The Adventure Zone Royale: Episode 30

The Adventure Zone - The McElroys

In the climactic Trial of Enchantment, the surviving adventurers face off against Chris, the sentient entity controlling the Crystallarium and its deadly Echo Mites.

Key takeaways

• The pheromone system within Akari's carapace remains potent long after her death, capable of controlling Echo Mites and affecting even non-Thrakeen beings.

Main topics

• Psychic and physical combat in the Trial of Enchantment

Notable quotes

"You fell for my plan. My perfect plan has worked." – Duber Sweetleaf

Conclusion

With Hellgrammet stunned and Chris's forces closing in, the survivors prepare for a

Transcript preview

Speaker 7 (0:00) Previously on Taz Royale, there is no octave, but that is not to say that there is not a prize awaiting the one who is found worthy. But, but, there will be no reward until the conclaves end. So, let's settle our unfinished business here and now. It's time for the Trial of Enchantment. All of your mental faculties become sort of arrested by an outside force. You have been dominated by Chris. And that is the last that you see of Scorpo as he is hit by the disintegration ray and is reduced to a pile of fine gray dust. Speaker 7 (1:26) Hello, everybody. Welcome back to TAS Royale, our Battle Royale winner-take-all season of the Adventure Zone. We are currently in the throes of the final trial of the Octave Conclave, the Trial of Enchantment. Chris, the sentient sort of mind dwelling within the Crystallarium, this giant mass of crystals at the back of the island, has revealed himself to be the true mastermind of this conclave and its nasty games. having killed the rest of the enclave a long, long time ago and imprisoned them within his crystal-y mass. You all have been embroiled in a battle against Chris, fending off waves of psychic attacks and attacks from the swarm of Echo Mites that he seems to be controlling with the long-dead corpse of Akari, Speaker 4 (2:12) the Speaker 7 (2:13) first queen of the Thrakeen. The very last thing that happened, I believe, in order, it was Chris's attack where channeling his power through the swarm of Echo Mites, he disintegrated our dear friend Scorpo, who stepped in the way of the blast to protect Hell Granite. Nobody saw that coming. Nobody saw that coming, and nobody immediately pivoted to trying to pick his dusty ass clean of any loot that may still be dwelling on his person. Oh, then I hope I go first. Actually, the next person in the order after Chris and the Echomites we got, let's do Duber. Loravitz, you were climbing around sort of the back of Chris, being somewhat disempowered, kind of staying a little bit out of line of sight while doing a little sneak attack, a little guerrilla combat. Speaker 4 (3:05) Yeah, trying to use my climbing abilities that are, I mean, that's all I got anymore. Climbing in a little shitty lightning whip. Hey, man. Stupid little. Hey, Speaker 7 (3:14) Loravus got a lot going on. He can get stuff off high shelves. He's tall. Yeah, big. I mean, you should have thought of something else other than tall because, like, my thing covers tall. Yeah, no, no. His Speaker 3 (3:25) tallness is not indeterminate anymore. Speaker 7 (3:28) Does Speaker 3 (3:28) Lanky fit in under tall? Speaker 3 (3:31) No, you can be tall. He's not slight of build. Speaker 7 (3:35) Loravith, you were climbing around the back of this crystal structure, had reached up trying to yank one of the Echo Mites down from a crystal overhead and were unsuccessful as it dug its claws into the side of the mass. As you're sort of like reaching up, tugging on this thing's leg, trying to pull it down, you see a small sort of cloud of fog begin to appear around it. And from that cloud of fog steps Duber Sweetleaf, who you can see looking in his eyes, they are opaque, dark purple as he has fallen under the thrall. Oh, Chris, he looks down at you dispassionately as you kind of wrestle with this Echo Might, and he is going to hold out his hands and try to hit you with burning hands. Not me. You. All right, so you and this Echo Might are going to make a dexterity saving throw. I'm going to say you're probably going to make this with disadvantage since you're currently climbing. I don't know that that would make things easier for you to Speaker 4 (4:37) dexterously avoid. This is a dexterity saving throw. Oh, man. I already am not a big dexterity guy. 18 minus one. Hey! A six minus one, five. Oh, beans. Speaker 7 (4:57) Five, Speaker 4 (4:58) is that good? It's not good enough. Speaker 7 (5:00) The Speaker 4 (5:00) 18 would have definitely cleared. Oh, yeah. Speaker 7 (5:03) The Speaker 4 (5:04) echo mite Speaker 7 (5:04) is also going to be obliterated by this plume of flame. Got him. Yeah, Speaker 3 (5:12) mission accomplished. With my plume of flame spell. You fell for my plan. My Speaker 4 (5:17) perfect plan has Speaker 6 (5:18) worked. Speaker 7 (5:19) All right. I Speaker 4 (5:20) paid a hefty Speaker 7 (5:21) price. That's a lot of good lore, this, by the way. All right, you're going to take 3d6 fire damage. Speaker 7 (5:29) That is 11 points of fire damage as Duber aims his hands down towards you. You see the Echo Might sort of vanish in the blast and you manage to hang on for dear life as you are buffeted with flame. Next in the order is Hellgrammet. Hellgrammet, you have just finished prying up one of the plates of Akari's carapace here where you sort of discovered the... lymphatic kind of system inside there where these pheromones seem to be issuing from. You had done that with Scorpo's help before his untimely end. What would you like to do? I'd like to Speaker 3 (6:07) make a nature check to see if there's any way I can control the echo mites. Speaker 7 (6:14) Okay, yes, absolutely. This is, I'm trying to think of what kind of check, like what, how, this seems like it would be an incredibly difficult check. No sort of way around that. You are trying to sort of biohack into this incredibly powerful source of pheromones that you're not super familiar with. I think go ahead and roll it. You need at least a 15 to Speaker 4 (6:37) kind of get anything at all. 16. Speaker 7 (6:42) Yeah, dude, you have a plus nine on nature checks. That's crazy. Okay, yeah. Taking a look at this sort of system, you have nothing like this in your own sort of physiology, nothing really to kind of base it on. But you do notice that there are sort of almost swarms of pollen, clouds of pollen kind of issuing from. from some of the larger nodes still built into the plates on Akari's back. They don't seem to be moving or functioning at all, but they must be so potent that even though she apparently died quite a long time ago, these still seem to have the power to issue commands to the Echo Mites. I think knowing that, you know that it could be worth a shot to take those pheromones for yourself. The best way to do that, I don't think you would be able to quite piece together, but you know that using those in some capacity is how you're gonna get this done. So they're like glands? They are like glands, yeah, sort of fastened to the back of the plates. How big? About the size of your fist. Okay. And how many are there? Let's say six. Okay. Speaker 3 (7:57) I am going to... Speaker 3 (8:01) Eat them. Gosh, the most obvious thing is I'm going to try to eat one. Okay, awesome. Speaker 7 (8:07) Bugs are so cool. I'm so glad we've done a bug season. You pop one of those bad boys off. I mean, are you going to try and do it in one bite? Or is it a hold your nose and go for it thing? I Speaker 3 (8:19) think I'm going to do it like if you were challenged to eat one of the... What's the super hot peppers, Trav? Carolina Reaper? Carolina Speaker 7 (8:29) Reaper. Speaker 3 (8:29) Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Gonna try to... Just Speaker 6 (8:32) get it Speaker 3 (8:32) down. Just get it down. Just get it down, you know. Speaker 7 (8:34) It's bug versus food, and you're gonna Joey Chestnut it down. Speaker 3 (8:40) I gotta dunk it in a glass of water first. Speaker 7 (8:43) Right, right, right, right. Remove the bun. Okay, so what we're gonna do here is going to be a constitution save. Okay. To get this thing down and not be sort of overpowered. Speaker 7 (8:55) I'm gonna tell you with that nature check, I'll also let it ride. You can tell that this stuff is affecting you a little bit too. You feel a bit naughty, inebriated, just kind of being close to this pheromone system. So to kind of fend that off and to get the thing down, I would love a con save from you, or a constitution. Yeah, a con save. Speaker 4 (9:19) Ooh. With an 11. Okay. With an 11. I get Speaker 7 (9:24) a little reflux. Speaker 4 (9:26) I would say the eating it part is actually pretty easy. Speaker 7 (9:32) You are able to sort of like take it down in one gulp and it is not, it's not like yucky tasting. It's, you know, so kind of withered at this point. It's got a sort of jerky like sort of consistency to it. You are able to sort of get it down quite easily. But... You are overwhelmed in this moment as these pheromones kind of begin to overload your system. And you feel yourself rooted to the spot as you swallow this sort of pheromone pod. And you are going to be stunned. This means you are incapacitated, can't move, and can speak only falteringly. And attack rolls against you have advantage. Speaker 3 (10:21) Is that a spell against me or just like a chemical reaction? No, that's just Speaker 7 (10:26) a condition. Yeah, I mean, it is a poison, I guess, to be specific. Do you have anything to protect against that? I don't know if Thrakeens have like cool poison resistance or something. I was looking. Speaker 3 (10:42) No, I'm just trying to figure out if this... I still haven't figured out biostimulation, but I didn't know if that would help me in any way. Speaker 7 (10:51) Your bios are stimulated too much. They're too stimulated. Can you give me a perception check here as you're kind of stunned to the spot, standing on top of Akari's shell here? Speaker 4 (11:03) Yeah, I'll Speaker 3 (11:03) hold four. Speaker 4 (11:04) Okay. Speaker 1 (11:05) Yeah, Speaker 7 (11:06) I mean, your eyes are like stuck forward. You are unable to clock anything else sort of happening around you. Then I think I'm probably done. Yeah, I think so. Okay, next in the order is Pranklin. Pranklin is going to continue rooting around in his bag. He's tossing a couple stones over to Hasty Jane to try to sort of bolster her arsenal. And then he's just going to work on trying to wake Hippocrates up just to get another hand in the fight here, which brings us to Loraveth. Speaker 7 (11:45) Loravith, you are in a very precarious spot hanging off the back of Chris as you rock climbed around. We're just blasted by Duber Sweetleaf with burning hands. What would you like to do? Speaker 4 (11:59) Duber, you don't want to do this. Speaker 7 (12:02) He stares down at you and you see his mouth open and you hear Chris's voice say, that's not going to work. Speaker 7 (12:13) That's just not how it works. Okay. Speaker 4 (12:18) Loravith is going to try to pull himself up to a more secure position on the crystal. Speaker 7 (12:24) Okay. I think this is going to be an athletics check, and it's going to be... I think Duber's going to try to contest it. I think he's going to try to interfere as much as his little body will allow him to, since you are sort of dangling off of the crystal he is standing astride. Okay, Duber gets a six total on his athletics contest. Speaker 4 (12:49) My athletics contest is a six, but... I have a plus three in athletics. That's a nine. Speaker 7 (12:57) All right. With that... My hearts are really in it. Can't you tell? You pull yourself up on top of the crystal next to Duber. He just kind of like fruitlessly tries to stomp on your fingers, but he wears like a size four, just like a little shoe. And it doesn't do very much damage. You're able to sort of climb up as he fruitlessly tries to get you away. That is going to be your movement. You are now standing, however, up. on top of the crystal. And that was just your move action. So you still have your regular and bonus and reaction. I Speaker 4 (13:36) mean, this is really difficult. Maybe a hug. God damn it. Doober or Chris. I love this boy, this man, like I love myself, but I will not lose. Speaker 4 (14:00) And I'm going to kick Duber off the fucking crystal. Whoa. All Speaker 7 (14:05) right. Go ahead and make your melee attack roll. Speaker 4 (14:12) Fucking, are you fucking serious? Are you fucking serious? Is it like actually fucking possible? That's a one on the dice. Speaker 5 (14:21) I Speaker 4 (14:21) actually Speaker 7 (14:21) rolled a one on the dot. Just a one. It's Speaker 4 (14:24) a Speaker 7 (14:24) one on the dice. It's a one. God. Speaker 4 (14:28) Gary? This is Speaker 7 (14:30) such a, this is, this feels like a big role to have a critical failure. I Speaker 4 (14:34) know. And it's like, and it feels true to me. It's like there's something right about it that I'm, I can't argue with. Speaker 5 (14:40) The dice tell a story. The Speaker 4 (14:42) dice Speaker 5 (14:42) tell a story. Speaker 4 (14:45) Gary's nice. Speaker 7 (14:47) You are shocked as Chris, you know, with Duber's little body, maybe couldn't do too much damage with stomping, but seems to have made Duber extremely live and agile as he sidesteps your kick, sending you falling on your face onto sort of the very edge of the crystal. And you hear Chris laugh. through Duber's mouth as you are there sort of laying on the ground on your hands and knees. Give me a wisdom saving throw, please, Loraveth. Speaker 4 (15:24) Okay. Fifteen. Speaker 7 (15:30) You are just for a moment staring face down into this amethyst crystal spire jutting out of Chris's enormous kind of form. And you see a reflection. At first you think it's your own reflection as you stare down into this crystal. But you quickly kind of realize that it's not you. You see like the silhouette. of Gracon inside of the crystal. And he is flanked by other sort of less detailed kind of shadows. But him, you can make out very, very clearly. And as you sort of make eye contact with him, you are transported by a memory from the distant past. You are... Speaker 7 (16:30) sitting in a large structure made of these massive pointed logs held together with vines, all just jutting out in every direction like a jagged crown. And there's no roof or ceiling. It's a starry night that you can see overhead as you and about a dozen other adolescent Goliath are gathered around a large, heavily scarred warlord illuminated by torchlight that is whipping into a frenzy as a storm approaches. And you remember this figure saying, Our forebears were nomads once. They... sought refuge from the wars that they were engineered to fight. Some went to the shores, hoping that the waves might take them far from the battlefront. Some went to the Badlands, so certain they would not be followed. But our forebears, the only Goliaths to survive the century, chose the mountains as their home. Who here can tell me why? Speaker 4 (17:52) I can. Me. Choose me. Speaker 7 (17:58) Me, Speaker 4 (17:59) Loraveth. I can tell you. Speaker 7 (18:02) Yes, go on, Loraveth. Speaker 4 (18:03) We wanted to be able to be allowed to follow our own cultures and customs and live in harmony with the land. Speaker 7 (18:14) This warlord sitting in the middle of this circle smiles and nods and says, Yes, Lord Lorythor, all of those things are Speaker 4 (18:27) true. Speaker 7 (18:29) You notice as you're sort of perceiving this memory, you remember the words that you spoke. You remember this moment, but your voice sounds very, very far away. And very, very high. And very, very high, but very, very distant. Like it is not actually coming from your body. And you hear a voice much closer that you can feel coming out of you. Say, because mountains don't move. Speaker 7 (19:00) And the warlord smiles and says, The sea, in all its tempestuousness, comes and goes each day, but the mountain remains. The sky scatters storms in ever-changing arrangements, but the mountain recurs. The land swallows and swells, and its inhabitants forget its face, but... Speaker 7 (19:29) And the warlord looks directly at you. And that's when you realize, looking around this circle, that you see yourself in the distance. And you realize that this memory that you're perceiving is not yours. And the warlord says, the mountain remembers. Speaker 7 (19:55) And as you snap back to the present, Loraveth, you realize that you've just remembered something from Gracon, from not yourself. Speaker 7 (20:08) You realize that the memories that dwelled within your grimoire, the memories of all of the wizards whose stones you collected, those were not pulled away from you either. You are able to remember things that you had borrowed through the stones, and you feel your memory and mastery of all of your magic return. Speaker 4 (20:39) What would you like to do? Ha! Speaker 4 (20:47) I'm going to cast Spider Climb. I've Speaker 2 (20:52) just Speaker 4 (20:54) remembered my greatest friend, Spider. No, I, yeah, I'm going to cast Spider Climb. Okay. For God's sake. Speaker 7 (21:03) Remembering the intense training under Cousin Ban. Speaker 7 (21:14) and hanging out with his pal Steel Guy and the whole crew. You remember the spider training his spider climb and you feel yourself become quite adhesive. Speaker 4 (21:30) I can feel my power returning. It's coursing through my veins. My friend, we're sticking us. Speaker 7 (21:38) Was there a follow-up to spider climb or are you just getting prepared not to fall off the edge of the island? No, Speaker 4 (21:44) I cast spider climb and then I'm gonna go for the sender of Chris. Speaker 7 (21:50) Oh, okay, awesome. You have already used your movement, but we'll start you on the path climbing down this spire away from Duber as you easily sort of bounce from spire to spire hopping with, with superhuman dexterity. And next in the order is Rictus. Sick. Speaker 5 (22:14) So I am going to bolt up onto the big old crystal. Okay. Trying to get as close to the spires as I can. Speaker 7 (22:31) Are you just running and jumping? Speaker 5 (22:33) Just Speaker 7 (22:33) running, yeah. Okay. Yeah, I mean, that is well within your 30 feet of movement. And I recognize, well, I want Speaker 5 (22:42) to move towards the center if possible. Oh, okay, yeah, sure. I'll Speaker 7 (22:45) take an Speaker 5 (22:45) opportunity attack from that echo mic there. Why is Speaker 7 (22:49) it Speaker 5 (22:49) in orange? Speaker 7 (22:51) I forget. I think he's blinded, maybe.