[0.0s] Previously on Dumbgeons and Dragons.
[30.0s] You have been requested by the Wizards of Thay.
[34.0s] Aren't the Wizards of Thay bad guys?
[37.0s] Yes. The Wizards of Thay have been known to be helping the Cult of the Dragon in the rise of Tiamat.
[44.0s] But we have been approached by one such wizard, Nigh Ilmich.
[49.0s] And they give us their word that the Wizards that are helping the Cult of the Dragon are exiles of...
[57.0s] Varram, there's these guys here to see you.
[59.0s] I had a couple questions about, what is it, Xanthal's tower?
[64.0s] What are you heading there for?
[65.0s] A letter from Iskander. He says he can score us the blue dragon mask. Do you think it sounds like a trap?
[72.0s] Iskander was more open to questioning what's going on.
[75.0s] It's not unheard of for them to give those sorts of artifacts to that group at that tower.
[80.0s] So, I mean, that checks out.
[81.0s] Anything we need to know about this tower?
[83.0s] It's a tower. A big open courtyard.
[86.0s] Big open courtyard surrounded by a maze of endless things that are trying to kill you.
[91.0s] And then some hills. You guys head back to where the airships are Mored.
[95.0s] You hear a voice from up in one of the airships and she goes,
[100.0s] Fuck yeah, bud! Let's go get some shit done!
[103.0s] Yay!
[105.0s] I'm an air pirate now!
[111.0s] Welcome to Dumbgeons and Dragons.
[112.0s] We are a D&D 5th edition actual play podcast and I'm your dungeon master Russ More.
[117.0s] With me today is Amy More.
[120.0s] Yes! I'm a smartass and I play Thea Amastasia.
[124.0s] Also with us, Carla Johnson.
[127.0s] Yes! Amy is a smartass and I play new Laura Moonbread.
[132.0s] She doesn't give a descriptor of yourself.
[135.0s] Last but not least, Tom Laird.
[138.0s] Yes! Amy is the smartest smartass and I play Flint Firebeard.
[144.0s] That backfired on me.
[146.0s] Yeah. You didn't see it coming.
[148.0s] No, I didn't.
[149.0s] But knowing the crowd, you probably should have.
[152.0s] How are you guys? And girls? And people?
[157.0s] Doing well.
[158.0s] Me, I've been taking down a notch so slightly demurred.
[161.0s] I didn't think any of that was insulting. I thought it was compliment.
[165.0s] You are a smartass.
[166.0s] You really are.
[167.0s] It's one of your best characteristics.
[170.0s] The best of all the smartasses.
[172.0s] Exactly.
[173.0s] Just had a feeling like we weren't recording, but we are recording.
[176.0s] Oh, thank God. We would have missed that.
[178.0s] Right?
[179.0s] That energy.
[180.0s] I got the intro right and everything.
[182.0s] You did. I'm so proud of you.
[184.0s] Yeah, I'm pretty good like that.
[187.0s] Almost episode 50. He finally gets the intro right.
[191.0s] Guys, it's almost episode 50.
[193.0s] Holy shit.
[194.0s] That's pretty wild.
[195.0s] You know, this whole going weekly thing really escalated how soon we thought we would get to episode 50.
[201.0s] Because before we were like, oh, by December.
[203.0s] Like, no.
[204.0s] Yeah.
[205.0s] No, definitely not by December.
[206.0s] By September.
[207.0s] Yeah.
[208.0s] So, I mean, I said it, we went weekly. We haven't officially announced it, but.
[213.0s] Is it the official announcement?
[215.0s] I think we stumbled backwards into it, but.
[218.0s] Do you mean I didn't spoil it on our monthly goop chat this time?
[223.0s] Yeah, but that's that's that's Patreon.
[225.0s] So they get they get the inside scoop a little bit earlier, which we'll talk about momentarily.
[230.0s] But I think it's safe to say that we are now considered a weekly podcast until I fuck it up somehow.
[238.0s] Until proven otherwise in a court of law.
[241.0s] Yeah. Yeah.
[243.0s] So welcome to Dumbgeons and Dragons, the weekly D&D fifth edition actual play podcast.
[249.0s] Now you're just showing off.
[250.0s] Yeah.
[251.0s] Yes.
[252.0s] Doing it correct.
[253.0s] Just like bang, bang, bang.
[254.0s] Twice.
[255.0s] Yeah.
[256.0s] Love it.
[257.0s] So good.
[258.0s] And speaking of Patreon, which we were before that.
[261.0s] To circle back.
[262.0s] To circle back.
[263.0s] As they say in the executive industry, circle back, loop in, bring around.
[270.0s] These are all buzzwords.
[272.0s] Getting perilously close to something inappropriate.
[276.0s] I was going to say the reach around.
[278.0s] That's the one Amy.
[279.0s] There it is.
[280.0s] Right there.
[281.0s] We're trying to skirt around.
[282.0s] We're no longer perilously close.
[283.0s] We are right on the nose.
[285.0s] We are right there.
[286.0s] So Patreon.
[287.0s] Somebody say something about Patreon because it's pretty awesome.
[290.0s] Our patrons are the best.
[292.0s] That is true.
[293.0s] They really are.
[294.0s] Well, I'd certainly agree with that.
[295.0s] Yeah.
[296.0s] So listener, if you think you are also the best, you should be one of our patrons.
[300.0s] I mean, we only collect the best.
[302.0s] Our listeners are also the best.
[304.0s] Well, that's true.
[305.0s] Yeah.
[306.0s] On Patreon for being the best, you get a whole bunch of cool stuff.
[310.0s] That's true.
[311.0s] Like bonus episodes.
[312.0s] I mean, now we're weekly.
[313.0s] So bonus episodes.
[314.0s] That means you get like five episodes a month.
[316.0s] Whoa.
[317.0s] That's a lot of us.
[318.0s] That's more of us than.
[320.0s] Quite frankly, I care to hear.
[325.0s] I'm glad our listeners think differently.
[327.0s] I know we're supposed to be trying to convince people to do this.
[329.0s] No, we're going to pull the Amy and just drive right over the edge.
[332.0s] Yeah.
[333.0s] So part of those bonus episodes.
[335.0s] Tom ran.
[336.0s] Tom ran a full, a full arc of 11 episodes.
[340.0s] That's all up there.
[341.0s] Ready for you to follow in the lovely characters.
[344.0s] Opal, Elia.
[347.0s] And Nighthunter.
[348.0s] Yeah, there you go.
[349.0s] You almost forgot my character.
[350.0s] I mean, it was my least favorite character.
[355.0s] Brutal.
[356.0s] She was my favorite character.
[357.0s] She was giving you ships.
[358.0s] She was a very good character.
[360.0s] And we understand that if you can't be part of Patreon,
[363.0s] that you too are a wonderful and fantastic person.
[366.0s] And we still think you're the best.
[368.0s] And super good looking.
[369.0s] Yeah.
[370.0s] No, that's totally all good.
[371.0s] Yeah.
[372.0s] We totally understand that.
[373.0s] If there's other ways that you can support us by just talking about us on the internet or to your mailman.
[379.0s] Yeah.
[380.0s] Tweeting us out and whatnot, how the Twitter works.
[383.0s] Or if you don't like, yeah,
[385.0s] if you don't like contact with people in the real world,
[388.0s] you could leave us a review on iTunes.
[390.0s] Also.
[391.0s] Nice.
[392.0s] Nice segue there, Tom.
[393.0s] I like that.
[394.0s] Fuck it, guys.
[395.0s] Let's play D&D.
[396.0s] Oh, we are going to play today.
[397.0s] It's happening.
[399.0s] So you guys find yourselves in the docking station for the airships.
[403.0s] And Flammikins has just screamed down at you.
[406.0s] Hey, guys, I'm going to be an air pirate.
[409.0s] Flammikins?
[410.0s] Yeah.
[411.0s] I'm going to fly around in the skies.
[413.0s] Oh, yeah.
[414.0s] You flying with us, girl?
[416.0s] I don't know where you're going.
[418.0s] Help.
[419.0s] I need an adult.
[420.0s] I don't know where I'm going.
[421.0s] Some tower.
[422.0s] I can't remember the dude's name.
[424.0s] Zanthal.
[425.0s] Zanthal.
[426.0s] Zanthal.
[427.0s] Zanthal.
[428.0s] We're going to Zanthal's tower.
[429.0s] It's surrounded by a magical barricade.
[432.0s] Maze.
[433.0s] And like a killer garden.
[435.0s] Yes.
[436.0s] A killer garden.
[438.0s] Yes.
[439.0s] Zanthal's tower.
[440.0s] Yeah.
[441.0s] With the magical maze.
[442.0s] You can't fly over it and you can't tunnel under it.
[444.0s] Nobody ever makes it out alive.
[446.0s] Why are you whispering?
[447.0s] I'm all the way up here.
[449.0s] Oh, sorry.
[450.0s] And nobody makes it out alive.
[453.0s] You into it?
[454.0s] That sounds dangerous as fuck.
[455.0s] I don't know where it is, but I bet you the captain does.
[458.0s] What's your job up there?
[460.0s] I haven't told them that I'm here yet.
[464.0s] Fair enough.
[466.0s] So I'm going to have to break that to her shortly, I think.
[473.0s] Yeah.
[474.0s] Come on up.
[476.0s] Is there a rope ladder or stairs?
[478.0s] Yeah, how do we?
[479.0s] Do we get beamed up?
[481.0s] Yeah, there's a rope ladder right there, guys.
[483.0s] You look and there's a rope ladder right there.
[485.0s] I climb up the rope ladder.
[486.0s] Ditto.
[487.0s] I wasn't asking her in game.
[488.0s] I obviously know how to get in the airship.
[490.0s] No, it's in game now.
[491.0s] We've done it before.
[492.0s] We no longer talk out of game.
[495.0s] Oh, wow.
[496.0s] Okay.
[497.0s] Okay.
[498.0s] Okay, I'm coming up.
[500.0s] Climb the rope ladder.
[501.0s] So you climb up into the airship and you are greeted by a excited Flamikins who says,
[508.0s] Yeah, let's just escort you over here to the captain because I belong here.
[514.0s] And we'll just see if it works.
[516.0s] You're with us now.
[517.0s] You don't need like, it's fine.
[519.0s] She's steward Flamikins.
[521.0s] Right.
[522.0s] Okay.
[523.0s] Yeah, that makes sense.
[524.0s] Hey, which one of you is the captain?
[527.0s] Everybody kind of looks to you and they just point up to the top, like a top deck on the on the ship there.
[534.0s] And there's a human female who's looking down at a map.
[539.0s] Let's go talk to her.
[540.0s] I walk up and I say, ahoy matey.
[545.0s] Love it already.
[547.0s] Can I help you?
[548.0s] Yeah.
[549.0s] No, we need to go to Xanthal's Tower.
[554.0s] We're looking to get to Xanthal's Tower.
[556.0s] We're hoping you can give us a ride.
[558.0s] Okay.
[561.0s] You know that's like right in like getting into cult territory there, right?
[568.0s] That's the whole idea.
[570.0s] Oh, maybe we should introduce ourselves.
[572.0s] Maybe that will clear it up.
[573.0s] I'm Nulara.
[574.0s] I'm Thea.
[576.0s] And Flint.
[578.0s] Because we're famous now.
[579.0s] Flamikins!
[580.0s] She says, oh, right.
[582.0s] Sorry.
[583.0s] Yes, of course.
[584.0s] Don't know Flamikins, but she's the best.
[588.0s] She is the best.
[590.0s] Thaddeus is like, yeah, I'm Thaddeus too.
[593.0s] Oh yeah, right.
[594.0s] Thaddeus is there too.
[595.0s] Oh, I forgot Thaddeus.
[596.0s] You guys, you guys invited me.
[598.0s] I went by his house and he wasn't home.
[601.0s] It was Flamikins who wasn't home.
[604.0s] Flamikins who wasn't there.
[605.0s] And what's your name, captain?
[607.0s] Captain Catherine Neff.
[610.0s] Can I call you a cat?
[612.0s] Yeah, sure.
[613.0s] Ah, thanks.
[614.0s] I like that it's cat Neff.
[617.0s] Cat Neff?
[619.0s] It's like catness, but with a lisp?
[622.0s] Cat Neff ever do.
[623.0s] Cat Neff.
[626.0s] Captain Catherine Neff.
[628.0s] Pleasure to meet you all.
[630.0s] Nice to meet you as well.
[634.0s] When do you think we can leave?
[636.0s] Well, we're just getting our fleets ready to go about Faerun
[640.0s] and try and find any people that we can bring back here.
[645.0s] As you can see, and you look around and there's a ton of ships.
[649.0s] There are at least 50 ships, which is a lot of airships to be all in one place.
[655.0s] She says we're going to be going out in the fleet and spreading off as we go as it's safe.
[662.0s] Your stop, Xanthl's Tower, and she points to a map, would be about the farthest we'd want to go.
[669.0s] So we'll see how it gets as we get closer to there.
[673.0s] We may have to drop you a little bit before that, but we'll figure that out as we go, as long as that's all right with you.
[681.0s] As you're the captain.
[682.0s] As close as we can get.
[685.0s] Are we and the captain, are we going to make it happen?
[689.0s] I am the captain now.
[693.0s] Sorry, yes, Follumikins, I interrupted you.
[695.0s] I don't know.
[696.0s] I just didn't understand why Flint wants to be the captain.
[699.0s] I mean, I was going to try and make my move right there, but all right.
[707.0s] You and me, Captain, we'll talk later.
[709.0s] All right.
[710.0s] Well, Follumikins, you didn't see Captain Phillips.
[712.0s] Come on.
[714.0s] It's been a while.
[715.0s] It's been a while.
[717.0s] And it was very intense.
[719.0s] So, you know, you try and block intense memories.
[724.0s] All this movie chat.
[725.0s] We're going to turn into a movie review podcast.
[728.0s] I mean, we're not there already, but all right.
[731.0s] Captain Neff says if there's if you can make yourselves at home below or just hang out up here.
[739.0s] I mean, the trip will probably take a few days to get down there.
[743.0s] So as long as you can help out, you're welcome aboard.
[746.0s] Sure. What can we help out with?
[748.0s] Well, nothing right now.
[749.0s] But all right. Fair enough.
[751.0s] OK, well, that's your answer forever.
[755.0s] I only offer one chance.
[757.0s] You guys are just killing time until you go.
[760.0s] Oh, God. Does it?
[763.0s] I mean, is it a is there a lot of diversity in the airships or is this like it's basically the same as the other one?
[772.0s] Is it worth checking out? Sure.
[774.0s] Is this one cooler?
[775.0s] Is there a lab in the bottom?
[778.0s] A lab? Yeah, like a science lab.
[781.0s] Yes. Go check.
[784.0s] OK, I go and explore.
[786.0s] Do I have to roll for science lab investigation?
[790.0s] No, but I can't tell you if there's a science lab if you're standing on the deck.
[793.0s] Fair enough. I go below.
[795.0s] OK, you're going below.
[797.0s] Nularaaaa, you're looking at what the ship looks like.
[800.0s] Yeah, like how big is it?
[802.0s] Because I pictured the other one not like there was just a few of us on it.
[805.0s] Francis's ship was more like a like a a few people sailboat type of thing.
[810.0s] So it had enough for everybody to sleep in a small galley.
[814.0s] This one has it looks like like 50 people that crew this one ship.
[819.0s] So it's quite a massive ship and there are varying sizes of ships all around.
[823.0s] But this one is quite large and it has a large sculpture of a bear on the front
[831.0s] and large airship balloon above.
[835.0s] And it's crafted from nice petrified wood and rich mahogany's and whatnot.
[842.0s] I was just. Rich mahogany's.
[844.0s] Yeah. Yeah. All throughout.
[846.0s] Petrified wood is extremely heavy.
[848.0s] How does this affect the buoyancy like the air?
[851.0s] Magic. Oh, right.
[854.0s] Love D&D because whenever you need an explanation or something, it's just magic.
[859.0s] It's a high magic world.
[861.0s] Can I go look at that bear and see if there's an explanatory plaque or anything?
[864.0s] You love you love a good explanatory plaque.
[867.0s] Who doesn't?
[869.0s] An explanatory plaque.
[870.0s] Like if they had QR codes in D&D,
[872.0s] Carla would be snapping all those on her fucking phone.
[875.0s] Do you have an audio tour I can listen to?
[880.0s] So you're going to go look at the bear.
[882.0s] You're down below. Flint, what are you doing?
[884.0s] Is there like a crow's nest or anything up at the top that I can go like stand out
[889.0s] and look at like one of those old timey like telescopes with?
[892.0s] Oh, sure.
[893.0s] Whatever you want to call it.
[894.0s] Yeah. Yeah.
[895.0s] There's a there's a spot that's exactly described as what you were looking for.
[899.0s] So you climb up the ladder.
[900.0s] Perfect.
[901.0s] There's one one gentleman up there and he as you step up to the top,
[906.0s] he kind of jumps.
[907.0s] He's like, oh, what are you?
[909.0s] Who are you? What are you in here?
[911.0s] My name's Flint.
[912.0s] It's Flint.
[913.0s] I just wanted to come have a look around.
[915.0s] Can't beat this view.
[916.0s] Flint, Flint, the fire beard.
[918.0s] Flint fire beard. Yep.
[920.0s] That's my name.
[921.0s] Oh snap.
[923.0s] Nice to meet you there, sir.
[925.0s] Nice to meet you, too.
[927.0s] What's your name?
[928.0s] Ah, Cyril.
[929.0s] Well, Cyril, I'd shake your hand,
[932.0s] but clearly you're busy with all those ropes.
[935.0s] He looks at his hands like I do.
[938.0s] I do have ropes.
[940.0s] What are you doing up here?
[942.0s] Yes, and I just came up for a look.
[947.0s] I always I always like that top view that you can't get anywhere else.
[951.0s] Oh, kids like no other.
[952.0s] This is why I hang out way up here.
[954.0s] And he's like, here, help me with these ropes.
[956.0s] And he throws you the ropes.
[958.0s] And I do whatever he needs me to do with those ropes.
[961.0s] So I lower them.
[962.0s] Do I coil them?
[963.0s] I have no idea.
[964.0s] Lots of knots.
[965.0s] Yeah.
[966.0s] Oh, lots of knots.
[968.0s] You see him as you start tying knots.
[970.0s] He just kind of his rope wrapping it around, just coiling it up.
[974.0s] What are you doing to my rope?
[977.0s] I thought a good dwarven knot would be a good one for this rope.
[981.0s] Oh, OK.
[983.0s] Well, you do you, man.
[985.0s] Yeah.
[986.0s] No.
[987.0s] Anytime you want to come look at the view.
[989.0s] I got the looky looky-loo device there.
[993.0s] Is that what we call it in this universe?
[995.0s] Yep, that's the one.
[996.0s] Well, yeah, let me have a look at this here looky-loo device.
[1000.0s] It's like almost the creepiest name you could have chosen, isn't it?
[1004.0s] We call it the voyeur device.
[1007.0s] Oh.
[1008.0s] Do we?
[1009.0s] OK.
[1010.0s] All right.
[1011.0s] Well, I mean, I'm uncomfortable with it, but I'm on board still.
[1014.0s] Point it into the stateroom.
[1016.0s] So what are the other airships that dock nearby?
[1019.0s] OK, Cyril, you freak.
[1021.0s] What's going on here?
[1023.0s] Well, there's a reason only I'm up here usually by myself.
[1028.0s] Gross.
[1031.0s] OK, swallow your water.
[1036.0s] Dumb dragon fart hash hash.
[1039.0s] That one would have got me too.
[1041.0s] My tongue is numb from holding the bubbly water.
[1044.0s] The bubbly water for so long.
[1046.0s] It's burning my tongue.
[1048.0s] That was a lot of real good like one right after the other.
[1051.0s] You want to swallow the water and then you're like, we call this a voyeur device.
[1055.0s] And I lost it.
[1058.0s] Also, yes, disgusting name.
[1061.0s] I used the creepily named looky-loo.
[1064.0s] And where am I looking?
[1066.0s] I don't know which way you're looking.
[1068.0s] I will say south.
[1070.0s] I'm looking south.
[1071.0s] You can see you look to the south and you see a stream of caravans that are coming up the coast and into water deep.
[1080.0s] Varying sizes and looks like they've got tattered wear like they've been traveling for quite a while.
[1088.0s] Some of them have like scorched caravans, scorched vehicles, as you could say.
[1094.0s] Do I notice any like symbols or anything that I might recognize on these caravans?
[1100.0s] Nothing of note, really.
[1103.0s] No major cities insignias or groups insignias.
[1107.0s] There's no, yeah, like dwarven clan insignias or anything on these?
[1110.0s] No, not that you can tell from where you're looking.
[1113.0s] Does it seem like bedraggled like a refugee caravan kind of thing?
[1118.0s] Most of them. Yeah.
[1120.0s] Like they've come perhaps from either from battle or from escaping cities that have been attacked.
[1127.0s] That's kind of the attire and state that you see these groups in.
[1132.0s] All right.
[1134.0s] While you're hanging out there with Cyril, looky-loo.
[1137.0s] OK, you're going down underneath. Yeah.
[1141.0s] So you head down to the to the body of the ship.
[1147.0s] I don't know what ships are called. I should have looked up ship names.
[1151.0s] We've been on enough ships that I actually think I'd figure this out.
[1155.0s] But yeah, you get down and there's several levels.
[1158.0s] The hull is the hull would be like the outside.
[1163.0s] I don't know what body I'm pretty sure it's body.
[1167.0s] It's body. Yeah, body.
[1169.0s] So you walk past like the galley and some quarters and there's like a common room where it looks like people are set up just to kind of rest.
[1177.0s] If they were so if they so desired and nobody's in there currently, they're all they should all be bustling about getting ready to bust someone's ass.
[1187.0s] Nobody's in there right now.
[1190.0s] And you go down to the next level and there is what were you looking for?
[1197.0s] Science lab lab. Oh, OK.
[1201.0s] It's a weird secret lab.
[1204.0s] OK, yeah, you go down to the second level and it looks like more just storage areas.
[1209.0s] And then you go down to the third level and just roll me a D20.
[1215.0s] Oh, first. Do better.
[1221.0s] It's fucking two and there's a secret science lab down there.
[1227.0s] It's not secret, but there is some sort of it looks like a laboratory or some sort of magical alchemical area.
[1235.0s] And then there is, of course, some someone in there.
[1239.0s] I was like, yeah. Who do I see? Man, woman, child, prodigy.
[1244.0s] It's a woman. Hey there.
[1247.0s] And she's working with some some some things.
[1251.0s] And she looks up and says, oh, welcome, welcome.
[1255.0s] Who what are you doing down all the way down here, Miss?
[1260.0s] Yeah, Miss Thea, Miss Thea.
[1264.0s] Of the of the things in the safe, this people saving people.
[1271.0s] Yeah, I guess I'm the owl in that group.
[1274.0s] You don't look like an owl. Oh, yeah, but I'm wise.
[1279.0s] We'll see.
[1281.0s] No, we probably won't. What you working on here?
[1284.0s] Oh, I'm just getting some some some armaments ready.
[1289.0s] You know, just in case we need to battle the cult.
[1293.0s] Are you are you creating them with alchemy and magic?
[1298.0s] I don't know why you teach me.
[1300.0s] I don't know why you're saying them like that. But yeah, yeah, sure.
[1304.0s] Well, I have magic.
[1308.0s] I have you know, I know I know a little bit of magic,
[1312.0s] but I've never dealt with any sort of alchemy or potions really before.
[1317.0s] Can you show me some stuff?
[1320.0s] We do have a bad track record with potions.
[1324.0s] It's true. So if I can know a little more about them, that'd be great.
[1327.0s] Yeah, well, sure. Yeah. OK.
[1330.0s] She's like, I can't believe it's taken this turn.
[1334.0s] That's OK. Now I have to teach her about potions.
[1337.0s] So she shows you what she's working on.
[1339.0s] And it looks it looks more or less like a round sphere.
[1344.0s] It is a round sphere with a hard exterior.
[1346.0s] And she's like, so what you do is you take one of these
[1350.0s] and she lifts one up and it's very heavy plunks down
[1354.0s] and you put some chemicals in there, some things, some ingredients.
[1359.0s] And then when you fire it,
[1363.0s] it blows up.
[1366.0s] So you're making cannonballs?
[1370.0s] Yeah. But ones that blow up.
[1375.0s] All right. Do you want to do you want to know which kind?
[1378.0s] Yeah. All right. So she begins.
[1381.0s] She begins showing you all the various directions and ingredients
[1384.0s] on how to make these explodey cannonballs.
[1387.0s] And it's glorious how much information you gain from that.
[1391.0s] In fact, so much so that you feel that you know how to,
[1395.0s] with a proper roll, build an explodey cannonball.
[1399.0s] Oh, I'm going to call it an explodey ball.
[1402.0s] So whenever you're crafting an explodey ball,
[1405.0s] you have to roll a DC 16 using your wisdom modifier.
[1412.0s] Roll a D12?
[1413.0s] D20. Can't get higher than...
[1416.0s] You're going to have a hard time beating a 16 if you only roll a D12.
[1418.0s] That's true. But I swear you said D12.
[1420.0s] I said a DC 16, a difficulty class of 16.
[1424.0s] Oh, I'm confused. Roll a difficulty class 16?
[1427.0s] So you have to beat a 16 or greater in making it.
[1430.0s] If you don't get 16 or greater, if it gets like much lower,
[1434.0s] it may just blow up.
[1436.0s] If it gets like anywhere in the middle,
[1438.0s] there will probably be like a minor inconvenience that comes along with it.
[1442.0s] Like either it doesn't work or it does something that you don't want it to do.
[1447.0s] Neat.
[1448.0s] Dyes your skin yellow.
[1450.0s] Yeah, no big deal.
[1452.0s] So you've learned this.
[1454.0s] Cool.
[1455.0s] Great. Back.
[1456.0s] And what is your name?
[1458.0s] Yeah, my name.
[1460.0s] Coming up with a whole bunch of names this game.
[1462.0s] My name is Mary Ellen Donnell.
[1465.0s] It's very nice to meet you, Mary Ellen.
[1468.0s] Very nice to meet you too, Thea.
[1470.0s] You use this explodey ball thing for good, okay?
[1472.0s] Oh, you betcha.
[1473.0s] I should have probably, you know,
[1475.0s] given you a test or something before giving you all this very important
[1479.0s] information.
[1481.0s] Okay.
[1482.0s] She's famous.
[1483.0s] Yeah, exactly.
[1485.0s] It's all been a long con just so she could get this explodey ball recipe.
[1489.0s] So, okay.
[1490.0s] So by this point,
[1492.0s] we're going to say that as long as you guys don't need anything in
[1496.0s] water deep, we have set off now.
[1498.0s] Yes.
[1499.0s] Okay.
[1500.0s] So I don't think I don't think I need anything.
[1502.0s] I think we got on the ship with the intent of ready to go.
[1506.0s] Yeah, sure.
[1507.0s] Yeah, I agree.
[1508.0s] So the entire airship fleet moves out and New Laura,
[1511.0s] you're up looking at this carving of this bear.
[1515.0s] You don't see any sort of plaque around it.
[1519.0s] Kate, how big is it?
[1521.0s] Like life size?
[1522.0s] Like bigger than me?
[1523.0s] Yeah, it's a fairly large ship.
[1525.0s] So it's it's much bigger.
[1527.0s] Yeah, it's probably I would say the size of a large bear.
[1531.0s] So much bigger.
[1532.0s] Is it just like a masthead thing that I don't actually need any explanation for?
[1536.0s] I mean, it is a masthead thing.
[1539.0s] Yeah, it's like how they had mermaids on.
[1541.0s] Yeah.
[1542.0s] Is someone wandering past?
[1543.0s] Yep.
[1544.0s] Yep.
[1545.0s] There's an older guy swabbing the deck.
[1547.0s] So that hasn't really advanced very far in his airship career.
[1549.0s] He's still swabbing the deck as a senior.
[1551.0s] Yeah.
[1552.0s] Sorry.
[1553.0s] It's his post retirement job, I'm sure.
[1555.0s] Exactly.
[1556.0s] Kate, how close is he?
[1560.0s] He's like right beside you.
[1562.0s] OK.
[1564.0s] Hey, excuse me.
[1566.0s] Yeah.
[1567.0s] Yes.
[1568.0s] What's the what's the story with the bear?
[1571.0s] Why a bear?
[1572.0s] Well, the name name of the ship here is and a few others go by.
[1579.0s] Well, very similar names within the fleet here.
[1582.0s] But this is the bear totem ship.
[1584.0s] So there are different totem ships within our fleet.
[1587.0s] And ours is graced by the power of the bear.
[1591.0s] It's one of the strongest ships in the fleet.
[1594.0s] Well, thank you.
[1596.0s] Oh, you're welcome.
[1597.0s] I don't really need to know more than that.
[1599.0s] I'm going to keep wandering around and looking at things.
[1602.0s] All right.
[1603.0s] Do you maybe like critique his swabbing abilities?
[1609.0s] I don't know.
[1610.0s] I think I'm like kind of filthy, so probably.
[1612.0s] OK.
[1613.0s] All right.
[1614.0s] I think you are as like a fastidious individual.
[1618.0s] What's Thaddeus and Flamikins doing?
[1620.0s] Flamikins is like trying to work her angle on the ship captain you see over.
[1626.0s] To like give up her captain title.
[1630.0s] You overhear little bits like I'm a great pirate.
[1633.0s] I know how to do things.
[1635.0s] And things like I clean the decks and things like I'll just hang around and it'll be OK.
[1642.0s] It's getting like less and less responsibility as it goes.
[1646.0s] And Thaddeus is he appears to have found some older guy, you know, someone of like-minded spirit.
[1654.0s] And he seems to be token up a little bit.
[1659.0s] Just taking in the sights.
[1661.0s] You guys are you have left Waterdeep and you are traveling south towards your final destination, Zanthal's Tower.
[1670.0s] And you've been traveling for about a day and many of the airships have split off at different cities as you've passed.
[1680.0s] Some some look like they have been more or less untouched.
[1686.0s] Others look like there have been raids or attacks that have happened there.
[1692.0s] So they go in and drop down and help out and remove people and bring them back to Waterdeep as they so need.
[1699.0s] After the second day, you're traveling over the Highmoor, which is just before you get to the Serpent Hills where you guys were.
[1711.0s] Everybody make a perception check.
[1718.0s] Oh, no, I aimed it, y'all.
[1720.0s] This dice rolls fucking weird.
[1722.0s] All the edges are rounded.
[1724.0s] It's almost a sphere.
[1727.0s] Oh, interesting.
[1728.0s] And so when it rolls, it's like this way, this way, this way, this way.
[1733.0s] I got an 11.
[1734.0s] I got a 21.
[1736.0s] I got a six.
[1737.0s] So you're passing over a forested area.
[1742.0s] And by this point, you're reaching more or less the tail end of your journey.
[1747.0s] The rest of you don't aren't really paying attention to the area that you probably should be paying attention to.
[1753.0s] But New Laura, you are hanging out near the back of the ship and you see a fireball erupt out and out of the forest.
[1763.0s] What do you do?
[1764.0s] I yell fireball.
[1766.0s] We're being attacked. We're being attacked.
[1768.0s] Everybody turns and begins.
[1770.0s] There's a huge commotion of people looking and Cyril up in the crows.
[1775.0s] He's like, oh shit, I wasn't paying attention as the fireball hits one of the other airships and it explodes and erupts and falls to the ground.
[1786.0s] And out from the forest, you see a red, a black and a blue dragon emerge from the forest line and begin following behind.
[1796.0s] There are four airships, including yours, following behind those.
[1800.0s] And we are about to enter what's called a skills challenge.
[1805.0s] We haven't done a skills challenge in forever.
[1808.0s] We haven't done a skills challenge in a while.
[1810.0s] Are there any chickens on the ship?
[1812.0s] There are no chickens that you have seen on this ship.
[1814.0s] For those playing the home game and those here that don't remember what a skills challenge is, it is a test of skills.
[1820.0s] So it's a role-playing encounter where we roll an initiative and the players have to meet six successes before three failures.
[1835.0s] And if you make the successes, good things happen.
[1838.0s] If you hit the failures first, oh, bad things happen.
[1841.0s] So we'll roll initiative and see what happens here.
[1848.0s] Fuck this dice.
[1849.0s] Eighteen.
[1850.0s] Nine.
[1851.0s] Fourteen.
[1852.0s] Nope.
[1853.0s] Fifteen.
[1854.0s] Plus your initiative.
[1855.0s] Eleven.
[1856.0s] Ten.
[1857.0s] Eighteen.
[1858.0s] Fifteen.
[1859.0s] Twelve.
[1860.0s] Fourteen.
[1861.0s] I don't even know.
[1862.0s] Nulara, you are up first, which is fitting because you saw the fireball happen.
[1868.0s] So three dragons following behind.
[1871.0s] And on top of them, you see a varying number of three to five cultists on top of each of them.
[1879.0s] And they are approaching in behind the two tailing ships.
[1882.0s] You are in two of the front ships.
[1885.0s] So they are coming up just behind the other ships.
[1888.0s] One of the ships has obviously exploded, but it looks like they're going to attack those two back ships first.
[1895.0s] So on the ship, it does have armaments.
[1900.0s] There are many people.
[1902.0s] But sorry, I totally remember the other one with the throwing chickens and whatnot.
[1907.0s] But were we doing that because we can't use our normal weapons?
[1910.0s] Like, why were we doing that?
[1912.0s] Why would I not just do something normal?
[1914.0s] It's designed to, I mean, you can do something normal, but it's designed to utilize a skill you might not otherwise utilize
[1923.0s] and just figure out a way to make that skill make sense in whatever attack or whatever positioning you are doing in order to succeed at something.
[1932.0s] Right, right, right, right.
[1934.0s] So I'm supposed to be using my skills.
[1936.0s] That's why it's a skills challenge.
[1938.0s] Exactly.
[1939.0s] Like my skills for my character keys, not just like my skills.
[1944.0s] With a Z.
[1948.0s] Okay, I am going to...
[1952.0s] How far would you say these dragons are from us?
[1956.0s] If they're behind two ships that are behind us, how far is that?
[1960.0s] They're about 100 feet from you.
[1963.0s] So they're about 20 feet kind of closing in on the ships behind.
[1968.0s] And then so total of about 100 feet from where you currently are.
[1974.0s] Now, you don't have to do something that necessarily hurts or, you know, does damage to the dragon.
[1981.0s] You just have to think from a positioning standpoint.
[1987.0s] Do you need people to get into position?
[1991.0s] Do you need something on the ship to happen?
[1994.0s] Do you need to...
[1996.0s] I mean, I would think like clearly the ship has like cannons or something like they were making magic cannon balls.
[2002.0s] But am I...
[2007.0s] Like, I don't know that I know how to use those things though, right?
[2010.0s] Because I probably don't.
[2012.0s] I don't even know if I know there's magic cannon balls.
[2015.0s] Thea probably told me because we were hanging out all the time.
[2018.0s] You've been traveling for a couple of days.
[2019.0s] I'm sure it would have come up that Thea now knows how to make magic cannon balls.
[2022.0s] Do you have persuasion or anything like that because you could...
[2025.0s] Oh, no.
[2026.0s] Well, I mean, everybody has more skills.
[2029.0s] I mean, yes, I do.
[2030.0s] But it is not a strong skill.
[2032.0s] It is a low skill.
[2033.0s] But like, for example, you can use a skill to rally the troops into...
[2037.0s] Or like if intimidation, you can use that as like a way to like bolster their...
[2047.0s] By telling them how shit's getting real right now and everybody better fucking be on their game.
[2053.0s] Get to those cannons or whatever.
[2055.0s] Sure.
[2056.0s] What if Nulara just did like a bunch of jumping jacks
[2059.0s] and everyone was like super impressed with her athletic prowess and then like rallied because of that?
[2064.0s] Well, I'll have a combination of those two things because athletics is one of my very good skills.
[2069.0s] But I'm at the back of the ship and I just saw it and it's a huge ship.
[2073.0s] So since I don't know how to work the weapons and stuff, what if like...
[2076.0s] I've already yelled to alert everyone, but I just like take a lap of the ship.
[2081.0s] Like there's dragons telling people what's going on so that everyone knows what's going on.
[2088.0s] What if they, you know, like didn't hear me yell or don't understand what kind of threat we're facing?
[2094.0s] Sure. Yeah.
[2095.0s] So as you're running about, yeah, you do see people kind of looking over the side,
[2101.0s] trying to get a view of what has happened.
[2103.0s] Some see the wreckage down below.
[2105.0s] Some don't see the dragon based on where they are.
[2107.0s] So as you're running, what do you say and then we'll make the roll to see how well it succeeds or doesn't succeed.
[2116.0s] I say, there's three dragons behind us.
[2119.0s] We're under attack.
[2120.0s] There's three dragons behind us.
[2121.0s] We're under attack.
[2122.0s] I'm very repetitive.
[2123.0s] Yeah, sure.
[2124.0s] But I want everyone to like, that's the basic information.
[2127.0s] It's a clear, strong message.
[2128.0s] It's a clear message.
[2130.0s] So you are trying to, you're not trying to intimidate.
[2134.0s] You're not trying to...
[2136.0s] Well, I'm using my athletics skill because I'm running and yelling very, very quietly.
[2141.0s] I get it.
[2142.0s] That makes sense.
[2144.0s] Yeah, exactly.
[2145.0s] I'm running and waving my arms and not getting out of breath because I'm in very good shape.
[2149.0s] Well, we'll see how good shape you are in.
[2152.0s] Yeah.
[2153.0s] Let's see.
[2154.0s] So I just roll and then add my athletics.
[2157.0s] You betcha.
[2158.0s] Okie dokie smokey.
[2160.0s] Fuck.
[2161.0s] I am a little out of breath.
[2163.0s] Just a little windage.
[2165.0s] Because I only got an 11.
[2167.0s] But you should have a huge athletics bonus.
[2169.0s] I do.
[2170.0s] That's with my bonus.
[2171.0s] Oh, that's with?
[2172.0s] I rolled a 3.
[2173.0s] I have a plus 8 to athletics.
[2175.0s] We'll say based on your little RP sessions at the beginning, everybody picked up an inspiration point.
[2181.0s] So that is a point at which before I tell you, if you succeeded or failed, you can choose to reroll.
[2189.0s] If you so desire.
[2191.0s] I would like to reroll.
[2192.0s] So you use your inspiration.
[2193.0s] Yeah, that was a bad roll.
[2196.0s] Ok, that is a better roll.
[2198.0s] That is a 16.
[2199.0s] Yeah.
[2200.0s] So you definitely, as you're running through it, it doesn't seem to take much to get everybody's attention and snap them out of whatever shock they're in.
[2211.0s] And they are beginning to move to where they need to be as far as battle stations.
[2215.0s] So we'll go Flint.
[2217.0s] Ok.
[2218.0s] You said there is a blue, a red, and a black dragon.
[2221.0s] A blue, a red, and a black dragon is what I said.
[2225.0s] Yeah.
[2226.0s] Ok.
[2227.0s] So I'm assuming at this point, like, people are manning the weapon stations and other things like that.
[2232.0s] It appears so.
[2234.0s] Yes.
[2236.0s] After Nulara runs around, yeah, people are moving to where you assume they need to be.
[2241.0s] So the dragons have kind of overpassed the back ships now.
[2248.0s] And one of them, the blue one, is firing its lightning breath at the back ships.
[2256.0s] And then the black and the red are headed up towards your ships.
[2260.0s] So they're about 50 feet out at this point.
[2263.0s] Ok.
[2264.0s] I would like to roll a history check.
[2268.0s] Ok.
[2269.0s] To see if I can remember traditionally how dragons will move, like how they will dodge if things are fired at them.
[2276.0s] Like maybe they are predominantly, like, they juke to the left or dip down or something like that.
[2283.0s] And if I can coordinate these knowledges with our attackers, maybe they can, like, fake the dragon out
[2290.0s] so it will, like, dive down and then have a second person aiming a little bit lower to hit said dragon.
[2296.0s] Sure.
[2298.0s] So.
[2299.0s] Ok.
[2300.0s] Yeah.
[2301.0s] Make your history check there.
[2302.0s] Does that make enough sense?
[2303.0s] Yeah.
[2304.0s] No.
[2305.0s] It makes perfect sense.
[2306.0s] Well, I don't know if it makes perfect sense.
[2309.0s] That seems very kind.
[2311.0s] Alright.
[2312.0s] That is a 25.
[2313.0s] Yeah.
[2314.0s] You certainly know the fighting styles of, at the very least, the black and the red style dragons.
[2321.0s] So explain to me, knowing this information, what you do in order to get the cannons that are currently positioned
[2330.0s] sideways in the ship shooting out with dragons behind you.
[2336.0s] So how you coordinate that with the people either driving the ship or firing the cannons.
[2343.0s] I get Captain Neff to turn a little bit to the left so that the cannons are better lined up towards the red and black dragons.
[2353.0s] Ok.
[2354.0s] And I inform the cannon operators as to the fact that red dragons will traditionally dive down if they see a projectile coming towards them.
[2366.0s] So we get the first volley to fire where they are and the second volley that fires immediately after to fire a little bit on a lower trajectory.
[2376.0s] Sure.
[2377.0s] To try and nab that red dragon as it dives out of the way.
[2381.0s] Sure.
[2382.0s] So yeah, Captain Neff begins turning the ship as the dragons are closing in behind and you hear her.
[2392.0s] There's like a ship horn that she can communicate with the people down below.
[2397.0s] And she relays this information and the first volley goes off.
[2401.0s] And you're correct in the fact that the red dragon dips down and the second volley quickly follows behind it.
[2407.0s] The red dragon takes three huge hits and it begins to go down to the ground.
[2414.0s] It doesn't look like it's out but it has gone down way lower and farther away from where you are currently.
[2422.0s] Yeah.
[2428.0s] Hey there. I'm your Dungeon Master Russ More.
[2430.0s] Thank you so much for joining us for episode 47 of Dumbgeons and Dragons titled The Jet Stream to Xanthal's Tower.
[2436.0s] If you'd like to support us directly, please visit our Patreon page, Patreon.com slash dumb dragon cast.
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[2517.0s] The next episode will be out next week though.
[2519.0s] August 8th, hey, did you hear?
[2521.0s] We're officially a weekly podcast now.
[2523.0s] Crazy, right?
[2524.0s] Let's get back to the episode though and see if the adventures have any skills left.
[2528.0s] You have a great week.
[2529.0s] We'll talk soon.
[2530.0s] Thea.
[2536.0s] Thea is going to go down and see.
[2550.0s] Oh gosh, what was her name again?
[2552.0s] Mary Ellen.
[2554.0s] Thank you, Mary Ellen.
[2556.0s] And she's going to pull out a leather bound book that she kept from her old scribe days.
[2564.0s] And there's actually inside are some ingredients for a much more potent explosive inside.
[2578.0s] So she's never had any any sort of like,
[2582.0s] she didn't know of any vessel that could contain the material together.
[2587.0s] But now that Mary Ellen has shown her this,
[2590.0s] Thea is going to go down and make some of these special explodey cannons.
[2599.0s] Okay.
[2600.0s] What are you using to do this?
[2602.0s] Wisdom? Arcana?
[2603.0s] Arcana.
[2604.0s] Okay.
[2605.0s] Yeah.
[2606.0s] I'm going to use my Arcana.
[2607.0s] Okay.
[2608.0s] Come on, weird spherical d20.
[2612.0s] That is 18.
[2614.0s] So yeah, you and Mary Ellen begin whipping up these super potent explodey bombs.
[2621.0s] Explodey balls.
[2622.0s] Thank you very much.
[2623.0s] And we'll say you are, you are getting them prepped and lined up and some of the other.
[2628.0s] I get Flammikins to.
[2630.0s] Sure.
[2631.0s] Haul them back and forth because everyone else.
[2633.0s] Is he safe?
[2634.0s] Oh yeah, girl.
[2635.0s] You good.
[2636.0s] Okay.
[2638.0s] I hope my magic chaos bolts don't fire off when I'm carrying one of these.
[2642.0s] Why would that happen?
[2643.0s] As she stumbles out of her room carrying them.
[2645.0s] I made a poor choice.
[2647.0s] Okay, so back to the top.
[2649.0s] Nulara.
[2650.0s] So the red dragon has been knocked down with three of these cannon balls
[2656.0s] and it looks like it's kind of coming up and in front of the ship now.
[2661.0s] The black dragon is up over top and you see its mouth.
[2666.0s] Looks like it's charging its breath.
[2669.0s] Your turn.
[2670.0s] Okay.
[2671.0s] I am going to use my.
[2677.0s] Man, my skills are so amazing for this.
[2681.0s] You got skills.
[2683.0s] Sure.
[2684.0s] Well, you can use any of them.
[2686.0s] It's just you won't have like a super duper bonus.
[2689.0s] Exactly.
[2690.0s] Which doesn't seem like the best, the best use.
[2694.0s] Okay.
[2695.0s] I am going to use my perception to see if.
[2705.0s] So sorry.
[2706.0s] The red one is in front now.
[2707.0s] The red one.
[2708.0s] Yeah.
[2709.0s] It is coming up front.
[2710.0s] Like it's kind of cresting up.
[2712.0s] So it's not yet in front, but that you look over and you see its trajectory and
[2716.0s] that's where it's going.
[2717.0s] So they're kind of cut off this ship.
[2719.0s] Who's a, who is charging up.
[2723.0s] The black dragon who is behind.
[2725.0s] I thought you said on top.
[2727.0s] Well, like up and it's not like resting on top, but like behind and above.
[2732.0s] Sorry.
[2733.0s] I am going to yeah.
[2735.0s] Okay.
[2736.0s] Good.
[2737.0s] The black one.
[2738.0s] I'm going to use my perception to see if I can spot his, you know,
[2744.0s] that one fatal flaw that all dragons have on the other side of them.
[2747.0s] Yep.
[2749.0s] I would like to see if I can see that so that I can get one of the super
[2757.0s] talented archers that is standing beside me to shoot it in that spot.
[2762.0s] Okay.
[2764.0s] So that is a 19.
[2767.0s] The black dragon flaps its wings and exposes its underside as it's about
[2774.0s] to unleash this breath.
[2776.0s] And you see like a glowing spot on its chest where you think would probably
[2783.0s] be a tender spot.
[2785.0s] It's the dragon heart.
[2790.0s] Great movie.
[2791.0s] Yeah.
[2792.0s] Where you think that if it were struck, it would probably do some
[2797.0s] damage.
[2798.0s] Okay.
[2799.0s] So I tell is, is there, there's a super wickedly trained archer beside
[2805.0s] me, right?
[2806.0s] Naturally.
[2807.0s] That I give the like elbow to and say like, I love it.
[2811.0s] It's a glowing spot, but only I can see it.
[2814.0s] Whatever.
[2815.0s] It's fine.
[2816.0s] He doesn't know.
[2817.0s] Well, it's like, it's not like, like glowing all the time, but
[2819.0s] there's like a flash and it's like that one spot.
[2822.0s] And you happen to see it as it was like charging up and about ready.
[2825.0s] Yep.
[2826.0s] Perfect.
[2827.0s] He's just really not paying attention.
[2829.0s] No, I'm just kidding.
[2830.0s] My name is Harold.
[2832.0s] He's an excellent shot.
[2833.0s] He's not going to notice it.
[2834.0s] Shoot the archery.
[2835.0s] It's fine.
[2836.0s] He just has different skills.
[2837.0s] People have different skills.
[2839.0s] So I, I tell Harold where, where to aim his, his bow so he can try
[2847.0s] and hit the dragon and hopefully stop that.
[2849.0s] Well, at least stop that charge up of that breath weapon that we
[2853.0s] probably really don't want to get attacked with.
[2855.0s] So you point, point this out to Harold and Harold had his bow
[2859.0s] knocked already ready to take a shot, but sees where you were
[2863.0s] directing him and lets loose his arrow.
[2867.0s] I mean, you succeeded.
[2869.0s] That's okay.
[2870.0s] Let's lose his arrow and it impales into that spot and the
[2873.0s] dragon lets out a loud roar.
[2877.0s] And instead of dropping its head down to release its breath
[2881.0s] weapon, fires its acid breath up into the air and begins to
[2886.0s] kind of fill the sky above, but doesn't fall down onto the ship.
[2890.0s] Flint.
[2891.0s] Okay.
[2893.0s] The red dragon is now up in front and the black dragon has just
[2899.0s] been struck behind you.
[2901.0s] The blue dragon has taken out one of the other ships.
[2906.0s] Okay.
[2907.0s] Does the red dragon look like it's breathy time or?
[2911.0s] It's just getting up in front and kind of turning around and
[2915.0s] positioning in front, but you can't tell at this moment.
[2919.0s] Okay.
[2920.0s] How about that blue dragon?
[2922.0s] You said it just took down a ship?
[2924.0s] Yeah, it looks like with its lightning breath, it took down
[2926.0s] one and now is on top of the air, the balloon of the second
[2932.0s] ship behind.
[2933.0s] So there's still three ships that are up, including yours.
[2938.0s] And how far away is this blue dragon now?
[2940.0s] You've kind of slowed your, how fast?
[2943.0s] We kind of turned sideways.
[2945.0s] And you turned sideways.
[2946.0s] So you're going, I'd say it's probably like 30 feet out from
[2951.0s] where you are.
[2952.0s] So you guys are getting in pretty close proximity as all the
[2955.0s] ships are swirling, trying to take down some of these
[2958.0s] dragons.
[2959.0s] I see a pile of rope next to me on the deck and I tie one
[2967.0s] end to the railing of the airship and one end to my
[2971.0s] dwarven thrower and I throw my hammer at the foot of the
[2977.0s] blue dragon, but miss ever so slightly in the attempts that
[2981.0s] it will go around the foot and then return back to me,
[2985.0s] thus snaring the foot of the dragon and dragging it a
[2988.0s] little bit away from the ship that it's currently on top of.
[2991.0s] Okay.
[2992.0s] And I will, I guess, roll a athletics for that.
[2998.0s] That sounds athletic, right?
[3000.0s] Yeah, I'm trying to think of something that would be
[3002.0s] better, but I get it.
[3004.0s] Yeah.
[3005.0s] Yeah.
[3006.0s] Athletics.
[3007.0s] Well, athletics is strength.
[3009.0s] Acrobatics.
[3010.0s] I'd say acrobatics.
[3011.0s] Something decks based.
[3012.0s] Yeah.
[3013.0s] Okay.
[3014.0s] All right.
[3015.0s] You're trying to aim rather than like brutally knock it
[3018.0s] down.
[3019.0s] Yeah.
[3020.0s] It's a finesse shot more than a power shot.
[3022.0s] Come on, acrobatics.
[3024.0s] I'm going to use my lucky rabbit's foot.
[3028.0s] Have you used your inspiration yet?
[3029.0s] Thanks for the gift.
[3030.0s] Have you used your inspiration yet?
[3031.0s] I have not.
[3032.0s] Okay.
[3033.0s] I had a pretty good roll, so I'm just going to,
[3034.0s] I'm going to tack on a little bit here, I think.
[3036.0s] All right.
[3037.0s] And I'm going to add four to that, so that's a 19.
[3039.0s] You let loose your dwarven thrower and it goes just
[3043.0s] kind of to the side?
[3045.0s] Yeah, like just around the foot, if you will.
[3048.0s] Sure.
[3049.0s] And then it, like around its leg.
[3051.0s] And as it returns back to me, it doesn't come
[3054.0s] straight back.
[3055.0s] Yeah.
[3056.0s] So it goes around the dragon's leg and it doesn't
[3059.0s] like snare it, like it doesn't drag it all the
[3061.0s] way back, but it's enough to like throw off its
[3064.0s] bAlydince and drag it a few feet.
[3066.0s] Yeah.
[3067.0s] That's exactly what happens.
[3068.0s] Just to give that other ship like a little bit
[3069.0s] of time.
[3070.0s] Yeah.
[3071.0s] So it pulls it off.
[3072.0s] We'll say it pulls it away enough from the
[3075.0s] balloon and dips down and lets the, one of the
[3081.0s] rear ship gets it into position so that they can
[3088.0s] let loose their cannons on it.
[3090.0s] And it does that.
[3091.0s] Perfect.
[3092.0s] It fires it and is enough to drive off that
[3096.0s] blue dragon.
[3097.0s] Nice.
[3098.0s] Thea.
[3099.0s] Wow.
[3100.0s] Who would have thought a magical returning
[3101.0s] hammer would be useful, guys?
[3103.0s] Right?
[3104.0s] Right.
[3105.0s] It's very strange.
[3106.0s] Thea shouts up to the captain.
[3110.0s] What model is this ship?
[3114.0s] How is that pertinent to the current situation?
[3117.0s] Damn it, captain.
[3118.0s] It's important.
[3120.0s] We talking like the 42-B or?
[3125.0s] Definitely a frigate series 16-R.
[3132.0s] Well, Thea knows she's going to use history
[3137.0s] because she-
[3138.0s] From all your time on ships?
[3140.0s] Yes.
[3141.0s] I did a lot of random reading as a scribe in
[3144.0s] the library of the university.
[3146.0s] I was bored as shit in there.
[3149.0s] And Thea remembers reading that there is a
[3155.0s] special emergency defense mechanism for these
[3159.0s] ships that actually casts a force field around
[3164.0s] it.
[3172.0s] And she remembers that the button is located
[3175.0s] just underneath the ship's steering wheel.
[3182.0s] Roll for it.
[3185.0s] Captain Neff, not the best captain.
[3188.0s] I'm going to use my inspiration.
[3191.0s] Apparently, this knowledge has been lost
[3193.0s] to the annals of time.
[3194.0s] Indeed.
[3196.0s] Well, she's like, what?
[3198.0s] What's happening?
[3199.0s] Caught in a frenzy.
[3200.0s] Maybe she never-
[3201.0s] Fuck.
[3202.0s] I hate it.
[3204.0s] So tell me what you scream out to Captain Neff.
[3207.0s] I say, what about the force fields?
[3215.0s] And she stops with all the mayhem that's
[3218.0s] happening around her.
[3219.0s] She stops and she looks you dead in the fucking
[3222.0s] eye.
[3223.0s] And she's like, the fuck you talking about,
[3225.0s] bitch?
[3226.0s] Is this not a frigate series 2.0-7B?
[3230.0s] No, I just said 14-R.
[3233.0s] Oh, damn it.
[3234.0s] They're no fucking force fields.
[3236.0s] Never mind.
[3237.0s] Go back down and make your bombs.
[3239.0s] Let's see, it goes back down.
[3241.0s] Hashtag dumb dragon fart, y'all.
[3243.0s] Oh, that could have been good.
[3249.0s] You guys, I fucked up.
[3250.0s] This is our very last one.
[3251.0s] You went for the moon and I liked it.
[3253.0s] You swung for the fences.
[3255.0s] That's your first fail.
[3256.0s] So you had five successes, one fail.
[3258.0s] Nulara, the red dragon, looks like he's
[3261.0s] recharged his breath and he's up in front.
[3263.0s] The black dragon has dropped back from the
[3268.0s] arrow shot.
[3269.0s] The blue dragon looks like he's left
[3273.0s] because of the dwarven thrower cannonball
[3275.0s] incident.
[3277.0s] It's fair.
[3278.0s] Ships are circling themselves, kind of
[3281.0s] like just trying to get position on the
[3284.0s] dragons, keep position on the dragons.
[3286.0s] Kate, how far is the red dragon from the
[3290.0s] front of our ship?
[3291.0s] He's like hovering like right in front.
[3294.0s] So between you and you're following the
[3297.0s] next ship.
[3298.0s] He's between you and that ship.
[3300.0s] I am going to.
[3302.0s] God, why aren't there more animals on
[3306.0s] this ship would be really helpful.
[3312.0s] Do you need an animal?
[3317.0s] I am going to.
[3321.0s] No, that doesn't make any sense at all.
[3323.0s] And I can't even pretend that it
[3325.0s] makes sense.
[3326.0s] You just tried to think there was a
[3327.0s] fucking force field.
[3328.0s] You can't just conjure a force field.
[3330.0s] You actually can if you can roll high enough
[3332.0s] and don't have the world's shittiest dice.
[3334.0s] I was going to say, I guess if you roll
[3335.0s] well enough.
[3336.0s] OK, then I am going to go.
[3342.0s] Is the dragon like above us, in line
[3346.0s] with us or below us?
[3348.0s] In line.
[3349.0s] OK, then I am going to.
[3353.0s] I remember now why we were throwing
[3354.0s] chickens and stuff, get real desperate
[3357.0s] in the skills challenge.
[3360.0s] I mean, because it's amazing.
[3363.0s] I am going to.
[3367.0s] Grab the two strongest looking people I
[3369.0s] see.
[3371.0s] And we're going to go to them at the
[3372.0s] drive.
[3373.0s] They're going to go to the front of
[3374.0s] the ship.
[3375.0s] And we're going to.
[3380.0s] And we're going to try to push that
[3383.0s] bear masthead onto the dragon.
[3389.0s] And I'm going to use my animal handling skill.
[3398.0s] She's handling the animal.
[3402.0s] I love everything about this.
[3403.0s] I like it.
[3404.0s] It's good.
[3405.0s] We're getting weird that I am on board
[3408.0s] in many ways.
[3411.0s] That's a 22.
[3419.0s] OK, what is your sorry?
[3421.0s] What is your goal here?
[3422.0s] You're trying to push it onto the
[3423.0s] dragon that's in line with you.
[3425.0s] I want to bonk it.
[3426.0s] So it'll like, you know, I want to
[3429.0s] hit it in the snoot so it doesn't
[3431.0s] spray us with its fire, probably
[3434.0s] coming out of a restaurant.
[3435.0s] I imagine you guys would like
[3436.0s] rip it off the masthead and then
[3438.0s] hurl it.
[3439.0s] Exactly.
[3440.0s] OK.
[3441.0s] So you and Hans and Franz.
[3446.0s] I am Hans.
[3447.0s] This is Franz.
[3448.0s] We will throw the bear.
[3451.0s] You go up there and you somehow
[3454.0s] manage to animal handle this wooden
[3457.0s] sculpture and tear it off.
[3460.0s] And it is propelled forward and
[3462.0s] knocks into the dragon, which
[3465.0s] forces it to like it kind of
[3470.0s] knocks its concentration long
[3473.0s] enough that the ship actually runs
[3476.0s] into it and spears into it.
[3484.0s] And the red dragon is holding on
[3487.0s] to the front of the ship.
[3488.0s] You hear Captain Neff scream from
[3490.0s] down below to fire everything.
[3494.0s] And the two cannons that are on the
[3496.0s] front release and these two extra
[3499.0s] potent explode devices explode into
[3505.0s] the red dragon that makes it explode
[3509.0s] off the front of the ship and knock
[3512.0s] it down to the earth below.
[3515.0s] The black dragon seeing this now his
[3519.0s] blue friend and his black friend
[3521.0s] and the cultists on it kind of
[3523.0s] give it the old let's get out of here
[3525.0s] for now and regroup and come back later.
[3530.0s] You've won the skills challenge.
[3532.0s] Is the red dragon dead?
[3536.0s] You are uncertain if it is dead,
[3538.0s] but it has fallen and is lifeless
[3541.0s] appearing on the ground.
[3543.0s] Hopefully dead.
[3545.0s] Yeah, it looked like it had not a
[3547.0s] lot of movement in it, like perhaps
[3549.0s] it was at least unconscious when it
[3551.0s] was hit.
[3552.0s] You handled that animal.
[3554.0s] You sure did.
[3555.0s] Now we all just like do amazing
[3557.0s] high fives because that is by far,
[3559.0s] by far, by far our best encounter
[3563.0s] ever where a dragon has been involved.
[3565.0s] Yep.
[3566.0s] Yes.
[3567.0s] That's good.
[3569.0s] So yeah, you are you are cleaning
[3572.0s] up the the two other ships have gone
[3576.0s] to see if there's anybody in the
[3578.0s] wreckage of the fourth ship.
[3581.0s] And you you set off still towards
[3585.0s] Xanthal's tower on your own now.
[3589.0s] But you travel for the rest of the
[3591.0s] day and you make it to a tower
[3595.0s] surrounded by what looks like a
[3598.0s] giant overgrown hedge maze.
[3601.0s] And around that hedge maze is a
[3603.0s] town.
[3604.0s] You ask about that and Captain Neff
[3606.0s] says that is this is Xanthal's
[3609.0s] tower as well.
[3610.0s] They named the city after the tower
[3613.0s] after Xanthal brought that tower
[3616.0s] up there.
[3617.0s] People flocked to it because it
[3619.0s] deterred people, deterred orcs and
[3621.0s] deterred raids from attacking
[3623.0s] because of the magic that was coming
[3625.0s] off of the tower.
[3627.0s] But you have made it to Xanthal's
[3629.0s] tower.
[3630.0s] And because of how, you know,
[3634.0s] how the dragons had attacked you,
[3636.0s] you went right up to it.
[3638.0s] And you land on the outskirts of
[3640.0s] the city of Xanthal's tower.
[3658.0s] Music in today's episode was by
[3660.0s] Kavin McLeod of Incompetech.Filmmusic.io.
[3663.0s] Killer garden.
[3664.0s] Not to be confused with a killer
[3666.0s] garden.
[3667.0s] I'm not going to take any notes
[3668.0s] because the clickety clack of me
[3670.0s] typing irritates Russ while he's
[3672.0s] editing.
[3673.0s] Yeah, it's like so loud.
[3675.0s] So I don't take notes anymore
[3677.0s] because someone's sensitive.
[3680.0s] Someone could invest in a pencil
[3682.0s] that's in there.
[3683.0s] As someone who has no interest in
[3685.0s] editing this podcast, I can't blame
[3687.0s] Russ for that.
[3688.0s] Yeah, that's fair.
[3690.0s] Everybody has to edit one
[3692.0s] episode if they have anything to
[3693.0s] complain about.
[3695.0s] You'll never hear another peep
[3696.0s] at me again.
[3697.0s] We will lose so many listeners.
[3699.0s] So you,
[3701.0s] all of you are climbing
[3703.0s] the rope ladder?
[3704.0s] Yes.
[3705.0s] All right.
[3706.0s] Well, unless there's another way
[3707.0s] to get into the fucking airship.
[3708.0s] I bust a hole through the side
[3710.0s] of the airship.
[3711.0s] Somebody's got levitation boots,
[3712.0s] but whatever.
[3713.0s] I only get to use those like
[3714.0s] once every so often.
[3716.0s] So I'm not going to waste them
[3718.0s] getting myself into a boat.
[3719.0s] The next huge encounter is going
[3721.0s] to happen before so often.
[3723.0s] What if it happened halfway
[3725.0s] if she was floating up
[3726.0s] into the airship?
[3728.0s] I like it.
[3729.0s] And what's your name, Captain?
[3731.0s] Uh,
[3733.0s] Yep.
[3735.0s] Yep.
[3737.0s] And do you have a last name yet?
[3739.0s] Uh,
[3741.0s] Captain.
[3742.0s] No, my name is Catherine.
[3744.0s] Catherine.
[3745.0s] Captain.
[3746.0s] Stormborn.
[3747.0s] Captain.
[3748.0s] Stormborn again?
[3749.0s] No, that's a bad.
[3750.0s] I don't know why that's my default.
[3751.0s] I don't know either.
[3752.0s] You've already had a Stormborn.
[3754.0s] Denearus.
[3755.0s] Stormborn.
[3756.0s] Uh,
[3758.0s] see this is how much prep
[3759.0s] I've done today, guys.
[3760.0s] Captain Catherine Capsicum.
[3762.0s] Catherine Wheel.
[3764.0s] Captain.
[3765.0s] No wait.
[3766.0s] Captain.
[3767.0s] Catherine.
[3769.0s] Catherine the Great.
[3771.0s] Sounds familiar.
[3773.0s] Hepburn.
[3775.0s] No.
[3777.0s] Uh, Captain.
[3779.0s] Captron.
[3780.0s] Capsicum.
[3781.0s] Captron.
[3783.0s] Well, the name, the name of the ship is the
[3787.0s] Bearskin Ship.
[3792.0s] It's too bad you brought up that ship name generator.
[3796.0s] Too slow.
[3797.0s] And you didn't use any of the names.
[3799.0s] They weren't good.
[3800.0s] You just said the first thing that came to your head.
[3803.0s] Well, the beauty of this audio podcast that is not live is
[3807.0s] you can say whatever you want.
[3809.0s] Would you like to try again?
[3811.0s] The Vancouver.
[3812.0s] The Pocahontas.
[3813.0s] These are terrible ship names.
[3815.0s] The Pocahontas.
[3817.0s] None of them tie to a bear.
[3819.0s] It's the Polka haunt us.
[3821.0s] Yes.
[3822.0s] Okay.
[3823.0s] Dumbgeons and Dragons is a Dumb Dragons production.