Thank you. And welcome back to Beginner's Luck,
a D &D podcast. If this is the first episode
you're listening to, I would suggest stop listening
right now and go to episode one. I am Larry,
and I am the DM for this campaign, and I am joined
by my lovely players. Starting from the top,
we have... Hello, it's me, Bella. I play Annie,
the Goliath Artificer. Followed by... Hello,
I am Robert, and I play Gordar Sevrok. The Draconic
Sorcerer. And lastly. And hi, I am Avia, and
I play Raynor, the elf, the bard, the golden
god. Oh, yes, yes, golden god indeed. Okay, before
we begin, before we get back right into it, before
we give you that recap, I have a little question
for the three of you, Annie, Gordar, and Raynor.
If you were to come with a warning label, what
would that warning label be? Hmm. For Annie,
I feel like her warning label would be biohazard,
do not touch, do not handle without special equipment.
Considering what happened in the last episode,
especially, I think that's a fair enough warning.
Okay. Do not touch. Biohazard. Interesting. All
right. Godard. So I racked off a couple when
I was thinking about it. There's a few, but I
think the one that would be perfect for him.
would be a big red label that says fragile handle
with care okay oh okay that's cute that's a good
one it is because i always see godot with more
of a tougher exterior but then oh has a gooey
scent well we've been seeing a lot of the stuff
like when he's alone at night and kind of thing
where he's having those the facade breaks yeah
the the mask is taken off the the imposing demure
that he has with the medusa look that he probably
gets a lot of weird looks about because you know
medusa um and fearful stuff and then is just
left alone just kind of you know now allowing
those things to probably sink in oh i kind of
want to dive into that deeper, but I think we
can save that. Rainer. Okay. Well, honestly,
I preferred Gorda's original one, which was Slippery
When Wet, but instead, for me, I think Currently
Possessed. Currently Possessed, yes. Currently
Possessed, do not approach. Whether it's a true
possession or a placebo effect, we'll find out.
This whole time he's just been pretending. He's
just gone insane. He's just been acting. He's
just gone insane. It's another one of his scams.
Yeah. Yeah, it's been a scam this entire time.
He's got his cult now. Oh my god, that's true.
He has a following. He did by accident. He was
like trying to do that weird kind of like cultish
thing where he just kind of puts his hands over
his followers and ends up just robbing them.
I was like, oops. I secretly cast Mage Hand.
Okay, thank you for that. And now let us get
into the recap. The City of Gold. Golden walls
and towering pillars reflect its own purity and
divinity. Its gold -robed citizens with various
mutations are wary and avoidant. Whilst gawking
at the large crystal formations that emerge from
the domain, Rayna's arms slowly transformed into
solid gold. The rambunctious cries and coos of
dragonborn citizens invoke panic to our group.
Annie and Godard get detained in the chaos whilst
Raynor and Gimble flee and are escorted to safety
by a random individual who introduces himself
as a follower of the Herald. Our Goliath and
Serpentine Sorcerer are held in a cell for a
time, until they break out by ways of manipulation.
Meanwhile, Raynor ushers his new followers to
look for his friends. Pha and Michael meet our
escapees and are guided to a secretive meeting
place where Raynor and Gimble enjoy coffee. the
former growing weaker as the gold spreads. Struck
to unconsciousness and sitting upon the eminent
throne, the golden spectacle returns to Raynor
and beckons him to do her bidding. Accepting
the golden lady's ultimatum, Raynor's entire
flesh and apparel is of gold. Awoken to the news
of the herald's followers being arrested throughout
the city, their next task is forced upon them.
to enter the House of Commerce and deal with
the mayor by sneaking around to the lesser patrolled
alleyways and creating destruction to distract
the authorities. Explosions and havoc wreck the
streets, their plan looking all the more successful
until they are caught in spotlight. Now we return
to where the three of you have just been spotted
by three guards. A huge spotlight. metaphorically,
has been placed upon you. The shimmer on you,
Gordar, has faded away. And these three guards
are beginning to approach, chasing you. One of
them yells out, There's the herald! And they
run towards you. Oh, goodness. I'll have you
all to roll me initiative, please. Come on, dice
guards. Give me a good number. Okay, what did
everyone get? So, Eddie got a zero? What? What's
her initiative modifier? It's because she's got...
Plus zero. She's got exhaustion. Oh, that's right.
The exhaustion. And then she is exhausted. How
is that possible? I didn't think rolling a zero
for initiative was a thing. That means minus
one. So, you are currently at zero. Interesting.
Oh, no. Wait, what happened? That just simply
means you go last. That's all. That's what that
means. All right. So that's what you got, Annie.
Godard, what did you get? I rolled a natural
20 for a 22. The complete opposite side of the
scale. Very good. Rob, beep you. Honestly, beep
you. You're welcome, darling. And Rainer, what
did you get? I got a seven. fun fact i thought
that 20 was annie based on the reaction so i
was like oh yeah very good okay so with this
you are just at the uh the precipice of this
alleyway just at the entrance as the guards now
beginning to approach you there is currently
panic through the street due to the explosion
that had just happened uh me moments ago people
are running out you see a few of the other guards
that was at this checkpoint run towards the explosion
goddard you are up first well it seems no longer
sneaky um well i guess anytime like the present
to try something new i gotta do the uh pointer
finger and ring finger as the little beads of
um energy that go into like the snake fangs and
he's going to pull up the little diamond that
he has and he's going to fling it into the diamond
and have it ricochet towards um the closest guard
as i'm going to cast chromatic orb cool what
does chromatic orb entail You hurl an orb of
energy at a target within range. I get to choose
the damage type from acid, cold, fire, lightning,
poison or thunder damage. I'm going to choose
poison. And I make a rage spell attack against
the target on a hit. It takes 3d8 damage for
the chosen type. If I roll the same number on
two or more of the d8s, the orb leaps to another
target. I make another attack and then it can
continue as much as my... oh no depending on
what level i cast but i'm gonna cast the level
one okay go right ahead baby that is a 24 to
hit uh that will definitely hit and that's 21
points of poison damage and i rolled two eights
so it does jump to the next target okay go on
uh so do you have to roll to hit again yes all
right yeah so as i hurl this um like poison fangs
that like helix throughout the air it hits the
diamond and then splits off into larger um snake
fangs that helix smack into the first target
and then like ricochet off towards the next does
the 25 hit most definitely so the sec so the
second target is hit by uh it ricochets to your
second target That's 14 points of damage on the
second target. Okay. So this poisonous orb that
you have shot for hits your first target. And
as it hits the first target, it bounces off to
the second guard. You can see that the poison
begin to coalesce within both these guards as
they are taken out. Oh, that was a little easier
than I thought. Quickly, somebody else do something.
And with that, the last final guard approaches
the four of you, including Gimbal, but he doesn't
quite, so, you know, he's hiding in a dumpster
somewhere just behind you. And he is brandishing
his spear as he charges towards you, Raynor.
Okay. He goes for a swing with his spear. Unfortunately,
with the death of his friends, he is mortified
and he completely fumbles and trips over his
own feet. So that's always fun. As he trips in
front of you, he corrects himself and he's now
standing with the spear at hand. And it is now
your turn, Raynor. You seem much weaker. than
the others why are you frightened by my appearance
as he uses vicious mockery back feed back what
does that entail so he's going to use a subtle
string of insults placed with um with magic so
they have to do a wisdom saving throw All right.
And the DC is? The DC should be 15. Let me double
check this for you. 15. Okay. He succeeded with
a roll of 18 flat. Okay. And what happened? You
can't scare me. He seems to quiver just a little.
You seem already scared. Sweat. It's like, you
can see the sweat upon his draconic brow. Annie.
So is this just the one guard left? Yes. Just
the one? Alright. Annie is going to take out
her rifle, point, aim, and shoot. Okay, go ahead.
So as she... She got a six. This is not going
well, dude. Despite the range that this individual
is at, you seem to... You are unable to lock
on, if you will, as you fire the shot. You get
him by the shoulder, but he's wearing, if you
recall, some form of plate armor, and it just
bounces right off. Damn it! Gordar. I suggest
you give up now, otherwise this is not going
to end well for you. Silence, Kerr. You are Kerr.
What are we going to do with this one? Dude is
shaking in his boots. I have my orders. Do you
think we could get some information? Do you think
he can take us straight into where we need to
go? I think he will squeal the moment we get
close and get them to fire upon us. But I can
take his appearance. We can tie him up, hide
him here. But we need information, do we not?
Actually, no, we need to be quick. We need to
go now. Sorry. Completely overwhelmed with all
of this. Why are we in a war zone all of a sudden?
Can someone tie him up and just throw him in
there? I'll take his appearance. At least I could
peek out. Is that your turn? That is my turn.
Okay. Silence you as he tries to charge you now,
Godard, with his spear. And he's going... I'd
say I'll take in the dodge action. Sure. Because
he's holding off watching. Of course. So it's
a disadvantage. He rolled a one. He rolled a
one. Nice. Much like he did earlier. What happened?
He's quivering in his boots and he tries to charge
you. Headstrong. And again, he looks you in the
eye, Raynor, as he's running and then he trips
over his feet and now he's down on the ground.
Just give up. Raynor, you are now up. Damn you!
Well, that was easy. I will give you an option.
Lay down your weapons or die. Oh, give me a persuasion
check with advantage. I got 25 unnatural. So,
dirty 25. You see him sort of adjust himself
down on the ground on his knees. He looks back
to his friends. He looks back at the three of
you. Oh, four of you, sorry. He's looking up.
He looks at you, Raynor, with your golden visage.
And he lowers his spear and he lowers his head
down to the ground almost in a bow. You understand
your place. Good. Tie him up. Kill me. No, kill
me or I'll be disgraced. So be it. Annie goes
into her backpack and she takes out a rope and
she approaches the guard. I said kill me as you're
trying to tie this individual at this point now.
Shut your dirty mouth. Go ahead and give me a
sleight of hand check, I guess. You're now hearing
more explosions happening just a block away from
you. That's a 10. Yeah, you seem to... He struggles
for a brief moment and then looks upon Raynor
again with his golden facade and he relents and
gives in to being tied up. Quick, muzzle him,
put him in an alleyway with the others, and we
need to get going now. I think we can put him
over here. And you see Gimbal climb up this huge
dumpster, which he flips open, and he's pointing
down to throw him into the dumpster. Good idea.
All right. Come on, quick. You grab the feet,
I'll grab the shoulders. Gonna start dragging
bodies. Raynor, you're seeing all the gold on
this street, the gold -coated pavement and building.
It's all just being sucked into you. Yeah, nice.
And you're seeing, like, it's now concrete. Now,
the checkpoint seems to be clear. All the guards
seem to have run off, apart from the one that
stayed and you had clearly decimated. There are
a few now that is just... block away you now
are hearing several more explosions if you recall
michael had a duffel bag full of these uh c4
charges and at the moment the way looks clear
gorda is going to once we put the bodies in and
like uh gagged the dude who's still alive and
put him in there as well um he's going to use
alter self to transform into that dragonborn
okay um and take his clothes oh okay you because
i can't change transform my clothes so yeah no
that's right uh just see does he have a tail
does this dragon one have a tail uh we'll say
yes okay uh so gorda doesn't have a tail okay
but so the keen of i might be able to pick that
up all right so I'm now picturing just as you
threw this guard into the dumpster, it's just
like nothing more than like boxer shorts and
like a shirt with a gag over his mouth. And you're
wearing not exactly plate armor, like a breastplate.
And it has colors of gold and red. And it seems
to fit well considering your current configuration.
I did transform into him. Yes. And then as the
last thing he sees before the door closes is
his own face winking at him. Boom. We need to
get going now. Come. I will walk ahead a touch
and wave if it is safe. Just a moment. As Raynor
uses enhanced ability and gives you advantage
to your charisma. Ooh, very good. All right.
Let's go. So how does this look like, by the
way? He's hesitant to touch Goda as he doesn't
want to rob him, essentially. And he's just kind
of hovering over as he's like, trust into me
as he kind of just stares into his eyes. Almost
as if like a hypnotism thing. Like the snake
from Jungle Book? Yeah. That's what I'm picturing.
Yeah, that. Totally watched it. Wow. We need
to rectify that. I guess. You now have your charisma
enhanced for the time being. How long does this
last? One hour. Perfect. Okay, so now the way
is clear at this checkpoint. You may slip through
to begin your descent in this crater. Yeah, so
Gordos is about 10 -15 feet ahead and is constantly
keeping an eye out and then waving them along.
Alright, go ahead and give me a perception check,
Gordara, since you are up ahead while the three
lag behind the touch. That is an 18. Very good.
Alright, so, as you're weaving your way through
these streets down this crater, which... As the
crater descends, it seems as if they had also...
built upon this crater so there's still buildings
there's still streets here it's a slow descent
and not too far well off the distance you can
see the house of commerce and you can see just
at the top of the house of commerce you can see
the large crystals well not structure but the
huge crystal which is the epicenter of this crater
and the house of commerce seems to sit at seems
to have been built around it from where you can
see. You can occasionally see guards patrolling
the streets and you have taken the proper, with
your perception, you have taken the proper precautions
to hold everyone back and ensure that you are
all amiss by the guards. And it doesn't take
you long, maybe about... On foot, it takes you
about 15 minutes till you approach the House
of Commerce. And you can see there now there
is a retinue of guards just at the entrance of
it. All right, so are you taking us in? I think
that, um... I'm not entirely sure. My instinct
is to try and persuade them into that I saw you
running around the back end or... running around
the side, but... I don't know if I'll be able
to get all of them there. But if I try and drag
you in like this, then... It... I could try and
say that, um, the Golden God, um, is being spotted,
you know, down over that way where the explosions
are, and it's taking out platoons and to send
reinforcements that I captured you to. And then
hopefully most of them will go and maybe only
one or two will come with me. We can pretend
to... There's at least... Sorry, I would just
like to mention that from what you can see, there's
at least 20 guards by the door. The best I could
do is try and persuade them that they need every
man down there and that one or two come with
me and I'll obviously fake tie you. It's not
going to be tight. And then when we can, we...
get the jump on them but if this goes wrong then
we're gonna have it's not going to end well you
could try to persuade them and i can try and
create an illusion of what why don't i just make
annie and i invisible that would be much handier
yes you can do that i can but As he points to
the trail of gold that is following him. That
is getting absorbed with every step. It won't
be as super useful. But if I can keep their attention
in one angle and you approach from the other,
it would be a better chance. But what about this
annoying little rat? As he looks at Gimble. You
see Gimble and it's just all battle ready. Even
though he doesn't fight? Uh, yes? How long can
you hold your breath? You see him now trying
to hold his breath? Well, are we able to put
him in your bag, Annie, for a time until we're
inside and we can pull him back out? Um, should
be fine. And she's like looking around Gimble
trying to ascertain how heavy he could possibly
be. Only temporarily. Sorry, just real quick.
Are you suggesting to put a living being in a
bag of holding? Yeah, it normally is. It says
it has air for 10 minutes. All right. Continue.
Does it not? No, I'm just trying to think on
how Kimball would feel about being stuffed into
a bag of holding. It's not permanent. It's just
until we get inside and we pull you back out.
In the most polite way possible. Actually, wait.
Wait. And she's, like, looking over herself.
Rainer, I think I gave you my bag of holding.
I don't have it on my person anymore. And she,
like, she outstretches her hand with a gesture
that says, give it. Give it to me. That would
be correct. If I touch you right now, you will
lose everything. All right, where's the bag on
your person? You can just place it on the ground.
That's not an issue. He kind of just... It's
not that bad. Just drops it on the floor as if
it's a disgusting thing. Don't I get a say in
this? I don't think I would like... No. Oh. No,
you don't get to speak. Shut up. Okay. Okay.
Okay, wait, one second. Sorry. One second. Potentially,
if this is an issue and Gimbal is not wanting
to get inside this thing, with Rayna, are you
able to concentrate on that spell and get in
the bag yourself? That way the gold won't be
everywhere. I have a better option. How long
do you need? What do you mean? He's going to
cast invisibility at third level and try to hide
him, Gimbal, And Annie. Is he casting this now?
He is casting this now. How does it look like?
He's just kind of like trying to shut everyone
up as he's just like I've got this as he just
kind of looks like he's going a little bit invisible
himself as he's kind of looking towards Annie
and then he's just trying to touch her shoulder
and gimbal shoulder. Mm -hmm. As they slowly
start getting invisible, going, like, stretching
from them. This is strange. As if it's some sort
of, like, infection. As the... As the invisibility
spreads between the three of you, Godard, you
see them disappear before your eyes, and you
hear Gimbal's voice. I can't see! yes but they
can still hear us so shut up oh good we don't
have time to waste gimbal shut up grab on someone
grab his arm or something and drag him along
um i will do my best to try and just manage to
get past um i will try and get most of their
attention and try and draw some of them away
i'll do my best um it's just gonna like put his
hand down into like some dirt and just like rub
it on his face and like quickly just like make
himself look like a bit hurt and bruised and
like sure okay we need to go now yeah yeah yeah
and goddard is going to start running and yelling
help help help please come on help and he's going
to like run up towards them like half limping
you can see amongst these guys there's one a
relatively larger one that stands tall amongst
them presumably the captain of some sort. He
looks at you. What seems to me the problem? One
of the outsiders. He's all gold. He wiped out
my entire squadron. He's down there and pointing
towards where the explosions are. He's... What
is that beast? What's your name, son? Sergeant
Minx. Oh, boy. Give me a deception roll, please.
Do I still have... No, I had to switch to invisibility.
It's concentration. No worries. If that's the...
Feeling that away. I'm going to... Subtle spell
charm person. Okay. So there is the... only to
him that like like to for the camera view there's
like the the flash of the eyes but that is nothing
uh as i cast charm person upon him um uh makes
a wisdom saving throw please all right and the
dc is 15. you got a 14. so close all right so
how does this work um so all that means is They
are charmed, which means they can't attack me
or target the charm with harmful abilities or
magical effects. And I have advantage on ability
checks to interact socially with the creature.
The deception check was called before I did this.
Would I have advantage or not? I'll give you
the advantage. I've been mixed, you say? That's
a 14. Can I give you my inspiration? i don't
know do you need to sing or do anything for that
like is that like a verbal how would that work
though that's the thing you are currently invisible
uh but you got a total of 14. you see him bring
his hands to his chin how many of them it was
a there was a couple with him um There's a tall
one and a green one, and he's just all gold.
There was a couple, two rebels with him, but
I didn't see any others. All right. He looks
at you. Private, get inside, get some rest. And
he looks at the other men. The rest of you, go
up ahead. Ensure that we find this herald and
have him captured. And you can see now this retinue
of guards marching towards the direction that
you had come from. And he's marching along with
them. Head inside, son. Get some rest. I was
going to just stumble in and just hope my teammates
are nearby. The three of you. Well, I say three.
Raynor, Annie, you watch from a distance, invisible,
and you can see Godard just kind of stumble up
ahead to speak to these guards. You can see a
larger golden dragonborn speaking to Raynor,
barking orders to others. And you begin to see
the guards begin to move from whence you came,
foot by foot, with heavy footfalls, and the captain
itself follows at the back. They pass by you.
I want you three of you to go ahead, well, two
of you to go ahead and give me a stealth check
with advantage. Why only the two of us? Because
there's only two of you here, and I will roll
for gimbal as well. Okay, fair enough. Only two
of you have to succeed. Okay. What did you get
right now? 24. Unnatural. Okay. Annie, what did
you get? 15. 15. Alright. And Gimble also got
a Natty 20. He is not speaking. He is holding
his breath. Yeah, he is listening. I'm so proud
of him. A single tear goes down Gordar's cheek.
He just knows something happened well. They grow
up so fast. Oh my god. The guards just pass your
little group here in this alley where you're
like sort of hiding in this tiny alleyway. They
pass you and you look. towards the House of Commerce
and you see Gordar slip in. Stage whisper. I
think that's our cue. Let's go. Quietly. You
make your way towards the House of Commerce.
Gordar, where are you? Gordar would be pretty
close to, like, leaning in the front door, like,
opening it up and, like, looking around to make
sure, like, no one's there and it's kind of just
waiting to feel someone brush past him. The three
of you see Godar slightly opening the door here
and there. All right, go in first. Go, go. Okay.
Are all of you there? I think so. Yep. Gimbal
gives a thumbs up, though no one can see. You
just hear the shh of his suit. Yeah, exactly.
He's giving a thumbs up. I think that's Gimbal
saying yes. Okay, good. Quick, inside. And then
Godar is going to look around. close the door
um is there like any lock or anything like a
switch or is it like a piece of wood or is it
just like magic bullshit we can say that there's
those dead bolts that you have at the top of
the door and also at the bottom i think it might
be best if we do this that way they might not
how big wait how big is this place like how tall
is this thing so as you're inside you are upon
this foyer sort of setting. There are several
couches and you can see corridors that lead to
elsewhere. The ceiling is up high to at least
30, 40 feet up. And the door that you came through,
it is not the only door. So there's a few more
doors along it. And there are... torches along
the wall to give some sense of illumination here.
The interesting thing about this place, it is
the only place that you've seen that is devoid
of gold. Well, I can't say that it's gaudy. It's
not. Anyway, sorry, not here for interior design.
Um, where... I guess we just need to go up, right?
I would assume so. Okay, I can't see where any
of you are, so either stick close to me or just
whisper loudly and tell me that you're heading
in a different direction. We need to get going,
our time is short. Sticking close would probably
be better, because if a door opens randomly,
then it would arise suspicion. Oh yes, I didn't
want to split up, just in case you wanted to
go a different way. Just a question, are we going
up or are we going down? Because the crater would
probably be down, would it not? Oh, true. Are
we not here to get rid of the mayor? Would he
be up or down then? I would assume up. You know,
highest office in the building, power, prestige,
that kind of thing. That is what I assumed as
well. Do you think he would be down? It depends
on how much he is devout. If he's devout, he
would stay close to the source of the power,
would he not? True. Goodness. But let us go up.
Perhaps that would be the best way. Yeah, Gordo's
going to stride forwards to any staircase or
anything he can see. Is there any staircases
here in this foyer going up, or is it just like
a foyer and there's multiple doors on the same
level? So, in this... foyer there are multiple
corridors within the same level there are two
staircases leading up in the middle of the foyer
there is a desk which is somewhat reminiscent
of a receptionist desk as well with paperwork
and you can see a vase of flowers on there uh
but no one's sitting at the reception desk all
right um god i was going to just start heading
upstairs wait okay can any Can any try and go
through the reception desk and try and find like
a building map? Funny you should say that. You
approach the reception desk and just off the
side for visitors, there is a small building
map. Oh. It shows the certain sections of this
building and what it entails. A lot of it is
like political offices and such. There are two
keys of interest, however. There is the basement.
And within the map itself, it shows that it is
a large area. And it shows one of the upper floors
as well to be completely just a room on its own.
Oh, okay. Hey, you might want to see this. Kind
of beckoning the rest of the group towards the
reception desk. Look. That upper floor that is
a room entirely in itself, it is labeled as head
office. Look. Head office right here, but the
basement looks really ominous as well. There
might be something powerful downstairs. Maybe,
but we have to deal with one thing before the
next. His own hubris, having a map to his own
place, right at the bottom. Up we go. Just be
ready. Alright. Okay, let's just take the map
with us, just in case. She rolls it up, shoves
it in her pocket. Perfect. So, completely avoiding
of wandering the halls for the next three hours.
You make your way up. following the map which
is quite clear and you approach this huge double
door and it is labeled mayor head office well
you said this place wasn't gaudy before i was
just about how about just about to say someone
needs to put their letters in their name in such
big letters they're normally compensating for
things agreed well um how Try and interact with
them, maybe, a little bit. Pretend that I'm just
reporting. You guys get in position and we'll
do it all you need to, okay? Okay, so just double
-checking. Are we killing this man, holding him
hostage, getting information? What's the plan
here? I mean, he's the leader of a... a military
that is torturing this town and keeping them
under their thumb. I don't think it's much saving,
but if you want to... I say we cut his head open
and bring it down to the guards. Okay, so we're
killing him. I cast message to Annie's general
direction. I still think we should definitely
still keep an eye on him. I'm getting more and
more worried the more that he spends with whatever
voices are in his head. With the way that message
works, does Annie have to respond out loud or
in her head? no it's up to you it's it's it's
a it's a light whisper according to the spell
so it's a you are lightly whispering where no
one can actually hear it that's part of the the
text um but the voice inside your head is very
snake -like and like slightly echoey this office
is pretty cold and whispering back to uh to god
yeah i don't I don't like this. The sooner we
get it done, the better. That being said, I am
very interested in the very big basement. Gordarch
thinks to himself, great, I have two people to
look after. One who touches everything, and the
other who makes contracts with everything. Bang,
bang, bang. Knocks on the door. As you knock
on the door, it echoes. The knocking echoes within
the corridors of this place. And Raynor, you
hear a voice. A familiar voice. You are close,
my herald. You're very close. Free me, and everything
shall be yours. Just up ahead. You knock again,
and there is nothing. I'm just going to put his
hand down towards the door handle and try and
open it. It opens. It opens. You open the door
and you peer in for a brief moment and it seems
to be dark. You can't see much from inside. Mayor?
Are you there, Mayor? There's no response. It's
going to, like, fully open, allowing more of
the torchlight in the hallway to, like, leakage
in a little bit. Stream in? Yes. So, from what
you can see, it is this section seems to be very
vast. The ceiling here is even higher from where
you are currently. You're looking up and it is
about... Here it is about 30 feet. And looking
inside, it seems to be even higher. You can see
a couple of pillars and just beyond what you
can assume is the end of the room, you see the
walls almost kind of glisten. Mayor, I've come
to... Talk about the intruders. And Gordar is
going to like slowly start walking into the room,
just like looking around. As you step in and
you look around, torches begin to light along
the pillars and the walls. The room itself is
of obsidian and glistens with purple and black.
And from at the end of the room, that glistening
that you saw upon the wall now begins to move
in a curtain -like fashion. I don't like it.
And as the curtain opens, you see a huge gargantuan
golden dragon head. Who disturbs the mayor? Um,
hi, mayor. I've, um, I've just come to talk about
the, uh, the intruders. Show respect and bow
to me. Godair is going to, shaking the armor
like rattling onto his knee, bowing. Have you
the herald? Um, we know where he is. Then why
do you disturb me and not bring him here? He's
entirely gold right now. It's... All the more
reason to capture him. We need your power, Mayor.
God, I was just like, the fuck you have. Everything
that I have given you. Uh, Harold, Annie, where
are the both of you currently? Still in the hall,
or would you have walked in? Um, I feel like
Annie would have, like, peeked her head in, and
maybe half of her body is inside. Harold? Outside
in the hallway. You guys just let him walk in
by himself? He thought you would find him. You
waste my time. With these trivial trivialities.
Wait a minute, is that a word? I'm fairly certain
it is. It is, yes. Do not correct me, child.
Leave. But you have my mercy for now and do not
return unless you have the help. And you can
see a puff of smoke just blows out of its nostrils
as the curtain slowly closes. God, I was going
to wait. And as the curtain closes, one by one,
the torches begin to go off. As they start to
go, he's just going to get up and just like,
everyone, quick, out, out, out, out, out. Thinking
they're like right next to him. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, I'm going, I'm going. Are you
in the doorway the whole time? I thought you
were with me. Did you expect us to walk in? Yes,
I walked in there because of you. We were supposed
to go in there and do something. And then I walk
in there and you leave me by myself with a dragon.
Hey, shut your mouth. At least I was halfway
in the door, okay? I don't know what the hell
that golden boy Rainer is doing. Where is he?
I can't see him. We can't see any one of us.
We're invisible. You can see me and you left
me. You guys are screaming and that is very...
I'm not screaming, I am... Oh, Raynor, shut your
face. We had no idea that the mayor was a dragon.
What is the voice in your head saying? Do we
need to go in there and... It said that we are
close. Perhaps we should go to the basement.
Yes, I don't want to... I don't think he'd be
very happy if he sees me again. I guess we'll
check the basement? Alright, to the basement.
Are you sure, though, that the dragon was there?
Did you not see it? And it was not an illusion.
No, I was outside. It looked pretty real to me.
Do you think that we could take it? It's a dragon.
Annie's like, you can't see Annie, but she's
like doing the head spin and like death staring
at Vader. Just like, are you serious? We are
not taking a bloody dragon. Alice, you want to
walk in there and go and try and punch in the
face? If that works, then I'll come in afterwards
and try and help. But I'm not going in there
again. You see the door open? The door is open,
by the way. You see the door open? And then just
shut behind it. Raynor's still in the hallway,
but he's just going to cross his arms like, that'll
teach them. Did he just go inside? Just listen,
and if you hear some screaming, then we know
it's not going well. It's like, you're up to
the door. Good idea. So, Rainer, you... Yes,
I... Sorry. And he's, like, up to the door? What's
happening right now? Rainer, did you look into
the mayor's office? What he did was he opened
the door. Like, the door was already open. He
opened it and then closed it to give the indication
that he did go in. He didn't. Do you hear anything?
Maybe? Let's go to the basement. Oh, God! What
are you two doing? What? Why are you playing
games right now? Well, apparently... It's bad
enough that you're invisible. You're also invisible.
I am going to stab you, Rayna. It is good that
I'm invisible, then. That it is. You're lucky
I can't turn people to stone, otherwise you'd
be the first target. Grinner, as soon as you
are free from this golden thing, I will kill
you. Call her or not, you are dead. Perhaps we
should use that bomb that you got and blow this
place up. Let's just check out the basement first.
There might be something valuable inside. No
more games, please. They might not be able to
see you, but they can see me, and I don't want
to die because of your stupidity. Well, let's
go then. You lead the way. Doron starts to quickly
look at the map and starts to walk forwards.
As you approach the basement, going down several
sets of stairs, you can see that it's pretty
much the same setup as it was on the upper floor,
where you're just met with this double door.
Why are there so many stairs? You'd think they'd
come up with something better. I am not fit for
this. My goodness. You see just off the right,
you see just off the right as you come down the
stairs and you're faced with this double door.
Just on the right over there was an elevator.
For all the gods that are dead, I wish they stay
dead. Who would? Oh my goodness. You did just
say you wanted a better way. Now you know that
there's a better way. But I didn't see that when
we were heading down. Where does that even go?
Let's just move on. Let's just move on. You guys
didn't see that elevator that was there that
said elevator? No. Rainer, I swear to God. I
assumed that we were taking the stairs to be
more stealthy. Shut your stinking ho mouth. I
think that they are hungry and tired. It is okay,
Annie. Part of being old is understanding your
limits. Excuse me? Okay, with that, I'm just
going to open the door. I prefer whatever's on
the other side of this than dealing with the
Annie out here. Thank you very much. She goes
to open the door and just push through. There
are torchlights already on in this room, and
it's very similar to that obsidian room that
you saw upstairs. However, the configuration
is slightly different. It's almost... like a
factory setting. And you can see these machines
that are on and churning and you can hear machinery
noises. It's almost as if it's pumping. And just
beyond the end of the room, much like when you
saw the dragon, you can see the huge crystal
makes up this entire wall. And you can see machinery
attached to this crystal. And you can see that
it is almost pumping out something. And in that
crystal in itself, you see feet. Huh? I see.
You see feet. Feet the size of... larger than
this room. And you can see red... Just coming
down at the side of these feet. What kind of
feet? Humanoid? Dragon? Bird? Uh... It appears
to be human. Um... Is the voices saying anything
about this? That is her. That is us. Oh, they're
saying us now. Where we must go. Okay. He's gonna
go walk forward towards it. You walk with a sense
of trepidation towards this crystal structure
that is before you. You see the feet. You see
the red satin cloth that is by this feet and
it is all too familiar. You know who this is.
You know who is trapped here. Gimbal, are you
still there? Yes. In your research, did you find
out really anything about this? You mean the
big feet in the crystal? What else? No, the stonework,
yes. Nothing that indicates anything in a crystal
that big, but the things that Raynor did. want
me to look into we did find information from
the what was that book again um it was on it
was on it was a not a fable but sonnets was this
figure a um a good figure in that sonnet or a
bad figure that's really hard to say considering
the contents of that book it was Very poetic,
but it seems to speak of demons. Okay. Wasn't
the book called Maleficorum Infernum? That's
the one. I'm suddenly feeling like this isn't
a good idea. Me neither. Yes, my herald. You
are nearly there. Just one touch and free me.
The machinery. When it's pumping out this liquid,
what kind of liquid is it? As you're getting
closer and closer, the liquid now begins to sort
of pour out and swim towards you. It is gold.
And you are now absorbing all this gold. Okay,
so they can see where he is, kind of roughly.
So he's very kind of close -ish to that crystal.
This is where we need to go. I'm sorry, we? Yes.
We. I think I'm good. God, I was also standing
back about like 10, 20 feet, just like, um, should
we stop this? I don't feel okay with this. Me
neither, but if there's one thing I don't fuck
with, it's demons. Demons and dragons. My goodness.
What is this? Now I just need a dungeon. Sorry.
It took me one second. Yeah, I got it very early
on. Got him. Renner, you are slowly approaching
this crystal. You are compelled by it. You know
that you are the king, the herald. He's going
to walk up to the crystal and with his left hand,
he's going to touch it. You feel a hum before
you on your very body as you place your hand
on this monolith crystal. As you press your hand
up against this crystal, it pulls you in. You
can almost feel your hand begin to almost kind
of merge with this crystal. The other two, you
see Raynor place his hand here. And you can see
from a distance, all the gold that he had absorbed
begins to outpour from his palm. And it is beginning
to wrap itself around the crystal itself. Raynor,
you hear a crack. A small one at first. And then
it gets louder and louder as the crystal bursts
before you. And you hear a scream, a cry of a
woman's voice echoing not only through here,
but perhaps throughout this whole city itself.
The room shakes and quivers and you fall to the
ground to your knees. And we're going to take
a break right there. Oh boy. I am terrified.
So, guys, I accidentally unlocked a demon. That
happens. It happens? You know how it is. We'll
be right back after these messages, folks. Hey,
guys and gals. Larry here. How you all doing?
Listen, this is just a real quick break. Just
give me a moment of your time and I'll send you
right back, okay? So, listen. I'm sure by now
that you all follow our Instagram. And if you're
not, hello, why aren't you? Listen, those little
title cards and drawings that you do see on our
Instagram account is actually done by an artist
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the time, do me a little favor. Maybe just pop
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one word, on Instagram, okay? So with that, all
right, let's just get right back to it, okay?
And I'm sure I'm just about to do something real
awful to our players. So, I don't know, stay
tuned, guys. And we are back. Make sure you look
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they are selling. So, you know, support them
as much as you support us. Rainer. You feel...
Unencumbered. Lighter. A little weak. But you
feel more or less the same for yourself. The
crystal before you had shattered. ear -piercing
scream of a woman. The rest of you, you see this
bubble begin to form into this room, this golden
bubble. And just outside of this bubble, you're
beginning to see everything being destroyed.
The building itself crumbles and shatters into
pieces a maelstrom of Debris is now beginning
to fly all around you. You are at the epicenter
of this storm. And as everything shatters and
breaks, you see before you a large, gargantuan
creature. A woman in a satin red dress and golden
flowing hair. Her features, at first, very human.
But then you see it slightly change. Her skin
darkens. You see horns protrude from her forehead.
Her hands grow into claws. You can see her feet,
what was once those pretty sexy feet, are no
longer. All right. I'm no longer that pretty.
With talon -like toes. And this being screeches
and screams and you hear her voice almost gargled
and chalk scraping up against a blackboard. I
am free! as everything around you you can see
now the debris spinning faster and faster and
you see her now she is towering at least a hundred
feet up up in the air as well so high and she's
100 feet tall and it looks like that she's beginning
to descend upon the bubble that you are all in
and you see her as she descends she Slowly becomes
smaller and smaller. Her form begins to change
once more into this live human female. And she
is now relative in size to the rest of you. And
she leans down towards you, Raynor. Thank you,
my child. Stand. I am free. He stands. You have
done well. And as I promised, once you are free
of all your burdens, riches will be yours. That
free of my burdens? I thought that I would be
getting it now. You'll get something for now.
But see, there's a little something that's holding
you back as she gently caresses the collar around
your neck. You are indentured. You are enslaved.
What's to say that your riches aren't going to
be taken from you? Then... Free me. Just as I
freed you. This is beyond my power. If I were
to meddle with this, I would not know what were
to happen to you. I have two test subjects behind
me. We could test on them. What? Oh, your companions,
I see. Have they served you well? Uh... It's
fine. You're going to give it to me after I am
freed. I'll give you something now. As she raises
her hand and you hear a crash and a bang and
you can see before you the giant the gargantuan
dragon head as it comes crashing down and splinters
and crashes before your feet into shards of gold
and as that crashes you see a rotund dragonborn
just fall out of it that there is the keeper
he has kept me here Refuse to free me. Kill him.
And these shards and everything here for now
will be yours. And how do I know that killing
him won't put me in his place? You will not need
to be a keeper. He was a keeper keeping me in
place. Raynor grabs his dagger, clutches it tightly.
Goes up to this person. You fool! What have you
done? I've done whatever I needed to do. You've
doomed us all. As he slits his throat. You see
his blood trickle from his throat of golden hue.
Not red, but gold. And it drips down as it begins
to engulf him. And he is turned into gold. You
now have a golden statue of man who has his throat
slit. Fairly big. Fairly heavy. Maybe I should
have strangled him instead. So he's in that position
of despair and disbelief with mouth agape. And
he's just... Yep. Good. You see the woman approach
you once more. You will remain alive for now.
As for your companions, I don't know. They have
seen too much. She licks her lips towards the
both of you. Annie turns her back towards this
lady. I didn't see anything. I think they are
necessary for me to be free. Are they now? If
they die, then I die. And if I die, then you
can't complete the deal. Which would make you
a liar. What of that little one? He looks rather
tasty. As for a brief moment, you see her face
change into that... demonic visage that is tempting
but no he's the one that's the most necessary
such a shame as you see you see her wave her
arms across the floor and all that shattered
gold you see it begin to change into mass amount
of gold pieces That's similar of the gold pieces
that you had gotten from Briar Rose. Mm -hmm.
Take these for now. Think of it as a reward.
One last thing. All of us are sick. Oh, I can
see it in you. Can you fix it? You see her? Muse
on this for a brief moment, her hand on her chin.
I could possibly do something, though it is outside
the purview of our agreement. Care to take on
another deal? What is it? Hmm. There is nothing
specific that I would want now. However... So
I'm indebted to you in the future? Yes. Well,
if I'm going to cleanse the three of you. I would
have the three of you at my service when I call.
He kind of looks at Annie and at Gorda. What
say you, companions of the Herald? Do you wish
to be rid of this malignant illness that you
carry? What is to say we were just not contracted
again when you walk out these doors? That's not
for me to say. It seems we are dooming ourselves.
Either way. Think of it as a reset. A reset?
It is not a reset. It is not going back to zero.
It is owing a debt. First state of business,
do not owe debts of which something you will
just acquire again. The choice is yours. If you
too wish to do this, but I am not part of this
deal. Nor I. Korda, do you know anyone who can
fix this? What we have. I would assume anyone
with healing abilities. Clerics of the sort.
Can we postpone this deal then? Give me a persuasion
check. Unnatural 22. I shall consider it my child.
I see her raise her right hand and it changes
to that demonic that you saw earlier and she
digs into her chest deep into her chest and she
pulls out something a little tiny stone very
small almost like a marble and she hands it to
you Rainer you may take this piece of my heart
When you have finally decided. You may call me.
With this. And you may only call me once. She
licks her lips. Once you've decided. Give me
a call. And. I'll be there. And this. She's slowly
floating now at this point. The way she looks.
The way she seems to move about. This. this golden
bubble um do you know um like when a person's
underwater yeah and like their clothes sort of
flow and their hair it's that sort of thing that
she has and her golden hair seems to be just
floating within the air and same with her satin
dress so once you've decided make sure you call
As she slowly ascends, and as she ascends, her
form begins to increase in size once more. And
you can see as she's raising higher and higher,
you can now see these stream, these tendrils
of gold that you can only assume that is coming
from the city itself is now being drawn in towards
her. And... As the higher she goes, it's almost
as if the last piece of strand of gold. And she
disappears within the clouds. You see the storm,
the storm of debris around you now beginning
to slowly settle and fall around you. But you
are currently safe within this bubble. And as
the last bit of debris falls, the bubble disappears.
Okay. So that was something very interesting.
Annie, do you still have that bag that you can
talk to the bang people with? Because we have
a lot of gold to dish in. I was just thinking
the same thing. And she reaches into the bag,
pulls out the form, and starts to fill it out.
Are you guys going - Is this what you're thinking
about right now? We just saw a demon just - float
into the sky, offer us a deal that would most
definitely screw us over, and a dragon just be
destroyed in front of us, and the building is
just falling, and none of you worried about this.
Godar, for the sake of our sanity, let us think
about this later. It sounds like a problem for
someone else, honestly. Because, like, what are
we going to do? We are still in the middle of
this problem. We need to figure out what we need
to do. I say we've done our job. Well, first
things first, we are... collecting the gold.
So, excuse me. We were asked to come over here
and deal with the crystal. We dealt with the
crystal, we dealt with the crater, and now we
go back and tell what's his face and who is it
that we dealt with it. And now we're rich. Cool.
We need to talk about splits, because I did most
of the work here. You may have done most of the
work, but I think Godar Gimbel and I received
a lot of the backlash of your decisions. So,
compensation money is in order, I believe. Yeah,
but, like, still, we wouldn't have gotten to
this point if we didn't, you know, if I hadn't
done anything. We would have been dead. No, you
would have been murdered on the front steps if
I didn't get you in here. I'm not saying that
I'm not going to give you anything. I'm just
saying that we should probably adjust it accordingly.
And we should take the guy of the statue as well.
Sort it out amongst yourselves. This doesn't
sit right with me. Godar is going to just kind
of walk off a little bit and just start looking
over the city. And he's going to put his hand
in his pocket and start rolling. In one pocket
he's got his hand on the little necklace that
he has. He's rubbing it anxiously and the other's
throwing the ball around in his pocket. So the
House of Commerce itself is no longer standing.
You are at this very center of the crater. It
is a little hard to see amongst the debris that
is around you that has built up around the bubble
itself. But from what you can see outside of
where this House of Commerce once stood, you
can see some of the buildings have been also
torn apart. But then just beyond it, it seems
that a lot of it is still standing. He's just
gonna, yeah, make his way to, like, climb up
the little bit of rubble just to see, and then
it's kind of just gonna watch people and what
they're doing and how they're starting to recover
from this huge explosion. As you approach the
top of the rubble to see people, and you do see
figures all stuck still. They don't seem to be
moving. He's going to slowly start working his
way down as they're putting the stuff in the
bag. You approach some of these figures that
you saw from a distance and there is a reason
why they're stuck still. They are nothing more
than husks of what they once were. Shock just
ricochets throughout Korda's body and the dread
that he was feeling is now coming to fruition.
oh no no no no no no no does it is it the husks
that i'm seeing are they mixture of soldiers
and civilians everybody that you can see yeah
no no he goes and like looks in like the windows
of like houses and stuff and sees like people
in there still like no no no no no no um yeah
and just gonna quick like within the like the
next block while they're If you want to cut back
over to them, he's just going to keep trying
to find any kind of life. Yep, sure. We'll get
back to you. Annie, Rainer, you are now beginning
to collect the gold. You can see Gimbal trying
to count as best as he can. He seems to have
gotten some sort of gold lust as well. Especially
with the first batches of gold that you guys
did find. He has those. typical dollar signs
in his eyes as he's beginning to stack them in
uh in tens trying to make sure that he also gets
a count you spend some time here uh at your best
guess there's at least the value of it was probably
42 000 gold pieces oh my god I'll never need
to work again. My children will never need to
work again if I ever had any children. You remember
those, the original dragon coins, which are fairly
big, right? Those big disk coins. So that's what
it is here. They value, you think, by estimation,
42 ,000. Oh, wow. All right, let's get this in
the bag of holding. Let's go. Is it the bag of
holding or is it the other one? As long as I
have this receipt, I believe it will be fine.
Okay. He gives you the bag of holding. Does Gordos
seem alright to you? I'm not sure. He might be
dealing with some of his own things right now.
I don't know why he's so bothered by the destruction
of this city. Yeah, I don't get it either, but...
I guess it's because he's not seen this kind
of thing before. Or maybe it reminds him of something
that he has seen. So are you going to talk to
him or am I? Because I don't know if I want to
talk to him. Like, I don't think I'll be helpful.
I don't think I'll be helpful either, but it
depends if he wants to talk at all. I can talk
to him. I'm actually very good at talking. Really?
Gimble. I think that you would be the worst person
to talk to in this situation. Just because he
would be so annoyed by you that he would distract
to how annoying you are. That's why I would be
the best person to talk to. Gimble, how about
you just, once we head back to Briar Rose, how
about you just prepare some kind of feel -good
food tray or something? Oh, I can do that. Yes,
just... Something that easy and nice. Can I get
a perception check from both of you, please?
Oh, why? Is this little rat trying to steal some
gold? It is a 16 from Rainer. It's a 7 from Annie.
So as you're talking, Rainer, you did notice
that Gimble is trying to pocket one of the coins
into his bag as he's... Slightly trying to slip
one of that big piece of coin into his bag. He's
going to grab Gimble's hand. Did you think that
you could get away with this in front of me?
I am genuinely disappointed in you. A real thief
doesn't sneak it. He takes it in front of them.
I was just doing what I thought you would do.
No, I don't do that. I do it openly. I will convince
them that that coin is mine. That is the difference
between a thief and an artist, which I am. There's
so much for me to learn. And in time you will.
In the other case, Annie, rock, paper, scissors
to see who talks to Gorda. Can we not just talk
to him as a group? No. Alright. Fine. It's like
I'm a kid again. When I say shoot, just tell
me what you are throwing out, okay? Both of you.
Okay. Alright. Rock, paper, scissors, shoot!
Scissors. Rock. You're supposed to... I'm being
serious. I have the rock in my hand. You said
to say it at the same time and there was just
nothing for a good two seconds. Okay, we'll do
it again. I didn't know we were doing it at the
same time. We'll do it again. It's an audio podcast.
It's an audio podcast. Are we doing it like figures
too? You don't have to. I would just, yeah. Obviously,
people have to listen to this. You have to say
it the same time. When I say, right after I say
shoot, pull out your hand, okay? Yes. So let's
do this again. Rock, paper, scissors, shoot.
Scissors. Okay, again. Rock, paper, scissors,
shoot. Rock. Oh my god. We're not doing this
on purpose. Again. Rock, paper, scissors, shoot.
Rock. Oh god. Yep. Okay. You're more of the emotional
one anyway. What? Godar, you move through the
streets up until the checkpoint and the scenario
is the same. There is no sign of life where there
once was. Every individual, both small and large,
have turned into nothing more than mere husks.
No. I knew it wasn't right. I knew it wasn't
right. He's just openly weeping, staring at this
just carnage of hundreds of people who just in
the blink of an eye no longer exist. Artists,
mothers, brothers, people that you would... drink
with down at the local bar fishermen pretty much
a whole society a group of people who help each
other out and work with each other and even though
there's differences at the end of the day if
something external happened they'd all bound
together and fight together and they did and
they lost they most certainly did indiscriminately
Everyone was taken in the blink of an eye. And
it's just a lot. It's not just the people that
lived here. It's just whatever living being that
was here in this center. A dog turned into husk.
A little lizard that was crawling up against
a wall. Husk. All devoid of life. It's just eerily
quiet. Yeah. And as someone who's lived in a
city surrounded by people their entire time,
it's lonely and depressing. Deafening, I would
say. Yeah. Where do you go from here? After seeing
where the explosions were in the battlefield
and not really being able to tell at the end
of the day who's who from just the husks and
everything. He's going to slowly make his way
back to the team. You approach the edge of where
the House of Commerce once was, and you can see
your companions coming up through the debris.
Have you finished filling your pockets? And he's
like, motioning her head to Raynor to focus on
Godar. Yeah. Yeah, we're done. Do you know what
happened to the people of this city? No, no clue.
What happened? Every single one of them are dead.
That thing you worshipped sucked every little
bit of their life essence. Not a single living
thing apart from us is in this city. I see. Okay.
You're okay with that? That's perfectly fine
for you? God, how do we even know that they were
real? That they weren't already dead? You talked
to them. You were with them. Yeah? And we talked
to the same people in Briar Rose. What is your
point? This was not like Briar Rose. Do you stare
at the world through these glasses? These glasses
that make everything grey? That is the world
we live in. I mean, what do you want me to say?
Do you want me to say I feel bad? I do feel bad.
Yes! Fine, I feel bad. That's exactly what I
want you to say. You just murdered all of them.
They died. I didn't murder them. It was by your
hand that brought this thing back. It would have
been someone else too. So it's okay to cause
genocide because somebody else would have done
it. Genocide is such a horrible word. I didn't
do it. Because it is the truth. We... What? So
it was my fault. You were all there as well.
All of you. And I brought it up multiple times
that we should look into this more or shouldn't
do this. I'm not going to force you to do anything.
I possibly cannot. But this is a decision you
made. Okay. Yeah, I know it's my decision. But
it is what it is. I mean, what do you want me
to say? Do you want me to feel bad for these
people? I mean, like, it's... Like what? You
were willing to get rid of us. By the sounds
of it, you had made a deal with using Annie and
me as pawns. Yeah. What was that about? It was
a thought that came to my head. That's all it
was. I thought we were getting somewhere, Raina.
Getting somewhere? Look around. We bring death
and everything around us. All we can do, we're
literally stumbling from place to place, lugging
around a slave. You think that we're any better
than the thing that killed everyone? We're all
equally as bad as each other. The only difference
is I'm honest enough to know that I want what's
best for me. I don't care about any of these
people. I don't. I genuinely don't. I will always
look out for me, and me first. Because that is
what I deserve. That is all the world has looked
out for. You might be different from me, but
let's make this very clear. When you leave this
place, you at least have a family to get back
to. I don't have anything. And that's only if
we get away with this. We're done. Here. Yeah.
Did we accomplish what we needed to do here?
Not too harsh on anyone's mellow, but I think
we did discover what these crystals are. Demonic
infusions, perhaps? Okay, cool. The demonic infusions.
So? That means that the place that we need to
go now is report our findings back in Briar Rose.
That we should. And, Gimble, we'll be very selective
in what we tell them, won't we? In what sense?
They don't need to know everything that went
on here. I mean... Especially... How much we
earned. Oh, that I learned from last time. Good.
I'm more concerned about knowing that this was
a site of that day. Whatever happened caused
a demon to be inside a crystal? And that is their
problem, not ours. I see. They only told us to
investigate, and we did. And in the process,
we are all death -ridden. All of us. You see
him hastily writing notes in his book. And you
see him approach one of the husks. As he's examining
it and looking at it. And... He reaches out to
touch. And with a slight brush, turns to dust.
Oh. Maybe we shouldn't touch them. No, that's
a... That's disrespectful. Let's just go. You
make your way through the city streets. and the
the scenery does not change the the once golden
glittered roads and buildings and lampposts all
but plain and dull in its base metal or concrete
the view of the former inhabitants of this city
nothing more than mere husks As you move forward
and approach the first checkpoint on where you
first went through, you continue on and you find
yourself at the gate of the Golden City. Well,
what was once the Golden City. Annie stands back
at the gate for a few seconds and just turns
around, looks back at the now very dull and very
empty city. She just mumbles to herself. What
a waste. And makes way. You continue on through
the path you once trotted, where before there
would be gold that lined some of the blades of
grass or some of the leaves are no more. Just
plain dirt, plain rock, plain leaves. It is...
at best guess the afternoon at this point and
nightfall would be approaching soon as you continue
on will you be continuing the trek are you going
to try and find a different way back considering
of the place that you have gone through who will
be taking the lead me Gimble? Not Gimble. Danny's
a designated leader. Okay. Annie, go ahead and
give me a survival check, please. Alright. Man,
the mood is really... Yeah. Damn. I told you
I shouldn't have spoken to him. That's a 10.
Yeah, well, I don't think I would have been any
better. At least you didn't kill a lot of people.
What happened wasn't necessarily of your doing,
just a consequence of what you had to do. I always
forget, he is the only one here that doesn't
belong here. What do you mean? You didn't hear?
He was framed. His dad put the blame on him,
I think. Wasn't it? Right. Runaway parents. Or
parent. Yeah. He's probably never even seen a
real world like this. And we've just given a
crash course of it. Yeah, well... It's never
gonna get easier. He might as well get used to
it. That is true. But, um... Maybe we should...
We should... Next time we end up in that city,
if we ever do, maybe we could pay his way out.
What are you talking about? He's the only one
who shouldn't be here. We set him free, and not
ourselves. Not all of us. No, I mean, if there
was a choice, then obviously it would be me first,
but... Alright. I'm just saying, like, he should
be there too. If the order was there, then it
would be me... Him, and then maybe you. As soon
as we get these collars off, you are so dead.
Hey, we're business partners. We have to work
with each other. We already made that deal. Oh,
please. You're not exactly a cooperative partner.
But I will earn you a lot of money, which you
have just seen. Enough to fund enough workshops
that you ever want. And I don't care about your
morals. You can deal with whatever weapons you
want to whoever you want. I don't care. When
it comes to morals, they're being rebuilt. I
don't think I'll go back to selling weapons.
What? Why not? Hearing what Goddard said, it
struck a chord. I see. See, this is why we need
to get rid of him. If he goes, then I go as well.
It's not fair if any of us are left behind. You
can join us if you want. I'm not saying we need
to kill him or anything. I just mean, like, he
should go free. It should... We should all...
Be free. Not just him, not just you, not just
me. Gimble, maybe. But all of us should be free.
Yes. At the same time. As soon as possible. Well,
looks like you're going to be free first. Based
on the amount of... What was it that she called?
A tumor? I haven't actually thought about that.
So, let's keep moving. Around the forest. Why
would you just bring that on me? Why would you
just bring that on me again? Just to remind you
that we're in a precarious situation. You are
such a dick. A very, very selfish person who
will always look out for me, yes. But in that,
I will also kind of look out for you guys because
you're around me. And you are the reasons I survive
right now. All right, let's just keep moving.
Around the forest? Speaking of malignant illnesses.
Can everybody please roll me a D100? Ah, shit.
Fuck you, Larry! Yeah! That's your one, baby!
That was two. Actually, that's my two. Sorry,
viewers. I don't know what these numbers mean.
I'm scared. 43 for Gordar. Raynor, what'd you
get? 36. 36. And Annie? 95. That's a 43. You
find yourself, as you're having this discussion,
you find yourself just at the... What's the word
here? The boundary of the Crystalline Forest.
You decide to try and circumvent it and go around
this forest to see if there's any other way that
you can get to. Nightfall approaches and you
have not reached... you have not reached a way
around as of yet though it is getting darker
or whatever constitute as light or dark in this
place you as you remember everything is very
muted very um sepia style what you can see here
almost devoid of all colors but beyond the beyond
the crystalline forest Colors seem to dance and
flicker and glitter at the corner of your eyes.
Shouldn't we break for camp somewhere? Says Gimble.
Just here would be fine. She sets down her bags.
Perfect. So you guys are beginning to set up
camp. And it is eerily silent, even through the
small, the tiny sounds just of the crystal forest.
A occasional musical chime, if you will, that
is coming forth from the crystal forest. You
all set up camp. Are you going to have anyone
on watch? I'm tired enough as it is, so all of
you get some rest. I can stay up for a bit longer.
Um, I think I might take the first. I don't think
I'm going to be able to get to sleep right away.
You look absolutely exhausted, if you don't mind
me saying. You should probably get some rest.
Nothing new for me, but fine. Sure. Gorda's going
to take the first watch. Do we have a campfire?
Has anyone set up a campfire now? Gorda hasn't
set one up. I'll assume that Annie just like
flicks her left finger and a little thing of
fire just comes up. Okay, so you have set up
some fools. Okay, so you're going to take the
first watch, Godar. Who's going to take second?
I'll take second. Then I presume Annie would
be third. Okay. As the night settles in, you
look up, Godar, in hopes of seeing the stars,
but nothing but an empty void. No stars, no clouds.
This place seems to drain you, both physically,
mentally, and more recently, emotionally. Go
ahead and give me a perception check. It's a
13. The quiet hum of the night continues. There
doesn't seem to be any sense of disturbance.
And as you move up to wake... Raynor, for his
watch, the campfire, almost in a whooshing noise,
increases in size, and the flame turns blue.
You hear the chimes of the trees not too far
off once more, a bit more wildly than what you
have been hearing throughout the night, and then
calm. Then as you stare into the flame, you see
it change back. You aren't sure what it was.
What? What was that? Did you see something? Sorry.
Yes, as I came to wake you, the fire, it doubled
or tripled in size and turned blue. Blue, okay.
But for a brief moment, but... Raynor is going
to look around. Since he has darkvision, he's
just trying to spot if anything looks odd around.
Everything seems to be in order. From what you
can see, there's nothing out of place from what
you know of this place. The flame... Not entirely
quelled, but... It is, as it is, a campfire.
Maybe you just need some rest. Maybe. Okay. Godara
is going to just shuffle over a little bit. Not
going too close to the fire. And is going to
lay down facing the fire. And is going to pull
out the little necklace with the very rough uh
circle pattern with like the the crystal in the
center and it's just going to like run his fingers
over the very crudely like indented into this
metal lakes scale kind of pattern that goes around
in a circle and it's just going to be holding
that in his palm just circling until he eventually
falls just falls asleep from just exhaustion
as you're playing with these this trinket of
yours the earth not the earth sorry the air shakes
and quiver Almost like an aftershock. Annie,
you are bolstered. Oh, not bolstered. Sorry.
With the shock and shake of the air, you wake
up. To put it simply, the air is reverberating.
Three of you now look up to the sky and you see
some form of parting, if you will, some colors
returning to the sky. You can see stars. And
you look to the south and towards the south where
you know is back to the city of Antili. And there
is a bright light. And from the distance that
you can see, it's as if that you can see a moth,
a giant moth. And the light rings through the
sky. You see the clouds part even more and you
can see even more of the stars and you can see
more colors returning to the area that you're
in. And you all stare at that moth figure and
it disappears. As it disappears, the denseness
of this place, the magic that had engulfed it
returns once more. The colors now fade and disappears.
Did you guys see that? Yeah, it was like some
kind of moth. Thing. Person. Thing. It sounds
like it's someone else's problem. Both of you
should go back to sleep. Hey, what the - I think
we should put out the fire. We are a shining
beacon to anything in the sky or - Okay. Works
for me. As he clicks his fingers to like dull
the fire. Well, it's better to be cold than be
a target. Do you want to die in your sleep? I've
been praying for that for the past 30 years.
I think I need to learn magic that's going to
silence her. Renner, go ahead and give me a perception
check, please. 19. Your watch, for the most part,
is peaceful. There's that unsettling silence,
occasionally being broken up by the chimes of
the crystal forest that you're at the edge at.
And for a brief moment, something takes you aback.
You hear a scream, a wail, a moan. From the sounds
of it, it sounds far away. You listen intently.
And it ceases. It does not come up again. Okay.
A wail, a moan. Whatever, that's Annie's problem.
Annie, wake up. Fine, Annie can sleep. They can
sleep. It's fine. I'll be a nice person. A good
person. I'll let them sleep. Because they're
old. And decrepit. And... Oh, shut your mouth.
Go ahead and give me another perception check,
Rainer. Ten. The night continues on with what
you can presume is night. And no more wailing.
No more moans. Just the soft chimes of the crystal
forest. And you see Gimble get up. And he's now
sitting. The place is a little bit brighter than
what it was. You can only assume that it is now
daybreak. gimbal begins to work on his book uh
go ahead and perform a long rest for me all of
you oh my god we didn't die in our sleep don't
count your chicks till they're hatched boys can
i ask uh mr dm yes is annie's is annie's one
exhaustion level gone uh it should be i think
so ah yay double check that for you. Did we level
up? Uh... No. That's right, guys. If we keep
asking him, we'll wear him out. I mean, that's
what you did last time, and I'm just like, yeah.
We deserved it. If we keep doing this, we can
be level 20 in no time. We'll catch him in the
off time. Yep. Annie, since you are taking the
lead, go ahead and give me a survival check for
the day. As you're all mingling about, having
your breakfast. Bread. What did you get? A six.
Okay. You spend some time, as little time as
possible, to get yourselves in order. Packing
up your respective sleeping bags. And... ensuring
that you have everything in order you see gimbal
finishing up his book and he's ready to go and
he you are unsure on where this tree line ends
but you continue to follow it in hopes to find
a break away from the crystalline forest till
eventually after a few hours you find that the
trees are beginning to change in a way where
it's like half crystal and half half carbon matter,
like actual trees, until eventually it's just
plain trees at this point. You aren't sure on
how long this tree line is, but you could surmise
that you could just cut through the forest from
here. All right. Let's just go inside the forest.
It looks to be all safe now. Let's go. Okay,
well, just in case, we best be quiet. Looks directly
at Gimble. And he also looks at Gimble. And he's
just like, what? That was still two decibels
louder than it needed to be. So. You're going
to cut through the forest? Mm -hmm. Go ahead
and roll me a d8, please. Wait, why? Just roll
me a d8. What if I say no? Then I really can't
do anything about it. I'll have to roll it. Okay.
Then a dragon lands on our head and we all die.
Oh, great. Everyone bring out your new character
sheets. That's a six. A six. Okay. So you're
making your way through this forest, this now
actual tree forest. And it's taking you some
time. You're pretty sure you know where you're
going, judging by the way that you had went before.
Even though it was through the crystal forest.
And you move along and you feel the ground before
you quake, shake, and shiver. And then you hear
a cry. A familiar sort of cry. The same... roar
that you heard when you had first arrived at
the expanse and you look up you try to look up
beyond the tree the treetops itself and there
above you is the undead dragon and it roars just
above you unsure that it sees you or not but
you see it begin to breathe this blue flame onto
the forest Right in front of you, about maybe
20 feet away, you see these blue flames just
run across the tree line as if a wall of flame
has been brought forth. And through the flames,
you can see figures rising from the dirt. And
you hear the voice, the booming voice of this
undead creature up from high above. As it now
flies elsewhere. And just beyond you, you see
all this undead figure come out through the flame.
and is now approaching the four of you. Rattling
of bone. The bones and flesh is now heading towards
your direction. Good. It has to do with this
too. Apparently. At least they're already dead.
Are they? They're walking towards us. You clearly
just saw it being reanimated. Do you not know
of reanimation? Does this undead figure have
any, like, weapons or armor on him? From what
you can see as it approaches, it is... Some of
them do have armor. Majority of them are brandishing
weapons. And it is as it approaches closer, ladies
and gentlemen, I think that's where we're going
to end it. You suck! I cast Nuclear Bomb. And
he throws her grenade. I hope you enjoyed that
very heavy session. Very emotionally heavy. My
goodness gracious me. Oh no. For now, look out
for our next episode. I am Larry. I have been
the... DM for this campaign. Say goodbye, everyone.
Bye -bye. Bye. Make sure you comment and share
with your friends and tell people. See you guys
and goodnight, Mrs. Aquamanic. Wherever you are.
We'll find you. And welcome back to Table Talk.
Oh, boy. What a session, guys. What an episode.
What an episode. Yep. Cool boy. There's a lot
to unpack here. A lot to unpack. Yes. There is
certainly a lot. So before anything else, let's
just start with highlights. My personal highlight
was first approaching the mayor's office, opening
the door, and then how you described the layout
of the room, how dim and dark it was with the
glistening walls. And then all of a sudden, a
giant dragon head. Fuck you. That was so terrifying,
but it was so exciting as well. Oh my God. I
was fully prepared to actually be like, all right,
here's my initiative roll. Negative two. Welp.
Nope, we're done. I have a few things to say
about it to reveal about that stuff since they're
not there anymore. And I think it'd be interesting
for you guys to know because it was very fun.
But we'll get the other highlights out of the
way first. um my god just there's just so much
that happened this episode like the the stuff
with like you know the false god actually a demon
kind of thing um there's the whole like reyna
revealing that at the end of the day he'll kick
us in front of the any dragon or bus and just
not care and be like cool as long as you're distracted
i'm running this way um annie's kind of like
ignorance to it just kind of like stepping to
the side and being like yeah whatever's happening
over there is happening there very complacent
um yeah very just like well doesn't interact
with me so i'm not gonna do anything but if it
comes near me then i'm gonna do shit yep um and
and then just yeah just trying to process like
with god like obviously you know we're going
to deal with a lot of heavy things we're supposed
to be criminals going out into the wastelands
like happens and then trying to approach that
from like someone who doesn't have that mindset
yeah doesn't have that um you know under privilege
and had to do all that kind of stuff and like
he's literally seeing a war zone right now with
like exactly i find it it was so fascinating
to to watch it play out where raynor was 100
correct like you're not godard's not really meant
to be here there's also as well like go here
well yeah but like the mindset like the mindset
like we have two actual criminals and then one
who isn't and these other two individuals would
have seen like a lot of dastardly shit right
and then for you to witness this amount of death
In a scale of what it is. Oh man. It was just
so good. Really really good. What about you?
Zen? Avia? This is a heavy one. I think for me
it was Gorda. I think Gorda's moments where he
was like. You could see it. When he climbed on
top of the rubble. And he was just like. It really
affected him. And I was like wow. He's going
through this place. He's interacting with all
these people that he had interacted with before.
He was avoiding them. And now they're all dead.
Women, children. And I was just like, yeah, this
is kind of like he is in a right here. So then
having to play against that where I'm definitely
in the wrong. 100%. And being a dick in that
situation was just real fun for me. Because I
was just like, yeah, Raynor is lost. He's awful
in this situation. He's genuinely the worst one
here. Trying to justify it was an ignore, like
sort of wash his hands of responsibility and
accountability. That was really, really good.
Yeah. And the thing is, it was working. It sounded
plausible. And I, like, even as Gorla was kind
of just like, I understand your point, but it's
not right. And that was the part, like you portrayed
that so well that even like me as myself was
just like. I can see why he thinks this way.
You know, it's a valid approach. And I'm like,
fuck. He's not right, though. Don't think he's
right. No, no, no. I know he's not. And Gorda
doesn't still believe that way. But you made
a valid argument. And it was a strong approach.
And I'm just like, damn. Yeah. Like, it's not,
yeah. Yeah. Like, oh. That is funny. Yeah. My
mindset, when Gorda went down, it was kind of
like. You know the whole thing with, like, people
who were in underground bunkers or underground
shelters or whatever during the whole, like,
bombing in Japan? They came up and just saw,
like, not everything was gone. That was kind
of the mindset that I had for it. That's a very
good mindset. It's gone. Yeah. Like... Yeah.
Yeah, but that was my highlight. So it was, like,
yeah, Gora's reaction and playing out that, like,
him... justifiably bringing up to Raynor like
hey you did this this is the consequence of what
you did you need to accept it and like and then
Raynor just going no that's I'm gonna avoid it
literally nope nope this isn't me it would have
been someone else if it wasn't me and it's like
seeing that dynamic between the two of them where
it definitely has changed the entire group to
some degree where yeah even like Annie is just
kind of like I don't know. Let's move on. Very
complacent, Annie. The both of you were almost
complicit in the choices that Rainer had took.
And one could say that the both of you are just
equally as guilty. You could also say that's
why Annie wanted to move on quickly. Okay, I
want to talk about... So, from what I have...
prepared it seemed as if that a lot of a lot
of it you guys had circumvented which is awesome
like you guys got to the meat of the things quite
a lot more quicker than i thought that you would
uh the guards outside and the mayor itself now
i want to point out something interesting about
the mayor since it's all gone and dusted and
like just seeing the fear from you guys i can
alleviate some of that fear If Annie would have
walked in as well, I would have gotten Annie
to make a perception check. And if she had made
that perception check, she would have noticed
that this dragon head is actually mechanical.
oh my god it's like the wizard of oz yes it's
the dude behind the curtains yes that's awesome
dude that's why i described only a head came
crashing down and only a person coming out like
one dragonborn coming out of it i was like oh
man i can't wait till they deal with this mechanical
dragon head and it's just like no i'm not going
in there and i'm like okay then i'm not gonna
lie when the head did come crashing down part
of me did want annie to like go up to it and
do um what is it identify to see like what is
going on with it but i didn't have that spell
prepared and also the scene went by way too quickly
so i'm like damn yeah the way i described it
you know just the curtain coming i'm done very
wizard of I loved it, though. Godot doesn't have
darkvision or anything like that, so he wouldn't
have even really, like, seen anything. It was
just like, fuck, that's a dragon. Yep. I fucked
up. I fucked up. I fucked up. I was hoping that,
like, Addy was in there and then realizing that
it's mechanical and it would have been a whole
Wizard of Oz sort of thing where you discover
the actual man hidden somewhere there. But the
way it played out was great, too, with his...
booming voice that he had and really set the
fear in gordon it's just like seeing the panic
in your face as well was such a highlight it's
just like oh fuck what do i do yep it worked
because it was such like an atmospheric like
description and then like all the torches came
up and i was like you know kind of picturing
it in my head and then like You said there was
a moving wall, and my brain instantly went, there's
a flesh wall in here, this is going to be really
fucked up. And then it moves, and then a draconic
head comes through, and I'm like, oh, fuck. So
I was already expecting the worst, and then I
got worse. Because I'm like, one breath weapon,
and we're all fucking dead. Oh, shit. Hey. I
would have loved to see if we hadn't actually
spoken to the mayor, would things have gone a
lot more differently? Would we have been able
to circumvent the entire town's death, essentially?
Yeah, that's what I was thinking as well. Potentially,
yeah, because we would have gotten potentially
his side if we got on his good side and figured
out some things. Or he would have just tried
to kill you straight up, seen you. If you remember,
she referred to him as the keeper. Yeah. He was
like the prison warden for her. But whether or
not he was keeping her for a purpose, we might
never know. Yep. Very hard to say. Who knows?
Hey, if we get popular enough, we could do a
live show and we could do a what if. make it
happen people come on i also really liked uh
how she was set free that moment of just rainer
approaching the crystal wall and having like
those those golden ooze sort of like just come
out of their barrels and stuff and being sucked
in and all the gold that he had absorbed being
released upon this crystal And just that entire
imagery was just so cool to me. And then like
having that gigantic woman with that demon visage
just looming over you in the middle of this maelstrom
of debris was so fucking cool. Like in my mind,
the way I'm picturing it and then like seeing
how everything played out there at that moment
when she came down. holy fucking shit it was
so good i really like that part as well i'm excited
to also see where this goes tension seems to
have arisen within the group which is oh yeah
drama very very leaning against the wall while
we're having that back and forth yeah i'm just
like i don't want to be here damn i'm like damn
in this moment i'm going oh Some of the fucking
quotes that Raina said, I was just like, damn,
that is a lie. Oh, man. It's so good. I want
to thank you guys. Just to clarify that Zed and
I, we don't hate each other. This is all a character.
They are going to fight when this is over. At
the end of this, both of us had the biggest smiles
on our faces. Just like, holy shit, we just did
that. It felt so real. felt so fucking real like
it honestly felt that argument that exchange
that they had like yes I had to link back because
it felt so intense it did feel so real and I'm
just like holy fucking shit where is this going
to go and then the conversation that Raynor and
Annie was having while Godard was lagging back
it like it hit me in a new level of saying that
Godard doesn't belong here not in a mean way,
but in the main fact because Godard is not a
criminal. His life had never been in this sort
of darkness. I mean, there's a different set
of darknesses that Godard does go through, but
it's not something that this sort of level of
skullduggery, if you will. Yeah, it's not so
much like a survival thing of like, you look
after number one first because no one else is
and you're going to die if you don't and you
need to prioritize your being and seeing tomorrow
and he doesn't have that mindset because he hasn't
had to live that day to day you know like desperation
scavenging just all that when it be just at that
end of that storm that all those interactions
was just so masterfully done and i enjoyed every
second of it it was so good so congratulations
guys you guys were so good yay rob yay avia do
you know what my my favorite part is is that
yeah gimbal fucking shut up yeah that was really
good He finally listened. He learned. He's learning.
He's learning things. He's trying to steal. He
is very much learning things. And he's learning
from the... I saw Bella's face when I was like...
When Gimbal was like, I'm learning so much. And
Urena was like, and I will continue to teach
you or something like that. And Bella's face
was like, oh no. This is not going to end well.
I mean, people trying to sneak that coin just
made me laugh. I'm like, when I asked for that
perception check, Bella's just like, huh? What?
Why? Yeah. And I was like, is he trying to steal
from me? Well, you'll find out. Oh, man. All
right, great session, guys. Oh, well, he's certainly
learning what he couldn't learn from the school,
so. True. I'm not sure if that's a good thing
or a bad thing with this group. Thanks for playing,
guys. Thank you for listening. I hope you enjoyed
that session. It was a great, heavy session,
which was awesome. Until next time. Goodbye,
everyone. Bye! Good night, Mr. Suckmonic. Who?