Hey there, Pants people. Steven here. Just want
to say real quick before the episode, thank you
for listening. Thank you for hanging out with
us. Thank you for being here. We love you. Enjoy
the episode. And took control of the past of
respite. It was at that time that, uh, coincidentally...
The Crystal Network had a sudden disturbance,
whereas only just now worked itself out. Now,
we had met on the scene there upon Antosh demanding
control of the Fire Opal Concord duel to Sansatyan.
Upon further questioning the hand of the Sun,
we've declared that he was pursuing none other
than the mighty Pink Man to face justice for
a number of secret murders. Now, this is hard
as hell to believe. And if it is true, it is
a strange and troubling affair. As Illuminaire,
Antosh has a responsibility to apprehend. dangerous
criminals, especially those protected by the
Citadel's own protections, but very few besides
Atash can contain a friend like the Pig Man,
but Atash is also a sovereign king. The king
of Antwerp is a command to raid into another
world, directly insulting an agent of their higher
authority. This, folks, this could be an act
of open war. I don't know what's happening. I
don't know what's going to happen, but I do know
this. I want to talk about a little something
called the butterfly effect. This idea that a
small act can set in motion a series of events
that in turn can cause catastrophes. A butterfly
flaps its wings and those air currents eventually
become a storm, a continent away. Or... For another
more relevant example, let's talk about Blanche
Trudeau. Now, we've had this running joke about
Blanche getting into way more than she bargained
for here on Sansatian. And here, as she stares
up into the twin pools of infinite radiance that
are Atash's eyes, the world around her devolving
into a chaotic battle between celestial warriors
and automated armors, I have to wonder what Blanche
is thinking. Yeah, I mean, Blanche showed up,
what? A day and a half ago? Yeah, something like
that. And yeah, we already thought she was in
over her head. And this is, wow. I don't even
think that Blanche can put words to it yet. She's
really just observing. I mean, she's in survival
mode at this point. Yeah. I have to wonder what
she would think if she knew that she herself
was the cause of this scene. This will be fucking
good. So let's go back and take a look. At a
point in time, just a short while ago, the previous
night, in fact, when Blanche Trudeau cast a little
spell called Suggestion. Now, you cast this spell
on the pig man. After lulling him into this sort
of post -combat conversation, you befriended
him. And the friendship, combined with the spell,
combined with his own natural idiocy, caused
him to confess to murder. Caused him to confess
that Marfil Ironworks covered up murder. And
in this moment, I think Blanche and Dresden,
they took this in stride. This was something,
I mean, this was information. Sure, they were
interested. But what we didn't see in that moment
was the reaction of Ramin Rasool, just a short
ways outside the ring, standing over Jean Franklin,
tending to him. We didn't see the way Ramin's
eyes widened, mouth dropped, as he was hit. with
the ramifications of these words. We didn't see,
not the full scene, when we flashed ahead in
time a bit, to when Blanche interrupted Ramin
in his room below Salazar as he was using Ascending
Stone, speaking the musical language of Celestial,
sending information to Atash. We didn't see the
angels flooding into the Citadel. Just as this
party was getting going, just around 6 p .m.
on this day, commandeering the Fire Opal Conquer
Jewel, Atasha's celestial warriors forcefully
flying out and taking control of the jewel and
just pulling it in, the shield bearers standing
aside, gawking, unsure what to do, weapons ready,
but what do you do when the first luminary appears?
Commander Aria stands with them, and he does
not move to interrupt this procedure, this raid.
And who would try to stop this? I mean, only
a few. Those who serve the Fractured Horn, the
dark cult committed to Atash's immortal foe,
the demon, Zilmante Shab. They would interfere.
This raid stands to hurt them most of all, and
so those in secret alliance with the cult, they
simply can't speak out, for fear of being recognized
by the Sunweaver's hand. There is one other,
though. One that would stand in the way of the
angels. One who could see far beyond the events
of today and now. One with the wisdom to see
the true effects of this moment. One who is most
wary of Atash's will. Yet there is no resistance
from Speaker Sholei. She remains buried in her
grief, hidden away in her lair in a rural town.
The death of her grandson still a fresh wound.
And normally there are heavy restrictions put
on Atash's ability to act as a luminary. He is
seen as particularly dangerous, as great as he
is, because he is the sovereign ruler of Ankara
and Sengar. His actions can be viewed as a foreign
invasion, especially at a time like this. The
government of Ankara and Sengar currently performing
a raid on the government of San Satyan. This
is big. And yet no one steps forward to stop
him. And no one since warning the San Satyan
of the impending raid, they can't. Because, mysteriously,
As Atash and his forces appeared, the network
went suddenly down. Sending stones throughout
the citadel went dead. Powery angels took hold
of the passage of respite, and no one has been
allowed to leave. Some magic interference, coincidence,
has been stopping all these transmissions out.
And this ensures the targets of this raid will
be none the wiser to the angels' plot. There's
one, though. Clever. enough to get a message
through. Sturgeman, always eager to help the
Scion of Justice, convinces Atash to allow his
presence on the jewel. As the Conqueror shifts
from the ethereal plane to the physical world
of San Satyan, Sturgeman's own sending stones
reactivate, and he sends a warning out to Rune
Rusong. Whatever happens next, you just remember
that I did not stand in the way. And here...
We see angels shooting into the skies above Manzanares,
moving into the clouds and moving slowly towards
the city. They wait for nightfall to mask themselves
amongst the stars as they move upon the hill.
And there, they wait again for a signal from
their agent on the inside. A signal that only
got through because you guys allowed it to. And
from here, we arrive at our current moment. Pari
angels cleaving through metal armor with their
golden blades, the red glow of arcane cores fizzing
out in a flash as they are struck by a surge
of radiant power. The AG -5 surround you, Dresden,
but all their attention is turned away, the program
pushing them to confront the larger threat. And
a short ways away from this, Atash stands before
the transformed pigman, weapon drawn as the monster
comes bearing down on him. Yet we still do not
see the full extent of this chain of events.
It stretches on, beyond us and into the future.
That's our butterfly effect. Blanch, cast suggestion.
And the very worlds are irreparably changed.
You think you can trust a guy with world -shattering
secrets? You think? And our PCs don't even know
about it. You don't? They have no idea. You know
that Atash called out to Ramin. You do know Ramin
was behind this. Somehow. You know he was involved.
Sure, yeah. A tremor runs across the terrace,
a burst of wind accompanying it, as Atash and
the pigman clash. Blanche, you are near blinded
by a flash of white -hot light as Atash's greatsword
strikes into the ettin's flesh. It does not sink
deep, though. The monster grins down at the blade
that meets the solar angel's eyes with a roar
of, Atash! I should also reiterate that both
of these beings are quite large. The big man,
Goltan, stands at about 11 feet. Atash stands
just beneath him at a bit over 10. And so, this
monstrous fellow, Goltan, wraps his arms around
Atash, attempting to pin and to crush moves you've
seen before, but far more brutal now. There's
a heat coming off of him, that rage intensified
more than you could ever imagine. Atash, with
a furious beat in his wings, he begins to push
the monster back, pushing them both away from
you, Blanche. Gul'tansar is stumbling against
the force, back, back, step by step, and over
the edge of the pool. The two crash into the
water, which illuminates, filling with the Angel
King's light. And you can see the great shadow
of the malformed giant thrashing below the churning
waves as the two continue their battle. You can
also see that a few of the powery angels have
peeled off to the edge of the terrace, where
they're... helping to escort guests to a safer
place, moving them towards and through the entrance
hall in a rush. The battle rages around you.
In the midst of all of this, what are you guys
doing? Um, okay. Real quick. No. Real quick.
No. Action time. What are you doing? Oh, really?
Sorry. Okay. I'm so glad we caught that on camera.
I'm fucking, I gotta calm down. Dude, I'm in
it, but there's one thing I have to get. I gotta
calm down. Repress. There's one thing I have
to get to before we move on. Yeah. Last week,
Blanche left her recording diamond in the hand
of her mage hand. What? Is that mage hand there
now with the recording diamond still? Or is it
fucking upstairs and she has to go get it? How
does mage hand work? How does mage hand work?
How does it last? The concentration? You haven't
gotten hit. David, you're supposed to know this.
Ah, I don't know. You're supposed to know this.
I don't cast mage hand. I don't have that spell.
No, it doesn't say anything about concentration.
I'm just... No time limit? One minute. One minute.
It would have been longer than a minute as you've,
like, moved from there. But it's also a cantrip,
so I'm guessing that she would have, like...
Yeah. From the time she left the room to when
she got down there, like, do you think that she
would be smart enough to be like, command the
mage hand to follow her down? I'm sorry, what's
your intelligence stat again? Yeah, pretty high.
Yeah, you're fine. You're a wizard with, like,
max intelligence. You're fine. Okay, so she's
just going to pluck the recording diamond out
of the mage hand at some point as all this is
happening. What is she doing, though? Dude, that
footage is worth money. You just got the front
row city of Atash fighting that big, the first
and third luminary clashing right before you.
Like, you couldn't get closer to this. So they're
in the pool underwater right now fighting? Yes.
You see, like, the waves churning, light just
blasting. There's, like, rays of light that sort
of shoot out, and the waves kind of parting,
and these huge, almost tidal waves that splash
out over the terrace. Yeah. She's outclassed
here. But she also knows that this is the number
one luminary we're talking about. Hmm. She's
going to scream out. That is my pupil. That is
my charge. Atash, you bring him in. You save
him or you answer to me and you answer to the
people of the Concord. And then she turns around
to find Dresden. Soldier boy inside. Let's go.
We have no place here. Jaune fudgers inside,
slew to his spear. And he's just like blown away.
He's got this huge smile on his face. He's seeing
all this around him. He's a big Autosh fan. He's
also a big Pigman fan. So it's probably a bit
of a storm inside of him. But like, still, this
is crazy. He sort of like half stumbles away
from the fight as like a way opens up for you
as his angels begin to clashing through metal
armor. You guys have a way through. So he's pushing
along with that. Ramin, right behind you, Dresden,
just turns to you. Eastman! Where is Eastman?
We can't let him escape! We've taken his compound,
his allies, his guard, but... He yet has the
demon! He has Serenno! It is still his greatest
weapon! He will go for it! Dresden, he will go
for it! To escape with it, we need to find him
now! Okay. It's Serapio, Dresden. It's Eastman's
son. What? Serapio. Dresden, there's something
I have to tell you. I... Upstairs, there's...
There's files on... There's all sorts of information.
I got what I could, but there's... There's one
file I wasn't able to read. It's about jewels.
Dresden takes a pause. Follow, Eatsman. I won't
be far behind. Oh, shit. Split the party. Well,
okay, hold on, hold on. Because we didn't discuss,
we discussed our options, but we didn't discuss,
we haven't discussed yet, if we want to follow
those. What? What would it mean mechanically,
David, if we ran upstairs to look at that file?
We know that Eatsman is running away. We know
that we want to chase after him. How far behind
would we be if we ran up to grab that file? Before
I answer this, I'd like Blanche to roll a straight
intelligence check. Okay. Just an 11. 11, okay.
I will just say this. You can't recall the words,
so you might need to take a second to, like,
look at them, but you have images of, like, his
file on Serapio, and there may be information
on where he would meet with this being, this
demon. You know he's been giving orders to it.
There has to be some place where they're meeting.
Maybe you don't need to follow him. Maybe you
can hit him off. Interesting. Okay. You might
be able to, if you can... Figure that out. If
you have that information, you could spend time
here. Sure. I will say, though, just because
I think this is going to be happening, as you're
kind of discussing this on the terrace, an explosion
rocks out from the pool. Water sprays up in a
blast as two beings start flying up into the
night, sort of rolling out. Everything begins
to shake. I think a Pauly Angel sort of drops
down sort of between before you guys and says,
Go! Now! Yeah, we want to be inside. Okay. Out
of the terrace. We're getting the hell out of
the way. You're running. Okay, so cool. We're
getting out of the way. So we're kind of like
at the bottom of the stairs that lead to the
second floor. Oh, yeah. So you're diving into
the second floor. Yeah, and you're inside now.
You move inside. People are starting to like
run, crowding out around the sides of it, charging,
charging. And all of a sudden you hear the sound
of splitting like wood. People begin to scream
and you hear the sound of metal falling upon
like tile as something lands right before the
four of you. You see an armored guard with its
open sort of chest cavity torn and black as if
rocked by an explosion. You recognize the one
you fought upstairs. Oh, my God. And you are
recognized by it as a threat. Roll for initiative.
All right, here we go. Come on. Here we go. Yeah,
baby. Jeremy, I'm going to say it. I think Dresden
should go while we fight. Yeah. I think so. It's
the only way we're going to get it. I think this
is insanely deadly. It's the only way we're going
to get it, yeah. I'm thinking that you'll be
back in, like, two rounds, maybe three rounds.
Yeah. I want to say this. Dresden could read
the file. If he wants to get actual evidence
of the file, he'd need the recording diamond.
Which is still sitting there. Which is still
sitting there because... Well, he has it now.
Yeah, Blanche has it. Remember with the mage
hand? Yeah, but if you left the mage hand up
there, wouldn't it just disappear and the diamond
fall where it was? No, David ruled that the mage
hand followed her down, and so she plucked it
out of the sky. Okay, okay. So just make sure
that's out there so you're passing the diamond
along. Yeah. Okay, hell yeah. I was going to
say, are you going to pass the diamond to me?
Well, she's going to have to, yeah, for sure.
Yeah. All right. Okay, initiative. Let's do it.
Yeah, I was going to say, do you want Dresden
to roll anything to try and... Ooh, baby, that's
good initiative. Sorry. 19 plus 4. That's pretty
good. Yeah, that's pretty good. All right, what
do you want Dresden to do? All right, so you're
leaving, you're going upstairs. I am leaving
and I'm going upstairs to that room. We'll just
pull a new different scene as you start to move
away. Okay. So you just pull, you're running
up the stairs. We'll go to the first round, we'll
cut back to Dresden. Okay. Hell yeah. Is Blanche
passing me the diamond? Yeah, yeah, definitely.
Hell yeah. Full metal bad guy. How about some
full metal die? Thank you, Captain. Let's roll
these guys out. That's why you wanted the metal.
That's two in the die, Captain. That's two in
the die. Ooh. Ooh. And you should roll for Amin,
Dresden, unless you want him with you. No. I
think he'd... Yeah, no. Okay. Eleven for Jean.
Okay. That's a six for, I mean... Okay. I didn't
know it was going to happen, but I wasn't expecting
combat like this. Ooh. I'll tell you this, though.
I think this is pretty cool to let you know.
This one particular AG5, between the explosion
you hit it with and your max damage lightning
lure, it actually is sitting at exactly half
HP. It's looking pretty bad. Okay. That's kind
of one of the reasons why I was, like, okay with
Dresden going upstairs. Maybe like as Dresden's
running up the stairs. I know that, you know,
we're not quite there in time yet, but Blanche
will shout after him. There's a shelf up there
as well. You might want to, the DM mentioned
it last time, but you might want to look in there
if you have a... Dresden rolls around the corner
at the top of the stairs and I want Blanche to
make her first move. Okay. All right. It really
has to happen. Bonus action. She's going to go
into Bladesong. She's going to draw her blade,
and you can see her center herself in one hand,
point the blade towards the sky. You see this
thing also wields a shield and a longsword, just
like a full knight sort of red glow coming from
the crest and the helm, and it has some sort
of parts of its chest sort of torn open where
you can see some great pulsing glow within this
arcane core. You can't quite get to it, but you've
opened the way a good deal. okay i love this
your singer your blade singing as you get in
a stance i love that shit so much give me two
seconds to look through my no one stuff real
fast two there you go wow i'm right now i didn't
even prepare like okay that's fine we're just
gonna do it we're gonna do it this way blanche
is gonna move up and just do a sword attack holy
shit I was about to click D &D Beyond, but I
don't like to do that. I like to roll a real
human die. Let's see if he can hit this full
metal armor with a shield and sword. Oh, yeah,
he's got a shield, yeah. 15. No. No, I didn't
think so. Ping off the shield. Just knocks your
shield wide with a sudden swift movement. It's
hurt, but damn, can this thing still fight. Yep,
that's fine. And that's it for Blanche this turn.
Sir, look out! Jean moves in. His turn. I wish
I could pull Jaune up in a different tab, FYI.
That may be possible. I have a sheet for Jaune
separate. I put the sheet on your pages, but
I have the separate sheet in my homebrew collection.
Do you have the same for Ramin? Yeah, I have
all the sidekicks on separate. I homebrew sheeted
all of them. Well, let's do that, please. Yeah,
you can have access to those. All right, Jaune's
just going to go for a plus four spear attack
here. Three on the die, so that's a ping. Another
off the shield. This is not good. No, definitely
not going well. And Jean doesn't really have
any other actions, so that's it for Jean. Blanche,
Jean, I can help. Jeremy, Ramin's up. Fucking
hope you can, Ramin. Oh, my God. Oh, God, I haven't
played Ramin in a little while. Oh, no. I threw
you guys right into the fire. I don't have a
plan for this combat. Oh, God, no, not at all.
Not at all. As you can tell by the first round.
The fact that you injured this thing beforehand,
though, is incredible. Yeah, absolutely. I wanted
to have you guys fight at least one of these
on your way out, and then you hurt this one.
And I was like, okay, I want to reward the damage
and go to play. This is the one you're going
to fight. All right, so Ramini's going to cast
Sacred Flame. Okay. This burning white holy flame
lights up beneath this thing, and I'm going to
roll a saving throw. That is only a five. You're
good. 1d8 radiant damage. That's a 6. 6? Hell
yeah. Okay. So let's end this round with my armored
god, my AG5. Let's see here. I'm going to move
up on... I have two attacks. One on Blanche,
one on Jean -Francois. I think that's fair. Oh
my god. Let's do it. This one's going to move
in and strike out with two attacks. That is a
hit on Jean -Francois with a 25. A miss on Blanche.
Blanche. Blanche. Blanche. With a 10. A 10 doesn't
hit you, right? I'm sure. Yeah, no, especially
with the Blade Song. All right, Full Metals,
let's get nasty in here. Jean's going to take,
oh my gosh, a whopping 11 points of damage. Whoa.
As this thing cleaves in. That was a good roll.
Dear Lord. Just cleaves in deep with its sword.
Hell yeah, and that's Blanche. People are screaming.
There's still people running around you, rushing
around you in a crowd, but they're sort of broken
in sort of a ways around you. Just pushing out
the door, and there's this massive sort of chaotic
shuffle, and you guys are just in the middle
of all this. Total blood splits across the floor.
Okay, so is there a way that I can run around
the side of this AG -5? Obviously, I don't want
to. take an ao but i want to get my allies outside
of a 10 foot radius you can a radius of you um
yeah you'd have to take an ao if you want to
get that yeah crap just a little ao what could
possibly go wrong yeah but it's but it's it's
not it's not centered on me it's going to be
centered on them so so this isn't that's not
going to work oh on it yeah yeah on it yeah i'm
probably just gonna have to I'm really in trouble
here. Okay. Shit. I guess I'm going to try it.
Yeah, I've got the spell slots. Okay. I'm going
to try to cast Witch Bolt on this thing. Let's
see if I can hit it. 17. Dear Lord, it's not
hit. What the fuck? Okay. I hope you're really
fast, Dresden. Actually, I just realized we did
a nice turn by showing up to Dresden after my
fight, so we'll do one more round and we'll get
to Dresden. Okay. Give them a little time up
there. That's John. I was going to say, by the
time we come back around, have I already been
in there then? No. We'll get to you. John, let
me handle this. Brace for Riptide. And John's
going to go into shell defense. Yes, sir! I love
it. Okay. Honestly, good move. That's what I
mean. See, how many times can he use the sacred
flame? Forever. It's forever? Cool, he's going
for it again. Hell yeah, I'm rolling dex save.
18 on the die. So this time around, it's ready
for it, and it kind of like dances out of the
way as a flame. Shit, I mean, crap, I mean, don't
tell Atash. Don't tell Atash. He's right behind
you. He kind of just heard you. That's me. Let's
do the same thing again. One on Blanche, one
on Jean, huh? You guys are up close and personal.
Jaune has, what's this, extra AC? He's got a
plus four, so 19 plus four. He's got, yeah. Okay.
I miss. Blanche. That is a 15 to hit Blanche.
No way. Okay. Bounces off the shell. You parry
it with your singing blade. You guys are standing
hard against this thing. Yeah, that's kind of
going to be my tactic here. I don't want to burn
a bunch of spell slots, so I'm just going to
kind of chill out. Dresden, you come running
down the hallway. You see the open sort of steel
doorway. You know it's obvious what the lab is,
and you peel on into it. You look in, and you
see exactly what Blanche saw before, just steel
plating on the floors, steel plating on the walls,
a number of work tables, some sort of drawers,
whatever word I use. What word do I use? Drawer?
Drawers? Drawers? Whatever. Oh, wait, the filing
cabinet? There's a cabinet on one part of the
filing cabinet, and then above some of the tables,
there are some... I think you said a shelf? Shelves.
Yeah, there we go. There's shelves. Sort of like...
I think they're covered shelves, kind of hanging
above some of the tables. Okay. You see all this.
What do you go for? I'm going to go for the files
first. Okay. You dive for the filing cabinet.
With the diamond. With the recording diamond.
With the diamond. You dive over to the filing
cabinet. As you move over to it, you see exactly
what Blanche saw when she first entered this
room because it's pretty close to that little
table that has the urn, the picture, the nameplate,
Rosa. Maybe like, no, you know what, Serapio,
you put these same things together, you kind
of see where Blanche got this information. Sure.
You turn, you spin to the cabinet, open it up.
You know what you're looking for. Jewels. Okay.
Do you want to read it or take a picture of it?
I pull it out and I take a picture of it, but
as I'm taking a picture of it, I quickly glance
my eyes over it. Give me some words. Give me
the words. Give me the words! Can I roll for
a certain amount of words? Which actually could
actually work not in my favor. That's interesting.
I won't say no, because it could work out in
your favor. It could. Give me a straight intelligence
roll. Or perception. Beast perception. That makes
more sense. 18. Pretty good. That's not bad.
That's not bad. This is actually a pretty...
large file. As you look in jewels, use a couple
pages. You're just looking through. Zavar's Experimentations.
Purest Influence of Magic. Perfect Vessel. Zomate
Shab. Essence of the Planes. Changing Souls.
Emotion. Artistry. And that's what you see as
you kind of take pictures. So, so far, nothing
I don't know. There's a lot more to it. Nothing
Dresden doesn't know already. That's all right.
We've got the... It's fine. But yeah, so as I'm
doing that, I'm taking pictures of every single
page. Okay. Okay. Cool. And then once that's
done, I shove it back in, close it up. Yeah.
And then I go for the shelf. Go for the shelf.
You turn, you run, you see like there's a number
of shelves kind of lining one wall that are kind
of almost like closed sort of cabinet style.
You can just like flip them open as you go. Yes.
And I should note too, while I'm in here... And
I'm moving around. Yeah. When I'm not directly
facing the diamond at what I'm looking at. Yeah.
Particularly, I'm also scanning the room with
it. Okay. For just in cases. Just in cases. For
just in cases. Just in cases. You're moving in
a line. You're flipping open these cabinets.
You open first one. Nothing. Second one. Nothing.
You're going down. Perception check. Twelve.
Twelve. Okay. That's fine. You're opening up
things. You're going down deeper into the room.
Cabinet, cabinet. As you're looking at it, you
see, like, various tools, small items. They don't
seem to have much meaning. Like, sort of glass
jars, various sort of metal contraptions. None
of them really stand out to you. You get to the
last cabinet at the very edge of the room. You
open it, and something almost like, you know,
shaken up by all the sort of violence happening
everywhere sort of clatters out in front of you.
Ding, ding, ding. This metal, long bar falls
down the table before you. And let me describe
this thing real quick. Ooh, what is it? We found
something. That was my best Grinch impression.
I thought it was good. The fingers. Yeah. You're
looking at a sleek metal rod that fans out at
the end in sort of almost like a fin. There's
a magical inscription running down engraved with
diamond dust that goes down the length of this
rod. Give me an Arcana check. Oh, it's a spell
wand. So you can figure out what this thing is.
Is this button worthy? No, no, no. I don't think
so. Because you're going to take it anyway. I'm
going to take it anyway. That's true. That's
true. I don't fucking know what it is. You know
what it is. Not with a five. Okay. No. You've
known what it is. You take it in. You're taking
it with you? Yes. You grab it. You hear chaos
outside. You turn to face the door of the room.
No. That perception check you failed earlier?
No. Now you're supposed to see the effects of
it. See what you didn't realize. I should have
used a button on that one. Oh, it's not that.
What you didn't realize. So this room's beginning
to get warmer. And as you turn to face the door,
you see that there is a glowing sort of almost
redness in the floor and the steel plates between
you and the doorway. Oh, come on. As the metal
of the room is beginning to melt down. And you
realize, each man has done something. He's destroying
the evidence. He's destroying the room, and you're
in it. Okay, so. What do you do? I manifest my
echo just outside the door. Oh, my God. And I
fucking teleport. Fucking yes! Fucking high five.
Holy shit! Dude. Fuck you. Holy shit. Dude, I
did. It immediately hit me. Take a fucking button.
Immediately. That was so fast. The second you
started saying that, I'm like, this is stupid.
Oh my God. So good. You turn to see like the
room, all of the floor around you is turning
to molten metal. The table sinking quickly into
it. Rapidly, everything melting away into this
pool of destruction. The filing cabinet. And
you see this. You realize it's about to hit you.
Your feet are about to fall in. And you just
echo, teleport. Your echo just kind of vanishes
as it melts into the floor. But you are fucking
out of there. Dresden's like, no big deal. Holy
shit. Yeah, man, that was awesome. Try harder.
Holy shit. And you're running down the hallway
again. At the end of this next round. Dresden,
run. Oh, no, of course Dresden's running. Well,
duh. At the end of this next round, you're rolling
initiative for the fight as well. Okay, cool.
You'll be back. Cool, cool. Back to the fight.
Blanche, you're up. Okay, I'm going to do what
I should have done like two rounds ago. I'm going
to cast True Strike. And that's Blanche's move.
That's Blanche's turn. Oh, shit. Okay. Yeah.
Okay. So that just makes it so, like, you, like,
hone your weapon. The song kind of, like, almost
like the song reaches more of a harmony. Like,
it's a high point as you wield your blade forward.
Exactly. She's concentrating a little bit more.
That's awesome. Jean. Jean's going to stay in
shell defense. Okay. Hell yeah. Ramin. Going
for that sacred flame again. It hits. Roll me
a D8. It's something. It's four. This guy's in
his back foot, kind of being pushed back by his
foes, and that's going to actually surprise him
this time. Not bad. His turn. How far away is
Ramin from the AG5? I see Ramin as being about
5 -10 feet back from you guys. Do we have the
map on this? No, don't map. We'll do it in Theta
Mind. Can I retcon that Blanche told him to move
a little further back? Because if the AG5 is
going to go for him, I at least want to get an
AOL. Yeah, he's far enough back it would. He's
10 feet back, so if it goes past you, it's going
to... He's far enough back that you'll be okay.
Okay, perfect. He knows to stay. He's not tanky.
Hell yeah. One on Blanche, one on Jean. Jean
first again. It's cracked. That's a three on
the die. Jean's fine. Blanche. Ooh, this might
hit. 11 on the die for A. I shouldn't have said
that. For a 17. No. Oh, my God. That's a total.
Dude. Oh, so bing again. Dude, you guys are killing
it. Yeah. This is the build, my man. This is
the build. Okay. Slash, slash. You guys knock
away two more. That's his turn. 17 is her base
AC before Bladesong. Oh, my God. Holy shit. That's
amazing. Yeah. Okay. End of the round. Dresden,
roll initiative. And that's a 13. 13. That puts
you, I believe, below Jean, above Ramin. Jaune
had... Was it 12, actually, on Jaune? No, Jaune
had 11. 11, okay, you're right. So Dresden's
right after Blanche. Blanche, you're up. Okay.
Blanche is going to use her true strike to gain
advantage on this longsword attack. Can you hit?
Can you hit? 19 plus 7, you tell me. That will
hit. Oh, yes. All right. I'm going to roll again
to see if I crit. This invincible foe, and you
finally, you hold your moment, and you see the
opportunity. You can get through that armor.
11 damage. Holy shit. Nice. That's good. You
just go in. You cleave a huge piece like this.
You're going to hold yourself. This thing moves
into strike at Jaune. Bounce on the shell. Moves
into strike at you. As it does, you kind of like
carry it with your blade, and you're kind of
still in this moment of focus. Its guard is open.
You slide in and just cleave a huge part of the
breastplate out, the arcane core pulsing behind
it, and you have more direct line to it now.
Hell yeah. Just sparks flying as your sword cleaves
through the metal, cutting right into one of
the seams. And that's Blanche's turn. Dresden,
you're at the bottom of the stairs. What do you
do? How far am I away? 30 feet. 30 feet? Somewhere
within 30 feet. You can attack this turn. Cool.
Perfect, because I'm going to dash. I'm going
to use Charger again. I'm coming up behind him.
Oh, Charger, baby! Fuck, yeah. I'm coming up
behind him, right? Yeah. Yeah. Do I get any sort
of advantage or flanking? Take a flank bonus.
Yeah, certainly flanking. Perfect, perfect. Okay,
plus two on this. All right, so I use the dash
action, and then I get a bonus melee. Hell yeah.
Oh, yeah, that's right, because you can either
push it or get bonuses, yeah. With the plus two.
Now, is Charger unarmed attack, or is it let
you use your weapon? It says melee attack. Let's
say you're using a weapon for it. Perfect. Because
you're just going to go with a war pick as you
charge it. That makes sense. Either way, it's
still the same modifier. Well, it's a plus one
for your weapon because it's a magical weapon.
So I have a plus eight to hit. Well, it should
be, if you've added the plus one weapon to your
inventory, then it should show up. Just check
the inventory and see if it's selected. No. It
is not correct. So should this be six? Look,
see? Oh, actually. Oh, my goodness. You know
what's wild is I don't even have my plus one
long sword. Oh, jeez. I have just my regular
long sword. If it helps, this thing has 20 AC.
You wouldn't have hit those other attacks anyway.
Yeah, yeah, yeah. So, yeah. So then I do, with
flanking, I get a plus eight to this hit. Plus
eight to this hit? 20 AC. 24. Oh, yeah. You hit.
This thing is currently recovering, stumbling
back from flanking attack, and suddenly, with
all the force of the fucking... Rhinoceros! I
don't give a shit. Dresden comes flying in with
his Warpick. Oh, yeah, and guess what? What?
If I hit? Yeah. With Charger? Yeah. I get a plus
5 to damage. That's pretty good. Yeah, plus 5,
yeah. That's pretty good. So guess what? This
is 1d8 plus 10. Yeah, buddy. Is it really? It's
really 1d8 plus 10. Go ahead and roll. You don't
actually have to, though. Oh, my God. 9 HP left.
You've just finished this thing off. Fucking
God. Holy shit. Describe it. Hold on. Well, let's
see what I get first. All right, roll. Roll,
then describe it. Natural 1. I'm just kidding.
Yeah, that's 15. 15 damage. Yeah. What does it
look like? The core is open before you can see
where Blanche cut open. Like right in the side
as you move in, you can like see it. As I'm running
in, full force, right shoulder down and barreling
into this thing. I hit him with such force that
it just shatters and explodes. And as the pieces
fall, Blanche. Jean Franklin and Ramin. All get
speared by tons of shrapnel and die! This is
worse than horses. Yeah, right? The pieces fall
around Dresden and he's just standing there like
fucking Neo -Matrix style. Your shoulder clips
the core and just causes a reaction. Let's go.
Holy shit, you got this rod on your back that
you're carrying that's like, what the fuck is
this thing? Wait, it's rolling a chrono check
if you want to see what this is real quick. Yeah,
I'll check it out. Just guess, why not? Otherwise,
you'll have to wait and figure it out later.
Or use Identify. 23. Maybe you just recognize
the sort of runes on the side of it or the sort
of inscriptions on the side of it. Maybe you've
seen or heard rumors of this new line that Marfil's
been working on. This is a prototype Marfil rod
of flying, we'll say. It's a broom. What? It's
a broom of flying. What? But it's not a broom.
Yeah. Yeah, baby. Holy shit. You don't know the
command word for it. You'd have to take time
to, like, rechange it unless you figure out what
the command word might be for its means. Prototype.
Vermaflying. Sure. Rotaflying. All right. I bet
Pigman knows. Well, I think Pigman's dead. You
hear? Oh, yeah. roar from outside as the battle
clashes. The whole place shakes behind you. Upstairs,
smoke begins to pour out from where that room
is. This molten metal starts to slide, almost
like going out down the hallway, dripping down
the stairs, people screaming. The whole crowd's
almost fully outside now. You're the last few
left. This manor is coming down. The terrace
is currently just like falling apart. What are
you guys doing? Let's go. Dresden, give me that.
Sorry. I'm sorry to be rude. I found it. I found
it. I'm sorry to be rude. No, no, no. I'm not
even talking about the rod. I'm talking about
the recording diamond. Blanche is going to grab
the recording diamond and start flipping through
the Serapio file as we're running out the building.
Oh, good idea. Hell yeah. Good idea. You dive
out the building and into the streets. As you're
pushing out into the streets, you look down.
You can see many red lights down the hill charging
up your way, feet moving. All the AG -5 patrolling
this area are currently moving in on the terrorists,
currently moving in on the new threat. Itzman's
calling in everything to make sure he gets away.
You're scanning through. You guys step out on
the streets. You're running, running, pushing
through the crowds, pushing down where the crowds
start thinning out as people are starting to
kind of gather around to watch the miracle happen.
Watch the battle. You're pushing, pushing. And
as you're scanning, Blanche, you're a wizard.
You can run and read at the same time. You're
getting, like, a lot of information on Serapio.
And this file is more personal than any other
ones you would have seen. It's very obvious from
the start. You see that Serapio had been experimented
on by Zavar ten years ago, just after his mother,
Ichmin's lover, died. She had met a servant here
that he had fallen for, that he had relations
with. They had a child, and she, discovering,
I guess, what he was, wanted nothing to do with
him and his sort of... connections with Zomate
Shab and the cult. She left, went down to the
Old City, and he respected this choice. He watched
from afar as she raised their child. But when
she died from a tragic accident, something broke
in Eastman. You can see just this, such a fondness,
a reverence for the way he writes about Rosa.
But all the other notes in this are so direct,
so cold. You see... Every statement about Serapio
is like this, just cold and angry, this underlying,
like, current of hatred, almost, for his son,
for his blood that took Rosa from him. You also
read that after these experiments, Serapio is
left to his own in the old city, until the time
came when he awakened, which happened only a
few months ago. Itzen became aware of this, and
he had codes implanted into the mind of Serapio.
Codes that gave him sole control over the young
man's night form. Each night, the Chaticola will
await Itzen's coming in the vast rose garden
that spreads out at the back of the Rosas estate,
at the foot of Papalatian Hill. Itzmin has secret
ways to quickly and stealthily reach this spot.
Tunnels beneath the hill that jut out from his
manor. And here, he will give orders to his demon
and send it off to spread its sickening curse
through the ranks of the Tresna's enemies. Serapio,
you can see, like, there's notes on the bottom.
Serapio, he hates Itzmin. He hates this form.
He rebels against it. And he truly does want
to bring the Tresna, bring his father down. And
yet... He will not make moves to end himself.
And so every night, he comes to serve Itzmin's
will. And with this, you know where they're meeting.
Rose's estate. The back of the estate. The Rose
Garden behind it. That's where you'll find him.
That's where the demon will be waiting. That's
where Itzmin will try to make his escape. You
have one chance. One chance to stop this. Blanche
is yelling that as she's reading it. To Rosas!
To Rosas! And she puts the recording diamond
away in a safe place. Yes. My next question is,
I forgot, where are we at with the resetting
of the sending stones? Midnight. No, sorry, daybreak
next day. It's dawn. So that's not going to work?
No. Nope. Okay, everyone, continue. They're meeting
in the rose garden at Rosas. We have to get there
with all haste. Now. Let's go. You all begin
to run. Your feet's pounding as you're moving
down the way. you're pushing down the hill past
the crowds you are uh making progress and you
know that like like basically where the streets
sort of line this hell where they curve down
they'll eventually meet sort of fiesta town uh
but this sort of barren area of the hill nobody
wants to live near the the old city right nobody
wants to live by rosas and so as you're kind
of like Moving through the crowds, you can see,
like, more of the AG -5 are pushing past you,
knocking people down as they go to make their
moves to fight the Angel. You can hear more explosions
and see lights, like, spectacle behind you, just
flashes in the night as you're charging, charging,
charging. As you move, I think Ramin is sort
of, like, keeping up with you, and it's hard
for him now because Serenno has come to claim
him again. I believe he is currently at a negative
four as he's just... Trying to breathe, trying
to move, but he's trying to keep along with you.
And even though it's painful for him right now,
he's trying to run and talk at the same time.
Just, please, please, let me explain. Let me
explain what happened. I've kept things from
you, and I'm sorry. You are my dear friends,
and I'm sorry. But I will tell you the truth
now. Now to the truth of Ramin Rasool. Just...
know that I am celestial, half angel. It is the
reason Atash put me back from the dead. It is
the reason I awakened with powers following my
resurrection. My mother had relations with one
of Atash's faithful. It was a grave skin. You
thinking about skin, David? It was a grave sin,
an unspeakable error. My father will spend an
eternity in the bowels of the sky prison in judgment
for his crime. But Arthash and his wisdom saw
fit to remove me from my parents' sins. And I
serve him now. I was sent to travel the worlds,
to become a luminary, to use the freedom afforded
to me by my humanity. And to serve the Sun Reaver's
light. The path I walked was barren and fruitless,
but I had faith. And my faith... He's looking
at you all, just smiling. It led me to you. Through
your actions, the Pigman had been hit to murder.
Pigman, a luminary of the Seidel, confessed to
a major crime. Not just that, but he implicated
the whole of Marfil Ironworks as well. The Tressener,
everyone, admitting that they covered it up.
Ever since I saw the poor treatment of these
people here in Saint -Cityon, I had been seeking
some way to bring the higher powers here to justice.
My word was not enough, and the poor living situation
cannot be directly attributed to the criminal
acts of Marfil. I had been looking for evidence
of something more during my time in the city.
Anything that could hold weight with the speakers.
This, though. This was enough. Pigman's admission
was enough to get his attention. I knew it was
a risk. He cannot move across worlds as easily
as most. Yet I sent him a message. I prayed for
a miracle. And it came. And he's just, like,
beaming at you guys. He's running, like, this
giving him strength. He came. And you realize
now, too, why he autosaves. This is more meta.
Why he autosaves on his Serino effects. The...
celestial sort of blood running through him is
actually resistant to the demon's curse. Yes!
Yes! I did it! Really, you did it, Blanche! You
got him to admit it! You used your magic! You
used your cleverness! You befriended him! Tricked
him! You did it! You got him to commit a murder
and now he can pay for his crimes! Now we can
save the city! As she's running, looking over,
making Eye contact with Dresden. And she just
mouths, not out loud, just to Dresden. How could
you? Not you, Dresden. She's talking about Ramin,
but... Yeah. Ramin, too sick to even notice this.
His eyes sort of like, this has been pushing
him too much, and his eyes are kind of like fading.
He's kind of sweating and rubs his head, and
he's just beaming, smiling. It all worked out
so well. Ah, Tosh. He can take care of it. But
then he just kind of nods, transformation to
his eyes. Our job is not over, though. We need
to find Itzman. He yet holds one weapon undiscovered.
The demon. We must stop him. The many lives rely
on us stopping him tonight. We're the only ones
who can. As we're running, Dresden will look
over to Ramin. We'll talk about this later. He
just looks confused. as you push downwards. You're
reaching sort of the base of the hill now, reaching
the sort of end where it falls into Los Gavilanes,
where the streets fall away. You're just running
down straight sort of grassy terrain. You push
over this, and you get a view of the old city,
and you see another fight has commenced. Down
below in the streets of Los Gavilanes, you can
see more sort of red lights moving around. In
the light of the red lights, in the light of
various glowing figures amongst them, you can
see that the various earlier waves of the armored
guard models that normally patrol the Ironworks
district are also pushing towards the hill. Pushing
through Los Catalanes to move up. Everyone, everyone
is moving in on this. But they are not getting
far. For they have met the resistances. Resistance.
The resisti. The resisti. As they push into the
sky, you see immediately the resistance has sort
of taken this angelic spectacle as a sign. They've
poured from the bowels of the old city to fight
for the hill. And you can see that a good number
of skeletons returned are amongst them, glowing
with the light of the night's magic. And you
realize that this night, of all nights, is when
the resistance is at its strongest. All of those
that have died under the Tresna, under Itzmin's
thumb. are back to fight one final battle. And
so, down beneath you, another fight is raging
as more armored guard pour in and are met by
the blades of the low folk, the good people,
who will always stand to fight when the time
is right. This can't concern you now, for Rosas
is down below you. Before all of that, you can
see the estate. You can see the rose gardens
before it, sort of barely lit by the stars above.
As you push down, do you see figures perhaps
in the garden? You push, you push, you push,
and you break through the gateway. The smell
of roses striking you, a good wind sort of blowing
past them. A cold wind, very cold, down to your
bones. You look out. And you can see two figures
just ahead, standing at the garden's center.
A cold and biting wind blows against you. The
rose is swaying in a wind that seems to shoot
out, emanating from the two figures. One of them.
Eachman Del Prado turns to face you. His spectacles
sort of reflecting the grand light from the battle
far above. Just shining. You can barely make
that out. And beside him, you see the Clatzikolo.
You see Serapio, this great black owl demon,
hooked claws for its hand, this sort of hunched
form, very skinny, very lithe. And it just takes
you in, these large black eyes reflecting you.
Long ago, when this arc began, Zebulon and Jules
squared off against this creature. They managed
to push it away. They got it to half HP. And
now it's time for Blanche and Dresden to finish
this fight. Jaune moves forward. I think his
spear almost glowing with its own sort of light.
This furious look in his eyes as he once again
meets this foe he battled before. The only one
here that once fought this thing. He just says,
Everyone, be wary. Do not stand to get it. It
has this wind move. It'll make you sick. Prepare
yourselves. It's strong. And as Itzmin flashes
a hand out towards you, as the Cazacolo, as Serapio,
just trying to, you almost see like it's body
trying to work against him, almost trying to
turn its claws towards him, and then almost just
goes limp, shoulders slump, and it turns to face
you. and launches towards you. And here, in this
moment, here, at the end of this fight, your
adrenaline pumping, the world falling apart around
you, all of Sansation riding on your shoulders.
You feel a well of power inside of you awaken,
and you level up!