Critical Role - The Tomb of the Heretic Saint | Age of Umbra Episode 8 Part 1

Episode Date: July 31, 2025

Part 1 The diminished but defiant group arrives at the Barrow of Blind Repose, seeking the last hope for the people of Desperloch... 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, Critical Role 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 event presales, merch discounts, access to a private community discord, and new exclusive series like Critical Role Cooldown, where we riff after the show. Think of it as our digital critical role and head on over to beacon.tv to check it out for yourself and start a seven-day free trial. Thank you so, 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 Tell us and Jeffie. 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 four. 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 WeirdKids. 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 first. 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.

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Hello, everyone. And welcome to tonight's finale. of our age of umbra run. How's it in? How's it end? What's going to happen? What's going to happen? Marisha. But it's pretty. That's really pretty.

I do. You guys, Jen Con is nearly upon us. We're going to have an action-packed dagger heart panel. Tons of games of Daggerheart and Solar Gardens. Also our Taggerheart live show in Indianapolis and demos and sales. It's going to be at our booths, which is number two. 2841, come see Daggerhart and Darington Press in person is gonna be great.

Do, eight four one. Oh my god, we're married too. She seems much more thrilled. This is already all over A3 by the way. And I believe we have another announcement. Also, the indie live show will be the first show using Daggerhart to be set in Exandria. I know, I know.

How's it gonna work? You're gonna have to see, but if you can't make it, don't despair. Our partner, Fathom Entertainment, is bringing it to movie theaters across the U.S. and Canada for one night only. Just the one, August 5th, 7 p.m., local time. Tickets are available for purchase at fathomentertainment.com slash critical role. Do you get it? This little bastard. No.

Not fathoment. Not fathom. Just a plot. This marriage is off to a rocky style. All right, Laura, you have announcements. We have a shirt. We have a new, which camera we're looking at? I haven't done this yet.

We have a new, we have a new dagger heart t-shirt featuring four of our dagger heart ancestries. Check it out. Whoa! Katari, Ork, clank, and rib it. Ooh, find it now. in the U.S., Canada, U.K. and EU. Critical Role shops. No, how do it. With you?

Look, I promised I'd make it simple, you jerks. Anyway. Sorry, Max. Oh, no. Thank you, Laura. I think that concludes our announcements for this finale, and what a way to go. For all my friends and my two legal partners. Let's go ahead and jump into tonight's episode of Age of Umbra.

Oh! We're going to be able to be. We're going to be able to be. ...you know. ...heaval. ...you know. ...and... ...you know.

...and... Welcome to the Age of Umbra. Last we left off, these survivors of the troop, enduring that have traversed much of the eastern edge of the edge the Halcyon domain, push through Amber Reach, lost friends and others that walked into shadow and have found just the four of them now trudging forward. Beyond the Ashkall quarter, the Celsius, Athenium, the Sinabar quarter, and eventually through the Aurum wailed until finally you arrived at your destiny. The Barrow of Blaine Repose.

A little battered, a little exhausted. You look at the heavily grown-over sealed front door to this mountainous subterranean tomb, to the heretical saint of Eliar, of which the research back in Desperlock pointed to the possibility of a blessed branch might be an object that is capable of starting or restarting a sacred pyre,

like the one that was destroyed back in your home village, leaving it vulnerable while the distant shrieks of the umbra continue to screech and echo on the horizon. So, as you arrive and settle in With your final destination before you, what would you like to do? Well, get this fucking map out, because I forgot I had, I'm the visual learner. I guess we have to decide if we're taking a short rest or not. Yeah, we had this discussion, right? Like, it's final stage.

Yeah, if we don't. I'm gonna die. Oh, really? Well, no, I've got three hit points. We should do it. We should do it. It's a short rest. The pros and cons, just to grab it out. We get to be refreshed, which is probably the way to go.

But so does he, he gets fear. Yeah. How much to you have got to the system? For short rest, I get one D4 fear. And, and. So I get one to four fear. He could possibly get four. Anything with ill intent could close in on us.

But one of us will clearly take a watch. Probably me because I'm the best player and don't need to repair anything. Whoa. Sorry. Okay. I'm pro short rest, but you guys, I'm pro short rest, but you guys, I'm, I could go either way. If someone has a... Short rest. Sure, we need the killer.

But if someone has a health potion, I could be fine to go as well. I do, but I think a short rest would be... Let's do it. Because then also I regenerate some of my abilities, my rest of abilities. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Let's load up. Okay. Might as well. Can I use my Slyborn, now the only Slyborn at the table? R.P. Oh, wait, he didn't die. He just left. My scoundrel abilities to a role with advantage to find a safeness to hide ourselves.

Certainly. So if you wouldn't mind, go ahead and making an instinct role to find somewhere here at the base of these peaks of the idle hollows where you will most likely not be spotted or hunted. Any unique thing to this role? Just regular. Just regular with advantage because of your ability. Okay. Four, eleven, twelve, thirteen, thirteen, thirteen with hope sees. Thirteen with hope. All right. So take that hope. Wow. It takes you the better part of about ten or so minutes, because these are you the better part of about ten or so minutes because these These mountains are relatively sheer beyond the forest when the rest of the growing trees began to no longer hold roots against the rock. You find one alcove that's a little cramped,

but it is kind of pushed inward and out of visual range of most anything along this mountain ridge. And with that, you all kind of settle down. It's to the point where let's say a good part of the rain is being blocked from you, so you're not being absolutely drenched through your rest, just a little bit of a spatter, which is comfortable, comparatively, and you all settle in to go ahead and prepare for the hopeful discovery of a blessed branch in the beginning

trek back home. So who's doing what during this short rest? I'm going to repair some armor. Go forward. So it's 1d4 plus two, because you're tier two. Then I will restore all of without even rolling. Same. And I will restore some health. That's also 1d4. 1d4 plus 2. Then that will also restore all.

Great. And that's it. That's for hope. Oh. You mean for fear? I'm sorry. For fear for me. It's my hope, guys. I'm going to spend three hope

to use a little life support on myself and clear a hip point so I can leave one of the actions free to keep watch during our short rest. short rest and I'll post up outside of where we're resting like kind of using them as bait and just to keep an outside peripheral overwatch. You've got it. Misty. All right, if you're keeping watch then, I am going to clear my HP, all that. So I'm full up again, and then I'm going to add an armor, because I only have one that I cleared. So now I'm full up. So you repair up your armor and get it ready for the go.

So much more situation in that regard, Bickston. I cleared my stress. I was also only down one armor, but that's my, that's my bag, baby. So I filled that back up. I still have one hit point that I'm down, but I'm gonna roll in a little bloody. Yeah.

Oh, you're keeping watch and your eyes scan the horizon. You can see maybe in the forest outskirts, While you did manage to heal the feign warden of the core heart of the wailed, there's still dark things that lurk and hunt, whether umber touched or not. They're still just natural dangers that stock the territory. You see flying entities that at this distance,

in this lack of late daylight, you have no sense of scale. They're either very close and big or a little further and very big. Go ahead and roll a D12 for me. One D12. There we go. I'm there. I'll take mine.

What is yours? A 10. A 10? Well, nine was a five. Everything's going right today. Everything's going right. It's going right. A hot table.

No way to quince these flames. As you settle in, the rain itself begins to subside. I tell you. You can stop the rain? He really is blessed. Oh, no. He's cursed. Yeah.

But allows you all the rest without issue, without problem. So no disturbing of your time down. You regather your things, step out from the alcove, and return to the outside of the barrow at this root-choked, rock. in dirt-crusted, forgotten tomb of the heretic saint. It looks closed, sealed, overgrown. How do you enter the bearer?

Overgrown with a root that is like leafing and flowering or like hard, madrig? Okay. It's like if you look above it, it looks like there may have been a tree that grew there when they built it. Chonkeys. And then it likely grew over and then it has landscape began to shift with the age, the tree died away and was kind of carved away in chunks

by just sheer weather and wind. The roots have stayed and almost like become stone around the door. Unless anyone has a way to manipulate fauna. I can talk to fauna, but I can't. And I can grow vines, but I can't like make them go away. And you want to ask what's contained within and why the door was overgrown? I could. Are these roots fully dead? There is no leaf or much of a tree left attached to a dead thing. I could try. If you and I combo, speak to dead, roots. No, we don't need to do this.

Like, is this how we combo? This is how greatness is born. What if you heal the roots? If you want to try it. We don't. Bring them back alive. If you want to try it. It's so clever, I'm tempted to, even if I'm sure it wouldn't work.

Let's try it. Fuck it, I don't care. Oh, no, I'm going to remove all my hope. Oh, my God. You're actually doing a tag team on this? We're doing the tag team. Wait, oh, you're doing the tag team. I thought you were just going to cast your spell at the same time.

I was going to cast my spell. No, tag team, baby. Jesus. We're going in. Let's go. To talk to a dead mood. All right, so. We join hands.

The door, there's a progress clock. Oh my God, oh my God. To unseal the door. To unseal the door. Okay. And enter the barrow. I would like you both to... Now, do both of these spells require a spellcast?

Mine does. Mine does. All right, I would like you both throw a spellcast and you can decide which of your roles to go with. Okay. Here we go. I'm going to use reading between the lines because the roots are like lines on a page.

Wow. Yeah. No. No. Fair enough. Oh, it's a crit, baby! There it is. Double ones.

Double ones. Double ones. I got a four. That's great. You both get a hope. You both clear stress. You both are a crit on this. As a critical success ticks it down three, and both of you got critical successes that immediately completes the progress.

Countdown. It's going too. If you would both describe to me how, okay, well, you know what, let's roll-play this out. Describe to me how your combination of magical incantations merge, and how do you beseech the dead roots that hold this door closed?

Cool. I grab Snix's hand, and I place my hand on the roots, and I say, Roots of the tree, roots that be, opened your mind and speak to me. and speak to me. Okay.

Okay. And I will come in final words. All right. Building off of that, I will say to the roots, Oh, roots that lie dead, please rise and speak. You have knowledge that we desperately seek. desperately seek.

Oh, yeah, baby, baby. All right. These long, hardened, still lifeless roots that were grown over and left to protect and prevent the opening of this barrow from long ago begin to grow a bit of color briefly and creak. Against the door. you hear this heavy creaking,

like the sound of like a hard pumice stone being dragged across a hardwood floor. And through your magic, you hear the creek, which comes through as, I grew here before my purpose was sought. I was bent to hold, though not what I was. what I wished. I am punished

to hold this gate. He's punished. Through your magic, I will speak back to it and say, we cannot undo the years of punishment you've endured, nor can we free you from this prison. But maybe if we're allowed through, we could restore hope to this wood and maybe even shine a bit of light on you

that you may grow again. That's good, that's good. The creaking sound grows a bit louder through your ears, and as your magic merges once more, the facets of natural ather weave that flows through the life forces of the domain above and below, merges with the divine spark that still kind of sits like a residue in the absence of the gods. Merge to come through this dead thing and find its words back to your ears.

I have no will to keep this gate closed. My spark is gone. If your intent is Foolish or true, then the barrow is yours. The roots begin to crack. And you watch as the thick, madded cluster of leftover tree roots begins to break away. Revealing behind it. A raccoon. Yeah.

Your boss's right! I told you! This heavy stone doorway itself bisected in the center, but it looks like it's been heavily sealed, adhered magically. And you watch as the roots begin to crumble, some of the roots dig into pockets of the stone, where it was kind of grown into and held, and it digs deeper and deeper.

The will, the final undying will of this long-dead tree left to the elements to be forgotten, enacts its last bit of will. It means to crack the door with its earthly strength. the door begins to crumble inward, leaving a good four-and-a-half-foot-wide gap where the top parts have crumbled in and stumbled down. You kind of step aside as someone begin to roll down

the sheer incline or decline that you would just come up, kind of tumbling towards the edge of the forest. But there as the dust begins, to settle, you see the lightless, subterranean path into the barrow before you. That was awesome. Great job. Great job.

Wonderful. Okay. Okay. I'll pat the roots. Thank you. Yes, I'll pat the roots too. Thank you. I killed it.

I guess we go in. I'll pump a little divine energy into the tip of the bone-hooked glave and just sort of hold it out like a torch as we bed into whatever lies beyond the door. We actually made it. All of us. We're all of us, every single one of us. Every one of them.

My memory's a little. I think it was the woods. Whatever that mist was. Four started out. Four, right? Four. Okay. The razor's a bitch.

Now remember, once we get in here, stay near me. As long as you're near me. I can protect you. I am your shield. I am your shield. You are a shield. Yes.

Stay near me, so I can blame my farts on you. Let him be remembered by those last words. Misty, stop it. I don't think that was me. I don't have a digestion system. Oh, no. But I do make pipe organ noises, but. You literally toot. I can pretend that I toot.

Now, that's a bard concept. Yes. The falchalant bar. Let it be. That'll be a subclass for Daggerhart down the road. Yeah. Dagger fart? Dagger fart?

Oh no. Try to go. Yes. All righty. Yes. So do you enter the barrow of blind repose? Yes. Perfect.

With that, the rain niggins to subside, and the shaded interior is all that greets you. A stale, ancient smell of air not exposed for almost a century. The rain banishes behind you as the tunnel just continues straight for a few minutes. Carefully, you step. The rest of you kept close, the little bit of flickering divine light that Idol has kept at the edge of his weapon, the only real beacon to light, the sides of stone.

The earth here looks like it was carved but not finished. Like the effort of this barrel was not in the pathway to wherever this saint was interred. You're not certain what to expect. by the elements of history that you've gleaned, the shreds of memory or the past that you've managed to acquire in your travels. Speak of the Saints' execution by the Grand Ordinance before being placed here to be forgotten. This blessed branch interred with it as a way to keep its blasphemous golden path

from diverting true followers of the faith. of the now gone, veiled gods. So the rough-hewn tunnels feel almost apropos for something that the ordinance were not trying to leave with much splendor. You continue to push in. Misty.

You really really, awoken tunnels and you have memories of tunnels, some that are fractured. The smell in here, because it is so still and old, it reminds you of many things. Tell me, what is it about this tunnel that is so familiar to you and which life and what memory does it evoke? It is my spirit's memory of being very scared, of being very scared, alone, cold. And it makes me very sad. And it makes me very sad.

I know that I've lost people that I love in a place like this, but there's also that part of me that knows, and I don't know if it's another memory from the vessel from the vessel. But I know that there's comfort in the vessel as well. Comfort in the vessel. Comfort in something of divine origin. This sadness, this sensation of loneliness that you feel and lost in this memory, you look up beyond the path, and for a moment your friends aren't there.

Instead, you just see this small, golden light. You see a woman, beautiful and soft of face. A gentle hood over her head as she approaches what looks like a multitude of people in the throes of lament, mourning something heavily. She walks up and takes one of their cheeks and and lifts it to her shining golden face. And you sense their mourning fade and is now filled with hope. And she looks up towards you with that smile,

that golden smile. And you blink and it's just the divine light at the edge of idol's weapon. And you catch yourself walking alongside and blink the memory from your view and continue walking ahead. As you continue to walk, the bobbing of that golden glow of idols little burning flame, you've looked so long

into the flicker of fire. And as you stare into it, looking for some sign, some good omen, some semblance of strength from the flames that have protected you and your kin for so long, you see it. Is it a sacred pyre before you? It's a brazier. It's a brazier burning in a small natural temple.

away from a city. And you see figures walking through the wood carrying their own small sensors that hang, each with their own little flame burning. And at the front, they follow this beautiful woman with her. Hood up. She has the soft smile that continues to look up towards the sky.

as she steps in just this radiant golden glow that emanates from her face. They're traveling. They're on a pilgrimage. There's about 10 of them. But they stop. She turns, and she speaks wordlessly to them. As she does, that light, you can't help but find

the same solace in that light as you found in the pyre. It's a symbol of hope, it's a symbol of possibility, of a path back to what has forsaken this world. And a part of you steps forward towards it instinctually, like you feel drawn to the flame, like a moth to the very fire that'll burn it. And with that step, you bump into Snicks. Look back and the pilgrimage is gone.

The woods were never there. You're just stepping here in this long tunnel along those that remain. Sorry. It's okay, you said to stay close. Yes, yes. Good. Are you okay?

Yeah, I think it's, I thought I saw something, but it's just a trick of the light, I think. Brixton, what does this ominous portend, this flash of history that's not yours flicker on in your memory? What was the last piece of true hope that came across you before you left for this journey? The last piece of true hope. What a good question. I think Brickston has a hard time seeing this saint. It almost reminds her of the Imbrowarden

in the look in her eye. and what little ounce of hope that she had left. She invested in Brixton and put the weight of what world that they know onto her shoulders, maybe a bit self-imposed and maybe a bit inflated even from Brixton. But nevertheless, those words were said. Brickston was to bring us salvation. And that's too much to put on one person.

You can't do that. You've come this far. You've come this far and lost so much, and here you stand in the face of history and destiny, and while you, for so long you thought you were chosen to walk this path, you look at your hands, and for the first time you see that you're just a woman, a woman in a dying world that is so much bigger

and so much hungrier and dangerous than you are. Your hope die is now a D8. What does that mean? Until you roll with, until you roll a success with hope or your next rest. your hope die is a D-8. Oh, shit. Wait, yeah.

Less of a chance. That is bad. Less of a chance. That's awesome. So instead of rolling this for my hope die, you can roll a D-12 with here. I'm rolling this. Until I roll with hope.

Until you roll a success with hope. Practice roll right now. Practice roll. Practice roll. What if this goes well though? No. It did not. It's going to be hard. Nope.

Narrator, it did not. Oh my God. It did not. Okay, all right. All right. Snicks. But Brickson... Ignore it.

No, yeah. No, Brickson, that's bad. She shares this burden, though. She's got to know. She shares this burden. She's made it this far with her only companions. The only four people that she left with. The only four people that she loved with.

Heidel disappears. She. No, shit, shit. Was there another? She has to lean on. She does not share this burden alone. Isn't that right, Snicks? We'll find out in a second.

As you look towards Snicks, Snicks's vision is elsewhere. Snicks, you, as a person who has traveled alone across much of this land, knowing how dangerous it is, you're not a person who's used to just looking ahead. You look ahead, then back, then right and left, then up, and anywhere danger could be. And here, you can't help it instinctually, kind of step to the rear of your more defensible allies, waiting for your moment to strike with the most efficiency. But until then, you're just afraid of an ambush.

And you look ahead to the light, you looked at the side where the cabin walls are, and you look where you came from, and as you turn, you see a light like the tunnel ends about 10 feet away from you. about 10 feet away from you, daylight, just beyond there. In this mid-golden day hue, you see shapes, shadows in the distance, 30 feet away on this massive precipice, this beautiful, polished white platform.

You can see and recognize the distant towers of amber reach, not yet fall into the degree they were as you've traversed it in recent times. And there you see on her knees in chains. A beautiful woman, her golden face, glowing as she just looks up to the sky. Surrounding her, you see other heavily robed figures adorned with golds and reds. They shout soundlessly. A commanding judgment. And she doesn't hear it. She just looks up to the sky and smiles. You see others thrown onto their knees around her.

Three other disciples. Three that are in similar chains. And as they shout, the light begins to get brighter, and the tunnel grows shorter. Your focus and your vision begins to pull towards it like you're being thrust towards it. You instinctually yelp. Ah!

And that's when you bump into Brickston. Sorry. That was my fault. That one was my fault. No. Glowing golden face or like a metallic mask? It, well, from their vision, it is a human soft face with just the soft golden glow. Wow. Did you see something? I did. A woman in pain or not in pain, but definitely in trouble.

Definitely in trouble. Maybe it's the person in this. What's the name? Avila. Avila. Avila. Yeah. Say your name.

Maybe she's trying to communicate to us, or her spirit is, the echo of her spirit is calling out to us. It's almost like we're literally walking in the path of our memories. Imagine not a focus, all right? It's game time. No time for visions. This is. Oh. This is it?

Game time? Yeah. Maybe it's just the air in here. Maybe it's a little... No, maybe it's... Stale. Maybe it's worse than that. Maybe it's...

I need to confess something to you. To me? I think it's my shame that I'm seeing. Aliana. What's... What? What about her? I don't know what about her.

I've never met her. You sent me to bring her a letter, and I did, but she was not there, and they had never heard of her. I don't think she ever made it to Ocrose. I didn't have the heart to tell you that She's probably been dead for years. That's not true. You're lying.

You said you've been there. You said she had a garden. You said she had a garden. I didn't know how well. I'm a coward. I didn't know how to tell you that she was gone. I wanted you to have some hope. But the letter.

You wrote the letter. All of them. I think maybe my guilt or something is being magnified by the walls or I don't know. I just can't go into this without a clear conscience. I just know that everything I've done is out of fear. out of fear. I couldn't save my friend, my womper. I couldn't tell you the truth. I couldn't face my fears. Some asshole's been chasing me for a year and I've been running. What? Maybe I shouldn't be with you guys. I don't know. I don't know. Who's been chasing you?

Someone from Amber Reach, one of the warlords there. That was his package. The case? Yeah. A tongue? I didn't know it was a tongue. I kind of stole it from him. Good.

You stole it from him. Are you even a messenger? Yeah, I was. Do you only deliver lies? Okay. That's fair. I was a messenger for him for many years. I worked for a group.

called the Phantom Stride and but I've been on my own for the for a while and I'm doing odd jobs for good people like you and you deserve better all of you really are you're such nice holy people like you you believe and You might be a god. I don't even know something. I don't know. You're something. You're something. A relic from the past. And you, you have the, the, the magic of divinity. Yeah. I'm just a liar. I am a god. Well, okay. You're not a, you are a liar. You've lied. But you're also capable of great things. Think of what we've done on this trip. I think it's just this place that's magnifying that. Snicks, you're

capable of amazing stuff, and you've been there for all of us. I, I'm sorry. I understand your reasoning. I actually do. No one wants to. No one wants to. to deliver bad news in this world. Thank you for telling me. I think I will still need time to process it. Sure. Snakes. I'd like you to make an instinct reaction all for me, please.

That's not Snicks. 19. With fear. Oh, it's a reaction. 19. As much as this reveal, this culmination of cowardliness, the guilt that you feel for what you've said and done is there. The fact that Brixton, while needing

time reacted more empathetic than you anticipated. Keeps your will strong. And you push on. Idle. As they have this conversation, sternly you turn back around to where your light is, and as your vision passes into the tunnel, it's not dark. It's lit with torchlight. There are people in there. You step forward to these two large doors that are open, and there is a chamber within.

Amongst the rough-hewn rock that's been cleared out of the space, there are beautiful, carved, polished pillars that almost build a makeshift catholic, cathedral chamber within. There's risen platforms and massive pillars that rise up and catch the ceiling. You see in the back, this looks like a worship hall. Gosh, where did this? They're not there. And the people that are in this chamber, you see, are wearing travel vestments, long hanging robed sleeves of red and gold. You see about 12 of them.

And beyond them, you see four women in chains. Three of them dressed in similar red and white robes on their knees, all looking to one central figure that sits before them, shackled. Her hood thrown back, her dark hair tumbling past her shoulders, and she just looks up away from them all. The beautiful smile and a golden, vibrant hue that just glows from her face. You quietly watch as a man from the troop walks out next to her.

An older man, portly, angry, you can only describe his expression as furiously jealous. As he shouts things at her that you do not hear, it is silent. He clutches a familiar sceptre in his hand of silver and gold. And he points a finger down at the woman's golden face. As two figures step up, withdraw blades, and begin to carve her face away. You shout and know and rush forward, and the light of the end of your weapon flares for a second,

and the room is dark once more. The rest of you watch as Idle shouts no and steps forward and stops, just as you come upon this open, double door into an interior chamber. No more messing around. It's game time. We gave the Scepter back, right? I may not back. We bartered with it, or did we keep it? I have the scepter? Yeah. Yeah, I have it.

Take it out real quick. Okay. Does it look like the same silver and gold scepter from the vision? I just saw somebody use that. And two other zealots stood up behind a woman with dark hair and a face shining like gold, and they carved her face. And one of them was holding that scepter. Oh, God.

So it's a bad thing? I mean, I know it's a bad thing, but it's a real bad thing. Maybe it's good, we kept it. Wait. That that scepter was in the box with the tongue, right? Yeah. Yeah.

So whose tongue is that? If you said you saw Elias, is that what it was? The Scepter of Elias and- Scepter of Elias and- That's what it said on the small fucker that came with it. Evalar? Evoliar? Evoliar? Evliar. Evliar? Evliar.

Evliar. Was that Evliar's tongue? I don't know. The room that we've just walked into, is it like the one that was in my vision or more? It is the room in your vision. Oh shit. But a different time. When you saw it, it was recently completed, fresh.

Candles lit around, like some sort of ancient rite or ritual was about to be conducted. Here as you step in, it is dark. It is still. It smells a forgotten ancient, nothing. You look about the ground and there is crumbled shale. There are blackened spikes of unnatural rock emanating. emanations from the umbral effect on some deep subterranean elements. You can see the pillars stand, but roots have grown through and surround elements of the ruin nearby. You see the candle opera and all manner of candles that sit around only slightly melted, since who knows how long they were lit for a ritual that may have been

conducted here, and amongst them, skulls. Many skulls. Dozens. Maybe a hundred. Make a knowledge roll for me. Maybe you'll roll with hope. Maybe I will. Maybe. Is this something I can use historically inspired? You can very much do so. I'll have to spend a hope. So that'll be plus three to all. I rolled with hope. She did. Wait, she did.

Oh, but it wasn't a success with hope. Oh, is it got to be a success with hope? Right. Well, it might, hang on. Eight with hope. Can I? use four from one of my prayer dice to bump it up above ten just in case?

If you want to try that. You're okay there? You had visions of followers on pilgrimage behind this saint, this promised path. And from what you've heard, the reason that grand ordinance took notice and disavowed this path, was her pull grew stronger,

her flock growing denser. And you look at all these skulls. And while you may have seen the four that were set for the central execution and ceiling of this ritual, you think they also laid with them. All of her followers? All of her most devout followers.

Cheers. Was that a success? That was a success. Yes. But boy, my boy! So I get my D12 back? You do. Yes.

With that, having seen this room before, can I almost automatically start to move towards the middle of the room where I saw this woman with the hair and the golden face and getting carved. Can I move to the spot where she was and just look at the ground, at the ground where she was kneeling? Yeah, you walk into the middle of what is really a sepulture chamber.

Holy site constructed for the purposes of keeping a heretic. So much work gone into someone who was subjugated by the ordinance, but you gather that's likely because for their sealing ritual to be done, There was a minimal requirement of holy surroundings. And remind me, she was not a worshipper of the veiled gods. From what was heard, she could see the path they took when they left.

She could see the path they took. Her sight, her golden, radiant face was ever able to see the path they left on. death they left on, and she was to guide her followers along to find where they went. And the Grand Ordinance did not like this because the Grand Ordinance was a God King. They were God King devotees. They were God King devotees, but also the alongside the God King, if not just below, the organizational faith. based government of the old world here in the domain. They believed her visions to be blasphemous. They believed her path to be unholy and having no bearing in the existing

scripture. So from their standpoint, her path could only be an unholy one. As you look about this chamber, you see beyond all the candles and the pillars and the beautiful, massive back cathedral-like ritual carved wall that rises up. You see what looks like a ritual table set up with candles on it, a book that is burned. And on the top day is a stone casket that sits in the center. And to the front of it on a lower platform, closest to you, a much simpler wooden casket. And on the far two sides of it, two more simpler wooden caskets. So there are three wooden caskets that kind of triangulate this central stone one. And as you hold the light up, you can see on this central stone casket, there is a collection

of objects, coins, what looks like dried fruit pits or gems you can't tell quite from this distance. It looks like are offerings placed? You're not sure. It's too high above. You just see just kind of things atop it from the position you stand at. Atop the casket. Atop the stone casket. and top the stone casket. Payday. We should definitely set fire to these caskets. Uh-huh.

Certainly a choice. Well, just walk in, open it up, and grab the thing and leave. Which one, the stone casket, or one of the three wooden ones? We'd assume the stone one, but that's just an assumption. There's four of us, we could each open all of one of them. Oh, like all at the same time? Can we give a look, can it look around and see if there's anything else?

I would like you to make it. an instinct action rule for me to perceive any other details in the environment you're seeking. When you said looking for anything else, what are you looking for? For starters, what's the ceiling like? Is it like marble sepulchre above us?

Am I saying that right? Sepulchre. Sepulchre? Sepulchre. Sepulchre. Sepulchre. The, when you kind of look up with the light, it's a rough kind of cavernous ceiling. It looks like this was partially a natural cave

that they expanded on and then either brought in or built things within it. and then seal that off. Semple cur. Yes, sealing markings, any maybe additional trinkets that are around that could contain a branch. Sure.

It's maybe not a casket that we have to open. And none of us have seen a branch, right? Not since walking in. No, I mean in our lifetimes. No, we've only heard of them. That is 16 with fear. Okay. So perhaps could be anything. It's fair, it could be interpretive.

You want to surround, like, in the other, there's the broken bits of stone, there's the skulls, and you kind of look around the piles of skulls to see if they're like hiding something without touching them, nothing there. There are those wooden caskets that sit lidded, triangulated around the center. of this chamber, you step up onto kind of the central next level, the day is where the stone

casket sits and look up to where this kind of pile is. And you see the coins and things that are there, they're arranged intentionally. It's not just a pile of things on there. They're kind of all set at angles. And you can see there's markings upon the stone connecting where they are. like whatever these things they're not offering is more than it's like a geometric design or a sigil on top and resting amongst them. You see about a foot long, pale, blanched piece of wood extending about four little branches

that stick off to each side, just resting on top. Grab that thing, I don't trust it. No. Just yeat it and let's get out of here. But if it's a decoy, what if it's... It's not a cup of a carpenter? Yes, yes.

Exactly. But I think what is supposed to light it? Well... Blood? No, wait. Blood puts it out. Fire to it. It maintains its flame.

Yeah. It's like a special fire. They have to, I don't know. You're a fire keeper. You know what starts it. You have to take it back to the fires. I'll get back to the pyres. Oh, yeah, I will say, not even having a rule.

This, your whole life has been the lore of the sacred pyre. The branch, when it is ignited, becomes a sacred pyre. So to light it here, would build the pyre here. Which would be dope. So no fire magic. No fire magic. Here's just the four of us for forever. Start a new, just saying, goat people for all.

I guess we just have to make a lot of babies. A lot of babies. Sorry. Stony goats. Is there a particular shape to the coin? Any sort of ruin or whatever, something that we can recognize? It definitely looks intentional. And the arrangement of it isn't symmetrical, but it isn't just like a pile of coins tossed.

It's like there's like two here, then a third one about a foot and a half in, and there's one over here. And you can see like a slight drawing of like a bit of a soot path that connects one to another and a very well-made circle. A very well-made circle. And this is on the stone casket? On the stone casket lid. And the branches are sitting right there. Yeah. Can I go over and you have to...

Can I hold my hand above the branch and just feel is there... Can I make any kind of a magic read? Is there anything emanating from the branch? Anything like that? You can... You can... Weird. They just changed something.

So is here. They just updated the matrix. Updated the matrix. You can either roll instinct to sense it instinctually, or you can roll knowledge to analyze it based on what's visible in front of you. I'll go instinct. Okay. Uh, 16, 17 with instinct, with fear. With fear. Okay. You tap once more into that little spark of golden power within you, and as you reopen your eyes,

eyes. Indeed, where the lines are there, they are connected by an invisible divine sigil. There is a protective ward here. When they interred her, they believed that whatever power she had should remain sealed, that no one should be able to free her from this and let her build her flock a second time. So they made sure when they executed her, that they also bound her here. And And this branch is part of this binding. The hallway that we came in through, is there like a door? Did we pass through a door? Yeah, you passed through an open door that leads in here.

Open door. I don't like that. I feel like we touch this thing. The door is going to shut or something. Should we try and wedge it open? Maybe. Okay. Are there any pews, boulders, rocks, fallen shale, anything that we can know? There's no pews here. But I mean, there are some larger pieces of rock, some very big pieces of rock that have just kind of fall in and over time, but those would be far too big for you to move. But there are some, there are some sections of stone about this big that you can try and wedge and hold the door in place. Do that? Yeah, I'll do that. Okay, sure.

Okay. Trying to move some stone over and put it up and kind of create like a half-barricade. You could also try to stay behind the door and I could just mage hand. We could stay on the other side of it. Magic can, magic hand, magic can. How far does your magic can go? Far? It goes, strength as your own, far range. Is the door far range from the stone casket? It's a little bit further away. Oh, see. Well, I could stand side.

I think we just grab it. I think we're overthinking this. You do? Yeah, sure. You're crazy. I'm worried about the wooden caskets more than the main one. There's no, like, we're going to lift this thing. It's going to break the seal. She's going to bust out of here.

She's going to have no face. Okay, if we grab it, let's be ready, though. Let's spread out. Stay near me. Okay, but then what if like big attacks that affect all of us could happen? And then also we should prepare any like protective spells or anything, like rally dice.

All right, I'm gonna rally everybody because I can do that once per session. And this is a new session. The next session, it is. Nice. I will just wiggle my feathers a little. Very quietly. I don't feel very rallied.

You have to sing something for us. We're in a dark cavern. It's a little bit scary. I like it so far. What are we going to find? It's a little bit hairy. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Man, poets.

Poet laureates, almost us. Watch out, Amanda Gorman. All right. So you'll all get your rally diet. It's a D6 that you can add to an action roll, a damage roll, or clear stress if you need to. Speaking of, I'm going to take a minor stamina potion. Go for it. Roll that D4, buddy. Just going to clear that stress. Might as well. Might as well. Did it. Great. All right. Anyone want to varicily? All right. So you say you're spreading out? Who's spreading out where?

I mean, should we just like? I still attest that we should set these three coffins on fire and grab a branch. What if that pisses are off? Wait, fire is bad. It could set the branch on fire. The three wooden coffins. I know, but what if it spreads?

I don't know. We're in a cave. Caves aren't flammable. Just sucks the oxygen out of the room. And there's plenty of places for the smoke to go. Yeah, yeah. That's fair. Yeah, we're spread out.

Yeah, but what if she gets pissed? because we're, I have a feeling just from the past couple days. Yeah, because we're goofing around. The past couple days, she's gonna be pissed regardless. Or she'll be super thankful to be set free and we'll have a super powerful ally on our side. That's fair. Or she's not buried in the coffin

because our vision ended too soon and it's actually owner of the scepter that's in that bitch. He's gonna come out, pissed his health. Oh, like she did a little, a little bait and switch. A little switcheroom. Or Adelia's in the coffin is going to pop out with Desider's fucking dolls.

Yes. Scream! We're not going to know until we grab this thing. Pretty sure. All right. Brickson says a little prayer. She apologizes to the veiled gods. We understand we are in secret ground walking in the path, in the footsteps of a saint.

Please forgive us of our transgressions. This is only to further your good works. Yes. Further your good works. Are you grabbing it? You were wearing full plate. You should probably grab it. Thanks for volunteering. I'm going to move out to the right side of the side. We have a magic hand. We have a magic hand. I know, but should we actually physically touch it? I am a, I am a pyrekeeper. Yeah, yeah. I'm mistakes of pyrekeeper. You got blisters. I've got, I am, yes, I have blisters.

I call Strongside. Okay. Okay, I'm going to go to the other side of, of Brickston kind of ready's her, her great sword. I'm back to Jordan. I'm going somewhere else. Go on. Right, right side. Raidsword ready, you step up to the stone tomb, the branch there within reach. For those who have walked before us, for those who will walk ahead of us, please,

grant us, grant us this boon. Wait! Just kidding you. Oh my god! You grab the branch and you watch as all the symbols light up and your hand is repelled. She can't touch it.

You can't touch this. It looks like whatever sealed her also sealed the branch within. Okay. That tracks. Now we get to burn the coffins. Can we go to the coffin? I'm going to go to one of the wooden coffins. Does it have a similar arrangement on it?

Like something sealed? It's just a simpler coffin. It looks a simpler coffin. And I'm just going to swing down on the coffin on the right. You smash the lid. It breaks open and, as you, pull your blade out, you see inside a mummified skeletal corpse of a woman who is wearing old robes, dust filled, dust fills out.

The bone is broken, the jaw kind of dislodges and just like, just reaching and grab sternum, pick her up. Look underneath her body and the coffin, anything? Give it a little shake. fall out. Bones kind of clattered to the ground. I probably should. You said there were three, like, coins? There are many coins across the lid.

The closest ones where the ones you can see that weren't, like, under the branch. I'm just wondering if I just try and take any of the coins or the offerings. You reach for the coin, and it deflects it as well. I guess what I'm trying to figure out is, is there any correlation with the runes on top of the casket? Make a knowledge roll for it.

Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. That's going to be 14 with fear. Fourteen with fear. You, looking at this, you don't see any correlation necessarily beyond just the cylinder that's marked there, but from what you've conversed and shared about the various visions you've had, the person who is helming this execution in ceiling. Staff. The sceptre. The scepter. We shouldn't have fucking thought about that. Yeah, 100% we suck. That was stupid. We should have thought about that.

Yeah, I'm here at boobs. Hey, guys. What if I use the scepter? All of Beacon Discord. Why don't I use this? Now they fucking did it. Jesus. It takes it forever. You know it's not written. We just do it to be more endearing, intentionally.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Okay. So we make our audience feel more intelligent. Wait, wait, wait, wait. I walk over to the other coffin. Flip up the other lid. Another dust-filled, long rock. Third one, just in case.

There's a nice. Another one. Raku! Same thing, okay. What color are there ropes? Red and gold, right. Yeah, mostly red with like gold bits. And you can see there's like, like, their hoods.

or headdresses that kind of set back in the bottom, like where the skeletons were, just kind of just like triangular headdresses that kind of settled there might have been part of how they were interred, but they're just dead skeletons. Is the, just because, is the wooden coffin on a stone diocese or anything

or just like a wooden frame? Like, could it be dragged the coffin? I mean, you could certainly try. I'm gonna try and drag one of them to the other one just to like bunch them up, just in case they wake up. Okay, so there's the three of them. you kind of drag the two to the front? Or to this, where do you drag them?

To the middle room so that they're close to where the stone one is. Okay, so you pull them all kind of in towards the sinker. You got it, okay? You know, just so they can all be together. Yeah. Now, the one that you shook, did you put it back in the coffin or did you just throw it across the ground to scatter?

Sort of set it up against one of the columns like Halloween. No, I just put it right, put it back, respectfully back in the company. Okay, fair, fair, okay. After I gave it a shake. Sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry. What do I do with it? Shoot it, shoot it at the... I think you try and reach through the bubble,

see if it... Like, while holding it? Hit it? Yeah, maybe... See if it lets your hand through it. Yeah, but like am I aiming for... I'm not aiming for the branch. Just try and grab the branch with the scepter in your hand.

See if your hand gets there first. All right. I guess I'll hold the scepter in one hand and reach with the other? Sure. Okay. Your hand is unimpeded. Oh, yes.

Definitely not a negative thing. I will pick up the branch. You have a blessed . Oh, we did it! And as you pull it away, you watch as the magic of the sigil, of the seal, as the branches removed from that, like, faint field of blue that prevented you from reaching it. That, as you pull it from that sealed field,

Field. It shatters, almost like a piece of glass that then dissipates into mist. The temperature drops about 20 degrees. All the candles, a light with purple flame. Glade glows. The chamber begins to glow a purple red hue as all the candles are burning brightly around. The chamber immediately comes to life. There's some strange dark presence. You watch as the shadows in the chamber begin to move. Like you're watching a black mist pour out from underneath some unseen doorway.

Spilling into the three clustered coffins and spilling out from the inside of the stone casket. The stone lid explodes off into a hundred pieces. Whatever was scattered on the front, scattering us the walls. You kind of guard your eyes and back up. As you now see corpses rise from all three of the stone caskets and then one,

or three of the wooden ones, and then one from the central. You see the corpse from the middle one. Burial dressings merged with bone, the three that were in the middle. the smaller ones themselves, the red coloration of the robes begin to pull, it's hot and grows slick, almost forming muscle and ligaments that attach to the bone. You watch as the headdresses protrude from the skulls and bony triangular points out of it's like reform, and you watch

as they all reach up above them into a black void and pluck from nothing, handles, sides that seem to be drawn from a dark purple energy emit from a sourceless space as they all look at the rest of you from the central stone tomb. The frail mummified body of the heretic saint Eveliard stands shrouded in silver cloth that slowly falls away, revealing the skull where the carved gap sits between its jaw and its brow.

The cracking paper-like skin glows with a pinkish hue and swells with renewed unholy life. You watch as tearing out of one shoulder, a massive wing feathered and blue grows. And another, some ghostly, angelic visage, suddenly finding itself freed from within this tomb. You watch as the flesh that curls up in the back of the skull knits to form an odd fleshy crown that sits above its now sheared head. You watch as it pulls from a blackened void to its right, a terrifying,

massive axe. And where that space was, where a face would be, it's just a black void, a doorway to Hungary nothing. I'm gonna go retrieve the battle for it. Oh, my God, I knew I should have scattered those bodies. Damn. I thought about being disrespectful. The Blessed Branch, by the way, when you have it, and when you make an action roll, you can mark a stress to roll a D20 as your hope died.

Oh. I would love to give it to you. Once per day or something? No. Just every time. Oh shit. Just a mark of stress. If I give it to you, I will lose a hope.

When you give it away, you lose hope. Hold on to it because stress is my thing. We can always, we can always hop to you around. Cool. Cool. Look at the glowies. So you had stepped back after I imagine it all exploded and detonated. Where would you be?

All right, I will be, I'll just be in the front of that stone pillar. Right here? Yeah, I think it was right. You got it. Brickston. Where would you be? Put me in between the two. The man coach. Strongside, baby Flank, I told you over here.

We'll make me say it twice. The three profane disciples of the heretic saint Rise. Oh, God. They're beautiful. Those are tiny skeletons. I told you I said to face the corpses, Mercer. I shook one of them.

I know, you were right. Do we have advanced against the one I shook? Would have just burned them. So like drawn a quarter of them. Whoa! What? That is precarious. Stop it.

It is precarious. What is the face? What are you talking about? That's like my favorite mini ever. Who makes these things? She's so cool! We can't, what if we have to heal her? Maybe we can let her just go and be like,

you're free now. Can we hear your face? Who wreak some havoc out there? Excuse me, Mayor, you're missing. You've earned it. A face. It's not her fault. You've got something right here.

True. Up here, a little further. I'm going to immediately burn fear. You don't need to do that. And spotlight the blasphemous angel. Blasphemous angel. Valnier. Valnier.

So, she is going to, actually, first thing, the first time she's spotlighted, I'm gonna go ahead and roll a D-8 for her blasphemous choir. That's a three. You hear this distant chanting of angelic voices colliding out of tune with each other, getting louder and louder. The song is weaving, but it's not. yet woven. So that happens just the first time that she's spotlighted. And then she's going

to go ahead and mark a stress to do her flocks call. Silently, because there is no mouth and no face, she raises her other hand, and she immediately spotlights 1D4 plus one of her allies, which is all of them. Oh, he rolled out. Oh, shit. So all three profane disciples that have regathered themselves and holding their sides all at once click into place and they all focus their attention immediately, shifting up towards you who drew the branch

with an impossible speed. They leap across the way here. Oh, no. Oh, no, this could be quick. And rush in towards you snicks. This could be quick. Now all of them do half damage, because they all, as part of this ability,

they all go at once, but they also only do half damage. That is three attacks against you snicks. If I have to be a runner of this branch, if it gets bad. That is going to be an eight. Miss. Six. Miss. Oh my gosh.

Let's go. And a ten. Miss. I rolled real bad on that. Wow. I rolled real bad. All right, all right. Hallowed be the blessed gays of the veiled gods.

But I am going to spend two fear. Sure. Out of that. As the very presence and ascension of the blasphemers Miss Angel rising up. You see now where the beautiful blue wings were, the flesh continues to grow as arms begin to tear out from the sides and reach upward. Her face and chin still tilted up towards the heavens that she could never reach. I need you to turn your hope die into a D8 until you roll a success with hope.

I need you to turn your hope die into a D8. Ooh! It sucks, you guys. Okay. All right, D8, got it. No, Biggs. No Biggs. I love her. She's a boss bitch. Yeah, she's a boss bitch. All right.

That is my spotlight. You may go. Are we attacking this lady? I think most certainly yes. Are we trying to get the disciples first or just focus on her? You know what? There's no way to know, but... The door slammed shut behind you. We went to that!

We were rocked! The rock is a little rock there. I put a little rock there. There's a little rock. The rock has moved about a foot and a half. I put a little rock there's the only one I could pick up. I can't pick up a rock. I'm stronger than you.

I will run forward. It looks like the rock was moved or shifted out of the way by some magical force. You assume. Screeze! What are you doing? I will run forward and I will swing my glave above my head and you'll see it glow the entirety of it in divine energy,

and I will cast spirit weapon. Okay, are you moving forward to do this? Yeah, I'm gonna run right towards the tip of the daisy, also so I can get a little closer to where Snixers, yeah, right there's. Right there's about as close as you can get? Okay, great. All right. So you are doing, you're trying to throw it

and hit everything within close range, you said? Yes. That will be all of them. Beautiful. I can only, I can target two at a time. Right. So I'll aim for, yeah, I'll go for two of the disciples. Okay, which two?

The two closest. Okay, got you. We'll go that way. And this is a hope. This is such a bad idea. And I'll use my rally die as well. And this is a... Yes, okay.

Just a regular rule. That's with fear, balls. That's a terrible thing to do. 14, 15, 16, 17 with fear. 17 with fear is a success. is a success. Go ahead and roll damage. Great. I will mark a stress, and that will hit both of them. I know. And I will do D8 plus two. That's eight. Another eight. 16 plus two, 17, 18 magic damage. That is a severe wound on both of them.

Two eight. Great. That's great. That's three hit points damage to each. To each? Yeah, because you hit, well, he hit two of them. Great. So as you release it, nice. It carversed both of them and you catch back in your grip. The three of them that had swarmed in towards snakes, all three in unison turned towards you.

You now see a close-up look. They're skulls. One of them is missing an eye on one side. The other is missing an eye on the other, like the bone is grown over, and the third has no sockets. Oh, what? Anything unusual about the one eyes that they do have? Are they glowing? They look like...

They look like horrible undead voids. Okay, great. I am going to just need to help us out. It was fear, so it comes to me. Oh, sorry. That's okay. No words. It was fear.

Will that be great? So, with that, yeah, let's go for it. The blessed miss angel is going to descend its wings flying down to greet you a little further down the dais. Wing on way. The choir gets louder, that was a roll on your end,

which does click that down. The choir is getting louder and louder of these strange, distant, amorphous voices. The massive axe comes wide as the hands reach up. And she releases it with her hand and it kind of floats on its own before, with an unnatural speed, carves through a massive arc, attacking all creatures within,

or all enemies within very close range, which is all but snakes. I mean, sorry, guys. I might have to run. I do run well. That is not a great role. That is 10. Hits.

It hits. Okay, it was a great role. No, no, no, it doesn't. What am I saying? What's your vision? It's 12. Yeah. So it misses you.

Get it together. I know, I know. She just heard us they hit and you're like, yeah, it sounds great. Yeah, I think it's all right. That's weird. That's weird. Yep. I don't know why.

Roll over. 17 points of physical damage against both of you. Okay. And because of the momentum, she gains a fear when she successfully attacks. Running it. She spent a fear to do that ability. I got to remember to do that. I think it's time.

I'm going to go unstoppable. Unstopable. Hello. All right. I'm going to drop it down. I don't know. Is it unsubble, you can do once per session, right? Yes.

Yes. Once a long rest? Long rest, because if I recall you use that against the... Oh, but I didn't even use it because the fucking battle ended! I know. I'll tell you what. Yeah. Well, you're hoping your fear dies. If your hope die is higher, you manage you manage

to catch your ex, before you expended that will. If your fear dies higher, it's already spent. Come on. Come on. Because we talked to the tree instead. That's a good roll. It's a 10 and an 11 with fear. Unfortunately, you had misfired with its usage,

but nevertheless, it's still damage to each of you. Question, I'm going to use my second prayer dice to redeem three hope for the Puritan. And then they're undead. They don't count as corpses, right? No, they're animated. Okay, cool. All right.

And then I'm gonna spend a fear to activate it once more. And- That sucks. Such a big part of my class. Is going to do Flux Call again. to mark a stress and call upon the profane disciples. That's two plus one, that's three. All three of them are going to activate.

This one's one shift behind here. Gilly Billy and Lily. Now one's going to attack you again. Go ahead. Actually, both of those are gonna focus on you. The other's gonna spin and come towards you. So the one attacking you, oh my God, that's an eight. Great.

Misses. Great. It misses you? Yeah. Okay. Wow. A little better. It's a 10. Miss. Come on.

And a natural fucking one. Wow. They are eating shit this opening volley. It's because I've got the blessed branch. It's confusing them. Stay back. Yeah, as they go to strike, there's like an element of concern as they see it and like, Don't break the branch.

Don't break the branch. Well, that's my spotlight. Back to you. Okay. May I, may I conjure a swarm? I'm going to try to hit all of the creatures around because they're all within. they're all within close. Is it a close range? Sorry, am I reading that right? I can make her vulnerable.

You should. Do you have to roll for it? No. Yes, within close range. I'm going to go ahead. No, yes, I do. And mark a stress to roll a D20 as my hope dice. Okay. And spell cast.

Come on. And try to hit all three of them. Do I roll three separate times or just one? No, you just roll one. against all. Let's go, Niki Branch. 22 with hope. Yes. That's a success and take that hope. The D20 coming out. That counts that down to a one. Coming out. And I will mark a stress to add a damage dice to this. So that's 3D8 plus three. This is against all of them, right? Against all three. Somehow I only have one D8. Oh no. Here we have. I mean, is it within close range?

Close. Close. They're all in close range if you want to get all at me. Her too? Yeah, she's right there. Great. Come on, big money. 18. 18 points of magic damage. That's good.

18 points of magic damage. That is. That's a major, right? That's a major on the other ones. They are... A severe or major? A major. Yeah, 18 was probably before.

Yeah. So to that... How far off from being a sphere? You don't know. Ah! Let me give it. But, so that goes through to that, and that is Atenhamism, a major to the blasphemous angel Eveliar. Now, as a reaction, the profane disciples are all going to mark stress.

For whenever Eveliar takes damage from an attack within very close range of her, which you are within, well, the point you're coming from is within very close range. coming from is within very close range, right? The point I'm coming from? It's very, no, it's within close range. Sorry, mine's within close, yeah. No, it's within close. The attack within close range,

you can mark a stress to make a standard attack against the attacker if it's within range. You're within range of all three. So all three from mark a stress and all three to make a retaliatory strike on you. Okay, can I move first? No. I'd say because this happens as a reaction to your attack,

no, you would have to move beforehand. A natural two. Four, they're rolling dog shit against you. It's a fucking three. I am, I am. I love it. There we go, okay, 14. Does that hit?

Just barely. Thank God. Work with me. There's no. The leader has no face. Eleven points of magic damage onto you as one of their sorrow sides swings around and strikes carving through you.

You don't need to do that. I mean, okay? It's better to pad some of this sooner rather than later. Yeah, yeah, yeah. That's true, that's true. And that's only a minor damage for me. It's only a minor for me too if I pat it with armor. But I can then, all right, if you want to take it,

do you want to just take this up and I think I should. You take it. And would you like to move? If I move, I'm scared something's going to happen. But yes, I would like to move. Where do you like to move? I'd like to move that way. That way.

So you're going to move close or far do you want to move. Post will get you there. If you want to move further, you can try and move. Get out of there. Up to you. OK, I'm going to use deaf to maneuvers and move far. OK. So you get to move all the way over here.

And as you do, you shift over into that corner and see something emerge from the shadows. to the left of you. Screeve if you had to turn to the table, please. You're a son of a bitch. I knew it. You think he's here to help you? I don't know.

Is he? Where are you going? You're going to where you were? You little shit. You better fucking help us. Oh, no. We don't need to make this thing. I knew it.

I know. What's happening? What's happening? Anything more? I think maybe, I don't know, I can't. Let me see the map close up. This is where screed. Fucking screve.

Oh, my. Es scrieves. Oh, my. Okay. You. Yes. And darted from there to there, I'll say. That's why the door closed.

That's 100% why the fucking door close. We called it. Son of a bitch. Okay. Can I take a move? Sure. You stole your guy's spotlight, and since you've just now engaged with the battlefield.

And Snix has eyes on me at this point? Oh, I've seen a shadow. I've seen a shadow move. Out of the shadow, you see Screeve coming low, loping along the ground primarily towards you, and hands raise up, and he starts to sprint straight at you, and hands come out and you can see those iron claws aimed straight at your face and I dive past you

into the shadows behind you and vanish and shoot up underneath this blue-winged torment. And I begin to claw my way up. Yes! Oh, my God! Yes! For now. From behind over here?

If I can get that far, yeah. How far can you track? It's far range. Far range. bar range would get you over on this side. Now, I have been gone and just trailing for a long time not doing much. Would you say it's fair to be like armor and hit points to be reset and maybe too stress spent to keep up with them? Sure.

Yeah, you've taken a long rest on your own since separating, so. Okay. You say like I'm full up and maybe like kind of eye. Okay, so I will. From Cloat, take a sweat. Take a sweat. So, so. It is.

Scream. Scream is Buella, you're my hero. Oh, oh, it's crit. Oh, yeah. Let's go. I got amazing. Hell yeah. Okay, so.

Crog, one shot vibes. I come in, I crit, I leave. Yeah. Four, three, seven. Does anything happen to the damage because of a crit, I forget. Yeah, you do full, you do max damage on your dice. Oh, max damage.

Yeah, and then you roll on top of it. Oh, yeah. My, all right, 12 plus 16 is 28 plus the three is 31 total. That breaks the severe threshold. That's three wounds onto the blast. But do I add on top of the, that's the max damage with sneak attack damage. So I haven't rolled to add to that.

Oh, you can roll again, yeah. If you want to see if you, you can somehow double the severe threshold. Somewhere near 60. Let's, that's just fun to do. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Three. That's not a record, by don't you?

I'm rolling low, three, six. But you do gain a hope. 11. New gear stress. Add 14 more to that. Not enough to double it. Not enough. But still, that's three wounds.

So he's like clawing his way up her leg and like rending gouges before he kicks off and lands on the ground and whips his head back. and just stares at you. Screeve, we're so happy to see you. That finishes the countdown for the blasphemous choir. At this moment, with the finish of your strike, those discordant angel voices suddenly kick into volume.

You hear, ah, ah, just a screeching sound of dozens, hundreds of voices that are mingling in terrifying, painful, ways, you feel like this is a doomed space, and this will be your grave. Oh, Eric, I have a vision. This is a doomed space. I'm going to spend a fear to activate the blasphemous angel out of turn. You're a turn.

She is going to spend a fear to do her arc of judgment. an attack against all creatures within very close range, which is all of you except for Screeve again. Snakes. Sorry, Snicks. That is going to be a 15. That's next. That's right, true, yeah. Hits. 15 hit?

Yeah, for sure. 15 hit you scream? All righty. Arcane judgment. Arc of judgment. Arc of judgment. That's cut. Okay.

17 points of physical damage against all of you. The angel gains of fear because of the impact. Now, while this choir of discordant voices is playing, covers an area within far range of the angel. When a target marks hit points from an attack from Aveliar within this dark song, all PCs within far range of the target lose a hope. Oh no. All of you,

Whoa. Lose a hope. All of us lose a hope? Yes. Oh, god damn it. You feel that doomed song drawing your chance for redemption or freedom from you. This song lasts until someone deals severe damage to her. Until someone deals severe damage to her?

Correct. And we lose a hope win. How often does that hit us, the hope loss? Every single time she causes someone to mark a hit point. Whenever she does damage, we hope. We always hope. Everyone within far range of the target. Amazing.

All right. That is my spotlight. By the way, just to throw this in there. If anyone is desperate for hope, remember we have two veric leaves that will give you two hope. That's right. Okay. I am going to reach down for another ancient song. And I am going to cast epic song. song, which in close range will make a target vulnerable,

so I'm going to cast it on her. On her, very well. Spell cast, present, and then, okay. So I roll for it. You roll for it, let's go. You have to see if it impacts. Come on, hold. Is it what it says, roll for spellcast against the target?

Spell cast, treat, present. Well, it just said, describe how you perform, you can play each song once per long rest. Make a target within close range, temporarily vulnerable. Does it tell you to roll? I don't think I roll for it. If it doesn't ask you to roll, then it just happens. That's your subclass special ability.

So describe this epic song that you, in what is legitimately the most terrifying and impactful moment of your life's old and new. What does this song sound like, and how does it affect this angel? I am trying as hard as I can to try to drown out her song. And at the same time, sort of just, I'm trying to play at 11. Okay.

And just try to drown out. Battle of the wings here. Battle of the wings. But also have it not sound as. It's more in tune. It's not as dissonant. It sounds better. So I'm trying to get everybody a little bit more hype.

So your song is now legitimately battling the song in the arena. And you watch as it causes the angel to flicker a bit. The black void in the face itself seems like swell with fury if a void. could be furious and it is vulnerable, temporary. Nice. Anything else you want to do on your go?

Because that just happens automatically. You can still make an action. I have three hoping we could tag team something crazy, but we could go for it fast. Let's do it. I'm just gonna do that because I don't want to roll with fear. I'm gonna leave that and have you guys go.

Are you gonna stay place, you're gonna move? Tag team it. I, I'm gonna, can I back up a little bit? Like around the pole? About there, as far as you can get on close range. Great. Okay, I'm going to spend a fear to activate Villiar. Oh.

God, I haven't done anything. This is running out of fear. This is how boss fights will. He's running out. She is going to. All right, all right, there's a little thingy there. Okay, going to kill the angel.

Land right over into this space. I'll say, Yeah. There we go. Skadoo. Oh, hello. As you back up, angry about the song that you've lent, lands.

I immediately try to go into the shadow that Screeve went into and try to disappear and reappear in another shadow. Okay. You think it might be working as I spend another fear to do. Damn it! Actually, you know what, no. She's going to... She's immersive.

Maybe not. Oh. Two points back a little bit to where I was there. Oh, that's very different. After you carved that heavy hit into her, the song kind of fluctuating around. Furiously, she spins and is not going to spend that extra fear. Instead is going to mark a stress.

distress to use look into the void. I've done that all my life. She bends down the chin tipping to where now you just have a view into the blackness where the face once was. I need you to make a presence reaction role for me. Screeve is just focusing and envisioning Adelia's face in the center of that darkness. Presence?

Yeah. So this is just a straight roll for me. for me. That's a crit. Dang, two crits in a row, bro. What I said. Eleven, eleven. That's amazing. So, you pulled away just in time.

You yourself have been a creature of the darkness and fear of the landscape around. You only mark a stress. I mark a stress. Yes. Okay. But that's going to finish her spotlight. It's now back to you.

I can hear Delia's voice. Okay. Do you want to, do you want to, do you want to combo? Yeah, let's carve her up. I'm gonna use these three hope before they get sucked away by one of her turns again. I'm going to spend a fear right as you're preparing for this. Welcome to the boss battle, guys.

Can't do anything. To hit you with an ominous portent, which reduces your hope die to a D-8. Okay. No problem. No problem. No problem. You're still tag teaming.

You're going to be fine. You're both tag teaming. Okay. I'm also going to to spend three hope to immediately get back the armor that I have already burned through because I'm afraid that hope's going to go away. And a question for you on the previous hit with the bone hook glave, I haven't done this yet. On a successful hit, the target must mark a stress. So on those two spirit weapon hits, do each one of them take a stress because it was hit with the... Oh yeah, they would both take a stress.

So two of those little... That's good enough. Yeah. Hey, I did it once finally. You did, you did. On the last episode, eight episodes. Okay. Are you also rolling a D8?

No, I'm, oh. I still am. I didn't clear with, yet. No, you rolled a fear? Yeah. Oh, damn, okay. I ain't worried about it. But she is, and she's vulnerable. She is, so it's a plus D6 for each of you. All right.

Come on. Bad. Yep. She's 10, 11, 21, 22, 23, 24. 24 with fear. Well, we should take that. Okay. 24 with fear is a success.

I gained two fear from both of you rolling with fear, but you succeed on both of your strikes against it, so go ahead and roll your damage. Come on, big money. This is gonna be plus nine, because I hit hard when I fucking am able to hit. Okay, this is good. 15, I'm going to burn this last, I didn't, that was a two, I already rolled it.

17 points of physical. 17 points of physical, got it. Plus 23 for me. That's gonna, oh wow, that's gonna be 50 points of damage. That is a major, or a severe wound. Which means the whole, the hope. The choir fades off in the angelic song between you combating it with the sound of your own music.

own music in the middle of the throes of this fight, and the two of you striking the angel simultaneously, which, by the way, describe me how you strike the angel in this way. Copyright, take down notice. DMCA, that's great, yeah. Copy strike. It also takes a stress, angel lady. You got it. All right, cool. Yeah, you initiated this.

Yeah, I'll sweep down with the bone hook glave and then arc up and grab the tip of it as I reach up with the handle and I'm going to try to get it up as high as I can up near her like breastplate and just try and sink it into the neck to like as it digs in the angel's neck tips to one side and the flesh crown kind of like twitches and bends back into place I do a little like kind of trying as we make eye contact it we're trying to go at the same time I'm going to go for her opposite side and I get a little bit of footing off of this pillar that's next to me as I mimic the same arc, slamming down on top of her.

Very well. We call this attack, no. Angel takes some heavy hits and is showing wear and tear from the immediate fray that has come upon her from multiple angles and your new ally, which has emerged from the shadows. The next timer rolled a two for the choir to return. Oh shit. It comes to me.

The blasphemous angel in furious anger is going to look down, And Marcus Tress, to have you, Brixton, stare into the void. You who are a being who is used to staring into fire now has to look into the primary opposite of where you've drawn all of your hope. I need you to make a presence reaction roll. Oh, presence reaction roll. You got this, no problem.

With your D-8. Yeah. Yeah, I'm aware. She gets loaded. Okay. Presence. Yes. Seven with hope.

There's no hope. reaction roll. That is a failure. You mark two stress. You become vulnerable until you roll a success with hope. And I wish I could be unstoppable, Matt. Unstoppable. I'm sorry. And Avelyar regains two hit points. As you feel part of your very spirit is siphoned into the void. You all all look over and watches Brickston, after this massive blow looks up.

Eyes go wide and the pupils vanish, just white as she just kind of locks in place, the angel's face, leaning in deeper and deeper, her unable to leave, and you see just elements of her, for the first time visible, shreds of her soul. Being pulled into the void before you pull away. and we'll spend a fear because she has relentless

and go twice if I spend the fear. I know. You can do that. I do not think that all God's presence are here. And is going to spend another fear to do Ark of Judgment. Not again. This one's so bad. Massive swing with the axe.

Because you've moved out, wait, is that close range on that? Arc of Judgment is very close. So you are out of range, Misty. So this attack is going to be against Idle, Brickston, and Screeve. Okay. That's going to be 14.

God, yes, it hits. Yeah. Does it hit you as well? It does. Okay. It does. I had to decide if I wanted to spend it over now. Yeah.

Yes. Okay. 13 points of physical damage. I rolled really dog shit on the damage for that. Okay. The armor tears away. 13. Don't you mean 12 points of physical damage?

She has 13 points of physical damage. And she gains a fear because it was a successful attack. Oachies. Okay. That's all right. And that's my spotlight. You were going to do something Ash O. Lee, weren't you? You were talking about it? No, I made her vulnerable.

Okay. What I was going to do. Something I could do. Or somebody else had something in the chamber? Me and Screeve got something. We got it. We're cooking together. We won't go.

Go. I haven't taken my eyes. off of you play oh yeah I've got toys I've got toys sure I start running straight at Screeve and the the fallen angel of doom Screev runs 10 feet towards him and I grab him by the chest and leap up and pull myself up and slam us into the ground into a roll and I let go of him and chuck him like six seven eight feet in the air and I barrel roll underneath the angel into shadows of ruins

that she's left behind her. I'm going to fall out of there and fall out of the ceiling from above. Cool. All right. Tag team hit. Are you spending hope or am I spending hope? I'll spend the hope.

I can do it. I'll be empty if I spend it. I will too. It's fine with me. No, I'll spend it. I killed your friend. This is how we get even. So you're spending three hope?

I'll spend the three hope. Okay. I don't know if you're even. Yeah. We're even now. All right. After this tense will they won't leave, won't they back and forth as you toss snicks into the air and scree vanses before para dropping out of the shadow of the ceiling.

I need you both for your attacks, please. I'm going to mark a stress to use the blessed branch. All right. Yes, okay. 24 with hope. Let's go that. Oh, yes. So 24 with hope, let's go.

That's a success. You both gained a hope, Liam. Both get that habit, a habit. Okay. So, yes. Go ahead and add your damage. I will mark another stress to add a damage die. And here we go.

28 points of magic damage. All right. 19 physical ion. That is going to be a severe wound on the angel. It says with my Wayfinder ability, if I cause a severe damage, it also marks a stress. Ooh, good to know. All right, also because you rolled a success with hope,

your hope die turns back to normal. Ooh! Yes. I'll take it. So describe to me how you both carve into the angel through this acrobatic display. Well, I fucking manhandled you. Probably hurt a lot as we rolled on the ground

and I threw you. Yeah, those claws hurt. When I fell out of the ceiling, I fell down on the wing and just rended wing all the way down and dropped down to the ground. Wow. You. I flew through the air, did a barrel whirl, and just tried to uppercut her right in her chin,

or actually a little higher to try to knock off her crown while shouting for Amelia! Is that her name? Adelia. Shit! Adelia! Shit! Perfect!

It carves through part of the The crown, and the crown like slabs back on, and you watch the flesh knits back up on hold the crown on the head. The angel recoils, once again, no sound, there's no face, just an absence there. However, the music of the choir gets loud once more as the two rolls count down. Now the blasphemous choir is back in full action. I'm going to spend a fear at the end of your spotlight to take it on to me. Avelyar is going to move forward, flying, and slam into this pillar.

Yikes. Knocking it onto the ground there. It slams hard and pushes into the space where it was. And it's going to spend another fear on the activation to do arc of judgment. Takes the axe into a massive swing, which is going to hit all of you. Everybody. Or it's going to come after all of you. I don't know if it's going to actually If we're going to give, if we're going to give you up. That's a 19, which is, that hits. It hits.

Well, it's a natural 19 on the dice. Because she is umbra touched, that is a crick. That's a crick. Oh, shit. Oh, no. Shit. Not good, not good. Can someone undo that somehow?

Yeah, August could. Oh, God. May he rest in webs. 32 points of physical damage against All of you. Holy shit. 32? 32 points of physical damage against all of you.

And she gains a fear because of her momentum reaction. Okay, I'll take care of Mark of Armour to knock that down. That's a big problem. Screeves' armor is gone and he's rent and that ring is just out in the open. Yeah, I'm real fucked up. You also all lose a hope because the choir is singing to your doom. What if there's no hope to lose? Then you'd mark a stress.

Oh, my mask! All right. Yeah, if you have no hope and you have to get rid of a hope from this, you mark a stress. I'm gonna throw my returning blade, which I haven't been able to use yet. Just right into her throat. Sure, go for it.

Okay, come on. I'm gonna use my rally die as well. No, you have advantage on her because she's still vulnerable still vulnerable from the spell of the song that you can't sign. Oh, great. So I'll save mine. Can I take a potion while she rolls? Do I need to wait until after her roll?

Wait till your spotlight. Okay. Well, shit. Okay. Scree's gonna die. Someone needs to. It's 11 with fear. Oh, no.

Wait, don't you have a rally die? I had advantage because she's vulnerable. You can add the rally die to. I guess rally die is an advantage. It just adds to the bonus. Do you have a D6? If you want to. If you're close, if you think you're close.

If you think you're close, I don't think you're close. I think you'd have to get like a five or like a five or, yeah. That's the odds of that. But you could roll a five or six. You could roll a five or six. But then my rally die is gone. Up to you? I mean, if you don't use it, you're gone.

I'm just getting it. Try it. Try it. I'm not going to use it. I'm not going to use it. I'm going to wait. I'm going to wait. You take your returning blade, release it.

First time I've used it. Through the air. You watch as the angel, like, which has been like, like slashing through, looks over and sees you arrive in your music getting a ladder in its face. And as it does, it pulls back. And as the blade swings wide, it's almost like space and time like stretches around it for a second.

As the void shifts and bends space and the blade suddenly is returning to you on the other side, like for a brief moment the angel wasn't even there. And you catch it. Curious as to how that even happened. With that, the angel is going to look towards you and lean it in. Your song has called its attention.

It wants to feast on your doom. I need you to make a presence reaction rule for me. On your doom. Presence reaction roll? Okay. She's starting to suck you into the void. Come on. Come on, I did roll with hope.

Five. Oh, brutal. That's a failure, unfortunately. You need to mark two stress. Okay, but I do get a hope. And I mark two stress. You do get a hope, and you are vulnerable until you roll a success with hope.

Okay. Okay. And she heals too. hit points. Oh. Whoa. How don't you stop that? I'm going to spend a fear. Doors closed.

Well, by getting rid of her stress, because she has to mark a stress to do it. She has to mark a stress to do it, so if we stress her out, okay. That's the benefit sometimes of doing stress damage on opponents is you can lock out some of their abilities if they can't spend the stress. And if they're full stress, they're permanently vulnerable. However, I'm going to spend a fear to activate her a second time, because she has relentless as her feature.

And you're all still in such a good position. Where can we get in questions? I'm gonna spend another fear. When spotlight comes up. To make an arc of judgment strike against all five of you again, because you're all right there. You have been able to go, there's nothing we could do. We're just like stuck because we're so much.

You're ready, prepare yourself. Fear rolls. It's not a crit. It's a high enough roll though. That is a 20 total to hit. Is that it? you all take. Low, low.

12 points of physical damage against all of you. Okay, okay. Everybody. I will take it, that's just a single time. Wait, what happened? Screeves dead. Whoa! You did that so fast!

Wait, that just went so fast! Unceremoniously, while they're marking damage, just throw that in. You dick! What the fuck! Amazing! She could have been your shield! I could have been your shield!

Wait, can I also, can I soak, What's it say on the ability? When an ally within very close range would take damage. Yeah, you'll just take twice the damage. I do that. You've done it before. I do that. You were so eager to just throw those dice.

Take it back. So Marcus Dress. As quickly as you wanted to throw your body into the wood chipper, Brickston. This mountain of faith and protection of those that need it in the shadow, a person who has been a bastion of safety for those who have been lost without it for so long, steps in front, and takes the burden of both of your blows upon her. So, you take 24 points of physical damage. All right, yes, that's fine. I soaked one with an armor.

My armor is fucked, and I took a hit point. Okay. You also all lose a hope. Okay. And she gains another feat. So wait, and if you can't lose a hope, Take a stress. Oh, shit. It is now you're a spot.

I take a help potion. I get it. I get it. I will take a stamina. I will take a stamina. Well, here's the thing. Take your activation. One at a time, guys.

So spotlights on you. It's so easy to get ripped away. Take your health potion. Four. 44. So I get four hit points back. Do you want to move? Do you want to do something else on your spotlight?

I want my hip points back. You got your hip points back. One, two, three, four. floor and I'm going to I'm not gonna I'm not gonna roll anything with fear you quicksand piece of shit I'm gonna where am I am I on this side right over here right over here I'm gonna run I'm gonna run this way and park it behind that acolyte you got it all right anything you want to do on your turn aside from that or you're just gonna move I have the shitty dice which means I'll

definitely roll of fear. I'm not going to swing. Okay. Just gonna go. Okay, hang on. So you just rush off and hold the defensive stance there. You think? But it's still our spotlight. It's still our spotlight. And he's got, oh, he's got to fear. Well, which is Fox. Well, let's see. Let's see what he does.

I think I can. Because, okay, because we saw the choir shit going to, right? And then there's like the vulnerable and you have to like roll with hope in order to get rid of all that shit, right? You have to succeed with hope to set your hope dice back. Yes. We're not doing anything. Okay, Carol.

Here's what to do. I'm having to have a haven't a half. I am going to, because I'm actually pretty well positioned right now. First, I'm going to take a stamina. Of course you will. I'm going to do the stamina. Come on. All right, that's fine. I get three stamina or stress back.

That's not bad. I am going to use my orderboard ability where I can use a D20 as my hope die. Okay. To which tenant? The tenant is going to be. is going to be, fuck shit off. Pretty much. I mean, it's gotta be the strongest steel

must first be tempered by the flame, baby. Yes, yes. As I like take it and I take my broadsword and I like rake it over the top of my armor and you see just a little bit of sparks come off of it. Just the tiniest little sprinkling of flame. And I'm gonna use a D20. She's still vulnerable, right? Yeah.

And hopefully, it'll be a fucking. Roll with hope. Come on. I hate this game! Available now. It hits, it definitely hits, but it is with fear, which is horseshit. But it's 23 strength. I just spit everywhere. I'm so mad. That definitely succeeds. Wait, wait, wait, 12. No, wait, let me not say this incorrectly.

18, 19, 21. That definitely succeeds. So go ahead and roll it. Okay. And then she, we have to, I have to do a severe damage in order to get rid of the song. Get rid of the song. I'm going to use a rally dice for this to go ham.

I also would like to do, so I'm going after her. Yes. I also would like to do on a, wait. Is this, I don't have hope, I can't do that. You've got this? Can I do. Can you chew the leaves real quick? Yeah, if you are.

Yeah. Like, cocoa leaves? Yeah. Ding. Okay, okay. La la la la. You can do it. Yeah.

From a narrative standpoint, there's all manner of strikes and pairing in between actual, like, actions. Like you're all fighting, you take the potion, pull off, deflect a couple blows, back off, take the leaves. As you're chewing the leaves, you take your massive blow. You all watch the spark, and for a second you see a flash of flame carry across the blade. across the blade. A spark of the pyre itself carried through her will. Yes. Because if I, on a success, I can hit all other targets within very close range of me, which I think are the other two fucks. Correct. So they take half damage. So whatever she takes,

they're going to take half. Can she move a little? All three of them. All three of them. All three of them. All three of them. Come on, be a big roll. Severe. I want to severe. I need severe damage. This is going to be plus nine. This is damage? Yeah, this is damage, because I'm using the rally die. Yeah, I am. Okay, and then I dropped the lowest, which is going to be this four. So this is actually pretty good.

Nine, um, and it's going to be 14. 16 plus nine. 16 plus nine is 25. Damage. 25 points of damage. Is that? Is that? Is that?

It is not. Oh. She takes a major. She takes a major wound, it's two hit points onto her. And everybody else takes that damage as well. Right. Which for two of them is enough to take them out. Yes!

You swing wide and while one of them takes the hit here. I was so disappointed. Briefest glance. No, that's great. Yep. These two here, you carve past with your blade and as you do, they have their sorrow sides glowing with dark necrotic energy. You swing wide and that small spark of flame grows into an

inferno. And as your blade swings wide, the rest of you watch this fiery arc of burning white, orange flame. Carved through, and two of them, and then get scattered back about 10 feet, and you just watch the bones break as the brittle, mummified corpses of the disciples are thrown against the back wall. There's just a slow-mo, like, bullet-tie moment of Brickson's hair in front of her face, and the spice. sparks. Yeah. The embers just... The ember flowed for the wind. Also, because you've killed two of them,

her unholy aura, which means whenever she takes damage, it's reduced by the number of disciples that she has in close range. So her thresholds technically now go down by two. Ooh. Nice! Does that mean it pushes me past the severe? No, because it all heads of one. But that was with fear.

Fear. That was with fear, but I haven't, I haven't moved. Right, where would you like to move? I'm hurting. I'm not in a great spot. Um, God, I bet Ashley's gonna get hit. Wait, but you're, you went, I blocked you. I guess I'm helpful. Let me just move, let me move back. Can I move back a little bit towards this column,

kind of in between her and, uh, there? Yeah, I split the different, a little bit more towards idle. You got it. Huh? Yeah, that's good. Sure. I mean, good? As the spotlight comes back to the blasphemous angel,

you rush away and her void face follows you. And you feel like if there could be a smile on that darkness, as the most protective measure for defending her friends has stepped beyond her reach. She spends a fear to arc her blade to the other ones that are within reach. You fake design! Just out? He did, he did.

That's an attack against you, against Idol. Well, no, you're out of the way, sorry, against Misty, against Screeve, and against six. Hey, no look, hit, mm-hmm, no face, get it. It's a natural 18. No, 19's a crit, so it's short of a crit. What did you say it was? A natural 18.

Oh, oh. So, but I believe that does hit you all with a 21. Uh-huh. Okay. Uh-oh. This might be it. This might be it. 20 points of physical damage to all three of you.

Shoo! I should have gotten closer. I should have stayed near Misty. I think that takes me out. I think that takes me out too. Okay, so that's my severe is 18, but I have one armor slot, so I'm gonna use that. So that'll drop me down the major, which is too,

which is out. Do I have anything? Do you have any magical magic anything? Let me just, let me just. a blessed branch. There's nothing there. Doesn't just keep me alive. Like Wrixon's over there with me, right?

Correct. This, holy hand grenade. Be sure to use that. Wrong side. Shit. Do I have anything? I don't have anything. That's it.

Are you rolling for it? Are you gonna roll for it? Are you blazing glory? Okay, so you're at zero hit points now. You're at zero hit points. I have one healing potion in my pocket that I put in. I also have one healing motion. Nope.

No. You're also at zero. Oh yeah. You're out too. Oh yeah. With one massive swipe of the malediction axe, the blasphemous angel Eveliard, as the two of you back away,

you watch that void staring at Brixton, fire against darkness. And without breaking the attention, the axe floats in the air. Her hand just rifts and the axe carves through in a flash. And you watch his three friends all at once. begin to fall. So, we'll go around the table here.

I have a mechanical question. Mechanical question. Blaze of glory, if you've just narrated that I'm cleaved in half, do we rewind three seconds? The blade has caught you. Okay. Okay. It cut through you.

Then I'm going blaze of glory. He's so eager. I show up, die. I love it. He's got to get to a drive-thru. Yeah. Okay, then before we get to you, to you folks, what would you like to do?

to do a screen. Well, I would say that he saw the previous attack coming for him and was sure that it was about to happen, and then Brickston is there, and he immediately goes full. Private Ryan, fugue state slow motion, hearing damp down. Everything is blurred out, and he's looking to you and you dart away.

He sees the person that he wrestled with murdering the last three nights, looks around at everyone, the people that would have taken Adelia's place if this day hadn't happened. He looks up at her and sees her rearing back the weapon and he grabs hold of the Silverina's chest and rips it out. Like it me goosebumps immediately.

And then I'm going to, now it's like auto success for whatever move I do here, right? So I'm going, he, whips it like a discus at her throat. And I'm going to use the troublemaker ability. When you taunt or provoke a target within far range, make a presence roll against them. Once per se, on a success,

roll a number of D4 is equal to your proficiency. The target must mark stress equal to the highest result. Rolled. Oh, you're about to max out her stress, baby. Well, they all do max. It's an all amount of crit. So it's a four, because it's the best of both. so that's for stress.

That completely stresses out the blasphemous angel. So she can't heal. As the ring sticks in. And you hear this low guttural sound that's trying to escape. The silent angel is no longer silent and you see panic in its movements. Permanently vulnerable, unless it can smell marked.

That's so bad. And in that split second that the blade hits Screeve, his vision blurs even further and he can see the secluded chapel back in the amber reach that he found two or three stories down underneath the reach in a small darkened alcobe where he lined little stones and candles all around a stone slab that he lay Adelia's body on,

resting violet next to her and just smiles. as he feels his innards and sinks into the ground. That's fucking awesome. That was super dope. What do we do? What do you two do? That was way better. I have an idea.

Yeah, right? See? Yes, they was. I at least saved you from doing that. I got so impatient with everyone who went like, I don't know. I just wanted to do the opposite. Which you did. Until she's aided you.

Yeah. What are you doing? I'm gonna blaze of glory. I'm gonna blaze of glory. Double blaze. It's contagious. Well, no, I was already gonna do it before you said it. I did blaze.

Okay, so what I'd like to do. I'll instill this once again, like you're done after this. No matter where the battle goes, no matter where the story goes, you're done. This is an automatic doubt. Yeah. Okay, let's go. Yeah. Okay, so.

Wait, what, what do you mean? No matter where the story goes, you're done. Yeah, you're tapping out. Meaning if the battle continues, you can't help. You're dead. There's no way to recover. You're tapping out of the story for it. Yes, totally. We understand.

What do you mean dead? Yeah. If you die in the game, you die in real life. All right, so Ashley, what would you like your blaze of glory to be out? What I would love to do is I kind of want to just, I think Misty realizes that that this is, this is it. It's now we're never and if we don't complete this,

then Desper Lock is lost. So I sort of want to try something where, like with her, with all of her wings, I sort of want to just slam them to the ground so all of the wings that are left sort of kind of turn into points. Smash the wings against themselves in the ground, breaking off the stone to her once was soft looking feathers carved in, it is now just jagged points of rock.

Right, there was one jagged wing and now it's all jagged wings. You win Archangel from X-Men. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Hell yeah. Yes, yes. So sort of take a running leap and just all of them just carve them into her. And sort of, I want to look over at Brixton and. I've protected you for so long.

And now I protect you, get home. You are blessed this day. And I'm gonna look at Scrave and I'm gonna say, let's go to the next world and find Adelia in August. And I'm just gonna stab her with the wings and... With what weapon, what spell? I mean, I don't know. Just the wings I wanted to stab these things.

The wings are stabbing, but what mechanic do you want to use for the damage? The one that does the most damage, which I guess would be, I mean, is my wild flame. So can I stick my wild flame, like, pump them in through the wings? So what's the damage of the wild flame? It's 2d6 magic damage, and then, yeah, it's 2D6 magic damage. That's the most you can do? So I make a spellcast roll. But even your returning blade does 2D8.

I know, yeah. So I'll do two, I'll do that. That's 20. I'll do return blade. Okay, so. You don't roll. I don't roll. It's not 16 damage plus 2D8.

Correct. Oh yeah, what was I thinking? It's all good. There's a lot going on. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Okay. That's a cat. Okay, so 10, so 14, or do I add the plus 4?

Also on the second roll? No, you just have all. Okay, so 10, an additional 10. Additional 10 on that. Okay. That is, so if that would be a total of a total of, So if that would be a total of 26 damage. Yes.

Which now is a severe attack because a drop to. No, no, that's 16, 17, 18. So 20 plus 10, 30. It's 30 points of damage. So 16 plus would you roll on the dice? 16 plus 4. Okay, so 20. And then I rolled a 6 and a 4 on the dice.

I see, got you. Yeah. That is, then, that is a severe one. Okay. Which kills the magical choir. Yes. And does three hit points onto the angel. All right.

So as you leap in the air, having that moment of Brixton, right before you jump, shattered the wings and descend upon her and jam all eight of them into the angel's body. Seven now. Well, it's still a jagged point. Oh, that's true. That's true. That's true. All of them in there.

There's a moment to pause before. Blame burns and emits, blasting out from around them. The flames begin to rise up and burn around the angel and consume you in the process. What are you doing? Oh, boof, boof. Oh, God. We need a goat, man.

I know if I see, I'm so torn. Blaze of Glory seems real fun. I have a hell portion. But that would leave You two alone. I got one health potion. If you go down, I can get over there. It's almost. Where are you, where is Snix? It's almost selfish unless it works, but I don't, I don't have confidence that it's going to work. That it's going to take her out, you mean?

Yeah. And then it's just you two. What's in your heart, Sam? What would Snix do in this moment? And can I ask while he thinks to get from where idol is to Snix is, that even to go close distance would not be enough, right? You'd have to go far, which may require rolling and agility roll tickets there. Not a sure thing. You have a health potion. I do. So does she.

I also have a health potion. I have, but we're both all the fuck ass on the way. That is true. We are very fucking far away. There's also a potion hanging off of Screeves belt. It is a dealie's a stamina potion. But that's for stress. True. Just letting you.

You see it. What are you doing Snips? He's thinking. He's doing the beautiful mind shit. Do I just fall unconscious or do I roll for it? I'm not gonna blaze of glory. Yeah. I'm gonna either roll for it or just fall unconscious to give you guys a chance to have one other person.

Because we don't know how hurt she is, yeah. How bad are you? I still have four hit points, but no armor. What are you at? No armor, but five hit points. Oh shit, you guys are doing good. You each could take. Yeah, I had two health points.

That means you guys could take one more. And then I still have a health potion. He still has a help potion. I'll just roll for it. Oh my gosh. God. Yeah, you got it? You got it?

Do you roll for it? Oh, yeah. Let's go. No! Sam, Sam, before you roll. Oh, no. Before you roll. Before you roll.

What did it? I didn't see. I didn't see it. I didn't see it. I didn't look. I didn't see. It's real, yep. Yeah, so self, yeah.

I didn't look. I'm spitting. I'm spitting so much. Oh, he's coming over. He's coming over. This whisper brought to you by all this fucked up shit right here. Oh, no. How's that, how's that, how's that, it was it, I missed the first time of what you said.

It's better with dagger heart. Oh, shit. You guys, the swamp crack is real right now. Yeah. Oh, yeah. It's not. You know, sometimes it's a little too familiar, but yeah. All the stress gathers in the crack. I'm still gonna roll.

Oh yeah? I love it. What do you? Let's go. We'll learn about it in the cool down. Let's go. We'll learn about what he heard in the cool down. There goes, there goes, there goes. Oh!

Oh! Oh! No! And then there were two. Stakes. Plus my rally, Doc. Wait, Loserrella and I made it a crit. You can't add to the other than this one.

But. Oh no. It's just rolling. Snicks. Describe to me what goes through your mind in these final thoughts as you watch your friends around grabbing onto what light they can in growing darkness. You see the flicker of flame as Misty is up

wrestling this terrifying angel. To protecting your friends from the depths of oblivion, you see Screeve still clutching his spilling innards, the last gasps of strength, showing a bloody grin curling across his face. What goes through your mind? They're down. At least there's still three of us, right Snicks?

Oh no. Oh no. Have I doomed my friends? Wow. This could be bad. I would say that growing in a friend. up in this era, in the age of umbra, it's so bleak, it's so dark. There's no hope anywhere. It's been all of our lives. But over the last few days, I think we've all seen that the

darkness is but a facade. It's just, it's covering, there is hope. It's just under the surface, just under the dirt and grime. We've seen it. in the forest that got reborn. We've seen it in people we've met along the way. We've seen it in each other and in the divinity that has reached out and touched us. And seeing the light in my friends and also seeing this holy branch that I'm holding. I know that even though it's a dark place and a scary place, there is hope and what we've done will bring hope back to Desper Locke, and I'm happy with that. You turn, watch as Snicks, holding the branch in his hand,

smiles as his torso slides off at the hip. And a raccoon comes up and bites my body. To jacch and jacchoo! Screeve. Misty, how do you want to do this? Your combined blazes of glory were enough to kill the angel. Wait, what? Is that for real?

Did you know that? Yes. Oh! He still chose to roll for it. That's the player, doing what it was. I love it. You knew that we would have been enough? Yes.

Oh, Sammy. That's hot. That's hot. Wow. I think that Screeve could. could sense how far we had pushed her. And by ripping that ring free, he just meant to send her reeling back

so that one of his friends could seize the opening to finish her off. As the ring still stuck in the throat, you watch as Misty engulfed in her own flames, pushing deeper into it, the angel reaches out and grabs Misty, the song from your wings, this loud, beating, angry, burning song, mixing with her terrible, discordant, angelic screams.

And you watch as the angel grabs you Misty, and you both crush into each other, folding into the void of her face, the wings and the stone. Emits as a scattering of stone and bone explodes throughout the chamber. The remaining disciple clatters to the ground, and everything goes quiet.

That's where we're going to take a break. We're back here in just a few minutes. See you soon. Awesome. Awesome. 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.