Rurik: Welcome adventurers to Probability of Demise, the podcast where critical
fumbles meet critical facepalms.
Join us as we delve into the darkest dungeons, slay the stupidest gremlins, and
roll enough ones to make a beholder weep.
Forget epic storylines and heroic deeds.
Here we celebrate the chaotic beauty of bad roles, questionable decisions, and
characters with more charisma than sense.
We'll be your dungeon masters of disappointment, guiding you through
campaigns where the only guaranteed treasure is a mountain of laughter,
and maybe some psychic scarring.
So grab your NAT 1 dice, strap on your anxiety helmets, and prepare to witness
the glorious trainwreck that is our D& D journey, because In the end, even if your
character dies face first into a pile of pudding, at least you'll have the Dice
God's permission to laugh your ass off.
Like,
subscribe, and give us all your love.
Uh, Seraphina literally walked out of camera for the entirety
of the intro video, causing me inordinate amounts of anxiety.
I
Jess: needed a blankie.
Rurik: Aw, that's pretty.
It's
Jess: a snowman.
Rurik: You're really bad at this.
Jason: No, it's because my camera's backwards.
Rurik: It's not backwards.
Just do it how you normally do it.
Just do it.
Just put it flat against your face.
Jason: I know, but for some reason the angle of the camera
won't let me do it correctly.
It's like Like, to me, in front of my face, it looks right, but then, because of
where my camera is, it looks really wrong.
I don't know why.
Baby,
Rurik: you're
Jess: the right kind of man.
Also, we're all doing it wrong.
Isn't it like Don't you
Rurik: dare say it with the fingers.
That is a, that is a kids nowadays thing.
Also
Jess: that.
I don't even know how to do it.
Sunset hurricanes.
Yeah, I can do that.
That's what
Rurik: you're thinking of?
I can do this.
Or nuts.
Jess: That or something.
Rurik: She just got to rescue us.
Jess: Okay.
Okay, okay.
Today's word of the ga Today's word of the day is Gossamer.
A fine, filmy substance consisting of cobwebs spun by small spiders,
uh, seen, uh, primarily in autumn.
And then, used in a sentence, the delicate spider silk Created a gossamer
web that shimmered in the morning dew.
Rurik: And this is why you really listen to our podcast, because we edumacate you.
Edumacation.
Gade yourself edumacated.
Well, I am super excited.
We do words good.
Going with the second half of our second podcast.
A little mini arc here as we dive back into our world in Overton and
actually in Underton because Sticky Beak's little private office is
located on the fringes of Underton.
And last time when you got together, you had actually gotten to Sticky
Beak's office, found out about this predicament that Sticky Beak was in,
both in terms of the collapse, but also in terms of the shenanigans with the
investigation that they were performing.
And they put you on the path after much, uh, Consideration about
what you actually wanted to do, uh, of going and finding a Bat.
A messenger bat that had been the property of a bat master who is deceased.
So, with that information you are about to launch into, um, finding out what
you can find out, doing what you can do.
Uh, Along with the revelation about this need was the bigger revelation
of the huge issue of Grand, of Grand's Brand, the most recent incarnation
of that name, having been murdered.
I think we fast forward a bit and place you at the location
where this, uh, Batmaster's, uh, abode would be in the Overton.
If there's anything you would've done in between, you can go ahead and share that.
But I think what we can do is we can kind of zoom in and, and I can give you
a sense of the lay of the land, and then you can determine what you would've done
on the way there or before arriving, as well as share where you would be
in the, the space that I described.
Is that all right?
Yes, yes, yes.
Jason: Unless you wanna go back to, uh, AUA and Sina spooning.
I think we're about to long rest at a Lewis place,
Rurik: which would make this morning, right?
I'm fast forwarding through that a little bit as well, unless you want to.
So we have long
Jess: rested?
Yeah.
Okay.
I will say, Serafina barely slept.
She laid on her back in a corpse position with her hands by her legs,
just so afraid to move an inch.
And all she could think was, I'm in the same bed.
I'm in the same bed.
Rurik: Um, could you just roll a constitution saving throw and we'll see
if you actually got to sleep or not.
Things you tell and couldn't tell, Greg.
Don't tell me you slept poorly.
Oh no.
Jess: I have to.
She slept
Rurik: poorly.
What'd you roll?
Jess: What'd you get?
Dalua's fault.
She, she said she didn't need to sleep with her and Dalua's like, no, it's fine.
And she's like, it's not fine.
Too
Rurik: excited.
Or maybe this is a charisma saving throw, actually.
Let's take that.
Let's do a charisma saving throw here.
Oh dear.
Jess: Alright, plus, uh
Jason: Do you sing in your sleep?
Do you barnacle y inspire in your sleep?
Rurik: As she goes to sleep, she lullabies 16.
You know what?
Yes, you are panicked, but you're able to find rest, maybe not sleep,
but you're able to find rest.
Um, stiff as a board, light as a feather, stiff as a board, light as a
feather, eventually that just becomes a meditation that takes you into a
place where your body recovers and you do get the benefits of a long rest.
Hush, little Seraphina,
Jason: don't say a
Rurik: word.
Jess: Let me long rest myself.
I haven't already.
Rurik: Following the directions that were provided to you by Sticky
Beak, you have come back to a location you were at not so long ago.
A courtyard with, uh, various entertainments and wagons and food, a
nearby alley where a body was disposed of, and, uh, a little Overhang, uh, roof
location where another body was stowed.
Who would do such a thing?
You recognize this area as one you had been to not so long ago.
Long ago and in this, uh, location just on the outskirts of both the strip and the
hollow councils, a cluster of wealthier homes kind of in that interstitial
space is a vibrant little neighborhood, um, food and wares, uh, things that
definitely attract a variety of folks.
And you actually arrive at a very similar time in the evening.
Based on what the timing was of everything else to give you a long
rest, that's where we're going to, we're literally back where we started.
There's a little bit of a change in tenor.
This is not necessarily one of the celebratory days, but more of a day
where folks have had a long work day and, or are going off to night shifts.
So there's the passers by as they both go home and off to an evening job,
collecting up a quick lunch at a, at a food counter, picking up a little bit
of, uh, Nicknack or whatnot to share with family members who need things.
So there's a little bit of, uh, liveliness and excitement, but
it's that muted evening version.
I really wanted you to say picking up a couple of Nicknack and Pattywings.
I'm done.
Okay.
I'm done.
All right.
Thanks for tuning in everybody.
Okay, so Jason, I said only one, but there's going to be like, now 12.
Um, so with that, uh, We're excited for tired
Jason: and goofy.
There's going to be more battles.
Rurik: Okay.
As you are sitting there, I'm going to use my good dice now, back in that
same place, there's lots of areas to more stealthily observe things.
There's lots of nooks and crannies and such.
There's also just.
Um, you can see at a quick glance that the building that you're, uh, to approach
has some typical Overton tape that is used to mark a place that has been
shut down by the police, by the not so much police, but the watch and such.
And you can see that it's been there for a while.
It's, you know, it's falling off.
It's not fresh.
It looks like there may even have been a few scavengers in
and out since that was put up.
What would the three of you be up to and what would you be
doing as well rested as you are?
So the
Jason: apartment or whatever is taped off, but is it guarded visibly?
Rurik: Just go ahead and roll a perception check.
14.
You see no obvious guard.
And then.
Seeing that there's not always, or just taking in things, you do notice there's
a couple of locals that they look like.
They look like local, uh, members of the community who kind of keep their
eye on the door from time to time looking, but nobody from Officialden
seems to be, uh, paying much attention.
Looks like
Jason: we might have to find a way to sneak in or perhaps someone causes
a distraction and the others go in.
I mean.
Rurik: Are we not allowed to be here?
We are investigating.
Jason: We're investigating in a extra legal capacity.
That's city guard
Rurik: tape.
I'm confused though.
Didn't didn't our mutual contact say that the family themselves was their clients?
So why would we not allowed to be here?
Jason: Same reason you can't just walk into a murder scene whether
someone hired you to or not.
Rurik: All right.
I mean, we
Jason: probably could.
It's just possible that somebody will call the guard eventually.
Rurik: So we're investigating this secretly.
Jason: That was my understanding.
Rurik: I understand that we are supposed to be
Hmm, secretive isn't the right word, but you know.
Yes, discreet, but surely those monitoring the crime scene would not oppose to us.
As we are trying to help solve the crime.
Yes.
They don't know that.
Jess: Why not just let them
know.
Rurik: I mean, unless we are supposed to operate outside of the watch's
knowledge, but I don't know if that was ever explicitly made clear.
I
Jason: suppose I feel if, if the watch was friendly to this entire investigation, the
watch would be doing this investigation.
Rurik: Fair point.
All right.
What's your plan?
Jason: Okay, so we've got marketplace, food stalls, like that sort of vibe.
Rurik: Yeah, um, think, I mean, it's, it's, it's on the, the, the cusp
of those two, two neighborhoods.
So it's got very much like a little bit of the, like, here's where you go to
get the late night meal vibe when you've been out all night playing, but also.
You know, the day people over the hollow council who have to go grab a lunch.
This is the cheaper place to do it.
The folks who can't afford the fancy restaurant, it
might be a little bit closer.
They run down here to the, I think if I was to describe it in modern terms,
think a food corral where a bunch of food carts have all been set up.
Uh, and it's kind of like it's been there for a long enough,
uh, the, the night market in, uh.
Queens.
You know?
Yeah.
In Queens.
Okay.
The night market in Queens.
Just run by brick buildings and stuff.
And, and there aren't any other merchants otherwise?
Is it like.
Oh, there's, I mean, all of the, the stalls are, man.
Right.
But I mean, are there any actual stores?
There are a couple of little knick knack shops.
That's what I meant to say when I said the knick knacks and then you went patty wax.
Um, it's just like little, you know, there's the entrepreneurial sort who
always set up in an area like that where people have been sitting and
resting and eating and talking and just, you know, you can tell that
like there's a couple of places where beverages of the adult variety have,
have been set up maybe initially as a temporary thing, but now like there's.
It's literally a still sitting right behind their little contraption.
Um, So they've been there for a while and then there's other little, you
know, some guy who's like halfway between a panhandler and an actual
retail establishment of various doodahs.
Okay.
Um,
Jason: Perhaps we should ask around with the crowd to see what information we
can find out and then maybe we'll have a better sense of whether we can just go in.
Rurik: Sure.
I mean, perhaps, I mean, maybe they'll at least know.
Did,
Jess: did Sticky Beak share with us when this occurred?
Rurik: Like what time of day?
Um, Sticky Beak didn't share a time of day, but did share that it was
concurrent with the death of Grand.
That the death of this Batmaster was at the same, similar time, and that the
digging into Grand's death led to the realization of the death of the Batmaster?
and connected those two for him.
He, he, he did not share that anyone else has made those connections.
Okay.
His little like spider map of craziness is his going like, wait, he died.
And there was a bat message harness at grand's death.
And it was on the same.
And he did like his brilliant mind thing.
And yeah, booted to do.
So we don't know what time they were killed only that they
were killed at the same time.
Yes.
At around the same time.
Okay.
Well, I guess we can interview, uh, if any of this, the, the stall owners are here on
the regular and see if they saw anything or noticed anything from day to day
between before and after the tape went up.
All
Jason: right.
And we split up or go as a group.
Jess: And there's no one, and there are no guards or anything around
the gate, or around the tape.
It's just the tape.
Rurik: Um, from what Gus saw, and I'm guessing shared, no, but if you would
like to do your own separate investigation and such, let me know how you'd be
checking out for guards or others who are protecting or watching the space.
Jess: I'd love to just ask someone nearby.
Rurik: Okay, so how are you approaching this individual?
Are you just picking someone at random?
Is there, are they a shop keep?
Or are they just a
local neighbor?
Jess: And where, in what area of the city are we in again?
Rurik: You're between the Strip and the Hall Council.
Jess: Between the Strip and the Hall, okay.
Um, I want to go, and there's no one around that I, I recognize from like,
maybe who like hired my brother,
Rurik: or Go ahead and roll a perception check to see if you can spot anybody.
Jess: Let's see, let's see.
Rurik: Yeah,
Jess: that one.
Rurik: Nope.
In fact, you're not sure you're right.
Jess: Oh wait, I rolled the wrong thing.
But it's still d12.
Rurik: Roll a d20.
You don't get to roll a d12 in bananas.
It's actually a negative 8 if you do it that way.
Yeah, now you've lost.
Now the DC's gone up by 100.
That's okay.
Jess: And I'm doing, what now?
Perception.
Rurik: 15.
15.
Uh, looking around, you, at first don't think you're spotting one, and then
you see Uh, familiar, the back of a head that looks somewhat familiar, um,
Girl, Becky O'Head is ridiculous.
Um, I don't know where
Jess: my notebook went with my brother's name.
What the heck was my brother's name?
Rurik: Not somebody that is your, connected to your brother.
Jess: Oh, not connected to my brother.
Rurik: At this stage, from the back of the head, you think that you just saw Becky
O'Head, Um, Ernesto's daughter, Axuna.
Jess: Oh, I'm going to go up and, and, and tap
Rurik: her.
Okay.
You go up and tap the shoulder of this person who might
be Axuna and turns around.
Oh, hi.
Is it her?
It is.
I'm
Jess: going to say, Axuna,
Rurik: hi, it's me.
Oh, oh.
How are you doing?
Yeah, I, I, I'm good.
Uh, just getting dinner for.
the family.
Uh, can't eat at the market all the time.
It's kind of disgusting.
Yeah.
Like fair food.
Yeah.
You can see in her hands already are things that look like very fried foods.
Jess: Very good.
Um, do you, do you come to this area often?
Rurik: Um, you know, every once in a while it's a good get
out, go to a different area.
You get tired of eating the same old thing, you know, whatever's
around your corner gets old.
Jess: Yeah.
Yeah.
Do you, do you happen to know anything about You know, the, like, stuff going on
over there and, like, the tape, and She
Rurik: Her gaze just full looks over her, no subtlety at all.
It's like, Oh, yeah, um, I guess the owner of the bat, uh, he
he he had ran Batmessengers.
Um, yeah, he died.
Eh.
You'd have to ask a local or one of the shopkeeps for more.
Um, or you could go to the
Eh, you probably shouldn't go there.
But yeah, that's, that's, that's good.
Wait, go
Jess: where?
Why can't I go?
Rurik: Do you really want to show up on the Hall of Council?
Oh, no.
Yeah, I mean, it's not your vibe, right?
Yeah, I guess you're right.
I mean, I guess you could just show up at one of the watch hangouts,
but it's kind of a hike from here.
Hm.
We like to, well, I don't live here here, but I just live down the ways a
bit and then, you know, I like to keep the authorities as far away as possible.
Jess: There haven't been any
Rurik: around really?
Well, I mean, occasionally they've come through, but I don't, I don't,
maybe this is a busier area than where I put my head down to rest.
So maybe they come through here more frequently.
I mean, you could hang out here all night and see who comes through.
Jess: Yeah.
Okay.
Well, I just, I saw you from over there and I just wanted to say hi.
Rurik: Yeah.
Did he owe you something or did you have like a creation that went awry?
Jess: No, it just, I guess I'm a little nosy.
No, no,
Rurik: no.
Oh yeah.
You are.
I mean, I don't think you're nosy.
You're just, you're curious.
Jess: Very.
Uh, well tell everyone I say hi.
And, uh, I'll let you, I don't want you to get, let your food get cold.
Rurik: Oh yeah.
I gotta go.
Bye.
Have fun.
Hey, see you later.
Jess: I'm going to go over to Gus and Alua and just be like, ah, figured out nothing.
Jason: What's the closest like food stand or vendor to the, to the
Rurik: house?
There is a place that is currently doing some sort of bread
confection that's being deep fried.
Oh.
Many
Jason: doughnuts.
Rurik: Let's do it.
All right.
Or
Jess: as we walk over, I'm going to summarize
Rurik: former investigator.
Jess: As we walk over to the other vendor, I'm going to summarize my
conversation with her just to be like, I saw her, she's getting food.
You know, she said that not too many people come around, at least
her area, you know, just summarize.
Jason: I'm going to be like, hello friend.
Could we please get three of these?
Oh yeah.
You just
Rurik: want three?
They're small.
Well, you're small.
Never mind.
I apologize.
I did not mean to be.
Yeah, uh, three it is.
Jason: Thank you.
Hey, what, what, uh, what happened to the Batman's house?
That is all.
Rurik: Um, um, yeah.
The Batmaster kind of lost his, uh,
lost his head.
He was decapitated?
Boop.
I'm guessing like, you know, it's always weird with those people who
kind of run those messenger services because, you know, half of them die
because they were abusing people.
And then the other half of them die because they had things that
they shouldn't know come through their hands because you entrust
messengers to an animal and then the animal master could peek.
And so like, I'm sure people cover their bases.
Um, so yeah, uh, I think Bruce just got in over his head.
Jess: Bruce.
Ah, Bruce.
Jason: I knew you were going to do this.
This is why I said Batman.
I know you too well.
Um, okay.
Um, oh, it's very, it's very interesting.
As
Rurik: the watch went
Jess: around So, wait, did he literally lose his head?
I'm still on that part.
Rurik: Oh, I, I mean, maybe Like, is that how he died?
You should ask Alfred.
Who's Alfred?
Oh, uh, next door neighbor.
Jess: Do you know Alfred?
Can you introduce us?
Rurik: I mean, sure.
Hey Alfred!
He yells.
You see a light turn on in the next door neighbor's house up on the third floor.
Head peeks out.
What you want?
They're asking about Bruce!
Bruce?
Alright, uh, Robin, honey, just lay down, he's being an idiot again, I'll be back,
I'll be down in a second, and, uh, not too much later after that you hear, uh,
a door open and somebody in what looks to be sleeping clothes steps out, slippers
on their feet What is it you want, Bruce?
Jason: Hello, um,
Rurik: we've actually been Did he lose his head?
Who lost their head?
The
Jess: Batmaster, did he die by losing his
Rurik: head?
Oh, Master Bruce didn't lose his head.
Still attached to his body.
Jess: Oh, okay, okay.
Sorry.
I just, he, he, you know, he, I guess it's a turn of phrase, you know, he
like lost his head, so I thought he like literally lost his head, and
that's just where I got stuck on, and whew, I'm glad he has his head.
Okay, thank you.
Uh, oh, I'm Seraphina, by the way.
Rurik: Hey, Seraphina, um, I'm losing my head right now.
I'm tired.
So what's this all about?
Let's, let's be quick about this.
Uh,
Jason: we've been, and we've been hired to look into, uh, Master Brutha's, Brutha's?
Master
Rurik: Brutha's death.
Master Brutha's!
Jason: And, uh, we were wondering if you thought anyone would mind if we just
went into his house and looked around.
Rurik: I mean, we've been watching out.
Cause we think he has a couple of kids, um, don't really
know what's happened to them.
Uh, I mean, they were, they're adults, so, you know, life happens, but, uh, they
might be taken over the house, but, uh, I mean, he kind of looks you up and down.
I don't know.
What's it for me to, uh, look the other way?
And he kind of winks at, uh, the vendor of fried doughnuts.
Jason: Do you want some fried
Rurik: dough?
I Well, I'd like some shiny dough.
Ah, that's not true.
It's worth a shot.
Is
Jess: that just like, extra sugar?
I'm gonna turn back to the other guy and be like, Will you
make a donut with extra sugar?
I want some shiny dough.
I'm gonna take a gold
Jason: coin from what I stole off those dead bodies a few weeks ago.
Just passing that around.
I'm gonna take out a gold coin and just like, subtly like, hand it over
Rurik: to him.
Oh, great.
Uh, yeah, I'll get that sugary donut with my shiny new coin.
And as he says it, he says it just loudly enough to gather a little too much
attention, but then he turns and says, Oh, everybody, let's go have a snack here.
We're just going to post up around the building here.
For whatever reason, several of the people who live in this area or that
are shopkeepers, you know, start passing around donuts and kind of create a
human barricade between the visible sight of you all and the doorway
that you're seeking to enter into.
Um, successfully passing all of the secret little checks and such
and adding a flair of darkness.
Darkness.
I was crying, I was trying not to laugh so hard.
Ugh.
Jason: I'm gonna go over and jiggle the door of the Batcave and see if it opens.
See if it's locked or not.
I mean, the house.
Wayne
Rurik: Manor.
Um, the door just shifts open very easily.
The lock has been broken.
It looks like multiple times.
Okay, I
Jason: will push the door open and
Rurik: go inside.
Yeah, ducking under the table.
Stop him!
Jess: Lucas!
You can't just walk in!
I'mma poke my head in.
You can't just walk in!
And do like a little check, just, I want to look around,
make sure there's nothing crazy.
Check for traps.
Rurik: Check for traps.
Roll your check.
That would be a, in this case, You have proficiency in all things, right?
All things.
Proficient in
Jess: everything.
Um, I have proficiency in Investigation, Perception, Sleight
of Hand, History, and Arcanum.
Rurik: I'm gonna go look at your character sheet because you just skipped a lot
of things I know you're proficient in.
Um, Thieves, Tools, etc, etc, etc.
Well yeah,
Jess: yeah, yeah, but I just mean of the like, this
Rurik: list.
No, I'm looking at the other list.
Uh, so yes, go ahead and roll an investigation check.
With advantage.
Investigation.
Oh yeah.
Plus, ooh, oh that's a
Jess: big number.
Rurik: 22.
22, awesome.
Jess: That's a big number for Elmo.
Rurik: At first you don't see anything and then you see a thin line that
looks like it was more recently placed.
Um, not a, not a long time and you quickly recognize that this is a very
simple trap that people leave when they plan to come back to a space
after they've kind of looted a little but need to loot a little more later.
Um, you think you know how to disarm it, and if you would like to try
to, that would be a dexterity check.
Jess: Ahem, I would like to, and I go, Gus, y y you need
your magnified glass, good sir.
And I'm like, pop all my things down, all my goggles.
And I'm gonna try to undo the check.
And this is a dexterity something?
Dexterity check.
Rurik: Dexterity check.
I mean, you could use sleight of hand if you have sleight of hand as a proficiency.
Yeah!
I
guess you could use that regardless because you have the other proficiencies.
Fifteen.
Oh yeah, it's a very simple trap, and you quickly loosen that
thread and you can follow it up.
If you would like to, you can recover the parts of the trap.
Yeah!
Great.
You have all the parts of an alarm trap.
It would have made a ton of noise had you tripped over that.
Well, thank you.
Jason: Alright.
I'm losing my
Rurik: touch.
So, entering into the space, it looks like your average everyday entry.
And there's a little parlor off to the side, and there's a set of stairs
that wind up to the next level.
Uh, is it dark in here?
It is very dark.
There is no
Jason: light.
I'm going to take out little moths from my pocket and put it on the
top of my magnifying glass on top of my staff and then cast light.
So it goes
Rurik: Whoa!
Nice little glow there.
And you can see quite clearly into the space.
And the parlor looks like it was definitely used as a Place to
entertain clients to, to take messages or you can see a lot of, uh,
bits and pieces of paper, um, some accounting books and such like that.
So it was definitely used as an office ish space.
I
Jason: will look around the office space, hopefully to find a missing
message, but just for anything else also, that's interesting.
Rurik: Go ahead and roll an investigation check as you're doing this.
Investigation.
Anybody else helping Gus?
Yeah, I am.
Alright, go ahead and roll that with advantage.
Thirteen.
Good number.
Solid number.
As you're
looking around, you see a lot of just the detritus of a, um,
already gone over multiple times and a lot of missing elements.
Um, You know that most messages have some sort of stamp from the sender to
verify the chain of custody that each message has had and you can see that
all of those stamps have been stolen.
or taken by whatever previous investigations happened Um, you can
see that all of the paperwork has been rifled through but most of the
accounting information has just been ignored There's no sign of any of the
bats Or their equipment down here.
This is very much as you kind of really case the space Um, and
as time draws on, I don't know.
Ulua, did you go in?
Yes, I'm just following behind As time goes on In your search, you can
hear the crowd outside is dissipating.
Um, their, their initial effort to help conceal your entrance into the
space being, uh, let go of right now.
I, I'd shut the door behind me.
Yeah, great.
So that, at least.
But there's nothing here that really has any indications of what
you're currently searching for.
Jason: Is there anything that indicates other places the bats might be?
Rurik: Uh, nothing down here.
But you do have a staircase going up.
Jason: Shall we go
Rurik: upstairs?
Jess: The
Rurik: papers that, uh, indicate about the accounts, are they like
strewn about or are they collective?
They're mostly collected, but you can see that they've been looked through.
Can I just, um, just put them together and like, as we walk up, just take a glance
at them and see if there's anything that Stands out as either a name I recognize
or perhaps someone who, a name that sounds fake or anything along those lines.
Okay, go ahead and roll an investigation check.
One message for
Jason: Seymour Butz.
Rurik: Investigation.
Investigation.
Jason: Ah,
Jess: skills.
Skills.
Rurik: Uh, 15.
Today's number is 15.
Yeah, I think thumbing through it, you, it, it's a whole series of messages.
There's one from Barry the Beef Wellington Butcher.
Um, just sent the package.
Hope it's not too rare.
Um, see another one this from Philomena Fingers Finch.
Uh, lost my touch with the whole thing.
Need a new fence.
Um, you can see prices next to each of these.
Um, you see another one that's Chester Clackworthy.
Uh, they're meeting at the Old Salty Dog tonight.
Heard whispers of a high tide operation.
Um, there's another one.
Vivian, The Voice Nightingale.
Um, someone's been singing like a canary.
Gotta find a new tune before I get caged.
Uh, you see one from Bartholomew Bookworm Barnes.
Uh, look for the book with the missing page.
It holds the key to the forgotten chapter.
Um, There's another one from Penelope Penny Pincher, uh, the cost is too steep,
might have to find a cheaper way out.
There's just a whole list of these types of messages and you realize
that nobody written in this ledger has a name that sounds real.
Would you like me to continue?
No.
I am gonna hold on to them though.
Okay.
I am just going to send you that list of messages.
Because there's no way I'm going to try to keep track of it.
Yeah, okay.
Um, I'm, actually, could you go ahead and roll an intelligence check?
Maybe I can send you more than that.
Nope, that's a net one.
Okay.
I'm not sending you this list.
Fine.
You're Because I think I need to torture you a little bit first.
Jason: It's okay, I know a guy who recorded it.
Rurik: And that one feels like the appropriate torture, just to hold
that over your head for a little bit.
Okay, so you walk up the stairs?
Yes.
I go two at a time.
Boink, boink, boink, boink, boink.
The next level up you can see that there's a little bit of a
food prep area kitchen situation.
There's also a dining table and in the far corner a little bed.
And the stairs continue up.
Can
Jess: I do just a quick, yeah, search around on this level?
Yeah, go ahead.
I want to look for I want to look for secret rooms.
Secret drawers, secret, like, hidden things like that.
Rurik: Okay, go ahead and do your investigation check for that.
Jason: I will look for non secret drawers and secret rooms and non hidden things.
Rurik: Great.
Go ahead and roll for that.
Lua, because if you're not one, you're now obsessed with figuring out these messages.
I would like you to roll an intelligent saving throw.
Yeah.
Jason: I rolled a one also on my investigation check.
Rurik: This is so perfect.
Just give me a second.
Seraphina, what'd you get?
Jess: Unnatural 20.
Is
Rurik: it better?
Jess: Well, it would have been better if I got a nat 20, but I got unnatural.
Rurik: I got 5.
Jess: Man, I'm such a good investigator.
Rurik: Serafina.
You're looking around carefully checking the edges of things checking for you
know, you know, there's always that floorboard That's a little loose and
other things like that and you watch as Gus just kind of walks through
not paying very much attention and you watch a floorboard just really do
as he walks over it really bending way more than it should.
Gus doesn't seem to notice and you hear Alua going what the heck does has anything
to do with Beatrice, Buzz, Bumble and the hive is stirring what does this mean?
And between those two doing their thing, you have spotted a
hidden compartment in the floor.
I'mma,
Jess: I'mma go over and I'm gonna get on the floor like this and check it out.
See if I see, try to find the mechanics of it.
See if there's like a hinge or just
Rurik: a Picking up.
Which in natural 20, you just, you just looking at it.
You're like, oh yeah, slide it this way.
I had a dirty 20, yeah.
Oh, it was a dirty 20?
Well, still.
Dirty 20.
With a 20, regardless.
Or level 3, whatever.
It clicks, slides to the side, and you see a little space with, um, a little book.
I'mma
Jess: pick it up and roll on my back, and like kick my legs up and read
Rurik: through it.
Yeah, you see a bunch of addresses.
Jess: I'mma start reading out the addresses, like, Dory from Finding Nemo.
It's just to be like, I found a
Rurik: book!
Yeah, so Seraphine is sitting there reading off a bunch of names and
addresses, Gus kind of looking around trying to find things, Allua just
staring at these lists becoming more and more irritated with them.
With a five, I need to make another intelligence saving throw, but you're
gonna take a point of exhaustion just because of the mental anguish of not
being able to figure this out, Allua.
So, before you take the point of exhaustion, if you roll less than a 10,
that's what's going to happen to you.
But if you roll, uh, higher than a 15, you will find success at least.
So you have a choice here, 10 or lower, point of exhaustion, 15 or higher,
and you actually figure something out, taking the next step, and then
you have the safety zone in between.
I like, just like, going in.
So wait, I have to pick one, or that's just, that's just the frame?
That's just the frame.
That's the frame.
Okay.
And I'm just rolling a straight 10?
D20, right?
I don't know.
Rolling in, it's an intelligence check?
Check or saving throw?
Saving throw?
Doesn't matter, it's the same number.
13.
You're able to put it away.
That's good, that's good.
You're able to not obsess over this.
You feel like something in that book, though, has, it's
gotta be code for something.
Just figure it out.
In the book or the pages.
Um, and as you, uh, kind of break free of that, Gus, I would love for you to roll
a, um, intelligence saving throw as well.
Thirteen.
Oh, perfect.
Uh, all you needed to get was above a 10, but you got it.
Barely stop yourself as you're just kind of bumbling around and not
paying enough attention to what you're trying to pay attention to.
You barely stop yourself from stepping on a small bat that is sleeping on the floor.
It's wing is broken.
Can I, can I, can I
Jason: lean down and pick it up?
Rurik: Yes, you can.
I'd like to do that.
An Alua In this moment where you where you see Gus suddenly stop and pause and
then bend down to scoop something up You hear the addresses that Serafina is
sharing they sound Interesting familiar and you start to feel your mind slide
back towards the obsession just a little bit You're able to hold it off, but
you feel your mind slide back towards the obsession with the other book
Jess: 752 coconut way
Rurik: Serafina, um, Uh huh?
Found something.
Jess: You did?
It's a little You were walking around like you didn't know what you were doing.
It's a little
Rurik: bat.
A bat?
He's, he's hurt.
Oh,
Jess: oh, oh, I can talk
Rurik: to it!
Jess: I'm gonna go up to it, and I'm gonna twist my little, one of my little runes
on my horns and cast speak with animals.
And I'm gonna go, Hello, little friend.
I am Seraphina.
Gus is the one who picked you up.
Um, I'm not the best at this.
Rurik: Your spell cast.
I
Jess: liked it.
My spell makes noises.
Rurik: I thought that was a doorbell.
I'm
Jess: not the best at um, healing little bats.
But I could try to help, help your wing until we can find
someone who can actually help you.
No, don't hurt
Rurik: me anymore.
No.
Who?
Who are you?
I'm going to cast Healing Word.
You are casting it on the bat, right?
Yes.
You all hear an audible snap as the batwing's bone is placed
back into the right place.
But it's just a bat, it doesn't take much to heal it.
Don't even roll the health for it.
Okay.
It's only got those many hit points, your lowest cast of that spell
is as many hit points as it has.
Okay.
Can you just See, Seraphina, you see it.
Oh!
Who's the goddess who did that?
Oh, oh!
That's
Jess: Allua!
She's the pretty one
Rurik: over there.
Where?
I don't see any pretty ones.
Jess: And I point directly at Allua.
That one.
Rurik: She's naked!
So are you.
Are you?
No I'm not.
So is he.
You're all part of this naked people tribe.
What?
That master was the only one who wasn't naked.
He had the most luxurious facial covering.
Jess: What?
What kind
Rurik: of covering?
I used to crawl up inside of it and get all cozy.
It smelled like, well, it smelled like whatever he had eaten recently.
Jess: Do you, do you mean, um, like a, like, and I take my hair and I'm going to
put it on my face to make like a beard?
Oh,
Rurik: you have a glorious one as well.
Oh, let me nuzzle up into that business.
Oh, yours does not smell the same.
Jess: Oh, I, I, don't,
Rurik: um.
It smells like, it smells like her.
And it points its nose in the direction of Allua.
I have a beard.
Jess: Oh yeah, Gus does have a beard.
Rurik: Oops.
Um, retcon.
Jess: Yours is not good enough.
It's too
Rurik: little.
It's not enough to cling to.
It's a pretty big beard, come on.
Jess: Yeah, but not compared to my beard.
Um, so.
Um, guys, the, the, the Batmaster had a beard.
That's all I got so far.
You want me to tell her?
Oh, excuse me, um, do you have a name?
Yeah,
Rurik: I'm a bat.
You can call me whatever you want to call me.
What
Jess: is it with animals and not having names?
You know, you're the second animal I've met that didn't have a name.
Rurik: Names are for sentients, and I'm not into it.
Jess: Okay, um, Too much stuff.
Okay, the bat does not have a name.
It takes too much thought to have a name, which it does not have.
Jason: Um.
Does it know anything about the missing messages?
Jess: Do you know anything about the missing messages?
Oh, oh, or who killed your master?
Like what
Rurik: happened?
All I know is I came back for the treats after being carried off to
get that thing tied to me that's got ripped off by that horrible creature.
That horrible, horrible creature.
It almost killed me, you know.
Maybe it did kill me and this is, this is the other side.
Where the sonar don't ping.
And the light never shines.
Except there's a bright light in the room.
On the little person's little stick.
Is it gonna beat me with a stick?
No, no, no, no, no, no.
It's got something else weird on it.
Jess: So you weren't here for the murder, but you said a creature attacked you?
What kind of a creature?
Rurik: Oh, a horrible creature.
Claws like death.
Those things that those creatures have, which we all know.
Deceptive and quiet.
Big eyes and a head that spins round and round.
Jess: Uh, so, um, this one was attacked, and it might have been
the, the brat that thing we found, well we didn't find it, but that, um,
I'm pausing because I'm, I'm thinking of the correct name.
Because I have five names in my brain.
Rurik: I'm not telling you.
Dicky Beak.
Yay!
Jess: I was like, wait, that's so long.
Um, this bat had, was carrying a message and a monster attacked it.
One that its head would spin all around and around and around.
And so maybe this was the bat that was carrying the thing that they had.
Was it
Rurik: an owl?
Jess: Did the thing that attack you?
Have big wings?
Did it also fly?
Rurik: Well of course owls could catch me!
I'm too limber and able to move to ever be caught by anything less
than the horrible creatures that say
Jess: ho!
It was definitely an owl.
Jason: I'm gonna take out my bag of holding and take out a, like a pad and
then like, a little brush and a little paint and just do like an outline of an
owl and just hold it up like, like this.
Rurik: Roll a performance check.
Jess: Can I aid in this performance check by going, Not that bad!
Because you're not the painter!
Rurik: You can aid in giving Gus better feelings in a moment, maybe, but no,
that will not allow him for that purpose.
As you may have
Jason: expected, it was a 10, which is about Gus
Rurik: level.
Okay, yeah, so this childish scrawl of an owl and the bat creature just looks
at this two dimensional representation.
I don't know what that is.
Jess: Ah, wait, wait, wait, wait, give it back, give it back.
Can I do some like fancy origami to like do a 3D bat and then go like, Hoo,
Rurik: hoo, hoo, hoo, hoo, hoo, hoo.
Yeah, go ahead and roll a performance check of a 3D bat.
Jess: Bat or owl?
I
Rurik: mean owl, owl, owl.
No!
All right.
The bat falls
Jason: in love with the origami
Jess: bat.
This ought to be some fancy, like, tinkering thing.
Sure.
Rurik: Performance.
Roll a performance check.
Taking your tinkering to the dark side now.
Thirteen.
I mean, the DC has changed because of the multiple attempts to represent an owl.
Um, the folding that you do, it's a little bit like when I first made a paper crane.
Um,
It's in the realm.
I can imagine.
Uh, what?
Y'all are crazy.
Oh, thanks for healing me.
I should be on my way.
Stretches out its wings.
Uh,
Jess: the bat's gonna leave.
If you have any other questions.
Where's
Rurik: it going to go?
How long has it been since they came back and their
Jess: master was gone?
Uh, how long has it been since Okay, two questions.
How long has it been since your master Wait, what?
Hold on.
Allua what?
How long has it
Rurik: been since they noticed their master was killed or gone since they
Jess: returned?
Uh, how long has it been since you noticed that your master was
gone and where are you going?
Rurik: Well I was attacked, horrifically, and then I stayed
up in the tower as we normally do.
And eventually, realizing no aid was inside, no treat, was for me.
I crawled my way down the stairs.
Down to here and found no one and nothing just a mess where my my tree givers
treats used to be Luckily on the way down.
I finally tore off that horrific Remnant that probably saved my life.
Jess: How long ago?
Did you crawl down
Rurik: here?
It might be days It might be weeks.
I don't know where you go.
I feel faint but with that burst of love Given to me by
your naked friend over there.
I think I'm ready to fly away Find a new tree giver.
Jason: Does it know, uh, where it was when the message was taken?
Do you
Jess: remember where you were when you got attacked?
Rurik: Oh yes, exactly.
And for the right inducement, yes, I'll do what you're thinking.
What am I thinking?
You know, and I know.
Will it take us there if we give it some treats?
Jess: You want treats in exchange for taking us there?
Oh,
Rurik: you know the way to my heart.
Yes, if you
Rurik: have any of those fine delicacies known as Mosquitoes
Candied upon the sugars
of happiness I will be your slave.
Jess: Okay.
Um, I will let you know that, um, I'm not gonna be able to talk to you much longer.
Um, but we're gonna get you treats if you'll just show us where to go.
Larissa: Let me nestle up
Rurik: in your beard
Larissa: and we'll be here
Jess: forever.
Okay.
I'm gonna, I'm gonna take the bat and put it in my hair.
Uh, so, the bat wants sugar coated mosquitoes in exchange for taking
us to where the attack happened.
I
would like to investigate again for bat treats.
Larissa: Is there a place where the bats are kept?
I mean, it doesn't look like there's a cage down here.
There's
Jess: a tower.
Um, and I like lift my hair and go, where's the
Rurik: tower staircase, right?
Yes.
There is a staircase that you've all seen that continues up.
Um, I'm going to
Larissa: head that way while you look
Rurik: for, okay, Gus, go ahead and roll a perception check.
I think at this point, Okay.
Ten.
All these dice go in the garbage.
Rurik: You, you spot a treat bag, but it looks like it's been exhausted.
Um, possibly, well, there's a few limbs of insectoid varietal, but not much else.
A wing or two.
I'm gonna like, pour out whatever I can into my hand, and then like give it to the
little bat, because it's probably hungry.
Um,
Rurik: Ulua, you have walked up the stairs, and you are in a space that
Previously, definitely held a lot of bats.
The smell in here is pungent.
Something about the doorway as you came into this space must repel the scent and
keep it out of the rest of the building.
Maybe this room in general is enchanted with a nice little local
charm to keep smells at bay because you can see guano on the floor.
You can also see a nice barrel set aside that has a lot of guano piled
into it, more than is even on the floor.
And you kind of get the sense that there's probably like a little bit of
a secondary line of business providing.
The necessary for gardeners.
Larissa: Um, I got two things.
I want to look and see if there's any bags of treats up here.
Rurik: What's the other thing?
Larissa: Uh, and then I would like to know if there's anything else, uh,
besides guano, like, footprints, anything.
Rurik: Okay, go ahead and roll, uh, the dice.
perception check if you're just looking around.
I'm not gonna taste it or anything.
Larissa: Investigation or perception?
Would you say perception?
Perception.
15.
Again.
Rurik: Um, as you look around you can see the, uh, I mean
there's the guano all around.
You can see footprints based in it.
You can also see where there's, uh, Some Type of receptacle for treats, but it's
barren like picked clean You're guessing that the other bats that were here
because that's the other thing you find in evidence is there were a lot of bats
here they have they they broke into and ate what was available and then Getting
no more sustenance moved on into the night The other thing you can see here is a lot
of the little full not broken harnesses that the bats would Have equipped to
them before transporting messages.
And in that process of kind of cataloging and seeing all this,
you also see one little scrap of leather hanging on by a splinter.
And dangling from that little piece of leather is a message.
I grab it and try
Jess: not to slip on the guano.
I would like to walk upstairs and while she's doing whatever she's doing, I'm
just gonna like get some vials out from my bag of holding and just collect
back guano for bell casting materials.
Rurik: Okay, cool.
Um, you read the message.
The message says, From Reginald Speck's Spectacles, Optician.
Everything seems a little fuzzy.
Need someone with a sharper eye to take a look?
I need you to roll another intelligence saving throw.
Larissa: Oh, that's much better than last time.
Intelligence saving throw.
18.
Rurik: Oh, that is so much better.
That is excitingly better.
Your brain does the beautiful mind thing, as all these pieces just
flow in and out of your mind, and you suddenly put together not just
this message, but all the messages.
They all make sense now.
And in this particular one, you understand the interpretation to be, there's
unclear information and sharper eye.
Specifically, suggests needing help solving a puzzle.
Brain blast!
Ha!
Rurik: And applying that brain moment, as you'll echo later what
the Kenku investigator had already shared, to find this location.
Um, it translates across all those messages and suddenly
you have the interpretation of each of those messages as well.
Cool.
Larissa: Thank you.
Rurik: You're welcome.
I like, I like the torture part first.
Larissa: I know you
do.
Rurik: Could I get everybody to roll a perception check?
Larissa: Oh no.
We've been here too long!
Pew
pew pew pew pew!
Whoa!
14.
18.
Hold
Jess: on, I gotta give you my plus.
I turned my dice tray 180 and then I rolled high.
Is that weird?
Rurik: That might be the problem that you've had all this time.
Alua, what'd you get?
24.
Shoot.
Fourteen.
Fourteen, eighteen, and twenty four.
Jess: Okay.
With a natural twenty!
Rurik: Let's call this, Alua is kind of like, immersed in like, seeing these
translations and her beautiful mind thing is happening at this point, Gus, you
are up a level from where Serafina is, and so you faintly hear a noise below,
and maybe a little bit of your brain attributes it to Serafina, but then you're
like, wait, that's actually even lower.
Serafina, you clearly hear.
From below, a voice, kind of, quietly calling out and saying,
Alright team, spread out.
Rurik: We gotta find what we can find.
I'm
Jess: gonna I immediately look to AUA and try to get Gus's titch.
And I'm gonna try to do
Rurik: You're upstairs, you're downstairs.
I'm downstairs.
You're on the bed.
They
up,
Larissa: you're
Jess: the, you're on the middle level.
And we're up in the door.
I thought AUA was with me.
No.
Um, I've
gotta to
Jess: try to sneak my way to the next floor
Rurik: up.
Roll your sneaky sneaker ness.
Okay.
Jess: Okay.
Sneaky mixed sneaker sin.
And that's, I assume that would be stealth?
Yes.
Rurik: Yes.
Yes.
Sneaker sneakersness is definitely your stealth check.
Jess: For some reason, my brain went to, no, that's sleight of hand.
And I was like, my other part of my brain was like, no, it's not.
Not in this case.
If
Larissa: you're trying to pickpock someone sneakily, that would be sleight of hand.
Ten.
Rurik: Creeeak.
Goes the step and suddenly the voice from below and the sounds from
below, you can tell it's gone silent.
Um.
Just
Rurik: to put this to you, to you, Seraphine, only you, because you're the
only one aware of this at this moment.
Uh, Gus might have a little bit of an inkling.
And, and Gus, you definitely heard the creak of the stair below.
But, you know that there are big players interested in this situation.
People from the Hall of Council, maybe from the Ascendant, who knows?
And they want to protect their resources.
But you also have to protect a witness in your hair.
and figure out how to get your friends safely out of here.
You could confront those below, putting yourself and those
you're protecting in danger.
Or you could figure out a way to get you and your friends out of there.
It's all on you, Serafina, in this moment.
Nobody else there to make a decision.
Nobody else there to help you.
The creak of a stair giving you away.
Jess: Oh my god, I have no idea.
I'm gonna
Do I know?
Because I feel like Serafina would know.
if I still have the ability to speak to the animal.
Rurik: Yeah, you know you have like a minute left.
Okay,
Jess: I'm gonna um, tell the bat to fly upstairs to go find the one with
the small beard that it didn't like and I'm going to Go to my spells.
Um,
Jess: okay.
And I'm gonna cast at the first level, cause that's all I got.
Um, uh, snare, right at the top of the stairs.
And then, I'ma hide.
Rurik: On the level that you're on?
On the level that I'm on.
The bat flies up.
Rurik: You are going to try to hide, so you need to roll another stealth check.
That's plus 4, I think.
Yes,
Jess: so 17, 18, 19, 20.
Rurik: 21.
Okay, you feel well ensconced in the darkness.
Gus, you heard the squeak, and then you hear a whole bunch more
squeaking, as a small, mammalian winged creature comes flying at your face.
Yes.
How do you react to the bat seemingly from all appearances about to attack you?
I am going to hold up my hand and hope it lands on it.
It flutters straight for your
Rurik: face.
Claws and teeth grabbing onto your beard and ripping a little bit as it tries to
find a hold on your silky smooth beard.
Um, I'm gonna be like, okay buddy, calm down, I'm here, and
I'm over it, and it's barking.
Rurik: Awesome.
Um, go ahead and roll a second perception check, Gus and Alua.
Eleven!
Which Gus was very much distracted by a bat trying to,
uh, find hold on this beard.
It's a little bit bigger than your face, so it's really hard for
it to get a good grip in there.
There's not enough hair for it or enough face.
Fourteen.
Um, you hear, you don't hear, you didn't hear the squeak, you didn't hear all that,
but at this point you do hear um, a harsh shh that comes from further down below.
Serafina, you also hear this because It is, they're like mere
feet away from where you cast
your spell.
Rurik: You've been able to see them crawling up and it's a fairly
decent sized band of individuals.
Um, I would love for you to go ahead and roll a perception check.
Perception.
Okay.
Perception.
Okay.
Perception check.
Pew pew pew pew!
Jesus!
Plus four!
Thirty four!
Jess: No, but it's my second natural.
My third.
This is the dice, everyone.
Admire it.
Rurik: Okay, with that admiration, um, Your brain has
its own moment of genius now.
As you sit there and go, Wait, two weeks ago, That guy who answered the door
when Alua Had been trying to get to you.
To the person we were trying to get to at the stage manager, this was
the person who answered the door.
One of the people in the, like, there's five people, and one of
those people is that individual.
But you can see now they're not dressed as a door person.
They're dressed in the, the garment of a
thief.
Of a rogue.
I was bamboozled!
Rude!
Jess: I'm, I'm still hiding.
Rurik: I'm going to have to do some checks to see if they spring your trap.
So what is
Jess: the save?
I don't know if it, I don't know if it's too late, but I was
going to get a crossbow out too.
Rurik: Okay, you can be ready with your crossbow.
Would you have used your crossbow before they step across your spell or after?
After.
Okay, well let me see if they make their saves.
Okay, so
Jess: spell,
snare.
Jess: Uh, it's a dexterity save of 14.
Rurik: Okay, three of them would have made their saves, but two
of them definitely were not.
And as they were moving as a unit, they trigger the spell.
What does the spell do?
What does snare do?
Your snare.
What does your
snare do?
Snare do.
Jess: Wow, what does my snare do?
Oh my gosh, I don't know, I Maybe like a, a magical, like,
like a,
Jess: like, just gear box, just like cube, boom!
Rurik: Um, so, they didn't make their dexterity saving throw for this, so
the first individual in the group of, Creatures because it's going to
capture one creature, um, gets hoist up upside down by your little gearboxes.
It's like wound around and sucked up into towards the ceiling.
Um, and they're hanging upside down three feet above the, the stair tread
that the spell was cast on and they will be restrained until the spell ends.
Um, as far as I know your spell, this one was a.
It lasts for a minute.
It took a minute for you to cast it.
It lasts for eight hours.
I don't know what that even means for this Um use a little bit of rope.
So just be aware of all those pieces having gone into it Um But you now
can see one of them is trapped upside down and the others have stepped back
Nervous and looking around very closely.
And what was your Stealth check?
24.
Okay,
Rurik: none of them appear to see you But they are trying to figure out how
to help their friend down They're trying to be very quiet about it because they
are aware that there's somebody here now
Jess: Um.
Okay.
Do an extra 1d6.
Okay.
Mmm.
Jess: I would like to, shh,
mmm, it's gonna give my position away.
I'm taking one for the team!
I'm gonna shoot my crossbow at the smallest of the one, and I'm hoping
I have sneak attack, because I don't
Rurik: know where I am.
You do have sneak attack.
They don't know where you are.
And which one are you aiming at?
Whichever
Jess: one is the smallest.
No.
Biggest.
Oh.
Rurik: Um, go ahead and roll the attack with advantage because it is sneak attack.
Whiplash.
Jess: 22 to hit.
Rurik: That hits.
Rolled a 17.
Roll your sneak attack damages.
Larissa: Okay.
Better hit.
I
Jess: need this.
And I need 12 points of damage.
Okay, so you
Rurik: rolled a d8.
You rolled a d6 for the sneak attack.
Jess: And then I have plus 3.
Rurik: Great, just making sure you rolled enough dice.
Um,
Rurik: go ahead and you watch as one of them falls down the stairs.
Knocked over by the coral of your crossbow bolt.
Alive or dead, you don't know.
But, they immediately spring into action seeing you and I
need you to roll initiative.
Initiative!
Gesundesen
Rurik: and Alua, the noises below are such that you are aware something has gone down
the stairs in a very tumbly sort of way.
I also Seraphina might have tumbled, who knows, but.
You know that something has gone down, down below.
A bat flew up, and there was a tumble down the stairs.
Um,
Larissa: I'm gonna, um,
You, you, you stay,
Larissa: you stay here.
I say to Gus, you stay here.
You, well, you have, you have the only clue that we really have.
Literally, so, um, just either find a place to, to, to tuck it
away or, um, but not in that bag.
Um,
Jess: and
Rurik: not in the guano bag.
Are you talking about not in my bag
Rurik: of holding?
Yes.
Oh, why not?
I
Rurik: think all of you would be aware of suffocation.
Larissa: Um, And, uh, I will, I will, you'll, I'll give a signal
if I need your help,
Larissa: and I'm gonna try to start, uh, not, I guess sneaking down the stairs,
but like, as fast as I possibly can.
Rurik: Okay, so I need your initiative.
Okay, I feel like Yeah, you get a choice.
You can either try to be super sneaky or you can actually, like, get there
in time to be part of the initiative.
Larissa: I'm gonna, I'm gonna, I'm gonna try to sneak.
Cause I feel like she's slipped out of a, um, a bedroom or whatever, a time or two.
Okay.
Until the Cinderella.
Well, if
Rurik: you're trying to be sneaky, you're not going to be an initiative.
Okay.
And I will tell you when or if you get to be an initiative.
Okay.
Serafina, what did you get for your initiative roll?
Twelve.
Rurik: Twelve.
You got your little surprise round.
That's awesome.
You got one hanging upside down and one has tumbled down the stairs.
So you've reduced to three.
But all three of them roll higher initiative than you did.
Oh,
snap!
Are there
Rurik: cages up here?
No, it's a bat belfry situation.
He seems to have been the open range style of bat caretaker.
Um, so I need you to tell me, does a 12 hit?
Jess: Does a 12 hit?
No.
Rurik: A crossbow goes swinging by as they return fire.
Meow.
Rurik: Does a 16 hit?
Yes.
Another crossbore barrel buries itself in your shoulder off to
the side a little bit, impairing and hurting your arm a tiny bit.
Um, that is going to be 6 points of damage.
How do you Ow.
Rurik: Does a 14 hit.
No!
Another quarrel.
Kind of glances off one of your mechanical contraptions having
just deflected it just enough.
And now it is your turn.
Jess: Okay, so.
Um, let me go to my actions.
Rurik: Um, Larissa, did you roll a stealth check yet?
Yeah.
What did you get?
Eighteen.
Awesome.
Rurik: They didn't perceive you yet.
Oh, there's one upside down.
Maybe they'll perceive you.
They'll have to do it with disadvantage, though.
They definitely didn't see you, but they did nat 20 on one
of their disadvantaged rolls.
Oh.
Could've been good.
Okay.
Could've been good.
Would've been good.
Should've been good.
Turned out not to be.
Larissa: Can you let me know when I will be able to see all of them versus
Rurik: Oh, versus just a few of them?
Uh,
Larissa: well, when I when I can see at least, I guess, most of
them before I would be noticed.
I don't know if that's, if that makes sense.
Rurik: Yeah, being sneaky it slows you down a bit though.
Just, I'll let you know when you can see anybody.
Yeah.
Serafina?
Jess: Okay, I want to use my movement to run over and I would like to.
make an attack with my sickle, but my sickle has green flame blade attached
to it, um, which means that I make the attack, and on a hit, the target
will suffer the normal effects, but then green fire will leap to another
target, of my choosing and takes fire damage equal to my spellcasting ability.
Rurik: So that's, that's what I'd like to see if you even hit.
Okay.
17?
Rurik: That hits.
Now roll your 1d4 plus 1 plus 4.
to the second or actually not plus four to the second target
we'll do the plus four yeah yeah
Jess: yeah so
yeah
Jess: good great that's gonna be put you back plus one oh my god so two
Rurik: two points you get up close to this individual and you can see their
face a little bit grizzled this is Uh, an individual who's clearly like a mercenary
sort, just their work is beating up people and getting money out of them.
They're, they're a thug.
Uh, and, and you poke them with your sickle, slicing on them a minimal
amount of blood comes, but then you watch as the Green flame just leaps
to another individual next to them, just behind them, and you can see that
this person, they wear a white mask, and as the flame jumps to them, it
singes away part of their, uh, mask.
You can see pale skin below, and they turn and make as if
they're going to be running away.
Um, but the person closest to you just growls as this cut that
you've made with your sickle.
Cause them to begin bleeding a little and
Jess: then for a bonus attack, do I still get that second attack?
Yeah,
Rurik: you're you're using your bonus action to weapon fighting.
Do you have a like a dagger or something or a or a second sickle?
Jess: Yes, I have a small
knife.
Rurik: Okay, you take your little dagger and you go to stab.
Roll that attack.
Jess: Echo.
Stop.
Exactly.
Thirteen.
Rurik: Thirteen misses is this grizzled individual.
That's who you're trying to stab with the dagger.
Yeah.
As they just back off just enough and barely miss getting
scored upon once again.
Um, and as that happens, their turn comes again.
The individual with the mask turns and darts down the stairs saying, Kill
her, and anyone she brought with her.
And I'm still not down the stairs.
You're still not down the stairs.
There's a choice.
Quick and loud, or slow and sneaky.
Well, Do
Larissa: I hear that person,
Rurik: like, retreating?
Um, roll a perception check, because there's a lot of noises down there.
They're engaged in battle.
Being able to determine that might be a little harder.
Nope, that's a net one!
Yeah, you think there's a sign up above you.
Maybe you should run back up.
Maybe there's somebody coming in from above.
I don't know.
Um, Jess, well, that definitely is going to hit.
19 was, it was a natural 19, so I'm guessing that hits.
Yeah.
Okay, so you take six more points of Dagger y damage.
Oh.
Ow.
And, I need you to roll a constitution saving throw.
Oh no!
Poison!
Dun dun dun!
Wait, people sneaking in at night in a magically
Rurik: infused world might have poison on their daggers?
Aw snap.
Oh god.
That's gonna
Jess: be a solid.
Rurik: You are poisoned.
You take one point of poison damage, but you do have the poisoned condition.
Poisoned.
Rurik: Poisoned.
While this
is happening, can I take my hat off, and put the bat from my beard onto my
hair, and then put the hat over the bat?
Rurik: Yes, yes.
I feel like in a few moments, the like, what, at this point, 12 seconds
that have transpired, you could probably convince the bat to do that.
And then I'm gonna run down the
stairs.
Whatever that is appropriate.
Doo,
Rurik: doo, doo, doo, doo, doo.
Well, we'll get to that.
Twelve seconds of bat putting away is still, this round
is still going on for that.
Um, and the other attack, because there's only two attacks that shoot right now,
comes from the former door person.
Um, does a 17 hit?
Yeah.
You're gonna take a hit.
Four points of bludgeoning damage as I use a truncheon to smack you.
Ow.
Rurik: Okay.
Um, at this point, Serafina, just as you're about to go for a follow
up attack, Alua, you make sight of Serafina and one individual
hanging from magical nothingness.
And rope.
Two figures standing right in front of Serafina and she's bleeding,
they're bleeding, there's all sorts of stuff going on along those lines.
They're bleeding.
Alua, could you go ahead and roll your initiative?
Let's see if you're going to be Sure.
Going before Seraphina, after her, or after the creatures,
or whatever.
Ooh!
Will my
Rurik: sewer trash be in second chance?
Okay, you will be ahead of the sewer trash.
Um Woo!
Um But you will be after Seraphina.
But now, go ahead and take a turn now.
Okay.
But it would have taken most of your movement to get down here,
so just be aware that you're like Wherever you position yourself,
you won't have movement afterwards.
Larissa: And I only see three
Rurik: people.
Yes, you see one hanging upside down.
And two who are clearly getting stabbity stabbity with Seraphina.
Larissa: How close are they all together?
Are they clumped?
Are they
Rurik: Yeah, they're all clumped up with Seraphina.
Okay, can
Larissa: I cast Cloud of Daggers just on the, just out of reach of Seraphina?
Rurik: You can, you won't hit the person who's hanging upside down.
Okay.
To place it appropriately.
Okay,
Larissa: I'm gonna do it.
Yeah, I'm gonna do that.
Uh,
it would be, or
Rurik: the Cloud of Daggers.
She cuts, uh,
Larissa: that's 10 points damage.
Um,
uh,
Rurik: let me really
quickly.
Rurik: Okay, so they take 44 slashing damage when it enters the spells
area for the first time or on a turn.
On a turn or starts there.
Starts its turn there.
There.
mm-Hmm.
. So they have not started their turn there.
You've just cast this on their turn.
They will take that damage.
Can you write that down so we don't forget how much they take.
That went on their turn.
Okay.
Yeah, because they're gonna get hit by it because they're gonna
start their turns in it, but I just need to like Keep track of that
So it's spelled spell mechanics by Serafina just like the rules of
ridiculous D& D You can go in and do stabbity stabbity and get up in
their space But as long as you end your turn outside of the Cloud of
Daggers, you won't be affected by it.
Mm hmm.
Mm
Rurik: hmm.
You can go stabby stabby, but if you go in and stay there,
you're gonna get stabby stabbied.
Great.
Because you'll have entered the spell area's effect.
Jess: I would like to point my finger and cast Hellish Rebuke.
Rurik: Awesome!
At the
second level.
Rurik: You have a spell spell for that left?
Oh, I don't.
I don't.
Darn.
Jess: Dang it, never mind.
I have the spell but not the
Rurik: spell slot.
Are you using it as your tiefling ability?
Yeah.
Okay, so if you're using it as your tiefling one cast of it per day without
having to use a spell slot for that.
Jess: Mmm, that's what I'm doing.
And I'm doing it on the gruff one.
On the
Rurik: gruff.
Um, so it'll only be cast at the first level because it is cast at your, you
know, whatever you call it, thing.
Um, and go ahead and tell me, is there a save or?
Jess: Dex of 11.
Rurik: Well, they not won'd.
So, roll the damage.
By the way, in the future, Jess, you can use it as a reaction, so when
they hit you, you can just use it.
Oh!
Rurik: Learnin This is gonna be pretty
heinous right now anyways.
Yeah.
Ha ha ha ha ha
Larissa: ha ha ha
Jess: ha ha!
Mmm, dointy.
Ha ha ha!
Jess: I rolled two tens.
Rurik: Um, describe to me how Hellish Rebuke disintegrates
someone.
Jess: Uh, I feel like Seraphina doesn't lean into her tiefling side
too much, but this, this definitely does, and I feel like it starts at
the tip of her, her horns, and it like lights up and it goes into her head
and down her arm and out her finger.
Rurik: Just.
What does it do as it kills this individual?
Oh,
Jess: it, it melts them like in Wizard of Oz and the Witch.
Just melt, melt,
Larissa: melt, melt,
melt.
Horrified.
Rurik: Horrified a puddle of What used to be a person, molten and
oozing to their toes, the door person stares at you in shock.
Before, how much damage was it, Alua?
Before being sliced into a hundred pieces by a cloud of daggers that
continues hovering there until Alua lets go of it or moves it up to
destroy the person hanging upside down.
So that's really up to you, Alua.
What do you want to do?
So that guy's gone too.
It's up to you.
Do you want to move the Cloud of Daggers up into their space and
Larissa: No, is the door guy dead?
Rurik: Oh, the door guy totally standing in your Cloud of Daggers toast.
Okay,
Larissa: um, I guess, yes.
Well, actually, no, um, as a free action I was gonna say,
uh, Talk or you'll share the
Jess: same fate.
Okay.
Yeah.
Rurik: Gus, you come down just as you hear Lua say, talk or
you will share the same fate.
You see a puddle of what used to be person, a sliced up corpse of
somebody, and an individual hanging upside down from the ceiling.
There's not anybody else left except for the hanging guy?
Rurik: Well, one person was knocked down the stairs that you don't
know about, um, by a crossbow bolt.
We don't know what happened to them.
Um, and one person ran away or ran off after telling them to do it.
Take care of her and such.
Um, so there's only these people currently in front of you that you
can see the puddled a person, the sliced up person and the upside
down person and your two colleagues.
Is there a,
um, a window?
Rurik: Um, I see the guy running.
Oh, you're on the, you're on a floor above, so even if you could see out
the window, which is like, further back by, like, you got the kitchen
area from the stairs, and then further, further, um, that's pretty
far back there, so you'd have to walk.
Okay, I will just, um, wait on the stairs then, I guess, to
Rurik: see what happens.
Okay, um,
we'll see.
Um, Allua, could you roll a, um, intimidation check?
15.
Rurik: All right.
So again, they, they rolled a little higher.
What is with 15?
Is you definitely a little bit higher on their role here.
Um,
you hear them say for the ascended.
And then you hear a popping, cracking noise as they crunch their own teeth.
And they swallow.
Would it have been my turn or no?
Um, that was their turn, now it is your turn to do what you would like.
Larissa: I drop the cloud of daggers and, uh, I turn to Seraphina and
I say, was there anyone else?
Jess: Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Uh, uh, one I hit with a crossbow and they fell down the stairs and there
was another guy with a mask and I melted half of his mask off and he
was like really pale and he ran out.
And he said, kill her and whoever else is with her!
Something along those lines.
I'm gonna
Larissa: head down the stairs, uh
Do I have time to say anything to that guy before he dies from
his cyanide pill or whatever it
Rurik: was?
Yeah!
I just wanna be like, we didn't know who you were, twerp stupid.
And then just like walk away.
Ha ha!
Rurik: Um, Alua, I need you to roll a dexterity saving throw as you
try to cross the puddle of bodies.
Is this a stairway with one puddled body and One super cut up
body and one stabby, stabby body.
Sorry, it's, uh, what?
Surfing has been busy here.
What check?
Oh, and one poison dripping body.
I would also
like to look out the window now, if there's a window, I would like
to walk over to it and see if I can see the guy running away.
Okay.
Rurik: A what check?
Dexterity check.
Dexterity saving throw.
Saving throw.
Yeah.
Just make sure you don't Ooh, 21!
Yeah, you don't slide down the stairs, you use the banister to
Hello!
Rurik: Not stepping in people, whatever form they currently reside within.
Oh god.
Um, and you're able to slide down the stairs you see another body sprawled
out and you see a knife cut straight across the throat in addition to the
coral sticking out of their chest.
Gus, by the time you get to the window and look out you can see a small figure
darting off into the distance and catching sight of them you see them look back
before they disappear in a spell that you're aware of from your time there.
dealing with people like this, um, it looks like they used a dimensional door.
Oh.
I was definitely gonna magic missile that dude in the back as
he was running, but never mind.
Um,
Jess: you have that already?
I have a ring that has it.
Sorry, a wand, a wand of the head.
Larissa: Um,
I'm gonna, Pet my head.
Larissa: Just double check.
I'm gonna go through the pockets of the person that's down on the first floor.
Yeah.
To see if they have any identifying information or
Rurik: anything on them.
Roll your investigation check.
Oh, we're out of combat by the way.
I'm gonna like start running out.
Dear Stickybeak.
We have killed more people.
We have killed a bunch more people.
Sorry for the inconvenience.
People keep trying to kill us.
It's a 12.
It actually wasn't me, I was upstairs the whole time.
Rurik: Looking through their pockets.
While you hear, uh, above you, Gassan not really realizing that
Gus was actually orating out loud as he was writing this down.
And you're hearing this, oh crap, we gotta deal with these bodies somehow.
Um, you come across some money.
It's a 12.
It actually wasn't me.
There's a small amount of gold in their pockets.
Uh, you also They have what looks like what you would take out with
you if you were going out for lunch or something like that.
Just a regular day's uh, food in, uh, change and such like that.
So they've got like 12 gold pieces.
Um, this person also has a few different weapons of various sorts.
They, they look a little bit, um, like the furtive ones that you can tuck away pretty
easily, uh, shivs and such like that, more homemade than actual fine weaponry.
Um, and you see a small little, um, badge.
in one of their pockets.
I
Larissa: look at it closer.
Yes.
Rurik: Um, it looks like an embroidered badge.
Um,
uh, the symbol on it appears to be, um, pretty, like it's black and white.
It's just, it's pretty simple.
Um, uh, it looks like there's like a shield shape.
With that pointed bottom shield.
I don't know what those are called.
And, um, a little bit, if you look really, really closely of silver
thread mixed in with the black thread.
Do I recognize it?
Um,
Rurik: go ahead and roll a history check with disadvantage.
See if you've,
Oh, disadvantage.
What did I do to you?
Rurik: Nothing, but it would be really hard based on the background you gave
me for you to run across these people.
Okay.
Oh, shield.
Rurik: Yeah, Kite Jail, that's what those are called, aren't they?
Are you
okay?
Larissa: Buffy's losing her mind.
Um Sorry, this was, uh, which check?
History.
Jess: Uh,
12.
Your other
Larissa: one was a 19, you stinker.
Uh,
Rurik: yeah, you, you don't recognize this in relationship
to any of the Ascended spaces.
Um, this must be some local group that does the bidding of the Ascended.
There's a lot of different groups that do that sort of thing.
Or it could be an entirely different group that is trying to
cast doubt on the ruling powers.
Um, but, you do not recognize this one.
Okay,
Larissa: I'm gonna pocket the gold and bring the badge up to show everybody else.
Uh,
Larissa: and as I make my way up the stairs, I'm gonna try to press the
digitation on the puddle and see if it works.
Rurik: You begin to press the digitate the puddle of body, and, You just tear
out more molecules of the bottle at each puddle and make it mingle with the
fabric in some sort of grotesque dance.
It does separate from the floor temporarily for a moment, but you can
only handle so much at once before it It goes back into the floor.
It was
Rurik: worth a shot.
So your little, is echoed by
Larissa: I only do it like once or twice to see what the out
of like a morbid curiosity.
Um, I make my way back up.
We should, uh, I guess I'm assuming they're all part of this group
and I hold up the badge and then I hand it over to Gus and say, Do you
recognize it at all in your turn?
experience.
Rurik: Do I?
Roll a history check.
No disadvantage.
Larissa: Um, and then as he's doing that, I'm going to turn to Seraphine
and go, I think we need to write Sticky
Beak a note.
19.
Rurik: 19.
Uh, you recognize the shield shape, the, the, the fabric and that silver thread.
And you realize that there's something else hidden in the center of it.
And you, you know, that there are three choices of what
that center thing could be.
You know that it's either going to be a skull, a clenched fist, or a moth.
The way to find out what it is requires something you don't have here.
Um, and, and you, like, thinking back to what your mentor actually said a long time
ago about some of the cults in the city.
It's 103, and the only way to reveal the symbol at the center is to be
in the location where those cults
meet.
This is the symbol of a cult.
I'm not sure which one.
It's difficult to tell between them unless you're in the
places where they congregate.
Then the symbol would, something else would show up in the middle that would
Rurik: determine which cult it's for.
You said you rolled a 19 total?
Mm hmm.
I think you would also know that the easiest one to test for is the moth.
Um, I could, has to, try to find out.
Which one?
Yeah.
I'd have to try to find some of the cult places.
Rurik: Yeah, there's a temple to a goddess that is easy to test that one out.
I will tell them that as well.
Okay, well,
Larissa: I guess the next question is, do we contact Sticky Beak and stay here?
Or do we I think we should get as far from here as possible and then contact
Stickybeak in case the watch shows up.
Okay.
Unless we want to try to handle this on the up and up, but
nothing we've been investigating seems to be on the up and up.
Larissa: Okay, well, um I guess, should we check and see if there's a back door,
or?
Rurik: As you've climbed up the building and you got to the, the
floor where the bats were, there weren't any other entrances or exits.
Bad fire code here.
Um, and, um, so you're pretty aware that there's not another entrance
or exit unless it is to climb up on the roof through the bat tower.
I
Larissa: mean, and I look down in my somewhat, not
quite stiletto heel boots, but
Rurik: Not exactly roof running material.
Right,
exactly.
Um,
Larissa: I guess maybe we take a peek out the front and
see,
Larissa: see if anyone's watching.
What time, can I tell what time of day it is now?
I don't know.
Rurik: It's gotten a little bit later, um, you've been in the building for a little
bit longer, it's definitely dark outside.
Okay.
Um, but you can still hear, um, when you get quiet enough and, and with
the sound of battle behind you, you can still hear the sounds of people
passing by outside and eating.
The donut seller seems to be particularly verbose in their
Attempts to sell more doughnuts.
Let's just Go.
Larissa: Okay, maybe you should put out your light.
Uh,
we'll draw it.
I'll put out the light, and I'll take the bat.
And I will like, put him inside my coat.
Right here.
And then like, let him hang out.
Maybe if he wants to hang on my
Rurik: beard a little bit, he can.
Every time it tries to reach up and grasp your beard, it's just not
enough for it to grasp properly.
And it It almost seems to be getting sad.
Jess: I'll, I can lean down and offer my hair.
Okay, I'll
Rurik: put the bat back in her hair.
Jess: Okay.
I'll like, put it by my face again.
Um,
Rurik: since you're transferring it again, um, I would like, uh, one
of you, or both of you separately, to roll animal handling checks.
Oh gosh.
Let's do it.
Jess: Do I get any advantage because I talked to it earlier?
Dang it.
I tried.
Rurik: I rolled a seven.
Oh gosh.
I hope you do well.
Jess: Much better.
Okay.
Jess: Wait.
Oh yeah.
That's on here.
Okay.
Animal handling!
Doo dee doo.
Is that a skill?
Yeah.
It is.
Larissa: Second one.
Jess: An eight.
I'm terrible with animals.
Rurik: The bat escapes as you are trying to pass it along
and starts flying upwards.
You have a moment, Alua, to see if you have any idea of how you could
get the bat to Fly up the staircase and out the windows of the Bat Tower.
Uh That's like sound.
Sing to it.
Larissa: I'm a cas leep.
Rurik: Okay.
Uh, roll those dice for that sleep spell.
Cause we gotta find out if
Jess: That's a good idea though.
I want
Roll
Rurik: 5d8.
Oh, it's totally falling asleep.
5d8 is way more hit points than it has.
Larissa: Wait, wait, wait.
Hold on, what is it at?
Yeah, yeah.
Rurik: Yes.
Alua, tell me how it sounds when you sing the sleep spell.
Da da da da da da da da da da da da da
Rurik: da.
We know that the sleep spell is like Like you have a little bit of sand
or rose petals or a cricket that you're like tossing up in the air,
whatever that is, that's all cool.
But it also has the hand gestures and the vocal components.
What does that look like?
Um,
Larissa: I mean, it would, it I guess it depends a little bit on
the, um, situation, but in this case, because it's facing away, um, I think
normally what I would do is if I'm, like, doing it to a person, the hand
movement would be a little bit, like,
Rurik: around the 90 foot range on this anyway, so you could've done
Larissa: it from anywhere.
Yeah.
Um, so in, in this case, it's just a little bit more
of, like, a hand twist, um.
The
Rurik: bat, mid flight.
Ten feet above your head as it tries to head up the stairs, falls
asleep, and begins to plummet.
Larissa: Yeah, I kind of anticipated that and I'm going to We're
Rurik: gonna try to catch it.
Dexterity saving throw.
Ooh,
24.
Rurik: You slide under and catch it just in time before it smacks and hurts itself
and then wakes up because it got smacked and then probably throws a fit and kicks
you out of its little best friends list.
But luckily you catch it softly and it continues to snooze
under the power of your spell.
Um, with that I think since you're going to abandon the bodies and
head out into the street and all the other stuff, I think it's a
great place for us to close off.
You've gained valuable evidence, a witness, and possibly a, a creature that
can take you to whatever the next step is.
You have information to share with Sticky Beak.
Um, you have the message itself, and even an interpretation
of what the message means.
Um, and while you may still face consequences, if ever caught, the
three of you, this kind of uniting band of investigators, has been
successful in these endeavors.
And through the dark of night, you slip away to wherever you decide to go.
With that, we're going to close off Probability of Demise today.
We hope you all had fun.
Please like, subscribe, and all the other things you do on whatever channel it is.
Give us information, reviews, make fun of my hairstyle.
I don't care.
Bring it!
No!
Bring it!
Rurik: No!
We truly hope You find your own pod and have a lovely, lovely week.
Bye.
Lovely!
Bye!
Oh yeah!
Bye!
Yay!