Toss a coin to your editor. Toss a coin to your
DM. It costs us a couple of bucks to run this
thing. If you feel like we earned a tip, visit
us on ko -fi .com slash fancypants. excerpt from
a celestial poem titled in common as The Boy
Born Twice, which details the second life of
Armin Rasool and his heroic contributions towards
the liberation of Saint -Étienne. Well, here
we are again, guys. Welcome back. Whatever do
you mean, David? What could you possibly be referring
to? Nothing happened. Nothing happened. Nothing
happened. Nothing at all. We lost banter. We
lost banter. We lost it. We recorded it. We lost
it. No, we didn't record it. We didn't record
it, and we lost it. So we didn't lose banter,
Steve and Mr. Semantics. We never had banter.
Yeah, yeah, never happened. Just as we were getting
ready to play. Yeah. David was like, okay, guys,
are you ready to play? And Jeremy's like, no,
actually. I turned around to turn up Sirenscape
and saw that we were not recording. But the good
thing is that we had a lot to say. And now we
can say all those things just a little bit quicker.
You guys get the abridged version. We've kind
of gotten all of our thoughts out and cleaned
up. And just so you guys know, the first time
was much funnier. So, you know, you're missing
the gold. Anyway, let's talk about irony. Yeah.
Yeah, let's do this again. Irony? Like my life.
That's so funny. What does that mean? Like, yes,
there we go. Like my life. I remember that one.
All right, that's it. We're not going to replay
it. Ramin Rasool entered this combat. You guys
actually kept him away from it to keep him safe.
He was exhausted. He's not a frontliner at all.
He's weak. And he's got like negative four right
now from Sereno. And you guys kept him far away
from the actual combat. He wasn't in like any
kind of sort of targeting range. And yet, and
yet, I launched a chilling winds move at Blanche.
60 foot range. 60 foot bullshit move. Yep. Woof.
And I end up hitting him with a move not meant
for him. So when he went down. He went down 35
feet behind Blanche. I mean, it's one of those
things. I rolled a one on that first save. 35
feet away from Blanche and hit by a move that
wasn't even meant for him. One shot him. I mean,
all the stars aligned. Exactly. It was fated.
When Zebulon died, in the aftermath, it felt
like fate because of that one on the die. Because
the one that you ruled, Jeremy, everything felt
like it all came together. The stars moved together.
Paradoxes. Broke the universe. I don't care.
It was crazy. Atash came down and took Ramin
from us. And like, I gotta say, like just you,
Blanche, you guys, because you guys were like
not even wholly affected by this because you
guys were mad at Ramin. Yeah. I mean, he sold
out the pig man. He did his dirty. He betrayed
you in sort of a way. I mean, he saved you, but
he also betrayed you. which is really complicated.
I was mourning this character because I wanted
to embrace the sort of complicated morality he
was holding. I had big plans, and they're gone.
So I'm mourning Ramin. I was thinking, meanwhile,
man, this is going to be tough RP. But all right,
here we go. I know, right? I know. It's so intense.
I mean, yeah, it's incredible. I want to tell
you, Blanche, because you, Steven wanted the
focus on winning this fight. You knew how intense
this was. You know the stakes, right? And Blanche
and the character was upset with Ramin. You,
more than anyone it seems, were hurt by the betrayal
of the pig man. You were close to the pig man.
And yet, you had that struggle in game of like,
do I play my character? Do I go back? Will Blanche
go back? And you did. You were aware. You have
battlefield control. Fucking brain. And you went
back for him. You spent your entire turn running
over there to accomplish nothing. Just to be
there. Stephen did not want to. Stephen did not
want to. You did not want to. But Blanche did.
I mean, you ran there. You're literally holding
a potion in your hand that you did not drink
with your own bonus action because who drinks
a potion in front of a dying man? And by being
there, by risking everything to stand there,
you got to give me sort of cool dramatic staging
for an end to the episode scene, which I love.
I got to actually have a last words and fucking
end it in a really cool way. Give me those fucking
buttons I gave you already. No, no, no, no. The
first banter. I want to do it again. Give me
those buttons. This guy wants four buttons. Rewind.
Give me those buttons. All right. For setting
up this stage so perfectly for me, take a dramatic
staging button, you sir. Whoa. Oh, man, such
a surprise. And for playing your character so
wholly and coolly in the moment, despite it being
against your own wishes. Take a second button.
Thank you. Whoa, that's so surprising. I didn't
know that was going to happen. I actually last
time was very surprised by a second button and
quite pleased. Yes. Quite pleased. You should
have heard it. Yeah. You were quite pleased.
So let's talk about wedgies a little bit. I listened
back to the earlier episode. Oh, sorry. Let's
talk about wedgies a little bit. Thank you. It's
hard to do that twice in a row. Go get changed.
Wait, are we recording? Yeah, we're recording.
We're recording. We're good. Get your third wedgie.
We're good. I'm just going home if we're not.
Wedgies. So I listened back to Harsh Winds, the
first episode on Sansatyan, where Zebulon and
Jules first battled this thing, where you contracted
serenade, where you got to half HP and it flew
away. It left. That was the combat. Harsh Winds
kind of sounds like something that happens after
a wedgie. Okay. Thank you. Thank you, Steve.
It was so funny. I listened to this episode and
I was thinking like, I looked at my sheet when
I was writing last time and I was like, this
sheet is not. a fourth level character fight
i must have assumed you guys are gonna be fifth
level i must have made this i must have weakened
it for the first fight and i was thinking i was
gonna strengthen it through like absorbing sarah
no energy whatever for the second encounter i
must have assumed right so i went into the fight
thinking like yeah these hits are gonna be a
lot less and the first move of the fight pretty
much was hitting like aoe striking all of you
and zebulon failed to save with chill for chilling
winds it took 29 damage instant fucking unconscious
down Like, what is wrong with me? What is wrong
with you, David? Oh, gosh. I don't know. I can't
balance. It was fun. Somebody help us. Speaking
of can't balance, I should have had magic resistance
this entire time. I had it the first time, which
means I have advantage on saves against spells
like slow. But this little wedgie is offset by
another wedgie, which is on your side. Because
magic resistance was on my sheet. I just didn't
read it. But what was not on my sheet. was I
actually added last time, I guess on the fly,
to balance. Doesn't sound like me. Balance what?
I added a con save for my physical attacks for
taking the extra poison damage each round. You
guys actually, or Dresden, the only one that
hit by an attack. I couldn't do physical attacks
on the most part because slow. So I was mostly
focusing on other things. But you should have
had a save before taking the extra damage on
that hit that ended up being 19 damage in total.
So I'm going to say basically because the slow
wouldn't have been in effect potentially and
then that save. We're living in a world where
you failed all the saves. You failed your save.
I failed my saves. Boom. No harm, no foul. Foul
because it's a bird. So that's funny this time.
I didn't play that last time. One more wedgie.
Sorry. Witch bolt. Stupid. Shut up. Witch bolt.
Speaking of stupid. Steven. Yeah, that's fair.
That's fair. I didn't catch this one until after.
Witch bolt is concentration. Yeah. After casting
slow, you cast that at third level and missed,
which would have been amazing if you hadn't missed,
but it broke your concentration. So despite the
saves and everything, when we start this next
round, of which I am at the top of. my birdie,
I will no longer be under the effects of slow.
I've broken free is how that works. Fair, fair.
Yes. I think that's all the wedgies out of the
way. Yeah. Good effort. That was a good one.
Yeah. Good effort. I believe that one. Yeah.
Me too. I gotta go change. Holy shit. So here
we are. I mean, two major characters died last
time. Each man cut down in the first round. Yeah.
Ramin dropped the last second of this. previous
round. I'm not in great shape, but you guys,
I mean, I looked at your HP. Blanche, you're
down to a measly six points of HP. Dresden, you're
down to eight. Jean isn't doing great, but he
took 11 damage from the armored guard earlier.
He's still sitting at 23 over that. Now, this
creature you're fighting doesn't look good, but
it also is a vital, vital creature. Very strong.
You don't know how close you are taking it down.
You know you're close. You know it's bloodied
at the very least. And so moving into this round,
things are going to get a little scary. Blanche,
Ramin just breathed his last right before your
eyes. As you stand there, sort of potion in hand,
so close, so close, seconds away, but not close
enough. You stare down at his frozen form, looking
so peaceful in death. And suddenly, an explosion
rocks the garden. The sounds of sudden combat
roar to life emanating from the streets before
the Rosas estate. You realize you are standing
at the border between the old city and the hill.
And the armored guard that are pushing their
way up towards the hill's top have managed to
push their way near you. The resistance getting
pushed back and back and back. And currently
now, they're just over the house. Just down the
way from where you stand. You can hear their
fight. But unknown to these struggling resistance
fighters, the most crucial battle is happening
right here. Just a hop, skip, and jump from that
right here in this garden. And one of their heroes
has already fallen. Dresden, as Ramin dies. I
don't believe you hear his words. You probably
aren't even aware of what's happening over there.
But the second his hand falls, you watch as the
owl demon's head suddenly cuts, sort of spins
in his direction. That whole cool around -the
-back thing owls can do, because that's fucking
flavor. A glimmer of something enters his giant
black eyes, and you just kind of hear like, No!
And it kind of like turns back towards you. Tristan,
don't. Damn. Gabriela. As it whirls back on you
and Jaune, it moves to strike again. So, first
up, I have two figures here kind of in my way.
Dresden, you look bad. Yeah, I know. He's going
to, he has two attacks. I'm going to say he goes
with boltless claws. He's going to strike out
first towards you, then towards Jaune. Got two
of you. I know the Echo's an Echo. I know it
will go away. I've already hit it once. It's
still got a 17 AC, though. Yeah, well, if you're
dead, let's see what AC is then. Ha ha. Ha ha
ha. Actually, I don't know. What if I go down?
Does it disappear? Because it doesn't disappear
unless it gets hit, or I move more than 30 feet
away, or I command it to disappear. Interesting.
I don't know. Interesting. I don't know if you
can control it if you're down. They'd probably
just stand there doing nothing. I bet you it
would be there. It just wouldn't act. It's actually
kind of cool. All right. First one's on. I don't
care. Sean. By the way, I'm whipping out the
red dragon tonight, boys, because last time my
dice weren't really hot, hot, hot. I offered
David the red dragon tonight. I was trying to
be a good friend, but I realized that I have
probably sealed our fate. You have fucked us.
Maybe. Maybe not because I'm off to a bad start
with a four on the die against John. Nice. That's
a no -go. I would have preferred that on Dresden.
Oh, what's Dresden getting? Let's find out right
now. Dresden's getting a noble sacrifice. What?
John's going to swap places with him. Whoa. Oh.
Whoa. That's the move. Whoa. So he strikes out,
hits John's shell, kind of rakes off of it, kind
of annoyed. Turns and strikes at Dresden. Hits
John's shell. Holy shit. Rakes off of it. And
he's just like. I guess John just was like, I
mean, like, this is probably a move you taught
him, Blanche. This move to, like, flow effortlessly,
grabbing an ally and sort of moving in their
place very quickly. Like, this is Blanche Trudeau
shit. It's a very Blanche move. It's battlefield
control. It's really cool. And John takes it,
just kind of smiles, like, nice try, bad. And
just like, and this happened against Jules, too.
Like, this thing was having a hard time dealing
with Jean. It started focusing him because this
move was pissing it off. Right. Holy shit. So
wait, did you not hit on that one either? I did
not hit. No. No, that wouldn't hit, Jean. Nice.
So that's my action. Oh, this is tough. Yeah,
I'm going to stay. I'm going to stay where I
am. I don't want to take those three AOs. I was
hoping to drop one so I could get out of there.
Yeah, I was hoping you'd move away to get three
AOs. I'm not taking three AOs. Yeah, okay. That's
my round. Blanche, you're up. Okay, that first
one did not expect. That's not how I expected
it to go. I will say, like, as Strix is gone,
Strix is gone again. It's kind of like, almost
like anger. And then the head starts sort of
twisting around, tilting. Just kind of something
happening again. Those eyes sort of twitching.
The orders still stand. My body wants to avenge
my father. Kill me. Blanche, you're out. This
is awful. Okay, so Blanche is going to get up
from Ramin, turn around, and try to get back
in this fight. Let me see where she can move
to. Oh, yeah. Jesus. Far away. Oh, right. It
wasn't even 35 feet because your extra movement
speed was like 45 or something. Right. Yeah.
She can move 40 feet right now. That's crazy.
Woof. Okay, so she's going to get there. That's
a total of beat the hair, am I right? She is
going to use that bonus action to drink that
potion. I don't have anything more than just
a regular potion of healing, so 2d4 plus 2. 5.
Hey, it's not nothing. It's not nothing. 5 HP.
Let me put that back real fast. Jeez, yeah, she
really doesn't have a whole lot going on here.
So now she's within range. It's standing on top
of the hedge too, so you can see it. Okay. Because
you're basically at the base of one of these
hedges, but it's like five feet up at the top.
As you're staying where you are, you kind of
make out its head sort of. Yeah, it's right there.
It's pretty tall. She's going to cast Witch Bolt
at second level. Oh, Witch Bolt again. Can you
hit this time? Yeah, I hope so. Oh, man. It's
a pretty big bonus. We got plus seven here to
hit. That's pretty good. I know it's a plus seven,
but I need to use a button here. I just can't
mess this up anymore. All right. Okay. Nine was
the first one, so it's a 16. That was the highest
roll. Fuck. I don't know about a 16. 16. Hits.
Oh, my God. Oh, yeah. I think we were hitting
with 13s last time, weren't we? That's right.
Yeah, yeah, yeah. Okay. It works out, because
I was thinking from your angle, I should have
partial cover. So it added plus 2 to that, but
you still hit with a 16. Okay, sweet, sweet.
So, wedgie avoided. Let's see here. Let me find
my d12. All right, 2d12. Here we go. 2d12? That's
not nothing. Yeah, that's 5 on the first here.
Just another 5, so 10. Ten damage is solid, honestly.
Yep, ten damage. Just electric bolt. It breaks
through the leaves, the branches, the hedges,
rips into this. Nice. Then as she's ending her
turn, she'll say to Jaune, Jaune, deep sea focus.
Oh, interesting. That's the end of Blanche's
turn. Yes! Lowers a spear, and he does a thing
in a moment, I assume. Before he does a thing,
Dresden, that's going to be you. Okay. You avoid
getting hit. Jaune just grabbed you, pulled you
to the side, took the hit for you. Two soldiers
side by side. Okay. Two and an echo. Okay. So
first off, I'm going to use a bonus action to
use second wind to give myself 1d10 plus 5 HP.
Oh, second wind, baby. That's good. That's good
stuff. That's good. Oh, man, that's good. And
that gives me 11. Not the best, not the worst.
It's something. So I'm back up to 19 now. Then
I'm going for two attacks. Yeah, that'll probably
get you at least another hit. Right, right. So
attack number one. Let's see it. If you're using
your echo, you have flanking with Jean. Oh, yeah.
Oh, yeah. I know. I know. And so that's 22 to
hit on the first one. That's going to hit. Let's
go for the second attack. This is huge, guys.
This is huge. Fucking crit, my fucking crit.
Holy shit! Oh, yeah! Oh, my God. We needed that.
This is crazy. All right. So we'll do damage
for the first one. Yeah, the regular damage first.
Regular damage. This is 1d8 plus 6. I'm going
to reroll with Piercer. Oh, hell yeah. Oh, wow.
Yeah. That was a two on the die on that one.
Hell yeah. It means you can't roll your crit,
though, afterwards. What? Because you only get
one per turn. Oh, I get something better with
my crit. What? All right, so that second roll
was a three, so that's nine. So that's nine damage.
No, that's a reroll on the first one. So let
me just read what I get with my crit. Okay, all
right, let's see. Is this piercer two? Yeah,
it's piercer. On a critical hit, when I score
a critical hit that deals piercing damage to
a creature, I can roll one additional damage
die. Whoa. Whoa. Three die? Yeah, yeah. That
is crazy. So now does that plus six modifier
apply to each of those rolls? No, just the total.
Just the total. Still, three die. So it's 3d8
plus six. 3d8 plus six. Dude. 3d8 plus six. That's
huge. That's, yeah. That's massive. This is good
stuff. One at a time or three all at once? Up
to you. I'm scared. If you want to look through
and pick out two more d8s. I'm very scared. No,
I'm going to roll three separate times. 19. Holy
shit. I couldn't see. Was that first roll a three
or an eight? Eight. Nice. Yes. Holy shit. 19.
Okay. 19 points of damage. I mean, what's this
massive blow look like? Am I killing it? No.
God damn. God damn. You heard it a lot. Yeah.
I think Dresden is very much in the mindset of
I have to kill this thing at all costs. And his
face is that of just pure rage. If you look into
his eyes, he's not there. His body is just moving
in a flurry of blows. Holy shit. With his war
pick. Just tearing at it, tearing at it. Feathers
going everywhere. Black feathers spraying with
blood in the moonlight. Shades of the first fight
out in the borderlands. And this thing just screams
out. Serapio just... Yes. Yes. I could not do
it myself against the stand orders. It has to
be you. Finish me! Keep trying to let go. Let
go. As it sort of screams out, just like in pain,
I'm going to use a legendary action. Oh, God.
I actually forgot I had this legendary action.
It's the only thing I've had this whole time.
Called Swift Flight. Don't like it. Without provoking
AOOs, I'm going to launch myself. Oh, come on.
Come on. 30 feet upwards. Upwards. Interesting.
That is my move. That's Jon. Hold on. So let
me read through. Oh, dude. So Witch Bolt has
a range of 30 feet. Did you just, like, go outside
the range and break Witch Bolt? I probably did.
Oh. Yeah. Yeah, I'd be outside the range now.
I'll be outside the range now. Poop head. Are
you still to good damage? I'm going to tell you
right now, this thing is very, very low. All
right. All right. Okay. Okay. Jean. Jean is going
to do something that I probably should have done
a long time ago and use his new homebrew ability,
Nightly Challenge. Ooh. Nightly with a K. Ooh.
By the way. So this is part of Rebuke Evil, where
Jean Franklin can forego the frighten effect
of Rebuke Evil. Oh, wait a minute. He'll have
to move to the creature's square because it has
to be within 30 feet. We'll call it. He's five
feet out. Pythagoras, it's like 31 feet. I don't
care. Yeah, it's close enough. All right. So
let's see here. Can forego the effects. of the
Frightened Effect of Rebuke Evil instead makes
all creatures that fail the saving throw vulnerable
to his own spear attacks, and while vulnerable,
these creatures have disadvantage against targets
other than Jean Franklin. Damn. Damn. So this
thing, like, it's like flying off. Its eyes are
locked on you, Therese, as it moves up into the
air, like in one swift movement, sort of swirling,
twirling upwards, and then Jean, not missing
a beat, just stands tall, just like, Demon! My
fight with you is not yet over! Finish this with
me! And he pulls his spirit up in front of him.
And you see it's like glowing with this intense
light that just like blasts out and almost is
like sort of like long beam that sticks to the
creature almost like a thread. And its eyes sort
of whirl around. Again, its head comically owl
-like whirling around towards Sean. Because it's
cool and I want to utilize it as much as I can.
Its eyes sort of filling with that light and
it seems almost transfixed. And you see like
they widen. There is true fear in those eyes.
It's a DC 13 save. If I fail to save, I actually
pass the save. Shit. Oh, God. So, like, the thread
line breaks as it sort of, like, this thing just
flaps its wings and, like, pushes away this energy,
this light. But the fear remains. Oh. Generous.
I'm going to take... Is it, though? Isn't it?
Oh, God. I want to take another legendary action
to move 30 feet away. Oh, God. And then you hear
a howl from the sky. Serapio screaming out. No,
no. It's fleeing. All this to survive. No, it's
for revenge. Don't let me escape. Okay. This
thing is beginning to run. Okay, gotcha. It is
so injured. It's gold. To protect Itzmin. There's
no point now. Itzmin's dead. Avenging him? That's
not going to work out either. We're about to
kill this thing. It is on death's door. And so
it's doing the one thing it can. It's running
away. We can do this. I'm going to ask you now,
do you have any means of targeting it here? You
said it just moved another 30 feet? Yeah, it's
basically just about 60 feet away. It's getting
out of here. It's 60 feet in the air? In the
air, and it's starting to move towards... the
building towards the streets of Los Catalates
as it's swerving around. I have something that
I was going to do with a 60 -foot range. If it's
60 feet in the air, then if it's straight up,
then next turn Blanche can get, or this turn
anyway, she can get underneath it. It's moving
towards the manor. Oh, okay, so it's 30 feet
off the ground, and now it's moving 30 feet in
a different direction. Can you put... The direction
it's moving so I can see? Yes, let me do that.
Because towards the manor is actually the other
direction. You guys came from the other direction.
Was that your turn? Was that its turn? No. Fuck.
Then I can't do anything. I might be able to.
Maybe. Here's the thing. No. Here's the thing.
Now it's my turn. Oh, that was your legendary.
As my turn comes, I'm going to officially end
this combat as it stands. What? As this thing
is going to continue to fly away. How much movement
speed does it have? It can move 60 in this turn.
So we're just calling it an out of combat. It's
getting out of here. Let me move us to a different
map. If you guys have the means to do it, we
are now entering another chase. Oh, okay. Cool.
All right. Let's do that. Fun. That was my round
to start it off. It is now. Quite far. If I get
far enough away, I'm going to make checks to
basically escape where you use perception to
find me. It's going to try to sneak. It's heading
towards the chaos. It's heading over the manor
itself, over Rosas Estate, down into the streets
where the resistance are fighting. He's got to
be one hit. He's got to be one hit. Probably
pretty close. Yeah. So the question is. Shit,
you said perception? Do you have any way to catch
up to this thing as it flies away? I mean. Blanche
is in Bladesong and can double move. So she has
40 feet of movement. So Dash would give her 80.
Yeah, you can run on foot. I'm going to make...
I think the checks are going to be a little more
difficult if you're going on foot because this
thing is going to be moving over structures,
things like that. I might give myself a major
bonus. Dick. But, benevolent DM here, I will
tell you this. There is one other option you
have. Hold on, hold on. Yeah, what did you expect?
You set up the chase. You know that... Oh, wait
a minute. You happen to have... Huh? You happen
to recently receive a magic item known as a Rod
of Flying. If you can figure out the code you're
ordered to activate it. If you want to try that,
that's a possibility. But you're only getting
a chance to do this thing. Otherwise, you're
going on foot. This is... This is why I mean
why it's going to turn off the heat. This is
going to get scary. Did David know what we talked
about with the code word? I don't know. I know
that I texted you about my guess for a code word.
I don't know if it was in our group chat or not.
Yeah, I don't remember. Now, I'm going to, before
we get into anything, I'm just going to describe
what this thing is. It says wooden broom in the
description. It's a metal rod. It weighs about
three pounds. It functions like a mundane rod,
whatever that means, until you stand astride
it and speak its command word. It then hovers
beneath you and can be ridden in the air. It
has a flying speed of 50 feet. It can carry up
to 400 pounds, but its flying speed becomes 30
feet while carrying over 200 pounds. The broom
stops hovering when you land. Now, the way I'm
going to rule this, basically, because I don't
know your exact weights and I don't care. Dresden,
probably with your armor you weigh over 200 pounds.
I'm not super interested in nitpicking this.
You can take this thing and ride it alone for
the 50 feet, or you could take one other companion
with you for 30 feet per round. And how far is
it away currently? I'm going to start this thing
off at 60 feet away. So it's not going to come
down to feet per round at this point. It's going
to come down to bonuses each round on, and this
is the thing, acrobatics checks. When you were
running, it was going to be athletics. To use
this thing, it's more a matter of balance. as
you're trying to push yourself to rush with it.
If you take two people with you, one of you will
have to use your action to keep yourself from
having a disadvantage. You're going to have to
use a dash action on this broom to hold down,
push yourself into the wind, and fly. But the
other person will be able to use their full action.
So you'll be slower, but you'll have more opportunity
to act. And that's if you can even use this thing
at all. So first of all, are you running or are
you flying? I think you should fly, and I think
Blanche should run. Yes. If I can get within
30 feet, I can attack it. Right. I also want
to get out there, David, that blade song lasts
for one minute. Okay. So we're probably what?
How many rounds are we in already? We're about
five rounds in. Okay. So five rounds left. Okay.
Okay. Okay. Blanche is going to take off in a
sprint after five. And she's going to say over
her shoulder, Dresden, it's a bruma flying on
your back. I think the code word is Rosa. Is
it, though? Is it, though? That's the only guess
that I have. Let's find out. Dresden, other one.
Dresden, the spotlight falls on you now. Blanche
is running to blast past you. Bladesong giving
her extra mobility. Is she right? Let's find
out. Dresden pulls out the rod. Leans his face
into it. And licks it. Rosa. I want you guys
to be honest with me here. Which one of you idiots
thought that was the word? Who's the one? It's
me. It's the only... I can't think of what else
it could possibly be. It was you. Take another
button. Oh my god. You're right. That is the
code word. It's the only thing that made sense.
Good shit. It's the only thing that made sense.
I mean, the one thing it's been shown any sort
of care for. Of course that's the word. Right.
And when I thought of it, I then, like, blasted
back to the time we were recording, and I'm like,
ooh, what am I possibly going to get out of going
to this stupid picture frame? World -saving information.
Dresden, you feel a hum. Zoom. under your fingers.
This thing lifts off the ground. You loop your
legs over it. I mean, you've probably ridden
horses before. You've probably done some training.
You're a soldier. But you are not ready when
this thing keels off the ground, flying, shooting
off into the air. You're heading towards Serapio.
You're trying to keep your balance furiously.
And with that, we begin our chase. Can you remind
me and... Maybe the listeners real fast how the
chase thing works again? This is going to be
important to note because there's some weird
new mechanics with this broom, right? So the
way the broom of flying works is it's going to
give you 50 feet of speed. Now the way this chase
mechanics work are every 5 feet you gain over
30 are going to give you a plus 2 on your check,
right? Holy shit. So your acrobatics check is
actually, with just you on it, going to be at
a plus 8. Does that include my normal plus three?
Yes. Okay. Okay. So you're moving over 30 feet.
So every five feet of movement over 30 grants
you another bonus. Okay. I think I get it. Now,
you need to use your action to do this, though.
Your action is going to be your dash. If you
do not use your action to dash, you're taking
disadvantage on that. So it's like you can still
make it. It's just that you need to kind of put
yourself into it. If you want to go the full
plus eight, you want to go the full without disadvantage,
you need to use a dash action to get the broom
going flyer. Lean into it and really push yourself
forward. So one action gets you what? One action
is going to be the plus eight without disadvantage.
Without disadvantage. If you use an action that
turn, you want to try to attack, you have to
take disadvantage on the plus. It's the same
movement. but disadvantage. Yes. That's how I
rule it. Okay, so you can move and then make
an action. So if you're a rogue, for instance,
you can dash with a bonus action and you can
do full attacks and shit, which is pretty cool.
So, boiling it down straight, if you want to
attack, you're going to have disadvantage on
your roll to catch up to Serapio. I'm going to
roll a check. That's going to be your DC. You're
going to need to kind of hit that DC. And I'm
going to start off the round as I kind of like,
as we kind of start establishing things, I was
kind of the one moving first. So I might make
my sort of actions in this round first and then
leave it to you guys to sort of do, to react
to it. Right. So I set the stage, you react with
your roles and your decisions. So, okay. So hold
on. So hold on. Yeah. So Blanche right now in
Bladesong has 40 feet of movement speed. Yes.
So to you. Plus four. Plus four. But because
you're on foot chasing flying targets, I'm going
to remove four as well. It's going to be a straight
roll. Okay. I think that's a fair way of looking
at it. These guys are going over buildings, around
structures you can't. You have to parkour, leap
over things, dive through windows, that sort
of thing. And in traditional combat, I could
use my movement action and then double move with
another, but this time I don't have that ability.
It's just roll straight or with disadvantage?
Yes. Okay. That's how the chase will work. So
if you're using your actions... You need to use
your actions to dash if you want to get in there.
You want to not have disadvantage on this. Okay,
I think I get it. If you get in range of an ability,
you can use the ability on the top of the round,
basically. Right. Gotcha, gotcha. That's how
it's going to work out. Okay, cool. Let's get
into this then. All right. There also may be
some other mechanics to throw in here, but not
during this first round. So I'll start off first.
Two things are going to happen immediately as
I go to move. I'm going to take disadvantage
on this first move. Okay. So I've rolled my check,
and you see this thing is actually slowing itself
down on purpose. As it sees you whirling up in
the air, it sees Blanche sort of moving around.
It's going to spin around on you, Dresden, sort
of surprised and fear still in its features.
And I'm going to use a spell I have not been
able to use with this creature yet so far. And
I have had this spell the entire time, even the
first time you fought it. And that spell is Gust
of Wind. Ooh, fuck. This is where I get mean.
So. A line of strong wind, 60 feet long and 10
feet wide, like every other wind movie has, shoots
out from this thing, emanating from it. It's
sort of like a constant stream moving off of
this thing, pushing towards you on the broom.
And while you're in this wind, for one thing,
at every turn, I'm going to make you do a strength
save or get pushed farther back. This is 15.
I only do moves in 10, so I'll just push you
10 feet back if you fail the save. And your movement
is halved in the wind. You can roll this check
to get out of it. But it's going to be a deck
save to, like, push us up out of the wind in
order to go, or else you may fall off the broom.
So I'll walk you through it when it gets to your
roll. But, like, there's a lot of stuff. Basically,
you get up here, and this thing almost immediately
blasts you with this wind trying to defend itself.
But Blanche, you're not affected by this because
this is above you. You're pushing down on the
ground beneath, running towards the man, and
you're kind of looping around it as you go. Imagine
if we both got on the broom. We'd be fucked.
Yeah. Pretty rough. Pretty rough. So with that,
I have rolled my check with disadvantage, so
I'm not doing too hot. I put you guys at 70 feet
away. If I get over 100 feet, I'm going to start
making stealth checks that you guys need to contest
with perception checks. If you fail, I get away.
You're out of sight. Yep. With that being said,
what do you guys want to do with your turns?
So the closest I can hope to get is 40 feet from
my position right now. What you get is based
on, so if you... Right, the roll. Yeah, it's
based on our contested roll. Right, okay. I want
to get closer. Hell yeah? So you're dashing,
dash action running. Yes. Blanche wants to get
closer. Steven also wants to get closer, but
Blanche wants to get closer. Straight up, no
bonus, right? I'm using a button, sorry. I meant
to say that before I... Okay. It was a 17, though,
but I still... I'll take it. I still want to
use it. I mean, I think 17's going to get it,
but... I'm being honest here. 10. So 17 would
be higher. All right. And that's with your decks?
Or with your acrobatics? You said no bonus. You
said no bonus. Right. Yeah, I did say that. Dresden.
Yeah, Dresden wants to keep moving. Okay. Get
as close as he can. If you want to dash, first
of all, I need you to make a strength save as
the wind strikes you. That's cracked. That's
cracked. I know. I know. Oh, I couldn't see what
it was. I know. Sorry. That's a 19. You're fine.
The wind hits you, and you kind of, like, hold.
You push yourself forward, and you're like, you
don't lose control as the wind strikes you. Push
towards this thing. All right, so you have a
chance here. You can try to get out of the wind.
If you do that, the sudden sort of shift in,
like, the wind around you as you try to move
to push to the side of it to, like, get out of
the stream is going to cause you to make a deck
save. Otherwise, bad things can happen if you
fail. Or you can work yourself into the wind,
but at this point, because your movement speed's
been dropped as far as it has, That's going to
put you down to A. Yeah, I think you're going
to have to continually explain these mechanics
here. Yeah. It's just weird because I'm using
an ability, but a minus two. Because at this
point, you drop down from your 50 feet, you can
fly to 25 feet, but you're five feet under 30,
minus two. Okay. So you can either roll to minus
two or minus two on top of your acrobatics or
try to get out of the way. So it would still
be a plus six in the wind. Yeah. That's pretty
good. To move how far? It's just to test my check,
and I'll tell you how far you move after you
roll it, because it's based on what I rolled.
That sounds like the better option. What do you
think, Steven? Your thoughts? Whatever's going
to get you furthest. It's going to be a plus
six. Either you fight the wind against his DC,
or I have to do a dex save outside of the wind
and potentially fall off. Potentially. I think
I need to stay in the wind. Then go for it. If
I fall off, it's all over. Right. It's bad. It's
all over. Okay. Okay. I'm rolling with a plus
six. Fourteen. Okay. I'll tell you right now,
because I had disadvantage on that, because I
was trying to cast that spell, I only rolled
a nine total. Oh, sweet. Oh, shit. Because of
this, Dresden, you're now 60 feet away as you
get 10 feet closer. Despite the wind, you're
actually pushing towards this thing. The wind,
like, in your eyes, tears sort of running behind
you. Blanche. you actually get 20 feet closer.
Nice. Because you got over five. So you just
are diving around, moving around through the
garden, crushing roses underfoot as you push
around the side of the building, leaping over
a small fence, rushing around the edge. And as
you're kind of moving closer, you see this thing
is flying over the rooftop, pouring down towards
the streets. Up ahead, you see combat is breaking
out in the streets. And you're moving right towards
it. It wants to lose you in the chaos of the
fight. As you see, resistance fighters, dead
and alive both, are clashing against the older
models of the AGs, the AG3s and AG4s that are
used to patrol the Ironworks district. So you
see these sleek, smaller, slender AG3s that are
very quick, sort of jumping around. Their armor
is much more loose, much more open. But they're
just diving around between people, attacking
them, striking out with these small blades in
each hand. You see the AG4s are kind of farther
back where they have... these, like, large sort
of crossbow arms sort of mounted, blasting down
at people with these sort of, like, large eyes,
like, focused sort of goggles in their eyes.
And just people are dying in front of you as
you push towards the chaos. And that's the first
round. Now, second round, I'm going to make my
rolls. If you guys have any actions you want
to use, we'll resolve those before we resolve
your distance checks. Okay? You're 50 feet away
right now. So you can use actions. At the start
of a round, basically. Okay. If you want to do
an attack, you can do an attack now, and then
after that we'll roll with disadvantage because
you used your action. Okay? That make sense?
Maybe. Okay. Yeah, just know that if we end a
round and you're within the range to attack something,
then you can attack something at the start of
the following round before we make our next rolls.
You don't need to land into it at the end of
a roll. Basically, if you want to make an attack
now that is 50 feet away, you could do it. Okay.
Or you can wait around and see where you get
closer. Sure. And not sacrifice disadvantage
by using your action. Okay? Okay. All right,
cool. Let's do this thing. All right, I'm rolling
again. This time not with disadvantage because
I already cast my spell. It's still emanating.
I rolled mine. It's up to you guys. Okay, so
Blanche is within 50 feet. I can either... and
then roll with disadvantage, or I can just roll
flat and maybe move forward and not get an attack.
Is that right? Yes. Okay. You get it. You get
it. It's all about just thinking about your action
economy. It's all just like the same as a normal
round, except if you're not using your dash action
to keep up running, you're going to lose that.
You're not going to have the same ability to
run. Okie doke. she's going to cast Shatter.
Oh, shit. Whoa. And you're probably going to
find a way to use this to screw us, but Shatter
reads a sudden loud ringing noise, painfully
intense, erupts from a point of your choice within
range. Each creature in a 10 -foot radius sphere
centered on that point must make a con save.
3d8 thunder damage on a failed or half as much
on a successful. Whoa. 3d8? 3d8. Yeah. You're
within range for this? Dude. 60 foot range. Dude,
I think this could end it. Holy shit. Okay. Yeah,
if it fails the con save. Is it half as much?
Half as much on a failed save. Yeah. Oh, man.
This is intense. This is intense. Okay. Okay.
You loop around the building. This thing's trying
to get away. It's launching towards the combat.
When it gets into the chaos of the combat, you
know that shit's going to get real. I mean, like,
you're going to be in the danger. You can get
struck by different attacks. You can get hit
by, like, the AG -4s launching their, like, cross
bolts around. There are explosions rocking the
streets and the buildings. I mean, you're moving
into chaos. It could very well lose you there.
As it's moving around, as Dresden moves up over
the building, that wind's striking at him. He's
fighting towards this thing. It's furiously trying
to escape his... I mean, you're moving closest
and despite everything, it's terrified. And you
see it just kind of like hone in and just flap
its wings hard, start pushing hard. Because I'm
going to tell you right now, I rolled a natural
20. Oh, my God. On my check. Oh, fuck. You're
going to be up against a very rough check if
you do not take me out right now. Yeah. Oh, God.
So let's roll this con save out in the open.
Oh, fuck. Yeah, roll your save. Fuck. What's
the? Because this can get real bad. I can see
Blanche like. You know, she's running on foot
trying to keep up, but she's, you know, she's
got Bladesong going. So there's almost like this
ethereal blue sort of mist trailing her as she
dodges and dives through the streets and the
alleys. And she finally breaks through at the
end of one alley and she can see Serapio in the
sky ahead of her. Just moving right over the
chaos, right over where you are fighting. He's
moving right over it. And you just, they look
up and see, they look up and see this creature,
this demon they've heard of. It's flying above
them. It's getting away. I have a plus five to
the save. Um, shit. Two buttons for disadvantage.
Oh, shit. Oh, shit. I gave you those. Oh, I'm
a stupid, stupid person. I'm sorry. I didn't
mean to suggest that. Holy shit. That puts me
at zero buttons. It feels like this is it, though.
Yeah. It feels like this is it. This is bad.
I'm also, I'll tell you what, once you get to
the chaos, I'm also making extra, you're rolling
D6s or events are going to occur at the end of
each round that could hamper or help you. Yeah,
we just got to end this as fast as we can. I
mean, you're helping the saves before it really
even begins. This thing's moving around the building.
You get around fast. I mean, you're pushing yourself,
pushing your body beyond all of its limits. Jaune
just cheering behind you. The resistance before
you cheering as they see you moving. You see
you striking out at this creature. I'm rolling
two saves. I'm going to roll the dragon. And
just because I like you guys. I'm going to roll
the gold vein D20. Oh. And the gold vein D20
will definitely fuck me over. Here, do you want
a tray here? I do. Or do you want to use your
tower? Get a tray. What do we got? 11 and a 9.
That gives me, on a 9? You have a plus 4? No,
you have a plus 5. It's a 14. It's a fucking
15. Oh, shit. Oh, shit. It's a fucking 15. Oh,
I can't wait to roll minimum damage. Well, right,
that's the thing is, like, I don't want to ask
you what it's at, but, like, 3d8, it's, like,
possible? Very, very, very possible. In fact,
I'm just going to tell you where I'm at. Yeah,
that's exciting. Serapio, as he moves above,
he's going to kill me! Is that 11 HP? 12 is average
for 3d8. 12 is average. 12 is average for 3d8.
You have such a good chance of this. Here, take
these. Wait, what is it? Is it straight 3d8 or
3d8 plus? Just straight 3d8. Straight 3d8. Oh
my god. Holy shit. Holy shit. Can you stop him?
I rolled a 20. He's blasting fast. This is it.
The chaos. You might lose him. You might really
lose him. I'm going to roll three die at once
here. What do we got? What do we got? 5, 4, 7.
That's it. That's it. That's 19. That's 19. That
is 19. Well, it's 16. 5, 4, 7. Sorry, it's 16.
Maths. 16. Maths. blasts out over the fighters,
over the resistance. Over the battle, you see,
as you, like, turn the corner, you look out,
you see Grindy, uh, standing on a rooftop, sort
of, like, attacking with his one arm, just, like,
striking out at one of these, like, very lithe,
aging threes. You see Paloma striking into one
of these crossbow -wielding units, dragging down.
He's just, like, standing kind of in the middle
of the crowd, and she looks up. Everyone looks
up as this creature moves above them, their eyes
locked on this being. They know, they feel the
significance of this moment. And Blanche rounds
the corner. Blanche pulling on everything she
has. Blanche sliding into place, launching this
attack. And what does it look like as you shatter
the fucking sky? She has her blade in one hand
behind her and she reaches her palm up towards
the sky. And there's just a thin, teeny little
white light beam. that shoots out from the center
of her palm. And when it hits Serapio, it...
Crap! Thunder just emits from Serapio. It says,
painfully intense ringing noise from a point
you choose. And the point that Blanche chose
was Serapio. His full, like, chest erupts open.
And there's a spray of blood and feathers as
he goes and just immediately drops down right
into the center of this fight. And this roaring
cheer from the resistance as they've just seen
this massive blow to their foes. And you watch
in a wave as this morale boost carries them,
pushing them over the AG5, slaughtering this
armored guard, carried by you, by your actions,
by your will. Dresden, you're flying over and
you see the moment this thing drops. Chased by
you, not looking down at the real threat on the
ground. And you have defeated this creature.
Oh, my God. Once and for all. Eleventh hour.
Yeah. Yeah. I mean. Absolutely. I was going to
be so far ahead of you guys with that check.
And then it was going to get so nasty. I was
going to be doing attacks on you from the AGs
when you were in there. Oh, yeah. It was like.
Of course. And I'm running out of. both HP and
resources. You guys got nothing left. You're
burnt out. We just had to end it as fast as possible.
Blanche, you're standing there. It's like a battle
rages in front of you, but you see the tides
are turning. You are a battlefield commander.
You know, you know when a fight is lost and the
AGs are losing. as the resistance are pouring
over them. You're watching this happen. Maybe
you're exhausted. You feel a hand on your shoulder
as Jaune finally catching up, breathing hard
because he's not a runner. You did it. You did
it. Dresden. He looks up at you, just like cheering
as you're in the air above the building, looking
down at all this Dresden. We did it. We did it.
Ramin. We have to get to Ramin. We have to let
him know. I saw you there, so I imagine he's
fine, right? I'm sorry, Tadpole. Ramin... Ramin
is dead. I didn't get to him in time. I think
he's just quiet for a long moment. And I think,
like, he's not... He's been through a lot. He's
just suffered a loss that hurt him very deeply.
And I think you're almost surprised and saddened
to see how hollow he looks, how unfeeling almost,
as he just kind of, like, nods. And turns towards
the body now just like surrounded by swarming
fighters. Just out in the middle of the sea of
chaos in the streets and just says, I wish, in
a way, it could have been me to strike the creature
down. You made it possible, Jean. If it weren't
for you, we'd all be back there with Ramin. Sir,
what do we do now? Well, um, the fight's not
quite over. They're running routes. We can see
it here. The machines have no chance, but we
can still help. We can save lives. We can save
lives. He nods to you. Dresden, you're above
all of this. Do you push towards the combat?
Do you move to help the resistance? Paloma shoots
you a wink from the middle as she slices down
the core of one of these things. It explodes.
No, I think Dresden was hovering above, and he
could tell they were having fun. A moment. And
once he senses that that has passed, he goes
down to join them. I mean, he wants to fight.
Yeah. But he needs to be with, he knows he needs
to be with them. At this point, we are out of
combat for this group. So I'm just going to say
like, we have this last moment as the three of
you stand together in front of Rosa, surrounded
by swaying rose bushes, watching the battle before
you. And Jean just puts his hands up between
both of you, touching both of your backs. And
you see his hands both glow with this divine
light as he lays on hands both of you. Your wounds
begin to heal. Your body's regaining energy.
And perhaps we see three soldiers begin to move.
Moving to save more lives. We leave that scene.
Instead, moving to Moreno. Where the wheezes
and moans of the dying all along the floors of
the chapel suddenly cease. People begin to pull
off their sheets, gingerly rising to their feet.
A silence born of mistrust, born of a people
who have learned the dangers of hope. And then,
a cacophony of tearful laughs and bellowing cheers
as the sick realize that they are healed. As
this lingering illness is gone, the curse, gone.
People hugging loved ones that stand again, sereno,
destroyed. We move to the hilltop, to the wreckage
of the terrace and the manor behind it, almost
wholly burned down as only four Pauly warriors
remain, just standing wounded and battered amongst
a sea of pieces of plate. But they have won.
They have survived. Sansatyan freed. And at the
foot of the hill, Atash stands before a barely
conscious Goltan. See, a dark shape appears behind
them, something over Goltan's face as there's
a thrash around. You see a pig mask, cheaply
made, the sort sold to children throughout Fiestatown.
It's a bad fit, far, far, far too small for this
face, barely reaching over the yetin's nose,
but... Autosh. Wow. What happened? What did I
do? Wow. I remember Blanche. Blanche! Blanche!
Is she okay? Did I hurt her? Oh, no, no, no.
I didn't mean to hurt nobody, I promise. I didn't
mean to. His shining fist crashes into the pig
man's face as he... falls into a deep unconsciousness.
Silence, swine! There will be time enough to
defend your vile actions at your trial, though
I fear your words will carry little weight. Atash,
standing above this form, just turned to the
Sturgeman, sort of moving out of the darkness
and into his light. I appreciate your assistance,
Sturgeman, late as it may be. How did you realize
the mask would shackle his soul? The surgeon
shrugs. World's greatest detective. Though I
don't feel deserving of the moniker tonight.
Took me a while to find and snatch a mask to
use. And you see, Atash's glowing eyes are upholstered
with a new, intense light. The surgeon's red
leather is fully illuminated by that burning
glare. The surgeon puts his hands up. Don't get
excited. I paid for the mask. Cav nods towards
the pig man. What will you do to him now? And
the spotlight of Atashaskala turns instead to
the pigman beneath him. What is deserved? The
two stare down at the beaten, bleeding, unconscious
form, letting the silence wash over them. We
pan away and up and up and up from this scene,
from this city. As events here begin to resolve,
we pan away. And across the Borderlands, to the
Ruiz and your Peaks, to Jules, Dance, and Crispin,
where the true final battle is about to begin.
And we'll call it there.