Not Another D&D Podcast - C3 Ep. 59: Havoc (The Ice Knife Saga)

Episode Date: May 3, 2024

Duck Team faces the spirit of Havoc! Callie untangles a mystery, Calder recalls a powerful memory, and Sol introduces a new on-the-go snack. Support us at Patreon.com/Naddpod to get... access 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."Ilsed's Secret" by Emily Axford."A Fate Refused" by Emily Axford. "Mee Maw's Burden" by Emily Axford."Spearmint & Tea Leaves" by Emily Axford."Apotheosis" 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 00:00:00 This is a HeadGum Podcast. Hey, NAD Polls. Caldwell here to talk to you about Hero Forge, the best place to get fully customizable tabletop miniatures with dozens of fantasy species and thousands of parts to choose from. I actually just built a version of my Underdark Gnome illusion wizard, Craslow, for use in a home game my friend has been running and it was incredibly fun getting to scroll through all the options and details to bring this mage-handed menace to life. Their easy to use design tools let you build your perfect miniature online using a fully 3d in-depth character creator right in your browser. Oh and before you ask, yes Hero Forge has
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Starting point is 00:01:17 Good to know, Kraslow just got a hat of vermin in the campaign and I really want to find an annoying top hat for him to wear to represent that. In the meantime, that's it from me. Thanks for listening and happy forging. Welcome to the campaign after the campaign. This is not another D&D podcast. Welcome back to Bohumia, everybody. Bohumia! I'm your dungeon master, Brian Murphy,
Starting point is 00:01:52 joined by Jake Hurwitz. With a duck ready to face havoc, Calder killed him. Oh, I thought you were gonna say ready to fuck. Yeah, I thought you were gonna say something that was fucking as well. Oh, I am also ready to fuck. Yeah, parentheses ready to fuck.
Starting point is 00:02:05 Yeah. I think we're facing my brother potentially. Yeah. And then of course we've got Emily Axford. A rainy elf and soppy mess who beat her mama Aladdin dragon giant chess. Also ready to fuck. Calliope Betrayal, also ready to fuck.
Starting point is 00:02:20 Also ready to fuck, baby. Nothing gets you in the mood like beating your mom at chess. I love a slow tactical board game. And then of course we've got Caldwell Taner. Bear Lane's play thing, can't wait to see her again on another plane at Saul Buffau, parentheses. Ready to fuck.
Starting point is 00:02:39 Yeah. Let's go. Yeah. Always ready to fuck. Put that in parentheses at the end of anything you say about us. Duck team fucks. Yeah, duck team fucks.
Starting point is 00:02:48 Duck team sucks and duck team fucks. Actually, I don't think a single one of us has gotten laid. No. No. We don't fuck, we're ready to fuck. Yeah, there's a big difference. We're into the idea of it. Sometimes the readier you are puts off an off-putting us.
Starting point is 00:03:03 Yeah, we reek of desperation. The readier you are puts off an off-putting. Yeah, we reek of desperation. The readier you think you are to fuck is the less you are ready to fuck. We have so many old condoms in our track jackets. Describing them as old and not unopened is. Yeah, none of us had sex and we still have a son in this campaign, that's fucked up. Gunk.
Starting point is 00:03:24 An immaculate gunk, yeah, oh yeah. All right, and with that, let's go ahead and do a little recap. Yeah! So last time, you weathered the fury of five primordial giants awakened by the spirit Havoc. Bear Lane, the Hill Giant, Stone Commander Basalt Von Shale,
Starting point is 00:03:39 Glorious Wavemother O'Corralil, High Emberlord Charbon, and Grosh, Master of Whispers. Saul distracted Bear Lane with a cat and mouse routine. Sort of the Jerry to her Tom. Always the Jerry, never the Bridesmaid. While Calder addressed, yeah, what's a Tom and Jerry where Jerry just absolutely gets his ass kicked?
Starting point is 00:04:00 Where Jerry gets his ass kicked? Yeah, it's rare, it does happen occasionally. We're like, Jerry gets a little too sassy Oh, yeah, it'll be like if there's like a smaller mouse or something Yeah, the baby mouse is there and if that baby mouse is there Jerry's absolutely getting whomped. Woof. All right So distracted barely nice. Yeah, you know what? Let's wrap it up here Let's I like the one there's a bulldog in there and the bulldog has a son and he's like, oh what you do to my boy? Oh, yeah Well, the bulldog is sort of a protector protects Jerry and then also has a son who we also protect
Starting point is 00:04:31 So it's not really a cat and mouse is more of a cat and mouse and dog and dog game And of course the dog is on the mouse's side. Yeah, and everyone's just against the cat. Sometimes there's two cats Sometimes there's three cats. Sometimes there's like a weirdly hot lady cat that looks like a human woman. Let's do plugs Let's go ahead and do plugs and we'll give this another shot next week, all right? Let's go ahead and take two weeks off. We'll do dungeon court next week. We'll come back.
Starting point is 00:04:54 We'll try this again. Sans, Tom or Jerry. This has been great, y'all. I'm going back in the box I get put in when I talk about cartoons too much. To be fair, it's my fault. Yeah, it's definitely Mer's fault. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:05:08 It's been a minute since we recorded. It's good. It's good to get back into it. OK, so while Saul distracted Berylain, Calder addressed the less aggressive giant lords and pretended to love fire. Calliope then emerged from behind us to lag tight, playing a soothing song and appealed to the
Starting point is 00:05:26 Giants with an opportunity to destroy the Fey crowns. This piqued the interests of everyone except Bear Lane, who continued to use Sol as a stress ball until he was eventually able to calm her down. The Giant Lords asked for clarification and the Cloud Giant, Garrosh, provided an assist, casting Zone of Truth on Kali and allowing her to explain that the prophecy of Oberon would now help the mortals of the Feywild instead of destroying them. The giants were interested enough and agreed to hear you out later, plane-shifting away back to their homeworld, leaving you with Garrosh. There, the Master of Whispers revealed that he had seen himself on Ardaox's Divination Wall and decided to be frozen with the rest of the Giant Lords.
Starting point is 00:06:07 He spoke about the history of the Fey Crowns, but also provided insight on your current situation, pointing out the strangeness of the Havoc phenomenon, saying it was uncharacteristically sloppy of Ariox. Garrosh theorized that though Ariox isn't controlling Havoc, perhaps he left it behind for a greater reason than just to protect the Ice Knife. Grosh said his goodbyes to you and offered to meet you back in the village after some debate about whether or not he'd fit in there.
Starting point is 00:06:37 He helped blow away some of the havoc in the room, allowing you to enter a new chamber. Once there, you felt the power of the spirit growing, with its messages appearing as much more stream of consciousness. You saw things like, not yet, him first. The phrase, break down, break down the gate, break down first. And finally, images of Calder and Gawain clashing swords with Xs over the carvings. As you proceeded down the path, you clocked Gawain running down an adjoining hallway deeper into the chamber now ahead of you in the race for the ice knife Havoc appeared to let him pass while growing tendrils and launching out at you
Starting point is 00:07:13 And that's where we are now everybody go ahead and roll initiative Right into it Unless you guys want to talk more about Tom and Jerry. Because I'm game. No, I got a nine. I got a nine, let's go. You know, you remember that one where you're like, he eats a big piece of cheese and then his body turns into basically a piece of cheese? Oh, dude. So funny. And then he gets-
Starting point is 00:07:35 That only happened once? He kind of gets bopped and then his cheese head goes down to his stomach. He like blows on his thumb and inflates his fist. Yeah. Fifteen. Twenty-nine. Okay, at the top of the order, Saul, you are first to act. You see black tendrils in the mist go to grab at you. You are in a long hallway, 120 feet long. Gawain ran
Starting point is 00:07:54 down an adjoining hallway at about the 80 foot mark. So there's an adjoining hallway and then straight ahead of you, there looks to be a chamber through which you see Havoc is kind of growing out of. So you get a sense that that is probably where the ice knife is. Gowan is running that way, 120 feet ahead of you. Great. So I think what I want to do is I'm going to use my full movement. So that's going to be 50 feet of speed. And as I'm running, I'm going to pull a granola bar out of my pocket. I saved one that Kena was trying to get at.
Starting point is 00:08:27 Um. You could just ask me. I don't know. You don't have to hide them from me. I've seen how the way you get around granola. And I'm gonna scarf that and use a quickened heel. That's gonna be my action. This is a key point maneuver.
Starting point is 00:08:42 Oh, shit, yeah. I think that's like a new monk thing They added in Tasha's so I'll do that while I'm running and then I'll use my bonus Action to do step of the wind and go another 50 feet Wow, okay So you get a hundred feet? Yeah, and I will say salt damn you're so like a marathon runner Just like pounding goo just pounding a gel. Yeah, see Saul pounds a bunch of electrolyte goo with granola in it. It's absolutely disgusting. Chunky goo.
Starting point is 00:09:07 And he speeds down the hallway. And you see Gawain has just disappeared into the shadowy archway down the hall. But you pass, as you go 100 feet, you see as you pass the 80 foot mark, the adjoining hallway that he came from, it looks like there was a chamber down there that was his last test essentially. And you can see above, whereas in the tunnel that you guys are in, there is an actual ceiling
Starting point is 00:09:33 up there where he was at. There's only shadow and abyss. It looks like he essentially fell down here, went into some chamber, he did his test, and then he popped out right down here. Do I see any remnants of his test that could be useful? It's up to you if you would like. So you used 100 feet to go straight. If you wanna use that remaining 20 feet
Starting point is 00:09:53 to get into his chamber, you can do that. I can hop on a serpent and go looking at it. Oh, okay. But also if you want to go, you can. All right, yeah, what I'm gonna do is, I'm gonna do is I'm gonna spit some granola out of my mouth. What are you doing, Mr. Buffau? It's kind of a signal to let Callie know
Starting point is 00:10:13 to check out this room. Ha ha ha ha ha! How do you know she'll know to check out the room if you spit granola on it? He's just sprinting down the hallway, takes in a bunch of goo, goes faster, looks like he essentially barfs a little bit of a chunk of the stage. Oh look at that, he's left the spit message for me. That's a signal to go there, instead of avoid it?
Starting point is 00:10:35 Yeah, yeah. You guys haven't noticed this is classic me and Saul. He's always leaving me little messages and spit up food. You guys have some kind of secret thing going on. I need to get to the bottom of this. We fake made out so many times, and I guess something's rubbing off. I used my tongue to kind of draw an arrow. Right on. OK, now it's a little bit more clear.
Starting point is 00:10:55 OK, I get it. OK, so Saul gets 100 feet. At the end of his turn, Havoc is going to take a legendary action. You see it is going to reach out a tendril and attempt to grab him. Has to roll with disadvantage because Saul has not been hit yet. On the lower one is an 18. Misses. OK, misses.
Starting point is 00:11:18 You see one tendril swipes by, does not hit Saul. Then comes initiative 20. Unfortunately, at initiative 20, that is Havoc's lair action. You see as Saul runs down the hall, you guys see the mist along the walls begins to like thicken and then you see flashes and weirdly warped imagery around you and you see the hallway actually extends another 30 feet.
Starting point is 00:11:45 It's a lot more passageway for you to mark up with granola goo now. So you really have to clock where the granola is now. I lost the goo! For clarification it is called goo-nola because it's granola with goo mixed in. You know for the branding purposes. Right on. We will be selling that in the merch store as soon as possible All pre chewed by Caldwell Disgusting
Starting point is 00:12:13 Caldwell has baby birded every last bit of who Nola it's unfortunately a guarantee Yeah, and it's free you can just accept it just click if you want it, and he will send it to you There's no price. It just says yes. Leave you a message about Dom and Jerry on your voicemail. It's like a Domino's pizza tracker, but it's just me chewing on it. All right. That's simply too stupid. We cut to Callie. Callie, that is your turn. OK. So I'm going to say I believe you summoned episodes ago.
Starting point is 00:12:42 You're the one who summoned honeysuckle. So honeysuckle acts on your turn, Licorice acts on Calder's turn. Okay, okay, so I'm going to look at Honeysuckle and say, it's time to go, and I wanna hop on Honeysuckle, and I wanna use his movement to basically go, get within range of Sol so I can cast a spell on him,
Starting point is 00:13:01 and then go into this chamber to inspect it. Rad, if Honeysuckle uses a dash action, you can get to Saul and still get to that hallway. Yeah, yeah. So Honeysuckle's gonna dash. I'm gonna do a drive-by spell. Right on. Honeysuckle shoots out,
Starting point is 00:13:16 rum, rum, rum, rum, rum. Just begins chewing through havoc, flying down the hallway. Callie, you reach your hand out and are able to slap Saul on the back. And I'm what I've done is I've braided a bit of yarn that he's given me in with my Aladdin hair. That's like a little lanyard and I'm going to cast protection from evil and good so that he'll be protected against undead and fey. I'm assuming that this will
Starting point is 00:13:43 be one of those. Nice. So'm assuming that... Yeah, this is like a spirit. I'd count this as undead. Nice! So it has disadvantage on attacks, right? So it has several benefits. Disadvantage on attack rolls against the target, because I know that Sol's hurt. The target also can't be charmed, frightened, or possessed by them. So Sol begins to kind of phase in and out. You see, Havoc is trying to grab at him, but can't. Then um Kali you continue down and you're going down into the chamber that Gowen came from. Yeah I want to get some intel. Great. Thanks Kali. Still eating goo nola. You still have more in your mouth there's so much on the wall. Thanks for the message it was really clear and direct. You got it.
Starting point is 00:14:21 Really clear and direct. You got it. It takes a long time to chew. You see, as the hallway lengthens, you see the spray of Gounola gets longer. Just swallow it and point where you want us to go. The magic's extending to the Gounola. I whisper to Honeysuckle, follow the Gounola. Nom, nom, nom, nom, nom.
Starting point is 00:14:41 Don't eat it. Honeysuckle somehow can't take it in, even though it eats rocks. Hallie, you, as you go down this adjoining hallway to the other side, you see above you again is all abyss. It looks like he probably fell down here from the bridge. And you see a chamber a little ways down the hall, and looks like it may be where he took his last test.
Starting point is 00:15:02 And you and Honeysuckle glide in there and see a small chamber. There is white mist covering the far wall. This looks similar to the magic that was covering the future of the divination wall back when you talked to Lumi and stuff. You also see a small bowl on a pedestal here and it almost looks like a little altar or something and
Starting point is 00:15:27 you see in the bowl there are some ashes. Ashes? Does that mean he sacrificed something? I touched the ashes, are they still warm? You go touch the ashes, they are still warm. But go ahead and give me, I'll say you can do Perception, Investigation, or Arcana. 14, wait, 16. Yeah, 16.
Starting point is 00:15:50 Callie, you reach in and this is different than something that was just burned. This is, you see like the little remains of a scroll in the ways that like when you use up a scroll essentially you'll like open it cast the spell and it'll kind of turn to dust. Yeah. That is what happened here. It looks like Gawain or someone else cast a spell in here and there is a used up scroll in this bowl of ash here. Um well I don't have an action left so I think I'm just gonna take a little bit of the ash and put it to my tongue.
Starting point is 00:16:29 Okay. Alright. I'll say roll insanely high on an arcana check if you want any information. Okay, I'm just gonna crit. I got a four. You got a four. Okay. So close. Tastes like ash.
Starting point is 00:16:46 Okay. I'm going to waft the mist away and see what the wall says. Callie, you rush up. This is all happening like very quickly. You essentially go up, you find this bowl, you're like, what the hell is this? You put your finger in it, you put it to your tongue. You know
Starting point is 00:17:02 it was a spell scroll, but you don't know what it was. Tastes like barbecue. Behind the mist, Callie, as you wave it away, you see once again carvings on the wall in the ice here, and you see a few images. You see starting from left to right, on the left, you see a sword with Sylvan runes on it. And you read Sylvan, right? Yeah. Okay. It is actually a really good thing that you are in this room because you're going to get more information
Starting point is 00:17:29 than other people. You see the runes on that sword say break down. Break down. From that sword there is an arrow pointing to a carving of a being that looks like Alexandrite. To the right of that image is that same sword crossed with another sword, which also has Sylvan runes on it. And what do those say? That one says, the gate. Break down the gate. Break down the gate. From there there's an arrow pointing to a carving that looks like the rift in the sky which appears open. You see like it looks
Starting point is 00:18:14 like the carving of like a light coming through that rift in the sky that hangs over the ice knife. Okay. Are either of these swords the ice knife? You look at the sword that says breakdown on it, and you recall watching Ariox's last moments when he was wrestling with Radak with the sword, and those runes were kind of hard to see in like the memory that you were watching, but you see it and you recognize those runes
Starting point is 00:18:44 as being breakdown that was on the ice knife. Okay. Next, an initiative. Another legendary action from Havoc. Havoc is going to swing out, has just seen honeysuckle go, so is going to lash out at Licorice. Hey, back off. You see Licorice gets up and starts hissing. Go ahead and give me a strength saving throw from Licorice because Havoc does hit him and tries to wrap around and restrain Licorice.
Starting point is 00:19:17 Ah, Licorice got a five. Okay. Would you let me use Indomitable? I will let you if you want. I am gonna say you might wanna save it. It's gonna be really hard for Licorice to beat the DC on a strength save, but it's up to you. Got it.
Starting point is 00:19:36 Okay, no, it's fine. Also, these are, so the serpents are avatars of the serpents. If Licorice gets left behind or disperses, you can summon him back. Okay. But he does look at you with really sad doe eyes. Fuck it, I'm using a dilatable. That one.
Starting point is 00:19:54 No! You see, you see, as you reach into help, a tendril that was going for you instead turns and goes for Licorice and wraps around him licorice is restrained you see what you made me do gowen dickhead you just see gowen's feet going through as he passes the archway after the legendary action that is actually havoc's turn proper so havoc is going to take three tendril attacks. First thing it's going to do is take a crack at Saul with disadvantage.
Starting point is 00:20:30 Oh boy, shout out to the two crew, does not hit Saul. Saul, you are fucking invincible to this thing. Lashes out at your feet, you do a flip, kick off the wall, you are still good to go. Next thing it's going to do is take a strike at Calder. Oh, you haven't hurt me enough, have you? Haven't.
Starting point is 00:20:46 21 to hit you, Calder? Yeah, that does. OK. Cracks you. Go ahead and give me a intelligence saving throw. As you feel your brain scramble, you feel like static in your head. Wish I had Indomitable.
Starting point is 00:21:02 That's another nat one. OK. Oh, no. Back in the pile. Okay, Calder, you have muddled thoughts. You like can't think straight. You're going to subtract a d6 from attack rolls and ability checks. Oh my god. That's nasty. This and the snake, Marv? Yeah, sorry. I hate jaker wits in real life.
Starting point is 00:21:23 What? You can make a saving throw at the end of your turns to get out of this Last one is going to go at Calder again swings at Calder. That is a 20 to hit. Yep. Okay cracks you Calder go ahead and give me a strength saving throw All right, that one's a little bit better. That's a dirty 20 dirty 20 passes Calder, go ahead and give me a strength saving throw. All right, that one's a little bit better. That's a dirty 20. Dirty 20 passes.
Starting point is 00:21:49 Calder, you feel havoc grabs at your wrist where you're holding shard and tries to pull it off of you, but fails. You've taken one thing away from me already. Looks at you with doe eyes and is trying to get out. You're not gonna leave it, are you Mr. Gilday? I'm not running at all. Calder sits down. After Havoc's turn, that is your turn Calder.
Starting point is 00:22:16 Okay, I'm gonna cast Expeditious Retreat on myself. Right on. Grow some ice skates and just Apollo Ono down the hallway. So with Expeditious Retreat, I believe it does dash as a bonus action, right? Which means that it's a bonus action spell. So on this turn, you can go 60 feet and on future turns you can go 90.
Starting point is 00:22:34 Got it. Okay, so Calder casts that, grows ice skates, begins sliding down the hall, gets only 30 feet in because you had been blown back 30 feet by the the room extending but you do see Gunola all along the walls near you. God! It's spreading! It makes me run faster.
Starting point is 00:22:52 Yeah. It hardened so quickly. After Calder's turn you see Havoc is going to take another crack at him and with a nat 1 misses. Okay. I might want to do a save at the end of my turn to get rid of my. You are, go ahead and do an intelligence saving throw.
Starting point is 00:23:09 Nice. 21. 21 passes. You're able to clear your mental fog, get some of your clarity back. You continue to skate down the hall. You hop over another tendril and you are good. Fuck it, I eat some Gnola.
Starting point is 00:23:22 There's plenty on the wall. I need it. After Calder's turn, that is someone else's turn. They're going to go deeper into the chamber. Oh, oh. Oh, whoa, Murph, I just noticed your little map there. That's really cool. I got a little map, it's for me.
Starting point is 00:23:38 After that, that is Kenna's turn. Kenna is so far behind. Kenna just, I'll save Flickrish, don't worry, runs up and actually gets 60 feet, so gets up right next to you, Calder. Actually, I'm sorry I can't. I couldn't do anything. He's stuck.
Starting point is 00:23:55 No, it's okay. Yeah, I heard, yeah, I'm sorry. After Kenna's turn, that is a legendary action from Havoc. Havoc is going to swing down the hallway and go at Callie and Honeysuckle is going to try to grab Honeysuckle. Okay, wait, I think I can do something to make Honeysuckle not get attacked
Starting point is 00:24:18 because I'm a mounted combatant. Ah. Okay, you can force an attack targeteded to your mount to target you instead Wow Kelly you lean down and swing your sword through havoc It would have been an 18 to hit that missus Wow, okay You see that going after an innocent sir Wait Kelly come back and protect licorice too. I fucked up.
Starting point is 00:24:49 Just looking at Calder still with doe eyes. I shouldn't be allowed to have pets. So Callie, yeah, you swing down and you see that in order for Havoc to materialize these tendrils, it is having to gather its power and stuff. So when you swing through it, it does shatter it for a moment.
Starting point is 00:25:06 It needs to reform. So it looks like it's regenerating, but you were able to spare Honeysuckle here. Honeysuckle's all good. After that, that is back up to Saul's turn. Okay. I shout at Havoc. Leave the snakes out of this! They've done nothing wrong.
Starting point is 00:25:22 Yeah, what do you have against snakes? Oh, you're a gardener. You're just a bunch of tendrils. You're basically a snake yourself. Come on. Turns into a bunch of snake fangs and begin chomping at you. Okay, scary, scary. How far ahead of me is Gowan now?
Starting point is 00:25:40 You don't see Gowan anymore. Gowan has fully run into the archway and is taking turns in that other room. You are now 50 feet away from that archway. Great. Because the hallway did extend, but you went so fast that you already were 100 feet when you got pulled back 30.
Starting point is 00:25:58 Okay. Let me go and roll my D6 for my health from last time. Oh, cool. Ooh, that's a six. That's 10 extra HP. Great. You love Gounola. Good.
Starting point is 00:26:09 Swallow it this time. It's the food you don't have to swallow. No, it's not. It just absorbs. It's like chewing tobacco, but for electrolytes and granola. Treads so carefully. Treads so carefully, everyone. Guys, I was going to say, be careful.
Starting point is 00:26:24 OK, so I think I'm just going to go ahead and do, yeah, I wanna do another Step of the Wind as my bonus action, and then I'll use my movement to do 50 feet. So I'm gonna do a full 100, and then I wanna hold my action until I see Gowan. Is that okay? Yes, so wow. I can give you a trigger if you want.
Starting point is 00:26:40 So you can do 100 feet with just your movement and bonus action. That is fucking wild Saul you run down the hall faster than Havoc is able to control the hallway and You essentially are able to catch up to Gowan you break through this archway You guys Kali and Calder Calder actually more so because you're still in the original hall, see Saul disappear into the smoke where Gowan was going. Leave Gunola, leave the trail. Now I'm into it. Now you love it. I'm leaving a little like trail, basically like the dotted lines on a road. I'm just leaving Gunola bits. You see Licorice breaks free for a second
Starting point is 00:27:26 but then slips on the Gunola and then gets grabbed. He goes, no, no, someone wasn't on me, Licorice. Looks at Calder desperately. What did I do? I'm against the Gunola. Nobody would have a problem if it was breadcrumbs. Why is everyone so upset about this? Saul, you break through the archway
Starting point is 00:27:42 and see swirls of black smoke along the outside of this enormous domed room. It looks like a corrupted version of Ariox's divination room. You see a bunch of like scrawled out etchings much sloppier than what you've seen before. So many things written that it's impossible to make sense of, but go ahead and give me a perception check and I'll tell you what you can see. You got it. 15? Okay.
Starting point is 00:28:09 With a 15, you see chaos and violence. Like depictions of a wild, huge scale battle. You see death and destruction, chaos and violence. You enter and you still have more movement because it only took you 50 feet to get up. So you can do with what you want, with what you see in this room. You are in the upper tier of this cavern where the black smoke is circling. You see hundreds of tendrils shooting out from the smoke and gathering at the source of its power. The frozen statue of Ariox and Radak locked in deadly combat. This is the where the ice knife is. They are connected
Starting point is 00:28:54 by a long sword that has stabbed through them both. Ariox has been stabbed with like the point of it. Radak with icicles that shoot out of the hilt into him. The giant longsword glows with blue ancient Sylvan runes. That statue is 50 feet down in the center of the pit. You are up on the outer rim of the dome. Gawain had to use a dash action to get to it. So he is down there, but is sort of hesitating and putting his hand on the ice knife But has not pulled it out yet. You see as you enter the room He turns up and looks at you and you see flickers in his red pupils and he goes stay back
Starting point is 00:29:38 This isn't your fight. It's all of our fight. Don't you get that? This involves all of us. Look around on the walls. We're all involved. We're all connected in this. You just have to take a step back. Let us help you. This isn't your burden then. This part of it is not your burden. Don't you understand? The more burden you take the more I feel. That's how this works. Everything ripples. I'm just gonna jump down. Okay. And kind of just, you said it was kind of like a, does it slope down into the middle here? It slopes down.
Starting point is 00:30:08 It's almost like you're on the outer rim of this like domed kind of cavern and you can jump down. I mean, you have Featherfall. It's nothing for you to fall 50 feet. I kind of want to just see how like rocks slide down. Hell yeah. Surf down on the rocks.
Starting point is 00:30:21 You rock slide down, you get up right next to Gowan. I think there's a chance this might not work, but it's worth trying. I'm gonna use Hour of Reaping on him. Each creature within 30 feet makes a wisdom saving throw. Damn, okay, and what does it do? If he fails, he's frightened until my next turn. So I basically wanna just scare him off.
Starting point is 00:30:42 Okay, Gawain passes. Ah, okay. You see, Gawain looks at you, and as you get close, there's a moment of sadness in his eyes, and then he takes on a look of steely determination, and he goes, you've chosen your own fate then.
Starting point is 00:31:05 And he gets ready to grab the ice knife. After Saul's turn, Havoc is going to try to grab at him, try to pull him back. Rolls with disadvantage. 17 to hit you. Misses. Saul, you jump to the other side of the statue. You see the tendrils licking out past you.
Starting point is 00:31:23 Callie's umbrella, spectral umbrella bursts out. Beautiful. That is another lair action at Initiative 20. You guys are falling even further behind because it extends another 30 feet. Whoa. God damn it. So Calder is essentially back at where he started, zero.
Starting point is 00:31:43 You go back, you go to the beginning of the gunola At least I'm wearing ice skates. Yes You and Kenna are running and the room is like elongating as fast as you are running and Kenna's scrabbling mr. Buffo, mr. Buffo after The lair action that is Kaliope's turn. Okay, I'm going to ride Honeysuckle up to this arch. Okay.
Starting point is 00:32:11 Get a look on what's going on. Okay, you poke your head through, and Calder, you see Kali disappears into black smoke. As I pass. Oh, fuck. I'm like, keep your spirits up, you two are gonna be the clean up crew. Jenna and Calder just so far behind.
Starting point is 00:32:27 Mr. Kilday, I'm sad about licorice. Me too, me too. I don't think they're never gonna forgive me. I'm just in there being like, your brother's gonna be here real soon, and he's gonna wanna talk to you any minute now. Cali, you poke your head through this archway and you see depictions of violence all along this dome
Starting point is 00:32:50 and you see in the center of the room this statue of Radak and Ariox in battle in their like death pose with Gawain about to pull the sword from the statue. And you see he's all down there dodging tendrils that want to grab him so bad, but just cannot. Okay, I'm going to have Honeysuckle take me 20 feet further. And then with the remaining amount of his movement,
Starting point is 00:33:15 start heading back to Kenna and Calder, as I do, I'm going to cast Sanctuary on Honeysuckle. Wow. So anytime that Havoc wants to attack him, he has to do a wisdom save to attack him. Shit, okay, you see shimmering starlight around Honeysuckle and you see an image of the serpent queen protecting her king.
Starting point is 00:33:36 That's right. And so I'm gonna send him, he's getting 30 feet back towards. So Calder, as everything is looking so bad you see honeysuckle covered in stardust suddenly flies back through Stay away. I'm bad news and begins trying to get to you Trust me. I'll just fuck it up Okay, honeysuckle gets ready to meet them halfway, gets back out the archway.
Starting point is 00:34:08 Kaliope, you are now 20 feet in. You are 30 feet away from Gawain and Saul in the center of this room here. I think I'm gonna use my movement to just walk over and I'm gonna try to take the knife myself. Okay, you do need an action to take the knife. I have an action. Oh, what? Oh, sanctuary is need an action to take the knife. I have an action.
Starting point is 00:34:25 What? Oh, Sanctuary is a bonus action. Okay. Callie. I'm just going to look him in the eye and say, this is cold as... You jump down to the center here. Gawain is distracted by Saul, just had this interaction with him, but he does have his hand on the hilt. You go to grab it, but here's what I'm going to say since he's already in the process of
Starting point is 00:34:48 getting it this is almost gonna be like you're disarming him so I'm gonna make it a contested strength check but since Saul is right here I will let you both roll to try to beat him and if either of you does you can wrench this thing free so Saul you have the alert feet you You literally look up and see Callie before Gawain even notices her. You guys, all three converge on the hilt of the ice knife at the same time. No!
Starting point is 00:35:15 Callie, now! Okay, I got an 11. Oh, Nat Twitter. Oh, shit! Okay, okay. So Gawain got a total of a 17. He rolled a 10 on strength. He has a 17.
Starting point is 00:35:30 So Gawain just, no, no, as it slips through his hands, but you guys pull against it. The combined power of both of you overwhelms him. Kali, you're like reaching in, summoning your magical starfire and kind of emboldening yourself and Saul, you're standing on Gawain's head just kind of prying it from him using like the strength of your legs and your whole body and finally the two of you pull it free from
Starting point is 00:35:56 him and it sends all three of you falling to the ground. Gawain falls over, Saul falls to the other side of the statue, and Calli you collapse back. And when you look over, you see the ice knife in your hand, this long sword with glowing blue runes. It is surrounded by this essence of havoc that whips around it. And as the sword is removed, you hear the giant back wall of the cavern suddenly cracks and begins to pull apart. And stalactites begin falling from the top of the cave, everything begins shaking, Galwan is kind of scrambling and looking around as you see a pathway opens up out of this labyrinth into the mountains overlooking the village.
Starting point is 00:36:48 Okay, but not into the Feywild. Not into the Feywild, no, out into onto the mountains here like the ruins of Mount Forge. You feel cold wind and see twinkling lights from starlight leaking in. And as you start to stand up with the sword Gowen also stands up and holds his hand out and goes, please don't make me debase myself even more I don't want to hurt you I just want this all to be over. You don't want to hurt me? Look into my face.
Starting point is 00:37:21 This is the face of the people you are going to hurt. You are not saving your village. You're sparing your village at the expense of the fucking Feywild. Gawain looks very conflicted at that. Yeah, that's right. All your fucking language of martyrdom and whatnot, but really you're just shielding your family with the bodies of others. How's that sit with you?
Starting point is 00:37:50 Go ahead and give me a persuasion check. Dirty 20. Okay. He, he. Gawain looks like he was getting ready to launch in, to wrestle you for the ice knife, but instead just shrinks, you see his shoulders kind of go in, and he goes,
Starting point is 00:38:09 I'm sorry, maybe there's, there could be another fight in the Feywild, but- No, you've seen the writing on the wall. You were in the same chamber I was in. The knife goes to Alexandrite, and then she breaks open the gate to the Feywild, and your people are safe, but for how fucking long?
Starting point is 00:38:28 As you say that, Kali, go ahead and give me an insight check. Okay, come on, come on. 15. 15. You see you've hit at something that Gowen has been struggling with. I know. That he has not wanted to think about the other side
Starting point is 00:38:44 of this, of what will happen. I wouldn't have said any of this if Colder was here. But he doesn't register what you were saying. You see, he goes from desperation and wanting to be able to convince himself and you that he's doing the right thing to protect his people to not knowing what the fuck you're talking about when you're talking about that room. What room? What prophecy?
Starting point is 00:39:11 The chamber, the place that you were in, you did a bit of magic. You saw on the wall that you give the knife to Alexandrite and then she breaks the gate with it. It's on the wall, painted. fix the gate with it, it's on the wall, painted. You register that he knows that Alexandra, he knows what the ice knife is for, he knows what she wants to use it from, but he has no idea what you're talking about, about seeing it on the wall. I've taken a bit of the ash so I hold it up, this room, you did that little spell, it was a spell and it was a scroll. You hold it up in your hand and with the power of the ice knife, this thing that was wielded
Starting point is 00:39:47 by Ariox, you have sort of an elevated arcane knowledge that you wouldn't otherwise have. And you suddenly, even though you don't do anything with it, you feel the taste of this ash in your mouth again. And you recognize this spell as being Modify Memory. Gawain has erased whatever happened in that room from his memory, and as you have that realization, you don't see it move at all. But the statue of Ariox nearby seems to be looking right at you, and you feel a wind pass by as you smell spearmint and tea leaves on the wind and once again hear the words of your mother.
Starting point is 00:40:36 You hear if your opponent thinks they have all the pieces to win, let them. After Calliope's turn, that is Havoc's turn proper. You see the tendrils whip around and are going to try to grab at Callie. Callie, that is a 23 to hit you. That hits. Okay, Callie, it swipes at you. Go ahead and give me a strength saving throw as the tendrils grab your wrist and attempt to pull the ice knife from you. 14. I could use a lot. I have my charge on my luck blade, but I'm starting to feel like with my mom saying that and it being like, maybe he is supposed to have the sword. So I'm not gonna reroll it.
Starting point is 00:41:39 I'm just gonna let it happen. You feel a soothing breeze cross your wrist as you make that decision. And you feel Havoc pulls the sword loose and it clangs onto the ground. And you see Gawain goes to grab it. Callie, what are you doing? Pick up the sword.
Starting point is 00:42:00 I think he's part of this. I think he's part of the puzzle. I think all we can do is let him do what he wants to do and make sure he doesn't die as a pawn. Havoc is then going to take two more swings. Is going to once again try to fucking grab Saul. A 19 to hit Saul. Ooh, doesn't hit. Doesn't hit. Wow. Okay. Yeah, just cannot get him.
Starting point is 00:42:22 Is going to try to grab Callie. 25 to get Callie. That gets me. Callie go ahead and give me a deck saving or a strength saving throw. Okay. It's a 25 deck saving. We see. Callie, you get hit by these tendrils,
Starting point is 00:42:38 tries to wrap around you and you manage to slip out. But you kind of go to the other side of the statue away from the ice knife that glows on the ground here. After Havoc's turn, that is Calder's turn. Would love to get in this room. 90 feet away is honeysuckle. Okay. And you can go 90 feet.
Starting point is 00:43:00 Yes. Yes, I can. I'll even let you scoop up Kenna if you want. Can I pull Kena along? Yeah, you pull Kena along and you skate down this hallway you hop onto honeysuckles back and honeysuckle will act on Kaliope's turn But you pretty much have to use all of your action economy to get up there unless you have anything else you can pull off No, not yeah, I've used a bonus action. After Calder's turn, that is a legendary action from Havoc.
Starting point is 00:43:31 Is fully has to concentrate on the room with the dome now because Kali and Saul got so far so fast and is going to try to grab Kali first. That is a 30 to hit. That hits. Another strength or dex save. Okay, come on, dex, come on, dex. 17 on the die!
Starting point is 00:43:54 You guys are just rolling out of the way so fucking dexterous. Oh, that feels, god, it feels so good when you roll a good strength or dex save. It just feels like you're strong. We're so fucking limber, dude. So yeah, that's 23. Yeah, Callie, you get out of the way. You're all good. After
Starting point is 00:44:09 Havoc's legendary action, that is Gawain's turn. Gawain looks confused at all of this that Havoc sort of attacking you guys but not attacking him does look guilty, but reaches down, grabs the ice knife and goes, just stay back, stay back, holds the sword up to you guys, but then is going to run towards the light, use a full dash action, you see this room has essentially cracked open onto the mountain and is going to run out into the light and you see he runs out into the snow. So he's gonna bring it to Alexandre, but does that prophecy mean that that's supposed
Starting point is 00:44:45 to happen? Because Aureox dreamed us up on the wall and we're taking that as a good sign, but Aureox also dreamed Alexandrite getting the sword up on the wall. Like, Calli said there was another sword? Yeah, there's another sword. It says the gate on it in Sylvan. So I recognize that sword from anywhere. Is it shard
Starting point is 00:45:07 kelly as you say that we cut down the hallway and called her as you hop on honeysuckle and there's this sanctuary mask around honeysuckle you see shard begins glowing oh that's new and you look at your sword shardard, another word for peace, and you see Sylvan runes begin glowing in blue as it gets close to the ice knife. As it does, you feel a cold wind pick up around you and sort of reach your mind and you have a vision. Your mind travels to a chamber in this labyrinth, the one
Starting point is 00:45:47 that Kali had just visited, and you see the carvings in the wall with shard crossed with the ice knife. You recognize this as shard. You see it glowing on the wall there, and you are seeing a vision of Gawain's last challenge. You see he's brushing himself off having just fallen from the abyss above. He goes over and begins looking at the wall here. These etchings. The one sword going to Alexandrite, the two swords crossing, the gate opening. But there is another etching here that was not here before that Kali did not see. You see a carving of Lumi. And after a moment, the spirit of Lumi emerges from the wall.
Starting point is 00:46:40 Gawain Kilday. You don't know it yet, but you are part of a plan to defeat this great machine. Gawain looks skeptical, but Lumi continues. The enemy you face can read minds, she can sense motives, she has to think that you're going to help her in order for you to get in close. The first strike has to be you." And Gawain is overwhelmed but looks hopeful, then kind of sad, just kind of deflates and shakes his head. Gawain says,
Starting point is 00:47:17 I can't betray her. She'll kill everyone in the village, and I'm sworn to protect them." Lumi nods. There may be a way to stop that. I cannot guarantee anything, but I can offer you hope, a chance. We will need to wipe your memory of this true plan, otherwise the machine will sniff it out. How? How can I enact a plan if I can't remember it? You will recall it at the right moment. You just need an anchor. Another memory to trigger this one. And it needs to be strong.
Starting point is 00:48:00 Stronger than the magic we used to erase it. Calder, do you have a strong memory of your brother Gowan? Oh wow. Um, Calder thinks back to when they were kids and they used to skate on the frozen lake. Um, and the kids would always tease, tease me. They'd tease Calder. And one day things got a little heated. Some kids started shoving me and Gregor actually stepped up and punched somebody right in the teeth. I was grateful and I went home and I wondered why it was Gregor that would stand up for me and not Gowan. But then the next morning, Gowan pulled me out of bed before the sun rose. And he brought me to the meat shed.
Starting point is 00:49:00 He taught me how to punch, and he taught me how to fight. And every day for a winter, Gowan trained with me. And it was Gowan that stood up for me by teaching me how to stand up for myself. Man. Calder, you see Gowan tells this story to Lumi, but the way he tells it gives you even more kind of insight about how this went down. Gawain is very afraid about how the people around him view him and about his standing in the village and about his reputation. So while, you know, in your years since this happened, you're like, oh, Gawain really taught me this lesson and everything, and actually his lesson was even better than Gregor's. The way Gawain tells it, he was afraid to stand up for you in that moment,
Starting point is 00:49:57 and he sort of envied you and Gregor for your courage to stand out. And that winter, you might have been learning the technique of fighting from him, but as he remembers it, he was learning the fighting spirit from you. And learning that just makes me love him more, because he isn't perfect after all he's just my brother." Lumi nods and goes, okay this is really summarizing a beautiful thing into something kind of silly but your anchor will be meat shed and it means so much. Gawain, so many layers, Gawain nods and it looks kind of excited and Lumi goes, then you agree to the plan.
Starting point is 00:50:51 There's a chance to actually stop her. Then I'll take it. Lumi sniffs him. I thought you might say that. And she goes on to tell him the plan, but Calder, as you're sort of seeing this in a vision, this part is warped. Her mouth is, you know, obfuscated, the sound is fuzzy. This has been erased with a modified memory spell. You see Lumi hands it to Galen, who consumes it at the end of the vision, the ashes falling into the bowl, and you snap back to to reality shard glowing at your side. I sprint forward. Right on. Okay, so you're still on honeysuckle.
Starting point is 00:51:32 Honeysuckle is getting ready to go. Will act on Callie's turn. Yeah, sorry about licorice. You're my guy. Hey everybody, it's Emily here to talk to you about Mint Mobile. It's spring cleaning. We're getting rid of the things that don't serve us anymore and you know what doesn't serve anyone? Expensive phone bills. If you'd like to declutter your finances,
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Starting point is 00:52:54 also hold her action until Honeysuckle can move. Havoc is going to... Why Havoc is even trying anything I don't know is going to swing out and try to, you know what, fuck you, Saul, we'll try to get you this time. Pull, just try. Yeah, with the disadvantage, just cannot hit you, 17. Swings out, you get out of the way, and you do see that the power of Havoc
Starting point is 00:53:18 seems to be going with the Iceknife as Gawain runs out into the light, into the mountains beyond the chamber. That's the end of the round. Back at the top, that is Saul's turn. Okay, I'm gonna bolt towards Gawain. And as I do, I'm gonna put my sunglasses on, my detector shades, just to get kind of a sense
Starting point is 00:53:40 of like if there's any like Alexandrite presence like hiding out on Gawain. Totally. of like if there's any like Alexandrite presence like hiding out on Gawain totally. Saul you run out of this last chamber onto the mountain. It is an impossibly cold windy night. In the sky you see bright stars and a green streak of light from the planar rift that almost seems to pulsate with power. Below you, you see the sleepy village of the Iceknife, but ahead of you, Gawain is still running. As you start to use your movement to get out there behind him, you're way faster than him, but he's ahead
Starting point is 00:54:15 of you. You put on your glasses, you look all around you, and you do see, not on Gawain, Gawain seems to have no Alexandrite magic on him. But like you're using heat-seeking goggles, and you see a person, you see a being of pure Alexandrite. Alexandrite herself, hovering around the side of the mountain, coming across this mountain pass to meet Gawain here. And as you get close to her this is a concentrated amount of magic here. This seems to be a prime body or one of her prime avatars. As you start to get close to her you feel your body begin to freeze up and your brain
Starting point is 00:55:00 begin to scramble. Go ahead and give me an intelligence saving throw. That's gonna be a three. Saul, you drop to the ground incapacitated. Still conscious, but you cannot control your body right now. You feel muddled and disconnected. You see Gawain looks back concerned. Gawain, you don't have to do this alone! I told you not to follow me!
Starting point is 00:55:28 You think this is good? You think what she's doing is what we want? Of course I don't think it's good. I'm doing what I have to do. Uh, and he turns away from you and keeps running ahead. After Saul's turn... That's the lair action, the hall gets 30 feet longer. You're all good, you're on honeysuckle.
Starting point is 00:55:48 What the fuck? That is Callie's turn. Okay, the third part of the triptych I saw. Yeah. It was break down the gate, the two swords, were they crossing like they were clashing or were they crossing like they were being combined and used together?
Starting point is 00:56:04 I'm not even gonna make you roll an insight check. You have figured it out, combined and used together. Okay. Okay. You see at the beginning of the round, Honeysuckle bursts through the door and gets down to where Calliope is. You guys are in front of this frozen statue of Ariox and you see, Calder you've missed a lot, you see the
Starting point is 00:56:27 chamber has opened out onto, you recognize these mountains as mountains overlooking the village. You can see like little sparkles of stars and like fires from the village and you see that Saul has dropped outside in the snow here and Gawain is disappearing like a little dot running down this mountain pass. Okay, I see Calder and I'm like, Calder, Gawain, he's gone outside and you have to go out with him because I think he's a part of this in a way that we didn't realize. I don't know if Shard and the Iceknife have to work together or be physically combined, but yeah, I don't know if it's metaphorical or real,
Starting point is 00:57:06 but you go find him, go find Gowri. I think he's on our side. You're right. Okay, Calder, you're on honeysuckle and you start shooting out towards the opening in the cave here. Callie, you still have your turn. This is your turn to act.
Starting point is 00:57:24 Okay, I look around. Is there unfinished business in here? You still have this statue here of Radek and Ariox. Their like final moment. Their final moment. And the sword has been removed from them, so they are no longer connected. And you've got Ariox here, stuck in his last moment.
Starting point is 00:57:44 He's got this like pained grimace on his face, but a look of like stoic determination. Can I put my hand on and feel like if there is lingering curse or something in this? You put your hand on it and I will say it seems like Havoc was emanating from the Iceknife. And in fact, as as Gawain left, you saw like the tendrils of havoc going with him. So that doesn't really feel like curse here. It does feel like weirdly enough, if you were to shatter Raydac, it might actually bring him back or allow him to he's somebody who like regenerates and has like, you know, cursed powers, so he might come back. Aurioks, this does not seem cursed.
Starting point is 00:58:28 This seems like magic essentially like encased in a gem or like a crystal. Okay, then I will put my hand up to Aurioks. And I think I want to say, you've carried this regret and remorse for long enough, but winter is thawing and spring is just around the corner. And I think as I say this, my like little frozen eladrin kind of melts. And then I want to cast shatter on the statue.
Starting point is 00:59:04 Fuck yeah. Callie, you hold your hand up to the statue and you see your sort of frosty hand starts to take on more of like a spring rain as things start to get like a little bit more slushy and you begin to transfer your heat over to this frozen statue. I think it's like snow drops are adrops are a flower that, uh, some of the first to bloom in the spring and they even sometimes like push up through frost. So I think that's what's happening on my hand.
Starting point is 00:59:34 So yeah, flowers begin to sprout out of your hand and there's this burst of starfire energy through this power. You see a swirl of blue energy join it that takes the form of Lumi the Arctic Fox that follows the arc of your magic strike and explodes on impact with the statue. It shatters this crystalline figure
Starting point is 01:00:00 into a million little pieces of ice and you see a bright light, you have to kind of shield yourself. Calder, you see this as you pass, this like explosion in the room. And for a brief moment, you see the image of Lumi jumping into Ariox's arms. And as he catches her, they turn into a swirling sphere of blue magic that rejects the rest of the havoc in the room, sending it out onto the mountain following the ice knife. And Callian Calder, you guys see the sphere here between pulses of arcane energy does take on a like corporeal form, takes on the face of Ariox the Aladdin
Starting point is 01:00:46 Who looks out at you and goes Thank you for freeing me Of course, I mean Really the thing that's moving me the most is just seeing you and Lumi reunited You see in the sphere flashes of Lumi hopping around I'm crying a little bit, but I'm like, it's, I'm just melting. That's all. I'm not crying. Ariax nods.
Starting point is 01:01:12 There is still one more thing we must do before I can rest. Okay. Tell us. You see, bits of snow and frost in the room seem to sort of react to him like a magnet and Frost in the room seem to sort of react to him like a magnet as energy gathers and then disperses and flies towards both of you. It seems like it's trying to either like enchant or possess you, but I'll let you guys decide if you want to roll a save or not.
Starting point is 01:01:42 Oh, we can choose to fail. Correct. Correct. Okay. I look at Calder, even though this is all happening so fast, I feel like to trust Ariax in this moment is to kind of like believe in his vision of us, which is a vision that I want to believe in. So yeah, I think I look at Calder and I smile and I don't take out my sword or my shield.
Starting point is 01:02:13 AC You believe in me, I believe in you. AC I leave my sword at my side. AC Let's bet on everything that he drew of us on the wall. AC I want to see ourselves like he sees us. Yeah, exactly, right? You feel this rush of magical energy enter your body, and it's not quite a possession or a charm, because you still feel like you have control,
Starting point is 01:02:37 but you feel a surge of power as it feels like you have the added wisdom and power of someone else. Your outer body glows blue, but you feel a warmth on the inside and a great strength, a wealth of arcane knowledge. You are just buzzing with energy and power. Wow, we gotta give some of this to Sol. Yeah, we really do. You guys do see Saul just collapsed out in the snow
Starting point is 01:03:08 on the mountain. Now that the havoc has dispersed, you see more clearly what's going on outside. This shit's so good, I gotta share it. Dude, dude. You guys go out onto the mountain towards Saul and see that he has collapsed here in the snow. You feel, you sense that you're getting close to Alexandrite even though she's just, you know,
Starting point is 01:03:33 a silhouette in the distance. You feel this static that has affected Saul, that has taken him down that has left him prone and unable to act. But you feel a layer of protection, Ariox's wisdom kind of clearing your thoughts. Calder, Cali, she's here. She's here. It's gotta be now. It's okay, we're here now. And then I put my glowing blue hand on Sol
Starting point is 01:04:06 and I give him a good contact high. Oh! Partake of that fucking wisdom. I run over, kneel beside him and blow in his hair. You guys both grab Sol's hand. And Sol, you feel the magic enter your body and slowly begin regaining control and sort of find yourself in a more kind of relaxing meditative state. But as you pull yourself up and as you join your friends here all standing on the edge of the world,
Starting point is 01:04:47 here, all standing on the edge of the world, starry night sky, streak in the sky. You see, the blue crystalline magic makes a small barrier of floating snow in front of you as if to shield you. You hear Ariax go, I cannot protect you if you wander too far. Even from here, she can sense Even from here she can sense malice, anger, plotting. I am doing my best to cool your passion. But you need patience. You will know the right moment when it comes. So we're gonna let Gowen go in there by himself. You feel a cool breeze go through you? So we're just gonna let Gowan go in there by himself.
Starting point is 01:05:28 And you start to kind of warm to that idea. Yeah. Okay. After Calliope, it is Alexandrite's turn. You see down further in the mountain pass, she hovers over to Gawain. They're a bit of a ways away, and you can just hear bits and pieces of their conversation over the howling wind. Gawain is holding the ice knife, and bewed with these runes, out of which Havoc's tendrils lash out in all directions. You see him hesitating.
Starting point is 01:06:06 His head is down, he's defeated, but he looks over the edge of the mountain and he sees the village. He thinks about it, then gathers his courage and hands the sword over to her. Oh my god. The machine takes no gratification in this. This is just another job done onto the next one.
Starting point is 01:06:29 She holds the sword up and inspects it for a second and points up at the sky towards the planar rift. She looks to be casting a spell through it. You see swirls of havoc shoot towards the crack in the sky and then nothing. The gate doesn't open, she tries again, but she doesn't know yet that she needs another component. In this moment, you see a brief flicker of humanity in her face, a look of confusion.
Starting point is 01:07:01 Calder, that is your turn. I get up out of the snow and I cast booming blade on Shard. I stab him into the ground and scream out, meat shed! Ha ha ha! Huh? Alexandrite turns to look at you, has not heard of Shard or anything about it, sees the magic on it,
Starting point is 01:07:32 doesn't recognize it. But Gawain's eyes go wide as he hears the words meat shed. And they go from sort of wide and lost to quickly changing to like narrow and determined like he's just been let in on a plan and in the brief moment of confusion from Alexandrite he launches in grabs the hilt of the ice knife and stabs it through her chest. As the sword plunges into her havoc the opposite of logic and order shoots through her infecting her like a virus.
Starting point is 01:08:07 You guys have injured Avatars of Alexandrite before in so much that you've damaged the bodies that she's possessed, but you've never really seen her react. But this looks like a true strike. She shrieks as her body begins rapidly changing forms. AAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH Yes. You hear the voices of giants, dwarves, dragons, humans, Beatrix, all mixed into one as her system overloads. But after a moment, she seems to regain a semblance of control. She reaches out with an extending arm that bursts into wires and wraps the cables around Gawain's neck. She lets out an explosive charge that throws them both
Starting point is 01:08:53 apart, sending the ice knife flying into the snow and turning Gawain stark white as he collapses. No, brother! Alexandrite stands up, gripping her wound. It is a real wound, dripping with dark, oily liquid. A sick parody of a human. She clutches it and tries to heal it or shift forms, but no matter how she changes her body, the wound stays. She is not dead yet, but it looks like she can now be killed. Calder, Saul, and Kali, you feel the power of Ariox surge through you in one last burst. This
Starting point is 01:09:35 is as far as I go. The future is up to you. Fly, Peregrin. You feel one last surge of power as you are given the benefits of a long rest and you level up. And that is where we'll end this session. Wow. But you guys are at full health, full abilities. Blessings of Ariox on top of this mountain. Blessings to you, sir. Blessings to you for this episode.
Starting point is 01:10:05 Good morning and blessings. Good morning and blessings. Sorry about all the Tom and Jerry stuff up top, but we really got there in the end. Yeah. We sure did. We got that mouse. Hell yeah.
Starting point is 01:10:16 All right, everybody, thank you all so much for listening. You can check out our Patreon, patreon.com slash nadpod, that's N-E-D-D-P-O-D, don't sing yet. Wee! Don't do it, don't sing yet. Weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee eeeeee. Don't do it. Don't do one of the Voyagers, which is like a 45 year old satellite or whatever, it started to break down and from like so many light years away, they were able to fix it. And it just like, it's just real life magic.
Starting point is 01:10:56 So just shout out to the rocket scientists. So not this specific interview, you're just plugging rocket scientists. I guess I'm not trying to plug as much as like a shout out. Like, Shout out to rocket scientists out there. Yeah. Yeah. Mine's a lot less important, but there's a Headgum live show at the Bell House on Tuesday. And how many satellites were you guys going to fix there?
Starting point is 01:11:18 Yeah. Or are you guys furthering humanity there or what? Yeah. It's just in Brooklyn. It's just at the bell house on tuesday Me and amir are gonna host it headgum.com slash live. Oh, that's that's fun. That's great. Yeah, that's really fun Um, i'll bring this discussion even further into the muck, uh and plug another cartoon All right, okay, cool. I've been watching a lot of crag of the creek with my family Uh, and it's just a really really nice show. It's like one of the best modern cartoon shows I think so go watch crag of the creek
Starting point is 01:11:44 Hell yeah, I like it. I'm gonna go ahead and plug Tom and Jerry. Yeah, right, dude I've also been watching a lot of Tom and Jerry believe it or not. You already did. I don't know that we plugged it enough Yes, and you could follow us on social media there remember not use at th smurfs me at Caldys Caldwell at a extra Emily and at your coach Jake, and you can tweet about the show using hashtag Nodpod, that's N-A-D-D-P-O-D. We are, we are, the youth of the nation. We are, we are, the youth of the nation. ["The Star-Spangled Banner"]
Starting point is 01:12:16 ["The Star-Spangled Banner"] It's the end of the show, everyone, and you know what that means. It's time to shout out our benevolent council of elders, starting with... Brad D. Jeffrey S. Lord of the Fjord. Hugh C. Later, Mick Skater.
Starting point is 01:12:32 Matt M. Cotter W. Jeff C. Daniel G. Daniel the Dostardly Dame. Beardman Dan. Danny P. Bryant the Fairy West DM,
Starting point is 01:12:46 Victor T. Balnor's boy, Hoyd's friend, Justin I, Danny shares a birthday with Goofy Danster, TJM, Trela the Cravefae, Discolanius, Christopher B, Damiel R, Jordan L, Cyborg version of Josh the Cobold. Targot. Stevie Wags. Hellish Rebuke-er PhD.
Starting point is 01:13:11 Princess Yar. Jory S. Jack L. Nicholas C. Star of every film ever made in Bohemia, now starring in Iron D production of A Squire Never Tires. Mike H.
Starting point is 01:13:23 Alka Schmelzer Plus. Great Value Gemma, Tyler F., Nabatjer, Panama James, Carboro Chapel Hill FPV, Rex Thunior The White, Diana De Los Lopez, Cici Lulu, AcuParroso Rabbit Fault Detective, Timmy R., Reiko, Calder comes cold shout out to the cold come companions, frosty facial.
Starting point is 01:13:51 Taylor B, the vengeful one-winged angel, Cass, skateboard Cass, Stephen speeds into the seasons of Sneeze and See. Lady Taco and team incredulity, Nick W, William W, Big Bite Bird of the Mad, Eric McD, Ananarama, Percival Fredrickstein von Musselt-Lezarski de Rolo III, J. Dragonborn, Guardian of the Vibe, and their Piranha Princess.
Starting point is 01:14:21 Performative Lunge, that one's new and that's so funny to me. The Sandrayan, Ben A, Dave H, Christian S, Showin Sweet Blue Hole, Dustin S, Danny F, Hawkeye Pierce, Bookfars Assistant Izzy F, DPC is awesome, hashtag honor the cock. I was wondering if we get some of those. Sean, the Shade Tree Mechanic of Zalbaldar.
Starting point is 01:14:49 Summer Rose Granterre. Misa of Housin Zunza. Ariel, the Occasional Mermaid. Selena and Velaesiraptor. Bee, Perky, Hoaz. Maxwell J. Lauren H. Serv 16, the bone duster.
Starting point is 01:15:06 Annie, the Feywild's therapist. Skillful ferret. I would like to see that cryptic triptic that Calliope encountered for sure. Connor Savage, Salil, Weed Goku 69, a kid gunk at, experimenting with drugs. Bioquart7, SullivanH, JackH, king of the mole people under ironed,
Starting point is 01:15:30 even dressed in blue and fighting his way through a bracket style tournament. LindseyW, Vailen, CarlinC, EmilyS, NoahTheBullywugBoy, hashtag honor the cock, there it is again. James G. Everything Bago the Aladdin who just wants to hang out with his pet badger Stripey. Daddy Master Dandy. Han. Eric B. Marcos. Learns the Balance Druid. Frida M. Tracy P. the Crick Elf Librarian, Maggie S. Holly Hyena, Giovanni The Fighter, Akash The Car, Doofinus, Russell H., a monk named Dilgo, Cody C.,
Starting point is 01:16:14 Keychains Pentium 2 Processor, Lorelai The Succubus and Kira Her Busty Queen, Matt M., Your Friendly Neighborhood Yonwn and yunkle Andrew and Sid. John Adams the write-in candidate for 2024. Meg the mail carrier manager of the Hoomia. James F. Jimmy A. M4L Austin S. Wayfair now has to do something with the trolls. Get rid of them, turn to page 42, keep them, turn to page 69. Shane C. Barpo Good Barrel, Bard Barian, Welsh Linder, Garrett G. One Big Curd, Mr. D. Havy Half Orc Half Guppy, Renee the Monster Captain, Box Clifton, Olivia the Enchanting Bard, and Jared the Soap Opera Cleric, who are playing Stick It to the Man, down with the monarchy, yeah!
Starting point is 01:17:11 Riley S, FICO, Garrett the Artificer, Anthony the Rattest of Dudes, Josh H, Caleb L, The Fairies Say Om Nom Nom Nom Nom, Kentrip Dumbledore the Bear bare onesie wearing barbarian. Lexi H. MJ the BFG. NoDrog, the pass a fist barbarian. Geno T. Mama Belle.
Starting point is 01:17:35 Derek D. Tristan the talentless hunk. Leon K. Legendary behemoth from a future campaign. Shenanigans O'igans O Connor meos the great Joshua s Alexander Lin's w angel la Pamela the forever finna cated Emma s read the reforged warforge Pavo Eskenar the Goliath Paladin providing service with a smile.
Starting point is 01:18:05 The Grinch tried to pump my gas in Jersey and so I put the car in reverse. A cat napping in a sunbeam listening to a podcast. C.Jamm Hampton, Shelby Kenna's second favorite sprite girl excited to see the dream team in New York City while dressing up like Sophia Lee. I can't wait. Jackson R. Blake H. Searching for a sweet blue hole with his bestie Big Beb. Papa Sky Days. Claire and Cal enjoying a sticky bun by the crick.
Starting point is 01:18:35 Me Ma Sky Days. Oh, it's Fee. Tommy W. Hayley the Human. Megan N. The Big M. Balnor's best friend Steve. Stephanie of House and Zunza, Jake's Brahman Shop, RIP, Milky or the Brave Leonin Warrior,
Starting point is 01:18:51 who even cares about the rest of the party, Benjamin A, sacrificial otaku, pen name for Callie's cousin who discovered anime and is trying to spread it all over Bohemia, Mickle A, Josh H, Form, Um Um The other hooves and legs. Froakie Maple The shy bookworm. Seth E.
Starting point is 01:19:10 Billy Batson Tori the Draguse Son of Thomas the blind bisexual goose Bicon and father of 69 Cygnets Real goose Look him up. Michael Lyle S. II
Starting point is 01:19:23 Jacob the purveyor of shenanigans. Nova Cry, Parcel, Dex Riddlewell, Hannah A., Ace, Dregs, High Lord of Critsburg, Brody R., Joshua F., Darius D., Troy's Mom, Vin Diagram, Nurse Betty 141, GKCT, Cadimius, the Consumedumed, sorry I said that wrong, Kadimius the Consumed, Hossinator, Bard of Holding, Clinton P, Cam the Frogman, Swax, Dry Cousin from Gladehome, Dean, Jake, Bohemia's number one, DIT, uncultured Corvid, and finally, Tuesday Cross, the choose your own adventure writer, not the porn star. Welcome, welcome to the fold.
Starting point is 01:20:16 Thank you all, thank you all so much for supporting us. We love you, mwah, mwah, mwah. Goodbye, sweeties. That was a hate gum podcast.

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