Legends of Avantris - Once Upon a Ghostlight | Ep. 1 | The Shroud Beyond

Episode Date: December 9, 2025

The Krew finds themselves in a land beyond...   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/A7DzA1NXobw?si=BsAxjeUzkmsS_5kO

Welcome to Legends of a Ventress. It is a quiet evening outside of Brieg, and Carnival LeCrew has spent the better part of a month setting up their ramshackle carnival. This is a night unlike any other night, as you all slowly fall asleep within your caravan, prepared for another day of grueling work, mending and repairing the carnival that seems to never be fixed. As unconsciousness takes you, you don't notice. the smell of smoke as it assaults your nostrils. At least not at first. But unfortunately, for all of you, by the time that it does, it's a little bit too late. This carnival was in dire straits. You knew the repairs that needed to be done on it, the old oil that coated all of the joints, all of the hinges, whatever it was that ignited this place must have happened quick.

The heat swelling the joints around the doors as all of you come to attempting to escape. The smoke inhalation is just too much and unconsciousness takes you yet again. You find yourselves coming too as if awoken from a horrible, horrible dream, the smell of burning hair and burning flesh still present in your nostrils for a mere moment before the wind rushes by cooling your skin. You realize, yes, it must have all been a dream. You stand up and begin to dust yourself off before realizing that your forms are semi-incorporeal. You can see through yourselves to the beautiful misty grass. You're not standing at the carnivala crew. You're atop a beautiful hill overlooking the city of Brieg,

the candlelights twinkling off in the distance. A circle of tall standing stones all around you as you look amongst yourselves, you recognize the five of you as your bodies begin to shift and change, almost as if they're reconfiguring right in front of you. That incorporeal state that you're in now fleshing itself out but into a new form, a a different form altogether and you feel in your heart of hearts there's something different. As you feel your bodies materialize in this new state, a tendril of smoke catches your attention off on the horizon, the smoldering embers of what had been carnival accrue. You look amongst each other and you don't fully understand what happened. You know in your heart of hearts that who you were before is gone,

that the life that you led before is over, that you have been reborn in death. I guess that safety inspector was right. What do you mean? No, no, no. This couldn't have been failing on our business practice. This could it have been?

Harry, didn't you always say that fire chiefs are always a bunch of chumps? Yeah, that's why I pay them off until them to leave. Do we not pay them enough? Oh, we know spooky ghosts now. You think it was something we did that caused the carnival to go up? Well, you're like 40% fire. I must have been something you did.

Well, no. And I don't think so anymore, man. I don't know if you check yourself out. I don't feel all fiery. I feel kind of like rocky, like stony. And you look different. Oh, my God. The fire must have burned away all my flesh.

It was a skeleton inside me the whole time. Well, Torbeck's not that different. In fact, Torbeck doesn't notice really anything different at all. I feel like we've all changed. Yes. I feel like, even though we are ghosts, we have on the next stage of our journey. You think we're ghosts? Ooh.

I'm a phobia of ghosts. This might be a really... We flip beyond the veil. Oh, bro! You're here! I was worried you survive the carnival. You guys look crazy. Torbett doesn't know what's going on.

Oh, man. I have these crazy cool wings, man. Look at this. Is he a... Are you a bird? Yes, I seem to have grown feathers. Exactly how we've transformed, but we are all different in some way. Having been transformed, Derek, why don't you explain who you were and who you have become?

The tabaxy that you have all known as a sion, as a mentalist, someone who uses his mind to control the world around him, to change perceptions and read into people's thoughts. no longer stands before you, though the azureborn, the feathered owl-like creature that he stare at, still wears a green rope. Bad ass. He has black feathers and orange feathers in equal amounts.

Large, glassy eyes that stare around with the same level of intelligence and the same level of sincerity and curiosity that you're used to. But there's a different look behind those eyes. now and eyes that know that there is more to this reality than perhaps it's on the surface.

I was a goblin, a green goblin, and I was also a druid, but now I'm a devil man, I have a long nose, I am now red, I have little horns, and I've got a scorpion tail, that's pretty cool, and unique. I'm in Ashbourne and I'm not any taller. Is that you're done? Oh, I look like a devilman. I got a little goatee. I look like a cliche devil on

playing cards. And except very short. And I have a very cool crossbow because who needs courage when you have a crossbow to shoot people? That's right. I'm playing Torbeck. Torbeck was previously, as mentioned, a

tall, gross, hideous bug bear with all sorts of contraptions and tanks and piping and tubing sticking out of him. And that is partially why Torbek is so confused in his new state, as from what he can tell, he doesn't appear to be that much different in this body, except he's probably a little bit shorter. As he has been brought back as a curse-born, which is a werewolf-like style creature. So he's still furry, he's still hairy, he's still hairy. Still has claws, maybe slightly different in nature, and still strangely has apparatus on his back, in his arms, in his legs. He would be wearing slightly nicer clothing, though, maybe a Victorian overcoat, but it's a little bit beat up, patched, nice pants, a nice shirt, but dingy, maybe patched here and there, little threadbare in different places, as he is from Edwardia. and is a little bit more refined in this form,

but can't quite tell why he doesn't look as cool as everybody else does at first appearance from his own viewpoint. Oh, I also have cool cowboy wild Westclothes. You can't forget that. I can't forget that. I've owned the old Westclothes. I'll go next. I'm playing Gideon Cole.

Once a Hulk and Brut of a fire Genasi, red skin, big manacled chains, Hanley shirt and suspenders. The classics, the classics attire. Now, with a body forged in the lands of death, he has become a stoneborn. So instead of that classic, like, cold fire skin, now this gray actually made of stone,

own form. Very similar height, frame, but now with giant wings. And I would say longer hair, much like Goliath from Gargoyles. All he wears is a loincloth, because that's... Oh boy. Here we go. That's not true. That's not canon. Look at the art on the screen somewhere. That's what he looks like. You got way more clothes on there. Yeah, look at the art. Look at the art. Turmex also wearing a loincloth. You know, like, we all got reaped on and loinsclaws. It's the starting equipment of the land. I only have the road.

Everyone starts out in a loincloth. Oh, it's like elder man. You got a her. And we take the hard mode class. Oh, what do you think? You just spawn into the lands of death and you're pulling geared out? No. Grim Reaper is kind of a pervert.

You want pants, you got to find it. I do have these calligraphal tools. No, I don't know what they're doing. All they've done for you. years is tell you you can't take it with you. You think you're showing up fully kidded out? Well, what I do? The name's Kremlin, Crew.

Was once a Dapper Alligator Lizard Folk fella with a nice pinstripped purple suit and a handsome top hat, a nice cane with a crystal skull on top. Now stands before you a skeleton alligator man.

Dapper's purple suit. But what you will notice is that this suit is a little more extravagant than his last one. There's a bit of a kind of, there's embroidery throughout. There's floral patterns and other patterns sort of very intricately

woven throughout his attire. He still has his familiar top hat. He still has his familiar dice that he always carries. The playing cards in his hat. But most notably, I have a fucking gun.

Up! I like to imagine that first thing Crummy does when he spawns into the lands of death is fixes the mustache back onto the bone. Oh no, of course. So instead of my normal alligator skull, or a snout, I now have a full alligator skull

with maybe some designs kind of painted on it, but he would have his signature pencil-thin mustache painted on the very edge of the snout. We've all died and transformed. Don't you understand what this means, how much closer we are to the truth of the world the worlds around us

that which we cannot see guys I hate to say this I think one of us is possessed by an owl what you're talking about Frost is the scene as how he happens to look exactly like an owl

is that what you say it again say it again guys I think one of us is possessed by an owl what are you talking about I'm not sure Why you would ask that question?

I don't mean to alarm anyone. Oh, wait, wait, ask you one more time. I don't mean to alarm anyone. I think one of us is possessed by an owl. Who? Ah! Oh! I think it was actually just Frost.

And I feel like, wherever we're going... What a bear the lead. Wherever we're going is not a good place because I feel like Frosty has been punished for crushing the mind of sea. many birds in his lifetime and you became what you wanted to crush the most. There is, appears to be a bit of irony here from a cat to a bird.

I agree that my form is perhaps ironical in the mortal realm. And in other ways I feel freed. Freed for the first time. Freed from the shackles of my former life. Yeah, free from... Free from crushing debt. Free from always looking over our shoulders. Free from the jig, almost just being up.

Yeah. There's no more pretense. There's no more judgment to concern oneself with. We are, wherever we are, that much step closer to learning what it is beyond. No more having to run a pathetic carnival. Oh hey don't say that man Yeah, it was a good conno We don't have to tell any more fellas

I mean, we're all dead Let's just accept it for what it was I guess we did in some From a certain point of view Burn the thing ground Yeah, I mean just because Lockett I mean it literally went up in flames Doesn't mean it was bad

For say I mean no one person to blame You know necessarily Yeah Yeah Yeah Okay show of hands Who thought the carnival would kill

them. Yeah. All right. In the same thing. Yeah. It was a matter of time. Oh, Tobat, you know, it's actually quite fitting your new, your new, uh,

visage. Yeah? Your visage. Uh-huh. Uh, I always said that you had got that dog in you, and now you got that dog out of you. What? What is that? Something, do you used to have a mirror?

Of course. Oh, take out my compact mirror. and I will show him. Whoa! Torbett's got a snail! Dormack's kinda handsome now. And your clothes are kinda nice too. Yeah!

These are finally looking back for Dormick! I know, man. See, as I'm saying, you got hit the dog in you and saw you there were two wolves, now they're just one wolf outside of you or something. I don't know. No, I like it. Yeah. I mean, you're gonna be an even bigger hit with all of the book talk girl here, Torbett. You really are gonna be quite a big hit.

Very popular. You knew that the end of Torbeck's life would be the beginning of Torbeck's life. I feel like that. We do have a new lease. What's why we've been reborn? The wind whips up around you and for a second you feel like, or you feel like you can hear the, uh, alone fiddle playing along the wind as it dances around you, the sound of a train whistling off in the distance, but just as quickly as it comes, it dissipates and... It's quiet yet again. Frost, can I have you roll a wisdom perception check for me, please? I would be happy. What? Dave? What? Dave? What's that guy? And I drink? Remember that guy?

Oh, Greg? No, wasn't it, Tom? Oh, Tom! Tom! Oh, my man, I hate that guy. No, he played the band. Oh, did he play a mean fiddled? No, he played something. I don't know. Didn't we, like, beat him up or kill him. or something? No, he threatened to. Oh, okay. That's an important distinction. I got a natural 16, which gives me a dirty 19.

As the wind dissipates and the sound of the fiddle and the train whistle slowly begins to fade from your memory, you feel a weight in the front pocket of your rope. You pat yourself. There had been nothing in there. But now there is a small stack of what appear to be tickets. Hmm. You notice the top one, your name

written in silver lettering. I found these tickets in my pocket. Whoa! Tickets to what? My name is on this one. It says Frost right here. This one says Grico. Oh.

Well, they too, man. Here, this one has your name on it. Oh. And there's even one for Gideon. That's remarkable. We all have tickets. We all have tickets. Yeah.

all my tickets. Yeah. Hey, great work, guys. There should be one more, right for us? Oh, uh... Just one... Take again. Oh, everyone lick your thumb and like, try to see if it got stuff.

Oh, yeah. Oh, no. Not like this. Oh, wait! The back of mine is ruined. It says Antoamette. Oh! Yes!

Oh! How do we have to share? have to share. Because you love me. Sharing is caring, Mr. Cremant. Yeah! I've never heard of the Ghostlight Express movie. Some kind of train. Oh, man.

Oh, the Ghostlight Express. Yeah. Looks like a train. Yeah, oh man. This is very mysterious. I do feel, however, inspired by the wind that also came through this way. And perhaps this will be the last time I get a chance to do this. I'm going to try to take flight, if you don't

Wow. Wait, you can do that? Well, if you look and I'll shuffle up my robes, you'll see wingspan beneath each of my arms. Whoa. I believe that I might be able to actually ascend. Wait, can Gideon fly with you too on account of having Mitch? Oh yeah, I mean, we could fly together. I just didn't want to steal your moment.

It seemed like this was important to you, but I got giant wings on my back. You're made of stone. How could you possibly, uh, you know what? Cross. We're in the lands of death, man. I mean. They might just be decorous as far, you know. Okay, I mean, well, wait, me, they're all right.

I'll give me a try, all right? Cross to the skies. I didn't, I didn't mean to offend you. Oh, there he goes. You have to remember not to abide the logic that I, uh, Frosty get up here, man. This is awesome. I'll be right behind you and I take off and I immediately send, uh, and join you spiraling into the air.

Feeling a connection to space that I've never felt before, a connection to, um, the openness of the sky. Guys, what if we can all fly? Wait. You're just like a wolf guy. I mean, I'm a spooky ghost. That should be able to, like, float around, right? You're a spooky skeleton.

I fly by. Maybe you all can try this. Maybe I'm a devil man, which means perhaps I have fabulous wishing powers. I wish to be a devil guy, but be like about six-four. You're standing on the damp earth of this standing stone. And as you focus, the ground gives way beneath you a little bit. You actually sink deeper into the ground and you lose. You appear to lose about four or five inches of height.

Did you just shrink? Oh. It says here that Ashbourne are imps. Well, at least I have a cool stinger that I can kill people with. I mean, that is pretty cool. I've never been stung by a scorpion, but I presume that the scorpion is a good time. if I ever meet a frog there's going to be quite a

parable about us is what I will say What are you ever going to meet a frog Rigo? Very unlikely That's ridiculous It's very unlikely I will ever meet a frog I mean I'm a scorpion man

I really want to meet a frog It's very unlikely Especially here Yeah Yeah Especially one that would offer you Passage somewhere For then you

You didn't sting him For it is your nation It is my nature. One day. One day. One day. One day. One day. Frost and Gideon, you sail the skies for about ten minutes looking out over what had been your home for the past, almost a month while you had been manning the carnival. You spent a little bit of time looking out over the rubble in the ruins of what had been the carnival. It is very clear that if anyone survived, there were few.

The carnival is nearly decimated. And as you come to that realization, a little bit of sorrow hits you. The wings are lovely. This new form is interesting. And there is a new journey ahead of you, but there is a moment to mourn the loss of what had been your past lives, as once again, you hear the faint sound of a train whistle. You look down and you begin to see that Kremi and and Grico and Torbeck are falling onto the ground there.

They're talking up a storm, but there is a rolling fog that's climbing up and cresting over this hill as it begins to wind around their feet. These tendrils of almost spectral fog, in the heart of it a very pale gray, but illuminated by blues and greens. They don't seem to notice this at all as the both of you plummet. and begin to dive back towards the top of the hill. And as you land, the fog billows up around you. Gentlemen, there appears to be some sort of a fog rolling in. I don't want to fly in it. It could be quite dangerous.

It's all around us right now. You guys didn't notice it sneaking up. I was kind of too busy watching you guys are all that fun of Val. Yeah, why don't you guys come join us? Yeah, why didn't you fly? Well, Kirkland was shrinking. Yeah, that was funny. We were kind of laughing at them.

So we didn't notice the fall coming in. You may have wings, Gideon, but I have the Ashborn species trait scorpion sting. I can kill things with venom. I don't know if you knew that about me now. Well, no, I didn't. I'm just made a stone and have awesome wings and can fly through the air. Well, your thing sounds pretty good, too. Well, you didn't use any kind of cool species trait names, so I don't know if I believe you.

Well, let me just see. Well, no, I mean, I haven't done it. I just flown with my wings. Flying speed. Yeah, I've used my stoneboard. I've used my stoneborn flying speed to take to the skies. Actually, while we were up there, we saw exactly how many people may or may not have died in the carnival. I started to feel bad about it, but then, I mean, let's be honest.

I mean, this is pretty awesome. So if they get to do this kind of stuff, you know. Their deaths do way heavy, but they weren't reborn as we were. We have to count our lucky stars that we are here. Perhaps they are taking to some other fate. I feel more connected to that than ever. The haunting tune of a lone fiddle pierces through the fog that surrounds you, heralding the arrival of a spectral locomotive.

A dark steel train bades in an eerie glow emerges from the gloom on rails made of mist. Its smokestack belches plumes of ghastly blue-green smoke that wail with the faces and voices of the damned. The locomotive rumbles, squeals, squeals, and creaks that slows to a halt, and a passenger car looms directly before you. It feels like this appeared out of nowhere, mid-sentence you were engulfed in the sounds of this song, as if the faint whispers of it that you had heard over the past 20 minutes were but a warning of what was to come. And as this locomotive rests on these spectral rails in front of you, there is an eerie quiet that dismal. ascends around this hill. You watch looking directly into the opening of this passenger car as the door slowly creaks open. You see the faint candlelight flickering from within this

car as it illuminates what appears to be a giant shadow, a huge, the form of a huge creature standing within this doorway. You cannot make out any features as the, as it is shrouded in the darkness around you, the illumination from behind, completely obstructing any ability to see what this creature is. All the while that fiddle song plays. And then it begins to move. And it gets smaller and smaller and smaller is what is very clearly a frog man steps out of the inside of this train. A fiddle resting on his left. shoulder as he plays that tune that you've been hearing on the wind. And as he slowly finishes it and the fiddle comes to a gentle whine, the strings vibrating, almost, the sound almost mimicking that of a wailing

soul. And as it ends, the sound echoes over the moors of Brieg. The frogman who's wearing tattered clothes and a and a hat looks you see three railroad spikes adorning the brim and as he adjust his hat and looks up at you his sallow green skin

illuminated in the moonlight he looks between each of you you feel the paper railway ticket tremble faintly in your grasp the words one passenger valid for night of issue only gleam and raised silver lettering

This creature, known as the vagrant, extends his hands and gestures to each of you. You have your tickets? Is this the Ghost Light Express? This is the Ghost Light Express, and we've got a one-way pass through the shroud. Speak of the devil. And he shall appear. What a do there, fella, the name's Screamlecru, and we were formerly carnivore. crew. Now it seems we're dead. It seems you've come to a sticky end, but I'm here to deliver you to your fate.

Wherever the Ghost Light Express chooses to take you. We've got a one-way trip straight to Druskenwald. And Druskenwald, where's that? What is the... Far beyond the shroud or domain, a realm of death. A realm of death. But like we get to get cool, new bodies, maybe. In a... post-death transformation? If I'm not mistaken, sir, it looks like you've already found your cool new body. Who? We get to keep him, as well, I'm asking.

Unless someone plans to take him from you. What might happen? Well, uh, hello, Mr. I don't think any of us caught your name. I'm known as the vagrant, and I'm the conductor of this here locomotive. Hmm. Well, uh, I mean, we got nowhere else to be. fellows and we got a ticket. And I've got a warm train behind me

with stories and music and two alive passengers. Might have answers that you seek. Wow. Well, your song was hauntingly beautiful. And Mr. Gruby's ticket says and Torback, so he looks unsure, but he leans over and he sees that same silver, scrawl on the back it seems to be the same pinmanship. We got a couple's ticket. And he, um, he nods.

Well, if I can get your tickets, we can make passage through the shroud all aboard the Ghostlight Express. Yes. And he bows down and uses his fiddle to point onto the, uh, onto the train cart and allow you to embark.

There y'all, fellow. Uh, I was, I mean, you never, I believe this. I was gonna ask you, well if I met a frogman, if I could get a passage across the river, on your back and then maybe sting you, we both drown and they'd write a favor of about or something. But I'm getting the sense that you're like,

some sort of like really powerful angel of death or something. So I'm just gonna say, very nice to meet you, I'm gonna go grim grin, here's my ticket. Thank you for a person to board. And I, you know, it was either Frogman, I wasn't expecting this, I thought it was gonna be like Tom Hanks. So I feel like there's not. He looks at your ticket and you see as he places his hand on his chin and he begins to think,

I like that story you just told. Would you mind if I wrote it down and told it, embellished it, expand upon it. I feel like there's a lesson to be learned in this. It's just, it would have been in my nature, I suppose. Thank you very much. Look at you go, already making waves around here. He seems to be pleased. He loves the idea of the story and what you've provided him. My name is Morning Frost. Thank you for the ride. All aboard.

You push forward into the soft candlelight that flickers and sconces along the wall as the vagrant steps on behind you, once again playing a soft lelting tune on his fiddle before sliding the door shut. the car, the entire locomotive begins to shake and you hear the sounds of the whistle as it begins to emit a scream reminiscent of wailing souls as the chugga chugga chugga chugga chugga begins to get faster and faster and faster and faster. And you can see as the landscape of Brieg begins to move very quickly past you. This car is clearly moving forward.

but it feels stable. There's a soft lilting to the car itself, but you don't feel off balance. You don't feel off kilter. There is a warmth to this space as the Ghostlight Express begins to propel forward. And just as quickly as you see the landscape of Brieg fly past the windows, you begin to see that same rolling fog that had surrounded your forms atop the hillside. you begin to see that getting thicker and thicker and thicker as it begins to obscure all the vision outside of these windows. And as you look around, this car is filled with rows of forward-facing cracked leather seats. Velvet curtains, one's rich in color, hang faded. The Ghostlight Express lurches forward with two short blasts from the train's whistle, followed by a screech of wheels that sounds like the shrill note of a violin,

then the percussed chugging of the locomotive. Moments later, the view of the windows on either side of the car obscures, green smoke swims past the glass, completely veiling the realm beyond. Ghostly passengers ride peacefully, seated on the tattered remains of one's lavish upholstery. They simply look forward or out the window with empty eyes, ready to meet whatever comes next. None seem to have any baggage. Well, you're welcome to take up a seat here, if you like. Got a long ride ahead of you, and if you do decide that you want to travel deeper, within the train cars.

You've got the door there that'll lead you deeper in, get yourself something to eat, find a nice place to rest and relax. Maybe you'll come upon the Druskinvalds if you keep looking if they're out and about at this time. Now I do warn you, they are wholly alive, and though they are riding on a train of death, they are not unfamiliar with a Ghostlight Express, so it won't shock them to see your form,

but just expect the living ride here too. Vagrant, you mentioned a place we're going to called Druskenwald. And that's also the name of the people you claim are living on this train. It can't be a coincidence. Oh, yeah, they're the Lord and Lady of Druskenwald.

Yeah, they're a big deal. So I wouldn't mind your peas and cues while you're in their presence. But yes, the Ghostlight Express is going to take you straight there. that is where your ticket has you bound for. So there must be some purpose for your death and your rebirth. Or the train would not have stop for you. Now I do have some warnings for you, of course.

Now the train's in motion, what is beyond these windows and this door and all other doors you'll find on this train is nefarious. Please do not break the windows, open the doors at any point. You will not lack what enters onto this train. You're paying attention? Okay. You hear that, Grico, Frost?

It is a dangerous. Don't look at me. I know what we're passing through. Do you? We're passing through the veil. That is correct. It is a dangerous spiritual mist. Souls lost.

Unable to move on to their realms. Angry, hateful souls. We'll stay inside. No one's hopping. How long is it going to take us to get there? Well, Ghostlight Express is quite fast, all things considered, but she's going to take whatever time she needs. And it will depend on the amount of fuel we have. You may find in your journey that there are these entities called Hanks.

And he motions towards some of the spectral spirits that you see sitting here. Now, most of these folk have come to terms with their death and their life. And they will sit peacefully as they go through their final moments. or their most joyous memories, and eventually, when they are ready, they will move on. Some are not too happy about their death, or they have unfinished business in their life. They, for lack of a better word, they haunt this train.

And if they don't come to a peaceful resolution, they will turn into, and then it is not kind. They will turn into soul coal. and be fed directly into the locomotive. And that is what's going to get us to Dresk involved. The locomotive we ride is powered by those who were not unable to move on. Damn. Cycical nature of life and death.

That's pretty good. Yeah. Yeah. I'm pretty good. I'm not a fan of trains, but this one's pretty cool. But that's really not great. At this point, we have officially been reborn. We are alive again.

We are not at risk. You are not born into. paints. You are reborn into something new, belonging to and of the land of Druskinbald. And I'm sure more of your questions can be answered by the Lord and Lady themselves.

In the meantime, I do have business in my cabin. If we're going to get you to Drusk involved, I've got some cold shovels. So, I'll be making my way. Please enjoy the comfort of the passenger car of the Ghost Ladd Express.

I'm sure we will meet again. been most accommodating. I thank you, Mrs. the vagrant. He nods to each of you and begins to play his fiddle again and you hear him begin to play around with some words, singing a song

singing a song about a scorpion that makes passage along the back of a frog with nefarious intent as he chuckles to himself changing some words here and there, fixing a key adding in a new bar as he

exits through the only door, the only other door that you can see on the passenger car. And you all find yourselves in the passenger car of the Ghostlight Express. You find yourselves not wholly alone here. As you look around, you see that there are quite a few of these haints that the vagrant mentioned. Though you're not really sure how to tell the difference between one that's in unrest and one that isn't, these, the ones that are here seem to be peaceful enough. they're dotted throughout the cabin sitting in these plush seats

staring out the windows at the shroud as it passes by you notice that some of them seem to be muttering to themselves there are a set of two of them that seem to be talking back and forth to each other none of them seem to pay you any attention it's almost as if they don't even notice that you're here at all I don't pay them attention either I am fascinated by what's happening outside of the windows.

I immediately go and I stare and look out at whatever we're passing through, just to get a sense of the strange journey that we're on. Looking at the window, you see a darkness, all the while interspersed with billowing clouds of this fog, this spectral blue and green fog that is rushing by. It is thick. It's hard to see through it, but you occasionally get these glimpses of darkness beyond. And when you look long enough, sometimes you believe that you see movement, as if there are entities, beings within the shroud. Oh, Frost, what are you doing? Torbeck had no intention of doing anything like breaking the windows until the frog I said not to.

I'm just looking. I would agree with the frog man that we should not break these windows. Letting this mist inside would be, I imagine, quite terrible. Then stop suggesting it. Torbeck feels like you're trying to get Torbeck to do it. I'm not suggesting it. I'm merely looking. Torbeck, what are you talking about? Toabek, don't even think about it. You heard what he said. Nope, nope. No, no. Go back. Don't even tap on him.

Put that claw down. Put it down. Just calm down. I feel a renounce. sense of responsibility in my new reborn state and I feel like if I take this with grace and gravitas, perhaps when we make it to Druskinvald, I can

petition to perhaps be reborn into a different species that is taller than an imp. Well, we can talk to the Druskenvolves once they're here. Perhaps they have some insight into what the nature of this transformation is and whether or not you can re-roll, so to speak.

Don't worry, I plan on it. You sound like you have a complex. I've never thought about hiding day in my life. Well, if they give you a choice, man, you should pick this one because this is pretty great. I'm tall as heck. I got great big stone muscles. I mean, look at him. Chissel from pure marble.

I mean, literally. That's just literal. Chiseled. I mean, that's Renaissance tier sculptor. They don't make them like that anymore. No, give me a touch. It's a smooth surface. You really should.

I encourage you. It can't be that good. Angels like the sand. Well, I suppose that's pretty good. Well, I guess you're not big red anymore. You're Big Gray. I'm Big Gray, man. And you're a little, little red. I'm little red. Little red. Big gray. Back at it again. Back at it again.

Well, you know, I didn't know exactly what the spec when, when, you know, faced with the lands of death. I didn't know what came next, but I gotta say, I didn't think it was this. This is kind of nice. Yeah, let Torbeck try. What material is that, boyfriend material? Oh, yeah. D'Orbeck. You've gotten smooth in the afterlife, man.

I mean, that's got me blushed. I feel like all of us have... I can't tell because I made a stone. You know, that was great. I feel like we've all changed a little bit, I suppose. We've all matured a little bit. Have our forms solidified? And are we like more like corporeal?

Yes, you are, you stopped being incorporeal atop the hill. Got it. Oh, yeah, awesome. Well, you know, I appreciate that I'm not just a skeleton, but it's kind of like this purply ectoplasm that sort of gives me form. You know what I mean? You can wear clothes to the skeleton. That's right.

I think this looks pretty handsome, don't you think? Cremant, you look dashing as always, man. You don't have a question for you. Yeah, fire away. What's a skeleton's favorite instrument? Well, I, you know, I don't think. I could venture the gas. The trombone.

Like the jacketka, oh, a special promulose. Oh, I don't know how I do this. Oh, it's a Grammy. Oh, yeah.

Oh, yeah. Oh, oh, oh. Oh, man. Material is there? Is it goo? Is it acroclasmic? Oh, man. I don't know.

What does it feel like? Well, let me see. I mean, it feels soft, feels delicate. I don't know. Kind of mysterious. It's a little bit. It's kind of a little mysterious. You know, it's hard to tell exactly what's going on, but it feels nice. It feels right.

Also, I'll have a cowboy got clums. Yes. I'm not sure what's that? Oh, polyester. Oh. Oh. That's, uh... How are you not sweating?

No, it's... It's a... No, that's definitely. No, that's a blend. That's a blend. That's a blend. Uh, hook a mold. It's enough.

Another question for... Roll time. Another question for the trustinvolts, I think. Why were you... I mean, you've seen your species is one thing, but... Yehah! Changing your outfit like this seems arbitrary. Oh, I'm gonna say I'm gonna look very dapper in the saloon

when I'm sipping on fun... Fireball whiskey. That's probably... Speaking of, man, one thing that hasn't changed is I'm hungry. You guys want to check out? I mean, he said there was a dining car right ahead of us, I think. of us, I think. You want to get something to eat? Oh, I have this trombone.

Oh, what's how? Oh, Cremitt, please. You get away? Oh, I thought you know. I thought you just telling you. I thought the joke was more of a setup. Oh. I don't know how, but I feel like I know how to play.

I sit down. I immediately take a seat. Cremitt, please, man. Take it away. Well, all this ominous jazz on the train as just, I don't know, it's sort of gotten me inspired and I just, I realized I could do this. I love that, man. Play a tune.

And I try to play along with the first of one. That's a one. Seven. You are able to keep time with the music, but your amissure is not attuned to the trombone. I'm a skeleton. Give me some slack.

You don't have flashy lips, and it is incredibly difficult for you. Or lungs. For you to create the notes that you need to, and most of the notes that you play are off-key. I swear I can play this. Oh, don't try later. That was good. You know, it's just, it's day one on the train.

I'm pleased by your change. You never would have tried something so embarrassing before in life. For you to go on your way to try something, it seems like, out the pressure of death upon you that you are free. You know what, Frost, that's a really good point. I think you're right. I feel like being reborn in this way, I don't

have to live up to old criminal crew. That dashing alligator man who was always perfectly dressed and knew the right thing to say. Never a thread out of place. The afterlife just gifted me with the trombone and a gun. Man!

And who might have questioned it. I'm sorry. I was able to procure these tickets. If I look, oh, calligraphers tools. That's pretty cool, I guess. Can you use those? Do you want to try to embarrass yourself like, do you do? Well, like, there's not much to map.

Those are cartographers tools. You guys turn around and get in that cart. Wow. There's not much enough. There sure isn't a whole lot of map. I draw a map. Look at Frosty! Look at the big brain on Frosty!

There's a bunch of quotes. Would you fall before 9? It's like his in's going to drop my mouth. Man. Oh, I'd love to see him to a puzzle now. Well, you guys turn. I've ruined everything. And at the back of the cart, you see Torbeck in a full lap thing.

I was like doing alchemy. There's like bubbling in smoke and like, go, oh, man. Man, all I got was this cool haunting lantern. turns the undead away from it. The garish light of resting in the grave. Man, I feel like I also have a strange grim duty to make sure that these spooky ghosts find to the resting place and don't get disturbed.

Man. Can you liven them up a little bit? Hey, do you want a book or something? Do you need a neck pillow? I'm gonna go up. Do they have faces? They do. They look similar to how you had looked in your incorporeal state.

You walk up to a woman. She's in a dress, buttoned all the way up to her neck, a very prim and proper shawl draped over her shoulders, her hair up in a loose bun as she stares out of the window. She looks, there's a look of peace on her face. You walk up and you begin to wave and she doesn't turn to look at you. You can see the reflection of you, waving at her, but her pupils never dart towards you.

It's as if to her you don't exist. Nothing. They just enjoy them to ride. Maybe they're gonna be reborn like we are in Tuscanval. Maybe they're just waiting to have a cool form. It makes perfect sense. From a certain point of view, there's only one train, but there are so many lives and souls that must go back and forth.

Perhaps we appear lifeless to others who are experienced. their own adventure on the train at this very time. Like, you think that they think we look like that? Whoa. Exactly right. Wow, man. That would be pretty crazy, boss-be. Well, we're in between space right now.

Anything is possible. Well, I'm gonna start talking about the veil again. Oh, it's gonna say something about the veil. It just didn't come to me quite fast. Yeah, you think they have ball snacks somewhere? Oh, man. Well, let's go check it out, man. If you have talked to trombone, of course.

No, no, I mean, I can practice later. I can practice. Yeah. Do you're going to go for a hot dog? I can really go for a nice bowl of frozen peas. You ever, you ever anchoring for frozen peas? No. No.

Not even once. If I have it, you think of it? Oh, let's go get a snack. I don't care what do they go. Whatever meat they got. You begin to make your way towards the only exit out of the passenger car. And as you do, you hear a shuffling behind you. Yeah.

One passenger among the blankly staring spirits stirs. It darkens to an inky shadow as it darts into the aisle, its humanoid silhouette, tall and gaunt with a head tilted to one side at an unnatural angle. Crooked tendrils shoot out from it like gnarled tree branches and shatter the windows of the car. Gasly mist spills in around you. One of the passenger spirits lets out a pained wail, then takes on a malevolent form, with with a huge maw of blocky teeth, a single eye in its head and two smaller eyes in the palms of its spindly hands.

A shrill train whistle reverberates around you as the windows suddenly repair themselves. The voice of the vagrant emanates from the ceiling, muffled and crackling. Could y'all take care of that? This ain't happened before and I'm a fiddler, not a fighter. And now I need you all to roll for initiative. I am going to use my Azureborn trait as we roll for initiative. I am going to glimpse fate. When we roll initiative, assuming we're not surprised.

Are we surprised? I will see. You're not surprised. Okay. I can choose... We saw that guy coming a mile away. I can choose the number of creatures equal to my proficiency bonus, which is currently two. And I can give them advantage on their initiative role.

Oh, snap. And so I would like to give Torbeck and Gideon. Yes. I did pretty good. I don't know if I... You did it. I don't know. Okay.

Thank God. I did awful. I'm so glad you picked me. I agree. I'd agree. Oh, my God. So much better. I did you do better. I didn't do better the second time.

I went from a 9 to a 19. I also wrote a 19. Imbrose. Imbrose. All right. Also, what actually was your dumpstack? It's mine. It's it.

Holy shit. Classic. Oh, there's something about Torbeck. That's right. Oh, God. That's the way funny. I'm married. Though the vagrant is able.

to repair the windows in the train. The spectral tendrils of the shroud outside have already made their way into this cabin. And you see in this moment as this crooked specter, this entity, a wide grin stretches across its face as it looks to you. It's crooked necks snapping to one side and then the other. As you see a pair of what are clearly lovers at one end of this train as he smiles that wicked grin and you see those tendrils of the shroud convalescent swirl around them before their mouths open up and the shroud enters into their spectral forms. You watch as these haints, these peaceful haints that were making their way on this train towards what was potentially a peaceful afterlife as they are twisted and corrupted by the fragments of the shroud

that had been let in by this entity. And you watch as their forms change, and they begin to morph into these horrific spectral beings, and all of them begin to lunge towards you. You are now embroiled in battle with not just the spectral entity that... This is what we're using, right? I guess I'm... Not just the entity that had broken the windows of this car,

but also the two of these spectral corrupted hates as they barrel towards you and lash out. Do you want to put those down? Are they behind us? The Phantom,

the Phantom, which is what I'll be calling the miniature, is towards the back of the train, and the other two had been towards the front of the train. So there were sandwiching you in. And they are incorporeal, so they can be inside the seats as if they were, as if they were just regular spaces for them.

Oh, they were occupying the same space. Oh, wow. Though all of this has happened in mere instance, you are not unfamiliar with battle. Gideon, you were at attention. You were able to, you were able to sense the danger that was coming and the movement as it happened. and you are, you jump into action, and you are able to go first. Well, that wasn't very temperate of you.

And that makes me mad. And I grab a giant, single-bladed, great axe off my back. I use my Argent gleam, which allows me to activate zealous charge. Officially, I can take the dash action as a bonus action, but though I'm

I just really want to make sure that I can get I'm going to get over Torbick Pardon me Pardon me And I'm going to just rush at him Axe at the ready And it is going to

As its blade ignites in a silver flame Along the edge I'm going to swing at him As zealous charge Will not only allow me to use the dash Action as a bonus action But will add additional 2D6 radiant damage

to the next hit that I land. So I have to hit him. Please land this hit. But I'm gonna, I'm gonna, 18 to hit. That hits. So that my axe swings forward, burning with a silver flame,

as I cut at the phantom, and I will deal. Oh, lie. I didn't know that Gideon had so many zealous principles. You didn't? Something's awakening in me. But, three points of slashing damage

and four points of radiant damage Radiant seems good I would think so you know it seems real good you slash into this thing the the slashing damage doesn't seem to do as much as you had

expected you see as the sword slices through this phantom and though bits of its incorporation form kind of billow out of the way. It reformes the smile, that crooked grin across its face, getting even wider as it takes it. But then your blade illuminates with that radiant light and you see a look of horror on its face as the radiant fire burns into its body doing more damage than you would expect it. Okay. As the start of my turn, I am going to, as a barbarian, activate my rage.

and then when I do so as a bonus action I get to use my level three feature from Path of the Experiment called volatile serum I've implanted a series of syringes and reservoirs that hold alchemical serums and they are deployed into my body

when I enter my rage I get to choose a serum to inject that serum will last for the duration of my rage or until I choose a new one as a bonus action and for this I am choosing monstrosity the serum expands my body to monstrous proportionate and I can change my appearance. I actually will grow too large,

since I'm not already. It gives me an additional five feet of reach on my attacks. And so you actually watch as... Do you want to put this beneath Torbeck? Torbeck begins to... Flesh begins to undulate, and his legs and arms become longer.

And there's a very distinct change in Torbeck and his voice as he looks around all of you and he says, oh rotobec take a back seat it's my turn and he's going to charge up alongside gideon to not like gideon have all the fun and I'm going to use my claws which are natural weapons thanks to my altered origin feat to make a attack a slashing attack that's pretty good a 19 plus five did is a 24 to hit that hits uh so it'll be be 1d8 plus 5 slashing because of my rage.

Seven points of slashing damage. You slash into this thing and similar to what you had seen happen with Gideon. Though you were able to rend it apart, it doesn't seem like the slices you're making into it are taking hold. It's doing some damage, but not as much as you had expected. Awesome. And it was how much? Seven points of slashing. Okay.

It smiles up at you as, as, as, as it takes the damage. Grico, you watch as Torbeck turns and begins to transform, getting larger and larger, his voice changing as he gets bigger the seats beneath where he was crumble beneath him as he bound through the train destruction in his wake as he rushes towards Gideon. You are standing here in the middle of this train. You see what's happening on the one end, slowly behind you, these two spectres, or these two haints, corrupted haints are moving slowly towards you.

What do you do? I'm going to turn as they got this, this phantom train hopper's like, hey, I don't think that guy had a ticket, and I'll turn around. Wait a minute. PDA is really gross, and I think you might be bad guys.

As I'm going to turn and run towards these corrupted spirits, as I will say, I suddenly feel like I'm a hobbinger of doom and Hootzee, you're with me, and I feel like both of us will seal your fate. Both of you lovers? Why do you get to have all the love and the relationship?

As I will use my Grim Harbinger Level 3 feature, Omen of Doom, as I am going to mark, I'm going to mark this one in the aisle with an Omen of Doom. It places a strange seal, a sigil, as a dark swirling shape starts to take form over this specter and materializing is a

ghastly shadowy owlbear with large bright white eyes as a form of hootzee she takes the form of a grim as she appears and is also going to slash. I have one of your D6s

maybe to kind of and we'll do that and we'll just put that here that'll be my ground. Oh that's perfect. The one in the middle or the one? The one in the middle. Okay, perfect. And I'm going to then take my cross-rope. Okay, Hootie, come on, you're with your papa, let's see you their fate, as I am going to shoot at that.

And that is my bonus action to cast that, and she will take an attack as part of that bonus action. But I'm going to just deal because I said I'm going to shoot with my crossbow. Wow, we are rolling hot. My crossbow is a 25 to hit. That hits. Dang. 25, yeah. And then 1D10 plus 3.

That's really good. So seven points of piercing damage. And because it has the omen of doom, it is also going to take a bit of necrotic damage. It is going to take 1D6, necrotic damage. Two points of necrotic damage. And then as Hootze emerges this shadowy lamplight-eyed owlbear, she will attempt to make an attack as well.

as she lets out a ghastly hoot. That's going to be quite a bit. That is going to be five, that's going to be 18 to hit. That hits. And then that is going to be 10 points of necrotic damage and it slashes into this corrupted specter, which also has with its ominous rend of feature, and it also has the frightened condition.

It is frightened of hootsie, my grim, until the end, to the start of my next turn. You pull out your crossbow after calling forth Hootsie from the spiritual realm. And as she takes her place beside you, the two of you move to action against these entities. You let loose the crossbow bold. And similar to Gideon and Torbeck, it doesn't seem like it does nearly the amount of damage that you expected. But that is not what shocks you. It is the fact that neither one of your other attacks seem to have any effect on it whatsoever.

The necrotic energy that you're trying to utilize against these things is completely rebuked as they withstand against them. Both of them now bearing down on you. The eyeballs in their hands are darting this way and that as they're looking about the room and sensing you. And you can feel the malevolence emanating from the both of them. It is at this time that the entity that is in front of you, Gideon and Torbeck, begins to smile even more. you see as it opens its mouth and some of that same spectral shroud begins to billow out of it as if it had swallowed just a bit of it when it had entered the train. And as it smiles, you watch as it tendrils out and finds purchase inside yet another one

of the hates on this train. And you watch as an elderly man is completely turned into another one of these entities. If you want to put this one right next to, basically right there, right there, right near the steps. Whoa. Right near the steps? Right here. Yeah.

Dang. As it does this, it is then going to look towards you. Actually, it'll look towards you, Torbeck, because you were the last, as you barreled into its face, this large form hovering over it. And it's going, it looks up at you. and it begins, its eyes illuminate with that same spectral life as you feel the strengths

begin to drain from your body. 16 to hit. Oh yeah, I got 14 AC. It is going to hit and it is going to do nine points of necrotic damage. And it is going to drain your strength score by two. Oh! That's not what you want.

No, it's not. Minus two, okay. You feel as yet again, it opens its mouth. It begins to breathe in, and you feel it's sucking the strength from your body. Your shoulders slump forward. Your muscles deflate a little bit. You begin to pant as you feel this entity rob you of your virile state. You watch actually a little bit as Torbex monster size shrinks a little bit,

and he kind of does a nasty sneer this thing that says, oh, the smarts. That's the spooky dark. Oh my gosh. Dang, he drained me. Cremmy. Oh my God, what's happening? Yeah, what's got named? You're as resolute as an oak.

I guess we're all feeling a little different. I think I got it this time. And I pull out my trombone. That's not bad. And I put it back. I'm going to use Dance of Death as a bonus action. It is a species trait from the relic born. It's a bonus action I can make a DC-15 charisma,

a musical instrument or performance check. If I succeed, the next attack I make before the end of my turn has advantage. Come on. I'm not rolling hot, folks. The knight is young. That is only a nine. To hit? No, no, for my performance check.

Oh, you have a roll performance check as a part of it? Yeah, it's a part of it. Oh, that's so cool. So if I had succeeded, I would have had advantage on the next attack roll I make. Holy shit. If I succeed by five or more, I can also roll one of my hit point dice without expending it and gain temporary hit points. What? What the number one? Wow. That is so cool. What the heck?

Are you gonna get... How many times do you use that? I think... Does it tell you what performance you have to hit? What's that? Does it tell you like you roll performance? Yes, it's 15. Oh, 15. Okay, okay. Oh, f*** it. Trombone down.

The Bayer and Stans is for God. Oh, I take out my pistol. And I will shoot the one that is, I'm gonna lean behind one of the train cars, and I'll lean over to this one here, and I will fire a bolt from my Jinkscraft pistol. Are you shooting at the elderly man or the cricketts? The elderly man, the elderly man.

Not the elderly man. Have I told you about the crooked moon? That is going to be a... This one. 19 to hit. That hits? Nice. And then that is going to be.

going to be a max damage, baby. Nice. Oh, let's go. And I am going to use as I let go of my as I pull the trigger, a burst of almost

like necrotic soul energy will burst forth from this pistol. It deals force damage, but you'll hear almost like a wail of souls erupt. Hell yeah. And I am going to make this a, I'm going to use my Hexlinger feature.

as I fire. Oh, I don't have sneak attack damage. Technically, I don't think you do. I don't have sneak attack damage. So I will instead just deal 13 damage. That's actually... Whoa! I rolled max damage.

That is not real. Wow. You... You're getting drained to hell. Yeah. You attempt to play this tune, but the trombone, you do not have fleshy lips, and the ambisher is just not what you expect it to be.

And you're not able to hit those notes. And as you toss the trombone aside, you, you reach to this new pistol by your side, this weapon that you were not familiar with in life, but feels second nature to you and death. And as you let loose, this burst of wailing souls, it slams into the chest of this transformed haint. And you watch as 10 bits of spectral blood spatters the wall behind you doing a significant amount of damage to this hate, It slumps forward, but it does right itself. Its form cracking and creaking as it contorts, and it lifts its hands to the sky and begins to look about the room

with the eyeballs in its palms. Frost. I spent my entire life, I spent my life trying to hold the aberrations of the world at bay, but now it is time to let them in. Now it is time to unlock my mind. and let the eye open within me. I'm going to reach out with my hands,

and you're going to see a small speck of light start to form and eventually form a large orb. As I focus this energy, my eyes go to the white, and I push out as I attempt to curse my foes. I'm going to use Bain, which I got from forbidden knowledge as an occultist, one of my features allowing me to select a warlock spell

that I would not have access to. I am going to reach out with this forbidden knowledge that I'm accessing, and I'm going to attempt to curse the shadow creature here at the front. Yes, and two others. I think the ones that are fighting with grim-threaty over here. Okay. However. Not the old man.

So not three. They are going to have to make a DC-13, and I need to make sure that I'm doing the thing. The Phantom got a natural one. Oh, so. I'm so glad you told me that. Charisma saving throw. Ah, charisma. Okay.

We've got a 12 for number one and a 15 for number two. Okay, with the one that gets 15, I'm going to risk intrusion. Okay. As an occultist, I have this ability to push past and beyond and risk letting things into reality. I'm going to roll an intrusion die here in a moment, but I'm going to use overwhelming mind. overwhelming mind. That allows me to force disadvantage on that 15 to see if I can... Nice! Natural 18.

Okay. Oh! That was awesome. That's awesome. And just for the sake of this one shot very quickly, I have a D6 right here. If I roll a 1, then something bad might happen. Not always bad, but this dye is going to shrink in size every time I use this until the natural outcome of that bad thing happening. I'm going to be okay. I'm going to be okay. I got a 4. I got a 4. We'll see. if intrusion happens next time I risk it.

So the intrusion happens regardless of whether or not your future works. Just by merit of using, I can focus alien potency into myself. When I catch my spell using a spell slot, I can risk intrusion to choose one of the following. Overwhelming mind, I

give disadvantage to a target making a certain. And with that, you are able to, you feel this connection to both the Phantom and one of these twisted haines. and you're able to see that that dark magic has taken hold on them, that otherworldly magic. And you can see in my feathers, the orange ones, you can see small eyes starting to look out as I continue to tap into the forbidden knowledge.

And with that, it is the twisted haints. It is now their turn as the two lovers, they are going to attack the grim. both of them. They're real close to the rest of the party, too, if they want to do. No, no, no. I'm not sure that they are, they're ravenous and bloodthirsty, and they're going to go out whatever is in front of them. They're lost to it. And they're also, he's not going to leave her side and she's not going to leave his. Got it.

A natural 20. And a natural, not a natural. And then an unnatural 20. Oh, my God. It's quiet. Hootie! Some would consider unnatural. Abominational.

Abomination. Eight points of necrotic damage from the one that did not crit. Yep, yep. And then I need you to make a Constitution saving throw. 18. You see as Hootsie's entire body begins to undulate as this dark magic overtakes her as these entities begin to reach forward

and pull from her this dark spectral essence as they begin to drink in her life force. She is able to steal herself against the first one. But we'll see how the- Oh no! Hootie! 16 points of necrotic damage from the other one and another Constitution saving throw.

Oh wow, gosh, even better. Wow, this is rolling on. Yeah, these are good, these are good. 23. She takes a significant, she takes a significant, amount of damage from the life drain that these haints are attempting on her, but she is able to steal herself against the additional effect of their magic. All while this is happening, your eyes are locked on Hootzey as she is taking this damage as the haint behind you begins

to make its way in and it's going to go to whoever is closest against the wall. Quick note. Yes. It would do this damage, but just as her necrotic energies was unaffected against these ghosts, these spirits find that her spectral form is no, is taking no damage at all. As an unstoppable force meets an immovable object. What the ass? These shadows are battling. Go get it up, give it up, you broodd savage. What I will say is as you begin to yell that, they recognize that this has done no damage and it's still technically their turn.

So they're going to use their movement to move through her and directly towards you standing in front of you. As they move, the one that she's on, as as soon as it attempts to get out of her sight, she's going to use her reaction on Baleful Howe. Nice. And the one that was marked needs to make a wisdom saving throw. That's true, that's true, that's true. That's the one.

And then that one also has Bain. Oh, thank God. 16. 16. That passes. Otherwise, if he had fenced, or she, I don't know which one it was. Their speed would have been zero

and they would have been basically parolot. They would have stuck as I let out this baleful howl. That's badass. Or his baleful hoot. And that is from my feature of the grim. So the elderly man is going to move towards Frost. Oh, got it. And it is going to get a 22 to hit.

I've got to say these Horn King dice are amazing. These are bad boys. The horn king is bad boys. The chicken are very delicious. We are just crushing. Like, none, these are some good. Like nothing else. Blacksilla, blacksillop, king of all.

You know what I mean? You know what I mean, folks? So yes, I'm assuming that here. We're getting smoked by some spooky ghosts. I'm so sorry. Well, I guess it's not that bad. 12 points of necrotic damage and a constitution saving throw, please.

As this elderly specter moves in towards you, and begins to reach out towards you. You watch as the eyeballs open up on its palms and they begin to blink and almost as it opens its mouth and begins to suck the life from your body. And if you pass the Constitution of Saving Thayer, you're ejected from the game.

Well, I got a 17. You feel this life drain on you as your body begins to weaken, your breath coming in shallow gasps, and you feel that if you were any less stout that your overall health would diminish

as well but you are able to shrug it off barely when I shrug I'm molt orange and black feathers flying all directions as I pull away horrified Some of these feathers disintegrate into this dark almost ash I get it old man

And that is their turn Okay Gideon top of the round Crammy, I've always been an oak, man. Haven't I? I think. Anyway, listen, Phantom,

you too can walk the silver path. But first, your punishment. And I will channel the divinity of the silver path and evoke the... Evoke castigate. As a magic action, I can expend a use of channel divinity

to clap the... those you would bring to justice in silver, fiery shackles. Choose a number of creatures up to your charisma modifier, which I will allow you to know is three. Thank you. Thank you for allowing me. I will allow you to know my charisma modifiers three. Okay, you're allowed. So I will choose the phantom.

Benevolent player. Well, you know, I try. Wait a second. 5, 10, 15, 20, 25. I will choose the Phantom. the old man the old man hate and the one on the other side

of Grico who is within 30 feet of me if I may I don't know if it's an issue that it's on the other side of Grico each creature must succeed on a strength saving throw

or be wrapped in silver flame shackles I'm just saying and have it speed reduced to zero Oh yeah you're going Nowhere The phantom rolled A natural four minus five

and then the old man got oh no I'm sorry I just wanted to read Shurlitz-V-Kir. Minus two, so it's a two. The phantom rolled a two. The old man rolled a seven. Got them. No, an eight.

And then the one on the other side rolled a 15. Oh, you don't know. You don't know. That's even plus. I don't absolutely no way. How do I know... You spell civity see?

Yeah. Oh, oh, 13, 13. So the one on the other side of Grico passes the other two jail. So as these chains will extend from me, I'll hold... So I have one hand holding my great axe, the other I'll raise my left hand

as these silver flames will lick out. Tendrils will extend out and wrap the Phantom as well as the haint in front of Frost in these silver flaming chains and I'll pulse and ignition of flame as the second

portion of this. I can use a bonus action to cause the shackles to flare and each creature who is bound by the shackles so not the one on the other side of Grico but the one attacking Frost as well as the one in front me. Yeah, the old man. Each one

will take 2D6 fire damage so not radiant but fire damage and a shackled creature may repeat the saving throw at the end of each of its turns ending it on a success otherwise for a minute they're shackled to me.

And I'm going to borrow Hootsie for a second. Okay, okay. Hootty, no. My knowledge. Five points. Five points of We can swap fucking D-10. Here, here, just use Beanie. I don't use it. I don't use it.

That's actually Hootsey flavor. That's kind of a ghostly. You don't know Hootzee. You don't know Hootzee. five points of fire damage as this pulsation of silver flame charges out on the ends of these shackles that have connected that have erupted from me and connected to the Phantom as well as the old man ain't

I that's fine can I hand something to Torbeck for a free object interaction um okay I'll do it next turn you can it's up to you it turns not over no Your turn is not over. All right. I haven't explained how it all works out.

Okay. You've got time. Torbeck. Take this, man. And I will hand you like a what almost looks like a rectangular stone and at its core

a pulsating blood red. It's hard to tell like liquid gem almost looks just like a coalescence of energy. And it'll feel like warm, almost like your blood will warm within your body. And what I've handed you is actually a part of my background feature.

The philosopher's stone. It turns out you can squeeze blood from a stone, Torb. And I am using bottled life and I will expend one hit die. And you may, as I think is a bonus action on your turn, I'll double check it, but you may crush the vial and And you can use my hit die to roll to heal yourself. What's your hit die? It is 1d10. Beautiful.

Thank you. Plus, I believe plus. Oh, I'll find it really quick. Gideon help. I'm hurt. Who was that? Hoot Hoot. I'm an owl.

I'm an owl. I'm a level three wizard. I'm hoot very badly. Frosty, you're so far away, man. There's got to be other options. Throw it. Doorback. D.M.

Certainly would have given it to you. I would have. I would have like you. Torback's melee bros. All right, we're impros. Look at this guy. Look this oaken form. Oh, by the way, what the hell, man?

You look crazy. Take this bloodstone. All of this happens as you let loose these shackles and you are able to ensnare two of these entities. It was just the two, right? Just the two. So the phantom and the haint end, it is my hit die,

plus your con modifier. Beautiful. So whenever, if you choose to use it. It'll exist for you for a while. But yeah, you are able to let loose these chains. And as the old man and the phantom

are ensnared in these shackles, you watch as they are frozen in place, unable to move bound to you, doing less damage than you had expected. The fire that lashes out from this does singe them, but they are spectral in form and it doesn't do what you had expected.

but however, the phantom itself looks incredibly, incredibly weak as he looks around at you, but he doesn't look panicked. It's almost as if with every lashing that you give him, he looks happier and happier. My turn? Yep. As you hand me the stone, I will look at it and kind of hold it up so I can see it, the light kind of coming to this beautiful stone, and I'll say, thank you, but Tobbek is in here

as I crushed the stone and let the blood like drip into my mouth to drink this healing elixir and heal oh 13 points 13 points of healing

let's go and then I just like to clarify for last round the damage that I took from the specter was necrotic damage yes because I'm not resistant to that so I took the full amount but this thing has pissed off whatever Torbeck now is

and I'm going to make a reckless attack this time as I continue to try to tear into the spirit flesh of this creature. I've got a natural 20. True D8 plus five as ideal. It'll be 18 total points of slashing damage with my natural, unnaturally long monstrous claws. I begin to try to rip the spirit flesh from this thing.

You watch as Torbett goes into almost a blood-flesh. frenzy as he begins to slice into this thing. He is losing all sense of sanity as he rips this entity apart. And even though the slashing damage that you've been doing has not been doing much to this entity, it was barely holding on and you're able to rip it into pieces. And as you rip at its crooked throat, its head falls over backwards. And out of its vocal cords, you hear the word. You hear the words, the crooked queen, comess, you will be reborn in green. I have succeeded and you were the way. And as this happens, it bursts into that same spectral light and the entire room is filled

with this shadow for a minute as it then coalesces and pulses and then slithers beneath the exit. Exiting this train cabin and heading deep. into the train. As I'm like ripping it apart, I like don't even hear this message. Yeah, maybe everybody else. But the rest, the rest of you hear it very clearly.

And before it delivers this message, I'll say, Oh, no push over, give me back more strength. And then the message happens. That's my whole turn. Well, that's a nightmare. Grick up. Things will make you say, hell yeah. Yeah.

I answer to no, queen. I don't believe in any monarchy. And I don't believe that you ghost should be restless. So I'm gonna... None of my spooky powers and death have done nothing to you. But I have his lantern. And I may be a nimp. And I may be small.

But I got fire and brimstone. And be gone and be turned, spirits, be turned! As I use, although I'm a ranger, because I have taken the background rest warden, I have gotten the origin feat gravekeeper, which allows me to use the channel divinity turn undead of the cleric class.

They all must make a wisdom saving throw. The highest was a 14. A 14. The DC is 12. 14 is the other two were 11s. Okay. So those are... The elderly man was a...

able to withstand it. So both of these two, both of the lovers, are frightened and incapacitated for one minute. And for the duration, it tries to move as far away from me as it can on its turn. And then the effect does end early if they take any damage. So I have, with my lantern of fire and brimstone, I call forth of Chernibos, the belching.

Sulfuric volcanoes. And I'm starting to kind of get a little bit of a sense of who I've become. And that is my turn. That's my action. That's my action. And there's a bonus action. I am going to command Hootzee. She really can't do anything to them.

So she is going to just move forward. And that's my turn. This podcast is brought to you by our Patreon. Become a patron today at patreon.com slash legends of Aventris. and gain access to tons of exclusive perks, including a monthly movie night and a weekly Patreon exclusive campaign set on the high scenes,

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Thank you. Uh, crummy. Well, I guess it depends on how you define oak. I mean, I never really considered you an immovable object when it comes to morality, but I guess it's going to theoretically climb you like a tree. So I'll take that point, and I'll turn around and see, oh, my God, what the? I want to, if I can, I want to scamper away. I'm just, well, here's the thing.

I'm going to duck behind the seats if I can. Okay. And try to hide. Okay. Behind the seats. As a bonus action, since I'm a rogue, I keep my cutting action. You can. I've never played a room before.

So you could disengage bonus action too if you wanted to. I could, but I still want to be hidden. I want to slink. That's a good play. They're also in a domestic. 17. Okay.

Does that pass? Yeah, you're able to hide. Oh, they might not be able to, if they're in capacity. But they're getting incapacitated, they can't. I don't know if I would perceive. Like, basically, I want to like sluze behind Grico, like get on the ground, kind of like climb around,

get over here. And, uh, oh, you're, you're, you're able to. They are horrified by the magics that they've seen coming from this imp, from this Ashbourne. And all three of their eyes are looking in horror at Grico as you are easily able to dart through the shadows and hide behind one of the upturned benches that Torbeck had destroyed in his path towards the Phantom. Oh, well, get jinks. I shoot with advantage, presumably. If I'm still hidden.

Yes. Yeah. Which one? The middle one or the one in the aisles? The one that I hit before with the 13 damage. Seats. The seats. Yep.

I roll two 16s plus... You got it. You got it. I'm probably plus three, at least. Plus three. So 19... No, no, no, plus five, actually. Ooh.

So yeah, 20, whatever, to hit. 21 to hit. And since I said that, I'm going to use my... a hexlinger feature. I think you hit the old man. Is that the one that you're attacking again? Oh, I did the original. Yeah.

I'm still attacking the woman, that's what I said. Okay, okay. The one in the seats. She is the one that looks, her husband, or what you have presumed to be her husband, looks to be completely healthy. She has taken a bit of damage, so.

So I'm going to roll my pistol damage and my two sneak attack damage, but they will be my jinxcraft dice. and when I roll all my damage I play a little craps game here two damage on the on the pistol plus three what type of damage is that? This is all force

so five damage plus I rolled seven on my sneak attack dice but as I basically as I shoot you will see with my other hand I'll roll the bones and they sort of tumble through the air and you will see them sort of land and float midair and you see that I got a seven which is statistically

the most common result. But I ruled Cheap Shot. Until the end of its next turn, the target speed is halved, and for that duration, attack rolls against it have advantage. Oh, nice. And so, depending on what I roll on my two sneak attack dice,

I have a whole table here about what might happen to this target. So in total, I dealt two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten, eleven, 12 points of forced damage to her. Man, that's crazy. You do a significant amount

of damage to her. You see bits and pieces of her spectral form completely blown off, similar to what happened to the elderly passenger. You see spattering of spectral blood illuminated, illuminated against the window as it begins to dry there.

And she slumps forward. Her husband lets out a ghostly wail of horror as he watches his wife falling before his eyes, but she is holding on just barely. Frost. I'm going to, I'm shocked by the draining effect that has hit me, but I redouble my efforts and I expand the orb within my hands once again. My eyes continuing to brighten with Eldridge energy. I will instead clap down like this and you'll hear a massive, boom. You can hear this emanation of sound within a hundred feet.

So the adjacent cars would almost certainly hear this explosion of sound as I cast Thunder Clap, a cantrip that I learned because I'm a cultist. Because of my background that I'm enjoying. One of the two cantrip that I get to enjoy. That's a cultist, not an occultist. Yes, not an occultist, a cultist. A cultist. Hobbit. Duh. Duh.

Duh. And I am Speaking playing it Each creature within five feet of me Sorry, Grico I was going to have to succeed On a Constitution saving throw Or take 1D6 thunder damage

However What I will say is I'm going to make the elderly man Because of my rage At disadvantage Risking intrusion once again Oh this went down That's very exciting

Not that Not that Is it a constitution? Sorry, let me get my... Con saving threat. It's a con saving threat. The DC is 13. 13, no, I fail.

Okay, you fail, you're going to take 1D6 damage. The woman gets a 12. She fails. Her husband gets a natural 20. I'm going to make it a disadvantage. Okay, so you have both him and the old man. It's just the elderly man and the... Oh.

That's the man. Yeah, yeah. That's the husband. Okay. Sorry. Oh, so the husband takes damage. Sorry, I thought you were doing all three of them. No, no, no, not all that.

I'm just going, I'm just going to re-roll because there was confusion. Sorry, the elderly man. Yes, so he is at disadvantage. And the hate in the aisles. And then the hate in the aisles, yes. And then that's the husband. And that's 17 for the husband. Thank you.

That's going to be four points with thunder damage for anyone who failed. Additionally. What the hell, Frosty? Oh, nope, that's all. But I get to risk intrusion, which is very exciting. I get a one. I sure know what does that mean for us? That means I'm gonna have to roll on my intrusion table, which I have to use.

And it looks like a 1D12 table. However, because I am at the level three, I'm only going to roll a D6 to access the initial hardships that it can provide. I get a two space twists and melts around me in a 30-foot emanation. All creatures in the area struggle against the warping of reality. An affected creature's speed is halved until the end of my next turn. All of a sudden, the sides of the train, the floor, the walls, the ceiling start to bend and twist. It's kind of like how buildings start to warp and multiply in Doctor Who when you see all of the different sides all start to shift. Multiple. windows, the booths are starting to flip

the ends of the entire train flip around in order to create a perfect Escher-like non-Euclidean space loop as I let the aberrations in and that will be the conclusion of my turn as I So if I'm not in range now but I entered it while am I unaffected? It's only

whoever's in range now. Each creature including me Yeah, it's an emanation. So if you enter your half. If you walk in then yeah it'll affect you until the end of my next turn. And so who all is this back. Everyone is affected by this. Oh, I love you, Frosty.

You watch as Frost lets the entities in and you feel time and space begin to warp around you. You see the damage that is done to this elderly twisted haint as it slowly takes the damage and then speeds up and then slowly takes it again, as if time is repeating in on itself over and over and over again, but he is still able to, he is still able to keep himself standing only barely as the damage didn't do as much as you would have expected it to. His resistance taking hold on that.

Oh, he's going to see the thunder? Okay. Yes. That's unfortunate. The husband not affected at all. As it is now their turns, the husband and the wife, they're no longer incapacitated, right, but they have to move their, have their movement speed. Did he take damage? The husband did not take damage.

The wife did take damage from Cremie. Yeah, I shot her. Okay, so he has to take his full movement to run away from. And he's half speed, so he will move half his movement. So he'll move. He's a hover of 50 feet. So he'll move 25 feet away. One, two, three, four, five.

He moves towards Gideon. And he's continued to be incapacitated. And he is still incapacitated. She is not incapacitated. Correct. Nope. And so she is, who's in front of her? Me. And she is going to reach out and attempt

to drain the life from you. 11 to hit. Thank goodness. 11. I think that misses. Not Torback. That misses. Okay.

A.C. She is battered and bruised and seeing her husband run from her. She is thrown off of her game and she is not able to drain the life from you. The elderly. man is going to move towards Cremie. He's going to see if he can see Cremie. Actually, he probably wouldn't. I fired a shot, so I'm super visible.

Oh, oh. So he's, yeah, he's going to move straight towards you then. Where are you going, you dumb, son of a bitch, you can't move at all! Get right back in your spot. He's got zero moochee. He's the old man was here. Oh, sorry, I thought he was the other one. So he is going to

stay then, yes, so he's going to stay. The wife could run right at me. She's used your turn. She's a turn. And it is Gideon Zero speed. Right, and he's the one in front of you? No, he's this one here.

The husband. He's going to attack Frost. Yeah. Classic. With the 23. I can't even shield that. Once again. Once again, aberration.

The shield only provides a plus five bonus. Eight points of necrotic damage. I go unconscious. No. How does the Constitution? saving throw work on this arm. You can still make cons saves when you're unconscious. Constitution saving throw.

Oh my God. I fail. You are going to take the same amount as a reduction to your hit point maximum. Oh, so my hit point maximum goes down by eight as well? Yeah. That's classic. Oh my God.

You watch as this elderly man attempts to rush towards Kremi realizing that he's shackled to this in this spot. He turns from the holy healthy Kremi to the very weakened. As Frost reaches towards Gideon, hoping for another one of those blood gems, as he's barely holding on. And as he looks towards you, Gideon, pleading for any sort of help, this elderly specter reaches out and sucks the last remnants of life from Frost's body. You watch as he crumples between some of the seeds. completely swallowed by his robe.

Dark Iker begins to leak from his eyes and ears. Some more of his feathers turn to this necrotic dust and flips through the air of the train car. I'm a bird, Gideon. My bones are like pretzels.

Hollow, hollow, pletzer. I'm a bird. I'm a bird. And that is the monster's turn. Gideon. My God. Frost! I'm gonna deal with this guy first, but I'm coming to help you, man. So mechanically, just so I understand movement, if I were to try and get to...

You could just normal movement through that. Well, because are you so eminating? Yes. You're still eminating. Oh, so you'll be at half speed, yeah. So if I went... If I went... I can't stop emanating.

But it's only to your next turn, right? Yeah, no, there's next turn. Okay. I'm emanating. You can a bonus action dash if you have your thing again. I can't. I think it's only once per long rest. Oh, it might be.

Yeah, I think it is. I'm sure there is. Yeah, I mean, that's, you know, if I could just do it all the time, that's really cool, but. If someone who ever wrote this book, they wanted to add that. But so, so, but can I get here with 15 points of movement? Can I get to this square? to go through this person.

You can move through it. Okay, so I could say, yeah, that's right there. Absolutely. Frost, yeah, no you can't. Yeah, good look. What? He would get an opportunity to.

But it's incapacitated. Oh, you're right, it is. So it can't take an opportunity time. I'll step right over him. Oh, we got a good look. No, I lose him. So I roll, man, that's only touch, right?

Yeah. I'll roll an attack that The old man. The old man right there. 21. That hits. One. One point of slashing. One plus what? Doesn't you plus your strength? Oh, plus three. So four points of slashing damage. Okay. You you slash into it and you see that once again it shrugs off a significant portion of the damage that you do. It is barely hanging on.

As a bonus action, I grip the silver flaming chains in my hand and once more I ignite them from my channel divinity ability of Caste a gate still in place for the full minute until he passed he would have had the opportunity

to re-roll a strength saving throw at the end of his turn to be fair he's frail he's he rolled a natural 10 minus 5 so I think got him I think he's gonna he's gonna fail on that one

Be purged in silver fire, you dumb son, bitch. He'll take seven points of, once again, it's fire not radiant damage. We'll take seven points of fire damage. Even though the fire doesn't seem to take in the way that you had hoped, it is still enough. And you watch as this elderly man

begins to sizzle in your fiery wrath, and the crooked hate dissipates into nothingness. I just wanted to reach him as the call. Frotches on the ground. The current's dripping from his from his eyes and from his mouth, but you still see like mouths on the feathers. Thanks.

You killed my fourth best friend, old man. You think you were getting away with that? All right. All right. So thank goodness I'm welcome to the emanation. The spirit is like run at us. Yeah, it's true. And so as I see the spirit coming to me,

I shout out just to no one in particular. Oh, the fun just beginning as I make another reckless attack against this thing. And my to hit will be an 18 to hit. That hits. Thank goodness for advantage on attacks. 1D8 plus 4 because you sat my strength. That's going to be nine points of slashing as I kind of do this gruesome upper cut slash as I'm trying to like eviscerate this spirit in two.

Surely the strength grade will go away soon. You, um, you slash into this and similar again, you see that it doesn't do as much as you had expected, but, uh, with the, with the final slashing of your claws, you see she lumbers forward, all three of her eyes, um, lilting and there is very little life left in her. Oh, delicious. Grico. I look down in frost.

I look down I look in like the healing power of my lantern Fire and fire And Brimstone can cure wounds I could Heathe Frosty Frosty, are you okay? He twitches

Cremie, do I heal? Do I say Frosty? Do I do a really cool thing? Heal? You're right. I should follow my instinct. My heart knows what's true. Spirit, you picked the wrong fight. Scorpion tail, as I'll lean forward as my scorpion tail will, as I will leave my action. To which one? The woman or the... It's the woman. The woman.

The woman. The woman, as I am going to make a... an attack roll with my Scorpion Sting feature for my Ashbourne. Oh no. Hold on. You never know. You never know. Oh, you attacked the male. So he, that was actually the first time he'd been damaged. Yeah. Um, that's actually it's a 14. Oh, that's pretty good. Not bad at all.

A 14. Is, is this? Wait, 14 hits. Yeah. So that's the woman. That's the woman. Wait. Torbeck got the man. Got the husband. Yeah. Torbeck hit the husband. Yeah. So I just have to fix the yeah. The damage. Yeah. The damage there. Four points of piercing damage,

and I'm going to, I don't know what to say this. I pump them full of venom. The wife? Oh, please stop. Stop coming that. Please stop. Oh, frogs.

I'm trying to. I'm reminded of frost in this moment. And one point of poison damage. After all that. After all that. You, you, no, it's the wife. You rear back your scorpion tail and you bring it down on top of her head. Actually missing, you bring it down directly into the eye that encompasses the entirety of her face.

Piercing into, into the eyeball, you can hear the squishy pop of the eyeball breaking apart as your appendage sinks deep into the wet flesh. doing I don't know how to say this, not much damage at all. But that is not what you were hoping. That's not the part you were waiting for as you begin to let loose this poison into this creature.

She seems to be wholly immune to it, however. Man, being dead soul! He's your ant-a-grey-gook- ghosts. Antigrhic greek ghosts. It's awful. Antigrish ghosts. We don't have to go through this. I command Hootzee to make an attack roll.

She gets a natural 20 crypts and it does nothing. Hootzy that goes to like... I don't make Scorpio. I like the angry news. Oh, guys. I expunge a lot of them. I am sped. Oh, I'm spanned.

I am spayed. We might have been buried in the lounge car. I suppose And that is my I will actually change my I'll use my bonus action actually to cast omen of doom on this as I will then solidify as who she will shift

her form attacking against this in order to, you know, just in case this tries to, you know, cause any funny business. She's going to get in between and you can pass through her very easy. And you can pass through her very easy. She is a ghost. That's my job. With all of that, Kremi, it is your turn.

You watch as all of this happens and as Grico finishes attempting to pump venom into this specter, you realize, oh, yes, that frost. It's because I use the word finishes, isn't it? Finishes. The rest? The rest. I am going to I look over at Frost how's he doing

Frost? He like fell between the seats He fell between the seats He is pooling He is consumed by his robes And you see as time passes Every second passes more and more of his feathers turn into that

darkened dust that flits across rules are rising up around the tree and their hands are gripping. He's literally getting dragged me at hell. Well, we're already dead, right? You can't die again, right, fellows? I'm choosy's fire. Bam. And I'm advantaged on, presumably.

Yeah? The one isn't incapacitated anymore because it took damage. That's a good point. So when I did, has anyone attacked her in the last round? Yes. Great code. I will use my bonus action to steady aim.

Nice. And I will give myself advantage. I presumably hit with a 20. Yeah, oh yeah. And I am going to use my Jinks craft, my hexlinger feature. Again.

And I rolled a five on my sneak attack dice and I'll roll the piss of damage as well. A five is whiskey bottle. The target drops anything it's holding. until the end of its next turn when the target picks up an item

and must succeed on a DC-15 at saving throw or drop the item immediately. That is a nightmare. So I don't know if she's holding anything. She doesn't appear to be holding anything. But ideal 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16 points of force damage. You do a significant amount of damage to her and you let loose this blast of energy

and you watch as she is just obliterated in front of you. Her husband lets out this horrific. and painful wail as he watches his wife removed from existence. Gotcha. And as she dies, part of her form will snake and slither through the air and kind of get absorbed by the jinxcraft pistol as I use my feet gambler feet. If I don't end, it's my bet big feature. If I don't already have it, I gain rogue inspiration whenever I succeed in ability check made against another creature. creature, when I reduce another creature to zero hit points, or when a creature fails a saving throw, it's forced to make. That's huge.

So I now gain heroic inspiration. Well done. Damn, that's cool. I soften it up for you. That's my turn. You let loose this blast. She disintegrates around you, and all the while, time is still undulating and moving, emanating from frost.

I need you to make a death saving throw. I want none of you to pay attention. I want you to close your eyes. Okay. I am floating through space. I am finally consulting, holding counsel with the aberrations I used to fear and now hold so dear in my heart. Thank you. All right.

It is now their turn. The only one left standing is the husband. The husband. He is in a furious rage. The emanation's gone. The only person in front of him. is Torbeck, and he is going to reach out.

As he does this, as he goes to attack me, I look at him, I say, oh, quit your crying. A natural one to a natural 20. No! I still have this wicked grin on my face as he tears into my flesh.

With a natural 20, it reaches out towards you in an absolute furious rage. All semblance of humanity gone from this creature, what tiny shred may have remained, has dissipated with the loss of his wife, as it reaches out and begins to suck the life

force from you, dealing 21 points of necrotic damage. That's too many. As this thing absolutely just ripped me to pieces, I'll stag her back and say, oh, that was barely a tickle. I need a constitution saving throw

for nextly. Uh-oh. You don't want to fail this. No, I'm, you don't want to fail this. No, this is okay. It's not good. I got a natural 20 for 25. You feel as it attempts to remove your life force from you permanently, but you, the anger that courses through you,

stoppers it, and you are able to hold strong. Gideon. Well, it's my turn. Stupid ghosts. You'll be okay. I'm coming right for you right after this. We just got, what am I going to do? He'll be before we kill this guy?

You're just going to go straight back. down, alright? You don't do well in these situations. All right, ghost. I've come for you. The eloquent as ever. 19. That is. It's going to do it. I will use

Divine smite. Oh, let's go. As, just because I'm not rolling very well on my like, oh wait, is this a D20? No, this is a D12. Oh, okay. I brought around a little bit there. I run out. I look back.

I look at the ghosty. I looked at the ghost. I gripped my teeth because I know what I have to do. I'm charged at the ghost. I actually take off from the ground and my wings will flap out, covering probably either side across the aisle as they stretch out over the chairs, as I fly towards this final ghost, who just landed a massive attack on Torbeck, my third best friend. I raised my axe above my head. my head. And I sweep

down and as it cuts through the air the blade ignites in that same silver flame as it comes down. I will deal 13 sorry 12 points of slashing damage as well as 14 points of radiant

silver. Not this is roughly a billion damage. Just a couple points. You dumb son bit, I'm coming to kill you. You look back at Frost. You look back at the specter. You look back at Frost, you look back at the specter. You look back at Frost.

You look back at the specter as you swing your blade down, knowing exactly what you have to do. And you slice it into the fiery, radiant silver flames that spark off of this, cleaving through this thing, melting its form as it lets out a scream. It looks towards the sky with all three of its eyes, almost as if you see a look of wistfulness, almost as if it is looking for its lost love as it bursts into spectral dust and dissipates.

And joyce Cheldon's Lagoon. The train around you, the train around you quiets. And you, oh shit, I turned on two music at the same time. Oh my God, the train got so loud. I'm dead. As you kill this thing, as you kill this thing. Yeah.

I'll turn to you and say, no, no, that one was mine. And as the rage begins to fade, Torbeck will start to decrease in size, returning to normal. And you'll start to hear him say, no, no, I won't go back. No, you can't pull me back. Those serums really bag a punch. what happened guys Torbeck is it you again man you were holed out like crazy

you were huge like a lot more than usual and you were talking real cool and you were hitting real hard and Torbeck feels like garbage what happened it is at this time that Frost didn't make another

Frost is dying wait wait I got to explain to you what happened before we tend to frog where's the food card Nobody pay attention, everybody close your eyes. In this time, Hootie will disappear, disobey, okay, Hootie, we're still figuring out of being dead. I'm very proud of you as she dissipated.

We're going to bring about so much doom, but frost, hear me! Brimstone, hear me! I bring about the doom, I am a harbin bringer of day. As you begin to say this, an alert sounds on the story. system. Oh, hold on.

Wow, wow, wow, wow, wow, wow, wow, throughout the speakers and this

train, the music is replaced by this alert sound. Yeah, I'm going with it. As you begin to hear the

voice of the vagrant, are y'all all right in there? Yeah, every single one of us. Oh, can you hear from all the way up there?

Yeah, I can hear you. Oh, we got a problem on our hands and I'm going to need y'all to fix it if we're going to make it to Drusk involved. Oh.

Whatever that thing is, well, I know what it is. It's known as a phantom train hopper. It's a stowaway on this train, and it's working for some dark entity. I haven't quite figured out yet. But that mist that it led on here, that bits of the shroud, I'm afraid we're in some trouble, fellas. We got some haints on board that are not quite right. They are troubled.

Can't come to terms of their past. Six of them in total. If that shroud gets to them, any chance we have of feeding the Ghostlight Express, the coal that it needs, it's done. We won't be able to make it to our destination. And who knows what kind of twisted abominations they'll become. I'm going to need you to hunt them out. I'm going to need you to help them pass on. Can you do that for me?

What are you? Yes, Mr. Vagrude Frogman, do you hear me? I can hear you. be dead. We will do this. I have suddenly discovered a new purpose to put souls to rest. Whether we help them or kill them.

The alarm starts going again, cutting you off. All right, well, if you agree to do that, then I need you to make me one more promise. Don't you dare tell the Lord and Lady about what's happening here. There is no need to worry them about this before we get to Drusk involved. All right, you have my word and everybody's word. All right. I've got

a lot to work to do here, but I'll see you towards the end of the journey. You do this for me and I owe you. You hear another loud, wamp, want, want, wamp as Grico begins to speak again and then silence emanates. Maybe if we'd come across a river, I made me to ride.

That would be a great favor to do. Oh, Frost, can you make another dust saving? No, wait, wait, we're helping them. We're now, we're in the process. Okay, thank you. The vagrant just had a whole bunch of stuff to say. Frosty,

I may be a harbend bringer of doom, but it is not your time. Frosty. Let him good. With the power of luck and cool cowboy powers that I have bestowing upon you, be anointed. I can ask you what it. Oh, God. I think it is 2D8 now.

Let's do it. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. Plus your whiz. 12. 12 points of healing. That would be nice if I were still alive.

But unfortunately, I know I'm fine. Oh my God. Oh, my God. Holy! You think I would have had the vagrant interrupt that if he was going to die.

The healing is trying to use the veil and it can't. You got me. Frosty, I specifically said, Hear me! 12 points. Why aren't you hearing me? Frosty?

Quit joking around, 40. Quit joking around. Robby. 12.6.10. 12 points feeling. Okay, I take it. One of my three spellswant, a little three.

Does my maximum hit point? No, it does not reset. Oh, so I'm stuck with my mind of strength. That's neat. I love that. That's, I love that for me. Brutal. Um, what, no.

Frosty. What's happening? I think like, you dabbling with the strange powers beyond our realm may not be a good idea. I may have been a mistake. What do you mean, Rico? I'll talk about it later. What's happened?

Are we still in danger? We abolish all the ghosts and it's bad things are happening. I think the Ghost Lod Express might be threatening to get corrupted on a countering that phantom train hopper or we're trying to break the shroud in. And so we gotta basically help a bunch of hanks move on

or else they'll get corrupted by the shroud and then wintering the fuel Mark corrupt the ghost lot locomotive What pulls this train? Torbeck's not sure, but Torbeck thinks this place might be haunted. This place is... We are literally flying through hauntedness.

Wait, here's the best thing that you miss is that if we deal with these hands, he's going to give us some kind of reward. He's going to owe us a favor. Oh, yeah, he's going to owe us a favor, man. Who is? Well, the vagrant. The vagrant.

Yeah. It's nice. Does he have much power? Does he have gold or... I don't know. Grico said he was like some kind of angel of death after he said that he couldn't give him a frog ride. Do you trust Bricko?

I mean, he survived the fight, so... Maybe he could give us all like bitch and sacks. You know what I mean? It's not my fault. That elderly man was much more powerful than I anticipated. I was focused on the beyond and not the present. You get off the ground. Stand up.

It's very strange to have feathers. Yeah, what is it like having feathers? I've lost a considerable number and I'm not sure what to do about that. I'm sure to go back. I have a cartonous tail. What? A chittinous tail. Oh, you have a chitinous tail, he said?

Yes. You mean this scorpion tail thing you have here? Yeah. Did you use it? Uh, yeah, I did. I'll soften it up for, for me to take the kill, he stole the kill from me, but that's okay. When you stab someone with your tail, did you say because it is my nature?

Oh, fuck. Shock, and you miss that one. Wow. What a missed opportunity. Wow, that would probably never come up again. No. Almost certainly.

No. If any consolation, you're cutting its tail is only half as tacky as those cowboy boots. So. What? Holy burn! What? You're like 40% boot right now.

I mean, you just can't pull off what, man? It just... What? And now it's covered. and all sorts of like ghost I call. Oh. The guy in Nashville during the bachelor party said it was really

slick. They really Baja blasted all over you, didn't they? I have a little bit of, I have a little ectoplasmy. I am a little and no, that's not mine. That's not mine. That's totally there. Just ectoplasm, fellas.

All right? It's just how I ain't. Gentlemen, I'm sorry to interrupt. But it seems that the train is in danger. Should we do something about that? You don't even know, you weren't even a conscious. It's really what we just told you. Yes, I know. It's the big brain-burne fellow.

Seems like it should be something we deal with. I'm not used to you having a beak. That's just weird. No, it's taking some getting used to. How do you articulate all of those vowel and consonants? We don't have to think about that. Okay. I guess you're a skeleton. Wait a minute.

Yeah. I got luscious devils. It's I'm sorry for realist He went on his lips All right Well Might as well proceed

What do you think, fellas? I suppose so Yeah You feeling back to normal? Yeah D'Rvain never left Wait a minute What?

You've missed all your opportunity to a really cool how Like a war howl While you was transformed Into your crazy form Oh, I can do it now Give us a war howl Like a...

Like a... No. No, you're literally a wolfman. No, not in place. No, no. Dorex howling. No, I don't think of that tired out. You have to howl.

You have to really put some mumps into it. Yeah. It's curse-born, not worse-born. Oh, no. It's missing something. Just stop them. Do that owl thing. What, like the screech or?

No, no, no. The other thing. Oh, you were one of those owls that screeches, like actually 99% of them? You're not a good owl? Yeah, add back to the end of it. Try it. Oh, that's very strange.

No, no, at the end, do the beginning part, are you a lot? Are you out? Oh, that's pretty good, that's pretty good. That's pretty good. Yeah, I mean, you know, it's a working project. Let's workshop that. All right.

After we get a drink and some sesame sticks at the bar, I got him. Do you need any help, man? You look like you took a big, big hit at the end there. Man, are you, how are you looking? How are you looking? How are you feeling? Not great to be honest with everybody.

But, you know, Torbeck was just going to kind of carry on. Well, let me see if I can help you out. Griggle got frost, at least I can do is pass a little bit in your way. Okay. Take some silver flame. Uh, and all you say. No, no, the good... Here!

Basque in the silver flame of the silver pan! I'm just kidding, I'll just ignite you. It feels good. It feels warm. You heal ten points of you. Do you lay your hands on me? Oh, I'm laying my hands on it. And I gotta say that material feels like Torbeck.

Well, you know, I ain't to tell him, but most of his wounds are on his butt cheeks. You know, grab a fistful. Well, the fire can move. The wound up. The wounds are before now. Doorback butt. Come on. You heal ten points of healing, Doreback, all right?

I'm not squeezing your cheeks this time. You know, it's actually quite interesting that now in your new form, that the saying of their two wolves inside of you is actually quite true. And you're in your interest. Oh, yeah. You're basically just two wolves now.

Yeah, just two wolves. Wow. Well, I was just going to say, I mean, as an aside, he is himself a wolf. What if the entities within him are like penguins? I don't, I think, we saw he got big and huge and he was still a big bad wolf. He huffed and puffed and blew that ghost down. Well, I'm just saying, what if they're taking the form of his physical body, but what if they're like, I don't know, adorable pigs fighting around inside of him?

I don't think there's adorable pigs. he was such a big bad wolf he reminded me of a very a big fan favorite coaster at Bush Gardens Williamsburg well wouldn't he put it like that I mean that sounds like it is two big bad wolves

he was huffin and puffing and he almost knew the whole house down all right conceded conceded two big bad wolves I mean we'll see how big of a bad wolfie is if there's in this someplace there's some sort of jazzy lounge singer we'll know

as much as I'd love to talk about Williamsburg I propose that we dealing with the pressing matter of the fact that the Frosty, I think Grimmy was going to say something and put you to forward the plot. Go ahead, Jeremy. My apologies. I am a... Is that why they have the one pound chocolate bars?

Yeah. A pound of chocolate bar? No, no. No, no. You're thinking of her. Oh, man. And we need to have a conversation about how pious you being. I don't appreciate it. No, I don't know what came over me, man.

I mean, it's kind of faded now, but in the moment, I was all about a, I don't know, man. I think, like, it just came over me. I got this cool axe, and, I mean, check this thing out. No, I mean, I know it's cool, but like you talking about the civil path and, you know, stay in the righteous path and all this. Did you understand that I'm playing the sin of subclass only available on the crooked moon on the DMD beyond? You understand that, like.

Well, of course, I'm playing the overcastigation subclass, only available on thecruplean.com. I just feel like we might have unreconcilable differences. Well, no, no. What? Cremie, let's not get hasty, all right? Because I believe that should you choose to use your powers, though they are not of the silver path themselves, as long as you choose to use them to do good,

which you have, of course, then you... Whoa, whoa, whoa, don't presume that what I did was for good. What? Crammy, you were shooting ghosts. Yeah, I was axing ghosts. Because the ghosts wanted to shoot me. Well, that's pretty good. It's amazing.

I mean, I guess it was good for me. me. Yeah, it was good for you. Crimin, what are you trying to say, man? I'm just trying to save it. It seems fun. Seriously. And if you're going to be all like, oh, don't sin, walk the silver path, then I'm just saying,

I don't know how we resolve those differences. That lay our hands was pretty sinful. Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. You got, there's a lot happening here. Let me say something. Well, he was broke. Oh, like, most you hard to feel. I've forgotten all about sin.

Me too. I succeeded way more of these death-saving threats than I should have. Williams, thud. More like, won't you, aunt's field. Let's proceed. I walked to the door and open it. Pretty good, I, probably. Pretty good, I, do it, Mike.

You... You... finally endeavor to proceed with assisting the vagrant in his time of need. And you make your way towards the door to the next train car. Pulling it open, you step forward and you find yourself not in another train car, but in this misty, almost pocket space between cars. And Kremie, you step in, Gideon quickly follows in behind you, followed in by Torback

and then Grico is shoved in by Frost before Frost jumps in and as Frost makes his way into this strange space you all look around confused as the door shuts behind you and then I need one of you to roll a D12, not a D12 a D6 for me please. Uh, two.

Perfect. Oh. You watch as a door materializes in front of you. You open it and you make your way into what is very clearly a lounge car. This lounge is one of understated luxury. Ebony walls are inlaid with gold geometric patterns. Plush, burgundy velvet chairs are arranged for quiet conversation. Soft light filters through frosted sconces, casting a gentle glow on the

various haunting landscape paintings that hang on the walls. As you look around, you're able to take in the full scene in front of you. And your eyes dart past the bar to a darkened corner at the very end of the car. The tall, thin man leans up

against the bar on this side, a whiskey glass in his hand. His dark slick back hair gleams with precision, framing his face with sharp lines and is accentuated by a pencil-thin mustache. He wears a tailored striped suit and grips an ornate cane talked with a silver goat skull. Sitting beside him is a shorter woman with curly brown

hair who's wearing a shimmering flapper dress, champagne flute in hand. She laughs lightly. They both stare into each other's eyes, clearly very much in love. They look up and notice you make your way into the train car and they look to each other and smile. She leans forward and whispers to him and the smile that accentuates his face can be seen all the way into his eyes. He reaches down and tucks a tendril of her hair behind her ear as he lightly grazes her cheek with his hand and he nods. And she stands up her dress flouncing in the air as she doesn't move towards you, but she motions towards you to come towards them. And Torbeck, as you look to her and you point, she nods and she points at you. You know,

as of saying, yes, you, come, come. They look alive. I think this perhaps may be the dress in bolts that the vagrants told us about. That's them. Don't screw this up, fellas, all right? They're very powerful, and maybe they'll be willing to offer a reward, too,

but we can't mention the issues going on, you understand? That's what the frog man said. Yeah, that's right. And you've got to earn that favor. We do. But, I mean, look at this place. This is my kind of joint. What do you think, fellas?

Smells good in here. I mean, the Art Deco aesthetic really lends to the ambience. It makes me want to enjoy a cigarette. And I pull out my cigarette case and I'll take one and I'll put it in my cigarette holder and I'll think. Oh, that's weird. I'd do that kind of. As you do that, you're shocked to see that Gideon's flame. You're familiar with him lighting.

Your cigarette, it doesn't seem to be doing anything. as a spectral feminine hand reaches out and flicks a lighter open and lights your cigarette. You see this beautiful woman in similar attire to what Adela is wearing, a slinky black dress adorning her body. She looks a little bit sorrowful as she reaches out the light and she says, I'll get that for you. Don't mind if I do. Why to do, Miss Lady? The name's Cremely Crue. It's nice to meet you.

I'm a little bit lost in my thoughts, but if you come by a bit later, we can have a chat. What a do? You're a g-g-g-g-g-g-g-g-g-g-ghost. They call me the songstress. That's all I know. I'm going to return to my drink,

but you fellas have a lovely night. And she slinks back to this chair that she had risen from and sits down. You see her ghostly green and blue form, shimmering in the light and circling around her vocal cord, a tendril of that dark magic that you saw escaping out of the car. She coughs a little bit and clears her throat as she takes in a drag of a cigarette that she also has on a long cigarette holder. As she leans back and crosses one leg over the other, her dress shimmering in the light. She turns and looks out towards the shroud

passing by and she begins to softly attempt to hum a tune. I try to give Grico a familiar and realize I can't speak goblin to him anymore. We don't speak the language of the goblins

anymore. No. Let me learn something a little bit of an Ashbourne trick. I'll speak Ashbourne. Ma'am. My black hat. And now I'm imagining I'm dressed kind of almost like an old West Undertaker. Is now what I feel like my outfit is.

I kind of tip my black hat towards her. Only 70% polyester. And I'll just, I'll move on. I'll acknowledge that she wants to get back to her drink. And I'll just like, meow. The only Edwardian Torbeck knows is Bolaola. Maybe we'll get the dresskin involved. We'll learn so much more about who we are.

Torregor. I'm going to follow, I'm going to follow Grico away from this woman. But I'm going to let Kremi lead. I know that like, the kind of like inanity of Grico is starting to kind of almost like slowly but surely fade away where I'm, I am understanding the severity of the situation

and I'm going to let, let, uh, cremie lead. I will unbutton my jacket quickly and holster my pistol and button it again. I just sort of tap on it a little bit as I approach the couple. You approach the couple,

and as you get closer, you watch as the tall man casually reaches behind himself grabbing a darkened bottle from the very top shelf of the bar. Not even looking, he grabs it and he flips it. With his other hand,

he pulls out five glasses, and he quickly fills them without even looking as he's continuing to talk to his wife. It's so smooth as if he's done this a million times before. Pulling down one sixth glass, he fills that and brings it to his lips and drinks down a hearty gulp. And as you make your way towards them, he taps, he's holding a cane in one hand. It is topped with a goat skull. And he lightly thrums his fingers along the head of the skull, almost as if petting it. Just. passively as he looks

towards you. Well, welcome to the Ghostlight Express. It's Phil of Druskenwald. Lovely to meet you. Have a drink and why don't you join me and my wife Adela? What a do? The Lord and Lady Druskenwald out here. The name is Kremlin Kru and we were formerly carnivala crew.

Oh yes, the vagrant came by and mentioned that there were, seemed to be in a hurry the old chap, but mentioned that you would there were some new folks aboard the train, some born of Druskenwald itself. It's a little. It's a lot. lovely to see more of my people here traveling from realm to realm.

Not everyone in Transforms is my understanding. Have a drink. Have a drink. Yes. No, not everyone does. Torment will have a drink. Thank you. Perhaps you can help us understand our new forms. As Lord and Lady of this realm, I feel like my very nature has been defined by your rule. The woman to aside, his wife, begins to almost vibrate with excitement. And she reaches up. Oh, come all about it.

Honey, I'm so excited. He reaches down and he rubs his thumb along her cheek. Of course you can, honey. I'll nurse this drink. You go ahead and you tell him whatever you want, as much as you want. It's all up to you. I trust you. And she looks up at him.

Her eyes wide with love. Oh, gosh, honey, I love you so much. I promise. This is going to be great. I knew they were coming. And she bounces over to you and she quickly grabs your hand. Oh, Frost, it's so good to me. Meet you, Ricko Torbeck, Kremi, Gideon, oh, you look just like I imagined.

Don't be scared. I'm a clairvoyant, as it were. I'm into divination magic, so I'm a reader of the taro. So I've seen you before in visions. You... The prophecy? You saw this in a prophetic vision? Well, not this so much.

You see the future? I can, yeah. Bits and pieces. It doesn't come to me all in one scene. single thread, but oh gosh, you all looked great. You were a bit different in the visions that I saw, but these forms suit you nice. Druskevold knows what it's doing, right? So you knew we were going to die.

Oh, I wouldn't say I knew you were going to die, but I knew we would meet. It was fate. Well, ma'am, that's not the voice I recognize. What? A lot of whiskey. Whiskey. I think that's rum, honey. Uh, all and from.

I would love to learn more about your, uh, what was that, Cleveillance? Oh, that was so close, it's clairvoyance. I knew a Claire once. Oh. Nice gal. That's good to hear. Were you friends? All right.

We were co-workers. What co-workers can be friends? We went to, I went to, I went to, You know, we went out for drinks a couple times. It was nice. Well, like, at the carnival together? Well, I had jobs before the carnival, good you? Oh, unlikely.

It's horrible. What happened to that carnival? Yes. Were you able to, in your vision, see exactly what caused the fire that killed us? Oh, no, my visions didn't show me that, but we've got the ghostly gazette, and she holds up a spectral newspaper, and you see the, you see a headline that says the... Don't ever get one of these. The ghostly whales, this you turn the videos. Yeah, she, as she flips through the pages.

Oh, it's right here. It should have been first page news. I can't believe that they didn't. They waited to print it on the last page. But down on the very bottom, you see an image, a moving image of a spectral carnival in flames. And it says, the unfortunate death of carnivala crew. May I read that? Oh, sure. Go ahead.

Oh, thank you. Do you read Spectre? Is Spector is the language that? language that this is in? Yeah? No, I only read Tomlin and deep speech. Well, you can try. There's nothing wrong with trying, honey.

I will give it a shot. Strong stuff. Phil likes it. That way. I don't know. It's got a good taste to it. Well, uh, ma'am. A roll in intelligence check for me, just to see. Seven. Oh, yeah, this is, you imagine that

This is probably, you are not familiar with a language called Spectre, but there is something ghastly about the way that this is written. It's in that, it's in that same silver scrawl that you saw on the tickets for the Ghostlight Express. But every time you think that you have formed a word, it almost shifts and changes and you're not able to quite hold on to what this is trying to say. You are, however, able to make out one name, Guru. I can only make one name out of here. The word seemed to shift under the page, uh, uh, uh, guru.

Oh, yeah, horrible what that guy did to your carnival. Yeah, of course. Does it ring like a faint bell or do we know? No, you knew that you were very much in debt to Guru. Should have known that shack ass was behind this. Oh man, you think he showed you think it was him? You think he sent something to the carnival? Well, maybe he sent goon.

I mean, hey, he seems sneakier than that. I mean, maybe he wanted people to know that he did it. Well, fellas, we finally got got. We finally got got. Yeah, well, we probably should have paid back that debt instead of getting distracted with a bunch of wacky hydrants and shenanigans. Yeah, yeah, suppose you're right. I know it's disappointing to die and all,

but death really looks good on all of you. Thank you. Oh, thank you. It's funny because when Torbuck was alive, he smelled very dead. And now that Torbac is dead. Torbeck smells pretty good. I agree. It's been nothing but upside for Tormank.

I didn't catch your name. I apologize. Oh, gosh, it's Adela. Adela Druskinvold. That's a beautiful name. Thank you. That was my mother's name. Oh, it was.

Roll a deception check. What was? That's crummy. What hell? I think, I think I heard. that that was the case. Yeah. They called her a rogue inspiration.

Oh! That's probably wise. 19. She got a 20. What? Yeah, well, at least I think. I mean, the memories are those fuzzy. Oh, you think.

Yeah. You need a little more alcohol. I'll loosen your tongue. I don't... I miss Adela. Very lovely meeting you and Lord Philip and, you know, I mean, we didn't have a court with royalty, really. really we're not royalty which is the Lord and Lady of Druskinbald she's pretty important to me

and I love what you've done with the place presumably we've got like some options the ghost light express don't belong to us it's the property of the vagrant it's just you just happens to go back and forth between uh Dreskenvalds even though you don't command him to do it oh no we don't command him too it's just where the ghostlight express has been to travel from. I always had to Drusk involved. Well, Philly and I, we had some business back on the

material realm. I was visiting I was visiting the rest in place someone close to me. And Philly came with me. It was very nice. And now we're on our way back home.

Hi. I do love the Ghostlight Express. Very comfortable, but a girl wants a bed, you know. I can't wait to get back to Chateau Claire the Loon. I don't mean any disrespect, but it isn't. Oh, you have to come visit.

I'm sorry. I didn't mean to interrupt you. We got so much room. It would be lovely if you came to stay for a while. What are you saying? What? I think we'd be happy to. I mean, we would love to.

Such hospitable guest. You don't have anywhere to be. We just died. We're not sure exactly where we're being taken. And honestly, if you have a nice home, then we'd be very, very grateful. I think we're ending up in your neck of the woods. We had some of us are wine open.

We have some of the garro on the train. Oh, on the train. Well, yeah, of course. We got it's just a way to pass the time, you know. We got time for sure. You can do whatever you need to on the train. It's going to be a bit before we make it to Druskinbold anyway. And then we're not even going to the outskirts.

We've got to go straight into the heart of Druskinbald to get to the Moors in Chateau-Claude and Loon. So we got a while. And we can enjoy the amenities of this train and get to know each other. I hope you like it here. And let's not focus on the past. I will fold up the newspaper, which has a photo next to the article of a clown smiling in front of the wreckage of the trouble. I will slide it across the table. Oh, that chuckles. He sure does make me laugh.

Huh. Why did they spell guru right? Well, I don't mean to sound ungrateful. I mean, I am loving this impish new. It really does suit you. Viseach. and I really do think it's cool having a scorpion tail.

I mean, that's pretty cool and very fabably. But I was wondering, like, you said, like, a cat loved it that we could peruse up the options. Like, is changing once you've been reborn? Can you kind of like change up, like, get a re-roll, so to speak? Oh, yes, this is a curious

question. Oh, no. There's a bit taller, like, maybe, like, a little bit of a taller species. Oh, gosh. Don't be, don't be ashamed of your height. Girls love a short kid. He has a complex. Not my experience. Well, and Drosthinvolta on things in the movie, maybe.

She rushes over to you, and she gets down on her knees, and she's still a little bit taller than you, even on her knees, and she reaches out and she grabs your face. Don't you dare doubt yourself, Brickell? You're beautiful, just as you are. Druselyneval made you this way for a reason. You harness that power you got within yourself, and you use it, okay? Well, how about that?

You don't let anyone tell you you're not good enough, especially yourself when she boops you on the nose. Well, thank you, Mr. Della. You are very, very kind, and I feel like I have a new perspective on things. Greg out your tail is curling. And, here, lean in, lean in. We don't want them to hear. Oh, well. If it really bothers you, I got a pair of heels that would fit your feet. Maybe I'll just try a little bit of a self-confidence journey before I offer that. Oh, sure, of course, of course.

I'm sure there's something inside me the whole lot. Do you hear that? Fellas, I'm a bit of a short kid. That's wonderful. Congratulations. Yeah, well, thank you. And perhaps they are royalty. Thank you, Mr. Della.

I appreciate your kind words and your encouragement. I feel like there is something in me. There's something that I just need to harness, and I will discover it. Thank you. Why, these hosts are just so great. Mr. Droskenval, what material is this? boyfriend material? Oh wow. He he chuckles and he looks towards you and then he glances to

Adela. Actually it's husband material. And that's that's Lord Druskinvold, you. Oh, excuse me, Mr. Mark. No, no, no. It's Phil among friends. Oh, thank you. Hear that we're friends. You're often generous there, Phil. Have another drink, Cremi. He didn't say not to call Lord Drusken. The alcohol is on the house. You're awfully generous. So, uh, this divination thing you happen to do. I mean, I'd love to hear a little bit about it.

You know, back in my previous life, I was, been for jinxcraft practitioner. Oh, you don't say. I lost a lot of my abilities, but I can still do a little trick or two. And I sort of turn my hand over and you'll see like puffs of smoke and a little stuff. And like colorful glyphs. Oh, look at that. But most of it got replaced by this.

And I'll sort of open my jacket. You'll see my gun. Give me out of your gold. I carved from wood with like these jinks crap lifts carved into it. I never really did get too into the divination side of it, but I know plenty of jinx crap practitioners who did. I love to hear a little bit about it. Oh, well, it's something I was born with.

I've always been able to see beyond. It's not all, it's not a hundred. You know that things can change fate is a fickle friend is some like to say but the thing is That the cards have always been my most Accurate form what what you want a reading done while you're here Oh the last time I saw you in my crystal ball you didn't look like this so things have changed it would be interesting to see what the cards have to say in regards to who you are. Yeah. I might finally be able to discover who I meant to be. I tried the whole

cow-poke thing. I tried the whole fire and brimstone preacher. I feel like there's something, there's something. I would love to learn Mrs. Druskinvold. Thank you. Mrs. Adela, Mrs. Adela, the Druskin Vault. And is, uh, Terro your specialty? Terro is my specialty, but I dabble in all kinds, and she, especially something that's really close to my heart is the spirit board. And she holds up her necklace, and you see a beautiful planchette at the very base of her necklace. That's beautiful. The tarot cards come to me in a way other things don't, but there's something about the spirit board that I'm just deeply connected to. Well, you know, an old friend of mine used to tell me, above all, the cards will tell, so I'd love to.

Oh, God, and he chuckles at her and takes another swig of his drink. You go right ahead, honey, I'll be right here when you need me. And she quickly bounces over to the table she had been at. She begins to set the table with a new table setting, and she pulls out her car. cards and she begins to lay them out and shuffle them. She pulls up chairs, one for each of you. And then she looks towards Phil and she smiles up at him and he nods at her, all right, all right, I got it.

And he clicks his fingers and all the lights dim. It becomes really the ambiance in here shifts and a little bit of red to the light, a little bit of purple. It kind of switches back and forth. The music that's playing over the speakers begins to quiet a little bit as she settles herself at the edge of the table. table and she looks towards each of you. I'm going to go ahead and pass the cards around.

You don't need to shuffle, but I want you to hold on to them. You can shuffle if you like, but I want you to hold on to them. I want you to think about who you were, who you think you might be, what you want to know. And then when you feel ready, pass it around. And once you're all done, pass it back to me, okay? I think of my former life as I hold the cards. And I think about fate and the first. freedom that comes with a new journey.

But I don't shuffle a card because I pass them to Graco. Oh, the frosty. Not shuffling. For me and for Hootie. And I pass it. Don't shuffle. Now gross disgusting bug bearer. I'm a beautiful, handsome wolf chat. I'll sort of like

splay them out, splay them back, I'll like bridge them very delicately. And they'll make them spark and you've got some skill. You know,

it's like puffs of magenta light will sort of and purple and green will sort of explode from them. But I won't change the order of the cards. So I'm just doing everything that I'm doing

is keeping the exact order. He's done this before, Gideon. There you go. Oh, he sure has. He definitely should have on my ass. I had some fire denies

me. Hang some gargoyle. I think about my life before. I think about the life of cigars and booze and crime. I think about I don't know what I think about in the future, but I... As I look to

try and see what it is, I peer this darkness and illuminated, do I see a silver flame? Do you see a silver flame? I see a silver flame. You see a silver flame. You pass the cards back to Adela. Well, we'll see.

She grabs them and she looks between all of you and she closes her eyes and she begins to shuffle. She mutters to herself a little bit and then as she opens her eyes, you begin to see a distance there. It's as if she's looking through you, past you, into a world beyond worlds, a realm beyond realms. Her eyes almost become milky as she shuffles the cards and as she does, one of the cards jumps out at her and she pushes it to the side but she doesn't stop shuffling. She shuffles two, three, five, six different times as she eventually finishes shuffling the cards and she looks out towards you, her eyes still glossy as she pulls out one card, the devil in its upright position.

She looks towards you, Torback. No, no, has a more man. The devil could. Oh gosh, I don't want to spook you. But it looks like you might be easily manipulated. Whatever you do, don't give in to temptation. The devil whispers of dark entities that would use your desires to corrupt you for the nefarious ends. You need to beware.

She pulls another card, the fool in the upright position. She turns and looks at you, RICO. Oh, the fool. I love this card. New adventures, new beginnings, new opportunities? Who could say no to that? It's almost like it's telling you that a new journey awaits you the moment you step off this train, don't you think?

That's a good one. Yeah, that's what I've been asking. See who's next. That's what I've been saying. The Death Code. She looks around in her eyes, find You Frost. Death! How spooky!

Oh, don't worry. It ain't as scary as all that. Look around you. You're on a train traveling through death itself and it's still a party. This card simply means that one chapter your life is ending so that a new one can begin. Hmm. For the point, you think. Also, he almost died earlier. Interesting. Another card jumped at me. The lovers. And she looks between the two of you.

I don't know what you mean. The lovers. The sure ain't nothing better than love. Someone is recent. come into your life who's going to flip your world on its axis. Don't get me wrong. I'd love for you to have your own Phil, but this person could be anyone. Even if they're the cat's pajamas, don't let them overtake your logic. You don't say. Strength, she looks towards you, Gideon.

Strength is one of my favorites. A girl like me ain't got a lot of muscle, but I do got a lot of heart. And that's really what this card is all about. Don't bury yourself beneath the weight of your past. Find your inner strength, and you can face whatever challenges away. Emperor, that card kind of looks like you a little bit. Interesting that. You ever wanted complete control over your life?

Well, you're in luck. The emperor promises that in spades. Sure, you got to do a bit of work first, break some habits, change your belief or two. But if you do that, you'll be the one. dealing the cards, not losing the game. Oh, no we're talking, yeah. That's a cool thing to say. You think she's getting that off the cards?

She's just saying that on the time. And now, this card, this one jumped out at me while I was shuffling. I put it back and it jumped out again. I put it back a third time. And it was in my hand when I was done. That's strange. Something like that ain't never happened before. This one.

The tower, the tower crumbles all around you. Truths are laid bare, and something in your life is soon to be destroyed. That may sound scary, and that's because it is. But remember, if the forest burns from the ashes, another forest will grow anew. That ain't good, fellas. I mean, it could be. And when looking at this card, something doesn't feel right. that man at the top, the burning one.

Something about that makes me scared. Why, Miss Adela? In my heart are hearts. I feel scared, and she looks towards Phil. Like my heart's breaking. You look like somebody just walked over your grave. Yeah. I feel like I've seen a ghost.

And that's where we're in the session. Oh! Well done, Nikki. Thank you for running the session. Thank you so much for listening to the Legends of Aventra's podcast. We hope you enjoyed the session. If you want even more campaigns to listen to, become a member of our Patreon at the Pearl Dolphin tier or higher to unlock Shroud of her Saltmarsh, a patron exclusive campaign set

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