Hey, Pants people, if you love the original music
we have in the podcast, you can find it all on
Spotify and I think Apple and like, you know,
the places you get music. Just search music from
the Fantasy Pants podcast. I bet if you just
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Check it out. On Censor. Now, Censor may be the
Amber World, but it is known for gold. Gold exchanged
at the Grand Bazaars or bet on horse races. Gold
mined for the incredibly lucrative deposits that
line the mountains at desert's edge. Gold decorated
the rich earth and architecture of the Empire
City States. But for those that travel deeper
into the desert... There are many dangers that
lurk behind the world's rich golden facade. Local
lore often talks of the Autumn Borax. These ferocious
critters were known to strike travelers in packs,
tearing down anything between them and their
feast of gold. That's right, the critters consumed
minerals, and their favorite food was gold. Nowadays,
they're pretty much a myth, though. They were
hunted down to extinction by the Empire because...
I mean, well, the favorite food was gold. Unfortunately,
what is not a myth are the ever -present threat
of Sense's infamous Twilight Dune Scorpions.
These monsters are known for their translucent
blue shells and extremely aggressive behavior.
Scorpions are the size of large dogs that hunt
in packs throughout the desert. Their venom is
deadly, their claws are fiercely strong, and
they do not know fear. These creepy -colored
killers... These creepy crawly killers will show
no mercy when they start on the hood. Damn it,
I can't speak. Let me take that again. Alright,
this is orange. These creepy crawly killers,
I can't fucking speak. Why do I say creepy crawly
killers? It's the worst. These creepy crawly
killers will show no mercy when they start on
the hood. So should you find yourself facing
one, I suggest you do the same. Nailed it. Oh,
God, yeah, and that was right at the end, too,
so you got so close. So close. So close, and
then it all just fell apart. I'm not 100%. I'm
sorry if I sound like I've got the sniffles,
listening audience. My excuse is that I have
the sniffles. And that's... What? Speaking of
things falling apart. Yeah. And speaking of the
sniffles, here's a question. I don't know if
I've done this one. I don't know. We all have
the collective memory of a goldfish. So we probably
have talked about everything before and come
right around to it. But what is the sickest you've
ever been? Do you have like a sick story, a real
gnarly sick story? Get into detail. I want people
to throw up in their cars. Like what kind of
sick? I don't know. Like self -inflicted? Does
that count? What the fuck does that mean? Self
-inflicted sickness? You have to explain what
you're talking about. Like a wild night of drinking?
Oh, shit, okay. Poisoning yourself. I was like,
should we put some warnings on this one? Yeah,
guys, yes. I poisoned myself. Jeremy's doing
a princess bride. He's been taking Iocane powder
for years. Jesus Christ. Sure, I mean, I have...
over consumed alcohol to the point of sickness
before. Um, well, no, I mean, no, I was just,
I, no. What's the six year bed? Well, we've gotten
pretty fucking crunk. We're, we're so cool. God
damn it. Uh, I mean, I, I'm, I think most people,
I don't know about most people. I think a lot
of people, myself included, got super sick during,
uh, COVID stuff. You know, I had a 104 fever.
When was that? Yeah, that was going to be my.
What was that for? Yeah, that was what I was
going to say is I think COVID was the worst I've
ever been. Oh, really? Hands down. Wow. see it
didn't i did i got it and like nothing i i got
it and stayed for work for two weeks but never
got well for me though what got me was in college
one time i have no idea it was right around finals
week and i got so insanely sick for like three
or four days i had a bottle of gatorade i was
drinking next to my sleeping bag because i slept
on my floor in my dorm room because uh i sent
my wife in my dorm room and we couldn't both
fit in the bed so we slept on the floor under
the bed anyway oh my god i was sleeping on that
floor for like i wonder why you were sick And
literally all I would do is just get up and vomit
Gatorade and drink more and go back to sleep.
Wow, gross. And they'd try to like get me to
go out and do things like, hey, let's go to the
store. You know, we'd get up and I'd go up and
I'd get outside the door and I would just start
dying and just go right back into bed. Never
went to like a hospital or anything? I was so
stubborn. I was so stubborn and so poor. So stupid.
Look, man. That was college. I had no money.
I couldn't go to the hospital. Couldn't afford
anything. Couldn't really afford that Gatorade.
Oh, my God. When I turned around, I went to one
of my final exams though. And it was my Spanish
exam. And I basically just walked in and, you
know, kind of bombed it. But the teacher really
liked me. And I think she could tell that I was
just on death's door and just gave me a passing
grade anyway. Oh, my God. It was really nice.
Very nice. Thank you. Thank you, Professor Orla
Leighton. You're the best. I hate when people
call headaches migraines. When they're like,
oh, yeah, I've got this really bad migraine,
like blah, blah, blah. Not a migraine. It's like,
nah, bro. Not a migraine. I used to get migraines
when I was in high school. Oh, yeah. Like I would
just have to go home and just be in a dark room.
No light, no sound. I remember the first time
it ever happened. My mother was like trying to
like comfort me and she was rubbing my back.
And just the sound of her hand on my clothing
was like. killing me inside, but I didn't even
want to speak up to say something cause it would
hurt. Uh, so I had like four or five of those
over the course of my high school career to the
point where like the doctor was like, okay, if
you get one more of these, I'm going to prescribe
you this medication. You're gonna have to be
on for the rest of your life for migraines. But
like the only way I could alleviate them was
falling asleep and I would wake up and I would
feel better and I would get up and I would walk
around and like 30 seconds later I would vomit.
Holy shit. And that's how I knew that the migraine
was over. Sorry. I've only ever had a migraine
once, and her name was Gabby. Holy shit. Why
didn't you say about me? That's pretty good.
That was solid. That was solid. She's listening
again, so she's going to hit this episode. Shit.
So Jeremy, you got in crunk before. Anything
else? Did COVID was the worst? Yeah, COVID was
the worst. Hell yeah. Yeah, I mean, I have times
where I remember having like a really flash,
disgusting, gross sickness, but nothing like,
I would say, the worst sickness I've ever had.
Just like cough syrup always made me throw up
and vomit. Ugh, ugh. That's probably just natural
though, right? Ugh. Yeah, yeah. You know, here
we are, three straight white dudes, never really
had to deal with any poor health or sickness.
Hey, hey, pants people, feel bad for us. We're
the real tragic tales. There are people who deal
with like legit chronic illness. Hey, speak for
yourselves. I'm an old man and my body's falling
apart. It's 80 years old over there. And we were
tall like that. I mean, like when your lower
body starts to fall apart, it's like the whole
thing comes down. Yeah. It's like a tall, tall.
I mean, there are tall specific ailments because
of the fact that it was so tall. Like a leaning
tower of Jeremy over there, just slowly sinking
deeper into the murk of life. You know, death
is just inevitable. It's like spiders. It's just,
you know. So we're going there, huh? Speaking
of the inevitability of death, I'm finally maybe
about to kill some characters tonight, huh? This
is not, honestly not looking great. I don't feel
super well equipped for this fight. Dude, I realized,
this is true, earlier today that also my stat
blocks, I ported over a different stat block
and added a bunch of fun things to it for this
particular AG6. And for all AG6s, also has a
blind sight. Isn't that fun and cool? Yeah, that's
awesome. Yeah, that's fantastic. Which again,
wouldn't affect the previous fight because blind
sight can't see through walls. That was in a
fill container. So Blink still stands. But in
this case, Fog Cloud, I don't give a damn about
it. So let's get ready for this. Back. Ready
for this? And do it. Oh, hang on. Oh, that's
cool. Wait. Oh. Oh, hot dogs. Here we go. Hot
dog, hot dog, hot niggity dog. You stand. in
the southern corner of East Wing of the library
of Onisa Academy. A large space of 70 by 75 feet,
and though much of it to you is still obscured
behind rows and rows and rows of bookshelves
filled with books on magical lore. But reading
is probably the last thing on your minds right
now because you are currently trapped in a blinding
fog with two Twilight Dune scorpions. And just
outside the fog cloud, The real Predator lurks,
standing above the action upon a bookcase as
a genius student of the magical arts? An unfeeling
killer automaton? Or something in between? You
still don't fully understand what it is you face.
What you do know is that this thing may have
killed already, and fully intends to kill now.
And it is his turn. Now there's one description
I need to rectify before I take this turn. A
little something something that I didn't say
last time. But it's semi -important. When you,
Dresden, I believe it was you that finished off
the first Twilight Dune Scorpion. The only one
who can currently see, thanks to that dagger
you almost didn't attune to, but you did. You
can see in this file, you can see all around
you the chaos unfolding, and you know your allies
are in grave danger. This is Dresden's time to
shine. You took out the first one of these things,
and when you did, and you all would have kind
of seen this, you stabbed through the shell,
and as it kind of broke through, as you kind
of struck into the inner ichor of this creature,
there was a puff of golden light that would have,
a little puff of radiance in all the fog. And
you would feel nothing. There's nothing there.
There's no body. Nothing to step on as you move
around it. This thing vanished. Great. So, that's
all you know. It just disappeared as if it was
not fully there to begin with. And with that
done, let's get you. Oh, yes. I'm going to cast
some conjured bolts, I think. So, I'm going to
start moving. Where is Dresden? Oh, Dresden's
in the back. Yeah. Ooh. Oh, you son of a gun.
Yeah. Yeah. You son of a gun, because here's
the thing. I have blindsight, but let's be fair
here. Blindsight would give me the ability to
see all the figures moving around, but I would
not be able to distinguish between the Echo and
Dresden. I would just see two figures, just like
before. The Echo is clutch. in the dark. So my
first attack is going to be against the Echo
itself, because I think this thing has been watching.
It knows that for some reason, you, you are affected.
You're the one I need to take down first. Okay.
Echo first. If you destroy it, then I know. It's
a natural one. No! Oh my god, right? I know I'm
advantaging you, right? Yeah, because... He trips
on an equestrian. If you were blinded, I would,
but... A stampede of Echo horses come through.
The echo of horse steps. The gallop through the
shelves shake. No, nothing happens. He just misses
because I don't feel it. Yeah, he does. He blasts
down and just fully kind of misses the echo.
Perhaps it's like that strange incorporeal nature
of it is like throwing off the blind sight and
he shoots down and kind of... Land somewhere
in front you see this all you you won't even
aware of anything You just kind of feel this
like bolt of magic rip through You see like the
same sort of golden spark for a second in the
in the fog I get one more attack and I guess
damn. Oh my gosh. This sucks. I gotta go for
the echo again Oh my gosh, I do so much damage
Unless I want to do No, I'll do this. We'll do
this again if I hit That's going to hit. That
is going to be a 25 or something. Ah, fuck. Oh,
yeah, it's a big old hit. All right, now let's
do some damage. Yeah, he's gone. Well, it doesn't
matter. He takes one, and he's gone. Okay, he's
gone. He's gone, yeah. If you hit him, he's gone.
Which means I'm now aware of your shenanigans.
The echo vanishes. Okay. That's all I got. That's
all I can do. That damned echo. That's okay.
That's going to be old. Dresden Kellig. Ooh.
Okay. I'm going to manifest the echo again. How
far am I from this guy? Probably the exact same
spot. You know what? Can I still get flanking
on that thing? I can command him right there.
yes yeah that would be where the bookshelf is
uh you'd be so you wouldn't be able to reach
down from the top of the bookshelf it's still
at 15 feet you need to go behind it fully so
like you'd appear right there but you can get
playing with the keo if you appear like yeah
on the edge of the bookshelf you're close to
the guy now he's like like 10 feet behind you
and 15 feet above you okay Which is fine. He
knows what's up, so. I think you just see, like,
the second it appears, like, you would sense
it through the echo. The fate, the head of this
thing just shoots down, looking down almost like
in full alarm as another you appears within the
fog. Yep, and it's going for it. Okay. Going
on the scorpion. Hell yeah. Yep. With flanking.
Ooh. Let's do it. Let's do it. First one is a
22. 22. It's going to hit. Fuck yeah. Roll some
damage. For nine. Okay. Hell yeah. Again, you
just break through the shell of this thing. Cool.
Take a second attack. Yep. Thirteen. Thirteen.
With flanking? 15. Why do I always fucking forget?
15 will actually hit! Hell yeah. Oh my god, that
flanking. I bring it up and I make sure that
I have it and then I forget to fucking add it.
It still counts. He's still there. He's still
there. This thing is literally holding a Kyo
and stabbing at him repeatedly. That makes sense.
I'm going to reroll that damage. Okay. So that
would be 8. 8 damage. An additional 8. Yes. Crack!
You see light beams that flicker. And you almost
see it flickering through this thing and these
open gashes that you create, but it's still up.
And then Dresden will creep up just a little
bit. Hell yeah. So he's a little closer to John
Franklin. Interesting. Okay. All right, that's
Dresden. That's Akio being held fast by these
things, stabbed repeatedly, the poison coursing
through his... old dog body and bones. He's not
doing well, right? No. Akio is in single digit
hit point territory. In the grasp of two predators.
Is he grappled? I don't remember. He actually
is, yes. Akio is currently, I believe, I don't
know if it's fully restrained. Let me check.
claw uh grappled not restrained he cannot move
but he can he does not have any uh apart from
being blind he has no effects on his attack effects
on his attacks you got there i got there in the
end i made it all right cross the finish line
take your damn turn you smart well he wants to
break out of the grapple okay uh that's gonna
be athletics or acrobatics is his action though
yeah okay he's gotta get out of there he's gonna
die if if he gets attacked again Now, if he gets
out of there, he still has to leave their attack
opportunity range, right? So it's still not great.
Yeah, no, it's definitely not great. But his
other option is to stay there and wait to get
hit. There's one other way you can go on the
offense. If you can take this thing out. I mean,
that's a hard thing, right? Like, if you can't,
and he's at disadvantage, like, I don't know
what the best... I honestly don't know what the
best thing to do is, but I think you would know
that they would still have AOOs because they
have Blindsight, and you would fully feel that
by now. They can sense you. They're fighting
you fully alert. You're in an impossible spot.
What's the turn order? The turn order is going
to be Akio. After Blanche? After Blanche will
be the Scorpions. You can feel them, their tails
rising again to strike. You have seconds, seconds
for Akio, seconds for Blanche, who doesn't even
know what's happening beside her. She just heard
her disciple, her treasured friend, whimper in
pain as he was pierced through with stingers.
Blanche can hear Akio next to her, getting attacked,
and she'll say, Akio, retreat! But instead, he's
going to use his bonus action to cast Second
Wind. Oh! No! I can't run! That's only eight
back, so he might be able to stand for one more
hit. Holy shit. That was his bonus action. What's
his action going to be? He's going to use Ichigenka.
Holy shit. Okay. The claws, this thing, he just
grabs a sword, swings it out blindly into the
smoke. 19 on the die for the first. Disadvantage,
because blinded. Oh, my God. That's fine. It's
still 25 with flanking. That hits. I am a disciple
of Ozenya Shikatsu! Ruff, I am a student of Blanche
Trudeau! Ruff, I will not die here! Weapon slides
into the fog. Give me that roll. Ooh, 12 on the
first attack. I'd ask you what it looked like.
But it doesn't look like anything because it's
all fog. You just see Akio is just met by sudden
resistance. cracking of exoskeleton, and then
just another puff and flash of gold sparks as
another one of these creatures disappears. Do
you mind if I re -roll my second win because
I accidentally rolled it with a D8? Go ahead.
Wait, isn't it? Oh, it is a D8, isn't it? All
right, I'm stupid. You want me to roll a d20
instead? No. I just instinctively reached for
my d8, and then I was like, oh, no, it is a d10.
Yeah, it's a d10 plus 6, not a d8 plus 6. Well,
that was too late. Come on, man. Give Akio a
shot. That's definitely a few extra hit points.
That's 15 instead of 8. Oh, my gosh. Okay. Not
bad at all. Yeah, so that's a much bigger heal.
I have to work pretty hard to kill that dog.
Okay, and that dog still has one more attack.
It does. So he's going to turn to the second
one. He now doesn't have flanking on, but that's
okay. We didn't need it last time. I'm going
to say this. I think this thing moved in kind
of more or less after everything came out. I
want you to have disadvantage and a minus two.
It's standing on top of a table, and I don't
think Akio can quite pinpoint that it's there.
I think there's like... more circumstances here.
There's more possible things in its way. How
about a perception with smell? Okay. Give me
that. I'll give you the free perception to avoid
the minus two. Still keep the blinded. Is there
something Dresden could do out of turn? No. Like
yell to him? It would be... That's fine. Yeah,
it's fine. It's all about kind of him pointing,
because even if you say that, he doesn't know
the size, how high up it is, and what possible
obstacles are in the way, but he might be able
to smell his way through, smell the rich wood
of these fine mahogany chairs around these fine
mahogany tables, smell the venom on the stinger
rising up. Could Dresden do like hot, cold, hot,
cold, and get the help action? Ah, jeez. It's
only a nine. He's got a passive perception of
15, but... I'm going to say he's going to take
the negative two. All right. I'm going to say
you're an asshole. Yeah, go ahead. I love it.
Nope, that's just... Wow, that's so weird. I
got the same two rolls, like... But that is...
13. 13. He slings out... swings out. Ichigenka,
he slings too, he doesn't mold. Ichigenka strikes
the chair that's sort of before him on the table
and the chair just fully explodes because it's
Ichigenka. Nice. Wood splinters around, sliced
right in half, drops down, but the scorpion is
untouched. Oh boy, oh boy, oh boy. So close.
And yet so far. Sorry, I gotta be a little mean.
Gonna be a little mean. That's Blanche. Blanche,
blinded. Now with wooden shavings in her eyes.
So you're double blinded. Yeah, so... Okay, so
that kind of makes things harder for Blanche.
So you're staying there. You're still, your back
is against this bookshelf. Uh, the thing that
originally coined you is gone. Now the fight's
kind of all around and ahead of you. There's
two of them, you know, actually one of them's
dead. One of them's dead. I didn't exit. Uh,
there's two of them. You saw two bursts of light
and you realize that means they're being killed.
You realize there's only one left, but I don't
think you know where it is. I don't think you
can quite pinpoint where it is. You also know
there's someone behind this, someone pulling
the strings. You saw that figure appear in a
bookshelf, just appear in the air of nowhere
and cast this fog cloud spell. The real threat
is outside of the fog. Okay. Above, waiting.
This might be stupid or it might be cool. Let's
lean into it and see where we go. Blanche is
going to bonus action, click her heels and activate
her boots of speed. And she's just going to take
off straight into the fog cloud, trying to break
through to the other side. Oh shit. And it just
so happens that there's like nobody. In that
line? There's nobody in that line. Going straight
up. Yeah, yeah. You, like, pass by Akio, his
furrowed tail. You feel his tail just push against
you. He feels the wind of you passing. You swing
right past the echo, brushing by. Feels like
Dresden's long hair, Dresden's armor. How far
do you go? Until she can see something. You break
out of the fog cloud, and you turn, and you look,
and immediately standing, having moved a bit
closer, you see... This figure is 15 feet above
you and just standing right above you on the
bookcase, looking down with some alarm. Ozen
Yoshikata. You did not see the one before. You
saw it, I guess, crouch the eyes of Turbo, but
now you see this one standing tall. The posture
is different. It's not like Ozen. Ozen had this
humility in the way he moved, the way he walked.
His movements were graceful and simple and clean.
This thing above you. It's arrogant, haughty.
It stands with head raised. You can feel just
this superiority emanating off of it. This is
not Ozen. Who? Who is this thing? How much of
who this thing was is still there? And now that
you see it, Blanche, now that you come face to
face with this creature, what are you going to
do? Because you have a choice to make. There's
a part of you that wants to save these students.
A part of you that hopes they can be saved. But
you're a practical person. Logical. I'm sure
you coldly understand that your end goals lie
beyond this thing. Quite literally, you've been
asked to tear the heart from the chest of these
automatons. So getting up onto the bookshelf
between the Boots of Speed and Bladesong, I mean,
you tell me if I'm wrong, I don't think Blanche
will have much trouble getting up there. No,
no. I wouldn't even roll a check for it. Okay.
I'm going to say, like, it's half your movement
to get up there, but honestly, bookshelves are
easy to climb. Sure. It's like a ladder. So she's
going to, like, anime -like flash teleport up
to be standing in front of this thing. Holy shit.
I don't know if you can hear me or reason with
me, but one of the suits has escaped the school.
You can't hope to collect all four pieces. Huh.
And then Blanche is going to teleport away. Whoa,
what? She's going to teleport. Oh, wait a minute.
So from here, can she see over the fog? Oh, no,
it's a 20 -foot sphere, isn't it? Yes, you're
looking back and you see a round sphere of fog
just all covering the room behind you. You can't
see into it or what's going on inside of it.
You know this thing can. Okay. Then she'll teleport
to the other door that she can see. Huh. And...
What are you up to? I'll let you know after a
constitution saving throw. What? Okay. All right.
Constitution save is going to be... Hey, what
am I doing? Very, very poor. Excellent. That
is only a seven. Very, very poor. Blanch cast
Thunderstep. And you'll now take 3d10 thunder
damage as a crack rings out that can be heard
throughout most of the school. Okay. Oh my gosh.
You're really just putting it out there to the
world that you are here. I'm going to collect
3d10s. In the fog, everyone just sees a flash
of light. It's as if you're standing in a storm
cloud watching lightning burst around you as
Blanche launches. I thought there was actually
lightning with Thunderstab, but it feels cool.
It feels cool, damn it! 21. 21. That's a lot
of damage. Yeah. Holy shit. This thing is just
rocked, rattling metal, as you just appear at
the doorway. Pretty damn cool, Blanche. And that's
her move. Okay. Well, only one scorpion is left,
thanks to Akio's bravery in the face of death.
And this one's going to keep attacking Akio because
he was brave in the face of death, and I hate
that. I hate that. We don't do that here. You're
such a shit -ass. Yeah, inevitability. Here it
comes. That's going to be a 15 to hit. That's
a miss. Oh, sorry. I have advantage. Silly me.
Hang on. Let me deal with advantage now. That
is 17 to hit. That's a miss. No! All right, I
got it this time. That's a natural 20 to hit.
Does that miss? Does that miss, you bastard?
That does not. I'm going to do some damage on
you now. Hold on. Guardian. Hell yeah. Guardian
reaction. Yep. Wait, what does that do? Immediately
after a creature within five feet of you takes
the disengage action or hits another target other
than you with an attack, I can make an opportunity
attack. Oh, okay. So I'm still hitting, but you're
going to get that attack on me. Yes. Okay. All
right. So I'm still going to do my damage first.
Then you do your attack on me. Okay. You can
see me. So you don't have anything. My thing
is going to do. I'm also going to use interception.
What? When a creature you see hits another target
within five feet, you can take a reaction. Oh,
it was Jaune. Yeah, it was Jaune. Hold on. Yeah.
Oh. Wait, wait, wait, wait. Opportunity attack
is not a reaction or is it a reaction? It's a
reaction. Never mind. Because, yeah, I would
need two reactions then. Are you doing one with
Jaune and one with Dresden? It was going to be
both with Dresden. Oh, okay. I don't think Jaune
has anything. Oh, yeah, Jaune does. Well... I
think he can switch places. Yeah, he does, but
he can't right now because he is in Shell Defense
still. No, you dropped that last turn. Did we?
Yes, yeah. I took two attacks on you last turn,
and then afterwards on your turn, you dropped
Shell Defense. It hasn't been Jaune's turn yet
today. You was the last one that went last time,
actually, was Jaune. I am, like, 99 % sure. If
I'm wrong, it's on me. Okay. It's on me. So,
yes, in this case, then, Dresden is going to
use his Guardian. Okay. So you're going to Womp
the guy. Going to Womp him, and then Jean Franklin
is going to use Noble Sacrifice. Hell, yeah.
That's awesome. So do you want to do your damage
first, or do you want me to do my attack first?
Jean will still take the damage. With a crit.
Yep. It's going to be only 11 points, actually.
Phew. I mean, still 11 points not on Akio. And
now he's grappled, and he'll be the one taking
the sting after you do your image to me. So a
whole lot of stuff's happening in the fog right
now. It's craziness. Jean just blindly hears
Akio struggling, reaches out. It's so funny.
He has this maneuver. He just spots some people
to take their hits. And I think in this moment,
he just kind of... He probably has never done
it blinded before. But he just fully dives in,
slides Akio out of the way, protecting his, as
he said last time, his friend. And wham, takes
the claw. It grips him. The stinger rises, but
as the stinger rises, it takes down Jaune. Dresden
Kelling, also surging forward to protect an ally,
slides into attack. Cool. That is going to be
a 19. A 19 will hit. Okay, cool. So, I'm going
to do my damage, and then I got something else.
What? That's going to be max damage for 14. Whoa.
Yeah. Guess what? What? Halt. What does that
mean? When you hit a creature with an opportunity
to attack, the creature speed becomes zero for
the rest of the current turn. Oh my goodness.
Okay. All right. So he's not moving. You just
strike this thing. I guess you just drive your
weapon right through his leg. One of these big
scorpion legs rips the leg right off and sort
of goes teetering on the edge of the table. It's
kind of wobbling. It's still going to try to
strike a Jean with the last move on its turn,
though. So here it comes. Advantage Jean is blinded.
That is a... The first one probably hits. Second
one... Okay, so 21 to hit. Yes. Okay. This is
the bad one. I need you to make a Constitution
saving throw with Jean Franklin. He's pretty
good at that. 14. 14 is a pass, actually. Oh,
damn. Which means he's only going to take 6 piercing
damage. And then... 28 divided in half to 14
because he passed the save. Poison damage. 28
poison damage on a hit. I rolled pretty good.
Nasty. Yeah. Yeah, Jaune took some serious blows.
He just, the pincer grabs him, the tail sticks
in right into his, like, neck. You can see his
stinger going in, the poison pumping, pumping,
and he's just kind of just fighting against it,
letting the poison sort of run its course. He
grits himself, and he's okay. This thing is hurt,
wobbling. It's Jaune's turn. Cool. You guys are
kicking my ass again. What's going on over here?
John Franklin, you said, was grappled now? He
is grappled currently. He is grappled. Okay.
So he's just going to go in with his spear. Hell
yeah. And... At this point, I'll say he knows
where this thing is. He can pinpoint it because
it's literally grabbing him. Okay, cool. So no
minus two, but still disadvantage. Yeah. Oh,
fuck. So that'll be 11 to hit. 11 to hit will
not hit. Fuck. Okay. He's going to go in for
the extra attack. Hell yeah. Son of a bitch.
Will a 12 hit? No. Fuck. Can't get into it. Fuck.
Shit. His vision is extra hazy. He's wobbling
too. That poison took its course. And that's
me. Oh, what do I want to do? Now, wait a minute.
Let me check one thing real fast. I may have
made a mistake last time. Blinded. Attack rolls.
Not just melee attack rolls. All attack rolls
since creature in blind. Okay. So I should have
advantage against Dresden's Echo last time. I
will not make this thing again. I have advantage
against things that are blinded, so I will not
be aiming for you, Blanche. This thing sees you.
The helmet just slowly grinds, turns back towards
the fog. It's going to pinpoint someone. This
is a cruel creature, I've decided now. You've
heard it. What sort of lessons would Kejau Kamal
the Great impart to his students? I think Kejau
is the type to teach people to strike at weak
points, create emotional outbursts, forge your
own openings, forge your own weaknesses in your
opponent's armor. And Akio looks so hurt. I'm
going to attack Akio twice with advantage. Counterspell.
What? What? Can you see Akio? I can't see Akio,
but I can see the spellcaster. It doesn't? No,
I mean, David. It can, yes. Okay. Yes. I'll move
a little down a little bit so I can make sure
to see him past the scorpion, but yeah, he can
see Akio. It's interesting. So what I'm doing
isn't necessarily a spell. Oh, you asshole. But
it's essentially a spell, right? It's like the
flavor is I'm doing a conjured bolt attack. So
what I want to do, I want to allow this because
I think if done, the counterspell wouldn't be
able to stop what's essentially a magical attack
from these things. It's the newer, the newer
mage stat blocks just kind of give things basic
magic attack things that don't really have any
sort of, they should be spells. They're just
mages using spells. If this isn't a spell, it's
dumb, right? This is essentially just him doing
a cantrip. Oh, that sucks. I kind of assumed
he was going to use something. Bigger. Well,
it's a very gnarly, nasty cantrip. Honestly,
I can do other stuff, but this is probably the
most nasty thing I can do. God damn it. Because
it hits really hard. I'm going to let you counterspell
one of them. Okay. Because I think that makes
sense. And because it's essentially a cantrip
or first level spell, whatever you want to call
it, it would just be a free... It just goes away.
Okay. Yeah. So he... Reaches his hand out. Thing
is glowing. It goes to blast. And he just fizzles
out for a second. You see the metal knuckles
are gripped down and a clenched fist. The metal
face sort of turns to look at you. I'm your rail
match. I'm going to shoot again at Akio. You
bitch. I want to hurt you. And you feel it. Some
vindictive nature in this thing. Okay. That is
advantage against Akio. Four. A. 19. Oh, just
barely. Oh, thank God. Hold on. What? You used
every reaction you possibly have. What do you
possibly have over there? Nah, nothing. Oh, my
God. Oh, that's better. Okay, that's better now.
Oh, my gosh. It started off really bad, and then
I started rolling some really, really high numbers
with that one. So that's going to be... Oh, really?
That's only 27 force damage? Kyo's down. It's
all Blanche here. You sick fuck. I have to do
something real fast. Before you get called out
on it, because actually I just realized this.
You did hit me with a thing. I did not roll concentration
on Pop Cloud. Okay. I'll roll it out. Natural
20. We're good. Okay, so Fog Cloud's still up,
and it has been up, and we don't have to redo
anything. We're good. Okay. No, David, we're
very much not good. Akio's down, and I'm going
to finish him off, but not this turn. Hey, I
was going to attack him twice. You stop one of
them. That second bolt, two death fails. So,
good on you. Good on you. It's funny enough it's
not making me feel better. That's Dresden. One
of these Scorpions still in there. Yeah, Hisako's
going to come. Right here. Actually, you know
what? No, you know what? Fuck it. He's going
to go on top of the table right there. Let me
at least Google, do scorpions attack unconscious
creatures real fast? Scorpions generally do not
actively hunt or seek out unconscious creatures
to attack. Well, we'll change that. What's up?
Sucks for you. No, these are Twilight Dune scorpions,
though. Let me re -Google that. Tap, tap, tap,
tap, tap. Oh, they only like to attack unconscious
creatures. They're sick. Sick freaks. Sick like
you. Yeah. How are you doing? Alright, I'm just
going with Echo. Oh shit, Echo slides up behind.
I'll get that flank. Boom, okay. And again, you
can see! The only one who can see! Fuck. Fuck.
Yeah. That was a 12. With flanking? Yes. No!
Will not hit. Will not hit. One attack left.
Cool. Can you clinch this thing? Am I gonna kill
that dog? Uh, that is going to be, yeah, that's
gonna be a fucking 28. Hang on. Yeah, 27. With
flanking? 40. Oh, shit. You hit. Cool. You hit.
Can you finish me? Near max, so that would be
13. 13, and yet still up. You see another huge
spark of golden light. This thing is getting
really, really hurt. Okay. I can't expend anything
else right now. Not on this thing, at least.
I know. You're not even done yet. There's so
much more to face. That's it. And one of you
has already fallen. That's it. All right. And
that is going to be Akio making us a death saving
throw. We haven't made one of these in a little
while, it feels like. Yeah, it's been a minute.
It's been a minute. Pass. Pass, okay. He's holding
tight. He is disciple of Blanche Trudeau. He's
not going down here. He said it himself. And
he holds. And that's Blanche. We slide from his
slumped corpse in the fog, from the shadow, and
we move across the room, past the echo, the scorpion,
over a table and towards the far door outside
the fog cloud where Blanche faces this thing
standing upon a bookshelf. You regard each other
as Akio's mournful cry rang out. This thing's
helm just grinded back towards you. Empty sockets
of Ozen's armor staring through you. Okay. Blanche
is going to flash back up behind the AG6 now
with her bonus action. She's casting Shadow Blade.
Ooh. By flash, you mean you're just running?
Well, yeah. Really, really fast. But she's running
really, really fast. With both Boots of Speed
and Bladesong active. She's going to bury Alan
right up behind this guy. speed blade song. I
love this. Shadow blade rips out. Hell yeah.
And she's taking her first attack with her shadow
blade. Okay. It's only 13 on the first. 13 will
not hit. 19 on the second. 19? Yes. Will not
hit. Oh no. Oh yes. Oh. Ping. And then the second
attack comes out. You feel so strongly about
it. And this thing reaches down and it's just
fully armored hands. Just grab your shadow blade
and parry it, throwing it off to the side. Ping.
John, I'm counting on you to look after Akio.
And she's going to move back to her spot by the
door. Okay. So back to the door. Um, hell yeah.
All right. That is going to be. It's going to
be the Scorpion. And Google says the Twilight
doomed Scorpion's attack on conscious prey. I
can't decide that's... Oh, man, I could. I really
could. Let's be real here, right? I attack Akio.
Jean goes next. Akio goes back up. What's the
gain? What's the gain in that? So we'll go for
Jean. All right, Jean. When do reactions reset?
End of turn. I'm pretty sure... No, it might
be star turn. Crap. Oh, it's a star turn. I don't
feel good about it. Okay. He has his reactions
back now. I'm going to attack. So both Jaune
and Dresden have. Yes. Okay, cool. Jaune, take
this. Take this. That's going to be with advantage.
20 to hit. Yes. Okay. Also, Guardian. That's
you doing an attack on me? Mm -hmm. Hell yeah,
okay. Jaune takes 10 points of damage from the
claw that snaps at him. You go ahead and do your
attack on me now. All right, let me take Jaune's
off. You said 10? Yes. Okay. I'm going to make
a second attack, and their claw comes in, tail's
coming down, Jaune takes another snap from the
claw. Can you hit this thing, Dresden? That is
going to be a dirty 20. Dirty 20 will hit. Cool.
Oh, you can see me, and I can't do anything about
it. Cool. So, and you also can't move again.
Okay, this thing's frozen, locked in place. Uh
-uh, you strike out hard. Near max damage again
for 13. You can see what it looks like when you
kill those things. Go ahead and describe it for
me. God, I think he just clips off the rest of
its legs, and then when the whole body just falls
to the ground, he just goes right for the head.
Golden sparks, and this one too, vanishes. And
only your allies, one fallen, stand in the fog.
All right, that's uh That's me. That's John John's
got heels, right? He's got heels. He's got to
lay on hands. Cool. He's going to heal Akio.
How many points do you want to use? He has five
times his level so currently 45 Let's go let's
give him 20. Okay, Akio Oz back up as Jaune reaches
down and again, lighting the fog this time, a
cool white fume imbues Akio. And he's back. Hell
yeah. And that's Jaune's turn? Yeah. Yeah. Okay.
I think so. He's kind of standing stout by his
allies, making sure if any other dangers come,
he is ready, shield out. Right. I was going to
say, how is this going to look with us getting
out then? I mean, if Jaune were to try to get
out of the fog. He could run and just leave it.
Okay. Yeah, it's a little tough. We kind of keep
walking through it. He can get out of there.
Okay, if he can get out of there. Do you want
to go towards the creature and towards where
Blanche went, or do you want to go back towards
the door he came through? Oh, he's going toward
Blanche. He heard her voice, heard her call out.
Yeah, he just moves. So we'll say it takes all
of his movement to get there. Yeah, that's fine.
He's bumping into chairs and shit. Yeah, it's
difficult terrain, so he's moving around chairs,
but he just barely breaks out of the fog as he
steps out. The dog's okay! He turns and sees
the creature standing. His spear points towards
it. All right. One foe left, just the armor.
It's my turn now. All right. This thing's in
trouble. Minions have been destroyed. So the
fog isn't doing much for me now as you're willing
to escape it. My claws can't hold you anymore.
My tails can't sting. You're all still up. You,
Blanche, you. The eyeless face that regards you,
the mask filled with shadow, seems to be filled
with malice as well. Again, there's that haughty
position, as if this thing could not believe
for a second that it could lose, that it could
fall. It just starts to walk slowly, Tep. Tap,
tap, along the top of the bookshelf until it
lines itself perfectly up with you, staring you
down, and it raises a hand in challenge. I'm
gonna fire upon you, Blanche. I'm gonna fire
upon you twice. I'm gonna hope to destroy you
here. That's both cracked and way in there. Ooh,
that's not bad. That is going to be a 24 to hit.
Shield. arcane bolt golden light splashes against
the shield we just see like light fade blanche
is standing there strong another attack against
you uh not gonna make that shield and that's
my turn right unless i want to no i could move
but there's no reason to that is my turn standing
far above you, shaking with metal rage, armor
moving against itself. That's Dresden. All right,
Dresden will move up next to John Franklin and
command his echo. Well, how far is that? 30 feet.
If you want to get right next to the guy. Okay,
cool. Boom. Right next to him. Echo appears.
Startlement in the armor. I just had to make
sure because 30 feet is the range for the echo.
After that, it disappears. Cool. He's going in.
Four attacks. All right. First one is a 27 to
hit. That will hit. That will hit. Four, nine.
Nine. All right. Second attack. Huge hole whips
through the armor. It's going to be an 18. 18
misses. Fuck. Shing! It clashes the second one.
Okay, stand by. I'm doing something. Yeah, I'm
going to unleash incarnation. Oh, damn, okay.
Do another attack. Nice. One already. From the
echo. How many do you get per day? Two. Oh, all
right, blowing them all, but I like it. I like
it a lot. Fuck, it's cracked on a natural 20.
Oh, my God. It's like it's ever so slightly askew.
Ugh. No, it's a 17. Son of a bitch. I got something.
Oh, man. Okay. The Echo will then move in between
Jean Franklin and Blanche. If the Echo moves,
then Blanche won't be able to get flanking. What'd
you say, Blanche? If you wouldn't mind keeping
that thing over there, I can make use of it on
my turn. Alright, will do. Hell yeah. Okay. Echo.
It's so funny. You're getting flashes, Blanche,
looking up of the fight with Ozen when you saw
him standing up on the wall looking into the
sort of plaza you were in and it was you down
low firing and it was the Echo battling with
him on top of the wall. Ping, ping, ping. Just
like that. You're suddenly there in that moment
again feeling that fresh pain. And you're here
in the library. It's Akio's turn. I think Blanche
would have instructed Akio at this point to get
out. What does his escape plan look like? Like,
I kind of want Akio to, like, go back the direction
that we came. It might make sense. He's going
to have half speed right now because he's prone.
So he's going to cast half his movement to get
up. He only has 15 feet of movement. Okay. And
it takes about 15 feet to get to the edge of
the fog back where you came from. Okay. He's
just going to limp back knowing that he's done
his part. Yeah, I think so. And taking a potion
himself is a bonus action. It's so funny to think
about what this looks like. He's got like a bandolier
with potions on. Yeah, it takes a bonus action.
And he's got his quick sheath thing. So he's
going to bonus action drink a... He drops his
portable bowl and he undoes it, pours the potion
into the dog bowl. Oh, and one swift movement.
He's so fast. Damn, on 4d4, I rolled three fours
and a one. Ooh, not bad. All right. Plus four,
so sweet. Let me heal him up. Then can Akio use
his action to double move and get around the
corner out of the room? Yes, yeah. Okay. Yeah,
he just leaves. He's going down the hallway outside
the room heading towards the door that Blanche
is currently standing in front of. Hell yeah.
All right. Congrats, Blanche. Okay. Blanche is
going to zip back up and go for another swing.
Get that flank. You can actually hit this guy
this time. With her shadow blade. Well, I rolled
pretty low both times last time. 21. 21 hits.
Awesome. 21 hits. I'll tell you what, 21, it
just hits. Wow. You get through this thing with
your shadow blade. So I pretty much have a 50
-50 chance right now. Let's see. I'll do the
second one, and then I'll roll damage. Okay.
So that is a 26 or a 7. So that's good. All right.
So as she's attacking this thing, she's kind
of speaking out loud. I don't know if there's
any saving you. But even if you are in there,
I don't feel you can be reasoned with. Your mind
has been poisoned. And I won't allow you to kill
my students. Just to save... Just to try and
save you. Damn. Ooh. First Shadowblade was really
bad. 3 -1 -1 on... Or no. It was 8 total. 5 -1
-1 on the first. What damage is it? Is it psychic?
It is psychic damage. Okay, that actually gets
through. Okay. Yeah, okay, okay. All right, okay.
What's the damage? It is 12 on the second. 12
and what was the first one? Eight. Eight, not
bad. This thing actually, you strike out twice.
Flickering blade of shadow, catching this thing
between armor. And as your blade strikes, the
psychic damage, the psychic link created between
you and this thing, for a flash of a moment,
the armor of Ozen Yoshikatsu vanishes. And you
can see, standing before you, a young man with
dark skin and combed back, super black hair.
A small goatee. He looks to be 19 years old.
His eyes are kind of this almost dark amber gold.
And they're just filled with disdain and haughtiness.
His stance, he looks princely. The image is gone.
And this armor almost drops a little bit. Kind
of arms covered chest. Almost wracked with pain.
Psychic pain. You hear the metal rattling. It's
not destroyed yet, but it is close. Ye old boy,
I won't let you kill them. That's Jaune. All
right. Does Jaune have a move to make here? He
sees this battle happening up top. Sure. While
we're in a switch of characters, sorry, Pence
people, there is a snowblower going outside at
the moment. So rather than stop and wait for
who knows how long, we're just going through
it. So if you hear a snowblower, sorry. Oh, there
it goes. The loudest it's been right after I
say it. That's the sound of the armor shaking
in fear. Okay, so, yeah, Jean wants to do something,
but I don't want to get Jean killed. I'm scared
to get Jean killed. Yeah, he's going to move
over, and can he throw his spear up? Yeah, you
can throw a spear. Okay. Hell yeah. He just sees
this thing's over there, and it begins to, like,
cast a spell. It's not just going, looking right
at you, Blanche. The answer to your demand. Another
spell in your face. It is not backing down. And
for that moment, that moment, I think you have
to wonder, like, your students, they're so loyal
to you. They'll do anything for you. What of
Kejo Kamal's students? Does he inspire that same
fierce loyalty? And Jaune moves in, grabs his
spear, goes to throw. No! You don't have to,
sir! Let me! 20. And the spear lands just beneath
it. I think it almost hits it. It comes flying
up the golden spear, and the creature just kind
of dodges underneath it. It, like, sparks, rip
off armor as the spear goes flying. No! He wanted
to help you, Blanche. He still can. He's got
his extra attack. The spear's no longer in his
hand. Oh, fuck. Wait, what? He threw it. Yeah.
Well, where the fuck did his spear go? It's in
the shadow. It's in the fog of war. It's gone.
Ding! Over the thing. Honks into a bookshelf.
Destroys a few books. So it's on the other side
of the bookshelf. Yeah, it's over here somewhere.
That's horse shit. Is that me? Do I get to go
now? Oh man, that is indeed. I need to do a thing
here. I need to do a thing! God, it's so rough.
All my spells. I built this guy to work with
the scorpions. The scorpions are gone. I can
do such nasty stuff with buddies. But I have
no friends anymore. We got rid of your ads. I'm
like Steven in real life. No friends. Wow. You
see, he's going to. That was rude, man. Holy
shit. Golden light. He teleports. Son of a bitch.
Further into the room. So there's like four bookshelves
you see going down. You're standing in the first
of the four. He appears at the top of the fourth
of the four. Three bookshelves away from you.
Do I get an AOL? No, he teleported. He appears
there and is going to make two attacks. Big gnarly
attacks. And I'm gonna go after Blanche. Because
he saw that Echo can just reappear. He knows
that now. I gotta go after Blanche. I gotta get
rid of you. You made your final threat. He will
not back down. That is a... 23 to hit. Shield.
Okay. Blasted the shield. I gotta try for that
crit. If I crit you... Come on, give me that
crit! Ah, it's a 24 to hit. Nope. The whole place
shaking as you're just holding your shield up
as golden bolts conjure from the air, smash against
you. And you stand tall and you face inevitability,
Blanche. The inevitable end to this combat. There
is only one way this can go, it seems. But who
will be the one to do it? It's going to be Dresden
next. Okay. You say this is about 30 feet? Yes,
yeah. I mean, for Dresden to move there. You're
here. Yeah, about 30 feet. Okay. So you run up
around the edge of the bookcase, slide up where
Blanche is above you, you round it, you can see
where he is now. Exactly, and then he's going
to command his Echo over. Hell yeah. And we're
going to attack again. Echo appears in the bookcase
over there, no longer flanking, no longer with
Blanche, but can you hit this thing? Not with
a first attack of 14. No, 15. 22. I know we'll
hit, because I remember 21 hit. It will hit.
Four. Ooh, that was a one on the die, but I'm
going to re -roll that. Hell yeah, man. Re -roll
that lame old one. And a one on the second rolled.
No way. Fuck me, that's a seven. Seven, it's
still up. That's seven. You rip through. Spectral
war pick. bursting through metal armor as he
gouges all over this thing. I mean, with your
war picks, it looks so much like the armor of
the fallen, right? The potion maker who had been
stung to death by these scorpions. Like, you
see those same puncture marks now ripping through
this thing wherever you struck, struck, struck.
And you do not finish the job. I'm going to just
assume Akio's going to just kind of run around.
I don't think he can really do anything. Yeah,
I'd like Akio to at least make it to the other
door where Blanche and... I gave each Blanche
and Akio three of those potions, so he's going
to take another one. Oh, hell yeah. So he's running
and drinking. Hell yeah. I'm coming back. Hell
yeah. I'll do that math later. Okay. I don't
think he's coming back into the fight. I don't
think so. This fight is very close to over. Yeah,
it's got to be Blanche. to see it to its end.
Blanche. Blanche's gritted teeth will loosen
and her demeanor becomes solemn and she jumps
across the bookcases into flanking. You had great
potential. I am sorry. This gives me no pleasure.
I know it's a hit. It's a 26. 26. Roll damage.
Just 11. Where do you strike this thing? When
you kill it? She's thinking about the rest of
the students, the mission ahead. She's thinking
about the token that's in their chest, and she
strikes just below it. Black Blade of Shadow
strikes through Black Armor, and... and it just
strikes right through one of the holes opened
by dresden strikes deep into it deep into the
magical inscriptions that run through this thing
like the veins of a microchip you hit that right
spot for a moment that young man stands before
you looking down at a blade piercing his chest
his lower chest his abdomen just looking down
in complete shock No. No, I'm... I'm a prince
of Senza. I'm Kejo's greatest student, I'm...
It was supposed to be me. Can I save you, boy?
It was supposed to be me! And that form of the
young man just fades away as the armor before
you clunks. lifelessly, clunks, is that a word?
Can I use that? Yeah, that's alright. On the
bookshelf, the pieces sort of falling apart,
spilling to either side, dropping to the library
floor. And you see before you, Blanche, as the
armor falls apart, that stone tablet, a small
demi -circle, sort of cut, engraved with golden
lined, sort of summoning arcane inscription.
You have one key. The madman, the monster that
has created this situation, that has put these
students, taught them to be this way, ruthless,
forced them into this killing game. You have
one key out of four that you need to face this
monster. A confrontation that you might say is
inevitable. And we'll call it there.