Cursebreaker | 4 - Crowd Control
Last time in the Cursebreaker arc. Bert, Tibio, and Snack were eating breakfast at the tangled jib when a stranger walked in, sat down with them, and tried to stab Bert without speaking a word. They discovered the stranger truly meant them no harm, but was under the influence of an elixir that was giving someone else control over his actions. On their quest for more information, the party set out to find Veronica Venus, but were stopped by Emery Grey who was wounded and was trying to leave town with a courier wagon. He bid the party good riddance and told Uli he would someday take vengeance for his injuries.
Tim / GM:Just a moment later, the party was stopped again. This time by sheriff Tandy. Turns out, she's on the elixir too and pulled a sword on Holly. The party jailed Tandy and the man from the tavern, so they couldn't do any more harm, then changed course to get into the underdock. That's when they met Dave, the Minotaur.
Tim / GM:He hesitantly agreed under dock on the condition that they come out on time and don't cause any trouble. It didn't take them long to cause trouble. They spoke with Dave's brother, Buster. But after buying a couple items, a conversation about potions seemed to spook him. He retreated into the back room, and, the party quietly tailed him.
Tim / GM:A pair of kobolds tried to block their way in, but Snack beat them in a game of hawk rocks and won their entry. As soon as they were inside, they took whatever they could, quickly take. But they also found a few pieces of vital information. 1, the elixir contains vampire blood. 2, the people running this operation know all about the heroes.
Tim / GM:And 3, Buster is strong. Strong enough to throw Tibio across the room by his shirt collar. And that's, where we pick up right now. So, you guys had sort of swept everything off of the table. In this room, you guys had found a bunch of glassware, with vampire blood that was distributing the vampire blood into a bunch of little vials so that they could be made into elixirs that take control of people's bodies.
Tim / GM:Also, in this room, you guys found a table with a bunch of, apparently, probably cursed items, and, Holly, shuffled them all into her, little pack of holding. So on that table, there was a pair of gauntlets. There was a scepter on the table, but Snack actually managed to nab that one before it went into your pack. The the scepter had called out to Snack. Yes.
Tim / GM:A gold beetle, a cat statue, and a bone talisman. Mountain. And, Tibeo got grabbed by the collar and thrown into a deeper room that you guys hadn't explored yet. That's where Buster had been when you guys were ransacking the the laboratory here.
Speaker 2:Oh, so okay. Gotta throw in the opposite direction.
Tim / GM:Right. Yeah. Yeah. So so he's been separated.
Speaker 3:And I'm currently holding Bert and Snack.
John / Doran:Yeah. Do I see the teleported for a brief court.
Tim / GM:Yeah. Bert did disappear, yeah, for trial about, Brax Minnow who is on trial for murder right now, and and Bert had to testify on his behalf. Among the chaos here, you guys are also feeling a little different. Snack. You notice that your nose is running and that your vision has been dimming?
Tim / GM:Your vision is going a little gray on the outsides, and, it's getting a little darker, towards the center. Holly, at the same time, you, you kinda feel this impulse to just, like, slap the shit out of Uli for being so difficult. It's it's it's a very foreign feeling because that's really not who you are. Mhmm. But this is suddenly kind of coursing through you.
Tim / GM:Uh-oh. And that's the same moment that you guys have to kind of make a decision here. Tibio has been thrown, into a back room, and you guys are separated from him by a minotaur, who is staring you down.
Hannah / Eryn:Listen. We really just need to help our friend out. And so if you could just get us our friend, we'll go our separate ways. No harm, no foul. Otherwise, we're gonna fuck you up.
Tim / GM:You stole things from us.
Hannah / Eryn:I didn't steal. We won fair and square.
Speaker 6:Fair and square. I won, Horrocks. How dare you challenge me?
Hannah / Eryn:How dare you challenge, Horrocks?
Tim / GM:What do you mean won?
Speaker 3:I'm going to scooch the little ones, Burton snack out
Tim / GM:of my
Speaker 6:What date down?
Speaker 3:Yeah. I will I'll
Hannah / Eryn:toss them
Speaker 3:and I will,
Hannah / Eryn:Wait. Are the square up. I'm sorry. Go ahead.
Speaker 3:I'm just I'm I'm gonna defend my, friends.
Hannah / Eryn:But the are the kobolds that we won, Horcrux against, still around?
Tim / GM:No. They they they split because they knew they were in trouble.
Hannah / Eryn:Okay. Obviously, your gremlins are not here anymore. So
Tim / GM:The grand shifts?
Hannah / Eryn:No. We won. Hot Crocs. And then, she gestures over to Snack. And I just imagine Snack, like and you can say this is different, but he's, like, the boxing champion with, like, a like, a gold belt, like, around his waist.
Hannah / Eryn:Like, yeah.
Tim / GM:I mean, clearly, Snack is riding high on his victory, but, Buster refuses to recognize, your your your your game and your earnings. He says, you stole from us and I need it back.
Hannah / Eryn:Buster, you probably just wanna be rid of these things anyway, so why don't you just let us be?
Tim / GM:He, he kinda puts his his, giant hand to his head, and he says, this is so much more complicated
Hannah / Eryn:than you understand.
Speaker 3:Well, explain it then. If I don't get those back. We don't have them. I mean, you
Hannah / Eryn:can search my bag and she Holly holds up her bag of secrets and, like, opens it and it's empty.
Tim / GM:He, he takes the bag and he feels the heft of it and then he, like, reaches in there to grab something and he pulls his hand out retrieving nothing and he just kind of looks at you and he says, what is this?
Hannah / Eryn:I told you we didn't we don't have them, but you can search us.
Tim / GM:He says, I can feel something, and he, like, shakes the bag around because he can still feel the heft of it and the weight of the stuff inside, but he can't reach it.
Hannah / Eryn:I don't know.
Speaker 3:She wears weights for, physical training.
Tim / GM:Okay. I'll I'll strike
Speaker 7:a deal. I I don't need all of this. I just need one thing. Give me one item back. It's important.
Speaker 7:If I don't, Joe will kill me.
Speaker 3:Joe? Joe will kill you.
Hannah / Eryn:Elixir boy?
Speaker 3:He's so small, though.
Hannah / Eryn:We killed Joe.
Tim / GM:You don't understand. He's got half this tone under his thumb.
Speaker 3:And we will get it out from underneath me.
Tim / GM:Because I just need the beetle back.
Hannah / Eryn:Is Joe a vampire?
Tim / GM:If I
Speaker 7:can get the beetle, you can go.
Speaker 3:Why do you need it back so bad?
Speaker 7:It's it's the most valuable one we have.
Tim / GM:I can lose things, but I can't lose this. That would be the end.
Hannah / Eryn:Well, you better start searching, buddy.
Speaker 7:It's like I know you have it.
Speaker 8:Okay. I'm a cast magic missile
Tim / GM:Okay.
Speaker 8:Because I think we're under attack. I'm, like, I'm in shock, and I hit the ground, and I'm just, like, panicking, and I think you're all in trouble too. And
Tim / GM:so, Uli, you see Buster kind of stumble forward and take a heavy hoof stomp onto the boardwalk beneath his feet as he sort of pushed by the first missile, and then 2 more impact him, and he almost loses his balance before he whirls around.
Speaker 7:And he says, you just messed up.
Speaker 3:I'm gonna grab the back of his whatever he's wearing.
Tim / GM:And so, he had turned around to go after Tibio, and, you try to grapple him, and he, like, wheels around on you and just kinda grabs you, like, by the shoulders and just, like, throws you to the ground. And, he continues towards Tibio.
Speaker 2:I would like to cast a spell. Okay. The spell is sanctuary.
Tim / GM:Oh, okay.
Speaker 2:And I'll cast on Tibio.
Tim / GM:Tibio, you're on the ground, you know, having having sort of cast with one arm up. You're laying next to a boiler, that is, supplying heat for the laboratory actions down here. He walks up to you, and, he actually doesn't have a weapon. He just raises a hoof, and he's trying to, like, stomp you onto the ground. He is going to make an attack against you.
Tim / GM:So he, like, raises his hoof, and he's, like, going to, like, step straight down on you. And the best you can do is, like, raise an arm to protect yourself knowing that you've got the shield spell to back you up.
Speaker 3:Mhmm.
Tim / GM:But he actually kind of, like, decides against carnage in the moment. And, he he, instead of stomping, he just kind of, like, throws a fist against the boiler, and, you guys see this cloud of steam, going everywhere. And, also, in the room is just obscured by this white steam, but you can still hear him kinda grumbling even though there's almost no visibility in this room.
Speaker 2:Timmyo, get back. You'll be safe. Safe.
Speaker 8:I'm crawling. I'm crawling clinkety clang.
Tim / GM:Yeah. So, yeah, you you were able to climb, kind of in the direction you know the door to be. And, once you hit that that door frame, you're a lot more free, and, like, your vision is a lot more clear. So, yeah, you're you're clear and you can see your party. You can still hear Buster stomping around in the other room, but you all have now, gathered again, in the room you've already been in, and Buster is in the other room.
Tim / GM:So you've got a clear path for escape at this point.
John / Doran:My friends, let's go. We must be we must escape. We have to find Veronica.
Hannah / Eryn:Holly just, like, starts running up the escape route.
Speaker 3:Let's book it. Yeah. Let's go.
Tim / GM:You hear, like, heavy, hoof stomps, that he takes, like, 2 steps towards you guys, and then he actually turns around and walks the other way, and you hear a distant voice call up. And he just says, like, time to pack up and go. They're on to us.
John / Doran:Who's he yelling at?
Speaker 2:Did you see anyone else out there
Speaker 3:back there?
John / Doran:I didn't see anyone else.
Tim / GM:I
Speaker 3:assume he's yelling up at Joe.
Speaker 6:I thought we were the type to take prisoners. What are we doing?
Speaker 3:Trying not to be?
John / Doran:Monsieur Snack, we were the prisoners. We must leave.
Speaker 2:We should maybe aim a little smaller for our first prisoner.
Speaker 3:With that thought, if we go up the staircase, I wanted to prepare to cast reduce on Dave just to make it past him.
Tim / GM:Okay. Yeah. So you you guys all pile back up the stairs, and, when you open the door, Uli, I assume you're at the front then?
Speaker 3:Yeah. Is he there?
Tim / GM:Yeah. So you see Dave, and he's actually staring at the door. He's not doing his potatoes. He's waiting for you guys to come up.
Speaker 3:I don't wanna talk about it. Let us go, or I will make you let us go.
Tim / GM:He, he looks down at the boardwalk, and he says, Joe's gonna kill me.
Speaker 3:Then run away.
Tim / GM:He says, just go. You have no idea what you've done.
Speaker 3:I didn't actually do I didn't do this.
John / Doran:Monsieur Dave, we will take care of Joe. We know what he has done.
Tim / GM:He, he kinda, like, closes his eyes and looks down towards the boardwalk, and he says, go.
Speaker 3:Thank you. We run. We run.
Tim / GM:So where are you guys running to? Girl, it's your plan. Yeah.
Speaker 8:I was thinking Veronica.
Hannah / Eryn:Sure. Let's go to Veronica's house. She's my babe.
Speaker 8:She's the closest that we can get to out of town even though we're in town right now.
Hannah / Eryn:I gotta walk back her tarot cards anyway.
Tim / GM:Yeah. So, yeah, you guys are, what, running across town, walking across town? Just curious what your
Hannah / Eryn:Fly, you fools.
Tim / GM:Visible level of panic is.
Hannah / Eryn:I'm gonna run.
Speaker 2:I'm gonna say quickly walking. Of course. Yeah.
Speaker 3:Like Yeah.
Speaker 2:Trying to get an appearance of casual
Tim / GM:ness. So you guys are are are moving at a steady clip towards Veronica's house on the outskirts of town. As you're walking, you notice so many of the townsfolk, a lot of them, like, see you, and they're like, oh, it's like the sheriffs or whatever, and you see kind of the recognition in their face, and they they're they kinda have this look like, oh, something must be happening. Like, they're going somewhere. But about half of the citizens look up at you and just watch you as if they're taking notes.
Tim / GM:Boy. Boy.
Hannah / Eryn:As soon as we get into Veronica's, we need to talk.
Tim / GM:As you guys are kind of approaching her hut, you see that you're being distantly followed by about 6 people.
Hannah / Eryn:I'm gonna knock. Noted. Veronica's door. Totally worked.
Tim / GM:You see a a curtain open up, not near the door, but she's just trying to steal a peep at who's at her door before you guys see, and you hear Let us in. She says, I thought we were done with this.
Hannah / Eryn:Please. I we need help.
Tim / GM:Who are they?
Hannah / Eryn:I don't know. Hearty, let us in.
John / Doran:Let us in. Miss Veronica, we are we are in danger. The whole town is cursed.
Speaker 3:Oh, dear.
Tim / GM:You hear the door unlock.
Hannah / Eryn:I open the door and push like, we all fall in together.
Tim / GM:She, locks it behind you, and, she, looks out the peephole of the door at the people that are outside and just says, what have you done this time?
Speaker 3:How good is that lock? No reason.
Speaker 8:I, I use mage hand to assist me to move some furniture in front of the door, like it's carrying one side of a dresser and I'm carrying the other side.
Speaker 7:Oh, good idea. Mhmm.
Speaker 3:I'll help barricade.
Tim / GM:She kind of, like, gestures towards the couch and sort of like, hey, I really like that couch
Hannah / Eryn:sort of way.
Tim / GM:As you guys are are just kind of, upending her place. She says, what what have you what done? What's going on?
Hannah / Eryn:So we went to the Underdog and but this doesn't really matter. The real thing that matters is Joe, the elixir guy is selling these elixirs that are cursed with vampire blood. What do you know? Tell me everything you know about vampire blood. And she's grabbing Veronica by her shoulders and, like, shaking her.
Hannah / Eryn:What do
Speaker 8:you While she's doing that, Tibeo is also barricading the back door having not forgotten his previous experience with that fucking backdoor.
Tim / GM:And, yeah, sure enough, when you go around the back, you can see through a little curtained window that there are people that have moved around back, and they're kind of surrounding the house. She says, the vampires, they they they suck blood and they,
Hannah / Eryn:yes
Tim / GM:well they create more vampires don't they?
Speaker 2:That's kind of the basics
Hannah / Eryn:are they all vampires then
Tim / GM:well no because it's 3 o'clock
Speaker 3:and they're fine. What does that mean?
Tim / GM:That if it were daytime, I believe and she looks outside at the people again and says, yes. I believe sunlight would have some effect on them if they were vampires.
John / Doran:The sunlight
Speaker 9:shanks rats himself down and checks his teeth, concerned he is now a vampire.
Tim / GM:Yeah. You're wait. I mean, you do have sharp canines. Maybe this is worth looking into.
Speaker 6:Sharp canines, and I hate the sunlight.
Tim / GM:Maybe that encounter with a vampire earlier in your life. Perhaps I am a vampire.
John / Doran:Snake, I do not believe you are a vampire. I do not believe any of the townspeople are vampires, but how can you use vampire blood in an
Tim / GM:Of course. Yes. He's open. He probably opens earlier and closes later than any other shop on Blackwater Water Road.
Speaker 3:Yeah. Did you think it was kind of weird when you asked for a potion to control people that Buster kind of freaked out?
Hannah / Eryn:He obviously seems like he was very afraid of Joe. So Joe somehow seems very in charge of it, at least of this, like, I don't know. But Joe doesn't seem like a vampire. So who is the vampire?
John / Doran:I I think, regardless, we've got to stop Joe. Right? Oui. We must stop Joe. He is evil.
Hannah / Eryn:Veronica, where does Joe live?
Tim / GM:I believe Joe, has a room in the back of his shop.
Hannah / Eryn:But a shop on Blackwater Row, Row, you mean?
Tim / GM:Yes.
Hannah / Eryn:Is there a secret way to get there?
Tim / GM:There's no secret way to get to him. She looks out the curtain again and says, I'm afraid
Speaker 2:you're it's not true.
Tim / GM:Well, they associate me with the trouble that they've had here, yes.
John / Doran:Is there any way you'd be willing to help us create a distraction?
Tim / GM:What? And and reaffirm their suspicions of me being a crazy old witch?
John / Doran:Well, maybe for a moment, but, if we can stop Joe, then it should stop all this. Right?
Tim / GM:You've got a good point, young man.
John / Doran:Miss Varenneke, excuse me more. Do you know anything about uncursing?
Tim / GM:I do. Are you cursed?
John / Doran:I don't we may be cursed. I don't know. We've been associating with the cursed people so much.
Tim / GM:Tibiyoshi grabs you by the chin and just, like, pulls your lip down and looks at the inside of your lip and just, like, like, pulls down your eyelid and, looks closely at your eye.
John / Doran:Oh my goodness.
Tim / GM:Leans over and kind of, like, smells around your collar and says, not sure. Not sure. Not cursed. No.
Speaker 2:These towns people are definitely cursed.
Tim / GM:She says, wait. Wait a minute. She looks over at Uli and says, yes. A curse has set on you and
Speaker 3:Hey. I just look like this.
Tim / GM:And you too, Holly. Holly, a curse has taken hold and you
Speaker 2:You're cursed. Oh
Tim / GM:Oh. Oh, dear. This poor creature. How many curses do you hold?
Speaker 9:He gestures. He's looking behind him.
Speaker 6:What creature?
Tim / GM:Smack, at this point, you have gone blind in your right eye, and, like, snot is just, like, rolling down your nose. Ew.
Speaker 9:I rub my nose on her sofa. The fan's
Hannah / Eryn:gonna stick. She
Tim / GM:goes, hey. She, she reaches into a drawer, and she pulls out a a crystal, like, a cut clear crystal, on a long string. And the crystal sort of, sort of moves through the air and and sort of points at, at Uli. She says, Uli, it seems you certainly are cursed. Let's try to find the nature of this.
Tim / GM:What is your curse, Uli? What do you feel?
Speaker 3:Do I feel not normal?
Tim / GM:You haven't noticed anything quite yet. Okay. Yeah. Fine. Well, keep an eye on yourself.
Tim / GM:And and Holly, have you felt anything strange?
Hannah / Eryn:Holly, like, looks at Henri on her shoulder, and she's she's like, no.
Tim / GM:While you're looking at Henri, you actually, like, squint at her for a second, and you kinda feel like squishing her. Just like he felt, like, slapping around, Uli before.
Hannah / Eryn:Henri? And then she looks back at, Veronica and there's, like, nods. Just like, oh,
Speaker 8:she's really worried.
Tim / GM:I see I see the hatred in your eyes. Let me focus on that. And, she holds the crystal again, and it starts to point at that rope that you got, from Buster. You you paid 10 gold pieces for a a magic rope
John / Doran:Yeah.
Tim / GM:That had no explanation. And she says, and and what seems to be ailing? Oh, Jesus.
Speaker 9:What? Trying to nap on the sofa.
Tim / GM:Yeah. Snack, you've got, like, a head cold that just won't quit, and, you're almost entirely blind.
Speaker 9:She I can't see.
Tim / GM:The the crystal is is pointing to you, but it's kind of spinning around at the same time and, and sort of wobbling. And she says, what did you get into?
Speaker 6:Now I'll I'll go show you.
Speaker 9:I pull up my lamp and I, hop into it. And,
Tim / GM:You start throwing out things from in there?
Speaker 9:One one awkward minute goes by and then I climb out, carrying the scepter and, the silver chalice, iron manacles, and a coin.
Hannah / Eryn:I feel like every everybody else is probably just shocked right now because we've never seen this lamp before, and we're just
Tim / GM:like We saw
Speaker 9:it right
Tim / GM:at the
Speaker 2:end of last week.
Tim / GM:Yeah. You guys saw him put something into it, which the scepter, which was pretty trippy, just watching it disappear into the lamp. She's just kind of slowly nodding as this all happens and watching very intently.
Speaker 6:Veronica, these are offerings for my genie.
John / Doran:Genie?
Speaker 3:He has a genie.
Tim / GM:She says, well,
John / Doran:A genie?
Tim / GM:Not the luckiest genie. These are terribly cursed. You notice, Snack, that you're holding, the coin, the chalice, and the manacles in one hand, and you didn't mean to do this, but you're holding the scepter in your left hand behind your back.
Speaker 9:It's definitely obvious. It's probably, like, 3 times my size.
John / Doran:Snack, what is that you're holding?
Speaker 9:What? And I, hop up on the back of the sofa, and I slowly, like, lower the scepter behind the couch.
Tim / GM:She says, yes. Yes. What? This here. And she, like, touches the manacles, and she goes, oh, terribly cursed.
Hannah / Eryn:What do we do with these cursed things? We didn't we didn't really know.
Speaker 6:I failed, Genie. This is bad.
Tim / GM:Well, this doesn't need my power. Thankfully, these are superficial curses. These items are cursed. They haven't transferred their curses onto you quite yet.
Hannah / Eryn:Can we just throw them out that crowd out there?
Tim / GM:It's better to take them out of circulation. You could leave them with me, and I could destroy them when I have the strength to do so.
Hannah / Eryn:Sounds good. Holly just dumps her bag of holding.
Speaker 3:This is a lot of magical items.
Speaker 2:Are are you worried about this curse affecting you?
Tim / GM:I won't touch them directly.
Hannah / Eryn:Okay. Holly dumps the gold beetle, the cat statue, the bone talisman, and the gauntlets on her floor, and they clatter.
John / Doran:I'm going to pick up
Speaker 3:a I'm going to pick up the beetle with a cloth and keep that one because Okay. They were, like, very specifically interested in that.
Tim / GM:Yeah. Yeah.
John / Doran:I crouch by the bone talisman, and I carefully put my hands behind my back and
Speaker 8:I squat down and look
John / Doran:at it very closely on the floor.
Tim / GM:She says, curious, and you said these were cursed?
John / Doran:Yeah. Miss Veronica, is this bone is this bone cursed?
Tim / GM:No. No. Not all of these are cursed. She says these are, and she separates them into 2 piles. The, beetle cursed.
Tim / GM:Do you give up the scepter? No. Okay. Beetle cursed, rope cursed, coin cellist, manacles cursed. She, she begins looking at them.
Tim / GM:She she pulls out another crystal. It's this large, like, opalescent, coin shape, and it's very thin, so thin that you can actually see through the the rock. And, she looks at these items through the rock, and she goes, yes. Yes. Manacles, permanent head cold, I'm afraid.
Tim / GM:And she, like, lifts them up carefully with a cloth and, like, puts them in a box. Chalice? Blindness over time. Ugly, ugly, ugly, and she puts it away. Rope?
Tim / GM:Oh, you could've hurt someone, Holly. This causes you to be aggressive towards people you love.
Hannah / Eryn:Holly, like, takes Henri and just, like, holds him to your heart.
Tim / GM:And this That knuckles. Coin. Yeah. Thankfully that didn't come into play. Seems to alternate the volume of your voice.
Speaker 8:Did Uli grab did you present the brass knuckles at all?
Speaker 3:Yeah. That's how I assume I got cursed.
Tim / GM:Right. She she said you were cursed, but yours hadn't manifested yet.
John / Doran:Okay.
Tim / GM:She says, complicated. This is a tricky curse. Tell me, were you able to talk while moving?
Speaker 3:I don't know.
Tim / GM:Well, then it seems the curse didn't have time to quite set in, but that would be quite aggravating, I'm sure. Well, let's be rid of these five things. No. For these, she looks at the other stuff on the ground.
Speaker 6:Veronica.
Tim / GM:Yes?
Speaker 9:How can I keep these manacles without getting sick myself? These would
Speaker 6:be excellent torture. Very subtle. Useful over time. Yeah, when we need to get information from our prisoners, Veronica. I'm not sure
John / Doran:I
Tim / GM:can condone such a thing.
John / Doran:No, Snick. We don't require the minicos.
Tim / GM:In general, it's not good to keep cursed items on your person, even if you're not touching them. It's dangerous.
Speaker 9:Okay.
Speaker 3:What does the beetle do?
Tim / GM:She, like, gets close to it, looks at it with her, opalescent stone circle. She can't seem to quite, make out the nature of it. She says, this is, I think, something we need to be careful with. I can't quite make out the nature of it. It's it's too big to see.
Speaker 3:I feel like this is a quest item.
John / Doran:Even if it's cursed,
Speaker 2:I think it's best to keep it with us instead of leaving it here where, for all we know, those townspeople
John / Doran:will break down the door and steal it.
Tim / GM:Yeah. And nobody wants that.
Hannah / Eryn:Mhmm.
Tim / GM:But these here, these aren't cursed at all, and she holds up the cat statue and the bone talisman with her bare hands. What about the gauntlets? Very cursed.
Hannah / Eryn:Cursed. Quite
Tim / GM:quite an intriguing curse, however. Are you familiar with the command
Speaker 3:spell? Vaguely.
Speaker 2:That's one of mine.
Tim / GM:Well, these are imbued with the command spell, in a sort of inverted way. Anyone wearing these gauntlets, the gauntlets react to every request as if the command spell had been cast on the wearer. I don't want those. Anyone wearing these gauntlets would be subject to the commands and whims of every person around them.
Speaker 3:But maybe we should keep them?
John / Doran:They're safe to keep without wearing?
Tim / GM:I'm not sure what kind of good you could get up to with these.
John / Doran:We don't kick shame at this party.
Tim / GM:Well, then I'm not going to either.
Hannah / Eryn:You can
Tim / GM:keep them.
John / Doran:Miss miss Harley, is it okay if I have the bone talisman?
Tim / GM:Of course. It's yours. Oh, sorry. You are talking to not Veronica. Mind my own business.
Tim / GM:I'm gonna make some tea.
Hannah / Eryn:It's fine. It's fine. Yes, of course. I mean, I take it's online. Take it.
Hannah / Eryn:Take it, Dave.
John / Doran:Alright. Thank you.
Speaker 8:And I take the bone talisman and I look at it. Is there anything that I can tell about it from my bone knowledge?
Tim / GM:You can you can feel it, like it's almost like the the feeling of repelling magnets. This seems to have a sort of, like, a force against your hands. It's, you immediately recognize it as, the fingertip, of a dwarf, actually. It's pretty easy for you to to tell what bones belong to what creature and what bone it is.
John / Doran:Cool.
Tim / GM:However, to the every time you set this fingertip down, like, on the on the flat of your palm, the fingertip turns and points in a certain direction.
Speaker 8:If I'm facing in a different direction, it's still it's like a compass. It points in a particular direction.
Tim / GM:Yeah. It is a compass, and it's always pointing west, slightly northwest.
Hannah / Eryn:You guys, I have a paper dinghy. I can make us a boat to get around outside. If we get to the ocean, I can make us a boat to escape and get out of the the town. So we're trying to skip town instead of But we missed
John / Doran:all the problems. Well, we'll No. We have to help these people.
Hannah / Eryn:We need to go report this to a higher power because I think this is beyond us right now.
John / Doran:I've got an idea.
Hannah / Eryn:Okay.
Speaker 2:During my studies, I read a few books about prognostication. If I could steal those tarot cards for just a bit, we might be able to get a little insight on our next plane of action.
Tim / GM:She says, please. And she, takes the very same ones that Holly had just given back.
Speaker 2:Alright.
John / Doran:So
Tim / GM:You're going to tell all of us what prognostication means.
Speaker 2:Our two options are going after Joe or leaving town. I think I should ask the cards about going after Joe if that will stop the curse.
Tim / GM:I agree.
Speaker 8:I agree with Uli. We should stay.
Speaker 2:Alright. I'm casting the spell, Agri. Okay. By casting out ornate cards or employing some other divining tool, you receive an omen from an otherworldly entity about the results of a specific course of action that you plan to take within the next 30 minutes.
Tim / GM:Okay. So you, you cast augury on these tarot cards. Cool. And, when you flip the first card over, it's not the fool, and it's not the lovers or the tower or the moon or any of that. It's actually just in Times New Roman, a bold news headline
Speaker 7:that says,
Tim / GM:heroes stand up to local poisoner. Save town.
Speaker 6:Oh, that seems good.
Tim / GM:Bert, you flip over another card Okay. Just seeing what else is there. Mhmm. You see the next card. The the print is much more faded, and it says, local madman, poisoner, run out of town on the loose.
Tim / GM:You flip over a 3rd card to try to see, and the print is just too faded to see anything further. Curious. So you guys actually hear a thud against the door of Veronica's, cottage, and it's, one of the, zombified vamp blood thugs. Yeah. Yeah.
Tim / GM:It's, like, it's not a very, like, strong thing. It it really sounds like somebody just walked into the door.
Speaker 6:Were you expecting company, Veronica?
Tim / GM:She says, I'm afraid not. And she, walks back to the curtain one more time and takes a peek and says, oh, that's a lot of them.
John / Doran:So, miss Veronica, I'm confused. Have you uncursed Uly and Holly and Sneck?
Tim / GM:It seems these curses didn't have enough time to really set in and they're they're pretty minor in the first place.
John / Doran:So if they do not have the items anymore, they will no longer be cursed.
Tim / GM:That's correct.
John / Doran:What about these people outside who have been drinking the elixir? The cursed vampire blood elixir. Do you know how to uncurse them?
Tim / GM:She reaches back onto, the desk and grabs that opal, circle again and looks through it at the people outside. She says, there there's no curse. This is something else.
John / Doran:I thought I looked at them and found saw a curse.
Speaker 2:Well, it was some sort of magical effect.
John / Doran:Some sort of aura.
Speaker 2:Yeah. Are you seeing that, Veronica?
Tim / GM:I'm not seeing a curse. Let me try another lens.
Speaker 8:There's got fucking crystals that are just like
Tim / GM:Yeah.
Speaker 3:Veronica. Yes? How well do you know Joe?
Tim / GM:I well, Joe is sort of a a wheeler and dealer. I tend to stay away from those types of folk.
Speaker 3:That's not what I heard.
Speaker 6:What have you heard?
Hannah / Eryn:Just rumors.
Speaker 8:Juicy Veronica's this hermit lady she's like oh rumors about me
Tim / GM:I've I've had conversations with Joe before, but I'm not a patron of his. I don't dislike him.
Hannah / Eryn:You don't dislike him?
Tim / GM:He's done nothing wrong to me. It doesn't make me evil.
Hannah / Eryn:Well, I mean, you and Joe are about the same age? I mean No. You no?
Tim / GM:I think Joe is older. 20 years, my my my my,
Hannah / Eryn:I'm sorry. Veronica is much younger.
Speaker 8:The opposite of senior.
Tim / GM:20 years my junior.
Hannah / Eryn:Well, yes. But why does that matter to a woman?
Speaker 2:To a young man, that's nothing.
Hannah / Eryn:In her prime?
Tim / GM:She says fine. He's a handsome young man. What do you want from me?
Speaker 3:Me? Well, Umi told me that Get some yellow.
Hannah / Eryn:We've seen Joe sneaking into your cabin a few nights.
Tim / GM:That's categorically untrue. Wait. Wait. Which night?
Speaker 3:I
Tim / GM:mean, he came by for a tarot reading is
Hannah / Eryn:what I meant. Mhmm. Okay, Joe.
Speaker 9:A hell
Tim / GM:of a tarot reading.
Speaker 3:Tell us.
Tim / GM:Still sore.
Hannah / Eryn:Where would Joe go to hide? Where can we find him?
Tim / GM:Joe? I don't think he's a hider. I think he's a runner. I think he would get out of town, and I think he would try to do this again. If I had to put money on it, I say he's heading for Tildry.
John / Doran:We gotta get moving. We gotta get
Speaker 2:to his shop and stop him. Veronica, how about that distraction we talked about?
Tim / GM:I've been so distracted, I forgot about the distraction. She takes a look out the window and says, I count maybe 12. Well, we could go kind of slapstick. I go one way, you go the other.
Hannah / Eryn:Yes. This is perfect.
Tim / GM:She says, alright. Let's, let's get the fireworks cracking. And, she opens a bunch of drawers, and she's just taking, like, fistfuls of little crystals. And she's, like, flicking them out into the open air, and they kind of, like, speed away from her, but then they quickly slow and stop in midair. And she does this to, like, 15, 16, 20 different jewels, and they're all glowing with these different colors.
Tim / GM:And then she sort of taps them, and they start to glow brightly. And she taps them more and more, and they get brighter and brighter. And then she just kind of starts swatting them with her hand, and then all of these, bright shining crystals are just kind of swirling around her. And she goes, that should be enough. She says, can someone get the door for me?
Tim / GM:I don't want these to hit
Hannah / Eryn:Holly Holly runs to the door.
Speaker 3:I'll scooch the couch out
Tim / GM:of the way.
Hannah / Eryn:I'll be open. Throw opens the door.
Speaker 8:We, like, push the furniture just enough to, like, open the door.
Tim / GM:Where are you heading? I'm going to take them to Blackwater.
Speaker 3:Because my camera fell there.
Speaker 2:To Joe's place?
Tim / GM:Okay. Well, then I won't take them to Blackwater.
John / Doran:Uli, where do you think you would go to try and get out of the city on secret?
Speaker 3:I mean there's probably other secret tunnels if the underdock exists.
John / Doran:Should we go away from the gate? Would would it be safe to assume that the secret, exit would be away from the gate so as not to draw attention.
Speaker 2:But do we think Joe's gotten away yet? He hasn't had long to pack up all the stuff.
Hannah / Eryn:I think we need to go to Joe's shop. That's where we should start, and we can maybe figure out from there what he likes.
John / Doran:And maybe we can track him
Tim / GM:if he wants.
Hannah / Eryn:Yeah. Let's do that. And we know for a row. We know Joe's
Speaker 3:shop is connected to the other room.
John / Doran:Annika, why don't you lead them to the front gate where there are already a lot of people?
Tim / GM:Give me just a couple of minutes. And, you, open the door for her, and, she steps out, and she just says, disco fever. And she and, she goes kind of right through the crowd, and they all, like, turn to face her, as she runs. And, almost the entire crowd, except for 2 people, turn and walk after her.
Speaker 2:Now that's a distraction.
Tim / GM:The 2 kind of start walking after you guys in sort of like a a psychoserial killer sort of way where they're just walking, but they'll catch up with you. The 5 of you pour out into Blackwater Row. You see, the shops here are actually cleared out even though it's midday. It seems something is going on where it is not a normal business day here.
Speaker 2:We're going into a dangerous situation here. I'm gonna cast aid on the party.
Tim / GM:And who are you targeting with that?
Speaker 2:Uli, Snackin', Tibio.
Tim / GM:So, when you approach, Joe's elixirs, you see, that shelf has been, hastily swept away. You can see that there are some shattered Just
Speaker 7:a shelf.
Tim / GM:Rose water potions on the ground. So it looks like he took all of his available stock and split. You look in the back room and you see, like, a smattering of, like, lesser potions that he didn't even care to grab. Among them, you find a couple, small healing potions that'll give you a 2 d 4 plus 2.
Hannah / Eryn:Holly takes one of them.
Tim / GM:And, Uli, you wanna drink the other one right now?
John / Doran:Yeah.
Tim / GM:Okay. You, you guys also hear, a trap door, open up. Fuck. And you hear a, like, scrabbling, scurrying noise.
Hannah / Eryn:Holly, like, puts her head in.
Tim / GM:You look in the back room and you see a kobolds that is holding a flask.
Hannah / Eryn:What are you doing?
Tim / GM:Looks up and says,
Speaker 8:Where is Joe?
Tim / GM:Hot crocs? What?
Hannah / Eryn:Where is Joe?
Tim / GM:Joe, I have to give him, I don't know. He he, he, like, protects the vial that he's holding and he takes a step back from you. He says, I don't know.
Hannah / Eryn:Stop. Holly cast friends on the skull
Speaker 9:vault. Okay.
Speaker 3:Okay. I was gonna try and intimidate him, but if that works, then
Tim / GM:It's a it's a mixed message from the party. It's like, hey, we can get along
Hannah / Eryn:and lose a book.
Speaker 8:That sounds about right for us.
Tim / GM:Yeah. Yeah. Let's just see which one wins here. Okay.
John / Doran:So
Tim / GM:you make the intimidate and you, you cast friends. Holly, like, leans in with the friend spell and starts, speaking to the kobolds with with the magic of friends kind of on her lips, and he briefly looks over at Uli. And, Uli, what do you say to intimidate him?
Speaker 3:Hey. So,
Tim / GM:yeah, Holly leans in and starts talking to him sweetly, and then you walk and go, hey. And he, like, looks over at you kind of quizzically with his eyebrows furrowed and then looks back at Holly. Like, she's like, what
Speaker 3:do you want? Pause.
John / Doran:Tell us
Hannah / Eryn:who Jo went, please.
Tim / GM:I, need to deliver, flask, vampire blood. Joe needs it back, and valuable. So, yeah, I'm a give it back.
Hannah / Eryn:Where is Joe? And Holly, like, gives him a little, like like, winky kiss and, like, gives him a little tickle behind his ear. Joe?
Tim / GM:Joe's leaving.
Hannah / Eryn:Where'd he go?
Tim / GM:Nah. It's the end of the business. What? Joe? He's leaving town.
Hannah / Eryn:But which direction?
Tim / GM:Front gates, probably.
Hannah / Eryn:Oh, okay. Thank you. And she's a little kiss kiss.
Tim / GM:As you guys are leaving the shop headed towards the front gates, Bert, you get a tingle on your left wrist Oh. Which indicates, that you're about to get a notice, from the court of Tildry, and it says, you are to appear in court, in
Speaker 7:72 hours.
Tim / GM:Yeah. You're kind of, like, seeing this, like, as text that just kind of appears in your mind. Okay. It's not a voice. Like
Speaker 2:a message spell kind
Tim / GM:of? Yeah. Kinda. So it says, you're 2 appear in court in 72 hours, and it says the case, mysterious death of Brax Minnow.
Speaker 3:Brax?
Speaker 2:He's dead.
Tim / GM:But there's no time for that.
John / Doran:Bear to his Brax. We are on the look for Joe. Oh, sorry. Yeah. Let's go.
Tim / GM:As you guys approach the, outer gates of Lamplight, you see that prior lockdown was over. And so there were wagons and carriages and caravans that were parked here for several days, kind of living in this line. You see the this giant cluster of people parting side to side as Joe McMillan strides down the center of this area just to leave the gates, and everybody seems to be moving out of the way, because, standing in front of Joe leading the charge is sheriff Tandy.
Speaker 8:Ah, fuck. No. We locked her up.
John / Doran:No. I'm just dead.
Tim / GM:You see him kind of, like, turn his head just barely to look down at you.
Speaker 3:Stop.
Tim / GM:He says, no. I, I don't think I'm going to.
Speaker 3:Can I intimidate him and maybe
Speaker 7:Yeah? You can always try.
Speaker 8:Not with that attitude.
Tim / GM:You say whatever you said in your angriest voice and you see Joe kind of scanning the crowd and he goes, who said that?
Speaker 3:I'm, I'm embarrassed.
Speaker 2:Uli, maybe we should
John / Doran:sit this one out. He's got a lot of people on his side here.
Speaker 3:We're supposed to stop him. Can we? I mean, he's so small and weak.
Speaker 9:Snack walks up to, Joe with a rope and starts walking around him with a rope.
Hannah / Eryn:Oh, Snack's dead.
Tim / GM:He says, Joe.
Speaker 6:Joe the human. You are now a prisoner for stealing blood of a vampire and giving it to others.
Tim / GM:He says.
Speaker 6:That is not your own blood. It belongs to a vampire, and you took it. And now you will go to jail.
Tim / GM:Healing sounds as you're not one of mine, aren't you?
Speaker 9:What?
Tim / GM:He says, would you mind?
Hannah / Eryn:And he,
Tim / GM:he looks up at some people that are standing in the crowd, and they just kind of walk towards you. And, 3 humans kind of grab you from all angles and try to pull you out, Joe. I You're just gonna extract snack? Yeah. Alright.
Tim / GM:I'm gonna have you make a contested grapple check against those people.
Speaker 3:Okay. I feel like this is something I should be good at.
Hannah / Eryn:Holly's gonna try to help her.
Speaker 8:Okay. We back.
Speaker 3:Nat 20.
Tim / GM:Oh my gosh.
John / Doran:It's like a
Speaker 3:A snack extraction.
Hannah / Eryn:Snack extraction.
Tim / GM:Yes. So you it's a it's a perfectly executed snack extraction, where, snack, you are able to, keep your rope with you instead of, having him take control of it in any way. You just kind of pull it along with you. So you only got, like, one circle around him?
Speaker 9:As, I'm being pulled away, I say rock rope, and then it, hardens, and then I, like, trip him.
Tim / GM:As as Uli is extracting you from the situation, she tugs hard on you to get you away from those people, and you're still holding on to the rope. And so this rope has formed a sort of, like, rigid, metallic hula hoop around Joe. And even though it's pretty loose on him, you still grab him kind of around the knees, and he just crumbles and falls to the ground. And you actually drag him, like, 2 or 3 feet across the boardwalk, and you just see him go, like, hey.
Speaker 6:To prison. To torture. You will be Snacks prisoner soon.
Tim / GM:Yeah.
Speaker 6:How dare you? You see,
Tim / GM:the, the rope has, like, slid off of his, legs. It wasn't quite tight enough to hold on to him. And he stands back up and he says, I see. This is going to have to be an altercation then, isn't it?
Speaker 6:Yes.
Tim / GM:For the sake of that, I think we'll roll initiative.
Hannah / Eryn:Woo. 1st fight, Duncan.
Tim / GM:So to start us off with this, just to set the stage a little bit, so you guys are in a terminal of people. You've got maybe 15 feet of space to work with and then a long line that leads to the closed front gates of lamplight. And then on either side of you are is are these massive throngs of people and wagons and horses and things that are, like, ready to leave the city as soon as lockdown is over. In the middle of it all is the 5 of you, sheriff Tandy and Joe.
Speaker 3:Is Emery here with his giant cursed sword?
Tim / GM:You haven't seen him yet. This would be like a large open plaza with, like, a cobblestone floor. Only only right next to the gate is actual land. The rest of it is sort of, boardwalk, like wood. So you guys are mostly on wood, like, boardwalk, and then right at the gate is, like, cobblestone and actual earth.
Tim / GM:So you guys have got about 15 feet of space to work with that's completely clear and then an infinite amount of space in the kind of, like, north south axis. Like I said, these people have cleared a way for for, for Joe to leave, and they've all kind of, like, stood apart from him because he's being led by sheriff Tandy.
Speaker 8:Are the gates open yet?
Tim / GM:They're not.
Speaker 8:Okay. While there is chaos surrounding Snack, lassoing Joe and Uli picking them all up, Tibio is going to make his way to the gate and stand in front of it with hands on hips and say, none none shall leave. You are outcast. You cannot leave.
Tim / GM:Okay. So, yeah, Tevillo is is the gatekeeper here.
John / Doran:Making a stand.
Tim / GM:Snack had the highest initiative.
Speaker 7:So
Tim / GM:let's start there. Yeah. You, had just been put down by Uli, and, and Joe has stood back to his feet and is kind of dusting himself off staring at you, Snack.
Speaker 9:Snack will, zap him. He gestures at Joe and says, die.
Tim / GM:Okay. So, again, you guys see a violet, Eldridge blast, come out with a fair bit of velocity, but then it sort of starts to spiral and just kind of turns into a deflated balloon and flies away. I see that. Else, Snack? What's your posture against, Joe right now and Tandy?
Tim / GM:Tandy, he really hasn't acted yet.
Speaker 9:I'm hunched over holding on to the rope and tried to shoot the blast with one hand, and, I'm looking a little not nervous, but a little more cautious than I was before, and I start wrapping up the rope.
Tim / GM:And, as that as that eldritch bolt kind of spirals away, you see a bunch of people in the crowd, like, gasp and, like, move away from its trajectory. And then you see, like, it kind of, like, lands into the crowd, and you see a bunch of people say, is anybody hurt?
John / Doran:Does anybody hurt?
Tim / GM:Next up is Buster.
John / Doran:Oh, fuck.
Tim / GM:Steps out of the crowd and just blasts snack. No. So he comes down with a club. He, is not used to fighting such tiny creatures, and, his swing really just kind of nicks you. But even that nick is enough to cause your whole body to turn.
Speaker 9:So as a reaction, I, actually cast a spell. Cool. Snack will cast a hellish rebuke. Snack yells, I hate you too, other human. And, I don't think I know Buster's name.
Tim / GM:So He's also a man. He does work for sure. Yeah. Sorry.
Speaker 9:Okay. No. Just call me. He might think that works. Yeah.
Speaker 9:A bright, yellow flame just explodes in the vicinity.
Tim / GM:Yeah. Yeah.
Speaker 9:And it takes, 5 fire damage.
Tim / GM:Alright. Nice. That is Buster, who is already not looking great. He was hit earlier. What
John / Doran:do you think
Tim / GM:about it?
Speaker 8:Yeah. I got him with magic missile.
Tim / GM:Yeah. You spoke
Speaker 3:to him.
Speaker 8:Yeah. Yeah. Tell you. Alright.
Tim / GM:Alright. So Joe, says, I think you've got something that belongs to me. He is gesturing towards the party. He says, I've got a very important artifact that I need to recover before I leave this place. I'd like to have it from you.
Tim / GM:No takers? Well, that's just too bad. If you're not willing to part with your material goods, then, I think bad things might happen to good people. And he, looks off into the crowd, and you see a random person's eyes just kinda go dead, and they just start beating the crap out of the person next to them, and you just hear them screaming. And he says, is this what you want?
Speaker 8:No. Who's got it by the way?
Speaker 3:It's I have it.
Speaker 6:Yeah. We will never give in to you, Joe.
Speaker 3:I might not have a lot of friends here, but, I mean, it doesn't mean I don't, like, care about their lives.
Tim / GM:Uli, you hear
Speaker 2:Yes. You do.
Tim / GM:And you hear a foot take a step, and then you see Sheriff Tandy's eyes go dead again.
John / Doran:Oh,
Tim / GM:tell
Speaker 3:us what this does, and I'll consider giving it to you.
Tim / GM:You're in no position to be making requests.
Speaker 3:Then I might just have to have a temper tantrum and destroy it. Holly,
Tim / GM:it is your turn to act.
Hannah / Eryn:Okay. Holly is going to cast Bane. You gotta make charisma saving throw. You won. That's some bullshit.
Hannah / Eryn:Okay. Then she's gonna just punch him in the face.
Tim / GM:Now hold on. What did you what spell did you try to cast there?
Hannah / Eryn:Bane.
Tim / GM:Bane. So that would be your action for this turn.
Hannah / Eryn:No. I also wanna punch him in the face. It's my birthday, Tim.
Speaker 8:I'm pretty sure I read in the player's handbook that birthday gets an extra action.
Tim / GM:Oh, I see. Okay. So you get birthday surge.
Hannah / Eryn:Yeah.
Speaker 3:Yeah. Okay.
Tim / GM:So, you can make a melee attack with advantage.
Speaker 9:Once per birthday.
Tim / GM:Once per birthday.
Speaker 3:If you're allowing this, then we all get this.
Speaker 8:Okay. Once per birthday.
Hannah / Eryn:I punched Joe in the fake fucking face.
Tim / GM:Alright. So yeah. My birthday. You you land a punch square on his cheek, and he takes, one bludgeoning damage.
Speaker 2:Alright. He's probably like,
Speaker 9:does he look bloodied? Or it does.
Tim / GM:He looks at you and says, you made me bleed my own blood.
Hannah / Eryn:That's right, motherfucker.
Tim / GM:Tibio, it is your turn. Tibio, you're probably the farthest from the action.
Speaker 8:I'm gonna do minor illusion, and I'm going to make a very loud, like, alarm klaxon
Hannah / Eryn:sound Mhmm.
Speaker 8:That's like, to try and just, like, disorient all of these people who are cursed and maybe try and bust them out of this curse.
Tim / GM:I see.
Speaker 8:So my goal is to have that going on around me in the gateway area so that people are, like, not willing to come closer because it's so fucking loud.
Tim / GM:Yeah. So it it, it doesn't shake people out of the the sort of dead eye, state that they're in. What it does, though, is it separates the people who are, under the influence of the elixir from people who aren't because the people who aren't cover their ears and move away from the sound. All the other ones are just kind of staring either down at the street or at the action. And so you can see there's, like, you know, 10, 15 people around you that are just fixated on the action and not reacting to the sound at all.
Speaker 8:Okay. Can I add to this sound, just my voice in announcer mode saying,
John / Doran:please move away from the gates?
Tim / GM:Yeah. Yeah.
John / Doran:Some of your townspeople fellow townspeople are cursed. Please move away from the gates.
Hannah / Eryn:It's like a Howie and Zackie film where it's like, there is a flood coming.
Tim / GM:Yeah.
Hannah / Eryn:Please get away,
John / Doran:Please move away. Farms are gate.
Tim / GM:So within, like, a 50 foot radius around you, all of the nonaffected regular people have cleared the area.
Speaker 8:Okay. Cool.
Tim / GM:So it's you're just hanging out with elixir people now.
Speaker 8:Okay. I feel better about that. I wanted to clear the
Tim / GM:Yeah. Get the innocent people out of the way a little bit. So, Uli, it's your turn.
Speaker 3:Okay. So within my immediate area Mhmm. Joe, snack, Tandy.
Hannah / Eryn:Mhmm.
Speaker 3:Anyone else, like, with in a certain
Tim / GM:Holly is really close-up too, and I mean, Bert is kind of a little bit farther away, I think.
Speaker 3:I still wanna know what this thing does. Mhmm. I'm gonna pull out the beetle Yeah. Let the cloth flap open
Hannah / Eryn:Mhmm.
Speaker 3:And say, I'm going to ask you again what this does.
Tim / GM:Says it gives us security.
Speaker 3:That's not what I asked.
Tim / GM:It's not for you to know. It's mine, and you're going to give it back, or bad things are going to happen.
Speaker 3:I I throw it up in the air. I'm just gonna, like, toss it as high up as I possibly can go.
Tim / GM:Yeah.
Speaker 3:I would like to then grapple him with
Tim / GM:he goes too quick for you, and then you, like, grab him by the back of the neck and just drive him into the ground.
John / Doran:Yes. Yeah. So his face is,
Speaker 3:like, smooshed into the dirt, and then I'm going to zap him.
Speaker 2:Alright.
Tim / GM:Zap. So as bad as being punched in the face by Holly, it's exactly the same amount of damage.
Speaker 3:But I am currently grappling him. So he's still
Tim / GM:Yep. Tibio, you are surrounded by that group of people that kind of move in on you and just sort of form a barrier so that you can't see your friends anymore.
Speaker 8:Awesome.
Tim / GM:And so now you're just kind of, like, deep in it. They're not hurting you, but you're deep in a throng of, like, mind controlled people. They, also form a sort of ring around the action on the other side. So you guys have been divided into 2 discrete pockets of of heroes. Tandi seems to be resisting to the best of her abilities.
Tim / GM:She hasn't moved since you guys got here. With that, it is Bert's turn.
Speaker 2:So I reach into my, pouch and pull out 3 feathered quills.
Tim / GM:Mhmm.
Speaker 2:And then I cast a little spell on them, and they become all sparkly and
Tim / GM:fluffy. Yes.
Speaker 2:And then I launch one of the quills out of them.
Tim / GM:Okay.
Speaker 2:Cool. Natural 20? Hell, yeah.
Speaker 8:Wow. Alright.
Tim / GM:Oh, yeah. Yeah. Sorry. This is for the 20.
Speaker 2:So so that's double dice for a crit?
Tim / GM:Yes. For the damage. Nice. 8 damage. Against Joe?
Tim / GM:Yep. Damn. Damn it. Okay. What is this spell?
Tim / GM:I'm just curious.
Speaker 6:Magic stone.
Tim / GM:Oh, sure. But you're enchanting with others. Spell. Yeah. Yeah.
Tim / GM:Okay. So do these, like are these, like, piercing, stabbing kind of things, or is it like a magical bolt?
John / Doran:Well, I mean, technically, according to
Speaker 2:the spell, it's bludgeoning, but
Tim / GM:Okay. And that I mean, that's the flavor of it, though, is I kind of blast them.
Speaker 2:Yeah. It kinda just shoots the quill right at them.
Tim / GM:Yeah. Yeah. Right. Yeah. So, with with surprising, accuracy and efficiency, you launched this quill at them.
Tim / GM:And, shock and grasp. Uli, you feel his whole body just kind of jolt. It almost feels like you got shocked with something with how much impact that had. And then you kinda look back at Bert, having just thrown these quills out.
Speaker 2:So I guess he's got, like, in a feather sticking out of
Speaker 3:him somewhere.
Tim / GM:Yeah. There's just a feather sticking out of his ass at this point. Okay. So that's the end of that round, and it brings us back all the way up to snack.
Speaker 9:How close am I to Joe?
Tim / GM:Very close.
Speaker 9:Very close.
Speaker 3:And he's still prone.
Tim / GM:Almost within touching. Yeah.
Speaker 9:Snack will do the same thing except concentrate more this time and cast zap, eldritch blast. Yeah. 12 +6 is 18. Oh, yeah. Okay.
Speaker 9:12 force damage.
Tim / GM:Yo. That beetle is still in the air.
Speaker 9:Oh, just hovering. It's so it's it's actually Did
John / Doran:I not have the helmet?
Speaker 9:14 damage total. 12 of it is forest 2 is thunder. Good lord.
Speaker 8:At that point, does it matter?
Tim / GM:Yeah. Joe is, like, barely breathing at this point. Oh, no. Oh, fuck. Yeah.
Tim / GM:He's like man, he's not doing so good. You can see that his eyes actually, like, roll back in his head like he's almost unconscious.
Speaker 6:Think carefully of how you spend your last breaths, Joe the human.
Speaker 9:It is over now, and I take out my rusty knife.
Tim / GM:So you had thrown the beetle in the air. Yeah. You then grappled with Joe, kinda leaving the beetle to its own devices. Anyone who's not in combat can see, Buster has raised his hand in the air and has grabbed the beetle on its way back down. And Buster says, you're so curious.
Tim / GM:This is what it does. And, you see him kind of, like, squeeze the beetle and just sort of acknowledge it until it acknowledges him back, and you see it spring to life. And the beetle's, carapace flies up, and it flutters around Buster. Buster doesn't quite understand what's going on. He's trying to track the beetle as it flies around him.
Tim / GM:The beetle grabs onto the back of Buster's neck and just drives its mandibles into his neck and sort of starts to fuse with his skin. Buster falls to the ground, and you can see his his big white horns are actually moving down his face, and they go sort of like they reform as part of his mouth, and you can see the skin on Buster's arms is no longer furry, but an iridescent carapace as 2 giant beetle carapace, plates form on his back. And you can see wings forming, and you can see his horns and his mouth turning into glistening black mandibles. And he says, this is what it does. This is what power looks like.
Tim / GM:No. And that is Buster's the Beetle birthday, isn't it? An actual Beetle.
Speaker 3:In my mind, it was metallic. Yeah. Is it a
Tim / GM:It was it was a golden beetle, but Buster has been turned into, like like a black
Speaker 3:shiny iridescent beetle. Like an organic Yep.
Hannah / Eryn:Man
Speaker 3:Exactly. Cow beetle?
Tim / GM:Well, a minotaur beetle. Yeah. He says,
Speaker 7:okay. I'm done playing.
Tim / GM:He says, this fight is over. Uh-oh. And you hear you hear as, the crowd is pulling weapons, and you all kind of look around and standoff as you look around and see no less than 40 people holding blades to their own throats. No. He says, you're done.
Tim / GM:Get off of me. So next up, would be Holly, then Tib Uli, Crowdburt. It is clear at this moment if any of you take offensive action against Joe, he's gonna command upwards of 40 people to seriously hurt themselves.
John / Doran:I can put him to sleep.
Tim / GM:But you're gonna have to cast a spell to
John / Doran:do that.
Tim / GM:And if it fails, they all die and it's your fault.
Hannah / Eryn:Holly is going to squat down and put her hands between her knees and just do some deep breathing exercises and hold turn.
Tim / GM:And, Joe says, that's right. Just take a second to think about what you're doing here. Tibio.
Speaker 8:Sleep does not require a save.
Tim / GM:Right.
Speaker 8:It's an ascending order of to
Speaker 3:beat his HP. HP.
Tim / GM:Correct. Yep.
Speaker 8:And I know he's dying.
Tim / GM:So much. That's true.
Speaker 8:I'm casting sleep.
Tim / GM:Does it have verbal component?
Speaker 3:Fuck. You can hold a turn.
Speaker 8:Yeah. I can hold turn.
Speaker 9:Someone's gotta do something before it gets to Snack's turn.
Tim / GM:That's the countdown. Yeah.
Speaker 2:Good point.
Tim / GM:Well, it's on Uli, and then it'll be on the crowd and then Bert. Uli.
Speaker 3:He's technically already made his action.
Tim / GM:So at the speed of thought, he can make these people hurt themselves.
Speaker 3:Okay. I hate this. All I have to do is let you go?
Tim / GM:Says that's right, and then and then this is all over.
Speaker 3:Tell them to put their knives down, and I'll let you go.
Tim / GM:You see them, like, slowly moving their weapons, like, away, but you can also tell that it's not everyone. It's just the people that are close to you.
Speaker 3:Is it, like, a slow process?
Tim / GM:I mean, they he they, like, move them down to show that he like is able to do your request, but he doesn't like disarm the situation by any means.
Speaker 3:Right. So I'm just trying to figure out if me casting magic missile, which
Tim / GM:Definitely. Because it was the same for everybody else.
Speaker 3:I know what I'm saying, but the knives are not directly at their
Tim / GM:they're not putting those down until I'm out of this city.
John / Doran:And they let him go.
Speaker 2:I give Uli a reassuring look, like, I got this, maybe.
Speaker 3:Like a let him go reassure?
Speaker 7:Yeah.
Speaker 3:Okay. I will back up very slowly and keep my eye on him and whoever else might be directly in front of me.
Tim / GM:He, stands up, like, very slowly, and gives you a kind of a big grin. You can see that his face is really pale, that he's, bleeding, from the mouth a little bit, but he gives you a big grin. He says, that wasn't so hard, was it? And, he starts walking backwards, And, as he does, the crowd, kind of moves in, and sort of sandwiches you guys a little bit. It gives you a little less space to play with, but they're they're kind of trying to pinch you off from him so that he can be separate from you guys.
Tim / GM:And he's kind of effusing his way towards Tibio at the gate. So that was kind of the crowd's, reaction, and then then in Bert, it's on the
Speaker 2:Are they so some of did some of them drop their weapons, but some of them still have
Tim / GM:No. They're still kind of all at the ready. He said he wouldn't drop them until he's out of the city. So now there are 3 pockets of people. There are Tibio.
Tim / GM:There is, Joe by himself, and then there's the rest of you.
Speaker 2:Okay. I think this spell will work. The spell is suggestion. Good.
John / Doran:Joe, we let you go. Now have everybody drop their weapons.
Tim / GM:Okay. And what is the save that I need to beat?
Speaker 2:Wisdom saving throw 13.
Speaker 6:Okay. High stinks.
Speaker 3:Please, let us have. So
Tim / GM:Says, we all got what we wanted, and, it's just like a kind of obnoxious, like, clattering as they all literally drop their weapons on the boardwalk, and you just hear, like, freaking everywhere. And, kind of in that chaos, Joe has dipped down into the crowd, and, Tibio, you see him kind of, like, coming up right near you, and he's, like, shaking his head side to side. He's looking at you dead in the eyes, and he's like, don't even. Fucking get him. Don't
Hannah / Eryn:even.
Tim / GM:So it's the end of the thing. Yeah. So you guys are actually forced to go now. Yeah. So in this order, Holly, Tibio, Uli, you guys have to go now.
Hannah / Eryn:I'm gonna cast Bane on Joe.
Tim / GM:K.
Hannah / Eryn:He has to do a charisma saving drop.
Tim / GM:And he had a 16.
John / Doran:Yeah. He beat me.
Tim / GM:Yeah. That's it. Tibio.
Speaker 8:I wait for him to get the gates open. I wait for him to think that he has
Tim / GM:Okay.
Speaker 8:Absolutely made it out. Yeah. And then I kneel and I whisper to him,
Speaker 3:would you sleep in French?
Tim / GM:Okay. Yeah. He's, he's, like, fiddling with the lock, and he's got 3 people on either side with their arms crossed, kind of, like, protecting him. So he's, like, fiddling with the gates, and he's, he's commanding some, people up in the tower to to help, remove some of the locks on the gate so he can actually get it open. So with the help of his magic, you can actually see that the gates have been opened, but as soon as he pushes the door, he just kinda falls forward on his knees and then just, like, lays down in the dirt.
Tim / GM:You see, like, one of the people that had their arm crossed just kind of, like, nods off a little bit and, like, stands back up. All of a sudden, he's like, well.
Speaker 2:Is there any noticeable effect on the rest of the ground?
Tim / GM:Yeah. So All of these like dead eyed people that were standing around, so, like, the ones that had their arms crossed that were at the gate Tibio, they all were kind of, like, staring at the boardwalk, and they all just, like, blink at the exact same time, and then they just kinda, like, look around, and it's very clear. They're all trying to figure out, like, what they've been doing, And they're all kinda looking at each other like, are you in the same boat? Like, oh, jeez.
Speaker 3:I would like to find Tandy.
Tim / GM:We we can do that, but, the thread is not over yet. Okay. Because of bugs. Yeah. So, I believe it is your turn, though.
Speaker 3:I will find Beetleborg. Where is he?
Tim / GM:Pretty much right behind you.
Speaker 3:Are we surrounded by people?
Tim / GM:Yes. Yes. But they're not, like, mind slaved anymore.
Speaker 3:Right. But they're, like, really close.
Tim / GM:Yeah.
Speaker 3:So don't do an AOE.
Tim / GM:Don't do big booms.
Speaker 3:I'm gonna turn around, crack my neck a little bit, I'm not casting bladeword because but this is for flavor, and then I'm going to magic missile. Uh-huh. Beetleborg? Beetleborg. Okay.
Speaker 3:Missed some damage. Three times. That's 8. K. And I also have to roll wild magic surge.
Speaker 3:Oh, good. We're good. Okay. Alright.
Tim / GM:So with 8 damage, Buster does not yet look really bothered.
Speaker 3:Right.
Tim / GM:Yeah. But I'm That's including the other damage that Buster had on him from before. And so he's taken quite a bit of punishment, and he doesn't seem to show it much. Now it's Snack's turn.
Speaker 9:So Snack, was stocking up with a dagger in hand and, makes eye contact with, Tibio. And
Speaker 8:Tibio is wary and is not really paying attention to you, is more concerned with what's going on with Joe.
Speaker 9:The door is still open? Mhmm. Alright. Snack goes up with the rest
John / Doran:of the dagger
Speaker 9:and attempts to stab him.
Tim / GM:Okay. Yeah. Go ahead. Alright. So I don't think you need to roll for the attack.
Tim / GM:Okay. Yeah. Just roll out a a critical damage.
Speaker 9:Alright. 9 damage. I rolled next critical damage with the dagger.
Tim / GM:So I
Speaker 2:I it is rusty.
Speaker 9:I don't know if that limits the damage.
Hannah / Eryn:Each bit is back.
Tim / GM:No. Yeah. That's tetanus. The damage. Yeah.
Speaker 3:Tetanus and
Tim / GM:then die. The snack gets this wild look in his eye and, kinda does what he was born to do and drives a dagger into the back of a sleeping man.
John / Doran:Oh, no. Snack, what are you doing?
Tim / GM:He seemed like wake up and turn over, and he just kind of wheezes, and he's like, and that's it. And, it's kinda, you see his eyes sort of glaze over, and, he he stops kind of animating.
John / Doran:Snack. No.
Tim / GM:Is that your turn, Snack?
Speaker 9:Yes. And I get up and I dance around with a bloody dagger.
Speaker 8:Oh, no. What have you done? Tibeo sinks slowly to the ground. Being a necromancer, he's still not accustomed to death.
Tim / GM:It is Buster's turn. I believe you've got your dukes up. That's Buster. And, Buster looks down at you, and he just takes one big giant step past you. You can make an opportunity attack if you want.
Speaker 3:Yeah. Okay. I want. Hey. I'm a punch him.
Tim / GM:K. No. Oh, no. Being that this is a high stakes situation and you just rolled a natural one on your punch, I'm going to have you just roll on the wild magic table.
Speaker 2:Stop rolling ones, Maggie.
Speaker 3:Yes. Wow. I am transported to the astral plane
Tim / GM:Oh.
Speaker 3:Until the end of my next turn, after which time I return to the space I previously occupied or the nearest unoccupied space.
Tim / GM:Okay. She
Speaker 9:whips upon you and disappears.
Tim / GM:Yeah. So Boolie, this guy's, like, walking away and you're like, don't walk away from me. And you walk up to him and punch him and right when you make contact, you just like disappear into the astral tree. Your body becomes a weightless, and you sort of feel like you're falling, but there's no wind rushing past or anything. This is something you've never felt before.
Speaker 2:Be careful. I think if you punch the bugman, you disappear.
Tim / GM:He's so powerful. Buster is going to march straight on, until, and so, Bert, you can see him moving away. I don't think that you get close enough to make an attack of opportunity.
Speaker 2:No. I wasn't.
Tim / GM:Holly, it's the same case for you. But Tibio and Snack see him, walk up, and, he leans down to Joe and grabs his limp body and his mandibles. And you see his, like, back carapace open up, and his wings start to
John / Doran:Uh-oh.
Speaker 8:So being that
Hannah / Eryn:this is
Speaker 8:still his
Tim / GM:turn, his, only action so far has been to grab Joe, and he's still using his movement. He's gonna try to start flying away. You guys have a chance for an opportunity attack, but that's kinda it.
Speaker 9:I will run up and try to stab him in the leg, the the bug man. Okay.
Tim / GM:Yeah. Roll that attack.
Speaker 9:15?
Tim / GM:15, does not hit beetle Buster. Okay.
Speaker 2:Oh, that's rough.
Tim / GM:He's got a tough carapace. So yeah. You you just kind of, like, smash the rusty dagger into his carapace, and you see, like, a white streak where it had, like, you know, pulled up some chitin or something, but it didn't even crack it or pierce it or anything. Do you wanna make an attack on him then, Tibia?
Speaker 8:I would like to try to whack Joe out of his Oh. Joe's body out of his arms or whatever.
Speaker 3:Yeah. So
Speaker 8:I would try to do that. 9.
Tim / GM:K. So just a a rush of wind as you kind of, swipe dead air?
Speaker 8:Yeah. Yikes.
Tim / GM:So Joe is conceivably dead, or or has been dealt lethal damage and is being, his body is being whisked whisked away by Beetleborg. Poison or run out of town.
Speaker 3:On the back of a Beatles.
Speaker 2:I guess it's true. I would have put the beetle thing in the headlines.
Speaker 8:Beetleborg steals dead body of poisoner.
Tim / GM:That's that's our ending, I think. That would've put the Beetle guy in the headline.
