2025-12-16 — Akasha

Gamemaster:Thank you.

Gamemaster:Hello?

Anzu:Hello?

Anzu:Oh, good.

Anzu:Okay.

Anzu:That worked.

Gamemaster:I am frantically doing stuff for today's session, because work took a little longer than expected.

Anzu:Uh-oh.

Gamemaster:So it works out that Noah's, you know.

Gamemaster:It's entirely my fault.

Gamemaster:I wanted to do some fun things in Foundry that require me writing a little bit of JavaScript.

Gamemaster:And in my head, I'm like, oh, it'll only take like 10 minutes to do this.

Gamemaster:And as it turns out, it takes a little longer than 10 minutes.

Anzu:Would you like me to leave so that... Oh, well, now it's too late.

Gamemaster:But it's fine.

Gamemaster:Everything's great.

Gamemaster:No.

Gamemaster:No, it's fun.

Gamemaster:It's fun.

Gamemaster:I can multitask.

Gamemaster:It's great.

Anzu:It's way too late now that this guy is here.

Gamemaster:Yeah, I know.

Benny:what huh what was what um you're saying other people don't other people don't like it

Gamemaster:He's ruined it.

Anzu:Oh, Mike, hey!

Anzu:How's it going?

Anzu:Mike, I...

Anzu:do not like the picture that you sent today.

Anzu:And I know that that's kind of already been the sentiment, but I just wanted to emphasize that.

Anzu:Well, it's, you know, it's less about, it's less about the image itself.

Anzu:It's actually more the thought of you writing up the prompt for the image that makes me upset.

Benny:What do you think the prompt was?

Anzu:Generate my Saturday night photo.

Gamemaster:Generate me a copy of whatever I generated last.

Benny:If you're really interested, I can send you the prompt.

Gamemaster:Mmm.

Benny:It's a couple hundred words.

Anzu:Touching toes.

Gamemaster:What?

Gamemaster:I really hope it isn't a couple hundred words.

Gamemaster:That's too many.

Benny:It is.

Benny:Well, in order to get the nail polish right, the texture, the right level of moisture.

Gamemaster:I believe you, too.

Benny:No one likes dry feet.

Gamemaster:Sorry.

Gamemaster:Actually, don't expand.

Gamemaster:It's fine.

Gamemaster:I... Sure.

Anzu:Okay, he is kind of right about that.

Gamemaster:I'm sorry?

Benny:Little damp.

Benny:Right, Tanner?

Anzu:Yes.

Anzu:On Oven Nutcracker.

Benny:See, Tanner knows ball.

Benny:Nutcracker.

Gamemaster:What?

Benny:Tanner said nutcracker.

Anzu:Okay, Josh, I have a question for you.

Benny:And we're all wondering.

Anzu:Pathbuilder.

Gamemaster:Yes.

Anzu:To log in, did I make a password or do you have a master password?

Gamemaster:No.

Gamemaster:There should be a pinned thing in our chatter that has the login info.

Gamemaster:Because you have to pay for it, and it didn't make sense for me to all have to individually pay for our own, so we just have one master one.

Anzu:All right, I'll search for that.

Gamemaster:So if you look through the pinned stuff, it should...

Anzu:This whole time... This must be it, I guess, right?

Anzu:I've been logged in on my laptop, but I found it easier in the last couple months to have...

Gamemaster:Yeah, no, just find the login info so you have the ability to edit your stuff.

Anzu:it open on my desktop, but I'm not logged in there, so I can only open it in read-only.

Anzu:Yeah, I found it.

Gamemaster:That seems like it'd be useful.

Benny:It sounded.

Anzu:I found it.

Anzu:Sign in with Google.

Gamemaster:Okay, this is going to be slightly less fancy.

Gamemaster:I had to reduce scope, but it's fine.

Anzu:This is quite the password.

Anzu:Jeez.

Gamemaster:It's randomly generated.

Gamemaster:Just in case you think that I thought of that.

Benny:You sat there and randomly thought of a password?

Gamemaster:Yeah.

Gamemaster:I mean, it could happen.

Benny:What's a random password?

Benny:Hunter 2?

Gamemaster:That is random.

Gamemaster:You know, if you type that into Discord, it automatically asterisks it out.

Benny:It's human.

Anzu:Guys, I'm in.

Benny:If you type Hunter 2 in Discord, no way.

Gamemaster:Yeah.

Benny:That's fucking crazy.

Gamemaster:You don't believe me?

Anzu:I've hacked the mainframe.

Benny:Did he then?

Gamemaster:You didn't use your hacker voice.

Anzu:And I'm going to start sending out emails from this Gmail account.

Gamemaster:I mean, that's fine.

Gamemaster:I've never once used it as a... I don't know.

Gamemaster:I've never used it as an actual email thing.

Gamemaster:So if you want an additional email with which to spam people, you can do that.

Benny:Yeah, we'll ban.

Gamemaster:That's fine.

Gamemaster:I don't mind.

Gamemaster:Oh no, I'm dumb.

Gamemaster:I thought this was an array, an empty array, but it's an array with empty strings.

Anzu:Thank you.

Gamemaster:It's a completely different thing.

Gamemaster:The way that Foundry does macros is stupid.

Gamemaster:And they should change it.

Benny:They should have AI-powered macros.

Benny:You have no choice but to type it in natural language and hope an AI figures it out at runtime.

Gamemaster:I... I saw...

Gamemaster:A mod for... I saw a mod for Factorio that lets you type in something and then it makes a combinator based off of an LLM's Lua output from whatever you put into it.

Gamemaster:And I don't understand it.

Benny:Glorious.

Gamemaster:Like, what is the point of the game then?

Benny:We're going to know what to do with the combinator.

Gamemaster:Well...

Gamemaster:The example they show is they hook a combinator up to a conveyor belt and they say, when iron is over 100, turn on a light.

Gamemaster:And then, like, what is the point of the game if you're not going to learn the mechanics of the game?

Gamemaster:I don't understand.

Arctos:What game is this?

Gamemaster:Factorio.

Gamemaster:I was telling Mike, I saw a mod for Factorio that you type in in plain text what you want a combinator to do.

Gamemaster:And then it...

Arctos:It's an LLM that figures it out.

Gamemaster:Yeah, and then an LLM writes some Lua code that gets embedded into the combinator and does what you're trying to tell it to do.

Arctos:Nice haircut, Noah.

Johnny:Thank you.

Gamemaster:Which is dumb.

Anzu:Couldn't we hit Noah with a nice haircut last week?

Johnny:I have like a membership at my haircut place so I can go in once a week for free and get like a free trim up.

Johnny:They're pretty good.

Anzu:Just trying to stay sharp as hell.

Johnny:Yeah, it's literally like two minutes from my house, so.

Anzu:That's sick.

Arctos:Now recording.

Gamemaster:And in case you were curious, I did it.

Johnny:now record Jorge so is there is there a fund named after you a bu now

Anzu:Hey, nice.

Gamemaster:Just in time.

Anzu:Now recording.

Gamemaster:One moment.

Gamemaster:I will be back in a second.

Arctos:No, I told Ziba from Spark asked me to join one of their boards and help advise people and do other stuff.

Anzu:So...

Benny:Thank you.

Arctos:And then she's like, but to be on a college board, you do have to make a donation.

Arctos:And I was just like, I fundamentally cannot give you any more money than I have.

Arctos:And she's like,

Arctos:completely understand and then she then i when i told her that and i was like they didn't want me to graduate if there wasn't a global pandemic i would not have graduated that she's like i feel so bad do you want to join the council and like we can try to get that wave and i was like no i don't want to be a part of this she is and i'm just not gonna i i don't i don't want to be there

Anzu:yeah that's fair what an honor though to be considered would you like to give us some money and we'll let you do stuff

Johnny:That's such a good move though.

Johnny:She's so smart.

Johnny:I think...

Arctos:I guess.

Arctos:Yeah, yeah.

Arctos:Would you like to give us some money and then also try to recruit our students to your company?

Benny:Is it like... Is there like a minimum?

Arctos:No, I don't.

Arctos:So I forget what tier.

Arctos:So this is a third tier board.

Arctos:So the first one's the board of trustees that run BU.

Arctos:Then there's the other one, which are basically the process that you join, and then you can get put into the board.

Arctos:And then there's college-level ones at the level of CAS and things like that.

Arctos:This committee would be at a college level.

Arctos:And then for that one, they say the average is $1,000, and I'm just not doing that.

Johnny:What I thought was interesting, though, when Jorge told me this, was that at the end of this conversation, he goes, yeah, I actually volunteered you, Mike, Tanner, and Josh to each give a thousand, though.

Benny:No.

Arctos:Honestly, if they told me to give them $5, I'd still tell them to go fuck themselves.

Johnny:I thought that was an interesting twist.

Arctos:And then I also realized, do I really want to hang out with those people again?

Benny:I've been getting emails.

Arctos:They're probably going to find the annoying people from when we went to college.

Arctos:And I was like, I don't want to interact with that.

Arctos:Do I want to hang out with Sarah Greisdorf?

Johnny:Always.

Johnny:I think she's pocketing the money from the pocket company.

Arctos:That's making a pocket company.

Benny:Is she still making the vodka company?

Arctos:Oh, yeah, yeah.

Arctos:I mean, she embezzled 20K from BU, but... Yeah.

Benny:Oh.

Arctos:But then Holdette became, I think, a woman's safe zone so they could chat once a month.

Arctos:Anyway, on a different note, my manager's leaving the company, so I got a new one.

Anzu:Is he leaving by his own accord?

Johnny:I don't know.

Benny:And they are.

Arctos:Yeah.

Gamemaster:No, that's a good thing.

Gamemaster:Jorge hated his manager.

Arctos:Yeah, I did hate my manager.

Johnny:Oh, was this the one incompetent dude of your company?

Arctos:Yeah, yeah.

Johnny:Okay.

Arctos:So... That's what he says.

Arctos:But I know so many different people... I know so many different people that have gone out of their way to tell me they don't like my manager.

Arctos:Which is kind of crazy, because it's like...

Johnny:Oh.

Johnny:There's not a lot of people in your company.

Arctos:Yeah, it was like 10 different people, and it's a 115-person company.

Arctos:It is kind of crazy that almost 10% dislike this guy.

Gamemaster:Those are rookie numbers.

Gamemaster:I'm sure you could get those up.

Arctos:I mean, this is the ones that openly tell his one report that they dislike his manager.

Gamemaster:Because they figure you'll agree.

Arctos:And the report's only been there for a couple of weeks.

Johnny:I'm so intrigued by what that says about the company culture that that many people would tell this dude's one report that they don't like him.

Arctos:I mean, he sucks, though.

Arctos:Dog.

Johnny:Yeah.

Arctos:I mean, the problem with my manager is he's very Jekyll and Hyde, or my former manager.

Arctos:When he was nice, he was cool.

Arctos:Then he just became really not nice.

Benny:Mm hmm.

Arctos:Yeah.

Arctos:so what another funny thing happened where noah texted us he's gonna be 15 minutes late so i was hanging out with bailey and she's like don't you have dnd and i was like oh yeah noah's gonna be 15 minutes late and then she's like why and i was just like that's if it's a true guy friend groups i didn't even think to ask i was just like he's gonna be like he's like what why

Johnny:No, I was eating dinner and then I lost track of time and I was like,

Gamemaster:Obviously, it's something that he has to do.

Gamemaster:Asking about it isn't going to make him show up faster.

Arctos:I don't know.

Arctos:She's like, it's not that we need to approve it.

Arctos:I was just curious.

Anzu:I feel like at 15 minutes, you don't need to ask.

Anzu:Because, like, could be pooping.

Anzu:And we don't need to discuss.

Gamemaster:Well, now I'm actually curious.

Gamemaster:Noah, were you pooping?

Gamemaster:I don't care.

Gamemaster:I just want to know if you're pooping.

Benny:but we

Johnny:I was not pooping.

Johnny:I'm sorry, Tanner.

Gamemaster:Okay.

Arctos:Yeah.

Johnny:I've had this similar conversation with Daisy, though, specifically after Tanner told us he got engaged.

Arctos:Well, you know.

Johnny:We were like, wow.

Johnny:I was like, Daisy, Tanner got engaged.

Johnny:And she goes, wow, how did he do it?

Johnny:And I was like, I don't know.

Johnny:He got engaged.

Anzu:We need only the most important information.

Anzu:The fluff is a waste of time.

Benny:Yeah, there was a point where you're like, oh yeah, that map on my wall, that's from my book.

Arctos:Yeah.

Benny:And we're like, what book?

Johnny:Only the most important information.

Benny:But also, we can't blame ourselves because we've never asked, right?

Benny:Every session now, we have to get like 50 questions and pick five and ask everyone like, are you planning a ski trip?

Benny:Are you starting a business?

Benny:Are you moving soon?

Johnny:Wait, is anyone planning a ski trip, starting a business, or moving soon?

Arctos:No, I'm not moving begrudgingly.

Arctos:I've tried.

Johnny:What about the cocaine house in New Jersey?

Arctos:No, no.

Benny:Thank you.

Arctos:I might just throw my money at the wall and see what happens.

Anzu:Maybe you should buy land and build a house.

Johnny:Might stick.

Arctos:Might stick.

Arctos:Yeah, then I need a construction loan.

Arctos:Because if you get a construction loan, banks get to tell you what type of lights you put into your house.

Anzu:Ooh.

Arctos:Yeah.

Arctos:So recently I got someone I know, he's in a venture capital fund.

Arctos:So maybe I'll just take all my house money and just put it there and just say, ah, hopefully this works.

Gamemaster:So, like, the original plan was not for you to purchase this house single-handedly, right?

Gamemaster:I assume Bailey's involved in it, too.

Arctos:Yeah.

Gamemaster:Would you also be investing Bailey's money in this venture capital fund?

Arctos:I mean, we're joining finances.

Arctos:So technically, yes, but also.

Gamemaster:Oh, so yes.

Johnny:The way you phrase it in Josh's makes it sound like you just are taking her money.

Arctos:But also, yeah.

Arctos:Yeah.

Anzu:No, it's their money, guys.

Anzu:It's not his.

Arctos:Yeah, they're money.

Anzu:It's not hers.

Gamemaster:Which is totally valid.

Gamemaster:I was just curious because, like, pivot from house to putting money into company is a different thing than I imagined originally pitched.

Arctos:Yeah.

Arctos:Well.

Arctos:To be fair.

Arctos:Bailey, I think, would rather stay in the city for more years, if anything.

Arctos:So, might as well... Yes, and my main reason for wanting a house is I feel like I'm throwing money away.

Gamemaster:So this is a good way for her to stall you from escaping, is what it sounds like.

Johnny:You could be homeless.

Arctos:Because I'm renting, paying city tax, and both of those just go.

Benny:Only one of those you're losing money, by the way.

Anzu:Right.

Arctos:I could be homeless.

Arctos:What do you mean?

Johnny:Being homeless, you would save money.

Gamemaster:No, both of those are losing money.

Arctos:Both of those.

Benny:Renting is fine.

Benny:Paying city tax!

Arctos:No, I said city tax and renting.

Gamemaster:I mean, yeah, and renting is losing money since at the end of renting you don't own anything, but in theory at the end of a mortgage you do own something with value.

Benny:No, no, I know.

Benny:Only one of those.

Arctos:Yeah.

Johnny:You're going to pull the equity.

Benny:But...

Benny:That's like saying buying food is losing money.

Gamemaster:No, it's not, because I don't purchase food with an expectation that there's value at the end.

Arctos:No, but...

Gamemaster:The point of food is to survive.

Gamemaster:No, because I don't expect to be able to sell my shit once I'm done using the food.

Arctos:Yeah, and then also, not just that, but the different... I don't know why we're talking to him about this, but...

Benny:Same thing with rent.

Gamemaster:I do expect to be able to sell my home once I'm done using the home.

Johnny:wall.

Johnny:You're just not buying the recording.

Benny:Why would you expect to sell the place that you're renting?

Johnny:You have not looked at it.

Gamemaster:I don't.

Gamemaster:That's the point.

Benny:So... We'll buy your shit.

Gamemaster:So you're... Yes, Tanner.

Anzu:I need to change my answer to Mike's question about starting a business.

Gamemaster:No, you can't buy my shit.

Gamemaster:I'm sorry.

Arctos:It starts like shit.

Johnny:Well, maybe what you do is you buy it and then you just sell it to, I don't know, medical studies.

Gamemaster:This...

Johnny:Someone's got to need poop.

Gamemaster:There are companies that purchase traditionally animal feces for fertilizer and the like.

Gamemaster:So maybe human fertilizer.

Johnny:Reliable source.

Anzu:going to create probiotics.

Benny:They have that.

Benny:I have poop pills if you guys want them.

Arctos:That's true.

Gamemaster:Yeah.

Arctos:Yeah.

Arctos:No.

Gamemaster:You can purchase stool pills.

Gamemaster:That is a thing that already exists.

Arctos:There are, there are, this used to be the favorite, my siblings used to love this, we used to love this hypothetical growing up.

Arctos:When we found out there's a certain type of sickness where you just get dysentery and you're going to shit yourself to death, to death, you need a stool transplant.

Arctos:So we used to say, if you were going to get a stool transplant, would you want a tube down your throat?

Arctos:Or would you want something up your butt?

Benny:Whatever is most effective.

Arctos:Okay, beat guy Mike.

Gamemaster:Both, if possible.

Johnny:Be good.

Arctos:Also, one other thing to circle back to the renting thing.

Arctos:If I do buy a house, and even if I'm not paying principal, one, it appreciates, and then two, taxes.

Arctos:I get to deduct a lot more taxes when I own something.

Benny:I buy that.

Arctos:But yeah.

Benny:You can also deduct rent.

Benny:depending on your state.

Benny:My state.

Arctos:Not our state.

Anzu:Ah.

Arctos:You can deduct rent?

Johnny:Hmm.

Benny:Yeah, there's a cap.

Arctos:How much can you deduct?

Arctos:On top of the regular 14K, you can just deduct?

Benny:Let's see.

Gamemaster:property taxes paid, or $15,000, whichever is less.

Benny:Yeah.

Benny:On top of the standard deduction?

Arctos:That's dope.

Arctos:That was dope.

Arctos:So yeah, if I owned something.

Arctos:But you know, if I take some of that money and just eat it.

Gamemaster:Do you pay your property taxes through rent?

Gamemaster:How do they verify that?

Benny:Yeah.

Gamemaster:Do you just get to assume that if you're paying rent, you're paying property taxes through it?

Benny:I mean, I think so.

Benny:I don't think it's like if you're paying property taxes through rent.

Benny:I think it's if you're just paying rent, they just count it as a deduction too.

Gamemaster:Homeowners and renters who pay property taxes on a primary residence in New Jersey, either directly or through rent, may qualify for a deduction or refundable credit with filing an income tax return.

Benny:Yeah, I mean, this is the simplified blurb.

Benny:I've never had to sign something that's like, trust me, I know this is going to property taxes.

Arctos:Turn off the recording bot.

Arctos:I want this to get subpoenaed by the IRS.

Johnny:Wait, really?

Arctos:On a different note, have any of you guys Venmoed the IRS?

Arctos:Because they started letting us do that a couple months ago.

Johnny:I didn't hear about this.

Gamemaster:Well, so you can... Are you talking about being able to pay the government to pay down the national debt where they now allow Venmo for that?

Arctos:Yeah, if you want to.

Arctos:Yeah.

Gamemaster:Which is the most stupid thing I've ever heard of in my life.

Arctos:Yeah.

Gamemaster:Venmo or not.

Gamemaster:Yeah, you can just, if you don't like how high the national debt is, you can just give money to the government to pay some of it down.

Benny:I have been.

Johnny:And people are doing that?

Gamemaster:Like a good patriot would, I suppose.

Benny:I have been.

Benny:Well, so I did, but the issue is, so I paid a penny, but the memo line was problematic.

Benny:So they've had to do several hours worth of paperwork to correspond back and forth with me.

Benny:So I think I've had a negative impact.

Benny:Apparently orphan meat is not an acceptable memo line for the IRS.

Gamemaster:If it's to reduce the public debt.

Anzu:Oh, no.

Arctos:Our national debt increases by a trillion dollars every 180 days, I believe.

Benny:And it's accelerating.

Benny:It's like Coulomb's Law.

Johnny:We'll make one sentence helpful.

Gamemaster:So I'm on treasurydirect.gov.

Arctos:You know what'll fix all this?

Arctos:War in Venezuela.

Gamemaster:And apparently in 2022, they received $180,000 from private citizens to help pay down the national debt.

Arctos:How does that boot taste?

Gamemaster:Which is ridiculous, both because it's nothing compared to the national debt increase of 2022, and also because people gave the government $180,000 just because?

Benny:It's

Benny:It's one of the best examples of absolutely nothing and entirely far too much.

Gamemaster:Yeah.

Gamemaster:I don't...

Benny:It's like giving a baby an eighth of a shot of alcohol.

Benny:You gave him absolutely nothing and entirely far too much.

Johnny:Do you get anything for this other than the pride of being an American?

Johnny:So it is deductible.

Arctos:Proud of being an American.

Gamemaster:I don't believe so.

Gamemaster:I'm trying to find out right now.

Gamemaster:It is... It's considered a donation.

Arctos:Maybe you can deduct some of it as if it was a charitable contribution.

Benny:Oh, that's so funny.

Benny:It's just one rich dude who's just like, I figured it out.

Arctos:Yeah, yeah.

Johnny:That's crazy that you're giving them – like you're still giving them money though.

Johnny:So how does that –

Arctos:I don't think you could find a more irresponsible

Gamemaster:So...

Gamemaster:So there are three ways that you can gift to the government to help pay down the national debt.

Arctos:place to donate that money

Gamemaster:Either money via ACH or Venmo or credit card, if you like.

Gamemaster:Or you can give them back bonds you have without redeeming them.

Gamemaster:You could just give them back the bonds if you don't want them anymore.

Gamemaster:Or you can give them property.

Johnny:My bar mitzvah bonds.

Johnny:Josh, do you have bar mitzvah bonds too that have not matured yet?

Gamemaster:Yes.

Johnny:Cool.

Gamemaster:Yeah, I think I have some that mature when I'm like 30.

Johnny:Same.

Gamemaster:Yeah.

Gamemaster:So I don't know.

Gamemaster:I don't know what the point of them was.

Benny:What's the coupon?

Benny:I'm wondering what percent because of the rates at that time.

Johnny:It's like, to me it was like 50 bucks when I was 13.

Gamemaster:I... Something like that.

Johnny:So it's going to be like a little...

Gamemaster:I want to say at 3% annualized, something like that.

Gamemaster:Like, not good.

Johnny:Yeah, it's like a very classic thing you get for your bar and bat mitzvah, and it's always like an old person thing.

Johnny:And they're like, this will be great when you're 30.

Johnny:And then you're like, oh, cool.

Johnny:And then you turn 30, you're like, I can buy a sandwich.

Benny:700 bucks.

Gamemaster:No.

Benny:Let's go.

Benny:The only time I've seen bonds referenced in pop culture like that, where you're given it as a gift is I believe Alvin and the chipmunks when they get, I think it's Alvin and the chipmunks who get bonds.

Gamemaster:Yeah.

Johnny:Waited 17 years for this.

Gamemaster:Oh.

Gamemaster:I mean, Theodore is Jewish, so I get it.

Arctos:I got some money for my baptism that matured recently.

Johnny:Was it still soggy with the holy water?

Gamemaster:Oh, that's fun.

Arctos:Yeah.

Arctos:I was going to give some to my godson.

Gamemaster:They keep it in the holy water for 20 years?

Arctos:I was going to give one to my godson.

Gamemaster:Oh, sure.

Gamemaster:Just pass it on to somebody else.

Gamemaster:I don't want to wait for this to mature.

Arctos:But then I was just like, I'll just wait until he's 18 and just give him, I don't know, a grand.

Arctos:That'll be way cooler than just doing this.

Arctos:I can invest that money better.

Arctos:If I just kept 50 bucks and put it in the spy, you'll have like a grand, okay?

Benny:It was Alvin and the Chipmunks, by the way.

Gamemaster:Oh, okay.

Gamemaster:Good.

Benny:The guy, I forgot his name, gets them savings bonds.

Benny:He's like, in seven years, you'll be able to buy yourself something really nice.

Johnny:These chipmunks, what's the lifespan of a chipmunk?

Gamemaster:Sure.

Johnny:Wait, hang on.

Benny:Oh, no.

Gamemaster:Well, I mean, I feel like they're magic chipmunks, right?

Gamemaster:Because they can talk.

Arctos:We can acknowledge that a magic awoken animal has a longer...

Johnny:Okay, are they Eastern chipmunks or are they Siberian chipmunks?

Johnny:Because that does make a difference.

Gamemaster:Oh, no, Jorge does raise a good point.

Gamemaster:I think...

Arctos:Woken animals live longer.

Gamemaster:Awoken animals live the same length as regular animals.

Johnny:Oh, okay.

Arctos:Arctos was 40 in polar bear years.

Johnny:Wait.

Arctos:He's not a smart person, okay?

Johnny:There was a joke a couple weeks ago that got severely overshadowed by all of us dying, but there was a joke that Anzu was an MKUltra, and I thought about that today, and I just wanted to bring that up again.

Benny:Anzu Grabe.

Arctos:He really has the trauma now from watching children die in front of him.

Arctos:Sorry, child die.

Arctos:Hey, this is... 50% of Tanner's D&D campaign characters have got attached to a child and then seen the child die.

Gamemaster:Sometimes a child dies in front of you, it happens.

Gamemaster:In my defense, I was not the one who, like, I did not script a child dying in this instance.

Arctos:No, no, I understand you didn't script it, but now... We're now at 50%.

Anzu:And I don't think you did the first one either.

Gamemaster:I didn't, no.

Johnny:I did.

Johnny:I.

Anzu:So.

Anzu:It's okay.

Anzu:I'm fine.

Anzu:Totally good.

Gamemaster:Do we?

Benny:decimal.

Gamemaster:Want to play some Pathfinder?

Arctos:Thank you.

Anzu:Okay.

Benny:Yes.

Gamemaster:Does anybody want to do a recap?

Gamemaster:I'm like this close to taking away soundboard privileges.

Johnny:I rediscovered it recently.

Johnny:I can do the recap.

Gamemaster:Okay, sure.

Gamemaster:You can do the recap.

Gamemaster:That's fine.

Johnny:Last week on... We don't have a name yet as a group.

Johnny:Iconoclasm.

Gamemaster:Sure.

Johnny:Last week on Mindbird.

Johnny:That's a better... That's a cooler name.

Arctos:Mm-hmm.

Gamemaster:Anzu is the main character because he's the only one that survived through the whole thing.

Johnny:Two of us... Once again, for the third campaign in a row, Tanner's character is the main character.

Benny:our fearless leader.

Johnny:Once again, we woke up in nowhere.

Benny:I think Benny has a last name.

Johnny:And by we, I mean Johnny Skyfall and Benny... Last name?

Johnny:Benny Adamson.

Gamemaster:He has one.

Johnny:I don't know.

Anzu:Wait, let me check.

Anzu:I might have it.

Gamemaster:So... I, like...

Gamemaster:I didn't remember what it was, and then Mike said one last time.

Anzu:Oh!

Gamemaster:And so I went back into the doc that he sent me, because it didn't sound familiar to me.

Benny:Wait, what?

Gamemaster:And that's because the name he used as his last name was actually the name of somebody else in his backstory that he just took for his character.

Anzu:Uh-oh.

Gamemaster:But now it's canon that that's your last name.

Gamemaster:So... Yes, that one.

Anzu:I have Benny Plasmadio.

Benny:That's true.

Benny:That's someone's name in my... I gotta do more Googling.

Gamemaster:Mm-hmm.

Johnny:Anyway, we woke up in nowhere and met just a dude who was very skinny and white and big head with a smile.

Johnny:His name was Aut.

Johnny:We tried to get answers out of him.

Johnny:Learned a little bit.

Johnny:And then he's like, you see this big tower?

Johnny:That's the gateway between where you are and the Godhome.

Johnny:We were like, oh, that's cool.

Johnny:Where's our other friend?

Johnny:Argyle and Argyle wasn't there.

Johnny:We were like, oh, Argyle went on.

Johnny:Sad.

Johnny:Narrator voice, he did not go on.

Gamemaster:He's somewhere.

Johnny:He's in pain somewhere.

Johnny:We reconstituted ourselves and Aut was like, you gotta come back here to get the rest of you.

Johnny:Yoink!

Johnny:And then shoved us back into the real world where we woke up naked because all our stuff had been stolen in the water.

Johnny:Both failed our saves.

Johnny:Almost drowned again.

Johnny:Got out.

Johnny:Had a very emotional moment from Benny.

Johnny:And then we had a long, sad walk back.

Benny:you

Johnny:Anzu went back.

Johnny:They had a terrible night.

Johnny:Explained everything that happened.

Johnny:Was like, what are we going to do?

Johnny:And then Johnny and Benny walked in and was like, I don't know what's happening.

Johnny:Explained what happened to Imari.

Johnny:We met a bear who is the smartest bear any of us have ever met.

Johnny:He's a knight.

Johnny:Sir Arctos the Bear.

Johnny:Apparently he's pretty important.

Johnny:Everyone knows him.

Johnny:There was a news article about him once.

Johnny:And then we were like, well, we got to go get the rest of us.

Johnny:So we went to go get the rest of us and went to just this building that didn't exist until you noticed it.

Johnny:And then we went inside and they were like, oh, you're friends of Aut.

Johnny:And we were like, yes.

Johnny:And they said a bunch of stuff that we were supposed to know it if we'd gotten to this point wherever we were supposed to in the campaign instead of level three.

Johnny:And then...

Gamemaster:Yeah, that seems pretty accurate.

Johnny:We went into the Black and White, which, maybe it's the astroplane, who knows.

Johnny:There was a couple different buildings, and we had to capture some sounds with a voice box, and we found a moth that played piano with its wings.

Johnny:Probably got to capture that.

Johnny:Mind bird.

Benny:Thank you.

Gamemaster:Okay, yeah, so you are left in this weird cityscape in the Black and White.

Gamemaster:Two of you are marked with ought symbols that has some rules around it that basically boils down to you can show it to other people if you want.

Gamemaster:You're in the cityscape.

Gamemaster:You have the voice box, which is the thing with the button.

Gamemaster:It's a small box with a button on one side and a speaker grill on the front.

Gamemaster:There were three speakers in front of the skyscraper that said Save Your Soul Incorporated on the front.

Gamemaster:You figure that that's probably where you have to go.

Gamemaster:Around the plaza, there are, in addition, three other locations.

Gamemaster:One of them, the one that you're currently in, is Vermilion Square Station.

Gamemaster:Next to that, with a speaker outside and boarded up, is a hotel, the Echo Gate Hotel.

Gamemaster:And then next to that, across from the subway station, also boarded up with a speaker out front, is the Soundscape Theaters, by the looks of it, a movie theater.

Gamemaster:You are currently...

Gamemaster:in the lower area, the spot where the trains go, four over a million square station, you saw this moth that was playing music that your voice box was reacting to, vibrating slightly and getting kind of hot.

Gamemaster:But unfortunately, the moth is in the front car of the subway, and the subway is still inside the tunnel.

Johnny:So I got a couple ideas for plans.

Gamemaster:It hasn't fully pulled into the station, and so you cannot currently access the door to get into it.

Gamemaster:You're all standing on the platform, trying to figure out what to do.

Johnny:One, we just smash the glass on the front of this train and then catch them off that way.

Johnny:Idea.

Johnny:Other idea.

Johnny:We break into the ticket booth.

Johnny:I don't know what's inside there.

Johnny:Third idea.

Johnny:Somebody else comes up with an idea.

Johnny:And then I'll call it my own too.

Arctos:Those are good ideas.

Anzu:Well, I'm not entirely convinced of that yet.

Benny:Hmm.

Arctos:I think we should go kill the moth.

Anzu:I think we should try to get into the ticket booth first.

Johnny:Okay.

Johnny:Go to the checker booth.

Anzu:That being said, I don't personally have...

Anzu:much to do to enact that.

Gamemaster:So if you recall, the ticket booth is kind of embedded into the, or like emerges out of the back wall away from the turnstiles and the platform.

Gamemaster:There is the front where you guys had given a little bit of money, not too much success under the little ticket.

Gamemaster:divot.

Gamemaster:I don't know what the actual term for that is, but there's some kind of what looks to be reinforced glass on the front.

Gamemaster:There is a door to the side that is currently closed that gives access to the ticket counter.

Benny:So you want me to pick the lock?

Johnny:Do it.

Anzu:Yeah, I think that should be step one, yeah.

Anzu:I will cast Guidance on you.

Johnny:I will give a uplifting overture.

Johnny:Everyone's got different guidance.

Benny:We all got guidance now, huh?

Benny:Oh.

Johnny:You get, I think that's a plus two.

Gamemaster:34, that's the aid check.

Gamemaster:Yeah, that would be a success.

Gamemaster:So if you're an expert, it's plus 2.

Gamemaster:Or master, it's plus 2?

Johnny:Is it just a regular or is it a crit?

Gamemaster:Master, it's plus 2.

Gamemaster:What is the... I mean, it's probably a crit.

Johnny:Actually, I guess it's not a level-based DC.

Johnny:It depends on what the lockpick DC is.

Gamemaster:Yeah, it depends on the DC of the thing.

Gamemaster:Let me double check what the actual DC is.

Johnny:I think at this level, it's just a 1.

Johnny:Okay.

Gamemaster:34, that is still a crit.

Johnny:Then you get a plus 2 to this, plus whatever other stuff you have.

Gamemaster:Okay.

Anzu:Ivins gives a plus one status.

Benny:29.

Gamemaster:A 29 is a success.

Gamemaster:I'm so sorry.

Gamemaster:You have... This was the free trick to open up the... Okay, absolutely.

Gamemaster:So...

Gamemaster:You're fiddling around with the lockpick set.

Gamemaster:You feel some of the pins come up.

Gamemaster:You've picked some locks before.

Gamemaster:And you can feel the tumbler turn a little bit, and then catch, and then turn all the way until you think you've unlocked it.

Anzu:Bye.

Benny:I got to open the door.

Gamemaster:Absolutely.

Gamemaster:Knob turns.

Gamemaster:You did successfully unlock it.

Gamemaster:Roll a perception check.

Gamemaster:You look inside.

Gamemaster:18.

Benny:What my favorite thing is.

Benny:18.

Gamemaster:Okay.

Gamemaster:Looking around inside the ticket booth.

Gamemaster:Notably, there's no one in here.

Gamemaster:Somebody did take your money.

Gamemaster:last session when you put it under into the ticket divot thing.

Gamemaster:But when you open the door, there is nobody on the other side.

Gamemaster:It is an empty, relatively cramped space.

Gamemaster:There's a small cushioned stool that's cracked in places.

Gamemaster:It looks like the finish is old.

Gamemaster:Sat in front of...

Gamemaster:the most complex set of levers and dials for a train that you've ever seen.

Gamemaster:Like, I don't know what your expectations going into it would have been, but probably maybe one or two levers and a few buttons.

Gamemaster:This has got, like, 12 different dials, levers on multiple axes.

Gamemaster:It looks like there's an orb hooked up to two different spindles such that you can move it in three-dimensional space to move stuff around.

Benny:Thank you.

Gamemaster:It is unnecessarily complex for what should be a relatively simple task.

Gamemaster:If you like, somebody can make a crafting check to try and understand what any of this does and how to use it.

Anzu:Let me see what's going on in here.

Johnny:Uplifting Overture.

Johnny:I got a 33.

Gamemaster:That is a crit.

Johnny:You get a plus 2 to this, Tanner.

Anzu:All right.

Johnny:Guidance is back.

Anzu:Oh, no.

Anzu:Oh, it's too early.

Anzu:We just stick with the 18.

Gamemaster:Okay, within 18, you don't know what a lot of these different components do, unfortunately.

Gamemaster:They don't seemingly have any... You haven't touched anything yet, I imagine, so you're just looking at it and trying to derive from its form what it actually does.

Gamemaster:And I think within 18, you've narrowed it down...

Gamemaster:to two different levers, both of which could be in a forward state or a backward state.

Gamemaster:And you gather have something to do with the state of the train.

Gamemaster:But unfortunately on an 18, you don't know which does what.

Anzu:So I just got to give it a go.

Anzu:Would you say one is on the left, one is on the right?

Gamemaster:I would.

Gamemaster:One is on the left, one is on the right, and they are both currently in the neutral position, so they can either be pushed forward or backward.

Arctos:Let me go get eyes on that shifty insect.

Anzu:Yes, excellent.

Anzu:I will take the lever on the left.

Anzu:and put it in the forward position.

Gamemaster:Okay.

Gamemaster:Absolutely.

Gamemaster:There isn't enough room for everybody in the ticket booth.

Gamemaster:So where's everybody else at this point in time?

Arctos:Arctos is going to be standing looking at the train with this shield.

Johnny:I will stand next to Arctos and just pull out like a little folded piece of paper that has some scribbles on it.

Arctos:and sort out.

Gamemaster:Okay.

Benny:Benny will be backseat driving, peering over Anzu's shoulder.

Gamemaster:All right.

Benny:Anzu's sitting.

Gamemaster:Sure.

Benny:I guess he can never peer on his... Is Anzu on the ground?

Gamemaster:No.

Anzu:I am at whatever height is necessary to use these controls, which I assume is not sitting on the ground.

Benny:All right, so Benny will be looking around Anzu into the room.

Gamemaster:Okay, absolutely.

Gamemaster:Okay, so the two of you on the platform here at first, there is this screeching sound, like two pieces of metal pressing on each other, and then one of them is rotating really quickly.

Gamemaster:And then after a second, there's a very loud pop, and the sound stops.

Gamemaster:The train does not appear to have moved at all.

Johnny:Try something else.

Anzu:I'll put that one back in the neutral position.

Anzu:It's broken.

Arctos:I just start banging the shield in my sword.

Gamemaster:Absolutely.

Gamemaster:Okay.

Arctos:Like a drum.

Gamemaster:When you push the lever forward, there was a little bit of resistance to it as you push it forward.

Gamemaster:Now when you return it back to the neutral position, there's no resistance whatsoever.

Benny:You broke it.

Anzu:Now, while I was pushing it forward, did it feel like there were degrees of forward, or did it just go from neutral to forward?

Johnny:Okay, okay.

Gamemaster:Just neutral a little forward.

Arctos:Hey, where are you?

Anzu:Okay.

Arctos:Can you give me one second?

Anzu:Yes.

Arctos:I'm going to go outside.

Arctos:Do I notice anything different outside?

Gamemaster:Roll a perception check.

Benny:What is he having a smoke?

Anzu:Yeah, you know what?

Arctos:This joking is bad.

Anzu:I've not been around him too much to pick up his... Yeah.

Arctos:I have a crit 29.

Benny:Smoke.

Johnny:Kind of smells like bear.

Gamemaster:Crit 29, absolutely.

Gamemaster:So Arctos goes out for a dart, just looking around the plaza.

Gamemaster:There is a very slight change.

Gamemaster:At first glance, looking around, the plaza looks the same as it did before, but with your keen bareception, with your monocle, there is...

Arctos:Okay.

Gamemaster:movement kind of in your periphery, like that of silhouettes almost walking around the plaza.

Gamemaster:But when you go to focus on it, you don't see anything there.

Benny:Okay.

Gamemaster:It's just in your periphery.

Johnny:I'll be back.

Gamemaster:You hadn't noticed that before.

Gamemaster:I don't think if you would know if that's because of what's happened or just because you...

Gamemaster:Noticed something that was there, but you couldn't see it earlier, but it is something to note.

Arctos:I'll head back down.

Gamemaster:Nothing headed in your direction necessarily, but motion on your periphery.

Gamemaster:The bear returns.

Arctos:I just saw some ghosts.

Arctos:Or spirits.

Arctos:Don't worry about it.

Arctos:Carry on.

Johnny:And are you, are you, are you like familiar with ghosts and spirits?

Benny:Now I'm worried about it.

Johnny:Is this, is that your area of expertise?

Arctos:Oh, do you think I'm a spirit bear?

Arctos:Is that what it is?

Johnny:Listen.

Benny:Did you just call him a familiar?

Arctos:Spirit bears are brown bears that are albino, not a polar bear.

Arctos:Different thing.

Arctos:I say with my big bear paws, different thing.

Johnny:You know, a spirit bear is actually a real thing.

Arctos:Yeah.

Johnny:I mean, how many bears you met that can speak?

Arctos:You thought I don't know about spirit bears?

Anzu:This is number one for me, so yeah.

Benny:I mean, when you walked out, he was just saying like, what an articulate bear.

Benny:And I said, that's really not a comment you can make.

Arctos:That's pretty messed up.

Johnny:One.

Benny:Listen, I approach every bear as if it can speak.

Johnny:You shouldn't do that.

Johnny:That's a bad idea.

Arctos:Okay, I have been bothering the other people, but you really should not do that.

Gamemaster:Absolutely.

Arctos:That's how you get eaten.

Arctos:As a child, I hope you don't do this when you go meet a bear.

Benny:Oh.

Johnny:Thank you.

Benny:Okay.

Anzu:I'm thinking that I'll take the lever that I might have just broken and just quickly test it in the reverse and see if there's any resistance there.

Gamemaster:So there is definitely some resistance if you start to move it in the reverse direction.

Anzu:I would stop.

Gamemaster:Okay.

Gamemaster:If you just ever so slightly touch the reverse, Johnny, since you were the other one that was on the platform, you watch the train start to slowly roll back into the tunnel.

Johnny:Oh, no.

Johnny:No.

Johnny:Go back.

Johnny:Stop.

Johnny:Anzu.

Anzu:Like, it's still moving even after I've gone back to the neutral position.

Gamemaster:Mm-hmm.

Anzu:Oh, gosh.

Anzu:And I broke it going forward.

Anzu:I put forward the broken...

Johnny:I just yell out as loud as I can.

Gamemaster:Okay, make an attack.

Johnny:Guys, the train's getting away.

Johnny:I will...

Johnny:I'll pull out just like a hunk of silver coins that I have in my pocket and I'll cast needle darts and just at the glass.

Benny:The Bard.

Johnny:What is my attack as the bard?

Johnny:Needle darts.

Johnny:Plus nine.

Johnny:That seems so low.

Johnny:What the heck?

Johnny:Seventeen.

Gamemaster:17 hits.

Gamemaster:It's a big old panel of glass.

Gamemaster:Roll damage.

Johnny:44.

Johnny:10 points of piercing damage.

Arctos:Who has the sound box?

Arctos:The music box?

Arctos:You should get that box over here, kid.

Benny:Bedward will run over.

Gamemaster:10 is enough to crack the glass.

Gamemaster:It's not enough to completely shatter it open.

Gamemaster:So you shoot these needle darts into the glass.

Gamemaster:They embed themselves in the front of the train's windshield, which does startle the moth.

Gamemaster:And it is now flapping wildly within the driver's cab of this train.

Anzu:I push forward just to see if it works at all.

Gamemaster:It is also still slowly continuing to roll backwards.

Johnny:Do it again.

Johnny:Is everyone else here yet?

Gamemaster:You push forward on the right lever.

Anzu:On the left.

Gamemaster:Oh, on the left lever.

Anzu:The one that I had broken.

Anzu:Theoretically broken.

Gamemaster:Okay, sure.

Gamemaster:Yeah, you push forward on it and it just falls into the forward position.

Gamemaster:Nothing seems to change.

Anzu:And the train keeps rolling backwards.

Gamemaster:Yes.

Anzu:Okay, then I got to take the other one and try the right lever in the forward position.

Arctos:Hey, uh, boy.

Gamemaster:Okay, there is still some resistance as you push it forward in the right direction.

Gamemaster:How much?

Gamemaster:Do you just push it a little bit to see what happens?

Anzu:I guess I'll give it just a tap and bring it back because that seemed to do something in reverse.

Gamemaster:Okay, you give it a tap and the train stops.

Johnny:I'm going again.

Johnny:Another needle darts.

Gamemaster:Okay, another attack.

Johnny:Another 17.

Gamemaster:That hits.

Gamemaster:At this point, where are the other two people?

Arctos:Benny got closer with his box.

Benny:Yeah, Benny is waiting with the sound box.

Gamemaster:Where is he waiting?

Benny:Beat box.

Gamemaster:Just like as close as he can get to the tunnel?

Gamemaster:Are you going onto the tracks?

Gamemaster:What is the... Okay.

Benny:No, not under the tracks.

Johnny:I got 12 points of piercing damage.

Arctos:I'll be right next to it.

Gamemaster:Okay.

Gamemaster:12 points.

Gamemaster:That is enough to shatter the front of the train.

Gamemaster:With that, the moth will fly right out.

Gamemaster:I need a reflex save from Benny.

Arctos:I was right next to him.

Arctos:Can I also attempt to grab him?

Johnny:Moth coming in.

Arctos:Or... Cool.

Gamemaster:Yeah, if you're trying to grab it, you can either make a reflex save or an athletics check.

Johnny:Moth coming in.

Arctos:That's okay.

Arctos:Was Benny's to grab or Benny to get hit?

Gamemaster:Benny, you tell me.

Arctos:Were you attempting to grab them off?

Gamemaster:What are you attempting to do as this moth flies by you?

Benny:Oh, the reflex thing would probably be to not get hit by the moth and to hit the button on the thing to try to capture whatever.

Gamemaster:Okay.

Gamemaster:With a 22, that is enough.

Gamemaster:As the moth tries to fly by, you hit the button, and the moth explodes into a burst of scales and gets sucked through the grate of the front of the box, which is now playing a very faint piano melody, as well as you can see that there is a very faint light that has just lit up on the opposite side from the button on the box.

Johnny:Oh.

Arctos:How many buttons are there?

Anzu:Nailed it!

Gamemaster:There's just one button.

Johnny:Boo!

Benny:That seems excessive.

Benny:Do we have to do this to three more moths now?

Benny:That seems mean.

Benny:I'll just mentally repress this.

Johnny:I feel like it's too warm up and then we got to fight ourselves to get our souls back.

Anzu:Probably just two more moths.

Johnny:Guys, if we were to fight us, everyone gang up on me first.

Benny:We're murdering moths and then ourselves?

Benny:It was a bad dream, right?

Arctos:Well, to be fair.

Anzu:Yeah, I actually didn't think the moth was going to explode like that.

Johnny:That was kind of graphic.

Benny:Did anyone think the moth was going to explode?

Johnny:I thought it would work.

Arctos:I raise a paw up.

Benny:You wanted me to explode the moth?

Anzu:You did not think that that moth was going to explode.

Arctos:I am wiser than you, children.

Johnny:Is Arctos on two legs or four legs?

Johnny:Because in those pictures, he was on two legs.

Arctos:He's on two.

Johnny:Wow.

Arctos:Yeah.

Johnny:Tall guy.

Arctos:It's core.

Gamemaster:When he runs, does he run on two legs?

Arctos:So fun fact, there's an awoken animal feat that you can have.

Arctos:that lets you use two actions to run, and it gives you a plus five movement speed to your strides.

Arctos:But if you relinquish everything you're holding, you get plus ten, because you can run on all fours.

Gamemaster:Of course.

Anzu:That's exciting.

Benny:All right, well, I guess we're the moth exploders now.

Benny:Hide your moths.

Benny:Then Benny will start to walk to the exits.

Arctos:As they're walking, Arctos is going to turn over to Johnny and be like,

Gamemaster:No.

Johnny:He's kind of in a weird place right now.

Arctos:It's just, like, a buck.

Arctos:I don't... Why do you guys care so much?

Johnny:He witnessed death for the first time yesterday.

Johnny:He really liked Argyle.

Arctos:Oh.

Johnny:I think he's kind of messed up right now.

Arctos:That's messed up, yeah.

Arctos:Probably seems like a decent guy.

Arctos:Yeah, I also meant Argyle, but, you know, the guy that's dead.

Johnny:Benny?

Johnny:Oh.

Johnny:I mean, I can't really give you...

Johnny:Like, one way or the other.

Johnny:We knew each other for a week.

Johnny:I liked him.

Johnny:You know?

Johnny:Given the chance, if he was, like, stuck in a purgatory somewhere right now, I'd go rescue him.

Johnny:But, I mean, he's gone.

Johnny:You know, he had the chance to reconstitute, but he just zipped on by.

Johnny:So, you know, his loss.

Arctos:Yeah, it's unfortunate.

Johnny:Anyway.

Johnny:Sorry I made rude bear comments.

Arctos:It's all right.

Arctos:You guys aren't used to... You know, that is... It's unfortunately very accurate.

Johnny:Do you like honey?

Arctos:I really do love honey.

Arctos:It's one of my favorite treats.

Johnny:I pull out a honey stick.

Johnny:I pull out two honey sticks.

Johnny:You want one?

Arctos:Oh, yeah.

Arctos:And he uses his long, bare tongue to go...

Anzu:A little sweet treat.

Johnny:We share honey sticks.

Johnny:We bond over these sweet treats.

Gamemaster:Is that a thing polar bears have?

Gamemaster:I don't know if they had a long tongue.

Arctos:Yeah, they do.

Arctos:You know, it's honey and I really do love marmalade.

Gamemaster:Gross.

Arctos:I need to start wearing a hat.

Johnny:Oh, I love a marmalade sandwich.

Arctos:I heard those are great storage vessels for it.

Johnny:We'll get you a hat.

Gamemaster:You're padding, Tim.

Johnny:We'll get you a bottomless hat.

Arctos:Yeah.

Johnny:Hat of sandwiches.

Anzu:Was there a speaker outside of this station?

Gamemaster:Not outside of the subway, no.

Gamemaster:There are, as far as you're aware, there are three speakers outside of the Savior's Soul Incorporated building, and there's one speaker outside of both the theater and the hotel.

Johnny:Do you guys want to do the theater or the hotel?

Anzu:The theater.

Johnny:Yes.

Arctos:I guess polar bears are one of the bears that don't have long tongues.

Benny:All right.

Johnny:Right answer.

Johnny:Correct answer.

Johnny:Theater.

Arctos:Theater.

Johnny:I start singing show tunes.

Gamemaster:Okay.

Anzu:He's singing Ragnar the Red.

Gamemaster:Absolutely.

Gamemaster:So we're in Skyrim now.

Gamemaster:He's Skyrim Bard.

Gamemaster:And you all head out of the subway station towards the theater.

Gamemaster:No perception check necessary.

Gamemaster:The...

Gamemaster:shapes that Arctos saw out of his periphery are much clearer now.

Benny:Thank you.

Gamemaster:There are these almost like silhouettes that you can see in your periphery walking around.

Arctos:Why?

Gamemaster:None of them seem to notice you or react to you in any way, but it does feel like there are things moving about in this space at the same time as you.

Anzu:Could you say that their appearance is similar to that of a shadow?

Gamemaster:I would say that their appearance is similar to that of a shadow, yes.

Johnny:Yeah, we didn't really ask a whole lot of why questions.

Anzu:We were told to look out for those.

Anzu:We didn't ask why.

Anzu:But he seemed really busy, so I didn't want to push our luck.

Arctos:I was just really shocked to see such a high-ranking guy over here.

Johnny:I feel like this is kind of important, whatever is happening here.

Benny:I feel like we ripped this life force from it.

Anzu:Yeah, I mean, we're in a kind of outside dimension.

Arctos:Yeah.

Anzu:I don't even know.

Anzu:Like, was that moth real?

Anzu:Was it like a theoretical moth?

Anzu:It's hard to say.

Arctos:Guys, it was a bug.

Arctos:It died.

Arctos:It's okay.

Arctos:We killed a bug.

Arctos:It's fine.

Gamemaster:You arrive in front of the Soundscape Theater.

Gamemaster:The entrance is boarded up by the looks of it, and there is a speaker and grate on a pole outside.

Gamemaster:There are windows to the front of this area, but they are similarly boarded up.

Anzu:Benny, I think we need to play the music near the speaker.

Benny:Okay.

Benny:Benny will point the music box, sound box towards the speaker and hit the button on top.

Gamemaster:Okay.

Gamemaster:You find that you have to get relatively close for it to do anything.

Gamemaster:You have to be within a few feet of the speaker.

Gamemaster:But when you do that and then you hit the button, you watch as the light on the opposite side of the box goes out.

Gamemaster:And this burst of moth scales.

Gamemaster:extends out of the speaker grate and into the speaker which begins playing that piano piece and you see that the front of the theater transforms as if time turns back

Gamemaster:20 years to whenever this theater was still in operation.

Gamemaster:It gets a new fresh coat of paint.

Gamemaster:The boarding in the front of the building almost melts away just into the ambient air.

Benny:We do.

Gamemaster:And you see a new refurbished opening of the Soundscape Theater.

Gamemaster:There is a revolving door at the front that you can use to move further into the theater itself, if you so choose.

Johnny:We so choose.

Gamemaster:Okay.

Arctos:I can make one.

Gamemaster:As you go in, I'd love a perception check.

Arctos:Oh.

Johnny:Yeah, I'll roll.

Gamemaster:Are you also rolling, Noah?

Johnny:I didn't get that great.

Gamemaster:Okay, absolutely.

Gamemaster:You guys walk into the entry area of a movie theater.

Johnny:Yeah.

Gamemaster:You know, good old Nickelodeon.

Gamemaster:Those of you who lived in cities have been to one of these before.

Gamemaster:This is the entry area before you get into the theater itself.

Gamemaster:It's this open lobby.

Gamemaster:It looks like there's some concession stands off to the side.

Gamemaster:There are a number of movie posters over on another side of the wall.

Gamemaster:It looks like there is a velvet rope area for people to line up to purchase tickets and then to enter the theater itself.

Gamemaster:And there are quite a few of these shadows milling about on the inside.

Gamemaster:Once again, nothing reacts to your presence, but it looks like there are a few waiting in line.

Gamemaster:There are a few kind of hanging off to one side.

Gamemaster:There are a few heading into the theater itself.

Gamemaster:Yes.

Arctos:I'm a cleric.

Arctos:Do I know anything about these shadows, or is this some spirit thing?

Gamemaster:You can make a religion check, but the DC is pretty high because you did not know about this area until 20 minutes ago.

Benny:you

Arctos:Okay.

Arctos:Yeah, and I'm not necessarily trying to know about these specific type of shadows, but do I have any hypothesis on spirits and things like that in this trapped purgatory?

Gamemaster:Roll a religion check.

Arctos:Was this... Never mind.

Gamemaster:This dev is weird.

Arctos:That doesn't matter.

Gamemaster:This is about what you would know.

Arctos:Was this about my own faith?

Arctos:Or is this about...

Arctos:Okay.

Gamemaster:Most of what you would know comes from your faith, so... Sure.

Arctos:So is this attempting a recall knowledge with the tenets of my own faith?

Arctos:So if I roll a failure, I get a success instead.

Gamemaster:What gives that to you?

Arctos:You didn't have the cannon.

Gamemaster:Oh, right.

Gamemaster:Right, right, right, right, right.

Johnny:me.

Gamemaster:OK.

Gamemaster:I'm just trying to figure out what to give you here.

Arctos:Yeah, I mean, I think this is more for, like, if I was talking about specifically host stuff.

Gamemaster:I think the answer is like the.

Gamemaster:Yeah, yeah.

Arctos:So if the host stuff that I know doesn't equate to this, I don't expect this to be like, you know exactly.

Gamemaster:The host stuff wouldn't talk about this area at all.

Arctos:Okay, so that's fine.

Gamemaster:The Iridescent Church's stance is that when you die, you go to the Godhome to join the host in the afterlife, but there's no mention of the step in the middle.

Arctos:Completely fair.

Arctos:Yeah, like if I got trained in religion from the guy here, the high-ranking host guy, I'd be like, I feel like it shouldn't apply.

Arctos:But I didn't, so.

Arctos:All right.

Arctos:I keep moving, I guess.

Benny:Split up and look for clues.

Johnny:Yeah, anywhere that might be.

Gamemaster:Okay, where are you going?

Gamemaster:What's the plan once you're in here?

Anzu:I feel like we got to check out the stage.

Arctos:Yeah.

Anzu:I think we're going to stick together and go to the stage as a unit.

Arctos:You want to split up?

Benny:No.

Benny:I read it somewhere.

Gamemaster:Okay, so you're trying to get to the stage?

Gamemaster:You're splitting up and looking for clues?

Benny:No, no, no.

Benny:We're going to the stage together.

Johnny:Mm-hmm.

Gamemaster:Okay.

Gamemaster:There is currently a line of people standing in front of a little desk where somebody looks like is...

Gamemaster:Like, ushering people through one at a time.

Gamemaster:Of course, they're shadows, and it doesn't look like they're saying words.

Gamemaster:You just see motions, but you do see people.

Arctos:You can wave online.

Gamemaster:Yeah, okay, that's fine.

Gamemaster:You get in line.

Gamemaster:Takes, like, maybe a minute or so to get to the front of the line.

Gamemaster:And then you see that the hallway that leads from the end of the line into the stage itself is collapsed.

Gamemaster:And there is a speaker mounted to a wall out front.

Arctos:Do we keep going?

Arctos:Sure.

Anzu:It's collapsed in that it is not passable.

Gamemaster:Correct.

Anzu:So, is there a ticket booth?

Gamemaster:Yeah, there's the ticket booth.

Anzu:Is there a moth hiding in it?

Gamemaster:I will allow you to roll another perception check to see if there's a moth hiding in it.

Anzu:Does someone else want to see?

Arctos:I can take a look.

Benny:i'll check

Johnny:I will guide the bear.

Anzu:Unless you want it to be me, Josh.

Johnny:I think that's actually a little higher than 26.

Anzu:That's up to you.

Gamemaster:No, you can bring it up and be like, hey, we need a moth.

Gamemaster:Can somebody look in the ticket booth for a moth?

Johnny:Mine is guidance or overture.

Gamemaster:Okay.

Gamemaster:Oh, you weren't looking.

Gamemaster:You were just trying to aid him.

Johnny:I climbed on the bear's back and I'm just pointing over his shoulder.

Gamemaster:Okay.

Gamemaster:So then that's a plus one because that's a success.

Gamemaster:So a 36 total.

Arctos:Yeah, his was the 35.

Arctos:All right, so 28.

Gamemaster:Oh, his was the 35.

Gamemaster:Okay, so that's a plus 2.

Gamemaster:So, 28.

Johnny:I thought you were saying the 35 was just a success.

Gamemaster:Oh, no, no, no.

Johnny:I was like, wow, that's crazy.

Gamemaster:Sorry, I misunderstood.

Gamemaster:Okay, so with that value, yeah, you can go over to the ticket booth.

Gamemaster:You have a peek in.

Gamemaster:No moth.

Gamemaster:There isn't a lot in the ticket booth.

Gamemaster:It's not like reinforced glass in the way that the ticket booth for the subway station was.

Gamemaster:This one, you can see behind it looks like they have a small ticket printer.

Gamemaster:They have like a listing of the current movies that are playing.

Gamemaster:Or movie, it's just one.

Benny:What's playing?

Gamemaster:Nothing else.

Gamemaster:The current movie is Song on Fire.

Arctos:Well, that's not a good sign.

Johnny:What on fire?

Gamemaster:Song.

Johnny:Saw.

Anzu:All right, well, hate that.

Anzu:Song?

Anzu:Like S-O-N-G?

Gamemaster:Song.

Gamemaster:Yes.

Gamemaster:Like music.

Anzu:Yeah, don't like that at all.

Arctos:Why don't you guys like that?

Gamemaster:Right, the bear just showed up and has no context.

Johnny:Oh yeah, you don't.

Arctos:Yeah, I'm totally with you guys, but like why?

Johnny:Uh, oh man, friend.

Johnny:We got a lot to catch you up on.

Johnny:We don't like the Embercall.

Arctos:Okay.

Arctos:Yeah.

Arctos:Fuck those guys.

Arctos:What'd they do?

Johnny:Bad people.

Gamemaster:Thank you.

Anzu:They're burning... They're burning stuff.

Benny:They're jacking our style.

Johnny:They... Yeah.

Johnny:They're burning stuff.

Johnny:We hate that.

Benny:We wish they wouldn't.

Anzu:Oh, and they're controlling people's minds.

Arctos:I feel like you guys should have led with that.

Benny:They're also filling PO boxes with nothing and tricking people into breaking into them.

Arctos:Do we know who?

Johnny:Empty P.O.

Arctos:Who's controlling the mines?

Johnny:boxes.

Johnny:We're getting there.

Benny:A wine controller.

Anzu:Let's try to see if they'll give us some tickets.

Benny:You think tickets will fix the wall or the hallway or the ceiling?

Benny:I guess several parts of the hallway.

Anzu:You know, we're in a theater.

Anzu:I'm just trying to play the part.

Benny:Okay.

Johnny:I appreciate it.

Gamemaster:Okay, yeah, you can go up to the ticket counter.

Benny:Can I have some money to buy candy?

Anzu:Four tickets to the show, please.

Gamemaster:There is a concession stand, so you could also go and buy candy if you wanted to.

Gamemaster:But yeah, if you want, you can walk up to the ticket counter.

Gamemaster:You save four tickets to the show.

Gamemaster:There's a shadow behind the counter that does not seem to react to your presence whatsoever.

Benny:Any shadows react to our presence.

Gamemaster:Not that you've seen.

Johnny:Do we offer money?

Anzu:No, we haven't offered money yet.

Gamemaster:Did you offer money?

Johnny:I'll say, four tickets, please, and put down four gold.

Gamemaster:Okay.

Gamemaster:You put down four gold.

Gamemaster:You watch as the shade goes, picks up the four gold, puts it into a cash register.

Johnny:Where are my tickets?

Johnny:Hey.

Johnny:Guy.

Johnny:Where's my tickets?

Johnny:Guy.

Gamemaster:No reaction.

Anzu:They're very greedy here in the Black and White.

Arctos:This seems illegal.

Johnny:Just take stuff.

Johnny:That's someone cool.

Benny:Are the shadows moving around?

Benny:Are some of them going down the hallway?

Gamemaster:Yeah, you watch some of them just kind of phase right through the role.

Benny:Speaker.

Johnny:And you said there was another speaker over there?

Johnny:I wonder if we have to go to the theater first.

Johnny:Not theater.

Johnny:The hotel.

Arctos:What have you tried playing the music here?

Benny:Does the box have any more juice or no?

Gamemaster:It does not.

Gamemaster:You watched the light go out when you put the sound to the speaker out front.

Johnny:Maybe we can get the sound back from the speaker.

Benny:the hotel well we go to the speaker in front yeah

Anzu:Yeah, probably, but then we'll have to go to the hotel instead.

Johnny:Maybe we need two though.

Johnny:Let's try the hotel.

Johnny:Let's see what's at the hotel.

Gamemaster:Okay, so you leave the theater and you head over to the hotel.

Gamemaster:The hotel is boarded up.

Gamemaster:There's a speaker up front.

Anzu:Wait, wait, wait.

Anzu:First, we gotta suck.

Gamemaster:Okay, yeah, absolutely.

Gamemaster:So if you stand near the speaker and hit the button on the voice box, the moth scales flow out of the speaker into the box itself.

Gamemaster:The movie theater boards itself back up and gains another 20 years of neglect.

Gamemaster:But you now have a light in your voice box.

Anzu:Thank you.

Johnny:To the theater?

Benny:To the hotel.

Johnny:Hotel?

Gamemaster:Absolutely.

Gamemaster:You go over to the Horizon Gate Hotel, deposit the music into the speaker up front, I assume.

Gamemaster:When you do so, a similar thing happens.

Gamemaster:The whole building looks like it gets refurbished.

Gamemaster:The boards just kind of melt away, and there is an entrance into the hotel itself.

Gamemaster:Okay, absolutely.

Gamemaster:You guys enter into the hotel for the, I guess, third time, depending on how you define lobby.

Benny:Thank you.

Gamemaster:You walk into a lobby.

Gamemaster:This is the entrance to the hotel.

Gamemaster:When you walk in, to your left looks like a little reception check-in area.

Gamemaster:You see moving forward, it looks like there's a hallway that extends forward towards the rooms of the hotel.

Gamemaster:And also, once the fourth one of you enters, the entryway that you guys walked into collapses.

Gamemaster:Roll a perception check, please.

Arctos:I'll let Benny be one of the rollers.

Benny:I shall also let Benny be one of the rulers.

Gamemaster:Was that 22 and 8 or to perceive?

Johnny:That was to perceive.

Arctos:Even though he's worse at it, I will let the child have a chance.

Johnny:Sorry.

Johnny:I should announce.

Gamemaster:Okay.

Gamemaster:Okay, so with a...

Gamemaster:22.

Gamemaster:Looking around, the entrance that you used to get in here has caved in.

Gamemaster:It looks like you are now blocked from leaving.

Gamemaster:You do note that next to the front doorway, next to this caved-in area, there are actually two speakers mounted on the wall, one on each side.

Gamemaster:In addition, directly in front of you is the hallway that extends further into the building itself, which similarly had a collapse.

Gamemaster:blocking off part of the way forward.

Gamemaster:And actually, it would be easier if you guys could go to https://btl.iridi.cc, just so that you could kind of get a vibe here.

Arctos:I actually liked the warning because I'm so excited to see what this is going to look like.

Gamemaster:Do not expect the quality of map that you have received in the past, because this one was drawn.

Gamemaster:But it's fine.

Johnny:Yeah, we're back.

Gamemaster:It's just some lines.

Arctos:Oh yeah, that's fine.

Arctos:I was expecting something awful.

Arctos:Arctos looks so cool.

Gamemaster:Um, so behind you is the caved in wall with the two speakers, uh, directly in front of you is the entrance to the hallway.

Gamemaster:Uh, there is a door into the room on the left.

Gamemaster:It looks like room 101.

Gamemaster:Uh, that door is currently ajar.

Gamemaster:Um, there is in addition, um, it looks like the wall going into 102, the room on the right has just caved in and it's now whole that you can walk through.

Gamemaster:Um,

Gamemaster:And there is a cave-in directly in front of you, preventing you from moving forward into this hallway, where it looks like a speaker has actually been mounted to the side of the wall here, and is actively playing music.

Gamemaster:In room 101, the room on the left, this is a standard hotel room, relatively sparse, pretty cookie-cutter.

Gamemaster:There's a bed, there's a dresser, there's like an end table, and it also looks like...

Gamemaster:There is a speaker in this room as well, also playing music actively right now, very soft piano music coming from it.

Gamemaster:If you go through the cave-in to the right into 102, you can see that this room by the cave-in has kind of been partitioned in half.

Gamemaster:There are gaps in the bit of the wall that has caved in that you can see through, so you can see to the other side of the room here.

Gamemaster:You just can't get to it from where you currently are, where you see that there is, in addition, a speaker in this room, which appears to be off.

Johnny:Okay.

Johnny:Can you, I'm so sorry, there's a lot of speakers.

Johnny:Can you go over which one's playing music again?

Johnny:No, can you?

Gamemaster:Let me see if I have a way of, I should be able to color these.

Arctos:I like how there's a wall that we can't pass through, but we can see through.

Gamemaster:Yeah, you can look through it, but you can't go there.

Benny:Travel through music.

Gamemaster:Okay.

Arctos:Do you guys know how to travel through music yet?

Gamemaster:Green is on.

Arctos:No, no, no.

Arctos:I just figured you guys might be able to.

Johnny:Oh, well, you said it sort of sounded like you could.

Arctos:Oh, you mean the yet?

Arctos:Yeah.

Arctos:I have a bad tendency to just put yet at the end of things.

Gamemaster:Okay.

Johnny:Do you yet?

Benny:do you yet understand benny will take the box and go into room 101 and attempt to store the sound

Anzu:Two of these speakers are playing stuff.

Gamemaster:Absolutely.

Gamemaster:You hit the button and you watch as the Scale's come out of the speaker.

Gamemaster:The speaker stops playing.

Gamemaster:And you watch as some of the wall directing in front of you next to the speaker crumbles in and creates a hole that allows you to move forward to what you would imagine would be 103.

Johnny:Oh, excellent.

Anzu:Great.

Johnny:Yeah.

Anzu:See.

Johnny:Okay.

Johnny:Empty.

Benny:now i take the charge and how close to i need to be closer than this to get to the other one i try

Gamemaster:You think you might be able to get that one?

Gamemaster:You could try, if you like.

Arctos:Can I hold multiple charges?

Gamemaster:Absolutely.

Gamemaster:You, standing from the debris, you hit the button and you watch as the skills come out of the speaker into this one and activate it as well.

Gamemaster:which you can see when that happens, the hole that goes into the room further beyond seals itself back up as the speaker starts playing, but you watch as a door on the left of the room does open into the hallway.

Benny:Can I take from this other one in the hallway?

Gamemaster:Unfortunately, that opening is beyond one of the cave-ins in the hallway itself.

Anzu:Perfect.

Gamemaster:Yeah, you absolutely can.

Gamemaster:As you do so, poor Arctos gets trapped in the room that he's in as room 101 collapses down so that you can't pass through it anymore.

Gamemaster:But the hallway that you're currently in rebuilds itself and opens back up.

Johnny:Okay, so we got to get ArcDesign and then get these two.

Arctos:Why did you say perfect?

Anzu:I was just making a joke.

Anzu:You can't hear because the wall is there.

Arctos:It's messed up.

Benny:Benny would like to power this back up so we can get Arctos out.

Benny:Okay, then depower it.

Gamemaster:Yeah, absolutely.

Arctos:I was really hoping I was going to be ahead of everyone by being in that room and then another door was going to open.

Benny:Benny will drop off a charge at this left one at the entrance.

Gamemaster:Sure, absolutely.

Gamemaster:So the left one is now green.

Benny:and then siphon this one up here in room 102.

Anzu:Johnny, get in.

Gamemaster:Okay.

Johnny:Oh, God.

Johnny:Oh, there we go.

Gamemaster:John's trapped.

Gamemaster:You find yourselves in room 103.

Gamemaster:Unfortunately, the doorway from here out into the hallway is similarly blocked, but you can see through it into the hallway where you can see that there is a speaker in the hallway as well.

Arctos:Can he reach the music box from here?

Gamemaster:He currently doesn't have any charges in the voice box.

Johnny:Okay.

Arctos:Pull this one.

Johnny:Oh.

Arctos:Pull this one.

Anzu:I think you're gonna have to take both.

Benny:Yeah, if I pull... Yeah.

Anzu:Go and grab the other one too.

Benny:I'll pull this one.

Gamemaster:Okay.

Gamemaster:You pull that one.

Arctos:This is fun.

Benny:Bye, everybody.

Benny:Can I siphon this at the same time that I already have a charge in?

Anzu:Do you guys think he's coming back?

Gamemaster:You can.

Gamemaster:You watch a second light show up on the voice box.

Anzu:A second light has hit the voice box.

Gamemaster:And then I assume you turn that one back on so that you can... Sorry, you siphon that one back out.

Benny:All right.

Arctos:That was a spicy one, Tanner.

Arctos:That deserves a song.

Gamemaster:So you now have two charges.

Benny:I think I have... I think I have...

Johnny:I love it.

Gamemaster:What are you doing?

Arctos:I made a custom sound for us, which is part of the Voidsong.

Arctos:But the Voidsong's very long, so I only clipped the first four seconds.

Gamemaster:Yeah, I uploaded it.

Gamemaster:Oh, and it has the deep icon, too.

Gamemaster:That's fun.

Benny:uh so this is this is possible right because earlier i was in here with zero charges but now i have okay yeah

Gamemaster:I did not expect that.

Gamemaster:Right, now you have two.

Gamemaster:So are you trying to do it into this top left one?

Gamemaster:Okay, absolutely.

Gamemaster:You do that, and you see as a door in 103, the room across the hall appears and opens.

Arctos:I knew I should have been there.

Benny:Can we get back with just one charge?

Benny:I think we can.

Benny:Put one charge in here.

Benny:No, we do.

Gamemaster:Okay.

Anzu:wait i thought that one had was charged to keep that open and now you have to pull from it

Johnny:Oh, God, I did not get back to that stuff.

Benny:We do need to.

Johnny:Wait, guys, I'm stuck in the other room.

Gamemaster:One second.

Gamemaster:One second, let me let you go through.

Benny:Don't worry, we're opening it back up.

Johnny:Oh, wait, we're going back this way.

Arctos:I can be there long game.

Arctos:I can wait in there long game.

Benny:And then I'll...

Gamemaster:Okay, yeah, so one second.

Gamemaster:Now it's off.

Gamemaster:It is currently off.

Benny:uh okay can i turn the the top left one off as well but we got to get someone in that room i think i need both let me check but we can't get out now you're out but we're not yeah i know i'm saying yeah

Anzu:No, I think that one's got to stay.

Gamemaster:Yes, you can.

Anzu:I think we'll only need the... I don't think we'll need both.

Anzu:I think that one has to stay.

Arctos:But you have two, right?

Arctos:So you can open up.

Anzu:You should have a second charge now.

Anzu:And then if you light the one that you're right in front of back up, it'll open to me.

Benny:Yeah, but then we still have to open 101.

Anzu:That only takes one charge.

Johnny:Thank you.

Benny:Yeah, so we need one to open to get me to give the other charge to 101.

Gamemaster:Okay.

Anzu:I'm starting to see what you're discussing.

Arctos:Let me open this one.

Anzu:And I accept.

Benny:Yeah.

Benny:So we'll deposit in this guy nearest Benny.

Benny:and then deposit in this other guy nearest Benny.

Arctos:I like how Ser Arctos looks like a skinny legend in his artwork.

Gamemaster:I... I'm sorry.

Arctos:He's very trim.

Gamemaster:I... Okay.

Arctos:No, no, I'm not insulting.

Arctos:It looks great.

Johnny:Skinny bear.

Benny:Benny will then remove the one that he's nearest.

Benny:And then remove this second one now that he's nearest.

Anzu:Thank you.

Gamemaster:Okay.

Benny:And then he will donate to the top left.

Gamemaster:Okay.

Gamemaster:The three of you, now on the other side of this area... Oh no, I didn't put a wall there!

Arctos:our guy runs like a house cat that sees a door open

Gamemaster:One second.

Gamemaster:He's escaped!

Johnny:He's out.

Gamemaster:Okay.

Gamemaster:I didn't realize I put a wall there.

Gamemaster:There is another cave-in preventing further entry into the rest of this hotel, but there is also a speaker that is currently playing music.

Benny:Is Benny able to pass the thing through here or no?

Gamemaster:No, it's way too tight for you to physically move anything through.

Gamemaster:You do currently have one charge, yes.

Anzu:You just see my dark raven eye just right up against the hole looking through.

Anzu:It opened up, but we need you over here with the box.

Johnny:horrifying.

Arctos:Mind bird.

Benny:Let's see.

Benny:Okay, so I'll see if I can leave that open.

Benny:I still have one charge, I guess.

Benny:Yeah, well... But if I deposit it in here, the door will open, but then I'm not able to gain a second charge.

Anzu:um yeah now that we're here

Arctos:What if you put what if you pull this one?

Benny:Oh, yeah, now that you're there.

Benny:But then how will the box get there?

Benny:So if I pull that one...

Benny:The door will close.

Benny:I'll have enough to get into room 101 and the secondary room.

Arctos:We have to make use of this third shot somehow.

Benny:But how will that one be lit?

Benny:Well, yeah, but we have to get the third charge.

Arctos:Can I resonate with that?

Arctos:No, that's not going to work.

Gamemaster:Okay.

Benny:So Benny will deposit...

Benny:Benny will deposit a charge here.

Benny:And then Benny will deposit a charge here.

Arctos:Are there any of the lower ones that might also trigger this?

Arctos:You know, there was two at the bottom of the map.

Anzu:Yeah, you could see what charging both of the ones down low will do, although my assumption is that lets us leave.

Benny:Powering this effectively does nothing.

Benny:It closes more doors.

Benny:This is the one in front of Benny.

Benny:It closes a door and opens one when activated.

Benny:So you can take it with you, but you have to leave it if you're leaving backwards.

Benny:um oh you can just click and you'll well you'll deselect and you'll just see all player character yeah

Anzu:you

Arctos:Unfortunately, it's hard to help when I can't see him.

Gamemaster:yeah why don't you share your screen i don't i'm curious to see what it looks like to you guys because i have the gm view which has no like hidden areas at all

Arctos:That's true.

Arctos:Okay.

Arctos:Sorry.

Arctos:So you could pull that extra one right now, right?

Johnny:So you click on your character and it looks right.

Arctos:So this is what it looks like for bear.

Gamemaster:Okay, and what happens if you deselect your character?

Gamemaster:Oh, that's fun.

Gamemaster:Okay, that works.

Benny:So, yeah, we'll try.

Benny:We'll try.

Benny:No, lighting both.

Arctos:Wait, so you can pull...

Arctos:Wait, so which one do you need to power to get the door open so you can come into our area?

Benny:The one that Johnny is standing next to.

Benny:Can I pull a charge from both of them?

Gamemaster:Yeah.

Arctos:Hmm.

Benny:And if I deposit one in each down here, what does it do?

Gamemaster:The front entrance, the front door, uncollapses and allows you safe exit.

Johnny:Yeah, actually, but I have to have line of sight and only it only goes a little bit.

Benny:Benny leaves.

Gamemaster:Okay.

Arctos:Do any of you guys know how to teleport yet?

Benny:So Benny will grab both charges.

Gamemaster:Absolutely.

Gamemaster:And I'm not going to allow you to use it to go through the blue window areas.

Gamemaster:I promise there is a solution to this.

Benny:Benny will activate the one that he's nearest.

Gamemaster:I like quadruple checked to make sure I wasn't subjecting you guys to an impossible puzzle.

Arctos:What happens when you activate... You can't activate through the wall, right?

Benny:Like this one?

Benny:I could probably activate this one standing here, but then I think I'd trap myself.

Arctos:Yeah, try that.

Arctos:Oh.

Anzu:But what happens if you do power that from where you are now?

Benny:almost yeah i'm almost certain this would just trap benny what here i'll power it this just closes off the other one

Anzu:Yeah, I forget what that one does.

Gamemaster:It's now powered.

Gamemaster:You watch as the wall that separates 101 and 103 seals back up.

Arctos:Alright, can you... Can you go left and then pull that one?

Anzu:you you

Arctos:I don't know what this extra use will give you.

Benny:left and pull which one yeah can uh benny but can benny activate the one that he's nearest oh yeah take it out yeah

Gamemaster:Oh, which one?

Arctos:No, that'd block you.

Arctos:That'd block you in, huh?

Arctos:We have to somehow get this third one.

Gamemaster:It's currently active.

Gamemaster:Do you want to take the sound out?

Arctos:Have you activate that now?

Benny:What, this one?

Arctos:Yeah.

Benny:Yeah, I mean, this will close, yeah, close the other door and open this one.

Benny:And then if I deactivate it, I can go into this room with two charges.

Anzu:Thank you.

Arctos:And when you activate that yellow one again, that opens that door there.

Arctos:And now you have one charge.

Benny:Do I need two charges to leave?

Benny:Am I crazy?

Arctos:Open that one.

Benny:Oh, yeah.

Arctos:Right?

Benny:Okay.

Benny:Yeah.

Benny:I'll activate this one and then pull it when I'm out here.

Arctos:And then go out.

Arctos:Yeah.

Arctos:Yeah, and then pull it from the bottom left.

Arctos:Bottom right.

Anzu:Does nothing happen when he takes that charge?

Benny:And then I'll activate this one.

Benny:So now I have no charges.

Arctos:Yeah.

Arctos:Which is good, because you're with us.

Arctos:And now you pull both of them.

Benny:Yeah.

Benny:Pull the top charge.

Gamemaster:Okay.

Johnny:you

Gamemaster:You now have one charge.

Benny:You guys need to leave.

Arctos:We exit.

Gamemaster:Some of the surrounding rubble shifts, but not enough for you to actually pass through to the next area.

Anzu:With a charge.

Benny:then i'll take this one and then i will take the final and then i'll place one either for a second i was like

Gamemaster:Okay.

Gamemaster:You have two charges now.

Gamemaster:Okay.

Gamemaster:You have three charges now.

Gamemaster:And then you deposit two of the three charges you currently have, and that does open the door, allowing you exit back out into the plaza.

Arctos:Boo!

Johnny:In Charge gets us all the way down.

Gamemaster:With a charge.

Benny:Didn't we come in here with a charge?

Gamemaster:Yes.

Benny:What the hell was this all about?

Benny:I was like, oh, no, no.

Benny:The first charge opened the whole building.

Benny:Okay.

Gamemaster:Yeah.

Anzu:But we are going to have to take that with us, the building charge.

Benny:Yes.

Gamemaster:Yeah, so you have exited out into the plaza now with one charge in your speaker and access to one more via the pole that you used to unlock the hotel in the first place.

Gamemaster:Roll a perception check, please.

Benny:To the theater.

Arctos:Call number one.

Anzu:Oh, no.

Johnny:I can perceive.

Gamemaster:Also, in case you were curious, I don't know if this affects anything since you've already solved it.

Johnny:Perceive.

Johnny:Oh, there's so many.

Gamemaster:That was the whole area.

Anzu:Oh, look at all those charges outside the walls.

Benny:Thank you.

Gamemaster:That's how I was marking them.

Gamemaster:I really should have just made three and then tracked them from one point to another so that I could keep track of how many you had, but instead I have one for each.

Gamemaster:It's fine.

Gamemaster:Either way, what did we get from the perception check?

Arctos:Arctur's got a 17.

Arctos:Tangible?

Johnny:I got a 26 for perceiving.

Gamemaster:Okay.

Gamemaster:Okay, with a 26, two things of note.

Gamemaster:One, the shadows are a bit more...

Benny:Thank you.

Gamemaster:opaque than they were before.

Gamemaster:I wouldn't necessarily say tangible.

Gamemaster:None of you have actually physically come into contact with one, but they are less translucent than they used to be before.

Gamemaster:It used to be that you could only really see them in your periphery.

Gamemaster:If you look too close at them, they'd become almost mostly see-through.

Arctos:Uh-huh.

Gamemaster:Now, as they walk through, it's just kind of these shadows walking through the plaza and like...

Anzu:This is going to get dicey in the future.

Gamemaster:In addition, with the 26, every once in a while, it feels like in your periphery, out of the movement of all of them, there's one or two that's stationary.

Gamemaster:And when you look in the direction of the one that's stationary, it for a second looks like it's facing directly at you before it just kind of fades into the background.

Johnny:Hmm.

Arctos:Yes.

Anzu:But we don't have a choice.

Anzu:We have to move forward.

Anzu:To the theater!

Gamemaster:Okay, absolutely.

Arctos:We take this one out in the front so we have two.

Gamemaster:You go back to the theater.

Gamemaster:Yep, you have two charges in your speaker right now, in your voice box.

Benny:Open the theater.

Gamemaster:Okay, you spend one of them to open up the theater.

Gamemaster:Opens up back into that lobby that you had been previously.

Benny:To the broken hallway.

Gamemaster:Absolutely.

Gamemaster:You go up to the hallway that is the entrance into the theater itself, and you can spend the second charge.

Gamemaster:And you watch as the entrance uncollapses and reveals entryway into the theater itself.

Gamemaster:This is a ye olden times theater, so they only have one.

Gamemaster:It's not like there's 20 of them.

Gamemaster:So this hallway just leads from the lobby directly into the theater area.

Gamemaster:I'd love a perception check as you walk in.

Gamemaster:from one or two or none.

Arctos:I'll roll one.

Arctos:18.

Gamemaster:If you'd all choose to not perceive, which is an option, you can do that as well.

Johnny:I'll receive 28.

Anzu:Thank you.

Gamemaster:28, okay.

Arctos:What's the new DC?

Benny:you

Arctos:Is it 18 or 19?

Gamemaster:The current level base DC at level three is 18.

Arctos:Gotcha, gotcha.

Gamemaster:A 28 is very good.

Arctos:Good job.

Gamemaster:So as you walk into this theater, you see that you have walked into a mostly empty movie theater.

Gamemaster:There's a projector directly overhead somewhere above you that is projected onto the screen in front.

Gamemaster:It looks like you've come near the end of a showing.

Gamemaster:of the movie, which would explain why it's particularly empty at this point.

Gamemaster:It looks like there's only a handful of people in the crowd.

Gamemaster:Of note, with a 28, you note two things.

Gamemaster:The first is amongst the crowd, there are a few...

Gamemaster:shadows set closer up to the front, closer towards the beginning, that each look like they're almost sparkling a little bit.

Benny:you you

Gamemaster:And you can hear very faint piano music coming from them, like almost chime-like in that direction.

Gamemaster:uh the other thing you note is uh because you got here near the end of the movie you do actually see the credits rolling by um and you because you crit on the perception you manage to catch a few of the names on the credits uh and so you see it says uh song of fire uh and as it passes by it like lists the top billings uh and you see uh helena ashcroft is the spark

Gamemaster:Tywelwyn Leatherhide as the Kindling, Elara Vance as the Antenna, and Pyre as the Outer God, before it gets into, like, Cameramen and all of that kind of stuff.

Johnny:Wait, one moment.

Johnny:I need to write those down.

Gamemaster:Okay.

Johnny:Can you repeat Helena what?

Gamemaster:Helena Ashcroft as the Spark.

Gamemaster:Tywelwyn Leatherhide as the Kindling.

Arctos:Did we run into her in a one-shot?

Gamemaster:Elara Vance, E-L-A-R-A, Vance as the antenna, and Pyre as the outer god.

Johnny:Higher.

Gamemaster:Pyre.

Arctos:There's a new guy down there.

Johnny:That's not good.

Johnny:An outer god?

Johnny:A new outer god?

Gamemaster:Uh-huh.

Johnny:Oh, no.

Gamemaster:Well, that's how they're built in the movie.

Gamemaster:That's who they were playing.

Benny:Why does Pyre sound familiar?

Arctos:Did we run into the spark, that name in a one-shot?

Johnny:Yeah, we ran...

Gamemaster:You've run into somebody called The Spark.

Gamemaster:Yes.

Gamemaster:You wouldn't have run into Helena Ashcroft, but The Spark was the person in Teller's Run that you guys bumped into that said some nice things to you.

Arctos:Gotcha.

Arctos:Yeah.

Arctos:Alright, so we gotta go beat up those sparkling ones, huh?

Arctos:Steal their sound.

Johnny:I guess so

Benny:Wait, wasn't like two speakers playing music mentioned?

Gamemaster:No.

Benny:Was it two?

Benny:No?

Benny:I'm losing my mind.

Gamemaster:There are a number of shades, shadows, that are playing that kind of music in front of you, but it's four of them that have been helpfully marked on their map.

Arctos:Oh, is this on BTA?

Gamemaster:Oh, yeah.

Johnny:Oh, it's an actual theater map.

Arctos:Oh.

Johnny:Okay.

Arctos:What are the odds?

Arctos:Fancy.

Arctos:Kind.

Johnny:I'm behind.

Johnny:Let's see here.

Johnny:Well, maybe we can just walk up to one and press the voice box and try and... Oh, this is a neat map.

Johnny:This is cool.

Benny:Sure.

Benny:Benny will walk up to Shay4 and press the voice box.

Gamemaster:Okay, absolutely.

Gamemaster:Stop moving.

Gamemaster:All of you, stop moving.

Arctos:All right.

Arctos:I'm just getting next to Betty.

Benny:They've frozen us!

Gamemaster:Stop moving.

Benny:They've frozen us!

Benny:I knew this would happen!

Gamemaster:Benny walks up to Shay4, hits the button on the voice box.

Gamemaster:Do me a favor and roll a d6 for me, please.

Benny:Why?

Benny:Thank you.

Gamemaster:Okay, you deal five points of piercing damage as it looks like some ambient scales, moth wing scales, floating around on the inside of the shade try and pull themselves out of the shade and spring back.

Gamemaster:And we're going to enter combat as you have unfortunately taken an aggressive action.

Anzu:Do you think that we could have used diplomacy to convince them to give us their life essence?

Johnny:Probably.

Johnny:Josh, since this is the theater, can I use performance for initiative?

Gamemaster:No.

Gamemaster:Although that is a good try.

Gamemaster:You don't get to roll performance for every check you make the whole session.

Gamemaster:That's illegal.

Johnny:Next level, I'll get to roll it for every initiative.

Johnny:You can't stop me.

Gamemaster:Yeah, that's fair.

Benny:Oh.

Gamemaster:Where is this?

Gamemaster:Initiatives.

Gamemaster:Okay.

Gamemaster:We will begin the encounter with Shay 2 that sees this attack, faces the rest of you, and you watch as its head just fully detaches from the body and launches itself at Benny, who made the aggressive motion.

Gamemaster:Oh, no.

Gamemaster:Hits.

Johnny:Mm-hmm.

Arctos:I don't see any roles.

Gamemaster:So I'm going to roll.

Gamemaster:You don't see any rolls?

Gamemaster:Do the rest of you see the roll that I just made?

Arctos:No.

Gamemaster:OK, so can you maybe refresh, Jorge, to see if it pops up?

Benny:Yeah.

Arctos:Okay.

Arctos:For the record, I have two character options.

Arctos:So I have mine and Argo.

Arctos:I don't know if that's... Alright, I see him now.

Arctos:I see him now.

Arctos:Okay, cool.

Gamemaster:Okay, good.

Gamemaster:I'm going to roll damage.

Gamemaster:You're going to take 11 points of piercing and cold damage.

Gamemaster:And you watch as the head just fully reforms on the shade.

Arctos:I wonder if these are undead.

Gamemaster:And it will spend another action to go over here, and it's probably just going to attack Johnny.

Benny:Thank you.

Arctos:If you do any recall knowledge, find out if they're undead.

Arctos:Or void healing.

Anzu:Yeah.

Johnny:Why are you attacking me, guy?

Johnny:I didn't do anything.

Johnny:You jerk.

Gamemaster:That hits.

Gamemaster:So you're going to take seven points of piercing and cold damage.

Johnny:Didn't even do anything to this guy.

Johnny:What a jerk.

Gamemaster:And that is the end of his turn.

Gamemaster:Johnny, it's your turn.

Johnny:First, I will...

Johnny:Do a courageous anthem with a lingering composition.

Johnny:Cast this.

Johnny:Do my performance check.

Johnny:Perform.

Johnny:Oh, that was so sad.

Johnny:15.

Johnny:That fails.

Johnny:Oh, gosh.

Gamemaster:It does.

Gamemaster:So your composition lasts around, but you don't spend a focus point.

Johnny:The reason it fails is because I yell Macbeth a whole bunch.

Johnny:That's a theater joke.

Benny:Yes.

Gamemaster:Absolutely.

Johnny:I just yell Macbeth a whole lot.

Johnny:Then I will Flourish cast... I'll wave my hands and I will just throw out some glitter and I will cast Illusory Creature.

Gamemaster:Works a little bit.

Johnny:This is the most confusing spell I've ever seen.

Gamemaster:Okay.

Gamemaster:You make an illusory creature of your choice, large or smaller.

Gamemaster:What creature is it?

Johnny:Um, it's Argyle, but a massive, large Argyle.

Johnny:Like, he's hulked out.

Johnny:And his suit is, like, torn to shreds.

Johnny:And he has, uh, what are these guys?

Johnny:They're thoughts?

Johnny:He just has, like, two massive, glowing, radiant katanas.

Arctos:No, Argyle.

Gamemaster:Absolutely.

Gamemaster:Okay, so Giant Hulk Arctos with Katanas.

Johnny:Argyle.

Gamemaster:Oh, Argyle, sorry.

Gamemaster:Argyle with Katanas.

Gamemaster:Can't speak in that it can't make sounds, but you can make sounds and it'll come out from Argyle.

Gamemaster:And as part of casting in each turn when you sustain it, you get two actions, which you can use to strike if you like, which uses your spell attack bonus to make the strike.

Johnny:okay so it's a really good summon spell yeah um so i would like to summon it i don't know how do we have like a token i can use

Arctos:So this is just a better summon.

Gamemaster:There's a little bit of a contingent thing here.

Arctos:Because mostly... Okay.

Gamemaster:When you make an attack, that enemy gets to make a perception check to disbelieve it, and if it does, it just stops being able to do things.

Gamemaster:Yeah, one second.

Gamemaster:I'm going to give you... I think I'm just going to give you Argyle.

Johnny:Nice.

Johnny:But large.

Gamemaster:to use as, yeah, I'll give you a large Argyle.

Johnny:I want it to be a large Argyle.

Benny:We need this guy for a battle and he shows up dead.

Johnny:Largyle.

Arctos:Oh.

Johnny:Oh, God.

Gamemaster:Oh, no, he came with all of his, please, one second, I'm sorry, he's dying.

Johnny:He's dead.

Gamemaster:Let me make him, let me make him large.

Benny:You can't show up dead.

Johnny:He's just a dead Argyle.

Johnny:Oh, God.

Gamemaster:One second.

Johnny:I can't get the image out of my head.

Benny:Does anyone know that joke?

Arctos:Oh.

Benny:You can't show up dead.

Benny:It's a scary movie joke where it's just like, and then the guy wakes up dead.

Gamemaster:Unfortunately not.

Benny:He's just like, you can't wake up dead.

Benny:You're dead.

Benny:You can't wake up at all.

Benny:What do you mean he woke up dead?

Benny:And then he turned up missing.

Benny:It's like, that's another thing.

Benny:You can't turn up missing.

Benny:If you turn up, you're not missing.

Benny:And they do that like six times in a single movie.

Johnny:He's large, so does he have reach?

Johnny:Would he already have to stand next to this dude?

Gamemaster:No, he'd still have to stand next to him.

Gamemaster:You don't get all of the min-maxed benefits that Argyle had just because you summoned him.

Johnny:Okay, so I would... Okay, well, I'll have him stand right next to this guy.

Johnny:Other questions?

Gamemaster:Okay.

Johnny:Yeah, I'll have him stand right there.

Johnny:Other questions?

Johnny:So I Flourish Cast this.

Johnny:In combat, let's see here, so...

Gamemaster:When you sustain it, it gets two actions.

Gamemaster:You used one for it to... Oh, actually, I don't know.

Gamemaster:Do you get one when you first cast the spell?

Johnny:I'm trying to see.

Gamemaster:I assume yes.

Johnny:Okay.

Johnny:There's so much text here.

Johnny:I should have read this closer.

Johnny:I'm so sorry.

Johnny:In combat, the illusion can use two actions per turn, which is used when you sustain the spell.

Gamemaster:I will give the two actions to you as part of casting it.

Johnny:It just doesn't use sustain the spell.

Johnny:So can I get an action on this turn?

Johnny:Then it's just going to swipe this dude who attacked me twice.

Gamemaster:Okay.

Gamemaster:So you're making a spell attack roll with your normal spell attack modifier.

Gamemaster:It will have map on the second attack because it's an attack.

Gamemaster:So roll the first one and then after that we can roll the second one.

Johnny:Cool.

Johnny:This is going to be needle darts, but it's actually me attacking as RL.

Benny:you

Gamemaster:You just have a plus 10 to your roll.

Johnny:Needle darts.

Gamemaster:Okay, a 22 does hit.

Gamemaster:So now you roll 3d4 plus 1 mental damage.

Johnny:um so

Gamemaster:And I am going to roll a perception check for the shade to see if it knows that it's a...

Gamemaster:Okay, so you deal 8 points of damage to the shade.

Benny:Thank you.

Gamemaster:It rolls a 24, which beats your spell DC of 19, so it no longer believes that Argyle is real, and Argyle cannot do any more damage to it.

Johnny:Okay, for my final action, because I have a million actions on this turn, I guess, I'm going to run away.

Johnny:Because I'm not dying again.

Gamemaster:Absolutely.

Johnny:As I run by Anzu, I say, Tag!

Arctos:Hmm.

Gamemaster:Totally fair.

Johnny:Mind bird!

Johnny:That's my turn.

Gamemaster:Okay.

Gamemaster:Great.

Gamemaster:It's Shade 1's turn.

Gamemaster:I think Shade 1 is going to send a projectile at Argyle.

Gamemaster:That's what's going to happen.

Anzu:Cool.

Gamemaster:Its head pops off and it makes an attack.

Gamemaster:Gosh, what's this guy's AC?

Gamemaster:And it uses your spell DC for its AC.

Gamemaster:Okay, so it's 19 for its AC.

Johnny:that was it alright cool

Gamemaster:28.

Gamemaster:That hits.

Arctos:Go for it.

Benny:Hold on.

Gamemaster:Argyle ceases to exist again.

Gamemaster:I'm sorry.

Gamemaster:He's gone.

Gamemaster:It will use its second action to walk over here, and then its third action to try and attack the polar bear.

Anzu:Man.

Benny:Hold on.

Gamemaster:I'm rolling really well again.

Gamemaster:24 hits.

Arctos:Does this have Matt?

Benny:Hold on.

Gamemaster:That did have map associated.

Arctos:Okay.

Gamemaster:Okay.

Benny:In range of Benny.

Gamemaster:I'm holding on.

Gamemaster:He is in range of Benny.

Benny:Anzu has yet to give us the go-ahead that these things can be hurt, I guess.

Benny:Benny's got the soundbox.

Benny:Considering it's a hostile action, is he allowed to use that as a strike, attempting to capture the essence?

Gamemaster:Okay, so I think you noted when you did it that you noted it did some damage.

Gamemaster:It did that 1d6 damage.

Arctos:probably better off hitting it.

Gamemaster:But it's not going to... Yeah, you think it needs to be dead before you've actually freed the things inside.

Benny:Okay.

Benny:I'll edit that.

Gamemaster:Okay, you're using your reaction to Che 1.

Benny:With the... Yes.

Benny:With the pick.

Gamemaster:Okay.

Gamemaster:Absolutely.

Gamemaster:That hits.

Benny:Dommage.

Benny:Yes.

Gamemaster:11 points of damage, absolutely.

Benny:Eleven.

Gamemaster:It is 11 points of damage, 10 piercing, 1 spirit.

Arctos:There's a spirit.

Benny:Yes.

Arctos:Is your spirit, are you holy?

Arctos:Are you sanctified?

Benny:No.

Gamemaster:No, just spirit damage.

Arctos:Okay.

Gamemaster:It's not holy or unholy spirit damage, just spirit damage.

Gamemaster:You do note it does appear to take the full damage.

Gamemaster:Okay, so that was still action 2.

Gamemaster:Action 3, I think...

Gamemaster:Since you attacked it, it's probably going to attack you back instead of attacking the Polar Bear.

Gamemaster:So it'll make its... Oh, sorry, I already made the roll for attacking Arctos.

Arctos:Yeah, I can take the damage.

Gamemaster:Right, yeah, okay, sorry, I already hit Arctos.

Arctos:You don't worry about it.

Gamemaster:So that's the... I'll just roll the damage there.

Gamemaster:That's going to be 11 points split between piercing and coal.

Gamemaster:That's the end of its turn.

Gamemaster:Benny.

Arctos:Do I have resistance to cold?

Arctos:Because I'm a polar bear.

Gamemaster:Did you select an ancestry feat that would give that to you?

Arctos:No.

Johnny:Josh, but he's a polar bear.

Gamemaster:Then no.

Arctos:But I'm a polar bear, Josh.

Gamemaster:Polar bears are not immune to icicles or to shadows from the Black and White with cold damage.

Gamemaster:I'm sorry.

Arctos:Yeah, yeah.

Johnny:They should be.

Johnny:I don't know.

Johnny:I'm just saying.

Gamemaster:But you do have many.

Benny:Oh.

Benny:Benny is going to... Let's see.

Benny:Is this the new... I don't know.

Benny:This is a courageous anthem.

Benny:Benny is going to hit Shay 1 again.

Benny:What shall we do to Shay 1?

Gamemaster:Okay.

Benny:Because I have a club in my other hand.

Benny:I don't know if it's entirely worth it.

Benny:Benny is going to...

Benny:Benny is going to Intimidating Strike.

Johnny:Yeah.

Gamemaster:Okay.

Gamemaster:Make a melee strike.

Arctos:Unfortunate.

Arctos:So mad at these creatures.

Arctos:Oh.

Gamemaster:That's a crit.

Anzu:Excellent.

Benny:Also, it's not bloodied yet.

Gamemaster:Deal damage.

Gamemaster:Currently, no.

Gamemaster:It's not bloodied.

Gamemaster:If you roll damage, it might be.

Benny:33.

Gamemaster:Okay, good news, bad news.

Gamemaster:Which do you want first?

Benny:Bad news.

Gamemaster:Your frightened does not take effect.

Benny:Okay.

Gamemaster:Good news is because it's dead.

Arctos:I can even swipe the other one.

Gamemaster:Pick just right through the shade.

Gamemaster:It loses its corporeal form, fades into nothingness, and the little bits of moth scales that were floating around inside of it just continue to float in the air where it died.

Benny:For my final action, I will interact and stock it up with the speaker.

Benny:No, we got time.

Gamemaster:Absolutely.

Gamemaster:Okay.

Gamemaster:With your last action, you hit the button, and you watch as one of the lights on the voice box glows slightly.

Gamemaster:It's not fully lit yet, but you've gotten a little bit of it.

Johnny:Yeah, let's see what this bear can do.

Gamemaster:And that'll bring us to Arctos.

Arctos:Yeah, yeah.

Johnny:Yep.

Arctos:Yeah, this bear is very berry.

Arctos:I am going to... Sorry, so we have Courageous Anthem, right?

Gamemaster:You currently have Courageous Anthem, which gives you a plus one status bonus to attacks and damages.

Arctos:Is that a... Okay.

Benny:Thank you.

Gamemaster:It's a status bonus.

Arctos:Gotcha, gotcha.

Arctos:I'm going to cast... Since we have that one already.

Arctos:I would cast...

Arctos:Benediction!

Gamemaster:Absolutely.

Arctos:So it's a status bonus to our AC.

Johnny:Oh, nice.

Arctos:Ish.

Gamemaster:You and your allies gain a plus one status bonus to AC while within the emanation.

Arctos:Yes.

Arctos:And then... I got... Flurried one.

Arctos:I will then... I guess I'll give myself... I'll strike at this guy.

Gamemaster:Okay.

Gamemaster:Oh, that's going to be a crit?

Arctos:yes yes

Gamemaster:That's going to be a crit specifically because of your courageous anthem.

Gamemaster:18 points of damage.

Johnny:Yes.

Gamemaster:You make contact with this thing with your bastard sword, slice it through, and you carve a full cut through its torso, and it doesn't regenerate.

Gamemaster:It's just the lower half and the upper half floating near each other.

Gamemaster:It's not dead, but it's kind of losing coherence there a little bit.

Benny:you

Arctos:And then, to top my round off, I will roll a treat wounds on myself.

Gamemaster:Okay.

Arctos:I will reroll this so I don't hurt myself.

Gamemaster:You failed.

Gamemaster:Okay, you're using a mythic point, I assume.

Arctos:Yeah.

Gamemaster:Either that or you've just decided you're rerolling it.

Arctos:I...

Arctos:When I right-click on it, it says it didn't have anything about... Oh, I have to give myself the mythic point.

Arctos:Okay, there we go.

Gamemaster:Okay, that time you succeeded.

Arctos:I crit, so I actually get another mythic point.

Gamemaster:Nice.

Johnny:Bye.

Benny:Thank you.

Gamemaster:And you get 4d8 for 13 points of healing.

Arctos:I'm back to full health.

Gamemaster:Nice.

Arctos:And as Arctos calls out to the host, and he starts just rambling scripture,

Arctos:And his voice, normally, Arctos kind of does sound like a bear.

Arctos:But when he talks about the host, he gets very eloquent.

Arctos:And as he's talking, this Aurora Boralis light starts coming out of him, almost like a disco.

Arctos:Very colorful.

Arctos:And his armor starts to glow, and then he slices this thing.

Gamemaster:Okay.

Arctos:And he says, Child, we will not die here today.

Benny:A lot more confidence from this guy than other people in this room.

Arctos:I've never had a child die on my watch, and I will not start now.

Gamemaster:It is Shay3's turn.

Johnny:somewhere johnny's just running away going mcbeth mcbeth

Gamemaster:Shay spends one action to walk closer to you.

Benny:You guys didn't... You guys...

Gamemaster:And then it's going to use two of its actions to make attacks on, I think, probably the glowing guy.

Gamemaster:I think it can't not go for the glowing guy.

Arctos:That's fair.

Gamemaster:So we start with one dark projectile.

Gamemaster:I critically fail.

Gamemaster:We start with a second dark projectile.

Gamemaster:I just regular fail.

Gamemaster:So it's Anzu's turn.

Anzu:Okay.

Anzu:I think we've talked about this before, but does a five-foot burst allow me to hit creatures that are apart from each other, like, say, two and three?

Gamemaster:If they were next to each other, yes, but they're 10 feet between them, so you'd have to place two bursts in order to get them.

Anzu:Of course, of course.

Gamemaster:I'd let you put it on the line between two squares so you can hit adjacent things.

Benny:this does five foot burst not mean a five foot radius because this is what i put down is a five foot

Gamemaster:It's just there's a bit too much of a gap there.

Anzu:Right.

Anzu:Yeah, no, that makes sense.

Anzu:Okay.

Anzu:I think... I think...

Gamemaster:I believe it's 5 foot diameter.

Gamemaster:One second.

Gamemaster:Let me just see the rules.

Anzu:I think that Josh is right, but I'm not sure.

Gamemaster:Here it is.

Anzu:Yeah, when I... It's a burst.

Gamemaster:It's a burst or an emanation.

Gamemaster:A 20-foot burst, meaning it extends out 20 feet in every direction from the corner of the square you choose, affecting each creature whose space, or even one square of its space, is within the burst.

Gamemaster:Okay, so you know what?

Anzu:Because it's allowing me to do it like that, but could I put it in the center of the square and hit both of them?

Gamemaster:Five?

Gamemaster:Yeah.

Gamemaster:No, you have to put I think you have to put it on a corner is the way that I'm reading that.

Gamemaster:So I still think like they're 10 feet apart.

Anzu:Okay.

Gamemaster:You can't get them.

Gamemaster:I'm sorry.

Anzu:Alright, well, we're going to do it anyway.

Anzu:Before I move on, does anyone else... Oh, no, never mind.

Anzu:If I unselect Anzu, I see Argyle as a selection.

Arctos:Yes.

Gamemaster:Oh, right, because I temporarily made him owned by everyone.

Gamemaster:One second.

Anzu:He's just there.

Gamemaster:Let me... Yeah.

Anzu:Okay, that's what I figured.

Anzu:We are going to amp a telekinetic rend and actually not put either of the circles where I've placed that one.

Johnny:Yeah.

Anzu:We'll put 1 over 2 and 1 over 4.

Anzu:So they both need to make the fort save two and four.

Gamemaster:Okay.

Gamemaster:Two and four can attempt this.

Gamemaster:Let's see.

Gamemaster:That is a failure by four and a critical failure by two.

Anzu:All right.

Anzu:We love that.

Anzu:So four takes 11 damage.

Gamemaster:Absolutely, which just kills it outright.

Anzu:Yeah.

Johnny:Nice.

Benny:Thank you.

Anzu:And then I guess two takes 22 damage, right?

Anzu:On critical failure.

Gamemaster:Which also kills it outright.

Gamemaster:And then there was one.

Gamemaster:You just telekinetic rend.

Gamemaster:The rest of you standing around in this area watch as Mindbird says an incantation and two of the Shays just twist and pop out of existence.

Anzu:Yeah, I reach one hand out at each one and do, like, a twisting motion.

Gamemaster:Absolutely.

Anzu:And then... Give him the old...

Benny:The telekinetic titty twister.

Benny:Oh, they just.

Gamemaster:They both just explode, leaving little moth scales in the air.

Arctos:I wanted to bone shake them, but it says they have to have skeletons, and I think this is the first time to me.

Gamemaster:I dislike you purple nurpling my enemies to death, because I don't want that to be a thing in the future.

Benny:Purple.

Johnny:Bye.

Gamemaster:They don't have bones.

Arctos:Yeah, we've had that just doesn't have a skeleton.

Gamemaster:I'm sorry, these guys don't have bones.

Anzu:I don't have a lot else to do.

Anzu:So, yes, I'll start with the recall knowledge on the remaining guy.

Arctos:recall that's the most MKUltra thing ever mine destroys his ally and the last one he's just like I'm gonna psychoanalyze you asshole

Gamemaster:Okay, absolutely.

Gamemaster:That's going to be an occultism check.

Johnny:Beautiful.

Gamemaster:Occultism or religion?

Benny:I remote viewed your family.

Johnny:I see you.

Gamemaster:Okay.

Gamemaster:25 is a success.

Gamemaster:So do you want its immunities, weaknesses, and resistances, or its highest or its lowest save slash AC?

Anzu:This might not be the most strategic in the moment, but give me the weaknesses and whatnot.

Arctos:Yes.

Gamemaster:It is immune to precision damage, and it is resistant 5 to cold and void.

Anzu:Very well.

Anzu:They have no weaknesses.

Arctos:If it's resistance to void, does it weak to radiant?

Arctos:No, it's a... Gotcha.

Gamemaster:It is not weak to anything.

Arctos:Would that have told if it was void healing or not?

Benny:Oh, my God.

Gamemaster:Yeah, you would have learned if it was void healing.

Arctos:Okay.

Gamemaster:It doesn't have void healing, it's just resistant to void damage.

Arctos:Gotcha.

Anzu:Um, the last thing that I will do is stride.

Anzu:Uh, probably just away.

Gamemaster:Okay.

Anzu:Away!

Anzu:Tag!

Anzu:Um...

Gamemaster:Totally fine.

Gamemaster:Mind bird escapes.

Benny:Quick question for Anzu.

Benny:Do you have any amped attacks that do mental damage?

Benny:Or any that do mental damage at all?

Anzu:I don't think I have any mental damage.

Anzu:What is the one thing I could do?

Anzu:I can't do any of it right now because I'm not... Oh, yeah.

Gamemaster:Phantom Pain deals mental damage.

Anzu:That's not an amp.

Gamemaster:No.

Johnny:It's not real pain.

Johnny:It's phantom.

Anzu:I can make my Psy Bursts do mental damage, but I would need to do that next round when I unleash Psyche.

Benny:I'm just thinking of more juvenile ways to assault your enemies.

Benny:Just put your finger in your mouth and wet-willy them from across.

Anzu:I mean, the Psiburst works kind of well for that, but maybe we'll get there next turn, but that's it for me, yeah.

Gamemaster:It does.

Gamemaster:Is that the end of your turn?

Gamemaster:Johnny, it's your turn.

Gamemaster:Your courageous anthem ends.

Johnny:Um, I will, I'll take the piece of paper and go, ah, this is bad luck.

Johnny:And I'll toss it.

Johnny:And then I'll just, I'm just going to do this.

Johnny:I don't want to do, we're not going to be here for a while.

Johnny:Uh, I'll just do it without the amp.

Johnny:So just the, or whatever it's called.

Arctos:Hmm.

Johnny:Just regular Kratos Anthem.

Gamemaster:You're good.

Johnny:Um, I got borrowed amps.

Gamemaster:He's got barred amps.

Johnny:Yeah, mind amps, bard amps.

Johnny:But this time, I will go through all my pieces of paper that I have, and I'll pull out one, and I'll say, And Caesar's spirit, raging for revenge, with eight by his side, come hot from hell, shall in these confines of the monarch's voice, cry havoc, and let slip the dogs of War.

Gamemaster:Johnny Skyfall is not allowed to be Shakespeare.

Anzu:You can't be Shakespeare and Ringo Starr.

Anzu:You can't do both.

Johnny:I'm all of these.

Johnny:I got so many lined up.

Johnny:I got a spell that's just the rhyme of the Ancient Mariner.

Johnny:That was my Craigs Anthem.

Gamemaster:Okay, what is that?

Gamemaster:Was that your courageous anthem?

Gamemaster:Or were you casting something else?

Gamemaster:Oh, okay, great.

Johnny:That was my Craigs Anthem.

Johnny:I have one spell that does damage.

Johnny:I'll just cast Needle Darts on this guy.

Arctos:I think we'll get it.

Gamemaster:Yeah, cast Noodle Darts.

Arctos:I wouldn't waste any spell slots.

Benny:you you

Johnny:I don't have anything fun, so I'll just do...

Johnny:Needle darts.

Johnny:Attack.

Gamemaster:Yeah.

Johnny:I do that whole thing and then I go, pew!

Gamemaster:Made 28 hits.

Gamemaster:11 points of damage.

Johnny:I don't think they can be frightened.

Johnny:My third action, I'll just, uh, I'll give a distracting performance and just keep yelling this Shakespeare monologue.

Gamemaster:Okay.

Johnny:Well, I guess I have to do this the hard way.

Gamemaster:Yeah, I need to manually fix that.

Johnny:Performance.

Gamemaster:Oof.

Johnny:I don't think that beats its DC.

Benny:One of the things is next to Benny.

Gamemaster:It does not.

Gamemaster:Unfortunately, that is a failure.

Johnny:I ping these and then I yell cry havoc and let loose the dogs of War and then I go, wait!

Johnny:The bears of War!

Johnny:That's my turn

Gamemaster:Okay, Betty, it's your turn.

Gamemaster:Well, it's... It's ten feet away.

Benny:It's persisted.

Gamemaster:Oh, sorry, one of the moth things.

Benny:Well, what a... Yeah, yeah.

Gamemaster:Yeah.

Benny:And then the other one was like right here.

Gamemaster:Mm-hmm.

Benny:Benny will... They've persisted.

Gamemaster:Yes.

Benny:Benny's seen them persist.

Benny:He will now take aim at the shape.

Gamemaster:Okay.

Gamemaster:I had intended for you to pick them up after the combat, but to stunt on them to pick it up during combat is fine too, I suppose.

Benny:Uh, yeah, but he just wanted to make sure we were getting everything.

Gamemaster:Yeah, no, that's fair.

Benny:Um, this is, uh, this will be an intimidating strike.

Gamemaster:Okay.

Gamemaster:That hits.

Benny:Frightened one.

Benny:Does the frightened take effect?

Gamemaster:12 points of damage, and it is framed.

Benny:Okay.

Benny:Oh, wait.

Benny:Was it bloodied, or was it now bloodied?

Gamemaster:It is now blooded.

Benny:Okay.

Benny:That is Benny Cern.

Gamemaster:Okay.

Gamemaster:Arctos!

Arctos:Arctos is also going to step forward.

Gamemaster:Okay.

Arctos:And he will strike!

Arctos:That's a great axe.

Gamemaster:All right.

Anzu:Did the Game Awards have a soundtrack category?

Johnny:I think Claire Obscure won, just like every other category.

Anzu:Yeah.

Gamemaster:I believe it.

Gamemaster:I mean, that's what this is from.

Anzu:That's why I asked.

Arctos:That's brutal.

Gamemaster:Okay.

Gamemaster:Oh, that is so unfortunate that you rolled a one there.

Arctos:Very unfortunate.

Gamemaster:Fortunately, that is still enough to kill it.

Arctos:Arctos, while walking, will drag his sword through the air and just start absorbing the lights.

Arctos:And then with that, come down and slash the shade into bits.

Gamemaster:Absolutely, and it perishes.

Arctos:And with my final action, I will... Yes.

Gamemaster:Attack Benny.

Arctos:Well...

Arctos:I will attempt to treat wounds.

Gamemaster:Okay, having killed all of the shades that remain in the theater, we can say that you guys have successfully exited combat.

Benny:Oh dear.

Gamemaster:Okay, so for the record, the first time you used it in combat was a battle medicine, right?

Gamemaster:Because it took an action.

Arctos:Yes, I have that.

Gamemaster:If you want to do it again for the tree wounds, that's ten minutes.

Gamemaster:Unless you have a feat that lets you battle medicine yourself multiple times.

Gamemaster:Do you?

Arctos:No, I was doing it for him.

Gamemaster:Oh.

Arctos:Benny.

Gamemaster:Oh, okay, you're battle medicine Benny.

Arctos:I did it to me earlier.

Arctos:Yeah.

Gamemaster:Okay, gotcha.

Gamemaster:Gotcha, gotcha, gotcha.

Arctos:And with one, like a samurai, I'm going to flick my sword clean of the shadow's shades, put it in, and then just touch Benny's shoulder and pop it back into place.

Benny:This is true.

Gamemaster:Okay, absolutely.

Johnny:I walk up to Arctos and I go, Arctos, I got a boo-boo.

Gamemaster:I believe if you're touching a shoulder and popping it back into place, it's a very firm adult-like shoulder, correct?

Arctos:Oh, yes.

Gamemaster:Okay.

Johnny:There's a little cut on my finger.

Arctos:I can take care of this as well.

Johnny:Usually Argyle.

Arctos:How did you guys survive without me?

Johnny:We had Argyle for a little bit.

Arctos:Well, I guess you guys didn't really survive.

Benny:Anzu did, as he's men in blacking the dead bodies of these shades.

Johnny:On the internet, mind bird.

Gamemaster:Absolutely.

Gamemaster:You pick up the three remaining moth scales, and you see the faint glow as one of the lights on the voice box does fully light up.

Arctos:So a failure I don't believe does any damage, does it?

Benny:Arctos, why are you killing that man?

Arctos:Or is that crit failure?

Gamemaster:You didn't do a risky surgery, right?

Arctos:Yeah.

Gamemaster:So, yeah, no, just a failure does nothing.

Arctos:How much health do you have?

Arctos:What are you missing?

Johnny:I have 28 out of 35.

Johnny:It's not that big of a win.

Arctos:Oh.

Arctos:Oh, that's fine.

Arctos:I don't even need to look at that.

Arctos:I'll take out that later.

Johnny:Well, whatever, guys.

Gamemaster:You're not that hurt.

Arctos:I go to bring out my band-aid, and then I go, no.

Arctos:Come look at me in 10 minutes.

Arctos:I'm still bleeding.

Johnny:I thought we were bonding, guy.

Johnny:Whatever.

Johnny:Bear of War.

Johnny:I walk away muttering Shakespeare.

Johnny:To be or not to be.

Gamemaster:Absolutely.

Johnny:That is the question.

Johnny:I tried writing poems.

Gamemaster:Now Shakespeare has... I refuse to make Johnny Skyfall Shakespeare, so that means that Shakespeare already has to exist in canon sometime.

Gamemaster:Shakespeare was an old Raelion playwright.

Gamemaster:Shookpoke.

Johnny:It's very hard.

Johnny:I'm not that good of a poet.

Johnny:I found just a lot of poems I actually do like.

Johnny:You're going to have to bring a lot of poets into this world, Josh.

Gamemaster:That's fine.

Gamemaster:We could do that.

Gamemaster:Okay.

Gamemaster:So you guys have one charge in your voice box.

Benny:you you

Gamemaster:Sitting around in an empty theater.

Anzu:We exit the theater.

Arctos:So for the next eight rounds.

Anzu:The movie's over.

Gamemaster:Absolutely.

Gamemaster:You exit back out into the lobby.

Johnny:I make illusory popcorn and throw it at the screen.

Gamemaster:Absolutely.

Gamemaster:I guess it wouldn't be real.

Gamemaster:It'd be shade popcorn glittering the ground, so it's no different than your illusory popcorn.

Gamemaster:Absolutely.

Gamemaster:You chuck it at the screen.

Arctos:Every six seconds, I'm going to keep expending my benediction until it runs out.

Gamemaster:Okay.

Gamemaster:Does benediction heal people?

Arctos:No, no.

Arctos:I'm just making a very light show as we're walking through.

Gamemaster:No?

Gamemaster:Okay, you're just making a very big benediction where everybody just has a plus one to their AC.

Arctos:Yeah, 80 feet.

Gamemaster:Sure.

Anzu:I believe the kids would say that he's aura farming.

Benny:or a farming.

Arctos:Literally.

Gamemaster:Johnny ceases to exist.

Gamemaster:Nope, sorry, not Johnny.

Gamemaster:Anzu.

Gamemaster:Anzu ceases to exist.

Johnny:Oh, God.

Johnny:Mind burn!

Gamemaster:Almost collateral damaged.

Anzu:Well, there goes the party.

Gamemaster:No, it's fine.

Gamemaster:Mindbird can live.

Anzu:We suck the hallway speaker music.

Gamemaster:Sure.

Gamemaster:I didn't like the verbiage there, but yeah, you exit back into the lobby and you take back the sound from the speaker there, so you have two charges.

Arctos:After ten minutes, I'm going to... Oh no, it's an hour.

Arctos:Never mind.

Arctos:For tree wounds.

Arctos:Take it back.

Gamemaster:Well, you could have battle-medicined him the first time.

Arctos:Ignore that.

Arctos:Oh, then yeah.

Arctos:I'll do that.

Gamemaster:Or battle-medicine him the second time, or whatever.

Arctos:After ten minutes.

Arctos:Yeah.

Gamemaster:You could do that.

Benny:you

Arctos:I will critically succeed and patch up his cut better than ever before.

Gamemaster:It's fine.

Gamemaster:Okay.

Gamemaster:So, Johnny, you get 17 points of healing.

Johnny:My finger is glowing.

Johnny:I'm above.

Johnny:I have so much health.

Anzu:Does that mean 10 minutes were spent somewhere?

Arctos:No, this was the... Oh, yeah.

Gamemaster:Yes.

Arctos:Yeah.

Gamemaster:One of them is battle medicine and the other one is treatment.

Gamemaster:So you would have spent 10 minutes at some point in order to do the healing.

Gamemaster:But yes.

Arctos:Never mind, we don't have to do that.

Arctos:You can take back the set points.

Gamemaster:Oh, okay.

Arctos:Mindbird's keeping us on a short leash.

Anzu:No, no, I would be fine with that.

Arctos:No, no, no.

Anzu:Because I would refocus it during that time.

Gamemaster:Never mind.

Arctos:Oh, then yes, yes, yes, you can do that.

Gamemaster:Remove the seven healing you did.

Anzu:We're going to do it again.

Anzu:We're going to stay in the theater, spend 10 minutes.

Gamemaster:Oh, you are doing it.

Gamemaster:Add the 17 healing back.

Gamemaster:Okay, absolutely.

Gamemaster:While you guys hang out in the theater, there is what looks to be another shade silhouette walks by and cleans up some of the shadow popcorn and the like.

Anzu:I'm going to refocus.

Johnny:I just need to get one more charge.

Arctos:I didn't mean to cast that.

Gamemaster:You guys get your ten minutes.

Gamemaster:Okay, what are you doing now?

Gamemaster:You've got the two charges.

Gamemaster:You're back in the lobby.

Anzu:We take the charge from outside of the theater.

Gamemaster:You guys can exit out of the theater and take the charge from the speaker there.

Gamemaster:The theater itself returns back to its dilapidated state, and you are standing in the plaza with three charges in your voice box.

Johnny:But the Save Your Soul Inc.

Johnny:headquarters location.

Gamemaster:You guys can return back to the northern end of the plaza, where there are the three speakers in front of the Save Your Soul Incorporated sign.

Anzu:Thank you.

Gamemaster:And if you like, you can deposit the three charges.

Arctos:bang bang bang we go forward

Gamemaster:Doing so will un-cave in the entrance to this building, restoring it back to how it was before.

Benny:Yes.

Gamemaster:There's a door that leads into the fourth lobby of the evening, if you'd like to continue forward.

Gamemaster:In the interior here, there are still some shades milling about.

Gamemaster:There's a reception desk off to the side, and it looks like there is an elevator down the end of a hallway directly straight forward.

Gamemaster:Not much else of note, really.

Benny:elevator.

Johnny:To the elevator.

Arctos:I can do it.

Gamemaster:Okay.

Gamemaster:You guys hop into the elevator.

Gamemaster:You would expect there to be numbers, as are traditionally in elevators.

Gamemaster:But instead, there are a series of buttons.

Gamemaster:And next to the button, each one has a symbol.

Gamemaster:Roll a perception check.

Benny:The designated tool.

Arctos:Sure.

Johnny:I got a 24 to perceive seeing things.

Arctos:I got a 17.

Gamemaster:Okay, with a 24 looking through, none of these symbols, that's not fair.

Gamemaster:Most of these symbols don't, like, don't ring any bells for you.

Gamemaster:They all appear to be drawn with, like, simple line art just kind of engraved into the gold plating.

Gamemaster:of the button area of this elevator.

Gamemaster:A few do stand out, though, as ones that you would recognize.

Gamemaster:One of them appears to be three

Gamemaster:three wavy lines imposed on top of each other that you would recognize as the symbol of the Iridescent Church, as their main logo type deal.

Gamemaster:You would see another one that appears to be three dots in a triangular formation.

Gamemaster:You would see another one that looks to be a polyhedron of some kind.

Gamemaster:You would see another one that looks like it is almost kind of like a telescope.

Gamemaster:It's a cylinder, but it's oriented such that you would be looking into the interior of the telescope, like on the outer lens, and a handful of others that do not strike you as familiar at all.

Johnny:We want those three dots.

Gamemaster:Okay, you click the button for the three dots, the elevator closes with a soft ding, you feel it start to move, and then after a moment again, there's another ding, the door opens, and the exterior that it opens out to is an endless white void.

Benny:Mm hmm.

Gamemaster:There is this dense fog that rolls into the elevator coming off of the floor.

Gamemaster:You can see that there's more roiling dense fog in the distance of what would be perhaps the ceiling, or at least removing your view of the ceiling.

Gamemaster:Somehow, a little paradoxically, you can see off in the distance what you would know to be the exterior of the Pharos, despite the fact that that's where you just came from.

Gamemaster:And floating in the air, it's hard to make out distances here.

Gamemaster:Some distance away, although not very far.

Gamemaster:A little bit upside down, just kind of big hands crossed behind his head, legs crossed as well, is what two of you would recognize to be ought.

Johnny:Art.

Johnny:My guy.

Johnny:My person.

Johnny:Art.

Johnny:We're back for our souls.

Gamemaster:He will, like, rotate in the air to face you and then kind of float in your direction.

Johnny:Fellow.

Gamemaster:He'll say, oh, welcome back.

Gamemaster:You guys can get off the elevator if you like.

Gamemaster:You don't need to stay on that.

Benny:Sure.

Gamemaster:As you leave the elevator, the elevator sinks down below the fog line and disappears from view.

Arctos:Oh, wait a second.

Arctos:Sorry.

Arctos:If I leave this elevator, will I be able to go back down to where I was?

Arctos:Through this elevator?

Gamemaster:Yeah.

Arctos:Or do we take a different way out?

Gamemaster:Yeah, there was no point of you guys... I've not come to trap you.

Gamemaster:I could have just trapped your two friends originally when they came here.

Arctos:Oh, no, no, no.

Arctos:Not... I didn't think you were trying to track me.

Arctos:I just want to make sure when I go out, I can then take this back up to meet the big guy, the host, you know, after this.

Arctos:Totally, I'm just going to pencil in it after that.

Johnny:Wait, what?

Gamemaster:Oh, you could try that if you like.

Gamemaster:I don't think it'll work very well for you, but no.

Arctos:Will I die?

Arctos:Never mind.

Arctos:I'm going to stick with you.

Gamemaster:Sure, you won't die.

Arctos:and I will step out of the elevator.

Johnny:This is a bear that we met five seconds after dying.

Gamemaster:But yeah, absolutely.

Johnny:So that's kind of .

Gamemaster:Yeah, I saw that.

Gamemaster:That was interesting.

Johnny:Oh, yeah.

Johnny:And this is Anzu.

Gamemaster:Yes, yes, I saw you, the one lone brave survivor of your ill-fated attack.

Anzu:yeah I don't know if brave is the term but thanks

Gamemaster:Congrats.

Gamemaster:You survived, so you get to tell it however you like.

Johnny:Oh my god.

Gamemaster:It's not like anybody else saw it and lived to tell the tale.

Benny:Well, there is those, the people that did the killing.

Gamemaster:Well, they're going to say bad things about you anyway.

Gamemaster:I can discount what they're saying.

Benny:That's a good point.

Gamemaster:Of course, they are, as we speak, taking a joyride in your car.

Anzu:Yeah, that sounds about right.

Benny:Those bastards.

Gamemaster:Yeah, they're going 20 miles over the speed limit.

Gamemaster:It's not safe.

Benny:I would never commit such a... Oh.

Gamemaster:I'm just lying.

Gamemaster:There's no speed limits in Hallia.

Anzu:But they are on a joyride.

Gamemaster:Anyway.

Gamemaster:Oh, yeah, no, absolutely.

Gamemaster:Their pedal is to the metal, as it were.

Gamemaster:But it's fine.

Gamemaster:I'm sure you'll get it back without too much issue.

Johnny:Hey, Aut, while we're here, would you mind answering a couple of questions?

Gamemaster:You just gotta go, you know, kill them, reclaim your stuff.

Gamemaster:I believe in you.

Gamemaster:No, I wouldn't mind.

Gamemaster:Oh, but actually, before we... One second, I've been holding on to these.

Johnny:All right.

Gamemaster:And he will just kind of make a gesture and out of the fog will float up two, it looks like, illusory versions of Johnny and Benny.

Gamemaster:And then just kind of push them.

Gamemaster:And you're both hit with a very, very sharp pain, like your head is splitting open.

Johnny:That hurt.

Gamemaster:And then your raiments rebuild themselves.

Gamemaster:And you find that you are once again whole.

Benny:Ow.

Gamemaster:Yeah.

Gamemaster:Most people, when they die, that's just kind of the end.

Gamemaster:So the fact that you can feel any pain at all is really a good thing, if you think about it.

Johnny:Yeah, we're a pretty special couple of fellas.

Gamemaster:Yeah.

Gamemaster:Part of the whole reason why you're here.

Gamemaster:So, what you got for me?

Gamemaster:And he'll, like, lean forward.

Johnny:We were at the movies about 10 minutes ago.

Gamemaster:What you got?

Gamemaster:Yeah.

Johnny:What do you know about someone named Pyre?

Gamemaster:Oh, you should know the hard questions.

Gamemaster:It's just someone who's been knocking on your door for a while.

Benny:you

Johnny:When you say our door, what does that mean?

Gamemaster:You know, big thing up there.

Johnny:Like the Godhome?

Gamemaster:No.

Gamemaster:No, kind of just like 30 miles to the left.

Arctos:The filament.

Gamemaster:Firmament.

Arctos:I'm smart for a bear.

Arctos:I didn't say I was smart in general.

Gamemaster:I didn't make a claim otherwise.

Anzu:Yes, we give him points for that, actually, because it was quite close.

Johnny:Yeah.

Benny:Mm hmm.

Gamemaster:It was pretty close.

Gamemaster:Yeah, as far as bears that I've seen, that's, you know, could be much worse.

Arctos:Thank you.

Gamemaster:Even worse.

Arctos:So if I work with you, would you help me climb the ranks of the church?

Arctos:I saw what you did for the other guy.

Gamemaster:Yeah, that's because the other guy was in the right place at the right time.

Gamemaster:My problem with you, and no offense to you in particular, is you're a little bit harder to point, if that makes sense.

Arctos:That was worth a shot.

Gamemaster:Yeah, it makes you of limited use to me in the way that I tend to ask my friends to do me favors.

Gamemaster:You guys are of a lot of use to me otherwise.

Gamemaster:I mean, frankly, this song's been knocking around up here for a while, and I'd love for it to, you know, stop.

Gamemaster:Or at the very least, I'd love to know why it's doing that.

Gamemaster:Yeah, that one.

Arctos:well he can hear it

Benny:Thank you.

Gamemaster:And you guys are, I think, a pretty good lead.

Johnny:Art just opens his mouth.

Anzu:Gosh, does he resonate?

Anzu:Oh, that's interesting.

Gamemaster:Yeah, he does.

Anzu:Do people feel when someone else resonates?

Johnny:Wow.

Anzu:That is very interesting.

Gamemaster:Yes, he does.

Gamemaster:You watch as he shivers a little bit.

Gamemaster:He says, oh, don't like that.

Anzu:And what is your theory on the Voidsong?

Anzu:Do you have one?

Gamemaster:Nothing particularly charitable.

Gamemaster:You know, there are, like, concrete facts I figured out over the past, like, two years that the Voidsong's been around in any amount.

Gamemaster:I know it's voidward from where you guys are, which you could guess from the name.

Johnny:you

Gamemaster:And I know that it makes it... It's meddlesome.

Gamemaster:And normally I'm the only one that's meddlesome, so I don't like it when other things are, especially when they're effective at meddling with the things that I'm meddling in.

Gamemaster:Which means it's pretty powerful, whatever's making it.

Gamemaster:So, you know, that narrows down like some guy with a really good violin or whatever.

Anzu:Argyle.

Gamemaster:Yeah, I don't... I don't know.

Arctos:What happened to their other guy?

Arctos:They keep bringing him up.

Gamemaster:Their other guy.

Johnny:There we go.

Gamemaster:Oh, what happened to him?

Arctos:Yeah.

Gamemaster:I don't know.

Gamemaster:I watched him.

Gamemaster:He went into the tower.

Gamemaster:He kind of started heading towards the Godhome, and I stopped looking at him.

Gamemaster:Now he's kind of just mixed in with a bunch of other souls.

Gamemaster:It's annoying for me to pick him out of a crowd.

Anzu:Was he not actually a listener of the Voidsong?

Gamemaster:No, he was.

Anzu:But he probably denied it.

Gamemaster:Listen, plenty of...

Gamemaster:Plenty of people who've listened to the Voidsong have died.

Gamemaster:Trust me, you are not the first group of people I've been watching.

Gamemaster:You're just the weirdest.

Benny:Oh.

Johnny:Is it because we have two people who are animals and a child?

Gamemaster:So.

Gamemaster:No, there are other awakened animals and the like.

Gamemaster:It's because two of you came back to life.

Johnny:Nice.

Benny:Boom.

Anzu:Yes, actually, so do you take any credit in their return?

Gamemaster:I mean, like, when it looked like they were getting tired, I kind of kept it in place.

Gamemaster:But I was not the one who brought it back, if that's what you're looking at.

Anzu:Mm-hmm.

Gamemaster:That wasn't me.

Gamemaster:I kind of, you know, usually when things show up here, they kind of just whoosh, go by, head over to the Pharos, go on up it, join the Godhome, do all that fun stuff.

Gamemaster:You know, I tend not to take any particular attention in the dying of mortals and the like.

Gamemaster:But these two guys kind of stuck around, which is weird.

Gamemaster:And weird is something I'm interested in.

Anzu:Fascinating.

Johnny:Other questions?

Johnny:We're trying to figure out the right way to go from here.

Johnny:Is tracking down Tywelwyn, you think that's a good way to go about things?

Johnny:Beating him up?

Gamemaster:Well, I imagine you want to beat up Tywelwyn regardless because he has your stuff.

Johnny:Getting revenge?

Johnny:Yeah.

Gamemaster:And so that kind of sounds like I would not get in the way of your stuff.

Benny:Mm hmm.

Gamemaster:I think more generally, I guess the question is, what are you trying to do?

Johnny:Well, I guess we were trying to figure out the truth of the Voidsong, but then we got wrapped all up in this Embercall and all this nonsense.

Johnny:I don't like what they're doing with all these dishes and they're wrapped up with this Necromancer guy.

Gamemaster:I mean, I could give you some pointers on that.

Anzu:Yes, and if they've experienced some alternative to the Voidsong, that could also be a fruitful area of study.

Gamemaster:Sorry.

Gamemaster:Well, I mean, I can tell you to that point, whatever they're doing with the Embercall is kind of similar to what you're listening to, but it does not work the same way.

Arctos:Does that also make them unpredictable?

Gamemaster:It's like a knockoff, if anything, because I can predict them.

Anzu:Oh.

Johnny:A knockoff.

Gamemaster:So, yeah.

Johnny:But.

Benny:Where's Tywelwyn?

Johnny:412.

Gamemaster:Like, it's clearly... Where's Tywelwyn right now?

Benny:Mm-hmm.

Gamemaster:He's at 412 Anchor Boulevard in Widdershins.

Gamemaster:He's in the basement.

Johnny:Anchor bolt.

Arctos:How many people are guarding him?

Gamemaster:He's got four people with him.

Benny:Where is Hlarf?

Gamemaster:Hlarf is...

Gamemaster:Still there.

Gamemaster:He's one of the four people.

Arctos:So he's not joyriding?

Arctos:Or did they just finish the joyride?

Gamemaster:No, Hlarf is not one of the ones in the car.

Gamemaster:Hlarf would not fit in the car, unfortunately.

Gamemaster:He kind of threw a bit of a fit there.

Arctos:How long will he stay in that room?

Gamemaster:Oh, um...

Gamemaster:Let's see.

Gamemaster:Hlarf will go out once every few hours because he's the only one that Tywelwyn trusts to meet up with the person that they're dealing with for the radar dishes.

Gamemaster:Tywelwyn himself is not going to leave the room.

Gamemaster:He can send out simulacrums, and he does currently have two active simulacrums elsewhere in the city, but he himself is sticking around in that area.

Gamemaster:There's a magic item that he's using in order to make the simulacra, and he has to be near it at all times.

Johnny:If we wanted to jump Hlarf when he was alone and get a little bit of four-on-one revenge, where do you think the best spot for that would be?

Gamemaster:In...

Gamemaster:27 hours from now, at 4.13 a.m., he is going to get out of the car that he's driving around after coming back from a meeting to take a piss in an alley because he is shit-faced.

Arctos:Yes.

Gamemaster:He'll be alone, he'll be pretty clumsy, and it'll be pretty easy to just kind of get the drop on him.

Gamemaster:I could give you the address of the alley if that'd be useful.

Johnny:That would actually be hilarious.

Benny:That'd be great.

Johnny:Underground, yeah.

Gamemaster:Yeah, of course.

Arctos:I like being a friend of Aut.

Arctos:Can I get one of those tattoos?

Gamemaster:he'll make a motion.

Gamemaster:Where do you want it?

Arctos:I normally have armor here, but just on the chest.

Gamemaster:Sure.

Gamemaster:Absolutely.

Gamemaster:It appears on the chest.

Gamemaster:You know, general rules around it.

Gamemaster:It defaults to hidden.

Gamemaster:You can make it appear at any time if you like.

Gamemaster:If somebody's already seen your bare skin without the symbol, it won't appear.

Benny:Um.

Gamemaster:But if somebody's seen your skin with the symbol, it will automatically appear.

Gamemaster:Also, you can't tell people about how it works unless somebody asks you questions to see which questions you can't answer to derive the behavior then, at which point your tongue is loosened so that you can lie about its behavior.

Gamemaster:Simple stuff.

Arctos:Does the church approve of you?

Gamemaster:Some people in the church do.

Gamemaster:Some people in the church don't.

Arctos:How about the high-ranking pontifex?

Gamemaster:Some high-ranking people do.

Gamemaster:The Pontifex herself does not.

Arctos:Does she know?

Gamemaster:About me?

Gamemaster:Yeah.

Arctos:Yeah.

Gamemaster:Most people in the know know about me.

Benny:I assume it's the same with high ups at Belvedere.

Gamemaster:I'm a bit too meddlesome to not be known, to be completely honest.

Arctos:I should ask this question before getting the tattoo.

Arctos:My apologies.

Gamemaster:I can remove it if you don't want to.

Arctos:Nah, no, it's okay.

Gamemaster:Listen, I am not one to compel people into my service.

Gamemaster:So if you don't want it, you don't need it.

Gamemaster:Yeah, I have friends in high places.

Benny:Do they take a particular, I guess, liking to you, given that you predict things?

Arctos:Cool.

Gamemaster:I mean, I have a few friends in Belvedere, probably more than in the church, although not that many more.

Gamemaster:Part of the thing is, I don't show myself to anyone.

Gamemaster:You guys get to say hi and we get to have a chat because of how weird you are, vis-a-vis the whole Voidsong knocking around in your head.

Arctos:Does Minister Vane know about you?

Gamemaster:But for the most part, I only show myself in front of people that, you know, have promise.

Gamemaster:There are a handful of those in Belvedere.

Gamemaster:There are a handful in the church.

Gamemaster:There are a handful in near any organization, really.

Gamemaster:Yeah.

Gamemaster:Sorry.

Arctos:Cool.

Arctos:And how are you ranking in the church that I can chat with?

Gamemaster:I have one person.

Gamemaster:You wouldn't really be able to chat with them.

Arctos:Any of the inquisitive inquisitors?

Gamemaster:There isn't a reason for me to put together a meeting for you.

Gamemaster:Cardinal Weatherhead is one of my friends.

Gamemaster:If you want to talk to somebody moderately high up in the church, you did already meet Silas.

Gamemaster:He's a Major-Chaplain.

Gamemaster:He's, you know, he's got some clout.

Benny:you you

Gamemaster:No, no, I talked to somebody in the Inquisition and they almost always kill themselves immediately afterwards.

Gamemaster:So I've kind of given up on that.

Arctos:That's crazy and so cool.

Johnny:Were you following any of us before we heard the Voidsong?

Gamemaster:Yes.

Gamemaster:No.

Johnny:Sad.

Gamemaster:No, you're not particularly interesting.

Gamemaster:Uh, no offense.

Gamemaster:Don't make that face.

Gamemaster:You're talking polar bear, but you're not the first.

Gamemaster:There have been three.

Anzu:Now that is news.

Benny:Just.

Johnny:That is news.

Arctos:There's been three.

Arctos:Are any of them left?

Gamemaster:Three total.

Gamemaster:No.

Gamemaster:One of them was the pet of a sultan in Rhaedon about 230 years ago, and one of them spontaneously became sentient in the Dark Ages.

Arctos:Okay.

Gamemaster:Died immediately afterwards because it thought, you know, not nearly as good as just hanging out in the forest and eating salmon.

Gamemaster:So... Yeah.

Benny:Does my dad know about you?

Benny:Which thing?

Anzu:but he's aware of you whoa

Johnny:This is the most we found out.

Gamemaster:We're not friends, though.

Johnny:That's so interesting.

Gamemaster:We're not enemies, we're just not.

Benny:Oh.

Gamemaster:He's just not my friend.

Benny:Okay.

Gamemaster:He's aware of me, and I'm aware of him.

Benny:Wait.

Arctos:If we wanted to get our car back, what's the best way to do that?

Benny:You've been watching the whole time since we've heard the Embercall?

Benny:Or since we've heard the Voidsong?

Gamemaster:I've been watching the whole time since you heard the Voidsong, yeah.

Benny:Can you tell them that the permission slip was legit?

Gamemaster:I keep... Oh yeah, the permission slip was legit.

Johnny:Oh, no, we got to get it back.

Benny:Thanks.

Johnny:Oh, no.

Gamemaster:I mean, yeah, there's all manner of things you could do.

Arctos:And our shit in it.

Gamemaster:Really just any kind of kill members of the Roundhat Gang and just take it back by force.

Arctos:Who is this necromancer you guys keep mentioning?

Gamemaster:You're not going to get much help if you try and pull actual law enforcement into it.

Gamemaster:They kind of back off of the Roundhat Gang in their territories.

Johnny:He's the head of... Where did it go?

Anzu:please hold Master Grayson.

Gamemaster:Oh, yeah, you're Mr. I believe Brandon Grayson, I think is his name.

Johnny:Oh, I have this.

Gamemaster:Grayson is fine.

Gamemaster:What about?

Gamemaster:That's true.

Arctos:Should we kill him?

Johnny:Apparently, we talked to the police about it, and they were like, hey, don't do that.

Benny:Thank you.

Johnny:We'll all lose our jobs.

Johnny:So...

Gamemaster:Master Grayson is on the board.

Gamemaster:He's one of the highest-ranking government officials in the country.

Arctos:Is there an Inquisitor or something that we can pass this information to and I'll just kind of take care of him?

Gamemaster:Okay, so here's a little bit of a snag.

Gamemaster:Master Grayson has heard the Voidsong, so I can't tell you for certain one way or the other.

Gamemaster:He kind of evades my prediction at that point.

Arctos:Cool.

Gamemaster:I can tell you if you go to the Inquisitor office and then you ask for either Inquisitor penitence or Inquisitor absolution, you can trust that they will, to the best of their ability, track it down.

Johnny:Thank you.

Gamemaster:I can't tell you if they'd be successful.

Gamemaster:I'd put my money on no.

Anzu:heard the Voidsong why would the vocalist reach out to him

Gamemaster:I didn't tell you.

Gamemaster:Told you, a Voidsong's kind of a bit of a mystery for me.

Arctos:If everyone, another conversation with you, do we got to go through the Black and White again?

Johnny:So the Voidsong, that has nothing to do with this Pyre fellow that's been knocking on our metaphorical front door, whatever that means.

Gamemaster:Well, Pyre has to do with the Embercall, and the Embercall is some weird derivative of the Voidsong, so in a roundabout way they're related.

Anzu:But not in a direct way.

Gamemaster:yeah I can reach out and have conversation sorry yeah I don't have the address for the alley in my head but I can like you guys are told the address for the alleyway

Johnny:Can we get that address for where to jump Hlarf before we leave?

Benny:Alrighty, well.

Arctos:What kind of car does he have?

Gamemaster:He is driving a 632 Chorath Aventine.

Arctos:Is that better than our car?

Gamemaster:Yeah.

Arctos:Hell yeah.

Johnny:Oh.

Benny:It fits him.

Arctos:We're going to get two cars.

Johnny:We'll take his car.

Johnny:All right, well.

Arctos:Yeah.

Benny:Well, I feel like you've given us lots of help.

Arctos:One other quick question.

Gamemaster:Yeah.

Gamemaster:I like to help out my friends.

Gamemaster:Yeah.

Arctos:So I'm sure you worked with a lot of the hosts, and you know how we're all about bettering ourselves and being the best possible.

Arctos:I would like to make a lot of money.

Arctos:Do you have any stock tips?

Gamemaster:I'm not going to tell you stock tips.

Arctos:Damn it.

Gamemaster:Frankly, it's in my best interest, probably, to help you guys make money, but I am a little afraid because I can't see what the ramifications of helping you out too much are, and I don't want to deviate the expected plot, so to speak, too much.

Benny:And also, where's the fun in that?

Anzu:Thank you.

Arctos:I'd love to insider trade.

Gamemaster:I mean, if you want to figure out the stocks yourself, go for it.

Arctos:That actually would be great.

Arctos:You don't understand.

Arctos:You're just a child.

Benny:Excuse me, sir.

Benny:I tried to insider trade like around a week ago because I had information about the rain.

Arctos:I go to knuckle bump, Benny.

Benny:Yeah, I think...

Arctos:You really should convert to the host.

Arctos:Yeah, you know, I guess that's it.

Benny:In 27 hours, you will see us beating up a piss-drunk Giant and joyriding in his car.

Arctos:Could I get like a flaming sword?

Arctos:This is worth a shot.

Gamemaster:I don't have any stuff here.

Anzu:We are in the most empty place I've ever seen.

Arctos:Yeah.

Arctos:All right.

Gamemaster:Yeah.

Arctos:Wow.

Gamemaster:Yeah, I wish you guys luck.

Gamemaster:I would really, really, really, really, really like to know what's going on with the Voidsong.

Gamemaster:I'm putting some eggs in your basket, so...

Benny:So to recap the tips that you can give us, it is to figure out what's going on with the Embercall, and then try to relate that back to what's going on with the Voidsong.

Anzu:For the record that was my exact plan.

Arctos:Cool.

Gamemaster:Yeah.

Benny:Because if they're copying it, they probably know a bit more about the Voidsong than us, because we can't even copy it.

Gamemaster:Correct.

Benny:OK.

Gamemaster:Okay.

Arctos:Do you know what these satellites are?

Benny:Benny will look it up.

Benny:Did you get the plan from him?

Gamemaster:I can't see into your minds.

Gamemaster:I can't read minds.

Benny:Oh, okay.

Anzu:We're unpredictable.

Benny:Anzu just had a master plan the whole time and didn't tell us.

Gamemaster:What?

Arctos:Sorry, the radar dishes?

Gamemaster:Yeah.

Arctos:What do they do?

Benny:Oh, yeah.

Benny:What are they?

Gamemaster:You know, I kind of thought that you guys were just going to leave without asking, because that was going to be fun.

Arctos:Yeah, yeah.

Arctos:So I'd like to know about that, you know, that whole Gryphon thing that they kept saying.

Arctos:They're really obsessed with this empty P.O. Box or something.

Anzu:No, we're obsessed with the shaking tree.

Anzu:Am I?

Arctos:Oh, yeah, yeah, that thing.

Gamemaster:So you guys know what resonance is, right?

Gamemaster:It's like a concept of sound and all.

Gamemaster:Are you familiar with destructive resonance?

Gamemaster:Yeah, I mean, I feel like you could figure it out from the sound anyway.

Arctos:Oh, so the tree's an antenna for the fire guy?

Gamemaster:Either way, if you make the same sound originate outside of and inside of the firmament,

Gamemaster:and you make it loud enough, you just kind of break through.

Benny:Break down the Firmament?

Gamemaster:Yeah.

Arctos:Pyro?

Gamemaster:Among others.

Gamemaster:Pyre's just the big one.

Arctos:You're muted, Noah.

Gamemaster:You're muted.

Gamemaster:No, you're muted.

Johnny:Hey, guys, I'm muted.

Gamemaster:Yeah.

Johnny:I forgot I was still muted.

Johnny:So there's somewhere that is outside of Færrin that isn't the Godhome and isn't voidward or starward?

Gamemaster:I mean, it's starward, like if you wanted to pick a direction.

Gamemaster:And yeah, the Godhome's an area outside of the firmament.

Johnny:Crazy.

Johnny:And this Pyre guy is coming from out...

Johnny:Yonder and this whole Pyre-like group is trying to crack open the firmament like the first Hierophant did?

Gamemaster:We're trying to.

Johnny:That seems bad.

Arctos:So.

Gamemaster:Yep.

Gamemaster:Let him on through.

Johnny:That seems bad.

Gamemaster:Depends on what your opinion of Pyre is.

Johnny:What does Pyre want?

Gamemaster:That's a good question.

Johnny:Hmm.

Arctos:What's voidward?

Arctos:If all those other stuffs.

Arctos:Starboard or starward.

Gamemaster:Well, where the Void songs come from.

Arctos:Oh.

Arctos:Okay, okay.

Arctos:Oh, final quick question.

Arctos:What happened?

Arctos:They were talking.

Benny:it was related to brace it agreed

Arctos:They seemed really sad about this Whiskers guy.

Arctos:What happened to that guy?

Arctos:Why was he killed?

Gamemaster:Or, I don't know.

Gamemaster:So I imagine it's Voidsong-related.

Johnny:Hmm.

Johnny:What's his name?

Johnny:Grayson.

Arctos:Cool.

Arctos:All right, let's go jump that half Giant and beat the shit out of him.

Johnny:Grayson.

Johnny:For Argyle!

Johnny:Yep.

Johnny:Hey, Aut, good to see you.

Gamemaster:Yeah, good to see you too.

Gamemaster:You guys, if you're willing to make the trek through Noire just to get back to me, then you're more than welcome to come say hi.

Gamemaster:I don't get many visitors, so.

Arctos:So what is that whole thing, the Noire?

Gamemaster:Noire is the location you were at before you were here.

Arctos:Are that just souls that don't have god arms?

Gamemaster:No.

Gamemaster:No, they're native.

Gamemaster:I told you, when you die, you pass through here to get to the Pharos and then up to the Godhome.

Gamemaster:You don't stick around.

Gamemaster:Those guys are native to the Black and White.

Arctos:All right.

Arctos:Adios.

Gamemaster:Yeah.

Gamemaster:I'll call the elevator for you.

Gamemaster:And he makes another motion with his hand and the elevator popped back up.

Johnny:As we're getting in the elevator, I'll look at Anzu.

Benny:Alrighty.

Gamemaster:like stop the elevator it's well everybody uses it to go up

Johnny:Did you know there was places like outside of Færrin?

Anzu:Uh, no.

Anzu:That is kind of crazy.

Anzu:I kind of thought we were what was happening.

Arctos:Wait.

Arctos:No more questions, sorry.

Arctos:Why is this in our holy city, this building?

Arctos:Do they use it to go up?

Gamemaster:That's how you get to the Godhome.

Gamemaster:It's in your holy city because it was here first.

Johnny:Thank you.

Anzu:Um...

Gamemaster:Hallia was built around the site that Aurelia used to get up to the Godhome the first time.

Gamemaster:And she used the Pharos.

Gamemaster:So, you know, connect the dots.

Arctos:And just out of game, so when other gods became outer gods, did they also have higher fans?

Gamemaster:So Aurelia opened up the crack listening to the iridescent host's instructions.

Gamemaster:But when she did that, the other gods were able to grant their blessings through the crack as well.

Arctos:Ah, gotcha.

Gamemaster:There are hierophants of the other religions.

Gamemaster:There are a number of living hierophants currently.

Gamemaster:Anybody who's made the trek to the Godhome and come back is considered a hierophant.

Gamemaster:There are a few that are alive right now that met with the other gods.

Gamemaster:including Aurelia VII, who's the current Pontifex.

Gamemaster:But the first one was Aurelia I of just the Iridescent Host.

Arctos:Alright, so we're going to try to go up to the Godhome, right guys?

Johnny:Right now?

Arctos:Yeah.

Arctos:We won't die, right?

Benny:Sure.

Arctos:Will that be bad for us?

Arctos:Let's try.

Johnny:Yeah, I guess when we're here.

Arctos:I pressed the one for the host.

Gamemaster:The button does not light up.

Arctos:Do any of the buttons light up?

Gamemaster:Only one of the buttons light up.

Gamemaster:It is the same button you pressed to get here.

Gamemaster:It is the three dots.

Arctos:That's because I have you guys with me.

Gamemaster:When you press it, you feel the elevator shift and start to move again.

Johnny:I like try and walk into it.

Benny:course.

Arctos:Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Arctos:You don't have to get out though.

Gamemaster:After a moment,

Arctos:We don't need to test this.

Gamemaster:There's a soft ding, and the doors open again, and you are in front of a concrete wall with a black stone threshold making a door shape on it.

Gamemaster:No, it doesn't move.

Gamemaster:It's a concrete wall.

Gamemaster:Yep, it's a concrete wall.

Gamemaster:It hurts.

Johnny:Ow.

Anzu:Wasn't... Is there like a... Something... Like a chain?

Benny:the box that we have with us.

Gamemaster:You're holding on to an empty voice box, yeah?

Benny:Click it.

Gamemaster:Something happens.

Arctos:I clicked the button three.

Benny:I click it again.

Arctos:It was a three, right?

Gamemaster:Hitting the button doesn't do anything.

Gamemaster:Clicking the voice box doesn't do anything.

Gamemaster:I think you guys just forgot.

Gamemaster:If you recall last session, you were instructed to knock on the threshold three times to return because that's how you got here.

Arctos:Ah, yes.

Johnny:We would have gotten there eventually.

Gamemaster:Yeah, so you do the three knocks, you go through the whole loop, and then you find yourselves back in the hallway in the Pharos with the little shelf to put the voice boxes onto and an elevator that heads down into the lobby and back out onto the streets of Hollywood.

Arctos:Wow.

Benny:We should get some rest.

Arctos:Get some rest and jump that fucker.

Arctos:Yeah.

Arctos:Can we pass by the alley before we head home?

Gamemaster:Yeah, if you want.

Arctos:Just to get a little blueprint of it.

Gamemaster:Yeah, one second.

Arctos:I think ideally we should be able to block the car so we can't get back in it.

Benny:I think.

Gamemaster:If you're still on https://btl.iridi.cc, I have placed you outside of the alley in which he will be relieving himself.

Johnny:This guy's the worst.

Benny:I think.

Benny:We need a way to get him out of the car.

Benny:Actually, I guess he'll get out of the car.

Arctos:He's going to piss himself.

Arctos:Yeah.

Benny:Yeah, he'll get into the alley.

Gamemaster:The car is going to be right here.

Benny:We need a way to get him.

Gamemaster:And then he will be here pissing into that fountain.

Gamemaster:Because he thinks it's funny to ruin the water supply for other people.

Johnny:I mean, we got to wait until he starts peeing, though, so that we can get him with his pants down.

Arctos:All right.

Arctos:So.

Arctos:Yeah.

Arctos:So we know what type of car is going to drive.

Arctos:How much do tires cost?

Gamemaster:A non-negligible amount.

Arctos:Like, how much is that?

Gamemaster:I don't know.

Gamemaster:30 gold a tire.

Arctos:Damn it.

Arctos:I was going to say we just pop all of them, kill him, change the tires, and leave.

Gamemaster:You would know that the Aventine is actually a pretty nice car.

Arctos:Okay.

Gamemaster:So the tires are more expensive than they would be for like your average city tripper, the car that you guys were using before.

Arctos:Okay.

Benny:All right.

Benny:I guess.

Arctos:We should be able to kill him.

Arctos:The question is making sure he doesn't escape.

Benny:Yeah, so I guess we want.

Benny:Well, he doesn't know Arctos, so Arctos, you can be like walking the street because he'll pull over.

Benny:He's not going to care that much.

Benny:And then you can move in to to block him.

Benny:Benny and Johnny, he thinks are dead.

Benny:Sorry.

Benny:Me and Johnny, he thinks, are dead.

Johnny:Oh, God, Ben's talking in third person.

Benny:So we should be hiding.

Benny:We can use Anzu to pull him in.

Benny:He thinks he'll finally finish off the group.

Johnny:Maybe Anzu comes out and is like, I'm here to get revenge.

Johnny:You have a southern accent in this scenario.

Arctos:No, I'm just saying, I think if we start to jump him, he may try to run to his car.

Johnny:Yar.

Benny:Benny will...

Anzu:Yeah, I mean, it's a little intimidating, but I guess I could give it a go.

Anzu:He's already going to be out of the car, right?

Gamemaster:Yep.

Johnny:Oh, so we have to... Well, why don't we just wait until he gets out of the car and then... I think if we attack him, he's going to attack back.

Arctos:Well, he's going to be drunk and clumsy, so maybe not.

Benny:What spells do you guys have to just temporarily immobilize the car or block him from getting to the car?

Johnny:Hlarf thinks we're... I mean, we can also slash his tires and then... We can get between him and the car.

Arctos:You don't think he'll try to run?

Arctos:No, no, they're too expensive.

Johnny:I can create an illusory wall between him and the car.

Arctos:I mean, we can also probably just bring us two cinder blocks and put it one in the front.

Arctos:Front tire and one of the back tire, right?

Benny:Yeah, I guess this is going to be us stabbing him as he runs around trying to remove all of the various windshield barnacles and tire boots and cinder blocks and spike strips that we're going to put up to have him not be able to leave.

Johnny:I mean, I don't want to.

Anzu:I could push him.

Johnny:So he goes to see, we really quickly put cinder blocks around all his tires, put up spike strips, get a whole bunch of orange cones, then tape off the area.

Arctos:Or we just have one of us take the car and move it.

Anzu:That's what I was just thinking.

Anzu:If someone goes for the car specifically.

Arctos:Yeah, yeah.

Benny:Okay.

Arctos:Well, we want one... It should be Johnny or Mindbird, no offense.

Johnny:I mean, I can go for the car and also be yelling a courageous anthem at the same time.

Anzu:Yeah, no, that makes sense.

Johnny:That's really the big thing I got to do.

Arctos:Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Arctos:So you just move the car when he gets there, and then...

Benny:Well, how about this?

Benny:Don't even move the car.

Benny:Just take the keys out.

Benny:If he leaves with the keys, right, we'll have to attack him and get the keys off him if we don't want him to leave.

Benny:But if he leaves the keys in, all you have to do...

Arctos:probably going to leave the keys in.

Arctos:He's definitely going to leave the keys in.

Benny:Yeah, but you just take him out and then lock the door.

Benny:Actually, you just take him out.

Benny:What is he going to do?

Johnny:I got two mythic points.

Arctos:Yeah.

Benny:He might have a... Yeah, okay.

Johnny:I can flip away.

Arctos:Cool.

Benny:And Benny, like... Yeah, the roof seems a little risky.

Arctos:And then we just hide on the roof of the container and just drop down and just fuck him up.

Arctos:Oh.

Benny:I think down this alleyway is out of sight and really out of sight.

Benny:Not like...

Benny:flat on a rooftop.

Benny:He's going to be driving like, is that that fucking kid I killed?

Benny:Like, like flat on a rooftop?

Arctos:Cool, let's do it.

Benny:Like, God, I must be really drunk.

Johnny:You know, the first thing everyone thinks when they see a child, is that that kid I killed?

Arctos:Let's jump the motherfucker.

Gamemaster:Okay.

Gamemaster:So if you guys think you have a plan set up for when this is going to occur, you can, if you like, make your way back to the Sin and Tonic and get yourselves a rest.

Arctos:Yeah.

Gamemaster:Heal up, get any spell slots back if you spent them.

Gamemaster:And then wait for the portion of time in which you know that Hlarf will be making a stop in this alley.

Anzu:Thank you.

Gamemaster:Okay, so position yourselves as you would like to be positioned before this occurs.

Gamemaster:You know that he will be pulling over and the car will be stopping right there.

Arctos:Is the main road which way?

Gamemaster:The main road is going this way.

Gamemaster:It goes in both directions.

Arctos:Okay.

Gamemaster:Calaria does use a right-side driving standard.

Arctos:Okay.

Arctos:I'm not in there, and I'm not a polar bear.

Arctos:Where do I think I could get to him within 25 feet that's the safest for me to hide?

Gamemaster:What do you mean you're not in there and you're not a polar bear?

Arctos:Like, I'm physically not just standing in this alley.

Arctos:And I also don't know what it's like to be a puller.

Gamemaster:Oh, sure.

Arctos:Is it on the roof?

Gamemaster:Oh, okay.

Arctos:I'm OK taking fall damage to get down.

Gamemaster:Yeah, so the roof is 20 feet up.

Arctos:I just want to know what is the best way.

Arctos:OK.

Gamemaster:So if you just jumped down, you would take 10 points of bludgeoning damage doing so.

Gamemaster:Just like an FYI.

Johnny:And you said his car would be sort of over here.

Gamemaster:Right there.

Johnny:Over here, sorry.

Gamemaster:Let me, let me, I can draw a square.

Gamemaster:Let me draw a square.

Arctos:Could I hide over here?

Johnny:He's hiding.

Gamemaster:That's his car.

Gamemaster:I don't have the car image on hand, unfortunately.

Gamemaster:Yeah, so you'd definitely be out of view there, Arctos, if that's something you're trying to do.

Arctos:What if Andrew was lying flat on the ceiling?

Gamemaster:In the alley itself, where Benny is, so long as Hlarf doesn't look up while he's pissing, that works.

Gamemaster:It would really depend on stealth checks there to stay hidden.

Benny:Oh, it's a hidden... Wait, is it hidden where Benny is?

Gamemaster:Same with Anzu, if you're trying to stay hidden.

Gamemaster:Yeah, where Benny...

Arctos:Could you physically even see him?

Gamemaster:Oh, on the roof itself, if he's lying flat, so long as he's not seen from the road, which once again, these will be stealth checks, which it'll be a pretty high DC to be seen on the roof if he's lying flat.

Gamemaster:But, oh, I was going to say Anzu would also take fall damage, but he wouldn't because that's not a thing he does because he's bird.

Arctos:Yeah, this one's safe.

Johnny:Bird.

Arctos:I'm not going to have to make a stealth check over here, right?

Gamemaster:That's a good point.

Arctos:Because I'm so far.

Gamemaster:everybody will have to make stealth checks.

Gamemaster:It's just where you're hiding will affect the chances that he sees you, the DC you have to hit.

Gamemaster:If you think you found a particularly good hiding space, the DC will be much lower that you need to hit in order to remain unseen.

Arctos:Okay.

Arctos:I'm not stealthy.

Arctos:So, yeah, I've tried to hope that this is a good one.

Gamemaster:I understand.

Gamemaster:You're a polar bear.

Gamemaster:You're trying to hide.

Gamemaster:There is, short of you leaving an area in which you would be useful for the encounter, you have to attempt to hide somewhere.

Arctos:Yeah.

Gamemaster:The further away you are, the better hidden you are, the less likely you are to be seen.

Johnny:Thank you.

Arctos:OK, and then.

Arctos:Yeah, I assume.

Gamemaster:And of course, you can always reroll it with mythic if you have a mythic point available, which this is kind of its purpose.

Arctos:Yeah.

Arctos:And then over here is.

Arctos:How's that?

Gamemaster:Over there, you'd probably be pretty well hidden.

Arctos:All right, so I'll be over here.

Gamemaster:I don't know if you'd be more hidden than across the street, and you'd also have to go up the stairs and around to get to them.

Arctos:Yeah, I'll be over here.

Arctos:I'll hide here.

Gamemaster:Absolutely.

Gamemaster:Are we in position?

Gamemaster:Johnny, where are you?

Johnny:No, I was trying to hide under the awning of the roof.

Gamemaster:Are you on the roof there?

Gamemaster:Okay, because he's getting out of his car, so you have to hope that when he walks over here, he doesn't see you.

Johnny:I'll go sort of over here then, a little bit further away.

Gamemaster:You can try that.

Gamemaster:That's fine.

Gamemaster:Okay, are we all in places that we think are... Benny, are you on the roof?

Benny:Yes.

Benny:Benny is on the roof, tucked behind this chimney.

Gamemaster:Okay.

Gamemaster:Okay, absolutely.

Gamemaster:Then as we... Correct.

Arctos:He doesn't know who I am, so even if he does see a polar bear, he might just be like, he's a crack addict.

Gamemaster:He's not... No, he would think there's just a random polar bear wearing armor, which up to... Sorry, a random polar bear wearing armor and then a trench coat on top of it.

Arctos:No, no, I have a trench coat.

Gamemaster:But if you guys are in a position that you think would be where you want to stay, I would love it if you could roll a stealth check for me, please.

Arctos:There's mine.

Arctos:15.

Arctos:Do you have a mythic for that?

Gamemaster:Okay.

Johnny:That was almost a natural 20.

Johnny:Yeah, I do.

Arctos:Yeah, I think it's the time.

Johnny:I'm going to use a method.

Benny:Benny's going to have to mythic as well.

Benny:That's very annoying.

Anzu:25.

Benny:Wait, can't I just... Aren't I supposed to be able to right-click, or is it something else?

Johnny:Yeah, that's better.

Gamemaster:So long as you have a mythic point, you can right-click on it and click reroll with mythic point.

Arctos:You have to have a mythic point.

Benny:Uh-oh.

Benny:I have to get myself a mythic.

Arctos:oh that's good johnny hell yeah i'll re-roll with a mythic i'll use my mythic dot

Johnny:Yeah, it was much better.

Johnny:It was a good call.

Benny:Okay.

Gamemaster:Okay, 29 from Benny, 27 from Johnny, 25 from Anzu, and 15 from Arctos.

Benny:15 marked us

Gamemaster:15 from Arctos.

Gamemaster:Okay.

Gamemaster:You guys are hidden as best you think you can be.

Gamemaster:You're there at the time that you know that he's going to walk out.

Gamemaster:And sure enough, just as Aut said that he would, Hlarf skints from where he is.

Johnny:Thanks, Kevin.

Gamemaster:He just kind of makes a quick turn, pulls the car over into the alley, stops, stumbles out, and walks over, looks in this alley...

Gamemaster:But then he sees the fountain across the way and he'd rather piss in that.

Gamemaster:So he walks across the alley over here.

Arctos:Yes.

Gamemaster:Starts taking a piss.

Benny:Our car disarmer.

Arctos:Oh, I don't mean.

Arctos:Yes, card is on her.

Arctos:I forgot he goes first.

Johnny:I'm just going to run over to the... I'm going to sneak over to the car and just yoink the key.

Gamemaster:Okay.

Gamemaster:Absolutely.

Johnny:Do I have the key?

Gamemaster:You have the key.

Johnny:Then... How many actions can I take here before we're going to go into an... Now I'll turn the car off before I yoink the key.

Gamemaster:Are you, when you yoink the key, are you turning the car off before you yoink the key?

Gamemaster:Or are you just yoinking the key?

Gamemaster:Okay.

Gamemaster:Hold on a second.

Arctos:Once I hear the car's off, I'm gonna start moving.

Benny:Maybe we can kill him with diplomacy.

Benny:Arctos walks over.

Johnny:I don't get that feat until next level.

Benny:Hey, that's my car.

Benny:What are you doing?

Benny:Turn it off.

Benny:And Alarv's like, what?

Benny:That's my car.

Johnny:I don't get that feat until next level where I can do damage with diplomacy.

Gamemaster:OK, so you do turn the car if you pull it out.

Gamemaster:Hlarf does not seem to notice.

Johnny:I reach in.

Johnny:Okay.

Arctos:I'm going to start walking out.

Johnny:I will pocket it.

Arctos:Not running yet.

Johnny:And then...

Gamemaster:OK, at this point, as people are starting to move around, I'm going to start an encounter just so that we have an initiative order.

Gamemaster:So you all can roll stealth or perception initiatives if you like.

Arctos:I wonder what I'm going to roll.

Benny:Jesus.

Arctos:Am I going to roll a minus three or plus nine?

Gamemaster:Maybe you want to shake it up a bit.

Arctos:Did it not roll for me?

Gamemaster:Oh, he should actually be lower than he is because he has a minus two to perception checks because he is drunk.

Johnny:Wait, Arctos, do you want to drop down to after me so I can get buffs and stuff off?

Arctos:No.

Arctos:I'm going to be casting a spell, so it doesn't matter.

Johnny:Uh-oh.

Arctos:Yeah.

Johnny:Is it a will save?

Arctos:Let me see.

Arctos:I can let you go first.

Johnny:I got a couple of buffs and debuffs I want to drop.

Gamemaster:Okay, so if we're all situated, it is Johnny's turn first.

Arctos:Yeah, I might as well.

Arctos:I'll let you.

Arctos:You're killing the guy who killed you.

Arctos:I can let you go first.

Johnny:Thank you.

Johnny:Um, I will just step out in front of him, and as my courageous anthem, I will look at Hlarf, and I will yell, FOR ARGYLE!

Johnny:Uh, and that'll be my lingering composition.

Johnny:As that, uh... As that echoes through the...

Johnny:Do I still move?

Gamemaster:So, Hlarf does not know the names of any of the people that he beat up last time.

Gamemaster:So he hears you yell for Argyle, and he looks up, very confused.

Gamemaster:You cast this.

Johnny:I think is 28 a crit at this level for standard DC?

Gamemaster:I'm going to roll a perception check for this guy to see if he even recognizes who you are.

Gamemaster:Yes, it is.

Arctos:you

Gamemaster:It is.

Johnny:excellent uh so then get a courageous anthem off for

Gamemaster:Okay, you yell, you get a courageous answer moth, and he actually did succeed on his perception check.

Gamemaster:So he looks over at you and he says, oh shit, didn't I kill you?

Gamemaster:He has no idea what you're talking about.

Johnny:I will use bone mow.

Johnny:And I'll say, I told you the revenant always comes back, motherfucker.

Gamemaster:Okay.

Johnny:I'm going to use a mythic point on that.

Johnny:Reroll that.

Johnny:Oh my god, that's...

Johnny:Does 21 beat his... What is this against?

Johnny:His Will DC?

Gamemaster:His Will DC is a... Does a 21 beat it?

Benny:Thank you.

Johnny:Yeah.

Gamemaster:Yes.

Johnny:So he takes just regular Bone Mow effect.

Gamemaster:Okay.

Johnny:And then for my third action, I will Flourish Cast Albatross Curse.

Johnny:I told you I had this spell.

Johnny:And I'll pull out another piece of paper, and I will yell, Ah, well-a-day, what evil looks!

Johnny:Had I from old and young, instead of the cross, the albatross around my neck was hung.

Johnny:And I will cast Albatross Curse on this guy.

Gamemaster:Thematic Palm.

Johnny:This spell is just this poem.

Johnny:Oh, so he's gotta make a will save.

Johnny:Oh no, actually he doesn't make a will save yet, until he...

Gamemaster:Okay.

Arctos:Yes.

Johnny:Right now, he just has this albatross curse, and then if he kills this albatross, he has to make a will save.

Gamemaster:Okay.

Johnny:That's my turn.

Gamemaster:What does the Albatross do?

Gamemaster:Oh, you guys have a plus one circumstance bonus to attacks against him, unless he attacks the Albatross.

Johnny:Then a whole lot of other stuff happens.

Gamemaster:Sure.

Gamemaster:OK.

Johnny:That's my turn.

Johnny:That's all three of my things.

Gamemaster:Now it is Arctos' turn.

Arctos:Clerics are allowed to rechange their spells at the beginning of the day.

Benny:Thank you.

Arctos:Didn't know how to do that on here.

Arctos:Sorry, so just trying to grab that.

Gamemaster:Yeah.

Gamemaster:So what you should be doing is adding the spells that you care about into the spell preparation area, which you hit the magnifying glass to see those.

Arctos:Gotcha.

Gamemaster:And then once they're there, you can drag them from spell prep into the slots.

Arctos:Gotcha.

Arctos:Do you mind just giving me Bone Spray?

Arctos:I cleared out the slot for the other one.

Gamemaster:Sure.

Gamemaster:What level is that?

Arctos:Two.

Gamemaster:Bonespray?

Arctos:Yeah.

Gamemaster:Bonespray.

Johnny:spells.

Gamemaster:Oh, of course, that's two words, unlike Boneshaker, which is one word.

Gamemaster:Okay, so I put Bonespray in your spellbook, and then I drag it from your spellbook onto the slot.

Arctos:Cool, cool, cool.

Arctos:So I'm going to cast that.

Gamemaster:Absolutely.

Arctos:I believe I... Yeah, sorry.

Arctos:Just double-checking this.

Gamemaster:It's a 15-foot cone, so you have to be closer.

Arctos:Oh.

Arctos:Yeah, never mind.

Arctos:So I won't cast that right now.

Gamemaster:Okay.

Arctos:I will instead cast... Spells I will cast...

Benny:you

Arctos:Feeble, does that do?

Arctos:Yeah, so I'll cast Feeble on him.

Johnny:This guy is...

Gamemaster:Okay, so you take a step, you cast Enfeeble, and then he has to make a fort save.

Arctos:Yes.

Arctos:DC 14.

Gamemaster:You see, 19.

Arctos:DC 19, sorry.

Gamemaster:He succeeds.

Arctos:That's fine.

Gamemaster:So he's enfeebled one until the start of your next turn.

Arctos:Cool.

Arctos:Then I moved here, and then I will raise my shield.

Gamemaster:OK.

Arctos:which I don't know how to do, so I'll figure that out, but you can carry on.

Gamemaster:Anzu.

Gamemaster:This is not the boss music I thought it was.

Anzu:All right.

Anzu:Can I see him from where I am, or do I need to move?

Benny:Thank you.

Gamemaster:You need to move.

Gamemaster:Were you laying flat on the roof?

Anzu:Yeah, I guess I was.

Gamemaster:So then if you stand up, you can see him.

Johnny:This guy's a real spellcaster.

Gamemaster:Or if you like crawl forward, you can see him.

Gamemaster:You are prone right now.

Anzu:Mm-hmm, mm-hmm.

Anzu:So if I crawl to this spot... All right.

Gamemaster:You can see him.

Gamemaster:Yes.

Arctos:Oh, sorry.

Arctos:I didn't know my space.

Anzu:I've heard it's optimal to remain prone, so I'll do that.

Anzu:And I'll do the same opening as last time, because last time went really well.

Anzu:So I will cast Blistering Invective at him.

Anzu:As I say, Hlarf, you're so bad at killing, the people you killed came back.

Gamemaster:Absolutely.

Gamemaster:He fails.

Gamemaster:The Bong Mo brings him into failure territory.

Benny:Thank you.

Anzu:He's frightened one and will take 2d6 persistent fire damage.

Johnny:This guy's got a lot of debuffs.

Gamemaster:Absolutely.

Gamemaster:He does have a lot of debuffs.

Gamemaster:Okay.

Anzu:That's two actions.

Gamemaster:Okay, sure.

Anzu:I feel like I already did a thing on him last time.

Anzu:time we fought, but I'll recall knowledge on him again.

Anzu:Or for the first time, whatever, I forget.

Gamemaster:This guy would be a society or a nature check.

Anzu:Society.

Arctos:Then a society.

Anzu:Jorge, you can pull that Raise a Shield action into your hotbar at the bottom, and you'll be able to get to it very easily in the future.

Benny:Oh.

Arctos:Gotcha, gotcha.

Arctos:Thank you, thank you.

Anzu:So I could take highest and lowest.

Gamemaster:OK, 29 crit.

Gamemaster:So you can learn two of immunities, weaknesses, and resistances, or highest or lowest saves slash AC.

Gamemaster:Yes, if you like.

Gamemaster:Its highest is fort, and its lowest is will.

Anzu:All right, we'll do that.

Anzu:Yeah, yeah.

Anzu:That tracks.

Anzu:That's my turn.

Gamemaster:OK.

Gamemaster:It's Hlarf's turn.

Gamemaster:Hlarf is clumsy, enfeebled, frightened, on fire.

Gamemaster:His pants are down.

Gamemaster:People have come out of the alley to attack him.

Johnny:There's a bird flying around him.

Gamemaster:I think there's a bird on his neck.

Arctos:He has to pull his pants up or he can't walk.

Benny:you

Arctos:It's okay, man.

Gamemaster:No.

Johnny:Half speed.

Gamemaster:He's going to... I think Johnny was the first to show up, so what he's going to do is he's going to waddle over to Johnny.

Gamemaster:And he's going to try and punch Johnny in the face.

Johnny:Thank you.

Arctos:I can bring you back this time.

Johnny:This guy's got so many things going on right now.

Gamemaster:He does.

Gamemaster:26 hits.

Johnny:I mean, impressive for Lars.

Gamemaster:So we do damage.

Gamemaster:You're going to take 12 points of piercing damage.

Gamemaster:Second punch.

Gamemaster:Uh, that also hits.

Arctos:He's going out swinging.

Gamemaster:You're gonna take another 12 points of damage.

Johnny:I am bloodied.

Gamemaster:Um, unfortunately, that is all three of his actions.

Arctos:Well, he fucked up because he needed to kill at least one of us because he's not making it.

Gamemaster:So... Uh, at the end of his turn, he takes seven points of fire damage.

Gamemaster:Uh, let's make a recovery check for him.

Gamemaster:He fails.

Gamemaster:He's still on fire.

Gamemaster:Benny, it's your turn.

Arctos:Biteful kid comes out.

Benny:So what are my options for getting off this roof?

Arctos:See ya.

Benny:How much movement is it going to cost me?

Gamemaster:You're on a low roof, which means you're only like 10 feet up right now because you're on the lower of the two roofs.

Johnny:you

Gamemaster:So I'm going to say movement speed is the same as the Crowe flies.

Gamemaster:If you're willing to take the five points of bludgeoning damage for just jumping off the top of the roof.

Gamemaster:Or you can spend an additional action to make an athletics or acrobatics check to jump down and negate that damage.

Benny:No, I'll just take the damage.

Arctos:You guys got a healer now.

Arctos:It's okay.

Benny:Yeah, I'll just take the damage.

Benny:This would... What's it called?

Johnny:you you

Arctos:Be flanking.

Benny:This would get him flanked.

Gamemaster:That would get him flanked.

Benny:Perfect.

Gamemaster:Okay, absolutely.

Benny:I had 45.

Gamemaster:That's two actions to go over there.

Benny:I understand I can't...

Gamemaster:You take five points of bludgeoning damage from the fall, but you still have one action remaining to do as you please.

Benny:Perfect.

Benny:Uh... We'll... Murder, I guess.

Arctos:No.

Arctos:That's okay.

Gamemaster:Go for it.

Benny:Oh, the albatross curse.

Benny:Act with courageous anthem.

Benny:That's absolutely obscene.

Johnny:Yes.

Benny:No!

Johnny:They do stack.

Benny:I can't believe it.

Gamemaster:Well, it hits because he's clumsy and off guard and you have plus two from other bonuses, but it still hits.

Anzu:It still hits.

Johnny:Still hits.

Johnny:I want him to try and kill the bird next.

Johnny:If Clorf tries to kill the bird, so many funny things happen.

Benny:I thought he was.

Anzu:I forgot that you weren't talking about me for a second.

Anzu:I was like, hold on a second.

Gamemaster:God, please kill the mind bird.

Johnny:Oh.

Benny:I was like, yes.

Johnny:Not you.

Benny:Jump on the roof.

Benny:He's up there.

Benny:I pointed at him.

Gamemaster:That is... He killed you last time!

Johnny:He's arrived last time.

Johnny:He's on the roof.

Arctos:He starts swinging for the Giant.

Benny:You got one left.

Benny:Oh, and Benny will say, didn't you learn your lesson about drinking last time?

Arctos:Wow, he hits hard.

Arctos:I'm going to attack you guys.

Johnny:Josh, is Hlarf also off camera?

Benny:Yeah, but he was severely impaired.

Gamemaster:He was.

Gamemaster:Sorry?

Johnny:Never mind.

Johnny:I answered my own question.

Gamemaster:Oh, okay.

Gamemaster:Alright, that's the end of your turn, right, Benny?

Gamemaster:It's Johnny's turn.

Arctos:I got you.

Arctos:Don't worry about healing.

Johnny:Okay.

Johnny:Thank you.

Johnny:This guy's got so many things going on.

Johnny:He's already afraid.

Johnny:He's been in bone mode.

Gamemaster:Yeah.

Johnny:First I'll try a distracting performance.

Arctos:I should take Bane.

Johnny:Why not?

Johnny:I'm going to try a distracting performance on him.

Gamemaster:Oh, I'm sorry.

Gamemaster:He did go, so he's no longer framed.

Gamemaster:I apologize, because that goes down by one at the end of his turn.

Johnny:Okay.

Johnny:Then in that case, I will cast fear.

Johnny:I will flourish cast fear.

Gamemaster:Okay.

Gamemaster:Sure.

Johnny:Him.

Johnny:He's got to make this will save.

Benny:Oh my god.

Gamemaster:He critically fails.

Gamemaster:He is frightened three and fleeing.

Johnny:Yes.

Arctos:Oh.

Johnny:Yes.

Johnny:What a crazy spell.

Johnny:That was one action.

Gamemaster:Oh, gosh.

Johnny:Next, I will Flourish Cast.

Gamemaster:Oh, that's terrible.

Johnny:Yeah.

Gamemaster:Okay, sorry.

Johnny:The stack of Bone Mow and then that, plus everything else that's going on is absurd.

Johnny:I will do this thing.

Johnny:Distracting Performance.

Johnny:What's his Perception DC right now?

Gamemaster:His perception DC right now is 12.

Anzu:Thank you.

Johnny:So I get a mythic point back.

Johnny:And also, I will make Arctos.

Gamemaster:Okay.

Johnny:He does not see Arctos, so he's also off guard to Arctos.

Gamemaster:Absolutely.

Johnny:Arctos is hidden from him.

Johnny:That's two actions.

Johnny:Third action.

Johnny:What do I got for a third action?

Arctos:Bit in his face.

Gamemaster:Pass.

Benny:Remove his kidney.

Johnny:I didn't pick up another weapon, so I don't have any weapons.

Benny:Just punch him.

Gamemaster:So, you know, heal him.

Benny:Just punch him.

Gamemaster:You could always make an unarmed attack.

Johnny:I'll make an unarmed attack and just try and punch him in the crotch.

Gamemaster:Absolutely.

Gamemaster:One second.

Benny:That was the other thing that I thought of.

Gamemaster:I have revealed your basic unarmed attack that you may attempt, if you like.

Benny:If there's any...

Johnny:I'll just try and punch this dude straight in the crotch.

Benny:Psychic attack that does bludgeoning just like sack tap.

Johnny:This is for all girls.

Arctos:He punches him in the nuts.

Gamemaster:Your punch critically hits.

Benny:How does it feel?

Johnny:Out of the way.

Arctos:Sacked.

Johnny:This is going to do so little damage.

Gamemaster:Six points of bludgeoning damage.

Johnny:Bam, right to the crotch.

Gamemaster:Absolutely.

Gamemaster:Okay.

Johnny:My turn.

Anzu:Thank you.

Gamemaster:Arctos, it's your turn.

Arctos:Yes, I'll start off with a nice little

Arctos:two-action heal.

Gamemaster:Okay.

Arctos:Wasn't the best roll, but I got 22 points.

Johnny:Oh, amazing.

Arctos:Now, that's for you, Johnny.

Gamemaster:One second.

Benny:Oh, Jesus.

Gamemaster:Yeah, I was going to say, who are you doing that for?

Gamemaster:It could have been for Hlarf.

Arctos:Yeah.

Johnny:Thank you.

Arctos:And he's off guard to me, right?

Gamemaster:You know when I heal Hlarf?

Gamemaster:Hlarf is currently off guard to you, yes.

Arctos:Oh, I didn't mean to change grip.

Arctos:I did not mean to change grip.

Arctos:I was going to strike.

Arctos:Okay.

Gamemaster:Yeah, it's a crit.

Gamemaster:This is a crit by 14.

Anzu:Thank you.

Gamemaster:Okay, 16 points of damage.

Johnny:Thank you.

Gamemaster:Hwarf is bloodied.

Arctos:Good, good, good.

Arctos:Does anything happen?

Gamemaster:No, he doesn't.

Gamemaster:He at no point had a bloodied effect.

Arctos:Okay, well.

Arctos:Yeah, and then I guess I will just raise my shield.

Arctos:I'm hidden, so I don't need to do that.

Gamemaster:Okay.

Arctos:I will strike.

Gamemaster:You're no longer hit because you attacked him.

Benny:Thank you.

Arctos:Ah, so then I will raise the shield.

Gamemaster:Okay.

Gamemaster:Like, technically, you should have attacked before you cast the heal spell, but it's fine.

Arctos:Okay, good to know for the future.

Gamemaster:But, like, yeah, once you've done that, it's, you know.

Gamemaster:Okay, so then next we go to Mindbird.

Gamemaster:Anzu, what you doing?

Anzu:I unleash my psyche.

Anzu:And then, are there any coins in this fountain?

Gamemaster:Absolutely.

Gamemaster:Yeah, absolutely.

Gamemaster:A little piss-soaked at the moment, but yes.

Johnny:Thank you.

Anzu:That's exactly the reason I...

Gamemaster:Oh.

Anzu:put a hand out, and a piss-soaked coin hovers up from the fountain and telekinetically projectiles right at Hlarf.

Benny:you

Gamemaster:Okay, absolutely.

Anzu:It's amped.

Anzu:So we do this.

Anzu:And we do this.

Gamemaster:That is unfortunately just a hit.

Gamemaster:Because you are prone.

Gamemaster:Or not just because you're prone.

Gamemaster:But being prone does affect attacks.

Anzu:Oh, shoot.

Johnny:He doesn't get another plus one because of Albatross curse?

Anzu:I forgot that I was prone.

Benny:Is he not close enough?

Gamemaster:Does the Albatross curse?

Gamemaster:It's allies within 30 feet of the target.

Johnny:Ugh.

Gamemaster:Anzu is unfortunately... I think he's just barely out of the range.

Anzu:That's so sad.

Anzu:Does a 23 do anything?

Gamemaster:Actually, it says you're within 30 feet.

Gamemaster:I'll give it to you.

Gamemaster:Okay, so... No, a 23 is not enough for it to crit, unfortunately.

Anzu:All right, so I'll just do 22 points.

Gamemaster:I mean... 22 points of damage is a lot of damage.

Gamemaster:22 points of damage is how much health he has.

Gamemaster:How do you want to do this?

Anzu:So I think...

Anzu:As my turn begins, I think about what happened the other night.

Anzu:And I see things are going well, but I still watch him get some heavy blows in on Johnny earlier.

Johnny:you you

Anzu:And I actually, just for a moment, lift up from the roof as this coin lifts up.

Benny:you

Anzu:And I say...

Anzu:You're done hurting my friends.

Anzu:And the piss-soaked coin goes right through his head and out the other side.

Gamemaster:Absolutely.

Gamemaster:Just hole all the way through, left by the coin, and Hlarf collapses to the ground, dead.

Johnny:Mind bird!

Gamemaster:Yes.

Arctos:Does he have any good stuff on him?

Johnny:We loot the body.

Benny:Can we loot the car too?

Gamemaster:We will loot the body next week.

Arctos:Well, I was going to loot it and then bone spray the body.

Johnny:What does that mean?

Gamemaster:We'll loot it next week.

Gamemaster:But at the very least, you're currently in the possession of the car keys to the Aventine.

Arctos:Yep.

Benny:The cockies.

Johnny:The cockies.

Anzu:Guys, Pathfinder is so easy.

Benny:All you have to do is have an...

Gamemaster:You just gotta gang up four on one.

Arctos:Let's just head right back to the Black and White and then just keep getting hit lists one at a time.

Benny:All you have to do is have an otherworldly being describe the perfect scenario to murder someone and then capitalize on it, and you're good.

Johnny:Easy.

Gamemaster:It worked.

Gamemaster:It was successful.

Johnny:That was so funny.

Johnny:Just look at his face.

Johnny:Here's where you're going to kill the next guy.

Gamemaster:So what I'm hearing is that last campaign, I had an intelligent person that I thought you guys might go to for help.

Arctos:What about the wereboar?

Arctos:How about the crocodile?

Gamemaster:And you hated the fact of you didn't like him.

Gamemaster:because he was kind of mean to you, and he didn't give you enough help.

Arctos:Yeah.

Gamemaster:I think if Ashmont had just told you, like, specific steps on how to get revenge on people who had wronged you, you guys would have loved him.

Arctos:Yeah.

Gamemaster:I think that was all that was missing.

Johnny:Yeah, that sounds about right to me.

Arctos:Alright, but also, Ashmont was a dick.

Gamemaster:That's fine.

Arctos:So far, Aut has not been a dick.

Gamemaster:That's true.

Gamemaster:Aut likes you guys.

Gamemaster:You guys are doing what he wants you to do.

Arctos:Yeah.

Gamemaster:There's no reason to be antagonistic towards you.

Arctos:Yeah.

Gamemaster:That's a good time.

Gamemaster:Oh, you guys do level up.

Arctos:Hell yeah.

Gamemaster:Yeah, level four.

Gamemaster:Now that, as of this session, two of you have regained the ability to level up.

Johnny:I get so many cool things at this level.

Arctos:Um...

Benny:you

Johnny:I have so many cool things.

Anzu:Interestingly, I actually don't love many of the level 4 psychic class feats.

Arctos:Quick question.

Gamemaster:Yes, Jorge.

Anzu:But I'm going to figure something out.

Gamemaster:Just take a bard feat instead

Johnny:Take a bard feat.

Johnny:They're just great.

Gamemaster:Yeah, just take a bard feed.

Johnny:Hey, Josh, remember that time you said that I couldn't roll performance for initiative for everything?

Gamemaster:Shut up.

Anzu:Be prepared to eat your words and his as he sings his way into battle.

Gamemaster:No.

Johnny:I'm sorry, Josh.

Benny:you you

Anzu:Wait, but we don't need to spite Josh with the middle finger, though, because he kind of controls stuff.

Gamemaster:I'm gonna... Next combat's just gonna be 12 flarfs.

Johnny:No, I... When this started, I was like, what if I go down again?

Gamemaster:It's only Hlarf from now on.

Arctos:All going for Johnny.

Johnny:What if I die to Hlarf a second time?

Gamemaster:I rolled very close to critting on you at least one of the times, and he had a fatal d10 to his punches.

Arctos:Oh, I know.

Johnny:Well, after that, he was fleeing three because he was frightened.

Gamemaster:So, you know, that would have taken you out if he hit that, but he didn't.

Benny:you

Gamemaster:I mean, even if he had the chance to go after Anzu's turn, like if Anzu hadn't killed him, he would have spent the next actions he had running away, and I'm fairly confident Benny would have just knocked a pickaxe into his back and taken him out while he was running.

Gamemaster:Once he didn't successfully kill Johnny, I think that was it.

Gamemaster:He was done.

Gamemaster:Yeah.

Gamemaster:Well, he was frightened three and fleeing.

Gamemaster:Fleeing sucks for me.

Johnny:Yeah, the critical failure on fleeing is nasty.

Gamemaster:Yeah.

Arctos:Yeah.

Arctos:But now you guys can get healed, so even if you go down, I can give you max level.

Arctos:I have four at this level, and then they increase.

Gamemaster:True.

Arctos:Just four extra spell slots just for heal.

Johnny:That's really awesome.

Johnny:Wow.

Gamemaster:Neal?

Arctos:Yeah, so I think if... Obviously it's endgame, but at level 28, since they're level 10, I think you have like six of them.

Gamemaster:Clerics.

Arctos:So you have like six 10-level heals.

Benny:Thank you.

Arctos:which is crazy.

Gamemaster:Nice.

Arctos:I'll have to let you guys know about next week because it is Christmas week and I'll be going to Bailey's folks house.

Gamemaster:Wait.

Gamemaster:Hmm.

Arctos:I don't know if I'm getting there Monday night.

Gamemaster:I mean, for all of you, let us know if next week works.

Anzu:I think that at least Monday will be open, theoretically.

Gamemaster:We might end up just taking a bye week.

Anzu:So if it works for Jorge, it works for me.

Anzu:But the rest of the week, probably more in question.

Arctos:Yeah.

Benny:you

Johnny:Yeah.

Gamemaster:let us know

Arctos:Sounds good.

Arctos:You know what I realized?

Arctos:Josh made the perfect god for us and we didn't follow it.

Arctos:The host?

Anzu:You like the host now.

Arctos:It's just about self- We get to be the other campaign versions of ourselves.

Anzu:Yeah, but I think that the reason a lot of us went for the Watcher is because we're also lore goblins.

Anzu:And so we want to know stuff.

Arctos:Yeah.

Johnny:I love lore.

Arctos:Yeah, but Arctos is just about being better and richer.

Arctos:cooler.

Johnny:I'm so intrigued.

Anzu:I mean, yes, those are kind of the two sides of our coin.

Gamemaster:Sometimes you just want knowledge for knowledge's sake.

Arctos:And let's be honest, we wanted knowledge to get richer.

Arctos:They're all vectors for the same goal of being more powerful and richer.

Arctos:Yeah.

Arctos:Yeah, fuck that guy.

Arctos:You know, killing him was almost as good as killing

Gamemaster:He's dead now.

Arctos:to Big Bad for one.

Arctos:Meffy.

Johnny:Oh, that was satisfying.

Gamemaster:Really?

Arctos:I don't know if it was that satisfying, but it was.

Gamemaster:All right, well, he's dead now.

Arctos:It was very satisfying to kill this fucker.

Arctos:I like Aut.

Gamemaster:You guys are murderers.

Johnny:This was... I think this was so satisfying, too, because especially after such a terrible fight last time, it felt nice to get so many debuffs and just destroy this guy.

Benny:you you

Gamemaster:He had so many debuffs on him by the end.

Gamemaster:That was ridiculous.

Gamemaster:That was end of campaign two level debuffs on him.

Gamemaster:Which, you know, the four of you all coming together to murder this one guy, it makes sense that he was not having a good time.

Arctos:Are there like rules on stealing or is it just like finders keepers in this world?

Gamemaster:In what circumstance?

Gamemaster:Like, taking... taking Hlarf's stuff?

Arctos:The car.

Gamemaster:Well, so the question is, is did Hlarf steal the car?

Benny:you you

Gamemaster:Because if Hlarf stole the car from somebody who has the money to want the car back, and they find you in possession with it, they're gonna try and take it back from you, probably by force.

Gamemaster:But if nobody's looking for the car, or nobody finds the car, that's not a problem.

Arctos:Cool.

Arctos:In fact, okay.

Gamemaster:GG's.

Arctos:Adios.

Gamemaster:I'll see y'all.

Benny:Adios.