D&D is For Nerds - Cult & Worship #6 Following the Weave

Episode Date: January 13, 2024

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At your side. You're listening to the Sands Pants Network. A very hurried and frantic letter has been sent to the Knights of Carcerate, begging for assistance in a place called Fairburn Point. This letter insists that there is a corruption affecting the highest members of society, an inky black evil worshipped at the fringes of where people dare to look. Fringes of where people dare to look. The seventh one puts itself up and backs away, scared. We can see it. We can see what it is now.

I punch it in the head. Okay, that's good. It's its turn first. It attacks, and it can attack all three of you, so it does so. Yearning, you first. Tell me a date from your character's past. Just a year. Like a year?

Yep, just give me a year. I don't know how the years work in D&D, Adam. You don't have to give me a number. Give me a year I did this. Okay, my first year at the monastery. Gone. Tom. My first year at the monastery. Gone.

Pom. Now your memory goes right up until then and then it jumps to your- I've been at the monastery for a year. Yeah. Yeah. Everything that's- it's not that your memory is gone. That's gone. That's gone. Yeah.

Pom, give me a year from your life. The year I got pumpernickel. Gone. You've just- you have just been Pumpernickel a year? Yeah. Once again, this isn't your memory. That year is gone. Shit.

We bonded so much in that year. Drifting. The year I lost my cat virginity at the Velvet Vale. Oh, shit, dude. Connie, can you please never say cat virginity ever again? Ah, fuck. All right, it's gone. You're still a virgin.

You're still a virgin, mate. All three of you are aware that the other one's year is also gone from you as well. That year is gone. Yeah, it's not the memory of it. It's not the memory. That year never happened. Are we a year younger? Yeah. Hey, I'm going to live a lot longer. Until...

How old are you? How old are you? Yeah. That many hit points. Alright, it is your turn, Pom. That many hit points. All right. It is your turn, Pom. All right. So Tom swung, and then we all lost a year.

Yes. No, no, no. Tom attacked it, but it was because it's not surprised. Yeah. Rather than getting like a free round because it was kind of expecting an attack. You went to initiative, and as Tom's swinging, it's done this. It's like in defense. It's laughing out.

Well, I don't think I'm going to attack it again. I'm going to say that much because, you know. No, we're in initiative. A fight is happening. It's already fighting us. Oh, okay, okay. I mean, you could just back off. If you surrendered or if you refused to fight,

it might not attack you. You don't know. It's certainly never shown hostility before. Okay. That we know of. That you know of. Did it take a year off everybody else? I don't think you understand.

That year is gone for reality. Yeah. Oh, so, okay. It's, imagine, imagine I- Okay, so if I just said 1974, for example, 1974 no longer exists. It would have gone from 1973 to 1975. Okay. Yeah.

All right. I really feel like- Does everyone- Sorry, does everyone feel that loss? Yeah. Everyone feels that loss. Yeah. Especially that cat I was with.

Okay. All right. You can say those words independently, but you can't say them together. I was with. All right. You can say those words independently, but you can't say them together. I'm begging. So you've got the, what was the healing potion? Groogrog's Best. Blow it up. Yeah.

Off. Absolutely. Yeah. Yeah. All right. I reached down into Tommy's nethers and grab one of group drugs best. Um, so it's when oxygen hits it, right?

The second oxygen, it's like the palm. All right. I throw it towards it. And then as, as like, I kind of throw it. War hammer,

smash it with the war hammer. Oh, moving away from me. Okay. Yeah, sure. Absolutely. Fuck.

Yeah, that's good shit. Oh my God. You got fucking natural 20 you deal 24 points of damage like you said you throw it up in the air

and you slam your hammer into it a massive gout of flame bathes the entity as the entity is bathed in those flames, it screeches from all of its mouths and then... And combat over.

Is it dead? It's gone. It's callous. You don't know if you can kill it. You want to lose some more body parts? It's just kind of like... I look at the piece of paper with all the signatures on it. The seventh signature is still there.

What does it say? It says its name. How do you spell that? What language is it written in? It's not written in any language you know. What language is it written in? You don't know. I know deep speech, draconic, and infernal.

I'm letting you know. You can't know this language. The language has audible and... Did you think Adam was going to go, oh, draconic? Oh, okay. What about common language? Its name is written... Sorry, its name includes audible and olfactory elements.

Yeah, cool, cool, cool, cool. You wouldn't think someone could with ink make that, but- It did. It did. Yeah. Maybe. Is it a good smell? Is it a good smell?

It would be- No. Do you wear it as a cologne? It's not a sulfur. Okay. Yeah, okay. It's from hell. Yeah.

Fuck. Hey, we won. Damn. Game over? Yeah, we did it. We. Fuck. Hey, we won. Game over? Yeah, we did it. We did it. We go back to the boat and we go home. I can't believe we're still not there. Where's the boat, Adam?

It's out at sea. It's intercepting that other boat. That's the other mission. We've got to get to this effing warehouse. All right. Seven of you head towards. I'm kidding. I would beat the shit out of you.

Six of you head towards the warehouses. Yeah. Tanya begins conducting a ritual to hone in on the magical essence. Gertrude assists her with the magical ritual. While that's happening, Radora pulls the three of you aside. Yes. Do you have much experience with fighting entities

as the ones you have fought here so far? Well, the thing is, we do, we think, but we can't remember. It is kind of hard to say. We think we have definitely killed one. We have definitely injured whatever that one was. And maybe we have faced them earlier.

Because you certainly seem inexperienced. Did you not just see me with my war hammer just now? Because I actually thought that was rather grand. What do you know about the enemy that we face? Little, regretfully. There are cults within the city. Old, ancient rites spoken in dark places. Like the coal mines underneath the city?

Yes. Something lurks beneath this city. I have not seen it for myself, but I am aware of it. Which members of your council do you suspect are in this cult? Gertrude is innocent, or at least unknowing.

I knew it. You dropped your fucking head off. I'm glad you didn't I look over We sort of look at drifting like Okay, interesting Colonel Revolutions I am aware Had his predecessor killed

For his current job I think because his predecessor Was somewhat effective At routing out the cult. Much of his predecessor's notes have been burned as Revolutions took his office, but I know his house has notes still. The only problem is Revolutions' men guard it day and night. Only problem is revolution's men guard it day and night.

I assume looking after, she does big air quotes, the previous colonel's wife. This is a diabolical scheme. She and I have devised a plan. She knows where his notes are, but not how to decipher them. I know how to decipher them, but revolutions will know if I access the building, and his soldiers will certainly prevent me from doing so. If the three of you could be... muscle, perhaps... Why do you sneak in and go through the notes? The guards are not easy to sneak past. There are no hidden ways in or out of the building.

So it has to be an assault? Pretty much. Who else do you suspect? Sir Laika Silvery moon is possibly I don't know it feels odd he should know better than to treat this so

casually perhaps I don't know maybe that's just me putting too much stock by legend maybe I'm thinking he's more the legend than the man. Perhaps the man has simply been fooled.

Both these guys are on the boat. They're the only two that went. I think our captain's dead. Majula, I do not think a cultist, but she has significant gambling debt.

I think her easy to influence. She did knock on our door. Why was she there? Tanya is annoying, but not a cultist. All right, that's good. For Magula, was she meant to be at the warehouse? She's meant to be meeting you here, yeah. Yeah, okay.

She hasn't arrived yet, though. Yeah, no. I don't trust her at all. No, no, no. Because she could be bought. What about your predecessor? My predecessor was assassinated with the Lord. It was the Lord had been in declining health.

When she says declining health, she doesn't mean naturally. No, yeah. Poisoned or... Someone was poisoning him, yes. He had been in declining health for some time. At first, I suspected his wife, but she has disappeared.

So I do not know what to make of that. The same assassin that killed the Lord killed my predecessor. I think, though, I have reason to believe that it was a Lord from Sunson, a nearby town. Sunson is supposedly part of our area of influence. Their lord's subservient to ours, but I do not know if this was some political dispute

or part of a grander plot. Either way, the lordship of Sunsen has been destroyed. A magical... You actually would have heard about this. This would have been maybe a couple months ago at this point. A large magical explosion destroyed the center of Sunsen.

Thousands were killed. Yeah. Shit. Okay. Interesting. We are still picking apart the pieces of this explosion, but we believe adventurers were the cause. Perhaps for hire, perhaps trying to do a good deed,

perhaps a million things. And why should we listen to you? Why should I listen to you? How do I know you are not in a cult? I could say the same of you. I am a knight of carcery. She laughs. She just laughs and then turns her

horse and walks away with it. Okay, so I think our captain is dead. Do we think we can trust her? I believe her about a bunch of things. And the things that I'm sus on line up with what she's sus on. I don't

trust her at all. But I do think. Do you believe her about Silvermoon? No up with what she's sus on. Yeah. I don't trust her at all. Okay. But I do think. Do you believe her about Silvermoon? No, I think there's something going on there too. I don't trust him. Yeah. I think it's my destiny to fight and kill him. So I just want to foreshadow that for the group.

Yeah, no worries. I want first crack at that. Okay. Tanya calls out. I have first crack at that. Okay. Tania calls out, I have the trail, as it were. We can head on now. All right,

let's continue. So before we go, I think we should all acknowledge that we are probably on our own. Aye. There is a chance we do not walk away

from this, my friends. Do we think this trail we're about to go on is just the four of you. Sorry, I'm kidding. I'm kidding. I'm kidding. Go on.

I thought he was going to do the knock again. Oh, no, you got out. Yeah. Do we think that this trail is actually related to everything we've been seeing? I think so, yes. Right. Yes.

Because all we know about is what Tanya's told us, which is kind of not much truth be told. No, but I think she's legit. Yeah. All right. Let's head off then. I think we should head this way. But, yeah, it's more just to, I'm just being like,

we're going to probably die. Acknowledged. Yep. Look, I've already lost a year of my life. Hey. Oh, everyone's life. Technically, you've all lost three years. Fucking hell, Dave.

Do you remember why you became a knight? No, it was in that year I joined up. No, you remember. It's gone. It's gone. The year doesn't exist. Then it's time to find out. Let's do it.

Lead the way. Leading the way, obviously, Tanya Gideon is in front of your formation. She has her arms i'm sorry fingers her arms splayed out in front of her is a very weird splayed out gives the impression that they're like this intricate complex it makes it sound almost inhuman no her fingers are splayed out in an arcane gesture and you can see there's a little mote of light in the center of it she's using using her fingers, the gesture she's making it, she's using it as like an aperture to view the world through.

It would be similar to, say, like the scope on a scope assault rifle in the video game Fortnite. It's almost exactly the same. Great, good. I understand now. I've got something to do with it. You've got a really good Tom-centric reference point. She's dropped into Tomato Town. She's picked up a green weapon.

Yeah, yeah. And she's heading into, because the circle's closing. Yeah, okay. Yeah. Storm's closing in. Storm's closing in. Storm's closing in. Storm's closing in.

And it closes in on us all. It truly does. Put that on my headstone. I won't die, but, you know, if I die, I won't. By my hand. Yeah. I mean, cut that out of the recording. Nah, leave it in.

It's my last will and testament. Predictions of Tom's death aside, you follow after Tanya Gideon. What's the sort of vibe like vis-a-vis marching order? Obviously, you can be as wide as you want. You're in city streets. But would you like to be kind of up the back? Would you like to be in the middle? Would you like to be up front? Where would you like the rest of the NPCs to be as well?

I think one of us needs to be at the back, one of us needs to be in the middle, and one of us needs to be on point. I don't think we can play in one spot. Yeah, I'll take the back. Yep. I might move up with Tanya so you can be with Gertrude. Because if I'm at the back,

I can keep eyes on all the people that are trying to hurt me. Which is also Redora. I assume Redora's at the back because there's no way you two shifty people are. I was just about to say, Redora hangs back a little bit as well and she's in line with you drifting. But I then, I take a step back.

I'd like to be behind her. Oh, okay. Are you two like competing? Just quietly though. There's no talk. It's just like a step back. I'd like to be behind her. Oh, okay. Are you two, like, competing? Just quietly, though. There's no talk. It's just, like, one step back, and then, yeah, she's getting slower. And eventually Tani is just like, would you guys hurry up? We're, like, a kilometre behind.

Radora allows you drifting to pull back behind her, but you notice any time there's, like, a – not that there would be many shop windows in the warehouse district, but any time Radora is given the opportunity to view you through a reflective surface, you see that she takes the opportunity to check where you are through a reflective surface. Okay, okay. Meanwhile, in the, you're in the middle, right, Pom? Yeah. Yes, okay. In the middle with Sir Gertrude Stonehand.

Yes. Gertrude's just chatting you up. She's treating this like it's a social event. She seems very unconcerned. You saw her die so many times earlier this evening. Yeah. I would assume I'm pretty flabbergasted, both because she's not dead and she's interested.

You, if you'll recall, have a duplicate of the amulet she wears around her neck. Yes. You showed that to her to explain that you were in a time loop. Not an hour ago. Or was it an infinite amount of time ago? Who's to say? So many days passed. She's really taken this in stride.

She seems very, very chill about the entire thing. Am I, like, is, maybe this is a decision I have to make, but is my enamoredness with her dipping because of this? Like, is there any suspicion here? That would be up to you, yeah. No. You certainly, I just made an insight check for you. You certainly don't know or you don't pick up on anything

that might give you pause. All right. She just seems chill. Yeah, yeah. I will happily say I am not doing my duties. I'm pretty distracted by this chat. I'm loving it. Cool.

I'm complimenting her. You've got a lovely neck in the moonlight. It's looking absolutely gorgeous. That sort of stuff. Kiss her. Mate, everyone around? You're full of the bits back there. Come on. I won't say no.

And then up the front. Oh, she continues to engage you pleasantly in conversation. Actually, maybe she ignores. No, she ignores your question entirely. Okay. She changes tact and she asks you, so, question out of the blue, I suppose, but where, where would you say

if you're, do you have any, like, plans for retirement or anything like that? Oh, well, that's a,

that's an interesting question. Where would you like to settle down one day? I always want to go back home, you see. That was sort of my dream. I quite liked it there, but I did have to leave.

So, yeah, I suppose I always see myself getting back there one day. She nods. She turns to you. No, she doesn't. It's kind of more a side glance sort of thing.

And she says, I've always thought the same, to be honest. Back somewhere coastal. Somewhere maybe with sheep. And a whole swaddle of children. Whoa. This is horny territory.

Kiss her. Get started on them kids. Do I kiss her? No, I don't think I kiss her. Again, I don't think the setting is quite right for Coward. He's a romantic, my friend. He blushes very deeply. Well, that sounds quite lovely, I suppose. I've always fancied a few young'uns myself.

How many would you say? Oh, not many. Only about a dozen or so, I would say. Keeping it conservative. Oh, man. Is that Dwarven lore that a dozen isn't a lot of kids? Are they just the Catholics of the day in the universe? I would say, not I would say,

it would be more a thing depending on what sort of sect of Dwarven life you live in. For some Dwarves, yes. Twelve would be considered conservative. For some groups of Dwarves, 20 is a healthy number of children. Okay. Man, they'd be fucking. But depending on what social strata and then what sort of life you've lived,

some dwarves might be like, one is a normal amount of children. Some might even not want to have kids. That's entirely normal as well. Good for them, hey? Yeah. Different strokes, different beards. Anyway, up the front with Tanya Gideon. Yes.

Tanya seems pretty focused on what she's doing, so she's not chatting much. Every now and then you hear her make like a tutting noise, and then she changes direction pretty suddenly. Is it moving around? I'm trying, but it's difficult to... How much do you know about magic? I know.

Is this something that I can just make up how much I know about magic? We're magic police. You can decide. Yearning loves... Hey, I trained at Muscle Beach. I'm good at two things. Working my muscles here in me arms and working the biggest muscle of all, the hands. I've read a lot of books. I am pretty familiar with their magical appearances.

She turns to you and she explains a magical concept. She's trying to find a load node that is connected to the main node that moves through the weave itself to pulsate energy between two points. You need to make an Arcana check. Okay. She's doing a... If you've decided that you're knowledgeable about magic, I'll give you advantage on this Arcana check. I actually do have a P in Arcana.

What does that mean, Adam? It means you're proficient. It means you are good. Hey, there we go. Muscle beach. Muscle beach, baby. She explains a very high-level concept. This is like PhD-level sort of stuff.

And maybe you don't know the entirety of what she's describing, but you know enough to follow along and make an intelligent comment. Yonix got legs, man. Yonix full of legs. Yes, I have read all of Rattingdor's pamphlets of Lord Nod's and their like. Tanya looks at you, and for the first time, actually. No role required. No role required for this. No Zen there like. She, Tanya, looks at you, and for the first time, actually. That's dangerous. No role required.

No role required for this. For the first time ever, she looks at you with something, with an entirely different expression. Oh. She has a new face. The expression she's giving you is not, for the first time you've realized for the first time that this has been her expression the entire time.

She's looking at you with not contempt up until now you thought that was just her face well your face does not just do that okay I wouldn't say

it's an entirely positive expression but it's not this guy's not an idiot that I want to kill she doesn't say anything she just gives you that expression

and then turns back to her work Is there anything that I can do of assistance? Well, I suppose Yes, actually If you know much about Lord nodes It would help I suppose If you were able to vibrate their energies

So that I can find where they're heading Does that just mean I need to do some kind of magic? Pretty much, yeah. Adam. Yes. So I have one magical ability. Yes. I do a very, while walking, and this is a very good skill,

the deepest bow you've ever seen. I am at your service, Mrs. Gideon. And I take off my shawl and my hat. And they tuck them into a belt bag or whatever. and I take off my shawl and my hat. And they tuck them into a belt bag or whatever. So now I take off my shirt. Now I'm shirtless. Okay.

I'm not buff. I'm a fat little lizard. Look at me. Like this is, you know, the joke would be this is what peak performance looks like, but this is what peak performance looks like. I then start flexing while walking like an old-timey strongman, and every time I flex, the ghostly apparition of an enormous big muscle arm that you would see if you visited the monks of the monastery at Muscle Beach.

They're all bodybuilders. I'm going to make an anime reference, which none of the people here in the room might understand, but there may be people who are listening who will understand. Fullmetal Alchemist. I know of it. There's a guy in it called Armstrong, who's like a big buff guy. Is he the one with the little twirl on his head? His alchemy is like buff. Yeah, so all of the monks at Muscle Beach look like him.

Right. And so the arms that are coming out look like big fake cartoony arms. They disappear when I stop flexing, and then when I flex again, they pop back. Circus strongman. Circus strongman, basically. So it's like a hologram of the astral projection of my arms, which is an ability that I possess through my monk training because you train the brain and you train the arms.

So, yeah, I'm flexing while walking. This isn't a display of, like, check me out. This is genuinely how I do powers. Sure, absolutely. If anyone was like, oh, you're showing off. No, no, this is very serious. I'm doing work. I. Yeah, absolutely. If anyone was like, oh, you're showing off. No, no. This is very serious. I have a very, I'm doing work. I'm doing flexes.

I have the most serious expression on my face. This is serious work. If someone is checking you out, are you like, no, no, no, not now? That's not what this is for. No, no, no. Okay. If we're walking along and there's like, you know, someone like working on the side, a woman or a man of the night and they lock eyes with me and they're like, oh yes.

And I'm not tonight from like a kilometer back i'm looking up going what the fuck i am busy an important part of manipulating the weave of magic is self-expression and self-perception everyone sees and everyone interprets the weave a little bit differently. And so your abilities are based around Ki, the energy within, the spiritual energy that you have inside yourself. And so somehow within yourself. Self-belief, Adam. I have the power of self-belief. You project outwards into the weave and see the weave before you. Or you manipulate it.

Maybe you feel it. It's up to you, I suppose. You know how lizards can taste the air? Yeah. That's how I detect magic. Just a little... You take the temperature of the weave. Yeah, yeah, yeah. You feel it vibrate

outwards around you, and you don't have enough expertise to see very far. Obviously, Tanya can only just barely see far through that aperture, but you can tell that it's enough when Tanya is immediately like, aha, and then she starts leading you

in a new direction again. I'm still flexing just to keep it going. Okay. Now I'm just doing it for show. Up the back, drifting. You hear, shh, he's talking. What? Who said it?

It's a voice. You turn around. At first you think it sounds like it came from in front of you, but you're looking directly in front of you, so you instinctively maybe turn to look behind you. There's no one other than Radora who definitely did not say that. Do I think that she did say it, though? She could have.

Since my ears are fucked. What did you say? Radora stops, turns, and looks at you and says, I said nothing. So I've looked around and I can't see anything. I'm going to slowly keep walking, but my hand goes to my sword. Talk to us. Speak. I hate going to slowly keep walking, but my hand goes to my sword. Talk to us. Speak. I hate this.

Can anybody else hear it? Do you ask? Anybody hear a voice? Oh, I only heard the lovely Gertrude's voice is the only one I heard. I am very busy and focused. I am sorry, Drifting. I cannot assist you at this time. I pull my sword out.

What voice? I want to quit. Is it the entity? I pull my sword out and I turn, but I assume I can't see anything. No. And still no one's heard anything. It's just me. It's just you.

Well, this is fucked. Yeah. Can I jump in and be like, what is it, brother? What do you hear there? I hear a voice. But, can I jump in and be like, what is it, brother? What do you hear there? I hear a voice. But she can't hear, you can't hear? No, I can't hear nothing.

I think we like, you take this seriously, right? I stop flexing. And I guess Tanya, I'm like, just wait. Something amiss is around us. Yeah, and I tell Tanya what I've heard. Tanya looks at you with a very concerned expression. Yeah, okay. Well, would you mind if I inspected?

Sure. She mumbles some arcane words and brushes her eye. Do you let her touch you? Because she's going to touch you. Does she have to? So you ask her if she has to? Yes. How do you say that? How do you phrase it exactly?

Get your dirty paws. This is why I asked. Away from my precious skin. Tanya will not, if you say it like that, Tanya's not going to fucking touch you. Yeah. Can she do her magic without touching me? She can. Beautiful.

But it looks like maybe it's not going to be as effective now fuck proceed she attempts to i just winced the whole time she attempts to detect any magical auras around you and then any perhaps she through her magic you know enough to tell that she's searching for divination magic, far-viewing magic, anything that might be able to communicate or to detect you remotely. Sorry, but I can't, I can see that there's something connecting you to parts unknown, and it seems unusual, but there are many magics in this world, and I don't know all of them. but there are many magics in this world and I don't know all of them. Adam, very quickly as part of our protocols and procedures, Yearning would like to do a head check of the group.

You count yourself. Yes. Tanya. You count Tanya. Gertrude. Gertrude. You count Pom. You count Pom.

Redora. Redora. Drifting. Drifting. Just six? The extra. So there are seven of us again There's seven of you Yeah okay

Because there's always been seven of us Hasn't there Adam? Do I find it strange when I count seven? This time For the first time It feels weird There's an extra You only see the extra

When your eyesight includes drifting What does it look like? It looks like If you're staring at it, if you spend enough time staring at it, you can see that there's a bunch of figures standing around drifting. How many? Hard to say.

Their forms kind of blur together. Fuck. Yearning. Drifting. How many fingers do I hold up? You hear. How many fingers do you put up? How hear. How many fingers do you put up? How many am I holding up?

Oh, that's four. You hear four. Is that you, drifting snowflake? Oh, no. That was your day. No, that was a kill me. Drifting, can you see us? Can I see them?

You feel blind. You feel a little dazzled for a sec, like someone just shone a blindingly bright light in your eyes. Yeah, okay. I love that for your character right now, you need to be somewhat diplomatic. You need to be able to talk to them, which is like the last thing your guy could do.

So I just see bright lights? No, your body reacts as if you have, but you didn't see a bright light. My body reacts as if I have seen. Yeah, it's very strange. I've got the sensation of a bright light. My eyes hurt from a bright light, but't see a bright light. My body reacts as if I have seen. Yeah, it's very strange. I've got the sensation of a bright light. I was hurt from a bright light, but there is no bright light. There is no bright light.

What do I see? You stagger backwards and look around you, and at first you think there's just a haze in front of you, but then you realize there are figures standing all around you, and you maybe in shock try to move a little bit and you realize your body won't move you're locked in place frozen have i clocked that he now can't move and they've surrounded him if i'm looking at him yes when you try to move as well i'm sorry i not being able to move is incorrect you can move a little little bit, but you feel like you're restricted. Something's holding you, and when you move a little bit

you can hear the chink of chains. So I can't swing a sword for instance? No, you can't. You don't have enough. You can only just barely move yourself. Whoa, whoa, whoa! One of the figures, you can see they're resolved enough now that hands come up in front of you and try to push you back down. You realize now your sensation, you're standing up, but you feel a sensation of lying down on your back. I lock eyes with you.

Do you trust me? Do I have to? No, but I am. He's fighting. Put him back to sleep. Yes. I flex my arm And two big arms come out of one side And I swing at one of the figures with the astral arm

As soon as you connect No roll required As soon as you connect You split through the figures And they fade away into nothing The sensation goes away And you're just standing there again. Nothing as if nothing had happened. I have a question.

Yes. Is all of me standing there? All of you that was there before this happened, you've not gained any body parts. Um, I, are you okay? Drifting? I don't know. What happened? We need to be

very careful here okay you are a hunter yes I can hunt yes and the key of being hunting is that you cannot

do it in your own backyard no you must go to where they live and we must be very very vigilant here because drifting

we are in their territory now you fucking idiot that's a little trick for Sean. And anyone who has seen the 2022 film Beast. Five stars. Is that five stars the movie or five stars Tom set up? Yeah, and it's a great film.

I want to say back to the group. There are figures. You cannot see them if you are not looking directly at them and they are trying to capture our friend here and hurt him. Are you okay? Am I okay? Yeah. I'm not okay.

Look at me. I mean, there's no more. I'm falling apart. No more of you is missing, huh? I think we should swap places or something. I don't want to be at the back anymore. I will try with you. Okay.

I don't want to be at the front.. I will try with you. Okay. I don't want to be at the front. Who can do magic? Nah. All right. You two need to swap then. All right. I'll take your place back there. Is he going to let me do that, though, after I killed his girl?

But she's back again. Are we good again? Yeah, we're good again. That wasn't a real girl. That was a timeline girl. It may have been the only real one. Mate, she's talking about having a dozen kids. We're fine.

Don't worry about it. This is true. Godfather drifting snowflake. The man who previously beheaded her. She doesn't remember. Oh, yeah. I'm like, all right, mate. You come down in the middle here and I'll head to the back.

All right. It's not a situation where we can all huddle together. I mean, we could. You want to be at the center? Do we want to? Actually, that's not a bad idea. can all huddle together. I mean, we could. You want to be at the center? Do we want to? Actually, that's not a bad idea. I'd like a wall of comrades with me in the middle. I use the opportunity to take Gertrude's hand.

Magic is happening. She holds your hand. I'm under attack. I need the wall. I keep flexing because I can still do it close enough to Tanya, but I've moved to the back of the circle with, I assume Radora's to the back. Yeah, she's still at the back.

Imagine you're in the middle of where five points of a star. I love it. Right? Yep. And you two are holding hands. As you walk away, drifting, you feel like you could just very distantly, from where you were when all of this happened,

you feel like from there, you hear the sound of splintering wood and screaming. And then you continue onwards into the warehouse district. Well, I'm imagining that. Let's move on. He's like, well, I just got to accept the terrible. From out of the darkness looms a giant warehouse building. This one's much larger than any of the ones around it.

And you can see, rather than, a lot of these warehouses will have either just someone's name printed on them or a company of some sort, some sort of industry or farming community or something like that, fishing community rather than farming. But this one, this large one, instead just has, you recognize, the seal of fairburn point it is presumably owned and run by the state okay interesting tanya appears to be leading you towards this warehouse yeah and so she's just following her uh yeah yeah when you get within i'm gonna say when you get within maybe 200 feet tanya stops the spell that she's casting, turns to the rest of you and says,

I don't think I need it any longer. The energies are coming from this warehouse. Okay. How many doors? There is, on the front of the building, there are a large set of double Bombay doors that would be rolled aside. Large enough that obviously you don't know what an aircraft is, but large enough that a Boeing could come in and out of the warehouse. You can see on the front also there is a smaller set of similar Bombay, not Bombay, sorry.

These ones would swing open. These ones would be big enough for a heavily laden wagon to come in and out. And on one side, you haven't done a loop of this place yet, but on one side, you can see that there is a smaller office building attached

to the main building. That one has glass windows and a single door. Would you like to do a circle? I would like to get onto the roof. Of this building? Yes. Okay. Are you going to go do that now?

That is my plan. My plan is that I think two of the, I'm fairly stealthy. I don't know who else is super stealthy. I assume Radora would be. She's a spy master. She should be, yeah. Do that while the others try to suss out another way in, so we're coming in in sort of two ways. Yeah, yeah. Do that while the others try to suss out another way in, so we're calming in in sort of two ways.

I like this. Yeah, yeah. You can see that there is, there's no windows. Oh, no, there would be windows, but just really high up windows around the warehouse section. The office section has, you know, like head level windows, but the office section is lights out, nothing happening. But the warehouse section,

you can see that there is light spilling out from those high up windows. You can tell something's inside or someone I should say is inside. Okay. Drifting is very stealthy as well, by the way. Oh, and I mentioned that story so that you can all, I,

to say that you can also see light spilling out from the top, the roof. So you assume there's some sort of skylight as well. What, sorry, what time of day was this again? It's nighttime. You don't know the exact hour, but it'd be maybe close to midnight at this point.

Okay. And so if we enter through the really big doors that the Boeing could fit through. You don't even know if you could get them open. It looks like a team needs to open those. Oh, I see. Okay, okay. Are we not a team? We are a team.

I suppose you are, yeah. Well, actually, maybe you could. We must be a team on. Okay, okay. Are we not a team? We are a team. I suppose you are, yeah. Well, actually, maybe you could. We must be our team on the roof, potentially. Well, yeah, I'm thinking my plan is, yeah, maybe as part of like a scout first, we send two people up onto the roof to suss that. Everyone else sort of does a circuit, meet back here, come with a plan of attack. What are the doors made out of?

The big Bombay doors would be made out of – actually, they'd all be made out of wood. Okay. And it'd be too expensive to make them of anything else. All right. Okay. Damn. I was hoping stone.

The walls would be made out of stone. Okay. If that helps. Does my stone cunning help at all in that situation? It gives you an advantage on your checks to know about stone work. So if you wanted to, you would get advantage on any check to know. If you wanted to know how to bring this down or just anything about stonework, you get a bonus to know about it.

So if you have any questions you want answers to. Are there any, yeah, if I use my stonecutting, are there any like, so the walls are made of stone? Yes. Yeah, okay. Are there any like fracture points, weak points, that sort of thing? I'll allow that with the bonus, but you're going to need to make a loop of the building and you're going to need to get close to the building as well.

All right, I'm game. Okay, cool. Is anyone else going with him or is he doing this alone? Well, I'm going to go up on the roof. The NPCs, you just ask them to come with you and they'll come with you. Well, I mean, I would like to keep holding Godric's hand. Well, Godric goes with you then, yeah. Are you on a stealth?

Are you stealth? I'm stealth. You also probably don't want to be left alone at this point. Yeah, I think I need some sort of protection. Question to you. You also have a climb speed as a Tabashi, so you're very good at climbing. There we go. Oh, yeah.

Does Yearning have a disguise kit? Oh, you might have a disguise to look like an old hermit. Should we wear disguises? Well, the only disguise- Because I have a disguise kit, and I'm just like, when in Rome? Well, my disguise, you've seen it already. I look like a hermit. Yeah.

I pull the cloak up and use my quarterstaff that's a bit gnarled instead of as a club, as an old man stick. Or woman. It's impossible to say. What's your disguise? I think my disguise is Sir Like a Silvery Moon. Oh, shit. Just a full outfit.

Like the full Mission Impossible mask and everything. All right, so you, yeah, you can make yourself look like Sir Like a Silvery Moon. Sorry, I've now just hit a point where I'm really excited for the final confrontation where Colonel The Matrix Revolutions is talking to Silvery, talking to someone and being like, you don't understand. Driven in snowflake. He's the living manifestation of destiny and he has made you his mission.

And Silvery Moon just takes the mask off. Should be more concerned about the moment I, like, catch my reflection in the mirror and try and fight myself. It's too good. It's too effective. Yeah, we're going on the roof. Radora and Tanya, where would you like them to be? I think Radora's going with you guys.

Is she disguising as well as a spy master? She can disguise, yeah. She's got a disguise kit. Great. She probably doesn't do anything as flashy as changing from a Kabashi to an elf. Yeah, okay. But she does, yeah, using a disguise kit, she changes the color of her scales and gives herself some extra horns to make herself look different.

I like to think I made everybody wait for hours while I did the makeup. I think it does take an hour. Especially because you've got like... So if you're willing to wait an hour... Does it really? Yeah, I think it does. I'll double check. I'll do that for an hour so we can climb a roof.

The NPCs are following your lead on this, so... Half a second. Yeah, does it limit my abilities to climb? I don't think it does. It's just a disguise. You're not actually changing. See, my disguise. I'm the human target.

I become that person. Yeah, yeah, yeah. My disguise is very basic. Yeah. Just to look like an old man. A fake mustache. You're like Clark Kent Superman. Yeah, pretty much.

Are you hoping to disguise yourself from these voices that keep finding you? Yeah, that's the big plan. I thought if I'm someone else, that might trick the voices. They might leave you alone, yeah. I've got a feeling they're going to be able to see through a disguise. I don't know what it is. Just their weird omniscient ability to be everywhere. I think they're connected to you in ways that far go beyond a disguise.

They're huddled around me watching me apply all the makeup. He's doing it wrong. He's doing it wrong. That's not contouring. The actual rules say that it takes a minute, but you've got to do it as part of a long rest, which takes eight hours. Oh, wow.

But I'll say whatever. Who cares? So, yeah, you can do it in an hour. Yeah, cool. And how long does it last? Well, it lasts until you take it in an hour yeah cool how long does it last well it lasts until you take it off hell yeah

never oh god you cock it up pretty bad oh no you don't even look recognizably like an elf hang on

is it skills you do only have like six fingers yeah do you have anything this is a skill check do you have anything for skill checks we're gonna roll

the skill check oh right tool for the job? What about this one? You coincidentally have the exact tool. We can roll it for advantage. Roll skill check with advantage, which means twice we take the higher one. Roll another one. You don't look like Sir Lyca Silverymoon.

You look like you wearing Sir Lyca Silverymoon's face. It's cross-play. It's because the voices kept interrupting you while you were painting. like a silvery moon. Okay. You look like you wearing so like a silvery moon's face. Oh, cross play. Yeah. Yeah. Cause the voices kept interrupting you while you were painting. Thank you. We'll see you next time. It's Fido. Start the semester with a new phone and a plan full of data without breaking your budget. We have everything you need for an A-plus year. Come check out our special back-to-school offers.

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