Dice, Camera, Action: Episode 39 - Storm King's Thunder

Episode 39: Fortune Favors the Cold

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This is a really good episode, so you might want to watch it before reading about it. The first hour is especially fantastic.

The Party

(Anna) Evelyn - Human Paladin of Lathander
(ProJared) Diath - Human Rogue
(Joe) Harshnag - Frost Giant
(Nathan) Paultin - Human Bard
(Holly) Strix - Tiefling Sorcerer

Ironslag side view

Last time, the group fought some yakfolk and met Harshnag, the frost giant. Teamed up with him and Krak Dragonspore, the Waffle Crew is heading to Ironslag, home of the fire giants. Krak wears lots of armor and he has golden glowing eyes.

After 3 days of travel, the adventurers arrive at Ironslag. It’s a huge place that has a number of entrances. There is a path that winds hundreds of feet up to the mountain. It leads to the yakfolk village.

Evelyn flies up to check things out. She notices a cave halfway up the winding path. She yells into it. A creature inside responds with animal noised. After careful consideration, Evelyn thinks it sounds like a snakehorse. Nope.. it's a chimera!

Yikes. Good thing she can fly. The chimera lunges for her. Evelyn had been hoping they could be friends. It bites her and she continues to call it a snakehorse, or "Snorse". Or maybe Snh'orse.

It breathes fire on her. Far off, the group sees a gout of flame erupt from the cave mouth. She takes 31 points of damage! The heroes try to figure out how to get to her in a swift manner.

Evelyn is dismayed. Her brand new clothes are destroyed. Later, the players are alerted by the chat that prestidigitation can fix up the clothing.

The group is 150 feet below the scene of the battle. Paultin uses dimension door to take himself and Diath up there. Strix Hollymorphs into a vulture and flies up. Poor Harshnag has to hoof it. He sends his giant bird to go help.

Meanwhile, Evelyn is taking a lot of damage. She has 10 hit points left. The chimera hits her again and drops her.

Paultin and Diath appear in the cave. Paultin has an awesome idea. He casts crown of madness, forcing the lion head to attack the dragon head.

As the battle progresses, Diath ends up on the chimera as it flies out of the cave and fights Harshnag's giant hawk. He's 350 feet in the air. Diath stabs the chimera and tries to run on its back and leap back to the safety of the cave.

Oh no.. Diath rolls a 4 on his Athletics check. He falls! Strix is in vulture form and catches him. It’s a good thing he got off. The chimera kills itself due to the crown of madness.

Strix wants the corpse. Harshnag tries to catch it as it falls, but he tweaks his back and it falls all the way down.

The heroes try to make a heal check on Evelyn. Paultin uses his bardic inspiration to give +d8 to the roll. Nate is on fire today! The group is so impressed that they demand he get an actual inspiration point. Chris gives him one.

There's loot in the cave:

• Dust of Disappearance
• Potion of Slipperyness
• Other random stuff, like a gnomish music box

Everyone rests. When it is done, Evelyn is up and healed. She apologies to the group for failing to protect them. Harshnag consoles her, talking about danger. Paultin: "In the end, the chimera's greatest enemy was itself." Truly, this is Nate’s finest hour.

The Yakfolk Village

Diath scouts out the yakfolk village. He comes back and tells the group the layout. Strix feels bad about disrupting the lives of the yakfolk. She wants to polymorph into the form of a yakfolk to infiltrate their place.

Wow. She doesn't know this, but the yakfolk are extremely evil. She should not do this!

The group ends up making an elaborate plan and execute it. Harshnag and Krak attack an area of the settlement while Strix ends up blowing up a bridge. The heroes rush for the entrance amidst the chaos.

Then they see the yakfolk dragging their slaves out of their huts. The yakmen begin killing them! That’s where we stop.

When you read Storm King, that yakfolk stuff really sticks out. That “kill the slaves” thing is right out of the text.

Great show, maybe one of my favorites! Everybody was hilarious and Nate was really, really good.