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The Naturolls is your seat at the table for a Daggerheart TTRPG actual play. Listen in as a group of friends from around the world tells campfire stories (and puns) in The Shatterlands, a once-divided kingdom whose 100 years of peace is unexpectedly ended by a dangerous threat.
Welcome back to session 17 of the Naturals, and we are on part. Ooh, I don't know part what, but part something of the Scorch. Yeah. You started with eleven or twelve. Ten? You might have been ten. I think you started with ten. So this is probably seven. I think it might be eight if it starts with seven. But yeah. Or if it starts with ten, yeah. Depends on how numbers work. Numbers are. We'll cut all that out then. Not keep 10. That's what the people want. Um All right, so I will uh bring us back in with a little uh actually well first um I have everybody um today, because I haven't been here for a little while. I had them just um starting off at the uh the campfire. Where uh we find ourselves uh surrounded with our uh friends uh sharing tales that have happened in the past, t past tales of adventures, um had with um all of our companions and sitting around the fire, um, you know, we had some good food, probably had some good drink, probably some more than others. Uh and uh just wanted to open up the um, you know, opportunity for anybody who would like to share or speak around the campfire, which if they don't, that's also fine. But we haven't been here for a bit, so I was like, hey, I'll put it out there. Um maybe it would be helpful to have a recap of our last uh session. Also reasonable. Yes. Alright, so I'll read the recap, and then I won't reread the recap after the campfire, but I'll do it to orient everybody so that way we know kind of where we're at and where we're going. So the Tater Tots left the Verdant Cove and entered the Endless Forest under the guidance of Sal. Sal had spent so much time in the Endless Forest that um He uh knew how to navigate some of the uh the forest uh paths and the paths that you know would uh get you to different places um on that densely, densely packed in um area. And um the Tater Tots went and followed South through the endless forest on the old forest path in order to prevent the worst of the visions that they had seen from Ringy's revelations from coming to pass. On the journey, they found some delicious but then uh deadly looking mushrooms, and they only narrowly avoided actually picking them up and eating them. I believe uh Sal bailed everyone out of that one. Uh somebody almost had, you know, very upset tummy. The journey throughout the forest found them encountering actually uh flying bugs, which Boga happily gobbled up whilst riding on Svetlana's shoulders. But then as uh they were walking, Boga noticed a uh glimmer of flashing light in the air as the journey continued. Eventually they all found themselves in a clearing. As the amount of bugs and insects flying in the air increased, and upon entering the clearing, they found themselves facing two horse sized giant insectoid creatures, and they had happened upon its nest. Hilo has always taunted one to bring focus to its attention to him, because he can't help but taunt, and this opened up an opportunity for others to jump in and attack. The Tater Tots traded blows with these giant horse sized insects until eventually winning the fight. Soon thereafter the party stumbled upon the place they had been seeking, a large castle like structure deep in the endless forest. Smoke billowed from the many chimneys too many chimneys, in fact. from throughout the structure. And upon entering they found that the front was actually just an impressive facade, and then as they went through the front door, after I believe it was Boga uh shattered one of the windows. Uh they found themselves um standing at the precipice of uh you know where they're going next, looking to find Maz, but maybe only finding what is left of her. Well, that's ominous. Michael and I had multiple conversations where he was just like Are you gonna kill your own PC? It's like just don't worry about me. It's fine. Um, but um if uh anybody would like to You know, share any um stories, uh share anything around the campfire. Like I said, no pressure. Um, but if not, we can certainly jump right back into uh what I was calling, I believe, the uh Flobos uh temple. I would like to jump into the story. I I f I forget all those fine details of what happened and uh it it was a crazy time, so I'd l I'd like to hear the story again. Yeah, I think uh Sal would be kinda he would always he even at the campfire, you know, at the at the the end of their journeys, he would still have his knife on him and I think he would be looking at it And you obviously couldn't tell this because it's in his thoughts, but he'd be he'd be thinking about Toko. So Yeah. Okay, let's jump into the story. I see Sal kind of in his thoughts and I I offer him a very small pat on the back. Just as a sign of I'm there for you, buddy. Alright, well, so we are going to then um come back to our story. To find out, uh well actually I shouldn't say find out, but to um continue along to talk about um what happened once we got to the uh temple and um what became of Maz. And how you guys got there. So we find ourselves entering what seems to be a very large structure. Uh very impressive facade. But then as soon as um you uh went in through the front door, suddenly you found that it narrowed out dramatically. And it turns out that the entire thing is actually built actually is kind of like a mock of a uh very large, impressive building. And uh going inside the walls are enclosed into a rather um small room. Torches line the walls on um either side of everybody And there's a gigantic hand, like literally a hand, um, statue in the middle of the room with torches on the top and tips of each of the fingers pointing um directly up towards the ceiling. The palm is um open. There is um you know a slight breeze kind of um blowing from the back of uh the room that you're in um towards the door. So it's as though the air is still somehow uh kind of flowing out a little bit, which seems a little bit odd and may not, you know, make sense given that you're going right into the building. There's two doors in uh front of you. You don't know if they're open or locked. There is nobody around um any of you guys uh right now. But um as uh hand it back to the uh to the players, um the uh breeze carries um the scent of something um burning. A slight scent of um something sort of like fetid and rancid and in the air burning. And then it kind of fades away. And then I'll uh hand it back to the players. Does it smell like burning flesh? Yes. Oh gosh. Oh no. Quick question of just clarification. You said there's a breeze from the back of the room. Is the back where we entered or is the back ahead of us. I I think I think about this differently than other people, so I just want to make sure I'm so it would be not from where you came in. It's like as though somehow there's a breeze coming from deeper in the building. going out of the door, which seems odd because you would assume it would be kind of the other way, right? Okay. I will say before we start. The door is open too. Um Svetlana like thinking of the vision of um Maz uh from the Fortune Teller where her arms were shackled and she was pushed and the smoke coming from her body Um she's going to say a quick prayer to Core. Um and she rolled her paradise um for this session. Um and she got a four, four, and three. So pretty good. Um so I'll have those to use if needed. Is that the best you've ever rolled on your paradise? I think it might be. Yeah, probably. It might be. I didn't hear a lot of ones and twos. No, normally it's like one, one, one, or one, two, one. Yeah. No, that's very good. That's that that's makes a big difference. So all right. Um Sal is going to walk up and investigate the hand. He's not touching it, but He turns back to everybody. He's like, what? Is this just a statue? Is this something that you think we need to worry about? Is there anything that Sal sees that is particularly? interesting about it? Like is it Does it look decorative or does it look like it had some other purpose? No, it looks uh decorative. It looks like um kind of like you'd expect in a place of um In a sort of religious sort of sanctuary, right, that they uh build to impress. So the goal I I think or impression Sal would get would be that um you know you walk in and you see that and you go, ooh. First of all, you might be like, that's a choice. Um, but that it is impressive that somebody built this thing. Um and um, you know, perhaps the flames coming out of the fingers maybe connect to something that we've been hearing about, right? That'd probably be about the only thing that might, you know, kind of tickle the back of your brain a little bit. Okay. What uh what's the what's it made out of? Uh like uh looks like a common stone, so sort of like stone, marble, something like that. I mean it's a little bit darker, so probably not marble, right? Um, but um be something like that. Yeah. It's a fairly smooth touch. Um seems very well made. Like I mean you're like ooh like again like that's whoever did this. Like they knew what they were doing. Yeah. Yeah. Are the flames of magical means or do they have like um a fuel source Oh no they're not gonna be able to do it. Uh yeah they they're they're flames, they're torches. So kind of like it it actually so to to help out then if you see the torches on the wall that the flames on the fingers burn similarly, that they look like they are there for decoration lighting. Okay. Sal would uh kind of picking up on what Boga was doing, just be like, Boga, are you Are you getting anything in this room? Is there anything that you're that you're picking up? Does Bogo detect anything with her arcane sense? Any magical energies? She's just kind of holding her hands out, like uh feeling around the air. I was just gonna picture, you know how in like old shows you would have like a stick that was in the shape of a Y and you'd be like using that to like try to kind of put around. Yes. Yeah. Sorry, that just I just pictured that in my head and it felt silly. Um so I just want to double check your because now it's it's been a minute since we've we've been back. Looking at all these abilities. Unless you're listening unless you're listening to this on the show later, in which case it's hardly been any time at all. Yes. Hardly been any time at all. Okay, so it says within close range. Yeah. So I would say that as you put your your hands out, um, it is not something you get in the room But you get the sense that if you went further in that it's like uh tickling kind of the tips of your senses, right? Just barely um hitting it is you feel that there's more to come as far as that magic kind of sense, that field of um There's more here. And so you would get the sense you gotta go deeper as it is further into the the building to to learn more. Boga, that hand is uh very boga sized. Maybe you should try to sit in it. What what could possibly go wrong? It would be the funny thing to do. I don't know. I don't know how serious uh it is to actually try that, but G give me a leg up, please. Okay. I will uh get underneath Voga and boost them from behind up into the hand. I love the implication that that the frog has trouble hopping. So I Boga hops up on the hand without incident. It's just silly. Like that was just fun. Yeah. Sit down cross-legged. Her little legs just dangling. Like I would say at this point, yeah, like uh Bogo, just give yourself one more hope so you can max out just because I enjoy that. So Lana, take a hope just cause that's fun. I'd leave you almost maxed out as well. Um and uh the one thing I will say though, when you get up there, the one thing that does become uh more pronounced is the odor. And you're suddenly you're you're um it's like as though you could it's a little stronger up there as the breeze kind of maybe goes up over the hand and you're like Oh, like yeah, something also smells kinda bad and so you know something smells burning and There's that magical sense tingling at the very edges, uh, going further into the uh the temple. Yeah, I don't think that was me. Um I was just gonna ask if I could investigate the the doors ahead of us to see if it they appeared trapped at all. Um yeah, so there's two doors. Um so I would say maybe you want to pick one and just for the sake of simplicity, um we'll say there's doors kind of on your left and right. So for everyone to help us understand, I guess I'll say like east and west. Um, so do you want to do the one on the like west part or do you want to do the one on the east part? I will take the east door and just start Kind of feeling around the doorframe. Uh I assume I don't know if there's a handle or a knob, kind of just checking for any signs that this something might happen when we open the door. So um there there is a knob, um, but what's really interesting is that the knob is kind of in the same shape of the statue. So it's like a hand. Hmm. I don't love that. I'm beginning to sense a theme. Cell turns to Boga and is like, Hey, can you can you make anything of this? It's This looks like what you're sitting in and points to the knob. I'll offer my hand to Boga to let her down if she if she agrees. Boga will thank thank you, dear. Um t takes a hand. Just hops down and s c kinda swings round. Very graceful. She She's gonna jog from the centre of the room just over to along near s near Salm to the door. Hey hey hey hey hey what do you see? The the the knob is a hand? Which I feel like there's a handle joke there somewhere, but it it I'm not high low, so That's not my business. Hilo shakes his head, wishing you had actually gone for it. Oh, that's amazing. Um, d d are do you get anything? I don't I'm not sen I I can't find anything that suggests that opening this door is gonna be bad for us, but you you know a little bit more about the About the magic than I do. Uh the the arcane is a little bit uh faint at the moment. I'm getting nothing. Um I try I try try to give the the door a handshake. Realize that The webbed fingers don't really work for this. The the doorknob shakes your hand back. No no no no I'm kidding. I was waiting for something like that, actually. Um but uh nothing. I mean it seems like a doorknob. So uh you turned it a little bit, Boga? Tried to. I'm not sure. I'm not sure really shaking the Gov Oh govern by the fingers. You find out that uh you can't really turn it and it appears to be locked. I suppose Maz left with our skeleton key. Yeah, probably. Can Sal try to pick the lock? Certainly. Yeah. Um you want to roll for finesse? Absolutely. Uh Cell has advantage due to pick and pull a mom I'm setting it at like 12, so it should be should be pretty easy. Well, you don't know how I roll, so spoilers. Well, I mean, interestingly, before I add anything, that's a twelve. So that is a twelve. That's a twelve with fear, sadly, but that's a twelve. Uh it plus three plus my advantage. So I don't if it's a twelve. I mean that's fine. I I just wanna start stocking up a lot of fear right now for some strange reason. So I'm just gonna grab the token. Um and uh the door is that's so strange. Yeah. Yeah. I mean I forget what what do I max out on? Does anybody remember what's the max fear? It's like eight or ten or something. I don't think there is a limit. It's actually one for you. It's weird. It's one. It's one or two. Jen misread it. Super weird. It's it's in a sm in it's in the fine print of the player's manual. Teach is only allowed one fear. Weird. It's weird. They updated it in the latest uh. It's a good rule. It's a good rule though. Yeah. Um Sal after he picks the lock turns back to Bogo once more and is like, Hey, can you wh why don't you give me a hand with this? And he he reaches in and kinda Kinda shakes the hand like Boga had to see what happens when the when the door opens. He's kinda like bracing, like he's expecting something as he opens the door, so it's it's a slow, careful opening of the door. So the door goes You could just have your kid run in if you need the door sound effect. I thought about that, but he's not here. He's not here. Okay. The door opens and you see an empty room with some tables and stuff. Okay. I see on the map. Yeah. I see on the map there is like a a red thing on the wall before the door is that anything of note? Curtains. Curtains, okay just windows. If I peek out the curtains, do I see anything suspicious outside the curtains? Just outside. Okay. Yeah. Sal would peek through the door he opened, just kinda take a glance around, see if there's anything that he didn't see as the door opened, any anything to search, anything like that. Um so yeah, so when Sal opens up the door, he see you would see that there's um some chairs, multiple tables. Um seems like there's just kind of maybe some miscellaneous supplies, some jars, things like that. Um it actually is For the building that you just walked into, it is a shockingly unremarkable room. Right? You're like, like, why why does this even exist here? Like it looks boring, especially after the giant crazy hand thing in the last room and the hand doorknob. Um and then um you kind of glance around the room And um notice uh that there is really not much to uh see. Which is suspicious. Maybe it's a facade like the outside of the house. Sal pokes his head back out. Hey Yuriel, uh anything going on with that door? Yuriel would like to uh investigate the door and make sure there's no traps or anything around it before. Mm-hmm. I mean, I don't know what kind of a GM would put traps on things. I'll tell you what GM would put a trap on things. Not this guy. Um so you can certainly investigate the door. Um so give me it'd be an instinct roll. And so I'd like to say then as Yuriel is investigating the door, two things happen simultaneously. So as Yoriel's investigating the door, uh, the two things that happen are that uh you're looking, right, to see if you can find out there's a trap. And is it safe to assume that Sal kind of like is walking out of the other room? He would he when he poked his head out, he would then kind of be watching Yuriel from so he'd have to move out further. Yeah. As you start to move out further and Uriel looks at the door Um you suddenly get the uh faint breeze kind of like go right over the back of your neck. Coming out of the room you just looked in. So I'll turn around. Does he does he see anything? No. Boger's eyes pointing back in. Um, Yuriel, what'd you roll? I've rolled a four with hope. Okay. Nice. Uh so um can I add my what big ears you have experience? Uh basically just Trying to use all of my senses to make sure that I'm perceiving as much about my surroundings as I can. You don't really need to. If you'd really like to, that's fine. You can't quite tell if there's traps, but like you don't feel very worried, I'm gonna be honest. So I'd say save your hope. Okay. For other for other things. He says in a warning voice. Yeah. If we uh we don't perceive traps, then we're gonna move forward and open the door that's on the west side, right? Mm-hmm. Door opens, it's not locked. Okay. And uh push it push it open gently. You know, kind of quietly trying to see if there's anybody beyond this this door. Uh you open up the door again to a shockingly unremarkable room. where there's some desks, some chairs, um, you know, boxes, uh, and you're i i you wouldn't even know like i i it's almost comical a little bit, because it's like, why would this even be here? It doesn't kind of fit again with the facade of the building. the last room that you were in, um, it feels um strange and out of kind of character. Like it it like it almost shouldn't be here. There's nothing wrong with it, but it just doesn't make sense. Okay. I th uh Ariel pauses on the the threshold, looking at this sort of out-of-character, out-of-place space, and leans back out the door to look over at Sal. Be like, this this is w weird. It's like an office. Yeah, I'm kinda looking at an office too. Um, let me try something. Sal pulls the door that he's at closed. Didn't did anything happen? No. No. It still looks the same from here. When you move to where you were Something happened, but I don't know what it was. I felt I felt the the air change And I doesn't make a lot of sense to say, I realize, but something happened. Think about it like a a breeze was coming. Kind of. Oh, sorry. Yes. I get it as a person. Sal doesn't get it. Got it. Okay. Yeah, yeah, yeah. You're good. You're good. You're good. So it's yeah, there was just there was just kind of like air and I don't It wasn't even when you opened the door, it was when you got near it. Do you you want me to close the door or I could go in and check it Uh uh there's no windows or anything that I can see. I don't know what would cause air to move. Are the rooms connected at all? Like, um, can you see the other room through this door? Sal would hop into the the room and Ariel? Uh Ariel's also moving into the the other room. Nope, it's enclosed. I don't see I mean, there's a wall, you know. It's not like I can just see Sal through the other room. Yeah. So there's definitely a wall separating. There is nothing connecting the rooms. There's no window. There's no ventilation going between them or anything like that that you can see. Um Yuriel walks into the room again, utterly unremarkable, while Sal goes in, and then again, um, from kind of what we would say for reference is the southern end of the room. towards um one of the kind of like uh tables that um you now uh again feel the breeze kind of coming, but this time it kind of like hits like the midsection of uh your body. Like air just kind of flowing out. Can someone write if there's like a trapdoor or something? Um in in like the floor, maybe under one of these tables. And I can help lift. I'm I'm very strong. Uh yeah, get in here and see Sal tries to like he he moves down to the the table up against the southern wall and like and his little like froggy like very rail thin arms do nothing I like to picture this as Sal is pushing up, and as he does this, Svetlana comes up behind him and lifts it, and so Sal thinks he's like super strong and is getting it. Um until eventually Svetlana lifts it all the way up that Sal's just like hanging because she's so much taller than him. So then he turns around and realizes Sal looks down at the ground and kicks his little feet. Oh, sorry, and I'll lower it down a little bit so he can punch the crazy. We should clarify. Can we lift this table before we commit to that joke? I mean it's too late now. It's too the the joke's there, it works, it's great. Okay. Um but then what's really weird is all of a sudden as you lift up the table you hear da. Like Zelda Bright Zelda, buddy. Oh, Zelda. That's that's the Zelda song where we found treasure. Copyrighted. It's not copyrighted. It can't be. Um just edit that. It is. Yeah. When is Nintendo litigious, that's for sure. They they they already put the DCMA what is it request in now. They put it in live. Like it's in yeah, it's already in. Mm-hmm. I think Boga works for them. No. Um and that's all good. I think that was Ares, not Boga talking. Yeah. Uh huh. Uh as you uh lift the table though, um you uh suddenly feel uh the breeze kind of come uh from underneath of you and indeed. There is a lovely trapdoor right underneath the table, and it is dark. You can see a little bit, and the only thing that you can see is that it's like sheer blackness kind of in the middle. And then um Just kind of licking the edges of it, you'll see that there you're assuming there's torches somewhere down there because you can kind of see it just barely kind of penetrating the darkness beneath. Do we have to lick the edges of it? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, we do. We do. We do. Yeah. Can we can we now just look at it instead? Oh my I can't believe you guys would make an inappropriate joke. This is awful. I know, right? I mean teachers set us up. That is not fair. You can't say lick the edges and then penetrate I mean I I did it and I stand by what I said. I just listened back to Rarik uh licking h licking their finger and sticking it in the hole to see and That was the one that broke me. Are we sure about that? No, I was like completely serious too. I was like, what are you guys laughing about? I don't know what's going on. Uh Svetlana is going to take the table and place it on the other side of the room so it's it's clear from the area. And then also uh question, is the uh trap door, is it actually a door or is it a hole in the ground? I'm glad you wanted to clarify. Um it is a hole in the ground. Okay. Okay. There's no door that needs to be pulled. Um you can see there's a ladder going down. Looks dirty. No, it's just sitting under the Did it have a carpet on top of it or anything, or was it just a hole under a desk? It was a hole under a desk. That would Hm. Saves time in meetings, I guess, but it's not ideal Is the hole big enough to fit Svetlana who's very large? Oh yeah, yeah. It's definitely sized so that you would assume people from a variety of sizes and um ancestries could get through. Okay, perfect. I think it was a table. It is fairly large. Yeah. Yeah. But I mean it's not like overly heavy. Yeah, Sal is going to head back out into the main room. And tell everybody, um, I think we found where to go next and kinda he kinda sniffs the air. Like based on the smell and what you all saw with the fortune teller, I don't know that we should Delay. I notice the Yariel's not in the room, so I would run over to the other door just to make sure she's okay. Yeah. Oh, okay. You're in here. Hi. Yes. What? What happened? There's a trapdoor in the other room, so I think that's where we might need to go. Did you find anything in here? Uh did I find anything in here, Jim? Do you want me to roll a whopping four again? Yeah, I was gonna well I was gonna say, I mean, I guess um how much or how kind of deep or how much are you looking, I guess I would say. Like are you kind of giving it a quick glance? Do you want to take a deeper investigation into it or Well, presumably she was in there since Sal and I went in and lifted the desk, so she had a few minutes. Yeah, I I would say yeah, a minute or two just kinda looking around. I'm not tall, so it's easy for me to peer under things. Yeah, gimme uh give me an instinct roll. Okay. Gotta be better than four It is. That's uh 19 with hope. Oh wow. Oh cool. Um take a hope. Um and um as you look around the room, um you glance at again what is largely kind of unremarkable and you look around it one time kind of glancing up and down, you know, seeing if anything catches your eye. You sort of reverse that, and I kind of picture you almost like panning like a camera to the one side and then kind of panning back um the other way. And then you get almost back to the door to face um Svetlana. And then it's like then it just goes and you pan right back really quick though and you kind of like squint your eyes a little bit at one little spot and you notice that there is a little carving on um the wall that kind of just like caught your eye a little bit. You can see maybe there's figures on there. You're not sure exactly like what from where you're at, but you could easily walk up and get closer. Um yeah, but tell Svetlana that I saw this carving on the wall. Maybe she should look at it. She seems a little more familiar with the Is it's is it the sun symbol? World religions. And I I get intrigued because I remember that the other sun symbols were carved into the wall, so I'll look at it. Mm-hmm. investigate and see what I can find. Yeah. So as um you uh you look at it, it's actually not a symbol. I guess the term for it would be like a a a So it's almost like um F-R-I-E-Z-E, I think is the the right term for it, where it's kind of like a story carved into stone. And so you see that there's kind of like three big parts. And in the first part, you see a uh a person on their knees, hunched over, um, looking like they could be in distress. You see another person standing um over them with a um torch in hand. You kind of cut to what's the uh next part of it. and you see the person who was on their knees, you're assuming, now um laying down um on like a a sort of table. Um the person above them now has torch in one hand and a uh knife in the other. And then in the final part of it, you just now see the person, one of the standing person kind of standing by the side, and you see um flames surrounding the person who was um lying there. I think this is a scorchbourne ritual. I call I call Yuri all over. Come come look at this Lo like they're glorifying the sacrifice It seems that maybe part of the ritual is to kill the person or at least maim them. before they become Scourgeborn is what I'm gathering. This person is is being put on a table and there's a knife in the person's hand and then they're engulfed in flames. I we really need to get to Maz. I'm afraid she's gonna be part of this. Yeah, the Ariel kind of pales uh at the idea and agrees and hurries over to meet everybody else m by the t table pole. Svetlana will run back to Hilo and and be like, Hilo, are you okay? You've been kind of quiet. Ila's actually just been standing in the original room, kind of like looking back and forth between the the different places and trying to take notes on every what everyone's seeing. And he can't be in two places at once, so he was kind of like befuddled. Do you understand what's going on, Hilo? Um we're s we're supposed to go towards Sal, but Uriel found a pretty picture. Yeah, it it is a picture, but it is not pretty, I'm afraid. Um it was a ritual sacrifice or something involving the scorchborne. But um agreed we do need to go um to Sal where they they found the trapdoor that may lead to wherever they're keeping Maz. So And I I start walking back towards the group. Meanwhile, Boga has gone in and just sat on the table. Leg swinging. Just humming humming a little tune to herself, like off off key. Um G GM, you mentioned that the the torches on the on the hand in the center of the room seem to be like kind of familiar. to to stuff we've seen before as we kind of go into the room. Sal would take another another long look at them. Is like, does he recognize what he's seeing? on those torches, or is it just that it's just fire? These ones are just fire. The ones on the hand are specifically? Yes, they are just fire. Okay. So one check, uh Sal would pull his uh his knife out. uh his advanced returning blade before um I think he would I think he would go downstairs go go down the the stairs first. Or you say it was stairs in the ladder? Sorry. He would go down the ladder first. Okay. Is anybody d joining Sal to go down the ladder? I I wouldn't have to be a little bit more. I am the loudest, so I just love that everybody's diving right in, so this is this is this is great. Um so it's gonna be Sal followed by Actually no, don't even worry about that. Yeah, I don't need a specific order, I guess, but how about this? Just that everyone's gonna be going down and that Sal's first and Svetlana's last. I can work with that. Yes. Okay. Um so we are gonna go. And so I'm going to swap us just kind of a general backdrop for the moment. I have my fear counter up, which actually, sorry, hold on. Thanks to um Yuriel, I had to give him give me an extra. Do I have enough right there too? Yeah, yeah, that's where I'm at. Whoa, whoa, whoa. Ariel didn't roll with fear. That was meant to be. Oh sorry, it was Sal. Sal's helpful that way. Yeah. So as um each one of you um start to work your way um down the the ladder, you find yourselves uh surrounded um First in in that specific section as you just kind of get right off um in darkness. You look down ahead of you and you're in a um tunnel that you know suddenly now feels that it is uh beneath the ground. You are surrounded by stone walls on all sides of you. It is certainly wide enough for you guys to kind of like um walk through. And you can walk through honestly, like probably at least a few of you, like two, three of you side by side fairly comfortably. Like it's not like overly tight. It doesn't feel like claustrophobic or anything. Uh and then looking down the end of the tunnel, you can see that there are torches and flames um further. And you get the sense just because of how the lighting is, is that um there is the path in front of you. You're assuming there must be some sort of ramp or drop or staircase, something in front of you, because then suddenly you don't really see the floor anymore. But you can see that light seems to be coming both from torches you can visibly see at the top. And light seems to be coming um from um the bottom as well. And some of that light is kind of almost like refracting, kind of bouncing back to you a little bit in like a little bit of a strange way. Can I say that I lit my torch on the hand before I crawled down the ladder so that I have like a source of light in this really dark area? Suddenly we have a source of light in a really dark area. Perfect. Uh yeah, yeah. So no, we can we can see just fine now, right right in our initial area. So um you don't see anything remarkable. You what you definitely now discover is that yes, I am surrounded by stone. It is built underground. Um, and that now you can kind of see that you don't think it's a drop in front of you because you can kind of just barely make out that it looks like there's like a stair. So you're assuming there's like a staircase, you know, probably I don't know, 10, 15 feet in front of you, something like that, that you can start to go down. I will say it makes sense with the narrative. I was last, so they all went ahead of me and it was super dark for them. And then when I finally came down. Uh they could finally see. I just kind of pictured you just getting the torch and just like going on the wall like sh like a mash and just like lighting it somehow and that would be fun too. Or you could have added a little core flare to it. I would have taken that, you know. I actually thought about using my experience I shine with the light of the thousand suns so that I could be the light, but then I was like I don't want to spend hopes when I have a torch in my pack. So that that and our are our friends around. Attuned to core, that might be not a great thing. That's true. That's true. I I maybe I should be careful with that. That's a good thought. I didn't even think about that. As much hope as you want. I don't know what the problem is. Can Sal sneak sneak forward that 15 feet to the stairs and just kind of look and listen ahead? Um yeah, yeah, no. It's easy enough. Yeah. Do I hear or see anything at the top of the stairs? No. Actually, what I will say is um I feel like my favorite word has been sucerations uh lately, whenever we've been playing. Um, but you're gonna um hear a little bit of that. And when you hear it, it kind of reminds you of what uh that there's a a fire burning nearby. Like a crackling kind of sound or you get the sense of like kind of like that heat flowing towards you as well, right? So it's you know very, I don't know, like you can tell that there's probably like a larger source of flame. Relatively close. You can't quite see it yet though. Can I lift Sal up so that he can see better like over the stairs? Jerk. So he can stand on my shoulders? Wouldn't hire be worse? Because presumably the ceiling also goes down with the stairs. The ceiling does not actually. It just means that this room is bigger. Is it it's going down, nothing? Sorry. It's going down. My bad. So the stairs are descending. And then the ceiling stays flush with where it's at right now. So it's actually as though the room is getting bigger and you're going down. It stays about and and it starts to widen out, you can actually see as well. So you're walking to a room that is both bigger in all dimensions. Wider, taller, longer, etc. Faster, stronger. Nice. uh Sal would kinda pass on that he learned absolutely nothing to to the to the group. You learned something. We know what our surroundings are. Uh no, he would he would pass on. Yeah, we can go down the stairs. Do we Do we trust the stairs? Loga, do you do you get anything? Do we have another alternative? But we're just gonna Close her eyes, oh put her palms out in front of her. Kinda wave him around a little bit. Does she sense anything? Darkane sense? Yes. Yes. You get the sense that um one i it's actually it's it's multiple things. You kind of have like a base level of this is a magical place, right? That like if, you know, there's no magic was a zero. You're just like a base is like probably and the most is like a ten. Everything's at like a five at this point just because there's that much just kind of around. You get the sense though that relatively nearby and closer in front of you, probably in that room, um, is a magical object of some sort. Can I check the stairs for traps? Um yeah, yeah. I need to roll? Uh or am I just checking? Um now honestly you can just check. Okay. That's fine. There's no traps. There's no traps. I think everybody actually at this point just really doesn't trust me. Like that's that's what I'm getting. Everyone just like he's trying to do it. Vestiges of of trust we had for a GM were burnt out in the one shot. So I have an idea and it might be a bad idea, but I have a glamour stone in my pack that I had found earlier. I could uh spend the hope to put on an illusion that I am as so that when we get down there they're like I thought the mass was on the table and like I don't know it could confuse them and maybe stop them from doing whatever ritual for a minute What do you guys think? Hilo is always a fan of shenanigans such as this. Shenanigans. And will gladly coach you in how to stand like uh Maz. Not like your normal normal self. Okay. I am are you rallying her? Uh yeah, that sounds like a great idea. Okay. So I get that to say Was there any indication there is anything going on down there? Do we hear noises or I didn't know? You got you do you. I'm just saying, like you're getting real deep when we don't know anything that's happening in front of us, but that's fine. Sal would see Svetlana take out the glamour stone and like hold up a finger and then he would sneak down the stairs to see what he could see at the bottom of The stairs. That change anything? For me? Yes. Oh. Um as Sal descends the stairs, um, he looks around. And there is nobody in this expansive room in front of him. It's relatively large. You're talking, you know, probably thirty feet by forty feet across. The ceiling now is More like probably 15, even 20 feet high. Um you're struck by how impressive it is that this thing exists um under the ground. In the middle of the room is a as though somebody had like put paint on their hand and like plopped it on the ground. So there's like a hand print. But it's like gigantic. It's like 10 feet across. And it is surrounded by flames that are burning right now. In addition, after that kind of catches your eye, you sort of glance up, and then you see a three-paneled mirror. Just on the far side of the room in front of you. Oh no, not a mirror. Sal from the the bottom of the stairs kinda calls out, uh everyone, we got Something. I don't really know what I'm seeing. Can you get down here? Should I do the illusion? I don't think so. There's no way I sense magic. There there's definitely magic. Well done, Boga. Okay. I think um Erilon Pazu are basically right on Sal's heels we're we're getting impatient. Mm-hmm. Not not so much with the people around us, but with with sick dread worry about what's happened to Maz based on all the things we've seen so far. I uh I take up the rear, but I I share a moment with Hilo where we kind of just look at each other and I, you know, roll my eyes like, there goes our fun again. Hi Hi Hilo shrugs but but but uh precedes her since he she likes to normally take the back. He just kind of follows down and expects her to kind of go with. Mm-hmm. She follows. Uh, once everybody's down, Cell is like, does Does anybody know what this is or why there are mirrors and And just to be clear, it's like one mirror, but it has three panels. Three panel mirror. Okay, sorry. As you guys get down in the room, the one thing that you notice is that there is a stair it looks like a staircase off to one of the sides, let's say I guess you know, down towards the bottom or south end of the room just to try to give you a reference point. So it's like the north part is a wall, you The eastern part has the mirror. The ring of fire with the hand is in the middle. The south seems to have a staircase going down, and you are coming from the east. Okay. If you had a map in front of you. Okay. Is the Ring of Fire of magical means or is it um is it like torches? It just is burning in a way that's really weird and makes no sense. So you yeah, it looks magic-y because it's like That looks like it's burning on stone. That's a little bit different. Did didn't we fill up a bunch of water water bottles? Can we try to see If we can douse the flame, that's what we are on the same wavelength, Sal. But uh What what is the hand in the middle of the fire, did you say? It is like somebody has a gigantic hand print and just put it right in the middle of the fire. Hand print. Okay. Yeah. And the handprint is like paint and it's not like pushed into the stone, correct? Or is it No, it is not an impression. It is though it was maybe painted on. Or somebody has a really giant hand. Okay. Does the paint look like blood? That's what I was going to man, we are all like in sync today. So uh great question. No, it actually looks um it it's not burnt, but it reminds you of that. Hmm. It might it gives you the impression that maybe it was like they wanted it to look like it was burnt, even though like, you know, it's stone, so you're not really gonna be able to scorch it that much. Probably. Interesting choice. How much foe you use, I guess. Well meanwhile, the ring of flame is just kind of like burning and it's not damaging the stone underneath of it. It just kind of like keeps going and uh again doesn't really make a lot of sense and you kinda see it refracting off the uh the mirror on the far um east side of the room. Do we recognize this mirror? You know what I like to do with mirrors? Maybe I should go ahead and just throw an axe to it. I'm just surprised that Svetlana didn't already smash it, first of all. Um, because I was waiting for that to happen. Yeah. Um you don't recognize the mirror, no. But it is kind of strange though, as I think everybody's already gonna point it out. You're like, well let's deal with the mirror. Like that's completely reasonable because this whole room again seems to be a bit of um You know, an oddity. Does the mirror seem to reflect what it what it should reflect? Like if I look into the mirror straight on, do I see the Salsi himself? If you look at an angle, do I see the things that I would typically see looking at that angle? Does it seem to reflect what it should? Can I just clarify that? Um you're looking into the mirror? Uh yes. You know what? Let's do it. Which part? Middle or one of the sides? Middle. How close did you get? Not that close. Cross the room. Cross the room? Yes. Okay. Um, it appears to reflect what you would expect a mirror to reflect. Um there's a kind of glinting of light because then there's the fire in there as well, right? So that's kind of refracting off of it. Um but um As you look at it, it it looks exactly like you would expect to see your beautiful froggy face. Um, but then uh there's just like a a briefest second to where your reflection almost feels like it doesn't quite sync up. Comes and goes like that. Barely recognize it. Hmm. Bugs gonna sidle up to uh Sal and like, you asked me f before if I sensed anything. I sensed one thing. S it felt magic. I feel like that mirror is suspect. Hmm. Be careful. Tell kinda takes his eyes away from it. Um, is the mirror aught like hanging on the wall or is it like standing and there's space behind it Or what's good question. It is freestanding in the room, but it is pressed up where it's it's, you know, for all intents and purposes pretty much flush against the wall. Like I mean the panels on the sides kind of like turn out a little bit. It's on like a slight angle. Yeah. But it's essentially against the wall. Okay. Can sell taking a wide path around. Because that moment seeing his reflection not quite right unsettles him. And look at the w like kinda look behind the mirror at the wall, see if there's anything there. Stone. Yeah. Looks normal. While Sal is doing this, um, can Svetlana take her water bottle out of her pack and kind of pour a little bit onto the flames and see if it actually does douse it at all? She's not gonna pull the pour the whole thing, but just see if it's um If it's resilient against like water or if it will remain. The flames um sort of crackle and sizzle as you'd expect. They subside and then they rise again as though nothing had happened. Okay. I don't uh I'll relay this to the team. I don't think that we could douse this flame. I think it's here by magical means. I mean obviously it's on stone, but I don't think that we're going to be able to stop it unless we stop the person who is making it happen. Um so yeah. Sal would pass on what he heard what he like learned, I guess, by looking at the mirror. Bogan, I think something's wrong with the mirror. Uh I don't know. I d uh I don't know how to tell you without suggesting you look into it, but if you look into it, it's it looks it looks back. I think I So it's magic? I don't know. I Can we take something and throw it at the mirror? But so something soft So it won't break, but just to see if the mirrors maybe like a portal or something. I mean I've I've heard of these things. I've never seen them in real life, but I've heard that sometimes mirrors can be passages to other places. Hilo takes the moment to point out he is not soft. Yes, we will not have you poke me. No throwing hilo. And no throwing my axe. I've learned my lesson. I know. But maybe we could throw some rope in there or something. Ariel approaches the panel on the left. Not looking into it, after Sal's warning, she approaches from the side and pokes it. You're going to touch it with your hand? Maybe you weren't there when I started kicking the thing that was keeping the skylines afloat. She's going to kill us all. I remember that. Yeah. Mm-hmm. Um it feels just like a mirror. Exactly what you'd expect. Okay. Hmm. Then uh as it doesn't appear to be the some sort of vortex that's that's going to uh suck me in as as I move in front of it I'm I'm gonna go ahead and and move around the side uh i in front of the mirror in in I mean obviously close enough to touch. and look into it. And I chose the left panel because team left. But wait. How close are you to the mirror? Well within arm's length. I love that for you. I'm watching Muriel, by the way. I'm keeping a close eye on what's going on. Not looking at the mirror, but looking at her specifically. Yeah, so uh suddenly um as Yuriel uh looks into the mirror, um, she sees um herself. But then it's especially weird because she sees herself and then it's as though a camera was behind her looking at her. It just like pans like way out like Zooms out, and suddenly she is now um seeing herself uh out of her own body, uh surrounded in darkness. She's looking down upon herself, and as she uh does so, um she sees herself um suddenly utterly alone in the desert by herself in the darkness. Um thinking back to times that have passed where she has been by herself. And all of a sudden there's a flash. And uh she sees um somebody that she has lost in the past. Flash. And then suddenly uh she sees herself trying to, or walking with somebody. through the desert um talking. Flash, you see her back alone and crying. And then you see a uh flame erupt in the distance. And then you see a quick flash of um Maz laying down, you know, on a table, uh surrounded by flame. Meanwhile, everybody else, nothing is happening. You're all just looking at Yurio like, why is she staring at this mirror? And then she comes back out of it. Ariel kicks the mirror. So wait, do you kick it hard enough to like knock it over? Can't can it be knocked over? I'm pretty mad at the mirror right now. It's not gigantic. I mean it's like like so I guess I just if you wanted to kick it over, you could Or you could just kinda like try to make it wobble a little bit. I just want to make sure I'm going the right direction. I I just want to express my anger. Like, don't don't show me don't show me these horrible memories. I have lived through that. I have dealt with it. I want to find my friend. And this mirror is messing with me. So then you kick the mirror and it falls it starts to fall backwards and kind of like lean backwards and then it's actually like almost strange because with how you kicked it you felt like it should have actually like Fallen back against the wall, landed flat on the ground, but it's almost like kind of like sucks itself back to standing with a little bit of like magical flare. Are you okay, Yurio? What what's happened? No, I looked into the mirror and it showed me my past. It showed me all of my worst times with the people that I loved and lost and walking alone forever and then Maz was there at the end and then it all vanished. Do you want me to destroy it? Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. No. I I take my axe and I I start to throw it when Voga says that. I don't actually release, but I might Uh uh uh uh. Why why are you? Which side did you look into, Iriel? I looked into the left panel. What if left is the past? What if right is the future? Wow. You're so smart, Spoga, this is why we keep you around. And other things, but So I'm sorry, does somebody both look into the other side? Boga motions her hand to uh Svetlana. Would you mind uh being my anchor for this. Yes. Of course. Of course. Just don't look. I won't. And Boga I face the other way, but I I touch her on her back. Well, but b Bogger's got Bugger puts her hand onto Svetlan's arm and looks into the right side of the mirror. Um, so Very quickly you look at yourself um and for like a second you're actually looking and you're just kind of like yeah Everything's fine. And then all of a sudden, um again, big zoom out, surrounded by uh complete darkness, but then this time instead of um You just being um surrounded by darkness, kind of jumping in from scene to scene. It's almost as though it zooms back in and you see yourself like directly behind you. So you're kind of like close up. And then you see yourself in a um room surrounded by stone. You see a um Person, uh humanoid kind of figure, on a uh table in front of you with a person with a staff nearby and a person with a knife also nearby. You see a Katari. um through some bars as though they were being held uh prisoner a little bit further behind. And then again it's like a p a flash and suddenly you see um what kind of actually just looks like a relatively kindly older um sort of like orc like wizard. Looks a little bit like friendly, like like kind of standing around. Boom, flash, you see um Maz and you don't see anything else other than kind of like a smile and like laughter Um and then suddenly you see yourself with your um skin um beginning to turn a darker shade, uh going towards gray and then black. And then you start to see um little uh specks of um sort of like flame or like almost like more like as though there was lava underneath of your skin erupting from where your veins are. And then you look back upon yourself um and then suddenly it's all gone. But that takes takes a sharp breath. What did you see? Did you see the same thing as Uriel? I saw No, this is I must ga I must gather my thoughts. G give me give me a few, I will uh not good, it is not good I uh hold Boga a little closer and kind of do like a a friend hug, like a side hug. Thank you. Hmm. Yes, lean on me. I'm sorry if it was difficult. Did you See Maz. I did I did not. I saw so much else. There was this uh stone room similar to uh similar to where we are now. Um you remember the uh the the picture you saw in the uh the other room? Yes, the ritual. It was a s it was a scene similar. It felt similar, anyway. Oh no. There were caged caged folk. Cages, screams, rattling. Then it all kind of then quiet. I get an impression of a uh a kindly woman. A kindly one. Um I from there I cannot I know no more. Boga's gonna keep the last part of that image to herself. She doesn't wanna freak out her friends. I like that. That's good. I'm so sorry, Boga. Do you want me to look in the middle one? I I don't want to subject you to that again. Do you think we need to look? Do you think it is helpful information? Boga looked in the right hand. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Okay. I did, yes. Will you hold on to me, Boga, as I look and the other one I'm going to Of course. Of course. I kind of want to look like Maz, so I could maybe try to see Maz in the reflection and see her present instead of my own present. But I don't know if it works like that. Do it. Okay. I will spend the hope uh to look like Maz. Uh, and then look into the middle mirror holding boga. Again, I'm just glad that everybody's like, this is doing some really weird shit, let's do more. Um I think it's interesting. Yeah. Um so you're sorry, let me make sure I got it. You use the glamour stone to look like Maz, and now you're looking into the mirror. Yes. In the middle. In the middle. So you um look into the mirror and you see yourself as Maz, which is actually kind of like sort of off-putting in a way, because you've seen many mirrors throughout your life. And you've always looked like you. So it's actually like almost like sort of like disorienting um for a second. Um then as you kind of come to and realize that that's the um illusion and not actually yourself, you actually just see um the you in the middle, and all of a sudden you're like bifurcated and separate, and then there's you on one side, and then Maz on the other side. Um you look over add the two things because you're thinking there's only one of me here, this is super weird, and the Maz just sort of fades away in the reflection as you look. Um then as you look back towards the center of the mirror, suddenly you see the um your chest where you kind of um often refer for your uh devotion to core start to glow. and light up and you're hit with um the sense of warmth and then you flash to when you were just praying for Maz at the beginning of entering this temple. you um flash to um when you've prayed uh decor as um uh toco you know leaped over the um side of the ship uh suddenly boom again flash you're gonna go back um towards um then when thex died and you revived him with the power and light of core And then suddenly the flames or sorry, the the warmth in your chest um actually becomes like too much and it starts to almost feel as though it's going to be erupting out of your chest. Um and then it goes away just as quickly and you're left with a sense of loss and dread and suddenly after seeing that last one where you brought V-Rex back to life Um you think back to now all these times where you get like three in a row, just boom, boom, boom, flash, flash, flash of every time you've now said and wondered if your prayers work and if you're doing the right thing and if you're on the right path. And then it's done. I collapsed to the floor. Oh yeah. Sal would rush over and uh Sal. I'm here. I'm here But what what did you see? I thought that I was eat Maz, but I I just see me and all of my doubts and my questioning of my faith and I I felt my chest burning where I normally feel the light and the warmth of core. I felt such darkness and I know that I was the one that started this It's my fault. And I think the weight of that just hit me. I'm sorry. This is this is not your fault. Do not blame yourself for this. We've we've seen So much pain already, but we don't need to take the pain of the blame for what others are doing. And If you did what you believed best, what you believed would help people, I. I don't want you to carry the weight of what consequences may come. But I just can't help but think that Every villain is the hero of their own story. And what if I am the villain of this story? Do not think like that. Don't you dare. I like collapse into tears. And uh I'm just I'm inconsolable at this time. Bogo goes in for a hug. Just just try to reassure her Thank you. As you you go in for a hug and Svetlana collapses into tears, um, you just very gently hear off in the distance. Uh you can't make out what is being said, um, but you can distinctly just kind of tell that there is some sort of um chanting. happening 'cause you can just hear kind of like the beat of it. You can't quite make out the words of it's like Like you know what I mean? Like it's just very far off, and you just barely start to make that out as she collapses and Boga goes in for the hook. Svetlana hearing this is instantly like stops crying and just sits there and listens. And She waits for a moment. Bogue kind of freezes on her way down as well. And she says, I think I need to stop what I have started. And she raises herself up from the ground. She gives a quick hug to Boga and then races towards the the area where she heard the music from. She's just running. Uh friends. Which which way did the sound come from? So um it is the only way to go from this room forward is a kind of a staircase going down towards the south. So from here If I'm hearing this right, Satlana is going to go be getting up and start running down towards that south um area where there is a staircase. Okay. Which it might take me a little bit to get across the room. So I don't imagine I'm like far ahead of everybody. I've just started running showing my urgency. I'm just getting an opportunity so that way we know kind of what's happening and what Svetlan what moves Svetlan is making to see how everyone else would like to jump in. Yeah, I'm I'm I start to descend the staircase. I think Sal would be a little bit startled at how quickly that changed and maybe be a few steps behind. Okay. Ariel is agitated and uh is already drawing her blade, stalking after Svetlana. Ariel's ready for a fight. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Uh Hilo has been Hilo had been taking kind of like a a pause when um Svetlana was was kind of down, not not understanding really how to say how to help help out with it. Um, and so and Huey's at a loss for words, which he doesn't like. And so he was totally caught off guard by her just changing immediately and going, we're charging this way now. And so he kind of like glances over at um Sal and and goes, I I agreed with you for the record. About what? And then follows. It's not her fault. Hmm. Yeah. Sorry, I say a lot of things. I was I wasn't sure which one you meant. Also fair. Um okay, so then Svetlana's leading the charge. Mo most of you I guess are kind of starting to follow, but maybe not quite as closely. Is that fair? Uh b Boga is gathering her things. Unless somebody has an issue with it, I was I was assuming Sal would be l in the rear, unless someone else was really wanting it. In the rear. No, we're not doing this right now. Can't do this. We don't make it serious. We don't make inappropriate jokes on this podcast. Oh dare. Family friendly fun. Depending on your family. Jen's family is a little different in Teaspoon. He's not wrong. Well he's not wrong. There we go. Remind me to tell you a story later. Learn something new every day. Um so Svetlana um starts to run down the stairs, and so bear with me. I'm gonna try to let's maybe think of this as kind of like a moment-by-moment play Um and I'll still have times where you guys can kind of tell me how you'd like to react, but depending on things I might ask for reaction rolls and things like that. Um Svetlana starts to run down stairs and so there's actually uh a few stairs, there's a bit of a landing And then there's a few more stairs. There are still torches, you know, things are relatively well lit. Um, do you did you drop your torch or do you still have it? Um I would imagine I still had it. Yeah, I think I would still have it. Okay. Um so then as Svetlana runs down the second set of stairs, suddenly the chanting is getting um a little bit louder. Not that they're increasing in volume, but that you're getting closer, right? You enter another room, so you were in like a little hallway where the stairs were. The room gets uh expansive uh kind of like once again, although this time the ceiling is no longer quite as high, so you know it's probably like standard ceilings, eight to ten feet. Still a relatively wide room, somewhat square shaped. Um there are any number of tables around you as Svetlana kind of gets down towards the bottom. Um you kind of start to look around and your immediate impression is this is kind of like a hangout area. Like there's gotta be people down here, right? Where are they gonna go? Like so it's actually like maybe they eat down here, maybe this is where they you know, just hang out to talk or meet or whatever. There's a door off towards the eastern side of the room. Um towards the western side of the room, it opens up um a little bit. And when you glance over there, it looks like there's almost like a little bit of a cooking area. There are two separate stair staircases going down to the south, but you distinctly can tell that the chanting, which is now a little bit louder, is coming behind the closed door to the east. And You can't quite make it out perfectly, but you hear something like, you know, mm-mm mm mm mm inflama. Mm-mm-mm enflama. And like you can kind of just make out like that last part. A little bit. Uh Svetlana, she's like she's passionate right now. She's breathing hard. Her heart is pounding. She puts her hand on the door and then takes a deep breath. And then lets it out. And she just takes a beat and she realizes that Everything she's done wrong in the past has been out of an immediate action that she's taken without thinking first And she withdraws her hand and she looks backwards to her to her friends. and just kind of breathes out a sigh and says, Are we moving forward? I like to I I don't want to speak for the whole party, but I I think a nice moment, if everybody's okay with this, is Svetlana is rushing forward, um, about to push in, and just kind of looks behind her, and we're all back there with like our weapons as just like a group. lined up behind her showing that we're uh we're it we're in whatever she's in. Um so I picture all of you arriving at the moment that she kind of like stops and then glances back, right? And then I kind of picture that shot like maybe Her face is kind of like looking slightly downward, and then the c like a uh camera angle would be like catching the profile of the side of her face looking backwards and then seeing as the room gets a little bit bigger all of her companions are standing there at the ready. Yeah, if you're if you're out there listening and you wanna make fan art, this that would be that would be ten out of ten. So As Svetlana looks back at her friends, a single tear just kind of like goes down her face as she realizes like these are the best friends I've ever had and they're here with me about to make this maybe a theodic mistake, but we're we're doing it together. Um and she t puts her handles on or her hands on the door handle. Looks back at her friends for like a sign of agreement that she should open. I think Sal would nod. We're with you. Yeah. Hilo and Yuriel. Hilo nods as well. Standing here with sword in hand. I'm ready to hit first and ask questions. Never. I I open it with my left hand and with my right hand I have my axe. Um, I've doused my torch at this point. I have my axe shining and out of its its holster in my back and I throw open the door. And I'm there ready for whatever happens on the other side. Um and as you um throw open the door, the chant suddenly becomes much more clear, which is Regusar inflama, Regusar and Flama, Regusar and Flama, Regusar and Flama. You hear it kind of like growing and it's actually like increasing kind of in volume as you go. And um I feel like when fire gets kind of big enough, you can kind of hear it. You get the sense that it exists and that it it is in front of you and you see the light in the room shifting. and kind of um changing with it and then um suddenly it dissipates like that bigger uh kind of flame like sort of like subsided And then the chanting um stops. But then as the chanting stops, you just kind of hear like a visceral like roar start to erupt from something. And we can take a break right there for everybody and be right there. That's a good break. Dang it. No. I need to know. But also I need to pee. Cliff hangers. Right. All right. We come back as Spadlana opens a door with her companions nearby, hearing a screeching. I guess maybe not screeching so much as a roar coming from a room that was filled with chanting just moments ago. As she opens the door, there's a staircase once again descending right in front of you, because that's all this temple is, actually, is just staircases, apparently, at this point. And um the staircase descends down into a room, but the uh floor of this room, instead of being the same kind of gray color of stone, is a Dark, dark red. Off in the distance you can kind of see what looks like some flames. Kind of hovering higher than they probably should. Like it feels like it's not quite like what a fire should um look like. And um you get the feeling, Svetlana, that there's people inside this room as well. You don't really see them, but just kind of like an inkling, especially because you knew that there was chanting here moments ago. And uh I give it back to But I don't see people? No, because there's a staircase, remember? Because again, that's all this templates is staircases. A staircase down or up? Down. Down. And this one the ceiling goes down with it, not straight across. Okay. Yeah. The ceiling actually goes up in this one? Right. If we're if we're like a mouse. Yeah, exactly. Um yeah, I walk down. Slowly this time, I think, uh trying to be stealthy. Svedlan is trying to be stealthy. I just want to make sure I got that. Mm-hmm. Oh. But I have the power of core with me. I can add A eleven if I need to to my roll. Can you but also I'll probably just end up throwing my axe at the the bottom anyway, so what does it really matter? Let's do um you got plus two an instinct. Let's do an instinct roll for your snakey snake. Okay, let's do that. We haven't rolled yet. Let's roll Um a five and a two, so seven plus two, nine with hope, actually. Uh-huh. I was so ready for it. I was so ready for it. I know you were celebrating. No, sorry. So what what were you gonna do initially? It was gonna be a nine? Uh yes. So I could make it a twelve. No, so you you go down the stairs and you don't make any more noise than you usually would for a sneaky spell on the side. Which is not saying much. Which is not saying much. Um, and um as you um start to go down the stairs, um I guess I'd like to know what is everybody else doing as Svetlana goes down the stairs? Well I think the guy who deal was that we were gonna f we were following behind her, right? Hmm. So are we all sneaking with Svetlana or what do we think? Group action rule? Well mmm Yeah. Bog is gonna be trying to sneak. I'll join in. Anybody else? So I got Sal, I got Boga. So Hilo's in. Alright, so then um do me a favor. So Svetlana got a nine currently, so she's the leader. So let's get roles for um Everybody else, and they're all going to be on uh instinct as well. And just tell me um what you get on your duality dice and we'll see if we add anything to help out Saved Lana a bit more to be extra sneaky. Crit. Really? Yeah. Two fives. Two fives. And unfortunately it's still but it's supposed to be, I think, still just plus one, but which seems very not fun, but I'm still happy. Yeah. Yeah. Seventeen uh so I got twenty. So that's uh sneaky. Okay. Hilo. I have a team with beard. Don't know if that matters. Okay. So, um you all successfully because of the crit, I'll just go with it anyhow. Uh but you all successfully um sneaky sneak down these um stairs all uh together. I think that at one point like Svetlana's kind of like getting like a little bit like don't don't like stompy and then Sal's like, no no no do it like this and like kinda like Trying to show her how to be sneaky. Um and it barely works. Uh meanwhile, Hilo's kind of just being like kind of clanky. Sal's like putting one arm back there, like, no, no, no, no. Trying to help him, you know, sneak as well. And as you get onto the ground level, you guys are not seen right away, but you notice that there are four figures. They're all humans. In cloaks, they don't appear to be armed, but um you can only assume that these were probably the chanty chanters doing the chanting Um, but what uh really actually draws your eye is a uh giant um probably, you know, let's say bigger than Svetlana, so something like seven, eight feet tall. creature um made of flame now standing in the middle of the room. Does not yet see anybody. Does it look at all like Maz? No. No. No. This is like a creature literally constructed from flame. Girl would like to throw a water grenade. Okay, so you're gonna throw water at it? A water grenade. Yes, I made them in advance. Of fighting the Scorchborn. Of fighting the Scorchborn. Okay. Well that's Um At the at the thing. At the flame. The f the giant flaming thing. Yes. Okay. Hold on one second, please. Is that flavor for an ability that you have, or do you legitimately have a water grenade like item? I put water grenades in my inventory. Amazing. Because we made them. I got extra bottles at the shop and we filled them with water. I remember that. All right, um so I'm gonna move you guys to a little mappy map. You've done sneaky sneak, chanty chant, and mappy map all back to back. Are you goody good? I'm goody good. Um okay, so you guys should now be in a little mappy map with a little little flamey flame in the middle. I'm sorry, Sar if you guys have to hear this Sorry, sorry. So there should be a circle flay in the middle with a uh you know a baddie in the middle. We see that correct? Yes, correct. Excellent. Alright, and um just do you mean a body bad? But it's got to be. No, no, no. We can't do this. We can't do this. This can't be a new bit we do. Milk the moment, RTM. Milk the moment. Sorry, milky milk it. Oh no. So Uriel, can uh you do me a big old favor? What's that? Could you uh roll me roll me some D twelves? D twelves, yes. Uh are these stairs in shadow? Like are they dark? Are they dark stairs while this is happening? Um say probably not only because like there's a lot of flame in the room, especially from this thingy in the middle. Okay. I would say it's fair to be shadow. I'm sure there's some shadows in the room though, so we can try to, you know, work that out as we go. That's fine. And also keep in mind that I'm still in the Maz visage. So Do you still look mazzy? I still look mazzy, but and I also might not have as big of a shadow as I normally do. That's fair. I'm rolling D twelves, are are there Am I are they modifiers? Am I attacking? Yeah, sorry, you're you're attacking, so I mean just, you know, you can pick a modifier. That's fine. I'm not gonna be picky. Pick whatever's good for you. I mean, I guess like if I wanted to be particular, I'd probably say it'd be I mean I guess I don't know. Agility sounds you get a lot of agility. Use agility. That's fine. Oh, okay. It's an 11 with hope, but also I was trying to see if I could do. I uh fall to my knees or to one knee and I pray for Court to guide her Yuriel's water grenades so that they aim true. And I will give four rare dice. You're adding plus four? Yeah. Fi fifteen with hope. So make sure you take a hope. To land a water grenade. And um so I mean the the good news um is that the water grenade lands. What's the bad news? The creature gets hit with the water. It's like And then it just kind of like turns and looks at Uriel. And then the flame just go like right back up where they were doused. And so you damaged it. Um, but now it's actually just very angry at you in particular. Hmm. Ariel pulls her sword out in front and and gives it the the bring it nod. Come on. Um and then so as um Yuriel um gives it the bring it nod, uh the uh the creature um kind of nods back. And then looks over towards the side and uh as though emerging from um the uh the ground, you suddenly um see flame start to kind of come up. And it's like a big swirl of flames that eventually sort of go like vroom vroom vroom vroom. And then they coalesce into the uh shapes of um some really, really cute um doggies made out of flames. I don't hurt animals though. And then he looks back behind himself and actually then looks backwards you again and just kind of takes arms and brings them from the ground and then raises them um back up. Um then as um the uh arms um go up, you just see um figures in flames just emerge right from the ground directly behind the fire elemental as well. And we still don't see any people. There's uh a few people in there, like let's say like two or three, but they seem like low level, kinda like whatever folks like just like chanting. Um you actually just kind of see them literally just sort of like I mean I can put some people in here but dash off to the side. Like kind of just running around the room from both you guys and the fight that's about to emerge. Essentially I'm trying to communicate that they have no interest in fighting. They're not a particular threat. If you'd like to murder them, that's fine. Just let me know. But it'll be very simple. So it's an option. Yeah, it's an option. I mean, and Svetlana's probably gonna do it. I mean we'll see how I feel after this fight. Yeah, but if if you want to murder their faces, it's gonna take one hit. So they're they're not really in the fight. They were trying to get this creature and they got it, and then you happen to walk in and make it angry. Let me see how close I am to this person. Because I had said that I w had released the axe. I'm just trying to decide if it was at this person or these Yeah, and keep in mind like on the stairs, like I did say you guys kinda got to the bottom of the stairs. So if you want to say you're at the bottom or further along than you are right now, like that's just kind of where I'd place to initially, so like I'm not gonna be picky about that in particular. Alright. Um I am going to release my axe at these flame hounds. And um I'm going to use a stress to mark multiple targets. Mm-hmm. But let me roll for attack first. That is a 9 and an 11, so 20 plus 3, 23 with fear. Oh, that's a definite hit. Yeah, so I'm gonna go ahead and mark Three stress. And I'm going to well actually I gotta roll my D6 because I have the unshakeable trait, which means I can roll a D6 and on a six. I do not take stress. Wait, what do you market stress for? Um for the ability. That was a six, so I don't take one stress. Okay. Um let me roll for the other two. One one. Okay. So I take two stress and I am targeting the three closest enemies. Um with my spirit weapon, which is my hallowed axe. So it leaves and it kind of like curves around. It's almost like a boomerang kind of and it comes back to me. Um, and that is 2D A plus seven. And by the by the way, you only need to mark one stress to target an additional adversary within range. One stress is fine, so take no stress, and you can hit, you know, a number of them right there because they're all packed together. That's fine. Isn't it just like an additional enemy though? So I guess I'm if the GM says you don't have to take a negative. No, I mean I just Yeah. Sorry for trying to help you. No, thank you. I appreciate it. I just don't want to cheat the system. Okay. No, you're um Ye So it's eight. Oh gosh. Two D eight plus seven. I don't like that. Take the stretch. So seven plus seven. So fourteen damage to these three in front. So fourteen? Mm-hmm. And the blade returns to me as well. Okay. Um, so um you definitely you definitely hit and um just as um quickly as the uh axe Um, goes and goes right around these guys. Like I almost picture it kind of like like ping pong or not ping pong, pinball, like doom, doom, doom, like hitting these guys. No, exactly what I see. Ping pong. Yeah. That's pink pong. Uh violent damage, by the way. It's what? It's magical damage, not physical damage, by the way, in case that matters. Oh, that's fine. Yeah. Um, and uh you see um two of them just drop right off the bat and suddenly it's not like they fall to the ground in like a corpse because it's a flame thingy, they just go That And just kind of like dissipate as that magic collapses slices right on through them before it returns to your hand. Just uh just so I know, because I'm having a little trouble visualizing this, the axe hit two of the flamehounds and the the giant fire elemental, or what did it hit? I thought she was just going for the Flame Hounds. I aimed for the three closest. Yeah. Um and it killed two of them and one of them it just nicked. Probably the one on the way back. Um it just like sorta sliced it. Um and also as it comes back to my hand, it it comes back so forcefully that it's like Catching a baseball with a bare hand where it's like and it like kind of stings a little bit. Uh so she like you know, braces herself against that. I like that. Um did you roll hope or fear? Fear. Perfect. Um no, not perfect. Perfect for you, not for us. Yeah. Um so as the um acts uh can I actually ask, is um are the rest of you kind of on the stairs right here? Still. Yes. Is that fair? Sal Sal is back on the stairs, yeah. Okay. Um and let me just make sure this works for me. Hold on, just make sure I got all this. Don't love how much reading you're having to do at this exact moment. It's a lot of reading. It's a lot of reading. to metagame for you, Michael, a little bit. The reason why I went for these is because they're all together and I knew I could attack multiple of these if I attacked him in the middle, then I'd only be able to attack him. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. So I went for the multiple enemies because I don't know I guess Reign of Blades attacks multiple enemies, but so I guess I I could have left that for you, but There's still four more. Lucky for you. Oh gosh, I misread that. That is perfect. Okay, I think that's actually. Oh sorry, I misspoke. Sal's not on the stairs. That's my bad. No, no. Bogus just at the other side of the room. Um the flame thing that you just made um very upset. Um Goes ahead and uh looks towards the uh stairs and um you know, um, sees where uh the person that tried to dink it with the water grenade, I mean did successfully dink it with the water grenade, um, is there. Is that still where Svetlana's standing as well, I guess? Yeah, I'm right by Uriel. Yeah. Um and then you see kind of like look there and the head, which is sort of like an amorphous flame, sort of um you know, uh uh nods. Um then as it uh nods, suddenly uh flames begin to burst out of the ground underneath both Yuriel and um Svetlana. And I need both of you to make an uh agility reaction roll for Svetlana and Yuriol. Uh twelve total. So is that a critical twelve, I got twelve. Oh, sorry, that's not a crit though, right? Not for me, no, sorry, for her it's a crit. Okay. Not for me. I got twenty-three with hope. Okay, so uh sorry, it's fourteen. Oh, because I forgot to add my Modify. So Uriel deftly jumps right out of the way of these flames as they start to um emerge um from the uh the ground. Uh unfortunately though for Svetlana she is less um successful and uh takes seven Magic damage right as oh no, ooh, I am very wrong. Hold on. Seven fifteen, my bad Uh 15 magic damage from um the flames, and actually I didn't read the rest of it. So Yuriel dodges um part of the flames, but still takes um seven damage from the flames. Um Svedlana is singed a little bit on her armor and just just a little bit of the flame gets through her armor. So she's gonna take one HP and one armor slot. 'Cause that was uh major damage. Got it. Initially. And um for um Uriel, um you taking an armor slot? Well one armor slot It's under my minor, so one armor slot would take no damage, right? Yep. Yeah. Alright. Um and then The uh creature um goes ahead and uh still very upset with um you know the whole water grenade incident Runs uh right directly back up to Uriel after seeing Uriel definitely um dodge out of uh part of that and just goes ahead and uh goes doesn't actually take like a swipe at um Uriel, but attempts to kind of just put its hand like right in um Uriel's uh face and tries to kind of uh shoot flames out of its hand, uh right towards uh Uriel and uh does so uh not successfully as Yuriel being a little bit short. is able to just simply like doop lower uh her head just a little bit more to uh avoid the uh the hit. Uh and then You won't hang off. Sorry, I'm spending uh a fear there to get um all of these lovely actually I'll get um one of these lovely flaming Um I'm gonna call them a uh Phasmas. Um right over here, running one of them towards uh the uh stairs to start to close some of the gap and get closer to the flame uh thing that um is already in the fight. And then I'll hand it back to uh the players. Can I ask, just as a point of clarification, the the point where the big bad flamey guy came uh from There appears to be like some sort of square with flame surrounding it. Is that a Like ritual site? Do we like Okay. Yeah. Is there anything like that calls attention to it that it's like something is causing this creature to like come up from it. Like No, no, just it more like that is where it was summoned from, is what I would say. And it's still got flame all around it. Yeah, that was mostly mostly for flavor and fun. Okay, okay. Because I was like, hey, I can get some animated flames. That's gonna be fun in the map. Yeah, yeah. It's fun. Yeah. Okay. So I added them in. Okay. Cool. My hand is still buzzing from uh catching my my axe, so I'm not gonna act yet. Mm-hmm. Sal kind of looks to Boga and Hilo like We should we we should do something, right? What are you what are you thinking? I Sal's kinda like looking through his bag, seeing what he has that's helpful, and looks to to Boga and Hilo, see if they have any Any ideas? Uh I've got I I don't know. This is uh Would you like to borrow a water grenade? I I think they're better off with you. Thank you though. Actually. Actually, Ariel. Lob one here? Yes. I changed my mind. Ariel opens her pack. Still keeping one one hand with the sword pointed at the giant flamey guy. And rifles through her pack with her other hand. Possas water grenade to boga. To boga, not at Um can I use my tongue to kinda grasp the w the water grenade. Yeah. Just kinda whip w like whip my head around and try toss it towards the water elemental. I mean, hell yes you can. That sounds amazing. I mean just give me uh give me your uh roll your D twelve, baby. Roll them duality dice. Okay, no that's as expected. That's um that's an eight with fear. Oh, baby, um I mean, it doesn't go well. Um, I mean, I don't know do you it doesn't land. Uh is there any flavor you'd like to add other than I don't know, I'm kinda thinking that you just go to grab it with your tongue and by accident you chuck it up in the air and it bonks you in the head on the way down. Like I don't know. Now you're upset. We're gonna call that Fire defense. Now you're Pradana. There you go. It was intentional. Jamoist. Mm-hmm. Yeah, no, that works. See, yeah, no, I guess I would say yeah, yeah, you suc don't successfully uh snag that and I I I mean, you did roll with uh with the fear, right? Yeah. Sorry. You did, you did. That's okay, that's okay. Um, I forgive you. Um Right now uh Yeah, would uh are Yuriel and Svetlana in close range of this guy? Oh yeah. Oh yeah Um so after the uh lack of success from trying to kind of just take like the hand towards Yuriel and like do a burst of flame in Yuriel's face. Um Yuriel and Svetlana both kind of like look up at this thing and then notice that like its color is sort of starting to like shift and it's starting to get like a little bit larger. And then Yuriel and Svetlana kind of like look at each other like Ooh. And then as uh they uh look at each other, all of a sudden there's just uh an explosion coming from the center of um this uh this creature. And as the creature explodes, Svetlana and Yuriel take Um ten magic damage each. Can I mark a stress to stand in front of Yurial using the I am your shield ability? Yeah, that's fine. Yeah. Let me roll my D6. That's two. So I will take the stress. Mm-hmm. Okay. So Yuriel doesn't take any damage. I take ten? Um yeah, that's fine. Okay. I mark one. But then so as you take that damage, and this is a thing where you guys can tell me what you think, um, that if you take damage from this, you're supposed to be knocked back to far range. So I don't know if you would like both you to be knocked back to far range or if one of you should be knocked back being Svetlam to far range. I think that because I d I I stood in front of her with my shield and so I would have probably taken the brunt of that force and been thrown off the ship. I feel like it would push us back. though if she's right in front of me. Yeah, that's true. I guess I would have it wouldn't get damaged. So like it'd be something like, you know, and I could, you know Like boom, like all the way like flying back here. Um I guess it depends on where we think it's coming from. I think we would have gone off the stairs personally because that's fine. I don't think you'd be able to be going back to the stairs, but off of them. Yeah. Yeah, so it'd be something like to the left of the stairs. Yeah yeah. So it'd be you guys would end up somewhere let's say even like around here. Um as you take that um explosive um damage Uh and then my uh my other Phasma friend is going to run up towards uh the stairs for uh more support, and then I will turn it back to the players. Is Pazu with Yuriel? Or is Pazu with the other? I was gonna leave that up to Yuriel, I'm sorry. Ah, same Pazu's. Pazu's there. Okay. I think Sal would would see his friends thrown back um and terror would grip him as he uh for a just just the briefest moment is back on the boat trying to to grab Toko uh in that moment and um he is gonna run forward And position himself within close range of both Phasm Phasmos, you said, and um and the fire elemental Mm-hmm. And he is going to reach like not physically, but like reach into himself. and hold his hand up, and from his hand is going to emerge a hypnotic shimmer. Mmm. And it is going to be um a light display that is just um mesmerizing for any of the enemies that are in close range to uh distract them and I would like to, if possible spend a hope to use my experience of I'll do it myself, because I think Sal is he is he he took what happened to Toko really personally and seeing something happen to his friends again I think is Is affecting him. Yeah. Okay. I'm in on all these things. Okay. So light display in the air above Sal. Please work or I'm dead, probably. Everything's gonna be fine. Not good. Um, so that is Courteen with fear, yes. Sorry Um sorry, the fear. Fear I was excited about. So sorry, fourteen fourteen total with fear, correct? Yes. I got a five and a four. And then I have plus three, so that puts me to nine, plus three is twelve, plus two for my expensive. You're trying to hit both these phasmas and my uh fire elemental. It's any enemy in close range, so if you technically yeah, that's it. Okay, yep. Okay. Um Svetlana, do you wanna help out to get all so how about this? Well actually before you help out, um you're gonna get um You got the phasmas, you did not get the elemental. So it depends on So Sal is kind of like he's standing there like in like he's shaking a little bit because he's in such close range and last time Uh one of these I think it was a fire elemental kind of messed him up uh on the boat and he's shaking a little bit and this this light show is coming out of his hand and he is just doing his best and he kinda he looks around To everybody. Um, Lana will see his shaking hand and like she pictures Kor's hand coming up to guide um Sal's and just holding it strong so that it will be more steady and that the magic will be More uh I don't know. It will it will work. Um and so and so she'll add some paradise. Um It's 14, so probably three would get it to a good range. What's your lowest prayer dice? Three, yeah. So we'll get it to seventeen. That's plenty. That's more than adequate. All right. Um so that means that all three of them are stunned, right? Which means that they all need a mark of stress and they can't use reactions and can't take any other actions. until they clear this condition. So that means that they can't attack. They basically can't do nothing, all three of them, until this is clear. Correct. And uh s as as Sal is kind of trying to cast the spell and he makes eye contact with Svetlana, you see kind of the eye contact, uh hi his hand stop shaking and the lights, uh whatever you saw before, become more intense and flash brighter. Do you feel Kor's hand on your hand? Yes. I am I am affected by Kor's light. This is a hand on hand job. Here we go again. She did it. She did it. She did it. No notes. By the way, I had nothing to do with that. I just want everybody to know. You had no what? I didn't do that. That was all that was all Uriel. Uriel. I had nothing to do with that reaction. Um I was trying to think. Can I have like a He's trying to say he had no hand in that. Had no hand in that, yes. Um okay, so then all three of these guys are um currently um stunned and you rolled with you said fear or hope. That was definitely fear. Yeah. That was definitely fear. Um okay. So suddenly these creatures, especially the larger fire elemental that kind of got the party um started, um is um actually almost like frozen, which is sort of alarming because Flames have sort of like a life of their own and keep moving, but it's like actually the flames themselves have ceased to move. It's like it's actually just like fl frozen there in time if that flavoring works for uh for Sal. So it kind of looks like a photo of the thing instead of a video. Okay. Yeah, like it's like a freeze frame at the end of a movie, right? Like just like stuck there. This is, by the way, Sal's first time ever using this. So I think I think he would all he would kinda like this can just be a flavor thing rather than a range thing, but he would kinda like after he cast it and sees that it works, would like take a step back and Be a little startled by it. So like, ooh, that really works. You're in the middle of anticipating them like hitting you back. And you're just like, oh, oh, oh, oh. They're not gonna hit me. Alright, so um then these all of these are literally um stuck And so then you've got um the l little uh, you know, very very cute, very um adorable, you know, dogs. Don't tell us they're cute. Then we can't murder them. When I say they're cute, I mean they're not. They're flame hounds that look like they want to eat your face and they're made out of fire. So like you couldn't even pet them. They're not even petible. They're still good dogs. Teach Sprit. Um the the the good dogs, um no. The Flame Hounds um run up um as a pack as they often would, right towards um Sal, who they just saw um go ahead and uh um attack the uh all three or sorry, stun all three of these um other things. The uh Phasma and then the Flame Elemental. They uh really you just make like a run directly for it, but then it's odd because then they um stop right before they get to Sal and you see them start to kind of like growl. They look at you. And then they um let out a um a howl. And um as they let out a howl, um suddenly um you're you're hit with like a visceral um kind of dread uh that um sinks in like it i it feels painful even though they didn't even attack you um and uh you lose a hope Okay. Okay. Yeah. Actually from there I'll turn it back to the players. So's just like, guys, guys, I that might be about what I have. Uh Uriel seeing this, uh looks uh over to Svetlana and says, hey, give me a boost. Absolutely. And marks a stress Leaping into Svetlana's hand and pushing off while shifting her sword to the other hand and drawing her whip. Watch me whip to attack the Flame Hounds. Sorry. Go ahead. And that's Is it targeting multiple of them? They're a pack, right? It's a pack. Don't overthink it. It's fine. Yeah. Okay, that's 17 with hope. Uh take a hope, uh it definitely hits and give me a uh a roll for damage. Thirteen damage. Oh. Thirteen? Yes. And one of those was already damaged. All right. Um as you uh leap up and you said both whip and uh anene, I'm sorry, what was it again? Just just the whip. Sword in the offhand, whip in the main hand. I'm sorry, there was no Nene. There was no Nene. First Nintendo's coming for us. Now we got whipping Nene time. Alright, here we go. I'm just checking. Uh one of the ho hounds just poof, gone, disappears, um once again. And um they uh just like again fade pretty much into nothing as the the corpse actually I guess I'd say the corpse kind of falls to the ground uh but then just fades out. um into uh nothingness and suddenly um the three that are left um they they look a little bit less confident than they once were, right? They're still there, they're still trying to hold together. Um, but uh they they seem a bit concerned. Right, 'cause now they have this large pack and they're suddenly gone. Most of them. Okay. Uh I can spend three hope when I succeed on an attack with a weapon to use the same roll against two additional adversaries. Okay, nice. Yeah, you do. Is that mo more of the Flame Hounds or do I need to pick other So if I was gonna give a recommendation I would say Flame Hound plus something else. That that's my my GM recommendation, but you do you. Okay. You know, you tell me what you want. Uh let's I'd probably go for the big boy, but you know, that's just me. Yeah, yeah. Flame Flame Hounds and Fire and Elemental. Okay. I'm uh reducing two hope because I also gained a hope there. Is that no that's never mind. We'll just do that. Three hope. So you took three hope, right? So you're down to U of Three Hope Now, correct? Yes. And what which ability did did uh you just use? Uh ranger hope. Spend three hope when you succeed on an attack to use the same roll against adversaries. So do you want me to roll damage again? I think that's what you're supposed to do. Stop me if you think I'm wrong, but I feel like it says because you basically means you get to attack again. So you don't need to roll for the attack. You just get to skip that and roll for damage. And I feel like that also just makes sense. Like it's like you kinda just like keep going, right? Like you're in such a flow that I feel like you're just gonna kinda keep spinning and whatever flavor you'd like to add of, you know, slashy slash and you know, stabby stab and whip whip and nay nay. No, no nay nay. Nay, nay on the nane. Okay, so my attack was the the boost which gets uh a d10 on the damage roll. Okay. Do I keep doing that? I would roll the same damage dice you did previously, yes. With all like the Proutremonts that went with it. Okay, so that's twelve this is yeah, ten. Uh okay, twelve damage on A hound. On the hound. Okay. And then another hound gone. Five damage. Five damage on the elemental. I feel like I should have done that the other way around. Mm-hmm. I mean, you know how you made the elemental like angry before? Yeah. It's more angry now. Like it's it's still I mean you heard it, but like you just made it more upset. How aware of how hurt it is or like how aware of what's happening is it while it's currently just like Watching hypnotizing watching this actually to be fair, yeah, it's it's just stunned. So yeah, it's probably not really aware of anything. You are correct. Okay. It just got like damage. And this is more of a GM question, but the stunned uh condition only clears when the GM spends fear to clear it or Is there another It doesn't actually describe exactly how you would clear it, is my understanding. I think spending fear would probably be a good one if there was like another maybe narrative reason to do something like that. I would assume that you could probably supersede that F needed, but I would say I would probably either only do it if you roll with a fear, that'd be part of my first turn, right? Is getting unstunned. Because that's basically like getting a fear and spending in. Um or spending additional fear to be unstunned. As it is. That's what I would think. Wanted to make sure it wasn't like if you damage it, it comes out as being stunned. So No, I mean doesn't say anything like that. I mean I would let Sal weigh in on that as well, but I feel like that seems reasonable because then I need to spend things to kinda Get out of it, right? It's not like a it basically as long as it's not a freebie, I feel like, where I can just kind of do it whenever I want. It would have felt it would have felt insanely bad if I was like, I stunned the big guys, and then you're like, all right, they're unstunned. Okay. I'll go And stab. I'll go hide in the corner. Yeah, no no no no. Um and that was with hope though, so still you guys. And No boy. And your excited. Yes, and. Sal, do you have stress? Do I have stress? No. Okay. Never mind. I was gonna clear stress. But it's it's all neon somebody close to me. Fair enough. Well actually close to my enemy, but mm-mm You know The enemy of my enemy is my ally I want to clear stress from. That seems reasonable. I mean I'm gonna go ahead and uh I'm gonna spend a fear to unstun one of my phasmas Just have YI. Like nothing else happens, just you see it kind of just like go doof and sort of like breaks out of the stun. But I'll leave it with the players other than that. Can Sal like see that out of the corner of his eye and just put a hand to his own chest and attempt to go invisible? He's like Yeah no that's fine. Alright, I have to roll for it, so it's not guaranteed. Yeah. But Sal is uh stall gas roll, right? Yeah, Sal is panicking a little bit, so Well the good news is that's what I needed. That's a terrible roll. Uh that's a ten with hope. So that's ten ten on the dot. Uh it's Six and a one plus my three for my spell cast trait, so yeah. Mm-hmm. Buddy, that is not going well for you today. Um you mark a stress as well. Uh yes, I will mark a stress. Um and Sal just disappears from where he's standing. And um poof. No Sal. Okay. I might need to find other dice. Are they still hypnotized? Yes, that that does not affect my Yes. Only the one right uh one of them is no longer stunned. But the other two are. The hounds are still free. Svetlana is still kind of crouched in the position where she had boosted Uriel. r is realizing, you know, she's seen several of her friends attacking these enemies, but she hasn't seen Hilo. And so she she looks around and and she says Hilo Are are you okay? Hi Hilo and is standing next to Boga, neither of which have taken any damage because we're more up the stairs still, and and uh he nods. I don't know if I can see you because I'm like all the way down the side of the stairs. Yeah. He nods, then realizes you may not be able to see. So he's like Oh, um, yes, just I don't know how how to hit fire very well. Uh I think you you hit fire with fire. From from nowhere you hear Sal's voice just go, just hit it So it it apparently as it turns out, while Hilo has no fear of water, he's a little concerned about fire, I think, is what's going on here. Interesting. Um I just learned this about it. What's that? Did his friends pick up on this? That he's afraid. I mean, you might be able to see that he's not usually hanging back quite so much as this. Um So sure, why not? You can pick up on that. Yeah. Um I guess I actually do need to get a little closer to be able to do some things. So he takes a few reluctant steps forward. And he's still on the stairs, right? And um The the phasmas, by the way, the the things that are not the fire elemental, they are a little more corporeal, if that makes you feel any better, where they're still made of flame, but it they just seem a little bit more solid, where the big elemental feels more like Nothing just made out of fire. Those ones feel a little more solid. Can question for the GM while Hilo is going. This is just a quick question about how you think invisibility works. I have to spend tokens when I take actions while invisible? Would moving out of the staircase be considered an action? I'm just Half of us have been in the staircase for the entire fight, and Sal is just like we should probably not be here this whole time. Yeah. Um, well what would you like? Do you feel like uh movement off the staircase is an action? I mean, I'm a little biased because I the the if it's not, then I get to You you sorry, wait You'd like a freebie. Take a freebie. You got that. Okay. I just I I'm not trying to do anything with it. I'm just trying to get out of the like the No, no, that's fine. Just that's fine. Okay. You can get off the staircase. Sal was just using that. You know what? That is an action because he was using he was it was a tactical reposition. It was a tactical reposition. I don't think it is technically, but like I don't know. What do you what is everything as an action? I th I think moving wouldn't count as an action. I think s like attacking spell uh like anything you have to roll for Would be con considered an action. Yeah, I was just thinking if you're going to from like close to like very far range, would it be considered an action? Because Then you're almost it's like almost in D and D where you like double your s movement speed as an action. I feel like that's Yeah, I feel like if you're yeah, I mean I I think that's a reasonable move to make without accounting as an action. You're not like trying to run halfway across the thing and do something fancy. You're just trying to reposition a bit, like I'm fine with it. I'm just trying to not be in a line with every other character in case there's a firewall that happens all of a sudden. That was my main intention. I don't know why you'd worry about that. Um That uh because also you get three tokens too, so I mean you still have enough to play with, so I think that's fine. And but it it you have enough to play with, but it's not too many to where I'd be concerned. So Alright, back to the Sorry, and Hilo's Hilo's ready to shoot some things or crossbow some things. Do it. So Hilo actually, now that he's stepped forward and he's kind of in a in a good position, he thinks. He's going to make a scene and spend three hope to temporarily distract the big bad flame dude Giving them a minus two penalty to their difficulty. And he does this by flipping up his coattails and pretending to fart in the general direction of the f the The flame thing. Is that a Monty Python reference? I fart in your general direction. And your mother smells of elderberries. Yes. I love it so much. And then he makes a clanking noise by by smacking his hands against his chest to kind of make the thumping like a you know, the sound for it to try to get Try to completely distract this uh flame thing from uh Uriel. Fair. That's fair. I mean that thing's like stunned anyway, but so on top of the stun, now that it had this uh j fart, plank fart put in its direction, um It's still frozen in time, like a freeze frame, but internally it's really upset about this. It's, you know, having a lot of now reflections upon its own brief existence on this planet so far as it's just been summoned probably what ten minutes ago and now a clank is trying to fart at it. Um, so that's that's difficult. Um, and uh it doesn't know what to do. And so you definitely uh succeed in um did negative two penalty to the difficulty by farting at it. And then once having done that, he he does he does shoot across shoot his hand cross at it. Insult or injury to insult. There we go. I love that. That's amazing. Could you like could you add the flavor of just like you're still with your like clank butt facing it? You just kind of put the crossbow over your shoulder. Yeah, like yeah, just like and just go for it. Like amazing I don't wanna say amazing flavor because that sounds really gross. But amazing flavor. Phenomenal flavor, honestly. And you guys got mad at me about the dark black hole that people were going into. Like That is That is an 18 with hope. Oh, they definitely hits. Amazing. So the hand crossbow doesn't do that bad, so it's only gonna be uh seven damage. Seven. Okay. Still gonna be at least one HP or armor slot. I guess I don't know if enemies have armor slots. Um so you you take a chunk out of that thing, you see it kinda like go in and out, and you're kinda like, did that do anything? But like like you see that it's a little bit less um kind of well filled out. Like the flame doesn't quite fill that hole as well as it did before. Oh nice. Yeah. Um and the play is still with the players because you rolled with hope unless you want me to interrupt because um if I do I've I still have plans. No, I do not. I uh um Oh go ahead, Boga. Sid uh jeez. Boga's gonna sidle down the stairs. Um Trying getting get within close hang on. Oh, everything's very close Gooo okay. Gonna try getting within very close range? Mm-hmm. Is that mm-hmm. You want to get within the close range? That's fine. You can do that. That's allowed. Thank you, thank you, thank you. You're so and I would like I shout to Thank you And with that thank you, she she whips her uh her robes she she like flaps her robes behind her and produces some uh some like misty daggers from her back and she just lobs them at the enemies using reign of blades. Are you farting daggers at the enemies? No. Is that what's happening right now? No. By the way, there there's gonna be an episode title that involves multiple things now. for for our dear editor. But go ahead, uh Boga, you you could roll for that please. And you're trying to hit so sorry, you're doing the hounds, the elemental And you're doing because what what is the range on Randablaze? Is it uh very close. So would it be fair to say it's the elemental and the demons, or are you hoping to get one of the phasmas as well? No elemental and demons are fine. Yeah, all right. Do it. Demons are the hounds, is that correct? I don't think we Sorry the Flame the Flame Hounds and uh yeah, sorry, I meant the Flame Hounds. Okay. I can pray for you, Bogai. I just tell me first. I don't want you to waste it if it you know. I got an eleven with hope. An eleven with hope? Mm-hmm. And I pray for Boga. As What what's what you got left uh there, Savatlana? I've got four uh prayer die and I'm gonna go. If you wanna use a four, if you wanna use a four. I'm using goods, yeah. I believe in Boga and I'm so I'm so proud of her for just rushing into the battle. She's normally a little more timid and I'm just like I'm here for it. I'm so happy for her. So I am like, yeah, Boga Go girl, and you just see like Svetlana like cheering her on uh using her prayer for course. So that adds four to your role. So she'd be fit to be a little bit more. You hit the Flame Hounds and the Elemental. Yay! I need to find my damage dice now. I knew you had it in you. Yeah. Thank you, Svetladda! I did nothing. It was all you babe. Oh bastard. Um so that is a Oh hang on, brain. It's not that high a number. Come on. It's uh I hit an eleven. An eleven? Yep. It also it are any of these vulnerable as well. Um none of them are vulnerable, but if you'd like the uh the good news as these blades fly out of your rear end. Sorry, wait, that's not that's not what's happening. No Uh daggers uh fly out from uh back behind you. Um both um flame hounds drop to the ground and disappear and they're completely gone. Woo! Um the larger elemental definitely takes another hit and is still uh though still there, still psh Frozen in time, not moving um in any which way. Um, but the flame hounds are no more. Um and um was that with hope or fear? That was with hope. That was with hope? Okay. Yeah. You guys are gonna roll. Yeah. Savannah is very excited for Boga and uh As a celebration, she sends out you can imagine this flavor-wise as like little flatterworks. Oh god. Real quick. I'm just gonna spend one fear for the other Phasma just to break out of the stun. So both uh phasmas are no longer stunned, just the big boys stunned. You keep keep going though. Sal's going back to his classic line of just guys, we gotta do something. Um but flavor-wise it's going to be like a little firework that is coming out of uh Svedlona's hand because she's just so excited for Boca to have this like awesome role. Um so she is going to cast Bolt Beacon. Um so a spell cast roll against a target within far range on a success spin of hope to send a bolt of shimmering light toward them dealing 2d8 Plus two or yeah, two d eight plus five magic damage using your proficiency. Um so that is a nine and a nine Who are you targeting? That's a it's crit. Oh, it's a crit? Who are you targeting? Hey. Nice. I was targeting the the big flamey guy. The big boy. So flame ale mental. Um What is it? Yeah, the right now the that's very far from the five. Oh yeah. Then I would have moved it further. If you want that guy, you're fine. You can get that guy. Like I'm not gonna We'll say I moved. I think he's big enough. Yeah, that's true. Because also, like, realistically, you could have moved a little bit further up without having to roll to make that happen. So like I'm not gonna I just took a few steps towards it towards the stairs. Um I casted and it looks like a little um firework. Um it's all orangeish yellow like with coarse light. Um but it like goes like that and explodes on impact. So it's D eight plus five or two D eight plus five. So I'm gonna add sixteen plus my two D eight, which are This one eight no that's zero ten. Sorry, I had these all organized so that I would have all my D eights in one place and then I used them and now I can't find it. Oh It's still in my tray. Uh okay. Um sixteen plus one plus seven. So eight. So twenty-four. Oh wait. Yeah. Yeah. Um twenty-four plus I don't know if that was already including my plus three. I don't think it did you say two d eight plus three was your damage roll? Two d eight plus five, so it'd be sixteen, then roll, then plus five, right? So it's 29. Oh, okay. So it's plus fli 5. Okay. Sorry. So 16 plus 8, so 24 plus 5, 29. So 29 to the fire element. Yeah. That thing is still stuck there and it's actually like really kind of almost strange because now it's like just you see chunks of it just going missing. And what was once this like large intimidating flame creature is just almost like it's barely there currently. By the way, it also makes that creature vulnerable. Yes now they're both. So you get a roll a D6 whenever you go to attack it is the vulnerability. So yes. Um and that was a crit. Um oh, so I clear stress. Clear stress, take a hope. Um I will spend a fear to break that guy um out of the stun. Finally, and it's like it kind of comes through, and you're just like this thing that was once this very large um intimidating creature. Um, you're just like it no longer um seems um nearly as uh scary as it, you know, once did. Um suddenly it seems just much more um subdued and um It uh goes ahead and you just see it try to start to retreat a bit towards the center of the room. Away from all these hits that it's taken. Right? So I spent a fear to break it out of the stun and move a little bit. Um, and then you see it suddenly Hover over the flames, the flames disappear, and then the creature gets A little more corporeal again. It's like as though it just like sucked up the flames in order to um go ahead and now it looks just not like great But it got something out of sucking up those flames to be um a bit more, let's say alive. And I'll give it back to the players. But to be clear, he didn't heal visibly, he just became more corporeal, correct? No, the implication would be is that there was a slight bit of healing. Yeah. By the way, I'm trying to be reasonable. You can still kill this thing, trust me. It was very close to dead. Okay. Um could Sal get within range of it? Jeez, I keep could Sal get within range of it without rolling? Yeah, you're supposed to roll, I think, only if you're going to very far, correct? Yeah. Yeah, so you can get like Sal can Sal can move within range. Um nobody sees anything, but All of a sudden these daggers fly out from nothing And all target the fire elemental. Mm-hmm. And Sal is gonna use Rain of Blades. Alright. And then you're gonna get your little sneaky sneak, right? Uh I am going to spend a hope. That is correct. Well by the way, they already get an extra 1d8 damage because it's vulnerable, so I don't even know if it's a good thing. Oh, oh yeah. There's a lot happening here. There's a lot that's gonna happen. Yeah. Alright, so we good? Am I am I good to roll? Alright. Please actually hit. Please actually hit. That'd be really unfortunate if it did not hit. That's a 19 with hope. Yeah. Nice. I will say, oddly enough, I'm still gonna let this happen, but it does say it doesn't make sense to my brain. Invisibility is one thing. But then it says when you were hidden, you're cloaked, as though I feel like it almost implies they're two different things, which seems odd to me. Mm-hmm. Yeah, I I I ran into that with the uh uh what do you call it? The one shot? I was very confused by that description. Right. I don't know. I don't know if invisible would be the would be considered hidden. I think it's not, right? I don't think I would add my sneak attack dice would be my guess. I w I wasn't planning on it Okay. I mean, I feel like you're gonna do plenty anyway, so I would say do you. Okay. Yeah. Okay. So I get 3d8 plus 2. And did you get the is that the extra 1D8 for the vulnerability? Yep. Okay. Terrible first dice. So that's uh 16 damage with the vulnerable bonus. Sixteen damage? Correct. So um the flames, um this thing is barely there Like you had this enormous creature and when I say it is barely there, I mean if you breathe on it, it is probably gone at this point. Like it is essentially just barely hanging on. It kind of looks almost as though it like Is like like you make eye contact with it, Sal, briefly, where you're just like, this thing just reflected on its very short existence for the last 15 minutes now, and suddenly that short 15 minutes of sentience and corporeal like existence on this planet is going to be gone and there's actually like a little bit of like fear um that um emerges as it does that Um, you rolled hope or fear? That was hope. It's the first I think the first time I've maybe gotten a 12 on my hope die. Ever. Maybe. I'll say that thing is is barely hanging on. But still the players. Again, unless I still have fear to spend, believe it or not. So Svetlana hasn't gotten a bit. Or Yuriel, you guys started it off, right? Yeah I just went with the bolt beacon. Yuriel? Go poke it. Oh with your pointy thing. He wants to blow it out. I am good at poking things. Love loves a good death poking. That's right. Uh so this is Oh, uh sorry, I was looking at strategic approach, but it says the first time you move within close range, which would not be because I did that. A moment ago. I gotta be honest, I think you're overthinking this one. You you just need to poke it. You just gotta poke it. Alright, okay. Okay. Alright, okay. As long as we hit. I'm poking it. Poking it with my sword. That's uh th 16 to poke. Um what what does it look like as this thing just disappears in front of you? Uh or is it just that? It's a it's uh a pretty condescending poke. Yeah, right. Like I told you to bring it and that's all you got. Yeah. I can't believe you're going to be able to do it. Yeah. And it just poofs out out of. Maybe not even poof, maybe it implodes. Like collapses. Sucks on it and just like and then turns into smoke and it's gone. And then just a little dissipated. Or a little toot when it v evaporates. So many fart jokes. Michael, good luck. Good luck. Um, so that thing very much dead. Okay And that was with hope. And uh Pazu has had enough of this silly messing around business that you've all been doing. And uh you know, uh he puffs up his fur so he looks big and intimidating, and leaps off the stairs to attack this phasma to the south. Okay. And that is uh also my well that's ten with hope. Um I'd like to say that um Pazu, as deft as Pazu is, um just kind of like leaps and just sees that the attack is not gonna be quite as deadly as Pazu would like and is just like, you know what, I'm gonna let that one go. And kind of misses, but decides to miss because it's just not as like face slashy as Pazu likes from the past, you know? Um, and just kind of like leaps right over the creature It it's all about the uh the impression that we're that we're leaving. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Um was that with hope or fear? Hope. Hope. You guys are like hoping the entire time. I've barely gotten a turn other than interrupting, so I'm praying. That's we feel so bad about that. Hmm. Or not. Speak for yourself, Hilo. Oh, okay. I still have a plan. It's just that my plans have shrunk. So like they're still, you know. Is there anything on the floor here near Sal, like at the ritual site? Is there any kind of like symbols or anything? Like we've scratched out symbols before on on uh of the scorch porn. Is there anything there? Like anything on the floor that if Sal would just rub his foot across it would would s would scratch out part of a symbol? Anything there? Um not particularly for this one. Uh there was just the the table more than anything else. So there's nothing of like maybe note to kind of like make them maybe poof go away sort of thing. Okay. Alright, just thought I'd check. Yeah. I take it the phasmas did not disappear when we killed the elemental. They did not. Remember there are still I mean I guess I could add PCs here or whatever little characters if you'd like. There were kind of like random little people off in the distance who kind of like helped to summon them. So like these folk kind of just like ran off towards the side, just like trying to shield themselves, knowing that the fight that was about to happen. Like they were trying to summon this thing, but they didn't anticipate Obviously other people just jumping in and trying to fight the the creature as it came from the uh you know they're actively summoning it. No, no, no, no, no. Like it's been done, like we can't damage if we damage them it's not going to Like reverse the summoning. You would think not. Um You can try if you just want to kill those people. I mean I know that some people are a fan. Look, I'm turning over a new leaf, okay? I don't kill everybody inside. That's that's not who I am anymore. Yeah. There are no leaves down here. That's true. I mean, maybe we can let this one slide. Um, yeah. Bog is just gonna bonk one of these phasmas. Bonk it. What are you bonking it with? My I'm bonking it with my improved short staff Oh no, it's a bunk stiff. It's improved, but it's not short. Mm. Mm-hmm. Because it's not a good thing. Sorry, Michaela Michaela's not the only problem. No, sh I'm pretty sure she was referring to the fact that it's bigger than Boga is It's not short because right? You just you justify that however you want. Hey teach. Do GM of mine Yes. Oh goodness. Oh my goodness. That's the third one of this session, right? That's a lot. That's a lot. Which one were you uh attacking? Um the one on the the yellow one. Sorry, yellow aura one. Yes, so take a hope, clear stress Um and um go ahead and let's uh roll for uh for damage, because then for damage you've got You've got two D8 plus four, so you're starting with sixteen. Sixteen plus two D8 plus four. So it's uh starting of twenty there. Yeah. Yeah. Yes, twenty plus two d eight. Kill it, kill it, kill That is thirty-three. Wow. That's the most damage of the session, I think. Yeah, with with a short staff, nonetheless, but apparently it's still plenty long. Um so how would you like to murder this thing with your um not too short stick? Uh she just ca kinda You're bonking it, right? Sheists it over her head and just goes Just wax it into the center of the the wax it as close as she can to the center of the forehead. Just That's the thing. Because it's also made of flame, like you just smack it so hard that like it's like um kind of like you've ever seen like a building. Yeah, right just like and then it just like dissipates like into the ground completely boom dead gone Take that I mean um Boca, might I say you are on fire today Not literally, of course. No, no, I I I I gotta say that's enough spell. And then as um the other Phasma sees um that happen and suddenly um that it is um utterly alone, it um doesn't collapse into the ground the same way, but suddenly dissipates into the air and the ether and disappears completely. As though it retreated is your impression. Turns immediately toward the humans. They may think they're non-combatants, but I want to know where my friend is. I'll back you up, Yario. Right behind you. Mm-hmm. So you're you're going up to just like one of them? Um yeah, with my sword still out and my puffed up cat following behind me. He's very intimidating in case nobody rec recognized it. Okay. So as you um go up to uh so I'm assuming so sorry, I'm just make sure I got it. You're going up to one of them, the two of you, to kind of like intimidate. Absolutely. Absolutely. I have my axe. I brandished my axe and it's glowing. And I'm giving them the whole hour. Are you gonna Will you spend a hope to give um Yuriel advantage? Absolutely. Okay. Um Yuriel, could you roll for I guess it'd be presents? You already have plus two. Take the plus six from um you know Svetlana. Or a D6. Sorry, yeah, D6, by the way. Yeah. Uh 21 with fear. Ooh man. Is there anything you're doing for this intimidation or just kind of walking up to them? Or what does that look like? I'm wiping the blood off my axe. Okay, there's one. Uh the cat cat is Possi's prowling. It's a very uh definite like noticeable slow pacing forward towards the enemies and I'm pointing my sword at them. Who can tell me where my friend is? You got one chance. I still look like Maz, by the way. Can Sal just for flavor, Sal still invisible? So can Sal's returning blade hit the wall right next to where Uriel is intimidating this person, just like close enough that the air just like Kind of blows his blows his hair a little bit, but like not trying to hit him. Just just a flavor thing. Is that okay? Mm-hmm. Yeah. Okay. I will spend one of my invisibility actions for for that flavor. Well worth it. Well worth it. Right. I agree. Uh our friend looks like me. Have you seen her? Um the person in front of you is actually a woman. Uh human woman um looks up and uh says, I've seen many people here. I'm not sure if I've seen her. But nothing you can do to me can scare me. For I know it happens after we die. And not if we turn you to ash. F for a second you're actually sort of like kind of like taken back and like alarmed because Savana's used to actually um in a lot of circumstances having a lot of success in this kind of like intimidation stuff. Yor Yol's worked with Svetlan on this before, but like you look at this person dead in the face and um you actually see that there is like literally zero fear. Like they are a true believer in the truest sense of the word where they're like they believe in this cause and um they is your in um um impression that they have no concerns about you know what might happen next because they they think they know what's gonna happen next, like regardless of whether they live or die. I'm about to skewer this person and move on to the next one. Yeah I if you think that the Scorchborn is powerful, how much more powerful do you think that core by himself would be? I invite you to join me in worshiping Kor because these people are just perverted like they're just perverting his teachings that it that cannot be more powerful than the source itself, right? And I know the true power of core and I like as I touch my chest, um, like it glows a little bit. And I like I take that and I just like present a glowing orb to her And I say, isn't this the power that you desire? Svedlana, give me a God, you have no presence. Jesus. It's okay. It's okay. I'll try it. Okay. I mean you're your you're you're helping out, correct? You're trying to help out as well. You just chimed in. Do you do you have a hope to spend to give um Svetlana an advantage? Sure. Well that was a six on my uh on my advantage. Um okay so 10 plus three is 13 plus 6. So 19 with fear I definitely thought you meant rolled a six rolled a six. No, sorry. On the advantage dice, I I rolled a six. So the best possible. On my regular dice, my hope was only a three. My fear was a ten. So you rolled a fear? Yes, I did indeed. That's important. Uh oh no. I so as I'm saying this to her, I'm kind of questioning it myself. Like, is core really the more powerful? Is my religion really the best religion. Like, I've had all these doubts myself and I'm trying to convince another person to follow core. So that can be the flavor. Yeah, you you see her um face sort of change as you sort of speak, right? You kind of go through everything that you said, kind of ending with, you know, do you know sort of like the true power of core and then as you say that to her you like see her face sort of shift from almost like she's she's not really fully listening and engaging with you to where you see her uh face sort of relax and uh you almost see like a a shimmer of hope as though you're like you're actually starting to reach her. But then as you um stop talking um you see the the hope that was in her face sort of um fade away just as quickly. And then um she she looks back up and says, you know, um, there is no higher power than the Scorchborn. You think you know, bringing out the true passions with the love But also hatred, but also anger, those are all part what makes core powerful. And That is where our power lies. Don't you understand though? I made you. I made this whole thing. And it was an accident. It was a just a blip You think that can be more powerful than my God? The God of the one who made this whole sect even a thing? I just ugh I don't understand you people. I truly don't. You you're taking something pure and you're making it so like Evil, how can you think that that is good? How can that sustain you? I would say that you're ignoring and letting go of those other parts that we feel so deeply, and you're focusing on only one part of all that core can teach us. And one day too, you can be enlightened. Ariel stabs them. Perfect timing. Boring conversation anyway. Um Yeah, no. Listen, this conversation is going nowhere. It's these two people who have their deeply held beliefs and I have to find my friend. Yes. Um so you hear her just go like, you know, you don't know the uh True. Like of course. And then you see like Yuriel just like holding the sword within her and she just dies like right on the blade and kind of like slides a little bit further forward and as the body weight sinks onto it, Yuriel just like just like lets her just like drop to the ground. And then you see all three of them. Pulls the sword back and points it at somebody else. How about you? Do you know where my friend is? Um literally simultaneously, all three of them start to try to run towards the stairs. I kind of I put a hand on Yuriel's blade and I say they don't they don't know anything. If I I have experience with religion with cults like these and These people they don't know anything. They follow blindly because they think that it's a better life for them They they don't hold any real power. They don't hold any real ideas about what's going on and what the grand scheme of this thing is I dn I don't think we're going to get answers from them. I think if we're going to find Maz, we need to keep going. What else is around doing going? I mean, so I guess I I don't wanna so I wanna say that's happening while these folks try to run away and run up the stairs. Um so assuming nobody tries to um stop them or go after them, they would kind of get to the door and then sort of run off and you guys would be left in the room alone unless somebody wants to jump in um before them I mean, Yuriel, I'm totally fine. If you want to murder them, that's on your conscience. I think maybe we just tie them up and so that they cannot warn anybody of our arrival, but I I don't think killing them is the answer. It's it's not going to save Maz They n they probably know nothing. Okay, Ariel pauses, you know, letting Svetlana's words wash over her, like letting her blood settle a little bit. Um, I won't chase them. But they're not gonna want to get between me and what I am trying to do here again. That's very fair. That is very fair. Just coming from someone who has murdered a lot of people on my quest to do what is right. I I just all I want is for you to have the same growth that I have to question what is right and who actually needs to be murdered in this quest Anybody who comes between me and my friend. That's fair. Let's go find Baz And we'll stop there today.