Welcome to Tales from the Crit Season 3. Bigger,
badder, and stickier. By joining us today, you
have been officially upgraded to Crit Cat status.
So, welcome to the club. Tales from the Crit
is an actual play podcast where we focus on smaller
story arcs from some of your favorite RPGs, as
well as some of the less known or obscure ones.
We also play some highly narrative tabletop board
games and also some micro RPGs. All of those
feature a revolving cast of players, so you're
going to see a lot of variety there. And as always,
I am your host and your Crit Keeper, Riley Groves.
We're so glad to have you here with us today.
Now let's get into the episode. Content warnings
can be found in the description. Welcome back
to Tales from the Crit, where we are continuing
our journey through the Rootverse. I have returning
to the table, Connor. Hello. Tim. It is I. And
Anna. Hey there. Reprising the roles of Peter,
Cotton, and Bramble. Super excited to get back
into this one. We're going to do something a
little bit different rather than answer a question
from our pod deck interview deck or our RPG campfire
card deck thing that I can never actually remember
the name of and will not. We're going to talk
about the lore of your guys' characters a little
bit more. So we're going to do something a little
bit more fun. Why don't one of you roll a D6?
And we're going to determine. Awesome. Six. Six.
We're going to talk about one of your band's
daring exploits that you had accomplished in
the past. This one time we played this sweet
guitar solo. Blah, blah, blah, blah. Wonderwall.
Our band. That's not how Wonderwall goes at all.
All right on a six you guys performed a remarkable
heist this heist earns the vagabonds more value
to start however that Is not applicable. I guess
it could be and greater Every vagabond in the
group marks two prestige with the faction you
helped in your exploit and two notoriety with
the faction you harmed in your exploit. Every
vagabond gains two value worth of coin or equipment.
Explain what you stole, why it is remarkable,
and how taking it harmed one faction or another.
And then we will mark the site of your heist
on the map. Hell yeah. So I guess our amazing
theft of eggs. doesn't count that was a no not
unless you guys have multiple egg theft stories
we do have to eat every day so if you guys want
you can go over this collectively and make a
decision on what you did or what you who you
worked for and against and what clearing it was
in or we can let the dice decide those two things
as well i feel like i'd like to say we worked
for The Woodland Alliance faction, if they're
a faction, against either of the other two. But
I guess we are rogues and we could have worked
for one of the two, you know, arguably bad sides
against the other one as well. Maybe we worked
for the cats before. Oh, we've worked with the
cats once before. I like this. Okay. All right.
What clearing did you work for the cats in? I
like Milltown for some reason. The denizens are
the mice. And we helped to squish, like, any
news of an uprising. Okay. That does sound shitty.
I mean, because that's the cat territory, right?
It is owned by the cats, yeah. Maybe we had to
get them some sort of resource. Like, we brought
it to the town. Okay. That does make us sound
less shitty. We were working on getting milk
to Milltown so that they could make cheese. And
the cats overtook us. Instead we said, we stole
this for you. Because we knew it was life or
death. So it was semi -heist in the idea. Was
it rabbit milk? We could make it rabbit milk.
I've heard it's very good. Okay. You've stolen
some rabbit milk, which you were smuggling to
Milltown. Cats found you. And then you lied about
wanting to give it to them. Yeah. And thus giving
them the milk that was intended for the denizens.
And then they paid us for it. Yeah. Okay. So
we're not really welcome in Milltown. They didn't
see the fact that we survived. We chose living
and giving up the milk versus dying by getting
caught with it. And still giving up the milk.
Which I mean, like, screw Milltown. But we'd
have to sell it anyway. Yeah. All right. They
wanted us to die so that, what? That's crazy.
We survived. They should be pretty stoked. There
could have been a chance we could have gotten
them more milk at some point. I mean, I know
rabbits. I know rabbits. However, the denizens
of Milltown were primarily mice, so. Well, I
know, but they had rabbit milk. Oh, yes. Never
mind. They wanted the rabbit milk. All right.
Awesome. So what I'm going to need you to do
is add plus two to your cat reputations. Oh.
But we also get value, right? Yes. You're going
to add plus two value. To your sheet. You're
also going to add plus two to the cats. And you're
going to make a fourth faction on your sheet.
That will be the denizens. And you're going to
take a minus two to your reputation with the
denizens. Oh. Just like a blanket overall all
of them? Yeah. They talk to each other. I will
mark on the map that you guys have done something
in Milltown. Let's try it. Like a cheese wedge?
Yes. Two for the cats and... Plus two for the
cats, minus two for the denizens, and two value.
This kind of also changes how I was thinking
about how to deal with our next situation. In
a better way? Worse way. I don't really... I
did look at the map, and the only two mice being
the denizens is Blackpaw's Dam in Milltown. Everywhere
else is either fox or rabbit. So I feel it makes
sense to have a... concentrated area where we're
not welcome versus all over the fucking map.
That's true. So we kind of did something nice
for the cats. You know, we gave them the milk
so they can make cheese. Yeah, they like us.
It gives a little bit of rapport with the cats.
We wanted to give the mice the milk. We were
originally going to sell the mice milk to make
cheese. The cats stole it because cats just love
milk. Oh, I see. Yeah, they filled all their...
Okay. I was going to say bars. That's why the
mice hate us because it was going to be their...
yeah and then it wasn't yeah there are um also
the mice are the main denizens in iron veil i
know you said there were two oh um and they were
the main denizens in oak and hold oh so there
is a chance that mice overall may be your big
fan oh damn whoops Well, they don't know that
we had ever been to Okinawa even. Yeah, we're
just telling everyone that we've been there.
What if it wasn't the entire cat faction, but
specifically like somebody who ran like some
bar that was like a chain through the three major
areas there? The Hollow Borough, the Milltown,
the Blackpaw's Dam. It's like the milk lounge.
And it's just like a very popular one that's
in each of them. And we sold it to like the owner.
So we have favor with like some of the cats,
but maybe not like the entire group. That would
make sense because you guys probably don't have
a plus one yet in your reputation overall with
the cats. So that makes sense, right? So you
have some renown within the Marquis de Cat, but
not so much that it would give you a huge benefit
dealing with any. Yeah, we're not hometown heroes,
but maybe there are certain. frequent flyers
to those areas they're like oh we've heard about
you you're the ones that made sure we get that
that good stuff with that why don't we just run
through what our value or what our reputations
are first before we get started what your values
are for each and how are you looking with the
eerie negative one cool Tim I am also negative
one with the eerie and then I have three squares
to go before I am plus one okay I'm in the same
space as Tim. Negative one with two boxes towards
the plus one. All right. How are we looking with
the marquee to cap? Plus two. You've got a plus
two? Well, the two. Two boxes up. Oh, you've
got plus two boxes. Okay. I got two boxes down
with the marquee and two boxes up. I also have
two boxes down and two boxes up. All right. So
we're kind of middle of the road. Woodland Alliance.
Everybody got plus two boxes on that one. Oh,
I had zero. I also had zero. Oh. Yeah, I didn't
have anything. Okay, never mind. Y 'all don't
have shit. I just can't read, and I was just
guessing. Jane. Denizens. The denizens? Yeah,
everybody's got a minus two with the denizens,
right? Yeah. Yeah. Oh, ew. Okay. So one of the
things that we forgot to do, no, I forgot to
do during the last session was check in and see
if anybody completed any of their drives. One
of my drives is Wunderlust. wanderlust advance
when you finish a journey to a clearing all right
i mean technically i guess you guys made it to
wind gap refuge so that's fantastic you can choose
one from this list you can take plus one to a
stat still your max is plus two you can take
a new move from your playbook you can take a
new move from another playbook oh well then interesting
um you can take up to Two new weapon skills.
Whoa. You can take up to two new roguish feats.
You can add one box to any one harm track. A
max of six. Or you can take up to two new connections.
I'm going to take two roguish feats. All right.
Do you know what you're picking? I'm definitely
going to pick pickpocket. I'm not sure about
the other one yet. Okay. I completed the Drive
of Infamy. Advance when you decrease your reputation
with any faction. I got a full negative one with
Eerie aside from the negative boxes from the
other things. Okay. I would like to increase
one of my stats. All right. Go ahead and take
a plus one. You're still maxed at two. Anna,
did Bramble hit any of her drives last session?
No, he did not. No greed and no revenge. Okay.
Unfortunate, but maybe that'll happen this time.
Well, you're going to check back in at the end
of this episode and not the beginning of the
next one. The second feat I'm going to take is
sneak, which allows me to get in and out of places
without being seen. Nice. Very nice. That is
a solid feat. Okay. We're going to pick up right
where we left off, which is with a cat. from
the Marquis de Cap pointing three mice soldiers
in your direction, and they're making their way
quickly into the forest that you guys had just
let poor little Winthrop. No. Watkins? Watkins
pass away. I would like to immediately rip the
arrow out of him and throw it into the woods
so that it's not going to be seen, and then immediately
stick one of my own. because I'm just going to
assume their fletchings are different. There'll
be some way to identify that it's one of their
arrows, so I want to make it seem like I shot
them. Okay. The arrow's already out of them,
but you can plunge another one. Oh, the arrow
was pulled out? Yeah, because I poured some stuff
on them to try to... Oh, I didn't realize you
pulled it out and then poured it on. Yeah. I
would have pointed out you should never pull
out an arrow. Yeah, no, we did make a... I did,
you know, say that blood started gushing out.
I thought that was because of the liquid. Yeah.
No, it was bubbling because of the liquid shortly
thereafter, but... Gotcha. Yeah. Yep. I get the
feeling... So I just whip that arrow and then...
Plunge a new one in. Yep. I do get the feeling
that you guys didn't try too hard to save him.
It didn't seem like it was possible. I'm not
a doctor. I don't have a first aid kit. I know
Bramble tried. I mean, yeah, there was a tempt.
It sounded like Cotton was ready to proverbially
pull the plug. A little too ready. All right.
You plunged the arrow back into... Walk in's
belly. Perfect. And the mice continue to close
the distance. And before long, the three of them
are on you, brandishing spears. Halt! Howdy there,
friends. We were coming down to this village
and noticed this mole here who was hurt. And
we started, oh shit, I caught myself in a lie.
What are you doing here? This man was yelling
against the cats, so I shot him. Shot him with
that arrow right there in his belly. We got him
for you. Oh. We did a good job. So you're on
the side of the Marquis de Cat. We tend to lean
that way the majority of the time, yes. I guess
you'll have to come and meet our boss. Yes, we've
been known to do some favors for the Marquis.
Who is it? Maybe it's somebody we know. We're
pretty connected guys. Do you know Ivan Impervious?
He was the one that we saved in milk. I do not
know. Why have an impervious... Wait. The milk?
He's the proprietor of the purring kitten. You
know, I think you've got several around these
clearance here. But I know you've got one here
in Milltown. In Milltown? Oh, yeah. Oh, I'm sorry.
I forgot. We're one town over. It's been a long
day. But yeah, we helped the proprietor of Milltown
get some milk when you all were running out.
He turns and whispers to his friends. One of
them lets out a little gasp, and they... I'll
look at you. They're a little confused. They're
conflicted because being mice, that milk was
meant for them. Well, okay. I suppose you should
come see our captain. Thank you. Captain Trip
Trap. I'm just going to put this arrow back in
my... There we go. Clean that off. Can't have
enough of these. They're expensive. I suppose
the Marquis gives them to us for free. Wow, that's
a mighty fine guy you have there. All right,
well, come along. I'm going to follow last, quickly
stooping down to just close the mole's eyes.
Okay, and you guys head into the Wind Gap Refuge?
Is it on fire at this point? Definitely, yeah,
there's lots of fire. Where's the captain? Like,
in a burning building? No, he's just... If you
follow the mice, they will lead you into just
the town square, or the clearing square, anyways,
where he's just in the middle. And you see him.
He's a large cat, large orange cat. And there
are a lot of denizens. There's primarily fox
here in the settlement. And he has them all knelt
down in a line while he has an army of his soldiers
just lined up in front of them with bows and
spears at the ready. Oh, fuck. The Marquis de
Cat cannot accept any traitors. And as you have
not aligned with the Marquis yet, we find you
all to be guilty of treason. As such, you are
all marked for death. And he raises a large paw,
which has like artificially made steel claws
on it. And he yells, fire! And you see this row
of denizens just get shot down and killed in
front of you. What the fuck? The Marquis killed
a bunch of denizens. Oh, yeah. And they were
mostly foxes? Primarily foxes, yeah. Bramble
does not feel right with that. Come along. You
must meet Captain Trip Trap. That seemed mighty
unnecessary. Yeah, this guy is fucked up. I say
we kill him. We seem to be outnumbered here.
Are we saying this right next to mice that are
bringing us? I'm just curious. It seems like.
I mean, are you? I mean. I wouldn't be saying
any of this out loud. I am radical, so. I am
tubular. I am expounding a dangerous idea to
the wrong audience. Oh, my God. It's literally.
Oh, wow. Yeah. Okay. Are you saying it to attempt
to get these mice to do anything in particular
as they lead you? I mean, I was talking to my
friends, so I don't really care what the mice
are doing. How far are we from the... A good
20 paces. 20 paces. Okay. As the crow flies.
Okay. What's in the way of us and the marquee?
Now it'd be dead bodies. Okay. And there's several
other cats walking around here. Most of the forces
are made up by other woodland creatures, so there's
not that many cats here. Okay. How many total
guards or warriors or whatever? Is there a lot?
Yeah, there are a lot. Okay. Probably at least
20 just regular soldiers overall, not including
the cats. Okay. Well, I just said it. I'm not
going to act out it. All right. I guess we continue
following the mice forward. Captain, we have
found these vagabonds in the woods. They've claimed
to kill one of the denizens of this clearing
who was trying to flee. Excellent. Step forward,
you three. Hello. Nice to... Good to meet you.
He reaches down and puts one of his paws into...
into a fox's body, getting some blood on it.
I'm going to immediately, I'm going to use quick
shot to just fire my bow right at him. Immediately.
Okie dokes. Can you explain what quick shot does?
When you fire a snapshot at an enemy at close
range. Quick shot weapon skill is also useful
because it might surprise a foe. You can make
a quick shot without having your bow up and already
aimed. But the risks of firing from the ship,
the hit bar high, move cost luck, has a lot of
potential costs. Okay. So for a quick shot, go
ahead and roll with luck. So that's going to
be 2d6. All right. I got nine. Okay. On a hit,
you inflict an injury. And on a seven to nine,
you can choose one. So you don't mark wear on
your weapon. You don't mark exhaustion. You move
quickly and change your position and if you choose
your range. Or you can keep your target at bay
and they don't move. And they don't move. Yeah,
I'll do that one. I like that. Yes. Yeah. Cotton
cannot see a whole bunch of innocent people just
get murdered just so callously and not act on
it in a very reckless way. I mean, then he's
like just digging around in the guts. It's just
like the whole walk up. He was just staring like
wouldn't take his eyes off of the the marquee.
They're just waiting No, it's not the marquee
though, right? It's just I don't know. It's yeah.
It's just the captain It's not the actual marquee.
That's fine. The marquee is most likely in the
stronghold in black paws dam Oh, yeah, I would
imagine behind layers and layers of people and
walls. Yeah. All right the other two What do
you guys do when you see? cotton just Whip an
arrow into this gigantic cat. Well, Bramble is
definitely going to pull out his long sword because
he did not like what he saw walking up there.
He wants to hurt the cat, so he's ready to fight.
So you're going to make an attack? Sure. Any
special moves or just going to... I have a cleave,
but it says it's a special and I'm not sure how
I have to engage that. Is speaking still like
a free action? Always. Always? Okay. If it's
not in any system that we run... We're just going
to ignore that rule always. Okay. As an audio
podcast, it'd be real shitty if we had to meter
out how much speaking we did. When you cleave
armored foes at close range, mark exhaustion
and roll with might. On a hit, smash their defenses
and equipment and inflict three wear. On a seven
to nine, overextend your weapon or yourself.
Mark wear or... Or end up in a bad spot. There
we go. Yes. All right. So on a cleave, you cleave
armored forces at close range. So go ahead and
roll to D6. Seven. Okay. That's a hit. So you
smash their defenses and their equipment, inflicting
three wear. So you overextend your weapon or
yourself. You can mark wear or you can end up
in a bad spot. So I guess I'll take wear then
because I don't want to. Okay. So mark one where
to your sword. And Peter, the opossum. I'm going
to try to persuade the entire audience to not
be upset with us. That's a bold move. The entire
or just like the non -cats, like the ones that
look like they were willing creatures that have
been forced to fight for the cause. I was. going
to appeal that we were given orders not to kill
all of the civilians because we're stronger with
more people. I think you should just William
Wallace it. Kill every cat bastard. I don't know
what William Wallace said. Probably not that.
You know, close. Don't just stand there. Kill
the cats. Okay, I'll go for that one. Sure, let's
do it. So, um... when you persuade an npc promise
or threats roll with charm on a seven to nine
they aren't sure the gm will tell you what you
need to do to sway them go for it uh anna you
also need to mark the level of exhaustion quickly
um so i rolled a 10 plus i have two in charm
so it's a 12. this game doesn't have critical
successes but that is a critical success Um,
so I'm going to say we all non -cats have to
stick together against this oppression. You can't
let this go on where you watch a whole row of
people be murdered in front of you. This isn't
what the woodland is about. All creatures together
should get along. We need to rise up against
the oppression of the cats. You see the three
mice that had led you to Captain Trip Trap all
dive on him. with their spears now that his armor
has been cleaved and he's been shot, and they
begin to stab him ferociously. Upon seeing this,
the other woodland creatures that make up the
Marquis' forces also begin to attack the other
two remaining cats. Wow, that couldn't have worked
out better. Captain Triptap dies, screaming in
agony, although he does manage to take one mouse
with him. No. We brought one out for our brother.
Only two blind mice left. The other two cats
flee in terror as these forces have turned on
them, and they run from Wind Gap Refuge. Is there
any way I can take a final shot with my bow before
they get out of range? Yeah. What do I count
for bow? Do I use any? Well, I'm assuming it'd
be might, wouldn't it, to fire a bow? You roll
a finesse. Oh, shit. All right. I got a nine
plus two, so I got an 11. Is target something
a basic move? Connor, can you see it on there?
Target someone. When you target a vulnerable
foe at far range, roll with finesse. On a hit,
you inflict injury. On a 10 +, you can strike
again before they get to cover, inflict injury
again, or keep your position hidden. Your choice.
It is a basic move. Is that something that sounds
like you would like to do? It's aside from just
shooting. It's additional? It's just a basic
move. It's just something you can do. You just
roll. yeah yeah i think that's worth doing okay
so what did you roll uh so i got a nine plus
two and eleven fuck yeah that is a strong hit
so you can do one of those two things that connor
said you can attack again or uh you can stay
hidden which you're not hidden at all yeah i'd
like to attack again okay so go ahead and roll
uh i got a nine uh plus finesse so an eleven
Awesome. You managed to take out one of the cats
who dies running down the path towards Milltown
and collapses in the pathway. Excellent shot.
Way to go. Well, I guess we're going to make
it so that just about both sides hate us. I think
we're going there anyway. It definitely seems
like that. After this, the denizens that were
in hiding around here, the other foxes and a
few other species begin to come out of their
homes as the forces that were making up the Marquis
de Katz invading force here have shed themselves
of their orange and red attire and begin to look
around. They still now have like a lot of weapons.
Hang around and they begin to mutter to themselves.
There's a lot of crying foxes though However,
their invaders have been driven from the clearing
I'm gonna find it. It's like a fountain in the
center square or some sort of higher spot We'll
say there's like a jagged rock that sticks up
pretty high It's like big enough to climb on
if that's what you're gonna climb up to do like
a rally dear denizens of Windgap refuge, please
This is not a time to stop and feel sad, though
the sadness is almost unbearable. This is not
a time to lay down your ambitions for survival,
as this is probably one of the most important
times of our current lives. We have an opportunity
now to take this clearing back for all denizens
Revolution. Bear arms. Bury the dead. Send as
many messengers as we can spare to the surrounding
clearings to warn any and all denizens who want
to rebel that it is time to uprise and it is
time to take back our clearings and our forest.
But where do we go? You stay here and fortify.
The city can be rebuilt. Or you go send a message
to the nearest town. I thought I kind of covered
every base there. Which part did you not hear?
Where do you want to go now? You want to stay
here? There's nothing here left! Maybe they could
go to Ice Trap. I know a bar there. I would say
that Ice Trap is one of the last holdouts. But
make sure to bring everything that you can salvage
from this location. as there will be more refugees
in time to come. The crowd murmurs, and two of
the remaining mice that had taken you into custody
originally walk up to the bottom of your rock.
Mm -hmm. Uh, well, what should we do now that
we're traitors? I don't think that you are traitors.
You did what you had to do to survive, and now
you are back. You should seek out Jane De La
Freer. I don't know her name. Did you enjoy being
held captive by these terrible cats? But it was
the only choice we had. Do you want your fellow
mice to continue to be held captive by these
terrible cats? No, certainly not. Then I highly
suggest that you join this rebellion that is
starting and find where you can fit in it to
free your people and help future forest kind.
Who do you serve, the eerie? I serve myself.
So we should serve you? Nope, you should serve
yourselves. Okay. I think you should join the
alliance, the Woodland Alliance. Well, that sounds
better. Jane de la Fleur controls it. Seek her
out. All right, we'll head to Ice Trap. We'll
lead these people. Make sure when you get to
Ice Trap and you meet Jane, you use the secret
password. The cat runs through the forest and
hides, but he is whole. Something like that.
They write it down. Oh, no. All right. We'll
deliver the message. Well, she'll know it's from
me. Well, fantastic. Do yourselves a favor. Mark
yourself as plus one to your reputation with
the Denisons. You can also take a plus one to
your relationship with the Woodland Alliance.
Nice. And a minus one to your relationship with
the Marquis de Cap. i am now i'm now at an actual
minus one nice i'm also now at a full -on minus
one you said one for the woodland alliance yep
um i did a radical uh thing by talking about
killing that guy in front of the mouse yeah so
i can clear my exhaustion track go for it anybody
else fulfill their nature i mean there was no
bombs dropped so i assume that cotton didn't
i keep saying bombs but i realize it's just arsonist
not you know fire in general yeah um yeah i got
another infamy as i uh i decreased my reputation
with any faction and this one this time it was
the uh marquita cat all right that's uh that's
one of your drives right that's one of my drives
okay so we'll resolve that at the end of the
session oh sorry what were you asking for i thought
yes did any of us do something uh fulfill your
nature Oh, sorry. My printer is black. It's just
old. And so all the gray stuff, I can't really,
it all looks like blurry shadows until I really
look at it. Nice. That's all right. I don't think
you took any exhaustion or anything anyways.
No, but I would say. that I used needlessly destructive
methods to solve a problem, which was I shoved
my arrow into the mole to say that I did it.
Needlessly destructive. I'm going to err on the
side of not giving you that one. Okay. Only because
for me, needlessly destructive means destroying
some shit. Okay. Not re -stabbing this poor mole
in the belly. Okay. All right, and the town of
Wind Gap Refuge is no longer under the control
of Marquis de Cat. Nice. And it was probably
the briefest control they've ever had. And it's
on fire, so. And it's once again on fire. I wish
I didn't put the red marker away so that I could
draw more fire on the map. I think we're burning
more cities than anything else. Yeah, there might
not be many clearings left after you guys, but,
you know. We didn't burn this one, though. True.
No, that's true. We stopped it from getting burned
further. We're not firefighters, so I mean, can't
be expected to put it out. We're not firefighters.
We're not doctors. No. We're vagabonds. We're
vagabonds. All right. I live in a dumpster down
by the sea. What kind of situation does that
put us in now? Because the mole told us to go
down to... We still can. Fire Hollow? Yeah. I
think that we should start moving down. I don't
think we should do limberly. I feel like... We
can cut through. Iron Vein and then Fire Hollow.
Yeah, you can cut through. You don't have to
use the paths. You can cut through in between
as well. I'd like to cut through. Maybe we'll
have a random encounter. Go straight through
the woods? Yeah, I agree. That works for me.
Oh yeah, because there's a whole eerie roost
in Iron Vein. They do say that the quickest way
somewhere is a straight line. We could camp close,
maybe get breakfast. Oh, yeah. All right. So
from Wind Gap Refuge, you guys are going to head
into the forests there. Are you going to skirt
down towards Iron Vein? I don't really think
so. No. I don't think it's for the best. I think
sticking to the woods, crossing the path as quickly
and safely as possible, and continuing straight
to Fire Hollow is probably to our advantage.
Okay. You head. into the deep forest leaving
wind gap refuge and sending its denizens across
the rest of the clearings a lot of them are headed
towards ice trap that would have been their biggest
trader peep trade trade route that would be their
most common trading partner um that's it they're
part of the trade federation they are yeah um
but this town quickly clears out as it continues
to burn down to the ground you guys head into
the forest and you guys have a hard walk in front
of you, mostly due to the terrain, not because
of anything stopping you. But as you're heading
through, you do hear a loud crashing and a loud
stomping up in front of you. All right. You should
be cautious up ahead. Very cautious. It's not
much in these woods out here. Nothing's good.
Can't be nothing good in front of us. I'm going
to climb this tree and see if I can see anything.
Okay. Oh, that's a good call. There's not like
a see anything roll, is there? Trust fate. There's
a wreck something. We could just call it cunning.
I was thinking that. Could read a 10th situation.
That could be. Okay. Roll with cunning on a seven
to nine. Ask one on a 10 plus. Ask three. So
yeah. So you climb up this tree. The 10th situation
we'll say is between you three because you can
hear. that there's something up ahead although
you can't make out what it is scurrying up a
tree like a little possum could you get to the
top and you get advantageous position all right
uh that gives me a six so it is a complete miss
and that also brings about about a complication
right actually doesn't say that it also adds
a complication so just a miss uh you don't you
can't make out shit Yeah, it's just a lot of
forest, guys. It's pretty much all I see. All
right, well, let's go slowly and quietly. Agreed.
Yeah, definitely a bow -drawn situation. Okay.
Moving through quietly, the sound does move off
out of your shot after a little bit. And you're
not sure what it was, but it never made itself
known. It is getting to be about dark. at this
point should we set up camp seems like good places
any we should find a little sinkhole or burrow
something where it'll be difficult to find our
fire and we do that okay yeah you do that you
guys are uh well versed at living here in the
thick forests um and you set up camp pretty easily
as the night goes on uh and your fire dies down
you hear some voices coming from out in the woods,
and they're high -pitched shrill voices. You
can't see where they're coming from yet, although
you can hear them as they continue to get louder
and louder. Hmm. I think we should lay low and
hold our ground. Yeah, not draw attention to
ourselves. I concur. Should we put out the fire?
Yeah, let's put a little sand on it. It's already
pretty much out anyway. Yeah, let's kick that
right out. Okay. As the voices continue to grow
nearer, you can finally make out what they're
saying. And although you can't see who they are,
you can definitely tell that they are avian in
species. I hate being on the ground. I'd much
rather be flying. Stupid patrols. Oh, I do not
like birds. Oh. Should we catch them off guard?
We should definitely wait to see how many there
are. If it's patrol, it can't be more than two.
I would prefer visual conversation. Some of those
birds, for we all know, could just be one talking
to itself. Then that'd be easier. Well, that's
what I'm hoping. I agree we should wait, but
I'm going to improvise a weapon real quick, just
in case things go bad. And what does that look
like? I roll with cunning to make a weapon out
of materials around me. And if it's a success...
The GM will tell you its range, tag, and at least
one other beneficial tag. On a 7 -9, the weapon
also has a weakness tag. So there's like, you
know, branches and stones and a forge and some
iron ingots next to me. No, but there's forest
stuff. I rolled a 5, but I have a plus 2 in cunning,
so it's a 7. So I'm going to have a weakness
tag. What'd you make, like a stone club? Just
a stick. Just a stick. It's got a knot in the
end. You have made a staff. It's a big stick.
It's got a range of close. Does it still get
a weapon tag, a beneficial tag? Yes. All right.
It's going to have parry and a negative. This
weapon is blunted. It inflicts exhaustion, not
injury. Okay. However, that's actually a positive.
It's also bulky, so you can't hide it. Oh, shit.
That's okay. That's mighty fine craftsmanship,
Peter. Very impressed. Lots of practice. Did
it so quickly. Ah, why do they even have us walking
through these woods anyways? There's nobody ever
out here. What do you think, two? I think it's
two. I'm ready to take them. They all sound the
same to me. I really can't tell. I just want
to get back to Ironvein. I need a romp in the
brothel. I think Bramble's going to jump out
when it gets pretty close with the longsword.
The voices continue to get louder as they seem
to be coming right towards you, but they definitely
don't know, or at least they're acting like they
don't know that you're there. And almost until
they're right on you, you can't tell. But once
they are right there, their bodies are very dark,
and you can tell that they are. Yeah, I don't
like crows. I'm not a fan. Ah, maybe if we brought
back the head of a mouse, they'd let us back
into the roost. Okay. They didn't see me, though,
when I went out, right? Nope. Then I'm just going
to try to sneak up behind one and, like, cut
the top of the wing, like, where it meets the...
Just make a melee attack? Yeah. All right. Make
me an attack roll. What are you looking for?
Engage in melee? Yeah, yeah, yeah. When you engage
an enemy in melee at close or intimate range,
roll with might. On a hit, trade harm. On a 10
+, pick 3. On a 7 -9, pick 1. Okay, so it is
might. So I have 6 then. Okay, a 6 is a miss.
That's unfortunate. Can I react or do I have
to... everybody just kind of does at once and
like okay so initiative in this is much different
from like dnd where it's not going to be okay
anna goes crow goes you go crow goes connor goes
or anything like that you guys do stuff and based
on your roles and how shitty they are um it introduces
complications or um you know reactions from your
opponents gotcha so you guys can all like kind
of dive in she got a six so it's just a miss
um so it doesn't do anything inherently terrible
okay yeah i'd like to say that as i realized
that uh bramble was going in for an attack then
i'm going to uh pop right up and shoot at one
of them just a regular shot the quick shot i
don't think it costs anything extra yeah i don't
think so either yeah i'll go with the quick shot
2d6 A 10 plus finesse, so a 12. Oh, yeah, that
is a strong success. And you're just shooting
one of them, right? Yep. We're going to give
you double damage as your success plus benefit.
Does that work? Sure. Double damage is always
great. Yeah. Your thing only does one injury
at a time, right? I don't think it's anything
more than that. This is load one, range close,
weapon skill text, quick shot. I don't... That's
all right. I know for a fact that it only does
one. It says, by default, unarmed vagabonds do
one exhaustion harm. Armed vagabonds do one injury
harm. So you do two injury harm to this crow.
And you manage to shoot him right in the neck.
And as such, your arrow plunges through, spurting
blood. And as his wings grasp at his neck, he
falls to the ground, coughing and spitting up
blood. Sweet. Sweet. Thanks for your help. Peter?
There is still one crow left. Yeah, I'm going
to jump out and engage that one in melee combat.
So that's a 10 plus might. Okay. My might is
zero, so that's a 10. So it's a hit, and I get
to pick three. So we trade harm. Does that mean
I also take a harm? Yep. Is the crow armed or
unarmed? He is armed. Okay, so I'm going to take
that as injury, right? Yep. Okay, and then on
a 10 plus pick three, I'm going to inflict serious
harm and suffer a little harm and dismay or frighten
the foe. Oh, remember, you can't do injury, so
you're hitting him for other things. Your staff
doesn't inflict bodily injury. Because it was
blunt? Yes. But we treated that for bulky. Unless
you want me to have blunt. uh instead of perry
because we decided blunt was a positive tag either
way blunt still inflicts it inflicts exhaustion
it doesn't it does inflict an exhaustion okay
so would the serious just be plus one exhaustion
yeah Okay, go with that. It's enough to knock
him out, as we'll say you caught him off guard,
enough to where he gets the wind knocked out
of him and is dazed. Not bodily harm, so he's
still alive, but he is essentially out of the
fight already. Can I tie the unconscious crow
up? Definitely. Okay. I would like to do that.
His feet, and then I'm going to pin his wings
back. I want to ask him some questions when he
wakes up. Nice. Cool. So after a while, the crow
wakes back up and he is just calling and screaming
upon awakening. I'm going to put one of the embers
from our fire in his throat. And then he can
spit it back out. Are you ready to talk now?
Do you? Never. You'll learn to talk to me real
soon. You traitors. I need to know the name of
your leader. Why would I tell you? I could do
a lot more harm to you. I like to make potions.
You can make a potion of these nuts? Perhaps
I shall. Give me his name. The next hot ember's
going to go right up your cloaca. His name's
General Crussix. Crussix? Crussix! Now let me
go! We'll let you go, all right. Right to hell.
He struggles to get out of his bindings. I'm
going to chop his head off with the long sword.
You do that. You don't need to roll for that
one. The crow quickly is silenced as you lop
his head off, and it goes rolling towards the
campfire. Mouth agape, and it's just like in
the little embers that are left, they reflect
off his black eyes and his dark feathers, and
blood streams from his neck. Good riddance. Can
you give me that guy's name again? Yep. General
Crossex. Did we incapacitate the other crow or
two crows? The other one died, I think. There
was only two. Okay. And Cotton shot one through
the neck. Perfect. That bled out. And the other
one's headless. Excellent. Solid. We're doing
very well. Yeah. At any point, you guys can scavenge
bodies also if you're looking for anything in
particular. Also, with that, you guys have a
depletion track, right? Yes. So how that works,
which I didn't explain before, if you need something,
you're like, oh, I have this. Like my rope? Yeah,
like your rope or something like that. You could
mark depletion, and it just means that you're
using your gear that you would have naturally
with you. So go ahead and mark one on your depletion
track. That's something we would refill that,
like erase it all if we went to a town and resupplied.
Yeah, I guess so. Yeah, that would make sense.
Yeah, I'm definitely going to check the... The
bird's ankles, you know, see if anyone was sending
messages. They might have pouches, too, that
they'd tied on. Maybe they got some gold or value.
All right. Yeah, let's have everybody take one
value. And I'll say the most useful thing that
they do have is extra pouches, unless you're
looking for one of the weapons that they had.
But Cotton, you could take an extra box of depletion
if you want to take one of their pouches. I'll
just take the whole pouch out, right? The pouch
has nothing. It's just a holding container. There's
a lot of bird food in it. Pocket seeds. I'm good.
Okay. I have pockets in my large coat. All right.
Do you guys just stay here the rest of the night?
We should probably move on. Just a little further
on. There's dead crows here. I think it would
be a good idea to move away from all these bodies
that are piling up around here. Do you continue
to move towards Fire Hollow? Yeah. First, I'm
going to pull the birds' bodies off the trail
and cover them with grass and leaves or something.
We'll put them in where we had our campfire,
where it's kind of covered. And then relight
the fire and cover them with dry brush. Oh, start
another fire in the woods? Just set the whole
forest on fire. We shouldn't do that. Smokey
the troll would be angry. That's funny. I like
that. Moving towards Fire Hollow. You guys can
make it there by morning if you continue to march
through the night. Do we have energy things where
we have to sleep? I'm not sleeping after what
just happened for a little bit. There is an exhaustion
track, but you use that when you use special
moves and stuff like that. So I'm not going to
make you take anything there. And animals only
need like a... 20 minute nap every couple hours.
Yeah. We're just going to assume you guys like
lay down every once in a while. Yeah. Take a
little napper and pop back up. Definitely not
a cat nap. Bastards. I take a den as a nap. Yeah.
I mean. Yeah. Get some breakfast in Fire Hollow.
Sounds better than spending the night in the
forest with dead crows. I agree. Hopefully Fire
Hollow will be more inviting than the last place
we went. Yeah. Not on fire. Oh, it looks like
they're having a flood. As you make your way
into Fire Hollow, this clearing is bustling.
There's a lot of people moving around, but you
can sense a tension in the air. That tension
is not eased by the presence of you three as
you move through the town. Although it doesn't
arouse any anger or suspicion, you can just tell
that you may not be as welcome as you thought
there. There are... Plenty of places around,
including a tavern called the Ember's Respite
and any other businesses that you guys want to
visit. Well, we're here to find a frog. Yeah,
do we see any bullfrogs or any type of... Well,
maybe we should go ask at the tavern, see if
anyone knows a frog. Oh, I was just thinking,
seeing if there was a population of bullfrogs
at all. I think it's mostly foxes, right? This
clearing is mostly foxes as well. There's not
like an inherent amphibian presence. Is there
anywhere that has water in town? I was going
to say, is there anywhere that seems like it's
more damp than the rest of the town? Yeah, yeah.
Like, we just can't fix the pipes over here.
I'm on that page. The wettest part of the city
is where we're going. We find a bar in the basement.
Yeah. Yeah, you guys wander around until you
see a pond that is very conspicuously has, like,
a covert pipe situation draining into the bar
from the backside. Yeah, I think that would be
a good place to start over there. We should check
out where that pipe's off to. I agree. We are
looking for, I believe, Vickery the Bullfrog.
Yes, I think you're right. Good place to check.
So are you guys going into the pipe, or are you
going into the establishment? I would like to
walk into the building. Okay. Going in, the tavern
is quite filled with lots of people. Your presence
does not cause any kind of commotion as you walk
in. And there's a very lovely fox lady serving
drinks behind the bar. I would like to stay,
like come into the room, like the building, like
four or five seconds after they do and just kind
of head to the left. Kind of like just off or
just kind of back to a corner to just watch them.
I know what they're going to be asking for. And
my intention is to see if I see anyone else in
the bar that. kind of sees them asking questions
and then moves in a certain certain direction
they're reacting to that see if there's a messenger
or like a relay or some some sort of lookout
here looking for people asking about the frog
okay all right well bramble's gonna slide right
up to that barn and that foxy lady and uh start
asking about that frog okay foxy lady most remarkable
about Faye the bartender is that she looks more
like a fennec fox than your typical foxes. There's
very few of those that you've seen ever in your
life. Her ears are very, very long and her coat
is very more like sand colored than anybody else's.
They're like desert fox. They are. Yep. Well,
hello there, little desert flower. Oh, hello.
I'm wondering if you have some information that
I might be willing to pay for. I may, but I need
you to buy a drink first. No one can stay in
here unless they've bought a drink. I shall be
a patron. Give me your finest cider. Oh, a fox
after my own fancies. And she pours you a large
cider in a wooden mug. Thank you, darling. So
what kind of information are you looking for?
I'm sure you get a lot of frogs in this place.
Is that true? Frogs? Uh, no. We don't see many
frogs at all around here. No? No, almost never.
I'm looking for one particular frog. Um, well,
I haven't seen a frog in quite some time. So
you have seen one? I mean, I've seen a frog.
Did you know a frog? What's your definition of
no? Did he come in? Did he say hi to you? Yeah.
Did he ever talk about his life? Everybody talks
about their life here. Right. What do you say?
If you can recall. I don't recall. And you can
see, tracing her eyes, she does begin to look
at somebody else in the corner of the room. Not
you, but... We lock eyes. And she begins to look
pretty nervous. I'm sure you would like some
more values for this information, which we could
provide. Hmm. Do we have a basic move for, like,
persuasion, Connor? Persuade an NPC. Let's roll
with charm. All right. Okay. Anna, or Bramble,
let's roll with charm. Or you can try to figure
someone out. Figure someone out. Which lets you
if you pass, ask, or hold three. I don't know
what the hell that means. um that just means
that you can add plus ones in the future um in
this either in this case with this person or
the kind of scene that you're in oh if i've already
established that i yeah then you could go back
and say okay i'm going to talk to her again try
to get some more i'm going to use one of my hold
ones and then you can add that to your score
that's okay so the things that you can ask for
your ones are is their character telling the
truth what are they really feeling what does
the character intend to do what does your character
wish i'd do Or how could I get your character
to blank? Oh. Well. We already know what Bramble's
blank is. Yeah. So that's to figure someone out,
you said? Yeah. I feel like that might be better
than persuade. Persuade, I feel like, is... Okay.
Yeah. I think I would like to do that. Is that
with charm as well? That's also with charm, yeah.
Okay. Nice. Oh, my God. Can you guys roll any
lower? There's no complications. So that's a
crit, right? All right. I would really like to
use the last one, but we need more information
first. Is your character telling the truth? I
want the truth. There has been a bullfrog that
was in here recently, but he hasn't been in a
few days. I haven't seen him, and that's the
truth. All right. You don't know anything else?
Maybe a little bit more. What could I do to get
us there? I don't know. Just don't draw attention
to me. I guess I'm here. I'm like a refugee,
you know? There's not many of my people around
here. I can see that. You're different from a
lot of foxes. I am. And her eyes dart. Back to
that person in the corner. And Cotton, you can
see that at this, somebody moves from one of
the tables near a door and exits out of the room.
What is Peter doing? I'm just... Getting hammered
at the bar. He's got a fox on his lap. I was
going to get ready to do some persuasive stuff,
but I'm like, oh, Bramble's got it under control
here. I'm just... drinking and making sure that
no one gets you know rowdy next to us where we
are a drunken lookout exactly okay if you want
to ask a follow -up question you can go ahead
and roll persuasion okay don't forget you do
have a plus uh three that you were holding on
to which you can use oh any of those while talking
to this character so i get a plus one you can
do a plus one a plus two or a plus three to your
roll okay If you use a plus one, you'll have
a plus two to use later on. If you use all three,
then you just have like three in combination.
Okay. All right. I'll do a plus one this time.
You can wait until you roll two. I won't. Okay.
No, that's true. That's true. I might need more.
You don't need more. No, I don't. I'm not going
to use them right now. Okay. Yeah, that's a 13.
So what do you want to know? Well, I'm persuading
her. What if I persuade her? To go in the back
with me because she's so beautiful and tell me
more about this frog. Yeah, I guess I could do
that. She looks over at a fox that is like just
whispering into Peter's ears. Claire, can you
cover the bar for just a moment? I need to go
talk to this guy. And you and Faye leave the
front of the bar. And move into the back. Yep.
Okay. She's very nervous and awkward when you
get back there. So what do you need to know?
Or did you not need to know anything? And she
starts like pulling down one of the sleeves on
her dress. Oh, well, we don't have to get right
into that. Oh, okay. I thought that's what you
were asking. We can lead up to it for certainly.
But I just wanted to know if you have any more
information about the frog. And I want to take
my paw and like scratch the top of her head.
Oh, I do. I do. The frog has been here for quite
some time, and his name is Vickery. And he's
got several friends, and they're all in the basement
still. They've paid for a long time, and they
usually only come in and out after hours. Interesting.
Is there a back way into this area? For the servants,
perhaps? No, there's just the door off the bar.
Okay. Is it the same door I saw that person go
through? It would be, yeah. All right. I am going
to already start to make my way toward that,
if that's cool. Yeah. Okay. That's all that Bramble
wanted at the moment, but he does want to leave
her wanting more. Okay. So they're going to smooch.
Oh. She stands her eyes wide. Roll for smooching.
Give me a smoochy roll. Oh, okay. Yes. How smoochy
are we getting? Let's see how smoochy it is.
Seven. A seven is a hit with a complication.
So you lean in for a kiss and you get it, but
she kind of reels back a little bit. Her eyes
are wide. You can't tell if it's like a, I didn't
like that at all, or like a, huh. And that's
how you left before you leave the room. Okay.
I was going to say our teeth like knocked together
or something. Ouch. Make it a little awkward.
Yeah. And you leave and you're back in the bar.
Cotton, you are getting real close to that door.
Yeah. I'm going to keep making my way toward
that door and look over to the bar to see if
Peter happens to be looking my way. I catch his
eyes and give him a nod. All right. I'm going
to kind of give him a little head to this, you
know, this way. Come this way. I get up from
the bar and start. Making my way over towards
where Cotton is. Am I going past the door that...
Yeah, so almost simultaneously on your way over,
Bramble's going to come out of that door. All
right, perfect. And the three of you meet towards
the back of the bar. All right, guys, I got a
little more information. Vickery's being held
in the basement with a bunch of other guys. He's
being held? That was the impression I got, yes.
Wah. All right. I've got to pass this on. There's
definitely... She lets someone know when they're
down there. So this Vickery fellow knows we're
coming. All right. Slowly and carefully. Going
through the door, there's a small room that leads
downstairs. And as you get through the door,
you can hear that there are several voices coming
from downstairs. The loudest is a female's voice.
Why are they asking about us? Who are they? Yeah.
I have to keep walking down the stairs. Yeah.
Keep walking down the stairs slowly with my hands
open in front of me. You come into a very tense
situation. There are five other people standing
in this room around a large table. There are
also like several beds and a small weapons cache
in here. And there's just food and drinks spread
around. As you come down, all five of these people
turn. Two of them draw daggers at once. And the
large voice comes from a very large female badger.
Hold on, hold on. Who are you? Oh, well, easy
now. I think we're all on the same team here.
My name is Cotton. These are my colleagues, Peter
and Bramble. We were sent down here from, I believe,
a mutual acquaintance. Goes by the name of, well,
rest his soul, went by the name of Walken. Walken's
the mole? Yes. Yes, we've heard of walk -ins.
Okay. Did you close the door? God, we gotta get
a lock on that. Of course we close the door.
Well, alright. We're not animals. Come down.
Come down and leave your weapons holstered. There's
no need for violence. As you can see, my hands
are out. I do come in respect to your little
sanctuary here that you have made. We should
search them, a ram man says. Not unless we are
all searching each other. You can see that my
hands, we mean no harm. This is merely a civilized
conversation between a mutual cause. I agree.
Oh, didn't see you there, fellow. See you there,
fellow. Bless you. Is that a goose? There is
a goose. There is a goose, two raccoons, a badger,
and a ram down here. Well, I was going to say
none of us are birds or cats, but, uh, would
have spoke too soon. By the way, I don't think
we need to take the weapons out. I think we're
all here for similar reasons. Well, we'll find
out about that. Come on. So what was Watkins
sending you here for? Well, it wasn't so much
Watkins as a foxy lady named Jane. She's a weasel.
She's a weasel? A weasel named Jane. She could
still be foxy. A foxy weasel. All right, well,
that's a good start. That does put us on a mutual
path, typically, but what are you doing here
in Fire Hollow? Well, our original plan was to
go to Wind Gap Refuge and see the mole. Unfortunately,
it's burned to the ground, so he sent us along.
Ugh, another settlement. Burned by the cats?
Yes. Can't believe we have to wipe Wind Gap Refuge
off our allies. Well, uh, we did kill the captain,
and I... and dispatched one of the other three
cats there. Only one made it out alive. The whole
town, those who had already survived, turned
with us and took it back. But there were great
losses. Most of the refugees have headed toward
Ice Trap or hopefully swung around to spread
the news to other clearings. There were some
mice that seemed to take to our message pretty
strongly, and we're hoping they went back to
Milltown to deliver the message to their fellow
mice. Oh, I hope they didn't return to Milltown.
Milltown's been all but destroyed. The cat's
got something big going on there. Last I heard,
they were taking it over for their coal deposits.
Coal? What do they need coal for? That's what
Vickery was going to find out. Well, where is
he? He was captured. Where is he now? We believe
he's probably in the Patchwood Prison, or the
clearing just north of here. Hmm. Hmm. All the
way there, huh? So are you guys planning to break
him out, or...? That's what we were planning.
You know, we've heard that their cats were up
to something very big, and so we amassed as many
explosives as we could, and we stashed them in
the forest there between Alloboro and Limberly.
We weren't sure. where we were going to need
him, but then Victory never came back after scouting
around the area. Now, the only logical thing
to do is to free him, if he's still alive. Well,
I think we're free. We could probably get him
out. Well, Bramble, you want to do a whole prison
break? I mean, we already had an uprising at
the Lost Town. That was fairly easy. It's a prison
break. We should see if any of our new friends
here want to assist us with that. Prisons can
be quite large. Well, of course we're going to
assist. There's no reason for us to stay here.
He's our leader. Oh. What is the status of this
town? It's free. It's free at the moment. We
did encounter some crows not far off in the woods
here. There's been a lot of tension and a lot
of talk lately. We have fears that this is going
to be the next place that one faction or the
other tries to inhabit. Obviously, they've got
us surrounded. You are in the middle. It's been
difficult. That's why we haven't gotten any reinforcers.
Both the pathways to this clearing are flooded
with enemy troops. Well, I hope we can get rid
of these scoundrels on both sides. I couldn't
agree more. Do we have allies in Patchwood? Or
do you have allies? We're already a wee. None
that I know of. No good reports have been coming
out of Patchwood lately. We've heard some disturbing
rumors about the cat that's running the place.
Well, if we stand together, we're stronger. That
we are. So if you'd like to accompany us, we'd
like to set out there. We've got a rough plan,
although we were trying to figure out how to
accomplish it with so few people. It's very fortunate
that you three came along when you did. After
what we witnessed in Wind Gap, I would gladly
take a little trip with you. Well, then let's
rest up and get ready, I suppose. Could I offer
you some food and drink? Absolutely. Might have
kind. I could eat a little bit. How do you get
rid of your exhaustion? Mine is gotten rid of.
I already did that. Oh, okay. You're using a
pen. Yeah, so I marked it with a circle. But
how do I do depletion? I mean, that would be
if I went to a general store. Yeah, if you, like,
resupply it or something like that. Which you
can do if you want. Does this town have other
shops that I could get odds and ends? Definitely.
Okay. So if you want to go do that, go ahead.
It's not too late in the day. You said we came
in the morning, right? You were here in the morning.
Oh, yeah. So yeah, I'm going to do a little shopping.
I'll come back. Okay. So go ahead and remove
that depletion. Anybody else want to do anything
while you're here? Anything special? No, I think
I'm set. Okay. Bramble, while you're out and
about, you hear whispers of people being concerned
about seeing the forces on the paths coming into
the clearing. And as you're at one of the stores
leaving, headed back to the tavern, you can hear
the sound of many marching soldiers coming down
the path from the clearing of Ironvein. And as
you look down, there's a large eerie force marching
its way towards the town. Oh, dear. Okay, I'm
going to scoot back to the tavern and right down
to the secret room and blast through the door.
There's an army marching on the town right now.
Well, friends, do we flee? I definitely think
that we should get to Patchwood, whatever this
information is. We're going to let them take
the city? I think this piece of information Patchwood
has sounds pretty important to the success of
an overall plan. Those birds don't deserve to
be here. They do not. Sorry. I agree. Oh. I'm
not with those other birds. They're a disgrace.
Well, you're the only good bird then. Not the
only one. My flock was very good. However, they
were all killed. Maybe you can help to lead the
rest of the townsfolk in resistance against this
oncoming army while the rest of us go and do
a prison break. I got a minus two to charm. I
couldn't imagine why that is. Honk. Don't let
him fool you. He's a great fighter. However,
he's not an inspirational speech kind of fellow.
I say we flee for the forest. I agree. Unfortunately,
there's not much else we can do. If an army's
on its way, eight of us aren't going to be able
to take it out. Do you guys at least have like
an alarm bell we can sound or something? I immediately
have a match lit in my hand and I go, oh, if
we can't have it. I'm just kidding. So much fire.
So much fire and damage. The two raccoons look
back and forth. You can tell they're on the younger
side. Their names are Turk and Kirk. And they
get very excited at this. If we can't have it,
no one should! No one should! No one should!
Look what you started. Maybe they're right. I
don't know about that. The eerie don't at least
burn everything that they touch, like the marquee,
the cat, anyways. So maybe we could leave the
town intact. It would give us much more... advantageous
opportunities in the future. Is Faye a fighter
as well? The fox bartender? No, she's a lover.
Of many. It's the eyes, really. I'm glad there
wasn't penetration then. Oh, yes. If there was,
you'd want to get that checked. We're getting
off topic. And suddenly you hear another sound
entering the town. And it's... metallic in nature
and it sounds like something's grinding the stones
outside it's just the cats coming with their
their claws is there a secret tunnel out of here
where we do we have to go out the main door there's
a tunnel through the water here and you can see
that the covert pipe leads into the basement
here and like creates kind of like a stream inside
that flows out of the basement i think i think
we should just use that as our exit and take
a Wide view of what is going on in this town.
I suppose you're right. I'm on board. Just jump
in the tube. Coming out into the pond, followed
by Kirk, Turk, Honey, Wallingford, the Goose,
and Shovels, the Ram. And you see, when you look
down the road, coming down the path from the
north, which would be where Patchwood is, is
a extremely large metal cat being wheeled down
the road. The cat has glowing red eyes, and it
stops. right in the middle of town, at the same
time as the Eerie forces have made their way
into the center of the clearing. Well, this is
a good distraction. Let's go. Yeah, we should
definitely get away from here. Yep. Anybody looking
back? No. I definitely kind of... We were there
for two seconds. I want to have an idea of what's
happening as soon as I can look back without
risk of being spotted. I'm going to kind of peek
over my shoulder every now and then the whole
way back. If it seems like something's going
a little crazy, I'm going to stop and look. For
a few moments, nothing happens and the Erie forces
are just standing there and you can hear the
captains shouting something, although incomprehensible
at this moment. And you look back and the cat's
jaw just drops open and a gout of flame erupts
from it, burning a large swath of the Erie's
forces and begin to shoot arrows, throw spears
and everything at this mechanical cat. That's
what you can see with a glance over your shoulder.
Definitely, we should keep going. We should keep
going. This is not good. Although I would like
to take a look inside that cap. That looks cool.
If that is what Jane was looking for, and we
have found it. Oh, the weapon. You're right.
Then we are potentially in a lot of trouble.
Maybe the birds are the better of the two evils.
Maybe. No, they're terrible. Rotten, nasty, flying
creatures. I think that anyone who chooses to
oppress our... Woodland Brothers under such extreme
conditions can't be good. All I know is we have
to take out whatever's making those first. Nobody's
going to stand a chance if that's what they're
coming up with. It does sound like there's a
chance we will find what we were looking for
in Milltown. But we first need to get to Patchwood,
which is on the way. Let's go find your frog.
The eight of you flee through the woods very
quickly to Patchwood. And that's where we're
going to end our episode. So, for right now,
let's check your drives. Did anybody complete
one of their drives? I believe I have. Woo! Ciao.
Revenge, because I killed one, at least, Raven,
and my foe is the leader of the Corvid conspiracy,
and anything that I do to cause harm to them
or their interests, which I feel like killing
two crows is an interest. Yeah, definitely. Cool.
Oh, sorry. Let's just go through and see who
gets their plus ones first, and we'll choose
what we're going to do. I know only one counts,
but I technically did complete both. Thrill,
which was advance and escape from certain death
or incarceration. And that was whatever this
cat thing was. If we hadn't left, we would have
been in trouble. And then Infamy, which was that
second advance downward with the Marquis to cat.
That's a negative one. That happened at the beginning
of the session. All right. I have chaos. Advance
when you topple a tyrannical or dangerously overbearing
figure or order. Sounds like that's what you
did there in Wind Gap. So everybody can take
an advancement. So take a plus one to a stat
or a new move from your playbook. You can only
have a maximum of five moves from your own playbook,
by the way. You can take a new move from another
playbook, which you can only have two moves from
another playbook. You can take up to two new
weapon skills for a maximum of seven total. You
can take up to two new roguish feats. You can
add one box to any harm track. Or you can make
up to two new connections. I think I'm going
to take a move. I'm going to take jury rig. Okay.
And what does that do? When you create a mix
shift device on the fly, roll with cunning. On
a hit, you create a device that works once, then
breaks. On a 10 plus, choose one hit. Choose
one. It works exceptionally well. You get an
additional use out of it. On a miss, the device
works, but it has an unintended side effect that
the GM will reveal when you use it. All right.
I think I'm going to do a move as well. I'm thinking
target someone. When you target a vulnerable
foe at far range, roll with finesse. On a hit,
you inflict injury. Ten plus, you can strike
again. Oh, this is that one I guess I used earlier?
Is that one of the basic moves? Oh, is that why?
That would make sense. It's hard to read a book
from top to bottom instead of left to right.
I was trying to find a list of other ones. Oh,
other playbooks. I didn't get to look at the
playbook list. Do we know what Peter's doing?
I think I'm going to take a move from another
playbook. I'm just trying to... to find one of
those well we won't just make the listeners sit
here while you guys decide you guys can choose
before the next session and we'll come back and
talk about what you guys chose when we start
off um and when you come back next time you're
gonna get the conclusion to root so until then
we will see you next next tuesday That's it for
today's episode. We hope you've enjoyed listening
as much as we've enjoyed playing. If you have,
go run and tell all your friends so that we can
turn as many people into CritCats as possible.
Tales from the Crit is a Wolfbeard Games audio
podcast. And if you like us, please subscribe
and leave a review wherever you get your podcasts
and head on over to our Instagram page and our
YouTube channel. Both of those are at Tales from
the Crit Podcast. All right. Bye -bye. Fuck,
I forgot what trip trap sounded like. Trip trap?
Well, step forward, y 'all. Y 'all. Wait, isn't
that a nine? Or do you have like a negative three?
That's the one. That's a one? I thought that
was a six. No, the Tales from the Crypt logo
is on the one space. Oh, because of a crypt.
Yeah, there you go. I like that. That's a purpose.
Well, if a crypt failed, but yeah. A crypt either
way. A crit for a critter. When you engage an
enemy in melee and... Melee? Melee. They reflect
off his black eyes and his dark feathers and
blood streams from his neck. Good riddance. Well,
that was intense. Can you give me that guy's
name again? Can you give me that guy's name again?
Yep. General Crussix. Who is Dr. Seuss? I just
can't. I'm sorry. Last I heard, the doctor was
still in Alliborough doing whatever terrible
things they have going on there. However, they
were all killed. From being too silly? We were
a bunch of silly gooses. Extremely large metal
cat. being wheeled down the road that's a tank
if you know what those are