Hey there, pants people. Do me a favor. Leave
us a review wherever you're listening. And when
you're done, come back and enjoy the episode.
The medical and arcane minds of the Citadel have
yet to determine the exact cause of the condition.
A number of strange facts have made it hard to
pin down. It seems to affect folks at random,
disproportionately harming the locals of San
Sityon, that dwell in outer settlements or the
old city, as they call it. Rates of attraction
were low to start, but have been building every
day higher and higher. Exposure to the illness
seems to have no effect on the healthy. Those
with serinoa are drained of heat and energy during
the night, but feel better during the hours of
day. Eventually, though, as the nights progress,
they simply fade away. There have been rumors
that of an ill wind that carries a sickness,
and that its magical nature more akin to a curse.
Unfortunately, there has been no evidence as
of yet to support these claims. What we do know
is that the illness itself is not repelled by
traditional healing magics, but though it's worth
the outtouches in discussion with the treason
of Saint -Étienne City to send a force of angels
to try more potent divine options. We can only
hope that the treason accepts this support as
swiftly as possible. As of now. Serena has a
100 % mortality rate. Perhaps a miracle is exactly
what the good folk of Sansatyan need. Slow me
down, boys. Slow me down. The summer season has
started. You know what that means? No more food,
no more water, just rock stars. Only rock stars.
Four months, baby. How you guys doing? I'm pretty
high on energy tonight. I would give him four
days. Yeah. Wait, can you survive? I don't think
you can survive four days. On Rockstar alone.
We should make a documentary about it. I am vibrating.
All right, maybe four hours. Oh, yes. We should
get an arm cuff on this guy. Seriously. I can
hear your heart beating through the mic. Oh,
man, I can feel it. I can feel it. Speaking of
hearts beating, man, last week, huh? What a thriller.
That was an exciting one. I watched The Batman
this last week, the new one. I still haven't
watched that all the way through. I turned it
on when I happened to be really, really tired,
and I fell asleep for a nap. It's enjoyable.
It's really good. But it was awesome because
it's the new Robert Pattinson one. And it starts
off in the early part of the movie. You see this
whole sequence where the bat signal flashes in
the sky. And during the night, a number of criminals
are performing criminal deeds, robbing a store
or spray painting some structures or whatever.
And when they see the symbol in the sky. They're
like looking around nervously. Look where there's
like heavy shadow and they're like sure Batman's
there. So they drop what they're doing and run
away essentially. Just the fear of Batman is
like keeping them from actually being active
as criminals. And that was last week. I mentioned
the name Sturgeman once. In the entire session
it was like players looking over their shoulders.
You know, so sure you're getting hunted down.
It was great. It was like, that's how you know
you do a character right. When you guys react
exactly as like people would react to the inspiration
for the character. So hey. I'm the Batman. That
was good. I'll give you a 7. Thanks. That was
generous. No, that was deserving of a 10, David.
Whoa. Out of 100, hey -o. How you guys doing?
How's your summer going? Much easier than yours.
Yes. Sounds like it. It's all good. We got this.
Service industry, you know how it is. Hey, shout
out to all you service industry people out there
during the summers, keeping it going. Yep, for
real. Yeah, definitely. Big shout out. We see
you. David is you. I am shaking. So, what do
you guys think? You want to get right to business?
You got any surprise packages you want to cut
open with a lethal knife? No mail today. No mail
yet. That's disappointing, pants people. Get
on it. And we will never get any mail ever again
now. Those ungrateful bastards. We're about to
start a new arc. It is going to be a very exciting,
very long, very epic arc. I could not be more
thrilled. I have a lot of grand ideas moving
into this. And one of my big ones, I've touched
on it with you guys, but I haven't touched on
it with everybody else, all the audience, all
the listeners. I want this to be a lot more open
world than prior arcs. So I want to feel very
sandboxy. There's a lot going on. It's probably
going to be the longest arc in the show by far.
That is my guess. And I think we're going to
play around with a lot of neat things. So I hope
you guys are ready. You guys ready? Yeah, that's
both really exciting, but also kind of scary.
I feel like it puts a good bit of responsibility
on us that we used to just trust you with. This
show is going to go downhill real fast. Yeah,
without the bumpers of, like, bowling with David.
I'm still going to have, you know, various, you
know, points you could move towards. I'm not
going to just leave you totally dry and blank.
But, like, there might be more directions than
one you can go. You can travel a lot of ways
through this. Break sequence in a lot of different
paths, you know. So maybe more like a web than
a sandbox. Sure, yeah. I like that. I like that.
That works. A web box. A web box. A web box.
Stick your hand in one of those. Gross. Speaking
of web, the giant wolf spider on my porch is
back. Oh, yes. So I'm miserable. Just use the
other door. I don't trust any door. So in work,
I got this little toy at Lowe's. I'd seen it
on the internet for a while. And I finally saw
it in the store and I decided, okay, now's the
time I'm going to drop 40 bucks. I'm going to
buy this thing. It's called an a salt rifle.
So it's a little air. Um, it looks like a nerf
gun or whatever. You pump it up and it loads
a shot of salt. And from like two or three feet
away, you can shoot at a fly and kill it. You
should get one of those. I, that sounds incredible.
It's a lot of fun. Can you imagine like playing
call of duty against spiders? Oh, man. Man. Only
problem is my wife is a fervent believer in animal
rights, protecting animals. She would never in
a hundred years let me hurt that spider. So that's
why she has to bravely be the one to move the
spider whenever it starts causing trouble on
my porch. Steven and I will take a drive one
night. I'd be a mercenary. Yeah. She doesn't
have to know what happened. She listens to the
podcast. That spider disappears. We're all done
for. Hey, I mean, what's to say that a boy didn't
come take it away? It's nature, after all. What's
to say? Quick question for you guys before we
get into this. Boyds. Who has the backpack? I
do. Jules does. You have the backpack. Okay.
Correct. Great, okay, I want to make sure, going
into this, we get all our pieces in a row. Yeah,
let me just double check, and I'm very curious,
because that is a very random -ass question.
Oh, I just wanted to make sure, because we haven't
touched on it in a while, so I didn't know who
was holding on to it. We're going to ARC, I want
to get these things settled. I also have officially
on your sheet... It doesn't say I have a backpack
in my inventory, though. Okay, we'll add that.
I'm pretty sure I had it, right? Sounds right
to me. I don't remember having it, so... The
Handy Haversack. Chester didn't have it, did
he? Uh -oh. Chester's running around with those
magical items you have. That's pretty bad. Great.
Okay. So you have the Handy Haversack. I've also
updated your sheet now to showcase the extra
AC point you get from your cloak. Okay. So if
you don't have a chance to use it, if it's not
windy already, you are fully surprised, I will
tell you that. We'll reflect that. Right. And
then it goes down to 12. Yes. But I want to make
sure that we are giving you that point if the
time comes where you need it. And is it plus
one on saves too? Yeah. Yes. It is. Okay. Cool,
cool. Yep. Very, very, very good. Got to remember
that shit. Absolutely. Keep that in mind. And
with that in mind, let's open up onto the jewel,
huh? We open amongst orange. blazing orange,
the fire opal concord jewel has just vanished
from the skies, or I guess we could say the strange
ethereal mists surrounding the radiant seydal
has appeared about 500 feet in the skies over
San Sitian. As it begins to lower, I want to
touch on you guys as you are sitting within the
jewel, waiting to land. I will say both of you
hear this. Maybe two rows back in the sort of
seating bleachers from where you are, a figure
suddenly just, 600 gold for a bleeding... Shh,
hey, hey. Not here. We talking about our contract
in Manzanaris, right? Do you turn to look at
the voices, or do you just kind of go by your...
Jules doesn't turn. Yeah, I'd like to try to
see them without being noticed. Sure, yeah, give
me a... I'll let you choose deception or stealth
for that. I'm definitely going to choose stealth
then. Okay, so you're basically doing something,
you know, leaning to the side, then you're going
through your bag, letting your eyes flicker over,
but very carefully. I'm going to roll the red
dragon for this one. Okay. Ooh. 23. Okay. Not
bad. They seem entirely preoccupied with each
other. One of them's sort of like... Getting
real close to the other, almost whispering roughly
into his ear. But you see these two figures,
like I said, about two rows back. Very rough
-looking types, weathered leather armor with
clubs and knives attached to their belts. They
look like, well, maybe like trouble. Like people
who at least have seen some trouble and know
how to get through it. Tall and lanky figures.
Maybe pale -skinned, maybe they're from Moor.
Okay, I was going to ask you what, if they were
human. Yes, yeah, both human. Hard to place exactly
what world they come from, but yeah, that's what
you notice. But their conversation, their outburst
dies down very quickly. You see the one that
initially made the remarks, eyes shift around
nervously, trying to see if anyone was hearing.
They shift to you and keep moving. You seem to
be minding your own business. You seem to be.
It would seem. All right, and with that... You
feel the jewel settle into place in the plaza,
and you are allowed to leave. Well, Jewel, where
should we start? I mean, we could start by getting
off this thing. Oh, okay. Yeah. Let's get off
first. It seemed obvious. I don't know why we
had to ask. My bag's over there under. I can't
reach around you? No. I push John Franklin out
of the way. There you go, Seb. There you go.
You guys leave the jewel? Yes, we leave the jewel.
You move out and step into a small town that
surrounds this gemstone plaza. You see, just
like on Sosunko, a number of small shops and
information booths circle this plaza, much like
on Sosunko. I remember my nose backwards. All
right, anyway. Surrounding these are going to
be two dozen low, wooden adobe buildings. It's
quite a little settlement. Surrounded by jagged
mountains to the north, east, and west. And as
you sort of turn and look, an expansive, stony
desert to the south. You can see a wide, well
-worn road travel southwards, cutting through
the town and vanishing into the wasteland southwards.
I said southwards twice again. You got a lot
of energy. Gotta do the double words. Well, now
we know which direction to go. Yeah. You figured
it out. You've solved my puzzle. You've solved
my riddle. As you guys step out, you see, I think
it would be like, you're almost roughly shoved
by one of these two thugs you saw. I watch it.
They push past you and quickly move northwards
into the... Little town. Something's not right
about those guys. They make me feel nervous.
Yeah, they're up to something that's not... Something
that's not... I don't know what word I'm trying.
They're up to something. We'll just leave it
at that. We'll call it that. Yeah. That says
it all. It does. Yes. Something. I sure hope
we don't run into them later. So what do you
guys want to do? You have information booths.
You have a road to the south. It's nighttime
now. It's dark. The wind is chilly. Zeb would
like to get some information about this place.
Okay. All right. You step away from the fire
opal as people begin to board it. It's a small,
small group before this vanishes back to the
Citadel. You move towards probably the nearest
booth, which, you know, sign above it says information
on the area. And all you see as you go close,
sort of standing sort of in the far back, maybe
like bent down, moving through some files or
folders on the ground, a slender figure in a
yellow and magenta dress. Excuse me. Oh, oh,
oh. Sorry, sorry. No, that's okay. Is this where
we get information? Oh, yeah. The figure spins
around and you see that this figure isn't just
simply thin. They are skeletal. By that I mean
a literal skeleton. Would that surprise us? It
might. Do you know a lot about Saint -Étienne?
Let me do a history check. Give me a history
check. Fuck it, I'll get in on that too. 13 for
Zebulon. And a 14 for Jules. I was looking for
a 15 for this particular bit of information.
So you guys, maybe you've even heard vague rumors
of something like the dead can walk again on
the world of Asan Satyan. Weird stories, but
nothing concrete. But now you see a full -on
skeletal woman staying before you in this yellow
maniata dress with colorful bead necklaces hanging
from the exposed vertebrae of her neck. Zebulon
tries not to, like, jump back. Oh, oh, oh, you're
new, you're new. Hi, I'm Aria. I'm an Ovidado.
A what? Um, it means the, uh... The forgotten?
Basically, we were forgotten by death, if that
makes sense. You don't know much about Sansa
Tian. No, it doesn't make sense. No, not really.
I'm having a hard time understanding. Well, let
me ask you first. What brings you here? Research.
And development. Research and development. I'm
the research. He's the development. What am I?
You're the test subject. Yeah. Okay. Well, your
research and development has happened to bring
you here on the eve of our Night of the Remembered.
The Night of the Remembered, and you're the Forgotten.
Is that right? Yes, that is right. Basically,
every year, there's this annual Night of the
Remembered. This area here around Sanxian City
holds a special power, you could say. Those who
died here in this world, who were lost to, well,
those who lived in this world who died, basically,
who have become lost to their loved ones, can
return. And just for one night, they can visit,
they can speak in some capacity. And while some
of us, we don't end up leaving again afterwards.
I died, and I'm here still. It's a rare thing,
and there's not really a rhyme or reason to it,
but it's magic. How long have you been back?
Oh, this is my fifth year. Fifth year, wow. Are
you here forever? How does that work? David just
got stout as tracks. Got him. That's very personal
information. I can't simply... No, no. Within
about 50 years, the magic seems to run its course,
and I will fade again. But it's a second life.
Okay. And you choose to work the information
booth? I love this world. Wow. That's commendable.
I mean, to spend your second life in the service
of others. Well, to be fair, it's also my family
to consider. It's hard making a living in the
city these days. This far away? Well, you can
at least make some life for yourself. You're
visitors here. There's no need to bog you down
with our troubles. No, we asked. You know, research.
Now, is there anything I could help you guys
with? Um, yeah. What can you tell us about the
city? What's exciting? What's dangerous? Oh,
well, if you're into excitement and danger, I
believe tomorrow, 9 o 'clock a .m., Hogfight.
Have you heard the news? Oh, wow. I think we
heard a little bit about that. Why don't you
refresh us? Lucha Libre Festival? Four -on -one
against the Mighty Pigman? Tomorrow at noon,
I believe? Jeez, four -on -one, huh? Well, it's
supposed to be. I'm sure they'll work up some
last -minute people. There's been a bit of an
issue. Why are you looking at me like that? Like
you have some weird knowing of some strange thing
that's going to happen. What's he talking about,
Seb? I think he's breaking character. No, any
looks were... We mean no offense. I'm sorry.
A whole new... Everything is overwhelming. Yeah,
of course. I understand. So, I have maybe a strange
question. One of the things we're researching,
do you see often guards with... Blue tabards
and, you know, big shiny armor. Happen to see
anybody looks like that walking around? I mean,
there was a group that came by maybe a week and
a half, two weeks ago, I remember. How many in
that group? Oh, I mean, I think there were six
guards and a few children. Wow, this is great
research. This is everything that we, yeah, this
is good. Yeah, I just know they passed through
town. They went south, I assume, towards the
city. Southward down that big wide open road?
It's the one road. That one road? It's the one
road. Southward? Yeah, southward, yeah. Okay,
yeah. All right, let's go west. I'm trying to
think what else we can... Are there any... How
long is... I can't see the city from here. How
long is the travel? Oh, from here, it is about
two and a half hours. Oh, that's not too bad.
I mean, are there any creepy crawlies or monsters
in the night that we should worry about? Yeah,
how safe is that road? I mean, there's always
risks when traveling at night in the wilds, but,
well, this far to the west, you shouldn't run
into any issues with ettins. Oh, what are those?
Oh, we have a bit of an ettin issue out west.
We're going south. Okay, you should be fine then.
But just in case, just in case, why don't you?
If you happen to move into the borderlands to
the west of the city, just be wary. There's a
group of ettins that live amongst the mountain
range to the northwest of the city. They are,
if you don't know, two -headed giantkin. Oh,
yeah. I think I've researched them before. They
work with a group of parytans, and they're dangerous.
Some of the farms out there have some issues,
but... They shouldn't come anywhere near here.
Um, I guess really the last bit of information
I need is, um, regarding snacks. What's a good,
any food vendors around here? Something I can
munch on on the walk? Always thinking with your
stomachs up. Hey, I mean, new place, new food,
new, uh, flavors. Research. Um, yes, actually,
uh, one of the stands near here, uh, sells tacos.
Ooh, tacos, guys. Holy shit. Tacos. Yeah, they're
a great street snack. You should enjoy them if
you're planning on going tonight. I mean, I suggest
you stay in town. It's very late. But if you
want to go in the night, they are open, yes.
Oh, but, I mean, you said it wasn't that dangerous.
It's not. It's just traveling a night in general
is, well, you seem capable. What do you think,
Jules? Fuck. Well, let's think about it over
tacos. Let's go get tacos. I can see shine over
there. That one. That one. That one looks good.
All right. You guys go and buy some tacos. Take
away five silver from your inventory for per
taco you want to buy. Zebulon, give me six gold.
Jesus. Armfuls of tacos you're going to carry
with you. All right. Yeah. You bite into these
crunchy tortillas with meat, cheese, all the
good stuff. It's a little... magical sort of
hot pot sizzling in the back of this little stand.
And yeah, I think you see like a dwarven man
with a big black curved up mustache just smiling
up at you like, oh, enjoy. Oh, thanks so much.
Thank you. Hey, how do you feel about traveling
to the city at night? I wouldn't do it myself,
but... What are the options? Where are the places
to stay around here? I mean, there's a couple
small inns. They're mostly filled, but you could
probably find a loft or something to stay in.
I mean, you know that's not happening, right?
You know that's not happening. So where are you
going to sleep? Yeah, we're going to sleep in
the city. Or I suppose with enough money we could
boot some poor souls out of their rooms here.
No, we're not doing that. Well, fine then. Well,
I mean, what are we so afraid of? I mean, it's
only a couple hours into the city. Where's some...
Big tough dudes. And we've got kids to save.
Oh. I hope you saved them. Oh, I didn't realize
you were still here. You're standing in front
of my stand. Thank you for the tacos. Jules waves
his hand in front and says, forget what you just
heard. Yep. Okay. Forgotten. By the way, if you
guys are leaving tonight, I mean, it could be
safer to hold up with a group. And he sort of
points towards the road, and you see those same
two sort of rough -looking figures are moving
out the sort of gate, moving into the night,
traveling swiftly into the desert. Maybe we should
give him a chance. What do you say, guys? At
the very least, it's some added protection. I'm
not sleeping in a loft. Okay. That's all I know.
It's my input. Then we're walking all night.
Fine. Let's go. Hey! Hey! Excuse me! Hey, you
guys! Goddamn. Zebulon wants to run up and try
to catch up to these guys. Okay, yeah. Yeah,
you catch them. They kind of turn to look very
puzzled, and you catch them right as they're
about to leave the gates. You hear one word called
out basically as you close in. One of them just...
Oh, my God. It's a blooming luminary. And you
room up to him. Hey, hey, guys. We're a couple
of rough and tumble working types heading into
the city. Thought that, you know, safety in numbers.
Maybe we could travel together. They look at
each other. Make a perception check. Or insight.
Either will work. Perception for Zebulon. Still
just a nine. Natural one. Oh, my gosh. This is
awful. Oh, they're so happy to see us. You know,
honestly, these guys seem pretty cool. I could
hang with these dudes. I mean, maybe it's probably
a good idea for Jean to get a chance at this.
Let me pull up his stat real fast. He's also
a plus zero, so let's see. Jean got a 17. So
they seem like they're totally fine, and one
of them looks very nervous, like, Right, yes,
working types, yeah, that's... What's that, Smudge?
That's good, right? Yeah, it seems on level.
Can I cast Detect Thoughts? Ooh. Okay, yeah,
yeah, so you're still moving up to them, right?
You're not quite right in their face? Nope. Okay,
this works as an aura on yourself, lasts for
one minute, and you can detect the thoughts of
nearby creatures as an action, basically, when
this is active. So before you get close, you
cast the spell, and you move in. And I'm, I don't
know, how are we positioned? Zebulon, you're
right in front of them. Jean Franklin is moving
up beside you. Okay. It's going to be on the
guy, whoever's closest to Zebulon, which I think
would be probably the first guy that talked.
Okay. So you cast this on him. All you hear in
your mind is, all right, all right. Stay calm.
Stay easy. Just don't let him know about the
bounty. Just don't let him know about the bounty.
We're all right. We're all right. We're all right.
And that's what you're hearing as he's kind of
looking sort of half smiling towards you guys
or nervously. Shit. It's a wisdom save. No, no.
That's to go deeper, right? Oh, that's just to
go deeper? So if you want to go deeper in and
get more information, you can. But I don't know.
They will know you did it, and it will be saved
to see. Right. I will say this. Jean -Francois
is moving up. He also rolled that check. You
rolled a 17. I haven't resolved that yet. You
can hear these thoughts. And as you hear these
thoughts, it's all happening at once. Jean made
that check. You feel a hand sort of firmly grip
your shoulder, Jules. Uh -huh. He just kind of
very subtly beside you just says, there's a scroll
of paper. They shoved it in their pocket quickly
when we moved in. They're hiding something. They're
going for a bounty on someone. How did you know?
That spell? I, uh, I heard what he was thinking.
Stare at my brain. Stare at my brain! Come on,
you trust me more than that. Yeah, fine. Um,
the two in the front just kind of nod like, right,
well. We're sitting out. You want to stay with
us? Try and keep up. And they just turn and begin
to move quickly out of the town. Thanks, guys.
Oh, yeah, we can keep up. No problem. That should
be fine. Yeah, we're pretty fast. And so you
step out. The road moves south. As you well know
by now, the moon in the sky is large and bright
and full, shining down on this. Long desert.
This endless expanse of sand and sky all around
you. You can see jagged stone structures, as
well as curving figures of cacti standing amongst
the nothingness. Barely illuminated in the moonlight.
A chill wind blows dust up, swirling around your
group as you press forward. The other two try
to keep some distance from you, trying to stay
ahead about 15, 20 feet if they can. Moving quickly,
eyes occasionally shooting back. Zeb's occasionally
interjecting with questions. It's so crisp out
tonight. Is it crisp like this where you guys
are from? No, it's not. Oh, so warm climate,
huh? Might say that. What brings you guys to
San Sitian? We're doing research. And development.
That's nice. We have personal reasons. I got
family in the city. Oh, all right. All right.
That's neat. Yeah, it's neat. Where are you guys
from? I'm sorry. No, I didn't mean to pry. Just
we're on the trip together. Might as well maybe
get to know each other a little bit. We're just
kind of a chatty sort of bunch, that's all. It's
kind of our stick. I'm from the Citadel. Rotham.
We're from Rotham. Oh, wow. I haven't been to
Rotham yet. I don't know about... Guys? Anybody?
No, never. I heard it's dirty. Oh, that's not
very... I'm sure... I mean, there's parts of
every... No, it's dirty. Oh. It's rot. Oh. Well,
well, well... I mean, we just got our passports.
We're luminaries, so we're hoping to travel and
see the whole... We're on the Crystal Network.
We're not exactly incognito. We know who you
are. I didn't know if you'd heard of us or...
You just turn away and keep walking. Okay, yeah.
Let's, um, yeah, okay. And you keep moving? Mm
-hmm. We had a good chat. Time passes by. You're
one hour into your journey. An hour and a half.
And you come to a crossroads. Folk ahead of you
are looking at a sign. As you move closer, you
can see that there's a path heading to the southeast
and a path heading to the northeast. The southeastern
path heads towards Sanxian City. The northeastern
path heads towards a town called Hollow. Which
way are you guys headed? We're going down to
the city. Same. Oh, excellent. So we can keep
this happy band together for a little while longer.
Yeah. Good. They press down the path. At least,
they start to. They kind of just stop and look
around, spooked by a sudden sound that you guys
hear as well. Just a quick flap of wings. An
owl lands in the road just before you. Don't
spook it. Don't spook it. Jules, you look at
this owl and you feel a sudden searing pain.
blazing in your right hand. You can feel the
veins squirming and moving as if drawn repelled
all at once by some strange, malign force. Guys,
what the hell is that thing? I think it's an
owl. I'm not asking you, Zeb. It's an owl. I'm
not asking you, John Franklin. The two in front
also just kind of look back confused, staring
down at this... seemingly mundane creature. But
you feel that pain flare up again, hot, as this
thing looking towards you now, all grouped up
into wings, flip back as if getting ready to
flap. I'm gonna give you a chance to react. And
only you. Something is going to happen. You can
feel that. Something very, very bad. Fuck. Jules
runs out in front of the group. Guys, look out!
And it casts Dissonant Whispers. Okay. Okay.
Okay. That is a 13. That is a failure. Ooh. And
you feel, as you shoot the spell towards it,
there's something almost like... barring you.
As the fog leaves you and surrounds this owl,
before it can make a move, you make your move
first. And it feels like it's trying to pulse
away. Like there's some kind of resistance to
your magic here, but yet it still finds home.
It still lands true. The owl lets out this screeching
growl. And a couple things happen. You see this
small, mundane figure begin to change as your
magic lands true. I want you to roll damage as
I describe this. You see this creature stands
before you now, black under the moonlight, this
dark, feathered, humanoid owl, bent back, eyes
wide and dark and angry. It's not just an owl!
It's not just an owl! And as you say, it begins
to move away from you, flaps its wings, and bolts
into the sky, moving up at an angle about 30
feet away. And I want you to roll for initiative.
Oh, yeah. I rolled a four, only a four for psychic
damage. Jules has an eight. 23 for Zebulon. John's
got a five. Okay. This creature, once an owl,
now something far, far more hideous and malign,
was about 10 feet ahead of you at the start of
this, and it moved about 30 feet away. So it's
now 40 feet away from you, now flying in the
air, we'll say about 15 feet off the ground.
The two figures that are by your side immediately
start moving. The two, uh... Sort of thug -looking
gentlemen. They're just, what the hell? What
the hell? Come on! Come on! And they just start
like... Oh, they take off? Let's just get out
of here. That's our voice. I don't know. They're
running away. Guys, we'll have a better chance
if we all stay together. If it gets through us,
it's coming for you. They're full not listening.
There goes that plan. Does Jaune know which one
of them has the scroll in their pocket? He does.
Is there any more to that, or just wondering?
Are they starting to run away? Is that what's
happening? They're going to start moving away
when this begins. I will throw two tokens on
the screen for them. I'll let you know which
one is the one you're looking for. As it starts,
you see these two figures beside you begin to
move. They're now staying five feet from Zebulon,
ten feet from Jean Franklin. As you guys are
all kind of lined up, they are bolting to the
south. away from the road into the desert, far
from this creature as it's sort of arching away
from you into the air. They haven't had their
chance to move yet, and we're going to start
this combat with Zebulon. So this thing is pulling
away. Zeb's going to draw his bow and use steady
aim as a bonus action and take a couple of shots
off here. While you're doing that, Let me quickly
describe. We do actually have a map currently.
Once again, Rochelle, a South Puget girl, has
set me up. We have this absolutely gorgeous desert
wasteland, all stony and scrubby. We have the
break in the road, as we see here. This creature
is down on the southeastern road that heads towards
the city, ahead of the group and moving away
for now. But yeah. On the Discord, we have a
gallery feature now where we can showcase a lot
of our battle maps throughout the campaign. So
many of them made by SoundPukiGirl. Please, please
check it out. It's super, super cool. Yeah, this
is a good one. But what's not a good one is my
rolls. I rolled a nine. Okay. Goes wide of the
mark. That's the end of Zebulon's turn. Okay.
That is me. Perfect. Perfect. Jean Franklin is
exactly 60 feet away from this thing. It whips
around in the air. Fuck. 40 from you, Jules.
60 from Jean Franklin. And you see its wings
spread open wide. And it finishes the move you
interrupted. Now in this changed form, you see
these wings come down in a mighty flap. A gust
of wind. rushing across, kicking up dust, striking
at all of you, including the gentleman beside
you. And you feel this harsh wind tearing into
you, cutting through skin and muscle, pressing
stiff coldness deep into your bones. Your lungs
fill with something thick and foul. Your bodies
droop and feel energy draining from your limbs
and minds, not a slow sapping of strength. but
a violent tearing of it. I need constitution
saving throws from all of you. Oh no. Oh no.
What the hell? Oh no. Jules got a fucking eight.
Um, 15 for Jean, a five for Zebulon. Holy shit.
Now the evil begins. You're sick. Oh, yes. Oh,
yes. Immediately, you are both going to take
two levels of exhaustion. Oh, no. And become
poisoned. Oh, excellent. Now, two levels because
we're going to use the 1D &D system for exhaustion,
not the 5E system. 1D &D is much better, much
cleaner. Let me quickly describe this real fast.
In 1D &D, Basically, every time you take a level
of exhaustion, you basically gain negative 1
to all ability checks, any D20 roll you make.
If you hit the point where you hit negative 10,
you die. In 5e, it's more like there's really
debilitating effects that you gain each level
up to 6 where you die, and it's a little harder
to track and a little more painful in general.
I think this is a little more fun. It's cleaner.
And exhaustion is going to be kind of a big deal
coming up. So, huh. We're negative two on all
D20 rolls right now? Yes. All D20s? I thought
you said ability checks. All D20 rolls, actually.
So saving throws, attack rolls, and ability checks.
Jesus Christ. Let's see how fast we can end this
one. And don't forget, you're also poisoned.
Disadvantage on ability checks and attack rolls.
Oh, no. Oh, yes. Disadvantage and minus two?
Well, let's see what happens, I guess. Let's
get creative. I think that is where I'll end
my turn. Jules, I'll say when this strikes you,
your hand blazing in pain as your body's weakened.
As you feel maybe the weakest you've ever felt
in your lives. And this thing is turning towards
you. You can barely see yourself reflected. It's
great black eyes, the moonlight shining on you.
It's getting ready to move in to strike jewels.
That's going to be you. I'm going to cast Bless.
On to myself, Jean Franklin, and Zeb. Now that
is Concentration. I don't want to get this wrong.
Yeah, yeah. So I just use that. So if you use
another Concentration spell, that effect will
end. And if I attack you, you have to roll a
con save. If you fail it, then you will lose
a spell. Right, okay. Okay. And then I'm going
to cast Bardic Inspiration onto Zebulon. Ooh,
damn, I get a Bless and a Bardic Inspiration.
Hell yeah. That's a good move. And that's my
turn. I mean, that's a good -ass move. So just
to be clear, I mean, Stephen, you know, you're
familiar with Bless, I assume. Yep, added D4.
Yep, so for the listeners, anybody that might
not know. When a target makes an attack or save
throw before the spell ends, the target can roll
a d4 and add that number to the attack or save.
It's going to be huge since we've got minus two
and disadvantage. Yep. Cool. At the end of your
turn, before we resolve Jean Franklin's turn,
I'm going to use one of my legendary actions.
This thing very quickly, very swiftly moves in
the air as if pushed by the wind itself. It begins
to dive almost like closer to you, but also moving
in a sort of southward angle, cutting off the
two thugs who are about to run away, circling
in to strike. I think that is my move. Jean -Francois's
up. And yes, you heard me right. Legendary actions.
First time in the campaign, gentlemen. Yeah,
great. Excellent. This will be fun. Let's see.
Jaune is just going to move. Can you move Jaune
up here? Kind of in front of Jules, taking up
a defensive position. Hell yeah. I need to get
him away from Zeb. And he really doesn't have
any moves right now. He's going to just have
to hold. Shield out. Standing as guard. Stay
behind me. This thing is dangerous. And I guess
that's the end of Jean's turn for now. Well,
I guess this hasn't really worked well in the
past, but let's try Rebuke Evil. He's within
30 feet, or it's within 30 feet, so you need
to succeed on a DC 11 saving throw or be frightened
for one minute or until it takes damage. Okay.
If it's evil lined. I'm going to see this as
more of a... a paladin oath ability, which I
don't think would quite land. It's more divine
in nature, drawing upon the power of Jean Franklin's
oaths and his sort of determination. So I'm going
to say that I do not have advantage against this.
Oh, excellent. That would be swell. I think that's
fair to say. Benevolent DM, considering we're
already fucked. Yeah. Jean Franklin stands before
you. Note that this says evil aligned creatures.
I've kind of shifted that. I haven't done it
on the sheet yet, but that generally is going
to mean fiends, fey, aberrations, and the like.
So, Jean Franklin stands before you. Just, Zebulon,
Jules, are you alright? What's wrong with you?
Damn you! Damn you! Stay away from my friends!
And this light blasts from his spear, shooting
out and upwards, engulfing this creature for
a moment. Another screech of pain as it fails.
Ooh. What does that mean for me? You're frightened
for one minute or until you take damage. Holy
crap. Which means I cannot move closer. Wow.
Which is, I think, good. But that pretty much
takes Jaune out of the fight. Pretty good stuff
there, Jaune Franklin. I am really impressed.
Yeah, if this thing has any up -close capabilities,
then it'll save us from that. But, I mean, Zebulon
works best up -close. Jaune works best up -close.
Right. So, let's see what happens. Well, Zebulon,
see what happens now, because it's your turn.
Okay. See, this is where it sucks. Because if
I stay here, Then I can use my steady aim and
I can negate that disadvantage. But then if I
hit, I don't get my sneak attack because I'm
next to Jules. I guess I'd rather hit. So let's
try it. Okay. Steady aim for bonus action. I'm
going to take one roll. I just crit my pants.
What? Stop it. I just crit my pants. But I don't
get sneak attack, though. Oh, my. Don't get the
sneak attack. You're still crit. You're still
crit. Yeah. Okay, so that's 2d8 plus 4 then.
A 2 and a 1 on 2d8. 7 damage. 7 damage. That's
awful. Quite a crit. Damn it, damn it, damn it.
You see what looks like a kill shot launching
towards this thing in almost like... It sort
of moves in the air, and the wind almost takes
the shot, and it changes just slightly, ripping
across his face, blood and feathers taking into
the moonlight around it, but it is relatively
unscathed. I read the rapier damage is 1d8 plus
4. The shortbow damage is d6. Honestly, just
keep it. The end roll of a 6. Yeah. It's fine.
Just wanted to get it out there. So... Half a
wedgie. Half a wedgie. Oh, man. I cannot move
closer to you. So I guess I'm going to just do
this. Wings flip back again. Another burst of
wind. This one, very different. Howling and bitterly,
bitterly, bitterly cold. I need you guys to make
a constitution saving throw. Let's see where
this is going. At a minus two, right? Yes. Minus
one for me, though. Correct. Oh, yes. Because
of my cloak. Yeah, the cloak. And it's windy.
Nice. Absolutely. Yeah. Oh, good catch. Good
catch. So that is 16 for Jules. And no minus
for Jaune yet. Is that correct? That is correct.
Nice. Oh, wow. Holy shit. I need the dice jail.
All right, gold vein dice. That's what you can
do. It's a gold vein D12. I'm switching to the
red dragon for the rest of this session because
Zeb just rolled a two on the die with a minus
two. Jaune with a plus three rolled a natural
one. Okay. Let's make sure I get my math right
here. I think we're actually going to die tonight.
I think this is about to get really wild. Okay.
I've done my math. Are you ready? Ready to die.
Zebulon and Jean Franklin. Actually, before we
get to you, just to add suspense. The two figures
moving beside you. Immediately upon this wind
hitting them, their bodies go pale. And they
drop to the ground. Dead. What? Fuck. Fuck. Zebulon
and Jean Franklin. I was just going to try something
with those guys on my turn. Well, they're not
going anywhere now. Nope. Well, now we can get
that scroll easier. If we live. If we live, yeah.
You take 29 points of cold damage. Okay. Well,
Zebulon's down. You take 14. You take half damage
from passing the save. That was my turn. Jules,
you're up. And how far are we away now? It is
currently 30 feet away from you, 15 feet in the
air. Your bodies are heavy and sick. I'm so,
so cold. I'm going to lean down and cast Cure
Wounds onto Zebulon. Ooh. Okay. So that's a 1d8
plus 4. All right, that's 9. Does that bring
you up at all? Oh, yeah. Nice. Not out of the
fight yet. And then as a bonus action, I am casting
Bardic Inspiration onto Jean Franklin. Oh, boy,
oh, boy. And that is all I can do. All right.
Your loot shines. Beamslayer, Jean Franklin,
the one standing tall in the midst of all this,
facing this thing down. As a light hits him,
he stands a little taller. It's going to be his
turn now. Wait, wait. He gets two turns? Jean
Franklin. Oh. I thought you were talking about
the owl. The bird loves the spark inspiration
you gave it. Come on, man. Jeez, there's really...
There's really nothing that Jaune can do. He'll
step over to Zebulon. Don't forget, raid actions
are a thing, too. Yeah. Well, he can't move closer.
True, true. Jaune will step over to Zebulon and
put, let's say, 15 points back into him. That
brings Zeb up to 24 out of 28. That saves a couple.
I don't know how to change... It says it's in
his notes, his Lay on Hands pool. Well, it's
at 5 out of 20, so we can stay at 5 out of 20
because I just used 15, so... And then he will
move back to his spot away from Zebulon to give
him the space. Okay. So heals and steps back
to guard Jules again. So I was just like... I
just said, oh, wait a minute. What about that
Rebuke Evil? And we... because I realized that
immediately, after doing a cool thing with Jean
Franklin that would have sent this thing flying
away, I had Zebulon attack it. It was the beers
talking. The beers controlled the character.
Steven has officially killed us. Yeah, and negated
the, I just, I can't. No, no, no, no. I'm very,
very frustrated with myself. This is an honest
mistake. You guys likely would have had some
kind of talk beforehand. But let's just put it
this way. Zebulon's also reckless. Zebulon's
also not the brightest apple in the pear tree.
Anyway, I have an idea. I'm going to make another
save to see if I recover from the fear effect.
All right. I think that's fair. I'm going to
make another save to see if this works out, because
I think that's a good way. I've already been
working under the assumption that I have it,
so before my turn happens, or on my turn, we'll
say. I will make that save, and we'll see what
we see. Zebulon, you idiot. I don't know. Maybe
Zebulon doesn't know how Rebuke Evil works. He
does have a valid point. It is Zebulon. It is
Nebulon. It's that plus five. I didn't mean that
as a legitimate dig. It's that minus three wisdom
at work. Yeah, it's just like negative three
wisdom. That's what happens. Oh, my God. Negative
three Steven wisdom. Oh, my God. This would have
been so different. It would have been over. Yeah,
it would have been over. Sorry. I'll maybe only
just do that like a couple more times. No, it's
okay. I deserve it. A couple more times. I deserve
it. All right. It's a numbskull's turn. Let's
use Ebulon if you... I thought you were going
to do... Oh, you're going to do a save on...
On my turn. It's turn. 40 episodes in and you're
now just starting to become a comedian? How dare
you? Share me with the digs tonight. My absolute
goodness. Okay. Well, let's see if I can make
up for some of my... Probably not, though. Zeb's
going to just step to the left five feet. Can
you put Zeb there for me, David? Absolutely.
So that I can get... If I ever hit, I can get
sneak attack damage now. So let's roll with disadvantage
here. That's just a ten. Okay. Does not. Goes
wide again. That's a malign wind blowing it to
the side. And now... I will make my save. If
I fail this save, I have to leave. This thing's
eyes are locking onto Jean Franklin nervously,
but there's blood trickling down the side of
its face, down its feathers. The only wound it's
taken so far in this combat, that one arrow that
hit. And apart from that, while it's nervously
looking towards Jean Franklin, its eyes keep
flickering to you, Jules. And there is murder
in those eyes. You. It wants you. I want to roll
this on the table with this gold vein D20. Ah,
the gold vein. We will let Zubir decide what
happens next. Oh, my God. I knew we would curse
the name. This is, oh. Let me tell you what I
need. Your dice tray. What is the save for Jean
Franklin's ability? 11. Okay. I have a plus two
to wisdom. You get a nine or higher. I'm okay.
Okay. What is it? What is it? It's a 15. From
my angle in the light, it looks like a fucking
two. Oh, man. That's awful. A 15. He just barely
managed to shake off the fear. Oh, okay. So now
is when we die. It dives in towards you, Jules.
It's going to make a sweeping attack on Jean
Franklin as it moves in. And a second attack
on you. And here we go. Talons come out. First
John Franklin. 15 to hit is a miss. Miss on John.
So he weaves out of the way. It grazes his shield.
Second Talon comes out, coming for you. You see
death on this Talon, Jules. You see a sort of
malign, like smoke billowing around the very
edge of it. Something dark, something evil. Here
we go. And Jean Franklin grabs Jules. Holy shit.
And switches places with normal sacrifice. Oh
my god, I forgot about that. What the fuck? Holy
shit. Uh, that is, uh... It's a miss on Jean
Franklin. Get out of here. We're gonna hit on
Jules. We're gonna hit on Jules. Get out of here.
Jean Franklin just comes in again. I said go!
Just, oh yeah, right in this thing's face. Screams
out. Holy shit. That's my turn. Jules, that's
you. Hey, guess what? What? Jules is going to
cast Tasha's Hideous Laughter. No, I'm not. Because
we still got Bless going. And that's Concentration.
This thing has, from what you've gathered from
the last ability, this thing seems to be less
affected, like has an advantage, basically, on
effects that require saving. Sure. Fuck me. Yeah,
I'm going to cast Level 2 Dissonant Whispers
again. Okay. You'll get advantage. Oh, that reminds
me. You didn't give me damage for the last Disney
Whispers. I did. You did. Okay. Four. Four. Oh,
yeah, that's right. That's right. It was so low
that I thought it was the crit. You just only
done, like, 11 damage in total. All right. 14.
God damn it. It's 14. Oh, so barely. Give me
half damage still. That's still seven points.
As much as a crit from Zebulon. Just as many
as my crit. That's pretty good. Good move, good
move. I mean, that was on 3d6 with half damage.
Yeah. That's pretty fucking good. Yeah, definitely.
So, and as a bonus action, I'm going to cast
Bardic Inspiration on myself. Bardic Inspiration
all around. Um, this turtle's really getting
my way. He also switched places. Let me move
that real quick. So, Jules, you are now, John
Bracklin is now right to the north of this thing.
You are now to the west of it. East of it, directly.
Zebulon, you're just ten paces away to the actual
east. Bow out. I'm going to make an attack on
Jean. He's been kind of a problematic character.
Legendary action. Talon attack. Natural one.
Ooh. Ooh. Okay. That doesn't hit. Okay. Oh, it
does not hit at all. I've been doing, like, fumbles.
There's no horses nearby, but... It isn't the
last fight. I'll do it here, too. I'm going to
give Jules an AOL. Oh, nice. Okay. As this thing
kind of turns around, I need to hit him. You
see an opportunity. It's so eager. Too eager.
Too aggressive. Too bloodthirsty. So I have negative
two and disadvantage? Yep. Fuck me. Even if it's
an AOL? Yep. Oh, come on. You guys got any buttons
over there? Yeah, we do, I think. I don't. Oh,
I have one. No. Well, I already rolled, and I
didn't hit. It's an eight. All right. All right.
Well, I also did not have my legendary action,
so that is going to be Jean Franklin. All right.
So close to take out this damn turtle. Jean Franklin
is just going to make a spear attack. So disadvantage,
and instead of a plus four to hit, it's just
a plus two. Both rolls are a 13, so that's a
15. I think I'm going to add my Bless to this
one, just in case. I don't remember what we hit
on. I don't remember what we hit. You also have
a Bardic, correct? Yeah. That can add damage.
Bless and Bardic. All right. We'll take the Bless.
Hopefully it wasn't a 15, and I didn't waste
the Bless. That's a two on the blessed die, so
17. That's pretty good damage. That's to hit.
That's not damage. 17's a miss? That'll hit.
Oh, okay. Jeez. That'll hit. All right, let me
put that away. Let's see. Okay, so spear damage
is a d6 plus two. I'm going to add my blessed
dice. So that's nine damage then. You should
add plus two to the attack. Does that work? Yes.
Oh, okay. Can I add Bless to the attack, or is
it just saves? Oh, it's attack rolls and saves.
I think it's to attack or save. To the attack
roll. Okay. So not to the damage. No. Oh, well,
someone just said you have the D6. You can add
that to damage. Yeah, the Bardic Inspiration
for damage. Yeah, I used the Bless for the attack.
Oh, sorry. And the Bardic for the damage. You
said Bless, and you said the damage. Okay. Oh,
my bad. Cool, cool, cool. All right. So... I
have to roll a save for that, though, correct?
For the bardic. Oh, yeah. Okay. You also have
to succeed on a con throw, on a con save, or
take thunder damage equal to the bardic inspiration
die. Yeah. Okay. Okay. That's probably a fail
with a natural two, so we're good. Take the extra
damage. Sweet. It was four extra. Do you want
me to re -roll it? No, I'll take the four. Okay.
Hell yeah. Okay. Sounds good. And with that,
that's your turn. That is the end of Jaune's
turn. Okay. And that's you, Zeb. All right. This
thing is on the ground? It is currently on the
ground. You finally have it within range. Excellent.
All right. Zebulon is going to drop his bow,
pull out his sabers, and step right up to this
guy here. Right in this spot. I don't have the
legendary to get out of here! You close in. Now
this thing is surrounded by the three of you.
All right, so I've got my plus one to AC now.
I got my two weapons out. I've got Bless and
Bardic Inspiration, and I'm going to use a button
as well. Ooh, okay, okay. So this first attack
I will take without disadvantage. Second one
I'll take with disadvantage. That's a natural
one on the first attack. That I already said
out loud I was going to take without disadvantage.
Okay. Let's see what happens on the second attack
with disadvantage. Okay, well the first roll
is a nat 20. Let's take that disadvantage. And
that's a 4. Plus 4 is only 8. Okay. Awesome.
Great. So nothing. Oh no. Okay. But I am surrounded,
and this is not preferable for me. Jules, it
looks you in the eyes. Much like that owlish
way you see its body is turned towards Zebulon
to parry his last attacks, but its head fully
turns around, rotating over its shoulder to stare
at you. And you can hear this low... as his hand
reaches out towards Zebulon, and you see, you
recognize the aura of inflict wounds on its hand,
a spell you know very well. Something innate
and special to you that is going to be 18 to
hit. Um, I'm going to use Gift of the Metallic
Dragon Protective Wings. Oh shit. When you're
another creature you can see within five feet
of you is hit by an attack, you use your reaction
to gain a plus two bonus to the target's AC against
that attack roll. So that stops it? That stops
it. My AC right now with my sabers out is 17.
Holy shit. Plus two makes it 19. This dark energy
surrounding it, it reaches this claw, this talon
out to like use this spell laughing at you. And
then you see. What do they see, Zebulon? Describe
this. Jeez, well, um, Zebulon reflexively tries
to lean back, and as he does, another reflex
that he didn't know he had materializes in these
spectral wings that push the attack aside. Holy
shit. Arm gets pushed aside, head rotates, snaps
back around so fast, eyes wide. For the first
time, looking nervous. Jules, that's you. No,
I might do something really stupid here. Still
surrounded. Still in trouble. I think stupid's
great. I think at this point... Because we have
disadvantage on attacks. And that's an issue.
Oh, yeah. That's an issue. That's a big fucking
issue. Yeah. You've got a bardic inspiration,
though. I do. But if I roll a natural one on
an inflicted wounds, I'm fucked. Maybe. And that's
exactly what I'm going to do. All right. Hopefully
he sends the natural one. Jules looks down and
says, not this is how you do it. Eat shit, you
stupid fucker. And Jules reaches down with his
hand, touches this thing, and casts inflict wounds.
Okay. Okay. And I am going to use my bardic inspiration
for this. It didn't help. It's a nine. Nine does
not hit. I know it doesn't. Could have saved
it. God. You go to strike on this thing, too.
It sort of head snaps back towards you, weaves
around again, barely dodging yours. It's still
getting nervous, getting frazzled, all these
bodies around it. Trying to decide to go for
attack. Do I move away? I only have so many legendary
actions. Why not? I have a mission. It's to kill
me. I'm going to attack you again. Two attacks
on Jules. Noble sacrifice is once a day, I'm
going to guess. It doesn't say so on... It doesn't
say anything on... No, it's what's turned. Really?
It's a reaction. It's what Jean Bricklin's got.
It's his most powerful ability. Damn. Okay. That's
going to hit. Jean's going to use his... Reaction.
Okay, yeah, Jaune's still right there. Once his
turtle's down, that's it. No sacrifice. Turtle.
Okay, okay. He's just a yo -yo machine. This
thing is coming for Jules. It really is. Look
at Jaune Brinkley is on it today. Just grabs
Jules, pulls him out of the way, once again takes
his place. I'm going to land some damage on him
this time. Let's roll this real fast. Which means
Jules definitely will have taken damage. Give
me a con save for John Franklin. Okie doke. He
failed his last time, right? So he's now exhausted
and poisoned as well? No. Oh, he didn't. I did
not use that ability on him. Oh, gotcha. Okay,
so he's still got his plus three then with no
disadvantage. So that's a 15 for his con save.
Okay. He takes ten points of damage. Yikes. Holy
shit. No. Five of which is piercing damage from
the claw just ripping into him, and the rest
is poison. He takes half damage from the poison,
but it still courses through him. Ouchie, ouchie.
Doesn't Zebulon have antitoxin? He does, yes.
But I was looking at it, and what antitoxin does
is I think it... Ups your save. Let me pull it
up in my inventory here. Okay. They had antidote.
You got an antitoxin. Creature that drinks. I
probably bought the antitoxin with the anticipation
of buying an antidote. Oh, okay. So I will eat
that mistake, I guess. This is very Zebulon.
He's like, I got antidote. All right, all right.
So that was my first attack. I'm going to take
a bulletin jumper. He's in my way now. Second
one's going to miss. Excellent. Goes wide. I
think it's very close with an 18. 19 says AC.
Okay, yeah, so rips off the shield. Just barely
dodges it. Still kind of squirming from that
last attack. Great, okay. And that is going to
be Jules. Taking one last risk to hit you. Did
not pan out. Head just swivels back to you. Just...
You're literally switched out of the way. John
Franklin's place. Jules is going to cast Tasha's
Hideous Laughter. Okay. Oh, shit. You haven't
used your Bless. That's okay. At this point,
I've got to do it. You've got to try to win this
fight. You've got to do it. So, yes, Jules is
going to cast Tasha's Hideous Laughter, so Zebulon's
Bless goes away. Okay. Advantage on the save.
Let's see what happens here. It's a very good
save. It's 20. Yeah. Just again, hold against
it. This thing is fierce. It is. It's in your
face. Anything else you want to do, Jules? Nope,
that's all I can do. You can feel death coming
upon you. It's so set on you. Its eyes still
hooked on you. I'm going to, at the end of your
turn, use my legendary axe to attack one more
time on you before Jaune goes. Yeah, he doesn't
have his reaction anymore. That will hit. Yeah,
you're dead. That's a lot of dice. Yeah. Make
a con save? No. Finally, the claw strikes true.
Your cloak, your magic, your friends can't stop
it. It is inevitable as it tears into your flesh.
So you feel a poison pump into your already weakened
body. That is 12 points of damage. Alright, Jules
is down. Jean Franklin's up. This thing stands
above Jules. Poised to finish this. You can see
this, Zebulon. Jean can see this. It's talons
raised. You have a chance. Jean and you both
go before it. I'm going to tell you right now
the certain HP threshold that I've been looking
for that you have not hit yet. Give you a little
metagame information because I think it's fun
in this case. I think it's scary in this case.
Definitely scary. Make your move wisely. I'm
out of buttons. Make your move. Jaune's first,
right? Jaune is next. Okay. Jean, well, Stephen
is out of buttons, so that means Jean is out
of buttons. Jean has no Bless or Bardic Inspiration.
Zebulon's Bless is also gone. So Jean's going
to just roll to attack. Disadvantage, plus two.
Come on, Red Dragon. First roll was a 16 on the
die, second was a three. So no hit for Jean.
He's not disadvantaged. Didn't he just fail it
last time? No, that's just taking damage. There's
different cons here. The first attack is the
only one that actually deploys an effect. The
first thing I did, the opening move. Gotcha.
Okay. Well, that's great. So then that's a hit
then, I'm guessing. That's 18. 18 will hit. Okay.
He does hit. Wow, that's great. He's the only
one that's not super fucked up. I only used that
really nasty move once. I am going nuts over
here. Yeah, for real. My brain is short -circuiting.
Yep. Okay, good. And I'm going to use the Bardic
Inspiration on the damage. So that's 2d6 plus
2. That's Zebulon's Bardic Inspiration. That's
Zebulon's. Damn it, it was right in front of
me. Yeah. All right, so d6 plus 2 for Jaune.
That's five damage. Five damage. Screeches out
as the spear strikes into it again in that Zebulon.
All right. Time for Zebulon. Make my first disadvantage
attack roll. Yeah, that was a dirty 20 for the
first attack. Yep. 18 on the die, then a 16 on
the die. Zebulon sees his ally in serious danger
and doubles down. Holy shit. Let's see. I'm going
to do the second attack first and then roll the
damage. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. Check out that bless,
too, if you need it. I don't have the bless,
but I have the bardic inspiration. That's the
one. Okay. So my lowest roll was a 5, plus 4
for the hit DC is a 9. Do you want to use it
for that, or do you want to use it for damage?
I don't think you can roll it. I think a D20
roll gets a Bardic, but if you roll it for your
attack roll, you get the damage. Isn't that how
it works? Huh? I think the Bardic gives you extra
points on damage if you roll it as part of the
attack roll. I don't think you can add it to
damage unless you use it for the attack roll.
Oh. Yeah, that's the extra bonus you get. I think
barge goes on D20s. That's right, yeah. Okay.
Gotcha. So we did that a little wrong earlier.
So that means we did it wrong. That's why I was
confused. I was trying to figure out. If you
use it on this, it lands, then you can maybe
do that save for the extra damage. Nine plus
six is 15. I don't know if 15 is going to hit
because David even goaded me a little bit to
use the bless earlier when I had 15 on the die.
Screw it. It's now or never, so I pretty much
have to roll a six, and even then I don't know
if it's going to help, but let's try it, I guess.
No, it was a one. So I get my one rapier hit,
and I get sneak attack, so that's good. So that's
seven with just the attack. Now let me do my
2d6 here. That's nine sneak attack damage. He
needed nine. The threshold. You either just hit
the threshold or Jules is dead. It's my turn.
This thing raises its talon to strike down at
Jules. In that moment, in unison, Jean Franklin
reaches out with a spear, slices it right across
the ribs. Zebulon with his sword, slicing it
straight down the back. This perfect coordinated
strike. The claw lingers in the air, head swivels
one way and the other rapidly. In a burst of
feathers and blood, this thing launches to the
skies, disengaging. It begins to flee. Do we
get AOs? I disengage on this round, so you don't
now. If you want to pursue it, it's like, out
of here. I mean, I'm down, so it doesn't matter.
Yeah. Definitely not going to follow this thing.
I think Zeb and Jean at the same time are going
to reach down. Zeb's going to cast Cure Wounds.
That's right. And Jean is going to put his last
five points into Jules. So that's a D8 plus one
for you there. Oh, that's max. So that's another
nine. Okay. Holy. You snap awake and you barely
catch a glimpse of this thing, dark, disappearing
into the blackness of the night, into the sky.
The pain in your hand fades as it moves away.
We got it, Jules. We got it. I can't believe.
Oh my God, we should have been dead. Look at
those guys. Sam, they're not going to stop. They're
going to keep coming. No, no. No, no, no, no,
no, no, no, no. Jean Franklin is frantically
looking down at you. Both of you. His eyes flickering
down your bodies. Looking at your eyes. Hearing
your rattling breaths. Sarah, no. It's Sarah,
no. You're both going to die. And there's nothing
I can do about it. And we'll call it there. It's
my sand sound.