Hello, friends. We're gearing up for another
episode of Unzipped, our Q &A behind -the -scenes
show where we talk about the podcast, our characters,
the deep, dark secrets of our personal lives,
and answer questions from all of you. If you've
got any burning questions for us, send them our
way in our Discord, Instagram, by owl, however
you get a hold of us. Thanks. the greatest of
which may very well be the rise of the Luminary
Adventurer. And, one of the founders of this
movement, a source of those rising tide, was
the enigmatic samurai from Ruizu, Ozen Yoshikatsu.
Ozen was previously an honored warrior from the
Kamino region, a god of the very Shrine of Storms.
But he was thrust into the spotlight after he
was called upon to uncover the true murderer
of Horishi Daiki, the son of the Daimyo of Kamino.
Absolutely spiffing work, Ozen. Once he became
a known figure to the world, we simply could
not get enough of him. the invincible hero, the
ultimate duelist, the bladesinger wizard who
could not be struck down, who could solve any
mystery, noob control, any battlefield. It has
been said by many that Ozen Yoshikatsu is second
in fame and power among the luminaries, beat
out only by the hand of the Sunweaver himself,
Atash. So cheer, good people of the Concord Worlds,
for the might of Ozen. Unless you are a vile
villain, of course. In which case, you should
be sure to cower when caught in the gaze of the
Storm Eye. Oh, wait, the Storm Eye, that could
be something. How's that? Too fast? Three cheers.
Hip hip hurrah. Hip hip hurrah. Oh my gosh, that
was hard. I wanted to talk a thousand miles an
hour. I wanted to speak in pure gibberish. And
I think I still did. It's as slow as I'm going
to get. Any more gibberish than that, we would
have had to slow down in post. Jeremy, 0 .5 times
that in post. Do you know this fight was going
to have layer actions? That was the initial plan.
I was going to have layer actions, but then you
blew up the shrine, the heart, so I couldn't
really do those because they're all storm -based.
I mean, you blew it up. You blew it up. You blew
it up. You blew it up. This is your invented
world. I didn't do anything. I was just reacting
to you blowing it up. I don't know what you're
talking about. Well. At least there are no lair
actions. There are no lair actions. I can at
least pretend that I did it on purpose. You know,
honestly, it kind of worked out in your favor.
It wasn't as good as having a full party, resto,
heel, everyone there from the get -go, all your
allies and friends involved. Which, I mean, if
you're calling all your friends, I guess that
would have called Sholay too. Hey, that would
have been cool. It would have been kind of crazy.
But it was up to the dice. But that didn't happen.
Instead, no lair actions. That's cool. Yeah,
I'm... I guess, I mean, what else can I say?
I'm okay with that. It's something. This whole
fight wasn't even supposed to happen. This was
like, this entire arc, we always say this, our
initial plan was going to be two episodes. Two.
Two episodes. We're going to get together one
afternoon and everything changed. I feel like
I'm, there it goes. I couldn't hear me for a
minute. Oh. Oh. What a blessing. Oh, before I
forget. Oh? You mentioned to bring this up in
the episode. Yes. That we may have figured out
who SW is. Oh, yes. That. Yeah. I'm sorry. I
just wanted to say it before I forgot to. SW.
The NMA letters that were in the letter. Yeah.
Yes. Who could this be? The esteemed mastermind
behind whatever plot has been building up to
all of this. This letter made reference to the
Tythos tragedy, everything that happened there,
Ozen's involvement, Kejo Kamal's involvement,
which the worlds are not aware of, and the letters
SW. Yes. Who do you think this is, Mr. Wolf?
It feels like the only thing that makes sense,
that we know of, is the Sunweaver. The Sunweaver.
Yeah. Very interesting. Yeah. Makes sense. It
does. High profile. It does. He's grabbing a
button. I have a button. I'm not doing that.
I'm just saying, if this gets revealed, if you
find out someday that that is true, this button's
all yours. He's going to forget. This happened
again, and we set the button aside, and you're
like, no, I didn't set a button aside for you.
No. And then I gained it, and you're like, no.
It's already gone. I lost it. Yeah, don't worry.
He's going to forget. It'll be like two or three
episodes later and somebody on the Discord will
be like, hey, remember that button you were supposed
to give Jeremy? Yes, pants people, remember this,
please. On the note of buttons, I am afraid I
am not going to be giving out buttons for the
next few episodes. I just can't. I am dealing
with, you have to understand, this character
sheet, this is the Ferrari of villains, all right?
I got a lot of fucking engine going on. I can't
think about you guys. I got to think about me
right now. You don't think about buttons on a
regular episode. Shut up. So we... We have a
fix for that tonight, all right? Jeremy Wolf,
will you introduce our guest to the show? Yes,
we have a guest in -house, my lovely, significant
other, Abby. Hello, guest. Hi. What's she going
to be doing, David? Abby, you have before you
two golden buttons. Now, if these gentlemen do
anything to make you laugh, make you cry, make
you think, ooh, that was kind of cool. Tap them
on the shoulder and hand them one of those buttons
if you think they deserve it. Make them work
for it. Make them dance like puppets. Because
they need those. If they don't have those, it's
over. We are probably going to die anyways, with
or without them. Absolutely. Yes. But yes, so
if that comes up, those are all yours to do with.
You know, follow your own rules. Follow your
heart, as it were. And we'll see if these gentlemen
can earn their way to two more buttons in this
episode. Because I'm not giving you any. Fingers
crossed. Too busy. I'm too busy. And one more
thing to discuss before we get into it again.
Oh. You know what that is? What's that? You know
what it is, gentlemen? I know what it is. Jimmy
hit the thing! Fail time! We've got mail! We've
got mail! What is this? It's like the third or
fourth episode in a row? Second. We're going
to have a bunch coming in. We have a lot coming.
We do. We do. We're thinking ahead, and I like
that. We have mail. We have mail from Kevin.
Kevin, thank you so much. He actually handed
this off at Nerd Out Night, the last Nerd Out
Night we were doing in person, and we were like,
Kevin, can we please open this during the show?
It was like two weeks ago. I finally got to play
in Kevin's Blades in the Dark campaign. You did.
You did. I had so much fun with Kevin and Cassie.
We had a great night. And there was a new Nerd
Out Night attendee, Brian or Ryan, one of those.
Great guy. We had a lot of fun. I'm going to
jump into John. I don't know if you guys are
aware. Anyone listening, Crow's Nest Crafts on
Instagram, TikTok. He came by. He ran Monster
of the Week. It was a really great time. Love
the system. I'd love to actually do something
with it someday. And getting that sort of run
down and actually get the play in it was really,
really, really cool. All right, David, but you're
keeping us from mail. The mail! I need a knife.
I have the murder knife. I brought it in before
we started. It's my turn to open the mail. I
never do this. Get my hands dirty. He like methodically
cut one side of the tape and then just ripped
the rest of the box open. Oh, look at this. Holy
shit. Look at this. Ooh, la la. Fancy pants.
A nice Chianti. Is that how you say it? Chianti?
Yeah, I think so. Oh my gosh. Steven, you know
drinks. Tell us all about this drink. I mean,
there's a lot of language that I don't understand.
A lot of... You do that, I'm going to try not
to tear this note in half. It's so bad. My fingers
are big, dumb fingers. Oh my gosh, that's incredible.
Okay, okay, ready? I'm ready. This is going to
be so bad. I'm so bad at actual pronunciations
on a good day. Buongiorno? Buongiorno. Buongiorno.
It's Italian. And hello, Fantasy Bands crew.
I was recently blessed to attend a pilgrimage
to Italy, traveling from Rome, Florence, Padua,
Bologna, Trent, and finally Venice. I hope you
enjoy this regional souvenir of one of my favorite
parts of the peninsula, rural Tuscany, a locality
known for very rare steaks, often paired with
equally notable wines. I know history, I know
architecture and art, but possibly unfortunately
for you, I don't know wines. Hopefully, even
this vintage does not meet the standards of the
much vaunted pale moonlight I imagine can be
found on a dusty shelf at the Ugly Coyote. Oh,
hell yeah. Yup. Hope you enjoy either in triumph
or defeat. Keep up the good work. Whoa. Wow.
Are we fancy enough for this, guys? Oh, my gosh.
I don't know. That's amazing. Thank you, Kevin.
Holy crap. So I think we should enjoy it either
in victory or defeat. Yes. Oh, that's really
good. I like that a lot. Let's enjoy this after
this fight. After the fight. In victory or defeat,
gentlemen. And if I win, I get to drink all of
it. You don't get any. Hey, well, then I won't
be enjoying it in defeat at that point. Good
point. Oh, man. That is really, really cool.
That's super special. Thank you so much. Thank
you, Kevin. I'm really excited to enjoy it, hopefully,
in victory. Hopefully. Hopefully. You gotta understand
one thing. I want you to understand this very
clearly. This fight is not fair. This fight is
not meant to be fair. I have no idea what I'm
doing. Like, at all. Are we clear? Good. All
right. I guess it's a good thing we have wine
for after. So let's pick up where we left off.
Not during the battle in the ruined Shrine of
Storms, but rather in the preserve of the ancestors,
the interior of the auroral diamond, and in the
presence of the jasper pecan tree. Pecan tree,
I don't care. The great form of connected redstone
stretches up above you, Dresden and Crispin.
Its gem -built branches towering dangerously
over you. You feel no fear. There is no oppressive
force of gravity here, just soft notes like music
mingling with the sounds of a distant or perhaps
trapped storm. And so I have a request. A knowledge
that I would seek. These powers you attempt to
wield, the both of you, can be dangerous. Yet
you wield them still. On top of that, you have
chosen to ally yourselves with Sholay and with
us incarnates. The world shifts. Perspectives
have changed, and us incarnates are not heated
as we once were. To ally with us, it may be the
path to knowledge, but it will not be an easy
path. Sholay is a harsh commander with far more
enemies than friends. The coming trials will
be hard, and they may claim your life. And beyond
that, a branch, tinkling gemstone, lowers down
and very gently touches you, Crispin, kind of
tapping you on the top of the head. Crispin,
I know you hail from a small village near the
Nightwater Marsh. You set off many years ago
once your powers had awakened. in order to walk
the luminary's path. You work to send resources
back to your people. Money and food, armaments
and tools. Yet you rarely travel back yourself.
I know your longing to see your family and friends.
To be home. What do you think about in that moment,
Crispin? What do you think of when you hear the
word home? His responsibility. Of course, Crispin
does want to be home, but he does have more enemies
than friends, and he often does. Until that changes,
until he feels like his warren is safe at home,
it would be selfish to return. Branch comes down
to meet you, Dresden. And Dresden, I have heard
tell of your story. Spending most of your life
feigning loyalty to a high member of the Deceiver's
Church. Alone and friendless. Nestled in a den
of rattlesnakes. And what do you think in that
moment, Dresden? As you reflect on your years
as a double agent in the LaRoche Guard. Damn,
Dresden has thoughts. I never thought about what
Dresden thinks. That's a fun sentence. I think
it doesn't give him as much sorrow as one would
expect. Because he always knew that eventually
it would end. And he would break free. Bring
retribution. Hell yeah. Alone, but maybe not
so friendless. Yeah. Even though you are apart.
Hell yeah. The branches kind of move over your
sides, almost like the tree is nestling you in
a sort of weird gemstone tree embrace. Both of
your stories, defined by sacrifice, The paths
you walk. These lives you've lived. Tell me,
is there joy in them? Are you happy? I am hopeful.
I find small joys along my journeys. A moment
exchanged with my new friends at camp or beside
the campfire. I hold memories that I think on
fondly. I suppose that if this is all I have,
then that's happy enough for me. We're chasing
the light at the end of the tunnel, and I have
faith that we'll get there together. With this
great sort of sound, like gemstones clattering
against each other, almost like a... Alien version
of the groan of a tree sort of snapping back
to shape. It all kind of moves back, standing
tall again. There's something almost contemplative
in the way the branches seem to move and bend
towards each other. Many amongst my kind look
down upon you tiny mortal folk. Even those that
love you do so with a condescension. You are
lesser beings to them. But I disagree with this.
Though your lives are fleeting sparks, though
your mere existence in our broken world is infantile,
I have often found that mortals like you speak
and act with the wisdom of eons. Here, let's
move back to the present. I kind of like the
past. Yeah, yeah. It was warm and fuzzy. Can
we stay there, please? The past is so nice. But
we can't. In return to our scene. Ozen and Blanche
locking blades. Jules, Dresden, and Cryptopus
standing back about 20 feet away, preparing to
re -engage. Akio watching from the other side
of the court, weeping and whining, surrounded
by the corpses of his friends. All of this wrapped
in the prismatic rays of a great... rainbow,
stretching up from the shrine and into the blue
sky above, painting the entire scene in stripes
of translucent color. Blanche, you eye down your
mentor as your blades are locked in place, just
kind of back and forth. And you look into his
features, his face. It was mentioned in episode
73, I believe, when Blanche spoke to Ozen in
the bath during a flashback, that Ozen's remaining
eye was light brown. But I also made note in
episode 4, during a little glimpse into Arhalon's
POV on Tithos, that Ozen's eye was blue. In this
moment, this little discrepancy would finally
be noted narratively, as Blanche Trudeau stands
before her master and notes this odd shift. Now
let me be very clear on this. This is Ozen. You
know that it is. Though masked as he often is
in battle, you can see enough of his features,
hear enough in his voice to know that this is
your mentor. The eye, however, is startling.
Not only is the color different, but all expected
warmth and kindness has been drained from it.
This blue is cold and harsh. A chill wind. Looking
into the friendly smile of his black mempo mask
and seeing the bared teeth beyond. That fear
you felt stirring within you earlier swells,
Blanche. This is just so wrong. Why? What happened
to him? He mentioned in his note to you that
should you not come, he would act alone against
the mastermind behind whatever plot he'd been
made aware of. Is that what happened? Did something
change in him then? Was he broken without anybody
by his side? And who could have done this? Were
those questions in your mind with everyone else
watching on? It's my turn. No, I'll come forward
to this. No. Ozen takes a half step back, about
to spring into action. Blanche, as you see this,
your mind racing with haste, everything slowed.
You begin to hear a voice from the past, a past
far gone. The voice of Ozen, a lesson learned
long ago in a training camp very near to where
you stand now. Now, Blanche, my art is that of
a duelist. When standing against a single foe,
I cannot lose. But rarely do the fates deal us
the perfect hand. I would suggest straying from
my own path and arming yourself with the more
offensive of the arcane arts. But should you
stand outnumbered with only a blade, Blanche,
what do you do to best even the scales? You strike
quickly. and decisively keep moving dance in
and out of range do not become surrounded and
focus your foes down one by one in this moment
blanche you see ozen as he takes a half step
back his eye flickers over your shoulder to your
allies behind memory continues if there is one
who heals amongst your foes remove them first
ensure the situation allow There was only one
surefire way to prevent a deterrent or combatant
through magic or potion. You must aim to kill.
And he moves. Oh boy. He, in his hasted form,
blasts past you, Blanche. And I believe haste
still grants you AOOs though, correct? Uh, yeah.
I don't think it would change, yeah. Then go
ahead and take yours. Yeah. Normally, with Blanche,
I'd save the... the reaction but i think this
is uh you're reading his better use yeah exactly
25. oh really holy moly that actually oh no that
actually hits heck yeah oh wow okay 17 on the
die by the way holy yeah amazing plus eight yeah
Wow. I mean, he goes to move, but you're reading
his thoughts. You're ready before he even starts
to launch past you because you know your mentor
so well. You're already on the offensive, already
reaching out with your blade, already moving
in to stop him, and you strike clean. Give me
your damage. Max damage on the DA. 13. Then I'm
going to have to use my reaction already. I believe
it returns at the start of my turn. So right
here, during my own turn, I am going to use Song
of Defense. Blade sort of swirls. His hand opens
up, and again, this sort of reverberating effect,
almost like the music that's right around the
blade becomes this thunderous force that bursts
out as your blade strikes in. His head turns
towards you. I widened with a little surprise,
and boom, your blade is rebuffed. But I have
used my reaction for this round. Yes. Holy shit.
Yes. Even beneath your mask. Master Ozen, your
face has changed. He ignores you and blasts by,
having barely sort of avoided your strike. But
you know now that he's going for your allies.
Is he going for the healer? Is he going for Jules?
Isn't that who you'd pick? The weakest opponent?
As far as HP, I mean. Jules definitely is the
least armored. He's the support. Yep. You see
him blast towards them. Oh, God. And you're surprised
to see he does not go for jewels. Instead, sliding
up to Cryptopus. I mean, all right. Fuck. I don't
think this will be hard for him. This is going
to be really bad. Now, first things first. I'm
going to change my first attack over to a cantrip.
And I'm going to cast... Ozen's version of a
green flame blade. In this case, his blade is
wrapped in lightning. Crackling energy building
as he charges over and strikes in towards Crispin.
Now I'm going to make a melee attack. Oh, I hate
that face. Low roll. I love that face. But probably
still high enough to hit. That is going to be...
That's actually still a 15. Yes, that hits. Okay.
Shit. Okay. So it was green flame blade? Yes,
this is going to be bad. I have to math pretty
hard. Give me a quick sec. This is some serious
mathing. Oh my god. Okay. So that's that part.
Let's add the other part because this cantrip
is really, really gross. Sorry, I'm mathing so
hard. Okay. This is going to be... Wow, pretty
low. First things first, 20 points of slashing
damage from the basic attack. Okie dokie. That
is halved because you are raging. Yes, raging.
So that's slashing. On top of that though, you're
going to take, and this is me rolling very bad,
you're going to take only 8 points of lightning
damage. Not halved. So that's 18 points total
on Crispus. Yes. Here's the fun part. The lightning
that strikes you shoots through you and blasts
out towards the nearest ally as well. Jules.
Oh, fuck. You're going to take... Oh. 13 points
of lightning damage. Holy shit. As the, just
like the, essentially the dregs of the attack,
the sort of backlash of the attack strikes at
you, blasts you on top of the, on top of the
rod of flying as you kind of like, you're down
low to the ground, down by your allies, but you
get jolted by this as well. That was a bad, bad
roll. I hope my next two attacks do better. Crispin.
Yep. Still an octopus? Still an octopus. We'll
fix that. Yeah, it won't be hard. Okay, that's
a 19 on the die. You're going to be hit. Okay.
Let's do this. 16 points of slashing damage halved.
Still an octopus. Are you really? My goodness.
Okay. 20 to hit. Yep. Okay. And that is going
to be 17 points of slashing damage. Ooh. Yeah.
Octopus form had 6 HP left. Okay, all right.
So you're finally back to Crispin, just like
blur, slashes, tearing you apart. I mean, I imagine
it's like the first one hits you, strikes deep
into you, and the lightning just blasts through
your body, blasting out into jewels. Next one
comes down, cleaves off one tentacle. Next one
comes over, cleaves off like three more. And
as the blood pumps out of you from these tentacles,
you just shrink down back into the form of Crispin
Dubois. Yes. How unfortunate, though, because
of that. is my whole turn, and you are still
up. Okay, I mean, that tanked a whole lot, so
octopus form was useful, but here we are. Out
of it. Here we are. And here's the fun part.
Akio's turn. Watching from the sidelines, eyes
watering and wide, doesn't know what to do, just
claws trembling on stone, surrounded by corpses.
He can't move. I already made a set role for
Ozen. I'm going to keep that role. But I want
you... Basically, this isn't so much Dresden
talking. This is Dresden's impact he made during
the short time you knew him. Those last words,
trust me. I want to keep using those. That's
the one thing in Akio's heart that's calling
out to him. Trust me. Trust me. Ozen told him
not to. Ozen told him that you were tricking
him this whole time. That you were agents of
Sholi. That you're bad dogs. But Ozen has also
done terrible things. So what is Akio to do?
Can he trust you? Give me a persuasion check.
Fuck. Do we think this is button worthy? He's
got one HP left. Akio has one HP. He is barely
alive as he's like looking at you guys. I'm like,
okay. Okay. Negative one on persuasion. I did
not roll high. Yeah, but I mean with a three
on the die. Oh my gosh. That's not going to do
anything. He's still frozen in place. Oh, I mean,
I'm okay with that. Brutal. Okay. As long as
it doesn't come for us, I'm okay. Okay. Am I
going to do everything now? I think I'll do everything
now. Legendary action. Oh, goodness. Oh, God.
Oh, yes. Oh, God. What are you measuring out
there, David? This Ferrari guy is going to ship
my Ferrari here. This guy is crazy. Great. Okay.
Ozen, you can see as he slides, you kind of turn
back into a form, his blade's still proffered,
and he sort of crouches down, and there is this
sort of energy building in his feet, and he just
vanishes from the spot. As he does so, a sound
wave explodes from the place he just stood. I'm
casting Thunder Step. Goddamn. And everyone within
ten feet of that space has got to make a constitution
saving throw. Oh, my God. All right, good thing
Crispin has a high con. Let's see what happens
here. Eight on the die, though, so that's a 12
for the save. Oh. I did not want to fail that
one. Shit. I did not want to fail that one. Shit.
All right, let's go, Jules. It's a 10 for Jules.
Oh, no. Yeah. Yeah, let's go. Sorry. Dresden.
Forgot to roll more damage die. It's a 17 for
Dresden. Okay. Oh, fuck. Dresden passes. No,
wait. Does Dresden pass? Oh, sorry. He doesn't
pass. With a 17? Get out. Are you kidding me?
Sorry. He doesn't pass. Oh, my God. I told you.
This is not fair. It's not fair. You know what
unfair it is? 20 points of thunder damage unfair.
Yeah, to all three of you. Boom. Crispin has
one HP. Oh, you're still fucking up? Crispin
has one HP. Holy shit. I thought you'd be down
by now. I was planning for it. Ozen reappears
on the other side of the court on the stone besides
Akio. Just, oh my God. Akio, do you intend to
stand here and watch? As your master fights for
his life. What kind of damage was that, David?
Thunder. Okay. Crispin's going to use as a reaction,
absorb elements. Okay. At second level. Oh, cool.
Oh, wait. I haven't used this before. So does
it, do I lessen it by 2d6? It just says some
of the incoming energy, lessening its effect
on you. Oh, I mean, it just says I have resistance
to the triggering damage type until the start
of your next turn. Okay, so it doesn't take any
of that damage away. Oh. Whatever. Okay, I guess
I'm still going to do it. No, you have resistance.
That means half damage. Oh, immediately half
damage. Okay. It's a reaction, right? Yeah, yeah,
yeah. Okay, so 10 back. Now I understand. Yes,
so 10 back. That's amazing. I guess, yeah. You
just, this blast hits you and you just kind of
immediately, what's it look like when you absorb
this? I mean, he... channels his Mazir Drakon.
I don't know if he knows what he's even doing.
His head flies back and just some of the energy
just gets buffeted away from him. It's like the
source that you were taking from before is gone,
empty here, but there's others on this world,
others far away reaching out to you, almost like
reaching out hands, wanting to help and wanting
you to help them. You know there's so much riding
on this fight, and you grit your teeth. You hold
through as this thunder damage rips through your
body, through your bones. You got something for
me, Dresden? Potentially. It depends on range,
because I have Sentinel, Guardian. Oh. But it
says... Ooh. Would you look at that? Ooh, a button!
Ooh. Oh. The thing is, it wouldn't proc on thunder,
because I believe it would be a melee attack,
correct, Sentinel? No, it just says, just leaving.
Just an attack. Oh. Yeah. Immediately after a
creature within five feet of you takes the disengage
action or hits a target other than you with an
attack, you make... I think Ozen was ten feet
away, though. That's the range thing. I don't
know. Oh, yes, he was. I don't remember exactly
where he was before. He was ten feet out. Plus,
I think that might not... Just to be safe, I
don't think it qualifies as an attack. It's just
a spell that has damaging effects. Sure, sure.
Good to know. Good to know. I actually didn't
realize I'd set myself up so perfectly to not
be in the range of your sentinel, and I'm very
proud of myself for that. God damn it. But that
is everything. He stands by Akio, standing over
him, admonishing the poor dog, whose face lowers
and lowers. This whine, like growls, and Ozen
turns to face you all again. But I've used everything.
Can Jules try to persuade Akio? On his turn.
It's a bonus action. Fuck. Yeah. But now it's
going to be Crispin Du... I was going to say
tentacles, but they're gone. Okay. Still raging,
still this muscle bunny. Crispin, you are so
near death. That spell that just rocketed through
you a moment ago. You felt the grave pulling
you. Yeah, so here's the issue that I have with
Crispin. Ozen is outside of his range, his movement
range. And if I don't attack, if I don't make
an attack by the end of the turn, I lose rage.
Oh, right. So what he's going to do. Yeah, because
he did be your turn. I don't know if you lose
rage on this turn because you did take damage.
Ends early if you're knocked unconscious or if
your turn ends and you haven't attacked a hostile
creature. Oh, or taken damage since then. Gotta
read the second sentence, Stephen. It always
gets you. Yeah, I guess so. Yeah, so you have
another round because you have taken damage.
Right. You've taken a lot of damage. Man, that
really stinks. Oh, did I ruin your little plan?
Yeah, I mean... Crispin essentially can't do
anything. How are Jules and Dresden HP -wise?
Dresden is rough. About half. Jules is rough.
A little less than half. Okay. You just got here.
What's your problem? Yeah, fuck you, David. I
don't know if this is the right move, but we're
going to... Drop the Rage and cast Aura of Vitality.
So an aura within 30 feet heals, including me,
2d6 hit points. Oh. Sorry, not everybody. I can
choose one creature as a bonus action. So action,
cast the spell. Bonus action, Crispin's going
to pick himself to heal 2d6 hit points. Okay.
Six on the first one. That's great. And five.
That's nice. That's real good. Yeah, he's remembering
his conversation with the Jasper tree and how
peaceful it was. And he thinks, maybe I don't
need this rage to win this fight. Maybe this
fight can be won with cooler heads. Wow. Steven
really aiming at that second button. Wow. Okay.
Crispin still standing, healing, taking all these
blows that you know could be going to somebody
else. You've been singled out and you feel that.
You're still in the game. And can I get control
over my token here? I'll do one better. I'll
give you back your Crispin token. Crispin token.
No, I won't. I lost it. Hang on. I'm just going
to keep you as an octopus because I don't really
go into the map and grab your actual token. Crispin's
just going to step 10 feet closer towards Blanche.
It's going to kind of get in the middle of everybody.
Okay. You guys crowd up one side, Boze and Akio
on the other. Will Akio turn? Before Crispin
ends his turn, did Crispin give Dresden the letter,
right, in his octopus form? I remember... Crispin
holding it up to Dresden? I don't remember if
he gave it. Okay, if Crispin has the letter,
he just wants to start reading it off. I don't
remember exactly the words of the letter, but
basically he wants to broadcast Ozen's dirty
laundry here. So you're starting to read it.
So you wouldn't read the whole thing, but you're
just going to quickly open it and you're reading
out loud. It's going to take... Can Jules take
out the recording diamond? Probably on his turn.
You could ready the letter for when the recording
diamond comes out. Okay, perfect. Would that
be an action, though? No, it'd be object interaction.
Okay. Bill and I are saying a word. I'm not going
to make that whole thing. Yeah, that's fine.
Okay, yeah. So he all, like, dramatically pulls
it out of his pocket and begins to unfold it.
Looks towards Jules. Jules, do you open the...
You guys worked together on Sunset's Yon. You
haven't fought together much, but those few battles
were fierce. And I think you've also built up
that ability to kind of communicate, to understand
each other. You haven't seen Crisp in a long
time, Jules, but you know. what he means, and
you start to reach for the diamond. Hell yeah.
And that's going to be Dresden Kellig. What?
Nothing. I think I'm doing cool shit. Nice. I'm
killing you. That's it. Okay. Get out of here.
Dresden's going to move within range to be able
to manifest his echo. Okay. Where are you going
to move? What? Nothing. I'm just forgetting stuff.
He's, yep, just in range. You could move to 30
feet. You could drop me six feet away. Yes, that's
going to happen. That's going to happen. So you
move 30 feet. Yep. So as a bonus action, he's
going to manifest his echo directly in front
of Ozen. Hell yeah, there it is. Actually, you
know what? Hold on, hold on. Stand by. Stand
by. Stand by. Stand by. Stand by. Because I think...
Trick! I'm standing by. Sorry. Would charger
apply to my echo? Your echo, when it attacks,
deals... Basically, it's almost like you embody
the space and you attack. Perfect. So I'm going
to manifest my echo 10 feet. In front of Ozen.
No, I can't. There's a problem. Yes, you see
it. Okay. Yep, yep. Nope, never mind. Strike
that. All right, in front of Ozen. Warpick. Just
appears. Ozen almost seems like he's ready for
it as it strikes up. He's already reaching for
the sword, but the Warpick is coming at him.
Attack number one. Can you possibly hit this
AC? Come on, you can only get so lucky. Here's
the real test. 23 to hit. 23 to hit? 23 to hit.
23 to hit. I think you said 25 was just barely.
23 is a miss. It's 24 or 25. Fuck. It seems like
you should be perfect, and the last second flash
of movement that you couldn't believe, boom,
you're almost like a lightning strike. The sword
swings out, knocks your weapon wide, but you
go with the inertia, and you swing right around
back at him. So it's 23 before haste, 25 with
the haste. All right. Attack number two. Will
not hit with a 21. So close. So close. If you
could get one land, his reaction's blown. And
Planch at least knows that haste is a double
-edged sword. If you can break his concentration,
he's frozen for a turn. He's burned. Yep. Can
you get one more hit? Planch, you opened a door
for yourself when you made that strike. Now it's
your turn to see if you can step on through it.
The door. Wait, did Jules already go? Jules is
after Blanche. Let's go. Okay. Are we going to
follow through with that? Let's try it. Let's
go for it. What? What? What? What? Jules notices
Blanche readying. Steps forward. So Blanche,
you're holding it off for your turn? Blanche.
Maybe. Blanche. Hold. What range are we talking?
What do I want? Planning. At the table. Everything
fell over. Wait, why is it not staying up? Ah,
that's what happened. Okay. Mic check? Oh my,
yeah, mic check. Mic check, mic check. Where
are we at? Am I good? How about now? Am I good?
Yeah, you're good. All right, I'm back. Oh, I
think you said the range earlier was like...
Let's see. Hold on, stand by. I got it, I got
it, I got it. Yeah, 120 feet. We're good. Okay,
let me triple check my range here because Blade
Song puts me at 40 and then Haste. That's Haste.
Guys, can you guys land a hit? Can you guys land
a hit? I just want to know if you land a hit.
You can't win, but can you land a hit? We'll
see. Okay, so with... 80 feet of movement speed.
Yeah, Blanche is going to hold and wait. What
is going on? So that's Blanche. You're moving
your turn after Jules' initiative order. Jules
holds. What? Wait, I thought, yeah. I'll make
this clear. After Jules, it's me. That was the
plan. Wait, so Blanche is going to hold, then
Jules is going to hold, then you're going to
hold, then I'm going to hold. Who's holding?
I think... Let go of it. We discussed this because
both of us... I know, but I think... You think
you want to change it up? I think it makes sense
to do it now, I think. Okay. I think. Okay. I'm
down with that. I also don't know how many rounds
we'll survive, so. That's fair. That makes sense.
We kind of got to blow our load here. Ace of
your sleep? I mean, I'm on a legendary action
just turned. Yeah, we do. My reaction's gone.
This is the time to strike. What are you doing?
Jewels will cast level three dispel magic. Range
of 120 feet. Now, this really depends on a couple
things. Holy shit. Any spell of third level or
lower is automatically ended. Yeah, but there
is no reason that Ozen would have cast it above
third level. Because it just adds another target.
In fucking credible. Yeah. Wait, is there a save?
No, it's not a save. If it's level three or below,
it's automatic. Oh my god. Yeah. He stands there.
The echo appears. Boom, boom. Blasts the blades
out of the way of the echo. Raises blades if
he's going to strike. Jules, what's it look like
when you cast this spell? Oh, God. It is just
a solid white blinding light. It envelops Ozen.
And then as it releases, it pulls the magic out.
Holy shit. And you just see the magic of haste.
Bladesaw and the sword still ringing. But Ozen
suddenly... locked into place as though gravity
has just pushed down on him. His body, old frame,
he gets to sort of slump a little bit. His one
eye, that bright, cold eye, looks to you and
widens. Oh my God, that's so cool. As a bonus
action, Jules will cast Bardic Inspiration onto
Blanche. Oh my God. Baby. Blanche, can you do
it? It's a D8 now, right? It's a D8. Okay, that's
great. This is incredible. I just got the second
button. That's button worthy. That's button worthy.
Gentlemen, I didn't even know you had that. And
you're so, that's so good. You knew, you knew
that there's no reason you would cast it above
third level because it only goes to third level.
You've seen Blanche cast the spell. You had this
moment. I mean, that's, even in this moment,
Jules is benefiting from the fact that Ozen is
so similar to Blanche. and you've seen Blanche
fight. Yep. Oh, so cool. Oh, that also reminds
me, too. Dresden has Bardic Inspiration from
the last round. So Ozen's blocky movie thingy
is down, right? Yes, no? New round, though? Not
his turn yet, and his haste is gone. Okay. He
is Bladestorm active still, but he cannot really
take move actions or actions. Wait, wasn't he
after Jules before Blanche held? He will go after
Blanche, where Blanche held. Yeah, Blanche held
her turn until after Jules. I see, I see. So
now Blanche is going to zip around with Bladesong
and Haste, 80 feet of movement. Oh, my gosh.
In flanking with the Echo. Oh, no way. So you
just, in this moment, as he's frozen, looks to
you, Jules, eyes wide, and Blanche, like a blast,
a speed blur, moves around and just... Behind
you. So Blanche gets three strikes. Three sword
swings. Holy shit. You, what? I'm just kind of
like, oh my gosh. Incredible. So that's not,
that's only 22 with the flanking. 22. I've got
my bardic. Wait, because he was at 25. Subtract
two is 23. Subtract two is 23, then subtract
two from flanking is 21. 22 should hit, I think.
If we're right, 22 hits. You got three, just
go for it. I got three buttons, so I'm not going
to roll my Bardic Inspiration because I think
22 hits. 22 hits. Yeah! Okay, do you want me
to roll the other two attacks first, or do you
want me to roll the damage first? You know what,
roll all the attacks. Okay. That sounds cool.
Concentration doesn't matter. You broke my spell.
Natural one on the second attack. Oh, Steven.
I'll think about that. I think we can do it.
I think we can do it here. Okay. Because that
was a 12. A 12 hit without my Bardic Inspiration.
So I still have the Bardic, so I should be able
to hit this second one. Okay. Or this third one.
Okay. 19 on the die, baby. Yeah. So that's two
hits. And I still have my bardic. Oh my god.
Okay. This is incredible. Here's what I'm going
to do. When you appear as essentially the one.
I haven't done one of these for a while. I think
this is a cool one for a one. I think this makes
a lot of sense. Ozen screams out in pain as their
first blade strikes in. I think you just swipe
out. What do you hit in this first attack? Right
behind his quad. Like between his knee and his
glute. Kind of like, ah! Leg lowers. In reaction
to that, as you go to make your second strike,
hearing his master scream, Akio finally snaps
to action. Okay. I'm going to reaction attack
Blanche. All right. Blake comes out. No! And
he strikes towards you. Just pure instinct. This
is an animal and his mentor, his master. Fair.
One disciple strikes another. That might actually
hit. That is going to be... I should have made
you roll against yourself. I guess that's weird.
22 to hit. 22 misses with haste. Okay. Goes to
strike and you, bing, parry Akio's blade. You
take the initiative of that. You move and you
strike at Ozen one more time. 21 damage. Holy
shit. 21 damage. Oh my god. On 2d8 plus 10. You
land these blows. The first one, as you said,
strikes down, cutting the tendon. Leg sort of
crumples down a bit. He's exhausted. The haste
removed. This power suddenly gone. He feels so
slow compared to you. The second blow misses.
As he tries to bend back, as Akio moves in to
defend, block the blow, parry to a strike. You
parry Akio's blade, send it back. You step into
a lunge, Blanche, and you strike forward, seeing
an opportunity. And you strike at the helmet.
It's what happens to fall right in the way. You
strike right into the mask. The head, bing, flies
back as this cuts through. The helmet and mask,
as I mentioned, the strap was broken, flies off.
You see a hand snaps over the missing right eye
as the cover has been removed. And you see Ozen,
teeth gritted in pain, in rage. Ozen, but so
wrong, his features pale and shrunken as if no
blood runs through his veins. You are strong.
Your teamwork, perfection. He looks to you, Blanche.
His one eye that... Cold blue eyes sizing you
up. I wonder what would have happened had he
not challenged me alone. Had you come when called,
Blanche Trudeau. Perhaps I would not have won.
Perhaps Ozen Yoshikatsu would not have died.
It's a vessel. Oh, fuck. Yes. Kind of a smile.
Gainsley's body's still weary, but his height
grows a little taller. I am not Ozen Yoshikatsu,
though I have claimed his mind and his flesh.
I am so much greater than he. A god brought down
by the hubris of you tiny mortals. My true name,
Lost, is a belong to an age forgotten. Here's
a name I'll reclaim again once Shah Drakan is
made whole and all is at peace and it will not
be long now. And the hand slides away from Ozen's
face. Oh my god. A flash of bright blue emanates
from the eye socket it had covered. The storm
eyes, storm eye if you will. This pulsing light
dims and you can see that the space of the socket
has been torn open wide and filled. With a gemstone.
No. Translucent blue. No. But for the time being,
I am known simply as the Sapphire Wyvern. Dawn
incarnate. What? Of Tythos. What? No. And we'll
call it there.