Legends of Avantris - Curse of Strahdanya | Ep. 3 | Death House: Part 2

Episode Date: April 15, 2025

The monster that lurks below awaits the Azran Expedition as the delve beneath the Death House after discovering the evil secrets of its former residents.    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/xwekuvL6XA4?si=1tkKyUSmYG8YJ8T5

You are back in the death house in listening to Curse of Strudania in Legends of Eventris podcast. Last time, the expedition began their exploration of the long-abandoned house, discovering its mysteries and the horrors that dwell within. Our heroes learned that the previous owners, the Durst family, but performing terrible rituals below the house and that little rose and thorn were in fact spectres. They then delved into the crypts and finally put the children's souls to rest. Now they delve even deeper to face the true horror that lurks beneath the house. As always, the audio quality reflects our humble beginnings, but does improve over time.

With that out of the way, let us conclude the ghostly story of Chapter 1, Death House. I think Sarnax speaks for me as well in this instance, and I, to apologize. I only had everyone's best interest in mind, and often when I dealt with anything, even remotely like this, it's never been good, and I apologize for again, step out of the line, and I'm sorry. And I take two gold points from my money. I leave one gold piece in each of the coffins as a, as a, talking of passage or something as my apologies.

It's a common tradition in yoga. So I'm sorry. I was again, as Sarnex said, we were overly cautious. Professor Conno, you're acting out of your normalities. And I apologize. Well, of course, of course. I'm just glad that we could bring them some rests

and hopefully provide vengeance to And beyond that, the broken God sees the deeds that you've done, sees that you've carried the pain of these two small children between you. He thanks you. He weeks his tears upon you and lest us you both. Thank you. I think we need to, I'm feeling a little bravo now. I think we put them in the rest. I think we should at least see who's varied in the rest of these trips, given the fact that we have to be able to doge.

The nursemaid was upstairs. I don't... Perhaps the parents that came down to fight the monster are infected and buried here. But I must know. I'm no longer under the will of Rose, so I will follow your direction, Professor. Are we okay?

Just very quickly. Your decision, you're your charge. You need to see it was buried there. Go ahead. As always, I'll... Watch shit. I just want to, like, basically just try to see who else is buried in these crypts that we know exist. Okay.

Roll an investigation check, and I will just, we'll do it quickly. 20. Perfect. You make your way down the, back towards the way that you came, and back into that alcove, and you find two crips open here as well. One, completely empty. You immediately notice the dark, blank slab meant to seal this crypt, has been left leaning against the near- by wall. A quick glance shows you

that this room is completely empty. The one next to it, in similar disheveled shape. Forgotten against the wall, that same stone slab, however, this one etched with the words Walter Durst. The name is notated here, but the room beyond

it is empty. No small coffin. Nothing upon the dais that sits towards that. Oh, shit. Do I recall from the painting that the woman, the mother was, or sorry, the father was holding the baby, was the baby completely covered? Was completely wrapped, so you couldn't see anything at all.

This makes me wonder if the stillborn water wasn't quite stillborn. Professor, what do you mean about that? He didn't cry. Perhaps he is some horrible abomination like the specter we saw, like the ghosts of the children, perhaps. You don't think he's the monstrosity, do you? Very well, maybe. I made that connection long ago. I hope to be wrong.

Professor, Mr. Sarnax, how can you put that on a child to bear, that darkness? Agreed. His birth may have been through dark means. It may not have been a choice of the child himself, but foul act by the parents. Perhaps, but wouldn't Count Estrade have known in that letter? Perhaps, perhaps not.

Perhaps it was... She mentioned dark misfortunes and the lack. I mean... She seems powerful, but not omnipotent. Not... not... not completely all-powerful over this realm. Perhaps she is, but I haven't gotten that sense yet. And we must look at the other crypts. And I want to go and see the other two.

So while this is going on, I think what I want to do is knowing that this is the only direction that we haven't... I'm just going to sting. guard and watch while the professor does this thing. Just making sure nothing's going to do. Roll a perception check. And I'm investigating. You head towards the final... 21. Perfect.

You head towards the final area of crypts, and it is here that you see that both the stone slabs are firmly in place. Names etched on the front of each of them. One of them reading Gustav Durst, the other, Elizabeth Durst. The parents. It looks like, as you look at it,

that it could be moved, but would require a little bit of strength. Professor, perhaps it is best to leave the dead dead. For once, I agree with Mr. Zarmax. Let them lie. All right. Just continue. Professor, are you sure you're ready to move on?

I honestly expected you to say, a shepherd, do the thing, you know, but I didn't hear it. Well, I would much like to sound like that. I would suggest perhaps, Connor, you look the strongest of all of us. Perhaps you were that supposed to make.

Quickly, opening. I doesn't get him all that. Yeah, I say, I don't know to disturb the dead, but we know that the parents are not good. One look. I will not be said into this.

Why have a change in mind, Saranax? If we seek answers to the fate of the parents, perhaps they are already dead. We need to know if the corpses are inside, or do they await us? We don't know. It is additional knowledge ahead. I now realize that.

Fine. Are you asking, come and not open the door? Anyone that will assist? Yes. All right, kind of. Me and you. We got this? I don't feel good about it.

Disturbing. I'm not going to make you do anything you don't want to do. I'd rather not, you'd... Sure. Is that a matter? I don't want... Look, I'm getting paid. I'm here to do what I'm supposed to do.

I listen to the professor, whether I like it or not. I offer my guidance, and I've been told once or twice that I've been stepping out of line. So I don't want to make you do anything you don't want to do. I will assist, but... with hope that we don't take anything that is not ours. Of course not, we just need to know. We're not kind of dead, we're robbers.

I know we need to know for the dead. Mr. Shepherd has a common cowboy mentality, but we can't put that upon him to be a thief. He's not a bad person. That's right, he's no grave robber. I will assist. And I leave you true to that. Roll a strength check at advantage.

Um, oh shit. Well, are you sure? In athletics. Are you sure? Who's the strong as I don't know. Can you Kana do it? Or Kana can do it. That is why I want to assist Kana.

And Kana can do it. The only reason I can say to things I figured the professor would tell me to do it, right? And then I would say, hey, I don't look very strong. 23. Oh. Thank you. Easily able to move the stone slab to the side with the strength that you have honed throughout your life in Yona. And you stare into the crypt.

of Gustav Durst. The stone slab now barring your entrance to this crypt is etched with the name Gustav Durst. And having removed the slab that prevented your entrance, you make your way into the crypt. The room beyond contains a raised stone buyer, sitting atop it as a finely crafted wooden coffin. The coffin is empty.

I hate to say it, but yet again, the professor might have been right. Does a coffin seem disturbed? or does it seem like it was... Roll a perception check. Seven. It looks exactly like you would think

a wooden coffin would look on a stone buyer. Please check the other. So I'll shine a lighten that. A strength or an athletics at advantage. Not as good, but 17. Right, that's good enough. You move this stone slab to the side and you make your way in.

As you approach, you can immediately read the name Elizabeth Bithdurst etched into the buyer beneath where the coffin is. The raised stone buyer holds an empty wooden coffin aloft at the back of this room. Up here in the coffin. It is empty. It is empty. It is up to us to fill these coffins with their corpses then, it seems. So they are... And Walter too.

Vile goal, whatever it is his. These poor creatures didn't have a choice in any of this. There's poor children. I mean, they've just been pawns in this horrible, horrible scheme. We will look at vengeance. Yes. Don't, don't you worry. Vengeance is the least more worse.

Mr. Morgan, we will have vengeance. We will bring rest to these poor children and we will defeat whatever monster this is. even if it is a stillborn baby. Shall we continue? Sonnet, please use the land. Light of Garrix will lead our way and keep us safe. The life's been good for us,

and I appreciate you and your religion. I do. Perhaps all of us will be bathed in the glorious hellfire of Garrix, the firewood. Not any time soon, but thank you. As a thief, I know I have. That's a hellish background, right? I mean, like, that wouldn't be, like, weird to me.

God, Sarnax, I did not expect Sarnax to be my best friend. Going to be honest. Entering into this room, the scent of stale earth assails your nostrils. Looking around, you can see exposed soil peaking through the wooden stone that line this room. There's a darkened alcove worked into the wall to the south, and in the very center of the room, so it's a wood table flanked by long, rotting benches. Moldy, humanoid bones, like strewn around the dirt floor. You can't help but wonder if these could be the remnants of the cult's vile banquets.

Disgusting. Then we shall continue and snuff out the evil that lurks here. But we are blind in the night. The light of Gyrricks will light our way, and I will continue to move. I want to listen and see if I can hear the direction that the chanting is coming from. You listen, and the chanting is coming from. You listen, and the chanting is. is still ever present.

It sounds like it reverberates everywhere, but you cannot discern a direction from here. Can I check for footprints to see if they may be leading in any particular direction? Roller survival check. And I would also like to kind of just feel for like vibration of sound. I would say that you can feel the vibration of sound. It feels like it's coming from everywhere.

It's vibrating through the floor and the walls and everything. 19 for survival. You look down on the ground around you and you do see footsteps, but it's similar to when you entered this place. They're ancient, thousands of years old maybe. They're incredibly, incredibly aged footsteps that are sunken into the earth of the floor here, and they've been indented that way for many, many years.

And that's all directions. All directions. I will suggest we go down the larger hallway. The other one is a bit more narrow, I believe. I mean, Sarmat, you've been... You've been very decisive, and it seems that you have purpose. Do you feel any particular way? I feel the coursing fire of my God through my entire being,

driving me forward to burn this down and ignite to the renewal. Sounds like you said forward which should be west to me, but I'm only letting the DM know because West is forward for us. Thank you. Food sounds like. Leaving the dining hall. The chanting gets louder and louder as you head towards the north. You reach an area that extends in four separate directions.

The chanting, pounding in your ears, beginning to make you feel dizzy and disoriented. You see before you the ground beginning to quake down two of the splitting hallways. The dirt churns at your feet as a hand, claws its way out of the earth, followed quickly by a long skeletal arm, and then entire forms begin to emerge from four separate spots along these darkened hallways. They're flesh torn and in discolored hues of green and yellow. lifeless, milky eyes stare at you as four ghouls begin to shamble directly at you. I need you all the roll for initiative.

You see as they begin to shamble directly towards you, their tongues lolling out of their mouths, the skin pockmarked and decaying, bits and chunks of it flying off with every step that they take. Sarnax is your rounding combat. We're going to fear it. I'm going to raise my lantern high and say, undead creatures, you will cower in the fire of Garrett. And I'm going to turn on dead. Oh, I fucking love this. Everything within 30 feet needs to make a wisdom saving throw.

And so they have all passed. Okay. What? They are enabled with, as long as they're within 30 feet of each other, they are, they have advantage on a turn on down. It is their turn. So they are going to move. towards you one stacked against the other.

The first two are going to make their attacks against Sarnax. The first one is going to go in with a bite attack, and it is a 10 to hit, so that is going to miss. The next one is going to make a claw attack, with the natural ones, what is also going to miss. Shepard, is your turn? I will... No, I'm just going to take two shots.

The first one I see. I'm going to do that. It's going to be a 28th. and a 23. That hits. Sorry, 14 points of damage, the first one that I see. You take one of your shots and you shoot into it. Flesh sprays all over Sarnax as your fire, your shot finds purchase in this creature.

And it looks like it is barely holding on with that shot. Dang. Tom. I will hit the one that's Diagiar. I'd like me with a 10. 10 misses. Yeah. That'll be my turn.

I will do the oil with fire bolty business, and that probably hits. It's a good old 22 to the one that my good friend, Shepard already hit, number four. You hurl your moat of fire directly towards it, and it ignites into flames. the remnants of flesh melting away from the bone as it turns into almost a jelly-like substance that sinks to the floor, the bones and muscle tissue that we're still hanging on begin to crackle and ignite

as the bones clatter to the floor, and that one is dead? Victoria. I'm going to just kind of focus my energy on the one in front of me and fire crackles in my eyes and I'm going to fire bolt. Nine. That misses.

And that's including your modifier. Okay, yeah, no. You see as she reaches, she reaches her hand out, and this time, expecting to see that strange spectral hand. Instead, you see a pulse of shadowy energy burst forth from her outstretched palm, and it looks like it's about to hit, but the exposed ribcage, a giant gaping hole as it turns itself is exposed, and the bolt of shadow rolls directly through it missing.

the goal. It is now Sarnat's his turn. I'm going to step here so I can I'm in five feet to both. I mean,

I know that it doesn't matter. If all three are within five feet of me then let's hold up if not. I'm going to hold up my lantern.

So only two of them within five feet. I'll hold up my lantern and I need a word here. I will just sit a little on when I'll say burn and that's my word of radiance

and they need to make a constant in three at 14. Okay, first one got a five And next one got a 17 17, okay, 17 passes If he won with five is the one that failed Only the one that failed is going to take damage

And he's going to take some radiant damage And that's going to be one point of radio damage Which one? Just pick it on to fail I don't know what we'll say Okay, you cast radiance out from you This swirling, heavenly fire

That swirls about from your lantern And it singes the from one of these, the other seems to shamble away awkwardly. It is now their turn. One of them is going to reach forward and attempt to bite onto Shepherd, having it having done a significant amount of damage with a natural 20.

It is going to bite into... Well, Shepherd, look out! It's now six. Oh, wait. Oh! What? What? The art to the bottom left.

I did. Divination Wizards. You see, as this ghoul goes in, his teeth about to sink into Shepard, and you see a light go on in Clayton's eyes. It's almost as if he's calculating the situation a second before it should be able to happen. And he calls out to Shepard, to the left, Shepard, and you move just quickly enough that the teeth are not able to find purchase on you, and it misses its hit. My man!

Divination wizards, they're amazing. Oh, fucking good. I love it. So the next one is going to go in, and it's going to make a claw attack against Kona. No. With an eight to hit, so no, it actually won't. See, I said so.

You're a divination wizard as well. You have a third, the third ghoul? The third ghoul is not close enough. It's behind the other guy, so it can't attack. They're all jammed up in the ghoul traffic game. Shepherd. So I'm going to fire upon number one,

which is still right in front of me, two attacks. Yikes. Go for it. Judgment and redemption. Oh, that's going to be a 24 and a 15. Both hit? Yeah, baby. That's going to be a 19 points of damage to number one. You know, in a similar fashion to what happened with the suit of armor upstairs.

You take judgment and redemption and you place the barrels of your weapons against the exposed chest of this ghoul. And you look at it and you give it a wink as you let both triggers off at once. The entire ribcage splinters into pieces. The ghoul lets out a... as it tumbles to the ground end.

Auga. That's my sir. That's me, I think. It is Akana. I will smack the one that's... closest to us, which is... The one that's closest to me, I don't know what number it is.

Yeah. Got you. Two. I'll snack two. I think this will hit with an 18. Not misses. No, that hits. Yay!

It's a fucking big. It's fine. It's fine. It'll be five points of splashing damage. All right. You take your glave and you sink it into this disgusting flesh. It makes gurgling and popping noises.

The biscuit liquid inside of it. The exposure to air and dirt for so long has clotted and coagulated it as it sticks to your glave and strings out from the exposed cut that you made in it, but you wounded it a bit. That's disgusting. You're welcome. That's my turn. I love biscuit. I love biscuit liquid. Biscuit liquid?

Clayton, you're up? Clayton. No, I do believe I will say it. That's good. 20. Nice dish. And the hips. No, damn it.

Oh, yeah. I've been rolling. pretty fucking well on damage. You lift your finger and hurl that modifier once again blasting into it. The same liquid that was coating your glave is now singed from it as it falls and embers

to the ground. Um, he is staggering there in front of you. Torian. With an air of self-doubt. Get in a good shake. Come on. Fuck. Go. It is a really low AC. Come on, girl.

Hello. What did you get? Hit 11. I'm giving you different. No, here, I'm giving her these ones. These one rule really well for me, and they're kind of statu. Yeah, five, that's 11, yeah.

Starnax. Top the round. Is it? Shit. I am going to, I'm going to stand. Fuck. I can't.

I am just simply going to look at the one that is still alive, and I will. Two or a lot. The one that's weakest. Number two. And I will just hold upon the power of Gare. DECDs and throw for a ticket flame. What does this fall?

Nine. Nine fails. He will take some damage here. Yes, yes, he will. Another two points of raiding damage. Jesus, why do you use that? You're very consistent. That's all I'm missing.

Once again, your lantern is raised into the air and the swirling holy flames begin to consume the small enclosure of this hallway and it singes the bits of flesh as it's reaching out, attempting to, to grab at you. It's gnawing and mashing. It's exposed skull, only a few of its teeth held in place.

But it is hungry and it does a bit of danger. Sarnax is like constipation, slow and steady. Ew. Exactly. Please don't ever say that again. I can, I can't, I can. And it is their turn. Number two is going to reach in

an attempt to make a claw attack against Sarnax. And it is, going to get a 19, no, sorry, 21. So that hits. Blind, this is Ash. This is. I'm gonna use my reaction to attack it with my naginata.

Sure, yeah, yeah, yeah, go for it. Let her side, baby. Let it hit with our 23. Yeah, no, that will. We finish this bitch off. Look at that. Hey, that'll be 12 points of solution damage. Hey, yeah.

You see as this creature reaches in to claw at Sarnas. He holds his lantern high and it reels back. Okay, good, yeah. It's a check for blind. It reels back and it's unable to find purchase on his flesh. You take this opportunity to slide your glave into it, rending the top half from the bottom half as they slide apart with a sickening, sticky, as it as it, uh,

falls to the ground. The other one, now seeing his friend dead in front of him, moves forward and is going to make a claw attack against him. Are we friends? Oh. Wow, I feel bad now. That sucks, man. 18?

18. God, that will hit. My camp blind his ass. And you're going to take. 12,000 points of damage, you're dead six ways of Sunday. Eight points of slashing damage. That's a lot. That's a lot.

And I need you to roll a couple. That's all my phone. Constitution saving. Oh, no. Here we go. Oh, yeah, I should be, I should be right here. Con. 18?

Oh, yeah. Okay. Yeah. So you feel as the claws sink into your skin and a sickening, a sickening tremor begins to form in your stomach, as you feel some. As you feel something begin to seep into your blood stream, your bloodstream, where the claws, um, tore open the flesh, but you are able to hold yourself together and steal yourself against whatever foul magic. It's trying to do to you, and it is Shepherd's True.

I'm going to take two attacks against the last remaining ghoul. 12 and a 19. Both it? A.C. is 12. That's going to be a 19 points of damage. Real good. You take both of your weapons again, and you fire, as the form,

of the one in front of it slides apart and clatters to the ground. It leans forward and slices your friend and just as it reels up to take a bite, you shoot two bolts or two... Shills. Huh? Shouts.

You take two shots directly into its head blasting off half of its jaw and part of its forehead, and it is, its tongue lulls out, mostly gone, and it looks like it barely have any lifeless. No! You did almost one shot.

Fuck. It's my turn now. Let him have it. Probably not going to hit. Oh, no, maybe. 16? 12, yes. You hit.

All right. Ooh. Ooh. That's pretty good. That'll be, yeah, plus three, so it's 11 points of slashing damage. You shoot in one shot and two shot, just as Kana whips up her glade,

slicing directly through the entrance holes where your shots fired. And they both. hit at the same time. It's hard to know who dealt the final blow on this one. As you see, its head completely explode. The whip around that she does with her glave is done with such precision and dexterity that all of the bits of flying pieces of flesh that would have hit her in the face are whipped around and shot the other direction, and she is in pristine shape, having knocked pieces away from her. Is the monster dead? It is dead. Okay. So that immediately is the

Monster Falls, I'm going to turn to Kana as I sheathed my weapons and say, uh, you reckon that was me or you? I think it's fair to say we both contributed evenly. Fair enough. My money would be on her. A nice, uh, slashing, I guess. Nice job. Thank you. I'm very unfamiliar with your weapons, but they were very effective. So is the DM. The Sonic, are you okay? You took quick the hits. I would like to rest. I suppose we haven't rested since we've gotten here. We have not.

Perhaps we can sit down at the table on the benches where they had horrible dinners. As long as we keep watch, I don't think there's anything wrong with that. I just feel bad. I haven't taken a single hit since I've lost. That is the purpose of us, Professor. But you're all doing wonderfully. I feel pretty good. I'm going to be honest, Professor.

I feel all right. Well, that's great. I'm feeling good. But I say that. I don't mean to taunt the dungeon master. I just want to preface that. I'm just letting you know that I'm feeling all right, but Saunach, please do take a seat

because we haven't taken a rest of it. If we... I wouldn't advise it, but I will take everybody's, you know, opinions into consideration. I'm good to take art. I'm good to take watch. Well...

I will join you for a short rest. So next, do you think that you... I would like to rest and pray to Garrick's. Let us do that. Are we planning on short rest? Short rest. Then I will stand guard for the entirety of the short rest. I do not need to take one.

You make your way back into the dining hall. It takes a bit of cleanup, but you all work together to clean off enough of a spot around the table, removing, scrubbing out some of the deeply soaked in blood stains, and piling the bones in an area where it's not inhibiting you as you sit down and you begin to take a rest together. I'll say you're actively perceiving. So go ahead and roll a perception with advantage. Everyone or just... Oh, Shepard.

Shepard. Oh, shit. That's you. That's advantage. Oh, thank God. Thank God. Oh, yeah. I got a 4-20.

My reception is going to plus 5 to 25. Perfect. And so that will be for the remainder of the rest. And you guys begin to enjoy a short rest. So a short rest is... About 30 minutes to an hour. All right. my hunter's mark will fall.

Okay. I got exactly enough to, uh, to get Max Town. Thank fucking God. I feel better now, now that I pray commune with my God. Yes. You too. Well, if you're feeling ready to go, you should leave this foul room.

So do we think that it's clear that they were killing anything people? Yes. It is very clear. I don't think it needs to be said, but. They were. confirm our decisions. It is disgusting. Should we keep moving west, or should we move to a different park now?

Well, we've reached the point where we have, you know, three options here. I'm kind of leading to where Sarnax has gotten light. And again, I don't want to kind of like it, but what do you think, Sarnax? Uh, do any of the ways feel any different, or they all kind of just feel the same? They all just give you the same strange feeling. Professor, feel free to chime in here. Did I think for all this time? Nope.

Well, west it would be for the D-N-Sate. West it would be. Entering this room, you immediately notice the chandelier suspended above a table in the middle of the room. Two high-back chairs flank the table, which has an empty clay jug and two clay flagons atop it. Large iron-iron candlesticks stand in two corners of the room. Their candles long since melted away. There's a closed door. in the southwest corner of this room.

That's this hole. I'm going to shine my light around and just do a quick sweep of looking around and see if there's anything that we need to investigate. You look around the room, and there seems to be nothing invisible hiding in the shadows here. I walk up to the jugs and see if there's anything in them just, like, empty amount, see if there's, like, any liquid. You dump one of the jugs over and expecting liquid of some kind of feel. slightly heavy, you're met with dust as it begins to pour. Well, shall we try this door?

Yes, please do. When you touch the door, you reach out with your hand and you begin to grasp it to turn it, and you hear the gurgling sound before you see anything. As you attempt to rip your hand away, you find that it is adhered to the door itself. Oh. Where there once had been just a plain door,

you see eyes begin to move forward, a wide, smiling face, fanged teeth coming down from the tops and the bottom as it holds on to you tightly. I need you all to roll for initiative. It's a fucking mimic. Mimic. The first mimic I've ever faced in four years of playing nuns as the dragons.

Yeah, we felt mimics. Yeah. When did we thought of him in? Hagler. Chests. Oh yeah. Oh, yeah. We did. Yeah, we did.

I don't remember that at all. Remember you guys all have inspiration too. Oh, yeah. All right. Sorry, Starnex. And then if you want to put this door mimic there in front of the door. Hello, thank you. It could have been me, Sarnax.

It was you. It's fine. It's a door mimic. It's a door mimic. So creepy looking. It's a coochie from Yotry. Can you put that there? It's just like on the door.

Okay, 20 to 25. Not me. Nice out. We keep the hot rolls for coffee. 15 to 20. 19. 17. 17.

Oh, shit. So who had 19? The professor. So, uh, sorry, can you say them again 15 to 20? 19, 17, 17. 17. So who wants to go first in the 17? Oh, so I'm stuck, I will try to go first.

And then, uh, Silas. Shaper. And what did you get mayo? Five. The sticky substance that it seems as door is made is holding you firmly to it is it begins to pull you closer and closer to it. Clayton, you see as Sarnax

begins to, his arm being pulled closer and closer into this thing. He is wrenching away, but he doesn't seem to be able to remove his arm from the stickiness of this creature. Saundex is, what is that? The door is alive. The door is alive.

Is your arms getting eaten? 22 hits. One damage. Fire. It's fire damage. No. You let your fire bolt flow from your hand, and it singes the door.

It seems to take the damage, but it doesn't seem to even look your way. I am going to, with my lantern, my lantern is out stuck. I'm just going to release my arm at once. Garrick commands it. I'm going to say, it needs to make a deck saving throw. Sacred flame.

Can I even know Is it a door? 15. 15 passes. It takes, does not. And then I'm saying, I am hungry.

I'm going to use my hungry jaws. What the fuck is that? What is that? He's a lizard folk. I'm a lizard folk so I can wait it. It's a 17 to hit. Uh, 17 hits?

I'm going to deal, uh, five points of piercing damage. As I tear into it, and I gain three temporary hit points. No way! That's amazing. He does more damage with his,

than he does with his holy abilities. Maybe Garex isn't the right path. I don't know how you dog. It's my sacred flame. But you will not dodge this. There you go. Are his teeth... That's my turn.

Huh? His teeth now... Yes, his mouth is firmly stuck and attached to this mimic. I still eat some of his mimic flesh. His nostrils are still open, so he's able to breathe, but his jaws are firmly attached. Victoria, it's your turn.

I'll, I feel you all darkness and I'll cast a fire, fire bolt. 16? 16 hits. Oh my God, you get to open. My dear God, I've done it. 16 hours, you get to roll that. You don't mean her. Is this a 10 before? Yes.

Okay. God help us. Oh, hey! Holy shit! High five, proud of you. Yes. Wow. My days are good, right?

Yeah. Yeah. How much? Nine. Nine. All right. You blast. Taking a leaf out of Clayton's book, or page out of Clayton's book, you shrug off the shadowy side of yourself and you choose for light as you fire a bolt of flame directly towards this creature doing quite a bit of a big chunk of damage.

It still seems to be hungrily attempting to consume Sarnax. Shepard. Sarnax, I'm coming! Two points of... I'm gonna take two shots. It's gonna be 16 and 12. Both hit. Wow. Sheffers on fire, baby.

Yeah, that's gonna be 21 points of damage. Wow. Holy shit. Level two, everybody. Yes. That's awesome. You shoot in from both of your weapons and fire into this creature. With that massive hit for a second, you see its teeth let go of Sarnax for a second.

Before it, or not let go, but move away from him for a second, is it almost rears back on its strange creature-like hinges. is. But it continues its reach towards him. It is its turn. With Sarnax in its mouth, it is going to attempt to bite him. It is going in with a... Oh! Oh, is that nice. With a... I like that. Sorry. It's not bad.

19. No, yes. Disadamaged. God damn you. Ward and flare. Okay. 15. 15. No, you don't.

No, you don't. That's not my deal. Okay. Okay, Mr. Prox. And that is, that is us. Kana senses that her glave would get stuck in this door if she would say yes. So instead she's going to attempt to peel Sarnax off of it, starting from probably the most important part, which is his face. And I put both of my hands kind of around his jaw and try to pull a snook back from the...

That's what I say. Okay, roll a strength check. Just true strength. Straight strengths. See if you can rip them away. 15. You wedge your fingers in making sure that you don't... Actually, do a sleight of hand because he's attached to it as well.

To see how dexterous you can be and not... It's fucked. Touching this. 13. Okay. You reach your fingers around and... you slip for a second and you almost touch it, but you are able to gain your composure

as you grab the sides of his lizard-like face, his scales cold beneath your hands, as you find purchase right around the outside of his jaws and you rip his face off of it with a loud suction cup sound. His face is pride the force behind your pull, the strength that you have. the rest of him begins to pull away from it, and he is completely ungrappled from this myth.

Whoa! Thank you, Warrior. Nice. Hell ya. No problem. You are quite heavy. Clayton. I will fire bolt with a natural 19 that hits. And roll some damage.

It's two damage. Been there, buddy. Two damage? Small damages. Oh, that's, you know, you are just on a roll. You shoot your fire bolt at this again, and it does a small amount of damage, but it does seem to do something to it.

Start next. Oh, my just minute's going to get. Same thing. Oh, wait, no. The next saving film. Burn. 17. Okay, nothing.

I'm going to back up. Victorian. I'm going to back up out of his reach. I don't want to get stuff. I will reach my hand up and chill touch. Okay. I fail. What did you get?

Yeah. You once again conjure that spectral hand, and as it gets towards the door, it shimmeres back into shadow. It just taps at it, and then it goes away. Shepard. Two more shots. 14 and 20-something.

Both hit? This has got to get shit wrecked. Yeah, 16 points of damage. Oh, damn. Once again, you take your weapons and you blast energy, this creature and it, you see teeth fly out of its mouth as it's gnashing them at you, trying to get back towards Sarnax.

One of the hinges on the side pops and it's lulling there. It looks like it's barely hanging on. Damn, this is got some hit points. It is its turn, so it is going to lunge forward and it is going to use its, one of its, its pseudopod, and it is going to attempt to attack Kana. Okay. You know a pseudopon? Yeah.

An 18. 18 hits? Just use his body, like a soropi body. Like a fake body. No, just like the oozes have it, like gelatinous businesses have that. And it's gonna do a total of six bludgeoning damage, and you find that as it slices into you,

you're yanked backwards against it as it is adhered itself to you. Oh no! Kill it, Tom. Kill it. Do I have any? of my weapons or am I kind of like a fly against a fly trap right now? Trace.

Do I have any control of my weapons or am I fly against a fly trap right now? You are... No, you have control of your weapons. Okay. You are... Yeah, no, you have control on your weapons. Okay.

You're just restrained. So your movement speed is zero and attack rules against you have advantage, so I actually should have been able to hit Sarnax because I was grappling him at the time, but I thought that... Oh, oh, oh. So I'm restrained, so I can't move.

and attacks against me are an advantage. Your attacks are disadvantaged. Nope. Not with restraint. Not with restrained. Gosh, I just can't move. Oh, man. It looks pretty, it looks pretty...

Wounded. Swalling off its hinges. I will attempt to smack it with my glave and hopefully make I finish this off. Ten? Ten misses. You attempt to take your glave and slice into it from behind you.

But for some reason it seems to be morphing and changing and it doesn't take the hit for me. Uh, that's my turn. Can I break out of the restraint at the end of my turn or not so much? You have to use your action to do it. Got it. Okay. My turn. Sorry next. Uh, deck saving, so. I hate this. Uh, 11. 11, it fails. Ha-ha, yeah. Six points of rating this. I do. Yes, it's different, man. He was a plus 12 to hit.

Yeah. Gerrit's purge, this evil. Ranger. You used your lantern again? Yeah, yeah. You open the door of your lantern, and you shoot out the holy radiance, and it singes the area of this creature around Kana,

leaving her unscathed. It is still holding on, but it's having a difficult time with it. All right, Victoria, this is your sheds. Your chance, girl. All. Victoria. She won't touch that and be in me.

Just roll. Yeah, I'm just gonna where Saranix just hit, I believe in the fire, and then I'll fire bolt. Yes, Victoria. Yeah. 16. 10 hits. Yay!

Yeah. 10. 10. 10. 10. 10. Far right, far right. Not that one, yeah.

Right there. Better rep. Big money. Yay! Is it possible? Nope. Just eight. You say this and you hurl your moat of fire towards it, and you see as bits of it begin to cinder away and float on the stale air that billows around this room, it looks like it has hardly any life.

Damn. That's right. I'll take care of it. I'll take two more shots. That's right. The 18 and then alone. The 18 has. Eight points bench. You take your, you take redemption and judgment and you shoot into this, seeing the, seeing the state of this creature.

And you see as bits of it blast around Connie, you feel as that strange, sticky suction feeling behind you ebbs away as you lurch forward and the door itself crumbles to the ground in front of you. You guys are no longer in company. Thanks. It only had two health left from you. If you had rolled mats 10, you would have killed it. Which is hard to do. Which is hard to do. I think you got that killed.

Literally that I hit it at all is America. I'm really proud of you. Yeah. Thank you. This basement has changed it every term. Every turn. There's evil everywhere. Is there any chance that this

door-like creature was guarding this room for any particular purpose or do we just happen upon the wrong goddamn room? We shall see. And then I'll enter the door. You're going into the room? I'm going to shine my light in first, see I can see anything that looks evil as fuck, and then I'm going to try to walk in. Okay, you shine at your light in.

This room is festooned with moldy skeletons that hang from rusty shackles against the rough stone walls. Their faces contorted in pain, marking their last moment. before death. Averting your eyes from the horrific visage of those that were once held captive here, your attention is drawn to a wide alcove on the south wall that contains a masterfully painted and carved wooden statue in the likeness of a gaunt, pale-faced woman. She's depicted to be wearing a painfully tight red corset, long skirts billowing from beneath it, an elegant black cloak clasped at her shoulders, her high cheek bones, pulling her ruby lips into

a seductive smile. Her hair, long and nearly silver in the pale light, piled high atop her head and massive waves of curls, adorned with black roses and thorny vines. Her left hand, resting on the head of a wolf that stands next to her. In her right hand, pale fingers daintily grasp a smoky gray crystal orb, which seems to shimmer and radiate even in the darkness that surrounds you. It is hard to pull your eyes from this enticing image of this statue, but you're able to, and you take note of the two exits along the west.

west and north walls, or one of the ones that you're coming from. As you focus your attention to the constant chanting, you can discern that it seems to be louder coming from the exit to the west. I'm going to, I'm going to raise my lantern and shine a cast light all over and say, do we think that this person is Shaddaun? Do I get the sense that it's, does it look familiar in any of my research? roll a perception check 11

you look at the statue as you get closer and at first you don't notice it but once you see it you don't know how you could have missed it adorning her collarbone a pendant sits around her neck a dark ruby gem and embedded inside of it

almost in some kind of misty misty coloration the symbol that you have learned to be that which is associated with her. The dark winged bird its wings outstretched. This very well could be her. It has the same emblem. It's that von Zarovich emblem, or seal.

And what is this she's holding? She said she was holding the orb. Yes. Can I try to see what the orb might be, beyond just an orb? Or is it like just a totally plain scare? It is a beautifully radiating orb. It casts strange rainbow colors across the back wall

as Sarnax moves his lantern around and the light filters through it. Looking at it, you can tell that it is not affixed to the statue. It seems to be held in the hand. Now, I don't pretend to be the smart one here, right? I'm just hired to help you out. That's exactly right, yes? Okay, well, you didn't have to.

But anyway, my point is, it was pretty clear in the materials that we read that Shradd, Tradana was not happy with whatever worshiping was going on here. So why the hell would there be a statue of her here in the basement? Well, I believe that they treated her as a Messiah, but they were still killed by her. So they just built this against her, Will, she wouldn't destroy this.

She wouldn't find this here in the basement. Well, they were killed because they basically killed a band of adventurers, much like us, who were invited to dine with Shredaana. Yes. And because they killed them, she seems to be very ruthless. It just seems strange to me that they leave this statue up here perfectly intact with no real reason. Perhaps. If you were to come upon a statue of yourself.

I'd take it with me. Why, leave it here? Why leave it here in the basement of a desecrated home with which I did not approve? That's quite an encumbrance. It's full statue. She seems, they seem like a very powerful person. I'm sure that they have plenty of means to take this wherever they want. Take my point to mean that if you kind of come across a group that worships you, that you do not wish to worship you, are you going to take the memorabilia that they've erected in your honor?

You might. I can't say that I have experienced such things. If I were a god like my great God Garrick's who cares little even for the clerics that worship him, I would think it even beneath me the thought to take something built by those I cared not for. Not even worth the structure. Not even worth the effort to destroy it. While they're discussing, can I as you start to cast Detect Magic? Sure.

Good idea, Professor. soon more comments, and 11 minutes later, I will have detect magic. You do that. And 11 minutes later, you find that the orb does not seem to be radiating magic. Something else about it, that is, giving off that light. Well, the ober's not magical at all. Interesting. Shepard, my good man, why don't you go ahead and pick it up?

You want me to just grab. Son God, and I just grab your arm. And I try to find it. statue's hands. You do this. You reach forward and your hand moves around the orb and it feels cold to the touch. The light shining

through it as you remove it, you see the spirals of rainbow light jut around the room as it refracts the light from Sarnax's lantern. And it is just as you begin to start looking at it, that you begin to hear the

as you begin to to see out of the ground these strange, shadowy apparitions begin to move up, floating up through the air. Whoa, oh, oh, seem to be formed out of pure shadow, adorned in cultist robes. They are bowed forward, their long arms hanging limply in the damp air around you. I need you all to roll for initiative.

And I need you to place all five of these shadow cultists around the guys in the room. The shadows coalesce around you. The strange chanting, you realize just as they envelop you that it is not coming from their strange, ghostly apparition, shadowy forms, but it's almost as if they are increasing

the volume of the chanting that you hear coming from elsewhere in this place as they descend around you. So one of them is going to attend. attack Shepard. Yep. And that is going to be 13 to hit. No, that's going to miss. The next one is going to attack Clayton,

and that is going to be a 19 to hit. It is going to do seven necrotic damage. And your strength is reduced by one point. Can I use my reaction, or do you want to go through the whole... You can, yeah, if you're in a reaction act, go for it. Does a 12 hit? A 12 does it. All right, I will be doing

I'll be one's and twos because I'm a weapon master, so that'll be a set, there'll be 10 points of slashing damage to the one that hit him. Just tell me which one that one is. I'm guessing us this one. Number two, probably number two, yes, has to be.

Okay, you're doing 10 damage to it? 10 points of damage, yeah. All right. Great weapon master. It's so good. You take your glave in and you swipe, swipe through the shadow.

And is your weapon magical? No, because it's not of, it's not my vestige. So it's not magical. It seems that as your weapon slides into it, it seems to do a little less damage than you had originally expected. But it does seem to, even though this is a strange creature,

forming and undulating out of shadows, it still was able to do something to it. The next one is going to go for Kelsey, or for Victoria, and that is going to miss with an eight. Natural 20 on Kana here. Oh, no. And so that is going to be 17, 19 points of necrotic damage. I'm down.

Are you serious? Yeah. And your strength is reduced by one. Okay. Holy fuck. you see as this creature then turns and lunges for her, putting its hand out the dark tendrils, spreading from its hand directly towards her.

As you see her lift up into the air as it begins to drain the life and strength from her body, you see as her eyes go large, and then her body slumps forward, and she slams into the ground unconscious. Who have I not attempted to hit, or have I attempted to hit everybody? Thank you.

20 to hit sarnance. Disadvantage. 14 to hit, sorry. Misses. Okay. And it is Conn's turn. Can you make it safe, please? Do I add anything to it?

Nope. Just three- straight-up. Oh, no. That's a fucking... Holy shit. You don't add anything to that. It's just a straight roll. Just a straight roll.

God damn. Shepard. Um, uh, I'm just going to unleash two shots on the one that attacked me, which is going to be number three. Okay. Okay. So it would have been a 12 and an 18. Both hit.

So that's going to be a total of 15 points of damage and number three. You take your weapons and you let two shots fire. And as they hit, you see the shadow burst and explode and then reform once and then twice. The second time it forms, it looks like it is barely able to keep its form. It looks nearly purely transparent. translucent, it is, it is feeling very rough. Clayton. Being totally

fucked and close to these guys. I'm going to cast Thunder Wave. And that will be a, it's a con save. Rules Esquata. 11. So it is pushed. Nowhere. Against the wall, which is RDS.

10 feet away. So, you push it and it seems to be pushed into the wall as you see the shadow is no longer in view of you. Oh, shit. A loud, resounding crack radiates through this room as you see Clayton push forth this power of thunder, knocking the shadow through the wall.

You see as it disappears in, and you see nothing else from it. I'm going to back next to the statue, and as a bonus action, I'm going to pop a health potion. Okay. My turn. I'll look at Victoria and say,

do you still have the health potion on you? You can administer it to Kana. I do. I don't trust you to administer it. I'm going to raise up my lantern and all hostile creatures within 30 feet of me must make a constitution saving throw

as I use radiance of the dawn. Okay. And I'm going to blast out fire. Eight for the first one. Fails. 14 for the second one Okay 14 for the third one

Four for the fourth one And six So two pass They are going to take 14 if they failed Seven if they passed Rania damage They are vulnerable to it

So you see as all of them Are Immediately vaporized Holy shit Because my characters Dragonfire No no no They're vulnerable, so they're, yeah.

They're gone, yeah. No, that one's they berized you. But you don't know that. We don't know that, but he's on. It's expecto petronum. Seriously. So they had 16 health. And so even at the 14, they were, I was going to describe them as like barely hanging on.

And then I looked down, it's like, vulnerability is radiant. I'm like, oh, Jesus. What is this? What is the most vulnerability you mean? It means that they take double. Double? God damn. And resistant is half.

I said, God damn. I holster my weapon and I say, yeah. Sonax, is that the power of your God? That was the power of Garex. Well, I'm glad Gerex is on all side. God, are you all right? No, and she's still unconscious. Oh, she's totally unconscious.

At this point, I need you to make another death saving throw. Because no one does administer the potion yet. I'm going to... I'm already... I'm going to... I've heard of Tila. Go ahead. The last of my power,

and I'm going to, once again, sing her wounds, healing for... Ooh, eight points of healing. Very nice. Thank you. I believe it's eight. You begin to sin... You see that the...

Nine. You see his fire begins to swirl around Kana, her pinkness begins to rush to the front of her face as blood begins to pull just in the under layers of her skin. As her eyes pop open and she, you still find yourself negative one on your strength. Okay, which I still have. And so do you, Clayton.

But you are alive and breathing. I was not for a moment that was quite a blow, but thank you, Sarnax. I appreciate it. Did the professor give you one of those help potions? Yes, I will take it right now. Perhaps you shall rest. I think it was.

I think it was. I think yes, of course. We should save the resources we have. All right, then everybody gets some rest. I'm going to stand guard because, again, I don't need to rest right now. I feel all right. So everybody just, seriously, everybody take a deep breath. Father, the crying, God has seen your sacrifice.

He is his great. I'm glad. I will use a second wind before we short rest. That's what we're doing. Okay, we'll short rest. I will begin to, I'm going to secure a little bit up, and to my reagent section. I will pull out a tiny bell and a piece of fine silver wire.

And I'm going to take 10 minutes to place wire on either end of the doors here. And I'll say, to roll them and cast along. Okay, you do that. And you begin to begin to wander around this room listlessly, the visions of everything that you've encountered so far in this day, spinning in your head.

It's hard to believe that just a mere hours ago you had been walking through the wilderness of this strange place, and you now find yourselves in the underbelly of this horrific, and it's hard to digest what it is that you found yourselves in, but you take solace in the quiet that is resounding around you, the faint chanting, still visible or still audible, somewhere down these darkened halls, but it is no longer as amplified as when the shadows had absconded you.

And you guys enjoy a short rest? I'm gonna say some time to additionally investigate the room, because we don't really investigate it fully. Roll an investigation check. Can I help him? Roll it with advantage. Thank you. I forgot to say when I took a 14 attack,

that I would have stashed the orb in my pack before drawing my weapons. You do that. 14. Scanning the wall, you notice that the way the shadow moves over a particular spot to the east, you notice the way the shadows move over a particular spot to the east. Tapping on the wall, you're able to hear. hear the hollow sound resonate behind a thin layer of dried clay.

You tap a bit harder and a few chunks of clay break apart from the wall, revealing an ordinary, albeit rotted, wooden door, hidden under this thin layer of clay. It takes a moment or so to clear away the remainder of the clay before you're able to reveal the door in its entirety. There is no lock. And as you open it, you see before you a stone staircase that climbs about 10 feet towards a landing area. Oh, shit. This one right here? Oh, shit.

Down or up? Yeah, Doug. About 10 feet up. Oh, shit. That's back to floor one where there was an empty space we never discovered. Not met a knowledge, but yeah.

Roughly, give or take. If you're looking at, like, you know... Shall we just quickly explore and come right back down? What happens when we can't get back down, you're professor? You said it only goes 10 feet up? It's not that high.

I just... The landing is 10 feet. I just wouldn't put it past the house. That's all I'm saying. I'm here to give you... You have seen the things that we've been through before. I have, but... You must know at this point that nothing is as it seems.

Well, let's... How about you go to the landing and take a look around? I'll wait here to see if anything comes. You're suggesting I do. After our short rest. Yes, of course. I assume you guys have had your short rest. It is now after you.

I'm assuming we fit. It is now after you. I push my cloak away and I draw judgment. I say, all right, let's go. and I lead Ms. Isaacs. Asending the hidden stairwell, you reach a landing. Looking straight up, you see a six-foot high ceiling,

a close-fitting planks with a wooden trap door set into it. The trap door appears to be bolted shut from the side. A rickety wooden ladder firmly attached to the wall. So you went 10 feet up to a landing. You now look up about six feet. There's a ladder along the wall and a trap door in the ceiling above you. There is a lock bolted on.

on there, it looks like it could be pecked. Mr. Shepherd, do we proceed? No, we don't. I don't have the tools to get through here unless we're going to shoot our way through. And in that case, I don't think that's the wisest course of action. But this does look like another sort of escape. Let's let the professor know maybe he can pick the lock.

And then if we need to, we can get out of here and hurry without having to go all the way back up that spiral-ass staircase. I hope you don't think being pertinent, but do we tell him at all? Miss Isaacs, what do you mean? I apologize. I've become frightened. You're right, you're right. Let's carry on. I mean, this is most likely a quick escape to things go parachutes.

Yes, we let him know. Of course we do. Let's go, then. I apologize. I apologize. Sure, of course. I'll lead us back. What did you see? Do you weigh all of that? Yeah, there appears to be some sort of a trap door that's locked. But if, you know, what I have to think about is right, then we're just right below the first floor.

And that might be a way out, as opposed to have him go all the way back up through the attic and then escape. I mean, this might be a way to get out. I didn't want to go. That's a brilliant idea. That's exactly right. I could have blown the lock right off,

but I didn't want to draw any extra attention to us. No, if we need to get out of here in a hurry, We're certainly doomed to go five flights of stairs up to the attic, singed out. Agreed. Yeah, so maybe if you feel like, maybe we can pick the lock now. Let's take a quick look. But again, I just be careful with the trickery of the house.

I will investigate it first, make sure it's not trapped, and then I will do what I do. All right. I do not mention anything that Victoria said to me. I will go to the top of the stairs and investigate the lock, make sure it's not trapped. Roll an investigation check? and roll a dexterity check. Investigation check is a 16. Okay.

It does not appear to be locked. Lock pick check is a 8, 9 to 11, 12 or 13. It is not appear to be locked. No, sorry, it does not appear to be trapped. Trapped. 13 is unlocked. You climb the ladder. You're perched precariously, your top hat

occasionally hitting against the ceiling and jolting you this way and that. And it feels like you almost didn't have this lock, but you are able to pick it. The lock makes a faint clicking sound as you engage the tumbler within. Pushing the trap door open, light spills in around you.

It takes a moment for your eyes to adjust, but when they do, you find yourself face to face with a snarling black wolf. You reel back and almost tumble from the wooden ladder that is holding you a lot for. But you're able to find purchase around the edges of the trap door when you realize the wolf in front of you

is nothing more than a lifeless stuffed version of its former self. Yes! As the scene before you sinks in, you slowly start to realize where you are. The trap door leads into the southwestern corner of the hunters down on the purse floor. Stick my head up. Yeah. I just confirmed that we're like, okay, this is an extra exit.

Okay. Has anything changed upstairs? I think it's sensitively. Mr. Mayer is still roaring in the hearth. Your instincts were correct. This will certainly, hopefully, we'll need. to use it, but they're coming and happy getting out of here in a hurry. Well, not to say that we're not going to need to use it, but, Professor, pardon me, we're going

to use it. I guess we don't have to use it to a hurry. There's no way in the nine hells we're going to back up to the goddamn add. I agree. I agree. We'll use it either way, but hopefully we won't have to rush out of here in a horrible danger. So no matter what happens, we know that this is an exit, and I do not condone the strategy of leave us, everyone else behind.

But if something were to happen to some of us, we all need to be aware of where we can escape. That's right. Because there's no point in the census is throwing our lives away for someone who cannot save themselves. Yes, I agree. Well, I think we should continue on

towards the source of the chint here, which I believe was this way. Yes. Let us go. Either way, Sarnas. I'll be behind you. You make your way through the now empty door, through this strange, shape-shifting creature had attacked you just a mere hour and a half ago.

And you make your way down a hallway and into another room. Entering this room, it's immediately obvious that this was the bedchamber of someone important. The large wood-framed bed at the height of its use would have been elegant and impressive. It now sits decaying in this fetid den. The once-plushed mattress is now nothing more than a mass. of rotting feathers. A large carved wooden wardrobe sits against the wall. One of the doors

swings loosely on broken hinges and you can see a few pairs of moth-eating eaten black robes peeking out from the inside, the rest of its contents hidden in shadow. There appears to be a place for a lock, but there is no lock present on this large foot locker. It is beautifully carved and depicts the familiar image of a windmill. Who would place the sweeping quarters in the basement? I don't imagine. do evil things in that basement. How curious.

Sonic, you don't know that. I do. I can tell. I can sense the evil down here. Um... It could be a footman, a servant. I mean, it's clear someone important lived here, though. Maybe it was a very esteemed servant, perhaps. My family is no stranger to...

Well, no stranger to secrets. I mean, we've had people come in and coming out that we've kept in the basement out of sight. Interesting, then perhaps it is my own personal experience of people who don't generally sleep in the basement, but to each their own, I suppose. Let's do a quick once over, shall we? I agree, Professor.

I'll investigate. Investing, I will assist you, Professor, shining a light. You go ahead and at advantage for people helping you? 24. Perfect. You look inside of the war trip and you find a pair of candlesticks, an open crate containing 30 torches and a leather sack containing 15 candles. Are you investigating the footlocker as well? Yeah.

All these may shine open it. You open the foot locker. You look inside. You find a cloaks protection. Oh, shit. Fuck. A small wooden coffer seems to be unlocked. Your mage hand opens that as well.

It contains four potions of healing. A chain shirt, a mess kit, a flask of alchemist's fire, a bull's-eye lantern, a set of thieves' tools, and a spellbook with a yellowed cover containing the following wizard spells. Oh, my God. The sky's self. Oh, my God. Magic missile.

I changed my mind. I'm tending this one on my body. Protection from the living good. He changes his mind. He's going to have a lot of tattoo. Mage armor. Holy shit. Identify.

It's an entire. It's a spellbook. Invisibility. Jesus. Hold person. It's going to leave this one yet. It's going to take you a word. Dark vision.

Stop. And a magic weapon. Okay. Okay. Okay. I changed my mind. I'm putting magic weapon on my body. And that is actually in, I didn't just give those to him.

That's actually what's in there for the module. Wizards? I am going to pick up the spellbook and start flipping through it and ignore everything else. You pick up the spellbook? Yes. You reach in and your hand grasp the spellbook. As you pull it out, the bed begins to shake around you. As two spectral forms begin to rise up out of the dirty, rodded feather mattress.

Looking at them, they look similar to the spectrum. that you fought upstairs, but significantly more ghastly, as they're not nearly as translucent. Their flesh seems to be intact. It's almost as if they are a strange mix of the ghouls and the specter that you fought. And as you look at them even further,

their entire bodies encased in a dark cultist robe. And as they look up at you, their hollow, socketless eyes, catch you off guard for a second. But the glint of the windmill pendants around their neck, you realize that you were facing the spectral forms of Gustav and Elizabeth Dirst. I need you to roll four initially. Oh, my God.

They were all pain practitioners. Oh, my God. Look at one time, everyone. Oh, bye. Get in front of me, please. Remember we had inspiration. Remember we had fists of fate. I remember.

We got this. Like that one time I don't want to fight someone. It rolled pretty well. 15 or 20 to 25. 19. I got it. What did you get? You got 19, I got 18.

15 to 20? That was what you guys did, sorry. 10 to 15? Victoria got 18 as well. Would you let you go before me? Oh, what? Go ahead. 10 to 15?

10. What did you get? Four. Cool. It stays that way. That's not really. I got them. So.

Ew. Do they go together? Oh, remember when I said those chairs were kind of dangerous because they were loose nails? That's probably from the chair. Is it this fucking leather circle? No, that's part of death house.

Oh. Oh, well then. Yeah. Yeah, yeah, no. Like, D.C., like actual. Sorry. Probably the underside. My guess is it probably holds the quality place.

You just say try to eat it. So it is with that that you find yourself now being, overcome by these two disgusting, zomified creatures, their tongues lolling to the side. They look hungry and furious. Clayton.

I will cast a fog cloud and increase a 20-foot radius sphere of fog and the point within range right in the dead center. This was around corners and until, okay, until something disperses it and it lasts for an hour. concentration. So I'm going to say, smogulus and the smogulis will fill the whole room. Okay. And I will back the fuck out of the room.

They're going to take an opportunity attack against you. Okay. They're disadvantaged. The first one is going to miss and the second one is going to map. Long for your plan, as they say. So how does that affect us? Everybody's Everybody's disadvantage. Fantastic.

Victoria. Okay. I'm going to reach towards the one directly in front of me and she'll touch. Roll at disadvantage to hip? No.

Nine. That misses. You see as your spectral hand makes its way through the fog and disappears. You listen. You don't hear any noises of contact, but you're unsure of what's happening.

Can I choose to drop fog cloud? Yes, it's a concentration. Okay. Well then, so basically, I would have run away, and the second that I felt like I was out of range behind people, I would drop it. So I will say on your next turn, you can drop it before you do anything.

Sorry, Rich, I actually need you to make a Constitution saving throw. Because you started your turn within 10 feet of it. I rolled it to twist. No, I'm going to use my divination. Are you sure? I have a 16. Ooh. A lot in the pot.

Yeah, but that's the point of the end. So, 16, 17, 19, or 19, sorry. My rules are 19. Perfect. You feel the smell, the rotting, pustulant smell billowing around these undead creatures, and for a second you feel like you're not going to be able to keep your lunch down, but you are able to hold it off.

You catched your fog fog, you make the way out. So Shepard, it is your turn. So my first attack is going to be a... You were within 10, five feet. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. Yeah, so I need you, I need to make a Constitution saving threat. I don't get to look at my tank first.

You're not supposed to do it first. Sorry. So, Con is going to be a 12 plus... Similar to Clayton, you're able to keep it down as you shrug off whatever. 14 total. Yeah, all right, thank you. Then I'll make my first attack against number two, which is right next to me. 5 plus 9 is 14

14 hits yes my first attack second attack to which one? No, 2. Oh, you're rolling a disadvantage, right? Yeah, yeah, that's why I, yeah. So my lower or lower time is 14. And then huge. I got a 15 plus 7 plus 9 and it's 24.

Which one are you hitting? Number two. Number two. Perfect. So a total of 18 points of damage. Okay. You feel around you The smell is overwhelming.

So you use your nose to hone in on these creatures and you fire blindly into the fog and you hear the sound of your shots finding purchase in their rotting forms. The smell billows up even stronger as new holes begin to form in their corpses and you do a significant amount of damage. That's my turn?

My turn? Yes, Connie, it's your turn. I will, um, I will, um, I need you to make a Constitution saving throw. 17. Okay. You shrug off the smell of this horrid creature. I'll square up my shoulders, walk so that I'm between the two of them, kind of is in their face as much as possible.

Get into a ready stance and say, you disgrace me, leaving your children locked in that room upstairs. We had to lay them to rest. I will fight you and lay you to rest as well. and I will take the Dodge action. Okay, you take the Dodge action. You cannot see them, but you hear the vicious gnawing and almost a strange chittering, these guttural gulps. They seem to be enraged by what you've said to them,

but their hanging jaws not fully attached, they don't seem to be able to form words. But if they could, they'd probably call you bitch. It is their turn. They are going to attempt to attack who Shepard just hit them. So the first one's going to attempt to hit Shepard, and he's going to fail disadvantaged.

The other one is going to swipe out and attempt Kana. He's also disadvantaged. Can I... 18? Against me? Yes. I guess you can't do that will disadvantage,

so yeah, that hits. And it is going to claw out with its, it's going to swipe out with its claws doing a bit of damage. Seven, ten points of slashing damage.

And I need you to make a constitution saving throw, please. 20. Right. You feel this, you feel as your muscles begin to lock up as its claws sink into you. And you are hunkering yourself down

and you just wrench your arms out and you shrug off whatever it is. You pinch the skin where they had just sunk their claws in, and you pinch it, and you see this disgusting, bubbling liquid begin to spill back out of the wound, whatever it was, not able to fully enter your bloodstream. Do I use my reaction to, at disadvantage, attack the one that tried to hit Shepard? Oh, God.

Oh, nine? I know that misses. Okay. I'm going to step around on the pile of feathers, so I'm in between them, Baboo. And I'm going to, once again, I'll my lantern and say, you are the true evil of this household.

You shall burn. And I'm going to catch word of ratings, the Constitution State material in both. I believe. Com, calm. Yep. 18 for Gustav and six for Elizabeth. So two, Elizabeth takes two points of radiant damage.

Consistent. Yeah. Consistent. Clayton, it's your turn. I'm going to have, open my case, and I'm going to flounder around, find a tiny lemon tart and a feather, and I'm going to say, uh... Are you dropping fog clab? So I will say salarium, and I'm going to cast hidey's laughter at the one that looks more, at healthier. You turn to Gustav, and you attempt to cast this. It's a wisdom save.

It's a wisdom save. Fails? Okay. So with that, the fog drops, because I've never come to do it. Fog drops as you see Clayton take out this lemon tart and this feather and he begins to cast the spell. You all, even in the midst of this horrific battle that you found yourselves in, wounded, weary, emotionally exhausted, you're caught off guard as all of a sudden you hear,

the tongue lolling to one side, unable to fully form words as it begins to laugh horrifically. It falls onto the bed. laughing hideously. You see as it rolls around, enthralled by laughter, pus and blood and other viscous substances, caking on and smearing all over the rotting feather bed. That's disgusting to him.

So he is incapacitated in a hideous laughter. And I'll say focus on the woman and foggrooms. Perfect. Victoria. Focusing on the one that is not laughing, but also not like blowing all my shirt. Shit. I'm going to firebolt, the one that is not laughing. One.

19. That hits. Very nice. Seven. Seven. Perfect. You raise your hand up and you shoot this blast of fire. You are distracted by the horrific image of Gustav, writhing in laughter next to Elizabeth, but you are angered. And the words that Connoisseed ring true with you, the image of those two small babies that had to be put to rest at your hands.

As you focus that fire into them and she reels backwards, completely singed in fire, she begins to burn away. You see that the fire takes hold and continues to crackle and burn her flesh. She is barely holding on the fire, continues to cinch her and burn her. Shepherd. I'm going to take one attack at the woman. You do. 17 plus 9 is 26.

That hits. 10 points of damage to the woman. You take judgment and redemption held at your side, pointed slightly towards Gustav, as you raise judgment up. You pull the trigger and the blast hits square in the forehead as she begins to lurch forward towards Victoria. She looks down, exposing her mouth as it looks like she's about to go in for a bite her head, explodes in front of you, splattering the wall behind, covering Gustav in the sick, twisted flesh of this creature. She is dead.

I'll use my bonus attack to attack Gustav and say, sorry, Professor, can't hold back. And attack for 12? Are that hit? No, that misses. Damn, damn, it. Someone's cooler if I hit. I'll miss.

So he's still laughing? Oh, yeah. Connor. Professor, what will you have me do? I just wanted to control him. Great, I will attempt. Please. You're in a stand,

so I would have been dissimaged. Because he's front. He can get past the line. Yeah, yeah. So you're disadvantaged. Oh, no, you're advantaged. So you're advantaged. Because you're not ranged.

Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. So you're going with a plus four, not plus five now. It's a 20. Perfect. Got hits.

Um, okay. Damn. Five points of slashing. He's writhing around. this bed laughing in this horrific way and you move from side to side, but you take your glave and you find a spot, you sink in and slice down his side. Maggots and other bugs begin to spill out of his side over the edge of the bed and fall to the floor exploding on impact. The smell is horrific, and he gets to make a role at advantage.

Wisdom? Wisdom? No, he fails. I rolled a one in a nine. And then I'll use my bonus action to send myself for second wind. Damn, I rolled the lowest my class of fucking could. So I get three points of healing. Okay?

Monster's one, so he gets to roll again. At the end of his pair? And because you guys attacked him, he rolls at advantage. Or just when he's attacked? He fails. So his turn ends are nice. Oh. I'm going...

I thought this place was going to be significantly more deadly. It's pretty close. Justice has been done for your foul wife. Now you shall die. And I'm going to cast a stake of flame. Death saving throw, 14. He auto fails the deck saving throw, doesn't he? He's prone.

He's prone. He's proud. He's going to have executed. Yes. So he auto fails his deck saving throw. Oh, hell yeah. Let her wrist on. He gets to roll, and I roll two fucking fives.

Yeah, you did. Yes. One point of range damage. Yikes. You singe the flesh. You get a little bit of the rotted bed. The odorous cup of smoke billows out from him. And it's only one damage.

Heavy sack. It's a loaded sack. He finds it incredibly funny. He does not stop laughing. Clayton, it's your turn. I'll grab my head in, I'm going to fire bolt and then I'm going to pop back out. Okay. At disadvantage because he's prone.

That hits. Wow. Eight damage. Nice. And I'm going to back up. The fire singes his flesh and he is going to try and try this. Girl. There's a 13.

Wow. I gave Kelsey my good die. I go bad for her. Good. Victoria. This is crazy. Look a fireball. You got a fireball?

I get a fireball. I get a fireball. Do your finger. Do your fingers. Do your thing, honey. Ain't one of the man. I'm going to ask. Yeah.

I got to give it up. Yeah, got to give it out. Yeah, so eight. All right. You let loose your fireball and, or firebolts. And at this point, you see as it begins to whirl and and coalesce and the flame begins to burn brighter as it gains speed and it gains power. And when it slams down into this bed, the moth-eaten rotting feathers ignite around it,

burning his body, singeing it significantly. Fire rages around the bed. It seems to be contained to it. It does a significant amount of damage and he shrugs the fucking laughter off. As you see, the laughter stop and he begins to move forward, the fire raging around him. As he uses his arms to prop himself up, the pressure of moving himself up pops the joint on his arm. And it detaches. He almost falls over, but he writes himself. Now, one arm hanging completely limp at the side.

The hand skitters across the bed and down over the side as he begins to move towards you. It's fucking nasty. Shepard Churdy. But he's up. He's up. Yeah, he's up. Well, thank you, good shot. I take two shots at him at a normal attack here.

A 14 and a 21. Both hit? I just got to say. Blow his hit off. Sarnaz. I mean, not Sarnaz, Jeffrey. 17 points of damage. 17 points of damage?

Bang, bang. You take judgment and redemption, and you let both blasts go at the same time. One, severing the other arm. He's now stumbling towards you, armless. The other directly pointed into the middle of his three. As you blast the tongue away, you see the jaw completely hinge and then clatter to the edge of the bed.

And as he looks like he's going to stumble onto you, he does, but lifeless. Oh, was he? I'll help Shepard kick him off. Pull them off, mate. Oh, gosh. Well done, Shepherd. I'll reach down and offer my hands. I'll holster my weapons and have sorry, pull me up.

I'm all right. I didn't sustain any injury. I believe the crook of protection is still up for grabs. Who would best benefit from it? I think this would be best suited for Parliament. I agree. You gain a plus one bonus to AC and saving throws while you wear this cloak.

What is your AC, Karen? Sixteen. Yes. Connor should enjoy that. So you're... I'm concerned. I mean, if you're suggesting that this is some sort of magical protection of cloth, then... That's fine.

That's right. That's right. ...that's right. Then yes, I'm quite concerned. Well, they're evil horrific people that killed their own children. They were easing people alive. I'm aviative. We should rob the whole place, that's what?

There's nothing. Miss Isaac, when we first set foot in here, I wouldn't agree with you. But at this point, I don't say it's all fair game. Do you? I do as well. I do as well. quarters less so than a servant. We took care of the children that we were concerned about,

and quite frankly, I am furious at whoever would suit such low things, to get us to lure in here by using children as bait. And I think that we've done what we can, and my only goal at this point is to exact fury upon those who did this. Well, Sonax, I have an idea. What is your idea, Khanna? Would you assist me in laying, the Mr. and Mrs. Durst to rest.

If by rest you mean burning this whole motherfucker to the ground. Not quite what I had in mind. That's what I had in mind. I will assist you in dragging them together. Correct. I would like to drag them into their crypts, seal them away as we did with the children, and hope that maybe that ends part of

what is holding this home together. Now, speaking frankly, I do not think that they deserve a proper burial. That is not for you to decide. It is indeed for me to decide, for I am alive and they are dead. As am I. And I believe we should burn down this entire chamber. Purge the entire thing with the fire of Garex. Well, on our way out, we can. I don't have risk the whole house going up.

Professor. do have things that we need to do here. I don't think that'll benefit us burning down the home. We know that it is cursed somehow and keeps rebuilding itself. And my point is that we should just get to the end and defeat the monster and see if this place still stands in the first place. And I was going to say, stark fires near ground is no good for anybody. Very well.

I shall wait, let us proceed deeper into this done. Are we going to put them in the coffins and see? I would like to do that first. Although they are our enemy, I still think laying them to rest in a respectful manner will generate good karma. Or faster say the word in a hole. At a hole. Cool.

I don't really care when we ever go on. It is disgusting work because the bodies are oozing and leaking, but you are able to accumulate what it appears to be the majority, at least, of their forms. And as a group effort, you make your way back out of this hallway, back through the dining area and in towards the crypts, and you lay them down to rest in their coffins. Sarnax, will you help me seal these tombs? Very well. And I'll assist you.

Do I need an athletics check to close the... Yes, so you'll roll two at advantage. I'll... Garrix give you strength. Oh, thank you. I'll give you guidance. 14 for the first one. Okay.

Oh, nice. 13. Perfect. You are able with Charnax's help. You are able to move them. The second one, a little bit harder, your strength. You've fallen. You've dealt with horrific undead after horrific undead, and you feel that your resolve is thinning, but you are able to pull them closed.

You have put the family members of this place to rest. I feel good about this, indeed. I know, not. I mean, maybe not all of you have agreed. with me, but I think this is the right thing to do. Time will tell. As long as we... Time will tell.

Well, there's only one... I want me to cleanse this place. There's only one bat forward, and I suppose we just move forward and take it. The ghostly chanting that has been reverberating through these walls since your descent to this strange dungeon gets discernibly louder as you head west along this tunnel.

As you head down a darkened hallway, you're met with a sharp turn and a quick descent down a small flight of stairs before you find yourselves, a much larger space. In the center of this room is a four-foot diameter well shaft with a three-foot high stone lip. As you peer into it, you see that it descends about 30 feet to a water-filled cistern.

A wooden bucket hangs from a rope and pulley mechanism bolted to the crossbeams above the wall. Aside from the well, there is nothing else of note in this main space. However, there are five side rooms that appear to be sleeping quarters. At first glance, each side room seems to contain a wood-framed bed with a moldy straw mattress

and a wooden chest that looks looks like it may be the right size to contain personal belongings. Each chest seems to be secured with a large and rusty padlock. Well, do we think that the cultus lived here? I believe they probably did. Let's look for clues. We will investigate. Each one?

We'll just go through and investigate the whole place. Are you going to unlock the chest? I'll crack one open. I'll crack one open. You head into the first adjoining smaller room, and I need you to roll a dexterity. check, please. Six.

Seven. You attempt to pick it, and the tumbler on this seems to be significantly harder to open than what you have been used to, and it does not succeed. Can I attempt to do it again?

Sure. Forky. Once again, you try, you feel like you were almost there, but you just don't succeed. May Garrick's help you pick this lock? I was going to try to shoot you the house. He said that.

Mr. Mollin, please shoot these locks. I take out judgment, I aim my... Roll an attack. And I'll just shoot right into the lock. I'm just looking at this. Spiti to shoot. All right, roll damage. Six points of damage.

You aim judgment and a blast, Juts forward, splintering the lock off of the box. A hole now sits where the lock used to be. As you open it, you look inside and aside from a few worthless personal effects, This chest contains 11 gold pieces and 60 silver pieces in a pouch that appears to be made of human skin. Ew!

What? So add that to your inventory. I'm not testing the flesh pouch. This podcast is brought to you by our Patreon. Become a patron today at patreon.com slash Legends of Aventress and gain access to tons of exclusive perks, including a monthly movie number.

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 Fifth Edition. And don't forget to snag all the extra goodies like dice, miniatures, plushies, a tarot deck, and more. Thank you. Professor, are you familiar with human skin being needed for some sort of saccharacterious? quite sure he's not. Not the talk

I've been seen. No, I clearly just a sick ritual that these people had. Sonax, would you mind doing the honor and I drop the bag on the floor? Do we really want to take this?

No, I think Conn is having the right direction here. I think we should burn it. Sacred flame. Cast sacred flame and the gold. You take the gold out of it or you remove the gold from it And you ignite the pouch on the ground.

Sizzles and bubbles as the skin pops. It smells like, honestly, almost smells delicious. And you're repulsed by yourself as visions of bacon swim across your mind and you shudder away, realizing what you've thought. The room now smells like dinner. Like human bacon. sure we need to investigate

anymore. Why is that Professor? Do you like what you spend now? You've unleashed it? Do you? Well, it's come about. I shouldn't say...

Anyway, I think we've learned what we needed to here. Unless anyone else has any interest in these foot blockers. None. Let us continue. Entering into this room. Sorry.

You're met with the same rough stone and mud walls, the moisture hanging heavy in the air around you. This room appears to be some sort of communal space. Standing at the east end of this room is an old wooden table in four chairs. To the west are four clearly defined alcoves containing moldy straw pallets that look like they were meant for sleeping. I'd just shy my lantern around and just investigate the room. Roll an investigation check. Natural 20 plus.

There seems to be nothing of note in this room. All right. Let's see. Right. Where are you going? So we've got nowhere left to go, but check out that champ. Yes, very true.

You've explored everything on this floor. I think we've been a dally long enough, and I think that we need to go strike while the iron's hot. Or Mr. Shepherd, perhaps you may just quickly shoot off the locks of all of these foot lockers, and I will quickly rummage through them. In case there are any clues as to the nature of this evil. Professor, go on.

You won't even need to roll. I say you take about five minutes, you shoot off all of the locks. You rummage through the foot lockers, and in addition to what you already found, you find a silvered short sword. Connor, do you think a silvered short sword would serve you well?

Perhaps you could take this to a blacksmith and have your own weapon silvered. That would be great. Very well. Well, let's continue downward into the darkness. Down we go. You exit the sleeping quarters of this strange cultus underground lair. And as you make your way, Sarnax in the lead,

down this hallway, the ghostly chanting that has been reverberating through these walls since your descent into the strange dungeon gets to certainly be the louder as you head west along the tunnel. There's eagle here. I need you to make a perception check, please. 16. Okay. You look down a little too late as you see the absence of footsteps.

You place your foot down on a place where you expected to find firm ground, but instead you're met with the rickety, rotted wood as a trapdoor beneath you crumbles and you fall down into a pit covered in sharpened wooden spiking. Damn.

I was going to say, is there a way I could try to grab him before he falls, or is it too fast? Not in this case. That's what he had to roll for. You were going to take 13 points of piercing damage from the spikes. The pit at your feet is a 5 foot long by 10 foot deep pit. It is 13. Hiding beneath a false floor made of rotted wood and a thick layer of dust makes it incredibly hard to see. Now that you're aware of its existence, you can scan the rest of the hallway

and easily able to discern this is the lone trap. The rest of you are able to pull him out. But he wasn't able to perceive it before making his way down. You feel wounded. It's not that long and you're able to quickly leap... The rest of you are able to leap over it, none of you taking additional damage. Sharks, you're all right.

I'm fine. Connor, I would ask you to take the lead. I am wounded and low on resources. I will shine a light above you to light your way. Certainly. I'll stand in front of them and walk forward. It's obvious to all of you. as you stand at the top of this 20-foot-long staircase

that the ghostly chanting is originating from somewhere down below. It's dark stairs, twisted. You slowly descend the stairs, trying to make as little noise as possible. You reach the landing below, and you're overwhelmed by the volume of the ghostly chanting as it now fills this room.

Listening to the sound, you're not able to make out actual voices, and you realize you're now able to make out the actual voices, and you realize you understand the language. You were able to discern about a dozen or so voices is they chant over and over these words. She is the ancient, she is the land. She is the ancient, she is the land.

And it continues over and over and over. Looking around for the origination of the chanting, you're not able to find it, but you are able to see 13 alcoves along the walls of this room. In each one sits a relic of some sort. There seem to be two exits from this room. A hallway to the northwest, and along the southernmost wall, a tunnel seems to slope downward at about a 20-degree angle. The stones and earth visibly thick with moisture.

As you peer down the slope, you see that it descends into dark, murky water, the room ahead of it barred by a rusty portcullis. You scan the room, the chanting louder and louder as it echoes through the hallways here. They're drawn to the 13 alcoves that line the outside of this room, and each one a single, relic is placed. A small mummified yellow hand with sharp claws looks to be a goblin hand on a loop of rope sits in the

forest. A knife carved from human bone, followed by a dagger with a rat's skull set into the pommel. An eight-inch diameter varnished orb made from a nothic's eye. An aspergillum carved from bone,

which is a brush or instrument used for sprinkling holy water. A folded cloak made from stitched ghoul's skin. A wand, a desiccated frog lashed to a stick. A bag full of bat guana. A severed hag's finger. A six-inch tall wooden figure of a mummy its arms crossed over its chest.

An iron pendant adorned with a devil's face. The shrunken, shriveled head of a halfling. A small wooden coffer containing a dire wolf's withered palm. That's all you find. Professor, I would ask you use your ritual. I cast, use my rituals to cast a tech magic. And maybe don't touch anything. I'm not going to touch anything,

but I'm going to go through each one and get a sense of, does anything jump out of me? None of them need to be magical. Wow. I believe this is what they call a red herring. Perhaps the red herring room, or the room of red herrings? Would she prefer?

Or maybe the rumor if we don't touch shit. Well, I agree. Let's not walk in, in shit. Shinky murky water. Professor, I trust your assessment, but maybe we'd just be moving home. I just had my shoe shine, so I'm gonna please see you. So you're heading down, not the pathway that descends

into the water. Correct, correct. Okay, go ahead and remove the paper there. Alcoves line the length of this room, chains and manacles are nailed into every recess. This appears to be a block of holding cells in which the prisoners of this cult were kept. Horrific scratch markings dot the walls of the alcoves,

where you imagine the horrified prisoners just worn their fingers away in a vain attempt to escape this place. There are no signs of bodies that you can tell. All that remains are the rusty shackles hanging from the walls. We'll do a quick look for you to investigate. Roll a investigation check. As we're looking, I'll say, to the group, uh, Derek's lights guide your way.

I hate to say, but it seems like we might have to take a little dip. I am a very strong swimmer. Sorry, and I believe. As much as I have to be. Okay. You walk through these small alcoes, and it is as you make your way towards the back that you find, hanging on the back wall of one of the cells, is a human skeleton clad and tattered black robe. It appears to be a cult member, but it was tortured.

Its eyes appear to have been removed. You search its body, and you find a gold ring worth. about 25 gold pieces on one of its bony fingers. Aside from that, there's nothing else here. You begin to make your way along the wall, and you run your hand over it, and you realize there's a small divot, and as you push forward, a door's hidden here in the wall.

A small click pops it open, leading to the larger chamber. Oh, shit. You approach what appears to be some bizarre ritual chamber. The cold, damp stonework arching overhead as you peer into this 40-foot square room. The ever-present chanting continues to grow louder and louder as you approach. The smooth masonry walls providing excellent acoustics. As you firmly step inside this room, the chanting stops and silence falls over you.

Trudging through about two feet of repugnant murky water, you begin to take in the room around you. Featureless pillars support the ceiling rising about 16 feet high, and a breach in the west wall leads to a dark cave heaped with refuse. It seems that the murky water covers most of the floor. Stairs lead up to dry stone ledges that hug the walls. In the middle of the room, more stairs rise to form an octagonal dais that also raises above the water. Rusty manacled chains about eight feet in length dangle from the ceiling directly above the stone altar mounted on the dais, a skeletal figure still hanging aloft above the altar.

though its flesh is long since rotted away and slipping from the suspended corpse you can see clearly the tear down the middle of the body where it looks as though this person had been nearly split into hanging above the altar in this way would have bathed the entire thing in blood looking down at the altar itself

it appears to be carved with hideous depictions of grasping ghouls and just as you expected the stains of massive amounts of dried blood crying your eyes from this horrific display you notice half embedded in the east wall is a wooden wheel connected to chains in an obscure mechanism.

Following the line of chains, it leads directly to the closed portcullis. Ah. As you begin to move toward the alcove along the west wall, it's easy to see that this is a naturally formed indentation between the stonework. A small placard on the wall reads,

Lorgoth, the decayer. May he sleep or may he feast. Yikes. Looking inside the alcove, all you can see is a pile of decaying earth and matter. Shepard. Yes. X, you attempt to look at the signs and track.

You read my mind, Sarnax? I'd be happy to, considering... This appears to be the end, and we have not seen a sign of this beast yet. And yes, we have a plaque that essentially references a horrific monster. I'll use my survival skills to try to track. All right. A advantage. Track well.

Gerex is watching over us. That'll be 17. You begin to channel again and you feel the monstrous energy radiating out from the room around you. Where it's coming from, it's hard to tell. It feels like it's coming from everywhere. But it is centered on this point, this room that you are in now. Slowly reaching for judgment, I say, if I had to guess, we are in the heart of this thing's lair. I can't tell exactly where it's.

coming from, but it seems to be all around us at once. It might be in the waters. And I- They fed the victims on that dais there. Does the water look like it's deeper than what is this, or is it just like a shallow thing? It's a shallow two feet of inky, murky water. It smells horrific.

Like sewage. Like sewage. It's horrible as you trudge through it. It feels almost thick as you move your, feet through it and you can see the port-a-cullis on the side, the wheel that opens that grate, that that is where the water is coming directly from here. And it looks to be about two feet deep as there as well before it stands up. The grate isn't keeping the water at bay. No.

As was... The water is just in the middle. As was the case with the door we may have found earlier, Perhaps we, I start to roll up my sleeves, get that door open just in case we need to make some kind of hasty escape. I don't completely agree. Before you get dirty, let's at least try this. And I'm going to see if it's well-oiled enough for a mage hand to be able to pull it open. The portcala? Yeah. It's like a grate that comes down from the ceiling.

The wooden wheel. Oh, the wooden wheel. The mage hand is easily able to turn it with a grinding, clanking noise. I can't do it. It sounds like a mergel, or a Merlock. You hear the clanking noise of the portcullis as it raises up out of the water and is now held off the entranceway no longer barred.

Let's me, I do not think this creature would be invisible, but just in case I'm going to conify it and just 60 feet just cast from the invisible seeking radius all across the room to see if the invisible creature is anywhere. that I can't see. You cast your lantern about looking for anything invisible and nothing comes to your attention.

Professor, that was good thinking. Not to say you won't have to get in the water, but that's fine, I'm just trying to avoid it at all costs. You're currently standing in it. I'm just trying to get any deeper in this muck. Wait, we're standing in water? Yes. We're like, like, the stairs.

There are two feet of water, right? Mm-hmm, there are two feet of water around you. Let us go to the altar and investigate. You think it's last step foot up there, start mass? we have no other choice, Shepard. I think we should maybe investigate the pile of remains and see if anything's hidden in there.

Kana, if you want to take a look at the pile, I'll go to the Sarnaxel of Dice. I'll stand right here and keep an eye and go for you. All right, I'll go up to the pile and investigation check. I use my glave to pick it apart, not trying to touch it. That's cocked. High. Almost an 18.

But it's a... But it's a seven. Yeah. You begin to use your glave and you're moving through this disgusting fetid mass and bits of roots and rat, dead rats are falling off of it into the water with a loud splash. But it just seems to be a gigantic pile of decay and raw. Sarnax and Shepner. You make your way to the dais and you step your feet out of the murky water.

and ascend the couple of stairs that lead you to the top is you make your way to the middle. You begin to hear the chanting rise once more as 13 dark apparitions on the ledges overlooking the room. Each one resembling

a black-robed figure holding a torch, but the torch's fire looks like it's made of pure darkness and seems to draw light into it instead of to shed light, where you expect to see faces are nothing but shapeless voids. One must die, one must die,

one must die. They begin to chant in unison over and over again, louder and louder and louder as you're both standing aloft on this dais and you do all roll in intelligence check. Oh, good, gracious. Does it check?

Yep. Natural 20. Hell, yeah. Wow. Eight. Uh, 19, baby. Eight.

Sarnax, Clayton, and, uh, Shepard, you look around and you listen and you look at this dais and your attention is drawn to the blood, to the person hanging above it, and you think to yourself, if I sacrifice something, someone on this altar, that is what they're asking of me. The realization overcomes you. You feel a pit of horror in your stomach as you look around for anything, anyone. What are you going to do?

We have to make a sacrifice all they're getting closer? The chanting is getting louder and louder. You feel the pressure of them bearing down on you from these small insets in the ceiling where they shouldn't be able to be held aloft, but their incorporeal forms are able to hold themselves up at this height as they stared down around you. No, we're not. We're not going to play into their plan at this point. There's no reason for anybody to turn on anybody here.

We don't need to sacrifice nothing. I agree, Mr. Shepard. Why don't we take care of them like we did all of their friends? Absolutely. I want to shoot a firebolt in one of them. Roll an attack. Are you, there's going to be creatures? We don't know.

I will use inspiration. We're about to find out. That's probably going to hit. 25. You outstretched your hand and you cast your fire bolt And you see as the fire zooms through the incorporeal form, bursting on the wall behind, the chanting does not stop. One must die.

One must die. Louder and louder in your ears. It seems to have no effect on this creature. So you said there was a person hanging up, but you should be with the... No, there are 13 cultists. But nothing else hanging from. But there's the skeleton hanging from the chains where it looks like it was split open in its actual human life,

and it had been bled out on the dais. But not like a fresh for. Which that in itself with the intelligence check was what led you to believe that this is where they sacrificed to this Lorgoff. Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. The cultus that I found, was he a skeleton? He was.

Okay, so it's basically all skeletons all the way through it. I'm still going to go grab the cultists and I'm going to try to throw him on the dais. You quickly run, panicking. You grab the skeleton of this cultist and you throw it on the dais. For a second you hear silence. And then the chanting begins again louder and louder.

One must die. One must die. There's no way. There's no way we are doing anything that has anything to do with sacrifice. If those bastards want to come out here and fight us, let it be. But we're not sacrificing anybody to anything.

Is there a rat in the room? Roll a perception chat. Anything living. Can I help him because I'm by the human remains? Roll and investigate. your role and advantage. Is it reception or investigation of either? Either.

25. You quickly scan the room and you do see that in a small alcove to the side, chittering away, you see a quite large sewer rat. And I want to try to grab it with me, Chan.

Roll an animal handling check. Yeah. In handis. Twist the fate Catch the rat Catch the red Catch the red You made it seem like it was shit

Yeah 17 Oh 17 You mage hand Quickly zooms over the rat Not expecting the strange incorporeal hand To appear out of nothingness

As it grabs it around the throat And begins holding it aloft towards To me, Professor I have done this many times before Don't burn it. Don't burn it. No. I am going to float it over to Sarnax,

trying to keep my hold on it. As the maitam lifts the rat to me, I'm going to reach into my cloak. This is probably the first time I've been even seeing this. I'm going to pull out this horrific black dagger. Oh, shit. And I'm going to just stab the rat and disavow it. Over the days?

Over the day, I've over-wear it in, to split it down the middle in the same fashion. you take this dagger and you split it down the middle the blood of this rat a squeak resonates from its form just as the dagger hits its flesh but is quickly extinguished drowned out by the sound of the chanting one must die as you rip into its flesh it begins to bleed over the altar the chanting stops they all point at you sarnax they bow before you They turn their attention now to Shepherds still standing aloft on the dais. One must die, but you, Sarnax, feel that your sacrifice has been registered with the cultus. Can we find another? I'm going to start immediately looking for another rat. You look around the room, I'll roll a perception or an investigation check at advantage.

I'm assuming Clayton's helping you. Yeah, I'll start looking for a baby, she's like 14. This is hungry, hungry hippo for rats. You look around and Kana, Kana sees it first as she directs your attention over. A rat is skittering out from under the fetid mass in the corner. Roll an animal handling check to see if you can catch it.

17. You quickly reached down and with the dexterity that you have, the practice of molding your rights. mind and your body together over the course of your life. You're able to quickly grab it and you throw it across the room. Its little arms flailing as Sarnet or as a shepherd catches it in his hand. I'm going to immediately put it under my boot and hold it and then I'm going to pull judgment and I'm just shoot it right in the face on the diet. You place it and hold the rat beneath your your boot. As it squirms, you push down on the heel. You can hear and feel a couple of the small bones

crack in its body before you extinguish the life from it. as the bolt of energy from judgment spills its blood on this altar. The sound, the chanting stops. All of the apparitions turn towards you on the day. It's the only two standing there. Lord Garth has been appeased. And as they say this, you see as the apparitions begin to shimmer and pulse and fade and disappear.

Here. The room around you, an unnatural calm. A sacrifice made to the decayer. The house feels a little lighter, a little less heavy around you. Well, can you understand us? Their voice echoes throughout the room. The apparition is no longer apparent. Sarex, I can't help but think that we might have fucked up.

That's exactly what I'm thinking, my good man. Professor, I'm sorry. The rest of you get up here now. I'll go up to the dais. Of course. We will welcome this beast. Greet, Sarnax, I'm ready. I've been ready since we stepped foot in this god-forsaken house.

I think if we can anger it, desecrating this altar, this dais may summon it. How do you suggest we desecrate something like this? Well, I can probably answer that question for you On behalf of Sarnax is we burn it It's made a stone It's made of stone. It's made a deadness I can certainly try I'm just gonna cast sacred flame on the altar

And we're all on it No, no, it's on my shoulder Oh, I'm sorry, okay All right, not the whole day And just try to bring the dragon fire Is there anything on the altar That you guys have seen separate I don't know, I don't think so

Was there anything on the altar? Just the signs of blood. And there was a plaque, right? Or is that not on the altar itself? That was against the wall near the alcove that was inspected. So did we just appease something? Do we make it stronger? I would like for you all to roll an investigation.

11, 12. 17. 15. You look around this room and you realize, though, you're aching and tired that there is a lightness to the air. The stench of death seems to be dissipating. And you feel as if the unholy presence that's lingered here slowly faded. Did we perhaps free this place?

With a couple of rats? Is that it? How? Maybe we reverse the process, but by not providing a human sacrifice. Nothing here seems to be ad in up. Kana, I would love for that to be the case. I just don't know if I'm leaving. Does the pile from where I'm standing

there's a pile of remains look any different? Other than the feeling of lightness is the area. It looks the same. It smells just as horrific. I'm going to just pray and cast the light to seek first or secrets with me ready to be. Okay. You cast the light around you

and you get nothing until you move towards the strange alcove. with the fetid mass, and you realize that, though it looks to be decaying plant matter, it's breathing and it's sleeping. The thing that I nudged with my fucking glave was alive. Jeez. Sorry, sorry.

I just like actually fucking imagining it right now. Love it. So you've noticed this. None of us have. So I've noticed that it's a lot. You've noticed that it's alive. It's breathing. Seems to be in a deep sleep.

Let's not do anything rash. I want to take a closer look now that she's pointed it out. Just like actually trying to look at it. And I'm gonna cast my lantern on it to a sixth. Keep your life low, just alive. Looking at it, it's hard to see any shapes or forms. It looks to be plant matter twisted and knotted together. Bits of rotting rat carcasses and other things,

wedged in different places around it. A few places where bones seem to be sticking out. Though Victoria tells you it's alive, and you can faintly see the rise and fall of the breath that it takes, you can find no head, you can find no limbs or no form to this. Though you know that to be true based on what she says, there is no reason for you to think that this could possibly be a creature. But your attunement to monstrosy,

senses it and it smells it and you were drawn closer and you know that this is not this is not natural Miss Isis I'm embarrassed to admit now twice in one day you see to spot something that I've been Trained my whole life to look for and I'm sorry I miss it I owe everyone here to apologize Mr. Shepherd you know you owe none of us in apology. That's right this is unnatural and it sits before us, breathing, adulating before our very eyes. I mean, this is our chance. We can destroy this thing now all together at once.

Exactly. This is our chance to strike while it doesn't know that we're here. I don't know what lies beneath that, and quite frankly, I'm not sure I want to know, but we came here to kill it. And here we are. We strike on something that we don't know its very nature. Exactly right.

We were learned in. and told by something that was shriking us to kill them also what are they involved us to kill? I think very much they asked us to kill us. I don't want to play in anybody's hands here, but I swore that I kill whatever evil we came across.

I'm not just going to walk away from this. Do we know if it's evil? The cold people sense that. You know what you can't feel that? Feel it in the air, Professor. I can think about everything that we've walked through all night long. All I can tell you is that is very clearly some sort of monstrous thing.

How about this? How about this? Look, I say that we, the air feels different. I say we go back. Maybe some of us. And we'll just see if anything's changed. It seems to not mean us any harm. Do we get any sense? Do we feel like it's evil? It would be hard to tell. It's sleeping. It hasn't done anything to you. It just looks like a disgusting mass of rotting plant matter and bits of decay.

Well, the cultists were chanting in common. Any chance this monstrosity would understand us if we spoke to it? From what I understand, it's not a bad thought. I mean, there's always a chance. My only advice would be if we wait that thing to try to talk to it, there's a very good chance that it will just attack us. I say we need to figure out why the air feels lighter, before we do anything else. I agree, there is no rush.

It would be unwise for us to just attack this thing when we've seemingly done something. Why would they lure us in here? Perhaps they'd lure us in here to make those sacrifices. Maybe they thought there was evil in our hearts and that we would sacrifice one of our own. That's what I was thinking could come. Could be a test. Agree. Is there evil in your heart?

My people think there is, but I don't think so. Mr. Shepin? I've been accused once or twice, but I like to think that I keep to the right path. Perhaps this is an evil that we cannot deal with. There's an evil that permeates this entire land. Perhaps it is the manifestation of this evil world itself. Maybe even with the gods on our side, we cannot cleanse. How about this?

Allow me to cast an alarm in front of the alcove where it sleeps. As long as I'm within a mile, I'll be able to sense of this left. Great idea. It's your expedition, professor. All right, and I'll take the, in my case, I'll take the silver wire and the bell, and I'll lay it across this entryway. Very quietly. You do that?

Before we leave the chamber, I want to all be on the same page. What happens if we hear this alarm go off? Then we rush down and kill whatever says it off. I'm glad you said, Sarnax. All right, that is amenable. Let us make haste. Let us get off the dais one at a time, and I will be the last.

We will keep an eye on the monstrosity as people are making their way out. You begin to make your way, knee support Pullis, and out up the ramp that leads towards the exit of this area. As all of you find yourselves leaving the area, you begin to hear the chant again. She is the ancient, she is the land, as it begins to chant and pulse from the room. We are not finished.

Let's go back. I am tired of being played for food. We'll turn. I will guide the party back to where we went with my lantern guiding the way. Sarnax, I'm not letting you go in there alone. Let us all go together. If we mean to vanquish this thing, I'm right behind. You have no other choice. Let's do this.

And we step towards the thing and see what we say. Where are you stepping towards? I think this time I would walk around the dais. Okay. And keep my eyes on the semi-breathing mass. The chanting reverberates around you. The breathing mass does not seem to stir. I suggest we kill whatever is.

sleeping here. This is the beast. This is the reason why all these innocents died. I am ashamed we have even suggested that we leave this creature alone. I'm glad you came around, Sarnax, and I achieved both my weapons. There, I just feel there is, I have so many questions still. Not to say that this is an innocent creature, but we know nothing of it. We know that they were sacrificing, and I'll point to the thing. This was an innocent that got gutted. for this creature, so it may sleep or it may feast. Well, I will offer a third alternative. It will die.

And I can tell you that this is the most monstrous in the most strict sense of the term. This is not natural, and it does not deserve to remain on this plane. Say the word, Mr. Morgan. I look at the professor and I say, let's fire. And we unload.

I want you all to roll for initiative. As you turn and you begin to engage with this thing, you hear the sound of these creatures, the chanting once again reverberate. Lug of the decay, we awaken thee. And as the sound fades, they chant this over and over, you begin to see the mound move and undulate as it begins to climb its way up.

shambling mound appears in front of you. You see as bits of bone, human flesh, rotting animal corpses, sticking out of different areas of this rotting tree monster, plant monstrosity. You all get a surprise round as you had fired in on it. Go ahead, Shepard. I'm going to use my bonus action to cast hunter's mark as I raise judgment and point at it and say, judgment has arrived and take a shot. You do that. Going to take a shot. 17 plus 9 is 26.

To hit? So I'll get an extra 6. So that will be 15 points of damage. And I'm going to immediately start, like, backing up to try to, like, get towards the professor. As it begins to undulate and move towards you, the vines twisting and writhing around it, you let loose two of your shots.

and they pierce the foliage that is growing from this, the shambling mound, and it seems to do a little bit of damage. That's it. That's all I got. Okay. It's also my last step. All right, I'm going to just chaos bowl. Okay. So 20 to hit. That hits. I got a one and an eight.

So you choose which damage type? One is acid, eight is thunder. So you choose one of those two to be. the lightening on your chaos or to choose the the element of the damage type. Yeah, the damage side of your lightened over your castle. Nice. Does it matter? Thunder?

It might matter, but whatever you want. It was thunder. You channel the innate magic within you. You outstretch your hand and a chaotic bolt of energy spills forth from the swirling bits of elemental elemental arcane powers vibrate and twist through the air as it slams into this creature. A loud crack spills the air, wrecks the air as you hit it with a thunder attack doing how much damage? So 11th thunder damage, yeah.

It slams into the form of this creature, and it seems to take the full amount of damage. Mm-hmm. Leighton. 21 to hit. Are that hits? Three fire damage. You hurl your moat of fire at it, and it singes part of it,

but this creature seems to be filled almost bursting with dark, murky liquid, and the fire doesn't seem to do as much as you would expect. Oh, shit. You said it was three? So it would take one. Six, one. Oh, shit.

Oh. Far next. Interesting. I'll raise my lantern up. It's like, which are responsible for all the death and evil and destruction in this house. And by Garretz, you shall be purged and dragon fire.

It needs to make a constitution saving those that use radiance on the dawn. DC-14. Ooh! What, you said constitution? Yep. It got an eight. An eight, so it fails. So it is going to take 18 points of radiant damage.

Comfort free? You said radiant damage? Radiant. Okay. You channel the power of Garex, the Fire Lord, and you let forth this burst of radiant damage. You see bits of vines and bones clatter into or splash into the murky water around it, taking a significant amount of damage.

Okay, that's my channel. Oh, and then for my bonus action, I'm so angry. I'm like, for a good measure. There you're right into it. For good measure. I'm going to use my advantage. I really want to bite this. My inspiration.

But I do not hit. Twisipate. Let's see Trisipate. Yeah. Take one out. Take one out. Yes. We've got from a lot.

Uh, shit. Uh, 15? 15 hits. I'm going to chomp into it. Chomp. Chomp. Come on. Yes.

Three points of piercing damage. Is that worth it? Really? Yes. I get 10 p. I get 10 p. P. I love that you like, you like,

you like, do-no eat the minion. You bite into the plant body of this, and you expect to get a thick, fibrous piece of twisting vine, but you actually find your teeth sink into the remaining remnants of human flesh from a femur that sticks out of part of the back. It tastes... No thanks. as you swallow.

Yeah. I have had worse. Okay. Fair. Connor. I'm going to move up to it and smack it with my Nagyana.

Is my strength stuff still being affected? Yes. Yes. 14? 14 misses. Twist of faith. Yeah.

Do the thing. Do the thing. What a twist. What a twist. Natural 20, I feel it. Natural one. We got like 14 of them. We have 14.

We have 14. 11 now. 11 now. You get one attack. Let's make it back. All right, let's see. 16. Oh, that hits.

All right. Thank you guys. Thank you, okay, okay, okay. It's like right on the edge. So this will be eight points of non-magical splashing. Yeah. Okay.

You slash into this creature, rushing forward, you are able to target your blow in a way that it doesn't affect Sarnax as you slice into the plant matter, severing vine and flesh as you do eight points of damage and it seems to take the full amount of it. Cool, that's good. I don't need to be right up to it. I forgot how to reach. Yeah, we'll move me back five feet. So just move me back five feet. I got you. And that'll be my turn. Top of the round, Shepherd. All right, I'm going to roll double 20s right here. He wants to use 100s mark first. I did.

I used it on my first. I took one attack on the first round. I asked 100smark. Remember because I said, your judgment is right. Oh, that's right. That was cool. Very cool.

That was cool. Mr. Morgan. I rolled double fours instead of double. I'm going to use a twist of fate. Is it a plus nine? It is, but I'm still gonna use it to face. Oh, yeah, that misses, yeah. Yeah.

Use two of them. Use two of them. All right, I'll use to. Two? Wait, what? I get to attacks. This is the problem wrong. And I just rolled double fours,

but I meant to roll double 20s. I forgot. Well, I got an 18 plus seven, or plus nine, which is 27. I got a five plus nine, which is 14. So 14 and 13 misses, but the other one hits. All right. It still end up gonna be 13 points of damage.

It's, who. Redemption doesn't seem to be able to find its mark, but that doesn't stop you from pointing judgment and blasting into this thing. Yes, it is. Yes. And it's, it's, it's, it's, uh, armor class is 15. So, oh, 14. No, 14. I'm sorry, everything. 13 damage. Gotcha. Um, judgment is able to find purchase. As yet again, you see, um, further bits of foliage and, uh, other refuse, um, spewing off of this thing as you are throwing all that you have at this creature's that shambles towards you. Victoria, I'm going to reach out for a chow.

Thirteen. Twist. Yeah. Let them run. Do the thing. Do the thing. Do the thing. Do the thing.

Do the thing. The night is young. The night is dark and full of children. Give it a good. Uh-uh-uh-uh. Uh-uh. Come away. Don't do it under the table like that.

Oh, maybe let my fire. That's pretty. Okay, what the look? Is it? It's a seven plus. It's a seven plus what? Five. It says the 12.

Oh, yeah, no, that misses. I'm sorry, my darling. This shambling creature stumbles towards you. The shambling creature stumbles towards you. The shambling creature stumbles towards you. Sarnax in front. It is going to make. Two slam attacks down against you.

Oh, man. 18? 18. 18 hits. 21. 21 hits. Yeah, 21 hits. 11 points of damage for the first slam against you.

Seven points of damage for the second. It hit with both. It is then going to try to engulf you in its form. I need you to make a Constitution saving trip. What? Oh, baby. Twenty-two. You are able to withstand it

as it slams down against you. It begins to move towards you the vines wrapping and swirling around you as it attempts to pull you into its fetid form. But you are able to shrug it off. You use your teeth to rip at some of the vines and you're able to withstand its grapple. And that is its turn.

Gareth's the firewood protects you from evil such as you. Click. Uh, no, I'm just gonna stand back here. And I'm going to just cast a firebolt at it. You feel yourself overcome with horror at this creature, and you splash through the murky water, run to the side, and attempt to cast your firebolt at it.

But it is smacked out of the way by one of the vines. So you miss? Yes. It is our next, this turn. I am going to disengage, and I'm gonna say, Kana, I'll let you take this for now. I'm going to back up 30 feet. That's my turn.

Connor. Do I get this with its size and whatnot, do I get the sense that it can't be like knocked over prone in its current mush state? I would say you imagine would probably be pretty difficult to knock something like this prone. You don't know if it's impossible, but you know it'd be hard. Okay.

I will just whack it with my nagging. Oh, that's a two plus four, six. That misses. I will withhold, because I used a whole bunch of last time. You attempt to slide in the vines undulating and swaying, make it so difficult for you to find a place where you can wedge in your glave. It is now Shepherds.

All right, double points coming at you. I'm just going to unload fire two shots. Two shots in the monster's face here. 16 and 15 plus 9 for each is going to be 25 and 22 barely barely barely damn you win days barely barely that's going to be 11

plus 5 is 16 plus 10 is 26 points of damage oh thank you honors mark you quickly move in with redemption and you fire judgment behind your back you let a shot out they both hit at the same time doing a significant amount of damage Oh shit. None of just gonna back up another 10 feet.

Victoria. Okay. I'm gonna chaos bowl. What? Twist. Twist. Just the face. Twist it.

Do the thing. Do the thing. Do the thing. Do the thing. You're having a rough note. Yeah, I would say another one. You've had a really hard time. We've got to use them, right?

We literally have 15. It's a wasted chaos bolt if it doesn't get. They won't roll over until next time we play this. 16? That is. The swirling energy once again flies from Victoria's hands.

One D6. Just roll it all now. Yeah, roll it all. Fire, frost, lightning, thunder as it reverberates and spins and swirls. It slams into the creature. I really just suck. What is it? Jesus Christ, four points of damage.

But what are... Hold on, you got a double ones. It just jumps to all the target. I will allow it to jump back. to it. What does that mean? So it hits and then it splits and it's going to hit it again. So you get to roll the damage again.

Two and a seven. Cold or a second? Yes. You see as the swirling mask shifts to an inkier, not an inky, to a vibrant, almost fluorescent green as it turns into damage.

splatters on this creature doing a bit of damage to it. It bounces and begins to swirl again, coalescing in a strange chaotic shift of elemental magic as it turns into. Cold damage. Cold damage. And what did you, how many points? 11 points of damage.

You see as it turns into a frosty giant snowball crashing down on it doing, you would expect 11 points of damage, but similar to the fire, it seems to shrug off a few, a bit of a bit of snowball crashing down on it. doing five points of damage. For coal? Yeah. It's resistant to cold and fire.

I believe. Oh, because it's water. Yeah. Yeah. It's not resistant to fire. Oh, God. Good luck, Con. I wish I could do something.

Lorgoff stumbles forward. Its wounds ever present on its body, but it does not relent, is it moves closer towards Cona. It's going to attempt to make two slam attacks against you. The first one is 11 to hit. Nope. Oh, wait.

14 to hit was the first one. Nope. Okay. And then this one is 16 to hit. That hits. One of it slams comes down immediately next to you. You're able to dodge out of the way. Unfortunately, you dodge directly into the line of the second fist as it comes down around you,

doing a total of 12 points of bludgeoning damage to you. Okay. Nope. Sorry, I lied. 16 points of legioning damage. I have to remember to add the modifier. I'm really bad about that. Don't remember it. Don't remember it.

Don't remember it. It's 16 points of legending damage. Cool. And that is the end of its turn. Clayton. Does it seem like it could speak a language if they wanted to? You

you seem to think that it might understand something as the cult... Well, you don't know whether the cultists woke it up or whether you woke it up by attacking it. but it hasn't said anything to you. It doesn't seem like it has a mouse that it would be. So does it only speak it? Yeah.

I would say you can probably look at it and see it's not going to speak language. Um, well, but I'm not sure what more I can do. Yeah. Fire bolts. It's resistant to fire. It's all he's gone. We really can't do anything else. They are.

They are. It's nice. That is. That hits. Right. Which is awesome. It'll come in handy. Yeah, which is my thing, right?

Don't worry. Four? Fire damage, so two, I'll give the map for you. Thank you. Oh, thank you. That was really difficult for me. Yeah, wow. The fire seems to extinguish.

The moment it hits, the moisture in this creature seems to extinguish the bolt of fire that you hurl at it, but it does seem to do a little bit of damage to it. Sarnix, is you did? I'm a dexterity saving. Sacred flame. You will be purged in hells on it.

19. 19 passes nothing. I can't. Call on it. Poor Sarnag, man. What is you do without us? Me in common, man. That's the point of Marshalls, right?

I'm going to use a bonus action and chucking a healing potion. The last one of me. I have, which is four plus two, right? Yeah. At six healing. And then I will make another attack on it. Let me do the heel first real quick. Six healing.

All right. I think this one will finally hit with a 20. Yeah. That hits. Get it. Six points of slashing. Your glaves strike true as you slice it up through the foliage of this creature, severing tendrils of plant matter,

realizing that there was some rotting, corpse deep within it as your glave pierces through it. The whole opens up and you see bits of intestines, rotting, blackened intestines begin to spill out at your feet from whatever was inside of this creature. But it does a significant amount of damage. I am going to burn my action surge and take the dodge action as I am barring it from going any further

past me if I can help it. You do that. I'm going to take two shots and I'm going to hit double twice right here. Okay. Why is double 16? One of a chance. Wow. I did double fours now.

You might as well be the same thing. No, both of it. They do both hit. I'm gonna let them out of here. That's gonna be eight plus nine, a 17, 27 points of damage. Fuck yeah, man. You take redemption and you take judgment and you step forward. The sound of your boots, even in this strange murky water,

you can still hear the clack of the steel toes against the stone beneath the water. How do you want to do this? What? So watching Kana just be an absolute hero and be like, I'm not let this thing pass. I'm going to fire off

redemption. And then as I step forward, I will say, there will be no redemption for you today. Only judgment. Oh, damn. And the fire off the final shot. Like, fucking Jesus, man. As you fire off, as you fire off,

judgment, it swirls through the air. It's almost as if time slows down. All of you see the swirling magic of his weapon as it pierces in to the form of this creature. It explodes within it. The entire thing begins to fall over as it explodes around you, flesh and bits of plant everywhere, all over the place. But for some reason, the wind rushes past you from the explosion of this bullet for the sake of it, exploding within it, it seems to miss you as the wind blows your hair back, you and hoister your weapons. However, it is at this moment,

the room around you begins to quake, and you hear the cultist chanting. The end comes death be praying. And they begin to chant this over and over again. The ground below you begins to shake. The water is, you can see as it moves and undulates beneath your feet, the walls around you, you see bits of clay and dirt begin to fall. It feels like the dungeon itself is about to collapse around you.

Time to go. And I need to guys to roll for initiative. What? Yeah. The house around you begins to shake and move. and you feel as the walls begin to crumble. And what are you guys gonna do? We're gonna run through the portcullis,

up and around and through the trap door, up into the hunting lot, and fuck out. You run, you speed as quickly as you can. Here, dodging, falling pillars and rocks as they begin to cave down around you. You were limbered, you're capable, I need you all to roll dexterity saving throws, please, as the good.

Dix, you said? Dix. Oh, wait, I'm not the Andrews. Dexte, you say. I would like to use a twist of fate. I got a natural one. I got a two. Should I use one?

11. I got 11. My God. Use it. Use it. I'll use a twist of fate as well. So what is that? Three twists face?

Yeah. If we use one more, we'll have three left. Yeah, use them. I'm good on that. 17. Oh, much better. 19. All right, 18.

18. 18. Dext say to be broke. You are all able to move with swiftness, the chanting, reverberating, incredibly loud around you. The end comes death be praised. Over and over and over again is the wall shake, but you miss every falling rock, every falling pillar. Is everything shaking. You're climbing up the ladder towards the hunter's den, and you feel the wood,

crack beneath you, but you reach down and help each other up and you spill out into the room around you. The fire begins to roar and billow up. Spilling smoke into this room. You feel like you're choking as the room itself fills with smoke. What are you going to do? I'm going to use a bonus action to cast expeditious retreat for my vestige armor. And I'm going to dash around and try to show. shove people as quickly as possible

out the front entrance. You, you're in the Hunter's Den right now. Oh, Hunter's Den. You were in the Hunter's Den. And as you look around, you're choking on the smoke that's billowing out of this roaring fire. You look to the windows and you see that we're once windows covered by those thick

curtains are now bricked up out, ripped up openings. No exit through the windows. You turn your attention to the door. Where a door once stood is now a swinging scythe. Swinginging. back and forth barring your way. Oh, shit.

To the fun door. Fuck. We get to go through the scythe, right? I'm literally just going to try to, like, tuck and roll through it. I need you to roll. Well, Conan, what are you going to do? Yeah, sorry.

I'm going to see if I can quickly, like, stop the scythe. And, like, with the momentum while it's swinging back, see if I can lodge it either with my glave and see if I can help people through. You go ahead and make an acrobat. Okay.

Okay. A good. A little hero. Twist. Twist. Twist. Twist, twist, twist, twist, twist, twist, twist, twist, twist, twist. Just get it, we're cutting it close.

But then there for. God damn. One more? You attempt to do this and it is moving too fast. You know that should you be able to block this, it would break your weapon into. Your best bet is going to be to try and quickly roll through when the blade is at its highest point.

Does it look like it's breakable? Victoria, it is your turn. turn. It doesn't look like it is brinkable. What do you want to do? So seeing that it's shit, I can't hold it back. We have to run, just run through. Do I get the sense that Fireball would like hold it back or melted or do anything?

You don't get the sense that it would do anything. We should all just run through in time of the best we can. The house shakes and creeks around you. The floorboards overhead and beneath you groaning with every bit of movement. I just run through. I need you to make a dexterity and acrobatics check, please. You look at Kana attempting to hold this open for you,

and you see as the blade swings and you believe that you've timed it, if she holds that up for you, you should make it through. You attempt to slide through, but she cannot hold it in place. As the blade swings down, slicing it your flesh, your arm is ripped open

by the pristine slice of this blade as you take 17 points of slicing damage. Slashing damage, but you do manage to tumble through the door. The blade continues to swing. Clayton, it's your turn. What do you want to do? Professor, there's no time. We got to go. I will immediately, yeah, I will slashing. Roll an acrobatics check.

17? You watches Victoria the gash in her arm bleeding profusely, and you look. your innate sense of understanding the way things work. You see the way it swings and you realize you ran just a second too soon. You don't wait until it begins its ascent. You instead wait to move as it is descending. And as you run forward, you roll through

and you are able to make your way through without taking any damage. We have inspiration. I have strength of the grave. When damage that isn't radiant from a critical hit, reduces you to zero HP, which is still have. Yeah, do it. You can make a charisma saving for a DC5 plus the damage taken on a success. You instead drop to one HP.

But that's a critical hit, right? No, it's a hit that. It's a hit that. It doesn't radiant or fall. That takes you to zero. Because five plus the damage you may do that. So the DC is 23, two, 22? Yes, so you'd have to hit 22.

Let's do this. I mean, yeah. You got inspiration. Yeah, so take a roll. See what happens. And then inspiration is. And so then use your inspiration. Yep.

See what you get. We got it like 18. There we go. 14 plus. 5 is not enough. 19. Close. Close.

It's close. 5. 19. That was very close. But it is not enough. So you are, you fall unconscious. You see as she stumbles forward you, you roll through. She's clutching her arm.

She looks at you for a second. is she's going to speak and then you see as her eyes roll back. She looks down at the side of the blood. She blinks as all the blood rushes to her face. Her eyes roll back and she falls unconscious on the floor at your foot. It's zero. Yes. Yes.

Sarnat. Shepard, you are more dexterous than I am. Can I count on you to administer a human potion? Absolutely. Sarat. Get on. I'm going to say, Garek's, give me strength, give me speed, and I'm going to cast guidance on myself and run. All right, I need an acrobatics check.

Don't forget inspiration. Fuck. I don't need mine yet. How many twists are left? A couple. You have your inspiration, right? No, I used it. Oh, we have two left.

Use it 100%. Take one out. It can be good enough. Acrobatics, 16, 19. Yeah, that's good. Nice. Yeah, easy. You once again, look, you lower yourself to the ground, and almost in a strange crawling motion,

you see as he skitters across the floor and whips himself around the blade you do not take any damage from it. That boy. Fucking lizard. Shepherd. I'm going to, I'm just going to run and dive through

trying to time the best I can. And my goal is if I make it to the other side, I want to use my bonus action to like rapid quaff a potion to... Rapid quaffing is only for yourself. It's an action to give it to someone. If you have cure wounds. I'm not a spous loss.

And healing word is the bonus action. Cure wounds is spousal. Okay. So I'm just going to... try to make it through. Yes. It's acrobatic. You should use your actions.

He has to use his action to get through. I'm going to use my inspiration. That's a 12. Use it. I got plenty of hip points. You look at Sarnax as he skitters beneath the blade. You look to Kana with a tip of your hat, a howdy ma'am from your lips or something that you would say in.

I want to do. I want to do. You attempt to slide. You attempt to slide between the blade, and you make it to the other side. You look around. You did it. As you look down and you see the blood pooling around your abdomen,

a slice across your side, the adrenaline pumping through you. You did not feel as the sharp blade slid into your flesh. And you take nine. Nothing. I'm gone, baby. And I'm going to rush over to Miss Isaacs, even though that was my action.

I'll end my turn attempting to, you know. The house begins to shake and undulate. Kana, you are still in this room, the fire billowing ever, ever faster. You begin to start choking on the, you begin to start choking on the flames here. I need you to make a Constitution. Actually need all of you to make a Constitution saving.

and you're smoke in all of these rooms not including you you will take one failed death save because you cannot prevent against this I need you all to make the Constitution saving throw I got a six trying to decide if I should use an inspiration for an 11

I am out I'm gonna just use an 11 you got a 12 I got a 25 you got a 6 6 you got a failed death save you got an 11 you are able to shrug off the smoke as it tries to make its way down into your lungs

the violent shaking of the house, the roaring of the fire getting louder and hotter and heavier. Shepherd, you, however, are not able to shake off as the encroaching smoke as you begin to cough and wretch against it. It is pouring down into your lungs. You are going to take one poison damage. Never better.

And that ends the house's turn. Kahnem. You're still in the Hunters' Den. What are you going to do? Seeing that everyone has made it through successfully, I'm going to try and pad myself a little bit more just in case I get sliced up and just use my bed roll. That's in my pack and wrap it around myself

and try to dart through. Roll an acrobatics check. Ooh, I'll use my inspiration. Inspiration. There we go. There we go. Acrobatics? 23.

You wrap the bed roll around yourself, holding it close, breathing into it, helping to diffuse some of the smoke that's filling around you. As you quickly watch the blade whip through, slice through the air. The smoke in here so thick, you can see the blades slicing through the smoke where it clears a path for just a second before it fills the area again. You roll underneath it, you take no damage. All of you are now in this room together. Victoria, I need you to make another death saving. I need you to make a death saving. Yeah, you have 19 numbers to choose from.

Don't choose one. Fuck you guys. We have one twist. We have one twist left. Fuck you guys. Juice me, assels. There. There we all to pass. What is it?

Pass. 17. Oh, here you go. Never better. One fail, one pass. Clayton, it is your turn. I will pop a health potion out. I'm shoving their mouth. All right, Sarnax.

This is May you give me... I'm gonna sprint for the door. Looking at the door once again, where this door was, a swinging scythe is in place of the door. You look past it, you see the same thing at the entrance. You have two more of these to get through. But the light of the early morning sun cresting over,

you can see is just out of reach two more sides in your, barring your path. Wait, wait, whoa. So the front doors is... Every single door in this house has been turned into swinging sides. This is the main door, isn't it? You have left the Wolf's Den, and you now found yourself in the main door.

You then have to make your way through the mahogany doors, which now have a siphonic into the foyer, and then out of the front door into the portico. So just two left? Two left. Oh, I'm gone. I've never... Shep, never found out, baby.

All right, Sarnax, make your acrobatics check. I've never pulled so... Let's Ah Here Brine's out here to do her Great things

14 You attempt to do just as you had before You crouched down and begin to skitter through

and the tip of your tail is sliced from your body as you take 15 points of slashing damage You You reach forward and you see the tip of your tail squirming and wiggling on the floor.

You reach for it. And as you grab it and squeeze it, spurts of blood begin to pulse from it. Your eyes roll backwards and you fall unconscious on the floor. But he's like in between. He is. He is now in the entryway. All right. So we're all in here.

So we get from one over a twist. Shepard. She's like, Sarnax, no! That's a bonus, actually he's going to pop a potion, and then he's going to fucking go for it. All right, acrobatics, or, yeah, acrobatics check. I'm going to do those hit points first. Seven, seven, okay, I'm golden, baby.

They never felt better. Here you go, ladies and gentlemen. Tarnax, I'm going for you, buddy. This is acrobatics. Yes. This is a 14. You roll your weight. through, you're distracted by seeing

a friend fallen behind you, another in front of you. You would chance to roll your way through. And once again, you believe that you've made it. But as you look down on the opposite side, now bleeding from two sides of your body, you are going

to take... Oh, God damn! Ten points of slashing down. I'm good. I'm good. Are you all right? The house once again begins to shake and undulate between you, you will take, both of you will take

a failed death save. Oh, God. That puts you it too. I'm back. You run up to eight. I'm back up to you heal. Never mind. Then I need, you will take a failed death saved.

I need the rest of you to make a constitution saving. And smoke begins to billow. Actually, no, I am wrong. The two of you do not. Sarnax, you don't take that failed save. There is no fireplace in the room with you. Oh, thank God.

And so the two of you are fine. The three of you, I need to. Oh my God, thank you, Jesus. 15. 22. What did you get? Kana? 18.

With your hands over your mouth, you're coughing and sputtering, but you are not inhaling the deep gulps of smoke as they billow up into the room. Your eyes sting with the painful tinge of the smoke, the sides swinging back and forth in the doorways. For some of you, still two left. For one of you, darkness. The other. The outside is so close. You can smell and feel the cold morning air. Kana, it is your turn. What are you going to do? Do I feel like the slit where the blade is coming out of is wide enough for me to shove like a short sword through it, to lodge it?

It looks like a short sword would simply go in and then fall out with the movement of this. It's going so fast. Do I see anything around me that would be large enough that I could lodge in there to try to stop it? Roll an investigation check. Don't place time. You get through? 21. You're looking around, you're scanning this room as quickly as you can, but it is filled the brim with smoke. And you think back to what you saw when you came in here, and this area of the room was fairly scarce,

and there is nothing that looks like it would hold that blade at bay. There's no, like, logs of wood in the fireplace or anything like that? The fireplace is roaring. They're crackling and brittle. There is nothing in here that would stop it. Does anyone have an extra help motion? I've used all of mine at this point. We have one.

This is the big left? One. I think you, I have the one. Connor, what are you doing? I don't think I have two. I have two? You just got to run through. I'll just run through.

You haven't used any. Have you? All right, acrobatics. 21. You do you single. You look around and realize that attempts to stop these blades are futile and you are going to have to rely on the dexterity of your body.

even though chaos rains around you, you begin to channel and focus your mind and the ways that you were taught to do so. And it almost seems as if the blade itself slows down as you watch the way that it moves, this beautiful, deadly dance in front of you. You quickly move to the side and you spin as if you're going to go through

just as the blade would hit, but you know better as you spin the other way dancing beneath these blades, as if carried by the wind itself and you make your way through completely unscate. Can I run up to Sarnax and try to, like, medicine check him and try to stabilize him, or that would be like... That would be an action.

Okay. Yeah. To stabilize it would be an action. I just try to, like, lift him up and shove him towards the next one. He's the severed end of his tail held in his hand. Victoria. I don't know this is all for one. Give me one of your portions, please.

Before you go. Toss. Um... Get through! Just run! I was just gonna... What can you do? Do you have anything to boost, like, saving your jail back? And not from far away.

You gotta think it's through into this room. You just gotta go. We gotta go! Wait, so who made it through? I'm gonna run. Yeah, you're gonna run. Yeah, you're all my choice. Alright, acrobatics.

Got this. Fuck. Oops, there you go. You might actually be good. 17. Holy shit. You plush onto your prayer beads of Illmator, and you say a quick prayer. You close your eyes, and you pray for the guidance

from your deity to lead you through. And with blind faith, you walk beneath the blades taking no damage. Yes. Good job. Good job. Oh, no, it's Clayton. Oh, shit.

I'm sorry, I'm sorry. Time it and then run and... Oh boy, no, you're good. You got to do. Dex? Yeah. An acrobatics. It's an acrobatics.

13. You look at the swinging of the blade, and once again, you believe that you've timed it just the way you needed to. You rush through, but you didn't account for your right hand as two of the fingers on your hand are severed, flesh. they fall to the ground. Blood begins to spurt out as you take. This is fucking crying. Twelve points of damage. Oh, my God.

Oh, my God. It's okay. Mikey's like, I know. In this game, no, I like body horn. Mickey's like, you know, this is too bad. Where's my swatch? I'll save my handkerchief. Zarnags, I need you to make a death saving girl for me, please.

A two, I fail. Thank God he was going to watch. No one. Shepherd. No, yeah, you do. All right. As I see,

as I see Clayton coming through his fingers, I shapped up. Professor, get the ladies and go! And I shove a potion that'll start an axis. You do this.

And that is your action. The house once again undulates and moves around you. The blade in front of you, one blade in front of you, is holding you away from the cool night air. You can feel the,

a breeze warming your heated flesh as the smoke undulates and billows at the back of you. Your skin is warm, you feel feverish. Some of you are missing bits and pieces of you. You're heaving, you feel on the verge of retching, and there is one blade in front of you. As you see, the house shakes and more and the blade begins to move faster and faster.

Kana, it is your turn. What fuck. I'm gonna go through. Go, Kana, you can do this. Oh, Jesus. We have one push to fade. How much your point? I have 12.

That's. You love you. 10. You immediately see Sarnax begin to choke up blood, still clutching the severed piece of his tail in his hand. You look, but you see that the way the blade is moving faster, you lurch forward and dive through.

As you do, you feel the blast of cold air, hit your skin, and you intake breath. as you look behind you and you see a huge chunk of flesh rendered from the side of your forearm, you are going to take 10

and you are safely outside. You can see the smoke billowing the every single window in the house from this vantage point you can see is bricked up the decay and moss creeping ever deeper into this house. It looks far more decrepit, far older,

far more imposing. As you look at it from this vantage, the entire thing is moving and undulating in the trees. Smoke billowing out of it, your friends inside looking horrified. Victoria, it is your turn. I don't want to play. Victoria, there's no time. Get moving. Victoria, don't have you, go.

We have one. I'm just like in total fucking fear. I'm going to just around myself. bolster myself with necromanic a facility of life and one D4 plus four temporary hit points. So roll the D4 nice.

Ew, you fucking pyramids. You feckin paramed. Literally can't take the elbow with my big fingers. Next! Eight temporary hit points. That's really good. I'm mostly doing myself with eight points of a shot of a little close line.

And I'm just going to run. I need you to roll an acrobatics check. You got this. Come on, babe. I hate this. It's okay. It's the last one. 13.

That's pretty good. Shit. You got this shit. So 15. Oh. That's it? You bolster yourself with this false life. You see as this strange purple necromanic energy begins to swirl around Victoria.

Once again, she clutches her prayer bead to Elmottor. She extends her hand before. for her and she walks through the blades, eyes closed, unscathed. What? Oh, shit. Here we go. 15 is the D-C. Professor, are you all right?

No. So she's through. No. But we need to leave! Sorry. There's no time to hesitate. There's no time to hesitate. Follow Victoria.

Go! I hate this. I'm going to. I'm going to. I want you uncourt to help it and stick to my teeth, but like not freaking, try to like, don't feel like I get knocked from dogs and like, like, like Zionism. Why isn't it? It's not going to save me.

Give it to it. Oh, I'm, I'm alive. You're alive. You're alive. You're not off your cup. I'm holding you my arms. You're holding you my arms. It's okay.

It's okay. Sonny. It goes to Morgan. No, I have to have two through. I'm gonna have my person. Gallo's humor. I just look at him, I say, Clinton, go! And I run.

Roll an acrobatics check. Oh, fucking 18. Oh, oh. You hold on, you hold on to your severed fingers. They're in your left hand as you're holding down onto your right and the pulsing of the blood rushing to the area. Before I do that, can I take off my hat? Godspeed, I don't want to throw it in your legs.

You throw it through the glave. It sails through easily, and you quickly move through, and the blood rushing to your fingers, pounding in your head. You feel everything slow down, the panic and the adrenaline, finally getting to you, but you were able to make it through unscathed. Oh, my God. I'm shaking guys. You got out of my cork it.

I'm ready for you. Whatever happens. Sarnax. Holding sarnax. I'm like, all right, buddy. Are we all through? No, the three of you are. Don't worry about the tail.

We'll reattach that bit, but you've got to get up on your feet and get going. The professor's through there, right? Yeah. I'm through. I'm going to cast mending on his fingers. I'm not sure to work that way. And the next round, you'll get to different actions. Come on, same action.

You can do it, buddy. I believe in you. Garrette's. I am counting on you. to guide me through this house of evil and see me through to your light. And I'm going to cast guidance on myself and walk through with hypocrisy. That is a 17 plus 18 plus. Shrek and dog.

Hold on out. Shrek and donkey. It's literally a little. Holding your lantern out, you. channel your divine connection with Gareth. As, as radiant fire begins to swirl around you, and you charge forward, resolve in your heart. You will not be slain this day

as you walk through this blade on the scale. Shepard. Okay, I see my skilly buddy make it through. I steal myself and I say, oh, ship. All right, Doc. I told you I'd see you again. And I make one last dive through the old doorway here.

Twist, twist. This is the last time. This is the last fucking twist. Come on, y'all. Kiss it. There you go. 21. Yes.

Yes. Thank you, Jack. Yes. We did it. You. You look out to the early morning, the sun rising up, and you, think I will see you again. As you move forward,

you hold your hat to your chest and you roll through the blade. Your eyes tight, as you wait to feel that same slice pierced through your body, but it never comes. The morning air

begins to swirl around you. The house... Help you, Nikki. The house quiet. The smoke no longer billowing. Sarnax, you look down at the bloody stump of your tail,

and you see it's not missing the tip. It's there. Clayton, you're holding on your fingers throbbing viciously. But as you unfurl them, you see that they are firmly attached. The house quiet behind you. The sun slowly cresting over the peaks, of the mountains in the distance, you begin to hear the sounds of animals waking in the early morning air. It is at this point that you hear the fluttering sound of wings. And slowly at your feet,

a large letter is dropped to you. You look up and you see a black bird, brilliant feathers shining in the pale morning light. And what you read is, Hale Lerner, to thee of might and valor, I, a lowly servant of Barovia, send honor to thee. We plead for thy so desperately needed assistance. The love of my life, Irene Coyana, has been afflicted by an evil so deadly that even the good people of our village cannot protect her. She languishes from her wound, and I would have her save from this menace. There is much wealth in this community.

I offer all that might be to thee, and they fell. If thou shalt but answer my desperate plea. Come quickly, for her time is at hand. All that I have shall be thine. Kalyan Indirovich, Bergomas. And that is where we'll end the session. Wow! Yes!

Despite the best efforts of the Death House, the hero survived with all their appendages intact. With the cursed ruins behind them, the expedition must venture into brooky. Rovia Village and discover what darkness looms over the town. See if they can keep their sanity in Chapter 2 of Curse of Stradania, Sins of the Father. In the meantime, if you wish to watch Legends of Adventress tell similar stories of Dungeons and Dragons every week, you can follow us on Twitch and join our community on Discord.

All links are in the show notes. We welcome you to our Adventress family.