Hey guys, it's Steven. If you're enjoying the
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it with your friends. Thank you so much. And
Chester swung hammer, Jules moved to his side.
And they fall. Oh, they fall. We're going to
step back to just a few minutes ago. We see a
busy thoroughfare in Promise, fully caught up
in the fanfare and excitement of the Awakening
Festival. We hear songs being exchanged, laughing
crowds, and just over all this, the voice of
a young girl. Y 'all want a dolly? We focus on
Hannah, the little doll merchant, as she proffers
one of her straw -made wares to a tall figure
standing in front of her. And the camera pans
slowly upwards until we see a familiar face.
And now I have to ask the all -important question.
Do you want a dolly? A dolly? A dolly? I can
never say no to a dolly. Hell yeah. You see,
welcome back, Stomp. You see this young girl
hearing this, just beams, saving copper, please.
And she reaches up with this doll. And as this
exchange is about to be made, you feel a rough
tug on your shoulder. And you turn to see Bink,
your new sidekick, eyes narrowed and focused,
down the street ahead. And before he has time
to answer you, you begin to hear the screaming.
In moments, a crowd of panicking, fleeing civilians
fills the street, moving towards you. Yelled
and panicked cries of, Snake! And Ratla! can
be barely heard above the roaring chaos. And
as these people are pushing past you, as Hannah,
the little girl, vanishes, disappearing off to
the side, joining in this screaming crowd, do
you approach the area from whence they come?
I do. Bink at your side. You begin to move. And
so fighting through the crowd, we see two figures
mad enough or brave enough to move towards a
source of this danger. And as you charge down
the road, start breaking free of the civilian
mob, and quickly you gain speed. Just two sets
of feet just boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom,
boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom,
boom. Fade out. And with that, hey, everybody,
how you doing? Hey. I'm getting scared. Oh, to
the rescue, to the rescue. Welcome back, M &Rack.
Yeah. Oh, yeah. So glad to be back. This is cool.
I'm getting scaled. A little celebratory crack.
There it is. There it is. Oh, wow. We have one
hell of an episode coming up tonight, guys. I
mean, like, wow. Thing on thing on thing. We
have a natural one to deal with, and we'll get
to that. Jeremy. Shut up. I know you're excited.
We'll get to it. We got a guest again. Yeah.
Right in the nick of time to save our boys from
the fire. Yeah, really good time. Eamon Rath
is here with his partner, Bink. So glad we got
you guys in for that cameo to really build into
this moment. I am thrilled for this. Yeah. Before
we get to all of that, there is something I want
to start getting on top of here in Fantasy Pants.
And that is discussing our itsy bitsy little
mistakes. Oh, yes. Oh, yes. Because, let's be
straight. There are a lot of them. And, hey.
It can be tricky sometimes to balance speed and
entertainment with running a game. So we want
to really hammer down on trying to make sure
these fights are cleaned up. We want to make
these mistakes so you all listen to this. Don't
have to, right? You'll hear what we do wrong.
You'll hear how we correct it. And you'll know,
hey, all right, I can do it right next time.
So I got a list of what we're calling wedgies.
Oh, nice. Whoops. Everybody loves a wedgie. Whenever
I list one of these, you guys got to make a wedgie
sound, whatever that means. I hate that. You
got to make it as loud as it deserves to be for
the mistake made. All right. So, boom. Wedgie
one. I forgot. And this is actually my own fault
because it's a homebrew created monster. But
I was supposed to, based on my homebrew monster,
give Jean Franklin half damage if he saved against
the poison instead of nullifying it entirely.
Oh! Oh! That was a good one. We're going to follow
that one. My wedgie sound was going to be more
like a... Save it, save it. We've got plenty
more wedgies to go. That one was painful. It's
painful for me, mostly. You guys made off great
on that one. But hey, coin flip on that. We forgot
to give half the fire damage from Zebulon's fire
breath to the snake. Yep, that was my wedgie.
Thank you. I was waiting. This one has no impact.
It's more purely a scene thing. I said an arrow
was poisoned at one point when I actually hadn't
taken the action the previous round to poison
it. It missed anyway, and the visual was cool.
So whatever. They had a second poison arrow.
I don't care. It looked cool. It didn't affect
the fight. I liked it. That's a soft wedgie.
That's a soft wedgie. Someone make a soft wedgie
sound. I love it. Perfect. Big one. Kind of,
sort of. So when we cast... dissonant whispers
and the snake turned and ran away, Jean Franklin
should have had an A -O -O on the fleeing snake
as it left his area of attack. All right, turn
around. I'll give you a real wedgie. Yes. Please.
Oh, you think that's bad? You went to the big
mama of all our mistakes and it's one that's
going to make Stephen cry because Stephen rolled
a crit after using his bonus action to, what's
that called? Precision strike? Something. I didn't
write that one down. Steady aim. Steady aim.
Great. I'm glad we got that. Had it the whole
time. If you use that bonus action, you get advantage
on the following attack. Here's the thing. If
you advantage on attack, you should get a sneak
attack bonus. And when you crit, you should have
crit with your sneak attack bonus as well, which
would have made that a massive boost in damage.
Yeah. So the way I'm seeing this is we had mistakes
on both sides. Honestly, it kind of equals out.
Jean -Francois would be practically at death's
door if I had done that half poison damage. But
the snake would have taken a lot more damage.
Or no, actually, the guy would have taken a lot
of damage. You would have taken that guy out
in round one rather than two rounds. So it all
kind of works out. And honestly, the theme, the
scene, the thematics, all super, super cool.
Loved it all. Yeah. We'll call it a wedgie wash.
Call it a wedgie wash. I don't know what that
means. No one knows what that means. Here we
are. Now, one more quick thing to touch on before
we just dive right back into this fight, because
people have been waiting. Let's talk about fumbles
for a quick, quick second. Because this is a
big thing that a lot of people, a lot of DMs,
I mentioned this last time, they don't care for
the sort of fumble mechanic. You roll a one,
you get punished. Now, I understand that it does
suck as a player. And in my normal campaigns,
I don't normally run it. But for radio, I...
Love it because it just doubles the excitement
of like, you know, you wouldn't even roll a 20
on radio. It's so exciting to like have that
big dramatic pass or, or crit moment. But like
you get to have those on ones too. It's the dread
and like just ending an episode on, Oh yeah,
a bad thing happens and we know it's going to
happen because of one. I love that. But I mean,
I would argue that the fumble should happen to
the person that rolled the one instead of their
sidekick. But that's just me. I mean, In this
case, don't worry. You're the one that's going
to get hit with the fumble hammer. But here's
the other thing with fumbles. Fumbles. Thumble
-umbles. So when I craft these fumble punishments,
I'm not just going to think of some random terrible
thing to happen. I know horses has been a thing.
It's funny. I enjoy that. It's going to keep
happening because I love it. But there are situations
where I'm going to really weigh the moment. And
see what feels dramatic and exciting as a punishment
for that moment, that action, that thing that
happened. And I'm saying this because the way
I'm resolving this fumble might seem a little
out of left field. But I think it's pretty cool.
And with that, I would like to move into a little
flashback scene. I'm going to say, in the moment
we see Jules moving up, you're about to cast
one of your innate spells. Inflict wounds. You
know the magic. You feel it so familiar in your
hand. You've used it a few times now. And as
you reach out towards this scaly creature, we
push back in time. Black screen. We hear stone
grinding and stone just covering a constant energetic
thrum. These two sounds intermingle as a circular
stone platform is rising up a long shaft, surrounded
by a blur of fine masonry. Up and up and up it
goes. Jules? Yes? You stand on this platform,
and you are being held tight by something very
strong, made to stand in place as the platform
slowly just... begins to settle into the floor
of a large, circular room. It's a room that you've
seen very little of and yet have always known.
Your mother's private chamber resting at the
very top of the Tower of Authority. The room
from where she looks down at all the little people
far beneath her feet and communicates with the
horned lord she worships. The first thing that
hits you is the smell. sickly sweet with tangs
of metal. A gentle gust blows through from the
far wall, which is lined with open windows where
the room meets the edge of the tower. But this
does nothing to drive out this stench. You see,
this space is immaculately neat, yet filled with
tools of a cult ritual. Candles and blades, chalks,
other apparati, all lining the walls and various
stands and pouches. A massive bookcase stuffed
with old tomes dominates one end of this room.
Now on the other stands a cabinet holding hundreds
of tiny vials filled with a variety of strange
things, from liquids to the husks of insects,
to teeth still connected to their roots. There
are comfortable furnishings all throughout and
multiple ornate desks. See one desk sitting close
to the chamber center. is holding a glass case
that seems to be filled with a swirling black
smoke trapped inside. There's also an enormous
black bone jutting out from the center of the
stone floor, looking like the tip of a finger
or a claw, razor -sharpened. You've seen other
pieces of this fossil before, built into the
other rooms on every floor of this tower. And
you know that rumors state that all the five
towers that Sarul was built around have such
creatures buried in their masonry. Rumors state
that these fossils are the very reason for the
tower's impossible structural integrity and the
very magic that courses through their every stone.
You hear a voice. Familiar. Bring him. And then
you see your mother standing beside the fossil,
polishing its point. with embroidered cloth.
Then even as she waits alone in her chamber,
her bearing is undeniably regal. Her hair perfectly
woven into a complex braid, the purple gown she
wears, its wide skirt, spreading out beneath
her is one of the finest you have seen. All dressed
up, but for what? That force behind you begins
to push you forward towards the pointed fossil.
That force, was it a person? Maybe. Maybe there
wasn't a force. Maybe you just approached through
your own will. Yeah, that must be the case. Your
mother reaches for that glass case filled with
that dark smoke as you are moved closer and closer
towards her. And as she pulls the case open,
the smell of burning meat strikes you, overpowering
the other smells that fill this chamber. The
smoke disperses throughout the room instantly,
burning your eyes and filling your throat. From
what you can see, your mother seems unaffected.
And as it fades away, pouring out the open windows,
the true contents of the glass case are revealed
to you. A single candle, black wax and lit with
a deep red flame. Your mother gently rests the
case on a table, resting beside this great bone,
and takes that simple candle in hand. There is
an electricity to the air around you now, Jules,
and a heaviness. And you are brought to her.
And let me ask you now, Jules, this is, we'll
say, scant months before you finally made your
escape from this tower, from this family of yours.
How old are you now? I'm about 15. These last
few years have been particularly rough, ever
since you've continued to refuse to give in to...
To the future they want for you. To the rituals
they force you through. All the joy that you've
enjoyed in your life has been peeled away. Your
loot, gone. Your old tutors are replaced by ones
that belong to the same cult that your mother
seems to operate, or at least be one of the heads
of. What do you look like now? I think I've looked
pretty similar my entire life. Okay. At least
while I was with my family. A bit of a raggedy
mop hairstyle. Hell yeah. Clothes are still all
just kind of ripped and raggedy. Definitely not
what they had hoped for me, but whatever they
gave me, I just ripped to shreds. I love it.
Just to spite them. Your very appearance is an
act of defiance. Absolutely. I love it. You can
see the distaste on your mother's face as you
are brought before her. And she speaks. I have
been preparing this for some time, child. Seems
like a waste of your time. Now I cannot force
you to embrace the role the horned lunge has
set for you. But I can nudge you towards it.
You can try. You actually hear a voice speaking
from somewhere behind and above you. And there's
no character to the voice. And if you try to
focus on it, your mind simply just slips off
in an oil -slicked thought. To think you would
need to take such measures. The child's defiance
is a testament to your incompetence. Your mother
responds, and what of your own progeny? Calapsania
seems to have no interest in moving her own plans
forward. And then a phantom reply. My progeny
serves more purpose unaltered. I would be wary
of disparaging the very shield that protects
you. And then there is no strange monotone voice.
There never was. It's just you and your mother.
Her hand snaps out in a blur of movement, taking
hold of your wrist and the delicate fingers that
mask a vicious grip. The force behind you holds
your body tight, and you cannot fight as your
mother yanks your hand just over the point of
the bone. Let go. Right now. She smiles, your
palm hovering just over the sharpened tip. Fucking
let me go. You cling to this form with such fervor,
child. Why? You were born and raised to sit a
throne much larger than mine or your father's.
You insult me and fight me at every turn. It's
a throne of lies and a throne of death. You refuse
to open your eyes to the possibilities, to the
honors that await you. Arrogant and jealous boy,
you have no appreciation for the future I have
painstakingly forged for you. I'm arrogant. I'm
arrogant. Take a look in the mirror, you bitch.
Make an insight check. We'll use your current
stats for this. A little flashback insight check.
Nope. Okay. That's a two. You can never read
your mother. She's so cold, always. Hmm. I have
chosen to show you a tiny fragment of the freedom
you deny yourself. And I know not what... form
this ritual will take. Only that it will grant
you power. Use it. Embrace it. Feel it. It's
not freedom if you have to enslave everybody
to get it. Use that hatred, Jules. That fear.
Give thought and form to it. And they will give
a new form to you. You know what I hate? I hate
you. Good. And you will be free. And then, we
all will be. And with that, with a force, she
presses your palm into the point. No! And holds
it there. No! Your hand screams with pain as
red trickles begin to run down the side of the
bone. Oh, fuck! She yanks your hand off the point
and twists your palm upwards. And then very carefully,
she pours the melting wax of the candle into
the pooling blood. and your palm. And you watch
in horror as the black wax spreads and bubbles.
It mixes with the blood, and the swirling liquid
is sucked back into the open wound with an audible
slurp. The wound closes, and the pain hits. It
is unbearable, Jules, like knives slicing through
every inch of bone and muscle in your hand. And
as you're... How do you take this? Do you just,
like, grit? Yeah. Hell yeah. And as you just
like hold this in, this pain, we pan away from
the top floor of the Tower of Authority. And
we fade to black again. Now Jules, it would take
days for this pain to subside. And weeks for
your new powers to manifest and be discovered.
But we know now what these powers are. We've
reflavored your shadow -touched feet for this.
Your invisibility. your inflict wounds, your
power to cast without a focus, little homebrew
touch, these gifts or curses, however you may
view them, that you gained that day. Well, your
mother was right about one thing. They did indeed
help to grant you freedom. Freedom from that
tower. Freedom from her oppression. But that's
a story for a different time. As we... Move back
to promise. You step forward, Jules, to deliver
this blow with this cursed magic given to you
by dark rituals. And as you reach out, as you
try to cast the spell, there is no spell. There
is no wound, no pain. Not for the serpent. An
excruciating and familiar pain strikes your hand,
ripping through your flesh. You can see your
veins moving, fingers cracking backwards. Your
hand begins to swell up, and the skin rips open
as dark smoke pours out of the wound, covering
your hand and obscuring it. And as this smoke
fades, what do we see? We see a hand that's been
blackened. Almost necrotic. Long, sharp fingernails.
And all over the tops of the hand and around
the fingers are large, bulging, blood -red, glowing
veins. Holy hell. As this hand, not infused with
magic, reaches out for the serpent, touches it
uselessly, you can see Chester's eyes, like,
wide and terrified. Staring towards you. And
that's going to be the top of the round. Oh,
boy. Just like that. Top of the round. Zebulon.
Let's re -describe this situation for everybody.
It's been a little while. We had a little bit
of a scene there. We are looking at the entranceway
to this sort of great plaza filled with these
multicolored tents. We can see Zebulon is standing
just at the edge of the plaza where the street
opens up into it. He's kind of hiding under the
cover of a building. He's got a bow and arrow
in hand, and he's just dropped Michael Scimitar,
we've called him, one of these two guys that's
been going in with a weapon. You called him.
You named him that. Steven called him that because
he's a doofus. So we see another guy, bow at
the ready, another one of these bloody -eyed
poachers. These guys arrow train towards. Jean
Franklin, who's about 10 feet ahead of Zebulon,
just like guarding him. And we move further into
the plaza. And let me tell you, this math, oh
my goodness. I never really got to talk about
this last time because I got so excited for the
fight. But sound pukey girl, Rochelle, holy crap.
I asked for the Awakening Festival map, and she
gave me the perfect thing. We got a wagon in
the top corner for the snake. We got sort of
one side that's all these multicolored tents
running up it with a little bit of brush here
and there, some buildings around it, a big fountain
in the middle of the plaza, a stage at the bottom
for the choir all singing the Awakening song.
It's, ooh, I'm very excited, very open. It's
really lent itself well to this fight. We're
going to zoom across the map from where Zebulon
is, about 70 feet away. And we see a giant rattlesnake
coiled up, head raised high, fangs dripping venom,
ready to deliver them down towards one of the
two below it. You see Chester, hammer in hand,
and right by his side, Jules, who's just undergone
a bit of an awakening himself. Zebulon, as you're
standing there, you probably also see this happen
as you're kind of like caught by surprise. You
feel. A presence move up beside you. And you
turn your gaze to see none other than Emonrath,
the famed ranger of Moor and disciple of the
Storm Eye. Oh my god, it's Emonrath. Oh, it's
so good to be out. I can't believe you're here.
Before you can truly celebrate this reunion,
though, you see right next to Ebonrath, you see
a nondescript man that you recognize only through
seeing him on the Crystal Network earlier this
day. You see Bink, knives in hand. And as you're
kind of like, you're having this moment, down
the street behind all of you, you hear a voice
ringing out, Kali, Kali, Kali, Kali, Kali, Kali,
Kali, Kali, Kali, Kali, Kali, Kali! You spin
around and see two more blood -eyed figures clad
in leather armor and hunting garb. sliding out
of the space between buildings, and then charging
towards you, bearing scimitars. Really? You see
Bink whirls around, throwing a knife into the
leg of one. And as this figure slows, Bink draws
a second blade and dashes down the road to meet
him in battle. He gives you, Aminrath, a reassuring
nod as he goes, and you know that Bink can handle
himself in this 1v1. The other figure, however,
is fixed on you and moves up to both Aminrath
and Zebulon. His raised scimitar dripping with
a viscous yellow liquid. And you recognize it.
And then wrath is a very venom used by the poachers
on some Sunco that you've recently battled. You
have only just arrived on God's breath. And yet
you have already found your prey. And with that,
we're going to hop right back into turn order.
And the top of the round is him in wrath. Yes.
I just add this guy to the map. He's about five
feet away from you, Evelrath, and ten away from
you, Zebulon, as he's moving towards you down
the road. I need to feel the wind in my beard.
Is it possible to do a Zephyr? Hell yeah, it
is. Let's do it. Bonus action, Zephyr Strike.
You cast the spell, and yeah, again, your body
starts to move like the wind. Zebulon, you recognize
this perfectly. Oh, hell yeah. Witnessed it on
some Sunco. Let's do that. Now, to describe your
situation, there's one injured -looking man,
another one of these poachers who has an arrow
and bow. He's about 30 feet away from you right
now. About 70 feet away from you, you see the
giant snake. And then about 5 feet behind you
is this charging foe coming to meet you now.
So you have 3 potential targets. Yeah, we go
for the bow and arrow. Hell yeah! So you move
your full movement and you can get right up in
that guy's face. Deeper into the plaza, right
by the fountain side. And then Rath charges,
blurred like the wind. Yes! Sliding on my shield
for speed. Hell yeah. Holy shit. This is where
I buy. That's the coolest image. Holy shit. Shield
slides up. Want to make an attack roll? Yes.
Hell yeah. If this lands, you can add a D8 to
it. So give me your D20 roll. Nine. That's going
to be a plus four for a 13. Okay. 13 hits exactly.
Yeah, it does. Nice. Through this leather armor.
Right. Now, here's the thing. This guy's already
injured. And because of your Colossus Slayer
passive from being a Hunter Ranger, you can roll
two D8 already against him. And you can add a
third D8 if you want because of your Zephyr Strike.
You're going to release some of that wind energy
in this. Or you can hold it. Okay. Let's do two.
That's a two. All right, cool. You're holding
that wind energy. Roll that die twice. Add them
up. We've got two and seven. So nine. Nine. A
plus two on that. Eleven. Clinches it for the
kill on this guy. This guy looking surprised,
shocked. He's got his bow up, and all of a sudden
this figure blurs up to him, skating on a shield,
and just cuts him down. What's it look like?
It looks like a wedgie from hell. I love that.
And with that, old David Bowie drops down. Thank
God. With a Y. With a Y! Sliced down on the field.
And now there's only two foes to worry about.
A man approaching from behind and the rattlesnake
ahead. And that's going to be... Well, it was
going to be that guy. So, good move. I lost my
turn. Wow, another guy. I'm counting his moving
up to you to be his turn. So, Zebulon, that's
you. It's a little bit harder because I knew
that my move was going to be to go towards the
snake, but now there's this guy behind me. I'll
remind you, you are still frightened. Only Jean
-Franck will pass. Zebulon, you will never in
your entire life as a character pass a wisdom
saving throw. Great, yeah, thanks. Just so you
know. I'm just curious. Bink is tied up. Yeah,
you look over and see him. King, king, king,
king. Like blades locking against each other.
He's battling one of these guys. Got it. Got
it. Yeah, Zebulon's going to see Emin Rath fucking
skate by, apparently, and make this excellent
kill. And he's going to second guess himself.
He's going to be like, I can't go into the fight
here. I got to be the back line. And out of fear,
he'll turn around and race towards this new combatant,
dropping his bow, withdrawing both of his sabers.
There it is. And going for some melee attacks
here. Nice. Remember, this guy's got poison on
his weapon. If he gets a turn off, it could be
very bad. All right. And since... Now that Zebulon
is a swashbuckling rogue out here all alone with
nobody else beside him, he gets a sneak attack.
Nice. Oh, yeah. That's a 23, I think. Yeah, that's
going to hit. Oh, yeah. You're fine. You're all
right, Zebulon. That's it, right? That first
one's a D8 plus 3. All right, so that's... Ten
on just the melee damage. Let me add my 2d6 sneak
attack. That's another eight. Then I'm going
to use two -weapon fighting. I mean, that's 18
damage? Yeah. You don't need to use two -weapon
fighting. Oh, excellent. You've just dropped
this guy in one. My gosh. Nice. He just slided
in and boom, boom. Immediately drop him. Excellent.
Wow. 2d6, baby. then I'm going to roll my wisdom
save to see if I can. Yeah. Because now I can't
get any closer. Yeah. Oh, my God. Yeah, you can't
even see him now. You can't even shoot. Maybe
I might just take himself out of the fight. Well,
I can at least get within sight. But if the snake
is in sight, I can't get any closer. That's true.
Hey, good on you. Hey, right? Look at that wedgie
we almost had. Look at that. Been doing a little
bit of reading here. Wedgie avoided. All right,
yeah, that's not a pass. Okay. I mean, of course
not. Zebulon, you drop this guy and put a big
old red X on him because it looks so cool. Never
mind, he's too close to the edge of the screen.
This became a process. So can I at least get
back to the point where I can see the snake without
moving any closer? Yeah, you can totally do that.
You can drop right to here. Boom, you move back
down to the side of the building into the main
plaza, right at the sort of edge of it, and you
see the snake still looming over Jules. The exact
spot where he dropped his bow. Yeah, step on
your bow and break it. Hint, hint, wink, wink.
It's gone now. And with that, that's going to
be Chester. Chester's still wielding his warhammer.
He is indeed. And he's going to go after the
snake with his warhammer. Okay. I'm trying my
original metal D20 that I haven't used in quite
a while. Ooh, all right. Because the other D20s
have been a little cold. So let's see. That one's
cold too. That one's going in dice jail. That
dice jail was looking a little empty. I was kind
of thinking, like, we need somebody to... That's
only a five to hit. Yeah, that's not going to
do it. No, it's not. I know. Chester goes to
strike snake. Sort of weaves back and goes wide
of the mark. This isn't good. This thing can
deal some serious damage if it can't pass those
con saves for its poison. But there is one person
that has a chance to act still before this thing
goes. And that person... is Jean Franklin, now
fully cured of his fear, eyes burning. What are
you going to do, Steven? I don't like the fact
that my life is in Jean Franklin's hands. Well,
yeah, the shitty part is that Jean Franklin can't
get there in 30 feet. He's within 30 feet, isn't
he? You're all within 30 feet. No, he is 60 away.
Yeah, I also have to go like 10 feet just to
grab his spear. Yeah, about 45 to 50 feet away,
so not quite able to get there within one movement.
All right. I have one thing that I might, or
Jaune has one thing he might be able to do. So
Jaune will walk up, reach around or past Emon
Rath to grab his spear out of David Bowie and
continue the rest of his movement towards the
snake. Okay. When he gets to the end of his movement,
He's going to try to rebuke evil. Interesting.
Interesting. Okay. So this, I mean, will only
apply if the snake is aligned evil. I need to
look at something. But if the snake is aligned
evil, he'll have to succeed on a DC 11 save or
be frightened for one minute. Oh. Or until it
takes damage. Okay. This is a bonus action? On
my sheet here on D &D Beyond, it doesn't say
whether it is an action or a bonus action. Oh,
no, it's, yeah, sorry. First sentence, Steven.
The knight can use an action to frighten evil
-aligned creatures. You've already used your
action to double move. Oh, I said I wanted to
use the rest of his movement. Oh, oh, you, okay,
gotcha, gotcha. I thought you wanted to move
up to the snake. It's each evil creature within
30 feet. Okay. So you're a little ways away.
Yeah, you get there. You go to cast this. And
as Jean Franklin kind of like holds himself ready,
like, all right, here we go. Move away, evil
fiend. And he kind of like holds his spear out
and just tries to like, like, like, like we see
this almost magical aura just starts to pulsate
off of him and blast towards it. And the snake
in the wake of this aura looks up. It's a really
low roll. But he's immune. Okay, yeah, sure.
That's kind of what I thought. So he blinks.
I was reading your cadence, and I was like, he's
not evil -aligned. He blinks because he's a beast,
and he's unaligned with any alignment at all.
Oh, well, fuck me. Hey, you're learning. All
right, but hey, you know, Jon Falken's halfway
there. He tried something. He's just like, well,
shit. Guess whose turn it is. The term we've
all been waiting for. It's Mr. Snake. Fuck. And
I've got two targets here. Two targets to strike
at. Chester did some damage last round, but Jules
did something real funky right there. This thing
sees the smoke sort of clearing away, sort of
billowing off your hand as it clears up. You
see something strange happening and feels some
threat from you. And I think he's going for you.
Almost scared. predatory instinct, his eyes sharpen,
and he rears back and dives down for a bite.
All right, here we go. Definite hit. What? It
was like a 23. It was a definite hit. Oh, yeah,
here we go. Jules, that is 11 points of damage.
Goddamn. As his fangs rip into you, sinking deep
into your flesh. I'm still up. I'm afraid I need
a constitution saving throw from you. As poison
starts being pumped into your veins. What? Oh,
yes. This is bad. It's bad. God. This is 16.
That's a pass. Yeah, that's huge. You're going
to take half damage still. What? I'll tell you
what, full damage almost certainly would have
dropped you. Half damage, we'll see. Not with
two rolls. Three rolls? What the fuck? Honestly,
I rolled really bad. It doesn't matter. Only
three points of damage. It doesn't matter. I'm
at zero. I'm unconscious. Really? Whoa. You know
my HP. It's exactly 14, isn't it? Wow. So Jules,
you hold against this thing and you see that
same telltale defiance in your eyes as his poison
sinks into you. I just imagine Jules glaring
up at the serpent, almost not reacting as this
is pumped into his body. And then we slowly see
that defiance like fade as Jules' eyes begin
to close and blur. And you fall unconscious.
But you're not making death throws yet. But Chester's
still up, still terrified. I think this just
shook him out of his sort of fear of seeing what
happened to you. You see that fear replaced instantly
by rage at this creature that has just hurt you.
And now, Jules, it is your turn. I want to see
a death save. I don't remember the last time
I made a death saving throw. Pick a good die.
I passed, 19. 19, okay. Almost a crit. That would
have been huge. That's one pass. Crit would have
been amazing. I do want to say, I didn't want
to do it this round because it's kind of like
I don't want to backseat help too much, but do
you remember Jean Franklin's reaction? It is
probably the best thing he has. I know, I know.
That's what I should have done instead of tried
to evil rebuke. I just want to make sure you're
aware. I know there's a lot of stuff to keep
track of on these sheets. I want to make sure
it's clear there, but always remember that reaction
might be literally his best quality. Yeah, appreciate
it. Cool. So, Jules is down, but he's slowly
kind of coming back. I think at that moment in
that darkness, Jules, you're lying there. You
feel this pain emanating from your hand. You
can hear a phantom voice just by your ear. Look
at me. I think in my head, I'm saying, not a
fucking chance. Holy shit. You're going to have
to kill me first. Oh, and as you're having this
thought, we pan away from Jules' mind to the
snake hanging overhead. Top of the round. And
that's going to be Eamon Roth. Now, halfway through
this... This plaza. What do you want to do? I
think I need to go for that snake. Okay. To help
out. That's my first instinct. Okay. Yeah. Yeah,
Everett, you barely manage. Still blurring. You
kick up your shield. And with that wind aura
around you, you just blow, sliding across the
plaza, blurring past Jean -Franek. Hey! And you
right up. There's like a sort of stand in front
of this thing. I just like to imagine you essentially
like... Jump off the shield, sliding onto the
table. Yeah, that's what I was thinking. Right
before this thing, sword in hand, you're there
and you can attack. Right on. So I look at the
snake and I go, you don't rattle me. Oh, shoot.
Oh, my gosh. Nice. So what do I have left here?
I can do a hundred's mark? Yeah, bonus action.
You still have it. I do. I was thinking of doing
that, yeah. Casting Hunter's Mark as well. So
you look at this thing, you cast Hunter's Mark,
and you mark this thing as your prey. You say
that as you mark it. And this snake, again, this
tinge of fear enters its eyes as it feels the
gaze of a predator upon it. Something it has
probably never felt because it's so huge. It's
the apex predator. Until it met Aminara. Holy
shit. You have Wind Active. So you can do a bonus
D8 to this thing as well. So you can roll an
attack. If this lands, you're going to get a
bonus D8 from Colossus Slayer. You could get
a bonus D8 from Zephyr Strike and a bonus D6
from your Hunter's Mark. This is going to be
a big damage hit if you land the attack. All
right, so D8. It's a D20 first. Let's see if
you can hit this guy. Okay, plus four. Four.
Just a four? It was a four. Four. There's going
to be an eight. Does not hit. This thing weaves
out of the way. Not quite able to land that strike
on it. But you still have those buffs active.
And this thing is looking scared of you. Oh,
hell yeah. We'll add extra die next turn. All
right. So that is going to be Zebulon. Yeah.
I mean, everyone's on the other side of the...
and Zebulon's standing there, and he's trying
to psych himself up, and he's just not in it,
and he reaches down. Come on, Zebulon. Come on.
Come on. He grabs his bow, and bonus action steady
aim to give himself advantage, which from this
distance is going to give him sneak attack. So
I hate to do this. I am going to give this snake
a plus two to AC. from this attack because it's
pretty well crowded by your allies. No, you know
what? I'm not going to. I'll tell you why. Because
Jules is down. And that creates an opening right
there. If Jules was not down, I would give him
plus two. I'm not going to. That's more than
fair. Alright, so I'm going to roll it just straight
up plus five. Shortbow roll twice for steady
aim. First one's only a twelve. Second one's
even worse. 12 will not hit. So the arrow goes
wide. Come on, Jebula. What are you? He's got
to look cool. Julie's on the ground. My friends
are dying. And that's all he's got. He's just
going to make his wisdom save. God, it's so sad.
For this character in particular, what a moment
to just not be able to make that move. Yeah,
for real. Wow. That's a 12 on the die minus three.
Oh, Zebulon. It's heartbreaking. Yeah, it's really
not good. It's really not good. Wow. Make me
a perception check. Seven on the die minus one.
Don't worry about it. I'm going to put this in
jail. All right. Man, two turns, bunch of misses.
Try to throw you a bone and you can't roll a
perception check. Jeremy, I'm so sorry. Holy
shit. Holy shit. But there's more heroes than
just Zebulon in this field. For instance, there's
Chester. Chester's going to go in with his Warhammer.
And he's going to use his Boat of Potential from
the Bardic Inspiration. Oh, shit. On this attack
roll. That is cool as hell. For this attack roll,
you have to succeed on a con saving throw or
take thunder damage equal to the die that I roll
for the bardic inspiration. Okay. All right,
so roll the attack. Roll the d20 first with the
bardic die. And if you land the attack, I'll
make that save. Oh, it doesn't say if I land
the attack. Oh, really? It just says you have
to make a con save. Okay. For any creature that
I attack. Okay. Does it say successfully attack?
Nope. All right, then I think that means... Well,
just for the listeners here, let me read the
entire thing. The target and each creature of
your choice that you can see within five feet
of it must succeed on a con saving throw or take
thunder damage equal to the number rolled on
the bardic inspiration die. Oh, yeah, so you're
the target whether or not it hits. Yeah, that
makes sense to me. That is really good. It was
already really good, and now it's even more really
good. Yeah, you're going to have to get... Now
let me give this guy a plus two to AC because
I feel like it. I'm just kidding. Jerry had a
low sound to kill you face. Oh my goodness. 13
to hit. 13 just barely misses. Just barely. Well,
you still take four. You still take four thunder
damage. Can we save? Save. That is a six on the
die. Failed that save for sure. Yeah, you did.
Okay. You know what? That's not up. This thing
has already been. I will reiterate. This thing
has been hurt a lot. We have John Franklin before
this, right? Yeah. I mean, that's three misses
in a row. Come on. It's rough. This has been
a stinker. This is it or Jules is dead. Stinker
of a round. Well, at least there are other combatants.
Not before the snake. Right. But the snake could
hit somebody else. John Franklin. It's David.
It's David. All right. So, David, if John steps
into that space between Emin Rath and Chester.
Excuse me. Emin Rath and Chester. Yeah. That's
five feet away, right? Because the snake is taking
up part of that space? At least the... Yes, yeah,
of course. Yeah, as long as he's diagonal to
the snake, he's fine. Okay, perfect. He slides
up right beside Jules' downed body, right next
to Evanrath, standing on a desk just above him.
Gosh, he's just going to go in for an attack
here. Okay. Holy shit, this is... Close. All
right, Jean's got a plus three to hit. The only
foe in the field. That's a 16 to hit. 16 will
hit. All right, so that's a D6 plus one because
he's got his shield. That's max damage. That's
seven damage. Holy shit. Okay. Nice. Just comes
in with that spear and seven damage, huh? Yeah.
That is solid. So this thing, actually, before
I describe this, what kind of damage does your
bardic inspiration do? Is it thunder, you said?
It's thunder damage. So, like, Chester on his
turn whirls out. Just barely a snake managed
to move back from it. And just kind of looking
a little snake cocky. You see this blur of sonic
energy blast out from the hammer swing and smash
the snake. And it kind of, its head gets turned
upright. And as it's kind of, like, dazed from
this, John Franklin slides in with a spear and
shoves it right through the snake. Right through,
like, part of its long coil. And it just hisses
out in pain. And now it has four targets. four
targets to strike at. One of them down. And honestly,
I know what you think, but I got to play to the
snake. And the snake, while it's hungry, while
it wants to eat, it can't go for down prey while
it's surrounded by threats. So here's what I'm
going to do. I'm going to roll a D4. One is Chester.
Two is Jean Franklin. Three and four, I'm going
to laugh because he's shown himself to be the
biggest threat right now. This thing like that,
that hunter's mark scared the shit out of this
thing. So that's what we're going to do. It's
a one. Oh, no. God fucking damn it. That Hunter's
Mark was scary, but that sonic damage, that blur
of force, that's the unknown, and there's nothing
scarier than that. As the snake coils back, it
dives down for Chester. I think at this point,
for me, Chester dying is worse than Jules dying.
This is potentially very, very bad, but Chester's
still tough. He hasn't taken a hit yet, right?
No. All right, then. Is Chester within five feet
of John Franklin? He's not. What? Yeah. Jules
is next to John. Chester's just beyond him. Okay,
yeah, he's a space away. Unfortunately, the one
person John can't protect. John sees this, and
I think he's like, his hands go out like, no,
sort of, because he realized he can't quite get
there in time as this thing bites down. That's
iffy. It's actually only a 14 to hit. That just
hits. Oh, get out. Holy sh... Okay. Chester's
going down. I need a con save from Chester. What's
Chester's HP? What's his bonus? Okay, there.
First he takes nine points of damage from the
fangs. That's eight. Where's Bink when you need
him? Where is Bink? Damn it. Down in Massachusetts.
Might be okay. Classic. Seven more points of
damage on Chester. Chester's still up. Holy shit.
Chester takes the full run. You see his vein
bites in, and you see his veins popping, his
body swelling, and he's barely standing, his
legs trembling. He's just standing there. Jules,
not going to let you hurt. Jules. He's just,
like, gritting himself and just everything it
takes to stand tall. Just so the listeners can
get a visual here, I am, like, on the verge of
passing out. Serious. This is so fucking intense.
You got another round. Before that other round
to stop this snake, before it gets another potential
killing blow on somebody here, I need a death
save, Jules. It's a fail. It's an eight. Your
hand throbs, and that darkness closes in on you.
So thick, so heavy, so all -encompassing, and
so, so, so, so vast. Zebulon. No, sorry. Amen.
Top of the round. That's going to be you. This
thing dodged your attacks before. You might be
the one that can save us here. This is a great
episode for you to come back. Oh, my God. Could
you imagine? Yeah. One last minute cancellation
from Stomp and it's fucking over. Oh, my God.
This was a necessity. All right. What other podcasts
do you go on where it's like, oh, you can't make
it? Okay, I guess we'll just die. That's a lot
of pressure. Oh, my God. All right. So I'm curious.
Can I move as a distraction? Can I move out of
the way? Will this snake follow me as a distraction
to give time for the others? That is interesting.
If you move out of the way, you're going to take
an AOL. But if you take the AOL, I'm going to
get a free attack on you that's not even on my
turn. Right. But if you do that, I'm going to
let you do this. Two attacks on this thing might
drop you. A crit on this thing will likely drop
you. This is still very dangerous. What you're
doing is a madman thing. I have faith. All right.
I like this. I think we should do this. Okay.
All right. Yes. So what do you do? First, I need
you to describe to me how you're provoking this
attention. Well, I'm on top of the boxes, correct?
Yes. Yes. What I do is I take my top knot and
I start swinging it wildly. Like a lasso. And
I say, yoo -hoo, yoo -hoo. And I jump out of
the way, hoping to lure the beast away from my
friends. Wow. That I've grown accustomed to on
Subsonico. Wow. It's like rearing up over Chester.
It's head whirls. Its eyes focused on you. And
you start to move. Mm -hmm. Yeah. You jump out
of the way, and you're looking, how might I say,
rather tasty. Hey. I'm going to take an attack
on you as you try to jump. That's iffy. That
is only going to be a 13 to hit. And your AC
is 15. Sacrifice. You drive out of the way. The
table you're standing on, it just breaks in two
as a snake bites through, hissing. How far do
you want to move? You can move 30 feet if you
want or less. Just like 10. Okay, 10 feet away?
Great. You drop down. You move right under the
cover of this yellow canopy above you where you
can lure this thing in. Yeah, that's perfect.
I like that. I like that. I do. All right, all
right. That is going to be Zebulon. Zebulon,
you can't move, and you're watching Emonrath
make himself into live bait ahead of you. A real
luminary. Well, right. And the snake starts coming
closer to Zebulon, and he's... Even more afraid.
Oh, boy. He's even more afraid. Oh, shit. Oh,
shit. Oh, shit. Oh, shit. And, I mean, I hate
to be one note, but I'm going to play the same
tactic here. I'm going to do steady aim and shoot
a couple of shots off. All right. Maybe you'll
actually hit once. Yeah, so with advantage. If
I use a button now, does that mean I get plus
two on both of those advantage rolls? Yes. I'm
going to do it. Okay. I need to hit. Okay. You're
cashing in a button. Double advantage is advantage
and a bonus by my house rules. So that's going
to be advantage and a plus two. Thank you, sir.
I need a good die, though. Oh, my God. It's a
crit. It's a crit? Dude. I just crit with advantage.
I smell something. I smell something. Stop it!
It stank like crit. It stank like crit in here.
Every time! We just messed it up last episode,
so this is, like, so righteous. That's true!
That's true! Dude, this is excellent. Cool. All
right, let's walk through it here. There is hope.
Yeah, so it's 2d6 plus 3. For the crit. Yeah.
And then my sneak attack is 2d6. 4d6. Oh my god.
Are you serious? Is that for real? Yep. You double
any die you roll that's not behind a save, basically.
Are you telling me I roll 66 plus 3? You roll
66 plus 3. Dude, I'm cringing my pants over here
now. This is rogues. That's what they do. I mean,
give me like 6 minutes to count out 6. Actually,
we have so many fucking die here. We have 66.
Oh my god. You can roll 66 at once if you want
to. No, the thing that's going to take me 6 minutes
is doing the fast math. Actually, while you're
doing that, let me rectify one thing before I
have a wedgie to make out of it. you have your
ability. You actually can't be A -O -O'd. So
you blur away from this thing, and it tries to
chomp, and it literally can't. You're the wind.
Got it. Got it. Yeah, so you make a fool of this
thing. I'm glad I missed, because I would have
anyway. Wow, yeah. David, I think I need to...
What's it called when, like, a police officer
comes up to your car? Inspect? No, where they,
like, can, like, just, like, jump in and drive
away in it. What? Commandeer? Commandeer. I need
to commandeer your dice tower. You may have my
dice tower, sir. Really? Yeah. Really? This is
either going to be fantastic or awful. All ones.
One of the two. There's no middle ground here.
How can 66 plus three go wrong? You're going
to drop the dice in my tower and only two dice
are going to come out the bottom. The other ones
are going to be gone forever. I'm going to guess
that 66 plus three can drop this thing. Maybe.
Is that within the realm of possibility, you
think? Maybe. All right. Great. He ain't going
to give you shit. A poker face. Holy shit. Is
it the biggest damage we've seen in this game
so far? Oh, yeah. I think so. Absolutely. Give
me some math. I'm working on it, but now I'm
nervous. Did you say 24? 24. 24. Is that the
plus three? Wow. 27. 27. 27 damage. 6, 6, 5,
1, 2, 3. Plus three. No, 26. Sorry. 26. We got
it. 26 damage. Only 26? Oh, well, never mind.
This giant rattlesnake whirls its head towards
Eminem. And as it kind of begins to, like, move
its way towards there, as its head sort of rises
up after it smashed down to the table, you see
an opening. Perfect opening as it sort of moves
away from your allies that are sort of gathered
around it. This is what you've been waiting for,
Zebulon. Come on. Hands firm. No longer shaking.
Legs stop shaking. Zebulon, it's fucking hero
time. Steady aim. Arrow launches. Where do you
hit the snake when you kill it? Right in the
eye. Right in the eye. Holy snake eyes. This
arrow slides right under Chester's arrowhead
sticking out from earlier from his head. You
snap it right in the eye and this thing with
one last hiss and a rattle drops down into the
dirt of the plaza, dead. Wow. Cool. Everything
goes quiet. I just breathed for the first time
in an hour. Everything is very, very quiet. You
see the area around you is still quite cleared
out. And Jules, you're still on the ground. You're
still unconscious. Anyone going to do something
about that? Or do you just want to let him bleed
out? No. We're just going to let him bleed out,
actually. Make a few more death saves for me.
We're going to start shopping around the plaza
here. A few minutes pass. No. John will run over.
That was a pass. John will run over. Nat 20.
I'm up. Hey, you're up. John reaches down to
lay on hands, but Jules just pops up in his face.
Jean will give him the last point. Oh, yeah.
So what does that mean? I got one? The wound
closes just a bit. The sort of wound around the
fang starts to close. Maybe that wound isn't
so bad, but the poison's still in you, and it
still hurts, still aches. Okay, so I think in
Jules' fashion, he's going to open his eyes,
and immediately, without hesitation, he's going
to cast Cure Wounds on himself. Okay. Very aware
of the situation. It's Jules. You go to cast
this Jules, and as you're casting it, you almost
don't get a chance to get the spell off as a
Chester just drops down on top of you, just grabbing
you in this big hug. Oh, that's great, because
it's max. Hell yeah. So it's 1d8 plus 3, so that's
11. Hell yeah. That's 11, so that brings me up
to 13 out of 14. Jules, Jules, you're up. Jules,
holy shit. I thought I got you. Just, I'm fine.
I'm fine. I'm fine. All right. I'm fine. All
right, yeah. We're good. We're good. Did you
see the size of that thing, Jules? Holy shit.
No, I didn't. I didn't. I hit it with my hammer.
Holy shit. You did good fucking work. You did
good work, Justin. He kind of lingers on you
for a second, and then he sort of moves back
and just, like, collapses down. onto his butt
just like with a oof and you could see his like
body is still his veins like popping out all
over his body as his poison still running its
course in him like it's not damaging him anymore
but he's just like hurt and winded he's just
Chester Chester you're hurt you're hurt here
here here and they cast Cure Wounds on Chester
you reach out your hand to do that and you realize
something very interesting as you go to reach
out your hand you see that Suddenly there's like
a cloth tied over it. And you realize that Chester
was doing more than just hugging you right there.
He's always got your back. Thanks, buddy. And
you cast through it. Yeah, give me that roll.
And that's five. So Chester, just exhausted,
gives you a wink and a smile. And you touch him
and the veins of poison begin to recede. And
he just smiles even deeper like, oh, hell. Oh,
that feels good. That was awful. It wasn't so
good, buddy. That was close. John Franklin just,
I'll say. It's a good thing I was here to help
deal with the opponent. And who are you? He looks
over and a rat is standing under this tent nearby.
Just a tourist. Yes, you do look like the sort.
Zebulon, what are you doing? I think Zebulon's
still afraid. I know that mechanically that's
done and over with, but he's still standing over
by the corner of the building. Is it dead? Guys?
Yes, dead. You did it. Are you sure? Zeb, you're
the hero. You're the hero. It's dead. I want
to hear it from Emon Rath. He's dead already.
Come on out, son. Okay. And Zebulon will start
to really slowly walk over. All right. As you're
moving and walking over, I'll say around the
corner you see Bink comes out. He's storing his
knives. He looks satisfied, unhurt. You actually
see him. He looks over you, gives you a nod,
and then looks around both sides, sees that no
one's really moving in yet, and just immediately
moves over to the downed bodies and just kind
of starts like... Checking their pockets. Nice.
I think he'll appreciate that. He's doing his
quick survey. Yeah, check it out. He's just pocketing
a couple things real fast as Zebulon moves towards
the group here, and you all kind of come together
around the body of this serpent. Wow, what are
the odds that you show up now at this time? I'm
on a mission. I mean, I've been, I've been ever,
ever so close to you, but so far away. I've kept
my eye on all of you. If it wasn't for you, I'm
in wrath. We, we could have been dead. All of
us. We're all here together. And sometimes self
-sacrifice is the key. I saw that. I saw the
way you, you like moved in, then you moved out.
And that was like, that was perfect because then
I had just, Oh, the best shot. Yes. Yes. Miraculous.
Miraculous. Miraculous. Miraculous. It's a rollercoaster.
A rollercoaster. What have you been doing here?
Well, after I left you on Sopsanko, the night
market, I had a mission because the poachers
gave me the clues I needed to discover who was
spreading this deadly venom. And to find you
here at this time was just fate. So... The journey
continues, and we will find the poachers and
come closer to eliminating this scourge. So are
these guys... And Zebulon points back to the
downed combatants. Are these guys poachers? I'm
in wrath. Go ahead and roll me. I'm going to
call it a history check with advantage. So that's
going to be two d20s. So roll that twice. Eight.
Actually, I'll give you investigation two. Thirteen.
Thirteen, plus two investigation, so fifteen.
You kind of look at these figures, and maybe
Bink also, like he pulls up maybe a certain insignia.
You know what happens? Bink is over there, and
actually he comes down to one of these bodies,
and he feels the body, and it's already passed.
And you see he takes out his knife real fast,
and just a quick clean cut looks both ways on
somewhere on its arm. And he looks at you, and
he kind of barely holds up a little piece of
skin with this image on it. It looks like a serpent
eating its own tail. A little tattoo. And he
kind of gives you a nod, and you know, these
are snake eaters. This is the group you were
here to hunt. Why they're in the middle of town?
Why they're releasing the, you would assume,
the rattlesnake they've been milking for its
poison? Why they're releasing it in the middle
of this town, the middle of a festival? It makes
no sense. There's no profit here. And as you
guys see these bodies, I will say another weird
thing that makes kind of noting, and you note
as well, as they die, the blood in their eyes
suddenly starts to fall out the sides, leaking
out the sides like a slow drip of oil until their
eyes are clear and sightless in death. Well,
Jean Franklin kind of picked up on something
like that, right? He did. He saw they were being
controlled. But you do know that they are the
very criminals you were looking for. That's pretty
gross, by the way, what you did with that skin.
Mink ignores you. He's got nothing to say to
you. We're getting warmer. Well, what's the next
step to tracking these guys down? I mean, because
there's got to be more than just these three.
I'll say right now, I'm in wrath. the trail is
pretty cold. You'll want to examine the scene.
Uh, once things die down here, you'll probably
want to check things out, investigate, see if
you can find any more clues. And maybe there's
other worlds where, uh, there might be more to
find. Yeah. That makes sense. But you know, these
groups often travel like, like the group you
fought on to Sunco was, was smaller like this.
And you'd think more than four people here is
unlikely because it would garner too much attention.
So, well, what about a bank? Did he find anything
of value in the pockets? Uh, You definitely see
his pockets are a little bulging. Or clues. You
don't necessarily know if it's clues. He's definitely
looking for clues, but you know Bank. He's looking
for gold as well, and he's probably finding some.
Man. What a rapscallion. Oh, yeah. I'm not quite
sure, to be honest with you. I'm at a loss. I
mean, I think I would have to... spend more time
in the area. Yeah. We'll say basically following
this, uh, and then the wrath himself will cordon
off the area and he will perform his investigation
as a luminary and you'll, you'll be fine with
that. Um, it's going to be hard because you actually
look over and see like a crowd of people is slowly
starting to accumulate and like see what's going
on and starting to move towards you. So, uh,
the time you have right now is gonna be limited
because well, you're heroes and you might just
get heralded as such now. Hmm. Um, Maybe Zebulon
will try to make a little space as people start
to come in closer. He'll, excuse me, stay back,
please. Emon Rath is here. We got to keep this
scene sterile. And so just if you, this is the
line right here. This is the line. Please don't
pass. One little thing, though, actually, I will
say. uh, Zebulon and all of you, as you're kind
of like trying to, as a crowd's moving in, all
these people are just like, like they're very
quiet. There's more murmurs right now. Not a
lot of like cheering yet, but they're just looking
at the snake and like eyes wide. But as they
start to move in, you see one figure resolve
itself from like around the side of the, of the
fountain. You see, um, this figure stood out
to you before. They're like an androgynous God's
folk, uh, clad in sort of purple looks like maybe
like almost like a religious guard with a big
sash down the front. And. You see they have the
slight smile on their face as they're holding
a diamond to their eyes. But before you can really
move on that, the crowd overtakes them and they're
gone. And a little bit louder. Yes, I was the
one who killed it. I was the one who fired the
last shot. That's not important right now. There's
an investigation, an active investigation. Self
-promotion. And finally, I almost hear one guy
like, I'm going to sick. Hey, that's Ebonrath.
Ebonrath, Ebonrath, Ebonrath, Ebonrath. And people
were just starting to go wild. You see hats thrown
in the air and cheering begins then. Hey, roll
me a persuade or intimidate check, Zebulon, because
they're fucking coming. Oh, wow. Yeah, I think
I'd rather roll. Persuasion than intimidation.
One, because I don't think Zebulon would try
to intimidate a crowd, but also because my stat
is better for persuade. All right, go ahead.
It's going to be good because these guys are
hype. Yeah, it doesn't matter. That was a three
on the die, so six total. Zebulon, you're trying
to hang on, hang on. And you guys all just see
like this sea of God's folk just plowing through
you. The festival continues. You guys are swarmed
by excited people. And we'll call it there.