Critical Role - The Unforgiving City | Age of Umbra Episode 6 Part 1

Episode Date: July 17, 2025

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

Hey there Critter Podcast listeners! We have a special new membership service at Beacon.tv, where you get early access to all new podcast episodes, including Critical Role for the first time ever. Beacon members also get things like live event presales, merch discounts, access to a private community discord, and new exclusive series like Critical Role Cool Down. Think of it as our digital Critical Role Land. Head on over to Beacon.tv to check it out for yourself and start a 7-day free trial. Thank you so much for your support, for being a podcast listener, and for being part of

our community. Hey there, Critters. This is Ashley Johnson. And Taliesin Jaffe. And we're popping in here to talk about our new podcast on Beacon, Weird Kids. In this series, we're diving into our lives as former child actors, from unraveling our eccentric upbringings to embracing all the delightfully odd interests we still have today. We're covering so many topics like antique toys, taxidermy, Japanese pop culture, and honestly,

anything else we come up with. Weird Kids is available exclusively on Beacon, but good news, we're offering a one month free trial on beacon.tv so you can take a look before you become a member. Just use the code weirdos at beacon.tv to start the trial. You can also find fellow weirdos by following the series on our

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

one of the episode right now, and part two arrives the following Tuesday. If you'd rather get instant and ad-free access to the full episode, consider becoming a Beacon member where you can watch bonus content like the cast discussing each episode and Critical Role cooldown, receive Critical Role shop discounts, including on Daggerheart, and much more. Sign up now at beacon.tv. And that should cover it. Now before we jump in for tonight, for Age of Umbies, Marisha, you got an announcement. Yes, you guys. Critical Role Cooldown, our Beacon-exclusive aftershow, has had some really awesome little discussions after Age of Umbies. not only getting into the story, the world, and characters, but also like

debriefing about how Daggerheart plays in general. If you're not familiar, we have a show called Cooldown. It's exclusive to Beacon. You should watch it. You can hear our feelings on death moves, combat flow, and you know, how we all share the narrative with Matt and how just incredible he is. In fact, if you haven't watched any of Cooldown and you've been interested, we are giving new and returning Beacon subscribers a free month to check out these after shows as well as all the other perks and content that Beacon holds.

So just go to beacon.tv slash join and use code coolumbra through the end of July to watch all of the Age of Umbra cooldowns as they release. It's good fun. Yeah. Yeah. I believe that concludes our announcements. So let's go ahead and jump in to tonight's episode of The Age of Umbra. Okay. Woo! ["The Age of Umbra Theme"] I'm sorry. The The The End Welcome back to the Age of Umbra.

Before we jump into our session, when we did our cooldown after the end of the last episode, we recalled that I had forgotten the number of you who had fallen unconscious in the previous episode. We forgot to roll for your possible scars in which you roll your hope die, and what you roll is equal to or lower than your current level, you permanently cross out a hope.

So we did that in the cool down, but for those who haven't seen it, you rolled for yours, you permanently cross out a hope. So we did that in the cooldown, but for those who haven't seen it, you rolled for yours, you were fine. You rolled twice, once was fine, one was not. And as such, Misty now has a permanent hope slot crossed out. But in the Age of Umbra, you get plus one to all damage rolls for each scar that you have, so you're just a little bit more deadly. Fueled by trauma. Indeed. However, though.

Damn little. So. Last we left off, you all were fleeing from the Screaming Forest and suddenly were stopped at the edge of a recently erupting, ever-shifting sinkhole that had stopped you in your tracks while something had been notified of your recent presence and was giving chase.

Mother, the matriarch of the hive beneath the forest, and the one responsible for the unique mutations that make up August, assumed that she could clean you out and drag you back to the hive for her own experimentations. The battle was hard fought, and many of you fell multiple times, and it got very hairy.

However, before she could truly flee, she was struck down, and with that, you rent from near her corpse the massive glaive that she used in that struggle, which is now wielded by Eidol, as well as at least a momentary bit of comfort to know that the Screaming Forest is slightly less dangerous for the time being.

You then left the forest and came to the Amber Gate. You took a long rest there, had some strange visions, and upon waking, stepped into Amber Reach itself. You decided amongst the various paths that you could take towards your destination to head westward, past the Drowned Sprawl, into the Ashclaw Quarter, then onward into the Cinnabar Quarter,

past the Astro Foundry, and then eventually to the Barrow of Blind Repose. Entering the water-sunken district, known as the Drowned Sprawl, you had to leap from rooftop to rooftop, while spirits from the past began to manifest, beginning to recall and reenact the ancient riots that set fire to this city after the apostasy.

Some of these spirits took notice of you. You battled with a number of them, while some of you dove into the waters and began to uncover secrets from that moment of the past and convinced them to look away, eventually breaking what held these spirits to your presence here in the sprawl, and battered, jumped and swam your way to the edge of the district, climbing onto the base

of the Ashcall Quarter. Here, looking up, this crumbling mountain of cracked cobblestone and winding stairways around ever-taller academies and institutions, slowly crumbling, with the passage of age, just rise before you. At its apex, you can see the mighty university fortress, known as the Selzian Athenium.

It looms like a lone survivor against the shaded spaces and dark that surround it. The distant fiery sacred pyre burning for one of its reinforced towers. The one little spark of light and safety. Impossible promise, should you make it. As you all catch your breath, trying to dry your bodies soaked,

those that fell into the murky, thick waters, eventually try and shake it off, You gather yourselves, prepare for what's ahead of you. What would you like to do? I'm going to go steal the fire from that pyre and get out of here. That would be much easier, probably. Pyreheist, Pireheist. I'm going to pull out the piece of fabric, the piece that was wrapped up, and try to see what it is.

So as you unbundle this waterlogged fabric, it seems somewhat hydrophobic. The water falls off of it for the most part. It's drier than you'd expect it, and as you shake it out, it is a piece of quilted armor. It's a tunic that is very well crafted. Something that you also see has emblazoned on it one of the Veiled God's symbols, ones that you don't necessarily recognize. But you get why in the midst of that conflict in which

heretical judgment was being thrown about in the riots, why such a symbol was being hidden within the temple by that individual. But you do discover this. SAM and MARISHA and SAM and MARISHA and Tiberius's soft armor is now at yours or somebody's disposal, should somebody wish to use it. ASHLEY and MARISHA and ASHLEY and brings her thresholds up. Or to eight to 18, which is great.

Your armor score up. You gain a plus two bonus to rolls. You make to move silently. But check it, the bottom part's the most interesting. Armor utilized by the high real scouts of the Ordinate Crest. Ooh. You could pretend to be somebody

you're not even more with official merch. I mean, my armor's really bad. I feel like... You keep dying. Yeah. Yours is... No, but your... How many armors lost? Look, your damage threshold is... I mean, mine is also very low, but yours is...

You built a shitty character. What else is new? This is not how you play this game. Don't listen to him! I did! No! Fine, I'll take it. Give it to the killer!

Does it say what god it is on the paper? Tyrus, soft armor. You don't need it. You already did. If you change your appearance to wear this stuff, you're gonna have to make really kick ass like deceptive roles. She doesn't recognize the name, but you do. Are you high in deception? No. Being one who has been in the proximity.

Are you high in deception? Yes, that's my highest. Ah. Ah. Ah. Ah. For one who's been in the proximity in Desperlok to the various researchers and shreds of past faith that you've had fascination

and a growing personal interest in. Tyrus is the name of one of the Veiled Gods. Tyrus. Is one of the names of the Veiled Gods. But do I know anything about the god? Make an instinct roll. Would I have learned anything about it from my family as well during my license?

In just a second, we'll do your instinct roll. Would I have learned anything about it from my family as well during my lessons? Just a second, we'll do your instinct roll and then you can do a knowledge roll if you like. Brixton, tell us about the Old Gods. Well, you see, can I use Historically Inspired to add to this? Yeah, if you want to spend a hope to help you, go for it. As my experience. Would you like one of the five pencils I have over here?

Yeah, I used to have a bunch and I'm all gone. I keep stealing this. Okay. Six, nine, 13. Yeah, well, we're almost out of this. Knowledge? This is instinct for you. Actually, no, you've studied on this.

This would be knowledge. 14 with hope. 14 with hope, okay. Take a hope. Best you can recall, okay. Take a hope. Best you can recall, Tyrus was a veiled god that was primarily known for the protection of family and hearth. They were one of the veiled gods that,

as opposed to being a defender and a protector, they were one that swallowed the dark that would threaten to creep into your home and safe spaces. So in its own right, a somewhat dark and strange god without context, like many of the Veiled Gods were, beheld as beautiful entities,

but most of their presence was almost a negative to the mantles that they promoted. And Tyrus was indeed a dark shadow being amongst the gods, but from that shadow was the bastion that held it at bay. Interesting. Okay. This is a good omen. It is?

Mm-hmm. Would anyone like to take a look at it? I think it's for you. You got it, you should wear it. I'll take a look at it. Take a look at it. I mean, it would be useful for anyone. And above table, the Hyreal Scouts of the Ordnance Crest.

This is an old-timey, before-the-fall order. Oh, yeah. The Grand Ordnance were probably the same generation as the Ghosties we saw. But if someone sees you wearing it, are they going to be... since they were trying to keep that hidden? The ghosties will be there. You don't know. That was 100 years ago.

So it'd have to be somebody who's pretty well studied to recognize it. Okay. Or at least somebody who is faithful within the old ways to recognize the symbol. I feel like this would let my skin breathe the way I'm accustomed to. Yeah, it would cover up your circle. Yes.

Can't get a tug in so easily. A tug in? What? Yeah, he grabs it with his, he grabs it with his left hand. Tinky. Oh, yeah. He likes to tug.

I didn't know if he was trying to get a casual tug in. Yeah. Whenever possible, I'll get it. Quick little. What was that? He'll pull on the ring. Yeah, what was the hand get it. Quick little. What was that? Pull on the ring. Yeah, what was the hand gesture there? Just a little.

It's very much like roller-coaster. Yeah, that's what I was doing. There you go. Oh boy. I'll take a little pinky underneath. Yeah. Oh god. Okay.

Would you like this? No, I'm good, I'm good. Violet could wear it. It's Misty's. Okay. Would you like this? No, I'm good, I'm good. Violet could wear it. It's Misty's. You found it. I think I will put it on. It looks so good over the top of your stone.

I think it will, I think it will. And I think I will put it on and it'll look great. And I will very much enjoy having a little bit more health. So, because this is armor four, and I only have two armor shields left, do I just go up to four? How many did you have spent? Three. I have spent one.

Right. Oh. So, because my armor is three, so I had spent one, so what would that? But it would be a new armor? Putting on new armor? That's a good question, actually. I don't think I had confirmed that, so. Well, look into it.

Hmm, hmm. What's in the book? Because I can do this. Because this is a new game. Will you look in that book and see if there's anything I can do to lower my stress? Ah. Ah.

Ah. Yeah, take a rest. Not in the game. Just in general. Just in general. Oh, if I knew. Stay here at this table. You'll never be here. Does the book have any more stamina potion?

I can make one in our nephron. So that armor is gigantic. It's the size of a field tent and will really only fit you, Misty. Can we only make them during long rests? Short rest is fine. Just whenever you take a rest, actually. Oh, any downtime. Any downtime. Should we take a them drink long rests? Short rest is fine. Oh, any downtime. Should we take a short rest right now?

This is the area where most of the monsters are. But perhaps they won't see us. How long is a short rest? Short. Assuming an hour-ish? I can't find the rule off me and I don't want to sit here and do it. I'm gonna say for the purposes of this,

it is new armor. So you can change it out, but you can't just quickly, you know, change the armor. It'll take you a minute to do so. Oh, so we should take a short rest while she changes her armor. If you'd like to.

That works out well, I think. Yeah. Let's do that. Yeah. Is this a safe place to do that? I will look for it. I will try to find the safest using Slyborn, advantage on rolls to find a safe place to hide. Go ahead and make an instinct roll for me with advantage

to see if you can find a place nearby that would be the safest. As we stand here, I notice Misty. Yes? What's that new scar you seem to have on your arm? If you would like to describe how your scar has manifested itself upon you. I think that in the battle of fighting with a stone statue, I do think I'm missing one of my top

wings. You're missing a wing? I mean, I have four sets. Wait, four sets of wings? And now she's missing one? You're going to fly all fucking crooked. That's what I was trying to do, because Taliesin showed me the biblically accurate angels and they horrified me. So I was like, this is what I'm gonna do. Yeah, so I think her top, so she has two, no, I think one full wing. So three wings on the, yep, break it off. No!

Break it off. Break it off, break it off. Yeah, so I think her top left. So as your illusory form that you had placed upon yourself upon traversing the sprawl vanishes, you can see the snapped wing that in the chaos of fleeing and resting has managed to chip and fall away from her stone. I've lost my soprano notes.

So you have a jagged, sharp-chipped spike. Unless I do. Would you like to run your finger along the side of it? I also have a broken horn thing. What happened to you? Oh, just life. So Screef, what'd you want? What happened to you? Oh, just life. TRAVIS and SAM and MATT and SAM laugh. Did it just, just? So Screeve, what'd you want?

I got a 20 with fear. My dice are appropriately cursed at this table. So, Screeve keeps an eye out to find a safe space for you guys to rest and take your momentary reprieve. You step over into what looks like an overhang of a higher level banister, like a railing that protrudes from the stone of the first proper level of the Ash Call.

You all scurry underneath. You can hear the foot scraping of stone from above and this distant low gurgling growl that every now and then peaks out, like a creature communicating with a language you don't understand in the far distance. You haven't taken a moment to get a good look at what's ahead of you beyond just the shapes of these massive structures to climb and eventually rise to,

but you have a brief moment to recover. So now you can take your short rest, of these massive structures to climb and eventually rise to, but you have a brief moment to recover. So now you can take your short rest, if you'd already marked it, because you were impatient, that's okay. I did too. Mine are standing. Mine didn't take much short rest.

You made it, oh my god, thank you. Yeah, me neither. You now take your short rest, you can change out your armor, and I will say that'll allow your slots to... To, okay. To fill in. a short rest. You can change out your armor, and I will say that'll allow your slots to... To, okay. To fill in. So short rest. So would that be one of my actions, then?

Switching out the armor? No, I'm just letting you do that as part of this right now. Until I can look up the rules specifically. New game, still learning the minutia myself, too. Indeed. But, so is anybody taking watch? Or do you leave it to fate? And that means you don't?

You get to roll your Hulk dice for one of your actions, and you can choose to use yours or mine. And you're trying to roll high. Right, but so does that mean I don't do one of my upkeep steps? Correct. I will, I'll take watch because I was only bad in one department, not multiple.

Okay, go for it. So, I'm not gonna roll. This asshole's gonna sit over here. Here we go. I'll take mine. What's yours? Nine. Nine, very well.

As you want. What's yours? Mine was a seven. Oh. G well. As you all. Bowsers! Mine was a seven. Oh. Oh. Gamble's got to know. Exactly. So as you all settle here, catching your breath,

you can still see past the mists and fog of the drowned sprawl, the little flickering blue lights of the various ghosts and spirits that blink in and out. Through the water, above the water. And you hear the shifting above. Whoa! Fucking hell! I was ready for that one.

That's what I thought. You were. You got me. Heavy footfalls that get heavier than softer. Something large, patrolling the region above, the path you're looking to take, unseen, just heard and felt. It shakes you all to your core as I gain one fear. From that one. But I still get to roll a d4 to see what else I get.

That's going to be two more. I'm going to come out of here with 11 fear, which I still get to roll a d4 to see what else I get. That's going to be two more. I'm going to come out of here with 11 feet, which I'm not sure. Just take the last one, why not? Just fuck it. No, I want to earn it. Just close it. Yeah. But with your actions taken, the brief reprieve, allowing you to steady yourselves,

your new protective armor intact. What would you like to do? Well, they've been trying to get a pyre festival going in this quarter for years, but it always falls apart. I heard the guy who's running it, he was locked away for a long time. And then they let him out and then tried to do it again, and that also fell apart. And anybody that signed up for the second time. It's true. And then they let him out and then tried to do it again.

That also fell apart. And anybody that signed up for the second time was just an asshole. Just chokes on him. Yeah. The situation was much better. The Sealed Selzian Athenium. It's an ancient university, stronghold. Do we go in or do we go around? Do we have to go through?

There's lots of monsters in this area. They seem to be drawn to it, haven't you noticed? But it's safe, everyone can go inside. If they'll let us in. It could take us some time before we even get there. Oh, yes, I'm sure it's very safe. Might be our best bet for a long rest. Just so you're aware, too,

the path to get to the Athenium, which is at the top of this district, is winding up a series of rising levels. It's like climbing up a series of switchback streets and the various structures that rise up it. The path to escape into the Cinnabar Quarter is alongside the Athenium. LAURA and MARISHA and SAM and LAURA and SAM and LAURA and SAM and So we have to go there anyway? Unless you want to double back and pick another up.

Hell no. No. We go up. We climb. We go up. Onward hoe. Who are you calling? Myself. Oh, you're sort of taking power in the name. I'm taking power over my body.

Yeah. As the hoe. As you step from the safety of shadow, you are now exploring the Ashclaw quarter. Because as you step from the safety of shadow, you are now exploring the Ashclaw Quarter. So I place on here, as part of your dangerous ascent, both of these, there's a progress counter and there is a consequence countdown. As you traverse this, your successes and attempts

to get safely through this region will work towards your progress. Your failures or fears will work towards the consequence counter. So, who is helming the first leg of this journey and what are you doing to help ensure your safety as you move? I can do it. I'm very good at avoiding monsters.

And maybe I can lead the way. Okay, so you want to peer through the mists towards the parts of the rising ridges and the expanded platforms and the stairways that wind up along this rising cliff face of the entire corridor for the best path forward and the safest path forward. I would like for you to roll an instinct roll for me.

Are the streets full? You haven't started climbing. Do you want to keep an eye out? Yes, please. I'd like you to also make an instinct roll. Can I use my experience? They mostly come at night? Yes, you may, if you want to spend a hope to do so.

Is it night? No, it is late afternoon. But it's about monsters. Okay, gotcha. 15. 13 with hope. 13 with hope. So you take a hope hope and yours was with?

Fear. With fear, okay. What was yours for? 15, just to see if the streets were empty or full or? Okay, so. You take a hope, I don't take a hope. Correct, so for you, over here, Adelia, looking up and peering on the path, you begin to lead the troop up

around one of the bottom-most wide staircases. There's multiple heavy spiral staircases that are 10 feet, 15 feet wide, that rise up. Two of them are partially collapsed, and at the top you can see a group of devils hanging over the top, like, looking out, one of them has a massive, looks like a pike with some sort of an arm,

like an untethered arm just speared on it that's dangling, its fingers half-rotted, and appearing out, so you move them around successfully, bringing the troop up a third through the corridor as you maneuver around and find one open region. The next higher platform here has a large marble surface where it looks like perhaps there might have been celebration or events that were held here in once grandiose period

of time, but now you can see the marble is cracked and there was an open expanse in which you were both exposed, but there doesn't appear to be anything immediately present. But you grab the rest of the troop and you wait for a moment to hear from no movement, no sound, and you all rush through. You hear another distant boom in the pattern of walking, and instead of stopping, you just rush to the nearby side, but nothing seems to react to your presence,

so that is a successful first leg of the journey. You, keeping an eye out with a hope, you look around to see where the source of that was, and as you rush past this marble opening there, you careen around the side to what looks like a gazebo, like a beautiful, tall 20-foot gazebo that is cracked on top and looks like bits of glass, like sunglass that were built on the side

that has shattered and cracked and fallen to the floor around you. You slide and catch yourself there and look up and you hear this distant geh-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h to notify its brethren or all other things that exist in this quarter that you are present. Careful, we may have been spotted in the air. Brixton, is there any veiled gods that we can pray to for guidance or protection?

You know about this stuff. Yes, well, ironically, the armor that Misty just found from Tyrus sees technically the god of protection and hope. It's strange just being here in this Halcyon domain. And back in the olden times, he was looked at as an intimidating figure, but maybe perhaps his presence is far more suited for the times we live in now.

I find comfort in shadow. And that was his aesthetic, as the kids say. That's at this point, as you're talking about this, that part of the gazebo you're hiding in crumbles from under your foot. A piece of the somewhat broken terrain all of a sudden falls from underneath, and you just barely keep your hands on the side

before you watch as Eidol falls down below and ends up stumbling into a platform beneath. Heavy impact. You hit the ground, not enough to damage you, but enough to knock the wind out of you for a second. And now the rest of you are up above and about 20 feet down is Eidol separated as I use the waning structure to separate your group. Also, because you had rolled with fear to bring it back to me as part of an action, the echo. Sorry, you rolled with fear. No, sorry, I misused that., as you see him plummet down there, and Eidol for a moment isn't even visible

except for just the slightest bit of light that creeps through from the nearby bit of moon that barely peeks through the clouds, you feel the echoes of anxiety wash over you, and you lose hope. Lose hope. This area. I'm going to fly on down to Idle. I would like you, sorry,

to explain to me how your fears manifest in your vision and memory as you feel the hope fade from you. I remember escaping from my home and I was alone and I had to hide in the tunnels underneath. It was very scary. I heard stomping above, things falling from the roof. I was afraid it was going to get me. And Violet, I couldn't sleep. I don't know how long I was there before. Before Scree. Oh, sweet. You notice that Delia, whispering to herself, almost living through a recollection, her hands shaking. The one darkened hand itself,

blackened with whatever strange magic transferred from the box that you carried, quivering next to it, and she shakes free from it. As Idle, you pick yourself back up and find yourself in some partially collapsed subterranean chamber. Adelia, are you praying, as Snick suggested? Would you like to pray? Are you praying, as Snick suggested? Um...

Would you like to pray? Sure. Yes. Good night, sleep tight. Don't let the bedbugs bite. And if they do... Then, um, I hope they eat me quickly. Quick.

That was a good prayer. Thank you. Amen. Amen. I'm just going to saunter over a little and put a couple of my wings out. I'm sorry. Thank you. I'm glad you're sorry to her,

I just fell in this fucking hole. Oh, I knew it was going on there. That's okay, I'll take my divine powers and I'll light up my bone hooked glaive because I have no fucking teammates and I light up the subterranean area to try and see what's around. Wait, Eidol, stay put, there are things down below.

Argus, can you fly down and get him? Oh yes, one moment. I'm going to take my, gonna fly down into the cavern. Wait, wait, we should, okay, I don't know what's down here. Looking around. I'll come back. How far, can we still see? It's about 20 feet.

Not terribly far. Yeah, and you hit the ground and like, ooh. They're lost. Definitely dead. Anything to see down there before we get out of here? It's like I can stay here. Glancing around here, it looks like this was a larger subterranean hall that has mostly fallen in

from what looks like part of the interior rock of this built-out hill that it was constructed on had slid into it. So not much is visible beyond just this collapsed period in this maybe 35, 40 foot wide space. Cool. Fly down. I'm going to cast an arcane door.

Oh. Actually, I don't mind arcane door. Oh. Oh, yeah. I don't mind being under something. Scrave, why don't we take the tunnels? Sure, I don't want to push this little party in directions they didn't want to go in. I don't think there are any tunnels, Dan. Are there tunnels? You can go ahead and search if you'd like.

I think I just fell in a hole. Our tunnels were to the east of here, but there must be catacombs beneath the church. Look for something real quick. Can I search around a little bit and see if there are? A lot of light. Yeah. Okay, so you go ahead and build the light of the space. With more light in the vicinity, you go ahead and begin

to search for other means of egress from this chamber. Go ahead and roll an instinct roll for me, if you don't mind. I have darkvision, so can I assist? Do you want to spend hope to do so? Yeah, I'll assist. Awesome. Spend that hope. To help an ally.

Like a heart. To help with the terminal. Out of five. What was the roll, again? As instinct. 21 of five. What was the roll again? As instinct. 21 with hope. 20, 26. Nice. Counts down the progress to a two.

Glancing about inside here, this chamber, you feel pretty confident, is locked solid. There doesn't seem to be an additional way out of here. This just looks like an unfortunate collapse at your moment of reprieve. So looking about, you feel confident that you can move on from here.

And with your help, you emerge back onto the top point. With the rest of you waiting, keeping an eye out. You begin to pray as well. Just a hoe. Just a hoe. I figured. Maybe you should start to pray also, Eidol. Do you have a favorite of the old gods?

Nick, wet neck, knick-knack, tally-whack, give a dog a bone. These old gods, shooby-gone. Shoooby-gone? Shoooby-gone. SAM and MARISHA and SAM and LAURA and SAM and SAM and LAURA and SAM and SAM and LAURA and That's it. Amen.

A shuddering chill washes over your shoulders at your improper, profane attempt to expend a fear to mark a stress on you. As some of the dark curse that sits on this quarter seems to either playfully enjoy your blasphemy or punish you for the way you lean into it. You're uncertain. Ah, sacrilege.

Ooh. We should keep going. We should keep going. We should keep going. All right, for the next leg of this climb, who is helping and how? Regardless, I'm going to scoop underneath the deal and lift her up onto my shoulders, hold her little hands.

None of it makes any sense, does it? Mm-mm. That's why it's best to find our sport where and when we can. Lean to the left. Lean to the right. Sorry, Idle. All right, I'll get out of your way. I figure I can take a stab at it.

Yeah. So I'm going to get a little distance, fly up, and see if I can start tracking the next leg from here. Okay. You glide up. The mist sits in the space, but there are shapes of things flying in the low clouds around here, so you do your best to keep perception available

in case something were to crawl closer towards you from the sky. Looking up, you can see the multitudes of layers that wind and switch back up the corridor itself. Go ahead and make an instinct roll for me. And then go ahead and make it with disadvantage. SAM and MARISHA and SAM and MARISHA and Because fuck you, specifically.

Fuck me specifically, yeah, that's fair. Come on. Uh, come on. I know. Keep looking, they'll change. Just staring and just smile. Just staring in disappointment. Maybe it'll change. Four with fear.

Wait, no, I'm so sorry, six with fear. Oh, wait a minute. Six with fear. Do you get to add anything? Yeah, two. Did you roll a six? I rolled a one with a negative one and then a four. That was just awful.

Why'd you take them both away? Because the event's done. Oh shit. You see, actually, up this next portion of the cliff, there is the rocky hill this is built on as it rises up, this small mountain. There are these switchback staircases that lead upward, and you can see these beautiful towers and these monumental structures that represent various houses of learning, where where once, at a point in time, this was probably a beautiful alabaster beacon of knowledge, history, learning. You can almost have this vision of the past,

and to see it fallen as it is, it's also impressive that it stood strongly this time in the face of all of this decay. But you follow the path that you can see indeed, if we go this way, this way, this way, and we go through this massive archway that leads upward. That gets us through the secondary wall, and hopefully beyond that, that can get you to the fortress,

to the Lyceum itself. You found it, August! Mm, did he find it? Mm. You let the rest of the Mm. Did he find it? Mm. You let the rest of the team know, and you all begin to clamber up around. Other creatures growl beyond the way, and you stay low. You head around the base of one of the massive structures

and begin to head up the sense of staircase. And as you get halfway up to where the large archway sits, you would saw a shadow begins to loom out of it. A massive 20, 25 foot humanoid shape lumbers through and you hear this. What? Vrooom. Oh my god, every fucking time!

I heard a little too much. Oh my god, every fucking time. Rocks rattle and tumble down the cliff face and scatter on the ground around you. As it emerges some lifeless or corrupted skin, smooth, stretched, wide shoulders with metal bolts in them with chains wrapped and dangling, where the extended small head would be a metal cage of dark iron as affixed and wrapped around it. As it leans and stumbles, one shoulder into the side of this arch, part of it cracking in the process, it steps forward with its other leg and you see what the chains wrap around and dangle from one arm. The other one has, built and empty. As it stands there, it gives out this heavy, bassy, baleful cry that echoes loudly out into the space, calling forth whatever may have heard it. Give me just a minute. Oh no. Oh no. Oh no.

Oh no. Oh no. Oh no. Oh no. Oh no. Oh no. Oh no. Oh no.

Oh no. Oh no. Oh no. Oh no. Oh no. Oh no. Oh no. Oh no.

Oh no. Oh no. Oh no. Oh no. Oh no. Oh no. Oh no. SAM and LAURA and SAM and LAURA and SAM and No. As you all have gotten partway up the switchboard. Come on! Who was it that fell? Which one of us? I think it was Eidol. Eidol, that's all he does. Almost there.

There he is. You almost got it. There he is. I'm the dis-fibrillator. I can't check him. Oh, wow! He's so cool! Can't check him. Oh, shit. Oh, wow! Oh, he's cool! He's so cool.

That's cool, Caleb. I kind of love him. That's kind of cool. Is that a cage on his head? Yes! A cage on his head. And he gets spikes coming out of his back. He's got a cage on his back.

Oh, he looks so uncomfortable. He's got a cage hand. Poor guy. Not the bees. If we remove the cage, he'll come out. It roars out into the space around you, and you know at least this has spotted you and other things may be coming.

What do you do? Maybe we can push him down the stairs. We're so low to pushing this. Where are we? It's a terrible idea. We do have to get through that. This is the path you had seen that would head towards the inner wall on the outside of the Athenian.

I feel like any time we try to run, it's backfired. Have we ever tried to run? Well, we tried. Kind of. I'm going to take off running up the stairs. Close there. If you want to go for a far, you can go ahead and make an agility roll to see if you can go the full length on that.

Thank you much. Oh no, he's doing it. Get a hope so we can all run. That's a crit! Yes! Clear a stress, take a hope, and that'll get you up to that point on the stairs before your rushing. The rest of you watch as Eidol goes into a full sprint up around the curve of the top of the stairs

across the center pathway and starts heading most of the way up the second set. And there you arrive. Anything else you want to do while you get there? Get off the axe! I'll send a beacon bolt just as I arrive just to try and light them up. You got it, go ahead and roll for that beacon bolt.

Light them up. This is a spell cast roll. It's 10, 11, 12, 13, shining a light in the dark, 14, 15, 15 with hope. 15 with hope, take that hope and that just hits. Just hits? Yes. 15 just hits, okay. Good to know. So go ahead and roll damage on that.

D8, that's a one. Two ones, plus two four. Four points of magical damage. Look at that. That's fine. It takes a minor wound, as one hit point is marked, however it is currently. Two ones.

Vulnerable. Yes. And is this like a sheer cliff face around us? It's not sheer. Like off the edge? Oh, off the edge here? No, like the rocky elements continue outward. I just can't build a map of this. No, for sure.

And then carry it outward. Okay. Seeing if we can push them. I'd love to fly up. Those are all neighborhoods and things around here. You can try and, if you want to try and push them off down there, there is like, some creatures would still fall and take damage maybe, or you know, things like that,

but there is no like, sheer cliff like some previous encounters. Not yet. Gotcha. I would love to try and take flight and head towards that little rock outcropping next to the tower. Okay, so you're spending a fear to take flight? Oh, I don't think I have to.

So you're not afraid of a strike, right? I think I can just take flight, can't I? As a fairy? Yeah, you can fly while flying. Yeah, you can fly. Oh, while flying you spend it to do a thing, that's what it is. Yeah.

Sorry, I'm just interested. So, no worries. All right, so. I'm gonna just head towards that little outcropping to get as far as I can, that is reasonable. Which way, which outcropping? The one next to the tower, yeah. Oh, gotcha, gotcha.

So, she's kind of on my way over there. Okay. So as you, she's about there for over there. Okay. So as you push about there for close range. Sure. And then I'm going to attack. I'm actually going to use my wand. I'm going to give a little pinprick and fire off a quick blast at that. With advantage, because let's do a little better than last time, shall we?

I know. Much better! That's really good. Okay, that's 12, 15, 21, 25 to hit. With? Magic. With hope. Oh, with hope.

I'm sorry. Please always know hope or fear. With magic. That's all good. I'm so used to fear, I didn't even like, yeah. No, fair. All right, yeah, that definitely hits. Go ahead and roll damage. All right. That's 2d6. There we are. That's seven points of damage. Okay. That is another minor wound to him.

I'm going to spend a fear to spotlight the Glom Tower Thrall. He's a Glom Tower Thrall? Now, the Glom Tower Thrall is a slow creature, so it's spotlighted and does nothing. Instead, I put a token on it, and the next time I activate it, it can go. So as you slam it, it's like, brrr. And that's his activation. Fucking Frank train. Yeah, so it's a slow moving creature. I feel like we're going to get hit by this thing. So wet and dirty, you guys might have noticed in

the last couple days I've been infested with small bugs. I know. I did not take them. SAM and LAURA and SAM and LAURA and SAM and they just fly around me in protection. I mark a stress to do that. You got it. And then I'm gonna move, just hop up a level and go. Up one step? No, no, no, like hop up. Oh, up here. Yeah, and then try to go up those stairs as much as I can.

But you get about there for close range. Beetles and crabs? The crabs don't protect me. Oh. Yeah. They're just for fun. SAM and MARISHA and TRAVIS and SAM and LAURA and SAM and MARISHA and SAM and TRAVIS and SAM and just start hitting. Well, I mean, I don't know. Or running, or whatever you want to do. I want to run, I want to run and get off of where we are. Then do it. Okay. Can I run up?

Stop talking about it. Okay, is it possible to run up and get behind this thingy right here? Like, not to the stairs, but. So you can get close range. If you want to try and hop up here, that is about a 10 foot jump and climb, so I will have to ask, because you want to try and hop up here, that is about a ten-foot jump and climb, so I will have to ask, because you're not a faun, unfortunately, I would ask you to make a

strength or agility roll to try and make that leap. Or you can take the stairs. The stairs will only get you about there. You can make a leap and I can try to catch you. I can't, I'm going to try to make a leap. You spend a hope to do that. You roll a d6 and you roll try to catch you. Cameron, can you help? I can try to make a leap, yeah. I spend a hope to help? You spend a hope to do that, you roll a d6, and you roll a strength or agility, your choice.

What is that? Wow, that was skill shot. Okay, 11, 16, 17, 18, 19. Plus two more. 21. Oh, no, I rolled a six. Oh, okay, that's fine. 19 no, I rolled a six. Oh, okay. That's fine. 19, but I rolled a fear.

Oh, you're the worst. So you do success. You run, you leap up, and you barely reach forward and grab her arm, pulling her up onto the platform. Ignore the beetles. Right as you get up, the massive thrall. I can't run anymore, I just did the leap and I can't move anymore.

Because it goes on a failure, it brings it to me. Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck. It was a success, but a fear. Oh sorry, it was a success with a fear. But yeah, so when a fear or a failure, it comes to me from the spotlight. So as you get up onto there, before you get a chance to even turn around,

the thrall turns and is going to activate. I'm gonna remove the token. So I can do that. Oh no. I'm in a cage again. Did you mean to just isolate yourself out in the open like that? No, yes.

I was drawing it to me. Is that what it looks like when you get it? And it's going to do cage the judged. Going to spend a fear. Cage the judged. Oh no, I don't like that. That's my cage the elephant cover band. I love two past tense words in an attack. Make an attack against those who are about to come over.

Oh, he's a big boy, he's good. It's gonna make a very close range on you. Yeah. Woof, that's a natural 18. That's a 21 to hit you. Yeah, oh yeah. All right. So. I have to watch Adelia get punted off this map.

Uh-uh. I think it's quite the opposite. You take 29 points of physical damage. Okay, listen. And you are restrained as it slams its armed cage upon you and it slams onto you and it pulls its arm back. The rock cracked and wrecked around it as it pulls it free.

It has snapped onto Adelia and you are now caught in its cage. Yes! Getting the cage. Wait, I gotta do the math here. So 29 points, you said? So my doubled is 24. That's four. That's four hit points.

Okay, I'm gonna try to use my Rune Ward to at least take it away from that. Okay. You don't have any armor left? I do have armor, so give me a second, I'm gonna Rune Ward this time. We're doing it stage by stage. Stage by stage. So I'm using Hope.

Rune Ward. Oh fuck. Okay, no that's a D8. Where's the fucking D8? Where's the fuck? Grab one of mine. Okay, that didn't do it, so I'm still 29, so it's still 26, holy shit!

Okay, so then I'm gonna use some armor and I'm gonna drop it down to, then it just drops to severe? Yeah. Oh my god. So wait, how much damage did she just take? 26? Knocked down to three.

Two armor, so I can at least drop it down to a minor, so I... Well, you can't spend more than one armor. 29 total? Wow. You can only spend more armor for each other. Okay, so. Bowser's. So I'm in...

You're bleeding in a cage. more armor for you. SAM and MARISHA and SAM and LAURA and SAM and You're bleeding in the cage. So I'm taking three hit points right now. Oh my goodness. Adilya, you need to pray harder. I already laid me down to sleep. You're going to spend a fear to activate off screen another sound. You have to catch your attention. Fast-paced, heavy

footfalls and what sounds like a chorus of moaning voices. as, I'll keep laughing. You can do it as much as you want. You get to laugh at yourself. As a massive clawed gray hand clumps onto the side of this tower and pulling ahead, you see I said a massive gray hand, so another giant is coming. a 25 foot tall demonic entity creeps around. Its vacant eye sockets and tooth-filled jaw

opening wide, wide enough to swallow one of you whole. Its horned crest of a crown curling up behind its head, massive spiked shoulder armor protruding from its shoulders, and as it pulls around, its corpulent, swollen body opens into an iron cage within, souls push against the bars, screaming and reaching out. Ah! As it begins to turn the corner, its offhand

cracks a massive whip of continued pieces of sharpened vertebrae that snap against the top of this tower and send it cracking and falling backwards. Whoa! What the fuck is that? Look at that big boy. Oh yeah. I like him nearly as much as the other one.

His spotlight was his arrival. It's back to you. Save point! Wait, what's the rival? He has skeletons in his tummy! His activation was his arrival. Save game, save game! That is cool looking.

I know, and can we save too late? We saved too late! This is not the point to save! Maybe we can get them, pit them against each other. I know, I was actually thinking that. About this reason. Go forward up the stairs and leap at the cage,

hanging from big boy number one's arm. Here? Yeah. Scriv, I hate being caged! She's in the cage, right? Yeah, she's in his arm. So, Scriv is going to leap to try to hang onto the cage, and then I want to use pick and pull. I have advantage. Well, first,

because you are leaping to the cage, that is an agility or strength roll to see if you can, since it is both moving and crossing a distance to go onto it. You got this, you got this. Can I use Creepy Climber, my experience? That's exactly what the experience is for. Spend the hope. Spend the hope.

Plus two, agility is a one. Come on, you little bastards. Shit, the fever is cocked. That was barely cocked. You should have just taken it. It was cocked! 14 with fear. Unfortunately. Then I'm going to use my human ability to reroll. Well, actually, that wasn't against his difficulty. This was you leaping. So I'll put that at a 12 difficulty,

since that's not a terrible thing to leap through. You succeed, but it is a fear. All right. Which means you leap and clasp onto the cage. Were you about to use adaptability? Yeah, cool, cool, cool. That's cool. May I continue to try to pick and pull in this moment,

or does it come back to you? Unfortunately, no, because of the fear, it comes back to me. Just a moment, be right with you. So you do successfully leap and grab onto the cage, MATT and SAM and LAURA and SAM and MATT and SAM and MATT and SAM and MATT and SAM and MATT and SAM and MATT and SAM and MATT and SAM and MATT and SAM and

MATT and SAM and MATT and SAM and seeing you on it, and is making a large arc with it. I'm going to spend a fear now to activate the Terrorgut. The Terrorgut? Yeah. What is wrong with you?

All right. This is going to step forward. Oh, he's fast. To the top there. He gets to move close range up to there. Look at the vertebrae! He might be a little bit closer to there, actually, from his full range. What creature's vertebrae is that? And is going to attempt to devour you. To devour me?

Yes. Oh, and you'll be in his belly? No, actually, sorry. The devour requires a... I'll give you that, get another fear, let's do it. Get you my belly. The Terror Gun is going to reach forward with its open hand and say, yeah, oh, I give up. A language you don't understand. No, I don't.

But you feel the intent. That's going to be a 17 to hit. Definitely hits. All right. So you, that's basically what it translates to. You take, all right, that's gonna be 20 points of physical damage. Great.

And you need to roll a strength reaction roll for me, please. You got it, strength reaction roll. That is 17, 18, 19 with hope. That is a success. You don't get any hope, because it's a reaction roll. That's okay, but he goes and reaches and the claws dig into you, and as he begins to pick you up, you just pull his claws and fingers away from you

and leap out of his grasp. Hit the ground on back on your feet. The souls reaching for you past the iron bars, like they're asking for help, or they want to consume what heat you have, you don't know. Are they souls or are they, they're souls? They're souls.

That's my activation. I burn two armor. I would like to try to release Delia from this cage before one or both of us gets squished. All right. So Pick and Pull, you have advantage on action rolls to pick non-magical locks. Maybe we can wait! Maybe we can tag team this!

The lock? Or the baddie? Wait, sorry. Before this happens, because I have to remember, I'm getting used to these things that I built. It does have, as part of its terrifying passive, when Terra Gut makes a successful attack, all PCs within far range lose a hope, and I gain a fear. Wait, all of us? Everyone within far range, which is... Sheet of paper.

So all of you lose a hope. Okay. That was what reminded me about that. So I'm going to try to open the cage. Okay. All right, so that is with advantage. And it's, is this agility or finesse? Finesse.

This would be finesse. So plus two and advantage. Stop fucking me. Lemon drop die. Fuck me again. Nine, ten, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15 with fear. 15 is exactly the difficulty. So you manage to find part of the cage. There is an odd iron latch that hooks past and holds in place. You get your blade and lift underneath, find the right lever of the fulcrum to pop it off, and it opens, and you onto the ground there, right beside

him, where you're standing. Do a barrel roll. At which point, I'm going to activate the Glamtowerall by winding up, and the cage is now open. I'm going to spend a fear to have him cage the Judge against you. As you're in the air, The cage is now open. It's empty. There's one massive swing towards you with the now open cage. That is 15? SAM and TALIESIN and SAM and MATT and SAM and MATT and SAM and MATT and SAM and SAM and MATT and SAM and and SAM and MATT and SAM and MATT and SAM and MATT and SAM and MATT and SAM and MATT and SAM and MATT and and SAM and MATT and SAM and MATT and SAM and MATT and SAM and MATT and SAM and MATT and SAM and MATT and

and SAM and MATT and SAM and MATT and SAM and MATT and SAM and MATT and SAM and MATT and SAM and MATT and and SAM and MATT and SAM and MATT and SAM and MATT and SAM and MATT and SAM and MATT and SAM and MATT and and SAM and MATT and SAM and MATT and SAM and MATT and SAM and MATT and SAM and MATT and SAM and MATT and SAM and and SAM and MATT and SAM and MATT and SAM and MATT and SAM and MATT and SAM and MATT and SAM and SAM and MATT and and SAM and MATT and SAM and SAM and MATT and SAM and SAM and MATT and SAM and SAM and MATT and SAM and SAM and MATT and SAM and and SAM and MATT and SAM and SAM and MATT and SAM and SAM and MATT and SAM and SAM and MATT and SAM and SAM and SAM and and SAM and SAM and MATT and SAM and SAM and SAM and MATT and SAM and SAM and SAM and SAM and SAM and SAM and SAM and and SAM and SAM and SAM and SAM and SAM and SAM and SAM and SAM and SAM and SAM and SAM and SAM and SAM and SAM and SAM and SAM and

and SAM and SAM and SAM and SAM and SAM and SAM and SAM and SAM and SAM and SAM and SAM and SAM and SAM and SAM and SAM and SAM and SAM and SAM and SAM and and SAM and SAM and SAM and SAM and SAM and SAM and SAM and SAM and SAM and SAM and SAM and SAM and SAM and SAM and SAM and SAM and SAM and SAM and SAM and SAM and SAM and SAM and SAM TALIESIN. Don't make that face, that's not cool. MATT. 27 points of physical damage. TALIESIN. I'm going to spend a shield to mark that down to major damage. MATT. You are plucked from the air and are currently now inside his cage. SAM. Rage gauge. SAM and MARISHA and SAM and the cage. MARISHA and SAM and the cage. SAM and MARISHA and the cage. SAM and MARISHA and the cage. I'm going to spend another fear to activate the Terrorgut, who's going to use its bone whip. Let's say, in close range, you're right in front of him. I sure am.

And you roll free from his grasp, and he's gonna whoosh, whoosh, whoosh. What is that? All right. That looks so cool. Oh, that's only gonna be an eight. Oh, that misses. That misses you, great. So you just dodge out of the way, and you, Snicks, kind of dive the other direction,

and it cracks into the stone, which splits, and bits of rock and shale go flying across the place at impressive speed. The whip comes to rest across the entire hip, and as he withdraws it, it tears and grinds through the stone. Its massive mouth opens with its teeth. How much hope do you have? I have three. I also have three. I'm going to look at Misty. Let's do a tag team. I sense a deep-seated rivalry between these two fucks. I'm going to try and push them into the big rock gutty guy, and then maybe you can do an illusion, make him look like he's like great fuck you man yes so I will cast an illusion and if as they're sort of getting you know pushed and pressed

together yes so it seems like big boy up here he has hands fingers to be yeah he has an open hand okay great So he has a middle finger? Yeah. Okay, great. So in the sort of, you know, them getting pushed together, since I can't make any... If it works. If it works.

He's gonna flip off the other guy. Yeah, we're gonna make it. This guy's gonna flip off. This guy's gonna flip off this guy. Run and train inside a fight. And that's the illusion. All right. Yeah, we're trying to inside a fight. Okay. So can I move base to base with this guy and be like, and that's the illusion. That I'm, yeah, we're trying to incite a fight. So can I move base to base with this guy

kind of in front of Misty? Okay, so you move. There-ish, yep, that's great. You got it. Yeah, and I will, I know, does that gesture mean anything? Do you wanna move anywhere or do you wanna stay put? You know what, I'm just gonna sort of get behind, beside and behind.

Get behind me. Right there? Yeah. You got it. Okay, let's both roll. Right? We both roll, right? Yeah, you both roll and you take your choice of the two rolls.

Come on, come on. Wait, hold on, let me see if I can add anything. Do good, please do good. Okay, okay. Let me see if I can add anything. I don't think I can. Fuck. Do do good, please do good. Okay. Okay. Let me see if I can add anything No, I can't

Fuck We're not really ready. What are we? What am I? Can I add anything? Seeing if I can add anything here. Is it a spell cast roll? Add your spell cast modifier. Yeah, but Okay, it's it's okay, it's 12 with fear. 13 with fear. Oh no. Unfortunate. Hang on, wait. Do I have anything?

Hang on, I know, I know, I know, I know. We've gotta have something. Wait, which one were you pushing? The big guy. The big guy. You have advantage. Oh, I have advantage! You both have advantage on this because he is still hit by the bolt beacon.

Can I use? So roll a d6, and you roll a d6, and add them to your numbers. But I have to spend a hope to do an experience. Roll a d6. Six! Add to what you got. Six.

Oh, that's way better. Just roll it! Yeah, hey! It's a five. Okay, so. It needs a certain amount of rotations in my hand. Respect to that. All right, so. MARISHA and SAM and LAURA and SAM and MATT and MARISHA and SAM and MATT and SAM and and the rest of the cast. We're going to go with the five.

We're going to go with the five. We're going to go with the five. We're going to go with the five. We're going to go with the five. We're going to go with the five. We're going to go with the five. We're going to go with the five. We're going to go with the five.

We're going to go with the five. We're going to go with the five. We're going to go with the five. We're going to go with the five. We're going to go with the five. We're going to go with the five. We're going to go with the five. We're going to go with the five. We're going to go with the five. We're going to go with the five. We're going to go with the five. We're there, its whip curling back. I don't know.

So wait, I'm doing my forceful push ability, so I push this guy into him. Roll damage, right? Or does it just push it? Well, on a success, I knock them back into close range, and then also, he does take damage. Right, so roll the damage. So this is gonna be plus seven, drop the lowest.

Okay, so that's 12 plus seven is 19. 19 points of damage. 19 points of damage. That is a major wound on the Glom Tower Thrall. The Glom Tower Thrall has a feature, a passive called Dense but Clumsy, an attack that would move the Thrall. The Glom Tower Thrall has a feature, a passive called Dense but Clumsy. An attack that would move the thrall moves them two fewer ranges, so he stays put.

Oh! However, the thrall has to succeed on a reaction roll of 10, and if he fails, he falls over. Oh! Okay. Come on. That's a two. Okay.

So it worked. So it worked. So he doesn't slam into it, Come on. That's a two. Okay. So it worked. So it worked. He doesn't slam into it, but as you slam into the thrall with your body, its leg slides up from underneath it, and it just comes crumbling down towards the two of you. The two of you barely step out of the way as it slams onto the steps,

and still with you rattled in its cage, the thrall is now on the ground. What an idiot. So in our tag team to try and aggro this guy. It is restrained and vulnerable, temporarily. Sweet. And then the tag team. Did it work?

We did a tag team, did it work? Correct. Did the guy flip him off? After he fell. The guy flipped him off. You're uncertain if the thrall was affected by the illusion necessarily, because you don't know yet.

It just fell over. Do we both spend three hope, or one of us? Just one, you choose one. I did, so you keep yours. Are you queued up with fear? I am, unfortunately, because that tag team was with fear. Well, I don't know. It was a good idea, seriously.

It was good. Let's just try it. We tried something. I'm going to activate the Thrall on the ground. It's going to go ahead and put a token on its slow passive, as it's now withdrawing its cage with August in it, with its arm back. Then I'm going to spend a fear for Terragut to, let's see, it's going to release a shambling zombie. You watch as its arm

reaches into its mouth. Its mouth opens up and it pulls one of them partially digested corpses out and throws it on the ground. It stumbles past the stairs before it begins to lumber forward. It immediately is spotlighted. This zombie is going to move right here next to you. It's next, drops on the stairs between the two of you, and it turns towards you as a shambling zombie. It's going to attack you for five. I miss it. You just, out of the way. Ah! Okay.

I have a quick, concise, I'm gonna just take a few skitter forward towards big guys on the ground and do what I tried to do the other day, and throw my arms into the ground, and shadows come out of my little piercings into the ground, and I'm going to shadowbind the big guy while he's down.

Okay. Fuck. I gotta get out of the cage. Wow. 15 with fear. Concise. 15 with fear. That sucks. 15 with fear.

Crazy. So that's a success. Again, a fear. Also, as a note, because of the echoes of anxiety, you both lost hope, because you rolled your spell with fear to illusion. So both of you lost a fear. The Ashcall Corridor's curse siphons the hope from you

as you cast spells with fear. So both of you lose a hope. I had to have hope to begin with. Boom. Boom, there you go. However, as you bind to the shadow, you feel some traumatic memory seep into your brain. Misty, what flash from your traumatic past shakes you where you stand

and pulls you momentarily from this fray? I just, I remember being in the tunnels, I remember being in the tunnels, and I have a memory of being attacked by one of these creatures. And this is a very similar creature, I think, and it brings back a memory of my wandering soul of possibly how I was murdered.

You recall a thrall smaller but similar to this one, spinning its arm out and smashing your small frame against the wall. You feel your bones break as you tumble onto the cold rock. And as your vision begins to go dark, you turn to see your family scream and the statue you've been dragging through the tunnels with you.

You pull out of the vision. New cracks forming on your body, and a wave of recognition you weren't expecting. Screeve, what trauma curls through your consciousness? I remember the years of abuse taken from Farah, the ruby crown and the Damascus queens, kicking me, cutting me, bruising me, slashing me, treating me like a dog, which is why I've worked

so hard to own my pain, be fueled by it. It's mine, not theirs. That pain subsides and you harness what you can hold onto, but it slips before you can grab onto it. And with that, that bit of hope leaves your spirit. But as you come back to yourself, your fingers are still within your shadow. The shadow that now clings the thrall to the stonework.

With that, it comes to my go. I'm going to activate the thrall, taking its token away so it can now activate. It's going to cage slam. It's going to cage slam against you. She's just a little girl. She's a little cutie. You're the first that escaped its cage.

And you're off to the side, and you're just right around its arm reach as it spins its oar over to the side. It's like, oh. It has disadvantage, clearly, because it's on the ground. No. Okay. Sorry, so I spend that fear there.

I would be remiss if I didn't try. No, fair. That's going to be a 17. Hits. Okay. So both Adelia and August, as it damages the person within the cage equally upon the impact.

You both take what's caught. Okay, that's gonna be 24 points of physical damage on each of you. Okay, I'm good as been at home. August, why are you doing that to Adelia? To use my Rune Ward. Mm, that's not good. No, it's not. At least it takes it out of that, and then I'm going to drop it down to major. Oh no, but that's on my hit points. It doesn't matter, that's still on my hit points.

She's out of range. Damn it. Just on that ledge. That's all your range. Damn it. Just on that ledge. That's on my hip points. That's all your hip points. Okay. Is this your first one? Oh! So, Adelia.

This is your first one. First time? First time. Yeah. Shit. As the shadow of the cage comes crashing down upon you, a flash of bodily pain before possible darkness takes you. What do you choose?

Blades of glory to have an immediate critical success and then leave this plane. Avoid death and face the consequences, in which you will drop unconscious and may roll your fear die to see if you take a scar and possibly have to recover elsewhere, or risk it all and roll your duality dice. And if I risk it all and I succeed, I come back?

You come back, you get to heal your hit points or stress equal to the number you roll in your hope die. That's really good. But if your fear is higher, good job. I'm dead and I get nothing. Ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh. Nothing, you lose. Good day, sir.

Good day, sir! Yeah, it's rough in there, ain't it? Yeah. It's so hard. Decisions are so much worse than just rolling to death. It's your first time down. It's your first time down.

Already know what you're gonna do. Yeah, I think you should, I kinda wanna blaze it, y'all. Oh! You've only been with your child. Because you guys would be... It won't necessarily help us. I know, it's a thing.

If it was on the edge, it would be horrible. Listen, if I roll bad, then I'm just going to... But if you roll good, then you're going to die. But I know you like craps. I do like craps. Oh my god, my palms are sweating! Oh, shit, you guys, this is so stressful! Take a little nap.

Take a little nap in the cage. For your first one, don't go yet. Your paints are waiting at home. They call to you from beyond. We roam together, I'm still here if I die. Adelia, what are we doing? I'm rolling to see if I. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah! You're rolling!

Let's do it, risk it all, Adelia, roll on the table. Oh my god. That was almost it, that was almost it. Oh no. Oh! That was a good roll! That was a really good roll! ALL GROAN That was a good roll! That was a really good roll!

Does she get to use her feature, they mostly come out at night? Oh no, it happened! I should have just blazed it! You little girl! No! Delia. No! The Halcyon Domain is a cruel place.

Uncaring, but the people within it are. And you've met some people in the time away from your strange upbringing, that showed you a glimmer of that. And as you look around at the companions you've only just met, after such periods of time alone, or just with one other,

a little glimmer of that hope is brought to you. Could you please describe your final moments for me? Oh no. Oh no. As I lay underneath the cage that's just squished me, I'm going to reach down and pick up Violet. And I'm gonna look at Screef next to me. Make sure she's safe. I love you, Screeve. I'm sorry.

Oh no! You were a screw! Oh no! I take the doll and wedge her into the ring against my flesh so there's no longer any loose space, and she just hangs there off my chest. The rest of you stare in horror as the creepy little girl, like many kind wayward souls in this domain, half leave this mortal plane. I'm going to spend a fear. You bastard. You bastard. We don't get a move after that! We don't get a move! It's field activation! You're our friend!

She was spooky. It's okay, I'm going to bring her back. Because you watch as her body twitches. Oh no! We got a burn! It's been two seconds! I'm back. And you're a shambling.

Oh no! Oh no! She's even creepier! Yeah. Scream! What the hell happened so fast? What? We didn't even get a chance.

You never know how long it takes. Oh man. Oh my god. Wait, does she work against us, though? She's a shambling zombie. No! MATT and SAM and LAURA and MATT and SAM and LAURA and MATT and SAM and MATT and SAM and LAURA and MATT and I'm pissed. I just hands on the big guy's head that's laying down. Kaboosh! Pump some flame into him. Do you have your three hope? No.

No. I only have two hope. All right, so I'm gonna do that. I'm gonna do that. If we could run, I would like to. We should tag team whiplash. Do you have any hope? I do. Oh my god.

I'm gonna spell cast roll. Okay, I'm gonna make a roll first. Why am I forgetting these things? Oh, and I can, against. I feel like we can outrun one of these guys. We just need to kill one, and that one's already hurt, the other one. Yeah.

I can do this up to three creatures. So is there any way I could get into an area where I could have it be on both of them? It does say within melee range, so probably not. I'll stay away. You want to move up to get into melee with this guy here? Yes. You shift up the stairs. Just double-checking, is this going to do damage to me, too? You don't know. Hog of War, baby!

Okay. Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh! It's a crit! I assumed it was a crit by their reaction, hell yeah. Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, and this affects the flesh. What's that girl, Adelia, fell down the well? You gain a hope, you clear a stress, and for the damage of this, you maximize the damage dice for it, which would be? Okay, it's 2d6, so 12. And then roll the dice and add that.

Roll high. Seven. Roll high. Seven. So 19. So 19 points of damage, and that is a major wound. The Glamtower Thrall is hurt and on fire. So I do Mark of Stress as flames erupt from my hand. But he's all he... Maybe you will as a zombie.

Yeah. That's how much chaos. I'm going to attack you. LAURA and SAM and MARISHA and SAM and LAURA and SAM and It's still our turn, you can go. You're gonna try to get the lock. You can go again if you want to. I'm gonna help getting down to the cave. Dives into the shadows between Misty and the giant. I'm going to spend a stress to vanish. And I'm going to reappear in the shadows around this thing's grundle. So I am cloaked between its legs and I immediately start stabbing. All right.

Okay. Let's go. You know it, baby. I'm gonna, I can't spend a hope. I don't have a hope. So I can't use an experience. So this is finesse. Cloaked.

We gotta get him out of the cage. Does cloaked give me advantage? I can't remember. Cloaked gives you advantage on your attack, yes. He's still marked anyway. You get it anyway. All right. Ooh, hope for once. 13, 14, 15. Wait, eight and five is 13, 18, 19, 20 with hope.

That succeeds. For one second. Get a 40. Right. Okay, so. I'm just gonna give you the Shambling Zombies stat, please. Oh, I'm gonna be a Shambling Zombie? I figure it's more fun.

When I tell you it's time, you can choose how to. Okay. Be your zombie. Okay, plus three. What do you wanna do? Move it. I just can't go far, zombie. Okay, plus three. What do you want to do? Move it. Ooh, pretty good.

16, 19, 20, 21, 20, 24. 24. So I just, with iron, rusty, tetanus-ridden claws, just start tearing apart his fucking anus. That is a major wound. He is looking very, very hurt. As you're shredding into it, its pale flesh tearing open.

There's no blood. There's just dried muscle in sinew coming out in shredded tatters. And it's trying to rouse from its current prone position, but it's having a hard time doing so as you're carving it close to its destruction. And he is shell-shocked, Skrieva is shell-shocked. He's not laughing, he's not crying, he's not talking.

He's just breathing really heavily. It's still your go. If you wanna go again, or somebody else wants to jump in. No, someone else can go. Take damage or get out, yeah. Yeah, I'm gonna try and get out of this thing. All right. I'm going to. Make a strength or agility action roll to try and get out of this thing. I'm going to... Make a strength or agility action roll to try and break free.

Can I use an experience Sticky Fingers? Because I've got my needles and I'm gonna try and get into that lock and pop it. That was the notion of it. Yeah. I'm looking to see if you can add experiences to reaction rolls or just action rolls. I'm just gonna see if you can add experiences to reaction rolls or just action rolls. Okay. I'm just going to double check real fast. Oh. Because a reaction roll...

It's in the book. Okay. Laura died. I died, you guys! You fucking died, I'm sorry. I really wasn't expecting you to be the first. I actually agree with him, it should have been him. It should have been me.

I've been aiming for it. Sometimes that's what the dice say. I can't believe you rolled a ten and a 12. I know, I was like, oh a ten, she's gonna make it. I was like, oh does that have four? No, that is the dagger heart. The yellow draws the eye first, so we all saw the ten and got excited

for half of a second. Yes, it's true. All right. You know what? I'll look it up later. So I'm going to mark a stress, which means I get to double that, so I get a plus four, and it's agility or? Agility or strength. Okay, no finesse. Okay, that's fine. It doesn't matter. Agility and finesse are the same. Yeah, this is you trying to squeeze through in this instance.

And this, I do not get advantage because of his, yeah, it's just a straight roll. Agility and finesse are the same. Yeah, this is you trying to squeeze through in this instance. And this, I do not get advantage because of his, yeah, it's just a straight roll. Or no advantage for this, since it's a... No, it's because it's not against him. One by one we die until we all are dead. Hey! We die until we all are dead. Yeah.

16. 16 is what you needed. With hope. Not that hope is what matters. Matt, that's right. So yeah, that manages to break you free. You break free from the cage. Break free.

But you can still keep going. That's just a reaction roll, so it doesn't take your after. Do we think he's about to die or no? Yeah, go for it. All right. Just don't biff it. I won't biff it. I'm actually going to make an auto hit, just because that way we don't have biff it. I won't biff it. I'm actually, I'm going to make an auto hit,

just because that way we don't have to know. Which is a, where is it? I've lost the thing, there it is. There's too many things, arcane barrage. I'm just going to, as I fly out of there, I'm going to just shoot an arcane barragerage for 1d6. Okay, go for it. It's one point. It's still a minor wound, so it takes a hit point. It's holding on by a thread.

Okay, and that didn't trigger anything. Anyone else wants to hit? I am flying the fuck away from this dude. All right, so you pick up and... You take off, flying out of the cage, like the most grotesque butterfly. Which direction do you want? TALIESIN and SAM and MARISHA and MATT and TALIESIN talking at the same time. So activation's still yours. Do you want to do something? Take care of him. Go get him.

Me? Who? What? Do you want to take care of the guy that's down? He's gonna go any second. Let's just get rid of this fucking thing. We're giving Snick, so how do you want to do this again? Yes. We were gonna do a tag team-y thing. Yeah, but it's all just you. Yeah, we can do that.

Are you sure? Just kill the thing that's...ah! All right, I'll go kill the thing that's down. Do what you want to do. It's my mission in our group to be the guy who kills everybody. Form the Blazing Sword. You're the cleanup crew. Alrighty.

I say a quick prayer to Tyrus. Tyrus, yeah, Tyrus. Please protect my friends who are still alive. Yeah. Oh. The eye contact is brutal. And I'll go over there and do a leap and bring my boomerang down right on its jaw. I know it's a far thing, but I can get one far move without an agility roll.

MATT and MATT and SAM and LAURA and I'll go over there and do a leap and bring my boomerang down right on its jaw. I know it's a far thing, but I can get one far move without an agility roll. jumping right in front of Misty and Screeve as you arc in the air, your fawn form. Yes. Oh no. 12 with fear. Can I use a Prayer Dice to give him an extra three? You can? Oh, don't do it!

15 is exactly what you need to do. Whoa! That's where the seraph kicks in, baby. Thank god. Thank, that was Tyrus who blessed me. What? Tyrus, Tyrus was smiling on me and gave me an extra blessing.

Thank, praise be to Tyrus. So I take a fear and it will come to me after spotlight, but and SAM and MATT and SAM and MARISHA and SAM and MARISHA and SAM and MARISHA and MARISHA and SAM and MARISHA and SAM and I plunge my boomerang down straight into its mask, into its face. You push through the cage, and as you slam it into it, it collapses inward, you hear a rrrrrrr.

This horrible low sucking sound, and then it just stops moving and goes limp against the stairs. I'm gonna leave it there, because it's gonna stay there. Sure. And is also on fire. Smildering from the flame of Misty's grasp, slowly burning in place. But it is finished. As it comes to me, the Terragut is going to attempt to

devour you again, since you're still right there in front of it. We spend a few to do so. That's going to be a nine to hit you. TRAVIS. That is my evasion. MATT. That does hit. So you take as the claws, with much more gusto and fury from you, avoiding its devour before and avoiding its last strike with its whip, slams down with the claws with extreme prejudice. MARISHA and MATT and MARISHA and MATT and MARISHA and That is? You're post-mortem-guilting her?

Sorry, 20 points of physical damage upon you. 20 points, okay. I'm going to burn one armor to drop that to a minor. All right, and I need you to make a strength reaction roll for me. You got it. Strength reaction. Don't want to go in the belly. 17 with, it's a reaction roll. 17's a success. For my first one. You remember it. It grabs you and lifts you up into the air

and the rest of you watch as it's about to plunge idle into its jaw and he's holding tight as part of its terrifying passive. You all watching this lose a hope, and I gain a fear. I lose a hope as well, right? Yes. I had no hope to lose. But, you had no hope to lose?

No. I gain an additional fear. Oh. I also have no hope to lose. I also have no hope to lose. Look at that. Everybody loses hope who's in far range? Everybody's in far range.

Sorry, I lost a hope. Okay. Okay. Delightful. You bite right as Idle begins to disappear into the jaw. You withstand and you watch as he pushes away, his halberd's holding it up, or his glaive at this point. Ugh! And you leap from its jaws and back down onto the stone.

Ugh! Ugh! It is very unhappy. I'm gonna spend a fear to, after that, activate that shambling zombie that's going to turn around and assail you from the back. As you land, it stumbles over to try and grab you from behind, that's going to be,

well, that's an 18 to hit. That is. All right, so you take six points of physical damage. Okay. As it reaches onto your back and is trying to bite into your throat, but your armor and fur is keeping it from digging too deep into your skin. And then I'm going to spend another hope to activate Adelia. Adelia, the shambling zombie form filled with hunger and the

need to destroy, rend, and consume. Alaya, alaya, alaya. Who do you stumble towards? I stumble towards Ida. No, it's the one fucking person! I can't stand it! You bring me all the girls, fuck! Like Ring Girls. Oh, no!

Scampers up with a hair in her face and rushes toward you. As you turn around to try and get help, you just watch. I'm not looking over there, man! Fuck! Come on, man! I think she's still in there. You can reach her if you just around to try and get help, you just watch. He's up towards you. I think she's still in there. You can reach her if you just talk to her. Go ahead and roll an attack, please.

I think Laura just doesn't want to Uber home. You get to use the key 20 for this, since you're rolling on my end. I add six because we've got multiple ones around him, so I get too many to handle. You do indeed. Oh no. That's cockatah. It is roll over. Nope. Road high, a beach. That's 18.

That hit? Does she roll a d20 now? I rolled a d20, you guys rolled a 2d12, but since I'm letting her roll for me, since it's her corpse, that hits. So go ahead and roll 1d6 plus one physical damage. Her corpse, her choice. Yeah. Oh, wow.

Whoa. Oh, wow. Wow. Wow. I want that too. I'm picturing she's down on her hands and feet, crawling like this, and so she's going to bite his calf. Oh, just two damage.

Two points of physical damage to you, Idle. Very tiny teeth. I'm little. I'm still talking a little bit. I'm not totally brain dead yet. All right. You now have two zombies upon you, one of which was your previous companion. The rest of MATT and MARISHA and MATT and SAM and MATT and SAM and MATT and SAM and MATT and SAM and MATT and and and I'm going to reach out a hand towards Adelia, who's chewing on idol. Adelia, you still have more games to play. And I am going to use Enrapture and make a spell cast roll on Adelia.

Okay. So low. Seven, I can use it, it's only an eight, with hope. Unfortunately, the difficulty is 10, that's so low. Seven, I couldn't use it, it's only an eight with hope. Unfortunately, the difficulty is ten, that's a fail. Okay. Adelia, how do you react to this attempt of spellcraft I hear? I glance behind me, and I look back at Idle

and shake it off and just keep gnawing on him. Oh. You got him, all right. So that brings it back to me. Oh, I'm surrounded by three fucking enemies. You failed, though. It was hope. It was hope, but if you fail or if you're in fear, the Terragut is going to activate.

But you lose a hope if you failed your spell. Is that right? Or you lose a hope if you roll with fear. You're taken care of. It's going to turn back towards you as you fly by, it watches the zombies swarm, and it's going to see this buzzing sound as August flies through the air, and it's going to take its whip, whoosh, whoosh, and whip out

with its massive blade and bone whip. That's going to be an 18? Yeah, that hits, shit. Ha ha ha! All right. You're about to go down. Unless it's. Yeah, that hits. Shit. All right. Unless it's real low, I'm going down. 20 points of physical damage. I'm down low. I only have one HP left, so...

You can mark it on armor, but it's still the last thing. It's still one HP. If I mark it down, I only have one HP left. Do I have anything I can do? You watch as August goes cringing in the air as the terror starts arcing down at a massive drop towards the base of this archway. Here in this moment, do you wish to choose to, Blaze of Glory, avoid death and face the consequences, or risk it all? TALIESIN Okay, so I have a question. MATT Yes. SAM and TALIESIN Can you undo what you just did? So, Blaze of Glory. Gods aren't here anymore, buddy. I need no gods, only devils.

Does Blaze of Glory have to be a damaged thing, or if I come up with an interesting narrative thing, can I do an interesting thing instead? Any action you want to, if it's a critical success within reason, it automatically succeeds and is a critical, but then you immediately die. Okay. I am going to, yeah, I think I'm gonna, fuck, I think I'm gonna Blades of Glory if I can do this. I can end this fucking fight, I can end this fucking fight, I think. Sure. Can you?

If you're creative. That was a good question. Can you? What's your idea? That might be a hit from the GM. No, no creative. That was a good question. Can you? What's your idea? What's your idea? That might be a hit from the GM. No, no, he can come up with something. The Terragut's taken one hit. Yeah.

I am going to just look at everyone. You're doing it? Run! And I'm gonna fly right at the fucking Terragut. I'm going to grab onto the rib cage, and I'm going to full blast my arcane push and I'm going to knock the fucker over. Okay.

And I'm going to send him down the fucking stairs. Okay. So you... After it slams you with the whip, you watch as August... Fucking run, people! ...begins to arc down, crashing into the ground right beside it as the blood begins to leave his body. You clasp your hands together

and begin to utter the last words from your lips, which are the incantation. It is a critical success. I am not wearing my hat. My hat is gone. What is the damage for the spell? That is, where is it? So sorry, there's so much stuff on these cards

and I'm freaking out. There we are. That's two, that's two d10 plus two, so that's 22 plus 2d10. Roll. Mine did 1d10, 2d10. 2d10 plus ten? Well, since it's a crit, it's 2d10, which is 20, plus two, which is 22, plus 23 points of damage. That is three wounds to it. That's a severe wound to it. And it blasts back to far range, you said. Yes. Whoa.

Oh, sick. Cool. This is far down. Oh, also, that adds another four points because it's also using my proficiency, so it's another four points on top of that. That's still just there. Okay. Just in case. That's okay, good to know. You all watch as August begins to arc down.

August, in this moment that you've accepted the moment of sacrifice of all you've experienced and endured, the friendships you've made, and the hope of this journey to save the city of Desperlok that has been a place of solace and new beginnings for you, you realize what's at stake and what needs to be done to help the rest of them finish this journey and save not their lives, but the lives of the many, many more that wait for the success of this mission. What are the thoughts that go through your mind as you careen towards the

stone clutching the arcana you're about to blast from your hand? The number of people who have been kind to me after seeing my face is very small, and they are all here. Ah. It's not even about the Pyre, it's about, it's about them.

If they continue good, we'll happen, and this is much longer than I was supposed to live. I was long supposed to be dead if it weren't for that one. I'm very grateful for nearly having one bonus year of life. It's worth it. This is all worth it. Vanishing behind the Terror Gun as it turns back over its shoulder. A blast wave of arcana detonates from behind and you watch as the Terror Gun is flung at an arc and thrown. It continues to tumble off the side of the cliff in the very bottom and is restrained as it falls to the ground. The next moment, you're waiting for August to stand back up. But he doesn't. But the last words

that still ring in your ears that he shouted were, run. I'm right next to Misty, so once again, as I run by, I grab Misty. Come on! This is for you! We have to run! This way! I go with. Typically, I decapitate Adelia. Damn it, Adelia! Well, so you're both running. Close or full far-range run. We would have to make rolls, right? You have to make agility rolls to try and make the full distance. So you're both running. Close or full far range run.

We would have to run, like make rolls, right? You have to make agility rolls to try and make the full distance. But if you don't have to make agility rolls. All right, let's go. Let's go. All right, so the two of you just run up the stairs around the corpse into there, and then you run up the stairs

unless you want to try and climb up here. Otherwise there's two zombies in the way. You can run past, but it'll prevent you from moving further than this. I'll try. You'll climb? I'll try and climb up here, otherwise there's two zombies in the way. You can run past, but it'll prevent you from moving further than this. I'll try. You'll climb? I'll try to climb. Okay, make a strength roll for me, please.

Can I, okay. I was gonna say, could I spend a hope to try and encourage her by saying, we've gotta go again? You got it, let's go, spend that hope. That adds a d6 to your roll. You just need to be a 12. Yep, would agility be a little better for this, or?

I'll allow a jump if you want to go agility. It's only about a ten-foot jump and it's trying to catch the ledge. Goddamn it. Okay. Was it bad? Added your d6? I did. 11 with fear. With a d6? Yeah. So you leap and catch the edge. It's not a high difficulty, it's a ten to do this. You succeed,

you catch up and pull yourself up onto the ledge. I can't remember a little bit of a boost behind me. You can get right about there with your close movement, but that's going to end your spotlight, bringing it to me. I gain a fear. I'm going to activate both shambling zombies. Did I get close enough? Is that as far as I could get? I hadn't run. Yeah, you ran up the stairs today,

but that's a close distance. Damn it. Like I said, you want to go that full distance, you make that agility roll, and if you succeed, then you go that full length. I was doing that, but then she rolled with fear, right? So it was back to you. Yeah. Yeah.

So. Okay. So, go ahead and roll your attack against Idle, please. Or anyone else you'd wish to change it up on. It could be anybody else. It's true. Actually, I am. I'm going to, as I'm biting Idle,

I'm gonna stop and look back over my shoulder and she's gonna turn and look at Screef. Oh. E. Oh, jeez. And I'm gonna crawl and try to bite him. That's too brutal. Oh.

Shh, shh, shh. But it's like a love life. The other zombie is still close, right? So I still get advantage on. Yes, you still have, you still have to use the too many to handle passive feature. 14. Oh yes.

Go ahead and roll a d6 plus one physical damage on Screeve. I am your shield. I'm still just fighting for a little old measly tooth. All right, so. I take it. I see that Screeve is in this like fugue state and he is not reacting, and I shove him to the side and throw my shield up in front of him. It's not her anymore. She's gone! She's biting on your leg and your armored shin.

So that blocked all that damage? Correct. I take the damage. Whose side is it now, yours or ours? I'm still going. You're still going. How much damage was that? Two. Two.

Two points of physical damage against you. Okay, I'll. The other zombie is still focusing on you, Idle. It's gonna be a seven to hit you. Can't see me. Misses you. It's still clambering to try and bite towards you. But it just can't seem to find purchase on your flesh again.

And it's the last fear to activate the Terrorgut, which we're going to spend a fear to remove his restrain ability and the one to there. The only thing he can do from here is make his bone whip strike out to a close range. This is going to be, I think, only Screeves the one in range. SAM and MARISHA. Oh no. MATT and MARISHA. Yeah. SAM and MARISHA. Screevy. So that's going to be 11. No.

Nice. As you're taken back by the sight of her trying to attack you and biting onto Brixton, you hear the crumbling and shifting of stone, and at the corner of your eye, you see this massive form of the tarragup clambering back up onto the cliff face. And as it withdraws its whip, you just, and it just whips past you with just barely a motion as you come back into your body. That's my spotlight. I shoulder past the whip.

I shoulder past Brixton, and I reach down a nice scuba delia and wrap her in close. Scrieve! We have to go back to the tunnels. Scrieve, no! We have to go back to the tunnels. We have to go back and I start walking with her in arm this way towards that tower structure. That's not the way we're going!

That's not the way we're going! What?! That's my move. Oh no! Your spotlight. No! Let me, I'm gonna run up and get base to base. No hope, no fear. You're holding her like this?

Yeah. Ugh, I can't even kill her, I'm gonna take him now. Let me try and go for this zombie, this shambler, this sex idol at least. Yeah, you can definitely get up to that. Because he's blocking our way, right? Yeah, I mean, you could probably try and shoulder past if you wanted to. Well, there's not a lot of room there, actually.

Let me just kill him. I'm going to kill him! You kill him. The zombie. At least I'm going to try to. You've got to roll with fucking hope. Jesus. Guess what?

What? I didn't. No! 12 with fear? 12 with fear? 12 with fear. This is so rough, man. That's a success. Okay.

Because the zombie only has difficulty of 10. Okay. So go ahead and roll damage. That's stupid. This is stupid. That's a really good roll, though. That is. So that's gonna be 18 plus seven. That's a really good roll, though. So that's going to be 18 plus seven.

25. Yes, whatever he said. 25? That's more than double its threshold. So it takes four hit points. It has four hit points. You just completely carve through this zombie. Screech! I just shout out again.

Steps, steps, steps, steps. I'm gonna spend, well first it's my activation. As you are being carried off by Screev, it's your spotlight. Go ahead and roll an attack against Screev. Oh, come on! Screev and Colbert, no! 19!

1d6 plus one physical damage against you, Scream. I just bite down on his neck. You feel the pain of her just tearing into your shoulder. Still just two! Wait, so it's two points of damage? Two points of physical damage. So if that's under my minor threshold? No, it's still a minor.

Oh, it's a minor. Okay, so she's like chewing through the leather. She's tearing away my. She's chewing through the dull. I just breathe through it, and I'm still slowly walking forward as she digs in. And you're like, ah! I mean, I'm not taking an official action because I could get quite a ways,

but I'm not taking my turn because I want you guys all to have your turns, but he's moved another six inches as she digs in. I'm going to pick up August's spotty. I don't think that there's one. I have a hat up there. We've got to run! We've got to run!

Gah, come on! We can just imagine it higher. You don't have to risk it. We'll put it in there. Risk it for the biscuit! Let's not let me die in vain, please. And is going to go ahead and make a whip strike against Yusnik, since you're now...

Actually, no, you're kind now over by the corpse there. The most viable one it's going to see are the two of you. You just took out the zombie. It's going to come towards you. Great. Let's go, baby. Natural one. Yes. Great. It goes to strike at you with its bone whip, and as it pulls back, the bone whip is caught on one

of the nearby pieces of stone and kind of like, KRAK! We've got to run! Yes, we do. We have to run! We're trying to pull it free. Go! That's your spot.

I'll run, I'll take off. Yeah, Eidol's in front of me. Are you doing a full sprint? Don't sprint, just move, that way you can't roll with the air. I'm just moving. I know. There's no, like, you can't roll with fear. I'm just moving. I know. There's no like, you can't use your action to dash or anything, right?

You can, it'd be more or less like you're rolling agility to see if you can move full distance. Yeah, but that's a chance to fail. Or we could just move a little bit. But then, if you don't do that, I'm gonna spend a fear to spotlight. So we should do it. You can't just break the system by slow moving and doing that. Okay, okay, okay. You can't even break the system by slow-moving and doing nothing. Okay. You can't even see me anymore.

I suppose it's he who is farther should then roll with a melee sprint. I technically can take my spotlight if ever it feels like it fits the narrative. So if you all just start moving slowly, I can slowly take my spotlight. It's 16 with fear. 16 with fear. 16 with fear. That is a success. You continue to run over here to the edge. And as you're rushing up, you look over and see the crumpled form of August.

But that finishes out with fear. Pause to take a quick leak on the body. I thought for a moment I was going to zombie tube, but that finished out with a fear. Paws is to just take a quick leak on the body. I thought for a moment I was going to zombie tube, but that's okay. It's now my spotlight, because you're welcome to. Going to activate you once more. Oh, I failed that one. I just kind of like...

And just rest my forehead on his shoulder. Are you getting tie-tied? No! Zombie needs a nap. It's now the Terraguts activation. It's going to step up onto this platform, it's going to try and whip out probably you again. You've been making them angry. That's going to be a 12. TRAVIS and MATT. Hits.

SAM and TALIESIN. Damn it. SAM and TALIESIN. We need a Spire of Aging, man. SAM and TALIESIN. Did your armor fall off when you were running away by any chance? 21 points physical damage. Got it. Wait, who, his armor? It's real good. Grab his armor.

Good idea. I'll just go grab his armor. And then I'm gonna spend a fear. August's leg begins to twitch. Oh! Oh, it's happening! It's time to get out of here. Get to armor before he wakes up! Or, you know, I'll bring the armor to you. Oh, it's happening! It's time to get out of here.

Get to armor before he wakes up! Or, you know, I'll bring the armor to you. That's fair, that's actually fair. Because I don't know if this big boy can fit through the arch. Yeah, if you guys had just made it through the arch. Yeah. Where would he put the, what would he put it?

The way. Oh, he's hidden in there. Oh, okay, sorry. Over here? Yeah. Okay. Stands up. LAURA and SAM and MARISHA and MATT and SAM and LAURA. LAURA and MARISHA and MATT and SAM and MATT and SAM and stands up and heads towards you, Misty. Go ahead and make an attack roll with a d20 for me, please. 15. Wow. Now I'm rolling well. Roll a d6 plus one. Six plus one, seven. I am your shield.

That's seven points of physical damage to you, Brixton. Oh, yikes. I'm just going to take the damage at this point. Once again, I'm just watching all my friends become victim to my other friends. I'm going to just try and bash them away with my shield. We've got to run! Yes, we do.

I am going to Pump Flame onto August. That's not running! Yeah! I'm not allowed to die out here like this! to pump flame onto August. SAM and TRAVIS and SAM and LAURA and MATT and SAM and I'm not allowed to die on here like this! This body's been fucked with too much. It's got to be at least moved first. She can move after. Okay.

So... 13 with hope. 13 with hope, that succeeds. Difficulties 10. So take a hope and roll damage. Okay, so. Yep. Yeah.

Five points of damage. Five points of damage, that's two wounds onto you. You have four hit points. You have two more hit points left. So you watch as you ignite, now does he catch fire? He catches fire. All right, so as you reach out, tell me what you say and do as you reach out to August and set him aflame.

I just sort of grab his face, and even though he's twitching, I kiss his forehead. And I say, I'm sorry, but I won't just set you free. You can't live here like this. Flames begin to curl up around. So Hope, still with you, you can. I'm gonna take his top hat.

Oh, yeah, the top hat. You can go again, or someone else can take that. I'm gonna burn three hope to do a combo move with you, to pull you up from the ledge, and flip you over backwards and turn and run through the door. You're comboing me just to get me out of there? Yes, yes. I'm so agile, though. I understand. from the ledge and flip you over backwards and turn and run through the door. SAM and TRAVIS and SAM and MARISHA and SAM and SAM and MARISHA and SAM and

SAM and MARISHA and SAM and SAM and MARISHA and SAM and MARISHA and SAM and MARISHA and SAM and MARISHA and SAM and SAM and SAM and

MARISHA and SAM and SAM and SAM and SAM and MARISHA and SAM and SAM and

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

SAM and Okay. 14, 15, 16, 17 with hope. That's sweet. Well, that's a ten, so I'll take his. So both of you gain a hope, and that is definitely a success. With that, you reach over to the edge. You toss Idle over, and Idle, you go flying through the archway to the opposite end and catch the edge and land as you're in the air. SAM and SAM and LAURA I am going to fire the Scepter of Elias at Adily. It's far range. MATT So if you're over here, you could do it while you're leaping, which would be within range.

Good. So as you run over to grab the Hand of Idle, you whoosh. Ten points of magic damage. Why are you trying to kill me? I'm trying to get you off of him, so he'll come with us. So. As you're walking away, and she's gnawing towards your shoulder,

and everything's washing over you. Second wave of filming. Adelia. towards your shoulder, and everything's washing over you. Adelia spatters against your shoulder and neck. No, I'm not, oh, I'm dead. And goes to sleep in your grasp. As you now see this dark shadow of the soul blight spill out of her, The corruption that animated her post-her demise and it clicks within you that what you're carrying

hasn't been her for a moment. I turn my head over my shoulder and see the Goat Man. Oh no. my head over my shoulder and see the Goat Man. Oh no. And as I walk into this archway here, I'm looking over my shoulder, the small one over here. No, he's over here. Me, me, Screeve.

I know, I'm moving that because on your turn, as part of that, you would have moved on. I step into the shadow of this archway while looking back at Snix, and you just see my form go and melt into the ground and shadow and I'm gone. Spending stress. Oh no, oh no.

Because I succeeded, I also get to roll a d4 because of the scepter and get rid of all my stress. Ooh! All of it? SAM and TRAVIS and SAM and SAM and TRAVIS and SAM and SAM and TRAVIS and SAM and SAM and TRAVIS and SAM and SAM and Got it, got it, got it. Okay, I cleared A-Stress. There you go. And you are here on the archway with Idle right at the edge. You guys are all rushing towards the exit point. It's still your go.

So the spotlights on your team. Squeeve has vanished into shadow. I'm gonna reclaim my last Prayer Dice, which is a three, and I'm gonna redeem it for hope equal to the result. Okay, so take three hope. Also, we didn't move Misty after she did her Blazing Hands. She should have moved. Oh, that's right, yes. We did say that. You, so take three health. Also, we didn't move Misty after she did her Blazing Hands.

She should have moved. Oh, that's right, yes. We did say that. You would have shifted into here. Yeah. That's correct. You guys come. We gotta go! I'm going to run by as I do a move. I'm gonna try and put August out of his misery, because I do agree with Misty.

All right, go ahead and roll the dice. He shouldn't die like this. Not like this. Not like this. Come on now. No, wait, hang on, these are two fear die. What's good, what's good? Let's try this one.

Bless this, bless this. He's a zombie. Ugh. Ugh. Great. Well, hell. Wait. Wait. Wait, no. MATT and MARISHA and SAM and MATT and MARISHA and SAM and MATT and SAM and MATT and SAM and and they're all like, oh, I'm a bear. And they're all like, oh, I'm a bear. And they're all like, oh, I'm a bear.

And they're all like, oh, I'm a bear. And they're all like, oh, I'm a bear. And they're all like, oh, I'm a bear. And they're all like, oh, I'm a bear. And they're all like, oh, I'm a bear. And they're all like, oh, I'm a bear. And they're all like, oh, I'm a bear. And they're all like, oh, I'm a bear. And they're all like, hits, with hope of fear. With fear. Ah. Well, that is a success, go ahead and roll damage.

I'm just gonna do two damage. Yeah, I definitely do, that's gonna be 17, 24 damage. How do you wanna do this? Oh, my first howdy doody doody and it's telltale. Oh. So grim-marked. Welcome to the age of Umbra. My coat has mostly burned away and now all you see are my six arms and my legs, which are very

anachronous, and the weird moth that is sewn to my back that clearly hasn't quite died yet that's trying to peel off in his wings completely burned. I have gone full and no human spider, there is nothing human left. Brixton goes up and she grabs the back of his, the nape of his neck, and buries it in her chest plate to give that protection from any type of bite. And she whispers a small prayer to Aratu and takes her blade.

It says, many will live for your sacrifice here today. Thank you. And I'm just going to slowly plunge it right into the back of his. SAM and AABRIA and MARISHA and MATT and SAM and It's all fun. The creature goes limp, and as you release it.

No, I don't do that. I throw him over my shoulder because I want this armor. He is on fire. Well, no, because it's not, only Cinder Grasp keeps them on fire. Oh, I see. Wild flames does not. Gotcha, no, so no. I think I might've said yes.

I'm sorry, I misunderstood. No, that was my bad. Okay, so, so if you take the charred body and throw it over your shoulder. I pull Fireman Kary. End with that. And then I run the rest of the way in. I would've gotten, yeah, as far as I can go.

That was with fear, you said? Yeah. The activate there, as you all begin to charge on the way out, the tarraguts can attempt to strike out with its bone whip. Oh, boy. Oh, god, what if it gets all of you spiked up? That's gonna be, I didn't even say it was attacking,

which is unfair, I'm gonna have to re-roll that. You've been avoiding it this whole time and it's really pissed at you. That's gonna be a 21 to hits. Oh, that hits. Wait, but I thought you were already in the archway. He's standing right outside of it. He's not on the inside.

Wait, he gets hit with what? The whip again? And this guy would've been right there. Are you gonna do your thing? Probably. That's going to be... I believe in you. Okay.

14 points of physical damage. That's a really bad damage roll. I am your shield. What does that do? I take it for you. You take 14 points of physical damage. That's good, or I would have been rolling. I have a lot of voice-over armor. This take 14 points of physical damage. That's good, or I would've been rolling.

I have a lot of voiceover armor. This is the thing that I do. Although, wait, I should've been marking stress for these. I did it for you earlier. How many steps up again? And I did it for you. This is the third. One, two, three.

So this is the third. Okay. Yeah, don't forget that. Yes. As you're calling everyone in and shouting, you look over and see August being put down and thrown over the shoulder, and in that brief moment of distraction,

you shout in slow motion, like, please, please. As you turn and see, stepping over the whip, cracking down in your direction, just as Brixton shoulders in and crack, takes it across the back and shoulder. I kind of run. I use the shoulder that I have on just to just, ugh!

The legs are sheared off. Oh my god! We're going to die! I'm going to take two armor to make, take that to be no damage. You midwifes, come on! As you all gather and charge through the archway, the terror gut slams into it and is a little bit too large to pull through,

tries to begin climbing on the other side, but that's more than enough time for the rest of you to charge past this outer wall and begin to enter the exterior perimeter surrounding the Athenium. Before we fully, I'm not going to do anything, but once we start going in, I'm just going to scream through the archway, Scrooves!

It echoes out into the late afternoon. But nonetheless, you shout a name with no response. Sweating, still processing the sudden and unexpected losses around you, you rush towards the one little glimmer of hope that carries you forward, the sight of the sacred pyre that burns above this fortress. That's where we're going to take our break.

Oh boy! That was a lethal first half! I thought I'd hang in there a little bit longer. Dude, I thought that ten was deceiving. That was me. I know, I saw the ten and was like, oh, he... Me and the 12? I thought you were going gonna take one mulligan and then start playing, start gambling.

No, it's a gamble though, I can't hold back on the gambling. Save it, save it for the after show. Alrighty. 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.