DodoBorne: A Daggerheart TTRPG Podcast

Are you ready to rumble? I certainly hope so, because our adventurers are about to get into their first combat encounter as a team! Will their teamwork become dreamwork, or will two ornery eel-gators prove too much for them? 

Kapi’s leadership skills are tested. Pistachio tries to negotiate with the enemy. Crank drops a beat down so hard that heads will roll.  

Editor's note: The campaign is playing the current version of Daggerheart Beta 1.5.

What is DodoBorne: A Daggerheart TTRPG Podcast ?

DodoBorne is a comedy storytelling podcast where four friends dive into the world of Daggerheart, a brand-new tabletop roleplaying game by Darrington Press. Join Kapi, Crank, and Pistachio as they navigate a rich world of mystery, magic, and malfeasance! New episodes on alternating Tuesdays!

Isaac Allen Burns:

Hey, everybody. It's me, your GM, Isaac Allan Burns, on this an episode of Dodo Born, an actual play dagger heart podcast. I'm here today with 3 very lovely beautiful people. Say hi, Rowan Collins.

Rowan Collins:

Hello.

Isaac Allen Burns:

Nice. And and to the left of Rowan Collins, we have Annie Hawthorne. Say hi to the folks.

Annie Hawthorne:

Squawk. That's dodo for hi.

Isaac Allen Burns:

Cannon. Cannon. Now everyone knows what we've been saying.

Rowan Collins:

Mhmm.

Isaac Allen Burns:

And not just anybody, but 30 degrees from center from Annie, we've got Joe Diametti.

Joe Diametti:

Squawk. That's, good night. The inflection.

Isaac Allen Burns:

I heard it.

Rowan Collins:

Both hello and good night.

Isaac Allen Burns:

Good morning, good evening, and good night. And it's me, your GM, Isaac Allen Burns. Nice to meet you. I don't know if we've met before. Hi.

Isaac Allen Burns:

Now last time that we met our heroes, they had just met each other at the Bracken Road Adventuring Guild. Bracken Road is a small city not known for much except for its delicious apples and the Adventuring Guild is a place where these 3 have come together to, you know, get stronger, to protect the town, to prove to themselves things, and, you know, generally because, you know, you gotta do a job. These 3, however, were tasked to go to a turnip farm and find out where those dang turnips went. Getting there though, they met not only the farmer, but they met a couple turnips who had some very interesting things to say. And our heroes were last seen going through the forests following the nose of a dodo as they made their way to discover what ate those turnips.

Isaac Allen Burns:

Winding through trees and through the deep forest, you go following this dodo the whole way, wondering what it is that could have eaten that thing, green and long and big mouth, and also veiny. Lots very vascular, one could say. As you're making your way through, eventually, the betrayal ends, little dodo, at a stream. It's a long stream, maybe about 20 feet wide from where it is. There was rain a couple days ago, and though the river had crested yesterday, today it is still quite full.

Isaac Allen Burns:

As you stand on the banks, little dodo, it is odd. The trail just seems to vanish. It's really strange. For the 2 people behind our dodo friend, can you all roll me in this moment an instinct check?

Joe Diametti:

Yep.

Annie Hawthorne:

And it's a 15. That's fear for

Isaac Allen Burns:

me. Incredible.

Annie Hawthorne:

Very afraid this game.

Joe Diametti:

I have an 8 with fear.

Isaac Allen Burns:

This is incredible. See, listeners, when GM move is to occur, that doesn't mean it has to immediately happen. In fact, things can happen between then. And because all 3 of these people rolled with fear, I mean, something rather exciting is gonna happen. You see, it dawns on you, pistachio, that perhaps the reason that the trail has ended here at the banks is maybe because whatever it was you're following is in the water.

Isaac Allen Burns:

Frank, you notice that there are 2 beady eyes that are looking up from the water, and you notice that just in time for an enormous mouth to come up out of the water and bite into poor little pistachio.

Annie Hawthorne:

Look out.

Isaac Allen Burns:

Pistachio, does a 9 hit you?

Rowan Collins:

The no. Yes. It does.

Isaac Allen Burns:

So gang so, listeners, we're gonna enter into combat. Now, we just started with an attack role, a surprising attack role in this point to start what is combat. You see, me, the GM, your GM, Isaac Allen Burns, just rolled a d 20. I, as a GM, roll a d 20 while the rest rolled 2 d twelves. The number that I roll is compared against the evasion score of the person that that adversary is attacking.

Isaac Allen Burns:

If it beats it, I then get to roll damage, And however high I roll gets to determine how much damage gets done. So as this eel gator leaps out of the water and attacks

Annie Hawthorne:

Is pistachio standing very close to me?

Isaac Allen Burns:

Yes. Pistachio is standing very close to you.

Annie Hawthorne:

Oh, I would like to use an ability of mine called I am your shield. And, it says when an ally very close to you is going to take damage, you may mark a stress to stand in its way and take the damage instead.

Isaac Allen Burns:

Oh. That is incredible.

Annie Hawthorne:

Damage by a value equal to your strength trait. You may also reduce the damage by spending armor slots.

Isaac Allen Burns:

So, everybody, that brings up another key point is armor slots. Now as you know, armor is something that many people can wear. When you take damage after an attack roll beats your evasion score, you can choose to decrease the number of that damage so that perhaps it goes under the damage threshold. Each player has a major and a severe damage threshold. If the damage that I roll gets higher than those, you take more HP of damage.

Isaac Allen Burns:

So in this case, crank, there is 15 points of damage going towards pistachio right now. And as you stand in the way, being the only one to notice the beady eyes, these jaws clamp on your arm. You take 15 points of damage. However, you decrease it by your strength trait. What is your strength trait?

Annie Hawthorne:

Plus 2.

Isaac Allen Burns:

Incredible. So you actually take 13 points of damage. How does that compare to your thresholds?

Annie Hawthorne:

Thirteen points of damage is over my major damage thrust threshold, but I am going to decrease that a further 5

Rowan Collins:

with one

Annie Hawthorne:

of my armor slots, and that will be a minor damage, minor HP.

Isaac Allen Burns:

That is minor damage. So crank is only gonna take 1 HP. Crank, what happens in this moment as you take this damage?

Annie Hawthorne:

I think I very instinctually reach across in front of pistachio with one of my big gauntlets that I wear, and the eel gator gets my wrist instead of pistachio, and I pull pistachio back out of the reach. Oh my god.

Isaac Allen Burns:

The seal gator snaps down on your wrist, and it stings, but does not hurt you too bad. So we are now in combat. To step out a little bit. Hi. It's me, your GM, Isaac Allen Burns.

Isaac Allen Burns:

Combat works a little different in this one than some other popular tabletop role playing games. For instance, there is no initiative. This is a back and forth conversation between all of us on what happens. To put a little bit of discretization and mechanics to this, the players are going to take turns making moves. Those moves could require a role and if it does require a role, then they place a token on the action tracker.

Isaac Allen Burns:

This bowl that I have right here will have action tracker tracking tokens inside of it. Every time they make an action, a token is gonna go in there. Now you might be wondering, well, when do you get to go, Isaac? Don't you get to play? Answer is yes.

Isaac Allen Burns:

At any point in time, any of them roll with fear, then the GM gets to take a move, and I can't wait to find out what happens. Also, at any point in time, with any of the fear that I have banked up from previous roles, I can choose to interrupt anything and have that happen. Now in this case, because of the fear that just happened in that last one, and because of the fear moves that I chose to take in these moments, I only currently have 2 fear, the 2 fear that I started the game with. So I can't wait to find out what happens. Without further ado, let's set the stage.

Isaac Allen Burns:

3 of you are standing at the bank of a small stream probably about 20 foot wide. There's moderate tree cover behind you. This is not a very thick forest, so there is some tree cover, but of most importance is the being that sits before you. All of you recognize this as an eel gator. It's a gator and an eel.

Isaac Allen Burns:

I'll let your imagination do the heavy lifting. It's a large beast, and it currently just bit into your front crank. It has sort of taken a step back as it watches all of you, and Crank with that 15 from earlier, you also notice another pair of beady eyes just below the water surface looking out at all of you. It has not leaped out of the water yet, and as you're looking at it, it's close to you, but not very close. And with that, the 3 of you, Frank has just taken a bite and is pushing pistachio back.

Isaac Allen Burns:

Cappy, you're behind the 2 of them.

Joe Diametti:

Yeah. What

Isaac Allen Burns:

are you gonna do?

Joe Diametti:

Yeah. Cappy, like, pushes forward, but, like, like, he's annoyed a little bit. He's like, I can't let 2 recruits die on their 1st day. And then, like, under his breath, he mumbles, like, again. And then, he he looks back at crank and he goes, you thought the dodo was cool.

Joe Diametti:

Watch this. And he's gonna use rain of blades, which is a domain effect that he has, where I can just where Cappy can spend a hope to conjure throwing blades that strike enemies very close. Make a spell cast role in all targets that you succeed against. Take d 8 plus 2 magic damage using your proficiency. If any targets you hit are currently vulnerable, they take an additional 1 d 8 magic.

Joe Diametti:

Oh, so he looks down at his hand, and he's got a ring on, and he holds it up and it kinda lights up, and then he has those blades up here and, like, he winks at crank, and then he, like, flicks his wrist like Spider Man. And it sends, sends the blades towards the eel gator.

Isaac Allen Burns:

Go ahead and make that one.

Joe Diametti:

Eel gator.

Rowan Collins:

Eel gator.

Joe Diametti:

Eel gator. So it's a plus 2 spell cast.

Isaac Allen Burns:

Very good. The difficulty that you need to beat on this creature is a 14.

Joe Diametti:

Alright.

Isaac Allen Burns:

It's quite high. Fuck. Doesn't count if it's not on

Joe Diametti:

the table. Are you kidding me?

Rowan Collins:

Is that crit?

Joe Diametti:

No. No. It's a 3. A 3 with fear. With fear?

Rowan Collins:

That is all

Joe Diametti:

I get. For being obnoxious.

Isaac Allen Burns:

In this moment

Annie Hawthorne:

is just impressed anyway and just goes, you can do magic too?

Joe Diametti:

The blades just go and, like, literally bounce off this gatorio in every single way and do no damage.

Isaac Allen Burns:

You had actually said that Cappy did elect Spider Man. Right? So your hair is currently out.

Joe Diametti:

Okay.

Isaac Allen Burns:

Oh, okay. Because Cappy just rolled fear, that means the adversaries get a turn. Now in this case, there's only one token in the action tracker as Cappy has been the only one to take an action. So me, the GM, your GM, Isaac Allen Burns, I'm going to activate one of the creatures. And in fact, when I activate the creature that's sitting just below the surface, and Cappy, you unfortunately did not notice this one, and suddenly, an eeligator comes for you.

Isaac Allen Burns:

Does a 16 beat your evasion?

Joe Diametti:

My evasion is 11, so yes.

Isaac Allen Burns:

Unfortunately, can't be. K. That's gonna be 11 points of damage.

Joe Diametti:

Alright. 11 puts me in the major damage threshold, so that's 2 HP I mark because I'm not gonna use any of my armor slots yet.

Isaac Allen Burns:

2 HP of damage. This thing leaps out and cramps onto your arm and takes a good chunk out of your arm. It hurts bad.

Joe Diametti:

Yeah. I'm yelling in pain, and I'm also, like, yelling everything's under control. This is all part of standard procedure.

Rowan Collins:

Pistachio is looking around just eyes wild, bug eyes out, and just kinda looks between Crank and Cappy to see which one of them is hurt more.

Isaac Allen Burns:

You get the sense that Cappy is hurt more.

Rowan Collins:

Alright. Pistachio leaps from Crank's hands and, like, runs over and just, like, taps Cappy and goes, it'll be okay. And I can spend a 3 hope to clear 1 d 4 hit points. You get 3 hit points healed for a person that I'm touching.

Joe Diametti:

Wow. Wow. Yeah. Are you wait. Are you back to pistachio?

Rowan Collins:

I am back to pistachio. Pistachio will have to, like, leap out of, wild form to

Rowan Collins:

do that. It goes, are you okay?

Joe Diametti:

Yeah. Am I able to, like, throw it off with that?

Isaac Allen Burns:

Definitely. Yeah.

Joe Diametti:

Yeah. I throw it off, and I'm like, yeah. Thanks, kid.

Rowan Collins:

You're you're welcome. Because pistachio, that's one action. Next action, I guess, because I don't think that the GM has an action.

Annie Hawthorne:

No. Wow. This is happening as as pistachio is healing Cappy, and Cappy's, like, shaking this thing away. I just wanna punch it in the head.

Isaac Allen Burns:

Absolutely.

Annie Hawthorne:

And I'm gonna use my forceful push ability as well. Oh. So I'm making an attack that forceful push. Make an attack with your primary weapon in melee range. On a success, you deal damage, push the target out of melee range, and may spend a hope to make them temporarily vulnerable.

Annie Hawthorne:

On a success with hope, add an additional 1 d 6 to your damage day.

Isaac Allen Burns:

Wow. Alright. Make that punch.

Rowan Collins:

That's a crit. Holy.

Isaac Allen Burns:

For everyone listening at home oh, very good. For those of us listening at home, a critical occurs. When you roll 2 of the same number. That's right. You could roll double ones or double twelves.

Isaac Allen Burns:

Either way, it's a crit. So in this case, you gain a hope, you can remove a stress as well, and the way that critical damage works in this game is brutal criticals, in which case, you use the maximum value of the dice, and then you go ahead and add that on top of your regular roll.

Annie Hawthorne:

Okay. So it's gonna be a plus 8.

Isaac Allen Burns:

I'm afraid for my little eel gator now.

Annie Hawthorne:

Plus my 1 d 6 for my forceful push.

Isaac Allen Burns:

Plus that d 6.

Annie Hawthorne:

I'm also going to use a hope to make this vulnerable if I don't just murder it immediately. I rolled an 8.

Joe Diametti:

Holy shit.

Annie Hawthorne:

Oh, god. So that is 16 +17+6.

Joe Diametti:

That's all.

Rowan Collins:

Oh my god.

Joe Diametti:

Just a little.

Annie Hawthorne:

So that is That's all, folks. 23.

Joe Diametti:

Wow. That's our show.

Isaac Allen Burns:

You can't describe how you hit this thing real hard. It's not dead, but it's wounded.

Annie Hawthorne:

I am pulling pistachio out of the way, and I see it go for Cappy. And I kinda just, like, push Pistachio a little bit more, and then Pistachio runs off to help. And I am sprinting full speed at this thing, and I just, like, Superman punch it, like, back towards the river and away from everybody.

Isaac Allen Burns:

Dang. Yeah. That, that total will be its severe thresholds, which means that you deal 3 HP of damage to it. And while that is not enough to kill it, that one hit sends this eel gator reeling backwards. You see its eyes go in 2 separate directions like an iguana, and it falls into the water.

Isaac Allen Burns:

The other one still attached to Cappy, suddenly looks a little nervous. Pistachio is going to attempt to to talk

Rowan Collins:

to this thing.

Rowan Collins:

Oh, okay.

Rowan Collins:

Yeah. And she's doing

Rowan Collins:

I know I I know that, Cappy's very tasty and the turnip's very tasty, but I've got really cool friend Craig here, and Craig's gonna beat the shit out of you if you don't leave us alone.

Isaac Allen Burns:

Go ahead and make that roll.

Annie Hawthorne:

And

Isaac Allen Burns:

once again, this is an instinct role.

Rowan Collins:

This is a 4 no. 15 with fear.

Isaac Allen Burns:

Awesome. So that is a success.

Rowan Collins:

That is a success.

Isaac Allen Burns:

But because fear happens

Rowan Collins:

It comes with a cost.

Isaac Allen Burns:

Comes with a cost. And so I'm gonna say the cost of this because I'm the GM, Isaac Allen Burns, and I get to decide what that is. So you see this and single eye goes over to the crocodile and you hear,

Rowan Collins:

I can't understand. You spit your food out. It's not good to speak with food in your mouth.

Rowan Collins:

Did your mother not

Rowan Collins:

tell you anything about being a civilized iced

Rowan Collins:

buster?

Rowan Collins:

How about you take Cappy out of your mouth, and we could talk about this like adults?

Joe Diametti:

Yeah. Take Cappy out of your mouth.

Rowan Collins:

I don't know what to say to Cappy. Cappy is a cat. Here. That's Cappy. Cappy is the thing your mouth is wrapped around.

Rowan Collins:

Take Cappy out of your mouth.

Annie Hawthorne:

Just for clarification Yeah. Are you speaking to this thing in, like, whatever passes for English? Are you, like, screaming at this thing in English, and is it just, like, growling at you?

Joe Diametti:

Yeah. Like, can I understand you? Growling at me. Yeah. Or are you just how do

Rowan Collins:

you know? I speak the language of the natural world. So I'm assuming I'm just like

Joe Diametti:

Okay. Well, then I I'm not responding at all then. I'm just yelling in pain.

Rowan Collins:

Take happy out of your mouth.

Isaac Allen Burns:

This thing, you did succeed at talking to it. But, unfortunately, because you're old with fear, it refuses to.

Rowan Collins:

I will call your Bob.

Isaac Allen Burns:

Actually, in fact, because that was with fear, you know what that means? No. That means Jaboy gets to go. No. Once again, I only have one action.

Isaac Allen Burns:

Actually, I have 2 because both, both crank attacked and we had a little friend talk to it. This thing, in response to that is going to take an action. Now folks listening at home, one fun thing about fear tokens as the GM, me the GM, Isaac Allen Burns, is that some adversary actions involve using a fear. So friends, this thing is gonna use a fear action, and that fear action is called pull under.

Rowan Collins:

No. This thing is

Isaac Allen Burns:

gonna make an attack against you, Cappy.

Joe Diametti:

Well, I noticed you were looking at me the whole time, and I was just curious. Wow. I was curious why it isn't the robot that just punched your butt

Isaac Allen Burns:

because,

Joe Diametti:

through the water anime style. Wow. Because you're

Annie Hawthorne:

in its mouth.

Isaac Allen Burns:

That's true. Because two reasons two reasons. Just to come into the mind of the monster. Right? This thing just saw a big robot punch its brother Right.

Isaac Allen Burns:

Really hard. So it don't wanna mess with that.

Joe Diametti:

Okay.

Isaac Allen Burns:

But it's got you in its jaws, really. So does a 10 hit you?

Joe Diametti:

Does a fucking 10 hit me? Let's look. I know it does. I don't know why I'm looking. Or no.

Joe Diametti:

Wait. A 10?

Rowan Collins:

It? It

Joe Diametti:

doesn't. No. I've got 11.

Isaac Allen Burns:

No way. Yeah. Kashi's

Joe Diametti:

evading fucking all over the place, bud.

Isaac Allen Burns:

This thing, man. This thing isn't able to pull you under. Yeah. Well, fuck. That's right.

Isaac Allen Burns:

Well

Rowan Collins:

Play cube.

Isaac Allen Burns:

Out of chat. Well, so that was one adversary action that I had to spend. I get to spend as many adversary actions as I would like during this and activate as many of them as I would like to. The limit being I can only activate 1 individual at a time. So that thing had its turn.

Isaac Allen Burns:

The other one that just got punched to hell and back takes one look at the big thing and goes under the water and vanishes, and that's its turn. Cappy, you almost got pulled under, but you were able to not. And in fact, I'll say that your hand is no longer in its mouth. You were able to get out of its grasp.

Joe Diametti:

Yeah. It's, like, bleeding really bad.

Isaac Allen Burns:

It is. Yeah. It's smart.

Joe Diametti:

Cappy looks back at, you know, the giant robot that is, like, really punching above its rookie weight and looks at the tiny little pistachio that just saved Cappy's ass. And I feel like that awakens darkness inside Cappy that he's probably gonna try to mask as like being a hero. Darkness. Darkness. He's gonna take his dagger out.

Joe Diametti:

And I mean, he's gonna follow this thing in the water, just trying to like stab it, like overhead into the, into a skull.

Isaac Allen Burns:

Oh, go for it. Make that attack.

Joe Diametti:

All right. So, plus 2 finesse. I literally can't roll. Like, how is this a fucking thing? It's a 7 with hope.

Rowan Collins:

Can you get a hope, though?

Joe Diametti:

Get a hope. I do get a hope on landmark hope.

Rowan Collins:

You can use your hope, too if you have hope things with your spirit.

Joe Diametti:

I don't think I actually have hope things.

Rowan Collins:

And did you add your modifiers?

Joe Diametti:

I can spend hope to take advantage on a role I make to deceive or trick.

Annie Hawthorne:

I feel like with the new 1.5, there's, like, class features now or, like, unique hope features for your class.

Joe Diametti:

Yeah. You're Or

Annie Hawthorne:

is it rogue?

Joe Diametti:

Spend 3 hope to increase my sneak. It's all about it's all about being sneaky.

Isaac Allen Burns:

Being sneaky. Unfortunately, you were caught unawares on this one.

Joe Diametti:

Yeah.

Isaac Allen Burns:

Cap

Joe Diametti:

That's alright. Give it to I Capi Capi wants it.

Isaac Allen Burns:

Capi does want it.

Joe Diametti:

What happened? Do it.

Isaac Allen Burns:

Why did Capi what happened? What happens? Describe what happens for me.

Joe Diametti:

Capi goes in just, like, stabbing, but he's just, like, stabbing water. And it's, like, real dramatic. Like, the camera's on him, and it's, like, you know, the the camera up, like, showing him stabbing. And the music's just, like, going real dramatic, and the water's going left and right like a wave. And then it just cuts out to Crank and pistachio's view.

Joe Diametti:

And it's just it's just silent. Like, it's just like him splashing in the water. Like, the thing isn't there. And yeah.

Isaac Allen Burns:

You see the thing? It look you look over, and actually the gator is, like, standing next to pistachio and Craig also watching you.

Joe Diametti:

Really uncomfortable. I'm finding out Kathy has maybe anger issues.

Isaac Allen Burns:

I think Kathy is going through some stuff, but pistachio and Craig, as your friend is stabbing into the water, the gator is not in the water. It made it onto land.

Rowan Collins:

So, speaking of that, are you gonna stop now that you why did you eat the turnips?

Isaac Allen Burns:

Are we seriously still talking? Is this what we're doing right now?

Rowan Collins:

Well, it's either that or he punches you again, and I'm gonna I'm gonna bite you real hard.

Isaac Allen Burns:

You're gonna bite me?

Rowan Collins:

Yeah. I'm gonna bite you.

Annie Hawthorne:

Krank is, like, looking back and forth between Pistachio growling at this eelgator and Cappy, like, splashing in the water just like

Rowan Collins:

Amal?

Annie Hawthorne:

Kinda like there are multiple Spider Mans.

Rowan Collins:

Pistachio because this thing is not, you know, helping. We'll take Mark another stress to, beast form into a pack predator, which, in this case, is just gonna be a bulkier dodo. Fuck. Because, it's a dodo with, like, a really sharp beak. Okay?

Rowan Collins:

And, so the thing about the pack predator is that, when I make an attack roll on the same target as an ally right before you so, like, I guess this would be copy, but it's not working. But that doesn't matter. I am going to just attack. That's what I'm doing.

Isaac Allen Burns:

Here we go.

Rowan Collins:

Here we go. Boom. Oof. And that's a 9 to not hit.

Isaac Allen Burns:

A 9 will unfortunately not hit.

Rowan Collins:

Pow.

Isaac Allen Burns:

Unfortunately, this thing is still and the the dice are telling us that these things don't wanna be helpful. Frank, you notice the gator dodges definitely this attack from a dodo, and it looks at you and makes a split decision whether to who to go for.

Annie Hawthorne:

I'm going to, as it dodges, bring my fist up on the direction it's dodging in.

Isaac Allen Burns:

Well, unfortunately, we're gonna try to, but we rolled with fear. So now it's my turn, everybody. So Crank isn't able to do that quite yet because this thing is gonna take a bite at pistachio. Pistachio.

Rowan Collins:

What? Yeah.

Isaac Allen Burns:

Does the 12 hit you?

Rowan Collins:

It does.

Isaac Allen Burns:

Oh, gotta hate that. This is just a normal attack by this thing. That is 10 damage.

Rowan Collins:

You said 10. Thanks. It is definitely major damage, though.

Joe Diametti:

Oh, god.

Isaac Allen Burns:

I hate that.

Annie Hawthorne:

That's, like, clear my stress by rolling that crit. I'm gonna use I am your shield again. Oh. And as it opens its mouth to bite pistachio, I'm just gonna shove my fist into it.

Isaac Allen Burns:

So pie on my face, that thing I said where that doesn't happen, Craig, actually, that does happen. That thing you did earlier absolutely does happen except that the jaw is clamped down on your arm once again. Is it the same arm or a different arm?

Annie Hawthorne:

It's a different one.

Isaac Allen Burns:

Oh, the second arm. Your other arm gets their arm.

Annie Hawthorne:

I do have this fancy feature though from my subclass that I forgot about first time. It says whenever I take physical damage, always reduce it by your armor score before applying it to your thresholds. So any damage that I take is automatically lowered by 5.

Joe Diametti:

Woah. Woah. Woah.

Isaac Allen Burns:

Damn. Crank me beefy, y'all. Well, Frank, you take that bite, and, it doesn't hurt as bad as you were thinking it would.

Annie Hawthorne:

I'm still gonna take 1 HP though because that's the minimum.

Isaac Allen Burns:

It is the minimum, unfortunately. This gator looks at all of you. Once again, we've rolled so much fear that there's I this gator won't be helpful, unfortunately. And it hasn't actually gotten hit yet, so it's just sort of stunting on y'all. It's fronting.

Isaac Allen Burns:

What do y'all do? Cappy, you're still splashing in the water. I think at this point, Cappy, you probably realize there's no gator down. Yeah.

Joe Diametti:

Yeah. I, like, turn around, like, and I see the gator up there. I'm like, what

Rowan Collins:

did you. It's up here, Kathy.

Joe Diametti:

I guess I'm just going to copy has to get a move. Right?

Isaac Allen Burns:

Copy. As you get. I'm just going to roll.

Joe Diametti:

Run up and try to stab it again.

Isaac Allen Burns:

Start again. Dagger. She's not even looking at you right now. You totally hit it.

Joe Diametti:

Okay.

Rowan Collins:

Oh. Does this count as a stealth attack?

Isaac Allen Burns:

Oh, who doesn't?

Joe Diametti:

Oh, yeah. Does it?

Rowan Collins:

Because it's not even taking attention to cap.

Joe Diametti:

Well, yes. You you said it's not looking.

Isaac Allen Burns:

How about this? I am So the thing about the fun thing about Daggerheart is that you can take kinda multiple turns in a moment. So in this case, why don't you try and stealth up to this thing and make a stealth check?

Joe Diametti:

That is 13 with

Isaac Allen Burns:

her. In this case, I'm going to say that because this thing is not focused on you, the difficulty for this will be shorter. Sorry, not shorter. It'll be a smaller DC. So I'm gonna say that that 13 does succeed.

Joe Diametti:

So I have a move called rogue's hope.

Isaac Allen Burns:

Yeah, you do.

Joe Diametti:

Thank you, Rowan. That says spend 3 hope. Grow it. It's a spend 3 hope to increase your sneak attack damage until your next short rest. You add 3 d 6 instead of 1 d 6 to each attack or to each sneak attack damage roll.

Joe Diametti:

So it's a 3 d 6 damage.

Isaac Allen Burns:

Nice.

Joe Diametti:

Oh, crit. That's a crit, and I get one more.

Isaac Allen Burns:

Well, this is damage, so that's

Joe Diametti:

really Yeah. Crit. Oh, you're right. Alright. Fine.

Joe Diametti:

Alright. It's 12, 34, So So what's happening now? Like, I'm, like, splashing in the water. I, like, turn around, and I fucking pistachios of dodo again, and the robot is, you know, just kinda, like, looking at things. And, And then, like, you know, Cappy's gonna, like, mutter under his breath.

Joe Diametti:

Like, he had any control under the situation as if, like, oh, like, I can't believe this is happening again. He's gonna, like, storm up to it. And then, yeah, he's gonna, like, take, well, he's not gonna storm. He's gonna sneak storms.

Isaac Allen Burns:

He's very

Joe Diametti:

sneakily powder as he walks up, and he's gonna, like, pull both blades. He's gonna throw them up in the air, grab them, and then, yeah, do, like, a left and a right. Like, a 1, 2, like, stab with, and

Isaac Allen Burns:

then pull down. Yeah. Oh, 2 big gashes at the side of this gator as it yells in pain. Pistachio, you hear it say, what the

Rowan Collins:

fuck? I told you you would regret it.

Isaac Allen Burns:

Oh, that hurt. Fuck. Good job. Yeah. You stab into the back of it, Cappy.

Isaac Allen Burns:

The other 2. You see Cappy is back in action and stabbed into the 2 of it. How do you respond? What do you do?

Rowan Collins:

That's our boss. We gotta get it.

Annie Hawthorne:

I've got my fist in this thing's mouth still. So I just wanna, like, bring my other fist and just, like, right on top of his head.

Isaac Allen Burns:

Give it the old razzle dazzle.

Annie Hawthorne:

Yeah. I'm gonna do that.

Isaac Allen Burns:

Hit the old one too.

Annie Hawthorne:

Hit the old one too. This one's not the vulnerable one.

Isaac Allen Burns:

That's correct. The vulnerable one is not worth

Annie Hawthorne:

it. Gone. Imagine if that was another crit. That is only so funny. I have strength, so plus 2.

Annie Hawthorne:

It's only a 9.

Isaac Allen Burns:

Oh, no. With hope or fear?

Annie Hawthorne:

Oh, can I add my experience?

Isaac Allen Burns:

Well, real fast, is that with hope or fear?

Annie Hawthorne:

It is with hope.

Isaac Allen Burns:

Oh, okay.

Annie Hawthorne:

But I if I add my experience, I think it'll be a 12. Oh. Because my experience is battle born. Oh. And as part of my my, heritage, is it?

Annie Hawthorne:

My ancestry. I have purposeful design. So I was able to choose an experience that reflects why I was created and increase it by 1. So my battle born experience is plus 3.

Isaac Allen Burns:

That's awesome. That will unfortunately still miss.

Rowan Collins:

It is with hope, though, so mark a hope.

Isaac Allen Burns:

You do mark a hope. You try and get it on, and this thing is kinda thrashing in pain, and you just sort of glance off the side of its head. It's not really hard. It's tough to hit someone in the head. You know?

Isaac Allen Burns:

Pistachio, you're a dodo right now, and your friends are on top of this gator. What do you do?

Rowan Collins:

Pistachio looks at Cappy, who is their boss, and Crank, who is their new best friend, and is like, this they are both attacking this thing, and so words will not help. So they are just gonna go up. They, like, grind their feet. Right? And they they attack with their giant sharp beak.

Rowan Collins:

Also, I will mention that because this is something that was just attacked by somebody next to it, this Uh-oh. Increases. So, yeah, this is going to be

Isaac Allen Burns:

I'm scared.

Rowan Collins:

This is a 17 with hope.

Isaac Allen Burns:

Holy shit.

Rowan Collins:

And Ow. Yeah.

Rowan Collins:

That hurts. Yeah. This is gonna hurt, I think. No.

Isaac Allen Burns:

Not me either. No. Don't hit me.

Rowan Collins:

Great. 9 damage, and I'm gonna mark a stress to make this one vulnerable.

Isaac Allen Burns:

Yeah. You bought this thing on the head. You stab and do it with your powerful actually, what am I doing? How do you attack this thing? What am I doing?

Rowan Collins:

I, bite it with my big as as a pistachio opens up their mouth, you see that this dodo has, like, a sharp teeth. Oh. Just like several layers of teeth. It's kind of disgusting and terrifying.

Isaac Allen Burns:

Nightmare. Oh, no.

Joe Diametti:

I love that.

Rowan Collins:

It takes a little bit of creative liberties, I think, because, a dodo does not have teeth, but this one sure does, and it's got rows of of them. And it just, like, onto it.

Isaac Allen Burns:

Oh my god.

Rowan Collins:

And it chairs they just, like, try to almost emulate a gator roll with, shark teeth as a dodo just, like, rolling at this thing.

Isaac Allen Burns:

Oh my god. He's like, it's that mouth from that one episode of Powerpuff Girls. Oh my god. Nice. I

Rowan Collins:

think you just aged yourself.

Rowan Collins:

Fuck. That's

Isaac Allen Burns:

true. I am 30. So the, gator does get hit, does get bit, and it's not happy about what's happening. You can tell the gator is very upset and is not happy, but it's getting pummeled still and can't quite get its bearings. The 3 of you can continue on.

Isaac Allen Burns:

You still got the upper hand on this thing. How do you continue? What do you do? Crank, Gappy, what do you do? Gator getting gator rolled.

Annie Hawthorne:

I'm gonna use my unstoppable class feature.

Isaac Allen Burns:

What's that?

Annie Hawthorne:

So once per long rest, you can decide to become unstoppable. You gain an unstoppable die, which begins as a d 4. Place it next to you with the one facing up. Whenever I deal 1 or more hit points to an adversary, increase the unstoppable die value by 1. When I increase the value above the die's highest number or when the scene ends, remove the die and drop out of unstoppable.

Annie Hawthorne:

While unstoppable, you gain resistance to physical damage. What? Increase your current armor score by your proficiency. What? Add the current value of your unstoppable die to your damage dice total.

Annie Hawthorne:

Cannot become restrained or vulnerable. So I am gonna do that.

Joe Diametti:

1 dot 6 removes this feature. I was just kidding.

Annie Hawthorne:

Crank's eyes are going to glow red. They are normally kind of a a soft white yellow light, but in this mode that he has there red. And I am just so I'm kinda just gonna, like, bang my fists together, you know? Oh. And, like, enter unstoppable mode, and I'm gonna hit this thing as hard as I can.

Isaac Allen Burns:

Swing. Swing. Swing. Swing away.

Annie Hawthorne:

Dating ourselves again.

Joe Diametti:

Yeah. I know.

Rowan Collins:

It's okay. We're all in our thirties.

Isaac Allen Burns:

We're all in our thirties.

Annie Hawthorne:

What's the number I need to hit? A 14?

Isaac Allen Burns:

14.

Annie Hawthorne:

So I am gonna add my battle born experience to this one. So I'll spend a hope to do that, and that's gonna make it exactly 14 with fear.

Isaac Allen Burns:

With fear.

Annie Hawthorne:

And so Roll damage. Oh my god. I went from rolling max to rolling min. That's a 1 plus 1 is 2, plus 1 is 3.

Isaac Allen Burns:

Well, that is enough to deal an HP of damage.

Annie Hawthorne:

And my unstoppable die goes to 2.

Isaac Allen Burns:

Crank, when was the last time you entered this state?

Annie Hawthorne:

I think that the last time Crank entered this state was right before he lost his mentor in battle. I think he probably entered the state, tried to run-in and to save them, and was blasted back before he could succeed on that.

Isaac Allen Burns:

And as the GM, once again, I can choose to spend fear tokens however I would like. And in this case, Frank, those memories simply bubble back as vivid and as painful as they were the first time it happened. And as you feel the soft fleshy thump of your fist going into the gator, you see the gator looks up at you with 2 eyes, and they turn for just a moment into eyes that you recognize as not a gators, but instead as your old mentors for just the split most second. For those eyes now look at you as vacant as as dead because you have killed the gator.

Rowan Collins:

And stay dead.

Annie Hawthorne:

I think Crank just stands there for a moment, kinda like lost in thought, kinda like not here in this moment.

Rowan Collins:

Oh, Oh, Craig, are you okay? Oh, Craig.

Annie Hawthorne:

And at the second sound of my name, I will snap back. No. I'll just say, yes. I'm I'm fine.

Joe Diametti:

Woah. Where

Rowan Collins:

are the red eyes?

Annie Hawthorne:

Oh, that's my battle mode.

Rowan Collins:

Oh, that was kind of terrifying.

Annie Hawthorne:

Sorry. I. That's just the way I was designed. It happens sometimes.

Rowan Collins:

Oh, wow. It's also really cool.

Annie Hawthorne:

Oh, thanks. Yeah. It's kinda what I was built for, so good at it.

Joe Diametti:

You see Capi, like, eyeing you? Say, oh, oh, cranky's got a dark side.

Annie Hawthorne:

I'm just gonna turn around and walk away from you because I'm not in the mood to be joked with.

Rowan Collins:

Oh, you have a bit of a

Rowan Collins:

dark side too, don't you?

Joe Diametti:

Oh, no. Just lovable Cappy.

Rowan Collins:

Well, you did, like, a viscerate that thing with its its guts were starting to pull out.

Joe Diametti:

Well, junior cadet, it's all about keeping your calm in situations. Sometimes you have to walk in, assess, and then take action. Oh. I noticed you're not taking notes.

Rowan Collins:

Oh, well, sorry.

Joe Diametti:

Strike 1.

Rowan Collins:

Oh, no. Oh, gosh. Alright. Sorry. Take action.

Rowan Collins:

Take action. Can you explain the part about attacking the the the water? Was that to scare off the other one?

Joe Diametti:

That was really just testing you, Cadet.

Isaac Allen Burns:

I wanted

Joe Diametti:

to make sure you were paying attention. And, hey, you're back down to no strikes.

Isaac Allen Burns:

Great job. Yes. As you 2 follow Craig back towards town, we stay there for a moment, and we go downstream a little bit further down the stream. And on the banks coming out of the trees is a man, not just any man, a man we've seen before, a fawn. This fawn is wearing a vest, and he reaches up to his face, pulls at the sides of it a little bit, and takes down what is clearly a mask.

Isaac Allen Burns:

We see a dwarven man, bald, beardless, no hair on his head and face, and looking very tired. He sighs heavily, pulls out a piece of paper, and reads it one more time, mutters under his breath. Only got 2 weeks left, and that's where we'll end this session of dodo born.

Rowan Collins:

Dodo born.

Isaac Allen Burns:

Dodo born. Hey. Hit us with that outro music. Hey. It's a podcast.