Last time on the Empire Initiative, our heroes
decided to explore the mysterious pyramid for
themselves. The first trial required sacrifice.
Dark gave his vitality, Zavari gave her anger,
and Raine gave her longing for Zaris. With that,
the party was transported to a labyrinth, but
sadly they had been separated. Immediately, Raine
set about testing the durability of the stone,
only to find that it instantly repaired any damage.
However, marks made with chalk remained. The
Crusaders tested their diplomats' pouches and
realized they could still communicate. Zavari
sent out Daru, who witnessed strange moving shadows,
while Daru began exploring, using his cartographer's
tools to chart a map he could then send to the
others. This is episode 18, Labyrinth of Nightmares.
Roll a d20, please. Just straight. I got 17.
As did I. Okay, so we are starting with Rain.
Oh my goodness, let's do this. You are experimenting
with experimenting with the walls and everything.
And now What would you like to do? Things are
calm at the moment, although you did just receive
a message from Zavari saying that she saw some
shadows. I would like to I need to kind of mark.
I want to mark this spot like my home base, so
I want to like mark it as a circle. So she's
gonna, well, no, because I need to raise her.
I don't have that much chalk. It's not like an
ever ending amount of chalk. Um, uh, I, I would
say you have enough chalk to do what you need.
Yeah. Like you do have the, yeah, you have the
paint, but like, honestly, like, uh, I'm not
going to like keep your chalk. Okay. Um, you
have exactly three square feet of chalk. I have,
uh, left the sidewalk chalk on me. Yeah, no.
So I just like mark that as like a circle as
my color is your truck light blue. So this is
your circle. And I mark I try to like mark it
on a map or did you send us a map yet or are
you working on a map of where he is. So essentially
like basically no time has passed like he is
preparing. Yeah, so like from now on we can assume
that he is mapping his exploration, but he doesn't
have a map yet would like to Go left and Whenever
I get to an intersection I want to like put an
X at the intersection or just like a dot is fine
for us like if you want just like a like a spot
when I turn Maybe like as I turn, I lean down
with the chalk and chalk as a curve. So it was
almost like which direction it came from. So
you're going over here. Yeah. Marking this curve.
Just so you guys know, to describe this, it is
like a stone maze with walls and like all the
way up. Like, yeah, all the way up. We are looking
at our digital play mat. And it is, I am in the
center of a stone maze. And I just kind of, I'm
at a crossroads and I just, I picked a direction
and now I'm just, I'm just going with it. So
I'm just, yeah. And then I peek around the corner.
I like want to make sure I'm not like. Curving
into like a trap or a shadow or something make
a perception check as you peek around the corner
21 Okay. Um, yes as as soon as you peek around
the corner You can see that There is so like
right around the corner. There's like a direct
turn and Just beyond that turn along that far
wall Barely in sight, you see a, you see like
a moving shadow. Essentially, it doesn't really
have like a defined shape to it. But it has like
some inertia in its motion, if that makes sense.
I then want to like write an S for like right
there. on the ground, just like this is a shadow
spotting. I know likely it'll move, but at least
it'll be probably in the same area and then backtrack
and test a different way. Yeah, so you look around
the corner, you see the shadow moving and you
immediately sort of, you know, mark the spot
back up. The shadow does not seem to be pursuing
you. If you look behind you as you're backing
up, you don't see it. I'm going to like keep
checking my shoulders and making sure that I'm
not turning my back on something that could be
following me. Okay, yeah, I can. Can I go into
moon glide as well? Sure. What is your like passive
perception? 18. 18. Yeah, I will just like assume
you're alert. And that your path your your passive
perception is Active, I guess that doesn't make
any sense. It's passive, but it's active whatever
and then so so you're going back the other way
You were sort of near like a dead end And then
you kind of have to round a little corner that
corner that you're Looking at Right now it's
it's just beyond where you started where you
drew your starting circle. Due to the angle of
the corner it is. Pretty blind you can't exactly
see much beyond. That basically you can't see
what's you can't see what's here but you do see
a little bit of like. Flickering light. Sort
of like a warm firelight rain goes towards the
light because The closer she is to light probably
like I'm just trying to think that light maybe
with the shadows But then closer to the light
the darker the shadows are I'm like No, go towards
light. But like yeah be sneaky Okay, so you're
sneaking your way towards the light And you see,
I'll just kind of pull it down a little bit.
You see that there is like a sort of large open
area. There is like a painted crest on the ground
in the sandstone floor. It is like a large Eye,
similar to the one that... Sorry, similar to
nothing at all, but it's a large eye. I forgot.
My bad. But yeah, so what's pictured in the map,
thank you, Chepeku, is not the... a design of
the crest in the center. But yeah, just kind
of imagine like an eye of Horace type eye. I'm
understanding why I don't understand. Okay. Because
I didn't tell anybody. Because you didn't tell
anybody. Everybody is the worm. I got it. Yeah.
Yeah, that's my bad. No, because like everybody
knows above table. Yeah. But yeah. Below two.
Okay. Hold on a second. Actually, I got an idea
an Idea get it. Oh my god. I Love it. Oh You're
making an eye. That's adorable. Oh yes, so you
can see that there is and I in the center and
This chamber appears to be quite still You can
kind of see that there is like a sconce or torch
sort of in the corner that's letting off some
soft Firelight and that you can see that the
light is coming kind of from multiple directions.
So presumably there are more torches the firelight
is It's like ever burning it's not it's not An
actual flame and you can kind of tell just by
looking at it because it's not It doesn't have
like flame motion, if that makes sense. It is
a magical flame. I... I... I'm sorry. Oh my goodness.
I was thinking it too, but I was like, Rachel,
don't be too hard. I realized like, for you to
walk, or for like me to move you around, I could
just move this. Oh, smart. um i don't want to
show too much of the map though yeah show more
um because i'm i'm scared of open spaces and
shadowy spaces and that's all of the spaces come
on rachel just pick a place um i would like to
go investigate the eye but from a distance from
a distance We'll say you want to come over here,
kind of thing. No matter what, you have your
back to a corridor, but if you're at least that
way, your back is to the corridor that you came
from. But you know there's a shadow that way,
so... I don't know if Rain has recognized that
that way is where the shadow is. Eventually,
sort of. You're investigating the eye. What are
you looking for? I am looking to see if there's
any mechanisms, if there's any like, maybe like
arcane. Can I do like arcane or arcana situation?
Yeah, you can do an arcana tech. I'm looking
for one magical traps. But to just like This
is clearly a magical place in a magical area
and I want to investigate that is essentially
what it is 19 okay, so with a 19 Your year well
for one I feel like this entire pyramid kind
of gives a sort of Strange magical energy it's
a little bit different than like the magical
energy you're used to. But not so much different
that it's like that you don't know what it is
that makes sense like you can tell it's got it's
like a little bit of a magic tinkle. Particularly
though you're looking at the eye and really.
Outside of the eye there's these like rings of.
The patterns maybe some sort of like. Maybe it
has some maybe it's some sort of symbolism and
you're kind of looking at that and as you're
looking at it you see a very very faint shimmer
in the paint on these like you know this pattern
the lining. And it's like it's extremely it's
extremely subtle it's like the firelight flickers
in just in just such a way that like catches
it catches likes a little bit of a sparkle from
you know some court some kind of magical energy.
I'm right on the ground like don't fuck with
like a arrow towards it I was also thinking about
potentially like trying to light a torch and.
throw it on the thing, but I don't want to trigger
anything as well, which was like, just don't
fuck with it. Yeah, so I drew like a thin sort
of blue circle to kind of just show you the area
that is, you know, affected. It is a circle that
is about like 20 feet in diameter. I just write
on the ground something magical with an arrow
towards it and can I like have said that I made
a line from where I came from from the I know
that's a lot of drawing I'm sorry from the corridor
I came from just so that I can mark it but you
can see that there is Like there's enough space
around this suspicious circle for you to get
to like the other corridors that you can see.
So there is a lot of pathways open to you currently.
Brother. More choices. She is going to go...
across but also like yeah she's gonna go across
that way towards the center. And then she does
another M arrow from right there. I'm sorry I'm
making you write so much. It's a smile. It's
happy to see ya. It sure is. So with the corridor
that you selected, as soon as you kind of roll
into it, there is an immediate turn. And you
can see that off of that turn, there is a short
hallway with a few offshoots to it. As soon as
you turn to face the long side of that hallway,
you see drifting about 30 feet in front of you.
So somewhere in this area here, a single relatively
large black feather, softly, almost like eerily
drifting, there's no breeze here, the air is
really still. And it's like, very slowly drifting
to the ground. I want to go back to the light
and Just like tell them all to follow the light
and they'll get to me But also I don't know I'm
like so scared rain would not be as scared What
would rain do it's like drifting in slow motion
that's She would investigate it or like I don't
know like arcana check to see if it's it's definitely
magical like it's not like It's gonna be beyond
your scope of yep like arcane knowledge But there
may be something else that you can pull from
I would like to Clearly I should do something
with my Maybe my magic my like Raven stuff cuz
it's a black feather. I've always It's a spell
right or like it's a magical it's not a spell
It's just whoa the feather the feather I mean,
you don't know it's like so at this point you've
been watching it for probably like a minute and
When you saw it, it looked like it was drifting
from seemingly the ceiling. The walls here go
all the way up to the ceiling. Oh, I wanna look
up at the ceiling. If you look up, the ceiling
looks exactly like the floor. Including the painting,
the inscriptions, and the circle. But yes it
looks sort of like it's drifting from the ceiling
but it doesn't stop drifting it kind of like
idols in. Like in the middle of the air like
like two three feet off the ground rain because
she's been looking at it for over a minute and
so she's like paralyzed by decision. and feels
her moon glide go off because it's been over
a minute. Oh, yeah. And so she's like, shifts
back into moon glide and just jumps at it and
grabs it. So as you jump after it, it it's almost
as if your movement is generating like wind in
the way that it like pushes the the feather ahead
of you. It's like it just is just outside of
your your region and regardless of how fast you
are. You feel it is leading you somewhere. I
don't know if you've ever had like a dog lead
you around the house you probably have because
you have a hurting dog. It's kind of like that
like they just know where you're going. And with
with that, um, Zavari and Darv both roll a d20,
just flat. Oh boy. That was so scary, guys. Eleven.
We're in here. Eleven. Two. I will now ask for
the crew to look away from the TV. Just, you
know, you don't have to, like, hella look away,
but you know. I'm averting my gaze. Avert your
gaze. Okay, you guys can look at the screen now.
So, Dart. Yep. You find yourself in a small corridor
with a dead end to your back. You probably feel
a little lucky because, you know, you have like
a safe little spot. And you're setting up your
cartographer's tools. Well, first things first.
This is not a good environment for bow and arrow
fighting. So I'm going to stow my bow. Okay.
Yeah. I mean there are some like long stretches,
but yeah, it's kind of especially those with
those turns. I've got my pistol holstered on
my side and I'm probably going to take out my
My sword Arcturus the sword of stars. That's
the one As I believe that's what I You draw your
You draw your fabled blade made of silver with
Golden stars down the scene in the middle. I
don't know what it's called and with that and
my cartographer's tools, I'm going to proceed
forward. Okay, so as you go forward, you basically
have sort of two openings to the right of you,
and then one to the left of you, and then the
hall that you are in ends, and there is another
left turn there. I will take my second right.
Quick question. Is there enough light for me
to see my own shadow? Yes. Is it dancing? Does
it dance when only you look at it? It dances
when no one's looking at me. Okay, when no one's
looking at me, you can look at it. Presumably,
yeah. No. Oh boy. Okay, that's unsettling. My
shadow is as still as you are. That's all right.
That's all right. That's cool. That's cool. That's
cool. There before. If you look forward, it's
kind of like you turned into sort of a long hall,
and there is a right turn at the end of that
hall, and you can't really see what's beyond.
Also, I would say like, it's it's relatively
low light except for like, Where the like closer
to the torches that it's like normal levels of
light, but it's not like I'm just gonna assume
that like I'm sort of jotting down my like my
path. Yeah, and like the various Gaps that I
have yet to explore so I know where I've been
so I started off You know long hallway like this,
and there was a gap there, a gap there, and a
path off to the right, and then another path.
And then what color is your chalk? Dirt? I don't
have chalk. I am using my cartographer's tool,
so presumably just like a... Pen and paper type
situation I am drawing like what I But anyone
else comes across the gray they can't see if
that makes sense like because it's just on his
map, but that way we have It but I can like when
I need to send them what I have mapped out via
my diplomats pouch This is true. All right, I'm
gonna keep going forward And I'll take that right
at the end of the hall kind of curve around there
So as you keep going forward and you start to
take the right at the end of the hall You're
kind of looking down, you know, and you see that
there is a another sort of short Short hallway
that ends and there's another right and just
beyond this. Right you see a shadow and nondescript
shadow moving across the ground. Okay. You're
kind of like peering around that corner and it's
sort of coming in your direction, but it's not
like moving quickly. It's kind of like a, it's,
it's honestly kind of like a shifty sort of idle
movement where it kind of goes, you know, it
doesn't go just necessarily in a straight line.
It doesn't have like a, it has a more organic
path. Can you make a self check for me? Ooh,
my dice are not happy with me today. That is
a 13. You're throwing it harder. Be gentle with
your gentle babies. I feel like I was having
better luck when I was using the tower. So you're
kind of peering around the corner, you see the
shadow and maybe you do a sharp inhale accidentally,
but this shadow... immediately starts moving
towards you very quickly. Across the floor, straight
towards you. Roll for initiative. Oh boy. Okie
dokie. Okie dokie. This is the 1v1. I didn't
realize that I was a... I should have tried to
be more stealthy. That's alright. See, this is
what I'm talking about, Tower. Thank you. Dirty
20. Thanks, plus 8 to initiative rolls. Looks
at my plus one. It's because I'm not angry anymore.
She has no fight left. No bark or bite. Just,
just wet cat energy. You have initiative the
shadow is on the ground in front of you. Um,
it doesn't appear to have mass What would you
like to do? That is a very good question Hmm
a shadow I have one like strong thing I could
do, but I've only got one of them, and I don't
know if I want to blow it on this first thing
I run into without knowing how much trouble I've
been in. You know what I mean? So, can I cast
Hunter's Mark on this thing? Yes. The suspense
though. It took a moment to think about it. Yeah,
I will, uh... I will, uh, Hunter's Mark this
thing. Okay, um, when you Hunter's Mark something,
um... You get... So, you get like a... And you
get like a honed intuition about the creature
that you are marking it's it's sort of in the
same way that if you were observing a creature
for a long time and you have learned it's. It's
patterns it's tendencies it's. What's the word.
Gosh learn its behavior. So when you. hunters
and mark this shadow you don't get the same type
of feeling it is uncanny and a little off, but
you can't really exactly say why. The Hunter's
Mark is still effective mechanically, but it
does feel weird. It just doesn't feel the same
as when you normally tag a creature. Okay. Well,
that was my bonus action. I will, uh... Can I...
I don't know if this is a thing, because I've
never tried it before, but can I, like... Hold
my action to use as like a reaction For later.
Yes, you can you would decide like what you want
to react to and you can say when X happens I
do my action because I kind of want to just like
Hold my sword up in like a defensive position
So that if it tries to like strike me somehow
I can try to like Hit it Because I don't know
yet how hostile this thing is to me. And I put
the hunter's mark on it because like it gives
me advantage on like tracking. And so I want
to see if it like if it flees or if it tries
to murder me. But if it does try to murder me,
I want to be ready. So you have your sword in
a defensive stance. Yeah, ready to counter. Gotcha.
So So you hold it you hold up your guard and
as soon as you kind of like as soon as your your
feet kind of like shift and you like ground yourself
and you become solid if that makes sense as solid
as a squishy fluid -filled canal guy can be Right
as you dig into that defensive stance a creature
materializes out of the shadows large White claws
reaching towards you a long spindly sort of green
body sort of insect like Oh boy, oh boy This
thing Come it completely materializes out of
the shadow and it is going to slash at you as
it like as it's like jumping out. And you can
you can see that like it. It's like part of it
is still within the shadow of self if that makes
sense it's like it's like the top half or that
are or a top part of its body has come out of
the shadow to slash at you. So what was your
prepared reaction? To like, counter slash. Okay.
So go ahead, we'll both attack then, in that
case. 24. Okay, you hit. For six damage. Okay,
so... this thing jumps out of the shadows it
slashes you with uncanny precision it deals 11
damage to you no more and you are able to slash
it but it doesn't really it hurts it but it doesn't
doesn't hurt it badly and this creature it kind
of lets out this sort of guttural sound this
and and there's this as it like recedes back
into the shadow almost as if it's like being
rewinded back in man it just just as easily as
it flowed out of the shadow it flows back in
oh wait I'm sorry was my hunters mark Like bonus
damage to be applied to whatever I just struck?
Uh, yes. Cause I forgot that. That is an additional
1d6 if memory serves. Alright. Yeah. For an additional
three damage. No really, I did nine. Nine? but
still okay um shadowy bastard yeah it recedes
back into the shadow and it shifts it shifts
kind of in it like basically it kind of like
runs up the wall like seamlessly like it the
shadow itself takes like a perfect 90 degree
turn up the wall and just and starts to starts
to move away it moves about 15 feet And now it
is your turn, my liege. All right. It's on the
wall? Yes. Son of a bitch. Gonna cast Zephyr
Strike? Sounds great. We were holding back our
stems. Yeah, I'll cast Zephyr Strike and then
try to slay this Shadow. Okay, go ahead and roll
for an attack. 13. You hit Okay Its armor class
is 12 I Had advantage anyway, because of the
zephyr strike, but it doesn't matter I'll let
that go. What else does ever strike do so I know
it makes you like fast, right? Makes it so that
movement does not provoke opportunity attacks
and I gain advantage on one weapon attack which
does 1d8 force damage and gives me plus 30 move
30 feet of movement and that's on and on top
of your like attack yeah yeah yeah 13 damage
okay so seven of which was force damage you you
hit the creature and you can definitely like
tell in the way that the shadow undulates, it
almost looks like it's in pain, that it felt
your hit and you can also feel because of the
force damage that you did, it like carves a slash
into the wall where you attacked. That slash
immediately sort of starts to heal itself. This
effect means that the creature takes half damage
when they are in shadow form. Well, better follow
that up with a second attack. Oh yeah. That is
16. Nice, you got it. Or another Damn it poor
damage Again you you see that it hurts the creature
it hits it the labyrinth walls like immediately
start healing and It seems as though It's not
quite effective um it's more so that you are
it seems as though you have to um i'm trying
to think of i like i guess how to put it um you
have to do like a lot of damage at once um well
i have 60 feet of movement now and I can't be
hit with an opportunity attack, so I'd like to
run towards this area. So 60 feet, you were like
here. Oh man, you know what I forgot earlier
when that bug attacked me? My scarf of displacement.
Oh yeah, yeah. We are often forgetting that,
I feel. Yeah, yeah. I gotta remember to use that
thing. That's why I need to make the thing. I've
just got so much stuff. So you run around the
corner? Indeed I do. You start to see a soft
glow of firelight in the hall that you are in.
It is a somewhat long section and there's two
exits off to the left at the end of the hall.
And... You end your turn. Uh, well, I want to
end by turning around to, uh, like... Make sure
to see if it's... Keep the light to my back and
turn around and look to see if it's following
me. Gotcha. Um... The Shadow Ghoul does not pursue.
Ooh, Shadow Ghoul. Okay. That's how I end my
turn. Okay, um, I feel like now's a good time
to go to Zavari. Hi. I survived my encounter
with a shadow. Shadow who? So you started here
with a corridor like right, you know, to the
to the left of you and a corridor ahead? What?
What color is your chalk? Pink, right? Yeah.
Okay, so... Zavara, you are all alone. Except
for Daru. Just alone with my thoughts. She's
gonna continue... was up ahead where Daru saw
the shadow. Right here. That's where Daru saw
the shadow. Okay, so you want to go this way?
Yeah Should have shot that thing with my gun
It's funny so loud. Sorry walking staring at
the fucking tattoo on her hand It's like shit.
I should have said something about this. This
is probably all my fault You're looking at the
tattoo on your hand and you can see that it's
kind of like a like we described it as sort of
like an orange tan sort of henna type color.
Yeah. It flashes for a moment with like a sort
of golden light. But you're literally for like,
so quickly that it didn't even have time to reach
its full brightness, if that makes sense, like
a dims immediately. I'm sure that means nothing.
God, I really got to find my friends. Friends?
Dart said playfully. The echoes in her head,
like friends, coworkers, something. Workplace
proximity associates Have a sit on the first
episode Any chance I can reference parts of it
So do you do it do you stay there? I want to
That's just weird are you saw the shadow that
you're not necessarily a shadow there right now
if that makes sense, okay? All righty I will
walk ahead, but I also want to be ready in action.
If I see a shadow coming towards me, I want a
ready banishment. Okay. Okay. Dang. Be gone!
She's like, I'm not fucking with you. I'm stressed
out enough as it is. Make a perception check.
13. 13 so you're kind of looking down the corridor
as you advance and You don't See anything where
like you're kind of like we're looking down where
Daru had seen the shadow. You don't see anything
Are you going to turn in that direction or do
you want to continue forward? I might continue
forward. Okay, so you continue forward and there
is a turn It got naked So I put it's underwear
back on oh my god scandalous So yeah, you go
forward and you you hit a turn You See like as
you're like walking forward you see on the wall
in front of you Some writing in chalk what color?
White. White. Is that Ryan's color? I can't.
Fuck. No, I think that's right. I'll like go
up to it. Okay. The writing is... It's like above
your head on the wall, if that makes sense. Like
it's like... Zivari is pretty short. So it's
like up here. And it is like... Hey Dara, go
check that out. You can still see it, but you
kind of like stand back to read it. It's like
normal size. It's not drawn super big or written
super big. And it is in common. You, because
of like your expertise, you know Reign's handwriting.
It's not Reign's handwriting. It is relatively
like, it's relatively legible handwriting though,
like if that makes sense. This is definitely
somebody who writes. wrote this. And it says,
in common, find the gems. The shadows hate the
light. Creatures are better at fighting these
things than you are. I'm gonna write that down
since I can copy any handwriting that I see.
I'm gonna copy that down exactly and send that
to my friends and tell them that this was handwriting
that I found at my current location. I'm gonna
write back that would have been good to know
like five minutes ago. It's like all this stuff
is happening simultaneously as soon as like...
As soon as you can breathe. Yeah, that's when
you get the message. Well, fuck me. I look at
Daru. Like I don't think they're the kind of
creatures they're talking about, buddy. Daru,
you know, just kind of coos softly. Right now,
I have a quick question for you. So where you
were stopped down, did you mark that spot? I
marked it so that I knew, but did you mark it?
I feel like she is going periodically. Yeah.
Okay. Like as she's like reaching and like, or
maybe every time she misses. Yeah, okay, gotcha.
She's marking her failings. I wish you could
see them behind her. Oh my god. Rain X therapy
win. No pressure. So yeah, so you guys get this
message about the shadow is the light. Yeah.
Do you continue? Yeah, I'm gonna continue. Zavari
continues on. And you see a thin blue line of
chalk along this wall. I'm gonna run to that
one. And you know, hoping that it rains this
time. You didn't write anything. But you... Honestly,
she would just assumes like high blue. That's
kind of like fluxes color. I bet that's rain.
And it's her magic color. Yeah. So yeah, you
recognize that as rain's color. Um, you don't
see anyone. I'm gonna put in my right down to
rain. I think I found one of your marks? Question
mark. Where are you? Does it cut to rain? I don't
I don't I get it, but you might not read it.
I don't like I felt the shift in my diplomat's
pouch, but oh you're chasing the feathers So
you don't necessarily read it right now. Yeah,
yeah So yeah, I think you found one of your marks
Zavari the glyph on your hand Glows again, and
now it has like a slow beat. Does it hurt? No.
Does it feel good? Mmm, ever so slightly warm.
Okay. It's like trying to start rubbing it off.
It's kind of like, whoop, whoop, whoop, whoop.
Why am I a fucking tracker now? God. Probably
making a bad decision. I'll let you know soon
BRB I'm gonna send that to me and to dark I'm
gonna continue on Oh, which way are you going?
Yeah, yeah, so you start from my perspective
that angle is a little like it's a little fucky
Yeah, you're okay. You start to see the glow
of the light And if you look down behind you,
you see a shadow over here just lurking beyond
where like the glow really reaches. Inactive,
you know, sort of just kind of shifting around.
So you do see that the shadows are about and
you're kind of in this middle section, you start
to go into this middle section and you see, first
off, you see like Reign's markings and you see
that she wrote. Did you write Magic Circle here?
Mm -hmm. Yeah, she writes Magic Circle and puts
an arrow towards this eye. Oh, Jesus Christ.
I can't believe I'm about to quadruple texturing.
This is embarrassing. Oh my God. She leaving
you on read. Not even read. Delivered. Delivered.
At Magic Circle, my hand is kind of glowing.
I'll tell you more if you come back As you proceed
The glow it like the pulse speeds up ever so
slightly I'm not gonna proceed anymore just like
it was like Like it's like barely noticeable,
but definitely a little bit faster that's enough
for her to just stay put and wait for somebody
to text her back. She's like, I can do the dumb
thing. I just don't think I should do it alone.
And with that, we will cycle back to Rain. So
Rain is feeling her shifts are in jiggle mesh
pouch. She just has failed probably like 15 to
20 times trying to get this feather. She... Then...
Sees the feathers see the tattoo on her arm.
I'm sorry one second. Are you marking the walls
at all? You can say if you were in my head she
was yeah, I'm sorry. Go ahead. I apologize. You're
fine. So rains frustrated just failed a bunch
of times She has like a bunch of messages and
just wants to get this over with and catch this
damn fucking feather and So she looks down at
her arm and sees a feather and she one just starts
lifting off of her arm followed by more and she
starts to do her flight to see if her like this
is her last ditch effort if if something to do
with connecting with the master Ravens then cool
but if not then she's gonna try to go back to
the light because she's she doesn't want to go
into more shadowy areas. Gotcha. The feather
leads you sort of around the corner and as you
start flying, the feather immediately starts
to fly back towards you and kind of like, it
kind of like starts whipping around you inside
like you'd the whirlwind of feathers that you
know, that's where it's around you when you fly.
And It like whips around your body and then around
your hand and it's kind of like a slide it's
like tickling you almost like whipping around
around your wrists and and you can feel it's
like. Guiding you but it's encouraging she's
gonna trust the magical feather. End. um can
she also take a second she's gonna like i guess
maybe like is it still flying The feather is
now it's like flying around you and it's like
it's a kind of like it's very very gently sort
of like pointing your hand in the direction that
it wants you to go so she's the off hand that
she is she's opening her letters because she's
felt so many and seeing Zavari or that messaged
her and she has markings all the down the wall
and she's gonna keep marking she's gonna do like
a big like Star for her success cuz that was
a success instead of all her failings, you know
and so she's gonna write back I've connected
with something. I'm not sure what but it's it's
leading me somewhere away from the light Follow
the path that I have laid out. I have marked
up to both of them Okay So yeah, you're chasing
this feather and it leads you down like a zigzag
corridor and you feel that the energy that you
would have normally expended for this flight
is being rejuvenated by the feather. As you kind
of like pass you pass like a turn and as you
pass the turn you look down and you see a shadow
and as soon as your heartbeat starts to like
beat faster the feather like Starts swirling
around your hand faster and you can feel your
flight get faster. It's like pulling you away.
It's like no And you feel it leading you straight
through what appeared to be a solid wall. And
I like hold my breath because it reminds me of
the Underdark. Yes, yeah. And it's like, it's
actually a really similar feeling to that. And
you find yourself in a small chamber, it is still
the pyramid, if that makes sense. It's a small
chamber, same sort of like walls and stylings.
There is like a large painting on the wall. Actually,
I guess it would probably be more like a mosaic
of an eye. And it's got these like, you know,
glyphs all around it. In the center of the eye,
the very center is a very small green, like gem.
And it just like kind of sparkles and catches
your eye. The feathers kind of Oh, the feathers
kind of like settle. And you kind of like you
just land sort of softly. And you're looking
at this like little gem. My stone cunning, I
probably know even more about it. Oh, yeah, for
sure. Yeah, you can see that it is like it is
faceted in, but it doesn't look like it is like
clamped. If that makes sense, like from a glance,
it looks like it's removable. But just as you're,
you know, are looking at this gem, you hear from
a table in the corner of this room, a soft voice.
And as you turn your head, you see a raven perched.
Looking straight at you It says Another master
approaches Hello I have brought you to this place
the The Raven it like opens its beak and it's
like really uncanny because There's no lip movement,
and yet it's somehow perfectly mimicking these
human -like sounds. And just staring at you with
these kind of empty black eyes. But something
that was once probably really unsettling to you
and off -putting, because you are the master
of ravens, you kind of like... There's like a
weird... There's like a comfort in it because
there's like a stillness, you know? Poor Flux.
Oh. Yeah, poor Flux. Yeah, how do you think Flux
is handling this? Flux is shaking. I will roll
maybe for it. Is that okay? Ooh, an 18. So he
is shaking, but he knows that like this is important
to rain. He's trying to tank it. Yeah, and that
rain will keep them safe. Yeah, and the raven
is being very still. It's not like making a sudden
movement. It's a raven small, so like smaller
birds are less scary for looks. Definitely a
small compared to what, yeah, but big for like
a regular bird. Yeah. It's not a rock. Yeah,
correct. I don't know where that came from. The
previous Master of Ravens did not answer my call.
Will you be different, Reign? What is your call?
There's more to this power. There's more to being
a Master. We can train you, Reign. And that,
that sounds like multiple voices. Oh my god.
That's where you'd say I have a charm on there.
Yeah, evil spirit. Uh, I want to roll like insight
maybe? Sure. Oofta. 14. I'd say with a 14, um...
You're on the fence. A raven, it's sort of unsettling
just as is. You can't tell if your unsettled
feeling is just because of the weirdness of the
situation. Basically, you're really on the fence
about it. Seems legit, but... And maybe you're
picking up on Flex's hesitation as well. Why
do you feel I'm worthy? Do you not feel that
you are worthy? I mean, I didn't know what I
was getting into, which is a common theme of
my life. And that makes you unworthy? Like cox's
head? Yeah, sort of. I don't understand how it
would deem you worthy, just stumbling into situation
after situation. What if rain? Then what if it
did? didn't mean anything at all. What if your
worthiness isn't inherent? You can become worthy.
You can become worthy. You are worthy. You are
worthy. What does it mean to be the Master of
Ravens? Well, Dame Reign, that is ultimately
for you to decide. This power, this connection,
it's nature, it's neutral. You give it meaning.
It comes from the temple, where all animal powers
originate. In this temple, you're the masters,
you're the past ones. Are all of you here? Only
those of us Who have answered the call of the
Raven and ascended beyond That is that we are
the only ones who are here We are previous masters.
Yes, we are not all of them. The master that
you had mentioned that the master before you
didn't did not answer the call and he's the only
master I've ever met and it was unfortunate and
I refuse to be like him. That will always be
up to you. Many of us have chosen to use this
power to protect nature, to protect our homes,
to continue on the legacy of martial arts, and
to extend the cycle of master and teacher. Others
have held this power for domination. for victory,
for superiority. It's not the power's place to
dictate the meaning of the power. Find me in
the woad. Find me in the woad. and I will take
you to a place where we can train. I look forward
to seeing you there, Rain. The truth is, we've
got some cool stuff for ya. You're supposed to
sound more like mystical and official than that.
I thought it sounded plenty mystical. This is
all pretty mystical shit up in here. What is
this place? That's a good question. I do not
know, but what I do know is that this place is
beyond the material plane, but also within it.
That's the best I got for you, honestly. This
place is weird, but we want you to be at this
trial and we're pretty sure this is the deal.
I will find you in the wild. Excellent, Dame
Reign. And in a sort of like, just sort of like,
it just like, the raven just like fades, it kind
of like flickers and fades away. It was never
like, corporeal, it was never physical, if that
makes sense. And you can tell by the way it fades.
But yeah, now you're still in this room with
the eye and the gem. Well, I think they need
to come here. So I write to them that there is
a weird eye where I am, and I have found a gem.
And the last gems we found were psionic gems.
So I feel like I need Zavari. And Dart, cause
I need Dart. Holy fuck. The prompt for this week
was to give us a folktale. Tell us about your
local cryptid. Mine is like a... Like a monster
that adult frog folk tell frog folk children
about in order to get them to behave So like
if you don't eat like your dinner and all you
want to do is have delicious snacks The Mothman
will get you oh I felt like there was no better,
like, vengeful, terrifying spirit for a frog
than a bug that was larger than them. Oh, absolutely.
So, you know, if you don't eat your dinner, the
Mothman will sweep out of the sky and just pick
you up and fly away. The Mothman. Is there, is
there validity to this tale? Is the Mothman,
uh... Because you had mentioned them, like, taking
children. I mean, it's ancient frog lore. Oh,
okay. As to the validity of the Mothman, only
the Mothman knows. Rains cryptid is the forest
of mimicry. As a kid growing up right next to,
like, They were tucked into the forest, but part
of the forest that they were in were just normal
trees. They found a pocket of normal trees. But
for some reason, Mimics gather in this particular
forest, and so it has been dubbed the Forest
of Mimicry. It is where Rain fled and stayed
safe, in a way I guess, but stayed safe against,
oh, from her City her village Because they were
too scared to go in because of all of the stories
of people going in and trees coming to life and
eating people and Pets going missing because
they got too close to the mimic trees and knowing
um a little bit more now that with the conservatory
of the waking dream that these mimics are there
because of the higher concentration of crystal
reishi and that's just that's just then like
that there's other like tales within the the
forest itself of uh people going missing not
just because of the trees but just because it's
an ancient magical forest it's like a woad um
and um so the forest itself is is the cryptid
hell yeah i love the forest and i don't agree
anytime it's brought up honestly i don't take
any excuse for you to talk about it the cryptid
for cryptid miss whatever you want to say for
umbermoor is Carthendax, the Devouring Flame.
Oh man, I thought you were gonna say Ahool, the
giant bat. Long ago, before Umbermoor was really
Umbermoor, when it was more just like a collection
of small communities and tribes, there was a
red dragon in the area that does as dragons do
and terrorized the population. And he took whatever
he wanted, trinkets, gold, even people, to add
to his horde. His horde was anything that he
wanted. He didn't have one specific type of thing,
really, because he was ancient. And as the legend
goes, a much more condensed version of it was
eventually a group of heroes came together to
slay the dragon, some with great loss of life
because it's a dragon. But as the devouring flame
was dying, he vowed that he would return when
the heroes were dead and gone, couldn't protect
the region anymore and when they grew too comfortable
and forgot about him. And Some people believe
that that is like a prophecy, like he is calling
his shot that he's gonna come back. Some people
believe that he is already back, that there is
some undead dragon living in the mountain ranges
right beyond Umbermor, and it's only a matter
of time until he comes back around. Some people
think that it's just a children's story to, you
know, inspire them to have pride in being Umbermorian.
So this is not coming from like an NPC. This
is just kind of like a gen... This is the DM.
This is God. This is God speaking. Hello, this
is your God speaking. My God. Legend has it that
this planet, Orden, is home to incomprehensibly
massive creatures. It is said that they... protect
the land, and that they're like ancient guardians,
essentially. If it is true, no one has seen any
such guardians in a very long time, but God is
speculating that they are still sleeping somewhere.
in order and may even perhaps be active. Okay,
so back to Dart. You are at the edge of the light.
You did receive the message from Zavari and the
messages from Rainsingh to follow her markings
okay um well I can I think I can tell where the
light is coming from so I want to try and enter
that that chamber okay so yeah you go ahead and
enter the chamber and you see the same thing
you see the painting on the floor, the eye. You
don't notice what Rain noticed as far as like
the cliff thing, but you very clearly see some
light blue chalk marks like on the other side
of it. You just can't like read it from where
you are, but you see it. And you see like an
arrow pointing sort of. I guess you could probably
see that. I probably see the arrow. I'm going
to check my diplomat's pouch. From the safety
of this room, okay Say yeah, that's when you
Right, I made it into Said giant chamber. Mm
-hmm. Mm -hmm. I think that's why That part of
the chambers confusing the draw. It's like a
some of these Then I kicked her sir How much
damage did you take by the way Eleven and I had
technically at some point earlier lost six I
don't chamber if that was when I did my sacrifice
or what but I had written down that I had taken
six damage at some point. Okay, okay So I've
entered the chamber. I'm going to What notes
did I get from you guys? The diplomats patch,
what'd you write to me? Um, come follow the markings
that I made. Um, there's a gem and a eye this
way. That way, the, like, maybe, and I think
I feel like I put, like, eye in the middle has
weird sheen. Didn't you write something about
gems? Um. No, she wrote something about gems.
Who read the thing that was on the ground in
common? Oh, I did. Sorry. Yeah. Yeah, that was
Find the Gems. Yeah. I did send that to everyone.
Find the Gems, the shadows, hate them. Hated
the light? Yeah, and creatures are better at
fighting them than people are. I mean, kind of
a creature. And I also said some other messages
like, I'm at the magic circle, probably going
to do something stupid. I'll be right back. All
right. Well, I guess I will, uh, you know, kind
of explore the chamber and try to find, um, signs
of my friend's passing. Okay. Um, yeah. And,
um, do you think that you would, well, you did
say something about the circle, right? So. Yeah,
you see here Reign's handwriting, or at least
her color of chalk, and it says magic circle,
and it points this way, and you can see lines,
like Reign is drawing a dashed line, and if you
look down here, you see a little bit of pink
on the wall here. Yes, yes, that is where you
are. You don't see each other, but you guys probably
I don't know if you guys wouldn't know that yet
It might be the characters would know that yet
I'm telling you as the players you don't see
each other, but you do see the chalk Okay, um
I'm gonna try and follow Reign's Blue chalk because
she sent me a letter saying follow my chalk Yes,
I just kind of want to see you see a star And
then ahead around the corridor are two shadows
lurking Tonight it's like one in this area and
one in this area Can I light a torch Yeah, pretty
sure I've got torches Or torch materials? They
do not recede from the torch light. The torch
light does not seem to affect them in the same
way that the magical torch, the magical fire
light does. Right. This is a good idea though.
Retreat! You'd cast daylight. I mean, I can,
but I've only got one shot of that. So, you retreat.
Dart, as you turn around and you look at this
wall here, you see the writing that Zavari copied.
Yeah, I'm gonna retreat. Retreat! Okay. I'm trying
to get back to that central chamber because it
seemed of relative safety. I'll plot my next
move from there. You definitely see a shadow
lurking around the corridor as you make your
way back into this and make your way back into
the central chamber. What do you do? Probably
see the magic writing and like arrow like the
magic circle arrows pointing at the center Yeah,
definitely on both from both angles and you can
see like Rains Like arrows Okay I'm gonna extinguish
my average torch and see if I can get some magic
torch light. Okay. So you kind of dip the end
of your torch into the magical fire light and
you see that it like is almost catching on the
torch but not quite. It's uh... It doesn't seem
impossible, but... I wish you had Shalali. It'd
be cool if you had Shalali and then it could...
Drift! We are far from Drift. Okay. You know
what I'm gonna try and do? I'm gonna sssss...
I'm gonna put Arcturus in the flame. Okay. Cast
it into the fire. Arcturus holds the flame and
it actually dances like down along the blade.
Awesome. Really what I was hoping for? The flames
become slightly more golden as well. Just kind
of like for effect. Hell yeah. Okay. Now I'm
prepared to wander around. Alright, perfect.
Zavari. Oh, are you marking anything? I've been
drawing everywhere I've gone so far. Did you
send the most recent drawings? I haven't sent
them my drawings yet. Okay, I was going to say,
do you want to do a correspondence before we
move over? If that's something that you think
Dart would do. I just don't want to leave you
hanging if you... I don't want to leave you hanging
if that's what you wanted to do. Um, can you
move the mat back over? Draw where I walked.
Yes. This way? Yeah, that is, that is reasonable.
Yeah. Okay, so... A little bit going that way,
and then also the down way. That way. I'm telling
you to find me in the labyrinth, baby. What song
is that? It was a parody on buttons. Is it buttons?
Oh my goodness. That's why I was like, what are
you singing? I don't know these lyrics. It's
the same amount of syllables, so I thought it
kind of worked. No, I get it now, but I was just
like hearing the lyrics, not like listening to
it. We'll see if it makes our Patreon cut of
corsets. Oh my god. There's so many songs that
could be Patreon. Get ready. I told Shanna that
one day I'll like give her Zavari's diary. That
could be Patreon content. Didn't draw this very
well centralized. I'm running out of room, but
okay. Uh, yeah, I have drawn, I think, a rough
approximation of everywhere I've been so far.
And, uh, does it? Go ahead. I guess, uh... It's
probably a good time to send them like a copy.
Okay. Does your maps show where you are? I'm
gonna do I have so it's really clear that I'm
just gonna send you guys a copy of the map with
where I have been. And I send a copy of the map
to Dart and I put green gem where I am. And I
would like to take the gym. Okay, that's all.
Okay, we'll go back to Reign in a moment. Zavari,
you feel a shift in your diplomat's pouch. You're
kind of like, what do I do? I'm gonna dig in
my diplomat's pouch, see who sent me a letter.
It's from Dart and it's a map and it shows his
path. And it shows where he is. And it shows
where he is and you can see on the map that he
should be right next to you. I'll like look around
and I'll mark myself on his map and like send
it back to him. Then in a separate note say,
I don't see you anywhere. Where are you? What
do you do, Dart? She doesn't see, like, just
my flaming sword and nothing else. Oh, you know
what? You would see the flame, but that's it.
What the fuck? Yeah, she's like, I don't see
you, but I see a flame. In the shape of a blade.
In the shape of a blade, but I don't see you.
Oh, boy. Alright, um... You can't see each other.
You can't hear each other. Um, I want to take
my blade And put it in the fire where I see his
Scorpius Will take the fire and It's kind of
like a reddish violet purple sort of flame My
flame is purple. You now see a flame in the shape
of Scorpius, the Sword of Lies. I see your fire.
Do you see my fire? I totally see your fire.
So you can't hear each other, but you can see
the flames. Per. Oh my god. Alright, I'm gonna
write back, uh, follow my fire. Okay. this is
fucking weird all right now I'm gonna travel
down rain's path so injunction you guys with
my flame buddy and like by the way if you explain
me oh if you get like close to it the fire the
magical fire doesn't produce heat when it doesn't
like hurt but it does produce light so if you
get if you like touch Darts fire and nothing
happens it doesn't hurt you you don't feel it.
If you walk through the space that you know dart
is in you just go straight through it you do
not run into each other. You can't see here or
touch each other but you do see each other's
play. Same puzzle, different planes. Do you feel
me walking through you? No, I don't. But I think
it's same maze, different planes. I hate this
place. So you travel down the corridors and Zavari
and Dart, you both see various shadows receding.
as you turn the corner and follow a range trail,
your blades don't emit quite as much light. It's
not out as far, but at least 15 feet, they start
hightailing it and they move away. So it effectively
grants you safe passage to the chamber that it
rains in. Let's get to me. All right, so In the
chamber that rain is in you don't see rain either.
We don't see real court. We don't see rain but
Do we see? Crystals on the wall So imagine if
you will just a small room and you you have to
follow her chalk trail Through the wall. I guess
maybe it does not clear that it goes through
the wall. But as a various you approach Scorpius
shows you the secret door. That's what the fuck
I'm so then you can see the Zavari's flame pass
through the wall and you that that's that's how
that gives you the signal that you can pass through.
Okay. So you guys are all in the same chamber
have a treat. It looks exactly the same. I'm
gonna walk directly up to the wall. Men who stare
at goat style and just full confidence and you'll
go right through it. Yeah and you just go through
it and you're in this chamber there's a big painting
of an eye or sorry a big mural with an eye on
the wall a very small green gem in the middle.
You see a black feather on the floor on the left
side of the room. What does rain see? Rain does
not see you guys. Oh, shit, that's right, duh.
So, uh, rain. You see, so you're like ready,
you're like, you looked at the note, you showed,
you tell Dart, find me here, you know, whatever,
and you're getting ready to pull the gem. And
then you see phasing this through the wall, you
see two pillars of flames in the shapes of blades,
one golden and one like a purple violet, just
kind of phase through the wall and float in the
air. A feather and two swords. That's the name
of the episode, folks. Rain's Bizarre Adventure.
The name of the episode is definitely Follow
My Fire. Hell yeah. I want to write down my diplomat's
pouch. Rain, we're in the room. Are you a sword?
Yes. Yes. Me and dart gold fire darts purple
fire zavar. So, um, do you see any feathers or
anything? Yeah, why the hell is there a feather?
Oh, that's that's my icon. That's me. That's
me So the feather isn't exactly where rain is
but it was like left behind rain if you pick
it up It will be your marker. I'll pick it up
and put it in my hair So I don't have to hold
onto it. But you can't touch each other, you
can't see each other, you can't hear each other.
But you can see the fire and the feather. The
bracelet that I have on, does it have, it had
like slots for stones, didn't it? Yes. So everyone's
bracelet, I meant to like, I actually drew it
but then I didn't bring it. So imagine like a
cuff. I don't know if you can see this. It's
not a super complicated thing, but it's kind
of like, there's kind of like this like wing
shape. If that makes sense, like your wrist goes
through here, right? It has like a shark fin.
One, two, three, four, and they get gradually
bigger. And then this is just really nice, kind
of ornate. There's like decorations. But yeah,
that's kind of like the shape of it. It's kind
of a strange shape, like a shark fin. All right.
Outward. I'm gonna go take a gem off the wall.
Is the eye in here glowing? Doing anything weird?
So, yes. No. Zavari, no one can see this because
they can only see your fire, but your hand is
like glowing. Like it is not blinking. It is
glowing hey guys just so we're all on the same
page um i have an eye tattooed on my hand that
looks exactly like that thing on the wall and
it's glowing all right um i'm gonna write back
and say um i think your tattoo um you guys are
like is it the key i think it knows where the
gyms are I think it's like a hot, cold thing
with your tattoo. On the sensor? Yeah, you got
the thing. So we got to follow you and you got
to lead us to the gyms. And then we got to take
it to the camera. And load it into our bracelet.
Oh, no. So, Dart, if you take the gym, it feels
like... Do you remember when you went if you
remember when you took the bracelet? It felt
like it was made for you. It had this like harmonious
feeling That's what you feel when you pick up
the gym. Do we see the gym changing? No, the
gym does not move the rain takes the gym I'm
gonna take the gym as well. Now that you all
have taken the gym. There is no gym on the wall
It's just an empty socket and I'm gonna slide
it up. You slide it up. You slide it up. You
slide it up slide it up When you guys do that
you feel the cuff sort of buzz with like a surge
of magic and the inscription sort of along like
the like the filigree it starts to kind of like
glow because like it's it kind of glows and flickers
for a second and everyone sees this but they
can't see each other still you can only see the
flames It kind of flickers and then like on the
cups there's kind of like a somewhat flat plane.
On that plane glows probably like a three -digit
sigil dart. Yours glows green and it says 147.
Zavari, yours glows blue. And it says 126. And
rain, yours closed blue as well, and it says
180. That's the cover of our souls. That's it,
that's all it says, that's all it does. You can
feel like the magic kind of settle in place and
you have like started it. Effectively. Um, I'm
gonna write another note in my diplomats pouch.
To rain that says you need fire and keeps shadows
away Put a magic sword in the magic fire and
then we can see you and you can be protected
from shadows Okay, that makes sense so I have
graced So I'm gonna put grace in the fire So
we're gonna go back to the central chamber for
fire. Yeah, you guys can all go back Grace does
pick up the fire it closed kind of like a I Feel
like a white light probably like a white. Yeah,
I was thinking yeah, like a white light from
the blade while we're in the middle chamber Can
I look around see if there's another gem since
I'm like my eye? Tattoo is responding to this.
Um, so It's like going back to a slow blink,
kind of like where it was when you were there
earlier. Oh, okay. But you can... If you like
walk to the bottom of the room, because you guys
are like towards the top, it starts to blink
a little faster. I think I'm sensing another
gem. Alright, we will follow you. Remember shadows
don't like our fire, so keep that out in front
of you. You have both the tracker for the gems,
presumably, and you also have the ability to
see hidden doors. So you're the leader. Congratulations.
We now have to explore this maze following your
thump -thump until we find... Yeah, that's right,
that's right. With the hand motion. I regret
nothing. That's what really sold it. I regret
nothing! Yeah, we're gonna follow you. We're
gonna follow you and hopefully find some more
gems and figure out what our sigil number things
mean. Follow the priestess. Okay, so the three
blades, the three flames, oh my god, travel through
the labyrinth. This labyrinth is... And you guys
can tell now that you are traveling through it,
you know, much faster, much more confident. This
labyrinth is absolutely infested with these shadow
ghouls. Especially now that they're kind of like
avoiding your flames, you see like a lot of them
kind of like teeming in the corners. And it's
like, it's like there are more now that you guys
have one gem. I would like to also make sure
that I'm writing down everywhere that we go so
that we don't Keep exploring the same areas over
and over. Yeah. Yeah, that's that's valid. I
mean, you guys like you guys like so much groundwork
like your what you've done so far is continuing
to guide you essentially. So you guys see that
like I said, you see the shadows kind of teaming
and it seems like there are more now. Might take
more magic or more fire i'm writing the more
gems we have so i'm sorry you lead everyone into
a room that's kind of like on the exact opposite
end of the room that you're in it's kind of hard
i think it probably hard for you guys to tell
that. Dart would probably be mostly aware because
he's got a really good sense of direction where
he is in relation to where the other room was.
But you guys would probably be disoriented because
there's a lot of turns. There's a lot of, you
know, motion back and forth. But yes, you get
into this room and it is identical, except the
gym is red and it is slightly bigger. All right.
Before we take these gems, I want to do a quick
test I want to Can I use thaumaturgy on my flames
to see if I can like amp up the flamage? It's
a cool idea So let's say make like a spellcraft
check like as if you were making a spell attack
Okay Come on man wait Inspiration! I'm using
it. Do it. Yeah, everybody gets like one inspiration,
like always, every session that's right. Oh yeah.
I gotta get you guys like, I'm gonna make tokens.
I mean, I had one left over, but I will use it.
Okay. Please. Yes! Um, can I use my spell attack
bonus? Mm -hmm. Yeah. If I do, that is a 27.
Wow. I rolled up two the first time. The flame
blazes and it becomes this large flame blade.
And the large flame persists. Dope. That your
magic has enhanced its magic. Do you guys take
the gems? Yes. Just suck at the gems. Can I also
potentially use some charges of my black fire
to amplify the fire? Make a spellcraft check.
I mean, it's just cool. What do you want me to
do? It's gonna be like holding it with the arm
that has the break of the thing. Yeah, yeah,
I see it. Oh my god, that like landed on top.
That's so good. You can re -roll it. 24. Okay,
um, your flame blade, the black, and now it's
like black and blue. Mainly blue, I feel. Mainly
blue, yeah, yeah. Like just with like a little
bit of the base is dark. Like a ribbon, you know,
of like black that's kind of separating the white
from the like blue or whatever. Because it's
like white, it's got, it's white. black and yeah,
um, your flame is just not, it's just barely
smaller than darts, but yes, it was very powerful.
How many, one, how many charges? Um, one. He
used the cantrip so. But yes, this next gem,
um, surges more power into the cuff and, um,
Now the bands are glowing. And the numbers, they
kind of like, like if it's like an analog counter
that has like a little spin to it, it's kind
of like the numbers sort of spin in a way. Like
you can see like the number cycling. Val would
love this. And after they're done cycling, everyone's
number stays the same except for Dart's. Dart's
number now says 164. Dart? Should have lit my
crown on fire. Dart, you are also fully healed.
Oh my gosh. Fully healed. How about that? Cool
cool. Um, and then rain is of are you kind of
feel like a healing feeling but you don't Need
to be healed. So it doesn't do anything for you.
All right two down two to go So with your enhanced
flames You easily make it to the third gem. There
are even more shadows now And The third gem is
purple So you if you place the purple gem in
The device surges with power and What was the
second color red? Yeah, just just in case It
surges with power and it's kind of like so There's
like something. So again, imagine like the shark
fin here. There's like something materializing
under the shark fin as it surges with power,
but it's not quite powerful enough to finish
materializing. And it's like a rectangle. Is
it getting heavier? No, not yet. No, I wouldn't
say like it's not like it like looks like some
of these materializing but it's not like enough
to Like maybe ever so slightly it adds a little
weight for a second, but it flickers away Maybe
you'd be you'd probably be the only one to detect
that honestly But um With your guys's like super
fucking Magically enhanced flames as of our do
you have any way to enhance yours? It's all maturity
Thaumaturgy? Yeah. That's what I used. Do you
want to roll a spellcraft? Sure. Because I feel
like if Zavari does well, then your guys' fire
combined is enough to keep back, like, all of
the shadows. Um, well that's a 31. Oh. So. You
tell me. Zavari's flame is the largest. By far.
If it didn't work, I'm just going to cast daylight
from my sword and see if that made my fire even
bigger. Oh, what have you. That would have lit
up the whole thing. But yeah, so you guys are
able to comfortably make it to the fourth chamber.
You don't even see it. You know the shadows are
there, but you don't fucking see them because
your light is so, you're shining so bright. You
need shade. Shining bright like a diamond. Yes.
And if you guys will just wait a moment, I have
to get something for you. Do we avert our eyes?
Yeah, everybody look at that wall. Like you're
in timeout. Just for a second. Like no song.
Okay, so I'm going to narrate to you guys really
quick. The last gem is golden. It's the largest
gem when you place it You feel like a large surge
of power rushing through you and through the
Bracelet itself underneath that thin You see
something solid materialized completely and It
glows with the color of your soul Do you mean
me? You mean now? Yeah, even Zavari. Everyone
may now look at me. Oh, goodness. Oh, goodness.
Underneath your fin. Sorry, I have to use...
Shut the fuck up! We didn't time to do all of
this! Are you fucking kidding me? That's what
the armband has been this whole fucking time,
bro. Is this your way to make us play fucking
Yu -Gi -Oh right now? Under your cuffs materializes
a full, glowy deck of cards. Like the fin kind
of like stands out, and there's one, two, three,
four, five spots. You now have dual discs. I
never learned to play Yu -Gi -Oh! I played that
one time! I played Magic the Gathering! And you
kicked my ass with your hardest fucking deck,
because fuck you! I don't know why I did that,
I'm sorry. I was being mean at the end. I shouldn't
have done that. You did that just to feel something.
I never played you again. You can take a second
to look at them, and then I can talk to you guys
a little bit about what we're going to be doing.
It's odd. Did you run in the car? Yeah, I'm looking
at my cards. They're customized to you. I'm not
seeing my blue eyes white dragon. It's Glimpsee
Boy. Oh, hey. This is so funny. Oh my gosh. Oh
my gosh. Oh my gosh. They told me I was doing
something only an autistic person could do. Siobhan.
Oh my gosh. Oh. Gooba Gooba. Oh, my travel dice.
Mac, is that you? My victory. Here you are. Oh
God. Oh. This is what she kept kicking me out
of the living room for for months. It just burped
like too much, yeah? This is what happens when
Shanna gets a laminator. Thank you for listening
to Roll Forth. This has been the Empire Initiative
featuring Samaria Hawkins as Lady Zavari slash
Lady Litria. Ryan Musgrove as King Dart of the
Hopkins, Rachel Voss as Rainn Vosgrove, and our
wonderful MD Shanna Cantu. Make sure to follow
our socials, like, subscribe, do all the things,
and yeah, please stay safe friends. Were you
expecting us to get horribly murdered by shadows?
She thought they'd be more calm about it, please.
Originally, what I was going to do was give you
a couple of cards to fight off the shadows with,
but then you guys came up with a cool solution,
so I let that work instead. I didn't think about
the magical fire transferring, but I liked it.
And Scorpius. Yeah, it was cool, so I went with
it, basically. We all have magical swords in
some tribes. Yeah. I like how none of us use
them. It's so funny because you guys do use them,
but it's almost always just for utility. Like
the secret door thing. And then also, her sword
actually does have a passive effect on the evil
creatures. Yeah, I've only mentioned it once
because it hasn't really come up. Evil creatures
just fuck with me heavier like a small bonus
or persuasion versus evil creatures because of
scorpions just fuck with me have you use like
the spell i understand that i thought you meant
like a few times no no like.