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Session Zero Heroes. Hey, everyone. Skyler here
from Session Zero Heroes, an actual play podcast
where we create and play stories from a variety
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Zero Heroes. Well, one would be absolutely correct.
So allow me to tell you the strange, surreal
tale of Steadfast. Originally, from Ankle and
Sengar, the tiefling Steadfast was known for
taking some, uh, illicit alchemical substances.
Truly wild stuff. And during one such, uh, experiment...
Steadfast lost control in a particularly marvelous
way. Waking up deep in the Feywild -formed forest
of Atagua. Marvelous. Suddenly, finding himself
lost in a strange world far from civilization,
Steadfast had to make good on his name and stand
tall against the dangers of the wilderness. Alone.
But, in this stardune, Steadfast found himself
in an odd company. Now, maybe it wasn't after
effect of the very substance that brought him
into this mess. Or perhaps the fault of the copious
fiend shrews that populate Otago's forests. But
Step has found himself faced with the spirit
of a copper dragon who will bear the tiefling's
own draconic heritage and help unlock his talent,
his latent power. And following this meeting,
Step has decided to stay in the wilderness and
hold this magical talent. He crafted two wands
of Otagoan dream wood and learned to dual wield
them in battle. And in time, another spirit came
to guide him. The very spirit of Otago itself,
the yellow quartz kapok tree incarnate. Tasked
by the spirit to defend the defenseless, Steadfast
followed its signs until he found himself protecting
a large block of beautiful macari from a group
of malevolent snake -eater poachers. Having fought
them off with his newfound skills, Steadfast
was rewarded when one of the birds inexplicably
dropped a ring of spell -stalling into his hand.
Coincidence? Guidance from an ancient spirit
who can say. The earth also led Steadfast to
the nearest town where he learned of the greater
ailments affecting all of our worlds. And he
set off to continue his quest to defend the defenseless
no matter what. Now, many are saying that Steadfast
has taken to the Justice Undying movement and
pursuing his quest. But I would have to chalk
that up to baseless rumor. I mean, surely, as
a reasonable and honorable soul, Stenthouse would
never pledge himself to such a dishonorable cause.
Right? Right? Also, Jewel sucks. You suck. Thank
you, Andrew. Hooley Forge, Andrew, come in again
with our fourth tiefling Power Ranger. I didn't
even actually have the idea for a spotlight this
time. But Astropathic Art, Zila, have already
made art of this character steadfast in the Discord.
So it's like, you know what? Let's jump on this.
And then next week, I'm coming at you all with
the rare Gluminary spotlight. I saw the two wands
that are popping up in the Discord today. And
it's a Togwin Dreamwood. You guys remember. Love
it. Love it, love it. Nice crack. So thank you.
I've got a quick question for you guys. Oh, I,
I realized today I was a little self -aware.
I was actually, I was driving over here and I
saw this, this guy, um, I don't know, looked
like a retired guy, you know, big white beard
and he had his hose out. It's springtime, early
spring. And he was washing his truck and his
camper. And I got so annoyed for a quick second.
I was like, dude, for real. I was like, fuck
that guy. Look at you washing your truck and
your camper. Think you're so awesome. And I was
like, and I took a second. I was like, why did
I have that reaction? And I realized. You're
a serial killer. No, I'm just like, I'm jealous
that I don't have or I don't make the time to
do things like go in the driveway and wash the
car. I think I would be that guy if I was retired
and had the time. Maybe someday I'll be that
guy. Why don't you make the time? I've got so
much other stuff to do. I don't know. It's not
a priority right now. But apparently I, it seems
like my subconscious wishes it was. Follow that
dream, man. So my question to you guys is what
is something you wish you had the extra time
to do? Okay. And I have to follow up. I wish
I had more time to wash a car. That's easy. This
is an easy one to follow up. It's not a competition,
man. It's easy to follow that up, man. All right.
It's like, it's like the wish thing when you
were like, I'm going to wish for heaven. I am
going to wish for heaven. I'll tell you what
heaven looks like. Heaven looks like my big old
computer chair, right? Nintendo Switch Pro Controller
in hand. Playing Monster Hunter. I want to just
play Monster Hunter for a whole day straight.
I just miss gaming so damn much. I used to be
one of those, you know, gaming until 7 o 'clock
in the morning, sleeping all day. Honestly, though,
even saying that, there actually is something
else I might miss more. And that is going on
all rescues and searches with our buddy Stomp.
I miss PEMI search and rescue. I really, really
do. It was a special experience. It's like a
hard experience. You get called at two o 'clock
in the morning. You just went to bed at midnight
and you're crawling under bed with two hours
of sleep to go hike up a mountain. But I felt
like I was cool. I'm not cool anymore, Stephen.
I'm not cool anymore. You can decide to be cool
again anytime you want. Time, though. Yeah. Time,
the greatest foe we must all slay. Mr. Wolf,
how goes your battle with time? I want to do
a garden. Whoa. Okay. Wow. Yeah. Yeah. The wolf's
got a little bit of rabbit blood in him. Sure.
Sure. What do you want to garden? Cut that out.
Just anything? No, I want to do a vegetable garden.
Nice. Stuff that can sustain me. I've got lots
of raspberry bushes and they pop up new little
sprouts every year. And I ended up like digging
them up out of the, cause I have them in pots,
big pots. Yeah. And when they spread, I dig them
up out of the yard and I just toss them. So if
you decide you want some raspberry bushes. Yeah.
I mean, it's definitely, it's definitely in the
future. It's definitely a loose plan to have
some type of garden. I just want to like have
the time to be able to like love the garden.
You know what I mean? Totally. You know what
I mean? When you're, when you're ready. Don't
buy raspberry bushes. All right. Cool. Cool.
All you gotta do is watch Steven's car for him.
Hey, look at this. I'll do it in your driveway.
So you're super jealous. Yeah, that's perfect.
Oh shit. Uh, hit us up in the discord. Tell us
what you wish you could do more. Yeah. What do
you, what do you wish you had time for? And if
you're more fun than Steven, uh, yeah, you don't
get a button cause let's get out of hand, but
I'll spiritually wish you had a button. Uh, Speaking
of buttons, I hope you guys have some handy because
we're still in the shit. Yeah, for real. Let
me get some music going. Fuck. If my crap ass
computer can load. At least you have a computer.
That's true. Mine today decided it doesn't want
to turn on. I wish mine pulled that on me and
that all the excuse to get a new one. I could
afford a computer if we only had a few more people
join the discord and leave five star ratings.
Join the Discord. Save the computer. Yeah, exactly.
Save the podcast. Oh, fuck. Hang on. They got
it. We are now on the second floor, mostly, of
a old tea shop. Somebody don't ask the tea shop.
This very, very, very old generational sort of
passed down tea shop. In the Heitei district,
sort of shopping district, of Iyanido. In this
tea shop, once well -loved, now is the lair of
a Gwishin. Bisumin, who had been the proprietor,
the owner of this shop, until just before her
death. Her son, who took it in, lost it to a
gambling addiction. The rage she feels. You see
it now. You battled her on the first floor, chased
her to the second as she fled and hid. Blanche
going through, knocking open doors in this hallway,
all of you moving over difficult terrain, avoiding
another swarm of glass that is spiraling around
the downstairs room coming after you. As you
search that second floor, you don't see her,
Blanche. You don't see her anywhere. Chester
zoops up to the second floor, and as he does,
Akio opens his senses, opens awareness up. And
even though there is a mist clinging to the air
around you, making it hard to see, that good
boy doesn't need to see. He just needs to smell
and to hear, to know. The Goetians in the very
hall you stand in, on the ceiling, crawling down
towards Chester. But it is not yet my turn. In
fact, it is still Akio's turn. I think Akio...
Still has, is it just movement? Yes, you stood
in place, you used your action. I feel like you
used your bonus action to do something, but I
don't know what it was. Well, he doesn't have
any bonus actions besides second wind. Okay.
So it was probably just the action to perceive.
Yes, you second wind last turn. So yeah, I think
that's probably just the action. So you would
have a bonus action if you wanted one, and you
do have movement. Yeah, so Akio's going to move
up next to Chester. Does it say anything? Yes,
he calls out the location. All right, I'm a Keo.
It's there! Chester, watch out! Howl, stampedes
down towards Chester. Um, hell yes. And that's
going to be Jules LaRoche. You hear that voice
from the top of the stairs. Your buddy's in trouble.
but you stand at the bottom of the steps with
a glass swarm ahead of you, a jagged floor. You
could barely move up. You are 30 feet away right
now from the stairs, which are 15 feet up to
the second floor where Chester stands. Okay.
Um, quick question. What is the state of bless?
You still have it. Okay. Yeah, there's not, there's
no, there's no like guidance thing is where you
have to have, you have a certain range in order
to keep it. Plus you all have, uh, I think with
the glass form just beside him, Kunan Jun is
just like kind of trapped downstairs, hiding
out from under the table, trying to make sure
this thing does not notice him. And so far, it
seems to be fixated on you, the combatants. Okay.
Jules is going to follow Chester in that he will
use Misty Step. Okay. To get to the bottom of
the stairs. Avoid the glass wall. You mean the
top of the stairs? No, the bottom. Bottom of
the stairs. 30 feet away. Oh. And then... He's
going to run up the stairs. It's awkward, jagged
steps, almost like funhouse stairs right now
as the plank's shifted. Difficult terrain, but
with 30 feet, half movement, you reach the top,
you're right behind Chester. When he gets to
the top of the stairs, he's going to tackle Chester
to the ground, cover him up, turn his body, twist
it upward, and with his gloved hand, he's going
to cast light. on his glove. Holy shit. And I'm
going to choose it to be the bright white light.
And it's bright light for 20 feet. Boom. Light
shines above. Chester can, as he looks up, holy
shit. And he sees the Gwishin is on the wall.
You see this wet hairs hanging down, almost touching
where Chester was just standing. It's like fully
on the wall. Imagine a... Tree frog, just like
fingers there, little amber droplets begin to
drip out. This mouth opened way too wide. And
again, that strange sound emanating from its
throat and its wide eyes take you in. Jules,
in doing this, Chester will be under some protection,
right? He will be, what's the word for this,
undercover. Right. But you and Chester will both
be prone. That puts you in a dangerous spot.
Okay, a bold move, and I like it a lot. Wait,
did you say he was on the wall or above on the
ceiling? It's basically on the wall kind of crawling
down from the ceiling. Oh, I thought he was coming
directly on top of Chester. Basically, yeah,
yeah. Oh. Yeah, Chester's near the wall, right?
Chester's near the wall? Yeah, it's a 10 -foot
hallway, so no matter where you're standing,
you're near a wall. So it's like on that wall,
kind of like, imagine if you say like halfway,
like feet touching the ceiling, hands on the
wall, kind of like slowly crawling down. Yeah,
I think it still stands. I hate it, but I'm playing
to the character of Jules. I love it. He frantically
runs up there, trying to give protection. Okay.
I'm fucked. You drop down, you see this thing
coming towards you. Jules, as you look at this
creature, this poor woman turned into some kind
of monster, acting in a way that, according to
Kunan Jun, It doesn't make sense. It's not how
she should be. Something is wrong. And that becomes
very clear to you. When you looked into her eyes
earlier, when she tried doing something to you,
a Blanche's spell, her light forced it back.
You felt a presence behind it. And looking into
these eyes, this open mouth, you feel that presence
again. Just this seething hatred that wants to
drive into you, tear you apart. You look at this
woman, you see that steaming amber tears fall
from her eyes that seem to boil in their sockets.
Tears of bitter sorrow and scalding rage. And
that guttural, sort of gurgling voice rises.
And she speaks, not in your mind as before. True
words spoken from this throat. Why did you forget?
I'm going to make some attacks. I'm going to
attack you, Jules. Can Jules say something? Absolutely
you can. Help us remember. Please. You just say
that, and you feel a wave of rage stretching
out, reaching into you, and this creature slides
down the wall. and comes at you. Again, like,
pores open on the edge of the fingers, boiling
liquid. We don't want this. We want to remember.
Show us. Hang on. That's interesting. What? Just
you saying those words and me rolling a natural
one on my first attack. Oh my god. That's really
interesting. As a consequence for this one, here's
what happens. I go to strike at you. You feel
this. Danger this. no i don't it's just that
i just realized we can keep this in we cannot
keep this in uh you're prone advantage it's not
a natural one god damn it so uh never mind none
of that cool stuff happens it doesn't care it's
like no you're you're actually gonna have to
keep it in oh because Because Akio is next to
Chester. It's also not just that. Nice. Your
spell's still on jewels, isn't it? Which means
I take disadvantage on my attacks. So you have
double disadvantage. Double disadvantage! Well,
yeah. What's Akio do? Akio's reaction is Defender,
the sidekick, can use his reaction to impose
disadvantage on the attack roll of a creature
within five feet of it whose target is not the
sidekick. Provided the sidekick can see the attack
roll. Why'd I give him that? Oh my god. Holy
shit. That's why I ran next to Chester. Fuck
yeah. Fuck yeah. Then yeah, never mind. Never
mind again. Scratch the scratching mat. Scratch
it all. All scratch. This thing reaches down.
You say these words. Scratch your butt, David.
It tries to come at you. Akio steps in from the
side. Maybe parries the blow. Holds the blade
up. And you say these words. And those eyes widen.
Why did you fuck him? Help me. Help me. As a
consequence for that one. I'm not going to roll
a second attack. Wow. This thing is going to
effectively be stunned as something is fighting
for control of this monster. There are two minds
at work here, you see. The first time, perhaps,
you see Bisumin as those tears begin to flow
free. Push it down. Push it down. And that's
the top of the round. Layer action. You see two
pools of tea, steaming hot, begin to form on
the ceiling again. And two scalding jets, like
liquid lasers, blast out towards two of you.
And I'm going to say it's going to be Mr. Akio
the Defender and Blanche. Oh, actually, sorry.
That's dexterity from both of you. Oh. So from
the two of Steven. Okie dokie. Let me roll Blanche's
first because I have her up. Bless is working
with... Oh, it doesn't matter. That's a 22, I
think. Yeah. And Akio... 15 for Akio. Okay. Those
actually both save. Excellent. Oh, it's still
half. Damn. Good thing, too. That would have
been 15 points of damage. Oh, my. Holy shit.
That's... Okay, not great, but... Could have
been a lot, lot worse. Could have been way worse.
You guys both are ready for this now. As it pops
up, Akio, already in defensive stance, weaves
aside. The Scalding Jet grazes him this time,
burns half his body. Blanch, you spin, turn,
spray it to the side with your sword. Neither
of you are fully struck by this, and that is
my lair action. And now... I have to resolve
a wedgie because we skipped a turn. Oh, uh -oh.
And I'll narrate how this turn happens because
you hear down the stairs the sounds of this glass
swarm begin to slide towards the staircase, slide
up, and then you hear them. meet something. You
hear glass meet glass because we forgot about
your other stalwart ally in this fight. That
is right. The horse -painted teacup shard, which
is now a lone little piece of glass facing down
an entire swarm of glass. I want to know his
story. Go ahead and roll your attack. I love
the idea of you just have this dancing thing,
like, fighting. It's like you're using her own
power against her. Sure. Like, my own animated
thing, just all battling. So that's 15 to hit.
15 hits. Ooh, baby. Nice. Holy shit. For 11.
Oh, my gosh. Damn. That's enough to bring it
below half, weakening my damage. So downstairs,
our camera shoots down. We just see on the stairs,
there's an absolute swarm of glass everywhere.
And this little glass shard is like spinning
through the air, like ping, ping, ping, ping,
ping, ping, knocking a bunch of other ones out.
They're going down, dropping. This thing stands
tall and strong. I'm pretty sure. This little
glass shard is the only thing out of all of us
that has not taken any damage yet. It's got 45
HP. Whoa, dude. It's like we've been missing
out on a tank this whole time. Holy shit. It's
so much stronger than the other glass one. It's
like you fully empowered with your magic. I'm
going to have to use this more often. That kicks
ass. I'm going to beat it up now. Give me a 17
to hit. Stand by. Because the only action it
can take on its turn is dodge. Unless you tell
it what to do. Right. Unless you bonus action,
which you didn't use a bonus action. Unless you
take, I did. You did. Oh, so it's bonus action
was misty step. Gotcha. Gotcha. Okay. Yeah. It's,
it can use it. It can attack, but only if it
takes place. So the item shares your initiative
count, but it takes its turn immediately after
yours. It can move and use its reaction on its
own. Gotcha. Okay. But it can only take the,
the only action it could take on its turn is
the dodge action. Unless I use a bonus action
to command it to take another action. Okay. So,
wait. Is this on or off mic? Let's keep it on.
Cool, cool, cool. Let's keep it on. And then
it says, if I'm incapacitated, then it can take
an action on its own. Whoa. Oh, cool. I'll say
this. Basically, what's going on right here is
that this thing, it needs to be empowered by
you to fully hit. So we do see it. It's moving
on quickly. It hits a few of these things. We
do see it. They'll come out, but they kind of
regain life and fly back in. Cool. I have to
roll twice now. I would have hit with a 17. Dodge
means, oh, that is going to be a 15. Nope. Okay.
So it's dodging. Trying to hit. Does not. Actually,
I have advantage and the target doesn't have
all its hit points. This thing you just said
did. So it's the only thing that I cannot have
advantage against right now. Because in my haste
to form a combat on the fly, I just grabbed the
swarm of piranhas stat block and was like, glasses
like piranhas, right? And I was like, I don't
care. So mean. I don't care. This glass is blood
frenzy. It doesn't matter. Holy shit. So the
glass, this thing is staying tall. So it doesn't
do damage. Walk that back. But it still holds
the line. And the glass is like all forming together.
You have a guardian watching your back. If you
can finish this fight, well, maybe it'll be worth
the glass shard's time. And that's going to be
old Blanchy Bootle. Boom. Jeremy, do you think
that we can find a way out of this without killing
the Gwishin? Because at this point, because before
Blanche hadn't heard any of the talking, but
now she's close, she could hear the out loud
conversation of it saying, you know, help me,
blah, blah, blah. So she's realizing that it's
being controlled, maybe? Yes. I think... Well,
let's do it in character. So Blanche raises a
hand. She's ready to cast maybe an offensive
spell. Jules, what's going on over there? Do
you think we can save it? She's still in there.
We need to try. All right. And with that, Blanche
is going to cast Hold Person. Oh. So from your
Gwishin, David, I need a wisdom save. Hold person.
It's concentration. It specifies person. It says
humanoid. Choose a humanoid. You know what? You're
right. It's hard. This would be considered undead
technically, but it is a humanoid undead. Yeah.
Humanoid refers to the shape, right? I think
humanoid is actually a creature type. Yes. It's
kind of like your typical orc, tiefling, human,
elf. Those are all humanoids. Goliaths, I think,
would still be humanoid. Where undead is its
own thing. So by rules as written, this would
not work on an undead. They are a little different.
Okay. You would know that. It's not going to
make a voice spell. Yeah, I'm just trying to...
I want to let it work. I want to let it go because
I like it. But I got to be careful. There might
be reasons, connotations why this shouldn't work.
So I should... play it safe and stick with the
rules as written that's yeah that's exactly that's
what i'd want to do okay so gosh then what do
i do i can offer you something because there's
a turn i also haven't taken yet i wasn't planning
on taking it but hearing a conversation then
kunan june from down the stairs would yell out
it it's complicated but if you kill her you don't
kill her not until she's appeased if you destroy
her i can use the opportunity to to do something
try to Try to break this. Try to appease the
Gwishn and send it back. Oh, say no more. Blanche
is going to get up close. She'll stand next to
Jules and Akio. And I don't have a lot of mid
-level offensive spells prepped, so maybe this
is a little bit of an overreaction, but I'm going
to cast Witch Bolt at third level. Whoa! Okay.
Okay. Okay, let's see what we can do. Got my
Bless. Gonna need the Bless, I think. 16. I don't
remember what our AC was. 16 hits. Thank goodness.
Okay. And I will say, on her turn, you saw, again,
wounds closing and healing as that light falls
upon her. You can really make out all the closing
gashes. She's healing. You've got to outdo this
healing. Yeah, I think we're going to be okay
here. Oh, that's 30 points of damage. Holy shit.
On 3d12. Holy shit. What's this look like? As
soon as Blanche realizes she doesn't need to
hold back, maybe her hand was just lightly crackling
with blue energy. And then when Kunanjun said,
kill it. The energy in her hand doubled or tripled
and then shot out of her palm and just zapped
this thing. I'm guessing maybe it freezes up
and just falls off the wall. Oh, baby. It slides
down for sure. It's sliding down the wall. Shocked.
Shocked. Two bolts running through it. You're
just holding strong like Emperor Palpatine in
Star Wars Blast. And again, this screamer. Overlaid
by this words in your mind. This shop was my
pride. This shop was my legacy. This shop was
my pride. This shop was my legacy. That doesn't
quite finish the job. Oh, no. It just gets very,
very close. Oh, fuck. She drops down beside Jules
and beneath him, Chester. It's Trickshot's turn.
Shit, he can't get up, can he? Jules, hey! You
gotta go on a diet, man! What can he do? You
know what? His crossbow could be out. He could
be trying to aim it from under. If you'll allow
that. Fine. Yeah, why not? Fuck it. Hell yeah!
Come on! God, misdirection still isn't in there,
David. I have literally no excuse this time.
Remind me again what the... It's going to be
a, what's his hit right now? It's 1d10 plus.
Don't ask us. Yeah. Chester's to hit. What's
his hit? Yeah, the sling is plus 8 to hit. Plus
9 to hit. Plus 9 to hit. And then it was 1d10
plus his modifier, which is 3. Okay, cool. Plus
4, actually. Plus 4. Okay. He got a dirty 20.
Disadvantage. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. And that
would be a 17. Okay, still hits. Oh, baby. Come
on. Come on. For nine damage. Nine damage. Look,
I'm sorry, but you're in our way. He raises the
bolt up. Gwishin still electrocutes, screams
out. Chester fires the bolt right through the
head. And Bisumin falls to rest at last. Scream.
dying, echoing down the hall, down the shop below.
And everything goes calm in the tea shop. The
swarm falls. Yes, you hear glass draining down.
One lone glass shard remains hovering on the
stairs. One brave fighter. You hear footsteps
moving up the stairs. And then sliding, just
kind of really tripping over you. And oh, oh,
good on Julie trips over Chester and Jules stumbles
down. Akio catches him barely. Oh, no, thank
you. Oh, hold on just a moment. He slides out
a scroll. He's kind of running his fingers over
it, whispering some, some ancient prayer, probably
in the, in the old tongue of Yanito, the language
of hollery. And he's just, and after he sort
of finishes his incantation, you see the, symbols
you see appearing all over the scroll. Again,
this probably ancient hollery, you don't really
recognize it yourselves, begins to light this
luminescent ink. And as he's sort of backlit
by Jules' light spell and forelit by the scroll
beneath him, Kunon Jun begins to speak out words
that seem to like echo strangely throughout this
whole place, almost like the wood of the tea
shop is absorbing them. Like every board is an
ear listening intently. Bisumin, your legacy
is not gone. I remember you. I remember having
tea here with my dad, with my grandfather. Good
memories that I'll carry with me forever. My,
my mug adorned the wall downstairs. My name.
And though that may be gone, those memories,
We'll always be here. You live on. You live on
so you may pass on. Please. Please. And there's
a long pause and then this shudder. Moving the
boards beneath your feet and there's a long groan
as if every single board in this place is waking
up from a horrible nightmare. And it passes by
you and falls silent. The mist around you vanishes.
The scroll, the light from it dies down. And
you see it just rolls itself up with one last
sort of sigh. Kunon June just looks to you all.
She's gone. Thank you. Sometimes... When this
happens, when they're enraged, you have to subdue
them before you can speak to them, to the heart
of them, and end their grudge. But this is wrong.
This is so wrong. Bi Su Min was not supposed
to be this powerful or this enraged. This is...
something else is happening here. It sounded
like somebody else was involved. You think...
Do you think this could be the work of the other
Gwishin? The one that I believe steals memory?
You heard it ask. About forgetting. It was speaking
through her. You see, like, Shudder. He plays
with a feather on his hat and just... No, no,
this is so much worse than we realized. I have
a hypothetical question. You don't understand,
there's... So many Gwishin active in this city
at a time. Most of which aren't even reported
to the magistrates. If they're all like this,
if they've been altered, empowered, what's your
question? How would you appease a Gwishin that
used to be a dragon? A dragon? Is that possible?
I guess I don't know the limitations on what
or who can become a Gwishin, but I mean, you'd
need to find someone that knew the dragon. but
not the one that was wronged, or that wronged
the dragon. It's how they work. Basically, it's
sort of complicated, but the Gwishn's torment
is to be witnessed by one outside the fold. It's
usually a spirit arbiter. As magistrates, we
try very hard to learn the faces of as many residents
as we can, so we can perform the summon when
we need to. But in order to call upon the Gwishn
to summon them, you have to find their lair.
You have to find where it is they haunt, their
primary location. Then you must call upon their
name and hold their memory true. If you do this,
and if you are not the party that wronged them,
they will appear to air their grievances. Usually
if you just listen to them and appease them,
give them some relief, they pass on. Sometimes
it's like this, though. Well, I am starting to
form a theory. It's loose, but who in the city
knew the dragon Baraki? I don't know. Nobody
would think. Baraki just came out of nowhere.
I mean... Does that sound like a dragon to come
out of nowhere and attack a city unprovoked?
I guess it's strange that we hadn't heard of
Baraki before then. There was no news, no information,
nothing. Baraki just happened. Don't you think
it's suspicious that the royal family has a connection?
Some draconic bloodline? This is wildly inappropriate.
Very, very inappropriate thing to discuss. I
wouldn't know anything about the royal family
and I wouldn't surely suspect any... No one else
is here but us. What's happened in this tea shop
just now is child's play compared to what's going
on out there. You said it yourself. You don't...
You didn't even tell us how many more Gwishin
there are in the city. But why would... Why would
a dragon become a Gwishian? They only appear
when someone is terribly wrong. This dragon came
upon our city, killed so many of us. It was the
wrongdoer. Queen Jimmy was right. Do you think
that could have been a reason? I wouldn't begin
to know. I can... If we take some time, I can
do some research. We probably should report what
happened in the Tiger District. And... Learn
whatever happened. What else happened to the
city? Report this. This needs to be reported.
The Gwishin acting strange. There could be more.
Nobody knows already. How can we help? I can
research. We can dispatch more Gwishin. I just
want to know how to help. I don't know. How long
has it been since the last smoke incident? Mist
incident? Let's say about... An hour and a half.
So it's now about 1 .30 p .m. Okay. So, I mean,
we don't know. There hasn't been a pattern of
every three hours. We just know that between
the first and second one, it was three hours.
Yeah. So if we want to try and squeeze in a short
rest, we kind of need to do it now. Is that what
you want to do? Yeah. Well, I mean, we need to
figure out if it's feasible, if it's something
that... Uh, the Magistrate thinks we can do.
How much time do you think we have until we need
to act on attacking more Gwishin, or... We're
pretty badly injured, you see, and... I'll be
honest, I don't think anyone knows really what's
happening here. In the history of Unita, we've
never faced a Gwishin this powerful. One that
can spread its domain, its effects to the entire
city. I have to assume there's still one central
lair, though. If we want to stop it, we need
to find out what that lair is, where it is. We
need to find out who it is for sure. I think
we should check the Phoenix District. Park of
the Elders. Again, it's the only theory I've
got right now. The place Baraki was slain. Exactly.
Something crosses his features here, too. You
just think about this and you see, like, extreme
discomfort. Like he wants to say something, but
he just can't quite bring himself to bring it
out there. Like he just has to poop so bad. I
can see that you're scared, Kunanjun. But what's
happened today has led me to believe that you
want what's best for this city. You want to right
the wrongs and make your people safe again. think
we can help you please speak freely give me persuasion
with advantage that's good that it's advantage
you see he's almost there like he's it's not
a crazy role because you've already got mostly
on your side this is just something that's particularly
hard for him to voice not because he doesn't
trust you because maybe it's just wildly inappropriate
oh okay 16 fingers crossed i don't know what's
going on And it is so wildly inappropriate for
me to ask this of you. But please, I can't look
into this alone. But I love this city. I love
Yanita with everything I have. Your perspective
gives you power here. The power to look into
things that staunch tradition keeps us from.
Please help me save the city I love. It's just...
Shaden kind of turns his head away. He's like,
oh, yeah, tears are about to form, and he, like,
looks away towards the wall. This is a burden
we're willing to bear for you. I just, um, I
find it very interesting that Queen Jimmy's powers
of foresight are so incredible. She was able
to predict the attack in the Tiger District before
any reports had come in about it, after all.
It must be your connection to Mero. Otherwise,
how would she have known? The significance of
that place in the first attack, right? It sure
is unfortunate that the Sea of Dragons and the
Park of the Elders are places of significance
to Her Majesty. One with a wildly inappropriate
mentality might think... We have much to look
into. Um... I'm having trouble reading between
the lines. Is he telling us to go investigate
the palace and the park? Basically... before
you gather he's noting how strange it is for
one that the tiger district was the queen sent
him there before she knew anything had happened
only when she'd heard of and you remember when
she heard there was an attack and that uh there's
mentioned that dragons were involved she got
really weird and said hey go to the tiger district
check that out didn't really give any reason
why so there's clearly something perhaps a connecting
point to baraki there but also he seems to believe
that you are on the right track something is
wrong here And it has to do with a queen. And
maybe it has to do with Baraki. What happened
nine years ago? What is the lie? And what is
the lie behind the lie? So I feel like going
to the Phoenix District is going to be like skipping
ahead. Ain't nothing skipping ahead. It's an
open investigation. Lots of cool spots to hit.
In fact, I will say, if it makes sense character
-wise, the Phoenix District is on your way between
here and the palace. which is on the way to the
Tiger District. So if you're going from the bottom
of the city where you are, you'd hit the Phoenix
District naturally first, then the City of Dragons,
then the Tiger District. Gotcha. So you can do
whatever you want. Just put it out there that
your characters might hit it on the way kind
of thing. I'm also feeling a little nervous about
doing anything without a short rest. Yeah. Do
you think we should just continue on or should
we try to squeeze in a rest here? What are you
looking like in terms of the slots and all that?
Slots I'm doing okay. I'm more than halfway down
on HP, though. Yeah. And our slots are long rest,
so you've got to be real careful with those.
Yeah. Especially because I keep taking them from
you for no reason. Oh, no, I'm mistaken. I'm
mistaken for my Bardic. I get my Bardic back
after a short rest. The other benefit to short
rest is, I did say, he can look into things,
you know, find out what else has been happening
in the city, and you might be able to get more.
And he wants to report as soon as possible what's
happened here. and in the Tiger District, because
he basically skipped doing that and just jumped
right over here. Kunanjun, would you allow us
to rest here, and you could have a head start
on the investigation, or are you still not able
to leave us unattended? I think you've proven
that you're not going to cause too much trouble.
With a smile. Yes, I will proceed to the Seat
of Dragons, report, hear what there is to say,
and I will come back for you. Okay, once we rest
here, about an hour or so, Blanche looks to Jules
for confirmation. I believe our plan is to investigate
in the Phoenix District. Jules nods. Then I'll
find you there. Take care of yourselves, okay?
Yes, same to you. I wish I had something to give
him to protect himself, but... Just give me a
ring of spellstorm. You see, he turns. Moves
down the stairs, which I will say have all reset
to normal, by the way. The floors have all gone
back to normal. Whole place just looks like a
normal closed tea shop with glass everywhere.
He moves out the door and you find yourselves
in this quiet, quiet place. You take your short
rest. So, hey, I do have song of rest as well.
I don't know what that means. If you or any friendly
creatures who can hear your performance regain
hit points at the end of the short rest by spending
one or more hit dice, each of those creatures
regains an extra 1d6. Wow. So I imagine then
that Jules, toward the end of the rest, will
just pick up his loot, start playing a bit of
a somber tune, and thus activating Song of Rest.
So if you want one more d6 for you, Akio. I will
take it. Wow. That's so funny. That brings me
exactly up to max with that D6. Oh, yeah. Oh,
that's awesome. How are we going to deal with
short rests for... Same as you guys. So it's
basically the amount of... Hit die they have,
it might say on their sheet. Does it tell next
to their HP what their hit die is? I haven't
seen anything about hit die. Okay. Assume that
they're 7th level, so 7d10 for Akio, 7d8, I believe,
for Chester. Okay. Ooh. Ooh. Okay, so with that
rest, Jules is back up to almost full, and so
is Chester. During our short rest, Blanche is
reading through her spell book in order to use
the arcane recovery feature and regain some spell
slots during a short rest. You can use that once
per long rest and is also back up to full. Hell
yeah, that's really good, actually. That's amazingly
good in this arc, especially. Get them spell
slots. How's everybody looking? Sidekick's doing
okay? Uh, yeah. Keo's back up to full now. Good.
All right. So everyone's resting, relaxing. Chester's
still just kind of, like, firing off his crossbow,
shooting, like, you know, things off the countertop.
Smile, this big smile, like, trick shot, huh?
Yeah. I like it. Could be a luminary name, huh,
Jules? I'm just kidding. I ain't overstepping.
Psychic. I mean, you gonna take it? Oh, you know
I am. Yeah. Just a sidekick. Sorry. Trick shot.
Trick shot. That's the one. The fuck, man. He's
excited and nervous. He's got the pre -luminary
jitters. Yeah, pre -luminary. He's also going
through puberty, so you give him, you know, kind
of slack. Don't get too big for your britches
there, Chester. But I can see you becoming a
luminary someday. He just peers up behind the
table. What of my self? Am I to be a luminary,
Master Blanchard? Do I have a cool name, too?
A student of Master Osun Yoshikatsu could certainly
become a luminary. Oh, Storm Eye, Master of Defense.
Oh, what awaits me? The Disciple of Thunder.
I am excited to see. I'm sure we'll find you
a good name soon. I could be the great boofer.
The best boofer. And so you begin to feel better.
And at some point, as your rest ends, as you
feel ready to face the day again to continue
your investigation, it is now 2 .30 p .m. on
this day. Do you head off into the city streets
once more? Man. Is it a really good idea? So
if, if it happens every three hours, is it either
a really good idea to be in the Phoenix district
when it happens at the park or a really bad idea?
Probably a bad idea. We might learn something
though. It's true. I say we go. I mean, Jules
isn't going to stop. Okay. Yeah. Right. Yeah.
It might be a bad idea, but he's going for it.
It's probably an awful idea, but we're still
going to do it. Yeah. Of course. I think we should.
Move forward to the Park of the Elders. Park
of the Elders, right? Yes. And see if we can
learn anything. Hopefully the mist doesn't come
every three hours or we'll hit it while we're
there. But that could prove to be informational.
That's certainly a word. No, it's not. Informative.
Thank you. You move to the city streets. Perhaps
this idea you have that this could happen again
soon is something that's seeped into the general
populace because the air in the city feels so
much more nervous now. Just all sorts of fake
smiles, fake greetings, voices shaking as they
pretend that normalcy. You see the Park of the
Elders long before you reach it. It's a place
you've probably known about for a while now because
it's very obvious where it stands in the city.
Because at the center of this small walking park,
there is a massive statue of Queen Jinmi. Rotten
stone. You've seen it from afar many times. You
know, the top of the hill looking down, you saw
a great sort of expanse of green surrounded by
sort of large sloped walls in the very center.
This statue popping up between the walls. And
as you move up, you see those walls. You see
this statue. And it is just before three o 'clock
when you reach this place. Standing in what was
once the Phoenix District. You see the park seems
to be completely closed down. There are a number
of guard standing at the entrances of the park,
keeping everyone away. All looking very nervous.
As you begin to approach, they eye you warily.
Weapons. Not drawn, but hands at the ready to
draw them. What is the meaning of this? Why is
the park closed off? One of the guards steps
forward, a blue dragonborn, very bulky. There
have been attacks. There was one earlier today
around 9 a .m. Strange occurrences, perhaps tigers
somehow getting in. We're not sure, but we're
being very wary. checking through the park, making
sure nobody gets hurt. It's happened twice now.
You weren't aware at this point that you knew
there was an attack at noon. Now you find out
that this was another place attacked at 9, which
means at 9 o 'clock a .m., the Sea of Dragons,
the Tiger District Construction Zone, this park,
and the gate. At 12, just this park, the Sea
of Dragons, and the Tiger District. Not the gate,
which is strange. Magistrate Kunan Jun sent us
here to investigate the park ourselves. I'm aware.
Thank goodness. Please stop by the way. I don't...
I don't like it. But we do as the magistrate
commands. Phew. Wasn't sure what that was going
to be like. Wow, something was easy. Again, touch
your fingers. Steps aside. Just not looking comfortable.
You may enter, but be quick. We don't know what's
happening in there. We cannot defend you. If
something goes wrong, we are holding perimeter.
I suggest for the next 30 minutes you should
widen that perimeter considerably. I will take
this suggestion into consideration. Now proceed.
And Blanche does whatever she deems as the respectful
salute for this region, this military force,
and walks into the park. Hell yeah. You move
through these gates. You see there are two main
entrances to the park. One to the north, one
to the south. You are moving to the south gate
now. You push in and you see immediately this
grand wall surrounds it. The park is not massive.
It is about, it might be 150 or so feet. Like,
it might be only 400 feet or so long. Maybe 300
wide. So this large sort of perfect rectangle
fully walled in. And as you step inside, you
look to these walls and you see adorning the
sort of red and black construction of these sloped
sort of roofed buildings. You see like this gold
plate is inlaid along it with names written down.
Like every spot almost standing as a gravestone
memorial site. You see in the middle of all this,
towering above it all, is that statue surrounded
by lush gardens and vegetation and trees. It's
a beautiful, beautiful locale. You imagine there
should be songbirds in the trees tweeting out
their fine music, and yet it is strangely quiet
here. Can we read any of the names or any of
the writing? Yes. As you're kind of moving, you're
scanning the writing. You get your glasses on
to kind of zoom in from afar. And it's just names
of citizens of the town. But based on various
little scripture pieces you see underneath, you
put together these. This is probably a memorial
to all the lives lost. Oh, during the dragon
attack. Hundreds of lives lost during the attack.
Sure. This entire park is built as a memorial.
And all of it lies in the shadow of the queen.
You approach the statue at the center as you're
moving further in. The center statue is huge,
you see. The queen sitting upon her stone throne,
about 30 feet high, 30 feet wide. Wow. Marvelous
architecture. Beautiful, beautiful work. You
can see almost every detail. You recognize the
rings in her long tendril, her hair -like tendrils.
Almost every scale in her body sculpted to perfection
as she stares down wisely with a gentle smile
and a firm strength. I'd like to sort of investigate
around the statue. Hell yeah. See if there's
any writing, any... I'm trying to decide exactly
what I'm looking for. Just like if there's anything
that stands out, if there are any discrepancies,
like, oh, no, the queen's, you know... Jewelry
isn't like that. She wears something else. That's
weird. Why is that different? Interesting. Okay.
Yeah, go ahead. Good thing for my goggles. 14
is all I got for investigation. 14. Not bad.
First, the obvious. You go to move towards a
statue. Let me ask real quick, as you're investing
in this, what's everyone else doing? What is
our... Group of four doing right now. Oh, God.
Just a simple, innocent question, Steven. Akio
is standing close to Jules. Okay. Yeah, I think
Jules has his hand on Chester's shoulder. And
Chester's got misdirection, locked and loaded,
staring out with a strange smile. Akio, I imagine.
has a sword ready to go, or at least is like
getting ready to like, you know, in a position
where he could draw it fast. He's always ready
to pull that sword out in a heartbeat, so. He's
snoofing around, snoofing the ground. I love
it. Trying to detect any threats. You do see,
and he actually sniffs them out as he's kind
of moving. There's a spot of reddish brown on
the stone, another one, droplets here and there.
There were attacks. Looks like there were potentially
victims too. It is blood. What you see, Blanche,
is you're moving up to the statue itself first.
And you all see this because it's very obvious.
There are large gashes removed from the base
of the statue. There is this large base leading
up to it, so probably 10 feet high. And then
you actually have the Queen and her throne sitting
upon that big base. But that squared dais she
sits upon has been carved up. Huge gashes removed.
Seemed to form some strange shape. Vaguely avian
or humanoid or you don't know. You remember seeing
similar shapes at the gates just after the attack.
So I've got a question then. If you're out in
the woods and you're looking at animal tracks
in the snow, you can generally tell which direction
they're, you know, walking. Is that possible
with these? marks on the stone i'm kind of wondering
if these marks were made like as something is
coming up to the statue and is clawing grabbing
and pulling down or pulling sideways or are the
claw marks like this statue getting up and climbing
down i'll say it's not claw marks it's these
massive i guess almost wounds in the statue that
look like they have this strange form but i like
where you're going with this now we'll say you
do see claw marks beneath them. With your 14,
it looks as though something has pulled itself
from the stone and clawed its way free, as if
the stone itself has taken shape. You begin to
think on what it was that attacked you at the
gate, what attacked here. You remember looking
down and seeing a stone form crumbling as the
mist left. Perhaps you had defeated something
that had been birthed from the stone of the wall.
And there's a lot more stone here. But you see
something else too as you're looking at this.
It's very small. You're reaching around that
base and you see like just under the lip where
it kind of forms the... Like a plinth sort of
thing? I don't know what that means. What that
means! Just because you look up, you see like
a small roof lip kind of moving into the actual
top of the base where the queen sits in her throne.
You notice words. chiseled very carefully, very
small, into the base. And they just say, Remember
Daewonha. D -A -E space W -O -N dash H -A. Remember
Daewonha. Hmm. That's very useful, I'm gonna
guess. Perhaps. Um, geez. Now that she's found
some words, I mean, I guess my inclination is
to double down and keep looking or look again,
but I don't know if that's going to turn anything
up. Jules, what do you make of this? See here.
It says, remember day one ha. The voice earlier
told us to remember or asked why we forgot. Perhaps
this is what we're trying to... Would Jules,
with what he knows, be able to make any connections
or roll something? This is something that you
would... Elsa, you wouldn't be able to know this
name. Sure. I don't know that name. I don't know
what this means. Can Blanche check for that name
on the walls of the park? I mean, it would be...
I don't know if they're in alphabetical order.
It would take time. They're not necessarily in
alphabetical order, so it would take some time.
You could look through for it. Okay. Or at least
like the last name. Is that your intention to
go look? Yeah. And I'll have a Keo help if that
makes it go faster. Sure. But don't do it yet.
Because as you turn to face this, as you guys
are having your conversation, speaking by the
statue, you hear behind you, Jules? Jules? Blanche,
Jules, Jules, Jules, look, look. You turn to
see Chester just as the wave of mist falls over
you all. And we hear in this mist the sounds
of cracking stone. And we'll call it there.