Hey, Pants people. Thank you for tuning into
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Wherever you listen, it helps a bunch. Enjoy.
That Sturge man is on the way. How and why he
was contacted, we still do not know. We do know
that his travel between worlds has been delayed,
though, as he is currently working to foil his
arch -enemy, the Roper, on the cities of Wrathal.
Hopefully, he can resolve matters quickly and
safely, and find his way to Noiri by morning.
The Silent Bursts remain tight -lipped by the
situation, but rumors abound that the tragedy
of Mixmacy Lane's family was not the only tragedy
to strike on this day. The air of celebration
here has been muted by a sense of despair, and
a single burning question. Who else? has been
killed. Sturgeon battling the Roper and Rotham
is a good joke, and I don't even care. I don't
even care. One could say it's the culmination
of everything I have done in this show. One could
say. That was... There are layers. Ropers are
a subterranean monster type. Rotham is a subterranean
world. Sturgeon's a bat. Mosquito. Anyway, it
doesn't matter. It's too highbrow for you. Yeah,
I guess so. Rumors abound. See your confused,
drooling face. Trying to comprehend this. Drooling
over this silver bullet. Oh, yeah. Oh, Stephen,
what are you drinking? This is a silver bullet
from Reckless Brewing Company. Reckless Brewing
Company? What did you say? Silver bullet? Silver
bullet. But what could possibly be in the silver
bullet? Well, we don't know. Delivery! I was
hoping that you'd say, Fiona, our dry hopped
red ale. You can find it at Reckless Brewing
Company. Oh, yes, you can. No, the moment's passed
now. Come on down. Immaculate. Incredible. Go
check out our sponsor, Reckless Brewing Company,
Bethlehem, New Hampshire. Thank you. One would
think we haven't been doing this for two years
now, almost. Yeah, two years in September. That's
coming right up. Isn't that crazy? Right before
episode 100. Seriously, right before 100. We're
on the march to 100. We're so close. We're right
there. I don't know if it's going to be special.
Don't get excited because I don't know what's
going to happen. There's so much stuff in flux
in the universe, especially tonight in this episode.
In the pants -verse? In the pants -verse. Would
it be the pants -verse? The seams are about to
split, gentlemen. That crotch ripped open. Two
timelines, four timelines. Timelines abound because
the decisions you make tonight. The ramifications
of them are actually kind of crazy. Ramifications
abound. Abound! So gentlemen, let's get down
to business. Because there were some reservations
about the way I handled that last combat. Or
to be more precise, the fallout of that combat.
Two set deaths rolled randomly on a D20 table.
And I'll tell you right now what that table consisted
of. One, DiPiero. Two, Ledoux. Three, Xenia.
Four, Margus. Five, Fyodor. Six, Samira. Seven,
Larissa. Eight, Amos. Nine through ten, nameless
Duergar officers. Nine through ten? Yeah, so
most likely. Twenty. Damn it. Hey, don't correct
me. I'll kill all the characters. Most likely.
Look at that. Nine through ten, nameless Duergar.
No -name characters are going to die, right?
I mean, what are the chances? The chances that
I would roll beneath nine twice? I don't know.
Tell me the chances, Stephen. What are the chances?
I mean, a little worse than 50 -50. Yeah. What
are the chances? Well, no. A little worse than
one in four. You don't know anything. I'm just
saying it's not like, it's not insane odds. Look.
So let's pull all the cards on the table for
the pants, people. I've been talking to you guys,
and I had planned on opening this episode with
a courtroom drama bit. I was on a call with my
wife, have her play judge, while I stood as defendant
to your combined prosecution. But then she didn't
show up. What's up with that? I'll tell you what's
up. I called the judge off. I called the bit
off. No more bits. We canceled the bit. We couldn't
get the slot. Bits are kind of our bit. Well,
look. I got a lot to say in this coming episode.
There's a lot, a lot to do. And that bit sounds
like it would take a lot of time. So here's what
we're going to do. I'd like to hear your thoughts
on my mechanics, talk my own thoughts on them,
and then get to the brass tacks. Because as one
might generally expect of our beleaguered and
corrupt criminal justice system, I'm willing
to offer you both a plea deal. Yeah. Criminal
justice major at it again. My people have put
some stuff together. So where are you guys at?
You didn't like what I did. Why didn't you laugh?
So hold on. Steven, you can articulate this a
lot better than I can. Can you summarize the
whole, like from the start of the fight to the
end of the fight? No. I'll summarize this. Summarize
this. I'll tell you my side of things. All right?
My mechanic was simple. Complicated, but simple.
Here we go. In this combat, every round, basically,
the chances that people were going to die as
you fought went up. In the end of the combat,
we did 1d6 minus 6 plus x, x being the amount
of rounds the specters got to go after the first
round. Three rounds had passed, which means two
rounds of active specters attacking people. You
stopped them from going even further before they
attacked in the third round. You got in right
before. That would have been another death. 1d6
minus 3 would have been the case there. Danny
rolled a 6. Danny's fault, not mine. That means
two people, 1d6 minus 4, 6 minus 4, 2, died.
Now, I know what you're thinking. Death saves,
right? Come on, you gotta give them death saves.
And there are arguments to be made either way,
because the stat blocks I was using, everyone
listening, even though they didn't actually get
involved in the combat, I did have the stat blocks
for these beings up. And they were specters.
Spectre is having a special ability that when
they attack somebody, they drain life force.
And if the person attacked fails a constitution
saving throw, they don't just lose their HP,
they lose their max HP, which means instant death.
They would likely one -shot most characters involved
in the sidelines here. And so there is a reasonable
world. Right? Something along the lines of 50,
45, 50%, where I straight up kill these two characters
that I attacked. But did they get attack rolls
to hit? No. Exactly. That was your job. Exactly.
You had to hit the thing, and you hit the thing.
You did good. But you rolled bad at the end.
Again, Danny's fault, not mine. You badmouthed
Danny one more time, this show is over. So that's
the situation. I rolled two d20s. Two characters.
Probably just Duergar, right? Probably. Yeah.
Probably. Yeah. But probably. But there's a really
great chance that not. Yeah. And the odds mean
probably means probably any single one of them.
Probably this guy. Probably that guy. So. So
we're talking about some really cool and interesting
fun homebrew mechanics to a fun like homebrew
mix. of this monster, right? Like, whatever this...
You said it was a wraith? It was actually...
I teased them. I took out the balls. We had to
wait until they unzipped for that. Okay, you
can bleep that. You can bleep it. You can bleep
it, fine. Do I go back? But, like, whatever this
stat block is based off of, like, the ability
to summon a bunch of ghosties... all throughout
this whole map thing. And we also have the fun,
amazing homebrew potion spell thing from Hooli
Forge that arguably could have extended the fight
an extra round, which then increased the chances
of somebody else dying in the end. It's like
we're talking about like homebrew stuff on top
of homebrew stuff on top of homebrew stuff. So
like where there is really – where it is very
difficult to – it is very cool. But where it
is very difficult to balance and there is such
a high probability of somebody who is like really
important to the story and for reasons that I
can't tell the pants people why yet, that somebody
could die to like – I just want a chance to save
my people. I understand. I understand. And hey,
man, I'm not your enemy. I'd love for you to
save things. Like I said, I have taken notes
and plans I had and burned them after last week.
I can bring them right back because here's my
plea deal. You ready to hear it? Ready to hear
it? I feel like that was a threat. Uh -huh. I
think this is a fair way to handle this. I am
going to allow death saves, but I'm going to
make my first round of saves. immediately on
top of that uh i'm gonna make those saves until
these characters are healed by you or dead no
stabilizing that is the uh uh we'll say that's
the that's the that's the con sort of for this
this con draining effect the wraiths have there's
more We're going to return to our initiative
block when we left before. We're going to continue
right from that specter's turn, which is where
I'm going to make the save. On the specter's
turn each round, I'm going to keep making those
saves. And one more complication. Death was fated
for these two. We cliffhangered it. We're doing
another fake cliffy? Come on. No one's going
to take us seriously anymore in Hollywood. Death
was fated for these two, and no action of mine
is going to undo it. I have crafted scenarios
in which no NPC help will come for these two
before death. Only you, our heroes, our players,
will be able to influence this moment. The future
is on a pivot, gentlemen. We may be looking at
very different outcomes, different stories, depending
on how you play out these next few rounds. No
pressure, though, huh? You don't have any spell
slots left, do you? No, I do. Oh, okay. I do.
So will that be... I do, I can heal. ...sufficient?
Does a court accept my deal? I have one slot
left. One. Wait, so hold on. What was the deal?
The deal was I'm going to kill them very, very
fast? The deal is I'll give you a chance to stop
it. Slower. He's giving us a chance, but we can't
stabilize. We have to be able to heal. You went
from absolute death? Remember what I said to
you this morning, Jeremy? Yes. It's not far off.
I fucking called it. It's not far off, yeah.
What? What? Well, we don't have to. Well, no,
we don't have to. Blanche can sit there and watch
them die. That's what I'm saying. It's not far.
Oh, that's right, because she's not going to
be able to take Jaune that quickly. The only
way Blanche has to heal is with that potion that
we got from the spider cave. Yeah. I said that
to Jeremy this morning. I was like, Dave is going
to make us a deal. Of superior healing? Yeah.
Dude. That's beautiful. Hold on. Hold on. Wait.
Hold on. No, never mind. I do not have a healing
potion. I mean, I'll let you make medicine checks
if you get in a situation, but they're not set
things. I want a DC 15. Oh, actually. To see
stabilization. I have two potions of greater
healing. What? Solid. Damn. Nice. Okay. All right.
Suck on that. Suck on that, kitchen boy. So you
accept my deal then. I don't see what, I mean,
we get a chance, right? We just have to get there
and use a potion. He's giving us time to get
there. Maybe. Cool. Then let's go. I am making
two rolls. Blanche is hopping on a broom of flying
and splitting. Shame they're not allowing stabilization.
Anyway, we're staying in initiative order, and
actually the first one to move is going to be
Jean Franklin. Does he want to do anything? Is
he able to move at all? Um, yeah. I mean, he
can move. Um, maybe free action, he'll ask Harlan
where his father went. Harlan! My father! LeDoux!
The damn LeDoux! Where are they? Where? Uh, I'll
free action to see. I'll send them all out. The
torturers were going out the back way, down the
stairs, through the hallway, back towards the
kitchen. The rest, Xenia, Margus, Shmira, were
heading out the front gate. I couldn't get to
the Grand Master and Larissa. They were still
locked up and Fiona wouldn't leave. You hear
sounds of, of... Uh, like, the combat has just
ended in the room beside yours. In fact, I will
reveal the fog of war, as you should be able
to see in there. And I'll tell you this. Two
Dwargar and Fjodor stand alive. Um, they immediately
begin to move in and start, like, trying to,
like, try the door to open up the closet, uh,
where Larissa and Amos were last seen. So you
know that. Sorry, go ahead. Sorry, can you say
one more time where Depiero went? Uh, DePiro,
going down the stairs, moved north through the
hallway towards the back exit, basically. Uh,
Xenia, Margus, and Samira went towards the, like,
basically went, uh, uh, uh, east? Yes, that's
the one. East, towards the main entrance hall
to go out the front. They split them up to get
them all out in different ways in order to, like,
split any enemy attention. Okay. What would happen...
Can we see the whole map? Yeah. This is your
second floor. So we are here? No. No, we're here.
And they went out this door to go out the exit
that's located. This is the second floor. They
all went down the stairs, and then from there
would have gone. So one group would have gone
down the stairs just north of here, and they
would have pushed northwards towards the bag
exit on the first floor. The second group would
have gone... down the hallway, down the main
stairs that lead into the main entrance room,
and that's where they would be. I'll show you
the first floor now. So one group would likely
be, I can't ping for some reason. I'm trying.
It's not working. David, can you ping it? I wouldn't
ping. I have no idea what you just did there,
but there are like four maps on the map now.
Why did that happen? Okay, hang on. No, wait.
This isn't what I wanted. What are you doing?
Ignore those other maps. What is happening? I'm
trying to ping. I can't. Oh, wait. Is this the?
There. You see that ping? I saw the ping. That's
the entrance they're going for? That is the one
that DiPiero and Ledoux should be heading for.
Going down the stairs, then northwards up the
hallway past the kitchen and the salon doors
and towards this back door that leads into that
back patio you considered bringing everyone out
to before. Everybody else would have been going
out the great hall down that grand staircase
leading to the second floor. There's one more
thing to consider. You can move down those stairs.
You could also, you also now know there's a roughly
Devaluma -sized and shaped hole in the interrogation
room you had made where the moss had reached
the floor. It's actually more like a 10 -foot
wide circle. The moss kind of spread out in that
much and sort of burned to the floor at this
point. It's sort of benign now, but that would
drop you down into the mourning room right there.
Okay. A quicker way to get down the stairs, but
you'd have to maneuver around the wall. I don't
know which way is faster. I don't know what your
plan is, Blanche. Yeah, I don't think Jean's
going to be the one to save the day here. He's
just not fast enough. So I'll send Jean running
the regular way down the stairs. Okay. Double
move? Double move. All right, that's going to
be... They'll move him again right to the bottom
of the stairs, basically. Yeah, okay. So, Jaune
reaches the bottom of the stairs and is pushing
out into the hallway. Just, just, Father! Father!
The Dew! Anyone! Anyone! Just screaming out as
he's running. As this is happening, we're going
to cut to Chester, actually. Sidekick's going
first. A question. That sunroom, how high is
it above the ground? Probably about 20 feet drop.
Oh, fuck. Never mind. Pretty high ceilings and
walls here. So there's no easy way for him to
get down that way. Is there like a trellis? Is
that the term? What? Yes, I had my interior decorator
put a trellis under here. Diva Luma landed on
a coffee table, which we talked about how she
wants to start eating through. This would mean
that there's probably a couch right beside it.
No, I'm talking about the sunroom in front. I'm
talking about going outside to meet them at the
front door outside. Oh, going out the front door
that way. Yeah. No, I don't. Actually, I think
there is a, let me go back to that. Well, what
would happen if Chester decided to jump from
the second story? Yeah. No, there actually is.
Oh, you see, so you're jumping out of the morning
room going out the sunroom. Yeah, you can jump
over that. You can jump over that. I didn't realize
what you're talking about. Yes. Oh, yeah, sorry.
Oh, wait, hold on, hold on. Oh, no, wait. No,
I'm looking at the full map on the actual second
floor. This guy's got a morning room and a sunroom?
Come on, that is clearly confusing. Okay, so
we are on the first floor currently. You are
on the second floor currently. I'm just showing
you the first floor because that's where everyone
else is. Okay, so yeah, what's above the sunroom
in Amos' nearest suite? Can he get down that
way outside? Is he able to go out onto the balcony?
Some gutters? Yeah. There's a balcony. I'll allow
a climb. It's me athletics to just move around
and start climbing down. Okay. So he just pushes
down, pushes through the door onto the balcony,
looks outside. He's trying to go down? Yeah,
fuck it. Okay, okay. Go scout the situation.
Yeah, like I said, I don't know what he's going
to do. Maybe there will be sticks in the path.
Chester's not going to just stand there in the
room. Like, okay, you guys go handle it. No,
it's a good move. It's a good move. All right,
you said athletics? Yes. That's an 11. Okay.
Jules, I'm checking things out. He just runs
over, leaps over the side, kind of like slowly
getting down. I think within 11, he's not quite,
he's sort of struggling a little bit on the way
down. He doesn't fall or anything like that,
but he's not making a lot of gains. He's about
halfway climbing down, just like, I'll let you
know. I'll yell up. There's this feeling of dread
that pervades like everyone here, like that feeling
of something has happened. There's still silence
following the fight, but you know something bad
is happening right now. You all feel it. That'll
be Blanche. Blanche sprints for the hole in the
floor. She doesn't say anything. You can see
in her eyes there's something different now.
She leaps for the hole, and as she's, like, midair,
she grabs the broom, and she, like, starts to
mount the broom as she's falling out of sight.
That's so cool. Okay. Okay. If you're double
moving with this thing, I'm assuming you are.
That gives you 100 feet of speed. Yeah. Okay.
Let's do a quick calculation then. 20 feet to
the hole. I won't count the distance down as
you're basically just using that to sort of move
diagonally downwards. So let's... Do you intend
to move through the reception room or northwards
around the stairs? Both look like they're around
equally complicated. Well, the stairs is the
direction they're going. So... At this point,
they're likely already downstairs. They would
have been downstairs when things went down. Sure.
Okay. Hold on. Let me decide. Can you ping where
the hole is? Maybe. It's not there. Okay. Yeah,
so, I mean, I think the quickest way is to go...
The hole is here. I guess out to the left this
way and then down. I think that's... That'll
put you just beyond the case. You weave around.
You pull through. Jaune's just pulling out the
stairs, just thundering down. You can hear him
moving. I'll wait for any of this. You're double
moving on the broom. I need... An acrobatics
check to see how you handle this thing. You are
going full throttle. You're literally pulling
this thing out mid -flight, pulling out, getting
onto it, and just taking off. This is definitely
an acrobatics maneuver. Okay, one sec. I have
advantage on acrobatics check while in blade
song. Yeah, you do. And it's a plus four. I think
I'm going to... I'm not going to keep my button.
I'm going to use the button. No, that's... Because
then it's just a plus two, right? On advantage.
I think the button's worth more than a plus two
in this situation. Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck,
fuck. Okay, here we go. No button. Advantage
anyways. Okay. Okay, first roll's a 17. I feel
like that's pretty good. All right, first roll
is the one. The 17, you manage to do it. You
slide down. You grab the broom, the rod of flying,
the Marfil rod of flying. You tuck it in. You
weave around the corner. Perfect sort of arc
down the hallway, down sort of the narrow turn
there. You hear Jean thundering down. Just as
he pulls out, you're blasting past him. You slide
around the corner of the hallway. You don't see
anybody in that northern hallway. But you can
move far enough to move up past the kitchen door.
In the salon door where you're pretty close to
the exit outside, about 15 feet away. Do you
want to go your full distance? Uh, I mean, yeah.
Okay. You slide up. You pass two doors, both
of which look mostly closed. And you move to
this sort of open hall, a dining room. Table
still set for a meal you never had. You can hear
a commotion. But I'm going to need an action
for a perception check if you want to get more
or you're going to need to get closer. And you
have no actions left. Wait, what? You need an
action? I don't have it. Yeah, no. Are you saying
this is the end of my turn? I'm saying it's the
end of your turn. I'm going to save a bonus action.
Damn. No. Nothing. Let me look up a rule. Something
I've actually wondered about for a long time
and never fully... thought about. Just an idea
of what I'm looking into. I know there's one
action you can do in combat. It's called the
search action. This is typically, I kind of forgot
about this, but typically when you use a perception
check or investigation check during combat to
look for somebody, that is a full action. I believe
we've ruled it as such in the past as well, such
as with mesmerize during that first initial conflict.
There was an action used to see the invisible
mesmerize while she was hiding in plain sight.
That is why I think that in order to get more
information, you would need to use an action
right now. I can't give it to you for free or
even for a bonus action. I was technically, there
was like a reasonable in between on that, but
I don't think that works. Okay. So you slide
down the hallway, past the two closed doors,
towards that last door ahead of you. You see
the door leading outside is mostly open. which
implies people have moved through and you could
hear some commotion out there, but you can't
quite catch the wind whistling past you as you
sail across. And that is your turn. Jules, that's
you. Chester's moving down. He doesn't have information
for you yet. Yep, Jules is going down the hole.
Going down the hole, okay. Yeah. You weave, dive
down the hole. You land where Blanche has just
landed. You see the moment Blanche... jumps on
the broom and zoops around the corner. And Jules
grabs on to the end of it? I'm kidding. I'm kidding.
As you land, you see there's two ways out. There's
one way to the north and one way to the east.
The northern way will likely bring you closer
to Tepiro Ledoux. The eastern way will likely
bring you closer to Xenia Margus. Yeah, I'm going.
Okay. You push out that door into the reception
room. And there is an open sort of pathway, like
straight up opening. No door that leads into
the Great Hall. You are running. As you push
through that door, no check necessary or passive
would be enough. Okay. You see Samira, Margus,
Xenia, and two Duergar officers, and they are
fine. They are rattled. They are breathing hard.
They are scared, but they are fine. Oh, fuck.
Oh, fuck. You hear a crashing sound upstairs.
The duergar and Fyodor are trying to open that
closet door, but something, you hear like a Martin,
something's going wrong. What has happened to
Amos and Larissa? And with that, I'm rolling
to die. That's Jean. Can you ping where Jean
is? Okay. With full movement, John would basically
just reach where you're at. Gets to the dining
room. Yeah. Okay, I guess that's what he's going
to do. Okay. He's thundering up behind. He's,
like, using everything he can to catch up to
you. You're already kind of blurring ahead at
this point, but he's doing everything he can.
Like, Father! Father! Ledoux! Damn it! Ledoux!
Just screaming out, and there is no answer. It's
going to be Chester. Okay, so can we... I don't
know if this is crazy backtracking. But when
Jules sees that they're fine, if he yells toward
the front door to Chester, can Chester hear him?
You're standing in the reception room. There
are open windows in the reception room. Chester's
hanging off the sunroom right beside of it. I
like it. Stephen's holding up the D100, and I
think that's a good idea. We're going to do a
luck roll here. I think that's the only way.
I think there's a chance he can hear it. I'm
going to say it's a 50 -50. There's a lot of
noise outside. Everyone's been watching this
place. I want to roll the D100 through the guns
of heaven. I'm almost positive it won't fit.
It looks like it'll fit. Let's try it. All right.
What are the numbers? If it gets stuck, Chester
dies. I'm taking that risk. I want 1 through
50. He does not hear. Okay. 51 through 100. Okay.
He hears. There's a tension breaker. I'm like,
I don't know how to break it to you, man. God,
okay. And positively shaking. Fuck. 45. So close.
He hears your voice? And he kind of perks up,
tries to hone his ears towards it. But there's
too much. As he would move around the corner,
people are watching from outside, waiting for
some activity, and suddenly someone appears in
the second balcony and starts going down. You
just hear, there's paparazzi, guild members,
flashes of light. People are yelling, and he
can't quite make you out. It's all the people
are yelling from far off. It's all blending together.
He can't hear you, Jules. God, then he's going
to still run towards the front door. Fuck. Okay.
Go ahead and make me an athletics check. Real
quick. I mean, we'll just see if he falls. He's
about 10 feet off the ground at this point. But
anything above a 10 will get him through now.
He's found some good footing. Nine. With a nine,
he like slides a little bit. He doesn't really
take damage, but he kind of slows him down a
little bit. He's kind of limping as he gets up
running. At this point, he just makes it like
almost towards the door, but he's not quite able
to open the door yet. Fuck. Okay. That's Blanche.
You may use an action to try to listen closer
if you want to stop, or you can just keep blazing.
She needs her action for the potion. Okay. So
she's going to grab the potion from her back
or her belt or whatever as she blasts out the
door. You blast out the door onto the patio.
You see at the fringes of this patio, DiPiero
Montelio. is being held back by two Duergar officers
and screaming out, No! No! My financial advisor's
in there! He's still in there! What are you doing?
You're the higher priority target. We can't let
you get back in. No! No! Blanche! Blanche! Where
is he? I don't know. He ran. He... You remember
that Ledoux is fearful. They're fearfully afraid
of spirits. He's talking about the Biza. His
greatest fear is... This exact scenario, where
is he? Where did he go? Where did he run? All
right. So how much movement has already been
used just getting there? That would have been
20 feet to get outside and see. That leaves you
with 80 feet of movement. Okay. So the way I
see it, there's really two options. Either the...
Or no, 80 if you double action. Okay. 30 if you
want your action. All right. Well, let's... So
30 feet, I think, will get me into the dining
room door. Because the way I see it, there's
two places you could, or I'm sorry, not the dining
room door, the kitchen door. Yes. So the way
I see it, there's two places you could be, either
the kitchen or the salon. I don't think I can
get to the salon in 30 feet. You're taking a
risk. Yeah, I guess so. You can reach the kitchen
in 20 feet. Is that what you want to do? Get
you 10 feet left? Yeah, that's really all I got
to do. That's really all I got. You whirl around
on a dime, blast back into the building, rushing
over the dining room table, curving, pushing
towards the door. Jean stops dead right behind
you as he just catches up and looks at you. Sir,
what's happening? Sir! You, boom, push open the
door to the kitchen. And immediately, five feet
into the room at the intersection of these two
doors, you see Le Deux Limoires on the ground.
Oh, Jesus. Pale. but breathing very slowly. And
you are close enough to take an action. I'm going
to fucking give a potion of healing greater to
an NPC. I know, I know! It's the story. I need
Ledoux. Okay, you rush into the room, slide down,
pull him over. and just give him the potion.
Yep, down the gullet. Hell yeah. Describe what
this looks like. It's probably really cool. How
are you getting off your broom? How are you doing
this? She blanched when the door opens, and she
sees Ledoux. She just jumps. She just dismounts
the broom, and the broom goes flying into the
kitchen, and she just skids to a stop. She's
already got the bottle in her hand, unstoppered,
and as soon as she stops moving, her hand is
already under Ledoux's head. And she just, like,
pinches his cheeks from the side and pours it
right in. Holy shit. You pour the potion in,
and color begins to flood back into the turtle's
cheeks and the turtle's body. His eyes slowly
open on you, Jules. You're going to owe me, like,
100, 150 gold. Okay, so when Jules is in the
room, You are in the reception room, so you're
right beside the Great Hall. You're looking out.
You actually are at a point where I think you
can look up and maybe just right out the door
you can hear the sound of Blanche and Jean's
movements. You know they're up to whatever they're
up to. So he hears this commotion from upstairs.
Yeah. You see everyone's okay. And he turns back
to the door that he just came through, looks
to the north. Is that where the dining room is
in the kitchen? Yeah. He looks in the direction
of the north, just a slight little pause, almost
like a camera zoom on his face where he pauses
and thinks for a second. He knows Blanche has
this. We got to try to save everybody. And he
goes back to the room. And you said there's a
couch under the hole? There'll be one close to
the hole, yes. Okay, can Jules climb back up
through the hole? I think I said it's 20 feet
high. It's going to be a challenge. Oh, 20 feet
high. Fuck. You need to find some way to gain
leverage up there. God damn it, I already used
Misty Step. What about College of Creation? Because
if it's set on the floor, if it's set on the
floor, holy shit. How high can you make something?
We can actually use this. Well, I mean, you could
make, like, a grappling hook. Dude, I forgot
I had it because we've, there's, what fucking
use is it going to be? Holy shit. College of
Creation. Hold on. Yeah, hold on. Stand by. Stand
by. Yeah, as an action, I can create one non
-magical item that has a maximum value of 100
gold in an unoccupied space within 10 feet of
me. The maximum size is medium. Five to seven
feet, basically. He's going to create a seven
-foot ladder. It'll be ten feet to hit large.
Hold on, hold on, hold on. Let me think about
this for a second. Why not just make a rope with
a grappler? That would be a check involved in
that one. How come it would be a check? To use
it afterwards. Let me see if I can get creative
with this. Okay. Hold on. I like creative. Make
a jet pack. Okay. So after a little bit of discussion,
Jules will create a grappling hook. David, do
you want to explain to the Pants people how this
works? First of all, we just see, like, what's
it look like to you? This is the second time
you've used this. This golden light? Is it like
the motes you have when you... I think so. It
kind of spawns this hook? Yeah. Yeah, I think
he holds out both of his hands, and it just...
twinkles and appears. Like, I love this too,
because in both cases, like before, it's like,
I need a lockpick, and then it happened. Here
you're having the same thing, like, I need to
get back up. I need to get back up, and then
overall I need Paul's magic. I like the idea
that he's not thinking specifically of the actual
object, but his emotions are projecting what
it needs to be for him in that moment. That is
awesome. And it just happens. Okay. You. Find
this in your hand. You look down for a second.
Jules, you caused some havoc back on Tythos.
I'm going to say you've probably used one of
these at least sometimes before, right? You're
giving your backstory. It just makes sense. Yeah.
So I'm going to make this a ranged attack roll.
Proficiency plus dex. Okay. Two. You see a spot
up ahead where there's a good piece of floor
that's on a hanging... You could latch around
it and pull up. The moss didn't really create
an even hole. There's this jagged edges kind
of facing in. Right on the chaise lounge. You
see the core of the chaise lounge. Yes. Amos
buys quality furniture. That thing is heavy.
It will support you. It's a beast. All right.
So my dex is a plus zero, but my proficiency
is a plus three. So let's see what we get. Oh,
damn. Okay. I don't know. 13. 10 on the die.
I was looking for a 10. That was, yeah. 20 feet.
You can see your target. It's not going to be
too terribly hard. Latch it. You feel it fall
into place. It will cost you the entire rest
of your movement. Yeah. Do what I got to do.
Moving up. Yeah. So I'm going to say the creation.
I'm calling the throw essentially a bonus action.
And then you're just kind of using your movement.
You can move up the rope. It doesn't take a flex
check. It's just kind of slow. When you reach
the top, your hands are kind of onto the floor.
You're about to move back onto this floor. You
can hear, I don't know what's going on. How can
we get through it? Theorist. He has looked it.
I don't understand. He has put something in front
of the door. It is not breaking. You hear this.
I was about to scream, bring him out, bring him
out. Is it a pull or a push door? Um, okay. And
with that, with that, I'm making a roll. Just
one this time. Okay. Wait, there's two of them
in the room. Why are they... Good question. Oh,
yeah. Oh. That's a fine question. Blanche, you
have accomplished your objective. DePiero, or
LeDoux, begins to awaken beneath you. The door
bursts open as Jaune rushes in behind you. Just...
The dude, damn it! And comes sliding down beside
you. I'm going to turn the camera off on you.
I don't think you're going to make it in time,
make a difference anyway. Yeah, but it's really
cool when you see a shot of the outside of the
building, and Blanche kicks open the front door,
and she walks out carrying the dude in her arms.
That's awesome. Cheering, just like, Master Defense,
you've done it again! Hello, Maybutt. He's alive.
I'm going to cut the camera on you then. We're
going to focus primarily and wholly on Jules.
Chester moves into the, he finally opens a great
hall door, just as like, he's just going to the
door and the door opens up as Margus, Xenia,
Samira, Tutu, Ergar rush out. He's just, oh shit,
shit, shit. Jules climbs into the interrogation
room, the closet. Let's go back to our battle
map. It's all up to you now. You can move around
this room. You see, There is a door behind you
that does lead to a second entrance towards that
closet, you know. Connected by this bathroom
that goes between the two closets. Or you can
loop around and help them somehow break open
the door they're trying to open. He's going to
go the back way. My thinking with that is that
they've already tried to freaking bust on the
door. Having a scrawny -ass guy like Jules is
not going to really do much. Here, let me help.
With your movement, you're able to reach that
door. You move into the bathroom. You see this
fancy, ornate bathroom. You know, just gold and
white porcelain everywhere all around you. Marble,
it's beautiful. You don't care. You're thundering
across, running towards that door on the end.
You go to open it? Yeah. I need a strength check
-in action. As you go to open, you see this too
is also something's in front of him. Something
is stopping you from getting into that room.
So weird. Yeah. Is that strength? Yes. Shit.
You know, Amos was pissed, and he's kind of crazy.
Maybe he just walled off the doors. Wouldn't
let anyone come in, and then things went south
in there. If there was ever a time I really need
a crit. Yeah, Jules, notorious strong man. What's
your strength there, buddy? Plus zero. Oh, okay.
Which is not the worst. It's not a negative.
I will tell you, as you go to open it, like you
push it, there is some give here. You get the
impression this is not as reinforced as the one,
the hammering hearing over there. So I don't
necessarily need to entirely bust it open. I
could just get it a little bit to where I could
squeeze through it. You just need to push it
a little bit. Okay, okay. It's DC 10 again. Okay,
so 50 -50. Not with a two. It slides. You're
trying to go. You bounce it off. Something is
holding this door closed. Does it have enough
give to reach my hand through? Not with a two.
Fuck. With a five? God. I would have given you
that. I have no buzz. Holy shit. Holy shit. That
was your action. Yeah. And that was your movement.
Do you have anything else you can do? No. Can
I see your spell list? No, I'm not using a...
I have one slot left and it's Cure Wounds. I'll
call a strike to have one. Nothing. I'll call
a strike to have bonus action. Every single slot
is... What level? Gone. Level one. Everything
is gone. Yeah, there's nothing that would help.
There's nothing that would help, yeah. Okay.
And Blanche can't get there in time anyway. Oh,
no. Nobody else has a potion that we know of.
I'm calling a strength to have bonus action.
You could reach through, potentially, if you
get a five. Okay. But you did not... Get through
on that. Nope. Okay. Apparently not. We're going
to loop around to your turn again, but first
I'm making a roll. Okay. That's four. That was...
I need three fails and someone is dead. That
was... I don't like the fact that that was a
non -reaction from him. I know. Well, I've been
watching him the whole time. He's been trying
to be pretty stone -faced. Yeah. Yeah. I'll give
you this. When you hit the door, even with a
two, it opened enough just to like, you can't
reach a crack through, but it's like as you shoved
it a little bit. Okay. And you can hear, Larissa.
Larissa, what? There's something wrong with Amos'
voice. He sounds vague and far off. Okay. Larissa,
stand. What are you doing lying there? Stand.
Stand. Stand, girl. Okay. Okay. You're up again.
It's an eight. You. slam me against the gun and
jump in just a little bit. Can I reach my hand
in and feel what's behind the door? You reach
your hand in. Feels like luck again. Try to have
his luck again because given where the token
is in the map, tell you what, it's a luck check.
And as I reach through? Yeah. Is it Larissa?
Give her the me, give her the me. Oh, there you
go. I like that better. Yeah, me too. Because
if he already has, if it's already got a place
on the map. Yeah. I need to touch her. Let me
rephrase that. There's post -credits. Okay. Okay.
You say that. I think I want something. Something.
Here's what it's going to be. Up until this point,
you have made enemies with Amos Nier. I need
one last persuasion check from Jules. It's your
forte. It doesn't need to be a high one, but
just enough to convince this man in shock. That
you are here to help. You can hate me all you
want. I don't care, but nobody's dying on my
watch. Dirty 20. Oh! Your hand is outstretched,
reaching around the corner. You feel something
soft slide into your hand. You feel like a wrist,
the bones of a wrist. Your hand clamps down around
them. What do you do? I cast Cure Wounds. It's
a bonus action to open that door. Kirun, so you
do on this turn as your action. I'm not going
to make another check. Magic funnels out of you,
but are you too late? Magic. This healing magic
rushes from you. And it is received. That was
loud. Yeah, I'll tell you right now. I rolled
two fails the first two rounds. Holy shit. And
two saves the next two rounds. That energy, your
last spell slot funnels into... That's it. A
potion couldn't have done that. A potion couldn't
have done that. It had to have been a touch spell
because of the situation you were in, reaching
around. Dude, all bardic inspiration, all my
spell slots, performance, literally Jules is
spent. All he has left is melee. That is it.
Your magic floods in. And Larissa... gasps awake.
Amo sort of collapses back into a corner. You
can hear almost some soft weeping as the door
smashes again a few more times in this sort of
frozen moment that you hear Dwargar pouring in.
Fjodor, what is happening? Is everyone okay?
Harlan barking orders. Everybody's fine. Everybody's
fine. And everybody is. Fine. So let's cut ahead
in time. Let's cut to a scene of everyone beginning
to gather. Perhaps on that back patio, we see
Margus, Xenia, Samira, Jules, Chester, Blanche,
Jean, DiPiero, Ledoux. No Larissa, no Amos. Harlan
comes out a moment later, kind of informing you
that the two are in a state of shock. After being
attacked by Azra's spirit. But they will be okay.
Because of you. I think. You see. Ledoux's been
like. He's still barely. He's coming into consciousness.
He's not used to this. Perhaps the fright itself.
Is what kind of. Has him out of. Sort of out
of his wits. He starts finally kind of. Coming
to. His eyes sort of. Blurring and hazing. Over
a Jaune. Who's just. Distraught. Kneeling. Over
him. Like. Ledoux? Ledoux? Ledoux? Shaken. I
sort of focus in. Some night you are Jean Franklin.
Callously leaving me to die while you played
around upstairs. No, no, Ledoux, it wasn't like
that, I swear. I just... And he cuts off as he
catches the weak smile creeping over Ledoux's
face. Hi. Just underestimated how pathetic you
are. You can't even run away properly, it seems.
Meat -headed brute. Pompous ass. They just share
a smile in this moment. Any awkwardness melted
away. As they're speaking, I think, Margus approaches
the two of you. I'm waiting for a fucking kiss,
man. Come on. You don't get it that easy. You
don't get it that easy. I'm a tease. I tease
people. Margus approaches you. They just, like,
hands out wide, like, You really? You did it?
Everyone alive? Well, everyone left. And the
killer caught? I... This calls for celebration.
Obviously, events here are not going to continue
as they were, but... Please, please, Branch,
Jules, you're retinue. Please accept. My invitation
to the thorn apple. I have the best sweets. Remember,
I am the king of tavern keeping. I can hook you
up. We have a ten day of celebration ahead of
us. And now we have something to celebrate. Please,
be my guests. Magus, I couldn't possibly refuse.
Just like, big, burly, like... muscles rising,
fists in the air, very excited. Zenya kind of
hiding behind them, like, just sort of, you know,
nervous, but happy, so happy. Obviously, just
like the somber energy of what's happened today,
but this, surviving this. Maybe something happened
there in that moment when they faced Meloara.
You see, as she stands behind Margus, a hand
sort of slides onto her shoulder. Samira's hand
and the two. Also share a somber but joyful look.
At some point, Harlan comes around. Well, we'll
be investigating here for some time, of course.
But, matters seem settled. If you have any evidence
to support, you know, what happened, I'd happily
take it. I'm assuming, perhaps, Sneak pulls out
his own recording diamond, you know, he's used
before. Gives you a shrewd eyebrow. Shrewd eyebrow?
Uh, yes, we, uh... You recovered it earlier.
I'm sure we can copy that for you. Oh, lovely.
That's lovely. That's going to help things along.
Great. Whew. On top of that, I think maybe I
wouldn't need everything I collected at the scene
then to persecute. He pulls out a bottle, a very
similar looking bottle. Another bottle of hungry
moss. Now this is a dangerous weapon. Might be
you should find yourself in the right hands.
Hands that can do some good. I'm going to give
you guys a bottle of Hungry Moss. Who forges
Hungry Moss? Oh, yeah. Sounds like an even trade,
Holland. I don't know about that, but something.
It's at least something. All right, give me that
jar, David. Give me that jar. Take the jar. Where's
the jar? Here's the jar. Where's the jar? Nice.
Yours. You guys get a new jar. Ooh. As Jaune
kind of finally stands and recovers, he casts
an awkward eye towards his father. These two
haven't actually talked. Yet, not since this
all started, not since Jean realized that DiPiero
was investigating as well, not since he realized
that DiPiero had done everything he'd done to
protect his son. So Jean shuffles awkwardly over
it. Listen, Father, I was wrong. I have dishonored
us all with my foolishness. I thought you were
some... common murdering thug when all along
you've been protecting me from the witch? You
weren't even trying to expose the matter yourself.
Please, please, accept my... Enough, John. Do
not shame our house with another word. So it
turns towards you, towards everyone. You should
know that my intention was not some foolhardy
pursuit of justice for justice's sake. I knew
of the murder all along, didn't I? Despite the
matter of proud Edom's cost, I still profited
from it. We all, Lucifer Kings, profited from
it. But now, for our people, I saw it was best
to bring down the flourishing market of the jelly
flower, as the Grand Messer was the most outspoken
about our continued advance into world politics.
Sort of sighs, and you see a strange look entering
the old turtle's eyes, something wholly weary.
Master Defense, son, we will speak of this and
everything after you've made your way to the
Golden Bay. I will depart immediately with some
silent verses my retinue. For now, though, you
should stay here in Zinda and enjoy the hospitality
of Mix Margus Ruba. It is important for you to
build bridges both as a prince of coin and a
luminary in this directed right towards Jaune.
They can't turn you aside. Financial advisor,
the Dule -meow. The Dule -meow. Sorry, the cat.
I got bit by a cat earlier. I think I'm changing.
Oh, God, the ears. It's starting with the ears.
Financial advisor, the Dule -moir, will join
you here as he needs experience with the people
of Zinda. The two turtles share a quick, awkward
look at each other. What? Stay with him? I'm
also mad. We are yet. And so, I think we can
start to close the screen here, fade to black
on this scene, as we can push forward with what's
going to be ten days of celebration and fun.
Ten days. During which, I'll tell you now, you're
going to level up. Nice. Oh, yeah. Yeah, baby.
I'll let you mark that this episode's end. Hell
yeah. At the episode's end, but not, we're not
done yet. We level up so infrequently, I forget
that that's a thing. It's a thing, damn it. By
episode 100, we're going to be level six. Okay.
Let's cut ahead in time again. DePiero has left,
and our four adventurers with Le Doulamois in
tow. I'll go to the Thorn Apple, this raucous,
wonderful establishment. It's probably the biggest
inn. If Zinda has a full -on, super modern -day
suite hotel, it's that. This is the Hilton. Like
the casino hotel? Oh, absolutely. Yeah, yeah,
yeah. Margus Ruba knows how to party. They are
great at that. And they've hooked you up with
the best suites they have. Top floor, huge, sprawling.
As many as you want. How many suites? Are you
guys getting? They're large enough you could
ever would be, but you could also split up and
be, like, more comfortable. I mean, I don't think
it matters. Roll a die about it. I don't give
a shit. You tell me. You tell me. Roll a die
or tell me. Let the dice decide, Steven. All
right, I'm going to roll a d6. What does that
mean? Well, there's Jules, Blanche, Chester,
Jean, Ledoux. Okay. So I'll re -roll. Well, Jules
and Chester are all in the same. Okay. So then
I'll roll a d4. Jean wants his own row. Okay,
then we're getting three sweets. Why did this
have to be so hard? Ledoux wants his own room,
too. Okay, so it was one for Ledoux, one for
Blanche, one for Jean, one for Jules and Chester.
We got it. Okay. Settled. Great. You all, I imagine,
enjoy a wonderful dinner. Maybe finally, finally,
Fyodor comes to the Thorn Apple and makes you
some omelets. Oh, yeah. Yeah. This is seconds
for me. It really is. The sommelier, I can imagine,
comes to the table with a bottle of jelly wine.
And Blanche is like, no, I can't. Not anything
but that. But just a quick montage. Just like,
yeah, you can't with the wine. But you see Blanche
hand up, refusing the wine. Maybe Jules, like,
stringing out in his lute and all. You got some
celebration in you? Yeah, why not? Xenia just
hands together, marveling. Chester grabs the
bottle of jelly wine and starts chugging it.
Oh, hell yeah. Just under a table. Jean and Ledoux
kind of give each other the cross stares. You
know, Margus just raising a glass up, just like,
to new friends and heroes! The whole establishment,
new friends and heroes! As night fades to morning.
Jules. Your eyes open, and your opulent, sweet
kind of rise. These suites, of course, have blackout
curtains, because, you know, you gotta have them.
It's the best part of staying in a fancy hotel.
Chester kind of, Oh, what happened? I don't remember.
What did I drink? Am I old enough to drink? As
he asks himself these. Important questions. Perhaps
you sort of rise and start to move towards the...
Or maybe Chester actually rises. I bet he's kind
of like awkwardly moving over to the curtains.
You're kind of getting up, you know, kind of
feeling your way into this morning as light floods
the room. Chester turns around and freezes. I
imagine you freeze too, Jules, as sitting in
a waiting chair. Two glowing eyes of this proboscis
mask. Yep. Sturgeman. Yep. Waiting for you. Sturgeman
does not move his position. Just sitting calmly,
but a voice rings out, harsh and strong. Calm
down. If I was here to kill you, you would never
have seen me. No, I'm not here to kill you, Jules
LaRoche. Hand reaches up. You begin to watch
as this proboscis mask is being pulled up. I'm
here to thank you and to call you friend. And
we'll call it there.