Pete/GM: Chint record.
67 C5.
Name redacted.
Entry dated 16 Chthona 4722 AR.
Exhibit physical manifestations.
Various examiner's note.
The following details.
One of my few professional regrets.
This case I came in the early days of my research into the missing
moment, but not so early that I was completely in the dark, as I was
immediately after my own gate crossing.
Instead, I have the false confidence of an academic who
thinks of himself as, possibly, the preeminent authority on a topic.
Historically.
Sadly enough, it will show how very wrong I was.
Welcome to Ash and Snow.
You
Chris/Vin: know, that one wasn't as creepy as some of the other ones.
I'm okay with that
Pete/GM: one.
Yeah, that one was He's allowed rights.
That was just a doctor reading
Archedas/Varren: his note.
He was dictating to his office worker to write this down.
Pete/GM: Yeah.
Prelude, son.
Archedas/Varren: Now, when we find out that what he's actually talking about is,
like, a dude with tentacles coming out of his head, that's probably gonna be worse.
Yeah, that's a problem.
Chris/Vin: I should have
Pete/GM: put that on my safety tools.
No tentacle heads.
Chris/Vin: No tentacle heads.
Tentacles are fine.
No tentacle heads.
Just no
Pete/GM: tentacles on the heads.
Archedas/Varren: Specifically the
Pete/GM: head.
Uh, too late now.
Already in there.
Sorry, fella.
Archedas/Varren: Ramp.
We're really against aboleths here.
Pete/GM: Yeah.
Incredibly.
Misfit/Mia: So, we We went and fought these no eyed dog monster things, and
then we went in a portal, and then we found a bunch of scary trees, and then
a lantern, and then a door, and now this thing that's scary wants to marry me.
I'm scared.
Pete/GM: We resume back in a long, nearly empty hallway.
There is a closed door behind you, and in front of you is the looming figure.
of Kameepo the Slim.
The hallway is barren of decoration.
It is almost as lifeless as the outside that you just came from.
Where there is only a couple of buzzing lights above you, beige
walls to the side, a gridded white roof, and a gray, thin carpet.
Kinipo appeared in a sudden flash, or should I say opposite of a flash,
where a light went out for just a second, causing a shadow at the very
end of the hallway when he appeared.
His tall, frail body betrays the menace that he seems to
exude as he grins maliciously at all of you with shadowy eyes.
And a smile full of pointed teeth.
His long finger reaches out and points at Mio.
You are more important to me than you can possibly know, Moon Fox.
I am glad you have accepted my invitation.
Misfit/Mia: Accept is a strong word.
We'll
Aubrey/Freya: step in front of Mia, between Mia and
Pete/GM: Knieppel.
Aubrey/Freya: I'm
Misfit/Mia: sorry, I'm getting a nervous laugh
Pete/GM: this whole time.
I wouldn't expect you to come without some resistance.
But not to worry.
Once your friends have been taken care of by my subjects, I believe you'll
find this to be a very welcome respite.
Are you saying that?
How long is your freaking halberd?
I stab
Aubrey/Freya: him from the other side of the hallway.
Archedas/Varren: It just ex when did you get an extending rune?
Why
Aubrey/Freya: do
Pete/GM: I have to do this to you?
You run towards him with your falchard.
He doesn't flinch.
He simply continues to grin as you get closer and closer,
yelling with a primordial rage.
Then, as quickly as he appeared, one of the buzzing lights flicks off.
Causing a temporary darkness at the end of the hallway, and he's gone.
You continue to run, nearly having stabbed him, but then careen into the wall
behind you, where there is a simple door.
Archedas/Varren: You
Chris/Vin: good?
No!
Don't do that again.
Aubrey/Freya: Yeah, that definitely seemed like a bad idea.
Chris/Vin: Seemed like a good idea at the time.
Yeah.
Aubrey/Freya: I meant more the running into the wall part.
Oh, that was a bad idea.
Yeah, the stabbing Kniepo.
Very good idea.
Um,
Archedas/Varren: Varen?
Varen's just remaining close, but hasn't, since he appeared, hasn't said anything.
No response, didn't level the gun, kind of expected that this
wouldn't be the final confrontation.
Just glances past.
He doesn't look checked out, he looks analyzing things.
Almost.
Just processing what had happened.
This kind of rolls a shoulder a moment.
Well, it should be more interesting than I thought.
Judging from wherever it just kind of gestures around to the hall.
This is.
I can't say for certain that I don't have much choice but to follow
wherever he decides to have us go.
What if I
Chris/Vin: stab at the wall?
Archedas/Varren: Well, judging from how far in we are at this point, you either
end up on the other side of whatever that hallway is, or be hacking through
whatever this material is and tree limbs for a few hours to days before you manage
to get back out to where the door led.
Uh, Flayleaf
Pete/GM: anyone?
Aubrey/Freya: Mmm, probably not the great, best idea right now.
I don't think
Misfit/Mia: that's a good idea at the moment.
Okay, I'm gonna open this door then.
Hmm.
After.
Definitely after.
Pete/GM: I will go up to the door.
You open up the door.
Behind it is a much larger room that looks very similar to the
hallway that you're in right now.
Except that it has hallways within itself branching from different directions.
There's two on each wall facing you.
The thing that is perhaps Most odd, though, about it, when you enter
into the room, is a music that reverberates around the entire room.
It's just this light, doo doo doo, doo doo, doo doo doo, doo, doo doo doo.
It's, doesn't sound very clear, it almost sounds like it's muffled behind something.
And yet, you can't see a clear source for Where it's coming from.
Yeah.
Archedas/Varren: Lift one side of his hat, his hat up and just kind
of like, jab at his ear a moment.
Well, it's, didn't sound any different when I plugged up my ear.
Same volume, same pitch.
Try to
Aubrey/Freya: look around and see where it's coming, where the
source of the music is coming from.
Misfit/Mia: Is it coming from our
Pete/GM: brains?
You are looking around and you would expect to see like, you know,
a bard, or A band troupe, but it's seeming to just come out of the roof.
It echoes throughout the hallways that you approach, and seems
to be coming from nowhere.
Is it
Misfit/Mia: from the other dimension?
Actual reality?
Not this weird pocket dimension?
Yeah, at this point Mia's just kind of like, throwing ideas
like, Is it, is it people?
Can we see figures
Pete/GM: of people?
Archedas/Varren: Not an instrument I recognize.
Pete/GM: You don't see any other people in the immediate vicinity.
Misfit/Mia: Even, like, shadowy people?
Mm mm.
Yeah.
Chris/Vin: What if we just go very fast?
Just start clearing out as much as we can, and hope for the
Pete/GM: best.
Because I like that idea better than
Chris/Vin: going slow.
Aubrey/Freya: Something to be said
Archedas/Varren: of that.
Going fast may work, but it could result in us getting lost,
especially if one of us lags behind.
Pete/GM: Where is that?
It'll be me.
Archedas/Varren: I suggest a moderate pace, stay together.
Uh, just kind of pull out his short sword and experimentally,
like, stab into one of the walls.
Just, not like trying to jab the sword in, just like, get the tip enough so where
he slides it forward it leaves a mark.
Mm hmm.
Enough where you can like, drag it behind him essentially and leave
like a Scratch along where they go.
We follow along going there.
If I stay close enough to the wall, that should keep us at least knowing
that we've been this direction.
I can mark off an arrowhead when we reach an end point as far
as where we went from there.
Everything here is meant It just kind of pauses a moment.
You're confused.
Everything here This is Kniepo's domain.
This is his home.
He's invited you here, as it were.
What do we know about Kniepo?
What are his goals?
What does he do to people?
Pete/GM: Uh, so far
Misfit/Mia: he's just been kind of scaring the crap out
Pete/GM: of me.
Archedas/Varren: Precisely.
Everything we run into here is something within his means.
Something he believes will terrify mortals.
Getting lost in an endless maze of unknown origins certainly is one of those things.
I think our best solution is to just not be afraid.
Misfit/Mia: Okay, that's easier said than done for some of us.
She kind of like, kicks the dirt a little bit, like, I'm gonna try,
but I don't, I make no promises.
Aubrey/Freya: Would it make you feel better if you held my hand?
Misfit/Mia: No.
She just kind of like, clutches her, her walking staff a little
tighter and is like, I'll be
Aubrey/Freya: okay.
If you need it,
Archedas/Varren: let me know.
I'm not a survivalist of any sorts, I'm, I don't find my way out of
mazes for fun or travel the woods often, but The best bet we can do
is, from my understanding, just keep
Pete/GM: going left.
So wait, are you saying
Misfit/Mia: we can fight him with
Pete/GM: laughter?
More
Archedas/Varren: will reach him easier if we're not afraid.
There is
Aubrey/Freya: a spell that makes someone laugh uncontrollably.
Sadly, I do not have
Pete/GM: that spell.
If you didn't know
Misfit/Mia: that spell existed, I should
Pete/GM: probably learn that.
That sounds really fun.
Aubrey/Freya: This is a very, very good spell.
I just unfortunately, um, don't have it in my repertoire.
Archedas/Varren: It is.
One thing that I should probably test beforehand, but I doubt
he'll leave this maze empty.
I'm sure we'll run into some sort of tamagyos or whatever those birds were
outside or something of the other sort.
The music's distant, no matter where we he just kind of walks around
in like the same 20 foot area.
Doesn't change direction, it doesn't sound different, passing by a wall or an
opening doesn't seem to change anything.
There's a chance if we end up in a fight, it may be muted,
but I could confirm that for us.
The danger is if there's something lurking within here, I could very well draw
Pete/GM: it to us as well.
Uh,
Misfit/Mia: I don't
Pete/GM: have answers.
I don't know.
Chris/Vin: I think we just walk bravely, sing some show
tunes, and hope for the best.
It's a show
Pete/GM: tune.
Misfit/Mia: She just looks around like, it's a show
Chris/Vin: tune.
Let me tell you about all the showtunes I know.
I'll sing really loudly and obnoxiously.
Pete/GM: To drown
Archedas/Varren: out the sound.
I can't say this in character because it's not a joke Baron would make at all.
TvN TN
Pete/GM: Shawtoons.
Aubrey/Freya: I can't believe Ben knows this.
It's all for me,
Archedas/Varren: I'm done, bye.
Baron's gone, he's falling through the floor, I'm done.
I hate myself for that joke.
Chris/Vin: NDA, NDA, can't
Pete/GM: talk about it.
Can't talk about it.
Archedas/Varren: For now, best option, let's keep going forward.
I'll mark our path with the sword and the wall.
From there we'll at least know we've been in a direction.
Provided the wall doesn't mend itself behind us.
Pete/GM: I like to think I sing on key.
Misfit/Mia: You're just, this is, this is totally an out of character thought
but like For in character stuff.
You just gave me a really good idea.
Mia's going to put, not that it's going to help her in any way, shape, or form.
She's going to just put chalk on the end of her walking stick.
Just chalk up wherever she's been.
Yeah,
Aubrey/Freya: that works.
Archedas/Varren: Perhaps a mark on the outside will stay if it does happen
to fix whatever damage the sword does.
Who knows?
Mm.
Uh, Varan has no survival skills.
Uh, I'm on trade in survival and have a plus one.
But he's gonna be just kinda like inspecting the walls and the weird
lights and the music, and just trying to make sense of this from any weird
object he thinks he might have on his person that could help with this, or
some, like a broken compass that somehow occasionally points the right direction
that might work, uh, and just try to figure this out in any weird esoteric way
he might be able to, just going along.
Sure.
Pete/GM: So you go to the nearest leftward hallway?
That's the
Archedas/Varren: goal.
I've seen enough mazes on tavern menus to entertain children that, you know,
if you keep going left along the wall, Sure, you'll hit some dead ends, but then
you'll loop back around and come back, and you'll eventually get to the end.
Provided it's one continuous wall.
If there's a break in the maze, then it becomes much more
Pete/GM: difficult.
Yes.
I have
Chris/Vin: a lot of questions about that statement.
Like, you have no memory, so for the last six months you've just
been looking at children's menus?
When
Pete/GM: you're looking
Archedas/Varren: for work in monster slaying, a lot of the
time you end up in taverns.
I don't have a home, where do you think I sleep?
Pete/GM: Off the kids.
Under a rock.
Tavern
Archedas/Varren: rooms, and some of them have to entertain
the populace of children.
I'm not
Chris/Vin: hungry enough for a full meal.
I will take the kids mac and cheese, please.
Archedas/Varren: Milk is a commodity.
If they have mac and cheese at all, that's quite an honor.
We're
Pete/GM: all nervous.
We're all
Misfit/Mia: giggly.
Pete/GM: You go down the leftwards hallway.
You came out of a section.
of Hall with a little door in it, connected to this room.
Each wall has two hallways going down it, so you turn to the first one to your left.
As you're walking down it, you see that it itself turns left.
This whole time the music has continued to play, not sounding like you're getting
any closer or further away from a source.
The lights hum above you.
As you walk, and each of your steps has this kind of muted echo to it.
Have any of you
Misfit/Mia: experienced lights like this before?
Archedas/Varren: Well, I've never been to the first world, and I can't say
that anything here should make sense,
Pete/GM: so.
Aubrey/Freya: Look, there are some professors at their Canimerium
that have some really questionable ways of teaching things.
I had one professor see us in like a dimension of darkness and then was like,
Your goal today in class is to get out.
Isn't that
Pete/GM: dangerous?
And I'm like, yes.
Can affect the closest
Archedas/Varren: approximation I have is some feature was haunting
the old upstairs of someone's home.
The attic space
Pete/GM: found some odd
Archedas/Varren: skeletal creature that was capable of it for a time.
It stole my voice, spoke back to me in it.
The closest I can approximate to an odd sound or anything, but
nothing like that in here I've seen.
Pete/GM: As you turn the corner, you see that further down the
hallway is a larger room, similar to the one that you just came from.
I go down to the room.
Chris/Vin: Yep.
Yeah.
Follow.
Pete/GM: Follow.
Down the hallway, you emerge from another one of those kind of
entrances like you saw in the last room, but straight ahead of you.
On the opposite wall, you see the little nick that Varyn left.
That's not good.
Wait, we're going in circles?
Yes.
Archedas/Varren: This one loops us back around.
We
Pete/GM: only have one other option.
Do
Misfit/Mia: something slightly not.
It's probably not gonna do anything.
But Mia's gonna go ahead and cast Dancing Lights.
See what that
Pete/GM: does.
Okay.
You cast Dancing Lights?
Yup.
It's a cantrip.
Where are you placing them?
Uh, just kind
Misfit/Mia: of all around Hardy, so like, everyone has their own little
Pete/GM: floating
Archedas/Varren: area.
About how much of a distance would it have been from, like, where we started?
First left turn, then the turn that came down to
Pete/GM: see this room.
Each of the hallways is about 30 feet.
So, you went 30 feet, turned, and then another 30 feet, and then entered.
A similar square room and your mark was directly on the opposite
side of the room from the hallway that you just came out of.
I wanna
Archedas/Varren: try something.
Do any of you have rope on you any length?
That
Pete/GM: 10 feet or more I should do?
Uh
Archedas/Varren: uh Yeah, I do.
Maybe I'm just gonna just from his bag, start pulling out 50 feet of rope here.
Yeah.
Uh, tie it off with the other one.
You can have this back once we're done.
I just have a thought here.
He's going to
Pete/GM: need rope.
Archedas/Varren: Can you just like, briefly?
He's going to think for a moment.
Vin, Freya, stay with me.
Stay here.
And he's gonna, like, in the room that we stepped into from the
hallway, tie the rope around him, and hand the other end to Vin.
I got it.
I trust you enough to, if you feel a tug on this, pull me back in.
Pete/GM: Got it.
Archedas/Varren: He's going to walk back to the hall that led
into this room, and just start walking backward, down the hall.
Like, facing the party, just continuing to walk backwards until he gets to the turn.
Turning backwards and continuing to walk
Pete/GM: that way.
Okay.
Eventually, yes, you do hit the back wall to the hallway that you just came from.
Just turns,
Archedas/Varren: continues to go back.
Theorizing that, if this is the same starting point, they should
see him when he walks to the end of
Pete/GM: that hall.
Okay.
Varyn, you continue to walk backwards.
You see the rope that is tied to your waist getting more taut.
Freya, me, and Vin, on your side of the hallway, you see that the rope
is continuing to unfurl as there is movement on the other side, until
eventually it also becomes stiff and starts to bend across the hallway.
Varyn, you get to the other side, nearly reaching the end of the hallway
that you're currently in, when the rope gets taut around your waist.
Archedas/Varren: Would I be close enough to where the first hall looks into to
just, like, set a hand around the corner?
And just, like, wave so that they could see
Pete/GM: if it was there?
Not quite that close.
You're about ten feet short with a fifty foot rope.
Uh, that's why
Archedas/Varren: I tied the other bit of Freya's on.
That would be
Pete/GM: longer than 50 feet.
Oh, okay, gotcha.
It would be up to 100 feet.
100 feet, I see, gotcha.
Okay, then yes, you're able to just keep on going around the corner.
Archedas/Varren: Varen's mind, this is just, it looked like we went in a circle.
If that is what happened, and they are now back in the room we started in, going this
way should have them see me at the end
Pete/GM: of the hall.
You get out into the larger room.
And again, you see the mark that you left on the wall behind
where you would have started.
So, this, in your cardinal directions, is where that mark should be
with that hallway being there.
However, you don't see the others in this room at all.
Freya, Mia, and Vin, on your side, you see the rope.
Continuing to unfurl, and unfurl, and unfurl, and then eventually get taught.
Alright, well, I'm waiting for a tug.
Can we still see him?
He is well behind the hallway.
I'm gonna wait for a tug.
Chris/Vin: Then I'm gonna wait like a minute, and if there's no tug,
I'm gonna pull him back anyway.
Pete/GM: He's
Archedas/Varren: gonna stand there, like, looking back at the main room
where we first started for about ten seconds, just to see if anything happens.
And then just start walking back along the length of the rope.
So it would go slack again, and just continue walking down the hallway.
Pete/GM: GRIFFIN Yeah, the rope does go slack as you walk around the corner.
And then you see the same familiar sight, a long hallway with a bigger room
at the end, but no Freya, Mia, or Vin.
But there is someone in there.
Freya, me and Vin.
On your side, the rope is taut.
There hasn't been a tug or a shout.
After about a minute, I'm just pulling it in.
You start to pull it.
As you pull the rope, it pulls back.
I pull back.
Chris/Vin: I
Aubrey/Freya: will assist Vin in pulling.
Pete/GM: I will also help.
All three of you.
start to grab the rope and are pulling it.
Give me athletics checks.
Misfit/Mia: I'm so good at athletics.
Chris/Vin: Uh, 15 plus 8 for a 23 for me.
Uh, a
Aubrey/Freya: 12 plus 5 for a 17.
Here it is.
Oh yeah!
Pete/GM: 16 plus 1 also for a 17.
Yeah!
That is a normal success for all three of you.
You pull the rope really, really hard.
As you do, the rope suddenly goes slack.
And you all fall back into the room with a loose rope in hand.
I
Misfit/Mia: look at everybody and I'm like,
Chris/Vin: We should go get him.
Yes, we should go get him.
How much rope am I
Pete/GM: holding?
I'm sorry, what did you say?
How much rope am I holding?
You're holding probably the first 50 feet.
You can see the knot that was tied between the two.
Okay.
I'm
Chris/Vin: running down the hall.
I'm not running faster than my party.
Misfit/Mia: I am, yeah, running as
Archedas/Varren: fast as I can.
Can I add something for you Pete, just for flavor?
Pete/GM: Sure.
A
Archedas/Varren: quick glance at where the rope cuts off, definitely looks like
Pete/GM: where a sword sliced through it.
I like that.
Man.
Varyn, in front of you there is the same large room.
There is a man in here.
It's not Kniepo.
It is a normal sized looking being.
They are squatted in the middle of the room with not really
anything more than a loincloth.
And you can see the ridges of their spine as their back is faced towards you.
And they squat in a huddle.
in the middle of this room.
You can't, from this end of the hallway, make out what
they might be saying or doing.
Archedas/Varren: He's not gonna go to do much.
He's not, he briefly, like, notices this figure, sees the room he's in,
and just sort of turns to look back at the hall that he's still standing in.
Before, very, he doesn't fully turn his vision to look back at this thing.
Because he wants both it in his peripheral, so if it moves at
all, he'll notice it moving.
But also keeping an eye on the hallway behind him, so if anyone approaches
inwards, or the hallway starts to do anything weird, he's got an eye on it.
Han does slowly shift down to Griff Longwinter
Pete/GM: at his side.
Look down both hallways at the same time.
Down one is a completely empty large room.
And then towards the other is the large room with the man inside of it.
He's gonna
Archedas/Varren: slowly step his way back to where the turn to this hallway
facing this room with the guy in it is.
And just get right to the edge.
Like right where he would turn to go away to the next hall.
And call back down the hallway.
Are you one of Kniepo's attendants, sir?
You're supposed to be having audience with him.
Pete/GM: He doesn't really acknowledge you from there.
He's gonna
Archedas/Varren: keep his distance for a moment.
Very briefly thinking on this.
Can I do an esoteric lore check on if this is any kind of creature I
have seen before or anything about?
Like, he's hunched over in just a loincloth.
In the center of this room, there's some weird stuff going on here.
This is Fae bullshit, if I've ever heard of Fae bullshit.
Sure.
Let's see what we get here.
That's almost a 19 on the die, but that's a 9 instead,
Pete/GM: so 17.
This looks to be a Fetchling, which you know are humanoid.
They come from the Shadow, the Plane of Shadows.
I almost said Shadow Realm.
That's Yu Gi Oh!
coming out.
They have a I call this guy.
Yeah, they have a kind of bluish tinge to their skin, and white hair.
He'll
Archedas/Varren: hesitate a moment for certain, just kind of, don't trust this.
And he's trying to buy time before he has to like actually engage anything
to see if the party catches up at all.
But after that about minute would take until Vin would cut the rope.
He starts to enter the room again, just from the entryway of the room, so
he's still got the hallway behind him.
You do not hear me from down the hall.
Pete/GM: You see his head kind of tilt as he looks behind his shoulder,
and then keeps on doing something.
I don't have time for you.
Archedas/Varren: Well, if you don't have time for me, that's fine.
I'll simply head on my way.
I just need to know where to go, or I'll be out of your hair.
Heh
Pete/GM: heh, get out, he says.
Find his way, he says.
Do you see?
And he turns, and you can see the fullness of his body.
There are lines scarred into his flesh in all kinds of different directions.
Some overlapping, some looking like rooms.
I'm the mapmaker, and there is no way out!
And Vin, you run around the corner, and for the first time
you see something different.
This is not the hallway that you came down before.
You would have noticed the things on the wall.
There are paintings lining a much longer hallway than the
one you originally came down.
That's not
Aubrey/Freya: good.
What do these paintings show?
Pete/GM: They're 10 framed paintings.
Each glows softly as it depicts figures silently moving again and again through
a sort of repeated motion of scenes.
One of them portrays a creature that looks like Kinipo,
awakening in a dark, mossy bower.
Another one that you look like, that you look at, shows The same creature,
kneeling before a massive, cloaked fae.
Each one you look at tells a kind of story.
You see that Kimipo was taken in by bogeymen, or bogeys.
But then trapped in this log by elves.
You see them holding a key that looks like a leaf.
Half of it is this kind of green, and half of it looks metal.
The
Aubrey/Freya: thing we're probably looking for.
Misfit/Mia: Mia pulls out her tiny little book, like, makes a rough
sketch of what this leaf looks like, and like, tucks it back in her bag.
Pete/GM: As you continue down the hallway, you see one final painting.
It's of Mia in her fox form, with glowing blue eyes.
As her moon shaped scar glows in the same kind of color.
In the depiction, it looks like there is just blackness behind her.
But then you start to see a figure emerge.
A silhouette like Kinipo.
With its large head and spindly fingers starting to reach around her fox form.
Misfit/Mia: God, fam.
Do not like.
Do not like at all.
Is this, is it, okay, so is the picture actively moving, or is it the longer we
look the more features we can see in it?
Pete/GM: It's kind of both.
Oh god, that's horrible.
It's not like those ones from the wizard story that we shall not name here.
Hmm.
It's kind of like those images, those puzzle images, where the longer
you look, the more it looks like there's shapes coming out of it.
But they are definitely not static.
There is a motion to them.
I'm still
Misfit/Mia: freaked out.
Can I, like, knock it
Pete/GM: off the wall?
Pause at it.
Yeah, you can knock at the wall.
Can I
Misfit/Mia: knock the painting off?
If you want to.
I feel like
Aubrey/Freya: this is a
Pete/GM: really bad idea.
Chris/Vin: I think, uh, just as an aside, Vin is, like, trying to move on.
Pete/GM: Because we're
Chris/Vin: still looking for Varin.
So I think Vin's probably like, 15, 20 feet away from whatever
crazy thing is about to happen.
And
Aubrey/Freya: I don't want to leave Mia alone, so I will
definitely be very close to Mia.
Misfit/Mia: I'll say this, if Mia notices Vin walking off,
she'll continue to walk off.
Like, she'll follow, but if she doesn't notice, then I'm so sorry
I'm about to knock this painting off
Pete/GM: a wall.
Okay, you continue to Walk down, and you see that where the hallway should have
turned into the same large room that you came from, It turns to the right.
Not the left.
Chris/Vin: We're, we're following, I guess.
I'm following
Misfit/Mia: whoever's in front.
Pete/GM: I think it's me, so I keep going.
You continue down the hallway, and see that there is a, another large room.
In front of you, but there is a distinct difference with this one.
In the middle of this large room, there is a hole.
From this vantage point, you can't see what is down the hole, but you
can distinctly see that it takes up a considerable amount of the space.
Do we skirt around it?
Are you going up to the room?
Yeah.
To look in the hole?
Sure.
You take a Look down, and you see bodies.
Dozens and dozens of elf bodies.
Mangled, disfigured, pale.
I'm gonna stop Freya, hopefully.
He's
Chris/Vin: like, uh, maybe not this way.
Um, be brave, don't be afraid, not this way.
Dead end.
Pete/GM: Yes, then why don't you make me a medicine check?
Oh
Chris/Vin: Okay 14 plus 0 is 14
Pete/GM: you have Heard enough stories where even a cursory glance?
Makes you think you know what you're looking at these seem to have been the
early test subjects for the obnubilate curse I don't know what to do with that
Chris/Vin: information.
Besides, not this way!
Not this way.
Aubrey/Freya: Yep, dead end.
Dead end.
Other way.
Chris/Vin: Clearly
Archedas/Varren: lying,
Pete/GM: by the way.
It's just not I
Aubrey/Freya: think we're all frazzled enough that I'm not
really looking into it too much.
Chris/Vin: Would we have been able to like, jump the hole?
Is it actually
Pete/GM: a dead end?
You would be able to go around the hall.
There is enough floor space.
That's not the answer I wanted.
But as far as just like careening over it, Not at this level probably.
Was there
Chris/Vin: a door on the other side or a hallway on the other side?
Pete/GM: Uh, as far as the layout goes, it has the same layout of two
empty hallways on each of the walls.
Now
Chris/Vin: I got a moral conundrum.
I don't Uh, I'm gonna turn around the corner.
Do I see the pictures?
No.
If
Pete/GM: I turn the corner, do I see the hole?
Yes.
Um,
Chris/Vin: I think, Freya, if you just look up as we skirt around the
room, this might be our best bet.
Just look up!
Aubrey/Freya: Okay, why?
You know, actually,
Chris/Vin: I think I got, like, a blindfold right here.
Why don't you just put this on?
Misfit/Mia: Enough looks down.
She wants to understand why Vin is being so extra weird.
Pete/GM: Mia, it's probably less the sight as it is the smell that your
fox senses are able to perceive.
That tells you exactly what's down there.
Misfit/Mia: Vin, is there dead things down
Chris/Vin: there?
I don't know what you're talking about.
Freya, hang on.
Here's, here's, uh Sock!
Put this around your
Pete/GM: eyes!
Heaven only smells
Misfit/Mia: like decomposing bodies down here.
Especially
Aubrey/Freya: if I could smell the decomposing bodies, I'm going to look.
Chris/Vin: No, no, no, oh,
Pete/GM: there she goes, okay.
Freyja, you see the same thing now.
You ever heard about
Chris/Vin: the Obelix curse?
Aubrey/Freya: Yeah, that's the thing, the reason why, you know, elves weren't
allowed in the city, cause, you know.
What
Chris/Vin: if, uh, uh, uh,
Pete/GM: uh, Let's move on!
Yes!
Let's.
I guess I'll take my
Chris/Vin: sock
Pete/GM: back, okay.
Aubrey/Freya: Yeah, thank you, I actually didn't really want that on my face.
It was clean!
Chris/Vin: I don't think I wear socks.
I don't know why I have one.
Misfit/Mia: We're winning.
We're winning, y'all.
Aubrey/Freya: Our brain cell has disappeared, and we're falling apart.
Um, can I, can I roll any kind of, like, Arcana check to, like, I
don't know, get, get, like, a vibe?
A vibe check?
A vibe
Pete/GM: check.
Sure thing.
Aubrey/Freya: I'm gonna hero point that.
I have a hero point, I'm gonna use it on
Pete/GM: that.
Yeah, that's a natural one.
It's better to
Aubrey/Freya: 14, not
Pete/GM: much better.
You can tell that many of the corpses down here are different than what
you have heard the Omnibullet curse actually ending up doing to elves.
There are some that are just large and bloated.
There are others that look like they've been completely emaciated.
There are some that look like Their legs have been replaced with their arms,
and others that just look torn in half.
So lovely.
Aubrey/Freya: Great.
I'm gonna have nightmares for
Chris/Vin: weeks.
Don't think about it, just keep going, just keep going, going, going, going.
Aubrey/Freya: Going, going, going, going, going.
I
Chris/Vin: think I heard a fish sing that once.
Uh, we will skirt around to get to
Pete/GM: the other side of the room.
Okay, you get to the other side, and there is Yet another
hallway that you can go down.
Are we making any progress?
That's a good question.
Like, how the fuck did Varin get around all this stuff?
Did he get around?
I'm
Misfit/Mia: starting to think that Varin went a different way.
Or he was forced to go a
Pete/GM: different way.
I think it's
Chris/Vin: smarter than me.
So if I was Varin, what would I do at this moment?
Start pacing
Pete/GM: like Varin does.
Misfit/Mia: Is this one of those where we're putting ourselves in Varin's Choose
to figure out where the fuck you went.
Yes,
Chris/Vin: I start marking the wall with my, with my polearm.
Mmm,
Aubrey/Freya: yes, I'm barren.
I have no memories.
I have a strange bird friend.
I
Pete/GM: think
I know everything.
The party
Archedas/Varren: actively descends
Pete/GM: into madness.
Misfit/Mia: Hahahaha!
Chris/Vin: Just of note, friends, we do need to make some progress
by the end of this episode.
Aubrey/Freya: Um, I have, I have the worst idea and I don't want it to be true.
Jump in the hole.
No, that we all have to separate.
We all have to go our, like, we have to, you know, that was my, that was the idea
that got out of my head, is we all have to
Misfit/Mia: I'm not a fan of this idea.
I'm just saying I'm about to be made a foxy bride and I'm not into this.
Pete/GM: Most people
Chris/Vin: take that as a compliment.
Misfit/Mia: I do not give consent.
Chris/Vin: Let's just, let's just go down the corner one more time and then we'll
Archedas/Varren: try your idea.
Someone is going to tell Varyn that There was a thought of, while they were
separated, we should split the party wholly, everyone should go on their own.
Pete/GM: And he will
Archedas/Varren: not believe for a second that that suggestion
was not from Mia or Vin.
He would not believe a second that Freya would make that suggestion.
No
Pete/GM: way in hell.
Aubrey/Freya: I mean, I said this, I don't want it to be true.
I really didn't want it to be true, but it's what my brain said.
I think you're right.
Yeah, well, we'll go around the next corner.
I will follow.
Pete/GM: Alright.
You go down the corner, at the end you see another one of the same large rooms, but
in the middle of it is a table, and there is what looks like a woman, with her back
turned to you, standing above the table.
It's a whole lot of nope.
Like, floating above the table?
Not, not floating above it.
Okay, okay!
Just like, looking like she is Working on something.
You can hear from this distance, the sound of A chop.
And then another chop.
Is that a fairy?
Chris/Vin: Is that
Aubrey/Freya: a fairy?
The last
Misfit/Mia: fairy changed Barry
Aubrey/Freya: a lot.
Quite
Pete/GM: quickly.
I don't
Misfit/Mia: think so.
Why are we doing the chopping?
Not the creepy person.
Although he is kind of creepy.
Pete/GM: Do we go in and talk to it?
Or do we
Misfit/Mia: attack it?
We could go in.
I don't think these people are allowed to hurt me.
My
Chris/Vin: head says yes, my heart says no.
Pete/GM: Yeah,
Aubrey/Freya: it's, I, you go in, I'm going to be right behind you.
Mia
Misfit/Mia: just walks in like, hi!
Aubrey/Freya: Dives right behind me, just be like, okay, we're
Pete/GM: doing this.
You go in.
Mia, you're, you're not sure if what you're looking at is accurate.
There is hair on this woman, but it looks Really foggy.
Maybe that's just your vision.
But Frey and Vin, as you get closer, You see that her hair
is looking to be made of shadow.
As soon as Mia says, Hello!
There is a decisive stop to the chopping sounds.
The figure turns around.
She's wearing a dress of striped black and white, With bloody gloves on.
And she's holding a knife.
A belt of knives around her.
As she turns, you see that she doesn't have a face.
There is a mask there instead.
Hmm.
Aubrey/Freya: She looks friendly.
Pete/GM: You see that she doesn't have a face.
Rather, there is a mask on her.
With two eye holes that are just pitch dark.
Though she stands fairly poised.
At the sight of Yumiya, her hand starts to tremble, and the blood starts to flick
off of the blade that she's holding.
Nippo chooses you over me?
You fleshy interloper!
Misfit/Mia: Whoa, I think you have it all wrong there.
I don't, I don't, I think he's so much better for you.
She like, tries to stand and be poised about it.
You're, you're way better than me.
I don't know.
He's got something a little, mm, wrong with him, you know?
Pete/GM: With every fiber of my being, you will not leave this room alive.
Will our adventurers survive their encounters?
What happened to Varan?
And will he meet back up with the rest of the party?
We'll have to find out on the next episode of Ash and Snow.
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