Not Another D&D Podcast - C3 Ep. 49: Toybox (The Undersea Interlude)

Episode Date: December 1, 2023

Duck Team meets an unlikely ally and embarks on a strange mission! Callie gets swole, Sol gets sneaky, and Calder becomes a tiny king. Support us at Patreon.com/Naddpod to get acces...s to the after-show and a bunch of other Naddpod content! Get tickets to our upcoming live shows at naddpod.com/live.Music / Sound Effects Include: “A Wizard’s Tournament” by Emily Axford."Corrupted" by Emily Axford."A Humble Shopkeeper" by Emily Axford."The Smithy's Hut" by Emily Axford."Bear King's Court" by Emily Axford."The Mindflayer's Lair" by Emily Axford."Sea Beast" by Emily Axford."Two for Tea" by Emily Axford."Spooky Shafts" by Emily Axford."Unknown Tome" by Emily Axford."The Inkling Syndicate" by Emily Axford."The Gambling District" by Emily Axford.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

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Starting point is 00:01:50 Oh, wait, I was doing the short rest, Yon. Whoa. What the hell's up with that? I didn't hear the Yon. Non-patreon subscribers do not get to hear the short rest, Yon. Yeah, love your ears, rewind and listen to it again, but plug your ears. Or if you need to get it together. You gotta wake up.
Starting point is 00:02:09 You gotta wake up, man. That's the kind of mistake that we can't come back from. You're right. You're deep down in a sweet blue hole. Okay, the references are getting deeper, and this is too much. Okay, I'm your Dungeon Master, Brian Murphy joined by Jake Herwitz. Fan of the Ice Knife, but not all guppies, sex life. Called her Killed.
Starting point is 00:02:27 Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! It's healthy, it's good. And then of course, we've got Emily Axford. On an adventure looking for the Grand Mariner Business Center. Oh! Collide, a beautiful.
Starting point is 00:02:40 Yeah, Yikes. She's too deep. Wait, why is that a Yikes? Because it was not a great rhyme, but also about the business center. Okay. I thought we were razzing each other here. Come on. Too far, man.
Starting point is 00:02:54 Got you. And then of course, we've got a cold old dinner. Ooh, a face that makes people full of fear and also a brain full of ideas. It's so boofo. I've got a brain went. I've got a brain went this week. Take it back, Emily. Okay, so we, it took a bath bomb, but for your mouth, it's so bufo. I've got a brain one. I've got a brain one this week. Take it back Emily.
Starting point is 00:03:07 Okay, so it's a bath bomb, but for your mouth, we call it a brush bomb, and it just gets your teeth cleaned really slowly. What do we think? Oh, do you have to put it in your mouth? Like you put a bath bomb in a bath? It's like a jaw breaker that cleans your mouth, and you just kind of swirl it around in there
Starting point is 00:03:21 for like three hours. Does it taste like soap? It doesn't have to. It probably tastes more mint. I need it to taste like soap. You need it. How long did you say it had to be in there? I think you might as a three hours. Upwards of three hours.
Starting point is 00:03:32 It depends on, I would say. It's a long time to gargle, man. You can't live down. You're not gargling. You're just like swishing it around like a job breaker. I would say it's like a pleasant experience. You're kind of like really working it with your tongue. And maybe you can work it faster.
Starting point is 00:03:43 Fursing liquid in your mouth for three hours. It's not liquid. It's a pleasant experience. You're kind of like really working it with your tongue. And maybe you can work it faster. First thing, liquid in your mouth for three hours. It's not liquid, it's a bath bomb. It's a bath bomb for your mouth. What does it burst into? If you forgot about classic bits, like Saul having bad ideas, let's go ahead and do a little recap. Yes, please.
Starting point is 00:03:59 So last time you faced off against Daydor and his inkling syndicate goons at the aquestestrian casino. After dominating them for most of the fight, Daydor threatened the invisible cally that if she didn't back off, he'd kill one of her friends. When she didn't, Daydor... How much turn off for him? Not great.
Starting point is 00:04:17 We'll get to that. Daydor zeroed in on Saul and downed him, but Saul used his mastery of death ability to bounce back to life. Twice. Twice. Sorry. Then on Saul and downed him, but Saul used his mastery of death ability to abounce back to life. Twice. Twice. Sorry. Twice.
Starting point is 00:04:30 This caused Daydor to flee, but you were able to chase him down and subdue him. You decided to take him to Urcea to speak about the troubling amount of Alexandria magic present within them. You loaded him up on Calder's back, but as you headed to the train, Dator started to act strangely and was suddenly killed by a far off psychic attack, likely Therocrec are trying to keep his agents quiet. As the crowd freaked out, around you, Saul grabbed a vile from his pocket and you escaped to Old Guppies apartment. After a beautiful night of love making amongst the old guppies, you escaped.
Starting point is 00:05:09 Not that beautiful. Yeah, not that beautiful for Calder. You staked out the Grand Mariner Hotel. Saul did some invisible reconnaissance to find Gromdahl's room. Calder stumbled upon a vandalized puppet shop and Cali discovered that the vial had some of Alexandra It's magic in it and could explain how Dadeor was able to control it. Armed with new info, Callie became a businesswoman and talked her way
Starting point is 00:05:31 to a room below Gromdahl's suite. You rode up together with a puppet bellhop and snuck in Honey Suckel with a reduced spell. Once up there, Honey Suckel burrowed into the room above you, and you were able to investigate. There, you found that Gromdall had been using magic items to scry on Syrah, Cali's sister. You also found a discarded business card from the vandalized puppet shop, saying that, quote, there's another way, and leaving an address.
Starting point is 00:06:03 As you left for the elevator to follow that lead, you found that you had been followed by an inkling syndicate assassin posing as a piano player. He'd been killed by the puppet bellhop whose head rolled to you and yelled about how he'd saved you, and that's where we are now. Ha, okay, everyone back through the hole I think, right? I think I want to grab this head, if we're gonna leave,
Starting point is 00:06:28 and I want to use my divine sense to try to understand what it is. Sure. Like what animated it? And if it's still speaking, I'm gonna say, thank you so much, I just think. You're welcome, ha ha ha. Do you need a buddy?
Starting point is 00:06:42 Do you, are you going to slowly pass in my arms? Hmm, I might, I'm not sure. I've never lost my head before. Ha ha ha! What's your daddy? Toybox? Okay, Toybox. I don't like this guy.
Starting point is 00:06:56 What? What I helped you, friend. He did so helpfully. Thank you so much. Where does Toybox live? Toybox lives. And the puppet head gives you the address that you found on the back of that business card. Damn it.
Starting point is 00:07:12 Okay, thank you so much. What floor? Can you lower the volume of your voice? Is that box for like a knob or something? I reach my hand up the head so it looks like I'm puppeteering him. No. No. No, or something. I reach my hand up the head, so it looks like I'm puppeteering him. No. No. No. No.
Starting point is 00:07:28 It's Josh's comes on his. Oh, sorry, sorry. Sorry. Colder pret falls backwards. So yeah, so you guys are at the door of this elevator. The puppet bellhop and the assassin have destroyed each other in this close space. There's blood sprayed along the wall from the assassin,
Starting point is 00:07:44 and the puppets obviously been beheaded. You see its body is tangled up with the assassin's body but the dismembered head is in Kelly's hands now. Just still kind of trying to do his job. Shall we take this to the lobby? I don't think we should go down in the elevator. That's a bad look. Is there another elevator or is it just the one? Oh, yeah, is there a service elevator? Yes, I can take you down the service elevator. Great. Let's do that with your name. Bell hop. Hi, Bell hop. It's really nice to meet you point us to the elevator.
Starting point is 00:08:19 Okay. Is there's no volume? No volume at all. Can I just like experimentally put the head on top of Foster? No, Kelly, I bet you do not. Okay, that's just absolutely terrifying. Just bump it head on a little duck. Just keeps waddling around and running around Calder. Go after Uncle Calder! Go after Uncle Calder! I don't see that.
Starting point is 00:08:43 Do you think that you're saying jokes? Is that what's going on here? Are you just laughing to make us feel more comfortable? Oh, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, The smile is not working. There's not like a puppet clown somewhere in this town, is there? Yeah, is that like a district with clowns? No. Okay, just make it. There has to be another way. Is there a third way? So, Callie, to answer your earlier question when you said off the divine sense, you're not getting a good or evil vibe off of this,
Starting point is 00:09:22 this is a little bit more of a perhaps detect magic, but you're getting like a transmutation vibe. This is just purely kind of a scientific creation. And when you're putting your sunglasses on, the ones that detect Alex Andrade, no Alex Andrade on this being. Cool. Do these puppets work, would we know this
Starting point is 00:09:40 by infusing like some of your psyche or like your psionic energy into them. Is that how they work? I know that this is like a psionic town. You see Foster turns around with the puppet head on him. Oh my god. And the puppet head goes, yes, exactly. We've been awakened just a little bit by Papa Toybox.
Starting point is 00:10:02 Oh, I actually find you really in there. Thanks. I was just going to say that. I, I actually find you really in there. Thanks! I was just gonna say that, I too. What about you? Looks like Alder. Huh? I'm trying to warm up to you, and I don't know if we'll get there,
Starting point is 00:10:16 but maybe getting off the duck could be a start. Oh, he looks so good though. Foster, you like having a mon, right? You hear deep underneath the puppet head. Broom! Okay, I'll just walk ahead. I'll walk ahead towards the service element. Great, I think maybe if we put some clown makeup
Starting point is 00:10:32 on the puppet, that'll make Calder feel more comfortable. It will not, I'm walking ahead, but I can hear you. So, Calder walks ahead. You see Foster follows where the puppet is looking and takes you guys down a different hallway towards a door that says employees only. Foster props it open, just kind of barrels through it as the puppet laughs. And you guys go down a service elevator that takes you into a back alley behind the Grand Mariner.
Starting point is 00:11:02 And back here, you actually see Kenna and Riharis are waiting for you guys. Okay, I don't reference anything. Kenna sees the puppet head on Foster. Oh my God! Yeah, okay. So good news, it seems like someone's looking out for us. Toybox apparently has our back.
Starting point is 00:11:23 At least against the inkling syndicate. Yeah, Riharis, do you know anything about the Papa Toybox? You see Riharis, he's super chill, but he takes on like his eyes going a little bit wide. Whoa. That's the biggest reaction I've ever seen from him. Yeah, are you okay?
Starting point is 00:11:41 Is something wrong with the vibe? Okay, I don't know if things have changed, but last I knew... Yeah? Toybox was in the inkling syndicate. Oh. But... Have you heard any rumblings of like a schism within the inkling syndicate, those who want to work with Alexander and those that don't? That all sounds super new to me, so I don't know anything about that.
Starting point is 00:12:07 What I do know about Toybox is that Toybox used to be called a dance, and he was like a diplomat for the CLs, but then kind of broke off from the collective and came here and joined the Inglings Syndicate. So, Toybox is a guy. There's a singular, there is a Papa toybox. I don't know, I guess so. Would you be comfortable if we tried to meet with them? Oh yeah, I mean, you know, if we could all come together again, that would be cool. Do you want like an errand or something to do in the meantime? No, I feel like it's time to heal these wounds. That'd be cool. Do you want like an errand or something to do in the meantime? So you don't have to be implicated in all this.
Starting point is 00:12:46 I feel like it's time to heal these wounds. All right. All right, man. Yeah, these wounds need a little sunlight, you know? Yeah, let's get a lot in the open. All right. I can walk ahead of everybody. Don't worry, I can lead the way.
Starting point is 00:13:02 Papa, Papa two. No, no, no. Did you see Foster Waddle's next to you? It was me. Call her. Seems to be kind of taking on the puppet's emotions. I lean over to Saul and I'm like, I kind of think I might have made art.
Starting point is 00:13:14 Right? Right. This is your baby. Uh-huh, we're worse. Call her Waddle's along next to the duck. So you guys travel to the address on the back of the business card here. And just past the vandalized Puppet Emporium, you find a huge compound. There's a big wrought iron gate.
Starting point is 00:13:35 And beyond it, you see a mansion with large pillars, gas lamps, a light the courtyard with strange clockwork flowers move in a way that gives off the illusion of wind going through them. There are several puppet guards patrolling the outside. They all look like big toy soldiers. Muskets at their side as they march back and forth with red glowing eyes. And out in front of the gates, there are blood stains in the pavement. It looks like there have been fights here recently. Oh, I've always known puppets to be scary and violent. Now it's confirmed.
Starting point is 00:14:10 I say we just walk up to a guard. Yeah? And just be like, hey, we have something that belongs to Toybox. And we want to meet him. You walk up to the gate and immediately see one of the toy soldiers locks in on you. Scanning, scanning, potential enemy detected. Oh. No, you were gonna give me like a out of 10 how hot I am.
Starting point is 00:14:33 Six. Wow. Hey, hey, I'm Frank Kelly. I'm back. You piece of shit. I thought you meant hot as in hot or cold. How much of an enemy you are. Oh, don't try to cover your tracks now
Starting point is 00:14:46 We know she's gorgeous. Do you let me fix your bags? Kelly move here. Do you know what I meant? I don't know that you do sir. We're tens across the board Prepare to fight your tens. Okay. Never have I'm Entreated such in hospitality. Oh my god. Kelly. you're still wearing your wool sweater. That's the issue. Oh my god. You're right, I'm dressed like a bland business woman. I thought you were just a business woman. I know, I know.
Starting point is 00:15:12 Scan again. I'll go change, I go change, I come back. Scan again, do it again. You see the puppet scans again. Eight. Oh my god! Are you kidding me? I'm sorry! You see the puppet scans again. Eight? What? Oh my god! Are you kidding me? I'm sorry!
Starting point is 00:15:28 You should have hired my friend! I'm sorry! What do you want me to do? You want me to think you're a bigger threat. I don't get it. If you're a ten, I have to attack. Same, my friend is a smoke show. That is my programming.
Starting point is 00:15:40 That is my smokest. If you're a smoke show, then I will have to shoot my musket at you. Something must be done in this world. There are prices for being hot. I can't interface with this call to take over. Okay. I knew puppets weren't to be trusted, but I've never known somebody to be so blatantly too plicitous, you lying schedule. My friend is a ten.
Starting point is 00:16:04 I literally don't know how to lie. The greatest lie I ever told was saying that you were an eight instead of a six because you don't appear that threatening Your weapons are not out and you're not wearing inkling syndicate gear. Who do you consider a ten? Okay, you remind who is a ten. Someone with a squid tattoo on their neck or a squid bag over their face. So you like girls with tattoos I don't like anyone I actually do have tattoos I hold out my 10 to I think we're misunderstood each other I am yeah and you know what I tend to be attracted to those that don't understand me so I'm following that I. I don't fuck. I just absolutely don't fuck.
Starting point is 00:16:45 I don't think people are hot. I'm a puppet. You don't have to fuck to be like a subjective guy. Yeah, that's OK. I'm not that though. I'm a toy soldier, right? OK, I need you to calm down. OK.
Starting point is 00:16:58 I'm better game your spinning. Yeah, it's working. I do not have a game. You're a mastermind first off. OK. I have to give kudos and credit where it's due. You're a fucking genius. I'm not trying to be. Well, clearly we need like a second opinion here.
Starting point is 00:17:13 Is there someone else we could talk to, maybe like a more of a biological being that might have like a better sense of who's hot? There are no biological beings here. I think we actually are here because we want to speak with Papa Toybox if we can, we found one of his children and I nudge phosphory. Foster goes forward but you do see that the millup puppet is starting to act faulty. So we found him, he'd been murdered by someone from Grandal Bronzebeard,
Starting point is 00:17:45 so I don't know if that inflames any sort of like past tensions. Yes, talk about a 10 out of 10. Really? Grandal? I walk away. I look at him. I walk away. I walk away.
Starting point is 00:17:56 As you say that you want to talk to Papa Toybox, go ahead and give me a persuasion check. May I use my MSR of Peace, A.K. MSS of beasts. MSS of B.S. A.K. MSS of puppets. 33. Holy shit. Whoa. Got a 19 on the die.
Starting point is 00:18:14 It's a 10 out of 10. Wow. I instantly am charmed by your overwhelming charisma. That could be dangerous. You are. Oh, a nine. Don't say, don't say we're not, because there are. Oh, a nine. Don't say, don't say we're hot,
Starting point is 00:18:26 because there are personality you piece of shit. Someone else, I can't. Did this guy read like a pickup book or something like that? Just let us go talk to whoever made you. I have a bone to pick. Very well. You see this toy soldier opens up the gates and you see quickly they close up behind you and more guards kind of go out and look both ways looking for inkling syndicate members.
Starting point is 00:18:50 You guys are brought past the clockwork garden and through this beautiful intricate door with dozens of gears and locks. Everything here has wild attention to detail. And as the toy soldier approaches, the gears begin spinning, the various locks pop open, and as the door creaks a jar. You see a large open mansion covered in clutter. There are fine pieces of artwork on the walls, pictures of various humanoids, not just sea elves, people from all over the world. You see paintings of like old Galatoron, the city built on a mountain that collapsed a long time ago. You see dwarves of iron deep, fellow elves, a ladren orcs humans.
Starting point is 00:19:30 You see nice furniture, but there's a lot of clutter. It looks like toy box does not have a lot of guests and that the entire mansion is used as a workshop. There are unfinished puppets up on hooks all over the place. Oh god. Collar, are you gonna be okay? No. Fuck.
Starting point is 00:19:51 I give him a bar to inspiration. One of the puppets up on a hook grabs Galdor. Oh, come on. Swat it away. Smack it down. Can I have done a perception check as we were walking past the clockwork garden? Yeah. I'm not looking for anything in particular. I just like feel like I've had a, I'm just curious about it.
Starting point is 00:20:11 Yeah, totally. 11. 11. Can I, uh, I want to smell one of the clockwork flowers? Okay. And I'll do that as perception. Great. Ooh.
Starting point is 00:20:20 Uh, that's going to be age 22. Yeah, you do weirdly get the fresh scent of flowers. It seems like they are magically enchanted to give off a scent. You smell this like beautiful, earthy, perfumey smell. What's aromatic? It's lovely, it's like a perfume gland in there. Interesting.
Starting point is 00:20:36 Can I pluck it? Please don't pick out of people's gardens. I'm sorry, okay, you're right, it was rude. I know, that was not 10 behavior, I apologize. That actually would be 10 behavior. Why, your standards are so confusing, I can't say. I think we are not connecting on what being a 10 to B, a guard is. I pluck the flower and I sniff deeply and I wink at the guard.
Starting point is 00:21:03 Wow, an 8 and a half. Saw clenches his fists. I pluck the flower and I sniff deeply and I wink at the guard. Wow, and a half. Hahaha. Hahaha. Saw clenches his fists. Yeah, so inside here, you see that there's... What kind of flowers does he replicate? He replicates, they look like sunflowers. Really? Yeah, they're like gold on the outside
Starting point is 00:21:19 and there's this kind of like brown middle that looks like, everything looks like it was handmade and looks like the gears inside of a clock. I think of that little sunflower that I made a promise to so long ago. Oh yeah! This is reminiscent of flowers that you would see in the Fey Wilden stuff.
Starting point is 00:21:38 Interesting. The flowers also kind of move up their own accord there. Yeah, but the, I mean, this is like clockwork. So it's almost like they're moving by someone else's design. And it feels like in the Feywild, they are autonomous. They're moving by their own design. OK, so this is like a perversion of that,
Starting point is 00:21:57 so what you're getting at. I don't want to jump to that conclusion. I'm keeping an open mind. Right now, I'm just appreciating and seeing like some flowers. So you guys spend some time in this garden and then go into this living room. And finally you are approached by a strange puppet. Looks like a work in progress. It is a clockwork for being with no outer shell. It has no clothing or fake skin. You can see all of the complex inner workings.
Starting point is 00:22:22 It's whole body just looks like the inside of a clock, just thousands of little gears and springs all moving and clicking. Its eyes are bulging out of its head. It's got that look of an animatronic without its like fake skin on. And its head shows this complicated clockwork brain that lights up with magical pulses as it speaks. Welcome. I am toy box. I sense that we may be able to help
Starting point is 00:22:47 each other. Can we do an insight? Is this actually Papa toy box? Yeah, go ahead and do it inside, check. Nah, 20. Oh, shit. Yeah. I'll do it too, just for fun. That's a six. It's a three? Okay. Uh, Calder and salt, you can't get a read on this dude at all. Callie, you sense a strong source of magic. I'll even say that you're Paladin Divine Sense. Pick up that this is the source of the magic
Starting point is 00:23:19 that you sensed on the bell hop. And does it feel human? The source of the power feels human. Okay. What call there was talking about the forever body? Yes. This is a prototype that I hope to someday be able to offer to everyone. Wow, you're hearing's really good. Yes, well, you were speaking right in front of me. And you didn't say anything about you whispering. Sorry, it's rude. Sorry, it's rude. Sorry, it's rude.
Starting point is 00:23:47 Sorry, it's rude. Sorry, it's rude. Sorry, it's rude. Sorry, it's rude. Sorry, it's rude. Sorry, it's rude. Sorry, it's rude. Sorry, it's rude.
Starting point is 00:23:55 Sorry, it's rude. Sorry, it's rude. Sorry, it's rude. Sorry, it's rude. Sorry, it's rude. Sorry, it's rude. Sorry, it's rude. Sorry, it's rude.
Starting point is 00:24:03 Sorry, it's rude. Sorry, it's rude. Sorry, it's rude. Sorry, it's rude. Sorry, it's rude. Sorry, it's rude. Did you program your life to make people more comfortable? Is there any way to tweak it to lower it? Yes, if I still had my prime body, I could tweak it, but... I want to say that I really love your garden. Thank you very much. It is like the gardens that I used to enjoy in the Feywild. Is that where you're from? That's what I was wondering. If you were re-creating a bit of the Feywild. Is that where you're from? That's what I was wondering if you were re-creating a bit of the Feywild here. I am from Suner originally, but I have traveled all over mainland Bohemia. And the Feywild. And the Feywild as well. Wow. And what brought
Starting point is 00:24:38 you back here, nostalgia? You see, it very tough to read Toy Box's face, literally like a half finished machine. Yeah. But when you say that, it takes Toy Box long enough to respond to that, that you sense like a sadness. There's like, he gets like a far off look and goes, I used to travel the world on behalf of Suner, and I spent hundreds of years experiencing this beautiful world, only to learn that so many people have so little time in it. So many stories, but they always have the same ending. Death.
Starting point is 00:25:22 May I ask you, someone so well-traveled, what was your favorite place that you ever saw? Well, I suppose the Feywild was for a while, and then Iron Deep was for a while, and Galatoron was for a while, and the Crick was for a while. Anywhere you just want to skip. What's your mis-list? My mis-list. Just like a town. It's like just okay. It's like, you know, for passing through maybe a spend-a-night there.
Starting point is 00:25:54 Yeah. Esri is fine. On a contemplative day. Yeah. We lived there for a long time. Oh, I'm so sorry. So yes, I came back here to cure death. Wow, I see.
Starting point is 00:26:09 I have done terrible things for the greater good, worked with the inkling syndicate, but I need money and I need power, and I need influence if I'm going to see my plan through. Are you still working with the inkling syndicate? No. We have recently parted ways. Our interests no longer align. What are their interests? Alexandria.
Starting point is 00:26:29 Looks at you, Cali, and Nautz. If you're against Alexandria, I would wager that our interests are aligned. Yes. Well, I left this Syndicate once. They started dabbling with magic. That would destabilize our city. Chaos is bad for my plans. Thero and his followers have been consuming and elixir enchanted with Alexandrite magic.
Starting point is 00:26:52 By limiting the dose and using his own psychic powers, he believes he can use the power of Alexandrite without giving up his own autonomy. This is, of course, madness. Alexandrite wouldn't have given up her power if she weren't going to get something in return. May I ask you? Uh, did you approach Gromdol Bronsbyt? And I show him that there is another way. I did.
Starting point is 00:27:17 We were allies once within the Inglings Syndicate. And I heard that Gromdol was back in town and looking for a plane shift. I tried to reach out to him, but he has ignored my requests and once again aligned himself with Therro. Where would someone go to get a plane shift? Well, I was hoping to me, but it looks like he is gone to meet with Therro Crackarn. I see. And you say your interests didn't align, but what were your interests?
Starting point is 00:27:44 What did you want to do with this forever body? My interests is to cure death so that everyone has a backup body that they can upload their conscious into and live forever. And in order to do that, I need stability and for the city to not be Edward. I see. When our bodies laugh like that, they could. Oh, sorry, my laugh isn't finished. Oh!
Starting point is 00:28:14 Yeah. I'm going to see more like you were falling. Right. Well, I've been using my small army to keep the syndicate tied up. But now that Gromdall has shown up, I fear Krakkarn has equipped the powers of the city. The inkling syndicate's inner circle cannot measure up to the power of the octo-magi, but with Gromdall turning the creatures down here against them, it might be enough to push them over the edge.
Starting point is 00:28:39 So it seems like something's brewing. Are things about to escalate? Is there about to be like a civil war? I think it is likely that the arrow is planning something. He would not give Gromdal something without getting something in return. Okay. So, where do you go?
Starting point is 00:28:59 Where do we find it? Okay, if I move some of these papers and sit down. What? I was just gonna sit down on the couch with there's like a lot of papers everywhere We're just talking for a long time. I thought we'd just you just in okay. Yes, do you sit great? I was just making sure it's okay looks at Caldwell and Cali These papers look important Yeah, maybe you should just stand up soft
Starting point is 00:29:21 Well, where can we find there? Oh So, where can we find Darrow? Darrow's lair is in a well-fall at the bottom of the sea, beneath the city. He will sense any humanoid approaching it, and unfortunately, he's even familiar enough with me that he can sense my magic on a puppet. But he wouldn't be able to sense if someone else were doing the puppeteering.
Starting point is 00:29:45 So... Not call their shutters. So what are you suggesting that we go spy on him for you? The bell hop reported to me that someone was sniffing around Gromdahl's room and I thought perhaps we could be of use to each other. I could provide you with the puppet bodies and you could provide me with weakening the inner circle of the inkling syndicate.
Starting point is 00:30:11 So we would like promote pilot our own bodies? That is correct. That's sick. That's absolutely sick. All there we have to, we have to puddle up and we need to do a quick therapy session to get you over your puppet thing because this is sounding really cool. It's interesting.
Starting point is 00:30:25 I wonder if that helps me confront my fear of puppets. Actually, puppeteering somebody. You could see that puppets are your friend. Oh. Oh, it's not, I don't know if it's helping. Sorry. Called their backs up and trips over a stack of papers. Oh.
Starting point is 00:30:43 Oh, so he's a lot to say. You see, Toybox brings you through another door into a back workshop and you see more puppets up on hooks. Mechanical parts are spayed around everywhere. He removes a curtain to reveal three intricate clockwork puppets. And he goes, there are three options for you. There's the assassin puppet. You see a puppet with a thick glass and bronze carapace
Starting point is 00:31:08 protecting the complicated gears. It's sort of a burnt orange color with blue on the side. And it looks like a short but rangel person with long arms. It's got a small arcane battery that glows green in its midsection, toy box hovers his hand over it and its body moves as he describes it. Comes equipped with a hidden blade tipped with acid. You see the puppet's eyes a light,
Starting point is 00:31:32 then it flicks its wrist to reveal a dripping dagger. Whoa. Acidic blow darts. The puppet blows out of its mouth and sends a dart shooting into the wall across the room, barely grazing calder. Wow, okay, the puppets are kind of cool. And it specializes in stealth.
Starting point is 00:31:48 You see, the assassin contorts its body so that the blue sides of its bronze limbs suddenly flare out to look like fins. And from a profile perspective, it looks indistinguishable from a large fish, unless you were up very close. I have to say, I love this. If this was a warhammer mini, I would play it.
Starting point is 00:32:07 Oh, I am a huge fan of Warhammer. Because he shows their plague marine army. Oh, that of course, there's the brute puppet. He gestures to a tall barrel-chested puppet with big meaty fists that look like cinder blocks. Concussed fists that'll knock down its opponents. You see it uppercuts a nearby dummy and knocks it over. The ability to shield, it's more vulnerable cohorts. You see toybox goes to punch the assassin puppet and the brute blocks him absorbing the
Starting point is 00:32:37 hit. And most importantly, exceptional durability. Toybox lets out an electric shock and the brute just stands there and takes it. Finally, there's the powder keg. You see a short, stocky bronze clockwork puppet with an enormous green arcane battery that protrudes like a belly. The powder keg is completely unexceptional. Except, Toybox flicks his fingers, creating a light, and you see the puppet begins gathering energy around its battery, it begins shaking uncontrollably and flickering with power. Self-destruct cancel.
Starting point is 00:33:11 Toybox holds his hand out, and the powder keg returns to normal. Oh, that's what that was. Oh yes. All of the arcane batteries will explode upon the puppet's destruction, but the powder keg is the most powerful, especially if you take the time to gather some power. So how does this work? Do we put on like goggles and suits and we like remote pilot them?
Starting point is 00:33:30 There's a chair and a little crown thing, but yes, very similar, same idea. I can see it in a crown. All right. You see leads you over to, you see that there are several chairs that are linked up to electrodes with like strange psychic crowns.
Starting point is 00:33:46 I think I reach out a shaky hand to try to touch the brute puppet. Great. I have stats here if you guys want to check out which puppet you would like to play. Oh my god. Okay, so while you guys are looking over the papers, I will tell the audience kind of what they can expect from the different characters. So the puppet assassin has very similar to the assassin. Monster block has assassinate during its first turn. The assassin adds advantage on attack rolls against any creature that doesn't take an attorn.
Starting point is 00:34:16 Any hit the assassin scores against a surprise creature is a critical hit. It has evasion, it has sneak attack, it has an explosive core that'll do sixd6 damage if they fail a deck save. It's got a hidden blade that can do a d6 plus 7d6 of acid damage. It's got a blow dart that will do the same, but it's a d8 instead of a d6. And it can also disassemble and turn into a snake essentially. The puppet brute has a slam attack that has the potential to knock people
Starting point is 00:34:46 prone. It can also turn into a snake, which is basically a slow stealthy option. And it also has a bonus action called guard that is actually taken from Star Wars 5E. You can defend an ally within 5 feet of you. When you take the guard action, you focus entirely on preventing attacks from reaching your ally. Till the start of your next turn, any attacker will made against the guarded ally has disadvantage if you can see the attacker as long as the ally is within five feet of you.
Starting point is 00:35:12 And if the attack would hit a guarded ally, you can have it hit you instead. So pretty good bodyguard stuff. And then the powder keg has commoner stats, 10 across the board, but then has an explosive core. Instead of doing six D6, does 12 D6 when it's destroyed. But if you actually take an action to self-destruct,
Starting point is 00:35:33 it will power up and do 24 D6 of damage, which on average is 72 damage if they fail their decks saving throw. All three have the power to turn into this like slow stealthy snake, only the assassin can move quickly while stealthy because it can turn into a fish essentially. I think it looks like the assassin is by far the strongest, so I feel like if we could at least do two of those, however Kaliope is really drawn to the brute. Great.
Starting point is 00:36:05 I think she's really wanting the chance to just like be big and strong. Is there one model of each puppet or could we choose? You can choose these are just display models, but if you want multiple of the same, we can do that. Culler, what do you feel? And I feel like, maybe you want to do rock paper scissors or wrestle for it? I want this bomb. I want to plant this thing and blow it all up.
Starting point is 00:36:27 Yeah. I Did not expect that. I love that. This is great. Yeah, you could control a puppet blowing up. Yeah, it's perfect. I guess I'll go assassin then. Sweet. So Saul, Kali and Calder, you guys go to sit in these seats and as you do, Riharis looks a little uneasy and goes, hey, at dance, we haven't talked in a while, I just want to make sure it's like everything cool. And Toybox looks at Riharus and goes, I'm more than good. I am fulfilling my purpose. Okay.
Starting point is 00:37:10 And you see Kenna walks over to you guys as you're sitting down and goes, I think if it's okay with you guys, I might stay behind to shake you guys awake in case anything fishy happens overall this end here. That was some really good chain-a-level humor right there by the way with the fishy pun. Yeah, I was a little bit of a pun. I think that's a great idea. I was gonna suggest that in fact. And yeah. Actually, can I made you a little thing?
Starting point is 00:37:39 Since you're part of the team now, just something I've been working on. It's like a golf club cover, but for your hammer, so when you're not using it, it just like gives it like a comfy little knitted pocket to be in. Oh, it's got a pom-pom on top. You know, I'm just looking at it and knowing how much she loves to use her hammer. You know, maybe it's like on holidays. Right, yes. It's festive. It's for storage purposes. You know, and it's like on holidays. Right, yes. It's festive, it's for storage purposes. You know, when it's like sheeped up
Starting point is 00:38:08 in your back or something like that. Rout warriors always want to hide their very cool weapons under pop-hop exactly. That's what I was thinking. Thank you, Mr. Buffel. I'm gonna leave Honey Suckle with you and a little bit of Bartik inspiration. You see as you magically enchants Kenna with Bartik inspiration, Toybox looks at you and goes,
Starting point is 00:38:35 you can also enchants the puppets as if they were normal humanoids. It might be good to load them up with whatever spells you have here because you won't be able to do it once you take over. Okay, I'll give Kenna a bardic and I'll give each of the puppet to bardic. Sweet. I'll go over to them. Hello, my name is Kaliip Petricor. We appreciate your service.
Starting point is 00:38:57 And I just, I think you all look really buff. As you give them inspiration, you see toy box makes their mouths go, haha thanks! Okay. I think it'll laugh like that during the mission because I might be like a security hazard. No, that's just something I did for fun. Oh, great. Sweet.
Starting point is 00:39:21 I can also give them pass without trace. Oh, right. That can also give them past without trace. Oh, right. That will last for an hour. Sweet, you cast past without trace on all of the puppets. I'm gonna do it on Kenna, as well, and Riharis, and Honey Suckle. Oh, no, no, no, nice. So after you guys have fully enchanted your puppets,
Starting point is 00:39:42 toybox goes over and helps outfit you guys in these chairs. You are connected to these electrodes that go, it's almost like a mocap suit that, we're kind of like, almost like being in the matrix or something, we're like linked up into a pod. Oh, do we die in real life if we die in the mission? Great question. Oh good question.
Starting point is 00:40:02 Just before I get plugged in. No, the opposite. You just wake up here. Can I just do a quick like insight check on this because it's like, we're plugging our bodies into something and I want to make sure that it's not going to be like mining our biological information. Go ahead and give me an investigate perception
Starting point is 00:40:21 or insight check. I'm going to go ahead and give Colt of the hell back and then say, Colt, I'm gonna go ahead and give Cole to the hellbax and say, I'm just feeling obviously this is a bit wary of a situation. You want to do it like a quick one, so that. Great, I'm not the only one that doesn't trust puppets. That is a dirty 20. With a dirty 20, you look around, you see Rioris is dubious of toybox,
Starting point is 00:40:46 but seems dubious of toybox because toybox left like the collective of the city to go pursue an almost impossible goal. So, I mean, I definitely understand. I'm not fully on board with pursuing and being deaf, but I think that doesn't mean that, yeah. You guys get the sense looking around and everything, does not look like this saps your body
Starting point is 00:41:12 or anything like that. You've seen things like this, I'll say, in Esri. So, Calder, you look at the tech here, very similar to how you might pilot some kind of bodily drone in Esri. So you look at this and you get the sense that you can trust Toy Box in so much that Toy Box does not like the inkling syndicate
Starting point is 00:41:33 and wants things to go back to the status quo here. This could be a villain in somebody else's campaign, but maybe isn't in yours if that makes sense. I don't need everyone I work with to be like 100% exactly. Totally, totally. Listen, we've used a lot of morally compromised tools on our day. Yeah, they just need to take my enemy.
Starting point is 00:41:52 Yes. So that does appear to be what is going on here. So you guys hook up to these electrodes and everything. And after a moment, you feel your muscle twitch fibers begin to activate, and your consciousness feels sort of divided between the puppets and yourself. As you go to move your hand, you move the puppets hand, and then you slowly fade from consciousness and you begin to see through the eyes of the puppet.
Starting point is 00:42:22 Kali, you embody this brute, this big like eight-foot tall. Oh my god, I feel so fucking powerful. I punch a wall. Whoa, whoa, whoa. God, is this what you feel like all the time? I usually feel pretty medium-sized. I'm not this big, am I? I feel amazing.
Starting point is 00:42:41 I usually feel pretty medium-sized. I'm not this big, am I? I feel amazing. And Saul, you take on the assassin. You feel even lighter than usual. You feel yourself kind of naturally go to bend into corners and things like that. Very good at hiding. You feel this natural inclination.
Starting point is 00:43:01 Not so different from being able to inflate your fists to be able to have these like knives come out of your wrists. Oh, my practice. Shing, shing, shing, shing, shing, shing, shing, shing, shing, shing. And called her, you take on the powder keg. You feel a extreme concentration of power in your like belly, essentially? Your core. Yeah, in your core.
Starting point is 00:43:23 Core strength. So much core strength, but your core, core strength. So much core strength, but it's all held there. You are quite literally a glass cannon. It is covered in thick glass, and you have powerful magic underneath it. That's essentially a high level fireball scroll that could be set off by someone else.
Starting point is 00:43:42 So you might even feel a little bit of like pressure to keep this thing from going off. I don't know if I'm feeling the power, I'm feeling kind of a very delicate air trigger. That's what I'm feeling. I bend the knee to the powder keg, and I say, my assignment is clear, tiny king, I will keep you safe.
Starting point is 00:44:04 Wow. And I guard the powder assignment is clear, tiny king. I will keep you safe. Wow. And I got the power to kick. Oh, yeah. I'm getting nearly years to be a dollar to be. You were the ball, and we will get you to the end zone. And yet, you guys can see now when you're in this workshop, again, kind of like the Matrix, your real bodies are inside these pods hooked up to all of these like electrodes or whatnot.
Starting point is 00:44:27 You see yourself resting there. You see that Kenna has the, she has her cover for the hammer off. That's for like when you're sleeping. Of course, yeah. That's for travel, obviously. Yeah, travel. Which you'll use it later.
Starting point is 00:44:39 Try to stay alert. Ah, diplomatic assignments. Diplomatic, of course. Yeah, you see, you can say like, oh, when you get ready for battle, you'd be like, the socks coming off. And that's how we'll know you're serious. Wow.
Starting point is 00:44:50 Yeah, you see, that's really good. Kenna is guarding your bodies as is honey suckle and Riharis is standing there and talking a little bit to toy box. As you guys take on your puppet bodies, you see toy box approaches you and goes, you should know from the puppet's memory that I've implanted where the whale fall is,
Starting point is 00:45:11 so you will be able to locate it. Do you feel you're up to the task? I feel I'm up to so many fucking tasks. I've start doing pushups and pushups. Hell yeah, you feel... I'm tired of this. Can I try to run up the wall? You crashed through it.
Starting point is 00:45:27 Please, I think that was a modebearing beam. Kelly, carry me. I jump into Kelly's robot arms. I bend down and I scoop up my tiny king keg. Kelly, king keg. I don't need the bad guys. Let's go bowling. Sweet.
Starting point is 00:45:46 So, Toybox leads you to a basement in his compound. And there you find a hatch leading down a ladder that will take you into the sea below. You enter the hatch and Toybox waves to you, says good luck, and then locks the door behind you. The tunnel fills with water, and you are now free to exit the city into the sea. I practiced my swimming. Great. You swim ahead.
Starting point is 00:46:12 Get it both out. And you do notice that as you guys pop out into the water, everyone except for Saul, who is the assassin, is very obviously a robot swimming around down here. I look like a beautiful sunfish. Oh. Okay, should we? Wait, so the assassin one is not a robot? The assassin one can give off the appearance of a fish.
Starting point is 00:46:35 Has like a stealth ability. Okay, so despite the thrill of being eight feet tall, I retract into a tiny snake. Great. I will do the exact same thing. Just like you can hide on my belly as if you're just two remoras sucking on me. So, Calder and Cali break down and their bodies compress into these like snake-like beings and Cali's is like still like five feet long has to like wrap around Saul's assassin body and Calder's is smaller is like still like five feet long, has to like wrap around Saul's assassin body.
Starting point is 00:47:06 And Calder's is smaller, is like only like two feet, but still has this big like arcane belly on it. Looks like a snake that swallowed something. I'm small, but I pack a bunch, everybody. Ha, ha, ha. And you guys float out from under Toybox's compound and find yourself in the open sea once again. You see colorful coral and abundant sea life and after following your own instincts towards where the puppets know the
Starting point is 00:47:32 whale fall to be, it eventually comes into view. You see a gargantuan unmoving whale on the ocean floor that has sprouted an entire ecosystem around it. You see smaller fish and barnacles clinging to it. Everybody go ahead and give me perception checks. Using actually your wisdom and intelligence are still yourself. Oh, that is cool. So you can use those stats. Yeah, that's great.
Starting point is 00:47:57 And I will also say that the whale fall is inspired by Emily who said that she wanted to use a whale fall as a lyric. That's right. And that's that that's very cool use a Whalefall as a lyric. That's right. That's very cool. Didn't have a chance too. And I'm really happy that it's happening. She gave me the green light.
Starting point is 00:48:11 It's a 23. Okay. 16. Sweet. That's going to be a four for me. Plus four, so eight, but you know. Sweet. Yeah, so you're trying to float casually.
Starting point is 00:48:21 You see a bunch of fish around you and you're trying to just like blend in with everybody. You've got these two snakes that are wrapped around you and call there, you are able to get a clear look with a DC-20 check on your perception. You see a lot of stuff. You see that this whale down here, its mouth is a little bit open,
Starting point is 00:48:40 and inside you can see a light. So it does seem like there's someone in there. Outside of the whale's mouth, you see two of these buff goons guarding. They're the Bane-type goons that you saw with Dator. You also see a school of fish that is acting suspiciously, kind of like the ones you saw through the glass.
Starting point is 00:49:01 Looks like they're on guard for Gromdall. And as I say that, Saul, go ahead and give me a stealth check. Okay. And you get to add plus 10. Great. I already add plus 12. Oh, that's going to be a 30?
Starting point is 00:49:14 Okay. Yeah. These fish have no way of seeing you, and as puppets, they have no way of sensing your magic. Great. I shit a little bit to make it convincing. Hey, come on. I'm back here. Sorry. And I'll also say that seeing this school of fish looking around,
Starting point is 00:49:33 either thorough is doing the exact same thing that Gromdol does, or Gromdol is here. Right. I think that he could be here. I would hope he's here. I'd love to get rid of him. Probably brought his fish. Yeah. Yeah Let's check out the perimeter of this whale. Yeah, yes, let her around this whale see if there any Windows in the caucus of this great beast
Starting point is 00:49:56 It's all just kind of like wiggles and shits around the perimeter. Yeah, you have so much notice that the eyes as you go around are glazy, oh, but maybe not fully dead. The eyes of the fish. This whale still with us. The eyes of the whale. Oh, it looks weirdly like it might be under some kind of spell. Gromped off.
Starting point is 00:50:23 Does it look like the shark we saw that was under the Alexanderite spell? It doesn't look exactly like that. This does it from the outside, it ate so a whale fall is when a whale dies, sinks to the bottom of the ocean and then kind of creates an ecosystem around it, as Emily told me.
Starting point is 00:50:41 Ha ha ha ha ha. This looks like that, but this whale as you go around the perimeter around it, as Emily told me. Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha Oh, I bet this whale doesn't want to be here. It's what I think. Yeah. Oh, our objective is totally changed. Oh, yeah. Is it just me or is a fucking mission to get this fucking whale to burp up all these fucking people squatting in it? Yeah. I was gonna light up inside the whale's mouth, but now that I know it's, uh... Light up what?
Starting point is 00:51:23 I'm a bomb, dude. Yes, you are you tiny king oh I thought maybe you picked up smoking you were with jaina no just vaping I'm vaping right now thank you to aura for sponsoring this very special episode of our show so special Jake you know that the holidays are about connecting with loved ones. Of course. And there's no better way to connect than by using what wire cutter called the best digital photo frame.
Starting point is 00:51:53 Yeah, you can connect with anyone from any distance. This is a great gift. You actually gave this gift to your mother. Did you not? Not just my mother, but Jill's parents, and Jill's grandmother. So how does it work? You give them a digital picture frame and then
Starting point is 00:52:04 before long they plug it in and they're seeing photos that you took. Yeah, you can have access to their picture frame. I can upload any new photo that I take of my daughter. I can just pop it on my mom and dad's frame. And then you can send videos too. That's cute. And can you upload like a little silly cheeky message?
Starting point is 00:52:21 Like, help, I'm trapped in the photo frame. I guess you could do that. I don't think anyone would like it. like a little silly cheeky message, like help, I'm trapped in the photo frame. I guess you could do that. That's fine. I don't think anyone would like it because it looks like kind of like a weird cry for help. They'd rather just see pictures of love just just to end baby.
Starting point is 00:52:32 They don't even want to see me. That's fair actually. Yeah. Okay, so if that's not personal enough, you can even upload a video message to play as soon as they plug it in. Like I'm trapped in the photo. Or whatever. Whatever you want it to say.
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Starting point is 00:54:24 Thank you, everybody. Okay, so what is the point of entry? Point of entry is the mouth. So we gotta get these guys out. Okay, how about this? I am disguised as a fish. What if I pretend to be like a playful dolphin and I steal one of their weapons
Starting point is 00:54:44 and they chase me away. I mean, yeah, I'm feeling like the person who has a chance is like you, you could like assassinate them from afar with like your dots or something like that. But also. We have to do it without a fish seeing because these fish are gonna alert everybody.
Starting point is 00:54:59 Yeah, so maybe let's try that. Okay. Be a playful dolphin. Right, I'm gonna transform into a playful dolphin. You can't do that. Okay. Be a playful dolphin. Right, I'm gonna transform into a playful dolphin. You can't do that. Okay. Thank you for seeing. What ability?
Starting point is 00:55:11 I guess I want to like, so I'm disguised as a fish. Uh-huh. So I guess I want to just pretend to be a playful fish and try and steal something from one of these guards and make them chase me away. And then we can try and beat them up behind a piece of coral or something. Wait, before we do that, can I peek into the mouth? I'm gonna say you guys should do another stealth check if you're approaching and
Starting point is 00:55:37 want to do a perception check inside. We're pretty stealthy. Yeah, yeah, let's give it a go. I think we should see what's in the mouth in case things go wrong out here. All right, I'm gonna detach from a fish saw. Great. And I'm gonna wriggle in. Sweet.
Starting point is 00:55:53 Yeah, you guys now have 10 feet of movement as a snake. Okay. And you'll need to use an action to pop up and become your puppet self again. Okay. But everyone has to 10 feet of movement. You guys take a while, go ahead and give me stealth checks as you approach these big goons and try to slip
Starting point is 00:56:10 into the whale's mouth. Okay, the one goon got a 12 on a perception check, not great. I have a 27. Okay, the other one got a 24. 24. I have a 27. And I'm going to use my bardic inspiration.
Starting point is 00:56:26 And with that, I got a 28. Woo! Thank you, Kelly. In snake form, I disappear amidst the reeds of the kelp, and I get a 40. Jesus. Oh my God. Salt, we're going through the mouth.
Starting point is 00:56:43 Where'd you go, buddy? When the assassin disassembles, still has the sort of blue scales on the outside and just looks like an actual fucking eel that slips in. Say it to me and the eel. So you guys sneak past the guards and enter the whale's mouth and inside you see these walls of pink muscle and they do appear to be contracting a bit. So you think that it is a lot. You see that there is a pool of water but it's not that high. It seems like there is some kind of magic that is clearing it out here.
Starting point is 00:57:18 So it's kind of like a cave. You see that there are torches up on the walls that light the inside like it's a big cavern, and up ahead deeper into the whales innards, you can hear talking. Where is, I'm trying to think of where the poison or charm would be affecting the whale. Everybody, I guess give me like investigate checks. I give calls with the help action.
Starting point is 00:57:42 Great, ladies. 21. Five. Okay. Call their, call their use. I'm an eel. You see that there is Alexandrite magic on the whale registering about 49% and this is some kind of powerful psychic control. Looks like he's able to subdue this will. Okay, okay. All right, let's continue on. Right, I'll try and wriggle ahead and listen to this conversation if I can. Okay, yes. So Saul's gonna wriggle a little bit. Are you going to be in a sassin mode or snake mode? Because it's an action to come out of snake. I'll stay in snake mode.
Starting point is 00:58:26 Okay, we'll keep your same stealth check then. So, Saul, you sneak ahead and ahead in the widest and tallest part of the whale's body. You see that they've erected a giant squid statue. You see the squid's two tentacles go off to the side, but the eight legs curl up to form stands, a top which you can see eight people. Seven of them wear black robes with long gold chains that mimic the look of the squid's legs or tentacles.
Starting point is 00:58:58 Most of them have their hoods up, but you see who you can assume to be their leader. Therocrackarn's head is very much exposed. He looks like a sea elf combined with an evolved Eldritch horror. Pale blue skin with white hair, but his eyes are blank and white. His brain is visible and Throbbing and there are literal like roots and nerves and receptors Whipping around as if feeling around for psychic energy. Saul, go ahead and give me a perception check.
Starting point is 00:59:34 Just a 13. Okay. You see that the other members look to be kind of weirdly in sync with him, like as he's kind of gesturing around, some of them are kind of doing the same movements as him. You see the one outlier here is Grommdall Bronzebeard, who's standing atop one of the pillars, but not seeming like he's doing it for any kind of ritualistic reason,
Starting point is 00:59:53 looks like he's just there to speak to thorough. You see this, it's got the like red beard, the bronze beard of the bronzebeards, has like food in it and shit. This is like a dirty, a dirty daddy. An absolute dirty dude. I didn't even need a toothbrush that I stole. Yeah, he probably was never gonna use it.
Starting point is 01:00:11 I was probably gonna use it to like scrape the bottom of his boots or something. I have eyes on the filthy father. Yeah. This filthy dude in soiled leather armor and as you get close, you can hear echoing through the cave Pharaoh speaks to him and goes, I can plain shift you, but we cannot defeat the Octo Magi without your help.
Starting point is 01:00:37 I have pacified this whale, but I do not have the control over animals that you do, Gromdahl. I need you to dominate it. Use its language to call others to us. If we are to defeat the Magi, we will need to divide them. A pot of whales crashing through the city will do just that. See, Gromdahl looks around and just whistles, just kinda like it's a big fucking whale that's a big ask I Believe you have the potential You see one of the other acolytes hands Gromdol a vile and Therogos
Starting point is 01:01:20 Alexandra magic the power to control your own cellular makeup. Unlock your full potential. And Gromdahl looks at it hesitantly. Let me see what I can do without it first. And Therro, it's kind of shrugged his shoulders, and Gromdalk goes over and puts his hand on the flesh of the whale, and looks like he's beginning to try to bond with it or try to cast spells on it. I feel he don't like that.
Starting point is 01:01:56 Can I wriggle back? Yeah, port, everything I've seen. Okay. Wriggle and report. Wriggle and report. Okay. Well. So what's the plan of a
Starting point is 01:02:05 dark year? We can't let Grump doll get any more powerful. Yeah. Do we even want to let him attempt to control this whale that we're in? No. But I feel like the only move right now would be to send you in and have you explode since we aren't gonna be able to. I can't do that inside this thing. Yeah. With us looking, you mean? Is it good to be embarrassing? No, because it's the way. What are you applying? You don't get the sense that,
Starting point is 01:02:34 so the mechanics of it are 10 feet by 10 feet. Oh, okay. So you don't necessarily, the whale is fucking huge. Like going into that room, it's all, you're in a huge cavern. Yeah. Okay.
Starting point is 01:02:47 And also, even if the whale took all of the damage, the whale still would not die. Right. I can throw you into the air, and then you can explode, and then the whale won't even take that damage. And then you guys just sit outside the mouth and pick them off, eat the shit out of anyone that comes through. Guys, these aren't our real bodies.
Starting point is 01:03:05 Let's be reckless, okay? Okay. Calder takes a huge drag of a fave. Okay. Okay. Sweet. Why don't we go ahead and provide it to you past your stealth checks?
Starting point is 01:03:17 Some of these guys will be surprised, but let's go ahead and roll initiative. 11. Ooh, that's a filthy, fatherly 20 for me. Wow. Wow. That is a nat 20 for me Yeah, which is just a 20. Yeah But we can put you before Saul because the nat 20 can can be the winner here so it's our plan to Transform and then throw caulder up there and try and get him like in the center of this table.
Starting point is 01:03:45 Yeah, he even might be able to just jump up there. That's true. How high up is it? I'll say the pillars are about 10 feet up. OK, OK. The tentacle platforms are in sort of like a circle about 10 feet in diameter. So if he was able to get completely in the middle,
Starting point is 01:04:01 he could potentially hit the whole syndicate. Minus Gromdahl, who's over sort of has his hand up against the pink wall of the whale. Alright, so Callie, we just need your pitching arm. Do you think you can hit him with a fastball right down the middle, right in the strike zone? I really fucking do, Tine a King. Oh, I'm holding her. I had curl up into the tiniest little ball. Sweet, so Callie as the brute puppet picks up the powder
Starting point is 01:04:30 keg, this much smaller one with this protruding arcane battery. Saul, you are in your assassin form. I presume everybody's going to come out of snake form. Yeah, great. Everybody comes out of snake form. You guys feel your bodies begin to click together and work. And as you guys go to a sneak in,
Starting point is 01:04:50 I'm going to need stealth checks from everyone. Okay. Okay. Woo. Okay. 27. Okay. So, password-out-stress is still active.
Starting point is 01:04:59 Yeah. Great. Yeah, it's for an hour. I got a 22 then. Then that is another Dordi 40. Okay. Dordi 40. Oh my god. So, So I'm gonna give you guys a fun peak behind the screen. Huh? Therro Kraken has a passive perception of 20 so you guys do manage to pass it Wow you guys those little nerve endings coming from his brain can't see us. Yeah, really makes sense
Starting point is 01:05:24 We outriggled him you guys managed to work together go around the outside dodging the torches these guys very much so rely on psychic energy of being able to sense people coming near them and Like toybox was saying they're a recognizes toyboxes magic But this is your guys is magic coming through so if they don't see you they don't know you're there like Toybox was saying, Thero recognizes Toybox's magic, but this is your guys' magic coming through. So if they don't see you, they don't know you're there.
Starting point is 01:05:49 You guys sneak through the shadows and you begin to close in on these platforms as you do, everybody give me perception checks. And that's a fort. Okay, that's a ten. Okay, 12. You guys see the same thing that Saul saw, which is that some of them look like they're mirroring thorough a bit, but you don't get any insight beyond that.
Starting point is 01:06:13 The first one to act who is not surprised is Calder. I guess I go into a very, very tight ball and hold my action for Calder to toss me. Okay. tight ball and hold my action for Cali to toss me. Okay, so the way Cali's thing works is if he's destroyed, then the powder keg goes off, but if he uses an action, it does even more damage. So you see that he begins shaking and glowing. I'm charging up the fuse is lit. He is charging up. After him, that is Saul's turn. Wow, you're absolutely glowing. It's a glow up. I'm gonna hold an action as well. I basically prepare my arm blades to stab anyone
Starting point is 01:06:56 running out of the whale's mouth. Great. You prepare your wrist blades, the shink out from your wrists. You guys do see that as you guys make these noises, Thero comes out of the surprise condition at initiative 21. So does clock you guys, but almost in slow motion cannot act yet. But you see if you see this here.
Starting point is 01:07:15 Yes. The syndicate members at initiative 12 come out of surprise. You see they begin looking towards you too. Callie, that is your turn at initiative 11. Okay. I'm gonna try to throw the powers of kids. Okay, here's how this is gonna work. Okay. You are this big brute of a puppet.
Starting point is 01:07:33 You take the powder keg, you take a caulder, and you go to launch him. In order to hit everyone, it's gonna be a DC 15 plus seven. So DC 22 to get everybody 21 to get six, 20 to get five, and so on. Give it this. I'm gonna use my faucet against right for the first time.
Starting point is 01:07:57 Oh my God, you farted to yourself. I farted right cause the puppet. Okay. You feel this, you see water begins to drip down from your face and the puppet. Okay. Yeah, you feel this, you see, water begins to drip down from your face and your puppet is crying the spring of the day. A swelling of faith, folk music, I saw I, getting the six on that turns it into 24.
Starting point is 01:08:18 Oh, fuck, yes. The brute puppet tosses the the powder keg into the mid You see a thorough crack-harned Clocks it what toy box you bastard. There's this huge explosion of Arcane energy called are you? Wake up in the pod instantly as your your consciousness goes back to Toybox's workshop. Wow, what a rush.
Starting point is 01:08:46 Meanwhile, the rest of you guys see this wave of green energy. Bro. Goes and destroys the statue of the squid, begins breaking down all of these pedestals, and you see the seven members of the syndicate are all hit head on. They're all gonna do dexterity saving throws as they are covered in white light.
Starting point is 01:09:07 Oh! Yeah! Caller! You better leave that whale alone. Ha! Caller go ahead and roll me 24-D-6. Would be a pleasure, that is, wow, 77 Dennis. Ah!
Starting point is 01:09:22 Good Lord. You see, right off the bat, three of them are torn a sunder. Are just just shlorn. The robes warp and are tattered and disappear. One of them that dies is thorough crack art. What? The brain overtakes his body and he screams, you see his brain explodes, his like exposed brain goes off. Wow.
Starting point is 01:09:51 And he is torn a sunder. However, something that you were not picking up with the perception checks earlier, is that these guys all actually look like they're in lockstep. They are the evolved form of what Daydore was doing. It looks like Thero has taken over all of these dudes. So you see as he dies, as his prime body dies, another one's head explodes, exposing the brain and these like neurons and stuff, and Thero's new prime body turns and points at you guys as you're running towards him,
Starting point is 01:10:23 but Saul you have a prepared action. Yeah, I think as soon as this explosion happens, I just sprint in, I'm like tracking what's happening. I see this awful flower of tentacles explode out of his brain. I'm just gonna leap up and try and stab. Great. So you're going after the dude that Thurro is currently inhabiting.
Starting point is 01:10:41 Yes, great. So there's four left, right? There are four left. There are four left. Okay, yeah, so. And Gromdahl's his own thing. Yes, great. So there's four left, right? There are four left. There are four left. Okay, so and Gromdahl's his own thing. Yeah, Gromdahl turns around, doesn't know what the fuck happened. It's just screams.
Starting point is 01:10:51 Ah, I was talking to the goddamn whale, what happened over there? Keep talking to the whale, everything's fine. Does an 18 hit? 18 does not hit. You see as if predicting your movements looks at like your elbow as you swing nose where you're gonna be and Shifts to the side you have a bardic if you want to use it. I'm gonna use my bardic. Thank you. Okay
Starting point is 01:11:15 This is a 24 hit 24 does hit great So you remember you have inspiration from Cali you remember you shouldn't be swinging a dagger You should be stabbing with a dagger Change your elbow formation and thrust forward, and stab into him. Uh-huh. And then I faint with the other one, and I pretend to punch,
Starting point is 01:11:34 and then as soon as I'm close enough, the wrist blade extends and stabs right into him. That is a 16 plus 9, 25 to hit. Hits. Okay, so both are gonna hit. Oh, nice. Great, I'm within five feet of Cali, so I'm going to do a sneak attack, Heli up.
Starting point is 01:11:48 Amazing. Shit, can I just crawl over Cali and Saul's bodies and see if I can peer in through their crowns to see what's going on? Yeah. Yeah, you see, you do see that toy box waves over for you. Come here, Calder, watch on the big screen. Oh, wow, I can watch with you.
Starting point is 01:12:05 Yeah, you see Kenna is eating popcorn. It's actually pretty cool. Yeah. Suspicious still. I don't like seeing you guys as the pods, but man, that was cool as hell. Yeah, Kelly toss me so fast. Okay, so that's going to be 21 points of piercing damage. Okay.
Starting point is 01:12:20 On my blades. Looks insanely hurt from being hit with this explosion. You stab into him, you feel his body coming apart. I scream, save the whales as I pump acid into him for 27 points of damage. You have some kind of whale protection group? Who is it? Who doesn't like whales? So 21 damage. 27 points of acid damage.
Starting point is 01:12:42 Okay. You managed to disintegrate another one of the fair right on. You see, this dude goes down, you stab into a acid begins to eat away at his body and you see he collapses, you see another one of these acolytes around's brain explodes and becomes the new prime therough.
Starting point is 01:13:01 Stupid fucking puppets. Pass me that pop, we're gonna. Aren't you basically a puppet for Thero now? You're just controlling the puppet. I am Thero. I don't know. Looks a little different. There's a mole right there.
Starting point is 01:13:13 You don't have a mole on that body. Flips you off. After Saul's turn, bottom of the order, Gromdal is surprised. Ah! Top of the order is Therocrackarn. Thero is going to go to attack Saul. Uh-oh.
Starting point is 01:13:32 Okay, you're gonna have disadvantage because I'm guarding him. Okay, Saul? Step in the way, eight feet of honking sexy muscle. Holy shit! Oh my shit, she's a smoke show over a lot. It's rippling. 10, 10 puppet over here.
Starting point is 01:13:48 What is up with this puppet? Okay, so Thoreau is going to make a special kind of like telekinesis attack. You see, he holds his hand up and it's Saul, what is your puppet's strength score? Oh, 11. Okay, so way beaten 11 hits a telekinesis attack on Saul. Okay.
Starting point is 01:14:08 Additionally, if the attack would hit the guarded ally, you can instead have it hit you. Okay. So can I do that on this telekinesis? That's great. So you dive in the way of the magic castle. And you see this big brute is picked up and he goes out of the way.
Starting point is 01:14:23 That's right. Bitch, I'm a himbo now. Damn, look at that hunk. Can you see he's going to pick you up with Telekinesis and slam you into the ground for 25 for-standage. Hmm. I don't know why the puppet has a cod piece, but it's great. Then he's going to take a second attack on Saul.
Starting point is 01:14:42 Hmm. Still disadvantage. Still disadvantage. Still disadvantage. Still manages to hit with the telekinesis. Take it again. Telekinesis take it again. We can divide this up. You don't need to take all the damage.
Starting point is 01:14:54 I will tell you when I'm done taking damage. For right now, I love it. You need to stay back. It's going to use the second telekinesis attack to do something different. Flings you 30 feet away, you only take 11 damage, but you slam into the ground,
Starting point is 01:15:09 and now he looks at Saul. Can't guard him right now, but he is out of attacks at the moment. There goes the hottest puppet I've ever seen, a Pinocchio smoke show. After Theros turn, that is Saul's turn. Oh nice. Yeah, Calder, you could take a turn to have some popcorn.
Starting point is 01:15:27 Yeah, I can't watch out. I can toss it. This is like what Kelly did to me. Go ahead and get me. That's what I really had. Give me an acrobatic stretch, try to catch it in your mouth. That's an 18.
Starting point is 01:15:40 Yeah, you throw it really high and you catch it. Oh my God, that was incredible. It's a kill of that. It's a kill of that. She started spright out. Yeah, you throw it really high and you catch it. Oh my God, that was incredible. Mr. Kill Day! Mr. Kill Day! She starts right down. Taking out very expensive potions and pouring them down your throat. Stay still, stay still, Mr. Kill Day.
Starting point is 01:15:54 You see Foster, Foster in the puppet run up to you. Uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, I'm okay After call just turn saw that is your turn. I want to use a free action to briefly open my eyes and see if Kenna is using my sock that I gave her Yes, you see the assassin collapses and you see she is using it to hold pop cord It's got so many uses that's incredible Okay, I'm gonna keep an eye on Gromdol. Okay, but I do want to just keep wackinies theros great 21 to hit. 21's gonna hit. 16's gonna miss, 16 misses. Okay, so that's one hit.
Starting point is 01:16:31 Looks to be like learning your abilities, like starts moving with you as you swing at him. Then I'll just have to move stupider! It's impossible to predict. He's so goddamn stupid. I just started doing like a weird noodle dance suite. I'll do a deck saving throw. That time passes is going to take half of the acid damage, but we'll take the regular
Starting point is 01:16:54 piercing damage, not sneak attack. Okay. With half the acid and one attack, that is going to be 24 damage. Okay. You fuck up another one of these theros, but he stays up. Saul, after your turn, he is going to take a legendary action and is going to use a telekinesis attack on you while the brute is away. So as Callie goes to run towards you to save you, is gonna try to pick you up and slam you into the ground with a 30 to hit, definitely hits.
Starting point is 01:17:30 And that is 27 damage. You see your puppet slams up against the wall here after the legendary action. That is the other syndicate members. There are only two left. They're going to circle up to try to destroy Saul here. You see that when Thoreau is not taking them over, they are not as strong.
Starting point is 01:17:52 They like whip tentacles out from their wrists, almost like your dagger. So the one is going to take a tentacle attack on you. That is a 17 to hit. That does hit. Okay, hits you for 15 damage and you are grappled. So tentacle wraps around you and holds you in place. Other one takes a tentacle attack
Starting point is 01:18:14 and that is only a 12 to hit. That is. Yeah, so you kind of slide out of the way, slip sliding while this one guy has you grappled. So I'll start doing the monkey from Johnny Bravo, and just like perfectly avoids all hits. That's good TV. Move so stupidly, so stupidly.
Starting point is 01:18:32 After the syndicate members turn, Callie, that is your turn. The brute is 30 feet away. Assassin, I'm just gonna ask you to hold out a bit longer. I want to run for Gromdol, and I want to try to grapple him and drag him as far as I can to get close to everyone. Okay, go ahead and give me a contested strength check. He got a 16. I got a 16 on the dice, becomes a 24. Great. Yeah. You giant robot fucking pick Gromdol up
Starting point is 01:19:00 over your shoulder. Okay, and I think I can grapple, I can only move them half my, so we're within 15 feet. So I'll say you can get like, yeah, so you get them 15 feet closer to the pillars here. Can I also, since that was only one thing to grapple him, can I also just get a hit off on him? Yeah, because I have two attacks. Yeah.
Starting point is 01:19:20 All right, I'm just trying to slam him. Rib shot. 18 to hit. 18 hits him. Oh, I see what you're thinking, Callie. 14 damage. Okay, you fuck him right up. He is a druid not in wild shape form right now,
Starting point is 01:19:31 so you punch him right in the gut. Toybox, what the fuck is your problem? I'm not. If he thinks that, if he thinks this is toybox, I want to be like, you have a chance now if you want to work with me. Call there's an hailing popcorn. This is really riveting.
Starting point is 01:19:47 This is good stuff. Go ahead and give me a, I'll say, contested persuasion check against Theroux. Would you hear Theroux yells? Toybox has something to do with it, but there's some other kind of magic. It's not just him. Okay, that was amazing. This puppet only has a to do with it, but there's some other kind of magic. It's not just him. Okay, that was amazing. This puppet only has a plus zero to charisma, but I got a 17 on the day.
Starting point is 01:20:11 Okay. Thero does manage to beat your persuasion check. Unfortunately, but you do see Gromdal looks confused by this. Okay. Remember, there's another way. Uh-huh! Okay. Remember, there's another way. Uh-huh, uh-huh. Ha-ha-ha. After Cali's turn, Thero is going to take a legendary action and once again, do a telekinesis attack on Sal's assassin. Grab them, slams them again into the ground for 24 damage.
Starting point is 01:20:38 Ooh, I'm in a bad way. After that, that is Gromdol's turn. Cali, as you are wrestling with Gromdahl, Gromdahl is going to use a bonus action to wild shape. You see he starts to... Err, err, err, err, err, err, err, err, err, err, err, err, err, err, err, err, err, err, err, err, err, err, err, err, err, err, err, err, err, err, err, err, err, err, err, err, err, err, err, err, err, err, err, err, err, err, err, err, err, err, err, err, err, err, err, err, err, err, err, err, err, err, err, err, err, err, err, err, err, err, err, err, err, err, err, err, err, err, err, err, err, err, err, err, err, err, err, err, err, err, err, err, err, err, err, err, err, err, err, err, err, err, err, err, err, err, err, err, err, err, err, err, err, err, err, err, err, err, err, err, err, err, err, err, err, err, err, err, err, er Steve Rat dude, and he's just going to bite down into you and do a bite attack. It doesn't even try to escape the grapple just you have this big rat in your hand
Starting point is 01:21:11 starts scrambling around and biting into you. It takes strong Cali. I like this. I'm a fucking brute V-Rat. Call their stop seating popcorn briefly. I don't know. Okay, hits on the first attack that is an 18 to hit. A hit. 25 damage Cali. Okay, hits on the first attack. That is an 18 to hit. A hit. 25 damage, Kelly. Okay. And then is going to take a claw attack swings at you. Only
Starting point is 01:21:33 gets a 14 to hit. So slashes across your carapest, but you're just too big of a freaking brute. I'm talking too big. I'm too big, too strong, too sexy. I'm not fucking gorgeous himbo. After. But after Grump, Dahl's turn, that is Theropropers turn again. Therop is going to continue the telekinesis attack on Saul, gets a 17 that's gonna beat your strength. So picks you up and slams you into the ground for 29 damage.
Starting point is 01:22:02 Saul is down. God, but now you're good. Oh shit. it slams you into the ground for 29 damage. Saul is down. But now you've glued. Oh shit. That's what I was trying to drag Grondel over to get attacked by things that were not with him. I forgot about the, these like engines. So I'm gonna say since I forgot about it
Starting point is 01:22:18 and I created this character, Therro forgot about it. So Therro slams you into the ground and then you see the, Cali,ucy the arcane battery within Sol's puppet begins to glow and explodes. It's not gonna do as much damage as the powder cake but it'll do a decent amount of damage. All three of these guys got to do saving throws. Yeah. Yeah. Two of them fail. Go ahead and roll 60 six. And then the one that doesn't fail still takes half. Yeah. That's 19 points of fire damage.
Starting point is 01:22:48 Okay. You fully kill another one of the Theros. Ooh. As your consciousness leaves this being a big explosion, Kali, you see another one of these dudes is torn asunder. Other two guys look greatly injured by this. Thero is not in good shape.
Starting point is 01:23:07 And Saul, you wake up to this movie night inside of Toy Box's workshop. We got popcorn. You know, we're eating that out of this weird hat, I think. Oh, well, you know, that's, it's got multiple uses. Great. Yep. I'll just grab some of this, Ton.
Starting point is 01:23:24 Okay, so Callie, what is your strength score? 18. 18. Okay, so a little bit harder to hit you. So, Thero, as a legendary action is going to, there's only two guys left. That's the brute strength score. That's a great problem.
Starting point is 01:23:39 So, the main Thero is going to attack you. Okay, does get a 20. So, grabs you and is going to use a telekinesis effect going to attack you. Okay, does get a 20. So grabs you and is going to use a telekinesis effect to restrain you. Lifts you up and sort of forces your arms together. Who are you? I'm fucking Toy Box bitch. We've been over this.
Starting point is 01:24:01 How many times do we have to fucking scrum before you get through your head, we are the biggest fucking enemies. She's so hot right now. So then that's called her in Saul, watch in the movie. That goes back to the one syndicate member that's left that is not thorough. Can I have some of your Coke, Calder? This is a really expensive healing potion, but yeah. Oh great, cool.
Starting point is 01:24:22 This dude takes it, attacks with advantage because you are restrained. Okay. Gets a 19 to hit. Hit. 15 damage, Cali. Okay. Then that is, Theros is gonna take a second attack. This time with advantage,
Starting point is 01:24:35 uses another telekinetic attack to slam you into the ground for 30 damage. Okay. Then that is your turn, Cali. Okay, I'm gonna hit, so I'm restrained, I can't, but I'm strained, you can't. But I can still, I'm with Gromdol, though. Yeah, you can attack Gromdol, you and Gromdol are tied up together.
Starting point is 01:24:52 Whee, whee, whee, whee, whee. Um, just this dirty little rat trying to bite you. I'm just gonna attack him. My first slam attack is a 12 to hit. Okay. Oh, but with a rat, what is the rats? Oh, the rats, he has 16 like natural armor. Okay, okay.
Starting point is 01:25:09 He's not like a tiny rat. He's like, second attack is a 27 to hit. Yeah. I've never seen a rat with a beard before. That's that team bludgeoning damage and he has to do a strength save or be not prone. You see, he does pass the strength save. You pound into his stomach and he just keeps fighting you.
Starting point is 01:25:30 He's pretty fierce in this form. Damn that rat is a himbo too. Definitely a strong wretch. In another world we'd be fucking friends. I agree. We were friends toybox. I don't know what you're doing this. That's not toybox.
Starting point is 01:25:44 Yeah, hey fucking A. It's and I'm trying to recruit him back Callie he attacks with advantage and does 27 damage on the first attack And then attacks with his claws hits with advantage that is 18 damage Callie Okay, now everyone within ten feet makes a dexterity save. Okay, that is just gonna be grombed all. What about the other guy who ran up and hit me?
Starting point is 01:26:10 Oh, you know what? The guy who uses tentacle does indeed the one that is not prime thorough does need to do a check. Yeah, that's. And he fails. You have the potential to kill another one of these guys. Oh my God, he need to do 20 damage.
Starting point is 01:26:25 25 damage. Holy shit. From Toybox's workshop, you guys watch as the Brutes arcane battery charges and explodes, catching the last acolyte before Theroux can pull him back with telekinesis. This dude is torn apart by a surge of green energy and as the brute puppet body is destroyed, Callie, you awaken in toy boxes workshop with everyone else. I was so strong.
Starting point is 01:26:59 Popcorn. Yes, please. And you see that as you join the others with the popcorn, you see that the projection is still up. The brute's head has crashed to the ground and separated from the rest of its body. It's almost like somebody dropped a camera that is still recording.
Starting point is 01:27:17 And you see the injured thorough blood sort of streaking out of his mouth, walks over to it, picks it up, he closes his eyes, and looks to be casting a spell. And after a moment he opens his eyes and goes, Kaliope Petrocor. Why? Hey, it was three of them, the three who killed Daydore, the ones who were sneaking around your room. Damn, Kelly, your baby. As your name is mentioned, Kelly, and as the three of you are mentioned, you see
Starting point is 01:27:51 Gromdahl clenches his fist, and Theroux continues. The plan to take the city must be put on hold. Toybox and his new friends have to be dealt with first. I'll grant you the plane shift if Theroux is suddenly cut off as Gromdahl slashes his throat a vicious swipe of his paw and as he chokes Gromdahl watches coldly If you think I'm going to listen to you in your weakened state Then you're no psychic I'm going to listen to you in your weakened state, then you're no psychic.
Starting point is 01:28:27 I'm the leader of this pack now. Gromdahl pushes his boot down into Theros neck. You've hollowed out the minds of half your followers and with you dead, they'll do whatever I tell them. I could never bond with humans the way I did with animals, but perhaps I haven't reached. My full potential, as you say. You see, he grabs the vile that Thoreau had handed him before. Thoreau reaches his hand out. You don't know how to control it." Gromdall smirks. Evolution is just nature, mild friend. See, he downs the vile and screams as unnatural power surges through him. You see his dire rat form bulges with unnatural musculature, crushing thorough under his feet the last body thorough crack
Starting point is 01:29:26 arm is dead. Wow. With glowing red eyes, Crumbdall picks up the puppet head again and talks directly to you. I was going to beat you to that last serpent, Kalyope. But now I think I'll take all three. I throw my fucking popcorn at the screen. I'm coming for what's mine. You see, he closes his eyes and drops the puppet head, and it
Starting point is 01:29:54 suddenly rolls as if the whale has abruptly taken off. And that's where we'll end our session. Jesus, man! Get another juicy rat coming to the car house. There have been actually a lot of juicy rats through experimentation. I should examine that about myself. I don't know what it is. Anyway, we'll look into it as long as it keeps happening.
Starting point is 01:30:15 Yeah, we'll talk about this more over on shortrest patreon.com slash nadpa that's NADD, POD don't sing yet. We win. Yeah. Yeah. Does anybody have anything they'd like to plug? I just want to shout out, Caldwell showed me a really cool picture online. Someone got a Kaliope tattoo.
Starting point is 01:30:37 Oh, yeah. Sick Kaliope tattoo. That was really awesome. And then also I feel like I've gotten some good little presence at shows specifically in Portland. Someone made me a denim jacket and painted the dungeon court look. Oh, hell yeah.
Starting point is 01:30:54 That's fucking sick. It was so awesome. So just shout out to that. And there's gonna be plenty of more opportunities to give us really sick gifts after shows. Can we have two huge shows coming up at DC and in Boston in January. So go on over to nadpot.com slash live. You can buy tickets for them now. And there'll be our last shows for a minute. Yeah, we've been on the road
Starting point is 01:31:18 a lot. So I think we're gonna chill a little bit after this. So if you wanna come see NAD pod, I'd suggest going to Boston or D.C. That's correct. A blowout show. A powder keg of a show. That's right. And you know what, while you're at NAD pod.com, go ahead and open a second tab to our shop because we should have some new fun merch
Starting point is 01:31:39 showing up in there throughout the holidays. So yeah, go check it out. Get yourself some fresh new merch for us to deface with Sharpies when you see us at our holidays. So yeah, go check it out. Get yourself some fresh new merch for us to deface with Sharpies when you see us at our show. Hell yeah. And just a reminder, I feel like we plugged this every once in a while,
Starting point is 01:31:51 but why not now? The NADPOD print shop. Oh yeah. Definitely. Artists can use our characters and whatnot, put it up there and you'll get all the profits on your pictures. You can go get prints made by independent artists and it funds the artist. All profits go to the artist. So check that
Starting point is 01:32:09 out. Yeah, sweet. And you can follow us on social media. The Remarie Man I use at CHMRS Me, at Caldys Caldwell, at Yachtford Zemmley, and at your curtsysjake. And you can tweet about the show using hashtag NAD we are the youth of our nation. It's the end of our show, which means it's time to shout out our benevolent counsel of elders. Behold their names. Brad D, Jeffrey S, Lord of the Fjord, Hugh C, later Mixgator, Matt M, Cutter W, Feared Al,
Starting point is 01:32:53 Daniel G, Dungeon Mama, All right fine, it's extremely sexual. Daniel, the Dasterly Dame, Beardman Dan, Danny P, Vincent W, Victor T. A. K. A. Balnor's boy, Hoid's friend, Justin I, Danny Danster, TJ M, Tray Lay, The Cray, Christopher B, Cyborg version of Josh the Cobald. A sweet blue hoe filled with beans. Princess Yarr, Jory S, Jack L, Nicholas C, star of every film ever made in Bohumia, now back in action after Union victory, enjoy the set. Samuel B, Mike H, Alka Smeltzer Plus, great value Gemma, Adam G, Tyler F, Nee Badger, Panama
Starting point is 01:33:50 James, Haradrian, Rex Daniel, The White, Diana De los Lopez, CC Lulu, Hercule Poos, A Rabbit Folk Detective, Lucas B, Raco. It's Kevin. Tucker's wife Lynn Michelle. Calder comes cold. Hashtag CCC forever. Stay frosty fairy followers. Taylor B. The vengeful one-winged angel.
Starting point is 01:34:18 Cass, skateboard, cass. Steven sees Stevens on the seas. C. Mike K. Lady Taco shout out to Uncle Pepe, home. Sweet. Jake L. Nick W. Swashbuckling Swag Snagger. Agniddy of the NADCOR. That's discord.gg-slash-nADPOP.
Starting point is 01:34:39 William Lall. William W. Big bad beardo the mad. William Wall, William W. Big Bad Beard O'The Mad, Ananorama, Percival Frederick Stein von Mussel Klosowski der Rollo III, Magdalene the Mad, Item, the Simple Tiempels, J. Dragonborn, Vincent, the Wimpel Warlord, Daniels,
Starting point is 01:35:01 The Sandrayan, B, Bin A. Dave H. Catherine S. David K. Christian S. Ryan D. Dustin S. Danny F. Hawkeye Pierce. BookFar's assistant Izzy F. DPC is awesome! Shown the Shade Tree Mechanic of Zelbeldarr. The Shade Tree Mechanic of Zelbeldarr. Summer Rose, aka Grand Terre. Kat C. Mesa of House in Zunza. Ariel, the occasional mermaid. Selena in aka Balaci Raptor. B. Perky, always. Pat L. Maxwell J. Lauren H. Nolani, the coffee brewing barista fighter of Lin-Pi-All. Carly A. Connor S.
Starting point is 01:36:05 Salil. Weed Goku 69, aka Trevor G. Leviathan. Bioquart 7. Amber Dextress. Sullivan H. Troop Hopdropper. Jack H. Crapster Champion of Crod.
Starting point is 01:36:21 Scuttling sideways towards tomorrow. Lindsay W. Vailin. sideways towards tomorrow. Lindsay W. Vailin, Carlin C, Emily S. Saul's slimy, spunk hashtag released the filthy, guppy cut. It's out there and it's disgusting. James G, everything bego, the eladron who just wants to hang out with this pet badger stripey. Daddymaster Dandy.
Starting point is 01:36:43 Han, the green team. Eric B, Stars and Roses for Han forever. Marcos, Jordan P, the occasional crit reporter, learns the balanced druid. Dakota James P, Frida M, Pegos, self-proclaimed Faye King, joined in Macabbe Matrimony. They will never know a lonely day again, as long as I draw breath. Tracy P, the Crick Elf Librarian. Maggie S, see you in Chicago. Hope you had a good time.
Starting point is 01:37:14 Holly H, Leah. Leah, Hunter H, Pixel Stars, Akash T, Andrew Crick Plainswalker, can't wait for Orlando! Hope you enjoyed your show in Orlando! Dufinious, Cal, just Cal, Russell H, a month named Dillgo, yes the whole thing, yes every time. Swim deep through the mountains, face giants, fire in ice, if only for beans. I think that's gotta be part of a song.
Starting point is 01:37:49 Maybe it's part of Hard One, the giant layer, I'm not sure. And I have a memory of... Were they a friend? Was it just a dream? A trapped elder? A song? Game over maybe? Who what's that?
Starting point is 01:38:02 Geachane, Pentium 2 processor. Lorelai the Succubus and Kyra her busty queen. Matt Im, your friendly neighborhood Yunt and Yunkl Andrew and Sid. John Adams, yes like the president. Meg, the male carrier manager of Bahumia. James F. Jimmy A. Im for L. Austin S. Night of the Living Falster. Saw you in Denver. Hope you had a great time, Falster. You left your egg gunk everywhere and we did get fined. Wayfarer! Upon returning to their faith flower shop, found a completely overrun with trolls!
Starting point is 01:38:39 Oh geez, what will they do now? Shame C. Barpo Good Barrel, Bard Barion. Three, Awakened Gooses. Tari rhymes with Jabari, wishing her husband Ryan a happy first anniversary. Thank you for critting on my heart. Aww, that's so sweet. Welshlander, Garrett G, aka, what big curd? Mr. D, Dana the Daisy. Ethan B. Havie the Half-Ork.
Starting point is 01:39:07 Renee the Monster Captain. Gabriel W. Box C. Olivia the enchanting bard who is working hard on her addition for the lead singer of the mounting crows. Yeah. Winterslayed. Riley S. FICO. Angry Wheat Anthony the Rattis of dudes who secured his Carnegie Hall tickets for himself and his lovely partner Josh the finest of dudes
Starting point is 01:39:32 Congrats dudes Josh H. James B. Clementine T. Caleb L. Fairy followers are celebrating hashtag CCC. I love sunny. Oh are celebrating hashtag CCC I love sunny. Aw. Can't dripped umbal door the bear onesie wearing barbarian like C-H-M-J. The BFG drinking tea by the sea. The very Mary Will guy.
Starting point is 01:39:55 Aw, tis the season I guess. Rathmodeus, OG one Kenobi. Mama Bell. The silver serpent herself. Sinat Spell, the wizard. Derek Davidson, Derek D. Tristan, the talentless hunk. Leon Kumori, legendary hero of Bohumia from a future campaign. BTA workshop, shenanigans, or Connor.
Starting point is 01:40:18 Mios, the great. Alex K, Joshy P, the public enemy. Joshua S, Alexander. Lins W. Angel La Pamella the Forever Vindicated. M.A.S. Red. The Reforged Warforged. A cat napping in a sunbeam listening to a podcast. Hard ones hot hump gunk. Shelby, Kenna's third favorite sprite girl. Currently elder morning, the split of the sprite girls.
Starting point is 01:40:49 Ah, damn it, Jerry. Jackson R, T-P-R-H-X. Official Ned Flanders, Z-Borb, Blake H. Searching for a sweet blue hoe. With his bestie big bev. Lloyd can't seem to figure out when you guys record these. Papa Skaties, Mima Skaties. Oh, it's V. Tommy W. Mike and Lisa sending love to all y'all. Haley the human Megan Inn, the big Ilm, John Fraser, the Dice Lander. Stephanie of House in Zunza.
Starting point is 01:41:26 Jigs Ramen Shop ripped Melchior the brave Leonan warrior, who even cares about the rest of the party, not me, a missing, my Melchior. Tracy P, Carjish, Benjamin A, sacrificial Otaku, pin name for Cali's cousin, who discovered anime and is trying to spread the word all over Bahumia. Jiggy M. Mekel A.
Starting point is 01:41:49 Angie A. Leloth. Josh Hole. The Ultra Barn. Frukey. The Two Crew. Blue Thru. Bill M.
Starting point is 01:41:58 Maple The Shy Bookworm. Nicholas S. Ashley. Franco aka Vlad aka Pat aka Bronze. Seth E. And Billy. Batson. Phew. That is all of our elders. Folks, thank you all so, so, so, so much for listening. If you would like to join the Celustrius Council, you can do so by going to patreon.com slash nad pod. That's gonna be it for us. We will see you here next week. Thanks again.
Starting point is 01:42:27 Bye bye. Love you very much. Happy holidays. Why have I not stopped? I'm not sure. Farewell. That was a hate gun podcast.

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