HighRollers: Lightfall/Episode 1

"The Adventure Begins"HighRollers: Lightfall Episode 1
Members Present	DUNGEON MASTER Mark Hulmes THE PLAYERS Chris Trott Katie Morrison Kim Richards Matt Toffolo
Episode Link	THE ADVENTURE BEGINS - High Rollers D&D: Episode 1 (17th January 2016)
Next	LIGHTFALL Episode 2: Treachery Revealed

"The Adventure Begins" is the first episode of the Lightfall campaign for High Rollers D&D. It was broadcast live on the Yogscast Twitch channel on January 17, 2016.

In this episode, our heroes begin their adventure travelling between cities, but things soon go wrong when they awake in a room trapped by thorny walls.

Campaign Summary

Backstory

Main article: High Rollers D&D#Backstory

It is 46 years after the Lightfall, an event that resulted in chaos across the world of Arrak, and the world have begun rebuilding efforts. A caravan is travelling from the town of Greybell to Talis'Val, the capital city of the Dawn Republic. Amongst the people in the caravan are four adventurers, Cam, Elora, Jiǔtóu and Trellimar; later collectively yet unofficial known as the adventurers.

The caravan stops for the night and the people set up a small camp to have their evening meals and rest. However, they were ambushed by unknown creatures who knocked them unconscious and take them back to an underground complex.

The Beginning

"Memories of what happened come in flashes. You remember the caravan stopping at dusk. The old caravan master barking orders, telling folks to get a fire going so they can eat their evening meal. You remember the thick mist rising as things got darker. You remember the sound of rustling bushes despite the open plains you were camping in. Shadowy movements in the corner of your eye. Cries of the caravan travellers echoing across the quiet hills. You've tried to help but something struck you from behind. Your vision blurred. And the last thing you all remembered was a hooded pale face and the glow of misty firelight.

As you begin to come to, you faintly hear what sounded like a man screaming and dragging of boots on stone. You ache and you pull your tired muscles. They are cold and stiff as you wake up. You can feel the cold, worn stone beneath you and the smell of dense foliage overwhelms you. The room is crumbled and looks ancient. Thin beams of light descend from the ceiling, gently illuminating the rough stone that is covered in moss, ivy and vines. Your hands are currently bound behind your back, tied with what feels like thick vines or grass or something."

The adventurers wake up and find themselves bounded in a mossy stone-walled cell. Their weapons and items stripped off and stashed away on the other side of a wall of vines.

Cam groans and looks around, seeing a female tiefling first, followed by a male drow and then a female elf. He introduces himself to them. The others introduce back as Jiǔtóu, Trellimar and Elora respectively. However, Cam's talkative nature and sense of humour puts Jiǔtóu off as she constantly tries to ignore him. She only listens to him momentarily when he mentions that he has seen other tieflings before. However, she goes back to ignoring him when he reveals that it was quite some time ago.

Looking for a way to free himself, Cam goes up to a broken ancient pillar and starts cutting the vines that bind his hands behind him. Meanwhile, through her nature knowledge, she knows that the vines are unnatural since they typically grow on the ground. She also knows that the wall of vines are made of razor vines, a magical plant that has tiny, dagger-sharp thorns. She then alerts the others to not go near the wall of vines.

Using Druidcraft, Elora closes her eyes and draws the power of nature. She uses it to uncoil the vines and free herself. At the same time, Cam also manages to free his hands. Trellimar tries to free himself by bringing his bound hands under his feet and to the front. However, he is unable to do so as his arms has gone stiff after lying down on the cold, hard ground for a long time. He instead accepts Elora's help, who cast Druidcraft to free his hands.

Elora tries to break down the wall of vines using Druidcraft as well but is unable to as it appears to have been purposefully placed rather than having grown naturally. The wall of vines has also been warded but she suspects either fire or force damage will be able to destroy them. She then lets everyone know about it. Trellimar tries to break it down using Eldritch Blast. A single bolt of purple energy flies out of his hand and creates a small hole through the wall of vines.

Jiǔtóu uses her tail to poke through the hole and grabbing her guandao. However, she receives a cut on her tail as it brushes against a thorn. Also, since she is nearer to the hole, she is able to see a corridor that leads into darkness. Jiǔtóu thought she has heard something but brushes it off. With her guandao, Jiǔtóu makes the hole bigger for them to crawl through. Once on the other side, they pick up their weapons and travelling packs.

First Combat

The ancient-looking walls are worn and earthy. Mist curls around the adventurers' feet. Looking down the corridor, Elora, Jiǔtóu and Trellimar are able to see another room up ahead with their low-light vision. Cam, however, does not have low-light vision, so he has to rely on his new-found friends to navigate through the dungeon.

Elora uses her Druidcraft to clear the mist to check for traps. There is none. Trellimar heads down into the corridor first. Elora follows behind, then Jiǔtóu. Cam follows right behind.

Reaching the end of the corridor, the adventurers hear faint noises of scrapping and rustling of bushes coming from the room they are about to enter. Peeking into the room, they can see a large antechamber with thin beams of light shining down from the small gaps in the ceiling. The room has a flat floor with a stone mosaic on the ground. The mosaic consists of a tree, with each branches having a star at its tip. The room is overgrown with vines. A short staircase with sconces on both sides of the banister rises up to a higher platform of an entrance way that seems to caved in thousands of years ago.

One bunch of the vines starts moving. A twig-like creature seems to be slinking out of the foliage, looking around as if it is searching for something.

Snap! The creature turns towards the sound as Trellimar accidentally steps on a branch.

Portion of the map of the elven barrow, where the first combat of the series takes place.

First Round of Combat
With Trellimar and Elora blocking the narrow corridor, Jiǔtóu uses her guandao as an anchor as she launches herself up into the air and runs across the wall over the two. She then leaps off and launches a flying kick at the creature. Her foot smashes into the creature, splintering some wood inside it.

Due to the noise generated, two more similar but smaller creatures emerge from the vines, both attacking Jiǔtóu and Trellimar. Trellimar receives some cuts on his leg as the creature swipes at him. Jiǔtóu dodges out of the way as she senses it charging towards her.

Elora casts Entangle, causing vines to start sprouting from the ground and restraining two of the creatures. Being the furthest from the combat, Cam asks what is happening as he thinks he saw more creatures sprouting from the ground. Elora shouts back to assure him that it is her spell. Elora then runs to a corner for cover.

Trellimar fires his Eldritch Blast at the creature beside him, shattering parts of the wooden skin off.

The larger creature lashes out at Jiǔtóu. Its needle-like claws deal a deep cut at her.

Cam goes up to Trellimar who is blocking the corridor. He pushes Trellimar to one side and, with a dagger from his boot, throws it at the creature that attacked Trellimar earlier. The dagger slices its head off, killing the creature.

Second Round of Combat
Jiǔtóu spins her guandao and lashes at the larger creature in front of her, then swings it around to hit the smaller creature behind her. With her attack, she beheads the larger creature and smashes the other creature into pieces. She then ends off with a martial arts stance.
End of Combat

Exploring the Dungeon

With the combat over, the adventurers have a time to rest. Cam also retrieves his dagger. Observing the mosaic further, all of them know that it is the holy symbol of Corellon Larethian, the god of the elven kind. A typical symbol of his have silver stars at the end of each branches. This mosaic, however, had four of its stars coloured in gold. They also can see another set of stairs leading down into another room, though the mist makes it harder to see beyond. Elora, being an elf, knows that the place they are in is ancient, dating back to way before Pelor's Light even existed 1346 years ago. Thus, she suspects that the place could be one of the early elven temples.

Cam heads up the stairs to the upper platform and cast Light on a dagger he whipped out from his boot. Calling it Duracell, the dagger helps to illuminate the area around him since he does not have low-light vision. Cam inspects the caved-in entrance way and, eventually knowing that it has been blocked off for millennia, decide that it will be impossible to break through.

Jiǔtóu observes the mosaic and starts tapping the gold stars with the butt of her guandao. It does nothing, though she thinks the stars are painted for a reason. Looking at the two sconces by the stairs leading up, however, she notices a hinge on one of them. She alerts everyone about it. Around the same time, Elora notice that the stairs leading down are able to slant, then informing the rest that the sconces may activate a trap.

Trellimar offers to activate the sconce. The rest back away from the mosaic ground as he pulls it. Grinding of stones can be heard for a brief moment, then there is silence. Nothing happens. Elora, who is standing beside the other sconce, pulls it as well. Nothing happens. They then pull both sconces at the same time, to which a different sound of stone grinding is heard . Nothing has happened in the room they are in but Cam thinks that they might have activated something in another room. Trellimar lights the two torches on the sconces, in which blue flames erupt from it.

Elora looks down another set of corridor. Though it leads to another room, and in spite of her low-light vision, she is only able to make out a few stone pews as the room is pitch dark.

Cam throws his dagger Duracell down the corridor into the pitch dark room. With the light, the adventurers can see more rows of stone pews. They also can see an old stone fountain crumbled through age and a faint outline of a statue of an elven robed figure at the end of the room. There are also a couple of recently dead bodies. Fearing that his dagger could alert others, Cam dismiss Light on Duracell, plunging the room into darkness.

Jiǔtóu, who was the only one injured from the previous battle, asks her companions if they are able to heal her. Cam, being a cleric, offers to help, so he touches Jiǔtóu's arm despite protest from Jiǔtóu and casts Healing Word on her. As he does so, his signet ring glows. Jiǔtóu notices the ring, which have a rune at the top with three wavy lines. Though it is silvery metal in appearance, the ring looks worn out, suggesting that Cam does not keep his ring in good condition. She then thanks him for the help.

Gruesome Discovery

Not wanting to lose his dagger, Cam stealthily walks into the pitch dark room to retrieve his dagger. Due to the darkness, Cam stumbles onto the stone pews and continue to feel his way around by patting the floor. Then, he touches the cold flesh of a body and some fluid. Smelling it, he knows that it is blood and quickly wipes it off.

Elora grabs one of the lit torch and heads down the corridor. The glow helps to lighten up the room. Cam now sees a dead body that he touched earlier, causing him to feel nauseous. The body looks like one of the people of the caravan. He then finds his dagger and retrieves it.

Just then, one of the bodies starts to move. Cam panics and starts crawling back to the corridor. Both Jiǔtóu and Trellimar wonder if that person could be alive, so Trellimar grabs the other lit torch and walks into the room to investigate. Illuminating the rest of the room, it clearly shows that the body is trying to get up. As Trellimar leans in closer, the head turns to look at him, showing barbed vines wrapped around the body and dug into the flesh. Vines are also poking out of the eye sockets. It then pounces onto Trellimar. Another body also starts to animate.

First Round of Combat
Jiǔtóu asks Elora if she could do anything about the magic that runs the place. Elora is uncertain. Jiǔtóu then leaps over the people in front of her by running along the wall again. She lands on the other side and rushes over to Trellimar, aiming her guandao at the creature attacking him. Her attack slices open the chest of the creature. However, no blood gushes out as it continues to attacks Trellimar.

Elora imbues her staff with the power of nature by casting Shillelagh. She then runs up to Trellimar and attacks the same creature. Bone of the leg shatters but the creature still seems unaffected by it. Trellimar attacks the creature by firing his Eldritch Blast. Though the creature stumbles back a bit and the blast punches a hole through its chest, the creature regains its step and mends the hole with its vines.

Cam re-enters the room. Seeing the vines seemingly controlling the body from within, he flings a dagger at the throat where the vine punctures into the flesh. The dagger slices the vine, causing it to crumble as the body falls to the ground, where it remains motionless.

However, Cam is unaware of another creature now beside him. It goes to strike Cam across his head, dealing some damage.

Second Round of Combat
Jiǔtóu sees Cam under attack, so she rushes up to him and, with her guandao, attempts to stab into the heart of the creature. It hits the creature's chest and tears out a big chunk of flesh off the body. Just managing to stab the creature again, Jiǔtóu injures it further by striking the chest again.

Elora tries to use Druidcraft to take out the vines that are controlling the creature. However, she is unable to as the vines seem to be powered by something unnatural. Elora then attempts to slice the vine at its throat with her staff after seeing what Cam did earlier. Though she successfully carries it out and the creature's head goes limb, the body is still active.

Trellimar catches a glimpse of the room they are in. Having spent his time serving in a temple when he was young, he knows that they are in a temple room based on the layout. He figures that the fountain is used for rituals. He also guesses that the statue is of Corellon Larethian, posing in some funeral rites methodology stance. Back to the creature, Trellimar creates a clattering noise behind it through Minor Illusion. The creature seems distracted by it. Trellimar then walks towards the statue. Looking at the altar in front of the statue, there seems to be items inside it.

Cam seizes the opportunity as he stabs the distracted creature in the chest. Several vines are sliced off, making one of its arm immobile. Using the other arm, the creature goes to strike and injures Cam.

Third Round of Combat
Jiǔtóu strikes the heart of the creature again with her guandao. Her attack severs more vines, yet the creature is still alive. Jiǔtóu thrusts the guandao into the creature one more time, severing the remaining vines as the creature falls to the ground lifeless.
End of Combat

The Mystery Deepens

Map re-creation of the elven barrow, the first dungeon of the series. Original map drawn my Mark Hulmes.

With the combat over, the adventurers take a rest and assess the situation. Knowing how many were on the caravan, they figured that at least two more commoners are missing, including Tomas, the caravan master. They also spot another corridor, wider than before, leading into another room.

Behind the altar, Trellimar finds two beautifully decorated glass vials, each with liquids inside them. He also sees two ceremonial urns, which he secretly takes as he find those valuable. Showing the two vials of liquid to the rest, everyone recognises them as Potions of Healing.

Elora examines the altar closer. She now knows that they are inside a temple complex of connected burial chambers built for Corellon Larethian, where its members practice ancient elven religious traditions. She also knows that an important royal elf is buried somewhere within the complex

Looking at Elora observing the place, Cam asks her about what she knows. Elora explains that they are in a burial chamber complex, whose traditions are no longer practised. However, she does not know what has happened to the other caravan travelers. Trellimar wonders further on why they were not killed together with the rest of the caravan travelers.

Examining the cuts on the wrists, throat and chest of the corpses, both Cam and Jiǔtóu know that whatever equipment is used to slice the bodies has jagged edges, since there are no clean-cuts. The corpses also no longer have any blood, as if they are drained. From these, Jiǔtóu reckons that they were sacrificed for some ritual. Also, having the bodies tossed inside the room they are in shows little care is given to them. Looking at the vines inside the bodies, the two know that it is placed inside by someone.

Trellimar investigates the corpses and finds that their clothes and pouches were not taken away. In total, he finds seven silver pieces and some ornamental jewelries, which leads him to believe that the victims are not being robbed. Elora examines the nature of the vines. She finds out that they are unnatural, possibly corrupted.

Cam believes that the corpses are deliberately placed to ward them off. Elora thinks otherwise, believing that someone wants them to find it. Jiǔtóu thinks that they could be next to be sacrificed, given how the bodies are tossed away without care. The adventurers conclude that their blood must have been drained in another room.

Jiǔtóu lights a torch and walks down a wider corridor. The others follow right behind her, each with their own source of light. The corridor leads into another unexplored room, which seems well carved compared to the previous rooms. At this point, Elora lets the rest know that someone important must have been buried within the complex just as she remember that whatever place they are in also serves as a burial complex. Both Cam and Trellimar are curious if the person's spirit or its zombified body is haunting the place. Jiǔtóu wonders if the complex is used by someone as a base or that an ancient deity has returned. Cam also wonders if there are vine cultists after Trellimar points out the animated vines. With that thought, Cam reliefs himself and wets his pants. Jiǔtóu walks away in disgust.

Tomas

Jiǔtóu steps into a burial chamber. There are streaks of blood all over the floor, as well as lifeless bodies of the twig creatures she fought earlier. Lined along the walls are alcoves, each with a wrapped up body held up by vines. However, unlike before, the vines do not reach into the bodies. Also, leaning against the wall is a male human, seemingly alive but breathing and bleeding heavily. One of its arm is abnormally twisted. He has a blackened eye with blood flowing out of it. He also carries a broken sconce, using it as a makeshift weapon. Jiǔtóu recognises him as Tomas, the caravan master.

"Tom," as Cam shouts out. Tomas hears it and asks who is out there. Cam continues to speak, "are you a vine zombie?" Tomas claims that he is not.

Seeing how injured Tomas look, Cam rush up to him and starts attempting to stabilise his condition. With a closer look, Cam sees deep claw marks on Tomas, as well as a broken arm and half-torn legs. A deep cut causes Tomas unable to open his left eye. Cam rips off the fabric of Tomas' shredded clothes and uses it as bandages. He also expertly uses a branch as a support for the broken arm. The rest then walk up to Tomas. Elora recognises that the claw marks are similar to the scar Jiǔtóu got on her tail earlier.

Tomas weakly says that he is glad to see someone alive. Cam explains what they know so far, about them getting knocked out and later finding the rest of the caravan travellers dead. Tomas claims that it is his fault, saying that his carelessness and complacency led them to such state since he thought that the road they travelled is safe as he had travelled along the same stretch for years without incident. Tomas also says that they were just a day away from Tallfield, a farming village north from where they camped for the night before being attacked by twig-like creatures that came out from the mist.

Tomas says that he was imprisoned in the same cell with the adventurers. The creatures then escort him out of the cell and drag him to the current room. This leads the adventurers to realise that they would have been next in line had they not escaped. Acting quickly, Tomas pulls off a sconce from the wall and starts attacking the creatures. He clubbed one but the other two clawed him. He eventually kill the rest, though sustaining severe injuries during the fight.

Looking at his heavily torn legs, Tomas says that he cannot walk. Elora wants to cast Cure Wounds on Tomas but he rejects it, saying that she should not waste the spell for him.

Tomas tells the adventurers that something strange is happening. The one who led the creatures is Renwyn, a ranger druid that attacked them at their camp. Tomas knows him as an old friend, the one who protects the hills and the safety of travellers travelling within his domain. However, the Renwyn that Tomas sees now seems corrupted, with looks of despair, as if he is unwilling to do what he is doing but had no choice.

Elora asks Tomas on how Renwyn made the twig creatures move. Tomas says that he does so by speaking to them through commands. One of the commands he heard was that Tomas himself is to be brought to "her", a person who is in a larger room to the east. Tomas also tells the adventurers that he last saw Renwyn heading into the tomb to the south, as well as a lady in her twenties already taken into the larger room.

Before heading off to confront whoever captured them, Cam tells Tomas to take care of himself. Tomas assures them that he will not allow anyone to take him alive as he wield his sconce. Cam then suggests Tomas to keep a lookout of the southern corridor, alerting them if anyone is heading out from there.

Jiǔtóu quietly heads toward the eastern corridor as she believe it leads into the larger room that Tomas talked about, as well as the stairs-turned-slope they had encountered earlier. Meanwhile, Cam examines the mummified bodies inside the alcoves. He figured that those had been here for a very long time. Yet, he and the rest slice all vines that are holding the bodies up to prevent the vines from using the bodies as host.

Gulthia

Jiǔtóu remains hidden in the corridor as she looks inside the larger room. The room is massive and open, with high arches and massive stone pillars supporting the domed ceiling. Short flight of steps lead down into the room on either sides. The southern wall has a set of large oval-shaped stone double doors, with an altar a couple of feet in front of it. By the altar is a taller female creature with barks as skin and leaves as clothes. She is holding a rough-cut wooden dagger. Beside her is a similar creature they had fought earlier, though this time it is of vines. The creature is holding up a girl with her last few drops of blood dripping from her neck and wrists. The blood drips into the wooden bowl on the altar. A while later, the female creature tells the vined one to lower the body. Elora recognises the female creature as a dryad.

The dryad looks over her shoulder and asks who is around, facing towards the direction of the corridor where Jiǔtóu is hiding at. She seems to know somebody is in the corridor but is unable to determine who is it as she keeps thinking it is Renwyn. The rest of the adventurers are aware of this, so Elora instinctively lets out a squeak of a rat. The dryad, however, knows that no such rodent exists within the compound.

The dryad gently asks whoever it is to come out, claiming that she will not harm anyone. Trellimar says that they should reveal themselves, guessing that she must be nice due to her soft-spoken voice. Jiǔtóu though signals to the rest not to reveal themselves. Rather, she will head out alone to talk to her, asking for their backup if needed.

Jiǔtóu steps out of the corridor. The dryad recognises her as one of the people of the caravan, as she looks at Jiǔtóu in a curious manner. Guessing that the tiefling is finding all these strange, the dryad puts the knife down and explains to her that she needs to do what she must do in order to get rid of the corruption caused by the spirit of Ayandris, an elven queen from ancient times. The dryad also explains that she brought Renwyn along to help her cleanse the temple, though they only know of a horrible method to do so. Pointing to the vine creature, the dryad shares that such creatures are born corrupted but she can control them, though with only a limited time. Jiǔtóu questions her over the need for blood, to which the dryad claims that only blood from the innocent can ease the spirit.

In the ancient times, some elven tribes do not live in the Feywild. Rather, they live on the material plane. These tribes are often at war with creatures such as giants and goblins. Trellimar believes Ayandris could be associated to such tribes based on his elven studies during his younger days, though he is not certain of it.

Cam steps out of the corridor, much to Jiǔtóu's chagrin, to read the dryad's body language in order to determine if she is being genuine, which Cam later thinks she is. Jiǔtóu then asks for the dryad's name, to which she says she is Gulthia. Cam asks if he can simply address her as G-unit, though Gulthia finds it strange.

Cam claims that a strange creature had secreted liquid onto his trousers, making it wet, so he asks Gulthia if she can help to dry it. Gulthia waves her hands, making flowers bloom all over the wet patch and soak the liquid. Cam's pants is now dry. He then thanks Gulthia by trying to do a prayer with various hand gestures. Gulthia mimics in return, though she is confused by Cam's actions.

Cam questions Gulthia if she has killed enough to appease Ayandris. Unfortunately, as Gulthia answers, her spirit still torments the temple. Cam then asks if they can do anything. Gulthia says that it will be dangerous but it is possible by defeating the spirit, who lingers in a room to the east. Cam wonders why Gulthia have not tried that first, though she replies that the spirit is too powerful for her or Renwyn.

Trellimar steps out of the shadows, which gives Gulthia a gentle surprise that there are more people alive. He then asks her on what is beyond the doors behind her. Gulthia shares that it is Ayandris' tomb, though her spirit attached herself to her daughter's burial chamber. The daughter's name is Dehal. Elora asks if there is a way out of the temple complex, which Gulthia answers that it is through Dehal's tomb. She adds that it is through that entrance that she and Renwyn use to bring the caravan party inside.

Jiǔtóu believes that they can appease Ayandris than killing her, so she thinks that they should find Renwyn first. Trellimar then wonders if Ayandris' actions could be due to her unhappiness over the death of her daughter.

On how she ended up here, Gulthia tells Cam that she was sent by nature to stop the corruption that befell upon the land. She added that Renwyn is kind enough to help her out as the corruption will spread if not stopped, though he is unhappy of the method. Cam then tells Gulthia to stop sacrificing anybody else as he thinks they can find another way. Gulthia shows her appreciation should the adventurers can find an alternative.

Jiǔtóu asks Gulthia is she can aid them in anyway, so Gulthia takes out an elven circlet from underneath the altar and offers it to Jiǔtóu. Gulthia explains that the circlet, discovered by Renwyn, belongs to Dehal. She thinks that it could appease Ayandris if presented to her.

The adventurers decide to find Renwyn first. Gulthia offers to tag along, which the adventurers do not mind as she seems harmless. She gestures the vine creature to stay where it is, then proceed to follow them.

Renwyn

Heading back into the previous burial chamber, Tomas is startled to see a barked skin creature amongst the adventurers. Gulthia empathises on Tomas' current state and feels apologetic on what she had done. Cam then assures Tomas that Gulthia is friendly and that they will speak to Renwyn on cleansing the place. Tomas hopes that they can talk some sense into Renwyn.

Walking into the south corridor, the adventurers emerge into a circular stone room with four wide pillars and high arches supporting the domed ceiling similar to the large room. At the centre is a stone sarcophagus of a male elf in robes, which Cam later guesses that it is Ayandris' husband. By a corner of the room is a bedroll and a leather pack by the campfire. Sitting on the bedroll in meditation is a man, Renwyn, dressed in brown and green robe with a leather armour underneath. Laid down beside him are animal pelts, component pouches, a hunting knife and a shortbow.

Renwyn looks up and, with a surprised look, exclaims that the adventurers cannot be in the room. Gulthia tells Renwyn that everything is alright, explaining that they are here to cleanse the place. Now feeling calmer and upon Jiǔtóu asking for more information, apart from the circlet, to appease Ayandris than killing her, Renwyn shares that Ayandris is an elven queen and a powerful sorceress.

During the ancient times, Ayandris and her family defended the lands against invading giants. However, her daughter Dehal is slain by a chieftain giant with a mace constructed by a shaman. The mace has been used to kill hundreds of their elven kind. Dehal reclaimed the mace as a price for slaying him but it has a curse. Renwyn believes that Ayandris may be captured by the spirit that her daughter spirit is somehow being affected by the curse, driving Ayandris into madness and thousands of years in torment, knowing that her daughter is in pain.

Cam asks where the mace might be. Renwyn says that it is in Dehal's burial tomb, the room where the spirit of Ayandris is. Jiǔtóu summarises that they will need to find the weapon and remove it to appease Ayandris. Cam, however, does not think that removing the mace can simply end the thousand years of torment Ayandris is facing. Renwyn believes it is possible, though no one has attempted it yet.

Cam later drives down the fact that both Gulthia and Renwyn have killed lots of innocents, people who could have helped to defeat Ayandris. This leads Renwyn to defend their actions, saying that they would not have done so if a better solution presents itself, as well as adding that the corruption could consume Tallfield had the people failed regardless.

Before leaving, Renwyn once more speaks up upon Trellimar's request for their aid. He offers to cast a protection spell to one of them. Jiǔtóu is chosen to receive it, making her skin as tough as bark, since she is the only member to not have some form of armour. Gulthia will stay behind with Renwyn to heal Tomas. Renwyn also warns them of traps in the other burial chamber.

Ayandris

Walking down the corridor east of the large room, the adventurers come across a burial chamber. Similar to the previous chamber where Tomas is, the walls have alcoves with mummified bodies in each of it. The only difference is that the chamber flooring is not covered in mist, showing a mural of the elves in various battles. Both Elora and Trellimar are not able to spot any signs of traps. Elora also sees an elven text written on the wall with an ancient dialect. It roughly translates to "Let Corellon guides the worthy, not with crossed blades, but with great deeds."

Seeing another corridor, Cam starts tip-toeing towards it, while looking out for any traps. His foot steps onto a tile where the mural where two swords clashed. Darts then fly up from the floor and pierce into Cam. As the darts are coated in poison, Cam beings to feel nauseous as his vision starts to spin and blur, though managing to step it out of the chamber without triggering more traps. The rest spots the tile with crossed swords that was referenced in the text, so they walk to the other side while avoiding such tiles.

Elora examines Cam's condition and finds that it is only temporary, so the adventurers rest for five minutes and taking care of Cam. Trellimar also reluctantly gives a Potion of Healing to Cam, in exchange for Cam's purple silk handkerchief. With Cam eventually feeling better, they continue to head down into the tomb of Dehal.

The tomb's architecture is similar to that for Ayandris' husband. There are no mist and vines, but with unnatural cold air. However, the lid of the sarcophagus is slightly open. Cam sees no traps within the room but sees a black stone mace inside the sarcophagus on top of the remains of an elven body.

Jiǔtóu shoves Cam into the room, causing him to stumble onto the sarcophagus to steady himself. A screech then can be heard as a greenish ghostly figure of a female elf emerges out from the wall. It yells out, "You! What are you doing here?"

Elora quickly responds by saying that they are here trying to help. Jiǔtóu walks up and offers the circlet with her hands.

Seeing the circlet, the ghostly figure becomes very furious as she screams, "Murderers!"

Featured Characters

The Adventurers

• Cam Buckland
• Elora Galanodel
• Jiutou Zhiji Jing
• Trellimar Aleath

New

Appeared

• Ayandris, elven queen that reigned during the ancient times
• Gulthia, dryad
• Renwyn, ranger druid
• Tomas, the caravan master
• 2 twig blights
• 2 vine-controlled zombies

Mentioned

• Dehal^[spelling?], daughter of Ayandris

Notable Moments

• Cam: Can you er, like maybe, just bite on my viney things that is holding me down?
  Trellimar: I can't. Dental appointment.
  - Cam requesting help from Trellimar.
• Cam: They have wheelchair access. They thought ahead in time!
  - Cam made that comment after Elora notices a set of stairs is able to turn into a slope.
• Cam: What is she?
  Elora: She's a dryad.
  Cam, in realisation: Wow. She dries things. Dryad.
  - Cam made that comment after the dryad helps to absorb the urine stains on his pants.

Trivia

• First!: There are several firsts that occurred throughout this episode:
  • This marks the first time both Katie and Matt play Dungeons & Dragons (D&D), though Katie watched Critical Role, another D&D show. Kim played a long time ago but is inexperienced. Mark and Trott play D&D regularly in different campaigns.
  • The first roll and the first successful check of the series goes to Katie for making a nature check. Matt's first roll is a acrobatics check, which happens to be the series' first failed check. Kim's first roll is a dexterity saving throw. Cam's first roll is a stealth check.
  • The first spell cast in the series is Druidcraft, which is cast by Elora.
  • Jiǔtóu is the first character to take damage in the series, taking 1 damage from a cut to her tail.
  • The first combat of the series starts after Trellimar alerts a twig blight to his presence.
  • The first natural 20 of the series goes to Trott as he rolls a religion check. He later rolls the next natural 20 of the series, as well as the first natural 20 during combat, when attacking a zombie.
• Homebrewed Rules: Mark replaced dark vision with low-light vision. Each tiles represents 5 square foot of space instead of 10.
• Self-Referenced: During the episode, Trott can regularly be seen drinking from a mug which has "I'm a Twat" printed on the base.