Critical Role - Ages of Pain | Age of Umbra Episode 5 Part 1

Episode Date: July 3, 2025

Part 1 Past horrors call upon August and Misty in the Screaming Forest and hard decisions come to all as they approach the Amber Gate... DAGGERHEARTDaggerheart is OUT NOW! Visit https://daggerheart.com to learn more. Purchase your copy at friendly local game stores, Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and other bookstores, or Critical Role shops:US: https://shop.critrole.comUK: https://shop.critrole.co.ukEU: https://shop.critrole.euAU: https://shop.critrole.com.auCA: https://canada.critrole.com AGE OF UMBRASmall communities hold fast against the darkness of a dying world in Age of Umbra, a dark, survival fantasy 8-part Daggerheart mini-series with Game Master Matthew Mercer and players Ashley Johnson, Laura Bailey, Liam O’Brien, Marisha Ray, Sam Riegel, Taliesin Jaffe, and Travis Willingham. Death lurks around every corner, but five characters of the small community of Desperloch must band together to fight for hope for their community, risking it all for those they love. BEACONCurious what happens when the camera turns off after an Age of Umbra episode? Watch the Cooldown episodes with the cast discussion after each episode, exclusively on Beacon! Start your 7-day free trial today at https://beacon.tv/join and get unparalleled access to the shows you love completely ad-free! You’ll receive NEW Beacon exclusive series, instant access to VODs & podcasts, live event pre-sales, merch discounts, & a private Discord. CREDITSKey Art & Character Art by Anthony Chong Jones | @robotpencilPlayer Miniatures by Hero ForgeSpecial thanks to Solar Simon DMMain Theme Song by Omar FadelSet Design by Shaun EllisSet Fabrication and Production Design by Noxweiler Berf Due to the improv nature of RPG content on our channels, some themes and situations that occur in-game may be difficult for some to handle. If hearing discussions of certain episodes or scenes become uncomfortable, we strongly suggest taking a break or skipping that particular episode.Your health and well-being is important to us and Psycom has a great list of international mental health resources, in case it’s useful: http://bit.ly/PsycomResources

Hey there Critter Podcast listeners, we have a special new membership service at Beacon.tv where you can get early access to all new podcast episodes, including Critical Role for the first time ever. Beacon members also get things like live event presales, merch discounts, access to a private community discord, and new exclusive series like Critical Role Cool Down. Think of it as our digital Critical Role land. Head on over to beacon.tv to check it out for yourself and start a seven day free trial.

Thank you so much for your support, for being a podcast listener, and for being a part of our community. Hey there critters, this is Ashley Johnson. And Tellus and Jeffy. And Taliesin Jaffe. And we're popping in here to talk about our new podcast on Beacon, Weird Kids. In this series, we're diving into our lives as former child actors, from unraveling our eccentric upbringings to embracing all the delightfully odd interests we still have today.

We're covering so many topics like antique toys, taxidermy, Japanese pop culture, and honestly, anything else we come up with. Weird Kids is available exclusively on Beacon, but good news, we're offering a one month free trial on beacon.tv so you can take a look before you become a member. Just use the code weirdos at beacon.tv to start the trial. You can also find fellow weirdos

by following the series on our at the weird kids pod Instagram and using the hashtag weird kids. So to all the misfits outcasts and weirdos out there come take a seat at our table and celebrate all things unconventional, nostalgic and wonderfully weird. Welcome to weird kids. New episodes release every Tuesday. Hey there, Matthew Mercer here and you're listening to the podcast version of Age of Umbra, a dark tale and campaign setting from our recently released tabletop RPG Daggerheart from Darrington Press. You don't need to know anything about the rules or system to enjoy the story, but if you're inspired to want to play along, we have several short how-to-play resources we lovingly call Get

Your Sheet Together, available to watch right now on Beacon.tv and youtube.com slash Critical Role. This is part one of the episode right now, and part two arrives the following Tuesday. If you'd rather get instant and ad-free access to the full episode, consider becoming a Beacon member where you can watch bonus content like the cast discussing each episode in Critical Role Cool Down, receive Critical Role Shop discounts,

including on Daggerheart, and much more. Sign up now at beacon.tv. And that should cover it. Now let's dive into the adventure. Hello, everyone, and welcome to tonight's episode of The Age of Umbra. Now, Marisha, you got an announcement. We leveled up! Hey! You can check out our level up video on Beacon and YouTube and see what cool new abilities we all

took. Next week, we are actually taking a break from the show. It's 4th of July. A lot of people are going to be out of town. We want to give our crew a break. We don't want to make them work. Anyway, but the Age of Umbra miniseries will return for the final three episodes on July 10th. Not all three on July 10th. No, just the next one. Yes, yes, yes. In the meantime, you can dive deeper into the age of Umbra by checking out its campaign frame and the Dagger Heart core set. Matt wrote it. It's gorgeous. It's great. Check it out. Laura, I believe you have an announcement.

Yes! Oh my gosh. out. Laura, I believe you have an announcement. Yes, oh my gosh, okay, so we have. Are they dry? They're dry, they didn't get touched, and I'm so excited. Okay, so we have this amazing new apparel collection, and I'm really excited about it, and you may have seen our Game Night T-shirt already.

It's our Game Night collection. It's waterproof. We designed it, it's like. Is it a wet T-shirt? Oh no. our game night collection. It's waterproof. We designed it, it's like. Is it a wet T-shirt? Oh no. It's like, okay stop. It's for your game nights or your days when you wanna be gaming.

It's like lounge fun stuff, so you've got that T-shirt, which is right here. And then we also made these awesome shorts that are so cozy, loungey. Oh, I thought you just wanted me to get the head up. And there's pocket detail in the back. Oh. They're so cool. And then if you want to just bring it a little more upscale, then you can wear the cam shirt!

And it's so awesome and it's like cozy and it's so comfortable and the details are so good. And all the illustrations are by Matthew Crompton. Amazing artist. They're like little minis and there's CR popcorn and a little Coke can and it's just like it was inspired because I was like I want to feel like you know what it looks like when you're gaming and all the stuff that's in front of me. Check it out now in all three of the Critic World Shoppies. And then I have another thing to talk about because you guys it's really real it's really here it's Toast Glove the Romantic novel by Thea Guanzan

spicy oh it's so spicy and it will be available this Tuesday July 1st, wherever books are sold. That's crazy. Insane. Insane. This is you. Insane. In hardcover, ebook, and audiobook formats. Yes. Find out where you can get it at criticalrolebooks.com. That's so cool.

Oh, usk. If this isn't all over Book Talk, I'm gonna be so mad. Get on it, Book Talk. It's good. How much to see! I can't believe it exists. You know what? This book is already making me wet. So stupid.

20% of the way through that, I gave up on a space and just started shooting at his dick. The more things change. It's insane that that exists. And another thing that is wild that it exists, Liam, why don't you go ahead and tell us? Oh my gosh, I have the coolest announcement there. There's never been one quite like it. On the show before, our beloved Robbie Damon will be reprising his role as Rufino from our Assassin's Creed Shadows one-shot in a brand new story drop for Assassin's Creed Shadows free to download right now. But we made a thing and now they're making it a thing?

They made our one-shot cannon by actually putting it in the game. They gave the money to Assassin's Creed and then they took Robbie's character and put it in the game. Plus, there is also a weapons pack available for purchase featuring some new takes on some of our weapons from Exandria. See them? They're pretty cool. You can check out both of these items right now on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series, PC, Mac OS, and some game streaming services to boot. So check it out. Support our boy. Support your sister.

Get a Rufino! Rufino! Rufino! I believe that concludes our announcements. So let's go and jump into tonight's episode of... The Age of Umbras. There's your bumble. I'm sorry. So I'm going to go you to level up. So we went ahead and leveled up everyone in a separate video that you can find on our channel. But just go quickly around on what domain you may have chosen,

what experience you might have done. We'll start over here with Travis Idle. Yes, I picked two cards from Splendor, Healing Hands and Final Word, so that we can heal our party and then also talk to some that we vanquish. Fantastic, Misty. I took, for an extra domain card, the Book of Sittle,

and then I took an extra HP point and upped my evasion. Hell yeah, all right, I deal you. I upped some of my skills, so I'm more agile and more instinctual now, and I have more stress because I am using a lot of stress. And you have a bow. And I took ability to burn people. Cool, love it, Oscar.

Scree, Leah. I upped my evasion. I gave myself Shadowbind and Troublemaker because I'm a troublemaker. That's fine. Perfect. Brixton, Marisha. I went all in on Valor, and I took Forceful Push so it can push people up bridges, and then Body Basher so I can add my strength to all my damage rolls now, and my strength is now out of three. Fantastic.

August, tell us something. I grab something called the Book of Vagras, which has little locks, a little teleport, a little detect magic, and then I up my evasion and up to my knowledge and instinct, just a tad. Fantastic. Snicks. Snicks upped his agility and strength, chose nature's tongue and conjure swarm,

and he's ready to play this game. Fantastic. You can do that? Yeah. Let's go. So, last we left off, this troop, after traversing the Sunken Rampart, battling with a couple of pain beasts,

and then forging your way to the central southern land mass of the Halcyon Domain, you implored entry into Volkoru and were denied due to the unproven, untrustworthiness of your troop by the two barons there. However, you were allowed to rest outside of the walls and trade with the representative. A few trades were made, some acquisitions were acquired, and then you headed northward for the rest of your trek towards Amber Reach through the Screaming Forest, a place that has a hint of anxiety, specifically for a couple of you.

As you trekked into this eerily quiet, dark place, the leafless trees reaching out and gnarled branches that look like forever frozen, screaming bodies stretched in agony. The landscape itself, the underbrush, filled with spongy, dark, multicolored fungus, you began to hear the buzzing sound of something in the distance,

something familiar to some of you. In attempting to hide away, you awoke some of the nearby fungus. Its caustic touch began to burn through your armor before a large rottlord itself was summoned from the Underbrush and you battled it as it called more of its brethren to your side.

Unable to finish the battle quickly enough, two hive collectors arrived. And while they were beaten fairly hard, they managed to flee elsewhere. And the instinct to run took over as your troop began to sprint towards what you hoped to be the exit of the Screaming Forest. With that, I'm beginning a dynamic consequence timer

on a five here. SAM and TALIESIN, in unison, a DCT. SAM and TALIESIN laugh. It'll be SAM and MATT and you are all running. You are running somewhere in the Screaming Forest. First off, which direction are you going? Who's helming this? Who's looking for the proper path? MARISHA and SAM and MATT and SAM and MATT and SAM and MATT and SAM and MATT and SAM and MATT and SAM and and MATT and SAM and MATT and SAM and MATT and SAM and MATT and SAM and MATT and SAM and MATT and SAM and and MATT and SAM and MATT and SAM and MATT and SAM and MATT and SAM and MATT and SAM and MATT and SAM and

and MATT and SAM and MATT and SAM and MATT and SAM and MATT and SAM and MATT and SAM and MATT and SAM and and SAM and MATT and SAM and MATT and SAM and SAM and MATT and SAM and SAM and MATT and SAM and SAM and and SAM and MATT and SAM and SAM and SAM and MATT and SAM and SAM and SAM and SAM and SAM and SAM and and SAM and SAM and SAM and SAM and SAM and SAM and SAM and SAM and SAM and SAM and SAM and SAM and SAM and SAM and and SAM and SAM and SAM and SAM and SAM and SAM and SAM and SAM and SAM and SAM and SAM and SAM and SAM and SAM and SAM and and SAM and SAM and SAM and SAM and SAM and SAM and SAM and SAM and SAM and SAM and SAM and SAM and SAM and SAM and SAM and and SAM and SAM and SAM and SAM and SAM and SAM and SAM and SAM and SAM and SAM and SAM and SAM and SAM and SAM and SAM and SAM and SAM and and SAM and SAM and SAM and SAM and SAM and SAM and SAM and SAM and SAM and SAM and SAM and SAM and SAM and SAM and SAM and SAM and SAM and SAM and SAM and SAM and SAM and and SAM and SAM and SAM and SAM and SAM and SAM and SAM and SAM and SAM and SAM and SAM and SAM and SAM and SAM and SAM and SAM and SAM and SAM and SAM and SAM and SAM and SAM and SAM get north. Correct, who knows north? I do, I do. I've been there before, so I can use some sort of ability. You've been north before? You have! I have. It's a Ranger ability. Path forward, Wayfinder ability,

when you're traveling to a place you've previously visited, you can identify the shortest, most direct path to your destination. Great, the shortest and most direct path. Is it the path you're taking? Uh-oh. Or is it the safest path? Uh-oh. Or is it the safest path? Uh-oh.

This is a question for you, Snicks. Shortest. Yes, yes, yes. Shortest path, let's go. I need you, Snicks, as you're leading the rest of this troop to make an instinct roll to see how well you can traverse your group safely to the shortest path from where you're currently running. I'll shadow your role just so I know

whether to feel bad or go to die, what you do. Stay behind me, everyone. Just follow my little cute tail. Oh no. 11 with hope. Oh? 11 with hope, okay, it's a failure with hope.

The countdown timer ticks down from five to three. Oh! Oh! A failure with hope, you gain a hope, but in rushing to the most direct route, you go charging directly into what looks to be a partially sunken part of the forest. As you go around the side of it, the ground itself feels a little spongy. It's almost like this landscape was recently rocked by some strange physical activity. A little bit of the back of your brain tickles, like a bad memory that you don't want to focus on.

But nevertheless, you continue to push forward. As you do, you watch as the screaming forest, the screaming forest is indeed awakening, which this is marketing. It's awakening? There is awakened corruption throughout this forest. And as you're making a tangled escape through it, that's what this marker is situated to represent. Now, as you are rushing around this

somewhat sunken mass here, where it seems almost like the forest has divvies into a massive dent about 60, 70 feet across, it almost seems to breathe for a minute before it sinks a little lower, and the ground around you snakes out a vine to grab at you initially. Uh-oh! This is going to be, sorry,

you need to make an agility reaction roll for me. Agility react. Okay, I have advantage on rolls to traverse, navigate harsh environments and use my survival knowledge? No. Navigate a harsh environment, yes, however, this is a specifically awakened part of it coming at you.

Great. That is very good, except it's a 23, this is a reaction roll. It's a 23. 23, great. You manage to dart out of the way as this gnarled thorn vine tries to rip out and grab onto Snicks' leg.

You bounce out of the way and continue tracking onward. Now, you're on the shortest path, but you can see some of the trees are shifting. You can't tell if the trees are coming alive or the landscape is moving. It's hard to tell, but there is something, something brimming beyond your horizon. Some low, basey, distant hum

that you didn't pick up before. You continue rushing forward for the time being. However, as that sound begins to happen, that rumble brings a different sound, a louder. Rumbling as it sounds like a bunch of somewhat twisted woodland creatures that take up residence here are also running your

direction from the northward way, fleeing, stampeding, you're uncertain, but a large group of deeply fucked up deer are now rushing towards you, their heads twisted and hanging and slopping back and forth as they run. Their horns gnarled and twisted into two of them. Their heads are tied together by the horns and they're rushing in tandem, and they all just come charging towards your group, going, whoa!

SAM and LIAM, laughing, Why are they running? What are they fleeing from? They are rushing in your direction. Who would like to helm avoiding this stampede? Oh, I'll do that. I'm going to leap for a tree and try to hang off the side of it. would like to helm avoiding this stampede. Oh, I'll do that. I'm gonna leap for a tree and try to hang off the side of it.

All right. So you're trying to lead the group into an avoidance. I'm gonna make this a group action roll with you helming it. I need everybody else here to make an agility roll for me before you roll, Spree. Agility? Yes. Is it reaction?

No, this is actually an agility roll. Go! To see if you can get out of the way of the stampede. No! 13 with hope. 13 with hope. Well, this is, okay, so this is a group roll. So yeah, so 13, that's a minus one.

Fuck. Eight. Oh no. Minus two. Six. Minus three. 15. Minus four. 15. Minus four? Seven.

Minus five? Oh no! 18. Minus four? What? Oh. Oh yeah, that was a good one. So, you go ahead and make your roll.

You got this. Yes, I'm going to use my new experience, creepy climbers, add the to the roll. All right, so spend a hope to do so. Okay, it's done. That is 13, 14, 15, 16 of the hope for me. Minus four is gonna be a 12. Which is totally enough.

Yeah. Not great. The stampede is broken. Shoo-junk. That counts down the consequence timer to a one. As the stampede comes rushing through, you reach out for the tree, and the rest of you follow suit. You grab it without issue,

with each other ally that leaps under the branch. This way. This way. Until eventually, halfway up the trunk of the tree, snaps out to the side, and your whole troop impacts and scatters to the ground as the stampede runs past. I came down to you. All of you, as a troop, suffer.

That's the end of the sentence. Just suffer. Just suffer. Eight points of physical damage as you all get briefly stampeded, knocked to the side, kicked and pushed off into the nearby brush by this group of about 12, 13, 18. Our armor's all fucked. Yeah, but this is the last time.

Eight points of damage, okay. Matt, you gave me, in the last game, you gave me a temporary boost to my armor. Does that still count? As long as we haven't taken a rest, I believe it still counts. So you can spend your armor if you want to. And furthermore, I went unstoppable

at the end of the battle, but it says that this continues until the end of the scene. I will allow this to continue to be the same scene since you are still fleeing from that battle and the threats haven't left your periphery. Okay, so I take no damage. Great. I'm gonna spend a hope to use my Rune Ward.

All right, go ahead and roll for the Rune Ward's damage reduction. That's 1d8, down by four, which brings it down to a two, which is a minor one hit point. You got it. All righty. Picking back up where you are,

you can hear other creatures that call the forest home rushing away and tearing through the nearby trees, leaping over small hills and other weird shadows that are leaping. Something intense is happening in the direction that you're traveling, that you can feel on the ground, like a vvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvv Perhaps we should. And then it goes quiet ahead. Perhaps we should listen to the wildlife and not go forward. Maybe we should peel off to the side.

Is there wildlife around us? The wildlife has passed by, and that weird rumble has apparently gone quiet. Can I climb another tree, just me? Sure, if you want to. What are you trying to do? I just want to get up high and see anything coming from a distance. All right. Go ahead and make an instinct roll for me.

Instinct? As you clamber up. You're a fairly decent climber, and you're not currently in the immediate threat of dodging out of the way, so I'll let you climb up and try and keep a view over this tangled, leafless expanse. Oh. Not great. It's 11 with hope. 11 with hope. Oh, you have hope. You get a hope, but that does complete

the consequence timer for your escape. You look ahead and you can see what looks to be, honestly, a safe clearing, which is a nice welcome bit of information in the middle of this clustered forest. Looks pretty good. And with that, you all begin to charge forward, rushing towards what you hope to be, like the edge of the forest,

where the trees begin to diminish. And as you rush up, you all stop yourselves as you're suddenly met with a massive, gaping sinkhole in the middle of this forest, one that had just emerged. Oh no. Such things have been rumored to happen across the Halcyon Domain. in the middle of this forest, one that had just emerged. Such things have been rumored to happen across the Halcyon domain. The ever-shifting sinkholes, an unknown natural

or unnatural occurrence that just swallow whole gulfs of land. It's been a while since a recent one had erupted. The last one, months ago, had consumed the majority of what is now a mostly abandoned and destroyed settlement, a little ways northwest of here. You have flashbacks of the last one you encountered. I do.

That took away your companion in that travel. Yes. But here, as you rush up to the edge of this massive sinkhole, look, just an impossibly large thing from side to side, just a black expanse below the warm wind emerging, almost a sulfurous scent to it as it just billows up, your hair being pushed up by the rising wind,

you hear a sound. Vrrr. Right as you glance, you look up behind you and watch as there are two thicker, armored-looking hive collectors than the ones you encountered before. Not the same ones that have fled, but two large ones that are carrying

one massive, dark-shaped figure. The two of them clutching onto it and lifting it, almost like they're both airlifting some other entity through the air. As a voice rings out from above. Those that leave will return to the hive. Mother misses you, August. Oh no.

Whoop. I'm going to put down a map here for you. Yeah! Oh shit. What happened to who? Bert Bumper? Why do I write scary things in my back? I'm going to put down a map here for you. Oh shit. What happened to who? Bert? Bumper? Why do I write scary things in my back? Whopper fell into a sinkhole and was never seen again.

I'm a ranger, I used to have an animal companion, but they're useless as we all know. He fell into a sinkhole and died. As an anthropomorphic ranger animal, did you have a human companion who was useless? He's like an elephant creature. Okay, well that's also exciting. He's like a mini elephant that I used to ride. An elephant?

A mini elephant guy. That's adorable. He was so cute. A teacup elephant. The quicksand, just like our childhood told us, would be a problem. As you all turn around and hear this voice, you watch as the two buzzing elite hive collectors release this shattered entity that arcs down and lands. You see this monstrous, swollen, insect arachnid-type creature, its outer kite and skin,

like a pale, yellowed, jaundiced color, like biological armor plates that sit across its multitude of multi-segmented legs, its lower thorax itself swollen and cracked in places, and where the joints are throughout it, you can see this thick, slick purple underflesh that seems to like, almost like, boof, boof, boof, boof, be between where it's exposed. The two larger humanoid arms that emerge from its torso

clutch a amazing, nasty-looking glaive that has this awful hooked blade on it,. You see, aside from the armor plate, a crest that contains a multitude of candles that are all still lit, glowing behind it. Its head, it looks like it's under a hood, but the hood itself is almost like the same jaundiced flesh flap over its purple, slick face that seems to emit this horrible voice from a sourceless mouth as it impacts and lands. SAM and LAURA and SAM and LAURA and SAM and LAURA and TRAVIS and SAM and LAURA and

TRAVIS and SAM and LAURA and SAM and MARISHA and SAM. LAURA and MARISHA and SAM. Are they bigger than the last ones or are they the same size? They're the same size, but these ones are a little better armored, a little more serious, a little more of like a royal escort, if you will, for Mother. Fuck. That's Mother? That's Mother?

Call me Mother. August, you are my favorite exponent. I'm glad you're home. To the east. Oh god, I want to run. Wait, do we run? I am going to step in front of August. Oh, snap. Oh boy, I don't know what to do. This is a lot. We can run. Running is always I don't know what to do. This is a lot. We can run. Running is always an option.

She's really fast. Okay, well. They are very fast. Oh boy. I didn't plan anything else. Oh, you just had to step in front of me. Well, now I was like, well, wait, are we going to discuss something over here? No, no, no. I'm paralyzed at the moment.

If no one's doing anything, at this point. What do you got? I'm going to decide right in this moment. Yes. What I'm going to do is, which one do I want to do? Wild Flame. Should've Wild Flame. Okay.

As you approach, she's like, I recognize word of you. Another child taken too soon. Ah, they all return to mother. Oh, shit. August, do I have permission? Yes, yes, oh god, ah, yeah. Now? Yes, now.

Okay, so. Oh, oh, oh, Oh! I got a crit! MATT and SAM and MATT and MARISHA and MATT and MARISHA and SAM and MARISHA and SAM and MARISHA and MARISHA and MARISHA and MATT and MARISHA and

MATT and MARISHA and MATT and MARISHA and MATT and MARISHA and of the die or something? Correct. So for damage on this, you get max one die and then roll an additional die to it. Max one die. Okay, so I roll two d6s, so one of those is a six. Am I understanding that correctly? Double check.

And also your proficiency went up, too. Or is it max 26, so it's max 12, and then you add another die. I'm going to double checking here real fast, since we're at level two. Far as a pencil, right? and then you add it up in there. I'm double-checking here real fast. Since we're at level two. Okay. Far as a pencil, right? Yeah. 90.

We got the book here, we can do it. Okay, okay. Very close. All right, so. Far as a pencil. Okay, I'm gonna try something. Okay. I'm gonna try something.

All right. Too much fun. I never heard you be so scared. Here we go. I thought you were gonna take it. Oh god, that is so much worse than I ever thought. SAM and MARISHA and MATT and SAM and MARISHA and MATT and SAM and MARISHA and MATT and SAM and another 2d6. 2d6? 2d. Plus another six. Plus another six. 18.

So 18. Plus. Plus, no, this is something else. 18 points of magic damage or physical damage? It is magic damage. But I do have to mark a stress as flames erupt from my hand. Go ahead and mark a stress. That is a major wound on Twitter. It marks two hit points as mother flames curl around.

Ungrateful children. No, I don't need to use that. Okay. MATT and SAM and LAURA and MATT and SAM and MATT and SAM and MATT and SAM and MATT and SAM and and they mostly come at night and run and hide. MATT and SAM and MATT and SAM and MATT and SAM and MATT and SAM and and they mostly come at night and run and hide. MATT and SAM and MATT and SAM and MATT and SAM and and they mostly come at night and run and hide.

MATT and SAM and MATT and SAM and and they mostly come at night and run and hide. MATT and SAM and MATT and SAM and and they mostly come at night and run and hide. MATT and SAM and MATT and SAM and and they mostly come at night and run and hide. MATT and SAM and and they mostly come at night and run and hide. MATT and SAM and and they mostly come at night and run and hide. spend a hope and then add that bonus to your dice. Finesse. Oh, that's good. 13, 14, 15, 16 with hope.

So gain a hope. Where would you like to hide? Yes. I want to hide. I want to try to hide over here. Okay, so as they're approaching, you're small, you don't run off to the side, and as far as you think you can hide behind the underbrush and the nearby fungus and get low, they may not see. Do you want to continue with your turn? Sure. Sure. I'm gonna unleash chaos as she did it.

I want to have unleashed chaos at the same time and then make a mad dash so it feels like it came from her. Unleashed chaos. Perfect, all right. So go ahead and roll the unleashed chaos for me. Okay. Okay, I'm making spellcasting. That is 13 with hope. That is not going to succeed, so you gain a hope, but that is a failure.

Okay. All right. So as you unleash the chaos, it arcs off, ends up firing off into the sky somewhere. You watch as Mother, like, then so be it. She darts forward rapidly towards your troop, and is going to make a sweeping incision. Now, she has an ability called Surgical Accuracy, so before she makes an attack, I roll a d6 on a four or higher. Your evasion is halved against it. SAM and MARISHA and SAM and MARISHA and SAM and It is against everybody in close range, which is all of you but you. So that's a five. So all of your evasion is halved against this attack.

SAM and MARISHA and SAM and MARISHA and Don't round up for odd number? Cool. Yeah, like what's the 13? How does it round up? Sure. Five to our evasion? It's halved, so. It's halved. So evasion is not six. Shit.

God. So for that, that's gonna be a 13 to hit, which is not a great roll, but your evasion is halved. Oh, shit. Pretty sure that hits all of you. Oh, shit. Yes, yes. All right.

So for this, it's going to be... Oh. Oh wait, sorry, I don't have fear to spend on that. So it's not a sweeping incision. Instead, it's going to be, it's still surgical accuracy, but it's going to be targeted against a single person. And that single person is going to be you since you're the one that lit it on fire.

That makes sense. So that's a different damage dice. That's going to be 27 points of physical damage against you. You have no armor. 27 points? 27 points of physical damage. What happens if it's double your severe damage to the shoulder? Double your severe? Yeah. That's four hit points you mark.

Oh, and if you're out of hit points? I am your shield, I am your shield, I am your shield. Do you have the... Yes, I'll take the stress and do this. God damn it. Wait, wait. You would be dead? I would be dead. We'd be rolling.

We'd be going into death moves here. Okay, okay, okay. All right, so you're going to hit instead. Do love a death move. So that is 27 points of physical damage against you, Brixton. Okay, wait. Oh!

It has to be double my, what's the double situation? What's your severe threshold? My severe threshold is 18. I am currently, So it's not double? No, I am also currently unstoppable. Oh! So. I reduce the severity of physical damage by one threshold. So it's a major.

I will also spin an armor and drop it down to a minor. All right, go for it. A minor. That's amazing. That's what guardians do. Just eat the full fucking brunt of it on my shield. Jarding in four, for a moment, for this brief period of time that you've regained life, you see this flash in your mind of it coming to a dark,

sudden close, and you realize that darkness is not your vision. It's the shadow of Brixton, who had leapt in front of you and took the blow and glances over her shoulder at you with a nod and acknowledgement. SAM and MARISHA and ASHLEY and SAM and MARISHA and ASHLEY and The old gods are with you. That is true. Not today, what's that old god's name? Not today, Ratu! Not today! It's back to you all. What are you doing? Fuck this shit, I'm going in!

Let's go, Brixton! I'm fucking raging! Okay. I'm going to do a forceful push, because I can. You want to move it all first, you want to stay where you are. Get everything back out of our face, please. Get it fucking, okay, here we go, here we go. Come on, come on, come on. Okay, that is not terrible.

Don't you say fear, don't you say fear. 20 with fear. Oh! That is a success, though. So go ahead and roll damage. That is a success. Remember, you guys leveled up. SAM and MARISHA and SAM and MATT and MARISHA and SAM and MATT and MARISHA and SAM and and then roll damage. Remember, you guys leveled up into tier two, so did the enemies. I will spend a hope, though, to, okay, on a successful damage, I get to knock them back to close range. I did not succeed with hope, so I will not add a d6, but I will spend a hope to make her vulnerable, to make mommy

vulnerable, and then let me roll some damage. So I have, with my strength, and I get to add this, so it's going to be seven, eight, nine, to whatever I roll here. Okay, so that is going to be 19 damage. 19 damage? That is a major wound. That is two hit points to Mother. Yes. As you, if you're taking the full brunt of it, you turn back, and with a heavy swing, carve across the front of the thorax. One of the front legs curls back defensively, and you end up carving it off her body. It tumbles on the ground. Save her that one's flesh.

Dawn, my bitching ass. As she is knocked back and catches herself against the nearby trees. Do you want to move on your turn, or is that the end of it? Um. Do you want to maintain that position? No, because this is how I shield, I need to be with everybody else.

You got it. I will shift one or two to the left here, but let me stay close to Eidol. Okay, there? Yeah, and then I am gonna turn, and I'm going to look at August and say, what was that you said about running? Uh, well, you know.

Make a choice! So you roll with fear, so it comes to Mother. Yeah. Mother's going to activate immediately after and retort, and I do have a fear this time, so Mother's gonna charge right forward, getting low. The spider legs picking up speed as she rushes forward, getting low as the massive blade

attempts to massively sweep across your troops, spending that fear to do the sweeping incision that it was gonna do before. Let's see if the evasion is halved. That's a five, it is. So the surgical accuracy kicks in, and this attack is going to be, oh, not great. She only rolled an eight. But what's your evasion? SAM and MATT and TALIESIN and SAM and MATT and TALIESIN and SAM and SAM and SAM and SAM and SAM and and SAM and SAM and SAM and SAM and SAM and SAM and SAM and SAM and SAM and SAM and SAM and SAM and SAM and

and SAM and SAM and SAM and SAM and SAM and SAM and SAM and SAM and SAM and SAM and SAM and SAM and SAM and and SAM and SAM and SAM and SAM and SAM and SAM and SAM and SAM and SAM and SAM and SAM and SAM and SAM and SAM and and SAM and SAM and SAM and SAM and SAM and SAM and SAM and SAM and SAM and SAM and SAM and SAM and SAM and SAM and and SAM and SAM and SAM and SAM and SAM and SAM and SAM and SAM and SAM and SAM and SAM and SAM and SAM and SAM and SAM and and SAM and SAM and SAM and SAM and SAM and SAM and SAM and SAM and SAM and SAM and SAM and SAM and SAM and SAM and SAM and SAM and and SAM and SAM and SAM and SAM and SAM and SAM and SAM and SAM and SAM and SAM and SAM and SAM and SAM and SAM and SAM and SAM and and SAM and SAM and SAM and SAM and SAM and SAM and SAM and SAM and SAM and SAM and SAM and SAM and SAM and SAM and SAM and SAM and SAM and SAM and and SAM and SAM and SAM and SAM and SAM and SAM and SAM and SAM and SAM and SAM and SAM and SAM and SAM and SAM and SAM and SAM and SAM and SAM and SAM and SAM and SAM and SAM and SAM and SAM and SAM and SAM and SAM and SAM and SAM and SAM and SAM and SAM and SAM and SAM and SAM and SAM and SAM and SAM and TRAVIS and SAM and LAURA and SAM and TRAVIS and SAM and and and and and and and and and and and and and and and and and and and and and and and and and and and and and and and and and and and and and and and and and and and and and and and and and and and

and and and and and and and and and and and and and and and and and and and and and and and and and and and and and and and and and and and and and and and and and and and and and and and and and and I do. I have a little left. You just gotta play better. I took one. I already lost one armor. I am crossing off my last armor. I'm out. From severe down to major. You're out? I'm out. So, we get to your, so Misty.

Yes. Yes! Misty, we get to your new death mode. No! You have the choice. No! No, give me, go around, I gotta think about it. No, there's Give me, go around! Think about it! No, there's no time! Death wait for no one!

Hold on, I have pace! What am I doing, you guys? I just hit my full HP, I haven't gone over, but I had five HP and now I have no HP. Wait, you're out, too? Can you reduce? I don't, thanks. SAM and MARISHA and SAM and MARISHA and SAM and MARISHA and SAM and I'm out too. I'm out too. I'm out too. I'm out too.

I'm out too. I'm out too. I'm out too. I'm out too. I'm out too. I'm out too. I'm out too. I'm out too.

I'm out too. I'm out too. I'm out too. I'm out too. I'm out too. I'm out too. I'm out too. I'm out too. I'm out too. I'm out too. I'm out too. I'm out too. Yeah, Blaze of Glory, take one action, that's an automatic crit and then you die.

Avoid death and face the consequences. You both just fall unconscious and cannot come to consciousness until you are healed or you take a long rest or risk it all. Roll the duality dice if the hope is higher. You take the hope die number and distribute that amongst your hit points and stress to recover. If your die is higher, you are dead.

Choice is yours. I can't be unconscious for this. There is no tomorrow. I can't either. I'm rolling. Whoa! Roll, roll, roll, roll! What else is there to do?

You can be unconscious. Yeah, but that feels... That's not what you did, though. I know, but I'm daring. Because the thing is... Yeah, yeah! Yeah! It's up to you all. Wait, can you, sorry, I know you said this was only nine. SAM and LIAM and SAM and LAURA and SAM and That's the thing. If there's two of us that are out. That's the end of my turn. It goes back to you all. So Idle could run over and heal you right now. I could, but I'd have to pick between one of you two,

and I don't know which one I like more. I'm open to bribe. Oh! What are you gonna do? I don't know. Let the dice decide! You go first, because I already did it once. Fuck, I think it's the dice. Do I let you dice?

I should have stayed in the thick of it. I mean... Fuck. Are you going first? Technically? I love it. Oh my god. I should've stayed in the thick of it. I mean, fuck. I was trying to get up here. Are you going first? I mean, technically you died first. Are you doing it? Are you doing it?

I know, but he already did it. Just know, if you die, you're out of the game. Yes. Well, we can talk to your dead body with Travis' new feet. You can. I'm sure. Shit.

Oh my god, this is so high risk. This is high risk. Man, you fucking, you risk. This is high risk. Oh. Man, you fucking, you reminded me that you can heal. You can probably order takeout. Let him heal, let him heal you. What do you want to do? Oh.

It's up to you, it's up to you. Yeah, I think I gotta roll for it. All right, do you want to roll on the table or do you want to roll on your? Roll on the table, roll on the table. That's true, that's table. And say it again. You both made the poll and I said Hope just has to be higher than fear.

Oh dear lord. I don't like this. I don't like it. I don't like it. Woo! Ten! Ten! I swallowed a ten! That fear die landed on a ALL SHOUT OUT OF FACE

That fear die landed on a ten before that hope die finished showing and I was like, fuck. Oh my god. Taliesin died. I don't know what to do now. Oh god. What an injection. August. I went to a twelve, I saw the ten of zero. I saw the ten hit, I'm like, oh god damn no. MATT and SAM and MARISHA and MATT and SAM and MARISHA living under the black shadow and the pain and the machinations of this strange subterranean terror. You feel the surge of fire in your chest. Some sourceless power,

this flicker within says, not yet. There's still too much to do, and vengeance to dull out. And with that, you grab from within this well of strength inside you, and you rise to one knee. You can distribute 12 amongst your stress and hit points to recover. SAM and MARISHA and LAURA and MATT and MARISHA and MATT and MARISHA and SAM and Can I do anything with all I have left over? No. Damn. Can I get no hope from that roll-out, by the way. Okay, so, true.

If I go unconscious, and somebody comes over to maybe heal me, then I. Why are you gesturing to me? Well, because I'm hoping. If I do that, then how much, like, I would heal, how much would I heal? I don't know, you're a big-ass statue, how much would you heal? Like, how much, that're a big-ass statue. How much would you heal?

Depends on how many hit points they can heal you. Just to metagame, if it all goes well, on a failure, I would mark a stress and clear one hit point for you. So the minimum one. I would be back down, I have no armor, like I'm back down again. I would just be here again.

I would probably just leave you asleep until we finish this fight. And I can only do this once. Or asleep until we finish this fight. We're just out for the rest of the game. Or asleep until we can figure it out. But that feels so lame! I can do it for you one time, before a lot. And I also have some stuff I can do, too. I would say unconscious.

You would say unconscious? Because we now have a system that's up to you. But what would you do? I've done my one with you. What would Misty do? Okay, you know what? I'm an unconscious. We just started the game.

Yep. I can't do it yet. There's no way we're gonna get one good. I'm not gonna test the gods. Pantsy's fine. I'm just not, no, no, no. Wait, should I just roll to see what I wanna roll? No, no, no, no, you don't get to roll.

I'm swinging the pendulum. August crumbles and then begins to rise on one knee. You, are you going unconscious or are you rolling? I'm going unconscious. Okay. But I kinda wanna roll to see what I wanna Okay. Misty impacts the ground with a heavy thud and is not moving. However. SAM and MARISHA make a sound. It is no longer my spotlight. Who wants to go? SAM and LIAM make a sound.

So I'm going to burn my armor stitcher, burning three hope to restore three armor slots. MARISHA and MATT and MARISHA and MATT and MARISHA and Did you make her vulnerable? I made her vulnerable. Yes, I should have put a mark on it, but I had it written down here. And I'm going to consume my minor health potion to open up a hit point. Okay. Do whatever you want. I'm running over. I've got four hope. I'm going to burn three to use my life support feature as a seraph to spend three hope to clear a hit point on an ally within close range. So can I run over,

get hands on? You feel that same spark of divine power that's been eluding you, eluding purpose and clarity for so long, but with this travel and the dire circumstances and the ever-constant threat of death, you feel that will of strength, and you get tempered like steel against an anvil. In this moment, it's the first time you truly feel like you have a strong grasp on the powers within you. As you reach down, truly for the first time, recalling and pulling somebody from the edge of death, you touch down on Misty's body and watch the wings begin to shift and move once more as you come back to consciousness with one hit point.

SAM and MARISHA and LIAM and SAM and MARISHA and SAM and LIAM and SAM and MARISHA and Okay, am I in very close range to Mother? You are right now within very close range, and close range is get hit again, I'm screwed. You are right now within very close range, and close range is the edge of the cliff right there. That darkness is the, that is the ever-shifting sinkhole.

I'm going to shift. So be warned. Wait, where's the shifting sinkhole? That black is the edge of the sinkhole that you all ran up to. Oh! Good to know. So do not be, try and avoid being pushed in there.

It's over there. Fuck, I want to push her into that. Now we know. That's okay, and she's vulnerable, which means you get a d6 to attack her. Correct. I'm going to cast Slumber. Okay. All right, here we go. Are you rolling?

Are you rolling? Are you 16? Yes. Sleep. That's 16 with hope. All right, take a hope. Oh, 16, 17, that's 20 with hope. Thank you. That's a success. Yep, thank you. She's asleep unless until we attack her or you spend a fear to wake her up. He has no fear. So as Mother looks over and sees,

during the move, I say when they live or die. I say when they live or die. And like a thorax, rests, the spider legs curl in, and right now the glaive hits the ground as she's, I say when they live or die. And she stays like that until we, ground as she's... We fail you. We fail you. We fail you.

We fail you. And she stays like that until we... She takes damage. Or spends a fear. What's the play? Should we run? The two of her buzzing companions, they're just watching mother go,

look at each other at this reaction and are veering down to dart towards her. Does she have anything we need? Is there anything on her that we could possibly need? We gotta get the fuck out of here. I'm gonna look at them and just, run! Yeah. And yell at these motherfuckers.

I'm gonna go over and help lift Misty up and start hobbling and helping her flee. Okay. Let's see how far we can get, I guess. I can also spend, if I touch you while we're running by, I can, oh, actually, hold on, never mind, carry on for a second. I gotta find my shit.

Where are you all fleeing? Where were we going before this? You were running this direction, and there's a sinkhole in the way. Let's start heading west around the sinkhole, I suppose. Yeah, so we have to go around it now. Sure. Okay. So as you're deciding this and shout, run, I'm going to take an action of one of these collectors to close off your path and move over

into this section of the region and kind of stand there waiting. Is that the way to do it? Should we go the other way? That's where we would head? This one is going to shoot down next to Mother. What are you doing? Continuing to flee? Which direction are you fleeing? Where are you going? LIAM. Well, what did you mean for us to go around the hole? The hole is behind her? This way?

MATT. The hole is, if we were to talk about size and width, the hole is further than the length of the edge of that table. Yeah. Whoa, that's a big hole. Ah, fuck it, game on. I start loping towards Adelia. She's wonderful. And on all fours, basically, and past her, and get back to back with Adelia, and I will reach my hands into the soil, and little tendrils of shadow

from underneath all the silver rings piercing my arms, stab into the ground, and shadow stab out of the ground, up into its body, and I will attempt to use Shadowbind. Is that thing in close range? I said I'm running up to it. Oh, is it? That's close range one there. I can't get close enough to do it, then. You can if you want to make an agility roll to cover the far range. So make an agility roll.

Don't roll with fear, don't roll with fear, don't roll with fear, don't roll with fear. I just might. I did. Oh no, she's gonna wake up. It's 11 with fear. 11 with fear, that's unfortunately a failure. As you're rushing through this rough terrain,

you trip over a rock and catch yourself. You end just alongside Adelia and get to that point before you get close enough to get to the shadow. And that's going to shift the spotlight back to me. Going to spend the fear to drop the sleep. And you watch his mother. Just like a woman. Uh-oh. Rrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr I don't have a fear to spend on the sweeping incision. So instead, she's going to use, to me,

my children! She's going to mark a stress and immediately spotlight both of her companions. This one here is going to dart there, and this one is going to dart here. The one that's gonna come after you is going to go ahead and use its Sleeping Sting against you, Idle. That's going to be an 11 to hit. It hits. All right, you take on this. 14 points of physical damage.

And I need you to make an Instinct Reaction roll. One Instinct Reaction roll coming right up. That's four with Hope. Okay, so Hope doesn't matter, it's a reaction roll. Oh, thank you. As it shoots down, actually you take half that damage because when both of them activate, you need to do half damage, so sorry.

So that one. Four. So you would've, yeah, you take half that damage because when both of them activate, you need to do half damage, so sorry. So that one. Four. So you would've taken only a minor run. Okay. Okay, so nothing. Because I burned an armor. Well, so sorry. It would've been the damage before that. So the damage before that would've been halved. It still would've been, what's your minor threshold? 11. 11, so yeah, it would've been nothing, you're good. If you took nothing, if you took nothing on this, I'd say that avoids the impact.

You took no damage on that, so it didn't even, its proboscis couldn't stab into your body, and you just pushed it away, so you wouldn't even have had to make the reaction. I had lots of espresso this morning. So that's good on you. For you, Adelia. Am I hidden? I was under brush.

You're right. You're under brush. So this would be actually against you, Screeve. Sorry, Screeve. That's all right. That's going to be a 19 to hit you. Got a play to play. That hits. You take... It would be 15 physical damage halved, so that is going to bring you eight points of physical damage against you. LIAM and SAM and MARISHA and LIAM and MARISHA and death move here. I should have taken it! I should have taken the hit! Are you going to roll for it? I don't know. Let me think longer than three seconds, you two!

Okay! So there's risk at all. The dead are trying to bore you. Or avoid the consequences and just go unconscious or blaze of glory. Scanlan! I do want to die, but I just got here. I want to play one more game after this. Scream. The proboscis spears into his abdomen, and as its pointed snout withdraws.

Before it withdraws, I'm going to reach out from under the brush and MATT and MARISHA and MATT make a sound. I'm going to reach out from under the brush and grab a hold of the perviscis. And I'm going to cast Cinder Grasp on him. MATT and TALIESIN and MATT make a sound. Okay, go ahead and roll for it. She a mad girl. Come on, girlie. Creepy girlie. Oh, fuck, it was with fear, though. 12, 19, 22. With Fear.

With Fear. That is a success, so go ahead and roll damage on that. Okay. Sweet. That's ten plus what? Ten plus three, that's 13. And I'm'm gonna mark a stress that's to double the damage dice. Ooh, all right. So, let's go. That's 23 points of damage. 23 points of damage, that's gonna be a major wound. That hive collector marks three hit points. And he's on fire now.

And it's on fire. So whenever it makes an action, it takes 2d6 fire damage. That one's on fire. Yes. It's like hovering in the air, trying to get the flames off it as they're curling and burning up its body. Awesome. And then I'm going to take my stamina potion and down it. Go for it.

Oh, shit. I've got stamina. Oh, sweet, that was a four. And then I'm going to take my stamina potion and down it. Go for it. Oh shit. I've got stamina. Oh, sweet, that was a four. I get four stress points. Mother. No, Mother is going to angrily still, after shouting her friends, watching one of them catch flame,

one of you downed. There's a confluence of emotions here as she's like, I'll let you all kneel and drag you back to the caves. She's going to spend that for your sweeping incision. Six. Halved. Your evasion. Where's my six? Hold on. She rolled a three, the plus two, that's five. So with your evasion halved, who has a five or five or less? With an evasion?

Yeah, evasion halved. Oh. So I'm four and a half. Brixton, Eidl. I'm at seven. Six? Yeah, you're down. Six.

Six, okay. That's a sweat. So Brixton and Eidl. A massive glaive swing at a furious speed spins around. Actually, she's going to go ahead and, after this, do that. So that's a massive 2d6 plus 15 physical damage. That's going to be 22 points of physical damage against each of you. SAM and MARISHA and SAM and LAURA and MATT and SAM and MARISHA and MATT and SAM and I'm still unstoppable, so that drops down to a major. I'm going to spend an armor, drop it down to a minor. I'm actually going to use my frontline tank ability and spend three hope to get back to armor. You got it. I burned one armor. And he's going to skitter this way to try and block off your exit. Still temporarily vulnerable, thanks to Brixton earlier. Hasn't had the fear to spend them.

It's more focused on aggression than defense. But that's gonna finish my spotlight. Who wants to go? Since I'm right up base to base with her, can I kind of, I do a barrel roll around this way. Okay. And I'm gonna.

You can get there with close range. That's great. Okay. I I'm going to attempt. You can get there with close range. That's great. Okay. I'm going to attempt another forceful push and see if I can work her into the sinkhole. Ah, okay. So go ahead and roll an attack on this. You have advantage, so add the d6 to it. Okay.

Okay. And then plus the three for my strength. Come on. come on. Okay, it's not super great. 10, I'm in 12. 13. 13? Fear.

13 misses. Oh shit. MATT and MARISHA and SAM and LAURA and MATT and MARISHA and SAM and MATT and SAM and as you spin around and bring your blade back, one of her spider-like arachnid blades pulls back and jams you into the abdomen. It catches your breastplate. Not enough to wound you, but it knocks the wind out of you for a second, and your blow goes limp against the thorax, and you have to catch yourself back. I hope you've forsaken me. Oh, I am also flying, by the way, at this point, sorry. Not high, but. You're flying at this point?

Yeah, I'm so sorry. I flew up when I did my attack, just not super high. I'm at the same cover. Okay. Don't forget to note that when it comes to your turn. Yeah, sorry. That's okay. Yeah, sure. Where would you want to be? I'm only ten feet in the air, and I'm only barely above everybody, but that'll do. Here, I'll do this. This will work. TALIESIN and MARISHA and MATT and TALIESIN talking at the same time. TALIESIN and MATT talking at the same time. MATT and TALIESIN talking at the same time.

MATT and TALIESIN talking at the same time. MATT and TALIESIN talking at the same time. MATT and TALIESIN talking at the same time. MATT and TALIESIN talking at the same time. MATT and TALIESIN talking at the same time. MATT and TALIESIN talking at the same time. MATT and TALIESIN talking at the same time. MATT and TALIESIN talking at the same time.

MATT and TALIESIN talking at the same time. MATT and TALIESIN talking MATT. It's the best. All right, so with that coming to Mother, frustrated that you're still standing at this point. Ooh, you know what? I forgot that reaction. That's on me. Oh, and I forgot, ow! And in chaos, I forgot a couple things there. TRAVIS and SAM and TALIESIN. Good. Take one. Take one back. I'll take one back. I'll gain another fear, because technically she has momentum, which whenever she makes a successful attack against a PC, she gains a sphere.

So I would technically have two more fear. I'll just take one, because it's not me for forgetting that. Yeah, how dare. So to that degree, you've taken the blow for a few people in this pistol. She's gonna focus down on you. As part of the activation,

is gonna go ahead and come at you with her surgical glaive. Actually, you know what? She's going to shift this way to see if she can get all of you. She's going to spend a fear to do another sweeping incision against all in close range, which is going to be all of you. That's going to be a penalty to evasion. MARISHA and MATT and MARISHA say it. Still hits. Doesn't hit me. That hits both of you. That hits you? Six. That would hit. We all have very low evasion.

Oh, actually, I can decide it doesn't. Since I'm flying, I'm going to Mark of Stress and get a plus two bonus to my evasion, now I'm fine. That's right, because you can go to the fairy. Okay, so you manage to just barely duck out of the way as the blade swings around and impacts Idle, Brixton, Misty, and Mrs. Snicks, because your evasion. Misses me, mine's seven. All right, so that's gonna be...

Why? 19 points of physical damage to both Brixton, Idle, and Misty. 19 points of physical damage. One more. It's getting rough. No. Go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go. Oh. Oh. Oh. Down. Okay. Again? Are you going unconscious again? I can't, I can't.

Yeah, you can. You consult with your group. As long as I'm alive, I have one, two other healing abilities. I've used one of three. But you can't use them on the same... There's also potions. This healing hands one is the one that I can only do once on a target in the same day.

I have two other things. So I have two options left for you specifically. We have one other person down too. Oh, I feel so lame. We're in combat. Wait, who else is down? Hello. I think she's a person. Wait, you're also down? Oh, fair. Yes, so are you. You've been down, you've been down. SAM and LAURA and SAM and LAURA talking at the same time. SAM and LAURA talking at the same time. SAM and LAURA talking at the same time.

SAM and LAURA talking at the same time. SAM and LAURA talking at the same time. SAM and LAURA talking at the same time. SAM and LAURA talking at the same time. SAM and LAURA talking at the same time. SAM and LAURA talking at the same time. SAM and LAURA talking at the same time. SAM and LAURA talking at the same time.

SAM and LAURA talking at the same time. SAM and LAURA talking at the same time. SAM feel like there's a stung. Is there a stung? Yes. No? Okay, I'm not going to do it. I'm unconscious. Oh, my god! You know what you want! I'm sorry! No, it's okay. Do what you want to do.

If you have healing at your ability, and you want to continue in the game, it's a good shot. I made a little devil here and a little angel there. You all have been real lucky with these rolls so far on that. It's not the devil's angel. All right, all right, all right, I'll just go unconscious again. I'm not going to do it a third time if I go under. Just letting you all know.

That's fair. Misty once again falls to the massive surgical glaive of mother. So then I erase a hit point that I have for it. No, I don't. I was figuring it out. That's all good, no worries. Then I'm going to spend my last sphere to activate this other elite hive collector that's right up against you. No. Okay. I haven't made an attack roll yet in this fight, so I've got to go next. TRAVIS and MARISHA and SAM and LAURA and SAM and going to baseball slide unnecessarily, and I'm going to reach out and touch second base, known as Misty, and use Sparing Touch, Once Prolonged Rest, Touch a Creature, and

clear two hit points or two stress from them. What am I doing? Two hit points? She's up, ladies and gentlemen. And as I slide up, can I swing my pole arm above my head, and I'm going to use Spirit Weapon, now perfectly, I try and split the difference between the two baddies if I can. Yeah, right there and there? Yeah, and I'm going to make a melee attack against both of them, but swinging it up and letting it go, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom.

Yeah, go ahead and roll the attack. Add a d6 only against Mother. Only against Mother. Is Mother still vulnerable? Mother's still vulnerable, that's why I get to add the d6. Anybody wanna? Can I spend a hope to, since I saw that he He already has advantage from the vulnerable. Oh, I do.

That's what I'm saying, you get to add the d6 because of Brixton's vulnerability. I would've heard that, but my heartbeat is in my ear. Yeah, do you have three hopes? So roll and just give me the number from the tag team. Oh, that's awful. Oh, that's so bad. Four, five, six, seven, eight.

Eight with fear. Ugh! No, no, no, no! That couldn't, I shit on my own shoes. That's so bad. Then I brought you your socks. You did, you brought me back. Fucking hit. Wow. I was just kidding. I was just kidding. That's also not what I wanted to roll. Unfortunately, as you release your glaive, it spins out and hits the side of Mother's hide and

deflects and lands at your feet. It was knocked off the side. Mother, at this point, has been more focused on your companions around turns and looks back at you. that, even though it didn't work. Wow. That was balls. LAURA and SAM and MARISHA laugh. ASHLEY and SAM and MARISHA laugh. ASHLEY and SAM and MARISHA laugh. ASHLEY and SAM and MARISHA laugh. ASHLEY and SAM and MATT and SAM and MATT and SAM and MATT and SAM and MATT and collector children now. That one, however, is going to take 2d6 fire damage. Oh, yes! For the decent action.

Yes. Four points of fire damage. Four points of fire damage. That is going to be a minor wound against that hive collector. It gets burned a bit, arcs down. It's going to be attacking you with its Sleeping Sting. That's going to be a 12 to hit you. That does hit. That just hits. That hits you? Oh god. Okay. That's going to be seven points of physical damage against you.

Okay. And then against you, August, that's going to be 13 to hit you. And if my evasion is 13, then I get hit anyway. MATT and TALIESIN Correct. TALIESIN All right, then I, yeah, it hits. MATT Well, it's a nine plus two, sorry. TALIESIN Oh, so it's 11? MATT Rolled a nine. I was looking at Mother's attack.

TALIESIN Oh. MATT So it would be an 11. TALIESIN Okay, so I'm going to spend a stress and not get hit. MATT Okay. TALIESIN That's more than two. MATT That finishes their go. TALIESIN Dodge, dodge. That finishes their go. That finishes her turn. Spotlight. TALIESIN. At the very least, I'm going to start. How far can I get in my movement right now?

Just like a Trinket Mother? MATT. Close, you could get to this side. If you want to move further, you can make an agility roll to try and move up to far. TALIESIN. Anybody else got some stuff they want to do first? SAM and TALIESIN and SAM and MARISHA and SAM and MARISHA and I don't even know where you are. I'm hiding, but Screeve is down. We have to save Screeve. I mean, honestly, I would just, at this point, leave people asleep until the end of this, because

they'll just keep getting hit and going down. Yeah. Or over to this side, if you want. I'm going to try and do a push, so. If I get out again, maybe not. Also, Matt, can I also just head to the direction where August went, just so I'm near people? I can touch her with a Cindergrond. Is that all you want to do when you're active?

Well, do I have to activate and move at the same time? Generally, it's a spotlight to you. Anyone mind if I do a push, or does somebody else got something to do? Yeah, we're going to do something. Okay, go ahead. So I'll run towards you, and if you push me up while you attack or two, I can go high and come down and try to grab onto you.

Yeah, for the whole fight I've been staring into the abyss of the ever-shifting sinkhole, thinking about Whomper, thinking about my lost ally, and hearing all of my new friends falling one by one, and I'm overcome with fury. I'm not going to let this happen again. So I start shaking violently, and a bunch of bugs come up around me and swarm around me. I'm going to step between all of my enemies and conjure a swarm I'm gonna step between all of my enemies and conjure a swarm that I think will hit all of them. What's the range on him? It's all adversaries within close range. That will be all three of them.

And while I'm doing that, I see Adelia coming. I'm gonna charge towards you and jump up and grab onto your horn and as you fling up so I can go high and come down and try to grab onto the mother. Okay, with Cindergrasp? All right, so this is a tag team attack. Who's spending the hope?

I did. All right, you spent three hope. Both of you roll, and we'll take the, which one of those two you wish. Now, you can add a d6 versus. Yes! Oh my god, I'm gonna be so high! All right, so that's a crit to both. Both of you guys gain a d6 versus... Oh, shit! Yes! Oh my god, I didn't even crit it! All right, so that's a crit to both.

Both of you guys gain a hope and clear stress. Amazing. And that is a crit success, so you do max dice damage and then roll your dice damage on top of that. Max dice damage, and then I get another one? I am also gonna roll. And that's Cindergrass? So that's a 20?

Yeah, so you add them together. Wait, wait, wait. I'm gonna mark a stress to add a third damage dice. Is that proficiency 20 or just a 20? Okay, does it say before the attack or? add them together. SAM and MARISHA and SAM and MATT and SAM and MATT and SAM and MARISHA and SAM and MATT and SAM and MARISHA and SAM and MATT and SAM and MARISHA and and I'm going to Mark of Stress to fucking double that damage, too, to double that dice. So that's 40.

Before you enroll. Well, you double the crit, so you get, so the dice is 20, 20? Yes. So it maxes the dice. Right, so it's 20. And so the additional dice that you roll on that, you maxed it, so it'd be 40 damage, yeah. Yes. That's 40 points of magic damage plus. Wait, plus three, so that's 43 points.

43 points of magic damage plus. I mean, if all my dice are full or just the. No, no, no, so how much dice are you rolling for this? So it was, the spell is two d8, so those are maxed. Right. At 16. Right, 16. Plus three. And then I get a third damage dice, which I rolled an eight. MATT. You add the dice on top of that. So it'd be 16 plus eight, which is 24, and then roll two more

d8s. SAM and LAURA. Okay. SAM and LAURA. That's another eight. Six and a two, so that's another eight. MATT. Okay, so 24 adds 32 on top of a four, and it's 72 points of damage to Mother. That more than doubles her severe threshold, Mother takes four hit points. As both of you, as you just swirl and swarm this, that's also going to be, to both hive collectors, one of the hive collectors is deeply fucked up and is in a very, very bad place right now. The other one is very hurt, and Mother is also looking very hurt. Did the one on fire take the fire damage from their attack, too?

It did. Okay, good. Are they all still up? Correct. They're all still up? Yes, barely. Even the one that was already damaged? Did he take my damage, too, or just? No, he took both of your damage. So the hive collectors have that?

Wait, wait. Your attack wasn't added to his. Sorry, that's right. So that would have been just three wounds to the other two. My bad. Because yours hit all of them. Cindergrasp just hit Mother. Okay. So that would have been double their threshold, so it wouldindergrass just hit Mother. Okay. That's right. So that still would have been, that would have been double the threshold, so it would have been just three points. So they're both hurt,

one of them's looking more hurt than the other. Okay. But they're okay, so good to know. On that moment, I'm gonna go ahead and use a fear to spotlight on my turn from that point. Mother's gonna go, children, take me away from this place. Oh. And she's going to go ahead and

and is going to clamber up. I'm going to go ahead and make a roll for her. Yeah, that's fine. Doesn't she take it? She takes 2d6 fire damage because she is on fire. Oh, smack. Right, from Cindergrass, that's right. All right.

Still on there. Fuck, smack. Right, from cindergrass, that's right. All right. Still on there. Fuck, only three points. Only three points of damage, okay. Something, yeah. All right, all right. So that activates her, and she skitters this way. Both of her other elite collectors like, vroom, vroom, vroom, and are turning

to go ahead and start plucking in their direction. One of them takes 2d6 fire damage. That's six. He's just moving, he hasn't taken an action yet. It says they take the damage when they take an action, right? Fucking fire starter. Right? So this one, they're both kind of... Adelia, why are you smiling like that? That's my activation. What are you all doing?

I am pissed. I'm going to, just for fun, if anyone else has stuff they want to do, I'm going to use Arcane Barrage because that isn't even a roll. And I'm going to attack for 2d6. Then I do not roll for it. Just do the damage. That's eight points of damage. That is one minor wound to her. I'm going to head in and try and finish this off. Before you do that, can I run over and try and heal? I won't even attack. I'm going to use Healing Hands on Screeve. I'm gonna mark his stress. Okay, he's further than close from you,

so make an agility roll to get to him if you want to. Okay, agility roll. Agility roll. Yeah, that's better! 17 with hope. Hope, great, yeah. So you dart, manage to move in the far range, rush up to Screeve, and you can use that to heal him.

I'll use a spell cast roll that has to make a 13. That's 14, 15, 16. I'll mark one stress, you clear two hit points. Two? That's great, except with Hope or Fear. With Hope or Fear. Awesome. With Fear.

Can I ask a question? Yes. If I, so if I critted, I get the full damage plus a second dice? Correct. And I didn't roll the second dice, I only did the full damage and then I... You matched out both of them, right? No, I took the... So what does the damage it deals?

It deals... It deals 1d20, so and then I... Does it say 1d20 based on your proficiency? No, it says takes 1 d20 plus three magic damage. Correct. So then it would do full 20 plus an additional d20, which is what you did. But it would be maxed the second d20, you said. That's how you got to 43. Yeah.

No, so what I did was I used the stress to double a damage die of my choice. So that would have taken the d20 that was a crit to 40. And then I get another d20 to roll on top of that. Okay, go for it. Roll that then. 13 additional. Okay, so it would've been 13. That would've been 40, 43, yeah, 56 points. So it still doubled the severe, so it wouldn't have needed more damage. Right, once you do double the severe threshold, like, four hit points is the max you can do at that point. But good enough for

future use of that. Good to know. They're all burning right now? Two of them are burning. Yes. Mother and that one elite collector over there. And it's still your spotlight. All right, I'm gonna say that Screeve just sits up and looks at the two of you, and then looks at the creatures and sees them burning.

Did you do that? Oh, that's lovely. And I take the bag of snap powder I just got the other day and just go. Pshh, pssh, pssh. Ooh! Ooh! Ooh! And I gain a stress and clear another hit point. of snap powder I just got the other day and just go, ffff, ffff, ffff, ffff, ffff, ffff, ffff, ffff, ffff, ffff, ffff, ffff, ffff, ffff, ffff, ffff, ffff, ffff, ffff, ffff, ffff, ffff, ffff, ffff, ffff, ffff, ffff, ffff, ffff, ffff, ffff, ffff, ffff, ffff, ffff, ffff, ffff, ffff, ffff, ffff, ffff, ffff, ffff, ffff, ffff, ffff, ffff, ffff, ffff, ffff, ffff, ffff, ffff, ffff, ffff, ffff, ffff, ffff, ffff, ffff, ffff, ffff, ffff, ffff, ffff, ffff, ffff, ffff, ffff, ffff, ffff, ffff, ffff, ffff, ffff, ffff, ffff, ffff, ffff, ffff, ffff, ffff, ffff, ffff, ffff, ffff, ffff, ffff, ffff, ffff, ffff, ffff, ffff, ffff, ffff, ffff, ffff, ffff, ffff, ffff, ffff, ffff, ffff, ffff, ffff, ffff, ffff, f Very, very awake and aware. All right. Still your go. Oh yeah?

Yeah. I'm gonna unleash chaos. All right, who are you targeting? The mother. Okay. Violet. What's the range on it? I'm gonna step forward and hold up Violet.

Violet, do something. You know what? I have a fear dispenser that I haven't used yet. Instead, I'm going to use that to activate Mother, and Mother's going to use her activation to full run deeper into the wood. No! She takes nine more points of fire damage when she does that. Trips and dies.

Ooh, that's true. Instead, I'm going to use that fear to keep her there. I'm going to use that fear to keep her there, and instead I'm going to use that fear to remove the fire. MARISHA. And she's still vulnerable. MATT. Correct. MARISHA. She hasn't cleared that. MATT. Correct. I forgot about the fire. So yes, if you'd like to go ahead and move. SAM and MARISHA. Unleash.

LAURA. Unleash chaos. MATT. All right. You can move up to close range on your turn. LAURA. Okay. Which around here would get you about there, because you have to move around your friends, and this is not good. I need to be far range. I don't need to be close to her to do Unleash Chaos. Right, you only move close. Oh, okay.

There, with your friends in terrain. And far range is, unfortunately, she's out of far range. Okay, then I'll do it to the guy that's running away from me. Okay. All right. That's 16. With hope. With hope, on which one?

The guy that's already on fire. Already on fire? Go ahead and roll damage. Okay, that is, I'm gonna spend a stress to use my 3d10s. Nine, ooh, nine plus eight is 17. 17, that's a major wound, which is enough to finish him off.

Yes! How do you wanna do this? Oh, this is through Violet. So from Violet's eyes, just a blast of purple energy comes flying out and cuts him straight down the middle and cuts him in two. Wings flutter down to the ground. Shpff.

Fantastic. Now that was with hope, so it's still your go. Screeve is going to leap onto Idle's back, and I'm going to tug you by the hair and twist you towards the other remaining flying bug and say, yeah! And I'm going to spend three hope to do a combo attack with Idle, if he can charge us at the remaining bug. Okay, I will say to get you both within range, what attack are you using as part of this? What's the range on your attack? I want to melee attack, but I was hoping that Eidol could use movement to run us there. Here, you know what? I'll tell you what. That will be an agility roll for you to get you both there. All right.

Like normally you can probably make that close to Rumbit because you have someone on your back that you weren't expecting as well. You're kind of stumbling as you run after he hops you, but if you succeed, you'll both get there. He's fairly terrifying. I know, I know, let's go. Enough for advantage, just kidding.

Um, 16, 17, 18 with heart. Fantastic, all right, so take that hope, and indeed, good, good, good, good, good, good, 18 with heart. Fantastic. All right, so take that hope, and indeed, you run with Screeve on your back, and you go charging with your halberd out towards the other elite collector that's trying to take off behind Mother. Step away, big boy! All right, so choose your respective attacks for this tag team attack and describe how you're doing it. As we're going, I start to, I puncture a bladder

on the side of my gear and come up with heart curdle venom on my claws, and I wait for you to stab and spring off your shoulders as you do so, Wolverine-ing through the air. Outstanding, yeah. I'll reach back and I'll just lunge with the halberd, throwing the point of the ring. Let's go for it.

So both of you guys roll. Okay. God, not amazing. Eight, nine, 10. 12 with hope. 15 with fear. 15, which do you wanna use? Oh, 15. No, with fear?

Well. Mine's not gonna hit, I don't think 12 with hope hits. 15 with fear to hit. That does hit, just barely. Okay, so I've got poisoned, so this is gonna be 3d8 for me with a one. Jeez, that was low for all of that. 12 for me.

This is a combo, though. Yeah, so you add your damage together. So you got to roll damage? You both get the same roll. Thank you, thank you. I'm so sorry. Yeah, no worries. So you go ahead and roll your damage, and you guys add them together. I'll do 2d10 now, because that proficiency bump's seven.

Six, 13, 14, 15. 15 points of damage. 15 plus 12. 27 points of damage. It's going to be three major wounds on this threshold. So it's pretty dang hurt. Are you attacking the mosquito or the moth? Mosquito. Mosquito moss.

Because of a sphere, it comes back to me. With that, the collector is going to fly off. And spending this sphere to activate Mother, who is going to charge off the battlefield to return to safety. We should take this as a blessing. No, you better run! We should take this as a blessing. No.

You better run! We should finish her! There are going to be many more insanely difficult fights ahead of us. We should conserve our resources and our strength. We've already dropped several members of our party. Ah! I'm going to charge after Mother! I'm going to charge after Mother!

The goons think? The goons lost it! I'm going to use deft maneuvers, marking a stress, to travel far range without rolling an agility roll. Will that get me there? Probably not. We'll get you right on the edge there. Mother, at a full charge, I'll say for distance-wise, is about far range from you. All right, then I will cast Vicious Ent is about far range from you. SAM and MARISHA and MATT and SAM and MARISHA and MATT and SAM and MARISHA and MATT and SAM and SAM and MARISHA and

MATT and SAM and SAM and MARISHA and MATT and SAM and MARISHA and SAM and LAURA and SAM and LAURA laugh. SAM and LAURA laugh. SAM and LAURA laugh. SAM and LAURA laugh.

SAM and LAURA laugh. SAM and LAURA laugh. SAM and LAURA laugh. SAM and LAURA laugh. SAM and LAURA laugh. SAM and LAURA laugh. SAM and LAURA laugh. SAM and LAURA laugh.

SAM and LAURA laugh. SAM and LAURA laugh. SAM and LAURA laugh. SAM and LAURA laugh. SAM and LAURA laugh. SAM and LAURA laugh. SAM and LAURA laugh. SAM and LAURA laugh.

SAM and LAURA laugh. SAM and LAURA laugh. SAM and LAURA laugh. SAM and LAURA laugh. SAM and LAURA laugh. SAM and LAURA laugh. SAM and LAURA laugh. SAM and LAURA laugh. SAM and LAURA laugh. SAM and LAURA laugh. SAM and LAURA laugh. SAM and LAURA laugh. Okay. What do you do? It's a good damage. Holy cow.

If I could, I'll mark a stress to add an extra damage dice. Sure, let's go. Yes. Do it. Come on, killer. I'm gonna try. Come on, killer. Jeez. Just a killer.

Ooh, terrible rolls. Six points. Ugh. Total of six points of damage? Total of six points of damage, and I can spend a hope to temporarily restrain her. Did you double the dice because of the proficiency? No, this is a magical spell. Not everything is in proficiency. Well, her major threshold is eight, but she has one hit point

left. How do you want to do this? Oh my god! Again! You are the slayer! threshold is eight, but she has one hit point left. How do you want to do this? SAM and MATT and SAM and LAURA and MATT and SAM and LAURA and MATT and SAM and MATT and SAM and LAURA and MATT and SAM and LAURA and

MATT and SAM and SAM and MATT and SAM and throw her into the abyss, but I can at least make it hurt. My spell causes vines to come up and circle around her and grab her, and I think I'll have one vine reach up down into her mouth and into her proboscis or whatever and strangle her out slowly. MATT and SAM and MATT make slithering noises. and strangle her out slowly. As you watch her go, jutting in, climbing up over the rocks,

trying to escape, unable to take the flight that normally her elites carry her through on the overland passage of the Screaming Forest, suddenly her back leg tugs in another one as the forest comes alive beneath her. Not to impede you, but to impede her as it clambers up her body. She begins to struggle.

She tosses the halberd to the side, into the ground. It shakes as it clambers up her body. She begins to struggle, tosses the halberd to the side into the ground. It shakes as it impacts, tries to pull away as it curls up into her mouth, and you, as you're focusing on your connection with the corrupted nature of this land, still strong, you hear the sound of Whomper vanishing into the shadows below, and that pain causes you to well that magical connection up as you slowly draw the life from Mother. And with that, end the previous matriarch of the Highlands. SAM and MARISHA and SAM and LAURA and SAM and LAURA and You're queen now! I'm a murderer.

The other collector vanishes off in terror at the destruction of Mother. I'm going to reach my hand up since August is still flying. She's gone. How do you feel? Give me a second, and I'm going to fly over to the body. You watch as it is now like dozens of thick, thorny vines are crammed into there's no eyes on Mother, there's just this like slick purple, like exposed muscle like texture. And where the mouth would be as it splits open

into this secondary double mandible jaw, it is just crammed with nature's fury. The body is just cracked in the left there, the legs sprawled out on the ground. The halberd stuck in a nearby hill. August is going to take his large needle wand and start poking at the head to open it up. It's a lot less scary from the inside. I'm just gonna start ripping it open just to see if there's, I'm like,

just tearing it into little bits. Grab some bones, oh! We can make some salmon portions. You're just rending Mother's body. Yeah, not even, not angrily even, just performing a delightful autopsy. Chunk by chunk, you remove layers of twisted, tumorous flesh, the exterior chitinous armor itself,

pulling away like tearing tendons from a bone. Interesting about bone, the skeleton you find inside is much smaller. In fact, it looks like an expanded human skeleton that has been slowly distorted and built upon by some external force or mutation. And make an instinct roll for me, if you don't mind. Nine with fear.

11. Oh, nine, that's right, I keep forgetting, 11 with fear. 11 with fear. Nine, oh, that's right, I keep forgetting. 11 with fear. 11 with fear. Thank you. Marcus Dress, as tearing into the body of your most hated entity, will leave a scar on your memory and your soul

that'll last the rest of your days, along with the joy of vengeful victory. But you get the sense, much like you and many others you saw on the hive, Mother was maybe once humanoid, and something changed her, and she changed others. And you get the sense that whoever changed her was probably the previous keeper of the hive. and in time, someone will replace her.

TALIESIN and SAM and MARISHA and MATT and SAM and MARISHA and MATT and MARISHA and TALIESIN and SAM and MARISHA and SAM and MARISHA and SAM and I grab a bone. I pull the whole skeleton out. I want to take it. Mortal Kombat style. I mean, if it's goopy in there, I've cut my way through. Yeah, yeah. Also, Adeljazeem wanted a candle. Adelia wanted a candle.

Can I inspect that halberd? Sure. It's right here that you wanted. Oh, a glaive. Was she wearing a crown or anything? No crown. MATT and SAM and LAURA and SAM. Sure. SAM and LAURA and SAM. Oh. LAURA and SAM. A glaive. MATT and SAM. No, crap. There was the candles that were upon the back, and there's plenty of them.

SAM and LAURA and SAM. What would she give us? Probably nothing, right? TRAVIS and SAM. What's it like dying? LAURA and SAM. Tea bag, tea bag. MATT and SAM and LAURA and SAM. A cluster of candles that you're disposed of. You can write that down in your inventory. We ain't nothing if not classy. The Halberd is a, it's interesting. It's a massive, long staff.

It's far too large for someone of your size to hold. But, you know, make a. Is it a glaive or a halberd? Huh? It's like a, actually more like a glaive. It's got a big old glaive. Actually, no, no, it's like a halberd at the way it's built there.

You go ahead and roll a knowledge or instinct roll for me, if you don't mind. I'll take knowledge. Come on. Come on, Brixton. Come on, I have not been rolling good, you guys. Okay. 13 with fear. It's okay.

What you do learn, as you're looking at it, and I'll give this to you for as part of the fear as well, and the 13 roll is pretty decent, the bone blade against it, the big hooked blade that comes out the top of it. It is, you know, you've seen halberds of similar make, you've seen glaives of similar make, it's kind of like somewhat in between the two.

But this was, the handle of it was a fixed to it to fit her size. And you can see it's actually a smaller weapon that was made longer to fit her preference in combat. So while it's unwieldy to any of you, looking at it, you could probably try and break the smaller original blade free. Yeah, why not?

Okay. You're strong enough and have proven your strength here, and with the damage that's probably sustained in the middle of this fray and being flung around and jamming the side of the hill, you reach up and lean your weight against it and snap free its handle. As you do, it pulls away chunks of dried organic matter and bits of resin-like, amber-colored material that held it affixed to it. There you see, crumbling away what remains from you pulling it free, the original

fixed to it, and there you see crumbling away what remains from you pulling it free, the original metal handle to this halberd glaive. Hard to really tell what it's made to represent, other than dangerous. color of your melee weapon. That's funny. That's fun. You might like this. Does yours do d8s? TRAVIS and MARISHA. Tens. MARISHA. Tens. Okay, it's a d8 plus four physical two-handed, but it's scary. On a successful attack, the target must mark a stress. Strength-based weapon. That's weak-ass shit. Does it come with a long-ass pole? We, there's a pole there, if I'm honest.

I'm good. You're good? All right. I'm gonna, just because I'm here, I'm going to make a spell cast roll for reveal just to see if there's anything magical just sitting on the body. You know, I can just sense

if there's magical things around us. You can just do it? Really? Yeah. Oh. You can do that? Yeah. Do I sense anything magical around us?

Why are you asking me? At the moment, other than the land itself holding the dark curse that permeates through the underbrush and the nearby trees, the weapon that was found has, you can't tell if it's a magical aura or just the fact that it's terrifying to look at and the many that have been carved

under its surgical-like edge, but nothing magical draws your attention in the vicinity that's unexpected. That seems pretty normal. You really are the best playmate. And I start ripping a proboscis off of one of the smaller insects. Delia?

Delia. Yes? To be a deer and burn the remnants of Queen Mother. Of course. Good girl. The fire catches quickly. The elements that were already slightly charcoaled from your initial attack pick up where they were and slowly it becomes a small pyre burning,

crackling here in the middle of the forest, a terrible stench of a corpse of some kind burning, crackling here in the middle of the forest, a terrible stench of a corpse of some kind burning a unique smell that causes your sinuses to sting and withdraw into your head. You're exhausted, you're battered, and you're still in the Screaming Forest. What do you do? Find safety.

Perhaps. Arrest would be good. See if we can maybe just get to the other side of the sinkhole. Yeah, fair. And not be... not camp at the scene of the crime. Trekking around the outskirts. Skr?

The recent shudder of the surrounding landscape, sending most anything lying in wait or predatory, running away from the shuddering rumble and impact of this ever-shifting sinkhole. You can just see the break of the trees not far beyond. Continuing a short distance beyond that, you finally come beyond the last remnants of ruins to the edge of the tree line,

marking and denoting the exit from the Screaming Forest. In front of you, there is a long scrub plain. To the right of you, you can see the ashen seas that are spilled in. a long scrub plain. To the right of you, you can see the ashen seas that have spilled in. To the left, you can see the marshlands where the seas have overtaken the valley. And there, ahead of you,

massive, quietly beautiful and ominous, the sprawling visage that is amber reach, this monument to humanity's hubris, Yes, the sprawling visage that is amber reach. This monument to humanity's hubris, jutting from the climbing mountain edge. Wall after wall after wall, rising up in the distance. You can see here in the fading light of day, shapes of massive cathedrals, temples, impossible spires and towers that rise up.

Still standing here a century later, others toppled and fallen. And not too far from where you stand, the Amber Gate lies in wait for your arrival. Matt's going to take a break. TRAVIS and SAM and MATT are laughing. We'll be back here in a few minutes. See you shortly.

This is so gorgeous. That's a wrap for part one of this podcast episode. Part two will land here the Tuesday after this episode at 5 a.m. Pacific, and we'll pick up this story right where we left off. Until next time, keep the Umbra at bay, and we'll be back for more of this adventure before you know it.