Mike:Now recording.
Mike:I said a lot of things slowly.
Josh:Did you say that slowly or did Discord do a funky thing?
Mike:I still sound at half speed.
Josh:Well, because it sounds like you're at half speed right now for me.
Josh:And I can't tell if it's something you're doing on your end or if it's Discord doing something.
Josh:Yes, you do.
Josh:You sound like you're very drunk.
Mike:Thank you.
Josh:Thank you.
Josh:Thank you.
Josh:you you
Josh:you
Josh:Hello.
Tanner:Whoa.
Josh:Hello.
Tanner:Hi, Josh.
Josh:Hi.
Tanner:I was just clicking the channel like over and over again.
Tanner:I just wasn't doing anything.
Josh:You were, for me, you had been in the channel for some time.
Josh:Like, a few months.
Tanner:I wasn't bouncing in and out.
Tanner:I just joined.
Josh:No, yeah, no.
Josh:Not bouncing in and out.
Josh:You were just here, and you were ignoring.
Tanner:Fascinating.
Tanner:Well, that was not my intention.
Tanner:So, you know, apologies and whatnot.
Josh:Well, I'm still going to look against you, so.
Tanner:We all got a little delayed tonight, it seems.
Josh:Yeah.
Tanner:Except Mike.
Tanner:I saw Mike was in here earlier.
Tanner:Now he's gone again.
Josh:Mike was in here, and then when I joined, it sounded like Discord had decided he was going to be very drunk, so it just slowed him down to half speed.
Tanner:Oh boy.
Josh:And I don't know what he's trying to do to resolve that because he left and he hasn't been back.
Tanner:That's not ideal.
Josh:He'll figure something out, I'm sure.
Tanner:I need to switch my setup here from work mode to Dungeons & Dragons mode.
Josh:It's fine because I'm still doing things.
Tanner:Alright, well that's good.
Josh:Oh, we have another.
Tanner:That's progress.
Tanner:Heyo!
Noah:I admit it.
Noah:I admit it.
Noah:Hello?
Tanner:It's all good.
Tanner:We're all a bit delayed.
Tanner:Allegedly, Mike is having technical difficulties.
Tanner:Oh!
Noah:Oh, no.
Josh:Mike beat us here.
Josh:Oh, actually, I'm sure he said stuff to Craig, because Craig did say that it saved something from just Mike.
Mike:No.
Josh:Mike, did you bully Craig again?
Josh:You sound fine now.
Mike:I didn't really connect.
Josh:You didn't bully Craig?
Josh:So when I... Sorry?
Mike:I did listen to some pump-up music with him.
Mike:I listened to some pump-up music.
Mike:We were hanging out.
Josh:okay discord doesn't let me upload the voice recording because it thinks it's a virus so uh i guess it's just for me
Tanner:Now I don't know if I believe him about not bullying Craig.
Mike:Depends if he liked the music, I guess.
Mike:I don't know.
Tanner:That's fair.
Mike:I'm not Craig.
Mike:Did you listen to the whole thing?
Noah:Thank you.
Mike:I think it's fantastic because I know it's something that Josh will personally hate.
Josh:No, it's six minutes long.
Josh:I just hit play and it's silence right now and I don't want to scrub through until I find you doing whatever you're doing with Craig.
Josh:He's in there somewhere.
Josh:I'll find it later.
Josh:Oh, that's terrible.
Josh:That's not good motivation for me to go and find it.
Tanner:Oh, what?
Tanner:You don't like jazz, Josh?
Tanner:Is that it?
Josh:I mean, I don't like jazz.
Josh:But I assume that isn't what Mike was playing.
Josh:That doesn't sound like a pump-up song for Mike.
Mike:No.
Josh:I guess I could be wrong.
Josh:Is that a pump-up song for you, Mike?
Josh:Jazz?
Mike:No.
Josh:Okay.
Josh:I have to...
Tanner:Oh, Mike must have been listening to Eminem's Venom song that played at the end of the first Venom movie.
Josh:I didn't know Eminem had a Venom song.
Mike:He's got a couple.
Mike:No, it is.
Mike:It was high quality, I'll say that.
Josh:It was high quality.
Josh:Do I believe you?
Mike:It's one of the only artists that I know Josh hates.
Josh:What artists do I hate?
Josh:Like, I'm sure I do.
Josh:I just can't think of it now.
Tanner:I have no idea.
Tanner:So Mike is more.
Noah:you you
Mike:Just play it.
Mike:It's towards the end when I started pumping up.
Mike:I did taunt him in the beginning.
Josh:Oh, okay.
Josh:You did folder six.
Josh:I have too many new folders.
Josh:I cut it down to just the two minutes where there's sound.
Tanner:Have you already discovered what... Oh.
Josh:I didn't listen to it.
Josh:I just looked at the audio form.
Josh:I'm going to... You're right.
Mike:I think it starts around 30 seconds if you want to hear the song.
Josh:I hate this man so much.
Josh:I hate this.
Josh:I got 15 seconds.
Josh:I think that's all I need to understand what was happening there.
Mike:I was making grilled cheese and holding the phone up to the microphone for like two minutes.
Josh:So the question is, did you think, I need to fuck with Craig, and by extension, Josh.
Noah:Thank you.
Josh:I know what will do that, and then you pull up Dracula Flow.
Josh:Or separately, are you listening to Dracula Flow on your own, and then you remember, oh wait, Josh hates this, let me play it into the voice recorder.
Tanner:Let me try to redeem you.
Mike:No, it was the first one, but I will admit to independently and alone listening to Dracula Flow at random times in the day in like, fucking, I don't know, like... Probably.
Josh:Okay.
Josh:Don't humanize him.
Noah:Why do you need the whole thing committed to memory?
Tanner:Is it one of those things where you need to get it out of your head and that's why you play it?
Mike:I think it...
Josh:Don't do that.
Mike:It's probably more because I'm like, how did that line go?
Mike:And then I want to fully commit the whole thing to memory, so I listen to it again.
Josh:Why do you need any of it committed to memory?
Mike:Because the lines are intricate and they're worth remembering.
Tanner:party trip first I want to say that I dig Noah's shirt and then we can start I like yeah pretty sick
Josh:You definitely don't need to do that.
Mike:Let me pull up the lyrics from Genius.com.
Josh:How do we feel about playing some Pathfinder?
Noah:Oh, thank you.
Noah:It's like, yeah, it's like three flannels in one.
Josh:The multi-flannel.
Mike:all flannel.
Noah:I don't know what it's like where you guys are, but it's officially autumn out here, so it's flannel season.
Josh:Very fancy.
Tanner:Oddly, today was hot.
Josh:It hit 80 degrees today.
Josh:Yeah.
Tanner:But it was cold last week.
Noah:Oh.
Josh:They turned on the heat in my building.
Josh:And I can't turn it off.
Noah:Oh.
Tanner:Oh, that sucks.
Noah:So it's just hot.
Josh:Yeah, normally it's fine because I keep the windows open, but it was literally 80 degrees out today.
Josh:So I just, I died is what happened.
Josh:This is my ghost.
Noah:Oh, interesting.
Josh:The problem is the demographics of my building is like 70% old people.
Noah:It's very lifelike.
Josh:So they need the warmth or else they'll shrivel up, I guess.
Tanner:yeah a lot of places there's like a date it's like at this date that he goes on and it stays on yeah
Josh:I don't know why warm people need to be hot, but they do.
Josh:And so I'm not going to win when I say, please just turn off the heat.
Josh:Which would be fine if I could turn it off.
Josh:But I can't.
Mike:i thought the heat would automatically go on in my building as well but it turns out i have to turn it on so for like five days i was like when the are they gonna turn this and then i was like then i just started playing with my thermostat and i turned the heat on and i was like oh
Noah:Ooh, flannel season.
Josh:Nice.
Tanner:Because it got cold.
Josh:It was nice.
Tanner:There were a couple nights last week that were in the 40s.
Tanner:I mean, it was frigid.
Josh:I appreciated it.
Josh:But no.
Josh:It's fine.
Josh:It'll get cold again later.
Josh:And then I'll have an excuse to wear flannels again.
Tanner:Yeah.
Josh:Flannels are good.
Tanner:Well, Colorado is whack, though, because you get crazy swings in temperature over there.
Noah:Yeah, it'll probably snow in, like, five days.
Noah:But then on Christmas, it'll be, like, 65 degrees and sunny.
Josh:Get your snow in early.
Josh:That's how every winter goes, obviously.
Noah:Well, then we'll wait a little bit.
Noah:It'll snow, like, in February, get nice again.
Noah:And then, like, mid-April, worst storm of the season.
Tanner:It's a crazy place.
Tanner:Their weather doesn't make sense to me.
Josh:Yeah.
Noah:Yeah.
Noah:It's like if someone took all the seasons and just like shook them like a snow globe.
Josh:Okay.
Tanner:Sorry, we can play, Josh.
Josh:So now... We don't have to.
Tanner:Yeah.
Josh:I mean, I'm fine not.
Tanner:Well, my plan was to just make a little shirt comment and then, you know, we really got into it.
Josh:Derailed it.
Josh:Talked about flannels.
Josh:It was terrible.
Josh:No recap.
Josh:I'm trying to think if there's anything I want to make you guys do instead for a hero point.
Josh:Does anybody have a good suggestion about what would be worth a hero point at the beginning of the session?
Josh:Yes.
Mike:Reciting five lines from any Dracula flow.
Josh:Okay, so your character is going to start without hero points.
Noah:What?
Tanner:Oh, can we make Mike?
Tanner:Can you juggle?
Tanner:We should make Mike juggle to get his hero point back.
Josh:Yeah, can you juggle?
Mike:Juggle?
Mike:I can try.
Mike:I only have knives near me.
Josh:If you can juggle, that's fine.
Mike:I'm at my desk.
Josh:Where are you?
Josh:That doesn't answer any questions.
Noah:Why do you have so many knives near your desk?
Mike:in case what's good juggle any i have lots of glass things is that good to juggle i have glass knives i have a ceramic gnome i can juggle him oh that's actually a great
Josh:Of what?
Noah:What is happening in your apartment?
Josh:I think maybe juggling was a bad suggestion because Mike's going to hurt himself or others.
Noah:Mike only has... Is your apartment just knives, glass, and a ceramic gnome?
Tanner:Dude, get some bundled up socks, oh my gosh.
Josh:No, I like the knives and ceramic gnome idea.
Josh:Can we go back to that?
Josh:That's all you need.
Mike:I'll do two socks and a ceramic gnome.
Noah:Okay.
Mike:Final offer.
Josh:I'll take it.
Tanner:Wow.
Tanner:Wow.
Tanner:Now I'm feeling like I should have a ceramic gnome.
Mike:I won it.
Josh:Where?
Mike:Bingo on a family trip.
Josh:The prize was a ceramic gnome?
Tanner:Honestly, I would be psyched to win that.
Mike:There were many kids that were crying, freaking the fuck out that they didn't win bingo yet, and I got a ceramic gnome.
Noah:Pretty impressed.
Josh:You beat a bunch of children to get a ceramic gnome?
Noah:Wait, so you don't know how to juggle?
Mike:Family members, actually.
Josh:Okay, that's good.
Mike:How the fuck do you even juggle?
Mike:It's like...
Tanner:you know i just was like i asked first i was like mike can you juggle it
Noah:I thought that you could juggle and Tanner was like, oh, let's see you juggle.
Mike:I can't throw the gnome.
Mike:I didn't say yes.
Josh:Yeah, I...
Mike:Someone just said, okay, then juggle.
Josh:I will give you the hero point back for really trying there.
Noah:I thought you could juggle.
Mike:Well, I threw the gnome.
Mike:I got three things in my hands, and I threw the gnome, and the gnome quickly went out of control.
Josh:I saw you abort throwing the gnome halfway through.
Noah:It looked impressive.
Josh:That's juggling.
Mike:It's close.
Josh:It's juggling one thing, but it is juggling.
Mike:Well, it's two things.
Josh:We can't see your hands because they're off the screen, so it just looks like you're just throwing a sock up and down.
Josh:You get a hero point.
Josh:You get a hero point, okay?
Mike:Nice.
Josh:You've sold me on it.
Josh:Everybody starts with one hero point.
Josh:Okay.
Josh:Yeah, no recap.
Josh:None of that stuff.
Josh:We are going to do this one-shot on the assumption that you guys already know who each other are because you are co-workers and presumably have interacted in front of a water cooler or something like that.
Josh:So I think as a way to lean into this, I would appreciate if all of you could describe your characters to each other.
Noah:Sure, I will go first.
Noah:I am Banyan.
Noah:I'm an orc.
Josh:Bye.
Noah:A little short for most orts.
Noah:Pretty stocky, though.
Noah:Well-dressed for the office.
Noah:Maybe no sport coat, but some nice suspenders and a nice shirt.
Noah:Sleeves are down.
Noah:Still a tie.
Noah:Just look like I'm here for a day at work.
Noah:But there is, like, a puka shell necklace.
Noah:Like, I went to Mexico once and bought a cheap puka shell necklace.
Josh:Does it have, like, a single shark's tooth made out of plaster hanging from it?
Tanner:You've got also I guess currently very well dressed in
Noah:Yes, and I've told everyone it's a real shark's tooth from a real shark, and everyone knows it's not, except for me.
Josh:Nice.
Josh:And I'm sorry, I don't know if I actually caught your name.
Noah:I'm Banyan.
Josh:Ben.
Josh:Okay.
Josh:Who else?
Tanner:Clearly, like, high class, expensive material kind of almost designer outfit with, like, dark kind of slicked back hair.
Tanner:A human man, relatively built.
Tanner:This is Giancarlo.
Josh:Okay, Banyan and Giancarlo.
Josh:Giancarlo, I can't say that name for some reason.
Josh:What's her heart?
Josh:Mike, who are you?
Mike:um in front of you stands almost blending into the background um brooding under a hood uh pulled back to reveal black fur with silver silver linings coming off the eye uh this is the brooding uh crindle Vilksnake crindle Vilksnake
Tanner:Oh, wait, let's run that one back.
Josh:What, you didn't immediately get Crindle Vilksnake?
Noah:I'm sure that you have, like... I'm sure that you have, like, a cool, like, silver eye thing, but all I imagine is you have, like, silver mascara with, like, a smoky eye thing going on.
Mike:That's probably pretty accurate.
Josh:Okay.
Mike:Josh said to me, hey, you didn't include a name, and I forgot the name I picked, and I was like, I'm pretty sure there's a name there.
Josh:And then I go, and I think what happened is that I saw it, and then to protect me, my brain immediately forgot it.
Noah:Yeah.
Mike:That's what my brain did when I came up with it.
Mike:Because you asked me, I was like, I can't remember, but it was something Vilksnake, and...
Josh:Okay, so...
Tanner:Josh, I have a question.
Tanner:With the glowing rings that people have, at what level would you get a first ring or something like that?
Tanner:How does that...
Josh:Okay, so this is like taking a step back, I guess, given that I've put a little more effort into this setting than other one-shot settings, just by virtue of the fact that I expect that we'll spend a lot of time here in the next campaign.
Josh:So there are wacky things going on just to be fun.
Josh:In particular, this setting holds something that is the conceit of levels, as in like levels in the game as a real mechanical thing.
Josh:So...
Josh:people get blessed by the gods, and as they do so, there is an increase in power and new ability and the like, which is synonymous with the leveling system present in Pathfinder as a system.
Josh:So, level one, you get something indicating that you have received a blessing from a god, and the...
Josh:the visual of that particular thing, the visual of the blessing, is different depending on which god has blessed you.
Josh:So for Calaria, which is a theocracy, it's governed by the Iridescent Church, follows the iridescent host.
Josh:Blessings from the host tend to be in golden color, but with a sheen on it, like an oil slick, where there are...
Josh:At the first level, you kind of just get a very faint ring behind your head, like you might see in a Renaissance painting, where saints and the like have the glowing behind their head, which would just look like a floating, semi-transparent...
Josh:golden metal ring with, as you move around, it kind of shines with this rainbowy color.
Josh:As you receive more blessings, as your blessings become more powerful, you get more rings, more light is emitted, you get spokes coming out of the rings, it starts to grow down the arms.
Josh:culminating in the current pontifex the head of the church is a level 30 and is immediately obvious from looking at her she's completely coated in this golden armor that lets off light for 60 feet in every direction it is
Josh:very obvious who this person is.
Josh:And to the point that you can look at somebody and vaguely identify how powerful they are, how blessed they are, so to speak, within the range of a few levels or something.
Josh:most people have blessings of at least one level.
Josh:We have, like, this setting is very, very, like, power scaling above all things, in that in all things, you go up to a commoner and, like, general rules as written, like, two cats can KO the average commoner in one round.
Josh:That is not the case in Færrin.
Josh:Almost everybody has at least one level of a blessing.
Josh:The average common or stat block is probably going to be on par with, like, a level 2 or 3 monster, from all things.
Josh:People are strong.
Josh:More generally, besides that, we have visited the setting once before in another one-shot, so you have a vibe of it, you know that there is a professor...
Josh:With too many fingers, it gets longer every time you look at them.
Josh:But beyond that, general aesthetics of the setting are 1930s, 1940s Western Europe.
Josh:I want it to have vibes of Western Central Europe during World War II.
Josh:We have planes, we have cars, trains, and all of that kind of stuff, but we're not quite at...
Josh:computers yet.
Josh:We have the basics of them, but they're not quite here.
Josh:And so we've got that interesting mix of starting to move into digital, but not quite at digital yet.
Josh:You all are members of the Actinium Convox.
Josh:Basically...
Josh:The way I described it in the blurb is that a convox is like a government agency.
Josh:It's kind of representative of during the Crusades, you had different organizations within the Catholic Church that were their own self-operating entities that were all members of the Church.
Josh:Or in the United States, you have the CIA, the FBI, the NSA are all...
Josh:technically members under the government, but have their own internal organizational structures and the like.
Josh:The Calarian government is effectively like 50 or so different convoxes that all work under the same trench coat of the Calarian government.
Josh:So your particular Convox, the Actinian Convox, is a weapons development Convox.
Josh:You are actively at War with the dirty, dirty Raelians, a country that is just across the border to the northern side of Calaria that worships a different...
Mike:Yeah.
Josh:Okay, so in theory, the reason that Calaria is at War with them is they worship a deity different than the host.
Josh:They worship the compelled instead, for the most part.
Josh:In practice, it's more because there's a lot of competition over resources, because Raelion is one of the most technologically advanced countries on the planet against Calaria, and Calaria doesn't like having to...
Josh:deal with competing with them for resources, so they thought it would be better to just try and kill them.
Josh:This is like the nth in many, many wars that have happened between the two countries.
Josh:The only difference is, this particular conflict, your Convox has discovered what they believe to be a...
Josh:The bomb to end all wars.
Josh:And they would like for you to be able to test it out on the Rayleigh.
Noah:That's crazy.
Josh:So.
Josh:Yes.
Josh:So.
Josh:You are all part of a particular special project developing this weapon in the Actinia Convox.
Josh:This is the Final Dawn project.
Josh:You've been working on the Midnight Sun.
Josh:That's the name of the bomb, they're calling it.
Josh:And it has been completed.
Josh:It has been tested, and it is ready for a field deployment.
Josh:So you all have been summoned to a room...
Josh:In the Actinium Convox's headquarters, you are... You've been summoned by a missive from the mind that runs this particular area of the... Sorry, not the mind.
Josh:The heart that runs this particular area of the gray area.
Josh:Um...
Josh:Different hearts have different personalities.
Josh:Gray Area was chosen to lead this particular Convox because it doesn't have the same scruples that some other hearts might have.
Josh:So it and its companion heart in the Oculum Convox ethics gradient have been coordinating this particular project.
Josh:So...
Josh:You've been summoned by Gray Area into one of the rooms in this particular Fane.
Josh:When the three of you arrive there, you are met by a haggard-looking, clearly-hasn't-slept-in-days dwarven man wearing the maroon-red coloration of the uniform that people...
Josh:tend to um who will who sat at a desk uh that has chairs set up for the three of you who is pouring over what looks to be a particularly hefty document um and he sees the three of you as you uh head up to the door and he says come in come in um
Josh:You take a seat.
Josh:Good to meet all of you.
Josh:I don't think I've seen you before.
Josh:I'm John Kilgore, Bishop, Second Class.
Josh:I will be your handler for this mission.
Josh:And he starts handing out pieces of the dossier that he's holding for you all to take a look at.
Josh:You will see as he passes them over to you, the dossier is split up into description of the ordinance, and then...
Josh:where they'd like it to be detonated.
Josh:He says, Mission simple, lads.
Josh:We have completed the Midnight Sun explosive, and it needs to be physically planted on top of a ley line.
Josh:once and for all.
Josh:Normally, we would just drop this out of an airframe like we have previously, but this thing is too fragile.
Josh:It will not survive hitting the ground, and unfortunately, it does need to be intact to be detonated.
Josh:That's where the three of you come in.
Josh:We are going to need you to infiltrate Orilon.
Josh:the railing city that we've chosen as the particular target of this attack.
Josh:We will arrange for a night ride on an airframe towards the city.
Josh:It's your choice if you want to drop on the outskirts and find your way in that way, or if you want to drop straight onto the city itself and deal with the heat that might come from that.
Josh:Either is up to you.
Josh:But regardless, you will have to get into the city proper one way or another.
Josh:And then we need this bomb to be detonated specifically
Josh:And he hands out a map to you and he points to where they believe the Fane may be.
Josh:It's kind of like slightly off-center.
Josh:The bomb only works if it's placed in the center of a ley line and the Fane was built directly on top of it.
Josh:So this is a two-for-one.
Josh:You get to take out a Fane, you get to take out one of their... And you get to wipe the city off the face of the planet.
Josh:The bomb is much too fragile to be moved, so he goes and he takes out of a satchel at a side a spike made of some silver material about a foot long that on the end of it looks to be a massive pearl.
Josh:And he hands it over to whoever of you would pick it up.
Josh:that there is a beacon.
Josh:It's what we will use to transmit the bomb in place.
Josh:We need you to get into the Fane, find the heart, and jab that straight into the center of the
Josh:When you do so, it will power itself by drawing energy from the heart.
Josh:We will get a lock on it, and we will be able to transmit the bomb to that location.
Josh:Then it's a simple matter of activating the bomb.
Josh:If you look at the display, you'll note it'll show a command.
Josh:You just have to repeat the command, and that will work.
Josh:Any questions?
Josh:Yes.
Tanner:Yes, well, first I would like to say Glory to the Iridescent Host.
Tanner:And second, do we get some kind of timer to get out?
Josh:No, we will transmit you back out once the bomb is armed.
Tanner:You have means for our escape.
Josh:It's associated with the bomb.
Josh:The beacon attached to the bomb provides a two-way transportation.
Josh:So once the bomb is there and armed, you'll come back the same way.
Tanner:Hello.
Josh:Yes.
Noah:Two things.
Noah:First, can I do an insight check on if we're actually going to make it out of this?
Josh:Sure.
Josh:Absolutely.
Josh:Roll perception, please.
Noah:That's not great.
Mike:I would also like to check, but I have lie to me.
Tanner:Hello.
Noah:24.
Mike:So if you engage in conversation with someone who's trying to lie to you, use your deception DC.
Mike:If it is higher than your perception DC, determine whether they succeed.
Mike:Should I just roll a deception check then?
Josh:Yeah, if you are... Yeah, roll a deception check instead of a perception check.
Noah:Thank you.
Mike:Oh, actually, I guess I haven't said anything.
Mike:So it says this doesn't apply if you don't have a back and forth dialogue.
Josh:If you don't have a back-and-forth dialogue, the implication is that you already have to interact with the person, so it's fine.
Mike:I see.
Mike:Also, your mic is cutting out occasionally.
Mike:34 on the deception check.
Tanner:Oh.
Josh:Let's see.
Josh:I'm going to move it closer to my face and see if that helps at all.
Mike:34.
Mike:34.
Josh:Great.
Josh:What'd you get, sorry?
Josh:34.
Josh:Okay, so with the one in the 20 range, Bishop Kilgore is very much tight-lipped.
Josh:I mean, given the position of where he currently is, he's good at hiding his demeanor.
Josh:You got a 31?
Josh:34.
Josh:Okay, sorry.
Josh:34.
Josh:So, you know that the beacon could actually be used to teleport you back here.
Josh:He's not giving away enough if they actually intend to.
Josh:I think there's definitely a seed of doubt there.
Josh:You know that it isn't immediately impossible, what he's promising, but you don't know if there is any intention of bringing you back.
Mike:Okay.
Noah:Also, you know, glory to the iridescent host.
Noah:So, you know, you said that there are two ways we could be getting in, either be airdropping in or sort of dropping outside the city and then, you know, do a little walkie-woo inside.
Josh:Sure.
Noah:What sort of defenses would you be looking at for both of those?
Tanner:Thank you.
Josh:So getting into the city from the exterior will be a little difficult if you're trying to go in through the gate.
Josh:We have, and then he'll go and he'll pull out of his satchel three...
Josh:like brown sludge-looking potions in vials, and he will hand them to each of you.
Josh:That will temporarily change the color of your raiment so that it looks silver like the Compelleds instead of like ours.
Noah:Ooh.
Josh:It will last for 10 minutes.
Josh:only each have one.
Josh:You can use that to walk through the open with relative ease for a short period of time, but unfortunately it will not last the entire time that you're likely in the city, so you can try and make use of that.
Mike:Thank you.
Josh:They will also check for ID.
Josh:So you'll either need to find out some way of getting ID or skipping the gate and finding some other alternate way into the city proper.
Josh:Unfortunately, this is relatively far in Raelion territory, so we don't have a good map of the city itself.
Josh:We just have this crude, the one that they gave you.
Josh:Of course, if you try landing directly in the city, there is a chance that they spot you.
Josh:They will have eyes directly above the city instead of...
Josh:like five miles away and you have to walk.
Josh:If you're pursuing that route, they will absolutely have both spotlights and anti-airframe batteries used typically to shoot aircraft out of the sky, but I imagine it would work just as well on you.
Josh:So I would either plan some way to evade them or figure out some way to stop yourself from being seen in the first place.
Josh:But if you have any of those, that is doable.
Josh:Either way, once you're in the city, one way or the other, getting into the Fane will be difficult.
Josh:You definitely won't be able to go in through the front door.
Josh:However, we do know that they have a sewer system, and that the sewer system is both populated, but not particularly well kept.
Josh:So we imagine there would be a way in through the sewer system, if you could find out.
Josh:It's up to you to figure out where in the sewers would lead in, though.
Mike:Now when you say populated... When you say populated, will they be asking any questions about identification in the sewers?
Josh:Oh no.
Josh:Oh no, it's Dracula.
Tanner:Yes, I think that is a good idea.
Josh:Likely not.
Mike:Gentlemen, perhaps we should go the sewer route.
Tanner:Is it like kind of the, like that's the thing?
Josh:So there is a river that runs down through the center of the city, and then slightly offset from that is where they believe the Fane will be.
Josh:Unfortunately, they don't know what it looks like on the inside by the Fane, because the Fane is controlled by whatever heart they have there.
Josh:They do know that the operating heart in that part of the city is the Bones Have Eyes, but beyond that, they don't know anything else about it.
Josh:That's the name of the heart.
Noah:No.
Josh:I don't know why you're looking at me like that.
Noah:No.
Noah:No.
Josh:I didn't come up with it.
Noah:That's the worst.
Noah:That's the worst name.
Mike:So it's well known that the heart in this city is we're all going to die one day.
Josh:Hey!
Josh:The heart that's managing your convox is colloquially known as meat fucker because it likes to just read people's minds whenever they go by.
Josh:Hearts are not... That's its name!
Noah:The bones have eyes?
Noah:The bones?
Noah:That's horrifying.
Mike:But that's like your transmission was interrupted by the most terrifying three-word writer of the century.
Mike:Four words.
Josh:It's like a two-sentence horror story on Reddit.
Mike:yeah it's like you have four words scare as many people as possible the bones have eyes he thought
Noah:Still not as bad as the bones have eyes.
Josh:Listen.
Josh:Listen.
Josh:During the campaign and the setting, you guys are going to have to deal with, I've just decided now, a heart called The Creature.
Josh:That's just the name of the heart.
Josh:That's what you're dealing with now.
Josh:The bones have eyes, my guy.
Mike:He thought the bed was clear, but when he laid down, next to him was the creature.
Noah:baby shoes for sale.
Noah:The bones have eyes.
Josh:Either way.
Tanner:The good news is if we take care of the Bones Have Eyes now, we won't have to deal with it in the next campaign.
Josh:Correct.
Noah:So we just got to deal with that now.
Josh:If it helps, you can just call it bones.
Josh:I don't know if that's better.
Tanner:Do we have any kind of connection to anyone in the city via perhaps some espionage or...
Josh:No.
Tanner:Okay.
Tanner:Well, that's fine.
Noah:Okay, so once we go in there, we're just on our own in there.
Josh:It's the count?
Noah:Okay, well, luckily we have each other, right, fellas?
Tanner:Of course.
Mike:One.
Mike:One party member.
Mike:Yes.
Mike:We have each other, we have each other, of course.
Mike:We will also have the stench of the sewers bringing us together.
Mike:Uh-uh.
Josh:Okay.
Noah:Oh, yeah, I can turn to maybe like a little like a fly or a rat.
Tanner:all right wow this is interesting um no uh but i have a question for the rest of you say we went in uh you know from the air just right into the city are either of you capable of uh concealing
Josh:Do you have any other questions for Bishop Kilgore?
Noah:or a small lizard, or maybe a small cat, or a praying mantis, or maybe like an inchworm, or like a gerbil.
Tanner:Right, but... Right, yeah, okay, yes, but... But nothing that... Nothing that can hide all of us, just yourself.
Mike:Five.
Mike:Six.
Josh:How did...
Mike:Six.
Noah:I'll just keep going if you guys don't stop me.
Mike:Just wait for Giancarlo to blow his brains out.
Mike:He just says a new animal and then the count counts it.
Mike:The bishop just leaves the room at like three.
Mike:Like, I'm fucking...
Noah:I could maybe turn into a kangaroo and one of you could fit in a pouch.
Tanner:No, I don't think that's the answer either.
Josh:Would a kangaroo be harder to spot than a person?
Tanner:Okay.
Tanner:Well, it might give someone enough pause that you could make it to the ground before they decide to fire.
Noah:This is an important question to go, though.
Tanner:Oh, that was a mistake.
Josh:That's fair.
Noah:Are there kangaroo people in this setting?
Josh:Yeah.
Josh:I've decided yes.
Noah:I'm gonna save that.
Noah:Next one-shot character is just Kangaroo Jack.
Tanner:That was a big mistake.
Mike:So if we are dropping into the city, how quickly would we be able to reach the ground?
Josh:Yeah, that's fine.
Josh:It's on record.
Josh:It's been recorded.
Noah:Thank you for a month.
Josh:Yeah.
Mike:How much time have we spent in the air?
Mike:One minute in the air.
Noah:Josh, do you have gravity?
Noah:Do you have the gravitational constant in the setting?
Tanner:Well, I assume it's like a parachute kind of scenario.
Noah:Oh, I thought we were just, like, slipping into the ground.
Josh:It's about 35 to 45 seconds of free fall and 4 to 5 minutes of canopy run.
Mike:Holy shit.
Noah:Oh.
Tanner:That's a long way.
Noah:That's a real long time in the air.
Mike:I mean, by God, let's take the sewers.
Josh:I just looked up how long it takes to skydive.
Noah:Ah!
Josh:Like...
Noah:Yeah, that's about right.
Noah:It takes a while.
Mike:It's 45 minutes if you're good.
Mike:It's 10 minutes if you're bad.
Tanner:okay so i think that uh our answer is maybe land outside the city and maybe find a back way in i don't yeah there's got to be some other way through those walls than just the front door
Noah:Yeah, maybe take the sewers or climb over a fence or something.
Mike:Yes.
Mike:Arrived.
Mike:One.
Noah:Yeah, we could swim a river.
Noah:I could be a salmon or maybe a mackerel or maybe like a flounder or...
Mike:Two.
Mike:Three.
Josh:You've got so many animals.
Tanner:I'm not capable of following you in this way.
Mike:Three.
Josh:Okay, jump cut.
Josh:You guys are now on the interior of an aircraft.
Josh:Flying for a few hours at this point.
Josh:Towards your target.
Josh:The captain will speak over the loudspeaker.
Josh:Alright, we're out.
Josh:Discord!
Josh:Discord!
Noah:Oh, me too.
Mike:Yeah, I think everyone is for me.
Tanner:yellow probably yeah
Mike:So this is Discord?
Mike:That's crazy.
Mike:That's a rare one.
Mike:Great, never heard of that.
Josh:Still a Discord issue.
Josh:Wait.
Mike:oh wow those engineers are fast yeah it was like 30 seconds until someone was like pseudo remove lag and then
Josh:Better?
Noah:Oh, wow.
Josh:It definitely had nothing to do with us leaving and going back, but it's fine.
Tanner:Thank you.
Josh:I'll take it.
Josh:I was curious, so I looked at Discord status, and the only issue they're currently having, according to them, is Discord isn't reachable in Russia and Turkey.
Josh:So if any of you are in Russia or Turkey, that might be the issue.
Mike:Oh.
Noah:I am in Turkey.
Mike:I'm in both, actually.
Noah:I'm in Turkey right now.
Mike:I'm in the Caspian Sea?
Mike:The Dead Sea?
Noah:Caspian Sea.
Josh:Definitely not the Dead Sea.
Mike:Caspian Sea?
Josh:But even if it were the Caspian Sea, I don't think there's any point where their borders overlap.
Mike:In the sea they do.
Noah:Let's see.
Josh:Either way.
Noah:Oh, no.
Josh:Mike is floating in the Black Sea with a bunch of knives, some socks, and a note.
Noah:Is it the Black Sea?
Noah:Oh, yeah.
Noah:Hang on.
Noah:so we're on the airplane yeah I could be maybe like a big eye tuna or I guess they're the small eye tuna too but I guess that would just be every tuna that's not a big eye tuna
Tanner:Sounds, yes, that's what we...
Mike:Just enough to make me feel at home.
Josh:So the captain asked, are you being dropped in the city or off to the side?
Mike:Oh, can... Can Crindle head to the front of the plane and speak with the captain face-to-face?
Noah:Bye.
Josh:Yeah, I mean, it is...
Josh:Like, a small bomber.
Josh:So you can see the captain.
Josh:You just have to, like, look down the aisle.
Josh:It's like a four-seater.
Mike:Oh.
Josh:But yes, if you want, you can, like, kind of lean forward.
Mike:What do you think would be best?
Mike:In the city or on the outskirts?
Josh:Uh, I'm sorry, sir.
Josh:That's a little above my pay grade.
Josh:Aren't you the special operatives?
Tanner:I think we should do Outsight.
Josh:I just fly the thing.
Noah:Yeah, I agree.
Noah:Seems like the better chance.
Noah:I don't want to get shot out of the air.
Noah:Hey, glory, glory, glory.
Tanner:I have no defense for that.
Mike:Outside it is.
Josh:All right.
Josh:I'm going to turn off the engines now so they can't hear us coming.
Josh:We will glide a few miles off from the side.
Josh:I'll let you guys know when to jump.
Josh:And then glory, glory, glory.
Josh:Hope you all have a good time.
Tanner:Glory, glory, glory.
Josh:He cuts the engine.
Noah:Hallelujah.
Josh:You guys glide entirely on just gravity for a few minutes.
Josh:And then he says, all right, last stop.
Josh:Get out.
Josh:And you all can leave now if you like.
Tanner:All right.
Tanner:It's like my brother Gianluca says, the only way down is to jump.
Tanner:And I jump.
Noah:It's like his brother, John Lucas, says, the only way down is to jump.
Noah:I jump.
Mike:uh crindle will run and jump out and as he hits like his peak he will say what about ladders the pilot's like what about they both said the only way down is to jump yeah
Noah:I got you, buddy.
Josh:I feel like I missed something there.
Tanner:you
Josh:Oh, you have a... Okay.
Josh:Stupid.
Josh:I was just thinking if it shoots in ladders, you go up the ladders.
Josh:You don't go down the ladders.
Noah:You can only go up a ladder.
Noah:Josh has been jumping off ladders his whole life.
Josh:Yeah.
Mike:Josh is stuck in the attic.
Josh:That's what I've been doing.
Mike:Guys, guys, bring a fucking chute up here right now.
Josh:That's it.
Mike:This isn't funny, guys.
Mike:Get a fucking chute right now.
Noah:Josh gets stuck in a tree.
Noah:The fire department comes to the ladder.
Noah:Just climb down the ladder.
Noah:I can't.
Noah:You can only go up those.
Noah:Bring a shoe.
Mike:Don't you guys have those inflatable slides off the side of planes or something?
Mike:Send one of those up.
Tanner:There's like a 45 to 60 second bit you could do at a stand-up show based around that.
Noah:Anyway.
Noah:Okey-dokey.
Tanner:Someone that needs a shoot to go down.
Josh:Okay.
Josh:I would love if all of you could make a survival check just to see if you're even vaguely grouped together.
Tanner:I forget if I decided... I did take some training in survival.
Tanner:That was smart.
Noah:Oh, neato.
Tanner:okay i got a 30.
Mike:Me?
Mike:I improvise.
Josh:Oh, okay.
Josh:That's good.
Noah:I got a 33.
Josh:Okay.
Josh:30, 33.
Noah:As we're going down, as we're going down and the parachute's open and the air kicks back in, you just hear, buddy system!
Josh:Mike, what did you get?
Mike:Uh, 25.
Josh:Okay, so the three of you, buddy system in use, can actively keep formation and just silently glide through the air, the city visible off in the distance a few miles away.
Josh:You glide down the 10,000 or so feet that you jumped from in order to stay out of the range of the anti-aircraft battery.
Josh:But you do eventually touch down in a relatively mundane-looking evergreen forest.
Josh:It's a little chilly, but you're dressed for the occasion.
Josh:You're fine.
Tanner:Were we able to clock the relative direction we need to go in?
Josh:Yeah, with the rolls that you got, I will say it's easy to know where you're headed.
Tanner:Nice.
Josh:What time of day would you like to set out?
Mike:time to make haste yeah so
Josh:Because you are landing in the middle of the night so that you aren't seen, but you don't necessarily have to get going immediately.
Josh:Are you looking for a nighttime or a daytime type of excursion?
Noah:probably want to get into the city at night so that... Although, I guess, like, how brightly do the halos glow?
Tanner:Yeah, yeah.
Noah:Is this the sort of thing where it's like a nightlight?
Josh:You guys are not powerful enough for it to emanate enough light for it to actually light your way.
Josh:I would say it's dim light for like a foot around you.
Noah:Okay, so we're not going to be walking through the city at night and some dude walking from a bar is going to be like, oh my god!
Josh:No, no.
Josh:There's a river that goes through the city from north to south.
Mike:Do we know what side?
Mike:Essentially, we want to get to the... Okay, and then how big around is the city?
Josh:You've landed about five miles east of the city right now.
Mike:want to aim for getting to the river part at the north at night time like just as night is falling no no for the next day yeah
Josh:Uh, okay, well, so it is already night, so if you want to get it for just as night's falling, you can, like, loop around.
Josh:That's fine.
Josh:That's definitely doable.
Josh:Um, you're, like, five miles east of the city right now.
Josh:The city itself is about a mile wide.
Josh:It's vaguely circular.
Josh:It's not a perfect circle, but it's close enough.
Josh:Um, and you can kind of loop up around it, like, through the forest up towards the northern bit of where the river actually passes into the city proper.
Josh:That's fine.
Josh:Okay.
Mike:chart the course three bodies oh god
Josh:If that's the plan...
Josh:You guys can hang out for a day.
Josh:You have rations and stuff, so that's fine.
Josh:You wait for a full reset.
Josh:It's not relevant to this particular one-shot, but fun fact, there's two suns.
Noah:Careful.
Josh:They both kind of fill relatively the same spot in the sky, so there's only one sun down.
Tanner:Which one do we think is a dead Thessian?
Josh:Either way.
Josh:Both.
Josh:Okay, so you guys wait for a full 24 hours.
Josh:You just press T, pull the slider over, and then you stand there and he watches the sun sets and then rises and then sets again.
Noah:Careful.
Josh:And then you start walking towards the northern bit of the river.
Josh:Easy enough, you keep a wide berth around the city itself just to make sure that you don't actually bump into anybody.
Josh:There are a few instances in which you have to cross streets, like roads that go into and out of the city.
Josh:None of them are super busy.
Josh:People aren't really moving a lot in Raelion right now.
Josh:It's not particularly safe to do so because of bombardments by Calaria.
Josh:But there are definitely vehicles going into and out of the city proper.
Josh:So I would appreciate it if you guys could roll a stealth check collectively to make your way through past the roads and all of that stuff sight unseen.
Josh:Yeah.
Tanner:Okay.
Josh:I would accept a survival check here too, if you would prefer that.
Noah:Oh yeah, we'll do that.
Noah:Nice.
Mike:All this stealth.
Mike:And I roll like garbage.
Mike:23 stealth.
Josh:What'd we get?
Noah:All this stealth.
Tanner:I got a 26.
Noah:I got a 33 survival.
Josh:Okay.
Josh:Okay.
Josh:So it's been a while since we've been at this level, so just so that you guys have it in your head, the recommended medium class-based DC is a 24.
Noah:That seems so low.
Josh:I know, right?
Josh:It's crazy.
Josh:You guys are used to rolling 65s every time.
Josh:So, either way.
Josh:So, some noise is made by the count, Mr. Filksnake, as you traipse through the forest.
Josh:You're pretty sure that you have left tracks from where you landed to where you currently are, but you were not seen nor stopped by anybody on the way.
Josh:So you arrive at what you see to be the river that runs through the city.
Josh:It is about 50 feet across.
Josh:Actually, it's probably a little wider than that, because it has to be able to fit...
Josh:like ships going both ways up and down the river.
Josh:It is an actively used trading route.
Josh:So I don't know how wide a boat is.
Josh:Let's say it's 250 feet across.
Josh:That's enough room for boats to go to and from.
Josh:Yeah, what is the plan, I suppose?
Tanner:I have a couple questions.
Tanner:So we're still outside of the city.
Josh:Yes.
Josh:You're outside of the city limits, yes.
Josh:You're about a mile north of the entrance to the city at this point.
Tanner:Are we... Okay.
Tanner:And the river flows north to south?
Josh:Correct.
Tanner:Okay.
Tanner:And ships travel this river?
Josh:They do.
Tanner:The ship takes...
Josh:Currently where you are, you don't see any ships present moving up and down, but you do know if you wait here, you will definitely see a boat either going south on the river towards the city, but also leaving the city, going upstream.
Josh:They have powered boats.
Josh:They don't necessarily need to follow the current of the river.
Tanner:I have what could be an interesting idea.
Noah:Oh, that could be kind of fun.
Tanner:It might be a little too time consuming, I'm not sure, but if we actually traveled north, find wherever the next stop is, we could try to sneak in onto a boat, you know, get in some box or something.
Noah:I think I may have a spell.
Noah:Golly, there are a lot of...
Noah:Druid spells.
Noah:It only lets you breathe underwater.
Noah:I can remember what the name of it is.
Mike:Oh, I have one.
Noah:Uh... Yes, it is deep breath.
Mike:Um... Deep breath.
Mike:Um... A cor...
Noah:Oh, it's a cantrip, though.
Josh:Oh, sorry.
Noah:Never mind.
Josh:Talking about spells, I forgot to bring this up to you, Mike.
Josh:One of your spells, you chose the same cantrip twice.
Josh:You just chose the legacy version and the not-legacy version.
Josh:Chill Touch is the legacy version of the Void thing.
Mike:For real?
Mike:That's so weird.
Josh:Yes.
Mike:I mean, they're stupid.
Josh:Yeah, so just when you have a moment, just try and find a replacement for Shell Touch.
Mike:They're pretty different, which is why it didn't... Okay.
Josh:Shell Touch isn't in Foundry anymore, because it's a spell that's not present in the game.
Josh:Which is why I don't have it.
Josh:I mean, we can just run it for now, I guess, and then just, if you have to do something, you'll just have to type in the digits, like the dice rolls manually.
Josh:But something to keep in mind, it's not on your spell sheet.
Mike:Yeah, yeah.
Mike:Yeah, it didn't even dawn on me that they were the same because they're not even close to the same spell.
Josh:Well, I Stand By Chill Touch should actually be called White Hook because it's melee and necrotic and not cold or ranged, but it's fine.
Mike:Yeah, yeah.
Josh:Either way.
Josh:Sorry.
Josh:Yes.
Josh:Deep Breath, it's a cantrip.
Noah:Ah, never mind.
Noah:I don't have that spell, then.
Josh:You can also only cast it on yourself.
Josh:You can't cast it on other people.
Noah:I thought I had that spell, but I don't have a different one.
Noah:Well, I could... I have the spell Creation.
Noah:For an hour, I could make... I could make us a box.
Noah:We could hide in this box.
Mike:Well, I have deep breath.
Mike:But... What was I going to say?
Mike:A couple of things.
Noah:I mean, I could turn into, like, a salmon and swim upstream, but...
Mike:I don't know if this would be two checks.
Mike:What the fuck is this guy?
Mike:Grindel thought that... Could I make checks to see if this would be the best way to illegally enter a city?
Noah:Thank you.
Mike:uh my lore is underworld lore and uh i don't know the progression of lore am i just trained in it okay 31.
Josh:I will let you make an underworld lore check here.
Josh:That's fine.
Josh:Just trained.
Josh:I haven't given you the additional lore, like homebrew, whatever thing.
Josh:31.
Josh:Okay.
Josh:So I think...
Josh:Krindle is probably thinking there are a few ways one could possibly get into the city, like smuggle themselves in.
Josh:The most basic being find somebody who's going in through any route, like a boat or a car or something like that, and then figure out a way to hitch yourself on so that you don't get noticed when you pass by the borders.
Josh:That's probably the simplest.
Josh:The...
Josh:Actually, I take it back.
Josh:The simplest is to just walk up to the borders, try and find a time when it doesn't look like anybody's looking, and then just dash from the tree line towards the city proper.
Josh:That will be like...
Josh:You know, a quarter of a mile of just open plains because they've raised the trees around the city.
Josh:But it is possible.
Josh:Like, that is an option.
Josh:It's not like a medieval walled city where the entire city is encased in a big wall around it.
Josh:It is long overgrown that...
Josh:version of the city.
Josh:So there are outskirts that aren't directly patrolled, but there are definitely members of the Raelion military that do outskirts patrols that you'll have to dodge.
Josh:So it's either make a mad dash, try and smuggle yourself in with somebody who already has it, or pass yourselves off as actual legitimate citizens.
Josh:stop somebody on the road, take their IDs, and then use the swill to change the color of your thing for a checkpoint.
Josh:That would also work.
Tanner:Yeah, actually, I have a question about that.
Tanner:So, like, anyone that looks at us can just immediately see that we're not from here and we'll...
Josh:They can tell that you worship the iridescent host.
Josh:100% of the populace does not follow the compelled here.
Josh:It's not a state-mandated religion, so you won't be immediately targeted as, oh, this guy's fake.
Josh:But you will definitely be clocked as strange, if that makes sense.
Noah:Well, if we could lure one guard away and then, you know, like him and take his gear, I could, I have a spell called humanoid form where I can just be him for a little bit and then I can escort you guys through.
Josh:It's like, oh, you're clearly not part of the in-group here.
Josh:You can wild shape into a person.
Noah:Uh, this is humanoid form.
Noah:There is a wild shape feet to make a part of wild shape, but this one is a separate spell.
Josh:Oh, okay.
Josh:Sure, sorry.
Noah:I think it's just... This is just a... This just happens to be a primal spell, I think.
Josh:Sure.
Mike:We have to kill a god.
Noah:Oh, it's also arcane occult.
Mike:We have to kill a guard.
Mike:We have to kill a guard in order to do that.
Noah:Wrong campaign.
Josh:Yeah, different one-shot.
Mike:Can't you just impersonate a guard that's not on duty?
Noah:I mean, sure, I don't have the... I don't think I have the outfit, but... I can't change my clothes, just the way I look.
Josh:You also wouldn't have an ID if you did that.
Josh:You know that there is a citizenship document ID that you're expected to carry around, and you guys don't have that.
Mike:But I mean, if he doesn't have clothes, do you expect him to have an ID?
Noah:I have... I have another spell.
Noah:Here's the plan.
Noah:Okay, listen to this.
Noah:We spot one guard.
Noah:I turn into a unicorn.
Noah:I can do that.
Noah:Then I lure him away, because who doesn't want to go pet a unicorn?
Noah:Then, when he's far enough away, we jump him and slit his throat, and then we take his clothes and his ID.
Noah:Then I turn into him, and then we walk through the city.
Tanner:Well, my one problem with that is I think it is unlikely that if there's a patrol size greater than one person that you only get one person following the unicorn.
Noah:Maybe we should get a little closer and we can see and get a little more information.
Tanner:Probably we'll have to face an entire patrol.
Tanner:I think it'll be hard to split them up.
Tanner:I don't know what their patrol size is on these outskirts.
Tanner:Could be two, three.
Mike:Yeah, can we get some intel on the patrol?
Mike:So we're timing it.
Noah:Sneak over.
Tanner:We can go to the tree line.
Mike:Yeah, we're timing it towards the beginning of the evening.
Mike:So I guess we can spend like an hour just to figure out what they're doing.
Josh:Oh, that was the sound of you writing something.
Josh:I wasn't looking at the screen, and it sounded like slurping to me, and I was trying to figure out what you meant by that.
Noah:I don't.
Tanner:That was a pen on paper, Josh.
Josh:Yeah, that makes more sense.
Mike:We can go get some more.
Josh:Yeah, that's what I heard, and I didn't know what to do with that.
Mike:A paycheck.
Josh:Yeah, you guys can absolutely go up to the edge of the tree line and then try and...
Noah:That's horrifying.
Josh:Figure out what's going on.
Josh:This is going to be a perception check.
Tanner:I don't think I'm good at those with this character.
Noah:I'm pretty good at those in this character.
Tanner:Excuse me.
Josh:Bless you.
Noah:Plus you.
Tanner:I can't even beat that, so...
Noah:I got an 8.
Noah:Sorry, 33.
Noah:I got a 33.
Josh:Okay.
Josh:With a 33.
Josh:So...
Josh:You sneak up to the edge of the forest and then you take a look at further beyond towards the city proper.
Josh:You can see that just looking around, they have timed patrols of guards in land frames, in cars, effectively, such that there is always...
Josh:group with eyes on a particular area around the city you can see that they are on the order of about 15 minutes going around the city each vehicle from this distance looking in you can see that each vehicle has
Josh:You would guess two to three people in it.
Josh:It's a little hard at this distance because you are still about a quarter of a mile away from where the patrols are going around the city proper.
Josh:But you can definitely see more than one figure, more than the figure driving the car moving around.
Josh:So you would guess at least two.
Josh:It is possible there's a third one in the back that you just can't make out from where you currently are.
Josh:Yes.
Tanner:What can you tell us about communications technology?
Tanner:Like, are these patrols able to speak to each other easily like would we think?
Josh:So radio definitely exists.
Noah:Thank you.
Josh:The actual technological advance of radio exists.
Josh:So they would be able to radio back to some central HQ and then that might be forwarded along if something that might cause them to radio happens.
Josh:Beyond that, you know that...
Josh:It tends to be restricted to, at the very least in Calaria, it's restricted to higher-ranking members of Convoxes.
Josh:You can get what's called a totem, which allows you to communicate with your Convox's heart, and then beyond that, in theory, with the Iridescent Host.
Josh:You would gather that Raelion has something similar that would let high-ranking members of their organizations interact with their hearts over long distances.
Josh:You don't know how likely it is that a random patrol outside the city would have access to one of those, but you know that the heart in general that you're going towards will definitely have people at the call.
Noah:What do we think?
Noah:Do we want to run them over here, or do we want to just try and make a run for it?
Mike:I don't know.
Mike:I was kind of thinking the... So I was thinking two things.
Mike:One of us could become a naked version of one of the guards and make up some story about why we're naked and we need access to the city with these two people because they said they're going to help or something or taking them into custody.
Mike:Because then you wouldn't have ID and also you wouldn't have the clothes.
Mike:You would just need to appear as the person.
Mike:If we run into the city, I guess we're not going to be immediately... People will be like, oh, that's a little odd.
Mike:But it's not complete red alert if we walk in with these insane rings on our head.
Mike:So I think we could just try to run in.
Mike:What other crap do I have?
Tanner:Well, if we go in the dark, there's a possibility that we don't get spotted at all.
Tanner:If we go during the day, I think they're definitely going to see us coming.
Mike:Yeah.
Noah:Fine, just risking it and boop, boop, boop, boop, boop.
Tanner:At night.
Noah:Yeah, at night.
Josh:okay if that's what you guys want to do you're more than welcome to so you're going to you've done some reconnaissance you know generally how it works you're going to wait until a little bit after sun's down and then just make a run for it
Noah:At night.
Tanner:Yeah, I guess the, like, outskirts of the city, like, does it start to be, like, suburbs?
Tanner:Or, you know, what is that like?
Tanner:Like, how...
Josh:I don't think we're quite at the part where cars are so common that suburbs are becoming a thing that's getting really built outside of the cities.
Josh:It's more along the lines of you're starting to get into the lower economic parts of the city closer to slums than to suburbs.
Tanner:But there's like housing and like some kind of buildings of sorts.
Noah:Thank you.
Josh:Yes, there's housing.
Josh:Most of the buildings in Raelion and Calaria, for that matter, at this point, the newer constructs tend to be like brutalist concrete complexes, effectively.
Josh:They've got concrete down, they're hitting a rapid boom in the populations of these countries, and they need somewhere to house them.
Josh:And so it turns very much into...
Josh:Like the projects.
Josh:I forget what the term is in Europe.
Noah:Yeah.
Josh:It's not ghetto, but it's along that line.
Josh:A bunch of people packed together.
Josh:And I can't remember what the term is, but effectively the ghetto.
Tanner:So we book it for maybe a first building we can get to.
Tanner:We go inside and it might be a way to get some probably non-military IDs, but some IDs perhaps, citizens.
Mike:Will we just ransack a building for citizens IDs?
Tanner:Are we good?
Tanner:I'm just saying when we're going to run across this field, I think we are going to want somewhere to make our first stop and be able to formulate a plan going forward.
Mike:Do they... Do we know if they have photo IDs?
Josh:I don't think you would know if they have photo IDs.
Josh:Raelion's big thing is that they've been very good at stopping Calarian intelligence for getting much information off of them by virtue of changing things rapidly.
Josh:So you know at some point Raelion did have photo IDs, but at some point it also didn't.
Josh:You don't know what the current state is.
Mike:Oh, okay, but photos do exist.
Josh:Photos do exist, yes.
Noah:you you
Mike:Fair enough, yeah.
Mike:What was the hesitation with the boats?
Mike:Why didn't we want to... Because if we get in with the boats, or somewhere near the river, there's probably going to be a place to swim into a sewer.
Tanner:I like the idea of sneaking inside of a shipping crate or something.
Tanner:I think if we can go somewhere north of the city, it would probably be easier to sneak onto a boat there, since it's not in the actual city itself.
Mike:Let's do this.
Mike:Let's find the boat.
Mike:Let's...
Noah:A bunch of that.
Tanner:The hesitation is I don't know how far we will have to go.
Mike:I don't think we have to go to another city.
Mike:I think we can stay hitch a ride on the passing boat.
Mike:Can we spend like 10 minutes?
Mike:I don't know.
Mike:Some amount of time observing the boats that come through.
Mike:Looking for things like things that dangle off like maybe anchors off the side or something and how fast the boats are going.
Josh:The boats wouldn't be going like no perception check necessary here The boats would be going particularly fast as they're approaching the city proper and you can't just be making waves as you go through so like on the order of You know five miles an hour, maybe a little less than that even to stop crests Anchors hang off the side.
Josh:There is some ropes of rigging that hangs off the side
Josh:You would know that there is at least one rope that would go from the top deck all the way down into the water for the express purpose of if somebody falls overboard, to bring them back up.
Josh:There are crew on a lot of these vessels.
Josh:By a lot, I mean all ships are piloted.
Josh:So it becomes a question of...
Josh:Like, I don't, how are you, what are you looking for here?
Josh:Like, just a way to get onto the boat physically?
Josh:Because it's not like there's going to be an alcove underneath the boat that you can hide in.
Mike:Oh, no, I mean, like, hanging out either on the ladder, or on the ladder, on the anchor, or a boat.
Mike:I mean, I guess we could wait and see if there's any boats that have, like, just standard passengers.
Mike:Because obviously, like, a shipping vessel, there'd be, like, ten people and they'd all know each other.
Tanner:Thank you.
Josh:you
Mike:um and it might be difficult to like hide amongst the cargo but if there's a boat that has like 50 people on it that's like some sort of a cruise through here that'd be a lot easier to blend in or even hide there's just too much to keep track of
Josh:So I would say that you can definitely, if you wait long enough, there are, it's like a 20 to 1 ratio, but every once in a while there is an actual passenger vessel that's bringing people from upstream down.
Josh:So I would say it's not unreasonable to wait for a ship that does have people on it, if that's what you're looking for.
Mike:Sure.
Josh:You would also know that if you try to get off with the crowd, you'll have to go through customs.
Mike:Yeah.
Josh:So they will check your ID on disembarkment.
Mike:Yeah, I mean, the idea is to just get far enough into the city that we see visible and sizable sewers that we can then head into ourselves.
Josh:Okay.
Josh:Yeah.
Josh:I mean, that is an option.
Mike:Shall we try that?
Noah:Yeah.
Mike:So I think what we'll do, and I didn't give myself this gear, but I probably should have, just standard explorer's gear.
Josh:Okay, so the plan is to wait for a passenger boat to come downriver, headed into the city, and then you want to swim to it and then climb up onto the deck or, like, hang from the rigging.
Mike:We'll get a rope.
Mike:We'll tie the rope.
Mike:will tie the rope around me, I will submerge myself in water, we will make a loop, the end will be tied to you two, and I will stay submerged under their boats as they pass, and throw the loop up onto the anchor, or loose hooking of a boat, and then it'll pull all of us.
Noah:I can also just turn into a bird and fly on there.
Noah:So a little bit less work.
Mike:That also, yeah.
Noah:It's like a little bit, it's a little bit less work.
Mike:It's just a little... Well, a little bit less work.
Josh:you
Mike:We still have to do this fishing expedition.
Noah:Yeah.
Noah:Well, then I can also watch for people looking overboard and help you guys up.
Mike:Very true.
Mike:And peck at them if they... Shell... What is everyone's fucking name?
Noah:Bird.
Mike:gin carlo shall we do this i tie rope to you i tie rope to me we wait for anchor i hook us onto passenger vessel oh no i'm going to be underwater waiting for the anchor so if we see one i'm going to swim out yeah yeah
Josh:Okay, so you will have to swim towards the boat.
Josh:The anchor will not be going along the exterior of the shore.
Josh:Sorry, the anchor, like, just to clarify, is not in the water.
Josh:Okay, I just wanted to make sure.
Josh:So your plan is to chuck the rope out of the water up onto the anchor.
Josh:Okay.
Mike:Yeah.
Josh:Sure.
Josh:Sorry, so you're going to be under the water.
Noah:Easy.
Josh:Where is Giancarlo?
Josh:Okay, so there's going to be a rope attached between the two of you.
Mike:The Shore.
Josh:You're floating in the water.
Tanner:See, that's a crazy plan.
Josh:Giancarlo's on the shore.
Josh:You're going to throw the rope onto the anchor, and then both of you are going to get yanked by the boat as it goes.
Josh:Okay.
Josh:Okay, I didn't properly understand the plan, I think, the first time that you told it.
Mike:why why is this crazy see i am stealthy i breathe for hours underwater eight hours to be specific i can stay under the water if you're in front of the boat with a rope waiting for anchor that they're going to stop the boat they're going to say hey this guy he needs help he's sick he's got a rope he's trying to hang himself in the water
Josh:That's what they're going to think?
Tanner:I guess...
Josh:Okay.
Tanner:So we do it at night so they don't see us as well.
Mike:Double don't see.
Tanner:Nope.
Tanner:Okay.
Mike:Would you like to take chance in water?
Josh:I like this lore that we're getting.
Mike:How are your sea legs?
Tanner:Uh, I can swim pretty well.
Tanner:I'm not, uh, my brother Gianfranco was always a big swimmer, but I could swim as well.
Mike:Okay.
Josh:We're building out the Giancarlo family.
Tanner:Oh, it's the Santucci family.
Tanner:Sorry, I didn't mention that.
Tanner:Giancarlo Santucci.
Josh:I don't know who that is, but okay.
Tanner:Yeah.
Josh:Oh, sorry.
Josh:That's not a reference.
Josh:That's just the last name of your character.
Tanner:Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Josh:Okay, sure.
Josh:Is Santucci one word or two words?
Tanner:That's one word.
Josh:Okay.
Josh:Sorry, I just needed to update the database.
Josh:That's fine.
Josh:Can you roll a d4 for me, please?
Tanner:Me?
Josh:Yeah, Giancarlo.
Tanner:Okay.
Tanner:Noah, you look like you might have tried to speak, but you're muted.
Noah:Oh, I was saying this is important lore.
Tanner:Oh.
Josh:Okay.
Tanner:I got a three.
Josh:Thank you.
Josh:That's fine.
Mike:Three or above means he kills him.
Josh:Yes.
Josh:Giancarlo explodes and is replaced.
Mike:No, no, no.
Josh:Okay.
Mike:The brother.
Mike:Every time you mention a family where Josh makes your role die and some unknown outcome, he just kills them in the background.
Noah:Oh, no.
Noah:Not John Franco.
Josh:Okay, so you're doing this plan, right?
Josh:You get the rope, you tie it between the two people.
Josh:Absolutely.
Josh:So I'm going to need two things then from the guy who is hanging out underwater.
Mike:Mm-hmm.
Josh:I'm going to need a self-check where I will give you a plus two circumstance bonus because you are under the water.
Josh:And then, assuming that goes well, I'm going to need an athletics check for you to chuck the rope onto the anchor from the water.
Tanner:Wait, wait, I have a little idea that might make things go a little more successful.
Tanner:So, Spanion, you're going to be a bird.
Noah:I'll turn into whatever bird is common around here.
Tanner:So, can you give like a squawk, you know, when you see a boat is, I guess we'll hear it, but maybe give us a... Right, well, that was my, you know, I hear the squawk, I pulled the rope.
Mike:You can also tug on the rope.
Mike:Let me know.
Mike:I got to.
Josh:Okay.
Josh:Um... Pheasant.
Noah:I'll turn into a
Noah:A pheasant.
Mike:Oh, this is a. It's a 30.
Josh:I don't even know where pheasants are common.
Noah:Around here.
Mike:It's a 30 for the stealth check.
Josh:Okay.
Josh:Um, great.
Josh:So you submerge yourself in the water, you hang out, you actually feel boats pass above you a few times, but you don't get the tug on the rope, which would let you know which boat is the correct boat you actually want to chuck the rope onto the anchor for.
Josh:I want a perception check from our eye in the sky here to see if you can spot a good boat with which to board.
Mike:Mm hmm.
Noah:Let me just double check if it has changed my perception or anything.
Noah:I don't think so.
Josh:Sure.
Noah:Eye in the sky.
Josh:Just because it is nighttime, so you're probably not going to find many people on the outward deck of a boat that's even transporting people on.
Josh:We'll see if this bird... 34!
Tanner:Hello.
Tanner:Hello.
Josh:Okay, absolutely.
Mike:Yeah, I had to be...
Josh:So with a 34, you pick out a boat that you think looks reasonably well.
Josh:That probably carries people, but doesn't look particularly crowded right now.
Josh:And you squawk.
Josh:Giancarlo hears the squawk.
Josh:He gives the tug for Vilkmeister, whatever your name is, to know that it's time to chuck the rope.
Josh:Have you rolled to actually chuck the rope yet?
Mike:No, because I'm going to be casting Athletic Rush.
Josh:Okay.
Noah:He takes some adrenaline underground.
Noah:In the water.
Mike:Yes.
Josh:He just jabs himself with an EpiPen real quick.
Noah:He jabs something in the heart with an EpiPen.
Mike:Uh...
Josh:Yeah, that's the best way to get norepinephrine into your bloodstream, my guy.
Josh:It's just straight into the heart.
Tanner:Thank you.
Josh:29.
Mike:Wow, 29 on the athletics check.
Josh:Okay.
Josh:With a 29, you...
Josh:I mean, so, you have to swim up out of the water, and I assume in real life you have tried throwing something while treading water before, right?
Mike:Yeah, it's pretty easy.
Josh:Okay.
Josh:It's pretty easy.
Josh:You are...
Mike:That's why I cast this spell.
Mike:So for context, this spell gives me 10 foot status bonus and a plus 2 to athletics.
Josh:Yeah, so it gives you a plus two status bonus to athletics is what it gives you in this particular instance.
Josh:So you're treading water.
Josh:You chuck it.
Josh:You are fortunately a literally God-blessed being.
Josh:So it is easier for you to chuck a rope onto a ship than I would say the normal person.
Josh:So with a 29, I think what's going to happen is you're going to throw the rope up.
Josh:You expected to loop over the anchor and bring you along, but instead you managed to time it such that the anchor actually jabs into the rope itself and yanks both you and Giancarlo off the shore as you get carried along by this boat, which is much larger than you.
Josh:It's only moving at five miles an hour, but it's not stopping for your little bit of momentum that you're... Sorry, your inertia that you're moving against it.
Josh:So what I'm going to need from the two of you, attached via rope to this boat now, is a reflex save and a fort save as you get tugged along through the water.
Noah:Thank you.
Tanner:That's totally fair.
Josh:We're going to do a reflex save first.
Mike:wait why why reflex save i'm not holding on to the rope it's tied around me dragged through the riverbed
Josh:Yes, I understand.
Josh:But you're going to be dragged through the water, and I want to know if you get dragged through the riverbed or through the water above it.
Tanner:Oh, no.
Tanner:Shoot, I guess I'm using my hero point already.
Noah:John Barlow is dead in the riverbed.
Tanner:Oh, no!
Tanner:Oh!
Mike:guess i'm using my hero point already nice glad to hear we're following the 10 rule i'll get a 25.
Josh:Oh, boy.
Noah:There's a pheasant.
Tanner:Oh, wait, are we following the 10 rule?
Josh:Yes, with the hero point, we are following the terminal.
Noah:Oh my god!
Tanner:Alright, so I'll get a 23, which is probably still a failure.
Noah:I'm a pheasant somewhere being like... And you guys are like...
Josh:Okay.
Josh:Wonderful.
Josh:Okay, so...
Josh:The 23 is a failure.
Josh:The 25 is a success.
Josh:So with the 25, there's a sudden jerking motion.
Josh:What is your name?
Josh:Vilksnake?
Mike:Grindle.
Tanner:you
Josh:Crindle Vilksnake.
Mike:Grindle.
Josh:there's this tugging motion, and you find yourself quickly getting dragged backwards as the ship kind of, like, you latch onto the ship and get pulled along with it.
Josh:And so for a second, there's this bit where you're being pulled, your feet dragging along the bottom of the riverbed.
Josh:But you do manage to kind of twist yourself and write it such that you don't get pushed into the rocks below, which would be quite painful.
Josh:Giancarlo gets pushed into the rocks below, and it is quite painful.
Josh:So we're going to do some bludgeoning damage to you.
Josh:Actually, it'd probably be slashing damage.
Josh:We're going to do slashing damage to you, and then I'm going to need you to make the fort save to see...
Josh:So, Vilksnake, you don't need to roll the fort save.
Josh:Giancarlo does.
Josh:To see if you can kind of keep your composure as you're being hit along the bottom of the riverbank.
Josh:Holding your breath.
Tanner:Okay, so I'm taking some damage.
Josh:You are taking some damage.
Josh:Not a ton of damage.
Josh:But damage nevertheless.
Tanner:Okay, I'm bloody.
Josh:You're going to take 8 points of slashing damage.
Josh:Lethal slashing damage, specifically.
Tanner:That's a joke.
Josh:Okay.
Tanner:Okay.
Tanner:Now make a fort save.
Josh:Yes, the glassiest of cannons.
Tanner:29.
Josh:Okay, so you can maintain your composure there, and you do not take any additional damage, and you can hold on to your breath long enough to kind of stabilize yourself.
Josh:And eventually you kind of fall into the same rhythm that Vilksnick has, and the two of you are just suspended by a rope being pulled through the water.
Josh:Where do you want to...
Josh:Where do you want to normalize, I suppose?
Josh:Do you want to be pulled through, like, under the water of the ship, or do you eventually want to pull yourself up out of the water?
Josh:What is the plan here?
Tanner:I assumed that the plan was to get on the ship, but I'm in back, so if that's not, um, Crindle's intent, then... No, I do need to breathe.
Mike:That wasn't the intent for Grindel, unless it was needed.
Mike:Because Grindel still has, I don't know, seven and a half hours of breath left.
Josh:Okay.
Mike:So he could just hang out out of the water.
Josh:Unfortunately I don't think Giancarlo has that.
Mike:Yeah, I figured he would, like, La Cucaracha, and, like, pull himself in.
Mike:But it might be a bit difficult going against 5 feet of current.
Tanner:I mean, I'll make an attempt to pull myself, I guess, even past Crindle to get to a point where I could at least come up for breaths, like, you know, every couple seconds.
Mike:Or 5 feet, 5 miles an hour.
Mike:Mm-hmm.
Noah:Thank you.
Josh:Make an athletics check to try and pull yourself in such a way that you can break through the water a little bit.
Josh:At the same time, I do need... I need you to make a stealth check for me, please.
Josh:Because you will be putting yourself in a position that you can be seen by somebody either on another boat or on this boat.
Tanner:Not in the dark, Josh.
Josh:Darkvision is a thing!
Tanner:Oh, frick, I forgot about darkvision.
Tanner:Alright, well, I got a 29 on the athletics.
Tanner:25.
Josh:Okay.
Josh:That is enough.
Josh:You can pull yourself up into, like, whatever position you're going for.
Noah:you
Josh:If you're trying to be, like, just under the water so that you can pull yourself up a little bit to take a breath every once in a while, that's fine.
Josh:25.
Tanner:health.
Josh:Okay.
Josh:Um...
Josh:Yeah, you guys are on a boat.
Josh:So, Mr. Pheasant, eye in the sky here, you are, I suppose, generally keeping pace with the boat.
Josh:Just making sure that your peeps don't get into any particular trouble.
Noah:I think at this point, I just landed on if the boat has railing, and I'm just kind of watching over the side.
Josh:And so... Okay, that's fine.
Josh:So, you would note this.
Josh:There are...
Josh:There are currently two people on the upper decks of this ship that aren't below decks, sleeping or doing whatever in the middle of the night.
Josh:There's one person who is currently up in the Crowe's nest, who, because of their position, doesn't actually have a way of seeing these two being dragged behind because they're too close to the edge of the ship.
Tanner:you
Josh:Just completely out of their view.
Josh:There is also...
Josh:Another person who you would guess is probably a passenger.
Josh:It doesn't look like they're wearing a uniform or anything like that.
Josh:Human on the older side, like flash of white hair, who's just been hanging out on the boat.
Josh:And you do see at this time that it looks like he started walking from the starboard side that he was just kind of looking out into the forest from.
Josh:And he is moving over towards the port side where these guys are hanging off of.
Josh:We are not quite sure if he'd actually get a view of them from if he like goes over to that side and is looking out, but he is definitely moving in such a way that he might see them.
Noah:I'm going to kind of flutter along towards him.
Noah:Is there railing?
Noah:Is he by railing?
Noah:What is the layout here?
Noah:Okay.
Josh:So this part of the ship is, it's like a flat deck concrete exterior where there are railings on the sides of the ship that he is currently moving away from this metal railing on the right side of the ship over towards the left side of the ship, which similarly will have another metal railing before going over the edge.
Tanner:Thank you.
Noah:I'm going to
Noah:blutter over to him as fast as I can, uh, and kind of, like, walk up to him, and I'll just go, whoo!
Noah:Kind of, like, dance around him a little bit, and do that thing where, like, when an animal comes up to you, and you're like, oh my god, this animal really likes me!
Noah:And just kind of, like, dance around him a little bit.
Josh:Okay, make a performance check for me, please.
Noah:Um, I'm improvising.
Noah:I'm trying not to kill this old man on this boat.
Josh:I think I... Oh, no.
Noah:or on a boat tour.
Noah:27.
Tanner:you
Noah:32.
Josh:27.
Josh:Do me a favor and also roll a perception check for me.
Josh:Okay, um, there's, like, a glint in this man's eyes as he, like, looks down at you, but then he's like, okay, cute little animal, and he will reach down and, like, go and try to pet you as you're doing a little dance.
Noah:Uh, I'll let him.
Noah:I'll, like... I'm just trying to keep this man's attention not on my command.
Tanner:We are special ops.
Josh:Okay, um, so...
Josh:You're distracting this man.
Josh:The two of you are, like, just being dragged by the side of the boat.
Josh:Every once in a while, Giancarlo's face pops out of the water.
Josh:He takes a big breath of air, and then he goes back underwater.
Josh:Thoroughly waterlogged.
Josh:But... Gosh, I hate that that was the setup, and this is the result.
Mike:Okay.
Tanner:emphasis on special
Josh:Definitely special.
Noah:Thank you.
Josh:The boat continues its journey towards the city proper.
Josh:After a minute or so of distracting this man, I will say that you notice that the boat appears to have passed the very outskirts of the city, because you have passed the area where there was no tree line, and you've now entered paved roads at the start of buildings and the like.
Josh:How far in are you planning on trying to ride this thing?
Mike:I think once we see... Yeah, because we don't want to risk getting to the center of the city, like, trying to get to the center and having it stop and us not have... So I think, like, we'll say, like, the second or third massive sewage pipe...
Mike:Grindel will take a dagger out and cut the rope, so both of us just stay in place, and then... Bird, get over here, and then I'll get over to the pipe.
Noah:Oh, as we're far enough away and I see them drifting away in the distance, I'll be like... Fly into the night.
Josh:Okay.
Josh:Okay.
Josh:So I don't need to check for this if you're just looking for a tube to get into, so you absolutely can just wait until you hit the large sewer tube and then just cut the line there.
Josh:As you fly away... Shoot.
Tanner:you
Josh:I can't remember your name either.
Josh:What's your name?
Josh:Banyan.
Josh:Um, as you fly away, uh, the man will see you fly away and then just kind of wave and say, bye.
Josh:That was a, have a safe travel.
Josh:Um, and then as you fly away, he'll just go back.
Josh:He'll like take out the string instrument that's been hanging at his hip and like play a little tune as you, uh, flutter off.
Josh:Uh, and so the three of you meet at the front of a large sewer pipe.
Josh:Um, like the third one into the city from where you currently are.
Josh:Um,
Noah:A thing for boats.
Josh:That's a common theme through every campaign we've done.
Josh:You guys meet powerful beings specifically while traveling.
Josh:That has always been the case.
Noah:Boats.
Josh:You've met this man three times on three different boats.
Josh:It happens.
Noah:The second he looks away, the second he looks away, I just go... Dive into... Like, dive into the water.
Josh:Absolutely.
Josh:So now all three of you are waterlogged at the entrance of the sewer.
Josh:Okay, so the plan is to just wander?
Mike:yes what a great result now we shall we shall infiltrate the underground and request knowledge that'll start walking
Noah:Make her wait.
Tanner:Is there like a, sorry, go ahead.
Noah:This is kind of gross.
Noah:Josh, what is the... What's like the... How wealthy is this whole city across the board?
Noah:Is the wealth concentrated into one area?
Noah:Or is it sort of like spread out?
Noah:Or...
Josh:So not necessarily one area.
Josh:It's started to kind of diffuse through.
Josh:Raelion no longer has like a noble system.
Josh:They are a meritocracy, at least in theory.
Noah:Thank you.
Josh:So it has been a hundred years or so since they last had all of it concentrated on like the fort in the center of the city.
Josh:It started to move out into merchant families and the like.
Josh:At this point, it would just be corporations.
Josh:It's not necessarily individual families.
Josh:That said, if you look at a map of the socioeconomic status of the people in the city, it looks a little bit like a target in that the outermost area is definitely on the poorer side, and as you move closer to the center of the city, the average income increases.
Noah:Oh, so we can just kind of make our way towards the center of the city through these sewer tunnels.
Mike:Mm hmm.
Tanner:Yeah, are we able to actually enter this sewer tunnel that we found?
Josh:So most of the tunnels have these large bars on the exterior of them, but the bars are large enough that you could slip through relatively easily.
Josh:It doesn't look like they're there to block people so much as larger things from getting into or out of the sewers.
Josh:So you will find that it will be simple enough to get in without an issue.
Josh:So you are in the sewers trying to do what?
Noah:make our way towards the center of the city.
Josh:Okay, if you're just trying to head towards the center of the city, I would like a... This is going to be another... I'll do survival or society check here to see if you, like, from your reading of the really basic plan that you were given in the dossier of the city, if you could, excuse me, figure out how to navigate towards the center.
Mike:I mean, can we... There's people down here.
Josh:You were told that it is populated.
Josh:You wouldn't have immediately run across somebody, but there are definitely people living here.
Mike:Oh, yeah, okay.
Mike:I'll roll then.
Mike:But yeah, I mean... Crindle would like to keep Anaïs out for people.
Mike:I'm sure someone down here knows...
Mike:Someone down here knows where the Fane is.
Mike:We're looking for the Fane, and then there was something underneath it.
Mike:I forgot the name of it.
Josh:So you know that there's a part of the sewer that runs underneath the Fane and might lead into the Fane.
Tanner:Well.
Mike:But we wanted to bomb the Fane, and then there was two birds with one stone, yeah.
Josh:You need to get into the Fane because they want you to put the beacon into the heart that is manifesting the Fane.
Mike:Yeah.
Josh:So I think you would know generally manifestations are... A Fane is built around...
Josh:Stepping back a little bit, Fane is a dream made by the heart that's kind of overlapping with reality.
Mike:Hmm.
Josh:So you would know that the heart is located at whatever the central part of the Fane would be.
Tanner:Oh.
Josh:Like, if the Fane...
Josh:existed as a mansion, it would be in the central lobby.
Josh:If the Fane existed as a forge, it would be the blast furnace in the center.
Mike:Hmm.
Josh:So you're looking for the conceptual center of whatever the Fane ends up being.
Josh:So what did we get?
Josh:Nice.
Mike:30 crit.
Noah:Not that good, anywhere close.
Josh:Nice.
Josh:Okay, so a 30 crit will...
Josh:You're trying to navigate towards the center of the city, like, trying to follow the general plan of where you would expect the Fane would be, slightly off from the center of the city.
Josh:And with a 30 crit, I think that you would immediately be able to suss out this sewer kind of follows generally a grid based on the streets above, so you can...
Josh:It's super easy to navigate through.
Josh:You don't immediately come across anybody living in the sewers.
Josh:It's not like there's a full city in the sewers underneath it.
Josh:It's more like vagrants who will come down here to try and avoid the prying eye.
Josh:But after...
Josh:a third of a mile, effectively, of walking towards when you feel like you're getting kind of close to where you're trying to go, you will find an opening into a larger part of the sewer that looks almost like it's a treatment plant of some kind, like a more central area that a bunch of different flows go through.
Josh:And at that point, I would like you guys to open https://btl.iridi.cc.iridi.cc.
Tanner:Oh, this is disgusting.
Noah:Okay.
Josh:If you like.
Josh:You don't have to, but you can't play anymore if you don't.
Mike:Bye.
Tanner:If my brother Gian Marco knew I was walking through a sewer, he would never let me down.
Josh:Gosh, I forgot the third one.
Josh:I know Gianluca and I know Gianmarco.
Josh:Who is the middle one?
Tanner:That was Gianfranco.
Josh:Gianfranco, right.
Noah:Do you have a list of these?
Noah:Are you looking down the list or are you just coming up with these off the cuff?
Tanner:There might be a list.
Mike:If my cousin Jean-Paul knew I was down here.
Noah:I'm so excited.
Josh:You can sue people you don't know.
Noah:Ooh, sewer.
Tanner:Sewer?
Tanner:I hardly know her.
Josh:Okay.
Tanner:you
Josh:So you guys find yourselves walking into a more open area.
Mike:why is the icon for druids just a tree that's so funny I saw that first and I was like who the fuck did no one describe themselves as a tree am I fucking losing it
Josh:I did not make that icon.
Josh:That is the official Pathfinder druid icon, okay?
Noah:No, you didn't hear my description of me saying, hey, it's me, a tree.
Josh:I mean, is it wrong?
Mike:I'm just a tree.
Mike:I actually have no special powers.
Noah:I'm a potted... I'm one of those small trees in a potted plant.
Mike:I blended really well, though.
Josh:You know, there is...
Josh:there is an ancestry that is a tree.
Mike:Yeah.
Josh:Like, there's actually two ancestries that are a tree.
Josh:So it's not ridiculous.
Noah:Wait, there's two kinds of trees?
Mike:No, that is ridiculous.
Josh:I understand it's ridiculous.
Josh:I just mean, like, if in the context of the game, if somebody said I was a tree, you would have to ask, which one?
Josh:So...
Noah:You're right.
Josh:You can be a Leshi or you can be a Kanrasu.
Josh:Both are trees.
Tanner:Bless she's more of a bush.
Josh:Sorry, you're right.
Josh:I take it back.
Noah:Come on, man.
Noah:Thank you.
Josh:Technically, a Kanrasu isn't a tree.
Josh:It's a spirit that's grown bark around itself, but it's a tree.
Noah:Give it a year, they'll have Awakened 3.
Josh:Who knows what's coming out in War of the Immortals?
Josh:I'm excited for mythic levels.
Josh:That'll be a good time.
Noah:Okay.
Josh:Regardless, you guys find yourselves in this more open part of the sewer.
Josh:The water here only gets to be about five feet deep at its deepest, so you could wade through if you wanted to, or you could just walk along the paths.
Josh:This is the first time that you've come across a populated area.
Josh:There are a few people who are kind of just congregating around the...
Josh:around the treatment plant.
Josh:They're not fishing, but they do have what looks to be like nets kind of hanging in the water.
Josh:If anything, you'd guess that this is probably closer to panning for stuff that ends up in the sewers that might be of some particular worth.
Josh:They don't... Like, as you walk in... Actually, as you walk in, are you trying to hide from people who are in here, or are you being more open about it?
Tanner:Hmm.
Mike:I figured we would just walk in.
Noah:Yeah, they're all sketchy down here.
Josh:That's fine.
Tanner:Yeah.
Noah:Yeah, they're all ne'er-do-wells down here.
Tanner:Yeah.
Josh:One of them is a ne'er-do-well.
Josh:Um... No.
Tanner:Ugh.
Noah:Oh, sorry, the rest are just sewer dwellers.
Josh:Only one of them is a ne'er-do-well.
Noah:Yeah, well, one of them at least is shifty.
Josh:Yeah.
Josh:Um... Okay, so... Yeah, you guys come out.
Josh:They don't...
Josh:You are eyed with a little bit of distrust, and I don't know if you would immediately be able to tell if it's because of your raiment being the wrong color, or if it's because you are strangers who have just shown up in their sewer.
Josh:But you do get side-eyes.
Josh:Nobody immediately comes up to you or anything, but they're minding their business while still also minding yours.
Noah:We just keep minding our business.
Josh:Okay, you guys can control your characters, like if you click on it with the arrow keys, or dragging around if you like.
Josh:Where are you going?
Josh:What's the plan?
Mike:Let's see, we got Shifty, Paranoid, Shifty.
Mike:Why don't we head over to this first Shifty person and ask them a couple questions.
Mike:So, what would we know about
Mike:What would we know about, like, effects of... What would we know about effects of... Of Fane?
Noah:You're welcome.
Josh:Well, it's dependent on the heart.
Josh:Basically, a heart is manifested in a particular area.
Mike:What about Mr. Wet Bones, or whatever his name was?
Josh:The bones have eyes.
Josh:Yes, it's Dry Bowser.
Josh:And unfortunately, you don't know anything about this particular heart's predilections or how its feign is maintained.
Josh:The only thing you can say with relative confidence is that the feign is probably bigger on the outside than the building in which it's contained.
Josh:And it will definitely have people in it.
Josh:But you do know that it's connected to the outside world in some way.
Noah:Uh, Josh.
Noah:Josh, I cannot control my character.
Josh:Yes.
Josh:What?
Josh:It's because I hate you.
Noah:I think I'm still... Oh, ah!
Josh:Yeah, I've been hiding that for so long.
Noah:It finally comes out.
Noah:I'm ruined.
Noah:No!
Noah:All these years of running this complex Dungeons & Dragons game, with me included.
Noah:Ah.
Josh:It's just been because I'm so angry all the time.
Josh:Try now?
Josh:I might have to replace your character down.
Noah:I think it says that I'm still Dawn.
Josh:Okay.
Noah:Let me try reloading.
Josh:We'll try moving it first, if you haven't already reloaded.
Noah:Oh, it is too late.
Noah:I have reloaded.
Noah:I'm coming back in.
Noah:Oh, I can move it now.
Josh:Nice.
Josh:Okay.
Josh:So you guys...
Josh:I assume jump over that gap and not wade through the water.
Noah:Yes.
Josh:But you could walk through it if you wanted to.
Josh:You guys already are soaked and probably smell like sewage from walking through the sewers for an extended period of time.
Josh:But it's fine, because all of these people also smell like sewage.
Josh:But as you get closer, Mr. Shifty Sewer Dweller, number two, will definitely get a little protective over his little bundle of stuff that he's fished out of the water.
Josh:And he'll say, what do you want?
Josh:If you ain't got nothing, you should just keep stepping.
Mike:don't worry we've got plenty but i'm wondering if you've seen anything strange down here particularly close to the center of the city uh boxes uh where uh help me where abilities
Noah:Okay.
Josh:Roll a diplomacy check.
Josh:You're just asking if this guy's seen anything strange.
Josh:The hand next to the boxes.
Josh:Oh, wait, no.
Josh:Those are actions.
Josh:I take it back.
Mike:Wait, why is Dyvax in the bottom left?
Josh:Why is Divex in there?
Josh:I have Divex in the bottom left for me too.
Tanner:Yeah, I have... I have Henrik.
Josh:Does everybody have Divex?
Josh:Okay, one second.
Tanner:Do I need... Is there a way to switch characters?
Noah:I am done.
Josh:There is... How about that?
Tanner:Oh!
Tanner:Yeah, that worked.
Tanner:I still see that Noah is tagged as Dawnmonger and Mike is tagged as Divex.
Noah:I am still... I am still done.
Tanner:But...
Josh:Noah would never do that.
Josh:I don't know what you're talking about.
Josh:I almost made you Ivor Sixfingers again.
Noah:I... The greatest character I've ever come up with.
Josh:And you can be Crindle Vilksnake.
Josh:How about that?
Mike:okay so how were abilities rolled again in this yeah I see diplomacy I don't have my badge out I'm not gonna show I'm not gonna show this guy a fucking badge he's gonna stab me
Josh:That's a good question.
Josh:Where are our abilities?
Tanner:Wait, what are you looking for?
Tanner:Your skills?
Josh:Yeah.
Tanner:That's the hand.
Tanner:The little hand.
Josh:Oh, it is the hand.
Josh:I was right.
Josh:You just click on the header that you want.
Mike:uh where the hell is diplomacy it's okay whatever role you want to do it's making me pick something i'm gathering information i guess nice josh can you un can you unprivate that you can you can private it you can you can
Noah:You rolled it privately.
Josh:Um, yeah.
Josh:Oh, I can private it?
Josh:Okay, that's fine.
Josh:Um, so that's a 20.
Mike:Yeah.
Josh:Uh, so you go up to him and you ask if there's anything suspicious.
Tanner:Hello.
Josh:And he says, yeah, you fucking lot.
Josh:And then he turns away from you.
Josh:It looks like he's not particularly interested in interacting with you anymore.
Noah:I, I, I'll, I'll saddle over to this, to this young man.
Noah:I don't call it this.
Josh:He will pull out a knife and say, step the fuck back.
Noah:Hey, buddy, you step the fuck back.
Noah:What do you think?
Noah:We're just walking through here.
Noah:Why are you being so rude?
Noah:Listen.
Josh:Roll an intimidation check.
Noah:Will.
Noah:Uh.
Noah:You.
Noah:Okay.
Noah:Uh.
Noah:Oh, right, I rolled over here.
Noah:Oh my gosh, where are we?
Noah:This is not my character.
Noah:I clicked on the wrong character.
Josh:Oh, you gotta click on Bonnie and... Crandall?
Noah:I clicked on... I was like, what is this character?
Noah:Yeah, I clicked on Crindle.
Josh:Can't click on Crandall.
Josh:That's a mistake.
Noah:Oh, this should be... This intimidation should be much higher.
Mike:All right.
Noah:Maybe I changed this since I sent this to you.
Noah:I'll just add the difference.
Josh:What's changed?
Noah:Apologies.
Noah:I should have Master of Proficiency and Intimidation.
Josh:Oh, I think it's possible I just forgot to... I will swap that up to master.
Josh:I'm sorry, I must have forgotten to do that part of your spell, or your character sheet.
Noah:That's okay.
Josh:That was dumb of me.
Josh:Okay, it's master now, if you roll it.
Noah:Yes.
Noah:Roll.
Noah:Roll.
Noah:30.
Josh:Okay, with a 30, that absolutely beats its DC.
Josh:Shit, dude, I didn't, like... I'm sorry, okay?
Josh:I didn't... I'm gonna, like, put the knife away.
Noah:Hey.
Josh:It's you!
Noah:Bud.
Noah:Listen.
Noah:My friend asked you a question.
Noah:We didn't do anything to you.
Noah:We're just walking through.
Noah:answer his question, and maybe we'll leave.
Josh:You guys are the suspicious ones!
Josh:What do you mean?
Noah:Hey, buddy, from where I'm sitting, you're looking pretty, is it the shifty sewer dweller?
Josh:Yes, there's a shifty sewer dweller too.
Noah:You're looking pretty shifty, too, to me.
Josh:Okay, did you want me to say myself?
Josh:I'm the suspicious thing that's happening.
Noah:Listen, pal, my friend here, uh, Frindle Vilksnake,
Noah:is going to ask you this question again, and maybe this time you'll be polite about it.
Noah:I'll back up a little bit.
Josh:Okay.
Josh:You are definitely starting to draw the attention of the other dwellers in the sewer.
Tanner:Josh, I'm right by the ne'er-do-well.
Josh:But... Yes.
Mike:Kill him.
Josh:I see that.
Josh:Wow.
Tanner:I assume he's kind of looking our way as well.
Josh:Yes, I mean, he is particularly intimidated by the fact that you are standing right next to him.
Josh:Like, the interaction that the rest of the people here have seen so far is you guys come in through the sewer, you immediately beeline to the first person you see, and you start yelling at the guy for them to tell you about things that have happened.
Josh:So everybody else is on edge.
Tanner:Yeah, so I have the quick coercion feat.
Josh:Okay.
Mike:stupid hat
Tanner:Which means I can use just one round of conversation to try and coerce this guy.
Josh:Okay.
Tanner:I guess the normal coercion rules, it takes longer.
Tanner:Anyway, I'm just going to lean over to him quietly and be like,
Josh:It takes a minute.
Tanner:Listen, man, you don't need to get like caught up in whatever might go down here.
Tanner:You should probably get out of here because if there's any trouble, it's not going to end well for you.
Josh:Roll an intimidation check.
Josh:I think I'm going to give you a plus one circumstance to that.
Mike:You should stick your fingers in his mouth and just jiggle his jaw around.
Noah:That's horrible.
Josh:Don't do that, please.
Noah:That's so weird.
Josh:A 20.
Mike:Listen, buddy.
Mike:Slap him with his own spit.
Noah:That's so weird.
Tanner:uh okay oh man are you hitting me that was gonna be so good uh i'm not sure
Mike:Gross.
Mike:Gross.
Noah:What the heck?
Josh:Unfortunately... Wait, what is it against?
Mike:Maybe you should have stuck his pink.
Josh:One second.
Mike:Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Noah:Now you stop.
Josh:Coerces against its will DC.
Josh:So, terrible news.
Josh:The ne'er-do-wells will DC is 20.
Tanner:So I beat it.
Josh:So, you do.
Josh:Which is crazy.
Josh:It's a plus ten.
Josh:Oh, also, for the record, all of the people that you've seen in the sewer here, I have to remember this to myself to start making a note of this.
Josh:They do all have blessings.
Josh:They are smaller than yours, and they have a silvery color that would indicate that they are blessed by the compelled.
Josh:You would guess that they're, like, two or three levels below you.
Noah:Thank you.
Josh:Um...
Josh:he'll look up at you wide-eyed, just kind of nod and start picking up things and just walking in the direction further this way.
Josh:But he will be like, okay, clearly something's happening and I don't want to be part of it.
Josh:And he will start navigating over this way.
Josh:No, I heard you.
Mike:listen all i wanted to know was if you'd seen anything species interesting spine tingling creepy anything this is okay and then
Josh:I get it.
Josh:I understand.
Josh:I don't know what you want me to say.
Josh:Okay.
Mike:Crindle will just... Crindle knows who he wants to talk to.
Mike:Crindle will make his way towards the guy that has seen shit even if no one else has.
Mike:He looks visibly paranoid.
Josh:Okay.
Josh:So you're going to walk over to the paranoid sewer dweller.
Noah:I'll use.
Josh:Yes, he does.
Mike:I can't... Okay.
Josh:That's the only reason he's no longer shifty and has been upgraded to paranoid.
Josh:It's because he is clearly... Roll a perception or society check here.
Mike:We're going to go with perception.
Mike:26 perception.
Noah:I'm going to look at the shifty sewer dweller while this is happening.
Noah:Get out of here, punk.
Noah:I don't want to see you around here again.
Noah:Go clean up your act.
Josh:I will let you do that.
Josh:He will also similarly run off.
Josh:26 perception?
Mike:Mm-hmm.
Josh:Okay, so I think what you would get from that is... So the paranoid sewer dweller is wearing a hat.
Josh:It's kind of ratty looking.
Josh:Um...
Josh:It's like a beanie, almost.
Josh:But the thing that you would notice with that perception roll is you can see just kind of peeking out from underneath the hat looks to be a little bit of metal foil.
Mike:Okay.
Josh:Like, on the interior of the hat.
Josh:Uh...
Josh:Which is honestly impressive for him to have because we are very early on.
Josh:It's going to be made out of tin, not aluminum.
Josh:This is early in the production cycle here, but he's got it.
Mike:Yeah.
Josh:He's got the highest quality stuff.
Josh:And he will look up at you as you come by.
Josh:You will see him fidget with something in his pocket and then decide not to move away as you approach.
Josh:Greetings, friend.
Mike:Hello, my friend.
Mike:I was wondering if you'd seen anything weird in these tunnels, perhaps closer to the center of the city.
Mike:A place that you wouldn't dare go yourself.
Josh:Roll a diplomacy check.
Mike:Uh, uh, uh...
Josh:Thank you.
Tanner:Josh, you've got some funky shadow stuff going on in this map right now.
Tanner:Pretty cool.
Noah:that's cool
Mike:God damn it.
Mike:Can you un-private that roll?
Mike:I keep forgetting to check.
Tanner:Just have it set to public role at the bottom.
Josh:I don't know why it does that.
Mike:Oh, fucking hell yeah.
Mike:What do you mean?
Mike:At what bottom?
Tanner:Or right above where you would type in chat, there's like four icons.
Mike:Yeah, it's always set to public roll.
Mike:But when I roll an ability I haven't rolled yet, it defaults to private.
Tanner:Oh.
Josh:It shouldn't.
Noah:Here.
Josh:Okay.
Josh:So, with a 37, he will look up at you and say, that sounds pointed.
Josh:Is there a particular thing that you're looking for?
Josh:Well, answer me this.
Mike:The thing me and my companions are looking for is odd, but we don't know in what way.
Josh:Are you familiar with Zorbon?
Noah:Josh, are we familiar with the Zorbon?
Josh:No role required.
Josh:No, you are not familiar with the Zorbon.
Mike:No, friend.
Mike:I am not familiar.
Mike:Tell me about this Zorbon.
Josh:You know you're legally required to tell me if you're familiar with Zorbon, right?
Mike:I would know if I... I guess I would.
Mike:I don't know.
Josh:Okay, fine, you seem trustworthy.
Josh:And then he will go, like, rifling through one of, it looks like, three different backpacks that he has just kind of tied together with a rope.
Josh:And he will pull out...
Josh:So, it's a napkin.
Josh:It has, like, the monogram of what looks to be a diner.
Josh:The thing looks like it's been crumpled and uncrumpled a bunch of times, and on it, scribbled in brown, is what looks to be a map of the sewer.
Josh:And he'll say, okay, okay, so...
Josh:If you look here, and it'll point towards the center.
Josh:This is the center.
Josh:And then a little bit off this way.
Josh:And he will point off in the direction of what you would expect where the Fane to be would be.
Josh:He'll say, I found 14 human skulls right here.
Josh:All of them were perfectly intact.
Josh:They had all their teeth.
Josh:It's an excellent money-making opportunity because there is no shortage of people who are looking for teeth, you know?
Josh:I was able to stop selling my own.
Josh:I put new ones in.
Josh:It's awesome.
Josh:I can eat an apple now.
Josh:If you're looking for skulls, I'd go there.
Josh:Uh, alternatively, if skulls aren't your jam, I did hear that you can get abducted if you go.
Josh:And then he points to a different part of the, uh, the map, like more South left towards like the, the exit of the river.
Josh:Um, there are people there that will capture you.
Josh:Uh, the police say it's a trafficking ring, but I know it's agents of Zorbon.
Josh:And I think you would also know that it's agents of Zorbon.
Josh:So if you're looking to bring the fight to them, that's where I would go.
Noah:Thank you.
Josh:No, I would not go anywhere near somebody who associates with Zorbon.
Mike:Interesting.
Mike:And these kidnappers, have you seen them?
Mike:Are they wearing uniforms?
Josh:And I would recommend you do the same unless you're ready to bring the fight to them.
Mike:Fair enough.
Mike:Selling those skulls, how much money did you make?
Josh:Well, so I've got the hookup.
Josh:Somebody on Ledlow Street will give me three copper pieces per tooth.
Mike:Krindle will take out ten gold pieces and place it in his palm and say, I appreciate your help.
Mike:Can I have that map?
Josh:He will look at the gold pieces and then say, do you have anything?
Josh:Do you have change for copper?
Mike:Uh, no.
Josh:Okay, and then I'll just chuck them into the water.
Josh:You can't keep gold on you.
Josh:That's how Zorbon knows where you are.
Josh:That is such a rookie mistake.
Mike:Of course, of course.
Josh:You're lucky you met me after coming into the sewers, because I know all of the tricks.
Josh:Listen, you gotta get rid of all of the gold you currently have on, and you need to protect your head.
Josh:Because it's the mind waves that get you.
Mike:Grindel will take out five more gold pieces and throw them in the water and then we'll take the hood of his cloak and put it up and be like, you've been a lifesaver, friend.
Josh:No, it's his map.
Mike:Did he give me the map or is he still hanging on or...
Josh:He was showing you where it was.
Josh:He's not giving it to you.
Mike:okay it can krindle will take out a uh parchment and quill and copy down the map yeah that's that's fair i'll do that
Josh:Okay.
Josh:He will only let you copy down the map if you include the bit where the people are getting kidnapped.
Josh:That's important to him, that you know where that is.
Josh:Okay, absolutely, but you can copy down a version of the map.
Josh:And once you're done, he will quickly crumple it back into a ball and just stuff it in one of the backpacks.
Mike:Okay, thank you, friend.
Mike:Of course.
Josh:Keep Anaïs out.
Josh:As you guys turn away, one of the other sewer dwellers will also just jump straight into the water and fish out the eight gold pieces that have been chucked in there.
Noah:To the bone zone.
Josh:But yeah, you have some information, you think you have a lead.
Tanner:what direction yeah what direction on this map are we quickly exiting this map or
Mike:To the bone zone.
Mike:What?
Josh:A little more east of where you currently are.
Mike:East.
Josh:So if you have nothing else you'd like to do, you can start heading east and find the way off of this map if you like.
Mike:I thought you said... Huh?
Noah:east it's a fun map
Josh:Okay, and as you make it to the edge of the map, you will continue further, and just for fun, because I'm not going to be reusing this particular map again.
Josh:Let's see if I can just turn off all the shadow things.
Josh:I might be able to.
Mike:I see it.
Mike:I see it.
Josh:If you move off the map, do you see the whole thing?
Mike:No, I see the rooms next to off the map, like the pipe rooms.
Josh:What about that?
Noah:Oh, wow, this is neat.
Tanner:Oh.
Noah:Oh, there was a whole crew down here.
Josh:Yeah.
Noah:We could have met ne'er-do-well one and two and paranoid sewer dweller one.
Noah:Hmm.
Josh:There were people.
Mike:Wait, did we only meet... Oh, okay.
Mike:I was gonna say, did we meet two and I didn't notice?
Mike:Like, where the hell's the first one?
Josh:No, there were different ones because those were different groups and stuff.
Mike:Of course.
Josh:Either way, unfortunately, you did miss out on the cheese trove, but it's for someone else.
Noah:Oh, no.
Mike:Oh, unfortunate.
Noah:Wow.
Noah:Very... Wow.
Tanner:The Rat King.
Josh:Actually, that's just a rat with a crown.
Josh:He's not the king.
Mike:What the...
Mike:There's so much.
Mike:I didn't realize all the fucking rooms in this map.
Mike:There's what looks like the workshop in the middle of Blackreach.
Josh:Yeah.
Mike:Then there's the fucking pipe room.
Josh:The doors were openable and closable if that became it, but it's fine.
Noah:Wow.
Josh:We're not doing that kind of stuff.
Josh:Either way, you guys navigate further east on the sewers following the directions of the paranoid man.
Josh:Looking out for agents of Zorbon as you go.
Josh:You don't find any.
Josh:Um...
Josh:I'm going to write down Zorba, because that's canon now.
Josh:I just need to remember to bring him back.
Noah:Gonna run into Zorbon at some point.
Josh:Yeah.
Josh:So...
Josh:You make your way towards where you were told this man has found a bunch of human skulls.
Josh:And it is... When you arrive at the location that he indicated, it is no different than any other part of the sewer that you've been walking through.
Josh:Just muck traveling along the sewer pipes, heading inevitably just towards the river to be dumped into it.
Tanner:Thank you.
Josh:But...
Josh:you know, some intel here.
Josh:You know to look for a spot where skulls might be deposited, and you find that one of the tributaries?
Josh:I don't know what you call the things that bring water into the sewers from up above are called.
Josh:One of those does appear to be more clogged than the rest, like less liquid is flowing through at a slower rate.
Josh:And a quick peek up...
Josh:being careful not to get sprayed from any of the actual water, you will see that there appears to be three different femurs that have all kind of lodged themselves at an unfortunate angle in the sewage pipe that is preventing most of the liquid from getting through, which would indicate to you that this area is the area that the paranoid man was talking about.
Tanner:The bones have eyes.
Mike:Someone's eating poorly.
Noah:um um
Mike:We don't have any way on us of detecting a Thane.
Josh:Um, no.
Mike:We just gotta go see it.
Josh:You likely would have.
Josh:It will be obvious when you're in the area if it is a feigned or not, but you don't have, like, an oniriscope or a spanner that would tell you.
Mike:Wait, it'll be obvious, so it should be obvious here, or... Okay.
Josh:You can be pretty confident that where you're standing right now is not part of the feigned.
Josh:in that feigns are thematic extensions of the heart that resides within them, that is making them.
Josh:And so unless the heart was somehow thematically related to a sewer, you would guess that the interior of the feign will be different from the sewer that you're currently in.
Mike:I see.
Mike:So there's femurs coming through.
Mike:Is there any way up from here?
Josh:There's a manhole cover up above you.
Josh:Or there are the tributaries themselves, which would be a particularly tight fit, but you might be able to climb up them.
Mike:Let's... Could...
Mike:Can, um, Krindle try to Ninja Turtle the manual cover, right?
Mike:It's just peeking a little bit, and just, like, checking real quick, and then... Delveption.
Josh:Yeah, that's both stealth and perception.
Josh:Stealthception.
Josh:Stealthception?
Tanner:Oh.
Mike:Delveption.
Josh:Per stealth.
Mike:Uh... I have a...
Mike:think i have a status bonus and an item bonus but i will list them as a circumstance for fun 31
Josh:Those are separate bonuses, so I will accept it.
Josh:I mean, okay.
Josh:Alrighty.
Josh:The 31 is the stealth.
Josh:So you push up the manhole cover.
Josh:Luckily they haven't started bolting them into the ground.
Josh:And you just take a quick look-see just trying to get your bearing of where it opens up to.
Josh:Roll a perception check.
Mike:God damn it.
Josh:Your wisdom is plus zero.
Josh:That makes sense why your perception isn't fantastic.
Josh:Okay.
Josh:So you take a quick... Oh, you can't see it.
Mike:Well, can you un-private?
Mike:Yeah, my god damn it was because of the fucking... Nice.
Josh:Sorry.
Josh:You got a 28.
Noah:Okay.
Josh:Um...
Josh:Yeah, I was wondering, you got a 17, and so I expected a 60, because I'm used to our previous bonuses, but that's not what it was.
Josh:So with a 28, you take a peek around, and you see that, first of all, you're lucky in that it is still dark, so you picking up the manhole cover, you're pretty confident nobody was around to see it.
Josh:This appears to be an alleyway outside of...
Josh:some building.
Josh:Like, from what you can see of this particular alley, it connects two side streets that look better lit than where you currently are.
Josh:You don't see anybody necessarily walking back and forth through them from your vantage point here and for the quick peek that you take.
Josh:But you would know that from the direction that the tributary thing is moving into the sewage, it would be the building coming out of the manhole cover to your left.
Josh:And looking at that building from this side, you're too low to look into windows, but you see that there are windows present.
Josh:You'd have to probably come out of the manhole if you wanted to get a better look into the building from the exterior.
Josh:You don't see anybody immediately, is the summary.
Mike:I shall take a peek.
Josh:Okay.
Mike:So I'll push up the manhole cover, get up, and then see if I can look in the windows or at least see through.
Josh:Absolutely.
Josh:So the exterior of the building is this relatively nondescript.
Josh:It's made out of these gray stone blocks.
Josh:It is stacked in a similar way to a lot of other buildings in the area are.
Josh:There's no obvious markings on the outside that would distinguish it from the inside, which in contrast is this very ornate
Josh:ossuary, if you're familiar with them.
Josh:Like a bone repository is effectively what an ossuary is.
Mike:uh,
Josh:It's...
Josh:You know how under Paris there are the catacombs that have all of the, like, skulls and stuff embedded in the walls?
Josh:It's like if they pumped a few million dollars into making a particular part of those catacombs as nice as possible.
Josh:There's like this...
Josh:Really nice looking marble flooring.
Josh:There are columns coming up from the sides.
Josh:There's this black, you can't tell if it's granite or if it's marble of some kind, walls that are very intricately decorated.
Josh:There are piles of skulls.
Josh:collected around parts of the walls almost as ornamentation.
Josh:There are these braziers that are letting off this orange or yellowish almost into a little bit of green flame.
Josh:But the standout piece that you can see here is that one end of the hallway appears to be this altar with a single skull placed on it.
Josh:And growing out of the back of the skull and up is this massive tree
Josh:made out of bones.
Josh:Like, the trunk itself appears to be a bunch of different human bones fused together in various positions, and the branches are arms and limbs that have kind of grown out of each other in various forms.
Josh:You would gather that that is the heart that is maintaining the interior of the thing here.
Noah:Oh, so it doesn't have to look like a heart.
Mike:It is... This is completely... Yeah.
Noah:It's just like a... Just be... Oh, uh-huh.
Josh:No, it is conceptually a heart, but it is thematically what it is.
Josh:Just so that you can get a view of what he sees.
Josh:This is the interior of the ossuary.
Josh:You would be seeing through here.
Josh:There should be windows.
Tanner:it's black yeah we don't have a token that can oh there it is so i missed how is he seeing this
Josh:It's completely black!
Noah:Fully black.
Josh:Well, I guess you don't get to see it then.
Josh:I'm sorry.
Noah:Oh, wow.
Mike:Thank god, this is probably really scary.
Mike:Ugh.
Noah:This is ornate.
Noah:Oh, my God.
Josh:So there's a window right over here, instead of that archway, because I don't have a good way of adding windows in.
Noah:What the heck?
Josh:But he is looking through... Imagine that arch is an arched window.
Tanner:Okay, okay.
Josh:And he's peeking through.
Josh:...
Tanner:So we need to stab that tree.
Mike:Yes.
Noah:Oh, we got this priest and this foremost.
Noah:Well, they got to die.
Tanner:Yeah, well, glory, glory, glory, am I right?
Noah:Oh, boy.
Noah:Here we go.
Josh:Alright, so you guys are just... You're gonna run in and just stab the guy?
Josh:Or the harp?
Noah:I mean, I guess I could also, if you guys want to give me the thing, I could turn into a bug.
Mike:Uh...
Noah:I think all my gear shrinks into me.
Noah:I can just flip over to on top of the Fane, flip back in, and then stab it.
Noah:I might need you guys for backup, just in case.
Tanner:We need to be over there as well so we can get out of here.
Josh:Correct.
Mike:Yeah, and then we have to command the bomb to explode.
Mike:There's a couple of people in there.
Tanner:I think we're going to have to take care of them.
Noah:Okay, so here's my plan.
Noah:I turn into a unicorn.
Noah:No one can resist following a unicorn.
Noah:I'll just walk down the hallway.
Noah:They'll all come.
Noah:I'll turn into a bug.
Noah:Yeah, I think we just gotta rush them.
Mike:Well, actually, can you just fly through the window as a unicorn?
Mike:Like, slam through the window and shatter and just get up and act like a scared unicorn and then just, like, run away from... You know what I mean?
Tanner:just run towards the stairs here?
Tanner:Or is it at least that could bring them towards us so that we don't have to make this mad dash?
Mike:Yeah, like... Well, they'll follow you and then we'll call you over when the bomb... before the bomb...
Noah:Run the opposite direction of where I have to be to survive.
Mike:You'll be fine.
Mike:To attack him?
Tanner:You know, I...
Mike:Yeah, yeah.
Noah:That's true.
Noah:Okay, you want me to... So where is this window?
Noah:Sorry.
Josh:Where your characters are at the bottom left.
Mike:Yeah.
Noah:Oh.
Noah:Yeah, I can just crash throw it as a unicorn.
Noah:It can be like, ah!
Josh:Sure.
Josh:If that's what you want to do, then you should do it.
Josh:Okay.
Josh:So... Special Ops.
Tanner:Special Ops.
Noah:Special indeed.
Josh:I'm just going to refrain from assigning any seriousness to the party, because I feel like it's inversely related, where the more serious I try to make the session, the goofier it gets.
Josh:Which is fine.
Noah:There's actually, I read a very interesting, not exactly a paper, but a whole thing about this.
Josh:I'm not complaining.
Noah:It's like the Monty Python D&D thing, where when you make a campaign that's very serious, the players will continuously add goofiness.
Noah:And when you make a campaign that starts off goofy, players will add in the seriousness.
Josh:Absolutely, and you guys are succeeding.
Josh:Okay, so you are turning into a unicorn and crashing through the window of this Fane.
Josh:Sorry, going where?
Josh:Okay.
Mike:I am become death.
Noah:Um, I think I'm just going to go buck around here a little bit.
Noah:So I guess I can move.
Noah:I'll go over here.
Noah:So I'll like crash through and then just sort of start like running in circles, panicking, looking like a panic unicorn.
Josh:Okay, so... I need you to roll a deception check here to act like an actual unicorn.
Josh:The DC is very high.
Josh:Because...
Josh:I don't know if anybody inside of, like, a government organization in an ostensibly secret building would see a unicorn show up inside of the building and have their first thought be, I bet that's a real unicorn that's found its way into the city and crashed into this window.
Noah:Let's see.
Josh:Like, it's possible.
Mike:Do you have follow the expert or something?
Josh:I'm not saying no.
Tanner:Well Josh, when you say it with that tone, it makes it sound stupid.
Josh:I'm not saying no
Noah:Nope.
Noah:I got, I got a not bad modifier.
Mike:Okay.
Noah:Wait, I'll actually roll.
Noah:Roll.
Noah:Roll.
Noah:Uh, this should be, I don't know why it's showing up like this.
Noah:This should be two higher than whatever it is.
Noah:I'm gonna use my hero point.
Josh:Okay.
Noah:Uh, 20, so it should be 24.
Josh:24.
Josh:Okay.
Josh:So, the foremost, the one who's currently at the front of the heart will, upon hearing the window shatter, turn around, see a unicorn start running around, and immediately yell, Intruder in the Fane!
Josh:Um...
Josh:And we'll probably move towards you to eliminate the intruder who does not believe that this unicorn is just a lost unicorn.
Noah:I run over here.
Josh:So what's going to happen is I think we're going to start an encounter.
Noah:She can't even see me.
Josh:So I'm going to need a perception initiative from you, Banyan.
Josh:However you say your name.
Josh:And the other two of you can make either perception or stealth initiatives if you like.
Tanner:perception is probably still better.
Mike:All right.
Tanner:They're the same.
Mike:That's an 18.
Mike:But it'll probably put me in the right spot.
Josh:They're not from the sewer.
Mike:Oh, no, the weird people from the sewer are up here, too.
Noah:Oh, God.
Noah:Oh, no.
Mike:It's the same... It's the same, like... Yeah.
Josh:Is it the same picture?
Noah:Oh, God.
Noah:Foremost rolled a real high.
Josh:Okay.
Josh:Oh, and for the record, the Foremost looks like they're stronger than you by some level.
Josh:Not vastly stronger than you, but they definitely have a greater blessing than you do.
Josh:The Priest and the two Deacons that run out from a hallway upon hearing that there's an intruder do look weaker than you, although not by much.
Noah:Josh, before this happens, can I dismiss this spell?
Josh:Yeah, I will let you dismiss the spell.
Noah:Like, as... Cool.
Josh:That's fine.
Josh:Assuming the spell can be dismissed.
Josh:What spell is this?
Noah:This one specifically says it can be dismissed.
Noah:This is fey form.
Josh:Okay.
Josh:Alright, then yes.
Josh:You may un... That would suck.
Noah:I did just check that.
Noah:I was like, am I stuck as a unicorn for this entire encounter?
Josh:Okay.
Josh:So... Let's...
Josh:Yeah, that's fine.
Josh:We'll keep this.
Josh:Okay, so first up is the attendant, who did see you show up as a unicorn, and then after yelling out that there's an intruder, does watch the unicorn turn back into a person.
Josh:A person with iridescent host raiment, and I think at this point they're not going to be suspicious of the iridescent host.
Josh:It's more, oh, this person's clearly here to attack us.
Josh:So I think they're going to...
Josh:They don't have any spells they can use, unfortunately.
Josh:So I think they have to just... What is the range on this?
Josh:Oh, it's a fist strike.
Josh:Okay.
Josh:She's going to run towards you.
Josh:Unfortunately, her movement isn't fantastic.
Josh:So... That's it.
Josh:That's it.
Josh:That was three actions.
Josh:That sucked.
Josh:Vanya, it's your turn.
Noah:Oh, yeah.
Noah:We're... Uh, yeah, we're gonna get crazy.
Noah:Um, you guys watch as behind this pillar, Banyan just goes, oh, here I go, and kind of, like, flexes and turns into a Triceratops.
Tanner:Thank you.
Noah:Uh, as I one- I will use the one-action flourish to cast Untamed Form.
Josh:okay you
Noah:Uh, here we go.
Noah:Maybe.
Noah:It shows up.
Noah:There it is.
Noah:And it'll be ferocious form.
Noah:So I turn into a triceratops, which I have the info for.
Noah:That is one action.
Noah:Yeah.
Noah:And then I will... What is my speed for this triceratops?
Noah:Oh, gosh.
Josh:I think it's 30.
Josh:30 feet.
Noah:It is 30 feet.
Noah:I'm gonna run out.
Josh:You have a horn and a foot attack.
Noah:Do I have ten foot reach with these guys?
Noah:Nah, I don't have reach.
Noah:I'll just run out and gore her with my horns.
Noah:And because I'm using my own strength, I get a few neat bonuses.
Noah:I get a plus 2 circumstance from Untamed Horde.
Noah:Nice.
Noah:38.
Mike:Good golly.
Josh:Nice.
Josh:A 38 will hit.
Josh:It's not a crit, but it does hit.
Noah:I think...
Noah:I think this is Piercing, which is 2d6, but I think I also have Rip and Tear.
Noah:I think that's for this one.
Noah:Let me see.
Noah:My apologies.
Noah:New character.
Josh:You do have Rip and Tear.
Josh:I don't know if it applies here.
Noah:Make an armor move.
Noah:You learn debilitate.
Noah:It deals Piercing or Slashing.
Noah:It does.
Josh:Oh, nice.
Noah:Yep.
Noah:So they take an additional...
Josh:If you click the damage button, you should be able to check Rip and Tear on.
Noah:Yes, it is there.
Noah:Rip and tear.
Noah:So she takes 19 piercing, and then she'll take 1d6 persistent, or 19 piercing and 1d6 persistent bleed.
Josh:Absolutely.
Josh:You do gore the attendant, the foremost, who doesn't look particularly happy about having been stabbed, but is more angry than looking to run away.
Josh:Anything else?
Noah:That's my turn.
Noah:I'm a dinosaur.
Josh:Okay.
Josh:It is one of the deacons and the priest's turn.
Josh:The deacon, unfortunately, these guys do need to spend a little bit of time getting to you.
Josh:The priest will... Oh, what's the range on this one?
Josh:Does this... Oh, it doesn't grant flanking.
Josh:Okay, that's fine.
Josh:The priest is going to summon a spiritual weapon right next to the dinosaur.
Josh:So I'm going to make a strike against you.
Josh:23, which I think misses.
Noah:That's super uncool.
Noah:What is my dinosaur AC?
Noah:Oh, that's so freaking low.
Noah:That does miss.
Noah:It bounces off my thick dinosaur hide.
Noah:Oh, yeah, the same AC.
Mike:Thank you.
Josh:Okay.
Noah:That's crazy.
Josh:Alrighty, so that didn't work.
Josh:He now has two actions still, so he's just going to start running towards you guys.
Josh:But that is the end of both of their turns.
Josh:So it's Giancarlo's turn.
Josh:Giancarlo, you see your friend, your co-worker, turn into a unicorn, crash through a window, get immediately called out, turn from a unicorn back into himself, and then into a dinosaur, who is now locking fists with what looks to be an 80-year-old woman who doesn't seem particularly phased about the fact that she's been stabbed.
Noah:Okay.
Tanner:okay let me measure something hmm oh new character what do i do um all right i'll uh enter uh i've got 25 feet
Josh:Excuse me.
Tanner:I don't understand why that's saying it's 30 feet.
Josh:I mean, if it... That looks like it's 25 to me.
Tanner:Okay, yeah, that's... Oh, maybe because I was in measure mode, not in move character mode?
Tanner:Okay, anyway.
Tanner:So I'll stride.
Tanner:And then I will, I guess, cast Spiritual Armament.
Josh:okay no it is a different thing okay
Tanner:Which, I don't know if that is Spiritual Weapon or if that's different, but anyway.
Tanner:I am going to attempt to strike.
Tanner:It's 120 feet, so I think I'm going to go for the priest.
Tanner:So I need to make a spell attack roll against him.
Tanner:I don't know how to do that.
Josh:So cast the spell.
Josh:Do you know how to cast the spell?
Tanner:I don't.
Tanner:I need to open myself up, right?
Tanner:Is that how that works?
Josh:Yeah, if you open up your character sheet by double-clicking on yourself and you click the little wand in the top right, it'll give you a list of all of your spells.
Tanner:Okay.
Tanner:Yeah.
Tanner:Oh, okay.
Tanner:And I click cast.
Josh:Uh-huh.
Tanner:Spiritual armament.
Josh:And then when you click cast, you select which kind of armament you want.
Tanner:Uh, it matches my weapon, I think.
Josh:Oh, okay.
Josh:So it's a bastard sword, so that's slashing.
Tanner:Which... Okay.
Josh:So you click the slashing button, then you click attack.
Tanner:Ah.
Tanner:Very well.
Josh:Yes, that absolutely is not a crit, unfortunately.
Tanner:okay all right well that's actually kind of disappointing but uh okay well he takes five damage that's so fascinating uh that's it the armament returns to me
Josh:He will take the five damage.
Josh:Okay.
Josh:Alrighty.
Josh:So on your next turn, I believe you can sustain it for an action, and then you can do another attack with it.
Tanner:yeah uh no because i i strode i don't know no i don't know what flourish spell is
Josh:But you still have one action.
Josh:I know.
Josh:So it's a two-action spell that goes down to a one-action with Flourish spell.
Josh:You still have an action.
Josh:Did you walk twice?
Josh:It just means you can't cast another two- or three-action spell.
Josh:This is the homebrew thing that I've been doing with Mike as a wizard, where a two-action spell is a one-action spell, and a three-action spell is a two-action spell, you just can't cast two on the same turn.
Noah:you you
Josh:So, it's a two-action spell, so it becomes a one-action spell, you just can't cast another two or three-action spell.
Tanner:okay fascinating what is the point of that just out of curiosity were you having were you feeling like the action economy was not balanced well
Josh:Yeah.
Josh:Wizards, basically.
Mike:Thank you.
Josh:I found, or my, like...
Josh:I was feeling that spellcasters oftentimes had to devote all three of their actions to casting spells, which made it seem like, unlike marshals who have a bunch of fun things they can do other than walk and hit, I felt like spellcasters had to choose either between cast spell or walk.
Tanner:Okay.
Josh:Especially given that, for instance, Mike...
Josh:Multiple times throughout the campaign, we'll say the most optimal spot to be is on the ground.
Josh:And the reason for that is because it gets knocked prone and then doesn't have a free action to stand back up again.
Josh:And so I'm trying this out.
Josh:I don't know if I like it yet, but I figured we'd try it for a few sessions.
Josh:And if I decide it sucks, we'll get rid of it.
Josh:If I decide it doesn't, we'll keep it.
Tanner:Okay.
Noah:Peace.
Josh:All of that to say you have another action you can do.
Josh:You just can't cast another spell.
Tanner:Okay, fascinating.
Tanner:I think probably I would just stride again at that point.
Mike:I for one like it.
Mike:I like that.
Josh:Well, I'm sure you do.
Josh:My biggest concerns right now are, is it so confusing that it's just annoying to deal with?
Josh:And how unbalanced is it?
Josh:Because I'm pretty sure it's just a direct power bump specifically to everybody, but especially for half-casters, like a martial spellcaster combination.
Josh:And so I feel like we need to play around with it for a little bit to see if it's bad or if it's reasonable to keep.
Josh:Either way, if you move again, that uses up your other actions, so that brings us to this last Deacon, who really doesn't have many options here either, so they're just going to run forward as well.
Mike:Okay.
Josh:And so, Grindel!
Josh:It's your turn.
Noah:Get them, Grindle.
Mike:Grendel, I learned something awful about spontaneous casters is they're actually not that spontaneous, which is weird.
Josh:Yeah, get him, Grindel!
Mike:I guess they have more spell slots.
Josh:What do you mean when you say they're not that spontaneous?
Mike:I thought upcasting was free.
Mike:It's not.
Josh:No, very much no.
Josh:You have to relearn the spell again in a higher level.
Mike:Yeah.
Josh:But the difference is, if you know four spells of second level and you have four spell slots of second level, you can cast one spell four times, or you can cast each of them once, or so on and so forth.
Mike:Yeah.
Tanner:Bye.
Josh:Like, you're not preparing into a specific slot like you would with a prepared caster.
Mike:But like... Yeah, no.
Josh:But you can't upcast.
Josh:Yes, I understand.
Josh:Pros and cons.
Mike:Not even upcasting.
Mike:It's like, for a wizard, if you're like, haha, wizard, I can cast this spell four times, the wizard is like, I can cast it at 8th and at 1st.
Josh:Okay, yes, but the... Right.
Mike:Just give me 24 hours.
Mike:Yeah.
Josh:The wizard has to choose at the beginning of the day to prepare one in a first-level slot and one in an eighth-level slot.
Josh:That's the difference.
Mike:Yeah, I think I almost prefer that.
Mike:But Krindle is going to go invisible and then move.
Josh:Okay Crandall Crandall has the spike thing Crandall you're invisible now.
Tanner:Uh, we should probably note who has the spike thing.
Mike:Krindle has the spike.
Tanner:Oh, Kendall took it.
Tanner:Right.
Noah:Yeah, I think Grindel has it.
Tanner:Right.
Noah:So, hope Grindel is doing his thing.
Tanner:Never mind.
Tanner:Never mind.
Josh:I hope you don't mind Okay
Mike:Let's go.
Mike:Oh, wait.
Mike:I guess I still have an action.
Mike:Because of... I see.
Josh:Yes, you have a third action.
Josh:Ignore that I just rolled that six for the attendant.
Josh:We'll resolve that at the end.
Josh:I just accidentally moved into the foremost spot and then moved back, so I rolled the other one.
Josh:You have a more action.
Mike:I'll just move again, honestly.
Josh:Okay.
Josh:Great.
Josh:Now it's the foremost's turn.
Josh:The foremost is here fighting this dinosaur.
Josh:So I think what's happening is the Foremost is going to just attack the dinosaur.
Josh:I am now realizing, as I look at the stat block, that they did, in fact, have a ranged attack option.
Josh:But it's fine.
Josh:So they're going to start with a Foxfire Blast, where you watch as their hand gets wrapped in blue energy, and then they just try to punch this Triceratops in the face.
Josh:So let's do... That's an actual thing they can do.
Noah:That does hit.
Josh:Sometimes you gotta just punch a Triceratops, you know?
Josh:Strike.
Josh:How are we looking on a 29?
Josh:Okay.
Josh:So you are going to take...
Josh:15 points of damage spread between slashing and electricity.
Josh:And then I think they will follow it up with a pinning shot.
Noah:That's so rude.
Josh:They will reach into one of their sleeves and pull out a dart and then try and chuck it at your foot and pin your foot into the ground.
Josh:You're the one who broke their window.
Josh:Does a 23 hit?
Noah:That misses.
Noah:The dart just bounces off my thick triceratops hide.
Josh:Okay.
Josh:Dark just bounces right off the hide.
Josh:Absolutely.
Josh:Okay, that's the end of the Foremost's turn.
Josh:Dinosaur Man, it's your turn.
Noah:Uh, this dinosaur is getting pretty mad.
Noah:So you watch as the dinosaur's eyes start to, like, grow red and from out between the, uh, those plates all across it, you see, like, vines begin to grow in the bark.
Noah:Uh, the...
Noah:Plating kind of grows bark-like, and I will rage!
Josh:Raging Dinosaur, absolutely.
Josh:You have 11 temporary hit points now from Effect Rage.
Tanner:Hell yeah.
Tanner:That's sick.
Noah:Good thing I just lost my other 10 pit points so that I can get those.
Noah:Neat.
Noah:And... Yeah, I'm gonna...
Noah:Seems like she's a spellcaster.
Noah:I'll Brutal Crush the second action I have to do after.
Noah:Okay, we're gonna... Last action to obliterate damage.
Noah:Okay.
Noah:I'm gonna try and stomp on her.
Josh:Is that something you should just have, Tanner?
Tanner:I think so.
Tanner:I was clicking on it to try and see if I could get it to do something.
Josh:31 hits.
Noah:How's a 31?
Noah:Okay, so that... Let's see, this should have the rage in there, I guess.
Noah:Let's see if it brings in the rage.
Josh:Do you have anything that would give you something from your champion's aura, Tanner?
Tanner:What do you mean?
Josh:Like, the champion's aura by default I think just tells people that you are a champion if the aura doesn't host.
Tanner:Oh, there are things that, yeah, that happen in the aura.
Josh:Like, is there a separate feat that gives you something that happens in the aura?
Tanner:Yeah, I have an aura of courage that affects getting, like, fear within the aura.
Tanner:And then I have a focus spell that, like, does stuff within the aura while it's active.
Josh:Okay.
Tanner:We can wait until it's relevant.
Josh:Yeah.
Josh:Well, yeah, so the reason that I don't think you have an aura right now is because aura of courage doesn't give you a bonus to rolls or anything.
Tanner:It's not relevant.
Josh:It's specifically if you get frightened, something happens.
Tanner:Yeah.
Josh:So either way.
Josh:Apologies, let's deal damage.
Josh:17 points.
Noah:And then there's going to be an additional 6 points for Rage.
Josh:Absolutely.
Josh:Okay, sure.
Josh:Plus an additional six.
Noah:And then... I'm going to try and use Brutal Crush.
Josh:She is not looking fantastic.
Josh:Not bloodied yet, but you're definitely starting to chip away at her.
Noah:So if your last action dealt bludgeoning damage using an unarmed strike granted by a morph or polymorph effect, which it did, I will do this again.
Tanner:Excellent.
Josh:Okay.
Josh:And in case anybody was worried, she is still bleeding.
Mike:Happy to hear.
Noah:I don't think that was great.
Noah:That was a 20 hit.
Josh:Unfortunately, no.
Noah:That's all I got.
Noah:That's my turn.
Josh:Okay.
Josh:Also, I don't know why, but it says you're currently targeting Crindle.
Josh:You missed Crindle as well.
Noah:Oh.
Noah:I don't know why.
Noah:Let's see.
Noah:Okay.
Josh:Okay.
Noah:Maybe that'll fix it.
Josh:This deacon's turn.
Josh:It is somehow two actions to flank the beast.
Noah:Ah!
Josh:Oh, no.
Josh:Oh, that doesn't work.
Josh:Okay.
Josh:Okay, so that's two actions.
Josh:And then for the third action, I think they just attack you with a longsword.
Josh:26.
Josh:Okay, let's roll damage then.
Noah:Yeah.
Noah:That hits.
Noah:My AC is super low right now.
Josh:You're going to take 17 points of slashing.
Josh:And that is the end of that deacon's turn.
Josh:Next up is the priest, who's going to spend one action to sustain their spiritual weapon.
Tanner:you
Josh:So we're going to start with attacking you with it.
Josh:28.
Noah:Yep, that is.
Josh:Okay, you are going to take eight points of force damage from the hint.
Noah:Ooh.
Noah:Do I have any resistance from whatever this instinct is?
Noah:Let's see.
Josh:And then once you're done looking that up, I am going to attack you with a Searing Light attack as well.
Noah:I guess I have to be higher level for that.
Noah:Okay, I don't have any resistance.
Noah:Hit me!
Josh:Well, don't worry.
Josh:I rolled so terribly.
Josh:Does a 13 hit?
Noah:That does not...
Josh:Okay, and I think that's going to be the end of his turn.
Josh:He can technically move, but I don't think he has any... Yeah, that's fine.
Josh:We'll move him over there.
Josh:I don't think he wants to get close.
Josh:Giancarlo, it's your turn.
Tanner:okay uh first i will stride um i think i want to be here yeah i'll stride to there um and then i will uh sustain the spell
Josh:Okay.
Tanner:Oh boy, how do I do that?
Josh:I just put it into the chat for you.
Josh:If you want, when you go to your spellbook, if you click on the icon of the spell, it should send it into the chat without actually casting it.
Josh:And then you do, like, the standard select the type and mold the attack and all that fun stuff.
Tanner:Okay.
Tanner:I lack permission to update chat message.
Tanner:Maybe I have to do it.
Josh:Oh.
Josh:Maybe.
Josh:Okay, yeah, you do it then.
Tanner:So I just click on the spell name instead of the cast.
Josh:Yeah, it should just do it.
Josh:I don't know.
Josh:Maybe that's a GM specific thing.
Josh:I hope it lets you do it.
Tanner:I think I just, right, I just do that in.
Tanner:And then do this.
Josh:Yeah.
Josh:Nice.
Josh:Okay.
Tanner:Alright, well that's probably not going to hit.
Tanner:That's okay, I'll take my hero point.
Josh:Sorry.
Tanner:You know, you gotta have the silver lining.
Tanner:Okay, so that was not casting a spell, that was sustaining a spell.
Josh:Correct.
Josh:That was an action, but you still have two actions, and you can still cast a spell if you like.
Tanner:Or a one action, which I assume stays as one action.
Josh:Or actually, you moved one, so you can only cast a two-action spell, not a three.
Josh:Yes.
Josh:Yeah, it just doesn't get the Flourish trait, which would prevent it from being cast with another spell.
Tanner:Oh, very interesting.
Tanner:I'm going to cast Shields of the Spirit.
Josh:Of course.
Tanner:Oh boy.
Tanner:Wait, I can do this.
Tanner:Focus spells.
Tanner:Cast.
Tanner:Now the aura matters, and my shield is raised.
Josh:Okay, well, I will just apply it to him manually.
Tanner:I was able to raise my shield.
Josh:Okay, that's good.
Tanner:So, okay, so my shield is raised, and anyone in my aura, any ally in my aura has a plus one status bonus to AC, and enemies take damage when they attack my ally.
Josh:Okay, excellent.
Josh:Also,
Josh:In case it's easier than pulling up your spell sheet, if you click the little wand icon on your HUD on the bottom, which should be easier.
Tanner:Oh, look at that!
Tanner:Nice.
Tanner:Okay.
Tanner:Cool.
Josh:Okay, that's it for Giancarlo, right?
Tanner:Yeah.
Tanner:Yes.
Josh:The other deacons turn.
Josh:They can get there in only one action.
Josh:Which means they can spend the next two actions just kind of trying to wail on you with a longsword.
Josh:You are not flat-footed because that is not an enemy, but that's fine.
Josh:We'll see if either of these hit.
Josh:Okay, so the 19 definitely misses.
Josh:Does the 31 hit?
Tanner:The 31, yeah, it does just barely.
Josh:No, it stays up.
Tanner:Hit by plus zero.
Tanner:I have a question.
Tanner:Does using shield block lower my shield afterwards, or does it stay up?
Tanner:Okay, so I'll shield block.
Tanner:So that'll reduce the damage by 10.
Josh:Okay, so you are going to take... If you click on the block button, it should do both, if you're keeping track in Foundry.
Josh:If you're not, then just mark down somewhere.
Tanner:So I click block to activate block and then I click damage to take the damage.
Josh:Okay.
Josh:Absolutely.
Josh:Great.
Josh:That's the end of his turn, so it's Grindel's turn.
Mike:Rindle will masterfully and expertly and deftly cast Translocate and appear... Not appear.
Josh:Okay.
Josh:Oh, wonderful.
Mike:It will be invisible.
Tanner:Thank you.
Mike:Actually, no, that's probably too far.
Mike:Just close enough to actually stab the tree.
Josh:In the tree.
Josh:Okay.
Mike:I just realized he has to get down and I don't want to cast Translocate again to jump into the fight.
Mike:And then he will draw the... It was like a necklace.
Mike:He's going to stab the tree with the necklace.
Josh:It's a one-foot spike with a pearl on the end of it.
Mike:Yeah.
Mike:So a necklace.
Josh:A necklace, sure.
Josh:Okay, so one action to translocate, one action to... I will combine, take it out, and stab it into the tree.
Josh:And then if you want, it's a third action to actually activate the beacon.
Mike:Yeah.
Josh:Okay, so you go, you stab the beacon into the tree, you empower it.
Josh:That will bring it to the foremost turn, but before that, after you empower it, everybody in the room hears Transmat activated.
Josh:And there is a burst of light from where Crindle knows he is and where nobody else knows he is.
Tanner:you you
Josh:As...
Josh:The beacon disappears, and in its place is a 5x5x10 foot monolith, effectively.
Josh:Just a massive black pillar has appeared where you chucked that spike into.
Josh:And, Crindle, you have the best view of it.
Josh:On the panel... Sorry, on this monolith, there...
Josh:is two things.
Josh:There's what appears to be an analog screen.
Josh:It's got like, you know, old train stations used to be able to like flip through a bunch of letters on one of those rollers.
Josh:It's got a set of five of those with arrows printed on them.
Tanner:Thank you.
Josh:It's up, down, right, left, right.
Josh:And then there is a small keyboard on the bottom with the arrows.
Josh:And it looks like it's a waiting input.
Josh:It's the Foremost's turn.
Josh:The Foremost... Let's see.
Josh:The Foremost sees the thing appear.
Josh:Does it think that that is a bigger problem than the dinosaur that's running around?
Josh:Or does it think that that's a distraction from the dinosaur running around?
Josh:I'm going to roll a d10.
Josh:If it is a 7, 8, or 9, it's going to go for the monolith.
Josh:If it's a 6 or below...
Josh:Sorry.
Josh:If it's a 7 up to 10, it's going to go for the monolith.
Josh:If it's a 6 or below, it's going to fight the triceratops.
Josh:They're sticking with the triceratops.
Josh:Okay.
Tanner:You're muted again.
Tanner:No, sorry, Noah.
Josh:I'm muted?
Josh:Oh.
Noah:It was just me making triceratops sounds.
Josh:Oh.
Josh:Great.
Tanner:Your mouth was moving, so I knew there was something happening.
Noah:It was just triceratops sounds.
Josh:going to do another Foxfire Blast on you.
Josh:Absolutely.
Tanner:I'm saying you're like, oh, Noah, if you'd like to contribute.
Noah:Oh, shit.
Noah:Yeah, 40 hits.
Josh:Okay, so it's going to roll damage.
Noah:That's a crit.
Josh:Can I... That's a crit, which is wonderful.
Noah:I got to get out of here.
Josh:But on top of that, you are now flat-footed, so they can do sneak attack damage on you.
Tanner:Oh, boy.
Noah:Oh, no.
Josh:So we're just going to hold that.
Noah:That's going to be a hefty hit.
Josh:That's going to be 40 points of damage to the Triceratops, split between slashing and electric.
Noah:Is that doubled or is that pre-doubled?
Josh:That is the doubled.
Josh:That has already been doubled for you.
Noah:Okay.
Tanner:She's gonna take damage.
Noah:Okay.
Tanner:2d4.
Josh:How much damage is she going to take?
Josh:Okay.
Tanner:I'm just gonna roll 2d4s.
Noah:Yep, that hits this time.
Tanner:I don't...
Josh:That's fine.
Tanner:Oh, it was... Oh, no, it's not secret.
Josh:Absolutely.
Tanner:Six points of... It's spirit damage, I think.
Josh:Six points of damage.
Josh:And then she's going to follow that up with another... We're going to try a pinning shot on the dinosaur again.
Josh:29?
Josh:Absolutely.
Tanner:Does that hit even with a plus one to the AC?
Tanner:Is that calculated already?
Noah:Yeah, my AC is super low right now.
Tanner:Oh, okay.
Tanner:Never mind.
Noah:Yeah.
Josh:Okay, so because it's a pinning shot, it doesn't actually do any damage, but you are immobilized because your foot has been pinned into the ground.
Noah:Oh.
Josh:Okay.
Tanner:Josh, would you still consider that an enemy making an attack against the ally?
Josh:They still made an attack, it just didn't do damage.
Tanner:So she takes damage again.
Tanner:Five more damage.
Josh:Okay.
Josh:Absolutely.
Josh:With that, she is now flooded.
Tanner:Oh, I'm good.
Noah:Bye.
Mike:one one thing uh would the monolith be in front of or in between crindle and the rest of the the party okay because uh the invisibility i cast was second level so i think it ends if i take a hostile action
Josh:The monolith would have landed exactly where you chucked the beacon.
Josh:So it would have probably... It's like between you and the tree.
Josh:So...
Josh:Okay.
Josh:I mean, it is definitely a hostile action to stab something into the heart that is maintaining the faint.
Mike:Yeah, so I would have become un-invisible.
Josh:Absolutely.
Josh:So you are visible.
Tanner:Josh, is it easy to put a black square where the monolith would be?
Josh:Yeah, one second.
Josh:It should be.
Josh:Yeah, sure.
Josh:We'll see if that works.
Josh:Great.
Tanner:Looks pretty good to me.
Tanner:Oh, it looks even better.
Noah:Ooh, spooky.
Josh:Okay, so that's the end of the Foremost's turn.
Josh:They are going to take some damage because they are actively bleeding.
Josh:Are they still bleeding?
Josh:Yes, they are.
Josh:It is your turn, Noah.
Josh:You can attempt to escape with an athletics check.
Noah:Uh... I'm not muted.
Noah:Good.
Noah:Yeah, I'm pinned to the ground, so I'm just gonna... Gosh.
Noah:Uh... I... Uh, no, I will try and get... Does this... This just had let us check.
Josh:But you don't have to.
Josh:That's true.
Tanner:I've heard it's actually optimal to stay pinned.
Josh:It is optimal to stay pinned.
Mike:It says...
Noah:This is going to contribute to my map, right?
Josh:Correct.
Noah:Okay.
Noah:Then I will indeed try and get out of here.
Noah:Ah!
Noah:A billion.
Josh:Yeah, you absolutely succeed.
Josh:You are no longer immobilized.
Noah:I...
Noah:This foolish woman!
Noah:She thinks she can contain me with a dart?
Noah:I'm a triceratops!
Josh:It's a big dart.
Noah:That's a woman, right?
Josh:Yes, it is.
Noah:Alright.
Noah:One action, get out of there.
Noah:Second action, I'm just gonna get over here so I'm no longer doing that.
Noah:And then I will attempt to gore her with my horns.
Noah:34.
Noah:I don't think you can stack Bleeding, so I won't use Rip and Tear.
Josh:If the bleeding is a larger value, like it's 2d8 instead of 1d6, then it'll override it.
Josh:Otherwise, it doesn't do anything.
Noah:Gotcha.
Noah:Gotta add Rage.
Noah:24 points.
Noah:18 piercing, 6 bludgeoning, or 6 from rage.
Josh:Absolutely.
Josh:She will take the damage.
Josh:She's definitely not looking great.
Josh:I mean, everybody else looks totally fine, but she is definitely on the injured side.
Josh:Okay.
Josh:It's the deacons and priests.
Noah:That's...
Noah:What's it like?
Josh:That's all of your actions, right?
Josh:Okay.
Josh:I've been trying to teach them not to eat my buttons, and they don't listen to me.
Mike:a bunch.
Noah:Yep.
Josh:Okay, so he's going to move over there and then around so that you are flanked again.
Noah:Dang.
Josh:But that was two actions, so he will just use his third action to attempt to strike on you.
Tanner:He's still in my aura, right?
Josh:How's the 32 looking?
Noah:That does hit.
Noah:I thought I'm 15 feet away.
Josh:Okay.
Josh:I will damage.
Josh:He is still in your aura.
Josh:Oh, no, he's 25 feet away from you.
Josh:He is not in your aura.
Tanner:No, not him.
Tanner:Banyan.
Josh:Yeah, no, he's 25 feet away.
Josh:He's not in your aura anymore.
Tanner:How is he 25% away from me?
Josh:He's 15.
Josh:I'm sorry.
Josh:I was on the Deacon.
Josh:You're absolutely correct.
Josh:He is still in the aura.
Mike:your aura.
Tanner:Alright, I'm gonna deal 2d4 damage.
Josh:Oh, shoot.
Josh:Yeah, that's fine.
Tanner:Six points to the stupid Deacon.
Josh:Okay, wow.
Noah:Cool.
Tanner:Sorry.
Josh:Alrighty, he takes 6 damage.
Josh:He is now no longer at full health.
Josh:Okay, so you took the 13 damage, Banyan.
Josh:After that, that's his turn.
Josh:So... Okay.
Noah:Okay.
Tanner:I might do something else.
Tanner:Let me see if I'm able to do this right now.
Tanner:Both are in your aura.
Tanner:No, all right, never mind.
Josh:Okay.
Josh:Then it's the priest's turn.
Josh:The priest is going to spend one action to sustain their spiritual weapon.
Josh:Still, I'm like, I don't think I have a thing to do other than focus the dinosaur.
Josh:Which, I mean, is the point of the dinosaur.
Josh:But I am definitely focusing it.
Noah:That's what I'm here for.
Josh:18.
Josh:I don't even think that hits.
Noah:That misses, even with the many minuses I have to my AC right now.
Josh:Okay, well then we will try... Oh, no, that was terrible too.
Josh:It's not a 24.
Josh:I hit the wrong button.
Josh:It is a 19.
Noah:That misses.
Josh:Great, so he's doing awesome.
Josh:Giancarlo, it's your turn.
Tanner:Okay, first I'm going to sustain.
Tanner:I'm actually going to target the foremost with that.
Tanner:I can do this.
Josh:Who are you attacking?
Tanner:It appears I've missed.
Josh:Who are you attacking?
Tanner:The foremost?
Josh:Oh.
Tanner:22?
Josh:Do you have range to hit the foremost?
Tanner:It was the ranged spell.
Josh:Oh.
Tanner:I was sustaining the... Somehow I targeted myself, but yeah.
Josh:Gotcha, gotcha, gotcha.
Josh:Yeah, no, unfortunately that does miss.
Josh:Yeah.
Josh:You're cool like that.
Tanner:Okay.
Tanner:Then I'm going to cast another spell.
Tanner:Well, because I was just sustaining.
Josh:Mm-hmm.
Tanner:I'm going to cast Crisis of Faith on the Priest.
Noah:Oh.
Josh:Okay.
Noah:That's awesome.
Mike:Hell yeah.
Josh:This will be the first time that it isn't me giving somebody a religious class to play and then casting Crisis of Faith on them, so that's awesome.
Tanner:I believe he's been casting Divine Spells.
Josh:He has been casting Divine Spells.
Tanner:So he gets the upgraded effect, but either way he makes a will save first.
Josh:Okay.
Tanner:I don't know my DC.
Tanner:Oh, I think it's 24.
Tanner:Well, that sucks.
Josh:He got a 27.
Josh:So he will take half damage.
Tanner:Okay, if I click roll damage... Oh, and then you'll just have it, right?
Tanner:I wanted him to fail that.
Josh:Yeah.
Josh:So he'd be stupefied.
Josh:Unfortunate.
Tanner:Yeah.
Josh:He will still take 11 points of mental damage.
Tanner:Um.
Tanner:And that was just one action because of our fun rules.
Josh:OK, so the Deacon Bayou will take an attack of opportunity on you as you run.
Tanner:So.
Tanner:Hmm.
Tanner:I think I'm gonna stride.
Tanner:Is that 25?
Tanner:Yeah.
Tanner:Yeah.
Josh:Oops, I don't know why I did that twice.
Josh:Ignore the second one.
Josh:It's a 30.
Tanner:Yeah, that'll hit.
Tanner:Dang.
Josh:Okay, so you are going to take 14 points of slashing damage.
Josh:But it's not a crit, so you can still walk.
Josh:That's the end of your turn, yeah?
Tanner:yep fool yes
Josh:Okay, it is the other deacon's turn.
Josh:I think they're going to spend... Gosh, they have stubbier legs than you.
Josh:It takes them an extra action to get where you are.
Josh:That's fine.
Mike:yes uh grindel would like to attempt to activate the beacon again and say like uh what's the plan for extraction
Josh:He's going to attempt another attack on you.
Josh:28, which I think misses.
Josh:Okay, so that's the end of his turn.
Josh:Crindle!
Josh:The beacon isn't there.
Josh:The monolith appeared where the beacon was.
Josh:It swapped places with the monolith.
Mike:Oh, okay.
Mike:Is there any way to activate the monolith to... Wait, the beacon's just gone?
Mike:So we're not getting out.
Noah:Yeah, we're not getting out of here.
Noah:This is a suicide mission.
Noah:Always was.
Noah:It's true.
Mike:Give me a second.
Mike:I don't think Krindle would hit the buttons.
Mike:I'm going to be honest.
Mike:Before this mission, I built Grindle.
Mike:Grindle did not have a great upbringing.
Noah:There's so much backstory to Grindle.
Mike:There's a lot of backstory to Grindle.
Mike:I don't think Grindle is 100% committed to the iridescent host.
Mike:I don't think Grindle would hit these buttons.
Josh:Okay, that's fine.
Noah:It's happening again.
Mike:Yeah, Grindle's not hitting any buttons.
Mike:Grindle will instead...
Mike:Krindle will yell out to his compatriots.
Mike:Gentlemen, it looks like we're not... Oh no, that's definitely not what he sounds like.
Noah:Gentlemen, it appears as though we will not be later doing it.
Mike:Wasn't this guy from fucking Transylvania like 10 minutes ago?
Mike:Gentlemen, it appears we're not getting out of here alive.
Noah:This is a real voice.
Tanner:We're a little occupied at the moment.
Mike:What shall we do?
Mike:Fair enough.
Tanner:We gotta get rid of these people.
Noah:Right?
Mike:Uh, and Krindle will... Uh... Okay, if I... If I have 60 feet of movement... Which I do, I don't know why this is lying.
Mike:Uh, 60 feet of movement... I have a line speed of 30 feet, actually.
Josh:60 feet of move?
Josh:What do you mean?
Josh:You have a land speed of 25 feet.
Josh:Where does the extra 5 feet come from?
Mike:My boots.
Josh:Oh.
Tanner:I've had a problem with some boots not applying.
Josh:Yeah.
Josh:I think it's possible that those boots are just bugged.
Mike:And how far away are these guys?
Noah:Nope, didn't like it.
Mike:Let me taste them.
Mike:30 feet for the, what is this guy, the corniest of the compelled?
Josh:Don't do that.
Mike:I don't see the first part.
Josh:priest of the compelled The priest has been hit yeah, they're not bloodied yet, but they haven't
Mike:That works, too.
Mike:And what are we going to cast on this feller?
Mike:We are going to cast...
Mike:Oh, this is a range of 100 feet.
Mike:Yeah, let's do this.
Mike:Is the priest hit?
Mike:How often does a priest hit?
Tanner:I've hit him a little bit.
Mike:Okay.
Mike:He's going to have to make a fort save.
Josh:Okay.
Josh:20.
Mike:20 so that is a failure so he'll take full damage and he'll be sickened and deafened for a round well i did it first wait sonic damage requires they be able to hear i guess it makes sense
Josh:Absolutely.
Josh:That's not great.
Tanner:I was gonna do Sonic damage to him.
Josh:Okay.
Josh:Yes, Defend specifically makes you immune to auditory effects.
Josh:Okay.
Mike:That should be... Yeah.
Josh:That's the only reason that your power word kill stratagem worked against the Herald in the actual campaign.
Mike:Wait, Power Word Kill is Sonic?
Josh:Power word kills auditory.
Mike:Auditory, okay.
Tanner:That is theoretically a different rule.
Josh:It is... One second.
Tanner:Same effect, though.
Josh:Yeah.
Tanner:Because I think being deafened makes you immune to sonic damage.
Josh:I think Defend actually specifically says you are immune to auditory effects while Defend.
Tanner:Alright, it's not important.
Tanner:I wasn't actually going to deal any sonic damage.
Josh:But an effect with Sonic trait functions only if it makes sound, meaning it has no effect in the area, silence, or vacuum.
Tanner:ah i
Noah:You.
Josh:Oh, this is different from an auditory spell, which is effective only if the target can hear it.
Josh:A Sonic effect can deal Sonic damage, which can apply even if they're deafened.
Josh:That's good to know.
Josh:Thank you for pointing that out, Tanner.
Mike:So go ahead, do your sonic damage now.
Josh:Yeah, you can do Sonic damage.
Josh:Apparently you can still get hit with Sonic damage even if your eardrums are broken.
Mike:Which makes sense.
Mike:I mean, it's like putting a 48-inch subwoofer next to a person and vibrating their skin off their body.
Josh:I guess.
Tanner:All right.
Tanner:That was grotesque, but...
Noah:Wild description.
Josh:Okay.
Noah:Wildly accurate.
Josh:So, it is the foremost's turn.
Josh:But before it's the foremost's turn, we're just going to go back up to the top of the initiative order.
Josh:The monolith will say, in the same voice that the transmat thing, no input detected.
Josh:Initiating countdown.
Josh:Ten.
Josh:Nine.
Josh:Okay, it's the foremost's turn.
Josh:The foremost is going to attack the dinosaur.
Josh:Because you are here.
Noah:That's what it thinks.
Josh:It got a 34.
Josh:Awesome.
Noah:Yeah, that's actually a crit, crazy enough.
Tanner:Uh, oh, never mind.
Josh:You're going to take 48 points of damage.
Tanner:Actually, wait, I might want to do something about this.
Tanner:I need to measure.
Josh:Okay.
Tanner:So... It looks like both the Foremost and Banyan are within the edge of my aura.
Noah:Oh, I guess I'll see what Giancarlo is doing here.
Mike:Good night.
Josh:Correct.
Tanner:So I will do Flash of Grandeur.
Tanner:Uh...
Josh:Okay.
Tanner:The ally gains resistance to all damage against the triggering damage equal to 2 plus my level.
Noah:I have three hit points.
Tanner:So that's 10 damage reduced.
Josh:Okay, so that's 10 off of it.
Tanner:In addition, due to Brilliant Flash, the attacker is off guard for a round.
Josh:Okay!
Josh:Oh, you saved him!
Noah:Yep.
Mike:Golly.
Noah:I still have, like, orc stuff, but...
Josh:Okay, where is, where is, oh, there's Leo.
Josh:Okay.
Josh:And then they get one more attack.
Josh:So they are just going to continue the other attack on you.
Noah:Don't do it, guy.
Noah:Don't do it.
Noah:Yeah, that hits.
Josh:30.
Josh:So that is going to be an additional 20 points of damage.
Noah:So I would go down, but because I have Orcish Ferocity and also my 100 Victories tattoo, I actually come back up at 12 hit points.
Tanner:Let's go.
Josh:Nice.
Josh:You got punched so hard you healed yourself.
Noah:Yep.
Noah:I got back up a little bit.
Josh:Great.
Josh:It is Banyan's turn.
Josh:The monolith says seven.
Josh:Six.
Noah:I guess I'm wounded.
Josh:The attendant is no longer bleeding, but they did take six bleed damage.
Noah:I'm just going to... Something's beeping.
Noah:Oh, my God.
Josh:Sorry.
Josh:Sorry.
Noah:Yeah, I'm just going to...
Noah:All good.
Josh:I was just checking.
Josh:Yeah, no, she's not dead yet.
Josh:Okay, still your turn.
Noah:Okay.
Noah:I'm gonna strike her with my horns.
Josh:All right.
Noah:Come on.
Noah:Come on, big crit.
Noah:That's not even a crit.
Noah:29.
Josh:That hits.
Noah:Damage.
Noah:Rage.
Noah:Rage.
Tanner:Oh, am I going to get another turn?
Tanner:I have... I have a fun plan.
Noah:A little slower.
Tanner:Josh, make a countdown just a little slower.
Josh:Okay, that's fine.
Mike:Thank you.
Josh:24 points of damage.
Noah:24 points of damage.
Josh:Absolutely.
Josh:She is looking very hurt.
Josh:Mortal, one might say.
Noah:Okay, we're gonna try this again.
Noah:Next attack.
Noah:Oh, come on.
Noah:Come on.
Noah:That's not gonna hit.
Noah:Super big miss.
Josh:unfortunate that does miss unfortunately okay the voice says six five
Noah:I'm gonna hit again.
Noah:That's all I got.
Noah:I don't think this will hit, though.
Noah:This is super low.
Noah:Yeah, there's no way that'll hit.
Noah:Bummer.
Noah:That's it.
Noah:That's all I got.
Josh:The Deacon is going to attempt to murder you.
Josh:31.
Josh:13 points of damage.
Noah:That does hit.
Noah:I have 12 hit points.
Josh:Yeah.
Noah:I am unconscious.
Noah:Do I turn back into an orc?
Josh:I don't know.
Noah:That's a great question.
Noah:I will look into this.
Josh:You are short.
Josh:You are dying.
Josh:Why do I not have dying as an option?
Josh:That's just straight up not... Did they get rid of the dying condition?
Josh:Okay, well, I found it.
Noah:I cannot, don't I?
Josh:You're fine.
Josh:I expected it to be in alphabetical order.
Josh:It is, just not in the direction I thought it was.
Josh:Okay, so for a second attack, he is going to continue stabbing.
Josh:17, which I think misses, despite the fact that you're on the ground, unconscious.
Tanner:Oh.
Noah:That doesn't miss.
Josh:That's crazy.
Josh:How did he hit you when you were standing but he missed when you're on the ground?
Josh:20, which I does believe hits.
Noah:Yes, apparently I have a minus four to AC while unconscious.
Josh:Yeah.
Josh:Okay.
Josh:So that just... I think on a... That just hits, so I think your dying condition just increases by one.
Noah:Okay.
Josh:Um... Okay.
Josh:Um...
Josh:Four.
Josh:Three.
Josh:I double counted the six.
Josh:I hope you don't mind.
Josh:It is the priest's turn.
Josh:Okay, the priest will sustain the spell, but this time he is going to go for the guy standing right next to him.
Josh:So we are going to attack Giancarlo.
Josh:Does a 23 hit?
Josh:I think the answer is no.
Tanner:no fascinating okay
Josh:Okay.
Josh:So he will cast Heal at second level on the Foremost.
Josh:Foremost is no longer mortal.
Josh:And that's it.
Josh:John Carlin.
Josh:The thing says two, one.
Tanner:Before I do anything, how many actions is it to activate the thing?
Tanner:And please say one.
Josh:One.
Josh:One.
Tanner:Okay.
Tanner:So as I had messaged to Josh earlier, I spent exactly 2,000 gold pieces on gear.
Tanner:This included for three gold pieces a potion of emergency escape.
Noah:Thank you.
Tanner:I'm going to drink this potion.
Tanner:I become fleeing for one minute, gain a 40-foot status bonus to all speeds, and immediately stride as part of the action.
Tanner:So, with that action and a second action, I will stride the 75 feet to the obelisk.
Josh:Yeah.
Tanner:As I'm running, I say, Gian Paolo, I'm coming back to you.
Tanner:and I'll use my final action to activate the thing and hope that activating it also has a transfer function.
Noah:you
Josh:Okay, absolutely.
Josh:So...
Josh:Giancarlo will down a potion, speed towards the monolith, and enter in the combo required to activate it.
Josh:We're going to zoom out.
Josh:you know, cinematically zoom out of the ossuary, out of the fame, up above the city itself, and then up further so that you can see the entirety of Raelion, and then up even further so you can see the island continent that Calerion and Raelion are on, and then up even further until you can see the entirety of Færrin.
Josh:Uh...
Josh:And you watch as a pinprick of bright blue light forms directly on where the ossuary was, and then very quickly expands to fill the entirety of the city, but then also following the ley line that runs through the city up and down through the rest of Raelion.
Josh:After a few minutes, the blue light fades, and there is a massive, purple, pulsing crater where Raelion used to be.
Tanner:Like all of Raelion.
Josh:And that's where we'll end the session.
Josh:Yes, all of Raelion.
Tanner:That's the bomb to end all bombs, yeah.
Noah:Wow.
Josh:And then as a kind of like a little after credit scene, you will see Baron John Kilgore shaking hands with the three valiant people who set off the bomb and then were safely transmitted back to HQ.
Mike:Okay.
Noah:Oh, we made it.
Tanner:Let's go.
Noah:Wow.
Tanner:Come on.
Noah:Oh, we made it.
Josh:Yeah.
Tanner:I couldn't go on without my brothers.
Noah:Wow, did not.
Tanner:They needed me to come home.
Josh:Of course.
Noah:Did not think we were getting it.
Josh:Was that all four of them?
Josh:Was that the last one?
Tanner:That was the last one, yeah.
Josh:No, you made it home.
Noah:Did not think we were getting home.
Josh:You guys did it.
Josh:Congrats.
Tanner:And I was worried that it had to be right there.
Tanner:I'm glad it just grabbed all of us.
Josh:If the countdown had completed, you guys would have died.
Josh:It would have just detonated.
Josh:It wouldn't have teleported anybody back.
Josh:But yeah, you did it.
Josh:Congrats.
Josh:Timeline-wise, this takes place 20 years before the campaign that will happen in the Senate.
Josh:Just FYI.
Noah:Yeah, no.
Mike:While we blow up a nation, I'm sure that won't have any big consequences.
Josh:Yeah, that's fine.
Mike:This is more of a lore dump.
Mike:There was no consequences that happened here.
Josh:Right, of course.
Mike:Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Noah:Wow, this was a big one-shot.
Tanner:That was wild.
Josh:One-shots are fun to give lore for things that your characters that eventually in this campaign a year from now or whatever will not have been present for.
Josh:But now you guys know.
Tanner:No.
Josh:It's in your heads.
Tanner:Wow.
Tanner:Guys, I had 11 gold pieces left and was scrolling through level 1 potions.
Mike:Oh, no.
Tanner:I was like, I might as well spend this gold.
Noah:That... That... That was so clutch.
Josh:That was impressive, actually.
Noah:Oh, that was fun.
Josh:Good situationality.
Josh:Is it true?
Noah:Yeah.
Josh:That's how you say that word, right?
Josh:I don't know if it's a word.
Mike:He did something.
Noah:I like this.
Noah:I like this setting.
Noah:This is a fun setting.
Josh:Yeah, I mean, you did blow it up.
Josh:It's gone now.
Josh:So, sorry.
Mike:Yeah.
Noah:Well, that part of it is.
Noah:Woof.
Josh:Yeah.
Mike:Glory to the iridescent host.
Josh:But we've already gotten the prerequisite meteorial done for that setting.
Josh:So, that's fine.
Noah:Yes, we don't have to do it again.
Josh:We got that out of the way.
Tanner:i thought he was stuck well i guess we don't know how this yeah josh is really banking on us allowing people to be able to leave all fame no no i no no way
Josh:You don't know.
Josh:Yeah.
Josh:Temporally, you don't know when this session takes place compared to the campaign and all things.
Josh:No, I'm not.
Josh:This could have happened before the campaign.
Josh:No, not possible.
Noah:Then you couldn't do a fun cameo
Noah:of whichever one of our characters makes it off planet.
Mike:Yes.
Josh:It's going to be, it's going to be tech again.
Josh:It's just going to be tech in every campaign, just getting more and more powerful.
Noah:I've spoken with Jorge about this and we really want to do World War Zugg as like a mini campaign in between campaigns.
Josh:I do feel like Zugg or tech could both fit well in a like Deadpool kills the multiverse scenario.
Josh:Like just one of them being like, okay, it's time to murder everybody.
Josh:And then just going through the whole, which is kind of what tech is doing currently.
Noah:How far can he go?
Josh:So it's just a question of whether or not tech figures out how to come out of the game to murder me for coming up with this.
Josh:We'll see if that happens.
Mike:It's not enough.
Mike:I need a Generation Zero Thessian.
Mike:The one who thought of Thessians.
Josh:Canonically, he could go back to the previous iteration of the Astra and kill Formless there, so he can't make the universe with Dessines in it.
Mike:That sounds fun.
Josh:Solved.
Josh:Easy peasy.
Josh:But yeah, you guys did it.
Josh:You had another introduction to Færrin.
Josh:You guys have characters that exist in the setting.
Josh:Who knows?
Mike:So the first time we were in Færrin, someone was assassinated.
Josh:Well, I mean, like, yeah.
Noah:Thank you.
Mike:The second time we were in Færrin, we destroyed an entire nation.
Mike:But this was the desired outcome.
Mike:Last time we were supposed to stop the assassin.
Mike:So if you put us in a setting, Josh, and we're either supposed to avoid catastrophe or cause it, it's going to happen.
Josh:Regardless, the catastrophe is occurring.
Josh:Okay, that's great.
Josh:I mean, so you don't know if this was...
Josh:I guess it depends on if it's the desired outcome.
Josh:It's the desired outcome from the perspective of your characters in this one shot.
Josh:I don't know if you as people would have wanted to necessarily nuke an entire country out of existence, but your characters wanted to.
Mike:Oh, no, I mean... I meant, like... Yeah... He had to help, yeah.
Josh:Except for, you're going to get a court-martial, Mr. Count.
Josh:Absolutely.
Josh:For not immediately triggering it.
Tanner:They don't know the circumstances.
Tanner:Uh-oh.
Noah:Yeah, who knows?
Noah:It was under attack.
Josh:Yeah.
Mike:And also, the bomb was going off either way, so...
Josh:Well, I mean, there's a difference between the effect that would have occurred and the intent present.
Josh:Cold feet is not something that the Calarian government will stand for.
Josh:He told you that you were leaving.
Mike:Should have made it more obvious.
Mike:That we were leaving.
Josh:You chose to doubt him.
Tanner:Come on, glory, glory, glory.
Josh:Yeah.
Josh:He said, we'll teleport you back.
Josh:It's the same mechanism that got the bomb there.
Josh:And then you were like, do I believe him?
Josh:And then decided you didn't.
Mike:I didn't believe him when this thing, like, okay, the beacon that we're supposed to be transported back through is now gone.
Mike:So we're just here with a bomb.
Mike:There's no beacon set up.
Noah:Yeah, I really thought it was a suicide mission.
Josh:I don't know what to tell you.
Noah:Did not think we were getting out of that one.
Josh:You made it.
Josh:Now I'm going to have to try and figure out how to bring back Bones of Ice.
Josh:Just because I really like the Ossuary map.
Josh:And they didn't get to do anything.
Josh:They just got stabbed.
Tanner:Josh, he got mad exploded.
Tanner:I mean... I didn't really see it in the initiative order.
Mike:It was gonna do something?
Josh:I know.
Mike:The tree was gonna do something?
Josh:Yeah, hearts can do things.
Tanner:And we went through like three rounds.
Josh:That's correct.
Mike:I'm glad... I think Crindle should get a little bit of leeway for beelining it, because if Crindle stood and fought, we might not have gotten it detonated.
Josh:Entirely possible.
Noah:Yeah.
Mike:Actually, no.
Josh:And I'm sure that's what Crindle's solicitor will say when he gets cornered.
Mike:Crindle is heroic.
Mike:Not even Crindle...
Mike:you know did enough crindle was heroic because crindle set up the bomb and then said i'm gonna i'm gonna defend the bomb instead of detonating because i know it's gonna go off so he's he was prepared to sacrifice him and his his group's life to make sure the bomb got off randall has pretty high deception
Mike:And also, if Grindel goes to military prison, it just makes him more interesting as a character when we meet him and he starts giving us secret tasks.
Tanner:We'll find out in 20 years, maybe.
Josh:He's gonna be hanging out with a paranoid sewer dweller talking about Zorbon, is what's gonna happen.
Josh:Yeah, who knows.
Josh:Either way, thank y'all for playing.
Josh:Does next Monday work?
Josh:I'll have to confirm with Jorge, but... Thumbs up emoji, then.
Tanner:I think so.
Noah:Yeah.
Josh:Return with a regular campaign.
Tanner:All right.
Mike:That's...
Tanner:Good one, Josh.
Tanner:This was fun.
Josh:Thank you.
Noah:Yeah.
Josh:Y'all have a good evening.
Tanner:All right.