Latest / Smooth Critical / C1 Ep.5: Flame and Fortune

Transcript

C1 Ep.5: Flame and Fortune · Smooth Critical

0:19
Welcome back to Smooth Critical. I'm your DM, Avni.
0:23
Hey, actually quick question. Avni, are you OK?
0:26
Avni, are you OK? Are you OK?
0:31
Hell yeah I am. My cute and cunning players were
0:35
very smart during the monk fight and I am so very impressed.
0:39
I remember getting OK, well they were.
0:43
Well, Bond got rid of two of them right off the bat.
0:46
That came in clutch. But he also did some very not
0:49
smart things which was trying to cast Toll the Dead on we don't
0:52
have. To talk about that part.
0:55
So yeah, well, let's not dwell on it.
0:56
Let's not dwell on it because I am very eager to see what's
0:59
next. So let's meet our gorgeous
1:02
gladiators. He my.
1:04
Hello, this is Abe. Harry.
1:07
Bonte willowind, seething, trancing and oh fuck, what was
1:13
it? I had it in the shower.
1:15
No, no, there we go, trancing, seething and prophetic dreaming.
1:21
Oh, yes, yeah, you took your drugs before the long rest.
1:25
We'll get to that very soon, Charlie.
1:28
Bo chosen 1 of Thesmira. Yikes, Yikes.
1:36
There might be a little bit of discourse in the group, but
1:39
they'll get over it, I promise. So let's start our recap.
1:44
Abe, Bond, and Bo wrapped up the prayer room and hit Level 3,
1:48
each unlocking new powers. Except, did Bo level up?
1:53
Bunty grew weirder and gained more mysterious memories about
1:55
his brood of bunties before heading deeper.
1:58
Janie and Rugg got married, officiated questionably by
2:02
Bunty, and immediately got locked in the letter room.
2:05
One floor down, the group scavenged healing potions and
2:08
alchemist fire from a collapsed alchemy lab.
2:10
In the next room, they discovered a workshop full of
2:13
failed prosthetics, except for one perfect bronze arm identical
2:17
to Bose. When Beau touched it, it sprang
2:19
to life, hurling something across the room and tried to
2:21
strangle him, joined by Beau's own bronze arm.
2:25
More limbs attacked Abe and Bond, but the Group 1 repaired
2:29
Bo and recover the throne object, a clockwork amulet
2:32
ticking in time with Bo's pulse. Deeper still, they entered a
2:35
chamber with 3-4 armed monk statues radiating necromancy.
2:40
Bo's attempt to sneak past failed, waking 3 corrupted monk
2:43
ghosts. Bond blasted 2 away with Turn
2:45
Undead and the last one nearly dropped them while calling Abe.
2:49
Rather. And asking if he belonged to the
2:52
dawn of stars. During the chaos, Beau cast
2:55
magic for the first time, claiming it came from this
2:58
mirror, which Bond did not appreciate.
3:00
Abe wondered where Beau's magic could have come from and then
3:03
heard a soft chuckle in his skull.
3:05
Searching for the voice, Abe instead found a tattooed needle
3:08
buried in the rubble. The moment he touched it to his
3:10
skin, star tattoos spiraled across his arm.
3:14
Bundy explained that the needle was a gift from us.
3:18
We couldn't expand any further. Bunty rearranged the star
3:21
tattoos across Abe's skin like a cosmic Etch A Sketch to draw a
3:25
little picture of himself. And that's where we ended.
3:29
Very nice Bunty, it's a good picture.
3:32
Yeah, it is. Bunty, what the fuck?
3:34
I did not give you consent to to draw your likeness on my arm.
3:39
Try to move the tattoos. You can't.
3:41
It's stuck like this. And I and I throw my cloak on to
3:47
hide the tattoo for now. I was just joking.
3:51
I'll change it. I'll change it.
3:52
No, it's fine. Cute.
3:56
So the three of you just seeing Bunty move the tattoos around
4:01
are in desperate need of a long rest.
4:05
Am I correct in making that assumption?
4:08
Absolutely, Absolutely. Absolutely not.
4:10
Wait, did I say that? I'm sorry, I meant absolutely,
4:12
yes. Absolutely.
4:14
Yes. OK, that's what I thought.
4:18
OK, so before bed Bond, you decide to take your drugs, your
4:23
dream salt. Yes, I'm gonna reach into my
4:27
pack and pull out a vial of dream salt, which has three uses
4:32
in it, if I recall correctly. I'm gonna put some onto my
4:38
fingernail and then eat it. And then eat it, OK?
4:42
And you eat it, eat it, eat it. Yeah, of course.
4:44
And rub some of it under my lip, of course.
4:46
Yeah, of course you can. You can tell Bon knows what he's
4:49
doing and. Then I go to go to start my
4:52
trance. Great.
4:54
Bo and Abe, do you guys do anything before bed?
4:56
Any sort of ritual or other drugs.
4:59
I just kind of take out my notebook sitting cross legged on
5:03
like a bed roll or something. I'm kind of revising over what
5:07
notes I've taken of the day. Very nice.
5:10
Also, does bunty sleep? Yeah, of course I do.
5:13
Do you sleep for 8 hours? I kind of just sleep however
5:17
much I want yourself, bitch. I look at Bunty and I look at
5:23
Bond and I say, uh huh. I guess I never really kept
5:28
track of whether she sleeps when I sleep.
5:30
Yeah, because Abe falls asleep at like 8:00 PM like an old
5:33
grandpa, just like reading and shit and journaling.
5:37
And so like, I kind of just do whatever I do, you know?
5:40
And. And what is?
5:41
What is that usually? Oh, sometimes I make us dinner
5:45
for the next day. I meal prep chicken and rice,
5:48
baby chicken and rice. I knew he's up making grilled
5:51
cheese. Without looking up for my
5:53
notebook, I pointed at him and I say and it's actually pretty
5:55
good. Yeah, it's really good.
5:57
Chicken and rice. Yeah, and it's got all the
5:59
protein it needs because he's a grown boy.
6:01
So I'm a drow and I only need to sleep for four hours, but would
6:07
you be able to keep? Well I don't sleep by trance,
6:10
let's be clear. Would you be able to keep watch
6:12
while I'm asleep? I can try.
6:14
Yeah, I'll definitely try. Excellent.
6:17
I write down loudly in my notebook, is Bon a pick me, He
6:23
said. He prances.
6:24
Well, you say this out loud. Yeah, he never learned to read
6:28
in his. Head I like.
6:29
I like the phrase I write. Down.
6:31
Loudly in my notebook. OK, but and is there anything
6:36
you do before bed? I guess I look jealously at at
6:40
Bon seeming to do drugs. Jazz of the drugs.
6:47
But have have none of my own. So yeah, I just, I, I find a a
6:58
spot to just lie prone. Amazing.
7:01
Don't forget all the things that you guys collected along the
7:04
way. If you want to do anything
7:07
before bed, there is the arm, there is the mirror that you
7:11
guys got a couple sessions back. Just don't don't forget about
7:15
any of those cool. So Bon, how the drugs are going
7:19
to work is this. You're going to roll AD 20 and
7:22
add your religion modifier. On A1 through a four, you have a
7:25
horrible and physically painful sleep which results in one level
7:29
of exhaustion and you do not get a long rest, but you may get a
7:32
short rest. On a 5 to 10 you gain 1 level of
7:36
exhaustion. On an 11 through 24, you get a
7:39
vague prophetic dream, and on a 25 plus, your dreams are very
7:44
explicit in their nature. And also, I would like to say
7:48
that exhaustion rules are different.
7:49
In 2024, you die if your exhaustion level reaches level
7:54
6. When you make AD 20 roll, the
7:57
roll is reduced by two times your exhaustion level.
7:59
So all D20 rolls, if you have one level of exhaustion, are
8:03
reduced by two. Yeah.
8:05
Also, your speed is reduced by a number of feet equal to five
8:08
times your exhaustion level. So you're running slower.
8:11
You're just not. That's fast.
8:12
To remove exhaustion levels, you have to finish a long rest to
8:15
remove one exhaustion level. When your exhaustion level
8:18
reaches 0, the condition ends. OK, I have a pretty good
8:21
religion. I have a + 6 to religion.
8:23
So this is a risk I'm willing to take right now, especially as
8:26
I'm feeling very conflicted about my connection with my with
8:30
my goddess, this mirror. So yeah, I will give it a roll,
8:36
no. No.
8:39
It's not a one, so that's a 2 on the dice, which means it's a
8:43
it's a 8. OK, so first you're going to get
8:47
one level of exhaustion, so mark that down and then I'll tell you
8:52
how this goes. Of me I also I think I there is
8:55
something I might want to try before we go to sleep.
8:58
OK, yes, you tell me what you want to do before you go to bed
9:00
and then I'll narrate Bond's dream.
9:02
Well, I'll ask you guys first. What if we put the mirror in the
9:08
hand of the arm? I I honestly thought you were
9:11
going to say in Bunty's arm. I mean, I'm curious to try that
9:14
at some point, but I think that that that might be in a when
9:18
we're a little bit like more prepared and not maybe about to
9:22
see a dragon. OK, I'm I'm down, but I will I
9:26
will ready in action. Bon, What do?
9:28
What do you think? Yeah, I think we should already
9:30
actions. Sure.
9:32
Bon has already rubbed the drugs on his.
9:34
Gun. He's starting.
9:35
To he knows that a bad time is happening, happening.
9:38
He's like, this is going to be the worst trip of my life.
9:41
Holy fucking shit. I'm coming up right now.
9:43
This is real bad. You couldn't have said this
9:46
before I took a hit. Bond took Ambien and has to go
9:50
to sleep right away. OK, cool.
9:56
So you show the arm the mirror. Yeah, I'll take the mirror out
10:02
of my bag and give it to you, Bo.
10:04
Yeah. And I already hand, Yeah, I
10:06
already handed the mirror and passed the check.
10:07
So I'm safe with it, right? Or as far as I know, yeah.
10:11
You guys all are safe with it. Bond's the only one who had
10:15
failed the check, but now that you defeated Chromebon, he's
10:18
gone and you're safe. And so.
10:19
Sexy bond sexy. Bond.
10:23
Another question is I I I dapped up the the arm earlier or like
10:29
shook it or whatever, does it still seem to have some sort of
10:32
like movement to it or is it is it pretty?
10:34
It's pretty limp. OK, then I'll I'll take the
10:38
mirror and I'll fold the fingers of the arm around it and I'll
10:42
see what happens. But I'm gonna like these two.
10:44
I'm gonna ready in action to attack a Chrome version of this
10:49
arm if it pops out of this mirror.
10:51
The. Arm holds the mirror.
10:54
Are you touching the arm at all or have you just let the arm
10:58
like out on the ground holding the mirror?
11:00
I guess I have the arm on the ground.
11:02
I mean, I'm touching it because I want to like close the fingers
11:05
around the mirror or the handle of the mirror.
11:08
And we also want to make sure the mirror doesn't break.
11:10
Probably requires a bit of stabilization.
11:12
And you're touching it with your old arm or new arm.
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I guess I don't want to touch it with my new arm because that
11:17
didn't go super well last time, so I'll touch it with my old
11:20
arm. You touch it with your old arm.
11:22
You feel the connection that bronze arm has to your old arm,
11:25
right? You guys high five, you DAP each
11:27
other up. There's definitely some sort of
11:28
connection. When you look into the mirror to
11:32
see what the arm, like how the arm looks like in the mirror,
11:36
you see a bunch of static for a while.
11:39
You see static. You see static.
11:41
Are all of you looking into the mirror?
11:43
Yeah, yes. All of a sudden there's a flash
11:46
across the screen. Everyone can make a perception
11:49
check. Fuck yes 22. 13. 21.
11:56
Bond You don't see this. The drugs have fully kicked in.
11:58
You're having like hallucinations as you're looking
12:02
around. You're quite confused.
12:04
Abe and Bo You catch a fleeting glimpse of a man, messy brown
12:10
hair sticking up in loose waves and a trimmed mustache.
12:14
The rest of him is kind of hard to make out before he's lost
12:17
from the view and it goes back to static.
12:19
Does the mustache look like the mustaches on the people in the
12:25
Hall of Flame and Glory? Good question.
12:28
Do you say that? If you say that, I'll pull out
12:30
my notebook I have sketches of. Yeah, I'm going to, I'm going to
12:33
bring that up like, hey, do you guys like and those guys have
12:36
mustaches too. Yeah, I just pull my notebook.
12:39
Roll an investigation check, OK. How's your artistic ability?
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Are you good at drawing? I'm a scribe.
12:46
I have good drawing and writing. I mean, in so far as I would
12:50
guess like anatomical sketches and things like that of
12:54
creatures. Cool.
12:55
Cool. Or like diagrams, yeah.
12:57
And you said roll an investigation check, Do I get
13:01
any sort of help action from the notes or anything?
13:03
I can give you guidance. OK, I'll take that.
13:06
Roll the. I mean, is it just, is it just
13:09
Bo rolling? That's fine.
13:10
But Bo asked the question out loud.
13:12
You're allowed to ponder this if you'd like.
13:14
I rolled a 16. 12. It does look maybe a little more
13:19
ostentatious than just like a flat mustache, but it doesn't
13:24
look like anything crazy, and there's no other crazy facial
13:27
hair or anything like that. All you see is the messy brown
13:29
hair that's sticking up in those loose waves and then a mustache.
13:35
Bo, I've been wondering kind of since we encountered this arm
13:39
and the affinity it seems to have for your older arm.
13:44
And I kind of look at you. Do you think that man was you?
13:48
I'm not sure, correct me if I'm wrong.
13:50
The arm is definitely like the same sort of style as me, but
13:53
it's a little bit more refined and a little bit older, right?
13:56
Yours has had a lot of wear and tear just from it was in the
14:01
water for a while. Yeah, the other arm does look a
14:04
lot like more polished than your arm, but it still looks a little
14:09
bit older than your arm. Your arm looks like a little bit
14:12
better technology or more refined technology.
14:15
OK, yeah, I'm, I'm not sure I have, I have the feeling that
14:19
this arm wasn't attached to me and I don't think I'm the person
14:23
in the in the mirror, but I'm linked to this this arm in some
14:27
way. Oh yeah, that's, that's crazy,
14:30
man. You're seeing like pink unicorns
14:35
and Griffins flying around in circles.
14:38
We we should get this guy to sleep.
14:39
I'm going to I'm going to sit down.
14:41
I. I whispered to you both.
14:42
I think we should yell Nightmare at him.
14:47
So so. Bo stops for a full 30 seconds,
14:50
trying to fight the inner demons.
14:53
We could. We could.
14:54
Negatively harm his role, no. So you could already tell Bond's
15:00
having a bad trip. He's sweating profusely and his
15:05
eyes feel like they're going to roll to the back of his head.
15:08
So you guys all go to bed. Bond kind of shuffles off into
15:12
the corner. And now we can finally resolve
15:14
your 8 roll on this. You fall into uneasy darkness.
15:20
Your body feels heavy, dragged down by invisible chains.
15:24
Faces appear and vanish in the blackness, too quick to focus
15:27
on, too twisted to look away from.
15:30
You hear, murmurs the words Slytherin just out of reach.
15:34
Bring brother, Bring brother. Repeated in a voice that seems
15:42
to echo in your own skull. Sometimes it grows louder,
15:46
closer, as if pressing on your temples.
15:49
Praying brother, bring brother. Blurred images flicker.
15:59
Storm clouds, rain, flashes of lightning, but nothing solid,
16:03
nothing that you can make sense of.
16:04
When you try to speak or move, your lips and limbs feel numb.
16:08
You wake trembling, your mind foggy and aching, a residue of
16:12
dread lingering in every nerve. That's your trance.
16:15
After four hours, you're up. Oh.
16:19
My God, I like rub my head just like rub my eyes.
16:24
I feel exhausted. Just in a puddle.
16:28
Yeah, yeah, you've soaked through like your clothes.
16:31
Are you? Well, I guess we're not.
16:33
You're you guys are asleep. It's just bone awake now.
16:37
And Bunty, I'm just. And Bunty, hey, what's up?
16:40
Man. Bunty's next to you and he
16:44
starts running his hands through.
16:46
He starts. Running his hands through your.
16:47
Hair. Relax, Bunty.
16:50
Relax, baby. It's OK.
16:52
It's OK, baby. I push bunty off of me.
16:54
He goes flying. Bunty personal space, please.
17:01
You just seemed unwell. Yeah, yeah, you can go to sleep
17:05
now. I'm good, I'm good.
17:07
He falls asleep immediately. Wow, that was that was quick.
17:12
I wasn't expecting that. OK, I like pick him up and just
17:16
put him like cuddled in with Abe.
17:19
Aw. They immediately start spooning.
17:22
Big spoon. Big spoon.
17:24
Yeah, Bunty, it's. Canonical.
17:25
It's canonical that Abe's the baby spoon, right?
17:28
Yes. And and when when that happens,
17:30
you hear Abe start to start to snore and go like me, me, me,
17:36
me, me, me, me, me, me. He has finally reached peak
17:40
comfort. He needed Bunty to spoon him.
17:43
There's a saw over your head just sawing wood back and forth
17:47
as you saw. Man, I got to stop taking this
17:52
dream salt. Yeah.
17:54
I spend a little while just kind of pondering the dream.
17:58
And then I will, I guess, get up and look around the room a
18:02
little bit more. Just check this area out.
18:05
Not without leaving the room, but, you know, make sure that
18:08
I'll cast a tech magic. I'll look around a little bit.
18:11
Yeah. Do you want to roll an
18:12
investigation check? That is A9.
18:17
You walk around, you're pretty stressed from your dream.
18:21
There's nothing really that you find here except you see some
18:26
old like sweat marks on the mats that are on the ground off to
18:30
the side. You can tell that maybe some of
18:32
the monks used to train here, but there's not much else that
18:35
you see. What are the exits to this room?
18:39
The exits are the way you came from, which is the stairs that
18:43
go up and the way you left, so the stairs that go down.
18:46
This is like a landing in between the two stairs, so you
18:49
would have to go through this place to get anywhere further up
18:53
or below all. Right.
18:55
I'm gonna look down the stairs and just see if I can see
18:58
anything, see how far it goes. So you see some stone steps that
19:03
spiral downwards again, they're very wide in comparison to the
19:08
steps that you had just come down previously.
19:11
You can't really tell how deep it goes.
19:14
You know it looks a little bit further than in between 2 normal
19:19
floors. OK, then I'm just going to say
19:23
some prayers to this mirror, sit back down, watch the room, and
19:26
then in a couple hours I will start preparing some sort of
19:30
breakfast. Just whatever rations we have,
19:33
I'll prepare breakfast for everybody.
19:36
Cute Beau and Abe, you guys wake up after a refreshing night of
19:41
sleep. Bunty, get off me.
19:49
That was nice though. You see him stretch and you hear
19:53
thousands of popping as Bunty stretches Bo and Abe.
19:59
Do you guys want to investigate the room?
20:02
Look around it. Yeah, I think I will.
20:04
But first I'm gonna be like, is that?
20:06
Is that breakfast? Yeah, you know, I'm I've been up
20:10
for four hours now, so I figured I'd help make breakfast for
20:14
everybody. We had a pretty rough day
20:16
yesterday, but I'm hoping it's a better one today.
20:19
Well, thank you. Is tonight the night?
20:22
Yes, we have to get the the slab, return the slab.
20:27
We have to return the slab by by this evening.
20:31
All right, what's for breakfast? Bunty has eaten half the food
20:34
already. Yeah, what?
20:35
What? What is for breakfast?
20:37
That bunty. Has eaten already.
20:42
We have some dried meat, we've got some bread, we've got some
20:47
dried fruits and nuts. Nice.
20:49
So you didn't cook anything, you just pulled?
20:52
I it's a charcuterie board and it looks really good.
20:55
OK, OK, can. I take you aside for a second.
20:57
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. I spent two hours on this so
21:00
it's pretty intricately made. I take, I take a beside.
21:04
I think, I think Bon put a lot of put a lot of work into this.
21:07
Also, did you see the bags under his eyes?
21:10
I think we should. I think we should be
21:11
appreciated, should have. OK, OK.
21:13
Sorry. Hey, Bon Bon.
21:15
Thanks for putting this breakfast together, man.
21:17
It looks appetizing. I'm gonna do an insight check.
21:21
Yeah, Abe, do a deception check. Can I give him a help on on the
21:26
deception check with? Absolutely.
21:28
Not. Oh God, I am trained in
21:31
deception. I rolled in 11 -, 1 so do I get
21:35
advantage? Yeah, with an advantage.
21:37
OK, even worse. And I rolled the 12.
21:43
You can tell that Abe is just trying not to hurt your feelings
21:47
cuz he he clocked that you're not doing so hot right now.
21:51
I let it go, but I'm a little sour.
21:54
But I let it go. It's OK.
21:55
Yeah. Shall we get on with all day?
21:58
I think so, yeah. I'm feeling, I'm feeling
22:00
energized. And for the record, Beau does
22:02
eat. Not very much, but he does like
22:05
nibble on a little bit of food. I'm gonna cast aid again on
22:08
everybody. Awesome, so everybody's HP and
22:12
Max HP goes up by 5 for the day sake.
22:14
Yeah, I think I will go back into human form.
22:17
Before you guys leave Abe and Bo, do you guys want to roll
22:20
investigation checks? Yeah, yeah, yeah.
22:24
That'll be A7. That will be a unnatural 20.
22:29
Bo you don't really find anything.
22:31
You find the same sweat marks that Bond found on the ground.
22:34
Plus you also find Bond sweat marks from when he.
22:38
Had a. Terrible night of sleep, Abe.
22:40
You're walking around and you notice there's a little indent
22:44
in some of the stone. You kind of touch it and you
22:48
push and a little stone door opens up and what you find in
22:53
there are a bunch of geese. They range from like a soft blue
22:58
and purple with muted golds around them.
23:02
There's some that are more of like a subtle green.
23:04
They really have the whole color palette.
23:07
They look pretty old. They've been sitting here.
23:09
They smell kind of musky. I have a like a dark purple
23:13
cloak and I have like a light colored ghee that I wear that's
23:18
like not really a ghee because I haven't gotten this from any
23:20
monastery or anything. It's just kind of what Abe likes
23:23
to wear. But after the events of last
23:25
night and what some of those ghosts were saying to him, I'm
23:28
going to I'm going to take one of the geese and I'm going to
23:32
change into it. Just Dick out.
23:34
You change in the middle of this room.
23:37
What color do you choose? You said that there's like a
23:39
variety of colors, right? There's a variety of colors,
23:42
yeah, a lot of them have like gold trim along them.
23:45
But other than that. I'm going to go for one of the
23:48
the purples. Same shade as your cloak or a
23:50
lighter, or. Maybe a little lighter, yeah.
23:53
Beautiful. So you get a nice new ghee,
23:55
guys. Abe kind of smells off, like
23:59
just so musky right now. Does he kind of smell like
24:02
Bunty? Oh yeah, we smell the same now,
24:04
brother. Huh.
24:06
No, I don't smell anything. I cast mending on the ghee
24:10
you're wearing and just, you know, clean it up a little bit.
24:12
Any any tears there are, just close them up.
24:16
Great, the ghee is looking a little better.
24:19
Thanks Bon. Also, I I want to apologize
24:21
again for making I'll comments about you preparing breakfast.
24:25
I know a lot of cooking didn't go into it, but I understand
24:28
that you staged it in quite a way that must have taken a lot
24:32
of time and effort, and it looked very nice.
24:35
I appreciate it. Thank you.
24:36
What he's trying to say is that charcuterie boards are really
24:38
are in style. So I think, I think you did very
24:41
well, Bon. If there's ever anything you
24:42
guys need me to do before you wake up, anything that we need
24:46
to get done in the morning, just let me know.
24:47
If we're going to be travelling together, this seems like
24:50
something that I could take care of.
24:52
Leaving the monastery, there's a fresh set of stone stairs
24:55
spiraling downwards again, much wider this time.
24:58
The walls are carved with scenes of ancient battles, feasts and
25:03
celebrations, but dust lies thick on everything, as though
25:07
no one has walked this way in many, many years yet.
25:11
You hear a faint hum of magic pulsing from below.
25:16
The air grows warm, then warmer, then uncomfortably warm.
25:22
For at least a minute or two. It's just the rhythmic soft
25:24
steps of your boots on stone as the stairs spirals deeper and
25:28
deeper into the towers cuts. Then the passage ends in an
25:32
archway of pale marble crack near the top.
25:35
Through it, light flickers, candlelight but brighter and
25:39
shifting, making the shadows move and you hear voices
25:43
chanting. Can we hear what they're
25:45
chanting? Does anyone speak elvish?
25:49
I speak elvish brother. I would imagine that I would be
25:52
able to read Elvish and Dwarvish, but I've probably
25:57
never conversed with anyone in those languages.
26:00
That's interesting. I like that.
26:02
Interesting. As you guys go down, you hear
26:05
this chanting Bon. You're able to make out what it
26:10
is and what you hear, especially since you do magic yourself.
26:15
It's a sleeping spell. They're casting some sort of
26:19
sleeping spell in unison. I relay this to everybody.
26:23
OK, so it's for, it's for the dragon, right?
26:24
So they're keeping the dragon asleep.
26:26
That would be my guess. So I first impression I don't
26:31
want to disrupt what they're doing.
26:33
Agreed. But like counterpoint.
26:36
I'm putting you in time out, Abe.
26:38
You're going to get us all killed.
26:39
Is this a? Is this a situation where I
26:41
sneak forward 1st and we see what's going on?
26:44
Definitely and I will absolutely give you guidance on that.
26:48
Cool. All right, So is there a door or
26:51
is it just a? It's an archway and you have to
26:55
enter through it and kind of look to your left and then
26:57
you'll be inside the room. OK, yeah, I'll go slowly, but
27:00
I'll I'll roll for this. I won't be using the clockwork
27:04
amulet, although something tells me I should.
27:08
Oh, and I get AD 4. It'll be a 19.
27:11
You step through the archway, crouching around the corner, and
27:15
you see the space opens into this colossal hall, easily the
27:20
size of a royal audience chamber ballroom.
27:23
Something massive. The ceiling disappears into
27:26
shadow, supported by 4 Titanic marble pillars on each side,
27:31
each carved with a giant dancing figure.
27:34
The floor is shimmering mosaic of gold tile, though the shine
27:38
is dimmed by the countless candles set across it.
27:41
Hundreds of candles on the floor.
27:44
Their flames flicker back and forth and sway in a strange
27:47
synchronized pattern with the voices.
27:50
In the center of the room are 10 elven Wizards, standing in a
27:55
circle. These 10 long, robed elves stand
27:58
spaced evenly around an enormous painted sigil on the ground, a
28:02
perfect ring of ruins in blue, red, and bright white.
28:06
Each wizard holds a silver wand, and each wand glows at the tip
28:10
with purple haze. They chant in elvish, slow and
28:13
steady, their voices woven into a single droning harmony.
28:17
There's sweat beads going down their cheeks, and you can see
28:20
that one wizard is trembling as he cast his magic.
28:24
You turn your head a little bit more to the left, and then you
28:27
see her. Behind the sigil, curled in a
28:31
mountain of glittering treasure, is a dragon.
28:34
A red dragon. A massive, ancient dragon,
28:37
scales the color of molten rubies, wings half folded.
28:42
Her huge chest rises and falls in a deep, rumbling snore that
28:45
rattles coins across the floor. Her horde is absurd.
28:51
A sprawling dune of gold, jewels, armor, magical trinkets,
28:55
crates, statues, relics, and a lot of things that probably
28:59
shouldn't be in a dragon sword. This pile is so huge that a
29:03
person could dive inside and be completely swallowed by the
29:06
treasure, but you also see that the horde is moving like it has
29:10
a current inside of it. Beau absolutely thinks about
29:13
diving inside and disappearing inside of the treasure, but
29:18
thinks better against it. Scrooge Mcduck, that shit.
29:21
Actually, can I roll? Can I roll a Wisdom saving throw
29:23
to see if I do that or no? I'm just kidding.
29:26
You're you're on one side of the room, so it's probably on the
29:29
other side of the room, which is 150 feet away from you.
29:35
OK, so it's quite far, but it is a massive dragon and a massive
29:39
gold pile. So you can definitely see that
29:41
from where you are. Do I see any tablets that stick
29:45
out in the room? Not in the room.
29:47
I mean, you make an investigation or perception
29:49
check right now because? I do a perception that'll be a
29:55
11. Not too far away from you, kind
30:00
of off to the side near 1 of the pillars, you see an elven woman
30:05
with silver hair tied up in like a loose knot and she is laying
30:10
on the ground. She's not in the circle, she's
30:12
not chanting, and instead she is chugging water.
30:15
Does she look like the other people in the circle?
30:18
Yes, she has the robes and everything, but she is on the
30:21
ground chugging water. I'll just sneak back and overlay
30:23
everything. Interesting, did both spot
30:25
another exit to this room? Is there another room after this
30:28
somewhere? What did you roll on your
30:30
investigation check? 11. 11 Yeah.
30:33
He didn't see any other room. It's likely from my logic here
30:38
that these elves are keeping the dragon asleep and that one of
30:43
them is maybe taking a break because they might have to keep
30:47
up the effort. And Bo, you said you spotted one
30:50
that seemed tired in the in the like incantation circle.
30:54
Yeah, one of them was kind of wavering and one of them was on
30:57
the ground drinking water. This this might be a really
31:00
stupid idea. I'm going to use the Hat of
31:03
Disguise to make myself look like the Captain.
31:07
Oh, Captain Lumiere. Yes, Captain Lumiere, I could go
31:11
up and kind of try to suss out what's going on.
31:14
I mean I can cast Augury. That's a good idea, but like the
31:19
augury as well. But I was going to say, what if
31:22
you did Captain Lumiere? And then we we bind ourselves,
31:26
Bon, you and I, and you can act like in order for us to enter
31:32
the room. Why?
31:34
As some sort of prisoners that he may be feeding to the dragon.
31:37
I think, I think we would have to wake up the dragon to feed
31:41
it. So I don't think that that would
31:42
be standard protocol. I considered that as well.
31:45
Man. I could say you guys are
31:47
interns. Oh they I've absolutely seen
31:53
Flyers for the internship program.
31:55
The Embergaard. Is that what they're called?
31:56
The Embergaard. The Embergaard, Yeah, yeah.
32:00
And you know, I've considered it.
32:02
That's a twice myself. Maybe there's special orders
32:05
from the Imperator that you guys are down here to investigate
32:08
some of the other things in this tower.
32:10
See if you can find anything that would be useful to the
32:13
state. Also, by the way, Ollie Ollie
32:16
Polly was definitely an intern at the Embergaard.
32:19
Just put that out there. Why don't I cast augury before
32:23
we do anything? So reminder, Augury is you
32:25
receive an omen from an otherworldly entity about the
32:28
results of a course of action you plan to take within the next
32:30
30 minutes. Did DM chooses the omens from
32:33
the table? Omens are wheel for good, woe
32:36
for bad, or wheel and woe for good and bad or indifference,
32:39
neither good or bad. It does not account for
32:42
circumstances such as spells that might change the results.
32:46
So the course of action I'm going to suggest is that Bo goes
32:50
out in disguise and susses out the situation you.
32:55
Feel a giant knot form in your stomach, Just this giant pit
32:59
that makes you feel like you're going to throw up.
33:02
I heave a little bit. So it sounds like a.
33:05
Good idea. Maybe don't do that.
33:07
Maybe don't do that. I guess that puts us back to
33:10
square 1. Look, I know it might not sound
33:13
like a good idea, but I think I can.
33:15
I think I can use this. And I'm going to gesture toward
33:17
the clockwork amulet to give myself a pretty good shot.
33:21
I don't know how we're going to, you know, do what we're supposed
33:25
to do without going into this room and figuring out what's
33:28
going on. What if I just walk up to the
33:31
this this person on the floor as Captain Lumiere?
33:34
And I'm just like, what are you doing?
33:37
Why aren't you? Why aren't you casting that
33:39
spell? I don't know, maybe.
33:41
Or maybe we should consider another course of action for
33:44
now? I like your idea.
33:47
I do also raise the possibility of all of our destruction in so
33:53
that they can't fight us because they too would die if the dragon
33:58
wakes up and we shouldn't kill them or attack them in any way
34:03
really. They can't really stop what
34:05
they're doing because they die and we die.
34:08
So it's kind of a stalemate if we go in there.
34:11
So I feel like maybe first bow does go in and and we and we
34:16
ready bond and just kind of peer around the archway.
34:19
I could also make myself look like a cobalt.
34:22
But the Cobalts weren't supposed to go down here.
34:25
That's true. Yeah, you.
34:26
Could I also don't look like them?
34:27
You can make yourself that small.
34:28
Like I think you're still roughly about your sizes
34:32
proportion. Like if you're a medium
34:33
creature, you stay medium. Oh, crazy idea.
34:37
What if you turn into the Imperator I?
34:39
Mean I could. Or better yet, what if you take
34:42
the form of Johnny Maccabee? You can seem 1 foot shorter or
34:47
taller. That's the.
34:50
I think the. Cobols are like 2 feet tall so.
34:52
Yeah, they're. Fair enough, they're very small.
34:53
Why don't I? I'm gonna cast detect magic and
34:57
peek in and see if I can just get any readings real quick.
35:01
Yeah, you're immediately blinded by the Dragon Sword.
35:05
It hurts. You have to rub your eyes and
35:08
you're seeing stars. Well, that didn't work, you
35:13
know. Who is this Fox RM guy anyway?
35:16
You know I do. Do we really need to get
35:18
ourselves killed for this? We might have to.
35:21
Doesn't he kind of like, own us or something?
35:24
You look down to your wrists and see those bracelets, those
35:28
mechanical bracelets that you guys got put on you when you
35:31
left the arena the first time. And you remember that the
35:34
ownership was transferred over to Vox, meaning that he can
35:39
track you and he can inject something into you and in try to
35:44
incapacitate you. What are we, some kind of
35:47
Suicide Squad? Someone had to say it.
35:54
Could you try one more time to sneak around to the other side
35:57
of the room? I can do that, yeah.
36:00
And see if there's anything else in this room and I'll cast the
36:04
guidance again. Yeah, I'll sneak back into the
36:06
room. I do have a question.
36:08
The person who was drinking water on the ground, did she
36:11
have a wand? She did have a wand, you see.
36:14
Was she, was she holding it? Was it on the ground beside her?
36:17
Yeah, wand in her hand and drinking water.
36:19
Before I start sneaking into the room, I'm going to try something
36:22
and I'm going to look at Bond very intensely and just kind of
36:27
stare at you and put fingers up to my temples.
36:30
And I'm going to, I'm going to like strain a little bit.
36:33
My face gets red. And then and then you're going
36:36
to hear a word in your head. Moist.
36:42
I cringe a little bit. It worked.
36:45
I could, I think I could. How did you do that communicate
36:48
with you? I just, I'm discovering it's I I
36:53
consider saying Fesmira is connect connecting us, but I
36:56
think better about it and I say I don't know, I'm just of just
36:59
figuring stuff out. This is awesome.
37:01
This is perfect. Now you can talk to us.
37:04
So I'll. I didn't hear anything in my
37:06
head all. Right.
37:08
I, I do the same the same thing with Abe and my nose starts
37:12
bleeding a little bit. This time I'm gonna, I'm gonna
37:15
look at you and I'm gonna say pussy.
37:18
No. No.
37:21
I kind of stumble. Backwards when I hear it takes
37:27
psychic damage. So give me your stealth check
37:31
and then give me a Perception check.
37:33
I'm debating whether or not you should give me the guidance for
37:38
the perception check or not because I'm better at stealth.
37:41
I mean, I think you can choose what or actually I'm not sure.
37:44
I think you choose which skill it's for.
37:47
For guidance, but what I'm. Questioning though is like if I
37:49
fail this stealth check, that's. Kind of a regular.
37:51
Deal then failing the perception check.
37:54
So what do you guys think I should do?
37:56
Are you? You're better at stealth I
37:57
assume. I think I'll keep the the
38:00
guidance for stealth just so that we can keep it safe.
38:04
All right, nice. That'll be 28 on my stealth
38:08
check. Holy shit.
38:12
You know 5 on my perception check you.
38:15
Start stealthing back into this room.
38:17
Like I said, Kumkoraj is on the total other end of you, but you
38:22
can kind of sneak around the backside.
38:25
Of the room. Kind of on that wall where the
38:28
arch came out of, that is also in the direction of where that
38:32
11 woman was laying down. You realize as you're still
38:37
thinking to this room, that if you start to move forward into
38:41
the room, it'll be very hard to stealth because of all the
38:45
candles. It's creating this bright light.
38:48
So if you stealth past any of the candles, your shadow will
38:52
emerge and flicker over pretty much the entire room just
38:56
because there are so many candles.
38:57
But right now, since you're in the back of the room, it's
38:59
pretty dark. You can still hide in the
39:00
shadows. With that perception check, you
39:04
see one other door. You see it on that back wall
39:09
that you're kind of stealthing against and it is blocked off
39:14
with rock. So it looks like right outside
39:17
of the door, whatever was there is now completely gone.
39:20
It's just, it's just rock from being underground.
39:25
Sure. I'm messaging you guys all of
39:28
this while I'm going along and I think you guys can reply.
39:31
What? What is the wording of message?
39:33
It's a can trip, so I can just kind of keep casting it over and
39:36
over again as long as we're not an initiative.
39:38
How many words do we get? Like a sentence.
39:41
Oh, I guess you point towards a creature within range and
39:43
whisper a message. The target and only the target
39:45
hears the message and can reply in a whisper that only you can
39:48
hear. So it doesn't specify how long
39:51
it has to be. I mean, I imagine you can't
39:53
speak like a whole speech, but. I could dim the candle flames.
39:58
I feel like that would be just as noticeable.
40:00
Also, what if it's important for the spell?
40:03
I don't. I won't shut them off.
40:04
I could just dim them so that you could sneak a bit better.
40:08
But it's possible the. Strength of the flame is
40:10
proportional to the strength of the spell.
40:13
Classic linear relationships. This is so part of the problem
40:17
is like I would be casting a lot of shadows if I walked in front
40:20
of the candles, right? Yeah, yeah, there's hundreds of
40:22
candles on the ground is. There any way that we can use
40:25
like that? Bond could use dancing lights to
40:27
kind of make up for that. Dancing Lights is not very
40:30
bright. It would, yeah.
40:32
Fair enough. Be difficult to block your
40:35
entire shadow as this happens. Boat.
40:38
You're walking and you realized you've come pretty close to the
40:42
elven woman that is laying on the ground, but she doesn't seem
40:45
to notice you. She's just chugging water and
40:48
you hear her counting out loud. She's at 120 right now.
40:52
A121122123. I think she's she like can only
40:59
take a break for a certain period of time or something.
41:02
I I send back a message saying does she seem nice?
41:05
I I can't, I can't tell. She seems like a woman whose
41:09
entire life is spent devoted to keeping this dragon to sleep.
41:12
Do you want an insight check? I'll do.
41:14
I'll do an insight check. Sure.
41:17
That's going to be 19 on my insight check.
41:20
When you when you kind of read her as she's resting, you can
41:23
kind of tell that she has more of a peaceful energy around her,
41:28
just like a peaceful demeanor as she's drinking the water and
41:31
taking her break. She doesn't seem to be up in
41:34
arms about anything. She doesn't seem to be stressed
41:36
or angry. She just seems to be at peace
41:40
with this situation all. Right.
41:41
Yeah, I relay all of this. I think.
41:43
I think this is just standard procedure for these guys.
41:47
I don't know. What do you guys think we should
41:48
do? Back, back under the archway,
41:50
I'm, I'm starting to have a panic attack.
41:53
Bon Bon Bon, if what's if the dragon wakes up?
41:57
Well, one, if we, if we alert the these Wizards that were here
42:01
and they don't like us and they try to fight us, we're we're
42:03
getting kicked out of this country.
42:04
Bon, we're never going to meet the imperator.
42:07
We're never going to get, I'm never going to get my chance to
42:09
ask any of my questions or kill him and get my revenge.
42:13
And if we actually wake up the dragon, this whole country's
42:16
going to going to die. You're saying very, you're
42:19
saying very reasonable things that I'm trying.
42:21
To You can't say that to me, Bob.
42:25
I just don't understand why, you know, we're being put in this
42:28
situation in the 1st place I feel like.
42:31
Fucked up. I'm not.
42:32
I shouldn't be allowed. To do this can't.
42:35
Be allowed to make these. Riches tweaking over here.
42:38
While Bo Bo is is sneaking along, it's like, I hope those
42:42
two aren't having panic attacks. All right, but make.
42:46
Another stealth check. Sure.
42:50
Do I still get guidance on this or was that for just one roll?
42:52
No. OK.
42:53
It's just actually it's one minute, Yeah, so.
42:56
OK. And it but it's not like.
42:58
But it I think. It's your next roll.
43:00
No, it's any ability check using the chosen skill for one minute.
43:05
OK, cool. 24. You're good.
43:08
No one seems to notice you at all.
43:10
I don't notice anything else lying around.
43:13
Any other items on this side of the room near me?
43:17
Nope, you rolled your 5. Yeah, is there any way I can do
43:23
like a riskier sneak to get like a better view so I could re roll
43:28
my perception check? If you roll with disadvantage,
43:33
sure, and. I sneak.
43:35
Roll your sneak with disadvantage and then I'll let
43:37
you re roll your perception. Would you allow me to use a luck
43:40
point to roll it flat? Sure.
43:42
OK, I'll do that then. All right. 17 not as good.
43:49
You start trying to creep closer and closer to the candles, and
43:55
all of a sudden you see the woman on the ground turn towards
43:58
you, her eyes wide. What are you doing here?
44:01
What? What are you doing here?
44:02
I like to point out I'm still in the captain.
44:05
Lumiere. Yeah, I never changed out of
44:08
that form. What do you do?
44:10
Oh my, who are you? What?
44:14
Are you doing here? Who are you?
44:16
What are you doing here? She gets up and she starts
44:18
making her way over to What are you doing here?
44:21
I'm I'm, what do you mean I'm, what am I doing here?
44:24
I'm I'm Captain Lumiere and I'm. Stop, stop, stop.
44:26
Don't stop. And then she gestures and she
44:29
starts leading you to. She's like come with.
44:31
Me. Come, come with me.
44:32
Talk to me. And she starts.
44:34
I'm going to, I'm going to subtly point behind myself and
44:36
send a a quick message back to them to let them know that I'm,
44:39
I'm doing this. Can I do that without her
44:41
noticing? Sure, you can make a sleight of
44:43
hand. Well, you also have to do a
44:45
verbal component right? You're the 1 whispering.
44:46
For message, but I think the only person who hears me whisper
44:50
is the person I'm sending the message.
44:51
To OK, so roll your sleight of hand.
44:55
She's going to roll. That would be I did not roll
44:58
well on it. Fuck me 10.
45:04
Who are you pointing to? Who are you pointing to?
45:06
She grabs your hand and starts like trying to lead you towards
45:09
where you were pointing to, like towards the archway area.
45:13
Oh no, you. Don't know this is.
45:14
Coming. Just got just talk to me.
45:17
Just talk to me and she's trying to gesture and she keeps walking
45:20
there. If you don't walk with her,
45:22
she'll like off your hand. I'm going to say a little bit
45:24
above a whisper, I wasn't talking to anybody.
45:27
She slams her hand on your mouth.
45:31
One more word out of you. You won't be able to talk
45:34
anymore. Now come with me.
45:36
How far away am I from Bonn and and Abe?
45:40
You probably stealth halfway across the back of the room, so
45:44
you're probably about like 7060 feet away.
45:47
OK, yeah, I'm just going to hope that they can, you know, tell
45:51
that I'm not messaging them. I'll go with her.
45:54
She leads you back to that archway where Abe and Bonn are
46:00
standing behind, and as she sees the two of you, her eyes go wide
46:04
with chalk. How are you all down here?
46:10
She puts her, she puts her. She puts her hand on your mouth.
46:14
If you do not use a quiet voice, I will make it so none of you
46:19
can speak. I'm going to use the message
46:21
cantrip on her so that we can communicate without even making
46:24
it sound. What do you say to her?
46:27
I'm going to. What's going on?
46:29
What do you mean what's going on?
46:30
We're keeping Cougar to sleep. OK, who?
46:35
Who are you? What do you mean who am I?
46:39
You came in here acting like you know everything.
46:43
Yeah, that's that was that was a lie.
46:45
I was lying. Now I'm panicking, OK?
46:47
OK, share that. We are just some elephant
46:51
Wizards that were brought here to keep the dragon asleep.
46:55
We've all been down here for 300 years, OK?
46:58
Who? Who brought you here?
47:00
Sir Johnny Maccabee. I told you, you should have
47:04
taken the form of the Imperator Bow.
47:06
I'm just recovering from my attack on the ground.
47:12
Johnny. Johnny Maccabee.
47:13
No, that was a long time ago. He's before my time.
47:16
No, we've only been down here 300 years.
47:19
Imperidor Pyrion sent us down here to keep Coon Garage asleep.
47:24
She's. Doing it to protect everyone
47:25
from Kumkarage. That's what you think?
47:28
I point at her. She puts her hand on your mouth.
47:31
This conversation is not with you.
47:32
One more word out of your mouth. Dare me, dare me to do.
47:36
I'm gonna, I'm gonna hold Abe's mouth shut.
47:39
Thank you. And just hold Abe.
47:41
Yeah, I'm not gonna say anything to both of them, but just like,
47:44
yeah, let's, let's, let's we call him here.
47:47
I'm gonna, I'm gonna once again message, I guess Bon and say,
47:52
should we tell her why we're here?
47:54
Should we tell her about the tablet?
47:55
I don't think we have any other choice at this point.
47:58
Yeah, I guess so. Yeah.
48:00
I'll turn to her. Look, we were sent here to find
48:04
some sort of tablet of some kind.
48:06
OK. Do do you know anything?
48:08
Do you know about any tablet down here?
48:10
About a tablet, No. Yeah, why would I know about a
48:13
tablet? Because you're down here and
48:15
they said the tablet was down here.
48:17
OK, but I've been in this room for 300 years casting a spell on
48:21
a dragon to keep it to. See hey, and there's a lot of
48:24
shit in this room, so, you know, maybe.
48:26
Yeah, but you can't go into her hoard.
48:28
Her hoard is like enchanted. OK, like in so in what way?
48:33
She's connected to her horde. Her horde protects itself by
48:37
constantly moving inside. You can't steal from it.
48:40
You'll drown. Interesting.
48:42
Do we have any ways to communicate through the
48:45
wristbands or is it just Nope? OK.
48:48
This message can't trip is just happening like between Beau and
48:52
her, right? It's one way like like sorry,
48:54
between two participants, not between everything.
48:57
Bo can cast message and relay things to you guys too.
49:01
It'll be a delayed system, but. Yeah.
49:03
Look, I don't want to keep you if you have to like go back to
49:06
your shift or something like that.
49:08
She looks down. She doesn't have a watch on her
49:11
hand. She goes, OK, I think I know
49:12
what time it is. I've been down here long enough.
49:14
I have a couple more minutes. OK.
49:16
So. Is there any other if?
49:18
You want to jump in the horde. If you want to jump in the
49:20
horde, be my guest, But that's not going.
49:23
To wake up the dragon. I mean might.
49:27
Can you tell your colleagues that I'm just going to like,
49:28
walk around the room? I'll be really quiet.
49:30
I'm, I'm, I'm good at that. Can I like go over the cord and
49:33
like just, you know, look at it? Like the outside of the cord?
49:36
Sure. Spot the tablet, maybe from like
49:38
a distance, yeah, but. If you are not quiet, I will
49:42
make you quiet. I.
49:43
Understand. I I yeah, that's that's totally
49:46
fair. I I don't care about this
49:48
Dragon's horde. I don't care about anything.
49:50
I just want this dragon to stay asleep.
49:53
All the candles must be lit, all the voices must be chanting.
49:57
As long as you don't affect any of that, we're all good.
50:01
OK. It's really good that you
50:02
mentioned that the candles are tied to it.
50:05
Obviously the candles are swaying back and forth in rhythm
50:08
and unison. They're not just random candles.
50:10
Don't say, obviously, like I'm supposed to know candle magic,
50:13
you know? Oh.
50:14
My God, what's this guy talking? Lady, Lady I.
50:16
Have a question? Message A are the.
50:18
Are the strength of the candles proportional to the strength of
50:23
the spell? Well, they're not like lit by
50:26
regular fire. They're, it's part of the
50:28
incantation, Yeah. So like.
50:31
If they were to. They can't really be affected.
50:33
They can't really be affected unless like the spell is
50:36
partially broken. That's very interesting.
50:39
Thank you, ma'am. And I take out my journal.
50:43
You better not talk aloud when you write in your journal.
50:46
I'm gonna, I'm gonna. I'm physically covering Abe's
50:49
mouth. I'm holding his mouth closed.
50:52
Good I. You can hear my mouth whispering
50:54
through your through your hand, like like you're muffling me.
50:57
But I'm saying the strength of the candles is not proportional.
51:02
OK, well you, what's your name? She points to you, Bo.
51:05
Bon, I say that in the message can't trip.
51:09
OK, Bon, listen to me. I roll my.
51:11
Eyes, obviously, I gesture it. You have to be silent, OK?
51:15
You have to be silent. What we realized is that we can
51:19
whisper a little bit, we can walk around a little bit, but
51:22
this dragon, if we're just too loud, it'll wake up OK.
51:26
And So what that means in of knee terms is that there's a
51:30
wake the dragon meter. You get 3 strikes.
51:34
OK, I live with that. OK, but the strikes are gonna
51:37
continue. If you want to do any other
51:40
action in this room, the strikes add up.
51:41
But we haven't broken any of the strikes, right?
51:44
Or have we? So far, no, no strikes.
51:46
You're all good. Right now you're starting at 0,
51:48
but three strikes and the Dragon's away.
51:50
Do you have to do a stealth check every time you move?
51:52
Like kind of thing. No, you can get one stealth
51:55
check to go and do like a lap across the room and check out
51:58
the horde and come back OK. But any other actions you decide
52:02
to take in the room, whether it be actually going into the horde
52:06
or not, whatever outside actions are, you have to be quiet and or
52:11
succeed on something. OK, what was?
52:13
What was your name again? Oh, you didn't even ask Vasara.
52:17
OK, if it's all right with you and your your buddies, is there
52:21
any way you could let them know to like, not freak out if they
52:23
see us just like walking around, We'll try to be as quiet as
52:25
possible. Yeah, for sure.
52:27
She closes her eyes and then opens them.
52:30
They all know. All right, cool.
52:32
Do you guys wanna come to or should it just be me?
52:36
I don't think this is my Forte. I.
52:38
Take my cloak off and I activate my spectral arms.
52:43
That will give me much greater reach in case we need to grab
52:47
something from the Horde. So are you gonna move up with
52:49
bow because the room is 150 feet up?
52:52
Yeah, I know that. I'm just saying that like when
52:55
we get there, if we need to get something, this may be our way
52:59
to get it. But I say, Bunty, you need to
53:02
stay with Bon I I don't trust that you can be quiet.
53:05
Yes, there, that's there. So please, for the love of
53:09
everything, shut up. And as Bunty comes, oh fuck, as
53:17
Bunty comes out from under your cloak, you see him and Vasara
53:21
make eye contact and then stand there staring at each other.
53:26
Do you? Do you recognize him?
53:28
This thing no. Can I do an inside check?
53:30
An inside. Check.
53:31
Yeah, you can. You can do an inside check,
53:32
yeah. 22. 16. She is morbidly curious about
53:40
what he is, but she doesn't know him.
53:43
She doesn't know him. She hasn't seen this before.
53:45
Interesting. Bon is staying here.
53:47
Yeah. Bon.
53:48
If if I die, you have to take care of Bunty.
53:53
OK. Thank you.
53:53
I will. OK, Bo and Abe give me your
53:57
stealth checks. If both of you failed, that
53:59
counts AS2 separate strikes. Do you want to give guidance?
54:02
I don't know how what your stealth is, but I think mine is
54:06
better. So do you want to give guidance
54:07
to Abe? Yeah.
54:10
I'll give it to Abe. I have a.
54:11
Pretty decent stealth, but it should it's probably worse than
54:13
yours. 22 for me. 22 for me as well.
54:19
With the D4. Without the D4, but I'll I'll
54:21
I'll add it, why not? You guys stealth your way up to
54:27
the front of the room, past the candles.
54:29
You see that you're casting giant shadows against the wall.
54:34
You move all the way up to in front of the horde.
54:37
The horde is massive. You can tell from walking around
54:41
the room. It is about 30 feet wide, 120
54:44
feet in length, Just this massive long horde, and about 25
54:49
feet tall. Give me investigation or
54:54
perception with disadvantage if you're looking for the tablet
54:57
because there are just so many things in this horde and it is
55:01
constantly moving. How wide across is this horde?
55:05
The dragon is sleeping on it, it's body laying across the
55:08
front of the room. It is 120 feet in like length,
55:13
20 feet wide like deep and 25 feet tall.
55:18
So I got a 23 on perception. With disadvantage.
55:23
Shit fuck the first roll was better or sorry the first roll
55:26
was worse cuz. This is my 20.
55:28
I should save my luck point, right?
55:30
Yeah, so. 23. Yeah, I'll save my luck point
55:33
and I'll. Yeah, All right.
55:37
OK. That was pretty good on the
55:38
first one and pretty good on the second one.
55:41
OK, 19. Both of you see a slew of random
55:45
things inside of there. You see potions, you see a
55:48
sword, you see some armor, but you can't clock that piece of
55:52
the tablet that you're looking for.
55:54
You guys don't know exactly what the tablet looks like to begin
55:58
with. All you know is that it has a
55:59
strong magical aura, but when Bon used his detect magic, it
56:04
was blinding. This whole horde has magic, a
56:06
magical aura. Can I see anything within 30
56:09
feet of us? Anything.
56:11
I mean, yeah, I mean there's some potions, there's sword,
56:15
there's armor, there's random stuff in there.
56:18
If you attempt to take something from the horde and fail, that
56:23
will increase a level on the Wake the Dragon meter.
56:28
Are we talking through message? Bo?
56:30
Do we have message? Bo, between a big message and
56:32
you. Did you say that going into the
56:34
horde might wake the dragon? Yeah, I'm wondering if I can use
56:38
my magic to grab something from the horde without even touching
56:42
it. But it has its own magic, right?
56:44
Yeah, So what what she said is that Kumkaraj is bonded with
56:50
this horde so she can feel it, and she it's enchanted so that
56:55
it's constantly moving as a protection for her.
56:58
I see. In that case, is there a way for
57:00
us to like wait a certain amount of time to do another perception
57:03
check, almost like an airport baggage collect?
57:08
I think, I think that's your that's your general.
57:10
I think that's your general perception check.
57:12
Like you are staring and looking at this thing.
57:15
It is just moving really fast. You can't, yeah, you can't
57:17
really grasp it as you guys are staying there in both of your
57:21
heads. You hear Vasara talking.
57:23
You guys have been looking at this horde.
57:25
For a while. Have you found what you needed
57:28
I? Know there's a lot of shit over
57:30
here. Yeah, OK.
57:32
How about this, If one of you goes inside the horde, I will
57:37
join the circle so there's 11 Wizards trying to keep the
57:41
dragon asleep, and then I'll give you a minute to just look
57:45
around and see if you can find it.
57:47
Would it help at all if like we weren't physically at the Horde?
57:50
Is that going to be less likely to try to wake up Coon Cross?
57:53
Maybe. But this horde, this horde is
57:54
massive. All right, that's really nice of
57:56
you, lady. OK.
57:58
Yeah, it is really nice. I think we'll we'll accept.
58:02
OK. I would just like to clarify to
58:04
the party, I don't see why she wants to help us.
58:09
It doesn't make sense, but I'll take it.
58:11
I want she as if you read your mind.
58:13
I just nothing really happens down here.
58:15
This is the most interesting thing that has happened in 300
58:18
years. I'm, I appreciate that you're,
58:21
you're willing to help us so much.
58:24
In and out what one of you one of you can go in there.
58:27
Not both. No, I can't.
58:30
We can't keep the dragon asleep when there's two people rooting
58:32
around in her horde. She starts to leave the archway
58:36
and she gestures to you Bond to follow her.
58:39
I follow her. I tell Bunty to wait.
58:42
Bunty, stay again. Just pretend you're playing,
58:45
bunk it, but don't say anything. Do not make any noise.
58:49
Visara leads you bond to the circle and in your head you hear
58:54
do do magic. I I smirk a little bit.
58:58
I'm like, oh, I knew you could tell.
59:01
She rolls her eyes. OK, I know you probably aren't
59:08
well versed in this spell, but do you know Elvish?
59:10
Yes, I'm a giraffe. OK oh oh perfect.
59:14
Just repeat after us and maybe you can help keep this dragon
59:19
stable. OK, you can roll a religion or
59:22
an arcana check with advantage. I am going to do religion.
59:26
Yeah, that's what I thought. That is a 18 + 6 -, 2, so 22.
59:32
Incredible. She starts chanting, you start
59:35
chanting, and as you chant you see a little bit of that purple
59:40
haze that was coming out of the wand seems to come out of your
59:43
mouth as you chants. So as this is happening, which
59:53
one of you is going to jump inside?
59:55
And then I'll tell you the rules of the Horde.
59:58
I want to say I feel like I should do it.
1:00:00
I don't know what kind of rules that this is going to be.
1:00:03
If it's like a thing where you have to make.
1:00:05
It's going to be investigation or perception and sleight of
1:00:10
hand and then a Constitution saving throw as you jump in.
1:00:14
OK, those are the the three main types.
1:00:16
I do have high perception, decent slate of hand, I have
1:00:20
good decks, but I'm not that good at con.
1:00:22
I'm also not very good at. Con bow, rock, paper, scissors,
1:00:28
Whoever loses it goes in best out of three.
1:00:31
All right. I'll count it down.
1:00:33
I'll count it down. So you guys have the same delay
1:00:35
on the camera? So you said whoever loses has to
1:00:38
go in. I mean, I'm down to go in.
1:00:40
I feel like, OK, what I'll say wins goes in.
1:00:43
I have I have the the mage hand the mage hand Ledger main, which
1:00:48
means I can do sleight of hand checks up to 30 feet away from
1:00:52
me. Would that give me any extra
1:00:53
bonus while I'm in there? Yes, let's say that you can roll
1:00:58
Sleight of Hand. We'll add like a A + 2 to your
1:01:00
Sleight of Hand all. Right.
1:01:02
Cool. You, you go.
1:01:02
On though, yeah, I think I should probably go in.
1:01:06
Feels like you got this one buddy.
1:01:09
I feel like I don't. I think I'm about to wake up a
1:01:12
fucking dragon, but we'll see. Or I'm going to hit.
1:01:14
I'm going to hit the horde that just get knocked out
1:01:16
immediately. I am going to ready in action
1:01:19
which is if the dragon wakes up. Run or what?
1:01:24
Can you give me a help action on any of my checks?
1:01:26
No, if if the dragon wakes up I'm going to try to pull him out
1:01:29
with my spectral arms. We're probably only at risk of
1:01:33
breaking one of our strikes right now, so I think that it's
1:01:35
probably more helpful to try to help.
1:01:37
You it's going to be, it's going to be a series of checks when
1:01:40
you're inside. It's not going to be just one
1:01:42
perception check and one slot of hand check.
1:01:44
There's going to be I'll I'll tell you how this goes.
1:01:46
Sure, but can can Abe give me like a help action on my
1:01:50
perception checks maybe? Are you proficient in in
1:01:54
perception, Abe? Yeah.
1:01:56
So you can get the help action for one of your roles.
1:01:58
OK. One of your perception roles.
1:02:00
So how this is going to go is you're going to need to roll a
1:02:03
Constitution saving throw to get into the horde.
1:02:06
Just because you fail, it doesn't mean that you
1:02:10
immediately get knocked out. It just means instead of 10
1:02:13
rounds in the horde to look for the tablet, you only get 5
1:02:16
rounds in the horde. At the beginning of each round
1:02:20
you and I will each roll a D6. Your D6 will signify what
1:02:23
section of the horde you've kind of been moved into, and my D6
1:02:27
will be where the tablet is, but I'm not going to tell you what
1:02:30
my D6 is. Then you'll roll your perception
1:02:33
check to look for the tablet. If you roll lower than a 10 then
1:02:37
you gain 1 level on the wake the dragon meter as you're kind of
1:02:40
searching around and not able to find the tablet.
1:02:44
If the tablet is not there you may find other items in the
1:02:47
horde and if you want to take that item you will have to make
1:02:49
a slight a hand check. The DC would depend on what item
1:02:52
you are trying to steal, but you have to commit to stealing it
1:02:55
before I tell you the DC. If you fail on the slight a hand
1:02:58
check you add another level on the Wake the Dragon meter. 3
1:03:01
failures results in the dragon waking up.
1:03:05
Oh. Yeah.
1:03:06
Don't try to take anything other than the tablet.
1:03:10
If you think the Dragon's going to wake up, I don't know, just
1:03:13
send me a message. I'll, I'll try to pull you out
1:03:15
with the arms. Yeah, yeah, absolutely.
1:03:18
Of course, I'm not going to try to take anything.
1:03:19
Bo. Look at me, Bo.
1:03:22
Yeah. No, no, no, no, no.
1:03:23
I get it. I get.
1:03:24
It right up to your face. Got you, I got you.
1:03:26
I got you bro. Promise me.
1:03:28
Don't try to take anything other than the tablet.
1:03:32
Promise me. Pro pro pro pro pro pro.
1:03:33
I got you and I looked sideways at a really nice looking short
1:03:37
sword in the horn. You guys are just doing this all
1:03:41
over Message yes. Bon is like chanting and like
1:03:45
he's getting incredibly tired from casting this spell.
1:03:49
He's not. Even the most powerful.
1:03:50
One there and he is like getting sucked out of his mouth.
1:03:53
This sleep spell into the dragon do.
1:03:55
I do I have to do a deception check?
1:03:58
It depends if Abe cares enough. If Abe cares enough to insight.
1:04:02
Sure. OK, Abe, you insight.
1:04:04
I can't say that Beau, like wouldn't try to take something.
1:04:10
Well, that was. Going to be a 26.
1:04:15
OK, if you trust you trust Bo instantaneously.
1:04:18
Absolutely. Bo would never do anything to
1:04:20
endanger the situation and possibly wake up a dragon.
1:04:23
Because I was going to say if I if I succeeded on that inside
1:04:25
check, I was about to push Bo aside and jump into that thing.
1:04:32
OK, Bo, give me your Constitution saving throw.
1:04:35
Dave, did you get guidance at all?
1:04:38
I I'm concentrating on this, so I can't catch that.
1:04:40
Yes, I imagine. Perfect.
1:04:44
Should I should I use my amulet on the constitution saving throw
1:04:49
it would give me you? Always have heroic inspiration
1:04:53
if you fuck up. I forgot, did I get that after a
1:04:55
long rest? Did I use that today?
1:04:58
I thought I used that. You just woke up.
1:04:59
No, you just woke up. OK, no, I used the luck point.
1:05:02
OK, I'm sorry I'm taking so long but every time it's something
1:05:06
like this it makes me so nervous.
1:05:08
Just go for it. I'll use a fucking luck point on
1:05:10
the Constitution because I feel like getting an extra 5 rounds
1:05:13
would be huge, so I think that's worth it.
1:05:16
But that would be my last luck point.
1:05:18
But I still have a heroic inspiration, so I think we're
1:05:20
going to be fine. Yeah.
1:05:22
All right, fuck it. Here we go.
1:05:26
So that's an 18 on my Constitution saving throw. 18
1:05:29
you make it in, you have your 10 rounds, so now it's the
1:05:32
beginning of the round you and I each roll RD6.
1:05:35
All right, 5. Now you roll your perception
1:05:41
check. If you roll lower than A10, that
1:05:43
is one strike on the wake the dragon meter and.
1:05:45
And this this first one he has advantage on.
1:05:48
Yes, this first one you have advantage on.
1:05:50
OK. So it's really, really good
1:05:54
thing I had advantage on that. I rolled A2, but that was just
1:05:58
my first roll. My second roll is a 10 on the
1:06:01
die, which is going to be a 13 for me.
1:06:04
You are searching around. You're searching.
1:06:05
Around you're shaking right now. You're unable to find the tablet
1:06:12
right now, but you do see a bright red potion that is
1:06:16
glimmering in a clear glass vial.
1:06:18
It's liquid is swirling. Do you want to go reach for it?
1:06:23
Does it look like a healing potion?
1:06:25
Yeah, it looks like a a deeper red though.
1:06:28
I think I'm gonna pass on this one.
1:06:30
OK, you pass on this one. Cuz if I fail, then that's
1:06:33
another, that's another strike, right?
1:06:35
Yeah, but you don't have any strikes yet so far.
1:06:37
OK, but I yeah, I think there are other ways we can get
1:06:39
healing potions. OK, roll your D6, let's top of
1:06:42
the round. Abe feels helpless.
1:06:44
The two of you are are doing things to to help the situation,
1:06:48
right? Now that'd be a A5 again for me.
1:06:50
OK, now roll your perception check.
1:06:53
This one is flat. Fuck, that'll be a nine.
1:06:59
A9 that. Is I'll use heroic inspiration?
1:07:02
OK. OK, it's a 14.
1:07:05
You pass your perception check. You look again.
1:07:07
You're unable to find the tablet.
1:07:10
This time you see a short sword moving by you.
1:07:14
It looks elegantly balanced. The blade is gleaming like
1:07:17
polished silver. Don't do it.
1:07:20
Is Abe looking? I can't.
1:07:21
No, Abe. You're fully in the horde.
1:07:23
You're in this moving horde. It is like deafening around you.
1:07:27
Fuck it, I'm gonna go for. It OK, give me your sleight of
1:07:30
hand. Fuck me.
1:07:35
Yeah, I'll use a luck point on this.
1:07:39
No, I won't. Fuck.
1:07:43
Yeah. Yeah, I will.
1:07:46
OK, 17. A-17 just passes you're.
1:07:51
Able to grab. That short sword, it is a + 1
1:07:55
short sword all. Right.
1:07:56
I'll take it. OK.
1:07:59
OK, top of the round. 3. OK, roll your perception check.
1:08:05
All right, see how I do 22. You look around for the tablet.
1:08:10
This time you're. You.
1:08:11
You swear you. Almost saw it but it moved away
1:08:14
too fast. Instead, what you see is a Mace,
1:08:20
and it seems to be. It's a solid black iron Mace
1:08:23
with faint blue sparks crackling along the spiked head, and it
1:08:26
hums faintly with this electricity.
1:08:29
You got to get it. No, I know, I think.
1:08:32
That's my Mace. Right there bro.
1:08:36
Bond just Bond's eyes starts twitching for some reason.
1:08:41
Beau feels bad and wants to get a gift for Bon, so I think I'm
1:08:46
going to go for it. OK, give me your sleight of
1:08:48
hand. 13. That is your first failure.
1:08:53
As the Mace slips away from you, you hear the dragon start to
1:08:57
stir. A little bit above.
1:08:59
OK, OK. Top around 4 all.
1:09:02
Right. Oh, this is the the six sided
1:09:05
die. The six, yeah. 4.
1:09:08
OK, roll your perception check. Are there any other tricks up my
1:09:11
sleeve? Yeah, fuck Should I?
1:09:14
You just have the thing, but. I have to clockwork amulet but I
1:09:17
feel like I should save that until we're like down to one
1:09:19
strike left so. Yeah.
1:09:22
All right, here we go. All right, 13.
1:09:25
You look around, you don't see the tablet at all.
1:09:29
Instead you just see a small, smooth pale stone that is just
1:09:33
what catches your eye. This round does.
1:09:34
It look like anyone want to grab it?
1:09:36
Does it look like the stone that Harry showed us earlier?
1:09:39
The luck stone that Harry has. Yeah, this this just looks like
1:09:42
a smooth pale stone. So a little bit I guess
1:09:45
different. I mean, Bo does like rocks.
1:09:48
Like don't think I'm going to. Grab it, you know, risk it all
1:09:52
for a rock. The destruction of a tiger
1:09:56
country. All right, cool.
1:09:59
I'm gonna. Yeah, I guess I'll keep looking.
1:10:00
OK. Let's roll our D sixes. 5 again.
1:10:05
OK, roll your perception. This is round 5.
1:10:08
Yeah, we're round 5. Another 13.
1:10:11
Another 13. You still don't see the tablet,
1:10:14
but you do see a scroll, a thin, pale parchment that seems to
1:10:20
vibrate. Interesting, I think I'm going
1:10:22
to pass on that one too. OK, round 6 value D6. 1.
1:10:29
Roll your perception. OK, that's going to be an 8.
1:10:34
An 8. That is your second failure.
1:10:36
Oh. My.
1:10:38
God, you don't see anything here.
1:10:40
OK, top of round seven, you have two strikes.
1:10:43
OK, wait, 2 strikes. There's a perception.
1:10:46
Yeah, I fail on the the perception got.
1:10:48
You failed on this perception because you're you're hunting
1:10:51
around in the horde, Yeah. I did not realize that Jesus.
1:10:55
All right, two on the die for. The.
1:11:00
D6 not for the perception check. Thank God. 13 once.
1:11:06
I keep rolling A10 on the die and it keeps fucking scaring the
1:11:09
shit out of me. OK, a 13.
1:11:12
You see a perfectly polished silver coin with a coiled
1:11:16
serpent on one side and a crown on the other.
1:11:19
Beau's going to grab this one. Awesome.
1:11:23
Nat 20. That's cool.
1:11:26
Yeah, you grab this this coin. Another one which which round
1:11:30
are we on? We're on round 8.
1:11:32
OK, I got a three. Now roll your perception.
1:11:38
Is this Do I want to be using the the amulet?
1:11:41
At this point I don't. Need to, I mean you don't know
1:11:43
if the tablet. Maybe I should save it for the
1:11:44
last one. Yeah, yeah, that's a 10 on my
1:11:50
perception check A. 10 just passes.
1:11:53
You see another scroll go by. You a slightly crumpled scroll
1:11:57
with faint finger stains. Interesting.
1:12:01
It's got Cheeto desks, oily fingers.
1:12:06
I think there's two shots left, I think.
1:12:08
I think I can pass on that one. You know we only got one shot
1:12:11
left and I need fuck. Yeah, we're round 9 now.
1:12:15
Two more shots Round 9. All right then, I'll pass on the
1:12:18
on that grubby scroll that's a 2 on my D6 give.
1:12:23
Me your perception. 18. You see that that Mace goes by
1:12:27
again. This is so.
1:12:29
Fucked up. All right, Bo, are you going
1:12:37
not? Saying anything, I can't get the
1:12:38
tablet I need to get a gift. This is entirely I.
1:12:41
Need to get a gift? For.
1:12:43
Those decisions, Bonds had a rough day.
1:12:46
I'm going to grab it, OK. Roll your sleight of hand.
1:12:49
Oh. My God, there's a 19 on the die,
1:12:52
so that's a. 26 That's good. Good, you grab that Mace.
1:12:58
Good grab, good grab all. Right last round.
1:13:01
This is the last one I love that I told Abe and he completely
1:13:05
believed me and then I'm gonna come out here with so much shit.
1:13:09
And not the tablet. All right, last 1-6 on the die.
1:13:14
OK. That feels lucky.
1:13:16
Roll your perception check. I'm not going to roll this one,
1:13:19
I'm going to use the clockwork amulet and get a 16 on my
1:13:22
perception check. This is the last one, right?
1:13:24
Yep. This is the last one.
1:13:25
So I think, yeah, I'm keeping track of how long I've been in
1:13:31
this horde, and I can feel like, I guess the rumbling of the
1:13:35
dragon as it feels like it's getting closer to wake up.
1:13:38
I'm sensing the direness of the situation.
1:13:41
So I'm going to reach into my pocket for the clockwork amulet
1:13:45
and just like hold it and kind of feel In Sync with it.
1:13:49
And I feel like it kind of slows down the horde and gives me a
1:13:53
sense of like clarity inside this chaos.
1:13:56
Incredible as that happens, amid the shimmering piles of gold and
1:14:02
treasure, you spot something slightly different.
1:14:06
A fragment of a larger tablet, roughly the size of a hand.
1:14:10
Its edge is jagged, as if broken from a larger hole.
1:14:13
The surface is smooth stone, etched with intricate flowing
1:14:16
ruins and a language that you can't read just yet.
1:14:19
It's just moving too fast. The words seem to shimmer
1:14:22
faintly in the dim light of the horde.
1:14:25
OK, yeah, let's get it. Let's do that sleight of hand.
1:14:27
Hopefully I'd do well. Oh man, it all comes down to
1:14:30
this. It's a 17 on the die, so that's
1:14:35
going to be a 24. Dude, the way you said that, I
1:14:38
thought you failed. I was like, Oh no, I was
1:14:41
totally. Expecting to I was I.
1:14:44
You grab this tablet and you're able to hold on to it and you
1:14:47
know your minute is up. Give me a Constitution saving
1:14:50
throw as you are ejected from the horde and you can do it with
1:14:54
advantage. Since Abe said that, he had his
1:14:57
arms ready to kind of grab you out.
1:14:59
Unnatural 20 I jump out of the horde carrying bunches of magic
1:15:05
items. As this happens, Bon you almost
1:15:09
completely collapse. You are so worn out from the
1:15:11
spell you have been exhausted from last night.
1:15:14
And Vasara also stops chanting. She beckons for you guys to go
1:15:21
back to the archway. I whispered to Vasara.
1:15:25
I say thank you and please don't tell anyone we were here.
1:15:30
Yeah, OK. I say that in Elvish.
1:15:33
She appreciates that Bo and Abe make your stealth checks.
1:15:37
I was just going to say when when Bo came out, I'm going to,
1:15:40
I'm going to cushion him, but I kind of twirl him in the air and
1:15:43
place him behind me. I message Abe.
1:15:47
I had this sword before, and this Mace and this coin.
1:15:51
This electric Mace that is like buzzing.
1:15:55
OK, both of you, give me your stealth checks to get back.
1:15:57
That's going to be DC 20 to successfully sneak.
1:16:02
OK, 21. To 17.
1:16:06
As you guys are making your way back, Bo, you have just
1:16:10
succeeded. You got the tablet, you got all
1:16:12
these cool magic items. You're feeling really good about
1:16:14
yourself, Abe. You're still kind of figuring
1:16:18
out your spectral arms. And as you're walking around,
1:16:22
you kind of fall a little to the wayside, lose your balance, kick
1:16:26
one of the candles, and the candle goes out.
1:16:30
As you fail this stealth check, the vibrating sound of the
1:16:34
Dragon's slumber has stopped. A second later, the air shivers
1:16:39
with sudden motion. The faint hum of magic holding
1:16:42
the Horde still erupts in a low, rumbling roar.
1:16:46
With a groan like rolling boulders, Kumkoraj's massive red
1:16:50
eyes crack open, leery and heavy lidded at first but quickly
1:16:55
sharpening into alert predatory awareness.
1:16:59
The mountain of treasures shudders violently, golden
1:17:01
gemstones tumbling in cascade of chaos, coins spilling like
1:17:05
raindrops. Chests tip over and scattered
1:17:07
magical items clouded to the stone floor.
1:17:10
The smell of molten metal, dust and something unmistakably
1:17:14
draconic fills the air. The Wizards in the chamber
1:17:16
scream and scatter. What do you guys start to do?
1:17:20
Yeah, my ready to action was to dash.
1:17:23
So I'm going to do that to the archway where the other where
1:17:29
you guys are. I will be doing that as well.
1:17:32
Run. I turn around and run.
1:17:36
Oh crap. Oh my God, I got little.
1:17:37
Eggs. Someone take me and he jumps
1:17:39
onto your shoulders. Bond.
1:17:40
Yeah, I grab Bunty. I grab Bunty.
1:17:43
So you guys are screaming and you guys are running, and the
1:17:47
chamber starts to kind of fall apart as this dragon starts to
1:17:51
unfurl. Some of the Wizards are too slow
1:17:53
and you see that the Dragon's maw lined with jagged teeth
1:17:56
snaps down, crunching some of these Wizards in half.
1:18:00
Flames lick the edge of the room as she swipes A claw towards
1:18:03
those spellcasters who shriek in panic.
1:18:06
One or two vanish under the sudden surge of fire and her
1:18:09
crushing tail. You guys start to run, breath
1:18:13
ragged, hearts hammering. You ascend the stairs, leaving
1:18:16
the chaos behind so you reach the floor above.
1:18:20
But the roar of Kumkuraj is getting louder.
1:18:22
We're going to do a series of checks as you run to escape the
1:18:25
crumbling tower. If you fail 2 checks, Kumkuraj
1:18:29
catches up to you. Except Abe.
1:18:31
Abe, because you have your speed, you can fail three checks
1:18:33
before Kumkaraj catches up to you.
1:18:36
OK, doesn't Bo also get a second dash?
1:18:38
Bo, Yeah, Bo. So then you can, you can fail
1:18:41
three checks as well before Kumkaraj catches up to you bond.
1:18:44
It's just you. 2 checks in. What are these checks gonna be?
1:18:47
These are just a series of events you actually like.
1:18:49
Do some Dexterity checks, some Strength checks, like.
1:18:52
Otherwise, you kind of slow down a little bit.
1:18:54
Gotcha, gotcha. So the first check.
1:18:57
The Dragon's roar shakes the stone beneath your feet.
1:19:00
Chunks of masonry tumble from above and sparks fly from
1:19:03
debris. Dust chokes the air as you
1:19:05
Sprint upwards. Give me an acrobatics check to
1:19:08
keep your footing and dodge the falling debris.
1:19:10
All right, I'm going to cast bless on the three of us.
1:19:13
OK, so we all get AD 4 to any saving throws or attack rolls.
1:19:17
We. Make OK give me an acrobatics
1:19:19
check to keep your footing and dodge the falling debris. 27.
1:19:23
11. 11 as well. Bon and Bo, you guys stumble a
1:19:27
little bit, lose your footing. Abe, you're sprinting far ahead.
1:19:30
Bon and Bo, you guys have had your first failure.
1:19:33
There's no way for me to help them with my arms.
1:19:35
You can't really carry them. They're kind of large unless you
1:19:38
have a high strength, but I don't think you do.
1:19:40
I think you're more deck space, right?
1:19:41
Yes, and I can't use like my decks in place of strength here.
1:19:45
No, not to like, carry. Got you.
1:19:47
OK, check #2 you burst into the monk chamber.
1:19:50
The statues twitch violently and the ceilings grown ominously.
1:19:54
Rubble begins to tumble towards the stairwell.
1:19:57
Roll a string check to shove past the fallen debris and leap
1:20:01
over the fallen statues blocking your path.
1:20:04
So give me athletics. It does say I can use whiz in
1:20:08
place of strength when making strength checks.
1:20:10
Will that will that count here or no?
1:20:13
Yeah. OK, that'll be a 15. 16. 19.
1:20:17
You all passed this last one. This is the next one.
1:20:19
The narrow spiral stairs twist sharply and a heavy stone slab
1:20:22
has partially blocked the way. A gust of hot air from below
1:20:25
carries the faint scent of smoke, and you hear the dragon
1:20:29
stirring behind. You roll a perception check to
1:20:31
spot the safest path past the obstruction without slowing
1:20:34
down. As this is happening, I shout to
1:20:37
Abe. I say go get Janie.
1:20:40
OK, unlock the room. We locked them in there.
1:20:42
OK, so you can do that after this check.
1:20:45
Whose perception 24. 15. 6. Bo, that is your second failure.
1:20:52
You have one more before the dragon catches up to you.
1:20:55
You try to follow the same path that Abe and Bond took, but you
1:21:00
get a little distracted. You lose your footing, You slow
1:21:02
down a little bit. Quick question, I've seen
1:21:05
Dragonborn before right? Yeah, you've seen Dragonborn
1:21:08
before. And this is a Kukraj is a red
1:21:11
dragon. A red dragon, yes.
1:21:13
Just as precautionary measure, I'm going to change my form into
1:21:16
a red Dragonborn just in case, and I'll keep running.
1:21:19
Awesome, do you arrive on the floor where Janie and Rug are
1:21:22
trapped? The ceiling breaks dangerously
1:21:24
and a support beam leans towards the stairwell.
1:21:26
Dust and small debris shower around you as the Dragons rumble
1:21:29
grows louder. Abe, since you're going to go
1:21:32
unlock the door to get Janie and Rug out, you'll you'll have to
1:21:35
roll this check with disadvantage as you're
1:21:38
distracted. Give me an acrobatics check to
1:21:42
keep your balance as all this chaos swirls around you.
1:21:46
Tough. That's going to be a nine with
1:21:48
this bandage, OK. That's your first failure, con
1:21:52
and bow. How many how many more checks do
1:21:54
you have to do? You have to do one more check
1:21:57
after this. OK, you said acrobatics. 14. 24.
1:22:02
All of you passed this one. I I'm yelling to the room.
1:22:05
Janie Rug. Come on now we gotta go.
1:22:08
Oh. Shit.
1:22:09
OK, yeah. Can someone carry me?
1:22:11
Yeah. Can they, Can they like they're
1:22:12
small? Can they just jump onto my
1:22:14
shoulders like Bunty does the two of them?
1:22:16
Janie will jump on yours and Rug will if possible jump on bows
1:22:22
because Gone already has Bunty. I don't like, I'm not happy
1:22:25
about it, but I can't really fight against it.
1:22:29
Yeah. And just to ask, is Visara like
1:22:32
still here running or she's gone?
1:22:35
She has slowed down behind you guys.
1:22:37
You don't know what's happened to her.
1:22:38
I've been. I rolled on the side for her.
1:22:40
OK. The final stairwell stretches
1:22:42
before you. Stones fall from above as a
1:22:44
collapsed section of the wall sends a small avalanche towards
1:22:47
the stairs. The exit is just ahead, that
1:22:50
hole of light promising freedom back into the ugly arena.
1:22:54
You have to get yourself up the wall and out of the hole into
1:22:57
the ground. You can roll whatever check you
1:23:00
would like to roll, but just describe to me how you get out
1:23:03
of this hole. What is your last final push to
1:23:05
get out of this hole? Is our rope still there?
1:23:08
Yes, the rope is still there, so if you want to do a climb check
1:23:11
you can do with advantage. Hey, do you think you can climb
1:23:13
up and like help pull the rope as we're like trying to climb
1:23:16
up? That's exactly what I was going
1:23:18
to try to do if I can. Roll your acrobatics.
1:23:21
You have the climb speed equal to your wall.
1:23:23
You have the time speed equal to flat wall speed.
1:23:25
So you just do that. You just jump up and you start
1:23:28
climbing. I mean, the rope, I'm literally
1:23:30
you've made it out. Have you seen the parkour people
1:23:32
like run up the side of a spiral?
1:23:35
Yeah, I'm just gonna. Jump onto the circular wall and
1:23:38
kind of scale it that way and get to the top.
1:23:41
I look at Bond, I'm like, that was sick as fuck, right?
1:23:45
I was so sick. I say that as I'm casting
1:23:50
guidance on myself. Great.
1:23:51
For this one, OK, roll your Athletics or Acrobatics with
1:23:54
advantage to get up the rope. As I get to the top, Janie, I
1:23:57
say, Janie, come on, help me. And then the two of us, if she
1:24:00
gets off, we're going to, we're going to try to pull the rope as
1:24:03
hard as we can. Yeah, she's not going to do much
1:24:06
help, but yes, she will do yes. So to be to be clear, we're
1:24:10
rolling with advantage. Yes, you 2 are rolling with
1:24:13
advantage. That's 13 + 4 -2 is 15.
1:24:20
If I didn't have advantage, that would have been a nine, but it's
1:24:23
actually a 19. Let's go.
1:24:25
Perfect you you guys are able to make it up thanks to Abe and
1:24:29
Janie's help. Can we say since it was
1:24:31
literally because of Abe's help action that like Abe pulls the
1:24:36
rope up as Kumkharaj is like closing its jaws right behind
1:24:41
me? Yes, the you, because you failed
1:24:44
twice. You were almost at your third
1:24:46
failure. You slowed down quite a bit.
1:24:48
Roger's mouth snaps as Abe pulls you up out of it.
1:24:52
Do you guys just keep running out of the ugly arena?
1:24:54
Yeah, OK. Definitely.
1:24:55
You guys keep running out of the arena until you are back in
1:24:58
town. It's the afternoon on day two of
1:25:01
the celebrations. Vendors shout over one another
1:25:04
as they cook festival foods. Children dart between crowds
1:25:08
chasing ribbons. Musicians play in the Plaza.
1:25:11
The world above is bright, almost blinding to you since
1:25:14
you've been down there for a couple days.
1:25:15
It's noisy and it's completely unaware of what sleeps beneath
1:25:19
their feet. We need to get everybody out of
1:25:21
this city immediately. As you say that, there was a
1:25:24
loud crack as the ground near the ugly arena splits open.
1:25:29
A shockwave rolls to the Plaza, knocking people off of their
1:25:32
feet, and a deafening roar follows as Klinkarage bursts
1:25:36
into the sky, wings tearing free of stone and dust, spiraling
1:25:40
upward like a volcanic plume. The festival music dies
1:25:44
instantly. People scream, stalls overturn,
1:25:47
crowds scatter in every direction as the shadow of the
1:25:50
dragon sweeps across the street. What are you guys trying to do?
1:25:54
Are you trying to escape the city?
1:25:56
Where is viscera? You don't see viscera.
1:25:58
Where's Viscera? Where's Viscera?
1:26:00
I'm just like saying this to you guys.
1:26:02
Did did you see her come up behind you?
1:26:03
Was she on the rope? She she knows magic.
1:26:06
She has to fend for herself. We have to help everybody who
1:26:08
doesn't. Ignoring the panic, I am going
1:26:11
to look to the sky and do a perception check to try to find
1:26:15
vox RMS bird. Yes, roll your perception check.
1:26:19
Roll it with disadvantage since there is chaos.
1:26:22
And I'm going to give myself guidance that's on this that is
1:26:26
a six. You don't see anything except
1:26:29
this giant dragon flying overhead.
1:26:31
Is there any way I could see what Bon is doing and give him
1:26:35
the help action? Because I am, I do have
1:26:39
proficiency and. Sure.
1:26:40
Perception. If you want to look again, you
1:26:42
can roll this perception flat. OK, I will.
1:26:46
That is a four. All right, OK.
1:26:50
Yeah. You don't see shit.
1:26:51
Just a giant dragon. Just a giant dragon.
1:26:55
OK. Do you guys want to escape the
1:26:57
city or you're going to turn and try to help the people as
1:27:00
destruction begins to tear through the city?
1:27:02
Just before we do, I would like to make a perception check to
1:27:06
see is Kumarage attempting to fly away or or is Kumarage just
1:27:10
sticking around above the city. What you know is that when she
1:27:13
awakes, she has an insatiable hunger.
1:27:16
Oh no, she will eat everything. OK, we we need, we need to help.
1:27:21
OK. Yeah, we have to help these
1:27:23
people. I think we all agree.
1:27:25
Jeannie and Rug are standing there as you guys debate what to
1:27:28
do to help people or to to run away.
1:27:31
Janie turns to you. I think we're going to hide,
1:27:34
Yeah. I think it's best that we hide.
1:27:37
And before that, any of you. I would not hide, I would run as
1:27:40
far as you can. OK.
1:27:42
OK. And they absolutely just book it
1:27:46
out of here as much as their little legs can carry them.
1:27:49
I'm gonna, I'm gonna scream after them.
1:27:50
Find, find a different dragon. Not this one, Yeah.
1:27:54
They give you thumbs up as they run away.
1:27:57
Are you guys going to split up and try to help where it's this
1:28:00
is not going to be initiative. This is going to be mini scenes
1:28:03
that are happening. Yeah.
1:28:05
So do you guys want to split up or do you want to go to like the
1:28:07
same different scenes? Do you want to help different
1:28:08
people? Bo Bon, We should split up and
1:28:12
help as many people as we can, but we need to have a rendezvous
1:28:14
point. Yes, I feel like that really
1:28:16
depends on how much of the city is still intact.
1:28:19
Rendezvous outside the tower? The tall tower.
1:28:23
Which which tower? Oh yeah, that one.
1:28:26
Maybe the tallest tower that's still left standing?
1:28:28
The the Pyro Watch keep right now is where the Imperator
1:28:31
lives. Yes, but but if.
1:28:33
That one's not standing. Maybe not go.
1:28:34
To the next tallest tower. Great, That's still left
1:28:39
standing. Foolproof plan, you guys.
1:28:44
Jump. It's a better plan than I was
1:28:45
expecting. You guys go help three different
1:28:49
situations bond. We're going to start with you
1:28:51
first. A collapsed vendor stand lies in
1:28:55
flames, and a small house next to it is completely encircled by
1:28:59
a roiling Ring of Fire, about half a foot tall but growing
1:29:02
inside. You hear a woman shouting for
1:29:04
her two children trapped upstairs with smoke pouring out
1:29:07
the windows. The flames are low enough to
1:29:10
jump through, but the heat is intense and rising.
1:29:14
A sudden downdraft from Kumkuraj's wings reignite the
1:29:17
blaze each time someone approaches.
1:29:19
How do you want to deal with this situation?
1:29:21
So they're on the 2nd floor, yes, and I can see them.
1:29:24
You can see the kids out the window and a woman is outside of
1:29:29
that Ring of Fire shouting that her children are inside.
1:29:31
My kids, my kids, they're up there.
1:29:33
Please can you save my kids? I run into the building.
1:29:36
You run into the building. You are to be.
1:29:39
McGuire, do you want to do anything about the fire?
1:29:43
Oh yes, wait, this might not work.
1:29:45
This might make things worse, but you know, you got to take a
1:29:48
risk. I am going to use the wind fan.
1:29:52
So I'm going to catch some. Gusty wait, let me let me read
1:29:54
gusted wind real quick. Before you make the situation
1:29:58
worse, it I think it extinguishes candle torches
1:30:03
unprotected flame. Yeah, it extinguishes.
1:30:06
Excellent unprotected flames in the area, all right causes
1:30:09
protected flames such as those lanterns stanch wildly blah blah
1:30:13
blah. All right, I'm going to cast
1:30:14
gusts of wind using the fan you. Use the fan for the first time
1:30:20
and as you use the fan you feel this very strong connection to
1:30:24
Thezmira. Your pocket watch in your hand
1:30:27
starts to tingle a little bit and gust of wind comes out,
1:30:31
clearing a clear path for you to run upstairs.
1:30:35
I run upstairs, putting the fan in my pocket.
1:30:38
Run upstairs, you grab the children.
1:30:39
The flames start to build up a little bit as you're making your
1:30:43
way down, but you were able to clear that full path and make it
1:30:46
outside of that ring of circle and give that woman her children
1:30:50
back. I keep running, you keep running
1:30:52
the next thing. Abe, this is your turn.
1:30:54
A huge shadow passes overhead. Kumkaraj hoops slow and snatches
1:30:58
an armored guard, lifting him into the sky.
1:31:01
You watch the guard stabbed desperately at the Dragon's
1:31:04
claw, and for a moment he succeeds.
1:31:06
But the dragon roars and drops him.
1:31:08
He's plummeting 100 feet downward to the Plaza, spinning,
1:31:12
screaming and arms flailing. People below him scatter.
1:31:17
What do you want to do? Oh shit OK this is going to be
1:31:20
up to you DM Can I use deflect missile?
1:31:26
It's not really an attack. And also, I mean, so The thing
1:31:30
is he will be doing a lot of damage, falling downwards.
1:31:35
I think 10D6 worth of damage. I don't think you could absorb
1:31:40
that much damage. Let's say average role.
1:31:43
That's a 30. That's damage that he's doing to
1:31:46
the ground or damage he's taking himself.
1:31:48
Both like he's going to hit the ground.
1:31:50
It's equal and opposite force. Yep, Newton.
1:31:52
Hate him. OK, Am I kind of in an alley or
1:31:56
like on a street right now? You're on a street right now,
1:31:58
yes? Be creative with this.
1:31:59
Tell me what you see in the area that you want to.
1:32:01
Yes, I'm going to do a Avengers One Hulk.
1:32:05
I'm going to try to run up the side of one of the buildings at
1:32:08
full speed and intercept him in the air and change the direction
1:32:12
in which he's falling. Try to time it.
1:32:14
OK, incredible. Give me an athletics check.
1:32:19
This would be a pretty high athletics check to try to run up
1:32:21
the wall, jump across and kind of tackle him, push him in a
1:32:25
different direction and kind of slow his fall.
1:32:28
Mr. Incredible looking at any. Chance I can use acrobatics?
1:32:31
Give me a reason you would use acrobatics instead of athletics.
1:32:34
Describe it to me. OK, so I'm the the idea instead
1:32:37
of athletics is that I'm mostly using like my decks, like my
1:32:41
clients be to run up and then like almost like a cat, like
1:32:44
jump spring off the wall and twist in the other direction to
1:32:49
use all my momentum going up, pushing off the wall.
1:32:52
It's not as so much about trying to like slow him, but increase
1:32:57
my speed so that when I hit him I would be changing his.
1:33:00
Direction. Incredible.
1:33:01
Yeah, Give me your acrobatics check DC 25.
1:33:04
OK. It's a 19 on the die and I have
1:33:08
a + 6 to acrobatics. Oh my God.
1:33:10
Incredible. You.
1:33:12
Superhuman climb up this wall, launch yourself and protect this
1:33:18
man as you jump into the air and catch him as he's falling to the
1:33:22
ground. You and him are both going to
1:33:24
take a little bit of damage just because you're falling.
1:33:26
Imagined I would, yeah. I also imagine that like we we
1:33:29
fall into the building opposite the one that I jump onto, so we
1:33:33
kind of like collide into whatever that roof or wall is.
1:33:36
Yeah, you, you collide into the a wall of like this house that
1:33:40
is kind of next door. You take 7 points of damage as
1:33:43
you tumble to the ground. Not bad at all, Bo.
1:33:47
A chunk of Coon Garage's fire breath has struck a street side
1:33:51
well, super heating the water inside.
1:33:54
The stone ring around the well has cracked and the boiling
1:33:56
water is flooding into a nearby Tavern cellar where several
1:33:59
panicked voices shout from below.
1:34:02
A heavy wooden trap door is warped from the heat and can't
1:34:05
open as they try to push. Steam pours from the cracks and
1:34:08
the entire floor shutters as more boiling water pours in from
1:34:12
beneath the floorboards. You hear help.
1:34:14
The water's rising. We're trapped.
1:34:16
Oh my God, it's hot. It's burning us.
1:34:17
Please someone help. Yeah, I'm going to go.
1:34:19
I'm going to try to open up the the door.
1:34:21
Are you just trying to pull it? Are you trying to do something
1:34:23
else? Yeah, I'm just going to try to
1:34:25
bust it open. OK, give me your athletics
1:34:27
check. Natural 20.
1:34:30
Oh shit, it's kind. Of the incredible I have a -1 to
1:34:33
athletics, it's the only way I could do it.
1:34:36
Some sort of strength possesses you.
1:34:40
You feel it in your gears as things just start to sink and
1:34:44
your hands lock tight and you yank the doors off clean off.
1:34:48
It goes flying behind you as you yank with all of your strength
1:34:52
and the five people that are down there come running out of
1:34:55
there, thanking you, but also running away as fast as.
1:34:58
Yeah, No, get it. Get out of here.
1:35:02
Bond As you exit the house you see as a crowd flees a pan and
1:35:06
tourist pulling a merchant wagon bolts across this bridge off to
1:35:10
the side, slamming into a support post.
1:35:12
The wagon flips violently, scattering crates across the
1:35:15
bridge and leaving the horse tangled and broken harness
1:35:18
straps. It is laying there name.
1:35:20
A child is trapped underneath part of the wagon, crying and
1:35:23
pinned and overhead Kumkraj's sad overturns.
1:35:26
She may pass again at any moment.
1:35:29
What do you want to do? I run over and I go to pull out
1:35:34
a knife to cut free the horse from this carriage.
1:35:38
Just cut the ropes attaching. It you can just do that,
1:35:40
Awesome. I slice through the ropes.
1:35:42
You free that horse, the horse stands up and starts bolting
1:35:44
away, and now there's the child trapped underneath part of the
1:35:47
wagon. I have pretty good strength, so
1:35:50
I'm just going to try to lift the wagon up.
1:35:52
Give me your athletics or strength check.
1:35:54
And I'm going to cast guidance and do athletics.
1:35:59
Oh, that's a gnat 1. Oh no.
1:36:04
And it's a one on the D4. Can't win them all.
1:36:10
As you try to lift this wagon, Kumkaraj lowers quickly,
1:36:16
startling you. You had just gotten the wagon
1:36:18
slightly up and you drop it, crushing this child to death.
1:36:25
Oh my God. My God.
1:36:27
That's what a Nat one is, Jesus. Christ.
1:36:31
God. That's.
1:36:33
So beautiful. And just before we do my, my
1:36:37
scenario, so I, I have the guard.
1:36:39
We we've kind of slumped to the ground.
1:36:41
Yeah, we'll start there. We'll start there, yeah.
1:36:43
And Bunty, who's been on my shoulder ever since we actually
1:36:47
escaped the underbelly of the ugly arena.
1:36:51
Bunty, I'm trusting you. We can do more good if the two
1:36:55
of us split up. Go help people.
1:36:58
Do whatever you can. Remember to look for the tallest
1:37:00
tower that's not the pyre. Watch.
1:37:01
Keep once you're done. I'm scared.
1:37:04
I don't want to do it. I can't do it.
1:37:05
I can't do it. I'm too scared.
1:37:06
Please, please don't make me do it.
1:37:08
I'm so scared. Monty, I grab his arms.
1:37:11
People need you. And then he runs.
1:37:13
He. Runs.
1:37:15
He runs away. You don't know where he runs
1:37:17
too. All right, Abe, you.
1:37:19
You stand up after just having saved that guard, and you see
1:37:23
that there was a firework booth part of the festivities that has
1:37:26
been knocked sideways by the Dragon's first roar.
1:37:29
A chain of fireworks is sparking 1 after another, racing towards
1:37:32
a massive barrel of sky bloom charges.
1:37:35
If it goes off, it may kill many of the people around it.
1:37:40
The vendor is unconscious nearby.
1:37:42
What do you you do? Have the fireworks actually like
1:37:44
launched from the? No, they're, they're on the
1:37:47
ground, right? They're lit and they're leading
1:37:49
right towards this giant barrel. How many of them are lit?
1:37:54
All of them are lit. There's about like 30 fireworks
1:37:57
that are lit leading towards this barrel.
1:37:59
Oh, God. OK, All right.
1:38:02
And how big is the barrel? It's it's pretty big, It's
1:38:05
pretty heavy. Imagine like DK Donkey Kong type
1:38:09
of barrel, just kind of like very thick, heavy, bursting a
1:38:13
little bit at the seams. OK.
1:38:14
I'm going to run up to the barrel like right in front of it
1:38:17
and I'm going to try to push it first with with whatever time I
1:38:21
have left. OK, give me your athletics
1:38:23
check. Yeah, can I do like a strength
1:38:26
check here with my wisdom or I have to do athletics?
1:38:29
You can do a strength check. OK, you can use.
1:38:30
I'm trying to like like the RP of it is like I'm trying to find
1:38:33
like it's balance. Maybe I can roll it onto its
1:38:36
side and roll it away instead of pushing that right?
1:38:40
That's a 16 on the die plus A4. It's a 20 unnatural.
1:38:44
Dirty 20 Awesome plus. A3 plus A3 it's a 19. 19 Yeah,
1:38:48
awesome. You are able to tilt this barrel
1:38:51
to the side and roll it far enough away so when the
1:38:54
fireworks light off they spew a little bit but nothing explodes.
1:38:59
You have saved all those people nearby.
1:39:01
My backup plan was to use Deflect Missile on all 30 of
1:39:04
the. Fireworks.
1:39:05
If that didn't work, you're insane man.
1:39:10
When in doubt, deflect missile. Imagine if you caught that guy
1:39:14
with it and then you just threw him back at.
1:39:17
He just launched him back at Kumkuraj.
1:39:22
You could. You could murder a child.
1:39:26
Yeah, which bond? You just crushed a child.
1:39:29
You win some, you lose some. Bond's had such a shitty day.
1:39:34
Bo, you ripped. You had just ripped the cellar
1:39:36
door off the hinges and off to the side you see a family of
1:39:41
festival goers is crushed together on a high stone balcony
1:39:44
as people Stampede below them. The Dragon's wind gusts have
1:39:48
destabilized the structure and the balcony cracks loudly,
1:39:52
tilting forward. Two adults cling to the railing
1:39:55
and a small boy dangles from one parent's arm.
1:39:58
The balcony groans as it starts to begin to give away.
1:40:01
How many of them are there, You said?
1:40:03
There's three of them, two adults and then one small boy.
1:40:06
I'm so I guess uncertain about my magic, but I feel confident
1:40:10
in this situation so I'm going to tell them all to jump.
1:40:14
OK, they they listen to you, they jump.
1:40:17
Cool. And I cast feather fall, kind of
1:40:19
do the same, like put my finger to my temple and hold my hand up
1:40:22
to them to try to help them. And yeah.
1:40:25
They gently fall to the ground as the balcony kind of crashes
1:40:30
and crumbles behind them, not hurting anyone.
1:40:33
And you've saved this family. Cool.
1:40:36
And I'm just going to point towards the nearest exit and and
1:40:39
tell them to get out of here. So you 3 have not strayed too
1:40:42
far from each other because there's just so much that it was
1:40:45
happening right near the ugly arena, which is where you guys
1:40:49
had just arrived. A sudden blast of heat rolls
1:40:53
across the city as Kumkura spirals upwards between the
1:40:56
towers, roaring in fury. People scream, scatter and fall
1:41:00
to their knees. And then a second roar splits
1:41:04
the air, not from a dragon, but from a blazing humanoid shape
1:41:08
launching skyward. A figure of molten gold tears
1:41:12
through the smoke wings of a phoenix, flame unfurling behind
1:41:16
him. The crowd gasps as his voice
1:41:18
booms across the entire city. People of the Empire, fear not.
1:41:23
The Emperor rises higher, haloed by swirling embers.
1:41:28
Even at this distance, he is impossible to mistake this tall,
1:41:32
regal humanoid Phoenix armor glowing, body burning with fire.
1:41:37
In his hand he lifts A gleaming red gemstone the size of a fist,
1:41:42
flawless and bright enough that it's light glitters off of every
1:41:46
glass window across the city. He whispers a single word.
1:41:50
Everyone give me a hearing based perception check.
1:41:54
Not going to lie, this is pretty bad ass.
1:41:56
Like for everything that I hate about him.
1:41:58
I was just gonna ask, where is the imperator to defend his
1:42:01
city? I got a nine. 12. 16.
1:42:06
You guys don't hear what he says or what he does, but you see
1:42:11
that The gem flares and Kumkarage recoils, but a little
1:42:15
too late. Like the sound of a Thunder
1:42:17
clap, the dragon is sucked violently into the gemstone, her
1:42:21
roar cutting off mid scream. The gem burns bright, then dims,
1:42:25
leaving only a faint ember red glow inside.
1:42:28
There's silence, total silence. Even the fires have seemed to
1:42:32
quiet themselves. People stare, some fall to their
1:42:35
knees and other whispers prayers.
1:42:37
The Imperator lands with a gentle thud at the edge of the
1:42:41
ugly arena, kind of close to where you guys are standing, and
1:42:45
he addresses the people around. I did not wish to do that.
1:42:49
Dragons are magnificent creatures, but Kumkoraj's hunger
1:42:53
is legendary to say the least. I acted only to protect my
1:42:58
people. He closes his hand around the
1:43:01
gem and places it in his pocket, and the chaos has seemed to slow
1:43:06
down enough and everything is fine in the city.
1:43:10
You 3 are within eye line of each other.
1:43:13
All of your scenarios happened pretty close by.
1:43:16
What do you want to do? I message both of them
1:43:19
separately and I say we should still meet somewhere else, we
1:43:22
shouldn't link up right here. I completely ignore this.
1:43:26
I fall to my knees and start to weep a little bit.
1:43:31
I go to dig out this the root what's left of this child that
1:43:36
fell underneath this carriage. As that happens, the Emperor
1:43:40
spots you and starts making his way over to you as you weep
1:43:44
loudly. He puts a hand on your shoulder
1:43:47
and says there are always casualties when beasts are
1:43:52
allowed to go untamed, and he leans down, pulls out something
1:43:57
from his pocket and pours it in the girl's mouth.
1:44:01
She opens her eyes, breath starting again, but screams from
1:44:05
the pain of the wagon on her. I immediately cast Healing Word.
1:44:10
You bring a little bit of life back to this girl, and the
1:44:13
apparatore very easily lifts up the wagon and pulls her out from
1:44:17
underneath and is holding her in his arms.
1:44:21
There, there, little one, we will take good care of you.
1:44:24
We will take you to the Infirmary.
1:44:26
He turns over to you. Bonn Remember, not everyone can
1:44:31
be saved, but you should definitely try your hardest.
1:44:35
I clench my fist around the pocket, watch in my hand and put
1:44:40
up my hood and just sit back against the remains of the cart.
1:44:45
I grip my teeth as I'm also crying and I say thank you.
1:44:50
He nods at you, Bo and Abe, you see this situation?
1:44:55
What do you want to do? Yeah, I think I see, I see bond
1:44:59
in front of the Imperator and I forget trying to be cautious and
1:45:03
I'm still in my my red Dragonborn form, but I'm gonna
1:45:07
I'm gonna walk up and say, Oh my God, I was so I was so worried
1:45:12
about you, I couldn't find you and kind of just like stand
1:45:14
between you and the Imperator. Between me and the.
1:45:18
Imperator No. Between Bond and the Imperator.
1:45:22
What do you do? Is.
1:45:24
I. Sprint over I am running when
1:45:28
the Imperator is is with Bond and I and I get there and I'm
1:45:33
just going to say I did not hear the conversation they had or see
1:45:37
exactly what he did or know that a child was killed under a cart
1:45:41
or any of that. Get away from him.
1:45:44
I I yell at the Imperator. The Imperator takes a small step
1:45:48
back and that's when you clock the girl in his hands that is
1:45:53
looking incredibly unwell. You see that her leg is mangled.
1:45:57
Both of her legs are mangled beneath her and the Imperator is
1:45:59
carrying her. He turns to you, Abe, and he
1:46:02
goes. I'm comforting my people, that
1:46:06
is my job. And he turns his back towards
1:46:09
you and starts walking away. As that happens, a sudden
1:46:14
rolling wave of fog pours over the ground.
1:46:17
From it emerges the Imperatrix, Seraphine Vexalia.
1:46:22
Her Raven black feathers Polish like Onyx and her eyes glinting
1:46:25
with sharp intelligence. There's a cloak of drifting mist
1:46:28
trailing behind her. It looks like she's not even
1:46:31
touching the ground. She strides forward elegantly,
1:46:34
staff in hand and her voice smooth.
1:46:37
He saved the city. What more do you want?
1:46:39
Thalore Squawk. A deep groan.
1:46:48
Answer, Sir. Vines erupt from the cracked
1:46:51
stone beneath you as Rex Thaler of Rodanix rises from the earth.
1:46:56
Golden antlers branch from his head.
1:46:58
His bark textured skin glows with embedded ruins as leaves
1:47:02
spiral in the air around him. He snarls.
1:47:05
Don't pretend you can't see it. Dragons are not tools.
1:47:09
You want to control them in Perator, to wage another war
1:47:12
while calling it protection. The fog swirls, leaves fly, and
1:47:17
then there is a metallic hum that cuts through the tension.
1:47:21
This is all happening like right in front of you.
1:47:23
Guys, you got like. Front row.
1:47:24
Seats sensing, sensing what's about to happen, I'm going to
1:47:26
step back into the crowd a little bit.
1:47:28
OK, make a stealth check. Yeah, 18.
1:47:33
Incredible striding with mechanical precision comes
1:47:37
Domina Varelia Farah, half woman, half war machine.
1:47:41
Her eyes glow, scanning everything around her.
1:47:45
She says nothing. She just watches everyone roll a
1:47:51
perception check. And just to remind, so the
1:47:56
Dragon's gone and Bunty should be looking for us at this point.
1:48:00
Yes. 11. Not one.
1:48:03
Is that a perception? You said 17.
1:48:06
Bo and Bond, you guys are still distracted, Abe.
1:48:11
As you pass, you notice that the Domina's eyes are narrowing
1:48:16
thoughtfully, not at the Imperator, but at the gem that's
1:48:20
shining through his pocket. You also catch as she looks into
1:48:24
the crowd her eyes land on a red dragon born as she clocks his
1:48:30
red cap. She looks at Bo and there's a
1:48:33
brief look of intrigue and a small smile.
1:48:36
She goes into the conversation but is not contributing anything
1:48:40
as the impaired tricks and the Rex are going at it as they're
1:48:44
having this argument. Everyone roll me in insight
1:48:48
check. 14/30/20. 15. You all notice that the
1:48:54
Imperatrix seems a little too eager to defend the Imperatore.
1:48:59
There's maybe an alliance there or something close to it.
1:49:03
As this is happening, Bunty spots Bo this red Dragonborn
1:49:08
with the cap in the crowd and tiles.
1:49:09
Up to you Bo. Hey Bo, did you see that really
1:49:13
cool jam that the Imperatore? Had.
1:49:15
Yeah. You should steal it.
1:49:17
I, I think I'm not going to lie if I didn't, if I, if I'd said I
1:49:20
didn't think about it, but I don't think that that might,
1:49:22
that would be the best idea right now.
1:49:25
I can start like a riot and then we can all like surround the
1:49:28
imperidors and they and then why we can steal it.
1:49:30
Look, I love, I love your entrepreneurial attitude, but I
1:49:34
think we got to lay low on this one.
1:49:36
Tensions are pretty high. He doesn't like that answer, but
1:49:40
he accepts it. The three of you suddenly hear
1:49:45
some sharp metallic clacking above, and a call It echoes
1:49:53
overhead, reminding you of your mission.
1:49:56
You spot Egrix circling up above and it starts moving away from
1:50:03
the crowd and the emperors and. You're going to kind of give
1:50:06
side glances to to Bon and Abe I.
1:50:08
I'm going to go over to you, Bon.
1:50:11
You're still on the ground, right?
1:50:13
Kind of still weeping a little. I'm I'm going to help you up.
1:50:16
I get helped up. I grab your hand and stand up.
1:50:20
I'm just staring daggers at the Imperator.
1:50:23
I put my arm around you and I whisper in your ear as I'm like
1:50:26
kind of massaging your shoulder because I can tell you're not.
1:50:29
You're not doing so hot. We can take him right now.
1:50:32
This is our opportunity to take him right now.
1:50:35
He's right there. He's distracted.
1:50:38
Do I see Abe whispering to Bond? Sure.
1:50:42
All right, then. I'm going to message Bond,
1:50:44
having an inkling of what Abe is saying, and I'm going to message
1:50:47
him. We cannot take him right now.
1:50:50
We absolutely cannot take him. I hear the yeah, I hear the
1:50:57
devil and the Angel in my ear and I wipe my tears from my from
1:51:03
my eyes. I pull Abe's hand off of me and
1:51:06
I cast Thalmatergy. And So what Thalmatergy does,
1:51:10
what it does a couple different things.
1:51:11
What I'm going to use it for is I am going to make my voice
1:51:16
boom. So it booms up to three times as
1:51:19
loud as a normal for one minute. And for the duration, I have
1:51:22
advantage on intimidation checks.
1:51:24
I don't think I'm going to intimidate anybody, but I'm
1:51:27
going to look directly at the Imperator and shout.
1:51:30
You saved her, but you exterminated my village.
1:51:34
You killed everybody. You talk about protecting these
1:51:37
lands, but you killed everybody I love.
1:51:41
As this happens, you you feel overwhelmed in your mind, and
1:51:46
all of a sudden you're standing there stunned, unable to move
1:51:51
and unable to speak as Imperatrix Seraphine Vexalia
1:51:55
turns to you and points her staff.
1:51:58
She turns to the Imperator and goes catless.
1:52:01
We should go have this conversation private with the
1:52:04
rest of the Emperor's, not with crazy people shouting false
1:52:09
accusations about. And she says that last part very
1:52:12
loudly. She swirls.
1:52:14
That wasn't a false accusation. He's right.
1:52:17
And the Imperator is the reason my parents are dead too.
1:52:19
And I'm just yelling. You just start shouting and as
1:52:22
they do. This and I and I and I unfurl my
1:52:25
cloak. All four, the Imperators are
1:52:28
gone. The Imperator flies up into the
1:52:30
air. The Imperatrix flashes her cloak
1:52:34
and fog on curls. You see that the Rex kind of
1:52:38
sinks into the ground and the Domina with her mechanical
1:52:43
precision starts like like running away like like a robot
1:52:47
would. She's like.
1:52:50
Like Terminator? Hers is the least cool.
1:52:52
Hers is the least cool, and she starts running towards the pyre.
1:52:58
Watch Keep. I run.
1:53:00
I run my hands through my long, like shoulder length hair.
1:53:03
I pull out the ponytail. Yes, as the Beatrix leaves you,
1:53:06
you're able to to move again. I'm going to say to Bunty, we
1:53:10
have to get both of them and we have to get out of here right
1:53:12
now. I just curl up a little bit and
1:53:15
just kind of kneel down. Hate.
1:53:17
Hate when I say he. Killed my family.
1:53:20
I know, I know and I get you back up on your feet and I do
1:53:24
grab my cloak, but I'm livid. I am looking furious, but I do
1:53:30
pull you up. Egrex had started circling
1:53:32
again, waiting for you guys to come, and starts moving off in
1:53:36
the opposite direction of the Pyre Watch Keep into a back
1:53:38
alley, Yeah, I think. Former Beau might have already
1:53:42
bailed on this situation by now if if people had like he was
1:53:47
with had cost a scene. But I think he he's just like
1:53:50
getting more and more frustrated with all of the attention that
1:53:54
we're drawing to ourselves, but isn't going to run away.
1:53:57
But he's going to go up to both of you, like put his hand on
1:53:59
your shoulders and then just start like walking you in the
1:54:02
direction that Idrix was flying. I follow with resistance for a
1:54:07
minute and then my head clears a bit more and I you, you don't
1:54:11
have to push me as much. About at the same distance of
1:54:14
walking, my wisdom takes over my anger.
1:54:18
I have a realization that I've really fucked up.
1:54:21
I'm gonna take my knife out from my cloak and just start cutting
1:54:26
my hair. OK, I'm gonna take the knife out
1:54:30
of here. Oh, he's going full Brittany.
1:54:34
I'm going to, I'm going to, you know, I'm going to clock the
1:54:36
direction that Edrix is going in, but I'm going to, I'm going
1:54:38
to duck into a alleyway and lead you both inside.
1:54:42
And then I'm going to face you both and I'm going to be like,
1:54:46
all right. I know you guys have been
1:54:48
through a lot. I know that you have a lot of
1:54:51
feelings about the Imperator. Quick question, what was the
1:54:55
plan? What were you gonna do just.
1:54:57
I I thought that we could have taken him, but I realize now
1:55:00
that that was not right. OK, yeah, yeah, that was that
1:55:04
was wrong. I.
1:55:04
Just saved a guard that was falling from like 100 feet.
1:55:07
I I felt invincible. That's great.
1:55:09
OK. Did you see the dragon?
1:55:12
Did you see how he kind of just like nullified it?
1:55:15
So I understand. Look, I know you guys, you guys
1:55:18
want to do something, you want to get your revenge and I
1:55:21
respect that and I want to help you in any way possible.
1:55:24
We can't, we can't be shooting ourselves in the foot like that.
1:55:26
I couldn't. I couldn't save her Beau.
1:55:29
I couldn't save her. She's alive and I couldn't save
1:55:32
my family. I just wanted to see the look in
1:55:35
his eyes when he knew what I was saying.
1:55:38
That's all, Bond. There was nothing more.
1:55:40
I'm gonna put a hand on Bond's shoulder, and I'm gonna say,
1:55:45
Bond, you've learned more about your goddess today than you have
1:55:50
in years, right? Yeah, Yeah, you're right.
1:55:54
Yeah. Look, before the dragon, before
1:55:57
everything, when when those those monks came out of those
1:56:01
statues, you use the power of Thesmira to to save our lives.
1:56:06
Yeah. If if we had to fight all three
1:56:08
of those, we would. We wouldn't be here right now.
1:56:10
You're right. You just we, we got to we got to
1:56:13
play it smart. We're going to we're going to
1:56:15
get there someday, but you know, we.
1:56:17
Have to. We have to move forward.
1:56:19
Exactly. You're right, I'm sorry.
1:56:21
We do have to move forward and I keep cutting my hair off.
1:56:24
Also, by the way, OK, I'm just gonna, I'm not even gonna deal
1:56:29
with that. It's I'm gonna pull out the, the
1:56:32
Mace. I found this on the ground as we
1:56:34
were walking, running out of the running out of the room.
1:56:39
But I, you know, I was looking at the weapon you were using and
1:56:43
I was wondering if, you know, maybe you could, you could
1:56:45
figure out how to, how to use this.
1:56:47
I look at it. I'm very touched by this.
1:56:50
Thank you, Beau. I'm sorry.
1:56:51
There's no need to apologize. Let's go find Egrix.
1:56:54
Thank you. You know what guys?
1:56:56
I know you think I'm crazy, I know you think I'm hot headed,
1:57:00
but this and now I'm completely. There's a fucked up buzz cut on
1:57:04
my head that's just the shape. And this is a disguise so that
1:57:07
he doesn't recognize. You know what, that's actually
1:57:13
the only reasonable answer I would accept for why you've done
1:57:16
this, and I think it's actually not the worst idea in the world,
1:57:19
so I respect you. Thank you.
1:57:21
Thank you, I'm also on the verge of tears now.
1:57:24
I, I put, I put a hand on both of their shoulders and I'm going
1:57:28
to, I'm going to do this through message so that it can, it can
1:57:31
be among us. But I'm going to say, let's
1:57:34
make, let's make a pact right now.
1:57:36
It's it's not going to be today, probably not going to be
1:57:39
tomorrow, but we're going to get that motherfucker and any of
1:57:43
those other motherfuckers that have it coming to him.
1:57:45
I think all of them do. We're going to get him the
1:57:48
monos. Hell yeah, exactly.
1:57:50
So you guys finally keep moving to go to where Beatrix is and
1:57:57
you are in another alley where Egrix is and Egrix lands.
1:58:00
We were just one alley over. Yeah, you're 1 alley over Egrix
1:58:05
was just waiting for you guys to be done.
1:58:07
Egrix lands on your shoulder bond.
1:58:10
It's beak clicks open and inside of it Vox's voice comes from.
1:58:16
I hope you can see now why I wanted you 3 to retrieve the
1:58:20
tablet. Long ago, I consulted a seer of
1:58:24
immense talent. She foretold companions who
1:58:27
would one day alter the fate of the empires.
1:58:31
She spoke of an elf with no home, a man chasing immortality,
1:58:36
and a man without a past. She said the four of us could
1:58:41
confront our griefs and forge something new from them.
1:58:45
She told me where the tablet lay and that you 3 would find more
1:58:49
beneath that arena that you expected.
1:58:52
You've earned rest. There are tournaments across the
1:58:56
world, grand stages where gladiators like you can earn
1:59:00
renown. While I plan our next move, feel
1:59:03
free to take some time to visit family and friends.
1:59:08
The message ends in a soft click and a parchment falls out of
1:59:12
Egrexes. Beak.
1:59:14
I take it, yeah. As you guys are looking at this
1:59:17
parchment, you realize that it's for six different tournaments
1:59:21
around Ignovarum. While my players are reading the
1:59:25
notes sent from Vox, let me tell you what it says.
1:59:28
It's a list of tournaments in Ignavarum that our players may
1:59:31
choose to go to. Three of them are in major
1:59:34
cities. Emberhold is a city embedded low
1:59:37
on the Cliff side, going inside the Cliff face overlooking the
1:59:40
smoldering sea. The tournament is called the
1:59:43
Smoldering Descent. Then there is the city of Forge
1:59:47
Blood. It is the industrial center
1:59:50
where weapons, armor, and mechanical body parts are
1:59:52
created. The tournament here is called
1:59:54
the Iron Crucible Trials. Then there is the city of Ash
1:59:58
End. It is a small city near ancient
2:00:01
battlefields, still haunted by ghosts and cursed relics.
2:00:05
This tournament is called the Wreath Bound Requiem.
2:00:09
Then there are three smaller tournaments.
2:00:12
The first location is called Saint Granda's Village.
2:00:15
It is the Tobaccy Homeland. Their tournament is called
2:00:18
Pounce and Fury Festival. Then there is Canovie Port.
2:00:22
It is a fishing city at the base of a volcano.
2:00:25
Their tournament is called the Tide Fire Clash.
2:00:29
Lastly, there's a tournament in the village of Thronin.
2:00:33
Thronin is an inland ignovarum near the cursed Barren Fields.
2:00:38
That tournament is called the Devil's Mercy Gauntlet.
2:00:42
So our players have these six tournaments to choose from and
2:00:45
maybe take a little break, little vacation.
2:00:47
After all, they did just wake a dragon and kind of help save the
2:00:52
city, or at least save the people in the city.
2:00:55
And these are all in Ignovarum. Right, yes.
2:00:58
And for my players, I have added some distances to where the
2:01:02
tournament would be held if they rode a mechanical horse there.
2:01:07
Can't ride real horses. You can get real horses.
2:01:10
Should we discuss this back at the apartment that Vox promised
2:01:14
us? Yes, Vox promised you a couple
2:01:17
of rooms. Yeah, let's do that.
2:01:20
Egrex leads you to an inn called Smokies Inn and when you go
2:01:26
inside, the innkeeper asks what name your rooms are under.
2:01:30
I assume you give them Vox's name.
2:01:32
Yeah, and you are led to three big bedrooms upstairs.
2:01:36
Individual. Is there like a common area that
2:01:38
we could congregate in? You can meet in one of the
2:01:41
rooms, or you can meet at like the base of the inn.
2:01:44
Let's meet in one of the rooms. Let's let's meet in Abe's room,
2:01:48
OK? Can you guys see any advantage
2:01:50
of going to one over the other ones?
2:01:53
Like, is there something you guys want to check out?
2:01:55
And I'm going to pull out some of the things we've gotten, some
2:01:58
of the letters and see if any cities were mentioned as Abe is
2:02:02
kind of going through everything that he has in his bag and
2:02:05
reading through the letters, reading through everything, all
2:02:07
of his notes. The only city that is kind of
2:02:10
relevant to us right now is Ash End as one of the Dragons on the
2:02:15
list was was spotted near there. So amongst the tournaments that
2:02:20
have been provided to us it's it's Scoria the red dragon.
2:02:23
She was last seen in Ash End which I don't know if we want to
2:02:27
seek out a dragon. Personally I feel weird going
2:02:30
further away from the Imperator. I've come so far to get here.
2:02:34
And also, can we just address the fact that the tablet wasn't
2:02:37
important at all and this was all just about three of us?
2:02:40
And I look at the two of you. How much does Vox RM know about
2:02:43
us? I don't know if the tablet is
2:02:45
not important. It might be important, but I
2:02:48
didn't tell Vox about the immortality stuff.
2:02:51
I told you guys about that. It's the magic of Vadris is very
2:02:55
potent when it comes to prophecy secrets.
2:02:58
I know Beau has experienced some of that.
2:03:01
I usually experience that with my dream salt.
2:03:04
There's ways to know things that nobody could know.
2:03:08
It must have been something like that.
2:03:09
But that being said, I don't think the tablet is unimportant
2:03:12
and let's pull out the tablet and look at it.
2:03:15
You pull out the tablet. It's written in a language that
2:03:18
only Abe cannot read. The other two of you can read it
2:03:23
and, peering closer, Bow and bond to these ruins.
2:03:27
The shapes begin to resolve into familiar characters.
2:03:30
Bond. It's a language that you learned
2:03:32
back in religious school. Sylvan Bo, You don't know how
2:03:37
you know this language, but you can read it just as easily as
2:03:40
you've been able to read common. Your eyes trace the flowing
2:03:44
script, and you don't recognize fragments of a spell, and only
2:03:48
part of it is visible on this fragment.
2:03:51
It reads to call back from beyond.
2:03:55
Then you can't read the rest of that sentence and then beneath
2:03:58
it it says to bring back to life.
2:04:01
Wow, that's really interesting. Hey, would you agree?
2:04:04
What does it say? It's very interesting.
2:04:06
In my notebook, I have written down the the like symbols that
2:04:10
are there. I was waiting for one of them to
2:04:11
translate it and to see if I can, you know, start to learn
2:04:15
what did, what did those things say?
2:04:17
What did they say? Guys, come on.
2:04:18
But you can't read it. Nope.
2:04:21
I I recite what it says to him. To call back from beyond and
2:04:26
then you can't read the rest of the sentence and then below what
2:04:28
it says to bring back to life. If you're looking for
2:04:32
immortality, something about life related magic, this thing
2:04:36
might be more important than you realize.
2:04:38
No, I, I realize that, I say as I without taking my head up from
2:04:42
the notebook as I'm writing it down.
2:04:44
Oh, sorry. I just thought because, you
2:04:46
know, you couldn't read it because you couldn't understand
2:04:49
it, that Yeah, OK. So you guys read the tablet.
2:04:54
You have your new short sword bond.
2:04:56
You have your new Mace, which it adds an extra 1D6 of lightning
2:05:00
damage on it. Oh, sick, That's sick.
2:05:02
Crazy. So good.
2:05:04
The only place that I would go is I fought and behold, before I
2:05:08
might have a little bit of a reputation there as a gladiator.
2:05:11
I was there before I came here, so, you know, I also have an old
2:05:17
family friend there. But, you know, I don't know if I
2:05:19
need to see more people that I know these days.
2:05:22
I say we go to the cats, let's go to the cats.
2:05:25
Yeah, the cats. You know this is good enough of
2:05:28
a place. For me as a buddy, Saint
2:05:30
Granda's village, sure. Yeah, I'm going to fight some
2:05:33
cats. Yeah, let's do it.
2:05:35
Hey, just don't drain the blood. They're not goats.
2:05:38
They're not goats. Maybe I didn't like the gold
2:05:40
blood. Maybe I like other blood.
2:05:42
OK, well, let's not work on that that logic.
2:05:46
As you guys just agreed to what Bunty said, the three of you are
2:05:54
sitting at the edge of Abe's bed and you're feeling just just
2:05:58
exhausted. As the realization of what has
2:06:01
happened these past two days really just settles into you,
2:06:04
settles into your bones. You feel how heavy it is.
2:06:07
But somehow, you guys survived it all.
2:06:10
And maybe it's time to take a step back from scenario as they
2:06:15
rebuild. And maybe you guys will be back
2:06:18
sometime in the future. When you've gained your
2:06:20
strength, When you've gained your wisdom.
2:06:22
When you've gotten smarter, stronger, hardier, then you'll
2:06:25
take on the Imperator. But for right now, you 3 just
2:06:28
need to lay down and get some rest.
2:06:31
And that's where we'll end this episode.
2:06:34
Wow, what a. Fantastic.
2:06:36
Traumatic episode. Just pure, pure trauma for Bon.
2:06:42
I know. I was absolutely trembling
2:06:45
during the the Horde checks. I know, I was so nervous.
2:06:50
So I got I got a couple behind the scenes for you on round 4C.
2:06:56
You and I like the tablet and you were in the same section.
2:07:01
Your perception check was just a 13 and you had to beat a 15.
2:07:05
So you just didn't roll high enough to see it.
2:07:08
And besides that, the last round was the only other round that
2:07:11
you were in the same area as the tablet, which is just so crazy.
2:07:16
There was just it's so interesting.
2:07:19
Else I can send a picture of how it looked.
2:07:21
I made note of everything, but just wild.
2:07:24
Just absolutely wild. That was awesome.
2:07:26
Also wanted to say thank you all so much for listening.
2:07:29
Please be sure to comment and rate the episodes.
2:07:33
Follow us on Spotify or Apple Music to stay up to date.
2:07:36
We release new episodes every other Thursday.
2:07:38
And last but not least, check out our social media for updates
2:07:41
and official Exumoria art by our DM Avni So at Smooth Critical
2:07:46
Podcast on Instagram and at Smooth Critical on Blue Sky.
2:07:51
I'm very excited to see what happens next.
2:07:53
So thanks for playing with me guys, and I'll talk to you
2:07:57
later. Bye.
2:07:58
Bye.