader, he goes, "I MOVE!" And I challenge dwarf! Good one. Whoever is brave enough. Who accepts? And then you can translate that to your friends. Am I with the party? I thought it was... Yeah, you can show up here because you were actually... You were taking a week behind a tree. Should we read it to me so I was going to have you kind of try doing it less than protecting them? May I look to Van Tesh at this point who is still with us, I believe? And simply just make eye contact with them and I kind of, with my eyes, say, "This is me. No one else is going to get hurt. No one else is going to get injured. I'm putting no one else's lives at risk but my own." I think it's my initiative, NAC 16. I think it's where we're left off at 17, didn't we? You were left at Theadon and then it goes there. What does Thane net? Thane is 17 first, 3rd to 17 second. Oh, he went, though. He did the ash thing. Oh, that's right. He did the rumbling spell, right? Right. Here we are, Thane. Actually, here we are, Thane. If I may, unless anyone, I mean, many gaming real quick, because anyone object because I don't want to steal anyone else's thunder, but this is what my character would do. There's no way. My character would probably walk in the image. Like, "No, this is me." You're like, "No, this is me." For this sense, because I'm the pal then, and the leader of this expedition, I should be the one who takes the biggest risk. Well, I was trying to scare them away with a 15 foot goal. Well, I think that it is my belief that any type of magic or any type of instigation is going to cause them to attack us in mass. And that greatly increases the chance of someone getting hurt, and someone getting injured. They want to take a bit of time. Actually, I want Gellick to have a chance to ask some questions here, because he's the expert on org. So, this challenge is just one of them challenged. You've seen this before, and right now, they have challenged the dwarves to a 1v1 hand-to-hand combat. And once that's over, what happens? You know that while this is their tradition, you also know that they're a slight bunch, and you suspect that half the time, they'll honor this fight, but once this fight is over, all bets are off, and they can all attack, or what have you. It depends on how it goes. It depends on how it goes. But you hate them behind them for 300 years. You know that you guys are outnumbered almost two to one, or even more. Well, I've fought against them before, and these are younger orcs, for the most part. Well, from what you see there, you suspect that if they're this far into your territory, that it's going to probably be a mix of old and young. They're fairly competent. They're ferocious. They're barbaric. They're not great fighters, but they're... I guess what it comes down to. What are the odds? What are the odds? There's only, what? Six of us, seven of us? Six. They outnumber us two to one. Are we going to be massacred if we attack, or is it going to be a tough fight? From Gellick's point of view. You don't have to... No, from your point, you're 300 years old. The big one there, he's a war chief. So, he can't give you pause. The other ones, well, you guys have made your life killing them, so they don't particularly screw you, but they're numbers. And if you work together as a team, it should be fine. If you're all trying to fight individually and do your own plan, it might go to hell in the hand basket. Well, if a healer or not, I am a healer. Do you have a couple of healers? I have the use of healing. Yes, I have the divine... Unfortunately, it'll probably... Oh, deck is kind of in the middle of a... A lot of the moment. It's an existential crisis. Plantation. Is it Deli's turn? Can't you make a turn? It's... I don't want to take my turn. No, I'm sorry, but I just wanted to give Bob a chance to get some information. So, what do you tell me? Because that's all great, but I'm not going to met a game. I need to know what you're saying to me. Well, he issued us a challenge. If you feel up to it, then I think you should take that challenge out. By the way, what's your god of? Torn. The god of courage and the god of self-sacrifice, which is why I'm saying... I draw my sword and, like, point at the orc that wants to challenge, so they get the idea that I'm in. Then I turn to my comrades and say, "Listen, prepare yourselves." You can concentrate and keep your cantrip going. Do it. Get your weapons ready. I think killing the one will do the job. If not, then we're going to be in for round two after it's over, but I think I can protect us with one kill. At least, according to Gilligan's take on the situation. They have no honor. Yes. But this has worked in the past. Occasionally. Except for the ones that didn't and died and never told the story. Fuck that shit. Dally slapped over knees. Not those both of us. I grabbed Dally. You might serve it out and an armor just goes out. Then it comes out. There's steam pump. But you're not in control of this. You're not going out there by yourself. You are not going out and fighting 12 wars. You listen now or I'll send you home. Good. Take me home. Right now. I actually get my holy symbol out and say a few words to Torm, and I touch her forehead and do a protection from evil spell on her before I go into single combat. Now, before you were using those were two of your abilities and that spells, right? Right. Yeah, exactly. What Dally did was a mage armor. He slapped key points and this armor just slapped out and steam came out a little bit and he was like. Flocking into place. Fuck that shit. No. This is what happened last time we lost people. I'm sorry. This exact situation happened where there was a great warlord that challenged one of you to a duel. Dally? Barrow wants to die. All of us together can take that big warlord out. The rest are cannon fodder. They're not said so. Gailig did not say so. Let's see how this goes. Barrow would love her. So I'd like to do protection from evil on her so she's protected for this battle in case I fall. Okay. That's very important. It's one action. Okay. So I point to them. I give a pep talk to my people and I press the holy symbol to her forehead. Okay. So all of a sudden the shield bashing stops and the big guy basically saying, well, but it's like, bah, bah, bah. I was standing there. I was standing. Barrow would like to offer. He's done the one on one combat thing with a warchief before. When the warchief is there, it works because it's cowardly to back off after a single combat challenge. You block like chickens. Fights. Or die. They can handle it. They'll be a battle after this. Don't worry. I'm just playing my character who lost people so I don't want you to think that I'm trying to take center stage. It's just what he would do in the situation. There's no way you'd let you guys fight for the attitude. So what I'm going to do in this situation, it sounds like you're accepting this challenge of honor. Yeah. I don't have a choice. In my mind. No, that's right. I'm going to suspend the current initiative order because we're going to have a different situation. Who is it? Challenger? Yeah, the young one. The young one. I tell him, we accept your challenge. Step forward. This tall war chief kind of clears you like, mmm, perhaps I've heard of you. But anyway, he points to everyone else at the dwarves and back off. Which I couldn't agree with more. Yeah. Except if you need to stay there. Yeah. Delling knows that you need to give 30 or 50 feet. How many of them have ranged weapons? They all have javelins. Cowards. For your point thrones. And they all have different kinds of battle axes and great axes. And you notice that almost all of them are dwarven made. You can tell by looking at these numbers that these people have taken the lives of many dwarves. May I, as I slowly walk towards the center to do battle? May I cast sacred weapon? It's one of my sacred oath of devotion on my great sword, which is what I'm carrying. May I, you know, whisper a words and... What does this spell say? Is it an ability that just automatically picks any of that? Must use natching. So, as I'm walking up, I'd like that. Do you want my actions? I'm walking towards it. I'm praying, actually, to torment this point for strength during the battle. For one minute, add charisma modifier to attack rolls. Your weapon glows bright. 20 foot distance. Dim, 20 foot distance. Weapon becomes magical for purposes of that thing. Who am I fighting? You're fighting this one a little. Not the big one? Not the warchief. Okay. I was okay with either one. No, but the warchief has already earned his... Yes. His armor. All right. Well, there's two of them moving forward. Unless someone's stopping the dally is right by the side of... Well... Dang. Dally's just sucking. No. Dear gosh. Girl, will you please go take cover? Yeah. Send me home. You're well protected, though, right? Yeah. The gimer and protect me. I don't need to second. Okay. I stand at the cusp of where I have it. I find it very true. All right. Seriously. Unless someone's stopping Dally, she is going. Someone stop Dally, please. Girl. Dally, do you know that this is now a matter of honor, and not just the orcs, because you get careless with the orcs honor, but they will honor this thing. But now he's accepted the challenge. You know that as a paladin, that's kind of his honor at stake now. Tarot is cag robbed. So... Okay. Anyway, Mo looks at the rest of the dwarves other than the big sword. Are we supposed to... I asked Dally if my breath is on walking past him. Are we supposed to bring a second? No. Because I had never done this. Well, how come he is? He's the neutral. He's the neutral. Yeah. Neutral. Fuck that. They're fucking orcs. I can take him. Is he still moving forward with him? No. Well, you guys haven't moved back yet. So I'm giving you this opportunity. I'm sorry. If you look carefully, we're farther back than they are. Yeah, but we don't know where the battle's supposed to happen. It might be happening right here, and we're supposed to be back. I'm stopping right where I'm stopping. We're at an advantage. But these guys are all gonna get far away. We are farther back from our champion than they are. Okay. Guys, move back here, and you guys move off the road. Okay. The challenge has been accepted. You've agreed to come into the middle and fight. Okay. Dean has come forward. Okay. Kurt? Do you want to see it or no? No. Gallic has recommended that you move, but you're the boss of your character. So do you see there? I grudgingly give it up. I can't help if I'm back there. What's the range on? Whatever you're doing. Yeah, you can rumble if you need to. Just keep it as a little rumble right now. Kind of like a geyser getting ready to. I changed what I was gonna do, but I can't. I'm here. Okay. So he steps back. Yeah, come on, bitch. The shields stop. Everything is quiet. What kind of limitations do we have? Because I have these stupid things where I can grant other people as my attack action. A bonus damage die. I got that. Or would that be interfering with the duel? I got the same thing and I was gonna do the same thing. No, I think you know that inspiration thing you guys have? You can give it to him too. I've got an inspiration. I really have inspiration. You can have it three turns in a row as my point. Yes. That's all fine. Well, I'm good. I feel very inspired to protect my honor and my traveling companions in France. It would be interfering with his honor. So save it for when he's losing. Which means... He takes out our little spider and puts it on our shoulder. So everything goes quiet. The clouds over here are gray. So it's kind of like this pale light pouring down. You hear the wind. You see and start to smell these orcs. It's bad news. Dane has his group behind him. And he is facing this young blood work warrior who's eyeballing you and just gnashing his teeth. And he's just getting ready to dine in some dwarf. Dale, he's pulling things out of our pack going to put things together. Correct. And you see behind kind of the tree line, the edge there. You see a lot of those other orcs. They're all kind of shifting. They're all kind of shifting their way. They're eager to see the thing. They're eager. And the warchief holds up one hairy paw. And he barks one command which basically means begin. Right. Roll initiative. Okay. Ten. Perfectly average. Dane, you move first. I actually kneeled for a second. Kind of go down on one knee. Prayed to a storm. To guide me through this battle. Protect the dwarf and honor. To protect our... How long is this prayer? It's just five seconds. Our clan. Our temple. Our family. And my sword starts to go up. And I then resume my defensive posture. Okay, so that it's free for you to kneel. Right. So you take it in action when you can still move. Right. I choose not to. I choose, I don't actually want the advantage of being at the edge or the precipice of the height change. I'm gonna let him come to me. Okay. Plus it brings him closer to my allies in case something goes terribly wrong in the combat. Not that I'm thinking that way. Because I would never think that way. Maybe for some more defense. Right. That's just young blood. Very swiftly. Very loose. Forward. And whips a jab like this boy. This ugly pointy looking thing. What, twenty? Natural two. Awesome. Do you get anything special extra for twenties? Double damage, yeah. Yeah, that's gonna be double damage. No, that's two dice six instead of... At least, that's my javelin dust. He's got a large javelin. Okay. This orc, just in one fluid motion, takes this javelin and whips it across the thirty feet to you. Dally, you, this is exactly what you're afraid of. Uh-huh. Nine plus three is twelve points of damage. This thing... Clang! It just reverberates when it hits his armor. And it actually sticks in through the shoulder. And takes some, it's the back. Takes some meat. So you've just taken twelve points of damage. Okay, got it. They'll be fine. Yeah, I like this plant. This is a good one. Got it, Claire. Yeah. Oh, I'm sorry. I'm a paladin. Fine. We're in round two. You go first. And one of the weapons is a yabonion. He has a great axe, but it looks like it's not a very good one. And three more javelins. It's an okay axe. I like your sword, Wharf. I'm going to leave it. I'm tasting. I move five foot forward, and I dodge this turn. Dally, you're going to dodge. So... You should have done that earlier. Let me just look at dodge and make sure to understand what it is. When you take the dodge action, you focus entirely on avoiding attacks. The enemy rolls at disadvantage. So until the start of your next turn, any attack rolled mini gets you as disadvantage if you can see the attacker. Obviously, you just turn my body sideways so that if he chooses attack with a javelin, I'm prepared for it. No. Orcs are not settled. Okay. One, two, three, four. He runs up to you and tries to take a whack at you with his great axe and his advantage. You have to take a roll two dice and take the lesser, correct? Correct. He tries to hit you, but you sidestep it. You feel this fetid stink as this battle axe passes by your face. It's really a poorly kept weapon. Has a bunch of old gore and grime on it. Okay, round three. So now that he is close enough, I go ahead and attack. Okay. With my great sword. I get to add my charisma modifier to my attack roll. I'm using inspiration, this first attack, which means I think I've gained an advantage and an attack. So both rolls will be die 20 plus my charisma bonus. It's a two, it's not an, you have two outrageous. So I roll two die 20s, I roll a 13 and a five plus two takes me to 15. As the great sword is coming down, I whisper the name of Torm and I do thunderous smite, which is a bonus action. Okay. We'll do a little bit of damage to him at this point. Two die six for the great sword. Oh, it is. What's your strength? Uh, 17. Okay, that's plus three. And then thunderous smite, your weapon rings with thunder in its audible within 300 feet of you. The attack deals an extra two die six of thunder damage to the target. Additionally, if the target is a creature, it must succeed on a strength saving throw or be pushed back 10 feet and not prone. So two more die six of some of you so kind. Which, uh, magic item did you choose? I chose a great sword that Dali put some weights on that slide. You should get the plus one from that too. So it's four die six plus four, I believe. Okay. So, I didn't roll that well actually. 10 damage plus four is 14 damage. Don't you get advantage of all these? No, I still don't have advantage of them. I don't think advantage works there. What happens is you hear this tremendous peel of thunder crash when sword hits this orc. I made that sword. And that's the thunder thing. That was you? That was me. You know. I think you're watching it technically like that. Right. So you hear this peel of thunder boom. Did you make a safe? He gets to make a saving throw. Strength saving throw. It doesn't matter. Okay. Because you killed him with one blow and he blew his body. Now, do you want to sever the body? Do you want to just sunder it and just... I think severing in half would be appropriate for the amount of angst and damage and everything else that was going into that. Okay. A few rolled all sixes then I would take blown at the pieces. So that's been really cool. Yeah, but in this case, you're cut with the sword, cleaved into him. Right. And then the thunder clap, then the rest of the work and blown apart into two pieces and down he's down. And everyone's like, holding there. Whoa! I would probably shout out all Neil before torn to the orcs. You know, they can't hear me, but it's just a primal scream of anger to them. Right. For my god. I shout. Is that it? An orcish. So... Is that what you say? Yes. After the thunder subsides. Right. It perfectly timed for me. So I would, yeah, everyone was kind of stunned by it because they thought first when the javelin hit you, they all kind of cheered. And then when you sidesteped and then thunder clapped, it was one strike. So I obviously, if shouting with my sword glowing and the thunder still reverberating through the woods. And I'm looking directly at the war chief. Like, yeah. Come on. You better flee the battlefield or that you next. The orc worksheave. Whoa. Looks a little stunned. Then furious. And he goes. Right. Right. All right. And then charge. It works when you don't brag. We're all going to reroll initiative. Good. I rolled shit last time. I rolled with two. I was ninja one. By the way. I threw the arrow real. It was going to be in the hard table. Shout out with my hand. I'm going to have to be bored. Hit them. Nice. Hit them. All right. Thank you for listening tonight's of the night actual play podcast. If you'd like to send us questions, comments or feedback, you can reach us in a number of ways. From Twitter @KOTN_podcast or by email feedback@KOTNpodcast.com. And don't forget the iTunes reviews or our Facebook page, facebook.com/KOTN.podcast. Speaking of Facebook, join like-minded folks at our Facebook fan page. And lastly, there's our blog page, kotnpodcast.com, where there's an Amazon link on the right-hand side. Thanks to Zen Audio Smith for the intro and outro music. Get your own music at zenaudiosmith.com. And join us next week for more mystery and adventure. Can I go? Let me get a nice little thing. It's done. Mighty Gaming Alert. John. Evil Coins. No. Just no. Just no. I charge forwards and I cut off his hand. Actually, not the maid's hand. He's actual hand. Man, I cry. I'm sitting in the slivers. Sorry. Go ahead. It's like a coin. It's not a coin. It's not denarian. It's not denarian. That makes any difference here. But I will handle it in a sense I'm not putting it on. Right. It's a coin. It's a coin. Wow. I just imagine it is a ring. The whole time in my head. How do you wear a coin and where do you wear it? This ring doesn't have an elbow. It's not a coin. Yeah, I don't know. It's how it is. It's precious. Right. But it wasn't consumed. You know, gnome is just a derivative of Irish. Irish, yes. A velve-ish. Actually, they use the dwarven elbow bit. Okay, I was lying. Perfect. I speak dwarven. But they don't know that. They don't know that. All right. Could you speak in squirrely? Or is it squirrely? It's probably easy. Sorry. My bad. No? Hi there. I just want to be a really high voice. I want to hear when this goes to a filter what you end up with. Much higher, I'm sure. Sorry. You might not thumps above. I charge forward and kill the beast. Yeah, what is this? Well, that's the thunder rolling from above. Yes, it is a great day. It is a great day. I'll save you, Dally. Can I have my card with the name? I really should know my brother's name. Thanks. Yeah, thanks. She turns and looks to Faden. Dane. Is that left over from 40 days or did you drop? No, I find in the closet and I figure we're just going to reuse it. Do you need work? That's very heavily forested though. Do you care? We moved on to a very forested hill. Oh, I've got to work. I've got to work. Just looking to think there was one underneath that was like. All I've got to do now is a couple of different ones. That's a little more open. I've got a really secret purpose. I don't know if I listen to this. Can I cut off his arm? That is an improvement. That's okay. Can I cut off his knees? No. Okay. So I should probably have to take your time down somewhere like how many hit points I stopped by half. I mean, like a character sheet? Yeah. I guess we kind of caught you by surprise, dude. Yeah? Uh-huh. Is that you? Mm-hmm. Okay. Because I've got one arm and a short sort. He's changing it a little bit. It's not like the other picture. I don't know. Just a little bit. Yeah, I just thought you'd darken the lines of... Okay. It's got to be at least a plus two. So, really? Really? At least. Bob. A plus two? On his initiative role? Or... High dexterity? A breeder? Is that...? Your wisdom is your highest, I thought. But... We're talking Bob here. Bob was wrong, like, really good last week. Well, regardless, when he rolled his character up, I think his highest stat was eight. True. But you do get lots of bonuses as you go. Uh... And such. And here, stuff is in my dice. And we bought you dice for your purpose. I know. I can't find where they went to. He's been waiting for this for years. You're right off the bat. Dane dies. It's going to be glorious. Well, no. Dane trips over a rock. Yeah, really. And then he dies. Okay. I think a dwarf should be killed by a rock. That would be... Oh, that would be really apropos. He falls and pierces his head on a sharpened piece of shale. Shag up. And then you start hearing this sound of... Like they're clapping their shields together. And they are all starting to do it in unison. You don't even have to look for sound effects. You should just take in care of it all back there. The man of many talents. You're doing realistic sounds. And they're doing it into a cadence. Like this. And it's a... Actually, it looks like it's been kind of... A fat orc and a little... Well... You can't go from squirrel to orc. No one knows. Dude, you just can't. Well, you know that these sons of bitches are chaotic. I shouldn't say like that. That's the wrong way. You know that these... There goes all our catec-y... No, I'm sorry, I'm trying not to use those terms. It's like a little bit of story terms. Does everyone... Stop for a second. Yeah. What's up? I'm thinking. Okay. We'll call him Moog. Sure. Sure said he was Moog. Moog. He did. He did. Moog. So, Moog. When you score a critical hit, you get to roll extra dice for the attack's damage against the target. Roll all of the attack's damage dice twice and add them together. Then add any relevant modifiers as normal. So double damage. If someone's attacking against me with a disadvantage, they roll two dice and take the worst result. Yes. Yes. Okay. Hit that. Sorry.