Last time, you finally headed into the City of
Glass, and you have now found yourselves in this
dense forest of interlocking dead black trees.
After three days of navigating this increasingly
strange woods, in the middle of the night, a
massive explosion rocked the forest, and the
forest seemed to kind of groan and come alive
a little bit. And we will resume there with all
of you having woken up. Son of a bitch! Now what
the fuck was that? Maybe another adventuring
party? Maybe someone else tried to start a fire
with some of this wood. Makes one wonder what
might happen if one of these trees went up. There
are a few smaller explosions. It's hard to tell
exactly, but it actually seems pretty close to
you. And looking out into the dark, you actually
see the light of a small fire in the distance.
It doesn't look to be spreading yet, but from
your discoveries, it could prove to be a big
problem. if this extremely dense woods were to
suddenly start exploding. A very, very soon problem.
Does it feel like it's getting closer to us,
or is the rumbling increasing, basically? It
has stopped. After that first explosion, there's
like a two -minute wait, a smaller explosion,
and then nothing else so far except these dim
lights in the distance. Hmm. Now, y 'all, it
might be a good time to start running. Yeah,
we're leaving now. Sleepy starts gathering his
things and running. Pack your shit up now, quickly
now. Oh yeah. Halo still does all of his packing
in like perfect motion. It's the most efficient.
Let's go, let's go. He does it faster though.
It looks like he's like on two times speed or
something. Just press the fast forward button
on our demon. What do they feed these demons?
So. So here's the information I'll give you.
Sweeten the pot a little bit. Couple things.
Going directly in the pitch black darkness through
this forest will be a risky dove desolate. You
have really nothing to guide yourself without
the light. It's going to be very hard to tell
where you're going. Yeah. One thing you know
is that the explosion and the fire that is there
would not be a risky role. Because you know exactly
where you're going, and that is the direction
you wanted to originally go. You also hear someone
yelling for help. Oh. What if we were nice? Fuck
that. Nice. No way. Where are they? In our path,
or off to the side? From the fire. The fire seems
small. It has not spread, as I said. But it could
spread. Well, here's my thinking, y 'all. We
can either set out into the stark, pitch -black
woods, which I don't think I need to impress
upon you has its own risks, so we can go towards
this lovely, inviting fire, hopefully not explode,
and maybe find out who's hollering up ahead.
Be simpler. Seems like a trap to me, but if everyone
wants to do it, we'll say no. But they're saying
help. You know what, Halo, you're right. You
should go help them. I'll stay here, okay? You're
supposed to help people when they say help. That's
what I learned. So fucking true. Bailey looks
to Ledger. The hell have you been telling him?
Didn't learn that one from me. That said, I find
the impetus behind this a little bit infectious.
Maybe we should go help these folk out. Yeah.
Are you sure? Bailey pulls out his blunderbuss.
I'm staying back. I'll follow you, though. I'm
with Bailey. That's the spirit. Yeah, I think
we're going in. Thank you. Thank you for going
towards the explosion. I needed you to do that,
as you probably have guessed. Okay. So you're
going towards... You're following the light.
The promise of safety. Do we roll, or will we
roll something else? You're going to roll it
now. It has to be standard Delve Desolate because
you have a very, you know, you're going to a
fixed point and it is going to be generally less
difficult, traversal than going around. Hooray!
At least in new space. Now, gang, do you want
to, does Halo have Delve or Desolate? I don't
actually know if he can help me. Yeah, let me
check. I have Delve, but no Desolate. Booker
is desolate, if you need. I'm just shouting help
from afar. Just be careful up there! The whole
thing is that if you help, then you also suffer
the stress. So if you're specifically keeping
yourself safe, then it's fine. I have three dice.
It should be okay. Unless I'm titanically unlucky
and I can get nine failure dice. Not quite in
a row, but pretty close. I do not have delve
or desolate. Okay, that's fine. I'm just going
in. Ledger's going in. You got another critical
success. That's it, baby. Booyah. Beast or famine.
Fuck yeah. It's me, the king of the lands. I'll
give you all the money. Thank you. It wasn't
a fire. It was a light. You are proceeding through
the woods towards the explosion and the small
fire. It is a very small fire right now. You
got a critical success. Why don't you roll me
a stress die? D8. I read D6. You're not using
a rope. Yeah, yeah, this is D6. Staying. Mouthful
of coffee. A two! Not bad. That's fine. You come
out of the thicker part of the woods, and you
actually get in a clearing. There are a couple
pieces of burning wood scattered around. One
of the pieces is looking at a nearby tree, making
very slow progress, much like your fire originally
did with those little twigs. If you want to stamp
it out, I welcome you to. But what if we backed
up? I like your thinking. Is the man here? The
screaming person? Yes. It was a woman's voice,
technically speaking, but yes. So let me, I can
describe the whole scene to you and then you
can, unless you're like, I need to snap out that
fire now, in which case, sure, you can do that
too. I think maybe that would be... The one that's
licking against the big tree especially is like,
hey, if that goes off, we're probably going to
die, even if we start running now, because it
might cook off the other trees around it. So
I think Ledger will just be like, oh, son of
a bitch, and he's going to run over, and I don't
know if you want to roll for it or whatever.
He's going to try to stomp it out. No, I think
this is pretty low stakes. You went here. Yes,
you stamp out the fire very easily. It was a,
probably a very wise decision because this tree
was close to a lot of other trees and it was
basically just trees all the way to where you
were camping. Um, and that would have been bad.
A string of dynamite bundles right up to like
underneath Halo's pillow where he's sleeping.
Yeah. Or Bailey's. I, I was, I was talking to
you in earlier today and I was like, I, there's
a part where like you really should go to the
explosion, but I do not know of a subtle way
to tell you to go there because. The option of
not going towards the explosion could end up
very badly, and I don't know how to incentivize
it. So there's a thing I wrote where the entire
forest explodes, but you don't have to deal with
that. Thank God. You don't have to go back to
Vietnam, Grandpa. It's okay. They're just fireworks.
So besides the tree, there are a few other things
of interest in the clearing. Most notably is
that there are craters. One very large crater
in the center of the clearing with a number of
smaller craters randomly interspersed around
it. And then there are two people here. I have
them called bodies, but there's two people here.
One is definitely a body. It's probably where
you come out first. Next to you, someone dressed
in a typical rugged fashion. Nothing out of the
ordinary for an explorer. And he seems to have
had his throat slit. And then farther away from
you on the other side of the clearing is the
woman's voice who's been calling for help, kind
of struggled. And she is similarly dressed and
she has a big piece of wood, like that bark,
which lodged itself in her gut. She seems in
very bad shape. I think after like the fire is
out, Ledger, he has his revolver in his hand.
Um, but he's gonna swagger on over to, fairly
casually, to the lady who has the wood stabbed.
Did you say the wood is stabbed in her gut? Yeah,
it's like a piece of wooden shrapnel. Um, so
yeah, Ledger's gonna kinda just start swaggering
over and be like, Excuse me, ma 'am, did you
try and start a fire with the exploding wood
by any chance? Help. Me. Well, I think he kind
of walks over and kneels down next to her, and
he's like, that kind of leads to my second question.
Did you cut the throat of your compatriot over
there while he was asleep? I think I know what
you're going to say. No, never. It was the third
man. Ah, the third man. Halo, you know anything
about closing up a bleeding body? This one looks
like she needs a little help. Halo is just like...
Looking at her and saying, her insides are on
her outsides. He doesn't offer to help. He doesn't
know anything about men in a broken body. Put
him back! Does Bailey actually know how to fix?
Because technically he does, because he has the
men's skill. Yeah. I do have I have I have Mark
of the Weaver as well. Once per section, you
can fix someone or something in a matter of seconds,
even if it would usually take hours of careful
work. I think. Yeah, I guess. Because I do have
men. Yeah, yeah. I'd be like, anybody know how
to sew up a wound? Maybe grab Halo's little kit
there and see if we can't do a little work on
this woman. But I don't think Bailey wants to.
He's at the edge of the clearing and he's just
like, why don't you just get back over here,
Ledger? Alright, she's obviously dead. Let's
move. I'm talking to her. We're having a conversation,
man. What do you mean she's probably dead? She's
probably going to die. I got money. Look, she's
got money. Bailey walks into the clearing. Okay,
fine. I got treasure. Wait, wait, wait. Where's
the treasure? Bailey, just help her. Where's
the treasure? We gotta know. How about this,
Bailey? If she tries to double -cross us, I'll
shoot her in the head. Does that make you feel
better? No, but fine. Well, it should. I'm gonna
mend it up. Am I just using the thing? How does
this work? This is once per session. You can
fix someone. Do you want to use Mark of the Weaver,
or do you want to roll? I mean, it's going to
be roll anyways. Do you want it to be quick,
or do you want it to be slow? In this moment,
we probably need quick. You won't get to use
it again, though, for the rest of the session.
Just so you know. It's okay. I have a similar
ability. Yeah, it's what I figured. Okay. Well,
if everyone says they got my back, I might as
well do it. Stupid idea. Okay. What do I got
to do? It's going to be a mend, and I think this
is a, this is desolate. It's a mend desolate.
Mend desolate standard. Standard. Is anyone helping
you? If you need help, I have Desolate, and I
could help. And Ledger wouldn't mind getting,
you know, elbows deep in this lady's... Yeah,
why don't you help me out here? Let's fix this
lady up. Perry's like, all right, well, you want
me to just yank the thing out? Yeah, just hold
there, right there, yeah. Not there, right there.
There you go. All right, all right. And take
Mastery on this. Since you're using Mark of the
Weaver, I'll give you a little oomph. Men, Desolate,
Mastery, Standard. Yeah, roll it. One extra die.
Roll it. Plus one is already on there. Plus one
for mastery. Oh! Six on that first die. On four
dice. Success at a cost. So Bailey, what does
it look like when you use Mark of the Weaver?
I assume this is a magical ability, right? Yeah,
I mean, it's gotta be. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I think
he's waving his hands around, speaking incantations,
possibly, you know, but I think he's doing it
in a very mechanical way. You know, instead of
being like, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, he
says like, first, number one, you say this, then
you enunciate this syllable, and then you move
your finger into this area, and this will cause
the magic to do this thing. It's like a very
logical thing. Very procedural. Besides like,
communing with someone. Yeah. I love magic as
like a science, even a soft science. I think
it's really fun. Yeah, I think that's how Bailey
views all of this. So that's why it's like, even
if it's a magical ability, he's like, it's not
magic. There's a specific way to do it. Okay.
Hmm. I do the cooking by the book. Gotta do the
cooking by the book. What kind of stress do we
take? You're both going to take supplies. In
this case. my supplies um i think that i accidentally
drop all the bullets from my gun inside her body
cavity right before you sew it up and we just
can't get them back out uh you both take four
supply stress i'm taking a major fallout i think
i don't think there's any way around it i think
i am too sir yes sir check this one out wow please
tell me how my gun and adam's the one who needed
the major fallout This is not what I wanted at
all. Damn it. Okay. My fucking gun's going to
blow up because we helped this stupid lady. So,
Bailey, you're going to take this fallout, which
is used up. Your stocks are depleted of crucial
items or someone's stolen something vital from
your bag. You cannot use any healing items you
own. I think during the process of this magic,
it sometimes happens with this type of magic.
Sometimes you consume a lot more than you mean
to in the interest of speed. And then Halo's
bag is totally depleted before you can restock
it. And now I need to figure out Ledger's major
supplies for that. Looking at the list, I think
Spoiled is maybe the one that would be least
ridiculous. And that it just kind of like I lose
one of my resources. So I have my teeth and I
have my ceiling supplies. If you wanted to just
take one of those away. Sorry, Ledger, you've
been hired by the Black Hand Bandits to do one
last job for them. Oh, son of a bitch. The supplies
fallout is hard because it's like stuff like
in the dark and no rations. It doesn't make sense
in the short term, because, like, even if I ran
out of food right now, I'm not going to be so
fucking anemic that I'm getting the shakes for,
like, most of a day, you'd think. A lot of them
are kind of, like, retroactive, where it's like,
you were already running out, and now it is struck
ahead. Yeah. I agree. In the dark is tempting
to me. That could break my lantern. But then...
Oh, then something attacks me right now. I don't
really want to deal with that right now. So I
think I am in agreement. Spoiled, what resources
do you have? I have Downfall's beetle, which
I hope does not go bad. I have the D6 sealer
supplies and the D6 bag of interesting teeth
that I started with and that I snacked on a couple
of those. What about the mulled wine? As you
are helping with this... It's a resource, right?
Yeah. Yeah. I think you find that the sealing
supplies you had, I think when that void nail
was in your inventory, they rubbed up a little
too close to each other. And you see that the
usual luster of the sealing supplies is totally
fucked up. Like the seals on the silver bottles
are all ruined and it's just totally unusable.
It's garbage. Oh, shit. I think I'll take like
one of those nasty bottles and just whip it at
a tree. Hopefully it doesn't catch fire. Okay.
You have successfully healed this woman. You
have done your magic. You've removed the shrapnel
from her body. She's still a little out of sorts,
but she's ultimately not bleeding to death and
dying from gut wound. She says, oh, thank you.
Thank you. I owe you my life. Yeah, and a little
bit more. What about the money? I said treasure.
Well, I mean, I said money, but I corrected myself
to treasure. Didn't I? Where is it? It's in that
crater over there. She kind of points the big
crater in the middle of the clearing. You'll
have to forgive my friend. He is a little bit
financially minded. Now, you said there was a
third man who cut the throat of your compatriot.
Yes. Yes, that's right. And were you traveling
together? Yes, we were. He was a downright evil
bandit by the name of Parley. You have quite
the infectious accent, sir. So I'm told. Will
you pardon me for one second, please? Uh, I'm
gonna walk over to the guy who had his throat
cut, and I'm gonna touch his forehead and say
a little prayer, and I'm going to ask him if
he was traveling with a third person. Uh, how
does this work? Can touch the brow of the recently
dead to ask them one final question, is the full
wording. Alright, what does it look like when
he answers you? That's sick. I imagine... I imagine
that when he does this, normally you wouldn't
be able to see it, but maybe you can catch a
glimmer of it. It's like when he reaches out
to touch the side of the face, his death puts
her hand on top of his hand or inside of his
hand, and they kind of brush the corpse's forehead
together, and maybe he says a little prayer,
and he's got one of his little charms in his
hand, and he asks the question, and then when
the question has been answered, he says a prayer
that sends their soul to oblivion or whatever.
Oblivion. And it like it whispers it like just
like it gasps it like the last bit of air being
forced out of a corpse's lungs. But in the words,
the question was, were you traveling with a third
person? Huh? Huh? That's that's a very interesting
question you've asked. Oh, I like that. Yeah.
You know, I'll give you more. I don't think you
have to roll for this. Right. It just works.
Yeah, it seems to me it just happens. So this
guy says, I was traveling with three others.
I was traveling with that woman, Jowl, and how
do you put my name generator? Batman Howl. And
Wrinkle. And Dinky, too. I was traveling with
Jowl and Clock. And Dinky. No, no Dinky. Yes,
Dinky. Yes, fucking Dinky. We need Dinky. All
right, I'm going to shoot this woman. She says
the words Dinky out of her mouth. But he does
not mention traveling with a parlay. I think
he would also say that Dinky and Clock were killed
a few days ago. I just got Dinky and he's already
dead. Yeah, he was pre -dead. I'm sorry. Oh,
God. This is the worst thing to happen ever.
I assume none of us heard this, right? Only Ledger
hears this. Unless you're like, I mean, I don't
know. I feel like you can hear it, but only if
you're like right by it. It's like quiet because
it's like the last whisper of a corpse. So you'd
have to like he Ledger like has his head very
close. Okay, so it's not like this lady hears
it. She doesn't know what this guy's saying.
No, they're across the clearing, so she probably
can't. She might have heard him ask the question.
Yeah, I might still be with the lady then. She
pointed my gun at her. You don't need to point
that at me. No, trust me, I do. What? I'm just
an in -danger person. That's what I am. Why are
you saying it like that? All right, my finger's
on the trigger now. You really need to watch
yourself. Yeah, whatever. Ledger's gonna stroll
back and he's gonna be like, well, I asked your
compatriot over there a little question and it
seems to be somewhat incongruent with the information
that you have provided me. Why don't you tell
me how Winky and, uh, who's the other one who
died? Don't you mean Dinky? Dinky, sorry. Don't
you fucking mean Dinky? I do mean Dinky. Dinky
and her name's Jowl. Who's the third one? Uh,
is it Jowl? Dinky, Clock, and Parley is who she
claimed. Yeah, yeah. You don't know the name
of the dead guy. Yeah, yeah. Now your compatriot
mentioned that Dinky and... Fuck, I already forgot
it. Clock. Dinky and Clock died recently, but
he did not mention anyone named Parley. Do you
care to comment? Oh, what do you know? I shoved
the barrel in her face. Oh, well, so interesting.
Dinky's nickname was Parley. Well, now, how did
he cut that man's throat if he's been dead for
two days? How do you even know that? Are you
just making shit up? That's a great. He told
me. I asked him. She looks around to your compatriots
and you believe this. It's true. I was there.
He did ask him. Listen, I know where more money
is. Well, now I would love to believe you, but
my friend Bailey here, and Ledger claps a hand
around Bailey's shoulders, he hates being lied
to. He maybe hates it worse than anything else
in the world. Now the task of preventing him
from pulling that trigger is such a monolithic
one. loathe to attempt to undertake it myself.
Why don't you try the truth? I don't - One more
time. I don't give, to be clear, a single shit
if you cut that man's throat while he was asleep
and then blew yourself up. It does not matter
a damn to me. Fine. Fine. You got me. That dead
corpse over there, that's Parley. He's a stupid
son of a bitch who got fixated on a fucking box.
And when he was supposed to be keeping watch,
some other fucking creature came and killed Dinky
and was Clock. And he's a son of a bitch. And
I didn't trust him. And so I killed him. And
I was going to take his box. And I tried to open
his fucking box. And when I tried to open his
box, I fucking blew myself up. Isn't that great?
Is the box the treasure you're going to give
us? Yeah, it's in the crater. Whatever. Whatever?
Whatever? What? Barrel on the temple now. All
right now, Bailey. Listen, you've no doubt killed
your own share of things. And let me look at
the way you're holding that gun. What about it?
He is not renowned for his trigger discipline.
Well, I believe we have invested in you. You
know, whatever it took to seal your guts back
up, and you have confided in us about the exploding
box, which we will be leaving with. Bailey, what
do you say we let it go? I believe this is a
story so embarrassing that it has to be the truth
of the matter or something as close to it as
she is capable of providing. What do you think?
Well, she is pretty confident. She could come
back and kill us. Why would I do that? Why wouldn't
you? I don't think she could come back and kill
us. You've not wronged me. You might say we saved
your life. Oh, yeah, I guess. Listen, where are
you, folks? I'm not your accent. It's destroying
me. My ego is sapped from my mind, and I turn
to dust. She says, it's horrible. It's horrible.
I should have just made it all cowboys. This
is terrible. She says, I know where you're headed.
Where are you folks at? Are you headed deeper
in? Yep. Dirt hole, perhaps third option, I believe
it was called. Dirt hole. Dirt hole. Yeah. Yeah.
Dirt hole. I know some people in dirt hole. Just,
I could give you my, give you a mark of my favor
or something like that. And I owe you one. You
know? Do you treat your friends as well as you
treat it all parlay over there? If my friends.
nearly lost the entire expedition because of
a stupid fucking box, then I would treat them
the same way I treated him. Well... Who are your
friends? Do you know the Church of the Holy Brews?
Do I, Colin? Uh, Ledger does. I do. Oh, yeah,
because I have a religion. You're religious.
You're a religious man. It's actually a semi
-popular... You wouldn't call it a cult. I mean,
everything's a cult, right? It's a semi -popular
church within the city itself. It's one of a
more esoteric group of people who they put beading
on each other and sometimes strangers in search
for a holy bruise that was prophesied to them.
I am familiar. Booker turns to Ledger. Is this
typical of the church? Cutting throats? Well,
that wouldn't leave much of a bruise at all.
That's what I'm thinking. It wasn't holy work.
Fair enough. Yeah, sure. But I got friends there,
and I think she produces a little piece of letterhead,
writes a very short letter on it while the gun's
pointed at her head, and kind of folds it up
and hands it to you. It's small. It says, like,
these folks saved my life. I owe them. Put something
on my tab, and when I come back, I'll pay it
off. All right. I just wanted to ask really quick.
Booker is... the debt man does he have any abilities
that like would be relevant in creating an obligation
with this lady or is he just like causing new
ones kind of more his thing more i'm not familiar
with the incarnating playbook all right well
uh i think he'll take it and he'll maybe turn
and hand it to booker anyways and be like well
why don't you hold on to this seems kind of your
thing and he gives a little grin um suppose it
is uh you can probably add it to your resources
it is a d6 Religion, holy bruise debt, you can
call it. You can use it as a resource or you
can actually try to use it as getting services.
That's up to you. It's actually valuable. Thank
you, ma 'am. That seems payment for us fixing
her. Alright, Bailey, now why don't you lower
the can and we'll let this poor woman get on
her way. Fine. This is a stupid decision. You're
making a good choice. You're making a great choice.
You owe us two favors, lady. We saved your life,
and we didn't take it. Okay? That sounds perfectly
fair. Well, I'm gonna head out. Mind them woods.
And don't try to start any more fires if you
can help it. I'd hate for this whole place to
go up around our ears while we're on our way.
Yeah, watch out. The trees blow up. It's a horrible
thing. Yeah, we noticed. All right, she heads
out. I'm going to that box, that treasure. Oh,
there is no treasure. Sorry, man. Just kidding.
Under a thin layer of dirt in the biggest crater,
there is a little box about the size of a shoe
box. A shoebox -sized box. A shoebox -sized suit.
It's made of a very dark wood, and it has this,
like, purple -silver inlay around the corners
of it. But it doesn't have, like, a latch or
any way to open it. And this is Unopenable Box
D12. It is an occult niche item. Not dangerous?
Not dangerous. The only reason it blew up is
because she put bombs on it. Is this equipment?
It's a resource. It's a D12. A cult niche. I
think Ledger will be like, Bailey, you're a learned
man. Why don't you take the box and don't try
to blow it up? Yeah, I think I deserve it. By
the way, you just made a horrible decision letting
her go. Are you really this afraid of every single
stranger you meet? Like you think one woman who
wasn't stupid enough to set off bombs in the
exploding forest is going to somehow kill us
all? I don't trust that lady, so I'm going to
cast Lost It All just to see if she's holding
out on us, to see if there's something more valuable
around here. What does Lost It All do? It shows
us the nearest source of wealth. Yeah, I guess
if you used it when she was near you and... not
near the box. The box is very expensive. I'll
tell you this. The G12 is fucking huge. Yeah,
the box is eminently expensive. It's probably
the most valuable thing you've seen in your entire
life, using this sense. But, but, she does have,
if we think of it like a glow, she does have
something in her back pocket. I can also smell
magical items. That's the thing I have lately.
Oh yeah, this box is magic as fuck, bro. This
box reeks. This box reeks. A magic whiff. Oh
yeah, related to my hand raise. I wanted to say
that in order for Bailey to get his hands on
the box, he has to pry it out of Halo's because
that's what Halo has been doing ever since he
was... I told the location guy, but he just went
right to pick it up and has been playing with
it, tossing it around. He's very reluctant to
give it over. He's like, that was my box. I lost
my beetle. Oh, it's mine. It's my box. I get
the work. I get the work. Give it over here now.
Give me the box. He takes it. Rip it from his
hands. I don't think Ledger... And now I think...
Oh, sorry, go ahead. I turn to Ledger and I say,
I just can't believe how stupid you... She's
obvious. She was lying about everything. She's
gonna stab us in the back as we're walking over
here, okay? She has no reason to help us. No
reason to be nice. What are you talking about?
What do you think she's going to do to you? Do
to us. She's gonna screw us over if she has the
ability to. Trust me. And what ability do you
think she has? See, she killed this guy. She
probably killed half her party. She cut his throat
while he was asleep. Yeah. Okay. Are you this
afraid of every single person you've met in your
entire life? She was laughing at us, okay? She
was laughing at us. You were an easy mark for
her. Have a little faith in your own abilities,
man. Let me tell you this. If the two of you
was in a, I don't know, a clearing in an exploding
forest, and it was life or death, I would put
the money on you every time. You're a stout man.
You could take her out, I think, even without
that fancy little cannon you're carrying around.
Don't butter me up. Have some nerve. I've heard
it. Are we moving? Are we going? What are we
doing here? Why don't you take your priceless
box and let's get the hell out of here. Booker,
were you trying to shake down her before she
left? Booker isn't. That's what I was going to
say. Ledger, I don't think, even if he knew,
he probably would. I know Bailey probably would,
but Ledger's not really interested in trying
to take every last thing this lady has. Booker's
actually just going to say, I see you have something
in your back pocket. Be quiet about it. While
Bailey's distracted. Yeah, while we're all fighting
over the box. Yeah, to her. As she's leaving.
What about it? Quiet. Don't let him hear. Don't
let him know. Okay. She just leaves really freaked
out. Okay, I'm going. Let's mosey. Let's move.
Let's jam. Someone roll me a 1d4, please. Not
I. Not I. Not I. Done. Beautiful. Great. So as
you get your bearings here, after all that drama,
there's actually a small road here, a small path
that these people were traveling along. And that
is going to give you that 1d4 boon against the
place you are, this horrible forest. So you've
made a little progress. You continue forward.
Are you waiting till morning? Probably, yeah.
I think Ledger's going to want to get a little
bit of sleep now that the little fire situation
is no longer imminent. And we know that she just
blew herself up. I think, yeah, well, this might
not be a bad place to... To lay up. Or we can
go somewhere else if Bailey's too paranoid. Bailey's
holding on to his box. All right, you can make
the decision. Is Bailey satisfied with the box?
No, not at all. He's angry and he's clutching
it very hard. D12 is literally as valuable as
things can possibly be. That's the maximum value.
You found diamond, bro. Bro, do you know who
Bailey is? No, I know this man. I'm not saying
he's wrong. I mean, it's valuable, but it's also
a niche. And also, it's called an unopenable
box. So, you know. Maybe he didn't use enough
dynamite. Yeah, it seems like, despite the fact
that he used what seems to be a very large explosive,
it is spotless. Maybe Albright will like it.
Sure. Too bad you're going away from him. We
should ask the Beatles, sir. Okay. I don't know.
I had to. I don't know. Now where do we go? I
feel like I'm in a dream. So within half a day
after your arrest and moving forward, the tangle
of trees kind of begins funneling you again.
It becomes impassable on either side. narrowing
as you proceed onwards. Eventually, it clears
out into a wooden canyon of sorts. Ahead of you,
the trees grow even narrower, sharper, and thorny.
And looking closer at the trees in front of you,
you kind of make out a scene here. The trees
are in humanoid shapes, in like a mock war? or
some portrayal of a battle. There's like wooden
soldiers stabbing each other with wooden weapons
with this deep red orange sap coming out of their
wounds, crystallizing on the ground around them.
Among these wooden figures, you do see the occasional
remains of a flesh and blood human being, which
are decrepit and rotted away. Farther up, In
a particularly dense part of the battlefield,
you see what appears to be a fresh corpse dressed
in the purple uniform of a Cathari soldier. I
said, I've read it's purple in my notes. He's
wearing purple. She's wearing purple. And she
is impaled on top of a wooden knight's lance.
I'll post this one as well. The people who are
regular dead, do they have wood growing? Are
they turning into wood? No, no. They're not.
Thank God. We can have more of this. Well, I
think Ledger's looking around. As soon as he
sees the wooden soldiers, he probably has his
gun out. And he's looking around and he sees
the dead Kithari there. And he's like, well,
I don't think I need to ask this fellow a question
to know that he was killed by that. wooden soldier.
The question is why? I don't know. No sudden
movements. This place is dangerous. Take it real
easy. I can ask this guy. I can maybe ask this
guy a question. Yeah. This is also a woman. Do
you want to? Oh, I can ask this fine and pale
woman. Excuse me, madam. How did you get impaled?
She's like, so on the wooden horse, halfway up
a wooden body, then up a wooden lance. She's
probably 10 or so feet in the air. Oh, okay.
There are like thicker wooden roots and branches
that could go over the battlefield. A bit of
a technical climb, but not impossible. If, unless
the wood did come alive and impale her, then
she had fallen from above onto the lance. Not
clear. I have a question about the other remains,
the older ones. Is it obvious that they were
killed by other wooden statues, or is it not
clear? Is there a guy jabbing a fake wooden spear
downwards into a moldy old corpse, or is it not
that clear? It's not that clear. You need to
get a discern to get a better clue about the
old corpses. Okay. Do I see anything above where
she might have fallen from? There are definitely
some branches she could have feasibly fallen
from. Well, it is also possible that she just
fell. Bad luck and all. I guess I could see that.
It's rough. There is a glint of something at
her side that may be valuable, but then again,
it might not be. She might be carrying one of
those Cathari big irons if we cared to fish it
down. Up to you. Of course, it's always up to
me. All right, let me see. Would you require
a roll for me to clamber on up there? Oh, absolutely.
This place, even the battlefield is incredibly
dense. There's no safe route through here. Do
you need that iron? Ledger. I don't know. Did
you need that unopenable box? Oh, I definitely
need the box. But do you need the gun? We don't
even know that it is a gun, but I don't think
I need to impress upon you the fact that a Cathari
officer's sidearm is quite valuable aside from
its more practical and imminent uses. All right.
If you want your treasure, go for it. This box
is insulted. I feel the box. I don't actually
know what it would be to climb. Would that be
Delve? I think it's a Delve. Alright, is this
one perhaps risky? This one is risky. How are
you trying to get up there? Are you trying to
climb a branch? Can I climb the horse and then
climb the knight? Yeah, you absolutely could
do that. Yeah, I think I'll try that. I think
I'll try and climb the actual horseman. Be careful.
Yeah, yeah. Okay, so I got two dice on this.
I don't think anybody should help me. It'll be
really funny if I fall and crack my skull open.
Success at a cost! Okay. Not too bad. At least
it worked. First, as you are making your way
through this wooden battlefield, up this wooden
guy, you get pricked a couple times by Wooden
weapons that you swear you got out of the way
of, but somehow, while you're moving through
them, they manage to just nick you. So you take
three blood stress. My blood! So you're going
to need to make a follow -up test. My blood.
No follow -up. Good. But you proceed up. You
shimmy up this big wooden lance. It is very sturdy.
And you manage to get up to the corpse. It's
a pretty impressive athletic feat. And you rustle
through her gear. And you get two things. One
is that you get D6 Cathari tallies. Yummy. And
you also uncover from her, like, little hip equipment
pouch. I guess it's not a pouch. It's more of
a sheath. You get this sap -covered kukri, which
is a D4 kill delve in its current state. It has
been horribly mangled by sap coating it, hardening
on it. But with a little bit of TLC, it might
be a little better. Who knows? From my precarious
position, can I ask her if the knight killed
her? Is she fresh enough for that? She is fresh.
Okay. Then I guess I'll just do my best to, like,
while hanging off of this fucking lance that
I've shimmied up, kind of, like, reach up and,
like, really, like, he may be, like, because
he's exerting himself so much, he says the death
rites, but, like, really, really fast and breathy,
and he's like... Alright, did you fall on this
knight's lance or did it come alive and impale
you? Fell. Oh no, you know what she says? Pushed.
Damn. Alright, he's gonna shimmy his way back
down and he'll call back to his compatriots and
be like, well, she says something pushed her
and I'm finding these wooden weapons to be preternaturally
good at pricking my skin, so everybody be real
careful as you mosey on through. Yeah, let's
leave now. Please. Okay. Ledger has unfortunately
gone forward without you to loot this. That is
unfortunate. So what method are the rest of you
using to get through this precarious battlefield
of wooden things? Is this a delve roll for us?
It really depends on your methodology. I could
see it being a discern. I could see it being
a discern. I could see it being an evade. Evade,
a sneak. Certainly an evade. Maybe a sneak. Maybe.
I don't know how I'd do a sneak. But I think
evade, endure, perhaps. I'll try evading. Okay.
I'll evade my way through this. What does that
look like? I think that is just... carefully
ducking around every pointy branch that I see,
but at the same time still holding onto that
box with both my arms, I'm imagining. Just because
I'm imagining him crouching and moving around,
but his arms are still around the box, so he's
using a lot of his legs to get around. You could
definitely wedge that box in your pack. Need
be. Just so you know. It's getting wedged in
the box. It's not a bulky item. But just for
the comedy, the comedy in our eyes, that's what
we see for now. Of course. Roll it. Evade Desolate?
Evade Desolate. Sire. Standard? Standard. Oh!
Okay, take no stress, success. Good job. Bailey,
you dodge and weave with your box. Your special
box. You see that, Ledger? He can use it to block
the blades and everything, because it's unbreakable,
it can't be hurt. Yeah, that's true. Holy shit,
I should wear this. Use it as a shield, strap
some candles to it. Oh my god. Brilliant. Shoot
me, I dare ya! Halo. I see a value suddenly.
Or Booker. I mean, Booker can evade too. Can
you control the forest? Can I compel the forest
to show me the right path? Is that what compel
does? I don't actually know. I mean, it's a lie.
I mean, I'm open to hearing suggestions. Maybe
if you don't have a move, it would be hard to
do. Okay, yeah, let me move for a second. We'll
switch to Booker for a second. Booker, how are
you proceeding forward? Yeah, what's that Booker
guy doing? Evade. Okay. Taking a page out of
Bailey's book. Is this desolate? This is a desolate.
It's also wild if you have that, but I don't
think you do. I don't. No mastery. Standard,
or is this risky or scary? This is normal. Standard.
Boom. Nine. Another success. You follow Bailey's
route perfectly. Thanks, Bailey. Leaving Halo,
trying to talk to a wooden statue, perhaps. Halo,
just do what I did. Okay, what did you just do?
Oh, fuck. I'm sorry, I'm reading my rules. I
have Crucible, which would let me roll mastery
on a next action, so I could get a mastery compel,
but also the Crucible's risky. What does Crucible
do? You bring the energy of the heart inside
yourself and transmute it into power. At any
time, roll a d6. If it's equal or under your
current echo stress, clear that much stress from
echo and roll with mastery on your next action.
But if the d6 is over my current echo stress,
add that much stress to echo. And my echo stress
is 8. So. Up to you. I would take a Mastery Compel
if it would give me a good chance. Hey, if you're
using a special ability, why not? Hell yeah.
All right. Let's see this D6. I guess you can't
really roll over an 8 on a D6. I just want to
roll something. You're going to roll this Compel.
That's true. Anyways, yeah. What does this look
like? After Halo lost... his box to a certain
someone grow up he's kind of been lagging behind
but just remembering how the entire forest just
vibrated and shook and made him start to think
of it as alive because the thing that moves is
alive and the thing that doesn't like the strewn
about corpses that he saw when he was first born
and just recently the man on the cross are not
alive so he's trying to like feel really closely
these like wood people not the actual dead people
around but the wood ones because he knows the
dead ones are dead and he's trying to talk to
it trying to ask it how do i how do i get to
my friends right now They're all so skilled,
but I'm not sure how I'm going to get up there.
Do you have any advice for me? Sure. Fuck it.
I see it. All right. We are compelling the forest.
And it is a desolate. That's right. With mastery.
Let's see what happens. Is it standard or risky?
I'll give you standard this time since you're
in a fairly low tier of mother. Yes, we are in
a low tier of mother. Yo, low tier moms represented.
Failure! Take stress. Oh, you're going to get
that echo stress you wanted so bad. You take
five echo stress. Oh, my God. Oh, buddy, roll
me a fallout. That's going to be major for sure.
Okay. Take it from nine to zero. Okay. Oh, God,
this is perfect. Oh, my God. Okay. What is this?
Perfect. This works so well. As you try to talk,
you failed. Is it a failure or is it partial?
Yeah. What's a failure? You. You try to talk
to one of these wooden statues like you know
it. Like it's your fucking friend. And there
is, I think, like, looking back, like, the three
of you at Halo, who's not trying to cross, who's
just chatting up a fucking wooden statue, the
entire woods shake like they're moving. There's
a sound of, like, crumbling. And it's almost
like... The distance between you and Halo definitely
gets longer. It's like the battlefield became
more dense. The woods kind of constrict a little
bit around you. And you hear like just a horrible
distant crumbling. Something very large moves.
Halo, this was an immediate fallout. And I don't
know if I should tell you what it is yet. I will
tell you at the end of this session what the
fallout you got is. Are you kidding me? I'm going
to make a note of it. If I forget, please remind
me. It's freaking method acting suspense fallout.
You are really anxious. That's it. I think Ledger
is just like, Halo, maybe stop doing whatever
the hell it is you're doing and just come over
here. Yeah, use your legs. All right, not your
mouth. Also, Halo, I think you notice all of
the The battlefield almost seems to, it has gotten
denser, and also all of their eyes are looking
at you. I think you may have said something that
has upset them. Okay. I try to think about how
this could possibly be advice. Make it longer
and stare angrily. Is everyone on the other side?
Can no one help me? We can give you advice. We
can coach. Could Ledger help if he went back?
Would I be able to put myself at risk to assist
without going all the way back and having to
roll again? Yeah, I think there's a situation
where you can do that. Yeah, because Caleb just
starts to try to climb. I think after thinking
for a second, he's going for it. I think Ledger's
like, oh, damn it, he's going to mess it up.
Okay, hold on one sec. I'm coming. He's going
to start walking back in and the thing start
poking him again. Delve desolate. This time it's
risky. Oh, so you're probably still rolling only
one die. So it's still plus one, but it is also
risky. Yeah, come on. Just a little bit of luck.
Success. Yeah. I was going to say, I think that's
too many dice, but also. It wouldn't matter,
because they both came up eight, so the result
is an eight. You move through. For a few moments
there, it seems like as you move through the
crowd, one of them shifts, and you feel like
you hear a wooden sword unsheathing, but luckily,
Ledger grabs you by the arm, hurls you over a
shield wall, and you get to the other side. Ledger,
I think... Some people don't want to be talked
to. Yeah, that is wise. I feel like I probably
could have told you that one. But how? How do
you know? Well, you gotta just kinda use your
best judgment. Now these folk, you see, they're
all soldiers of a sort caught in an endless battle,
and I suspect that kind of thing can make a man
or a tree a little ornery. That's just my take.
Yeah, he just thinks about this. My favorite
coat full of little holes, too. I already had
holes. Oh, yeah. The holes have holes now. He's
upset about that. He liked the holes the way
they were before. I had the holes. It was all
great, and now it's ruined. You had them right
where you wanted them. He's also bleeding a little
bit. I think there's like maybe like a few little
tiny blossomed red spots from where he got a
little poke. We'll get through. Ledger, roll
me a... I forgot to take stress against the delve.
Someone roll me a d4, please. A 4? A d4, yes.
Probably 2d4 since you all kind of did stuff
here. Yay! Why don't you guys... Somebody else
roll. I feel like I roll a lot. Somebody else
roll. 2d4. That's two fours! You should have
me roll more often. Yeah. Critical success. Seriously.
I don't know. Big damage to the devil. Another
total of eight. Infinity number. Okay. You are...
You're making good progress. You're making very
good progress. The dead trees kind of twist around
you more tightly. Almost vengefully. But instead
of the usual kind of meandering path, it almost
becomes the interior of a... Like, you're in
a hallway. It's definitely a hallway. The wood
almost merges into, like, recognizable planks
on the ground. And there are distinct rooms here.
At the center of each of these rooms that you
find yourself wandering through, the trees sprout
into very familiar shapes. Booker, what shape
do you recognize here? Booker feels like he sees
the shape. Of a blade in the dark? Freaks him
out. He said it. He fucking said it. Freaks him
out. But what does the shape of a blade in the
dark look like? Like a fucking sword? Like a
silhouette? Triangle? A dark? Yes. Just out of
the corner of his eyes. Holy shit. I'm about
to get stabbed. You continue to proceed forward.
But the gallery seems to stretch on forever.
It is honestly vaguely reminiscent of those those
theater hallways that just kept twisting and
turning. How do you find your way forward team?
I'm this is not going to work, but I think just
for theatrics, Bailey is going to pull out the
cursed puppet that he got from the last hallway
we were in. It's kind of like a look at it, shake
it around, see if anything happens. I assume
nothing. And then he puts it back in his pocket.
So that's my. Your ability is shake puppet. Yeah.
Did anything happen? Did we live? Colin, I can't
tell you that until the end. I believe that we
have reached the limits of my more mundane expertise.
This seems to go on forever now. Do any of you
have a little something that might speed our
passage? Something... He looks at Halo and then
quickly looks at Bailey instead. Something perhaps
a little bit less conventional. I can do my best
to guide us out of here. You did it. Like I did
in the hallways last time. Yeah, you did it fine
in the theater. This seems to be superficially
similar. All right, everyone behind me. What's
your methodology here, Bailey? And I, my methodology
last time in the theaters, I think was trying
to treat it as like a math problem, right? That's
how I remember it. Someone had drawn a grid on
the ground to guide you. Oh, yeah. You could
derive it from that, perhaps. Yeah, maybe I'm
trying to, I think maybe Bailey is taking into
account every, like, little crack and opening
that he can find within the trees and the walls
around him. And he's trying to take that as,
like, if more cracks are on this side, that means
that's a hint that this is closer to the exit.
Or maybe the gallery pieces. That you pass. Yeah.
Okay. Cool. He's like imposing his own like schizophrenic
logic on the problem to see if it can actually
become real. Exactly. It's a dangerous, but it's
a solution. It's probably the only place in the
world where such a thing would actually be possible.
Discern wild. Discern wild. Is anyone helping
you? Can anyone help you? I cannot discern, and
I cannot wild, so I'm out. I cannot wild. Brian,
can you discern or wild? You know, Booker can.
No, I didn't take the discern one. No, we're
fucked. Damn, I thought you were going to say
he can wild. Booker can party. I can wild out.
Okay, discern wild standard. Ba -boom. Oh, yeah,
that's a failure, baby. Okay, yeah, you've...
You get onto something. Like, each gallery you
enter, you're starting to put together a narrative
here. You know, at first there's the blade in
the dark. Then you see a corpse. You see a mourning
family. You see a kingdom falling into ruin.
It's all coming together. It all makes a lot
of sense. And then in the next room, you see
yourself. You see your disgrace. You see hundreds
of your peers laughing at you. And it is mocking
you. And you're going to take 1d6 Mind Stress.
5 Mind Stress. Ouch, that's a lot. That's a 7
Mind Stress right now. Roll me a fallout test.
Do I have to, though? No, you actually don't
have to. No fallout. 9 versus 7. You shake it
off. You move on. Nice try, wood. Stupid wood.
Yeah, but you all do see this, though. You see
Bailey. Well, it looks to be Bailey. Who could
say? I don't think Bailey says anything about
it, and he doesn't want you to either. No. But
this is no success. We haven't gotten anywhere,
right? No. You are... Bailey, do you know where
we're going? I thought I did, but I'll be honest.
I don't know if we're making any progress here.
Yeah, you keep going forward. Going through this
gallery. And what is the room that traps you
look like? What's the display in here? Anyone.
Are these like wooden reliefs, by the way? Like,
what do you mean by display? They're like trees
which are growing into scenes. So like in your
scene, you were growing out of a tree. Your peers
were growing out of a tree. There were desks,
all that stuff. Understood. Like a 3D sculptures
and mannequins. But made of cursed black wood.
But what is the room that traps you? What does
it look like? Could be the trees, the army coming
back. Maybe like the tree branches almost seem
like bars on a cell. We kind of wind up in tree
jail. Yeah. And it's not like they move. It's
just like we look and there's no way to go forward
and then we turn around. Is there still the crowd?
Yeah, there's a path in front of us. Is there
still Bailey's crowd manifested? I think you're
in a different room, but maybe they're there
too. Maybe they're on the other side of the bars.
Jail bars? Yeah, I got it. I'm here. He's got
it. You are in a jail. You're in a jail made
of wood. On the other side, countless mocking
peers wearing wooden Eschaton Academy uniforms.
And behind you, rats. Just thousands of little
wooden rats poised to eat you up. And there's
no door behind you anymore. It's this cluster
of wooden rats. Unmoving, of course. But you
don't know how to proceed. And there's a creaking.
I want to get out. I want to get out. I want
to get out. How fast do these shifts occur when
they do occur? Is it like when we blink? It's
imperceptible. It just happens when you're not
looking. We have to all be looking. Right now.
Look at a corner. Back to back. Or just imagine
something nice. Imagine a pathway instead of
rats. Are you thinking about rats right now?
Booker is not Booker. Bailey is yelling at all
the wooden figures now. Just not even like paying
attention. Bailey, come on now. You said you
were going to get us out of here. This seems
not ideal. He has his gun in his hand. What do
you want me to do about it, huh? I don't know
where to go. OK, we're trapped. You want me to
say it? We're trapped. Do you have any bright
ideas? Damn it all. I could try and take us through
the gray. I would not. I'm not crazy about the
idea. Yeah, me neither. Can I ascertain anything
through having Halo just like poke around every
corner of this place? Like a discern roll? Like
a discern wild roll? Yes, like a discern wild
roll. Let's get that discernment. I could help
with it. Are you helping Bailey? Well, I don't
know what he's doing. What are you doing? I'm
poking around. I'm just looking for a way out.
He's looking for a way out, yeah. Instead of
yelling at the things I'm looking. Okay, well,
I'm not helping. I'm busy. I'm probably poking
around with you then. I'm kicking bars. I'm seeing
where you're poking. I'm hitting things too.
Okay, roll it. Standard. Plus one. Failure. Jesus
Christ. Yeah. Oh, man. Man, man, man. I think
this is mind stress. Honestly, I think you're
taking mind stress here, Halo. One. One mind
stress. This is not good. They're not moving.
They're not fucking moving. But you hear the
creaking of the wood, and it sounds like rats,
and it sounds like shouting. And you swear they're
getting closer, even though you have no means
to prove that. I'm writing a note that I'm taking
the mind stress as echo instead due to my ability.
Oh, I see. Doesn't that mean you take no stress
because you have echo armor? Echo protection.
But once per situation, when I take stress to
any resistance other than echo, put it in echo
instead. Because I want to be over that six on
echo pretty consistently. But don't you have
armor? Yeah, so you take nothing. Using this
ability effectively makes the stress vanish into
nothing, which is not a bad thing, I don't think.
It's maybe not what you wanted, but... You won't
have to make a Fallout roll, that's for sure.
Yeah. Do I take one mind stress? Thank you for
the reminder. You did help. You take one mind
stress. And a Fallout roll. I figured. Yeah.
It's getting interesting here. Oh. Oh, no. Bailey,
you've taken major Fallout. I'm gonna have a
fucking huge meltdown. I think you're gonna have
a huge meltdown. I love that for him. I'm going
crazy, man. The rats are in the walls. God, I
could fucking do delusion on you. That'd be insane.
I was talking to Ewan about that earlier. That
is a truly fucked up one. something maybe to
my backpack that work uh i don't i mean i look
at at supplies i don't have to do mine to you
but this does seem very appropriate for to be
mined especially because it's like people from
the academy interesting go ahead you know losing
my backpack is that would ruin my mind bro if
i lost this fucking box bro supplies that would
fucking suck honestly I think this is major mind
fallout which is unsettling you behave in a weird
manner you're kind of already doing that causing
your companions discomfort this functions as
shaken and any friendly character who sees you
perform the act takes d6 mind stress that's a
lot I also get to say do you fight flight or
freeze hmm In this moment? Yes, I get to choose
one of these three. But first, what is the thing
that you are doing that is making everyone scared?
Is it you're screaming? Before... What am I writing
down for Fallout, though? They're immediate,
so they're going to go away after I tell you
what happens to you. So you don't need to write
them down. Oh, okay. So I don't even write it
down. Okay. I think I am... forcefully trying
to push through the bars to get to all the laughing
figures in front of me and i'm not doing it almost
in a way that makes me care about my own body
i am like squeezing myself to the point where
maybe it looks very harmful and i am possibly
bleeding in ways where you would say why are
you doing this okay everyone's gonna take this
is gonna be bad this is a fucking cataclysm right
at the oh it's only two everyone takes two mind
stress um halo take zero because i think you
have two mind protection Yeah. That's fucking
wacko. And then everyone who took stress has
to make a fallout test. Also, Bailey, I've been
kind of afraid to tell you this, all you this,
when you take a major fallout, you clear all
of your stress. All of it. And a minor fallout,
you clear all of the one you took. Okay, no one
got any fallout from that. Thank God. This is
normal Bailey stuff, honestly. We're not that
shocked by it anymore. Yeah, he's kind of a freak.
And then... I think I'm going to choose fight
here for you, Bailey. I think you are shooting
at the statues. You're like hacking away at them
with like a knife. And that is what it's bad.
Wait, did I get through? No, you did not. Because
you guys have not succeeded a role since entering
the jail. And now it really seems like the rats
are getting close. Ledger, I think maybe the
back of your neck is starting to feel a little
warm. And Halo, you feel, I don't know how Halo
feels bad. How do you feel? I mean, you're not
even taking stress. You're kind of fine. You're
fine. Everyone's freaking out. You're fine. It's
cool. But yeah, you guys are trapped in a wooden
cell. All right. Hell with this. I'm taking us
to the gray. We have no other way out of here.
Watch. Those rats don't get too close. Can somebody
take Bailey's fucking gun away from him before
he shoots his goddamn eye out? I'll kill you
all. Die. I'll just keep him out of my circle
while I set this up. Damn it. Can I do that?
Maybe this is kind of a meta question, but also
kind of not. If I start setting up this ritual,
which does take 10 minutes, is something bad
going to happen? I can't tell you that until
you roll. Okay, but I just mean it doesn't seem
like there's imminent. It might feel imminent,
but what is your other option here, right? Yeah,
yeah. Okay. And I believe that's delve religion.
Would you like to put a little risk on this?
No, I won't torture you. Cool. I love to be tortured
though. I want you to get out of this cell too.
Yeah. Wow, failure. Take stress. Holy fucking
shit. How much time can we spend in this jail
cell before we die? Guys, what are you doing?
What do you got for me? A hole opens up in the
ground. It's time to escalate. It is time to
escalate. It is absolutely time to escalate.
This is where we die. Ledger, what does it look
like when you fuck up this ritual really bad?
I think... So, Ledger... I don't know, because
I feel like he's trying to force his way in between
two planes of reality, so maybe either there's
kind of catastrophic feedback as he fucks it
up, or maybe something in an adjacent plane takes
notice, or maybe... like he incompletely, maybe
like just like shifts, like all of the food in
our backpacks to the grain. We can't get at it
or something. Uh, sure. Maybe he just vanishes
and leaves everyone behind. Maybe his death vanishes.
But like, what does it look like? What is your,
what are your actions look like that caused us
to fuck up? So he's muttering little enchantments,
and he's scribing little things in the ground,
and it's kind of like an active process. His
death tells him how to do it. And I think that
maybe he says something, and he's like, wait,
no, I think I fucked that up. And he starts messing
with his sigils and going over, and maybe he
accidentally steps on one that was a protective
mark or something. And he's trying to fix the
mess -ups in the little ritual circle that he
puts on the ground. I guess if there's a solid
floor here, he's probably drawing it with a charcoal
pencil. But it's basically just like a cascade
of failure as he tries to draw these things on
the ground and does it wrong. Okay, I like that.
While this is happening, Halo is just melt on
the ground, crisscross applesauce, drawing in
his sketchbook. I start choking Halo out of madness.
Okay, so first I'm going to deal, before I get
to anything. I'm going to deal you all four echo
stress. Okay. Four echo stress. Please fall out.
Because I may use the fallout to describe what
happens. Major fallout. Let's go. Jesus Christ.
Okay. I'm in it, baby. Fuck them up. Badly. It's
not so bad. No fallout. Brian, you haven't come
up with a great plan to get us out of here. Everyone's
gone insane. You gotta use axe on wood and get
us out of here, okay? Please. Adam, I ain't got
shit. What if I crave the rats to want to free
us? How about that, huh? You crave them to have
them eat the bars away and then just open up
a hole or something. Make me really want to leave.
I'll just start banging my head against the bars.
I'm gonna put you in the gray. I'm going to put
you in the gray. I need to put you in the gray.
You all go into the gray. You take stress doing
so. You find yourself in a ghostly recreation
of the gallery. Except in this one, there are
no statues at all. It's just these empty hallways.
And you feel like you should eventually be able
to get out, right? Ledger. You show some mark
of the City of Glass in your physical form. What
do you think's cool? What's the fucked up where
your body's mutated? So, like, in heart, the
motifs are, like, flesh and eyes and veins and
meat. I don't... Maybe, like, something more
crystal -y? I feel like I don't know the City
of Glass well enough to know its aesthetic profile.
Yeah, teeth, glass. Teeth and glass are kind
of what I'm leaning into. Cool. Do your teeth
outside your mouth? Oh, yeah. Your skin's starting
to grow teeth? Exterior teeth. Sure. So where
is this like a concealable thing on my body?
So the description is you gain some mark of the
heart in your physical form. It gives us some
examples like fragile antlers of bone, fingernails
that curve in fractal sharp patterns, etc. Your
frail mortal form is not designed to be used
as such a canvas. When you mark stress to blood,
roll two dice and pick the higher. So it's something
that makes you more fucked up. Like what if you
have, what if you have teeth growing under your
skin? Oh, that's gross. And you can feel them
like kind of pressing through it. Like when you
draw your, your lips too tight. Oh, I hate that.
I hate it too. We should do it. Yeah. Okay. Sure.
Yeah. So I'll put the thought in chat. Uh, you
have, teeth pressing up out of your skin. I think
on your face, it's clearly seen. Everyone is
in the gray with you, though, luckily. But it
is not... You're still in these hallways, and
that is a problem. But you can at least delve
desolate now. Thank God. All right. Let's get
through. We're in the... I think he probably
is, like, touching at his face and feeling these
bumps, and he's like, we gotta... He's probably
surprised that it worked, I think. I think he
assumed that it would not work. But when it does,
he looks around and he blinks a little bit and
he can feel this pressing and he's touching his
face almost absently. He's like, alright, follow
me. Let's go this way. Come on, let's go this
way. Does anybody want to delve or desolate with
me just to idiot -proof this roll? I'll give
you a hand. Booker has desolate. I'm a delver.
Let's get the fuck out of... Oh, thank God. I
forgot to add the extra die from the help, but
it didn't matter because that's another critical
success. Thank fucking God. I mean, there's no
way you can fail this, but roll a d6. Okay. It's
good that we couldn't fail it because that's
a one. Yeah. You're getting out of here, team.
Team, I've had enough. Team, I've had enough.
I've had enough. You wander these halls for a
while. It is uncanny. There's clearly places
in the gallery where things should be, but they're
just empty. Eventually, you come to a door that
leads you out. The wood begins to recede. It
grows clearer and clearer. And eventually, you
find yourself on a road. And down a few hundred
feet from you, you see the sturdy wooden walls
of a settlement. But just ahead of you is a veritable
convoy of wagons, and they're all heading away
from the town towards the way you just came from.
Like, they don't want to be here. Maybe most
concerningly of all is that there's a big sign
up above the settlement, and it says Micah, which
is not a settlement you've ever heard of before,
and it is not where you were supposed to be going.
And I'm going to pay off Halo's major fallout,
which is that the next landmark you reach isn't
there. You find something else instead. Presumably
the landmark is somewhere else if it hasn't been
entirely swallowed by the city of glass. Oh,
son of a bitch. Well, shit. We made it! Credits.