Legends of Avantris - Curse of Strahdanya | Ep. 7 | Suffer the Little Children: Part 2

Episode Date: May 21, 2025

The Azran Expedition deals with the horrible aftermath of Old Bonegrinder, setting their sights on Vallaki to find a bit of respite.   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/mKAznwcRdew?si=si-L2sSEphsPb4AI

You are back in the ruins of old bone grinder and listening to Curse of Stradania, a legend of a ventress podcast. Last time, the expedition left Madame Eva and the Vistoni behind to brave the wilderness of Barovia. They eventually came across an old windmill, where Morganta and her coven of nighthags had taken up residence. Following tense negotiations in a brutal battle, the heroes defeated the hags and saved several children,

from the terrible fate of being turned into dream pastries. They've burned old bone-grinded to the ground and now set their eyes on the town of a loki with rescued children under their protection. Little do they know or expect. I have eyes and ears everywhere. As always, the audio quality reflects our humble beginnings, but does improve over time.

With that out of the way, let us proceed with the second part of chapter three, suffer the little children. I hope that Garris dams this thing so far into the nine hells that nobody ever thinks of doing this again. Shepherd,

my friend, this will be just but the first of many damnations. I hope you're right. I hope you're right. Well done.

And I'm just going to turn and watch the windmill burn. I'm looking out on the horizon to see if the burning of the windmill has solicited any sort of reaction from like the forest or if there's any movement. Roller perception check. Are we like in the windmill? Like, is it kind of open field or is there forest around us? Or like what does it look like around?

So it's a hill and it's basically just grass all the way down until it meets the line of the forest on the small road. 13. Looking around, you don't see that there seems to be a tension that this has drawn. If anything, it scared things away

as you see smaller animals darting away from the tree line deeper into the forest. But something does catch your eye. Off the hill, down to the side is a stone circle, a circle of megaliths, standing still.

What are the base? Megalates? Like stone hands. Oh, okay, okay. How far? Maybe 100 feet. So you're here. That's where the windmill is.

You go down the hill and it's basically right down here. Do you all see that? Has that been here this whole time? I didn't notice it on the way up. To be fair, we're preoccupied. I glance up at the burning building. Does it seem like it's burning in any sort of unusual way? Or is it burning like wood would burn?

burning the way wood would burn. It seems to be burning more quickly, but you know that with Sarnax's oil, that tends to be how these things happen. Shall we press on to the pile of stone at the base of the hill, or do we need to see this through Starnax? Is it night? It's probably around, I would say,

five. Kana, I believe you know the answer to the question already. I just like politely fold my hands. stare about the bird building. To add on to what Sarnax is saying here, I'm also not comfortable taking three kids and the young lady down there as well when we've been through quite a lot of hell today.

I think with it getting dark, it might be safe for us to set up camp and weather the night. Get some rest. I'm going to check out the Stonehenge thing in the morning. Is that a medal? Right, yes. I suspect that this will burn through the night

should keep us warm and give us warm and give us light to stay safe by. I'm happy to watch it. I don't think we should camp that close to this cursive place. I hope these souls of countless

hundreds of thousands of children that met our ends here. I hope they find rest this curse a foul realm. I think we'll take a safe distance, but I kind of find the flames comforting in some way.

Is there any use for that deed, Professor? Toss it, the heat. Professor, edit. I pull up a deed. I'll keep my hat off. I will unroll it. I'll kind of give it one last glance. And I will

press theutation at the corner to get it going. And then I will set it on the pile of burning and step back I give him an approving nod

this is not just vengeance for the count the souls consumed in pastry this is also

a message she sees this pyre atop her castle she has a taste of what is come. I remember when he said pastry, but I still

had the half pastry in my bag. Very slowly I'm pulling it out and I open it realizing what it symbolizes and trying not to throw up. Didn't you buy like 10 of them they were going to give to people around the town? Yeah. I

think they were with either. It was a few of them. I don't know how. I can't remember how many we bought. I thought it was a few. We gave one to the person to the mother. Right. And so You bought enough for each of us. And you gave gold to her so she could buy her own over the next course of some time. So we have five left.

So we each have one. We each have one. Oh, fuck. But I believe, yeah. I believe I didn't take. I think that you had all of them or someone had all of them. Yeah, I don't think I ever had them. Connie, you probably have all of them.

Someone else bought them. I didn't distribute. We didn't distribute them out because, like, I don't have them in my inventory. Do we want them anymore? Fuck! I pretend to have all of them and I just take my bag and I empty all the contents out on. and I just kick the half that I had and just try to swallow a little bit of throwout

that is a feeling like that way. Just don't, don't think about it. Just don't think about it. Connor, we consumed the ground bones of innocent children. Professor, don't even think about it. You can't. You didn't know. You can't do that to yourself.

I knew that was magic. I trusted the magic wouldn't be this fellow. You couldn't be known the evil, though. We were hoping it was being used for good. We were wrong. It will not be misguided with this future. There are many questions to us. Any positive to solve?

Why are coveted of hacks? Why here? Do they have an alliance for the Countess? Didn't sound like it. I think many creatures of Borobia have a neutral standing with her. We seem to be neither here and neither. The star needs to be a mixed bag. Better set up camp.

Won't go near the megaliths, but let us keep an eye all night. Don't worry. I'm happy to take first watch and I'll stay up for a while. I just want to start to get my camp set up. And then once the camp is set up, I want to find the children.

If they're still awake. They're still currently on Irene's last. the smallest girl Myrtle is laying on her back as Irene tickles her and she giggles and kicks her feet near and she's telling them stories and spending time with them. She seems to at least know them to some degree. She doesn't seem super familiar with them, but the town was small enough that she'd seen these children before. And from what you've been able to gather as you watch this having set up camp, they knew more of her than she knew of them, thought very highly of her. And her being here has been a blessing to them.

Their comfort level has skyrocketed as they feel that they can trust her. I'm going to kind of like swat on my heels and take my hat off and just say, all right, three of you, we need names. And for you, and I want to give me a little boy, we need a new name. Do you want to give me a new name because you could? Oh, I don't know if I could do that. I mean, what do you think? Something heroic, something strong.

Sure. What's a heroic name for a small boy? Well, I, there's a man. A land far, far from here. Who is the bravest man I've ever known in my entire life. What is his name? Can I be his son, do you think? I bet you that if you had the chance to meet him, he would love that.

He took me in, and I'm his son now too. And now you're a hero. You came in and you saved all of us. And you can be a hero just like him. What would he name me? Well, his name. And I think it would be a fitting name for a hero like you. It's Thomas.

Old Tom Copper. I call him The Good Doctor. We call him Tom. Some call him Tommy Thomas. I like Tommy. Tommy. All right. That's better than freak.

The good doctor is the bravest man I ever knew. And you exemplified that bravery today. Yes. I will be strong and I will be a hero someday. All right. We got Tommy. Ladies, what are your names? The littlest one sits up.

My name is My name is Myrtle and I am the littlest one and this is my sister. And you see that she points over at her sister who's still completely a sister. Her name is Alana. Alana Myrtle and Tom. All right. Fantastic. I will, I'll have my, my case will be floating and open. I'll get some wood and I'll tie a string around it.

And I flew out the board. I don't know. As a ritual, summon my unseen servants. And just have him start building kind of my area of the campsite. And I'm going to pull out in a little folding, you know, chair It's just like the two things. And I want to just go through my books and notes and just scour over them to see if I ever, like,

if I can find anything in reference to hags or any connection because I think I would be surprised that there would be hags so integrated with all this Broview desk. So whatever I might be able to learn or remember. Roll an intelligence check. So that is a 12. You scoured through your notes, and these have been meticulously combed through.

by Victoria on your travel. She's alphabetized, organized, sectioned, all of these. And it is easy for you to look towards what you're looking for. And there is no connection between Stradania and being allied

with hags. Though you had heard of a fable of three hags getting lost in the midst and that they had been terrorizing a small village in Striga and one day just disappeared. So as we were settling down, I'll say,

I've just looked through my notes, and I did record a fable or a tale that I'd heard of Coven of Hags, terrorizing the town in Strigger. They were lost in the mist, and never to be seen again, the town presumably freed, but they must have found their way here.

Damn it! And Morgotha might not even be her real name. Ophelia, Belle Bella Do you think the Raven was Shadanya trying to warn us?

If it was then we had deeply offended her certain feeling we got coming upon it perhaps one day we'll have a chance to ask her she was warning us

about it then in my humble opinion she was only making the situation worse there were children up there of being sacrificed daily by these hags. It might not have been the wisest choice to fight them, but we were able to come together and destroy them.

We didn't have a choice. It was the right thing that we engaged and that we came to those women. Same thing I said, Sargent. Whether the hags are working with her or against her, the countess knew exactly what was going on. You did nothing about it. Right. Well, I got first watch.

All right. I'll take seconds. I'm going to go back over to the kids and find them and lean down again to Tommy and say, hey, buddy, listen, I got first watch. I'm going to make sure everybody here stays safe, but somebody's got to protect my hat. And I put it up the hat on the yellow boy's head.

You put the hat on, and it slides down completely over his nose. All you can see is a little bit of his mouth peeking out from under. Thank you so much. This is really cool in here. I lift it up. I say, I don't know. Get some rest, all right? And you make sure all the ladies are all right.

He tilts it forward and he looks at you through the holes where your horns protrude from. One day, I'm going to be just like you. That you already are. You're better than I. And I'll stride off towards the edge of camp. You see as you go to walk away, you at the corner of your eye, see him jump up. And you kind of keep your eye on him. And as you walk over, you see that he tries to model the way that you walk.

and as you just without even thinking about it, have your hands on judgment and redemption. You see that he looks and he does that too. And then you see him go, as he just kind of walks behind you. Get some rest in a while, all right? Good night. Not everyone.

I'll go under my tent. I'll take a last watch. You made for? I will say, though, I am not going to sleep. can't sleep not all night I'm going to stay up as long as it takes for the windmill to burn

and then I will once I see that then I'll be ready to sleep it is only like 6 o'clock in the evening so you're going to bed very early which means you'll be able to get up very early I think that's fine I don't think there's any reason for us to stay up past like you know

as to start to get dark anywhere you know and then we can get up on sunrise and move all now Well, yeah, I think, I mean, Clayton's totally tapped And fuck, right? So he's like, Just some rest for me.

I need some of this. I believe Stalnax will be some mess as well, so please don't stay up all that. I will go to sleep once I am done here. You, um, Irina sets herself up in one of the tents, um, all of the children, nestled around her,

the two girls, one on either side. and the small boy down by the hem of her skirt as he takes Sarnax's hat, he puts it over his head and begins to snore softly because they all drift off to sleep. You take your turns with your watch. And is there anything that you would like to do on your watches? I think I'm going to use a potion and just like flavored as me like patching myself up throughout the course of the night just to heal. So during, would if the windmill have stopped?

burning and been reduced to ash by the time the Shepard's watches up. It will probably burn all night. Either way, I'm definitely not sleeping. I'm staying in all night. Shepherd can't sleep. For the sake of this, it's functioning like a bonfire

and it is roaring all night. And I'll happily take my point of shelter in the morning. In that case, I will take the last watch. Can never hurt to have done watching it. I will take third watch. and I'll go to sleep. So while I, when I take my watch,

I'm flipping through that spellbook that we found in the deathups and feeling sort of impotent at the beginning of that fight, I'm going to come to the page that part of the spellbook that describes the whole person's spell. I'm going to set up alarm, and I'm going to kind of keep an eye out,

but during my two hours, I would like to transcribe whole person into my soulbook. Damn, all right. You would do that. On my watch, I would have been the last, but yeah. I assume it'll probably finish, it'll be finished burning in the morning. So I'll just, I will, I'll wake you up for third watch. For my watch, I will, I'll just wake up, and I will take my lantern and I'll just walk and I'll just step towards.

and I will just stare into the flame for the entirety of the two hours. And I'm not being particularly like active. I'm trying to keep like an ear out for things, but I'm not like scanning the horizon or anything. That's not I'll wake up.

I'll get up for my watch and peek in the tent to make sure that everyone is sleeping comfortably and if anyone looks like they're shivering or if they're cold I'll grab my bed roll and put it over them and then tuck them in and it blows the tent and basically pace around the lap around the the encampment until people start waking out but always looking out on the horizon

paying special attention to the uh was it the megalith megalith yeah it's a megalith structure megalific okay and yeah just be as vigilance possible while people are waking up slowly with that most of you enjoy along you enjoy one level of exhaustion. Disadvantage on ability checks, right? Yeah. You wake up and the windmill is slowly burning itself away into embers. As you begin to pack up the camp and get the children ready for the day,

you use the last bit of flame from it, I'm assuming, to cook breakfast. You have water skins on you, but they are slowly running low. they'll last maybe the rest of the day. You provide the children with food and water to start the day. You begin to pack up as the final flames burn themselves out in the windmill. And there's nothing but smoldering embers where it's broken down horrific place once stood. Could I cook the rest of the meat that we just pulled up that? Once it's all cooked, I'll just split it up evenly between everyone.

I'm going to give some of the shoulders of turkey. So as we're packing, I would kind of want to sidle up to Shepard. You were reading something yesterday. Uh, we all did what we could. I wish I could have done more faster. I wasn't prepared. I don't think anything, any of my training, anything to Doc could have ever taught me would have prepared me for the absolute, whatever that was yesterday. It seems you took guidance from Mr. Sopold. I'm not quite to happen.

Well, I mean, there's really nothing else we need to do of them and make sure that nothing like this can ever happen ever again. I'm not much of a godly person, but if Garrix is going to prevent these things from happening, then I don't see the problem of helping Garrix deliver his will, if you will. It's admirable that you've got to search for the night. I would caution him, however, Be careful where the light is coming from.

I understood. Like I said, not a religious man. Don't intend. I'm starting anytime soon. Just hearing out a fellow person who I appreciate their sense of justice. So, carry on. Thank you for your concern. I appreciate it.

Do you sleep all right? I do. Thank you. No one of you to stay up all the evening. I hope you get some rest in. I'll be fine. I just couldn't sleep. I tried, no good.

It's all right. We went through quite a long yesterday. I'll feel better when we get to floggy. Let's get on our way. Hey, Professor, you, uh, you don't mind, uh, you got any stronger than that tea, maybe some coffee? Uh, let's go take a look. I go through. I feel like we would have picked up coffee along the way, if that's more what you're used to.

I believe we still have somewhere from Yonah. It isn't going to do it any for my job. I close my case and open it back up in the bag of folding section and there is a canister. I'll see. Oh, Jeff, that's the good stuff.

Thank you, Professor. I appreciate it. You don't get your unseen servant to do this for us. Oh, Lucas, please. Help the man. Thanks, buddy. and I just like hold the can. I'll wait for like to take it. And so it magically takes it

and then there's a cup and there's a pot of water and pours. You have a cup. And my cup of tea. I appreciate. Cheers. Thank you. Cheers.

Thank you for what you did. Has the house finished burning at this point? Okay. While they're eating breakfast, I have like a haunch in one hand that I'm kind of just chewing on. And I walk over to the pile of ashes that I'm just,

sliding my Nagyana through it, just checking the embers for remains or anything unusual. There are tons of bones. But you have no way of telling whose bones they are, aside from the fact that the majority of them are small human bones. I will walk up beside Kana and say, it is but cold comfort. but their bones and remains will be part of the renewal from this dragon fire. And long after death, you'll grow to the sky,

and then be used for vengeance and justice as well. That comforts me, and I'll walk past her holding my lantern high, And I'll walk through the ashes, and I'll reach into my pack, pull out the seed, place it in one corner of the windmill ashes, and then another, and then I'll get to almost get a triangular pattern. I'll get to the final one. Now, all three of your souls will surrender to the soil of the earth. and I'll police it and pat it all down in the door to the morning. I finish my tea, all that it leaves at the bottom. I have a bad feeling about today.

Expect much anything else here now, Professor here on Moravia. I can't tell that tea leaves are giving me a sense of danger. Can you tell what? Not what. I said it may happen today. do we know roughly how long is going to take us to get to the lot well looking at the map it's roughly maybe several miles maybe three or four miles

we can do that quick I suggest since we have the children as well get get out of here fast the sooner we get to some sort of semblance of civilization the less like we are to have any more injuries or accidents I vote we at least on our way out we look at the megalids to see that has any kind of connection. That's fine. To the foul rituals the hags we're doing here.

As long as we keep our non-adventurers safe, of course. It'll be our option. That should be our number one priority. Agreed. Let's us go. Let's just make haste. So we go down to the megalobate. You make your way down to the circular stone megaliths, and you see that these towering stones,

Persia top them are 50 to maybe even 100 ravens. As they look down over you, the center of the megalis is nothing but a pile of small childlike teeth. Don't bring the kids down here. I'll trust here. You see that there are a few fetishes hanging from different places around the megalith. And as you walk around, the ravens squawk at you or crow at you, whatever ravens do, croak at you, as one of them picks the twine holding one of these fetishes to the megalith.

And it drops and shatters to the ground. They all make a loud croaking noise as they ascend into the air and circle. around the megaliths. This is a truly foul place. Do we have the time to spare, Professor? Yes, yes, we do. For this, yes. While he's getting ready,

I would like to richly cast Detect Magic to see if there's any sense of magic left on this ring. You do this, and you see that there is no magic that's here. It looks more like an offering. I would say roll

a history check. You look through this and you see that there is a bit of an archaic symbol, or there are archaic symbols that are carved into the stone. And it looks like this is an offering of worship to the wicked archfay deity, Keflin, of the crooked teeth. And I do not pronounce them. name properly. Because it's

Celtic business. It's C-E-I-T-H-L-E-N-N. I've tried to, with Arena's help, I would give her kind of annoying. I knowing look and I pulled the children around. They didn't go down to the stones.

Oh, okay. Did Arena stay up top with the hill with them? Yes, she's up at the top with them and they're playing. She's teaching them how to roll down the hill and then run back up and she helps slip them over and they roll down the hill and they're just playing games. Okay. I'm, more or less watching them to make sure they're safe.

This feels familiar. I've heard of tales in our research. There's a wicked, is it like a bad archfay? An evil archbay, yes. There is a wicked archfay known as Kefellan of the crooked teeth. I'm certain this is an offering to her. Perhaps that's just who they worshipped, when they were in shrugife, those are all the same hags that I heard of,

but what connection would that archway have here? Seemingly in a place of death, it's curious. Then I'll pick up my notebook and I'll just start desperately like scribbling down. Everything that I'm observing and the pile of teeth and what is kind of sketching out what the fetishes look like and that kind of thing. Professor, maybe when you're done, I can bring these fetishes. Yes, yes, I believe perhaps Please have the deprive.

So I just go around and I whack them all down. The ones that are remaining They are easily able to cut down And begin to build another pile For Sarnax to set a flame. Professor, do you need me here right now? Well, don't go far, but no. I'm gonna go back up the hill with Irene and the children.

Please keep an eye on them, yes. All right, I'm only a few hundred feet away. All right. I'll all if you need me. Sonax, should we be burning the offering in the shrine? The flames that we will call upon would not grant any power to this evil being, if that is what you were concerned with.

I trust you. I'll use my blade to scoop the fetishes poster to the center pile and keep on to what he's been holding up the teeth. Trust, not me, but the fire lord. And I'll basically light it all flame, and once it burns ashes, I will plant a seed directly at the center of the monoliths. And then that'll be that. Because what do you know of the fay?

What do I know of the fay? Not much. Not much. I've heard tales of Oshfay that they are fairy folk and they are trees, and they are tricksy, but that's about all I know. Just vagaries. It's not my expertise. I just, I know that there are certain rituals

that they will do with similar fetishes. In this one in particular, it strikes my memory as, Kathleen. Well, are you satisfied, Sarnax? I am. Thank you for giving me. an additional time.

I know we are trying to rush to Vala. Of course. Shall we? Let us go. You meet up with Irina and the children. She holds their hands as they skip, and they are happy not to be heading home towards the village of Verovia,

but to a land they've never been to, a city they've never seen, the village of Valaki, as you make your way along the path. and you head back towards the crossroads. Even here in the mountains, the forest and the fog are inescapable. Ahead, the dirt road splits in two, widening towards the east.

There you see patches of cobblestone, suggesting that the eastern branch was once an important thoroughfare. Parked at the fork in the road, pointed east is a large black carriage drawn by two blue black horses. The horses snort puffs of steamy breath into the chill mountain air. The side door of the carriage swings open silently. I've seen Dracula. How far ahead is this? Oh, maybe 50 feet. Oh, cold, everyone?

Do they see us? What is this? She can make the noise. Let the professor do the talking, everyone. Agreed. Irene, you and the children behind us now. Please. I stand in front of Irene. I ushers the children behind her skirts. You see as they clutch onto her and look at around,

they're not sure what they're looking at or why. And she steps behind the both of you. Is there a coachman or someone that's up? No. All you see is a black carriage drawn by two incredibly large black horses. The door of the carriage swung open, but it looks like pure darkness on the inside. I'll approach you very carefully, I would say.

The rest of you with me, please. As you approach, you see one long, slender hand extend its way out of the carriage, pale, almost pure white, long red fingernails. It appears to grab onto something, but you see nothing at all. But you look down and you see as dust as disturbed as an invisible servant of some kind of. helps as this figure steps out of the carriage. Her long dress, a dark, nearly blood red. Her bodice appears to be made of an almost black metal. Her hair piled atop her head, her lips, almost a pure red.

But looking at them, even from this distance, you don't believe them to be rogued of any kind, but natural in that hue. She looks between all of you as she firmly takes her footing in front of you, her bosoms heaving as she looks between all of you and her eyes linger for a moment. Directly between the two of you is she locks eyes with Irene. You feel Irina shudder behind her almost involuntarily. A small gas escapes her lips, but it's not one of fear or apprehension, but almost a pleasure. And as this woman steps towards you slowly,

Hello, friends. Welcome to Borovia. I see you have gotten mine invitation. Are you ready to dine with me at Castle Rith? You look, oh, so tired. You are... You are... She bows before you.

Fadanya von Zarovich. Yes, darling. It is my pleasure to meet you and all of you. Oh, we little ones too. May I? As she moves closer. No, please, please. Right there is fine.

Allow me. You know who I am, but I'm Professor Clayton Azra. She looks at you for a moment and you see a glint in her eye of irritation. But it quickly turns to admiration. You are strong. She reaches out and grabs your hand. And just as your fingers touch her cold skin, she holds you tightly, pulls your hand towards her

and places a kiss on your knuckles. Well, true gentleman always returns the favor. And I would like to kiss her knuckles as well. I'm the professor of archaeology, Miss Hallery University. The city of Brieg, you may already know this as well. You can tell me about it at dinner. Would you like to join me in my carriage?

It will get us there much faster. Unfortunately, we are not in a place to accept a petition. A lady does not like to be disappointed. I've been so hungry. I haven't eaten all day. I've been waiting for my guests. And I understand. There wasn't a date on the invitation, so I guess we had presumed that it was more of an open-door policy.

Well, let me speak to my dear Stylina, and I will be on my way. All right. Well, here she is right here in the back. Children, go to Mr. Morgan, please. No, let them stay. Children, please, I insist, go to Mr. Morgan. And children, she turns towards them, and you see as her eyes flash red, I insist that you stay. and you see as all three of them stop almost frozen. Now please ladies, move to the side.

And as she looks at you, she moves closer and you feel her breath on the side of your face. She reaches around your neck. Your button has come under. And she slowly buttons. She slowly buttons the button at the back of your neck. And she's slowly buttoned the button. slides her hand down the side of your face

if she curls one of the curled tendrils. Look, grab the shan the duck. And she walks past you slowly. She leans in to Irene, and she whispers something. You can see the tenseness in Irene's body, but she still doesn't seem to fear this woman. I'm standing right next to Irene, like I've moved out of the way, but I still am as close as I can to be next to her.

So I'm just staring, trying to listen to what. You can see the hairs on Irina's body stand on end as Stradanya breathes into her ears as she's whispering so softly that all you can feel are the vibrations of her voice. And you see Irene shudder. She steps back a little bit and she moves aside part of her dress and she pulls out three dolls. and hands them to the children. Oh. For the wee little bakes.

Do they look like the doll? They don't. They look like actual dolls. They're not the same make, not the same style. They look almost a vintage worth thing here, almost vintage old. They've got to wait, a gravitas to them. We're going to try this one more time, if I may.

Does it look like the doll from death house? It does not? and she hands it to them and they take it, but they seem nervous. She smiles down at them, flashing her teeth, pearly white for just a second. And you linger trying to look, but it's so quick you're not sure if you saw what you think that you saw. And the children seem to be completely enamored. As they take them, she squeezes their little hands. find comfort with my darling Karina.

She will take such good care of you with the ones. And as for my new friends, please don't let me down a second time. Dinner soon. My carriage will be waiting when you're ready. Yes, of course, very soon, and we'll very much look forward to it. I especially look forward to understanding how you know so much about us, about ever having met us until this very moment.

It is so interesting, isn't it? Ah, indeed. I would love to know how you. A learned man like you could learn so much from a learned woman like me. I have no doubt. Yes. We will have a lovely evening. Make sure to bring your appetites.

Yes. Yes. Well, then it is goodbye for now. I will be seeing you. It's a pleasure. My lady. And she looks to you. you, Victoria.

And you see as her face does not move, but you see her eyes wander the entirety of your body. I'm going to get like full body chills. Good evening. Because I have the room now. She turns around and you see as she straightens

her spine. It's almost as like the setting of the sun and the rising of the moon glints off of her skin as she slowly makes her way back into the carriage. You see her hand reach out one more time, and it waves to absolutely nothing. As the door slides shut,

and the horses begin to move as the carriage rolls down. As soon as the carriage leaves, I'm going to immediately turn to the children. They're like, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, let me see the dots. I just want to make sure there are We'll get you better dolls We'll get you better toys May I please

But the pretty lady gave them to us Did you see her outfit She must have so much money Do you think she needs a little boy named Tommy Probably yes But first we need to make sure that those toys are all right I'm sorry Irene I don't mean to trade you in for a new mommy

I'll stay with you and protect you Poo Poooo! Can I please see the dog? Oh, yeah, short, I don't play with dolls, and he throws the dolly. Professor. I play with these, and he just has his fingers there. Yeah. Send some more than I take 10 minutes to cast detect magic.

They are not, they're not magical in any way. All right, all right, all right, all right, it's fine. It's fine, it's fine. It's all right. I turn to Irene. Are you okay? I'm perfectly fine. I felt almost in trance like I couldn't say or do anything at all.

But I wasn't, I didn't feel scared. It was like that moment, you know, when we were fighting those, those rivulently large wolves, and I was afraid for all of our lives, and I just took my knife, and I just rendered it. And I never would have done that. And I felt sure of myself, but also incapable. What, what the nine hells was that? That was Lady Stradonia.

That was the Countess. I mean, I know, but... What the hell? What did she say to you, Irene? I... I don't remember. It made me feel wicked. Can I inside-check her when she says I don't remember?

Yes. She seems to be really shaken up, so... As far as you can tell, she's being honest. I put my hand on her back and give her a run. Oh, that gave me the chills. Thank you. I'm rubbing my hand up her back, but I'm also trying to make contact with the back of her neck

to touch her skin and just feel how she's feeling. She's sweating. She's perspiring pretty profusely, actually, but you feel around her neck, and she sees what you're doing, and she grabs your hand. You can look at them and they're fine, the mosquitoes. Oh, I wasn't looking for that. I was just making sure you were feeling all right.

I wanted to make sure you didn't have a fever. Oh, wow. Sorry, I'm a little jumpy. That's okay. Is she feeling cold or like she's flushed? Yeah. She's definitely flushed. Like she's feeling completely shaken up.

But she doesn't feel like overly hot or overly cold. No, she doesn't seem like she has an affliction. While they're all having conversations, I want to like lean in towards Sarnax and quietly to him just be like, I do not lie where this is going. I will look at him. And then look at Irene and say, Neither do I. She wishes us to be afraid.

She thinks she can toy with us. After our message we sent last evening, I am going to step forward to Irene. And I'll hold my lantern up. I'll narrow my eyes. I look at her and I'll say, what personal relations have you had with the countess? I'm just tell you, I, it's all a blur.

It's foggy, but I feel a sense of familiarity, a sense of for a moment longing. but now I feel a sense of repulsion and disappointment in myself for not being stronger for not being an adventurer like you told me I could be I find that I feel quite the same she's rather than talking to you

doesn't she does it was jealousy when she touched you she shakes her head I don't know I don't know how to answer your question I know that I've seen her I know that I've talked to her, but I could not tell you what was said, and I couldn't tell you when. Irene, come on now.

I told you, you got to steal ourselves. Yes, I will be strong for Tommy and mortal. Please. And alonger. I don't know what's going on. I don't know what this is, but we've got to be strong. You must make sure that they know her, presumably her magic is strong, but you have to, She charms you or overcomes you in any way.

Try to fight it, if you care. Yes. You have to understand that she doesn't mean you well, and she certainly doesn't mean these children well. And how do you know that? I don't. I listened to everything you've said, from the time we started traveling until now,

and we've met horrific things. I've seen them, but none of them had her mark. She was not there in that windmill. She did not. have a hand in what they were doing as far as I could tell. But... It's assumptions that were making. And what if she is our...

What if the woman in the tent was wrong? What if we're not meant to kill her? What if she's our ally? At the end of the day, she was turning a blind eye. She was fully aware it was going on in that women. How do you know she was... How do you know she was capable of doing it? Look at your skin, woman.

Look at your neck, your breasts, your... arms, she's been feeding upon you. I told you, it's a bite of the insect. These are the marks of a vampire. But not Sforotu! I know nothing of what you speak. Did you see her when she smiled? Did you see her foul fangs?

Snap out of it. She's been coming to you. She's been charming you. I saw how you interacted. She's done this before. And that was the proof that I needed. She acted like she knew you. It felt like I knew her.

It was so strange. And why do you think that is... Don't yell like that in front of the children. Sorry. He's right, though. Monsters like that thing, they pray upon people by people who can't fight for themselves. They can fight for myself.

Then prove it. Do it. I have. I've shown you. You don't know what it's like. You know you've felt but a small bit of it. They don't understand. what it's like for us, that I don't think they are immune to her. She just hasn't chosen them yet. I don't think any of us are immune.

And I'm not asking any of us to be immune. She was very powerful, but the point is we don't know her intentions yet. We've heard lots of different things, and yes, we haven't seen her mark on any of these explicitly. But I've seen enough now to be convinced, and especially seeing that powerful divination measure. That's what convinced me. I'm not saying I trust her.

I'm saying I am preserving my judgment. I choose to trust nothing. Shepard turning a blind eye alone in a land that is ruled by her atop her castle is a sign of endorsement. And you mention her ability. it was she

that entered the death house and put an end to the evil, horrible, powerful people that made it the horror show that it is. And you think she would not have the ability to do what we just did. I don't know. We almost...

We almost didn't even make it out of that house. I don't understand any of this. I've lived my life in a home with a father and a brother, and we have kept our heads down and we've been fine until recently. We don't know any of this. I've never encountered Hag Only stories. How am I supposed to know whether she is capable of doing anything about them?

How am I supposed to know what her capabilities are? I've never heard of what I've heard of a vampire, but I don't understand what they do or how they function. And you look to me as if I should have answers. I don't have the answers you seek. I don't have the memory I wish that I had. We're not blaming you. We're not.

We're not asking anything of you that isn't possible. But what we are saying is think for a second. It almost took the five of us. After you saw what we did yesterday, we almost didn't make it out of that death house. And she walked in its slaughtered racks and cultus like it was nothing. So the story says it. She could have done that very thing to this covenant of hacks.

Probably with a lot less pain than it took us. And I hope if that is true that she would have. But now, I'm going to keep my thoughts open. I'm not going to vilify someone who I have not seen do any wrong. But I... But I... But I... I've never seen it happen.

The evidence is all over you. Tell that to the good doctor, as you would say. It told me, I was spitting by mere insects. I'm sorry if I'm more chance to believe a doctor than a group of adventurers, even if one should be a librarian. It's very possible the doctor may be under the countess's employment. They may have been charmed.

I'm not saying that I believe that she is good. I'm saying I don't have enough proof to believe that she's evil. And until then, I will watch and I will keep. my eyes open and I will be smart because what I do know is that assumptions only get you so far and sometimes it can be your end I will not act until I have proof and so far all I have horrible horrible ideas and fix it I admire your commitment to the truth and to facts and I agree

that we don't have a mountain of evidence yet. But I hope to show you what's truly going on. I hope to prove it. Well, if you believe in fate as much as we all say that we believe in fate, then there's a very good chance we'll meet this, doctor, so-called. We'll get the bottom of all this.

I have no doubt we will. But as you now, I'm not enjoying standing on this crossrooms. Yes, it is me. Let's move with haste. Get somewhere safe. where there are preferably people and no more wolves. And we are going straight to the church.

To the Milwaukee. To hallow the ground. To Velocci, then. Agreed. You begin to make your way towards Volaki. The children, it takes in about 10 to 15 minutes of telling ridiculous jokes, and they find them hysterical. They burst out into laughter.

None of you are swayed. You smile and you engage with them, but they are finally able to bring Irina out of her thoughtfulness. She then begins to tell jokes with them. She'll occasionally swing one on her arm and lean down and tickle them. And it's as if her spirits are returning to her as you begin to make your walk. And it takes a few hours. Multiple times you have to stop and rest for the children.

and on occasion you allow them to ride on your shoulders and give them a brief respite from the wear on their small feet. As the old Spallet Road meanders into a valley washed over by dark brooding mountains to the north and to the south, the woods recede revealing a sullen mountain berg surrounded by a wooden palisade. Thick fog presses up against this wall. Is they looking for a way inside? The verge road ends a set of sturdy iron gates

with a pair of shadowy figures standing behind them. Planted in the ground and flanking the road outside the gates are a half dozen pikes with wolf heads impaled on them. Who goes there? State your business, stage your names. I noticed Professor Harder. Well, we are, my name is Professor Clinton, Azran, and this is my expedition.

I'm from Miss Hallory University, and I'm the archaeology professor there. And what business do you have in Blocky? Well, we have several orders of business. but this is part of my research. Research on what? Research on the wonderful land of Provia, of course. You have anything like this?

Not an apparent. You certainly being whispering back and forth. Who sent you? Stay to all of your names. Name Shem. Connor. Sornax of the Aedlewood. I'm Miss Victoria, Isaacs.

And I'm... Ivrina Coliana the daughter of the burgomaster of the village of Rovuevian Ah, do you say your name was Irene Coliana? Yes, yes, sir. I was sent by my brother.

Over the gate. You hear as the gates as they opened before you, these two town guards are fully armored. Both of them crossbows on their back. spears in their hands, sword at their side as they are up on this parapet at the top of this wooden palisade, as they look down at you.

Well, you may end you then. Thank you. What's this this place? You enter in, and as you enter in slowly walking through, you see that this town has a different air about it than the previous town. And you look around and there are people milling about and you see that on some of these houses there are old ribbons and streamers. You see occasional pikes with wolves heads on them. And you see notices about town festival, town festival as you begin to walk into the town. What's the name of the church that we're trying to find?

the church that you had heard of was the abbey of st marcovia the abbey of st marcovia we need to find refuge for these children as quick as well as so as we pass it to the gate if i have a chance to ask one of the guardsmen can you direct us to the uh can you direct us the fastest way to be to the abbey of st broncovia and you're just asking someone random i'm asking just one of the guardsmen that let us throw that's a that's not in town here. Wrong town, friend. Where? You're looking for Cresque, if you're planning on, heading on to the Abbey.

You can talk, you can talk to the, you can talk to the father over at St. Andrels. Well, we're mistaken? What? How could we make a mistake like that? What is your business with the Abbey, Cres?

Well, we, we, we've heard that there's a very impressive church in Borovia and full of much hallowed ground and as part of my research I would love to go see a lot of us. They're looking for hallowed ground. St. Andrew's is where you want to be.

All right. The bones of St. Andrew will lie beneath the altar there. I mean, you couldn't get more hell of that. It's one of the safest places than all of Borougham. I... The other guard nudges them. What are you doing talking to them about that?

I only said myr's accent. That's good. Professor, maybe we should head over there immediately. Yes, of course. Well, how did you get there? Well, you just head. It's on the opposite side of town, head straight through the main thoroughfare.

If you look at the map, if you head straight towards Old Spalloch Road, there is a red building shaped like an almost like a cross. that you'll find happens to be. Yes, with an attached, perhaps is that like a graveyard or some kind of fence there? Professor, we should go. Yes, of course. Right, right the second.

Thank you, gentlemen. We appreciate that. As soon as they are out of your shell, Professor, did you hear what they said? About what's supposed to please, please tell me you a professor. Come on, you're a lot smarter than me. I said that the same, the abbey is a different city. No, they got bones laying under that abbey. Oh, you mean like the prophecy, the...

Goddamn Tiroka cards. Oh, my. Oh, yes. The, the first... It was the first one, is that's right? Victoria, my news. Victoria, May I believe I had you write these down, Victoria. Yes, it's the card, the traitor.

Read it aloud, please. This card tells of history. Knowledge of the ancient will help you better understand your enemy. That's right. Look for a wealthy woman. a staunch ally of the devil, she keeps the treasure under locking he with the bones of an ancient enemy.

Ancient enemy of... We got to find out who the saint is. We got to find out who the saint is. Maybe it. Indeed. Enemy. How do we growl? Mr. Walker, you're genius.

No, nothing. This is a professional job. I just happened to notice. It was strange. They mentioned, this guy's got to be a pretty big deal with a saint. If people are talking about him, you know, however me a question.

years later. Very clever. Very clever indeed, Shepard. Well, while we are walking through town, let's look for the biggest house or the biggest manor. Perhaps we can ask around

to see if there's some very wealthy person that may be this ally. Couldn't hurt. Let's go. You make your way through the streets of Velaki, and you see that there is an air of levity.

to this place more so than you had experienced in the village of Borovia. And there are significantly more people walking around. Those that walk past you, they look at you physically. They're not familiar with seeing people here. But they

don't stare for too long. They make no emotion to engage you in conversation. They still don't shrink away from you, which is what you had experience in the village of Borobia. And you make your way towards along this path

until you get to a section that splits off in multiple directions. And it's here looking for large houses. And you can see that off one road to the right, there is a large mansion. But in kind, off to the left, there's also another large mansion. So far, the two biggest homes that you've seen in all of Borobia,

at all. You continue on your way, just making a mental note of these two houses, as you continue along the path. And it takes you about an hour to travel from, no, it doesn't take you an hour. It takes you about 15 minutes to travel from the entrance gate to this church. Looking at it, this slouching centuries-old stone church is a bulging steeple in the back and walls lined with cracked, stained glass windows depicting highest saints. A fence

of wrought iron includes a garden of gravestones next to the church. A thin mist creeps among the graves. So it's so a misty town. It's eternally misty. You were standing outside. Are there any lights in the windows

or anything? You can see that there's a flickering of candlelight inside. It seems to be well eliminated. Native should see us. Shall we go in? Yes, you shall. Just prepare in case the powerful ally may be the priests inside. It was truly hallowed ground with servants of the countess should not be able to set foot,

but we will all stay on guard. Agreed. We go in. You make your way up the stone steps to the large wooden doors, and you take hold of the handles, and you pull them open. You make your way inside and you see that there are rows and rows of pews. And it seems to be nearly empty. There is one small woman towards the back who is knelt in prayer,

statues lining the walls towards the very front, one large statue of what appears to be a saintly man. And a man stands there in, pure white holy rose his head bent over as he recites prayer directly in front of this statue excuse me you're literally at the very back of the church this would be like you screaming down a Catholic church well we will uh which you could do I asked Paul so basically we should think like Catholic church stained windows bunch of cues all the way up to an altar of front Okay.

So I will walk if you're very loud, if anyone's ever been in like a church. What up, Daniel? Like super echoey. And like, like, every little sound gets amplified at a ton. So I guess we'll sort of walk our way slowly up to the front of the church. You make your way to the first three, or the last three views, technically the first three pews from the altar. and Irene is constantly trying to wrangle the kids.

They want to go light the candles or play with the statues and she's trying to wrangle them while keeping some semblance of silence. As the attention that you are drawing, not there are many patrons here, it can no longer be avoided. As you see the man rise and he turns to look at you, his eyes look tired.

He is dark circles. beneath them. He's older. The crow's feet around his eyes and around his mouth are clearly visible as he turns towards you and you're welcome to the Churchill, Saint-Den. I am Father Lucian. It's great to have you. Father Lucian, it's pleasure to meet you, Professor Clayton Nazran. He shakes your hand, slow. This is an expedition for Miss Haller University. And an expedition. An expedition at my church. Yes, yes. I see.

But I guess now we've come a long way and feels are suddenly... You have come on a pilgrimage to see the bones of St. Andrew. Well, that is certainly part of why I'm here, yes, to learn more about St. Andrew and learn more about the gods that you all worship. For God, I suppose. There's just one or not one. It is God, the morning, Lord. The morning, Lord.

And you do not worship the moon god? Not in this church. I see. Do we worship this. We are a priesthood of the morning one. Well, um... It's a beautiful church. Thank you.

It is very beautiful. Do you happen to have any services here, have some Mass? In the evening, we have service from seven to eight. good and tonight. Well, I would love to attend that, of course, and do you offer any other services to Velaki? Is there perhaps an

orphanage or confession or maybe community service? Those can be arranged should they need to be. Yes. What we cannot account for here at the church, we deliver to the abbey

of St. Markovia. Well, Sorry, I'm sorry if I'm stepping out of turn here, but the children, the orphanage, the service, that's not something you have. The children, and you see as he looks down for the first time and sees, ah, the children, they are without parents. That's correct, and we're looking for a safe place for them, but I don't know if I'm comfortable with that if you're talking about just shipping them off to another abbey. How many do you have here? Three. I believe we would have three for free.

Well, I mean, what's it like? Is it comfortable? Are they going to be all right? Yes, they would have rooms here at the church, and they would learn the word of the morning world, and they would help in service. They would attend classes, and eventually they would make their way into society.

What about meals? I mean, are they going to be well fed and taken care of? We are not going to fatten them up, but they will eat enough. Father, that is a strong name, Lucian, Were you named after anyone? I was not. Do you have a surname? Petrovich.

Thank you. Petrov. Do you have room for adults as well? I'm not sure I understand what you were asking. Well, Miss Irene here, has come from a long way. I'm sorry, what are you asking you? Well, I'm asking if... Perhaps, while we further investigate over the darkness that's happening, you...

I'm not coming with you. I'm so sorry, Father. But you're not coming with you. It's not the entire purpose that you were bringing with for an adventure. Well, yes, I believe the adventure is coming to a new town and exploring it, and now perhaps looking after these children. You're in the church. You see as the small girl looks up.

Lady Irene, you're not going to believe us. are you. Please don't leave us. And Irina grabs her hand and she looks down at her. Of course, I wouldn't leave you. And she looks up at you

and almost gives you this look of disdain for a second feeling like you turned the child on by saying what you said. I would not dream to leave you. Yes, father. If the children are not to stay,

Would you mind if I, would it be possible for me to pay for a room to stay as well? I could be their caregiver and I could help in whatever way you need. Well, we are in need of somebody new to work in the nursery, so if you believe that you can handle these small children, I will not charge you to stay with the church. It would be our pleasure to have you here and to assist with these little children. There is some paperwork that needs to be done, but I know we can handle it shortly. Father, do we stand upon hallowed ground?

Are you a holy man? Yes, I am. Not in the way that you define it, but yes, I am. He looks you up and down. And who do you serve? Who do you worship? Garrix, the fire lord. I don't like the dark, sinister nature that is around you.

It is off-putting for a man of God. It's very interesting for someone to say such a thing. You are slowly moving your claws in my direction. If you live in a land that is dark and evil itself, when a simple lizard such as myself is simply, trying to bring the light. Living in a land of darkness is not by its very nature make you dark. It is those that hold the torches in the darkness that bring the light.

That is what we do at the church of the morning world. But we do not, however, is try to intimidate those around us. Do not brandish your claws in my face. You are in my house now, man of God. I do not use these claws for renders. and tearing, they are simply on my person. Then keep them at your sides. Sarnax comes off a little strong initially, but I promise he's a good person.

That may be so, but when you are meeting people for the first time, you should bring the best version of yourself you would want them to see, where people cannot know your intention or what you do with your claws. They see what they see at first sight. Yes, apologies for Solnix. He means well, trust me. He's a very holy man. He has done great good, especially in helping these children. In fact, young Alana here, he seems from the brink of death. You see a smile on his face as he looks down. Little one, is that true? And for the first time, you hear her speak. It was true. You see, I was having the worst dream.

But all of a sudden, he lit me on fire. And then I was not dying in the room. And you see for a moment, confusion and fear crossed the, Father Lucian's face. And he looks back to you. He looks back to the little girl and he inspects her. Well, you look like you are doing well, my child. You will grow strong and happy here.

Tell the man what I am, child. He's my guardian lizard. He's defy a lizard. I am a dinosaur. Oh, no, that's what Martin calls you, but I know you're not a dinosaur. Dinosaurs are birds, not lizards. Don't all children like dinosaurs? Yes, but you're not a dinosaur.

I am terrible like a game in order of crocodiles. Thank you, child, for your knowledge of reptiles. Or like a commodo dragon. Do you see, father? You see his Tommy steps out and he says, Yeah, you know, he's more like a lizard, and I'm a hero. That's right.

And he stands in front of you, Sarnax. Don't worry, Sarnax. I will protect you from this mean man. Al-Cami, he's not mean. The father does well. He means well. And he holsters his finger guns. I'm sorry, sir. He looks like you could probably be nice, but he's my friend. We're all just getting to know each other. And you see as he does your stamps.

Things are a little tough right now. That's all. He puffs his chest up. I've gained a lot of muscle walking for one day. That is true, child, but fear not. He is not being mean. He is doing what he should be. If a strange, scaled figure holding a lantern, claiming to be a worshipper of a God

that has never been seen in a land enters your church, it is only the reasonable thing to be distrustful. Or all but doing the best you can. I would tell. The father, that I myself am a lantern bearer in the darkness, in the fog, simply attempting to shine my light into the darkness. Roll a persuasion check. At advantage for the help of the children.

Yeah, kids. When your dice up, just have some kids help you. And can we talk about what Kelst just said, a spin-off movie of a dinosaur babysitting three orphaned kids featuring the rock. coming spring 2020. Exactly what's happening. Literally, I believe, 19. He looks for a second as if he's uncertain,

but he looks between the kids and he sees how happy they are. And he sees the faith that they have put in all of you and the awe in which they look up at all of you. Well, children see often what adults will not and if they see good in your hearts then i will trust that that you do not come here with foul intentions i have not known one of your kind let alone one that claims to be a man of the gods we should move this conversation to my background it should not be out here yes i suppose you said your name was irena

Yes, it is. Please, if you make your way to the front of the room on the right, they will set you up with the paperwork needed to help us tend to the children. Bang, we appreciate. Thank you. I guess this is good good guy then for now, at the very least, you're not going to leave me here. No, no, no, for now, just stay here with the children. Keep an eye on them.

It's just that the silk touch to you. And this, grave, dangerous folks, we need time to investigate. While you are quite capable with that knife, I think it's best that you stay here on hard ground. And I urge you, you do not leave this place. No matter what. No matter what, until we come back for you, all right? Give us a few hours.

The fate of your soul depends on it. I'll never get used to you. Yes, I promise. I will stay, I will stay with the children, I regard them. Please just tell me everything that happens. Just I hate to say it, but it's been lovely going on an adventure with all of you. Though I will say I'm incredibly privileged that you did not have to witness what you did inside of that window. That is that.

I've enjoyed your company, greatly. And I've enjoyed your company, and you've made a lovely member of my expedition. Oh, could I say that, Irene, a member of Clayton Azran's expedition for Miss Hillary University. That's right, you certainly can. The great librarian for Miss Hillary. And I promise if you make sure that you do not step foot off of this hallow ground,

there will be more adventures in store. Great. And ensure that the children do not leave as well. I will do as such, thank you. the priest should hopefully take very good care of you. You shouldn't have to leave for any reason. Well, I thought I'll hurry these little ones home. All right, children, we have to go sign some paperwork, so come with me.

And they begin to move forward as you see Tommy kind of look back, and he kind of shuffles his foot from side to side, and he tugs on her dress. Could I have just one moment, please, and she should. sure, Tommy, and he starts to run over, but then he writes his stance and he starts to walk in the way that Shepard does. And he walks up to him and he goes,

is it okay if I say that I'm going to miss you? Or dolly, does that not make me tough? Buddy, the first thing you're going to have to learn is that there's no such thing as not being tough if you think you're hiding your field. It's fine. It's all right.

I'm going to miss you, too. But it doesn't mean that this is the end. We're coming back. I'm going to see you again soon. Okay. Then I'm going to miss you most of all. And, um, buddy. Body, I'm really tough.

That's pretty good. Keep working on it. And then he turns to Victoria and Takana. Howdy, my... And he has no hands. hat, but he tips his hat. And he turns and he turns and he, he shuffles away. He looks back quickly and he smiles.

So cute. And I just give him a little white finger. And he runs over and he grabs, um, he grabs, um, he grabs Irina's hand and they all shuffle off down the, down the church. This podcast is brought to you by our Patreon. Become a patron today at patreon.com slash legends of avatrous and gain access to tons of exclusive perks, including a monthly movie night and a weekly Patreon exclusive campaign set on the high scenes, 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 tone for Dungeons and Dragons Fifth Edition. And don't forget to snag all of the extra goodies like dice, miniatures, plushies, a tarot deck, and more. Thank you. I tremble to think about what would have been. happened had we not slain the covenant? I try not think about it. To those children, it would certainly be killed. Are we out of your shot? I thought we were.

Irene and the children? Of Irene and the children, yeah. Professor, I don't need to be, again, presumptuous, but we still have to deliver Irene to the other end. That was the goal. I just was mistaken and thinking that it was here. But we were strictly told. Do we, out of character, did we, did he specifically mention the abbey?

Or does he just mention Hall of Brown? He said that he believed there was an abbey and he gave you a name. And he said he just wanted you to get her to Hallad Graham. He knew that Velockey was well-thwarted by. He's also never been to the Lockheed. Who told us about the one that started with an abbey? He didn't. He named it.

He just easily could have been confused. He was mistaken. Right, right. Okay, that's not fun. He goes wrong information, but didn't mean. And maybe, maybe this is fun. Maybe we can, maybe she's okay here. But I'm, I'm just,

people make mistakes. It just seems like it was pretty, on purpose that he mentioned this other ad. Well, I believe no matter what, this is temporary, and I fully plan to, once we investigate Velaki and we see, you figure out what the hell is going on. Perhaps we can come collector

and take her with us to the Abbey. Or maybe she'll be settled here in the church. Either way, I just want to make sure that she's safe for now, and she's in brave danger, as are the children, they would be if they were to continue journeying with us.

I 100% agree. It's very good hands for now, but this is a large town, it seems. We've got some exploring to do. It's better that we leave in a safe place when we do it. Damn it! You know, No, I meant to ask the father if we're asking.

He's still right there with you. Yeah. Going to his back room to discuss further, so perhaps you've been so asked him. Oh, perfect. It was about services. I assume he asked us about a pilgrimage to see the bones. I wonder if they do like a viewing or some sort of scheduled appointments or something along those lines each day. Or if it's some sort of...

Well, look, could we see the bed? We should talk about this in the other room. Yes, let's go to the back room. Please. He escorts you around the pews and into a side area. He opens, he pulls out a small metal key ring and unlocks the door, pushes it open. And you find yourself in a very small room. It's sparsely decorated, a few holy symbols around the room, a desk and a few chairs.

The chairs are wooden, don't seem comfortable at all, but he ushers you to sit down as he takes a spout of the desk. Well, I think that it may be good fate that you have made your way here when you did. You mentioned the bombs of St. Endel, and I overheard you talking to your friend. What is the purpose of her staying on hold, crowd? Well, I suppose we should be honest with you father. she seems to be enamored unwittingly with the Countess Shudania von Zorovic I see very much so she visits her when she was at her home she was being fed upon had no memory of the fact and even some physician came by and told her that there was very

large mosquitoes that were feeding on her in the night and so we need to bring her to her somewhere safe? Are we safe to assume do you, can you keep her safe from the Countess? Until recently, you would be standing on hollowed ground. But recently, the bones of St. Andrew were stolen. By whom, father? Son of God! I have my thoughts. Up until recently, I had never spoken about the government. exactly where beneath the church the bones were resting. But recently, I confided in our altar, Woyeska.

Now I have talked to him, and he claims that, well, he has admitted that he told another soul of the exact location of the bombs. But he will not tell me who. I am afraid that he may have told Milivorch. He tends the grounds and he buries the dead. This is not good. But Milivog is young and his temper is hot. If I confront him, I am an old man. I do not know what he may do.

We have ways to make him speak the truth, Father. I do not want to profess guilt, but I have a hunch that if anyone was going to get the information out of Pieska, it would be me. Is he here on the grounds as we speak? He may be in the graveyard outside. I mean, if we need to, we can round these boys up, scare out of the day, us out. You know, that might be exactly what they need. That's right. I'm curious, is there a wealthy person here in town, and especially wealthy person that might be an ally?

What's for Donya? That is a strange question, friend. I might have the answer, you seek, but I don't want to make enemies. What would you need of a person like this? You know, I do not. want to be involved. There is a wealthy woman. Yes.

There is. Lady Wachter. Lady Wachter. How might you spell that? W-A-C-H-T-E-O. You might think it was Vachter, but the book says it is Wachter. So in another land we might pronounce Vachter. This is true.

So Lady, Lady Wachter. Does she have any connection with this? Nilo-minivolve? None that I am aware. Where in town does she know? If you continue to head towards the east gate, you will find a fork that heads up to the north gate, that leads you towards

Lake Sarovitch. Her house is the large mansion along that road. You cannot miss it. Thanks. Thank you. You hand you a pamphlet and a map. And here you can go into town and you can schedule a boat drive or a fishing trip. I'm kidding.

None of that happens. Those duct tours. Got to lighten the mood sometimes. Yacht store. Yacht stores. I did all one of those lines. I love yaks tours. So Lady Wachter, she is actually yacht her.

And she's in charge of the yachts. No, she actually has the opposing... Remember that time we played D&D and witnessed a breaking and entering at our own home? I will step forward and I will say, So you mean to say that the young lady is not safe from the countess while she's in this church? Well... The countess has never made her way to our church, even after the bones were taken. While they are here, this is hollow ground.

She cannot step upon it. Until then, she could come to Volato, but she does not. There is much more here than just a church. Well, let's assume for a minute she knows that she can't set here, but the bones are here, right? If she doesn't know that they're gone, we might only need a day or two to get them back. It is important that you do not say to anyone

that you are looking for the missing bones. We wouldn't dream of. We wouldn't want her to find out. No. It is imperative that nobody in the village knows. Agreed. It would cause a widespread panic. We will stay silent on the matter.

But in the meantime, let us find this grave digger. And, as you said, scare thee as Maudaus. Yeah, as Madaeus. Out of them. Yeah. This is term phrase. And father, we should mention the girl's father has passed rather recently. It seems that since he has, she's had no more of these bites.

Now, it's only been but a few days, perhaps a week at most. There's been some weird stuff going on. That has been some strange things. Interesting. I will keep note. There is no safer place for her of the wee babies, but here. I will keep my eye on them I will not allow them to leave the church

Before we part ways And I'm sure we'll see each other very soon I sure hope we do Do you have any material on your girl On the morning long I would love to learn more about him About your rituals His Greek feats and miracles

You bring me back the bullets of St Andrew And I have a tomb with your name on it All right But Yeah, just one last thing. Is there a place where we can do some trading? I mean, we've come a very long way and we're pretty low on supplies. We just need to do a little bit of view.

Yes, of course, and you probably would like to sleep. I'm assuming that you will immediately jump on this endeavor, but you should rest at some point this evening. The blue water in is the place that you will find. Perfect. And if you need it, just send for us. there. I will. You come right back. And if you need anything at all,

you have a friend in me. Thank you, Father. Yes, address it to the Azaran expedition and it should find our way to us. Why are you shaking? Because Maya giggled at you have a friend there. Why was doing so well not to crack. And then my just goes...

We did, and she was like... Damn it. Father, I don't need to take any more of your time than the audience. Please take as much as you need. Could you tell me about this, St. Andrew? Who was he? She, perhaps.

What's the goodness to me? A hope for this church. St. Andle fought against the conquering of Sprott was a martyr of the people. A deep enemy to the vampire countenance. the bones were attempted to be destroyed. But luckily, a group of holy men were able to keep a few. These are the only ones that are left. How powerful is this individual that is mere bones can stop her from coming too close?

It is the act of martyrdom that gives the bones the power that they have. Wow. Yes, a great sacrifice. It is through that sacrifice that the ground upon which they are buried becomes whole and sacred. That's pretty amazing. That's the power of God. Why does the countess even allow the worship of the morning lord in her realm? I would have the thought she would have just snuffed it out.

That's a great point. I do not believe that she finds our worship to be a hindrance to her. And if I'm being quite I think that she wants us to have hope, it makes it that much more special to her when she snuffs it down. God, what a serious. I want to lean it to the professor

while they're talking and while the father's talking and very subtly just stage whisper, she'll be asking the father about the dog. I suppose we could. Yes. I do not know, friend, the extent of your magic, but I would like you to take a look at this. And the case will open, and I will pull out the doll.

This doll has some kind of magic. I don't know if you would take me look. I don't know what good my magic would be in this case. You may leave it, and I will do my best. But you might want to take that to the Toymaster. He might be able to give you some insight. It looks like one of his pieces. The Toy Master.

The Toy Master. So there's an individual in town that makes things like that. The Rotund Man with the Monkey, Blinsky. I'm sorry, you said with a monkey. Yes, the Rotund Man with the Monkey. Pardon my ignorance, because as you can see, point to the horns. I'm not really from around here. What are the chances that there's more than one man with more than one monkey? Probably slim to nine. I just look at the professor and I go,

are monkeys native to Borumia? No, but he is a funny man. He's a funny man. It does not surprise me the last time I saw him here at the monkey. Well, at the very least, we are greatly appreciative for all of your hospitality and information. You've been more help than you can And hopefully you will be more help to me than I could have hoped for. A blessing. I show them the map. Do you mind pointing out where Strzhan's here? I do not. Let me consult the map. Wait, he didn't actually give us a map for that was a joke, right? He did.

Oh, did. Well, you give us a map and, like, Pamples to a yak to a yak tour. Yeah, yeah, no, you don't actually have a map. Just for ease of you guys getting around. But I can give you, I can give you directions. Okay, okay. I don't think Yachtor was a joke, but the map was really. No. Very gullible.

Yeah, I should honestly know better. If you look up sweet summer child in the dictionary. You'll see, Maya. You... He tells you that you follow along the path back the way that you came, and shortly before you get to the road that would take you north towards Lady Wachter's house and Lake Zarevich, that there is a small... like bladder-shaped area, which is like a town squareish area.

And Blinsky's toys is there. Blinsky's. And Blinsky. Is this the book say bladder-shaped? No. That's a great. That's a great way to just. That's a great way to do.

One more thing. Perts or gems or jewelry. Isn't it a place in town I could buy some pearls? We did see a lot of articles around here. Yes. You could attempt to ask at the blue water in. Purles, you say. Pearls, yes.

Or other maybe other magical reagents. That will be your best. Not last at the end. Well, thank you. We shouldn't waste any more time we need it. We turn the bones as quickly as possible. And when? In any doubt at all.

Send for us. If anything is amiss, I will let you know. If you are looking for milibouche, it would be in the graveyard. We will speak to him first. Well, sonax. You may lead the way. Have you, do I know where the way to the graveyard? It's literally right outside.

It's like, it's right outside. It's like, you see? This is the graveyard here. We will secure the bones, Father, and make this ground hallowed once again. Fear not. and I will turn and I will guide the group to the grave digger. Or this is the graveyard where I hope they'll see the gravedigger. You make your way outside to the small graveyard,

and as you enter in the gate, the rusty hinges squeal as you open them, and it is not hard to see the tall brawny man towards the very back, who is currently digging up an open, or digging up a plot. I'll approach him. You, man digging in the grave, do you have a moment to speak? If you're looking to get me to take a pamphlet for your God, I've got one already, but thanks. I prefer to show the power of my God by demonstration. I'm a cast on truth around him as we approach.

Is that a second post? It is. He rolled a natural 17th. Oh, fuck. No, he didn't. What would he make need to roll for to work, Mike? Seriously, divinational wizards are the greatest. Oh, so I believe he rolled a 10 and actually, Sondax.

I think you might, I don't trust this one. He rolled the 10. Yeah, no, you rolled a 10. Do you get to pick what the number was? So at the beginning of every day, he rolls to 20s. And he gets to store those numbers and basically swap them in and out for things. But he can run you twice. Fucking cool.

What is that? It's important. It's his divination magic. And so in the morning, when I'm hearing my spells reading my spellbook, I drink my tea and then I look at the tea leaves and that's how I define. He's able to see the future. I thought you were just giving random like meta flavor. No. No.

It's not really. He's able to basically see what's going to happen throughout the day and affect it a little bit. Beam. Don't say it one more time or we're going to summon Mike. Okay. Careful. So Zone of Truth is cast. And that's like the concentration.

Fantastic. So as... You see as he looks like he's shrugging it off and Clayton looks up and sees as it's happening. And he's distracted by the immense height of your hat. And the Zone of Truth lands around him as he overcomes him he's unable to shrug off the magic. I suggest you don't take any step in any direction,

and you start answering Sarnax squashes truthfully. You see as he digs the shovel in and tosses off some dirt, and then he angles it up, almost like he's about to wield it as a club. He's holding it in one hand. Sure. Ask your questions, friend. Have you recently procured information from the altar boy?

Yeah What was the nature of that information? I believe if you do not wish to meet the business end of my companion shepherd's devices, you answer. I crack my knuckles. Roll an intimidation check at advantage. Hot dog. Intimidation 16.

Oh, no, 18. Apologies. You see he looks at you. He doesn't seem to be intimidated at all. and then he hears the cracking of Shepard's knuckles, and he looks over, and he kind of scoffs at you, and then he looks down, and he sees justice and redemption, and immediately his eyes get big,

and he shoves the shovel down to the ground. I, yeah, he, secrets, he was given me information about some secrets. What's it to you, friend? It is the utmost importance to me, friend. Were the secrets related to a bone, of any variety, and I can tell you to answer

once again the business end. I lean down where he's dropped the shovel. I have it in both of my hands, and I'm holding it in front of the... He didn't drop the shovel. He just stuck it down into the ground, and he's holding on to it.

He's just no longer holding it like a cloud. Okay, I gotcha. No one. He looks at you and you see his eyes darting back and forth, but he makes no motion to speak. Professor, yes? Perhaps you suggest. that he answers my question.

Perhaps you suggest you ask him who his employer is. Oh, yes. And yes. Where,

and whom gave the answer to? Suppose I could grease him up a bit, and I, as I say that, I will pull out a drop of sweet oil, and I will pull out a bit of snake's tongue. He looks at you pulling things out of your, um, out of your pack. And he, uh, there's no need. Yeska told me about the bones.

I don't know what you're planning on doing with all that weird stuff you're pulling out of your back in my case. I assure you, my good man, it gets far weird with him. So I suggest you be amenable to our questioning. We are not like I have much of a choice. You do not. Excellent observation. Now, what did you do with that information once you procured it from the overboy? I had the opportunity to sell it. I have the... I have younger siblings that need to eat, all right? Understood.

Understood. You procured payment. But I do not care why you did it. I need to know to whom you sold the information to. The coffin maker. Henry Fanderborn He seemed really interested in it I heard in town that he had heard about it

and that he was offering quite a sum for more information I happened to know where it was I got to have to sum for it How many days ago was this? Three, maybe four Damn And did you do you know anything Did anyone come to exhume the bones?

Oh yeah, no, he's got the bones I got him the night Yeska told me about it You dug the bones up Yeah, it wasn't hard I took my shovel straight in stairs Pop the Pop the stone up

Grab the bones It was literally right there So you're so exempting the bones Oh yeah My brother and sister have to eat What am I supposed to do about it Bones aren't my problem We gotta go

We gotta go flat right now We can't wait I mean this is you're talking days ago All right you professor Yes we must go And then we will sort you out. Where is this coffin maker? You can find him in town.

Cameron, what was the name? Vanderwart. Vanderwart. The professor here will help feed your siblings if you promise not to speak of what we spoke of to another soul. For real, are you serious? Yes. How are you going to do that? Give you some gold.

How much? Not now. I'll give you 25 gold. It's nothing. It's nothing. That's better than you leaving here with your jaw intact. I'll take it. Better than nothing.

Pay him 25 gold, professor. Here you all. Not a word to anyone. I promise. I'm in the thing, I promise. If we hear that you told anyone, I'm in the thing, I promise. These two monsters will make you regret it. He looks back and forth between that. I'm in the thing, I promise.

Give me the gold. Thank you for your... Not all you need. Cooperation. Yeah, happy to do it. I got a choice. And he begins to start digging again. I'll drop these in our truth.

I'm going to go now. Let's go. You must find this coffin maker. I feel like we're behind the wall all right. Yes, yes. We must hurry. You must make haste. Is he still digging at a particular grave?

Does it have a headstone? No. He's just digging the plot. He's just digging the plot. There's nothing around the area that he's digging at. just a name. Let's ask father where the proper

to make it is. Save some time. Yes. I believe that is the proper course of action. Father? You were easily able to make your way inside and you see

that the father is once again there in front of the altar. Back so quickly. Yes, he solved the book. We should not have these conversations. Where is the coffin maker?

You see his face, Paul. Yes, Bell. You are going to have to make your way. Nearly back where you came from. So he instructs you that you make your way all the way back along the main road as if you're going towards the east entrance. Can you go past where the road diverges towards, towards Lake Zorovic, you continue down further

until you get to another road that goes south and it is along there that you'll see it. We'll head right there. Good day, father. I pull the father aside really quickly as their skirt as they're leaving. What do you know of his siblings? Millivage. Millevaj.

Well, I know that he has them and that he works sometimes, not as hard as he should. They get paid well for. What he does with the money is not. It's not up to me. I know he lost his parents and he takes care of his family. He is a surly boy, but I do believe that somewhere in there he has a good heart. Does you make enough to support the three of them? Or however many there are.

Depends on how he spends his squids. Thank you. Thank you, Father. We'll return. So we go to the coffee maker. You're just going to, your head is straight there. Yeah, we're just going to stop right off, right? What time is it?

Anything else we want to do? So let's see. You got up, you did all that stuff in the morning. I'd say you probably set out around 8 a.m. It's probably around nine He met up with Stradania It probably took three hours 9-20, 11, 12

And so it's probably getting close to 1 or 2 in the afternoon right now Okay Should we stop in and grab rooms And perhaps ask about Phert as well By this point I have deep bags Yeah, I mean it doesn't hurt To just make sure we secure a place to stay tonight for sure

We got to press on The Inn is directly along the way On the main photo fair we may as well We'll make a quick stop. Okay. What are you taking that? No, no, no, no. I'm okay.

I'm going to make it to this evening, and then I'll get a good night's rest when we're safe at the end, but we can't stop until we at least know where they are. It's too risky. I mean, we're fairly safe in this town. I wanted to rest. I think the four of us to handle it. I think we, I don't know.

I don't know. I can make it. I'll be all right. It's not as fast it looks. It's just one night. I'm fine. I've done way worse in the deserts. Very well.

Since we've got to even on the way there. Gray smoke issues from the chimney of this large two-story wooden building with a stone foundation and sagging tile roof, upon which several ravens perched. The painted wooden sign hanging above the main entrance to pick the blue waterfall. You make your way up the front stairs and step in to a large room, tables about a large room.

far going across the back as you're greeted by a small plump woman. Hi, uh, welcome to the Blue Water Inn. Hello, uh, we need seven rooms. Oh, how many? Um, this is great. How many guests can your rooms accommodate? Oh, we only have one other guests of the moment, so we've got enough rooms for each me if you'd like.

Uh, let's take three rooms, please. Oh, lovely, that will be a total. of three electron pieces. All right. Well, here you are? One and a half gold. I'm pretty good in my mask, professor. Well, thank you. So one gold and five silver. Here you are. Great. Thank you.

So that's just for tonight. She reaches into her apron. She pulls out keys and she hands you three different keys. Well, you'll find if you head up the stairs aside, she points to stairs that go outside of the doors, there's stairs that go up to the second floor. All of our guest rooms are through the outside. So you head on up those stairs and then it'll get you to the guest quarters and then she looks

up in the large open room here and you see that there's a balcony on the inside and there are a few doors stopped along it. You all have access to the guest's balcony. Great. Appreciate that. Thank you so much. And your name? Oh, my name is I'm Danica.

Well, Before we go, do you happen to know where we may be able to procure curves or other gems, rare materials like that? Well, let's see. I know that the toy maker uses some strange items, and we may have some things. We don't have much, you see, but we may have some. if you're looking for something that's not quite so expensive.

We don't have fine jewelry, but we do offer a few general items. Anything with poems? I like it for the Pearl Trinket. How much? 50 gold. Worthless. No, no, no, not to say that the tree is worthless. I'm sorry, but I'm looking for more.

valuable pills. I'm sure you're pretty lovely. What's that? Value did what? A hundred gold pieces. Then a hundred gold then. Where's Derek? Where's Derek?

I feel Derek. Talking about components right now. How much did my Derek give you to do this up? Will the weave know how much I paid for it? Can I consult my brain and understand? I must know something about like material components. Good. Can I, like, Arcona

check it or like... Sure. You can't, but he didn't. You can't, but you may not. 12. You imagine it would work. Oh. Oh.

All right, I'll take the trigger. Here's 100 gold. She passes you a small pearl brooch. Okay. Well, I have this brooch. Let me just fall down to it. Here's your 100 gold. and this will come in handy later.

Thank you so much. We'll be back later than that. Thank you, Miss. Have a good night then. Good night. Yeah, yeah, you too. Thank you. How big was the Grave Digger?

He was big. He was bigger than you. As we start to leave the inn, I kind of just like turned to the group and say, I got to be honest, I'm glad that didn't go south because I was not looking forward to fight him. guy. I don't know what I was thinking. I'm, I'm real tired. We could have taken him very easily. Yeah, but I didn't want to kill the guy. I was, I was thinking, you know, off him up a little bit, but he was, I was thinking he was pretty big.

You would not need to worry about killing him. I would glad you knew that. All right. All right. Thanks. I appreciate you having my bad. Of course. Well, let's not delay, so that you can get some rest. I appreciate it. head to be I guess while we're going I would like to cast identify as a ritual would it take 10 minutes to walk down the road

yeah okay so I would like to cast identify on the doll the pearl of consuming the spell fails you begin to cast identify and you're holding out where's the doll oh yeah

what's the doll oh my god it's run away It's fine. It's fine. Did I write a word for this? Examine us. And I take out the pearl and a great-hand owl feather. You begin to cast the spell as you walk. And as the spell finishes, the doll's head begins to spin around and around. No! The eyes, simple button eyes begin to glow with.

a strange light as all of you hear. And you know that there's a scrying spell. You also know that the doll has transmutative powers, as in it can animate and move. I knew it. She's been swine with us this whole time. Did it sound like a classic stradonia laugh, or did it sound like a hat?

It didn't sound anything like her voice. I would like to Professor You should not We should get rid of it in the best way we knew They had to have heard everything They did Well it's been in my case

I'm not sure how the magic works With my being in my case That's If that's the countess Then we are in deep here Professor It didn't sound like that but the doll wasn't out from the church,

it's in my case. Is it my case? Is it my case? He's like, I don't fucking care. That's what my case? So, I mean, what does she know? She knows that I just can't identify him on it. And she knows every time we've taken it out.

A professor, yes. Let's burn it immediately. You don't think she'd be suspicious to burn it? Who cares? She knows what we are up to regardless. Do you think those who are, ravens perched atop all of these buildings

or not her eyes and her ears enough as it is. That's exactly right. What is to say that she needs this daughter at all? She has all these other agents. Even if it's not that thing is not the work of the countess, then it's something is equally sinister.

I agree with that, but I think that you are working on assumption. We can't burn it because this is our proof to the girl that her mother sent us. Good point. Yes. Can you do that?

Can anyone do that? Do not know. I'll take out my strong book. Do I really not have it? Curses! Hold on, let me take a look. No, I believe this spell magic

is a third-level spell. Yes, yeah, it is. When you do it, Sonic? It is a third-level spell, Professor. We are both at the same power level. What do you think? Well, I know.

making sure I'm not sure if it's on the wizard's spells. It is indeed a third-level spell, Professor. I can tell you for sure that wizards can dispel things. That's what I thought. I know a gentleman to shrew who can dispel things. And I believe that Sarnax might be able to spell things too, which is not going to be the way that you like. Well, no, we won't do that.

We will not destroy it. This is our one chance to save that go. I agree with you, Professor. I don't like keeping that thing around, but if there's any hope of us getting her back home, and we need to try to do that. trust my case. This is a family heirloom. It's very powerful.

And I hope that the straying is useless whilst inside this pocket dimension. Do you know for a fact? Can I check my brain to see what I think? Roll in our conchick.

Hey, that's pretty good. My brain got back with a good answer. 26. You know that while inside of the bag. Shrying would not show what's happening that is inside of a pocket dimension, but you do know that the doll has transmutation

purposes or components, so you have no idea whether the doll is capable of climbing out and listening. Oh my God! You've never checked to see if the bag has been open. I hate it. I feel so dirty.

Take a lot. I want to throw up. I'm not brave legs yet. I choose to die. Oh, my God. Do the laughs sound familiar at all

to any of anyone? I would say, you'd be smart enough. I would say that you would glean from it, that that was the doll itself laughing, and not some other entity.

Okay. I need a bit more power before I can understand it. Well, let us proceed forward, since we have no way. I'll be very careful about opening this face.

Oh, this is all got to be. careful about what we're saying anyway. Yes. Pardon me. To the coffin maker. Quick, please. You hustle

down the streets moving as quickly as possible. As you see signage along the sides of the town, you notice these strange fits of signage and town guards

moving up and tearing them down and putting up new things. The ones being torn down, the shops and homes that enclosed the town square decorated with limp, tattered garlands and painted wooden boxes filled with tiny dead flowers. At the north end of the square stands a row of stalks locked in,

locked in which are several men, women, and children wearing crude, plaster donkey heads. In the center of the square, peasants in patchwork clothes, I use suspiciously as they use cups and bases to draw vases to draw water from a crumbling stone fountain. Standing tall

at the center of the fountain is a gray statue of impressive man facing west. All around the square are posted proclamations. Come one, come all, to the greatest celebration of the year, the wolf's head jamboree, attendance and children required, pikes will be provided, all will be well, the barons. And as these are being ripped down in this town square, you see them putting up new posters. Come one, come all, to the greatest celebration of the year, the festival of the blazing sun, attendance and children. And children. You see them, required. Rain or shine, all will be well. The bear. So it's very clear that we just missed the one festival. Yes. And now a new one is being there.

And you notice that there were wolf's heads on pikes around the outside as well as throughout the city. Like actual dead wolfhead. Dyer wolves or wolves? Both. Oh, shit. What was the name of the wolf festival? Wolf's Head Jamberie. Jamberie. Yeah. I imagine they all start turning animatronic. They start to say. Was that? That was like in the book. LA. What strange name. And what is the festival of the sun? The festival of the

blazing sun. You walk past this, especially noticing the stocks and the both men, women, and children in the crude plaster donkey heads. And it's off-putting and it's strange

and you notice that most people seem to veer away from it. But your focus is firmly on the coffin shops that you see just to the edge of the row. As you make your way in, this univating shop is two stories tall and has a sign shaped like a coffin

above the front door. All of the window shutters are closed up tight and a deathly silence surrounds the establishment. You knock twice on the door. You hear shuffling inside. I'm going to tap

the professor on the shoulder and say, I think it's best if you do the talking, Professor, Garrick's is watching over you. My cat's guidance for the first time in this campaign. Nice. I've had it this whole time. Thank you, so much. The door

creaks open just a little bit and you see Hagrid old eyes look out at you. Hello? Are you here to purchase the coffin? Well, I'm here to inquire about the coffin yet. Great. You may come in. And he slowly opens the door and waves you in. You make your way in and you see coffins scattered

all around what appears to be this holding room. They all seem to be of a similar make varying sizes. As he leads you in and towards a round table and chairs. Well, let's us talk

then about the coffins that you wish to acquire. I will need time, but as long as the order is not large, Of course, of course. We should be able to fulfill it. When we walk into the room, I'm going to post up by the door that we came into. Okay.

I'm going to look at Sarnax, and I'm going to look at the other door that we are, that there is available. I'm going to nod, and I'm going to just casually stroll over to it. Okay. You do that. He doesn't seem to take notice at all as he sits down. He pulls out a leather-down book, and he begins to look through it. It looks to be a ledger of some kind. It depends on how long it will.

will be until you need these, but what is the number of the order we're looking for? Well, just one. Well, it's so rude of me. My name is Professor Clayton-Azra. Yes, I apologize. It's great to meet you. Henry Van der Waer. Oh, well, it's a coffin maker. You see, oh, hold on. How much are your coffins, even for this one? Well, you're looking at about 50 silver pieces. Do you mind if I make sure my finances are. an order. Should I have that?

Oh, yes, please. I take my case. You're only looking for the one. Just the one, yes. And he writes down your name, one, 50 silver. Mr. Hendrik, do you find the people are buying coffins in bulk here? No, you see, most people don't come here. They find my work to be a little off-putting.

But lately, I've had this spike in sales from the local man around town. Well, and so my, my church is a lot of my child. So my case is open behind him, and I pull out a piece of honeycomb and a snake's tongue. And I will say, Artificium, I would like you to... What are you mumbling? I would like you to show us to the bones of St. Andrew, please. I clear my throat, and then I have a suggestion. I guess suggestion.

I knock on your case twice. I'm staring at your open case. and I shut it it. What's the same? The same is I don't care what it is because he gets a six.

Holy shit. Frankly, I don't give a dab. I got a natural 20, you piece of shit. Are you sorry? Oh, my God. Did the fucking nation wizard. Holy Dix. He doesn't get to add his mildfire with the DC's 15.

Hi, my darling, I don't you give it. No, no, he doesn't. So I would like you to lead us to the bones of St. Andrew that are good man, as you know, that you bought off of... What's his name? I say his name. Milavage. Milavage. And for the rest of the day, I'd like you to stand in a corner staring at a wall. see as he looks up at you, having just

written down the information, he seemed really happy to be making a sale as his eyes gloss over and he looks up at you. This, that seems like a great idea. I agree. So please leave the way, my way. I bet fifty silver is coming right up. As he leads you towards the

stairway, as he leads you towards the room you had just exited from, he passes Shepard and turns to a door on the side, opens it and begins to ascend the staircase. He leads you all the way to the top as you spill out into this room upstairs. He looks around and turns into the closest corner that he can find at the top of the stairs. As you begin to sense movement from the piles of boards all over the room,

you see as they shuffle and move and out from them long, curly white limbs begin to make their way. You've seen something like this before as seven vampire spawn begin to spill out from the boards. Roll for initiative.

All right. You, as you find your way onto the landing, you You are immediately met with the shaking of all of these piles of wood as you see these vampire spawn begin to spill out seven of them around this room. Shepherd, it is your turn. I am just going to immediately take two shots, the one right in front of me and Connor. I got a 26 and 28.

Both of those here. Just for the sake of it, their ACS 15. 19 damage to this guy, number five. Okay, 19 damage. You shoot into this undead creature, your magical blasts doing quite a bit of damage to it,

as it seems to shrug it off. You see, as the wounds are bleeding this strange, almost like brownish, reddish, silvery blood, as it shambles towards you. This appears to be a woman of some sorts. Her lips are peeled back. She looks hungry. Oh, boy.

Oh, boy. Clayton. I'm going to take rope out of my briefcase. And I would say, if you wouldn't mind lay on the ground, I'd like to tie him up, please. He will lay on the ground and let you try him up. So I would like to hog tie him as my action, if possible.

Sure. He let you. Okay. So I do. He's now facing the corner. He's still scared as he's shaking and allowing your time up. I'll start next. I will step forward and I will awe everything that happens as I look around and I'll look into the flame and I'll just start walking forward. And then I'll hold up my lantern as I'll look around as just a blaze and I'll pull. pull out a medallon with a reptilian dragon eye

as it will blaze with fire and then light will emerge from my lantern and I will say turn away from the blinding light of Garex. I'm going to cast her in dead on all of them. Holy shit. Okay, and so they have to roll what? Wisdom saving throw. So I'm going to roll for each one individually.

DC-15. Wisdom, you said. So one is turned. two is turned three is turned oh my god four is turned five is turned

six is turned and seven is not holy fucking hell and I will say proceed so do you want to explain that doesn't like so I will read what they do

as an action you can repent present your holy symbol and speak a prayer censoring the undead Each undead that can see or hear you within 30 feet of you Must make wisdom saving throw, DC-15 If the creature fails at saving throw, it is turned for one minute Or until it takes any damage. A turn creature must spend his turn trying to move away

As far as away from me as far as it can And it can't willingly move to any space within 30 feet of me. It also can't take reactions. For its action, it can only use the dash action Or try to escape from an effect that prevents it from moving. If there's nowhere to move, if the creature you can take a dodge action, there's no repeated sick.

They basically have to just run at the walls and like daughters. So we can just pick them all. These are windows, though, right? But it's daylight outside, so they're not going to go outside. Oh, right. They're boarded up, so it's not light. We got time. That's a game picture.

Yeah, no, that might just be. So this dye, it's my prettiest die, but that is no longer available to use. Wow. I did roll one natural one in that. And it is their turn. So one, two, three, four, five, and six are all going to rush towards the furthest wall. A number seven is going to move directly towards the coffin maker and he's going to attempt to make an attack on the clock.

Number seven. Yep. Oh, wow. With a natural fucking one, are you serious? She's advantage because he's all tied up on the ground. Oh, great. Oh, that hits then. Thanks.

So he is doing his bite attack as it as it bites in to you see as this vampire spawn rushes over. It moves on all floors. It's long nails scraping against the wooden floors of this room as it skitters over to him and he sees that he's tied up. He wiggles between you and the coffin maker

and sinks his teeth down into the restrained man. And that is, it's fair. Can I reach around? Yeah, you can go through, Everett, and attack seven? I'd cooperate with you. Okay. I'll be into the edge. I'll say, uh, Shepherd, the hip, the hit.

Oh, okay. All right, not bad. Not bad. Yeah, that hits, Sam 15. The stigmatics. clerics. Seriously. Holy smokes.

I always seem to roll fours on this. No, the old reach around. Ah, yes. The old reach around. The classic maneuver. Yeah, and that would be seven points of damage to number seven. Seven points of damage.

It takes it. And then... What type of damage? Slashing. But it's, yes, with your weapon. All right, Victoria. All right. I'm going to look towards number seven and reach my hand out,

and the skeletal ghost hand will go out and have the chill touch. That is a 17 to hit and set damage. And that's number seven? It's number seven, yep. And this is necrotic? This is necrotic damage. It can't regain hip points until we start my next turn. And clings to the target.

It has disadvantaged on attack rolls against me. And that's it. All right. You reach out your spectral hand and you see as it grabs into the back of this creature's neck and latches on. And it does damage, but it seems to do less than you would expect it. But you do know that it will hinder its ability to regenerate as you've experienced one of these creatures before. And that is Shepherd's turn. Talks around. Seeing that it's attacking this man who's tied up, I'm going to just attack it twice.

Okay. I got two 11s, so that's two points. Both those sets, yeah. A total of 15 points of damage to number seven. You fire both of your blasts as they collide with the back of this creature, and it still has its teeth sunk deep into this man, but it does a bit of damage. Clayton.

And I'm going to say, Nautus, and I will shoot firebolt. That will hit. 10 points of fire damage. Damn. You reach out your finger and you ignite this creature. The shadow shows the strange dancing.

The shadow shows the dancing of his shadow against the wall and it seems as if he's moving when you see no motion coming from the stranger. It's a strange trick of the eye. Okay, that's my turn. I am going to see that he's actively trying to kill this guy

and I will, so I'm just going to say, you will not succeed in your quarry and then I'm going to cast guiding bolts at a second level. Easy 15. Natural 1, I'm going to use my inspiration that I got for opening a can. Yes. Love that.

Campsperation. Can inspiration. Oh my God. 13 plus 7. I hit it. Yeah, I did it. I fucking did it. Thank God I opened that a can. God damn. The guiding bolts is, oh, 5D6, wow.

That's Kahneman. Wow. 20 points of radiant damage. Nice. As it blasts into this shock of a radiating fire, and it's such a glow with his red and gold. And the next attack is advantage. And that is my bonus action is going to be nothing.

It is blasted with this radiant damage. And you see as it shrieks and rears back, It disconnects itself from this man as it turns its attention on you. But you are far away. So it inches closer and it's going to attempt to make a bite attack on kind. It's going to do 18 points of damage. And nine of it is necrotic damage. Okay.

And you also, your max HP also drops by the amount of necrotic damage. you take. Which way is so nine. Nine. So the rest of them will continue to run? Yeah, they're just, they're basically just running into the wall. They're not moving anywhere. They're just running into the wall. And it is Conestrand. First attack is advantage. Or your own attacker, yes. For the advantage, that'll be 16. That hits. That hits. Next two. That'll be nine points of slashing. Victoria. Okay. So I'm going to continue to tighten the skeletal hand on seven and and cut out of a cast. Try not to touch them or let them touch you. I don't feel that great.

I don't feel so good. 15 to hit? That is. Okay. And that is 4 damage. And you feel like it does seem to do less, but the additional effect seems to be more valuable. And yeah, so it is,

Shefferson. I'm going to take two shots at him. Okay. I got one hit. Six points of damage. What a trap. You let loose one of your blasts, and it sweals the of Kana's blood dripping down its face. Clayton. I will say,

Kana continue to protect us, and my case is going to open up, and I will... Lose the case. I was going to say. I will pull out some powdered silver and iron, and I will touch you. Is it touch? I will say, Gordiom, and I will protect you from good and evil. Oh, fuck.

So basically, aberration selection of elements, fate, feats, they have disadvantage against you. You can't be charmed, frightened and you're possessed by them. So you are now protected against... And I will be like... Whoa! You're not going to backup here. Just a big old back. I'm going to kick your ass, you're going to make you.

Is it my turn? Yes, it is your turn. I am going to look and I'm going to cast a Sacred Flame on the one that's alive. And so it's a Dex 15 saving throw. Roll the natural 16. So he dodges out of the way, and that is my... I'm going to continue to stand there. Yep, that's my turn.

It is his turn. He is going to attempt to attack Kana. She's protected from good and evil, so he's disadvantaged, as he goes in to make... 14? Nope. No. He's going to miss. I will use a bonus action to give myself advantage on this attack with fighting spirit.

Good thing, because I roll another match for one. God damn it. 18. That hits, yeah. That'll be nine points of slashing damage. Damage, and I get five temporary hit points. You slash into this creature, and you see that it stumbles over, and for a second you think it's going to fall, but it looks up at you.

Its eyes, blood red, its mouth filled, spilling over with the blood that it's been draining from you, and it just smiles in your face. Finish him. So I'm going to look at number seven. You said he's very rough. Yes. Okay. I am going to reach my hand out,

and fire's going to go in my eyes, and then we'll cast fire bolt at it. That's a miseruny. I'm going to take one attack. Okay. That'll be a hit. Okay. Do you do one or more damage?

I do. I do. Yes. I do. I do. I do. I do. I do. I do. You let your shot fly as you blast a,

a hole through its chest and it falls over to the ground, Dad. So once I kill the one, as I'm swinging my weapon around, like to survey the room, I shout the star next. I shoot them! Choose one and only attack that one. I pick one of the ones in the back corner here,

number one. And I fire a shot off at him. That'll be seven points of damage to number one. Okay. Clemser, oh. I'm going to shoot Firebolt at 9. Number one. Okay.

Not a lot. Hit nine damage, nice. Danex. I fairy fire those three in the back. Death saving throw 15. So two of them are going to be disemaged.

First one fails. That one fails. And then the one is not disadvantaged because he's looking at you, 14, 17. One is not very far. Okay, the other two are for your own. Okay, cool.

And that's my turn. The vampire spawn, number one. He's going to turn towards Sarnax, and he's going to claw attack. Okay. 22 to hit. I don't have to say, yep. Oh, sorry, I meant Shepherd. Oh.

Sorry, you hit me. Yeah, 22. Yep. No, he's going to grapple you. And then he is going to go in to bite you. To grapple me, do I have to do something? No, he's just using his hit instead of doing damage. He's grappling him.

Okay. There's no idea to resist that? I just like, it's like it's like he hits it's a hit. 12 to hit. So he does not. Okay. So I'm just grappled. Got it.

You're grabbed. You can't move. It's been really disadvantaged. All right. That's it's turn. I will use another fighting spirit to get advantage of the attack. That'll be 11 points of slashing damage. Okay.

Okay. Victoria. Yes. And I will again reach out in custody. This rules us three most of the time. At least you haven't ruled as many natural ones as I've ruled tonight. I still can't believe I got done with many ones in one role. Okay.

Shepard. I'm going to cast Hunter's Mark on number one, and then I will make an attack roll to 15. That'll be 11 points of damage. Wow, you and Kana both. Clayton. Hitz for six five damage. Sarnax. I'm going to call forth my spiritual weapon,

and I'm going to summon the mystical dagger, and it's going to land. I'll use my token, and it's going to make an attack real quick. What type of damage is this? It is force. Okay. Fifteen, exactly. Holy hand grenade. And that is 13 points of force damage,

as it stabs in. and then I am going to Sacred Flame it, so he needs to make a deck saving throw. Okay. Natural one. Next. It needs to be another DA. Oh, no.

This will be two points of radiant damage. That's just and not just enough to kill it, but it would literally have regained hit points if you haven't hit it with that. Oh, wow. Kelsey. Kelsey mess. Got it. Any radiant damage.

Oh, shit. Yeah. You know that. Good to know. Okay. Cool. So you see as it looks like it's about, it's invigorated and about to renew itself as you hit it with your holy fire. And it singes its flesh and shrieks back as it's unable to gain any additional health.

And it is the vampire spawns turn. It is still grappling Sarnat. So it is going to, sorry, Shepard, too many s's. And it is going to attempt to make its bite again. 12. No, it hits. It misses. Okay.

Connor. My turn? Yep. It's still a grappling shepherd. Can I try to yank it off of him? Do you my action? Yeah, you can try. You can do an athletics contest.

I will do that. If you pull my flesh off with the beast, I'm going to be upset. Athletics will be at 18. 16. Okay, that doesn't work. Victoria. Try again for chill touch on number one. I was a very fireless

You've got to be kidding Did rolling up in three? A two That's exile Dice jail Exile I'm gonna make two attacks Against the vampire who's on me

Okay One miss is one hits Okay Damn it! That's so frustrating Bingo That's 15 points of damage Okay

You're you miss with one hit but you're able to land the other. It looks like it's not. It looks like it's very, very weak. Missing weapon right here. I'm going to stab in with my business. My dagger that's going to barely hit again, doing 12 points of force damage.

Your dagger stabs in, illuminating with fire. It shrieks as its skin singes, and it falls to the ground glass to stab. Beautiful. That's my bonus action. Okay. And then I am going to, I'm going to Sakeetre Flame on number three. So, deck save, dig save.

15. Dix save. I love the Dix save. 14. 14. So that's going to be. Yeah, 14. 14.

That's going to be three points of radiant damage. It is a vampire sponsor. It is going to rush directly towards you. And then he is going to attempt to grapple you. and he's going to miss, so he's going to claw you with a fucking natural one. Okay. Hey. Block it.

Uh, color. Got a four and a one. Cool. Uh, 19. That hits, yeah. They hit. Nice. 11 points of slashing.

You're like it. It's sort of rolling eats. Victoria. Yeah. It's pretty good on this one. I am going to. A lot of advantage now. I'm going to chaos bowl.

I'm going to chaos bowl. Okay. at a second level. Yes. A 20 and an 18 to hit. The hits. Yep, very nice. Oh, I didn't have a big of a hit.

That fits again. 13, 13, 13. Yeah. 8, 9, 10, 11 damage, and it will be, what? Cold? Cool. Okay. That one two.

And this will be for number two. So that is five damage. I guess acid. Okay, and it's five, do you said? Yes. Great. You do that, and you see as the other one breaks from its turn undead as it looks towards you. Shepard.

I use my bonus action to move a hundred of mark to the one that tried to grapple Sarnax, which is a little right on me. So number three. I make one attack on it at advantage. It's hit. Okay. For seven, 12 points of damage. It is quite. turn. I'm just going to Ignatantz. So it hits and this

three damage. Three fire damage. Nice. Star next. I'm going to what should call it? Saker flame. So DC, 15. 5, 8. 6 points of radiant damage. So number three? The pillar of flame, yep. It's their turn. Yep. You see as number two, having not taken any kind of radiant damage, etc., begin to to regain its health, it appears to be back at full health. Number two? Number two.

The one in front of Sardnax, number three, is going to attempt to grapple him, and it's not going to, so it's going to claw him with 15. 15 misses. And the one in front of Kana is going to attempt to travel her. Which one is? Oh, he's against Kana. His projection of good versus... Well, it missed anyway, so it's...

matter. And then it's going to attempt that fall. 13. Nope. I'm going to use my reaction on number three because he attacks Sarnax. That's an advantage because he's very fired. Nope. Number three. Yeah. I'm not very fired. Okay. 17 should hit. That does it.

There'll be seven points of slashing damage. How's he looking? He's looking rough. Okay. I will try. to keep going. I'm going to use my actual action to attack. I'll just hit with a 22. Yep. Let's go back with this one because I keep rolling force on the other guy. Grave weapon master, so I get your one.

I rolled another one. Great. I said it'll be force-slashing. Okay. It takes the damage, but it's still glaring in your faces. Torian. All right. I am going to look look at two and three and I'm going to raise my hands up and smoke is going to fill their eyes

and I'm going to cast whiningness on both of them using a surcer point to make it a twist so that is a con-saving throwback of what 13 I got to 15 last month I got an after 14 last year 12 plus three good effort kelso that's awesome I very rarely use whineness but it's good. Shepherd. Oh, I will attack the number three first with one attack. It's for 10 points of damage. All right. You blast into this thing. It looks like it's really weak. I'll attack it again. It's 11 points of damage. It is barely holding on. All right, it's my turn. I will Ignatazes this bitch. 15.

You let your firebolt fly, and it smacks into it as it bursts into flames and begins to crumble into ash. Good job. Bonus action. Attack against number two. Can you get track of how long are things are? I have been. I'll say it's four or five turns already. I miss another two and a three.

Okay. And then I am going. to, that's my bonus action. I am going, it hasn't taken radiant damage yet, right? Nope. And they're next, I'm fucking guiding, bolting this motherfucker. It hits, and that's going to deal radiant damage as it blast out of my lantern.

Could be worse, it could be better. Three plus 11 is 14, right? 14 points of radiant damage. It is its turn, and number two is on, it was on, Anna, it is going to move to the side towards you, and it is going to attempt to, um, to Sarnax. Okay.

Going to attempt to grapple you. Uh, 18, 19, 21, 22, 24. 24, I'm grappled. Okay. So it is going to do, oh, it's not doing any damage. Now it's going to attempt to bite you. The 17. Uh, that misses.

It is grappled on to you. I'm off back. Okay. Um, comma. I'm going to try and shove him off of Sarnax. Kill it, I am fine, Connor. Okay. Thank you.

Natural... This is why. She needed that. The first actual money in the whole fight. She needed that. That is one of those things Maya needs to survive. I do. Not that great overrule, but 11 points of slashing.

Yeah, that's good. That's good. You flash into it as its back is exposed. to you and it shrieks but it will not let go of Sarnas Victoria. I'm going to look at number two and she'll touch okay, hopefully.

15. Yeah, yeah. That's just enough. Siri, Denon. Hey, it prevents him from you're doing utility. I mean, basically 11 points of damage that you're doing right there. That's a good point.

Shepherd. I'm going to use my bonus action to move Hunter's Mark and make one attack. they both miss oh jeez one or five with advantage

yeah one or five do it yeah I'm saying because I think it weren't deep shit because I think it were in deep shit

I'm gonna say I'm gonna say I'm going to turn and I'm going to pass web on us that is

that will break them of their turn on dead it's only damage it's damage I believe yeah just don't like the

well fire Please don't like this on fire. Oh, they roll and they start their turn. So I think it's it doesn't matter. I'll just have them roll now. And how many are there? Three?

And the NPC. So one of them definitely fails. What's the DC? 15. And it's decks? Yes. So four and five fail and six gets an actual 15. Cool.

So you do not have your protection. anymore. I dropped that. Okay. Okay. Going in with the dagger. That'll fucking, well, we'll see. Okay, that'll fucking hit regardless. Oh, wow. 13 points of force damage

stabbed into this dude. And then I'm going to sacred flame as I'm grappled and I don't give a fuck. As I'm just going to sacred flame this motherfucker. Okay, you do that. Yeah, a DC deck saving throw.

13. 13 fail. He's going to get seven points of radiant damage. Okay, so the one on you is going to make one claw attack, and that's 17. Misses. And it is going to make a bite of attack. 23.

Eye blind, his disadvantage. It's his advantage? I'm using my reaction for flaring war. Oh. So I just roll one more time. Sorry, 21. So you are going to take... I know.

You're going to take... I'm going to take eight points of piercing damage. And... You don't do anything. Six points of necrotic damage, your max health goes down by six. I'm going to use my reaction at Hittemps. Okay. That'll hit.

We'll go 23. Oh, ho! Nice, that'll be 11 points of slashing. So yeah, Conant. Okay, so 17. That is? Uh, no. Finally.

I didn't have around max damage yet. 12 points of slashing. Victoria. I'm going to continue to tighten the skeletal hand around. Advantage. Oh, good. Natural. Yay!

Okay, so I got five on the first one that I rolled. And the five. So 10 damage and the status, the knees continue. Okay. You use your spectral hand again, and it seems to be incredibly weak. Sweet. I will make one attack against it. Okay.

Hit. Just do more than one damage? Yep. Yep. You blast into its chest. Does anybody at home want to guess what I'm going to do with my bonus action? Hunter's mark number. The one that wasn't webbed. Six. Yep.

Six. Yes. And that'll be my turn as I back up. Clayton. Um, I will shoot a firebolt at him. Okay, so next. I am going to just cast a sacred flame on him.

DC15. Decks save. Natural 20. Okay, he misses. He dodges that business. Yeah. It's turn. It's turn. It has no damage on it.

It's going to move to the closest person. Over as closest to it. The number six. Victoria. Come and get me. And it is going to attempt to grapple you. and it is going to miss. It's going to use its other attack to try to grapple you.

And 13. Oh, yep. Really? I didn't realize your AC was, yeah, it grapples you. I'm a little baby squish-squish-squish. It wrapped its arms around you, and that is its turn. Hooray. That will not hit. That will not hit.

It'll be my turn. Okay. Victoria. I'm going to cast. false life on myself. So it's gonna give us temporary it does, yeah, it gives me 1B4 plus four temporary hit points for the duration

and it's gonna kind of look like sort of like my face hollows out and I look sort of like skeletally dead for a second that I flash back to myself. Notch. Notch.

No one. We do that. So that's five. temporary plants. Okay. I'm going to take two attacks against it. Okay. But fucking one-six.

Natural fucking. Yeah. Yeah. And the other one, hey, I got a 15-10. That's going to be, you know. 46 from the first. 46 and GD-66. Let's rock and roll.

Plus that. Must that, maybe. Oh, baby. That's going to be 12 plus 24, 34, 34, 44, 44 points of damage. Yeah. Wow. As I finally fucking find purchase.

Those were some hot D6s. Yeah, I roll up fours and six. You didn't roll higher than four. Or you didn't roll lower than a full. You did more than half it's, it went from full to less than half. Wow. I do what I can.

You see a Sarnak or a shepherd has had enough as he turns around and he looks at Victoria, giving herself this sense of false life as he lets go both of his blasts, doing a significant, amount of damage is this thing reels back,

but it is still holding on to Victoria. Clayton. This is all for me, Professor. I will... Shit. I guess I'll shoot it with Firebolt. That's about all I can do. Don't miss.

Shoot Victoria in the face seat. Another two. That's my third. It's not using the big one. Why do you use the big one? It's the worst one. Because he likes it. I like the big one.

He likes feeling the weight his head. I know, but it is literally Everybody loves large worms in the air. Yeah. So I wasn't sure. I roll a natural one on my literally has not been able to hit, so I roll

natural one on my speed of a weapon. And then I am going to cast take or flame on it. Okay. DC 15. Dex save. And what is it? Decks. Dex.

17. 17 passes. It dodged out of the way. Done. Vampire squandered. you see as it regains some of the health that it just lost. And it is going to, it is attached around Victoria. It is going to make one claw attack into her with a natural one. He's then going to attempt to bite at a 25.

Yep. Nope, that business. That's over double her a C. It is going to do four points of piercing damage. And then it is going to do eight points. of necrotic damage and your max HP is lowered by 8. Okay, so that's 12 damage.

And it is going to, you see as it heals a bit from this. It seems to heal the amount that it sucked, the life that it sucked from you. You even suck to hell. Colling your house. It's a turn. And that is its turn. I used my reaction to try to hit it, but I missed with an

11, so this will be my actual action to attack. And it's regular, right? This will be special. That's even worse. It'll be a 10. That misses. That is my... That's my turn. Victoria.

I'm going to chill touch it, and it's disadvantaged. Correct. Yes. We're all the hot over you. I'm going to take two more shots. This is a natural 20. They both hit. No natural 20, but they both hit.

Still 46 plus 10. Which is going to be 6, 6, 6, 12, 22 points of damage. Jesus. When the monster slayer gets going, God does he get on? You let go both of those blasts and it reels back. It seems to be, it's healed up a bit, but it seems to be in dire... Dyer! Dyer!

It seems to be fairly wounded. And it was Clayton's turn. I'm going to do the old fire-bolty business. That hits for six fire damage. That is going to hit for seven points of force damage as my dagger finally stabs in. into this fucking. And then I am going to cast sacred flame on it. Nees to make a deck saving throw.

11, fail. Six points of radiant damage. Okay. It takes the damage. As you see that this will be the last round that you have your turn undead up. It is its turn.

It attempts to regain health, but it is not able to. it is going to attempt to bite Victoria again since it still has her grappled and that is an 18 5 points of piercing damage

here comes 384 and 5 points of necrotic damage and that is also taken to your max HB and it feels 5 comma reaction So 10 points is removed from my max HB Reaction again to try and swipe

which I hit with a 24. Hell yeah. That'll be 10 points of slashing. You slash into it. A huge wound opens up on its underside. Bone dust blasts in your face from this decaying body. And then my action will hit with a 19. That hits.

And I'll be another 10 points of damage. You take your Naginata, you swipe up. And just as it exits the throat, you swing it around and cleave the entire ed off. As this thing falls to the ground. I'm going to fall to the ground and crawl, start crawling towards the profile. Gets me away. No, we're going to fight the feet of it. And I would say you would realize that out of four and five, five is actually wounded.

It hasn't been able to regain anything because it can't use any. actions or anything. So you can see that it's wounded, more wounded than forest. And it's restrained, so it was almost as a van, right? We're just beating up in the webs. It'll be like that scene from a dog. I love her at box.

All right. Uh, Victoria. I'm going to move like literally as far away as I possibly can. And I'm going to very weakly hold up my hand and cast a fly. bolt the number five, or I'm sorry, chaos bolt the number five.

You gotta roll doubles. You gotta get these doubles. Or am I thinking of a different spell? He's a disadvantaged because he's in Webb. Who's advantage? Well, she, I mean, I'm here or your advantage, sorry, that's what I meant. I'm not. If you roll doubles, the chaos room jumps to another thing, right? Or is that a different spell? That's if I guess. That's what I'm saying, the double the damage. No, when you roll the damage dice if at the same number, it just goes. It jumps to an up to order. You get to go again. That's why it's so awesome. It's really fun when you roll the whole.

Let's roll. Here we go. That's a hit. Okay. Yeah, baby. So now roll your damage dice. Here we go. You want doubles.

That's okay. That's okay. Seven damage. Let's do acid. Acid, yeah. It takes the damage as you see that the acid begins to eat away at its flesh. I move my hounder's march to number five. Wait, no, which one did you just attack?

Five. Number four. I move my hounder's march to number four and attack it was. Oh. fits. This was a four, so it was a total of six, 11 points of damage. I'm going to cast major armor on myself,

I guess. Feels battery. Okay. Yes, Chris. Yeah, I'm going to cast major armor. Oh, my God. I don't want to burn the webs away. Okay.

Oh, good point. Good point. And also, murder the dude that we need a lie. I'll give you that. I'm going to look at number four, and I'm going to use

the last of my energy and cast guiding bolts because I know we need to fucking kill these things. I am going to... This is going to be a natural funny. I just know it.

I just know it. You're feeling it? Nope. Is it three and a four? So can I use a twist? Sure. Super close. That's what they're four.

What are you twisting for? My guiding bolt. Wow. A cell slot. Yeah. Four. It's going to do 46. right? 15 points of

radiant damage. It is their turn. It cannot regain hit points, but the other one and it is going to do that. What can they do against the web? Strength check. Oh, strength, check. Check.

Against 15. So four makes it. And so does five. So they burst out with it. So they burst out and they are They're now in front of the web. That is the extent they are going to use their movement. It's still difficult terrain, isn't it?

Yes, it's still there. So they're going to move their movement as far as they can to their certainty movement. And it is Conistern? I was like, I can't count. It's your turn, Naginata. Like, fits to a cat, and I will stand here and place myself firmly and take the dodge action. You do that. You do that.

Toria. That's smart. So four cannot regain five can. Okay. Well, right now. Yeah, for one round. Oh, for one round. Okay.

I am going to chill touch on number five. Okay. Four damage. Okay. Tyrol. So your turn? That's her turn. I attack number four.

Oh, wait. I'm going to move and cower. Bonus action. They both hit. Okay. Come on, come on, come on. Oh, fuck. That's going to be 8 plus 18 points of damage number 4.

All right. I'm going to shoot fire bolt at number 4. That hits. Okay. And doing two damage, two fire damage. Sarnax. That hits for six points of force damage. And then I'm going to just sacred, I'm going to sacred flame it.

Okay. I mean, Dodge. Dex is a D.C. Oh. 11. 11. 8 points of radian damage. So they need to make deck saving for. And what for?

For the web. Facial standing in that. They need to get a what? Okay. Then they both pass with the 13 and with the 16 out of 15. No, they are going to use their movement to get as close to the the nearest person as possible. They're both that color.

They'll stand in the web because they're stupid and they don't know any better. They make attacks at disadvantage because I'm dodger. Okay, one is going to try to grapple you. That misses. Next one's going to try and grapple you and that might hit 16. Nope, 17. Thank you, cloak of protection. So the first one.

The first one's going to claw you then and miss. The second one is going to claw you. And miss. I imagine I imagine like the wind just blocking all of them and neither one of them because of Sarnax and Victoria

can regain health so I can't Air high five We are good at this This is extremely effective I will remain here and I will just continue to dodge Okay Victoria

I will continue to chill touch number five Okay I will continue to radiate Nice. That is? Yes. Five.

Shepid. Double attacks on number four. Oh, they both met. One attack on four would be eight points of damage. Okay, yeah, go ahead and do two attacks on four. The next one would be 13 points of damage. You take both judgment and redemption, and you let both of your blasts fly in

and you blow the vampire fond pieces. That's my turn. That's the sound of that police. No, we're on the last one. You're weird. I'm going to fire bolts. Oh, no. I'm going to fire bolt to two fire.

Two damage, okay. And then I am going to once again do the business. He's going to do the business. Dexating, though. Nope one point of reading damage That's all you need to have It's all you need baby

He's a little bit of sunnars All right It's a dick saving A dick saving 11 That failed So he's restrained Okay

Okay He is going to attempt to He's going to attempt To restrain Or to grapple Kana Oh Why are you dodging So it's going to

Attet That's all I can do at little four. It's like an extra attack. 19. 19. That is. Yes. Eight points of damage. Slicing damage, slashing damage, slashing damage.

All of its eight? Yeah. It gets reduced to five because of heavy armor master. Yeah, yeah, yeah. That just soaks up my ten points. Oh, yeah. Get out of here even further. Get out of here.

Get out of here. Get out of here. Yeah. Cana. Canna. Kana. Nagnata. Kna.

Who's now? I'm going to use my very last fighting spirit. As my ballnessy action, which means I get advantage on this stack. That'll hit with a 21 police kill. That'll be nine points of slashing. Okay. It's not funny. I will action surge.

All out. All out. That'll hail with a 21. again. Yep. That's a one. Come on, great weapon master. It was one damage?

No, I can to re-roll it. Two. Now it's two. I need to re-roll ones and twos. Fuck me, right? That'll be a total of five points of slashing damage. Okay. It takes damage.

Victoria. Oh, I get fined up points. Please don't ever eat at my table ever again. You got Yida. Three damage. Are you doing that? Pachoo! Of course you.

And you said three? Three. God damn. Both hit? Fuck, yeah. Let's go. You can't read me. 127, it's 19.

29 points a day. 29? 29. 2. 000. How do you want to do this? Oh, really? I want to see that, like, Kana is, you know,

dodging and doing. thing, slices him up, and I'm going to like basically run up and like tumble roll, and as I come out, I roll just like point blank blam, boy! Bligh! And like blow it. You do it exactly like that. You see as he runs forward. He dodges

or he sees Kana there, spins on the ground, rolls, and as he's coming up, he lets forth judgment, blast. Then he lets forth redemption. Blast and you see as this as this, um, yeah, exactly. As you see as this vampire

Spawn explodes in front of you. As bone dust begins to trickle down around the room, a quietness descends around you. The coffin maker is still tied up in the corner, gibbering to himself. He's horrified and shaken as you find yourselves in this... A stand-up. I holster my weapons.

I immediately turn to Sarnax and say... You are now little five. I say, I say, oh, yeah. I turn to our eyes and I say, Yes. If you hadn't been here, we would have been absolutely ripped to shreds. That is the power of Garets.

He watches over us and keeps us whole. I can't believe it. It saves all lives. I don't see it out here. I feel like the life has literally been drained from me. Well, you just fell bad. I'm going to walk up to him. No.

Weill the bones. He looks at you and his eyes are wild with fear. They're in the cabinet and he points to the room nearest to you and there is a small chest of drawers in there. I start tearing through the kind of... You open, you walk in and you open the chest of drawers, the first drawer, empty, the second drawer, empty. The third drawer, empty.

But you hear sounds you open it, a small, clunk and you tap on the bottom, you see a hinge that had you not known there was something in you wouldn't have noticed, you opened it up and wrapped in a black velvet wrapping, you unwrap it. It looks to be ancient bones. And that is where we'll have in the session. Boom! Great fucking job, Mickey. Great, good enough, Nikki. I'm clapping for days. Great fucking job. I'm going to give you a y-ha-ha.

Yay! Congratulations are in order for the heroes. They've found bones. I'm sure they will come in handy, somehow. But at the very least, they should have learned that my agents are all throughout Borovia. Trust is something that should not be handed out so indiscriminately. We will see if the hallowed ground at the Church of St. Markovia will keep the innocent safe. Even the power of the divine is not reliable here.

With my many allies in Viloki and beyond advancing my plans, will the expedition be able to find allies of their own? Find out in Chapter 4 of Curse of Stordania, Fantasmogoria. 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 Ventress family.