The Adventure Zone - The Adventure Zone: Graduation Ep. 36: Reunions

Episode Date: March 25, 2021

With all the hustle and bustle of life, it's so easy to lose touch. That's why it's nice when there's an important life event (two gods trying to open a rift to hell) to bring us all together! So, let's get connected! Send a g-mail! Visit someone's house! Tear down these walls! Happy MaxFunDrive! Right now is the best time to start a membership to support your favorite shows. Learn more and join at https://maximumfun.org/jointaz

Hey, it's me Gary. Previously on the Adventure Zone graduation. Oh boy, I don't even know where to start. So, the Fearburg, Argo, and Fitzroy enrolled at the school, right? Then they got caught up in a whole lot of shenanigans. Fitzroy learned that his magic came from a being called Chaos. Chaos had big plans for Fitzroy, but Fitzroy, but Fitzgerald said no. So in retaliation, Chaos took the powers away.

Since then, Fitz has been trying to access his own. magic, but it's been difficult. Luckily, Fitz's magic mentor, Festo helped him party his cares away. The Fearbug came to the school after being excommunicated from his clan. He has only returned once after the Guardian of the Unknown Forest gave him a message that the clan needed him. Turns out, that message came from the Fearbug from the future. Seems the laws of reality are breaking down, which, you know, seems bad to me.

Argo has been seeking vengeance against a real piece of work called the Commodore. The Commodore is responsible for the death of Argo's mom, and he's also been causing trouble for the Thundermen for a while now. It seems like order and chaos are working together to bring a hell dimension over to our plane. Then their army of demons will attack all over the planet, and the resulting chaos will cause a paradigm shift and allow change to sweep across the planet. It's up to our boys to stop them and save countless lives. So the Thundermen have returned to the school, but there's an army of demons standing in their way.

They need to get their old pal the Zorn to help them dig a secret tunnel. The plan is to sneak inside Groundsy's hut and burrow to the school to connect with their allies inside. I think that about sums it up. Argo and Fearbulk, you come awake, you come alive, one might say. But before we do, before we get into this. before we set the scene. You've all leveled up. True.

You've all leveled up, two levels. You're all a powerful level 13 now. Oh, lucky 13. I want to start off with Argonaut Keene. What does Argonaut Keen look like at level 13? Well, let's see. Up to 94 hit points. Oh, yeah.

Oh, yeah. Wow. Oh, yeah. I went with a new, feet. Oh, you have three feet now. I had feats that I've, I've only used once. Okay. Um, dual wielder, which I've been using, but I have the feet actor and athlete. Uh-huh. And you told us, think outside the box. Yep. So I have added the feet of telekinetic. Why? Why? Okay. What? Huh? I don't, I don't, I just, just, just throwing it out there.

Yeah, no, no, no. I said, I said this is our last leveling. Have some fun with it. Yeah, that's about the most, telekinesis is about the most fun you can have. Yeah. Have you seen the movie Zapped? There's a lot of fun.

I have. They have a lot of raunchy fun with teleconesis. And a lot of horrific fun, too, by the way. Zapt is basically like carry light in a lot of ways. Okay, what is telekinetic? I mean, obviously, I know what it allows you to do, but what's the actual feat allow you to do? You learn the mage hand spell and can make this mage hand invisible.

You can also attempt to shove a creature with your mind. Nice. Nice. Yeah. Excellent. Anything else? I did pick up, I don't know where it would be. It would be under features if you did have any.

Features and traits. Oh, there we go. Elegant maneuver. Yeah, you get your roguish archetype feature. You can use a bonus action on your turn to gain advantage on the next acrobatics or athletics check you make during the same turn. What is your roguish archetype? Is it swashbuckler? Is that move?

Yes. Yes. Okay. Yeah. So this is your new roguish archetype maneuver. Excellent. Excellent. Okay.

Great. Let's say Fearbul. You are up. Great. It's pretty boring over here in Druid Town for level 11 to level. level 13. I basically just added... It's boring here and drew it down. I basically just added two more to my wisdom.

I bet you got some cool new spell slots, though. Nope. Oh, oh, oh. Maybe you can turn into a big... No. Biggerbert. Any, you didn't take any feats? No, I took two wisdom points so I could get up to 20 and have a plus five. He wants that strong. He wants that strong. I want to be incredibly powerful. I thought outside the box and just got more

proficient at something. Okay. That is outside the box for us. Fair. And then we have, then we have Fitzroy Mabelcourt. Yeah, so I've, I've, I've found sort of the Thunderman inside me, uh, and, and really reconnected with, with my own interior Thunderman. Uh, and we talked about this a little while ago when Chaos sort of took, took back their, uh, magical abilities that they had given me, and now my sorts of magic is a different thing. So I've ripped Sir Fitzroy Maplecourt right down to the studs and rebuilt him with a new sort of subclass situation. So no longer am I a wild magic sorcerer and wild barbarian. Now I am a storm sorcerer and a path of storm barbarian.

which gives me a lot of new, a lot of new features, basically everything about rolling random stuff to turn into a potted plant. That's, that's been replaced with now I can make lightning and thunder come out of down under. My body, from down under, sure. It's not specified where I make the thunder come out of me. But yeah, there's sort of, that's, that's the main flavor. Honestly, there's a lot, and I'm not going to go over all of it,

because I imagine it will come out. sort of in play, but yeah, I have different sort of storm-flavored stuff now that I can do. Yeah. You're a lightning lad now, and I love it. Well, I'm a Thunderman and a Lightning Lad. Lightning Lad will be, when I take a ward on, the ward will be Lightning Lad. I love that. Yeah, we'll cross that between.

I love that. So, Fitzroy, you are already awake, and I believe, if I'm not mistaken, dry heaving, overing a little glade there? I finished and, you know, some squirrels or whatever saw me and I got kind of embarrassed. But I finished. Did one of them come over to check on you? No.

No, my noises were quite bad. Oh, okay. And you Argo and Fearful are being gently roused by Festo. Oh, good morning. Yes? Yes. Hi, Festi. How are you?

Festo. Festo. Festo. How are you? How did you enjoy the party? Yeah. I suppose, you know, it's one of those parties where I guess the effectiveness is equal to how little you remember of it? Yes.

You must have been pretty exhausted. You've been asleep for three weeks. Oh. No, no. No, not really. Ha, ha, ha, ha. Just a festo-ch. They got us again.

I was going to have to have my fantastic haircut touched up. My head is a fuck. Okay. Do you know an anti-poison spell of any sort that you can do? Good drugs, though, huh? Did you have fun? This has been really a hoot, and I did sort of... I mean, the drugs hit so hard that I did level up.

So I imagine that's a trick that you can't pull off more than once. Yes, I got the drugs from Walter the White. A powerful wizard. Come on. Oh, please. No, no, that's why I thought of that at the shower this morning. No, I just thought of it just now, actually. Yeah, so thanks for the great party, and I feel a lot more confident

my magic, which I imagine was sort of the plan all along, but we do got to go save the school now or destroy it. I don't know that we've really settled on a course of action yet. Well, before we head back, I have drinks for you. It's juiced up gators.

Alligators, it will aid you and make you feel much better. I will decline. You don't want any gatorade? I'll drink his gatorade. Okay. Travis, when did you turn into me?

A long time ago, Dad. Yeah, about 30 years ago or so. Ship sailed. Come on, dude. So the four of you head back. You're not sure what the time is. I mean, the sun has clearly been up for a little while by the time you may get back. And everybody has been looking for you.

There was a plan. What needed happened. Gordy meets you and it's like, where have you been? We need to open up a portal and get the zone. Zorn over, have you forgotten all of this stuff we were supposed to do this morning? Nah. Listen, can we just, can we just move on? Can we just ignore the fact that we weren't here for a bit?

We got stronger, okay? And ignore the fact that you look like shit? Well, I'll ignore that you're being rude right now. Okay. Yeah. But it's fine. It was all for the bigger, bigger picture, you know? It's all part of the plan.

Um, well, Festo, I'm ready whenever you are. Yes, Festo is ready. Always. Okay. Um, so here's what I need from the three of you. I want you to try to picture the Zorn, right, that we're trying to contact. Uh, just try, just hold that memory in your minds as best you can. And the better you hold on to it, the easier will be able to pinpoint his location.

Can you do that? It's been so, literally so long. just going to think of a big nasty mold. Is that okay? Sure. All three of you make a wisdom check for me. I got an eight. Okay.

Dad has rolled a perception check. I got an 11 on your perception check. Uh-huh. Okay. Well, still hold it. What about you? It should say in the history. The dice disappeared.

But it was good. I remember being good. Because anybody see? Hold on a way. Oh, fuck. That one's an eight. but the first one was so good. Dang it, it's an eight.

Oh, no, it was a 22. Thank you. Okay, let's go with that. Yes. That's a lot better. That is very good. That is good. You're really carrying everybody else here.

So with that 22, thankfully for your book, you are able to hold that memory in your mind very clearly. And they're able to lock onto that. And, you know, there's some swirl. portal magic, where Festo is actually making the circle themselves as Gordy is following them around, and that magic begins to kind of coalesce and solidify into about an eight-foot diameter circle. And you see this more or less pathway, this opening to a tunnel. And they say, we can hold it open for a little while. We can give you about like ten. 10, 15 minutes. Don't go too far. Go get him. Bring him back.

Go get them. Bring them back? It's a big mole monster. It's not a, it's not a, a terrier. Well, I mean, ask him to come back then. Enlist him? Is that clearer? I guess. All right. Sure. Why not? I mean, there's a portal. Let's go through the portal. That plan has yet to fail us. So you enter the elemental plane of earth. You are standing in a tunnel lit only by glowing stones in the walls. And, you know, with that 22, with that very good 22, luckily, you remember that before he left, the Zorn told you that he had Gmail, geology mail, and you got his address before he left. I remember now. and you can send the missive through the rocks themselves,

so you should be able to contact him that way. Now, the problem is he didn't quite give you details on how that worked exactly. That seems more like your thing, Master Fearbulk, like talking to nature and stuff. Well, we are in an elemental plane. I... Does anyone see any rodents? Any... Or other animals?

Mosquito. Fantasy Porcupine. Oh, you know what? I believe I see a fantasy porcupine right over there. And I walk up to the fantasy porcupine that I see. You know what, Griffin? Roll a D-20.

Don't have anything to it. Just tell me what it is. A 15. I think that's a, I think I cleared the bar for fantasy porcupine being existent. Oh, no. Well, I don't love this. I don't love this.

That's the sound of fantasy porcupine makes. I don't know what you want for me. You asked for this. Now, all right. I'm casting, speak with animals. Hey, man,

how's it going? Very good. It's a pleasure. Yeah. I'm a rock you pine. Rock, you pine. This is good.

Um, do you know a giant mole named Gordy? No. Oh, fuck. I mean, that's just not his name. It's just Zorn. His name is Zorn Zorn. Zorn. Who's Gordy?

Gordy is the Litch King. This is embarrassing. I know. This happens a lot. Gordy's the Litch King. Right. That's... Yes.

Uh-huh. Rainier's dad. Yeah. Fuck, yeah. I'm finally getting it. You can't introduce these characters months ago and expect me to keep up with your fucking tapestry. I've been talking about it for the last three episodes. He just opened a portal for you 10 minutes ago.

I was really distracted thinking about finding the giant mole named Gordy as well. And I thought it was weird how they had the same name. Yeah. Let me try again. Do you know the giant mole name Zorn? Zorn Zorn or Zorn Smith? Is one a giant mole? Yes, Zorn Zorn is a giant mole.

What is... What is Zorn Smith? Zorn Smith is a rock. Hmm. It would be neat to talk to Rock, but I... I can get him if you want. No, Zorn, please. Yeah, just send him a Gmail.

Right. I don't know how to send the Gmail. It's embarrassing my grandkids try to teach me. Yeah. That's simple. You just write your message address to Zorn Zorn. Then you put it on a rock, you write it on a rock, and you slam it on the ground. Um, won't that heat it up too much?

It seems like that could create hotmail. No, no, it tastes pretty cool. Oh, my God. All right. I will try this. I write on rock. Mm-hmm. Then smash the rock on the ground.

It doesn't have to smash. You can just hit it on the ground. Oh, my friend, it will smash. Oh. Do you? This is embarrassing, but do you have a rock? I mean, there's rocks everywhere. This is the elemental plane of earth.

I pick up a rock. Any special rock? Are you looking for any qualifications here, Jamie? I'm looking for one that's vaguely, like, has a large flat surface that I can write on. Do an investigation check for me? An investigation check to find rocks. Yeah. find a good, flat, right and rock.

Uh, fucking absolute one critical failure. No, no. Yeah, you, this is the momentum. This is the storytelling momentum you want when you're this close to the end. You only find, like, weird-sized chunks of rocks. You still ride on it. You still use it. Uh, it's just going to, you're just going to have to choose your words very carefully.

Uh, yeah, I'll have to shorten it. Um, all, all right on there. I have some charcoal also. with me. So I'll write on there. No rock who this? And I'll smash on the ground. Nothing happens because you didn't address it to anybody. Come on. Okay, I'm doing another perception check for

better rocks than in that case. Or no, it's investigation check. Yeah, me, roll, wasn't it? This is a shame because I got a 27. I bet I found a piece of rock that looks exactly like paper and his paper basically. You found a thin enough piece of rock that you could even fold it if you wanted to. Yeah, but that was not what I got. What I got is an investigation check of two. Well, shit you're not.

Jesus. Well, you perceive it, but you can't find it, and you end up finding just another, it's slightly better chunk. Can I just, I look at that, I like at that Rocky Pine. The first rock was not good enough, so I smash it. Oh, yeah, yeah. Uh-huh. You know how it's. I write at the top, Zorn, Zorn.

I write at the top Zorn Zorn, and then below that, Zorn, we are in need of your aid. Love, Fearbook. X-O, X-O, X-O. I smash that, and then I get another rock. And I write Zorn, Zorn, at the top, and then I say, I'm sorry, I said love in the last one, I panicked.

panicked. Love, fearful, smash on the ground. For a moment, nothing happens. And then you start to, just on the edge of your perception,

there are some vibrations. And then the vibrations continue to grow. It's not like a rumble, it's not a shank, it's just like almost like a humming, you know, a buzzing. And then the Zorn steps through the rock. And he looks at,

You three, and he's so excited to see it. Oh, my friends. It's my friends, Finris, Arbus, and the Fearbug. That's us. Got it in one. How you been? It's been so long. Yeah, it's been a few semesters.

Hey, did you have fun during your little adventure over in Nua when you came over for, let's call it, a vacation? I wasn't wild about it, but you guys helped me get home. Zorn. I owe you so much. We kind of want to return the favor, yeah. We've been doing a lot of fun stuff over there to remodel it to make it sort of more Zorn friendly. I think you're going to have a way better time this loop. Wait, you want me to come back?

Yeah, it's important. I don't know. Do you guys have rock over there? Yeah, yeah, absolutely. We have a few of them, a few different kinds. We got rock, we got jazz, we got classical. You like jazz, Zorn? You like jazz. I love jazz. No, listen, there's a big thing happening over there that is potentially catastrophic.

And in order to stop it, we're going to have to have a big tunnel. And we dig it ourselves. We're like really strong. Yeah, you look a lot stronger. And a little taller. Look at these guns. Look at these guns. Yeah, but time's kind of a factor.

So can you come and do that wild thing you do where you gobble up a hole that we can go through? For you guys, for Fenris, anything. Cool. Can you help me collect some of these diamonds here to take with it for road snacks? Can we take the diamonds that give you other things? things as snacks?

Oh, I don't know. Diamonds are my favorite. They're extra crunchy. Uh, sure. Yeah. I guess eyes on the prize. Yeah. All around the ground.

Now that he said it, you realize that like a lot of the rocks there are not just simple rocks. They're just huge hunks of uncut diamonds. I want to, can I just take some of them? Yeah, just fill a bag, man. I fill a bag up with some diamonds

Yeah, great Hell yeah dude I get some diamonds too Yeah Yeah I'm one diamonds It's choice Man D&D is so It's so fucking easy

Yeah You just get the diamond Like you just get the diamonds They're infinite diamond They're just there dude All right Yeah All right

You get the diamonds So where too Uh Back through that sort of Extra dimensional hole That's how great Oh that one? Yeah

Okay And he follows you through. Okay, don't be a stranger. Write me a Gmail. I will Gmail work on my plane? You got to make sure that your rock is set to Earthplane mode. Oh, boy.

That's the best one. Yeah, that's the best one, remember. It's the best one. I'm very proud of you, Raven. Thank you. So now that you're all together, the team of you, the Zorn, Althea, Hieronymus, Gordy, Festo, and the three of you make your way over to the planned beginning of your tunnel to the school.

I'm talking, of course, about Brownsies Hut. Now, you're able to move at the edges of the unknown forest. I want all three of you to make a stealth check for me. While we're sneaking, can I ask Althea a question? Sure you can. I got a 16. Althea, how did the project to acquire us like sacred demon killing weaponry turn out?

Because that might be actually pretty applicable for the situation we're in. Well, and she reaches into her bag and withdraws a small dagger, almost like letter opener size. It's got no cross piece. It's just a simple, kind of stiletto, you know, like, almost like a shiv, really.

And she says, I, this was all, I had plans to get bigger. This was, you know, kind of the first one I could kind of get out. I mean, it's called the serpent's tooth, supposedly. Of course it is. Of course it is. I hold it out like a stinky shoe and handed towards Argo. This is yours. I didn't get you anything

I didn't either I wanted like a big you know a sword with a face on it or something wide like an axe with wings I mean okay so give me some deeds on this wicked wicked knife a lot of this stuff is lore you know what I mean like it's

it's kind of we gotta kind of read between the lines a little bit but it supposedly it It says it Okay, once again, grain of salt, God poison? Nice.

Okay, okay. But like, what the fuck does that mean? You know what I mean? It's not like... It seems pretty self-explanatory what, like, I know what rap poison does. Right.

I mean, I guess that's true, but it's... It's like weed killer. Right, it says it right there. It says right there on those rules. I'm just saying maybe don't put too much sock into thinking that that's specifically what it does, it's not like we can test it, you know what I mean?

Listen, let me say this. If you meet a goal that needs killing and you don't put this in it, this seems like a wasted effort. Oh, no, absolutely. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. I'm not saying don't try it. I would just say don't get cocky.

Well, I'm at... Oh, right. You're saying don't stab the god with the thing and then start flossing. You'll start reading off the fucking Brooklyn and ad. What else after you stab it? Okay. I'll keep that in mind and I rolled a 28 by the way.

Yeah, of course you did. Fuck. And fear, what did you roll for stuff? I roll, see, I'm going to scroll back up in the thing and then there's the thing and I got a 17.

Okay, yeah, the three of you successfully make your way through the edge of the unknown forest, and you approach Groundsy's from the rear, and you approach that he has a locked back door as well. It's an intricate lock, and, you know, no one but the greatest lock picker. Can you not just sneeze in the lock's direction, and it just goes flying, off of the door at this point. Can you not just wink at the lock and it just sort of slides out of the chamber? I mean, talking to Argo?

Yeah. Do you mean the greatest rogue of our generation or perhaps any generation? Yes. Yeah. Okay. I'm talking about looping the turd over there. Yeah.

I mean, is Groundsy watching us? I mean, you don't see Groundsy anywhere. He may be inside. Oh, that's a good point. Let's knock. Well, I need practice. Okay. Can I, first I'm going to check the lock to see if it's booby trap.

Fuck, yeah. God, it's been so long since you picked the lock, I wondered if you were going to remember. But yeah, you cry. That's great. That's great stuff. So what do I roll for that? I didn't remember that part. Investigation.

That would be a 19. So with a 19, you see that they're, uh, in set on the sides of the lock, there are some runes there, and you're pretty sure that those runes need to be scratched away before you can pick the lock, or something very bad might happen. Okay.

Well, then I get a scratching. Yeah, you do. The lock goes, oh, that's it. Right there. Right there. I love it. Oh, yeah. How did you know?

it was nasty. So now you're safe to pick that their lock. Give me a dexterity check using your dexterity modifier there plus your proficiency bonus. So whatever you roll is going to be plus 10. And you have advantage because you have your thieves tools with you. Okay, so dexterity check. That is a 16 plus 10. plus 10, which is 26.

And that is a 14 plus 5, 19 plus 10, 29. Okay. Man, this rogue thing is really working out for me. Yeah, it's great. You're pretty good at it now. Yeah, the lock, you hear that satisfying that you always crave when you're picking a lock and you're able to open the door. You enter the, you quietly close the door behind you. And it's dark.

Very dark. The windows must be painted over. And you hear a grumbling voice from the darkness say, Hey, what are you doing? What are you doing in my hut? Whew. Groundsy, you're not a god, are you? No.

Okay. All right, just asking. Just to Grownsy. Grownsy? Yes. Do you remember us? We should start it to my best friends

We should Sir Fitts Roy Mabelcord nine numbsensensensensia At the realm of Goodcastle The Fearbug of course Who was Excommunicated from his clan And came here Because he was saving for the winter

Oh and there There of course is my favorite of all Argonaut Keene Son of Shabby Keen The former captain of the Mariah Oh It's been so long since I've seen the three of you Well, we have a moment.

First, let me welcome you back to the narrative. So good to be here. I was told that I was going to be a series regular, but... I was going to ask, when this began, did you think you would play a larger board than the events that unfolded? I mean, on the first day, I was fourth on the call sheet. Right. Now it's just been you and Sabor, kind of kicking it by crafty.

Just waiting. What happened? Did you see opportunity? and let them fly by? I actually have a spin-off show. I've been doing my own spin-off podcast. Fair enough. Gotta go where the money is.

It's called ground rules. That's great, groundsy. We do not need you, though, is the thing we're mostly sort of... Then why did you come to my hut? We needed to get inside the school, and this was kind of the most sort of, well, I'll be honest, unpopular place to be. We knew that no one would be visiting. Nobody would have any interest in taking it over or sort of in our defense.

We didn't even think that you would be here. Judging by the past year or so. I've been here waiting for you to come visit. Oh, no. No, I'm just kidding. I have a rich life. And this is when Grownsey turns on the lights. You see, I've been busy with my collection.

Oh. And as the lights flicker on, you can see that every inch of the walls is covered in shelves. And on those shelves are countless porcelain figures. And they're all different sizes, shapes, and colors, but they are all unicorns. You see, I've been collecting and then reselling these on the Gary Bay, on the G Bay. This is how I've been making my money. this is why I quit my job at the school. I am right now.

My mind is split. Why is that, Justin? A lar between really wanting this to connect to our overall narrative. But also really wanting it not to. Being scared of what that means. Yeah. Well, yeah. Well, yeah.

I kind of want it to, I don't know if I want it to tie in or definitely, definitely not tie in. I want it to go hard. I need it to break. hard or where to offer. Hey, if you, uh, I'll just go ahead and tell you, it doesn't tie in whatsoever. Oh, good. This is just why Grants he's been up to. This is why he didn't want you in its hut.

I just figured I'd wrap that up before we ran out of time. No, good. Because he has porcelain figures and he's very protective of them. Uh, can I, I want to cast detect magic on the porcelain figures just to make sure that there's... Did just tell you. He did just tell you. No, no, no. He did just tell you over the table. there is no connection.

You know, you never get this in DD. You know I'm a 100% guarantee that whatever next comes out of our brother's mouth is a 100% bullshit. I'm just going to cast the tech magic to make sure that he's not like using, like capturing the spirits of actual unicorns. No, it's fine, yeah, no, go for it.

Okay, yeah, I can't, I do it. I sense magic to see what is glowing. Tell me, Fitzroy, does Fitzroy have any interest in the porcelain unicorn trade? In the port, do I have interest in it? Yeah. No, I don't. Are you asking Griffin? Are you asking Fitzroy?

I'm asking Fitzroy. If Fitzroy ever, if this was something that Fitzroy ever had an interest in. No, I think his grandma got him one when he was a kid, but he did not, he traded it for a, for a, you know, a shield. or something the next day. It's just not his, it's not his thing. Okay, yeah. You sense no magic. You also have no idea if these are actually of any value or not.

You don't know if this is a viable business option the Groundsy has created. But he seems pretty excited by it. And it's kind of up to you now if you want to take that away from him or not. I'm not going to destroy his figurines. Well, I'm not just destroy his figurines, Griffin, but really just kind of question his whole thing. You know what I mean? Are you going to make him feel bad about it? about it?

No. Hey, I love what you do here, Groundsy, but we got to go. Are you going to be able to ride off into the sunset now? Oh, don't worry about old Groundsy. Okay. We clearly have not been doing that, but you may want to get you and your little guys here clear of the school because things are about to go down. Yep, your babies.

Okay. How are you going to get over there? but by that's a good question yeah did we uh did we uh did we uh we followed the zorn tunnel to groundzies right no no no you you snuck around through the edge of the under force yeah and and so we're you were going to go from groundsies to the school via a tunnel this is where the tunnel's coming a real tunnel or a tunnel that zorn is making the tunnel zorn is going to make Got it. Okay, perfect. Should we get Groundsy's permission before we do this?

Oh, yeah. I'm having a hard time coming up with the way that we make a big portal in here that doesn't disturb his unicorns. Yeah, Grounds, you're going to, you got to go, you got to go, my man. You got to go right now. And we, you know what, you've been good to us, by which I mean you haven't really bothered us. So we can give you like three minutes to clear out all of your unicorns here. But we are going to have to- Can you help me pack them up? Of course. Everybody make a dexterity saving throw.

I can't believe we have to do, I can't believe you're, I can't believe we have to do this. Griffin, dexterity, I got it. This is my fantasy world. It is. It's important to remember, uh, seven for me. Dxterity saving throw or just a check? Uh, just a check. Yeah, just a check.

What's a difference? Hey, six throws when something has happened to, to you and you're trying to. You can be proficient in a saving throw. I got a 16 plus 2, 18. 18. Yeah, so you are able to get it packed up pretty well. Fureborg, when you're doing it, there's some noises when you put them in the bag.

You cover it with a lot of coughs, hoping that Crowsy doesn't notice. We only have to do one wall, right? Well, you're trying to get him out of there entirely, you know, so you're able to three, large sacks of porcelain unicorns later. You have the walls clear and you're ready to move. Okay. Let's get the hell out of here. All right.

Now, before we move on, there's one thing. So someone's going to need to stay to keep an eye on this end of the tunnel to make sure that you aren't attacked from behind. So now you need to make the decision of who stays, Gordy the Litch King, Althea, Hieronymus, or Festo. Hmm Let's just table tart I mean I feel like Gordy's very powerful Yeah I'm not sure we want to stick Festo back here though

Or that we want to stick Gordy all the way Yeah I don't know they're all pretty powerful I'll see it's pretty competent I won't say that Are we leaving somebody behind to just be a watch person Yeah basically there's gonna be this Fend our rear There's gonna be this big hole in the ground that goes under The protective bubble around the school

into the school. It's really probably not a great idea to just leave that unguarded. As far as we know, Trav, is the cover pretty much blown at this point? Are we in, like, assault mode? No, you guys passed your stealth check. That's why you came to this hut

so that they can't see your actions. I mean, at this point, your actions have been undiscovered. I feel like Althea would be a good person to bring with us. Yeah. Because she would have juice, like, in there to maybe help.

You know what? I vote Festo. I think Festo is going to do a good job, but also if something breaks bad, Festo has, I feel like, arcane ways of reaching out to us. You know, Gordy's going to raise a lot of eyebrows in there in a way that Festo wouldn't. That's a good point, Festa. Yeah, that's a good point. Gordy, this is all you. And also, Gordy, if things get too hot out here, you can summon an army of skeletons or something like that. Okay, that's a good point, but you guys have to promise me that you will get to Rainier and you will make sure she's safe. We'll get to rain here and she'll make sure that we are safe. It'll be like, it'll be sort of mutual. Fine.

Okay, let her know I'm here. Tell her if she needs me, I mean, she can send a raccoon. And we'll reconnect. And just tell her I'm here, okay? And that everything's going to be fine. And I trust her. Just, okay. Yes.

Go, go, go. You're a good dad, Gordy. Thank you. I try my best. Okay. So you follow the tunnel. You enter through the wall of the practice dungeon in the lower level of the school. It's currently unoccupied.

Where do you go from here? Who are you looking for? What is your plan? It's a lot of questions. I mean, we're going to, we don't know what the fuck is going on. Like, it seems to me, like, we don't know who raised this army of demons, right? We don't know what, like, if we are going to be stealthy, We don't know who we are hiding from.

Right. So at this point, the people who you know the location of is you know, Rainier is like at the main entrance of the school kind of keeping watch with her little army of skeletal creatures as sentinels. You know that Gray and Higlemus are located on the balcony, you know, at the Jackal's balcony. And from them is coming this protective net. around the school.

Past that, you don't really have a lot of reconnaissance here inside the school. It seems to, I really think we should get to Higgleness and Gray then to find out. If they're the ones who throw up the barrier, they know what they are barrier against.

That's fair. I agree. Okay. So you make your way up to Jackal's office and you enter I gotta give the secret knock I gotta give the secret knock

Wow that's really It's like that's really difficult to achieve Rogue life man it's rogue life Yes who is it It's a trick It's you The fuck It's yourself

From another reality Okay wait hold on I'm gonna It's all part of the codes, Justin. This is all rogue stuff. Listen, our simple druid barbarian minds can't possibly conceive of the level of play that is going on right now.

Argo. Is that you? Yes. It's me, my friend. Okay, what were you doing with the whole It's Me from another reality thing? I don't know. It's just gooning around.

Okay, get the fuck in here. Yeah, right. Okay, sir. You enter and you find in the main office space before you reach the balcony. You find Jackal. You find Dakota, who is the kind of like social drinking, you know, instructor. Right.

You find Seabor. You find Mosh. And you find Marie, the healer. Damn, gang's all here. Yeah. Are the Unbroken Chain Gang? Yeah. Yeah.

Okay. Hi, everybody. How on Ramos and Crabtree? Ramos and Crabtree are not in this room. They're not here. Hey, y'all, what's going on? Huh? We left for like a minute to go overthrow kind of society and the economy and stuff.

And when we came back, everything had gone all rotten. So what's the deal? Do any of you have advantage on exposition? That's a good joke, Argo. So basically here's everything we know, what we've seen. After you boys left, I was there on my balcony, and suddenly I see coming up from the ground, just this horde of demons, a flow of demons.

And I assumed they were coming to attack the school. And so I contacted the headmaster, who I guess is a demon prince. And they threw up this barrier. But by the time the hoard hit the school, they kind of split around the barrier and position themselves on the other side. Something's up. We've stayed in this holding pattern sense. So nobody's trying to get into the barrier? Things aren't like crashing against the barrier right now.

They're just kind of waiting. So far, it seems like they're waiting for something or someone. Something's coming. And where is the barrier? Are they talking about the barrier outside the school? Yeah, there's like a net of energy being thrown up by Higgelmus and Gray currently that's separating the school from this horde of demons. Okay.

Gray, first of all, way to sort of buck the expectation that you were going to turn on us. Although these are demons, Gray. Well, I mean, yes. Technically, I got to do his voice right. Hold on. Yes, technically they are demons, and at one point they were my demons, but I don't seem to be able to compel them currently.

And I'd rather not be torn apart by my own hell-hounds. It's It's ironic The right way I never know when to use that Um Hmm Let me think

Maybe if the hellhounds Were there as like Your Like personal assistance animals And then they ate you That would be irony I'm not sure That this specifically qualifies

Um So you don't know Who's in charge of your demons Great Well I can guess I'm guessing It's order and chaos You saw

the eyes, right? The white eyes, the demons have the white eyes, just like order and chaos have the white eyes. It seems to be a bit of a control calling card thing. So, okay. Um, are you asking me why I think they're there? Yeah, I guess so. Well, from everything you've told me, it seems like they're there to give order and chaos the time they need. To finish what they're doing, they're to keep you out. Now we're in. Yet, yes, Master Fearbug, you've done it. Good job.

The d'aes ours. But, okay, hold on. They wanted to keep us out. The next step of this plan, and I don't know who in this room does and doesn't know stuff anymore, but it seems like we've hit endgame, so whatever. was to then destroy the school to sort of further shake things up. Take down the hall, take down the school, and then the whole industry's been upended. Wait, that's the next step of your plan, our plan, I should say, or ordering chaos's plan.

Our plan, I thought. Our plan was to make more chaos than chaos could make. Okay, so, I keep forgetting. Just how wide-eyed and young you boys are. So you came up with a plan. We came up with a plan. And you thought ordering chaos, who had their own plan, right? Who have shown themselves to be very cold and catheting,

would just be like, oh, cool. You do your plan. We'll stop our plan? No, we were going to do it before they could accomplish theirs, which was all-out war. Yes. No. Right.

Well, it seems like they might have stepped up their timeline a bit. So to complete your plan, we might have to actively stop their plan. I mean, I could look through my spellbook to see if there's anything in there that would just kill 10,000 demons. But it seems like Vesto would have told me about that way. Oh, that's, that, that part's easy. Oh, God. You have to get me to that rift. Once I get back into my hell, like you promised, reminder, like you promised, I can take control back.

That army will then become an asset for us. Where is the rift? Well, it is sealed in what was the gods carcasm, now the godscar cavern. But, I mean, Brightside, we do know exactly where that is. It's where the horde of demons came out of. So if we can get into that cavern, then, uh, bada bing, bada, boom, you get me in to my, the rift. Then you close the rift.

Their plan's done. You do your thing. Destroy the school. Chaos, chaos. Chaos. Chaos. You win the day. Easy.

This sounds reasonable. Hey, Gray. Yes. Do you still have that ring that compels you to tell the truth when you wear it? Our best friend ring? Yes. Yes, of course. Can you just slide that right on real quick?

Okay. Are you trying to see if I'm lying or if you're lying? Just slide the ring on, please, Gray. We are very short on time. Gray puts the ring on. Are you going to just totally bon us as soon as you get back over into the hell dimension and make the armies just like tear us limb from them? All that, Jazz.

Do you want the honest answer? That's what the rings for, Gray. You know, I hadn't decided yet. I'm probably not. Let me be honest. Probably not. But I'm very mercurial. Yeah.

It's part of my charm. Let me be honest. I do like you. You're fun. And this has been a lot of fun. Can I just say, for someone who craves conflict, This has been like the most interesting like week. Maybe I've ever had.

So I'm leaning towards not doing that. Okay. That's probably the best we're going to get out of you, isn't it? Yeah. Okay. All right. I want to do an insight check or a perception check to see how Higlemus is taking all this. Okay.

Because we're talking about destroying his school. Yeah, I don't know that we'd seclude. higgleness into this particular, uh, this particular, I thought he was in there. I mean, he's in there. He's in there. It's just, we had not, I think, talked to him about. This is news. This is news to him and Hieronymus. Yeah. Yeah. So perception? Uh, insight. That's not going to do it. Six. Um, well, I'll say this. Uh, while you cannot read their inner thoughts, their outer thoughts are not difficult to read. Uh, Hieronymus especially turns and says, okay, I'm following most of this.

But so now we're teamed up with Gray. Now that we have a moment to breathe, that's what's happening, right? You've signed on with the demon prince who I've spent most of my life trying to thwart. And you left him here with my brother and all these students. And you're going to put him back in his seat of power. And then you're going to destroy my school. Am I getting that? Everybody we know has a talent for repeating our plans and making them sound bad.

Yeah, I mean, this one's maybe not the bad. Listen. Give us one pulse. It does. Higlemus, Hieronymus, your school has accomplished some great things, and it has also graduated some real dildos. So I think that I speak for all of us when I say, you're going to be able to do a lot more good for this world when this school is not your legacy any longer.

Hieronymus really takes that in. I think the use of the word legacy. Or dildos. Well, dildo legacy. A legacy dildo? No. You said the word legacy, I think, is really what kind of pushes it over the top for him. Here we're looking at a man, right, who that is kind of what he's staring down the barrel of at this point, you know, what he's leading behind.

And I think the school was meant to be that. But I think everything that's happened, everything that he has seen now with eyes wide open looking at the heroic oversight guilds, you see it sink in. And he says, damn it, I'm going to have to find a new job. I mean, adventurer sounds like it suits your capabilities fairly well, doesn't it? You know, can I tell you, boy, something? For so long, I was so caught up in thinking about myself as a hero and doing heroic things. I've forgotten how much I like the adventure part. You know, this is, it's been a long time since, you know, I've been running through tunnels and picking locks and doing heists and stuff.

You know, it's, it would be nice. And on the plus, on the plus side, also we avert the apocalypse. There's also that, yeah. Huge upside. All right, I'll make you boys a deal. you avert the apocalypse and I'll shut down the school. What do you think? So you're telling me your plan is that we stop the apocalypse and you shut down the school.

But when you say it like that, Master, if you're, and everybody laughs, everybody has a good belly chuckle. And then you hear Gray say, um, sorry, sorry to break. the group laugh session, but you all are probably going to want to see this. And when you look towards where he is looking, you see a figure moving through the horde of demons. And it is a form that you'd recognize from a mile away. It is the Commodore.

He moves with purpose. His eyes so white, they are practically glowing. and he looks directly at you, Argo, and smiles, let's say an unhinged smile. And he steps up to the barrier and raises his hands. And even from here, you can see that his hands and arms are the same opalescence as order and chaos. And they are also crackling with power. He reaches out, grabs the barrier, begins to laugh, and then tears it apart with his bare hands. Thank you.