The Glass Cannon Podcast - Gatewalkers Episode 81 – Very Special Old Whale

Episode Date: April 18, 2025

The party encounters an enigmatic entity whom they apparently met before. Watch the video here: https://youtu.be/weZrD6FmhX0 This episode was sponsored by Foundry VTT and Norse Foundry. See why tabletop gamers everywhere have made the switch to Foundry Virtual Tabletop at https://foundryvtt.com/gcp For all your random number-generating needs, visit Norse Foundry at https://norsefoundry.com Access exclusive podcasts, ad-free episodes, and livestreams with a 30-day free trial with code "GCN30" at jointhenaish.com. Join Troy Lavallee, Joe O'Brien, Skid Maher, Matthew Capodicasa, Sydney Amanuel, and Kate Stamas as they tour the country. Get your tickets today at https://hubs.li/Q03cn8wr0. For more podcasts and livestreams, visit https://hubs.li/Q03cmY380. Watch new episodes when they premiere every Thursday at 8PM ET on youtube.com/theglasscannon. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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Last week on the Glass Cannon Podcast. The creature levitates over the body of Gek. I swap my kukri with my chakram and then I will throw it at this guy. Natural 20. Boom! Boom! The flames just, like boom! This is cinematic. Right in the face! This should be the cover of the book!

31! Game over. Yes! Are you all right? Well, I'm alive. What the? All of us, let's search this room thoroughly. You find a hidden doorway.

Oh. Hidden door. It's almost like a library, but you thoroughly. You find a hidden doorway. Oh. Hidden door. It's almost like a library, but you'd have to spend a lot of time here. Let's press on and come back. Yeah. Within this dry reservoir glows a 10 foot diameter magic circle.

And as you enter the chamber, it glows a little deeper and the temperature in the room drops until suddenly it's freezing. From the circle, black ectoplasm starts to form. This ghostly creature and then a voice enters all of your minds, calling you by name. The adventure continues... ...now. No Well, it took almost 10 years, but we finally got rid of Matthew.

Man, that was a long process. Yeah, it really, you know, we made mistakes early on. Sometimes it takes a few weeks to just sort of clean up your mess. Yeah. For us, it took 10 years. Well, we had to make him think it was his idea. Right. Right.

It was that inception element that was tricky. A fake Netflix show to accept a job? Yes. We had to build an entire Netflix property. In fact, I spent the last five years just sending his scripts out to people I knew in the industry in the hopes that he would get a job doing something. Those constant pitch meetings were brutal.

Yes, you can call me. Just doing those pitch meetings over and over again, it's just like, it's so exhausting. On his behalf. The knots and pitch meetings were brutal. Yeah. Yes, you can call me. This is a- Just doing those pitch meetings over and over again, it's just like, it's so exhausting. On his behalf. Yeah. I got a lot better at pitching. Yeah. Yeah.

So there was a personal benefit, which was nice. But yes, I finally got it. If you haven't followed with our live show, Glass Cannon Live 2025, Ascension, we mentioned at the Milwaukee show, as Matthew showed up five minutes before we walked on stage He got a job a big job as a staff writer for an upcoming Netflix show So it's gonna be I think it's gonna be really good to by the way Just with talking to him and it sounds excited. I think it's gonna be really good. I mean, I won't watch it, but I'm excited for him And it's it's a show that he's in the writer's room Monday

through Friday, nine to five, and there's just, there's no way around it. No way out. Yeah. I think the saddest thing, obviously, Matthew's gone. We miss him. But I think the saddest thing is Kate and I are like an ocean away from each other.

Yeah, that's way worse than not having Matthew here. We can't vibe the same. We used to do the one finger wicked PR tour grab. Oh, you grabbed my nail. I grab your nail for comfort. We used to do that under the table. No one knew. Can you even touch?

Right now? Yeah, like how much effort? If I have to stay where my mic is. You're literally leaning back. Oh, if I have to stay where my mic is. I'd have to leave Mike. I'd have to leave the zone. What if it was a really important moment?

Could you do it? Oh, they did. They did it. They touched. A little Michelangelo. It was very Renaissance. So maybe slightly less than an ocean. A slightly, a pond, a puddle.

But I miss you. I miss you. This new setup is Your loss. It's my game. I know. I get to sit next to Kate now who smells fantastic. Way better than Matthew, as you can imagine.

So lucky. She's got good dice luck. I feel like she was given me, hopefully she'll help you out. I better than Matthew, as you can imagine. So lucky. And she's got good dice luck. I feel like she was given me. Hopefully she'll help you out. I wonder if we'll help each other. That would be interesting. Are you ready to grow a beard and have all your characters be bisexual?

I could grow a beard, I would. And yes, to the second question. Are you ready to Google while we talk and look stuff up? Can you only have to pay attention for an hour? I know who plays that character. Did you know it's this actor? I love movies. Yeah.

That's it. I love movies. This Matthew simulating Android is really impressive. Say something about plays. So you guys, there's this play on Broadway. I feel like he's in the room with us. I don't know if you've heard of it, but it's really funny. We don't need them at all anymore.

When you guys start talking about movies, I stop listening, so that's kind of where... It's really amazing after this long that somebody didn't get a gig that pulled them out of the... Yeah, we were very lucky to have Matthew as long as we did. Yeah. Yeah. But yeah, it was just one of those things. He was very excited, but also felt bad. And he was like, can you, I don't want to ask, but can you guys rearrange everything to accommodate? So did you just ask? Yeah.

And we're like, no, we can't do it. But the plan is he will be back for campaign three. And who knows what will happen With Matthew's involvement here as he's also in all of his other shows March towards the finale Yeah, he's not leaving any other shows. They'll still be on the tour He should still be in Vegas for the retreat and everything, but this one is tapes Monday to Friday nine to five More importantly, I think this is the big question, the elephant in the room for this game, for Gatewalkers right now.

We had a hard time. Some of our characters have died. Some of our characters have died two times. Matthew played a character who did some damage. Yes. Are you going to play Barnes now for Matthew? Right? Right?

No, no, no. This is a massive problem. I know. Now you have to play the game as it was written. No, no, no. Shall you do? You mean we have to strategize? Well, Kate is very confident.

Yeah. And she is giving me confidence. So what's that gonna happen? Bush, her thing is like Zephyr can handle all of it. Okay. All the front line. Now that she punches with her hands. Yeah, and I'm inclined to agree.

I want to see it, but I am nervous about our party makeup. Cleric Monk's Psychic Bard. Oh God. The classic, they always say if you're building a party go Psychic bar laid out like that. It's very actually. Yeah Okay, please don't lose hope because I will go down with you like I'm right there Well, I was looking for an ending for the show and maybe the TVK is back on the table. Yeah, maybe it is. Maybe it is.

Well, I mean, this is the reason that we were like, we just got to forge ahead because I don't want to delay the start of campaign three and I don't want to have off weeks of gatewalkers to wait for Matthew to finish with his writing before he's inevitably not asked back for season two. Sorry. Nice try. But you know, the plan is for us to start recording campaign three pretty soon. And so we want to make sure that he's he's done with that.

We want to give Gatewalkers a proper ending. So you never know. We might see old Matthew back here, but we're moving forward as if he's gone forever. At least in this story. Yeah. Four PCs. Wow. Who'd a thunk it? Maybe maybe it'll be better. I mean, the confidence in your voice was inspiring. Your confidence is a little different.

The way the AP is supposed to be played, guys. Now it'll work. Yeah. With four players. I was supposed to be played by people who know what they're doing. Yeah. That hasn't changed. The number of players. That hasn't changed at all.

It's the knowledge. Yeah. Huh. Well. Sydney, you had a birthday recently. I did. Happy birthday. How does it feel to be older?

Thank you. Normal. Normal. I will say, being in your 30s is because like you get to do whatever you want. That's so true. You just want to do that in your 20s? Exactly. No, 20s you worry. You worry about things. You worry about...

Yeah, they always say worry goes away at 30s. That's right. The older you get, the less you worry. You worry about different things. It transfers. Your pension. But yeah, right. Yeah. You get less and less responsibility. You put files. Responsibilities.

The glass can and pension plan. 20s, you don't worry about money. 30s, you worry about money, but you don't care about having to please people as much, I think. You don't need to wear a condom. All those worries just evaporate. That's what you do in 20s and 40s. How am I going to afford all these condoms?

It's like, forget it. Those days are over. I'm gonna afford all these condoms Taking this advice and they're like, you're right! You're making me, like, midcoitus listening to that. Sit up! Sydney said I could. Slip into something more comfortable. Specifically, I meant more so about birthday plans. I feel like I used to get really stressed out

and worry that I wanted all my friends to be at my birthday thing, and what if your main friends couldn't make it, but your fringe friends came and then you had to introduce your fringe friends. It's too complicated. So this year, I didn't really do anything. No, I just I hung out with friends, but just it was not French friends core. No, no.

I know they sing happy birthday to you. Yes. She had a birthday party. Yes. Yeah. But know. I hang out with a lot of friends. Do they sing happy birthday to you? Yes. So you had a birthday party? Yes. But not, I didn't plan it. I didn't like worry about all the movie pieces. Was there cake? Yes.

A friend brought me a mini cake. So you had a birthday party with your friends? That your friend made? No, they bought it. A few people went to like bakeries and stuff. We had a park hang on Saturday. Oh, it was fun. Because it was beautiful.

Oh, yeah. Oh, everyone was out. It was like it was everybody's birthday. Yeah., everyone was out. It was like, it was everybody's birthday. Yeah. But it was nice. It was just like a cool weekend. Didn't really get too hungover. Didn't really overdo it. I just was like, had a good time.

Shots? Did you use the shots? I did do, I did do a shot of tequila at karaoke. Are you sure you're saying that? At karaoke. You're right, this is so different from your twice. You didn't get hungover from the one shot? Shots of karaoke, a birthday in the park with cake.

That's just gonna sink. And karaoke with friends, sit close with friends. Socialize it? Yeah, sounds like a pretty tame time. But it gelled, it just kinda happened, you know, it was like we were out, why don't we go to karaoke? It was like, you know, eight of us. It wasn't huge. Spontaneous 7-hour A.

Yeah, until 4am. I could not drink. It sounded like the best day ever. Yeah, you definitely can't do that in your 20s. I could not drink. Do karaoke and be hungover from karaoke. Oh no, I didn't drink too much at karaoke and even not drinking that much. We stayed out until 4 a.m. We closed the karaoke bar down.

The more you say about your birthday, I'm just like. I mean, it sounds like the most festive birthday in the history of birthdays. Yeah, it sounds like you blew it out. Guys. I don't know how this is different. My children have had less festive birthdays. Compared to my other birthdays,

compared to previous birthdays where I went too crazy, too hard, this was like. Stayed out til 4.30 a.m. Yeah. Had two shots. I only had one shot, only had one birthday shot. So I wasn't hungover, but you're right, staying out until 4 a.m. as a 31-year-old,

the next day was over. It was like there was nothing to be done. I just was so exhausted. I could have absolutely not a single drink and f-I'm up until like 2 in the morning these days. Like most of the next day. Like a bus hit you. It can't function.

Yeah. It's crazy. You wake up, oh. It's just, yeah. But I'm happy to be 31 and I'm happy to Continue turning older. It's been fun so far. Congrats. Yeah, thanks. If we cut you open could we count the rings? Oh, yeah, it's a mess in there. I'm sure oh, yeah coke she eats

So what state of she gets a bunch of rings It's rings every year so we don't ring. Where did we go to karaoke? We went the five. In Toronto. So previously six and a half. In Toronto. I have a video of us first day of tour. We did karaoke in Toronto?

Yeah, you remember? First day of tour. Joe spent the first hour just trying to pick a song. Last year. Oh, I remember. That was really fun. Random. We begged you.

We wanted to go so bad. And you guys were like, I don't know. And then we had a great time. We did have a really good time. We asked the server at this cool-ass bar near the hotel. Where to go. Where to go so bad. And you guys were like, I don't know. And then we had a great time. We did have a really good time. We asked the server at this cool-ass bar near the hotel where to go, right? And then we went. It was a bit of a hike.

We got a room like that. It was a private room. It had disco lights. It was really fun. We should do that again. We're going to Toronto. We should do it again. We should do it again.

We're only in Toronto for two whole hours. Oh, that's right. It's the second stop yet. Rats. I'm above my flight. But that's the plan. We're only in Toronto for two whole hours. Oh, that's the second stop, yeah. Rats. I'm above my flight yet, but that's the plan. We could stay late. Do a little pre-show Yoki. Just absolutely.

Pre-show Yoki. We'll actually do Yoki through it. We'll do it like 10 a.m. Through it, yeah. You guys open yet? Yeah. Yeah. We have a team meeting.

My friend 31 loaded on coke. Yeah. She's all tuned up. She's all tuned up. Well, congratulations on living another year. Thank you. Still doing it. And as one person lives, another person dies.

But that was my seat. So I feel like a goodbye Kate and Matthew. Matthew died. We'll miss both of them. But one of them more. We'll be back up this week. Are you coming to that meeting? Oh, I'll be there. Yeah, did you see the emails? I love a good Norse Foundry meeting. Have you seen the pictures of the emails that have been through?

Yeah. Stay tuned for some more Norse Foundry news regarding dice, campaign three, cast dice maybe? I was talking to Eric, our friend at Norse Foundry at Garycon last week. We had a lot, talked a lot with him. Yep, good to. Visited the booth, Always love visiting the booth. And North Foundry will also be at the glass cannon retreat in Las Vegas, which is right around the corner.

It's coming fast. Yeah, stay tuned for more announcements about that. But I want to thank our other sponsor who we got to see a lot of last week and will continue to see a lot of today. Foundry virtual tabletop. Mm. Mm.

Man, I love Foundry. That. Man, I love Foundry. That's great. I love Foundry. That's great. It's so good. I'm switching all my games to Foundry that use Virtual Tabletops. Even games that don't use Virtual Tabletops. I'm going to find a way and switch it to Foundry VTT. I don't know if you guys know this. We have a subscription service. You go to jointhenesh.com and you enter the code GCN30 and you can try out that subscription service

30 days for nothing, for free. You literally can try it for free. See if you like it, listen to Blood of the Wild, listen to Legacy of the Ancients, listen to all of the shit, listen to Legacy of the Ancients, listen to all of the shit we put out years ago, all ad free. Thousands upon thousands of hours of content. Join thenation.com, code GCN30.

Check it out. Of course, Vegas Retreat coming up in June. We're on tour. So many fun things happening. Go to glasscandallive.com and check out our tour dates because the tour has been hot, hot, red, hot. And Matthew is still on the tour for now. He's going to watch this and be like, what the heck?

He's not going to watch this. That's why I have no fear. He will not watch this. All right. To a second of this. He's very busy. He's writing a show. He's writing a show.

I imagine it takes a second of them. He's very busy. He's writing a show. He's writing a show. I imagine it takes a lot of time and energy. Rachel Weisz is a very demanding actor. Right. She wants her words to be perfect. Send the new boy to my trailer. So I've seen your dialogue. It's very masculine.

It's gonna get beaten up by Daniel Craig. Remoral. So are you probably. Is Daniel Craig in it too? Well, no, they're married. Maybe he'll make a cameo. You'll probably meet him. Another glass cannon Daniel Craig connection. I mean, it's amazing.

We are now two degrees away from having Daniel Craig. In four different vectors. On Campaign 3. Anyways. Let's talk about the show that we're playing right now. In four different vectors. On campaign three. Yes. Anyways, let's talk about the show that we're playing right now, the show known as Gatewalkers. We walk the gates. How do we move on?

How do we move on? Barnes is still part of this story. What is going to happen? Well, we kind of are in a sewer. Yeah. Yes. You have found your way. And you know what goes through sewers.

Kate. Kate. Keep your mind out of the sewer. Matthew has been gone. A second. For five minutes. Five minutes too long. We all know what Kate's thinking.

You thinking about poop? Yeah. I'm thinking about poop. Thinking about poop? Thinking about poop? Thinking about poop? Yeah. Always. Always.

I'd say when you told me your plan for if Matthew hadn't made the live show in Milwaukee. Oh my god. I couldn't stop laughing. We were out having lunch together. Skid was crippled for like four straight minutes. Like no exaggeration. He couldn't speak. he was laughing so hard. So funny.

He always ends up with poop, but I was very descriptive of how he would have shit himself to unconsciousness and then hit his head on the table as he was passing out. Just like screaming. He was lying in a pool of blood and shit. I really got scared. Here's the issue. Here's the issue. We can't do that every Gatewalkers episode. We can't just drag Barnes through with that attitude. You bring up a really interesting point. It's one thing to miss a session. Kate missed a session. And you shit your pants when that happens. knows there's gonna be pooping ball What happens when you miss the rest of the campaign? That's gonna be a real You have real game Terry like permanently well from eating poop I don't know why I'm doing this! Why am I forced to do this? That has compelled me!

Get back in me! Mirror image two bombs, eating poop to each other. Holding in your intestines. Pooping in each other's mouths. Because he can make two of himself. Right, right! The reflective mirror, one poops into the other one's mouth.

Here's what I'm saying. Here's what I'm saying. That's human caterpillarine, his character, for the rest of the campaign is a lot of pressure on us. Yeah, because we have to react to that. Yeah. We should have consulted with Matthew as to what he envisioned.

Yeah, for his poop death. With that being a given, that it would involve Feces somehow, like what he would want to happen to Barnes. Here's the thing, he knows we're recording today, and he knows he's not here. He's a very busy guy. I know he's in there right around. I guarantee he's like, what are they doing to Barnes?

I guarantee you. Do we want to keep Barnes with us? No, obviously we wouldn't play him, but like, do we want to? Why not? How would we? I'll rebuild him mechanically accurately, and then I'll play him. Just play two characters. I'll just play two characters.

That's fun. Is that an option? Is that an option? We should think about that. It'd be very interesting. OK. Because I definitely haven't given thought to what I'm going to do to Barnes.

I mean, we have this nice artwork. It'd be a shame to poop that down the sewer. Right. We'd poop. If we haven't made hers. Yeah, that's right. We still don't have Gic. Yeah, wait.

What the heck? I want to do 20 ups before I know Gic's going to be around for a while. She's been really helpful. I don't even know if Gic's a gatewalker. What? What? Just drew on a tattoo. So we discorded the group. Like Sakalachi.

Started licking your thumb, just rubbing at her neck. Why is your tattoo leaking? Well, yes, you are in a sewer. You are beneath Riddleson Manor. You found out there were these plans for an expansion that Riddleson had undertook using a lot of these funds that have gone away from the upkeep of the manor apparently to build into the sewers beneath Riddleson Manor a what? The first room you walk into is like a fucking classroom, like a lecture hall, stadium seating, a stage with

diagrams and chairs with restraints, all sorts of weird shit. You start exploring that room and all of a sudden gas starts to come into the room, knocking some of you unconscious and then two demons emerge from purple curtains in the back of the room. This fight breaks out. People are jumping over balconies, jumping, you know, crouching tiger-hidden-dragon style across the fucking pews, and you narrowly escape defeat at the hands of these demons.

What is going on with Riddleson? You started to suspect that something might not be right, but you also don't know, is Riddleson in his right mind? Did things happen against Rdle-son's wishes? You still don't really know what's going on, but you do know there's some dark shit happening beneath Riddle-son Manor. So you start exploring. There's lots of different doors. There is a closet with a bunch of different lab coats. You find a magical opal inside, I believe. Is that what you find?

Yeah. It was a- Did we? No, a ring of sustenance. I heard you saying opal before we started recording. Yeah, I have an opal, you find? Yeah, it was a... Did we? No, a ring of sustenance. I heard you saying opal, but I'm sorry. Yeah, I have an opal, but I didn't find it there. Yeah, no, you find a ring of sustenance. Which is sick. Which is very sick. And then you start exploring more hallways. You find a little room to the

south-west that has another chair with restraints in it and another door leading south, but you also found a secret door behind the curtains. And so you're like, should we keep going south? Let's go to the secret door. So you start exploring the secret door and it leads to a long hallway with a room full of crates and like books and it looks like a laboratory. It's full of shit and you're like, wow, we could learn a lot here if we spent a lot of time reading but you're worried about other dangers down here so you continue exploring. Let's at least explore every possible room before we start doing research so you're not jumped. And so you come down into another room. Again, this is all like

converted sewers and you see that this next room as you travel to the south continues going back to the west. So you think, okay, that must somehow connect back to where we were but it also goes further south and then goes further east. All these corridors have been hollowed out. But as you enter this room, the temperature in the room drops steadily and then quickly to freezing and below freezing. Ice starts to form on the walls, on the floor. The entire room becomes bathed in this arctic chill. And then if that weren't enough, little tendrils of black tentacles and whatnot all start to

ooze out of the cracks in the floor and the cracks in the ceiling to form the shape of some sort of whale-like creature in the middle of the room. And that is where we pick up today's story. So let me refer you to the map and a couple of things are gonna happen. First, let's get into what this room feels like. Ooh, it just turned blue. Whoa, cool.

Icy, cold. Let's talk about this being that emerges. Let's take a little look at the being. It looks like this. Wow. What? Creepy. Oh, that's a big fish.

It's like a whale if it was lived at the deep, deep ocean. Yeah. Horrible undersea. It has like wings. It's a little fishy, little wingy, little waley, lots of tentacles, black ooze, tons of lidless eyes covering its body and its arms. You can't really see it on this image here, but imagine there's eyes like all over it,

just kind of staring at you and off into nothingness. This thing emerges from this arcane sigil on the floor. Before it begins talking, is there anything you want to do? It's gonna talk to us? It's gonna talk to us? You start to hear a voice in your head emerge. Something about like, this seems very familiar

to like when we were on the boat and we kind of summoned the whale in a way. With our minds. And I'm wondering if like there's something I can learn right now of like is this kind of the same similar? Are we summoning this whale? Can I stop it? Okay, give me a, you know, maybe an occult check or maybe religion. Let's see. I will do occult.

22. You have no idea. Damn. What is happening here. It seems unlike what happened on the boat, seems very, very real. But yeah, you are still smarting from that. You felt cold and then realized that it was just a haunt, but this thing, you feel like

you could just touch it. It speaks to you in your minds. This voice enters your head and it sounds like several voices all at once sort of overlapping. But what you hear, like it's almost like tuning itself to try and speak to you in a language you would understand. And it says, Brother Ramius of Latria, Zephyr, Vellos, Theomachus, Barnes, Gik, Muk, and boggles. Wait, is this the thing? We've been hearing this voice.

Yes. Welcome back. What? I remember you from the moments you have lost. From the moments you have lost I am all that you have forgotten and All that you may already know It's just saying you don't see its mouth moving, but you hear it, and you know it's speaking to you

Have you found? your lost time yet? No. Gake shakes her head, no. Can I try answering with my mind? Sure. Yeah, so like in his mind he's like, no. Gake in her mind says, what the hell? What the hell?

You don't remember me, do you? Kiki in her mind just thinks, big fish. Big fish. I've heard your voice before, haven't I? Yes. No, I don't remember you. I've heard your voice before, haven't I? Yes. No, I don't remember you. Are you talking out loud or are you talking in your mind?

I talk like this in my mind. I'm just, that's what my brain voice sounds like. Do we hear you? I'll talk out loud. Yeah, because we wouldn't hear you. Yeah. Yeah, I'll talk out loud. Okay. And so you ask that question and we all hear it say yes in our own minds so strange

They'll say I remember only your voice nothing else I Don't I've never seen you. Who are you? You may call me Ogman Zorius. Oggman Zorius? What? I must congratulate you for coming thus far.

Still flooding. Take heart, knowing you will be with a Soyo again soon. What? About that. For real? Yeah. We don't remember our time with a Soyo. Is that what a Soyo wished, or is that an accident?

A little bit of both. All will be revealed when it is time and when you are ready. To the east, you'll find one of the Blessed Ones contained beyond three vault doors. The Blessed One will be able to hasten your return if you desire it so. Alas, you may need to search for the combination for I do not recall its details. Are you, are you working with Riddleson? I helped Edward remember the knowledge he forgot.

We conjured creatures from beyond and bound them here to aid in his mission. And together we learned to harvest. And then what is his mission? All will be made clear when the truth of the missing moment is revealed. Why can't you reveal it now? Why are we not ready? I am ready. I'm ready. I'm ready. I'm searching for so long. I'm not ready you

lack the requisite power But you know what we saw in a way, yes. I hate him. I'm gonna play Barnes now. Are we the bad guys? Are we the baddies? Barnes, you have been noticeably quiet during this roleplay. Say something, Barnes! You always have so many questions, Barnes.

My stomach is rumbling. Do your best. In the field. Something's happening. Something's brewing downtown. Is something going on here in McGatts? But, um. Troy?

I better hurry before it starts. We should all take turns playing. Yeah, we should. I would like to roll Esoteric Lore on this creature. You have his character sheet in front of you? Yep. No, you don't. Hey.

Oh, wow. Hey. Day one at the sheep. What are you doing, make it up? And she sabotages me. Sides with, how dare you. Matthew sent you a PDF last night? He cheats and he still does bad.

I know his numbers. I know his numbers. We'll say 14. 14. Cool roll. What are you trying to figure out? What the hell's going on here? What is this creature?

What is your, like, yeah, cause he's a monster identifier. Yeah, you have no idea. This is like beyond you. If you recall, I- Esoteric lore is- And I do have- On a fail. The John Jamsky. What about recall, I... Esoteric lore is... And I do have... On a fail.

The John Jamsky. What about a critical fail on Esoteric lore? So a critical fail is a fail, I think, well whatever, nevermind. Oh, dubious knowledge. So on a failure, I get a piece of accurate information and a piece of inaccurate. Also gain the dubious knowledge skill fee. Yeah. Um, this is, uh, I think it's the worst feat they ever wrote for GM.

Camel. This camel means to confound you. It's in the camel family. It's clearly this chameleon. Uh, yeah, you don't know what's going on. Uh, okay. But know what's going on. Okay, but you're not meant to. Sure. You realize in this moment there is something happening beyond all of your abilities, and now it's questioning your level of power.

What did the soil want us for? Why do we need this power? What are we meant to do with it? Why do we need this power? What are we meant to do with it? Hmm... As I helped, Edward, perhaps I shall help all of you as well. Consider this a gift, as well as a warning. as well as a warning. You are meant to help, not to hinder. I see into your thoughts and I question where your alliances lie. So, with that, you will not be warned again. At that moment, the circle beneath its body begins to glow on the floor and the room already freezing drops even further in temperature, except there is a warmth coming from this circle almost like a campfire in the room, but a campfire in the middle of an arctic wasteland,

providing some sort of warmth and a glow, like light streams up from it all the way through the ceiling. You can't even see the ceiling now. It's encased in ice, and Barnes is pulled towards this circle, and as he gets to the circle, his head snaps back. No!

Ah! Bones! And the light just pierces Barnes, towards this circle and as he gets to circle his head snaps back And the light just pierces Barnes and he screams and He is gone and all of you are just like You start shaking and convulsing and your tattoos start to glow, any of your powers, your deviant abilities start manifesting long arms, claws, whatever you have, these mutations start manifesting and getting more and more exaggerated. And you go straight from fifth to eighth level.

What? Oh wow. What? Matthew's gonna be so pissed. Oh yeah. Oh my god. What? Oh, Matthew's gonna be so pissed. Oh yeah. Oh my god. What? A gift and a warning. Was the warning murdering Barnes? Good trade, good trade.

Honestly. Or did they just take him away? Good trade, honestly. We leveled up pretty high. Yeah. And all that happened was Barnes exploded and didn't shit himself. So Matthew should thank us. Yeah. No, no, no.

It was an illusion. He's still here, right in front of me. I see him on the map. Nothing to fear. Is the whale still there? Yes, it's still floating there. Do you feel it? Do you feel your new power?

Remus like It's like I know kung fu He's like thinking through and he can he can feel I guess spells and stuff for a connection That's stronger than it's ever been with Gruhas the this is very interesting. Yeah, get like With Gruhasta, this is very interesting. Yeah, Gic flickers in and out. She appears at different areas of the room before landing back in her spot. And she's just like, I feel...

I feel... strong. What did you do? How did you do that? Seek the Blessed One to the east. Before we do, I need to know a few. The things we saw in the gates, we remember those. Why did we see them? Were they real? Now is not the time for answers. Please, my brother.

I... he... he... We thought he died, but he is alive. Do you know my brother? Did he work for the soil? To the east seek the Blessed One. And perhaps more answers to your questions will be revealed. I will await you among the spires when you are ready to return. And it just starts to seep back into the walls and the cracks and the fissures in the room and

Within a heartbeat not only does it disappear, but the room goes back to a normal temperature and Barnes Is gone Take a quick three hour break. Oh my god. I don't know if we've ever done this. On the history of the network or even in our home games. This is a huge level. A massive level jump. I am angry. Why? I am suspicious of something.

Oh. Of what? All right, let's get into the meta game. Okay, okay. We're definitely the bad guys. Crack this baby open. We're slinging forward because we have skipped ahead in the adventure.

Of course. Which is great, this is fun. The adventure's great. Never been better. Yeah. Yeah. Were we supposed to be fifth level for that fucking demon fight? You asshole. Were you telling me one room ago was fifth level?

The next room's eighth level? Don't think it was right that way. Do you really wanna know about the method? I think it was pretty balanced. No, I know, I know, I know. I'm curious if he did, you know, brought it down. I wanna know a little bit. You wanna know a little bit? I wanna know a little bit. Yeah, I brought it down. Okay. I want to know. I know, I know, I know. I'm curious if he D-ed it. I want to know a little bit. Brought it down.

I want to know a little bit. I want to know a little bit. Yeah, I brought it down. Okay. I brought it down. Nice work. Yeah. After bringing it down and seeing what it would, the sort of severity of the encounter,

I was like, oh, this is totally doable. But it was tough. It was tough. It was scary to start, but then we got some good rolls. And I like that. I want it to be kind of a test of your metal. But yeah, now Barnes has been absorbed and it's as if his powers have been redistributed to the four of you. And I thought, you know,

I've been thinking for a while, you know, when I knew that we were going to prematurely end Gay Walkers and that we were going to be, you know, once I decided that I really wanted to see the story to a good ending, I was like, man, there's a million different ways you can do this. You can just have them keep leveling up normally or you can keep reducing the severity of the encounters and find like a balance between there and there. But there's something about this level jump, especially taking the – I call it the gift of Matthew leaving not to make fun of Matthew, but it's – when things like this happen,

you got to look at it as a gift. Okay, this is – now I've been given this, how do I turn this lemon into lemonade? And this is how I decided to do it because I think it'll be fun moving forward to have you take a huge jump. And also like consider the source, you know, yeah, exciting, but what is going on here? Yeah. I thought you were gonna say you are mad because you're suspicious about just this whole a Soyo thing, like us gaining power through this. Like what's the end game?

What's the end fight? That's not, yeah. Like the whale. Well, that's the thing is like, yeah, this is very tricky. But we've thought for a while now, ever since we met Sokwatchee and had the hallucinations, that we did this, that we released Ahsoyo.

Totally. That we are servants of Ahsoyo. More so I was thinking we get to the end or whatever, the power gets taken away. If we turn our backs on Ahsoyo, we die. That's what he said just now. I know. But I wonder if that means like vitality is, you know,

taken from you or like, I don't know. Just thinking about where we go from here. Yeah. Pretend, just pretend and be like, we love the whale. We could. We love the whale. But the guy said he can read our minds, the horrible tentacle.

You know what's annoying? He's like, I don't know where your loyalties lie, but it's like, I'm also not gonna tell you anything. the whale. But the guy said he can read our minds, the horrible tentacle fish. You know what's annoying? He's like, I don't know where your loyalties lie, but it's like, I'm also not going to tell you anything. So it's like, how am I supposed to know where to put my loyalties, fish man? Gic is really working on it. You're on a need to know basis. Gic is trying to push the foremost thought to just be like, are you a Soyuz baby?

Are you a little whale? And that's what she kept thinking the whole time to distract them. Because Gic hates this. Hates all of this. Has no allegiance to Riddleson, has none of that baggage you guys have. And you brought her here and now she's like, this is not what I signed up for. This is messed up. Pressing us on our allegiances when we don't remember what happened is a little-

Why would we have allegiances? We don't remember like what happened is a little. Why would we have allegiance? Yeah, it's like we don't know. Like we thought all the memories that we have that would tell us like what our allegiances would be. We don't have those. Right. But you can also and I think Remius has struggled with this ever since the boat ride to Chesed is like on one hand there's the thrall aspect, right?

Which is like you're completely mind controlled, which is, I guess possible. But there's also like the possibility that we chose to do things that we don't remember that we chose for a good reason. Right. You know, so like it's possible that we, you know, Ramius is as faith what he, the choices he made, even if he can't remember that he would have made the right choice. And if you're just a complete thrall, like why not just stay a complete thrall? Like why send us back? You know? Only to try to rediscover what we forgot. Yeah.

Yeah. Do you guys remember? That's why he asked if it was an accident. And what was the answer? A little bit of both. a little bit of both. Do you guys remember when we gave, when we also gave up memory in the cave? At the tree.

Yeah, the tree. It's just cool, all this memory stuff is like fun. I like this aspect, I think it's interesting, but I do think it's hard as a player to make your character want to align or not align where you're like, I- I mean, even in the character's own shoes, it's like- Don't know. Feel strong either way, it's like, I don't know. Even in the character's own shoes, it's like.

Feel strong either way, it's like, I don't know. How can I? Well, you have to figure out. We don't understand enough of what's going on to really make that call. Yeah, the characters don't. Yeah. You get the sense of Soyo probably bad,

sounds like the history of the Soyo. Probably bad. Sounds bad. And so aligning with the Soyo probably isn't the way to go. Did you already align with the soil? Is it too late? Do you even have free will in the matter? What's the end game here?

And it's weird because we have this entire conversation with Ogman Zorius. Even though you're questioning and wondering, like, what does this all mean? Your characters are having this intense feeling of deja vu at the same time as the room settles back to a normal temperature. Not in the sense that like you've talked to this creature in this room before, but like maybe you've been here and maybe you said welcome back. You've spoken to this creature in some way, if not in this room before. You're having these these these really conflicting feelings. Is it a glitch in the matrix or is it indeed had that has this happened before?

And correct me if I'm wrong, but I feel like this voice has only ever helped us. Like it's only ever told us it's only ever helped us. Like, it's only ever told us. It's only ever helped. How I learned to stop worrying. I love the bomb. We should have asked about the Yeti. The dream. Damn it.

I'm sure he would have been like. Barnes would have remembered. But we all would become clear. Go to the fucking vault and open it, please. Sleep the blessed one. Stop bothering me. I'm trying to remember, we didn't hear a voice in those dreams though, right? We just saw something.

Which dreams? The Yeti dreams. The one where we level up our... The mask. They were all a little different. Some of you had... But yeah, the thing... I don't think the thing spoke to you.

No, I don't think so. I don't remember the exact scenes where we heard that voice, but I felt like it was guiding us. I think we heard it when we, I use that phrase a lot too. On the boat. It's hard to tell.

Couldn't have been from a different show. Never seen. On the boat where we saw Soyou the first time. Yes. Yeah. And when we saw Soyou, I think under the ice in our vision, I think we heard the voice. Let's talk about these fucking level ups. My goodness.

I could have had lunch during that break. You know, lemon law is in effect, obviously, for everyone except Matthew. So, you know, this is a big, big jump here to go from five all the way to eight. But, you know, kind of give me what you've settled on since you started to think about this. And you know, I'm sure you've been thinking,

whenever you level up, you're like, oh, I can't wait till sixth, because then I can bit, bop, boop. But to think seven and eight, you maybe have not thought that far ahead. Cindy, you look birthday ready to tell us. Birthday ready? Um.

Little loops. I took some normal things that I think are just helpful. I took assurance in something. I took incredible initiative. I think as being a buffer, I kind of wanted to get a little bit better with initiative. What else? Mostly spells. As a bard, the coolest thing is that I get spells. And I'm, I don't know what to get for my second

or for my third, fourth level spell. And I'm trying to decide. It's a big choice. You got a seventh level, right? Yes. Yeah. Yeah. Yes, I think so. For my third, one of my third levels, I did take haste

because that is always helpful for the party. I'm trying to strike the balance between. It's a little less helpful. No, it's less helpful. But you just lost three actions with barn being lost. And it's less helpful with barns. You lost three actions around. Gone.

Yeah. So should I not take haste? I vote for her. Yeah, but like every successive strike, she takes the map anyway. Because in one heat, you get a bonus, full attack, bonus strike. I don't have to take it, I'm just trying to. No, no, no, absolutely, it's a great spell, but just like talking out,

but all it really will do I think for, well, whatever, it can help us with extra strides. It'll allow me to do my extra strides and also with my stumbling feint, I can make them off guard, so like I have a better chance of hitting them. I'm also trying to take, so the balance I'm striking is like boons and buffs and damage

dealing stuff because I only get one spell at each level that will auto heighten. It's my like selected signature spell. Thank you. So like I took one percussive impact. That was that thing I did last time with the demons, the sound ball, because that will heighten. But these other ones like if I take haste, it'll be third level haste. So it doesn't really matter. Like I don't, because that will heighten. But these other ones, like if I take Haste, it'll be third level Haste. So it doesn't really matter.

Like I don't need Haste to heighten. So I'm trying to also... It doesn't get better when it heightens? Does it? Do I need it to heighten? Oh, seventh. I can target up to six creatures. Yeah, but that would be what, 13th level?

I guess, yeah. And we're not going to get there. I can do it later, I guess, if I want to take it again. Yeah. But yeah, so like fourth level spells, there's Fly. I don't know if that would be helpful for us. It's so hard to tell. It's like, okay, fine. So that's why Fly always has combat and non-combat. Some application of Fly. Yeah. I think it'd be fun. You would never be in a situation where it's like, I'm glad I can't fly.

Yeah. Yeah. Exactly. So true. So yeah, I don't know. If you guys have any thoughts on another fourth level, I'm still looking through the list. I'm trying to decide if there's a buffing spell that you're

just like, oh, our party needs this. Let me know. But I did get. I think we, with Barnes gone, I think we need damage. More damage. I did also. If you have a damaging spell. You have Conjured Barnes?

Ooh, no. Well actually, this might be legacy. Do you have like, summon monster? I could summon. That could be interesting, adding another target to the field. I saw summon dragon. I summoned a dragon.

Probably kind of cool. I can look. And you gotta learn dragons. So you have to know all the mechanics of the creature you summon. I played a druid. I know, I can do it. I figured out.

Yep. I also. I knew you played a druid. This is the fun bard stuff. I got Dirge of Doom, which is really fun. Dirge of Doom. What does really fun. Dirge of Doom! What does that do? Dirge of Doom in a 60 foot, or no, 30 foot emanation.

Enemies are frightened one. And they can't reduce their frightened value below one while they remain in the area. I didn't get any of that, but okay. Hopefully the fans did. All right, Dirge of Doom, cool. Yeah, so that one's pretty fun. That's like a bard classic.

And then I also got Inspire Heroics, which is another thing kind of like my courageous anthem. It basically boosts my courageous anthem. So the status bonus from my Inspire Courage or whatever is increased on a critical success to like plus three. I'm sorry. I think you mean Fortissimo composition. Inspire Heroics is legacy content and And the spell's completely different, it looks like. I think you mean the awesomely named Fortissimo composition. I'll go in and swap that out. I don't know why it doesn't tell me. Yeah, but I do think it might, it looks, it might be the same.

No, it is, yeah, no, maybe it is the same. Anyways, I would go Fortissimo Composition. Fortissimo. But don't ever call it that, because it's a dumb name. Fortissimo. Fortissimo. I have to go find that now, I don't even know what that is.

All right, I'll find that, but those are like my cool focus spells. And yeah, again, if you guys think of any fun spells you might want, I'll keep looking through the list. Skid, have you decided to take these three levels to multiclass? Yes, I did. I'm now some other weird thing.

Oh. Some other weird thing. No, I just kept going psychic, cause I don't know. No little kineticist, yeah! No, I would either just want to change into a kineticist. Yeah. Or not, I don't want to split between like psychic

and kineticist because I'm still going to be like fucked with some of this stuff. So no, I'm just going to stay a psychic until I'm allowed to change completely. So yeah, I just ended up, I did, I got some new spells. So third, my new third level spell is Mind of Menace. Ooh, that sounds good. Which is like a beginning of the day,

10 minute of casting, sort of preventative like vaccine of a spell. So I take this and I do this in the morning and then for the rest of the day, whenever someone tries to use mental magic on me, it has a chance to rebound and affect them. Oh, interesting. So, I just thought that would be potentially very cool.

And then for my fourth level spells, my signature spell is Fire Shield, like in keeping with the sort of the flame kind of themes that I have. That's pretty cool. And then the ones that I chose, I took dimensional anchor, which I just feel is always... Oh, that should be good here. I think so. So many situations you run into at higher levels where you have enemies that are bouncing around or teleporting away We've seen it in multiple games now where you wish you had dimensional anchor to just keep them in place You can kill them. I thatch. I think that'll probably come in handy more likely than not It's now called planer tether planer tether. Okay. Okay. I

Looked at that too. That's a fourth level. It is nice. It's kind of fun I've never I've never used it or seen it used in any of our Anything I've been on no, it's a thing where it's just like you always the situation comes up. You wish you had it Yeah, so I just say yeah, and then Whatever the new name for phantasmal killer. I took that as well. Oh, I know this Come on for Phantasmal Killer. I took that as well. Oh, I know this. I know it too and I can't think. Oh, come on. It's right on the tip of my jaw.

Tip of my jaw. Fear is the mind. I have it. What is it? Vision of Death. Vision of Death. That's right, Vision of Death. Which I like.

That's one that I like. Yeah, yeah. Vision of Death. Vision of Death, yeah, that's good. So maybe I will not take those then. That was helpful. I really love that spell. You can switch it up. Yeah.

Yeah. Some of the spells, the change to 2E, I was like, oh, that's great. Because Fantasmal Killer was such a lottery ticket in 1E, but it seems like it has a lot more effect with the commissions. It's more likely to do something. Yeah. Yeah. Not save or suck anymore.

Very cool. Okay. So, 8th level, Boggles. I also have an ability of a fee, which allows me to brain drain. Well, that's a different name. Which allows me to pull psychic energy from another creature and restore my own focus points.

Whoa. That's actually really nice. Which is pretty cool, so. Brain drain. Yeah, that is legacy content. It hasn't been remastered, so it doesn't have a different name. OK.

Um, Kaeclyn, talk about this mom. She looks happy. We need you to level. We need you to start kicking ass. It'd be weird if I was like, everybody but Kate leveled up. So I took a little dip into being a cleric as well. What? You're a a dare. You took a dare. Yep. What? Being a cleric as well. What?

You took a cleric down the test? I thought I should be super effective. No, I'm doing month. I believed you. I believed you. I did believe you for a second. I was like, what do you know that I don't know? Once per day, you can do one D8 healing.

I plan out my next. Oh, cool. I plan out like my next three levels, always for all my characters. Oh, so yeah, Kate was like ready to rock. Fucking ready. Take a note. So level six, I always knew

I was gonna take stumbling faint. And what it does is it like kind of like boosts what I already have. So if I succeed at the faint, I get flat-footed, not just on the first Flurry of Blows attack, but both. So that's really cool. Well, you're off guard against those attacks, I mean.

Okay. I'm taking Rolling Landing since I have Catfall. Because it's fun. And what does that do? Rolling Landing, I land with a Quick Roll, keeps my momentum. If you fall and don't take damage, you can use your reaction to immediately enter a short roll and you land and step. Fun! Yeah.

Nice. That's fun. So that's fun. And then for my general fee, I took robust health. I gained a circumstance bonus to a number of hit points I regain equal to my level from a successful attempt to treat my wounds or use battle medicine. So I'll have to remember that for you when you use it on me. Figured it was helpful. Path to perfection, I chose reflex.

So now my reflex is master. Oh, that's good. Amazing. Huge. Yeah, let's see. Ooh, I've learned how to inflict greater injuries with the weapons I know best, which are my hands, I guess.

I deal two additional weapon damage with my weapons and unarmed attacks in which I am expert. Two damage? Like extra plus two damage? An additional two damage. Oh, that's great. Permanently? Unarmed attacks in which I'm an expert.

Wow. Three if I'm a master. Are you a master or you're an expert? Let me see. Master is seven. I're an expert? Let me see. Master at 7th level. I'm an expert. OK. And then level 8, got another class feat.

And I'm like, what do I do? I could do anything. So I chose to take Wild Wind's Initiate. It gives me the Wild Wind's Stance. OK. And it's a key spell to enter that stance but then not use the wild winds crash strikes after I'm in the stance. But those are really cool. So those strikes are... Let me see, let me see, let me see. This is so tiny on my

screen. You take on the stance of flowing wind, sending out waves of energy at a distance. So I can make wind crash unarmed strikes as a range strike against targets within 30 feet. Wow. Yeah. This is getting really cool. I got some range stuff back. You're like airbending.

I'm like touching the air. Airbending. Yeah. That's so cool. That's cool. You're airbending. That's so sick. Fuck bows, right? Yeah.ending. That's so cool. That's cool. Airbending. That's so sick.

Fuck bows, right? Yeah. Yeah. Really. Bows are stupid. Except Bo Jackson. He was good. He was great.

He was great. And then I also took double speak since I, with being like a stumbling faint monk, I have to be like a master in deception. So with my general fee, I took double speak. Like I don't really do this in like social interactions, but I can say one thing, but you guys all know that I'm meaning another thing.

So I feel like it could come in. I know that we're going into these circumstances. Like in the mafia. Yeah. That's how everyone talks in the mafia. Yeah. In code, you guys get it. Hey, take care of him.

It's just like, oh, he wants me to take care of this guy. I guess it will make sure it feels good. It's just like, no, no, he needs to kill him. Like any ally that I've been around for more than a week knows what I'm talking about. Oh, that's cool. And I figured it'd be useful with the riddle, somebody comes back,

if I need to sneakily talk about stuff. We're so happy to see you. Yeah. That means she's not happy to see you. Yeah. I hate him. It's just like Sopranos. Exactly.

So this video recently, this was like a mafioso. It was like the way you poured wine around the table is like if the guy picked up the wine and poured this way, you were okay to speak freely. But if he poured with his hand, I'm paraphrasing, I'm sure. But if you poured into the guy's glass like backwards like this, that meant like don't talk about stuff you wouldn't talk about around. Keep your mouth shut. Oh, you can't trust this around. Keep your mouth shut.

That this guy might not be. Can't trust this guy. Yeah, let's just be careful with what we say. Right. Interesting, so you can do that with your speak. Hey, let's go through that door. I don't think Zephyr wants us to go through that door. Yeah.

Yeah. That's cool, all right. So, yep. That's awesome. Points to Kate for getting ahead on that stuff. Now what about- Bonyx is good too, by the way. Yeah, Bonyx is good. Bonyx is good too, by the way. Yeah, Bonyx is good.

Bonyx is good. It's a recent convert to Bonyx. I like Bonyx. Joe, I'm sure you're, are you happy, unhappy? Oh yeah, psyched. Yeah, this is fun. Still got, still just kind of working through some stuff, especially cause like, with a cleric,

you don't, like you just prepare spells, right? Right, so of access. You of access to kind of everything. And so, so with Barnes vanishing, I changed what you take. Yeah. And I did feel like doing damage might be important. So I feel like there's going to be maybe this slight change in Rami's spell casting wise as he as he developed her, maybe this infusion has given him some offensive power.

And so for like his fourth level spell, I have prepared Divine Wrath, for example. So like, you know, kind of the equivalence to, and like Holy Light is a third level spell, like Searing Light kind of stuff, so that he can do pretty serious damage with the Divine, which I think is kind of fun. That's cool. That would have been useful in the last fight.

Yeah, exactly. Exactly. So I took some of those things spell-wise. Okay, so then feats and stuff. All right, so going on with this theme. There's a class feat. Obviously, I've never gotten a cleric this high that I've played. And so, there's a feat called Cast Down, which I think is really cool. Now this would be, I guess it's situational, probably not great for a healer, but among

the options, this sounded too cool. If we come in contact with something that can be hurt by a heal spell, right? Anything undead or anything else that could be harmed by a heal spell. Anything vulnerable to vitality damage. Yeah. I took cast down, which is I have to spend an action on it. Then if I cast a heal spell on something, if it takes any damage, it is immediately knocked prone.

Oh, that's cool. Which is kind of fun. So we can even succeed at it safe and it still would be knocked prone. Just cast down. Just ruin them on the mountainside. That's cool. Yeah, exactly. So it's like, that's a fun one.

Now they've got a, you're taking away an action from them. Yeah. And then I've really gotten into this. I wanted to focus on the medic aspect. So he's a clerk, but really, he's a medic, and he's learned so much here. And I'm proud to tell you guys, now, at eighth level, you no longer have to worry about ever getting hurt

by the relics. What if you roll a nat1? He doesn't have to roll if he doesn't need to. So he now has assurance in medicine. And the number is now so high that like... You'll hit it. I mean, I can... My assurance in medicine, because I'm a master of medicine now, is now 24.

Which means like... Master of medicine! You have two of must... Yeah. So at this level, I can do 2d8 plus 10 for free every treat wounds without having to roll. So it's just we can kind of like hand wave all healing now between combats. You never have to roll?

Never have to roll. You're like a senior resident now. Yeah. Exactly. Exactly. So there's that. And then, and this is where it comes in really interesting, is now he has these combat abilities like

I took a doctor thing called doctors visitation and then thing called treat condition visitation Yeah, doctors visitation is such a silly Because it's called house call it's so ridiculous Yeah, but it's it's named for a combat ability that allows you to, as a single action, stride and do battle medicine. Oh. That's very cool.

Yeah. So you can save lives. It is ridiculous, because that's very silly. Yeah. But it's awesome. Yeah. It's good for us. Doctor's visitation.

But then I have treat condition. So now, as part of combat, if I can get to people and do battle medicine on them, essentially, I can, between treat condition and now I have holistic care, I can treat. So like crystals and stuff? I can treat clumsy, enfeebled, sickened, frightened, stupefied, and stunned.

Wow. All with a treat condition. Oh my gosh, great. So do you have to pick one or just everything? No, well, the first feat that you get, the lower level one is treat condition, and that's clumsy, enfeebled, sickened. And then the most recent one I got is holistic care,

frightened, stupefied, and stunned. But like with one action, would that alleviate all those, any conditions of those on that list that are affecting a person or would it have to be? Yeah, it's actually, I don't think, yeah, so it's two actions. Oh, no, it is a die roll. It is a counteract check, but I'm using my medicine as the modifier. So it's, you know, I'm a master. So it really doesn't, you don't get much of a better chance. You can use assurance with that. And so if, but you reduce the value by one on a success.

I don't see why I couldn't use assurance. It's like forgo rolling the skill for a result of X. Now the DCs might be such that you couldn't use assurance. I couldn't use assurance. We'll have to test that out. I'm not sure if a... Yeah, at a certain point, we're going to know that whatever effect gave you the second condition had a higher DC than 24.

So I'll know that I have to roll for it. But I've got a plus 18 to medicine right now, I think. At eighth level, I'm trying to remember. But yeah, plus 18 to medicine. There's a lot of fun healing stuff. Assurance gives you a plus automatic 11? Is that what it is? No.

What am I thinking of? It's like... Yeah. Assurance is like... What's that thing that gives you an auto 11? That might be one. Touch of law. Touch of law, yeah.

It's the old days, touch of law. You forego rolling a scale to receive a result of 10 plus your proficiency bonus. Touch of law. Touch of law, yeah. Touch of law. Touch of law. Yeah, it's the old days, touch of law. You forego rolling a skill to receive a result of 10 plus your proficiency bonus. So it essentially removes your wisdom modifier. Yeah, OK. So you don't get that extra plus four. So you may still have to roll here and there, which for you, there's still a chance of a one.

But I don't have to roll for treat woods. Treating woods. Right. Like that will be fine. That's a flat DC that doesn't change with our level But for these conditions something gives it to you the DCs are gonna start getting up into that 25 26 Effective you yeah, very cool. That would be very helpful. Yeah, so uh, oh and then there's this other thing So I want to pitch that you're cooking. I want to pitch something. Okay, let them cook. I Want to pitch something. You're cooking. I want to pitch something. Okay. Let them cook.

I want to pitch that after this situation, what just happened here, that I cast this spell as part of this moment at its left lingering, just because I think it's cool for story. So there is a fourth level divine spell called vital beacon. And the reason I say like just have it cast it and come out of it is because it when you cast it, it takes one minute to cast and it lasts until your next daily preparations. So it lasts all day. And there's this like aura of like vital healing energy that just wafts off you. Any character can as an action just touch you and absorb healing. So like a font, it's like a font. The first person that touches you gets 4d10 healing.

Oh, wow. The next person that touches you gets 4d8. The third person gets 4d10 healing. Oh wow. The next person that touches you gets 4d8. Oh. The third person gets 4d6. Wow. The last person gets 4d4 and then it's done for the day. What is this?

It's called vital beacon. Interesting. Vital beacon. Yeah. Isn't that cool? It's cool but it is one of those things, I feel like this always happens with clerics where touch spells.

It's like I gotta get over to you to do it. Yeah. But usually, I have to use my actions to do it. Exactly. You know what I mean? And also, this is like, it's just there. How long does it last? All day.

Damn, that's cool. Until my next day of preparations. What's crazy is in this moment of drastic temperature change, a bunch of mice come running into the room. And they all touch. And five of them start running over your feet. A bunch of sick mice. A bunch of wounded mice.

And you've now expended that. Thanks, mister. And then they run. I just wanted to pitch it because I thought it would be cool. Like after all this, like calms down, he has this aura about him just pulsing this vital energy. Let's do a little foundry VTT aura. It's kind of cool beans, man.

Beef here. Ramius, you're glowing. Hold on, let me turn on the music. Ghostly light maybe? It's like glowing from the inside. Yeah. Are you pregnant? Ghostly light looks great.

I'm gonna give it a fun color. You're glowing from the inside. Are you pregnant? With a child. Are you with a child? It's a miracle. I should have asked him if the cheese was pasteurized. You can't eat Brie when you're pregnant.

Whoa. Whoa. That might be too aggressive there. No, I kind of love it. That's cool. That's super cool. That is, that's very cool. Like five feet around you.

Gix sees like a light, she turns around and yeah, Remus just has like a vroom, this glow and she's like, whoa! Wow. What? And he's just like looking at you wide-eyed, he's like, I don't know what happened. Man. Bards!

Bards! He's calling into the sword, it's like, I imagine echoing down the hallway. Yeah. Did they take him somewhere? Do you think they didn't kill him? Did they? And you hear his voice come from Buggles. It's like, we have eaten him.

Kulakan. Buggles. Buggles. Buggles just starts looking around. I'm sorry. He is. I think he's within us. Bonds? Somehow.

And like, he feels this vital energy wafting off him, like this energy of life. And he's like, did they consume him? Feed him to us? I mean, I feel substantially stronger. Yes, I feel as if I know things I've never known before. And he just fires off every fourth and third level spell he has.

Yeah, he goes, ee-wee-wee-wee! And now I would like to rest. God! No. Wee, wee, wee. And now I would like to rest. No, um. Gic looks worried at Ramius and Bugles when you guys are talking about this, and she says, the thing said that it helped Riddleson to harvest. Yeah, that was a weird choice of words. No, I think it was purposeful. Harvest. Yeah, that was a weird choice of words.

Harvest? No, I think it was purposeful. Harvest? Harvest. Is that what's happening? Harvest what? No, Harvesting people taking their power. This is exactly what just happened.

It killed Barnes to make us stronger. For...for it. What are we doing? Well, we don't know that. It is an interesting theory, but we don't know that yet. Theory? The Black Frost Whale was written on the chalkboards in the other room. I'm sorry, what allegiance you have to Riddleson that's blinding you? I don't know if it's this life that's blinding you. It has something to do with allegiance. We don't know that they are harvesting power.

They could be harvesting anything. Right, bodies. Memories. Oh, bodies, memories. Sure, yeah, that's fine, Gigg is just yelling. Fine, fine, fine, fine. This is awesome! Some, some. I love it down here!

Here. Please, the Blessed One, may you. Get Kixacan. Ting, ting, ting, ting, ting, ting, One, may you. Gic kicks a can. Ting, ting, ting, ting. It hits Ramius' foot and heals for 46 seconds. Yeah, Blessed One, awesome. Let's keep going. Let's go do that.

Why don't we go do that next so we can hurry up and get to the big whale. Gic, I'm picking up a little sarcasm, and it's not helping. I think we can safely say, Zephyr, that what we suspect it is true. We are servants, perhaps, to this Ossoyo. We released it, maybe, and it wants to know that we are aligned with it. However, I feel this surge of power, but it feels good within me and not pleasurable. It feels as if I am as more connected to Grohasthan than I've ever been. It has not cut me off from my from my worship, from my deity. I think there's a reason why whoever is keeping these memories from us, I think that if we

remember it we won't be happy maybe with what we did until we get so far in it that we can't turn back. I don't even believe that those memories are what they say they are. I don't trust that walking fish as far as I could throw it. I think they're keeping something from us. I don't think we walking fish as far as I could throw it. I think they're keeping something from us I don't think we helped so yo, I think they're still using us Well, of course, they're keeping something from us. He knew things it knew things. It didn't speak of and of course They're using us What are we to do walk away?

No, cuz it said it can read our minds We must learn more about what happened. We must find a way to figure out why we did what we did beyond that gate. Or I'll go myself. You don't have to go. Gic, if you wish to return, you can return. Return to what? I left the Smiling Wolves to join y'all. And now I feel like...

I don't know what I feel like. I feel like I don't know who I am. You're one of us now. It's kind of the vibe. Of the whole time. A loser. Who said that? Did you hear that? It's that horrible fish. It's that fish. A loser. Get out my head.

Just like your new friends. We can't split up. We can't let what happened to Barnes happen to us. We have to work together, and we have to agree that we're not gonna do what a talking fish wants us to do. We might be too far into it. That's precisely what we are doing. Yeah, but I'm a woman. I have a brain. I'm not gonna listen to a talking Buggles.

Am I crazy? And Buggles is like, he's like holding his stomach and he just looks up and he's like, I feel full. I feel full. Just kind of like sits down on the ground, like puts his little hand on the ground next to him. He looks up and he's just like... Why am I still so hungry? I think there is an irony.

Barnes so convinced that your smiling wolves were cannibals and then we ate him. Strange irony. A rare moment of levity. Brother Remius. It's not supposed to be funny. He just disappeared. Literally, just smoked Flayleaf before we walked in. Which is factually true.

Still lingering, I think. Sorry, just thinking out loud. I think we have to keep going to the east to figure out what is happening. I've never been more confused, but I've never felt stronger at the same time. Yeah, I feel like we're going to be east to figure out what is happening. I've never been more confused but I've never felt stronger at the same time. Yeah I feel pretty good. I don't. Buggles has a tummy ache so we should. A couple different things to think about. Obviously you just left a room to the north that has a lot of

information but now more than ever you feel like you need to probably keep clearing this place out if there's any other danger or at least exploring your options before you spend time researching. But Ramius especially you would know like there probably are a lot of answers to questions in there though you do not have access to all the languages in the texts. You have been prompted by this being, by this creature to continue east in search of the Blessed One. But there is also a passageway to the west and as you look to the east you see that the passageway turns south as well.

In fact to both the east and the west there's a passageway south and to the east north as well kind of back the way you came So if you were to turn a turn back on which the way you were coming back in the direction of when you were original originally entered the sewers There's passageways to the north and the south and then of course there is this glowing circle on the ground Which if you zoom in on foundry you will see They've done a great job here with the module there is a slight illumination to it that is moving throughout the lines oh yeah it's very slight but yes you can see it that's cool

what you do Well, perhaps we should move without delay. I also... Did that magical level up give us our used spells of the day back? I feel like that's usually what happens when you level up. No. What? I just filled my focus points.

Well, then we must rest. Take my... Oh crap, I gotta go, yeah I think mine auto did it. I gotta go look at what I had. Is it still super cold in here? No, the temperature has gone back to normal. Should we maybe rest then in this area with the books and we'll do shifts? I was kidding about resting being necessary,

but I am down some heels, but I'm fine. But. That's a lot of butts. On the other hand. We could do this research. I said bottle up. I don't know. We could rest and do this research.

I actually didn't use a lot of my spells because I forgot that I was down for a lot of that fight and laid on the ground. Or we just go to the vaults. What do you guys think? Well, there's so many directions to go. And then also like back in that main like lecture hall room, there was a door to the south that we didn't go through either.

But the thing is to like us to go east. Yeah, to speak to the blessed one. So I mean, I'm kind of inclined to just go do that. I don't really think right. The only thing is like, are there any more cool little trinkets anywhere? But but yeah, but it doesn't seem like this would be ending our exploration of this thing down here and Well, also, we do have to find the combination through the doors. Right.

So. Yeah, this all-knowing creature didn't know the combination. I don't know the password. I seem to have forgot. Let's go back up then. Maybe we'll know the password. I seem to have forgot. Let's go back up then. Maybe we'll discover the combination. I think we should look in that room, take some time, and then go to the east.

I think we should go to the east and look at the lock. Yeah, maybe. And see what is even the potential combination, and that way we know more about what to look for. All right, what if we open the door and there's a big guy? Well, we can't open the door. The point is we can't open the door. And if we open the door and there's a big guy,

I think we're fine, right? Sounds like there's three doors. Everybody has their resources. Right, right, right, I'm just saying there might be enemies, but like, whatever, it's fine. Yeah, but I mean, I'm just down a few heels. Let's go to the door. All right, we're gonna head to these

just to take a look at these. What is it, three-door vault or something. Well, Gek moves first into that hallway, and you do see a door heading further east, but to the south, a long corridor, 50, 60 feet wide, that seems to end in a circular chamber. There's no door into that chamber. It looks like some sort of workshop down there.

Let's go check it out. Go ahead. All right, Zephyr goes forward a bit. I guess you're leading the way now. Checking for traps. I don't want any more gas. What's your perception? My perception DC.

Your perception bonus. Oh, plus 12. Okay. You don't see anything. It's all safe. Follow me. At that moment, you find an abandoned workshop. At

that moment. This now dry sewer tunnel dead ends at an equally dry pool with ledges to either side of it. The western ledge of this room is empty, but the eastern ledge is cluttered with carpentry and brick laying supplies. There's a small little workbench there. The brick wall to the south,

you do notice looks newer than the surrounding walls. Maybe they just bricked something up there. Perhaps they just covered up something. There's paperwork and everything along the workbench. Ramius will start walking, looking through the paperwork. Oops. Start picking up the paperwork and thumbing through it, see if he recognizes anything that would give him any more information about this place or its construction or...

All right. So, you start looking through the paperwork and it seems like Edward, because you see his signature on a lot of these notes, he has been bribing city officials and using contractors to help build this secret lab beneath Riddleson Manor, walling over tunnels in the sewer system to ensure privacy for what he has going on down here. And you see installation of numerous secret doors throughout the place. There's all these notes on like,

I want a secret door here, I want a secret door there, I want a secret door here. Yeah, give me a perception check. Okay. Oh man, my perception went up. Isn't that fun? That, didn't help. Oh man, my perception went up. Isn't that fun? That. Didn't help.

How much did it go up, Joe? Shut your mouth, Sydney. Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh,

oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, Close. Legally you have to tell us if you rolled a one. I can use my scholarly recollection if this is a, like am I seeking information in here or in the? Just ask for a perception check. Your eyes. Well if it's to seek, then I could roll again. Okay, I'm rolling. And can we also all roll?

Sure, yeah. Yeah, Remus is just kind of looking around these notes here and you're all looking. I'm gonna roll too. Damn it, Joe, I got the same roll as you. Oh, this isn't working so far. All right, I'm gonna use it again and I got a 28. I also got a 28.

24. 17. All right, so Zephyr, clearly you have your own thing going on here, whereas Ramius and Bugles, you both maybe reach down at the same point at a peep and hit heads and you take... You notice there's a paper that's like, must have fell off the table and slipped under one of the legs of the workbench, you pull it out and it contains a very complex looking diagram of a three door locking mechanism.

It's crazy looking. It's kind of like plans for it, but I don't know if you guys have engineering or thievery to try and figure out what it is trying to or and you could show it to your friends if they have what would engineering be engineering engineering lore engineering or a close enough lore that you could kind of game yeah yeah I'm not trained in thievery but I have a plus four I have thievery okay I'll throw this out there I don't know how close it is lore-wise. Genealogy?

Oh, that's fun. That's fun. Dude, it's your call. Good thing you took it. Staling over? It came with my stupid Gatewalker thing. Ah, background. Detect Mormon.

I've got a 17. Thievery. Yeah, no, this is like seems very clearly these these doors are meant to keep something safe behind it but you can't figure out it seems like there's a very specific way to get through it but you can't make heads or tails of it perhaps kick this these locks are meant to keep the Blessed One away from escaping and your great fish master wants us to release it. Why is it my, why'd you just look at me?

Because this seems to be all your plan to follow whatever Ossoyo says. What? I'm kidding, I'm just joking. I can't tell if you're joking or not. I think it's important to maintain some aspect of levity in this horrible situation. He's down.

Barnes is dead. I can get down with that. What are we doing? I'm not convinced Barnes is dead. They may have just taken him beyond where we went, where we traveled. I think he's just somewhere safe and powerless. We can't get through the doors.

Maybe we can break them? Maybe we can take some time to look at these schematics? There was something else into the mix. As you're reaching for this paper and trying to make heads or tails of these schematics, Gek finds a secret door heading to the east. Oh yeah, she was feeling the walls. Oh, nice.

And you notice at the same time, again, she was feeling the walls. Oh nice. And you notice at the same time, again, Zephyr sees nothing with her 17, but the three of you notice right after Gic does. Secret door heading east. Gic leans against the wall. I said east, I'm sorry, I meant west. Oh, the west, okay.

Back the way we came? Yeah, back the way you came. Gic leans against the wall and then she goes, oh, or this, maybe this is a roundabout way. Very interesting, Gek, well done. Well done. And he leaps over the sewer thing. You could just step right up.

Okay, that's all he did and he still made that sound. Bad knees, bad knees. It's gonna rain tomorrow, bad knees. Let's take a look in there. Can we open it and maybe shed some light in? Tunk. You see a small little hallway that just ends in nothing. Oh, nevermind.

It's a joke door for babies. Oh no. It's another door in there. Go in. Joke door for babies? It could. It's another door. Go in. It's a joke door for babies? It could, it could. She glows berserk.

What is a joke door for babies? If a baby comes down here, they'll be laughing. It's a prank, it's a prank. Where did you grow up? Joke door for babies? It'll make, you wanna entertain little young children that come down here. I mean, it could be another secret area.

Gic like tosses like a little rock into it. There could be magic in there. Swoom, the rock explodes, no. It just hits the wall. Okay, Gic steps. Somewhere a baby laughs hysterically. Gic steps into the small. We have the faint sounds of a ghost baby's laughter.

Gic steps into the small room and puts her hands on the walls. How do you feel? Like a baby being pranked. It's a joke room. I'll do a perception check. Ooh, 31. 31. You see beyond Gic's stupid arms another secret door. You can see right over her because she's so short. There's a seam, Gic. Right there. There's a seam, Gek, right there.

There's another seam, right in front of you. What is up with these? And she pushes the back wall. Pushes the back wall. Whoa! Another secret doe leading deeper. Gek steps in making room for people to come in. Whoa, books!

Yeah. Tons of books. This looks like a little secret fucking library. Zephyr sits down in the chair and puts her feet up on the table. Wow. Does this look like it's been recently occupied? It does. There's this long, very full bookshelf right at Bramius's alley,

running along the east and south walls of the room. To the north, there's a glass cabinet that all of your eyes are immediately drawn to because it displays a white, furred, monstrous costume, along with a four- Zephyr falls backwards in the chair. The fuck is that? Mask. Oh my god. Are you kidding me? And we'll see it after. Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, Somewhere Barnes. Shit, I got something. In heaven.

We sent him to the plane of diarrhea. Would you shit yourself? I sent you to heaven. It's time to make your membership official. Start your 30-day free trial today and become an official member of the Naish at jointhenaish.com with the promo code GCN30. That's join the naish.com and use code GCN30 to gain access to exclusive podcasts, ad-free

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