Legends of Avantris - Tainted Grail | Ep. 4 | The Broken Men: Part 2

Episode Date: January 7, 2025

Our heroes face the horrors of the mist in the finale of this mini campaign...   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/ht2-ttV_lF8?si=Fph8rF6Auwdq7-27

Welcome to Legends of Aventress. You hear this unbelievably overpowering loud scream, and it startles all of you awake if you are not already awake. And the next thing you hear after this scream is the cacophonous noise of hundreds, if not thousands of crows. You hear Sir Brinley Dame yell for Sir Eric as he sprints off into the fern sing. I would shalt awake. and hearing the cacophony of crows and seeing him run.

Dane, he's going, he's going after a voice. I think it's brother. Fuck, we gotta help. And I will get Jasper up if you need help. You're already awake. What time is it? And so if you're already running towards him. I would easily sling my bag onto my pack.

It's one of these big huge frames of the bed rolls and the fucking leg. And I immediately start, following Christoph's lead and chasing after Dane. I will do the same. You do. Yeah. Brindley Dane is fast.

His horse is still tied up to the... Is still tied up to the... I don't touch the horse. One of the local trees. No, no, it's okay. You notice before he goes off, he very quickly undoes the reins of the horse that are around the...

the tree and he gives it a very firm smack on the hindquarters and the horse rears back and takes off in the opposite direction of where the, uh, of where the screen came from. He's obviously concerned for the horse and believes that the horse will be okay on its own, uh, sending it off into the fern, uh, sea. And he is off like a bolt. Uh, you are struggling to keep up. He, he's a bit younger than you, a bit more athletic. Uh, Jasper is doing the best that you can with the help of Christoph. I'm definitely aware. And Balto, to hobble behind and try to keep up.

You don't lose him. You still have eyes on him, but he's moving quickly as he proceeds forward. It's as you follow him that the noise is getting louder. The ravens, these crows are becoming, you can hear the flapping of wings. You start to get a glimpse of dark shapes moving through these giant fern leaves,

and it's finally when you catch sight of one. And this is not like any raven that you've ever seen before. It is about the size of an eagle. It's much larger than the normal size of a crow or a raven. Very clearly mutated from the time spent here in the weirdness. Some of them have extra wings. They all have extra eyes. Some of them have deformed cracked beaks, more beaks, extra feet.

These are common mutations that you would find from creatures living in the weirdness. but it isn't long at all before you burst into another clearing. The sight before you is horrific. Sir Brindley Dane is yelling for Sir Eric, doing his best to try to get his attention, but it is almost too late. There is a form in the center of this clearing that looks like a human man

who is actively being picked clean by hundreds of these mutated crows. He's screaming in agony as Sir Brindley-Dain, draws his sword and does this best that he can to begin hacking and trying to swat away as many of these ravens and crows as he can. His sword is deftly slicing through them, but no matter how furiously he cuts and chops, there are more crows and ravens that are descending upon poor Sir Eric. As his screams begin to dim and there is nothing, the flesh, viscera is being pulled as one crow and raven get a fistful, a clawful, a mouthful. They fly away into the fern sea to see more come in and take their place. Sir Brinley-Dane is yelling, cursing in

frustration as he begins to fall backwards, realizing that all of his cutting and his swinging isn't working. And you now realize that you're being surrounded as well. They start to swoop on you. You have moments to defend yourself as the crows begin to descend more and more and more as the minutes pass. What was, Sir Eric, falls to the ground in a heap, and the crows continue to descend and pick apart from his body. Based on my experience with crows and some context with Mordred's sort of forces or ability, would I just imagine? immediately, A, like, would my mind, like, would I feel the fear? But B, like, I don't think that Christoph would see this and be, like, let me go in and, like, chop. I think, like, we would, like, show up and see him flying.

I think Christoph would want to be, like, turn tail and fucking just run. I think that is accurate. And I would also yell out. Brim, Brinley, retreat. We must run. He is, he is yelling in a blind. bind fervor as if you, he can't hear you. Sarac, no!

Leave him! No! Dog wins, dark deeds. I will just turn and I'm going to basically stay together. There's no help him. We need to fucking move on. And I

would be basically like protecting them, running with them as fast as the slowest member, and if a crew gets try to take it out with a sword, and leaving Brinley to fight for himself. I'm 100% leaving Sir Brinley. Yeah.

Sir Brinley. You do this, and it doesn't matter how much Balto yells, it doesn't matter how much you try to get his attention. Sir Brinley Dane is absolutely more preoccupied with what is left of poor Sir Eric. You are very easily able to know which direction is North. north in which direction you need to continue heading. Thank you so much. If you prefer, I'm not going to tell you what to do, you know that that's the direction you need to head to Castle

Crow's Nest, and you know that you can head that direction. That was going to be my next question. It's like, which way is north? Oh, through the crows. Oh, it's through the crows. Well, what's going to happen? So this is just, this is going to be a rough-moving battle map. kind of what we're doing here. Oh. Give me a marching order. We got Christoff. Christoff and then me and then Jasper.

Yeah, Jasper. Would you guys be side by side? I think we'd be side by side. And I would just be leading, making sure I don't be a little bit of a step. Anything that I feel like, I'm gonna kind of keep behind an eye behind us, and if I feel like anything's gonna get out from Christoph's shield,

I'll just shoot it with a crossbow. I'll try to reload as I move, but I may not be able to. Oh, fuck. You begin to head north. The crows are all around you. They are absolutely drawn in by the sound of Sir Eric's death rattles, the screaming of Sir Brindley Dane, and of course the cacophony of the other crows and ravens.

What's going to happen is you are going to continue to move forth, move north at the absolute maximum speed that you possibly can. And we will be using the turn order to decide what happens. And you are under assault. These crows and ravens can sense that you are few in number, trying to get away, but also that you are fresh meat. And they are eager to move in.

So let's start by having you all roll order Not bad. Not bad. As bad as it gets. As bad as it gets. Four. Ten. Jasper's first. I will assume that you are moving basically your maximum movement that you can each round. As you proceed north, you will each have several attacks, two attacks each, as you begin to move forward. And these crows are swooping in and moving in one by one. Christoph. Jasper, what do you do first? Can I replace one of my attacks with a strategic command? You may. You have two actions for each of these rounds. I'm going to just point out, it's,

I'm just going to be like shouting out, looking, I'm going to try to look to see where they're generally favoring and basically be pointing out to Christoph as I'm keeping an eye out, where to raise his shield, where to keep his sword, I presume his visibility is going to be a little bit lower because he has his shield up. So I'm going to be calling that out and basically guiding him.

Okay. Give me a leadership role. You're acting as his eyes and his... Oh, that looks like a 10. Next try. Damn. Close. Your head, Christoff. In the tree line.

And the total is going to be 20. Oh, my goodness. That is plus three, but with your ability, you get plus four. So you all have plus four for the next... We call it four rounds. And then I'm just going to, as soon,

as I'm calling this out to Christoph, as basically we're going through this, like, you, you may be many, but the Hydra has many heads, ha ha, as I'm basically shooting and reloading. Yeah, rolling at a- I'm going to be rolling on attack. What stance are we taking?

Defensive? It's your choice. I think I would be in, or we, in movement, well, we can't do that, so it would be in defensive for me. Defensive for me a half a half- Okay, balto? Stance? Defense. Okay. And so then, okay, I know this.

Four plus six is ten, plus four is fourteen to hit, and then 16 for damage. Okay. You let loose a bolt. It immediately connects with one of the crows almost eviscerating in a cloud of black feathers. You can remove one from in front of you, get it off the board. Christoph, you're up. I will, I mean, if they're descending upon us and I'm in range. Absolutely. They are. They are absolutely within range of you swinging your sword. Then, you know, I have a lot of, you know, crows are sort of like this trigger for Christoph.

And, but in this moment with his new band of brothers and his sort of, you know, he's just felt a little more sane for some reason, despite the horror, he just kind of goes into soldier mode and he's raising his shield up and he's just hacking apart as many pros, as he can, so I'm gonna make two attacks. Yeah. Charge, George, I'm basically giving Chris off orders.

Yeah. Like a battlefield command. I don't. But it's still just a one, right? Yeah, it's still just a one. Okay. So you still give me your total. My plus is really high. Okay. So the first attack is going to be a 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18.

Yep. And the damage is gonna be 21. Perfect. You absolutely destroy one in front of you. Take it off the board. Then the next attack is going to be a 12, 21, 22, 22, 23, 4, 25 to hit, and 28 for my damage. You eviscerate another one. Get rid of one from your side of the board. Oh, yeah, from the C-ZE. Yeah. Balto, you're up. I will, knowing that we have to get through this and feeling

the confidence of what I was capable of, I am going to take two steps forward, making sure that that never is going to. Yeah, you don't really need to move your guy. You're just, you're basically making progress. As long as you're killing these things, you're able to make progress. Then I'll just take two attacks.

Yeah, exactly. Attack number one, that's going to be. It's hard to miss as well, just so you know. These things do not have protection, you know, outside. Their defense isn't very high. There's just a lot of them. Eight to hit. That does it.

Oh, so nine damage to the first one? Add four. I already did. One of your, the pedal loose from your sling immediately flies with the incredible velocity piercing one of the ravens, and it bursts into feathers. You can remove one from behind you. And higher from the next one.

You can remove one from your side of the board, Derek. Perfect. I need you all to roll top of the order. Eight for me. 13 for Jasper. We add the four, right? Yep. 20.

That leadership though. Before you decide your stances, more ravens descend upon you. Boom! Got some over there too. It's more like charging through the woods, right, just killing ravens and shit. This is like Aragorn style

where we're like running through and like killing orcs along the way, it's gross. You're making progress, but it feels like for everyone you kill three or four more appear in its place. Balto, what's your defense? What's your stance?

Normal. Normal. Standard. Jasper? I am going to take offensive, I think. Okay, Christoph? Defensive. Oh, actually, I'm defensive. Sorry. Okay, so we got standard, defensive defensive.

The Crows are gonna make some attacks here. 12 on Jasper. 12, you say? Yeah. It's a 12 it meets it. So it misses. No good. Two crows swoop down at you, and you very deftly and kind of surly swat them away with your cane. I love that. 15 and 9, Volta.

15 hips. You take one wound. Oh, that's a natural. That's a crit. It's a crit confirm. No good. Christoph, you easily raise your shield and you are able to bat two of these away, as it is now the top of the round. Christoph, what are you doing for your action? I attack twice? I mean it's just the gazillion.

You basically can't miss. I don't think, unless you natural one, right, you'd have to crit fail for you to miss these. Your attack is very, very high. So you easily slaughter two. You can move one behind you and from in front of you. Jasper. I'm gonna shoot twice.

I mean, do you crit confirmed twice? No, I think that that's... Do you fail? Do you... He confirmed the critical fail. Oh. You roll two ones because that next one should have been the first one. So that's a fail, that's a critical fail.

I don't know if I can use a survival point to undo a critical fail. I would say no. I agree. Don't use a- I agree. I would say no. I critically fail. You stumble and you actually fall to your knees in the hurried, absolute mess of this.

While you fall to the ground, the crows descend on you instantly and you take two wounds. Who? Am I prone or something? No, you're on your knee. You're down on one knee. You help getting up. It slows your process significantly. My cane will probably drop in front of me,

and as I'll fall to my knee. Yeshler! I've grabbed the cane. Yes, sir. Birds! As I'm going to grab up and I'll just shoot. I'll lift him up. Thank you.

As I'll attempt to reload on the ground, Bolto will help me up, and I'm going to just try to just point one. Yeah, I don't think you can miss either. I think you just have to crit fail. Okay, I hit it. Yeah, so you can move one from your side, Mike. Boop.

You're dead, burn. Volta, you're up. I will attack twice. Oh, nice. Not bad. So both of them are going to be eight and 12th to hit and that's 13 damages to both. I roll two five.

Remove one from the front and one from the back. Top of the round, you guys can roll the things for me. I need all of these. The crows are getting overwhelming. You're getting the sense that if you don't do something soon, they're going to overtake you regardless of how your defense is over. Right. So give me your order of actions first and then I have one thing to say and then we'll continue.

Nine for me. 11 for Jasper. Okay. 20. Same order. Before the top of the round happens before we determine the thing, The crows are becoming so thick that it's getting hard to move forward. Even through your defense, Christoph, you're feeling them start to get at you, your neck.

Some of the backs of your knees where your armor is not completely covering. The joints of your armor where there's some exposed. Balto and Jasper are each going to take two wounds, and you're going to take one. Even with all of your amazing defense. You being normal. Yeah, it makes sense. I am now okay. Oh.

Top of the round, Christoph. What would you like? Ashley, Balto, defense, stance, stance. Defensive. Jasper? Defensive. What would you like to do, Christoff? Defensive.

What would you like to do, Christoph? Can I, like, take a look around to see if there's any end of this forest or any kind of geographical feature where I feel like we could run, whether it's a cave? Absolutely. Or whether it's just somewhere. Let me take a look, because there is a natural... Natural environment? Yeah. Is it a check?

Have it. Oh no, I do. Well, no, it's plus one. Natural environment. Let's do natural environment orientation. If you have the orientation discipline, you can do that, otherwise just use your natural environment. You have strategy on your side.

I do have a strategy. Yeah, you get plus four. Pretty okay. Six, seven, eight, nine, ten, eleven. Can we bump that up to a fourteen? Let's bump that up to a fourteen. Okay. You are swatting at these crows

and you feel them pecking. You can feel them drawing blood. You're doing the best you can, is slaughtering as many of these things as you can. It's hard to miss with how many there are as you swing your sword, and you feel like you're killing a half a dozen at a time. Oh, yeah.

You are able to stop and take a look as you're continuing to move, and you see up ahead that the topography begins to change a little, it gets to be a little bit more rocky, and the elevation begins to change a little, and you think that if you were to press forward and be able to do something about all of these crows,

You might be able to find something with like an overhang, right? A little bit of a cave or some sort of a place where you can duck under to at least have cover over your head in some sort of rocky formation. Get you the hard terrain! There's no action that is like multi-attack, right? Like there's no, or I guess we have two attacks, but there's no like-

I'm giving you each a bonus action on each of your turns. Don't worry, I'm gonna cast kill. What I'd also like for you to do for me, Christoph, is make a creativity role. It's going to be weirdness mysteries. If you have protection rituals, you may use that as well. That's actually a 14. In the absolute dire situation that you're in,

absolute mass panic, even for you a trained soldier. You've never really experienced anything like this before. Beasts flying absolute nightmare so thick you're having trouble breathing. But there's a, you get a glimmer, a brief spark in the back of your brain of the wizard, Archibald, telling you that when things were extremely dire, that you have tools and you should save them for the most dire moments. Lord the fucking candle!

And I just screamed that as I'm attacking birds and I will attack twice. You easily kill two, but don't even bother removing the tokens. You kill two, don't remove the tokens. They're instantly replaced. They're like Centurion Immortals. I had thought of that right before the rule. And so I will say, the candles, yes, of course! And as you say this, Jasper, you lose two more bolts.

Easily taking out two more crows as you proceed to move forward. Balta. I will reach into my pack. I will unfatchel the top. I will pull out. I will open inside the pack one of the the box that contains these candles and hugging close to my brothers, I will gently pull out this delicate wax candle,

hoping not to smudge a single room and then close the clasp and holding up this candle, I will very quickly endeavor to start to light it with one of the Tinder tools that I happen to have. And I will use my action. to try to light the candle. You do this, and to make it easier, you huddle over it. The crows are picking at you.

They're getting your neck, your back, your arms, but you're doing your best to cover the candle and use an ignition source to get this going. Things are looking bad. The crows are continuing to descend upon you while you're lighting this candle. I need you all to take an additional wound. And it's a moment goes by, another moment goes by,

and these are only seconds, but it feels like an eternity. The spark, it goes, the spark it goes, and you just want this candle to light. And in a moment, it catches the wick of this dark black candle lights. And the crows are so thick, it's almost like they cover you in a blanket.

But the moment that wick begins to glow ever so slightly and a little bit of this smoke lifts up from this candle, the crow Screech even louder than you thought they could before as instantly they peel back off of your bodies and are are flapping screaming trying to get away from this candle as fast as they possibly can and It's like the scene in a return of the king where Gandalf sticks his staff up and there's the light and then the nas-blood Oh yeah exactly the Felby's I don't like that be about it

Just kidding. Oh, it's a boccan. And in this moment, you are, you are bloody. You have been pecked. There are clear wounds all over your body. But Bolto, you stand up and you raise the candle high in the air. And the higher you raise this candle, the angrier and louder these crows get. But they do not get closer as you continue to press north.

You, the crows don't seem to be able to get to. Get you. Once I raise it high and I see that we have a perimeter of crows in all directions, I will bring it back close and I will make sure that the flame remains constant. Yes. Can't that flame alive? It is burning. It is burning slow. Those fucking burns ripped apart my surcoat. We keep marching north. That mortar's going to fucking pay for that. As long as we have candles. Let's keep going north.

Did I lose ear? Some ear here? I feel hanging bit. We're gonna fucking live. You look fine, also. I don't tell him about his ear. We stretch. I like bits of scalp that have been like,

packed off. We trek forward. I mean, this is not a pretty sight. These birds are vicious, even for ravens and pros. And they have done a number on you guys. But this candle, as long as it stays lit, seems to be holding them all back. You know that you've got about eight hours

with this candle lit of protection from these things. And you march, especially with Christoph in the lead, knowing what you have come to learn about the topography of where you're headed. And it might be four hours of walking. What you notice over the course of this four hours is that the cacophonous, screaming of these birds is dwindling

over time slowly. You think it might never end, but the farther you marched north, the less they seem interested in trying to break through whatever magics this candle is throwing off. At first, they're diving and darting away and diving and darting away, but they're learning that no matter what they do, they can't get closer. They start to lose interest. Hour passes, our passes.

The birds are thinning, but the mist is getting thicker. After about four hours, you find what is a suitable outcropping, or almost like a small cave, for you to at least stop and catch your breath, and you have about four hours of candle left. It's about halfway burned down. I have, like, wax, like, still, like, dripping down my hand, and I'm just... Well, I can't believe we're still alive.

That's how many fucking birds there are this far away from Castle Crowsnest. It's only the candle that will keep us breathing. My fucking terror, I didn't think about the candles. It did not occur to me either. It is okay. We are safe now. Well, if it keeps the beasts of the Miss Bay, There is a chance.

Then we can survive this. If we keep pressing forward. This is magic. We are close. Are we not? And we still have eight and a half candles. We might have been able to save Sir Brinley.

Well, that doesn't matter now. Sir Brinley is a feast for crows. Wow. I was going to roll play through it, but very well done. Wow. He caught me up, Gary. I'm sorry.

I'm running the cause of the break. I'm sorry. It got me good. Very well done. I just wrote this for Mikey and for all the Game of Thrones fans, for Christoph, I just wrote this for Game of Thrones. So Brinley is carrion. I, well, fucking him. We rest here. Someone take a candle and I, uh... I'll take it for now. administer some first date.

And I will try to take this hour or two that we have in this outcropping or small cave. And I will try to at least seal up the wounds, apply a few ointments, just to get us back into marching shape. Yeah, it's a large cave in the size of a small cave. What's the difference between a cave and an outcropping? I didn't want to do it. I didn't want to do it, Rich. I did not want to do it.

I wasn't going to do it. Yeah, so you are able to take time to administer healing. You know that you got about four hours left on this candle, and you know that if you travel for about another four hours, that it's going to be, you know, close to the end of the day, and you're going to have to find a place to camp anyway. So you can either do it here, but that's up to you.

Think about it. If we... That's cab here. I was going to say we should not risk. finding another outcropping, it's very unlikely. I mean, this is... It gives us some cover, but they'd find us either way. I think we use as much daylight as we can.

Daylight, and I do what each and work with my fingers. I don't do that. I don't do that. As much of the day, if you can fucking call it that, as we can, that's our lifeline right there, and as long as we have those candles, It might be okay. We keep marching until evening. We'll find somewhere to camp. You're right.

Yeah. You're right. You're right. Just my leg fucking hurts. I don't mean to overrule you, my lord, but... Oh, you're right, you're right. It's for the best. The pain. I didn't think of the fucking candle either.

I'm supposed to be the tactician. Maybe that's why my liege lord and my own house was made fucking extinct. I will endeavor to give everyone a quick heal. I can't remember. Did we say that it takes like an hour for me to actually apply a first aid? If you're doing all three, I would say that you can begin administering first aid, maybe 10 minutes a person, half hour. Economies of scale.

Because then you'll be able to check it. You're going to tend to them over the next course of the dates. I'm just stopping, bleeding. Yeah. Can I get a few wounds down? 30 minutes. Before we. Yeah.

Tops. So I'm going to roll for healing. Not bad. Yeah, I thought that was a one. Are you, a good health condition, okay? I'm still good. Okay, I try to make sure you remember to trip track your one if you were not in good health. 7, 12, 18. Yeah, I'm not even going to make you roll for all three.

It'd be very hard for you to fail in these conditions. You're not under duress. You are healthy for the most part. I put the pack down. Yeah, so you each will heal two wounds. Oh, hell yeah. Oh, wow, I'm good. I'm still... I'm good, but I have two missing ones.

I'm maxed. And I would endeavor to heal myself in that role? Yep. You all get too. Can I have some of your water, Walter? I'll be able to make the march. We are not saving any water for the returning journey. I don't fucking care. I don't fucking care. Thank you. Thank you.

And eight, if you can. We need the energy. So I think it would take like 30 minutes to an hour to kind of reach our breath, eat, drink. You can. You can. You have this candle. You feel safe as long as you're in the soft candle lights glow.

Perhaps only a few hours left of this candle. I can take fresh candle if someone else carries what remains. And I will light just before that one goes out. I will hold it. Christoff needs his sword and shield out. It is better that I hold it. And we march on. You do.

You've got about three hours left of this candle, give or take. You march for three hours, and something is a little odd to you. The weirdness is not seeping in closer to this candle, but you can still feel it. It's weird. The mist is not directly on your person, but it's... It is extraordinarily thick here. This might be the densest weirdness you've ever been through.

And you know that the candle is holding it at bay, but you can still feel it. It's not like a true cure-all. It's like it's projecting it out. We're still in. Almost like it's seeping in through the cracks of this protection. You march on, and at the end of the three hours,

you can light another candle. You see it burning. The wick is almost out. It's flickering, Walter. I will light the next. next one. You endeavor to get it lit. You might even use the existing

candle to light this one. To make things easier. And you do. And as you transfer this flame, what remains of this wax candle drips over Jasper's fingers, and it smarts a little, but not enough to burn.

But you realize that you've transferred the flame well, and you continue on. It's not more than another hour or two before. or it's getting darker and darker, and you realize that it is night again. We should have to make camp now, I think. Yeah.

Yes, we should. So we've been like, it's been all day long. Basically since we got up. Your fight through the crows was, it took a long time. Yeah. It took a long time. Wow. All right. And we're still in the Sea of Ferns.

Yep. You're noticing though, again, the topography is changing. The trees are thinning. It's becoming more rocky. It's turned. into maybe a valley, you know, maybe mountainous. You're definitely getting closer, and you're leaving this forest

the more you press north. It's getting a little colder. We could camp, but is there any reason for us to march through the night? What reason is there? If, at the very least, we can see them coming. If it's dark and we move, I'll lose my footing and snap my leg and a half,

and we want people to see them. No, you're right. If we rest, then we give ourselves a better chance to heal and to take on the day new. Yes. We have enough candles, I think. Until we let the candle burn all night. Until we just keep watch. No, we let us burn all night.

We are too far north. We are on our time limit. Tomorrow begins our final march. We should keep the candle going. Yes. All right. We're too close. All right.

We just need to get there. Even with the three that we lost, my calculations are correct. And I am as far as we think we are. Then we should have enough to make it home. You know that with this candle, there's about seven hours left, and you are very comfortable with six hours of sleep. Perfect.

So you're confident that it will last through the night. And Archibald even told you that that is a very... very viable thing to do, provided it's secure, it doesn't fall over, a gust of wind, the cave doesn't flood miraculously or strangely, right? Like, you know, these candles are meant to be left for protection. I'll take first watch. And oh, we should let the Lord get his sleep. I'll get you up next. I will take second watch. That leaves you last. That's fine. Good night, you too. And you, uh, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you go to sleep. What is the order of watch? Christoff is up first? Yeah. Then Jasper. Balto.

Balto is taking the second watch and Jasper is third watch. I'm going to have, I'm going to sit up against a tree or a rock or something, and I'm just going to have, hold the candle in one hand on my crossboat another. I'm just going to sit. Oh, this works perfectly. And wait. And I'll sleep in my armor. Like, I, yeah. Oh, I'm sleeping my armor too. Yeah. So Christoff is first watch. I'm first watch. I'm not sleeping in my armor.

I'm getting into my jam jam. Yeah. We're all just fucking, just one fucking blanket in like a rock. You take turns sleeping. Balto. You find yourself in a dark and mysterious place. You feel threatened on edge.

Perhaps like you're in a fight or under attack. You're not sure. You don't know where you are. But you think to yourself, I have my magics. My knowledge and unending pursuit of the mysteries surrounding it will protect me. You begin to cast magic as you've done many, many, many times before, having grown so proficient over the years. But this isn't defensive magic.

It's dark, and it's meant to harm. You raise one arm, then a second, then a third. It's in this moment that you have the horrific realization that your body has become twice. twisted by the magics that you so feverishly sought to master. You suddenly feel that you're losing grip on your own mind. And in that moment, you snap awake. Christoph would hear you start. Oh, it's my watch?

Yes. What's wrong? Oh yeah. Ah. You just dreaming? Yes. He's okay. I got the candle going.

It was a very strange dream. Perhaps it is this place. But I saw myself as perhaps like Mordred. You're fucking out of his name. What do you mean like him? Using evil magics, twisted. Is that what you're doing? Dover into this fucking magic?

Don't end up like that. I've seen what these fucking necromances can do. It was... It was just a dream. I need rest. Gissomore sleep. It's not your turn yet. I'll wake Dunnington up instead.

No. He'll take second. No. You wake me. You wake me. All right, Balto. Get some sleep. Christoph, you had to bed. Once Balto goes back to sleep, and it feels like it's the end of my watch, I will wake up, Jasper. You continue with your watch,

and you allow, you know, Balto to go back. Melor. It's time. Before that. Oh. Jasper. You are sleeping peacefully. You went to bed. You open your eyes.

You're sitting. You're in a chair. It feels rather plush. But the room smells musty and there's dust everywhere. Your eyes are bleary. Your vision is doubled. You are very, very drunk. There's even a bit of vomit on your doublet.

It's very cold. You see that there's a hearth in front of your chair. but the fire is dying, if not already out. You shiver. You can't seem to get up from the chair even if you wanted to. You're dizzy, disoriented, but despite it all, you still want a drink. You feel your breathing become more shallow and you think, if I could only call for someone, anyone, or a tavern keeper,

I could pull through as your heart finally beats its last. And you just have a wink. You too! too. Fucking alive. Alder just woke up from a nightmare not 30 minutes ago. It felt so real.

Yes, I was in a castle. I'd had everything I wanted. Wishful thinking then, eh? I still wanted the drink. And I died. Think maybe that's a wake-up cold? I don't know what it is. Maybe it's the... The weirdness, maybe just the mist.

Maybe that is proper faith. for everything I've done in my life. Christov, do you remember the first person you killed? I'll never forget it. Tell me again. First person I killed? Yeah. Yes.

Young bloke on a battlefield. Our formation charged into a unit of them. Pikeman. I was a Hellward here at the time. So we were equipped to deal with pikes. Fooler's move. And I remember seeing through my visor in the helmet, different from me. Just a young chap.

Mixed up, mustard for the fucking forces of the Raven King. Remember glancing his pike upward and then cut across with me out of it. Managed to hit the gap between his helmet and his freshest, plate, cut his throat open. He dropped in five seconds. That was the first. What about you? Clean. I was squire. I had just moved on from being a page. I was 12. There was an army siege in Castle Misswood and Lord Mertonly who I was squiring for. It told me to, told me to stay in the keep that the army was going to storm the castle

I even knew back then at 12 that was foolish even if they took the castle they would lose five times our number I snuck out I wanted to be on the battlements I wanted to defend the castle I wanted to defend my

lees lord as was my duty as his banner man even at 12 there was a man climbing a ladder as they were storming I could hear the hammering of the battering ram on the gates. This part of the wall wasn't. Man, I was the first one to the ladder.

And I saw a helmet. I saw armor. I saw a weapon. And I sliced at his belly. He died screaming, begging for his mother, gripping at his entrails. He was only maybe three years older than I was. You're old boys, but you're still alive.

That's a fucking important thing. You still have time to. Maybe I don't deserve to be. That is my point. Maybe if you fucking drank a little less. I'm out of fucking wine. Is it my watch? You'll need this, my lord.

And I tick the candle and I'll pass it to him. For the night is dark and full of terrors. Yes, it is. I'm going to try to sleep. I'll put myself up against the rot. and my cane will be next to me and I'll just sit there with my crossbow and so my wash begins

and it does and Christoph you lay down and you find that your sleep takes you quickly this podcast is brought to you by our Patreon become a patron today at patreon.com legends of avatrous and gain access to tons of exclusive

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Christoph, you lay your head down in sleep takes you quickly. You've spent two watches, more than usual, but you know that just a few hours. hours of rest will do you good. Suddenly you realize that you are standing. No, kneeling. You're panting, tired, physically exhausted. You're in what appears to be a dark Gothic throne room. A large, heavily armored night stands before you, full plate, twisted, dark, and evil. He wields a horrific sword in both of his hands seemingly forged by death itself. It stained, dark with red blood. This man, mortared himself, holds the sword in a way that is clearly the end of a mighty swing.

Your hands instinctively move toward your gut and you feel wet, warm entrails spilling from your belly. Before you snap awake. Chris off. Oh, fuck you, Domington. Do you have the dream as well? Oh. Drempt of Mordra... I dreamt of the Raven King.

You know what he fucking did to me? What did he do to you? He disembowed me. What to me, Ed? It's not a good way to die. I wonder if that's all in's. Maybe you get out of here. No.

And you make it back for your castle. And I get fucking... This is all tricks. It is trying to play with our minds. Perhaps this is some future. Perhaps it's as 14. telling my doom. But then wouldn't that be a sweet thing

that I make it out of this terrible wood? I make it out from these ravenous birds. I think it is trying to have us lose hope. Because once we lose our hope, that's it. We've lost our goods. And we've lost bribe bro. You think it, you think the weirdness. Forget the fucking Raven King, the weirdness.

You think it's, Thinking, feeling, flowing? Or is it just chaos? My hand is. Fucking no. I was more concerned about the evil that men do than any magic. Now that I've seen what I've seen,

perhaps there are snarks and grumpkins. Perhaps all the stories that the water women tell are true. I think we've had enough rest. I agree. Gloke of night, shield of day, keep the dark at bay. All mother's hand our fortress stay. Under her wing, we sway. And I will stand and start to put my pack together. Those are nice prayers. I've not been taught those.

Would you like to learn the prayer that my lady mother taught me in our castle's church? Of course. Christoff, would you join us in prayers? I kind of roll my eyes, but then sort of like snap back and like... I'll bow. I'll bow. I'll get down in my leg. I'll wince in pain as I'll kind of clasp my hands and I'll say... I'll grab the candle from you to make sure that it stays lit.

It's a small note at this point. Yeah. But it is enough for you to hold without burning yourself, and there's still plenty of time left, but it is much lower than you remember when you went to sleep. Gentle old mother, font of mercy. Save us all from the war. Stay the sword and stay the arrows.

Let us know a better day. Amen. This is our war. It'll be my last war. I have a feeling. It's almost time. We light another candle to... Yeah.

Begin our quest. I've got that you have seven months. Is that my count correct? That is correct. All right. You prepare the next candle. You know that you are heading directly north at this point. You eat some food in the morning, nothing that requires any kind of cooking, just dry food that you would have, something that give you a little bit of energy, a little bit of pep.

Even though you may feel a little nauseous, especially after all of the things that you experienced in your horrifically unrestful night of sleep. Yeah. You begin to trek north. And within the hour, the fern sea is behind you. Trees have thinned. They're gone. You step out. The mist is not any thinner.

The sun is not visible. And you continue to head north. Within the next hour, it is when you first lay eyes far away, ever so far away. On the walls, peaks. of towers, small black mass out ahead of you. Christoph, you are immediately struck with a sense of dread.

For this is the first glimpse that any of you have laid on Castle Crow's Nest. You have a good feeling that you'll be there within the day. After all these years. And I'll see, like, the, you know, I'm sure, I don't know what the vantage point is, but I'm sure I recognize various places where maybe battles took place very far off. You notice the sound of the Ravens are back.

Not close, but you can hear them. Flying around, they don't seem to necessarily be interested in you. Nothing like the mass, the murder of crows that you had encountered earlier. And you do remember, recall these areas. where battles have happened in the past. It's not uncommon for you to see skeletal remains occasionally. Loose armor left behind. Whatever was wearing them rotted away centuries ago.

Rusted swords, shields, helmets, a litany of things. It's not everywhere, but you do come across it occasionally, and it's unsettling. This is it. Mordred's given up the fight clearly. she's giving up fucking everything or not Mordred the fucking queen What's in the Morgaine? The queen

What is her aim? We may just be very lucky Or perhaps All mother sees us through I think it's a little bit of both But clearly The queen is Fucking necromancy, dark sorceress

I don't fucking know But she's giving up on all the fucking Avalon. The witch who worships the demon god, I've heard some of the small folks say. Now is not the time to speak of these things. Yes. We want to speculate about the queen.

We can do it when we are warm in our beds in Briarbrook. You're right, Paltow. The good luckies. Ten years ago, it would have been two free armies mustered. Not, but few leagues from the castle walls. So, we might actually be able to fucking get through. Unnoticed.

You press on. You press on. You notice, though, that the terrain is getting rockier, more mountainous, more treacherous to climb. It's tough on Jasper for sure, but he has the two of you, Christoph and Volta, to help him. The elevation is getting higher, more steep. you are climbing, it's getting colder. You walk for what is another six hours before

you realize that you need to make another candle change. We do so. The mist here is thicker than it has ever been at this point. You are without a doubt certain from a mechanical standpoint that this is a weirdness level four. Something that you have never encountered before in your life. Yes, if you had a weirdness guy your counter, he'd be off the charts. The only source of light here is your candle. The mist is so dense that it is hazy that you've almost lost sight of this castle that has slowly, slowly been growing as you've been getting closer and closer and closer.

You feel that perhaps you are maybe an hour out. hour out. The crows ever louder, the sky ever darker, mist, ever denser. Do we think that at least the mist, if there are any scouts or like anyone sort of looking, that this is almost giving us cover though? Absolutely. Without a doubt. It is the only thing that gives you peace of mind in an otherwise nearly hopeless situation. You feel isolated. It's tough to see out, but you are grueless. grateful that this is potentially giving you some sort of cover.

It is in this moment, in front of you, 10 or 15 feet away, a shadowy figure begins to loom. Yeah. 15 feet tall, wearing heavy, heavy armor. A humanoid stands before you. In two of its four arms, it wields a large, deadly sword. In the other, a long staff made of dark iron.

of dark iron. From the center of its helm, a faint blue glow in the shape of a third eye is visible. It can see you clearly through the mists. It feels like this foredweller is looking directly into your soul. You recognize that you have no way around it. You must proceed, and I need you all to roll for order of action. Fucking go. This is it, fellas. This is it. Adjust the map here. I'm going to dry this off real quick. You got it? Yeah. Thank you guys for bearing with me here. You're good. No.

I mean... We don't even need a boundary. Oh, that's fair. Do we want to use this? Looks, is it in your stone maybe? Thank you. That's exactly what I wanted to do. Thank you. I feel like we're all shoulder to shoulder. We're walking side by side and we see this. You gaze upon this creature, and it does look remarkably like every Menherstone you've ever encountered,

even the one in Briarbrook, had it been restored to its former glory. This is not the same foredweller, at least it doesn't appear to be, that murdered the mist fervor. It doesn't seem to be the same foredweller that your men here stone back in Briar book is based off of. But nonetheless, the resemblance is uncanny. What everybody get for order

of action? Ten. And I will say my unpredictable nature, he needs to roll with this. Eight, if that matter. Absolutely. We have ten, eight. Seven. Seven. Wow. I don't know anything. Wow. My question to you is how does the phobia... Okay. Because we're fucked. Yeah. No. We're fucked. No, no, no. You've all rolled your order of action. This creature draws its weapons and makes no motion to move. It seems as it's allowing you to do whatever you want.

It wants some sort of a fair fight. It doesn't feel threatened by the three small men that stand before it. Christoph, you are up. The moment... Oh, we're going to go in reverse order to determine stance. Offensive. Standard. Standard.

Standard? Offensive. Offensive. Offensive. Defensive. Christoff, you are first. The moment that you lay eyes upon this creature, you are terrified. The moment that Thor Leo was absolutely ripped into plays clearly in your mind. And for the foreseeable future, you will be suffering a minus two penalty on all roles made near the source of the fear.

which is the Ford Dweller. So minus two. And the same goes for you as well, Balto. Minus two. Is it too late to change my stance? Yes. Yeah. Okay.

I always forget that the first turn I have to use my thing, so I should never do offensive, but that's fine. Oh, yeah. That's fine. I changed my stance to... Pee pants. Pee pants. Pea pants.

Okay. Yeah, Christov, you're up. I will... this thing in come from the mist. No. We were so fucking close! No! He's just let us through. Let us through.

You'll take care of the fucking evil sorcerer. You probably don't like him, right? Fucking let us through. And I'm gonna take the Perry action. Oh. I'm gonna like step just a few feet. Yeah, I would say that... ...for trying to muster some bravery

to walk closer to it. I'm almost like begging and pleading. pleading. Like, I don't know if it can understand what I'm saying. I don't know if it has an intelligence like that, but I'm begging. Okay. Jasper, you're up. I will step forward as well, one piece. What the good knight says is true. I am Lord Jasper Dunnington. I have the blood of the hydra in my veins, and we are here not to Till you, we are here to find secrets and learn and deal with a sorcerer in that castle.

Our quarrel is not with you. Our war is not with you. Our war is in there. And I'll point at castle. In the direction. In the direction. Oh yeah. Okay.

Are you leadershiping as well? What is your- I'm leadership. Sorry. Okay, no, no, that's great. So give me a leadership role. In attempting. It wouldn't be a strategy, so it would just be...

Oh. Once there's anything else. No, no, no. But I only have strategy as far as discipline. Leadership, you can do... So I guess my question would be, are you trying to talk sensitive this thing? Explain what you're doing, because peacekeeping is a leadership option. I am trying to basically, I don't know if it's like an intimidation or like basically, like, basically, like,

I'm trying to basically logic. I'm trying to say. Peacekeeping. There's peacekeeping, there's authority, there's commandment. I think peacekeeping makes sense. So if you have peacekeeping as a discipline, you can use that otherwise just straight leadership. We are twisting this until you get a total.

I, oh, could confirm folks? Please. It's not gonna happen. No. Okay, good try, good try. But, so yeah, what's your tool? My leadership in total is a 19. Do we bump up to a 20?

What's the point of the five? We're bumping it to, we're just doing max. We're just doing max. 22. 22. That's enough. That would give you a plus four with your bonus.

You get plus five to your rolls for the next two turns. Balto, you're up. All right. Do you want to use any of your movement, Jasper? Who's holding the candle? All right. Balthow has.

One moment. One moment. Sorry. That's brutal. You don't want to get more than four squares away from Balto. It'll be outside the candle radius. More than four squares.

Okay, more than your movement. Okay, we're good. Because of the level of the mist? You get a bad sense that if you're in that mist without a candle, things aren't gonna go well. What I will say as well though is that, well, yeah, four squares, four squares. And I'm gonna be generous, I'm not gonna-

Are you gonna move- That's it? I'm just moving here. I'm not asking what you're doing. I mean, if I can, I'll probably move there. I, and again, I'm gonna be generous with it. If you're like on the cusp of four, I'm not gonna ding ya.

It is light. It dims the farther away you get. It's not like a hard cutoff. I think by now we know to stay together. Oh yeah. Even outside of the candles. Of course. We're safer to get.

What's your action, Balta? Fordweller, if you understand my words, understand. We are fine. Help. And I'll look down at my candle, And I know that it is keeping the perimeter of the mist around me. It's, if I've gotten its attention with my words, do I get a sense that the candle is a,

whatever the reverse of a charm is for the creature? Award. Yeah, a reward. Yeah, rappel. From Pokemon. Do I, in this moment, have the idea that I should extinguish it or hide it from this creature? You would know that extinguishing it would almost be certain death.

You also notice that it has not stepped within the radius of the candle yet. Please, let us pass by all mother and the old gods. Let us through. And I will walk forward my full distance as I can. Yeah. I start to approach. I am. Oh, fuck.

walking off of a cliff of faith. Only the Allmother can keep me now. As you walk forward, this creature clearly did not rush to make any aggressive motion initially. It almost, again, you got the sense that it was giving you the opportunity to act first, as if it wanted some sort of challenge,

fair fight, you're not sure. The moment that you all, choose not to do anything aggressive, it looks at you quizzically. It tilts its head, and all you can see through the mist is that light blue, faintly glowing third eye that pierces deeply into your soul. The moment that Balto gets close with the candle and the radius of the mist begins to peel back away from this foredweller, the second that any portion of this heavily armored creature begins to pierce the veil into your candle.

It jerks for a moment. You hear it make a horrific noise almost like iron grinding on iron, and it moves faster than you've ever seen anything move in your life as it moves forward to strike. Oh, no. In the blink of an eye,

it is directly in front of Christoph and Balto. And he's going to make two attacks. The first one is going to be on Christoph. I'm just gonna go. 26. Yeah. Yeah. That's a hit.

Yep, that's ahead. With the damage, it's gonna be 31. 31, yeah, I have 18 defensive. Don't you have Perry? I do have Perry. Holy shit. So, good memory, thank you for reminding me. What you're gonna do is you're gonna make a role

instead of it being a passive defense. You're gonna use your combativeness. plus your close combat, plus your attitude modifier, plus a 1D10, plus the five from the leadership. So start by rolling your 10. I think I'm going to... Use it. Use the twist. Oh. I'm going to use another.

One more. One more. One more. One more. One more. Six, I think. Your highest was the six? Six plus.

Five plus. Yeah, well, if that's what you want to keep and we'll calculate, unless you'd like to calculate and make a decision. I'm going to help you. I'm going to do one. I don't know how to be calculated yeah you have such a high plus no it's not meant to six six five from the leadership what's five from leadership um plus 18 to defense plus 18 to defense and like a calculator Jesus I actually know that's gonna be 11 plus 18 is 30 no 20 20 29 29 did you add your plus one

attitude modifier was defense so you're gonna add two more to that so that's gonna No, that includes my attitude model. Okay, sorry, I apologize. So I was at 29. 29 minus 2. Wait, wait, this isn't a roll. So I don't, Paranoi doesn't factor in, right? Right now.

This is a role because you're pairing. Yes. So 29 minus 2 is 27. Okay. Plus 1, because I am un-predictable. Yep, 28. 28. Plus leadership?

I got leadership, right? Okay. Yep, we already out of that in. So... 28. It sounds like it still hits, but what's your protection after all of that? My protection is...

28 plus 3 is... 31. 31. You are shocked, absolutely shocked by the speed of this creature. If you had not been braced and ready, it certainly would have cleaved your armor to pieces. Somehow, you managed to hold up under the absolutely massive blow from this sword coming,

crashing down onto your shield. You feel as though your arm is about to splinter any moment, but you hold your ground. If it hadn't been for the parrying, you would have been in trouble. Yeah. Balto. Oh, no. 22. Oops.

Uh, 27 total. What is your defense? I took the standard position. My defense at this time is 12. Okay. And then what's your protection? Take 14 wounds. You should still be okay.

Not okay. I immediately am critical. Okay. Let's roll for order of action. He needs to roll to advantage. Okay. Wow. Look at you go, Christoff.

Do we have your benefit? 11 plus five. Yeah, yeah, don't forget you guys have plus five. And then make sure that you have your minus three critical and then minus two from your phobia. Derek. Yep, yep, yep, yep. 16. One moment, one moment. Just remember that number for me. I'm just taking a real quick look at this. 16 minus two is 14. Jasper got 16, Christoph got 14. Balthow. What did you get? Oh, six. Okay. The Christoph's Giving a second roll, re-roll is paying off. Opposite order of operations. We've got Balta. What stance?

Defense. Defensive. The Ford Roller taking offensive, Kristoff. Defensive. Jasper. Okay. Before you take your turn at the top of the round, you notice that as this creature, as fast and strong as it is, the moment that it has stepped into the radius of this candle, its armor begins to give off steam?

Steam? Smoking? You're not sure. There's a slight hissing noise in the air as it seems to be fighting against whatever protections that this weirdness candle is providing you. And something is not right. You've never seen or heard of anything like this before. Jasper, you're up. I'm going to aim for its third-eye looking motherfucker. I love that. Asshole. Calling your shot. I'll take that. That is going to be, as I just, I'm, I'm blind.

Anyway, I started blasting. That'll be, hold on. Offensive, that's 20, 25. Nice. 25 to hit, and then 27 points of damage. Jesus. 27 damage. 25, 27 total.

Okay. You had your chance! And I pulled the trigger. You find that as you loose this bolt, it doesn't have anywhere to to sink into, it's almost as if this entire creature is made out of the armor that it's wearing, this horrific iron armor, but a huge chunk cracks

from its arm. One of its arms is this bolt makes contact. The bolt bounces and kind of spins off into the mist, but you seem to have actually done something to it. Christop, you're up. Fight, fight for your arms! And I'm going to just wildly swing in, And I really need to do well here.

I really need a big hit. Come on, big hit. I want to buff it by three. Yeah, do it. That is a 10, plus one is 11, plus 12 is 23, plus 5, 24, 25, to 6, 27, 28. Yeah.

Minus 2 is 26. 26. 26 to hit. 29. Damage. Nice. That's gonna be... You shout this. Time to fight for your lives. The strange silence that is around you, this creature not making any noise, not speaking to you, this yell, this battle cry rings out, and you strike true. You notice this smoking armor of this creature as it's

it's stepping into the weird candle light, and you immediately swing as hard as you can for the point on one of its arms where Jasper's bolt seems to have created a mark in the armor. As you bring down your weapon, and it connects where this crack is in the iron, you deliver a hefty blow. And the armor cracks more.

Another piece falls off. There is something humanoid underneath here, for sure. It has flesh. At least you think so. It is clearly something wearing a large piece of armor. And now it is its turn. Having just made two attacks, almost felling Balto in one blow, and somehow miraculously not breaking Christoph's arm,

it then raises the staff in its right hand up to the ground, up into the sky, before swiftly bringing it to the ground with a shattering smash as it begins to release loose magics in all directions. from the staff. Oh no. Somehow better maybe? Probably not.

You survived my first attack. Let's party. You are all immediately hit with this dark, necromanic magics that radiate out from the staff. It almost knocks you back, but you feel it again. You feel it deep in your soul, almost as if this magic is coming from the eye, howard through the staff, as you all take two wounds. Oh my God. Oh my god. No save.

I was not full, so I... Bolt's out how you looking, buddy. I am an agony. Oh! What does it mean? What do you mean? You still have a wound left. I have one wound left. So when the agony box is ticked.

Is your agony box? Fox ticked. No. Okay, then you are okay. You are okay for now. You would know to fucking... Okay. Is Paul's his turn? Keep that candle. Just to clarify, you know that the effects of the potions, the effects of the physical healing that you can do, there's a limit to how much that you can do that per day. What you also know, having learned from Mercer, is that the effects of magic, healing is not limited. It's only limited by how much you can output. Your body will take all of the, any human body will take as much healing as it possibly can, provided that the output

is still there. Um, Alto is struggling with pain. He's in agony. Do I see the candles are working? Working in what way? Do I feel like the one candle that I have burning is effectively, like, disintegrating it or is it only the damage that's doing work against this creature? No, you definitely feel like the candle is doing something to the foredweller. You're just not entirely sure what. If you'd like to make some sort of a weirdness mysteries check, you can. I think that I'm going to make a quick check because the idea that Balto is struggling with is should I put myself out of my misery and try to heal myself by praying to the Allmother?

or is the solution that I have six candles in my pack and if I can light all of these fucking things at the same time I might be able to dynamite this motherfucker out of this in that space give me a weirdness mysteries role creativity weirdness mysteries plus five minus three so plus two yes two let's do come on can I get a survival point can I get a survival point one survival point I'm going to use this one right here get the fuck out of my Fought out of there. Yes! Confirm. Confirm.

All right, we got to turn on board. Still good. So, okay. Mechanically, that still counts as a 10. What's your total for creativity, weirdness, mysteries? 10 to 15 straight. Huge. Pretty good.

Okay. You are watching this creature. You are having a moment of like mortal realization that you are hanging on by a threat. You do not feel good. I can feel death. Yeah, the iron staff colliding with your body did massive amounts of internal damage.

You're watching, though, you are oddly focused, and you're watching how the candle seems to do something to this foredweller. Not only do you realize that the candle is working against it, you realize several things. As long as one of these candles are lit, the mist will not get to you.

As long as this creature is within the aura of the candle's light, its armor seems to be weakening. And you are absolutely certain that if you used more candles, it would be more effective. Oh. Very good role, Derek. I'm going to take four candles out.

I am on the verge of death. I am tunnel visioning. I am struggling. Is that all we had left? But I, remaining two for the, because I, Balto cares about hope. Keeping two in my pack, I'm going to pull four. Candles out.

Okay. And I'm going to. That leaves you with two? Yeah, that leaves me with two remaining. Okay. I am going to light all four wicks as best I can. Amazing. Hold it out and pray to the All Mother.

Please, All Mother, give us your blessing. Creature. Go! And I will... I don't have an attack. I don't have anything. You spend your action. action lighting these candles you are on the verge you this is a move of

desperation but you know one thing for sure deep in your heart you feel that this will work in a moment of absolute radiance the rest of the candles that you are holding up catch a light from the initial candle that you were already holding if this thing wasn't making noise before now it is it's screaming it feels the light the heat from these candles, it's causing it pain in some way. But this creature almost seems too proud to leave. This scream to you all says, it's either me or all of you.

Get the fuck behind me, Baldo! I need everyone to roll for order of action. You move your, do you use your movement? Yeah, yeah, you can use your movement. You would stumble, I feel like you would stumble behind me. You have a knockback. It's also worth noting that the, uh, the use your movement. The radius has increased because you have lit more candles,

you have more light. There is more room now for you to move. Confirm it. Oh. Not like it. It's all relative. I'm assuming I'm rolling two dice and taking the lower. You all need to go before he does.

Or it does. So we need to like, we need to like make sure this happens. Well, five, 16 again. Okay. 16 for Jasper. Where's the five? From leadership. Your leadership?

So you have that. 24. Plus two. You basically have plus two. Because we got 2416. What'd you get, Balto? That might be okay. Crystal coming in a clutch. Top of the round.

Christoph, what do you do? I'm panicked. I'm slashing. And I'm just screaming. Die, die, die, die. And I'm gonna try to fucking, you know, land a big hit here. Come on. Are you just good?

Roll it. Are you just goaded? I don't understand what is happening. Please, all mother. Please, oh mother. If I deal 20 damage to this guy and one foil blow, does that still apply? Be brave.

You have to find out. No. Close, close. Still at 10. Still at 10. Oh, it's stances. Stances. Oh, shit.

I'm defensive either way. That's fine. I trust you guys. I'm offensive. Defensive? Movement. Movement. Movement.

Love that. I'm holding the candles. I'm going to just take the agility. It's the same effect. Yeah, yep, yep, yep. Yeah, because if you go to get hit and you are not in the offensive stance, you can still choose to parry in that moment like a reaction.

You can choose to do it like you did, or as long as you haven't taken your turn yet, you are not. If it reaches me, I'm dead. Right. Okay, unless you're right. Movement, offensive, jasper. Offensive.

Offensive, Christop. Defensive. Awesome. You rolled to make your amazing hit. You had a 10. What is your total? 10. 11. 23. 24, 25, 26, 27, 28. Minus 2 is 26. 26 to hit. 29. Damage. That's what you got last time. It's bloody. Yeah. It's exactly what I got last.

11 minus. I didn't know 10. Did I do that right? 10. Were you hurt last time? If the negative what's changing it? 10 plus 12 is 22. 23.

24. 5.26. No, yeah. Oh, yeah. I don't know. Maybe I fucked it up last time. So still 11? Sorry, not 11. 29?

Yes. Okay, you are very aware of what this candlelight is doing to this creature. Its armor appears to becoming brittle. You swing as hard as you can in not a moment of desperation, but a moment of survival, a moment of triumph, a moment of I will not die here. And as your sword makes contact with this creature's breastplate,

the brittleness in the arm becomes even more apparent as it cracks. You deal a good amount of damage to it, and it looks okay, but you can tell that it's armor, its total armor protection, is weakened. Amazing. Jasper. I'm furious, I'm scared, I'm just slashing.

Jasper, you're up. Yes, Walter, the old mother is with us, and the old gods from your old country. It's in pain, and that means we can kill it. And I'm gonna pull the trigger again, and, I'll loose a bolt. I'm going to use my survival point. How many do we have left?

We've got a bunch. That's four. That's acceptable money. 25 to hit 27 damage. 25, 27. As I'm seeing this get more and more brittle. He still looks, okay, but you have done well. You lose another crossbow bolt,

and again, you're seeing that the armor is brittle, and you steady yourself as you aim for the spot that you previously shot him at and you land true. And that weak spot on its arm makes contact with the bolt and even more of this horrific dark iron armor falls away to the ground with a loud clang. The creature underneath still seems unharmed, but you are making progress for sure.

It is the creature's turn. And all it can do. do is move forward towards Balto and make one attack. So I'm in its way. Does it push me out of the, does it just go around me? Yeah. It's very, it is for something so large it is shockingly nimble and quick. And it's going to attack Bolto. Use the Perry action. Our Perry would wax candle.

We can flavor, well actually. Like this isn't the candle thing. That's a Perry. So the only thing I'll notice is that Perry for Balto might not be great because it uses your close combat. stat. That's why it's much better for you. Oh. So it would depend on for you. He might be better off just sticking with the movement from the plus two. Got it, okay.

That being said, 16. It's my defense is 14 plus 2 protection, 16. So, oh. Yeah, no, no. So it hits because the defense is 14. But the good news is that the damage is not, it's not in the teens. You take three wounds. three wounds. You don't die yet. Oh no!

You don't die yet. I... You, you, you, you, you try. You're holding these candles. You want to get out of the way. You're not sure that you're able to, and you are just too battered. You are too beaten to move faster

than this thing that moves faster than lightning itself. You are crushed again by this, the weight of this iron stat as a creature brings this thing down above you. And it is all that you can do to grip the candles in your hands with this death grip. I'm squeezing the bases where I know I will not interfere with the ruins. And the last thing I imagine you might hear from Balto

is, I have an idea. As you are hit, you are in agony and you become incapacitated. It is your turn. You have survival points. You have some options that you can do. One of them is last-ditch effort. If you so choose, any character that is in the agony state, but still alive, which you are,

you can spend two survival points to untick the agony box and it puts you in the critical condition. In addition for the next round, you are under the effect of ignore pain. Oh! Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Do you use your turn? My whole turn, I have to use my turn to do. Yes. Yes, you do.

Okay, but that means that I am back to... Can he move? So you are back to Critical, and what happens is you are currently under the Ignore Pain condition, which is another survival point usage. Okay. Ignore Pain says that a character can overcome pain and fight to the best of their ability, ignoring any health condition related penalties for two wrong. rounds. Ignoring all health related penalties? Yeah. For only two rounds. But that is if you

ignore pain, for Last Ditch effort, it specifically says that you are only under Ignore Pain for one round. Okay. Does Ignore Pain both not bump them up or no? Only one bumps him up. No, no, so Last Ditch effort bumps you up to critical. Okay. So he's back in the critical condition. That was the two. And then for one round instead of two, he's under Ignore Pain. Okay. If you were to just, like let's say you were just taking your time. turn and you want to ignore pain, you would get two rounds of it. But because it's part of last-ditch effort, you only get one round. Got it. Makes sense. Does he get his movement?

Yeah, so you, what I will say is that it took your whole turn, but because you are making a last-ditch effort, you are not prone, you are not incapacitated, you are able to stand up, and you've managed to hold onto these candles. I get smashed into the side and you hear the breath leave me. That's all I can get out. Roll for order of action. Oh. You still have my...

I will take the lower of the two dice. I'm ignoring pain, so I don't have a negative of this roll. Correct, correct. That is correct. So plus five to me? Yeah. Yeah. Nine.

Five. Five. Nine. Five. And he's got a re-roll. Yep, yep, yep. 23. I'm so sorry, Balto.

It was very close. It was very close. You know, being a here. Taylor is fucking hard. It is. It's tough. I don't know how you do this. Uh, Christoph? You are... Oh, stances. Bolt up. Defensive. Offensive. Jaspers. Offensive. Offensive. Okay. Christop, you're up.

Um, I, despite being defensive, because I'm, I'm nervous. I'm just screaming. And it is this, it's part fear, it's part rage, it's part, you know, trauma and everything that I've been through, but I am just, I see him going for Bolto, and, you know, he's, it's not focused on me. So I'm just going to do what I can to basically take this open opportunity. Yeah. And strike true, hopefully. Come on. Take him in the calf.

Pretty good. Should I? How do you have? Use your one, because you have such a, you're good with your sword. Yeah, one more. All I'll say is you don't get to keep them for next session. Yeah, that's right, this is it. No point to say for next session.

Crick and firm. Come on, please. No, there's no way. Please. I think it's gonna happen. Okay, all right, okay. Okay, it's fine. Still, what's your total? It's the same as last time. Oh, so 20. Max damage, 29.

It was 29, but you took the defensive action to 28. Last time was 27. Well, no, no, it was minus two because of my paranoia. So hold on, so real quick, it's 10 plus 18, is 28. No, no, no, sorry, plus 12 is 10, plus 12 is 22, 23, 24. Am I still leadership? Yep.

Yeah, this is the last round. Okay. This is the fifth round? No, no, no, no. Oh, it's plus left for four rounds. Yeah, yep, sorry. Sorry, so 10, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, minus 2, 26 to hit 29 damage.

29 damage. Okay. And I'm just gonna basically get next to Balto, trying to, you know, realizing that this thing wants to kill Volto, wants to finish him, but sort of helplessly trying to defend him if I can. You found an opening. Whatever you've done, whatever Bolto has done

with these candles lighting as many of them as he can possibly hold up, you find an opening and you strike true. You had just gotten done shattering the armor of this creature. breastplate and in one swift motion you smash your shield at into its like kneecap level height smashing away more armor as you do before coming in with your sword cutting across its left knee and in one swift motion for the first time you see a gush of blood it is dark almost black as night it doesn't look like your blood it's an

or that is just foul smelling. And it goes everywhere as this thing falls down on the knee that you have struck, going from looking okay to looking really rough. Jasper, you're up. I'm gonna attack. I got some cold blood shit to say to this guy. Soon you too will be a feast for crows. That's very funny. Truly it was a storm of so. Five plus 11 is 16 plus 8 is 24. Right? Hold on. That's

27 plus 5. Whoa, no, no. Sorry. Hold on. Hold on. Sorry, sorry, sorry. 17 plus 5, 23. Your offensive is 17. Yep. 23 to hit. Plus your 8. Right? Yep. So, that's 25. 25 plus 5.

The third is. Holy shit. Is that right? That's 11 plus 8. That sounds very high. No, 11 plus 8 is 19. 19 plus 5. 24. 24 to hit. 26 damage. Okay. That sounds right.

That sounds correct. This creature has taken a knee. You have to rewrite these numbers. This creature has taken a knee as Christoph has done an unbelievable amount of damage to one. whatever is beneath this armor, this humanoid, this man, this creature, you're not sure. And it's in this moment that you find the opening. And it looks up and it appears in a moment of desperation that it's miscalculated.

It was so sure of itself. It wasn't sure of these candles. It didn't know that you had almost a dozen of them. And you certainly didn't count on the absolute last-ditch effort of Balto, making the move that he did. and as you loose this bolt, it flies through the air connecting squarely with that blue glowing third eye. Jasper, what would you like to say? As I load the crossbow, I'll raise it

and I'll say that's your problem. You're all iron, and it's hard and tough, and I thought I was iron too my whole life. But the problem with iron, it's brittle. It'll break before it bends. But us and our brotherhood and our fellowship, that's the true steel. And I'll pull the trigger.

You do. And the bolt connects almost instantly after you say your final word. This bolt hits with the force in between this helmet with unbelievable force as the helmet it hits snaps back. And in a brief moment, you hear again this horrific sound of iron on iron

as it crunches and gnarles, and you can only imagine that it is this creature screaming before there is a moment where the screaming stops, and there is a silence. As it falls backwards, its armor groaning, as it collapses on the ground in a cloud of dust that slowly begins to dissipate as Balto is holding up these candles,

and there is a silence. you hear the occasional squawking of a raven but otherwise this thing is dead somehow with the help of the weird candles you've managed to fell a foredweller I walk up to it

right after it falls and I'll just start hacking and like just stabbing it over and over and over and hacking it cutting its head off like basically eviscerating it, screaming, and I basically won't stop until it's like, eviscera? Yeah, you do.

And the more that you hack and stab at this thing, it just becomes a larger and larger puddle of this horrific black group. Balto, you also realize that if you don't receive medical attention immediately, that your last-ditch effort, the adrenaline that you have, coursing through your veins is going to wear off,

and you're going to be in trouble. I fall to my knees, and I will set down each candle and into the dirt. I'll rush to boltow as well. I'll push them in to make sure that they stand, even at an angle. I just want to make sure that they stay upright.

And then looking down at the terrible wounds that I have, I think that I would endeavor to try to heal myself again. Yeah. You have... Do I think that I have time for a ritual, or do I think I need to empower this? Ooh. You think the ritual would be risky. Uh, because you're fading.

The adrenaline's wearing off. Your heartbeat was beating in your throat. You could feel it. But with each passing second, it's... Bum, bub-bum. You can feel the adrenaline, you're woozy. I will see, Christoph, it's Bolto, and I'll see he's in this blood fury,

as I will drop my crossbow on the ground, and with my cane, I'll walk over and give my shoulder to Bolto, realizing it's more important to save my friend than have any kind of weapon. I'm going to spend a manna point to cast mystical healing on myself. Yes, you can do that. Let me do a little bit of calculation here.

Okay, so you are spending one point to cast, one magic point to cast ritual healing. That's right. And you would like to increase the speed? I would like to increase the speed. Cast time. Which is going to raise it by six because I'm going to change it to instantaneous. Okay. And then I'm going to spend a manna point to bring it.

down by three. Okay. Then I'm going to spend a manna point to bring it down by three. Okay, that's three magic points, and I've got your difficulty threshold here. And I'm still calculating. And I have one last mana point. Okay. And I'm going to use it on Merlin's legacy. What? What does that mean? What do you mean? Which means that when I roll, I automatically, because I really enjoy this game raw, get to roll two dice and choose the higher two without having to spend anything. Thank you, Chat, for all of your generous donations. But Volto is on his own.

And the only thing I'll notice, I will note is that I'd like to point out before you roll, is that you are under extreme duress. You're bleeding out. This is a last-ditch effort to try to heal yourself. And we were just in combat. I appreciate that the DC may be, the difficulty threshold might be, extremely high. It's high.

But yeah, you've spent the rat, you have no magic points remaining. Do I still enjoy the Viphyve? If this is the same turn, this would be the final role of it, but it's up to our leader. If it's the same round. Let me ask you, what did you actually say

when you delivered your leadership command? Oh my gosh, I said I have the blood of the Hydra and our war. is forward is what I said. You know what? It's going to count because as long as that someone is following the orders that you give, they will get the leadership bonus.

And you're essentially commanding Balto to live. To live. Live! To see out your journey. I don't permit you to die, Bolto! Roll 2D10. It's gonna be one, two, three, four, five candles plus five leadership.

So I'm going to enjoy 5, 10 plus 7 sorcery is 17 plus my ball. Here's the first roll. Here's the second roll. I think we should use this rival. So you do not need to, you do not need to fail, confirm if you are taking the four. I have to take the four per the rules of Merlin's beard.

However, the legacy being what it is, 21. That's what I roll. That's really good. You haven't done this often. You've done it once before, and it almost didn't work. The situation now is far more dire than it's ever before. These are an ideal situation for you to be learning how to save your own life. But there's something inside you.

Right. There's something inside you that has allowed you to tap into these magics, unbeknownst to you. You don't know if it's your legacy, your, your, your, your heritage as a medicine man. You don't know if it's the training you received from Mercer. You don't know if it's the brotherly bond that all three of you are sharing in this moment. Perhaps it's a little of all.

But amongst the light from these five candles, close another golden light of the Allmother. As not brightly, not in a flash, but the light. Light almost pours from your hands and drips down onto you. Let us know a better way. As your wounds begin to close little by little, just enough to stabilize you and get your heel.

You are successful in casting your magic and saving your own life. So I believe that's six wounds? One, two, three, four, five, six. I'm still looking bad. But you're stable. You are stable. and a few moments pass

Christoph, your blood will bust, your rage, and it begins to subside, you start to get a hold of yourself. Christoph! It's dead! Dude, don't you understand, man! I'm finished! And I collapsed on the ground, and I throw my sword on the ground. Jesper, quick. Balthow.

I... Extinguish these four. Just leave one. We're okay. We're okay. We're okay. I'm just gonna- We're okay. I'm gonna use my fingers. We're okay. Just do that. Oh yeah, as I do that. We're live. Balthow. Yes. Grisal. Where's your old for this shit? Oh, you're telling me, Dunnington. These are the battles of young men. Oh, you do.

So, we're all right. That moderate won't know what's coming. No, he won't. You know, Bolto, you're a tough old bastard. You took two big hits and you're still fucking standing. They make them differently in the old country. The stock of the continent right here beside us, Crystal. And I will, with Bolto, if you'll take my shoulder, I'll reach over to Christophe and I'll offer you my hand that I have as I have

the cane with that. Right away, my lord. Jasper, you help Christoph up. Christoph, you regain your composure, perhaps offering an arm to Balto. The three of you, nearly arm in arm. You lean on each other, literally and figuratively through all of this, as you begin to press forward

while Balto holds one lone can. handle up in the mist. As you walk forward, you get ever closer to this looming castle. And as you do, the mist begins to thin. On and on, thinner and thinner, until you realize that you're standing in front of the castle. You also realize that while the mist is thinning, it's because there are these giant razors, torches of black candlelight.

The castle itself seems to be warding off the mist with the substance very similar to the candle you hold in your hand. The three of you, broken, beaten, and tired, gaze upon the castle. Castle crows nest. What seems like an almost bottomless moat-like pit surrounds the immediate,

at castle grounds. A small natural bridge is the only way forward towards this monstrous structure. The towers, the walls, the gates are all pitch black. There's no sunlight here. This place almost seems abandoned except for the occasional cacophonous noise of crows and ravens. Everywhere they roost flutter and fly in circles while also feasting on the occasional carrion. Bodies, weird creatures, and all mother knows what else. You are acutely aware of what awaits inside. You've been on your journey for several weeks now, having had no idea previously where this adventure was taking you. Through trial and tribulation, you set out to save the small town of Briarbrook and ended up right in front of one of the

most evil places in Avalon. Morda waits. But so does the knowledge that could save Briarbrook, and potentially all of Avalon. Three broken, beaten, and tired men, but not defeated men. You have each other and the bonds you've formed. You found a purpose, a mission, and you know what you must do. You steal yourselves, finding renewed resolve. Where so many before you have fallen, the three of you step forward to cross the threshold of this sanctum of evil.

And that is where we will end our tale. Trucino, folks. Wow. But we're not done. Wow. Great fucking session. Shut the fuck up. Holy shit. Can we give it up? We're not done. We're not done. But great fucking job. Leader Andy.

Leader Andy. Thank you. I want to thank you all so much for joining us on this regrettably short tale through Avalon, Camelot, and with our three brave adventures. Give it up for our players. Give it up for our players. Give it up for each other. Please. Holy shit. This party.

I hope that we gave all of you at home a wonderful sample of all of the amazing subsystems that we have here in Tainted Grail. I hope that we've piqued your interest and you're interested in checking out Song of a Dying World. There are so many things that I couldn't cover that I wanted to that are in this book. It's absolutely amazing. I would have needed 30 sessions, let alone three, to cover all of the things that I wanted to. And go support Studio Agate. Look at this. Explore how much more there is to offer here in this book.

And thank you. Thank you to my team. You guys are wonderful people. I couldn't have done this without you. I am full of emotion. And at the end of the day, I hope you had fun. Thank you, Andy. So fucking fun.

This is one of the best things we've ever done. I agree. I fucking agree. That shit was fucking pure. This was really good. Distilled Kino. That was really good. You managed to purify and distill Kino.

Fuck, I'm trying to bottle it. It was unbelievable. It's a decoction. By the way, canonically, Jasper was going to say some more cool shit. And what he was going to say was, The session's over. We're going to repeat this. As we're stepping out, we see this and we see this and say, We, we broken men, broke the foredweller. And now we will break the Raven King.

That was pretty cool. Just that like into the thing. Here, go, go, go, go, go. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. And then you say your thing. Once more into the breach, dear friends. Once more. Ch-ch-ch-ch-ch.

We're going to need more puppy lard. No! No! This kind of difficult as everybody. Oh. Who else but Bolto? It's Balto. Baltho.

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