2025-9-18 — Akasha

Cedric:Leo.

Cedric:Oh.

Gamemaster:How are you?

Cedric:How are you?

Gamemaster:I started saying it first, so you have to answer me first.

Cedric:I'm doing all right.

Gamemaster:That's how that works.

Cedric:Yeah.

Cedric:Not much to talk about, honestly.

Cedric:How are you?

Gamemaster:Not much has changed in the less than 24 hours it's been since we last spoke.

Cedric:No, my...

Cedric:My manager has just approved all my code changes since then.

Gamemaster:Nice.

Gamemaster:He just gave up.

Gamemaster:I'm trying to get you to change things.

Cedric:I... I don't know how much of a poker face I had when he said the int thing.

Gamemaster:Oh.

Gamemaster:Oh no, so you bullied him is what I'm hearing.

Cedric:I hope so.

Gamemaster:That's something you want?

Gamemaster:You want to have bullied your manager?

Gamemaster:Aren't you supposed to be on good terms with them?

Cedric:Yeah.

Cedric:uh am i supposed to be friends with everyone yeah that makes sense but yeah

Gamemaster:No.

Gamemaster:Nah.

Gamemaster:That's fair.

Gamemaster:I did say everyone.

Gamemaster:I specifically said the person who I imagine you interact with the most at your place of work.

Gamemaster:No.

Gamemaster:Yeah, well.

Gamemaster:It happens.

Gamemaster:I almost had to tell everybody that I wouldn't be able to play today because of an issue at work.

Cedric:Uh oh.

Gamemaster:But then as it turns out, it's so broken that we're not serving prices, so I don't have to solve anything.

Gamemaster:So I should be fine.

Cedric:Wow.

Gamemaster:Yeah.

Gamemaster:We, um...

Gamemaster:Somebody brought up that it would be a good idea to check to make sure that the numbers we were telling people were in people's wallets was the actual amount of money they had given us.

Gamemaster:And it wasn't.

Cedric:Was it less or more or just both?

Gamemaster:It was both.

Gamemaster:It was just incorrect across the board, which is obviously not good.

Cedric:Okay.

Cedric:How does that happen?

Gamemaster:I don't know.

Gamemaster:I'm not the one that touches this system, but whoever did is trying to figure out how the hell it happened.

Cedric:That's awkward.

Gamemaster:The problem is that the team that works on the backend for the app

Gamemaster:doesn't actually directly interact with the wallet or the database or anything for the wallet.

Cedric:I see.

Gamemaster:Instead, they put a message onto a Kafka topic, and then a different team has a service that reads off of that topic and is supposed to do things.

Gamemaster:And so it's unclear about who messed up, but someone did.

Gamemaster:And so everybody's scrambling to figure it out.

Gamemaster:And I thought I would have to do something to fix it, like, to help out.

Gamemaster:But as it turns out, like, we're not serving any prices or anything like that because nobody can use the app because we're afraid that we're either going to pay out more money than they should have or accidentally steal money.

Gamemaster:So... Solves the problem, though.

Cedric:Yeah, that's fair.

Gamemaster:Because then I get to play games.

Cedric:So I found out that you can be killed in the extraction pelican.

Gamemaster:Sorry.

Gamemaster:Yes.

Krod:We knew that.

Gamemaster:You knew that.

Cedric:We knew that?

Gamemaster:Yeah.

Gamemaster:There have definitely been instances where a few of us have gone into the pelican and then somebody else has shot into it or thrown a grenade into it or something like that and killed everybody inside.

Cedric:Doesn't sound like me.

Krod:Hmm.

Gamemaster:I don't remember who did it, but, like, I know that happened when we were first playing the game.

Cedric:I don't know why you're accusing me of this.

Gamemaster:I'm not.

Gamemaster:Although now I feel like I should be.

Gamemaster:It sounds like you did do that at some point.

Cedric:No, it doesn't sound like me.

Krod:I've seen viral videos of it where, like, I always get worried that that's going to happen.

Krod:Like, you get in the Pelican, and then our fourth is just, like, pulls out a grenade launcher, absolutely mercs us, picks up the samples, and then extracts.

Krod:And it's like, what the fuck?

Gamemaster:But, like, why would you bother doing that, you know?

Krod:A lot of people want to piss other people off for no reason.

Cedric:It'd be a lot funnier to, oh my god, I'm going to get the hell bomb just to arm it and then enter the pelican.

Gamemaster:But why?

Gamemaster:Once again, why?

Krod:I don't...

Krod:That would be funny.

Gamemaster:Yeah, but you could end up making it so that you lose all of the samples and nobody extracts, and so you get less rewards.

Cedric:So that while it's flying away, there's a big boom.

Gamemaster:Like, it is worse for you to have done that.

Cedric:Only if it fails.

Andros:Jorge, nice haircut.

Cedric:Nice haircut.

Cedric:Doctor?

Krod:no one mentioned my august haircut it was a little i i get my haircut you guys saw it you guys saw it in denver you guys saw it in denver i got my haircut

Cedric:Yeah, because you just got a little trim.

Cedric:How are we supposed to notice?

Cedric:I'm going to hide it in big headphones and then I'm going to be like, my hair is wet to anyone who asks me.

Cedric:You don't really set a warm environment to invite people to ask you about haircuts.

Cedric:I'm never asking Josh again.

Andros:Mike pulled me aside in Denver and was like, you know, I'm thinking about quitting D&D.

Krod:a full week before we went to Denver, the session, you guys didn't say anything, the session in Denver, and then the session prior to Denver, and then every session after.

Cedric:I was a week, that's why.

Cedric:I stand by the decision.

Krod:I mean, listen, the time to say it would have been after I got it.

Andros:No one saw my haircut.

Andros:No, I'm out.

Krod:Because Noah said something.

Andros:It was a lot of fun.

Krod:And I was just like, you know... Do you know how many sessions we've had and no one said anything?

Krod:And he's like, I didn't realize this was so serious.

Krod:And I was just like... He's like, dude, have more alcohol.

Krod:It's 6,000 feet.

Krod:And I'm like...

Gamemaster:What was the best thing you ate?

Cedric:How is Japan?

Andros:It was great.

Andros:I was all over.

Andros:We walked.

Andros:We walked a lot.

Andros:We saw everything.

Andros:We made friends with locals.

Andros:It was good.

Cedric:Cool.

Gamemaster:Because I assume you ate good food.

Andros:I ate a lot of good food.

Cedric:I thought that was Tanner.

Cedric:I was like, what the fuck is he doing here?

Krod:Same.

Krod:I was like, how?

Andros:Tanner's in Italy right now on his honeymoon.

Andros:Best thing I ate?

Andros:Gosh.

Andros:Either this thing called Okonomiyaki, which is, like, a pancake made of shredded vegetables and, like, fish and stuff.

Andros:And they, like, half cook it, and then they sit you in front of your own, like, flat-top grill, and they just kind of plop it in front of you.

Andros:And they're like, go nuts!

Andros:And they give you sauces and stuff.

Andros:That was pretty awesome.

Gamemaster:That's fun.

Cedric:They put bonito flakes on top, right?

Andros:Or... Yeah, it was great.

Cedric:And like a sauce.

Andros:It was so good.

Andros:I smelled like it for a week.

Andros:Either that or when we were by Mount Fuji, we, like, stopped in the same place and got this whole breakfast set, like, lunch set, and there was, like, some sort of noodle soup and, like, an egg, and it was so tasty.

Cedric:I've seen this video.

Cedric:Because isn't there like a golf course where some people go there?

Cedric:I've seen a video of someone trying this, but they were Asian people.

Andros:It's really good.

Andros:What, so, I, I, like, I think it's called, like, How To Fudo, and I was like, Daisy, it can't be called that, because that just sounds like hot food, and it's, it's not called that because it's hot food.

Andros:There is, like, an actual company that started it, but I was like, that sounds incredibly racist, and, like, they're just calling it hot food.

Gamemaster:I mean, like, that wouldn't be crazy.

Gamemaster:Japanese does do the thing where they take English words and then just turn it into Japanese sounds.

Gamemaster:Like, a convenience store is konbini, which is just konbini, but in a Japanese accent.

Gamemaster:So...

Andros:The Konbini were really good.

Andros:I had a lot of Konbini.

Gamemaster:It's no 7-Eleven?

Gamemaster:It's better than 7-Eleven?

Andros:They were sold at 7-Eleven.

Andros:Like, the Konbini are the little snaps of, like, the rice balls and stuff.

Andros:And we went to 7-Eleven a lot, because 7-Eleven was good.

Andros:They had the best balls.

Cedric:Did you have KFC over there?

Cedric:Apparently it's goaded.

Andros:We did not.

Andros:I heard Denny's was also good.

Andros:There is, like, a very oddly specific subset of Japanese food that's just other countries' food, but done better.

Andros:Oh, I did not see any ketchup.

Cedric:Besides pasta, like marinara pasta, or maybe it's just rinca.

Cedric:She made recipes from there.

Cedric:like Japanese style.

Cedric:And they just used a lot of ketchup.

Cedric:And I was like, this is not tomato sauce.

Cedric:Please stop putting ketchup in here.

Gamemaster:I had a friend in high school that every day for lunch used to have a sandwich where the filling was spaghetti and ketchup.

Andros:Did they...

Gamemaster:And that was apparently... They told me it was a normal thing.

Gamemaster:And I wasn't about to say, no, you're lying about Japan.

Cedric:Where were they from?

Cedric:Okay.

Cedric:Okay, cool.

Cedric:cool because if you said this was just like a white person i was gonna be like this isn't helping my cause but yeah yeah that's the worst part

Krod:I thought they were just like... I like to think I'm deadpanning the this is normal.

Gamemaster:No, no, no, no, no, no, no.

Gamemaster:They were Japanese.

Gamemaster:They came from Japan, and they just, they had a sandwich that was just spaghetti and ketchup mixed together.

Gamemaster:And I think maybe peas?

Gamemaster:It was strange.

Gamemaster:They liked it.

Andros:I would recommend Japan.

Krod:Like, if I took it out and I had no cultural reason to be eating it and I was just like, this is normal and then kept eating it and Josh was like,

Krod:I've updated my priors.

Gamemaster:Yeah, I mean, why would you lie to me about that?

Andros:It was very fun.

Andros:Everything was very cheap.

Cedric:I plan to go at some point.

Andros:I would recommend it.

Andros:You can skip Osaka because it's just bad.

Gamemaster:Bad Y. That's accurate.

Andros:You know how New York is like a little dirty and a little overcrowded and kind of smells a little bad?

Andros:No offense, guys.

Krod:Yeah.

Andros:It's like worse New York.

Gamemaster:That's fun.

Cedric:Oh.

Krod:Hey, welcome to the woods, New York.

Andros:Yeah, pretty much.

Cedric:So it's what, like, Fox News said is happening in New York.

Cedric:Is there a lot of crime, too, or no?

Andros:Not a whole lot of crime, because Japan is notoriously low crime, but everyone was just smoking everywhere, and it was so crowded, and I did not like it.

Cedric:Oh, never mind.

Cedric:Yeah, because... Japan has, like, a 99% conviction rate.

Cedric:Their prosecutors, yeah.

Andros:Yeah.

Cedric:Yeah, that's a...

Gamemaster:That's like a bad statistic.

Cedric:Oh, it's not a good statistic.

Cedric:That means you're going to jail whether you're innocent or not.

Gamemaster:Yeah.

Gamemaster:Oh boy.

Andros:It is very funny going to Japan and being like, wow, it feels so safe here.

Cedric:Yeah.

Andros:Wow, people are so friendly.

Andros:Wow, everyone goes out of their way to, like, not bump into you.

Andros:And then looking up, like, why is Japan like this?

Andros:And being like, oh, God.

Andros:Also, incredibly funny, kind of dark.

Andros:They would talk about Emperor Meiji, who was the emperor at, like, the turn of the century who led them into World War I and, like, reopened Japan and embraced Western culture.

Andros:And they'd be like, yes, Emperor Meiji, who revolutionized Japan, and then stop talking about him.

Gamemaster:Yeah, there's nothing else to talk about there.

Andros:They would not mention anything after that.

Cedric:What are you talking about?

Gamemaster:I get it.

Gamemaster:We don't talk about stuff we did.

Gamemaster:So why would they talk about stuff they did?

Cedric:We're always talking about stuff we did.

Cedric:That is like mostly what we talk about.

Cedric:Just the fuck ups we've done.

Cedric:I feel like we're always like.

Gamemaster:I think it depends on the kind of person.

Gamemaster:My uncle claims to have not known that internment camps were a thing in World War II.

Andros:Wait, who claimed this?

Gamemaster:My uncle.

Andros:Oh, I thought you said Michael.

Krod:He claims to have not known it, or he claims to it not have happened.

Gamemaster:Well, he claims to have not known it.

Gamemaster:I mean, his response to learning about it at one Passover was, I'm sure they deserved it.

Krod:Oh.

Gamemaster:But, like, you know, besides that, that's hard for the Course for him.

Cedric:Well, counterpoint, you were talking about at Passover.

Gamemaster:It was the, like, having not known about it thing.

Andros:What is this?

Cedric:So I feel like that goes back to this part where we're always talking about it.

Gamemaster:Well, that's why it came up.

Krod:I think...

Gamemaster:Because Passover has to do with the whole imprisoning people thing.

Gamemaster:And then, you know, he said something like the only time since then that any ethnic group had been imprisoned was the Holocaust.

Gamemaster:And so I was like, no.

Gamemaster:And he was like, that doesn't sound correct.

Gamemaster:It's a whole thing.

Gamemaster:He's not a great person.

Gamemaster:Regardless, I just meant, like, you know, he went to school less than 20 years after tournament camps were a thing.

Gamemaster:So I would have imagined, like,

Cedric:Was he just doing this while walking around?

Gamemaster:Well, I mean, I think we covered it in my history class.

Krod:They're slow to update textbooks.

Cedric:Yeah.

Krod:To be fair, they are slow to update textbooks and curriculum.

Krod:How much did you learn about the Gulf War?

Krod:I think it's barely covered in even APUS.

Gamemaster:I did terrible in history, but I'm fairly confident it was covered.

Gamemaster:Take APUS.

Andros:Yeah, when I took APUS, it was not covered.

Andros:I think my APUS stuff stopped at like 9-11, but it didn't cover anything like sort of on either side of that.

Gamemaster:Nothing important happened after that, so... Meh.

Andros:It was like the Berlin Wall fell, 9-11, nothing.

Krod:But also, Josh, you're thinking of his reaction wrong.

Krod:He has great cognitive defenses.

Krod:When he says they probably deserved it, he's thinking, I don't have any empathy left right now.

Krod:I'm just going to say they deserved it and move on.

Krod:That way I don't feel bad for the Japanese tonight.

Krod:And then he's like, boom, I'm now happier because I just assumed they deserved it.

Gamemaster:I mean, he has always been, you know, ahead of the curve.

Gamemaster:He was a Republican that really, really wanted the government to be big on, like, controlling things.

Gamemaster:Before that was, like, the party stance.

Gamemaster:You know, he was a Republican who wanted a big government.

Gamemaster:So he's just, he was a future thinker, is what he was doing.

Cedric:No, so he sounds like a Republican, just not a conservative.

Gamemaster:So...

Krod:Isn't it like a 90s Republican?

Cedric:Like a libertarian.

Krod:Like a censorship Republican?

Cedric:Yeah.

Gamemaster:Yeah, I guess, like, along those lines.

Cedric:Republicans aren't small government.

Gamemaster:That's fair.

Cedric:That's libertarian.

Cedric:And you can have a conservative or social libertarian.

Krod:Well, also, Republicans were big censorship until like 15 years ago, maybe.

Gamemaster:It depends.

Cedric:Yeah.

Gamemaster:I get it.

Krod:You can't have...

Gamemaster:I don't... Wait, no, that's a good idea, though.

Krod:Women can't be showing more than one cubic yard of flesh on any... Those kind of laws.

Andros:You can decorate.

Gamemaster:I think that should be true for everybody.

Gamemaster:I think everybody should just have to walk around in a big cardboard box so that you can't see them.

Krod:Big fan of boxing?

Gamemaster:No, Solid Snake.

Krod:Ah.

Gamemaster:Yeah.

Cedric:You're sounding like a politician that just bought box stock.

Gamemaster:God, I wish I could buy stock in just the concept of boxes.

Gamemaster:I'd do it.

Gamemaster:People need those.

Gamemaster:There are so many of them.

Cedric:I bet you could set up a betting market thing for this.

Cedric:Some of the betting markets have stocks and players and teams.

Andros:Wait, so my dad watches exclusively Fox and like CNBC.

Andros:That's all.

Andros:And so I was at his house today and they were talking about like Facebook, sorry, Meta just announced the new glasses.

Andros:They're amazing.

Andros:Everyone's going to buy them.

Andros:There are still tens of millions.

Andros:I was like, oh, they announced new glasses?

Andros:Like went and watched the video.

Andros:Have you guys seen the video of the demo where you guys... Yeah.

Krod:no, I don't want to cringe.

Gamemaster:He tries to ask it to teach him how to make a Korean sauce.

Andros:And it just crashed out.

Gamemaster:I don't... Yeah.

Cedric:This is why you don't do live demos.

Andros:Thank you.

Cedric:I love watching AI physical hardware crash.

Cedric:I really love watching it.

Cedric:It brings me so much joy when Siri fails, when Humane Thing failed, when this fails.

Cedric:It just...

Cedric:It's always just like, it's hard.

Cedric:This is our world.

Cedric:You're in the ones and zeros, bro.

Cedric:This is hard.

Gamemaster:It just kept trying to get him to grade a whole pear into an empty bowl.

Gamemaster:Like, you know, it happens sometimes.

Cedric:That's painful.

Andros:He was like, what do I do first?

Andros:And it was like, grate up there.

Andros:He was like, using the ingredients in front of me.

Andros:It was like, grate up there.

Krod:Yeah, no, I didn't watch that because I saw, like, people being like, you know, this is horrific.

Krod:Props to this guy for keeping it together.

Krod:Or, like, there's a Zuckerberg one.

Krod:Apparently they couldn't get, like, a video call done on the fucking glasses.

Krod:And I was like, I don't want to watch this and just be uncomfortable with this guy.

Krod:It's like, please work.

Krod:Please work.

Krod:I'm going to be shot and killed if this doesn't work.

Cedric:Well, Google had that one mistake for the last three years now.

Cedric:It's all pre-recorded and people are like, it looks pre-recorded.

Cedric:And then everyone's like, yeah, we're not letting this fucking crash.

Cedric:You think we're going to let this fucking crash?

Cedric:We'd rather you be mad at us for being pre-recorded than let it crash.

Gamemaster:I get it.

Krod:My team is...

Gamemaster:Well, what's funny is, like, this is not the first time that Facebook has done a live demonstration of something and it sucked.

Gamemaster:Like, their initial meta live demo didn't go well either.

Gamemaster:There were, like, connection issues and graphical problems and all that kind of stuff.

Gamemaster:You'd think after that happened, they would have stopped doing live demos, and they didn't.

Cedric:Zugg's an actual tech founder.

Cedric:He has the ego that will not shrink.

Cedric:And he's going to be like, this is a live demo.

Cedric:We need to do live demos.

Gamemaster:Steve Jobs, famously largest ego in all of... But he had a big ego, and he was willing to swap out eight phones over the course of one demonstration so it looks correct.

Cedric:There are... Not a tech guy.

Cedric:But he's not a tech guy.

Cedric:He's a... Yeah, that's different.

Cedric:Steve Jobs doesn't want to look foolish.

Cedric:Zuckerberg thinks that his engineers should not fuck up.

Cedric:That's the... Zuckerberg... Yeah.

Andros:Has them all on.

Andros:Every engineer lined up behind the scenes.

Andros:The firing squad.

Andros:You better hope this works.

Krod:I do, because that's pretty much... I feel like Steve may have had a fuck-up in the 80s or something, and he's just like, this is going to be fucking smooth.

Krod:This is going to be fucking smooth, and we're going to essentially show a fake product that doesn't exist yet, because you motherfuckers are going to have it done by the time it goes on sale.

Krod:And then he's like, I'm getting on stage, and they're like, alright, he's got eight phones, we have to put it into one phone by the end of the week, and if we don't, we get executed.

Cedric:Do you know Mr. Wonderful from Shark Tank, that old guy?

Andros:Seriously demoed things that didn't exist yet.

Krod:So...

Andros:What an absolute... What a guy.

Gamemaster:Yeah.

Krod:Yeah.

Cedric:Did you know he worked for Steve Jobs?

Andros:Really?

Cedric:So he worked for Steve Jobs, and he was one of the guys that worked with him on the rolling out of Mac laptops, allegedly, in schools.

Cedric:And he was like, hey, Steve, we shouldn't – these teachers don't really need this, and I'm not sure this is what they want.

Cedric:And apparently he was like, look at me.

Cedric:Shut the fuck up.

Cedric:We're going to sell them what I say we're going to sell them.

Cedric:They don't know what they need.

Cedric:How rich have I made you?

Cedric:And he's like, you've made me pretty rich.

Cedric:He's like, get the fuck out of my face.

Cedric:And he's like, he was right.

Cedric:They didn't know what they needed and he just sold them laptops and they bought it.

Krod:I feel like Kevin O'Leary took all of the worst parts of Steve Jobs' personality and was like, I'm going to do the same thing.

Andros:This is my new personality.

Cedric:Yeah.

Cedric:No, it's funny.

Krod:Yeah, he has psycho businesses.

Krod:His favorite businesses are funeral homes because grieving people have to spend money and aren't emotionally in control of their money, so they just charge him a shitload.

Krod:It's like, oh, that's sick, dude.

Cedric:Yeah, that's great.

Andros:Yeah, there's a whole plot line on Ozark about that.

Cedric:Yep.

Krod:How about this?

Krod:How about a royalty deal?

Krod:It's like, Kevin, buy equity in the company.

Krod:If you guys have watched more than an episode of Shark Tank, you understand he's like, how about a royalty deal?

Krod:I will give you three cents for every unit that we ship.

Krod:But I will give you a $500,000 line of credit at 40% that you are to pay me in one month.

Krod:And I get $0.03 of it.

Krod:And you're like, what the hell?

Krod:Are you a bank?

Krod:They want strategic partners.

Krod:They literally went on a show for this so they could get strategic partners and popularity.

Krod:They want Mark Cuban's dumb face stickered onto the fucking front of this.

Krod:They don't want Kevin O'Leary line of credit number 100.

Gamemaster:I feel like I've seen a lot of episodes of Shark Tank, and I legitimately can't remember an instance of a product that he ended up signing on with.

Cedric:I can't think of any.

Gamemaster:I know he must, because I don't know why else he would.

Gamemaster:It's the second I'll throw money at a business product show he's been on.

Gamemaster:So I assume he's made deals with it, but I can't think of any.

Cedric:I also can't think of a time I ever willingly put on Shark Tank.

Cedric:But I've definitely seen a good amount of episodes.

Cedric:It's just like, on?

Andros:Again, my dad only watches CNBC, so we did watch a lot of Shark Tank.

Gamemaster:Yeah, I saw it via parents watching it and me being around them while that's happening.

Krod:Yeah, watch.

Krod:Same.

Krod:But it's also a good parent conversation starter.

Cedric:I've talked to my dad about this a couple times.

Krod:This dog leash, $50 for a dog leash?

Krod:It doesn't even do anything special.

Andros:Well, it's got a fun picture of a dog on the dog leash so you know what animal it's for.

Gamemaster:It holds the dog.

Krod:And then they cut the episode like a fucking psycho.

Krod:It's just like the person standing there.

Gamemaster:Yeah.

Andros:What's up?

Cedric:He's like, you should start a company.

Cedric:I started a company.

Cedric:It was very successful before I sold it.

Cedric:And I was like, yeah.

Cedric:But you did it in the time when not every single fucking human tried to make a company.

Cedric:You look at Shark Tank, and it's just like, yeah, first of all, every tech job, every tech idea, there's three startups in Stealth Fort.

Cedric:And then also, I was looking at a Shark Tank one.

Cedric:Some dude was trying to sell professional fort-making things.

Cedric:And they were like pillows with Velcro things.

Cedric:And they're like, oh, this is great.

Cedric:How much is it?

Cedric:He's like, $300.

Cedric:And they're like,

Cedric:No one's going to spend $300 to make a fort with their kids.

Cedric:They'll just use their own pillows.

Andros:My favorite is when someone goes on and they're like, we have $5,000 in Kickstarter money and we want $10 million.

Cedric:Yeah.

Krod:Yeah, it's also become part of the social optimized game is starting a company.

Krod:If you want to be part of this weirdly upper crust young people, it's like...

Krod:Before it was – I don't know even what it was in the mid-2000s.

Krod:But now it's like going to tech, going to AI, and you have to start a company.

Krod:You can't just work at one of these.

Krod:You have to start your own.

Krod:And then you can post all on Instagram and Twitter, and you have the tech fluencer lifestyle.

Krod:And that's peak.

Krod:People aren't even going into investment banking anymore.

Cedric:Well, MIT... Well, people have looked into this from MIT and other... and Ivy Leagues.

Krod:It's just like –

Krod:go start an AI company.

Krod:It's not even like you're taking a programmer that would have done embedded systems and now they're shilling some dumb fucking GBT wrapper.

Krod:It's someone that would have gone into investment banking and is now running an AI company and the main writer.

Krod:They're not a business person.

Krod:They're like whatever is zeitgeist person.

Cedric:Less percentage are going into Wall Street just because people are like, it doesn't pay as much proportionally for hours that I could get out of other things.

Cedric:They're like, I could get better bang for my buck other places or just more money.

Krod:It's also like weird influence type prestige.

Krod:Like, dude, I fucking code, dude.

Krod:Like, if you go on and you're like, oh, I do M&A.

Andros:Okay.

Krod:It's just like, even if you make a shit ton of money doing M&A, like, someone that is just like senior dev who makes half is like, oh, that guy's way cooler.

Krod:He has a light that turns on in his house when, like, there's ghosts.

Gamemaster:That is cooler.

Andros:That's a pretty cool product.

Gamemaster:Yeah, I don't know why you said, oh, here's a dumb example of a really cool thing.

Gamemaster:Like... Yeah.

Cedric:I also like how you said when there's ghosts as if there's, of course, there's going to be ghosts soon.

Cedric:It happens a lot.

Cedric:It's just letting you know.

Cedric:Oh, yeah.

Krod:You can buy ghost sensors online.

Andros:they turn on your light bulbs?

Krod:Well, if you set up an Arduino to go from the ghost sensor to the... Just...

Andros:For $500, Mike, listen, for 5% stake in my company, ghost lights.

Gamemaster:It's like an EMF reader, right?

Gamemaster:I wonder if you could get an EMF reader and then hook it up to a light.

Gamemaster:That could be fun.

Krod:Oh, you know, that's a perfect product.

Krod:A ghost flashlight.

Krod:It doesn't use power unless there's a ghost nearby.

Krod:So it turns on when there's a ghost.

Krod:So if there's no ghost, it turns off and you don't have to be afraid of the dark because there's no ghost.

Andros:This is a good idea.

Cedric:This is something Luigi would buy for his mansion.

Andros:I see.

Andros:Wait, Luigi the Assassin or Luigi the Ghost Hunter?

Cedric:Luigi the Ghost Hunter.

Andros:Luigi the Ghost Hunter.

Cedric:Hey, Noah, do you know what it constitutes first-degree murder?

Cedric:Like, what do you need to do for it to be first-degree murder in Colorado?

Andros:I'm pretty sure it's premeditated.

Cedric:So in New York, it's not that.

Cedric:So...

Andros:I'm...

Andros:I'm pretty sure first degree murder has to be premeditated in Colorado.

Cedric:So in New York, for it to be first degree, you have to, like, hurt a law enforcement.

Cedric:There's something else.

Cedric:And then, like, terrorists.

Cedric:That's why they were trying to charge him with being a terrorist.

Cedric:But once that dropped, they're like, guess he's going for second degree manslaughter or something like that.

Cedric:And it's so crazy.

Andros:You want some first degree murder?

Krod:It's definitely not manslaughter.

Cedric:It might as well be manslaughter.

Krod:It is second... Well, I mean, it's still like... It's not life without parole, but it's life, I guess, from the state's perspective.

Cedric:It's second degree.

Krod:Or maybe it's 40 years or something.

Krod:Or like, I don't know, minimum sentence, 40 years.

Krod:I can't remember exactly what it was.

Krod:But if I'm not mistaken, there's going to be a federal case as well.

Krod:And then for that, he'll be thrown away, I imagine.

Cedric:Yeah, I... It's very clearly premeditated.

Krod:Yeah, you can't be like, well, you know, it's like he just fucking punched him on the sidewalk and he fell over and died.

Krod:It's like, no, no, no, no, no, no.

Krod:He infiltrated Manhattan with a synthetic gun.

Cedric:I remember I once joked about Luigi when this was happening with my cousin Amanda.

Cedric:And then...

Cedric:It was like a pro-Luigi joke.

Cedric:And then she said something like, yeah, I don't think he did it.

Cedric:And I was like, whoa!

Cedric:Look, I'm not saying I'm mourning the death of Zio, but this guy really did it.

Cedric:Like, we should all agree he's crazy.

Cedric:And he killed the man.

Andros:That was the one thing everyone in America agreed upon was that he, you know, I differ on what should have gone down and who was right or wrong, but everyone in America was like, yeah, he did it.

Cedric:But the...

Cedric:The Charlie Kirk Assassins texts, everyone's like, I don't know if those are real texts.

Gamemaster:They don't really read, like, people.

Cedric:Have you heard?

Krod:Well... Well, I don't think they're law enforcement synthetic, but they're two people where there's no other evidence of this type of exchange, and they just happen to do it on the least secure form of communication.

Cedric:They sound like a millennial cop.

Cedric:I have to go to my vehicle and I pass by some squad squad car and things like that.

Krod:It's almost certainly like they have a telegram or a WhatsApp or something that's end-to-end encrypted that they've discussed something prior.

Krod:And then he's like, oh, let's just do this text exchange because the walls are closing in.

Krod:And then you cooperate.

Krod:You just give them everything.

Krod:And then the encrypted stuff disappears.

Cedric:Whatever it is, it's just... Yeah.

Andros:I was out of the country.

Krod:But it did, like, yeah.

Andros:I was out of the.

Cedric:Well... You guys want to go find out what's happening with this eight-year-old?

Andros:Yes.

Andros:I.

Gamemaster:no I'm sorry the two of them by the two of them I mean specifically Jorge was bugging me enough about what's going on with the 8 year old outside of set D&D roleplaying hours that I've decided that we're going to pick up this session after the 8 year old encounter you guys aren't going to know what occurred we're just going to have resolved it and then moved on

Krod:I've got time

Andros:Josh, I built my... I built this character specifically to fight eight-year-olds.

Cedric:What is your arm?

Gamemaster:Oh, yeah, I believe it.

Krod:Be sure of the session.

Krod:Run back.

Krod:I run back.

Krod:I ask, where's the eight-year-old's body?

Gamemaster:Do we... So, let's play some Pathfinder.

Gamemaster:Yes.

Gamemaster:Are you raising your hand because you want to do a recap?

Cedric:I can.

Cedric:Yeah.

Gamemaster:Okay.

Gamemaster:Sure.

Cedric:All right, so.

Cedric:We're all super cool magic cops.

Cedric:One of us is cooler than the rest and has an entourage of people, a legitimate entourage, that just follow him around and does stuff for him.

Gamemaster:Thank you.

Cedric:Anyway, we don't need to mention it, but anyway.

Cedric:So they roll... No, that was just a feed I got.

Andros:Are you Captain Archetype?

Krod:It's worth it.

Cedric:Besides from that, I'm also a propagandist, but anyway.

Cedric:We roll into town.

Cedric:It's like an old... This town kind of had a big boom, and then it quickly crashed and burned, so it's like a really sad Midwestern town.

Cedric:And we were investigating who's a sack person.

Cedric:We rolled well.

Cedric:We figured out some sack people have this little commune on the outskirts.

Cedric:So we walk... All right, all right.

Gamemaster:Yeah, you've already missed some stuff in the beginning.

Gamemaster:There's no context for sack person.

Cedric:I'll go back.

Cedric:So there's some murders, okay?

Andros:Okay.

Cedric:So that's why they're calling the cool cops.

Andros:Okay.

Cedric:Mostly one cool cop and the other side.

Cedric:We were looking at these murders, and they keep happening over six months or something like that.

Cedric:And there's nothing.

Gamemaster:Three weeks.

Cedric:How long?

Gamemaster:Three weeks.

Cedric:Three weeks.

Cedric:There's nothing that links them to each other.

Cedric:Different styles of victims, different age groups, races, different locations.

Cedric:different frequency, nothing to link them.

Cedric:But we were talking to one of the guys and we were just like saying goodbye to one of his neighbors.

Cedric:And the neighbor's like, by the way, the guy that just died met with a sack man.

Cedric:And by sack man, I mean a man who dresses in burlap sacks, which is really weird because nowadays everyone dresses in suits and are super fly.

Gamemaster:I feel the need to clarify this.

Cedric:And...

Gamemaster:He was not wearing a burlap sack.

Gamemaster:At no point did I say burlap sack.

Andros:Thank you.

Krod:Also... Also... The murders... The murders were the same.

Gamemaster:He was wearing a tunic.

Gamemaster:Like, from the 1700s.

Cedric:Made of burlap.

Cedric:From burlap?

Gamemaster:It's not a burlap sack.

Krod:The people were shriveled up.

Gamemaster:Correct.

Cedric:Yeah, but nothing about the original identities.

Krod:The difficulty in... That's true.

Cedric:It's the same.

Cedric:All the same.

Krod:And the frequencies were different.

Cedric:Yeah.

Cedric:So we're like, wow, we got to investigate this.

Cedric:So we looked into it.

Cedric:And then we decided, oh, well, he met with this guy.

Cedric:So that's not a burlap sack.

Cedric:And we traced him to a train for this town that's far away in the boonies.

Cedric:So we went to this town.

Cedric:And then that's when we did the whole thing.

Cedric:We were looking for the burlap sack people that aren't burlap sack people.

Cedric:Found their commune.

Cedric:Went there.

Cedric:Turns out they're just nice people who don't lie.

Cedric:And there's this subtle, secret other religion that's going on.

Cedric:Some of the people's arraignments, because this is host territory.

Cedric:have this greenish oxidize?

Cedric:Is it oxidize or just greenish?

Krod:This is greenish.

Gamemaster:Just green.

Cedric:Just green.

Cedric:And they say it's the green man.

Krod:Not even greenish.

Cedric:And because what I now get to mention is this town is on the border of this sea of trees.

Cedric:So it's this really massive forest where there are trees that go miles high.

Cedric:From afar, it looks like an actual sea.

Cedric:That's a cool mug.

Cedric:And there looks to be like a mountain, but that's just really tall trees.

Cedric:And then apparently some of these people are like worshiping this green guy.

Cedric:Yeah.

Andros:What kind of trees?

Andros:Like pine trees, redwoods?

Gamemaster:Pine trees.

Cedric:Pine trees.

Cedric:Great question.

Cedric:We didn't ask that question.

Cedric:This is why we needed you.

Cedric:Now, we were looking and we're like, wow, this is crazy.

Cedric:So we went to the commune and they're like, oh, yeah, this is a description of this guy that left.

Cedric:Yeah, his stuff's right over there.

Cedric:He has a house.

Cedric:He doesn't really have that much stuff.

Cedric:All right, feel free to go.

Cedric:He went communing, communicating with the green man and nature, you know, like into the woods over there.

Cedric:So we went to his house.

Cedric:We found this like cool, super cool, non-Fayrin metal necklace.

Cedric:And we picked it up, forgot about it.

Cedric:And I go, guess we're just going to walk into the woods.

Cedric:We have no other leads.

Cedric:We just started walking.

Cedric:But then the necklace started like levitating and pointing us to a direction.

Cedric:So we're like, well, this is actually super convenient.

Cedric:So we start following it.

Cedric:They gave us a warning to not go too deep, because then you go into the mid-burrows?

Cedric:Is that what they're called?

Cedric:Mid-bows?

Gamemaster:a mid-down.

Krod:Mid-blows.

Cedric:Mid-bowery.

Krod:Yeah.

Cedric:And we start... Mid-bowery.

Cedric:So we start going there, and we were not very stealthy, but we were very observant.

Cedric:So we're walking around, and we notice there's a really big praying mantis that tried to fight us.

Cedric:Blew his shit up.

Cedric:Turns out he had two other friends.

Cedric:They fucking ran.

Cedric:They fought us, and they're like, this is a bad idea.

Cedric:Most of them died.

Cedric:Yeah.

Andros:Were they sentient or were they just, like, Giant?

Andros:Like, were they like, oh, my God, we're praying Manti?

Andros:Or were they... Big bugs.

Cedric:They're just bugs, you know?

Cedric:They're just bugs.

Cedric:So we were like, wow, we got to, we're the big dog.

Cedric:Boom, boom.

Cedric:So we started investigating.

Cedric:Go deeper in.

Cedric:We went to the mid-bowels and started getting darker.

Cedric:Luckily, one of our characters had super dark sense.

Cedric:Too bad that guy's gone.

Cedric:So then we started walking around.

Cedric:And then we had some peaceful days.

Cedric:We chilled in this super cool palace thing.

Cedric:And then when we got in there, we were walking in.

Cedric:Don't worry about it.

Gamemaster:he has Mordecai in his magnificent mansion.

Cedric:Don't worry about it.

Cedric:You'll find out.

Cedric:I don't know why you need to spoil that.

Cedric:But anyway, we're walking in.

Gamemaster:It's not a spoiler!

Gamemaster:He thinks that there's a mansion in the forest and there isn't!

Cedric:We're walking in.

Cedric:There's like a kid crying, described as like an eight-year-old kid crying.

Cedric:Not a nine-year-old, because that'd be normal if you see a nine-year-old in armor in the forest, but it was an eight-year-old kid crying.

Krod:We haven't touched them yet.

Andros:Okay.

Andros:So he's not as dense as a fully grown man?

Andros:Tracks.

Cedric:We don't know.

Cedric:So Mike's character was like, obviously this is a trap from some evil, sinister thing.

Cedric:How the hell did a kid get dazed into a deep, dangerous, dark forest, see things?

Cedric:And then my character is like, this is why I'm a cop.

Cedric:I'm actually scarred as a kid, and now it's my duty to go find kids that need help and help them.

Cedric:So we didn't really get into that backstory, but we don't need to talk about it.

Gamemaster:This is the first I'm hearing of it, but okay.

Cedric:So, yeah, you had a really scarring childhood, but a cop, we don't need to worry about this.

Cedric:So we were talking, we're like, all right, we should investigate.

Cedric:They're like, nah.

Cedric:And then I was like, we could just fireball the kid from afar.

Cedric:Yes, my dude helped real children.

Andros:Wait, so you went from it's my duty to help children to we got to kill this kid.

Cedric:I know he's not a real child.

Cedric:Now, so after five to ten minutes of talking, Mike's character is just like, fine, let's go figure out the kid.

Cedric:We're like, whoa, whoa, we don't know if we should do this.

Cedric:He's like, we already wasted so much fucking time.

Cedric:Let's just go.

Cedric:So we decide to go, and that's where we ended the session.

Andros:And I'm not pro fireballing the kid.

Cedric:Mike's character is sneaking up to...

Krod:Well, okay.

Krod:So... Yeah, so...

Cedric:And the kid, wait, let me describe the kid.

Cedric:No, Tanner was pro-fireball.

Cedric:So the kid was in this little clearing where there's a little bit of light coming through.

Gamemaster:And it was profirable.

Cedric:And he was like, help, help, I'm caught on this branch.

Cedric:Help, help.

Cedric:And I was like, my fireball's 500 foot range.

Cedric:And then Mike's going to snuck up and then cut it.

Cedric:And that's where we ended it.

Gamemaster:Okay, yeah.

Cedric:And by the way, Noah, just for your own notes.

Cedric:The whole prior part of us getting to that town, we didn't even do.

Cedric:So legitimately, for X amount of hours, all we did is talk to some people, went into a bar, went into a commune, and had a very quick fight.

Cedric:We were so inefficient.

Cedric:All right.

Krod:Couple of clarifications.

Krod:So my character did not want to even... Anything with the kid.

Krod:Oh, it's a kid.

Krod:It's clearly a trick.

Krod:There's a kid in the middle of the forest.

Krod:Doesn't happen.

Krod:Let's get moving.

Krod:Tanner and Jorge's characters wanted to discuss the idea of...

Krod:saying hi throwing a fireball at it and i said what what do we gain there's nothing we don't gain a single thing with interacting with this clearly malevolent entity and they said oh well you know i mean and they like snuck up and like looked at it and it checks out it like mostly looks like a kid and they're like well i'm and then i'm like okay we've it's been like 20 minutes of real life time talking about this kid at the end of the session so i'm like all right i go up

Krod:My character is a bloodhound, so he can sense blood.

Krod:So I get within range.

Cedric:Literally.

Gamemaster:He's a shooby.

Krod:Yeah.

Andros:You're actually a dog person.

Andros:Okay.

Krod:Yeah, yeah.

Gamemaster:He's a shooby.

Krod:So I get within range to tell if the kid has blood.

Krod:Kid's full of blood.

Krod:Big ol' blood bag.

Krod:I have a Nodachi.

Krod:And I have an odachi with extend, which means I can strike from 60 feet away.

Krod:So I moved 50 feet away from the kid, and I expertly cut the branch with a 60-foot-long sword.

Krod:And that's where the session ended, was I cut the branch.

Cedric:one other quick thing when I was like I'm a cop I should care about a crying kid and also because my whole backstory thing Josh made sure to be like because it was either Tanner or Mike that was like would the host care about helping a kid and Josh was basically like no you know you guys are like Americans and you only really care about yourselves so don't care about this kid at all so yeah

Gamemaster:well I that's a mischaracterization I think of what I said I did not say you're an American you don't care about kids

Andros:Americans famously do not care about kids.

Gamemaster:Um, what I said is that the host is, like, you had asked if, or somebody had asked if, like, there was a reason that the host would specifically say you need to go out of, like, into possible harm's way to save this kid.

Gamemaster:And I said the host, like, preaches self-exceptionalism, effectively.

Gamemaster:Which is to say, no, if you want to go check out this kid, it's because your character's trying to do a good thing and not because their religion is telling you to do it.

Gamemaster:Um...

Gamemaster:That said, as a little bit of an experiment, because that was a little all over the place, Noah, can you do me a favor and just tell me what you think happened in the last session, and then we'll fill in any gaps.

Cedric:Hey!

Andros:So, we're from the Church of Calaria, the iridescent host.

Gamemaster:Mm-hmm.

Andros:There's some, I think there's a plague that's killing people out in the boonies in the Emerald Sea.

Andros:I think there's a name for it.

Gamemaster:No.

Gamemaster:So there's a curse that's affecting people in Hallia.

Andros:Oh.

Gamemaster:Yes.

Gamemaster:You're part of the church.

Gamemaster:There's a curse that was affecting people.

Gamemaster:I think 47 people so far have died from it.

Gamemaster:And so you were brought in as magic cops to figure out where this curse came from.

Andros:Okay.

Andros:So we were brought in as magic cops, asked around, discovered that it was maybe coming from some town off in the boonies.

Andros:Went to the boonies.

Gamemaster:Yes, the first victim of the curse you discovered met from somebody dressed in a tunic, and you were able to track that that person came from this particular city out in the boonies.

Andros:So we tracked this man.

Gamemaster:Wrenford is the name of the city, by the way.

Andros:Bedford?

Gamemaster:Wrenford.

Andros:Wrenford?

Gamemaster:W-R-E-N-F-O-R-D.

Gamemaster:Wrenford.

Andros:So we tracked this man wearing a potato sack out there.

Gamemaster:The Green Father.

Andros:Looked around, found out that this man from Wrenford worshipped the Green Man.

Andros:Oh.

Andros:The Green Father, which does sound rather different than the Green Man.

Krod:Thank you.

Andros:I cannot explain how good it feels to be on the other side of fucking up a one-shot.

Gamemaster:Who is, like, they didn't ask all that many questions, but you would know it to be somehow related to the Verdant Expanse, which is the forest nearby.

Gamemaster:It's fine.

Andros:Um, asked around...

Andros:Didn't ask too many questions.

Andros:Went to this guy's house because he vanished.

Gamemaster:Okay, no, no, no, sorry, I do have to interrupt you.

Gamemaster:They did ask questions, just not about that stuff.

Gamemaster:They spent a while trying to figure out what weird regional ingredient was in the beer they drank.

Gamemaster:But not enough to, like, actually figure anything out about it.

Gamemaster:It was enough to be like, huh, that's strange.

Gamemaster:And then all three of them individually bothered this guy at the end of the bar, who didn't have much information for him.

Krod:Thank you.

Cedric:We only found out about that the beer was even different because we have a dog with us who has a super tasting feet.

Gamemaster:You didn't describe who people are or what they do or anything like that.

Andros:So just for clarification, you're a dog person.

Andros:Jorge, what are you?

Andros:I know Jorge is a sorcerer and Mike's a fighter because I looked back through the dice bot.

Cedric:I am

Andros:Texted with Jorge.

Cedric:Cedric Corot, the famous detective, who has an entourage of people named Vinny, Tony, Donnie, and Eddie.

Cedric:And I also took the field propagandist feat, but I did not roll well.

Cedric:So the people on the train are not that big of a fan.

Gamemaster:No.

Gamemaster:So, on the train ride over to the booties, he thought he would fill the time by spreading propaganda about Calaria to the citizens of Calaria on the train.

Andros:That's like when you go to the movie theaters and they play a commercial for the movie theater that you're already in.

Gamemaster:And he rolled so poorly, he worsened their opinion of Calaria.

Gamemaster:Hmm.

Cedric:Yes.

Andros:And it's bad.

Andros:You're like, I want to play in a movie theater.

Krod:Welcome to Regal.

Gamemaster:Either way.

Gamemaster:So they get to Wrenford.

Gamemaster:They ask about weird regional beer ingredients.

Andros:Somehow they end up at the guy in a tunic's house.

Gamemaster:They figure out that there is a commune on the edge of town of people who, like, equivalent-ish to, like, Mannonites, where they kind of forego a lot of technology, which is where the tunic comes from, because, like, they worship the Green Father more so than the average person in the Clarion does.

Krod:Detective work.

Gamemaster:So they go to investigate, they're all very nice, the people are cooperative there, and they do lead him to his house, who they are told walked into the forest, into the Verdant Expanse, six months ago and hasn't been seen since.

Cedric:That's where the six months came from.

Gamemaster:Yes.

Andros:Okay.

Andros:And how long ago was the first incident of this curse?

Krod:Thanks, man.

Gamemaster:Three weeks.

Andros:Okay, that's much more recent.

Andros:They find some green-ish metal in this dude's house.

Gamemaster:So I forget, is it Tanner's character who had like...

Gamemaster:plane of earth lore or something like that.

Cedric:Yeah.

Gamemaster:They found a strange green rock on a twine necklace, and through a very high roll that he got, discovered that it was something called feystone, which is a particularly rare material sought after by collectors that comes from somewhere it's believed starward on the horizon, but not much else is known about it.

Cedric:So, I... So, Mr. Kuro theorized that if devils are voidward and evil, fey or starward, Voidsong's probably pretty evil.

Gamemaster:It's strange for some random

Gamemaster:Amish do have it, so they stole it.

Gamemaster:Which... Right.

Cedric:He theorized after breaking the fourth wall, but... Yeah.

Andros:Okay, so Deadpool-Poirot theorized the whole thing.

Andros:So then they were like, well, guess we'll walk into the forest too.

Andros:And as they were doing that, the fey stone did a little divining rod thing and was like, boop, boop.

Gamemaster:Correct.

Andros:They started following it.

Andros:They fought some Giant praying mantises.

Andros:Sounds like it wasn't well.

Andros:And then spent four hours discussing.

Andros:This was the first ten minutes of the one shot.

Andros:And then the other four hours.

Krod:Mm.

Andros:For them discussing what to do with this kid.

Gamemaster:No, Tanner also rolled twice to look at some poop to figure out if he could figure out what animals were around.

Andros:What was Tanner?

Andros:He was a kineticist.

Gamemaster:He was a kineticist.

Gamemaster:He also failed both checks.

Andros:Okay, so he doesn't know what the animals are.

Gamemaster:Yeah, so I think that's a pretty good summary.

Gamemaster:A brief overview of the Verdant Expanse itself, the place that you find yourselves in right now, is this is a forest the size of a country.

Gamemaster:Um...

Gamemaster:with trees that have sat for thousands of years, it's believed.

Gamemaster:As you get closer to the center of the forest, the trees grow larger and taller, at their peak close to a mile high.

Gamemaster:All manner of strange creatures live within the forest.

Gamemaster:It's believed that some strange magics happen in the forest.

Gamemaster:um there's all kinds of weird myths about it although generally speaking most people who go too deep into it don't come back out to tell their story so the only thing that it's like is actually confirmed is that the further you go in the uh less light there is as the tree canopy becomes denser and denser and less light makes it down to the surface uh effectively it's it's treated

Gamemaster:It's similar to an ocean in that its depths are hard to map and probably not worth going into for the average person.

Gamemaster:But your murder suspect walked in here six months ago and didn't show up after that and appeared in Hallia like months later and killed somebody and then disappeared.

Gamemaster:So...

Andros:Really cool setting.

Andros:Neat.

Gamemaster:Yeah, so we are going to pick up from... So I...

Gamemaster:I should have come up with a reason for the character swap, but I think we're just going to retcon in that your guy has just been present on the squad just for sake of ease.

Gamemaster:So the three of you guys, which honestly, thank God, the person with the Ancestry feed that makes it so that he just isn't affected by darkness isn't present in the party anymore.

Gamemaster:Because that's an actual thing some dwarves can get.

Gamemaster:Like, straight-up magical darkness doesn't apply to them.

Gamemaster:But it's fine, because he's gone.

Andros:Cool.

Gamemaster:You all trekked through the canopy, the entry part of the forest for the first few days, where it's still bright out, it's like a forest in all the traditional senses, until you got into the mid-bow, which is the... Sorry, the mid-bowry.

Gamemaster:Um...

Gamemaster:Which is where you are now.

Gamemaster:It is permanent twilight.

Gamemaster:Or not permanent, it still gets dark when the sun's set, but during the day it's considered dim light still.

Gamemaster:where you had heard the cries of some child off in the distance, had a conversation, trying to figure out what to do about it.

Gamemaster:Mr. Poirot snuck over, took a look, was like, oh, it's a clearing about 15 feet wide.

Gamemaster:there is a beam of light coming down in the clearing.

Gamemaster:You're not quite deep enough into the forest where there's no light getting through.

Gamemaster:And you can see that there appeared to be an about eight-year-old human boy who is on the ground.

Gamemaster:It looks like he's a little scuffed up.

Gamemaster:He's got scratches on his legs from where it looks like he fell down with a branch extending down from one of the nearby trees that appears to have wrapped itself around his ankle.

Gamemaster:He's yelling for help.

Gamemaster:You all, I decided to investigate.

Gamemaster:So that brings us to Mike's character who walked until he was about 50 feet away from the clearing and could get a line of sight and then used his go-go gadget extendo sword to cut the branch from a distance.

Gamemaster:Before we begin...

Gamemaster:Can everybody re-describe or first describe their character so we all know what's going on?

Cedric:Yeah.

Andros:I can go first since you guys know.

Gamemaster:Sure.

Andros:My name is Andros Anthropos, and I'm just a totally normal human man who is 10 feet tall.

Andros:I have a big bushy Tom Selleck-looking mustache, and I am wearing very ornate dragon turtle armor, very bulky.

Andros:There's a little symbol of the...

Andros:The iridescent host and then like a little caduceus or whatever the doctor equivalent symbol is.

Andros:There's a big, big shield on my back that is just shaped like a pocket watch.

Cedric:Sick.

Cedric:I can go next.

Cedric:I'm Cedric Corot.

Cedric:I'm a very well-dressed man.

Cedric:Black suit, black tie, white shirt, little fedora hat.

Cedric:There's a lot of smoke coming off him, mostly because he smokes a lot of cigarettes and sometimes puts them in just a pocket because he forgets about it.

Cedric:He does a lot of doodling and drawing, and he usually has an entourage with him, but they have to stay in safe city limits.

Cedric:Was supposed to have split personality disorder, but that's way too hard for me to do all those voices.

Cedric:So he doesn't anymore.

Cedric:And he's like a film Noire styled guy.

Cedric:And he is a lizard folk.

Gamemaster:Mike, who are you?

Krod:Next is Krod Snodman, whose name I definitely don't get mixed up in my head when I try to remember him.

Andros:Hello.

Krod:Krod Snodman is a graying black pug who stands... I don't know.

Krod:He's like two and a half feet tall, maybe, max.

Krod:He's got a tiny little set of lattice armor on, and on his back is...

Krod:a full-size Nodachi, which is essentially three times his height.

Krod:So it's not the normal sword angle.

Krod:It's much wider, so it doesn't really drag on the ground.

Gamemaster:He heard me talk about how I think Shunis are dumb and decided to make one.

Gamemaster:It's fine.

Krod:Do you know they have a constitution flaw?

Cedric:You can do options.

Cedric:You don't have to follow the flaws.

Andros:Yeah, but then you get three ability boosts.

Cedric:Yeah, that's true.

Cedric:You can do the alternative ability selections if you want.

Krod:Oh.

Krod:I don't have to follow the flaws.

Gamemaster:You don't need to take the flaw, but you also only get two boosts instead of three.

Krod:Oh, well.

Krod:That's OK.

Gamemaster:Right.

Andros:My minus four charisma.

Cedric:And I was still slinking around the trees because I was in stealth.

Cedric:So I'll put that out there.

Gamemaster:I don't know what we got for stealth checks before, so I think I might just ask us all to re-roll stealth checks.

Cedric:Oh, I had a high one.

Cedric:Okay.

Gamemaster:It's a new session.

Gamemaster:We're not carrying that over.

Cedric:Yeah, no, I get it.

Cedric:I'm not going to fight.

Krod:Didn't we use the follow the expert thing?

Cedric:No, no, when I went separately, I did a separate stealth check to investigate.

Gamemaster:Yeah, but now all of you are together, so...

Cedric:Yeah, no, no, I know.

Cedric:No, I know.

Cedric:I'm just, I was saying that with Mike, that it wasn't the fault of the expert for that.

Gamemaster:Noah, what's your character's stealth modifier?

Andros:Plus 18.

Andros:Oh, I'm so sorry.

Gamemaster:Is that better than Shuny?

Krod:No.

Gamemaster:What's Krod's?

Krod:Krods is 21.

Gamemaster:Okay, so then he has to roll if you're doing the follow the expert.

Krod:Yeah.

Krod:He already has rolled.

Krod:So now Jorge has to expert roll.

Gamemaster:Oh.

Cedric:Oh no, does he just have three?

Gamemaster:What?

Cedric:He says three, right?

Gamemaster:I think so, if you're a master in stealth.

Krod:I thought... I thought... Oh, yeah, okay.

Cedric:Yeah.

Gamemaster:So, for clarification, I don't know which feat this is, but Quiet Allies, which allows the whole party to just have the person with the lowest modifier roll and have the follow the expert bonus, and that applies to everyone.

Krod:So we gotta...

Cedric:Quite allies.

Andros:Oh.

Gamemaster:So you get to add three to whatever you rolled, and then that's the stealth check for the party.

Cedric:Oh, no.

Gamemaster:What do we get?

Cedric:Let's not do this anymore.

Andros:Oh, is that me?

Cedric:I don't care if you guys aren't stealthy.

Cedric:I want to be stealthy from now on.

Krod:What I'm banking on.

Andros:In that case, I think I got a 28.

Gamemaster:28.

Gamemaster:Okay.

Gamemaster:Just for clarification, for everybody to remember, the level-based DC, if we're doing an at-level, level 13 check, is 31.

Gamemaster:But also, an 8-year-old probably has a pretty low perception score, so the DC wouldn't be all that high.

Cedric:Yeah.

Cedric:He's not a nine-year-old.

Gamemaster:No, if you were a nine-year-old with glowing eyes and multiple pics, then it'd be a different story.

Krod:Yeah, exactly.

Gamemaster:Okay, so we begin.

Andros:Oh, one other question.

Gamemaster:Yes?

Andros:Is this happening simultaneously with the campaign?

Gamemaster:Yes, this is concurrent.

Gamemaster:so the campaign this one shot would have started the same day that the campaign started but it's been a few days of trekking since then so we're probably like a week ahead of where campaign 3 is right now um okay

Andros:So somewhere, Johnny Skyfall and Tanner's character's name, Blaine Gunn, have tinfoil hats on their Atum meeting.

Gamemaster:Correct, yes.

Gamemaster:That's actually around this time.

Gamemaster:So you guys are dealing with the Zorbon, while the three of you, we open up with... Is it Krod Snodman or Snod Krodman?

Krod:Grodd.

Krod:It's very easy to remember.

Gamemaster:Krod.

Gamemaster:It's not, and you did it on purpose.

Gamemaster:Krod extends his nodachi, makes a slice.

Gamemaster:He's 50 feet away.

Gamemaster:You watch from your vantage point back here that the spot where the sword makes contact with the branch that was wrapped around the kid's ankle...

Gamemaster:It basically explodes with the force of you slamming through it.

Gamemaster:It doesn't seem to have been supernaturally strong or resistant to blades or anything like that.

Gamemaster:And your character is strong enough to hack through a branch that is large enough to hold an eight-year-old in place.

Gamemaster:so it splinters outward and you watch the kid scream as this thing that's been holding his leg suddenly lets go and his struggle just stops him from staying in place and he falls backwards from the force of this thing and you watch him look around roll a perception check

Cedric:As your perception.

Cedric:Alright, I will not roll.

Andros:Uh, I got a plus 21.

Krod:I have a 22.

Krod:29.

Krod:Damn it.

Cedric:Yeah, you too good bro.

Andros:Also 29.

Gamemaster:Yeah, so you're watching the kid.

Gamemaster:It looks like he looks around, and then he calls out, Hello?

Gamemaster:Is someone there?

Gamemaster:Hello?

Gamemaster:Did someone just cut this branch?

Krod:Fucking with us.

Cedric:Hello, child.

Gamemaster:Do you emerge out of the clearing, or is this you just talking from the forest?

Cedric:No.

Krod:Thank you so much.

Cedric:I'm talking from the forest.

Gamemaster:Okay.

Gamemaster:He'll look in the general direction the voice is coming from, but it doesn't look like you can necessarily place where it is.

Gamemaster:And he says, Who are you?

Cedric:We are but vessels of the mighty host.

Cedric:Who are you, child, and how did you get here?

Gamemaster:My name is Tommy, and I just kind of ended up here.

Cedric:What do you mean, kind of?

Cedric:What happened right before you ended up here, Tommy?

Gamemaster:I was walking through the forest.

Gamemaster:Are you going to eat me?

Gamemaster:Because I... I was just walking by myself and I don't think I'm all that deep.

Andros:Why were you walking?

Cedric:Yo, Tommy.

Andros:Why were you walking?

Cedric:How did you get this deep into the forest?

Cedric:Who were you walking with?

Cedric:Were you walking by yourself?

Krod:Where are you walking from?

Krod:Where is home?

Gamemaster:Home?

Cedric:Where's home, child?

Gamemaster:My mom said I'm not supposed to tell strangers where I live.

Andros:It's okay, I'm a doctor.

Gamemaster:Roll a diplomacy check?

Cedric:I am a cop.

Krod:Roll a medicine.

Cedric:Can I say I'm a detective?

Cedric:All right.

Andros:I really shouldn't.

Gamemaster:You can.

Krod:Roll a medicine check.

Gamemaster:I still need you to roll a diplomacy check because that was three disembodied voices speaking out of the forest.

Gamemaster:Yeah.

Cedric:Can I roll one of them?

Cedric:There you go.

Gamemaster:I'll allow two of you to roll diplomacy checks if you like.

Andros:I shouldn't roll it.

Krod:I shouldn't roll it either.

Gamemaster:Okay, so I'll just allow the propagandist to roll a diplomacy check.

Cedric:All right.

Andros:Mike, what's your diplomacy?

Cedric:I will use my guided by the stars and reroll.

Krod:plus 1.

Andros:Oh, that's two higher than mine.

Cedric:Detective.

Krod:Oh.

Gamemaster:Okay, 44.

Andros:you

Gamemaster:So you disembodied voice out of the forest say, I'm a cop.

Gamemaster:okay uh and you know he's like is there a reason you're hiding

Cedric:I am the famous detective, Cedric Garot.

Cedric:One of my associates may present himself to you.

Cedric:And I like look at the massive 10 foot tall guy.

Cedric:He might look scary, but I promise you he's very kind.

Andros:Yeah, I got it.

Andros:A lumber out of the woods.

Andros:Hey.

Gamemaster:Okay.

Gamemaster:A ten-foot-tall man lumbers into the clearing over this kid who is maybe four feet tall.

Krod:Have my character come out.

Gamemaster:Looks up at you and says, Are you the detective?

Andros:No, I'm the doctor.

Gamemaster:Are you the one that freed me from the branch?

Andros:No, that was not me either.

Gamemaster:Your character comes out too?

Krod:Yeah, my character will walk out.

Krod:So one quarter of the height.

Krod:So we're just throwing different sized people at this kid and seeing how he reacts.

Gamemaster:He... He looks...

Krod:I was the one who freed you.

Krod:Still holding the sword that is almost as tall as his friend.

Gamemaster:visibly scared by this.

Cedric:I come out.

Gamemaster:He's like kind of shrinking backwards towards the tree, but also it looks like he doesn't want to walk into the forest behind him either.

Gamemaster:Are you sure you're not going to eat me?

Andros:No.

Gamemaster:Actually, did you ever say you're not going to eat me?

Cedric:I come out.

Krod:We're not gonna eat you.

Cedric:We're not going to eat you, child.

Cedric:And I come out, and I'm smoking a cigarette, and I flash badge.

Gamemaster:Okay, so I rolled a check to see if they know who you are as a detective when you said that you were famous.

Gamemaster:And they do.

Gamemaster:There's like a little bit of a, I think I know who that is.

Cedric:Yeah.

Gamemaster:But, like, you know, a little bit of insight.

Gamemaster:They're not, like, immediately coming out and being like, oh my gosh, the famous detective or whatever.

Cedric:Yeah.

Gamemaster:But they do seem ever so slightly less guarded against you than they do the Giant and the man carrying a sword three times his height.

Cedric:Yeah.

Krod:The dog.

Krod:I'm not a man.

Andros:Yeah.

Cedric:Yeah.

Gamemaster:You can be two things.

Krod:I am a dog.

Cedric:You should walk you home.

Andros:I am.

Cedric:Where is your home?

Gamemaster:I...

Gamemaster:You know, out of the forest.

Cedric:Outside.

Gamemaster:I don't live here.

Gamemaster:Yes, he does.

Cedric:Does he have any raiment or anything?

Gamemaster:He has a very faint-looking rainbow raiment.

Gamemaster:Like, if you'd guesstimate, he's level one-ish, if that.

Andros:This child's level one?

Cedric:Of the host.

Andros:Who the hell is this kid?

Gamemaster:Yeah, it's of the host.

Gamemaster:It's like rainbow-colored.

Andros:Oh.

Andros:Uh...

Cedric:How old are you, child?

Gamemaster:An eight?

Cedric:Tommy?

Krod:We don't live here.

Gamemaster:Yeah?

Cedric:I got your name.

Cedric:Let's try to find your home, right?

Cedric:Must be close.

Gamemaster:Can you...

Gamemaster:And you're definitely not going to eat me.

Cedric:No, no, no, no.

Gamemaster:Because I always told people in the forest, the people who live here eat people.

Cedric:We're not from here.

Cedric:Investigating a... As he abouts to say murders, he's like, uh, crimes for the host.

Gamemaster:Why are you in the forest?

Krod:Speaking of which... I'm acquainted.

Gamemaster:You're like actually doing crime detecting?

Gamemaster:That's so cool.

Gamemaster:Do any of you know magic?

Cedric:Which is pretty cool.

Andros:yeah i know the magical friendship oh i gotcha uh can i i treat wounds on this kid oh god uh

Gamemaster:My legs really hurt.

Cedric:Why do you...

Gamemaster:I'm not sure I can walk around on them.

Gamemaster:Yeah.

Krod:He explodes.

Krod:He's undead.

Andros:There's so many things in this character, I don't know how to do any of them.

Andros:I think I should make a medicine check.

Gamemaster:If you're doing tree wounds, yes.

Gamemaster:It's a medicine check and you choose the DC.

Gamemaster:And depending on which DC you choose is how much health you restore.

Krod:No.

Andros:It's a child, so I'll choose... I'll choose DC 20.

Gamemaster:15 is the lowest.

Andros:Is that allowed?

Andros:I got a 43.

Gamemaster:Okay.

Gamemaster:It is.

Gamemaster:I'm assuming, so long as you're at least an expert in medicine, which I believe you are.

Gamemaster:Yeah, you crit, so he heals 48 plus 10.

Gamemaster:Unless you have something that makes that better.

Gamemaster:I don't know if you do.

Cedric:Do you have battle medicine?

Andros:I think I should make this a risky.

Gamemaster:We may have to amputate your leg, but it won't be bleeding anymore.

Andros:I have so many things.

Andros:I'll just do the 4d8 plus 10.

Gamemaster:okay um please okay

Krod:Put a better leg on.

Cedric:Is he a medic?

Cedric:Are you a medic dedication?

Andros:I am Medic Dedication.

Cedric:So you will add something flat to it.

Cedric:I forget what.

Andros:Oh, a bonus.

Andros:I will add 5 to that, so he regains 33.

Gamemaster:You really bandage him up, give him a little splint and all that kind of stuff.

Gamemaster:He's not going to be running around or anything like that, but he is definitely substantially better now that you've treated him.

Gamemaster:The wound actually, as you were addressing it, it looked pretty bad.

Gamemaster:That branch that had wrapped around his ankle had worn away quite a bit of skin.

Cedric:He should be exploding from how much healing you're giving a child.

Krod:All right.

Andros:Yeah, my level 2 Johnny Skyfall has 26 hit points.

Cedric:Yes.

Cedric:I could clean you up a little bit and I cast Prestidigitation on him.

Gamemaster:Okay.

Cedric:Tidy him up.

Cedric:All right.

Gamemaster:Thank you, mister.

Cedric:Which way were you walking from?

Gamemaster:Well, I don't know.

Gamemaster:It's been a while.

Gamemaster:I've been yelling for, like, at least a few days.

Cedric:I'm going to ask him questions, but use lie to me feet to see if he's lying to me.

Andros:Hey.

Andros:Tell me.

Gamemaster:Okay, sure.

Gamemaster:Roll a deception check.

Cedric:Yeah.

Cedric:Yes.

Gamemaster:And when you say, like, lying about what?

Gamemaster:Just the whole story?

Cedric:I'm trying to figure out what the fuck's happening.

Gamemaster:Okay.

Cedric:Sense motive and do that.

Gamemaster:Sure.

Cedric:And then I will use...

Cedric:Yes, all right, I will not do that.

Cedric:OK.

Andros:And I'll just pick this kid up and carry him.

Gamemaster:He lets you.

Gamemaster:Not that he has much choice.

Gamemaster:You are also four times his height.

Cedric:I will use a mythic point for this.

Cedric:34.

Gamemaster:Okay.

Cedric:Oh, wait, I didn't add my mythic stuff.

Gamemaster:Okay.

Gamemaster:With a 34...

Cedric:So that's going to be plus.

Cedric:Just four more, so 38.

Gamemaster:Okay, with a 38.

Gamemaster:He, as best you can tell, isn't lying to you.

Gamemaster:I think what you get from that is less he isn't lying to you.

Gamemaster:You don't think he's been here yelling for days.

Gamemaster:But I think you would chalk that up more to he's scared out of his mind and doesn't know how long he's been here.

Gamemaster:And not purposefully being duplicitous about this kind of stuff.

Gamemaster:I think there are definitely weird...

Gamemaster:It's strange for a kid to be multiple days travel away from any known settlement.

Gamemaster:And he does seem more powerful, like, magically or divine speaking, than you would expect an eight-year-old to be.

Gamemaster:But he doesn't seem to be, like, as best you can tell, lying to you.

Cedric:Okay, that's fine.

Andros:Hey, Tommy, I'm not the brightest one here.

Andros:Do you know what year it is?

Andros:As long as it says the current year, that was what I was looking for.

Krod:Bring them along.

Gamemaster:One second.

Gamemaster:He would say current year.

Gamemaster:I don't quite remember what that is.

Cedric:That's fine.

Gamemaster:I think 638?

Gamemaster:He says the current year.

Cedric:Should we should we just bring them along or drop them off?

Cedric:We'll take

Cedric:I'll add four days to our investigation.

Andros:Yeah.

Cedric:All right.

Andros:Tommy, how do you want to be a deputy cop?

Gamemaster:Do I get a gun?

Andros:No, but you can hold my shield.

Andros:Who do you think just gives guns to children?

Gamemaster:Okay.

Gamemaster:That's like a fair... On a... Back when I used to go trick-or-treating for the Ghost Festival, I used to get a gun every third house.

Cedric:I've actually seen it quite a lot, actually.

Cedric:I've given a couple away.

Cedric:I don't have any on me, but...

Andros:I'm kind of new.

Andros:Wow.

Cedric:Ghost Festival.

Cedric:Do I know where that's from?

Gamemaster:Yeah, no, it's a Haleo thing.

Cedric:Okay.

Cedric:I am going to draw a little caricature of him and then just sign it and then just give it to him.

Gamemaster:Absolutely.

Gamemaster:With him up and in seemingly better health now, you get a better look at him.

Gamemaster:This is... He looks like a school kid.

Gamemaster:He's got a backpack with him.

Gamemaster:It's got a little water bottle hanging from the side.

Gamemaster:He's wearing shorts and a graphic tee.

Gamemaster:He's not equipped for...

Gamemaster:would travel like forest travel or anything like that um but he doesn't seem particularly like malnourished um he doesn't look like he's made the trek out this far um and he really just kind of seems excited to be on this adventure with you guys now that you're taking him along

Andros:I would also like to track him.

Cedric:Does anyone here have tracking capabilities to see where he came from?

Krod:Can I see if there's any steps in, if I can tell the direction that he came from?

Cedric:To investigate?

Cedric:Yeah, yeah.

Gamemaster:That'd be a survival check if you're trying to track subject here.

Gamemaster:Sure.

Andros:i'm using mythical i'm using mythic point oh that was even worse oh never mind i got nothing

Cedric:So what town are you from?

Gamemaster:Wrenford?

Cedric:What's your parents' names?

Gamemaster:I don't have those, but he would.

Cedric:Okay, that's fine.

Gamemaster:This isn't him being suspicious.

Gamemaster:This is me having not made names for him.

Cedric:Yeah, they're just some random parent names.

Cedric:Okay.

Gamemaster:Okay.

Krod:20, what did I have?

Krod:32.

Cedric:34?

Cedric:Or 32?

Gamemaster:32.

Gamemaster:32 is enough.

Gamemaster:There are very faint tracks kind of around where he fell that go a little bit into the forest.

Gamemaster:Unfortunately, you don't get, like,

Gamemaster:You don't get an end destination or start destination, I suppose, from them.

Gamemaster:It seems like it's actually rained here semi-recently, so tracks might have been washed away.

Gamemaster:But you can at the very least see the direction he entered the grove from, which is towards what you would know to be the center of the forest.

Krod:Yeah, he came from the center of the forest.

Krod:That's fine.

Andros:All right.

Krod:A lot of people do that.

Andros:Yeah, a lot of guys do that.

Gamemaster:So what crime are we investigating?

Krod:Some people... There's a guy that might... We're sort of on the last valid leads of this, but we're looking for a guy from Wrenford, actually.

Gamemaster:Oh, it's like...

Krod:Hey, you wouldn't happen to dress up in a tunic in your pastime.

Gamemaster:No.

Gamemaster:You're talking about the weirdos on the edge of town, right?

Krod:Yeah.

Andros:No, it's a pretty cool shirt.

Gamemaster:Yeah, no.

Gamemaster:My mom told me not to talk to them.

Cedric:Thank you.

Gamemaster:But, uh, no, I mean, you can see I'm not wearing something weird, right?

Gamemaster:Thank you.

Gamemaster:But, yeah, no, I... So you think one of those guys did a crime?

Krod:We, yeah.

Gamemaster:Okay.

Gamemaster:You're gonna fight him?

Krod:We'll probably try to bring them in.

Krod:Okay.

Cedric:How do you normally fight?

Gamemaster:Well, if you fight him, I want to help.

Krod:What can you do?

Gamemaster:I don't normally fight.

Gamemaster:But if you guys are gonna fight a bad guy, I want to help.

Gamemaster:I could, like, throw a rock at him.

Cedric:How would you throw a rock?

Gamemaster:Yeah.

Krod:Okay.

Cedric:Sounds good.

Gamemaster:They got those here.

Krod:That would actually help, yeah.

Cedric:Do you want some snacks, by the way?

Andros:That'd be.

Gamemaster:Sure.

Gamemaster:What snacks you got?

Krod:seven pounds of beef jerky and he pulls out a bag here he's still got blood right

Gamemaster:Because I'm starting to run out of my fruit snacks, so I'd take... If you offer him jerky, he will grab it and then stuff it down.

Gamemaster:Gone.

Cedric:Yeah.

Gamemaster:Yes, no, the quantity of blood that's in his body has not changed meaningfully.

Krod:Okay.

Krod:We keep moving?

Andros:I got a plus four.

Gamemaster:Okay.

Cedric:Can I?

Cedric:I have a terrible arcana, but can I try an arcana just to like, I don't know, see what I think of this.

Gamemaster:Arcana or religion would fit here.

Gamemaster:But yes, you may.

Cedric:Anyone get a religion?

Cedric:Okay, I'll try Arcana.

Cedric:It's okay.

Cedric:We don't need to talk about that.

Cedric:We can just carry on.

Gamemaster:Clinically, strange.

Krod:Normal kid.

Gamemaster:Okay, so you guys, with a new member of the party just kind of tagging along for the ride now, continuing into the forest, following the direction that the face stone is pointing you?

Cedric:Yeah.

Gamemaster:Okay, absolutely.

Cedric:What do you think of the green father?

Gamemaster:My mom says that that's not real.

Krod:What does your mom do for work?

Gamemaster:She used to help with them cutting down trees.

Gamemaster:But now I think she works for a newspaper.

Gamemaster:She won't really tell me what she does, but I've seen her writing a lot of stuff on her typewriter.

Krod:okay okay

Gamemaster:No.

Andros:You know, I make a mental note of that because we travel around with propagandists.

Andros:Did she ever let you read any of her articles or mention the name of the publication?

Gamemaster:No.

Gamemaster:I tried sneaking a peek one time.

Gamemaster:But there, like, weren't any pictures, like, in a normal newspaper, so I just, I didn't bother to, you know, I figured it wasn't interesting.

Gamemaster:If you say so.

Cedric:She's writing coded messages.

Gamemaster:I mean, you're the detective if you would know this stuff.

Cedric:All right.

Gamemaster:That sounds pretty cool.

Andros:Hey Tommy, just so we can confirm, what's your mom's name?

Andros:Okay.

Gamemaster:One second.

Gamemaster:It's Karen.

Krod:Likely.

Gamemaster:Karen Lagerman.

Andros:Okay.

Krod:Okay.

Krod:Oh.

Krod:Did we ask the kid his name?

Krod:Oh, Tommy.

Cedric:Tommy.

Andros:It's Tommy.

Gamemaster:You know his name is Tommy.

Krod:Okay.

Gamemaster:And you can deduce that if his name is the same as his mom's, it's Tommy Lagerman.

Cedric:All right.

Cedric:So I guess we'll carry on with this kid.

Gamemaster:Okay.

Krod:Onward we go.

Gamemaster:You're carrying the kid, you're not having him walk through the forest.

Andros:No, I'm carrying him.

Gamemaster:Okay, absolutely.

Gamemaster:So it does not impede the speed of your travel.

Gamemaster:Now that we have a different party composition, what is the general marching order?

Andros:I am a Guardian.

Andros:Should I take point?

Cedric:Thank you.

Gamemaster:So just to clarify, I'm going to have whoever's in front make a perception check, and somebody who isn't making the perception check makes a survival check, generally, to navigate through the forest.

Andros:I got a plus 21 for both of those.

Krod:I have a plus 22 for both of those, so I could go either.

Gamemaster:Wow.

Andros:I have an ancestry feat where if I roll a success for survival, I get a crit.

Andros:So I can roll that one.

Krod:OK, so yeah.

Krod:So perception?

Gamemaster:So we actually did the perception and survival for this day.

Krod:Or not yet?

Gamemaster:That's when you found the kid at the beginning.

Gamemaster:I just wanted to know the general marching order of how you guys are arranged so that we know for the future.

Andros:I'll take back then.

Gamemaster:Alright, so the four of you walking along through the forest, this is like your first real day going through the Midbau.

Cedric:I'll be in the middle

Gamemaster:It is dark, but not so dark that you can't see where you're going, especially for the two of you that came equipped with magic glasses that let you see in the dark.

Andros:I do have dark vision as well.

Gamemaster:Right, you didn't need the magic glasses.

Gamemaster:Those are built into your face.

Andros:as a regular.

Gamemaster:Weird 10-foot-tall human with dark vision.

Gamemaster:Um... Uh...

Gamemaster:You guys progress forward.

Gamemaster:You make, you think, pretty good distance.

Gamemaster:I mean, it's never a straight path forward to where the stone is pointing you, because the trees are starting to get much denser around here.

Gamemaster:And you had rolled well in your survival check before, so you know to navigate out of the way of things that could be potentially dangerous.

Gamemaster:But it has noticeably darkened by the time you get to a point where you feel like you should stop for the evening.

Gamemaster:You think you made good progress?

Gamemaster:I assume that you're resting in the same way that you have been previously?

Gamemaster:Okay.

Cedric:Yes.

Gamemaster:So, no need to find a place to camp, you can just summon one out of midair.

Gamemaster:You all get a nice evening rest in.

Gamemaster:Tommy spends way too long running around the Giant mansion, assuming you let him in.

Cedric:Yeah.

Gamemaster:Okay.

Gamemaster:Acting as you would expect an eight-year-old to act when brought into a magic demiplane mansion.

Gamemaster:But he goes to sleep.

Gamemaster:The rest of you go to sleep.

Gamemaster:Can I have a perception check from everybody?

Cedric:With this kid running around, I'm going to be sharing.

Gamemaster:Thank you.

Cedric:I'm going to make the one big sleeping room for us.

Krod:That's actually a 36, because I forget to add my item mod.

Gamemaster:All of you are sleeping in the same room.

Cedric:We're not having individual bedrooms with this.

Cedric:We're going to have a big one.

Gamemaster:All of you are sleeping in the same room with the kid.

Cedric:Yeah, yeah.

Gamemaster:Okay.

Gamemaster:36, 27, and then I think we're missing one perception check.

Gamemaster:I need one from all three.

Cedric:Oh, all three?

Cedric:Oh, cool.

Gamemaster:Yeah.

Cedric:26.

Cedric:I check my stuff.

Gamemaster:26.

Gamemaster:Okay.

Gamemaster:All of you get a night's rest.

Gamemaster:Wake up the next day feeling refreshed and ready for another day of travel.

Gamemaster:As best you can tell, it's all still there.

Cedric:Cool.

Gamemaster:And the kid is still here.

Gamemaster:He didn't, like, leave in the middle of the night.

Gamemaster:You all ready up, do your day's preparation, and then head into the forest for another day's travel.

Gamemaster:I'm going to need a d10 roll, please.

Krod:Of course.

Krod:Yes, of course.

Krod:One.

Gamemaster:One second.

Andros:which one was the child which one was the child oh

Krod:We're killed outright.

Gamemaster:No, we already rolled a one, so please roll again.

Krod:Oh.

Krod:Oh, my bad.

Krod:I didn't... I didn't realize.

Gamemaster:We have one and eight have already been rolled.

Gamemaster:So, one meant that you had to roll twice, and then do both things that he rolled, and then he rolled eight twice.

Gamemaster:So, as a reward for that, we just did eight, and the child was eight.

Krod:Bye.

Gamemaster:What did you get?

Gamemaster:Five.

Gamemaster:Okay.

Gamemaster:I would love, then, a perception check and a... Actually, just a survival check to navigate for now.

Andros:pressure uh 29 hello

Gamemaster:29.

Gamemaster:Okay.

Gamemaster:It's starting to get to the point where the trees are getting denser and larger, so you have to make larger deviations from the straight path that the stone is taking you in order to find a way that doesn't involve physically cutting your way through the underbrush.

Gamemaster:Um...

Gamemaster:But you can navigate around.

Andros:Thank you.

Gamemaster:You just feel like it's a little slower going than you would maybe prefer.

Gamemaster:Although something that is actually complicating travel a little bit is that the ground is soft here.

Gamemaster:It's gotten softer over the course of the day, like muddy almost.

Gamemaster:While you've been here, it hasn't rained, as best you can tell.

Gamemaster:You're not even sure if rain could make it through the tree cover in the same way that it would if you were in a normal forest.

Gamemaster:but it's definitely damper here than it had been earlier in the forest.

Gamemaster:And you would know it's been consistently damp here, because you're seeing lichens and mosses growing on the bases of the trees here that would indicate that it's frequently damp, and it isn't just a weird freak thing.

Gamemaster:I will take a perception check at this point.

Krod:shall perceive 40.

Gamemaster:Forty?

Gamemaster:Okay.

Gamemaster:Forty's pretty good.

Gamemaster:There are a few things you notice.

Gamemaster:As you're continuing and following the path and the ground is getting muddier...

Andros:you

Gamemaster:One thing you do know is that there aren't really any tracks going through the forest here.

Gamemaster:In other parts of the forest, you had seen evidence that animals had passed by, if not recently, like within the past few days or something like that.

Gamemaster:Disturbances in the dirt, stuff of that nature.

Gamemaster:There isn't anything here.

Gamemaster:It's just kind of swept clean ground.

Gamemaster:It's also starting to get to the point as you navigate forward that you're starting to sink a little bit into the ground.

Gamemaster:And with the 41, you would also note that there is...

Gamemaster:The mosses and lichens and all that kind of stuff growing on the trunks only start about three feet up on the trunks.

Gamemaster:Below that three-ish foot line, the trunks are completely clean.

Gamemaster:But above that, there's all kind of growths and the like.

Gamemaster:I mean, walking through the mud is hard, but there's actually less stuff in your way now.

Gamemaster:So it's not necessarily the end of the world.

Gamemaster:But I think with a 40, those together kind of call out to be perhaps, at the very least, strange to you.

Cedric:That's probably not the safest.

Cedric:Or it's like water that goes up and down.

Krod:I hope it's not low tide.

Gamemaster:You press forward?

Cedric:Yeah, I guess so.

Gamemaster:Okay.

Gamemaster:As you continue forward, it's another hour or so of continually harder traversal.

Gamemaster:It's tiring to walk through mud that is now up to, like, about your ankles.

Gamemaster:At which point, I think...

Gamemaster:we're just going to go with the rule that you got over 40 for perception.

Gamemaster:So you would hear it first.

Gamemaster:There is the sound of moving water coming from like to your right, which you would know to be generally east of where you are.

Cedric:Get up!

Gamemaster:Tom, you'll say, can I just hold on to you?

Krod:Up the trees.

Krod:We have to get up the trees.

Krod:Of course.

Andros:Get up the trees.

Cedric:Yeah.

Gamemaster:I don't think I could climb a tree.

Andros:Yes, hold on to me.

Gamemaster:Okay, and he'll grip on.

Gamemaster:And so you guys are just climbing up the nearest tree.

Gamemaster:I need athletics checks, if that's what you're doing.

Cedric:fly.

Gamemaster:Fly would allow you to circumvent the athletics check.

Krod:Does this add my item bonus?

Krod:It does.

Krod:43.

Andros:uh uh 34.

Gamemaster:Okay.

Gamemaster:One fly, 34 and 43, those are all good enough to rush to the nearest tree and start scaling it.

Gamemaster:How high are you trying to get to?

Gamemaster:The first branches on the trees around here, now that you've gone further into the forest, are about 20 feet off the ground.

Gamemaster:The first ones that are sturdy enough that they look like they could hold you.

Gamemaster:Is the plan to hold onto the side of the trunk, or are you going to go up to the branches and hang out up there?

Andros:Thank you.

Krod:Probably better to go up to these branches.

Gamemaster:Okay, you all rolled well enough to make that climb up, so it's not an additional check.

Gamemaster:You just head all the way up to the nearest branches that can hold you and stay put.

Gamemaster:All the while, you do hear the sound of water moving closer to you.

Cedric:Can I scout it, fly over, and then come back?

Gamemaster:You can fly.

Gamemaster:You want to fly in the direction of it?

Gamemaster:You absolutely can.

Cedric:Yeah.

Cedric:I'm going to get high, like 40 or 50 feet up.

Gamemaster:Roll A. Sure, roll a perception check.

Gamemaster:Are you trying to be stealthy about it?

Cedric:I would like to.

Cedric:OK, so 20 to 31 on the perception.

Gamemaster:Okay, and that's also a stealth check.

Cedric:And the stealth is a .

Cedric:34.

Gamemaster:Okay.

Gamemaster:You head in the direction that you hear the water coming from.

Cedric:I'm also a Woodstalker Lizardfolk, which means I can always take cover in forest and jungle terrain, even if there's not cover.

Gamemaster:I mean, there is cover, like you're amidst the trees, but that's fair.

Cedric:It's just letting you know.

Cedric:I'm just letting you know.

Cedric:So I'm just like...

Gamemaster:If you're like heading off a little bit just to see what this water is beforehand, you would be the first to see this torrent of...

Cedric:Yeah.

Gamemaster:brown, muddy water racing across the forest in your general direction, although it doesn't necessarily look like it's headed for you so much as it's just a huge amount of water that would have covered the area that you were in as it passes through.

Gamemaster:It's interesting in that it looks like a wave, which is strange in its own right because you don't know what source of water would have

Gamemaster:would cause that.

Gamemaster:But with your perception roll, the other thing you pick up on is the sound of laughter, almost, coming amidst the crashing wave as it progresses forward.

Cedric:I fly back to my friends and I go climb higher and be quiet.

Andros:Okay.

Krod:okay 35.

Cedric:And I described laughing.

Gamemaster:It... Okay.

Cedric:Yeah.

Gamemaster:That is another athletics check as you get up, because the branches are kind of far apart.

Gamemaster:You need to grab onto something to get up there.

Gamemaster:32 and 35.

Gamemaster:Okay, 32 and a 35 are both successes, albeit barely.

Gamemaster:You climb up to the next branch, which puts you now at about 60 feet above the ground.

Gamemaster:Are you hiding as well?

Gamemaster:Because if you are, I'd need stealth checks.

Krod:Oh, it's a. Oh, no, this is this does add it correctly.

Gamemaster:And you guys aren't near each other, so you can't do any follow-the-expert stuff.

Gamemaster:Just your own stealth checks.

Andros:Got a 29.

Krod:and a 37.

Gamemaster:Okay.

Gamemaster:You all perch in the branches, one of you flying.

Gamemaster:What's the duration of fly?

Gamemaster:I assume you're fine.

Gamemaster:Okay, yeah, so it will hit the edge of your fly, but you can end on a branch high up, so that's fine.

Cedric:five minutes, so I'll get a branch once it's coming up.

Cedric:That's fine.

Cedric:Yeah.

Gamemaster:You all situate yourselves just as the crest of water would come into view on the edge of your vision.

Gamemaster:Three to four feet tall of very fast-moving muddy water.

Gamemaster:And now that you have a better stationary location to look at it as it's coming in, you do hear the sounds of laughter.

Gamemaster:It's very joyous-sounding, almost, coming from the wave.

Gamemaster:And you would also see what looks to be...

Gamemaster:humanoid-ish figures imprint themselves on the wave for half a second before being pulled back into the water and then appearing somewhere else at the edge of the wave and then being pulled back in, like silhouettes forming out of just the foam of the wave for a split second before dispersing again.

Andros:you

Gamemaster:It passes by you, that strange laughter continuing.

Gamemaster:And it just passes, passing on by.

Gamemaster:If it noticed you, it didn't seem to react, but nothing appeared to change.

Gamemaster:It just pushed through the area.

Gamemaster:Behind it is still water, but you see that the level of water is...

Gamemaster:tapering downward over the course of the next minute or so before it just almost pulls alongside of the back.

Gamemaster:It doesn't leave puddles of water anywhere.

Gamemaster:It's like the whole mass is kind of moving as one extended wave.

Gamemaster:And it leaves the ground even damper than it was, but faded into the distance over on the west side.

Gamemaster:You're just hanging on some trees.

Krod:What's the branch routing look like?

Krod:Are we able to still follow the necklace and remain in the branches?

Krod:If Krod were to do some sort of pathfinding, would he be like, this is reasonable, or would he be like, we should go back to the ground?

Gamemaster:It's not really reasonable.

Gamemaster:It's doable.

Gamemaster:You just have to make a bunch of athletics checks to kind of Tarzan it.

Gamemaster:It's not like the branches are... The trees aren't quite close enough here yet that you can move from one branch to another without having to leap across.

Gamemaster:Um...

Cedric:How far are they?

Gamemaster:I think, like, each tree's branches, if you, like, line them up correctly, may be at their closest 10-ish feet.

Gamemaster:Like, it's possible.

Cedric:So we can't.

Gamemaster:It's just not, like, let's see.

Cedric:I can't do that.

Krod:Is it easier to see?

Krod:If we want to keep Anaïs on anything coming our way, is it easier if someone is up in the trees?

Gamemaster:I mean, you're higher up, so you'd be able to see further in either direction.

Krod:Perfect.

Krod:I'm rolling the perception check anyways.

Krod:I'll just stay up here.

Gamemaster:Okay.

Gamemaster:So one of your party, Krod, will hang out.

Cedric:All right, I'll go down.

Gamemaster:Are you on the first level or second level of branches, 30 or 60 feet up?

Krod:60.

Gamemaster:Okay, 60 feet up, keeping a lookout.

Gamemaster:And then the remaining three of you are headed back down to the ground and walking along it.

Cedric:Yeah.

Andros:Who knows?

Gamemaster:Okay.

Gamemaster:Absolutely.

Gamemaster:As you climb down, Tommy says, What was that?

Gamemaster:I've never seen a laughing wave before.

Gamemaster:Do you think that it was created by the guy who was doing the crime?

Cedric:a weird place, Tommy.

Cedric:Tommy has a weird place.

Gamemaster:Or is it just unrelated?

Cedric:Honestly, probably.

Cedric:Or maybe not.

Cedric:I don't know.

Gamemaster:Okay.

Cedric:In conclusion, what do you think, Tommy?

Gamemaster:I kind of hope detectives would have better information.

Cedric:We are taught to listen first and then draw conclusions.

Gamemaster:Yeah, I heard the laughing.

Gamemaster:I listened.

Cedric:Yes, our conclusions will be drawn at the end of this case.

Gamemaster:Oh.

Andros:Hey, Tommy, you know what they say about assuming makes an ass out of you and me?

Gamemaster:No.

Gamemaster:That's a bad word.

Andros:Think on that.

Gamemaster:Mom said I'm not allowed to say that.

Andros:Think on it.

Andros:Don't assume then.

Andros:Okay.

Gamemaster:Can I... When we get back home, can I say that and then say that you said it?

Cedric:Do not say I said it.

Gamemaster:Nice.

Cedric:I do not want hot water with your mother.

Gamemaster:You didn't say it.

Cedric:Is your mother single, by the way?

Gamemaster:Yeah?

Gamemaster:Why?

Andros:you don't even know her man

Cedric:No reason.

Cedric:Carry on.

Cedric:It's hard out there.

Cedric:Sorry.

Gamemaster:You know almost zero things about her except that she maybe works for a newspaper.

Gamemaster:Okay.

Cedric:All right.

Cedric:Continue.

Gamemaster:Yeah, so I'm going to need from the guy who's hanging out up in the trees an acrobatics check.

Cedric:I thought it was athletics.

Cedric:I would have stayed up in the trees.

Gamemaster:I said acrobatics check to let Tarzan swing around.

Gamemaster:I was clear.

Krod:I thought you said athletics too, but it doesn't matter for me.

Gamemaster:It's a big modifier.

Krod:43.

Krod:That's one of the things.

Andros:you

Gamemaster:You're fine.

Gamemaster:Doing like flips and shit.

Gamemaster:Okay.

Gamemaster:Eyes in the sky.

Gamemaster:Are you keeping a lookout for the wave returning?

Krod:Probably top of mind.

Gamemaster:Okay.

Gamemaster:So another perception check as you guys navigate forward.

Krod:38.

Gamemaster:Okay.

Gamemaster:You guys continue forward in the direction that the dowsing necklace is pointing you.

Gamemaster:After another hour of annoying, mucky travel, you note that the ground is starting to firm up a little bit.

Andros:you

Gamemaster:It feels like you've left the immediate dangerous part of wherever that wave traveled.

Gamemaster:The ground is less muddy.

Gamemaster:There's a bit more firm area for you to walk on.

Gamemaster:And you get in another's day of travel.

Gamemaster:Even before sunset, it is starting to get dark.

Gamemaster:It's still technically dim light, but it's the very edge of dim light before even night falls.

Andros:you you

Gamemaster:Once night falls, it is completely dark again.

Gamemaster:But you get a day's worth of traveling.

Gamemaster:You're welcome to take a rest if you like.

Krod:I don't like making perception checks in this palace with a child.

Gamemaster:Okay, you get a rest, and I need a perception check from all three of you.

Cedric:I will ride by the stars.

Cedric:36 for me.

Krod:I'll take it.

Andros:I got a 39.

Krod:I'll take the hero point for when I have to crit this child.

Gamemaster:Okay.

Gamemaster:Okay?

Gamemaster:All of you get arrested.

Gamemaster:Wake up.

Gamemaster:All of your stuff is still where you left it.

Gamemaster:Do your daily prep.

Gamemaster:Head out of the mansion and get ready for... Fine.

Cedric:Hey, how'd you sleep, Tommy?

Gamemaster:Your beds are comfier than we have at home.

Gamemaster:I don't even mind that I have to sleep in the same room as you guys.

Cedric:It's for safety purposes.

Gamemaster:Why do you need safety purposes inside your fancy mansion?

Andros:Hey.

Cedric:No offense, we found you in the middle of the forest.

Cedric:And I'm a detective, and I don't make conclusions until I have all the facts.

Gamemaster:You guys were also in the middle of the forest.

Cedric:Yeah, but we expected to be there.

Andros:Yeah.

Cedric:Kind of suspicious an eight-year-old found out into the forest.

Krod:Yeah.

Cedric:No offense.

Gamemaster:I didn't walk that far in.

Cedric:Here's another drawing.

Gamemaster:I walked a little bit in, and now you guys are walking further into the forest that I'm following you.

Cedric:And I give him another drawing.

Cedric:All right, you were a couple days inside.

Gamemaster:fine.

Cedric:Anyway.

Gamemaster:I was not.

Gamemaster:I was walking for like an hour.

Andros:Why are you just walking?

Krod:Okay.

Gamemaster:We could have headed home.

Gamemaster:And you were like, no, let's go on an adventure.

Gamemaster:And I went on the adventure with you.

Gamemaster:But it's fine.

Cedric:Also, earlier he told us he just, like, he did not say an hour.

Cedric:He said he just, like, fell in.

Cedric:Is that?

Cedric:Okay.

Cedric:Yeah, you said an hour now.

Cedric:Before you said you just slipped in there.

Cedric:What's happening with that, Tommy?

Gamemaster:I

Gamemaster:You know, I knew it was longer than just walking around, but it's still not that long.

Krod:Thank you.

Gamemaster:You guys said I had been in here for days.

Cedric:Why were you going?

Cedric:You had.

Cedric:Why were you walking into the forest for an hour?

Gamemaster:I was dared to.

Andros:Who?

Cedric:By who?

Gamemaster:My friend.

Cedric:And your friend is?

Gamemaster:Jonathan.

Cedric:Jonathan who?

Gamemaster:He would have a last name.

Gamemaster:I just don't have one.

Cedric:Okay.

Cedric:And is your friend also a child your age?

Gamemaster:Yeah, we're in school together.

Gamemaster:He bet me two bucks that I would walk into the forest and then walk back out an hour later.

Cedric:Okay.

Gamemaster:And I got a little bit lost.

Gamemaster:And then the tree attacked me.

Gamemaster:And you guys showed up.

Gamemaster:And you're all like, oh, you're suspicious.

Cedric:Hmm.

Gamemaster:And now we're going to go fight a bad guy together.

Gamemaster:And I'm all for fighting the bad guy.

Gamemaster:Although I didn't realize it would be this much walking.

Gamemaster:to get to the bad guy.

Gamemaster:I kind of assumed he would just be around the corner or something, or in a murder hut like they have on those radio shows.

Gamemaster:But instead, there was a wave, and we hung out in a tree, and that guy has a sword that's three times his height, and also he was swinging around in some trees, and we just keep walking.

Andros:You know, I don't want to be pedantic with you.

Gamemaster:I know I haven't taken a cartography class yet, because they said that's for middle school.

Gamemaster:But I know that every day we walk into the forest is like another day before we walk out of the forest.

Andros:I know you're a child, but you keep saying we're walking.

Andros:I am the one carrying you.

Gamemaster:Yeah, but it's still tiring to be carried.

Andros:I put the child on.

Gamemaster:I don't know if you've ever piggybacked with somebody before, but your legs get tired.

Andros:No, never.

Gamemaster:I'm sorry.

Andros:I'm too big.

Krod:it's not that bad it's fine we'll we'll take care of this thing and it'll be taken care of and then we'll be done with it all three of those things

Gamemaster:Okay.

Gamemaster:I just, you know, it feels weird.

Gamemaster:And you guys are all like, oh, you're suspicious.

Gamemaster:And I don't know what I did to be suspicious.

Gamemaster:You're the suspicious ones.

Andros:You know, Tommy,

Andros:Sometimes when you have a specific worldview, anything that doesn't fit into that worldview seems suspicious.

Andros:So us finding you in the forest where you shouldn't be is suspicious to us.

Andros:And you finding us in the forest where you think we wouldn't be is probably suspicious to you, right?

Gamemaster:yes okay yeah okay you guys get ready for another day of travel

Krod:Checkmate.

Andros:Checkmate, child!

Cedric:Now we must solve crimes.

Cedric:Shall we continue?

Andros:Other come home being brainwashed.

Krod:Yeah.

Cedric:Can I talk to you about the glory of That Is Calaria and attempt to spread propaganda?

Gamemaster:Yeah, you can propagandize.

Gamemaster:That's fine.

Cedric:38.

Gamemaster:Yeah, you feel that you've successfully gotten him interested in the glory of Calaria.

Krod:Nice.

Cedric:Cool.

Gamemaster:The ADC wasn't particularly high.

Gamemaster:It's an 8-year-old.

Andros:This child is really into calaria.

Cedric:Was it a critical success?

Gamemaster:I think so?

Gamemaster:Probably.

Gamemaster:What's the name of the actual skill?

Cedric:field propagandist dedication, and then it's the spread propaganda that's in it.

Gamemaster:Spread.

Gamemaster:Feed.

Gamemaster:Type.

Gamemaster:Spread propaganda.

Gamemaster:Yeah.

Andros:you you

Gamemaster:So if he tries to learn anything about Calaria for the next month, he'll learn specifically what you want him to learn about Calaria.

Cedric:Yeah, and it also cannot be traced back to the famous detective, Cedric Rowe.

Gamemaster:Okay.

Gamemaster:Yeah.

Gamemaster:Absolutely.

Cedric:I'm just talking about the glory of it, how cool our magic detectives are, our troops are amazing, we have the best food, our god is the best, everything.

Gamemaster:He's already a follower of the host in at least some small way, and he already thought that solving crimes was cool.

Gamemaster:So this was not a particularly uphill battle for you.

Cedric:Yeah.

Gamemaster:But yeah, absolutely.

Gamemaster:Okay.

Andros:you you

Gamemaster:I would love a D12.

Krod:As we get further, we get closer to dead.

Krod:Give me a high or low.

Krod:Yes, let's go.

Krod:Let's go.

Gamemaster:Ooh, roll twice.

Krod:Fuck you, Josh.

Gamemaster:No!

Gamemaster:Okay.

Gamemaster:More.

Gamemaster:Fine.

Gamemaster:Um...

Gamemaster:You guys pack up.

Gamemaster:You start heading in the direction that the stone is bringing you.

Andros:Right.

Gamemaster:I need a survival check.

Gamemaster:And we'll do a perception check.

Krod:Servivra.

Krod:Ooh.

Andros:That was not great.

Andros:26.

Andros:Rolling terribly over here.

Krod:I'm 30 on the perception.

Gamemaster:26 for survival, 30 for perception.

Gamemaster:Absolutely.

Krod:Yep.

Gamemaster:Okay, so you start pushing through to the point where you've only been walking for about an hour, and it's already like it's night again.

Gamemaster:You feel that you have passed into the part of the forest at this point.

Gamemaster:About a week's worth of travel in.

Gamemaster:where light is no longer making it to the floor.

Gamemaster:The trees are too tall, the canopy cover is too extensive.

Gamemaster:It is permanently dark where you are.

Gamemaster:It's not particularly easy to navigate.

Gamemaster:You all have darkvision out to 60 feet, correct?

Andros:I believe so.

Krod:I think so.

Cedric:Excellent.

Gamemaster:Okay.

Gamemaster:So you are navigating.

Gamemaster:Well, actually, so are you navigating in the dark?

Gamemaster:Are you lighting the torch?

Gamemaster:What is the plan?

Krod:We might want to light a torch, even though it attracts.

Krod:So the goggles don't just give you dark vision.

Krod:They give you dark vision for an hour when you activate them.

Gamemaster:I think it depends on the flavor of goggles you have.

Krod:Oh, do I have the shitty ones?

Gamemaster:You might.

Krod:Well, mine are only for an hour.

Andros:Okay, so maybe we should use the torch then.

Andros:I'll light it.

Cedric:That's easy, Torch.

Cedric:I assume I have the same odds.

Gamemaster:I think you actually have the better ones.

Krod:I ran out of money.

Gamemaster:Yes.

Gamemaster:So the greater obsidian goggles, you can activate any number of times a day, and they last until you deactivate them again.

Cedric:Hmm.

Gamemaster:But they are expensive.

Gamemaster:Oh, I didn't get a chance to do this.

Gamemaster:I wanted to congratulate Noah on beating out the previous winner for closest to the budget cap in terms of things spent with... What did you end up with?

Gamemaster:My accounting has you at 6,398 gold pieces and 2 silver.

Gamemaster:Which is impressive.

Cedric:What is mine?

Cedric:Mine was by far the worst.

Gamemaster:Yeah, you sucked.

Gamemaster:5,685 gold pieces.

Gamemaster:Which also, you don't need to use all of the money.

Cedric:Cool.

Cedric:And we could go up to how much, was it?

Gamemaster:6,400.

Cedric:Oh, yeah.

Cedric:So I definitely have the obsidian goggles.

Cedric:I just didn't put the right one there either.

Gamemaster:You had the greater obsidian goggles with room to spare.

Cedric:I was really bad at putting this.

Cedric:Cool.

Gamemaster:So if you didn't have that marked down on your sheet, you do now.

Cedric:Cool.

Cedric:Yeah.

Gamemaster:Either way.

Gamemaster:It's dark.

Gamemaster:It is hard to navigate.

Gamemaster:You are lighting a torch.

Cedric:Does Tommy seem to care about the dark?

Gamemaster:And by lighting a torch, I mean taking out an electronic hurricane-like lantern and just flicking the switch.

Cedric:30 for perception.

Gamemaster:Roll a Society check.

Gamemaster:Or Perception.

Gamemaster:Either would work here.

Krod:It's got permanent darkness.

Gamemaster:A 30.

Gamemaster:He doesn't seem to be at all concerned about the dark.

Cedric:I think he came.

Gamemaster:I mean... Yeah, he just... It's whatever.

Cedric:Tommy, are we going closer to your home?

Gamemaster:No?

Cedric:Okay.

Gamemaster:I don't live in the forest.

Andros:Excuse me.

Gamemaster:I'm not over this.

Cedric:Yeah, your footprints came from this direction, though.

Cedric:That's fine.

Gamemaster:Maybe I just got turned around.

Cedric:Do I believe him?

Cedric:I have light in me.

Gamemaster:Roll a deception check?

Gamemaster:Yeah, roll a deception check.

Cedric:Because of my propaganda thing, I have a higher DC to detecting lies to me.

Gamemaster:You have a lower DC?

Cedric:So I have the lie to me feat, so I gain a plus two circumstance bonus to my deception DC.

Gamemaster:A higher bonus?

Gamemaster:Oh, and then, oh, gotcha, gotcha, gotcha, gotcha.

Cedric:And then I have a plus two circumstance bonus to perception DCs against attempts by others to lie to me.

Gamemaster:Yes.

Gamemaster:Yeah, so you can add an additional two to this deception check.

Andros:oh god he doesn't even care about cholera

Cedric:OK.

Gamemaster:Because you propagandized, that's why you propagandized it, not because you wanted to think about how cool Calaria was.

Krod:um

Cedric:You know what?

Cedric:I'm going to reroll this.

Cedric:With my Ancestry food.

Cedric:44.

Gamemaster:44.

Gamemaster:He is being truthful.

Gamemaster:As far as he's aware, he doesn't come from the middle of the forest.

Gamemaster:He lives in Wrenford.

Gamemaster:He doesn't think that he came from here.

Gamemaster:He was just walking for a little bit.

Cedric:Okay.

Gamemaster:Doesn't know.

Gamemaster:He thinks he got turned around at some point somehow.

Cedric:So I tell him, I bet you, I think you were, I think there's magic foot that's misdirecting you.

Cedric:We will come to, we will come to figure out what's going on, don't you worry.

Gamemaster:I can't really cast magic, so... I'm okay.

Cedric:Someone cast it on you.

Cedric:But anyway, we have to, we have a crime to solve, deputy.

Gamemaster:I don't really remember that happening.

Gamemaster:Okay.

Gamemaster:Do I get a badge?

Gamemaster:Do I have to help you catch the criminal first and then I get a badge?

Cedric:Yes.

Gamemaster:Sit.

Gamemaster:Okay.

Gamemaster:Let's go.

Krod:Onward.

Andros:We continue.

Gamemaster:Okay.

Gamemaster:You continue forward.

Gamemaster:You didn't do fantastic on either your perception or your survival checks.

Gamemaster:So you do feel a little... You're not actually turned around because one of you is wearing a necklace that points you in the direction you need to go.

Gamemaster:But you definitely... It's strange.

Gamemaster:You're walking in the direction that the necklace is pointing you.

Gamemaster:And yet somehow, every once in a while, it's like the necklace starts pointing away from you and from the direction you're walking.

Gamemaster:And you're not sure if that's you somehow getting turned around as you walk, or if the thing it's pointing to is moving.

Gamemaster:Because both are equally possible, given that you can't really tell where you're going, and it's not like there are any landmarks around for you to place.

Gamemaster:But at the very least, every once in a while, you do have to course-correct and turn back in the direction that the necklace is pointing.

Krod:Oh, also I'd like to be up in the trees again.

Gamemaster:absolutely you don't need to roll another acrobatics check I think we've established that your guy is limber enough to be able to make these jumps but you can stay up in the air as you are all walking you just feel like you got a little bit turned around but nothing

Krod:Limbo.

Gamemaster:Nothing out of the ordinary seems to occur other than like weird, freaky, supernatural darkness.

Gamemaster:Can I get a nature check from somebody?

Gamemaster:Nature.

Cedric:I can roll it.

Krod:By the rule of no cease.

Andros:We are not the smartest squad.

Cedric:Don't worry about it.

Cedric:I'm an expert on nature.

Gamemaster:Okay.

Gamemaster:With a 17.

Cedric:Natural 117.

Gamemaster:There is... There is a moment after you've been walking for, you would guesstimate, like, six-ish hours.

Andros:Good.

Gamemaster:When...

Gamemaster:There's always, as you walk through the forest, a background of very light, like distant leaves rustling, of insects chittering and the like.

Gamemaster:It's not completely silent, but you never hear like a bear call out in the distance or anything like that either.

Gamemaster:Nor do you see much evidence of what you would ascribe to normal forest creatures or anything of that like.

Gamemaster:But you do, a few hours into your trick, hear all of you what you would swear to be a whale call off in the distance.

Gamemaster:Just one long, extended whale call.

Krod:Unfortunately, I think we've seen weirder.

Gamemaster:Then fades.

Andros:Oh, cool.

Krod:It's also often the distance.

Cedric:Yeah, I'm not interested.

Cedric:I don't want to know about this whale anymore.

Cedric:I hope it doesn't come towards us.

Cedric:For its sake.

Gamemaster:It seems like it was pretty far away.

Gamemaster:The sound is almost like a little bit echoey at the point that it gets to you.

Cedric:Hmm.

Gamemaster:But it did happen.

Gamemaster:Do you continue forward?

Gamemaster:Not interested in investigating whale call?

Cedric:Yes.

Cedric:No.

Gamemaster:Okay.

Gamemaster:So another two-ish hours worth of checking before you're starting to feel it.

Gamemaster:And it's time again to bed down for the eve.

Cedric:palace.

Gamemaster:Absolutely.

Cedric:Really happy I took this palace.

Gamemaster:You're all sleeping in the same room again.

Cedric:Yeah.

Krod:Yeah.

Gamemaster:As has become tradition.

Gamemaster:Nice.

Andros:Somebody's got a crit on this.

Andros:Oh, hey, I did it.

Krod:Nice.

Cedric:Oh, fine.

Andros:I got a 41 crit.

Gamemaster:Absolutely.

Gamemaster:A 41 crit is a success.

Cedric:Not critical success, but it's a success.

Gamemaster:No.

Gamemaster:It's a success.

Gamemaster:Um... You... You all bed down for the evening.

Gamemaster:Nothing particularly out of the ordinary happens.

Gamemaster:Um... But... Maybe an hour in, uh... Andros, you...

Gamemaster:You're not even sure if it woke you up or if you just naturally happened to wake up and it's just kind of on the very, very edge of your hearing.

Gamemaster:There is a very faint sound of tapping.

Gamemaster:Take a look around.

Gamemaster:All three of your traveling companions are asleep.

Gamemaster:Nobody's moving here.

Gamemaster:And it's like, it's so faint that you could successfully convince yourself that you're just hearing things.

Gamemaster:Like, it's just some flavor of weird tinnitus that you've developed after days upon days of traveling through the forest.

Gamemaster:But it does sound like there's a very, very, very faint tapping sound coming from the front door.

Gamemaster:Of the mansion.

Gamemaster:That's what it sounds like to you, yes.

Cedric:it's trying to get in it's trying to get in that's so fucking bad

Andros:Like, it's tapping on the front door.

Andros:I will bend down.

Andros:I will wake up my, first, my shoony companion, and I'll go... And then I will wake up Cedric, legendary detective, and I'll go...

Cedric:Seatrick's in horror.

Cedric:He's like, this shit, he knows the magic, and he's like, oh.

Gamemaster:Neither of you can hear it, but I think you would trust your companion that it's happening.

Cedric:Oh, yeah, I would 100% trust him.

Gamemaster:It's just, it's so quiet.

Gamemaster:It is not really within the periphery of your hearing.

Gamemaster:It's just slightly underneath the level which you would normally be able to hear.

Andros:I'll lean down and I'll just say really quietly, something's tapping at the door.

Cedric:I pull out my notebook and I write, open it?

Cedric:Question mark?

Krod:Rod will pull out his notebook and write see what it is first so he'll cross that out and say okay open it but someone has to watch the kid

Andros:Yeah, is there...

Andros:People!

Gamemaster:Nope.

Andros:We can't see out there anyway.

Cedric:Oh, do you think it's coming for the kid?

Cedric:Or do you think it is the kid?

Krod:Baby coming for the kid.

Andros:Should we wake Tommy up?

Krod:No, real big.

Andros:I just wanted to wake up in the middle of whatever's about to happen and be like, dude, dude, dude, it's me, the kid.

Cedric:Okay.

Andros:Oh yes, that's bad.

Cedric:If we...

Cedric:open it and there's nothing there, that is worst case scenario we can acknowledge, right?

Cedric:I really want to know what it is, though.

Cedric:Like, I really want to...

Andros:Does it sound like it's tapping, like it's trying, is it tapping like a rhythm?

Andros:Or is it tapping like trying to find a weak spot?

Andros:Like when you're, or is it like, you know, you're tapping on a wall trying to find a stud?

Gamemaster:I think this is probably a crafting check to try and understand if there's a cadence to the tapping or something like that.

Gamemaster:I hate that.

Krod:Who up crafting they door?

Krod:A 30.

Andros:I got a 30.

Gamemaster:A 30.

Gamemaster:Okay.

Gamemaster:With a 30, I think with a 30, the only thing you would get is the tapping is not regular.

Gamemaster:It's like a bunch of pretty fast, very faint taps, and then a break for a little bit, and then another few taps, and then a break, and then another few taps, and then a break.

Andros:God, something's trying to get in.

Andros:Okay, do we just get ready?

Andros:I creep.

Krod:Yeah, we neutralized the threat.

Gamemaster:You created a pole?

Andros:Is Tommy far enough away from the door that whatever is in here won't just like...

Gamemaster:Where would you have situated Tommy?

Gamemaster:Because you would have dictated where he's sleeping.

Gamemaster:So... Hmm?

Cedric:So the way I would have envisioned this is there's a mansion.

Cedric:There's bathrooms, there's food halls, and then there's a big sleeping one.

Cedric:I don't think we'd have the sleeping right at the entrance, just because that's not how houses work.

Gamemaster:Sure.

Gamemaster:I figured as much.

Cedric:Yeah.

Gamemaster:It's because he, like, critically succeeded on this check that you hear it from the door and you can, like, go to look.

Cedric:But other than that... Yeah.

Gamemaster:But if you want him to be, like, a hundred feet away from the door, that's totally fine.

Cedric:Yeah.

Cedric:I'm going to tell the servants to try to keep all of the doors...

Cedric:Only we should be opening doors.

Cedric:Anything else opening doors, try to fight it if it can.

Cedric:I don't know if they can do that.

Cedric:But just try to... And if they don't, I want to make a racket, knock on doors and everything.

Gamemaster:Shorty.

Cedric:I want to track anything I'm moving through here.

Cedric:I get fucking ready.

Andros:Josh, can I take several actions to get ready here?

Gamemaster:Yeah.

Andros:Okay, I will enter my hampering stance.

Cedric:This is such a bad idea.

Andros:So now enter my hampering stance.

Andros:All squares and a five-foot emanation from me are difficult terrain for my enemies, specifically my enemies.

Gamemaster:okay sick hate that but okay

Andros:I will raise my clockwork shield and I will activate it so for the next minute I have an additional reaction that I can use only to shield block on top of the other additional reactions I have.

Cedric:I'm going to change the battery, but in a sec.

Andros:I will raise my shield.

Andros:I think that's all my stuff.

Andros:Are you guys ready?

Gamemaster:Okay, so what is the plan?

Krod:Yeah.

Gamemaster:You're posting up right next to the door so that when he opens it, if there's something on the other side, you can just wail on it if it tries to come in.

Cedric:Yeah, so the way this spell works is it...

Cedric:People are only supposed to see the door if I let them, right?

Cedric:So it's got to be special, whatever the fuck this is.

Gamemaster:Correct.

Andros:I think it's big bad.

Cedric:Yeah, yeah.

Krod:Actually, Tommy's still asleep, right?

Krod:We didn't wake him up.

Gamemaster:No.

Gamemaster:You did not make him up.

Krod:did anyone search tommy's bag do you have good thievery i have a 19. i shall rifle through the bag and then i'll sword through the bag

Cedric:No, I can't.

Gamemaster:Nobody mentioned doing that.

Cedric:Is that thievering or stealth?

Gamemaster:That would be thievery to search through his bag.

Cedric:16.

Cedric:Okay, you go for it.

Andros:I'm 18.

Gamemaster:OK.

Gamemaster:Make a thievery check.

Krod:34.

Gamemaster:I want to double check the wording for planar palace to make sure I'm running this correctly.

Gamemaster:I think I am.

Cedric:Even if... I love whatever the fuck's happening.

Cedric:I don't want it to not happen.

Cedric:I was just double-checking.

Gamemaster:No, I understand.

Gamemaster:I just wanted to double check.

Gamemaster:Because there are, like, semantics involved.

Gamemaster:With the planar palace, as the spell is actually called, does create a separate plane of existence for the thing to go on.

Cedric:yeah yeah

Gamemaster:Once inside, you can shut the entrance, making it invisible.

Gamemaster:You and the creatures you designated can reopen the door at will.

Gamemaster:While the entrance to the mansion is closed, effects from the outside of the mansion fail to penetrate it, and vice versa, except for interplanar teleport.

Gamemaster:You can use scrying magic to observe the outside only if it's capable of crossing planes.

Cedric:And it says you designate who can enter when you cast the spell.

Gamemaster:Okay.

Gamemaster:Yes.

Cedric:OK.

Cedric:I'm not very confident that'll be consistent.

Gamemaster:What do we get for the favorite check?

Krod:For the Thievery, it was 34%.

Andros:Terrible.

Gamemaster:34.

Gamemaster:Okay.

Gamemaster:As best you can tell, he's deep asleep.

Gamemaster:It's like late at night at this point.

Gamemaster:He doesn't seem to wake up as you start digging through his bag.

Gamemaster:Giving a quick rummage through to see what's going on.

Gamemaster:He's got, it looks like, some school books.

Gamemaster:He's got multiple empty candy wrappers, like some kind of gummy wrapper in there.

Gamemaster:He's got a crumpled up brown paper bag.

Gamemaster:As well as a, at this point, now, like, very soft, almost rotting apple that it looks like he just didn't want to eat.

Gamemaster:But there is some tinfoil in there, so it looks like he had, like, a sandwich or something that he did eat.

Andros:Man, this is Orban.

Gamemaster:Some pencils.

Gamemaster:An eraser that looks like a bite was taken out of it.

Gamemaster:Nothing that screams out to you is supernatural in any form.

Cedric:Right before we open the door, I'm going to cast Haste on my compatriots.

Krod:There's no like demon bait or he doesn't have like a beacon to summon hell or anything in there.

Gamemaster:No.

Gamemaster:Unless that's what the apple is, no.

Krod:Okay.

Andros:I mean, you ever left one of those apples in your backpack?

Andros:That's demon bait.

Krod:I love the banana.

Andros:Ooh, that might be just the words that, like, liquefies.

Krod:Continue.

Gamemaster:Okay.

Andros:I have so many actions and reactions right now.

Cedric:I hope shield guy.

Andros:I'm like Lev, but with a shield.

Gamemaster:Absolutely.

Gamemaster:Okay, so you're super fast.

Gamemaster:Everybody's quickened.

Gamemaster:Great.

Gamemaster:Who's opening the door?

Andros:I am.

Cedric:I'm going to be like as far as I can with lion sight, maybe 30 feet.

Gamemaster:Okay.

Cedric:Yeah, I'll be 30 feet away.

Gamemaster:Okay.

Gamemaster:Okay, so, shield guy at the front of the door getting ready to, uh, open it, uh, 30 feet back in the hallway, uh, ready to, like, spell snipe from a distance.

Gamemaster:And then, uh, where are you, uh, 60-foot-long katana man?

Krod:getting ready to slice the doors open.

Gamemaster:Okay.

Krod:So, like, adjacent to the door.

Cedric:Oh, Donnie.

Gamemaster:Sure.

Gamemaster:Um...

Andros:small.

Andros:We're such a big soul.

Andros:And Josh, just before we get into anything, I am large, and I have Titan Wrestler, so I can disarm, grapple, reposition, and shove or trip creatures up to two sizes larger than me.

Gamemaster:Correct.

Andros:That means if this creature is gargantuan, I can do those things to it.

Gamemaster:There is a Tarrasque that is just outside the door.

Gamemaster:You flip it.

Andros:Have you heard who doesn't hoop?

Gamemaster:Okay.

Cedric:Oh, um...

Cedric:One other thing.

Gamemaster:Yep.

Cedric:I cast Mountain's Resistance on myself.

Cedric:And then that gives me Resistance 5 to physical damage, except Adamantine.

Gamemaster:Which does...

Krod:An 1100 pound deadlift.

Gamemaster:Okay.

Cedric:And then when I get hit, it reduces it.

Gamemaster:Add a man time to Rask.

Cedric:Yeah.

Cedric:And then I also cast Unfettered Movement on myself as well.

Gamemaster:Okay.

Andros:This guy's unfettered.

Krod:I was just thinking I might be better.

Cedric:No, I cast on shield guy.

Cedric:I cast on shield guy so he can fucking stick up with me.

Gamemaster:Okay.

Gamemaster:Shield guy is unfettered movement and also difficult terrain at the same time.

Gamemaster:Great.

Andros:Open the door.

Gamemaster:Everybody set?

Cedric:Yeah.

Gamemaster:Open the door.

Cedric:Please tell me there's something there.

Gamemaster:Pull open the door, perception check.

Krod:The old pee check.

Krod:Luckily, mine's clean.

Cedric:I'm going to give him...

Cedric:a few seconds, and then I'm fireballing.

Andros:Yeah, 30.

Gamemaster:Just into the, like, the space.

Cedric:If he doesn't do anything, I'm fireballing after a few seconds.

Cedric:I'm putting that out here now.

Gamemaster:Absolutely.

Andros:I got a 30.

Gamemaster:Okay.

Gamemaster:A 38.

Gamemaster:You open the door, immediately look for what is presumably on the other side of the door.

Gamemaster:With a 38, you catch just a very quick movement away from the opening of the door.

Gamemaster:Not long enough for you to identify any shape.

Gamemaster:It just seems like dark blob immediately pushed away from the door the second you opened it.

Gamemaster:But there was something there.

Krod:Do I hear the direction I went off into?

Krod:I think we were just looking.

Gamemaster:It just moved to the left from the door.

Gamemaster:And then fireball goes off.

Gamemaster:Were you planning on doing anything as soon as you opened the door or were you just looking?

Andros:No, I was just getting ready in case it occurred.

Gamemaster:Okay.

Gamemaster:So you're just looking and then a fireball shoots over your shoulder and then lands... I assume that you're trying to place it so that it just barely doesn't actually hit your friends.

Cedric:Yeah, and I'm going to chaotic it so it's not fire.

Gamemaster:You can... Okay.

Gamemaster:Absolutely.

Andros:What is this?

Gamemaster:Wild magic sorcerer.

Cedric:I will.

Cedric:It's a three, which is electricity, and things are flat footed until the next.

Gamemaster:Uh...

Gamemaster:Absolutely.

Krod:Oh.

Gamemaster:Okay.

Gamemaster:I... I don't think I rolled my point here.

Gamemaster:You send a bolt of electricity off into the forest.

Gamemaster:It explodes.

Gamemaster:The sound will wake Tommy up.

Cedric:Close the door.

Gamemaster:There's like a flash of light.

Gamemaster:And then you're just left with a door opened up into the forest.

Cedric:Close the door.

Cedric:Oh, do you want to keep it open?

Krod:Don't we want to get it?

Krod:Open the door.

Cedric:Step outside then, I guess.

Cedric:I guess I'm stepping outside.

Krod:Open the door.

Andros:Okay, I'll step outside too.

Krod:Crowd will step outside.

Gamemaster:Okay, I need another perception check as you both step outside.

Andros:Next room.

Gamemaster:At this point, Tommy will stick his head out of the bedroom and say, I heard an explosion.

Cedric:Go to your room.

Cedric:Do not leave unless we're here.

Andros:I got another crit.

Krod:A third hero point is at the building.

Gamemaster:That's crazy.

Gamemaster:Okay.

Andros:I have one job in this party.

Gamemaster:And that's to see.

Cedric:And I'm just looking around.

Gamemaster:Two crits.

Cedric:I thought maybe Perceptor Jack, but I'm like, wait, where's he at?

Gamemaster:Yeah, absolutely.

Gamemaster:So, with a 41 as the most perceptive of the party, you step out and you close the door.

Cedric:I close the door when I, by the way, when I step out and I follow him.

Cedric:Yeah, we can open it when we want to, but I did close it.

Gamemaster:Yeah, I understand.

Gamemaster:Looking around into the night,

Gamemaster:nothing is stirring.

Gamemaster:Even with the most clearly that you have looked into this weird blackish night that just covers the entirety of this part of the forest, nothing is moving in the distance that you can see.

Gamemaster:I will say, though, with a 41...

Gamemaster:And I'm going to bend the rules a little bit, just to reward you for having rolled really high.

Gamemaster:Traditionally, the door to the Planar Palace is invisible, or I assume you would have said it as such.

Cedric:Okay.

Gamemaster:With a 41, I will say that you note where the door should be on the exterior, the side of the door that faces the outside world.

Gamemaster:There is a very, very, very light carving into the wood that makes up the exterior of the door.

Gamemaster:Like, the beginnings of a...

Gamemaster:You can roll a religion or an arcana or an occultism or a nature check here.

Gamemaster:Any of the magic schools would apply.

Gamemaster:Uh, yeah, I'll allow it.

Andros:Is it possible, because I am not good at any of those, to get some paper and take out a little bit of charcoal and kind of do an etching on it?

Andros:I will etch it and kind of try and show it to my compatriots.

Gamemaster:Because you crit and you, like, located it, you can do that.

Gamemaster:Absolutely.

Gamemaster:Any flavor of magic check will do to looking at this.

Cedric:All right, I'll try it.

Gamemaster:Okay, which roller do you make?

Cedric:I'm going to try Arcana.

Gamemaster:Okay.

Cedric:And can I see the stars?

Cedric:I don't think so.

Gamemaster:Uh, nope.

Gamemaster:You cannot see the sky.

Cedric:OK, so no plus.

Gamemaster:Like, you are technically outdoors for things that require you to be outdoors, but you can't see the sky.

Cedric:Yeah, no, but I have some.

Cedric:OK, so I'll just do it.

Cedric:Arcana is my highest.

Cedric:Yes.

Cedric:Oof.

Cedric:I got an extra mythic.

Cedric:I'll do a mythic.

Gamemaster:If you rolled with advantage, I guess this is you rerolling the lower of the two, just with mythic.

Cedric:Yeah.

Cedric:So mythic, I'm trained.

Cedric:So that's plus what?

Gamemaster:Plus eight.

Cedric:Plus eight.

Gamemaster:Wow.

Cedric:All right.

Andros:you

Gamemaster:Okay, so 30.

Cedric:Yeah, 30.

Gamemaster:Um...

Gamemaster:Yeah, looking at the symbol, I mean, like, as a sorcerer, magical writing was never really your forte in the first place.

Cedric:Uh-huh.

Gamemaster:You just kind of make magic happen on vibes.

Gamemaster:So... I mean, if you squint at it, it kind of looks like the outline of the left half of a tree.

Gamemaster:Like, it looks like duh, duh, and then maybe some leaves.

Gamemaster:But, like, only a piece of it, and only kind of if you quit.

Gamemaster:Unfortunately, that's all you get from that one.

Cedric:That's not great.

Cedric:Yeah.

Gamemaster:I do think implicitly you would understand that this is a magical construct as a door, and the door was invisible, and the door leads to another plane of existence, so any amount of carving on the door is strange, but you could not posit to what it is that the carving is doing.

Cedric:Yeah.

Andros:Truly terrifying.

Cedric:And we don't see that thing anywhere, right?

Gamemaster:No, even with the 41 crit looking around, it looks like whatever was here is gone.

Gamemaster:It bolted the second the door opened.

Gamemaster:Supernaturally quickly did it bolt, but it did bolt.

Cedric:I'm going to shameless request it.

Krod:Fair enough.

Krod:I'm sure it was just, uh, nothing.

Krod:And then Grodd will head back inside.

Gamemaster:Okay.

Andros:I'll take one last look around.

Andros:I'll say, I know you're out here.

Andros:And then I'll go back inside.

Gamemaster:You don't hear a response.

Cedric:Hey, you want to come talk?

Andros:What?

Andros:What is that number, Josh?

Andros:What is that?

Cedric:I'm shameless requesting asking it to come talk.

Gamemaster:No, I heard you.

Cedric:Okay.

Gamemaster:You did not hear a response.

Cedric:Moga?

Andros:What is this?

Krod:Oh, I'm so terrified.

Gamemaster:I rolled a d100.

Gamemaster:That's not a d20 with a modifier.

Andros:Oh, I didn't see that.

Krod:I'm so terrified.

Andros:I thought it was just... You know, sometimes we fight crazy things.

Gamemaster:No, I rolled a d20 plus 68, and I crit.

Krod:Oh, yeah, no, no.

Gamemaster:No, I get it.

Gamemaster:I understand.

Gamemaster:In this particular instance, I did roll a d100, and that was the value I got.

Gamemaster:Nothing responds to your call's output, but because it was shameless, nothing attacks you either.

Gamemaster:You assume.

Cedric:Yeah.

Krod:I got a vague idea, but we can continue.

Gamemaster:Okay.

Gamemaster:you can continue your night's rest.

Gamemaster:I will allow you to, like, regain all the spell slots and actions or whatever that you spent over the course of the evening.

Gamemaster:Wake up again, well-rested.

Cedric:OK.

Gamemaster:Get your... Get your daily prep in and get ready to set off for another day of just walking through the dark.

Krod:I'm walking through the dark.

Krod:Boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom.

Gamemaster:I need... Like, a new life for your characters.

Krod:Anyone in here sing?

Cedric:I can.

Cedric:You want a song?

Cedric:Character.

Gamemaster:I need a D12 roll from somebody.

Cedric:Alright, keep going.

Krod:Huh.

Krod:Ooh.

Gamemaster:We already rolled that.

Krod:Oh, sorry, I didn't realize.

Krod:Did the seven work?

Gamemaster:Yep, seven is due.

Gamemaster:We've done one in four so far.

Gamemaster:Okay.

Gamemaster:You start tracking forward.

Gamemaster:I need a survival check.

Gamemaster:And a perception check.

Krod:Perception.

Andros:I got a 40, but if that's not a crit and it's just a success, then it turns into a crit.

Krod:Oh.

Krod:Sam, I got a 40.

Krod:I forgot to roll the mod.

Gamemaster:How did you even get a 17?

Krod:I hit the Enter key when I meant to hit the, yeah.

Gamemaster:Oh.

Gamemaster:Okay.

Gamemaster:So you weren't joking when you said you got a 40.

Krod:No, no, no, I did get a 40, yeah.

Gamemaster:Okay.

Gamemaster:Great.

Gamemaster:So you...

Andros:you

Gamemaster:keen-eyed, well-navigating, maybe a little bit on edge from your almost encounter over the evening, start following the path that the necklace is plotting out for you.

Gamemaster:You do know that it...

Gamemaster:It does seem to be moving.

Gamemaster:You don't think it's that you're getting put off path, you think it's that whatever it's pointing to is changing location.

Gamemaster:And it's getting more obvious, like the change in direction is becoming more pronounced, which makes you feel that you're getting closer to whatever it's leading you towards.

Gamemaster:What that is, you can't say for certain, but definitely heading more in that direction.

Gamemaster:With a 40 perception, you'd be the first to notice it, Krod.

Gamemaster:There is... In the direction you're heading, like if you continue following the path that you are right now, maybe about 500 feet ahead, there are...

Gamemaster:Very faint white lights coming out of the darkness.

Gamemaster:About four of them.

Gamemaster:Around, you'd guess, you're 60 foot up, but you'd guess it's around like five-ish feet off of the ground.

Gamemaster:Relatively stationary.

Gamemaster:It's like a soft glow.

Gamemaster:It doesn't feel like it's being put out by a fire or something of that nature.

Gamemaster:If anything, it's a pure white light.

Gamemaster:But it's just about 500 feet away from you in the direction that you're currently walking.

Krod:How far?

Krod:500 feet, OK.

Krod:I'll relay this to my compatriots.

Gamemaster:Go on.

Cedric:We sound it?

Krod:Yeah.

Krod:Actually, when we get within around 100 feet, I want to ask them to stop so I can go ahead and scout.

Gamemaster:What is your prey in this instance?

Cedric:Hi.

Cedric:OK.

Krod:I would also like to hunt prey.

Krod:Hunt prey to give myself a plus two circumstance bonus to perception checks when you seek your prey and a plus two circumstance for survival tracking.

Andros:Oh.

Krod:But the circumstance of perception is what I want.

Gamemaster:The light?

Krod:Oh, yeah, I guess it has to be a single creature.

Krod:OK, never mind.

Gamemaster:Yeah.

Cedric:You could hunt the guy that we're hunting.

Gamemaster:He has been.

Krod:I'm already hunting him.

Cedric:Okay.

Gamemaster:Which I don't know if you would be able to tell if these floating lights are related to him in any way.

Gamemaster:He likes pottery and you didn't find his diary.

Krod:We read his diary, and he loves floating lights.

Krod:He has a diary.

Krod:We go back.

Andros:Thank you.

Gamemaster:Okay, so you guys stop about 100 feet out.

Gamemaster:I assume you listened to your compatriot and then you wanted to scout.

Krod:Yes.

Gamemaster:Okay, perception check.

Gamemaster:And stealth if you're trying to be stealthy, or no stealth if you're not.

Krod:I am trying to be stealthy.

Gamemaster:As that is how stealth works.

Krod:This is the stealth.

Krod:And this is the perception.

Krod:42 for the perception.

Gamemaster:Okay.

Gamemaster:Are you bringing your flashlight with you?

Gamemaster:Are you wearing your goggles?

Gamemaster:What's the plan?

Krod:Ooh, I would activate the goggles here.

Gamemaster:Okay, so you leave the flashlight, turn on your goggles, and start heading closer to the source.

Krod:I would leave the flashlight and activate the goggles.

Gamemaster:How close are you getting?

Krod:I would start descending the trees to get a bit closer.

Gamemaster:Because about 60 feet out, you still can't make out any detail besides the floating light.

Krod:Is this a fear effect?

Gamemaster:Okay.

Gamemaster:I need you to make a will save.

Cedric:What are the effects for this?

Gamemaster:It is not.

Cedric:Mental fear?

Gamemaster:Fear effect.

Gamemaster:It definitely is a mental effect.

Gamemaster:One second.

Cedric:Is or isn't?

Gamemaster:It is.

Gamemaster:This has the emotion, enchantment, and mental traits.

Gamemaster:32.

Krod:uh 32.

Andros:Thank you.

Gamemaster:Okay.

Gamemaster:As you get a little closer, within 30 feet or so, you can see that the lights aren't actually pure white.

Gamemaster:There is this kind of shimmering inside of the lights that strikes you almost as like there's liquid inside, and the liquid is glowing and moving around very faintly.

Gamemaster:And for a split second, you're...

Gamemaster:your immediate thought is to just jump down and grab one and see what's going on.

Gamemaster:And then I think you double up on that and think, why would I immediately try to jump down and touch it if I've been so careful to try and scout ahead instead?

Gamemaster:And with your pretty good perception check from earlier, you will note that there is a...

Gamemaster:very slight gossamer thread attached to each of the lights that goes from the light upward into the canopy above.

Cedric:Oh.

Cedric:And is this this is towards the direction our necklace is pointing us, right?

Gamemaster:Like, it's between... If you just follow the direction that the necklace tells you, you'd walk right through it.

Cedric:Yeah.

Krod:Wait, so the threads, do they go up to below Krod?

Krod:Oh.

Gamemaster:So the lights are floating in the air about five feet off of the ground.

Cedric:Yeah.

Gamemaster:And then there's a thread, a very, very faint thread attached to them that extends upwards past the range of your vision.

Krod:Yeah.

Krod:I'll head back to my compatriots.

Krod:and relay what I have seen and what I felt.

Andros:maybe we should just kind of go around them a little bit angler fishing they're already wet i was thinking it would drop down on you

Krod:I think that's probably best.

Cedric:You guys don't want to fight him?

Cedric:You're right, we have a child.

Cedric:We should not be picking fights.

Krod:Well, fight what?

Cedric:Whatever's up top.

Krod:I don't know if this thing wants to fight.

Krod:I think it might just attempt to enchant you.

Cedric:No, it's going to drag you up and try to eat you.

Cedric:Oh, also works.

Cedric:We can avoid it and just go around.

Cedric:We have a child with us.

Krod:Yeah, or at least try to go around.

Andros:Thank you.

Krod:I mean, I guess there's no guarantee.

Krod:So let's try to go around.

Gamemaster:Okay, so you're going to go off the path that the necklace is pointing you towards to try and navigate around the source of the lights.

Cedric:If we start getting close to the lights, I have a spell I want to cast, so just letting you know.

Gamemaster:Okay, sure.

Gamemaster:I mean, if you start walking away from them, they don't seem to follow you supernaturally.

Gamemaster:They're just hanging there.

Gamemaster:And after maybe like 15 minutes or so of walking, they've completely left your sight, and you feel comfortable hopping back onto the path and continuing forward.

Cedric:Cool.

Gamemaster:Okay, absolutely.

Gamemaster:You push forward, and after another day's travel, nothing really stands out to you.

Gamemaster:It's just long, annoying trek through the dark.

Gamemaster:You note as you finish up your eight hours worth of traveling, the...

Gamemaster:You feel that you must be getting very close to the source of the stone, because there are points where it just kind of veers off to the side.

Cedric:So it must be moving and we're close.

Gamemaster:Like, you've passed an area and it's moved.

Gamemaster:Yeah.

Krod:Nice.

Gamemaster:But you've, uh... No.

Cedric:When I bring up the new palace, is that etching still on it?

Gamemaster:New palace!

Gamemaster:Etching's gone!

Cedric:Thank goodness.

Cedric:I am going to when we bet up, whatever, I'm going to have one of my

Cedric:phantasmal minions.

Cedric:Take a very large vase, put it to the door, and listen.

Cedric:And if anything goes on, it's going to rattle.

Gamemaster:Okay, sure.

Gamemaster:That's fine.

Gamemaster:One second.

Gamemaster:I think there are rules for the stats of these guys.

Gamemaster:They are phantasmal minions.

Cedric:Yep.

Gamemaster:Absolutely.

Gamemaster:Okay.

Cedric:Yeah, they don't have great stats, but I just hope that with the cup, and since they're next to the door, it might be easier.

Cedric:But whatever.

Cedric:It's better than nothing.

Gamemaster:They have a perception of plus zero.

Cedric:Yeah.

Gamemaster:So, like, they can attempt to do so.

Andros:i mean i don't know if there's any point in us trying to jump the thing i think it'd be better if we wait until morning and then see what the full etching is

Gamemaster:I will give you a plus two circumstance bonus.

Gamemaster:Oh, it just got dark by me.

Gamemaster:I'm going to leave the lights off.

Cedric:Maybe we should just take shifts as people.

Gamemaster:It's American.

Krod:Thank you.

Gamemaster:The DC would be lower if you're standing near the door to listen for it.

Cedric:Yeah.

Cedric:So let's say shifts.

Cedric:We'll do that.

Cedric:Oh, OK.

Cedric:I just imagine that I never got the full etching off because I'm not sure what the etching would do, but it's not a. That's what I think it might be.

Andros:I mean, my weird mania thing.

Andros:Maybe it's a warning.

Andros:Maybe there's some meaning to it.

Krod:Or it's an enchantment that opens the door?

Krod:Should one of us hang out outside the door?

Andros:Oh, I was I was thinking it was like a religious symbol based on the fact it was half a tree.

Cedric:Do you want to post guards up or no?

Andros:Let's post guards just to be safe.

Andros:No, they've said that.

Cedric:All right.

Gamemaster:Okay.

Andros:No.

Andros:We will never see that person again.

Andros:They will be gone.

Cedric:That is fucking terrifying.

Krod:even if it's a tenacious pug man who is adept at climbing.

Krod:No.

Cedric:I don't like that idea.

Andros:And that was the last they ever heard of Krodstopping.

Cedric:If you'd like to, you can.

Cedric:I think it's a horrible idea.

Cedric:Yeah, I don't think it's worth... Yeah.

Andros:I do think this is a bad idea, but I will not stop you.

Krod:Maybe not tonight.

Krod:Maybe some other time.

Krod:I think we're too far into the forest at this point.

Krod:I feel like every soul that is living gets swallowed outside.

Cedric:Yeah.

Cedric:What if there's just another fucking wave?

Cedric:I don't know.

Cedric:But yeah, I'll take turns with the cup against the wall.

Cedric:Alright, I will not roll.

Gamemaster:Okay, so if we're doing shifts overnight, I'll have two people roll perception.

Gamemaster:One person gets first half, or the other person gets second half.

Cedric:I'll watch the kid.

Andros:Okay, I'll roll one.

Krod:You want to.

Krod:Twenty eight.

Gamemaster:Yep.

Andros:Got a 33.

Gamemaster:Okay.

Gamemaster:First shift is Andros.

Gamemaster:You spend it, like, vase up against the door, trying to listen to what's going on.

Gamemaster:You don't hear anything.

Gamemaster:No tapping.

Gamemaster:Nobody, like, scratching something into the other side of the door or nothing.

Andros:Yeah.

Gamemaster:Then Krod takes over.

Gamemaster:Similarly, no sounds.

Gamemaster:Your watch passes uneventfully, and you get the benefits of a rest.

Krod:Bye-bye.

Cedric:When we leave in the morning, before I dismiss it, I'm going to look at the door, see if there's anything going on.

Gamemaster:No perception check necessary.

Gamemaster:It doesn't look like anybody was at the door this past evening.

Gamemaster:Smooth as when you first summoned it.

Cedric:I hate this.

Cedric:All right.

Cedric:Let's go on.

Gamemaster:Okay.

Gamemaster:D12.

Krod:E 12.

Krod:6.

Gamemaster:Okay.

Gamemaster:Survival check.

Andros:30.

Gamemaster:Thirty.

Gamemaster:Five.

Cedric:at.

Andros:Cat.

Gamemaster:Cat.

Gamemaster:Okay, so, following the necklace.

Gamemaster:Once or twice over the course of the first few hours, it does seem to, like, very strongly turn away from the direction that you're originally heading.

Gamemaster:But about two hours in, it stabilizes.

Gamemaster:It stops moving from one direction to the other and stays in generally the same spot.

Gamemaster:Can I get a perception check after about four hours of travel further into the forest?

Krod:Gosh.

Krod:If I can type.

Andros:you

Krod:Only showing...

Gamemaster:Okay.

Gamemaster:With a 27, after about four hours in, you and the whole group with that check would hear like a harp off in the distance.

Gamemaster:Like some kind of string instrument.

Gamemaster:It sounds like a harp to you.

Krod:And I can't see it from my... Perfect.

Cedric:Okay.

Gamemaster:No, not with that perception check.

Gamemaster:You don't see it, you just hear the sound of a harp kind of echoing through the trees.

Gamemaster:Like, maybe generally in the direction that you've been walking.

Krod:I love the harp.

Andros:Oh, very important.

Andros:Before we leave, before we left for the day, could I have taken an etching of the full thing if it was there?

Gamemaster:It wasn't.

Andros:It was not there.

Gamemaster:There was no marking on the door this morning.

Andros:Interesting.

Cedric:It was related to this kid knowing that we know it's there, though.

Cedric:As we start continuing walking with the necklace, does the harp get louder?

Gamemaster:Yes, as you continue walking forward, the harp is definitely getting louder.

Cedric:Once it gets appreciably louder, I'm going to cast Spell Surge on myself and use Interference, which excess magic surrounds you, creating a mental static.

Cedric:All saving throws against mental effects gain a plus two circumstance bonus for 10 minutes.

Cedric:And anyone within 10 feet of me will get that.

Gamemaster:Okay.

Gamemaster:Absolutely.

Gamemaster:Okay.

Gamemaster:After a little bit more of walking, maybe another five feet or so.

Gamemaster:Sorry, five minutes or so.

Gamemaster:Five feet later.

Gamemaster:Five minutes or so more of walking and you see, once again, a faint glow in the direction you're walking.

Krod:Immediately.

Gamemaster:This does not... This doesn't feel the same as the lights you had seen earlier.

Andros:Thank you.

Gamemaster:It's a more diffuse, larger glow.

Gamemaster:It's got this bluish coloration to it.

Gamemaster:Like bluish-purplish, almost.

Gamemaster:Um...

Gamemaster:And it's just kind of, like, there are trees in the way, so you can't see the direct origin point of it, but it's casting these wide shadows as it cuts through the darkness of this area.

Gamemaster:It is much brighter than the, like, faint glowing orbs that you had seen earlier from the trees.

Gamemaster:In addition, the harp is louder.

Gamemaster:It seems that you're heading in the source of it, and you gather that it's probably at the same location as the source of the glow.

Gamemaster:And you can also hear what almost sounds like talking.

Gamemaster:You are far enough out, and you haven't rolled particularly well in your perception check, so I don't think you would be able to make out any words.

Gamemaster:But it is a distinct sound of people talking to each other, instead of just other random animal voices.

Gamemaster:It's like intentioned vocalizations.

Cedric:Carry forward, gentlemen.

Krod:Yes.

Cedric:Are we bringing him in dead or alive?

Krod:Worth more alive.

Cedric:Do we care?

Gamemaster:I...

Cedric:Like, I assume alive to try to help us figure out what this plague thing is, but like...

Krod:I don't think we... We don't even have enough evidence.

Krod:I don't know what the burden of proof is in the law here.

Gamemaster:So, burden of proof is if you guys say that he did it and that killing him would stop it, then you are allowed to do that.

Gamemaster:That said, I don't know how much information you guys necessarily would know being the cause of the curse that's killing people and how much is related to it and all that kind of stuff.

Cedric:definitely him.

Gamemaster:If your understanding is that if you think he's doing it and you think that killing him will stop the curse, then you are fully empowered by the laws of Calaria to kill him.

Cedric:He's definitely evil.

Cedric:Hell yeah.

Cedric:Alright, cool.

Gamemaster:So this is the kind of place that hands out guns on Halloween.

Cedric:Let's go.

Andros:Let's get this guy.

Gamemaster:Like, you know, you're fine.

Gamemaster:I will say at this point, you can be pretty confident that that glow is also where the necklace is pointing you.

Gamemaster:Because as you, like, try to navigate around a tree that's in the way, you feel the necklace turn to continue pointing towards the source of the glow.

Cedric:While they're doing perception, I'm making a stealth if that's possible.

Gamemaster:I would like, as you get to the point where the source of the bow is revealed amidst the trees, I would love it if I could get another perception check.

Gamemaster:Or two.

Gamemaster:I will allow up to two.

Gamemaster:That's also fine.

Gamemaster:If you guys are trying to be stealthy, you are welcome to stealth.

Andros:Well, I have another mythic point going into this.

Cedric:39 for me.

Andros:That's cool.

Krod:Oh, dear.

Krod:27 stealth, 36 perception.

Andros:36th stealth.

Krod:36, I believe.

Andros:I critically failed perception.

Cedric:39 stealth.

Gamemaster:Okay.

Gamemaster:Sorry, what was the highest perception check that we got?

Gamemaster:About 36.

Gamemaster:Okay.

Gamemaster:This is fun.

Gamemaster:So as you come up... Just to get a method point?

Cedric:I'm going to summon Mythic Power just to get one.

Cedric:Yeah, I have two now, but just...

Gamemaster:Okay, that's fine.

Gamemaster:Absolutely.

Andros:I'm gonna...

Gamemaster:All right.

Gamemaster:So as you guys round that last tree that was in your way before you could see the source of the glow, you can see that the glow is actually a clearing in the forest.

Gamemaster:Clearing as a loose form, the trees around here are so dense that it's just a place where they are slightly less dense.

Gamemaster:The glow is some kind of luminescence coming off of like a fungal mushroomy growth.

Gamemaster:on the trees here.

Gamemaster:The sound of a harp is a harp.

Gamemaster:The voices speaking are a collection of humanoid-looking figures that looks like they're just kind of lounging around on the inside of this clearing.

Andros:Thank you.

Gamemaster:The closest one to you, as you get a closer look at these, these aren't human.

Gamemaster:They are humanoid, certainly, but they don't strike you as immediately obvious as to what ancestry they might have descended from.

Gamemaster:They don't kind of fit in general boxes that you would expect.

Gamemaster:They are...

Gamemaster:Tall.

Gamemaster:Tall and gangly.

Gamemaster:Weird bluish-grayish skin.

Gamemaster:They're... They've got two arms and two legs, although the proportions feel a little weird.

Gamemaster:It's like their arms and legs have kind of been stretched out more than you would expect.

Cedric:Oh, God, they got to die.

Gamemaster:They are wearing...

Gamemaster:gossamer sheer wrappings wrapped around them.

Gamemaster:Almost organic looking in nature.

Gamemaster:It looks too fine to have been manufactured.

Gamemaster:The most noticeable part of their feature, though, is their head.

Gamemaster:It looks like...

Gamemaster:Their face has this hardness and glossiness to it, almost like they're wearing a mask of some kind.

Gamemaster:But it looks like it's merged onto the body, more as if it were like a bony or exoskeleton-type growth.

Gamemaster:It's less like a mask facial feature.

Gamemaster:And you can tell there are... They move.

Gamemaster:As you see them speaking, you can see the weird bony mask opening and clothing as if it had lips.

Andros:Thank you.

Gamemaster:It's a circular mouth.

Gamemaster:Um...

Gamemaster:almost reminiscent of like deep sea creatures that you would recognize instead of the normal humanoid mouth, like lamprey eel-esque almost.

Gamemaster:It contorts in weird ways in order to form sounds that are almost sing-song, but not following a melody that you can recognize.

Gamemaster:The bone mask pushes upwards and then breaks out into these two horns that stick upward.

Gamemaster:Um...

Gamemaster:And you can see that there's no nose to speak of, but there are two indents of what you would expect eyes to be.

Gamemaster:That you would gather is what they're seeing through, but no visible eyeball in them.

Gamemaster:Just black, empty hole in the two spots where you would expect the eyes to be.

Gamemaster:Can I get a nature or occultism check?

Andros:Nature cultism.

Gamemaster:Also, if you like, you can open up https://btl.iridi.cc.iridu.cc to get a view of the Grove.

Cedric:Yeah.

Gamemaster:Nature or Occultism.

Andros:Big 20.

Andros:Whoa.

Gamemaster:OK.

Andros:Oh, there's a lot of these guys.

Krod:Mark.

Gamemaster:They look unfamiliar to you.

Gamemaster:Something that is fun is that as I was moving the characters into place, I noticed that because Andros has darkvision, the scene looks different for him than it does for the other two characters.

Gamemaster:It's like brighter for you.

Cedric:I have darkvision with my goggles, right?

Gamemaster:You do, but Foundry doesn't know that, I guess.

Cedric:Oh.

Gamemaster:There's like no increased detail or whatever, it's just the shadows are substantially less harsh for Andros than they are for everybody else.

Cedric:Are we just burning them down, or are we going to try to talk to them?

Krod:We have confirmation this is where the necklace is pointing.

Krod:You can.

Gamemaster:You're pretty confident this is where the mythos is going to be?

Cedric:I think I just send it.

Cedric:What if we kill the entire forest by killing these people?

Andros:I don't know.

Krod:Good.

Andros:Maybe we should try and talk to them first.

Cedric:No, maybe that is good for Calaria.

Krod:We probably do have to talk to them first and I really don't want to.

Cedric:All right.

Andros:I'm not good at talking to people, so this should be something else.

Cedric:I can talk to them, but you guys better stand in front of me.

Cedric:Do any of you guys have something to set something on fire?

Andros:Okay.

Krod:Yeah.

Andros:No.

Cedric:Okay.

Cedric:That's okay.

Andros:I got 15,000 reactions, but nothing for fire.

Gamemaster:I mean, Andros does have flinch and steal.

Cedric:Can... Okay.

Andros:I have Flint and steel.

Krod:I was going to say, I guess it's not all because us talking to them, we lose whatever is surprise, but I'm not sure we can even get close enough to them to begin with.

Cedric:All right.

Cedric:So I guess once the big guy gets in front of me, I will then be... I will be like 20...

Cedric:feet behind him and then I will once he gets a little closer I can fireball 500 feet away yeah and I can do a 7th level fireball or I can do incendiary cloud

Krod:So maybe it's fine.

Krod:No, no, you can, but... Well, I don't know...

Gamemaster:Yeah.

Cedric:and then Fireball or Wall of Fire, and it's double.

Krod:I don't think they're going to see you and be like, guys, spread out!

Krod:Spread out!

Krod:I don't think they're going to take an attack formation if we have a conversation with them.

Krod:I don't think we lose really that much by just going up and talking.

Krod:Also, Noah noted earlier, I would like also to note that Krod is a small creature that has Titan Wrestler, so he can trip, shove, and grapple large creatures.

Gamemaster:Absolutely.

Gamemaster:You guys have the whole gamut of things that you can drip and shove.

Cedric:Okay.

Krod:All right.

Gamemaster:God, I'm gonna have to throw a tiny creature with Titan Wrestler at you guys.

Gamemaster:Just so that it can flip oddly crot.

Andros:Okay.

Gamemaster:Um... Okay.

Cedric:What is the name of our organization again?

Krod:Hello.

Gamemaster:um yeah no you're members of the Iridescent Church you're like part of a convox but i you're part of the Iridescent Church

Krod:The church or are we something specific?

Cedric:Yeah, like our match.

Cedric:I'm going to activate honeyed words.

Cedric:Sorry, sweetened lies.

Cedric:Which gives me honeyed words.

Cedric:That's for lying, in case I need it.

Cedric:And then I will say, Greetings, forest dwellers.

Cedric:We are here, through the power of the Iridescent Church, investigating...

Cedric:a series of crimes.

Cedric:I would like you all to line up in a line for me so that I may question you and your compatriots.

Gamemaster:You burst out of the forest.

Gamemaster:Immediately laid down the law.

Gamemaster:Absolutely.

Gamemaster:Your two compatriots are staying hidden in the shadows.

Gamemaster:Are they coming with?

Cedric:No, they're in front of me.

Krod:I thought, you know, we're in front of him.

Cedric:I'm assuming he's in front of me.

Gamemaster:Oh, okay.

Krod:We're in...

Cedric:Yeah, he's in front of me.

Gamemaster:So all three of you, the posse, all four of you, sorry, Tommy is with you, emerges from the forest.

Cedric:Yeah, Tommy's fine.

Gamemaster:And then...

Cedric:He took like 40 points of damage and was fine.

Gamemaster:And then from the back, he's laying down the law.

Andros:Thank you.

Gamemaster:So immediately, you can see as you're walking in that the group of people all seem to be circled around two of the figures that seem larger in stature, at least, although also seemingly physically, than the other one of these creatures.

Gamemaster:around this grotto, this glade.

Gamemaster:Grotto's the wrong term, it's a glade.

Gamemaster:One of them, it looks like, is the one that was playing the harp, will stop, and the weird sing-songy language that they were speaking also stops as you make yourself known, and then immediately start, you know, telling people to line up and the like.

Gamemaster:The one sat next to the one playing the harp, the other one that it seems like was almost holding court in this area, staying in the center, lets off this trill, this almost insectoid-like chitter, and then says, The small one thinks that we follow its laws.

Gamemaster:No, it will.

Krod:I actually haven't spoken yet.

Gamemaster:No, you are both small.

Gamemaster:Physical stature is so important.

Andros:Amen.

Gamemaster:You're also small.

Cedric:I do not care about my size.

Cedric:I care about murders.

Cedric:And I'm here to solve them.

Cedric:Are you involved with them?

Gamemaster:The one that commented on your appearance will look over at the other woman and say, Oriel, they're questioning us.

Gamemaster:And then the other one, presumably Oriel, will say, don't, Eurasian.

Gamemaster:They don't mean any harm yet.

Gamemaster:Take a seat.

Cedric:That is true.

Cedric:I mean no harm.

Cedric:Do you know – and I'll flip up my notebook and say the name of the guy who came in here.

Gamemaster:Lyric... Oriel, the one playing the harp, will respond.

Cedric:And are you aware of any connections between him and huskifying citizens of our great nation of the Iridescent Church?

Gamemaster:We don't have to answer your questions, so if you could take a breather, take a seat, I'd be happy to talk over some conversation.

Cedric:If they were in Calaria, would they have to answer my questions?

Gamemaster:What do you mean if they were in Calaria?

Cedric:Like, if they were, like, in a city... I know they don't subscribe to being in Calaria, but if...

Gamemaster:Like...

Gamemaster:Yes, like, as part of the laws of the Iridescent Church, you do have the ability to compel speech.

Gamemaster:So, like, yes, legally, you could force them to answer your questions, although I think they have, you would, like, note that they've already established that they're not going to follow whatever laws you put forward.

Gamemaster:They aren't immediately aggressive, though, either.

Gamemaster:It looks like, and it's hard to read their faces because they are, now as you're closer, it looks like they're made out of solid bone.

Gamemaster:Um...

Gamemaster:They seem bemused, if anything.

Gamemaster:There's little chitters from some of the people sat around the grove just watching as this happens, but nobody's gotten up or taken aggressive posture or anything like that.

Gamemaster:They don't seem inclined to talk to you unless you take a seat in the circle, though.

Cedric:Look at my compatriots.

Krod:have a seat yeah and it's it's i don't know reasonable to we're having we're trying to solve a murder so several actually

Cedric:I guess I'll go have a seat.

Gamemaster:Jin, the one not playing the harp, will say, Oh, dogs of the state do listen to orders.

Cedric:Only one of us is a dog.

Gamemaster:No.

Andros:i feel like we're going here with different energy than you we're trying to work

Cedric:To be fair,

Cedric:Yeah, we're trying to just solve this murder of our people.

Cedric:I understand your Emerald Sea?

Cedric:I'm not sure your preferred name of it.

Cedric:It's very different, and to be fair, I don't think Clary has a claim to this.

Cedric:I'm just trying to stop my citizens from being murdered.

Gamemaster:It's very valid to view.

Gamemaster:Why do you think that we would know anything about it?

Cedric:There was a man?

Krod:Oh, investigation letter's here.

Cedric:Yes.

Cedric:Again, I repeat, do you know this man?

Cedric:He came here, and then he's now linked to these murders.

Cedric:So I was wondering if you may be able to put us in contact with him.

Gamemaster:The one playing the harp, Oriela, will say, we might know him, or we might not.

Gamemaster:Unfortunately, names aren't of much use to us.

Gamemaster:Yours are, at least.

Gamemaster:We're not familiar with the man as described, but plenty have passed through our wastes.

Andros:I'm gonna...

Cedric:Do you know anything about...

Cedric:Huskification of citizens.

Gamemaster:I assume that you... Are you explaining what huskification means?

Cedric:I'm explaining, but yes, yes.

Gamemaster:Okay.

Gamemaster:The Oriol will say, Hmm.

Gamemaster:That sounds pleasant.

Gamemaster:On, like, all of the ways to go, losing all of your moisture can't be all that bad.

Gamemaster:I imagine you'd just feel very thirsty and then go to sleep.

Andros:Do you know anything about the Green Father?

Gamemaster:Were they in pain?

Gamemaster:Um, the, uh, Jin will say,

Gamemaster:The one that the silly little ones outside of this place worship?

Gamemaster:We know of it.

Andros:Yeah.

Andros:Do you know, and I'll pull out the etching, do you know what this might be?

Gamemaster:Can I get a perception check, actually, with you bringing up the green man?

Cedric:Is this for lying?

Gamemaster:No.

Cedric:Okay.

Andros:I got a three.

Cedric:It's not a sense motive or anything, right?

Gamemaster:No, no, no.

Gamemaster:This is actually just, like, it's probably something that you guys would have noticed.

Cedric:I got it.

Gamemaster:I just, like, now seems like a reasonable time to mention it.

Gamemaster:31 is more than enough.

Cedric:All right, I'll look at it.

Gamemaster:The... All of the creatures sitting in the circle, but particularly the ones that you're talking to in the center, are...

Gamemaster:They have raiments.

Gamemaster:Those two in front of you actually have a pretty sizable raiment.

Gamemaster:It is jet black.

Gamemaster:It is not one that you immediately recognize as one of the Outer Gods.

Gamemaster:It also isn't the green that you would have associated with the Green Man.

Gamemaster:But it is pretty solid.

Gamemaster:It's not some small little forest fairy thing that has granted them whatever divine radiance they have.

Gamemaster:It's some reasonably powerful entity is their backer.

Gamemaster:I will allow you to make a religion check to see if you would recognize a jet black raiment, but the DC is pretty high and I don't think any of you are good at religion.

Cedric:I'm going to shameless request.

Cedric:What is that?

Cedric:Where do you get that remit from?

Gamemaster:Jyn will look at you and then like purposefully move his vision slightly over your shoulder so it looks like he's looking at your raiment and then will look back at you and say well from the same place that you get yours someone grants it surely you're asking

Cedric:Ooh.

Gamemaster:What is with small people and the names?

Gamemaster:You give them out way too freely.

Gamemaster:So far... Roll a perception check, and then I will allow a deception check from Koiro.

Andros:Do you know this symbol?

Andros:I'll hold up the half-completed etching that I have.

Gamemaster:Is that your name?

Gamemaster:Yeah, Koiro.

Cedric:Did she jerk?

Gamemaster:Yeah.

Andros:I'm going to use a mythic point.

Cedric:Is this detect a lie?

Gamemaster:It is.

Cedric:Cool.

Andros:What do I have in perception?

Cedric:We just double check.

Cedric:All right.

Cedric:I need words.

Cedric:Give me another 20.

Cedric:35.

Andros:That was the exact same number, 29 perception.

Gamemaster:Okay.

Gamemaster:You hold up the half-sketched etching of a tree, and the only thing you would get is Jorge... Cedric would note the very, very faint, like...

Gamemaster:I don't know if you would know how to read its facial expression, but there's an obvious, almost tightening, ever so slightly, of the mouth that appears to be a reaction to seeing it, but I don't think you'd be able to ascribe a particular emotion to... Like, they reacted to it in some way, but I don't think you could see further than that.

Cedric:OK.

Gamemaster:Uriel will say, So, you march in here.

Gamemaster:You interrupt my song.

Gamemaster:You start...

Gamemaster:dithering about someone who died, or multiple people who died.

Cedric:Multiple people.

Gamemaster:And then you start asking questions about our patron, and then you start showing us strange scribbles.

Andros:Note period.

Cedric:Yes.

Gamemaster:This seems particularly one-sided.

Gamemaster:All right, goodbye.

Cedric:Well, we are detectives, and if you can't help us, that is fine.

Cedric:We can be on our way.

Cedric:Once you answer our questions.

Cedric:So, do you know this person?

Cedric:Are you related to the husking?

Cedric:And that's actually the main ones for us.

Cedric:Also, why don't you like to answer our questions?

Gamemaster:Yes, Noah?

Andros:Tommy right now.

Gamemaster:Tommy's, like, kind of... I don't think he would have followed you into this group of people.

Gamemaster:So he's gonna be hanging out back behind this stump.

Gamemaster:Kind of just, like, watching.

Cedric:Cool.

Gamemaster:Um...

Gamemaster:Auriel will say, well, you haven't answered any of our questions, so why would we answer any of yours?

Andros:You didn't ask any questions.

Gamemaster:We did.

Gamemaster:Well, I did.

Gamemaster:I wanted to know if you thought it was painful.

Cedric:Oh, no, they didn't seem to be in pain at all.

Gamemaster:That's probably good.

Gamemaster:Why do you want to stop it?

Cedric:Citizens are dying.

Cedric:Citizens are citizens.

Cedric:They deserve to not die.

Gamemaster:You small folk die all the time.

Krod:Mm-hmm.

Andros:We'd like to help.

Cedric:Okay, we answered some of your questions.

Cedric:Can you answer some of ours?

Gamemaster:Sure.

Gamemaster:Which ones do you want me to answer?

Cedric:Are you involved with the hostification of our citizens?

Gamemaster:What if I say yes?

Cedric:That's another question I was...

Cedric:You have to answer our questions first.

Cedric:We're doing a thing here.

Gamemaster:Yeah.

Gamemaster:Let's go with yes.

Cedric:I look at my buddies.

Andros:why okay you ask a question then then answer that we'll answer a question of yours then you answer our question

Krod:Yeah, why?

Krod:What's the purpose?

Gamemaster:Oh, that's another question.

Gamemaster:I have to make this a good one then.

Gamemaster:Do you know what's causing it?

Cedric:You?

Gamemaster:Was that, that was an answer?

Cedric:I thought you just told us you were.

Gamemaster:That's not what you asked.

Cedric:Oh, so no, I do not know what's causing it.

Gamemaster:Why?

Krod:kind of why we're out here.

Gamemaster:Why is because it's important for the future.

Andros:you

Krod:Are you harvesting something from these people?

Cedric:We have to answer one of their questions now.

Krod:I know, but I'm...

Gamemaster:If I gave you the option, if I could give you the option between stopping it,

Cedric:Well, I was going to ask them if they know which.

Gamemaster:and instead being able to point it.

Gamemaster:Would you prefer that?

Cedric:If I point it to you, do you mean we could redirect it to other countries?

Gamemaster:To specific people?

Krod:That could be amenable.

Gamemaster:Sorry, what was your question?

Andros:you you

Cedric:I look at my compatriots.

Gamemaster:Mike had asked something.

Krod:Are you harvesting something from these people?

Gamemaster:No.

Gamemaster:And I'll give you one for free.

Gamemaster:Neither I nor other people are harvesting anything.

Krod:OK.

Cedric:I wager our person of interest came here and took their deal.

Cedric:Do you know how we could find

Cedric:The man who's causing this?

Gamemaster:What would you be willing to give up for the ability to redirect it?

Krod:Material possessions.

Andros:Do we have to give something up if we just choose to stop it entirely?

Andros:Is that also, do we have to give something up then?

Gamemaster:Well, that's two questions.

Gamemaster:Which would you prefer me answer?

Cedric:I point at the big guy's question.

Cedric:Do we have to stop?

Gamemaster:No.

Gamemaster:You'd probably have to entreat my lady directly.

Gamemaster:But she wouldn't ask for material possessions, so you'd be fine.

Andros:I look at the group.

Andros:Should we talk to the lady?

Krod:Well, yeah.

Cedric:Well, first of all, how do we find this guy?

Cedric:I'd like to stop the murderers that are happening, guys.

Cedric:That's the reason we came here.

Gamemaster:So you wish to seek an audience with our court?

Andros:Well, if we talk to the lady, we can stop it all, right?

Cedric:Stop the murderers.

Cedric:I guess.

Cedric:Baby chat with the lady.

Krod:Yeah.

Gamemaster:Excellent.

Gamemaster:I'll give you one for free.

Gamemaster:The one you seek?

Gamemaster:Shouldn't bother looking for him anymore.

Gamemaster:He's not here right now.

Andros:Oh, okay.

Gamemaster:But don't worry.

Gamemaster:He's happy.

Gamemaster:Ready to go visit?

Cedric:Gosh, we could probably just leave.

Krod:He's happy.

Krod:Did someone husk him?

Gamemaster:No.

Gamemaster:No, my understanding from you small folk is that once you're dead, you can't feel emotions anymore.

Krod:Oh.

Gamemaster:Pesky brain activity and the like.

Cedric:Ah, so he was walking court.

Krod:So, where'd he go?

Gamemaster:That's another question.

Gamemaster:What question should I ask?

Krod:Mm-hmm.

Gamemaster:Which of the three of you do you think is the most attuned to the forests if you had to volunteer?

Cedric:I guess.

Cedric:Does this mean like a survival check?

Andros:I guess it's me.

Gamemaster:That's an open-ended question.

Cedric:I am a wood stocking lizard, but.

Krod:Like I would here.

Cedric:We do have survival Jones over here, so.

Cedric:I'll look over at survival.

Andros:I have sort of some natural orienteering.

Cedric:I am from the forest, my bloodline, though, so... Depends on what you mean.

Gamemaster:So either of you would make a good gift.

Andros:Oh, whoa.

Cedric:Good gift.

Gamemaster:Okay.

Cedric:What do you mean by gift?

Andros:Oh, wait.

Andros:Whoa, whoa, whoa.

Gamemaster:I'm going to open a path to see my lady now, if you like, if you wish to entreat her.

Cedric:I look over at my compatriots.

Cedric:They should know this look.

Cedric:It is... Should we start blasting?

Cedric:We've done a lot of trips.

Andros:No, I mean, I think these guys can't do anything.

Andros:I think it's whoever we're about to talk to.

Krod:Sure.

Andros:I don't think killing these guys gets us anywhere.

Cedric:I don't like talking to a super powerful, definitely evil goddess, but okay.

Gamemaster:Okay.

Gamemaster:You watch as Aureole strums something on her harp.

Gamemaster:And before it kind of sounded like they were just idly plucking away, but this is a specific melody that they're playing.

Gamemaster:You would immediately recognize that there's magic behind it.

Gamemaster:And you watch as on the fallen tree trunk behind her,

Gamemaster:An outline of a door carved into the bark itself forms.

Gamemaster:You watch as, like, a full rectangular door, an indent almost for where, like, a pull knob for a kind of, like, doorknob would be.

Gamemaster:And you see the carving of what looks to be a crescent moon appear on the front of the door.

Gamemaster:And then she'll gesture towards the door and say, the way is open.

Gamemaster:Have fun.

Cedric:Will we die if we go in there?

Gamemaster:Would you say

Andros:Would it save everybody?

Gamemaster:How tied are you to your Iridescent Church?

Gamemaster:Like, if you had to forsake it, could you?

Gamemaster:Even for the sake of your civilians?

Cedric:As a person who does propaganda and has anti-propaganda mindset, is this propaganda they're trying to peddle?

Krod:No.

Gamemaster:That's another question.

Gamemaster:Roll a deception check.

Andros:Anti-propaganda mindset.

Gamemaster:Yeah, I'm just letting you roll a deception check to see if somebody's trying to, like, twist information.

Cedric:39.

Cedric:No, because in the field propagandist, there's a thing that says, like, you are harder to lie to.

Cedric:So, yeah.

Gamemaster:With a 39, what do you mean when you say, is this, like, propaganda?

Gamemaster:What do you think that they're trying to get you to think?

Cedric:They're trying to make a bunch of zombie slash dead small folk.

Gamemaster:Oh, um, that doesn't... It doesn't feel like they're trying to entice you into doing that, if that's what you're asking.

Cedric:Hmm.

Cedric:Okay.

Gamemaster:To answer your question, though, Jin will say yes.

Cedric:We will die.

Gamemaster:You could still do some good, though.

Cedric:I look at my computers.

Cedric:Blast.

Krod:Unfortunately, I don't think we can go back on the church.

Andros:Are you responsible for this too?

Gamemaster:Jin will say, do you care who's responsible or how to stop it?

Gamemaster:Because those are two different things.

Krod:I think legally we're bound to the second.

Krod:Sorry to the first.

Cedric:Yeah, the first, actually.

Krod:We don't stop crimes.

Krod:We investigate them.

Gamemaster:Okay, so what was the question that Jin has to answer now?

Gamemaster:Can we do anything about it?

Andros:Is he responsible?

Cedric:Yeah.

Cedric:Are they responsible for it?

Andros:Yeah.

Andros:Are they responsible?

Gamemaster:Right.

Gamemaster:Jin will say, directly, no.

Cedric:I think some plastic guys.

Andros:Yeah, I'll charge Jin.

Krod:Can we get some plausible law enforcement action when you're charging and you say, you're under arrest instead of being like, I want to kill you.

Gamemaster:Okay.

Gamemaster:You're charging Jin?

Andros:Yeah.

Gamemaster:Absolutely.

Cedric:I'll cast a fireball, whatever.

Gamemaster:If you're charging Jin, then we're rolling initiative, is what's happening.

Cedric:Yeah, once we do all this.

Gamemaster:You are... I'll let you roll... Yeah?

Andros:As I'm running, I'll just yell, they've got a knife!

Gamemaster:Yeah, you can say that if you like.

Gamemaster:I will also, if you're charging, allow you to roll...

Gamemaster:Either perception or stealth or athletics.

Cedric:Can I make a deception or diplomacy one?

Gamemaster:Yeah, all out deception is fine.

Gamemaster:Deception is fine.

Cedric:Cool.

Gamemaster:Wow.

Krod:He's reaching!

Gamemaster:Okay.

Krod:Charge Orion.

Andros:wow wow i so anyways wow that was a little stunning like that

Krod:Oh!

Krod:So anyways, we start blasting.

Gamemaster:I mean, a crit on initiative does mean that we start with Cedric.

Cedric:OK, so just quick question.

Gamemaster:Uh-huh.

Cedric:How does Spell Flourish work with quicken casting?

Cedric:So I have a quicken cast.

Gamemaster:Quick Endcast will let you reduce the action by one without adding the Flourish trait to the spell.

Cedric:OK.

Cedric:So I have a spell that is, that's three actions.

Cedric:So that would just bring it to two, so I still wouldn't be able to.

Cedric:Yeah.

Gamemaster:Yeah, no, so the point of the Flourish is not to allow you to be able to cast both Incendiary Fog and Fireball on the same turn.

Cedric:Yeah, anyway.

Cedric:Okay.

Cedric:So instead, I am going to do something funky.

Cedric:So I'm going to cast... Wait, let me just get this all out.

Cedric:Spell... I'm going to cast Sure Strength.

Gamemaster:And if you apply the effect to yourself, it should automatically roll initiative if you make a spell attack.

Cedric:Then...

Cedric:OK.

Andros:you you

Cedric:Then I will do skills.

Cedric:No, not skills.

Cedric:I want extra action.

Cedric:OK.

Cedric:And this split shot.

Cedric:And then now I will cast .

Cedric:So I'm going to target both of them.

Gamemaster:Nice.

Gamemaster:Absolutely.

Gamemaster:So select both Oreo and gin.

Cedric:So I just roll one, and then I get to use it for both.

Gamemaster:And yeah, so select both of them and then roll the attack roll.

Cedric:Yeah.

Andros:Silence.

Cedric:And I should have advantage on this.

Gamemaster:It should just roll with advantage.

Gamemaster:We'll see if that happens.

Cedric:Okay.

Gamemaster:There you go.

Gamemaster:Um, okay, so, uh, that hits both of them.

Cedric:So it hits.

Cedric:Okay, cool.

Andros:Silence.

Gamemaster:So, now they make a fort save.

Cedric:So now they'll need to make... Yeah.

Gamemaster:Um, Oriel succeeds, Jim fails.

Andros:Geez.

Cedric:Yeah.

Gamemaster:Okay, Jyn takes the full bandage.

Gamemaster:Auriel takes half of that.

Gamemaster:Not bad.

Cedric:All right.

Cedric:That's my turn.

Cedric:A lot of metamagic stuff.

Gamemaster:So you watch as you shoot a disintegrate beam, which is this, like, black bolt of energy.

Gamemaster:It breaks off in midair, goes around Andros on both sides, and hits both of them square in the chest.

Gamemaster:And there is a crack sound.

Gamemaster:as it seems the exterior of their skin is actually hard, and you've shattered it.

Gamemaster:They're still, like, standing.

Cedric:Hell yeah.

Andros:Oh.

Gamemaster:They don't seem to have been particularly affected by it, like, they don't start freaking out, but an obvious hostile action that looks like it's done some damage.

Cedric:Yes.

Cedric:Cool.

Cedric:Cool, cool, cool.

Gamemaster:Which means that brings us to Oriel.

Cedric:It's my turn.

Gamemaster:L'Oreal is probably going to target you.

Cedric:I've interference up still.

Gamemaster:Actually, you know what?

Gamemaster:She won't do that.

Gamemaster:Instead, she will target the tree that has the door on it.

Gamemaster:He watches, she strums a little bit of the harp, just like three notes.

Gamemaster:The door fades.

Andros:Except the Manipulate trait?

Gamemaster:Yes.

Gamemaster:Yes, this does have the manipulate trade.

Andros:Reactive Strike.

Gamemaster:Okay.

Andros:It's one of my, like, three reactions.

Cedric:Oof.

Andros:Dang.

Gamemaster:Unfortunately, you do not hit.

Gamemaster:She finishes... Okay.

Andros:Actually, I'm going to use one of my Mythic Points.

Gamemaster:Use a mythic point.

Gamemaster:If you check the mythic box, you should just be able to roll it again and it'll have a mythic proficiency.

Andros:know what they're doing but there we go great uh and i will oh wait sorry i have to look up how an interaction works real fast because i automatically move them i don't know if it's a shove or not

Cedric:Ooh, much better.

Gamemaster:Ooh, with mythic, that's a crit!

Krod:Oof.

Gamemaster:Roll crit damage.

Gamemaster:And you do cancel the action, which is very rude of you.

Andros:You knock the target back, so it's not a shove.

Andros:Okay, then I will not move them back.

Andros:It's not a lot of damage, but... Oh, never mind.

Andros:Jeez.

Gamemaster:Pretty good.

Gamemaster:All right, 42 points of piercing damage.

Gamemaster:You manage to somehow get her right in the spot that got disintegrated, and you feel your... What weapon are you using?

Gamemaster:Your shield.

Gamemaster:The spike of the shield pushes through.

Gamemaster:You can hear the exoskeleton cracking, and there is soft flesh on the inside that you've pierced.

Gamemaster:Okay, so that was two actions wasted.

Andros:I'll dig in and just yell, where's your lady now?

Gamemaster:I think she's going to... What is rude of you?

Krod:Thank you.

Gamemaster:We'll do a thorns attack then.

Gamemaster:She will strum again on the harp and...

Gamemaster:Giant, like, five foot tall, thorny protrusions shoot out of the ground towards you, trying to pierce you.

Gamemaster:Let's see if they actually land.

Gamemaster:They do.

Andros:Is this a spell or is this just an attack?

Gamemaster:It's a melee strike.

Andros:Okay, I will shield block.

Andros:Oh no, my shield's not raised.

Gamemaster:Okay.

Andros:Josh, do you have allowed me to have my shield raised going into this?

Gamemaster:Yeah, if you said you were charging them, I will allow you to raise your shield as part of that.

Andros:Okay, that's already raised.

Gamemaster:That's fine.

Andros:Then I will shield block.

Gamemaster:Okay.

Andros:And I will make this an aggressive block.

Gamemaster:What does that entail?

Andros:I'm not sure if this works or not, because it's like Thorns, but basically... Yes.

Gamemaster:They are your size or smaller.

Gamemaster:So you can shove it five feet or cause it to become off guard until the start of your next turn.

Gamemaster:Oh, it gets to choose which.

Gamemaster:Are you choosing to do that?

Gamemaster:Okay, so it will choose to get shoved five feet.

Gamemaster:Um...

Gamemaster:You are going to take 28 points of damage, split between 21 piercing and 7 acid.

Gamemaster:I think if you hit block, it should automatically count whatever the resistance of your shield is.

Andros:Oh, great.

Andros:And I should have extra resistance for my armor too.

Andros:So let's see if that works.

Gamemaster:You have resistance physical 7, but that would apply after, I believe, the damage from the shield, although I'm not sure.

Cedric:I have Sorcerer's Potency, and I didn't realize there was a spot to check it.

Cedric:Do you mind adding seven damage to go for them?

Gamemaster:What does sorcerer's potency do?

Cedric:Because your magical power inherent in your bloodline, your spells hurt.

Cedric:I just get to add the spell level to damage or heal.

Gamemaster:Oh, that's handy.

Andros:Okay, so it looks like the... It looks like it didn't add the resistance for the armor.

Gamemaster:I'm surprised it didn't just add it.

Cedric:Well, there's a little box to check.

Cedric:I think if I...

Cedric:plays a sorcerer, I'll just have it checked always, but...

Gamemaster:Oh, yeah.

Andros:It should have a physical 7 resistance, but...

Gamemaster:No, it did.

Gamemaster:It was 21 minus 9.

Gamemaster:But then plus the 7 from the acid.

Andros:Okay, cool.

Cedric:Did she step back, or did she... Okay.

Gamemaster:She got shoved.

Gamemaster:And that was all three of our actions.

Gamemaster:So it's Krod's turn.

Krod:We just want to nuke these two.

Andros:Yeah, take them out.

Cedric:I'd say so.

Cedric:We tried to reason with her.

Krod:This is 20.

Krod:Yeah, that's fair enough.

Krod:I am going.

Krod:Well, I mean, there are bystanders.

Krod:I don't know if you want me to be close to Cedric just to make sure that seven guys.

Cedric:If the bystanders want to touch Cedric, that would be a mistake.

Krod:Fair enough.

Krod:All right.

Krod:I will be making a swipe attack.

Krod:Hold shift.

Krod:With this Nodachi.

Gamemaster:Good roll.

Gamemaster:Hot damn.

Krod:Very nice.

Krod:So there's a bunch of crit effects there.

Andros:Oh.

Krod:Frightened 2, if they're able to have that condition.

Gamemaster:So who are you?

Gamemaster:You can only target one person with this.

Krod:With Swipe, I can target 2.

Gamemaster:Yeah.

Gamemaster:No, Jyn and Auriel are not adjacent to each other.

Krod:Each of whom must be within your reach.

Krod:Oh, and adjacent to the other.

Gamemaster:Yeah.

Krod:Oh, I thought it was just within my reach.

Gamemaster:Yeah, it has to be two people standing next to each other.

Gamemaster:Okay.

Krod:I see.

Krod:Let's go with Oriel.

Krod:In that case, it's not.

Andros:That's nasty.

Krod:Well, actually, hold on.

Krod:In that case, it's not a swipe.

Krod:What would I have done otherwise?

Gamemaster:Because you have eight different flavors of attack.

Krod:I would have done Vicious Swing because I don't like map.

Gamemaster:Okay.

Gamemaster:That's fine.

Gamemaster:So you deal an additional die of weapon damage from this.

Krod:So this is a Yeah.

Gamemaster:Oh, sorry, two extra dice.

Krod:Yes.

Krod:uh 83 points of damage um

Gamemaster:On a crit is not bad.

Gamemaster:That's ridiculous.

Gamemaster:She is bloodied.

Gamemaster:Okay, so let's, we resolve the things that happened to her first.

Gamemaster:So she's frightened to and off guard.

Gamemaster:Okay, absolutely.

Gamemaster:Frightened to, off guard.

Gamemaster:And as she becomes bloodied, which you know Dachi slice right through, cutting away more and more of this weird exoskeleton that's formed on their skin.

Andros:you you

Gamemaster:And as you've cut away enough that this very dark, basically black ichor instead of blood is being spewed out from the places you cut, she starts laughing.

Gamemaster:Like, maniacally.

Gamemaster:And it's weird because she doesn't have facial structure in the same way that you do, so it sounds off.

Gamemaster:It sounds like something mimicking laughter.

Gamemaster:But for whatever reason, when she starts laughing, you feel the need to start laughing too.

Gamemaster:I would actually need enemies within 30 feet.

Gamemaster:I think that's all of you.

Krod:What are the traits of what she did?

Gamemaster:Let's see.

Krod:Okay.

Gamemaster:This is arcane concentrate, emotion, and mental.

Cedric:Cool.

Andros:Cool.

Gamemaster:I'm surprised it doesn't have auditory.

Gamemaster:It should have auditory.

Gamemaster:I assume it also has auditory.

Krod:I was just checking if it had manipulate.

Gamemaster:Everybody within 30, it does not have neculate.

Cedric:Roll the what?

Gamemaster:Nor, generally speaking, on bloodied effects do you get to take a reactive strength.

Krod:Oh, no, I know.

Krod:I'm just double checking.

Gamemaster:30 does get centered.

Gamemaster:So all three of you need to make will saves, please.

Cedric:I have an extra two because of my spell source or whatever it's called.

Gamemaster:Okay.

Krod:I'm going to roll this at mythic and to reroll it.

Andros:I'm going to use I defy you.

Gamemaster:I like the tag that that has.

Gamemaster:You have a plus two resilient, greater shadow and visibility, lattice armor, plus one.

Krod:Master legendary mythic.

Gamemaster:OK.

Krod:So I got a plus six.

Gamemaster:You should just be able to click the mythic button and then roll it again, and we'll have mythic proficiency.

Krod:I guess it.

Krod:I guess it's not for saving throws.

Gamemaster:What do you mean?

Andros:you

Krod:I'm looking at the will saving through a menu like I clicked.

Gamemaster:It's not in the menu.

Krod:Oh, I see.

Gamemaster:There should be a checkmark, I think, under Actions or whatever for Mythic Roll, and then when you roll it, it'll just automatically bump it up to Mythic Proficiency.

Krod:Yeah.

Krod:It's fucking better, I guess.

Gamemaster:Okay, so we got a 30, a 35, and a 36.

Gamemaster:That is a failure and two successes.

Andros:Oh, no.

Gamemaster:Those of you who succeeded, do you have anything that lets you bump up successes to crit successes, or are we not there yet?

Cedric:No, I don't.

Gamemaster:Okay.

Gamemaster:So the 35 and the 36, you guys succeed, so you are plagued with uncontrollable laughter and cannot use reactions until the end of... I guess it's until the beginning of Krod's next turn.

Gamemaster:On a failure, you can't use reactions and you're also slowed one.

Krod:Into the beginning of Krod's turn.

Gamemaster:Yes.

Cedric:Ducks for the Guardian.

Andros:I can't use reactions?

Gamemaster:Which... Correct.

Andros:Oh, God, Josh, why?

Gamemaster:I don't know.

Gamemaster:I didn't write the spell.

Andros:Oh, man.

Cedric:I'm not casting this I'm just looking at it

Gamemaster:At least you did.

Andros:I have so many reactions.

Andros:I have nothing but reactions.

Gamemaster:I don't know what to tell you.

Gamemaster:Bring it up with Tasha.

Gamemaster:But that was just the bloodied effect.

Gamemaster:I think that's all three of your actions, right, Crod?

Krod:No.

Krod:That was just... Oh, yeah, right.

Gamemaster:Yeah, you used one to move and two for Vicious.

Krod:Move and then... Yeah.

Gamemaster:Sure.

Gamemaster:Andros, it's your turn.

Andros:Uh, well now I'm mad.

Andros:I... Uh, fair.

Gamemaster:Sorry.

Gamemaster:I had this fight before you even made a character, so...

Andros:I am going to... Uh, okay.

Cedric:Okay.

Andros:I will...

Andros:run over here to flank her, then I will, I'm just gonna strike her.

Gamemaster:He is flanked.

Gamemaster:Okay.

Cedric:I hope the other guy doesn't just run up to me now.

Cedric:Hopefully he goes for Krod.

Gamemaster:That's a crit.

Gamemaster:It's a big crit.

Cedric:That's the one in there.

Gamemaster:36 points of damage.

Gamemaster:She's not looking great.

Gamemaster:You guys are kind of wailing on her.

Gamemaster:Anything else?

Andros:um well yeah um

Andros:Oh my gosh.

Andros:I can't shield block.

Andros:I guess I'll still... I will do a shielded taunt.

Andros:So I will just taunt her and also raise my shield at the same time.

Andros:So... I just, as I slam into her, I just yell, Stop laughing!

Andros:And I will taunt her.

Andros:And so if any of her hostile actions don't include me, then she gets all these penalties.

Gamemaster:Okay, absolutely.

Andros:And that is my turn.

Gamemaster:Great.

Gamemaster:And it is Jin's turn.

Gamemaster:Jin's going to roll a d4.

Gamemaster:If it's a 1, he's going for Cedric.

Gamemaster:Otherwise, he's going for Krod.

Cedric:No, I was really hoping you were going to talk gin.

Cedric:Thank God.

Gamemaster:He's going for Krod.

Gamemaster:He's going to go here so that Krod is flat-footed to him.

Gamemaster:And then...

Gamemaster:He is going to attempt... He can also do thorns.

Gamemaster:So if he'll do thorns... Oh, but he rolled very poorly.

Gamemaster:That's good.

Gamemaster:I think he'll just... Yeah, he'll use his last action to cast Confusion.

Gamemaster:Can you please make this will save, Karan?

Andros:oh wait how did this look

Cedric:you

Krod:Yes of course.

Gamemaster:Very good roll.

Gamemaster:Oh, still just a success.

Gamemaster:Stunned, override, slowed.

Gamemaster:So you're stunned now instead of slowed.

Krod:Okay.

Gamemaster:That's the end of its turn now.

Gamemaster:It's the courtier's turn.

Gamemaster:This one's going to come over here.

Gamemaster:This one's going over here.

Gamemaster:Oops, not that way.

Gamemaster:This way.

Cedric:It's a real shame they don't have reactions, those bitches.

Andros:No.

Andros:The no reactions is... Who is Tasha?

Gamemaster:Listen, it's Tasha's fault.

Gamemaster:They will immediately converge on your location.

Gamemaster:Technically, it's just hideous laughter.

Gamemaster:But you know what it is.

Gamemaster:All three of you are within range of the courtiers who will run at you and immediately just try to jump at you and tear you apart.

Gamemaster:Like, physical attacks here.

Cedric:Oof.

Gamemaster:All three of you are going to have to make this reflex save, please.

Andros:Oh, they're not just attacking?

Andros:It's a save?

Andros:They don't want to attack this armor?

Gamemaster:Nope, it's a save.

Krod:oh basically i'll be using a i don't have to hear the sound using a hero point

Cedric:I got a 10.

Cedric:That was real down the line.

Cedric:Oof.

Andros:Damaging effect.

Cedric:Oh, it's so mean.

Gamemaster:That's new.

Gamemaster:That's fun.

Gamemaster:I hope it doesn't play when I get a natural one.

Gamemaster:Better improvement.

Gamemaster:Okay.

Gamemaster:30 is a success.

Andros:Hello.

Gamemaster:34 is a success.

Gamemaster:41 is a critical success.

Gamemaster:This is a basic save, so Karad, you're going to take no damage.

Gamemaster:And the other two of you, who regularly succeeded, are going to take half of 33 points of bludgeoning damage.

Cedric:Cool, cool, cool, cool, cool.

Gamemaster:But that is the end of their turn.

Gamemaster:It is Cedric's turn.

Cedric:I really care.

Cedric:This will be quickened.

Andros:you

Cedric:Translocate, and it's quickened.

Cedric:So I'm going to teleport on top of this thing.

Gamemaster:uh okay sure correct that was only one action oh wait yes quick into action is a free action that makes sense otherwise what would be the point

Cedric:Then.

Cedric:Because I quickened it, I can get off another spell.

Cedric:Which will be.

Cedric:Chain like.

Cedric:I'm going to start right here at this guy at the bottom one.

Cedric:Can you see him?

Gamemaster:I don't see what you're pointing at.

Gamemaster:Oh, yes, I do see what you're pointing at.

Cedric:OK.

Gamemaster:Absolutely.

Cedric:So.

Cedric:Uh, yeah.

Cedric:Not crazy, but yeah.

Cedric:So it needs to make a reflex save, and then.

Cedric:Wait, are these swarms?

Cedric:Are they going to all individually make it, or?

Cedric:Oh, never mind.

Gamemaster:No, this is a troop, so it's going to be one for the group.

Cedric:I will not cast Chain Lightning then.

Cedric:I will cast.

Gamemaster:I mean, it would have still hit them and then possibly also did an Oriole.

Cedric:Yeah, then, all right, you sold me.

Gamemaster:It's up to you.

Cedric:Let's try it.

Gamemaster:Nice.

Gamemaster:We're going to start with the Courier.

Gamemaster:Reflex save.

Gamemaster:That's a failure.

Gamemaster:It takes 58 points of damage, which is enough to wipe out these four.

Cedric:So it takes 58 points of damage.

Andros:nice one

Cedric:Okay.

Gamemaster:And then it would jump to Jhin.

Cedric:How many other...

Gamemaster:It's all one troop.

Cedric:Okay, cool.

Cedric:So then I'll jump to take 58.

Gamemaster:But Jhin is the next one.

Gamemaster:So let's make a reflex save for Jhin.

Gamemaster:Add.

Gamemaster:Takes the 58 points of damage.

Gamemaster:Jhin is bloody now.

Gamemaster:So let's do that before continuing to lightning damage.

Andros:or what

Gamemaster:You're the one who did it, so I need you to make this reflex save, please.

Cedric:Alright.

Gamemaster:OK.

Gamemaster:That was a basic reflex.

Gamemaster:You, the lightning pierces through, and you hear a final crack in the exoskeleton.

Gamemaster:Whatever internal pressure is built up in there is released as a jet black stream of liquid shoots out of his chest straight at you.

Gamemaster:You manage to block some of it, but you will still take half of this damage.

Cedric:Dedric is pissed because it actually came from the direction of the courtier, or whatever it is.

Cedric:So he's like, it doesn't even, how does it know where I am?

Cedric:Jorge is fine with taking the damage.

Cedric:Dedric's pissed.

Gamemaster:You're going to take half of that 49 acid damage.

Andros:Okay.

Gamemaster:Okay, and then Auriel makes a reflex save.

Gamemaster:She rolls well.

Gamemaster:That's a success.

Cedric:Okay, she takes half damage.

Gamemaster:So she takes half damage, which is still 29 points of damage.

Cedric:And I also forgot about my...

Cedric:Fast healing.

Gamemaster:And that is... Is that the end of your turn?

Cedric:So I have half my level.

Cedric:We're 13.

Cedric:Oh.

Cedric:Yes, I just need to heal.

Gamemaster:Okay, then that brings us to Auriel.

Cedric:Good.

Andros:You.

Gamemaster:Auriel is frightened.

Gamemaster:She is off guard.

Gamemaster:She is also almost dead.

Gamemaster:Which isn't great.

Gamemaster:T-V-H.

Gamemaster:She doesn't really have many attack spells, which is unfortunate.

Gamemaster:So, I think...

Gamemaster:Who's adjacent to her?

Gamemaster:Andrus and Krod.

Gamemaster:Can both of you do me a favor and make this a fortitude save, please?

Gamemaster:As a black mist starts to emanate out of the cracks in her exoskeleton.

Krod:Gross.

Andros:um um

Krod:And that will be my third and final hero point.

Krod:I feel very secure that I waited this long the whole session with three of them from ones that I rolled earlier.

Krod:Yeah.

Gamemaster:So are you using it right now?

Gamemaster:You are using it right now.

Cedric:Oh.

Gamemaster:That sucks so much, dude.

Krod:Jesus Christ.

Gamemaster:Do you know what's fun, though?

Gamemaster:It's a slowing gas.

Krod:What?

Gamemaster:You're already stunned.

Andros:Bye.

Gamemaster:So it does nothing.

Krod:Nice.

Gamemaster:And then the critical success means that you're also unaffected, Andros.

Gamemaster:I think she's just going to attempt to grab into you with her supernaturally sharpened nails for her third and final action.

Gamemaster:That was pretty good.

Gamemaster:That's a hit.

Gamemaster:Okay.

Andros:is that against uh crud okay then she like she's already off guard but now she's off guard until the start of my next turn

Gamemaster:Yes, that's against a crowd.

Gamemaster:Uh, yes.

Gamemaster:Uh, the taunt did do a minus one to that.

Gamemaster:She took the penalty there.

Gamemaster:Uh, she just hit anyway.

Gamemaster:Um, if she didn't, if she weren't taunted and frightened, uh, that would have crit.

Gamemaster:So.

Gamemaster:Um, you're still going to take some damage, though.

Krod:Oh, I actually increased my stun value to two.

Gamemaster:Sure.

Krod:There we go.

Krod:Of course.

Gamemaster:Uh, Krod, please take 43 points of slashing damage.

Gamemaster:That is the end of her turn, which brings us to Crod, which means she's one less frightened than she was before.

Gamemaster:And you are no longer stunned or slowed, but you only have two actions this turn.

Krod:Perfect.

Cedric:And we get our reactions back.

Gamemaster:Correct.

Krod:Yes.

Gamemaster:You get your reactions back now.

Krod:So if I attack one

Krod:courtier uh does it hit all of them okay courtier sure i mean it depends on how you're pronouncing it oh yeah it's courtier uh i'm going to use my two actions wisely and do a swipe on the courtier and orielle

Gamemaster:Yeah.

Gamemaster:Courtier, by the way.

Andros:Nice.

Gamemaster:Unless I spelled that wrong.

Gamemaster:Which I may have.

Gamemaster:English.

Gamemaster:You absolutely can.

Gamemaster:They are adjacent to each other.

Krod:just how I like them.

Krod:Oh.

Gamemaster:A 35 hits both.

Gamemaster:Okay, kill that one.

Krod:Perfect.

Krod:1D slashing.

Andros:you

Gamemaster:And...

Gamemaster:That makes Aurel mortal.

Gamemaster:She's not looking good.

Gamemaster:There's that black ichor leaking out of multiple breaks in her carapace.

Gamemaster:But she is still technically standing.

Gamemaster:That's the end of your turn, yeah?

Krod:Yeah.

Gamemaster:Andrus.

Gamemaster:She's no longer taunting.

Andros:uh yeah interesting uh yeah i will just uh start with a let's strike uh oriel

Cedric:matter i gotta say guys i was a little worried at the start of this that you guys were going to sell out our mother state for the third

Gamemaster:Who are you striking?

Gamemaster:That makes sense.

Gamemaster:That's a crit.

Cedric:one shot that we were playing in a row.

Cedric:So happy we didn't.

Andros:excellent uh then i will step up i think i'm stepping on one of the i am blocking one of the courtiers but i'll step up right i'll run over here so she's flanked

Gamemaster:42 points of damage is enough to kill Aureole.

Gamemaster:You make one final crack in her skin, and it seems to lose whatever structural integrity it has.

Gamemaster:There's a screech, and it collapses in on itself.

Gamemaster:Okay.

Andros:That was one stride.

Gamemaster:That was a stride.

Krod:Just a Giant man sprinting through a fucking field of courtiers.

Gamemaster:Okay, so Jin is going to take an attack of opportunity on you.

Andros:Excellent.

Cedric:Oh, excuse me.

Krod:I just imagine him flipping his hands and they just fly.

Cedric:Excuse me.

Gamemaster:Ooh, bad.

Gamemaster:He misses.

Gamemaster:Continue with your action.

Andros:that my last one will just be uh raise the shield and taunt good old shield raised with my do it you want

Gamemaster:Okay.

Gamemaster:He is taunted.

Gamemaster:It's Jin's turn.

Krod:Like an old shant.

Gamemaster:Jin has been taunted.

Gamemaster:Jin, I think, wants to attack you.

Gamemaster:No, he will.

Gamemaster:He's attacking.

Gamemaster:42.

Andros:I will shield block and make it an aggressive block.

Gamemaster:Okay.

Cedric:That's crazy.

Andros:Actually, no.

Cedric:It only hits by four.

Cedric:That's such a high AC.

Andros:I will not make it an aggressive block.

Cedric:I love it.

Andros:I'm not going to do that.

Gamemaster:Okay.

Gamemaster:34 points of damage.

Gamemaster:If you're show blocking, you can click the block button.

Gamemaster:It should do some of it.

Gamemaster:Okay.

Gamemaster:A 38 AC at level 13 is crazy.

Gamemaster:Okay, that was one action.

Gamemaster:I think for his second action, and then also his third action, he's going to purposefully aggravate one of the wounds to shoot out a blast of acid at your face.

Gamemaster:So I need you to make these reflexes.

Cedric:Ew.

Andros:Is that a manipulate?

Gamemaster:Yes, it is manipulate.

Andros:Reactive strike.

Gamemaster:Absolutely.

Krod:Wait, did someone manipulate?

Gamemaster:This is manipulate.

Andros:Yeah.

Krod:Reactive strike.

Gamemaster:It was a mistake, I guess, to do this manipulate action.

Andros:Yeah.

Gamemaster:I'm so used to, last campaign I only had to worry about Jorge.

Gamemaster:And now it's every single character I have to worry about multiple reactive strikes at all times.

Krod:Reactive strike.

Andros:I did crit.

Gamemaster:That hits.

Gamemaster:That crits.

Gamemaster:That's crazy.

Cedric:Lev was a visionary.

Gamemaster:He was a warden, is what he was.

Cedric:666 is crazy.

Krod:Holy shit, he got max damage on the crit.

Andros:Listen, Josh, we learned two things from last campaign, reactive strike and frightened.

Gamemaster:That's ridiculous.

Gamemaster:Okay.

Krod:Everything's coming up Milhouse.

Gamemaster:Damage.

Gamemaster:He's... He's bloodied, like, on the edge of mortal already from that double attack.

Krod:Oh.

Gamemaster:And it's his turn!

Gamemaster:He's attacking!

Cedric:Well, he used his two actions for that.

Gamemaster:Oh, it's a crit too, so it's a manipulate action, so it doesn't even go off.

Cedric:Go, Matt.

Andros:This is what he gets.

Cedric:Go, Matt.

Gamemaster:It's the courtier's turn.

Gamemaster:Great, I call them courtiers.

Andros:This is what he gets for changing my reactions.

Krod:Who even... Who has reactions in the campaign?

Andros:I'll take their reactions.

Gamemaster:It's the courtier's turn.

Gamemaster:I think they're going to follow you.

Gamemaster:Yes, they are moving.

Cedric:That is a movement action if you guys have another action.

Krod:I do.

Krod:Will this hit all of them or just one of them?

Andros:I can only do...

Gamemaster:You can only target one of them with your reaction.

Krod:Shit.

Gamemaster:It's considered one creature moving.

Gamemaster:You're surrounded.

Krod:Hmm.

Andros:I can only do one reactive strike reaction.

Krod:I was going to hit the one that was making me off guard, but I'll hit the one to my right.

Krod:Yeah.

Krod:Is kill.

Gamemaster:Ridiculous.

Gamemaster:Yeah, roll crit.

Krod:Oh, they're so kill.

Krod:56.

Krod:And if that thing survives, it's off guard and frightened.

Gamemaster:56 is enough to kill five.

Krod:Okay.

Cedric:I thought you said I was only attacking one.

Cedric:I'm okay with it, but... Nice sound.

Gamemaster:The way that troops work is that they have a shared health pool, and every time you hit a certain threshold, another token gets deleted.

Gamemaster:So he makes one attack, but it does enough to kill five of them.

Gamemaster:They are immune to both frightened and off-guard, so unfortunately the other crit specialization effects don't happen, but it doesn't matter, because all the ones that were surrounding you are dead now.

Gamemaster:Okay, well, there's only one...

Gamemaster:Adjacent, but there's enough to attack Andrus, so they're just gonna attack Andrus.

Gamemaster:Andrus, you need to make this reflex save.

Andros:I have so many hit points.

Gamemaster:All of them are crowded around the two tanks, which is leaving the, like, sorcerer in the back to shoot massive damage spells, but I don't have anything I can do about that.

Gamemaster:It just means you guys have a good party comp.

Krod:I used my free action to catch you.

Cedric:Yes.

Gamemaster:That's a success, so you're going to take half damage here.

Gamemaster:I didn't roll very well.

Gamemaster:13 points of bludgeoning damage.

Gamemaster:And then it's Cedric's turn.

Gamemaster:Andrus takes 6.

Cedric:Oh wait, this wasn't quickened.

Cedric:That was not quickened, might be.

Andros:Quick and sure.

Cedric:Take that back.

Gamemaster:That's fine.

Gamemaster:It's freed!

Cedric:Yeah, because I will be using a different spell shape.

Cedric:Yeah.

Gamemaster:No, you're just disintegrating.

Gamemaster:Who are you disintegrating?

Cedric:Both.

Cedric:Split.

Gamemaster:Uh... Oh, shit.

Gamemaster:How many times can you split shot?

Gamemaster:Just all the time?

Gamemaster:All the time!

Cedric:I think so.

Gamemaster:Yeah, there's no limit uses.

Cedric:Yeah.

Gamemaster:You can just every time just split shot.

Gamemaster:Absolutely.

Gamemaster:Okay, roll an attack.

Andros:Wow.

Cedric:And this will have my advantage because of Surestrike.

Gamemaster:That's a good combo.

Gamemaster:That's a super crit.

Gamemaster:Okay.

Cedric:So I got to make forts.

Cedric:And then if it's a crit, does that automatically... Cool.

Gamemaster:It reduces their success level by one.

Gamemaster:Okay, the courtier failed into critical failure, and Jin already critical failed, so he super critical fails.

Cedric:Critical fail.

Cedric:So as this happens, the quote unquote rainbow that was above me starts shining and shimmering.

Andros:you

Cedric:And then both my hands, just two different, they cast a disintegrate each, but then they go to one point at the top and then it bifurcates and splits over there.

Gamemaster:Absolutely.

Gamemaster:Roll damage.

Gamemaster:It's too many dice.

Cedric:So that's going to be doubled.

Gamemaster:Okay, so it's double 82.

Andros:Well.

Cedric:164.

Cedric:Disintegrate rains from the sky, but only touches the enemies.

Gamemaster:Jin has 24 hit points.

Gamemaster:Okay, it rains from the sky and instantaneously eliminates all of the enemies on the map, because both of them have less than however much damage you did, and then you multiplied it by two.

Gamemaster:Encounter over!

Cedric:yep yeah and uh i know we're late but basically i think uh we're gonna try to grab the boy and just dip get the fuck out of this horse

Gamemaster:Just blast of energy, and they all... It's disintegrate, so yeah, they get blasted to a fine powder.

Gamemaster:Andros is standing there amidst all of these courtiers attacking him, and then just gets hit with dust in his face as all of them instantaneously disintegrate.

Gamemaster:Yeah.

Gamemaster:So, yeah, so here's the thing.

Cedric:And report back to the church.

Gamemaster:Resolving this.

Gamemaster:You can take the boy.

Gamemaster:You guys can safely make it out of the forest.

Gamemaster:You don't have to roll checks or anything like that.

Gamemaster:You can head back to Hallia and report back.

Gamemaster:You will note that in the time it takes you to return, apparently there has been another case of this curse withering somebody.

Gamemaster:Killing these people did not stop him.

Cedric:Yeah.

Cedric:I didn't suspect it would.

Cedric:I think.

Gamemaster:I know.

Gamemaster:I'm just making that... Right.

Cedric:But I figured smarter people now have information.

Gamemaster:Yeah, but because you made the decision not to enter the court and meet the patron and instead fight these people, these guys are dead, but unfortunately you haven't stopped the curse in any which way.

Gamemaster:But you live, because you were told that you would have died if you had entered through the gate.

Gamemaster:So, live to fight another day.

Krod:Yeah, also, I wanted to haggle and shake down his mom to publish positive stories about the Iridescent Church.

Krod:Because if you remember, I tried to ask the kid how much money he had before we freed him because we are owed something for helping people.

Krod:So helping the boy was not a good deed without payment.

Cedric:If she works at a newspaper, we don't even know if she works at a newspaper.

Krod:So we're going to figure out something.

Andros:It's some, like, anti-Colarian sedition rag.

Krod:I took the gamble.

Gamemaster:You know what?

Gamemaster:Just for fun, can I have somebody roll a perception or deception check as part of a very brief overview of that interaction with her?

Cedric:I'll roll a deception.

Cedric:Yeah.

Cedric:Are they lying to me?

Gamemaster:I don't know.

Cedric:All right, well, I have a bonus.

Cedric:Okay.

Gamemaster:You can be using the lie to me feat, if that was the question.

Cedric:39.

Gamemaster:39.

Gamemaster:Okay.

Gamemaster:So we're going to end the session with a brief intermission.

Gamemaster:You guys go and you try to shake her down for some money for saving her kid.

Gamemaster:She says that she doesn't write for a newspaper.

Gamemaster:She's a law clerk for a local legal office.

Cedric:Mm-hmm.

Gamemaster:And she is lying to you.

Gamemaster:And then we'll pick that up at some point in the future.

Gamemaster:Maybe.

Cedric:Was it her kid?

Gamemaster:What?

Cedric:Was it her kid or she's like, and I don't know who you're talking about.

Gamemaster:Oh, no, no, no.

Gamemaster:This is her son.

Gamemaster:Tommy's her kid.

Gamemaster:But she's lying to you about working as a law clerk.

Andros:Josh, just to be certain, it's crazy this eight-year-old kid is level one, right?

Cedric:And also probably higher than level one because you healed it.

Gamemaster:Yes.

Andros:Okay.

Andros:Just wanted to be sure there.

Cedric:30-something health, and it was still injured.

Gamemaster:Yeah.

Gamemaster:Unfortunately, he didn't get a chance to dig into what was going on there, but Tommy might show up elsewhere.

Gamemaster:Who knows?

Andros:A lot of plot lines.

Cedric:He's also getting reported to the Iridescent Church.

Krod:Tommy, oh no.

Gamemaster:Absolutely.

Krod:Josh has already formed an arch nemesis for Benny.

Andros:Oh no!

Gamemaster:That's what this is, yeah.

Krod:He's level one now.

Gamemaster:Tommy V. Benny.

Krod:He's just going to be at Benny's level the whole way.

Cedric:It's the

Cedric:Pokemon trainer thing.

Andros:We run into another group of people with their own psycho kid.

Gamemaster:I should have called him Gary, just to fit with the rival thing.

Gamemaster:Darn.

Cedric:This was a fun one-shot.

Gamemaster:Well...

Cedric:Or two-shot.

Krod:Yeah.

Gamemaster:Yeah, you went into a forest.

Gamemaster:You didn't fireball a kid.

Gamemaster:You had a strange thing etching stuff on your door.

Gamemaster:Unfortunately, nobody had the stats.

Gamemaster:It's crazy that you had the stats to hear it, but unfortunately, nobody had the stats to figure out what it was etching.

Gamemaster:It's occurred to me I've opened a lot of plot threads in this two-shot, but that's fine.

Gamemaster:We had a campaign that we... You guys didn't want to investigate.

Andros:This is a cool setting.

Cedric:I'm happy I got to do the blaster sorcerer.

Andros:What was that whale?

Andros:There was a whale.

Krod:It's some real psycho shit going on in this forest.

Cedric:I've been dying to do a blaster sorcerer.

Cedric:That guy does a lot of damage.

Gamemaster:I cannot believe he did 164 damage to two people with Disintegrate.

Gamemaster:That's four times more damage than you're normally supposed to be able to do with Disintegrate.

Cedric:I...

Cedric:I still have a Mask of Terror seventh level, this thing, this thing, and then three other six levels.

Gamemaster:You should have done the Mask of Terror, because Jyn is immune to fright, so that would have been fun.

Cedric:Yeah, I figured he would be.

Cedric:So that's why I didn't touch it.

Gamemaster:Oriel wasn't, so... I'm sorry, I didn't realize that hideous laughter or bloodied action would just ruin a lot of the stuff you could do.

Andros:I did take damage on my Guardian stuff, but I had so many reactions I could have done.

Andros:I still got a tank.

Gamemaster:I apologize.

Andros:I have so many hit points.

Gamemaster:You... 229 hit points with a 38 AC is ridiculous.

Andros:That's before the shield and the resistance.

Gamemaster:Right.

Gamemaster:Of course, right, because you're also resistant 7 to physical damage, and you can use the shield to take more damage off of you.

Gamemaster:I mean, level 13.

Krod:This is at level 13.

Krod:I didn't realize that high of an AC was possible.

Gamemaster:Uh... Mm-hmm.

Andros:So I have mastery in heavy armor.

Andros:And then when I raise, so it's 36.

Cedric:Champions can also get that.

Andros:Then when I raise my shield, it's a plus two.

Cedric:Yeah.

Cedric:For the other one shot when I was a champion, I didn't take a shield because I was just like, I'll just keep 36 and then dual wield.

Cedric:But yeah, you could also get a shield and then go up to 38 and you're just a fucking ass.

Gamemaster:yeah he has it's time to go

Krod:Oh, okay.

Krod:With the shield, it makes sense.

Krod:Because I do have an AC chart that is like typical ACs and at the extremes.

Krod:And the highest AC possible without raising a shield is 37.

Cedric:I think I have to take him out.

Cedric:Yeah.

Andros:Right?

Cedric:He's like, take me out.

Andros:Yeah.

Gamemaster:I apologize for this running a little long.

Gamemaster:It's hard to tell how long these sessions will go.

Cedric:No, it's good.

Gamemaster:Yeah, we got a tree seed.

Cedric:Fun world.

Cedric:This was a lot of good world building in this tree sea.

Andros:That's really cool.

Andros:I'm excited.

Andros:I'm excited for when Tanner gets back and we get back into the camp.

Gamemaster:That's looming.

Gamemaster:Maybe we'll go there during the campaign.

Cedric:Yeah.

Cedric:I really want to run into Cedric Corot.

Gamemaster:Run into Cedric.

Gamemaster:You guys met some fey.

Gamemaster:You murdered them.

Gamemaster:That was good of you.

Krod:We're going to explain what happened and Tanner's going to be like, he's not going to believe us.

Andros:Art would hate you.

Krod:Oh yeah, it was actually a kid.

Krod:And then we fought.

Krod:He's like, no, there's no way.

Gamemaster:Just some kid.

Gamemaster:Just some kid that, like, while you guys were hanging out, only after you had introduced it into your mansion did something try and get in.

Gamemaster:And is somehow a higher level than it's supposed to be, and is many days into a forest where it's not supposed to be.

Gamemaster:Just a normal eight-year-old.

Cedric:And can see in the dark and is not scared by the dark.

Andros:His mom knew him.

Gamemaster:Correct.

Gamemaster:Yeah.

Cedric:Yeah, we definitely release an Eldritch Terror, but that's fine.

Gamemaster:He likes you guys.

Cedric:Yeah.

Gamemaster:His mom knew him.

Gamemaster:He likes you guys.

Gamemaster:You shared your beef jerky with him.

Krod:probably I mean his mom probably does like rituals or fucking hexes and shit adios

Cedric:I think he got... He was a real kid.

Cedric:He got body snatched.

Cedric:And then we let out some fey creature, but that's fine.

Cedric:Yeah.

Andros:We'll run into him in the campaign and have to deal with that at a later date.

Cedric:Later, Dave.

Cedric:Well, adios.

Cedric:I got to go take my looming dog, the ghost dog, in the corner.

Cedric:All right.

Andros:See you guys.

Gamemaster:Deal.

Cedric:See you guys.