Episode 410 - Mech Mommy

Large and scary robots are bad enough but like, when they look just like your mom…things get much more intense. I am sure our heroes can deal with whatever this Mechanized Mother throws their way!

## **Story**

### Long Story

The Tower of Gray is confronted by a massive Warforged colossus at the gate of Bigby's Realm, in the form of River Grey. It is gargantuan, such that a medium person comes up to its knee, and Toby Treacletart comes up to its ankle. They try to reason with it, which fails because it understands common but cannot speak and does not have intelligence. They then try to put an illusion in front of its eyes, which fails as it has true sight. Then Toby casts an illusion on Rowan Grey to give her the form of Bigby, which she hates. This fails, because the Warforged has Truesight. Skud then draws a card from his Deck of Many Things. He draws *The Fates*, which allows him to erase any event as if it never happened. He immediately erases having drawn the card, returning it to the deck. Then Toby Treacletart places a REAL blanket over the Warforged's head. It uses its hand to remove the blanket.

Giving up on that, they send Lahni in to try and get past the guardian and open the door, at which point it initiates combat, almost crushing her with its foot. Skud pulls another card, this time, *The Vizier*. It allows him to ask a question in meditation and receive a truthful answer as well as the knowledge on how to apply it. He can use this power within a year of drawing the card (until June 14, 2022). Lahni throws a magic bean, which spawns an oaken Treant aligned to Lahni. She sends it to attack the colossus.

Toby goes first, casting *Maze* on the colossus, who disappears. They then sprint through Bigby's entryway gate which is now open and unguarded.

Past this gate, they find Bigby's Tower, which looks like a giant fist coming out of the ground. The door at its base is also shaped like a hand. The door of the tower is 10 rounds of movement (300ft) from the guarded gate. Toby casts *Haste* on ~~Rowan~~ Skud, because Rowan has a tattoo feat which increases her speed. Skud summons a spiritual weapon in the form of the warforged (Rowan's mom, weird). Toby burns *Misty Step* just for fun. Then the colossus reappears and ends its turn. Lahni, who has been preparing her action, punches it and making it cry a single tear. She runs into the door, intentionally following behind Toby in order to attract its ire. As she retreats, the colossus attacks and hits her, and as the gang gets into the safety of Bigby's Tower, the walls behind them are cracked and perforated by the warforged's eldritch turrets.

The gang has resolved to kill Bigby, because he released the Tarrasque and aligned himself with Trant Thumble's faction. On invading his tower, they find an elevator that looks like a 20ft by 20ft hand. All the decor is hands themed. Toby casts *Major Image*, infused with Shadowfell Magic, to close the wall behind them and hide themselves from the colossus's sight. Rowan rides Hoby to the top of the Tower, Lahni runs up the wall, and Adira Harper and Toby fly up to the top using Boots of Flying and a Broom of Flying, respectively. Skud takes the hand elevator.

When they reach the main room in the top of the elevator, they find a wizard's laboratory. Toby is slightly jealous. There are a number of clone tanks, holding clones of Celtra Wimblepuck, Trant Thumble, Bigby, and a not yet fully grown Thom Vidalis.

A teleportation circle on the floor begins to glow, as if someone were going to teleport in... and there the episode ends.

### Short

After a healthy conversation about Tim Allen and Joe Dirt, The Tower of Gray (+ Adira) must get around a Warforged colossus, in the form of River Grey, which is guarding the gate to Bigby's Realm. Toby *Mazes* the enemy away, and sends everyone toward the shelter of Bigby's Tower, with only Lahni sustaining injuries. Finally disengaged from the colossus, the crew use magic and an elevator to get to the lab in a higher level of the tower, where they find clone tanks of Bigby, Trant Thumble, Celtra Wimblepuck, and Thom Vidalis. They also find a teleportation circle which appears to be activating...

## *Trivia*

* This episode was written by Hugo! And then I, MisterRed, came through and made some minor adjustments. Thanks, Hugo!
* This Wiki came in handy for the recap! Always makes me happy to see. Nika, you are welcome. And let it be known, it is not cheating to use the Wiki. I'm deciding that.
* There is a discussion on who has accompanied the Tower of Grey into Bigby's Realm. From the last episode, Uthgar and Adira Harper definitely went, and I believe River Grey and King Theonjon Dayne did as well. That would make sense to me, anyway
* The BB gun they got from Kevimp McBallister does 1 point of non-lethal damage, and also knocks people prone
* Skud has a movement of 30 ft, as does Rowan
* Not sure if this has been established, but Rowan's Tattoo allows her to double her movement speed, essentially acting as the spell *Haste*
* Lahni can run so fast because she is doing frame perfect tricks, in the style of a video game speed runner.
* Akkio has canonically been with them the whole time

## **In This Episode...**

### **Cast and Player Characters**

* Michael DiMauro - *Dungeon Master*
* Tim Lanning - Toby Treacletart
* Jennifer Cheek - Rowan Grey
* Mike Bachmann - Skud Derringer
* Nika Howard - Lahnik "Lahni" Caplain

### **Pets and Familiars**

* Hoby
* Akkio
* Oaken Treant, Hatched from a bean (deceased)

### **Locations**

* Bigby's Realm
	+ Bigby's Tower

### **Quest Log Updates**

* [On-Hold] - Stop Tiamat / The BBEG!
* [On-Hold] - Destroy The Artifact!
	+ [On-Hold] - Find Trant Thumble
* [Active] - Find Bigby
	+ [Active] - Search Bigby's Realm
* [Side-line][Jaeludra] - Help Yazdir Dosh fight off Tiamat's forces at Mount Celestia

### **Quotes**

* **"This is just like *The Santa Clause* with Tim Allen, where's like, 'I gotta shake it, just to see if he's gonna come.'"** ~ *Jennifer Cheek*
* **"We have an oak tree! Our neighbor is an oak tree. We don't *have* it."** ~ *Tim Lanning*
* **"In this part of the campaign, you can actually do a damage boost skip, if you have the Warforged punch you, so that it pushes you through the door. You can trigger the end of combat early..."** ~ *Mike Bachmann's Gaming Glitch Tips*
* **"Are you doing anything later tonight? I found a really great coffee shop in the Abyss."** ~ *Hoby*

## **Rolls**

* **Recap**
	+ Jennifer - 6
	+ Tim - 6
	+ Bachmann - 10
	+ **Nika - 12**

* **Toby** rolls *Arcana* to see if he knows the Warforged's deal - 19
	+ It's a Warforged Colossus, a construct that Wizard can ride inside

* **Lahni** makes a DEX Saving Throw to avoid the Warforged's attack - 26
	+ Success - She's not stomped

* **Lahni** rolls a d100 (50%) for her Tree Ent being evil - 35
	+ Lower than, meaning it's not evil

*Combat Begins vs Warforged*

* **Initiative**
	+ Toby - 16
	+ Skud - 16
	+ Rowan - 15
	+ Warforged
	+ Lahni - Nat1+5

*Round One*

* **Toby**
	+ Casts *Maze* on the Warforged
		- It disappears

* **Skud**
	+ Moves forward

* **Rowan**
	+ Moves forward

* **Warforged**
	+ Rolls to escape the *Maze* - ??
		- It fails, still trapped

* **Lahni**
	+ Readies an action of the Warforged returns and attacks one of the party members

*Round Something*

* **Toby**
	+ Casts *Haste* on ~~Rowan~~ Skud

* **Warforged**
	+ Rolls to escape the *Maze* - ??
		- It fails, still trapped

* **Skud**
	+ Casts *Spiritual Weapon* to create a smaller Warforged, which stands next to where it thinks the Warforged will appear

* **Toby**
	+ Casts *Misty Step*, though this does nothing

* **Warforged**
	+ Rolls to escape the *Maze* - ??
		- It fails, still trapped

* **Warforged**
	+ Rolls to escape the *Maze* - 21
		- Success, it appears just before Toby, the last party members, enters

* **Lahni (readied action)**
	+ Does a *Stunning Strike* on the Warforged (It's immune to being stunned) - 27
		- Hit - 12 damage

* **Lahni (real action)**
	+ Runs to the door, prompting an Opportunity Attack - 26
		- Hit - 29 Bludgeoning damage

*Combat Ends*