Cloudfall | 29 - Giving Baxi
Last time on Cloudfall. Reluctantly crouched at the starting line, spark engines pumping and thumping in time. The ring light flashes, the flags go up. Turning and burning, Guy yearns for the cupcakes from the Bake Off earlier that day.
John / Doran:How many times did you practice that before you recorded it?
Tim / GM:I wrote it 20 minutes ago. Oh, that's pretty
Tim / GM:good. Thanks. Yeah.
Tim / GM:Guy also yearns for his Stede, and that's why he's come to the ring light to win him back in a race. It started out with Seed taking a considerable lead, but came to an abrupt halt when he plummeted to the ground throwing his rider. And that rider was not Balorin Breeze. It was a decoy, an undead knight who used to serve under Guy's command. Valorant Breeze wasn't at that race because he's on his way to the core chamber, which also happens to be exactly where Journey and Doran are.
Tim / GM:They stand moments away from battle while Poppy and Aaron take on the overwhelming task of saving everyone
Tim / GM:on
Tim / GM:the island of Baxi before it all comes crashing down. It seems the real race is about to start. Can they go the distance? Guy, you are on the track of the ring light. You are standing on the front deck of the rolling pin looking down at Danath and Hawk, a Knight of Lotem and a friend of yours standing before you.
Tim / GM:And you see green flames spilling from his exposed neck as his Dullahan head turns to look at you. He's got his sword drawn and pointed at you, he says.
Tim / GM:You abandoned us. You left your kingdom to rot. I do not serve you, traitor. I serve Viren, and I have my orders.
Tim / GM:He begins to stride towards you, lifting his blade high above his shoulder to strike down at you. Roll initiative.
Tara / Journey:Oh. Just guy?
Tim / GM:I think we'll take this opportunity to actually, just in case, roll initiative for everyone.
Tara / Journey:I shouldn't have said anything.
Tim / GM:I'm technically at the race.
Tim / GM:Alright. Let's get, initiatives starting with Erin and going around the table here.
Maggie / Poppy:9.
Tim / GM:Journey?
Tim / GM:11. And Guy? 6.
Tara / Journey:Jesus. We're doing so good.
John / Doran:Doran, what'd you get? 15.
Tara / Journey:Hey.
Tim / GM:And Poppy.
Tim / GM:That would be a natural 2 because I have a plus one to initiative.
Tim / GM:So a natural one plus one. Yeah. Yeah.
Tara / Journey:Natural one doesn't matter for initiative.
Tim / GM:Maybe I trip down the stairs
Tara / Journey:or something. You start prone. That's what I wanted.
Tim / GM:Yeah. Alright. Guy, Danathan is striding towards you with a sword lifted high over his head coming down at you in a full arc, but in that moment you hear a heavy shuddering rumble coming from behind you and you see breaking through that cloud of flower the doom train driven by Demi from Demi's breakfast spot is choo choo motherfucker ing straight towards you. And taking up most of the track as they do, you're gonna have to actually make a deck save to get out of the way of this, as will your opponent here.
John / Doran:Great.
Thomas / Guy:That's a 5.
Tim / GM:Oh my god.
Tim / GM:That's unfortunately not enough. On a great start to the fight, that is 9 bludgeoning damage as you are pushed aside by the, what's it called? The cow plow on the front of the train.
John / Doran:Yeah. Do you give her assistance to trains?
Tim / GM:Or Yeah. Yes. Zoom train indeed. Yeah.
Tim / GM:It's a magical train, so resistance doesn't apply to you.
Tim / GM:That's not cool.
Tim / GM:Guy, at the last moment, you kind of spiral out of the way as this this giant literal steel plow on the front of the train knocks you off to the side and you lose sight of Danathon for a second.
Thomas / Guy:Anyway, get the plate of that train.
Tim / GM:The license plate is doomed, but the o's are zeros.
Tara / Journey:I do tell.
Tim / GM:Guy looking about you also see, Kesher kind of whiz by you on her glider that has a spark engine attached to it. She's flying pretty erratically and is actually kind of going way too close to the crowd in a lot of places. Slowly, DeWalter and Nikkita buzz by you, and then they just go, are you okay? As they're passing by
Thomas / Guy:I got
Tim / GM:this next up is actually Mabel Mabey, she is kind of up near Poppy and Aaron She's sprinting towards the telecasting booth. You see her make it to the other side, and she starts talking with these 2 people who are sitting down running the Venus crystals in there, and within seconds, you see both of them just smiling and blushing as charmed as they could be, and they just get up and offer her their seat. And they're just like, no. Go ahead. Do whatever you need to do.
Tim / GM:Like, no problem. And they just let her do it. Within a moment, you see this whole place light up. All of the screens, the canvases around here are projecting her repeated message. Mabel may be here, and, well, I'll get right to it.
Tim / GM:It's bad, everybody. I'm sorry, but we gotta get out of here.
Maggie / Poppy:Hey, Poppy. Yeah? You think,
Hannah / Eryn:you know, maybe saving all these people kind of makes up for things in the past. Right? You think?
Tim / GM:Oh, I mean, definite I mean, I guess it really depends on what you what you did. I mean, like, you know, I think that's a good karma boost. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
Tim / GM:Did you did you kill a lot of people? Oh, don't forget I asked. It's fine. That's that's prying. I mean,
Maggie / Poppy:you've seen me kill people, but I
Hannah / Eryn:usually have a good reason or had no other choice, I guess, but
Tara / Journey:I don't know.
Tim / GM:You gotta do what you gotta do to survive. My my mom always said that, it was okay to be cutthroat if you were winning.
Tim / GM:I'd love this slow progression.
Tim / GM:Was your mom Your
Tara / Journey:mom is the villain of this season. Right?
Tim / GM:Final boss. Poppy's mom.
Maggie / Poppy:Was your mom in the blight? No.
Tim / GM:I'm just just kidding.
Tara / Journey:Sorry. Poppy's mom was a virin.
Tim / GM:Oh god.
Hannah / Eryn:No. I just I don't know.
Maggie / Poppy:I guess I hope, like, I could leave something good in the world. I mean, everything's such shit anyway. You know?
Tim / GM:I think this is a really, admirable thing to do.
Maggie / Poppy:Erin nods at Poppy as they watch Mabel start to broadcast.
Tim / GM:Yep. As that broadcast goes out, you see confusion rolling through the crowd here. There's over 10,000 people in the stadium right now, and you just see blank expressions meeting blank expressions when they hear the news. Backseat's going down. And then you see, as if a stray sunbeam suddenly escaped into the evening air in the stadium, you see for just a subtle instant a dazzle of gold lights like opulent fireflies.
Tim / GM:And the crowd seems to immediately understand the severity of the situation. Without argument, without a single person panicking, they all begin to make an orderly line filing out of the ring light. It seems, perhaps by pure luck, the entire ring light is in full calm support of the evacuation.
Tim / GM:Thank you, technology.
Tim / GM:Alright. It's, Erin's turn, actually.
Maggie / Poppy:Well, after thinking about my life choices for a minute, watching the evacuation Mhmm. I'm gonna glance down at the track.
Tim / GM:Yeah. I mean, you all saw that, like, big flower explosion which kind of leads the eye over to guy who is stopped out on the track standing next to another person who's standing next to him with a sword pointed at guy.
Maggie / Poppy:Yeah. Aaron's gonna try to get into position, crouching, taking cover, and hiding as a bonus action, and I'm gonna aim my crossbow. Did I see this person swing at guy yet?
Tim / GM:Or is
Tim / GM:it, like, like They literally have, like, a sword ready to strike down Okay. That kind of thing. Yeah.
Maggie / Poppy:I will try to shoot them with my crossbow if I
Hannah / Eryn:can Okay.
Tim / GM:From this distance.
Tim / GM:So you're pretty far away right now.
Tim / GM:Okay.
Tim / GM:Probably over a 100 feet, but you also have a really good, like, high ground advantage right now because you're sort of, like, shooting straight down into a pit.
Tim / GM:Okay.
Tim / GM:So that would level out to just rolling plainly instead of advantage or disadvantage.
Maggie / Poppy:Okay. 18.
Tim / GM:That hits him.
Maggie / Poppy:Great. Nice. 9.
Tim / GM:K. Alright. From a great distance, you actually managed to, land an arrow on him. A guy from the ground, you just see a crossbow bolt suddenly sink into this guy's shoulder as he's raising the sword again.
Maggie / Poppy:Says Aaron on the side. You're welcome. I'm just kidding.
Tim / GM:Not that you can
Thomas / Guy:note on frills.
Tim / GM:It's just a scribble.
Maggie / Poppy:Thanks, Edgar.
Tim / GM:It's a middle finger.
Tim / GM:Which guy is a perfect transition to your turn.
Thomas / Guy:Jonathan, what, what is the meaning of this? You called me a traitor, and yet you claim to serve, and you take the guise of the very fey creatures who have brought Lotum to its knees.
Tim / GM:Of course you remember nothing selfish. You freed us from your grip, only for many of us to fall right into hers. You fled, general. That is your legacy. You took our souls, and you left us to wander the earth.
Tim / GM:For what? Answer me. For what?
Thomas / Guy:It's true. I don't remember everything of what happened, but I don't think I meant to leave you. And if you don't mind, I'm in the middle of trying to win a race. Guy's going to, activate form of dread.
Tim / GM:Okay.
Thomas / Guy:He, moves his head and green flame shoots out. Black smoke. Looks cool.
Tim / GM:I'm gonna give myself some hep points.
Maggie / Poppy:Hit points or head points?
Tim / GM:Oh. Hit points. He's got head
Tim / GM:butt size.
Tim / GM:Christ. The blade was not
Tara / Journey:clear. No.
Thomas / Guy:I'm rolling so bad. That's 2 extra hit points.
Tim / GM:Wow.
Thomas / Guy:I think I want to hold and attack, but I wanna see what I can do here.
Tara / Journey:You said her hands, which means that Viren is a woman, which means that she is in fact Poppy's mom.
Tim / GM:Yep. Yep.
Tim / GM:Cheese everyone.
Tim / GM:I would've I would've made it like a clever appliance reference. Yep.
Tim / GM:We serve Samsung.
Thomas / Guy:I will hold an attack for when he attacks Guy.
Tim / GM:Fair enough. Next up is Poppy. Poppy, you see everything that's going on here. You just saw Aaron shoot down at the crowd and nail one of the contestants.
Tim / GM:And I saw a guy's head light up in flames.
Tim / GM:Yeah. Guy's activated form of dread. You've seen that before.
Tim / GM:How far away?
Tim / GM:Over a 100 feet.
Tim / GM:And people are filing out?
Tim / GM:Yes. Very calm, orderly evacuation.
Tim / GM:Okay. I'm gonna try and get closer.
Tim / GM:K. Yeah. So you could jump off of the booth. You could take the stairs down.
Tim / GM:But people are, like, filing out. Yeah. So I feel like that's not.
Tim / GM:Yeah. You'd you'd face some adverse traffic. Okay.
Tim / GM:Can I try and, like, float down
Tim / GM:Sure?
Tim / GM:With my loafers?
Tim / GM:Yes. You can. Yeah.
Tim / GM:I'm a do that. I'll, like, push off.
Tim / GM:Yeah. Give me the athletics with advantage.
Tim / GM:Nice. Not nice. 6.
Tim / GM:Okay.
Tim / GM:That was my higher roll.
Tim / GM:Yeah. You jump off the edge of this thing and your loafers of levitation are helping you a little too well. So you intend to kind of come down smoothly like into the bleachers a little bit, but you overshoot and now you've just got like 30 feet of open air beneath you and you're dropping an uneven paces. I'm gonna say when you land, you take one bludgeoning damage. You got a little bit farther than you thought, so you're actually about 50 feet away from Guy now.
Tim / GM:Oh, sick. Pretty close. Good. Good. Good.
Tim / GM:Good. I will create Bonfire.
Tim / GM:K.
Tim / GM:It is a cube, a 5 foot cube on a point I can see within 60 feet.
Maggie / Poppy:K. Copy. This is no time for s'mores.
Tim / GM:I'm just trying to do anything I can. They have to make a deck save.
Tara / Journey:Your bonfire is so good.
John / Doran:I don't think anyone's ever said that.
Tim / GM:Alright. Danathin got a 17.
Tim / GM:K. My spell save is 14. It says succeed a deck save or take fire damage. So,
Tim / GM:So you've composed a nice bonfire next to them.
Tim / GM:Yes. But it stays there. Okay. And they have to make the save if they start their next turn in it. Okay.
Tim / GM:So I do nothing.
Tim / GM:K. Yeah. You see a bunch of, debris from the track all fly together and assemble, kind of right on Danathin, like, at his feet and just ignite into flame and start smoldering away. He kind of steps away from it. And then it's Danathans turn.
Tim / GM:So he does start his turn in there. So he has to make the save again? Yes. That is a, 14 this time.
Tim / GM:Mine's 14.
Tim / GM:MeatZZa pizza?
Tim / GM:He just sidestepped the fire. Yep. So,
Tim / GM:yeah, Danathin kind of steps out of that flame beneath his feet. He kind of, like, shakes his whole body again as if to scare Guy, like spook him into doing something, but he won't do it. He's just kinda holding a sword at him.
Thomas / Guy:It's a stalemate.
Tim / GM:He says,
Tim / GM:we were friends once, I'm told. I wish either of us could remember that.
Thomas / Guy:You don't remember either.
Tim / GM:None of us do. You took that away too.
Thomas / Guy:Janeth and I had nothing to do with this. I had nothing to do with our memories.
Tim / GM:I was there. On the frozen river. I was born there, and you were the first person I saw. You took everything my life was, and now I serve her.
Tim / GM:And you see his eyes just roll over with green flame, and that hesitation just drops away from him. He is going to make an attack on you with this great sword.
John / Doran:Okay.
Tim / GM:That was a 10 hit.
Thomas / Guy:Nope. It's a miss. I deflect with my sword.
Tim / GM:Brilliant. Alright. And then I believe you were holding an attack.
Thomas / Guy:Sure was.
Tim / GM:There you go.
Thomas / Guy:Natural 20?
Tim / GM:Why did you wash it?
Tim / GM:Yeah, baby.
Tara / Journey:Because it's
Thomas / Guy:a symbol, not a 20.
Tim / GM:Alright. Go
Maggie / Poppy:ahead. Yeah. To check the facts.
Tim / GM:Roll that damage.
Tim / GM:Does it get to roll twice? Are we doing that?
Thomas / Guy:Do an attack that I held.
Tara / Journey:Was that about rolling
Tim / GM:twice? Yeah. So Oh. I don't know that we've done this in this campaign, but I'm really eager to bring it on board. So we've done this thing before where if you roll a natural twenty, you are invited to roll a second natural twenty.
Tim / GM:Should you succeed, all of your damage dice will be maximized. Should you succeed on a third natural 20 after that, your target is slain outright.
Tim / GM:That'd be pretty funny.
Tim / GM:Let's see that extra d twenty. Oh.
Thomas / Guy:I rolled an 18. Oh.
Tim / GM:Good, but not enough.
Thomas / Guy:What if I'd rolled a 19? Yeah. Because
Tim / GM:Because he smelled blood and he's bleeding.
Tim / GM:That would be a prick for you. Right?
Thomas / Guy:Yeah. Okay. Okay.
Tim / GM:19 would've done it.
Thomas / Guy:Okay. You need
Tim / GM:to bring back the light up dice because that's the one that
Maggie / Poppy:Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. We did it, that one.
Tim / GM:Alright. Rolling. Rolling. I mean, I gotta put some sort of
Thomas / Guy:smite on this.
Maggie / Poppy:Smite your friend?
Tim / GM:Let's be honest. Allegedly friends.
Tim / GM:They're not friends anymore.
Maggie / Poppy:In front of
Hannah / Eryn:me? So that means in
Tara / Journey:that memory, he wasn't a Dullahan yet.
Thomas / Guy:You know okay. I'm not gonna put a smite on it.
Tim / GM:Oh, okay.
Thomas / Guy:Because he remembers waking up on the frozen river, and Guy is like, shit. I did do that. Yeah. Guy gets a good blow, but he's a little taken aback by it.
Tim / GM:K.
Thomas / Guy:So he only does a measly 23 damage.
Tim / GM:Only.
Tim / GM:Only. You see Denethan's whole body shift as you drop your sword into him. He kind of moves out of the way, but not nearly enough. When you bring your sword back, you don't see blood, but you see a massive dent in his armor. You actually see a point where you had cut through the steel plating of his armor.
Tim / GM:He looks up at you with fury in his eyes. You can see his own will slipping away in place of Viren's as he redoubles his resolution to attack you.
Thomas / Guy:Do I get a second attack? Because I have extra attack.
Tim / GM:Yeah. It's your attack. Yeah.
Thomas / Guy:Right. Okay.
Tim / GM:Yeah. It's part of your attack. Actually, I get 2 attacks.
Thomas / Guy:19 to hit.
Tim / GM:Yep, that hits. 12. Damage? Yep. Okay.
Tim / GM:With that, you see real harm come to him. Harm looks different on a dullahan when they are nearing death. Again, it's not blood. You see cracks in his skin, and green flame is licking through where it shouldn't. He is effectively bloodied.
Tim / GM:After that, we change scenes for a much hotter situation.
Tara / Journey:That's okay. We don't
Tim / GM:need to.
Tim / GM:No. We do though.
Tim / GM:In the core chamber, we have our initiative order. We've got Journey, back by the Bismite, Bo Dron, she stands between Learian and the Bismite, and Sesk for that matter. Doran, you see Lerion take the spear in his hand and he points it straight at you. And this spear, Doren, it's twice your height, nearly 10 feet tall.
John / Doran:You mean, like, 12 feet then.
Tim / GM:Right? Yeah. Well,
Tim / GM:on Tinder maybe. Yeah. He levels out the spear and you hear that familiar of bismite as the 6 spare Spears behind him arranged like wings levitating in an arc. He looks at you and says,
Tim / GM:this is it, Narapria.
John / Doran:I look behind me.
Tim / GM:Make a deck save.
John / Doran:Oh, shit. That was bad idea. I took disadvantage. Tech save. I got a 20.
Tim / GM:That's, like, as good as the last one. What did
Tim / GM:he call it?
Maggie / Poppy:Yeah. What did he call it?
Tim / GM:Narapria. Fuck is that? Doran with a 20.
John / Doran:He You sound disappointed. I am.
Tim / GM:With a with a 20 dexterity save, yet again he whips a silvery spear at you and it goes flying right past you. Thankfully, you dodged on the correct side. It also flies right past Journey and does not impale her as it sails by. Awesome. Before that spear even lands you see him just reach up a hand and another just loads into his open hand coming from his back.
Tim / GM:After that, Doran, you see Lirion leap into the air about 20 feet up or so, much higher than you think he'd be able to, and he dives down straight at you, spear outstretched, attempting to impale you, Doran. 14 to hit. Oh, that hits. Doreen, as he leaps and lands on you, he drives a spear towards you and it might be easy enough to dodge that first one, but he's also attacking with every spear levitating at his back at the same time. You take 18 piercing damage as he gets you with some of them, not all of them, but the pain is excruciating and immediate.
Tim / GM:Okay. And that is the end of his turn. Next up, we have Doran.
John / Doran:Shit. Okay. I don't fully understand it, but I kinda muttered to myself, that fucking hurt. And I'm going to cast, dispel magic on the spears. Okay.
Tim / GM:Yeah. With that dispel magic, Doran, you see the connection between him and the spears shattered. These spears become immediately mundane, all of them, including the one he's holding in his hand. You see them go from this rosy, almost, glowing, lustrous color to a dull stone like silver, and you see them begin to rapidly crack and crumble. You see the 5 behind him are now brittle and crumbling.
Tim / GM:The one in his hand, though he's preparing to wield it, is likewise weakening.
John / Doran:I guess that's fisticuffs then, And I get down into a fighting stance. What?
Tara / Journey:You were doing this.
Maggie / Poppy:No. I I was laughing at I was laughing
Tim / GM:at Fistico. Oh, it was hard when I saw John play. He's checking it off Anyhoo. Yeah.
Tim / GM:This is intense and dramatic. Everyone showed up. Sorry.
Tim / GM:Go ahead. Go ahead.
Thomas / Guy:That's, that's it. That's it? Alright.
Tim / GM:Yep. Spell magic works. The spears are dramatically weakened. I'm stalling until I can find our initiative order, and the next person is Journey.
Tara / Journey:When Journey pulled back the bow last episode Mhmm. Would you say that that was a bonus action prior to initiative? Did I charge my bow?
Tim / GM:Oh, I see what you're saying. Yeah. I'll say as, like, part of preparing for the battle that that's, like, maximally pulled back at the start of the fight.
Tara / Journey:So I still have a bonus action right now. Yep. Dope. Yeah. I'm gonna cast Hunter's Mark on Lirion.
Tara / Journey:K. Then I am going to shoot my bow at him.
Tim / GM:Yeah. Your fully drawn bow.
Tara / Journey:Yes. Indeed. 25 to hit.
Tim / GM:You just attacked Liri and Hale. That hit?
Tara / Journey:I didn't think I couldn't. I didn't think I could not do that. Oh, no. Fourteen damage.
Tim / GM:Alright.
Tim / GM:And that
Tara / Journey:was my first attack. 12 on the second one.
Tim / GM:No. Okay. That second mundane arrow, you see it slam right into Lyrian into his, thick elegant armor, and it just falls to the ground.
Tara / Journey:Mhmm. Yeah. I I just crouch in front of Sesk and the Bismite and indicate that I'm not going fucking anywhere.
Tim / GM:Yeah. You didn't have much time to appreciate it as you were crouching down and kind of getting out of sight as best you could. But that first hit, it didn't seem to do much more than take the shine off of his armor, but it slammed right into him. Doran being that close, you saw this kind of detonation of sparks and feybuds flying into him. And with all that, I mean, like, it got Larian's attention, but little else.
Tara / Journey:It was nice knowing all of you.
Tim / GM:Next. Journey. You feel a rushing motion as Sesk begins to stand to full height. You see the giant snake kind of coil and tower itself, and it looks down at Lyrium, and you see it take a viper's bite quick as lightning Straight down at Lyrian.
Tara / Journey:Yes, Esk.
Tim / GM:That's a boy. That is an 18 to hit, which does hit Lyrian. Yay. It does connect with Lirion. You see, Lirion's quick as he is large.
Tim / GM:He kind of side steps as much as he can. You see Sesk get a little piece of armor as he pulls away, and you see some Bismite chunks fall to the ground. Some damage has been dealt, but not nearly enough. And then you notice Oscar. Oscar has not been visible since this fight started, because as soon as it did, he ignited himself.
Tim / GM:And as we all know, that causes him to float. He's practically weightless when he chooses to ignite the, fire genasi half of his lineage. He is now near the ceiling of this place. And when you notice him it's because he's making a lot of noise. You see him burning hotter than ever before, he's practically on fire burning up now, and he's smacking a metal pole against a stalagmite directly above Liri and Hale with a cracking you see if stalagmites separate from the ceiling and begin falling towards Lyrian.
Tim / GM:Can I say something?
Tara / Journey:It's stalactite. Yeah.
Thomas / Guy:It's the other one.
Tim / GM:The stalactite on the ceiling cracks away and falls towards Lyrian, who makes a dex save and, unfortunately, does succeed.
Tim / GM:Goddamn
John / Doran:it. Silvery barbs? Good.
Thomas / Guy:Yes. Barbs. Barbs. Barbs. Barbs.
Thomas / Guy:Very good.
Tim / GM:Okay. So he gets disadvantaged and somebody else gets advantage on their next attack?
John / Doran:So, yeah, he has to roll again. K. And then I will give advantage to Journey on Journey's next attack roll, ability check, horse saving throw.
Tara / Journey:Nice. Awesome. Thank you.
Tim / GM:Yep. Baby, that's a 12. Yes.
Tim / GM:That's a massive piece.
Maggie / Poppy:Woah. And he
Tim / GM:called you baby.
John / Doran:That's that's bonus.
Maggie / Poppy:Special bonus. A special baby bonus. You know it. Baby boy John.
Tim / GM:Oh. Oscar rolled well on that damage.
Thomas / Guy:Should I be the cave rolling?
Tim / GM:I guess. The cave is proud of their stalactites.
Tara / Journey:You know what? I take it back. It could be a stalagmite because we don't know how the Skyland was formed. Yeah. Maybe it flipped around.
Tim / GM:Maybe it's upside down.
Tara / Journey:Yeah. It's upside down. Yeah.
Tim / GM:You're all wrong. I'm right.
Tim / GM:I think it's just a pointy rock. It's true.
Tim / GM:At the conclusion of Oscar's turn, you see Lirion look straight up to where that stalactite came from. Lirion grabs one of the spears. He charges it with magic and whips it up at Oscar as a legendary action. Mhmm. Okay.
Tim / GM:Oh, he gonna die.
Tim / GM:You all see a, crumbling silvery spear fly through the air. It impacts Oscar, and it looks like it hurts. Okay. You see Oscar kind of spiral off to the side as he impacts this thing. You also see the spear disintegrate as it hits the wall and just bursts into dust.
Tim / GM:Now being made from weak, unmagicked bismite. And before this round is over, you see 2 more things. The first of which is auspicious. You all see the face of Phenom Green. Breathless and sprinting into this core chamber.
Tim / GM:The second thing you see, I'll need a perception check out of the 2 of you.
Tara / Journey:Is this my silvery barbs?
John / Doran:Attack roll, ability check, receiving service. Yeah.
Maggie / Poppy:21. Damn.
John / Doran:24.
Tim / GM:Oh, well, shit. Trevor, chocolate's like a man.
Tim / GM:You both notice, turning away from Phenom looking back towards Learian, you see something new. Near Learian, you see a blade of grass push up between the stones here in the core chamber. And then, a small flower begins to rapidly bloom. And then another, and then more plants just like it, mushrooms, other things begin to outline a circle on the stone floor here, and like a trick of the light before you can make sense of what's happening, you see Parseman standing in the middle of a fairy ring.
John / Doran:That doesn't help our odds. That? But, you know,
Tara / Journey:back to the I mean
Tim / GM:yeah. We'll see. And we're back to the races.
Tim / GM:Sometimes. Yeah. Oh, boy.
Tim / GM:You see, the, the doom train has long since passed you, but that means coming in last place is Brody Tatum.
Maggie / Poppy:Yay, Brody.
Tim / GM:Slowly floating by, with his bright bulb air balloon apparatus, looking down at you guys, seeing all the serious stuff going on here. He just says, hey. Do you need a hand with anything?
Thomas / Guy:2, Brody.
Tim / GM:He looks up at you and shrugs, and he goes, sorry, guy. I mean, these things just kinda go where they want to, you know?
Thomas / Guy:No. No. I'll be along sooner or later.
Tim / GM:We should hang out later.
Tim / GM:I agree.
Tim / GM:The racers have long since passed you. It looks by all odds that Timothy Matterfax is going to win on his little motorcycle. Next up is Mabel, but her work is done here. She's running out towards the plaza, leaving us to Erin.
Maggie / Poppy:Is Thomas y Matterfax within range? Yeah. Okay.
Thomas / Guy:What we've wanted to do since
Tara / Journey:Pinch that cat in the mouth.
Maggie / Poppy:So Aaron's looking down on everything from a high vantage point. And after seeing Guy and the Dullahan duking it out with, a nice bonfire glow Mhmm. From from.
Tim / GM:It's ambient.
Maggie / Poppy:And really making it a dramatic effect. Yeah. Erin notices that her archenemy, Timothy, fact, is now in the lead to win. Mhmm. And she just turns her crossbow and points it right at him and says, oh, fuck no.
Maggie / Poppy:And, she has another bolt already loaded, and she's gonna shoot it at the tire on his motorcycle that he's driving.
Tim / GM:Awesome. Okay.
Tim / GM:So So
Maggie / Poppy:the front tire is what I'm aiming for to try to make him crash.
John / Doran:K. No. We're always mattered more than this one.
Tim / GM:The whole city's about to crash, but
Tara / Journey:this is No.
Maggie / Poppy:Am I hidden yet?
Tim / GM:I I gave you advantage for the last one. I would say Timothy's probably closer. Take
Tim / GM:advantage. Yay.
Thomas / Guy:Aaron has advantage on all of our descendants.
Tim / GM:I hope you crit. Oh my gosh. Course.
Maggie / Poppy:No. It was one better.
Tim / GM:Oh my god.
Maggie / Poppy:14 to hit.
Tim / GM:Hey. Not bad.
Thomas / Guy:It's a tire? Yeah.
Tim / GM:It's I mean, it's a freaking vehicle. It's like hitting a building. Yeah.
Tim / GM:Yay. Yeah. They did.
Tim / GM:So here's what happens.
Maggie / Poppy:Moving my motorcycle tire.
Tim / GM:That's a
Thomas / Guy:winning arrest.
Tim / GM:Here's what happens then. The aerial comes sailing down, and it lands straight into the tire, into the spokes of the singular, spark engine powered motorcycle that Timothy is driving right now. When it does, you see him do kind of a little bit of a papa wheelie where he just kind of bucks up on the, motorcycle and then sort of spins out having lost all of his traction, not understanding why it's not working anymore. He looks up to the crowd for a moment to try to see who did that. Doesn't seem to catch much and begins hoofing it.
Tim / GM:He is not going to lose this.
Tim / GM:He's got
Tim / GM:a ways to go, but he's just running down the track now. The doom train not close or not far behind
Tim / GM:him. Yeah.
Hannah / Eryn:Really? He's not giving up? Oh, jeez.
Tim / GM:Which brings us to Guy, still on the track about halfway back, staring down Danathan.
Thomas / Guy:Danathin, I wish I knew why I've done this to you, but I swear I only wanted to help Lodom. Guy is going to cast hold person. New spell. Never been seen before.
Tara / Journey:Wow. Bug first.
Tim / GM:Jonathan needs to make a wisdom saving throw.
Thomas / Guy:Oh, baby. 4. That's a fail. Danathan is paralyzed. So, Guy says this as he's saying this, he is, kinda swinging his sword toward him with one hand Uh-huh.
Thomas / Guy:And then suddenly stops short with a sword, and he lifts his head directly in Danathans face.
Tim / GM:Mhmm.
Thomas / Guy:And the eyes flash, and he is paralyzed.
Tim / GM:You see Danathans kind of stop mid fight and just go. You can hear his shallow breaths. He knows what's going on here. He knows that in some way, he's under your thrall once again.
Thomas / Guy:Guy keeps the head right in his face and keeps talking.
Tim / GM:K.
Thomas / Guy:I swear to you I will find a way to help Lotem rise again. But for now I have to help an old friend, and he walks away toward Stede.
Tim / GM:General. General. You hear him calling out to you?
Thomas / Guy:Guy's not gonna acknowledge him.
Tim / GM:You're making distance from him. You can barely hear him now. As he's shouting towards you, he says,
Tim / GM:there is no escape from her thrall except death. Finish this, general. I served Lotem and Lotem is dead.
Thomas / Guy:Okay. Guy does stop. Turns around. Is this true? Is Lodem no more?
Tim / GM:The Lodom that I loved, that you loved, Sure as night and day is dead. End this nightmare, General. My will is not my own.
Thomas / Guy:A guy looks back at Stede. He wants to see how Stede is doing, because I think he got a little messed up.
Tim / GM:Yeah. Stede tanked the race, probably to help you. You see Steed rising to their feet and kind of shaking it off. You happen to know that Steed has been through quite a bit of pain, and Stede always seems to come out on top.
Thomas / Guy:Guy nods at Stede.
Tim / GM:Stede nods back with a low, slow nod.
Thomas / Guy:Guy's walking back to Danatha now. K.
Tim / GM:Still holding person. He's shuttering in place.
Thomas / Guy:Guy takes his sword and slowly puts it to the neck of Dan.
Tim / GM:He sees eyes closed.
Thomas / Guy:Somehow, you and I both remember I've done this to you once before, and you hate me for it. Would you truly have me repeat my actions?
Tim / GM:The first time, I imagine you've done this out of fear. But this time, general, it might be out of love. Please.
Thomas / Guy:Can I do a inside check on this person? Yeah. Please.
Tim / GM:Yep.
Thomas / Guy:11.
Tim / GM:No obvious signs of deception. What you can see with this insight check is the distinction between his will and not his will. You can see in those flashes of green flame is his sort of imperative given to him by Viren, and that imperative is destroy my enemies, something like that. He can still say things, he can still act of his own. He just has to follow Viren's orders.
Tim / GM:The things he's saying is probably coming from him. What he's doing Yeah. Is not.
Thomas / Guy:Every day since I've awoke, I thought of what I would do to the person who did this to me, who placed this curse upon me. Now that you have come face to face with me, I blame you not for wanting to end my life. But now that I know I am responsible for your person. Who knows, maybe that of others as well.
Tim / GM:12 more, general. We 13 served you absolutely.
Tim / GM:You can see there's some pain, there's some anxiety in his eyes. You know, there's there's some torture to this moment.
Thomas / Guy:I would not like to live as a thrall of another's bidding. I will do you this favor, friend.
Tim / GM:You hear a heavy sigh.
Thomas / Guy:Alright. I don't know if I have to rule for this.
Tim / GM:You don't in this case. Okay. When it's offered up to you, you are allowed to, coup de grace.
Thomas / Guy:I coup that grace.
Maggie / Poppy:Tim McGraw.
Tim / GM:With the final stroke guy, you see the flesh around his wound begins to burn with a smoldering green flame, and you watch those flames crawl all over his body as he turns to ash, scattered to the wind by vehicles racing down the track. And Guy, you realize the same fate awaits you. Should you die in this form, you will not become a corpse to be mourned and buried. The fey magic bonding your soul to your unliving body will erupt, and you will burn to ash in an instant like a demon from a fairy tale. You will be vanquished.
Thomas / Guy:Guy gives a heavy sigh and walks back towards Steve.
Tim / GM:Poppy. Up in
Tim / GM:the rafters, we're more or less out of initiative. You can take a bigger turn here if you wanted to. What do you wanna do?
Tim / GM:I'm going to pull out my echo bell to Doran.
Tim / GM:Yeah. And great timing with these phone calls.
Tim / GM:Doran.
Thomas / Guy:Hey, Poppy.
Tim / GM:Are you guys okay? We're we evacuated the stadium. I don't think I won the race, though.
John / Doran:I'm sorry to hear that.
Tim / GM:Am I interrupting?
John / Doran:We were just busy fighting Lirian and Parsippen. We could use your help. Unless you want to escape.
Tim / GM:I mean, well, we can come to you guys. Where are you still at the core?
Tara / Journey:At the core.
Tim / GM:Yep. Great. I'm sorry. Just hold on. We'll be there.
Tim / GM:And then I'll relay the information to Aaron.
Tim / GM:Yeah. That's fair.
Tim / GM:I'll also relay it to Guy because I have You
Thomas / Guy:do have the
Tim / GM:echo bell.
Tim / GM:Yeah. Perfect. Okay.
Tim / GM:Guy, we're gonna go to the core. Are you good?
Thomas / Guy:Yes. How do we get there?
Tim / GM:The the same way.
Thomas / Guy:Alright. I will travel by Stede.
Tim / GM:Great.
Tim / GM:Guy at that, you see Stede walk up to you and, I guess, telepathically, murmur to you. Mhmm. Shall we?
Thomas / Guy:I thought you'd never ask.
Tim / GM:Stede turns around and just kind of like strangely backs up towards you, and just kind of, like, wobbles his head like, let's get out of here.
Tim / GM:Yeah. Guy climbs on.
Tim / GM:And you feel a sudden upward jolt like an elevator that has gone absolutely haywire. Your stomach lurches as he just straight up into the air and then like a 737. You feel the wind rush around you drawing tears out of your eyes as you're flying out of the stadium into the night sky outside of Baxi and in an instant, you are over open air beneath you, flying off the island of Baxi, spiraling rapidly around this place.
Maggie / Poppy:I'm imagining a guy, like, trying to hold onto his head and make
Tim / GM:sure it doesn't fly off.
Tim / GM:I mean, yeah. Good thing you were holding your head in the first place. It might have been a real risk.
Thomas / Guy:Impressive speed, Stede.
Tim / GM:The onlookers evacuating this place are all pointing up at the Headless Horsemen flying around this place, holding their head off to the side, trailing green flame behind them.
Tim / GM:I would like to go rescue the pin
Tim / GM:Okay. Yeah.
Tim / GM:From the the ring light.
Thomas / Guy:Oops. Sorry.
Tim / GM:No. That's okay.
Tim / GM:Yeah. The pin, like, was never fully turned off, so Servo is just, like, doing his best to kind of guide it while it's coasting. It's going 1 mile an hour and you jump into it.
Tim / GM:Hey. Can we go to the, Poppy.
Tara / Journey:The the the the
Tim / GM:I don't remember what it's called. It's the great place where we saw you the first time.
Tim / GM:Calculating route.
Tim / GM:And we gotta pick up Aaron on the way.
Tim / GM:Adding stop.
Tim / GM:We don't have to race anymore. Just get there like fast ish.
Tim / GM:Estimated time of arrival? Next round. Great. Wow. You see Serbo start up the rolling pin just like he had seen Guy do, kind of learning quickly on the job.
Tim / GM:He actually veers off of the track immediately onto the stairs. And with the levitator, it's pretty easy for you to go over strange terrain. So you're just kind of wobbling up the stairs of the stadium towards Aaron, and he follows your orders. You pick her up, and you guys are going through the hallways of the ring light stadium together in the rolling pin. Literally just taking, like, the traveler pathways.
Tim / GM:Oh, wow. We're going to the core. I forgot to tell you.
Maggie / Poppy:Good thing there's a freight elevator. Get this thing out
Tim / GM:of here.
Tim / GM:Shall I activate the death cage?
Tim / GM:What
Maggie / Poppy:is that? Yes.
Tim / GM:I heard yes. You see him reach over to a button hidden inside a button. When you press it, you feel the rolling pin start to accelerate at an irresponsible speed and pieces of it begin to fall off in the alleyway here. Poppy, you feel like you needed some those pieces.
Tim / GM:I think you left part of the sign behind
Tim / GM:me. You're looking back at your your your absolute favorite sign you've ever made.
Tim / GM:It just says the rolling P now.
Tim / GM:You are rapidly traveling towards the core chamber which is where we find Lyrian, whose turn it is.
Tara / Journey:Oh. Can't kill both of us, hopefully.
Tim / GM:Actually, he does have the, economy to do that.
Tim / GM:Oh, does he?
Tim / GM:He does. He
Tim / GM:Oh, and he kills you last turn. We were just
Thomas / Guy:That's a lair action. He kills you.
Tim / GM:You.
Tara / Journey:Yeah. Neat neat and fun.
Tim / GM:But the rolling pin's safe, so
Tara / Journey:The rolling p.
Tim / GM:Alright. Lyrian, still looking at Doran. Not far from him whatsoever.
Tara / Journey:Who keeps answering phone calls?
Tim / GM:I yeah. Yeah. Fucking rude. You see Lirion take a step back. He reaches out to his spears again.
Tim / GM:They had lost altitude after your dispel. He has to reconnect with them. When he does, they're still weak and shitty and not nearly as as, well made as before. He is going to take the opportunity to fire them off at everyone in the room, choosing different targets for each one. Doran, you're gonna take 2.
Tim / GM:Journey, you're gonna take 2. Oscar's taking 1. Doran, that is a 20 to hit. Yep. 12 to hit.
Tim / GM:Miss. Nice. Journey, 23 to hit. 24 to hit.
Tara / Journey:Yeah. Oh my god.
Tim / GM:Yeah. Oscar 15 hit also hits. Doran, that's, 12 piercing damage. Journey that is 17 piercing damage. Great.
Tim / GM:Oscar takes another 9 piercing damage, and you see Oscar begin to rapidly fall to the ground. Doran, it's your turn.
John / Doran:I'm not looking so good. Doran is bleeding a lot and, seems to be barely standing at this point. Still looking at Lirion. Didn't think we died together, I guess.
Tim / GM:No. We won't.
John / Doran:Well, you're not going anywhere. I am going to, cast vicious mockery on him. That is going to be a wisdom save.
Thomas / Guy:6. 6? Okay.
John / Doran:That's a fail. So 2 d 4. Okay. A lot of damage.
Tim / GM:You guys pointed out in the last kit, session that I rolled terribly as a DM. I got 3 natural ones
Tim / GM:in the last session
Tim / GM:we played.
John / Doran:Jeez. Okay. So that's, 5 psychic damage, and then, he has disadvantage on the next attack roll before the end of its next turn. Yep. Got it.
John / Doran:Okay. Next attack roll, basically. K. And then as my, bonus action, I look over at Oscar. I think we're gonna need you, Oscar.
John / Doran:I cast, healing word Mhmm. At first level, I guess. Yeah. So it's gonna be a d 4+5. 4.
John / Doran:So 9 health back to Oscar.
Tim / GM:So Oscar has 9 health. Yep. Yeah.
Tim / GM:Oh, that
Tara / Journey:was so good. Well timed.
John / Doran:That's my, turn.
Tim / GM:Okay. That means it's Jurney's turn.
Tara / Journey:Jurney is very afraid.
Tim / GM:Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
Tara / Journey:Yeah. She should be. Journey pulls back her bow again using a bonus action to light it up and attacks. 11.
Tim / GM:No.
Tara / Journey:K. Second attack, 9.
Tim / GM:Oh my
Tara / Journey:god. Just awful. Just awful.
Tim / GM:Doran, from a from a point blank perspective, you see Lirion, like, expecting these arrows to come one after another. And when they do, you see him kind of, like, turn a shoulder, and he's just kind of, like, chomping it. He takes these arrow blasts. He knows he can rely on his armor in these cases. In turn, he's just not getting through The the oppressive speed at which he's taking down your allies and not getting hurt is starting to get to you.
Tim / GM:Next up, we have Sesk. Sesk coils around all of you again. He strikes down at Lirion. He's not giving up on this. Solid hit again.
Tara / Journey:Yeah. Not bad. No step on snack. No step on snack.
Tim / GM:I actually wrote sex for his name.
Tim / GM:Next step on you. Mhmm.
Tim / GM:That's one big shoe.
Tim / GM:Yeah.
Tim / GM:When when Sesk, pulls back after that bite, he takes with him pieces of Bismite armor that you see go flying across the room. That really got Lirion's attention. Sesk is a real threat. However, you also see that Sesk is tired. Journey, he barely has anything left to give, and when he recoils after that attack, he looks back at the 2 of you and rather than try to land another bite on this otherworldly being that he's facing, he instead gives what he has left to you.
Tim / GM:Everyone in this chamber regains 13 hit points and 2 spell slots.
Tim / GM:Oh.
Tim / GM:And you see Sesk begin to melt into a river of magma.
Tim / GM:He's just retreating to sleep. I
Tim / GM:it's then Oscar's turn, and as he nears the ground about to plummet and smash himself to death after being stabbed twice by Spears, Doran's healing catches him. He wakes up mid fall, and he's able to reignite himself with that extra energy from Sesk. He doubles the blaze, and before he lands on the ground, he catches himself. Oh, that was close. And he kinda stands back up.
John / Doran:Yeah. Don't tap out on us, Oscar. We need you.
Tim / GM:No. No. I'm here. Alright. This guy, what do you give him the old one, 2?
John / Doran:As many numbers as you can throw at him.
Tim / GM:I know
Tim / GM:a whole bunch of numbers. Here we go. Alright. He charges at Lirion holding the metal bar that he used to crack the stalactite, and he just wails on Lirion. Hits him.
John / Doran:Okay.
Tim / GM:I mean, actually gets through his armor. Yeah. Not bad. Decent damage. Five damage.
Tim / GM:You just see him whacking. You hear the loud metal tink of Oscar just Just whacking it. Be just whacking it. Just whacking it all over Lirion. And Lirion's just staring down at him, like, you insolent fool.
Tim / GM:And then all of a sudden, he just, like, hits Lirion in the funny bone, and he's just, like, like, actually hurts him. And then you see parsimon. Shit.
Tim / GM:He's here. I forgot. Okay.
Thomas / Guy:I I did wonder if you forget him forgot him, and I was gonna have to be, like, you forgot to assign us homework.
Tim / GM:Yeah. Yeah. Teacher. You were that kid. Yep.
Tim / GM:You see Parson and say, Larian, now is not the time or the place. This this this is done. You took everything you could take. We need to, you know, go. Let's go.
Tim / GM:Now, sir. And Dorne, you see Lirion's eyes flash back towards Parson, towards the fairy circle, and back towards you. And then he looks up at Phenom. There, and he says, don't you fucking dare. You see Phenom kind of stop in place.
Tim / GM:He says, oh, I wouldn't. Of course, I wouldn't. No. I'd I'd never dare, but I've got friends. He points at you.
Tim / GM:And when you look around, Doran, the nice thing is you've got friends too. You've got about 6 other Dorans and, 6 other journeys and 6 other Oscars Nice. All in the room with you. We're back to, the the Poppy of it all.
Tim / GM:All. And Poppy on this road trip is going, are we there yet?
Tim / GM:Yeah. So I think at the end of that, we see Guy. Guy, you are flying around Backseat, like, literally around Backseat, around the entire island, getting a good view of the gardens and everything you've experienced so far, and then you come down to Hush Town. You see that familiar tree and all the ash worked into the cobblestones in the lower quiet part of the town, and you see that magma spilling off the side of the islands, and Stede just charges straight for one of these pipes that the magma is spilling out of, and you see him curl up his legs so that he's just a tiny little donkey hot dog. He's you he's got you on his back and he just flies through this pipe with magma a couple inches beneath his hooves.
Tim / GM:They tucks and rolls with you on him, and suddenly, you are in that giant ash trap chamber. Before you, the door to the core chamber, and Lirion's back to you. You land atop Stede. You've got an action.
Thomas / Guy:So Lirion's down, like, kinda below us?
John / Doran:Or
Tim / GM:Yeah. You're kind of just entering into the core chamber, and so, I mean, you're on the ground now. He's a good 20 feet ahead of you.
Thomas / Guy:Guy thinks well done, Stede. It is good to have you back.
Tim / GM:At roughly the same time, you see Poppy and Arryn busting through the way here, honoring the initiative here. Aaron, it's actually your choice first.
Maggie / Poppy:Okay. So we're kinda busting in the core chamber.
Tim / GM:Yep.
Maggie / Poppy:We just see, like, 30 people in this room.
Tim / GM:Yeah. So the the bad guys have their back to you.
Tim / GM:Okay.
Tim / GM:You see Phenom is here, but you also see that there's Doran here, and there's 6 other copies of Doran. And there's Journey here, 6 other copies of Journey, and Oscar, and 6 other copies of Oscar. So lots of the good people.
Maggie / Poppy:Okay. Aaron does a quick, like, their eyes dart around the room and does a quick, perception of the room and space. Mhmm.
Tim / GM:Yeah. Make a perception check.
Tim / GM:Okay.
Maggie / Poppy:Can I use my Ganymede?
Tim / GM:Yes. Of course.
Tim / GM:You got
Tim / GM:your sight.
Maggie / Poppy:Yay. Mhmm. 24.
Tim / GM:Yeah. So you see a lot to work with. You see stalactites attached to the ceiling. You see a crashed stalactite on the ground right next to where Lerion is. You see all of your friends.
Tim / GM:You see that fairy circle forming.
Maggie / Poppy:Would I know it's a fairy circle or what it does?
Tim / GM:Erin, you may have never seen Parsaman before or really known what all of this was about, but you have seen fairy circles before around the Blythe headquarters.
Maggie / Poppy:And I know what it does?
Tim / GM:No. But you've seen them. Okay. And now you have an idea of what they do. Fairy circles are fey way gates.
Maggie / Poppy:Okay. That's what I thought. I just wasn't
Tim / GM:sure. They're used to transport between the fey realm and the material plane.
Maggie / Poppy:Got it. Yeah. Eren, after taking a quick assessment of the chaos in the room that's happening, Eren's gonna hide. K. I'm gonna attack him, but with advantage.
Tim / GM:On Lirion?
Tim / GM:Yeah. K.
Maggie / Poppy:17.
Tim / GM:17 does not hit Lirion. No.
Maggie / Poppy:That's it.
Tim / GM:K. Next up is Guy.
Thomas / Guy:Guy's gonna leap down and attack Lyrian. K. And when he does that, he yells, Balorin, you owe me a race, coward.
Tim / GM:Alright.
Thomas / Guy:1st attack.
Tim / GM:This is you jumping off of steed?
Tara / Journey:And screaming. Yep.
Tim / GM:Yeah. Great.
Thomas / Guy:I'm gonna use, I'm gonna use channel divinity to add plus 10 to this attack roll. Okay. Nice.
Tim / GM:So So
Thomas / Guy:it's a 26 to hit.
Tim / GM:Yeah. That hits. Cream
Thomas / Guy:deck. And there's gonna be a smite involved.
Tim / GM:Okay.
Tara / Journey:Yeah. You made the same face immediately.
Thomas / Guy:11 from just the attack.
Tim / GM:K.
Thomas / Guy:And 12, the smite damage.
Tim / GM:K.
Tim / GM:And then
Thomas / Guy:I'll use my extra attack.
Tim / GM:Oh my
Tim / GM:god. Oh, no. Oh, no.
Thomas / Guy:21 to hit. Yep. 11 damage again.
Tara / Journey:What's that fun meme? Fuck it up, Kenneth?
Tim / GM:Fuck it up, Kenneth.
Tim / GM:Oh, guy. Okay. With that, everyone in this room sees Lirion take a knee. You hear this heavy exhale as he clatters to the ground and you hear his armor kind of shudder against him. And he stands again.
Tim / GM:And you can see between the plates of his armor, Doran, literally blood leaking. You can see the the plates kind of separating and rejoining as he heaves heavy breaths. Poppy, it's on you. You just saw a guy jump off his steed and attack Lirion.
Tim / GM:Are they bismite power? Parsammon and Lirion. Yep. Like, they've taken on all this stuff.
Tim / GM:Yep.
Tim / GM:Lirion, especially, has taken on Bismite from the room.
Tim / GM:It does not seem like the armor and the spears he's done has given him extra extra power. However, you can sense that Lirion is chockablock full of this Bismite magic, and he has taken it from places. Though it's not as much as you would expect.
Tim / GM:Can I send pinch in to try and absorb it?
Thomas / Guy:From
Tim / GM:Lirion? Yeah.
Tim / GM:You can try that.
Tim / GM:Okay. I don't know.
Tara / Journey:It's not a warning. Yikes.
Tim / GM:I don't know.
Tim / GM:Is that what you wanna do?
Tim / GM:Kind of. Okay.
Thomas / Guy:We legally can't say you can certainly try.
Tim / GM:But I also know that Pinch is me. Yes. So I will be taking on that power if it works.
Tim / GM:Yeah. If you think you can outdo Leary and Hale, go for it.
Tim / GM:I'm not trying to outdo him. I'm trying to weaken him. K.
Tara / Journey:It's gonna be good.
Maggie / Poppy:Nat, 20.
Tim / GM:Yeah. This is
Thomas / Guy:how Poppy becomes the ultimate villain.
Tim / GM:Yeah. I'm also I'm I wanna preface this with I'm trying to regain some spell slots Yeah. With the power that I would gain, if that is possible. Yeah.
Maggie / Poppy:Hopi says a little prayer.
Tim / GM:Oh my god. I
Tim / GM:Oh.
Tim / GM:Are there any
Tim / GM:Oh, Poppy.
Tim / GM:Is there anything I can do to make this better? Poppy. I'm sending in a
John / Doran:Maggie, you're a little off mic. Sorry.
Tim / GM:I rolled a pie. Sorry. I rolled a 5.
Tim / GM:You send in Pinch to drink to connect with the magic inside Lyrian just like you had connected with the bismite inside of your own rolling pin. It's all kind of the same power to you at this point, but when you do that, Lyrian recognizes the connection. And while you rolled a 5, Lerian rolled a natural twenty.
Thomas / Guy:Go out.
Tim / GM:Of course he does.
Tim / GM:Doren, you see Lerian turn away from you staring straight down at Pinch. Pinch is staring straight up at him with his little doe hands on his little doe hips.
Tim / GM:Oh.
Tim / GM:And then Pinch reaches out and pulls back as if he's draining, drinking the power out of Lyrian. And then Pinch explodes all over the walls.
Tim / GM:Oh, my God.
Tim / GM:And, Poppy, you feel like you've been shot by a bullet.
John / Doran:I've seen pinch die too many times. The
Tim / GM:Freaking dead dead now.
Tara / Journey:You still got a bit of him in a vial.
Tim / GM:Yeah. Maybe. Poppy, you take 19 psychic damage. Woah.
John / Doran:That's cruel.
Tim / GM:If you have remaining spell slots, they are gone.
Tim / GM:Oh. Oh.
Tara / Journey:Oh. Oh. Oh. Archie, it's Oh, no. No.
Tara / Journey:Okay.
Tim / GM:You hear beneath his helm, Doran leery insight, thanks. I needed that.
Tara / Journey:Oh my god.
John / Doran:Fucking Christ, Poppy.
Tim / GM:Do I sell the cantrips? Yeah. Okay. Create on fire. Create bonfire.
Tim / GM:Create bonfire.
Tim / GM:And and Poppy, as you're as you're standing up after literally falling over from that, as you're standing up you can see shadows dripping off of your skin. You are in part beginning to change.
Tim / GM:I don't feel so good.
Tim / GM:Alright. That
Tim / GM:was a really bad idea. Fuck. Oh.
Tim / GM:And now we're back to Lyrian.
Tara / Journey:That's okay. We don't need to. He can wait.
Tim / GM:He can wait.
Tim / GM:You see Lyrian move. He takes big boy steps. He walks
John / Doran:away. Did he use disengage? No. Can I fucking punch him?
Tim / GM:Yes. Yes.
Tim / GM:Actually, you and Oscar And me? And Guy all get a text of opportunity on Larian as he walks towards parsimon.
Tara / Journey:Can I have a words of opportunity?
Maggie / Poppy:I have some words.
Tim / GM:As long
Tim / GM:as those words don't deal damage.
John / Doran:Natural 20.
Tim / GM:Hey. Oh, shit. Oh,
Tim / GM:god. Oh, god.
John / Doran:Eels. It's literally a punch though. So no dice roll. Oh, yeah.
Tim / GM:So 2 damage.
John / Doran:It's still 2. Yeah.
Maggie / Poppy:Roll another d twenty.
Tim / GM:I get to roll again. Oh, so cool.
Thomas / Guy:Oh my god.
Tim / GM:Kill Lyrian.
Tim / GM:With just a punch.
John / Doran:Oh, no. Fuck it.
Tim / GM:Don't worry. Oh, god. You punched the embossed.
John / Doran:So 3 3 damage there. K. Counting it.
Tim / GM:Ouch. Because that that's the table rule.
Tim / GM:Yes. It
Tim / GM:doesn't matter what damage you're doing.
Tim / GM:Doesn't matter how much plot I have written around them.
Thomas / Guy:I got an 18 to hit?
Tim / GM:Yep. Hits.
Tara / Journey:These attacks of opportunity were better than your normal attacks, guys.
John / Doran:Shut up.
Thomas / Guy:9 damage.
Tim / GM:K. And Oscar. That's too bad. Oscar did not do as nearly as well as he did last time. Yeah.
Tim / GM:Sub 10 with Oscar's hit. Does not make it through his armor.
Tara / Journey:And I want my words of opportunity.
Tim / GM:Yeah. Go for it. Yep. This is the time. You see, Lyrian walking towards Parsonan, leaving, like, drops of blood on the stone as he goes.
Tara / Journey:And I think Journey would know that that is a fairing that can take them out of here.
Tim / GM:Yeah.
Tara / Journey:As she notices that they're leaving, she shouts out to them in Sylvan.
Tim / GM:Mhmm.
Tara / Journey:And she says, you aren't the only beings that have an eye on this realm. You better watch your backs.
Tim / GM:Anybody else speak Sylvan?
Maggie / Poppy:Nope. Alright.
Thomas / Guy:Mary Jones. I apparently do.
Tim / GM:Interesting. Guy, you can make sense of this message. As Lirion steps toward Parsaman, Journey calls out a sort of taunt to him, and he looks back and focuses on Journey for a second. And you see him narrow his eyes. Parsonan whispers something to Lirian.
Tara / Journey:I let my fae buds kind of circle around my head, and I, just for flavor, have primal savagery going, and my teeth grow long, and my claws grow long.
Tim / GM:Cool. And I
Tara / Journey:just grin at them as they leave.
Tim / GM:You see with a flicker, Lirion's form begins to become ethereal as does parsimon. And the last thing you hear as Lirian begins to fade away in the same abrupt, uncanny way that Parsonan appeared, Lirian says,
Tim / GM:forget the old plan. I don't think we need Melis. We need her.
Tim / GM:With a rush of grass and leaves floating through the air, they are gone as quick as they appeared. And down the middle of your party, you see a fault line split and crack open as Backsy begins to plummet. You can all feel your stomachs lurch as the island tilts sideways. You hear a scream, a panic from outside. What do you all do?
Tim / GM:Run back to the rolling pin.
Tara / Journey:Run.
Thomas / Guy:Yeah. I get to, Stede.
Tim / GM:You mount up on Stede. Aaron and Poppy, you're leading the way back to the rolling pin so that you can all escape in some manner or another, and journey. When you move away, the fey buds do not. The fey buds that you had summoned to swirl around your head to taunt Lirion and Parseman, they do not move from this chamber. No.
Tim / GM:In fact, they are stuck by the bismite heart of Backsy. And you see something that you had only seen the beginning of before, the first time you were in this chamber, and it happens again, the Fey Buds arrange themselves on a flat plane like a constellation. You see them flickering and pulsing with different colors, all reflecting in the silvery surface of the bismide crystals all around in this room, still embedded in the walls, but now a silvery dull gray. One bud among them takes a central position just over journey, and it begins to flicker. Just like the one that healed Harley, this one is trying to heal vaccine.
Tim / GM:In Journey, you can feel it, it's the same process, the same ritual, the same sacrifice as the fay bud dies, but you know in that moment it's not enough, not that alone. In You journey, you feel this pulling at your soul, you feel this request from Baxie to give back. What do you do?
Tara / Journey:I step into the ring of the other buds, and I reach up to them to try to join with the circle, and I try to heal Baxi.
Tim / GM:You all look back at Journey to see that she's not coming with you in this moment, and you feel a similar tug, almost like a a small sudden sadness, a longing that does not belong to you. You can feel magic slipping away from you, those who have it, And your choice is to let it go or to keep it for yourself.
Tim / GM:Is it permanent?
Tim / GM:You don't know.
John / Doran:Journey, what are you doing? Everyone's off the island, right?
Tara / Journey:We can stop it. Why? We can save it.
Tim / GM:It's rocks. You feel a rush of cold air as part of backseat begins to fracture.
Tara / Journey:Darn, it's more than rocks. It's everything.
Maggie / Poppy:Does Aaron feel it?
Tim / GM:Aaron feels it too. Aaron, you don't have spell slots. You don't have magic, but you've known forever that part of you is magic.
Maggie / Poppy:Erin walks up to Journey and joins her in the circle and holds her hand. I'll
Hannah / Eryn:I'll help in any way I can.
Tim / GM:Thank you, Aaron.
Thomas / Guy:What are you doing? The island is falling. We only need escape.
Tim / GM:Poppy joins the circle. I I don't have much left to give.
Tara / Journey:It's not about how much it is, Poppy.
Tim / GM:Aaron, as if something could hear your offer, you see your skin begin to glow a whitish hue, and you had seen this before when Diver tried to take you, tried to destroy you on lower, But this time, your magic is given freely. Poppy, you lose any remaining spell slots you had left which I think we know to be 0, but there might have been something there, crumbs maybe.
Tim / GM:Story of my life.
Tim / GM:Erin, you don't have spell slots in the 1st place, but you do have yourself to give. You lose half your hit points. Journey, likewise, your spell slots are gone. Guy and Doran
John / Doran:Is it working or what?
Tim / GM:Like You have no indication. You see the ritual, and you feel the impulse, but you have no indication that this is working.
John / Doran:You called me out for not telling you all the plan. What what are we doing here?
Tara / Journey:Trying to help Doren. It takes everyone.
Thomas / Guy:Guy was turned around ready to walk out, but he sees Poppy enter the circle. He looks down at his sword, which is still kind of charred by the flames of Danathans death.
Tim / GM:Mhmm.
Thomas / Guy:And he slowly pushes Dorn to the side and walks into the circle.
Tim / GM:Guy, likewise, your life force is supported by magic itself, and upon your offer, much of that burns away. Your remaining hit points are reduced by half.
Hannah / Eryn:Doran, if anything, we need
Maggie / Poppy:to know if we can do anything
Hannah / Eryn:to help save the island.
Tim / GM:Eren's plea is punctuated by a stalactite falling to the ground between the 2 of you. Gods.
Thomas / Guy:Doran, you can go if you must get your revenge on Lyria and Vowt.
John / Doran:Oh, I'll need you to do that. And I step into the circle.
Tim / GM:Doran, back seat double dips. You would lose your remaining spell slots, and you would lose half of your remaining hit points.
John / Doran:I glanced down at the magma, you know, just kinda looking at that, just kinda processing Sesk sacrificing itself for us too.
Tim / GM:And at this gesture of faith in each other and in Backseat, you see results. But it's not everything. You see a deep green hue return to the heart of backseat. The magic that you've freely given is restoring the bismite of the island. But it's not enough.
Tim / GM:It's not enough by 20,000 people. They've been living here, they've been taking daily, knowing it or not, they have been relying on the Bismite of Backseat, and it's time that the people gave back. If only they knew. Instead, they're trying to evacuate a bad situation. They're trying to leave the place that they had spoiled, but you know what the real solution is now.
Tim / GM:The problem is you're all a little bit tired at this point, but in the center of this room, you see a sudden fountain of white sparks in the air in front of you. They suddenly begin to splash around the scene, drawing a circle in mid air that keeps getting wider and wider as the sparks heat into a bright pink ring. And through it steps a witch Wearing a working apron, holding a broom at her side with pink hair and a shock of white. It's Holly Hyacinth, the woman from the hologram ads that you saw on the way in, the very creator of Venus crystals. The portal closes behind her.
Tim / GM:She flashes a quick smile up to you. She seems to understand what's going on here somehow. But at the same time, she looks a little rushed and a little bit panicked. She's got little flyaway hairs that are stuck with sweat to her forehead. She gives a sympathetic frown and says, sorry.
Tim / GM:No paparazzi. And you hear a as the Venus crystal in your pack explodes into a 1,000 tiny shards. All of those shards fall to the ground and she drops to her knees and begins working rapidly. She pulls a potion off of her belt, uncorks it, and just quaffs the whole thing. She kind of retches at the taste of it.
Tim / GM:She grabs a small red leather pouch and holds a diamond in her fingertips. She rolls out a scroll on the ground, puts her hands on it, and starts whispering something, and you see the diamond disappear from her fingertips. You see her veins flash black from head to toe for a second as she's in excruciating pain. She coughs and wretches, reaches into her pocket, pulls out a small piece of beef jerky, bites it, and eats it. And not a moment later, you see all those broken shards of your Venus crystal begin to glow white and arrange themselves around Holly like a 1000 reporters at a press conference.
Tim / GM:And you hear Holly say, hello. You find people of Baxi? Holly Hyacinth with some important news. The island is falling and you need to get yourselves and everyone off of it. Get to the docks.
Tim / GM:There will be a portal to a place called Tildry. It's safe there. You'll be safe there. With an exhausted sigh, she lazily waves her hand to disperse the cloud of crystals in front of her, and you see them fly out of this room out into back seat. She looks up at each of you and says, hi, Holly Hyacinth.
Tim / GM:I I just got here, but I I know what's going on and I'm I wanna help.
Tim / GM:Poppy passes out. It's all too much for Poppy.
Tim / GM:And I think we'll end it there, actually. Thanks so much for listening. I am Tim, your GM.
Maggie / Poppy:I'm Hannah playing Aaron.
Tara / Journey:I'm Tara. And I'm Journey.
Thomas / Guy:I'm Thomas. I am Guy.
John / Doran:I'm John. I play Doran.
Tim / GM:I'm Maggie, and I play Poppy.
Tim / GM:Share the show with people you love,
Tim / GM:and we'll see
Tim / GM:you in the next one.
