Baldur's Gate 3 - Part 45 - The Real Shadow Curse Is Inappropriately Timed Horniness

0:00 Good afternoon, Le J.

0:01 I'm John.

0:02 This is Many, a true nerd, and welcome back to Boulders's Gate 3.

0:06 Well, it's time we learned the secret to exploring the Shadow Cursed Lands.

0:11 You just need a Moon Lantern.

0:13 There's just um one small problem with that revelation.

0:17 My Moon Lantern is broken and useless.

0:20 And the one that was protecting us up

0:22 to this point has been taken by the Harpers,

0:25 who immediately kned off several miles to the north,

0:28 leaving me behind while I was looting.

0:30 So, okay, things might be about to get a bit um dangerous around here.

0:37 So, I reckon today a good starting point would be follow

0:40 the Harpers because it's possible if I do some work with them,

0:44 they'll give me the moon lantern so that yes,

0:46 I can then use it exploring the rest of this region down here.

0:51 The only problem being Yeah, the territory between me and there is What's that?

0:58 It's just a plant, but I'm still modestly suspicious of it.

1:01 Yeah, the territory between and me and there

1:04 has definitely got signs of zombies floating around.

1:09 So, yeah, we're just going to head in that direction,

1:11 keep lanterns over our heads, have a good poke around,

1:15 and try not to get ambushed because the last

1:17 time we got ambushed by shadow creatures, Arya died.

1:21 It wasn't the only time she died in the previous episode.

1:23 So, yeah, we need to take better care of Arya.

1:26 So, under the circumstances, everybody just get down.

1:31 So that yes, if we're lucky, we'll see the monsters before they see us.

1:35 And yeah, have an explore around this village.

1:38 We've already found one book in here previously

1:40 that told us something about what's going on around here.

1:45 So yeah, keep exploring, keep looting,

1:48 look for anything that might be able to fill

1:50 us in on precisely what this shadow curse is.

1:55 And I'm also going to suggest that yes, it would be a good idea to light every

1:59 fire and whatnot that we see while we're mosying around.

2:04 Just, you know, that strikes me as a good idea.

2:07 Just hop up here, do a little bit of lockpicking,

2:10 and make sure we loot everything from this village,

2:13 including right a new amulet to giving us a spell,

2:17 fog cloud, which I think we could do without for the most part,

2:20 but yeah, keep that for the time being.

2:23 That's fine.

2:24 So yeah, where precisely are we ultimately trying to get?

2:28 Because I do not like this village.

2:31 All right, there are dead zombies here.

2:34 And if the zombies that have been defeated are floating around,

2:37 there's a good chance the zombies that haven't been defeated.

2:42 Speaking of which, there's a lot of blood over there.

2:45 Is that the right direction, by the way?

2:47 Hang on.

2:48 Yeah, that looks like that's going straight at the inn we're heading towards.

2:52 So, uh, right, that's where we want to go ultimately.

2:57 For the time being, yeah, just move slow and careful.

3:02 And look out for perception checks cuz the first time we got ambushed,

3:06 it was because we failed to spot, you know, an ambush.

3:10 If they are waiting to ambush us in the shadows,

3:13 yeah, Aarian should hopefully be able to spot it.

3:18 He is good at perception, that's why.

3:21 And we've got a waypoint.

3:23 Good, good, good, good.

3:25 That's very positive.

3:26 I like building a bit of a waypoint network.

3:29 So yeah, I think we saw one more building up here.

3:33 Keep on keeping on.

3:34 And yeah, keep an eye on where we are on the map because Oh, hang on.

3:39 If we're moving in this direction.

3:40 Yeah, I saw game.

3:43 Why did you just auto save?

3:46 Oh, we're about to die horribly to something, aren't we?

3:49 Yeah.

3:49 Yeah.

3:49 Now, when I was over here,

3:50 I saw something very lit up on the other side of a chasm.

3:55 This might be going in that direction.

3:58 So, right now, we've got that tagged.

4:02 Maybe just mosy in there.

4:04 Oh, dead githani.

4:08 That is true.

4:10 Arya was recently given a githani detector

4:14 because apparently the githani are coming for us.

4:17 But if they came for us and then died,

4:20 possibly cocky zombie gith Yankee are now coming for us.

4:26 Okay, you know what?

4:27 If we're walking into trouble right now,

4:30 Shadow Heart's kind of out of Yeah, her good spell slots.

4:35 Right, back to camp for a second here.

4:37 We're tagging a Gail in.

4:39 Right, that should work a little bit better.

4:42 So, okay, have a look at you and she was no fun.

4:46 All I wanted was to play.

4:49 Why is there a creepy child's voice coming out

4:52 of the cursed territory full of corpses and necrotic magic?

4:59 Oh, that's never a cocky good sign.

5:02 So, right, nothing on you.

5:04 Better make my next move.

5:06 You take the lead.

5:08 What the[ __] am I walking into precisely?

5:12 Because I'm seeing more dead gif up ahead.

5:18 Okay, I feel like I'm walking into something a really really cocking bad.

5:23 So, I think the voice was coming from over here.

5:29 Hello.

5:33 No, seriously.

5:34 I swear the voice was coming from over here.

5:36 What is going on?

5:38 Right, just stand up and Oh, I think I've been spotted by something.

5:46 I scared you.

5:47 I saw it.

5:48 Nobody beats me at hide and seek.

5:51 Will you play with me?

5:55 Okay, so there's a teling child here with weird eyes.

6:01 And I can't judge cuz I'm a Teling with weird eyes.

6:04 Like I started with weird eyes.

6:05 It got even weirder when I did a really stupid deal with a hag.

6:09 But yeah, as a sorcerer, I can figure out precisely what you are,

6:16 which strikes me as a good idea.

6:18 So, right, do that.

6:21 Lovely.

6:21 Nice and easy.

6:23 So, yeah, let's make sure we understand what's going on here

6:26 before I say yes or no to playing a hideand seek.

6:30 Not an ordinary child, but not a spectre either.

6:34 one part of a greater whole.

6:36 Something ancient and oddly sad.

6:42 Okay, so we don't really know what you are,

6:46 but you're not really immediately identified as evil or devious or whatnot.

6:51 You might be benevolent.

6:54 So, okay, let's just chat to him and see what we can learn.

6:59 I'm Oliver.

7:00 I'm seven.

7:02 Will you play with me?

7:03 Right.

7:05 What happened to like Oh, I don't know.

7:07 Say the gif who might have been playing with you previously.

7:11 I have a mummy, a daddy, and a doggy.

7:14 They'll be back in a while, but you're here now, and I want to play.

7:19 Okay, let's ask a follow-up questions cuz I'm guessing

7:22 this story's not going to stand up to scrutiny.

7:25 They don't need names.

7:26 They just need to be mommy and daddy and do what I want.

7:30 Now play with me or they'll be angry with you.

7:33 [snorts] So, oh dear, that insight check might have been useful potentially.

7:40 I'm going to play along for now because

7:44 even if you are like a demon or whatever,

7:46 if I play with you, maybe I get something nice.

7:50 All right, I'll hide and you seek.

7:53 Find me and you win.

7:56 So, okay, that seems reasonable.

7:58 And if I don't find you, well then in that case I haven't found you, I guess.

8:02 Then you lose.

8:04 Oh, that came across as a bit more ominous.

8:07 Does that mean if I leave this immediataria without finding him,

8:11 I'm deemed to lose and then something bad happens?

8:15 Screw it.

8:15 Let's give it a go.

8:17 Get ready.

8:18 And no cheating.

8:23 So, right, you're now invisible.

8:29 How do I detect invisible things?

8:33 Who can do that?

8:34 And I tell you what, while we're flipping it here,

8:37 just to crack open this chest because why not?

8:42 And no, lockpick before opening.

8:45 Thank you.

8:46 So, yeah, that should be nice and easy to do.

8:49 Beautiful.

8:51 Yeah, there might be something around here that lets us know what's going on.

8:56 Well, magic ring, but nothing to do with detecting invisibility, unfortunately.

9:00 So, right, when a foe fails a saving a throw against you,

9:03 they gain mental fatigue.

9:06 So, right, then they get even more likely to fail future saving throws.

9:12 That's pretty good.

9:14 And even better, if I could stack it for long enough,

9:17 they start taking psychic damage, though not much to be honest.

9:22 Oh, and hello, Saxane.

9:24 This dead gifani warrior has got dad's axe in it.

9:31 So, right, this is what's going to happen to me if I don't play.

9:36 There's going to be some sort of attack.

9:39 Let's take that.

9:41 Okay, just to gather it.

9:42 It might be useful.

9:44 I'm taking the stuffed out bad toy as well because maybe like you know

9:48 the child's toys might be useful in like

9:51 bringing him back to himself or something.

9:55 But yeah, the problem with invisibility is it

9:58 makes you undetectable until they break an invisibility.

10:02 Like I don't know if a perception

10:04 check even can detect something that's invisible.

10:06 So okay, just to have a lookie around, see what we can find.

10:11 Look for anything suspicious or of a note.

10:14 I tell you what, if we want to find someone,

10:18 lighting a lamp strikes me as a good idea.

10:20 Let's make this area as light as possible.

10:24 You weren't supposed to find me.

10:27 You weren't supposed to win.

10:29 Oh, and hello there.

10:30 I think we just literally Yeah.

10:31 passed a perception check and found him.

10:33 So, you know what, Oliver?

10:36 I'm going to give you another chance.

10:38 Let's play again so you know you don't immediately

10:41 set your ghost mom and ghost dad on May.

10:44 Good idea.

10:45 You're smarter than some playmates I've had.

10:47 They always tried to leave before I was done with them.

10:50 Try to find me again,

10:51 but my family will be looking for you at the same time, so don't get caught.

10:56 Okay, this is where things might get a bit more Uh-oh.

11:03 Okay, so there's daddy.

11:07 who's the strongest daddy ever.

11:11 So in a perfect world, we want to not get caught by his parents.

11:18 The problem is they actually holding still or not.

11:23 And what can they do?

11:24 Oh, they can just turn off lights.

11:29 That's a problem because if lights do go out, I'm like dead within five turns.

11:35 Then again, can they turn off?

11:36 Yeah, the mace.

11:38 The mace might be the solution, right?

11:41 And then there's mummy.

11:42 Best mummy ever.

11:44 Same basic deal.

11:46 And yeah, you've got a lot of resistance as toe.

11:50 Like it's going to be harder than it looks to fight you.

11:53 And clearly the answer is not to fight you.

11:55 We need to just work around you.

11:58 Yeah, it looked like he was going in this direction.

12:02 It's possible that yeah, he like went somewhere over here and we just

12:07 need to work around you guys to get to him.

12:10 The issue being well actually, you know what, Aarian,

12:15 you might be the right candidate here because you can dash as a bonus action,

12:20 dash again as a bonus action,

12:22 and gain a free jump on top of that together with, yeah,

12:25 just being able to dash as a regular action.

12:28 So, you've got functionally infinite movement.

12:32 If Oliver is anywhere around here, yeah,

12:36 you can find him before these guys even get their first turn.

12:43 So, right, just sneak this way.

12:46 Get around the back of these two and get the torch out.

12:53 do you not get the okay he's currently

12:57 taking damage from the shadow curse but that's

13:01 kind of okay because yeah this is all going to take place inside one turn so

13:08 okay step one use step of the wind so okay there we go you've now got

13:15 your movement back excellent it looked like he

13:20 was going in this direction So move around here.

13:27 Maybe around here.

13:29 And Oh, I feel like I may have just been Oh, hang on.

13:37 Hang on.

13:37 Hang on.

13:38 Hang on.

13:38 Hang on.

13:39 Hang on.

13:39 Hang on.

13:42 Okay, so slight slight issue.

13:46 Slight issue.

13:50 I have been spotted by Yes.

13:53 Mommy and daddy and also John Doggy.

13:58 There was cooking doggy.

14:01 Doggy was around.

14:02 Doggy will be the one that detected you presumably.

14:05 Well, we may have slightly fluffed this up unfortunately.

14:08 But yeah, what we can do is sneak.

14:11 I was really hoping we could just sneak

14:13 in with the rest of the team right there, but no.

14:16 Looks like we can't.

14:18 But okay, let's just get Arya and Gail

14:21 around the back over in this direction because Right,

14:26 a light has been extinguished.

14:27 So, oh, this fight's going to be tricky potentially.

14:31 Yeah, I was about to say what we want to do really

14:33 is just start knackering you with everything we can with a particular

14:38 focus on radiant damage if we could get away with it

14:42 that you are well not weak to, but you're not resistant at least.

14:45 So yeah, open up with a ranged raged shot at you.

14:49 Lovely.

14:51 Meaning it's now Aarian's turn to just walk in and start Yeah.

14:55 punching you.

14:57 So I feel like yeah, just with overwhelming force,

15:01 Aarian should be able to do this.

15:02 So getting over here, one main hand attack,

15:06 which is fine, I guess, but whatever.

15:10 And then yeah, two bonus actions.

15:12 So, if we can knock you down,

15:15 though it's not doing much cuz you are a bit resistant to it, but screw it.

15:19 Just keep doing what we can.

15:22 Money is Yeah, looking like she is in trouble.

15:26 Staring's a bit on the wounded side, too.

15:28 There's doggy who has to waste their turn dashing.

15:30 So, that's not too bad.

15:32 But now we're taking cocking.

15:33 Yeah.

15:34 Damage from the ghost, which is not ideal.

15:38 So, uh, right, right, right, right.

15:40 You get over here.

15:41 Lefthander's light is Okay, Lethander's light has just blinded you.

15:47 You can't put out Lethander's light, as it turns out.

15:50 That's very good news.

15:52 So, yeah, we could do double branding smite right now.

15:58 And hang on, I don't even need to use that against you anymore.

16:01 I've got advantage from you being blinded.

16:04 So, okay, I can use my bonus action

16:06 for something else like say bonus radiant damage.

16:11 That'll do.

16:12 So, right, use that.

16:14 And now commensify the smiting.

16:18 So, in you go.

16:19 That's a lot of cocking damage.

16:22 And then more smiting.

16:24 Now, that's some good hardcore paladin work right there.

16:28 And right, we've also got more shadow curse

16:31 coming in, which is a bit of a problem.

16:34 You need to go down as soon as possible because I just

16:37 need you to be dead so everyone can get their lights back on.

16:40 So yeah, 8 to 48.

16:44 But you're resistant to that, aren't you?

16:47 You're resistant to like everything.

16:49 Yeah, I'm not sure we could kill you this turn,

16:53 which is a bit of an issue, but screw it.

16:57 Upcast, it's level three at least.

16:59 Apparently, we've got disadvantage cuz it's too cocky dark, but give it a go.

17:04 So, two hits with low damage rolls, two misses.

17:08 Not great.

17:09 Not great at all.

17:10 So, right, you're also using Uh-oh.

17:13 I've been put to sleep.

17:16 And then a daddy's lecture misses.

17:20 You know, you can't be put to sleep because you're an elf.

17:23 You've got resistance to that nonsense.

17:25 So, right, we need to Yeah.

17:28 take you out right now.

17:30 80%.

17:31 So, gosh darn it, we've missed.

17:35 But that's fine because yeah, we can just try and topple you.

17:38 I'm hoping.

17:39 Yeah, that should be fine.

17:41 Two more hits.

17:42 You should go down, right, that gets the light back on.

17:47 Are you guys now safe from me?

17:48 Yes, you're no longer shadow cursed.

17:50 Okay, that's fine.

17:52 I'm really sorry I'm beating up your mommy and daddy, by the way.

17:56 Like, I didn't mean to.

17:57 I really meant to just sneak in and do this all sneaky like,

18:00 but it hasn't ended.

18:01 Wow.

18:02 So, right, there's not really much more you can do.

18:06 You're asleep.

18:07 The dog still the dog just appears and bites you, then disappears.

18:12 That's cocky, irritating.

18:14 But daddy is about to go down.

18:15 And yeah, Will is doing amazingly well in this scenario.

18:18 Like, he is made for this.

18:20 though.

18:20 He's also kind of out of spell slots for the most part, which is not ideal on.

18:27 So, okay, I'm going to say, yeah, use my last spell slot on you.

18:33 So, okay, use my extra last level two spell slot on you.

18:42 That's you dead.

18:43 I've just radiating orb to this guy.

18:46 I don't want to fight you though, whatever you are, I do not want to fight you.

18:50 I want to fight your dog, admittedly,

18:52 and I appreciate you probably don't like that, but okay.

18:57 Now, where's the cocky dog?

18:58 We just need to track the dog down.

19:01 So, uh, yeah, we've got Arya and Gail kind of, but not entirely asleep.

19:09 Can I just, yeah, wake Gail up?

19:11 That's probably not a bad idea.

19:13 So, there we go.

19:14 just to wake you up though.

19:17 When you say the shadow curse, hang on.

19:20 Get out your I don't have enough resources.

19:22 Right, that's a proper action.

19:24 Ara, could you get out your torch?

19:28 There we go.

19:30 That's better.

19:32 So, right, that is fine.

19:34 Just move back towards Yeah, the light.

19:37 Possibly the dog can't come into the light.

19:39 I don't know.

19:40 and J, you drop some healing on Aarian cuz he's a tiny bit won.

19:46 Amazing.

19:47 Well done.

19:49 Okay, end your turn there, Aarian.

19:52 Same basic deal.

19:53 Just stay nearby to everybody else.

19:57 Where's the cocky dog?

20:00 He's somewhere over there, but I think we need to like find and detect him.

20:05 Well, actually, you know what?

20:07 If he's somewhere over there, let's hypnotize this entire region.

20:12 We'll presumably hit him because he's got to be in here somewhere.

20:18 And the dog failed a saving throw,

20:23 which logically means it's hypnotized, but it's not been revealed anyway.

20:29 So, what do we do now in that case?

20:34 Not 100% sure.

20:36 I mean, I swear I saw a purple flicker around here.

20:40 So, there we go.

20:42 I think we found him.

20:43 So, right, you are now hypnotized.

20:47 Can I just blast you off a cliff?

20:50 No, not from this angle, but possibly from this one.

20:55 No.

20:56 It'll knock you a little bit of distance, but not too much.

20:59 You know what?

21:00 Screw it.

21:01 Give it a go.

21:02 That's going to do something.

21:03 You've been revealed to bare minimum, which is a positive.

21:09 And yeah, now we've got everyone around here.

21:14 Now, if you dash as one of your actions,

21:18 you can get over to the light that's being generated by Yeah.

21:24 flipping Well, so you should now be safe, right?

21:27 Cuz you're inside the light of well.

21:30 You should be, I think.

21:31 So, uh, right, go for one basic attack.

21:36 There we go.

21:37 That's pretty good, actually.

21:38 Well done.

21:40 And then, oh, I'm out of key.

21:45 But I should be able to do Hang on.

21:46 How do I just do a regular There we go.

21:49 It's over here.

21:49 One, an arm strike.

21:51 That's for Frey.

21:52 So, right.

21:53 Try again.

21:55 And that's all done, though.

21:59 Okay, Gail.

22:01 What do you want precisely?

22:03 It's quite thrilling to fight off such

22:06 grim creatures as this region throws at us, especially being at your side.

22:12 I um once read a book that explained in some detail the effect

22:16 a brush with danger has on one's desire for uh other forms of stimulation.

22:24 Have you ever read anything on that subject?

22:27 Right.

22:27 He's got a bit of um Yes.

22:30 horny adrenaline going on right now.

22:33 So, going to be honest, Gail,

22:37 me and Carlac have kind of got a thing going on at the minute.

22:42 And you're lovely.

22:44 Seriously, you are lovely, but you're also blatantly still 100% one,

22:49 not over your ex, and two, even beyond that, still into her.

22:53 Like, so so into her.

22:55 Like if mistress said to jump, you would say,

22:58 "How high, mistress?" So, you know what?

23:02 I'm going to make you spell this out, Gail.

23:05 Only that I find you quite irresistible.

23:08 Even illuminated by such rotten light as this place produces.

23:11 Perhaps it's just the thrill of our near undead experience talking.

23:16 Standing at your side through such darkness and disrepair,

23:20 it only makes me want you more.

23:24 Unfortunately, this is neither the time nor the place to indulge such feelings.

23:27 So, we must be patient and push all such thoughts aside for now.

23:34 That was just a really really cocking weird time to bring this up, Gail,

23:39 because we just kind of like murdered the mom,

23:42 dad, and dog of a mysterious demon child.

23:45 And we've not solved that mystery yet.

23:47 Like we might have just done a really terrible thing.

23:50 Like messed up completely and ruined a child's life.

23:54 This is such a weird time to raise how

23:56 horny you are just after murdering a mommy and daddy.

24:00 Right, everybody back inside.

24:02 Get your torches out.

24:04 There's Oliver.

24:06 Now, are you okay about the fact I just killed mommy, daddy,

24:09 and doggy and also hit you with a radiating orb at one point?

24:14 I win.

24:15 I always win in the end.

24:17 You did better than most though, so I'll let you go.

24:20 Here.

24:21 Second prize.

24:23 You'll need it.

24:25 Okay.

24:26 So, I get second prize because yes, I was caught by mommy, daddy, and dogging.

24:32 So, as a result of that, I get the ring of shadows.

24:35 That's Oh, that's pretty good cuz yeah, pass without trace.

24:41 That's a spell which is Yeah.

24:43 concentration.

24:44 But once you use it, you get Oh, hang on.

24:47 That's not the spell I thought it was.

24:49 I think I was thinking of what is it?

24:51 Mirror summing summing.

24:53 The one that massively boosts your AC.

24:55 This instead massively boosts Yeah.

24:58 your sneakiness levels.

25:00 Then again, the fact that yeah, this applies to everybody nearby, not just you.

25:06 That's pretty good.

25:08 And yes, despite how I've reworked Aarian,

25:10 he is still the most sneaky character we've got.

25:14 And right now, he's got nothing to like concentrate on.

25:17 So, but then again, hang on.

25:19 If I give that to him, can he even use that?

25:21 Because he doesn't have any spell slots.

25:22 So, can he cast spells?

25:25 Oh, he 100% can.

25:28 So, you know what?

25:29 I'm going to say we may as well just have that on like

25:33 all the time cuz he's got nothing else to flipping concentrate on.

25:37 And speaking of which, we should definitely uh have a rest,

25:40 restore our health, get our key back, etc., etc.

25:43 And yeah, given we are currently trying to sneak

25:45 through this area without being detected, that's amazing.

25:50 He's now doing dumb monk poses while casting spells.

25:55 Oh, and I do like the new Monkio.

25:58 ever.

25:59 I've heard that in Boulders's Gate,

26:00 wizard is also a term used for one who ensues their more carnal desires.

26:07 Is that true?

26:10 Where are we going with this, Gale?

26:14 Oh, nowhere.

26:16 Just think it's rather cruel misnomer.

26:19 Not at all reflective of the glamour wizarding life affords.

26:23 Okay, seriously, Gail, why are you so horny today?

26:26 Let's just tone it down a bit.

26:29 So, right back down to the village and keep on keeping on towards the end.

26:34 And yeah, once again, let a star lead.

26:36 Though these days, yeah, he's even better at not being detected.

26:42 Like him and the entire team should now be amazing at not being spotted.

26:47 So, right, keep on keeping on.

26:50 What's the best way to go next?

26:53 Cuz yeah, looks like there's a high road going up here towards something

27:00 and a low road that goes yeah by the Lucy pretty much in the same direction.

27:04 But the high road would bring us onto the high ground above the blood stains.

27:09 Whatever cause those blood stains, I'm guessing it might still be there.

27:14 So, right before we do that, get up here.

27:18 Always check obviouses just in case they've got something good on them.

27:24 But yeah, so far no sign of an ambush in the village.

27:28 That's positive at least.

27:30 So, oh survival, right?

27:34 So, somewhere around here, there's some sort of a chest to be dug up.

27:39 On top of that, we have got ourselves a gray scout journal.

27:44 And right, you worked for Nia, so that's fine.

27:47 And we know what this refers to.

27:49 You're some of the dwagger who we met down below back in the day.

27:53 And unfortunately, yeah, this guy kind of lost it in the end.

27:56 The way to get through the shadow curse is to let the curse go through you.

28:01 It turns out that wasn't the answer because then

28:03 he turned into a zombie and someone flipping killed him.

28:07 And nothing too dramatic in the chest either.

28:09 Still, like we were just saying here, guys, guys, guys,

28:13 get near enough by two Aarian that you're

28:15 gaining the benefit from pass without trace.

28:19 Yeah.

28:20 Get over to here.

28:22 Hop in this direction.

28:25 Check.

28:26 Nothing over there.

28:27 Just some Hang on.

28:29 Let's have it.

28:31 Night Orchid.

28:34 Is that important?

28:36 I feel like that's been mentioned before, but I can't remember where precisely.

28:40 Well, keep on keeping on.

28:42 Mosy upwards.

28:45 But yeah, the particular note, eyes open for this area over here.

28:52 There's something going on like that much blood means trouble.

28:58 So, okay, just get to the high ground.

29:01 Corpses.

29:03 Tling corpses.

29:05 Oh dear.

29:05 Do I know you guys?

29:07 And Icaron rings a bell.

29:11 I feel like I may have met that person back in the day.

29:15 I swear Iron is someone I have met before.

29:20 So, right, we're still somewhere away from the in here.

29:24 We could go off in this direction towards Yeah, the high ground.

29:29 Let's not worry about that just for the time being.

29:32 I feel like these corpses more interesting.

29:37 Just to be ready.

29:38 Yes, small steps here.

29:41 I feel like Oh,

29:43 for all the good it did.

29:44 Okay, an investigation reveals that there was a struggle.

29:48 You know what?

29:49 Let's just light up that torch and check the signpost.

29:56 North last light in south Rwin town.

30:01 So, right, Rywin is where we just were.

30:04 Get back down again.

30:06 Bare minimum.

30:06 Yeah, check the corpses.

30:09 But I feel like I'm walking into a trap here though.

30:13 Oh, okay.

30:16 Okay.

30:18 Send that to area.

30:19 Bare minimum.

30:20 That's pretty good.

30:22 Yeah.

30:22 Fair few arrows and whatnot.

30:25 Not insignificant.

30:27 Ah, but this is positive.

30:29 One of you was one of the cultist.

30:30 This feels like Yeah.

30:32 a fight between the absolute cultists and the Telings,

30:36 which the Telings lost for the most part.

30:39 Like they took way more casualties,

30:41 but they took down Yeah, that guy eventually.

30:45 Possibly he was a necromancer.

30:47 Like the reason there's only one of him is he summoned lots of stuff to help,

30:51 but when he eventually went down, they all like despawned.

30:54 And I knew you seemed familiar.

30:57 I say I knew you seemed familiar.

30:59 I still don't know who you are, but prison key and storage key.

31:03 It makes me think that you, sir, you were the person who once upon a time

31:08 we run into in the prison with Saza trying

31:11 to talk down what's aface from shooting Saza

31:15 and we rescued you and then you just died anyway.

31:18 So, well, that's bloody sad.

31:21 Really hope not everyone's dead.

31:22 Like, at least some people made it to the inn, right?

31:25 Well, if this was an ambush, it's not been sprung yet.

31:28 So yeah, we could mosey in this direction.

31:31 And oh, okay, a magical torch with a continual flame.

31:39 This to me looks like Yeah,

31:41 camp that someone has set up at some point or another.

31:46 This isn't yet anywhere nearby to Oh,

31:49 this is just looping back around to the town.

31:52 Okay, let's have a look see over in this direction at least.

31:56 just calm careful, watch out for perception checks, etc., etc.

32:03 If we're lucky, yeah, this time we can ambush them as opposed to being ambushed.

32:10 So, right, the question is,

32:13 why is this area been set up with magical continual flame torches?

32:20 What was so special about you?

32:22 We've got Oh, mind if I do a true soul by any chance?

32:28 Gosh darn it.

32:28 I was hoping for maybe yes, another parasite mcjibble for my ilithid powers,

32:33 but no, not on this occasion, though.

32:36 Then again,

32:40 waiting.

32:38 Ara, would you mind?

32:42 Oh, I see.

32:44 I can't speak with dead for the simple reason that yes, unfortunately, I died.

32:50 So therefore, I lose my recast speak with dead.

32:54 But now I can't like cast it again cuz it's one per long rest.

32:57 So you know what?

32:59 Some of our spell slots are starting to get a bit worn down.

33:02 Especially poor old whale and Gail's used, you know, a couple of spells.

33:07 Let's just mosy back to camp cuz I feel like

33:09 a true soul would be a good person to speak to.

33:12 Ah, hang on though.

33:13 We don't actually need to long rest because yeah,

33:15 this isn't the speak with dad that I get from the necklace.

33:21 I don't wear that necklace anymore for the simple

33:24 reason that yeah, I don't need it.

33:25 This is the version that came out of the cursed book.

33:28 So, in which case, yeah, who's got that necklace these days?

33:32 There we go.

33:33 It's just a floating around in the chest back at camp.

33:36 So, right, how about we toss that over to Yeah.

33:40 will say cuz yeah honestly Will's pendant is not particularly exciting.

33:45 So yeah, just to swap those round and now my friend we can speak to that corpse.

33:52 So buddy, let's talk about yes how you

33:56 ended up here in this mysterious protected fields.

34:02 Trapped shadow mastiffs repels them with flame.

34:08 Those beasts still prowl the eternal night,

34:12 but at least they're afraid of the fire.

34:17 Okay, so if we run into shadow mastiffs,

34:20 fire might scare them off or be effective against them.

34:24 And yeah, what's going on with these magic eternal torches?

34:31 Spell continual [clears throat] flame.

34:35 Continual flame.

34:37 An unquenchable light cost a queen's crown worth of ruby dust to summon.

34:43 So, okay.

34:44 In theory, is it possible to like turn them off if I wanted to?

34:49 If, for example, I found some more absolute cultist in a similar camp,

34:53 but yeah, I want to let the shadow creatures get at them.

34:57 Destroy torches.

35:00 So, okay.

35:00 As simple as destroy the torches.

35:02 And yeah, if you were protected here, how did you die?

35:06 Unslaked hunger, unquenched thirst.

35:14 Right.

35:14 Safer from the monsters, but you ran out of folks.

35:19 And yeah, who were you, my friends?

35:22 True soul of the absolute call is my name.

35:28 The spell's power waines.

35:30 You can ask no more questions.

35:33 Okay, not the most useful bit of advice, but still nice to know.

35:37 So, okay.

35:38 Should have worn better.

35:39 In which case, yeah, we've already checked you, right?

35:42 Yes, we checked you already.

35:44 Can I actually take these torches with me in particular?

35:49 Yeah, Aarian, who's now very strong and thus has,

35:52 you know, flipping No, we could use her attack.

35:56 Storin's got yes a surprisingly large amount of a carry

36:00 capacity these days if I interfere with them.

36:03 Yeah, you can't turn them off.

36:05 The whole point is the flame never dies.

36:09 So, okay, that is useful to know about.

36:12 I also do enjoy, by the way, how yes,

36:15 there is actually food in the nearby boxes, but it's all rotten.

36:19 So, I mean, personally,

36:22 I'd probably try eating a rotten carrot before starving to death.

36:26 Like, maybe it would help, maybe it wouldn't, but I'd at least give it a go.

36:30 And this also gives a a good view onto something over here.

36:37 Now, hang on.

36:37 Where am I right now?

36:39 I'm facing Yes.

36:41 Southwest.

36:42 So, that Oh, blime me.

36:45 That's not Moonrise Towers.

36:48 There's just something else very large and ominous and castly round about here.

36:54 Good, good, good, good.

36:56 It turns out this area is absolutely massive.

36:59 And yeah, that's how we get over to it.

37:01 But don't go there just this second.

37:04 Okay, I feel like Yeah,

37:07 as we start slowly piecing together what's where in this area,

37:11 we should go to the inn first.

37:14 All right, speak to the survivors.

37:16 figure out what we can learn about this area.

37:19 But yeah, at this point,

37:20 if we just go back the way we came and then go uphill from that ambush,

37:26 we sure to be about there.

37:28 So yeah, just a motion in this direction.

37:30 And uh hello, sexy, right?

37:34 There's a giant bubble here,

37:37 possibly created by that moon lamp they took from the dryar.

37:41 So, right, we've definitely found the lovely safe zone we wanted to track down.

37:46 So, yeah, before we just mosy in there, yeah, just check this area.

37:51 There might be maybe just one or two things up

37:54 here that could be worth looting before we head on, though.

38:01 I tell you what, that is Oh, right.

38:05 There's a level nine shambling mound up there.

38:09 I feel like I don't want to take him on just yet because

38:14 external digestion can devour any creature

38:18 that's restrained and steeping in its juices.

38:22 So, it like vomits on you and then eats you.

38:26 Just out of interest, what happens if you're devoured?

38:29 So, right, instant death.

38:32 Got it.

38:33 Okay, so basically, yeah, this area over here,

38:37 this is where there is a giant monster, the king of the shadow mount creatures.

38:43 I feel like there's going to be more leading

38:45 in that direction because this is the sort of foliage we saw.

38:48 In fact, oh, I don't think that's actually foliage.

38:53 I think that's a creature in disguise.

38:56 So, okay, we now know what's up there.

38:59 And I feel like we don't necessarily want to like fight it immediately.

39:04 Bare minimum.

39:06 Yeah, we want to be going in having just had

39:08 a long rest so we are nice and strong, etc., etc.

39:12 Okay, let's just get back down the hill and yeah, into the nice safe area.

39:18 And remember the story, officially we're going to be well, actually, hang on.

39:23 I was about to say officially we were supposed to be

39:26 captive and then we escaped when the Harper showed up.

39:31 But if there are people inside this inn who know us from the Emerald Grove,

39:36 they'll vouch for us.

39:38 So, right, everybody stand up.

39:40 We're just going to walk in boulders brass and another harper.

39:45 Okay, you should be expecting me.

39:46 We helped you take down the dried.

39:48 A little shimmering shield of light.

39:52 It should be a reprieve from the shadows if nothing else.

39:56 So, all right.

39:57 Nice little safe area according to Aarian.

40:01 Ara, you're now back in the lead.

40:03 Let's see what they've got to say.

40:06 You there.

40:07 Step forward and keep your hands off your weapons.

40:12 Easy.

40:12 She helped us out in the shadows.

40:17 Come Jihira.

40:48 [groaning] Okay.

40:54 It's possible that she knows about the tadpoles.

40:59 I like your outfit, by the way.

41:01 Can I have your outfit if we're about to kill each other or something?

41:04 So, right though.

41:07 Oh, apparently I know this person.

41:10 Okay, you're supposed to be the noble Jihira.

41:13 You're like a big deal cuz as a bard I've heard of you.

41:17 So, right, let's start there.

41:18 Bit of flattery.

41:19 See how that goes.

41:21 It seems tales of my clemency have been greatly exaggerated.

41:26 Right.

41:26 So, if you let me go, I'll amend the tales and add hate strangers as a footnote.

41:33 That's a cute thing to say.

41:34 I'm going for that.

41:35 You have not experienced my hatred, stranger.

41:40 Not yet, at least.

41:46 This is why we're here.

41:47 You see, it is a curious creature that hides all manner of secrets.

41:53 But if there's one thing that we know, it's that it knows its own kind.

42:04 Oh, that's clever, right?

42:07 They've got a true soul detector.

42:10 You should never have come here.

42:11 True soul.

42:14 Okay, so no, don't force your way out.

42:18 We need to let you know sort this out here.

42:22 Look to the Harpers who I saved.

42:24 All right.

42:25 I've got friends here hopefully.

42:31 Stop.

42:30 What are you doing?

42:32 She's the one who saved us.

42:35 She's the one who protected the Emerald Grove.

42:40 Yep.

42:40 Didn't leave a goblin standing.

42:42 Not so bad to hang around with either.

42:44 Saved two of my friends.

42:46 One from a harpy and one from a mad druid with a snake.

42:50 Didn't make a fuss about thieven either.

42:53 I'd pretty much trust her with my life.

42:56 A true soul with a mind of her own.

42:58 How is that possible?

43:07 Okay.

43:09 So, me and you, Mole, we are now best friends.

43:13 Okay.

43:13 Whatever you want doing in Boulders's Gate, I will do it.

43:17 Like, the next time you tell me to do something stupid

43:19 like steal a sacred artifact from a cult while they're actually,

43:23 you know, worshiping it and doing a magic

43:25 right with it or whatever, I will do it.

43:27 You now get one free quest done by me.

43:30 No questions asked.

43:32 Oh, Mole's great.

43:33 I love Mole.

43:35 So, right, I'm going to work under the assumption

43:37 that had I turned against the Emerald Grove.

43:41 Yeah, this situation here would not have ended well potentially

43:45 cuz I'd have had no one to vouch for me.

43:49 And Kang, do I want to show you the artifact?

43:54 You know what?

43:55 I feel like, you know, pretending we don't know about the artifact.

43:57 The time for that is gone.

43:59 Now, at this point, the Gith Yankee know I've got the artifact.

44:03 They tried to kill me to get it.

44:05 At this point, we could just do with all the help and advice we could get.

44:09 So, yes, this is like an astral prism.

44:12 It's important for some reason.

44:14 I think it's something to do with Orpheus,

44:16 who you may or may not be familiar with.

44:35 What in the hell is that thing?

44:37 We're not actually 100% sure, but here's all the information we've got.

44:43 Hopefully, you'll be useful in like adding to it.

44:48 Congratulations.

44:48 You've earned yourself the benefit of the doubt.

44:51 Hear me, Harpers.

44:53 All clear.

44:54 At ease.

44:55 I'll not pretend to understand what that artifact is,

45:01 but I'm old and wise enough to recognize a sliver

45:04 of hope when it crawls out of the dark.

45:07 Tell me, why have you come here?

45:12 So, right.

45:13 Ultimately, yeah.

45:15 The Absolute and Moonrise Towers specifically.

45:18 Yeah.

45:19 All the leads we've got suggest it's the best

45:21 bet for sorting out the whole parasite situation.

45:24 Then our interests align.

45:27 We must all cure ourselves of the entire cult of the absolute.

45:33 There's food in the inn over there.

45:35 Beds too if you require rest.

45:37 Hello oil in the cupboard in case the vines gave you a rash.

45:42 Settle in.

45:43 Then come join me for a drink.

45:45 You may just be the godsend we've been praying for.

45:49 So, there we go.

45:50 Situation resolved.

45:52 Everybody's nice and flipping chill with us.

45:55 And oh, Mole, Mo, Mole, you come back here.

45:58 Would you like some money?

45:59 I am happy to give you some money right about now.

46:04 Look, you're welcome and all, but uh I got to chat with Bigger Fish later.

46:10 I love Maul so much.

46:12 Maul is the best.

46:14 Having saved our lives, she's now just wandering off because we're not

46:17 really worth her time when it comes to business.

46:21 Mo's amazing.

46:23 So, right, we are now inside this safe little compound.

46:30 The question is, oh,

46:33 there may be secrets around the outskirts of this place here.

46:37 to kind of but notice that.

46:39 Yeah, there's little side areas still within the bubble

46:44 but very much out of the way though.

46:47 Okay, when you say the Helen's heart.

46:50 Oh, apparently Damon's here.

46:51 Oh, that's good news.

46:53 Right, at least some people have made it, right?

46:56 Keep on keeping on in this direction and Oh, right.

47:01 And that leads us back outside to okay, just north of where I just was.

47:08 So, okay, John, maybe don't go wandering back into the night just yet.

47:13 I was just here to do looting, not immediately leave.

47:17 And yeah, they've got this area trapped up potentially.

47:20 So, watch out for traps though.

47:23 Speaking of which, hello there, Beex.

47:26 What are you doing out here all by yourself?

47:28 And also, do I know a beex?

47:29 I'm not sure I know a backs.

47:31 Please, I just want to be alone.

47:34 And oh dear, though.

47:35 Oh, Bax, apparently I do know you.

47:42 Were you what's her face?

47:44 The girl who I save from the snake's mom.

47:46 And also, apparently you had a husband back in the day, though.

47:50 Oh, hang on.

47:51 No.

47:53 was Beck, the person upstairs down in the marketplace

47:56 who was having these really cute conversations

47:59 about how she was going to get to Boulders Gate and have a cat, etc., etc.

48:05 Because I suspect possibly that might have been your husband

48:09 who I saw on the road like when we first entered.

48:15 Gone cultists.

48:19 It was so dark.

48:21 I didn't realize until the children started screaming.

48:25 They rounded us up, cut us up,

48:30 said they were taking whoever could still walk to Moonrise Towers.

48:35 I managed to get away.

48:38 But my love is Martin Dor Roan.

48:48 As a chling, I should probably understand that, but I actually don't.

48:53 So, right, we need to do another rescue mission.

48:58 It sounds like there's a lot of people that need getting out of Moonrise Towers.

49:03 It's hard to imagine him making it after everything that happened.

49:07 But if you find him, it would mean the world to me.

49:12 Okay, get her husband back.

49:15 That's fine.

49:17 And right beyond that, yeah,

49:19 potentially there might be a few more people just uh hanging

49:21 out around here on the beach that's just within the magical bubble.

49:27 I will say though, it's rather nice that yeah,

49:30 this location has got some big docks potentially if we could get

49:35 a boat that might help us move around a little bit more easily.

49:40 And if ultimately we need to evacuate this in again,

49:44 that's going to be the easiest way to do it.

49:46 So, uh, right, keep that in mind.

49:49 Oh, and speaking of sad people who've lost someone.

49:52 He was joking this morning.

49:55 Yonas, I mean, right, don't interrupt.

49:59 Just let us speak.

50:01 He was always joking.

50:03 Said it was good for morale, but he just liked seeing people laugh.

50:07 He was a good harbor, a good friend.

50:14 So, yes, by the sounds of it, the Harpers are not having an easy time

50:17 of it out here in the shadow curse lands.

50:20 We were comrades in arms.

50:23 I thought we could have been something more one day, but too late now.

50:32 Okay.

50:32 And I'm guessing, yeah, he's gone as opposed to just kidnapped.

50:36 So, you know, I can actually help with that a little bit.

50:38 Like, you know, if you want to say goodbye to him, bring me the corpse.

50:42 I can make him speak like very briefly.

50:45 Five questions.

50:46 That's generally the rule, right?

50:48 And I think with that, we've now Yeah.

50:50 looped back round to the top here.

50:52 So, yeah, it's basically just a very large building

50:56 with a few paths and docks around the rear.

50:59 Still, I think I know what we want to do first here,

51:01 which is let's just Yeah, make a quick change to the team.

51:06 Oh, and this is cute.

51:07 By the way, there's actually, yes, a dedicated lastite in camp as well.

51:12 So, yeah, presumably we're like camping on the beach that's we can't be camping

51:17 on the beach that's around the back

51:18 because I've already explored the entire area.

51:20 But somehow we're like camping on a beach sort of nearby.

51:25 Yes, as I was saying, Carlac, sounds like we've got some of Yes.

51:29 immediate urgent business for you over at the last

51:32 light 10 because Carlac is sitting on Yeah.

51:36 two bits of infernal iron and also one infernal alloy.

51:42 So yeah, you are swimming in good sexy bits and pieces.

51:47 So the more you cool down, the more your love life heats up.

51:52 [music] Seems that way, but I'm a bit out of practice to be honest.

51:58 I'm sure it'll all come back to you.

52:00 You'll be as depraved as the rest of us in no time.

52:03 Okay, everyone is just being so horny today.

52:06 So Aarian, stop encouraging everyone else, please.

52:09 And right, understandably,

52:11 Carlite wants to have a chat possibly about Yas

52:14 her whole heart situation given a dammon's just over there somewhere.

52:19 Oh my god, soldier.

52:21 That's Jihira.

52:23 The Jihira.

52:24 Never mind.

52:25 You want to talk about Jihira instead.

52:27 So yeah, by the sounds of it, you know her better than I do.

52:32 Not personally.

52:33 I mean, I wish.

52:35 She's an absolute legend.

52:37 Years ago, over a century,

52:39 Jihira was part of a group that saved Boulders's Gate from Saraveok,

52:43 a Bport trying to plunge the city into war.

52:47 My mom used to tell us stories about them,

52:50 the legends who protected the city from evil.

52:53 She said Jihira was a powerful druid, adamant, tough.

52:59 I've told myself those stories a thousand times since.

53:03 I never thought I'd meet Jihira.

53:06 She's a hero and I was always some outer city kid.

53:12 Can't believe she wants to talk to us about working together.

53:16 What a day.

53:17 Okay, you definitely get to stay in the party while we're like,

53:20 you know, dealing with all this business.

53:22 No.

53:23 Okay, I'm going to be honest.

53:24 I also did just to forget something which is

53:26 yes the second reason I want Carlac around is yes

53:30 we're a tiny bit low on money right now

53:34 but what we're not low on is giant piles of cocking

53:38 weaponry I've been basically just gathering everything and just sending

53:41 it straight back to camp because this sells for good

53:44 money right she's now carrying enough to be heavily

53:48 encumbered but that's fine because in a matter of seconds

53:52 I've always felt flames to be a rather The perfect expression of love, Carlac.

53:56 Passionate,

53:59 primal,

53:59 capable of bestowing the most lifeaffirming comfort or

54:02 inflicting the profoundest damage to become dagger.

54:07 Pretty nice.

54:08 Ain't mine.

54:09 Never thought about it like that.

54:12 Now I will.

54:13 Okay, seriously, is there just something

54:14 in the water here in the shadow cursed lands?

54:16 Cuz you are just all catastrophically horny right now.

54:20 Right, as I was saying, we've got ourselves a new shop here.

54:25 Stock up while you can.

54:26 I only hope I brought enough to see us through.

54:29 And hilariously, we can offer to take some stuff off

54:32 our hands at no cost for a bit of persuasion.

54:36 So, I'm not sure why she would agree to this, but sure, why not?

54:41 They should definitely be fine.

54:43 Yeah, no trouble there whatsoever.

54:46 Cheeky, but since you're asking.

54:52 All right, that got me a basic supply pack.

54:55 Not bad for a long rest.

54:56 Lovely.

54:56 But yes, let's dive into your inventory proper cuz yeah,

55:00 right now I've only got like 300 gold.

55:04 However, if we just start uh selling all the stuff that Carlac brought with her.

55:11 There we go.

55:11 Straight up to 1,200.

55:13 So hopefully that's going to be enough to Yeah.

55:16 pick up anything good you've got.

55:18 Though maybe don't spend the money too happily, John,

55:21 because Damon is also a shop just over the road.

55:25 He might have new stuff since the last time we were here.

55:28 So uh right, let's have a look as to what you've got,

55:32 including a blime me expensive scrolls, but I'm guessing given Yeah, that's 88.

55:39 That's probably like a level five or six power.

55:42 So there's no point buying that because Gail can't learn it anyway.

55:46 Okay, we got a staff here.

55:48 But yeah, would give you firebolt

55:50 and fireball and also resistance to fire damage.

55:54 Potentially useful against the right opponent,

55:56 but I don't want to jump straight into that.

55:59 But yeah, plenty of her stuff is just pretty basic plus one weaponry.

56:03 Nothing too exciting yet.

56:05 Now this is more interesting.

56:08 A hatch related to unarmed attacks.

56:10 So yeah, deal damage with unarmed and you gain a plus

56:15 one to spell safe DC till the end of their turn though.

56:20 Can I stack that like plus one for every punch?

56:25 Cuz if so, a staring can gain a plus four basically every single round,

56:31 which would be cocking hilarious.

56:33 But you know what?

56:36 Keep that in mind.

56:37 Don't buy just check cuz yeah that costs like 500 gold.

56:41 Check the other things at first.

56:43 There might be some more interesting bits and pieces floating around.

56:46 And I was about to say this is kind of cool.

56:49 A robe that gives you Yeah.

56:50 fire damage against an enemy when you actually save against them.

56:55 But yet only spells and it costs a ridiculous amount of money.

57:00 So never mind.

57:01 Oh, hello.

57:02 Sexy armor that increases strength by two up to a maximum of 20.

57:10 That would be really good for Carlac or for Aarian because yeah,

57:16 both of them would just gain direct

57:18 benefits to throwing damage or an arm damage.

57:23 Oh, that's going to be hard to beat actually.

57:25 Yeah, that's currently top of my shopping list.

57:28 There is more next to as well.

57:30 the Yanti scale mail.

57:33 So yeah, 15 medium armor.

57:35 Add your full dexterity.

57:37 Okay, cuz yeah, normally medium armor you could

57:39 only add plus two to AC from your dexterity.

57:44 This just lets you add everything.

57:47 Okay, that's about that's potentially nice,

57:50 but does anyone in my team even wear medium armor?

57:54 Like I'm not sure anyone does.

57:55 It's either robes or heavy armor, actually.

57:57 Oh, but on the other hand, that's a cocky cloak.

58:01 Like, you know, we've not seen any cloaks the entire game.

58:04 This is literally the first cloak I've seen.

58:06 I'm like a 100 hours into this game, and in act two,

58:09 this is the first cocky cloak there's ever been.

58:11 So, uh Oh, that's that's too good to turn down.

58:15 Shy, John, don't buy it.

58:17 Okay, check everything else first.

58:20 So, yeah, good shield plus two.

58:22 Why is every shield plus two?

58:24 Like, the good shield surely should be plus three.

58:27 Why is it never more than plus two?

58:29 For some reason, yes,

58:30 magical ultimate mega shields give you the same AC bonus as like

58:34 a table with some nails in it the goblin stuck a handle to.

58:38 It's very weird.

58:39 Oh, and these are potentially nice for dual wielding characters.

58:43 Offhand attacks, you get to add your ability

58:45 modifier to the damage of the attack,

58:47 which normally you can't unless you've got like a feet, I think.

58:51 Though again, is anyone in my team actually using dual weapons at all?

58:56 cuz I don't think they are.

58:58 It's either like, you know,

58:59 two-handed weapons or weapon and shield or spells or an armed.

59:04 Yeah, I'm not sure that actually is relevant to my team right now.

59:07 Oh, but hang on.

59:09 Amulet of the Harpers,

59:11 letting you have the shield spell only once per long rest,

59:15 but also advantage on wisdom saving throw checks.

59:20 I mean, honestly, I don't care about that.

59:21 Like just having access to shield is incredible.

59:25 You know what?

59:26 That only costs 275.

59:28 I'm buying that right now.

59:31 But yeah, beyond that, I think the next thing

59:33 I'd like to save up towards would be mighty cloth.

59:36 Like that sounds good.

59:38 And yeah, I'm going to give that to Aarian

59:40 because right now he's on the front line,

59:43 but he's very vulnerable with AC of only 13.

59:46 So the ability to just say, "Hey, you know what?

59:49 Screw it.

59:50 Actually, it's 18 this round.

59:52 That's useful.

59:53 Meaning, yeah, I think I just saw over on the other side of the courtyard here.

59:59 There he is.

1:00:00 Damon is not dead.

1:00:02 That is very bloody useful, actually.

1:00:05 So, right, Damon, me and you need to have a chat about our friend Carlac.

1:00:13 Good sense for horned freaks, and that ox is one of them.

1:00:17 Also, hang on.

1:00:18 When you say, "Oh, it's the strange arcs again.

1:00:21 You're back." So, okay, we'll deal with you later, mysterious strange arcs.

1:00:27 Carlac, I thought you'd be in the city by now.

1:00:30 We were ambushed by cultists.

1:00:32 Half of us were captured, the other half round here.

1:00:35 Off the anvil into the forge.

1:00:38 We'll find them, hopefully.

1:00:40 Before you run off into the belly of the beast,

1:00:44 there's something I need to tell you.

1:00:46 Well, two things.

1:00:48 Good news and bad news.

1:00:52 Right.

1:00:53 Leave this to Carlac.

1:00:54 She gets to choose how to deal with this.

1:00:57 The good news, obviously.

1:00:59 I only need one more piece of infernal iron to craft

1:01:03 an insulating chamber that can make it possible for Carl to touch people.

1:01:11 Exactly.

1:01:10 Oh my god, it's really happening.

1:01:15 It's been so long.

1:01:19 We've got the iron.

1:01:20 Let's do this thing.

1:01:22 Hang on.

1:01:24 I think you'll want to hear the bad news, too.

1:01:27 Yeah, sure.

1:01:28 But first, fix me.

1:01:32 Please.

1:01:34 Okay.

1:01:34 Seriously, we should figure out what the price is going to be first.

1:01:38 I get it.

1:01:39 Everyone is really horny today.

1:01:42 But yeah, we need to understand what's going on here.

1:01:46 Fine.

1:01:47 Well, go on then.

1:01:49 I don't enjoy saying this, Carl, but there's no two ways about it.

1:01:54 Your engine is going to blow, and I can't fix it.

1:01:58 I'm not sure anyone can.

1:02:00 It's simply too hot to exist here in the material plane.

1:02:04 Unless you return to a Verurn for good,

1:02:07 this thing is going to blow sooner rather than later.

1:02:12 But but still you you can give me something that will let me touch again, right?

1:02:19 Safely.

1:02:19 Yes.

1:02:20 But that's all I need to know.

1:02:23 Do it.

1:02:24 Please.

1:02:27 Right.

1:02:28 So why are so many people in my team about to explode?

1:02:33 Gail about to explode.

1:02:34 Carlac about to explode.

1:02:36 If anyone else is about to explode, please raise your hands now.

1:02:40 I do not want to be surprised later.

1:02:43 But yeah, bare minimum, let's get Carlac the heart upgrade because

1:02:48 we could deal with the bad stuff later.

1:02:50 For now, yeah, let's just make it happen.

1:02:55 Well, all right.

1:02:57 This shouldn't take long.

1:03:16 Same as last time.

1:03:18 You'll need to install it yourself.

1:03:21 This should do the trick.

1:03:33 There.

1:03:34 [sighs] So did it.

1:03:38 work.

1:03:39 Only one way to find out.

1:03:41 Okay.

1:03:42 Well, I'm standing right here, Carlac.

1:04:03 You're all right.

1:04:05 No burns.

1:04:07 Can we go to bed now?

1:04:10 [laughter] Hold on, Carlac.

1:04:14 There's something I need to tell you.

1:04:16 That engine of yours, it's contained for the moment,

1:04:22 but it's just too hot to exist here in the material plane indefinitely.

1:04:26 I know you know that.

1:04:28 But the thing is, there's a cure.

1:04:32 I wasn't making any headway with the mechanics.

1:04:34 None at all.

1:04:35 The environment here is just too cold

1:04:38 to sustain metals like the ones inside you.

1:04:41 You have to return to Averus for good or this thing is going

1:04:47 to burn you up from the inside out and sooner than you think.

1:04:52 The minute I set foot back in a Veress, Zarya will force me back into service.

1:04:58 I'm not doing her bidding again.

1:05:01 I'd rather die.

1:05:03 I get that, but don't rule it out.

1:05:06 The world just might be better with you in it, even in a furnace.

1:05:11 I won't stop trying to figure out a cure.

1:05:14 But at this point, I think we all have to face the inevitable.

1:05:21 So, uh, right, we need to find a solution to that because

1:05:27 Carlag does not want to go back to a Verus.

1:05:31 But yes, first things first, thank you because you have done a lot of work

1:05:35 here and you've made a lot of good progress.

1:05:38 Yeah, apart from the doom and gloom,

1:05:41 you've given me more than I could ever hope to repay.

1:05:45 It's been my pleasure.

1:05:47 Good luck, both of you.

1:05:50 Look after yourself.

1:05:51 All right.

1:05:53 All right.

1:05:54 There we go.

1:05:55 We've now officially completed the Helien's heart, though.

1:05:58 Uh-oh.

1:06:00 It's kind of bad that we've officially completed the Helien's heart because

1:06:05 that suggests we can't just like, you know,

1:06:07 pick this up in the third act and then

1:06:09 find you a new magical heart that does work.

1:06:12 So, oh god, I can really hope we're not going towards a sad ending with you.

1:06:17 Okay, the Helien's heart is complete.

1:06:20 Our fiery friend is not marked as complete.

1:06:24 There's probably going to be a second quest that we can use to fix up Carlac.

1:06:28 Don't worry, it's fine.

1:06:29 We're gonna fix this.

1:06:31 This is the best day.

1:06:34 The best day.

1:06:36 So, yes, let's just focus on the good stuff for now.

1:06:39 And I'm guessing very soon, the next time we go for a long rest.

1:06:43 Okay.

1:06:44 Basically, prepare the hedgehogs.

1:06:48 Me, too.

1:06:50 Whenever you want to turn in, I'd love

1:06:53 to take this whole touch thing for a test drive.

1:06:57 I know we have important things to do, but we deserve a little sweetness, too.

1:07:03 So, don't you worry, Carlac.

1:07:04 We most definitely will, though.

1:07:07 Okay, let's not bring up the whole engine thing.

1:07:10 Right now, let's just focus on the positives.

1:07:12 We could deal with the sad stuff later.

1:07:15 Oh, man.

1:07:17 I can't wait.

1:07:19 So, all right, Carl's having a very good day.

1:07:21 We've just got that sorted out.

1:07:23 And uh do not forget, of course, we've got Jihira just inside.

1:07:27 And apparently Carl is going to have a really nice time meeting her as well.

1:07:31 I hesitated to mention this back in the druid's grove for obvious reasons,

1:07:37 but no one has earned my trust if not you.

1:07:40 When Elterell was dragged into a Vest, I was drafted into a devil's smithy.

1:07:47 It should have been awful.

1:07:50 Infernal metal is like a wild horse.

1:07:54 Powerful, exuberant.

1:07:56 It'll kill you if you lack technique.

1:08:00 I can sense some.

1:08:01 Smell it almost somewhere in the area.

1:08:05 Underground, maybe out there in the shadows.

1:08:09 If you find it, bring it to me.

1:08:12 I'll make something incredible.

1:08:14 Okay, I just flipping nip back to Damon to, you know,

1:08:18 do a bit of buying and selling,

1:08:20 but there might be more we can get from him yet in particular.

1:08:26 Yeah, we've got not just the infernal metal that we've used of Carlac,

1:08:31 we had infernal alloy as well.

1:08:34 Rare to get your hands on this stuff.

1:08:37 Well done keeping it to hand.

1:08:39 All right.

1:08:39 So that's like the mega special ultimate alloy I think we've just given him.

1:08:46 So what precisely good sir can you make from that?

1:08:51 There you are.

1:08:53 Be careful who you show that to draw the wrong kind of attention.

1:08:57 Okay, hang on.

1:08:58 We've got ourselves Oh, Florida held armor, you say?

1:09:04 Oh, a hello sexy.

1:09:06 So yeah, this is a heavy armor.

1:09:08 AC18.

1:09:10 When you're hit by a foe that's within 2 m, they might take damage.

1:09:14 Presumably, there's like a deck save or something.

1:09:17 On top of that, superior plate, one less piercing damage.

1:09:22 That's fine, if maybe a tiny bit on the underwhelming side.

1:09:27 Meanwhile, if I give you Yeah, like the regular material.

1:09:31 Presumably, this is the infernal iron that was

1:09:33 spare after we already sorted out Carlax hearts, right?

1:09:37 That gets me another item from the same

1:09:40 set by the Lucio offense on this occasion.

1:09:43 Medium armor plus two bonus to saving throws.

1:09:48 That's not bad, you know.

1:09:50 Right, I'll sell that over to Shadow Heart because yeah,

1:09:52 no one in this party actually wears armor.

1:09:54 Hilariously, we've got four cooking robe wearers with us right now.

1:09:59 And finally, yeah, those masks we found,

1:10:02 the ones that were like the Hang on, what were they called?

1:10:05 Meagons or something?

1:10:06 I cannot recall.

1:10:07 Apparently, yeah, you could do something with those.

1:10:10 You can wear them to increase strength if there's like more than one,

1:10:14 but yeah, we had like four.

1:10:16 We're never going to need an entire party of those.

1:10:18 So, yeah, I'm going to give you one of those at least.

1:10:21 Using something that's already fabricated is tough, but I can try.

1:10:25 How many do you have?

1:10:26 You can only have one for now, but yeah,

1:10:29 if you make something really impressive,

1:10:31 I might be willing to hand over the rest.

1:10:34 And hello, sexy.

1:10:35 That gets me an explosive.

1:10:38 So, right, basically a flaming grenade.

1:10:41 Honestly, not that exciting.

1:10:42 I'll probably keep the other masks on me.

1:10:45 But yeah, I do still have one last piece of infernal iron toe.

1:10:49 And there we go.

1:10:50 Another set of matching armor.

1:10:52 Oh, but I tell you what, these are potentially pretty good.

1:10:56 Weapon attacks deal an additional 1d4 of fire

1:11:00 damage and unarmed attacks deal one to four necrotic.

1:11:06 You know what?

1:11:07 That's sort of interesting.

1:11:10 And these are Yeah.

1:11:11 not medium armor.

1:11:12 Anyone could wear these.

1:11:13 So that could be good for las or alternatively.

1:11:19 Yeah.

1:11:19 Would I rather a starion had those?

1:11:23 Would I rather?

1:11:23 Yeah.

1:11:24 gather up the old lightning charges and stats.

1:11:27 And does Lysel have something on her wrists already?

1:11:31 You know what?

1:11:31 I'm going to send those to Lazelle.

1:11:33 We'll figure out those later.

1:11:34 And while I probably can't afford any

1:11:36 of this, Damon's got some other bits and pieces, too, including Yeah.

1:11:40 new stuff I've not seen before, like a bow that gives you flipping haste.

1:11:47 I mean, only once per long rest,

1:11:49 but still everyone having access to haste for free.

1:11:54 That's ridiculously good, though.

1:11:56 It does cost a grant.

1:11:57 I literally can't afford that right now.

1:11:59 And then we've got a weapon giving a bonus to strength.

1:12:04 So, yeah, giving that to Carlax would just be very good for her throwing damage.

1:12:10 So, uh Oh, that's tempting as well, right?

1:12:13 There's a lot of stuff I'd like to buy in this town.

1:12:15 Gotcha.

1:12:16 including a very cute shortsord that would be amazing

1:12:19 for an assassin given yeah they could guarantee crits at the start

1:12:22 of a fight but no that doesn't really work for me

1:12:25 anymore and finally gloves that give you plus one to any melee

1:12:30 attack roll oh that's good to right leave that for now

1:12:36 but yeah we're going to need to uh make a lot

1:12:40 of cocking money before we're done with this place cuz there's

1:12:43 a lot I want to are still I would say having made

1:12:47 it to the last light in how about we call it

1:12:50 a path but next time right we should probably be focusing

1:12:55 on you know catching up with all our friends from the emerald

1:12:58 grover learning what we can about the absolute cultist etc etc

1:13:01 but okay let's be completely blunt here I think the highlight's

1:13:06 going to be the next time we take a long rest

1:13:08 me and Carla could go to be having a bit

1:13:10 of a nice time together so right coming up in the next episode,

1:13:15 we've got some flipping hedgehogs to deploy.

1:13:18 So hopefully you join me for that.

1:13:20 But in the meantime, I Jonas has been many a true nerd

1:13:24 and this has been the wonderful Boulders Gate 3.

1:13:28 Thank you very much and goodbye.

1:13:31 So, okay.

1:13:32 Um, I've been outwitted by a butterfly and beaten up by a fish.

1:13:38 Stop right there, criminal scum.

1:13:40 I didn't steal anything.

1:13:41 I'm sorry.

1:13:42 I TOUCHED THE SHOES WHILE I WAS SHOE SHOPPING.

1:13:44 OKAY, I feel like I may have just um walked in on something.

1:13:48 What about this person?