The Glass Cannon Podcast - Strange Aeons Episode 20 – Unfamiliar Faces

Episode Date: June 23, 2022

The party dives headfirst into investigating the strange happenings around Thrushmoor, leading to several deadly encounter and some disturbing reveals! Join Troy Lavallee, Joe O'Brien, Skid Maher, Grant Berger and Matthew Capodicasa as they tour the country playing the Lovecraftian Horror Strange Aeons Pathfinder Adventure Path. Watch the video here: https://youtu.be/ASID9zjFqio Recap 11:06 Gameplay 21:56 For more podcasts and livestreams, visit glasscannonnetwork.com and for exclusive content and benefits, subscribe today at patreon.com/glasscannon. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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From our airy lavender cream cold foam. Only this spring, only at starbucks ice lavender cream oat matcha tea latte includes dairy What's going on everybody? Happy Sunday and welcome to day two of the Strange Aeons Book 2 Marathon to kick off the Glass Cannon Live Tour, which is coming back next month. Next month, we're coming back. And now it's Sunday afternoon. We played for a little over five hours yesterday. We've got some more hours coming up today.

It is going to be fun. We're making progress. Hope you had fun at church. Had some cookies at coffee hour. Guy Rader, have some fun with us. I'll take you to church. We're going to roll some dice and have fun with our friends. I don't really have anything prepared here for the opening.

Clearly. No, so excited. We really made some progress yesterday. I'm thinking like I've prepared a finite amount today, a finite amount. And if we get through that, we'll have got through like the first third of the book, basically. And if that takes 45 minutes, I could actually see my family, which would be wonderful. If it takes five hours, it takes five hours. But I've only prepared

X amount. And once we reach X, I'm signing off. Well, how did we fare yesterday? Did we get where you thought we'd get or further than you thought we'd get or not as far? You're not going to like this answer, but it's hard to tell because there's so many different ways you can go. You guys could have went here first instead of here. Like it's super Oprah. It's Oprah. It's Oprah ended. Yeah, it's super Oprah-end. It's Oprah-end. It's Oprah-ended. Oprah-ended?

Yeah, it's very Oprah-ended. Are we going to have an appearance with Meghan Markle today? And the Prince Harry? Yeah, if we run short, we'll replay that interview for the last hour. Prince Harry, vamp. Vamp. Prince Harry, come on. Get in there, you son of a bitch.

Build a paladin. You would play a paladin you would totally uh those weird inbred weirdos i'm a king because my father was a king 2021 oh my god oh my god we uh what the hell are we talking about yeah so it's super open-ended 2021. Oh my God. What the hell are we talking about? Yeah, so it's super open-ended right from the start because you kind of have these things you can do and the order in which you do them is totally open. So I just prepared all of it

and that's what the marathon is going to be, kind of chunking our way through this opening to see what you guys pick up on, what you're interested in, and really what you discover. up on, what you're interested in, and really what you discover. I love books like this. It reminds me of like when we started the podcast, the early days of True Now. This isn't quite a mystery in the same sense of like a whodunit, who killed this guy? It's more of like, what is going on? Who are we? What's happening in this

town? And then like, oh, that's something we should look into. And then make some friends you make some allies you meet some weirdos and you kind of see what happens uh did you guys have fun yesterday yeah yeah it was great yeah yeah i've just been looking forward to playing this for so long because i've the last time after the finale of book one, the last show we did, I was just like, man, level four is going to be so cool if I can retrain Aldo and get these rid of these dumb powers and get the ones that I want. And I was just like, man,

I'm ready to go. And then it was like eight months. Oh, yeah. And it was just like, I forgot everything that I wanted to do. But it was so cool to get back into it with this group. Awesome. This is a great group. And we said it, we were talking when we went off air yesterday,

how when this adventure started, you were all like on the brink of a TPK every single encounter. It was really, really bad. And it was live in front of an audience. A character died in the first session um because of the way this party composition was but now no no no no no no yes no no no no no yes party composition first of all dude was a hulking shredded badass walked up to frontline fight as he's supposed to in round one at level one. The creature had two attacks that did like 2d6 plus four damage. That's preposterous.

That is not party composition. You should have composed the party in a way that you didn't do that. It's true. Should have just only built ranged characters. That was right. Composed. it's true she's just only built ranged characters that was poorly composed but I guess the point is like obviously the Burl, the green loser

aside, having Sir Julie gives you a lot more flexibility now because you've got a caster and you've got two ranged combatants excuse me Aldo is your ranged guy and then Halster can play a little utility he can step up and bang if he needs to.

He can take a beating. He's got this new armor from yesterday that's going to help. But Sir Julie, as we can see, just boom, 22 points of damage. Boom, 21 points of damage. You haven't had that yet in the adventure, so I think that's going to really help keep you alive because even yesterday the encounters you had were pretty tough. The gibbering Mouther almost just straight up killed Halster.

Yeah. Yeah. It was a huge benefit to me to finally understand how a Warpriest works, including fervor and blessings, and to be able to use those supernatural powers to swift action heal myself. That's really what lets him be that utility player. He's not going to put out as much damage as Sir Julie, but he has survivability that can benefit himself as well as the party after battle. Yeah. Yeah.

That's very helpful. Just having like two people that can do some sort of healing. That's something we don't have on any of our shows. That'll be nice. I'm excited. I'm excited to jump in. And of course, if you're, if you're watching us live here, and we are live. This isn't prerecorded.

We are live. I hope you'll join us on the tour. Grant, go ahead and toss up that graphic because we're hitting the road, Jack. Or Jim. We'll be in Philly next month. I'm waiting to see the graphic come up on the actual stream so I can read the dates. But we'll be in Philly next month on the 7th? 15th?

15th. Of July. That's right. 15th of July. We'll be back in Joe's cheesy hometown in Philly at Underground Arts. And then two days later, that's right, like a real rock band. We're doing two cities in one week. We'll be in our nation's capital, Washington, D.C.

I'm going to have to brush up on my political humor. And then the following month on August 7th, we'll be in Boston, my home state. Can't wait for that. Always a good crowd. The following month. You make it sound like it's a month later.

Yeah, it's only two weeks later. It's two weeks. We have a really easy September, though. Only five shows in September. We're doing two shows in Atlanta during Dragon Con, two shows in Indy during Gen Con, and then finishing the month with a show in Chicago. And in that same week, we're going to just take a little trip down to Columbus during Origins.

And like I said yesterday, there are more dates to come for the rest of the year. We're bringing this tour back with a bang because we miss hanging out with the nation. We miss seeing our peeps. And the thing is, come see these shows, not just to see us, but to hang out with the best group of people in podcasting. The people who enjoy our shows, who come to our shows, they're just a good time. And I see a lot of times on social media, people are like, I don't know anybody.

None of my friends listen to the show. Should I just come alone? Absolutely. Come alone. And even if you're crazy shy, talk to the people. Talk to Carrie at the merch stand and say,

Hey, Carrie, is there anybody here that's not weird? And she'll be like, Ah, no, but... They're all really friendly. So just go say hi to somebody. We have a really good time. You know how many gaming groups have started out of people that just listen to the show or meet at the live show?

So please come out, support us, support the Nash. We're going to have some fun, but we're also going to have some fun today. I'm concerned about how much fun you're having relative to the amount of fun we're having. You mean in this moment or just so far in the adventure? No, just in every combat.

I have had some fun. Those were fun combat. I love the variety right out the gate in book two. I thought you were going to say I love multiple free actions every round that are brutal. It's really good. And surprise rounds? I know you hate those surprise rounds,

Joe, but I'm doing them by the book! They're stealthy vines and stealthy invisible plants. I said nothing of the sort. All I said was, it's a Troy combat, it's a surprise round. They go hand in hand. I know you. Well, this it's a surprise round they go hand in hand around bear i know you uh well this isn't a surprise round okay however she did hear you throwing bombs in the next room

and cast 17 spells on herself to prepare all that's the one drawback to explosives announcing your presence they know you're coming yeah it's no longer a stealth mission at that point. Especially in a cave system. Echoing everywhere. Especially bearing in mind that my explosives are twice as loud and powerful as they were last week. And yet, due to your intelligence, you can take us out of the blast of these explosives. Do you see a trajectory like mathematical equations and know precisely where to put it?

Is that basically how it works? I can't decide how I want to kind of manifest it, whether it's like sort of just planning the sort of the trajectory of it, or if I'm actually mentally controlling the shape of the explosion. I don't know. that's something to think about because you it's not that like it's not like you can reduce the radius where we're saying it's you just pick us out and say you're not standing right in the middle of it and yeah you're fine so a lot of a lot of explosives work that way you You're like, just not that particular five-foot square area

or that particular five-foot square area. Just everything else. My preference would be to find a more mundane scientific means of accomplishing this stuff with all of his things that he does, but I don't know if that's really feasible, believable. So if anyone has any suggestions, I'm, I'm open. I am dealing with science. Don't,

don't throw bombs at my bad guys. They don't like it. Okay. I'll take that under consideration. Unless they have resist fire 10, then bomb away. Right. Uh,

I think we should, uh, we should start this show the way we start most of our shows. Uh, Grant, why don't you go ahead and take it to the recap? Take it to the recap! Yeah. A-cha-wa!

Oh, we should. Yeah, that's good. And we're back. Wow. That was good, Grant. Wow. This is what we get with full-time Grant. We get graphics that would have been nominated for Emmys.

Is there a category for Emmys in graphic design? This recap is just going to recap yesterday because that's all I want to talk about. I want to talk about the fact that you are finally off Briarstone Asylum. You're left there on a boat.

Aldo Casimir, Atticus Grimm, Halster Price, Sir Julie Andrews, and a man named Faustin York, who you call Crossbow Jackson. Give me some music, Joe. What kind of music? Upbeat? Excited? Like Carnival?

Do you have the Thong Song? Little Sisqo? Does Sisqo have any other songs? Let's try with this let's see the thong song remix thong song with nelly the radio edit of the thong song the underwear song the briefs does nelly have a new song that's playing on the country radio? Did I see that? Nelly does a lot of collabs with... On the country radio?

Yeah. Yeah, it started with his collaboration with Florida Georgia Line. Now he's all over the place. Nelly is a bit of a Renaissance fan. I don't know if you know this. No, he's not. Crossbow Jackson. You were sailing from the asylum, heading to Thrreshmore, a town in Versex County, in the strange world of Ustalav.

You're going there with basically not a lot of information. You still don't know who you are. or what you did to get involved with this Count Hasterton Laws who gave you to Briarstone Asylum in exchange for the administrator taking a tome from him known as the Chain of Knights. I'll let you have my tome if you take these flunkies off my hands. So now you're heading to Threshmore to try and find out more about this count.

You don't have a ton to go off of. You don't even know much about Threshmore. Crossbow tells you a little bit. He's like, well, there's one inn in town, the Silver Wagon. There's a bar downstairs called The Stain. You could check that out if you need lodging. Winter told me to tell you that when she comes back, she's going to take the survivors to New Chapel, a chapel dedicated to Farazma. And then she's going to make her way to the Sleepless Detective Agency, because that's where she was headquartered when she arrived in Threshmore with the royal accuser, Royal Accuser Omari, this inquisitor that works for the court of Ustalav, that just came in here to find out why count haserton lyle's abandoned his post

and i'm sure there's some other shady shit going on because you don't just send a royal accuser in unless there's something big going on every time i say royal accuser i want to say it like it's the catalina it's the fucking catalina one mixer. That's what you want to feel like when you hear royal accuser. So you come in and you're like, well, all right, let's find out what's going on in Threshmore. Let's get a room. So you head over to the Stain to have a drink. You haven't had a hot meal in a while in a warm bed. You walk in and the proprietor looks at Halster and is like, no, you get out of here.

You're banned from this place because last time you were in here, you didn't pay your bar tab and you beat a guy up so bad that he's now blind. We'll never see his kids again. You get out. And you're like, you have no idea what he's talking about. He seems like he knows you, but you don't know him. He kicks you out and

as he's kicking you out, there's a crazy guy outside that's like, ah, I'm crazy. And he's like, you know what? If you deal with that guy who's bothering my business, then maybe I'll reconsider this band. That was a real red flag. We should have been on our alert from that point. Crazy. He said, ah, I'm crazy.

It's just like, I think that guy's crazy. There's something wrong with that guy. I can't put my finger on it. But the proprietor's like, you know what? You deal with this guy. He's ruining my business. Then we'll talk. Because he knows it's an impossible task.

So he's trying to talk to this guy. And he's going on and on. Like, the count disappearing. The magistrate disappearing. All these people are disappearing because the Briarstone Witch is back. And she's ushering in a second vanishing. And he's just going on and on and on that that's what's going on in this town. People are disappearing because the Briarstone Witch is back.

It's a spook story you tell your kids at night. Watch out. The Briarstone Witch will get you. So you deal with him. You tell him, hey, calm down. Get out of here. And he's like, all right.

And he leaves. So you go back and You guys seem cool. He's like, you drive a hard bargain, but I'm out of here. You head into the bar and the proprietor's shocked.

He's like, I can't believe you did that. That guy's been bothering my business for weeks. You know what? Let's let bygones be bygones. Sure, that guy's been bothering my business for weeks you know what let's let bygones be bygone sure that guy's blind but come on in and first rounds on me you just gotta pay your tab which ended up being what 18 gold the hell did halster do that night he had a weekend there one night i would love to have been able to remember what a great time I had. That's the equivalent. That's like 20 gallons of ale.

You must have just been like, and one for that table. You know what? The whole bar gets around. Just real show off. But then you had a couple too many and smashed a mug of ale over some guy's face. Blinded him. So as you're sitting there, another person approaches you. A guy by the name of Keldren Mon, who

recognizes Aldo as his old drinking buddy. Hey, Aldo! We used to play cards and drink! Hang on! Of course, Aldo's like, I have no idea who this guy is. Just like Halster can't remember ever going in there and causing a scene, and the guy's like, the guy kind of catches on to the fact that you don't know who he is,

and he's like, there was a rumor that you went to Briarstone, is that true? He's like, well, know who he is. And he's like, there was a rumor that you went to Briarstone. Is that true? And he's like, well, so weird. And then as he's walking away, he says, oh, actually, last time I saw you, you were with a couple of these people and a couple other people, and you were down by Pier 19 over at Worm's Hook, and you were shoving something up underneath the dock. He goes on to tell you that, like, people don't go over there.

Last time the people went over there, they were found melted the next day. So you're like, we need to go to that dock. Atticus was like, I don't know if we should go at night. But the rest of you are like, is it going to be that better in the morning? There might be something there we need. So you go to the dock. You get down there. You

lay on your stomach and you reach around to try and grab that package and then a creature comes up known as a gibbering mouther. This amorphous blob just covering your mouths. Eventually it engulfs,

eats, swallows whole Halster. Almost does the same to Sir Julie. Just doling out crazy damage, gibbering and making Aldo confused and totally out of it for the fight. Luckily, you guys are able to succeed. You reach underneath

and you find a bunch of treasure, a bunch of gear, some of which is attributed specifically to each of you. So then you head back and you bed down for the night. And the next day, you go to the sleepless detective agency

to check in. Right when you walk in, again, you get the cold shoulder. And then when you meet Cecilia Rents, the head of the sleepless detective agency, she's looking at Atticus being like, oh, what, are you going to come in here again and start berating my agents? Are you going to cause another brawl in the town square? And Atticus, just like Halster and Aldo before him, has no idea what she's talking about. You try to explain to her like, listen, we know

we have a bad reputation. We have no idea what happened with the Count. We're just here to try and find this out. We were at Briarstone, blah, blah, blah. And she's hesitant to believe you because you guys got a bad rep in town. Finally, she's like, all right. Maybe you're telling the truth, maybe not.

But if you want to help, actions speak louder than words. We got this tip from a fisherman that there's a light appearing in a cave about a mile outside of town. People think that that's the Briarstone Witch. I don't believe in any of that shit, but people are disappearing left and right in town. This might have something to do with it. We haven't had time to go check it out because we're dealing with a million other things. The Count's gone.

The Magistrate's gone. The Royal Accuser went over to Fort Hale course to try and check in with the Magistrate. She's gone. There's murals popping up all over town of weird abandoned cities. You go deal with this and then we'll talk. Maybe you'll find some information.

So you do. You head down to the shore. You crawl down, climb down to this cave. You go into this grotto. You're attacked by an assassin vine was the name of that creature. Oh yeah, I've heard of that.

I've heard of that. And then you walk into another room and you fight this phantom fungus that like appears and disappears in the same round in which it attacks and what was that called phantom fungus i think oh it's called the phantom fungus yeah i think it was the phantom menace that's what it was uh it wasn't that good uh disappointing really didn't do much still saw it three times then you pull this wooden barricade down made of

tree trunks weighs about 400 pounds and you rush into the next room you rush in there because you want to try and preserve Atticus's mirror images and when you do you see two wolves that are covered in like tree bark and moss and fungus and you see two wolves that are covered in like tree bark and moss and fungus.

And you see this badass looking woman warrior in the back, red hair, a spear. And she's like covered in, in shale bark with bramble sticking out of her. She takes the spear, spins it around and gets down into an offensive pose. And then flame appears in her hand.

It's day two. We're going long. Roll for initiative. Roll for initiative. We're going long. We just... Five hours is longer than normal. Okay.

All right. Coming right out swinging. I got delicious kombucha today. It's golden shower. No. Golden pineapple. I got delicious kombucha today. It's golden shower. No. Golden pineapple. It's delicious. Nice.

Golden kombucha. All right, Atticus. What'd you get for a niche? 17. Not bad. Not good. But not bad. Halster?

Halster got a 20. 20. What about Aldo? Aldo got a 15, mate. 15 for Aldo. Okay. And what about Sajuli? Nine.

Nine. What's your Nishbone, Halster? Plus three. Plus three. Nine. What's your niche bone, Halster? Plus three. Plus three. Excellent. Let's just start this show with a fight. It's round one. Halster, you're up.

Okay. Oh, beautiful. Halster pulls out his measuring tape and sees that he is 55 feet away from the woman who is currently covered in bark, you said, and has a flame shooting out of her hand. So he ever so

cautiously moves 5, 10, 15, 20, 25 feet forwards towards the woman. Touches the ugly blue male that he is wearing. Reaches out from his chest and says Bad luck!

This is basically a hex and I get to choose with no saving throw. It works similarly to an evil eye ability. A minus two penalty to armor class, attack rolls, or saving throws. Based off of her current form I'm going penalty to armor class, attack rolls, or saving throws. Based off of her current form, I'm going to choose armor class

because I think she's probably harder to hit than normal, and I want to eliminate Sir Julie's power attack penalty. Yeah, that's smart. She's covered in bark. You'd think maybe she's buffed up and already decent AC, so a minus two to AC. You're allowed to do this once per day and you're sure there's no save if it acts like evil eye wouldn't get a save or it's talking

about this with skid ahead of the show as well uh the the known rules expert right no there's no save unless it's somewhere else chimed in as well it's just it doesn't say it acts like evil eye, and it doesn't say there's a save in the description. Okay, that's what I was going to think. Yeah, because it says acts like evil eye, then there's a save, but I'm reading the description. I don't see a save. Badass. And the fact that you can only do it once a day limits its power. So she takes a minus two to her AC right out the gate.

And Halster is going to swift action heal himself as well. right out the gate. And Halster is going to swift action heal himself as well, the remaining damage he took earlier, with a blessing of fervor for two points of healing. Smart. All right. This wolf down the bottom here.

Again, let's take a peek at this wolf. Oh, yeah. Stop calling it a wolf. Remember you saw little wolf tracks outside, and you saw stumpy tracks too. This is most likely the wolf tracks. It is... Halster moved in a good position

there because if it tries to run by Halster at the group, it will incur. So I'm actually going to step up to Halster and I'm going to take a bite out of crime, I think. Here we go. 15 to hit.

That is a miss. It clangs off of Halster's plus one heavy wooden shield. Maybe a piece of fungus, if it is fungus, on the dog chips off as it bites. Big old miss. It takes five points of damage as well. It takes five points of damage. The woman in the back, it's her turn. She is going to, again, let's take a look

at her, and imagine her all covered in bark and brambles. I don't have the art for that, but she just looks cool. Yesterday, you likened her to the heroine from Horizon Zero Dawn. Aloy, yeah. Aloy.

All right. She is going to house her. That was a bold move. I wasn't expecting that from you. He feels newfound courage with this strange and maybe evil armor, but it's something from his past, perhaps. She's going to go ahead and diagonal step forward a little bit,

forward and to the right, and she's going to throw a flame at Sir Julie Andrews. Because that's who's standing there. A flame, you say? Which sucks, because you have very good AC. However, you are flat-footed. So let's see. This is going to be a ranged

touch attack. Come on, LaValley. Natural 20. Oh, no. Magic of the gate. Oh, and it's great because it's going to be confirmed against touch. I am so red hot with my dice. Before we started, I went 15, 17, 18, 16, 20.

First roll of the day, a twin zoning. All right, this is to confirm. I just want to make sure that it's ranged touch, because that would make a big difference against your already great AC. Oh, this is awesome! A magic crit with a named creature! If it's against touch, I was like, what are you worried about? Everyone's touch AC is pretty much the same. Yeah, but you got good...

No, but your touch is high. Isn't your touch like 18 or something? My flat-footed is high. That's what it is. Okay, so this is flat-footed touch. Let me see you. Melee touch or range touch. Yep, okay, to confirm. LaVallee. How about a nat 20 to confirm?

Close enough. That's going to be a 19. Yeah, of course. Amazing. Magic crit, Joe. give it to me. Pick somebody who lives on Earth. We're not in a particular city.

I had already picked somebody and I was like what's he going to say? No, this is still Earth. This one is Harrison from Murfreesboroough Tennessee uh murphy's borough Tennessee uh blood reader special oh the magic cast empowers the user and allows them to gain the new a new insight of the battlefield around them double Double damage, and the caster gains the feat of Blood Reader for 1d4

rounds. It'd be cool if it was us. Really not that great for a monster. I hate that. I hate the feat, and I hate the crit, because I don't need Blood Reader. I can just be like, how many hit points do you get left? You have Blood Reader at will.

I have it at will. It's at will ability for me uh all right so we'll do triple thank you harrison thank you i i think it's a double damage joy i know uh all right this is going to be 16 points of fire damage as this gout of flame just! And lights you up. Okay. Oh, God. It's just like, you know, stepping up to the plate in the second inning and just getting that first hit out of the way. You're like, you know what? It's going to be a great day.

Homer it on my first at bat. Moving right along, it's going to be Atticus' turn. Atticus, looks like you're dealing with another caster back there. What you going to do, brother? Aldo, what was your initiative? What did you roll? Aldo rolled a 15, yep. And you rolled a 17.

I'm gonna delay. Okay. Then it kicks over to Aldo. Aldo is, he's gonna chug an extract off his belt first second level extract he's ever done it's gonna be Cat's Grace

what is it? there's a fur in it you start coughing sprinkles a little bit of pretty litter in it sponsored content and drinks it so that's your action right? It has a little bit of pretty litter in it. Sponsored content. And drinks it.

So that's your action, right? Yeah. Oh, and I move. I am going to move. Actually, no. I'll stay where I am. Okay. You know, we take so much for granted these days that everybody knows all the rules.

We don't even know them. But talk to me about Cat's Grace. Basic stuff. But what's the boost for that? Cat's Grace is a second level spell or an extract in my case being an alchemist and it just gives me a plus four to my dexterity for four minutes it'll help me hit things at range and dodge hits coming at me that is uh that is very good all right Atticus, you want to go now? Yeah. Just had to dig that up. All right.

Yeah, Atticus will go now. Actually, no, he will not. He will continue to delay. I love this map. Okay, great. Joe and Atticus are going to delay, which means it'll be Sir Julie's turn. All right. Sir Julie will swift action lay on hands.

Okay. And get eight hit points back. And you can do that while you're unconscious and dying? Believe it or not, you can. And actually, it's funny. You think you're joking, and I'm joking back, but actually I do have an ability that's, I set a condition on which I can activate a Lay on Hands,

and for me, it's when I go unconscious. That's awesome. Like, as you're falling? Yeah, basically. Okay. And then Sir Julie is not going to risk another one of those spells. She is going to double move straight up and incur from the wolf and get right up in this

caster's grill. Nice. Ooh, incur from the wolf. Okay. Oh, this will be perfect if I hit. I won't, but I'll try. Damn it, I'm going to try. Alright, here we go. Wolfie Wolferstein is going to try and bite you as you go by.

Now it misses with a 10. That misses. So now Sir Julia is like, that was most unwise. All right, you're going to go toe-to-toe with the woman. Speary McGee. Yeah, with Speary McGillicuddy. Let me ask you this, Joe. Would you like to go now, or do you want to let the remaining wolves go?

I ruined my whole plan. Yes. Didn't see the double move into melee. Uh, okay. I will then just I will go. You guys don't know each other's tactics. You haven't talked it out. Yeah. We haven't had enough time together. Um, I will

go and I will, uh, vanish. Okay. Ooh. Okay. I will go and I will vanish okay okay gonna go ahead and vanish and he left us he left us and then I will move a little

bit here okay great the wolf in the back it's turn it's gonna go boom move a little bit here. Okay. Great. The wolf in the back, it's turn. It's going to go, boom, 10, 15, 20, 25, 30. It's going to move... Actually, it's going to move all the way up to Aldo.

But instead of biting Aldo, it's going to take its standard action and release a cloud of spores from around it. So I need everyone in there, which looks like Halster is just on the edge of it. Aldo and Atticus to roll a fortitude save from this poison spore cloud. Oh, no. 17? a Fortitude save from this Poison Spore Cloud. 17.

17. That's pretty good. Halster? Natural 20. Or a 26. Fortitude? 26. Fortitude, 26. Joey Jojo? I'm furious. Oh, that was good. 23. Oh, I thought it was a three.

It looked like from my angle it was a three. All right, so you all pass. I will tell you this. This is an inhaled poison. As long as you are in that cloud, you will... Basically, if you remain in that cloud cloud you have to keep rolling those saves. So just keep that in mind. At the end of your turn?

That's what I'm trying to see. Any breathing creature in the cloud must succeed at a fortitude save or inhale the spores. Yeah, so I'm going to say where it doesn't say it would be the end of your turn. So kind of like, what's that other spell that we use a lot where it's like if you end your turn The horrendous, horrendous spell. That's the way it would have to work because So kind of like, what's that other spell that we use a lot where it's like if you end your turn in it, you've got it.

The horrendous, horrendous spell. That's the way it would have to work because it enacts when the spore spawns, right? So you'd be rolling twice before you should if it started at your turn. Yeah, so it would be the end of your turn. Which could mean it still enacts twice for you guys because you're all going to roll before it comes back around to its turn. But those sports are out there. What's the name of that horrible spell? Create a cloud?

Side quest, side session. Black tentacles? Stinking cloud? Stinking cloud. Stinking cloud. Oh, stinking cloud. Horrible. Stinking cloud.

Awesome. Yes, great little AoE, John, from the wolf. Andy got right up in Aldo's face. That's the end of round one. Hey, give yourselves a round of applause. Everybody at home, too. Hell of a first round to kick off a Sunday. Good job, everybody.

Good job. We're all here for you, Dr. M. It's Halster Price's turn. Halster, if you remain in that cloud at the end of your turn, I will need a fortitude save. Halster coughs and rubs his wrist flavorfully against his mouth to get the spores out. Five footsteps forward to the edge of the fungus dog, fungus wolf. And will expend another use of fervor to swift action cast divine favor on himself.

That will give him a plus three bonus to his two hits. And he will then swing out at the dog next to him. Okay. So what? 18 on the die for

a 28 to hit. That is a hit, my friend. That will be for 12 points of hit. That is a hit, my friend. That will be for 12 points of damage. Jeepers! Wow. All right, so Halster just lays into this dog for 12, or I call it a dog too, into this fungal wolf for 12 points of damage.

And I don't know if it's dark in here, if the Aloy-like enemy is a human and needs torches and it's already pre-lit in here but you can see the area both of uh full lightness which is the inner gray circle and the outer gray circle is where hauser is emanating them like i got you okay uh wonderful yeah that's that's very helpful grant i appreciate that Wonderful Oh yeah that's very helpful Grant I appreciate that Okay so Halster gives a good shot to this wolf

And it is that wolf's turn We'll call him Wolf 2 And what Wolf 2 is going to do Is the same thing that his buddy did He is going to release A cloud of spores as well And Halster and Sir Julie need to roll

a Fortitude save immediately. Is this a disease? It is a poison. 22. 16 from Halster. Nice, Sir Jules. You're both alright. You know what this is?

It's not that hard of a save, but it changes your tactics, because if you want to hang out in that cloud, you run the risk of having to roll to save. What happens if you're in a double cloud? If you're in a double cloud? Well, just consider it like that whole area you can't stay in. In fact, you ended your turn there, so I need a Fortitude save. I didn't end my turn there.

No, he didn't. This is a new cloud. Oh, my turn there. I ended it. No, he didn't. This is a new cloud. Oh, that's right. I'm sorry. I just added that cloud. I'm talking about the Venn diagram there. So would that be two separate saves if you end up in that area where there was just one? No, it's all shitty.

Okay, got it. Yes, that Venn diagram represents. It's all equally shitty. It's all equally shitty. What if one wolf is in the cloud of the other wolf? Does the wolf have to roll? That's an excellent question. No, they are immune to their own stank.

What if a cobra bites another cobra? That's an excellent point, Skip. You didn't do enough GM prep, did you, Troy? Don't think about that, do you? All your precious preparations. So, Gran, he's tipped his hand. All you have to do is step back a couple steps and draw the other wolf into the Venn diagram,

or it will have to roll a save. And the wolf will just implode on itself like a dying star. All right, it is the woman's turn. She is going to take a five foot step Back away from Sir Julie And throw another flame at you And maybe get another natural 20 That's what killed me I was like

Another natural 20 I'm not even shitting you I was like why are you moving up there it doesn't change anything It spilled but yeah Five foot steps are the worst It'll change something in about Oh How many turns Do you know how fun it is to roll Two-dash-to-twenty's in a row! Five footsteps are the worst! It'll change something in about... Oh. Yeah.

How many turns? Why would they say one round? Do you know how fun it is to roll two-dash-to-twenty's in a row? That never happens. All right, here we go. Oh, yeah. That's going to be an 18 to confirm. Yeah.

Ooh. Yeah. Damn. Joe, that's a named character there. I don't know if you remember this from last round, but that's her second crit in a row. I've got to get the Troy cam here for big rolls like that. These aren't even big rolls! This is the opening of the John. Alright, this one from The Chaotic

Dice in Texas. Woo! Powerful or not, you reach deep inside yourself to access the magic that hides within you and hit your target with all of your might if you can

I love when he does that I love when he's reading and realizes the horror of the crit it's my favorite too if you can confirm the crit one more time deal quadruple damage and the target is

demoralized for two rounds and falters five feet into an open adjacent square. Oh my god. Jesus shippers! If the confirmation crit fails, just double damage. On a ranged touch. No save against the demoralized? Demoralized eludes your problems.

No, I mean, this person's idea was like, the save instead is like, you have to confirm it again. But this situation is unbelievable. It's the easiest confirm ever. The easiest confirm ever. Against touch, yeah. A quadruple damage? That's a PC killer. That's what it says.

It's the chaotic dice. Everything's bigger in Texas, even the crits, so that's what's gonna dice. Hey, look, everything's bigger in Texas, even the crits, so that's what's going to happen. I haven't discussed it, Matthew. Natural one. His backup. No, it's a

21 to confirm. Holy moly. How many hit points you got there, Sir Julie? 34. I mean, I don't know what your con is, but this could be permadeath. So this is going to be 4d6 plus 12. Gosh. 4d6 plus 12.

I feel like I'm in a fungus cloud right now. I'm so grossed out by this. 25 points of damage all right she's still up yeah um and i believe i'm actually immune to the demoralized because that is a fear effect right i don't see why it would be is it i don't know if it is it sounds like fear fear is basically it is basically, it's a keyword in spells. It's not a fear effect. It's just in spells. Yeah, this is an intimidate situation. From what I understand. Minus, you're shaken. You're shaken.

I'm shaken. For how many rounds, Joe? Two rounds. Yeah, I think even at max, that wouldn't have killed you. 24? Yes, it would. 36? Oh, it wouldn't have killed, no. Yeah, it wouldn't have killed. It 24 yes it would 36 i wouldn't have killed no but i would have taken it down uh so wow two crits on sir jules amazing and it is aldo's turn um i don't

think she should be demoralized apparently shaken condition from effects like Intimidate, which is where Demoralize comes from, do count as fear effect. This is from E20. Shaken is a less severe state of fear than frightened or panic. Great. All right, so you're not demoralized. That works for me. Cool. Yes, Sir Julia is immune to fear.

I'm outsourcing caring about that element of the crit. Okay. So you're good. Aldo is in a pretty rough situation here up in melee with this mushroom wolf and in the spore cloud. So he's going to full withdraw. He is going to move back towards the invisible Atticus and then cycle around, cycle around towards the back of the room. And that's it. Yeah.

That's smart. Get out of that cloud. You don't want to hang out there and end up having whatever happens when you fail that, uh, that spell or that, that poison save. And it is sir.

Julie's turn. Sir. Julie, how you doing? Uh, not great. So I'm going to Swift Action Lay on Hands. Okay.

All right. Not a great roll. All right. As I said, that was most unwise. And Sir Julie will five foot step forward, turn on Power Attack. Unfortunately, I can't detect evil, so I'm just going to take a gamble. I think this character is actually neutral, but just in case they're evil, I will smite. Is she evil?

She is indeed. Yes! Sweet! Cut her down! Yes! All right. And take a swing with the greatsword. Natty, 15.

26 to hit. Yes! She has a minus two to her AC. A couple things happen. One, 26 to hit. Yes! She has a minus two to her AC. A couple things happen. One, you do hit, but in swinging at her, one of the brambles sticks in you, and you take nine points of damage. Oh, my God.

Oh, my God. Max damage from her bramble armor. I'm at five hit points right now. Okay, are you ready for the damage then? Are you done with your... No, don't roll that damage. You can't... I just saw it in the chat,

and they're right. You can't smite evil and lay on hands in the same turn. It's a swift action. Oh, they're both swift actions. Yeah. All right, so I can't have smote, so it'll just be normal damage

Remove the smoten condition Oh, so that roll will be a 22 to hit 22 is still okay thanks to your good buddy Halster Alright, and then so here comes the power attack damage Ooh

23 points of damage Nothing wrong with that Good night, nurse attack damage. Ooh. 23 points of damage. Nothing wrong with that. Good night, nurse! Nothing wrong with that. Man. Okay, now she's mad. She crit you twice, but now she's mad.

And it is Aldo, oh no, Aldo went. Yeah, Aldo went, so Julie went. Atticus' turn. Atticus is going to... Yeah, here we go. Atticus is going to move... He's going to also move up next to Aldo outside of the cloud. And let's see.

It's here. Right? Yeah. 10, 15, 20. I'm still so close to the cloud I don't like it. Come on, hang out in cloud 10. Okay.

He's going to move up there and then... There is up next to Aldo toward the northern part of the cave, so getting deeper in and just about 20 feet away from this creature. But as soon as it moves up, he'll be in the shit again. So I'm going to try something here. I'm going to try to mess with this creature. Atticus, while he's invisible, does one of his funny

little tricks, and the creature is going to see Aldo appear where he just left. Oh, nice. So it's like he never left. So Aldo is now

standing next to the creature again. Awesome. Does your image give off any type of scent? No. Okay. Just asking for a friend of mine. Is that your round? Yeah.

Okay. All right, so it is that wolf's turn. So let's look at that wolf situation. So you've got an image there that looks just like you. Thing is, it doesn't smell like you. So the creature sees it. Is there any type of save? Or does the save only come if it interacts with it?

Yeah, if it tries to attack it, yeah. Yeah, so here's how I'd like to play it, and you tell me what you think. We'll have a little back and forth. I think it smells that it's not right, so rather than waste its chance to try and attack it, I want to roll the save, and if I fail, then I'll attack it.

If I pass, then I get to move and attack somebody else. Sure, that's fine. Okay. Because of its sent ability. Yeah. What kind of save is it? Will. Very low save, but this thing only rolls 20, so we'll see.

It's chain and 20s right now. Natural 1. Excellent. So it's confused for a quick second and thinks that it might still be Aldo. And so you left your image right next to it? Yeah. Alright, so it will go out and

it sees the image, but it smells. It's like, that's not real. God, it goes and bites it anyway, and just it's not there, so now it knows that it's not real. No, no it doesn't. It failed its save. You can roll again if you want. Basically, I can make Aldo move

like he dodged the attack. It doesn't necessarily vanish through the middle of it. Right. In order to do that, the way we've played it in the past is that you have to keep concentrating, so you can't do anything else if you want to keep doing that, right? Because in order to make that do stuff, you'd have to continue to concentrate. So if you're

willing to give up your rounds to continue to concentrate, then it will continue to attack that image. Right, as long as continue to attack that image. Do you know what I mean? Right, right, as long as it doesn't disbelieve. Yeah, yeah. No, the duration of the spell is concentration. I have to keep concentrating, yes.

Great. Awesome. All right, let's go to round three. So far, you're doing all right here. All I wanted was the creature to not close on Aldo so that he can just throw a bomb. If it lasts one round, to me, it's worth it. Halster, any final words for Sir Julie?

Oh, God. You know, I have quite a habit out of eulogizing dead characters on the Glass Cannon Network, so just to add another to the rant cannon obituary pages, let's throw out an attack first at this fungal wolf. 19 on the die. Is that a critical threat? That is a critical threat! Yes! That is a critical threat!

Critical threat! That's like a 10. That is going to be a 15 to confirm. 15 to confirm against the wolf is a confirmed crit.

Amazing. Alright, is a confirmed crit. Yes! Amazing. Amazing. All right, this one from Sycophant in Pelham, Alabama. Did I have that right? Sycophant in Pelham, Alabama. This is the end, my beautiful friend. You strike the target with such force that you feel it would take a miracle for it to survive

double damage and the target must make a reflex save this is probably going to be a good one for it if it fails it falls prone and must make a fortitude save if it fails again quadruple damage let me ask you this

what's regular damage is it double just roll double damage I think you're just going to kill it Let me ask you this. What's regular damage? Is it double? Okay. Just roll double damage. I think you're just going to kill it. Here it comes. Thank you. Sorry, sycophant.

That's a fun one. Ooh, another box. That will be 18 points of damage. Yeah, that thing is completely dead. Yes! Sweet. Well, actually, 18 points of damage, right? Let me roll the save. I just remembered something.

What is it again, Joe? I roll a save against what? You roll a reflex save. Okay, against DC, his 18. Or his confirmed. Oh, 15. 19. So it would just be double damage?

Yeah. Okay. Important. 19 So it would just be double damage? Yeah Okay Important Anybody want to roll a nature check? Oh yeah, I meant to It's fungus, it's like a troll It's going to explode Sir Julie threw me off, I was so nervous for her So the creature collapses

Alright, I got a 26 nature just now If you want to give me something I'm just going to tell you because You guys should be remembering to do your nail She's got a lot going on They have this ability known as rejuvenation As long as they Have contact with the moist natural earth

They rejuvenate Hit points As though they were undergoing complete bed rest And long term care so you need to take them below their con that's why if it was a quadruple crit that would have been enough

but double damage is not enough to take it below its con yeah but it's not going to come up in this combat it would need like hours yeah it's like bed rest it's not fast healing am I misreading that? yeah I am misreading that yeah basically over a long period of time if we don't bring it below its con it will eventually come back it'll be here it's not fast healing but

yeah just something you want to know if you want to actually finish them off but you don't have to worry about them coming back right now. What are they? They are natural creatures. They're known as fungal wolves. Fungal wolves. Fungal wolves, yeah. I gotta do a check on her, too. I was just completely... I'm sure you can put two and two together and

throw a dart at a board. You're dealing with a lot of plants, animated vines, funguses, wolves that seem to be transformed into these fungal wolves. I will say she... She is evil. That's the weird thing to me. It would have been that wolf's

turn, but that wolf is... Not so fast, LaValley. Halster just took his attack action. Halster will move directly up next to the alien creature who will expend a use of fervor to use a spell with a target of self without incurring an attack of opportunity or using somatic components, and we'll cast a new spell, Defending Bone.

Halster earlier picked up bones from that pile that was in that other room. You animate bone with necromantic energy, giving it the power to float near your body and interpose itself against physical attacks. This gives you damage reduction five, bludgeoning. Once the bone has redented a total of five points of damage per caster level, so 20 points of damage, it is destroyed.

Wow. I love that spell. It's cool. It's cool. And with fervor, you don't need a standard action to do that that spell. It's cool. It's cool. And with fervor, you don't need a standard action to do that. Swift.

That's amazing. All right, so defending bone. Yeah, Colonel Luther has that. I just never use it. All right. It is her turn. She will take a five-foot step back diagonally.

And I think I'm going to call some lightning down. Oh, no. Let me ask you this. Call lightning. It's five-foot wide, 30-foot long. Can I shoot it, like, diagonally, or is it 30-foot down, like you could hit someone that's flying? Yeah, and I also believe it's a full round action.

I think you have to be outside, too, right? I think it's a one-round casting. Can you double-check? Casting time, one round. Yeah. I think you have to be outside, too, right? I think it's a one-round casting. Can you double-check? Casting time, one round. Yeah, so that's tough. It's basically, it's so hard to do if you don't get the jump in combat. Yeah, okay, thank you for I'm sure if we looked at the

chat, they'd be going wild right now. Okay, alright, then I won't do that. Yeah, that was an old maelstrom spell that I just sort of like used in some early levels, but then like in the heat of combat, it's so hard to pull out. You know, it's so funny, it's in my prep, I wrote down

don't use call lightning, you waste a round. And I get excited once we start playing. Yeah. Alright, so let's do another fire, because it's really going well. here's the thing. Where Halster moved up there... Well, no, I'm not going to take a penalty, because I don't have any allies there.

So I'm going to throw this at Sir Julie again, because I want to take Sir Julie out. So all I've got to do is deal with Halster. Sir Julie does too much damage. So this is going to be a ranged touch attack. The last two attacks were confirmed crits, both natural 20s. I remember. Let's see if, uh, let's see if I got one more. Sir, please don't blow on the dice.

No, the chickens have come home to roost. That is going to be a 10 against Touch AC. Oh. My Touch AC is 11. Oh! Sir Julie lives! Oh, this poor druid is dead as shit. That was a Sir Juicy evasion.

Sir Juicy. Oh, God. Yeah, natural three on the die. Well, it had to come back down the other way. That would have been great. Magoots. It's Aldo's turn. All right.

Aldo is like, he's kind of like with his long, lanky legs. He's kind of like, it's real comical when he runs, I think, his robes and everything. And he just keeps running away from this only living wolf. He runs along the northern wall of the cavern. And he pops out a bomb. And he tosses it at the protagonist of Horizon Zero Dawn. Fire in the hole! Fire in the hole!

And that is a natty 16 against touch. Boom! Yep. Ho, ho, ho, ho! Got her! He excludes Halcer from the radius. That is 11 points of fire damage, and she is on fire. Okay, she's actually still up, but that was rude.

Remember that she's on fire when it comes back around to her turn. That fire must not be great when you're made of wood. No, she doesn't care for it But she's also throwing fire So she's not averse to fire She's not anti-fire Yeah, I love a good fire in the fireplace I really enjoy it I love barbecue

But when it's on me I have a different opinion Smells like burnt wood in here And it is Sir Julie's turn Sir Julie You've got a little bit of a vendetta here You're almost demoralized By this creature Almost, but then Sir Julie remembered you've got a little bit of a vendetta here. You're almost demoralized by this creature. Almost, but then Sir Julie remembered.

She knows no fear. I'm going to turn the power attack off. I will turn Smite Evil on. Coward. And what do I need the power attack for? I got Smite Evil. That's true. Five foot step up, and let's take a little swing here with the great sword.

This is the end. Come on, I like her. 26 to hit. Come on, bitch. Come on, I like her. Okay, that is only 18 points of damage.

Yeah, she's dead. Man, she had dead. Man. She had eight hit points left. And she falls. An absolute killer, Sir Julia. Gunk, gunk, gunk. All right. And after Sir Julia goes to Atticus. Atticus, you're going to keep concentrating?

Yeah, he'll dance back next to Aldo, still invisible. And actually, he'll keep a little distance from Aldo. He'll go back into the corner, far corner of the cave and keep that illusion going. Okay. Great. Yeah, the only reason I'm keeping this going is because I'm interested to see how you guys are going to dispatch of this wolf without getting caught in its poison cloud so let's move right on to that wolf who will troy do i take damage from the bramble armor you do thank you for reminding me you take seven points of damage all right so julie sir julie goes

into below zero but because of my second chance ability that automatically activates my lay on hands which is not an action okay that's very important because you wouldn't be able to smite evil alright so oh yeah so I would re I would take away the damage if you fell unconscious yes but I didn't

well no I don't fall unconscious as soon as I'm about to go unconscious I touch myself and heal myself for you wouldn't take away the damage, though. You would just have her go unconscious. She wouldn't be able to lay on hand. That's true. Yeah, because she attacked.

The attack still happens. It doesn't matter. It doesn't matter. Even if it was an immediate action, which it sounds like it is to me, it would still be... You could still do it, even if you did a swift in that turn. You just couldn't do a swift next turn. That's a good point. It's actually happening simultaneously,

so it doesn't stop the hit from happening. It functions like a ready to action, but it's not an action. Very cool. Yeah, I forgot all about that, because I was thinking to myself, like, oh my God, what if she goes unconscious

while she tries to attack it, but the attack still gets through and still kills the creature. All right, it is... It would have been that wolf's turn now. So the wolf, do I need to roll again? It's up to you. But you're still concentrating on it.

I'm still concentrating. Aldo still appears to be right in front of it. The scent, you know, thing throws a big question mark into the mix. It's confused. And so the way I'm having that play out is rolling the save. Seven. So yeah, still nice that it's real takes a bite in the air i have to remember atticus is a fucking professional illusionist he's making this thing dance in front of the stage like specializes in magic for dogs you're right it round four, and it's Halster's turn.

Halster, do you have a way of killing this wolf? No, but he has a way of healing Sir Julie. He will expend his other second-level spell slot to cast Cure Moderate Wounds on Sir Julie. Ooh, Duncan. That will be 12 points of healing. Thank you. And then Halster is going to move 5, 10, 15, 20, 25, 30 feet towards the wolf,

skirting the outside of the fungal cloud, ready to strike next round. Okay, great. And I should say, even though that other wolf is dead, the cloud stays there for X number of rounds because it's just out in the room Next round. Okay, great. And I should say, even though that other wolf is dead, the cloud stays there for X number of rounds because it's just out in the room once it was released. It would have been her turn, but instead it's Aldo's turn. Although I don't want to use another bomb here. I have a finite number of them.

That's pretty much all I can do, so I'm just gonna hold. Let somebody else take care of it. Atticus? No, excuse me. Sir Julie. With a charge, you move up to double your speed and attack, right? Is that how it works? Yep, just has to be in a straight line. You probably

can't reach, I would assume. It's double your speed. Penalty to your AC. Still more than 40 feet away. I move at 30 feet. Oh, wow. Oh, even with heavy armor? That's awesome. How does everybody move with 30 feet except me? I believe I took a feat for it. I can't remember.

I don't understand. Like, every character I've had that wears medium or heavy armor that isn't a fighter does not move fast. Well, it would only be five feet slower anyway, and that's still within 50 feet, right?

Yeah. So yeah, sir, Julie will charge 40 feet away right here. Okay. So you charge, you'll take a penalty to your AC, um,

but go ahead and, and take a shot. Maybe a one shot. It no bone, no bone. I'm going to put power tech on, uh, no bonus to,

to hit, right? I can't charge a plus plus two to hit plus two. I'm going to put Power Attack on. No bonus to hit, right? I can't recharge? Yeah, it's a plus two to hit. Plus two, yeah. Plus two to hit. Okay, so it negates the Power Attack. Demerit? Yeah, you should charge all the time.

Okay, that's a 20 to hit. 20 is a hit. I love hitting on the tweeners. They're my favorite. It's my favorite. Okay, that is 22 points of damage That is a dead wolf Sir Julian

Finish out the combat Sir Julian I'm just going to have you roll a fortitude save Against this poison assuming that you'd be able to Get out of that cloud next round 22 And you're alright and to get out of that cloud next round. 22. And you're all right, and you are out of combat! Yes! That was awesome.

Sir Julie is awesome. Sir Julie's pretty great. She behaved most unwisely. That was so cool. It's just we've never had a kick-ass tank in this group. It's so neat. We don't really... i mean joe used tank used to be like joe's lane for a while but we haven't really had a tank in many of our shows

for a long time no no oh certainly not in this show not in this show for sure definitely not close to a tank i mean in a lot of ways you're more of like a dps character because you you have a decent amount of hit points and armor but like role-wise hauster with healing is more of like the sponge you'd rather have the person attacking him because he can swift action heal himself but you do such awesome damage with a two-handed weapon and the bonuses with strength it's amazing i love seeing you strike what does dps mean damage per second it's a video game term but also your saves are high like yeah i mean you know i've never played a paladin before but she's pretty awesome yeah it's this thing it's this interesting trade-off between what morally

they're restricted from doing versus like how effective they can be on the battlefield yeah yeah way way more effective when you're fighting evil creatures, for sure. Yes. And the big trade-off for this archetype is I can't detect evil. So every time I smite evil, I'm just taking a chance that they are evil.

Yeah, but you know what? I think you end up doing that most of the time anyway because it's not a free action. It's still a standard action to detect evil. It's still a standard action to detect evil. It's still a standard action, yeah. You know what I mean? So unless you hit it on the other side of a door before you walk in,

a lot of times you just have to risk the smite evil. I have a new rule about going live. If I need to use the bathroom, I'm going to use it. So talk amongst yourselves for a second. Okay. We were just doing that. We were having a discussion. I'm going to use it. wolves to pieces before they come back. So, Julie? As you wish. You seem like a cold-blooded killer. Maybe they make good eating, too.

Maybe it's like truffles. Chop off a couple heads, throw some butter and salt in a frying pan. Get yourself a delicious meal. Although they do expel poison, so maybe not. Yeah. Maybe not the kind of morels you really want this time of year. Sir Julie will do whatever one does to a fungal wolf to make sure they don't come back.

Cut off its head. Yeah, just envisioning her just like, just like really going after these corpses. He's just like, like just like really going after these corpses. He's just like, Sir Julie. Don't touch my friends. Did you guys say anything funny? I think so.

So Sir Julie absolutely lost it and has hacked these wolves to absolute pieces. Their blood is in her mouth. She's spitting out chunks of them and laughing with glee. That's spitting out chunks of them and laughing with glee. That's kind of a twisted thing. Let's deal with treasure in this room

because there's nothing on the wolves, but on her person, there's a potion and a scroll. She's wearing magical armor and has a masterwork spear. You also find a key on her person. No gold.

A spell pouch with some components that Atticus can flavor take. Spellcraft? Sure. Might need some help on this. I did wash my hands, by the way. Chat's asking. I did wash my hands. I'm going chat's asking i did wash my hands i'm

gonna i'm gonna roll my own skull craft uh i'm gonna roll my own skull craft 22 never mind 27 for aldo it's enough we are a crafty group i almost want to like just do away with these checks for the live show because i'm just gonna to tell you. Unless it's like an artifact. Legendary item. Yeah, legendary. What did you roll? The highest someone rolls to 12. Alright, let me tell you. I'm just going to tell you anyways. It's a potion to cure light wounds.

I don't know if you'll need this, but a scroll of lesser restoration. Great. I said masterwork spear, I said the key, and then it is plus two wooden armor oh wow wow that would be such an amazing

find for a druid well that's why she was wearing it plus two wooden armor oh another interesting thing I was reading during the combat for Call of Lightning as we were talking about, is I think you can still cast it indoors, but it gets more powerful in a storm. Yeah, when I had it in Jade Regent, I would be like, so any chance it's a little bit stormy coming in?

And 100% of the time, Troy's like, no, it's a beautiful day. It's a beautiful day. I was like, if I roll's like no it's a beautiful day beautiful day roll a d100 i was like if i roll over 90 it's raining yeah yeah your character should have been like a vacation director or something because everywhere he went the weather was gorgeous be like leading tours and like uh hamish country it was the same thing as feraza, the top of that mountain. There wasn't a blade of grass. No grass. On that entire mountain. Just cold, hard rock.

Let me tell you something. In this room here, there is also another small barricade over here to the west that you may not have seen. There's also stuff all over the table towards the back of the room. Let's check it out

take 20 yeah let's take 20 that armor is not worth it for me but it's actually it's not bad if someone else wants it plus 2 armor is great the wooden part I don't know it's light armor

so it might be good for a caster what does that bring the total bonus to? plus 5 it's like scale nail equivalent then so yeah i'll check it i'm assuming no because i'm assuming it's going to have an arcane spell failure chance but it does 15 yeah you know don't don't shy away from that though 15 we never play that but like uh it's just silly this is so nice yeah but it's it's really not i mean my mage armor is plus four you know what i mean so it's just silly. That armor bonus is so nice. Yeah, but it's really not. I mean, mage armor is plus four. You know what I mean? So it's just not worth it.

There's something cool about it. It's slightly buoyant, so the armor check penalty while swimming is zero. Oh, that's cool. Also, remember that we're not playing Giant Slayer, so we can't resize it either. So, like, as a small character, once again, I have to play another adventure without a single small drop. And why would there be? But you're in a town. You could bring it to the blacksmith.

Be like, yo, come on. Or the armorer. Troy would be like, that'll be 2,500 gold pieces. Be like, throw the 2,500 and triple it. All right, so you take 20 in the room. Go ahead, Aldo, or whoever's talking. Did you say it was a masterwork spear? I did.

All right, I'll hang on to that just in case we ever need some sort of brace situation. Aldo, you walk over to the table, and while the rest of them might be like, what is all this stuff? You're like, taken back

for a minute. And as you're taken back, we see a lonely cattle station appear somewhere in the outback. You see a young girl pumping water for lowing cows and, oddly enough,

a collection of camels. A stagecoach rolls very slowly by down a nearby road, pulled by a very tired-looking Aldo Casimir. A pair of dead donkeys can be seen further

back in the distance. Pardon me, friend. Might I trouble you for a bit of water? The little girl just eyes him curiously. My donkey's died, you see. She just keeps staring. It's a little awkward. Your appearance around by any chance? She nods.

Right. Aldo looks over at the camels, looks back to his stagecoach. Are those camels for sale? Do they, I don't know, work? I have to ask my daddy.

He loves them. And she starts going towards an outbuilding. Good on you. No, no, wait a tick. Aldo rushes back to the coach, rifles through an old book titled 101 Alchemical Restoratives and Remedies by O.A. Diggs. He stops at an entry marked Morpheus's Splendid Soaperific and Sleep Aid.

Then he quickly mixes some ingredients into a bottle and turns back to the girl. It's a very hot day, miss. Believe me, I've been out in it. What's your name? Emily. Emily. Lovely name.

One of my donkeys was called Emily. Anyway, day like this, you exert yourself too much, you could get a heat stroke or worse, full-blown transdental electromycide. Now, we wouldn't want that, would we? She shakes her head. Now, I've been taking this stuff all day and I am fit as a fiddle. Do us a favour and

take a couple of sips before you run all the way out there. She takes the bottle from him, eyes him suspiciously for a moment, but then takes a few sips. Good on you. Now run along now so I can negotiate a sale. She turns and runs off, but she doesn't get far

before she begins yawning and just lays down right in the brush, fast asleep. Thank you, Mr. Diggs. Quickly and quietly, Aldo bridles the camels and hitches them to his coach, drawing a quick drink of water before making his escape in a cloud of dust. Awesome. And that cloud of dust parts, and we see Aldo back in this cave, just staring at an alchemist's lab. All of this equipment could be treated as an alchemist's lab. The crate near the work table holds six potions of Cure Light Wounds, three potions of bark skin, two potions of

hide from animals, and then, I'm just going to tell you these things, four doses of belladonna, six doses of bloodroot, I believe these are poisons, ten doses of flayleaf, and one dose of

malias root paste, which is something that you can use to I think you can use to poison your weapons. There's a folded note sitting on the table as well. Being over there, Aldo, he's like,

he's kind of gleeful, seeing all this stuff. This is a little bit of a treasure trove for him, but he sees the note, and he opens it. It looks like a request for, quote, more of your dream-inducing bruise, as well as more of that oil. And it's signed by a person named Melisen. M-E-L-I-S-E-N-N.

Melisen. Melisen. Melisen. And our knowledge local, if we have any, is still useless with our amnesia, or the name. Yeah, yeah. I don't want to make it totally useless for you, but, like, you know you've never heard of that name,

and there's nothing that'll jog you. I have a question, too. Is someone tracking the loot now? I put it all in our personal chat here in case somebody wanted to. Okay, cool. I will track the loot if you guys... Yeah, I haven't, so feel free. But we can also split this up now because we should just you know split it up yeah i would i mean it seems like we can all

because we now have now found seven potions of cure light wounds we can all take two except for one of us who gets one i think i mean we you should probably not take them i would think because you have lay on hands um it's true i can take the one everybody else can take two it's useful i mean lay on hands is only so much um i'll take the one you can take the second one i'll take one potion of pure light and i have a potion of barks you know i'd like one of those two there's three of them there's three of them so it's just one i'll take one you you guys can take them um i think i already have one i'll take it back again i don't i don't um yeah what is what does belladonna blood what do belladonna bloodroot flay leaf and

mate malias root they're useless in everyone's hands, but Aldo's, I believe. there's just alchemists, uh, ingredients, components. Yeah. They're poisons.

You can, uh, you can use like Belladonna, uh, does one, two strength damage. And, you could say target can attempt one save to cure a licanthropy affliction contracted in the past hour.

So, right. That's right. I remember from, uh, yeah. Were Right. That's where I remember it from. Werewolf. You're going to be glad you had some belladonna. But yeah, I think you could use it to poison your weapon and do strength damage

to enemies, but it's complicated. We never really play around with it. I'll take a potion of hide from animals. That's all right with you guys. Sure. Sure. I feel like Flayleaf we did in

Feast of Ravenmoor. That was a drug. They got high on a little Flayleaf. Yeah. We had Flayleaf salads. So Aldo, as a flavor, you might want to use this, Aldo. It basically, for an hour,

it gives you a plus two alchemical bonus on saves against mind-affecting effects. But you're also fatigued and take one wisdom damage. Oh, okay. So if you think, or any of you really could use it, if you think you're going to be dealing with mind-affecting creatures, you might want to ride the snake and use some play leaf to get that bonus. But you're fatigued and you take wisdom damage. Right. But, man, sometimes you need that plus two.

I'll do that. It's mind effect. Start chewing Flayleaf. I want to get high. You want to get high? I want to get high. And then Bloodroot is a poison that does one con damage and one wisdom damage.

So Flayleaf's a drug, Bloodroot, and then Malleas Pace does some sort of damage. I thinkayleaf's a drug, blood root, and then Maliasse paste does some sort of damage. I think the trap out front, the poison blade that missed Sir Julie, that had Maliasse root paste on it. I'll take two doses of Flayleaf.

Take two doses of Flayleaf and call me in the morning. Let's talk about this back wall here. There's another thing of logs. It doesn't look as big as the one that you all had to pull that weighed 400 pounds. It's like half the size. Maybe it's 200 pounds. Do we want to pick it up, Grant?

Do you want to help me? Or actually, before we do that, I need to heal. Let me lay on hands another time. Do we want to pick it up, Grant? Do you want to help me? Or actually, before we do that, I need to heal. Let me lay on hands another time. Okay. Not much help. You don't channel, right, Grant? I do channel.

Did anyone else get hurt besides us? It's fine. It's enough. A few people is enough to get use out of it. Max, six points of healing. Alright. Max. And I'm still down a lot, so I'm going to take one of these potions of Cure Light Wounds.

Why don't you let me use one of my first level spells? Sure. Because that'll be a 1d8 plus 4, and that'll be nice and juicy. Seven points of healing. Amazing. And I still, I'm still down

a bunch, so I'll use this potion, and I rolled max, so I'm up to full. Choose a spell, okay. Yup. Alright. Shall we lift, shall we lift this door? That's not, that's not really supposed to, shall we lift this door, That's not Sweet Julius' voice.

Shall we lift this door, house? There it is. He's got a little bit of a thousand voices. It's Bela Lugosi, everyone. Strength checks? Is that what you're looking for? Yeah, I'm just going to say you guys take... You work together and you're looking for? Yeah, I'm just going to say you guys take, you work together.

I'm going to open it up. And you see a little bedroom situation here. It's about 20 feet across at its widest point. Round cave with a scattered pallet of blankets, a wooden wash basin of clear water, and a nice sturdy chest. The floor is less muddy in here than the rest of the cavern,

and the sleeping pallet is set up on a mound of straw to keep it dry. You think this is probably where she sleeps, and that must be her chest. Can we take 20 on this room as well, her perception? Just search the whole thing. It's tiny.

She has nothing in there besides the chest. Cool. Use the key on the chest. Yeah. Check for traps. Who's checking for traps? Who's using the key? I'll check for traps. Okay. Ooh, a natty 17.

That is a good score. That is a 25. 25? DC 25. It is, in fact, trapped. You see there's like a little needle set to open the second you unlock it. Oh, sweet. I'm actually going, oh, well,

if you use the key, even? Yes. I will try to disable it. Okay. Roll a disabled device. 86, 26. 26. Wow. That was a big risk.

25. You find a little hidden switch. You can bypass it. a big risk. DC-25. You find a little hidden switch. You can bypass it. Pop it open. Safest houses. Well done, Aldo. Well done.

Inside you find a few changes of clothes, a heavy leather pouch full of change, and a clay jar with four doses of these, like, four mushrooms inside. Want to have a little fun tonight, boys? Yeah.

Guys, want to get wild? Roll back to the stain, drop a few shrooms, see what happens. Roll back to the stain. Drop a few shrooms. See what happens. There are four of them. You want to roll a knowledge on these. These ones I'll make you roll for. Is it knowledge of nature or is it craft alchemy?

Craft alchemy. Or, you know what? I'll acknowledge nature, too. I want you to get the information. I say we just pop them and see what happens. That is an option as well that I love. Ooh, 23. Knowledge nature.

25, craft alchemy. Okay. We'll say just Aldo but not atticus come on you wouldn't do that to anyone else it's such an insect like a petty thing to take away from you the knowledge it's uh atticus you have absolutely no idea but ald Aldo knows everything. The second you see this, you know. You open it up and it's like this clay jar. You pop it open and they stink. They're like

red cap mushrooms with white spots. And they do, in fact, put you in a strong hallucinogenic state. They're oftentimes used by shamans and other spiritual leaders to enter trances to seek

flashes of insight. They're called muscaria. You eat them and then you roll a fortitude save. The onset is 30 minutes and then it lasts for three hours. Someone really knew what they were doing when they came up with this.

It takes 30 minutes. It lasts for three hours. Someone really knew what they were doing when they came up with this. It takes 30 minutes. It lasts for three hours. You get a 1d6 alchemical bonus on a single knowledge, any knowledge. Amazing. Perception or sense motive check once per minute for three hours. Wow.

Whoa. The penalty you take is 1d4 charisma damage, so you must just look terrible while you're doing it. You're horrible to be around. It's super annoying. You ever look at your hands? I mean, like, really look at your hands? The leather pouch contains 1,694 gold pieces.

Whoa. Wow. 1,694 gold pieces. Whoa. So pretty decent haul here in the cave. Now. It's 423 each if you want to put it on your sheets. Sweet.

Now the pickle is that, well, it's not really a pickle. You came here seeking information. And you actually did get some information. About someone named Melisen, perhaps working with this strange druid. But it's not the Briarstone Witch. I think this is great information to bring back to Sassadia at the Sleepless Detective Agency. She probably knows who Melisen is or has a file on her well we also just have to tell them that like this threat or whatever this was is gone right

because it was causing them problems so this will get us in with them a little bit better too it'll also let people know that like the briarstone witch isn't hiding in that cape because this fisherman was going around telling everybody too just like the crazy guy um and so now you can debunk that myth speaking of cesadia uh last night after our uh stream i put some faces in the uh the sidebar here that we can all look at so let's start off by looking at uh old elgri or do you guys see that oh i sure do i thought that was gonna be ces I was like, oh, Cesedia has seen better days. Cesedia. This was the guy in town.

Can they see that on the stream too? One second. They can now. Yeah. So that is, that's El Grior. He was the one that you had to talk down. He was afraid you were going to steal his Beatles. Beatles.

And then there is who else? Let's go with Emin Golston. This is the guy that tried to kick Halster out of the bar. Beautiful. Look at those chops.

Yeah. Oh, that's good artwork and then there's dana galagos who was the uh proprietor of the silver wagon where you're staying she looks suspicious she does she's giving us the side eye even in her art and then uh last but not neat not least is Cesedia Rance. Oh, she looks... What a fashionable hat. Yes. Positively Victorian.

Gave it the cold shoulder. Oh, I forgot my favorite one. This will be interesting to Aldo. This is Keldren Mon. Oh, my buddy. Another interesting hat. Doesn't he look exactly like you think he'd look? Yes, that is exactly what I pictured.

He looks kind of like you, Troy. Yeah. I'd say that character, I was like, Troy has keyed into this character a little too easily. I sat for the artist. I see. Draw me like you draw your stevedores. All right. me like you draw your stevatores. Alright, so

what the hell do you want to do now? Tell me what's left to do. Let's make a list of things you want to do. We want to go to New Chapel at some point to see if Winter is there. It's the next day. There's a good chance she's made it back there by now,

unless she went back to the Sleepless Detective Agency. That's now, unless she went back to the Sleepless Detective Agency. That's item number two, go back to the Sleepless Detective Agency. There's the fort, or the home of the Count, that we probably should pay a visit to at some point, right? And there's also the fort where the Royal Inquisitor went and never came back. It seems like that's going to be on our to-do list at some point. Is that Hale Court? Is that the name?

Hale Course. Course. And evidently, Halser spent a night there in the tank. And you also know that it sounds like the magistrate is gone as well. So the magistrate is gone from Fort Hale Course. The constable wouldn't send anybody to help the townspeople because all of the local mercenaries

took off, so their militia is short as well. Accuser Omari went to go try and shake down the constable and be like, what's going on? And Accuser Omari never returned as well. Now, Sassadia did say that that's not, you know, accusers.

They marched to their own beat. Maybe she took care of what she needed to take care of and left, but it's yet another person that isn't back. So, yeah, that's pretty much what you know. Fort Hale course, Iris Hill is where the count used to live before he took off, and then New Chapel and the Sleepless Detective Agency. That seems like the first two things you want to deal with. What time of day is it now?

You guys left here pretty early in the day, right? Yeah. Yeah, you went over to the Sleepless Detective Agency in the morning. I mean, we still had the whole meeting at the Sleepless Detective Agency and then had to travel out here. I would say it's afternoon at this point, right? Yeah, late afternoon. And you're a mile outside of town.

So as you're coming back, it's starting to get later in the day. The sun's still out, but it's dark. It's a cloudy day. You can't see the sun at all. It's very gray out. And so is your plan to go to Sleepless or to New Chapel? I think Sleepless. I want to report to Sleepless.

We'll report what we just did. Yeah, Sleepless and then New Chapel. Yeah, because if we die at New Chapel, at least our obituaries will include they solved the problem at that cave. Correct. Yep. It shows that we're both reformed and efficient as well right we got this done right away yeah let's let's go back to the map then of threshmore because i added some of the locations you've uh visited now here so over here you have the silver wagon slash stain uh up top of the map

and then pier 19 where you fought the gibbering mouther sleep with the detective agency is this big building right in the middle of the map. And then, uh, I added the location of new chapel as well, which you can see is kind of on your way back before you get to sleepless detective, but it's up to you.

Cause you guys are way over here to the East. Oh yeah. But you're, you could easily just go stay on the mainland go to sleepless and then loop around to go to new chapel want to do that that's what i think okay so as you're walking back it takes you about an hour and a half or so to get back into town you uh we'll say you're down here near the bridge and rather than cross the bridge over to this little highland where new chapel is you just continue through these streets,

walking through these streets. From time to time, again, you'll see those strange half-drawn murals just depicting a gloomy abandoned city, getting the side-eye from everybody who are also side-eye-ing everybody else. Everyone is suspicious. People are going missing, and their own leader and magistrate, they're gone as well. so side-eyeing everybody else. Everyone is suspicious. People are going missing.

And their own leader and magistrate, they're gone as well. You're on your way back, and you pass this original row of houses, then you pass another larger house. You get to where these houses are, sort of, you know, in the Middle Eastern portion of the map.

And Atticus, the hairs on the back of your neck, go up because you hear a voice say, Atticus, I have sensed your presence here for days. Long have I wandered these streets looking for retribution. And you are looking for the source of this voice, and now all of you hear it when he says the word retribution. And you are looking for the source of this voice, and now all of you hear it when he says the word retribution. And a figure just materializes of a man with, like, his skin falling off his bones. And his clothes are all ripped and wet.

And he points right at you, Anna, because he's like, have you returned to kill my family and those I loved like you murdered me? Atticus! Roll for initiative. What? Roll, Ricker, roll for initiative. What? Roll, Ricker, roll for initiative. Oh, man. Okay. Oh, my God.

Should have gotten a new travel. I should have gotten a new travel. Yeah. Don't blame me. I voted for Kodos okay let's go to the map mappington

pretty cool huh there you are and there is this guy let me show you the little pawn I got here for him Cool, huh? There you are. And there is this guy. Let me show you the little pawn I got here for him. There he is. Oh. Did you show him one more time, Troy?

He looks really alive. Yeah, he looks truly alive. That's what they'll say about him. He looks like he's into emo. Yeah. He does have emo hair. uh all right let's talk initiative here sir julie 10 10 halster 15 15 aldo uh 25 25 atticus i mean i guess he must just be really thrown off by this dude. Natural one. Ooh, yeah.

For an eight. I love when the dice fit the scene. Oh, brutal. Okay. Okay, okay, okay. So, round one. This figure is standing there ahead of you and he looks so mad he looks mad at atticus but that anger is clearly uh at at all of you as far as you know and it is aldo's turn

aldo is well i'm gonna do a yeah i guess i don't i'm gonna do a I guess I don't I'm gonna do a knowledge check can I do planes or arcana on this thing on this thing you can do religion yeah I can't do that's what I thought I don't know anything about religion a religious person

to be honest I'm gonna just uh whenever I see something that I think this this is spiritual, I just chuck a bomb at it. And it's out of my first range increment, but I'm gonna throw it anyway. Oh, yeah, that is a 20 to hit touch.

20 to hit touch is a hit. Okay. That's 8 points of fire damage. Okay. I'm gonna tell you... Uh... Let me just look through this all real quick.

Uh... Eight points of fire damage. Okay, it appears that all goes through. Yeah. Which is very good for you. And it would be on fire if it's capable of catching fire, but I imagine it probably isn't.

Okay, what would be the immunity for that? Just immune to fire, or immune to catching fire? I don't know, I mean... Is he corporeal? Yeah. Right, right, yeah. He appears corporeal, like it looks like the fire hit him. So you say he materialized out of nothing, right? Yeah, that's whatoreal like it looks like the fire hit him he's materialized out of nothing right yeah that's what it looked like at least weird if he's made out of stuff

he's on fire then it is halster's turn halster is terrified by this visage and sees that it seems to take damage but kind of is it standing there like without any fear looking at us even after taking the damage from halster oh yeah okay so he is going to expend uh another how many does he have left he will expend his third use of fervor to swift action casts another divine magic on himself divine divine favor, I apologize. And he is going to roll a knowledge religion before striding forward. Good thing

he has that. Oh, out of the box. First out of the box. Oh, two out of the boxes. Only a twelve knowledge religion. Twelve knowledge religion is not enough. Hmm.

I don't know what we're facing, but it seems pretty religious. And Helster has just enough move speed to step right up. He is still surrounded in defending bones because it lasts hours per level, unless it took us four hours to get here.

And he will roll to attack. Okay, so you step right up to it and roll to attack. 16 on the die for a 26 to hit. 16 on the die for a 26 to hit is a hit. What type of weapon or damage are you doing? Piercing.

Piercing, okay. How much damage? Max damage, 13. Piercing. Okay. How much damage? Max damage, 10, uh, 13 points of damage. Okay. You do notice that does not all go through. Okay. Okay. All right.

Just checking out a couple last things here. Great. Oh, man. This is, this is tricky. It is Sir Julie's turn. Sir Julie, you rolled higher than it, but did Atticus. I'll do a knowledge or linge. Okay.

Twelve as well, so... So sorry. Not much. All right, well, Sir Julie is going to take a guess that this thing is undead. And she is going to flank out to the right side and get a clear angle on this thing. I'll still take the minus four, but I'm going to cast Disrupt Undead

on it. Which I get as part of my ritualistic trait. Once per day I can cast Disrupt Undead. So it's going to range touch attack. First roll for spell resistance. Well, I going to range touch attack. First roll for spell resistance. Well, I have to hit you first, right? Okay.

That's fine. Does it have spell resistance? Yes. So I'll try to hit you first. Okay. Okay. Tweener, because with the minus four, that is going to be a 14. 14 because of the minus 4 it hits

exactly. So now roll spell resistance. Now I add my level or my... Caster level. For a paladin is my caster level 1? It should say when you bring up the name of the spell it should say it in the thing.

At the bottom of the spell description. This is a thing yeah yeah it was it's a i get to use it as part of a trait so spell resistance i you just use your caster level which is your full level plus three only even though i'm level four it says yeah that's probably right because you don't get spells until second level no fourth level right fourth level yeah i think it should just be four well let's see if it's a tweener what did you roll i gotta roll natty 17 natty 17 so you do pass the spell resistance okay okay so this is 1d6 points of damage to undead creatures is a ray. Six points of damage. Six points of damage

that will bypass its DR. Oh, beautiful. I will shout that it's undead to my friends. It's undead! It's its turn. And it lets out a baleful shriek that sends all of you

just... Everybody roll a will save. Oh, no. Is this a fear effect? Fear effect? I believe so, yes. It's a mind-affecting fear effect, so Sir Julie is immune to it. 18 for Eldog.

17 for Atticus. Halster. 10 for Atticus. Halster? 10 for Halster. He's quaking in his boots. Atticus and Halster. Excuse me. Yeah, Atticus and Halster both fail. You cower in fear for two rounds.

Oh, no. Oh, no. Suggest the frightened condition? No. You cower in fear. Nothing does. It's its own thing. Yeah, you just, you're like, so you're taken out of the combat for two rounds.

Yeah, nobody's passed the knowledge check on this yet. So it is, it would be, let's see, does it want to move at all? No, I think it likes right where it is. Let me just make sure that was a standard action. Yep, that was a standard action. I'm going to stay right there. And it is, it would have been Atticus's turn. Yep, there went that knowledge.

And all the shit that I could do. And it goes to the top of the next round and it is Aldo's turn. Alright, Aldo is like, he sees, he's definitely worried about all the fear that he sees going on around him.

He is going to run up with his long, lanky legs over to the house here in the middle. Don't leave me! Sorry, mate. I'll be right back. Trust me. I'm going to take some of this Vegemite here.

Toss a spoonful of Vegemite at this point. And I'm going to throw another bomb at this thing's backside. Natural one. Oh, no. I was thinking it. I'm like, thinking, what happens? The worst thing that could happen is a natural one. Oh, no.

Fan fumble with a bomb. Okay. Fan fumble with a bomb. Couldn't have been anything else. Well, okay. It is. It's point blank it is uh 15 against touch on the confirm there's no confirm where you only have one attack right oh right in our house in our house rule joe find somebody local uh the world you Who? Where? Here we go.

I got somebody local. I got somebody local. Okay. Here we go. Drew from Brooklyn, New York. Brooklyn and the house. We have somebody Drew in Brooklyn, New York.

Is that our Drew? Are we not Drew in Brooklyn? Is that Slant Keith? Different Drew. Slant Keith. Drew from Brooklyn. Oh, wow. How appropriate. That was loud as hell. And I'm not going to hear much anymore. Drew from Brooklyn. Oh, wow. How appropriate.

That was loud as hell. And I'm not going to hear much anymore. Let's see. Your bungled attempt to fire off a shot inexplicably breaks several sound barriers. Actually, it was very explainable. In this case, producing a shockwave that knocks you on your ass. You are knocked prone and all creatures, allies, and enemies within 15 feet are deafened

for 1d4 rounds. Oh! No safe. Oh! Within 15 feet of Aldo or 15 feet of the bomb? Within 15 feet of the bomb, I would assume. I thought because it happened, I think it's saying that it blows up on the character

space based on this, right? Like, that's what the part of the fumble is. Certainly one way to interpret it. Joe, can you read it again? Your bungled attempt to fire off a shot inexplicably breaks several sound barriers, producing a shockwave that knocks you on your ass. You are knocked prone and all creatures within 15 feet are deafened for 1d4 rounds. Right, right, right.

Alright, so let's roll a d8 to see where it lands. And we'll say it lands somewhere around Aldo with one being directly 12 o'clock and then two going around clockwise. Well, it really doesn't matter because it won't affect this creature

wherever it lands and I can exclude anyone else, including myself. Well, it really doesn't matter because it won't affect this creature wherever it lands, and I can exclude anyone else, including myself. Well, it matters for the 15-foot radius of this. It doesn't. It's only Aldo. Yeah, only Halster if he rolls a two. So roll a d8 and see if you roll a two. I did roll a two.

Halster's deaf. Some best friend you are. Yeah, that's just enough because that is the only square that is 15 feet away from Halster. So he drops the bomb right there. It's 15 feet away. So Halster is cowering in fear for two rounds and deaf for how many rounds? 1d4.

Okay. Well, that will be, I'll tell you right now, three rounds of death. I don't think it's really going to affect you unless you want to cast spells that have, uh, some, uh, verbal components. Yeah. Okay. Rough start to round two. It is Halster's turn. Halster's cowering in fear goes right to Sir Julie. Let's see if Sir Julie really is

the, uh, hero she purports. Um, alright. Sir Julie will step up to this creature. Okay. okay uh do i have enough movement to get around it yeah sir sir julie will step around to flank it she'll go the long way okay um and i will smite evil smite evil now how can you you move from here to uh from were you able to move without provoking that seemed like a lot of movement it was six squares with one diagonal right but how did you

get oh no i'd have to do two diagonals so yeah if you want to take your attack opportunity that's why i asked him i wanted to try that uh so it's going to be a uh 20 that's a miss that is a miss okay sorry uh is a miss if i depend even if it is evil or if it is not. Is it evil? It is. Great. Power attack is on as well. Let's take a swing with the old greatsword.

The old greatsword. 26 to hit. 26 is a hit. Have you missed today? Not today. Yesterday I did This bypasses all DR Because I'm spying Right

Wow That is 23 points of damage Man Man do you need Sir Julie In this Situation Now it's it's turn

Unless you have something else Sir Julie No I moved Sir Julie. No, I moved, I swung. I moved, I smited, I swung. I moved, I smited, I swung. You smoked. I smoked. I'm going to put on... God, alright. I'm going to put on Power Attack.

I am going to... I really want to go after Atticus, but you're too far away, so I'm going to... I really want to go after Atticus, but you're too far away, so I'm going to have to kill your friends first. So I'll go after Halster, standing right in the way there, with a claw. So he just goes to rake against Halster with his claw.

18 to hit? Miss. Okay, and blinded. Yes! Blinded. Your deafened doesn't do anything to my defense. Alright, so it misses with the first claw. Second one comes

in. 30 with the second claw. That'll do it. Whoa! That's a serious to hit. Yeah. Alright, it's going to be 18 points of damage. Then it goes to grab. And if I succeed on the grab, I constrict. What did you do to this guy, Atticus?

Yeah, really? He's so mad. 18 points of damage. I think that's why he must be cowering in fear. He knows what this guy's capable of somewhere deep in his soul. He's like, get out of there. You're all going to die. Oh, this is bad.

All right, so it was 18 points of damage. I rolled a natty 18 on the attempt to grab. So he grabs, and then he constricts for the exact same damage. In this case, another 18 points of damage. So he just did 36 points of damage to Halster, and he only hit with one of the claws out of the two claw attacks. Halster has one hit point left, and his constitution score is 14, so good chance

of a permanent kill here. Troy, you should have taken an additional four points of damage from that smite because this creature is undead. Does that make a difference? It's still up, but... Oh, and it's on fire. Did you do the fire damage? I didn't do the fire damage, so I'll take

the four points of damage. You give me the fire damage? I didn't do the fire damage, so I'll take the four points of damage. You give me the fire damage, Aldo. This is important because I just remembered something. Why is it an extra four? Because is it all undead creatures? I thought it was just... If the target of the Smite Evil is an Outsider with evil subtype, an evil aligned dragon, or an undead creature,

the bonus damage for the first successful attack increases to two points of damage per level. Yeah, that's only on that attack. Okay. And then how much on the fire damage? Three. Okay. This is very bad here because I just remembered. You know, and I saw when this creature came up, people are so smart in the chat.

They're like, oh, this is a blah, blah, blah. This is a pc killer uh this creature because uh atticus is is here it is enacted ability it has haste so it's going to do one more attack at a minus two against the grappled and constricted halster sorry why is it minus two just because it it's grappling? He's grappling, yeah. It's not... Okay. Yeah. It takes no minus five penalty for iterative attacks. It's not like...

No, this... It's three full attack bonus attacks. So it has two attacks, okay? And then it's under the effect of haste, which you get to attack at your highest base attack bonus. Because he's grappling, he takes a minus two. So this hit right here could straight up kill

Halster. Jesus. When Halster ran up, I'm like, I want Atticus. Oh, you know what? He wants Atticus. His damage, I have ten more hit points. I still have shield of bones up.

Oh! Unless I was right. How long does shield of bones last? Hours. Four hours. Defending bone. Oh, it only took us an hour and a half. So I submit it still has ten hit points left. Thank God. Okay, so this is still not good. Alright, so the bone...

Did the bone go away and you just took less damage? No, the bone doesn't go away. The bone closes out for four hours and will take damage reduction five slash bludgeoning. So only bludgeoning can get through it. It has five points per caster level. So I have ten points left on the bone after giving myself back those ten hit points. And you took ten because you took it, the bone. You took two attacks on me, so I took my own stone.

No, I took one attack on you. The constrict to the bone wouldn't take five away from. Okay. Yeah, well, I don't see why not. It's not bludgeoning damage, right? No, the bone is floating around his head, blocking attacks. Do you know what I mean? Okay.

So when it clawed you, you took five less damage. But then on the constrict, the constrict, it says right here, is bludgeoning damage. Oh, okay. So bludgeoning gets through. So you get five hit points back. That's huge because that might actually save you from death here. Unless I miss. Okay.

Well, he just rolled a 30 to hit. This is a very high attack bonus. Yeah. 21 to hit. Because I'm grappled. Because I'm grappled, that hits. I have a 22 AC. You'll take five less damage

from this attack because of the defending bone. It's 1d8 plus 11. Oh my god. I rolled sevens on the hit and the constrict. Here we go.

Just saw a little little thing in the chat. Good ruling, Troy. Thank you. Glad you appreciate it. Here it is. It's out. The roll is out of my hand.

The life of Halster Price is out of my hands. Another seven. Oh, my God. Another 18 points of damage. But he takes five off of that. So it's... I can't do the math fast enough. 13 points of damage. Alistair is at negative seven hit points.

Alistair's score of 14. Oh. Okay. So you're fine. But you are grappled by this thing. So he's unconscious, grappled, and dying. It is Atticus's turn. He's still cowering in fear, but he's now, he can act next round.

Get up! Damn you! Join the fight! Top of round three Aldo run away I'm leaving Aldo yeah he's like

knocked flat sprawling by his mom going off next to him his ears are ringing he can't hear anything he just sees Holster like on limb bleeding out so he's like yelling He can't hear anything. He just sees Halser on limp, bleeding out. So he's like yelling. He can't hear himself. He's like, best friend!

Best friend! And he pulls out another bomb. And I hope this one goes a little bit better. Throws it. 90-15. That is a 20 against touch. 20 against touch is a 20 against touch

20 against touch is a hit Come on I have to kill him now That is 13 points of fire damage Still up You did all you could You did all you could You did all you could

Here we go Halster Roll to stabilize DC here we go house to stabilize DC your negative 7 DC 17 negative 7 yep DC 17 fortitude

18 stabilize we still got to get you out of there stabilizes. Well, that's an interesting thing where, you know, I don't GM as much, particularly in Pathfinder, but it's dependent on monster behavior, right? Does it, like, it'll say, like,

it will constrict until it kills a character or whatever. Sometimes it does. Sometimes it doesn't. Yeah, yeah. Got it. Sometimes it does. Sometimes I just like to kill characters. Sometimes I just like mine. There. Sometimes I just like to find... There's a lot of people watching. You want to impress them.

It is Sir Julie's turn. I don't want to say Aldo... Excuse me. Halster's life is in your hands, Sir Julie. You've only known him for a little while. You seem to get on well. You see this creature from beyond just claw,

constrict, claw again with the other hand. He's knocked him unconscious. He could do this to any one of you in one round. He missed on the first attack. What are you going to do, Sir Jules? I'm going to continue smiting. I'm going to leave power attack on. Maybe a little risk, but I want to make sure I do enough damage to put this thing down. I don't know what the HP situation is. With the

greatsword. I haven't crit today. I haven't fumbled either. Okay, this is another one of those tweener rolls. 18 to hit. Now, do you... I don't think you get the flanking bonus now because he's unconscious.

That is a miss. Oh, no. Oh. Oh. Oh, how did you leave power attack on? Because I was trying to save your life, Grant. Yeah, you could have done it. I was trying to save your life.

I bet this thing has four or less hit points. If a 20 would hit. Yeah. You are a fool. All right. Hey, you having fun cowering in fear over there? This is the greatest, greatest will-safe fail I've ever had. It really is.

Well, here's the cool thing. Did you take the minus two to your AC because you're grappling? You have the grapple condition. You have a minus two to your AC because you're grappling? You have the grapple condition. You have a minus two to your AC. That is true, Grant. Why don't you just have the grapple condition on? What's the problem? I forgot to turn it on.

And an 18 hits exactly. Take back everything I said about Matthew. Matthew power attack all the way. That's what I was saying. All right. 22 points of damage. 22 points of damage, and it's dead. Oh, Jesus Christ! Oh, my God.

Working the rules. Working the rules. That's on me. I totally forgot. Well, you were talking all about it with haste and everything. I figured you would just put it on. Yeah, unless haste removes the... No, that doesn't do anything.

That also means... I'll just give you an AC bonus. Oh, it's a plus one AC bonus. Oh, wait, you know what? Did you actually click on haste? I do have it on. Yeah, so it's good. You know what?

You said you hit me with a 20... You said you hit me with a what earlier? A 30. No, no, no, but before that, you hit me with a 20... You said you hit me with a what earlier? A 30. No, no, but before that, you hit me with like a 21. Yeah. You should be taking a minus 2 to your attacks as well, so I wouldn't even... He said that. He was pretty adamant about it.

Which is why I thought he put grappled on. That's why I was surprised. I did half the math in my head, but I didn't do the other half. Absolutely insane. Oh my God. How many hit points did it have? 11 hit points left. Okay, so without power attack.

Definitely would have killed him. I definitely would have killed him. Here's the thing. This dude falls to the ground, right? And Atticus, you're just cowering in fear as you you can hear this battle going on but you like you can't you're looking through closed fingers and you look up and you see Sir Julie battling, you see Halster fall limp in its arms, and you're flashback to a memory of

a family of four moving down a busy cobblestone street on a bleak overcast day. There's a mother, a father, two small girls, all dressed in the simple garb of the lower classes.

They're navigating the crowded lane. Shops and carts are packed together like sardines along the narrow path while the shouts of hawkers and the unmistakable sound of coin changing hands echoes up and down the market street. Suddenly, the little girls shout and go darting ahead through the crowd. The father yells and bumps into pastors as he tries to catch up with the girls and the mothers following close behind. When they catch up, the girls have stopped at a corner where a box is set onto the stones like a

little makeshift stage. On top of the box stands a much younger much younger Atticus Grimm. He's like a teenager perhaps. Wearing a beaten brown suit all

frayed at the cuffs. Perhaps a couple sizes too large for him, and on his head is a misshapen brown bowler hat. Ah, it seems we have some customers, sister. Shape up now, shape up, hop to. You see a ratfolk girl, slightly younger than Atticus, dressed in a stained, rough-spun dress, hopping onto the stage next to him with a smile

spread across her face. Who would like to see a little magic? The girls, they squeal with delight. First, I will need my little friend here. He pulls off his hat, and from it crawls a

scrawny brown rabbit. The girls look at each other and smile. They're excited, barely able to contain their anticipation. And then at that moment, their parents catch up with them. They arrive. Mom's like, girls, you can't run away from us like that. The father is out of breath from pushing through the crowd. He says to Atticus, he's like, I'm sorry, we haven't the coin.

We only have enough food for this week. I'm really terribly sorry. He's starting to pull the girls away. Oh, no, no, no, sir. No, think nothing of it. Times are hard, of course. We can all understand that. But I insist we give your girls a show. The smile on their faces is the only payment we need. Atticus gives a look with his sister, who seems confused by his confident declaration that he'll perform for nothing.

And the father's like, no, really, we don't want to impose. Nonsense, nonsense. Now, this will only take a moment. Looks down at the rabbit. Mr. Fiddlesticks, let's make this quick so these fine people can be on their merry way. So Atticus sets Mr. Fiddlesticks, let's make this quick so these fine people can be on their merry way. So Atticus sets

Mr. Fiddlesticks, the rabbit, in his sister's hands and pulls from his pocket a smooth, round stone. He holds it up in front of the girls so that they can examine it and then he releases it but it doesn't drop. Instead, it impossibly just

stays hovering right where he let it go. Girls are wide-eyed, their jaws dropped. He's sort of slowly, like, moving his hands around it, like as if keeping it up there, floating, and he steps down off this little box, kind of next to them and the family, making a show of it, and he just says to the girl, the older looking one,

go on, try to grab it. So the older one like slowly reaches out, hesitant, almost afraid. The father can't help himself. He's fixated on the stone and the heartbeat right before the little girl touches the stone. Mr. Fiddlesticks leaps wildly from Atticus's sister's grasp into the arms of the mother. And the mother's like, oh, screams in surprise and fear. And we cut to a close up of Atticus's hand as he's pulling a small, nearly empty coin purse from the father's dirt smeared pocket. In a heartbeat, Atticus has it out of the man's pants pocket and into his own chest pocket

as he feigns surprise and goes running over to the panicked mother. Mr. Phil Sticks, what has gotten into you? As Atticus pulls the rabbit from the mother's flailing grasp, we see him deftly brushed by her ring finger, taking back not only the rabbit, but slipping the woman's wedding ring off her hand as well. The parents calm down. The girls have never been happier. And no one seems to be the wiser to what Atticus has done. In fact, the whole family bursts into laughter.

Back into the hat with you, sir. Atticus makes a big exaggerated show of placing the rabbit back in his cap where it seems to disappear as the hat goes back on. I'm sorry, folks. As you can see, truly, it wasn't worth a copper anyway. I will, however, need my magical stone back. He makes a fake serious expression at the girl who grabbed the stone. It is, after all, a bead from the necklace of the great Saint Ebony herself. The girls look at each other and their parents

in stunned amazement. The girl hands the stone back and then the family waves goes on their way. A moment later, Atticus's expression drops and he becomes deadly serious. His sister just.

Looks at him with surprise. What was that? We have to go. Now. What? She realizes what he did. You didn't. I did.

Atticus they don't even have enough money for food. That would help me fine. Grab your things. Let's go. What is wrong with you? You want to lecture me, Bex? Do it down the street. Now grab your things. Let's go. She reluctantly grabs her wooden box, so does he, with a large leather case, a donation jar,

and disappear into the afternoon throng as if they've never been there. Mist blots out the scene. And then from that mist, we hear sounds of a struggle. A man like, please, please don't, please, please. And we rise up out of the mist to see a man that looks hauntingly similar to the man that almost just killed Halster and perhaps all of you but now he's human and he's

lying on the ground and he's being held down by Burl the orc covered in tattoos he's holding him down an old woman stands nearby just shaking her head it's Mrs. O'Lady. You, Atticus,

walk slowly up to the man who's just begging for his life. He's like, please, please, I don't know what I did, but please don't, please. And you just smile. And then you take a club and you smash his face and you just keep smashing and smashing and smashing and smashing until his face is completely caved in Mrs. Old Lady just

looks away even the big burly orc can barely watch and we come back big, burly orc can barely watch. And we come back. And you remember. And we'll see you after the intermission. Oh my god. Okay.

Okay. Sir Julie might have to rethink some of her associations. I didn't know these guys sucked. Yikes. See you guys in a little bit. We'll be back. See you soon.

Oh, baby, we are back. What a first half. What a first half. Can we outdo ourselves in the second half and the final leg of this two-day marathon? I think we can. I think we can. But it's going to be tough because that fight, that fight was great. It had all the ups and downs that you want a fight to have.

I don't know. There are fights you're just like, let's get this over with. And there's fights when you just want to win and win outright. But when you can overcome that type of grampy,ampy like wait did you have grappling on that's a minus two and that saved it it's like we're all trying to solve a problem together there's so many freaking rules and you hope that you do it right i mean it's just what a beautiful combat i need to thank whatever large pharmaceutical company produces these four milligram nicotine lozenges that i've been sucking on if i was like one of

those superstitious smokers that kept a lucky to like remind me every day of how i used to smoke that would have been gone during this break luckily i have these guys you know it makes you wonder now that's two days in a row two big combats out of five or however many that like almost died when that starts to happen that character is in our history they're marked for death yeah what do you think house or is this is are you gonna give me a short book for you yeah this is what i wanted to kick it over what about you grant did you think that was a thrilling amazing combat oh it was terrifying it was thrills and chills but you know what some people often complain in their relationships that the thrill is gone.

B.B. King once said this. However, a combat like that will bring you right back to why you love to play this game. I was so infested. I was slumping in my seat. You saw me cover my eyes. None of that was for show. None of that was added panache to try to play it up to camera. I was just literally terrified for Halster's life. Because I think Halster has some cool stuff to go through. And he was such a scaredy cat in the asylum and didn't get to do a ton. I see this book opening up a lot for him.

And it was just like all, you know, we've all had characters leave. And sometimes they get to do what they wanted to do and sometimes they don't. And Halster is definitely not anyway leave is an interesting term for what happens on our shows we've had plenty of characters exit gracefully exit

I just love the image of the revenant grappling grappling Halster Sir Julie takes a swing I actually ended up hitting but at the moment I was holster sir julie takes a swing i actually ended up hitting but like at the moment i was like oh and she just takes a big cut and misses and then aldo is probably like it's that that play where the pitcher gets knocked off the mound and they cover the ball and they're throwing from the sea their pants across the field and it's

like with a bomb so cool yeah yeah yeah it was great that was a creature known as a revenant and uh for you to be fighting a revenant at this level uh it's a it's extreme you guys are fourth level it's a cr6 character but they they hit like a cr7 uh you know it's so crazy so they they have two claws but with haste there's three claws 1d8 plus 11 damage. Sorry, how does that work? It casts haste just to nitpick, like right now. So it has this ability called... When did he cast haste? It has this ability called

Reason to Hate. And so, the Revenant's existence is fueled by hatred for its murderer. So, when a Revenant encounters its murderer, it gains the benefits of a haste spell that lasts as long as the murderer remains in sight. That's awesome.

So right when it saw you, haste went into effect. And it just lasts. So yeah, that plus four to attack, damage, grapple, saves. And only triggered because we went this way? Sorry to interrupt. Sure.

I don't want to lift the curtain too much. Don't ask questions. You know what the answer is. What does Revenant come from? Like, what lore is that? Yeah, I don't know. Because it's a corporeal undead, which is weird. And it might not be in, like, in earlier iterations of D&D, I feel like it was an incorporeal undead, which is weird. And it might not be in like in earlier iterations of D&D.

I feel like it was an incorporeal undead, more ghostly apparition. According to Wikipedia, it's derived from the old French word revenant, meaning the returning. Oh, they're part of various cultures, including old Irish Celtic and Norse mythology i always love when a concept that you know you play around with in pathfinder is drawn from folklore that is in multiple societies that didn't really interact but you you know what i mean you know it's such a purely human fear of like it's that jungian thing yeah if i murder somebody like they are going to hunt me down for the rest of my days and kill me. It's just really cool. So when the DiCaprio movie came out, I was just like, I know exactly what that's about.

Like, just from the title. And it's only for playing D&D at Pathfinder all these years. Yeah, it was great. You know, truth be told, I my plan was uh to release halster and go after atticus because i really wanted to kill atticus that or like that's what the character's inclination was is to like go after atticus with haste i could have got there in one round clawed you grabbed you and constricted you because you were just sitting there cowering in fear and i get i get even more bonuses against you because you were just sitting there cowering in fear and I get even more bonuses against you

because you were his murderer. It was just guaranteed hit, guaranteed mega damage. It would have been even more damage. You could get more damage against the object of your hate and then grab and then constrict. That would have put you in a bad way.

The first round, the first complete round that you put on Halster would have put me unconscious. Just the first two hits. The hit and the constrict. Yeah. Add on the third hit, and he would have been permanently dead in one round, one series of attacks. Wow. I wonder if he could, like, hit, grab, constrict, release the grab, hit, grab, constrict, release the grab, hit.

I don't see why not. Maybe you can't. I've never toyed around with that, but just thinking out loud, that would be no fun for the players. But I think allowable by the rules. Anyways, I think the more important thing out of all of this is this flash that Atticus gets, a tale of two Atticae, this sort of young teenage grifter stealing from the poor, the reverse Robin Hood. And then it flashes from there to him murdering a guy while his friends stand by and watch and hold the guy down. And Atticus sees this and he remembers it. Little pieces of the memory are starting to come back for some of you.

Halster, you told me during the break, not Halster, but Grant, that you... Troy, are you talking to Halster now? Is Halster here in the room? Grant, you said that you, you're very honest where you said that you rolled the wrong save to stabilize yourself and you had actually failed the save to stabilize. And the only reason this matters is it would have brought you to negative eight. And so someone just needs to get to you and uh put the potion down so you don't die i don't think wait what happened i rolled fortitude save instead of a constitution save so i pass but with my fortitude modifier as opposed to my constitution very simple mistake to make yeah

so but you have enough rounds uh to get to him take a potion just one of you remove a potion from your belt. Unless Sir Julie can lay hands on him. I don't know. I cannot with my archetype. So Sir Julie takes a round to lean on her greatsword and say, Ooh, that was a real doozy, wasn't it? And then she takes just like blood is just gushing out of his neck.

She's like, who's next round? Ooh, not as young as I used to be. And then next round, she's like, oh. And then the next round, she walks over and... And he's permanently dead. No, no, he had a few more rounds. All right, so you're able to take a potion, give yourself your 1d8 plus whatever it is.

Come back. so you're able to uh take a potion give yourself your 1da plus whatever it is back uh but yeah atticus what's running through your head through all this um he he sees this this memory and it really frightens him uh i mean i'm just gonna try to kind of play it the way i felt you know as a player i was just like this is bullshit you know what i mean like you're taking my character and you're making him do something i would never have him do like you know he's a bit of a dick but like that's different from like pummeling a person's face into mush well past the point of their death. Uh, and I,

I'm shocked by it and really offended. And so, uh, I feel like he must have to some degree that the same reaction I would hope. And so, um, I'll just have him. So he'll walk up and,

you know, like just completely freaked out. And as Halster, uh, as certainly he's just administering potion after potion to Halster, bringing him back, he's going to walk up kind of wide-eyed to Aldo. And he'll just walk up and say, Aldo, I knew him. His face, I recognized him. His face, I...

I recognized it. Did you... Have you... Since we were in the... The asylum... Have you... Have you remembered anything... About yourself?

About who you are, beyond what we read in that... Document? Have you remembered anything? about yourself, about who you are beyond what we read in that document. Have you remembered anything? Have I remembered anything like my flashback or anything? Was that me remembering it? I'm just imagining like our flashbacks are like things we remember. I would think dreams, memories.

Yeah. So as Atticus is talking to you, look at the guy or I guess he's probably just a pile of dust now where he's undead, but you like think back to what his face looked like and you feel like you were there too and you a name pops into your head,

Klin. Klin. And you were told to do that. Oh, wow. Yeah, I think he's like, he almost like his head in the face. This memory that he participated in that. He's Klin?

Klin. Is that the name? Klin, right? Yes. Yes, it must be. It rings a bell. Klin. Blimey, how did we do that? I did it, Aldo. I did it. I smashed his head into pieces.

Why? Why would I do such a thing? I don't know. I don't know. It's out of character From the man I know Not do that But it happened I know

And he's Look out How do I He looks across at Sir Julian Houser Sir Julian is like nursing Houser back Do you think Sir Julian can hear you Sir Julian is like nursing Halster back. Do you think Sir Julian can hear you? No, right?

Sure. You think she can? All right. Well, I will say, like, everything we've said so far, no. But he'll look across and he'll turn back to Aldo. Yeah, I guess you're right. We are a good 25, 30 feet away, and he's just sort of whispering. He's so shocked.

So I'll just turn back and just say... nothing I can really put my hand on. But I know that I had done some things in the pursuit of wealth, fame, simple greed, things that were based on a certain distrust of humans.

Though, meeting you and Sir Julian Halster, it's been very different. But I feel like for many, many years I had a great distrust for humans. But I never,

Aldo, never once thought of myself as going around murdering humans. I don't know why I would have done it. I don't know. You know, he'd do something to you. Why would we wait?

Mrs. Oh, lady was there as well. Yeah. I remember it. Mrs. O'Lady wouldn't do something like that. No, no. Unless we were, like you said, told to do it, ordered. Perhaps it's the Count.

Perhaps it's in his service. Perhaps we did this and we must have had good reason i suppose i don't know sorry go well it's like i i think the more this is coming up the more i'm thinking us not having these memories of who we were might have been a blessing as much as a curse. I don't think I... I don't know if I like the people we were. A little bit that I've been able to remember. I'm starting to agree with you. I started feeling it only a few days ago, when we first met Sir Julie. Sir Julie! Is he coming around? He's coming around now

excellent uh julie slaps hauster across the face hauster expends all of his remaining fervor and uh channels positive energy all at once and swallows a potion of cure light wounds to get almost back up to full hp sorry i left power check on for that slap a potion of cure light wounds to get almost back up to full HP. Sorry, I left power check on for that slap. Don't modify your strength bonus by 1.5. You can't dual wield a slap.

It's true, I cannot dual wield a slap. Did you two-hand that slap? I two-handed that slap. Excuse me. Aldo is going to rush in to keep you, to keep Pulsar from using any consumables. He's going to give him a Cure Light Wounds of his own.

Oh. He needs it. And then he's going to, do you need it still after? I mean, I can give myself back the Cure Light in case that's useful later. Yes. Take back any consumables. Okay, so it behaves the same way. So I'll just change the balance

later. Thank you. Thank you, best friend. Coughing up the last bit of blood that the revenant squeezed out of his lungs. How's that? Atticus gets down, gets his rat face right in your face. How's that? Atticus gets down, gets his like rat face,

like right in your face. It's like, I have to ask you something very important. I know that both of us were a feared of the creature, turned away from it immediately, but in those final moments before he put you down, did you recognize him did you

ever see him before now this is interesting I didn't hear Halster's name in that flashback so I don't know if Halster saw that person or not you hear the name Klin and like everything

else, you're like, it sounds familiar, but it also doesn't sound familiar. You can't quite place it. And that makes sense because I think our memories are coming back to us at like different rates and at different times. It's all a foggy mess just like parts of the

asylum, trying to look outside of it. I can't... I can't peer into my own memories. All right. Well, I think we... He exchanges a look with Aldo. I think we have to dig a little bit more to find out what put us into this situation. And maybe we could right some of the wrongs we've done.

I hope so. Not just you, sorry, go on. Well, in the meanwhile, I have set up a lot of explosives in this residential area, so we might want to get a move on. Yes, I'm sure they heard it. Let's go. Yeah, this is a unique adventure path in that you really have to put up a lot of trust, both in me and in the game. Because it's kind of written, without spoiling anything, for you to just not have a lot of control over who these people were.

But, you know, you have to trust the process that all shall be revealed at some point. But it's tough. Like you said, Joe, you're like, my character would never beat someone to death. We're like Aldo yesterday, like my character would never be in a weird cult orgy. You know, you have to, something's going on here. And if anything, it should make you want to really get to the bottom of what the hell happened to us. What was our connection to this guy? I feel like we're responsible for crafting the characters that we are coming

out of this fugue in the asylum. Those are our characters. What happened before that, we don't know about it, and it's not really under our control. Yeah, totally. But that's why I have you do these flashbacks because it allows you some element of control over like the people you'd like them to be. Right. Whereas for some of you,

it seems like something happened. Others, maybe you were always destined for a track of murdering people in the streets, but you make your way back to the sleepless detective agency. You knock on the door, and once again it takes a couple knocks before the woman who answered the first time answers.

She says, oh, you're back. Please come in. And she's a little more courteous this time, although still giving Atticus a side eye, an accusatory eye, not unlike their logo. This time, this time he's a little less confident.

He's cast his eyes down a little bit quicker. His last time, even when she was like giving him shit, he was just kind of like, he just told her the truth. You know, he's like, I have no memory of what you're talking about we were you know patients in an asylum because

of our amnesia and we're trying to get to the bottom of why you know we were dicks but now it's like it goes well beyond lighting up a few interns with like you know uh foul language this is this is a whole different layer that he's sort of knowing about himself. And now he doesn't want to be known as like a murderer. How's he supposed to get on? Take morality out of it for a second. Even though that's a small part of it for me. I'm trying to remove that because he already has loose morals.

Just like he doesn't want to go to prison you know what i mean like he doesn't want to like spend the rest of his life locked away because of what he did before so now he's getting very nervous around these essentially cops right i mean sleepless detective agency they're private etc but like private detectives yeah they're they could turn you over to law enforcement if they felt like it i would like to think that it would at least be difficult to get your character into handcuffs being a magician. Oh, right. That's from a show. What show is that from?

The guy's like, forget it. What's the guy like on the show, Troy? He's like, ah. He always, is it him? I don't think it's the rest of the film. They get arrested and he constantly just gets out of the handcuffs somebody in chat said it i'm sorry something the something i don't remember your name but throw it up there if you're still watching but

they were just like illusions michael like i said it i said that yeah it's just so good so she this time rather than making you stand in the for stand in the foyer, she ushers you into a sitting room, office of sorts. It's kind of like a conference room, but it's very small. She says, I'll let society know you're here. And after a minute, she comes in. She says, please sit. And so you all sit together around this table. She lights up a long cigarette.

What did you discover out on the beach? There was a druid who had taken control of the cave and manned it with some fearsome creatures of the wild. Her business we don't know. She attacked us when we arrived and we fought to the death. He's not making eye contact.

She was, I think, the source of the trouble there. There is no witch and the cave has been cleared out. So you no longer need worry about it, and you could send whoever you like there to investigate. It was rather deadly, so Julie almost lost her life. But she prevailed with the light

of Serenrae. Ah, yes, well, it is just as I suspected. Nothing relevant to what's actually going on. You didn't see any bodies of people taken, any kidnapped victims or any sort of evidence. No, no. She was a poisoner, though.

She was clearly making some sort of poisons. We found a lot of alchemical equipment. We also found this note. And he shows her the note. And also found this note. And he shows her the note. And she reads the note. Oh, this is interesting. She stands

up and goes over to a side table and starts rifling through some papers, pulls something out, pulls another thing out. Well, you may have stumbled onto something here. Melusen is the Count's assistant that took over during his absence. The one that turned away the citizens that went to inquire after the account when people started

going missing. It's very interesting. Why would she want poisons? Wait. I'm remembering something. Courtesy of chat. I had rushed

us out of that room. The room where we fought the creature, the fungus. Phantom fungus. Mean fungus. We had forgotten to further analyze the human bones that were lied within. There's a chance that your missing people may have been killed, could have been there, but there were no fresh corpses, only bones.

It says dream-inducing bruise. Was she lulling people to sleep and feeding them to her creatures? I mean, how many bones were there? We're missing dozens of people not to mention the magistrate and the count and the accuser and her group how many were there the bio the pile didn't seem large at all if there were three or four bodies you'd be you'd be surprised yeah bones or rather certainly people that just wandered into that cave like you did

i don't know bones of three or four people, not three or four human bones. Right, yeah. Maybe there was enough for three or four people. Perhaps the remains of three, four, nothing coming close to a dozen. Yeah, no, it sounds incidental, if anything. I also have a suspicion. I also have a suspicion. This... If you say that this woman was the Count's assistant,

and she is ordering these dream-inducing... toxins... I wonder if it's not possible that the Count was feeding us this very substance, poisoning our minds. Maybe it could explain my behavior in your place of business, for which I apologize. And did you talk

to her about your experience on Briarstone and the dreams and whatnot, or did we sort of hand wave that? No, we said that we were patients there. We said, we didn't go into great detail about, you know, we didn't talk about treatment or anything like that. We we. Oh, and we never said that, like, that the reason that we were released is because the entire place broke down from this, like, dream attack.

Yeah. And no one has been freaked out when we mentioned the asylum. They haven't said, like, we can't even see the asylum. We've been cut off from it due to this yellow fog. Like, no one has brought up how there's been. I imagine there's no communication see the asylum. We've been cut off from it due to this yellow fog. Like no one has brought up how there's been, I imagine there's no communication with the asylum. At least as we left, it was still shrouded in fog. There's been nothing said by anyone in Threshmore about that.

Yeah, there's no phone. So it's not like, it's probably the news of the asylum is trickling over to Threshmore and infiltrating just as quickly as you are. And you haven't even, you've probably been there 24 hours at this point. And we don't know if people would believe our stories about the Onarijan and like everything else that we saw there.

Right. Although this is a town that does believe that the Briarstone Witch is back and the second vanishing is upon us. So you might be surprised what they'll believe. But for somebody as sharp as Sisadia, she's given pause at these facts. If you start to maybe reveal a little bit more, she's like, well, this is very interesting. I'll level with you. You know how I feel about my prior beliefs on who you were, but like I said to you, actions speak louder than words,

and you do seem sincere in your interest in getting to the bottom of this, figuring out what happened to the Count, and really figuring out what happened to yourselves. Hearing about dream-inducing potions that his

assistant, who's now, for all intents and purposes, in charge of Iris Hill, is interested in, and you can't remember certain things, it adds up to certain things that we've been thinking about as well. Such as? I said to you yesterday that the Count is a bit of an odd fellow. He comes from a long line of louts that have run. Odd fellows. A long line of the same sickness.

Happened rather suddenly. The Count was just a boy, but he was put into power. He was old enough to take over, but his interests seemed to lie in the esoteric scholarly pursuits. to lie in the esoteric scholarly pursuits. Between you and I, I think he is the type of person that came into power and maybe didn't want that. Maybe he wanted to be respected as a

scholar and frankly wasn't. And so I'm under the impression that this is a man that has spent his whole life trying to prove something to others, to those who doubt him, to those who doubt his wisdom.

Now, I tell you this in confidence, and it is not completely verified, but this is where we're at so far with the investigation. We here at the Sleepless Detective Agency are under the impression that the Count was embezzling

money from the magistrate, from the town. You know, the magistrate is in charge of it, to fund his own expeditions in search of this great knowledge that he's concerned of. What that is, I do not know.

But to me, if you're sending a royal accuser here, it has more to do with a lot of problems than just one singular problem of a missing count. So I think he was taking money

from the coffers, using it to fund his own research and his travels. Maybe he took a little too much and ran off with it. Now, whether or not the magistrate was involved, we don't know, but the magistrate is missing and that is what accuser Omari

went to Fort Halecourse to find out. To find out what happened with the magistrate. I feel as if finding that out is the key to finding out where Lyle is. Because perhaps they were working together, or perhaps the magistrate got in the way. Either way, Hail course is key But The constable won't allow anyone in

Certainly won't allow anyone From the sleepless detective agency in But then again Four of you Aren't from the sleepless detective agency Are you? No, you seem to March to your own beat.

Maybe that's something you would want to take a look at, and then we could reconnect. Have you spoken with Winter yet? No, we have not seen her yet. Is she back? Has she arrived as well?

No, she hasn't come here, at least. You should try and find her before you do anything, because she had an intimate relationship with the accuser, at least as a subordinate. Being armed with that information would help you before you went looking after Omari. you went looking after Omari. So if I were you, I would find Winter, speak with her, gain as much knowledge as you can about the accuser and what Winter knew and what the accuser knew.

And then perhaps take a look at Fort Hale course. Can I sense motive on her? Yeah. Natty 19 uh 26 nice she seems like a straight shooter i didn't well i didn't know maybe like maybe she was maybe she i couldn't remember if like she was trying to play the royal accuser or get like against somebody else and you wanted to like inflate the detective agency's power. She's been a little slippery,

but I think it's because she's in a way, she doesn't trust you, so she's using you, but she also would like you to succeed so that you could help her. So it's this give and take where she's wary about who you are,

how much she's really willing to let on, and how much she's really willing to let on, and how much she's willing to take a chance on. Sending you out to that cave was just like a flyer, but now if she's going to get you involved with a real investigation, that's a different matter altogether.

Alright. Well, we shall try to find Winter. We're also not opposed to working on a freelance basis strictly for you

assuming the price is right I haven't spoken to my colleagues about this but I think we'd all be in agreement

right well we're not in the market for new detectives right now. However, I will say a few... Staff? Employees? No! Of course we understand. No, no.

But a couple of contractors? No health insurances. It's really... Under the table, no insurance. No taxes. No tax withholding. I will say, we have a lot of open cases right now. Money doesn't come in until those cases are closed.

Should you assist in this investigation and it leads to actual results and I can start closing the books on some of these things, I think there's no reason that you can't be rewarded for your work. That's all taken, IOU. We trust each other. That's fine. That's what we wanted. Just to put a bug in your ear.

We're just talking, right? We're just talking. You don't work on an hourly rate system plus expenses as is standard? We can talk about that. They've got a cash flow problem at the moment, Sister Julie. Weren't you listening? Yes, I understand. When they're all liquid, then we can expect to be paid.

Just keep your receipts. I'd advise. Sounds like you need an accountant. Did you work an hourly shift while you were in the world wound? No. I am pledged through Sarenrae. Are you pledged In the service of a god or goddess

Yes The god of truth Which one is that Uh Jimothy Jimothy The god of truth He is all powerful

True neutral And all knowing he is true neutral. He is friendly with Abadar but hates Desna. Hates Desna with a passion. Dude, this keeps coming up. I've got a feeling Troy hates Desna.

Yeah, seriously. It's a common theme. I don't. I don't worship Jimothy. Jimothy worshipers tend to dislike Desna. Apparently, Zoles is a god of truth. In some circles. He's known as Zoles and Jimothy. In this part of the world, you would know.

You're a religion expert. I would think you would know this sir julie but in this part of the world he is commonly known as jimothy you know i see the same entity sir julie exactly yes as as a paladin i'm i'm not familiar with religion wow you know what's funny about that though is zoles is the first google result and it's an archdemon lord. So the more likely one is actually named Mott or Matt if you let both A's turn into that. Which is an Osirian goddess.

An ancient Osirian goddess. He has many names. In Galarian it is Jimothy. Mott is the concept of the spirits I think in Old Egyptian. Right? Yes. Right.

The Azoles is a powerful archon imperial lord dedicated to investigation, truth, and determination. That's it. That's what she worships. There you go. You worship a demon lord? I worship the truth! Now, let's not get into a discussion about religion. She flips the table.

Get out! All right? I must select election. I put a finger in Sir Julie's face. Deep down, in places you don't talk about at parties, you want me on that wall. I'm going to have to write a letter. Little paladin parties.

I won't rest until you have a symbol of Jimothy on that breastplate. So Julia feels she's going to have to write a letter to the to whatever order of knights are in the area warning them that the detective agency that owns the largest building in town

seems to be worshipping a demon lord. Oh, you mean a demon worshipping detective agency that owns the largest building in town seems to be worshipping a demon lord. Oh, you mean a demon worshipping detective agency? Yeah. They've been here for years. They're great. There's two problems. It's that. They probably shouldn't be worshipping demons.

Right off the bat, that's bad for your image. And second, the overhead is ridiculous. You are in the biggest building in town and you're a detective agency. Don't do your detecting in the building. I'm sorry. What's your rent? I'm sorry.

Zoles is an imperial lord. Yeah, an archon imperial lord. I misread archon as archdemon as I was quickly reading through it. That is my mistake. Oh, wow. That's a big difference, Grant, because it's not just a demon. It's an arch demon. I'm no detective.

It's a good deity. Of course it is. It's the truth. Sure. Sure it is. Nothing could be wrong with the truth. That's a good deity. All right.

What do you want to do? Do you want to get out of here and go to New Chapel to check in with Winter? Yeah. All right. So, you start heading to New Chapel. Let's go back to the city map. City map, city map, city map, map, map. Sorry.

I'm just trying to stop asking idea of a of a of the biggest business in town being a detective agency that worships a demon lord edgy man that's very cool it gets in with gen z like you wouldn't imagine again you're jumping to a lot of conclusions it is the biggest roof in town we're not 100% sure that it's the biggest building it It's just like an obscene lead structure. Well, they have a lot of open patio space to cater to the homeless.

But again, even more literally, this is the problem, is the amount of overhead. Cut that right off. Oh! Got him. God, that was so good. You guys gotta come to these live shows because jokes like that just keep flying the whole time out of our mouths better because the people are all they've been drinking

and they laugh easier and it makes it seem to everyone who hasn't been drinking like the jokes are funnier right as this was coming up i was listening to some old live shows, also digging for the research results. They're really fun. And they're really fun. The crowds get into it. They're loud. They're rowdy. And I don't mean in the bad way, like talking over us, Rowdy.

I mean, like, when funny things happen, it's just elevated because all these people are like, wah! At the same time, too. It's freaking great. It's my favorite. Speaking of rowdy, I think we're still good right now. But for the first time in a year, I've had an issue with vMix. So I think we're stuck on the stream. And as soon as you're done talking about the city, Troy,

I might have to restart it in order to continue the live stream. I'm watching it right now. I know, but the rest of it is non-responsive, so I can't switch away from the screen. Oh, the actual program is not responsive. Yeah, it's still running in the background, but it's got basically a spinning rainbow ball that happens on Macs or just

grayed out. We can just stay on this screen for a while, right? Okay. There's a certain point. We'll see. As soon as you say to switch, I'll let you know where it is and if it's become responsive since then. Yeah, just give it a few minutes. Sometimes those things, like, they will take literally five minutes and then become responsive for some reason. All right, well, let's talk about the map for 25 minutes real quick.

For 25 minutes real quick. For 25 minutes real quick. So you're over at Sleepless Detected Agency, which, like I said, is right in the middle basically of the entire city of Threshmore. Now you're going to head back down this road. You're basically doing one big loop to go to New Chapel.

I will tell you, if you've talked to anyone, way out here in the distance to the northeast, that's Old Chapel. Oh, I was wondering where that name came from. It looks like they traded in their square footage for a more central location. Location, location, location.

Yeah. And an ocean view. Or lake view. Lakefront view. Yeah. Oh, oh, oh. Oh, God. Wait.

Oh, give me a second. What? What's wrong? Just give me a second. What? What's wrong? Just give me a second. I think he's got a drop. I got, I got, ah, my goddamn mouse froze. It's so timely with those drops. It was just, I wish you would have warned me.

It's terrible. What? Oh. Oh, there we go. What impeccable timing. Sometimes you can see the ocean. Sometimes you can't see it. Oh, what impeccable timing. Much like real estate is all about location, comedy is all about timing. You really nailed it.

Nailed it. Pick that up off the glass cannon sound drop sirenscape set, which you can purchase on our website for $9.99. Right now. Give it away. Have it in your own games. All right, so there it is. New chapel. Now you know where old chapel is.

And where is the fort? Is that this northernmost uh it is indeed yeah the uh for it's right near where you're staying very convenient you want to be close to the venue so that's good yeah and then uh iris hill as you've asked around is up here to the northwest uh the sort of like a state and that would make sense that's on the tallest tallest hill and irish hill is the count's home yeah yes yes and all you know about that is that just like the fort hill course they're not letting anybody in and he grew a big uh hedge around the place so no one can even access it question for you guys the players if you had to guess if you had to bet your own money would you be betting your money that the uh counts residence is the dungeon crawl to boss

fight of the end of book two or do you think we're going to move out of thrushmore by the end of book two i think this whole book is thrushmore yeah i think we're going to the count's residence at the very end yeah the throw down there's some more the hedge is like magic there's nightmares in it and we get through and there's more like crazy stuff that's what unless it's like a carion hill situation where we get there and find that something has happened and then we find that the whole town is beset upon by some sort of evil monster. Yeah. You know what's so cool is spending some time prepping a town adventure. Again, it brings me back

to True Now, like I said, but it also really resonates me as we're creating our new world together for Glass Cannon 2.0. And I'm constantly thinking about, I had a meeting with Jason Bowman this week going over,

uh, the first part of our adventure. And he told me to get this book, uh, cobalt guide to world building. Sure. It's like a pamphlet. That's where Matthew gets all of his spells from.

It's third party. Troy, I would put that away. I, you know, I, I hesitated at first, but it had five stars on Amazon, but it's great. It's got essays by Troy, I would put that way. I hesitated at first, but it had five stars on Amazon.

But it's great. It's got essays by Wolfgang Bauer and Monty Cook. Oh, nice. Yeah, it's just, again, super short. Not exactly lightweights. Yeah, no, heavy hitters. And it just talks about like, oh, so it's basically, so you want to build your own world.

And that's what we're doing. And so I love getting more steeped in small little areas like this because it makes you think of like what kind of world do we want to create and we've been talking behind the scenes now for well over a year of the kind of world that you guys want to play in the kind of world that i want to run and so uh you know it's just nice to get back to a town like this because it reminds me of those. Because you've got to think small before you can think big. You can't be like, I want ice kingdoms and dragons flying everywhere. You've got to start small and go big.

Also, by the way, I think I've come up with my character that I want to play for 2.0. You have. You have. Give us all the details. So has Matthew Capitacazza. Oh, okay. All right. Isn't that crazy?

So far away from that, and you guys already know. Joe's getting nervous. He's like, oh, shit, did they pick my class? I need to know both your classes in advance. I will not build a character until I know all the other three classes. Just letting you know that up front. As long as you both worship Jimothy, God of Truth. Jimothy's the Arch-shaman, I think.

That's the arch-shaman. Jimothy, Archon of Truth. Yes. Every God of Truth has two faces. One is Zol's. The other is Jimothy. As you make your way through town, just doing a big loop from the shore to the fight with the Revenant to Sleepless Detective Agency, coming back around as the day is winding down. A long day of walking.

Hope you had your Fitbits on because you got plenty of steps today. Plenty of steps. Plenty of steps. You make your way towards New Chapel, hopefully, so you'll have a chance to reconnect with winter. As you arrive at Newchapel, you see a crowd of townsfolk gathering and congregating in front of another building right nearby the cathedral, like two doors over. It grabs your attention because they're like shouting at the front door and you see a guy come out and they're shouting, they're like, get out of here! Get out of here, you coward!

Get out of here! It's time to fess up! Oh, no. It's Martin Luther. So the guy comes out of his cottage. Stop vandalizing our door! To be clear, they're not yelling at the church. It's a building right next to the church.

But you can't help but see it. Martin Luther's brother! Get out of that house, Martin Luther's brother! Gary Luther! Get out of here, Gary Luther! His brother's hiding out next door! Get out of here! Jerry Luther, naturally inspired by his brother, posted the 55 theses because he didn't have time for all 95.

Jesus is not a hard worker. I wish his brother's name was Vandross Luther. Vandross Luther. Well, Jerry was just a nickname for Vandross. They called me Vandross. I'm a half-elf. Oddly enough, you do see this tall, thin, possibly half-elf, possibly elf, walk out of the building that they're yelling at.

Blonde hair, deep gray eyes, cool little goatee. And he's like, please, please, please, I have nothing to do with this. You have to believe me, please. And people are like, ah, we know it's you. We know it's you. Tell us the truth. Do you guys want to deal with this at all? It seems a little weird. Yeah, Atticus jumps right into

the fray. He's just like... After I chuck a bomb at the crowd. Yeah, so bomb first. Gigantic explosion. Oh, God! You get to choose four members of the crowd to save. You're playing God right now. My mother's knee!

Who's a coward now? It's like a family's running away on fire. Sir Julie jumps in. Tell us the truth. Jimothy demands it. Jimothy demands the truth. The arch demon of truth demands it. My mother's leg was blown off.

All right, so what do you do? Do you join the crowd? Yeah, get out of here. Yeah, no, he just steps into the crowd, and he's just like, Now hold on a moment. Everyone calm down. My friends and I recently broke out of an asylum We are not from this city

But we are inserting ourselves in this issue immediately What is happening here? You need our expertise Get them! And somebody hits you over the head with a newspaper It was rather rude He puts his hat back on his top hat So that was uncalled for I'm here trying to de-escalate the situation It was rather rude. He puts his hat back on his top hat.

So that was uncalled for. I'm here trying to de-escalate the situation so that Sir Julie here doesn't have to start cutting heads from shoulders. She'll do it. I've seen her. You don't know what's going on if you just got to town. It's this elf painter here, Lelwyn Hasek, his name is. He was hired by the church to paint a mural here in our good chapel, our good chapel dedicated to our God, Phrasma. He comes here out of town, elf, with his pointy ears and his attitude,

and he wants to make a mural in the church. And we said, okay, but now there's all these murals showing up all over town and people are going missing. I say they're connected. He's the only artist here in town and that vandalism didn't start showing up on our walls until he arrived. And now the priestess is

gone. Everyone's like oh the priestess is gone. Folks keep talking about how it's the Briarstone Witch that came. It's coming back to Threshmore to make a second vanishing, but no, we know. We know the truth. Isn't that right? We know the truth. It's the

elf that's behind these troubles. He drew the murals. He did the kidnapping. Let's get him! And the crowd's starting to decide if they want to do something physical. But it's just like a powder keg waiting to explode.

What do you guys want to do? And the guy's like, please, it wasn't me! I had nothing to do with this! Sir Julie just starts walking through the crowd like gleaming golden armor, greatsword on her back. She starts walking straight through the crowd and up towards the elf to stand between him and

the crowd if it was any other character I'd be like well they're gonna fight you and be like who do you think you are but you're sir Julie Andrews and you look you command attention and so they're just like I just walk through they all kind of part to the side

what side are you on there, Sir Knight? It depends on what you have to say. Now, we have heard your ranting and raving. If you would like to present an argument, a reasonable argument, I will listen. My friends and I will listen. Then we shall hear from this fellow.

Yes, perhaps something in the vague range of evidence. Yes, claims supported by evidence. Thank you. You may proceed. The evidence is on the walls all over town. No one ever drew... Okay, all right, understood, understood. He turns to the elf. The murals all over town that have been cropping up,

are they yours? No, no, I had nothing to do with it. And the crowd's like, he's lying! Sense murder. Sense murder on this lying piece of shit elf. Typical lying elf. Typical, typical lying artist elf. Sir Julie will turn to the elf and say,

How would you characterize Your artistic style I mean I do draw landscapes But people Sit for me and I do portraits as well If you look at my work These murals that these people Speak of it looks nothing like

My style and they say well why didn't people go missing until you came into town? All of a sudden, an artist comes into town, murals show up, people go missing, who's the culprit? And you can see, like, you're calming them down enough, but this might get a little out of control where it's going to need, like, a diplomacy

or an intimidation, but I do want to play out this trial so keep going but you do i want to just impress upon you it's it's getting heated and you don't know if it's going to get physical all right uh atticus will turn to the elf just very quickly and we'll oh man what did you guys roll on your sense motives, by the way? Because I never resolved that. I rolled a five, so I just bagged out of it. 19 for Aldo. 25 for Halster. Sir Jules? 17.

Okay. So everyone except Atticus, you feel like he's telling the truth, but he's very hesitant and very nervous, so it's hard to get a beat, but you don't think he's lying. It's like doing a polygraph in front of a mob that's about to kill you if you fail the polygraph. You're holding his pulse as he's like,

no, I didn't do it. He seems nervous. I don't know if I trust him. I can't help but notice your pulse has elevated around questions one through 20. All right, hold on, hold on, Atticus says, just so I'm clear. Let the rat speak!

Thank you, madam. Thank you. Just so I'm clear. I don't want to listen to a rat! Well, he might have some good points to make. Still, my father told me that if you're in an angry mob and a rat walks up, you stop listening. Your father gave you that advice? He did.

I'll never forget it. It was my 16th name day. He said, Pa, son, forever an ecremon. Everyone's tired of watching this conversation. And a rat, for any reason,

should come out and try to give you advice, you stop listening immediately. That seems like really specific advice that while perfectly suited to this moment moment is really not helping the situation. I understand. And they go back. Sir Julie raises, if I may.

He is not a rat. He is a rat who believes himself to be a man. Very different situation. Well, my father said. The different situation. Well, my father said good! The funniest thing, and you know what? Maybe it's not funny at all, is that

this is the way people actually are. Like, this is the way mobs actually think in actual life. This is Facebook. This is Twitter. Like, this is Twitter out in front of this dude's house right now. Yeah. When a rat walks up, I stop listening.

When my father said, if it's a rat who takes his human. Just so I'm clear, the evidence against this man that you present is that he is an artist that you hired. And around the same time as his coming to town, murals started to appear all over town that are nothing like his art, have no similarity to his art, but are considered art and thus the disappearances are his fault. No one has seen him do a mural in the street. Is that correct? Anyone here

seen this elf do a mural in the street? I saw him! You did? Step forward, sir. Alright. Now, what is your name? My name? My name is Scrug Muffin

Toots. Now, Mr. Toots. Please, please. My father is miserable. Oh, I saw it happen. I saw it happen. I knew it was going to win. Oh, God.

Oh, that was so funny. Now, Mr. Jr. Oh, my God. Oh, my God. Usually we have to edit these laugh breaks down. Please, please. My father's Mr. Toots. Call me Scrug Muffin.

Okay, Scrug Muffin. Where did you see this man? What street was it on? It was... And Atticus literally pulls out a pen and his spell book. And it acts like he's writing it down. Well, I was down by the docks,

and I saw someone writing on the wall, and he was tall, and I think his ears were pointy, and the next day I came by, and there was one of those murals there. Now, sir, Mr. Scrug Muffin, it is well known that in the docks area, at night, it is impossible for a human being to see anything. This is well documented.

That's true. Could it be true, sir? Could it be true that since the sun had set beyond the horizon, you were unable to see your own hand in front of your face and thus unable to make an accurate identification of who painted the mural? Well, I suppose that's possible, but... Thank you, sir.

Thank you, sir. And the crowd envelops him up again. Now, Avastan and particularly Ustalav is a nation that considers itself civilized. We do not simply accuse someone of a crime without proper due process.

We must understand and see where the evidence lies. No one here has seen this elf do anything, and if he is guilty of these crimes, justice will come to him. Fear not. And he touches up at Sir Julie's freaking gauntlet. Just like hanging off her armor. This is a fucking paragon! You don't think that she'll cut him to shreds if she finds out he's been kidnapping children? Have no fear.

Leave it in our hands. Justice will be served. Sir Julie, yes? I just wanted to say I am a paragon of goodness and justice. Atticus, please continue. Yes.

To put it simply, a paragon of justice. We will make sure that this is handled correctly. And we will be certain that if this elf, and he gives him a dirty look to like fit in with the crowd for a second, is guilty of these crimes,

truly guilty, then he will hang for them. But until then, we do not want to make an incorrect accusation and have the real kidnapper still on the street. Anyway, that's really long for a guy with a plus zero in diplomacy, so I'll just stop.

It was so good, though. I'm not even going to have you roll the check. You just auto-succeed. It was so well done. I love an auto-succeed. Auto-succeed, and the crowd's like, all right, yeah, I guess that's all right. You see a couple people with rocks in their hands, and they throw them to the ground.

All right, well, trust you, obviously a knight of the church would be able to suss out truth from lies, but we leave his fate in your hands. You promise us you will grill him and find out the truth? Yes, we'll kill him and find out the truth. You promise us you will, uh, you will, you will you will grill him and find out the truth? Yes, we'll kill him and find out the truth. You have our word. Now go home. Run along home. I will go further. And he steps up.

And he says, I will promise you, not only that if we absolve this elf from these crimes, we will do more than that. We will not stop until we find out who is guilty of these crimes and we will bring them before you and assure you that justice is served dead or alive and he's like feeding into their anger but trying to deflect it from the elf oh and they kind of look like oh that's that's good that's good let's go all right all right

and they start walking away, and they walk away, but the one guy is standing there, the one whose father told him, never, never, if you're standing in an unruly crowd and a rat speaks, never listen. He just stands there, and he looks at you, arms folded, and just goes. Turns and walks away. That guy hadn't heard anything the last eight minutes. He didn't hear it. He didn't know what was happening. He just stuck his fingers in his ears.

Didn't process a single word. The elf is like, oh, thank you. I don't know you and you don't know me. You did not have to do that and I appreciate it because I feel like if it came to blows, I'm so fired up, and you don't know me. You did not have to do that, and I appreciate it, because I feel like if it came to blows, I'm so fired up, I would have attacked them, and they would have taken me down. Please, please, come in.

Can I offer you a drink? Shut your trap, Llewellyn. What? I can see the guilt written all over your face. He comes out, he's missing three teeth. It was pure selfishness. We wanted to kill ourselves And he dives in with a silver dagger

Oh, please no Why did you do it? Confess They have nothing like mine They have nothing like mine Their existence is an affront to Jimothy Truth Yeah, we'll go in We'll go into his path My existence is an affront to Jimothy. Yeah, we'll go in.

We'll go into his pad. Please come in and have some of my drink, some of my salt and bread. God. That is what it is like to be in a glass cannon. Oh, yeah. I saw it in Tiger Mother's chair. If that was ever like in an audience,

we would have, it was just, just Thank you I love moments like that There's so few in far between but when they hit I'll be laughing about that For the next four days Oh yeah yeah we'll just we'll be recording Something else we'll be like remember Mr. Toots Please please come in I cannot

Thank you enough. That was so kind of you. You don't know me from anyone. And I appreciate you seeing the truth of the situation, that I had nothing to do with this. Just this town, these hayseeds, they think everything is something. Please, come in. Let me get you a drink.

Do you mind? I am ashamed to say all I have is this 20-year vintage. Normally I would have something a little finer. No, no, please. Oh, it has been so long.

I cannot tell you. I would love a tawny port. All right. And he pours for you. Or is it like hard liquor? Or is it a wine? It's like the Galarian equivalent of scotch.

It's a whiskey. Oh, so it's a hard liquor. Yeah. Excellent. He pours some for you. It looks to you, Aldo. Do you drink? Oh, yeah.

No, I could go with a tip. Yeah, certainly.. Do you drink? Oh, yeah, no, I could go with a tip or a house to me. A house to drink. I'll just have one, though. Don't give me a second. I kind of, well, you don't want to see me when I've had too much. You don't want to see him if he has a second. All right, well, it's on the house, but

take as much as you want. And you, Sir Knight, do you partake? I do. Just two fingers. Just two fingers. All right. A little bit. Say when.

Say when. Cannonball. He fills you up with four fingers. Thank you. I'm going to pour some myself. I'm a little shook up from that. And he's like shaking hand, drinks it. We've also had a rough day.

And he steps in and he says, now tell us, if you would, you came from out of town. Where did you come from? Well, I come from another area, actually. Another area. I'm sorry, I thought it was of import. Clearly it's not. Move along. I didn't put it in my notes because I didn't think it was that important.

But suffice it to say I'm out of town. I'm from out of town. Someplace far away. Yes, that'll do. This guy seems like a shady fuck. Let's just say I'm from out of town. I don't feel comfortable answering that question. That's what you want to hear from a guy you're into.

Because he's from the abyss. Yeah, he is from Greensgold. Greensgold? Greensgold. Or Greengold. I'm gonna roll a knowledge geography

and fudge a really high roll it's right near Lake Encarzine it's uh so he's from he's from the area he's from the area

but he was commissioned to come well at least what the crowd said he's commissioned to come in and draw uh

for New Chapel and you see there's like paintings uh everywhere there's like a really beautiful painting just in the other room that keeps catching your eye.

But then there's paintings of like a view of the bay that you guys came in on, Avalon Bay, and then portraits of like rich-looking people that are half-finished. It's a small studio, two rooms cluttered with canvases, supplies,

and these partially-completed paintings. Pasturels, the Bay people, and then it looks like there's an opus just in the other room that you can't really see. Well, your work is really quite impressive. Oh, thank you. Who hired you? The priestess. The priestess of Newchapel. They

commissioned me to come and do a piece. Well, I knew you would ask that. And she has gone missing. Is that correct? The town seems very agitated about it. Yes, well, she has. She's been

missing for days, and I've been the only person inside the quaint chapel since. I guess I'm now the de facto custodian of New Chapel, as Cesedia Rance from the Sleepless Detective Agency asked me to keep an eye on the place during the priestess's absence.

There was a woman that came by this morning asking after her, but I sent her on her way. The chapel now, it's mostly abandoned ever since the priestess left. Who? Is her name Winter? Yes, Winter Klaxer. Yes, we are associates. The Maiden's Choir Cathedral. Excellent. Yes, I come from. The Maiden's Choir Cathedral. Excellent. Yes, I come from Greengold in Caliphass.

I was hired by the priestess to come paint a mural here in this superstitious backwater. The money was good, but to be honest, I regret taking the job. If it weren't for the priestess's disappearance, I'd already be gone, to be honest. But I need to get paid first, so I've stayed. I don't know where this priestess has gone off to, but I need my money so I can get out of here with my head still on my shoulders. When did you last see the priestess? Before we go into it, was the Sleepless Detective Agency already grilling you about this? Did Miss Wrench, is that her name?

Did she already ask you all these questions? I went to Miss Wrench when I noticed the priestess was missing. You know, it's not that I don't care that she's missing. It's very sad. I'm sure there's people that know her very well, but I need to get my payment, and so I was concerned about that primarily,

so I went to the detective agency to let them know that I hadn't seen the priestess, and I'd heard rumors that other people were going missing from town. I didn't know if it was connected or not, but I just thought I would report it. And she said, well, all right, you keep an eye on the chapel until then. I just want my money so I can get out of here. As you can see, I'm not very popular. No, it's understood.

And you've done work and you need to be paid for it. And we're going to see that that happens as much as we can anyway. Yes, what do you think of my work? Isn't it wonderful? I will say, as horrible as this place is, they do have some beautiful views, and there are some people, bumpkins though they may be, some of them have money,

and they're smart enough to spend it getting portraits done of them. Sometimes on the rare days when the weather's nice in this shithole, I take my easel down to the bay and paint. And since my arrival, these moneybags have asked me to do some portraits of them as well. You should see my opus, though. I know you must have many questions, but come, bring your drinks. Look, and he starts walking towards the back of his studio, towards this other painting.

Hold on a moment. Hold on a moment. We will see your work. There is no rush. I'm not going anywhere. Sorry, I just... I don't often get visitors that aren't ready to kill me. I understand, I understand,, I just, I don't often get visitors that aren't ready to kill me.

I understand, I understand, but your artwork, while important to you, is less important to us. We need to know what happened to this priestess, so if you would, how long ago did she go missing? When did you last see her? Three, four, four days ago. And where did you last see her? Was it in the chapel? Did she live in the chapel? Yes, she has a house just off of the chapel.

She stays there, and I was in there going over the finer points of the mural that I was drawing, which, if you see what I have started so far, looks nothing like these half-completed hack jobs that you see all over town. The residence that is attached to the chapel where she lives, did you go in there after she went missing? Have you poked around? I wouldn't say I poked around.

No. I'm sorry. Who are you again, if you don't mind me asking? My name is Atticus Grimm. My name is Atticus Grimm. I am not working for the Sleepless Detective Agency, but I'm working alongside the detective agency and with Winter Klaxer to find out where these missing people are. Watching too much Mayor of Easttown,

it's like your questions start to get a little too pointed. Wait, who are you again? Yeah. You know what, dude? I have to answer your questions. You know, I see. I have to answer your questions. I'd like to speak to my lawyer. Do you have a warrant?

Do I need a lawyer for this? Should I talk to a lawyer? Head down to the Wawa and get a lawyer? Alright, so did he go rooting around her room is all I'm asking. So you're associates of the sleepless detective agency. I mean, I didn't get the impression I was a suspect, but... No, you're not. We're gathering information.

Right, right, right. No, I understand. No, you are. Right, right, right. No, I understand. No, and as I told Miss Rents, no, I knocked and no one answered. I didn't hear anything. I would assume she followed up on it and she has the authority to go and look in there.

But no, no, there's no one in there. She's gone. Okay. All right. Will we be able to get into the chapel? Or is it locked up? Do you need to let us in? No, I have the key. I could let you in.

Excellent. That's no problem. Don't leave town. Good advice. Yes. I do hope to leave town as fast as humanly possible once I get paid I'm afraid that won't be possible it's not possible mate sorry

you are in fact under arrest what you just told me I wasn't a suspect and now I'm under arrest there's no suspicion when we know it's not a suspicion when you know that someone committed the crime is it so right so i wasn't really paying attention i really think i should call my lawyer i'm gonna do can i do another sense motive on this guy uh you know the last one was just asking him

uh if he painted the murals uh in this case uh i want to see if he's, like, shifty at all about, you know, letting us into the chapel, or this, like, painting he wants us to look at. Is he just genuinely, like, an egotistical artist? Or is he like, come look at my painting that will distort your mind and make you my prisoner? I don't know. Let's, uh,

I just want to do a little sense motive. It's a 13. 13. He seems like a snob a snob that like even though his life was just threatened uh is more concerned about his art than he is anything else but not a villain he doesn't seem like a just a douche okay all right douchebag show us your painting yeah i want to see the painting douchebags oh wonderful bring your drinks i suppose i could give you a little bit more uh yes um this is something i've been working on i uh i i think you'll enjoy it and he leads you to the back of the studio and uh you keep passing by the paintings and as you pass by more and more

half finished or completely finished uh paintings they start to take on a little, a little more of a macabre tone. Oh God, this is such a good story. Shit, dude. As you're walking to the back and it's the, the subject matter starts getting more and more grim. You see this triptych prominently displayed on an easel, uh,

in the back middle of the studio. It looks like, imagine like everything you remember of movies of like when people go to an artist studio there's paintings all over the place but then there's one sort of prominently displayed the one that he spends most of his time on so that's what you see and it looks like it's still just in the sketch phase maybe a little bit of paint has been added but it's still in the sketch phase. And it's four figures. Four people in full

figure, and they're drawn like foot to neck, but their faces are incomplete. It's fucking awesome. Oh, whoa! In the background, three different cities. Three completely different,

unique cities. all sort of flow seamlessly into each other under a yellowish sky. And you immediately realize that yes, the four figures are the four of you.

Wow. Roll for initiative. Roll for initiative. You lose part of the painting. Isn't this the graffiti that's going on? Isn't it exactly this? It is and it isn't. The graffiti you're seeing is that same, yeah, totally different style.

You see it is a gloomy abandoned city, but this is like three very different cities. One looks incredibly opulent. One mimics the one that you started this adventure in and similar-ish to the murals that you've seen. But you've seen those murals. You've seen this. It's of a different style. And then the third one is just, it doesn't look as opulent as the first and as barren as the second. It's just weird.

And they all flow seamlessly. Do you say anything? Do you do anything? Yeah. Start stabbing him. We stab him several times with swords. Until he's dead. No, Sir Julius is... Can you tell me about this piece?

Oh, you know what's so sad? I had you guys on the map of the city. I forgot to show you this map. That's so sad. Are you on the map map yet? Yeah. Yes. It was a whole angry mob? Oh, no! Yeah, I had the whole angry mob. Are you on the map map yet? Yeah. Yes. Oh. That was it.

It was a whole angry mob? Oh, no. Yeah, I had the whole angry mob. Oh, man. I got so tied up in the role play, I forgot to show you this fun little map. This is lowly. I know it's not your style, but I'm a little disappointed nobody was holding a log. I did it on purpose. I'm going to be honest.

I did it on purpose. It's not to be honest. I did it on purpose. It's not my style. The joke's done. Joke's not done. We're moving on to new jokes. But I understand where you came from. You know what I will do, though, is I will show you Lelwyn Hasek while we're here. Oh, he is a snob.

He does look like a jerk. Oh, my God. I punch him in the face. Troy, you, you, not in the fantasy of the game, you described that as a sweet goatee. Seems a little odd to me. You're kind of into it. It's neither sweet nor a goatee. Sometimes I'm writing very fast and I'll just think of the first adjective that comes to my head.

It's a pretty sweet goatee. It is a well-groomed beard for sure. I will say that. Yeah. Well, sometimes you can say, oh, sweet goatee. Like saying, that's bad. Means it's good. Sweet goatee guy.

All right, so that was the map. What did you say, Sir Julie? Sorry. I asked him to talk about his work. Yes, he just described it. sir julie sorry i asked him to talk about his work yes he's like described and he says well this here is uh i've been writing more about uh or drawing more about what i see in my dreams i'm having very vivid dreams especially ever since i i came to town and i um i uh and he's looking back and forth between the

yeah no shit and Atticus is looking dead in the eye at him is that oh my oh this is this is uncanny I I don't believe we've

ever met do you remember ever meeting me in person outside of today? No, but to be honest, that means very little. This is fascinating. This is absolutely fascinating. I'm terrible with faces and names. I'm usually so wrapped up in what I'm doing. I guess it's possible I met you, but it doesn't really matter. I've seen each of you in my dreams over the last few nights, and it was such a powerful feeling that I felt inspired to put the brush to canvas. You see, often I just, I feel wrapped up to paint what I see in my dreams, but these visions that I've been having as of late,

which, to be honest, I can't quite remember all the details of their dreams. They just... This one here, it just gave me the sensation, and I know this is going to sound foolish, but it gave me the sensation, as I was drawing it, that Thrushmore's destiny somehow depended on the four of you. This is... This is wild!

And I've had such a hard time getting the faces just right. Would you sit for me so I could finish the faces? I would gladly give you ten gold pieces, each to help me finish my work. But what am I saying?

You just saved my life! Yeah, you should... Forget about that, although that's very important to me. I'd like to give you this. And he rummages through his paint supplies. And he says, like, it's just a small token of my thanks. But this is for you now.

And if you'd like to sit for me, I'll give you another ten whole gold pieces each. And he drops this bag on the ground and it doesn't make any sound and anyone who can detect magic detects magic from the bag what is it? what's in the bag? I'm so sorry I just assumed someone of your

import would understand this is a bag of holding it was given to me. It was given to me as a gift, but I have so many of them. I just, maybe it was something you could use. And inside of it, there's a little magic trick. I don't know if you like magic, but whoop! And he pulls out 500 gold pieces.

This is for you as well. This is the least I can do for all that you've done to save my life, because that mob, they were going to get me ready to get in there and put up my fists. And had I done so, they might have very well hurt me. So the bag of holding is yours, the 500 gold of yours, and there is 40 more gold pieces. You are coming your way. If you'll just let me, if you have time, I don't know what else you're doing. No, of course. I'll tell you what.

Keep the 40 gold pieces. Why not give each of us a bag of holding? You've got so many. I do, I do, but they're all back in Califas. Sorry. Understood. No, understood. Really appreciated. Very nice.

It's 500 gold pieces there. No, of course. That's probably a lot to someone like you. Oh, no.. That's probably a lot to someone like you. Oh, no. This bloke has got a little bit of a... Oh, no, he's a bit tall poppy, eh? He knows what he's saying. Sir Julie walks over to one of his other pieces. I know what I said.

Sir Julie walks over to one of his other pieces, not the one of us, and just stares at it for a minute. Like, makes a show of staring at it Takes a step back Stares at it some more and goes Do you like that one Sir Knight Hmm It's Well

Certainly uh Lean into the brushstrokes, do you? Well, yes, it's a stylistic choice. As you see, not all of my paintings are like this, but I'm sure I could part with it if your church gives you enough money to buy fancy things.

Well, I'm sure there are some people who do like this kind of thing. You know, the hayseeds and rubes you're working with now might find it very sophisticated. Yes, well, they've never seen anything like this in a town like this. Sadly, none of them can afford it, so I'm hoping that I can paint what filth they have here and bring it back to a more cultured society and sell it for big bucks. But for someone like you who saved my life, I'm sure I could part with this for

200 gold, if you like it. Any of these, I can tell you the price. I think I'd rather wait and see how its value appreciates or depreciates over time. How does it feel being in a profession where you're better off dead in so many ways?

Well, I guess one could say that of any profession. I see you have the armor. Not carpentry. Not carpentry. Fishmongering, I don't think they would say that about them either. Constitution, except for a very small niche of clients, can't say it. With all due respect... Oh my god!

You are a knight. One could say that some of the horrors you have to face, you would be better off dead as well, so I think that could apply to any of us. Yes. But the point is taken. Anyway. Anyway.

Shall we go to Newchapel? Sure. How long do you take, typically? Oh, it depends. I really have to wait until I'm inspired. Some days I wake up and the muse just hits me and I just paint all day. I forget to even eat.

And then there are the days where I struggle and I tear down these paintings. And then there are days where I'll paint for a little bit and then I'll eat and then I'll go out drinking and I'll meet a woman and then I just get lost in her and then I'll come back and we'll paint in our own little way. And the whole time he's talking, he's just like, we're zooming in on his face. And then he finishes and pulls back and none of us are in the house.

Bag of holding the gold is all gone. Hello? Sorry, Aldo. So he takes you over to New Chapel And walks you inside And you come up to the door And he's like Oh did you notice the door seems to be open What

And he just pushes it And the door opens And there's nobody inside You go in there you take 20 Nothing of interest She's gone Okay in there you take 20 nothing of interest she's gone okay um is there any um information to be had in a line of questioning with him about um the dreams uh really may what i'm trying to get down to is like we know that the count's assistant was trying to was ordering

uh dream inducing sort of potions and shit like that we know what happened at the asylum so uh my questions would be along the lines of like have you met you know like somebody new you know what i mean that you've been talking with frequently or you know outside like somebody new, you know what I mean? That you've been talking with frequently or, you know, outside of like the priestess or, you know, anything funny that coincided with when you started having dreams of us, like, is there anything out of the ordinary? Did you eat anything different? Did you drink anything different?

Did you, you know, kind of that kind of question? No, he says the dream started when he came to town. They were much more vivid than usual. Him painting his dreams is nothing new. He's done that for a while. But when he came to Threshmore, something happened where he just felt like his dreams were, he could remember a lot more of them, even though some details slipped his mind. And then a couple nights ago, he had this dream about the four of you, the saviors of Threshmore. Just a couple nights.

And he just felt inspired to draw you, but he couldn't remember your faces. Right. Well, you have very prescient dreams, and thank you for the bag of holding. Yes, yes. And if you'd like to come back back I'd happily Pay you ten gold each To paint your faces Imagine having your faces On this work of art that could hang in a cathedral today

It could make it all the way To Absalom Yes, yes, of course And Atticus is like very Distracted and very Trying to piece this all together and sort of, I don't know, considering this artist to be irrelevant in the whole grand scheme,

but still it's very interesting. Is it everyone in this town having dreams like this? Is it just being in the town that's inducing these dreams? Have we slept in the town one night, one night and we had no dreams, right? Nothing like what we had in the, in the asylum.

So, uh, now winter, we were going to new chapel to see winter right and she's gone and there's no he said that a woman came by today asking for the priestess and uh she left did she say where she was going? No, she had a group of people with her. They all looked like the infirm, and she went off with them. Refugees. Right. Yeah. Log carriers, all of them. Yeah, well, they carry a bunch of logs, at least.

It's funny you should mention that. You are quite wise. More than five of them had giant logs in their hand, and the way that they looked at those logs is the way that I look at my art. Lovingly. May all of your art be smooth. We don't have anything besides the fort, right?

Yeah. I'm sure we could ask around about winter, do a gather information. Yeah, like where did we, I'm sure we could we could probably ask around about winter do a gather information like where did we yeah can we do that can we ask around if anybody has seen where winter went or or even if it means going back to the sleepless detective agency well it's almost night time here too yeah I know I want to sleep like I'm all about sleeping but like we thought we were just going to talk to winter tonight so like if we we just like to find out where she went with the group from the asylum apparently maybe she's assuming the wheel

she's at the wagon wheel silver wagon silver wagon yeah oh well shit I'd love to go back there yeah so you want to want to call it a night and head back to the silver wagon

yeah grab grab a nightcap at the stain and do some gather information gather information to see if winter came through okay did a woman matching this description come through anyway do we get to the stain uh unimposed well it's funny you should ask because you oh shit you walk outside by the time you leave this uh guy's place you've had a couple pops and you uh you can't stop thinking about this painting imagine how scary that is it's just it's like the four of you with no faces and just you know again slow camera pan into the room, and you see this artwork like around a corner, David Lynch style.

It's just like, ah! So you leave there like, okay. It's one thing to see murals around town that remind us of the cityscape from our dreams where we fought the Tatterman. It's another thing to walk into a random artist's studio and see a painting of the four

of us. It's like you're intrinsically linked to this town in some way. This very troubled town where something or some things

very dark are happening. You are linked to it. Maybe, as Lelwyn says, you are the saviors of this town. Come to make it right. Or maybe you're the town's next victims.

So you're walking through the streets, and it's quiet at night. It's dark. There's no street lamps. There's no people outside. From time to time, you just hear a sh-tunk of a door being bolted, because they hear people walking through the streets,

the four of you. For the record, we're going to cast light. So you cast light. You're walking around. You're like, which way is it? Do we take a left at Elm Street?

Or is it a right? You're kind of getting turned around because in this area, heading back, look at that map. You're going all the way from New Chapel all the way back across town. You kind of get turned around a little bit. It felt like a straight way, but at a certain point you're like, wait a minute, I think we're supposed to go back that way.

So you get a little turned around, and still you see those murals. Once you get to this place, you look to the left of you and there's a mural and then you look to the right and there's another one and you just you feel like you're taken back to that city for a moment just surrounded by those tall buildings

so tall that they like bend at the top a yellow mist pervasive everywhere and the chittering of the tatter man at the top, a yellow mist pervasive everywhere, and the chittering of the tatter man. And as you kind of get lost for just a second in that, you hear this laughter. It's like...

Hehehehehehehehehehe. Hehehehehehehehehehe. And about ten feet in front of you, this apparition appears. It's of like an old woman but as your eyes start to adjust to the light to take her in you see that like her eye is missing and out of her eye is like a tentacle that's coming and that tentacle seems to go into her body come out at her abdomen go back into her body and wrap all the way around. She's like part woman, part eldritch nightmare. And she just... And like the ghost from the beginning of Ghostbusters,

she's just like... We're all for initiative. Oh, no! Oh, no! We're all for initiative Oh no That is so freaking scary Dude I haven't even rested This is insane This is insane

Encounter today right One two three Four Wait three four wait one two three no this is just four right because it's we haven't had an encounter the entire no five no this is

five yeah this is six this is six no this is our fifth I don't have a lot of my abilities left. Yeah, I know. You don't have any Lay on Hands, do you? Oh, you can't give Lay on Hands to somebody else.

I have three Lay on Hands, so I can't give them away. How many do you have per day? Six. Oh. Halster almost died. Yeah. We're okay, though. We're okay because Halster still can cast protection from good on himself thanks to his armor.

So we're golden. My God, this is so awesome. This is so awesome. Why is this so awesome? You're just trying to kill us constantly. I'm just starting to see how this is all going to fucking play out. It's so great. I'm so fun.

Did you just say I'm so fun? Did you just say I'm so fun? I didn't mean to say that. I said this is so fun. I'm so valid? I didn't mean to say that. I said this is so fun. I'm so fun. You said I'm so fun. Oh, my God, I'm so fun. I'm so fun, you guys.

You're all so lucky. You're all so lucky to just sit here and bask in my fun. I'm so fun. Sir Julie, what's your role? Six. I sound like my child. I'm so fun. Ald Julie, what's your roll? Six. I sound like my child. I'm so fun. Aldo.

18 for Aldo. Thank goodness. Atticus. Slow streak for Atticus. 13. 13 for Atticus. Amazing. Halster. Seven. Jeepers! Man! Oddly enough, none of you beat the natural 20 that I just rolled for initiative.

Just a nice GCP right there. What gaze effect do we have to roll a save for now? Oh, my friend. You don't know what you're about to get into. Let's get some facts. Let me guess. Hold on. I'm just going to throw this out there.

Half of us just don't get to play? That seems to be the fucking standard. On a coin flip, half of you don't get to play the game with your friends. That sums up Pathfinder. Are you guys on the map? Yes. All right. This is what she looks like. Oh, yeah.

Oh! No thanks. No thanks. Is she flying or is she standing looks messed up. No thanks. No thanks. Is she flying or is she standing on the ground? Don't worry about it. She looks like she's standing on the ground, but she's like hovering there very strangely. She looks like if Mrs. Haversham was in Shadow over Innsmouth. Yeah.

Yes. All right. There's Atticus, one. Halster, two. Sir two Sir Julie three Aldo four who wants to roll the d4 to see who she attacks Joe oh no

oh boy get on that Joe's gonna roll a cam who's who Atticus is one yep straight across one two three four who's who? Atticus is one? Yep. Atticus one. Yeah, straight across. Yep.

One, two, three, four. Okay, here we go. That show's gonna roll, Cam. Here it is. Come on. It's a fucking one! Of course it is! Of course it is!

With the chip edge. God. We need this for the live show. All right, so she just... Oh, that's so bad. Slides over towards Atticus. So bad. And she's just...

You can see straight through her. And she's going to go ahead and do a touch attack. We can see through her? So she's incorporeal? Right, right. Sounds like your classic incorp, John. Here we go. That's going to be a natural 20.

I'm not even fucking kidding. That is absurd. That's two chain 20s since we started today. I'm taking this die on the road. This thing... This is the same die, by the way. There was that Starfinder Starship Combat where I rolled like five or six 20s. Not in a row,

but it was like over the course of an hour. Wow. Wow. So we have Troy's collection of misaligned die that he likes to rely on. Perfect. But why would it be misaligned towards the 20? Why wouldn't it just be misaligned towards like a three?

This thing always rolls threes. It's a random chance of what it would be misaligned to. What is that question? It's just crazy that it's always 20s. What are the odds? One in 20. Exactly. Don't try to figure it out.

Troy lives in a world where the world is either 100% against him or 100% for him all the time well not for nothing you guys are always like well clearly the die's broken it's a die the odds are the die's fine and your luck is bad and my luck is good

that's absolutely that doesn't make any sense I like how you were like dangling towards like a scientific rational argument. You just guys have shitty luck. Hey listen. When people change

opinions against me, I don't make excuses. I sit down and I get back in the fight. I take the next snap. Yeah, that's because you have 150,000 characters to play. You have no investment in any of the things that you're rolling for. You don't care about anything or anyone. Can I

confirm my crit, please? See, that was a 12, and not a natural 20. So a total of a 19 against touch on Atticus. That's good. Alright, so she comes up to you and she just reaches inside of you and you feel this the minute her hand permeates your skin

you just feel this coldness that makes you shrivel under her touch. And you take... Hold on, it's a crit. She's a named character, yeah. Oh my God, this is so... It could be worse, I'll tell you that. It's very, very bad.

This one, Mara from Edmonton. Hi, Mara. I see your soul. Oh, God. Oh, no. For a moment, your mind melds with that of your target. You experience a moment from their life, getting a flash of insight into their hopes, dreams, and fears,

allowing you to anticipate their next moves. Double damage, and the target takes minus four to saving throws against you for 1d3 plus one rounds. On a failed will save, your allies gain this insight as well. Oh, there's no other allies. Okay. So, yeah. I just, no save. I just get fucking minus four.

Jeez, man. Jesus, dude. And your allies don't get it? Her allies would get it if there were multiple, yeah. All right. Let me tell you what the damage is going to be. It's not going to be... Well, let me just tell you what it is.

Oh. Oh. Two points of charisma damage. Okay. Okay. Okay. What is this? So she reaches into you, and I just rolled two ones on 2d4 to take.

It could have been eight points of charisma damage, and instead it's two points of charisma damage. At zero charisma, which a lot of you have punted on, I'm sure, you fall unconscious, and you're unable to respond. She takes two points of charisma damage from you. As her hand just, like, comes out of you, you start to, like, feel shriveled.

And if you guys look at Atticus, like, chunks of his fur start falling out. He just looks ugly. And it's Aldo's turn. Aldo, Sir Julie thinks you might be dealing with some sort of incorporeal situation. Yeah, well the fact that it's transparent would probably be a dead giveaway.

But Aldo is gonna take a five foot step away and he's only got so many of these but he's like, back to the grave many of these but he's like back to the grave you bugger lobs a bomb nice

oh boy that is a that is a nine against that is a miss do we have to worry about a missed bomb about where it goes or is that only when you fumble no uh yes we do

because it is going to land in an adjacent square to the target right right so it could land in the Atticus or Halster square but you can't hit your allies right well unless it hits

them directly I don't think it can hit anybody directly yeah because it wouldn't hit your allies, right? Well, unless it hits them directly. I don't think it can hit anybody directly. Yeah, because it wouldn't hit our AC either. It could hit my square and still not hit me directly. You know what I mean? Those are two different things. Yeah.

I wonder what the... This is where I'd like to actually hear from the chat on this. This is interesting. Because normally, the normal rules are it lands in a random square. But then, yeah, the question is, just because it lands in the square does it hit you no here's why why wouldn't you always just attack a creature by attacking its square for ac5 on a range touch bomb you know what i mean you would always attack the you have to hit the creature in order to really get the benefits of that. I think they're vulnerable to splash, you know, just as any other sport. Yeah, but his situation is splash doesn't hurt his allies.

No, I know. That's why I'm saying. So in his case, I think a miss does not endanger your allies. But it could hurt her still. No, because you can't hit her. The splash can hit her. The splash can hit her. The splash will hurt her no matter what. Right.

Yeah. The splash can hit her The splash will hit her no matter what So what I'm saying is on a miss You can't affect a direct hit Against you know unless it's a fumble And a fan fumble is you hit Your ally you know what I mean That sounds good alright so she is Vulnerable to splash now how does The fire damage Affect in corporeal real quick

It should be half damage. Half, okay, because it's basically, it's a core, when hit by spells or magic weapons, it takes half damage from a corporeal source. It can't take physical damage, but this is energy damage. And energy damage is halved? Yeah, that is my understanding of it. Any damage from a corporeal source is halved.

Force spells, that's not a force spell. I don't know if fire does get halved. It's energy damage. It's any damage from a corporeal source. It's magic. It's magic damage. It's magic. Yeah, yeah.

So an alchemist's bomb is magic. It's magic damage. It's magic. Yeah, yeah. It counts as magic. An alchemist's bomb is magic. It's a, you know, those fucking things are... It's magic. Okay. Yeah. All right, so I'll reflect save to avoid the splash damage. Yes, it is a DC 16 reflex save for half. And I failed.

Okay, so that is seven points of fire damage. Seven points of fire damage, which would be half to three points of fire damage. So if you save, you would take a quarter damage. Yeah, sorry, it's just late in the stream here, remembering all this stuff on top of everything else. But that's good. Okay, great. Well, that'll help us moving forward. How good is this fucking music?

It's great. It's so good. Almost how good is this fucking music it's great it's so good almost as good production music thank you as this stream uh let's keep popping now moving on to atticus atticus you just got a fucking get out of jail free card a critical touch effect that only did two points of charisma damage what do you want to do um A critical touch effect that only did two points of charisma damage. What do you want to do? So when we went into the cave, I'm operating under the assumption that I do not have mage armor. Because it lasts four hours. We went into the cave more than four hours ago at this stage? Yes.

Okay. Defending bone also gone. Okay. This is tough. All right. In that case, Atticus is going to take a five-foot step back. I just tried to move Atticus on the stream. Atticus is going to take a five-foot step back behind Halster, and he is going to use his arcane bonded object to recast mirror image today.

Okay. To protect himself. Okay. To protect himself. So, D4 for amount of images here. Oh, God, another one. So, two fucking images. Shit. Okay. Two images.

Skidamarinky do. There's three Atticus's and one scary old woman. And it is Halster's turn. Halster seeing this creature, you said just basically reach through Atticus, correct? Yeah. He's going to think about using his bark skin

potion because he wants to increase his AC, but he knows it's not going to matter against a creature like this. So he's going to yell out to Sir Julie, Sir Julie, flake this creature with me, please! And he is going to strike out at it.

Ranti-theft system is down. I could re-enable it or attempt to, but I'm afraid of it crashing the entire stream again. Don't worry about it. That is 11 on the die for a total of a 19 to hit. Against regular a sizzle?

Regular a sizzle. That is a miss. This thing's gonna kill us all. Alright. Yep. What did you just roll? 19. Oh dear. What the fuck, man? Give us a chance to fucking sleep. Yeah, this town remember uh

Cecilia told you in her rambling about all the things going on she's like and then people are saying ghosts in the streets you've now fought two of them in one day that's the thing like we can see ghosts

but like they all have to come within an hour of each other it's a weird term I'll turn going to five foot step directly in front of it in case that makes it easier for Sir Julie to get into flanking if that's her plan. It is Sir Julie's turn. Wait, knowledge religion work on this

or no? Yeah, yeah, yeah. 17 for a 23. Okay. Okay. 23. Okay. Okay.

Here's what I'll tell you. I'll tell you that this seems like some sort of projection of another restless spirit. Like this itself is not the actual enemy. It is still very dangerous.

But like you get the sense and you can't quite pinpoint it. Maybe it goes back into your dark training that is still like bubbling to the surface of your mind. That like this is some sort of projection of some even more terrifying enemy. But this itself can still hurt you but it's almost like the kind of ghost that's just there to fuck with you do i know enough about the projection uh idea to know if that the source of the projection would be nearby or if it could be continents away do you know what i mean it would have to your estimation with your role is that it's nearby now not maybe not near like in the next building but somewhere within like a mile

or two a mile or two okay yeah be brave please be brave i think we can take it down it's it's just a manifestation of a greater being sir julie what are you thinking? Alright, Sir Julie will spend, she'll use her alone in the dark ability which allows me to expend two uses of lay on hands to get another smite. Okay. I'm also all smite evil. It's a bold move, Sir Julie.

Yeah. Well, I got so many of those lays left. I will move into flanking position because of I can't get there without incurring. I will leave Power Attack off for now. Is it evil? I should ask. I'm going to attack it, but regardless.

I've already put the smite into effect. No, it is not. It's not evil? Well, oops out oops yeah you fought a lot of neutral awful things uh okay yep so not evil so there were uh gave up those lay on hands for nothing uh okay here comes an attack with the great wait what so what, what? So, what is it? You can spend two lay on hands to do another smite evil? Yeah. Well, actually, you could make the argument

did Grant gain from his knowledge that the creature wasn't evil, then I wouldn't have done that. Was that something he would have known? Yeah, that's fair. I'm going to give you everything you can get. We're doomed. Alright. Yeah, that's fair. In that case, Sir Julie will come around and she will put power attack

on and take a swing at the greatsword. Okay. You're just on this dark street. There are no people around except you and this apparition. And I miss. 17. Oh! Oh!

And you would have missed even with power attack off because you would have been a 19, and I missed with a 19. You missed with a 19, yeah. Ooh, baby! Damn. Back to round two. Oh, no, I'm sorry. It was still a 19 because of flanking,

but it is also a miss. It is also a miss. Incorporal creature immune to flanking? Or just immune to crits? I don't remember, but either way, it was a miss. Incorporial creature immune to flanking? Or just immune to crits? I don't remember, but either way, it was a miss. I don't think they're immune to flanking, but I will look it up. Bring up the incorporeal. You're welcome to bring up the incorporeal thing there.

Anyways, it's her turn, and she's got the touch. She's got the power. I don't know if Sir Julie is a charisma-based paladin. She is not. Yeah, so it's not going to hurt you as much. So I'm going to say 1-2 Sir Julie, 3-4 Halster. Joe, give me that roll. 1-2 Sir Julie, 3-4 Halster.

Sorry. One second. Joe's got a rule! I'm ready for my answer! Here we go. Sorry, sorry. I dropped to the die. Here we go.

Three. Sorry, Grant. Oh, no. Halster. By the way, I'm reading that undead are invariably evil. But if it's not on the sheet, it's not on the sheet. Hey, easy. Don't read.

That's your mistake. That's your mistake. In a Troy game, you're never allowed to be educated. Don't forget that. I'm glad you rolled a three. Here comes the touch attack. Silence in forever, Troy. Ooh, that is a low roll, but it's touch.

Twelve against touch AC? It's a hit. Oh! It's not a crit, but you will take's touch 12 against touch ac it's a hit oh it's not a crit but what's your dex buddy uh just a measly plus one uh you will take three points of charisma damage oh can't believe i took two on a crit there's a little joe i know he takes working the other way yeah that's reverse jo Joe luck working the other way. Yeah, that's reverse Joe luck. And she's just... Come here, boy. Where did you go, boy?

Why won't you come see your mama? And it's Aldo's turn. Aldo, I don't... He has only a couple of bombs left and he doesn't want to miss. Although, he has only a couple of bombs left and he doesn't want to miss. So he's going to take his second level extract of the day for Cat's Grace. To put Cat's Grace on himself again. Smart.

Try to ensure that he doesn't miss a game. It is Atticus's turn. Atticus. The newly charisma-drained Atticus. How does that, does that have any effect on any of you guys except that ticking clock of having zero charisma? No. It has no effect on me that I

know of. Just on skill checks, obviously. Mechanically in combat, no. Yeah, my diplomacy check went down one right yeah but if some of you guys are probably sitting on like an eight or nine charisma and so you only have so many rounds before you're unconscious so julie is sitting on an eight charisma yeah oh oh bet grant's got like a five right i've got an eight, you asshole. All right. So I'd like to roll a knowledge check.

Did you say it was knowledge-relige? That was around the time that I got up. Yeah, I'm allowing knowledge-relige for this situation. You're allowing knowledge-relige? What if it's... Did you hear about what it is? Here's my question, because you keep saying this apparition, and it's weirding me out, because as an illusionist,

he's very familiar with you know figments and glamours and phantoms and all that kind of shit is there anything of that vibe that's reaching out to him you know what i mean that like maybe it's not here's what i want you to roll i want you to roll uh the knowledge you have that's connected to the eldritch don't you have some sort of in your thing? It would be dungeoneering. I mean, so basically— I thought you had something that was linked specifically to your studies in Eldritch.

Well, thank you for opening this door to me, Troy, because yesterday I kind of shit on the archetype, and deservedly so, because it's just what you give up is too much. But what I will say is it's very cool. It's very, very cool. It's just just what you give up is too much. But what I will say is it's very cool. It's very, very cool. It's just the way you give up is too much. It's kind of like giving up actual mechanical relevance for flavor. You know what I mean?

Like that's sort of what a lot of these Eldritch archetypes are. They're really cool flavor, but they're like mechanically you could have the regular stuff and do much better against the Eldritch. Anyway, that being said. You have a thing that you asked me about a long time ago. you could have the regular stuff and do much better against the eldritch anyway that that being said you have a thing what he can do a long time ago just like there's a bunch of creatures right yeah what is your archetype called so i can look it up real quick uh elder mythos scholar there's two things one he can cast detect aberration in place of any first level spell like a cleric can cast cure light wounds except like it only it doesn't detect any aberration in place of any first level spell like a cleric can cast cure light wounds except like it only it doesn't detect any aberration it only detects that list of creatures so see if this

creature is on that list but that's just detect secondly and he has to give up a first level spell it secondly he gets a plus two to uh like is it identify or uh he gets a plus two to some part of of those creatures specifically and then he gets a plus one to the dc of his spells against that specific list of creatures which by the way is like 15 creatures and they're basically all Elder Mythos creatures. Is this one of them? All right, so roll... Plus two to identify them and their effects. All right, roll that check. Roll that knowledge check at your... Using knowledge arcana.

Or knowledge dungeoneering. Okay. I just said dungeoneering because they're pretty much all aberrations. Yeah, it's very, very complicated, but I want to make this work within your thing because I think that your thing was written before this was written, and this fits it. Exactly. Okay. So I get a bonus plus two on this identify check.

That's what's happening here. Here we go. That is a 21 21 okay so this is very very complicated but i want to make it work for you this i don't know if you were in the bathroom or not when I explained to what Grant realizes this is a projection that some other creature is projecting. So it's really just here to F with you and mess with you,

but it could also kill you if it wants. It's like a ghost of a ghost in a way. You know this creature to be an eldritch. This is some sort of eldritch abomination, like someone went through some sort of ritual, or a ritual backfired in trying to tap in to the other world of the Elder Mythos, something that I'm sure you would fully understand.

And it either backfired, or this was the ultimate goal and this person is what was left behind. And one of their abilities is within a mile of where they are, they can project themselves. And while they're out there, they can do their whole host of attributes. But what they tend to do is just

touch and deal charisma. But if they feel like it, they could just fucking kill you. They could use their full complement of spells if they wanted to depending on what person it is. Sorry, sorry, sorry. When you say they could use their full complement of spells do you mean the original corporeal person who enacted the ritual?

Right, who is somewhere... And they could do it through the apparition? Through the projection, yeah. Oh, that's badass. Yeah. So they toy with you with this little charisma damage but if they feel like it, or if you do the wrong thing, they might just decide to attack you with whatever spells or whatever powers they have. It's so funny because that's like a more powerful version

of what Atticus keeps on doing in battle, leaving an image of himself behind to detract people into attacking him. It's almost like it's on his goals list, his hashtag goals list on his refrigerator. All right, I'm going to do one more layer of this. I'm going to keep this going. It's possible mechanically that we have all we could

possibly get, but I'm going to try to re-roll that check because it's the end of the day. There's nothing else to do. And my campaign trait that goes right, ties right in hand with this, is remember I said that he attempted that mind swap. During that mind swap, when he attempted to swap minds with James Netherford, he...

Something happened. Something interrupted. Something else got in. And another creature got in. As a result of that, he sometimes has knowledge. He doesn't understand where it comes from. Yes. The way that manifests mechanically is once per day he can re-roll a knowledge check and so that's why i would never let you change your archetype because as much as you may think it nerfs you it is so perfectly suited for this adventure and where this adventure is going to go

that you just have to keep it and this is a great way to use this isn't this isn't an archetype this is a campaign trait so okay either way it's still cool here we go see if i get higher i don't so it's uh lower anyway um all right oh boy so knowing that it's an apparition though how damaging them is the same as incorporeal creatures and is it not technically undead they have damage reduction only lawful bypass bypasses it so yeah she's gonna be really hard to actually damage they have dr plus

it's only half damage oh we're totally fucked like i don't think we can win this yeah it's uh it's it's pretty bad and like i mean you just don't know what she's going to do you i can tell you i'll take it a step further. This could have been someone that was just a peasant in life that decided to go through this. And then they would be a level one aristocrat with Eldritch powers.

This could have been a 20th level wizard that went through this thing and came out of this. Now they're a 20th level wizard with the Eldritch template. Or they were a mix of something else. This is a pretty powerful bad guy. And it's just, you know, I watched a lot of ghost hunters back in the day, and they would talk about the ghosts that they would find.

And, like, there were two kinds of ghosts, the way they talk about it. They're the ghosts that like, move shit around to, like, cause or, no, there's the ghosts that are like echoes of the past. Like you'll hear a little girl laughing or you'll hear someone talking or mumbling and it's just like their spirit is tied to that moment

and it's just like a record playing on repeat. And then the other kind of ghost is the ghost that just moves stuff or like pushes something off a counter. They're ghosts that are just like, they call them tricksters. Yeah. The problem with her is so she would fall probably into the trickster category, but she also has the ability to straight up kill you. Do you have anything else you can do, James?

Yeah. He's Atticus. He. Okay. yeah he's Atticus he okay any of those sweet magic missiles left yeah that's gonna be his last thing so you know he'll drain himself out

on that but he still is not optimistic so he's gonna say I'll try to blast it down but it's it's an apparition of some creature that isn't even here it's almost impossible to defeat run and he's just gonna say to like to run to like you know and he'll start leading the way to wherever there is uh you know more people that can try to fight it until it maybe wants to vanish away. But he will try to fight while running.

So he's not going to sprint dead speed, but he's just sort of giving everybody that tip. It's like, move away! Halster, you'll be most ineffective against it! And he's going to move 20 feet, pass it in a direction I'm assuming is toward the Sleepless Detective Agency, for example. Maybe there's some people there with levels and something. And he'll fire off the magic missile, his last first level spell of the

day. Actually, he's got one more that's useless in this fight. Here we go. Magic missile. So this could be alright. He's got two missiles. Let's roll for some damage Here we go, first roll That's the third one In a row on the D4

Second one And a two Oh, it's so fucking painful So sorry, that's five Five points of damage Hey, you know what though? It all gets through Obviously, Aldo's fire Five points of force. Hey, you know what, though? It all gets through. Yeah. Obviously, Aldo's fire bypassed the DR, even though it was half. This all goes through.

Doesn't have to worry about DR. Don't sneeze at five, but obviously six would be better. But obviously sneeze. Obviously sneeze. I had a question. Is it in those knowledge checks, because this creature isn't evil or undead, would channels be ineffective against it? You believe so.

Yeah, so that's what he's saying. He's like, it's not a ghost. It's something else entirely. Run! Yeah, me giving Halster a knowledge religion check was more about the projection and not about the actual source. At the end of the day, it is knowledge dunge to engineering to find out the true essence of this Eldritch Nightmare it is Halster's turn

Halster says could this be the Briarstone Witch of a projection thereof herself? I shiver at the thoughts nice grant bottle cap bottle cap free magic missile.

Skid, what are you drinking? Because I want one of those. This is a new bourbon I got. Oh, it's a bourbon. Heaven Hill. Sounds so good. Heaven Hill bourbon. Excellent.

Oh, it looks so good. Sorry, Grant. Go ahead. Houser is going to hold in order to provide flanking to Sir Julie should she want to attack again. That's a good idea. Sir Julie wants to leave. attack again. That's a good idea. But if Sir Julie wants to leave, I know, he will leave as she leaves.

Okay. Okay. So Halster, you're going to hold, basically? Yep. Okay. And it is Sir Julie's turn. Sir Julie,

did you in the world moon run away like a coward? Just out of curiosity. Sir Julie's immune to fear Sir Julius I ran away out of valor I'll hold it off get away while you can and I'll follow while Halster is still here

she will take a swing with the flanking bone come on come on that's gonna be a 23 to hit with the flanking bone. Come on. Come on. That's going to be a 23 to hit with flanking. 23 with the flank bone. That is a hit.

Yes. All right. That was with power attack, too. Oh, beautiful. So let's see here. You have a magic weapon? You'll do more damage than the magic missile. Yeah, it is a magic weapon, but it's got DR plus the incorporeal.

Yeah. So that's going to be 22 points of damage. So it's still six. More than a magic missile. Take away the DR and have it. Okay, yeah, you did some damage. Now, I am lawful. The weapon, I don't think, is lawful.

No. Axiomatic, right? An axiomatic weapon. God, who does that? Maybe there's players that just play at a different level of this, but I've never... Grant has started to dip into it with Baron, like putting the axiomatic stuff. It's more so you infuse

a weapon with axiomatic. You don't spend all your money on it. I've just never played a character like that. You know what? I think it would be pretty relevant in Wrath of the Righteous. Like, if you had an axiomatic weapon, you could go through that whole campaign. Because there's just so many demons. You know what I mean?

It's like, if you're playing a demon campaign, axiomatic's going to be good. Right. Oh, baby. Here we go. How's Sir Jules? Oh, unless Sir Jules. Sir Jules, do you want to start booking it? You should. No, she'll continue to want to start booking it? You should.

No, she'll continue to hold it off while you guys can go. Yeah, she's the saying. Go! Go! Okay. Atticus will be like, I can hold her there! Think about it!

You do what you want to do, but basically what I'm saying is Atticus could, and you know this from just what happened in the cave is he could put an image of you there, you know what I mean? That would make sense but I think I'm the only one who can really do

damage to it, well now Aldo's got bombs, so maybe he can cover his escape with a bomb but Sir Julie will for now stick around and let everybody else run Okay, Halster, you want to take a turn? Yes, Halster is going to full withdraw, so he's going to move out of the threatened square space with one five-foot move, ten-foot this

way, and then fifty-foot forward. Nice. And we'll be out of there. So you don't have to full withdraw in one direction? No. No, you can do a little curve round. You just do a double move and the only rule is only one square.

It's not like run. Right. So Halster gets out of there, no problem. Oh, man. Oh, and I'm going to put on the... Oh, wait, but now Sir Julian Aldo can't see anything because it's evening in the city. I'm going to put on the radius of dim light as well. It's not nighttime yet. It's not nighttime yet. Yeah, it is. Yeah, it's evening in the city. I'm going to put on the radius of dim light as well. It's not nighttime yet.

Yeah, it is. Oh, this is going to be great. They always say as an army, you're always fine while retreating. Everything's going to be easier. Well, Joe, you said you made a point, and that's why Halster has

it on now now that as we were moving through here uh we cast light so if anyone else can cast light presumably you also have oh yeah so sir julie you have light on you 100 okay i said it before uh atticus cast it on you put it on put it all on you're gonna need it oh man we're getting down to the end of the marathon we're getting down to the knit grit dude marathon. We're getting down to the nit grit. Dude, if I didn't have actual work tomorrow, I could do this for another five hours tomorrow. My God, this is how people finish books in like four or five months. I know.

We're cooking through this, and it's so fun. Here's the thing. If you're coming to Philly, you're coming to D.C. next month, we've got to go out hot, and we've got to set that next moment up. I got about 10, 15 minutes to do that. Maybe we'll go a little long. And it all starts in this round. Oh, boy.

Let's start with her turn. Top of round three. Oh, dear. She is going to. Well, Sir Julie's right there. You've left me, Joe Choice. I have to reach in. You've left me, Joe Choice.

You left me, Joe Choice. You said you were attacking Sir Julie. That's so fun. She reaches right past your breastplate, Sir Julie. Reaches into your chest, and you feel this cold hand brush up against your tinyplate, Sir Julie. Reaches into your chest and you feel this cold hand brush up against your tiny, tiny cold heart. Your shriveled heart. 21 against touch, AC.

Yes. How about four points? How about four points of charisma to say you have half of your charisma? This would be amazing. Two points. Two points of charisma, leaving Sir Julie with six of your charisma. This would be amazing. Two points. Two points of charisma, leaving Sir Julie with six points of charisma.

She's an ornery old knight, and the woman just stands there. You have no idea where you are and what you're walking into! It is Aldo's turn uh Aldo

he's gonna heed the advice of Atticus but before he goes a little parting shot just like alright Sheila gonna do a little bit of parting damage here addy19 woohoo woohoo bits of potting damage here. Addie, 19. Woo-hoo!

Woo-hoo! That is a hit against Touch AC. Fuck's sake. That's seven points of fire damage. All right. So it all gets past DR, but it is halved

to three points of damage. You have done some damage to her, and she's on fire! She's on fire, and he's going to run. Boom, shakalaka. Fuck it, dude. So he will move the full complement of his movement? Yep. I want Aldo

and Halster to roll a perception check oh my god 22 18 let's reward the people that stuck around and those who shall watch later because oh wait

I just drew something weird on the map how did that happen did you see that no it was on the GM layer oh alright well glad you didn't see it at that moment you look to your right and you see one of those murals

it's right there these murals that you've seen since you walked into town some half drawn some more you knowrawn, some more, you know, a little bit more ornate, for lack of a better word, and you swear that you were alone in this alley

with just this woman, but you look over there right now and there are two robed figures with saps in their hand and rapiers in their other hand. And they move to attack you. One will pull away

to go towards Halster. Aldo, do you have a melee weapon out? I don't. Okay. One will swing at Halster and one will swing at Halster And one will swing At Aldo So the one swinging at Halster

Natty 19 A 22 to hit Exactly my AC You take 7 points Of non-lethal damage The sap only does Non-lethal damage So this robed figure comes out and just hits you with this sap, and you take seven points of non-lethal damage.

And then the other one goes to hit Aldo. 20 to hit Aldo. Aldo takes six points of non-lethal damage. These figures just appear and start beating you to try to knock you out. It is Atticus's turn. Atticus, you see in the light. What's going on up there? Crazy.

Knowledge check. The robed figures. They appear human. Roll a knowledge check or abed figures they appear human roll a knowledge check or perception check I rolled a knowledge local it's an 11 terrible roll I don't know if they're alive

or corporeal or not but I look at knowledge check you can roll a perception check to find that information perception oh my god four that's a four perception uh god oh my god uh four that's a four they look like seven

legged horses then that ruins everything um alright I'm just gonna say because of that die roll that he didn't see them well no I'm not gonna say that because of that die roll that he didn't see them. Well, no, I'm not going to say that. No, you could see them.

You just don't know what you're dealing with. It's not that, like, you know they're human or you know they're not human. You just see robed figures, and they're attacking your friends. Christ's sake. Skid, you're... So you're out of bombs, right? I have one left. And after that, there's just nothing you can do from range.

No. What are you thinking, buddy? Talk us through it. I was thinking about levitating Aldo just so that he could, like, rise above and then just spend the rest of the fight killing everything. But he can't. If he can't attack from up there, then there's no point. No, because this is our fifth fucking encounter of the day.

Yeah. We were going home to have some dinner and go to sleep. I mean, I really don't know what's worse here, the apparition or these guys. Okay, first thing I'm going to do. Yeah, fuck this. I can't risk it. He's going to run. So he's going to keep running, but he only runs 20 feet,

which puts him side by side almost with Aldo just about 15 feet away and 10 feet away from Halster, almost caught up to Halster. He will cast on the dude that is harrying holster, he's going to cast Bone Shaker on him. Oh, cool. Okay. Nice. So he will, I mean, it's not going to do fucking anything, which is the frustrating part. It's cool, it'll do some damage,

but it's not going to kill the guy. Okay, talk to me. Alright, so it is a Fortitude save. Fortitude save? Okay. 14. save? Okay. 14. Okay. Let me back that up.

He's going to do some damage to this dude. All right, that is a fail. That's a fail on the fortitude save. And so he takes control. This guy is harrying his buddy Halster, and he's just like, get out of my fucking way! And he's so stressed out and wants to get away from this apparition and he reaches out

and controls this guy's skeleton. So the first thing that he does is he makes it crunch with all this internal bludgeoning damage for 5d6 damage. If he has a skeleton.

If he's living and has a skeleton. Okay, we'll find out. Let's see what we get. Three fives. So that's 18 points of damage. I'll tell you right now, he is at zero hit points. Amazing. Wow, amazing!

So he's staggered. Oh, that's perfect. Okay, then... Disabled. Yeah, he's perfect. Okay. Disabled. Disabled. Yeah, he's disabled. And then he will move him five feet away from Halster. Yeah, just like that. Straight back? Yeah.

So he takes his skeleton and just wills him back. That was huge. Okay. All right. That was better than I expected. Alright. Huge. All the more huge because right behind you, Atticus, you feel the

presence of two more of them. Oh, come on. He slowly turns. When you were walking up, you looked at that wall. There was no one there. And then you moved up.

You cast this spell and confidently turned around. And now there's two more figures there. And one of them moves up to attack you. He will five foot step. And then swing at you with a sap. 15 to hit. Ooh, miss, and that's very big. Very, very big.

Okay. The other one. Do you know why he missed? Why? He missed because of those fucking bracers of armor from the asylum. So even though my mage armor's gone, my AC only goes down two without it, not four, bracers of armor from the asylum. So even though my mage armor's gone, my AC only goes down two without

it, not four, because of those bracers of armor. Okay. Very cool. It is... The other cultist is going to hold off, and it is Sir Julie's turn. Alright, Sir Julie senses, like, she kind of risks a glance

back and sees us, and she's like, be right, so Julie senses, like, she kind of risks a glance back and sees this, and she's like, be gone, evil spirit, and will take one last swing at, yeah, at the projection. Oh, God. Yep. Power attack is on.

Okay, Natty18. Oh! So close to a crit! So close to a crit! I'm assuming that hits, thoughty18. You're so close to a crit. So close to a crit! I'm assuming that hits, though. Yep. Okay. 22 points of damage.

22 points of damage? Another six. So wait, 11? Yep, 11 DR'd. All right, so you hit her with full force, and you've been hacking away at her. Aldo hit her a couple times. James, or Atticus, hit with some magic missiles,

and you hit her, and she just looks at you. I'll see you again. What? Oh! And she disappears. God, this book is so good. I can already tell it's so well written. So then Sir Julie will whirl around.

Yeah! I'm pointing at my screen, but this guy, this first guy, he's going to die now. Sir Julie is going to move up. She's going to incur from the first guy and move up straight to the one that's medicine Atticus. Just dive into the fray. Okay. Okay.

So take your time for opportunity. Okay. He will. He'll swing at you with his set. Oh, you know what? Swift action. No, I won't do it. I won't do it.

This is amazing. Wait, are you down any hit points? I'm down no hit points right now. Okay, no hit points. All right, so you move into a position. He tries to swing at you as you go by and completely misses. But it is his actual turn. He sees where the tide is changing here.

Atticus just laid out one of his dudes, and now this giant knight is coming up. So he drops the sap and two-hands his rapier and goes to stab Sir Julian. Dude, going back to, like, Dark Souls, I always think it's so weird to two-hand a rapier. It looks so awkward. I wouldn't do it except for that drawing and curse damage.

An attack of opportunity. No, dual-handing. Oh, shit. He had it in the other hand. He wasn't using it. Now he's using it. Remember, rapier is crit 18 to 20, and Matthew has been a crit magnet all night. Oh, no. Not a crit. Probably not a Oh no. Not a crit.

Probably not a hit. A 19. Yes. Wait a minute. Wait a minute. Matthew, what if I five foot step and do a 21? That would hit. However, you cannot two-hand a rapier. It's a one-handed weapon. That's fair. You can

two-hand a one-handed weapon. You can? Yeah, you can two-hand a longsword. you can yeah you can two-hand a long sword you do it as uh northwood all the time is that specifically like a one-handed light weapon i can't two-hand a short sword i don't know if you can two-hand a light weapon i'll say that according to uh hero lab i cannot two-hand my short sword i attempted to at the beginning yeah it lets me two-hand it on... Hero limb? On hero limb. And you get half your strength bonus and stuff? You know, I get nothing.

It makes no mechanical changes, so it doesn't matter. So yeah, I would five-foot step because I get sneak attack damage, so I want to take that. 21 does hit? 21 hits, exactly. All right, so he's going to hit you for max damage, eight points of damage. And then, you know what? Let's toss in a little sneak attack. Another max, six on the D6, 14 points of damage total.

Jeez. Oh. So the apparition, the projection is gone. But now are these four culty-looking dudes attacking you. They started out going with saps, and then Aldo brought out the big guns and then a fucking knight came to town and now they're going for the kill. Top of the next round, it's Aldo's turn. All right. Halster didn't go.

You moved him in initiative order after Sir Julie. Sir Julie just took her turn. Halster should go next. I'm sorry. Yes, it is your turn. I'm sorry. Halster will move in a knight-shaped L 25 feet after hearing the bones of the hooded figure next to him

crunch on death's doorstep to protect Aldo and open him up to be able to five foot step away and maybe attack the group of people over there. Hopefully this hits true. I'm due. I'm due baby. That is going to be a 15 to hit. 15's a miss.

And I think that staggered guy or the disabled guy still gets an attack of opportunity. I was five foot away from him. So he does not. You were okay. So you're fine. But you slide into this dude and you swing and you miss damn now it's the next round now it's aldo's turn okay aldo's got one bomb left he takes a five foot step back

digs it out of his belt hold on one second skid try to you should move next to halster like five foot step back next to halster okay just because that other guy can take a five foot step and hit you if you do that oh yeah you're right he when he moves he died he goes unconscious so okay so yeah he he pulls the belt out of his belt back the whatever the john out of his belt whatever. The John out of his John. He's been streaming for a very long time today. What a good time, huh? Thank you everybody for stuck around. These are reminiscent of old Sunday afternoons at Troy's

apartment. Oh man. It is. That is a 19 against Touch AC against the furthest north. The disabled guy? No, no, no. Not that guy. He's already at zero. And you would see that. He's on death's door.

Yeah. The one next to Halster? Or Atticus' guy. Okay, well that's a harder hit for him. No, no, no. Let Skid pick his guy. Which guy do you want to attack, Skid? Yeah, the one adjacent to Halster.

Okay, alright. so you throw a bomb at that dude it hits him for okay how much damage um 11 points of fire damage and the other guy gets oh yeah he still gets spl Yeah, the other guy gets seven points. Yeah, he's dead. Unless I make a reflex save, right? Half of seven. He'll get three. He's at zero, honey. Yeah, so where he's at zero,

because of your expanded range of your splash, he goes down, and so he can't drink his potion of Cure Light Wounds on his turn to bring him back up. Instead, he goes down. He gets blown up. Yeah. See, that's why, Joe,

I didn't want you telling him not to attack him, because attacking him might have not been a terrible idea where he could drink a potion and just come right back. I didn't think about that. A standard action potion would bring him back, yeah. Yeah. So you hit this guy for 11 points of damage,

and you take that other guy out. He's down on the ground, bleeding out. And the guy I hit is on fire. And the guy you hit is on fire, and it is his turn, so give me another, what is it, D6? D6. One point of damage. Yikes. That guy is going to...

He's going to stay... Actually, you know what? No, he's going to step, step Five foot step to get away from your Bombs and get Right up on Halster as he does So he drops the sap And switches hands with the rapier And attacks with the rapier and

Misses Halster with the rapier And then the other guy Is out so now it moves to Atticus one guy down Three guys left at first it seemed like they wanted to knock you out. Now they're out for blood, or is it just me? Joe, what do you do?

Seeing this guy try to stab and connect with Sir Julian Andrus, Atticus gets pissed because this is the first person in a long time he's seen with any real conscience and moral focus, and he's just like,

fuck you, you bastard. And he just reaches deep within himself, does an incantation, and then, like the Marvel hero Siren, you hear this horrendous, he hears in his head this horrendous scream, just, and it tries to burst his brain hears in his head this horrendous scream just and it tries to

burst his brain inside of his head. The one behind Sir Julie Andrews and he casts Ear Piercing Scream is a fortitude save. Okay, fort save. Yes. Fort John. Thirteen. Fail! Nice!

Dude, I'm... Oh, dude. Amazing. Amazing. Uh, okay. So he is gonna take... Here we go. He's gonna take 3d6 damage.

Now he's fourth level. That's pretty... Okay, damage. Eight points of damage. So eight damage. Which guy is it again? The guy to the south of Sir Julie. The one who hit her with a rapier and connected.

He takes eight points of sonic damage and is dazed for one round. Oh, beautiful. So what is dazed again? He is unable to take actions, but he takes no penalty to his AC. Absolutely enormous. All right, so he is dazed, and now it is number one's turn, and that is the one

to the north of Sir Julie. He is going to go ahead and swing, do the same thing with a rapier to Sir Julie, and misses Sir Julie, and then the other guy... It's not his turn yet, but he is dazed, and he goes to Sir Julie! and then the other guy... Well, it's not his turn yet,

but he is dazed, and he goes to Sir Julie! What do you do, Sir Julie? All right, you say one round, Joe? He's dazed for one round? He's dazed for one round, yeah. Yeah, so this guy's out of the combat for right now. And it hasn't been his turn yet.

Yeah. So, like, Troy just said that, but it's not his turn until after you. Yeah. So you get a whole other turn before he goes again. So, yeah, so Sir Julie is going to five-foot step back to make him come to her, and then she's going to swing instead at the guy who just tried to hit her. Nice.

Okay. You know what? I don't know, but why not smite a little evil? Just in case. These guys seem like jerks. They look evil. I will expend those uses of Lay on Hands, and I will swing,

smite evil, power attack. Is he evil before? He is evil. Amazing. He's gonna die in one swing! 17 to hit. Not a great roll. 17 does hit not a great roll 17 does hit okay that is 23 points of damage 23 points of damage he's out

uh so two of them are down i should say that guy up here Just for the people at home that are grinding their teeth He has evasion So had he succeeded on that reflex roll He would have not taken the damage And still been up I rolled it just for posterity's sake And rolled a natural four So he is still dead

But just throwing that out there Splash damage would matter Two down Oh good call, Evasion. Okay. Two to go. Ooh, so they're rogues. And it's Haster's turn.

Oh, dude, saps. I think only rogues are proficient with saps. I don't know. Investigators can use saps. Oh, they're rogue. Yeah, they're rogue. Alchemists, right? Rogue alchemists, yeah.

Yeah. Yeah, investigators are just rogues on a salary. Boom. T-shirt. T-shirt. Still just dropping them five hours later. Still got it. Still got it.

Alistair, what are you thinking? Alistair, what do you think to end the life of the hooded alchemist? Rogue? A rogue in front of him? Who knows? Here it comes. That is going to be a 17 to hit. That is a hit.

Okay, here comes the damage. Finish him. He's already been burned. Seven points of damage. Six hit points left. Yes! Three down, one to go, and he's dazed. He's dazed. So it goes to the top of the dazed he's dazed

so it goes to the top of the round it's Aldo's turn Aldo you just look to Sir Julie and you know she can take care of business yeah so he's like it's just like oh you're in trouble now you bludger and but he's going to

draw his sickle and run around behind. Always dazed anyway. So he runs around behind him, and just out of sheer rage, he's going to strike at him. That is a 15 to hit. 15 to hit. Misses. Well, unless his AC goes down.

No, it dazes the whole thing. Yeah. So you just Well, unless his AC goes down. No, it does. It does the whole thing, yeah. So you just miss. You're so fired up, you want to go in for that kill, and you just hit the ground right next to him. It is Atticus's turn. Atticus is going to give this one to Sir Julie. All he has. All he has.

All he has. You don't want to hit him there with a greatsword and do it yourself? Well, he's got... He could drop a pearl of power to do a magic missile. So he could use a pearl of power. He has one invisibility left, and that is it. And everything else is spent. Just hold that and see what happens.

He will just delay and see if Sir Julie can just take out this dazed creature. His work is done with this ear-piercing scream. So let Sir Julie finish it. It's Sir Julie's turn next. Do you, like, give her the old take care of it? Do you say anything to her? He's like, finish it, Sir Julie. And it is Sir Julie's turn.

Do we want to capture this guy? Yes. Always want knowledge. Always want questions answered. Something happened to the map. Sorry. Oh. Don't look at that.

Don't look at that. Don't ever look away. All right, so Sir Julie's... Now's your chance. Incapacitate him. Put him in a sleeper hold. Take him yeah can I do that Troy can I reach up he's great you have to do non lethal damage to knock him out blah blah blah

that's like what they were trying to do to you alright I'm just gonna do it or kill him below negative but not take him below con and then just heal him real quick I'm gonna take power attack off the other thing Atticus could say is like, they'll give us nothing.

It's the apparition we need to find. The woman, she's here in the city, within the mile. Just in case, let's see what we can get from this guy. Dude, I always love taking prisoners as opposed to killing. So yeah, Sir Julie will step forward, noticing the tactical advantage Aldo has offered her, and with the flanking, take a swing with the greatsword,

and be ready to heal him. That is going to be a 17 to hit. 17 hits. So many 17s. They're terrible rolls for me. Okay, that is 15 points of damage. He goes down

and he goes unconscious and it will be plenty of rounds for you to be able to go and heal him. So we'll just like, for flavor's sake, say after Sir Julie strikes him, maybe somebody, does somebody else move in? Does Halster come in and like stabilize him?

Or do you just wait until it comes back around to Sir Julie? Or do you pour a potion down his mouth? Tell me what you do. I'll stabilize him. I'm not wasting any of my consumables on him and I'm out of healing potions. So we can let him kind of suffer his way back to consciousness as he's tied up on the other side when he awakes. I do. I have healing left.

You stabilize him. Unconscious. Three of his friends. Dead. Maybe they're not friends. Maybe they're just co-workers. We pose them in a comical tableau for him to wake up to. You start looking through them. They're all wearing chain shirts. They all have saps and rapiers. They all have

three or two potions, an elixir, oil, and some drops on them. Some like legendary drops? Not legendary drops, but wondrous drops. But the oil, the note mentioned an oil. Ooh, nice call, Skid. Nice, Skid.

God, so many bottle caps this sesh. But the thing that really jumps out at you is a wooden holy symbol that they have on all of them. And it looks like this. Oh. Ooh. What is that?

I can't help but notice it's yellow. Yes. It would be brown if it was wood. Would it be useless to roll knowledge religion? You could roll knowledge religion. 23 knowledge religion. I also got a 23. Look at us.

Look at us. I aid to take one of them up to 25 I'll help Sir Julie Fuck that So Halster You come up from behind Sir Julie And just kind of look over

Sir Julie's shoulder And you're like You put your hand on Sir Julie's shoulder Let me help And you look down at this symbol and you're taken back someplace we see a long

crooked road and hear the sound of hooves in the distance see them trotting around an embankment towards us. The hooves of a blood-based stallion with a tall rider wrapped in a long, hooded gray cloak that nearly scrapes the ground as it rides along on the horse.

A farmer traveling in the opposite direction towards the figure just pulls to the side of the road and whispers a prayer under his breath rather than risk close proximity to this grim silhouette. Over a shale ridge on the edge of the forest embrace, we watch as this figure approaches a charming cottage with beeswax candles glowing warmly in its simple four-pane windows. The figure dismounts and brings his horse over to a simple stable lying adjacent to the cottage. He removes the hood of his cloak. It's Halster Price.

Boom, boom, boom, before Halster can continue wrapping the door, swings open quickly, and a handsome young man with a bedraggled, worried face opens the door. He's like, ah, company, company, we've not got much, but what we do have, we share. That's right, that's right, it's what Iomade teaches, and it's what she would have done, and what he would have done, so please, welcome, come in. It's what she would have done and what he would have done, so please, welcome, come in. Halster remains taciturn as he enters the home, a flame crackling at the hearth, the smell of gamey rabbit's flesh wafting heavily in the air.

Name's Gamble. Theo Gamble, glad to have you. You'll have to make yourself right at home here. The hair's on the table, and the ale's just been poured. This here's my wife, Sadie Gamble. As Halster removes his cloak to cover his lap, his gray eyes lock with Sadie's emerald irises, another spark to accompany the hearth. His eyes continue downward past Sadie's ample bosom

to a very pregnant belly. She looks like she's going to give birth at any moment. Sadie, it's a pleasure to meet you, and may I say this occasion is proving to be very auspicious indeed. You see, I am a cleric of Phrasma, the patron of pregnant women and midwives. I would love to let you know anything you want to know about your unborn child. Sadie, the woman,

blushes her flirtation with a strange man quickly turning into self-consciousness about her blessed state. Please, sir, I'd love to know anything you can tell us. This will be our first child, and we want

to give him the world. Ioma die, willing. Halster scoots his chair over the hay floor, a smile on his face, pulls out of his pouch a gray stone carving of a gaunt older woman with black hair, black clothing, and red trim. She lets me know things men shouldn't.

Halster reaches. May I? Yeah, Halster reaches his free hand out towards the pregnant woman's stomach, and she's like, Well, of course, sir, but may I have your name? Sadie's shock at Halster's forwardness fades a bit.

My name is Halster Price, and I serve the Lady of Graves, among other masters. Halster's hand gently reaches out towards Sadie's belly as a spark of magic travels from the carving to

his hand and back into his mind's eye. His eyes roll back into his head. Oh, your child will be a boy! A beautiful, strong boy. He will have green eyes like his mother,

a strong jaw like his father. He will have a wonderful childhood here at the forest edge. He will love his parents with all of his heart. They look to each other so excited they embrace. That's amazing news. What else can you tell us, Alster? The man can hardly contain his smile. A boy, he's psyched.

I can tell you that when the boy turns 13, he will have to make a choice. He will have to leave home and serve my master, never to return. Or death will await him at every corner. If you do not give the boy to me at this time,

he will die a painful death, and you will bury him. One of you, though, and I'm not sure which, will grow absolutely mad with grief. Sadie, the mother-to-be, just starts sobbing at these terrible words, and before she can ask any questions of this strange man, she lets out a cry as her water breaks onto the cottage floor. Aha! Clock's ticking. man she lets out a cry as her water breaks onto the cottage floor ha clocks ticking well i must be on my way enjoy your time while you can hauster finishes the rest of his ale

throws some leftover food into his bag along with the icon of the midwife and leaves before either of them can even respond. Jesus. He walks out the door, goes over to his horse and opens his saddlebag. He reaches inside the saddlebag and pulls out a bunch of holy symbols, looks at them for a moment,

sorts through them, and then sees the one that you now see around this cultist's neck. And those of you who rolled high enough all recognize it as the symbol of Hastur. Oh, shit.

The king in yellow. Oh, my God. Oh, shit. The king in yellow. Oh, my God. Oh, my God. And we will see you in Philadelphia. Oh, wow. Oh, baby. Oh, my God. We did it.

We did it. We did it, you son of a bitch. You son of a bitch. We couldn't do it. I said over and over again. It could never be it. You son of a bitch. You said we couldn't do it. I said over and over again. It could never be done. It could never be done. Thank you to everybody that hung out and played.

God, I hung out with us. You guys are the best. All weekend long. It was great seeing you. We'll see you in Philly. We'll see you in D.C. We'll see you in Boston. In Atlanta. In Indy. In Columbus. In Ohio. And we'll see you in Philly. We'll see you in D.C. We'll see you in Boston, in Atlanta, in Indy, in Columbus, in Ohio, and we'll see you in hell. Yeah! Yeah!

Yeah! Outro Music