Episode 407 - The Tarrasque

Facing down a mythical monster that you were not even sure existed is never fun. Doing so while looking over your shoulder worrying that your mom and dad could get hurt, well, that makes the whole thing worse. Let’s hope we are prepared for our biggest challenge yet.

## **Story**

### Long Story

In The Majestic Hog Inn, Adira Harper asks River Grey if she has any advice for fighting the Tarrasque. She tells them that the last time they fought this thing, they were loosing. They lost many good people, friends of theirs, until Bigby had an idea. He cast a spell on the creature's heart, sending it into Bigby's own private demi-plane. This gives Adira an idea of her own: If they can get the Tarrasque's heart, it will most likely have traces of that same magic on it. That means, they could use it to find Bigby's plane, and go there! This is good, because Bigby's been hiding, and Adira wants to find him. King Theonjon Dayne is also there. Lahni asks if Toby could shrink her, and then she'd run inside the beast, and then he'd make her big. Unfortunately, Toby can't do that. Before they can continue this line of questioning, a sudden hubbub draws their attention outside. And as they look across the great river, they see some encroaching clouds. Birds are flying away. Creatures are running from it. The Tarrasque has arrived...

They approach the bridge, and suddenly, in a flash of light, Uthgar appears before them! He vows to help them, despite the Ring of Exhaustion rendering him effectively mortal. (At this point, the party has a massive feast that gives them a lot of perks, such as some extra HP, and immunity to being frightened. This is a pretty eggresious retcon, but what can you do?) At the end of the bridge, some guards with spears hold back the wild beasts attempting to cross. There are so many creatures that they begin bumping into each other and pushing each other into the river! The party crosses the bridge, entering the fray, and Toby begins throwing out pamphlets for The Tower of Grey. He then roars and turns into an Ancient White Dragon!

From the clouds, out of the chaos, a large creature appears. It has a huge mouth, many rows of sharp teeth, two tiny little arms. Wait, that's not a Tarrasque, that's a T-Rex. Suddenly, a gargantuan mouth emerges and swallows the T-Rex whole!!! This... is the Tarrasque. It's impossibly massive, covered in spikes, and standing on its hind legs. Scary stuff.

The fight begins with Lahni running up on it, of course. She does punches, but then it bites her and swallows her whole! Uh oh! Adira Harper casts *Haste* on the two -obies, while Uthgar sends a *Blade Barrier* right in the Tarrasque's area. That's gotta smart. He, along with Skud and Adira, casts *Spiritual Weapon*, resulting in one golden rapier, and two little itty bitty Tarrasques all trying to hurt this massive thing. It's quite the sight to see. River Grey is also bitten by the beast, but she's able to wrestle her way out of there. Toby, in Dragon form, does some damage, but it's Hoby who really shines. He flies into the creature's mouth and begins tearing it up from the inside. This is *aaaaaaalmost* enough to make it spew out the swallowed Lahni, but it's able to keep her down. Also, Rowan and her father, King Theonjon Dayne, both fail to hit this thing with arrows. So that's funny.

### Short

There's a brief discussion as to how to fight the approaching Tarrasque, but then the Tarrasque approaches. No time to talk! They are met by Uthgar, who vows to fight with them, and then... it arrives. The battle is fierce, and unfulfilled, as the episode draws to a close...

## **Trivia**

* When was the last time Skud used is BattleBot, you ask? I'll tell you! In it's BattleBot form, it was last used in Episode 377, but in general, in Episode 400
* No one owns the region known as The Westerlands, and as such, it has a bunch of different names. I'm just going to call it "The Westerlands"
* Because there are so many NPCs running around, the players have taken on some of Michael's stresses, by playing 2 characters each!
	+ Tim is playing Toby and another Harper!
	+ Nika is playing Lahni and Rowan's mother, River Grey
	+ Bachmann is playing Skud (and his dog, Squelch, who is always there with them) and his father, Uthgar
	+ Jennifer is playing Rowan...
* Adira Harper has magical tattoos, in much the same way that Titus Harper did, though hers are gold

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

### **Cast and Player Characters**

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

### **Non-Player Characters**

* Adira Harper
* River Grey
* King Theonjon Dayne
* Uthgar

### **Pets/Familiars**

* Hoby
* BattleBot

### **Locations**

* Drunkeros
	+ The Westerlands
		- The Crossroads
			* The Majestic Hog Inn

### **Quest Log Updates**

* [On-Hold] - Stop Tiamat / The BBEG!
* [On-Hold] - Destroy The Artifact!
	+ [On-Hold] - Find Trant Thumble
* [Active] - Defeat the Tarrasque!
* [On-Hold] - Find Bigby
	+ [On-Hold] - Go to The Citadel of the Seven in The Westerlands
* [Side-line][Boris] - Restore the used Planar Crystals that power The *BTS*

### **Quotes**

* **"Sometimes, I just think real hard, and I think so hard that my brain just, like, runs out of my body!"** ~ *Lahni Caplain*

* **"I am essentially mortal right now, because of this terrible ring. But, it's the only gift you've ever given me, so I'm keeping it."** ~ *Uthgar*

## **Rolls**

* **Recap**
	+ Tim - 9
	+ **Jennifer - 17**
	+ Nika - 11
	+ Bachmann - 13

* Some of them roll *Perception* when the Tarrasque approaches
	+ **Lahni** - 27
	+ **Skud** - 24
	+ **Rowan** - 26
		- They all see the many beasts running away from the Tarrasque

* **Skud** rolls to give everyone extra maximum HP using his *Heroes' Feast* spell - 14
	+ 14 extra HP

*Combat Begins vs Tarrasque*

* Initiative
	+ **Lahni** - 25
	+ **Tarrasque**
	+ **Adira Harper** - 18
	+ **Uthgar** - 18
	+ **Rowan** - 14
	+ **Skud** - 14
	+ **River Grey** - 11
	+ **Toby** - 5
	+ **Hoby**
	+ King Theonjon Dayne

*Round One*

* **Lahni**
	+ *Stunning Strike* vs Tarrasque {x2} - 28, 14
		- Hit, Miss - 11, requires a DC 19 CON saving throw - 27
			* Success - not stunned
	+ Runs back, prompting an opportunity attack (Bite) from the Tarrasque - 27
		- Hit - ~~36~~ 8 piercing damage, also grapples her

* **Tarrasque**
	+ Attempts to swallow Lahni - Nat20
		- Hit - 56 damage, and she's swallowed!

* **Adira Harper**
	+ Uses *Twinned Spell* to cast *Haste* on both Toby and Hoby
	+ Casts *Spiritual Weapon* to make a golden rapier
	+ Flies 30 ft back and hides
	+ Spiritual Weapon attacks - 19
		- Miss

* **Tarrasque**
	+ Uses a legendary action to move up toward the party

* **Uthgar**
	+ Casts *Blade Barrier* right in the Tarrasque's area, resulting in him taking damage every turn as long as he doesn't move (DEX saving throw)
	+ Casts *Spiritual Weapon* to make a "teeny tiny Tarrasque"
	+ Spiritual Weapon attacks - Nat20
		- Hit - 27 damage
	+ Moves further away

* **Tarrasque**
	+ Uses a legendary action
	+ Melee Attack (Bite) vs River Grey - 31
		- Hit - 36 piercing damage, also grapples her

* **Rowan**
	+ Makes Tarrasque her sworn enemy
	+ Casts *Hail of Thorns* (at 4th level)
	+ Ranged Attack (Oathbow) vs Tarrasque (x2) - 23, 23
		- Miss, Miss

* **Skud**
	+ Casts *Spiritual Weapon* to make another teeny tiny Tarrasque
	+ Spiritual Weapon attacks - 20
		- Miss
	+ Casts *Meteor* on Tarrasque, require a DC 18 DEX Saving Throw - 18
		- Success - ~~72~~ 36 damage
	+ Moves back

* **River Grey**
	+ Attempts to escape the bite of the Tarrasque, requiring a DC 20 DEX Saving Throw - 22
		- Success - she escapes the Tarrasque's mouth

* **Toby (Dragon)**
	+ Uses *Breath Weapon* against Tarrasque, requiring a CON Saving Throw - 28
		- Success - 39 Cold damage
	+ Flies up to 20 ft away
	+ Melee Attack (Tail) vs Tarrasque - 31
		- Hit - ~~17~~ 0 Bludgeoning damage
	+ Flies 80 ft up in the air

* **Hoby**
	+ Flies into the mouth of the Tarrasque (this counts as Hoby getting grappled in its mouth)
	+ Melee Attack (Bite) vs Tarrasque - 29
		- Hit - 29 piercing damage, also requires a CON Savong Throw - 20
			* Fail - ~~It's Poisoned~~ It is immune to poison
	+ Melee Attack (Claws) vs Tarrasque (x4) - Nat20, 32, 21, 33
		- Hit, Hit, Miss - 35 Slashing + 12 Bludgeoning + ~~18 Fire~~ + 25 Piercing damage (Immune to fire)
	+ Casts *Misty Step* to move 30 ft away
	+ Flies 100 ft up in the air

* Michael rolls some die because Hoby did more than 60 damage inside of it - ??
	+ Success - it seems like it was about to vom up Lahni, but doesn't

* **King Theonjon Dayne**
	+ Ranged Attacked vs Tarrasque - ??
		- Miss

*Episode Ends Mid-Combat*