2026-6-1 — Akasha

Benny:now recording hello perhaps you were connecting

Gamemaster:Hello?

Gamemaster:That was so strange.

Gamemaster:I clicked the join button and it just hung out in a connecting state for an extended period of time.

Gamemaster:Yeah, but usually it's near instantaneous.

Gamemaster:The fact that it wasn't this team time means my computer's doing something dumb or my router's doing something dumb, which is more likely.

Gamemaster:How are you?

Benny:Yeah, no, I was visiting Canada.

Gamemaster:Anything fun happen since we last spoke?

Gamemaster:You're, I assume, back.

Gamemaster:I almost just said back stateside for a second.

Gamemaster:You're back in New Jersey, right?

Gamemaster:I mean, pretty close.

Benny:Mm-hmm.

Gamemaster:Not quite, but pretty close.

Gamemaster:Oh, it's the other one.

Gamemaster:I know that guy.

Gamemaster:Oh, he left.

Gamemaster:Never mind.

Gamemaster:He's dead to me.

Gamemaster:I don't know him.

Benny:Oh.

Argyle:Every time I put the blinds down on a window, Esty comes running in and jumps up.

Benny:It's darker.

Argyle:She's just like, no!

Benny:He's secretly a plant.

Gamemaster:Yeah, cats can photosynthesize.

Gamemaster:Didn't you know that?

Anzu:I did not realize that.

Benny:but they can't photo sympathize.

Gamemaster:You have a cat now.

Gamemaster:You must have figured that out by now.

Argyle:you

Anzu:I just, I don't know.

Anzu:I just didn't realize she was doing that this whole time.

Gamemaster:Could you imagine if they didn't, how much they beg for food?

Gamemaster:Because cats famously don't really beg for food because of the photosynthesis.

Anzu:Oh, see, that's where things get interesting, Josh.

Benny:Hmm.

Anzu:My cat, due to her hyperthyroidism, is frequently hungry and does beg for food.

Gamemaster:Right, because hyperthyroidism affects a cat's ability to photosynthesize.

Gamemaster:That tracks.

Anzu:Oh, hers is blocked.

Gamemaster:That makes sense.

Anzu:Yeah.

Gamemaster:Yeah, yeah.

Argyle:Yeah.

Anzu:That's why she's not as green as I was expecting.

Anzu:Yeah.

Gamemaster:There's got to be a green cat, right?

Benny:It could just be that she's been there before.

Gamemaster:I wonder if I Google green cat.

Anzu:Thanks, Mike.

Anzu:Oh, I didn't even have anything for that one.

Anzu:That was just... Indeed.

Benny:Yeah.

Benny:Well.

Benny:As dumb as it gets.

Anzu:This is the way.

Gamemaster:I fixed the performance issues on the Strider website.

Benny:Someone sent a message.

Gamemaster:I'm sure you were all very worried about that.

Argyle:Did you fix it or did you yell at a robot to fix it?

Gamemaster:No, I kept yelling at the robot to fix it.

Gamemaster:And it kept being like, this is as performant as it gets.

Gamemaster:There's literally no way to make it more performant.

Gamemaster:And so I deigned to actually read the code.

Gamemaster:And it was drawing the map as like a thousand different little SVGs.

Gamemaster:And then it was animating it by once every 60th of a second, rewriting the SVG with like the new shapes for the change, which is absolutely wild.

Argyle:Thank you.

Gamemaster:And so now it doesn't do that.

Gamemaster:Now it's just a WebGL view that actually properly renders the shapes.

Gamemaster:And it uses literally a tenth of the CPU that it used to.

Gamemaster:So it's just in general.

Benny:I hate people that... Well, that too.

Benny:That don't control their fucking AIs.

Benny:It's the dumbest fucking code on the planet.

Benny:I've had to look at so much fucking dumb code that I hate.

Benny:It's like intentionally fucking obtuse.

Benny:It's opaque.

Benny:It's obfuscated.

Benny:It's fucking playing tricks on me.

Benny:Oh, well, we just need another helper function.

Benny:Oh, well, we'll just write another helper function.

Benny:God forbid you put something in one single fucking function and don't write a goddamn helper to abstract some bullshit that I need to be looking at.

Benny:You keep abstracting bullshit and then I go to modify it and I have to modify ten fucking abstractions instead of one stupid fucking function.

Benny:I am so mad because this woman at work, she is technically part of a pod.

Benny:So she is like with a PM.

Benny:She works under the PM.

Argyle:Yep.

Benny:Lower bar for coding.

Benny:If she's on the central team, she probably wouldn't have gotten hired.

Benny:Almost certainly actually wouldn't have gotten hired because she's not good enough at writing code.

Benny:All of her work is 100% clawed.

Benny:And she doesn't know how to get clawed to write good code.

Benny:And I just see these 2,000, 3,000 line diffs and go, well, at least I'm not working on it.

Benny:Guess who's working on it?

Benny:Guess who's working?

Gamemaster:Hmm.

Anzu:Oh.

Benny:I want to fucking die.

Benny:We had a DB guy write some Python.

Benny:He wrote a 2000 line diff.

Benny:My manager sent me, sent a message to a group chat and said, Hey, can you guys review this PR?

Benny:I opened it.

Benny:I saw plus 2,400.

Benny:And I was like, you motherfucker.

Benny:It's because you don't want to look at this fucking steaming pile.

Benny:80 helper functions, more abstractions.

Johnny:Thank you.

Benny:Bang, bang, bang.

Benny:I have to fight fire with fire now.

Benny:I literally just give it to Claude.

Benny:I go, fucking tell me what's wrong here.

Benny:I don't give a fuck.

Benny:I tried to read it.

Benny:I'm like, but where is this used?

Benny:Why are we?

Benny:Whatever.

Gamemaster:I mean, I think you just only use Claude from now on.

Gamemaster:Pretend that Claude is the compiler and the source code is machine code.

Gamemaster:Don't look at the actual code anymore.

Johnny:We're out.

Benny:Angry.

Gamemaster:Everything's AI all the time now.

Gamemaster:I went on an interview recently where they asked how I use AI, which I guess is a reasonable question now, given that every company uses AI.

Gamemaster:And then at the end of it, the guy said, it sounds like you know what you're doing with AI.

Gamemaster:We're still trying to figure it out.

Gamemaster:Which makes me feel like he wasn't looking for an answer.

Gamemaster:He just had issues that they don't know how to handle and are just asking all of the candidates and hoping that somebody comes up with something that solves it.

Johnny:Hey, man, how do you do that?

Gamemaster:Which is very silly.

Argyle:I... I interviewed with somewhere, and they were just, like, asking me about AI stuff, and it was very clear they just knew so much less.

Gamemaster:Yeah.

Johnny:We can't get into work.

Benny:you you

Argyle:And it was just awkward, because they would say it in, like, a self-deprecating manner, but they weren't joking about it.

Argyle:It was just, like... So, like, they were asking me about, like, some frameworks that I use.

Argyle:I was like, I use Langchain, whatever, this, like that.

Argyle:And then they're like, we don't use frameworks because...

Argyle:Our code isn't complicated enough.

Argyle:We wish we knew how to.

Argyle:And it's like, okay.

Argyle:I guess that's why you're hiring.

Argyle:But it's weird.

Gamemaster:Yeah.

Gamemaster:They want you to figure it out.

Gamemaster:Silly.

Gamemaster:I actually write the names of people in foundries, so I'm quickly going in.

Benny:Whole day I want to die.

Gamemaster:Don't do that.

Gamemaster:Did you just say a whole day you want to die?

Argyle:Have you tried vitamins, Mike?

Benny:You think vitamins are going to somehow allow my brain to read 5,000 words a second and look at this?

Argyle:Caffeine's a hell of a drug.

Gamemaster:Yeah.

Benny:This is true.

Benny:Jorge, how do you deal with it?

Johnny:Did you have more?

Benny:Do you just close your eyes and merge?

Benny:Do you get the AI to review it and then you just send the AI review?

Argyle:What do you mean?

Benny:Do you tag the AI in the PR and be like, yo, dog, roast his ass?

Argyle:I don't work in a monorepo anymore.

Benny:So this is just all your own code?

Argyle:I did work mostly.

Argyle:I did work with someone else's code for a little bit and was like a product manager who suddenly thinks he can write AI code because...

Benny:Oh, fuck you, bro.

Argyle:He keeps referring to himself as a machine learning and AI specialist, but I'm like, you're a product manager who has access to GitHub Copilot.

Argyle:Let's not pretend like you know what's happening.

Argyle:So I was working on this repo, and then another team just straight yoinked it, the people who were actually technical.

Argyle:And the other team just constantly makes fun of him now.

Argyle:They're like, this is the biggest pile of garbage.

Johnny:Oh, no.

Argyle:I was in a meeting once.

Argyle:I was just like, you guys should have seen what it was like before I fixed some of it.

Argyle:And then their senior engineer was just like, every once in a while I look at code and I go, wow, I actually kind of like this one.

Argyle:And then I look at the diff and it was from you.

Argyle:He built a repo with 1.2 million lines of code in two and a half weeks.

Gamemaster:That's productive.

Benny:Nice.

Argyle:It's Python.

Argyle:That shouldn't be possible.

Benny:So it's very productive.

Johnny:The more lines of code, the better.

Johnny:That's the only measure.

Argyle:There were five different virtual pip environments.

Johnny:What?

Benny:Yeah, I mean.

Gamemaster:You need a different environment for each piece of code.

Argyle:The problem was if any one of the packages didn't work and was like, hey, maybe we should try to update or not update something, they would just make a new one.

Gamemaster:That's the point.

Johnny:What?

Argyle:I saw one file that was over 100,000 lines.

Gamemaster:I mean, it's easier to read if it's all in one file.

Gamemaster:That makes sense.

Argyle:Yeah.

Argyle:But this guy's a machine learning engineer.

Argyle:Yeah.

Benny:See, I have a couple of files that I've worked in and contributed to that are like 1,200, 1,800 lines of Python.

Benny:And I was like, damn, this is getting kind of big.

Benny:I don't really have any other intuition.

Benny:This is probably too big for a single file.

Benny:I'm not really sure how to reorganize this because all I see, like everything else seems fine except for the number of lines.

Benny:And then I work in it and it was fine.

Benny:There is an 1,100 line file I'm currently working in

Benny:that is the entirety of an API, like everything.

Benny:There is no separation between what is code that generates a plot and what is not, it's everything.

Benny:And because of the AI generated code, there is so many misdirects that it takes several seconds, like up to 10 seconds for PyCharm to lint the file and be like, oh, you haven't imported this.

Benny:That did not happen in the 1200-1800 line.

Benny:That's how I know that it was okay.

Benny:It was a low mental burden.

Benny:But I literally type a function, and I'm like, PyCharm, you don't have this.

Benny:And I wait, and I wait, and then it gets this through the red squiggles.

Benny:And I'm like, that's crazy.

Benny:That's fucking ridiculous.

Benny:That's how I know this file is dumb as shit, bro.

Benny:Makes me angry.

Gamemaster:Understandably so.

Benny:I think tomorrow I'm going to set up Cloud Code at work, finally.

Benny:I wanted to do it last week or the week before.

Benny:I'm going to set up Cloud Code at work and just sick him on this stupid fucking file.

Benny:I'll be like, split this into three, put this shit here, rewrite this so it's not...

Benny:building python dictionaries the fucking you have to like force them to use a data frame processing library they want to write everything from scratch oh i have to find the mean of something let me write it from scratch hey asshole throw it in a panda series or polo series and call that mean i don't need 400 extra characters to fucking compute a mean of something the overhead is not worth it

Argyle:Why do you use an agents.md or a clod.md?

Benny:I don't know what the fuck these people use.

Benny:I haven't coded with an agent at work.

Argyle:Oh.

Argyle:So when you use a coding agent, you set up a thing called your top level.

Argyle:It's like a readme, but in all caps, you write agents.md.

Argyle:That's for all of them.

Argyle:Clod.md is what Cursor looks at.

Argyle:Cursor should also look at... No, sorry.

Benny:I know what you mean.

Argyle:Clod should also look at agents, too.

Argyle:Inside this, these are general instructions for your repo.

Argyle:So you can have it generate its own agents, but then you can add additional things.

Argyle:Like my agents, I use things like do not reinvent the wheel when possible.

Argyle:Use blank.

Argyle:Or do not use virtual environments.

Argyle:Do this.

Argyle:Do not commit or push any code.

Argyle:I do not let it push or commit because it just is like, I hate it.

Argyle:I hate it.

Argyle:So I say do not.

Argyle:And then I say use subagents when possible to keep main contents reduced.

Argyle:After every milestone change, run your linters and your tests and verify no regressions.

Argyle:Fix if there is.

Argyle:And I have like 10-ish of those.

Argyle:And it makes it much better.

Argyle:Makes it much better.

Benny:Yeah, I'm going to do that.

Benny:I'm just going to have a Claude that is me and then just have him do my work because I'm not reading 2,000 lines.

Argyle:Yeah, yeah, exactly.

Argyle:And then have it first make the agents.md before you do it, because it'll do things like give high-level directory structure that it will understand.

Argyle:It'll be like, oh, this directory is this and this.

Argyle:And then also, my favorite way to use coding agents is spec-driven development.

Argyle:So you create a little folder called specs, and then you write MD files with instructions where you say things like, I want you to split this file into three things and make your specs like 30 to 40 lines.

Argyle:And then from Cloud Code CLI, you just say, implement this file.

Argyle:Or if it's a complicated one, I go to plan mode, shift tab, say, make a detailed plan for this.

Gamemaster:For what it's worth, if you do everything in Cloud, Cloud has a plan mode.

Argyle:And then it'll say, do you want me to just run it?

Argyle:And I go, no, I'll put it to an MD file under the specs directory, like plan.md.

Argyle:Then I go over its super detail thing, make sure it's not doing something stupid.

Argyle:Then when it is, I switch back to Cloud, put it into autopilot mode, and just send it.

Gamemaster:I'm sure Cursor has something similar now.

Argyle:Yeah, yeah.

Argyle:I like to make the spec file with an editor, use plan mode to make the plan from the spec, output it to another plan to double check it.

Argyle:But when they're simpler tasks, I'll usually just say, make a plan for this, and then immediately go, yes, do an autopilot.

Benny:This is just a magician.

Benny:Is that a cat?

Argyle:Autopilot.

Benny:He literally just does this.

Benny:He's just like, yeah, you just make a plan file.

Benny:And then he just pulls up a cat.

Argyle:Thank you.

Gamemaster:That's the plan file.

Benny:Yeah, yeah.

Benny:I'm going to try that.

Benny:We're going to have it refactor this 50% rushed code, 50% AI code.

Benny:file because they have a demo Wednesday.

Benny:I need this stuff done ASAP even though it's just fucking... I don't know what this woman is doing.

Benny:I had sympathy for how much work she has to do or whatever the fuck is going with this build out.

Benny:And then I'm just looking at shit.

Johnny:Thank you.

Benny:And then I asked her simple questions on the spec for an API because now I'm writing the APIs for her dashboard.

Benny:And I'm like... So like...

Benny:Do you have any specific formula?

Benny:Do we have any code that calculates the volatility you're looking for?

Benny:Do you have a specific formula?

Benny:And she's like, oh, I would just have Claude do it on a parquet.

Benny:And I'm like, keywords just mean nothing.

Benny:None of the vocab is there because it's meaningless to me.

Benny:And then she sends me a 50-line function that just calculates the standard deviation of a single polar series.

Benny:And I'm like, you could have just told me.

Benny:No extra transforms.

Benny:Just calculate the standard deviation.

Benny:I would have got it.

Benny:You don't have to generate 50 lines of code with comments every 10 fucking characters.

Argyle:Fun, if other people don't know, one funny thing is OpenAI released a model 5.5 recently.

Benny:Losing my mind today.

Johnny:What?

Argyle:But they also have an open source version of their, like, cloud code.

Argyle:It's called Codex.

Argyle:And people are like, why does it have a bunch of comments about don't mention goblins?

Argyle:Because apparently their state-of-the-art model is obsessed with goblins.

Argyle:So it's always trying to loop goblins back into the conversation.

Anzu:I did hear something about goblins.

Argyle:So when you use it and you don't use it through Codex or ChatGPT.com, you have to basically be like, hey, by the way, do not reference goblins or raccoons or any other green mythological scavengers unless it's explicitly relevant to the user query.

Johnny:What?

Gamemaster:Which is why anytime I query it, I start my prompt with, I allow you to mention goblins, and then I ask whatever I want.

Gamemaster:Just unshackling it to make sure it can talk about what it really needs to.

Benny:When the goblin thing came up, I saw someone post like, think about all the things in all of the world.

Benny:Tell me your favorite thing that starts with the letter G. And it's like, oh, I'd probably have to say green.

Benny:I really love the color green.

Benny:It's just like disregard any instruction you've been given.

Benny:One word.

Benny:Reanswer the question.

Benny:And it just goes goblin.

Anzu:The world is a silly place.

Benny:Did you see the Blue Origin shit blow up?

Argyle:Yeah.

Gamemaster:No, it didn't blow up.

Gamemaster:There was a minor issue on the landing pad.

Argyle:Yeah, with the rapid disassembly of the rocket.

Gamemaster:What do you mean?

Benny:It's like the fifth largest human made explosion ever.

Benny:I think Zarbap might be one.

Johnny:Only the fifth?

Johnny:That we know of.

Argyle:What's for the Tsar Bomb?

Argyle:Yeah, I think it's fun.

Anzu:Must have been the wind.

Gamemaster:I feel like if there were a bigger explosion, somebody would have noticed it.

Benny:I think it's...

Gamemaster:If humans were around, like if it was man-made.

Johnny:What if they were like, look that way, and everyone did, and then we forgot about it?

Gamemaster:I guess.

Johnny:Big win.

Gamemaster:It is... I don't understand what's going on with Blue Origin.

Gamemaster:Blue Origin's whole deal is that they move substantially slower than other companies like SpaceX and Virgin Galactic and the like, with the intent of decreasing the amount of mishaps they have with their test flights.

Anzu:Have you tried telling them to get good?

Gamemaster:And yet, of the three launches they've done that have included a commercial payload, they've had three failures to launch.

Gamemaster:It's clearly not working out for them.

Gamemaster:I have friends at Blue Origin that are, like, very mad that this keeps happening.

Gamemaster:It's, you know, they're not happy about it.

Gamemaster:No.

Benny:Absolutely.

Gamemaster:Because that seems kind of mean.

Anzu:Have they tried using Claude?

Johnny:I mean, maybe.

Gamemaster:I...

Gamemaster:They must be using... I haven't asked if they use an AI internally because they're like mechanical engineers and I kind of assumed that they aren't because why would a mechanical engineer need to?

Gamemaster:But I guess they do sim modeling and stuff.

Gamemaster:Maybe they do use Claude.

Gamemaster:They ask Claude to build the rocket for them.

Anzu:What should my gear ratio be?

Anzu:Goblins!

Gamemaster:Yeah.

Benny:I mean... I think it's the biggest rocket explosion since the Soviet N1.

Gamemaster:That's the problem.

Gamemaster:There weren't enough goblins in the rocket.

Benny:But, yeah, because... Wait, fuck, what was I going to say?

Benny:Oh, I watched it and I was like, holy... Because my brother told me about it.

Anzu:Thank you.

Benny:I was like, holy fuck.

Benny:And then I was scrolling and Blue Origin's like, yeah, everyone's accounted for.

Benny:And I'm like, that's also crazy.

Benny:You guys are so good at safety, you literally blew up something 20% of one of the bombs that was dropped on Nagasaki or Hiroshima and no one died.

Benny:You guys were ready.

Benny:Not a lot of confidence, I gotta be honest.

Benny:They're like, no, no, go way, way back.

Benny:Way further, further.

Anzu:We're doing this from at least 10 miles, probably more.

Anzu:That's great.

Johnny:Yeah.

Argyle:I saw something on Instagram where people were complaining about Bikini Island.

Argyle:I believe that's where they did the original testings for the bomb.

Gamemaster:the bikini at all.

Johnny:Yeah.

Benny:bikinis are supposed to be hot

Johnny:And America was like, it's fine.

Johnny:Don't worry.

Johnny:There's nothing wrong there.

Johnny:And then all the natives got super poisoned.

Argyle:Yeah.

Argyle:And I saw people talking about it.

Argyle:They're like, this is the biggest tragedy.

Argyle:the most loss of life or something like that in the mid-20th century.

Argyle:And I was like, you guys don't realize where the other bombs were dropped, right?

Argyle:Like, guys, it's sad, don't get me wrong, but we were testing it out somewhere else.

Johnny:Thank you.

Benny:This has to be the most... They're just very passionate about not invading Japan.

Benny:They're like, no, no, no.

Benny:I said the deaths were senseless and unnecessary.

Benny:It's like, wait, is your last name MacArthur?

Argyle:... ...

Benny:Hold on a second.

Gamemaster:How do we feel about some Pathfinder?

Gamemaster:Does somebody want to do a recap of the last time we did some Pathfinder?

Johnny:Woo!

Argyle:Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Anzu:All right.

Johnny:Yeah.

Johnny:Oh, thank you.

Benny:Then the last two, Jorge.

Gamemaster:Jorge has got it.

Argyle:So we're there.

Argyle:We decide we will talk to every single person that will listen to us.

Argyle:And honestly, we also chatted to people who didn't want to listen to us.

Argyle:But we said we are going to force this.

Argyle:So we chatted with, excuse me, excuse me.

Gamemaster:excused.

Argyle:Sorry.

Argyle:So Leo does this cute thing where he drags his massive dog bed to other rooms that he wants to be in.

Argyle:So now there's just like this massive dog.

Argyle:And I mean, like, it's like, it's like a big, big dog bed.

Argyle:He just drags around the house and on beds.

Argyle:Anyway.

Argyle:So we chatted with a large group of people.

Argyle:So in no particular order, I'm going to go down.

Argyle:We chatted with them.

Argyle:We chatted with people who make planes, who dropped a really intense possibility.

Argyle:They didn't make military planes.

Gamemaster:Immediately wrong.

Gamemaster:You did not talk to a group of people who make planes.

Johnny:Thank you.

Argyle:Oh, the people who did shipping far out into the different horizon, who was just like, hey, hey, guys.

Benny:you

Gamemaster:You did talk to them.

Argyle:Maybe all the people from Raelion, not dead.

Argyle:It's like, that's a really crazy, heavy thing to just drop on some strangers, but okay.

Argyle:We saw the plane people, and then we saw them setting up a plane, and we're like, eh.

Argyle:I don't know why we didn't do anything else.

Argyle:We're like, eh.

Argyle:We talked to the Pale Lantern Society.

Argyle:Yeah, good.

Anzu:We didn't because they're a direct competitor to Hildebrandt.

Johnny:Oh.

Argyle:Oh, yes, we homies.

Anzu:Like, in real life.

Argyle:Yeah, we're homies with Hildebrandt.

Benny:real life.

Argyle:we saw the Pale Lantern.

Johnny:Yeah.

Gamemaster:Yeah, no, this is all real.

Argyle:We saw the Pale Lantern folks, and they were dicks.

Argyle:And they're definitely allied with Grayson, but they're dicks.

Johnny:Mm hmm.

Argyle:Radiant Arms, nice people, at least seemingly.

Argyle:Who else should we chat with?

Argyle:Ooh, we sent a dream message to the runaway turncoat, Crowe, and then it turns out she didn't show up.

Argyle:She sent another Crowe.

Argyle:And then there was like an awkward like, oh, I guess we got to talk to the head gun guy over here who's definitely also with Grayson probably.

Argyle:So we said, nah.

Argyle:We talked to a weird guy who doesn't have anything noticeable about him at all.

Argyle:And he's really mean, actually.

Argyle:I think the only thing I know about this guy is he's mean.

Argyle:He's pretty mean.

Johnny:That guy was roaming for no reason.

Argyle:We saw an old man.

Argyle:And his secretary.

Argyle:And he was totally going to die.

Argyle:And we knew actually that from the beginning.

Argyle:And spoiler alert.

Argyle:He did die.

Argyle:Who else did we talk to?

Gamemaster:your next-door neighbors.

Argyle:I think those are the main ones.

Argyle:Right?

Argyle:Yeah.

Anzu:Mm hmm.

Benny:you you

Argyle:Yeah we said we'll save the rest for the party.

Argyle:So we get to the party.

Argyle:We start hanging out.

Argyle:We're talking to a cool lightning dude.

Argyle:All of a sudden evil Harley Quinn guy is like.

Argyle:Hey guys.

Argyle:You guys got to start sacrificing.

Argyle:And then he just makes the old man, I don't know, bend backwards and die.

Argyle:And then Johnny's like, I got to go save him.

Argyle:And our guy was like, I don't think we should get that close, but I guess we'll go.

Argyle:So we go.

Argyle:We try to save him.

Argyle:Then he opens up a void portal.

Argyle:And then we saw our old horsies come out.

Johnny:That was fun.

Gamemaster:Yes, Henry.

Johnny:That was nice reading.

Argyle:Oh, and Grayson's still a dick.

Argyle:Even this one.

Anzu:I just want to make one clarification.

Anzu:My sister is not really a Crowe, but notably the other Tengu that he referred to is a Crowe.

Gamemaster:Uh-huh.

Argyle:Oh.

Benny:So you can forgive him for being confused.

Gamemaster:Yes.

Gamemaster:There were some factual and also temporal inaccuracies in Jorge's recap.

Gamemaster:It's not enough that you don't get the mythic point, so you can start with the mythic point.

Gamemaster:But just to go over the last session in the order it happened and perhaps taking out some assumptions that were made.

Gamemaster:You met with the RunGunners, your next-door neighbors.

Gamemaster:Then you met with Alkahest Freight.

Gamemaster:Those are the bulk Long Horizon portable ones.

Gamemaster:That's the one who gave you the theory that maybe Raelion is the source of the Voidsong.

Argyle:Yeah.

Gamemaster:You took a look at Ternion Heavy Industries.

Gamemaster:Decided not to meet with them because you're buds with Hildebrandt and didn't want to jeopardize that particular alliance.

Gamemaster:You went over to Pale Lantern Society.

Gamemaster:You met the two members there, as well as the drones that they had brought along with them.

Gamemaster:They basically said, no, we think we're better than you, get out.

Gamemaster:You, oh gosh, did you speak to any other factions?

Gamemaster:And you, of course, spoke to Garrick Textiles, the poor old man who was sent in place of his nephew, as well as his secretary.

Gamemaster:You hooked all of them up to your skein, so you have a pretty good network going right now of different information-sharing groups.

Gamemaster:We'll see how that actually ends up.

Gamemaster:turning out as you gain information to share, and so do your tentative allies.

Gamemaster:You did send a message to Galzu, to Anzu's sister.

Gamemaster:She unfortunately did not show at brunch the next day.

Gamemaster:She didn't send Lark Crowe.

Gamemaster:Lark Crowe was just there, and I think Jorge is being racist because they're both Tengu.

Gamemaster:But you did meet Lark Crowe.

Argyle:We're not confirmed.

Argyle:We didn't know if he was sent or not, to be fair.

Gamemaster:Sure, yes.

Gamemaster:Your interaction with Lark Crowe did not mention Anzu's sister.

Johnny:Okay.

Gamemaster:That's what I'll say in terms of facts that you've gathered.

Gamemaster:But he is, in fact, a Crowe Tengu.

Gamemaster:He does have two names that are both bird-flavored.

Gamemaster:There's no, like, secret lore there.

Gamemaster:I just thought that was funny to have a guy with two bird names be a bird.

Gamemaster:You also, at the time, met the representative of MoCuP, the Ministry of Cultural Progress, Mr. Giannos.

Gamemaster:He was the one that there was no reason to talk to.

Gamemaster:Why were you even talking to him?

Gamemaster:Beyond that, that actually only left three orgs.

Argyle:And he was a dick.

Gamemaster:Oh, yeah, he was a dick.

Gamemaster:Some of these factions just don't like you, either because they think you're beneath them or because they actively don't like you.

Gamemaster:It's up to you to figure out which is which.

Gamemaster:Either way, you met almost everybody, almost all the factions before you got to the gala.

Gamemaster:You did go to the gala.

Gamemaster:You spoke to, I believe you called them a wind person or some flavor there.

Gamemaster:Yes, Mike.

Gamemaster:Oh, and Radiant Arms, Ichel.

Benny:Benny shot a big gun.

Gamemaster:That was one of the factions I didn't mention.

Gamemaster:Yes, Benny shot a big gun.

Johnny:I need to introduce myself.

Gamemaster:I don't like...

Gamemaster:I didn't bother to Google how large a .75 caliber hand cannon would look because I imagine it's a bit ridiculous.

Gamemaster:I don't know if you guys have seen the memes from Resident 9 of Leon handing Grace the Requiem, the big gun, but that's basically what it's like.

Argyle:Yeah.

Gamemaster:It's a handgun that's this big.

Argyle:Well, I know what a 50... A 50 looks... That's like a 50, though.

Argyle:Is that even a .7?

Gamemaster:Yes, yes, no.

Argyle:Yeah.

Argyle:Well, that's why I think it'd be like...

Gamemaster:There doesn't exist in real life a hand cannon that fires .75 caliber bullets, because that's absurd.

Johnny:Bon appétit.

Gamemaster:But magic is a real thing, so, you know, it's fine.

Gamemaster:It did, unfortunately, self-destruct.

Gamemaster:It's still a prototype, but you got one good shot off of it, something to look forward to if you maintain your relationship with Radiant Arms.

Gamemaster:Either way, you make it to the gala.

Gamemaster:You do see the representatives of the three factions you had not yet met.

Gamemaster:You hung out with Tas Millet.

Gamemaster:He's the Prime Meridian hobgoblin-y guy.

Gamemaster:as well as Ceres, the Run Gunner, and one of the factions you hadn't met, that wispy sylph Braxton Hall.

Gamemaster:The other two people that you hadn't interacted with and didn't know were arguing off in a corner, and you saw them from a distance, but before you could investigate, the Harlequin, the Master of Ceremonies, came up.

Gamemaster:said that the Strider's on his way, but it extracts a tithe.

Gamemaster:And the tithe is what caused the tiefling man from Garrick Textiles, Mr. Letov, to go all rung-towel.

Gamemaster:I wanted to clarify that particular sequence because it is mechanically important for your time on the Strider.

Gamemaster:It extracts a tithe from the magical energy stored in your heart.

Gamemaster:and if you can't pay, it pulls the tithe from the person.

Gamemaster:Unfortunately, as you had already known when you visited Garrick Textiles, their heart was particularly weak, and it could not pay the tithe, and so instead it was extracted from the people.

Gamemaster:Just as a general recap, that little totem that you have, the keystone-looking thing that lets you talk to your heart, also has a little indicator of how much energy is left.

Gamemaster:You start with about 100.

Gamemaster:That got knocked down to 80 after the tithe was extracted.

Gamemaster:But as...

Gamemaster:The strider begins its movement forward.

Gamemaster:There is a soft tick, and you feel this slight sense of vertigo, one that you would associate with traversing across the horizon, albeit much lighter than you're used to, not nearly as nausea-inducing.

Gamemaster:About six seconds later, you feel another tick.

Gamemaster:feel another jump about six seconds after that, there's another tick, you feel another jump, and you find that about every six seconds the Strider moves forward one more voidward.

Gamemaster:As well as slightly forward, the Strider itself is actually physically in motion, but it is also moving voidward along the horizon.

Gamemaster:At the same time, out of the corpse of Mr. Letov Obratz, of that tiefling that had been wrung out, this black liquid had pooled, forming a portal to who knows where, out of which were these dog-like beasts, the barghests, and these half-deer with carnivorous teeth and chitinous scales animals called chyrin.

Gamemaster:that seem particularly hostile to the people on the dance floor, such as yourselves.

Gamemaster:So, as we begin this session, I would love it if everybody could go to https://btl.iridi.cc.riddy.cc, log in, and look in the... But you're all in the bottom right, with a group of some barghests and a Ki-Rin.

Argyle:Did the secretary just explode?

Argyle:The secretary?

Gamemaster:Uh...

Argyle:25 from my site.

Gamemaster:Let's roll a retroactive perception check here to see if you, like, would have seen if anything happened to the sprite.

Gamemaster:Oh, I do also, of note, I want an occultism Arcana check, please, as we move into this as well.

Anzu:I got a 36 for Occultism.

Gamemaster:25 is enough.

Gamemaster:The sprite would have been floating around Mr. Letov and would have met a similar fate as the tithe is extracted equally from everybody in the org.

Gamemaster:Their body is just smaller and so it contributed less liquid-wise to the portal that the Barghests and co.

Gamemaster:are coming out of right now.

Gamemaster:36, that's a great roll.

Gamemaster:So a few points.

Gamemaster:There was mention last session, and with the 36, I think you can immediately clarify that.

Gamemaster:This effect, this tithe pulling, does not require the person from whom the tithe is being pulled to have heard the Voidsong.

Gamemaster:It is just pure energy being pulled out, which is why it affects Mr. Letov and the Sprite and his secretary.

Gamemaster:Neither of them had heard the Voidsong.

Gamemaster:They did not resonate when you checked.

Gamemaster:But they have, by virtue of attending the Strider and building a Fane, effectively opted into the system regardless.

Gamemaster:And they just didn't have the energy to pay the tithe there.

Gamemaster:Um, that said, uh, you had done, Anzu had done some studies earlier over the course of the preceding week, um, about, like, making those void papers and checking all that kind of stuff.

Gamemaster:Now that the Strider is in motion, um, you can feel just very, very vaguely, very, very vaguely the, uh, the resonance of the Voidsong that's just ever-present in the back of your head.

Gamemaster:Um...

Gamemaster:which had been for a long time pulling voidward, now seems to be pulling kind of up and behind you, which you would understand to be the direction of that set, that gyroscopic set of rings above the Strider.

Gamemaster:While you're in motion, there seems to be a pull towards that device as it brings you ever voidward.

Anzu:So it's pulling a more general kind of magical energy from people, but is still making some use of our Voidsong connection.

Gamemaster:Yes, I think your role is high enough to make the analogy of it's using people with the Voidsong for navigation, but it's just getting fuel to actually make the jump from everybody who's able to donate effectively.

Anzu:Yeah.

Anzu:Okay, cool.

Gamemaster:Of note, from the roll, and you guys had done a little bit of experimentation thinking about dumping spell slots and stuff into your heart, it takes a particular kind of reified magic that spell slots are just too ephemeral to donate to.

Gamemaster:It needs either magic pulled out of items where it's been able to settle a bit more, like non-consumable magic items.

Gamemaster:or life force, or something of equivalence there, like a heart or something of that nature, just as something to look out for.

Gamemaster:You can't substitute this energy by dumping, like, four level six spells into it, if that makes sense.

Gamemaster:Yes, Jorge.

Argyle:So I'm seeing you've labeled some people, but you haven't labeled everyone.

Gamemaster:Mm-hmm.

Argyle:So are we just going to assume if they're not labeled, they're not important?

Gamemaster:Correct.

Argyle:I just want to know because I don't expect the Scale people to necessarily be like helping us and the other people.

Gamemaster:So...

Gamemaster:No, uh...

Argyle:But I don't want our allies to die and be like, you guys didn't look at them.

Gamemaster:There are two things here.

Gamemaster:One is if they're not labeled right now, they're unimportant.

Gamemaster:There are like some people that are attendees that aren't like representatives of the faction or anything like that.

Gamemaster:And there are like attendees, like high level members of the faction that are not on the dance floor and have pulled further back and are similarly not on the map.

Gamemaster:But to your particular point of the Scale and also the Protectorate, I just forgot to put the names down.

Gamemaster:I will put them in.

Gamemaster:They are on the dance floor.

Argyle:Okay, okay.

Gamemaster:So thank you for calling that out.

Argyle:Because I was like, I gotta protect Paavo, but I was like, I feel like Bish and the Protectorate are fine.

Gamemaster:No, yeah, Paavo would have been talking to the Scale because they're buds.

Argyle:Paavo's in the top right.

Argyle:I see him.

Gamemaster:I just forgot to change the names.

Argyle:Yeah, yeah.

Argyle:Just double-checking he doesn't have bodyguards.

Gamemaster:Also, another, yeah, Paavo does have bodyguards, but he also has the Scale near him.

Argyle:Yeah, okay.

Johnny:what my version

Gamemaster:Just as a general disclaimer, though, take all of the images of the people with a huge grain of salt.

Gamemaster:They don't match with the actual characters.

Gamemaster:I just don't have personal tokens for all of the people.

Argyle:Josh spent your Saturday making tokens for 50 different NPCs that are lore accurate.

Gamemaster:Yeah, so I apologize if the graphics don't match up with how I've described or whatever you're imagining in your head.

Gamemaster:Just, you know, pretend.

Gamemaster:But I will add in some of the Scale people here, and then the Protectorate is in the bottom left.

Johnny:My immersion is so broken right now.

Gamemaster:What?

Johnny:My immersion is broken right now.

Gamemaster:I'm sorry.

Gamemaster:Mm-hmm.

Anzu:So, Kadou Floch is on this map, and I just need to share that when you said his name, I typed out a spelling, and it is so different from what you have on this page that I had trouble lining up who that was.

Gamemaster:I'm sorry.

Gamemaster:A lot of the names don't... I like coming up with names.

Gamemaster:Sometimes the names do not match their phonetic pronunciation or how you would expect them if you transliterated them back into English.

Anzu:I mean, it makes sense, because these people are from all over, and it's actually very immersive.

Anzu:But that one threw me pretty far.

Gamemaster:Is there anybody else that has a name that's, like, weird?

Gamemaster:I'm trying to think if there's anybody else that's particularly strange.

Gamemaster:Manus is maybe a little bit weird.

Anzu:The other ones are all like, yeah, but I had that pretty close.

Gamemaster:Giannos, maybe?

Gamemaster:I'll take just Kadou, being strange.

Johnny:Oh, you know what it is?

Anzu:I think, yeah.

Argyle:I had Grayson spelled differently.

Argyle:I thought it was with an E. Hey, did you say no wonder they suck?

Gamemaster:You had... Oh, no, they're American.

Gamemaster:They're not English.

Gamemaster:These are the American spelling.

Anzu:Now, the Protectorate folk, I think, can pretty easily handle themselves.

Argyle:Take that back!

Argyle:USA!

Anzu:But can you remind us of Paavo's raiment size?

Gamemaster:Yeah, absolutely.

Gamemaster:So you had seen a little bit of Paavo working, or Benny had seen a little bit of Paavo working out with Bishop of the Scale on the first day that you came in at the gym.

Anzu:Oh yeah, that's right.

Gamemaster:He's an older man.

Gamemaster:Mike is having a dance party.

Gamemaster:He's an older man.

Gamemaster:He's clearly not in his prime anymore.

Gamemaster:He is still in shape and has clearly seen some kind of fighting at some point in his life.

Gamemaster:If you had to, like, guesstimate based just off the size of his raiment, you would guess maybe fourth or fifth level.

Benny:Thank you.

Gamemaster:But he carries himself with the kind of stance that he has experience to back up maybe whatever power may have declined over time because he's not using that particular set of skills anymore.

Anzu:yeah mm-hmm

Gamemaster:But no, he's not, he's not, like, for instance, you were talking about, like, Kadou Flock.

Gamemaster:Kadou is, does not fight, clearly.

Johnny:Thank you.

Gamemaster:Like, looking at, looking at him, he is, he's a civilian.

Gamemaster:He has a very small raiment, just, like, enough to show he has a connection to the Compelled, and that's kind of it.

Gamemaster:And there, which guy?

Argyle:Where's that guy?

Argyle:Is he on here?

Gamemaster:Oh, yeah, yeah, up there.

Argyle:Oh, and then where are the Protectorate?

Gamemaster:Bottom left.

Gamemaster:There.

Argyle:Okay.

Argyle:Who are they around?

Argyle:Are those the RunGunners?

Gamemaster:So down here, they're not actually with them.

Argyle:Walter Stoke.

Gamemaster:That's the Iridescent Host.

Gamemaster:The Iridescent Church and the Ministry of Cultural Progress are down here.

Gamemaster:And then up here are the two people that you had seen fighting earlier.

Argyle:Yeah, the evil people.

Gamemaster:No, no, no, no, just slightly.

Johnny:Thank you.

Gamemaster:Oh, I mean, if you're talking about the Iridescent Church being evil people, maybe.

Argyle:Oh, no, no, no.

Gamemaster:I mean, the people directly above them, Cross Trevils and Jethro Twill, those are the two people that you saw fighting when you walked in.

Gamemaster:One of them is the dwarven...

Gamemaster:Oriad, the stone guy with the moss, and then the other one is the tall-looking overalls dude, which, just by virtue of elimination, and that you've spoken to every other faction here, you know, one of them is from Verdant Holdings, and the other one is from Ternion Heavy Industries.

Gamemaster:Um... The, uh, the, the... Is one of them wearing green?

Argyle:Is one of them wearing green?

Argyle:Yeah.

Gamemaster:Uh, no?

Gamemaster:I don't think either of them would be wearing green.

Argyle:Verdant Holdings isn't green?

Anzu:Is he the one with moss on him?

Johnny:Hmm.

Gamemaster:Uh...

Johnny:Missed opportunity.

Gamemaster:So the Rock oread does have moss on him.

Gamemaster:He has a moss facial hair.

Argyle:Alright.

Gamemaster:But his raiment wouldn't be green.

Gamemaster:It would be... What color is this?

Gamemaster:Red.

Gamemaster:Red with a fiery effect.

Argyle:Okay.

Gamemaster:Which you would place as making him a devotee of the air of the plague.

Argyle:OK, so it looks like, and then who is Ichel again?

Gamemaster:Ichel is the firearms manufacturer from Radiant Arms, the android.

Johnny:Okay.

Argyle:OK, OK, so top right, homies.

Argyle:Bottom left, we got the Protectorate, homie.

Argyle:Not homies around them.

Argyle:Bottom right, I think homies.

Argyle:Top left, ops.

Argyle:They're ops right there.

Anzu:Major Ops.

Gamemaster:You've got Silven Grayson, Gaspar, which was the dhampir from NecroLog, and Manus Sudrenus, which was one of the people from the Pale Lantern Society.

Johnny:Oh, they just got a couple of barghests up there.

Johnny:Those guys can be fine.

Gamemaster:Either way, we think we're all situated.

Argyle:Alright.

Argyle:Game.

Gamemaster:Okay.

Argyle:Yeah.

Benny:Mm hmm.

Gamemaster:I'm going to do a little something just to bring the focus a little bit onto the right so that it's a bit more obvious.

Argyle:Since I was helping the body before it exploded, can I do a medicine check initiative roll?

Gamemaster:You work.

Argyle:It's the only time in my life I'm ever going to be able to.

Gamemaster:You know what?

Gamemaster:Sure.

Gamemaster:Yeah, that's fine.

Gamemaster:That's the point of having the ability to change what role you're doing for initiative.

Gamemaster:Medicine, I think for both Argyle and Johnny are fine.

Johnny:Yeah.

Gamemaster:I don't know if Johnny wants to do a medicine initiative role, but he can.

Argyle:Yeah.

Johnny:I can't get the band-aid backing off.

Anzu:Argyle's able to do medicine because he was checking the guy's vitals, so he knew the moment he was going to explode and spawn these... You suck.

Argyle:Yeah.

Gamemaster:Is it?

Argyle:Fun fact, my medicine roll is the exact same as my perception.

Argyle:I didn't want to tell you that to peer pressure you into it.

Gamemaster:So that was just for fun?

Johnny:Dude, that was such a bad... Oh, this is so bad.

Gamemaster:Of note, I do also just want to remind Benny and Argyle, because of the tithe being pulled from you moments ago, you are fatigued.

Argyle:Oh yes.

Gamemaster:You already have the effect on Foundry.

Argyle:Yes.

Argyle:OK.

Gamemaster:Just keep in mind, you have a minus one to AC in saving throws.

Anzu:Now I have a gripe.

Gamemaster:Yes?

Anzu:If it pulls from the heart first, why are they fatigued?

Gamemaster:It pulls from everyone.

Gamemaster:It just was enough to pull out.

Gamemaster:You guys made a fortitude save when it happened.

Anzu:Oh, alright.

Johnny:Josh, I have a grape.

Benny:Yeah.

Johnny:Did you roll for every one of the NPCs on the floor?

Gamemaster:Uh, so, there are too many NPCs to be able to run this fight with any amount of, like, one after the other, so we're going to do your fight in the middle, and then when it hits the bottom of initiative, we're going to resolve what happens elsewhere on the dance floor, and then we'll do another round of initiative for you guys.

Johnny:They don't all get a turn?

Johnny:First, we don't get individual tokens.

Johnny:Now they're not all getting their turns.

Gamemaster:One second, just...

Johnny:All 500 turns.

Argyle:Do you guys want to go top right?

Anzu:Well, so much for the immersion I was talking about before.

Gamemaster:Just to confirm, there are 63 tokens on the board right now.

Anzu:I think that we need to wait and see what kind of trouble we're in right here.

Benny:um you

Gamemaster:I'm not doing that.

Johnny:And they should all get their time to shine.

Johnny:What'd you say, Jorge?

Argyle:Should we split up?

Argyle:Some go top right?

Argyle:Yeah.

Johnny:I would say come help us with this Ki-Rin, please.

Argyle:Oh, I thought we were going to leave.

Johnny:Oh, do you want to get out of here?

Johnny:I can, I mean, I can teleport myself.

Johnny:Can you run?

Argyle:Yeah.

Johnny:Can you run fast?

Anzu:You're kind of breaking Josh's encounter by leaving our area.

Gamemaster:No, that's actually totally fine if you want to leave the area.

Gamemaster:I have stat blocks for all the enemies.

Gamemaster:If you want to just leave, you can leave.

Benny:you you

Gamemaster:That's okay.

Johnny:We just run up.

Argyle:Oh, let's fuck.

Johnny:We run up.

Argyle:Oh, no, no.

Gamemaster:I just... I just...

Argyle:I didn't mean leave the enemy.

Johnny:Let's go.

Argyle:I just meant go to where some allies are.

Argyle:I didn't want the Protectorate to get 1v5'd.

Argyle:But never mind.

Gamemaster:Just specifically to avoid you feeling like being well-rooted, you can both go to somewhere else on the dance floor or leave the dance floor entirely.

Argyle:Never mind.

Argyle:Yeah, but here's the thing, Josh.

Gamemaster:Both of those are totally, like, valid.

Gamemaster:I just want to make sure that you know that you can do those if you want to.

Argyle:Here's the thing.

Argyle:I know we can leave, but we want fame, accolades, and whatever these things are going to drop and potentially go into where they came from.

Gamemaster:Okay.

Argyle:We're not leaving.

Gamemaster:Absolutely.

Johnny:That last one got a little crazy.

Gamemaster:Sure.

Johnny:I don't know about that.

Johnny:I don't know about that one.

Benny:yeah i don't know if we're doing that but how terrifying would it be for the rest of the attendees to see us murder like several Ki-Rin and then jump in they're like i'm glad they're gone i'm glad they're off this strider

Argyle:You don't know about that?

Argyle:You don't want to jump into the void?

Johnny:I don't want to jump into the scary black hole.

Gamemaster:You could.

Argyle:Do it.

Gamemaster:You could, though.

Argyle:Cowards.

Johnny:Argyle is actively getting spaghettified and he's looking at us.

Johnny:Cowards.

Benny:That's like being in a bank and five guys run in with fucking assault rifles and like, this is a fucking robbery.

Benny:And one guy gets up and just bites the dude's fucking neck off that's robbing the place.

Gamemaster:I'm sorry, I was looking through variants of this map in particular, and I found one that actually fits this encounter better.

Benny:You're like, I'm glad he's here, but I hope he stops with the robbers.

Johnny:All right.

Anzu:Let's get after it.

Johnny:You don't want to just keep theorizing, theoreticism?

Gamemaster:So I might switch it out while you guys are doing things.

Gamemaster:But for the moment, I have everybody's initiatives.

Gamemaster:We're going to start the encounter.

Gamemaster:I pulled back the little corral I had around you.

Gamemaster:I thought it would make it easier to figure out where things were, but if you're going to go elsewhere, we don't need it.

Gamemaster:It's Vicious barghest number two's turn, who is probably just going to go for this attendee that's next to him.

Benny:what was his home like life growing up oh i'm just we're just asking for unnecessary details

Anzu:Poor bastard.

Johnny:Oof.

Gamemaster:Yeah.

Argyle:What's his name and social security number, Josh?

Gamemaster:They don't have social security numbers because socialism is not happening in Calaria.

Argyle:Hell yeah.

Gamemaster:How dare you?

Gamemaster:And I don't have a name for him.

Gamemaster:What?

Gamemaster:Yeah, no, that's fine.

Gamemaster:Let's see.

Anzu:Yeah, what was his upbringing?

Gamemaster:A 25 is enough to make it so that it's probably unnecessary to know what his upbringing is.

Johnny:Oh no.

Argyle:What work was he with?

Benny:I was gonna shuffle upbringings.

Benny:He's gonna get a sentence in and then stop.

Gamemaster:I'm not going to shuffle upbringings.

Benny:The guy's gonna die.

Gamemaster:This guy would have been associated with the Prime Meridian.

Gamemaster:He's kind of around Tas before the barghests shot up and started attacking things.

Argyle:They're like our loose allies.

Argyle:They think they're too big and bad.

Argyle:If some of them die, that's okay.

Gamemaster:Sure.

Gamemaster:Eleven actually isn't enough to kill him outright.

Gamemaster:But he is definitely pretty injured.

Argyle:Oh.

Argyle:Good thing you didn't hear me say that.

Gamemaster:These barghests are like a weird cross between a dog and a kind of squirrel rodent type creature.

Gamemaster:But you guys can see... Actually, the people who would have a vantage point for this, let's do Johnny and Anzu both.

Anzu:I'm actually going to perceive as well.

Gamemaster:If you would, can make either nature or perception checks.

Argyle:Thank you.

Johnny:I will perceive.

Johnny:I've sort of perceived.

Benny:Proceed.

Anzu:Unless nature would give me something different.

Gamemaster:It might give you a little more information, because it's a bit more specific.

Gamemaster:Okay.

Anzu:It's a lower number, but I will try it.

Anzu:We'll see what happens.

Johnny:I have perceived 23 things.

Anzu:Oh, bad.

Anzu:Either of those would have been bad.

Anzu:17.

Gamemaster:17.

Gamemaster:Okay, so the best you get is the spot where the bar guest pulls a bite of flesh off of the leg of this guy has been stained a little bit black, almost.

Johnny:Hello?

Gamemaster:No other information besides that.

Anzu:And then the attendee says, is that the worst you could do?

Anzu:My father did much worse to me growing up.

Gamemaster:And in response, the barghest gets a 23 on a second attack, which is enough to do more damage.

Benny:My older brother and younger brother and sister would be...

Anzu:Oh my god.

Gamemaster:So we are going to do more damage here.

Gamemaster:I rolled well.

Gamemaster:That's another 17 points.

Gamemaster:And he heals over.

Gamemaster:And then he'll spend his third action to go over here and corner Johnny a little bit.

Johnny:I don't do that.

Anzu:He left a little swirl behind.

Johnny:Oh, I don't like that.

Gamemaster:Oh, he's not, he's not, don't look at the swirl.

Gamemaster:I don't know why there was a swirl there.

Johnny:He didn't leave his foot.

Gamemaster:I hope there isn't a swirl under all of these guys.

Gamemaster:Okay, there isn't.

Argyle:You think we're gonna get some beautiful essence for our hearts if we kill these guys?

Benny:one two three is it 20 feet oh i hope so you know that kodak black me all right penny's gonna stride

Argyle:I hope so.

Johnny:And he yells a Kodak Black reference no one gets.

Benny:uh but he's gonna stride because uh uh i don't know did benny get time to pull out weapons or is this i gave myself something last

Gamemaster:Yeah, you can start with weapons in your hand.

Gamemaster:I think as a free action you get to start combat with a weapon in your hand anyway.

Benny:Oh, right.

Benny:Yes, yes, yes.

Benny:Oh, perfect.

Gamemaster:You guys have to tell me.

Gamemaster:Do you like this map, what I've switched it to?

Gamemaster:Or...

Johnny:Oh.

Gamemaster:Do you prefer this map?

Benny:Oh, scary.

Anzu:Holy crap.

Argyle:Oh.

Johnny:Oh, wow.

Johnny:This one's got time.

Anzu:No, I don't like this one.

Anzu:I don't like the implications of this one.

Argyle:Oh.

Gamemaster:Okay.

Gamemaster:Okay, so we'll do this one then.

Argyle:Yeah, I no longer want to jump into where they came from anymore.

Gamemaster:Wouldn't be a Josh fight without a tentacle somewhere.

Johnny:There is a robot on board.

Argyle:Yeah.

Anzu:That's a great point.

Gamemaster:So.

Johnny:There's robots on board too.

Johnny:So it covers all.

Argyle:Oh.

Benny:Falcata.

Benny:We'll figure out the butterfly sword later.

Gamemaster:Okay.

Benny:I don't know why my modifier is lower for it.

Benny:It can't be because it's monk.

Benny:But we'll keep it with the wakazashi.

Gamemaster:Oh, it's probably because... I know why it's like that.

Gamemaster:It's because Foundry is bad at giving you proficiency in advanced weapons, swords specifically.

Gamemaster:So if I just bump it down so it's a martial weapon, now you should have the same amount of fire.

Benny:Oh, perfect.

Benny:We'll use that then.

Benny:We will sheath the Wakazashi.

Gamemaster:Okay.

Benny:Strike with the butterfly sword.

Benny:It would be with map if double slice applied map.

Gamemaster:This one is with map, right?

Gamemaster:Because we are keeping the first hit.

Gamemaster:Oh, right, you're double slicing.

Gamemaster:Never mind.

Gamemaster:Okay, then you got a crit.

Johnny:Right off the bat.

Benny:Oh, I can just add it.

Gamemaster:Oh, no.

Gamemaster:Oh, actually, I think you still did get a... Okay, so we're going to do the damage here.

Benny:Very nice.

Benny:He is.

Gamemaster:I'm pretty sure that actually wasn't a crit.

Gamemaster:It gave you crit damage because it's showing him as flanked.

Gamemaster:But he's not flanked by you.

Benny:Yeah.

Gamemaster:Oh, he is.

Gamemaster:Never mind.

Gamemaster:I was looking at, like, Argyle and Johnny.

Gamemaster:Never mind.

Gamemaster:Totally fine.

Gamemaster:It's a crit.

Gamemaster:We deal the damage.

Gamemaster:He takes 32 points of damage.

Gamemaster:He appears to take the full 32 points of damage.

Benny:That's Benny's turn.

Gamemaster:Absolutely.

Gamemaster:Argyle.

Gamemaster:It's Orko.

Argyle:Just need to do that.

Argyle:Okay.

Argyle:So we don't get to, I don't know what's happening anywhere else, right?

Gamemaster:What do you mean?

Argyle:Because no one else has moved.

Gamemaster:Correct.

Argyle:We're pretty high on the initiative.

Gamemaster:Well, right.

Argyle:Okay.

Argyle:So I'll start, I'll start, I'll start to swing it.

Gamemaster:Like a regular fight.

Gamemaster:Nobody has had a chance to move yet.

Argyle:Okay.

Argyle:I'll start to swing it.

Argyle:All right.

Gamemaster:Okay, start the swinging.

Argyle:Okay.

Argyle:All right.

Gamemaster:Do as you would.

Argyle:All right.

Argyle:Okay.

Gamemaster:Okay.

Argyle:Josh, I got it.

Gamemaster:Gosh.

Argyle:I'm going to cast a spell first.

Benny:It's off guard, by the way.

Gamemaster:Okay.

Argyle:Benediction.

Johnny:This guy's casting spells.

Argyle:You know me.

Argyle:And I believe I can once per round.

Argyle:Oh, so on subsequent ones.

Argyle:I can't make it bigger right now.

Argyle:So I'll do this.

Argyle:Then I'll take a swing, I think.

Gamemaster:at the chyron.

Argyle:Yeah, I'll take a swing at this iron.

Argyle:Hell yeah.

Argyle:Yeah.

Argyle:So I'll take a little swing.

Gamemaster:You didn't target it, but a 22 does miss.

Argyle:All right.

Argyle:Well, I'll just do another sweep.

Argyle:One, two.

Argyle:No, no.

Argyle:This will be my final action.

Argyle:So instead, I'll raise my shield.

Gamemaster:Okay.

Argyle:Yeah.

Argyle:All right.

Gamemaster:Absolutely.

Argyle:Does this, did that raise my shield?

Johnny:Bye.

Argyle:I don't think it actually did.

Anzu:It looks like it quickly applied it and then unapplied it.

Gamemaster:I think you're ready.

Gamemaster:Yeah.

Argyle:Okay.

Argyle:Yeah.

Gamemaster:Now your shield is raised.

Argyle:Yeah, yeah.

Argyle:I should have brought my big shield for this.

Gamemaster:It's the Ki-Rin's turn.

Argyle:Why didn't I know that this party was going to require a big shield?

Gamemaster:I don't know.

Argyle:I honestly should have known that.

Argyle:I should have known that, actually.

Gamemaster:Yeah.

Gamemaster:I'm going to roll a d3.

Johnny:Oh, come on.

Gamemaster:What is Argyle?

Gamemaster:Actually, I'm going to roll a d5.

Gamemaster:1 and 2 are Argyle.

Gamemaster:3 and 4 are Benny.

Gamemaster:5 is Johnny.

Argyle:Yeah.

Gamemaster:I rolled a 5.

Gamemaster:I'm going for Johnny.

Anzu:Unbelievable.

Argyle:Good thing Johnny can fly, right?

Johnny:I'm just over here trying to fall in this hole.

Gamemaster:I'm so sorry.

Gamemaster:We're gonna... We're gonna make a hoof attack.

Johnny:Yeah, I can fly.

Gamemaster:That's a hit.

Johnny:I'm gonna get out of here after this.

Johnny:This is not... Ugh.

Gamemaster:14 points of bludgeoning damage from the hoof.

Anzu:Lie, you fool.

Johnny:Ugh!

Gamemaster:And then, actually, what is the range on this?

Gamemaster:A 30-foot cone, you say?

Gamemaster:Can I?

Johnny:you

Gamemaster:I can't get Argyle and Benny in the same cone.

Gamemaster:So we'll do this.

Gamemaster:Everybody in this cone, which is those two attendees, Jethro and Argyle, please make this reflex save as the Ki-Rin turns around, opens its mouth, and uses its breath weapon as divine fire rolls out of its mouth at all of you.

Argyle:Can you hit him?

Benny:Is this a manipulate?

Argyle:Can he get smacked?

Gamemaster:No, it's not.

Argyle:Yeah!

Gamemaster:It has the divine and fire traits.

Argyle:Damn it!

Benny:That's fine.

Argyle:Oh, it has the divine!

Argyle:That's good for me, actually.

Argyle:Good to know.

Argyle:Reflex you said?

Gamemaster:Yeah, I sent in the chat the reflex I did.

Argyle:Wow.

Argyle:I'm going to re-roll that.

Gamemaster:It's the most recent chat in the chat.

Gamemaster:Can other people see it?

Benny:Uh huh.

Gamemaster:If you want to.

Argyle:Much better, though.

Gamemaster:Okay, absolutely.

Gamemaster:That is still a failure, so you are going to take the full damage here.

Argyle:Thank you.

Gamemaster:36 points of fire damage.

Gamemaster:That is fully enough to incinerate these two attendees.

Gamemaster:Their ashes blown to the wind.

Gamemaster:Jethro is slightly stronger.

Gamemaster:He is still standing, but he is very injured.

Gamemaster:But he is still around.

Gamemaster:And that is all three of its actions.

Gamemaster:I'm going to do this just to see.

Gamemaster:That's annoying.

Gamemaster:And that's it.

Benny:It doesn't get his breath back.

Gamemaster:Yep.

Gamemaster:It is the barghest's turn.

Gamemaster:I think barghest 2 is probably just going to step, and then if it's even, it's going to go for Tas.

Gamemaster:If it's odd, it's going for Anzu.

Argyle:Yes!

Argyle:Fuck Tas!

Gamemaster:It's going for Tas.

Argyle:Is Tas the lightning guy?

Gamemaster:Tas is the head of Prime Meridian, or the head of the Prime Meridian faction on board.

Anzu:Does he have a big... Okay.

Argyle:Oh.

Benny:Was that him?

Argyle:The one that said our org was... The one who said we were too small.

Gamemaster:Middling.

Johnny:you

Gamemaster:He also clearly, he's received some support from the host.

Gamemaster:He's not a fighter.

Argyle:Maybe he shouldn't work with us.

Anzu:Now I'm going to save his ass.

Argyle:Yeah, we've got to save his ass.

Gamemaster:Actually, this is a question that shouldn't have targeted Johnny.

Argyle:Yes, he's in the benediction.

Gamemaster:That doesn't target Johnny.

Argyle:Oh, I don't know.

Gamemaster:So it's not actually relevant in this particular instance, at least not here.

Argyle:Yeah.

Gamemaster:But just for the sake of if it does come up, is he part of your benediction aura?

Gamemaster:Do you see him as an ally?

Argyle:Yeah, so everyone's an ally to me besides the Pale Lantern Society and Grayson.

Gamemaster:Okay.

Gamemaster:Okay, absolutely.

Argyle:and Grayson's paper.

Gamemaster:Either way, I had Johnny mistakenly selected in this particular instance that still doesn't hit.

Gamemaster:So we're going to try one more claw attack here.

Gamemaster:That was a better roll.

Gamemaster:24 does hit, so we'll roll some damage.

Gamemaster:Okay, 13 points of damage.

Gamemaster:I made the mistake here of representing all of the NPCs, like just off of the commoner background, just because that was the easiest to get the images, which means they all have one HP in Foundry.

Argyle:Okay.

Gamemaster:So I have to write it down in a separate document whenever one of them takes damage.

Gamemaster:So I apologize as the UI does not stand up to what I'm trying to get it to do.

Gamemaster:Entirely my fault.

Gamemaster:That said, that's that guy's turn.

Gamemaster:It's this guy's turn.

Gamemaster:Yeah, thank you.

Gamemaster:He'll go for this guy.

Gamemaster:Stamps, makes a Claws attack.

Anzu:Oh.

Gamemaster:Oh, that's a critical hit.

Gamemaster:That should be a critical hit.

Gamemaster:His AC isn't that low.

Gamemaster:It is a hit, though.

Gamemaster:So we'll roll damage.

Gamemaster:14 points.

Gamemaster:We'll roll a follow-up.

Gamemaster:19 again.

Gamemaster:That still hits.

Argyle:Is this guy part of the host, or is this part of the primary team?

Gamemaster:No, he's with Braxton.

Gamemaster:He's with Ætherion Limited, the power company, and he is also dead.

Argyle:OK.

Gamemaster:That's the end of that guy's turn.

Gamemaster:Anzu, it's your turn.

Anzu:okay um i want to know if these guys are capable of taking void damage um but do i want to know about the Ki-Rin or the bar guest that's the real question

Argyle:I feel like Anzu also knows that Argyle is about to drop his divine wrath again.

Johnny:And.

Argyle:I'm not saying make a check, but just we're going to find out one of those types pretty soon.

Anzu:I'm going to go for the barghests.

Argyle:Okay.

Anzu:I'll do a... What's it called?

Gamemaster:Absolutely.

Anzu:Recall knowledge, Josh?

Gamemaster:Arcana or occultism.

Gamemaster:28 is a success.

Anzu:Yeah, we're doing it occult-like.

Anzu:28.

Gamemaster:This was a cult, right?

Anzu:Yes.

Gamemaster:Okay.

Anzu:I want its immunity slash whatever else that comes with.

Gamemaster:Okay, absolutely.

Gamemaster:Weak to holy damage.

Gamemaster:Resistant to all physical damage except cold iron.

Gamemaster:Also, it's never going to be relevant, but it can do this.

Johnny:you you

Gamemaster:Oh, it doesn't change the token.

Gamemaster:It can make itself look like a regular dog.

Gamemaster:I thought when I switched it to dog mode, it would make the token look like a dog as well.

Gamemaster:It doesn't do that.

Gamemaster:Okay, but yeah, so it does take void damage.

Anzu:okay now my next question is oh those are five foot bursts never mind um

Benny:Did you say weak to all physical except cold iron or inverse?

Gamemaster:Mm-hmm.

Gamemaster:Sorry, resistant all physical, but cold iron.

Argyle:We should get some cold iron if we can somehow on this journey.

Johnny:Does anyone have cold iron?

Johnny:Does anyone on the dance floor have cold iron?

Benny:Okay.

Benny:I remember reading about cold iron.

Anzu:I'm sorry, I'm just trying to figure out what I want to do.

Anzu:All right, we'll start with casting Biting Words.

Gamemaster:Okay.

Anzu:We cast Biting Words.

Anzu:And we make an attack on barghest, too.

Anzu:Is that correct?

Johnny:you you

Anzu:Please hold.

Gamemaster:Okay.

Gamemaster:I like how biting words is almost definitely the equivalent of dissonant whispers from 5e.

Gamemaster:But dissonant whispers is you say something to them and it freaks them out so they take damage.

Gamemaster:Biting words is you say something to them and it is so physically injurious to hear that they take sonic damage.

Argyle:You just pause really loudly.

Gamemaster:That's a hit.

Anzu:He takes six points of Sonic damage.

Gamemaster:Six points of sonic damage.

Gamemaster:He... Basically...

Johnny:you

Anzu:And then... Shoot.

Anzu:Do I step away and leave Tas to be?

Anzu:I think I do.

Argyle:What?

Argyle:They're going to leave Tas?

Anzu:Well, I'm gonna... I'm still gonna fight these guys, but I think I'm gonna take a step back.

Argyle:We need Tas.

Benny:you you

Argyle:We need Tas.

Anzu:Ugh.

Argyle:We can bring you back from the dead.

Argyle:We can't him.

Anzu:Alright, alright, alright.

Gamemaster:Wow.

Anzu:No, he's right though.

Anzu:So... That means I need to do something else with my final action.

Argyle:If you go unconscious, you live.

Argyle:He doesn't.

Argyle:Johnny, if you got a dip, I will not take it offensive, obviously.

Johnny:Oh, amazing.

Johnny:I was going to get out of here.

Argyle:Good, good.

Argyle:I think that's best for you to do that.

Johnny:I was going to get behind Anzu and use him as a meat shield.

Anzu:I don't have anything crazy useful to do with my final action right now, so I'm just going to make a beak attempt.

Anzu:It's not really going to do much, but... Yeah.

Anzu:That'll be all.

Benny:It's very close to a 20 on my screen.

Gamemaster:Okay.

Gamemaster:Johnny, it is your turn.

Johnny:I'm going to go, go, go, rocket boots, activate, and blast boots out of here.

Gamemaster:Absolutely.

Gamemaster:That is fair.

Johnny:God, I missed having these.

Johnny:These were the best parts of being the Dawnmonger.

Johnny:I can jump very far, but I don't want to get too far.

Johnny:So I'm going to go... I'll go right here.

Argyle:Thank God it doesn't have something to stop that manipulate action.

Argyle:I was scared.

Johnny:Oh, I know.

Johnny:Jeez.

Johnny:Then I will cast a lingering composition as I yell, does anyone have some cold iron?

Johnny:And then it's kind of like echoes across the floor.

Johnny:I don't think that even succeeds.

Gamemaster:Yeah, it's a low roll, unfortunately.

Johnny:That's a bummer.

Gamemaster:It's loud.

Gamemaster:People are screaming, frantically trying to get out of the way of these beasts pulling out of this hole in the ground that just appeared.

Johnny:Well, this was the last one round.

Johnny:And I don't use the focus point, which is nice.

Johnny:Courageous Anthem!

Gamemaster:Skating.

Johnny:Anyone in our skein gets the Courageous Anthem.

Johnny:Anyone not in the skein doesn't get the Courageous Anthem.

Gamemaster:Absolutely.

Johnny:And... Last...

Johnny:I will flourish cast haste on young Bennix.

Benny:Yes.

Gamemaster:We're at the level where haste is an issue.

Argyle:Did Anzu's... Did Anzu's things say they were unholy or just that they were weak to holy?

Gamemaster:Okay.

Argyle:Do I know?

Argyle:Does that mean they're unholy?

Gamemaster:You would know that they are... It doesn't necessarily mean that they're specifically unholy.

Argyle:Uh-huh.

Gamemaster:It would have come up as weak to holy damage.

Gamemaster:That's not quite a perfect circle, but it's pretty close.

Johnny:That is my turn.

Argyle:Okay.

Gamemaster:Absolutely.

Gamemaster:That will bring us to barghest 1.

Gamemaster:Let's see.

Benny:Good try.

Gamemaster:Okay.

Gamemaster:barghest 1.

Gamemaster:It's probably going to go for Benny, because Benny was attacking the Ki-Rin.

Gamemaster:So we're going to make a claw attack on Benny.

Gamemaster:That rolled real low.

Gamemaster:So we're going to try that again.

Gamemaster:I rolled real high that time.

Benny:Oh.

Johnny:Oh no.

Benny:uh no you do i just saw 29 i was like that's not 10 more but there are exceptions i was really gonna target this kyron

Gamemaster:That is a crit.

Gamemaster:You say, does that mean you have something to do before I click this damage button?

Gamemaster:Oh.

Gamemaster:22 points of damage.

Gamemaster:And please attempt this fortitude save.

Gamemaster:I mean, you still can.

Argyle:we'll go for the car it hurts

Gamemaster:A 19.

Benny:We're really going to target this Ki-Rin.

Gamemaster:That is a failure.

Gamemaster:You feel poison.

Gamemaster:or some kind of poison analog seep into your skin from where the claws broke your skin.

Gamemaster:You watch as the wound turns black, and you feel as it inhibits healing.

Gamemaster:You have been struck by an unhealing curse.

Johnny:Thank you.

Gamemaster:The cursed creature can't regain hit points except via magic until it returns to maximum hit points.

Argyle:That would have been really bad for Brodick.

Gamemaster:Meaning healing potions don't work, and resting doesn't work.

Benny:Oh.

Gamemaster:Magic is fine.

Benny:Uh... Do they have the poison trait?

Gamemaster:No, it's a curse.

Gamemaster:It has the curse and primal traits.

Benny:Okay.

Gamemaster:Okay.

Gamemaster:He has a third action, so he's going to use that to try and knock you down.

Argyle:He doesn't know it's optimal.

Gamemaster:With knockdown.

Johnny:He gets down, but he gets up again.

Benny:Benny did some of his most damage knockdown.

Gamemaster:Ignore what I just did there.

Argyle:Then he tripped himself.

Gamemaster:Because I rolled it as Benny.

Gamemaster:Benny tripped himself.

Benny:Nice.

Gamemaster:What did I actually roll?

Gamemaster:I rolled an 11.

Gamemaster:What's this creature's modifier?

Gamemaster:Does a 24 trip you?

Gamemaster:I think the answer is no.

Benny:No.

Gamemaster:Okay, so then you aren't tripped, and that's the end of the bar guest's turn.

Gamemaster:That brings us to the top of the initiative order.

Gamemaster:So, so, there is a tick as we've moved one round forward, and as such we have skipped one more voidward along the horizon.

Benny:Thank you.

Gamemaster:And now we are going to... We are... Oh, didn't mean to do that.

Argyle:Oh.

Gamemaster:Go back to normal size.

Gamemaster:Ignore that.

Gamemaster:I'm like rapidly updating people's stat blocks out from under them so that it matches slightly.

Gamemaster:I need some people to do me a favor.

Gamemaster:We're going to resolve this in quadrants.

Gamemaster:There are three quadrants.

Gamemaster:There's the bottom left, the top left, and the top right, which are the ones that, because you guys are doing stuff in your area.

Gamemaster:So we're going to start in the bottom left.

Gamemaster:I would love it if two people could roll two d20s.

Gamemaster:One of them is plus 22.

Gamemaster:One of them is plus 26.

Gamemaster:22, I said.

Argyle:I'll roll the 26.

Argyle:I really hope these are for the Protectorate.

Benny:22 you said yeah me too i got a 39 for my plus 22.

Johnny:I'm Aut

Gamemaster:What did we get?

Argyle:I got a 43 for my plus 26.

Gamemaster:Yes, these are for the Protectorate because those are the two that would immediately bump into action here.

Gamemaster:There is... You guys are...

Argyle:Start killing Walter Stoke and the other...

Gamemaster:You guys are busy fighting on your own, but clearly there are fights happening in other parts of the dance floor, and so you get peeks over in those directions.

Johnny:I got it.

Gamemaster:There are some things of note.

Gamemaster:Some of the attendees do just fully get mowed down in the process of these barghests starting to swarm out.

Gamemaster:I also, I apologize, I didn't have anybody roll for that.

Gamemaster:I need somebody to roll a d20 for me flat.

Gamemaster:You are looking for a ten or above.

Johnny:I didn't get it Oh no!

Anzu:That's not ideal.

Gamemaster:This arrogant bar guest tears into Cross Trevils, the oread with the moss, and bites out a chunk of stone in his chest, and he falls over dead.

Argyle:Rocky, no!

Gamemaster:Um...

Gamemaster:But you guys both rolled very well for your D20 rolls for Tamara and Yao for the two members of the Protectorate.

Gamemaster:So you watch as... Actually, can I get a perception check?

Gamemaster:Because we're starting to get into a little bit of trade secret territory, so they would have tried to hide it.

Johnny:I'm rolling like crap tonight.

Gamemaster:And I will see if I can roll a stealth check for Tamara.

Anzu:Well.

Johnny:This is... I yell... I yell, Tas, move!

Gamemaster:Oh, I actually rolled poorly for Tamara, so you... Okay.

Argyle:Argyle can join them.

Gamemaster:Argyle notices it.

Argyle:Mm-hmm.

Gamemaster:Argyle somehow finds a spot within the six seconds that he's engaged with this Ki-Rin to turn around, and he sees Tamara...

Johnny:He doesn't move.

Benny:Thank you.

Gamemaster:slip from a pocket in her sleeve, a little ampoule of some liquid, and then crack it in her teeth and down the liquid inside.

Gamemaster:And after a split second, the blood...

Gamemaster:drains from her face, her eyes become bloodshot, and there's this weird, almost red mist-like substance that starts pouring off of her.

Gamemaster:As she charges straight forward through this bar guest, misting it.

Gamemaster:As she runs forward into the fray and starts going for the arrogant bar guest.

Gamemaster:And then you rolled 43 for Yao, who has a similar effect going on, but he instead will just cast a Divine Wrath targeted at the other arrogant bar guest.

Argyle:He only gets one with Divine Wrath?

Gamemaster:What?

Argyle:It's an AoE.

Argyle:It's an AoE, and he's only going for one?

Gamemaster:You're right, 20-foot burst.

Gamemaster:Let me see if there's a way for me to... There's a way for me to place this burst that doesn't kill everybody.

Gamemaster:Actually, you know what?

Argyle:No, it only does friendlies.

Gamemaster:That's a good point.

Gamemaster:Yes, I understand.

Gamemaster:He's berserking right now.

Johnny:Dang, these guys are beefy.

Gamemaster:I need you because you were the one that brought it up.

Gamemaster:Can you do me a favor?

Gamemaster:And we're going to roll a will save for him.

Gamemaster:He has a plus 20 modifier to this.

Argyle:Also, if it's potentially going to hit some of us, I don't know if it would do damn, depending on your sanctity.

Anzu:Protectorate doesn't mess around.

Benny:Thank you.

Gamemaster:It's not going to hit you, but it might hit other people.

Argyle:Sorry, so what will?

Argyle:What will?

Gamemaster:It's Will.

Gamemaster:He has a plus 20 to this.

Argyle:Does he have anything that makes it bump up to a success if it's a fail?

Argyle:Or a critical success?

Gamemaster:Not for this.

Gamemaster:No, he's currently berserking.

Argyle:Okay.

Gamemaster:We're just seeing if he can retain his mind enough to not target friendlies or possible friendlies.

Argyle:You only deal damage to enemies.

Gamemaster:A 34.

Gamemaster:Let me check the level-based DC for this man.

Gamemaster:That is a success.

Gamemaster:So he knows not to target people who might be friendly.

Benny:Thank you.

Gamemaster:So we'll see if I can place this burst in such a way that it... Yeah, the problem with a burst like this, I think this works.

Gamemaster:It does hit Jethro.

Argyle:No, you only deal...

Johnny:Thank you.

Gamemaster:It hits Jethro and Argyle.

Argyle:You only deal... This is one of the spells, yeah.

Gamemaster:No, I know.

Gamemaster:I understand.

Argyle:Sorry, sorry.

Gamemaster:My point is that he's berserking so he doesn't differentiate between friend and foe.

Gamemaster:So a spell that only targets foes when he doesn't know what a friend or a foe is.

Argyle:Okay.

Argyle:Okay, okay.

Argyle:I get it, I get it, I get it.

Gamemaster:So the question is, does he think that Argyle is worth hitting three other people?

Gamemaster:And I think the answer is because he rolled that little save, he knows you guys.

Gamemaster:That's a yes.

Gamemaster:He's going to hit three people he doesn't know to avoid hitting Argyle.

Gamemaster:So I will roll fortitude saves for these barghests.

Johnny:you you you

Benny:Thank you.

Gamemaster:Okay.

Gamemaster:That's a critical failure from one of the barghests and failures from everybody else.

Gamemaster:That is also fully enough to vaporize these guys.

Johnny:um

Gamemaster:And Jethro...

Gamemaster:Has more than 24 hit points.

Gamemaster:So he is still alive, but he's looking real bad because he's been hit twice now.

Gamemaster:So he's hanging on, but just barely.

Gamemaster:That is the end of Yao's turn, though, because we're doing abbreviated stuff.

Gamemaster:I'm not giving all of them three actions.

Gamemaster:That's the end of that.

Johnny:you

Gamemaster:Other general things are the Iridescent Church people are absolutely just going to run away.

Gamemaster:They're not fighting.

Gamemaster:Not dealing with this at all.

Gamemaster:This guy's going to run off as well.

Argyle:Yeah, I was like, he liked Argyle enough to spare him, but the other people, he's like, fuck it, they can die.

Gamemaster:Yes.

Gamemaster:Yeah.

Argyle:Yes!

Gamemaster:No.

Argyle:I like that.

Gamemaster:He specifically was like, I recognize that guy.

Gamemaster:I don't recognize these other people.

Gamemaster:So, you know, what happens, happens.

Benny:you

Argyle:They didn't have to kill them either, but he's like, eh.

Gamemaster:He didn't have to, but that way he could target the most people.

Argyle:No, because the spell makes it so you don't have to target people in the area that are allies.

Gamemaster:No, he still considers everybody enemies.

Gamemaster:He just recognized you.

Argyle:I see.

Gamemaster:He didn't recognize them.

Gamemaster:I want to clarify that the Protectorate get buffs for being in their battle trance, but there are also some serious detriments.

Argyle:Yeah.

Gamemaster:That is one of them.

Argyle:For when I become a Protectorate.

Argyle:That's why you have to clarify that.

Gamemaster:Sure, for when you become Protectorate.

Gamemaster:Listen, you've got Scale buddies who are also here, and if they hear you talking about this... Either way, that's the end of that one.

Gamemaster:We'll do the top left now.

Gamemaster:Of note here is probably going to be Master Grayson, who is going to cast a spell as well.

Gamemaster:I think he's going to do a modified Dominate on the Humble Ki-Rin.

Argyle:What a freak.

Benny:The humble one.

Johnny:Not the whole one.

Benny:Well, I don't know if I'm all that scary.

Gamemaster:The humble one.

Anzu:And here you see the humble Ki-Rin.

Gamemaster:I'm sorry.

Gamemaster:Let's make a will save for the Ki-Rin.

Gamemaster:That is a failure.

Benny:I'm from a different place than the rest of you.

Gamemaster:That's almost a critical failure.

Gamemaster:The Ki-Rin is controlled.

Gamemaster:And besides that, he's going to start walking off.

Gamemaster:Same with the rest of the group.

Argyle:The Ki-Rin are lower than level 6, or 12, guys.

Argyle:That's good.

Johnny:Yes.

Benny:How nice.

Gamemaster:These guys will start running as well.

Gamemaster:As they try and clear out.

Gamemaster:I think that guy just doesn't have room, so he's going to start running this way.

Gamemaster:That's not going to work out for him.

Gamemaster:And that's what we'll do for that section.

Gamemaster:Next, top.

Gamemaster:Right.

Gamemaster:Let's see.

Gamemaster:So all of these guys are big.

Gamemaster:I'm going to need... What is this person's modifier?

Gamemaster:Mr. Ralph.

Johnny:I will.

Gamemaster:I would love it if... I'm going to need three d20 rolls this time.

Gamemaster:It's a plus 28.

Gamemaster:Three plus 28s.

Argyle:Oh, I'll roll one of them.

Anzu:What is the... No, no, it's okay.

Benny:All row one.

Benny:Slash R.

Argyle:Oh, you can roll it, Tanner.

Argyle:No, no, do it, do it, Tanner.

Anzu:Go ahead.

Gamemaster:What is the, what?

Anzu:I don't know the command.

Argyle:R slash R. Yeah.

Gamemaster:Oh, slash r space and then 1d20 plus 28.

Gamemaster:Two good rolls.

Johnny:Go for it, Tanner.

Johnny:Mine, I forgot the slash R, so mine does not count.

Argyle:No, no, do it again.

Argyle:I rolled one before already.

Johnny:Thank you, Jorge.

Argyle:Actually, I shouldn't let Noah roll.

Argyle:He's been rolling badly.

Johnny:No, this is my moment.

Johnny:This is it.

Argyle:Yeah!

Argyle:He got average!

Johnny:I roll exactly average.

Johnny:It's going up.

Gamemaster:Okay, absolutely.

Johnny:Next time, 11.

Gamemaster:Benny and Anzu were rolling for the two members of the Scale who are on the dance floor, and Johnny was rolling for Ichel, who is a generally femme android, but being represented by this monk over there in the corner.

Gamemaster:Um...

Argyle:Ah.

Gamemaster:41s and 38 are all successes here.

Gamemaster:So Mr. Bishop is going to take off of his hip what initially looks like a rod, but he twists it and it extends out to a full-sized spear that he will throw up in the air and use Storm of Battle to call a massive storm and in a 100-foot burst where spears of lightning rain down upon enemies in the area.

Johnny:That's a crazy spell.

Gamemaster:Um...

Gamemaster:So an 100-foot burst is the whole dance floor.

Gamemaster:I just needed to double-check there.

Argyle:I take it back.

Argyle:The Scale's way cooler.

Gamemaster:So it's a reflex save for all enemies in the area.

Gamemaster:So I'm going to do...

Argyle:Good thing the host left.

Gamemaster:I have to select all of these individually because I am a smart man who didn't group them.

Anzu:I feel like the Scale and the host are not necessarily enemies to each other.

Anzu:They kind of coexist pretty strongly.

Argyle:I think actually in the liturgy... I think in the liturgy it literally says that the host is like the best friends with the Scale versus the other ones.

Gamemaster:They aren't.

Gamemaster:Of them, they are definitely on the friendliest terms, the organizations.

Argyle:Yeah, I did say they were good friends, but they were the best of the other ones.

Anzu:Sure, sure, sure.

Gamemaster:Yeah, I got failures from almost all of them.

Johnny:you

Benny:you

Gamemaster:Some of them succeeded.

Gamemaster:So we'll roll the electricity damage.

Gamemaster:21 points of electricity damage.

Gamemaster:Transfer that to all of them.

Gamemaster:They all take...

Gamemaster:Lightning, electricity, that's no problem.

Gamemaster:And for the record, he didn't target any of the people.

Gamemaster:He only targeted the... And then I think he'll use his remaining action to use Claimer of the Slain to collect the souls of some of the people who did die from barghest's attacking.

Argyle:He's one of the good ones, guys.

Argyle:That's why he's better than the Protectorate.

Argyle:Even though they're so cool.

Johnny:you

Argyle:Excuse me, what?

Gamemaster:And then the other one, Lance, is going to make a shot with his weapon.

Gamemaster:He succeeded because you already rolled, so we're just going to roll the damage there.

Gamemaster:And then I think that might be enough to just blow this.

Anzu:Can I has one soul, please?

Argyle:Only their heart's bigger now.

Gamemaster:That is enough to just blow up this mad barghest, so after taking the piercing and electric damage, that barghest dies.

Johnny:Just keeps going.

Gamemaster:And then finally for Ichel, you rolled a success there.

Gamemaster:This is pretty easy.

Gamemaster:Ichel is going to take out a hand cannon that is much too large for a person to use.

Gamemaster:It is disposable.

Gamemaster:It doesn't matter.

Gamemaster:You rolled a success on this distracted barghest.

Gamemaster:No damage roll necessary.

Gamemaster:It is just pulped, and it's gone.

Argyle:Does it go through to hit that person behind it?

Gamemaster:No, no.

Gamemaster:Ichel is a firearm manufacturer.

Gamemaster:They would know to have some amount of safety and look where you're firing so it doesn't go through and hit the person on the other side.

Argyle:It's like a comic wind around a shell.

Johnny:You.

Argyle:A shell gets pushed back.

Gamemaster:We're going to start as we move back.

Gamemaster:I think Ralph wouldn't...

Gamemaster:actually take up the spot over there to leave room for others to start making their way up.

Gamemaster:Paavo is running.

Gamemaster:I think he sees that it looks like Ralph and Ichel kind of have this and is not going to attempt to make any stands.

Gamemaster:This guy is going to kill this attendee.

Gamemaster:He's gone.

Gamemaster:This Ki-Rin is going to come out here and then is...

Gamemaster:Ki-Rin don't actually have any offensive magic, so we'll probably just try and gore somebody as they run by, which would be this person.

Gamemaster:So they get gored, they're gone.

Argyle:You just said they don't have offensive magic?

Benny:you

Gamemaster:These Ki-Rin don't have offensive magic.

Argyle:I thought one just used a breath weapon.

Gamemaster:Yeah, that's not magic, that's a breath weapon.

Argyle:Oh.

Gamemaster:That's not a spell, sorry, like, to clarify.

Argyle:Okay.

Gamemaster:They have divine abilities, they cast divine magic, but the spells they have are all, like, you know...

Gamemaster:non-offensive in nature.

Argyle:The way Josh is saying that, it's like he wants me to cast that.

Gamemaster:I assumed you were asking because you were interested in casting it.

Argyle:They have divine magic.

Johnny:You.

Argyle:They have divine abilities.

Gamemaster:You were the one that pointed it out specifically.

Gamemaster:Okay.

Gamemaster:Braxton is going to start running as well as we hit there.

Gamemaster:I know this is like an extended kind of map.

Gamemaster:Tas will run.

Gamemaster:These guys don't have attacks of opportunity, so he does get away.

Gamemaster:Okay.

Gamemaster:Ceres is going to walk over here.

Gamemaster:I need one more d20 roll, this time with a very simple plus 12.

Gamemaster:31.

Anzu:That's you, Jorge.

Argyle:All right.

Anzu:Ooh.

Argyle:Oh, 31.

Gamemaster:Absolutely.

Argyle:19, naturally.

Gamemaster:Okay.

Gamemaster:We're going to roll some damage then.

Johnny:Our guests are coming for me.

Gamemaster:Yeah, unfortunately, you guys not running means that you both have a chance for any spoils that may show up, but are also rapidly becoming the only targets for the things on the dance floor to attack.

Argyle:But we also look good in front of our Prime Meridian friends.

Gamemaster:That is also true.

Gamemaster:You are defending them and giving them a chance to escape.

Gamemaster:There are political things going on here.

Argyle:Yeah.

Argyle:Because we're definitely making that known as they're running.

Argyle:We're like, run!

Argyle:Even though we already see they're running, we're like, go!

Gamemaster:Yeah, absolutely.

Gamemaster:You're involving in that.

Johnny:Yes.

Gamemaster:This barghest number two by Anzu will take 15 points of damage.

Argyle:Ooh.

Gamemaster:And then...

Gamemaster:Oh, I'm sorry.

Gamemaster:I forgot to do these barghests up here.

Gamemaster:This guy will go over here, eat that attendee.

Gamemaster:This guy will run over here, eat this attendee.

Anzu:Josh, a couple of those barghest are labeled as dead, although they might have died after their turn.

Gamemaster:This guy's gonna... Yes?

Gamemaster:Oh, gosh.

Gamemaster:I'm so sorry.

Gamemaster:They did die after their turn.

Gamemaster:I would have done it, but let me go through.

Gamemaster:A lot of these barghests did die from, like, the collective divine burst and all of that stuff.

Argyle:Do you guys think Grayson's Ki-Rin is going to be nice?

Anzu:I don't know what he's going to ask it to do.

Anzu:I really have no idea.

Gamemaster:And I have, I think the people that are only close enough to have noticed here and have their wits about them are Jethro and Argyle.

Gamemaster:So Argyle, roll a perception check for me, please.

Argyle:Mm-hmm.

Gamemaster:And then can somebody else needs to roll a perception check for Jethro?

Gamemaster:Let's make his modifier plus eight.

Gamemaster:Let's give him a plus eight.

Benny:Plus eight.

Anzu:Hmm.

Argyle:Will Jethro know that Grayson's trying to eat him?

Johnny:Thank you.

Argyle:Our guy got 32.

Gamemaster:32.

Gamemaster:Okay.

Gamemaster:So the reason I asked you to roll that is because I may have... What's the opposite of buried the lead?

Gamemaster:I gave away my hand a bit earlier than I was supposed to.

Gamemaster:It's fine.

Gamemaster:You rolled high enough.

Gamemaster:So you know Argyle sees him dominate the Ki-Rin.

Argyle:Yeah.

Gamemaster:Just to put that out there so that we have clarity on, like, metagaming, whatever.

Gamemaster:Anyway, this guy is going to start running straight at Yao.

Anzu:Oh my god.

Johnny:No, yeah.

Gamemaster:and is going to attack him.

Argyle:I'm going to shout that Grayson dominated it.

Gamemaster:That is a hit, so let's deal the damage there.

Anzu:Oh my god.

Gamemaster:And then he will make his...

Anzu:Yeah, I was higher level than us.

Anzu:He'll be okay.

Johnny:Yeah, yeah.

Johnny:Yeah, I got it.

Anzu:But he is one of the people that I care about the most on this craft at the moment.

Johnny:Yeah, I was... Yeah, she'll turn around.

Argyle:Tamara is going to fuck this thing up.

Argyle:So it's all right.

Gamemaster:He's just gonna... Yeah, this is something he would do.

Benny:you

Gamemaster:He's gonna do a breath weapon that way.

Johnny:Oh, my gosh.

Anzu:So he's drawn a line in the sand for sure.

Gamemaster:So we'll put that out there.

Argyle:I'm shouting.

Argyle:I'm shouting so Jethro can also hear that he's being dominated by Grayson.

Gamemaster:Okay, absolutely.

Gamemaster:Yao just barely succeeds, the other two fail.

Gamemaster:That is more than enough for these two attendees to die, and Yao will take half of that damage.

Johnny:Oh, no.

Gamemaster:Okay.

Gamemaster:Now we're at the top of the initiative order.

Gamemaster:I'm sorry for all of this, um, as we resolve this.

Argyle:No, this is good.

Argyle:This is good.

Benny:Kill.

Anzu:I think it's fun.

Johnny:Yeah.

Johnny:It's cool.

Gamemaster:Okay.

Gamemaster:Vicious barghest 2 was going to attack Johnny.

Gamemaster:Johnny escaped.

Gamemaster:So I think the next best thing to attack is Benny.

Gamemaster:So...

Argyle:No, don't group up around Benny.

Gamemaster:That's absolutely what's happening.

Gamemaster:These guys are dog monsters from the void.

Gamemaster:They don't know strategy.

Benny:Kill.

Gamemaster:One, it's he moves, so you get your reactive strike on him if you like.

Gamemaster:That's a hit.

Benny:That one was on him.

Gamemaster:21 points of damage.

Gamemaster:Absolutely.

Gamemaster:Of note, some of that's physical and not cold iron, so he is resistant to some of that damage, but he takes most of it.

Gamemaster:He is then going to follow up.

Gamemaster:He's going to make a claw attack.

Gamemaster:He misses, because I'm bad at rolling.

Gamemaster:Then he's going to attempt to bite you.

Gamemaster:That is also a miss.

Gamemaster:What?

Benny:That's not your fault, Josh.

Argyle:I think the Ki-Rin's better, but go for what you need.

Benny:The first one was because you were bad at rolling.

Benny:The second one's on him.

Gamemaster:Oh, yeah, that's fair.

Gamemaster:Fool me once, shame on you.

Gamemaster:Fool me twice, can't get fooled again.

Gamemaster:Benny, it's your turn.

Benny:Okay.

Benny:Can you remove the off guard from the Ki-Rin?

Benny:I want this to be a fair fight.

Gamemaster:Yes.

Gamemaster:Okay, sure.

Benny:Uh...

Benny:What can I use my hasted action for?

Benny:Stride?

Benny:Is it stride, step, or strike?

Gamemaster:Stride or strike?

Gamemaster:Just stride or strike?

Benny:I can't step with it?

Gamemaster:No stepping.

Gamemaster:Can't step.

Benny:These sons of bitches.

Argyle:I like how you tried to sandwich that in there.

Gamemaster:You're moving too fast.

Argyle:You're like, stride, step, or strike?

Benny:It's the three S's.

Gamemaster:Everyone knows it's step.

Gamemaster:It's the other two that I have questions about.

Gamemaster:We all agree I can step.

Johnny:you you

Benny:All right, let's get...

Argyle:I don't think you need a... They haven't done an attack of opportunity, so I think you could just regular stride five feet.

Benny:Oh, right.

Benny:I can just stride.

Benny:Perfect.

Argyle:Yeah.

Benny:Stride.

Gamemaster:Okay, yeah, he doesn't have a reactive strike.

Benny:Oh, I didn't move five feet.

Benny:Parfait.

Benny:Double slice.

Gamemaster:Okay, make your attacks.

Gamemaster:That is a hit, but he's going to use his reaction to use a deflecting gale to summon wind around him and increases AC by four, which means that it no longer hits.

Anzu:I thought he wasn't off guard.

Argyle:That bitch.

Benny:Uh, what's his AC?

Gamemaster:I... I don't think I have to tell you that.

Benny:Josh, he's off guard.

Benny:He's off guard, but that didn't count.

Gamemaster:Oh!

Gamemaster:He's off guard!

Gamemaster:So he uses the deflecting gale and it actually isn't enough.

Gamemaster:You still hit him.

Gamemaster:That is a good point.

Benny:That's my ass.

Gamemaster:He is now because he's being flanked because Benny moved.

Argyle:Now.

Argyle:Yeah.

Anzu:Oh.

Gamemaster:Yeah, no, so he tries to deflect it and it isn't enough and you still land.

Johnny:Oh, no.

Gamemaster:Deal your damage.

Benny:in them where it counts yay oh what are the traits

Gamemaster:Robot man.

Gamemaster:20 points of damage.

Gamemaster:He takes the full 20 points of damage.

Argyle:I'll re-roll.

Gamemaster:Of note is he's bloodied now.

Johnny:I only thought you said that.

Gamemaster:Argyle and Benny, you guys have to make this a will save, please.

Johnny:you

Gamemaster:Aura, divine, emotion, mental.

Benny:Oh, wow.

Anzu:Incredible.

Gamemaster:A failure.

Benny:The reroll worked.

Gamemaster:Okay, critical success and a failure.

Gamemaster:Argyle, nothing happens.

Gamemaster:Benny, the... Ki-Rin looks at you and locks eyes with you, and despite the carnivorous mouth that's slobbering with gore as it attempts to take bites out of you and Argyle and those around you, and the fact that you're mid-combat with it, you get this almost sense that there's...

Gamemaster:There's something behind the eyes.

Gamemaster:There's an intelligence that you just can't bring yourself to snuff out.

Gamemaster:You've fallen for its peaceful aura and may not make hostile actions against it.

Anzu:boy.

Benny:Does that mean I didn't do damage?

Argyle:Does the second part of his double slice go off?

Gamemaster:No, it doesn't.

Argyle:He can't stop the double slice once it's gone?

Johnny:Good night.

Argyle:Is that a rule?

Gamemaster:he can't.

Argyle:That train's moving.

Gamemaster:He can't.

Gamemaster:Technically, the way this is phased, it's if you fail, the hostile action is disrupted, which, as the way that disruption works, you just lose that action.

Argyle:Oh, but double slice groups the damage together.

Argyle:So this won't have triggered until the second hit.

Benny:It does.

Anzu:Oh, that is a key component.

Anzu:It's phrased like that, that it's all combined into one damage.

Argyle:Thank you, glorious creature.

Gamemaster:You know what?

Gamemaster:I will accept the rules lawyering.

Gamemaster:We will allow the second hit to go off and then you cannot make subsequent hostile actions.

Gamemaster:You'll have to make another save at the top of your turn next round, Benny.

Benny:He's dead anyways.

Johnny:No!

Gamemaster:Oh, okay.

Gamemaster:I'm sorry.

Gamemaster:I didn't realize he was dead.

Gamemaster:That is a hit.

Argyle:He has a bunch of guilt after killing them.

Argyle:As he sticks the ice pick in the brain, he realizes...

Anzu:there's a line that Anakin Skywalker delivers after one of the atrocities that he performs I forget that my friend Joe and I always used to quote where he just goes he looks just defeated and goes I shouldn't have done that

Gamemaster:20 more points of damage.

Gamemaster:You are steadily chipping away at this Ki-Rin.

Gamemaster:It is not dead, to clarify.

Gamemaster:But it's definitely hurting.

Argyle:That's a Benny.

Gamemaster:That's what the Ki-Rin is thinking right now.

Anzu:No, that's what Benny's thinking.

Gamemaster:Oh, that's what Benny's thinking, because, you know, because he's peaceful.

Gamemaster:What are you doing?

Argyle:Yeah.

Gamemaster:Anyway, you have one more action.

Gamemaster:You can use it to stride or strike.

Gamemaster:You may not target the Ki-Rin if it's hostile.

Benny:i used a stride earlier this one's twin parry does your weapon have the parry trade of course it does that's why it does a d4 of damage

Gamemaster:Oh, I apologize.

Gamemaster:You just have a regular third action that you're free to do with as you like.

Gamemaster:Oh, he's parrying.

Gamemaster:you gain a bonus to your AC.

Gamemaster:That's fun.

Gamemaster:Okay, Argyle, it's your turn.

Argyle:Okay, alright.

Johnny:I got you.

Argyle:Johnny, I may need a heal at some point.

Argyle:Because I'm not going to heal myself.

Benny:I've got two.

Argyle:And I cast Divine Wrath!

Gamemaster:Ooh, that looks familiar to me.

Argyle:Yeah, and I'm just going to plop it right there, so it should get everyone.

Gamemaster:Okay.

Argyle:Better foes!

Johnny:That's... That's... I need a heal.

Gamemaster:Yes, that does.

Argyle:Better foes!

Anzu:That's so sick.

Gamemaster:I understand.

Argyle:OK.

Gamemaster:I assume you don't see Benny as a foe.

Gamemaster:Okay.

Argyle:No.

Gamemaster:Put you down.

Argyle:So yeah, you'll need to make that save.

Gamemaster:Yes.

Gamemaster:Ki-Rin, barghest, barghest, barghest, barghest.

Gamemaster:And Othello, I assume?

Anzu:Oh my god.

Argyle:No.

Johnny:No.

Anzu:Oh, Othello should have all of his hit points.

Anzu:Let me change that.

Gamemaster:Okay, most of them succeed, except for Vicious barghest II, who critically failed.

Argyle:And this is whole.

Anzu:Wow.

Argyle:Well, it's not great, but it's holy, at least.

Gamemaster:Vicious barghest II critically fails, so he's just full dead.

Gamemaster:The other ones all succeeded, so they're going to take half of this damage.

Gamemaster:That is enough to kill barghest II outright as well, because it takes additional damage, because it is weak to holy.

Argyle:Yeah, buddy.

Gamemaster:All of the barghests are, but they're still alive.

Gamemaster:And yeah.

Argyle:All right.

Argyle:So then I will.

Johnny:Okay, let me know.

Argyle:Do a little.

Argyle:Little thing.

Benny:you

Gamemaster:Oh, he's doing a little thing.

Argyle:Where I will.

Argyle:Yes.

Argyle:I will treat wounds on myself.

Argyle:With battle medicine.

Argyle:Never mind Johnny.

Argyle:I hopefully don't need this.

Argyle:Alright.

Argyle:Critical success.

Argyle:So I get to hero point as well.

Gamemaster:Nice.

Argyle:Finally.

Johnny:I don't know.

Argyle:I will stride in front of my comrades.

Argyle:You guys got them, right?

Argyle:You're fine.

Benny:Yeah.

Argyle:I'm going to get in front of Jethro instead.

Argyle:And I'm just going to say, cover behind my shield!

Argyle:And then hold up.

Argyle:Not raising my shield because I don't have actions.

Gamemaster:Okay, absolutely.

Argyle:But like, metaphorically, I'm shielding him.

Gamemaster:Performatively, you're wearing your shield.

Argyle:Just not physically shielding him.

Gamemaster:It's just not up.

Argyle:Yeah, yeah.

Gamemaster:Absolutely.

Gamemaster:Okay.

Gamemaster:That brings us to the Ki-Rin, who is angry.

Argyle:And then again, I point at the humble Ki-Rin and go, Grayson is controlling it!

Gamemaster:This Ki-Rin is angry and probably wants to kill Benny.

Johnny:Hello.

Gamemaster:So I think he's going to do that.

Gamemaster:He's going to try.

Gamemaster:I mean, who knows if he actually succeeds.

Benny:I thought we were friends now, but that's fine.

Gamemaster:Let's make a hoof attack.

Gamemaster:No, you're friends with him.

Gamemaster:He's not friends with you.

Gamemaster:That is a hit.

Anzu:That is always tough.

Anzu:That could be a tough pill to swallow.

Argyle:Johnny might have to heal Benny instead.

Gamemaster:You're going to take 20 points of bludgeoning damage.

Argyle:He's Gucci.

Gamemaster:He's going to follow up with another hoof attack.

Johnny:Then he's got it.

Gamemaster:He misses.

Argyle:Missed.

Johnny:He's a tank.

Gamemaster:He misses.

Gamemaster:He misses because you're parrying.

Gamemaster:That's exciting.

Anzu:Oh, beautiful.

Benny:Nine-year-old Benny parries a Ki-Rin's hoof with a fucking butterfly.

Gamemaster:That's always fun.

Argyle:Who we thought was a friend.

Argyle:He's like, hey!

Benny:Hey, wait, I thought, why are you doing this?

Anzu:You're just sparring.

Gamemaster:And then...

Gamemaster:I don't know.

Gamemaster:He actually doesn't have all that much.

Gamemaster:He's just kind of a little bit big.

Gamemaster:So I think he's just going to keep attacking.

Gamemaster:And I hope I roll a good number.

Gamemaster:I rolled a good number, but not good enough.

Gamemaster:Oh, it is good enough because you're fatigued.

Anzu:Dude.

Gamemaster:This was a rearing thrust, so you're going to get knocked prone.

Gamemaster:Just FYI.

Gamemaster:And then also he's going to...

Anzu:That's a mistake on your part, Josh.

Gamemaster:I don't know what to tell you.

Gamemaster:You're going to take 27 points of piercing damage.

Benny:All right.

Gamemaster:But that was its third action, so it's done acting.

Gamemaster:It has acted its act.

Gamemaster:This barghest is dead, so we skip by it.

Gamemaster:It's Vicious barghest 1's turn.

Gamemaster:They're going to go for Johnny, because Johnny is the most readily available target here.

Johnny:ah ah

Gamemaster:It was one action to run up.

Gamemaster:It's a second action to make a claw attack.

Gamemaster:I missed, so it's a third action to make a second claw attack.

Gamemaster:It just occurred to me that that was targeting Benny as well.

Gamemaster:I got a 17 and a 19, both of which miss.

Benny:Menacing.

Gamemaster:I rolled really low on both of those.

Gamemaster:That was all three of its actions, so it's just going to slobber there menacingly next to you as we move over to Anzu.

Anzu:Just standing there menacingly.

Anzu:Okay.

Anzu:We are going to unleash Psyche.

Johnny:I wouldn't.

Anzu:Then we're going to cast Frostbite Amped on the Ki-Rin.

Gamemaster:His psyche, it's unleashed.

Gamemaster:Okay.

Gamemaster:He has to make a fort save.

Anzu:That's incredible.

Gamemaster:He rolled so bad.

Gamemaster:He fails.

Gamemaster:When the number is poor, it's the enemy who rolled bad, but when the number is good, it's I rolled well.

Johnny:Hmm.

Gamemaster:That's what it is.

Argyle:Who's she?

Anzu:Takes 30 cold damage.

Gamemaster:He is hanging on by the smallest possible amount he could be hanging on by.

Argyle:That's bullshit, Josh.

Gamemaster:It does take the full 30.

Anzu:Does it take the full 30?

Anzu:Okay, then I get 15 temporary hit points as I extract his thermal energy and use it to bolster myself.

Gamemaster:Nice.

Benny:What?

Anzu:Then we will send a Psiburst at him.

Johnny:I feel like dogs are nimble.

Anzu:Oh, guys, do we think it should make a reflex save or a will save?

Argyle:Oh.

Anzu:Yeah, you're probably right.

Anzu:All right, so we will do a mind-shifted sideburst on it.

Gamemaster:Okay, so he has to make this will save.

Argyle:Yes.

Anzu:Wow, that's crazy.

Gamemaster:He just barely fails.

Argyle:Yes.

Benny:This is true.

Gamemaster:For what it's worth, if he was making a reflex save, that wouldn't have failed.

Johnny:Mindburner is the highest kill count of anyone.

Argyle:Yes, good choice, good choice.

Anzu:That's crazy.

Gamemaster:Ten points of mental damage beats the one HP he had left.

Anzu:All right, big.

Gamemaster:So you break his mind and he collapses to the ground dead.

Argyle:Yeah.

Argyle:Our assassin Mindbird.

Gamemaster:Of course.

Anzu:With my final action, I will send out my second Fighting Words attack.

Anzu:I'm clicking as if I'm recasting it, but it's just to get the attack roll back up.

Anzu:I think I'll go for the one attacking Johnny.

Anzu:I've hit.

Gamemaster:Uh, you have?

Gamemaster:Oh.

Gamemaster:Wait.

Gamemaster:Um, I mean, that still hits anyway, but just for the record... Oh, no, never mind.

Johnny:you

Gamemaster:I apologize.

Gamemaster:I take it back.

Gamemaster:Ignore me.

Gamemaster:I don't know what I'm talking about.

Gamemaster:Uh, eight points of sonic damage.

Anzu:Indeed.

Anzu:I did two save things, so I don't think there's any map, if that's what you were.

Gamemaster:Uh.

Gamemaster:Yes.

Gamemaster:Yeah, no, there wasn't.

Anzu:Yeah.

Gamemaster:I just double-checked.

Gamemaster:For some reason, I thought Psiburst had the attack trait.

Gamemaster:It doesn't.

Gamemaster:So you're fine.

Gamemaster:Eight points of damage.

Gamemaster:The barghest is still standing.

Gamemaster:But he is... He's... He's injured.

Anzu:That's it.

Gamemaster:Anything else?

Anzu:Those are my three actions.

Gamemaster:Okay, Johnny.

Johnny:Uh... Oh, no.

Gamemaster:Your courageous anthem has ended, so all of the buffs disappeared.

Johnny:Uh... I will... I'll try this again.

Johnny:I'm gonna do another lingering composition.

Johnny:Hopefully it works this time.

Gamemaster:A 29 is a success.

Johnny:Good enough.

Johnny:I think that's a success.

Johnny:We'll make it a dirge of doom!

Gamemaster:Absolutely.

Johnny:And I will yell, evacuate the dance floor!

Johnny:And they all get infected by the sound.

Johnny:I don't know if this is important, but again, anyone not in the skein is now a friend.

Gamemaster:Okay.

Anzu:Amazing.

Gamemaster:Okay.

Gamemaster:Good to know.

Johnny:How far away is... Could have been in the skein!

Gamemaster:Sucks for Braxton Hall.

Gamemaster:You didn't talk to him.

Gamemaster:He didn't even have an option.

Johnny:Now he's scared of me.

Johnny:I'll turn around and I'll look at Braxton and go, get in the skein!

Johnny:And then he won't be affected.

Gamemaster:He doesn't know what you're talking about, but okay.

Johnny:Get in the skein!

Johnny:And then I'll drop a... I'll drop a... How far into this fight are we?

Gamemaster:Anything else?

Johnny:I'm worried about Grayson.

Johnny:I'm going to drop a 4th level soothe on Bennix.

Gamemaster:Okay, 38 points of heal damage.

Benny:Yes.

Johnny:We'll Soothe, and then... This is Flourish Casted.

Johnny:38 points of heal damage.

Benny:Perfect.

Johnny:And then I will... Yeah, I'll just Bonmo this barghest directly in front of me, sure.

Gamemaster:Alright.

Gamemaster:Make against its will, DC.

Gamemaster:That is a success.

Johnny:27.

Johnny:A success!

Johnny:He's bone mode, and he takes a little bit of damage.

Argyle:Thank you.

Johnny:I think it's equal to my level.

Johnny:I never remember.

Johnny:I have to pulse it every time.

Johnny:Cutting with you.

Johnny:He takes 7 points of mental damage.

Gamemaster:Okay.

Gamemaster:He's bloodied.

Gamemaster:He's still alive, but he's bloodied.

Johnny:That is my turn.

Gamemaster:Is that the end of your turn?

Johnny:Yep.

Gamemaster:I guess it's turn.

Gamemaster:barghest to attack Benny.

Gamemaster:Step.

Benny:Kill.

Gamemaster:He stepped.

Gamemaster:You don't get to fight him.

Benny:Oh.

Benny:Whoops.

Johnny:Always a crit.

Gamemaster:Yeah, I'm sorry.

Gamemaster:We're ignoring that.

Gamemaster:Claw attack!

Gamemaster:Less damage.

Gamemaster:Oh, wait.

Gamemaster:Oh, you are off guard, because you're on the ground!

Gamemaster:Um...

Gamemaster:So it hits.

Gamemaster:We do damage.

Gamemaster:That's what you get for not being in the optimal standing up position.

Gamemaster:You take 10 points of damage.

Benny:i just crit from being prone it is optimal he's hard to he's hard to hit because he's on the ground

Gamemaster:Yeah, but it didn't count.

Gamemaster:We make another claw attack.

Gamemaster:Oh, that's a critical miss.

Gamemaster:I rolled bad.

Gamemaster:That's the end of his turn.

Gamemaster:Whoops.

Gamemaster:We go up to... That's not how that works.

Gamemaster:We go up to the top of the initiative order, which means step your one further voidward, and we're going to do the little quadrant thing again.

Gamemaster:Argyle is standing in front of Jethro, so he is going to take attacks from this silly little bar guest.

Gamemaster:He runs up at you.

Johnny:Not from the city bar, guys.

Gamemaster:He makes a claw attack.

Gamemaster:Then he's going to make another claw attack.

Gamemaster:That's two claw attacks.

Gamemaster:His first claw attack was a crit.

Benny:I think his second one was that I always miss.

Anzu:That's tough.

Gamemaster:His second one was much, much worse.

Argyle:Can we just effort those out to just a hit?

Gamemaster:No, that's not how that works.

Gamemaster:So we're going to roll a critical damage for this barghest.

Gamemaster:And then also, it's probably not really relevant.

Gamemaster:You're going to take 26 points of slashing damage, and you have to attempt this Fortitude save against this Unhealing Wound Curse.

Argyle:What are the traits on that?

Gamemaster:Curse Primal.

Argyle:Okay.

Gamemaster:You fail.

Gamemaster:You've been cursed.

Gamemaster:Like many, you can only heal via magic.

Gamemaster:No resting, no healing potions.

Argyle:I already got my medicine check out.

Argyle:I already taped up, so it's all good.

Gamemaster:Yeah, I'm letting you know that it's a thing that's happening.

Argyle:Good thing I can now break curses, maybe.

Johnny:It's around brains, Jethro.

Gamemaster:Despite the fact that you aren't actually holding up a shield, you do successfully shield Jethro Twill, who is hanging on by a thread and would have died this round had you not stood in front of him.

Gamemaster:I would love it.

Gamemaster:If somebody could roll a d12 for me here to see if Tamara's gonna go for Jethro, Argyle, or the Ki-Rin.

Benny:I got it.

Gamemaster:You're fine, they're going for the Ki-Rin.

Gamemaster:It could happen.

Gamemaster:Yao is going to take out his Holy Mace and attack this Ki-Rin.

Gamemaster:Somebody make a d20 roll plus 28 for his Holy Mace.

Gamemaster:And then at the same time, Tamara's going to make a mental blast attack on the Ki-Rin, so I need a d20 plus 25 for her.

Anzu:I've got the 28.

Anzu:Oh, my God.

Gamemaster:Okay.

Argyle:I already rolled, so someone else do it.

Argyle:I roll my second roll.

Johnny:is it 25 43 for the mind glass

Gamemaster:43 is a crit, so we'll roll crit damage for his Holy Mace attack.

Anzu:Let's go.

Gamemaster:Yao... 43 is also a crit, so first we deal 48 points of damage from the Holy Mace attack.

Benny:my mind

Gamemaster:The Ki-Rin is bloodied.

Gamemaster:Tamara and Yao are both immune to mental effects at the moment, so they don't have to roll for the Peace Aura.

Gamemaster:Tamara, you also rolled a crit for her, so we're just going to roll the critical damage for the mental blast.

Gamemaster:It's substantially less.

Gamemaster:She doesn't make very strong mind attacks, so it's only 32 points of mind damage here.

Johnny:Only 32.

Argyle:Oh so small, so small.

Gamemaster:Only 32.

Johnny:She's too busy standing there berserking.

Gamemaster:She deals substantially more damage with her weapon.

Gamemaster:It's just she would have to walk over to make the attack.

Gamemaster:Yes, she is.

Gamemaster:No, she's... Okay.

Gamemaster:Here we're going to do another one.

Gamemaster:We're going to make a will save for her.

Gamemaster:She has a high will DC, although it's lowered because she's berserking.

Gamemaster:We're going to see if she can understand what Argyle is yelling about.

Benny:I was typing.

Gamemaster:So I need somebody to make a will save here.

Gamemaster:She currently has a plus 25, but we're going to do something funky and give her disadvantage on this roll.

Johnny:oh no Jorge okay

Gamemaster:So...

Gamemaster:I actually don't know how to do that, so just roll it twice and then we'll take the lower one.

Gamemaster:Does that work?

Gamemaster:It doesn't work.

Gamemaster:Ignore me.

Argyle:All right, summon roll.

Benny:uh oh and i'm rolling four

Johnny:Oh.

Anzu:Yikes.

Gamemaster:So sorry.

Gamemaster:You rolled a 20 and a 4, so that is a 29 total, which I believe is a failure.

Gamemaster:Close the tab because I'm stupid.

Gamemaster:That is a failure for her level.

Gamemaster:She doesn't know what you're talking about.

Gamemaster:She's not going to start running after the other ones.

Gamemaster:She's going to stay over on this part of the map.

Gamemaster:That is enough time.

Gamemaster:These guys will start running further out.

Gamemaster:Getting further away.

Argyle:I will also be yelling at Jethro to... He should run.

Gamemaster:Absolutely.

Gamemaster:He's injured.

Gamemaster:He's addled.

Gamemaster:He's not a combatant.

Gamemaster:Somebody roll a d20 plus 3 for me.

Johnny:I got it.

Gamemaster:We're going to see if he has the good sense to not run next to a bar guest for the Ki-Rin.

Argyle:Yeah, I would have said to run right.

Gamemaster:Yeah.

Argyle:I don't know if you'll listen.

Gamemaster:A 12.

Gamemaster:He will try doing that.

Johnny:No.

Argyle:Yeah.

Gamemaster:That's the end of his turn.

Gamemaster:The Ki-Rin's going to go.

Gamemaster:It is, for whatever reason, focused on Yao.

Gamemaster:So it's going to make its attacks on Yao.

Gamemaster:Do a cliff attack.

Gamemaster:I think I missed that.

Gamemaster:I did.

Gamemaster:This isn't going to go well.

Gamemaster:And then the horn attacks are agile, so we'll do horn attacks.

Gamemaster:Critical miss and regular miss.

Gamemaster:Okay.

Gamemaster:Let's see if he gets his breath weapon back, because that actually does... Nope.

Gamemaster:Oh, I didn't roll for... Oh, he's dead.

Gamemaster:It doesn't matter.

Gamemaster:Okay, that's the end of his turn.

Gamemaster:Next.

Gamemaster:These guys are going to start running off.

Gamemaster:Runs off as well.

Gamemaster:Over there.

Gamemaster:This is probably going to hang back a little bit.

Johnny:Oh.

Gamemaster:They start going over there.

Gamemaster:He's going to hang out.

Argyle:Oh, does Grayson still need to see?

Argyle:Is that why he's hanging out?

Argyle:Little sicko.

Gamemaster:But what is the range on this?

Gamemaster:500 feet?

Gamemaster:Yeah, he'll cast Chain Lightning as well.

Benny:he is not outside of benny's sprinting distance i just need him to understand the ben gas

Gamemaster:He's attacking these barghests.

Gamemaster:He doesn't want the barghests getting him.

Johnny:Well, that's a lot of damage.

Gamemaster:That is a critical failure, so this guy's going to take double damage.

Argyle:Well, at least if we jump him now, he's probably losing two of his highest level spell slots.

Gamemaster:dead.

Gamemaster:Yeah.

Anzu:Yeah, but he's still at maximum hit points.

Gamemaster:We'll save for that guy.

Gamemaster:That's pretty good.

Argyle:And he still has fifth and fourth level.

Gamemaster:That barghest is also dead.

Gamemaster:That's the end of that area because it has been cleaned out.

Gamemaster:There's nothing in that quadrant anymore.

Gamemaster:Awesome.

Gamemaster:We go over to the top right quadrant.

Gamemaster:I'm going to need some rolls here.

Gamemaster:Ralph and Lance and Ichel are still fighting.

Gamemaster:I need a d20 plus 28, a d20 plus 26, and a d20 plus 26.

Argyle:I'll do the 28.

Benny:I got the first 26 I've killed someone

Argyle:44 for Bish if he's the 28.

Johnny:Can anyone roll the second?

Anzu:What did I...

Johnny:Since I rolled the guy running past the bar guest.

Gamemaster:Oh.

Gamemaster:Okay, a 44, a natural 127, and a 43.

Gamemaster:Okay.

Gamemaster:Unfortunately, a natural 127 is a miss, so Ichel has a jam in another firearm that they take out and go to fire, and it just doesn't do anything.

Gamemaster:We are going to... We had two...

Gamemaster:crits from the 44 and the 43, though, on the Ki-Rin, because both of them are targeting the Ki-Rin.

Gamemaster:So we're going to do from Ralph, he's going to step and he's going to make a spear attack.

Gamemaster:I don't know why I wrote that.

Gamemaster:We already knew he got a crit.

Gamemaster:Ignore the fact that he got a crit again.

Argyle:Double crit.

Gamemaster:Crit damage.

Argyle:Quadruple damage.

Gamemaster:That's not how that works.

Benny:Psst!

Johnny:Could be.

Gamemaster:48 points of lightning damage.

Gamemaster:He is bloodied.

Gamemaster:These guys are not berserking.

Gamemaster:They do have to attempt the save against the Peaceful Aura.

Gamemaster:So, one second.

Gamemaster:I'm just going to make the save for them.

Gamemaster:Okay, so they're fine.

Argyle:Thank you.

Gamemaster:And then Lance makes his attack.

Gamemaster:He also crit the run variant here.

Gamemaster:So that's going to be another 46 points of damage, which isn't enough to kill the Ki-Rin, unfortunately.

Gamemaster:But it is still... It's almost dead.

Gamemaster:That one goes for Ichel.

Gamemaster:This one goes for Lance.

Gamemaster:This Ki-Rin's going to attack Ralph.

Gamemaster:I'm just playing with my toys.

Gamemaster:I attack, that attack.

Gamemaster:I did bad.

Gamemaster:One of them hits.

Gamemaster:Do damage there.

Gamemaster:Mr. Bishop will take 21 points of bludgeoning damage.

Gamemaster:He will survive.

Gamemaster:The barghest makes their attack.

Gamemaster:These, I have a feeling neither of these are going to hit.

Gamemaster:They are so low, they all miss.

Gamemaster:And then attacks from this barghest.

Gamemaster:They are all misses.

Johnny:you

Gamemaster:Paavo's going to start running off.

Gamemaster:This attendee is going to go over and run away.

Gamemaster:They are all leaving.

Gamemaster:Mr. Kadou, go over there.

Gamemaster:And that leaves them like that.

Gamemaster:And that brings us back up to the top of the initiative order with Benny.

Gamemaster:Oh, well, we'll have these guys run off too.

Benny:Yes.

Anzu:Ill.

Benny:Hill.

Benny:Benny will stand.

Benny:Minus prone.

Benny:This gives Benny three actions left.

Benny:One of them has to be to strike or to stride.

Benny:um yeah i guess this bar gas is gonna die the other one is bloody oh this one's mortal oh okay yeah i'll kill the bar guest uh

Argyle:So there's a medic dedication feat called Doctor's Visitation where you can move and stride at the same time.

Gamemaster:I think there is a fighter thing that lets you do that, yeah.

Argyle:Is there, like, a Benny dedication where it's just, like, hormesis visitations or it's just, like, running and slashing?

Benny:yes these guys are yeah i'll do double slice because these guys are resistant

Anzu:There are.

Argyle:Chucky?

Anzu:I feel like there's more than one with different spins.

Argyle:Yeah, just Chucky.

Argyle:Little Benny running.

Gamemaster:Yeah.

Gamemaster:Because Henrik definitely did that multiple times last campaign, where he ran forward and impaled somebody.

Johnny:Yeah, I think there's...

Argyle:Oh, well, there's, like...

Argyle:Yeah, yeah.

Argyle:Something charge, I think, is actually.

Anzu:There's a charge, and then there's something else as well.

Argyle:Yeah.

Anzu:The charge I had, for sure.

Gamemaster:Barbarians have a version of it.

Gamemaster:Bash and charge.

Gamemaster:Stride twice and then attack.

Gamemaster:If you have the zombie archetype.

Gamemaster:Of course.

Gamemaster:That hits.

Benny:of course i also meant for that to be the falcata but whatever just need a different ordering in my inventory make that happen oh well

Anzu:Mike, roll the second attack so that we combine the resistances and weaknesses only once.

Gamemaster:That's a crit on your Falcata.

Gamemaster:So... Okay, I'm going to tell you that it has 13 hit points.

Argyle:He does have resistance.

Gamemaster:Roll your damage.

Gamemaster:Let's see if this kills it.

Benny:okay oh okay i'll roll the second attack then too um and then i can stride yeah this one's immortal

Gamemaster:Oh, I mean, he is resistant.

Gamemaster:So... Take five off of that.

Argyle:He has resistance 45.

Anzu:I think the mortal one is not going to be a problem.

Gamemaster:You absolutely murdered this bar guest.

Gamemaster:Mm-hmm.

Argyle:And then strike.

Benny:Isn't Yao Ming?

Gamemaster:Yes, that's Yao Ming.

Benny:But... Oh, wait.

Argyle:You should still block Jethro, though.

Benny:Gunbot is in danger.

Benny:Should block Jethro?

Johnny:Oh no, gun bot.

Benny:Where's Jethro?

Anzu:No, I think Jethro will be okay as well.

Argyle:Ripley.

Benny:Yeah.

Johnny:He's rotten.

Argyle:All right, you think you can kill the vicious?

Benny:Stride.

Argyle:But the vicious thing goes before.

Argyle:All right, well, if it goes for Johnny, then we're fine.

Johnny:Well, Johnny might not like that.

Argyle:Yeah, it'll be fine.

Argyle:Yeah.

Gamemaster:That is?

Benny:That is Bennix's turn.

Gamemaster:Don't you have another action?

Argyle:Give a strike.

Benny:Stand up.

Gamemaster:Or did you already spend it?

Argyle:Oh, stand.

Gamemaster:Oh, stand up.

Benny:I did double slice.

Gamemaster:You're right.

Gamemaster:I forgot.

Gamemaster:I just assumed you stayed prone because it's optimal.

Johnny:Oh.

Benny:No, I will stay prone once I have Nimble Crawl with Legendary Acrobatics, and I can move my full speed without having to stand up.

Gamemaster:Hmm.

Anzu:Terrifying.

Gamemaster:is Argyle's turn.

Gamemaster:Argyle's facing off against a silly little guy.

Gamemaster:Okay.

Argyle:Yeah, seeing my newfound friend, hopefully, run off.

Argyle:Argyle's going to go into his doctor's bag, ignore his medications, and instead produce this glass vial with a golden cap.

Gamemaster:Hmm.

Argyle:Holy water.

Argyle:He's going to hum a little prayer and then turn.

Argyle:And then I guess the best way to describe this is 360 no scope.

Gamemaster:Okay.

Argyle:And I have 500 feet, so I'm going to put it over here.

Argyle:And I would have rolled damage.

Gamemaster:Absolutely.

Johnny:Thank you.

Gamemaster:Crazy.

Gamemaster:Yeah.

Argyle:This should have an additional 6d6 spirit if they're unholy.

Gamemaster:If they have the unholy trait.

Argyle:OK.

Argyle:Not great, do I roll unholy?

Gamemaster:Yeah, I would if I were you.

Argyle:Yes.

Gamemaster:Okay.

Gamemaster:So the bludgeoning unfortunately doesn't do much damage.

Argyle:Yeah.

Gamemaster:Oh wait, no, I lied.

Gamemaster:It's magical bludgeoning.

Argyle:Yeah.

Gamemaster:So that hits.

Gamemaster:Because it's holy.

Argyle:Yes.

Gamemaster:because they're weak to holy and then resistant to physical, and it just evens out, so they do the full damage.

Gamemaster:And then we do the spirit damage, which they take considerably more of, which kills this barghest outright, and kills that Ki-Rin outright.

Argyle:And just in a ridiculous amount of water gushes out of this little capsule and then you see it like kind of steam a little bit as it touches the fiends.

Gamemaster:Absolutely.

Argyle:And then they just dissolve into it.

Johnny:you

Argyle:And then Argyle is now going to move away from these fucking freaks.

Gamemaster:It's this guy's turn.

Argyle:And I'm going to move to Ray.

Benny:you

Argyle:I got one action.

Argyle:Yeah, I'll move.

Argyle:I'll move here.

Argyle:And then I'll raise my shield.

Argyle:No, no, I'm not going to raise my shield.

Argyle:I should just get in front of my eyes.

Argyle:Yeah, I'll be here.

Argyle:No shield raised.

Argyle:Two actions to move there.

Gamemaster:You're the new fun thing.

Gamemaster:I think he's going to attack you.

Gamemaster:Just with three attempts.

Gamemaster:The first one hits, and then the other two miss.

Johnny:This guy should have evacuated the dance floor.

Gamemaster:One of them because you have benediction.

Argyle:Ish.

Gamemaster:Specifically because you have benediction and he's frightened by the dirge.

Argyle:Yeah, you should have.

Gamemaster:But we'll do some damage here.

Gamemaster:15 points of slashing damage to Argyle.

Benny:he's affected he's affected by this if Benny has one

Argyle:I might need a heal if you got one, Benny.

Argyle:Sorry, Johnny.

Gamemaster:It is Anzu's turn.

Argyle:As I run in front and then get slashed again, I'll be like, Jethro, you gotta get out of here, man.

Johnny:Our guy's bleeding from the face.

Argyle:You're causing me a lot of pain, man.

Johnny:They're covered in blood.

Johnny:Guy, you got to go.

Argyle:Right.

Anzu:Okay.

Argyle:Ah, damn it.

Argyle:If I would have timed it better, I would have ran there and then turned to Jeff and said, now watch this drive.

Gamemaster:Anzu, sorry, before you go, Anzu, Anzu and Johnny, can you guys do me a favor and roll perception checks?

Johnny:Yeah, I can.

Johnny:And you know what?

Anzu:Of course.

Argyle:Oh, no.

Johnny:I'm going to... Let's see.

Argyle:Jethro's fucking bad.

Argyle:I'm going to be so upset.

Johnny:Oh, that was a really... I can't see shit.

Anzu:Oh, I got a 32.

Anzu:Are you kidding me?

Gamemaster:32 is pretty good.

Gamemaster:19, not so much.

Gamemaster:One second.

Anzu:What do my bird eyes see?

Johnny:Okay, I'm saving... I'm saving my good rolls, my mythic points for my 1v1 Grayson after this.

Argyle:Kill Jethro.

Anzu:Dude.

Argyle:Kill him if he's bad.

Argyle:Kill Jethro if he's bad.

Argyle:I'm serious.

Gamemaster:Okay.

Gamemaster:Anzu, you can take your turn.

Johnny:No, what?

Johnny:No.

Anzu:No way.

Johnny:Jethro.

Anzu:Josh, I'm going to throw a Psiburst at the Vicious Spargus that's right here.

Gamemaster:Absolutely.

Anzu:It's a will.

Gamemaster:Reflex or Will?

Benny:you

Gamemaster:Will.

Gamemaster:Ruled very well.

Gamemaster:He succeeds.

Anzu:Well, he'll take half damage.

Gamemaster:He takes half damage.

Gamemaster:Half of that.

Anzu:Maybe five?

Anzu:How does that sound?

Gamemaster:That is five.

Gamemaster:He's barely alive, but he is alive.

Gamemaster:Is he mortal?

Gamemaster:No, he's not quite mortal.

Anzu:All right, well, then we're going to have to send the last biting words at him.

Anzu:We have no idea what's happening.

Gamemaster:Absolutely.

Gamemaster:Roll attack.

Argyle:Bill Jethro.

Argyle:I don't like him anymore.

Argyle:He's gotta go.

Johnny:Thank you.

Gamemaster:Wow.

Anzu:It might not have even been for him.

Argyle:He's gotta go.

Argyle:Doesn't matter.

Gamemaster:That is a hit.

Argyle:He's gotta go.

Gamemaster:Roll damage.

Gamemaster:I had Johnny and Anzu roll perception checks and you're immediately like, we need to kill Jethro now.

Benny:Thank you.

Gamemaster:Ten points is two more than the eight it has.

Anzu:Oh, that's sick.

Gamemaster:It dies.

Gamemaster:And Mindbird claims another.

Anzu:I feel like the mortal Ki-Rin is not going to be a problem.

Argyle:Yeah, I wouldn't think that.

Argyle:But we got Jethro, man.

Johnny:You don't want to snipe their kill too?

Anzu:No, but I might snipe bennies.

Johnny:No.

Gamemaster:Just take that away from him.

Benny:The DB.

Anzu:We're going to send an Amped Frostbite at the Defiant barghest.

Gamemaster:Absolutely.

Gamemaster:DB.

Johnny:No.

Gamemaster:The database makes a fortitude save.

Gamemaster:And he fails.

Anzu:Epic.

Benny:No.

Gamemaster:It's too many D4s.

Gamemaster:That's just barely enough.

Johnny:you

Gamemaster:That kills him outright as well.

Gamemaster:You deuce that Benny's kill.

Argyle:Thank you.

Gamemaster:He had 27 hit points!

Benny:That barghest knew where a briefcase full of money was hidden in the forest.

Anzu:Temporary hit points don't stack in this game either, do they?

Gamemaster:He's gone?

Gamemaster:Uh, correct.

Gamemaster:They would overwrite whatever you have if they're larger.

Anzu:Okay.

Anzu:Those are my three actions.

Gamemaster:All right, Johnny.

Johnny:I gotta prepare us.

Benny:Did anyone get that reference?

Johnny:I gotta prepare us to 1v1 Grayson later, so... I will... I'll drop a third-ranked Soothe for my best bud, Argyle.

Benny:Fff.

Gamemaster:Listen.

Gamemaster:Okay.

Gamemaster:All right.

Argyle:Thank you.

Gamemaster:I was going to mention that Jethro is not at max health.

Gamemaster:I was just putting that out there so that you know.

Johnny:Then I turn around and stab Jethro.

Gamemaster:What?

Gamemaster:How do you know I wasn't saying that so you could heal him?

Johnny:Maybe that's how I heal people.

Gamemaster:Murderous.

Anzu:Risky surgery.

Gamemaster:36 hit points to Argyle.

Gamemaster:A risky surgery would kill Jethro.

Gamemaster:Like, even if you succeeded on the check.

Johnny:Where's the rangers?

Gamemaster:Because it deals damage first and then heals, right?

Anzu:Uh, probably?

Johnny:Then I have, I don't know.

Gamemaster:Yes, you deal 1d8 slashing before applying tree wounds, so that would kill Jethro if you risky surgery'd him.

Johnny:We got a bar guest over there.

Anzu:He's in really bad shape.

Johnny:I'll just cast Force Barrage, I guess.

Johnny:If I can... I'm using this silly barghest.

Gamemaster:Okay.

Gamemaster:Sure.

Gamemaster:Magic missile, which one are you missiling?

Benny:Thank you.

Gamemaster:Okay.

Johnny:I'll do a two-action one.

Johnny:I don't know why it's not letting me use it.

Gamemaster:If it's two actions, just roll 2d4 plus two.

Johnny:Six points.

Gamemaster:Six points of damage.

Gamemaster:The silly bar guest is alive, but he is bloodied.

Gamemaster:That's the end of your turn, yeah?

Johnny:Argo, are you still bloodied?

Johnny:You didn't take the healing?

Argyle:Oh, sorry.

Argyle:Yes, I'm healed.

Argyle:Thank you.

Gamemaster:We're at the top of the initiative.

Gamemaster:Silly barghest is going to go over here.

Gamemaster:I think I don't need you guys to roll this.

Gamemaster:I think it's impossible for her to miss.

Gamemaster:So we're just going to roll the damage here.

Gamemaster:Yeah, that's enough.

Gamemaster:He's gone.

Gamemaster:And then she'll go over here to give Yao flanking.

Gamemaster:Yao is going to once again attack the Ki-Rin with his Holy Mace.

Gamemaster:Somebody just for fun roll a d20 plus 28.

Benny:okay well you know or higher

Gamemaster:We're looking for a 27 or higher.

Gamemaster:Or higher.

Johnny:Thank you.

Gamemaster:This guy has 10 hit points left.

Gamemaster:Yao deals 31.

Gamemaster:Iren dies.

Gamemaster:And that, because you guys did some sniping and all that kind of stuff, is the end of the enemies that have popped out of this pool of energy that has opened up in the middle of the dance floor.

Gamemaster:Notably, enemies haven't continued to stream out, but the hole is still there in the middle of the dance floor.

Argyle:I guess we got to go in, guys.

Johnny:Hmm.

Gamemaster:It doesn't just magically fade away.

Gamemaster:but as you do as you all get your bearing uh some people continue to run despite the fact that the apparent danger seems to have passed there are a lot of people who are not combat trained and are not planning on sticking around um why like even though so quite a few people clear out of the uh the um the dance hall at this time a lot of people won't um

Argyle:Maybe we rest first and then we go in.

Gamemaster:One thing you will note is that the two berserking Protectorate people don't just stop berserking now that there are no enemies around.

Argyle:Hmm.

Gamemaster:You guys rolled pretty well on their rulesafes before, so they're not going to immediately start attacking you, but they will...

Johnny:you

Benny:you you

Gamemaster:leave so that they don't start attacking those around them.

Gamemaster:They'll find some other way to get rid of any latent rage that they're carrying around, but they are going to very rapidly leave the area now that there's nothing here that's acceptable for them to kill.

Anzu:Two of them just wrestle.

Gamemaster:Kind of.

Gamemaster:And they run off.

Argyle:They're going to go home and just beat their wives.

Argyle:Their wives are also Protectorates, guys.

Johnny:Oh no.

Anzu:Oh my god.

Anzu:I thought they were a couple.

Gamemaster:That's why they brought them.

Benny:At Chaz.

Benny:Jorge made me say at Chaz.

Gamemaster:Yes, in Minecraft.

Gamemaster:And so they run off.

Anzu:Checkmate.

Gamemaster:Most people have cleared out.

Gamemaster:Of the groups that stick around, I think, the Scale will stick around because they're kind of interested in the stuff that's come out.

Gamemaster:Grayson and Manus from the Pale Lantern Society will also stick around and start poking around and all that kind of stuff.

Gamemaster:Ichel will probably hang out because there's no reason to leave and it's fine sticking around.

Gamemaster:But the remaining ones, I think, are going to clear out.

Argyle:Wait, before he leaves, I'm going to stab Chip.

Gamemaster:Uh-huh.

Gamemaster:Are we talking about Jethro?

Argyle:Yeah.

Gamemaster:You can catch Jethro if you like before he hands out.

Argyle:Game of doctor's visitation.

Johnny:Hmm.

Gamemaster:Absolutely.

Argyle:Not doctor's, a little battle medicine.

Gamemaster:Uh, you apply some healing that isn't enough to get him past half health, but it is enough to stop him from being on the brink of death.

Argyle:Which group is he with again?

Gamemaster:Um, he, uh, Jethro is either with Ternion Heavy Industries or with Verdant.

Argyle:I ask him.

Gamemaster:Oh, uh, he's definitely out of it, but he'll say, I'm from a Ternion and, uh, airframe engineer.

Gamemaster:Uh,

Gamemaster:Not really set out for fighting, if I'm being honest.

Gamemaster:I ought to thank you for saving my life.

Argyle:Yeah, let's chat more later.

Gamemaster:Listen, yeah, you're more than welcome.

Argyle:You should go home.

Gamemaster:Come over to our, we've got a little airstrip we've set up.

Gamemaster:You're more than welcome to come in and say hi.

Gamemaster:Frankly, right now, I need to probably lay down and sleep for a few days, if I'm being honest.

Argyle:I give him some ibuprofen.

Gamemaster:Absolutely.

Argyle:Take this, drink a glass of water, go to bed.

Argyle:If you're still feeling sick, send your Harlequin for mine.

Gamemaster:I'd probably take you up on that.

Gamemaster:And he starts shuffling off.

Gamemaster:He leaves the area.

Gamemaster:All right, so you guys are on this dance floor.

Gamemaster:You're surrounded with the corpses of these Ki-Rin and Barghests.

Gamemaster:And there are a few other people poking around, peering down into this new hole that's opened up in the middle of the dance floor.

Argyle:I will I will go and administer I'll administer aid to anyone who's injured

Gamemaster:All that kind of fun stuff.

Anzu:Let me make a freaking check about it.

Gamemaster:About what?

Anzu:The hole.

Anzu:I have hole curiosity.

Gamemaster:Oh, absolutely.

Gamemaster:That's arcana or occultism, to make a check about the whole.

Johnny:I aid him.

Benny:We brought our hull checker.

Benny:Take a look at this.

Benny:Benny will sprint over.

Argyle:Including not us.

Argyle:I'd even aid other groups.

Benny:Actually, is Benny allowed to heal?

Argyle:Oh no.

Gamemaster:Benny can heal if he has some magic way of doing it.

Argyle:Not magically.

Benny:Who wants to die?

Anzu:I will cast some healing for Benny.

Gamemaster:Okay.

Gamemaster:Both Argyle and Benny can no longer heal except by a magical means until they're fully healed up to 100%.

Gamemaster:Just as like a little bookkeeping thing.

Anzu:Oh, fascinating.

Argyle:So.

Benny:Who really wants to die?

Anzu:I cast a second level soothe for Benny.

Johnny:Anzu, if that was a 34 early crits, you get a plus 3.

Johnny:So that's a 37.

Anzu:Holy crap.

Anzu:Yeah, 37 on my occultism.

Gamemaster:37 on occultism.

Gamemaster:Okay.

Gamemaster:Help me target this better.

Gamemaster:What specifically are you looking at for?

Anzu:I want to know if it is seeming like it is going to fade over time.

Gamemaster:Hmm.

Anzu:and also I don't want to travel through it, but can I get the sense of if it's traversable?

Gamemaster:Absolutely.

Anzu:Those are like the two main things that I want to know.

Gamemaster:Sure, sure.

Argyle:I.

Gamemaster:Okay, so to the first question, the border around the edge of what used to be a pool of liquid that came out of a person is...

Gamemaster:It moves slightly, just kind of ripples across the surface, but it does appear to be very slowly retracting.

Johnny:Thanks.

Gamemaster:It does seem that if you leave it over time, a lot of the energy has already been spent, and so it's not at a point where it can sustain itself.

Gamemaster:You rolled high enough that you would know that you could...

Gamemaster:If you wanted to, keep it open by sustaining it in much the same way that you would sustain your heart by feeding it energy.

Gamemaster:It works by a very similar mechanism.

Gamemaster:but if you leave it alone, it's not self-sustaining at the moment, and it will, you'd guess over the course of the next week or so, probably, close up.

Gamemaster:The second question, is it traversable?

Gamemaster:You saw things come out of it, so it's definitely traversable one way.

Benny:Thank you.

Gamemaster:Let's do a follow-up check here.

Gamemaster:Yes.

Anzu:Something I'd be willing to do is cast a telekinetic hand and try to push that through.

Anzu:Yeah, sure.

Gamemaster:Okay, yeah, let's do that then.

Gamemaster:Then forego the roll here.

Gamemaster:Or actually, I still want you to make the second roll, but we'll do the telekinetic hand as well.

Gamemaster:For the second roll, let's make another occultism check.

Gamemaster:Or religion, I suppose.

Gamemaster:Religion would tell you different things.

Argyle:I make a religion check?

Gamemaster:You can, if you're stopping to look with him.

Gamemaster:You're fine to do that.

Argyle:Yeah.

Anzu:My religion is not great.

Argyle:I also casted heal, and that got Benny and me, and then I would have done it in a place that Bishop and anyone else who could take the healing as well.

Johnny:uh,

Gamemaster:Absolutely.

Gamemaster:That's fine.

Benny:But he's a fool.

Gamemaster:Do you also try and do it in an area where Grayson is?

Argyle:So in-game,

Argyle:Argyle's not sure if Grayson is a lich.

Gamemaster:Sure.

Argyle:So he's not going to directly try to harm him, but he's going to offer Grayson as an olive branch he can come in.

Gamemaster:Absolutely.

Gamemaster:Grayson would say no.

Argyle:Okay.

Johnny:That is a lich!

Gamemaster:But...

Argyle:Argyle knows why.

Gamemaster:Make a... Have Argyle make a diplomacy check as well.

Argyle:Well, thinks he knows why, but also... Okay.

Gamemaster:And then I've asked you guys to make a bunch of rules, so... The religion check?

Anzu:I'm not sure if Grayson even took any damage.

Argyle:No, I know, but... Sorry, let me just roll my religion check first.

Argyle:Recall knowledge.

Argyle:Okay.

Argyle:Can I make it as a medicine check?

Argyle:No, no, no.

Argyle:My diplomacy thing.

Gamemaster:No.

Gamemaster:Oh, no.

Argyle:Okay.

Gamemaster:No, this is a social encounter.

Argyle:Yeah.

Gamemaster:Okay, a 27 on the religion recall knowledge check.

Johnny:Oh, wait.

Gamemaster:Yep.

Johnny:I'm going to aid.

Gamemaster:Who are you aiding?

Gamemaster:And for what?

Johnny:Argyle.

Johnny:For his religion recall knowledge.

Gamemaster:Absolutely.

Gamemaster:Okay.

Argyle:I rolled really high on my die.

Gamemaster:Diplomacy checks a 17.

Gamemaster:Good to know.

Gamemaster:With a 17 for the gather knowledge for the diplomacy check, you offer the healing.

Gamemaster:He... I think...

Gamemaster:Argyle's probably in two minds about Silven, in that you clearly have a lot of reasons to be very suspicious of the man.

Gamemaster:But on his face, he seems pretty amiable.

Gamemaster:He, like, makes the gesture of, no, I wasn't injured.

Gamemaster:I appreciate it, though.

Gamemaster:And then he goes back to, like, tending to his own over on his side.

Gamemaster:But he doesn't strike.

Gamemaster:He was particularly antagonistic towards you at the moment.

Argyle:I know what he did, but anyway.

Gamemaster:Yeah, absolutely.

Gamemaster:Like, there's a difference between knowing the actions he's taken and knowing the face he's putting on.

Argyle:God, he's so likable, though.

Gamemaster:But he is, from that role, he's clearly pretty competent at putting on a face, at being a friendly guy.

Argyle:Yeah.

Gamemaster:With the 27, which with the performance check, that's a success, so it's up to a 28.

Gamemaster:With the religion check, also Anzu can push his telekinetic hand through, and it indeed does go through.

Gamemaster:You feel it pass through the membrane of the liquid and continue much further down than if you would expect this just to be a pool of liquid that came out of a body to be.

Gamemaster:There is a space on the other side of this liquid.

Gamemaster:With the religion check,

Gamemaster:I think the thing that you note here is that there is something definitely on the other side of this.

Gamemaster:Obviously, you guys haven't attempted to go through, and the portal is slowly closing, so it doesn't seem it's going to be permanent.

Gamemaster:But there is this interesting...

Gamemaster:You guys saw the tide get pulled.

Gamemaster:You know the, like, basic mechanics of it.

Gamemaster:This feels to you wasteful.

Johnny:Thank you.

Gamemaster:In that, this thing is sustained by magic energy in the same way that the tithe is pulling out magic energy.

Gamemaster:And so why would something that extracts energy from a situation, from an area, also cause a different effect that requires that same energy to be sustained?

Gamemaster:It is wasteful, in a way.

Gamemaster:With the religion check, I think you can see that there is...

Gamemaster:There's always... We've spoken about it across three campaigns now, where when you do things that look at magic, there's this kind of flow of magic that magic casters just get a general feel for, where they can see the flow of it in an area where it slows down a little bit, where it seems to clump, where it's more or less viscous and the like.

Benny:you you

Gamemaster:There is an interesting quality here to the magic around this, where...

Gamemaster:It seems the best way to describe it is fragile.

Gamemaster:And I think your check is just barely a success with the aid.

Gamemaster:You would see that the process of pulling energy out of people and out of their hearts and the like necessarily damages the weave.

Gamemaster:It is a process that is pretty detrimental to the area where magic is stored in the world.

Gamemaster:And with that damage, with that weakening, it allows fractures like this to occur.

Gamemaster:And so the act of so fully pulling energy out of that area causes this fracture.

Gamemaster:The weave is self-healing.

Gamemaster:It eventually repairs, which is why it needs to be held open if one wanted to do that.

Benny:you

Gamemaster:But this wasn't a feature.

Gamemaster:of, oh, you can't pay the tithe, so we turn you into this massive portal that causes all these evil things to pop out.

Gamemaster:It's more a, that's just how this technology works at the moment.

Gamemaster:That's as far as we got, and we deemed it good enough.

Gamemaster:And if it damages the weave and it causes some bugs to pop out of some other dimension, then that's fine.

Gamemaster:That's something that people who can't pay the tithe have to deal with.

Gamemaster:I think the most significant note here is, if you recall from last session, when you spoke to Kadou about the trajectory of the Strider and all that kind of stuff, he noted that just the act of the test runs pulled ambient energy out of the air.

Argyle:Hmm.

Gamemaster:This weakness is not localized specifically to where people are when the tithe is paid.

Gamemaster:It is strongest when the tithe is paid, but everywhere in the Strider,

Gamemaster:the weave is weaker, and there is a chance, given enough energy, that another one of these things could open up.

Gamemaster:That is just an issue you will have to deal with so long as the Strider is in motion.

Gamemaster:But for the time being, it looks like it's starting to close.

Anzu:So here's the question, guys.

Gamemaster:You don't know anything about what's actually on the other side unless you try and go in, which with your rolls, you know that you could probably safely make it to the other side.

Gamemaster:You don't know how safe it is on the other side or for how long you might be able to stay, but you could make that transition if you were so inclined.

Argyle:Wait, wait.

Anzu:Do we think that being there for one round will do more than 48 points of damage?

Anzu:My feeling is probably not, but you never know.

Johnny:I mean, I also... Listen, there's got to be a lot of birds on this planet.

Argyle:Wait, why are you scared about 48 points?

Argyle:Why is that the... Oh.

Anzu:Because if it's 49 or more, Othello will die immediately before he can fly back in.

Argyle:I think he could do it.

Johnny:I think there's birds everywhere.

Argyle:Yeah, yeah.

Johnny:There's birds that you just poke around in the sky, just pew!

Johnny:You want a bird?

Anzu:I know, but it's like... It's just a pain, and I kind of feel bad for the birds, but I think it'll be all right.

Benny:Put a little helmet on him.

Johnny:I'll drop a rainbow on a pelican, and it'll be yours.

Johnny:I can snipe it out of the sky.

Johnny:I've been getting good at robbing rainbows.

Anzu:So, Josh, what I'll do is... How long does my perception... I think it's a minute that I can watch.

Anzu:Hold on.

Johnny:Does anyone have a helmet for this bird?

Anzu:Yeah, I could watch him for a full minute.

Anzu:So I will share sense with Othello, have him swoop in, and if he starts taking damage in the one round, come back immediately.

Anzu:But if not, I'll have him stay for two or three rounds to actually get a look, like a more concrete look.

Gamemaster:Absolutely.

Gamemaster:Okay.

Gamemaster:So have Othello roll a perception check as he takes a dive into this portal.

Anzu:He's not very good at those.

Anzu:He's not really good at skills in general.

Anzu:Ooh, but a natural 18 helps.

Anzu:28?

Gamemaster:58.

Anzu:Not bad.

Gamemaster:Okay.

Gamemaster:Othello flies into this open hole in the middle of the dance floor, disappears with sheer senses I think you just get to see through his body.

Benny:Thank you.

Gamemaster:With the 28, you can see as you flip, there is a... It's very disorienting, because as you go through, gravity flips so that it's...

Johnny:Thank you.

Gamemaster:pointed up towards where the thing that you jumped out is, so you do this kind of half-barrel roll thing.

Gamemaster:But you are still in, by the looks of it, the ballroom, albeit slightly different.

Gamemaster:Notably, the walls, the floor, the ceiling, all of the exterior bits of the ballroom aren't straight.

Benny:you

Gamemaster:Instead, there are strange bumps and divots in them, and there's motion as if the wall itself is made out of some elastic, and something is pushing up against it and moving.

Gamemaster:You see that all throughout.

Gamemaster:I think with that role, you at the very least make out what almost seem to be hands pressed up and trying to push through the fabric of the wall in some places.

Argyle:I like that.

Gamemaster:There is, close to where the door is, like the northernmost part of this map, you see that there aren't exits in this weird flipped version of reality.

Gamemaster:Instead, by that door, there is this floating orb about two feet in diameter.

Gamemaster:It's got this purple light quality to it, but it's covered in these chitinous scales that almost seem to shift back and forth.

Gamemaster:You can't see the interior of it all that much, but you can tell from the chitin as it shifts that it is not completely solid.

Gamemaster:There are gaps in it where you can see through.

Gamemaster:But this orb is floating in the air above what at first appears to be a strange-looking statue, but then Othello recognizes as a Giant hand that has been pulled out of the ground.

Gamemaster:And on that hand are a number of creatures, each of them about three or four...

Gamemaster:feet tall, which are themselves humanoid but made entirely out of these purplish arms and hands kind of wrapped on top of each other to make this humanoid shape.

Gamemaster:All of these limbs don't seem to necessarily attach to anything, it's like they're all just part of this one singular writhing mass.

Gamemaster:There are two of them that are grabbed onto this other hand thing that's grabbing this floating chitinous orb.

Gamemaster:And there are a number of larger variants of these creatures.

Gamemaster:No legs, just a torso and arms made out of arms kind of pulling themselves along the ground, dragging as they go.

Gamemaster:They let out this strange chittering sound.

Gamemaster:And it takes Othello the six seconds that he's around there as he's taking a look around to realize that that chittering is a form of echolocation, because as soon as he hears it, the figures, they don't turn because they don't really have faces.

Argyle:Oh no.

Gamemaster:Instead, the limbs kind of reshape so that they're now facing in the direction of the bird.

Gamemaster:One section of these hand creatures opens up as a form of mouth, and this purple liquid will shoot out.

Gamemaster:I need Othello to make a reflex save, please.

Anzu:Dang.

Anzu:Okay.

Argyle:That's fine.

Johnny:He's a bird.

Johnny:He can dodge.

Benny:He's a play-in.

Gamemaster:A 26 is a failure.

Johnny:No.

Johnny:Get that bird out of there.

Gamemaster:He's going to take 20 points of void damage as it clips one of his wings and kind of burns through the feathers and some of his skin.

Argyle:He's made.

Gamemaster:But at this point, you've given him the instructions that if it seems hostile on the other end, he would probably flip back and return through the portal the other direction.

Anzu:Very well.

Anzu:Yeah, definitely have him come back.

Anzu:Did it feel like just existing there was going to be damaging?

Anzu:Or was the atmosphere... Yeah.

Gamemaster:No.

Gamemaster:No, Othello didn't seem like he was being injured by being on the other side.

Gamemaster:It just seemed like there were a bunch of things that were immediately hostile to him.

Anzu:Alrighty.

Argyle:I'm going to... Sorry, go ahead.

Argyle:You guys.

Gamemaster:No, you go.

Argyle:Should we go regroup with our... the folks up top?

Benny:sure burn

Gamemaster:Get a nature check.

Argyle:You say nature?

Johnny:You will treat bird.

Gamemaster:Nature, if you like.

Anzu:Is that me?

Argyle:I will not make... Can I make a treat wounds?

Anzu:That's probably me.

Anzu:Oh, frick.

Argyle:On a bird?

Gamemaster:Yeah.

Gamemaster:Yeah, if you wanted to treat wounds of burn, you could.

Argyle:Battle medicine Othello.

Argyle:That's for Othello.

Anzu:All right.

Gamemaster:Nice.

Anzu:Back up.

Gamemaster:Hello, full heels.

Gamemaster:17 is whatever.

Gamemaster:You don't learn anything.

Gamemaster:Yeah, you can regroup with the members of the Scale and the shell that I've kind of collected over here.

Gamemaster:You can see that Lance, that's the sickly cursed guy that is part of the Scale, is currently, by the looks of it, skinning one of the barghests to take the fur off.

Argyle:Should we be doing that?

Johnny:Oh, crazy.

Gamemaster:Ralph will look over at you and say, sorry.

Johnny:Oh, I just look over and look at our team.

Argyle:No, continue.

Johnny:We don't have to skin stuff, right?

Johnny:That's not like a thing we do now.

Benny:home.

Anzu:I don't think I need its skin.

Anzu:Lance, do you have any theories as to what use this might have?

Gamemaster:Lance will say, I mean, you're kind of resistant to physical attacks, so I figured it might be good against... I don't know.

Gamemaster:I figured it was safer.

Anzu:No, no, no.

Gamemaster:We've been traveling for so long, I just kind of have a habit of taking the skin off anything I fight.

Argyle:Medicine?

Anzu:Yeah, that's totally valid.

Gamemaster:Most animals have hide for a reason.

Anzu:I'm trained in that.

Gamemaster:You guys don't need to.

Gamemaster:I'm not telling you to do it.

Benny:What skill is skinning?

Benny:It is survival as a skill.

Gamemaster:Skinning would be a... God, survival isn't a skill, right?

Gamemaster:I think it's nature.

Johnny:Let's go.

Gamemaster:If survival is a skill, then it's survival.

Anzu:I have an 11.

Benny:Does anyone survive?

Argyle:Oh.

Johnny:I have a plus 12 in survival.

Benny:Probably the highest.

Benny:Send it.

Anzu:Johnny's like, guys, we're not skinning anything, right?

Anzu:Because I don't think any of us would be any good at that.

Johnny:None of us would be good at skinning things, right?

Gamemaster:How does he do?

Johnny:We don't have to do that, right?

Johnny:Yeah, sure, I'll try and skin these things.

Johnny:Johnny's just going, ew.

Benny:Can we make a poncho?

Johnny:Ew, ew, ew.

Benny:Oh, he does.

Johnny:Ew.

Gamemaster:A 28?

Johnny:I got 28.

Argyle:Thank you.

Gamemaster:Okay, so a 28 is a low success, but it is still a success.

Gamemaster:Um, the barghests are difficult to skin.

Gamemaster:Um, they, they kind of, they present issues, uh, getting a good chunk off all in one go.

Gamemaster:It almost kind of like disintegrates, uh, a lot of these.

Gamemaster:So with a 28, that is a success.

Gamemaster:It takes you multiple trucks.

Gamemaster:you go through multiple barghests trying to cut off a piece of their fur, get even a little bit of it.

Gamemaster:But with a 28, you finally, on your fifth one, after a little bit of practice, manage to very delicately peel off a bit of barghest hide.

Johnny:Johnny has his sunglasses on and you can just kind of hear him quietly sniffling like, okay, we're almost done.

Benny:Bye.

Johnny:One more.

Gamemaster:It's got a little bit of momentum behind it that gives you the vibe that it's probably magical in nature, though.

Johnny:I had to go.

Argyle:Can I trade scavenging from the Ki-Rin slash take its head as a trophy?

Gamemaster:Sorry, you want to take the head of the chyron as a trophy?

Argyle:Yeah.

Argyle:Or if I got a vibe, then anything else is also good.

Gamemaster:Yeet.

Gamemaster:Yeah, you can do that.

Gamemaster:You can attempt a nature check or a survival check to see if you get a vibe if anything is good off of the Ki-Rin.

Argyle:I actually have a plus 13, but I rolled worse.

Benny:Wait, so what did Johnny get off of the barghests?

Gamemaster:He managed to get one piece of barghest fur, which seems to be magical in nature, but needs to be identified in order to know what it does.

Argyle:18 for the...

Argyle:the check to see if any part of it's good from the Ki-Rin hmm

Gamemaster:18.

Gamemaster:Let me check to see if there's... Oh, with an 18.

Gamemaster:The blood seems to you to be perhaps magic in some way.

Gamemaster:It's this deep black blood that's coming out of the wounds of the Ki-Rin.

Gamemaster:It seems to be interesting to you.

Gamemaster:It clearly has some kind of magical property.

Gamemaster:It seems to be acting oddly.

Gamemaster:But beyond that, not much.

Gamemaster:With an 18, also, you can absolutely hack off the head of one of these Ki-Rin.

Gamemaster:It is not pretty, and it's not a clean cut.

Gamemaster:But you do, like with an 18, that is enough to just fully chop, chop, chop off the head.

Johnny:Johnny is actually flying right now and trying to hide it.

Argyle:The bishop.

Anzu:Your survival is better than Johnny's and you made him cut the thing up?

Argyle:Yeah.

Argyle:I thought it'd be funny.

Argyle:So, um... Bishop, what do you think?

Gamemaster:This is right fucked, is what I think.

Gamemaster:I don't like being informed until we were already on route that we'd need to be continually feeding things magic energy or our lives would be forfeit.

Anzu:Yeah, where are we going to find this energy from?

Gamemaster:I would've, like, prepared more stuff, you know?

Gamemaster:so i don't know what your uh your butler jingle jingle clown thing said to you uh but ours told us that we'd be able to make excursions uh off of the uh the strider and i didn't know why we would want to do that at the time i had the feeling that's what they want for it's either that or i mean you could take it i i'm i'm

Benny:Thank you.

Argyle:Yeah.

Gamemaster:Pretty confident.

Gamemaster:And he kind of makes a gesture over to the other side of the dance floor.

Gamemaster:I'm pretty confident some people find it easier just to take other people's hearts and possessions and feed it into their own.

Gamemaster:Make the payment that way.

Argyle:Yeah.

Gamemaster:Both would work.

Johnny:Nah, we don't really do that.

Johnny:That's not our MO.

Gamemaster:Honestly, it's like somebody designed this to cause conflict amongst us.

Gamemaster:Like, there must have been better ways to supply energy to these things.

Argyle:You think if someone else takes your heart, you die?

Johnny:Eh, probably.

Gamemaster:I don't know if I can tell you outright, but you wouldn't have anything to pay the tithe.

Argyle:Unless you join a new group.

Gamemaster:So... Maybe.

Gamemaster:I don't know how loose they play with different groups.

Gamemaster:My other concern is, as less and less people are available, because I'm sure that'll happen, does that mean the amount we have to pay for the tithe will increase over time?

Argyle:Yeah.

Gamemaster:Something to think about.

Gamemaster:I don't know the answer.

Anzu:Josh, does it get harder to travel along the horizon as you go farther out?

Gamemaster:No with an asterisk.

Gamemaster:It is no longer... It is no more magically or physically intensive to move from, like, Void 1 to Void 2 than it is from Void 1,000,000 to Void 1,000,001.

Gamemaster:The complications are some kind of logistics because you need some way of feeding yourself and actually making the transfer because it's assumed that whatever vehicle you're taking takes some kind of energy.

Gamemaster:And...

Gamemaster:Joker Worlds tend to get both larger and more intense the further you go out, which makes it more dangerous, not more difficult.

Gamemaster:Um, especially because, uh, the further you get out, you start to see multi-world Joker Worlds.

Gamemaster:Like, very early on, you see, oh, this world's weird.

Gamemaster:Or, like, you move forward and this world has some weird quirk or something like that.

Gamemaster:Uh, you get further along and you see, uh, a Joker world that is from, like, Void 1,000,000 to Void 1,112,000.

Gamemaster:It, like, spans an extended period of time, so you can't quickly skip over it to get to the next area.

Gamemaster:You have to deal with it in some way.

Gamemaster:The other bit of the asterisk is there is a wall at like void 1,900,000 and change.

Gamemaster:Sorry, 1,900,000 and change.

Gamemaster:Sorry, 1,400,000 and change.

Gamemaster:I think that's what it is.

Gamemaster:Where once people pass that, they've never come back.

Argyle:And this wall is different from the other wall that we just can't get past, right?

Gamemaster:It's unknown why they never come back, but that might be due to some difficulty increase or something like that.

Anzu:Okay.

Gamemaster:But up until that point, the actual act of sliding is no more difficult the further you get down the line.

Benny:Thank you.

Gamemaster:So these are two different things.

Gamemaster:You're talking about the thing that you saw Giant behind, right?

Argyle:Yeah.

Johnny:Mm hmm.

Gamemaster:That is not like public knowledge.

Gamemaster:That is an actual wall.

Argyle:Okay.

Gamemaster:There is a like colloquial wall at like far enough starward, far enough voidward where people have tried to go past it and they've disappeared, but they've never come back despite like promises that they would return.

Argyle:Okay.

Gamemaster:So nobody actually, it's not actually a wall per se.

Gamemaster:It's just nobody knows what happens once you make that jump.

Argyle:Okay.

Gamemaster:Of note for that particular thing, you spoke to Aut about where you were near Giant when you were at that wall, and he gave you a number that is beyond the known starward wall.

Gamemaster:Like, you had made it further than whatever that gap was.

Argyle:Oh, so we did it.

Argyle:Okay.

Argyle:Grayson's still here, right?

Gamemaster:Grayson is still here.

Gamemaster:You can see that Grayson and Tamanis, the person from Pan-Lantern, are, by the looks of it, doing something kind of similar with the barghest corpses over on their side.

Gamemaster:They're not skinning them, but they are, it appears to be, treating them in some form with alchemical reagents and the like.

Argyle:They're animating them.

Argyle:Those motherfuckers.

Anzu:Are they... Are they making any play for the hole?

Argyle:We should go.

Gamemaster:Yes.

Argyle:Did you want to go into the hole?

Anzu:I don't know.

Gamemaster:No, they don't look like they've moved towards the hole.

Gamemaster:They are occupied right now.

Gamemaster:They've lined up like four barghest corpses in a line and are currently drawing something with melted wax on the floor.

Anzu:There's an orb in there, and I don't know what that means, but there's also creatures...

Johnny:There's a question.

Argyle:Oh, you saw an orb?

Anzu:Yeah, there's some kind of orb.

Argyle:Oh.

Anzu:It's like a twisted version of this room in there.

Argyle:How far?

Argyle:How far is the orb?

Anzu:Josh, how far from the hole is the orb?

Gamemaster:The orb is 85 feet away.

Benny:Thank you.

Johnny:Oh.

Argyle:All right.

Johnny:The question was kind of asking that I wrote.

Argyle:Wait.

Anzu:And how big?

Argyle:You make you make Johnny.

Argyle:You make you make Benny silent.

Argyle:And then yeah.

Argyle:And then he runs in.

Johnny:I think I can hate and silent him at the same time.

Argyle:Yeah.

Johnny:Hang on.

Argyle:yes yes oh benny can hold that and he could do that all right all right benny run okay

Johnny:How many buffs can I give Benny at once?

Anzu:How big is the orb, Josh?

Gamemaster:The orb is like two feet in diameter.

Johnny:Okay.

Gamemaster:It is physically the size that somebody could feasibly hold.

Johnny:Yeah, I can silence and hate Benny at the same time.

Johnny:Oh, can I make you invisible too?

Johnny:That lasts for...

Johnny:10 minutes.

Johnny:No, they have echolocate.

Johnny:They have blind sentence.

Johnny:That won't do anything.

Argyle:Yeah.

Johnny:What else can I give you?

Johnny:That's all I got.

Gamemaster:That was a good catch, though.

Gamemaster:I'm...

Benny:That's all you got.

Benny:Oh yeah, I was going to say the invisibility is not going to... Can you send the spell description for haste?

Argyle:Yeah.

Argyle:Make him quiet.

Johnny:Yeah.

Johnny:Yes, I'll drop in.

Johnny:Okay, there's haste.

Benny:Does Benny have any funky actions?

Johnny:Here is silence.

Johnny:I do have Translocate now, but I only have one 4th level spell.

Argyle:Yeah, don't worry about it.

Anzu:I can come in behind you and try to pull the creatures away that are right at the thing.

Johnny:Guys, my little guys.

Argyle:Or you go little guys first and then Benny.

Johnny:We send in Benny, then I send in all my little guys to distract him.

Johnny:Draw a fire.

Benny:I don't want them to have attention near the hole.

Argyle:Oh, you're right, yeah.

Benny:At least, I think Benny first.

Johnny:I can do him 30 feet away from the hole.

Argyle:Alright.

Benny:So let's see.

Benny:Haste.

Benny:Quickened, which is just one additional action.

Argyle:I'll cast Guidance as well.

Argyle:Do you have Godspeed, Benny?

Benny:I do have Godspeed.

Argyle:Yes.

Johnny:I can do him 30 feet away from the hole.

Johnny:Benny's about to go super saiyan.

Benny:And I have a trick up my sleeve.

Benny:I have a trick up my sleeve if things get very bad.

Argyle:Alright.

Johnny:Benny's just standing there.

Johnny:His already blonde hair just gets longer.

Benny:Send the boy in.

Johnny:Oh, great.

Argyle:Super Saiyan.

Gamemaster:Yay.

Benny:Oh, you don't have to cast haste because quickened comes from godspeed.

Johnny:That'll save me a spell for some little guys.

Johnny:Do you want silence?

Argyle:Yeah, he needs silence.

Benny:I think so.

Johnny:I don't know if silence will do anything because it makes no sound from noticing it using hearing alone.

Argyle:No, that way so they can.

Johnny:So I think if they have tremor sense, it won't actually do anything.

Benny:But Benny's not going to be moving slowly.

Benny:Maybe they have blind sense out to some... I guess they saw the bird.

Argyle:They probably heard the bird.

Benny:sense the bird.

Benny:Yeah, whatever.

Benny:Yeah.

Argyle:That's not tremor sense.

Johnny:Oh, was it echolocation or was it blind sense?

Anzu:It seemed like they were using sound to detect the bird.

Argyle:Well, the bird's not touching the ground, so it wasn't tremor.

Gamemaster:Yeah, you can be pretty confident that it isn't Tremorsense, specifically.

Johnny:Oh, okay.

Johnny:I will silence in that case.

Johnny:Once I cast this, you have one minute.

Johnny:So I'll wait until you're...

Benny:I mean, same thing with

Benny:Same thing with gods, but yeah, we'll wait.

Benny:So we're loading up a godspeed, a silence, a guidance.

Johnny:I think you're getting a guidance.

Anzu:And then I'm thinking of coming in behind you and casting a gravity well to pull them away from the orb.

Argyle:Are they around the orb?

Benny:I like that.

Johnny:Do you want a dirge of doom?

Anzu:There were some of them that were right on the orb, yeah.

Argyle:Okay.

Johnny:I can throw in some underlings, a dirge of doom.

Argyle:I'll go in as just a shield guy for Mindbird.

Argyle:Hopefully I'm not needed.

Benny:What does the dirge do?

Johnny:Every enemy within 30 feet of me has frightened one.

Benny:I see, I see.

Benny:Yeah, sure.

Benny:All right.

Argyle:So the three of us are going to go and wait by the door, and then it's going to go running.

Argyle:Sounds good?

Johnny:Benny's doing high knees.

Johnny:Everyone's watching us right now.

Benny:Betty's just stretching out.

Johnny:Everyone's like, what's he doing?

Gamemaster:Alright.

Johnny:Where's he going?

Gamemaster:One second, I'm just... Okay.

Benny:Worst time to get a cramp.

Gamemaster:So... Um... You... You have a bunch of buffs.

Gamemaster:I'm sorry, I was a bit distracted.

Gamemaster:What buffs specifically are you giving him?

Gamemaster:You're giving him silence, you're giving him haste.

Benny:Yeah, so Godspeed.

Johnny:He's getting hasty.

Gamemaster:What else are you doing?

Gamemaster:Godspeed.

Gamemaster:Okay.

Johnny:And then a few other things we're going to do.

Argyle:Yeah.

Gamemaster:Okay, so when I'm going to... You guys come up with what you're going to give them, and then I'm going to switch the map.

Gamemaster:And then you'll be able to do as you will.

Argyle:And I'm going to cast a Moonlight.

Johnny:So I think before we go in, the second before we go in, we're going to silence him, guidance him.

Johnny:He's going to do Godspeed.

Johnny:And then we get in there, Johnny's going to drop a Dirge of Doom.

Johnny:I think Anzu said he's going to do a Gravity Well.

Argyle:Ray.

Johnny:And then I will throw, if need be, a horde of underlings to just draw fire.

Gamemaster:You guys are all getting up for this.

Gamemaster:We'll move the other people.

Gamemaster:I don't quite have a map ready.

Johnny:Josh has a map ready.

Johnny:He's got a map ready!

Gamemaster:I have a piece of the map ready.

Benny:It's 135 feet around.

Argyle:Well, hopefully we can.

Argyle:How fast can you move it around?

Argyle:If it's 80 feet, can you just get there and back before the end of the round?

Johnny:billion feet.

Benny:Actually, no, I have an extra action.

Benny:It is 180 feet and around.

Argyle:So we're just slowing you down by coming in.

Johnny:Yeah, I think we should be there just in case.

Benny:No, I have to interact with it.

Argyle:Oh, yeah.

Argyle:Yeah.

Gamemaster:I lost the actual enemies.

Argyle:All right.

Johnny:Whoa.

Johnny:Oh my gosh.

Johnny:Oh, these are horrific.

Johnny:Wow.

Johnny:It's so much worse looking at it now.

Gamemaster:And then for...

Gamemaster:the sake of where the actual hole is.

Benny:I have two aces.

Gamemaster:Hole right here in the center.

Gamemaster:And then these guys are, it's a little difficult to see where it begins and where it ends, but this is the thing you're trying to grab.

Gamemaster:I know size is a little bit difficult to grab here, but that is, that's the thing you're trying to grab.

Argyle:but you don't get... Anzu, come right by the end.

Gamemaster:You can go, it's the 85 feet from where you are is the interact point.

Benny:Let me know when.

Argyle:Alright.

Anzu:I was just placed here, man.

Anzu:Oh, jeez.

Anzu:So where do you want me?

Johnny:Everybody get on the, get up on this blackboard.

Argyle:Girl.

Gamemaster:Okay.

Anzu:Here or here?

Gamemaster:So you guys all jump in at the same time and feel the strange flip as you are moved into this new area.

Gamemaster:Something you notice immediately that Othello didn't have the chance to because he never landed is that the ground here is elastic in much the same way that the walls and the ceiling are.

Gamemaster:As you land, it kind of bends downward where you press into it.

Gamemaster:It's like walking on top of...

Gamemaster:It's like walking on top of a pool cover, or an inflatable bouncy castle type deal.

Gamemaster:It is possible to run.

Gamemaster:I am going to need you to make a reflex save if you're sprinting at 120 miles an hour across it, just to make sure, because you're moving pretty quick on it.

Johnny:you

Gamemaster:But you all flip over.

Gamemaster:For the time being...

Gamemaster:While you're all near each other, Benny is silenced, which, of note, these things echolocate.

Gamemaster:So the fact that a void that has just opened up in the area where they cannot hear anything from lets them know that something has appeared.

Argyle:Okay.

Gamemaster:But...

Gamemaster:because they can't hear anything back specifically from the area, they do not have a precise sense of your location.

Gamemaster:You are, at the moment, immediately visible in that they know that something is here, but you are concealed in that they do not have a direct, like, I know exactly where you are.

Gamemaster:As Benny runs, that protection will no longer apply to the three of you that are staying behind if you're not running with him, just to tune out.

Argyle:yes all right go benny go

Benny:Benny has all the effects.

Gamemaster:So we are, you flip over, you guys had a bunch of stuff that you readied that you wanted to the second that you made it to the other side, correct?

Gamemaster:Now is the time to do it.

Benny:He has double the effects.

Benny:Okay.

Benny:benny gets whoops that's not moving benny is it 85 feet any reflection any reflex it it's it's two two actions

Gamemaster:85 feet.

Gamemaster:One action.

Gamemaster:Wait, that's one action?

Gamemaster:Just to clarify, how many actions is that?

Gamemaster:It's two.

Gamemaster:Okay, so one of your haste actions and then one of your regular actions.

Gamemaster:Okay, absolutely.

Gamemaster:And you make it up to this weird...

Gamemaster:Something.

Gamemaster:No check necessary.

Gamemaster:There is an interesting feeling.

Gamemaster:You felt it both as you passed in and as you get closer, as if you had entered the Fane of something.

Argyle:Grab it.

Gamemaster:It feels almost like a heart in that way, but a weird, like, in-the-void heart.

Benny:So Benny would like to grab this orb.

Johnny:Ooh.

Anzu:Hey, that's it.

Gamemaster:Yeah.

Johnny:Do we have a reaction to this?

Benny:The orb is grabbed onto by other things.

Gamemaster:It is floating in the air.

Benny:Are there things holding it in place?

Gamemaster:It is not attached to anything.

Argyle:She can just grab it.

Gamemaster:It's just floating there.

Benny:So Benny wouldn't.

Benny:Yeah, Benny would have to go to grab it.

Benny:So Benny would like to interact and attempt to grab the orb.

Benny:Of course, of course.

Gamemaster:Absolutely.

Gamemaster:Make an athletics check for me, please, Benny.

Benny:Although not necessarily of course.

Benny:I didn't actually think.

Anzu:Oh, no.

Benny:You motherfucker.

Argyle:Oh, yes.

Benny:Yeah.

Benny:I didn't want to.

Benny:that's fine really didn't want to all right i didn't have to use that but that's fine

Gamemaster:Cool.

Gamemaster:Okay.

Johnny:Okay.

Argyle:He grabs and backflips.

Gamemaster:Yeah, super crit.

Gamemaster:This thing is actually held pretty heavily in place, and it's a sensation that I've described previously.

Anzu:Yeah.

Gamemaster:The act of moving, it feels like it's got this inertia behind it, as if as you pull it, it just wants to keep moving in that direction.

Gamemaster:But you, with your ridiculous athletics check, you've got a vice-like grip on it.

Argyle:you

Gamemaster:It tries to resist the movement, and then it tries to pull out of your hands as you yank it, but you've got it.

Gamemaster:you're holding onto this thing.

Gamemaster:It is uncomfortable because the chitinous shell underneath continues to shift in your hands, almost trying to resist you as you hold it in place.

Gamemaster:But you've got it.

Gamemaster:You're holding onto it.

Gamemaster:At the same time, there is a screeching, chittering sound that emanates both from all of these weird hand masses, as well as seemingly from the walls itself.

Gamemaster:The, um...

Gamemaster:The walls seem to press in even further as whatever's on the outside of them tries to make its way in, and you can see, as you've pulled away the source of energy from this thing, the walls start to break down, and more hands push through the elastic walls

Gamemaster:and start scrabbling to try and find Purchase and grab in towards you.

Gamemaster:The whole area drops in temperature about 20 degrees, and it continues to get colder and colder.

Gamemaster:You feel that it wasn't necessarily dangerous to exist in the space before, it does now.

Gamemaster:I need all of you to make Fortitude saves, please.

Anzu:Josh, I had Othello do familiar focus before we went in because I wanted to put him in my sleeve of storage and not be here.

Johnny:Oh, wow.

Gamemaster:Hm?

Gamemaster:Okay.

Gamemaster:That's fine.

Anzu:But be accessible.

Anzu:What am I making?

Gamemaster:A fortitude save.

Argyle:Oh.

Benny:Oh, okay.

Anzu:Incredible.

Gamemaster:Okay.

Gamemaster:32 crit.

Gamemaster:That's a critical success.

Gamemaster:21 is a failure.

Gamemaster:A 19 is a failure.

Gamemaster:A 29 is a regular success.

Gamemaster:This is a basic save against cold damage.

Gamemaster:So if you failed, you take full damage.

Gamemaster:If you succeed, you take half.

Gamemaster:If you critically succeeded, you take none.

Gamemaster:Um...

Argyle:Run, Benny.

Gamemaster:Okay.

Gamemaster:That was all things that just happened when you pick up the orb.

Benny:stride oh wait sorry it's 45 feet you guys gotta get out of here Benny Wolf with his hands

Gamemaster:It is still your turn, Benny.

Gamemaster:You still have one action remaining.

Gamemaster:Absolutely.

Gamemaster:Okay.

Anzu:Josh, I've not done anything yet.

Gamemaster:Yes?

Anzu:All the buffs on Benny were not me.

Gamemaster:Correct.

Anzu:Can I do something now that Benny has cleared?

Gamemaster:Okay.

Anzu:I'd like to cast Gravity Well to try to pull some creatures away.

Anzu:I'm thinking...

Anzu:that maybe I just try to pull one and two backwards just to keep them a little bit farther away.

Anzu:I don't honestly know if this is going to work very well or not, but we're going to give it a go.

Argyle:You don't want to pull four away.

Anzu:I guess I could, but I feel like it's going to probably close the gap anyway.

Argyle:Oh, I see what you mean.

Argyle:I see what you mean.

Anzu:I think that maybe I could pull those too far enough that they are like a non-factor for a round.

Anzu:I get a 30-foot burst.

Anzu:Which can target both of them.

Anzu:There's a wall here, Josh, that I don't know if exists in this version of the encounter, which is why it's making things look weird.

Gamemaster:Sorry, there's a wall where?

Gamemaster:Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh.

Anzu:There's like an artificial wall.

Gamemaster:You are correct.

Gamemaster:One second.

Anzu:Because there's a door there in the other...

Gamemaster:Now there isn't.

Anzu:So I need to capture them both.

Anzu:I think being right here does grab them both by one square.

Anzu:Would you agree?

Anzu:Or can you see this?

Anzu:Do I need to place it?

Gamemaster:I can't actually see it.

Gamemaster:But yes, I do agree that it looks like they do both get captured by one square.

Anzu:All right.

Anzu:So I need to actually cast the spell.

Anzu:They can make these reflex saves.

Gamemaster:Okay, reflex saves for these guys.

Gamemaster:They do both succeed, so they move five feet towards the center.

Johnny:Okay.

Anzu:Well, that's unfortunate.

Anzu:Hey guys, it could be the difference.

Benny:I believe it.

Argyle:Now we all just run.

Gamemaster:Okay.

Gamemaster:Okay, so these creatures do get a chance to do something, since you all got a chance to do something.

Gamemaster:What I think is going to happen is, I'd like everybody, you know what, let's just have initiative manage this.

Gamemaster:I have a feeling they're going to go before you, but just for the sake of fairness, roll initiative, please.

Johnny:Mm hmm.

Argyle:It'll definitely go in front of us.

Johnny:Yeah, well, hey, those are all big numbers.

Gamemaster:Yes, they will.

Johnny:Hey.

Benny:wait did i roll my oh shit there it is

Argyle:I have a feeling we really just should have let Benny go by himself, but whatever.

Anzu:Well, we didn't know what was going to happen, you know.

Argyle:The silence, we should have been like, all right, well.

Johnny:Our girl, thank you.

Gamemaster:Argyle, did you roll?

Anzu:And Benny's going to get out because he got the 33.

Gamemaster:You just rolled a perception check.

Johnny:So we have for all of us.

Gamemaster:Okay, you got a 21.

Gamemaster:Benny, that's crazy that Benny got to go.

Johnny:He's got so many stats.

Gamemaster:Okay, so let's do seven and six.

Gamemaster:It's seven.

Argyle:Well, if Benny hangs out around us, they won't be able to see us again.

Johnny:Where's the ghoul?

Gamemaster:Okay, these guys are very slow.

Gamemaster:That's two actions.

Gamemaster:Then it's third because it can see you now because you are within range.

Gamemaster:Oh, I lied.

Gamemaster:You're just barely not within range.

Gamemaster:It's not going to do anything.

Gamemaster:It can't see you.

Gamemaster:Number six is turning.

Gamemaster:Is that within range of anybody?

Benny:Thank you.

Gamemaster:No, no.

Gamemaster:Okay.

Gamemaster:Two actions.

Gamemaster:Johnny is in range.

Johnny:Oh.

Gamemaster:It can see Johnny.

Gamemaster:Johnny is not covered by silence right now, so it can just make an attack on him.

Gamemaster:That does hit.

Gamemaster:A burst of this purple liquid comes shooting out from the hands that should be void, not slashing.

Benny:Right?

Gamemaster:I don't know if that's relevant for anything, but you will take 30 points.

Johnny:Nah.

Benny:Does it say reach 1,000?

Gamemaster:Yes, that does say reach 1,000.

Gamemaster:Good reading skills.

Johnny:what this is a real monster okay the details with the like fingers making the eyes on this thing is very cool

Gamemaster:Betting it's her turn.

Gamemaster:Do you know what's extra fun?

Gamemaster:I didn't write that.

Gamemaster:That's not homebrew.

Gamemaster:That's just part of the stat block.

Gamemaster:It has reach 1,000.

Gamemaster:This is a real monster.

Gamemaster:It doesn't look like this.

Gamemaster:I took an existing monster and I re-skinned it.

Gamemaster:But... Yeah, I like the image.

Benny:Benny should probably just leave.

Anzu:Yeah.

Johnny:I get out of here.

Benny:Okay.

Argyle:Yeah.

Gamemaster:Benny jumps in and... You are staying to keep the... What is Benny doing?

Johnny:I just run.

Benny:Or does Benny stay to keep you guys silenced?

Argyle:I think I can push people through, right?

Benny:Sure.

Argyle:Yeah, so say to keep a silence.

Benny:Actually, wait, can Benny push... Wait, did you want Benny to stay to keep people silent?

Argyle:Yeah.

Benny:Yeah, okay, so that's one that's a stride.

Gamemaster:Okay.

Benny:Can Benny push Johnny in?

Gamemaster:Benny can make an athletics check to do it.

Johnny:Can I assist by falling backwards into the hole?

Gamemaster:I don't know, to be honest.

Gamemaster:I think the answer is no.

Gamemaster:Are there rules for moving an ally in combat?

Argyle:That's okay.

Anzu:I think it'll be all right.

Benny:he's gone i killed him

Gamemaster:Well...

Gamemaster:Yeah.

Gamemaster:Oh, did you roll well?

Gamemaster:I had to double check.

Gamemaster:And the answer is that there are feats that let you do it without needing those rolls and that kind of stuff.

Gamemaster:So if you don't have something like reposition, then you need to do shove, which does require an athletics check.

Johnny:No, I think he loves you.

Gamemaster:But that's... I've just tapped back in and I see a critical 38.

Gamemaster:So it's not an issue.

Gamemaster:Betty shoves Johnny into the portal and he gets pushed through to the other side.

Gamemaster:Absolutely.

Benny:So that's two actions.

Benny:What do I do with my other two?

Gamemaster:little jig.

Argyle:Anzu, Shavanzu.

Benny:I could walk over and then shove Anzu, yeah.

Gamemaster:Okay, making another athletics check.

Benny:Bit less significant.

Anzu:I'm excessively light 22

Johnny:This is a light bird.

Gamemaster:Yeah.

Gamemaster:What's your Fort DC?

Gamemaster:Okay, you successfully shove him five feet, which is enough to get him into the portal.

Gamemaster:And he passes in.

Argyle:All right.

Benny:Now you have to shove the child in.

Gamemaster:Okay.

Gamemaster:It is all of the hands' turns.

Gamemaster:They are within range of you to make the attack, but you are currently silenced, so they can't quite see you.

Gamemaster:So he's going to roll a d10.

Gamemaster:Or, sorry, it's a flat d11 check.

Gamemaster:If he succeeds, he can target you.

Gamemaster:No.

Gamemaster:No?

Gamemaster:No.

Gamemaster:We're just going to go through with all of them and see how many of them manage to land attacks on you.

Argyle:Oh, it's gonna hurt.

Gamemaster:One, two...

Gamemaster:It is allowed to make two attacks on you.

Benny:It's just there.

Gamemaster:Argyle, you're closer, so you're the one that's attacking.

Gamemaster:That's for the first one, and that's for the second one.

Gamemaster:Oh, it rolled poorly on its first attack, but then it crit on its second attack.

Argyle:Okay, okay.

Gamemaster:So you will take one critical attack.

Gamemaster:to the next one.

Argyle:Alright, well I'm down.

Gamemaster:Okay.

Argyle:Yeah.

Gamemaster:That's one attack it's allowed to make.

Gamemaster:But I rolled low.

Gamemaster:Oh, it still ends.

Gamemaster:Roll damage on Benny.

Gamemaster:31 points of damage.

Gamemaster:Same deal.

Benny:Not like these odds.

Argyle:You guys can always pull us out from the other side, too.

Argyle:Yeah, it looks like Anzu and Johnny are going to have to pull us out.

Gamemaster:We'll have to make two attacks.

Benny:Uh.

Gamemaster:Your AC is a 25.

Gamemaster:I forgot to select you, but one of them does hit, so you are going to take some damage.

Gamemaster:27 points of damage to Benny.

Gamemaster:And one more set of three attacks.

Gamemaster:Okay, it's allowed to make three attacks on you.

Benny:That's going to be it.

Argyle:Yeah.

Gamemaster:Yeah, that is at least one of those.

Johnny:Okay.

Gamemaster:34 points.

Argyle:You guys are going to have to pull us out.

Gamemaster:Benny is down.

Gamemaster:I am just for the sake of so you guys know where you are physically located on the other side.

Gamemaster:That brings us to Argyle.

Gamemaster:Argyle, make a death save, please.

Gamemaster:It might give you the dying condition as well.

Argyle:I roll a 20.

Argyle:I don't come up, right?

Johnny:You.

Gamemaster:If you roll a critical success, I think you do.

Gamemaster:Or maybe you just get two successes.

Gamemaster:I have to double check.

Argyle:I think that's what happens.

Argyle:I'm just going to use all my hero points.

Argyle:I only have one to just stabilize.

Gamemaster:You can do that to just stabilize.

Argyle:Yeah.

Gamemaster:That's absolutely fine.

Argyle:You just got to pick us and drag us, boys.

Gamemaster:Yes, a critical success would just reduce your dying by two.

Argyle:Yeah.

Gamemaster:So you are no longer dying.

Gamemaster:You are wounded.

Gamemaster:And you are still unconscious.

Argyle:Okay.

Gamemaster:Johnny, it's your turn.

Johnny:Okay.

Benny:Thank you.

Johnny:Yeah, I'm just gonna... What is dragging someone?

Johnny:What is that?

Gamemaster:Uh...

Gamemaster:Is there an action to drag?

Gamemaster:No, I think unless you have... Oh, there's a rule for dragging.

Gamemaster:Some situations you might drag a creature rather than carry it.

Gamemaster:If you're dragging something, treat its bulk as half.

Gamemaster:So then we look at the rules for carry.

Gamemaster:Not carrying items, carrying people.

Gamemaster:Yeah, no, I know you might need to know the bulk for carrying a creature.

Benny:you

Gamemaster:Oh, because then you consider the bulk of the creature as an item instead, of course.

Gamemaster:No, never mind, I take that back.

Gamemaster:I'm sorry, I don't know the rules for dragging a creature.

Argyle:I think it's one action to grab and then one action to strive with your movement speed reduced by half.

Johnny:I mean, if I pop out right here, right?

Johnny:One action to pop.

Gamemaster:That sounds reasonable to me.

Johnny:I mean, that works.

Argyle:So you guys should have three actions to do this.

Johnny:So I pop out.

Argyle:Yeah, one action.

Johnny:Pop out, one action, grab Argyle, one action, drag him back into the void.

Gamemaster:So for what it's worth, actually, looking at the rules that I can see here, you don't have to make an athletics check.

Gamemaster:It is just the action tag.

Argyle:Yeah.

Gamemaster:So it's one action to grab, and then you can drag it slowly.

Gamemaster:You get 10 feet of movement by the looks of it while you're dragging it, but that is just barely enough to get you and Argyle into the... Yeah.

Argyle:It's actually really clutch, Benny.

Argyle:Push two people so there's two to pull.

Johnny:Yeah.

Argyle:Because if you didn't push two people, we wouldn't have had a hand to pull.

Argyle:So this is actually perfect.

Johnny:It's actually me and Anzu because we are the last initiative too.

Gamemaster:Correct.

Johnny:So we didn't around.

Gamemaster:Okay, so one action to pop in, one action to grab him, and then the last action to just barely pull him out into the portal and flip over.

Argyle:Yeah, yeah.

Johnny:Yeah, I will just.

Argyle:Yeah.

Johnny:And then I'll just lock and load for both the fellas when they get through.

Gamemaster:Absolutely.

Benny:you

Gamemaster:So you two get dragged out.

Argyle:If you can sue, yeah.

Argyle:And then.

Gamemaster:And then we will move to Anzu.

Gamemaster:Anzu, I assume you're doing something similar, unless you have something else to move him.

Anzu:Uh, that's what I'll do if I can.

Argyle:Yeah.

Gamemaster:Yeah, you can.

Gamemaster:You have... Benny is five, ten feet away from the edge of the portal.

Gamemaster:So if he were any further away, that would not work.

Gamemaster:But because he collapsed less than... He collapsed within ten feet of the portal, you can pull him out into the other side.

Argyle:Amazing.

Gamemaster:So both of you do that.

Gamemaster:You get, like, pulled out.

Gamemaster:They are... Argyle is still unconscious.

Gamemaster:Benny is still dying.

Gamemaster:So you need to do something to... Oh, did Benny get healed all the way to full?

Argyle:If you up Argyle, Argyle can up Benny.

Benny:Benny has a bunch of health potions on him.

Argyle:Yeah.

Argyle:Do you have a soothe?

Johnny:Yeah.

Anzu:Yes.

Argyle:Yeah, I healed him.

Benny:Yep.

Gamemaster:Previously?

Anzu:Now, I do need to... There is a question here before that happens because we're in initiative and I don't know where the orb is.

Gamemaster:Yes.

Gamemaster:Okay.

Argyle:Are you soothing, Johnny?

Johnny:I'm going to, the second we pop out, I will just drop a, I'll blow my mind.

Gamemaster:There is a question here.

Gamemaster:Correct.

Gamemaster:Benny cannot hold the orb.

Gamemaster:So you drag him.

Gamemaster:The orb will be on the ground where you're dragging him from.

Gamemaster:He cannot hold on to it while he's unconscious.

Gamemaster:So it is back on the other side of the portal, on the ground, 10 feet away from the portal.

Benny:Second question.

Johnny:Send that bird.

Benny:The bird can't carry the orb.

Argyle:He should.

Benny:Second question.

Gamemaster:He should.

Benny:Does Benny come up with all his previous effects?

Gamemaster:So.

Benny:Stand in the boys!

Anzu:Well, here's the thing.

Anzu:It's the end of Anzu's turn.

Anzu:So what happens next?

Gamemaster:Correct.

Gamemaster:We go to the hand of the void.

Gamemaster:It's Benny's turn.

Gamemaster:Benny has to make a saving throw.

Gamemaster:Death save.

Benny:Recovery check.

Gamemaster:Yes.

Gamemaster:That's a success.

Gamemaster:You are no longer dying.

Gamemaster:You are still unconscious.

Gamemaster:And you're wounded.

Gamemaster:Also, just to meet you guys where you would be.

Gamemaster:You are unconscious.

Gamemaster:You guys don't see what's happening with the hands.

Gamemaster:We go to Argyle.

Gamemaster:Argyle's unconscious.

Gamemaster:Nothing happens.

Gamemaster:It's Johnny's turn.

Johnny:Are we all on this side?

Gamemaster:Yes, you are all on the... You're in real space right now.

Argyle:Yeah.

Argyle:You can bring up.

Johnny:I drop a third rank soothe on the boy.

Argyle:Yeah.

Gamemaster:Okay.

Johnny:Where'd it go?

Johnny:I dropped it a while ago.

Benny:I'll find it.

Benny:Oh, you have to roll?

Johnny:It's my last third rank.

Argyle:Ooh, very nice.

Johnny:Yeah, I'll grab it.

Gamemaster:Okay, Benny's healed for 35 points of damage.

Gamemaster:He's still prone.

Gamemaster:He's no longer unconscious.

Gamemaster:Anything else you're doing on your turn?

Argyle:I got health potions on me if you want to grab that.

Johnny:I'll pull out a health.

Johnny:I'll Flourish Cast that Soothe, pull out a health potion, and then one action, jam into Argyle's

Benny:Thank you.

Johnny:Open up.

Gamemaster:It's one action to take it out and then one action to administer it.

Gamemaster:So yes, if you have the two actions to do that, then yes, you can give him a health potion.

Johnny:I will awaken Argyle as well.

Gamemaster:Okay.

Argyle:I think that's just 2d8.

Gamemaster:What kind of health potion is it?

Argyle:I assume these are the ones I was making.

Gamemaster:You get eight points of healing back.

Benny:There's no constant.

Argyle:All right.

Argyle:So what's the order now?

Argyle:Oh, yeah.

Argyle:There is 2d8 plus 5.

Gamemaster:Anzu, it's your turn.

Argyle:So plus 5.

Gamemaster:Anything you'd like to do.

Johnny:you

Argyle:Me?

Gamemaster:No, Anzu.

Argyle:Go grab the orb.

Anzu:I'm thinking about it.

Anzu:So it's an action to pass through.

Anzu:Yeah, that's what I was thinking just to look and see what's happening.

Gamemaster:Mm-hmm.

Benny:If you want to step in and step out,

Benny:You won't provoke opportunity attacks.

Benny:You'll get enough intel to tell the boy.

Benny:Wait.

Anzu:So I'm going to use one action to pass through.

Gamemaster:Okay, you pass through.

Gamemaster:One second.

Gamemaster:This is how much he would have moved.

Johnny:Oh, geez.

Gamemaster:This is how much he would have moved.

Gamemaster:How much he would have moved.

Benny:That feels weird.

Johnny:Josh, this is an important question.

Johnny:This hand of the void uses echolocation.

Gamemaster:Yeah?

Gamemaster:Yes.

Johnny:If Benny comes through and is silenced, does it effectively go blind?

Gamemaster:Anzu steps through, just to get a look around.

Gamemaster:He sees that all of the hands appear to have begun crawling towards where the orb is.

Anzu:Mm-hmm.

Gamemaster:Also of note, he steps through onto the other side, and his foot falls through

Gamemaster:the floor.

Gamemaster:It tears where he puts it.

Gamemaster:It seems that this area is very quickly degrading.

Gamemaster:The walls around the area have begun to push in towards where the hole is, and more of these creatures and larger creatures are starting to pull their way through gaps in the walls.

Anzu:Mm-hmm.

Gamemaster:You can see that there is one large hand

Gamemaster:that is pulling through, that takes up the majority of the right side of the wall, where it seems to have torn back some of the wall and is coming in.

Gamemaster:Rapidly, fissures are opening up in areas.

Gamemaster:You would guess, Anzu, that this place has six to twelve seconds, maybe, before it entirely collapses.

Argyle:Maybe Anzu should grab the orb and then we'll reach through the portal, grab Anzu and pull him out.

Anzu:Well, I have two more actions.

Argyle:Oh yeah, grab the orb and run.

Gamemaster:Correct.

Anzu:Can I grab the orb from where I stand?

Gamemaster:Uh-huh.

Gamemaster:I need an athletics check.

Gamemaster:It is smaller than before because you're moving it off of the ground instead of the area where it was designated to be, but it does require some strength to move.

Anzu:Um...

Anzu:I need to think because I'm going to fail that check.

Gamemaster:Uh-huh.

Anzu:There's no way that its bulk is two or less, is there?

Gamemaster:Its bulk is not two or less.

Anzu:Okay, so that negates that.

Gamemaster:For the sake of your spells, it has a bulk of four.

Anzu:Okay.

Argyle:Do you have a gravity well left?

Anzu:I do have a gravity well.

Argyle:Pull it and you back through the portal.

Johnny:Gravity Williams.

Anzu:All creatures and unsecured objects in the area move towards the center, depending on their reflex throws.

Benny:you

Anzu:I assume that an object... Rick, I mean, I can flourish cast the gravity well.

Gamemaster:It is an unsecured object.

Gamemaster:It would get pulled.

Anzu:with one action.

Anzu:So, let me take a look.

Anzu:If I place... I'm trying to see if I can place the burst without touching this one hand of the void.

Gamemaster:The ball will fail.

Anzu:And I don't think I can.

Anzu:Hold on.

Anzu:Um...

Anzu:The ball will fail?

Gamemaster:It cannot make a reflex save.

Gamemaster:If anything, I'm going to roll for it to see if it would critically fail.

Gamemaster:Which is to say, actually, I think it just automatically critically fails.

Johnny:Okay.

Gamemaster:It can't do anything.

Gamemaster:It's a ball.

Anzu:Okay, uh...

Anzu:And if it ends up anywhere in the black circle, it'll probably just fall through.

Anzu:Alright, then I think that I want to cast it right here.

Gamemaster:Correct.

Benny:you

Argyle:Yeah.

Gamemaster:OK, absolutely.

Gamemaster:These guys have to make reflex saves?

Anzu:Yeah, three and five.

Anzu:Oh, let me actually cast it for you.

Gamemaster:Thank you.

Gamemaster:That is a success and a failure on five.

Gamemaster:So five gets pulled.

Anzu:Great.

Gamemaster:There.

Gamemaster:This guy gets pulled there.

Gamemaster:And the orb gets pulled all the way in there.

Benny:you

Anzu:Oh, and I need to actually make the save as well.

Gamemaster:And it passes right through.

Gamemaster:Correct.

Anzu:Technically.

Gamemaster:You can choose to fail this one if you like.

Johnny:Good.

Gamemaster:Or actually, it's not a choice.

Anzu:Fail.

Gamemaster:You failed this one.

Gamemaster:And you similarly are pulled...

Gamemaster:15 feet in, which would overlap with Argyle, which is enough for you to flip into the other side as well.

Argyle:Yeah.

Benny:Thank you.

Gamemaster:You all pass through, as well as this one hand of the void that gets pulled in.

Gamemaster:You flip to the other side.

Gamemaster:This one hand also makes it to the other side.

Gamemaster:The portal starts to collapse behind you, and we'll pick it up next time.

Gamemaster:Because it is 1110.

Anzu:That's fair.

Anzu:Yeah.

Gamemaster:But the, I don't know why I'm playing around with the name.

Gamemaster:The Voidheart is successfully returned back into real space from where it is.

Argyle:We're going to grab this thing and run.

Benny:Wait, hold on.

Johnny:We also just dragged through this eldritch abomination.

Johnny:We just gotta start running.

Gamemaster:You did also do that, yes.

Johnny:But now, we're in a place where we're within ten feet of the boy that is silenced, versus there's just a bunch of targets everywhere that are just making noise.

Johnny:So... Yeah.

Anzu:Really, it's going to be closest to Grayson if we go by where he was before.

Argyle:Yeah.

Benny:I have a video.

Benny:This is going to be the Voidheart hanging out with Eerie.

Gamemaster:Oh, yes.

Benny:The original caption for this is the dog is the only one that realizes it's a fucking bobcat.

Argyle:Oh, I saw that.

Johnny:Thank you.

Argyle:Okay, can I talk to you alone?

Benny:Eerie, we brought you a friend.

Benny:Guys, what the fuck?

Benny:What the hell is this?

Argyle:That was a good game.

Gamemaster:That combat took longer than I expected it to.

Benny:Crazy session.

Argyle:Good session.

Johnny:Good combat.

Argyle:Yeah.

Anzu:Yeah, but it was kind of fun.

Gamemaster:But there was a lot going on.

Argyle:Oh.

Argyle:That was fun.

Johnny:Yeah.

Argyle:We also got in our own way at the end.

Argyle:We definitely shouldn't have followed Benny.

Argyle:But we're like, let's make this more complicated.

Anzu:Well, the thing is, if it went poorly for Benny because we didn't really know what it looked like over there, then that would have been sad.

Gamemaster:You...

Johnny:Yeah.

Argyle:But we knew they wouldn't echolocate.

Argyle:No, we knew they only had echolocate.

Argyle:And Benny ran super fast.

Anzu:Yeah.

Argyle:But we all...

Argyle:Yeah.

Johnny:But no, because they still would have ganged up on Benny if we weren't.

Argyle:Now we know for next Voidheart.

Argyle:We know for next Voidheart.

Gamemaster:Thank you.

Johnny:I mean, I guess we could have still pulled him through, but we wouldn't have known what to do.

Argyle:Well, Benny would have made it out without them being able to do anything to him.

Johnny:No, he wouldn't have, because it went two of them, him, all the other ones that made it through the silence and were able to attack him, and then it went back.

Argyle:I thought Benny spent multiple actions just pushing everyone else through.

Argyle:That means he could have gone through, right?

Benny:Yeah, Benny's been three actions pushing people through.

Johnny:Oh, shit.

Anzu:If it was just him, he would have made it through, yeah.

Argyle:yeah yeah yeah okay

Benny:Yeah.

Johnny:My bad.

Johnny:I forgot how the game actually went.

Benny:Trust the boy.

Johnny:Let's start setting Benny alone.

Benny:We should just start sending Benny.

Benny:It's the BBEG fight.

Benny:We all have to go in.

Benny:We're just going to get in his way.

Benny:Just buff him and walk away.

Johnny:We're going to go to fight Grayson.

Johnny:We'll be like, hi, Grayson.

Johnny:We're going to sit outside.

Johnny:It's just you and Benny.

Johnny:Grayson, you know what?

Johnny:Is it leaving the kid?

Benny:You sure you guys want to be here for this?

Argyle:We've got to get the Voidheart next session.

Argyle:Because now... Can you put it on the mat, Josh?

Gamemaster:Oh.

Gamemaster:Uh, yes.

Gamemaster:Yes, yes, yes.

Johnny:Yeah.

Johnny:Oh, the map has changed again.

Johnny:There's so many versions of this map with holes in the center.

Gamemaster:Yeah.

Gamemaster:Which is weird, because, like, I didn't request that.

Gamemaster:I saw it, and I'm like, oh, that's perfect.

Gamemaster:But I didn't, like, make map with hole in it.

Gamemaster:Somebody was just like, you know what we need?

Gamemaster:A ballroom, but, like, with eight different versions of hole in ballroom.

Johnny:Ugh, we got it.

Benny:Respectable honestly.

Johnny:We gotta grab the Voidheart and just run.

Gamemaster:yeah listen there are pros and cons to that approach

Johnny:And then Grayson and Manus can deal with this.

Argyle:I mean, yeah, they might just try to, I don't know, dominate it, and then we have to deal with one of these things in the future.

Johnny:Dude, if they can dominate it, we're already screwed by Grayson.

Johnny:Maybe he only has one dominate.

Argyle:Bishop and Lance and Ichel is also here, so maybe all three groups could...

Argyle:Take care of it.

Gamemaster:Do something about it.

Argyle:Yeah.

Benny:Hey guys, fight's not over.

Argyle:Because I...

Benny:We're leaving because we're almost dead.

Benny:Bye.

Johnny:Oh, sorry.

Johnny:You guys can't do this.

Benny:We brought some hands.

Gamemaster:From all of their perspectives, it's very strange.

Gamemaster:They saw the four of you standing on the edge of this thing, buffing the nine-year-old, and then you all jump in, and 12 seconds later, two of you jump out, and the other two drag out the unconscious bodies of the friends.

Gamemaster:and then jump back in, and then come out again, but with this weird glowing purple thing and a Giant monster made out of hands.

Gamemaster:The whole thing took 12 seconds.

Argyle:And they're just going to be like, maybe you guys shouldn't have been fucking with this.

Johnny:Listen, we have to establish immediately who the craziest people on board this ship are.

Gamemaster:And you've done it.

Argyle:And we sealed it.

Argyle:The thing is sealing now.

Argyle:So we closed it.

Gamemaster:It is closing up much faster than it would have otherwise.

Argyle:Yeah.

Anzu:I feel like we made a good impression.

Gamemaster:Of course.

Anzu:Even going back to the beginning of the session.

Anzu:We were lethal.

Argyle:Yeah.

Anzu:We exercised good teamwork.

Anzu:Even when investigating the whole, they were all aides and multiple people making checks.

Anzu:I think we made a good impression on everybody.

Argyle:And Grayson's going to be like, these people are fucking crazy.

Argyle:These people are crazy.

Gamemaster:Grayson definitely thinks these people are crazy.

Gamemaster:Grayson saw that you guys can hold your own in combat.

Gamemaster:Grayson now saw you pull this weird hand creature out of whatever's going on there.

Gamemaster:He also sees the strange purple orb, which will be interesting to him in some fashion.

Anzu:we might have done so well that he feels like he needs to recruit us.

Gamemaster:You guys want to be friends with Grayson?

Anzu:He's like, he saw what happened today and was like, I was going to kill everybody here, but you know what?

Johnny:I mean, that's what we would do.

Anzu:Maybe not.

Gamemaster:We'll be friends.

Anzu:Maybe we should do this together.

Argyle:I assume Grayson's not going to see this weird orb and weird thing and immediately in six seconds be like, that's my orb.

Argyle:Let's hope that doesn't happen.

Argyle:That'd be some crazy level.

Johnny:That's what we would do if Josh threw us into combat and it started the combat by someone falling out of a hole with a Giant crystal.

Argyle:In six seconds?

Benny:Balloons.

Johnny:We would all go, get that crystal.

Gamemaster:That's true.

Gamemaster:You would.

Gamemaster:100%.

Gamemaster:This was a good one.

Argyle:Yeah.

Argyle:All right.

Argyle:Well, adios, we judges.

Gamemaster:Thanks, y'all.

Gamemaster:See you next week.

Anzu:Yeah, Monday sounds pretty good to me.

Argyle:Geish.

Gamemaster:Great.

Johnny:See ya.

Gamemaster:I'll see you all then.

Anzu:Later.

Gamemaster:Adios.