Legends of Avantris - Beneath Dark Wings | Ep. 64 | Slave to the Power of Death: Part 2

Episode Date: September 18, 2025

The party approaches the Black Pyramid...   Gain access to an exclusive campaign, Shroud Over Saltmarsh, over on Patreon: https://legendsofavantris.com/patreon The Crooked Moon, a folk horror supplement for 5e, is available for preorder! Get the Crooked Moon at: https://thecrookedmoon.com/ Watch more D&D adventures in the world of Avantris live on Twitch: https://www.twitch.tv/legendsofavantris Check out our merch store: https://shop.legendsofavantris.com  Join our community on Discord: https://legendsofavantris.com/discord Watch our many campaigns on YouTube: https://legendsofavantris.com/youtube  All other links: https://linktr.ee/legendsofavantris     Watch the full episode here: https://youtu.be/hSsQU_GpUrw?si=VNEnk1hyUgnM0m0_

Welcome to Legends of Aventus. I am High General Virgil Zern, and you are listening to Beneath Dark Wings. Here is what happened last time. At the top of Pharaoh's rest, the golden pyramid, at the far edge of the city of the dead, the capital of Haratir,

the dread domain where you've spent the past several days, I have waited for this moment, for lifetimes. I will combine my car. You will be my priestess in death. Your life slipping away, your last breath escaping from your mouth. You can see in that breath the glowing, orangey, goldish fragment of memory. The piece of cawls into the piece of cawls into the little.

the air and rises as Iris of the Sands you die. It's a human form, live form of Ancotep, as all seven of his pieces recombine into his soul, an undead mummified version of your friend who had been living and so full of vitality moments before now withered, seeming ancient mummy, priestess. Iris of the Sands. You stand to be judged. And he takes his arm and heaves it back and it blasts. It fills with this, almost this orb of divine power

as he shoots it towards the pyramid and it because it crashes into the door in that beam. You see now as it snakes out, it almost films this shimmering golden cocoon on the black pyramid. Anka-tape shields his eyes, is what is this? As he cannot react in time,

as there is a massive blast of divine energy that completely covers the top of this pyramid. You see Iris's body immediately turned to sand. Ooh! Taking shape, body fully restored. Iris of the Sands, no longer a mummy, her fur restored. No longer a tabaxi. A tabaxi, not a hell.

Wherever I stand. Anubis shall always hold power. And although it was many lifetimes ago, Ancatep, you once pledge your soul to me. I have never let it go. No, no, my millennia. I have spent, I wanted my revenge. It's all I live for.

And he looks and he turns at Anubis, who is looming over him, a pulse. of energy booms out and almost knocks you on the ground. Being blasts it all the way from the Black Pyramid Far to the North. As Anketep, his Ka reunited his soul, looks up with eyes of terror at Anubis. You wished to enjoy oblivion. Oblivion is too good for you, Anka-Tep.

Iris, my child, my priestess, my connection to this land, my foothold was the soul of Onkatap. And his car, the one that I put within you, now I must return to punish his soul in Arcadia. I leave it to you to stop the chain god. The entoming spell I put on the black pyramid will hold, but only for a time. and you see the distant flex of all that remains of Ancatep, the former Dark Lord of Harcir.

You were all level 16. So, you see the shimmering mirage fade of Anubis as relative quiet returns to

the top of this pyramid. The structure, not returning to its slanted peak. You see the altar that had once contained the connopic jars have all been shattered in that, the rebirth of Iris. And you see is the having the soul ripped apart and being reborn and from the sand of Anubis. Iris very much it collapses to the grass, exhausted, lost almost in a trance-like state as her god shimmers and fades, now herself,

the only foothold of any kind of power of Anubis where he had once had an avatar himself here. As you look off in the distance, you can see in this massive dread domain, you can see far off in the storm the breath of the eternal. That pulsing, that pulse that you had felt from the breaking of the final seal, now very clearly seeing the results as you see a shimmering bit of gold. Whatever Anubis had done to keep this at bay for a time is still holding, but you know that it won't hold forever. Feeling exhausted, what do you do? I listen I know that Anubis told us that that we can deal with the chain god but I gotta be honest I'm a little worried he said that if we make our way over there that we're gonna meet with an emissary of the Raven Queen I think we know who it is well look if it's Zern and and we and I think that it is too it definitely is Zern it's a hundred percent Zern but I think it is I mean that

I mean, that basically confirms that the Raven Queen must know that he's working with the demon. Yeah, the feather guy. I just wouldn't have thought that she would ever allow something like that. Maybe it's for some grander plan, you know? Like maybe he knows what he's doing and he's getting the one-up on, you know, you know, who bird guy, bird fellow. Peter. I want to believe you and I want to have your optimism. But he has my brother.

He's a horrific flesh amalgamation. I want to believe and I want to be with you and on your side, but I don't know how we're going to deal with this. I'm going to, if I see Zern in the flesh, if he doesn't give me my brother, I have to do something. I'll be right there with you. I agree. He's been very manipulative.

We need answers. We've done so much. Look what we've done here. Look at what we've done across Stricka. We, if we are the ones to take care of business, to be able to challenge Peter and to challenge Flora's Doom, according to a god, like Iris worships, listen, I trust Anubis.

I have to trust Anubis. And I wanted to trust the Raven Queen, and I just don't know anymore. I mean, here's the thing. you you the Raven Queen spoke to you and mentioned your dagger and so did Zun I mean Zune sort of verified what she told you and it seems like Zun is open to you using it on Milo so I think I think he wants the same thing you do so before we jump in you know tear his throat out I think we should try to see if he means Milo well and if he intends to

kill him or sacrifice him or whatever of course of course we'll do anything to stop then. But I don't think we should jump in and be, you know, just jump straight to conflict, is I guess what I'm saying. It's very rational of you and I'm sorry, I'm letting my emotions get the best of me. It goes completely against everything I learned.

I'm just on the ground while they're talking. Yeah. Just kind of tending to Iris and seeing if she's okay. Is her body like fully restored from her body is fully restored? I think that there's a strict.

strangeness to her body and her clothes, where you all have been traveling in this desert for days now, you're dusty and, you know, worn down very clearly with not too much time to rest. Iris, despite experiencing a very rough battle, like you all did, it seems fresh. There's not that same kind of That same level of wear and tear will still her restored body. There's that uncanniness to having basically been entirely reborn in her current state. Is she almost like too pristine? Yes, exactly right. She's too pristine to have been in this desert for as long as she has. It's bizarre, man.

And, you know, you saw that the original, her original body was sacrificed to, to Archip himself. in the process of combining his ka and restoring it to him and turning to a mortal man, or at least the soul of a mortal man, was incredibly intense. And, you know, Iris is exhausted, and she's, there's so much to the weight of what just happened. And it's almost as if there are our visions kind of coming back and forth

and she's trying to, she's praying, after everything that happened. And I would say that, you know, she would have taken the time to relay that, you know, that Anubis had, you know, everything that Nubis had said in that previous scene, as well as that, you know, that he had done a tomb-sealing spell, a tomb-sealing ritual on the, on the Black Pyramid, which, you know, is effectively just a glorified tomb, and that it would hold, and this might be the last time

you have any chance to rest before what's to come. But you do get the sense that she is recovering and we'll need some time. I want to look around and see like in the Golden City, is there still undead shuffling about? Are there still zombies and, you know,

like undead vultures? Make a reception check. When their dreadlord is gone. Yeah. Make a reception check. Oh, and no. Natty fucking 20. Gotta give it up.

That's like, got to give it up. Wow. You're at least 9. Yeah, he's on fire. I would say that you take some time.

And I'll say if you want to enjoy a short rest in this period while you're hovering. Yeah. I would like to use hit dice because I have 20 hit points left. Yeah.

I think I have one hit point. Jesus. If, and you take the time to look. Sure. Sure. And they're shambling about you see those undead vultures, you see undead scorpions, you see the same, the skeletal horses,

and other sorts of undead creatures. And I would say with your role, you hear on the wind that you actually start to see some crowds starting to gather throughout the city of the dead. And you see now, from this vantage point, you see that this is a massive city. There's actually several canyons that go off into different directions. all these great tombs and buildings and stone structures built in. And there are certain town squares where there are these hierophants and other robed figures, mummies who perhaps had been the Acolytes or the priest of Agatap now trying to gather their own support.

And you start to see that there's some... some voices that are kind of ringing out, gathering groups of skeletons, mummies, zombies, other undead creatures around, and you get the sense that there is going to be, with that role, perhaps a power struggle. Oh, Jesus. That's not good. I also rolled all of my hit points towards 69 days. How do they know?

How do they know that Anka Tem has gone? Maybe it's just something as simple as a shift in magic in the air. I don't know. I mean, surely there must be some sort of connection, right? I could make myself look like him, and we could do that until the power struggle is over. Maybe choose who gets to lead this domain. I mean, why is it up to us, though? I mean, I don't hate that.

I don't hate it as a backup plan in case we get into trouble, but I'm with tow on this one. Who cares who takes over this place? We just need to make sure that we stop the chain god and then we get out of here. Fair enough. I'm going to miss. You know, I mean, this is a very nice pyramid, but, you know, this is sort of a land of the dead, so I just figured, um... Yeah, it is what it is.

Just let it be. Um, well, then how do we get all the way over there? I'll point towards the... Oh, damn it! The... What are we going to do with Iris? Well, I mean, at the very least, Tolkien Carrier for now. Yeah, we should just let her rest.

She's been through a lot. I mean, she literally died and she literally got resurrected and then literally ascended to high priestess status. I could teleport us over there if we had time to rest, but I am, I'm really white. I'm just out of steam. I mean, I guess what's stopping us from just like spending the night? I mean, I guess maybe all of his servants are going to come up and eat us in our beds. You heard of Nubis. He said that his seal wouldn't, the thing that he put on the pyramid. Well, surely doesn't... It's not going to last very long. Anubis can't expect us to fight in this state right now.

I mean, surely, we... Hopefully, it will hold for a day or two. I mean, it has to. It's going to take us that long to get there. Yeah, I just wish that he'd been a little bit more specific. Well, I mean... Well, don't take that up with me. I'm not a god.

This is Anubis's wall. We're just living in it. Hopefully he bought us enough time. I mean, Felix is right. We really can't do a whole lot. I mean, if they're totally tapped out, than, you know, even if Thoros Dune did break free, it's only like we could stop them in our current state.

Yes, that's true. And I would say from what Iris had kind of whispered you or told you very, very barely a whisper, honestly, was that the sense that she had gotten from in Nubis is that that tomb-sealing ritual spell was to give you enough time to rest up and face the eventual breaking that was inevitable. But maybe we'll just, we reinforce what we have here.

I mean, we're up at a high point. It's not going to be easy for people to siege us, you know. And we've got a strategically strong point. We can rest here for the evening, and we can get an early start in the morning. I mean, I guess it's the middle of the night right now, right? Because that was kind of when all that started to go down in the middle of day. Then the sun came through, right, with the new business.

So I'm wondering like if it's still just sunny. So yes, that state. So basically the sun is was basically brought to the peak of the day, noon. And so now it's, you know, several, probably several hours. This just proves it. Time is an illusion. Yeah, that's a flat circle, that's for sure. And you get the sense that probably had something to do with it. And as you kind of hear the voices, you might hear bits of some of these undid creatures,

these these mommy priests calling out. Um, you probably get the sense that, that this was a sign. And, and I would say that from what you're hearing, you probably get the sense that, especially amongst the upper crust of these undead, uh, this power structure, were not particularly fond of, um, of, uh, Ancatep. And that there was probably a ton of treachery being plotted along by all of these different power hungry, um, priests. For just fucking millennia.

Well, they knew that he wanted to die, right? So presumably they were just waiting for this to happen. regardless. And also, they're not called the upper crust. They're called the upper crusties. They are crusty as that. That is great. All right.

I can start alarming the perimeter, at least under this altar, and we can just take shifts like we always do and be on extra high alert and get some rest. Maybe set up a makeshift tent or some sort of just something to block some of the sun. maybe we can just go down in the room below that was covered we could there's a lot of viscera and there's just kind of like there's bits of war rock everywhere yeah I just got it out of my hair I really don't want to go back down there it probably smells pretty bad I mean do you think he is like a bedchamber somewhere

that we could maybe use I don't necessarily feel comfortable sleeping in a dead guy's bedroom did he even sleep well I mean we're sleeping on a dead guy's pyramid what's the difference yeah it's a little less flake off on top of a pyramid yeah it's a little less personal up here. I don't know. We can go look. It's just kind of gross down there and creepy. Um, I'm like I say, it's just

really bright up here. I just feel like you know, I'd rather be inside to like vultures don't swoop down, or you know? I also just can't fly us back down there. We can just throw a rope down. Do you have rope? Yes. Oh, well then we can give it a try. How much? As I recall,

it was 60 feet. My rope is 50 feet. I say at least comes in lengths of 50, generally. No, it was like a long tunnel that started 60 feet up in the ceiling. That's a lot of rope we're going to need. We should all at least have 50 feet, given our adventuring packs. I'll take a look. Gosh, I don't have any rope. You know what? I actually very distinctly remember at some point during this journey

losing my rope. Yeah, you did. I have 100 feet of rope. Maybe I took yours. I thought I used it for something. You've been going through my stuff? No, I mean, I don't really. remember. Maybe I'll just found rope and you lost your rope, just totally unrelated. You actually

see his toe pulls it out that it's definitely two legs of 50 feet rope tied together. And mine's like the property of Felix. In perfect like head penmanship of like, you know. Hey, wait a minute. I wrote my initials on that rope. You told me I lost that rope doing something heroic. Did I do that? That isn't sand very much life. Maybe I blacked out and accidentally turned into a villain. Good thing. None of that is at Can and install your rope. I have a mechanical question, which is that through my Instrument of the Bards

that you granted me long, long ago, I can cast fly. I have two charges of fly left. After I consume those charges, can I then use spell flops who cast those spells? No. Yeah, that's what I thought, right? You could only use the limit of two.

Well, I might have a solution, which is to say I could cast fly on Toa. and you'd be able to carry Iris and maybe one more. And one of us could fly and sort of try to... We'll probably just cascade into the deaths, huh? Well, I think I can probably grab a whole of you. Why don't we just like slide down the side of the pyramid and find someone on the ground?

I don't want to get any closer to everything that's going on down there. I'd like to just stay away from everything. That's why I was hoping to fly is that we would be able to make our way back to the cliffs or something. an hour away. Lofti can levitate and you can fly yourself and you fly me and I'll carry Felix and Aris.

That's not entirely unreasonable. Can you levitate? Yeah, I just have to hang on to Sampaddy. You can hang onto my tail. Yeah, but you'd like that, you sick foot. I've done nothing. Oh, God, get your panties in a bunch. I just kidding. I've held hands.

You did convince that guy he lost his penis. That's a little perverted. I mean, it's little pervaded. Yeah, that's like school kid bullshit. You did that to children? It's just something that someone, that a kid would make up. It was very immature. It was a long time ago. That's fair. That's fair. I shouldn't

I brought that up. You were a different person back then. What's happening since then? Wow. As we're doing this, I'm just going to climb up onto your back and like hold on. And hold on. I'm like, all right, well, I'm ready when you guys are. I'll grab iris and my arms.

some, oh, never mind, yeah, that works. It'll take some... I was gonna fashion a baby Bjorn up, like, mummy wrappings, but then I realize not, it's just totally un-ness. A taxi sling. I'm not gonna stop you,

but I could just, like, you know, do this, I could just bend my arms at a 90-degree angle. Everybody does plank on Toa. Yeah, yeah, I'll fly. You hold on to me with Levitate. Toa, you've got Felix and Nairus.

I think that's reasonable. And we're just gonna head back. for what? I'll go, Let's go as far as fucking away as possible. Let's pick the direction that we think looks like the most safety. So we'll go as far as we can towards the black pyramid and find a place to rest and formulate a plan. If we can find a cave where there's shadow and safety, then we can sloop in. Because we don't even have to get that far.

I mean, I can get us to the pyramid or as close as possible pretty instantly. I just need to rest. I was just thinking we would like fly down into his bedchap. You're really set up. really set on sleeping in some dead guy's bed. Well, it just, it sounds, if flooding a floor for a whole hour, seems like a lot of work. An hour from now, toes is peeing on the mattress.

Yeah, fuck you. All right, we can stay here, but let's get down there, and I guess I'll start trying to clean things up when we get down there. Okay, we can go there. Because then, like, let's say we fly a whole hour, and then there's no place to stop. No, they see us in the sky and say, hey, go fuck those guys up. You know, you get to the point where you're about to run out of gas,

and you're like, 100 miles from a gas, station. We might end up in a situation like that. All right. Well, my arms are getting tired, so can we just fly down there? Yes, let's go. I'm just going to... I'm just going to fly. I'm just going to fly and just sort of stay upright. I believe I can touch the sky. So we slip back under the altar. You do. You slip back under the altar, and you manage to easily descend down into the feast chamber, the primary quarters of the hull of Anka-Tep. It's somewhere between a tomb and a dining room, and you see, once again, the lower half of Vorok sitting in his chair unmoving. As soon as we get down there, I would be like, I would kind of like cringe and like recoil a bit.

And then I would take with the talent dagger in one hand, I would pantomime like a mop. and I start, you know, pantomiming a mop, but I'm presidigitating and, like, clumps of Warrock are just, like, getting pushed together, and I'm, like, working more, I'm moving into the corner. And the whole time I'm grimacing, like, ah, this is, this is so gross. And I just keep casting, Prestonigitia's, I'm trying to clean things up. And, like, while you can look around for his bed chambers. I'm going to look for his bed chambers. Yeah, are their doors? Yes, actually.

So you see that there are, um, that connected to this chamber are a number of doors. One, at the very far end, seems to be a hallway door where there had been two torches. And that's closed, at least for now. There's a large double door that seems to be you are able to open it up, and it's very much gilded and decorated with the effigy of Ancatep himself. And as you open it up, it does seem to be what looks like a royal, the bed chamber of a royal palace. but where a bed might be, you just see a sarcophagus. And the lid is slid off to the side, and it is beautifully gilded, and there are gems and jewels of impossible value, perhaps.

And the entire walls glittering with trinkets and weapons, and it looks like a tomb fit for a king. Have there any gym-increasted bulls in this room? I'm going to look for some rubies. I don't know about you. Aris would want it. What? I'm sorry.

She's not dead. She's right here. I'm focused on this tapestry. This is never going to come out. Oh, no, I left her on the ground back there. I wasn't going to carry all over the place. She's resting, fine. You want to put her in the thing?

No, we're not going to put her in the sarcophagus. I just want some room that has some shade that's well defended. That Felix can put some alarms around and we can at least like stay safer a few hours. Well, I mean, we can stay in the room, but I'm, ah, I just don't know if I can sleep with it. Just stop cleaning it. We'll find a different room. I mean, at this point, I'm just kind of smearing it around. Oh, goodness. If you look at the windows, you could use my rope and then just like this.

You know what? I'm done, and the magic goes away, and I'm going to walk into the bedchambers where Lowe is. And you see that this is the master bedroom, but you actually see that there is a smaller double door that goes off into a little miniature hallway with a number of doors that does still seem tomb-like, but you actually find two of the rooms have actual beds. And you see one where there is a lot, there are a lot of trays of remnants of food and fruit. You see some purple feathers around. You get the sense that perhaps Vorok had stayed here since arriving in Harakir.

And then you see another one that seems to be relatively untouched and set up. There is a basin of water. You're not sure how old it is. And like very stale bread. You get the sense as if there were representatives from Muhaar, perhaps some of the actual human inhabitants of Harukir,

which you know to be that this might be what a skeleton or a zombie would think, like stale bread and still water would be what a human would want to enjoy. There are a couple other bedrooms, but

you see that there are sarcophagi and various tombs and crypt-like scenarios for perhaps visiting undead creatures. Just pick which one and where we want to stay and I'll start alarming things and I'll shore everything up. I knew they'd be guest rooms. I'm gonna go into where Warak was and put I. Are there, is there one bed per room or a couple beds per room? The one with the humans actually had probably four beds.

I'll put Iris in one of these human bids. Well, he might as all while just stay in this room. I don't need a bed. And that way it'll keep us more safe. It's less I have to alarm. It's less we can keep an eye on, less we can get attacked. I can sleep anywhere. Yeah, me too.

I'm going to sit on one of the beds and take the pitcher of water, don't put it from my shoulder onto the floor, and then fill it with wine from my skin, and then pour that into a cup, and then drink it. It tastes so much better when you just pull. or into a cup, you feel fancy, especially after the horrors that you just experienced, the brutal battle that you've experienced, witnessing your friend, dead, risen as a mummy and brought back to life by the power of the newbis.

It's then, who would be closest to the main door of the dining hall? You could just tell me. It would be Felix. Yeah, probably me. Felix was cleaning. I was cleaning and getting ready to alarm things. I would say that as you're cleaning and you're getting ready to alarm,

you hear like a shuffling and scraping coming from the direction of the hallway, the main hallway. Am I able to see the main hallway from where I am or would I have to get closed? Yeah, you said the door, there's a little bit of a crack there, but you definitely hear like scraping of what sounds like bone on stone. I would turn to them and, shh, I think I hear something. And I would creep through the dining hall ever so slightly

just to see if I can look through the crack in the door. Okay. To see what's on the other side. Make a perception check. Just straight. Yeah, exactly right. I would attempt to make myself invisible and follow behind. Okay.

Oh, 17. I don't know why I was thinking it's plus four. Yeah, 17. I would say that you see, approaching, you see the glint of metal. But then you realize that it is adornments on an outfit, and you see the bone. As you see with very clearly a skeleton holding what looks like to be a clay pitcher, as the skeleton shuffles past and seems to get ready to open the door.

As soon as I see that it's like some sort of bone, servant, I would very quickly, and as quiet as I can, run back to where I came from, to alert the others and maybe try to bar the door. Okay. And let them know exactly what I saw. Absolutely. So I'm saying that you're easily able to do that because there's at least a minute where seemingly this skeleton just stands in front of the door.

And then after a moment, if you're staying in the room, Capri's here to... I'd be falling. I feel like 100%. Yeah. And so you do that. hear the door opening into the chamber and you hear a voice call out, What? What?

What? Are you okay? I... What did he say? I have absolutely no interest in tangoing with this thing. If it doesn't know that Uncle Death is dead, this might be your chance to imitate him, just vocally, and tell him to go away. Would leave the wine?

I think it was water. Maybe it was wine. Either way, we don't want to... Oh, it's definitely saying wine. No, I think he said wine. I think, oh, that's what I heard. Yeah, no, he said wine. You have your own wine.

No, but it's something different. We don't need... I never get to try anything new. Now's your chance. I bought myself into architect undoing my temporary invisibility. Do not come in to... That's pretty good.

The chamber. Please don't. I am very tired, having a sense. to be a god and I would like wine and food. Much wine. Leave it outside the door. Leave it outside the door. Contactless pickup.

What? Contactless pickup. Leave it. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, yeah. Mommy plague. Mommy plague is a thing. Very tired.

Go away. But after you've brought food and wine. Yourselves. Yeah, we're going to blow out our tracheas. The skill of. has an upper referreritorium picture. That's what I'm worried about mummy plague. It's a thing!

Oh my God, it is. You know, with Lifty always wanting new wine, what's the difference between new wine and old wine? Well, generally, actually, old wine is, like, the better wine. Is that this strange? She's always talking about liking or meeting.

Othella. Is that why just strange new wine? No, that, you know what? I can explain that later. Okay. I'll let this tell you and see me. Yeah. I'll walk up and I'll look like the ascended version like I'm super notorious.

Yeah, make it as a second check at advantage. It sounds really good. I'm convinced. I was convinced. That advantage? Okay, the lowest I rolled was a 10. So it's like 420 things. Yeah, you fuck.

He will, uh, the skeleton will, uh, walk forward and shambles and sees you and you. He don't want to see an expression because it's just bone. He can go like. And yet, the mouth opens. Congratulations. His jaw literally drops. Congratulations, on Conradge. Thank you.

Be brief. I'm very tired. And he walks over and shuffles and places it down. He just looks at the lower, basically just the lower torts over. I didn't quite get it all I didn't want to touch that was icky

and he places the wine down I would meet them in the morrow clean that fucking corpse up of course as you see him shuffle over as you see him shuffle over and he pulls the chair out

and it just smears like blood I require no visitors for at least two more sons. Tell everyone to celebrate their new god. They are not fit to make demands of a god like hunger. Persuasion check in advantage. It's pretty good. Oh, no, I rolled a nine. Also, for some reason, taking the feet hurt my perception score by 10.

So it's 17. Okay. Okay. How is that possible? I don't know, but I could be if my persuasion went down by 10, I'm not sure in fact, by what? Something's wrong there.

That doesn't make any sense. But I'm going to use what is there. Okay. He'll drag out the chair, and we'll just nod and say, I have to do silence. He looks down like the smearing vulture organs. I look at a map

This is personally because I have a hearing loss What? A mop No, what you said before? I didn't hear any of it. It's a map. It's a map. No, he said something about the merging of the cons

Why you're tired. He's going to use that as an excuse. It's fine. You win. You succeeded. Okay. Yes, yes. A map.

Good. Fine. Great. asking to sing simple and clean with his voice play classical gas what leave the food and be gone clean

do you eat meat food yes as a god I have in a human you're a human you're a human now I have a renewed taste

I require meats cheese The pleasures and luxuries of life go down into the stores and bring us our very best, especially large bristles and nacho cheese. Oh, very breast? It's a Freudian slip. There's a lot going on right now. We will secure more tribute from humans.

Asking for breast milk. I mean breast milk. I mean, sorry, I'm sorry, breast milk. I'm sorry, no, I didn't mean, I mean, press, oh, I don't, we need the feelings. That did it. That didn't ever. That didn't ever. But that's what I thought of when you said something about bringing us your breast. Anyway.

You see, as the servant goes, there's actually a very well-hidden closet, like a storage space in this, in this chamber. And you see that there is a mop, not a map. And he grabs it and he takes it and, like, and, like, and. Can you see Warwax two legs sticking up as the lower half of his torso is on the ground, and he takes the, he dumps it in a basin of water. That's, that's... The horse so? Or no, the mob.

The mob, and he just kind of shoves. Why? He shoves. And you actually see that there seems to be a trap door that this servant presses, and it opens up, and you hear this, uh, a chivalves. shittering of insects of some kind, and he just shoves the lower half of Borok, and you hear scorpions and locusts and scarabs and all sorts of creatures immediately just devouring it. He then goes and actually returns within the hour of some sort of tribute from the humans of

Muhaar, telling you that that the high priests have agreed to return in two sons. But he'll say, as he provides a whole tray of meats and breads, not quite pretzels, but some breads that are kind of twisted into unique knots. I would like to think that they're in the shape of an ink. Yeah, exactly right. Yes, yes, yes. Um, and then there... What the fucker surprise, so...

Thank you. Yes, good. Uh, he brings donkey milk and he says, Are the high priests? The high priests are... Seems suspicious. Okay. In two moons, we will have a great contest. A contest for them to become my new high priestess or priest-er.

Make her a deception check. Uh-oh. Good advantage. Oh, we're still good. We're still good. Thank God, because that was a four. Deception? Yep.

It's 26. Uh, 26. The game of Murder Ball so that we might find our next champion and rule together. That's complete. You do not need to know why.

Simply convey my orders. Go ahead. Now, go. And you see, as he, like, he sees that he missed a spot and there's like a Vorok chunk, and he like takes the moth and cleans it up and then leaves closing the door behind him. Oh, it was not as easy as it looked. You can stop doing that. I mean, we don't have to keep, you don't have to stay in character for us.

Oh, thank you, God. Murder ball? What, what is that? How do you even know if that's a thing they talk about? I wanted to pick something specifically that they don't know. spend the next two days panicking and making up their own rules. That seems hilarious to me. But that's actually pretty brilliant.

I'm just mad I didn't think of it. Let's try to get some rest in. We need to get out of here. Obviously, we can't stay here. Obviously, yeah, no, we need to leave basically after we've consumed all of these meats and cheeses and breast milk. I mean, breast milk. Didn't he say donkey milk? That's what I meant, breast milk.

Donkey milk. All right, well, let's get some rest. Eat up, and we'll be out of here as soon as we can. After mechanically eight hours. Let's mechanically eat and rest for eight hours. You have enough to... I just dig in. I started eating. Yeah.

I'll have some prussles and cheese and fruit. You have some onks. I stay far away from the donkey milk. And you've got... find that the wine that they serve here is actually quite a pleasant, not rest of pace, compared to the same old wine you've been enjoying from your unlimited wine skin. I could flick the bag and change it to like beer, like, white wine. Not that I intended, but you probably just should.

Gonna sliver to bed. Yeah, you slap her. I get so many wines in this bad boy. Yeah, we would set up some sort of a watch, probably. You know, just like we normally do. Yeah. Two, two, two, two. And hours each and do our thing.

Yeah. I'd make a little plate of like whatever I think looks nice and put it next to Iris where she's laying in case she wakes up. Yeah, and you get the time that she murmurs a thanks as you put the plate down. and she, you get this says that as she, as you go back to lead to kind of enjoy the, you know, the remnants of the day, as you said, Alain, you see her start to reach for one of the scraps of meat that's on there, perhaps a, some sort of fowl, like. As in a bird, not a gross leg. I mean, I specifically said, I put the good stuff on the plane. That's my foul.

That's the good shit So she's a witch Yeah, she's totally passed out But it's very just clearly exhausted And we'll watch first watch I'll take first I think it's just natural I do I can shore up our defenses

And I gotta do some study anyway Well take second like always Maybe I should take second Because if this keeps going I might be too drunk for any of the later ones Okay I'll take third or fourth I don't really care Do you have a preference?

I would normally be adverse to saying the fourth because I don't like to wait up early, but I got this. All right, well. Quite a picky bunch. You're not me. All right, good night, never, me. Good night. Good night, Moon.

And Felix, there's nothing stopping you from inventing your own rules to murderball if you want. I mean, don't feel damn it you didn't invent it. Who's saying you can invent it? You know, that's, again, very optimistic of you, so I appreciate it. I'll dwell on me. It's just, you know, just food for thought as you alarm. Good night. And I'll go to bed.

Okay. I have, um, Iris, you say, is not, like, totally unconscious. No. Just, like, exhausted. Yes. Um, after I see that she's gotten a nearly her fill of a meal just before to go to bed. I go up and I just put my hand on our shoulder. I know that a lot has happened today.

You've been to a whole lot. You need to rest. Just I'm going to have castes. Suggest so that you can go and get a full night rest. We'll protect you. We'll watch over you, all right? She fails. We all love you.

And she would fall asleep immediately. Yeah, she would choose to fail, perhaps, and immediately you hear the purring, a very soft breathing of Tabasi. You'll be sleeping on your Lufty again soon. And I go to one of the beds and add that myself. You all spend eight hours rested. The alarm does not trigger. Thank God. You are not disturbed, even by the servant, who seems to be particularly unalarmed or unalarmed.

perturbed, whatever kind of deception that Caprice had arranged seems to have worked, at least for now. You get the sense that although sense of urgency from what you've experienced, time being short is something that you've experienced ever since meeting on your adventure, the way the time works here, these individuals, these beings who have been here for for hundreds, perhaps thousands of lifetimes. Two suns or two moons is nothing. It's the blink of an eye.

And so you emerge, you find there is a fresh plate of, or rather a tray of food, fresh water, fresh wine, fresh donkeys' milk. This is not what I asked, though. This podcast is brought to you by our Patreon. Become a patron today at patreon.com slash legends of Avantress and gain access to tons of exclusive perks including a monthly movie night and a weekly Patreon exclusive campaign set on the high seas,

shroud over salt marsh. You can also go to The Crooked Moon.com to pick up your own copy of our first published supplement, The Crooked Moon, a folk horror tome for Dungeons and Dragons 5th edition. And don't forget to snag all the extra goodies like dice, miniatures, plushies, a tarotette, and more. Thank you. Do we get a long rest? Do you a long rest? Okay.

May I recover the one level exhaustion that I had? Yes. Yep. I'm not paralyzed. As long as you had food in water. Yeah, no, I just wanted to double check. Um, yeah, that's teleport. That's a seventh level smell.

Let me tell you how good that feels. Good morning. Yeah. I actually feel surprisingly good. Good morning to you too. So, are you feeling? able to teleport us all the way there? You'd save us quite a bit of time.

Yeah, yeah. I mean, I think I can do it. Well, how close have we actually physically been to this pyramid? I know we've seen it. I could see it from the... It's been obscured in sandstorm, though. It has been obscured in sandstorm. So I know we've never been, like, next to it. But, like, we could see it from the top of the pyramid we were at.

You could see the beam going up through the sandstorm, and you could see the loose shape of... But we saw when we were flying with the sphinxes. Yes, you did, and you could see it. And so I would say that it was very heavily obscured by the sandstorm, but you saw just something this huge, smaller, actually, than the golden pyramid of Farrow-A-Stra. Is the storm still, like, going around it? Yes, yes, so it is, but it isn't even close to as violent as it was.

It just seems to be a relatively light sandstorm that's basically constantly going. Perhaps it increases and decreases, but it's not that incredible. destructive storm that had been caused by a noob sotan. Then I would argue, and please correct me if I'm wrong, DM, that I would say that this object is something that I've seen casually. I viewed it more than once, so it's not just been viewed once, and I'm not very familiar with it. So I think seen casually is reasonable.

Yeah, I think seen casually is just fine. All right, I might need about 10 minutes to, you know, draw the transmutation circle and really focus in on what I have to do. But when I'm ready, I'm ready when you guys are. We can eat. We've got 10 minutes to enjoy these fine good and this fine donkey's milk. I think that's been out all night. No, no, it's Jack and not Jenny.

Oh, what? I'm going to be sick. How do you know what the donkey's name is? I'm going to be sick everywhere. That's just what you call me. male and female bobkeys. Ew. They're all named Jack?

No, I have work I have to do. I don't want to talk about this. I run off to the outside of the room and I take out my shock and I'm like gagging while I'm trying to like draw this transportation circle. And now I go from casually seen to just the description of the place. That's how bad. My target goes, I love it. I love it.

I want to miss out. I want to miss out. Have we actually laid eyes on the pyramid itself? Or is it, have we just seen the sandstorm that it's in? I would say it's just the sandstorm. You've seen like maybe a shape, but you've not seen the actual pyramid. Okay.

So once the Transmitation Circle is done, I would say that I am trying to aim for a place that is like a mile from this sandstorm. So that way I'm not throwing us into the sandstorm with the temple. You know, I'm not trying to aim for inside the sandstorm. Right. So I will say that you are aiming for probably a half half a mile south of the southern border of the breath of the forgotten.

Yeah, somewhere that I feel might be safe. Obviously, I haven't been there, but I know roughly what I'm aiming for. Yeah. And I don't want to throw us into the sandstorm. Yeah, I would say that you think back to a particularly memorable rock formation that was relatively close to the southern border of this eternal storm. Okay. Is Groomville Castle still there on the horizon? Are you too far to see it?

No, I mean, basically there's no curvature. Right. So you can basically see a crazy... Forever. Forever, basically. You can see forever, and you see, because, especially it was on the north-western side of the dread domain, which is basically just dunes, and you see on, it basically is the highest point on that side of the entire dread domain. You see Castle Gloomvale.

It seems to have settled in in the level of ruin. It's not risking immediately collapsing in itself. It's lost some towers. It's lost some walls. It's basically a shell of its former self, but it stands there. That strange Gothic architecture absolutely out of place. But it's really the last remnant of the Shad Archai of Scephranil and of the carrion gang. Did you actually want to look for rubies?

Yeah. I see you recall that I got Ruby dust and then casting it meant that I no longer. have the material... Yes. If it consumes it. If the spell says that it consumes it, then yeah, it's gone. But doesn't say... It doesn't say consumed, but my recollection of the rules is that if it says a...

It worth something that that means that it's not... No, it'll specifically say that which the spell consumes. Otherwise, you just keep that ruby dust and it doesn't lose its value, you can use the same ruby dust over and over again. It will say in the spell whether or not it consumes it, or it'll just not, it'll omit it if it doesn't consume it. if it doesn't consume it. Okay. Then I don't need to do that, and I probably should have passed

force cage during our fight. Yeah, if it doesn't say, you know, ruby dust worth X amount of gold that the spell consumes, you can reuse it over and over again. That also is a spell that's bullshit. I won't look for rubies.

I'm okay to find. If I can cast it again, I'll swap it out. I would like to look for a gem-encrusted bowl in case one is around. Yeah, yeah, I'll look good to go. Because I know that Iris would be, you know, looking for that. I would say make an investigation check at advantage.

To repay Escher, of course. Cool. Why don't you do it, and I'll help you? The investigation? Yeah, you're the skill monkey. 19. Nice. 19.

I would say that you do, that there is all sorts of gems. This has gems on it, but are they encrusted? I don't know. They really look in late. Is it a bowl or more of like a dish? You debate this philosophically. You think that's about as good as it's going to get. Then you find one.

Yeah, you find one. And I would say you also find a diamond worth 500 gold pieces, probably. Oh, yeah. For the five purposes. That's not ominous. Huh. Do you think this is worth 500 gold pieces? I guess it depends how you determine the value of a gem.

And considering that I would lay eyes upon a gem like that and think that it could probably buy my town of Kesselfield over 10 times over, I'd say it's worth a lot of money. Oh. So we should hold on to it. Probably. You've seen bigger diamonds than that? Oh.

No. Sorry. Thought we were talking about something else. I really got to focus on this spell. You guys just let me know when you're ready. The chalk is like veering off. I'm down for like the no-bo of my chalk because I'm just like, oh, God, please stop talking to me.

All right. Well, um. And with that, you all gather around and you take one last look at the pyramid of Pharaoh's rest and perhaps the city of the dead once and for all. And in a flash of arcane light, you feel the ground leave you as you are whipped through space. All right, so oops, my phone has been doing this thing where if I don't put itself to sleep. Right, one to 33 is a mishap. Uh, 34 to 43 is similar area.

44 to 53 is off target and 54 to 100 is on target. Oh, 98. Oh, my God. Wow. So we make it, I, I'm a master of space and time. We are five feet. And the spell teleport. I'm just, I'm on fire this morning.

I ate my weaties. You didn't drink the milk, that's why. The milk. Yeah, that's right. Duh. Mm-hmm. But I am down my only seventh level spell slot, but we're there. Well, that's not talked pretty good.

So we're outside of the storm. Oh, fuck, I need new spells, too. Yes. So you, with a 98, you are so pinpointed to where you wanted to go, Felix, that you were to recall this strange rock formation that actually reminded you of what looked like a buried giant scorpion with two. rock formations looking like pincers and then one, a large rock formation looming over almost like a stinger. You all arrive shielded from the heat of the blazing desert sun beneath this towering formation.

That is how precisely you teleport. Even though you're about a half mile away from the storm, you can hear it. the wind howling and you see far ahead that eternal unmoving sandstorm, the breath of the forgotten, surrounding what you've only heard referred to as the black pyramid. And you see now that you see now very, very clearly through the storm that huge shape with basically the eye of the storm. and you see it pulsing this this this

this this this this dark silver energy um uh

almost corrupting uh as something is trying to break out from the shimmering gold protective tomb

uh sealing spell of a new vest but it seems to be holding correct do we just walk through it I mean I don't know it's going to be like

that room we went through or sucked really bad It's certainly not going to feel good at the very best. We can try to just press through, but it looks pretty strong. I'm going to stick my arm into the storm and, like, see what it feels like. I would say that you're able to walk to where the storm is starting to. Is it like a hard wall?

It's not as much of a hard wall as it used to be. But you definitely see that there is, it does go basically this big poofing cloud of dust. and you get closer, and you start to press through into the cloud. Visibility gets worse, and it's painful, and the grains of sand do sting, but it doesn't seem to be chewing the flesh off of your bone. I would just kind of like wrap my cloak, like, over my head and kind of around my face, just before we walk in there. You do that.

You get the sense that it will be a slow journey through the storm, and you get the sense that it will be, an exhausting journey to press onward on fun. But if you are hearty enough, he might be able to resist that exhaustion. Okay. Can we fly over it? That does lead me to the question. The Sphinx has said that it's basically like an eye of the storm on the inside. It's calm, right? I thought they told us that.

Yes. Okay. Yeah, so basically the black pyramid is within the eye of the storm. It's the eye, basically. And it's the entire, unlike the breath of the falls, which was that storm that was going across basically the entire central region of this dread domain, the breath of the forgotten is eternally unmoving on the northern border of this dread domain. I definitely can't fly us over.

Even if there is an opening at the top, I'm not sure. But I can't do it. I might be able to turn myself into beast of burden. and y'all could ride me, and we can make our way that way. Through or over? It probably only would work for... I think through would work.

But if you're strong enough and can carry us and push through quickly, it might not be as much of an issue. Do we get the sense that it's... If we can make the journey in an hour, is the real problem. Oh, definitely. I mean, we're not even that...

We're only like a half mile away, if that were basically right up to it. Did you actually stick your hand into it? Oh, I said I did, but... So, yeah, I would say that you guys write the... You're half mile from the storm. I would say that you would have been able to close that distance, and you're now on the outskirts. And so...

But we don't know how far from the edge of the street. Especially with the visibility, you see it out there, but with the, with how things work here, you're not quite sure how long it will take you. We might be able to get... I mean, we should be able to get through in an hour, right? I mean, that would be pretty bad if we couldn't. I mean, it might be like an old day sort of thing. It's true.

There's definitely a limit. If this takes three or four hours, and we're really pushing it. Well, why don't we just start off on foot and we can try to protect ourselves and, you know? Yeah, we might just have to go and Iris could make her castle thingy if we really needed to stop.

Do we think that it's going to require Constitution? Saving throws? Probably. Boy, I hope so. My abilities for approval. to score who's weakest in that I can I can maybe help them in that way what's that I have the ability to enhance civility I was asking what we who's weakest and

what's that constitution not me I'm proficient from a mechanical sense saving through yeah I'm proficient in everything let's go are you really proficient in every single saving through I am yeah well it's one of my things pretty good you are aren't you is that like a mung thing That's fucking insane. You're bored. Diamond soul. I'm proficient in all saving throws.

It's a little of a pair. And I forgot to use this. So whenever I make a saving throw and fail, I can spend a key point to rerull it. What? That's really awesome. Which I should have done in the fight, but I didn't realize that until after I made the whole.

That's really awesome. Yeah, that's actually really fucking cool. Because I'm a diamond. And you don't age. You're just diamond and timeless. My soul is literally diamond. So how are you all making your way through this? I think that we've decided that we're gonna

bundle up and try to walk through it for the first time. And if we have a, if we experience issues, we will try to solve them midstorm. Okay. I go marching order, please. And hope a camel will look here. I'll go first. On big animal handling checklifting. I just wanted to be like a sassist.

Jesus. It's pretty bad. Nothing shows up. Nothing shows up. Yeah. It was a DC. I'm like, yeah, we'll see. It's five.

I think you whistle and it gets I should read my spells. It gets lost in the wind. Well, it was worth a shot. I'll take up the rear. I'll take, I'll strung up the rear. You can hold my tail again if you want. Well, we should definitely hold hands or tie ourselves to each other or something. Well, the thing I have 100 feet of rope. Perfect.

I start tying everybody together. Yeah, around our mid-sections. You do that. Why are you so good at this? Oh. Have you ever, I mean, sailing is basically half-towing knots. I've never sailed. Oh.

Yeah, it's a lot of knots. I mean, he sailed. Kind of on his ball, dude. It's just... I'm sold. We should do. With Toa at the lead, I need you make a perception check of disadvantage. You push through the storm, yes.

And you walk. For an hour. An hour? An hour. Okay, so an elephant would not have been the right choice. Save it. It certainly might be, need to keep that in Hoffer. That back being clear.

Yeah, that was a Hoover. That was an elephant. I can't do the... 14. See nothing in front of you besides the huge shape. Deeper in the... the storm that's pulsing with the competing energies. As you press onward, and after an hour, you start to understand why this is so dangerous.

As you feel the heat starts to increase, not scalding, not tearing at your skin, but just every step you take through the sand, it almost threatens, the dunes themselves almost threaten to swallow, swallow you and pull you down below. It becomes incredible. exhaust any anyone make concesses and saving throw from me please good one oh god 14 oh oh oh oh so good we should twist take 14's not enough I don't think so take it twist out for me there's one out for sell us thank you um fuck I'll twist if we're toasting I didn't I mean I have a good chance to get a better number two more for me and me and the the chiefling caprice thank you chat if you

play come on oh easy money uh 20 I got it one more 15 15 that exactly what you needed perfect I'll roll better next time guys I promise as you make your way I got a 16 with a singular purpose of of driving on and you press on and you walk for another hour And as you get deeper into the storm, you realize now that you've actually made your way through the worst event, at least as far as the storm and the wind and the sand goes. However, you've shrugged off the exhaustion. But as you make your way deeper and deeper in the storm, as it starts to dissipate as you get closer to the eye, you're going to, you're going to, you're going to, you, you're going to make your way deeper and deeper in the storm, as it starts to dissipate, you're You swear you can start to hear something in the back of your mind.

Oh, God. On the wind. I'm here. And then the closer that you get is not just the lingering idea of a sound. There's something maddening, incoherently, as you press onward. And you... you continue to make your way and as the storm itself dissipates, you wish that it had increased in the wind and the density of the sand and how hot it was because the assault on your mind is

far worse. And you actually see now ahead as the storm dissipates, as you get closer to the eye, you see that massive looming black pyramid. and just slightly obscured by the remnants of the storm. And you hear that maddening babble. Absolutely wordless. But if there are words, words that you can never hope to understand. Jesus. Words of any kind of language far, far, far older than any civilization of a ventress.

But you're almost certain. that it is just maddening shrieks. And you want to make wisdom-saving trouble. I don't think I'm very good at. I really should memorize these. Can I twist? Yeah, go ahead. Pull two out.

I got a 12. Fuck. I mean, I don't want to twist it because I only have plus two. Thank you, chat. 22. I don't want it because I'm also a plus three. It's just not.

Well, I got a little natural 20. Felix, it's you and me, buddy. I have a 16. I can't get the voices out. This is not my first time with voices. These are particularly bad. This guy's really cuckoo bananas. Who?

Whoever's whispering. You hear that too? What kind of a name is cuckoo bananas. Well, no, I mean, his name isn't cuckoo bananas. Is it a language or it's just incoherent, like, nonsense? I would say that it's incoherent nonsense. You get the sense that there's some sort of attempted articulation. Okay.

But it's so... Can you try to, like, replicate it for us? Yes, please do. If you've ever seen that YouTube meme video of the kid trying to describe his dream and it keeps, like, stuttering and repeating himself, I think that that's what that sounds like. It's kind of something like...

Something like, you hear that. Jesus. My bowels just got a little looser. Let me tell you. It gets louder. and this Jesus is almost

wheezing a horrible gibberish maddening babble so imagine that noise but horrible and so who failed that's unpleasant

what was the um this DC was 17 ooh I feel I need the three of you to roll a D100 oh shit oh my God

well I just crushed it so hopefully rolling high is not bad yeah you're gonna get 99 this time calling it here we go or a Honda how crazy is that bit I figured how this works you take the one that has a double digits first yeah can't fuck is that sorry was that that's really funny you do this one like a double digit one is what goes first yes so this is 21 that's mediocre as they get so 46 45 my guess is that it's just for a table it's not like yeah well I wrote my age

What? Oh, like Caprice. 45? Wait. You old fuck. I'm sorry. Did someone say, I thought someone said 45. I got 45, she got 46.

Oh, okay. And what did you get? 21? Oh, wow. Okay. You're that young? I imagine Caprice a little older than that. How are you?

You're younger. What are you? Yeah, we're actually very close in age. I would have thought you were around like 18, 18. Yeah, I'm in my 20s, specifically because of my age relation to Milo. But that's another story. No, I always envisioned him as late teens, early 20s. Wow. So we're actually very similar ages.

Yeah. How's he such a virtuoso in the violin? How old's toe? Because he's filled with devil music. Yeah, it's like... Tows in his 30s. Maybe late 20s. Yes what I imagine. Yeah, late 20s. Yeah, late 20s. But also you're like 55, right? No. I pictured myself like my age, like mid 30s.

Yeah, okay. We're getting up towards 40. Yeah. But you're not quite used up wrong. But your actual experience is Lufty is much longer. Yeah, I'm... What? Isn't Lifty? I was assumed Lifty was 50, 60, 70, 80. She just didn't look that way. Oh, I don't know. I actually don't know how the... Genesee age. I know, I think they're kind of Yeah, they don't age like... They're not like crazy... You've always talked about like how much you've tried. I just assumed... Yeah, I've just got all done a lot, I've gotten around.

Yeah, so... Okay. Sorry, we got off on a danger. You, Caprice. Oh, boy. You failed by more than 400. You are experiencing incredibly vivid hallucinations. You see horrible, strange faces, figures, animals, monsters, machines, lurking creatures, uh, almost stalking you, surrounding you.

Uh, for an indeterminate amount of time. That is scary. You have disadvantage on wisdom checks and charisma checks. As you, uh, or we, yes, or no, as you, uh, and, rather, no, you disadvantage on all ability checks from your vivid hallucinations. Jesus. Phelis, the 44. That's the 45.

Yeah. You, suddenly something comes to you with a, you have a powerful delusion. You feel as if you can do anything. You feel like you are under the effects of a potion of heroism. You feel like you are blessed. You feel like you are,

are incapable of losing with an incredible supernatural bravado. Perfect. Lifty, you become obsessive. You have a lucky charm on you somewhere. Could be a person, an object. Something that you are completely obsessed with. The thought of being separated from it is absolutely unthinkable to you. This is what happens as you...

Man, that's really annoying. Anyway, let's keep going. No, you're right, Tau. Well, we can do this. No matter what, obstacles we face, we can do this. There's nothing that can stop us. You've been right this whole time. Exactly right.

We are infallible. Nothing can over, we can overcome anything. Yes, you know, Felix, I've been trying to say that this whole time. Yes, exactly. I like that confident, Felix, let's fucking go. Are you feeling all right? Caprice. Caprice, I'm sorry.

I need you to focus. I said nothing's gonna stop us, and that includes you, all right? I'm gonna pull, I'm gonna pull the rope and try to get you to walk a bit. Caprice. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, I'm locking, I'm walking, I'm walking, I'm walking, I'm walking.

The roof around you is a horrible worm and it's not just a thin, wriggling worm is, is three, threes, get a hole of yourself. What are you doing? I undo the rope and I fucking disconnect myself. That's fucking snake! Um, I guess I would see him untying the rope and I would attempt to tackle him. I gave myself back on.

Okay. Uh, make a contest. Jesus, you're all right. I'm fine. I'm gonna attempt to tackle you because I don't want you to get away. I don't think I would resist. Well, I'm just worried you're gonna get like swept up in the storm. I might.

You cannot resist if you want. I, I, the rope was the enemy. If you want to tackle me, then... Yeah, it's not like a malicious thing. I'm scared you're gonna like get away. It's great. Do it. So you just choose to fail? Go through my front of my friend.

I'm not competing against you. I'm competing against the fucking rope. Yeah, okay. As Caprice attempts to run... You realize that Caprice is your lucky charm. He is the only reason why you come as far as you have. If Caprice leaves you, this entire mission is entirely doomed as he attempts to run away.

as... I rolled 18 and he's just not resisting so I tackle him. You lean down and as you tackle him you open your mouth Felix to speak and you breathe fire and blast Caprice or at least you feel and think that you are

as you think that you are also are now under the effect of a dragon breathing potion as you feel like you are a heroic dragon god with your delusions of grandeur as you become more paranoid now that Caprice is going to leave you forever unless you do something drastic. Do not touch him! I'll run forward

and like, like, body slam Felix off of him and then just like protectively like, like, like mother can like nestle on top of Caprice and like look her out. Yeah, so she would hit me and I'd go tumbling through the same. Yeah, you see a Felix skid on like almost skipping like a stone. Well, until the tight, until the, they'll Little of Root gets taught.

And I'm like, oh, ah, ah, what are you doing? You can't do that to me. I'm a great- Don't even look at him. Don't even look at him. Turn your face. I am the greatest hero that has ever walked to Vantris, and I'm going to save us all. Thank you, Luffy.

You've got some spiders right here. Oh, that's okay. Yeah. Caprice, get up. You're with me now. What's-com over all of you? I mean, I know it's kind of annoying, but we need to keep going. As she speaks, a spider spill out of her mouth on top of,

on your face. It's okay. It's okay. Your voice is good, but the spiders are bad. Toa, thank you for agreeing with me, the greatest hero that Adventress has ever seen. He's listening to me.

You all need to as well. I'm going to start tying Caprice back up. What are you doing? You don't need to tie to him. No, I'm going to make sure. Give me that, and I'll snatch the rope and I'll tie him only to me. My, are inside of the point.

I'm just like, Like we're now, I've inserted myself one chain further, and I don't want him tied to anybody else, so I'm like only making a connection between the left. So you're left. And then you put me the next. So if I were to split off the chain, we would go together. He would not be tied to the rest of the road. Okay. I'm going to reach around everybody, grab all of the ropes and lift up and just carry everybody and start just walking forward. This is not how the hero's journey is supposed to go. You know that lettuce check.

I don't know what's coming over you. I'm going to twist it. death. Please do. That didn't count. I got so worried. I thought you were going to eat me. Uh, 26. I'd say with the 26, uh, and with how light, uh, the respect, relatively your group is, you're able to do that and you start just, uh, you all are just now dangling. I want everyone to know that he only did that because I told him to, and I'm a great hero and leader. I'm not, I don't know why you have to go so cuckoo bananas about all of this. No, he's, no, he's just, cuckoo bananas, all right? We need to get to the

pyramid so we can save the day. That's what I'm trying to do. I mean... Do it faster! I'm trying, Felix. Geez! What's going into you? Nothing.

What's going into all of you? You don't hear that? You don't see that? I'm not hear it. You're upsetting him. I'll just think about the honor. It's only Caprice and Lofti that have lost their minds.

I've never thought clearer. I think about a pleasant sea breeze and I just put the gibbering out of my head, you know? Just don't think about it in. Oh, no, I don't know. I don't, I'm gonna try to hustle as fast as I can to take this over with, but, you know, with as much as I'm carrying.

You do that, and you try to go as quickly as possible, but you are still in a sandstorm, carrying four people. And as strong as you are, it is slow going. And as you approach, finally you see now the tip of the, the tip of the, the black pyramid, now with the shimmering golden cocoon over it almost bulging in certain places, cracking in certain places, you know that whatever is contained within this massive structure is attempting to get out. And you all hear, you all feel a rumbling in the sand occasionally.

And you see even the entire structure, far off in the distance starts to shake. And you mean it starts to bulge out a little bit, and the bricks, a pulse out, and then slide back into place. What the fuck? As something is going to break free, and you know what that is. And the horrible babbling gets louder, and I need you all to make a one more wisdom saving throw at a disadvantage. What is?

As I'm watching the pyramid bulge and set up, in all... Oh, I absolutely fail. Um, I will... I know the chink God is in there and I'm gonna get him with my fire breath. My feet? It's the greatest spell in known demand. As long as I have caprice with me, we're gonna be fine. That's exactly right. Nothing can stop us, especially with me at the lead. Is this one it feels like to be iris? This is pretty nice. Thirteen. I got five. No, yeah, five. Five, nine. 15. Everyone rolled you 100 for me.

Oh, fuck. Oh, no. Seventy-four. 43. So do I get 100? No, that's a 9. Oh, I got a 0. Oh, so you can't actually get 100.

Yes, you can. Because you have 0-0-0. 0-0? Yeah, because this as a 0 would be a 10, right? Well, then wouldn't that be a 100? 100? Yes. That's a 100. Yes, that is correct. Okay. You rolled in that. I got a nine.

A nine from the D100? Yeah. Okay. Lifty ignites into flames. Lifty. Uh-oh. You can only think of one thing, especially as your trinket, Caprice, your lucky charm, is threatening to get away. being drunk is the only thing that keeps you safe. Okay, so this is an addition. He's my lucky trinket. He also being drunk is the only thing.

Exactly. There's a Matrix. I love Stackie. So totally normal. Things are just as normal, but you're still my lucky drink. And you feel almost a compulsion to medicate, is what I'll say. What did you get, Capriese? 44.

which is going to be interesting. 44. A lot of 40s. 43, 44, 45, and 46. Really weird. Caprice, you feel a horrible sense of revulsion. And it's not just, you have all these horrible hallucinations. But now the most awful hallucination

is the one who treats you like a lucky charm. You have a horrible antipath. for Lofti. And as if you were under the Antipathy spell. Toa. 43. You suffer partial amnesia. Yeah.

Oh. You know who you are. Oh, no. You know who you are. You know your abilities. You know your powers. Right. But you don't recognize people.

Remember anything that happened before the madness took effect. Oh, no. Does he still remember what his goal is? is, like what his quest is? I would say, Richie can decide how... Okay, okay. And what did you get? Seventy-four.

74? That's not good. That's about ages. You fucked up. You are convinced that powerful enemies are hunting you. Their ages are everywhere. That you're going, and they are watching you at all times. Right now.

What are doing? What do you mean what are you doing? What don't stop? No, no, no, no. Who are all of you? We have to get, we have to get, Toa, it's me, Felix. I don't want to hear, uh, I'll hear voices. Toa, it's me, Felix.

I don't know, I don't know who Felix. Listen to me, Toa, listen to me. I'm the greatest hero that you have ever known, but I need you to walk now because we're being hunted. We cannot stop here. We have to get to the pyramid. They're everywhere. They're literally everywhere. Oh, I don't do what you say?

Because I'm the greatest hero you've ever known. And you always listen to me. Well, I don't believe it. He is. You don't have to worry because he's right here. What? Who's right here? They're right here. They're right here.

They're right here. They're right here. They're everywhere. They should give me. It's them. It's them. Go this way. Okay.

It's a pyramid. Faster. Faster. Let's keep going. I agree. You stay here. You've got spiders coming out of your fucking No, fuck!

Caprice, don't undo that! No! I undo it, and I immediately start running after Toh and Felix. I run after him, chugging. And you catch up immediately. I'm fucking, uh, tree twig, in comparison to that you're just like basically

power walking next to you're like sprinting. How are you doing this? The spiders! You don't have to worry because nothing bad can happen with you here. I know it's scary. Is this my purpose to carry all with you? Yes, that's exactly the purpose.

Carry me. If you slow down, I feel like I'm good at you. I'm going to grab Lofti and Caprice around the... Don't touch him. Yeah, you're still hoisting my... And I'm just going to carry all of this way. Good. That's good thinking.

They clearly got... They got to... Touch him. But, I mean, you sound very convincing. Thank you. That's right. I am very convincing. Because I know what I'm talking about.

What should I do next? Keep going. They've clearly gotten inside Caprice's brain. They've already gotten him. I don't know who Capriese is. What? How do you... Pizza?

I don't know what pizza is. We have to save the world. Oh, I'm crying that's not what he was... Oh God. Oh God! Don't get any closer! Tawa!

And I'm like beating on Towa. Faster! I was saving this. Like a mule. Reach into my pack and I'm gonna take my potion of growth. I don't know why I was saving this, but I was. Literally 15. I didn't even know who could do that, Caprice.

That's incredible. John, I don't get rid of my potion. Absolutely massive. This is a best lovely charm. Goodbye, potion of growth. Four. It's a same many hours. One hour.

Oh, no. And I'm just going to, like, you know, effortlessly now. just hold on to everybody. Yeah, and start sprinting in whatever direction Felix tells me to go. And I would be directing him. I would be directing him as we're moving towards where I think the pyramid is or where the storm ends. And then all of a sudden, wait a minute, toe is sprinting. Everything gets very quiet in my head.

He doesn't remember my name. Oh, no. To fight against you. You told me it's my joke. No, they have you. They have your brain. I won't let them get me. I'm going to basically try to like,

tie them all together in like a backpack and they're like a like a person backpack and just have them all like totally down. I resist. That I can throw my shoulders. I'm fighting. Contrast as alleged versus acrobatics or athletics or whatever you care to do. I'm I will fail because I'm attempting to melt the ropes with my fire breath that doesn't exist. It's a wild rope that's fireproof. No!

Oh yeah. Thanks, guys. I'm going to battle trance and I'm going to glow blue Now I need you be strong And I'm going to roll out advantage He's a giant tool You can't leave me You can't leave me

Like a slippery snake disappear out between the arms And fall to the ground and immediately start running away as fast as I fucking can't 28 Oh no So as soon as I see Kikaris try to go, I would also try to break free to run out.

Okay, let's do this. I felt very confident enough to take my belt off. What is, what do I rule? Strength. Acrobatics. Oh, acrobatics. Oh, no. 13.

22. Yeah. So you easily tie me to you. I am tied to you back. Okay. But I'm not happy back. I have Felix on. I move on and looked at, no, it is my road to gram you.

And I'm gonna just start. barreling down towards gibrales. Almost certainly, but immediately. What am I going to do it? And I'm just going to come behind him and grab him by the wings. Oh, you get that's up! Ha! Ha!

Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! What you see is actually not Toa. You actually see that Titan that... No! Throw attack on Titan! That's the worst titan! That's the worst titan. Actually, you hear the babbling. It's babbling maddeningly, and you hear it coming from Toa,

as you see a horrible, just deformed monster chasing it. A story and a half tall. Oh, my God. Dashing through the sand after you. I don't know. Go for it. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I knew he'd come back.

Oh, this is my lucky job. The whole time, I am wildly muttering. about Zern and Thoris Dunes' minions and how they're everywhere and they've stolen my friends from me. And I'm still trying to breathe my, like, I'm trying to free myself with my fire breath. Do I see Lufty and Felix in the arms of this being? I'm tied to his back. You're tied to his back. Yeah, so I am too. I wasn't able to. Part of the nightmare is that like they're probably like this figure. So Caprice. Yeah. As you see this, a horrible, naked, but just genital-less abomination,

just kind of trundling towards you, jabbering. All in my mind. All in your mind, you see where Felix is what looks like a horrible, like, postulate boil with like a mouth and filled with teeth. Ew! It's like breathing and spinning up acid.

And Luffy herself seems to be a horrible hybrid between, it seems to be like, what is it, a tryptophobia where you have a fear of holes. You! There's holes all over his arm, and then there's a worm that is three feet long and one and a half foot around. I'm just hoping to head out from around him.

And a very thick worm. I believe he'll come back. And she's going in and out of this network of holes on this giant. Oh my shit! Fuck this noise! I do a backflip, but I turn it to a giant eagle I fly 160 feet in six seconds.

I fly immediately towards the building to get to shelter. Oh my God! Oh my Lord, in heaven, please. Scott, see me! I try to throw a net on him. General, Zern! Oh, Zarn! It is Thoris-Tune.

They're the same. They're all the same. We're all gonna be Thor's Tune. Can we do shots? I'm on. Do I have time to throw a net on him? Absolutely. Or are you concerned with drugs? Which grows to my size, so it's literally just colossal fucking net.

You chucked a giant heavy net towards the eagle. And you hear Caprice's trained voice crying out from this massive bird. Do you hit? I'm very easy to hit with a giant fucking... You have one chance. I'm recklessly doing it. Seven plus... I'm fucked.

10? 7 plus 10? Yeah. My AC is 13. As you're flying away. You're like the bird in rescue, rescuers down under when it gets hit by the polo net. Yeah, and Maracute tumbles to the ground.

That's actually literally what happened. Gotta get away, got to get away. He's my life. Anybody. I don't. And I'm not... What? You can make a DC-10 strength check to take it out while I'm approaching you.

Take it out. Yeah. DC-10-13. Okay, so I need anything but a one through six. I'm coming, Caprice. I fail. I don't know bird form very well, so I'm using my feet in the wrong way. My birds, I'm trying to, like, my wings I'm trying to use as hands. I'm just like flapping and creating feathers and all the right. Do I say recognize him as a bird?

I don't know. I'd say, what was this? What does Kelsey think? Did I see you turn into a bird? Yeah, I think it would have been very easy to see me like and just backflip and turn into a bird. And even though your vision is still obscured in the sandstorm, you're getting, you're close enough now to the eye of the storm,

that it's still, you know, several dozen feet until it gets completely dis... Terrifying how quickly you can take your dog tall. That's really good. Okay. Listen to me, Taw. I know that you're an agent of Darst June and Zern and that they're one of the same, and I can't trust anybody anymore. But if you're still in there, I know you are.

I'm appealing to you as my best friend. You have to get us to the pyramid. You know my best friend? What? Which way's the pyramid? Oh, it's that way. I pick up the net and I just like tie it off. I like turn you upside down and I like just tie the end.

And you put them over your shoulder. I think my hand through the net just to grab you and be in physical contact. It's okay. I know. I know you're scared, but you're back with me now. Do you want this? But do you want that? Do you want that?

I tried to see if they stop, to repeat them, but they said no. Okay, but we're here. Where are we going? Oh, no, Tau. Oh, they took my friend tower. No. Oh, I'm tower.

Yeah, he's right there. You're my best friend. Oh, we're best friends? We are. We were until they got you. I'm best friends with the greatest hero in a ventress. Yes, that's right. You're remembering.

You can break their mind control. You're stronger than them. I am stronger. I'm stronger than you, too. No, I can hear them. They're getting in my brain too. They're hacking the greatest hero's brain! I hate this song.

I'm just going to start like, I'm gonna like tie rope through the net and just to make sure everybody's tied to my back and I'm like tronk carrying these men on the pyramid. I'm just gonna run towards the pyramid as fast as I can. Okay, I will say make an athletics check to see I had originally planned

on having another role, but given that you have used the Giants growth potion and are booking it. We can still have another role. No, I want to say how, if you're able to get, through to the pyramid with a little bit extra time.

28. You run like the wind, Toad. Even with your passengers struggling the whole way, you see now as the sandstorm, the howling wind, the biting grains of sand as they crash against your skin, starts to get less and less. And even the stability of the sand that you run on, especially with the size of your feet,

is actually a lot easier to run on these dunes. However, you occasionally are, you occasionally feel that jolt and the shake as the pyramid starts to pulse. And you see even closer as the lower, perhaps like a lower half of bolt out and the bricks will start to all slot out in strange geometric waves and then crash back in to maintain its form.

And then you see as it shakes, and then rises up and then sinks back down as something. And you know what that is. The chain God is attempting to break free. And you finally burst through this sandstorm, the breath of the forgotten. And you see the black pyramid completely unobstured now in the eye of the storm. You see now as that shimmering golden power of the new. this sealing this tune is very clearly cracking.

It's starting to lose its integrity. You see patches of it where where had once been that brilliant, bright near white silver, now is darkening. And you see the energy around this black pyramid start to go closer to a darker silver than a dark gray and bits of black and red mixing in with that energy as it pulses out. It's the pyramid almost looks alive.

And you see now that there are these huge, this is this huge staircase up to the massive door. And you see now that there is the carving on the door of what looks like an owl with its wings outstretched. you see 14 seals all dormant. The only glow of any kind of protected magic now is the remnant of Anubis's power. Oh, shit. And you see, as you get closer, you see the adornments alongside,

as you see jackal heads flanking, this owl, and you see what look like, a sprigs of bellad. Donovan, deadly nightshade as well in carvings that seem to be what you would you would have guessed to have been very ancient Secession or necession of some kind, but is obviously older from this land of reeds and lotuses where on Katap had once lived and it is here that you pause as the pulsing

gets more erratic and you hear that, as it just gets, it fills your minds and feel like you are losing them. What the fuck is that? Why are we running to it? No, we should run away. No, to listen, I figured it all out. I finally figured it all out.

It's the goat's milk. The goat's milk. There was chemicals in the goat's milk. And all the upper society of this place, they've been using all of the little grains of sand and crossed-grine worms. And that's why they can watch us at all time. Every piece of sand is a scrying room.

The sand is in our bodies. The sand is in... Yeah, I totally agree, right? The sand's everywhere. It's in our bodies. The sand is in our bodies. She likes the greatest heroine. What do we do?

That's right. I figured it up because I'm so smart. If the sand's everywhere, what do we do about it? I mean, should we leave? There's nothing we can do. They control everything. They control everything. Then how do we...

Are we trying to stop it? Are we trying to help? I'm not sure what we're doing. I'm just... Why are we running? So why are we running towards that thing? Because we have to save the world. We have to save everything.

Yeah, it's going to be fine. I said this. And as long as I have caprice, it'll all be fine. You don't even listen to me. I know. So what do I do, Felix? Tell me. The door.

There's a door. The seals. The seals. They're not Chloe. That means... It's almost time. There are seals. Are no seals?

Yes. I've met lots of seals. No, not. No, no, that's the animal. They play a part in this, too, but I'm not sure what. I haven't figured it out yet. If anything involves seals, let me know, because I'll know how to talk to a seal. The door, we have to get inside. Or we have to stop it from getting outside.

Wow. The door, what? How far are we from the entrance? Despite seeing this massive structure, I would say you're probably a good half mile. Oh, wow. As you see it looming up, but it is a huge structure.

And it is, with the gyrating energy and the crumbling magics of Anubis and the pulsating strange geometry of the bricks as they are pulsed out and shrink back in, makes it difficult to get much of a better look. I'm so glad you caught me in that net. I was going to fly in file a way.

I almost twisted it to make you re-roll the 16-8. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. We have to get closer to the protected barrier. It's the only thing that's stopping everything for now. Or a protected barrier. That's right. Closer.

Right. Stop everything from happening around. Yeah. But wait. But wait. What if? What if? A newness is also far as Dune.

Could I have been tricked? tricked? Wait, Felix. I thought I thought of everything. Can I ask you a question? But yes, please. Who is an Nubus and who is Storo's due? I guess that's two questions. Can I ask you two questions? You may ask me two questions. Who is Nubis, newest, norris do? That's like a question. The voice of Gilbert Godfrey.

I, I, uh, I punch Caprice. Roll the attacks. Roll the attack. I punch. I punch. Please roll to attack. You're not at an advantage. And advantage. because he's restrained.

I punched Toa. He's restrained. Two ones, two natural ones, I miss. Ah! Ah! Shut up, dude! As you actually realize that you have... I hit Toa.

Are you rolling in disadvantage because you're restrained? No, but I will. Nice. You have... I hit Toa-I-N-19. You watch as your eagle This horrific, thick Vienna sausage-looking worm crawls out of this titan skin and is talking to him.

Not touching. He's attempting to bore back him. Leutty is the boil. I won't let him touch you anymore. You don't have to worry. I am here for you. Right? Are you with me?

Spiders are spilling out of the swarms off. I just feel so close. you, you know? And it's like, I don't, sometimes I don't even know how I got along without you, you know? With my foot, I'm trying to put up to me. Like slowly, like to pray the net. With the talent. I know. You actually see, although it's a worm, you see a really tiny thin arm with a pencil arm with like 20 elbows reach out of the flesh and hold like, hold this wine skin. I continue to work up to the net.

I'm trying to cut the net with my talent. I just think I can do. You know, I just feel like I can't talk to the other guys because they don't get it. What's a nightmare is that I have advantage on wisdom perception checks that rely on sight. So I'm seeing this very keenly. I'm seeing everything.

No, Luffy, you can't talk to us, not because we don't understand. It's because nobody understands. It's because we're being listened to every step of the. You're like all the way up here and I need you to be down to like here. No, no, no, no, no. I'm here and everything else is way up here. We're all like little tiny babies.

Yeah, but little tiny babies. That's so cute. Quick, we have to get closer to the black pyramid. All right, black pyramid. That black pyramid, rock. Yes, not having a different one. Right up to the front door. Right up to the front door.

We're going to kick the doors right off. All right, I'm gonna go kick the door. I'm gonna run up to the pyramid. You begin to run. Let me know when I, Break through the net. I would say make a, um, a slight of hand check at disadvantage. With your eagle standards, of course.

Of course. Of course. Nine. You managed to get like cut one little part of the net, and you managed to get like two talons out. Yeah, I mean it would take about the fucking hour. Toa, you begin to run it and the rest of you see the storm, the billowing plumes of sand around you that are swirling around this black

pyramid as you are riding like a baby on the back, a backpack, as this massive Goliath runs. And as you approach the pyramid, you see now that the stairs go up and there's a door and there's a large platform before the door. And you see now as you get closer, framed in the glow of gold and pulsating red and dark gray energy and war with one another for the fate of perhaps all of existence, you see the silhouette of a tall man with long silvery white hair as he stares at the face of perhaps all of existence. you see the silhouette of a tall man with long silvery white hair as he stares at the door. Oh, no. Oh, no.

You're going to tick down the door through him. You don't know if he's noticed this yet. I don't know if he's noticed this yet. You don't understand who that is. You must have already forgotten. I don't know who that is. He's an agent of the interdimensional sheep shifting time-traveling vampires. That sounds so scary.

That's okay. They're interdimensional and time-traveling and shape-shifting? And vampires? That's exactly right. And only I can stop them. Only I am the one who holds the key to all of this. Thank God you, you hear feelings. That's right.

I don't know what I would have done without you. That's right. All right. On my word, we're going to get him. All right, we'll get him. He'll never see us coming. Okay, here we go. Is he still absolutely massive?

Oh, yeah. There's no way he'll ever hear us coming. Okay. On the count of three. Three, two, two. Hold on, hold on, hold on, on. What? Am I, am I kicking him?

Yes, no, just stomp him, you're giant. Oh, stomp him, okay. I mean, just squash him as soon as you can. There's a difference between kicking and stomping. Okay, stomp, all right. Kick him like a football. Two, wait, kick you, hold on, hold on. What, the Eagles, and kick him like a football.

I want to make sure, is it also you playing. Don't listen to the eagle. For all we know, he's an agent of the years and I'm not sure he's always listening to him. No, no, he's an Asian. He is my lucky chance. He's one of them? Football, football!

He's one of them. I don't know who them is, but he's my lucky charm. On the count of three. Three, three, two, two, one. And then way too loudly, loudly enough for Zern to hear, I yell. Interimaxial a sheep, and he's time for the vampire day! Doo, do, do, do, do, do. And I'm going to just start sprinting, and I will attempt to stomp on Zern.

You... He releases the Bahamas. And you're cutting him instantly. We're all just like, in blood. We just turn into blood. Into the sand, just you, the Toa's first step on this pyramid causes the entire staircase to shake and rumble as you sprint up the stairs.

And I need you to make an acrobatics check to see, because these stairs are not meant for a giant. I'm still screaming. Yeah, of course. Oh, no. Is that me you rolled well or bad? 13. 13.

You run up and you are, you see this man as he is standing before the door far closer than anyone should be able to be as calm as he is. And you realize now that the closer you get, you see this older man with a older man with, very sharp angular features. A great sword on his back. One arm seemingly in a sling, and he's not looking up at the door, but down on the stone before him. And if you finally get the perspective,

as you see what looks like some sort of strange runic circle, shimmering on the ground before it, in bright, glowing silver ink. And you see that at the center, this intricately, perfectly drawn, more precise than even Felix's. I guess you wouldn't even know Felix's.

I don't remember anything. I see it with my equal eyes. Yeah, exactly, right. As you run up and you look down and you see that there is, that the entire thing is glowing, and that there are six points in the outer ring of the circle where there are strange items. One seems to be a blacksmith's hammer.

Another seems to be a purple crystal ball. Another seems to be an weathered, ancient, bloody, torn tabard. another seems to be a cracked glass vial of some kind. Another seems to be a very long, jagged, almost blood-stained needle. And you also see what looks like a small porcelain bluebird statue at. As it rumbles, and you see at the center of this runic symbol, what looks like to be a drawing, a tracing of what seems to have a curve on one end and another curve on the other. And something in the back of your mind, although you're suffering partial amnesia, it looks like this shape of a blade on the ground at the center of the circle.

As you all notice, those who you don't have amnesia were able to see this, it looks like to be the outline of Felix's, Talen Guard dagger at the center of this runic circle as you as you slip and you smash your face into the stairs and tumble forward up to about there's only ten more as well as five more steps as you collapse and all of you tumble forward I weigh 3,200 pounds so as I'm rolling you know oh I'm dead oh yeah hold on I'm just I'm just a pancake yeah you're gonna you're gonna take some damage Well, that's not good. Great.

We were in a truck accident. Works, probably worse. It's like what happens when we rolled our... Yeah. This is a good. Yeah, only you have fragile bird bones. 33 points of bludgeoning damage. 33?

That's enough to fucking kill me. There's no roll bar. Jesus. Atoa, you're going to enjoy half of that because you smash into the stone. How much did we take? 33. So, you know, roughly a third of my health.

Yeah, that was not ideal, for sure. Oh, fuck. Ow! No! Can't stop cornwheeling and roll out my baton. I went 32 hundred pounds. I'm actually just every bone of my body is shattered. You are battered and broken as the pulsing energy as you give up.

I was literally crushed out of birddom. Oh, yeah. Like a toothpaste, too, that squeezed the bird out of me. As you all feel one after another, after another, after another, as a wave of silver energy washes over you, one after the other, as you see where there was the head of a man, you now see one, two, three, four wings. Extend as your mind is freed from madness.

As you all stare up, as you all look, and you had been hearing that looking up into this massive door that's incomprehensively big, and the way that the geometry of these bricks is pulsing and shrinking back in does not seem possible. Yet, and as the maddening, gibbering and babbling in your minds and all around you, it is now emanating from this pyramid, muffled as it is from inside, and in your minds. It, at least for now, no longer is driving you mad. Can we still hear it?

You can hear it. But it's not. It's not. Whatever madness has come over you. Why are you touching me? Oh, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. What are you fucking talking about? Oh, gods, what was that?

How did we get here? Did you guys carry me? No. You carried all of us? No, I mean, I'm tired of you guys. How do you carry me? I'm like 15 feet tall. Ah, you have it very backwards, very backwards.

Can you lift your calf so I can get up? I'm gonna like, I'm gonna like frantically reach for my dagger and like try to cut myself free. I would say you're easily able to do that. You're all in a pile completely confused of what the fuck has happened. You're almost unsure of how you got here. Oh, shit. I think I'm gonna be sick. I think I already was.

I'm like there's like a little bit of prominent on my pan. Oh, yeah, you probably, like you're probably very drunk, right? Even by a drunken master standards. How long were we walking? I don't know. Hours, days, weeks. I don't think it could have been in that long. I still, I feel complete.

I just feel a little like I want to eat small rodents. It's weird. It's disgusting. Do we see Zer? You see the top of his head and four wings and past the threshold of the, of the stuff. He can absolutely hear you. He said, Zune?

Yes, it is. Oh, thank goodness. What? Don't look at me like that. He's probably got us here. Zun! Soon, help, we all fell down. You hear a voice, calm, collected.

The head does not face you, and as the power that is washed over you settles in, you see the wind wings fold back. And you hear a voice call out. You've done well. Every step of your path here, every step since you've entered Strigger has been guiding you to this very moment. Join me.

I'm gonna look to Teller, and I'm gonna very reluctantly begin to take a step forward and move towards certain. I'm gonna reach forward and grab Felix's arm and just kind of like turn him. Are you sure? No, I'm not. But I have to trust somebody. And that's gonna be a newness right now. And he told us this was gonna happen. He wanted us to do this.

As I'm gonna take all the fragments of my rope, put it in my bag, my nap. I don't put it all my bag. I don't trust this turn as far as I can throw him. And if he does one off thing, like you said, we're not going to let him stand for any. I'm not going to stand for it. We're going to protect mine, though. That's the first purpose, but I think Zern means us well.

I don't think Zern means anything for us. I think we're a tool for him. But we don't have any other choice. All of us are tools. All of us have our part to play in saving existence. You should consider. that you're lucky to have more agency than almost every other soul mortal or otherwise in this world. I begin to walk away and see if I can gently pull myself away from Lofty's grasp.

I'll just kind of give his arm a squeeze and I'll nod at him and release him. You do that. And you see now, as you all ascend the staircase, as you finally see the full scope of what is before you. You see a large alchemical circle, that's some arcane circle on the ground with those six objects in the outer ring. You see now Felix with your right mind, you see the perfect shape of your Talangar dagger at the center, seeming empty, awaiting something to be placed there.

And then you see six red on the right eyes and a croak. As Zerns familiar, croaks at you and hops along the ground a piece of chalk in its mouth, as it flies up and lands on his shoulder, and you see it open and it swallows the shimmering silver chalk. And as you stare at it, you hear a strained voice from further up, closer to the door. As you see hunched forward, black, silver, and even white feathers, the two-headed raven child, surrounded in an arcane circle of its own, directly before the door. to the tomb of Thar's Dune. It's at this point that Zern turns to look at you.

His eyes glowing the silver light. I have discovered how we can save the universe and save these children. And I need your help. And that is we're all on the session. Oh, no! I had so many questions to ask him! What? Thank you so much for listening to the Legends of Aventures podcast.

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