Something we don't talk about a lot of here is
mental health. It's important. Luckily, our buddy
Mikey does talk about it on his podcast, Mikey
on Mute. All right, listen up, guys. Let's talk
about the uncomfortable things. No, I'm not talking
about your bathroom troubles or relationship
advice. I'm talking about mental health. For
too long, society has taught us to man up and
be quiet about what's bothering us. My name is
Mikey, and for the longest time, I was on mute
when it came to talking about mental health issues.
I'm here to tell you about my mental health journey
and talk about others and get their perspective.
Let's have an open, raw conversation and break
the stigma that toxic masculinity has taught
us. Let's make talking about mental health less
taboo and normalize reaching out for help. Check
out my podcast, Mikey on Mute. available on Spotify,
Apple Podcasts, and YouTube. Together, we can
make mental health a normal conversation topic
and break what's holding us back. Check me out
on Instagram at Mikey underscore on underscore
mute underscore podcast for show clips and much
more. The time of mountain mania is approaching.
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at fantasypants .co. Varen grew up in the ever
wind -wet world of Arnakhek, his village protected
from the constant gale by a rare mountain in
the Tundra world. And this lone mountain served
as more than just a buffer for the wind, for
it was also the home of this village's protector,
a silver dragon known as the Father of the Mountain,
who would come to love those that lived beneath
its wing. It was said that those chosen among
Varen's people would hike to the summit of the
mountain to the dragon's lair upon their eighteenth
birthday, and would be granted a great boon.
A legend now has proven true when Baron himself
met with the Great Father, who was gifted the
boon of its strange and special blood, a single
drop to drink. Accepting this gift, Baron fell
into a deep slumber. And when he awoke, he found
that silver scales now adorned his body, and
magic ran through his veins. Baron returned to
his village and began to practice with his newfound
power, gaining a solid mastery of the ice element.
He donned a robe of blue over his pale red skin,
and formed for himself a staff of never -melting
ice. But some years after his meeting with the
father, tragedy struck. A group of snake -eater
poachers, fascinated by tales of the dragon's
blood and hungry for its meat, made their own
journey up the mountain slopes. Led by the cunning
and nefarious Guy Safari, the group came upon
the dragon with an assortment of trips and tracks.
A battle raged, and with a final cry, the father
was slain. Hearing this cry, Baron rushed back
to the summit, but found only tragedy. Meatless,
bloodless bones were all that remained of his
village's protector. And so, Baron Zass left
his village and his world behind, and set out
on a quest for vengeance. Now, years have passed
since that fateful day, and Guy Safari, from
what we've heard, has really recently met his
end in the hands of some, uh, less honorable
excuses for luminaries. Barbarians are still
quests throughout our world, saving good lives
and hunting down others. They're a poach in pursuit
of profit and power. What? Thank you, Oliver,
a .k .a. Skippy, you Africanus! Oh, nice. Yeah!
Nice. Dude, that's tragic. It's tragic. It's
brutal. That's brutal. Dude, but... That's as
far as a monster. A staff of never -melting ice,
though, is really cool. It's really cool. It's
really cool. Yeah, that was an awesome touch
that he put in there. Yes, this is actually this
whole thing, this character is a real fun bit
we have in the Discord right now. It's been going
on for a little bit where we've been talking.
We realized that both Rory King and Raid of the
Devilfish slash Sandy Sorceress are tiefling
or draconic sorcerers, both with emphasis on
different primary elements. Raid is all about
the lightning, being on a ship. Rory is all about
the fire. And so Skippy came up with the idea
of adding an ice -based draconic tiefling into
the world. So we're, as we're calling, we're
building up the team of tiefling power. Rangers.
Which is pretty fun. Yeah, it's pretty fun. Yeah,
it's awesome. We may actually have another one
coming up soon. Oh, really? Yes, we may have
another Teething Power Ranger coming up soon.
Yeah, it's pretty fun. So, join the Discord.
Change the world. Change the world. Become a
Power Ranger. It's kind of like from your show.
Heroes. Save the cheerleader, save the world,
or something like that. Yeah, I get it. Just
drop save the world and like, boom, it's a Heroes
reference. We should all watch Heroes sometime.
Nah. I watched the first season. First season's
great. First season was great. After that, it
gets crazy. Yeah. I watched up until about the
guy said, save the cheerleader, save the world.
Well, that was the good part. I mean, I remember
it all these years later. But yeah, now every
time I think of that, I'm going to think, join
the Discord, change the world. Change the world.
So. If the next words out of your mouth aren't
the words that Blanche wrote in her spellbook,
then I'm going to throw this dice tower at you.
It's big and heavy. It's going to be another
goddamn flashback. You know what? Hey, hey. You
want to know what's written in that book? You
want to know what's in that book? Yeah. I'll
tell you what's in that book. A familiar world
greets our eyes. Danitou. A world of lush forests
built of towering trees. We see a civilization
constructed in branches, bridges and steps forming
paths between settlements and homes. Yeah, I
tricked you. I tricked you! Yeah, throw it at
me! Come on! nestled into the forest canopy like
nests of colossal birds. Before all of this,
at the forefront of our mind's camera shot, we
see a thick lower branch extended across the
screen and two figures resting upon it. A large
built man and a deceptively small woman, both
looking to be in their middle -aged years. Zebulon
and Sholay taking in the sights. The myriad shades
of green that fill this region of the forest,
specked with blue, blooming flowers and pink
plume birds. All of this surrounding a bustling,
joyful civilization of elves and Aarakocra, mingling
with a wide assortment of world -hopping travelers.
A party of heroes on a quest. A party that has
both gained and lost so many faces in the last
few years. And over this shot, a title card appears.
254 years ago. Upon their branches, Ebulon stretches
out wide into a casual yawn. It's incredible,
isn't it? An entire settlement built into the
branches. Ten worlds in, and I still don't think
I'll ever stop being amazed by it all. You know,
they only live this way because of the otherworldly
predators that hunt the forest floor. The trees
give them some ability to stop and to repel horrific
monstrosities. Really, this entire settlement
is an acknowledgement of tragedies suffered and
lessons hard learned. It would only get worse
if we don't connect these worlds. Sybil kind
of just shrinks down a little bit, kind of is
party pooped on. He flees, that's better. He
party poops down. Oh, well, yeah, there's that.
Still, I mean, it's kind of pretty right now,
though, right? In this moment, Michelle just
shakes her head. I don't know how you do that.
Stay so positive. We've lost so many. Raylan,
just yesterday. Well, death comes to us all eventually.
I've made my peace with that. We carry on and
honor the lost and appreciate beautiful things
in their stead. He turns his eyes over to Sholay,
sitting his gaze in her and shooting her a playful
wink. There's a long pause. Sholay's eyes lingering
on Zebulon, and then she turns away. Her face
becomes like iron, features hard and cold. It
will be you soon enough. Nonsense! I'm as tough
as they come. I'll be by your side through it
all. And, even if you are, you will in total
live a paltry eighty years or so, Zebulon. You're
well over halfway to the grave already. And Zebulon's
mouth sort of widens into a mischievous grin,
actually. Why, Miss Shirley Brass, I'm starting
to think you've become a little fond of me. So
he just winces, her mouth sets firm, and we see
Zebulon sort of... rubbed the back of his neck,
deflating once again. I, uh, I'm sorry. I imagine
that to you, the lives of us humans are like,
uh, uh, uh, kind of looks around, campfires,
right? A fine comfort, sure, but long gone come
sunrise. Now, I can't promise you that I won't
burn away, but I can promise to burn so hot and
so bright that even a brass dragon can feel my
heat. So maybe you could take a page out of a
silly human's book and appreciate this. Right
here. Right now. Shirley's eyes do not leave.
Just that forward view. You are so short -lived.
You can't understand. It is difficult not to
think about the future. To know that once the
fire at your side burns out, you'll only feel
colder of having appreciated it at all. I...
I don't want to be cold again. And Zebulon just
looks out over the view, letting the words sink
in, letting his own expression fall. And in the
silence, we see his features set. A nod. A deep
breath. He turns back to Shirley and presses
a hand over hers. You won't be cold. I won't
let you. Even after I die. I won't let you. She
looks to him, looks in the eyes, filled the room
with warmth and passion. She sits frozen as Zebulon
cups her face. And they kiss. And we're back.
That was really cute. Yeah. You know what's less
cute? Hwang Jun -soon all over your shoes, all
over your lower body. Just gore all around. David,
you're sick. The gashes taken out of you, Blanche,
out of Chester, out of Akio, Jules. Even you
got struck pretty well. All of you look rough,
blood dripping, leaking onto the ground, mingling
with the mud, covering these animal prints that
surround you. There are claw marks all over your
bodies. Blanche, you are not concerned with that
right now because you have left yourself a note.
A note that you do not remember leaving. And
to know how much you managed to write down in
the moments before this ended. I would like a
sleight of hand roll. Okay. I can do that. Just
a heads up. We're still recording. I don't know
if this got into the first episode. You can cut
this if it's not. It hasn't. It didn't. It didn't.
Okay. Discord thing. Yeah. I can't open it. Half
of that discussion was off mic. Okay. And also
it only came up that one time where we had to
have the discussion off mic. Hell yeah. Okay.
I can't close it. I don't know what's going on.
I cannot open Discord or close it. Make me insane.
Man, it's so weird that we have such an active
Discord that it's disrupting the show. Join the
Discord. Ruin the episode. We're almost going
to make it to the end, but now it's got to be.
Sorry, Jeremy. Make it happen. All right. I'm
giving you a button for this roll. Oh, this trash
-ass computer. I really need this. Trash -ass
computer. I'll give you two buttons. You buy
me a new computer. Smash this one. Okay, that's
good. 18 first. Wow, two 14s in a row, so 18.
18's pretty good. That's like 36, right? What?
Your book, in ink written in blood, in a very
fast shorthand, you see eight tigers, comma,
N -W. And then below that, Then below that, in
quotes, I was a hero, celebrated and loved. You
forgot me. I did. And this is where the words
cut off. Where your hand holds the quill caught,
mid -sentence. When whatever happened, happened.
Kunan Jun, stand up. Jules, look at this. What?
What? What is that? What's going on? Why? We're
swinging down soon. No, no, no, no, no, no, no,
no. Blanche holds out her... She's dead. I'm...
I'm sorry. I... But I found this. How did it
happen again? How did this happen again? It shouldn't
have happened again. The voice. Read this. What
does this mean to you? What? He reads it over.
Nothing. It doesn't mean anything. Did you write
that? You wrote that? I must have. When I came
to, the quill and the book were both in my hands.
This is my writing. I must have wrote us a note.
During the blackout? She's dead. She's dead.
She's dead. Looking down at the body. What's
left of the body. Who else is on this job site?
You actually look around and you see that other
people there. A few of them are just kind of
like standing up looking around. A lot of them
have tools in hand. Some tools have blood on
them. And you see like a few bodies. Probably
from where you're seeing now, there's two. People
start screaming. As they look down, see their
comrades are just gone again, just torn to pieces.
Blanche points at whichever worker is closest
to her. You, men. What? Keep it together. Do
you have first aid on this work site? Yes, yeah,
we've got a few kits. Grab two men, go get everything
you can carry. All right, come on. And they start
running, just following your orders. And Blanche
is running around, trying to triage whoever's
alive. Hell yeah. Let's see how it goes. Give
me a medicine check. 17. Pretty good. There's
a few people who, like, have large gashes. You're
able to kind of cover them up. You know, you
have, like, some things you can find for antiseptic.
I think someone goes running out into the woods
to grab some natural remedies that are close
by, bringing them back, and you're able to sort
of rub them on the bodies, keep them alive. Trying
to stop blood or bleeding, you know, tourniquets,
whatever she can do. And you think, in this moment,
this didn't just happen here. You know, you think
help would arrive soon, but... This probably
happened at the palace, too. Did it happen at
the gate? I mean, before it happened at multiple
places, right? You know it happened here when
you were at the gate. We at least can assume
that there aren't tigers throughout the rest
of the cities. It's true. We're guessing the
tigers were here. The wounds you've taken look
different than the first time. Yeah. These were
different things. Though the first time you did
not know to leave a note. Mm -hmm. As you're
kind of fixing bodies, I think you see Conan
June's beside you. Jules just... You... You were
protecting me. Thank you. You saved my life,
didn't you? I don't even remember you doing it,
but you saved my life. All of you saved... We've
got to trust each other. This is worse than I
ever thought it could have been. When we're done
here, you need to see something. Just... Ow!
Blanch! Too tight! Too tight! Are there any health
potions left in that first egg kit? Hmm. Hmm.
Hmm. Roll a die about it. Disadvantage, because
it's already a thing that happened earlier. I
said there were two people injured. It's not
like there's going to be more health potions.
I've got one basic! Runs over, hands you a basic
potion. Hey, it's something. Yeah, no, no, no.
It's definitely good. Chester grabs it. All right,
nice, thanks. Bottoms up. I was just going to
say, I've got heals. Oh, okay. Well, this will
help, too. I mean, yeah, it'll help, yeah. Yeah.
I'll have to burn up a bunch of slots. For a
reasonable ask. Basic's 1d4 plus 1? I think it's
plus 2. Plus 2, yeah, d4 plus 2, I think. No,
potion healing has 2d4 plus 2. Oh, 2d4. I'll
give it to you, since I stole all your agency
and combats. Just kind of a big ask for a DM.
So that's just six back. Okay. Hey, no, it's
nothing. Hold on. How much are you down? It's
not nothing. I am just over halfway. I'm at 26
out of 50. Shit. Yeah. Akio is just as bad. He's
29 out of 53. That happened twice. What's the
chance it could happen a third time? Come on.
What are the chances? I'm going to burn two slots.
One for you and one for Akio. Cool. I think Akio
wins. So one. And two. So here's for you. Almost
max. Seven on the die plus four. Nice. So that's
another 11. Ooh, hell yeah. And then for Akio.
Oh, you're going to pet me with your glowing
hand. Akio is only eight total. Oh, it still
feels really good. Thank you very much. Oh, thank
you, Jules. Yo, Jules. Of course, buddy. Bunch
of buddy. Jesus Christ. Don't make me burn slots,
man. You should burn all your slots. Don't make
me burn slots. You're nearly scratched, Chester.
Come here. Chill the fuck out. Blanche rubs some
dirt. Ow! She slaps it. Complain to me again
when you're at half. No, we're done. Once you
hit half, then we'll do something about it. Ugh.
What do you want to do? Ten tigers from the northwest
did all this? Uh, eight. Eight? Oh, I thought
you said ten. That's right. I'm almost positive
you said ten. Is it ten? You know what? Maybe
there's eight facing you, two more that wouldn't
do our stuff. Ten's fine. I don't care. I don't
care. I should probably just tell you what I'm
doing with these things. I think I'll let you
in on the behind the screen a little bit. Sure,
okay. So when we make these rolls, what I'm doing
is based on your D100 roll, effectively I'm going
to play out quick play out rounds of combat by
round, right? So depending on your roll, that's
how many rounds happen and how many rounds of
damage or rounds of attacks. I roll four. I break
it down, more attacks going to the frontliners
and the backliners. I just roll them all in a
dice roller to save time so I don't roll 60 million
die. And we see how many hit, and then I resolve
damage after that with a flat damage check for
each. Rude. Yeah. Yeah. Quite. Do better. Rude,
and I hate it. Oh, my God. Okay, so... I told
you you would. I told you you would. Can we assume
that we've kind of got things mostly under control
here? I think so, yeah. Yeah, you're looking
around. At this point, there are some people
funneling from the city, guards and physicians
moving in. Not as many as you think there could
be, perhaps, although somewhere else, but people
are coming to help. Blanche would ask either
one of the physicians or one of the guards, you
know, somebody. Are resources spread thin? Did
anything happen anywhere else in the city? I,
um... Are there other guards and physicians responding
to other emergencies at the same time? There's
a kind of a moment like that makes it easier.
And there's a blink, kind of an unsure. And then
this figure looks to have come on June, who speak
openly. We have to know. There's some reports
of an attack in the Park of the Elders, as well
as in the palace. I mean, sorry. An incident.
An incident happened in both. It's okay. It's...
It's okay. Is anyone injured in the palace? No,
no. It went well, though. We were on guard for
any incidents, you could say. Blanche looks to
Kunan Jun. I know that, like, you can't really
communicate a whole lot in a look, but she's
looking quizzically, which is kind of like...
She's like, do you know what he's saying? Or
what they're saying? Let me just pull you to
the side. Look, from what I've gathered, the
first time there was an incident, it happened
at the gates, it happened at the palace, it happened
here. This time, palace again, here again, in
the Park of the Elders. These spots must be significant.
I just don't know why. And why was the gate not
significant this time? The Park of the Elders
is in the Phoenix District? It was the Phoenix
District. Now it's all that's left. What can
you tell me? She's saying this to the physician
that she was talking to earlier. What can you
tell me of the damage at the park? Are things
burnt to cinder? No, no. Two slain and some strange
damage to the statue. Like pieces were ripped
out. Ripped? Like claw marks? I can't say. Craters?
gashes, huge gashes. You think back to the gate
and there was something very similar there. Okay.
The wall of the gate had pieces essentially ripped
free almost. You remember looking down and seeing
stone that seemed to crumble as you looked at
it. Right. Stone holding some strange shape that
you weren't quite able to catch before it crumbled
the dust. Well, gentlemen, jewels, magistrate,
do you think we should return to the castle to
investigate or should we push forward to the...
Tiger Den. Tiger Den? We're going to a Tiger
Den? Why are we going to a Tiger Den? Well, we
established earlier that they were harassing
the construction workers and this now. I think
Jules is going to look over to... What's his
name? Kunajun? Yeah. Now that things are settled
here, may or may not want to follow you to something
you may or may not want to show somebody. Do
have some pressing business to attend to. In
the city. We may not follow you. You can follow
me. Just don't pay attention to anything that
happens. We're obligated to follow. We won't
pay attention. You have to follow. That's the
rule. I will say, though, on the note of the
tiger den, because you're picking this up, Blanche.
You hear this, and you're like, something went
down between the two of them. There's something
important here. But your mind also thinks back
to your note. It did say eight tigers, NW. northwest
you know that that den was to the north yeah
so it's like there could be interesting things
there too but it could be either way yeah i'm
just basically putting out there like you all
right let's split the party blanche is gonna
go fight eight tigers along oh shit no yeah i
i in the in the couple seconds that we talked
about it i forgot that kunan june said he wanted
to show us something yeah is that where you're
going back to city yeah we're gonna follow kunan
june i think okay hell yeah you Move away from
here. Down the one -day street of this construction
district. Leave behind pained whimpers and cries.
Moving towards silence. This suffocating silence
needs to fill these woods. You turn through the
gate back into the city. The guards there look
disturbed. And you push back into the city streets.
Where once again the people seem to be... Moving
on. Seem to be ignoring what has happened. Putting
it aside. The strangeness. The tragedy. These
unfortunate incidents that just happened. So
this one happened at 12 o 'clock or shortly after?
Yes. Okay, so I don't know if it's going to happen
every three hours, but I guess we'll at least
watch the sun dial. Be yourself, Hulk. The ascending
stone has like a clock attachment. Just take
note of the time for us. All right. Yeah. Ow.
Still got to rub it in his arm. Rub dirt into
it. Do you need more dirt? No. No, no. We're
good. We're good. Sorry. Not complaining. Not
complaining. You're moving. I was just abusing
a child casually. Past the palace. As we do.
Down through the city, down through the lower
districts, where they, on the sort of mid, upper
mid -tier of the city, where the Turtle and Herring
District kind of control, pushing down through
them, down towards the Hay Tay District, which
is sort of the lower shop district, closer to
the gate. So, what is a Hay Tay? Is it an animal?
I have no idea. Okay. Because we have, like,
the Phoenix District, the Tiger District. You
know what? Hang on, let's Google this shit. How
is it spelled? H -A -E -T -A -E. You have to
understand that I am not good at words. That's
cool as fuck. Hang on. It's a teenager name tag.
Okay. Haytays are known as unicorn lions. Okay.
So it is. Sure. Yeah. That is so rad. I hope
there's a stab lock for one of those. That's
pretty cool. I'm going to pull one on my ass.
That's so cool. God. That's a weird place to
pull a stab lock from. I'm going to play a haytay
in the next game I'm in. You're going to play
a heyday? The unicorn lion is the coolest thing.
Yeah, that is pretty cool. I want to die and
come back as a heyday. You move down through
these streets where things are a lot more busy,
a lot more bustling. You're moving through crowds
and crowds. Akio staying close to you. Blanche
kind of half limping as he moves by you. You
turn a corner. Moving away from more popular
streets and towards like a southern end of this
district. Almost like you move to a building
at the very end of this street that makes you
think almost like the ugly coyote of this world,
right? Let's go. Yeah, street at the very end,
or building at the very end of a street, which
seems a lot less populous. You see this large
and very nice looking... cafe or something. There's
a couple tables just outside. Large glass windows.
You see a sign above the door. It kind of bears
maybe a steaming cup. And it just says The Tea
Shop. The building looks old. Like old, old architecture.
It also looks abandoned. No lights on inside.
No people mingling around the front. No movement
in the windows. This is a... Our destination.
What do you expect to find in here? A Gwishin.
Oh, shit. That's the thing we're looking for.
Whoa. Hold on. That's the thing we're looking
for. It is a thing you're looking for. Learn
of the Gwishin. It doesn't look too important
to me. Let's keep going. Okay. I told you before
that I am a spirit arbiter in training. I'm going
to tell you what that means now. Spirit arbiters
are us magistrates that are uniquely trained
to face and appease the Gwishin. They are the
secret of the city. And I will tell you because
I think it is my duty to inform you. Because
you saved my life. Yeah, we did. And I hope you
can save more lives if this happens again. Maybe
this is inappropriate, wildly inappropriate,
but I'm a magistrate of Yanito, and I get to
decide what's best for the city. That is my job.
That is the power you hold, Kunan Jun, and we
will do everything in ours to see it done. Let's
proceed. What is a guishin? He's like moving
towards the tree as you're kind of talking to
him, getting closer and closer. That's a good
one. We call Yanito. The city of judgment. That
is because those who have passed in this city,
those who lived here, that were profoundly wronged
in life by their family, they return to hold
judgment over their perceived malefactors. Gwishin
are a symbol of private shame. We do not acknowledge
them, unless they are of our own making. It is
a great embarrassment to have your Gwishin haunting
acknowledged. That kind of sounds like what's
going on here. You know, especially after what
that voice said. Uh -huh. Yeah, so the Gwishin
are, like you said, the secret. Now we have to
find the secret behind the secret. Yeah. All
right. And what's the lie? Yes, the Dragon Clan's
lie. This mist we've seen. Mist itself is a sign
commonly attributed to Gwishin. That's why people
are ignoring it. They... Those who live here,
those not of the outside, understand that this
is in some ways normal, but this is also not
normal at all. If this is the doing of a Gwishin,
this mist, this city -spanning fog that steals
memories, then this Gwishin is far stronger than
any I've ever heard of. They say the power of
a Gwishin is determined by three things. The
time they have spent in death, dormant, and gathering
power until they are triggered into action. the
rage they feel, the crime held against them,
and the sheer shame of the one or ones that have
wronged them. And we in the city, I think we
can all feel it, that the shame represented by
this equation that steals memories, it is insurmountable,
unknowable. We must ignore it. We must, he turns
to you, eyes wide, because we fear it. We fear
that someone we all respect, greatly, greatly
respect, These words come out so hard. You can
see like a throat that wants to close around
them. That someone we respect could be the source
of the shame. His eyes pan up. Towards the seat
of dragons. Towards the palace. And so we must
carry on for Yanito. We must not question. Except.
People are dying. I will show you a Guishin now.
So you can understand what it is I feel we are
up against. This is not. A powerful equation.
Normally they don't cause harm like this. They
are simply spirits that need to be appeased.
They will try to trick you. They will try to
embarrass you. They will try to get in your way,
but so rarely do they kill like this. This sounds
like a perfect vehicle for David to be mean to
us. Doesn't it though? Just like say mean, horrible
things to our characters. How do you find the
Gwishin? How did you find this one? I've known
of this one for some time. Well, at least a week.
It's been kind of... It's not causing harm as
it stands because this is an abandoned place.
But this tea shop, it used to be called just
the tea shop. It was one of the oldest structures
in the city. And they have proudly served for
generations. The last owner, the last full owner,
was Bi Su Min. And she so loved this shop, put
everything in her life into it. She was so proud
when she handed it off to her son, Bi Chin Hai.
And he took to gambling. When she died, she died
knowing that the shop she loved more than anything
in this world had been torn from their family.
Sold and soon to be demolished. This is a great
shame. I shouldn't. Speak of it. But I do now.
You're doing the right thing. This is the lair
of the Gwishin where it haunts. If I enter this
place, invoke Bisu Min's name, and hold her memory
and heart, it will call upon her and she will
appear before us. And then I can try to appease
her. I have scrolls for this. You simply need
to sit back and watch. We'll watch closely and
we'll learn how to... I don't want to say defeat,
but appease, I guess. These Gwishin. Good. All
right. Then let us proceed. The shop door opens
an old sort of rusted bell, rings out across
this lonely space, and you walk in and see this
great open cafe. Tables lining the windows where
a sad light seems to shine in, dust covers all
these surfaces. You see this grand, like, the
back wall, like, the whole, like, I guess, I'd
say two most inner walls that aren't adorned
by windows, you see, are covered in shelves,
and just, like, hundreds of different teacups
are lining them. You see, like, little inscriptions
written on them, and as you kind of, you know,
look in the dark, you have your glasses that
kind of hone in a little bit on them, Blanche.
You can see... There are names, just different
names written on every one of these cups, maybe
different customers that came by and their cup
was saved. You see a, yeah, you see a place that
had probably been very much loved. There are
probably like flowers sitting in vases on these
tables that fully just wilted and they're just
dead dry sticks now. Just a smell of must. Maybe
like this slight. sweetness, bitterness mingled
with it, tea that is spilled into the wood, the
spirit of this home, this shop that will never
ever quite leave it. It's a sad thing now, a
shadow of what it was. And you stare into this
empty, vacant space, stairs that move up to a
second floor that from the outside, you saw a
couple windows, maybe it's just like an apartment
above it, something like that. Does Jules have
to tech magic? Ooh, magic. No. He has dispel.
Yeah, bummer. Actually, hold on. Let me check
that. I was looking through. I was like, I don't
know. This place just feels super magical. I
want to find a magical teacup. I have dispel
magic, and I have detect thoughts. But not detect
magic. Maybe the teacup can think. Beauty and
the Beast teacup. Never mind. You step in. The
Magistrate begins to move deeper in. What do
you do? Do you take a seat? Do you stand back
towards the door? What's your initial move as
the Magistrate moves in? You see he drops down,
pulling scrolls off that one large bag he carries.
He starts unraveling scrolls across the floor.
I think Blanche is just looking around, kind
of taking everything in, studying the room. Certainly
not going to sit down. She's not going to let
her guard down. Really going to follow the magistrate's
lead. Hell yeah. Opening cupboards and stuff,
maybe. Yeah. Just getting a little snoopy. Yeah.
Peeking around, you see utensils. You see, like,
maybe old bags of herbs and, you know, like,
tea leaves that just, again, you know, they're,
like, bitten into. Like, critters have, like,
ripped into the fibers. And, you know, you see
mouse droppings throughout the various cabinets.
Just sad. Open the cash drawer. 600 gold. 600
gold. No, never. Never in your life. You find
a button. I would like that. Jim, what are you
up to over there? He's just meandering around.
Just gazing at things as he walks by. He's not
too particularly interested in anything. Every
once in a while, he looks back to see if he's
kind of getting ready to get going. Chest is
by your side. Misdirection's out. No. What? Come
on, Jules. It's a ghost. What? Jules grabs him
by the scruff of the back of his neck. Jules,
hey. Okay. It's gone. Look at that. Woo. It's
like one of those things where he puts his hands
up and it just vanishes. It's so big. How? How?
Akio's kind of following you, Blanche, as you
open a drawer and some dust falls. It's dusty
again. I hate dust. We need to get you a mask
or something. Yes. But I am ready for what is
to come. I am a proud warrior, Akita. But I hate
dust. Do you expect, Kunan Jun, that this will
come to violence? No, not... This one's been
somewhat benign. We closed the shop, but there
have been sounds from here. The occasional glass
break, crying, but... We've heard of no attacks,
no assaults, nothing dangerous here. There are
dangerous Queetions. There are very dangerous
Queetions, but this is not one of them. And how
do you fight the dangerous ones? Hey, Galax.
What damage type are they weak to? I mean, for
a ghost, magic, right? I would think. I have
noticed your weapons are magical. They are? If
it comes to a battle, you'll be okay. But, be
swimming is sweet. She will not. He kind of like
closes his eyes, kneels down before the scroll,
kind of in a, almost like a bowing posture of
prayer, puts his hands down upon it. You see
all sorts of like a description, probably an
older language. And then he opens his eyes and
raises his head and begins to speak out into
this empty shop, his voice sort of echoing through
the walls of the stairs. Bi Su Min, I call upon
your memory. I call upon the joy you have brought
to so many lives. to this place you have loved,
and the great things you have done here. I call
your name. I hold you true. Appear before me
now, so I may tell you of your greatness. And
there's silence. And then, a wet step echoes
from the top of the stairs. All eyes turn to
the steps, which fade up into an upper story
where the hallway, sort of where the stairs vanish
into. There are no windows into that room, and
so it's just pure dark shadow. Steps getting
louder and louder, and then you see a wet, bare
foot slides at the top of them. And then... Another
foot of figure, limbs bent strangely, begins
to slide down, moving in this unreal speed. You
see a woman. You see her body seems to be drenched
with an amber liquid. You see her black hair
falls over her eyes, one single eye peering out.
Pale skin, so, so frail, so skinny, yet the way
she moves seems to emanate with power. and strength
this is like from the like the ring movie yeah
very much like yeah imagine the grudge the ring
that's it you're on the right track you're on
the track uh let's figure down at the bottom
of the steps stops that one wide eye peeks out
towards him towards both of you and back be soon
is okay i only wish to and she opens her mouth
and begins to scream This scream erupts out the
walls, and you see Kunan Junji's life stands
up suddenly, just bolts upwards. What are you,
what is this? This scream. The whole thing is
a shake and shake, and you see the teacups in
the walls, one by one, begin to shatter and break,
shatter and break, and begin to coalesce together,
the glass moving into these swarms of swirling
glass that begin to slide towards you. No, this
is... something's wrong this is not right this
isn't how it goes and with another scream this
woman begins to charge towards you all roll for
initiative god damn all right all right not horrible
all right jeremy how fast do you want flash to
end this fight really fast yeah really fast please
oh I'm thinking about a big move here. Okay.
Blanche. 14. I should probably roll for a Keo,
too, huh? Jules. Jules is at 7. Chester is at
12. A Keo. Ooh, that's just a 9. Okay. Conjune
is sliding out of the way under a table. I'm
not going to roll initiative for Conjune because
I don't feel like it. Still in training. Not
good at the fighting part yet. We've done this
a few times before, but it's always a strange
thing we do. We're going to be doing this combat
theater of the mind, because I didn't think you'd
get this far. I underestimated you, and we're
here already. So we're kind of in this now. It's
okay, because Jeremy doesn't have his computer,
and my computer's garbage, and everything's bad.
It's really bad, though. Back with the shards
of glass. Swarms of glass shards. Oh no. Are
going first. Oh no. Oh yes. Fuck. These glass
shards sort of... swarm together beside this
woman. I'm going to say, paint this scene. The
stairs go into the second floor, about 30 feet
away from where you all stand. I imagine Jules,
you're by the door, kind of, you know, we'll
just make it easy. You're 30 feet away, one Pythagorean,
you know, kind of towards the door corner. Blanche,
you're in the other sort of corner where you're
going through some cabinets, and sort of in the
middle of all this, I think we see the good magistrate
slashing the table. Akio's by your side, Blanche.
Cheshire's by yours. Everyone's kind of in a
believable spot here. This swarm, It's going
to be the first one to move. And it's going to
move. It's going to move towards Jules and Chester,
towards the entrance. Glass sort of stops in
the air. All like little projectiles kind of
like look towards you. All pointing in your direction
with their jagged edges. And begin to just fly
towards you. Jules, look out! And they just come.
They essentially fly into your space, Jules.
Yes, and they will, they're like, just enough
of them where they're basically covering you,
but Chester's kind of just beside them, not really
kind of on the edge of this, but they are just
swirling around you, trying to cut, cut, cut
Nick into you. And I'm going to make an attack.
Jules, do you have all of your hit points currently?
No. Okay. That's actually pretty good, maybe.
That's only going to be a 14 to hit. That just
fucking hits. Oh, baby. Then I get to do something.
Glass begins to cut through your cloak, through
your clothing. Oh my gosh. Oh my gosh. No. What?
What? Oh, Stagmoon. These beautiful dice. What?
Just rolled max on 2d4. Oh my gosh. That is going
to be, not crazy, but 11 points damage. I hate
this. Jules! Chester's trying to reach out. I
think he reaches a hand in and slashes. Glass
cuts him. He says, ah, shit! Joel slaps his hand
away when he does that. You surround him all
around. That's my turn. These things are all
around you. We cut over to the back. It's on
the other side of the room where Blanche is sticking
her nose out of a cabinet. You're in. Blanche,
what are you doing? How are you starting this
thing off? The Gwish is 30 feet away at the bottom
of the stairs. I'll say her eyes sort of turn
to you as she sort of screams, her mouth elongating
way too low. That amber liquid drip, drip, dripping,
and it smells of tea, strangely. Akio is by your
side, and on the other side of the room, about
30 feet away, towards the entrance, going all
against the wall, you see Jules is being assailed
by shards of glass. Crap. Crap, crap, crap. That
kind of changes my plan. guess a little bit oh
i love it i wanted to go straight for the grecian
but i don't want to leave jewels hanging you
should guess fireball and jewels and chest i
don't have fireball prepared damn otherwise you
would what i will do though is cast protection
from evil and good on two jewels oh okay uh ah
it's touch crap Got to give him the old touch.
I guess I'm going to have to. So bonus action,
blade song. So I get the extra movement. Rush
to Jules. Cast protection from evil and good,
which I'm hoping will give this swarm disadvantage
on Jules. Okay. I like it. Then the last 10 feet
of her movement, she'll head towards the Gwishin.
Oh, shit. So you just run over. reach into the
glass, charge again, not going to do damage,
but kind of slashing across your arm as you slap,
touch Jules. Jules, you feel magic imbuing you
with slightly, usually a light in your being.
And the glass shards around you almost seem to,
like, push back just a little bit, still swirling,
but, like, a few inches farther back as they
seem to retract from this light. Blanche, you
pull away from this and begin to move through
the darkened shop towards a screaming form at
the bottom of the stairs. Akio. See to Jules'
protection. Start on the equation. Yes, Master
Blanche. And that's going to be Chester. Okay,
so. Yeah, what you got over there? So. Ew. Chester.
Chester. Chester, what did you say? What? Who's
Chester? He's going to. First, he's going to
use a bonus action. What? To cast Hex. What did
you say? On to the equation. Whoa. Oh, shit,
that's pretty cool. This is the first time he's
used this. Yeah, until the spell ends, you deal
an extra 1d6 necrotic damage to the target whenever
you hit it with an attack. Nobody hurts Jules!
I'm a psychic! Also, you Jules one ability when
you cast the spell. The target has disadvantage
on these checks made with that ability. Oh, I
think it's... Yeah, right, yeah, checks. Yeah.
If the target drops to zero hit points before
the spell ends, you can use bonus action. to
curse a new creature. Now, I should note, it
says this checks that does not mean saving things.
Correct. Okay. Checks, yeah. Hell yeah. So I
guess not the greatest, but... That's a little
bonus. Extra 1d6. That's the meat potato. That's
great. So he's going to cast that with a bonus
action, and he's going to take his sling. Sling?
Yep. Oh, it's not on your page yet. What? The
crossbow. Oh, no, it's not. Yeah. Okay, I gave
it to you, but I got to do a character sheet.
No. Okay, so whatever the sling says, add a plus
one to it, because it's a plus one weapon. I
totally goofed this up hard. David, get out.
I should just... I'll see myself out. So what
are you going to do with this, Jeremy? What is
the bonus of... All right, so currently the sling
is a plus eight to hit. What's the damage? Damage
is 1d4 plus three. Okay, this is going to be...
Instead, Chester, now that's 1d10 plus four.
Or should we do the short bow? Is that 1d10?
It's 1d6 plus three. So your weapon is a... I
believe a heavy crossbow now. It's a 1d10. Plus
four damage add plus one to whatever your two
hit is the two has to be the same for all those.
Yeah, plus nine All right. Yeah, he is he's very
skilled archer. He has a plus two from just just
because son if I hate his extra one d6 Yeah,
it's big damage. Chester is a beast now. Yeah,
plus whatever it could be big damage depending
on how that that special power goes Something
tells me I'm not gonna Miss with the 27. Oh,
my God. Yes. That hits. 18 plus 9. Oh. Is Chester
broken? Oh. Chester spins around. Dude, Chester
is in it. I love this. He's been kind of like
overshadowed the entire. He was doing some crazy
damage, but now. Yo. Misdirection. Pause. Out.
It's an automatic 6. Or 1d6. A 1d6. Holy shit.
Okay. So here's the 1d10 plus 4. That's 11. Now
let's add the 1d6. Oh my god. 1. Free damage,
I guess. 12 points. This thing just fires through.
The Gwishn kind of leaps, tries to almost leap
out of the way of it, and it still just catches
right in the leg. Really, you get striked, and
you see, like, again, amber liquids just pull
out, like, around this wound. The body, like,
begins to bloat. The, like, very white, pale
flesh just bloat with sudden heat. It's almost
being, like, conjured behind the wound and running
down the leg, dripping down the steps, scattering
across the floor. Chest just kind of begins to
reload. Eyes dark. Hell, yeah, and that is going
to be Akio. All right. Keo's going to run up
to the swarm. Ooh, okay. And I'm not going to
use Boofing Blade because I kind of want this
thing to get out of Jules' face. So I'm just
going to go for two Katana attacks. That is 18
for the first. Oh, yeah. 24 on the second. Yeah,
sorry. Okay. I'm like, I think those both hit,
right? You got it. You got it. They both hit.
And I'm going to do, let's see. Ooh. Ten damage
for the first. Oh, my God. And nine damage for
the second. You do notice not all the damage
seems to go through. Sure. Yeah. Yeah. He does
have a magical weapon. It does not matter in
this case. It says slashing damage on here. Yes,
yeah, yeah. A lot of times they'll say, like,
resistance to non -magical. But if you're bludgeoning,
piercing, slashing from non -magical, this does
not say that. So it would be all. But still,
I mean, it's hard to get in. You're hitting,
like, literally, he's striking shards of glass
that are flying around. But as he hits them and
breaks them down smaller, like, everyone he hits
sort of falls out of the swamp, becoming this,
like, innate piece of glass and clear on the
floor. He takes out quite a few of them. No,
I'm going to save second wind for now. I love
the idea that Jules is over there and you just
kind of like trust this dog as he flies up to
you and he is winging the sword around you. Like
the bits of your hair, your pompadour sliced
in half. Not really. That's too far, David. There's
a couple of loose hairs. Hey, not the hair. Not
the hair. Not the hair. That's a kiosk turn.
Solid turn. Slice, slice. This blade whips around
you, Jules. These teacups begin to fall away.
You're feeling a little more emboldened. And
you're up. Your vision is cleared now. Kiyo's
broken enough that you can see clearly what's
around you and what's ahead of you. Cool, perfect.
He's going to cast... First, he's going to cast
Bardic Inspiration onto Blanche. Yeah, give me
that D8. Always slick. And then he is going to
cast... Level 2, Dissonant Whispers. Onto the
Goetian. Onto the Goetian. Okay. That's pretty
mean. Yeah, it is. Wisdom save. All right, then.
Wisdom save for me. Luckily for me, I've got
a pretty high wisdom save. I kind of figured
that. And I've got these goblin mode dice that
cannot possibly fail. Yes, they can. What? What?
It's ten. No. Oh, no. No, my goblin mode dice.
Betrayed. So that's 3d6 psychic damage. Oh, my
God. And you must immediately use your reaction
to move as far away as your speed allows. So
let's get some damage out of the way. I have
to check one little thing. Okay. Can I roll?
It might be like a man. You roll damage, though.
Okay, cool. Please do. Actually, please don't.
Take it back. Don't do it. It's mean. Very minimal.
Bummer. I roll a 3, a 2, and a 1. So, six. Fuck.
Subprime Damage. That is pretty rough, but hey,
it's not nothing. So we're making sure it's not
a fear effect. We've probably done this before,
honestly, in this show, but making sure this
was not based on fear effect, but it is not,
and so the Revenant have taken this, like, hit,
rubs its head, and its hair kind of parts for
a second. You can see, like, the guise of this
old lady, this old human woman. Eyes that may
have once been gentle, but now they are just
wide and crazed. She begins to move up the steps,
retreating back into the darkness above. She
goes as far as she can move. That is her turn.
How far is that? 30 feet. Okay, so she's 30 feet
off the stairs. Wasn't that Julius' turn? Any
else? No. Okay, then yes. You said then that's
her turn. Sorry, that's yours. Oh, yeah. Sorry.
Let's remove on your turn. I just don't want
to get the order all fucky. No, you're right.
In fact, now it's her turn. Say that again. Now
it's her turn. Cooler. Let's do this thing. Yeah,
does she move on Jules' turn or does she move
on her turn? There's a reaction on Jules' turn,
I believe. Yeah. Yeah. But it doesn't say you
got to keep making saves, so I'm assuming it's
a one -time thing. Yeah, I think it's just...
Another wet thump. That figure, so fast, like
a spider's... Legs over arms, over legs over
arms, because they're going down the stairs again,
rolling down, hitting the bottom of the stairs
where it just was. I snap open. I couldn't reach
you because I moved too far away to get close.
So I'm going to do something else. I was struck
twice. Jules and Chester. Stag head is Jules
and one is Chester. That's Jules. Hair flies
up all around. A crown around this monster's
head. And those eyes lock onto you. And you feel
something. Something gripping your heart. You
feel enmity. You feel vengeance. A thirst. A
need. pulsing through your body. And as those
eyes focusing on you, all you can see, Jules,
they get wider and wider. Fuck. Your heart gripped,
beating, beating, beating. And you get wisdom
saving throw. Is this a charm, frighten, or possession?
It might be. Is the Gwishin... an aberration,
celestial, elemental, fey, fiend, or undead.
It might be. Then Jules cannot be frightened,
possessed, or charmed thanks to protection from
evil. No! My cliffhanger! My cliffhanger! And
we'll call it a day!