Alana Lackner I think interrupting Evelyn's bargaining like that wasn't quite the best etiquette in a game. As a character a solid move, as a player a little rude. Just throwing the lute started this whole mess in the first place, as everyone doubled over backwards to prevent that needless sacrifice. That said, Nate as player really has made some amazing strides as a role player since the game started. I remember the days back in Barovia when Chris literally had to play Paulton for Nate. It was like pulling teeth. He's really great now, though.
MajorMajorMajorThom It wasn't rude at all, everyone was making dumb decisions that would have potentially brought upon a TPK, and Nate was the only one really trying to prevent that. Sometimes you need to be forceful to save the party from their foolishness. It may not be "fun," but neither is dying because of a dumb action. That whole ordeal wasn't even Nate's fault at all. Everyone kept trying to mess around with the items in the water, after Paultin warned that if it's in the water then it already belongs to the Dragon Turtle, and that caused the entire encounter. Paultin was in the right the whole time.
1:49:40 - Nate's reaction compared to everyone else's was fucking beautiful. That is the moment in which he ascended beyond the sub-optimal, the moment he realized that he had become the only competent member of this party. Feeding the bomb with the key in place to an immensely powerful turtle dragon probably would have been the safest place for it. I doubt Aremag would have any interest in using the bomb itself, so no threats there. Those interested in obtaining the key would not only have to find it, in a much more obscure location than on Diath's person, but then contend with Aremag himself to actually procure it. It's kind of incredible that they weren't able to work that one.
well beings that can teleport can take the key leave the bomb and destroy everything. Or take both and use the bomb also. But I think the key that is in posession of the person is safe from the teleport person.
Damn, to think that Paultin was actually the voice of reason and intelligence in this episode, especially at the end. I was rooting for him the entire time while the others were derping it up lol. Great episode though, that ending was crazy.
When Nathan and Anna said "Um" at the same time in the same tone at 14:19 I lowkey was just like "Yooooo thats the Evelyn and Paultin in them thinking on the same wavelength!!!"
1:58:00 i know how you feel paultin. When you know the right option you only feel bad because nobody agrees until they see the consequences of their actions
Aremag... that name seems so familiar... AREMAG! IT’S GAMERA BACKWARDS! Beautiful reference, Chris Perkins. Then again, if they were aware of that, they would have known that the only way to get past the giant turtle is to use a kid with a weird fixation on traffic accidents. They can’t resist those
omfg. All they had to do was explain to the dragon turtle, "This is a bomb capable of wiping a city off the map. If you remove this key from it, it will explode. There is an aracanaloth after this key. If you want it, you'll have to watch it every minute of every day." They would have been rid of the bomb, a key would be safely defended by a dragon turtle, and the dragon turtle might have become much too busy to extract offerings from passing ships.
I started laughing when Nate hummed one of the songs from Aladdin (48:50) It was totally unexpected and a great way to make the others laugh. Nate is by far my favorite on DCA then Evelyn, Diath and Strix. Kind of hoping Paultin & Evelyn get together eventually.
Maybe it's just me, but it seems like Nate was the only one that was actually playing his character this episode. Everyone else all of a sudden decided to be suicidal maniacs for some reason, making the stupidest possible choices, ignoring lessons they learned MINUTES earlier. "Taking things from the dragon turtle gets him pissed off? Let me try to take a magical dimensional key from him now that we JUST FINALLY GOT SAFE". If you're tired of the campaign, causing a TPK is a shitty way to get out of it. This is the kind of shit that would me walk away from a group.
Key would be safe inside a dragon "but we can't leave it somewhere easy to get." Blows up all their personal belongings "it's not right that you guys have to give up parts of yourselves." Diath is super broken isn't he.
Sometimes it seems like Jared tries to have Diath make decisions which he think will give the audience a better show rather than based on what Diath "the voice of reason" Woodrow would actually do in a given situation.
Don't forget, that Diath actually went insane back when they originally resurrected him in Barovia. If you read Curse of Strahd, anyone who has been dead longer than twenty-four hours and is resurrected develops Indefinite Madness. If anything, Jared probably plays Diath as being too reasonable.
Night Jackal so did I! Every time Chris said that the cloud had a resemblance to Strix I just imagined a cloud with a face. Now knowing better, that scene where Strix tried to poison Straud by putting plants in his soup as a cloud and then hiding under the table has now become so much funnier
Literally watching the last part of this episode was way too fucking hard. It physically hurt to do. Edit: In fact, Im not even done with it. Its that difficult, I don't know if I even wanna. I love you guys, but the fact that y'all would have been just fine if you had just given the dragon the mandolin hurts me so much, its so frustrating @_@ Like, that was a smart move imho of Paultin, he was willing to sacrifice just this neat magic instrument for y'all that is NOT NECESSARY TO KEEP, JUST NIFTY, and yet no one was willing to respect that sacrifice....UGH. UUUUUGH. I get it. Hindsight 20/20. Hard to determine what is the best path to take in the heat of the moment, and it's not always about the best path, but about the story telling and y'all enjoying your time playing this game. We're all sub optimal here and no one is perfect. But. But. BUT. BUT....I CAN'T NOT COMPLAIN A LITTLE WHEN IT COULD HAVE GONE SO SMOOTHLY, and the small fact that no one except for Paultin/Nate seemed to understand that if it touches the freaking water, the dragon considered it his. Key would potentially be just fine down there, stuck in this huge ass dragons body. //cries
Chris describes the explosion but I was really expecting him to include dragon turtle chunks into the depiction. That and I figured some sort of tidal wave was going to destroy the harbor of Chult.
this episode upset me. so paultin can loose his mandolin and sacrifice it willingly to save himself and his party, something very practical and useful as well as emotionally significant, yet diath cant give up one key when all evidence points to not taking things from the dragon and almost getting his party killed? just listen to the bard and give him as much respect as he gives you. no wonder he thought he needed the ring of winter to contribute because no one other than evelyn ever listens or values anything he says or does.
I feel Nate's frustration, the others always try to hog the storytelling and not let him and strix decide things for themselves. Diath especially.. like just let others rp, diath literally repeats things the others have already said for no reason. As if the bomb wouldn't have incinerated the key anyway
Welp, we now know why Paultin drinks. Diath & Strix were terrible in this episode. I usually love Strix, but all she did was scream in this one. Poor Anna didn't roll better than 7 I think, and why would leaving a key in the bomb be a bad thing? It isn't used up, and probably never would be...thus Diath will never use them all up and Shemeshka would never get to enact her full plan on him.
The keys themselves have an unknown power; that's why she wants them. If they surrender the bomb with the key still in it, Shemeshka can just find it and take it; presumably there's a reason why she can't just steal them from Diath. My question while watching was, when they examined the bomb why didn't they think to try and figure out whether taking the key out would even make it explode? It wasn't just shoving the key in that stopped the timer, it was turning the lock.
Eamil I assume the keys themselves to be enchanted or cursed in a way that prevents a demon or Yugoloth from possessing them unless something with a soul willingly gives the keys to them. Otherwise, there’s no reason why she couldn’t just take them from Diath. Personally, I think she needs Diath to use all of them on the sword to release whatever is inside of it. I think the voice in Gutter is another Arcanoloth...maybe even Shimeshka’s mate.
@@Im-Not-a-Dog Interesting theory, but doesn't explain why she demands each key be given to her after it's used. There's something else going on. Hopefully we'll still get a chance to find out what.
I think Chris intended to have invisible Evil Paultin pull the key from the bomb to facilitate a threat as he probably assumed they were going to get rid of the bomb by giving it to the Dragon Turtle (I mean look at the name of the episode.) But, yeah this was VERY frustrating to watch. For the record I don't really care about the rule lawyer stuff this show broke regarding concentration and how careful spell is supposed to work, but going back and watching this. It was a little hard at this point. Anna's stubbornness to not let Nate offer his mandolin because everyone else seems to be avaricious (especially Anna) with their magic items just felt like she was taking away all his agency, especially when he was so heavily criticized in the past for not contributing at all. I just really felt bad for Nate on a meta level how everyone doesn't listen to him when he's trying to be rational and invested but the other players veto everything he says and at the same time they simply hand wave all this nonsense Holly says and does as Stryx that is going to get them killed (and literally has in the past.) Multiple times in this episode Nate deescalated the situation by some generous persuasions on the Dragon Turtle only for Stryx to come in and do something stupid to turn it into a TPK scenario especially after being told this Dragon Turtle was greedy and arrogant. Why does she want to blow it up so badly after being told it didn't need to be a King's ransom and only requires a offering of what they could manage? I don't want to crap on Holly, but I thought she actually roleplayed Strix really well back in season 1, but as time went on she just became one note with either: "Don't worry, it's fine!" "*screaming*" "I'll turn you into a cloud." or doing something reckless and nonsensical like offering to bear a night hag baby. They really could have given it one of Evelyn's horde of magic items she has had thrown to her during the campaign and been fine. I know it's just a game and they were all friends and had a laugh afterwards, but binging this series because I loved it back in the day... this episode REALLY bothered me for how Nate was treated here.
It was frustrating watching the players split the party after they've been told a shadowy organization is coming after them. Also the entire tribute debacle... glad the bomb is gone and strix saved the key.
I like how they: "Hey, Dragon dude. We are totally not a treat to the city." (We just carry a thing with us, that could easily completely destroy it , but there is nothing to worry) :D For realzies Perkins, no Tsunami waves hading towards the port? I'm not an expert in magic bomb explosions, but if that bomb was some sort-of fantasy equivalent of a Nuke-bomb, i think there should be a big one coming. RIP port Nyanzaru (at least its coastal parts) PS: Also, never trust a Tabaxi scum, they all works for Zhentarim. :D
If you want a No Prize, the dragon turtle's body acted as a super massive, super dense resistor, which absorbed enough of the energy from the shockwave that it didn't have enough left to do more than damage the port as described.
Deva on the phone with Lathander: "Yes Sir, the whole defence of the port is gone. Aremag, yes. I don´t know why..." Lathander to himself: "...God damnit Evi! I should have kept you here." ;)
Kel'Thuzad Yeah, I face palmed hard because he should know better by now. Strix was especially annoying in this episode. Even suggesting at using the bomb should have been an automatic NO, which Paultin was actually right about this entire session. Someone needs to straight up tell her that her stupid actions need to stop before they get everyone killed. Like just put her in her place already before her recklessness screws everyone over...like it already did multiple times. Her feelings may get hurt, but it's needed for some real development.
I can almost rationalize most of Diath's decisions this episode in terms of his desire to protect the party, but toward the end when he let Strix dive into the ocean for a key (which only benefits him to have), knowing full well it would be in plain sight of the dragon-turtle, and all he did was cheer her on...then he again risks blowing up the entire ship with the bomb just to keep both keys...like since when has Diath ever been *that* selfish?
I thought Diath's whole M.O. was supposed to be "Protect the party at all costs" and the one priority that could override that was "Protect Strix at all costs". But this episode he hatches multiple plans that put the whole party in needless danger and he just cheers Strix on as she dives into the ocean to compete with a Dragon-Turtle for a key (which only stands to benefit him if she succeeds). I feel like I don't get his character at all anymore.
It's implied (largely because he's been trusted with their safekeeping by angelic family, and Shemeshka wants them) that they're very, very important. He doesn't know quite how, but he can see which way the wind is blowing.
They were all trying to avoid it, I reckon. And, yeah, I'd say he's an *inexperienced* sort of iffy BF. Then again, he's an eighteen year old who has watched her die, fought off assailants over her unconscious body, watched her be emotionally wrecked by passing jabs, etc.. Never really dated a lad, no interest there, but I've been that shitty GF, and, being a good person, he'll learn pretty quick.
With how often her feelings get hurt when someone tells her she smells, you'd think she would want to clean herself. She can do so easily with Prestidigitation. Idk, her logic is really off, like a lot, at times.
Strix is revolting in almost every conceivable way. Whenever it's brought to attention, I literally gag at the mere idea of how fucking foul she must stink. I truly cannot fathom what Diath sees in her, be it physically or otherwise.
Stephen Cook Yeah, they have like nothing in common at all. It's really to please the shippers that go crazy over fanart and such. You know how it goes.
This is the first episode that has genuinely ticked me off. And it was 100% Diath’s fault. You’d think he’d have learned from Iron Slag but apparently he enjoys genocide.
Spoiler: Oh my gosh! Why were they so stubborn?! Why would they want to keep a bomb that would explode the second its released INSTEAD of Paultin's awesome weapon that allowed him to do a lot of cool magic. Now Paultin is GREATLY downgraded, and I would rather have a piweful ally over a bomb that has done NOTHING for you. And now looked what happened because they couldn't just hand over a bomb and a stupid key. A key which, by the way, Shemeska wouldn't be getting due to being in a turtle's stomach!
Strix has almost never shown flexibility. She spent half an episode yelling that having a hag baby was the only way to keep the party safe with no basis for that belief.
Kel'Thuzad Agreed. I think I know where Anna is coming from, trying to make interesting decisions rather than optimal ones. But even then, the whole mandolin debacle was ridiculous. I actually thought it was a really powerful and narratively interesting moment when Paultin decided to sacrifice his strongest item. But the whole gravitas of the situation was invalidated by Evelyn. That's true for most of the characters/players: being stubborn and having principles is one thing, but these principles need to be challenged, the characters need to grow from them. Instead, I sadly feel that most of the PCs are turning into 1-note characters, being so hard-headed about everything that they're just not interesting anymore.
I've said that about Strix in the episode where Evelyn died originally. It's time for her character to face the consequences of these decisions and not be saved by plot armor again.
Yeah well. As I said, I'm not actually arguing against character motivation and stuff like that. a) they're not my characters, so who am I to judge, and b) personally I just don't know enough about their story (only got into DCA in the Xopa episode with Mark). What disappoints me is that the players so often just lean on one single character trait to drive the story. Like Strix is always impulsive and fears everything, Evelyn doesn't understand anything and does everything for Paultin, etc. Not that those traits are bad, that's really not the point. It's more that lately we haven't seen much else from them, even though the past couple of episodes have been ripe with roleplaying opportunities. And they're played to such an extreme it's borderline madness. Coming back to the mandolin example (it's a mandolin right? or a lute? whatever)... Paultin giving up the instrument was a heavy, impactful move, great for the story. It could have ended there. Then, Evelyn diving after it, sure, okay, also interesting (although it's kind of patronizing to Paultin in a way - like why invalidate the decision he himself made?). But then Evelyn aggroing a gargantuan dragon turtle that's not only threatening her, but also her team (Paultin included), the ship that they need to get away from Chult, and the innocent ship's crew... Just why? And it was kind of similar with Strix and the key. As Nate said: Why doesn't anyone realize you don't take stuff from the turtle? (Disclaimer: I love Holly and Anna, this is really nothing against them personally. I'm just confused why they overplay these character traits that much.)
JonBros I don't know, some of the fanbase think those traits are cute, funny, and meme worthy when they are actually becoming detrimental to the party's survival. Also, I like the players as well, I just find their characters kind of annoying at this point.
I'm getting a little tired of Strix's reaction to everything being yelling. Even Jared calling to Evelyn to heal her, she SCREAMS "IT'S FINE, ITS FINE" like being healed is torture.
I'm not sure Chris was keeping concentration closely in mind during that whole sequence; invis also breaks when you cast any spell, which is probably what Chris was thinking about when he had it break after Paultin cast Dimension Door. That said, @MouseyWithPower Twinned Magic works on any spell that targets only 1 creature and doesn't have a range of 'self', which does include Gaseous Form.
You mean all of them? I don’t know of a single thing she’s done that’s been beneficial other than explosions. And that even killed herself AND Simon in the past.
None of your Business And the worst thing is, they’re the kind of mistakes that cause problems for OTHER party members, while she gets out unscathed. I like how Holly plays her and she’s an interesting character, but honestly, if she cares about her friends so much, she should really just give up adventuring and go live in a hut somewhere. She should just realize that she’s a huge liability. Like a few episodes ago: ’I care about you SO MUCH! Let me hang around you with a night hag baby in my belly! Because that’s not going to cause you any trouble! And at the same time we’ll piss off an Arcanaloth that’s been helping you! Friends forever!’
Dear strix I know you like blowing things up but due to the event of you coming out as a divine soul sorcerer maybe you could pick up the create food and water spell. Just a suggestion.
No plan for the dragon turtle. Strix had a good plan with the bomb, but everyone else wimped out, panicked, and started tossing everything. Defiantly a low point in their planning.
hugh Tuller Paultin was the only one with a plan. I.E don't take the dragons stuff, let it have the mandolin. Bombing the turtle is a extremely dumb idea, especially from Strix as she knows that the turtle is what keeps pirates out.
Nate/Paultin: Let me make an interesting and meaningful character choice that will save my party and allow the plot to advance. Everyone else: GENOCIDE RUN.
Another interesting thing about that ending scene: with the threat of a major conflict mere moments away, none of the three characters with healing spells/abilities try to heal Strix who is suddenly down to just 2HP. Classic Wafflecrew.
They set off a bomb that was supposed to be able to level a city. Healing would have helped very little. Also, I felt like Chris was too tame with that explosion. Should have leveled the docks at least of the Port city.
Haven't finished watching the episode but damn, never been so frustrated with a fictional character as when Evelyn refuses to let Paultin give away his mandolin.
Seriously - since when does Diath endanger his whole party just to hold on to the keys, which are only tied to his own fate? His decision-making this episode was way out of character.
Yeah but instead of just offering them up she decided to haggle with something that can't really be bargained with. I mean, it's something that Evelyn would do so I can't fault Anna for trying it, but she pushed it too hard while everyone was trying to out-nice/sacrifice each other and my gawd that was a cringy episode. Nate FTW
Wouldn't Evelyn have regained her foot In the resurrection. She was a construct, so every part of her was remade as a construct, and then remade again as flesh during the resurrection.
i dont think that applies to birth defects. apparently her missing foot is something she was born with rather than an injury so it doesnt really count since she never had a foot to begin with. its not a regrown body part
afroblademaster YES! Agree 100% With triple 25 damage attacks at +14 or so to hit there is no way that thing is in their CR And even if chris is going by narrative milestones/badass bosses yea a water version of clout would certainly level them Average damage of 1 magic missle (d4+1) = 3 right? Yea that’s 30K damage from The inside bud you’re not walking away from dat nuke
I agree that it should be powerful enough to kill the Dragon Turtle. Probably should have destroyed them and their ship too, but that's not as fun as how Perkins played it out. The average roll on a d4 is 2.5. (1+2+3+4) / 4 = 2.5 So the average damage of 1 magic missile is (2.5+1) = 3.5. All the standard die types' averages end in .5
WhiskeyHound I only stated the average result of a d4 roll. I figured readers could handle adding the +1 on their own. You can never roll a 3.5 damage magic missile, but that is the *average* damage from one of them. You wouldn't round to 3 when calculating how much damage 10K of them would do, you would use the true average of 3.5.
Stating the average of a d4 is kinda worthless when trying to calculate the average damage of 10,000 magic missiles though, also misread your comment as trying to "correct" the previous comment.
Strix leaves Evelyn alone after learning about assassins. Because..hat. 1:50:02 Strix/Diath metagame by not going in when they hear Paultins view. 1:12:20 The ships captain is willing to risk the boat, her life, livelyhood, and lives of the crew on what?? A song? 16:00 Strix repeatedly trying to kill the party, ...again. Wooden boat magically fixed itself from a dragon turtle bite to be operational to surf a tidal wave? Trees burned but not the wooden boat or at least the sails?. I get that Chris really wanted them to use the bomb on the dragon turtle, but too much plot armor is showing. At this point I don't think Holly is really that stupid. No one is. I've got to believe she was in on Chris's plan to have them bomb the monster. An epic idea, but I would prefer watching good players just doing their best.
I can see Strix wanting to get the key back to help Diath. What I can't see is Diath wanting to risk Strix's life and those of the entire party to just to help himself (i.e. to get the keys back). I'm pretty sure his actions were because he wanted the episode title to be appropriate, so he metagamed instead of staying in character.
The last half hour of this episode is just as painful the second time through but... "You blew up Paultin's mandolin!" THAT'S your takeaway? I know Evelyn has tunnel vision but Jesus.
There were so many bad decisions made in this episode, and by the people who are usually make reasonable rule based decisions. What the heck waffle crew this is now things fall apart. Also they will forever be enemies with chult after this.
Agreed. I don't mind them constantly outwitting death - because I want the show to continue - but I'm genuinely surprised the boat isn't just dust and they're not all bobbing in the bay.
God Paultin has become such a great character and Nate has become such a great roleplayer. I'm thrilled
Alana Lackner I think interrupting Evelyn's bargaining like that wasn't quite the best etiquette in a game. As a character a solid move, as a player a little rude. Just throwing the lute started this whole mess in the first place, as everyone doubled over backwards to prevent that needless sacrifice.
That said, Nate as player really has made some amazing strides as a role player since the game started. I remember the days back in Barovia when Chris literally had to play Paulton for Nate. It was like pulling teeth. He's really great now, though.
It's incredible how far he's come. So proud of him! :)
MajorMajorMajorThom It wasn't rude at all, everyone was making dumb decisions that would have potentially brought upon a TPK, and Nate was the only one really trying to prevent that. Sometimes you need to be forceful to save the party from their foolishness. It may not be "fun," but neither is dying because of a dumb action.
That whole ordeal wasn't even Nate's fault at all. Everyone kept trying to mess around with the items in the water, after Paultin warned that if it's in the water then it already belongs to the Dragon Turtle, and that caused the entire encounter. Paultin was in the right the whole time.
Agreed. He absolutely frontlined this episode
@Kel'Thuzad I feel she's settled back as Nate picked up. The ladies totally lead S1, even Jared was more subdued. Now it feels more even.
Holy crap that was painful! If Paultin is trying to be the voice of reason, ya know s**t is going sideways.
1:49:40 - Nate's reaction compared to everyone else's was fucking beautiful. That is the moment in which he ascended beyond the sub-optimal, the moment he realized that he had become the only competent member of this party.
Feeding the bomb with the key in place to an immensely powerful turtle dragon probably would have been the safest place for it. I doubt Aremag would have any interest in using the bomb itself, so no threats there. Those interested in obtaining the key would not only have to find it, in a much more obscure location than on Diath's person, but then contend with Aremag himself to actually procure it. It's kind of incredible that they weren't able to work that one.
well beings that can teleport can take the key leave the bomb and destroy everything. Or take both and use the bomb also. But I think the key that is in posession of the person is safe from the teleport person.
Damn, to think that Paultin was actually the voice of reason and intelligence in this episode, especially at the end. I was rooting for him the entire time while the others were derping it up lol. Great episode though, that ending was crazy.
The drunk and dying tour was short lived but I think we can all say it went out with a bang.
Nate trying not to laugh his ass off after that breakup comment was just beautiful.
David_Aug_101
23:32
For your enjoyment.
Paultin is the hero we deserve.
"But not the one what we need"?
He's the hero we deserve and the villain we need
When Nathan and Anna said "Um" at the same time in the same tone at 14:19 I lowkey was just like "Yooooo thats the Evelyn and Paultin in them thinking on the same wavelength!!!"
1:58:00 i know how you feel paultin. When you know the right option you only feel bad because nobody agrees until they see the consequences of their actions
Aremag... that name seems so familiar...
AREMAG!
IT’S GAMERA BACKWARDS!
Beautiful reference, Chris Perkins. Then again, if they were aware of that, they would have known that the only way to get past the giant turtle is to use a kid with a weird fixation on traffic accidents. They can’t resist those
That's so great. Thank you for pointing this out, as I did not notice.
Another fun fact, in ToA, the real name for Mr. Fox, which i will refrain from saying, is actually an anogram for Gary Gygax
Chris is really nice to his players. That boat should have been ash if the city was hit like that. Poor Paultin.
Wooooow! Paultin is the super smartest character in this whole episode in every instance!
omfg. All they had to do was explain to the dragon turtle, "This is a bomb capable of wiping a city off the map. If you remove this key from it, it will explode. There is an aracanaloth after this key. If you want it, you'll have to watch it every minute of every day."
They would have been rid of the bomb, a key would be safely defended by a dragon turtle, and the dragon turtle might have become much too busy to extract offerings from passing ships.
Paulton... Has become the voice of reason... My god.....
1:54:56 anna: "evelyn grabs paultin" nate: "same" THE SHIP SAILS
Wow, Paultin playing the straight man. Didn't see that coming.
*Evelyn grabs Paultin*
*same*
*the ship is blown forward*
My Evelyn / Paultin heart was very pleased by this episode.
Two words: Hot Mess. And it was GLORIOUS. This is D&D, where a series of bad decisions results in the best and most perfect ending imaginable.
I started laughing when Nate hummed one of the songs from Aladdin (48:50) It was totally unexpected and a great way to make the others laugh. Nate is by far my favorite on DCA then Evelyn, Diath and Strix. Kind of hoping Paultin & Evelyn get together eventually.
"I really don't want SCURVY!!" good thinking Strix! I reckon she probably caught a light case during her long stay in the swamps.
Anyone else wondering what Miranda and the ring are up to right now?
Maybe it's just me, but it seems like Nate was the only one that was actually playing his character this episode. Everyone else all of a sudden decided to be suicidal maniacs for some reason, making the stupidest possible choices, ignoring lessons they learned MINUTES earlier. "Taking things from the dragon turtle gets him pissed off? Let me try to take a magical dimensional key from him now that we JUST FINALLY GOT SAFE".
If you're tired of the campaign, causing a TPK is a shitty way to get out of it. This is the kind of shit that would me walk away from a group.
Key would be safe inside a dragon "but we can't leave it somewhere easy to get."
Blows up all their personal belongings "it's not right that you guys have to give up parts of yourselves."
Diath is super broken isn't he.
Sometimes it seems like Jared tries to have Diath make decisions which he think will give the audience a better show rather than based on what Diath "the voice of reason" Woodrow would actually do in a given situation.
Don't forget, that Diath actually went insane back when they originally resurrected him in Barovia. If you read Curse of Strahd, anyone who has been dead longer than twenty-four hours and is resurrected develops Indefinite Madness. If anything, Jared probably plays Diath as being too reasonable.
Diath has become the CW version of his character. Way too dramatic.
Still in love with the style of the intro.
Paultin / Nate seems to be the only one with brains in this party. Goood!
I love how they are all level 9 or 10, with level 2 cashflow.
Evelyn's guilt-tripping's closing in on emotionally abusive mother levels, holy shit
i also thought they turned into literal clouds when strix uses that spell 😅
Night Jackal so did I! Every time Chris said that the cloud had a resemblance to Strix I just imagined a cloud with a face. Now knowing better, that scene where Strix tried to poison Straud by putting plants in his soup as a cloud and then hiding under the table has now become so much funnier
Suboptimal crew at its finest (minus Paultin, good on ya buddy)
Literally watching the last part of this episode was way too fucking hard. It physically hurt to do.
Edit: In fact, Im not even done with it. Its that difficult, I don't know if I even wanna. I love you guys, but the fact that y'all would have been just fine if you had just given the dragon the mandolin hurts me so much, its so frustrating @_@ Like, that was a smart move imho of Paultin, he was willing to sacrifice just this neat magic instrument for y'all that is NOT NECESSARY TO KEEP, JUST NIFTY, and yet no one was willing to respect that sacrifice....UGH. UUUUUGH. I get it. Hindsight 20/20. Hard to determine what is the best path to take in the heat of the moment, and it's not always about the best path, but about the story telling and y'all enjoying your time playing this game. We're all sub optimal here and no one is perfect. But. But. BUT. BUT....I CAN'T NOT COMPLAIN A LITTLE WHEN IT COULD HAVE GONE SO SMOOTHLY, and the small fact that no one except for Paultin/Nate seemed to understand that if it touches the freaking water, the dragon considered it his. Key would potentially be just fine down there, stuck in this huge ass dragons body. //cries
I love that bodies seem to be held in the same regards as they are in Red Vs Blue.
Chris describes the explosion but I was really expecting him to include dragon turtle chunks into the depiction. That and I figured some sort of tidal wave was going to destroy the harbor of Chult.
this episode upset me. so paultin can loose his mandolin and sacrifice it willingly to save himself and his party, something very practical and useful as well as emotionally significant, yet diath cant give up one key when all evidence points to not taking things from the dragon and almost getting his party killed? just listen to the bard and give him as much respect as he gives you. no wonder he thought he needed the ring of winter to contribute because no one other than evelyn ever listens or values anything he says or does.
Its crazy how close to 100 episodes there are i cant wait to see what they are going to do for it
"The three horns of the unicorn." :D
I feel Nate's frustration, the others always try to hog the storytelling and not let him and strix decide things for themselves. Diath especially.. like just let others rp, diath literally repeats things the others have already said for no reason. As if the bomb wouldn't have incinerated the key anyway
What is the number 1 rule in d&d?
Don’t split the party!
I bet Evil Paultin will come back somehow. Also, they probably already have a 2nd batch of evil clones.
Awesome guys. I got goosebumps when Chris gave the last narrative line. So excited to see the Waterdeep story
Welp, we now know why Paultin drinks. Diath & Strix were terrible in this episode. I usually love Strix, but all she did was scream in this one. Poor Anna didn't roll better than 7 I think, and why would leaving a key in the bomb be a bad thing? It isn't used up, and probably never would be...thus Diath will never use them all up and Shemeshka would never get to enact her full plan on him.
The keys themselves have an unknown power; that's why she wants them. If they surrender the bomb with the key still in it, Shemeshka can just find it and take it; presumably there's a reason why she can't just steal them from Diath.
My question while watching was, when they examined the bomb why didn't they think to try and figure out whether taking the key out would even make it explode? It wasn't just shoving the key in that stopped the timer, it was turning the lock.
Eamil I assume the keys themselves to be enchanted or cursed in a way that prevents a demon or Yugoloth from possessing them unless something with a soul willingly gives the keys to them. Otherwise, there’s no reason why she couldn’t just take them from Diath. Personally, I think she needs Diath to use all of them on the sword to release whatever is inside of it. I think the voice in Gutter is another Arcanoloth...maybe even Shimeshka’s mate.
Holly Conrad’s Strix only ever screams and does the worst possible thing
@@Im-Not-a-Dog Interesting theory, but doesn't explain why she demands each key be given to her after it's used. There's something else going on. Hopefully we'll still get a chance to find out what.
I think Chris intended to have invisible Evil Paultin pull the key from the bomb to facilitate a threat as he probably assumed they were going to get rid of the bomb by giving it to the Dragon Turtle (I mean look at the name of the episode.) But, yeah this was VERY frustrating to watch. For the record I don't really care about the rule lawyer stuff this show broke regarding concentration and how careful spell is supposed to work, but going back and watching this. It was a little hard at this point.
Anna's stubbornness to not let Nate offer his mandolin because everyone else seems to be avaricious (especially Anna) with their magic items just felt like she was taking away all his agency, especially when he was so heavily criticized in the past for not contributing at all. I just really felt bad for Nate on a meta level how everyone doesn't listen to him when he's trying to be rational and invested but the other players veto everything he says and at the same time they simply hand wave all this nonsense Holly says and does as Stryx that is going to get them killed (and literally has in the past.) Multiple times in this episode Nate deescalated the situation by some generous persuasions on the Dragon Turtle only for Stryx to come in and do something stupid to turn it into a TPK scenario especially after being told this Dragon Turtle was greedy and arrogant. Why does she want to blow it up so badly after being told it didn't need to be a King's ransom and only requires a offering of what they could manage? I don't want to crap on Holly, but I thought she actually roleplayed Strix really well back in season 1, but as time went on she just became one note with either: "Don't worry, it's fine!" "*screaming*" "I'll turn you into a cloud." or doing something reckless and nonsensical like offering to bear a night hag baby.
They really could have given it one of Evelyn's horde of magic items she has had thrown to her during the campaign and been fine. I know it's just a game and they were all friends and had a laugh afterwards, but binging this series because I loved it back in the day... this episode REALLY bothered me for how Nate was treated here.
Never take things from a dragon.
It was frustrating watching the players split the party after they've been told a shadowy organization is coming after them. Also the entire tribute debacle... glad the bomb is gone and strix saved the key.
chat told the rules and someone said chat is now chaotic neutral. Chat literally just said remember and follow the rules, that's lawful neutral!
I like how they: "Hey, Dragon dude. We are totally not a treat to the city." (We just carry a thing with us, that could easily completely destroy it , but there is nothing to worry) :D
For realzies Perkins, no Tsunami waves hading towards the port? I'm not an expert in magic bomb explosions, but if that bomb was some sort-of fantasy equivalent of a Nuke-bomb, i think there should be a big one coming.
RIP port Nyanzaru (at least its coastal parts)
PS: Also, never trust a Tabaxi scum, they all works for Zhentarim. :D
If you want a No Prize, the dragon turtle's body acted as a super massive, super dense resistor, which absorbed enough of the energy from the shockwave that it didn't have enough left to do more than damage the port as described.
Another fantastic episode~
Big thanks to the WotC team and players for making this possible! You guys always brighten up my day~
If the blast was that big.... shouldnt the port of been slammed by a nearly 100ft wave as well?
Deva on the phone with Lathander: "Yes Sir, the whole defence of the port is gone. Aremag, yes. I don´t know why..."
Lathander to himself: "...God damnit Evi! I should have kept you here." ;)
I'm nowhere near caught up to this point, but THAT INTRO!!
Remember when everyone hated Nate?
I never hated him because I made allowances for his being the least experienced player and having an outside career in his music
stryx and diath were REAL chatoic this week
Kel'Thuzad Yeah, I face palmed hard because he should know better by now. Strix was especially annoying in this episode. Even suggesting at using the bomb should have been an automatic NO, which Paultin was actually right about this entire session. Someone needs to straight up tell her that her stupid actions need to stop before they get everyone killed. Like just put her in her place already before her recklessness screws everyone over...like it already did multiple times. Her feelings may get hurt, but it's needed for some real development.
I can almost rationalize most of Diath's decisions this episode in terms of his desire to protect the party, but toward the end when he let Strix dive into the ocean for a key (which only benefits him to have), knowing full well it would be in plain sight of the dragon-turtle, and all he did was cheer her on...then he again risks blowing up the entire ship with the bomb just to keep both keys...like since when has Diath ever been *that* selfish?
MrTwrule Yeah, I hoped their characters don't devolve into "Lel so random and funny" tropes.
Strix and Diath are being really stupid this episode. How is Paultin the voice of reason?
I thought Diath's whole M.O. was supposed to be "Protect the party at all costs" and the one priority that could override that was "Protect Strix at all costs". But this episode he hatches multiple plans that put the whole party in needless danger and he just cheers Strix on as she dives into the ocean to compete with a Dragon-Turtle for a key (which only stands to benefit him if she succeeds). I feel like I don't get his character at all anymore.
It's implied (largely because he's been trusted with their safekeeping by angelic family, and Shemeshka wants them) that they're very, very important. He doesn't know quite how, but he can see which way the wind is blowing.
And Diath doesn't want to argue with Strix again, since she made such a big deal over it last time he prevented her from knocking herself up for hags.
They were all trying to avoid it, I reckon.
And, yeah, I'd say he's an *inexperienced* sort of iffy BF. Then again, he's an eighteen year old who has watched her die, fought off assailants over her unconscious body, watched her be emotionally wrecked by passing jabs, etc..
Never really dated a lad, no interest there, but I've been that shitty GF, and, being a good person, he'll learn pretty quick.
For God sake please take strix to the bath-house... THINK OF THE FUNNY ANTICS
With how often her feelings get hurt when someone tells her she smells, you'd think she would want to clean herself. She can do so easily with Prestidigitation. Idk, her logic is really off, like a lot, at times.
Strix is revolting in almost every conceivable way. Whenever it's brought to attention, I literally gag at the mere idea of how fucking foul she must stink. I truly cannot fathom what Diath sees in her, be it physically or otherwise.
Stephen Cook Yeah, they have like nothing in common at all. It's really to please the shippers that go crazy over fanart and such. You know how it goes.
Evelyn is alive for less than a day and she's gotta deal with poison and Navy SEALs. #PallyLife
This is the first episode that has genuinely ticked me off. And it was 100% Diath’s fault. You’d think he’d have learned from Iron Slag but apparently he enjoys genocide.
1:36:34 oh my lord, i am actually getting frustrated on how nobody is listening to each other and just doing stuff, god
Spoiler:
Oh my gosh! Why were they so stubborn?! Why would they want to keep a bomb that would explode the second its released INSTEAD of Paultin's awesome weapon that allowed him to do a lot of cool magic. Now Paultin is GREATLY downgraded, and I would rather have a piweful ally over a bomb that has done NOTHING for you. And now looked what happened because they couldn't just hand over a bomb and a stupid key. A key which, by the way, Shemeska wouldn't be getting due to being in a turtle's stomach!
It WAS specifically stated that it almost certainly regurgitates the treasure in its lair. It's not like it actually eats treasure.
why is Stix obsessed with having to give the bomb to the Dragon?? Flexibility is a good character trait.
Strix has almost never shown flexibility. She spent half an episode yelling that having a hag baby was the only way to keep the party safe with no basis for that belief.
Setting off a nuke outside of a city is what good characters do.
Everyone's face on 1:54:51 was priceless!
I loved this episode, but holy hell that whole discussion about what to sacrifice to the Dragon Turtle was so frustrating to watch.
JonBros Yeah, Paultin was actually the only one thinking in that situation.
Kel'Thuzad Agreed. I think I know where Anna is coming from, trying to make interesting decisions rather than optimal ones. But even then, the whole mandolin debacle was ridiculous. I actually thought it was a really powerful and narratively interesting moment when Paultin decided to sacrifice his strongest item. But the whole gravitas of the situation was invalidated by Evelyn.
That's true for most of the characters/players: being stubborn and having principles is one thing, but these principles need to be challenged, the characters need to grow from them. Instead, I sadly feel that most of the PCs are turning into 1-note characters, being so hard-headed about everything that they're just not interesting anymore.
I've said that about Strix in the episode where Evelyn died originally. It's time for her character to face the consequences of these decisions and not be saved by plot armor again.
Yeah well. As I said, I'm not actually arguing against character motivation and stuff like that. a) they're not my characters, so who am I to judge, and b) personally I just don't know enough about their story (only got into DCA in the Xopa episode with Mark). What disappoints me is that the players so often just lean on one single character trait to drive the story. Like Strix is always impulsive and fears everything, Evelyn doesn't understand anything and does everything for Paultin, etc.
Not that those traits are bad, that's really not the point. It's more that lately we haven't seen much else from them, even though the past couple of episodes have been ripe with roleplaying opportunities. And they're played to such an extreme it's borderline madness. Coming back to the mandolin example (it's a mandolin right? or a lute? whatever)... Paultin giving up the instrument was a heavy, impactful move, great for the story. It could have ended there. Then, Evelyn diving after it, sure, okay, also interesting (although it's kind of patronizing to Paultin in a way - like why invalidate the decision he himself made?). But then Evelyn aggroing a gargantuan dragon turtle that's not only threatening her, but also her team (Paultin included), the ship that they need to get away from Chult, and the innocent ship's crew... Just why?
And it was kind of similar with Strix and the key. As Nate said: Why doesn't anyone realize you don't take stuff from the turtle?
(Disclaimer: I love Holly and Anna, this is really nothing against them personally. I'm just confused why they overplay these character traits that much.)
JonBros I don't know, some of the fanbase think those traits are cute, funny, and meme worthy when they are actually becoming detrimental to the party's survival.
Also, I like the players as well, I just find their characters kind of annoying at this point.
50:19 did... did anyone else hear that laughter in the background?????
coloredgalaxies I did
I sure did and it broke me but good. XD
I'm getting a little tired of Strix's reaction to everything being yelling. Even Jared calling to Evelyn to heal her, she SCREAMS "IT'S FINE, ITS FINE" like being healed is torture.
They are usually a disaster, bu this is a whole new level.
How come Paultin lost concentration on Invisibility when he used Dimension Door, but Strix didn't when she used Gaseous Form again?
fourganger88 Because her character is "special" or something.
She has twinned spell metamagic so even though she did them separately chris just allowed both to happen anyway
MouseyWithPower That only works for spells that require a D20 attack roll I believe. It's whatever really.
I'm not sure Chris was keeping concentration closely in mind during that whole sequence; invis also breaks when you cast any spell, which is probably what Chris was thinking about when he had it break after Paultin cast Dimension Door.
That said, @MouseyWithPower Twinned Magic works on any spell that targets only 1 creature and doesn't have a range of 'self', which does include Gaseous Form.
DM forgot
Is there a list of all the horrible mistakes that Strix has made?
None of your Business Too many. It's kind of problematic at this point.
You mean all of them? I don’t know of a single thing she’s done that’s been beneficial other than explosions. And that even killed herself AND Simon in the past.
None of your Business And the worst thing is, they’re the kind of mistakes that cause problems for OTHER party members, while she gets out unscathed.
I like how Holly plays her and she’s an interesting character, but honestly, if she cares about her friends so much, she should really just give up adventuring and go live in a hut somewhere. She should just realize that she’s a huge liability.
Like a few episodes ago: ’I care about you SO MUCH! Let me hang around you with a night hag baby in my belly! Because that’s not going to cause you any trouble! And at the same time we’ll piss off an Arcanaloth that’s been helping you! Friends forever!’
*All* of them? It wouldn't fit on the internet
Dear strix I know you like blowing things up but due to the event of you coming out as a divine soul sorcerer maybe you could pick up the create food and water spell. Just a suggestion.
As a DM, I'm not one for killing players. I usually reserve that for very dumb player decisions and this episode would have been one of them.
No plan for the dragon turtle. Strix had a good plan with the bomb, but everyone else wimped out, panicked, and started tossing everything. Defiantly a low point in their planning.
hugh Tuller Paultin was the only one with a plan. I.E don't take the dragons stuff, let it have the mandolin. Bombing the turtle is a extremely dumb idea, especially from Strix as she knows that the turtle is what keeps pirates out.
1:00:24,
Uhh, excuse me. Chat is and always has been Lawful Neutral.
And, somewhere, Sir Godfrey Gwilym the albatross is wondering where everybody went.
Nate/Paultin: Let me make an interesting and meaningful character choice that will save my party and allow the plot to advance.
Everyone else: GENOCIDE RUN.
2 Tabaxi manage to scare/fight off a group of assassins? Yeah right, looking forward to finding out what ACTUALLY happened. Poor Evelyn.
Yeah, that was immediately suspicious and I would have Insight checked them off the bat.
Unless Evelyn was born without that leg, it should have been restored by the resurrection, shouldn't it?
Raise Dead specifically doesn't restore lost body parts.
How many level up's do they earn for vaporizing the turtle dragon? 🤔
Another interesting thing about that ending scene: with the threat of a major conflict mere moments away, none of the three characters with healing spells/abilities try to heal Strix who is suddenly down to just 2HP. Classic Wafflecrew.
does Paultin have healing spells I don't remember him ever casting any?
@@arksurvivor7372 He had, until he threw his mandolin away...
They set off a bomb that was supposed to be able to level a city. Healing would have helped very little.
Also, I felt like Chris was too tame with that explosion. Should have leveled the docks at least of the Port city.
DCA 92 "Get ReKt freshly revived lady!"
At a passing glance Evillin would have seen Count Strahd Von Zarovich go overboard . With a roll of 1 she wouldn't have noticed at all.
Haven't finished watching the episode but damn, never been so frustrated with a fictional character as when Evelyn refuses to let Paultin give away his mandolin.
Oh, my god. SCREW THE KEYS.
Seriously - since when does Diath endanger his whole party just to hold on to the keys, which are only tied to his own fate? His decision-making this episode was way out of character.
Diath: CG Strix: CG Evelyn: LG Paultin: CG(?) Chat: Any Chaotic Alignment...
CN for Paultin
What's the EXP on a dragon turtle?
Asking for a friend...
I'll try and ask this as least spoilery as possible: doesn't Evelyn have like 50 friggin magic items?
Yeah but instead of just offering them up she decided to haggle with something that can't really be bargained with. I mean, it's something that Evelyn would do so I can't fault Anna for trying it, but she pushed it too hard while everyone was trying to out-nice/sacrifice each other and my gawd that was a cringy episode. Nate FTW
Wouldn't Evelyn have regained her foot In the resurrection. She was a construct, so every part of her was remade as a construct, and then remade again as flesh during the resurrection.
i dont think that applies to birth defects. apparently her missing foot is something she was born with rather than an injury so it doesnt really count since she never had a foot to begin with. its not a regrown body part
The argue crew
the power of 10,000 magic missiles? that should be enough to kill a Dragon Turtle. Everyone should level form that.
afroblademaster YES!
Agree 100%
With triple 25 damage attacks at +14 or so to hit there is no way that thing is in their CR
And even if chris is going by narrative milestones/badass bosses yea a water version of clout would certainly level them
Average damage of 1 magic missle (d4+1) = 3 right?
Yea that’s 30K damage from
The inside bud you’re not walking away from dat nuke
I agree that it should be powerful enough to kill the Dragon Turtle. Probably should have destroyed them and their ship too, but that's not as fun as how Perkins played it out.
The average roll on a d4 is 2.5. (1+2+3+4) / 4 = 2.5
So the average damage of 1 magic missile is (2.5+1) = 3.5.
All the standard die types' averages end in .5
Garret Hopwood It's not just 1d4 damage, its 1d4+1 so averages to three, since you round to whole numbers for nearly everything in d&d.
WhiskeyHound I only stated the average result of a d4 roll. I figured readers could handle adding the +1 on their own. You can never roll a 3.5 damage magic missile, but that is the *average* damage from one of them. You wouldn't round to 3 when calculating how much damage 10K of them would do, you would use the true average of 3.5.
Stating the average of a d4 is kinda worthless when trying to calculate the average damage of 10,000 magic missiles though, also misread your comment as trying to "correct" the previous comment.
"Maybe for once, we don't run" Diath being bold like that, wow! Evelyn not having a leg below the knee, is kind of wonderful
i wish he had stuck with that attitude though
Strix leaves Evelyn alone after learning about assassins. Because..hat. 1:50:02
Strix/Diath metagame by not going in when they hear Paultins view. 1:12:20
The ships captain is willing to risk the boat, her life, livelyhood, and lives of the crew on what?? A song? 16:00
Strix repeatedly trying to kill the party, ...again.
Wooden boat magically fixed itself from a dragon turtle bite to be operational to surf a tidal wave?
Trees burned but not the wooden boat or at least the sails?.
I get that Chris really wanted them to use the bomb on the dragon turtle, but too much plot armor is showing. At this point I don't think Holly is really that stupid. No one is. I've got to believe she was in on Chris's plan to have them bomb the monster. An epic idea, but I would prefer watching good players just doing their best.
I can see Strix wanting to get the key back to help Diath. What I can't see is Diath wanting to risk Strix's life and those of the entire party to just to help himself (i.e. to get the keys back). I'm pretty sure his actions were because he wanted the episode title to be appropriate, so he metagamed instead of staying in character.
Bath house of Sune? Wow...that's basically the Forgotten Realms equivalent of a beauty spa.
The last half hour of this episode is just as painful the second time through but...
"You blew up Paultin's mandolin!"
THAT'S your takeaway? I know Evelyn has tunnel vision but Jesus.
There were so many bad decisions made in this episode, and by the people who are usually make reasonable rule based decisions. What the heck waffle crew this is now things fall apart. Also they will forever be enemies with chult after this.
How did Paultin become the reasonable crew member??
Paultin should have totally gone super anime and while invisible try to speak on Evelyn
That intro gets me every time!
Evelyn, starring in Murder Hot Tub...
"Oh! You have a scroll of resurrection? Here, let me take care of that for you!"
They handled the dragon turtle so poorly....
Chris was too nice to you guys - should be TPK game over
flixmanager Yeah, I still want this show to continue, but I expected the boat to atleast be gone in the end.
Agreed. I don't mind them constantly outwitting death - because I want the show to continue - but I'm genuinely surprised the boat isn't just dust and they're not all bobbing in the bay.
Paultin got to feel what it's like to be Diath during the debate about what to do on the boat.
This episode gave me so much anxiety
"Hey let's leave this place by finishing up loose ends!"
*TURTLE*
"Shit"
I fucking love the intro music.