D&D is For Nerds - State of Grace #12 Ser Grace Victorious

Episode Date: July 26, 2025

In the dungeons beneath Fairburn Point Ser Grace, the realms most celebrated adventurer, was forcefully bonded with an entity beyond mortal comprehension. For some such an incident would spell tragedy, for Ser Grace, however, he saw only opportunity. Now the wheels are in motion for something big, something terrifying. A thousand plans, two thousand eyes, and all requiring a personal touch.Such is the State of Grace.To find out how Ser Grace bonded with the Inky Black check out Search for A’Helm. To learn the history of Ser Grace you can listen to the Fall from Grace Trilogy: The Hag, The City, The Dungeon as well as the Tieffany and Pop campaign Return to Grace. Ser Grace last appeared in The Adventures of the Greyhill Free Company and to hear more about the happenings on at Fairburn Point you can listen to Cult & Worship and The Lonely Tower. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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They hit the boat. Oh no. They tear a hole in the boat. No, this is kind of good. Oh, I guess it slows us down. Yeah, you begin slowing down even further as well. The boat is destroyed. Now it's going to sink,

but before it sinks, you might actually end up making them hit you. That's great, fantastic. What would you like to do navigation wise? Could I try and preempt because they, I assume, are going to imagine that we will keep slowing down. So maybe they will try and, because currently every time they've moved,

they've been trying to move out of the way of us. Do I think that I could try to intercept them by preempting where they're going to move to, to avoid where they think we'll be, if you know what I mean? You can try that, but so your options are keep slowing down or reverse. Speed up. Turn left.

Turn right. Yeah, yeah. What, what way have they been turning towards the north? So you're sailing north to south. You're sailing north to south. They're sailing west to east. Yeah, yeah. And they've been turning further northward as you've been kind

of slowing down a bit. Yes, okay. Uh, I guess really the best option is just to keep slowing down. Okay. To be honest. Because we're not going to outrun them. We're not quick enough. Yeah.

Good news and I've got bad news. Hit me with them both at once. No, I'll take the good news. So having seen that they hit you with the Ballista Bolt, they knew that you were going to be slowing down. And so they started turning back southwards, now planning on overshooting you. But you kind of beefed slowing down. So it hasn't, it's not, you still got a little bit of work to do and you've got one round left before a collision occurs. Okay. And it's their turn to attack. They fire a Ballista Bolt.

Heise all hoes. Heise. They take out another guy. That's fine. You're down to... What is that? Down to... Three? Three, yeah. So, what would you like to do navigation-wise?

Well, now Coz-I beefed it and their turn has actually brought them more in the direction of like they're more likely to hit us now, yeah, because of their correction. I assume that they're going to try and correct back in the other direction to try and turn back north. So I suppose it's still slowing down. I suppose it's kind of nothing else that we can do really in this situation. I just don't think we're fast enough that if I'm like turn left It's gonna take us like probably several turns to actually you know what I mean sure sure if we could just slow down in the spot That's it's probably the easiest move Okay, so mm-hmm at the last

Possible moment the wind dies down meaning that both of your sails give out and you lose a lot of control. Without any, with boats, without any forwards propulsion, you have very little actual steering power. The two are inextricably tied together. If you're not moving in a boat, you can't turn in a boat. Now when the wind dies down, that gives you a pretty actually significant advantage

because you have oars and you begin continuing to row and so you are able to, it doesn't even matter what they, you don't even see what their last movement was because they lose so much steering, they aren't able to change direction or do anything. Your boat slams into their destroying your fishing trawler and Let me see if you cause significant damage to the gallant rider

Hell yeah The gallant rider takes some damage, but from your distance on the constant craving Yeah, you can't tell how bad it is. Does it seem like it's slowed them down? I don't need them to be damaged. You can't tell how bad it is. Yeah, no worries.

Well, I'll just keep trailing after them on the constant craving, I suppose. The constant craving, a little bit later, looks like it's going to intercept as well. With the constant craving, there's no warning shots this time. They know exactly what's happening. And so both ships begin firing at the Constant Craving. What would you do? Lieutenant DeVole is in charge of the situation right now. I think we need to send an envoy of people onto the ship

to try and collect whatever Punchinello got trapped in. Okay. Like I would like to get close enough to board. All right, it doesn't look like that's happening. The Bluebeach ship, the Constant Craving, is now, you're exchanging shots, you're firing ballista at each other. Yeah, yeah.

It doesn't look like Lieutenant Devoli intends on closing the distance. Okay, well that's extremely annoying because that's what we needed him to do. Well, that's okay. If we destroy the Gallant Rider as well, that's, I guess that's something, like that still achieves the same goal.

So I'm very happy for them to volley shots. Like a rowboat, to send a rowboat across would be very difficult, right? I'm assuming amidst this gunfire. You could try. Yeah, yeah. And maybe what we'll do is we'll fire on the Gallant Rider and the Stormcaller while at the same time trying to close the distance, at least as Ogden Tyne, I'll ask the captain

of the, um, the constant craving to do so, you know, answer Grace's orders in the hopes of making them basically stopping them from, uh, outrunning us and trying to turn them back, if you know what I mean. No, sorry, can you repeat? So to try and close the distance and gain some, to get ahead of them somewhat so that we can start trying to corral them and kind of herd them back toward Fairburn Point while at the same time exchanging fire.

In the middle of this battle, Lieutenant Davoli, who's probably standing, he's not actually in charge of the ship, he's not turning the wheel or anything like that, but he's near there, he's got the eyepiece out and he's scanning the battle, he's directing soldiers, giving orders. As you move over and tell him that,

you don't even get half of it out, he turns around to you, wheels around on you, right in the face, do not presume to tell me how to fight this battle. Oh my god, dude. Oh my god You can wait downstairs for all I care who do you think you're having this fight for who do you think you're working for? Right now. What do you think you're doing right now? I think we are betraying what we believe in now you can wait downstairs So he seems like he's like a blue beach loyalist basically

Yeah, he does not seem to be terribly interested in this fight, and you can see he's very annoyed He was told they were fighting one ship and now you're fighting two okay, so grace you feel a tingling from the mirror verse Something's happening. Okay. I'll head there a tingling from the mirrorverse. Something's happening. Okay. I'll head there. Withdraw from... Yeah, whatever.

This ship is a lost cause and I'm pissed at John Carter. And I will move from it. I'll leave Ogden Tide to whatever. And then I'll head into the mirrorverse. All right. You jump into the mirrorverse. On your way to the mirrorverse version of you, your consciousness is kind of moving using the Yankee black

Yeah, like a freeway going from one place to another to another place Yeah, your consciousness is heading is driving down the freeway that leads to mirror verse But on the off-ramp that heads towards taking the lonely tower Yeah, you can see another tingle goes on there. Two important things are happening at the same time. I can't split myself across them? You, yeah, you can if you want. I'll do that, I'll try and have it all.

All right, yeah, absolutely. Yeah. As the tendril that is trying to take the Lonely Tower, you, Jindabine the Howling Mad, and your little cadre of 14 fighters Yeah, you are the plan was we're gonna punch a hole from the exponential Sir Grace fight Yeah into the mirror fortress and then with the intent of while we're in the mirror fortress Using one of those mirrors to get higher up in the tower. Yeah, preferably to the top

So Jindabine with assistance, very few of the other alternate version Graces are helping their Jindabines. Yeah, yeah. But you, you are. So, your Jindabine is creating a portal as six other Jindabines are trying to create portals. You, Sir Grace, are able to, with, not without some difficulty,

but you're able to dance a bunch of them back and away from the fight, so that your Jinderbine can create a portal here, which then you will need to leave some fighters to keep it protected. You have 14, every fighter you leave here is one you're not getting back, probably. That's okay.

I think, honestly, to be able to get to the top of the tower, which is really the aim here, I'll leave behind five. My hope is that the Ser Graces will be so interested in killing each other, that they will be kind of largely ignoring my portal to the Mirror Fortress. With the remaining nine and Jindabine, you make your way back into that grassy field, beautiful grassy field, which as I remind you is actually a corridor. Yes, yeah, yeah.

But it's also actually a grassy field. Yes, yes, yes. And from there, you, now that the doors are all closed, it's really hard to, when it's a field, it's really hard to see them, but you reach out and using, as best you can, using muscle memory from the inky entity that came through that door, you find, you kind of, you got to do a little

bit of like a where the fuck is it? Yeah, find the worm through the fir movement to like find it. You grab the handle of the doorknob, you're in the corridor as you turn open the door and then you step from the field into the mirror. You step into the mirror verse again. While you're in the mirror verse twice, you see yourself in that fortress where there are mirror entities running about.

And as soon as you open the door, it's like you've kicked the hornet's nest. You here and the other version of you, suddenly there is a heavy increase in activity as the mirror entity now seen. You've been knocked up from a stage two threat to a stage five threat. It's a, yeah, it's a, it becomes a bit more intense. That's okay. So we're going to go to initiative.

Have the other Sir Graces come through? not yeah, you haven't opened the other portal Okay, yeah, okay. I'm gonna just stepped in. Yep. Sure. You see you are watching You are observing two things at once you are observing that mirror fortress Which becomes a hive of activity activity as when you open the door the mirrors attack you are in a courtyard of sorts the mirrors attack. You are in a courtyard of sorts. You can see that there is one large structure, a castle made out of mirrors, surrounded by a wall also made out of mirrors.

In that wall made out of mirrors, it's not a traditional wall that would protect a castle. It looks like just a, it's one solid but thin wall that stretches all the way around. And you can see there are many door ish shaped mirrors Yeah, yeah through which you can see many different places times and maybe copies versions of yourself Yeah, sure entities a million different things as your mind kind of wavers It looks like the the visage on the other side changes reflecting reflecting something within you, though you're not sure

what. The castle, from the castle, an endless stream of mirror entities continue to make their way out. These mirror entities, as they change shape and form, as they're reflected and as things gaze upon them, it looks like they mirror and change themselves to match other things there. As you cast your gaze upon them, whatever entity you're directly looking at, it looks like it kind of transforms a little bit to mirror you. To more resemble me, okay. But then as in your peripheral, as you are looking away from them, they become more amorphous, hard to detect. Meanwhile, Punchinello, Grace, sees Punchinello. There is a crystalline, made out of glass, crystalline shape in this endless landscape. It looks like some, it

looks like a large gem, and in its center is Punchinello suspended in time and place. Okay, cool. As you approach though, that is about when the door opened for Tower Grace. Yeah, okay. When the door opened for Tower Grace, like I said, things got a lot more hectic. Yeah. And now these mirror entities, they're not actually really trying to guard Punchinello, they're just trying to stop you.

Yeah, for sure. Well, I presume from their perspective, it's the same entity attacking from multiple fronts. So it's, yeah, no worries. The mirror entities for Panchinello, for Panchinello, Grace, they're coming in all directions. For Tower Grace, they're only coming from the front. Okay. Tower Grace has, currently, has nine entities at his side side and he has just lost one defending the gate.

Cool. No worries. So you have four more, the gate there has four more, shall we say hit points. Yeah. Yep. Yep. And if all of those guards are killed, then that Tower Grace's plan fails before it even really starts.

Cool. Cool. And then Tower Grace's plan fails before it even really starts. The Punchinello Grace has 10 entities to defend himself. Now it's the Mirror's Entities' turn first. They're not able to, for Punchinello Grace, as they close in from all sides, you've given yourself a diamond formation with you in the center and your, shall we say, army all around you. The true faithful, whatever, all around me. Cool.

All around you. They are keeping you safe and they have yet to falter. That's great. Tower Grace is less lucky. So only being able to defend and attack from one side, it would have given you, it could have given you a kind of a defensive, a direction that you just don't need to worry about. Yeah. You can back up against the wall and be like, oh, well, I don't need to protect myself from this direction. You were very wrong.

Okay. Is it because it's made of mirrors? Because it's made of mirrors, you erroneously place your back against it, and you are attacked from behind. You lose three of your nine. It's no good. You're down to six. You feel a mirror spear skewer you from behind, Sir Grace.

You take eight points of damage. Okay. Mirror Spear, skewer you from behind, Sir Grace. You take eight points of damage. Then it is Tower Grace's turn. What does Jinderbine need? Time, just give me some time. I must get closer, or put me wherever. Is here okay? Wherever you need to be to open the portal, Jinderbine.

Maximum damage would be next to the castle, I suppose. Okay, then we'll start making a push toward the castle. You begin making a push towards the castle. You out in front, I guess? Yeah, I suppose. There's no one immediately in front of you, so you can attack entities ahead of you to try and thin out their number, or you can just try to cross as much distance as you can. Do you think if I tried to cross quite a bit of distance,

I would take an attack of all? Not. Okay, well then yeah, let's just cross as much distance as we can. I'm not here to fight these mirror entities. Okay. I'm here to survive until the other subgraces get here, and then I'm out. So I'm not interested in fighting if I don't have to.

You sprint across the space as fast as you can. You reach the other side more or less. You're not actually touching the castle yet. But I'm like close enough. But you're several strides away from touching the castle. So that happens as Tower Grace and your inky creatures chase after you obviously. Fantastic. The ones for Punchinello Grace holding that diamond formation try to fend off the mirror entities. Oh, good news, bad news. They don't really push them away.

Yeah, which means you actually halt. You aren't moving towards Punchinello now, but it means that you don't lose any of them. Yes, yeah, yeah. Hey, well, I'll take it. I'll take it. I'll take it. Then it is Punchinello Grace lose it. Yes. Yeah. Hey, I'll take it. I'll take it. I'll take it Then it is punch in a low graces turn. Okay speaking off Do I think that to free punch in a low like he's in that crystal? We're damaging the crystal free him. I guess we need to get closer I'll just I'll make a push like two pushes one toward the castle and one toward punch in a low grace We will I'll just forge ahead. Your ink entities get another turn pushing forwards,

and this time they're significantly more successful. I'd say successful enough that because your intention isn't really to fight this mirror creature, you're not actually destroying them because that would lose you guys. Yes, yeah, yeah. You're instead, they're just hip and shouldering. They're shepherding their way forward. Your ink entities make it with you to the other side of that space where the castle is for Tower Grace

and then for Pugnano Grace, your diamond formation begins to make its way further along. It's the mirror entities turn. Something strange happens. There's no longer a mindless nature to this imitation. Now it looks like the mirror entity, the mirror equivalent of Sograce, whatever's controlling them in the same way that you control the Inky Black,

starts taking more direct control. And before, they would kind of copy randomly. Now they're copying with purpose. At one point, you are Captain Morlock Brush, and you are before the dragons, killing yourself essentially. When that happens, a bunch of the mirror creatures all tumble together and form a mirror dragon. Oh, okay. Cool.

That mirror dragon then breathes mirror fire onto your formation. Okay. You fail the dexterity saving throw. This is going to hurt. Yeah, you're picking up a lot of dice. God damn. 24 points of damage. 24 points of mirror fire damage.

Both Ser Graces recoil in pain as the mirror flames burn at them. Yeah. I imagine you get full of little slivers of glass. Yeah. That Mirror Dragon curls itself around the castle and is taking a very defensive stance. Anytime one of your entities gets close, the mirror swipes down at them. Meanwhile, the mirrors fighting Punchinello Grace form many tiny little dragons.

And each of those tiny little dragons begin swooping down on you. There are still normal bipedial forms that are trying to hamper your process. And actually, as they're putting out their arms, their arms form into huge tower shields, which looks like they're trying to make a wall. You see, they're trying to make a wall all around you. The shields, when they touch together, they begin seamlessly becoming one. It looks like you're about to be sealed in.

While those dragons, those little dragons swoop down from above. You lose two, Punchinello Grace loses two entities out of the ten that it has. That's the first loss we've had, that's fine. Then it is Tower Grace's turn. I turn to Jindabine. How close does Jindabine seem to be to activating the portal? Jindabine hasn't even started casting the spell yet.

He's not in position. Well, we need to get in position. So we're gonna move forward again to try and get to the right place so that he can do it. You lose another guardian of the other end of the gate. You're down to three. That's fine. Oh yeah, so we'll make another push.

Does he need to get closer to the castle? He doesn't need to be anywhere specifically. You're just gonna maximize damage in the castle. You can tell him to start casting now. Oh yeah, then honestly, I think where we are now, I tell him to start. Alright. Open the portal gender by an essay.

Quickly. Okie dokie. Alright. Open the portal gender by and I say Okey-dokey he begins casting the spell. Mm-hmm. It's gonna take a little while for the And then I suppose with my actual turn I will just like do my best to keep the mirror entities away from gender by him. He needs to get two Successful arcana checks in a row. Okay, the first arcana check is a success nice So next turn when he does the second one if he nails it, we're good. Yeah. All right, sweet then it is that was Tower grace's turn it is your allies turn. Mm-hmm

the Cadre that that tower grace has yes. Yes The array that Tower Grace has, Yes. Yes. Yeah, yeah, yeah. They neither take losses nor deal damage, which with a giant mirror dragon is maybe a- Yeah, that's impressive.

That's fine. That's fine. Then Punchinello Grace, oh, Punchinello Grace loses some guys. You push too hard and too quickly. A bunch of ink entities are picked up by Mirror Dragons, lifted up into the air, and then just drops. That's a shame.

You lose... Oh no, that was a costly mistake. You lose five. Ooh, that's grim. That's a real shame. You're down to three, which means that you're actually now gonna start taking attacks as both Graces. Yep, yep, yep, yep. That was your ink entity's turn, it is Punchinello Grace's turn. How close am I to Punchinello? If you were willing to take six attacks of art, you could get him now. Okay.

I'll let you to, I will allow you to sacrifice three of your ink entities, the three that you have left, to basically they will absorb those three attacks. It's... So, here's the trade-off. Yeah. Now, every one that you pick to absorb an attack, I'm not actually going to roll that attack. The ink entity...

It doesn't matter if they would have hit or miss. Yeah, they'll still suffer the damage. Yeah. The ink... You've lost an ink entity it doesn't matter if they would have hit or miss. Yeah, they'll suffer the damage Yeah, the ink and you've lost an ink entity, but it's one potential hit that you will not suffer. Okay, okay Then what's I mean? I really yeah, you know what? It's worth it I think I'll do that all three or all three all three I will putting the ink entities in front of myself to defend myself when the mirror attacks come I will make the rush for Punch and Allo to free him Only one hit. Oh fuck. Yes

Great news as you try to dart in between the there's one There's not one but there's a few gaps left in those mirror shields as they have not yet properly sealed you in in those mirror shields as they have not yet properly sealed you in. You send ink entities through first and they are cut to ribbons. They're not really people, so it's okay. But while they are being cut to ribbons, yeah, you would, if they were a real person, you would have cared. As they are being cut to ribbons, so, Grace, you, as Punchinello Grace, slip through and one, only one mirror entity slashes at you,

dealing six points of damage. Oh, that's fine. Then you are at Punchinello and you still have an action. Can I, so Punchinello, so what I'm seeing is like a big crystal inside which is Punchinello. Yes. Do I get the impression that I'm basically seeing the inside of the prison, really? It feels like it could be, yeah. Okay.

Now, do I think shattering it? Can I make an arcana check as to what I would be required to do to free Punchinello? A shatter spell would be real handy right about now. Okay. Um, I, okay, I don't have a shatter spell, but can I just kick Punchinello, kick the crystal? Critical hit. Fuck yes. Fuck yes.

You kick Punchinello, that crystal which had been- it was like it was stuck into the ground, the crystal teeters over backwards and then slams into the ground. Hell yeah. As it shatters, I believe you were in Punchinello when he saw this. You see, it looks like the other side of that mirrored plate. You can see that Punchinello falls through it as if it were a... well, not as if. It is a portal and Punchinello falls back through it. As Punchinello, you feel yourself... ...hop out of that and onto... into the bowels of the gallant rider

that the magic that holds the portal open remains even after the crystal is shattered so tendril, not tendril, you're both tendril so Punchinello, Grace? Punchinello, Grace, you can if you want since there's nothing here to do other than die to the mirror entities you leap through and also you are standing next to Punchinello. I immediately sacrifice myself to Punchinello to give myself more hit points. As Punchinello? Yeah, Punchinello is not doing great.

So I jump in and sort of like almost grab Punchinello in a bear hug to give Punchinello more hit points. I don't know how many hit points tendril grace has left But every hit point you lose as tendril grace. Yep, you can give punch an alo hell Yeah, obviously if you give him all of your hit points both tendril graces are destroyed. Yeah. Yeah, no no That's what I do in that you might want to leave at least one in tendril grace. Yes, okay? I will give him I'll give him 20 honestly 20 all right that will Tendril Grace with five hit points. That's fine. We're close. Okay, what's around me in the bowels of the Gallant Rider? In the bowels of the Gallant Rider, there's nothing and no one.

You're in that room that they were interrogating you in before, but now you're actually in the room. Yeah, cool. The magical suppression field has been turned off. There is one door, you can hear the sounds of combat above you. You know what that combat is. Yes, absolutely. Well, I'm gonna enter a rage, and then I'm going to start, I'm gonna open the door and just start flopping my way up onto the deck with my broken wings, looking for any of the crew of the Gallant

Rider. Well, before you get up onto the deck, bursting through the door, you tumble into the bowels of the Gallant Rider. There are sailors who are the first people to encounter you. They seem very surprised, very worried, I would say. Very worried to see you. One of them, we're going to initiative, or we're still in initiative, I should say. I'm going to say, since Punchinello took all of the hit points, Punchinello is now, I'm just going to replace Punchinello Grace with Punchinello themselves.

Yes, yes, Punchinello Grace has become Punchinello, basically. So, there's two sailors in this corridor. One of them sprints away from you upstairs to alert other people while the other sailor charges you with a baton That sailor swings and what is punchinello as they see that will be a miss nice Then the mirror dragon with a huge roar is Going to swoop down and claw at your defenders and that you so grace Oh actually wait can it breathe mirror fire again? It breathes mirror fire again what was I saying? Oh no. Mirror Grace, okay you pass the saving throw this time so you'll take

half damage. Having five hit points I'm sure you'll be fine. I'm sure you'll be fine. Alright. Ten. Twenty. Five. Twenty-six. You take thirteen. Tendrilgrace, you are destroyed! Okay, no worries. You are, though, still aware of that combat through... Not through Jindabine the Howling Mad, but through the other ink entities there.

Well, can I jump into one of the other ink entities? Yes. You are not Tendrilgrace, though. You are an ink entity. Yeah, yeah I jump into one of the other ink entities? Yes, you are not tendril grace though You are an ink and yeah, yeah, that's fine. That's fine. I don't have any yeah I've got very few powers anymore, but that's okay It's you have lost four of them see you down to the two ink entities and jindabine who will in a moment complete their spell Hopefully you lose another defender of the other end of the portal as well, meaning you have two left. Yep. So if Jindabine-

Whiffs this, then- It's kind of actually done. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. It is Tower Grace- Tower Grace is dead, but we'll say- As- Yeah. Okay, I will then, as the Incandity, grab Jindabine by the robes and be like,

FINISH THE PORTAL! Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha Ha ha ha ha. Ha ha ha ha. Ha ha ha ha ha. Jinde Bein, oh, you're very lucky. Jinde Bein does not stop laughing as he puts the finishing touches on the portal. It, boom, mirroring two blue portals, mirroring each other. It looks like you're, it doesn't look like a portal.

It looks like a tear in reality, space, and time. As soon as it opens up, I'm guessing the defenders step through, which, just the size of the battle now, it's being pushed in all directions. It's like a balloon slowly expanding. The fight begins tumbling out of the portal and into the mirror fortress Pandemonium hell reigns supreme hell. Yes Okay, and then on my next turn as the ink entities that remain in jindabine We're gonna just try and find the portal out of here. Okay in the chaos that we will it's your allies turn Yeah, that's that's great. That's what that's what they do. You start searching

Yeah, that's that's great. That's what that's what they do you start searching and punch an olo It's your turn There is a sailor in front of you and a sailor who hasn't actually escaped yet is trying to alert the crew I'm gonna use form of beast bite and with my owl beak. I'm gonna just try and bite his head off you Bite his head off nice you actually have enough speed to get to the other one as well So you could do it attacks as well. Yeah, you have two attacks. Oh, then I'll do that critical fail critical fail I'm sorry punchinello

I'm sorry punchinello That's okay. Pop to it. You cannot walk or run for 1d4 minutes. You can only jump That's awesome. For the next two minutes, Punchinello, you can only jump. How does that happen? Oh, as you're sprinting around, Punchinello, you throw all caution to the wind. You are not prepared for when you get close, the sailor whips around with his baton and breaks your fucking leg. You are now hopping on one leg.

I'm dragging myself. I look like a beast, dude. That was Punchinello's turn. It is your enemy's turn. That sailor, highs or lows? Highs. Emboldened by breaking your leg. He's gonna try and batter you again, Punchinello.

He gets a critical fail. Tell your mom! Wow, that's crazy. Uh, breathtaking. Oh, that's so funny. You cannot speak for 1d4 rounds. Maybe the sailor whips around, swings at you. Punchinello, you grab the bat, rest it from his control,

he realizes the mistake he's made, so he's about to turn around, but before he could turn around, with his own baton, you, tok, sock him in the guts, winding him completely, he turns around and sprints to the upper levels, but getting there, all he can do is wheeze at people. That's great. Then it is the Mirror Entities' turn. Can that dragon breathe fire again? No.

The dragon lands near the portal and is trying desperately to stem the tide of grace, but there is no stopping it now. A million different versions of Sir Grace and his allies spill forth. The portal actually starts getting bigger as the sheer force of people up against it begins tearing it apart. Like a tear at the time and space begins getting bigger and worse and more terrible. Great. The Terran time and space begins getting bigger and worse and more terrible. Great.

While that is happening, you with Jindabine are able to search for a way up. Jindabine gets to one of the mirror doors, he puts a hand on it, closes his eyes for a second, and then on the other side of the mirror you see it. Okay. The wizard. Huh? On the top of the tower. Okay see it. Okay. The wizard. Huh? The top of the tower. Okay, yeah, good.

You can see this creature, this entity, I use the term wizard, but there's no like, there's no human word that could properly describe the entity that you're seeing. It is so far removed. It maybe once was a person, or it maybe once could have been a person, but it is forgotten that it was a person and it's forgotten what a person looks like.

So far removed from reality is this creature now. It's hard to even call it a creature. When Jindabine does that, when you gaze upon this thing, it turns around with its infinite heads or no heads and sees you. Huh. It seems quite shocked to see you. Okay. What would you like to do so, Grace?

Can we push into wherever the wizard is? Yeah. Yeah, well then we'll do that. Alright. We'll push open whatever this Mir door is whatever this portal is and Trying not to let any of the other graces know where I'm going I'll head in there with Jindabine and the rest of the inky black entities that I have under my command Jindabine that doesn't seem to be much point to it because the mirror door It's like glass you can see through it, but Jindabine closes it behind you as if that was going to do something

then it is... Punchinello's turn. Okay. Uh, I would like to continue my way up onto the deck. Alright. Yeah. You keep moving your way up. You come up behind that sailor who...

You're at a... A upper... You're not on top, but you're at an upper level now, where a lot of supplies are being passed around for the battle upstairs. There's a bunch of sailors here who seem very surprised to see you. You can fight your way up or you can just run up. They look surprised enough that they might not try and stop you. I would like to...

Is it like an action to convert someone quickly? You can convert multiple people quickly. Okay, well I'll do that. I would like to explode up the stairs and then kind of like fall, not on my face, but like kind of tumble into the room and as I tumble, let out from my body a wave of inky black across all of these sailors converting them in an instant. You don't get all of them, but you get most of this deck and you get it quickly enough that if you wanted to spend another turn here Mm-hmm, you would have this deck and you would have taken it quietly

I will on my next turn. I'll do the same. All right, then that was punchinello. It is Your enemies turn. Mm-hmm. So those remaining sailors try fighting back. They do a decent job, but not a decent enough job. Maybe there's a part of Sir Grace, an old part that, I mean, there's no, I don't know if there's much sympathy left in Sir Grace for another creature. But certainly there's a part of Sir Grace that feels like he wishes he had known people as brave as this when he was younger Yes for sure the sailors put up a valiant last defense You have to admire it, you know You got to admire it the entity at the top of the tower the lonely entity in the lonely tower

It speaks a million different languages at once. And at first you think it's, maybe you're like, oh, is this a spell? Is this, what is happening? Is this like tongues? Is it speaking many different languages? And then finally it settles on a language you understand and you realize it's been saying the same thing over and over again, trying to find a language you understand. Hello, what are you doing here?

We mean to take the lonely tower, I say. Oh, something awful's happened. The entity kills you. As unexpected. You die. Tentral grace. Okay. Then, the entity, Jindabine steps aside, the entity moves past Jindabine, looks at him

briefly, and then there is not enough inky black in Jindabine that this entity thinks there's a problem here. It doesn't recognize any far realms about Jindabine that wouldn't be normal for a wizard. So it keeps going. It opens the door and through Jindabine's eyes, you watch, it steps out into the mirror castle. Everything stops for a brief, there's a pause as everything turns to look. The entity, looking at the many graces, says, Oh, something very terrible has happened.

And then it starts killing graces faster than graces can appear. Okay. In the space of a minute, the battle is over. The entity makes its way back down through the tower. There's you resist, but it doesn't work. Mm-hmm Mm-hmm from top to bottom the tower is cleansed of every instance of Sir Grace Okay, so grace you snap back into a tendril entity in the flotilla around the Lonely Tower, standing next to Sir Lyca Silvary Moon. You can see as what people you sent in the tower who have sentience are desperately escaping. You have lost. The tower is no longer yours in any way. Hm. We got close, I say, to like a silvery moon.

He nods. Rally up, and we'll try again. Meanwhile. Punch an elbow, it's your turn. Okay, um. You finish up turning everyone on this deck. I imagine that the people turned turned to the people not turned and kind of take them over.

Alright, then as a single force, we'll go up to the next level of the ship. All right, you, highs or lows? You start making your way up. Lowes. The next level of the ship, incidentally, is the deck where the fight is happening. Yeah, well, we'll spill out onto the deck. You spill out onto the deck, highs or lows?

Highs. You will not be immediately noticed. The people who could be noticing you are currently distracted with, speaking of, Ogden Tyne. Yes. You see, having to deal with two ships has pretty drastically kind of hampered Lieutenant Davoli and his people's ability to fight back. Okay. and his people's ability to fight back. This ship is fast enough to catch either one of these ships, but it is not man powered, or it doesn't have enough man power

to really take these ships. You can see Lieutenant Davoli is beginning to give the order to withdraw, to disengage from the fight. What do you do? So Grace in the throne room quickly calculates how, what is, and this is something that he probably should have been doing the entire time.

What is his priority? Is his priority in this instance, stopping the gallant rider from escaping or is his priority keeping his relationship with John Carter? Your thoughts are interrupted. There's a knock at the door. Come in. Patrician Valen Otvos steps in. My liege. I have dire news. Of course. What is it, Otvos? I apologize for interrupting you. He, Valen

Otvos can see that he's catching you at a bad time. He gestures and a guard steps in with a small, I was about to say milk crate. It's milk crate size, but it's not a milk crate, it's a crate crate. Yeah, sure, sure. He takes the crate off the guard, gestures and the guard leaves, and then he slowly approaches you with the crate. You hear thwip, thwip, thwipip Something is oozing out of the bottom of the crate. He sets it down on the table there. Mm-hmm Uh...

Message from Ada. A gesture for him to open the crate. He opens it. Inside you see John Cutter's head. I immediately jump to Ogden Tine and I take over everybody on that ship. The constant craving is mine. Hahahaha Fuck it. Okay Ogden time goes from standing inert on the deck probably like a bomb Explodes into inky black goo. Yeah, which trickles down the faces of everybody in the ship

And then they stop retreating and then back in the throne room I'll close the crate fine Has john cut his ship left? It has already left port my liege the other ship I believe the officers I attempted to dissuade them but a message was passed before I was able to stop it.

Both ships are aware of Cutter's death, I believe. Both ships are leaving. They are taking the money and going. Once we've dealt with this carcery business, we'll use the Gallant Rider if it's still afloat and the constant craving to track it down and get our 5 million gold back. Patrician Velanotfos nods. He seems dubious of your plan, but he says nothing. It will be done.

He turns and leaves. I'll focus in and I'll return to the ship to ship battle taking place at the outskirts of my territory. Crash! Okay. The constant craving was not being controlled by anyone. Good stuff. It has full on collided with, not with the gallant rider, but with the stormcaller.

Both ships slam mightily into each other. The Stormcaller being the bigger ship is going to survive this tussle. The Constant Craving is going to sink. But you have both ships are now pretty badly damaged. Yeah. The Stormcaller is however pretty, it had, it did ram through that fishing trawler. Yeah. But you now see. It's still pretty, yeah. It didn't fishing trawler, but you now see- It's still pretty, like it didn't take much damage. Some damage has occurred, but not enough to stop or slow it much.

Can I like rats fleeing a sinking ship, have those inked that I've inked on both ships, or on my ship, and now I assume as we collide, basically the people under my influence will start to influence the crew of the Stormcaller as well, what remains of it. And then can we, like rats from a sinking ship, try and send everybody,

I'm gonna try and send everybody to the Gallant Ryder. All right. Even if they're just gonna fall into the ocean to get over there, I wanna just sheer numbers, like the zombies in fucking World War Z Yeah, just send them over there that you can do so here's the trick Yeah, now you can if you want you have from the constant craving you have maybe 12 fighters Okay

If those people then jump onto the deck of the stormc caller and start turning them and then jump to Time basically no you'll get more fighters Yeah But they will slowly be trickling in if you jump then jump immediately without even worrying because the storm caller is sunk At this point. Yeah, honestly, you're right. I also have a bunch of the crew of the gallant rider. So actually Fuck the storm caller dude. Let it sink. We leap onto the gallant rider You'll lose I'll say maybe a couple so you'll have only ten instead of I think I said twelve you'll have Instead of twelve you'll have ten, but they'll arrive pretty immediately fantastic. Nonetheless, though

We are still an initiative and it is your opponent's turn now. Okie dokie. It becomes very apparent what is happening, but no, you're coming up, you're surprising them so the crew of the Stormcaller aren't fighting Pudgeinello just yet. But there are people on the decks who are peppering... Actually, yeah, your 10 fighters who are making their way across were 12, become 10 because they're kind of heedlessly jumping over from one ship to another ship, but then they're probably going to become even less than that. On the deck of the Stormcaller, Yening de Los Angeles sprints up, putting himself in between the Constant Craving

and the Gallant Rider, and as they run across the Stormcaller, you hear him call out, on guard! And then with the two giant spectral fists coming out of his head, he starts wailing on people as they move past him. He, of your 10 fighters, he reduces them down a further 2, so you only have 8 now.

Then on the deck of the Gallant Rider, the Carseray ship, you see Tendete Icohica is firing a rapid fire crossbow. Ka-chunk, ka-chunk, ka-chunk, ka-chunk. Pompennyfarthing is launching spells, and then Drifting Snowflake, the Tabaxi fighter, is standing pretty much on the railing, slamming his body into people as they try to jump across. Hell yeah. Between those three as well.

Oh, fuck. Well, there goes your fighters. Okay. You're, um, unfortunately, your 12 gets whittled down to 8, gets whittled down to 6, gets whittled down to 3, and then gets whittled down to none. Okay. Okay. That does, however, keep them distracted, so Punchinello, it's your turn. With your sailors from below, you explode out onto the deck, catching the people on the deck by surprise. Punchinello gives you the choice. All adventurers get quick death or slow.

And then I give them the quick death. You explode. You slam into the bodies of Yearning D Los Angeles, maybe Yearning de Los Angeles hearing you, he's about to yell something back and sprint across from one ship to the other, but he is skewered by a tendril, as is Tenete Icohica, as is Pompennie Farthing, as is Drifting Snowflake, all of them slammed with tendrils, as is the deck, everyone on the deck of the Gallant Rider. In one fell swoop, you have disabled two ships, three, well, you've taken two ships and disabled the third.

But it is a imperfect thing. The knights, the sailors, they have maybe some training, but not enough. Nothing, no normal training could prepare these sailors for what you do to them. The Knights of Kassari, however, especially Tannete Icohica, but especially Pompennifar, but especially Drifting Snowflake, and especially, of course, Yearning de Los Angeles. All of them, their minds are hardened against you. And as you slam into them, it's wrong. You cannot, they are unwilling and this is too quick and they are too well trained against you. You dominate their bodies, you cloud their minds,

but it is just barely within your strength to do so. You, Sir Grace, immediately exhaust yourself. You're in control. You extinguish them one by one by one, but you have no access to their memories. You do not know what they know because you just, it's not, I'd say I'd actually very reminiscent of your domination of a verse in Jeterix. Your options really are when you're doing it this quickly, your options really are either an extended battle of minds, which you are just not capable of doing right now, or you get rid of the mind, just take the body.

Their minds struggle and fight and will probably struggle, as Versus and Jerodix's does, their minds will probably struggle and fight you as long as the body exists, but you take control. How does Punchinello deal with... Punchinello is destroyed. As I assume Ogden Tine was, to be honest. The inky black doesn't come from the edges of Punchinello. It comes from within. Punchinello's body explodes out in all directions.

Well, it's finished. I'd like to stand up and maybe look at that. You stand up, you feel a hand grab the back of your head. You have no hair, Sir Grace. So it's just, it's a hand planting itself on your balding head, pulls your head back, and then your throat is slit from ear to ear. I like to, as she pulls my head back, I imagine she is looking in my eyes.

Yeah. And as she slits my throat, I just smile at her. Ada slits your throat from ear to ear and her look of grim determination turns to one of horror, mounting then complete and total horror, as instead of blood, ooze, black inky goo spills forth out of your neck down your front. You really shouldn't have come here.

She drops the dagger and staggers backwards. I look down at the table that I assume I have in the throne room that has the map of Ognod and on that map I have pieces that represent Moloch brush, Punchinello, Tendril grace, Agate shield mold and myself as well and many many many others but on that on that map those four have been knocked over they're out of the fight. There's this insult, I suppose it is, that adventurers throw around. I don't know if you've spent much time around adventurers, Ada.

Ada is struck mute by what is happening right now. May you die a noble's death. I don't know if you've heard of it. It means may you die in your bed or in comfort, or even surrounded by the ones you love That's what it means and it's an insult to an adventurer because that's not how adventurers die adventurers They're burned in the flames of a dragon's breath or they die

Because they have to stay behind so that others might escape, you know, they don't die they sacrifice So when they say oh, I hope you die a noble's death, it's an insult, it's meant to be hurtful. I haven't died an adventurer's death. I've been an adventurer a long time, longer than most. Would you like a seat? You gesture to the chair. Yeah, I have a table and chairs.

Her look of horror, she manages to, you see she takes control of herself once more the dagger that she dropped her eyes Glanced down and it glanced back at you. I bend over and pick up the dagger and hand it back to her She doesn't take it from you. She instead takes your offer to sit. She sits down suit yourself And in that time as an adventurer and knowing other adventurers as well, I've come to learn two very specific and very frustrating pieces of information two lessons throughout my life Good will always triumph over evil and then I glance back at the map, but evil Will always come back.

Do you know what I mean? It's a cycle. It's a loop. It's a wheel. And we're given no choice, Ada. We can't step out of the way. We can't embrace it. We're given no choice but to be crushed beneath it.

I sit down across from her. Who sent you? She hesitates. Heidel. Right. Right. I'm guessing... I gesture to my neck, which I imagine is sort of healing up. It's probably healed completely by now, yeah. There's still mess down your front, but the wound is probably closed. Well, maybe I grab it, my sort of shirt, and I hold it.

I'm guessing they didn't know about this though, or they might have sent someone else. She nods slowly. I believe they thought an assassin would be enough. Clearly you need a priest. Yeah, something like that. Well, I suppose we find ourselves at an impasse, Eido. Because obviously I could kill you. That wouldn't be hard.

Or I could turn you. I could transform you into... Give me a moment. I would like to, as everyone else in the castle, Yeah. Come through the door and surround Ada. You see the horror again return, but she... as the, maybe not at the midway point, but as a stupid number of people, or by the time a stupid number of people are here, you can

see she stopped looking at people entering. She's staring you, Sir Grace. She's staring straight into your eyes. You can see there's like a defiance, a determination there maybe. She's determined not to... You've maybe seen this. You've seen this before, even before you became what you are currently. You've seen...

They might not have the term thousand-yard stare. They might call it the look of an adventurer. It's a determination to not die screaming. Mm-hmm I shall I kid obviously Turn you into one of the true faithful as I've done to all of those around me or I could Dominate you and possess you with the thing that has possessed me But I don't want to do that I don't think that's a. I think I look over at everything that I've got, all of the tipped over pieces.

I think I've been very stupid, Ada, and I think it's time I started acting smart. So I'm gonna let you go. But I want you to understand that all of this, I gesture to the people around me, and all of this, I gesture out the window to Fairburn Point, to the area beyond. That's not going away. And I think you would be an idiot to stand in my way. I wait for her to respond. She without saying anything at first, stands up and then looking. Is there anyone in front of the door itself?

No. She maybe is an act, maybe once again is that, like the kind of adventurer's last gasp, determined not to die afraid, she turns around showing her back to you, quite clearly an act maybe to prove that she is brave enough to do that. And then she walks to the door, puts her hand on it, opens it. She does all of this as calmly as she can. But you can see there's a bubbling terror underneath. As she opens the door, she turns back to you.

The wheel. What do you plan to do with it? I'll tell you a story. And maybe I get up and I walk past the hundreds of eyes that I possess in this castle. And as I walk up to her, I would also like to have brought her dagger and I put it in her hands and I say, you forgot this.

Then I'd like to put my arm around her shoulder and I would like to start walking her to the exit of the castle. Once upon a time, Ada, there was a town. And in this town, there lived a beautiful princess of much renown. But then one day a dragon came from the mountains and with breath that flicker-flamed it burned the streets and torched the houses and in its wicked claws it took the princess away to

its lair. We like head through the courtyard, toward the gates of the keep. And so a knight was called, and the knight was given the quest to save the princess. And so on his horse, he rode into the mountains and with a sword that Snicker snacked, he chopped the dragon's head off. We like arrive at the exit of the castle, into the town, which we walk through the streets. And I imagine as we walk, castle into the town which we walk through the streets and I imagine as we walk every eye is just on us all of those that I could not get into the castle to sort of show my power there are just on the streets staring at the two of us as we walk and all was good the princess was saved the town rejoiced

and in their joy they made the knight their king. And everyone, Ada, lived happily ever after. We're at the edge of the city now, at the city gates maybe, staring out at the countryside. As we approach the city gates, guards that are also me open the gate doors. People on the other side of the gates, the like other, you know, members of the watch, help us across the bridge or the whatever is, you know, takes us to the outside. But the dragon had laid eggs and the knight had had sons and the dragons had breath that flicker flamed and the sons had swords that snicker snacked and the king once the knight grew old and the king once the night grew old and died in his bed. I will not be crushed by the wheel, Ada." She at first until Sir Grace's eyes lose sight of her, she walks calmly and patiently to show that she is not afraid but then as birds as

farmers and sometimes as cows you see as For the rest of the journey from Fairburn Point to Highdale She does not stop running I watch a to disappear into the distance and then I returned to my throne room and one by one I turn the chess pieces back over. Blink. In the mountains, a merry band of adventurers exit Mom Raron's lair, arms laden with plundered

treasure and jewels. They loaded heavy onto carts and ferry it back to the capital. Blink. Deep underground, a fresh cadre of dwarven archaeologists work to capture, contain, and study a darkness older than steel. Blink. What remains of Cutter's fleet swiftly flees from Fairburn Point, a small fortune secured in its hold. Unaware they are pursued by the imperfectly corrupted Knights of Carceray. Blink. Gently rocked by umbral waves, Sir Grayson like a silvery moon, Stare up at the lonely tower,

impossibly tall. The world is broken, Leica, but I'm gonna fix it. Just you watch. Blink.