Legends of Avantris - Night of the Crooked Moon | A Folk Horror One Shot

Episode Date: October 1, 2024

It's spooky season for the heroes of Edge of Midnight as they make their way through the Night of the Crooked Moon!   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/5R7D30OW7uc?si=dKA7Ua_gS-_7bbUp

Welcome to Legends of Aventress. Hungry woods, reaching high, snatch the light out from the sky. Leafy sighs, creaking bones, pray you don't get found alone. Crickly cracked that branches, puppy crawls, the night that never stops. The tree that leans with twisted grin, her limbs are thrown her soul as sin underneath the crooked moon Storks the king on glovered

Delicious heat is one swayward souls the fall and don't shrink The funny thing about narrators Is that they're fully unreliable We may like to wax eloquent about our favorite fables and folk tales In the waning hours of the day But they're all lovely little eyes Bathed in the pearly white shimmer of wistful reminiscence The fact of the matter is that for every yawn you think you know by heart, there's a whole other side of that story so dark that it only lingers as the stuff of nightmares in the shrouded fringes of lunacy and imagination most twisted.

Now you might catch yourself asking, and how did it really happen? Lucky for you, this story ain't over. So the long-forgotten truths may reveal itself yet. You may even discover that the answer to that question is entirely up to you. Or maybe, just maybe, your wants and wishes are nothing but a whistle in the wind. All you need now is a little patience. Darkness surrounds you. Your minds drift in and out of dreams both tantalizing and terrifying. For a time that feels simultaneously like an instant and an eternity. A sudden jolt stirs you from the slumber you cannot recall,

and as you return to the realm of the waking, you realize that there's much that you cannot remember. Your senses return, and you realize that you're seated in a passenger car of some sort of train, rocking and swaying as it thunders forward to an unknown destination. You get your bearings and see that most of the seats are occupied by silent spirits, shimmering in a ghastly blue-green and only having the most, vague humanoid shape. But then you realize you are not alone. Thankfully, your five companions, your five only friends in the darkness you rocket through, are scattered around the car,

waking from restless sleep just like you. How you met these people and where you all came from, you have no idea. But what you do know is that there is a deep feeling of dread within the core of your being, punctuated by the love. lonesome wailing whistle of the distant locomotive that pulls you deeper into the gloom. The candlelight flickers in this train car. And as you look about and you take in the image of your friends around you all waking up from that dreamless sleep, try and get your bearings. How did you get here?

What were you doing before this moment? Who are these strange humanoid figure? that sit in this car with you. And as you look out of this car and into the others in this section of the train, they sit in almost complete stillness. Humanoid shapes very clearly,

but all in that ghastly greenish blue and none of them talking or moving or interacting in any way. Just the six of you. Garsh! I've never get used to sleeping. I could never, never understand why someone wouldn't have a biological need to do such a thing.

Having a biology at all just sounds like the worst. Were we really sleeping? There were no dreams. Something about this is so very familiar, but I cannot remember. Does anyone remember what we were doing just moments ago before our sleep? lumber. I have no recollection of how we got here, but something about this train makes me feel uneasy. Did we get drugged again? I, I do not think so, no. Why do I feel like that happens a lot lately? Something about this time is different. I mean, I don't even know why we're here or what we're doing.

Well, let's retrace our steps. We seem to be on some sort of locomotive vehicular device, which means that we became fancy rich city folk in the interim of our slumber. And you all look out the window as a mist drifts past the window. You stare out of it for a while, but you see no buildings,

you see no other trains, you see no trees. All you see is a mist almost like a shroud as it just rushes past the train. I can't say where we're going. Something about this is just so familiar, but I cannot put my finger on it.

This doesn't feel like a train that rich people would ride. Look at these other passengers. Nobody's responding. Nobody seems alert. Well, have you ever seen someone who is not rich city folk ever ride on a train? Or ever before? No, correct.

I've never ridden on a train before, so I just assumed that it wouldn't look like this. Is this what rich folk train look like? I guess I've never seen him either. I just assumed. Looking around the train, it does look like this kind of train that rich folk would ride. The seats are plush. the wood is carved, there is fanciful gilding, even the lamplights, or the lanterns

that illuminate this place are intricate and beautiful, at least in this train car. And whether it's for the truly wealthy or at least the well off, this train is a beautiful piece of creation. Yorra, my friend, are you able to communicate with these spirits? Well, let me try.

Hello, you there. Spirit, I'm running on the... Um, you're... Yoram, I'm going to be honest with you. I thought you were going to have some sort of a... A ritual, perhaps some sort of of special... spectral...

I don't know. I mean, you're just sitting right there. No, man, I don't have to summon them. I don't think. They're sitting in the seats. Corm. Looks like they have tickets and everything. What about your lantern?

Doesn't just have some connection to the other world? Yorgram, as you speak to one of these entities, it turns its head and looks towards you. It doesn't look at you, it looks through you, and out the window into the shrouded fog that rush has passed. I don't think it can even see you. Feels like it's looking through me.

It's not responding, I don't get, do I get the same? I mean, it's obviously, it's a, It's true, a spirit just doesn't register me. Do I get any kind of... It doesn't seem to pay any attention to you at all as you attempt to speak to it. Is anyone else getting the HBGBs?

Well, I wasn't until you mentioned it. You got a feeling that, right? How could someone ignore such a charismatic hello? How do you do? Dripping with charisma. Normally, all I have to say is, Hello, spirits. speak to me and then they respond, but

they just stare right through me. There's something unright about this place. Perhaps we aren't on the same plane as they are. Perhaps there's some barrier or disconnect. This is a train, Mary, it's not a plane? Just so we're on the same page. I want to make sure you understand the difference. Planes are places of

existence. But we're on the same train, so I mean, I feel like train is sort of lower down in the funnel of like existence, right? I mean, maybe I'm wrong, but that's sort of how I was thinking about it. It's at this moment that every single one of these heads, or one of the heads of these entities, all turns and looks into your train car, but not at you, through you, and out into the fog that rushes past. Who?

What are they looking at? Something must be out there. Do you see anything? And I'll look out where they're looking. You look out and you see no silhouettes, no movement, nothing at first. But then as you continue to stare into the fog, you begin to see what appears to be the outline of faces. and as you press yourself up against the glass to try and get a better look,

you see that interspersed in this dense fog are hundreds of wailing faces, rushing past. God, I was waiting for you to jump scare me so bad. Just for me one. It's coming. The night is young. Oh, Farron, what do you see? I have, on account of not.

having eyes. I can't really see. Can you look real close against that window? Surely, surely nothing to be a dove at you. Fair and good. Gelsigend. Yes, make sure you press your face directly up against the glass. Oh, your antlers might get in the way. Oh, your tombstone might get in the way. Let the go. Oh, you have a mask. Brzy, oh, you have a snobarius. All right, Jericho. I'll handle. And Marius will walk up as good, like try not to disturb the other passengers, try to find an aisle where Marius can put his face

directly up against the window and try to get a better look. You squeeze between the legs of your friends as you're in a compartment and it's two seats, one on either side. And though you're all crowded in here, there are a couple of these humanoid figures in this compartment with you. you make your way between the seats

and press your face up against the glass. And it feels cold to the touch. As your fingers, even to me? Even to you. As your fingers press up against the glass, you see little bits of frost appear on the window outside, as if the temperature outside is significantly colder

than the temperature on the inside of this compartment. And you, You stare out and you do see what Farron is talking about, these ghostly faces wailing in the darkness. And they float past. Do you see them there's? Yes, we are. They're clearly in some sort of realm of death.

I've seen faces like that before and they weren't happy. They weren't. They weren't alone. They weren't around for very long. I'm listening to all of this and I'm going to start checking my person for a ticket to see if I can find an item or any additional evidence

or clues that might be on my person. And also to see if I still have the things that I remember having on me the last time I had a memory. What was the last memory you had about the things that you had on you? I would have my mask on. I would have a bag that I cannot remove. I would have a chakram at my side, a weapon.

I would have perhaps a small purse. You remember maybe having a power, But nothing about a bag on your side you couldn't remove. Your mask is firmly in place. But you might have had a satchel or some kind of small backpack or something of the like where you would keep your things. Maybe some religious effigies, incense, a couple of candles, some trinkets here and there. But aside from that, you think and you feel like there are things that you should remember. but wherever those memories reside, they're shrouded.

And you feel yourself and all the things that you should have are there. There is nothing additional. There are no tickets. There's no itinerary. There's no letter or note explaining why you would be here. I'm just going to continue to listen as I think about the relationship I have with memory. Marius, if it's like you, You say in this train is taking us through the lands of death.

Our destination can't be anywhere that's good for us. We should get to whatever pilots this creation and see where we're going. You're right. I thank Lathander at the very least we are together. I know I can rely on all of you. And we will be all right. I'd be mighty of fear if I was trapped alone with all these spooky ghosts. They're also quite rude.

Hi. But I'm so glad I have friends for the first... Well, not the first time ever. I'm not needy or nothing. But I'll just stick close to you. And I won't leave if you tell me to. I will, I mean, never mind.

Jericho, it's all right. No one's going to ask you to leave. We need you. We all need each other. Okay. How are we going to go? Probably a very friendly conductor. We're a nice...

overalls or suspenders perhaps. Yes. Gorham's right. We have to find whoever's at the head of this train. Surely there's some sort of engine room. Hel?

Is there some kind of uniform that they wear? I only saw it in pictures. He sounds like an usherit, you know. At a movie theater. Briggs' movie theaters. Did your head out of your house? Chris, Brissy.

Bricksey, what the fuck? Time machine go today. What the fuck are you talking about? We don't have those in my clan, nor did we have books. I mean, I guess if, you know, I'm sure somebody's driving this thing. You know, I'm presuming it's not like a ship. Do I, I guess I wouldn't see the rails that we're on, right? Like, I wouldn't.

Looking outside, all you see is the shroud of fog and the wailing faces. Do we get a sense of forward momentum? It does feel like you're propelling forward. So we can kind of presume which direction we're headed in. Like not like north, but like, oh, it's this way or it's this way, right? Like we can feel the g-forces on our body. Yes, you can feel the force on your body. You can feel the train shaking.

You imagine that there must be some sort of track that you're on because you can feel the wheels as they move across some sort of track and it shakes the train and knocks things this way and that. You can hear the clink of the glass as it shakes. Well, let's see if we can get to the front of the train And let us all try to stay in the same car at the same time We should not be separated I hate to say this, this is a train

Not a car, just sort on the same page First planes and trains and automobiles This is ridiculous I just wanted to make sure I mean there are not crazy feels This feels like we're just speaking different language Anyway, either way, I'm going to follow. I'll walk towards the connector of the car

and try the presumably door handle. I'll be right next to Ferran. You all make your way out of the train car, the cabin that you're in, and into the long hallway that runs the length of this train car. And you look this way and that until just feeling the momentum of the train, you get a good idea of which way you would have.

imagine the engine of this train would be. And you head in that direction, taking a quick right and heading towards what you believe to be the front of the train. You get to the door, Farron, and there is a handle there for you to turn and enter the new carriage, but you notice that all you see is darkness in front of you. The window that's on this door, it clearly leaves. to somewhere, but you can't see what could be beyond this door. And yet, you continue forward. I think the lights have gone out. And as you open the door, soon, as you open the door to the next car,

your senses are overwhelmed with garish light, gaudy color, pungent fragrance and brassy jazz music that is far too loud and far too upbeat for a ghost train. In that moment of shock, you realize you're standing firmly within the next car and the door has slammed behind you. Before you, seems to be a luxurious dining car with plush upholstery, pristinely pressed tablecloths, and even or neat pieces of art fashioned into portions of the wall in between the windows to the gloom beyond. There's an unnaturally long bar along the left side of the car with every kind of alcohol you could possibly imagine. and many you never knew to exist.

Sitting at this bar is the space's lone passenger, a tall, thin human man with slicked back black hair and a pencil-thin mustache. He is dressed in an almost too fine gray suit with pinstripes, and on the bar is a polished cane with a silver goat skull as its topper. Once he notices you, he turns from his glass of amber spirits and gestures widely to you. You're finally awake.

I thought you were going to snooze the whole trip. Maybe even join your fellow passengers back there in death so you could get reborn for a second chance at life in a brand new fetching and functional form. Seems you want to keep your dusty old bodies. You'll loss. I'm just yanking your chain. Come over here, sleepy heads and perk up with a cocktail.

It's what I do to get ready first thing every early dusk. I'll elbow your grim and I'll say, See, look what I said about rich folk. They ride on trains. This is more how I imagined it, the music and the guy and... Is that bacon? Did he just imply that we were dead?

Yes, that's what I seem to take from it, that's correct. That seems like the most likely explanation for what has happened. to us, given the state of our minds and the other spirits in this place. Well, I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but that would certainly be a first for me, given what we all know. Yes. Well, so sorry for being rude.

We're just surprised to just be on a ghost train and be with a bunch of spooky ghost and seeing a non-ghosts in such a fine-looking compartment such as this with such fine bottles. Anyway, how to do? My name is, old Jericho Sticks, but you can call me Jericho. Most folk do, I stumble forward. I try to take off my hat. I'm very nervous. If a scarecrow could sweat, I would be, being around someone I perceived to be very rich. Jericho is right. We apologize for our rudeness.

My name is Sir Marius Renathia. Pleasure to meet you. He reaches out his hand and he shakes it. It's a pleasure to meet you too. It's good to see that you're all. alive and well. I'd introduce myself, but it seems you know us already. He looks at you a bit and he... No, I don't think I've ever seen you a day in my life. But at least you're alive, at least you're awake,

unlike the rest of these folks up on this train. Now, it's just curious what folks like you are doing on a train like this. Having the answers for us. Oh, he looks at you and he reaches out towards your mask. You do look a bit familiar. Have we met before?

Do I feel familiarity? Roll in. Ooh. Ooh. Ooh. The first one. The first roll of the Brooklyn. I'll say, I'll do insight.

Just, I think that, I think that will work. It rolled a three earlier. Let's see, let's see how that goes. Insight. Insight. I think I will accept one of your 25s, please. Wow. You look at him, and for a moment,

you feel a sense of familiarity, but it is fleeting. As you take in the lines of his face, he is a very handsome man. And it's possible that you could have seen a man that looks similar to this in your many years of travel. though that feeling of familiarity stays in your stomach, you can recollect no memories with this particular person.

And as his hand lingers by your mask, hmm, it's quite interesting. Quite interesting. Yes, it is. Tell me, what is the last thing that you remember? Have you always been a bartender here in this train time? Oh, little lady, I'm not a bartender at all. I'm frequenting this train because I'm traveling.

He's not behind the bar. No, he's in front of the bar drinking. My apologies. Oh. Now, if you'd like a drink, I'd love to share a drink with all of you. One of our finest whiskies, some scotch, rye. I'll have some, please. Make it two.

I'll take one as well. Pick your poison. Fine whiskey sounds lovely, please. Whiskey, whiskey. Whiskey, whiskey, whiskey, whiskey? Sasparilla, is that whiskey? Can be today. Just a tall, cool bottle of sasperilla would just do me a rat fine.

He snaps his fingers and you watch as some of the bottles begin to shake and they begin to rise up off of the counter or off of the shelf and you watch as glasses rise up from behind the bar and one in front of each of you is laid down as these bottles float forward and begin to pour. All the while, you see, he's moving his hand as he's controlling this one and this one and this one, pouring that one, adding a slice of a lime or some salt to the rim or whatever touch to the alcohol of your dreams or, in Jericho's case, a sasperilla, nice, cool sasperilla on the rocks. I turn down the whiskey and ask for a mixed

drink, the last word. And he smiles at you. And he smiles at you. And gets to work on this drink, seemingly understanding what your requests are without having to ask for instructions. And it takes no time at all for you all to be sitting here at the bar with this new person, all enjoying a drink. Well, it's been very rude of me to provide you with drinks

and not tell you anything about myself. I'm Philip Drusselandvald, and you, my friends, are making your way to my lands. Oh, so you're saying that you're a landowner now? I see that glint in your eye. You're a businessman at heart, aren't you? I've been called that by a crocodile or two. Oh, and a scarecrow for extra measure.

He's quite shrewd, I believe, is the term. Is something wrong with your eye? Oh, do you mean this filthy sack that's got holes poked into it? leading to strange orangey soul stuff on perhaps a fiendish construction on account of the old crow demon what lives in me wait Virgil! Virgil!

Virgil! Am I really free of Virgil? Not a fuck. You are not. Oh wait! You've- Oh, I'm free of... And all my head will snap back up and you'll just hear...

Never! And suddenly my mouth will open and the burst of black feathers as a horrible, a demonic-looking crow just shoots out and flaps and starts pecking me on the head. Oh, no, I wasn't being wishful thinking, Virgil. Oh, no, I'm sorry. I'm sorry. We're best chums like you always said. You're the only friend I'll ever have and no one else will ever love me like you.

Ah, okay, okay, it's okay, Virgil. Oh, I got feathers all in my sasparillo. Oh, and now I've dropped down the moon. Do you allow animals on the train? I could just take care of it, and I'll pull out my flip mic. I don't think you could take care of it if you tried. Are you looking at that thing? No, no.

Not your friend Jericho. The thing on his shoulder. Oh, I mean, it looks kind of spooky, but I've shot birds, crows, seagulls, albatrosses. I will try. What's the plural of? I believe Albatry. Albatry.

Now that I look at you all a little bit closer, you've been here before, haven't you? Well, we certainly get the feeling that we do, but we just can't quite put our fingers out. But I feel like that's a completely different story than the one we're in right now. Now, that's a different telling, though some things seem to be familiar.

What? Hmm. Well, it doesn't matter all that much. But I can tell at least one thing. you haven't been to Wickmore Hollow. No, it doesn't ring a bell. Is that where we're headed? Well, the train's passing through there, that's for sure.

Wickmore Hollow has been having troubles. People going missing, crops failing, beasts that sort of thing. And you look like you've gotten your hands dirty, a fair share of times. Are you saying there's trouble? Trouble right here, Wicamowlo? It's literally what I just said.

Trouble starts with tea in it. Anyway, I thought just with your voice, you'd go break into some kind of song if I just piqued you up, never mind. I do like to sing on occasion, but I haven't had enough scotch for me to be doing performance for you this evening. Do all drink folks sing and dance?

With tap and shoes? In the major illusions, they do. You can't be married to my wife and not know how to dance. Oh. You gotta watch. You gotta watch. Of course I've got a wife.

And he lifts up his hand that he's been holding his scotch, and you see that there's a large golden wedding band there on his finger. Lucky. We're heading into the realms of death with beasts that haunt the woods and be worried about the fact that he's married. Well, I mean, the horrible woods of death would sure be a lot warmer. with the best gal. Well, I suppose that's true.

Thank you. Maybe she has a sister for you. Ooh. Does she have a sister for me? I hate to break it to you, but no. There's only, my sweet adela is one of a kind. Well, that's congratulations. On your new betrothal.

He looks at you. Seems a little bit confused, but he waves it along. Yes, we're heading towards Wickhamore Hollow. And I think that you could. do a little bit of good there. Maybe, maybe not. Is this Wickermore Hollow also filled with spirits and mists like this?

Oh, the entire place of Druskenwald is filled with spirits and mist. Hmm, well perhaps we'll have some more spirits before we have to deal with those spirits. Sounds like a great idea to me. Cheers. Cheers. Cheers.

Cheers. That's a part of plan. Bricksey, you're out. I'm still most in mind. I don't know. I got a cruise. He snaps and immediately refills your drink. Well, cheers to new friends and potentially the savers of Wickmore Hollow.

Either way, I've got things that I have to do and shopping to take my wife to. So hopefully you can mend it so I don't have to think twice about it. Oh, aye. All right, then I suppose we'll drink to that. All right. Cheers. Should we say some words? A toast?

Oh, go on. Oh. We're going on the rails on a spooky train. That's all I have. I didn't explicitly on the spot. I put myself on the spot. I'll change it, Ed. Cheers.

Cheers. Cheers. You've got a great voice on you, Jericho. Oh, well, thank you very kindly. I think my wife would love to hear you sing. Speaking of my wife, she is the most beautiful. smart, mystical, intelligent, amazing, hottest woman you could possibly imagine.

And she's in the one car over. Huh? She's not for you good, sir. She's for me. She's been in there relying on her energy all night. And you know what I think? I think she'd like to meet you. Huh?

And if, I'm gonna need you to calm down. Very whiplash. I need you to wane. I need you to wane. Rain it in. The yogurt is also cursed. You wanted some yogurt? No, I'm fine with my last word.

Thank you. No problem. Anything for you. Now, you see, Adela's a mystical woman. And if you're going to be heading into Wickhamu'll Hollow, she might be able to help you out a bit. See if she can commune with the spirits, the world around her or something.

Give you some help along the way. That sounds good. I think we could use that. Is she some sort of like cleric or wizard or something? She's Adela. What more is there to say? Fair enough. I don't know.

Is she like clearing her energy? Or is she like clearing her energy? You know what I mean? No, I don't know what you mean. I guess we'll find out in about three seconds. Wait, can she tell us our future? One of the greatest things about Adela. And let me tell you, there are many great things about Adela.

She has the sight beyond sight. That sounds useful. Perhaps we can get some clarity on why we're here and what happened before. Well, if you're interested in me, I'll let you know you're here. That would be lovely, yes, please. Please.

You watch as he picks up, as he lifts his hand, the same one that he had been using to hold his glass of, of liquor, and you see a cuff link on his wrist shaped like, in similar fashion to the goat skull on the head of his cane. And he puts it up towards his mouth. Adela, sweetie, there are some people in the bar car, if you're interested in meeting them.

I think they could use some of your mysticism and just some of your boundless energy. Love you, sweet pea. See you soon. I'm sure she'll be here in a minute. Your wife is a ring? We have a way of communicating with each other, across many planes of a... It's a magical item, friend.

I'm sure you've got some of your own, like your little crow fella there. Well, that's one way to describe Virgil. He's my worst friend. I mean, he's my very best friend. I'm getting packed violently. I'm not sure how long it's gonna take her for her to clear her energy.

So until then, just enjoy the spirits. And if you have any questions, feel free to throw my way. I'm sorry. I feel like we need to start over. It's got off to an awkward start. You pining after my wife? No, I'm not pining. I'm just jealous of what you have. Not with her particularly.

I just never had a best gal of my own. What about these two beautiful gals standing next to you? I'm like covered in mud and kind of smell. Some heavy moss. Something's crawling around in my hair. We're all just best companions. None of us are best anything besides best friends. Well, anyways, where are these ghosts coming from and where are they going?

Well, all of these ghosts, as you call them, spirits. They are on their way to Druskinbald. Will they'll be reborn into their new forms? I apologize. Some of them even look like you, scarecrows. Garsh, scarecrows? We've got skeletons, imps, rat folk, beetlefolk. Harpies, lichens, ghouls?

You have zombies? You don't have any zombies. Oh. I apologize if you've mentioned this already, but do you own this train? Nobody owns this train. Nobody that I know. You mentioned that we were heading to your lands.

Do you own this Wickermore Hollow? I own all of Druskinvold. It's in the name, Phil of Druskenwald, at your service. Oh. Many of a mini. Look at you, you got buck all over you and moss and all kinds of things. This is wild.

Philip, lucking on the darling, honey. You see bouncing into this train car from one train over is a petite woman with beautiful brown hair that is short and almost plastered to her head and these cute little finger curls. She has a long necklace down the front of her form-fitting outfit that is covered. in beads that sways with the movement of her hips. The necklace is long, and at the very end, you see that it has some sort of what almost looks like the planchette on a spirit board, but is clearly a detailed, an elaborate piece of jewelry.

And you see that she picks it up, and she holds it to her eye, and she looks at each of you, and lets out a cute little gasp as she inspects each of you individually. She bounces up to you, the beads swaying with every bit of movement as she unabashedly walks up to you and shakes your hand

and plays with a little bit of your moss and pokes at your stomach, Jericho. Each of you, it is very clear she has, she has no shame and no sense of personal space as she bounds around and you glance to Philip who is staring at her with all of the love in the world.

It is as if everything that is important is bundled into this one tiny package of a woman as she just bounces here and there and diggles and squeals before she finally jumps onto the stool next to Philip, spins around on it three times kicking her feet up in the air before she crosses one leg over the other.

This is going to be something. So great getting to know you. I'm Adela Druskinbald. I'm Phillips's wife. It is a pleasure. Yes, second. Oh, absolutely. There has not been anyone alive on this train

and, well, except for us, right, Philip? And she elbows him to the, in the side, and he looks down at her and puts one hand on her shoulder. Anything you say, honey, anything you say. And he drops a soft kiss on her forehead before continuing to let her speak. Wait, so. You say we are still alive.

Well, I guess from a certain point of view. Well, I sure hope so. You're not looking like one of them chaps in one of the other train cars. You took the thought right out of my mouth. I mean, if you want to be dead, I guess you could try to be. What do you think you'd be reborn as in Druskinbald? Well, you're already a scarecrow, so I guess you've got that one covered. Hmm, let me see if I could guess, scarecrow.

You would be a haunted tree folk for sure. You... I don't know, maybe like some kind of living toy. Like a doll or something? I could see that. That would be interesting, don't you think? I could see that. Like a portion little little baby doll.

Yeah, I can see that. You, hmm. You're very large. Well, thank you. You would be a trollkin. Yeah. You would be a trollkin. You would probably be a rat folk.

I mean, sure, it's the closest thing I'm going to get to an alligator. Do you mean he, me or him? No, you. Oh, me. The one with the chunk. Oh. I, I guess. No, this one here, brooding, blonde, blue-eyed, well, no, blue-eyed once, huh?

Interesting. I think you'd be an imp. I can see that. Surprising no one. I assumed you were going to say also a toy, but I can see imp, yes. No, definitely an imp. Some of us are in a state of in between, currently. Oh, that's ominous.

Yeah. So you'll be with us someday then. Like, for real, for real. I almost hope so. It depends on the nature of our curse and how we were cursed. And really, the dark power that holds claim over our souls, it's very complicated. We all walk in the mists eventually, Briggsie. There's no way to avoid it.

Oh, wow. Wow, you were all so mysterious and interesting. Yogi, that was a badass thing to say. Oh, my God. I got chills. I don't know I can still get those. Well, I mean, I guess most of the folk are in between. I'm kind of more of a never at all.

So how are you feeling about going into Wickmore Hollow? We're hoping to find some answers. It's so nice of you guys to offer to go ahead and do that so Philip and I can go shopping. We were really tired of pretending to care about what was happening over there. Oh, I suppose we're. I mean, we do care, you know, but... Oh, you... I need a new dress.

We're going to have a party soon. It's... It is no... It's no problem. It's one of the tenants. We always aid when we can. Well, I mean, is there some kind of reward or something? Or as Jericho would say, genuine reward.

Oh, that's my life. No, no reward of anything, but isn't that why you're here? Why else would... Six living folk be? on this train, heading into Druskinvold, passing directly through Wickemohala when there were problems going on down there. To be honest with you, we have no memory. The last thing... Oh, that's scary. You must be horrified about that. The last thing that I can remember is having some sort of purpose or quest for my king. Beyond that, nothing. Does anything ring true

about when she says, well, that's why we're here? Roll an inside check. It's time for another roll. Oh. Roll over two. Hot damn. It's above average. That's right.

Oh, well, shucks. We take those. What was it? What did you say? I forget. Insight. Oh, no. That's a 15.

Good guts. Briggs has no. You're listening to the things that she's saying, and you have no memory of why you're here, where you were before you fell asleep, what you had been doing weeks leading up to that. You know who you are, what's on your person,

who these people are around you, but how you met them, you don't remember. The adventures you could have possibly gone on, you don't remember. But what she's saying sounds logical. If you woke up on this train is the only living people in whatever this place may possibly be, and the only two other apparently living people

are telling you that there was trouble here. You feel like that is at least a better guess than any you could come up with on your own. Well, fair enough. Well, I mean, I'm sure you care very deeply about your subjects on account of being your own land. Oh, yeah, for sure. I mean, it's a very important thing.

A political leader needs to be looking stylish or else how they're going to wield power reasonably at all. You think anyone's going to listen to you? you if you don't look absolutely adorable or dapper, it's just not gonna happen. Yeah, I mean, I look gross and down-trotted and no one listens to what I have to say. Oh, honey, don't, she walks over to you

and she grabs one of your hands. Oh, honey, don't say that about yourself. You got a lot more value than you think. I'm listening to you right now. I'd be careful with that. Oh, does he give you splinters? He wears a handsome hat. I could call it.

Ew. I split this one's college. What? I did not think that you went to college. Well, college. Anyway, honey, I'm just saying don't put yourself down, all right? Oh, it's okay.

The words will come to you when you're ready. She drops your hand very quickly and bounces back over towards a wall and sits down. So aren't any of you scared? I can't imagine wake. up somewhere far from home, not knowing where I was or what I'd been doing. And, I mean, I hope that just like you, I'd have Philip on my side, because he'd make me feel very comfortable. But if I didn't have him, I'd be horrified.

It's not so bad. I actually have been through this experience once before, so I feel quite comfortable. We may not have the syntax of our former lives, but we are united and we can accomplish anything if we stick together. Lotha goes right. We have purpose. There's good we can do here, and that is enough. Oh, well, that's great. I'm glad to hear it. Anytime I get nervous about stuff, I like to do a tarot card reading to kind of help myself get some

guidance. I could do one for you, but I mean, if you're not scared at all and you think that you're going to be just fine, I guess what's the need, right? I would be happy to take everything. Oh, you're what? I would love that so much. We should go find a table. We'll sit down around it. I can turn the lights down a little bit. We'll make it a bit spooky.

Because you've got to make sure that the ambiance is all set, you know what I mean? And then I'll stop pulling the I know they'll be really good cards. I'm sure there won't be anything weird about them. Of course there wouldn't because you're here for a reason. You're just going into, oh, it's going to be great. You want to do that? You want to?

I can show you a place to go. Wait, wait, wait, hold on. Before we get started, is this some sort of hidden fee or something? You're going to try to like up charges, upsell us on something after you do to reading. Well, that's just rude. Look at me. Of course I don't need your money. I just wanted to do it with fun.

I mean, there's other kinds of currencies besides money. Like what? Are you trying to offer me sexual favors in front of my husband? No, what? Philip, are you famous? That's what I was talking about. You see that Philip holds on to the goat skull

on his cane and for the first time you see a flicker of anger across his face as he looks towards you. Are you trying to proposition my wife? No, no, the point is, as a. My wife is trying to offer you a, a really, a kind thing, I think. A tarot reading to see where your futures may lie in this place.

Please, excuse my friend. He did not mean to overstep. He does it often, and he doesn't know what he is doing, or how to think or act. I just wasn't implying weird sex stuff. Look, that's all I'm saying. I mean, it's not like, I haven't done it. I mean, like, say, oh, I can see the future.

Look at all these tricks I can do that. I'll be, ooh, for a thousand gold pieces. Are you implying that my wife is a liar? No. And you would try and pull a ruse over your eyes? As a fellow member of the occult or whatever you call it here. Briggs. I'm just, I'm sorry.

Please, just apologize to the comments. I'm sorry. You know what? I can admit when I'm wrong, I can admit and I can be the bigger crocodile zombie person. So I apologize. Please excuse my friend. Captain. Philip Druskin.

What was your name? Adela. Adela. Adela? She kind of tilts her head down and look sad. Sadella Dreskinvold. You're so gracious, Captain. Did you say you were sorry?

Did you say you were sorry? I did say I was sorry. Oh, good. I'm so glad you did. Philip, can I do the tear of reading for him? That's what you want to do, honey? That's what you got to do. Do you know I'm going to support anything you want?

I know you are, honey. It's one of the things I love about you the most. And she gets up on her tippy toes. and she goes to place a smooch on his cheek, but she's far too short. So he reaches down, puts his arms around her waist, picks her up so that she can kiss him on the cheek. He ruffles her hair a little bit.

Oh, don't you mess up the dew, honey. I'm about to do a tarot reading. He squeezes her tightly a little bit as he places her down on the ground, and she motions towards you to follow her. There's a table right here in the corner. Let's go ahead and get set up. Grab your drinks.

I can't think of a more appropriate place than realm of the dead for a reading. Miss Ferran, I know you're probably very afeard. So maybe we should ask Miss Adela for some reassurance that this will just confirm our heroic fate. Are you asking me to ask on your behalf? Oh, I just, I see that you're a little nervous and a little feared. I mean, I'm not a fear. But I can see, I just thought, you know, maybe we'd want to do it, you know. You know, now that you mentioned, you know, now that you mentioned,

I am feeling a little bit afraid. Oh, I could tell, I know. For reassurance, I think maybe I'd, yeah, I think we'd better ask her. Oh, that's good to do that for yourself. Yeah, thank you. Just for myself. Yeah, good, I'm looking out for you.

Yeah, exactly right. What did I want to ask her again? That everything's gonna be okay and it's gonna be confirmation of our heroic fate and everything's gonna be real fine and Wicker Moralo. I am feeling a bit afraid, you see, and, uh... Oh, honey,

Don't be afraid. You're so beautiful. There's no need to be afraid when you're beautiful. You're that, you're beautiful. No, I'm talking to you. What? Oh. I think what I really want to know is.

The glow in my eyes and mouth actually dull. Does that make fashion? It's a very dim glow. I'm sorry. You have a third lung that's a laugh. No, that's a problem. He needs a third one. No, it's been ripped out of me.

If a crow can laugh, Virgil laughs, and he comes over to attempt to give you like a high five to your like horn to your ad-lap? Got him. He takes his talent and he's like doing this. I think we just really want to know that everything's gonna be all right. That we are meant to be here and help them in the town. That's why you want to do.

tarot reading for you because it's gonna go ahead and tell you what to expect in your future. I'm sure everything will be fine. Look at you. You're all strong and healthy and alive. I mean, you've already got so many things going for you that so many others don't. From a certain point of view. It's very kind of here to put our minds at ease. Oh, I'd love to. Reading a tarot is one of my favorite things. I'm into all sorts of mysticism. I can do the spirit board in the tarot. I can roll bones. I can do all kinds of stuff. Whose bones do you be rolling? Oh, I'm not sure.

And this ritual you have will no way curse our souls. Oh, no, of course not. Why would I ever curse your soul? I don't know. You never see it coming. It's just the chieftains with their rituals. And then suddenly everybody's gone. That's such a sad story.

Anyway, so we're going to do a tarot card reading. Yeah? Please, we would love that. Thank you. Let's head on over to the table. And immediately you feel the lights begin to dim. She takes you over to a circular table in one of the corners of this train car

and the lights dim and begin to flicker a little bit. As you look over towards fill up and you realize that you are the only people in this train car. Philip is gone. And so, with him, is the sound of jazz. As all of a sudden, the ambiance in this trailer changes. And Adela sits down in front of you,

and that perky energy that she had before, she somehow finds a way to rain in as she pulls out a deck of ornate cards, a silver gilding around the edges as she looks down at them and closes her eyes and she begins to hum along to the song that plays in this car. But from where you have no idea, she breathes in and out if she thinks for a while. And you begin to hear her muttering things. What could their fake possibly be? What are they doing here? Where does this all end? Do they come here for a reason?

Is the future looking bright? And she begins to ask all these questions. And you begin to notice that as she takes this deck of cards in her hand, she begins to shuffle through them with one hand, very tactfully. As she reaches out with the other and occasionally places her hand in some point of your body, almost as if she's channeling a bit of your energy. before, after touching each of you individually, she begins to shuffle the deck

and then takes about two to three minutes of almost silence while she shuffles the deck in front of you. And then with her eyes still closed, she places down one card. The Fool. Oh gosh. The Fool. That isn't so bad, actually.

I was just kind of hoping for a little bit of intrigue. No, the fool's quite interesting. It means you're on a journey. So I guess that does mean that you were supposed to be here. You were, you're on a new journey. You're stepping out. It's a long journey, I think. It's clear.

She holds the cart up in her hands. It's clear you were bound for Wickmore Hollow. And a brand new life. Starting over. leaving the life you knew behind for something new and different. Maybe not on your own accord, but because that's what's meant to be. That's what's supposed to be.

God. Everyone likes a new journey, right, in an adventure and travel. And that's exactly where you found yourself. Well, it's technically correct. And it was upright, so that's nice. The tower, upright. What? It's another upright card.

Interesting. It's a tower is kind of hit a miss. And in this case, she feels it, and you see that her eyes almost gloss over and become a little misty. Almost as if she's reading more into the cards than just their interpretation, but seeing, like Philip said, beyond the veil, seeing in a way that other people can't see. You're bound for sudden imminent change. change, chaotic and maybe even violent. There's a villain, not just one, but six.

Where? Six villains. These the beasts, that your husband was speaking of. It could be. There were people going missing and there were beasts and the crops of failing. Maybe that's on account of six different villains. And the sudden change, maybe you're the ones that are gonna bring it. it. Change for the good, I hope. Right? And you watches her eyes gloss over just a little bit more. And she, when she comes to, she looks a little more detached. Change for the good, I hope.

Yeah, yeah. But that was the tower, right? One for each of us. We'll take them on. Yeah. It's a fair fight. It's probably what that card means. Of course. Well, we'll do the last one. And this is, I'm sure, going to tell us that everything's going to be exactly as it should be. And that's the devil upright. But the fact it's called the devil scare, yeah, it can have a lot of different meanings. Let me just take some time to, to commune with this card and feel it. There's a temptation here.

There's a lot of temptation from all of you. There's going to be something that's going to be hard for each of you individually to overcome. Oh, no. The devil with his horns and his wings. Your journey is one of sin, evil, and villainy. But I'm sure you're here to fix that, right? Of course. It's not like you're going to be the problem.

You're here to fix the problem, not become it. I'm going to get myself another drink. I'll be right back. Yeah, all right. So we got the full, you're on a journey, new things. new life, you got the tower, the sudden imminent change. A chaotic and possibly violent, but that's you fighting the bad things and the temptation, but you'll surely overcome it.

Yeah, I'm sure you'll overcome it. You speak of temptation. Oh, yeah, well, I don't speak a temptation. The crowds speak a temptation. Of course, and no one is perfect. We all have made mistakes in our lives. I don't know, I think Philip's pretty perfect. The point is we learn from those mistakes.

and we don't make them twice. Mm. So temptation will not be an issue for us. Oh, I'd love to hear that. Well, I mean, here's a thing. You know, for some folks, temptation is no problem. But, you know, I've been faced with temptation

quite a few times in my life, and I've generally lost most of the time. Do you have any other insight in terms of, like, what kind of temptation we're talking about, so I can pair myself against it. Oh, it's hard to tell. The thing about the cards is they can give you an idea of what's to come, but they're not going to give you a play-by-play.

But at least now you know, temptations in your future, so you've got to be careful any time it rears its ugly head. But you all look strong and you seem so kind. I'm sure what these cards mean is that you're here to solve the problem. The difference this time, Briggs, is that we stand together. We'll go to Wickermore. We'll face these six villains.

And we'll bring peace back to this land of Druskenbald. You know what, Yogi, you're right. You know, six of you would totally stop me from, you know, giving end of my temptation. I feel strongly about that. And almost as if it is fate itself. The sixth tenet is to think ahead. You've recognized where there may be a weakness,

and you can fix that. You can think ahead and prepare. prepare yourself for whatever comes. We're going to be all right. Oh, yeah, no, I'm not afeard. Ferran, why do you look so afeard? I'm feeling pretty feared, as you say. Oh, we're all afired.

All of us are afeard. I'll admit I'm all so afeard now that you've admitted it first. I thank you for speaking in solidarity with me. Solidarity. That's what we're here for. So, yeah, could you, you know, you can see beyond side? Could you, like, peek around side a little bit more

just to make sure, like, oh, it's a great card, actually. Temptation can be a good thing from a certain point of view. I'll spend some more time with them, see if I can glean anything else. While we're on the topic of tenants, we might as well think of number seven, and that's to remain positive. All right, this is going to be all right.

We're together. We can do whatever may come our way. There is a fate that's been woven for you. The fool, the tower, the devil. You just have to keep moving forward until you figure out what it is. But I can feel it. Whatever's pulling you towards Wickhamu'll hollow. It's pulling you there for a reason.

It brought you here for a reason. And I think it's because... All of a sudden, the train charges to a halt. and the table slams up against the side of this room. Adela goes flying as all of you are hurled this way and that. You see glasses and bottles and shards of everything in this room just flying here and there as you hear the grinding of the wheels of the train on some tracks far beneath you. You hear Adela call out for just a second and then nothing.

Suddenly, your entire world lurches forward violently, sending the table its cloth and the entire deck flying into the void, and you can hear what sounds like loud screeching of brakes upon wheels as the cacophony of the upturned dining car roars around you. Need you all to make a dexterity saving throw at disadvantage. But I don't want to do that. Oh, I don't know.

I mean double 17s. I don't care. I have 14 and a 15. That's pretty good. And decks saving, Dex, you say? Dex you say. Wow! I got a 19.

Turns into a not that. That was it even possible. 12. 14. Natural one. Oh, yeah. Wait a minute. Wait a minute.

Anyone who's within 10 feet of me gets a bonus. You get a bonus to the saving throw equal to my charisma modifier with a minimum bonus of plus one. You must be conscious to grant this bonus. So you all get plus four. You're within 10 feet of me. You're within 10 feet of me. Which you may not be if you went to go get a drink. Catch me, Berthias.

This is when Leatherka dies in this one. I couldn't figure out why my decks was so high. Did anybody roll 16, or did anyone roll 15 or less? Damn, you with the plus fours? Just say, I was at eight. Yeah, I've got a natural one. I got a 29. I'm moonwalking, Michael Dex in my head.

Yeah, 25. You take 14 points of bludgeoning damage. The rest of you take Cass. Damn. As you are rocketed around this car. My costume. Should I? Yeah, yeah, you should.

Yeah, you should. Yeah, long rest and then take the help away. Oh, well, I made a copy first. I made a copy. Oh, shit. Okay. Oh, it's fine. No, I know what I was at.

I know what I was at. Okay. I don't think you're gonna have. Is everyone all right? Lethika, where are you? I'm here, I'm here, I'm fine. I dropped my drink. As you crash into the void

that's around you, all finally comes to rest. All right, once more, sorry, I lost, I'm trying to do music. All finally comes to rest once more. Then you hear it, the shrieking wail of what you can only presume to be the whistle of the ghost light express,

but sounding more like a chorus of wailing souls than any sort of sound made by a normal device. When it finishes its mournful blast, a rectangle of light appears several feet from you as a rush of cool air surrounds you. The doors your car has opened, and outside is a night illuminated by the light of a crescent moon. Looking around you, you see that Philip and Adela are completely gone. There is endless black void in all directions. overturned chairs and tables.

Just tossed this way and that. The only path in front of you is out of the train. Have we been tricked? Where did they go? Oh, hold on. I grab my chunk. Oh, sorry for this, mouth. I apologize.

You must find a better way to secure the chunk. I mean, I've tried roping it down. I've tried staples. I've tried glue. We'll work on it. All right. Gors, I'm fine, everybody. Thank you for asking.

You're the only one who stood at the end of all that. I saw your dance moves. It was quite impressive. Well, thank you. You know, I got to bring a little bit of the barred pizzazz. But this is a very serious situation. The train breaks suddenly,

and the entire car exploded and our very rich and very attracted patrons are nowhere to be seen in the void. Get hold of yourself. And Virgil's still here. Can anyone and see what's outside, remember they were thrown

from the train car. I would, at your room's insistence, step from the train car quickly, assuredly, and try to look around into the darkness to see if I can see anyone. You step off the platform of the Ghost Light Express and find footfall upon a forest floor as another gust of the shapeless night wind whistles past you.

And in a breath, there is no train at all. You are all. all alone in a deep, dark wood. Fragments of glimmering moonlight breaking through the gnarled canopy. Look about, and it is easy to see. There is no sign of Philip or Adela anywhere. Hmm.

Wait, we were just on a train and now we're, now we're here. Why don't understand? Do I still have the glass that I was holding? Roll a dexterity saving throw to see if you could hold onto it. That was almost good. Plus four. That's right.

10. No, you don't. You drop it just in that moment. At least the glass was real. Does that happen with genuine real trains that rich folk ride? You just get kicked off suddenly in a spooky wood? I didn't collide with something.

It stopped so abruptly. It doesn't seem to be anything around here. I don't think so. The moment that we see. stepped off, the train was gone. Surely this is just some sort of trick. I can't help but feel like we've been lured here for nefarious reasons.

Definitely feels like some kind of trick. And take it from us, a couple of fellas who've been tricked before. Isn't that right, Marys? We learn from our mistakes. Exactly right. All right. Remember that? Yeah, well, clearly not, because we just got tricked.

Look, line, and sinker. It does feel a little familiar. Well, no, maybe this is just how it happens. Maybe we ran out of time for any proper information sharing or safety measures, and we just had to get kicked off the spooky wood, and maybe we're in Wickermore Hollow. I think we've just got to pay attention to what Lady Adele was telling us, and we've got to keep moving forward.

It may be a test, a way of testing our abilities, a way of seeing what we are made of, It is no accident that we woke up with no understanding of how we came here only to inherit this charge. Perhaps there's a trail or some sort of marker and we can maybe find this Wickamore Hollow. Let us keep our eyes open. We should stay at the ready if the beasts haunts these woods.

Did you say there were Prince or something? Oh no. No. I'm sorry, I thought you said Prince or something. I'm not gonna look around in in these dark, dark spooky woods. You begin to walk and make your way through the trees, tall, giant trees

that reach up towards the sky, the gnarled canopy shrouding you from the darkness of night, but in doing so, making it even darker where you walk. The sounds of the forest echo out around you and occasionally the sounds of the beasts and creatures that live within these woods, some louder, some softer. And as you move forward, you hear strange noises,

noises from creatures unlike any you've experienced before, but much deeper into the forest than where you are now, almost as if they're keeping you at a distance, but making sure to let you know that they're there, they're watching, they're waiting. You walk through this forest for 15, 20 minutes, 30 minutes, time starts to feel like it slows down as the progression of night doesn't seem to change. The moon hangs overhead, but it's hard to get a look at it through the thicket of the canopy of these trees. But it doesn't seem to be moving at all.

No progression from night to day. You walk for 30 minutes, 45 minutes to an hour. Feels like you could walk forever, slowly. And then eventually, you see two large flickers of light off ahead of you. Soft orange glow of what can only be candlelight or lantern light. And for the first time walking through these woods, woods with all of these unfamiliar sounds and the darkness closing in around you, you feel hope. There's someone else out here in the gloom.

Do you all see that? The lanterns there in the distance, yes? Lanterns, maybe. Lights, for sure. Some kind of stagecoach made me to pick us up. Maybe Philip, you know, wasn't missing around and he arranged something for us. Remember, there are foes in these woods. That's right. Six of them.

And people have been going missing. We should be on our guard. That's right. Steal yourselves. And maybe we can get their attention cautiously. Should I sing a jaunty tune? I see no reason why we wouldn't put on a smiling face to introduce ourselves should they be allies.

Yeah, I could use a nice little tune. Yeah, I wrote a real upbeat jaunty tune about the terror reading we just got. Terro or terror? Yes. Ding, ding, ding and ding and ding. I'm playing my banjo. Sing me a song, you're a singer.

Do me a wrong. You're a bringer of evil. The devil is never a maker. The less that you give, you're a taker. I'm realizing how threatening this is sounding. It goes on and on and on. It's heaven and hell. Okay, somebody's taught me.

I'm sorry. Oh, yeah. That's enough from Jericho. Thank you for that. But I'm trying to get their attention singing to these people. And you're moving closer. Moving closer, playing, plucking my banjo.

You make your way closer, and the flickering light gets larger and larger and larger until eventually you are close enough that if it weren't for the light piercing through the darkness and casting a shadow on the individuals behind them, you would be able to see who you're standing in front of. But honestly, even if you could, the light is just so beautiful.

You stare into the flickering of the orange glow. And I need you all to roll a wisdom, saving throw at disadvantage. Oh, no. Plus four if you're close to me. More close. I'm close. That's our protection as long as I'm conscious.

You just gotta be close to me. I love paladins. You said we just didn't. No, I got double twos. Double twos. Plus four. Yeah, well, I mean plus, well, I actually have a shitload. That's actually crazy.

With a two, I got an 11. Great. Because I got plus nine total. That's amazing. I got a 14. So hopefully 11's good enough. 12. I got doubles yet again, double 14s.

Nice. I got double tens. Wow. Oh. Wisdom, you say. Wisdom, that's 14, 16, 20. Wow. Farin and Jericho, you stare into these

these lanterns and you realize that the glow is intoxicating. It's charming, even. It's hypnotizing. But it's not working on you. You begin to look around the glow to see who's holding the lantern. Is this on a carriage? Is it moving on a person? It seems to be quite stationary as you walk towards it. However, as you're in the midst of these thoughts, Briggsie, Marius, Jerica or Lethika and your gram. I got a total 22.

I rolled a 10. Fuck yourself. I'm sorry, I should have been more clear. You should have been more clear. Thank you very much. You are with them. You are with them. But you're distracted by a stick you stepped on on the ground

and you're not paying attention to anything else. Wow, it's such a lovely shape. Is that a frog? What's going to make that joke? Damn it. Oh, it's just a leave. The three of you on the loser's side of the table. Relax, am I right?

Whizber. Yes, of course, yes. I need each one of you to describe a person that you trust. Oh, King Victor Dynathrias. The person that I trust more in this entire world that I would do anything for. Yes, what does Sir Victor Dynathrius look like? Now, he's an old man.

I see staging, but he continued to do. age. And he is my brother, not blood, but in relationship. And he's graying, but he's still strong, and he looks like he is filled with purpose. And he, even in his old age, he looks like a very strong ruler, someone that you immediately would trust. And that is how you remember him. And so it is shocking when you see him standing in front of you holding up this lantern that's illuminating two beams of light, and he looks sickly. And he is struggling to hold the lantern up as he tries to call out to you,

but his voice catches in his throat, and he just waves you towards him as he turns and begins to make his way deeper into the forest. No, no, my king. Victor, no, please come, come back. I can help you. It's me. It's Marius, please. Come back.

Victor, come back, please. Marius, what are you saying? And I begin to follow. Who is he talking to? He's speaking of his king. It makes no sense. Did you see someone? Marius.

Wait. Come back. Marius begins to rush. Briggs he. I might think of me mom. What does your mom look like? She's a crocodile person. She's a bonnet.

She's got a bonnet. She's got a moon. for all, up with a moo-mooh. Exactly what I was thinking, a pink little bonnet with frills. Brits here, you lice, crash. Get back here, his head, instance. Making biscuits.

And you see that her night dress is, you see that her night dress is just as you remember it, as you look forward and you see that she is standing there in front of you. How she got here, you're not sure, but she looks confused. as she holds up a candle and she looks out around in the dark until she spots you and you see the look of excitement on her face of joy to see that you are here and she looks towards you and she motions for you to follow her and she reaches down and she pulls out an old book

a book that you remember she used to sit by your bedside every night when you were just a wee, when you were just a wee boy and read to you these fairy tales, these stories. And she motions for you to follow her. She turns around and she shambles into the woods. What are you doing here? Does Dad know you're out here?

You're gonna catch a cold and I'll just like go after her. Now Brisey, he's gone too. Wow. We need to keep up. What are the chances that King VIII? Victor Donathanus and brings his mummers here. That's great, wonderful news. The terror reading was a good thing.

We must find out more. Open your eyes. I would see a young orc from my clan, the Shadestone clan, called Darrow, who I was a shaman, an exalted position, but left me separated from my clan, but this was a young

orc that had begun to show signs of a similar power of communicating with the dead that I had and would start to come out to the tombs with me. You are confused by what your friends are saying as Briggsie runs past these lights and into the woods, following behind Marius because what you're saying is not at all what they're describing you see the small form of Darrow and to the rest of your group Darrow may seem like a standard young man because being an orc he stands

this child stands so much taller than the rest of your humanoid companions but you see the boy that you remember. And in one hand, or in one hand, he is holding onto a shovel that he's placed on his back. And on the other, he's holding up a lantern that was clearly made by hand by him to replicate the one that you carry with you, almost imitating one of his favorite people. The smile that illuminates his face is huge as he looks towards you and motions for you to follow him into the woods

before turning around and scampering off the sound of the shovel clanking echoes throughout the forest as he runs off ahead of you. Dero, you survived. No, wait. I chase after him. The three of you begin to run. You, the other three of you watch is your friends barrel into the forest. They veer off of the path and directly into the thicket of woods and following the strange light.

All of them calling out different names and acting in ways that none of you would have expected. The three of you do not notice the others around you as your eyes are solely locked on to this person that you trust, this person that you. this person that you know. Briggsie, your mother, you can hear her voice as she calls out and tells you how much she's missed you and she can't wait for you to see dad. And you just have to follow her just a bit longer.

They're staying in this cute little cabin up ahead. He's been talking about you. It's going to be so great to catch up. Why have you been gone so long? You look like you haven't eaten. It's been so long. But you can, never quite get to her as you continue to run ahead.

You've a kettle on? I can use some tea. Marius, you follow behind Sir Victor Denathrius. And though he's old and feeble now and occasionally lets out a cough, he seems to be moving far quicker than you would expect of his old legs. But you know that he has the heart of a lion,

and he would never show weakness if he could avoid it. And you get the feeling that as quickly as he's moving, it is solely to hide the weakness that's inside of him as he calls out to you and tells you how proud he is of you, and that he's so happy that you found him, and he can't wait to tell you about what's been happening back home, and that it is a glorious reunion to be reunited with his old friend. And that, unfortunately, he is getting old and he needs your help.

and to please just follow him a little bit longer until you can come to a place where he can rest and he can explain to you what has been happening. I will. I will. Please, my king, please. I know it is improper, but Victor, please. I am your brother. Wait for me. Wait! As this little orc boy runs up ahead, he giggles and laughs. You hear him occasionally call back and tell you,

I've missed you so much. Can't you see what I've made? I'm just like you now, Yorgim. I'm just like you. When I grow up, I'm going to be just like you. Don't you worry. You can teach me everything. But while you've been gone, I've been learning all kinds of things on my own. Just follow me up ahead just a little bit further.

And I'll be able to show you everything that I've done. You're going to be so proud of me, Yorgram, so proud of me. I promised you I wasn't going to let you down. Just follow me up ahead a little bit longer. Darrow, please. I have to know. How did you survive? I can't wait to show you, Yorghum.

you're going to be so proud of me as he runs up ahead and darts into the thickets. The three of you watch as your friends completely disappear from sight. We have to go quickly. We have to find them. Did they all run in the same direction? Mm-hmm.

Okay. You watch them all as they're all following the same two lights that you can see. Okay. But they didn't split. They did not split. I'm off. Follow, come, come, go. We've got to go.

And Darrow, I've never heard of a young man so strapping. or ever before. Oh, that's probably a bad sign. And I'll follow after you. They say that life's a carousel, spinning fast you got a ride it well. The world is full of kings and queens. And I just continue like that. And I'm giving us some chase music as we continue on. You are giving some beautiful chase music as you follow along, but these lights are moving incredibly quickly. And whatever spell these lights have put on your friends, which clearly at this point you can see they've done something to Marius, Briggs and Yorghum, is making the move with an unnatural swiftness, as they are just barreling through the forest.

And it is hard for you to catch up, but you are able to at least keep them within sight. And then eventually, you all barrel out into an open thicket in the forest. The three of you look forward. Actually, I need the three of you to each roll a D20 for me. Sure. Oh, that's you. Oh, boy. I got a three.

Nine. 20. Oh. Beautiful. Congratulations, I'm sorry to hear that. We all see. You all, the three of you get to the thicket first, and as you barrel out into it, you stumble into each other,

and there's almost a bit of frustration. Why, Yorgram, you look Marius, why are you here? You don't know this person. Get out of the way. I need to get to, I need to get to Darrow. And Marius, you are unsure as to why Yorgram is here and rushing towards this man, this brother.

And Briggs, the same thing. Are they, what could they possibly want with your mother as you all slam into each other from that? That sounded awful. You know what I mean? God damn it. I guess they've really wanted T too. But you slam up against each other for a moment

before Briggsie's mom is going to go. And Briggsie and Jorghum, you are frustrated for a moment before once again these people have stopped and they're all just staring at you. And your eyes drift from them. to the lights that they carry. And then that is all the two of you see. But Marius, you watch as your two friends just stop and stare,

and you don't care why they're there. It doesn't matter. You're not here for them. You're here for this man. You watch his knees buckle and he falls to the ground. No. And the light, he almost drops the lantern that he's holding, as he is now too frail to hold it up.

As you rush toward him. as you rush towards him in an attempt to lift him to his feet, he puts one arm around you, and you can feel the frail weight of his body. It's just us, it's all right. As you try to pull him up. The three of you arrive only in time to watch Mary a step into the jaws of a beast.

You now realize the lanterns were no flames. They were enormous circular eyes of a huge, shaggy, wolf-like monstrosity with a mouth a third, with a third the size of its body, radiating with the same bewitching orange glow as its eyes. Marius is transfixed on this enchantment in the light, and with a loud snap of the jaws, Marius is devoured and swallowed whole.

The beast lets out a snickering howl as it licks its chops with the tongue at least two feet in length as the wild eyes get more maddened. Its hunger has not been sated. I need everyone to roll for initiative. The last thing my friends hear me say as I am holding my king and trying to support him is to say, it's all right, Victor. No one will see.

I'm here for you. I will make sure that you are healed. Snack! He's like, man. His tongue turns into stairs. He just walks out. Well, shit. Yeah, I mean, I kneel down, like, into the creature's mouth to get to my.

my friend and snap. I'm toast. God. I'm so glad it was you. I know how much you love to fail at things. I'm glad it's me. I'm glad it's you too. I've been rolling like fire until I roll the initiative.

It's very, very narrative these days. I was going to say I've had a lot of hot rolls. Just not at the right moment. 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 seas. Shroud over Saltmarsh.

You can also go to The Crooked Moon.com to pick up your own copy of our first published supplement, The Crooked Moon, a folk horror tome for Dungeons and Dragons 5th edition. And don't forget to snag all of the extra goodies like dice, miniatures, plushies, a tarot deck, and more. Thank you. 20 to 25. Why? I forgot my roll. You've been fired, so.

I just re-roll. Can I have you go out? Well, it's been nice. No, no, no, no, you're hired, you're hired. Oh, thank gosh. To get my coffee. Thank you. Whoa, whiskey, please.

Head of special projects, welcome. All right, fine. You got a 20? I don't love you, sure, damn much. Okay, I got a 20. 15 to 20. 17. 18.

Fuck. Do you hand this to me so I could top you off? No. Don't. Stop off, damn it, but I could use some of them as well, so not that you mention it. 10 to 15. 14. 12. 12.

What guard? Lethick has been fired. Six. Oh, guard. From orbit. From orbit. That'll make it easier. Perfecto.

You all stare at this creature as it consumes Marius whole. And Briggsie and Yorghum, as this happens, you feel the hold that this creature has over you, ripped from you. As you shake your heads and you realize what you are staring at. Briggs, your mother is no longer there. Your grim, this child from your past is no longer there.

You are staring into the eyes of a big bad wolf. Oh. The fuck. Also known as Wolfbrough, thanks to Derek. It's his wolf lord. Oh, that's what I thought. Oh, that's great. Bro!

I thought it's a wolf lord. We do, we do. Wolf Lord? No, it's Wolfbrow. That's Wolfbrow. That's like Wolflord, too. Yeah. My bees look like low?

Yeah, you know, my be scoops up quite a bit, you know. Can we show that on gunned? You really get, you really get a hair on that. Like a lot. That's Wolf Lord. It's Wolf Lord. It's Wolfbrow.

Let me over. Jericho. It's very obvious. It's very obvious. That's Wolf Lord. You know? Lether. My bees.

You name me Manis. Manis has been sent him. Manis has been sentinel. He made me nice. Joe. You didn't even done it. I love Gensro. You're not even close.

Jentro's not even close. Join our Gensler. You two can get access to the Shazzo. Come on down to Jimco. Come on down to Jimco. No, this one is Jero. Jeroh. What is this one?

I don't know. Can I? I don't know. I'm in fast. That's all constant. I'm right in fast. This is all consens. I was channeling my inner doctor prescription.

I can't do that. Man is beginners. There we go, perfect. Oh, man. Just furthermore referred to just as man. So I don't have to go through this. And Derek works at start. I do work at Starbucks.

With that, you- I am some manis rent. Manus. The left three fingers of Lafant. And I am left two fingers. Lettuce. What about Farren? Oh, that'd be so funny if his car was another one's spelled red.

Yeah. I could have connected, I could have connected this. It's like calling it. It looks a little like famine. It looks a little like famine from here. I don't know what's going on. Okay. All right. Boy.

On the back it looks like Famjin. Oh, great actress. Really good actress. J.N. I enjoyed her in Golden Eye. Fanjian? Yeah, what? It's a real person?

Yeah. You don't know. Fomka Yompson, but yeah. Jean Grey. Oh. Yeah, yeah, yeah. You got me. You got me. Yeah.

Okay, anyway, let's finish this session. We gotta get this. You are all staring into the eyes of a big bad wolf as it bears down, what? Do I know that it's eaten him or what I've seen that as like Darrow getting consumed or do I know that bears a man who are gonna consume? What I will say is you come to as Marius

is being swallowed. So you watch as your friend is being swallowed by this creature. And you feel that control fade from you feel from you. You got a 20, yes? God, I know. Okay, cool. Recollection. It is your turn.

Release him, you foul beast. And I'll charge straight at Wolfbrough. And as I'm running, my eyes will shift to kind of a swirling, misty gray as smoke will start, well, like mist will start to billow behind me as I charge forward and it starts to swirl around me as it oozes from the lantern that hangs just over my shoulder.

Yes, you do attempt to do that. However, I need you to make a wisdom saving throw as you look into this creature into its face and what big eyes it has. Oh no, it's handsome. Oh no, he's odd. Not the vibe, we're going for it. Not the vibe.

Oh no, he's super hot. He's a bit. He's big and a lot. He's big and his back. Oh, gosh, my weakness. An incredibly charming wolf in the woods. His drift is no in the new cap. I'll cut you all.

Are we using twists or no? No, no. No, no. No, no twist. No. No. No. That's fine.

Those are all twists of dread tonight. What did you say? What did you say? What did you say? I need you to roll a wisdom saving thing. You stare into the eyes of this creature, these big eyes, and you once again feel hypnotized by the light. You shake your head again and you realize

that this forest is playing tricks on you. There's no wolf here. Marius, you're sure is fine as Darrow stands in front of you again. Okay. Oh, I'm sure Marius is fine. That didn't look too bad. There wasn't even a wolf ever at all. Oh, and if there was, he was incredibly handsome.

Darrow! I found you. He opens his arm as if welcoming you for a warm embrace. No. Can I move towards it? You almost feel compelled to move towards him. I move towards him to try and meet his warm embrace. With your movement, are you able to get within five feet of this? I started right in front of him.

I'm climbing in his jaws right now. I need you to make a straight saving throw, please. These teeth make really good handles. They can get right in. Geez. I've rolled six every time I've rolled this dice. Mikey, you spike my dice. Oh, are those from Gencom?

Those are from Mikey. Oh, my God. I knew this day would come. Long live the king. Fuck you. Fuck you. What was this? Strength save, 11.

Damn, son. You move towards Darrow and you watch as he extends his arms for a warm embrace and you rush towards him and you wrap your arms around him. The rest of you watch as your grim, at first charging towards this wolf ready to strike, You watch as his eyes seem to change as he's hypnotized by the light within this creature's

overly large eyes. And Yorgram instead rushes straight towards it as the wolf opens its mouth and swallows Yorgrim hole. You feel both of you on the inside of this wolf's stomach feel the charm leave you. As you are, as you feel Marius, as Yorgram slams into you. as he is swallowed whole.

That is, however, your crimps turn. Can you believe how many times we've both been eaten by a creature? My Lefanda, I can't believe it's happened again. Man, it's a lot of big stomachs. He's huskin pulled. Upbeat jazz, start playing inside the stomach. Oh, I'm sure Briggs you'll be here shortly

to cut the stomach open and pull us out. Mom, is that you? And that is Marius' turn. I'm called Manus now. Oh, I'm sorry. Hang tight, yogurt. I'm getting us out of here. What kind of actions can I take?

You can attack the wolf from inside. I draw my sword with the absolute fury of Lefander, and I make to attack at where I approximate its stomach to be, perhaps. Just wildly trying to get out. Ha! Oh, well, one of them's a natural fucking 20. Oh!

The other one is 16 to hit. 16 hits. Okay. I did the math and you have 31 twists of bread. Yes. You can dread that natural different. I know that I can.

I'll let the first one slide, but the other one's going forward, probably won't. I am going to, I'm going to smite the crit, though. Let's fucking go. Yeah, so the first attack will be 1D8 plus 7. I need to figure out what I'm doing here. Which is going to be an 8, because I rolled at minimum damage.

And then the next attack is going to be, please pardon me, it'll be I can spend a spell slot to do 2D8 radiant damage. So that's going to be 4D8 radiant damage plus the 2D8. So it'll be a total of 6D8 damage for the crate. Oh my God. 7, 8, 9, 10, 11. Wow, I rolled very low. plus seven is 18, plus seven is 25 points for a crit.

That's trash. That little jigs fuck, though. I got my armor's rusty, my sword's rusty. I'm shaking the rust up. You can only go 25 commoners with that. The wolf, you watch as you see the belly of this wolf throb for a moment. And then you see as it begins to heave,

Almost as if it is going to throw up. Can I say some cool as shit? Yeah. Okay. On my crib, my sword begins to glow with almost a blood red magic with gold flex of light. And I'm using a dread. I lay on myself.

Okay, I know your groom is there, so I have to say some really cool shit. And I say, I am Samarius Renathia, the chosen son of Lefander and the right hand of King Victor Donathria as I strike and do so. You do, and you do a significant amount of damage to it. And it does look like it is going, it is about to wretch, but it is able to keep both of you down.

That's some cold-blooded shit to say to this wolf before you gutted it. If you're gonna be in for another round. Oh, fuck. If Yorghum hadn't been there, don't cry, don't cry, don't cry. That's my turn. Thank you. Farron.

Actually, before you go, Farron, you all watch as this wolf looks like it's about to rush up your friends. It is very clear, I would say, to all of you, that Marius and Jorgheim are fighting back. But then you begin to hear the sounds of Harvest song. As from around the forest, the edges of this thicket, You hear the singing of what sound like feminine voices. As from all around the glade,

what the fuck? Oh no. Harvest maidens begin to peer out of nowhere, walking towards the wolf, sickles in hand, floral reeds atop their heads, beautiful white linen dresses adorn their body as they walk barefoot towards the middle of, of this thicket.

And they begin to surround you. Oh, no, they are hot. Hold on, let's go. Oh, good, better look. Oh, yeah, oh, God. I choose to surrender. Can they just take me back to wherever they came from? Yeah, I'm done. I'm done for it.

I need to design that art. Let's see. You send me a DM. There are four of you on the, so two of them are going to be on Lethaca. They don't need to get in range. They have range attacks, so they're fine where they are. Good to know.

Two will be on Briggs. I've had this one. Two on Lethaca. Two on Farren? Yeah, so two on Lethika, two on Briggs, one on Briggs, one on whoever that other person is there. Jericho. Jericho.

Just a lonesome, no. Just a lone son. Oh, no, I don't know one attacks me. Oh, no one did. Okay, so both of them are going to hit on you, on you Lethaca. None of the books are, and you immediately hear the sound of this harvest song

and it enters into your mind and you feel as if your thoughts are becoming jumbled and you become confused as you become confused as you look around you and what was a dark forest is now a beautiful lush spring glade in the heart of midsummer and then back to this dark forest that surrounds you, all the while you hear the sound of the wolf howling off in the distance.

And you are going to take some damages. I'm just fine. 14 points of psychic damage. I didn't have 14. I didn't touch it. And I need you to make two wisdom saving throws. Whoa. Two.

One for each of the Harvest Maiden's, yeah. Fortunately, I'm a cleric, so I'm sure this will be fine. I'll take an 18 for one and an 11. The first one, you hear the song louder in your mind, and you are able to shrug it off. And as you do, you look towards the second maiden that's walking towards you sickle in hand, a bundle of a bundle of wheat at her hip.

As she sings out towards you, her eyes that same illuminating glow as that of the wolf. And you feel your mind muddled, almost as if you had a strong drink, yet stronger still. And then you look towards the wolf. And there you see, someone from a memory,

a memory that you thought you had buried long ago. And as you look towards the wolf, you see the form of family member, someone you love, standing there, where they should not be able to stand. Is this person reaches out their

arms to you for a hug. And you are charmed by the wolf, you feel compelled on your turn to move towards it. Or it's the wolf? Or it's the wolf. As you no longer see a wolf standing there, but a figure from your past.

It'll be up to you to divulge what you see, should that ever happen. Then we have. Farron. Yeah, we have one on Farron. That one is going to hit, so you are going to take nine points of psychic damage, and I need a wisdom saving throw from you, please.

Is it against a spell or medical, something? It is. I'm gonna advantage to do. Oh. Is that a fader ability? A Jopty-Sahler ability. Would you say wisdom? Wisdom. Wisdom. The one on you, Jericho misses. 20. Oh gosh. That succeeds. You feel the music trying to, trying to hypnotize you, but you are able to shrug it off as you pull moss down over your ears and muffle the sounds of their singing. Both are going to hit on you, Briggsie.

I need... I shield. They both miss. As the singing continues, but you, Lethika, feel yourself pulled towards the wolf. Oh, shield my mind. Baron, it is your turn. You handsome wolf. So I'm going to...

See my groin. I'm going to... I'll be hustling. I can't really. I'm sorry. I think I'm going to get my job. With these BIPs, maybe. No.

No. No. I'm kidding. I'm kidding. I'll crash. I'll go. I have to work. I got to keep working with the stream.

I'm going to, I am going to, with my ears covered, look towards the wolf. say, spit them out right now! And I'm gonna slam my druidic staff on the ground, which has like a deer's antler skull on the top of it, and it will glow green as well as my own Seder antlers. And I will run towards the wolf and make a primal savagery attack. Oh, that's sick.

She good. Yeah, you're good. 13 plus it. 21. 21 hits. All right. His AC is 16 for now. Okay, I'll try to remember that.

No going to 15 for now? For now. So he gets weaker over time. It's good to know. Good to know. You would want to like spinach and pop-eye. His tail gets bushing. No, it's a bosom now.

Come on. So as I make contact with him, my antlers will gouge into him, and it will start to spread sort of a... Where are you attacking? Oh, the wolf? Mmm. Mmm. I don't know.

I was going to go for like the neck. I feel like you try to go in the neck. I'm gladly pay you Tuesday for a paladin today. That's true thing on there. So, and he'll, this will take acid damage, but thematically this is like, he'll start to get like spores and met it into his flesh or igorra.

Oh my God. I love that. And that is what happens is you, as you rear into, you rush forward and using your antlers, you rip into the flesh on his neck. and he lets out a loud howl as he feels the biting pain of your primal savagery doing how much damage? 12.

Oh, did you do your plate for him? Two. Is it a bonus action? Well, I forgot what that is. It's been a while. It's been a while. Yeah, you just go to have features. Probably features.

Features. Yeah, it's a bonus action. I just, on a page. I have to be doing, the Halo Sports, is that you know? Yeah. I have to be doing wild shape to do that. But for, you can use it a bonus action, right? Okay.

Marky just played one of these subclasses and our Patreon hangout for all the dinosaurs. Oh, no, that's right. That's my answer. Sorry, he's too tomped. I thought it was a bonus action. I played Briggs to take a turn. Oh, I wasn't a coverage.

It was pre-zombie. I actually had played an Athenaeufoet named Felip. I play a tragedy. Anyway. And that is my turn. That is your turn. He is going to use another. another one of his, let's see, where is he at?

So there are two of you inside of him. Briggsie is fairly close. Find out if he can take three. Who are the two outside of him right now? Outside next to him or outside? It's Briggs and Farron are the closest. Okay, he's going to turn. He's closer though.

I mean, Ferrin is close. Where are all these pavits coming from? I'm not even Italian. He's going to move towards Farron, and he is similar to what you've done, where you have rendered his flesh with your horns. He is going to reach down and make a claw attack against you. 23 to hit.

Yes. Indeed it does. 23 doesn't hit my max HP is 51. 13 points of piercing damage. Uh-oh. She said. And is Briggsy within five feet of you? Mm-hmm. Uh-huh.

He takes the same amount of damage. What? How much? 13. Oh my God. Oh, gosh, he's a splash damage. Oh, fuck. 13.

As his claws rend into you, he swipes across and rends Briggs's flesh as well. Holy shnikes. Okay, so he's... Okay. Well, fuck. That's his legendary action. It was Farren's turn, so I guess it's his turn.

Oh, fuck! No. We're dead. This is gonna be the shortest. Yeah, we're dead. No, no. Shortest comeback of all time. I'm sure.

I've seen this dojean. Looking at you, Farron, he is again going to attempt to make claw attack against you, rolling a natural one. He does not make the claw attack. But he does have two attacks, so he is going to go in an attempt to bite you as well. Oh man, that was a four plus 11. Does a 15 hit?

It does. It does. I guess. There's no way. That's what I was thinking. You can use your reaction to scream. How do you want to find that? Fucking sucks.

Ah, shit! Shit! Oh, God. Doing 16 points of piercing damage. That's a fucking handsome wolf bro. He's just chill out. God. Actually, it can do your reaction.

Can I do that? He's cheating. How big you get in free. Maybe it's a little sports. So six. You need to have to use your symbiotic entity first. Oh, word. 16 piercing damage.

That's why it's good to come on life. Jesus. Plus 11 psychic damage from the Eldridge glow from its mouth. Yeah, I got. And I need you to make a wisdom saving throw. You can't. She's unconscious.

You're unconscious. No, you still can. You still can't. I just failing. Well, it would be to be to be charmed by him. So, oh, yeah. Consider me charmed, friend. I'm considering her charm, yeah, no.

And that's its turn. Oh, pateno. Did she get eaten? Huh? No. No, she's just bitten. Oh. Can Marius and Yorgham hear me inside?

It's a muffled? It's muffled, but they can hear you. You'll hear kind of these muffled twangs, and I'll go, It's a good for a little. It's like a stinking cloud. That's actually really good. That's really good.

On the wolf. Uh-huh. The wolf, an attempt to make him puke up my friends. But how is that going to affect Briggsie and? I would like to cast it far enough back that it doesn't hit Briggs, but if you know. Ask us what's happened. Sometimes there's collateral damage.

It's a Constitution saving throw. I rolled a natural 20. Oh. Damn. We dread that. You can't do that. Yeah, we dread that. We cash in six strands.

I will use my bonus action. Because it's a Nicki campaign and I'll say, oh, Farron, you didn't hear my song about the wolf. Okay, I'll start again, and I'll start playing hungry. Like the wolf again is I'll do healing word on you. And I'll do a little bit of healing. Thank you. That's it. There is a stinking cloud on top of it though.

Oh, man. You get six points of healing. Thank you. The bare minimum. Oops. Actually, men to the evening. Oh, actually, hold on.

I'll cast it a second level. You're eight. Seven points. You've eight. Oh. Many points. Hashtag, Marie-T.

All right. I mean, she's not dying anymore. I'll take it. I'll take it. Borgany-me-me-me-me-me-, would the stinking cloud affect any of the maidens off to the side, I guess not. What's the radius?

It's 20 feet, so we, I don't know. Oh, that definitely hits these three. Well, if you can center it like here, it might clip her. I'll try to clip them too. Oh, well, no. You can do it. You're crazy, yeah.

It's not gonna hit them. It's not gonna hit them. I'm trying to make them puke up, Wolfrow puk up my brows. So you just wanna try and hit one. So the one. that is there fails. Number two.

So if they are, if they're capable of puking, they're just puking up their guts. Does it do any damage at all? No. Oh, well. It stuns them though, right? It stunts them, yeah.

Okay, so that one is stunned. Does Wolfbrough have an empathetic gag reflex? What's the sympathy? Yeah. Yeah. What's a cheap reaction? Oh no. Oh no.

I can't see the postman. That's my turn. It's my one weakness, I'm a sympathetic. Brick somebody get a pencil. Oh my God. And with that, it is, so Jericho's turn, he's used all of his legendary actions, so Briggs, it is your turn.

Oh, fuck. But, but, but if it's a true, 20 foot radius, do I feel like I'd hit all three of these and not get us? With what? A 20 foot radius spell. What spell?

I might get me. I'm going to want to step over the pair. She's a fine. She's a conscious. I try to grab your ankle for support and you just kick me off. Oh, me. Come on, it gloves in it.

You napin. I will step over and then I will cast. I'll say, oh, no, I've been tricked before, but not this time. Oh, wait, do I get, am I charmed at all? Am I good? Am I free time? Oh, no, thank you for reminding me. Yes.

Me mom, meantime game state. What big eyes you have. You're within 30 feet of the wolf. I need you to roll a wisdom saving drum. Oh, boy. I almost. Come on in, Briggs. Well, now it's a party.

Just like old times. You really can fit three guys. I think that counts of then 10 feet of Marius, right? What do we think? This is a nightmare. Where are you? I'm here. It's like two diagonal,

as long as half of my spaces with 10 feet of Marius. I would think like at his core. Wait, but that's not where you started. That's where you moved, right? Oh, I started definitely within 10 feet of him. Yeah, okay. So then you would have made that role with Marius. So I'm proficient.

and Bixie would say that's where I'm a Viking. Let me check. What's a Viking? So three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten, eleven, twelve. Does that pass? Dutton, mistress.

You... She's in her form of the night. I think the answer is Wolf no. You step over, you step over Faren's form and you stare at this creature and then off towards the maidens

and you ready yourself to cast the spell as you hear your mother call your name and you immediately jerk your head back towards the wolf but there is no wolf there. What is Farron laying on the ground for? Why is she throwing such a tantrum? This is not at all what you thought that it was. It's your mother waving towards you for a warm embrace.

What beautiful eyes you have and I like open his mouth. No, let go. We just wave at you. We're like, no, go. Well, not yet. You do use your movement to get towards him. He will use his reaction to attempt to consume you

because that is what he likes to do. He sees Marius and I at his childhood table drinking tea with his mother. Oh my God. And we're waving, but in reality, we're like, no. Go, turn back, to him. Oh, we catch legs. Where is it?

Sorry, sorry, sorry, so sorry. This is getting out of hand. I hope she made neck bed breakfast. If you know what I mean. I do, I don't. With what big teeth you have, because you were within five feet of the wolf, his reaction, I need to make a strength saving throw.

Goodbye. Strength, do you say? Yeah. Well, we'll do that. Oh! And it's plus four, right? Hold on. Yeah. Oh, you get plus four.

You're within 10. Is it on every save? 20 is you with 10. That's so powerful. Good, man. He's just so radiant. I didn't use it on the 20. No, that's fine.

That's fine. That's fine. That's fine. On my 17. 20. Okay. You joined me again if you want. No, no, that's the dice have decided.

You got 37 of them, so. It moves towards you. It lunges towards you, but you just see your mother rushing towards you with an open embrace. and you, as your arms lock, you feel one of its teeth puncture into your arm and it jolt you awake as you look up,

and this is not your mother. This is the wolf that you had been fighting and you wrench yourself out of its grasp and tumble backward five feet. And you are not consumed by the wolf. But my turn is over. But your turn is over. Okay.

That's it. Lethaca. Lethaca. What's happened? I need you to roll a wisdom saving throw. Am I not still already charmed? Something has happened. Oh, you are charmed.

Yeah, you're charmed. Yeah, you're charmed. I'll save it now. I'll save it now. No, no, no, no. You have to make your movement, you have to make your movement towards the wolf. You are compelled to move towards the wolf.

I see when we first came into this field, the wolf, and I see it. consume Marius. And I then see Yorgrim, I see Farren go down, I see all of these things, and then these voices singing, and suddenly I turn and where all of this action

was, I see a family member, someone who I knew from a distant past, a forgotten past. Talking towards you. Impossible, how? How are you here? I know your face. It is me. It is me. Lethika, please.

Please, see me, see me, hear me. I race forward. I forgot my chakra, I just dart as quickly as I can. Directly to the voice, to the wolf, not heeding any of the action or seeing anything that is around me. I immediately sprint to run towards. Pallusfer. Pallusper.

I don't think I'm gonna do this. No, we're all gonna be about to be forcely ejected. You rush forward and you immediately throw yourself into the arms of this person that you loved, into that warm embrace. But it is not an embrace that meets you. It is the giant wet maw of a beast as you hurl yourself into the open mouth of this creature. And as you feel yourself sliding down its throat, you crash into Marius. and Yorgrim inside of its stomach and you immediately come to you and realize

that you had been charmed by this thing. The person that you had seen wasn't there. It was all an illusion. Let's go, that's your turn. Yorgrim, you are inside the belly of the beast, so you are going to take five points of necrotic damage. Oh. Oh, fuck.

You're in the dead lights. Damn, shit. Sounds hardcore. I will, once again, because it dropped because I didn't hit them, I'll reactivate my mist form, and I will recklessly attack at the inside of this at the inside of this wolves' stomach. Twice, if I could, in fact.

The first one's natural 20. You could dread it, but I'll be very sad. So you've already fired me once tonight. Follow your heart. Follow your heart. Follow your heart. Fine. Don't enter.

Oh! The second one in after 22. You guys love that. I'm just saying, I'm just saying, it's out there. You know? What are the odds of that? It's out there. I mean, are you, what?

Flameio! The Thruxema ignites with Lathander's fury as I draw upon Mary's abilities right next to me. That scream was one of the cutest things I've ever heard. It came from you. So for that reason only, I will not dread them. Scientists have measured the scope of sound full spectrum and there's a specific tone. No, hold on.

Mace is natural 20s. No, no, no, so. So here's the thing. Mace talks like this. Hey, on Mace. Mace screams like this. E! So.

That's true. That was me. Oh, my. That was me. It was true. Yeah, we got to go to Vegas and play some crap I think even something happens when I crit

I don't get brutal critical yet or now? Does it matter? Not really? I know when I'm not set to act. Something happens when I crit, though. Something happens when I crit, I'm sure of it. No, one level shy. I'm sure of it.

Okay, take a look. Just give me one second. I'm sure of it. I'm sure of it, I'm sure. From one barbarian to another, I'm pretty sure it's level seven. I could be wrong. I could be wrong. I would take a look.

On your turn, you score a critical hit with a melee weapon or reduce a creature to zero HP, you can make one melee weapon attack as a bonus action. Oh, great weapon master attack. Oh, oh, well, that's different. That's not a baby ring. Whoa, yeah, I knew it was there. I don't even know my de-a-old.

Your vans again, you're going to attack for bonus action. I do need to know each individual, don't total up the damage. No, no, I won't. I won't. To give me. Is this the D-T-12? Yeah. Yeah.

Great well you're 20. Yeah, no, I feel it. I feel the triple crit. You're gonna literally one shot this guy. Come on. No, but that was close as hell. That's crazy. That's a miss.

That's one hell of a miss, but that's okay. You made up for it with double fucking cuts. Yeah, that's huge. All right, I don't hit that one. In my excitement, I missed him. Oh, it's ninth level. Oh. Nice?

Big money. So the first crit would be... Oh, no, re-roll. Why? Big, Webmaster. You rerow ones in two. that thing or no is that a fighting style I might be no I don't think it has a doesn't seem to have anything to do with it so back but I would plus the five

twice no no no just once five plus double the dice you roll okay the plus once so the first hit is 17 16 16 shit it's 16 the first hit the second hit the second hit okay all right no whammy's oh oh that's pretty good 22 on this 203 plus seven you got the plus seven plus seven plus seven because you're raging five plus seven oh yeah as well 17 I would seven or eight right so it's so 24 then I didn't have the plus two before yeah they actually plus two from the last time plus two to the first number to 18 18 on the first one 18 on the first one 18 on the first one second one is a 24 You take your shovel and you slice up once.

You hear the wolf howl into the darkness. And then you rear back with the next one and you slice into it doing a significant amount of damage. The wolf, you feel the stomach, the wolf's stomach tighten around you as it squeezes all three of you as he begins to wretch. And with a four, he does,

He fails his constitution saving throw, and all of you feel as his stomach contracts over and over and over again, squeezing you as you are, as you burst forth from his mouth as he vomits you up all over Farron. Yeah, all three of you. All three of you are thrown up all over Farron. Yes, you're prone.

You all land on Farron. You're covered in stomach acid and bile. And the bits of other animals but he is eating. Whom, won't, won't. Farron actually just dies. Because you're gonna waste like your hair and get six pounds.

I feel like I'm at the sticky bowl at the McDonald's. You should be ashamed of yourself. It's a diaper, idiot. Stop. That's not a diaper. Stop. You all watch as it's his belly, his belly continues to constrict,

and you can see that he is suffering significant stomach pain. Your attention is drawn to this portion. It looks to be a weak portion on the wolf's body. I bet it's tunneled straight out of him. And that is Marius's turn. I would like to attempt to stand up and double my efforts as I move towards him 10 feet. less than half my movement.

And I'll make two attacks. You need to roll a wisdom saving throw. Okay. That's surely going to pass. Plus nine is 27. Yes, you look at this creature, but now that you have been inside of him, you are no longer, shut up. You know, look at falling in his truck.

You've been inside of this truck. That's a joke. I got it out of my sister. I'm trying to make a joke for the best five minutes, and I can't get it out. There, yeah, it was something about it before, but you know, now that's over. That he's done.

Yeah, yeah, you're unaffected, keep going. Roll your dice. I'll make two days. I'm mute now. That's pretty bad. The one is a 15 to hit, the other is only an eight. It's a 10, a 10. Both of those miss.

Four. I pass my turn. You are, you are covered. in wolf bile. The acidity of its stomach acid stings at your eyes as you attempt to swing towards it, but you are unable to find purchase

on this creature. Farron, it is your turn. Okay, I need you to roll a wisdom saving throw. Okay, and that will be advantaged. Do I have any reactions? Oh, that did a lot of good. Oh, no. No, 16.

16 hits. Oh, sorry, 16 passes. Yes. Okay. It's, sorry. It hits and passes. It hits me. It does, it isn't you?

No, it passes. And you are, you are pulling, picking yourself up off the ground, your brush, most recent brush with death, making you feel exhausted. Them all falling on top of me, you mean. Them all falling on top of you also almost debilitating you, but you are able to push yourself up off the ground and you have your faculties if I do. I will get off of you. Oh, you lock, God.

Oh. I will push my way from the bottom of this pile. Oh, sorry. Stand up. On a tombstone. My bad. My bad. You have to stop running out.

My brutal bones. It's my entire character, I can't. My wild shape. I can use that, right? Without. Okay. I will use my wild shape to activate my, like, um, my blightly spores. So you'll start to see

sort of slowly like black spores will begin releasing from me, from my body. And I will gain 24 temp HP. Amazing. It's just severe acne. It is. That's better enough. Wow, it hurts right here.

Yeah. Oh, God. I hate those. Okay, that's enough. Is that your entire turn? Yeah, you can give a bonus action for a spell if you'd like. Can I? As long as a bonus action spell, yeah.

Yeah, do you have any bonus action spells? No, no, no, he would work. No, you don't. No. I just think I get it. That is my full still. All right, perfect. It is the wolf's turn.

He needs to make a Constitution saving throw against the sticky stinky stuff. Well, who else does? Oh. Does that happen? Oh, as we enter here. I missed anyway. It was fucked. It didn't matter. I'll make sure I remember.

He rolled a five plus what do you say it was? Constitution. Yep. So nine? No, that fails. He's puking and retching up. I believe he's stunned. His stomach is trembling as he continues to to vomit all over all of you. Every couple of seconds, you're just a wash

in stomach acid and bile. Ouch. Oh. And that's, he's stunned, that's his turn. Can he should take, so now that I have this activated, he should take Halo Spores damage. Ooh. Oh, he's on the stun condition.

He spends his turn puking until the next turn. That's what I'm saying. He's stunned, so that's the end of his turn. Nice. That's huge actually. He's turning into a Lady Gaga concert. Uh, nah, ma-ma, ma-ma. You should take five points of necrotic. How much? Five. Five.

Oh, if it fails a con saving throw. I'm sorry. Roll a con saving throw, then he should take that defeat. Well, I think he fails automatically because he's stunned. So I will say yes, it works. Okay. Five points, sorry. I'm going to look as this wolf is puking, and as I see it kind of opening and it's retching,

I'm gonna look in and I'm gonna- It gets its legendary actions back, but it's stunned until its next turn, I'm assuming? No, it just spends his actions. Oh, yeah. So after this, it can use it. After your turn, perfect, thank you. I'm going to, I don't know if this will work,

but I'll try to look down its throat and I'll say, well, Virgil, why don't you give me a big old squawk? And I was like, do like a power cord on my fucking, what you call it, on my banjo. No stairway. As I catch shatter, I attempt to catch shatter inside of its stomach. So you're attacking its stomach or you're attacking its stomach

or you're attacking its throat. It's stomach. I'm trying to basically like to pop it basically like a balloon. It's my attempt. It's a con saving throw, another con saving throw, 16. Oh, con saving throw. I've rolled a three.

So seven. Well, gosh, he's gonna take a bit of thunder damage. Not very good. Been there. Eight, eleven, 12 points of thunder damage. You let loose the torrent of sound from your banjo. a power cord of sorts. And you are shocked by the amount of damage that this does.

It does significantly more than you had expected. Would you imagine to be double what you had expected? You said 12? Yeah, 12. Did I say 12? Yeah. Probably 12. Wow.

Yes, 12. And you hear the wolf howl out as it is clearly in, it clearly has a tender tummy. which also might be the name of one of its memories. Oh, poor guy. Briggs. Briggs. Do I perceive what these minion-type folk are doing?

They're attempting to charm. I will be honest and say I forgot that they were there. I didn't forget. But they go on his turn. So thank you for reminding me of it. I'm gonna have them go now. Can you change it back to the one I can see? Yeah, yep, yep, yep, yep.

Thanks, if we could just keep it on this one, that would be awesome. There should be what, six of one, two, three, four, five, six of them. So each one of them is gonna roll on each of you. The one on Lathica fails. Nice. The one on Farin succeeds. So, Farron, come on.

Come, man. What? I can't help it. I think you might be dying, though. No, you are going to take four points of psychic damage, and I need a wisdom saving throw. The one on Jericho fails. Oh, gosh, thank you. The one on Briggsy fails.

Holy shit, the one on Marius fails. Ha ha. The one on your groom fails. My rules were four, one, five, six. Well, you said fair. 21. 21. And you are able to stave off the charm. But you do take the, I think it's like four points of damage. Four points. They don't move? They don't. No, they don't need to. They're ranged. Like turrets.

My mind, the harvest is here. Briggsie. But before you go, Briggsie, he is going to use a legendary action and he is going to reach down and make a claw attack against you. We get two. Briggsie. He's a disadvantage. Yeah, we have, Briggs'i's here, so he could hit. Oh, his reach is 10 feet. No, his reach isn't 10 feet.

Bring it on. It's going to be against. Lethika's in range. Yeah, it'll be against Lethika, as in disadvantage. Take her, take her. I'm using a dread to re-roll because I got a five. It's a disadvantage against anyone who's not met.

Destroy each other. My lowest was a 15. My lowest was a 15 plus 11. Damn. Oh. So the total isn't 15. No, my lowest roll wasn't. See how that works there?

So it is going to hit with its slashing claws. It's going to roll max damage. It's not. Five. I'm putting 14 down. Eight points of slashing damage to you and to your groom who is next to you. Oh. as it swipes through you and gets both for you.

Neat. Thank you for that. You're welcome. And that's one of its legendary action. I will pull out the flint lock that's out, that's in my sash. I will point it at it and I'm sorry. Wait, do I need to make a safe or am I good? Yes, you do.

You need to make a wisdom saving curvilies. Okay, maintain game state. Oh yeah, I'm good. 20, whatever. 27. 20 bunch. You resist what, big eyes you have. I will cock the flit and lock and I'll say,

I'm not getting tricked again and I'll pull the trigger and I will shoot a sort of wailing, like a ball of almost neon energy will shoot at him and will hit him and kind of coat him in this sort of neon light and I will cast Hexblades curse on him. Then I will walk forward and from my hand will materialize serialize as I close my fist the cutlass

a gigantic sword that I wield one hand and I'll go one for two attacks. Nice. Okay. I don't... Is it 189 or or 1920? I think right now it's 1920 1920, 1920, 1920, 1920. Go dear Yeah, oh dear

damn. Okay. They might both hit, though. Probably. It looks pretty good. 16 is the essay. 8 plus 9 is 17. That's correct. Okay, both it. So, that is 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 97, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, not great.

19, 25, 20, 20, 10, 20, 10, 20, 10, 20, 10, 10, 27, 28, 29, 30, 9, 30, 31, points of damage. I just do a quick like this. 31? 31. Huge. You do a significant amount of damage. As you slice through the, as you slice through parts of this wolf,

aiming for the wolf itself. And yeah, it does a significant amount of damage. And it is Lothaka's turn. That's my turn. I'm gonna back up with you. Kill Lethika. Do I have the sense? Have I deduced that looking at this beast,

this creature, this monster, this aberration, whatever it happens to be, will trigger another one of these charms where I might see something that I don't want to see? I would say yes, that's easy enough to determine that while you were looking at it, its eyes are very easily charming you. But that you imagine if you couldn't see it,

there would be nothing for it to charm you with. My eyes are clouded with tears, having seen what I've seen in such a brief period of time. I can feel mud and the earth around me. You're no longer wearing your mask. I'm no longer wearing my mask. It's somewhere 10, 15 feet behind me, but I do know that this creature has hurt me

deeper than any blade could. And I'm going to crawl forward, keeping my eyes on the ground until I see feet. And then I'm going to attempt to rest up and grab this creature and cast a spell once I get within range of touch. Damn. I will scrape forward.

And as soon as I see a talon, I'm going to reach up and I'm going to cast inflict wounds at a third level. Let's fucking go. That's so sick. On his belly? Damn, you beast. You may be a creature of the night,

but I was going to hit. Let's go with a... 16 is the 18. Oh, yeah, so we're at Natural 18. Big money. Come on, come on, come on, come on. That's actually only going to be 20 points of necrotic damage, but that's decent money.

That's fine money. It's acceptable money. That's acceptable money. Thank you for your D-10. Oh, of course. And, yeah, I'm not saying anything. I'm holding back tears in just. pouring what thing I can.

We're pouring the pain that you feel inside into this curse, into this wound that you open on this wolf, and you do not look into its eyes now understanding how this beast, how this creature functions. And you reach up and you rend its flesh doing a significant amount of damage. The wolf lets out a painful howl as it continues, as its stomach continues to convulse,

As it's dry heaving into the air, it is looking very wounded. It is going to lash out, however, and it is who's directly in front of it? Lethica's on the ground prone. Right in front of it. Either me or her or somebody. Yeah, I wouldn't have said.

Yeah, it's going to reach down towards Lethika and attempt to make a claw attack. It's advantage because she's proven. Natural 20. Oh, wow. What you said it was a disadvantage. No, no, no, no. Obviously, it's a normal, it's just normal, so you're fine.

It's a natural 20. Damn. Damn. You know, it wouldn't be Gamealepica if I didn't get crit on. Derek, you're just very critable, apparently. I know. Everyone just likes to think a steaming hot crick on my chest. To be fair, I didn't roll that well.

13 points of damage to both you and Farron. Is it slashing damage? How much damage? 13. What type of damage? Slashing. A slashing damage. They are resistant.

We are. Oh, so I'll just take it. Maze. I'll run it all down. I'm running down. Look at dance. I'm so proud of you. I will say when I was eating.

I forgot that I had advantage on strength. You round up, right? That's okay. That's okay. It's okay. And your gum is your turn. Thanks. Your girl.

Got to stand up. I'll get gentle. All right, yeah. Stand me up. Marius. Help me up. Yeah, one of the four arms, yeah. Dealing.

Uh, you've been working behind a desk. Oh, oh, 17, 16. Okay, okay. So first one hits, first one hits. Kind of normal, kind of normal. Kind of nice. That's you. Oh, okay, this one hits two.

This is, uh, yeah, 20 something. Yeah. Uh, uh. Five plus. Plus. First hit is 12 damage. Okay. And second hit.

Do it, you're gonna. 13, 25 total. Wait, the second hit is what? 13. 13, thank you. You climb to your feet and you once again grab your shovel and slice into this thing. Blood flies everywhere as it coats you and your friends. the wolf stumbles a bit,

but it continues to blink its large, glowing eyes as its gnashing maize, frothing with rage, looks around at all of you. It looks very, very wounded, but it is hungry and determined. It is going to, can you just put it back? It is going to look over towards you, and it is going to use its, Legendary Action, it's going to make a claw attack against you.

I think you're advantaged on this one. Yes, reckless attack. Perfect. Well, yeah, and because I don't think the, I don't think the ancestors are being in last of man. Correct. 23. 23 to hit? Yeah.

Let me just check really quick. Yeah, that'll hit. That hits. It's going to do 11 points of damage to both you and Marius. Oh, geez Louise. I will. I will react with my mist form. I love it a lot.

To reduce the damage to Marius. Oh, nice. We'll see. Yeah. Hold on. Yeah. By four points. Yes.

So as the claws come down right before they land on me, I'd extend the mists out to Marius and you'll see these kind of like ghouls and ancestral spirit swirling within it. And they'll attempt to, take a portion of the... They'll dampen the claw attack.

Yeah, and the claw attack will pass through them before it lands on maze. And that happens. And now it is Marius' this turn. Do I have access to everything that I can do? I don't see why you wouldn't.

Well, because, you know, some of it's like from Edgerman. That's, yeah. Canary is beatbox? It's late, so yeah. It's an Edward Midnight one shot. I have been wounded by this creature. Things are going rough. I've got eaten.

I'm upset. And there's a smell of blood is in the air. And you can see Marius's neck tightened, and the veins in his neck begin to kind of bulge and grow. And the fangs in his mouth begin to lengthen as he looks to this creature, and he feels a hunger well up within him. and almost without being able to think about it,

the urge overcomes him, and he looks at this creature, and you can almost hear him mutter, I'm sorry, as I begin to feast on the creature. Oh, no. And I will be using my dark gift and use crimson feast.

As in action, I can bite one creature within five feet of you, and my target must make a Constitution saving throw. It's going to be DC-15, and on a failed save, you'll take 6d6 necrotic damage, and the life essence is drained, and half as much on a pass. And it was what kind of constitution? Yeah, 15 constitution.

14. Oh, it's that. I sink my fangs deep into the neck of this creature and drink deep with. That's going to be eight, 19, 11, 12, 30, 40, 15, plus eight is 23. Plus another nine is. is 32.

32 points of necrotic damage as I heal that much. I would ask you how you want to do this. I think you've already explained well enough. You watch as just as Adela had said, temptation overcomes you. Your thirst, your thirst for blood overwhelms you as the scent of iron is thick in the woods night. You let down your guard and bear your fangs as you become the creature in the

night. And with one quick, monstrous motion, you find yourself attached to the throbbing vein in the neck of this beast as you drink it dry. You watch as all of you watch in horror as Marius rips the vein from its neck and begins to consume and gulp down pint after pint of blood, until you see the wolf go weak and limp in his arms, but Marius does not stop until there is not a single drop left in its monstrous body. And where there had been this gigantic wolf,

one that had tricked you and charmed you and lured you into the forest, there is now nothing but the frail, lifeless carcass, of a complete, completely empty monster. Marius, what have you done? I've made a mistake. I've let my baser instincts take over. And you kill that wolf. Great job. Yeah, you should maybe do that more often. No, no, no, no. I've lost control, no. You saved us, Nim. Well done. I need a moment. Virgil's so proud of you. You wanted me to tell you.

We execute all the way. No, I just like, I just run around and like, I'm like, I'm not. You, you know. Bloods, splirts and fountains into the night. You are all distracted by Marius and his willingness to give in to temptation in this moment of weakness.

You are distracted by the blood that coats his mouth and his armor. That you don't notice. the maidens that have disappeared from this thicket. Mm-hmm, mm-hmm. But you do notice the change in Marius. Where had been his red eyes, the eyes of the dampier, are now illuminated

with a soft orange glow as they get larger and larger and larger. Oh, no. Similar to the eyes of the wolf that he had just drained dry. Marius, you look out around you and you can see through the dark thicket of these woods. There is so much more light here than there had been before. You can see for what feels like miles away. And then you look up.

With your new sight, the sight of this ravenous beast of the wood, you peer through the forest itself, the bark, branch, and leaf. And you see the sky of Dreskenwald. bound in its eternal night, and the horror is what you see in that sky. You look up and you see the moon. It is indeed a crescent, but unfathomably massive and gnarled

and with the face of a leering witch, with wild eyes filled with madness and malevolence, a bent nose and a huge twisted grin. You stare up at the crooked moon, and the crooked moon stares back. I need to roll a D20. No one to panic. I'm sorry, D12.

Nobody panicked. We're good. Three. You watch as Marius stares up towards the sky, and you all look as well, but you can see nothing through the gnarled branches that have created a canopy over you. You know that the moon must be up there somewhere. Marius clearly sees something that you don't. And then you see as his eyes begin to change again and return to that soft red. that you know all too well.

But you too begin to change, Marius. You become overwhelmed with spiteful envy. You wish to discard your current items and covet what your party members have. I will have already dropped the sword and the shield that I know when I have attacked this wolf and I'll cover in blood and I'm raving about this moon that I can see

that no one else can see and then my eyes return to normal and I catch myself for a moment and I don't know what's wrong with me. I don't understand. Marius, are you feeling all right? Yes, and I noticed the chakram that might be by your leg near you. Help me find my mask.

I would be honored, and I will walk over to Lethika and offer up my hand to help her up. Let's go find it. It must be around here somewhere. I was taken away from myself by the eyes of that beast. I will attempt to comfort her. but as we're looking for the mask, I will almost hope to find it first so that I can take it and steal it from her without her knowing.

Okay. I will say roll an investigation check. And I'm helping. And at advantage because Lethika is helping. That's a double 16s. Ooh. What a double investigation plus zero though, so just 16. I would say, a 16, especially, even though your eyes have already begun to return to normal,

you still have that preternatural, dark vision, and it is easy for you to locate the chakrams. They shine in the few bits of moonlight that are piercing through the canopy, and you catch the glint of the metal in the soft grass, and you're able to rush towards them. And the mask that he's looking for? The mask is not far off from it.

They were both dropped in a similar position. I will point out the chakram and motion for Lephyka to, to go find them. And while she's busy doing that, I will pocket the mask. Oh, fuck. Do you see anything? Anything at all? Any sign? Do you think perhaps those strange women, the visitors, do you think that they perhaps have, have my mask? It is very important to me that I keep that. Even with my unnatural vision, I was able to spot the glinting metal easily, but nothing of the mask.

It's very possible that those women, whatever they were up to, were also here to take our belongings. Were they all just figments of our imagination? Why do you all step inside that wolf mouth? I feel like there must have been something really inviting in there, like a nice pleasant hot spring or something. Pleasant hot cup of tea is what it was. I saw me mum.

What? Did you fail to see something similar? I saw my king. I saw someone from my past. as well. Wolf entranced us, drew us in. It was enticing. Gosh, even the wolf knew that I didn't have no loved ones. Surely there were very dark magics at play,

and whatever those women were up to is certainly no good. If anyone has your mask, it must be them. Gosh, no wonder folks are going missing here. And they probably have the mask. If folks are getting missed, if folks are getting missing. Listen, and it almost killed all of us, and there's six of us, and now just one big bad wolf. Imagine just normal townsfolk. It'd be a buffet.

So we're thinking that those people that came out to try to kill us, they were from the town that we're supposed to go to? They must have come from somewhere. I can't just be out here in the middle of the woods. Suddenly, you hear a voice in the darkness. a song drifting on the winds the words of a song exulting harvest time in the union of sister and sister hand in hand

in a ring surrounding you on a small in a ring surround you on a small yet beautiful voice it clearly is the singing of a little girl and as you all turn to look towards the very center of this as you all turn to look towards the very center of this clearing you see a small girl, clearly ghostly, transparent, very similar in look to the women that had been standing around you during your fight with the wolf, wearing the same white linen dress,

a halo of flowers adorning her pale yellow hair, plated on either side of her face, as she looks towards you with sad yet comforting eyes. And she sings out this little song. She reaches out her hands asking for an embrace. Reminds you very much of the wolf and the imagery of what he had shown you, these loved ones that led you into his arms and into his. his mom. And as you look closer at her and think back towards this what now I would say become clear to you, specters that he had conjured in his battle with you, it becomes clear to you

that this little girl fell to a similar fate. Your mind goes back to the train to Adela and Philip and what Philip had said to you about a beast in the woods and children gone missing. A blight on the crops, a plague on Wickermore Hollow. Now as you stand here and you look at this poor girl looking only for the warmth of an embrace, you realize that maybe Adela was right. Maybe you were sent here to do good and to help this place. Maybe this is your grand adventure. She does not stop staring at you as she holds her arms out, hoping for nothing more.

and a simple hug. Does everyone else see a little girl? Yes. We do. I won't hesitate. I'll walk forward and start to approach the girl. I don't think that's a little girl. Come, little one, little one, please.

Is everything okay? She looks towards you and she has a scared yet soft smile on her face, but she says no words and you can see through her. You can see the grass at her feet, the trees behind her. And as you reach out and to touch her, you can feel that she's there, but she feels like at any moment she could be blown away by the wind.

Her arms are still held, outstretched, as if she wants nothing more than a hug. Don't be afraid. Stay here with me, little one. Everything is going to be all right. And I'll crouch down and sort of get almost into like a squatting position and just really extend my hand and be like I'm trying to keep, not to keep a distance, but I'm trying to let her feel like she could come towards me if she wanted to. And I'm not trying to like be separate or or anything like that. It's just I'm not going to immediately dive on her.

I'm also just going to give her some space and let her take the next step. She sees what you're doing and she reaches out a hand to grab yours and feels cold. And your fingers are able to interlock with hers, but it also feels almost as if they're sinking in to her fingers. There are clearly fingers there, but they could so easily disappear. And as you hold onto her hand, she moves closer to you and presses herself up against you, and she wraps her arms around you, and holds you tight.

It's going to be okay. Everything is going to be all right. All right. Do I feel? You go in to hold her? Yeah. You wrap your arms around her, and for a moment, you feel the form of this little girl in your arms. And then you hear a small voice. Thank you.

If you make it to Wickmore Hollow, tell my mom that I love her, and I'm sorry. And then just as quickly, You feel nothing at all. As the burst of wind blows through the thicket and where this girl had been standing, there is no one and nothing but the six of you. There's nothing to be sorry for, little one.

I'll be keeping my eyes down because I would view Leithica's face as like seeing a woman indecent because I know that's a deal. So with the mask, I will not make eye contact, I will not look at it. And I'll say, So, so what was, was that little girl head up by that there, Beastie? That is what my god tells me, yes. Well, maybe that terror reading was talking about this sort of thing.

That's what our fate is, is there's a lot of transformation and bad stuff, and we just got to kill a whole lot of wolves and monsters. This wasn't just any wolf. Maybe this was the first of six villains. I've already begun to do good works. Only five more? That is, that it must be right. We have defeated a big bad wolf.

Perhaps there are only five more like it to worry about. A gust of wind circles through the thicket once more. And Lethika roll a perception check for me, please. Why am I rolling like such? Garbage. Also, it's taken 11. That's good enough. It was only 10 that you needed. Oh.

Damn. You, the gust of wind blows through. And once again, this feels more akin to something intentional than natural. And for a moment, you feel like you hear singing. And then you hear the little girl's voice yet again. Follow the song, Harvest Time, Harvest Time, Harvest Time, Harvest Time, Harvest Time. as it fades off into the distance. And as the wind finishes whipping through this outcropping,

you turn your face, you turn and look towards where you had heard the voice. And you see a small trail leading off into the woods that you don't remember seeing before. And as you listen, you hear the faint sounds of Harvest singing. Is anyone else hear those voices on the air? Yes. Oh, God, I like the sound of this.

First ghost kids and creepy women were, you know, trying to lure us away and now we're here singing. Oh, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. I intend to follow the path. As do I. I want to find my mask, find out who these people really are and where the real threat lies. Could also be Wickhamore.

Could take us to the hollow that we seek. That's why we're here, the little ghost kid, and the songs and she was singing, that's truly it. And maybe they'll have your mask, Ms. Eithica. Oh, sorry. Thank you for reminding me. I'll take out a black handkerchief

or a piece of fabric, something like that. I'll let my hair down. And then I'll pull that over and secure it using what I would normally secure my hair with. Just long hair, white. and my bell's face. Does this help, Jericho? Oh, well, now I can look you in the...

Well, not the eye. I mean, it's from a figure. I can look at your face. Anyway, it's fetching. It's a good new look. And I'm sure we'll find your mess some, please. It's fine. I have always been able to see well in the dark.

Shall we go? Yes. Are we sure we can't get back on a train? I look behind me. I'm sure that opportunity is long past. All right. lead away. All right.

All right. I'll have my slip mark. I'm looking for any glowing eyes in the woods. But I'll follow Marius. You continue to move in the direction of the singing.

The exultations of nature and the harvest beckoning you almost personally to its rapture. You feel almost pulled out of the gnarled wood as you emerge from the tree line, leaving the darkness as a distant, bad memory or faded nightmare in an instant. Instead, you feel warmth of body and soul as the shadows dance,

cast by the thrashing flames of torches, braziers, and bonfires. Among the dancing flame are dozens of dancing humans and ritualistic garb, most wearing masks of animal, plant, and things older than this place. The way they move is passionate, vivacious, and with every fiber of their being, and as the clouds move away from the crooked moon,

the terrible light cast an end. enormous shadow overall, and you finally realize what these revelers have been circling in their round. Towering above you at least 50 feet tall is an enormous humanoid effigy, a colossus of woven wood looming so large it seems as if its head might crest the bottom of the bewitching crescent moon above. Beneath its unmoving vigil, a woman approaches you from the throng of celebrants. She wears white and carries a sickle, waving to you with a beaming, freckled smile filled with unbound enthusiasm. She stops before you as the singing in unison

reaches its climactic conclusion. And suddenly, there was no more singing. All mass faces looked to you. The young woman looks familiar, as if she could be related to the lost child in the woods, as if she was the lost child in the woods, now impossibly grown. There is nothing but joy in her eyes as she speaks.

You came, you made it. You made it. You're on time for your appointment with the Wicker Man. And that's where we'll end the session. No, I refuse. No. You were denied. We are playing for another six hours.

You're just Chris and Relina. Holy shit. Oh my God. Appointment with the Wicca Man. Fuck. The who? Well done, Nikki. Thank you.

Yeah. Holy shit. And welcome to Welcome to us. Thank you guys for staying late. I know we started late. We obviously ran late. Thank you so much for listening to the Legends of Aventures podcast.

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