Cursebreaker | 32 - Wild Magic
Last time on Cursebreaker. We crawled out from the waterworks below Hogwild and found ourselves surrounded by by a crowd of mind slave townsfolk. Joe escaped with the help of Sheriff Law and left us with a mob of bloodthirsty gnolls. It was looking grim until Snack showed up with Doran blasted them to bits. We rallied and conquered and promptly fell asleep.
Tim / GM:The next day was filled with excitement as we hunted, gathered, and prepared for the Wild Out Festival. Finally, we have a moment to catch our breath as we relax and party down. I'm sure nothing bad will happen. So the Wild Out Festival is in full swing. You had a watermelon eating contest.
Tim / GM:You've all kind of been drinking or dancing or whatever kind of suits your fancy in this atmosphere, but, things have calmed down just a little bit after the initial kickoff. The, 10 foot tall bonfire is still blazing in the center of town. There's a fountain gushing water for kids to play in and for people to get water from. But by happenstance, you have all collected around a smaller bonfire. Just the 5 of you.
Tim / GM:Your original adventuring party. Bidet is close by, as well. But, yeah, you all just kind of, find yourselves for the first time in a while, getting a moment to yourselves.
Maggie / Poppy:You know who I
Tim / GM:miss? Who?
Maggie / Poppy:You know that guy we haven't talked to in a while?
Speaker 3:Henry Muldrick? No. Danny Deeppockets?
Maggie / Poppy:I mean, I oh, wait. I do miss Danny. But, no. I we haven't seen Genie in forever snack. What the heck?
Speaker 4:Yes. Genie has been quite busy, I think.
Maggie / Poppy:Well, I miss him.
Speaker 4:He has not spoken of you, Holly.
Maggie / Poppy:Wow. That cuts deep. Genie, can you hear me in there? That cuts deep.
Tim / GM:Zack.
Speaker 5:I can hear you guys.
Speaker 4:I think I hear Bide is hungry.
Tim / GM:Well, I've got a minute if you wanted to hang out.
Speaker 6:I I can hear it too.
Tim / GM:I'm not busy at all.
Speaker 4:I suppose, Genie. Yes.
Speaker 7:I set the lamp on the ground and give it a tap.
Tim / GM:I'll play it cool. And, you see, if using from the lid of your lamp is a little nose sniffling around and then you see a floppy ear and then, the face of a slightly magical looking dog, that pokes its head out and then the rest of its body. And he looks around and he says, convincing enough?
Maggie / Poppy:Very cool. I didn't know you could do that.
Tim / GM:I just didn't know if it's okay to appear in my natural state.
Speaker 3:I mean, I trust most of the people here.
Speaker 5:You are still very shiny. I don't know if that will give it away, but
Speaker 6:Who's a good genie, though? Who's a good genie?
Tim / GM:I suppose I am. Yeah. Oh, Bark Bark. And, you see, 2 familiar faces approach. Holly, these are the 2, gentlemen who had proposed to you a while ago at the hair of the hog, they're both actually standing hat in hand, the 2 of them.
Tim / GM:And they say, miss Sally Lou, could we have a quick word?
Maggie / Poppy:Holly, like, hi. You you definitely can, but I have to come clean. My real name is Holly.
Tim / GM:They both actually grand. They go, Holly. And they say, well, look, we've come to a consensus. And, looking at their clothes, you can tell they've been scrapping a little bit probably with each other. And they say, we're gonna let you make up your mind on your own time.
Tim / GM:And, they hold out 2 boxes. And, the first one who introduced himself to you says, I figured I should at least give you my name along with the ring. My name is John Copper. And then the other guy says, my name is John Silver. And, they hand you 2 rings and they say, now listen.
Tim / GM:We're not looking for any answers right now. In fact, we don't want you an answer right now. Don't, please. It's just gonna make us fight some more.
Speaker 8:And the
Tim / GM:first one says, we want you to have these rings, and if you ever need us, either of us, for anything, you can just call on us and and we'll come running.
Maggie / Poppy:Are these magical rings?
Tim / GM:In a sense. Well, if you wish upon it, we'll be able to come help, but only when you wish.
Maggie / Poppy:Interesting. If
Tim / GM:you ever wanna see me again or me, then you just put this ring on.
Maggie / Poppy:Okay. But one question, do I have to agree to have any sort of romantic relationship with either of you?
Tim / GM:They both were kind of shocked and they said, of course not. It's not nothing like Just if you'd wanted to spend time with us or, you know, if you'd find yourself in a pickle.
Maggie / Poppy:Don't look so shocked. You both proposed to me not 24 hours ago.
Tim / GM:Well, right. Of course. But we would never. I'm an honest man after all. I'm an honest man too.
Tim / GM:Just because he said it first don't mean I'm not.
Maggie / Poppy:Okay. Well, hold on. Before you go, one more question. Where do your skills lie? Are you just a strong-arm?
Tim / GM:John Copper says, I'm a farmhand. I've been working on ranches and farms my whole life. I'm I'm pretty strong. I'm good at horseback riding as well. And John Silver says, I fancy myself a bit of a fast talker.
Tim / GM:If you ever need that, I can help you get out of a bind. I know some people.
Maggie / Poppy:Alright. Well, I'll, let you know if I ever need your help. And Holly puts the rings in her pocket and she looks over at Uli and, like, whispers to her. She's like, I won't.
Tim / GM:They linger for a second and they both realize they're supposed to leave and so they leave. And you can see at different times both of them look back to look at you.
Speaker 3:Wow. Holly.
Speaker 4:Holly, you have more patrons than me. We're not patrons. What is the word Bert, what is the word I want? Suiters? Suiters.
Speaker 4:I only have one.
Maggie / Poppy:Who's your suitor?
Speaker 6:The man I gave the tattoo to
Speaker 4:Yes. Earlier? Yes.
Maggie / Poppy:The hobgoblin is your suitor?
Speaker 5:Snug, do you know what suitor means?
Speaker 4:Bert just told us all that. Don't be silly, Tibio.
Maggie / Poppy:Okay. Okay. I mean, I'm not gonna yuck your yum snack.
Speaker 6:Snack suitors though has kind of a nice ring to
Speaker 3:it. Yeah.
Speaker 4:I do like this.
Maggie / Poppy:No SS tattoos, though, please. Yeah. Yeah. No. No.
Maggie / Poppy:So Jeanie how are you doing do you you haven't really asked us for magic item help for a long time and well, I mean, I haven't really thought about you since I used you to get my sister uncursed. And so I just thought, hey, I should check-in on Jeanie.
Tim / GM:I appreciate that strange level of honesty. Ever since master Snack was able to, push his way into that fountain
Speaker 8:and
Tim / GM:get us a little sip, I've been quite sustained. Even though I did expend a good amount in Tilbury.
Maggie / Poppy:Well, that's good to hear at least.
Tim / GM:You don't need to worry about little old me. I'll be just fine.
Maggie / Poppy:Do you still need magic items though? Like
Tim / GM:Absolutely, I do. Or
Speaker 4:cursed items, of course, if we stop blowing them up.
Speaker 6:Like an engagement ring or something?
Maggie / Poppy:Oh, yeah. Do you want these?
Tim / GM:Are they magic?
Maggie / Poppy:I don't know. You can eat them, though.
Speaker 6:Those guys say they would summon them or something.
Tim / GM:He looks at you again, Holly, and raises an eyebrow.
Maggie / Poppy:Holly flicks it up into his little mouth like a dog treat and hope he catches it because he's still in dog form.
Tim / GM:Yep. Yep. Yeah. Hold on.
Maggie / Poppy:She's gonna flick up the, the silver one.
Tim / GM:Okay. He does not catch it in his mouth. It falls to the ground with a
Speaker 5:Oh, ping.
Tim / GM:He sniffles around on the ground for the ring and then finds it, and you see him kind of inhale it before he realizes he's even eaten it. And then he looks up at you expectantly.
Speaker 3:Good boy.
Maggie / Poppy:Who's a good genie?
Tim / GM:I didn't eat it yet. Where did it go?
Maggie / Poppy:Oh, you didn't get it? Here, have this one. And then Holly hands him the other ring.
Tim / GM:He looks around frantically on the ground for it and, and, like, laps it up as well. And he's like, are there more? I I don't remember eating that.
Maggie / Poppy:That's all I got. I'm sorry.
Tim / GM:He does a little dog whine.
Maggie / Poppy:Aw. Holly scratches him behind the ear.
Speaker 6:Yeah. Who likes the magic treats?
Tim / GM:So, so Ui. Yeah. Sup?
Speaker 6:Before we get to Hog Wild, you were kind of afraid to face your family.
Speaker 3:Yeah. I think I psyched myself up a little bit. It wasn't so bad.
Speaker 6:Yeah. I think they, see what a strong person you are now.
Speaker 3:Thanks, Bert.
Maggie / Poppy:I think they really they really care about you, and it's nice to see how much you care about them too. It was it was nice to be around such a big family.
Speaker 3:I mean, we still haven't all congregated in the same space.
Maggie / Poppy:I feel like the space of Hog Wild in the Wild Out Festival is probably a good amount of space for this lunch. I Grand lunch is, seriously.
Speaker 3:Yeah. If they ever ask you to, like, a full family dinner, just say no. Yeah. Pretend there's something else happening.
Maggie / Poppy:That would be very scary for me. Is that what I want?
Speaker 3:Like, the way Dore blew up on you?
Speaker 6:Yeah. Quadruple that. No. Thanks.
Maggie / Poppy:Yeah. You did get a cool hammer out of the whole deal, though.
Speaker 6:Yeah. This axe.
Speaker 3:Yeah. Yeah. That's a great honor, by the way. He's always treasured that.
Speaker 6:Well, did Jor say when he's leaving town?
Speaker 3:End of the week.
Speaker 5:Bert, do you need me to carry the axe for you? Not that I don't think that you could carry it. Obviously, you are very capable.
Speaker 6:Well, look, it's a great gift. I just, it's just a little big for me. I've never really thought of myself as an axe guy.
Speaker 3:More of an old spice guy?
Maggie / Poppy:That was a good one.
Speaker 3:Is there any way we could, like, permanently reduce it?
Tim / GM:Holly, you know the spell reduce, and you've got plenty of weave thread and crystals to go around.
Maggie / Poppy:I know the spell reduce, and I have some weave thread and crystals. I think I can rig something up.
Speaker 6:Oh, cool.
Maggie / Poppy:God spoke to me in a dream. Alright, Constantine. Oh my god.
Speaker 6:I thought I was just gonna have to leave it on the side of a road somewhere.
Maggie / Poppy:Wow. You couldn't do that. That's an heirloom.
Speaker 6:I would literally die if I had to lug that
Tim / GM:I mean, I could back
Speaker 6:to Tildrey or wherever we're going next.
Maggie / Poppy:Holly's like, give it to me. Give it here. And she tries to grab it, and she also can barely, like, lift it up, but she gets it off the ground.
Speaker 3:She? Do you need help?
Maggie / Poppy:No. I got it. And she throws it in the bag of holding. And she was like, I'll work on it later.
Tim / GM:There's been a stranger kind of, looming near your group. They're obviously a little intoxicated, but, she takes a couple stumbles towards your your party and says, is he talking about you guys?
Speaker 5:What?
Tim / GM:Dave, who's at the larger bonfire. You can see him standing up amidst this large semicircle of seated people and, in the distance you can hear him say,
Speaker 9:and then he grew these giant ugly beetle tusks out of his mouth and threatened the entire crowd, but there they were, all 5 of them. And they said, you cannot leave this gate.
Speaker 3:Oh, Dave seems a little drunk. Yeah.
Speaker 5:Is he telling the story of Lampland? Light?
Speaker 3:I think so. Do do you want me to go do damage control? Like, I
Speaker 5:think it is a big deal.
Speaker 3:I'm gonna go anyway. I think
Speaker 6:he's telling that pretty good.
Speaker 3:You can
Maggie / Poppy:go talk to him though. Holly winks at Uli.
Speaker 3:Yeah. Okay. Bye.
Tim / GM:Uli, as you're approaching him, he's like flailing his arms all around, like, way over his head. He's like,
Speaker 9:and then the octopus listed sideways and it crashed on above the water and destroyed the ducks in front of him.
Tim / GM:Uli. Hi. Hey. That's her. She's the fireball.
Tim / GM:No.
Speaker 9:You guys
Tim / GM:like oh.
Speaker 3:Oh, no. He's picked that up. Okay. Hey. Dave, had enough of a Benz Ale?
Tim / GM:No. And he picks up a bottle off the ground and takes a big pull.
Speaker 3:Alright, bud. Okay. How will we just go sit down over here?
Speaker 9:But I haven't even gotten to Tildry yet. That's the best part.
Speaker 6:I don't know. It's the best part.
Speaker 3:It is it is a pretty good story.
Maggie / Poppy:Is Telstra the magic city?
Speaker 3:Yeah. Yeah. To put hey Yeah. No. That's fine.
Speaker 3:I don't know what I'm trying to say.
Tim / GM:He turns back to the crow and he says, like, pulling the drink away from his mouth, he says, so the city of Tildry, laid out across a great river with 3 enormous towers and from it, the worst villain.
Speaker 3:I think I'm gonna sit and listen. Okay. Make sure he's not telling secrets.
Speaker 10:Telling tales out of school.
Tim / GM:The rest of the party back at the fire can see, Dave getting to the part where, one of the flower sacks is exploded in the courtroom, and, Sid clearly stands up to announce a unanimous verdict in favor of Bert's innocence. And the little semicircle just, like, stands up and applauds and screams and whoops and hollers.
Speaker 6:I didn't think the legal drama would get him, but
Maggie / Poppy:Speaking of legal drama, Tibio yes? Got any future plans to go to law school since you've had the best trial of the century?
Speaker 5:I don't know. I think it was fun, but it is probably not in my future.
Maggie / Poppy:What is in your future?
Speaker 5:Curse breaking for 1. Mhmm. I also will have to go home at some point.
Speaker 4:Why would you ever want to do laws? All the laws have all been bad here. Judges bad. Bird bad.
Speaker 5:Well, not all the judges are bad. Marco Bingo is now a judge. We like her.
Speaker 6:There's good laws and bad laws, Nick. Just the way of the world.
Tim / GM:Genie is kind of paying attention to Dave's story being told, and he turns back to the party and he says, you know, Snack isn't the only one who's grown so much. I've seen all of you do things that you couldn't possibly have done just a few weeks ago.
Maggie / Poppy:That's true. We got some mad power skills from our tats, and Holly, like, flexes hers where it's under her arm, which you can't see because she's wearing a full length shirt.
Tim / GM:So And you're wagon owners as well.
Speaker 6:And a beloved donkey.
Tim / GM:Yes. Bidet looks dead near your small bonfire, but you see it, like, smacks and flies away from itself with its tail.
Speaker 4:Genie, do I still have any wishes? He pulls out a ledger
Tim / GM:and puts on some glasses and looks down the list, and he says, it looks like you're at a zero balance snack.
Maggie / Poppy:Do I still have any wishes, Genie?
Tim / GM:Well, you did just give me 2 small rings. Sure That's worth something. Of course, with snack's permission.
Speaker 4:Yes. Holly, if if you do want something, it's fine.
Maggie / Poppy:Okay. I do want something. Genie, can you heal this donkey and make him young again?
Tim / GM:Well, let's find out.
Maggie / Poppy:Wait. But not like a baby young, but like a 1 year old young.
Tim / GM:He says, ah, good specification.
Maggie / Poppy:Right. Yeah. It's like, that's not making, like, an egg unborn. That would be so much like a tocopene that we have to carry around until it happens.
Speaker 3:Oh my god.
Tim / GM:He says I mean,
Speaker 5:it could
Maggie / Poppy:be an egg. We're in fantasy world.
Tim / GM:Little bit of age reversing shouldn't be beyond my capabilities entirely.
Maggie / Poppy:Snack. I should have maybe asked for consent from the donkey first.
Speaker 4:It's okay. I've already asked him, and he said no. He does not want to be younger.
Tim / GM:Uh-oh. He turns to snack and says, oh. Oh, but I mean You can speak to this creature.
Speaker 4:Of course. Why it's just a donkey. Why it's not a mute donkey.
Tim / GM:Snack, are you sure that you can actually hear it, or are you just making up a little voice in
Speaker 8:the air?
Speaker 4:Of course, I'm sure.
Speaker 6:I think Tibio can talk to him too.
Speaker 5:Yes. I can talk to all small creatures. It is something Snackin' I have in common.
Speaker 4:Bidet. Bidet. I get down on all fours.
Tim / GM:He says, no, Snack. I understand if this creature means to put me out of my misery, it's it's going to be so.
Speaker 4:Quite the opposite, bidet. We would like to extend your life, but your suffering shall be relieved, I believe.
Tim / GM:Let me see. Well You've been
Speaker 4:the most loyal donkey I've ever had.
Speaker 10:Thio is translating for the rest of
Speaker 6:the group.
Tim / GM:I guess I didn't see as I had much of a choice, but you're the most loyal master I've ever had. You never hurt me, not even once. You tried to kill me. Never.
Speaker 6:Man, being a donkey is hard.
Speaker 4:Thank you, B'Day. I believe we are quite good friends. If you do wish to die, it is fine. But if you wish to live, we can make you younger and more spry.
Tim / GM:Wouldn't mind an old spring in my step.
Speaker 4:Genie, I believe it is fine to proceed with this age reversal.
Tim / GM:He looks between you and Tibio and the donkey who have been kind of making weird screaming noises at each other for a while, and he says, okay. Here we go. He leans in again, puts his hands against, bidet, and just starts kind of, doing like a massage, like little choppies, like, and then gives him, like, a slap on the butt and he says, younger. And, you see bidet kind of, like, shutter, but doesn't change much. And he says, younger and, like, slaps him again.
Tim / GM:He's like, gotta be careful with these. Younger younger younger younger younger younger younger and keeps, like, spanking him. And then the day eventually kind of, like, shifts a little bit and says, it feels good. He's got a long way to go. And he's like, Snack, should I keep going?
Tim / GM:This is starting to feel a little silly.
Speaker 7:Snack looks around to see if anyone's watching.
Maggie / Poppy:Holly's, like, nodding. Like, yes. Younger.
Tim / GM:He says, Snack, I've reversed about a 150 years at this point. What? Fuck. How old is this donkey?
Speaker 5:Vide, how old are you?
Tim / GM:I don't know. I only ever learned to count to 15. And then it takes a hoof and you hear, up to 15.
Speaker 6:Would you say you've counted to 15 more than 15 times?
Tim / GM:Well, I use kind of an abacus system where I count to 15 100 times.
Speaker 3:That's insane.
Speaker 4:I am quite confused. Genie, is this also a dragon we have here?
Tim / GM:No. Not a dragon. Definitely.
Speaker 10:I wanna detect tragic on bidet.
Tim / GM:Yeah. Give me an arcana check, actually.
Speaker 5:Fuck. 26.
Tim / GM:Shit.
Maggie / Poppy:Shoot.
Tim / GM:You can kind of feel that bidet is bound by a certain brand of necromantic energy that sort of keeps him tethered where he is. His body gets along but just barely, due to his age. You know, he continues to to wither to some degree, and someday his body might fail him entirely. But it's true. B'Day is is, over a 1000 years old.
Speaker 8:What?
Speaker 10:Do I is this necromantic energy magic familiar to me at all?
Tim / GM:It's, it's almost like he's, like this enclosed system or this, like, sphere that won't let him, like, escape his his situation. So he's not dead at all. In fact, it's exactly what you'd call an immortal creature. He says, I appreciate the extra years but I know any day now it's gonna happen. The cold Grim Reaper is gonna find me.
Speaker 4:B'Day, I think not. You have qualities of a dragon.
Speaker 5:B'Day, I do not think that it is possible for you to die.
Tim / GM:That would make a lot of sense. I don't put myself in a lot of danger. I just kind of graze.
Maggie / Poppy:Genie, now that we know that the day is over a 1000 years old, is there just anything you can do to help him not live in pain and be so frail?
Tim / GM:I can keep spanking him. How's that sound?
Speaker 4:I think this is enough
Tim / GM:of the day. I feel a 100 years younger.
Maggie / Poppy:Well, okay then. Holly shrugs.
Speaker 3:And he
Tim / GM:says, look how quick. And then he starts to move a little bit.
Speaker 6:Yeah.
Speaker 3:He's doing a little shuffle.
Speaker 6:You know, Holly, being a curse breaker, I thought you would have saved your age reducing wish for, you know, yourself.
Maggie / Poppy:Yeah. Well, when you're a couple drinks in Bert and, Holly puts an arm around Bert, she's like, there's just a lot of things you'll do. And you know what? I'm happy. I'm happy for bidet.
Maggie / Poppy:He's my little buddy bidet.
Speaker 6:Three cheers for bidet?
Maggie / Poppy:Yeah. Three cheers for bidet. Hip hip. Bidet. Hip hip.
Maggie / Poppy:Bidet. Hip hip. Bidet.
Speaker 3:What is going on over there?
Tim / GM:Genie looks back to you Snack and says, so, master Snack, what is the plan? Where do we go from here?
Speaker 4:Well, there's talk of Vindororn stirring, and I know what comes in the future. We must head there at some point, Genie.
Tim / GM:I don't know, snack. We put in a lot of effort to get away from there.
Speaker 4:There's much magic items to be had.
Tim / GM:Yes. But
Maggie / Poppy:Vindor's where you're from? You never told us that.
Tim / GM:Well, snack is from the mountains to the north of here. Vindor's not far from that. I don't know, Snack. I'm not sure if Vindorin's a good place for either of us.
Speaker 6:I don't think Vindorin's a good place for anybody there.
Speaker 4:Except vampires, I believe. It's a good place for them.
Speaker 6:They're probably having an alright time.
Speaker 5:I believe that at some point we will have to go to Vindorghorn just because of our curse breaking and the journey that we are on, but I have put off going home long enough, and I think I should start heading that way once we leave this place.
Tim / GM:Ginny says, where is home, Tibeo?
Speaker 5:My home is a, my village is in the Faronglade.
Tim / GM:Oh, there's some fun magic there too, Snack. We could go there. That's really far from Vindorn.
Speaker 4:I like this place, Fearnglaed. It has birds, it has death,
Tim / GM:Snack everywhere has birds and death.
Maggie / Poppy:It's true.
Tim / GM:Only things guaranteed in
Speaker 4:life. Tibio, what is it that you need to do there? Is it to take over the fern glades and become its ruler? Is that the plan?
Speaker 10:Tibio looks at Snack with absolute shock and says, no. No. What? No.
Speaker 4:I just Because a bird talked to you and they said, you must come and you must take over Fernglades.
Speaker 5:I just, it's a complicated situation. I must go home and, see my family and let them know that I have not found my parents, and it is complicated.
Speaker 4:You you've been looking for your parents this whole time?
Speaker 5:Yes. And I believe that they went to Findorra.
Tim / GM:You look up to see, Benth is heading up pretty much the entire Nis clan walking towards your little circle. And Ben says, hey, guys. We were listening to Dave's story and, listen, Holly, do you
Speaker 6:still have that crystal that can record stuff?
Speaker 8:Yeah.
Speaker 6:He said you used it at the trial.
Maggie / Poppy:Yeah. The historoscope?
Tim / GM:He looks back and says, she still has it. We were wondering. We're pretty confident this is the only time we're gonna see Uli in the rest of her life. So could you,
Speaker 6:like, record all of us together for a second?
Maggie / Poppy:Aw. I'd love to. Holly has trouble finding the horoscope because she's a little drunk.
Tim / GM:It, like, falls out of
Speaker 3:the ground.
Maggie / Poppy:It falls out of the ground as she picks it up. It starts to show the bathing scene where they're where Hootie's swimming naked. She's like,
Speaker 3:whoop. Whoop.
Speaker 6:Oh my gosh.
Tim / GM:Yeah. You flipped through them really quick. And, you notice in one of the facets, Emery's memory is stored as well. Yeah.
Maggie / Poppy:So Holly That's good. Flips it to the next empty slot and she's like, okay, everyone. Miss clan, get together. And Holly starts recording.
Speaker 3:I'm at the bonfire with Dave.
Tim / GM:They they all, like, crowd up together and they all kind of, like, kneel down and they're all, like, smiling and they're like it's like, is this good?
Speaker 6:Can you see everybody? Everybody get in close.
Tim / GM:Yeah. I see. Posing together.
Speaker 5:Where is Uli?
Tim / GM:They all look at each other.
Maggie / Poppy:Shit. Holly's just recording this whole scene.
Speaker 3:They forgot about me. Uli. Oh. Olly.
Speaker 8:Olly. Olly. Olly. Olly. Olly.
Speaker 8:Olly.
Speaker 3:No. I hate that.
Speaker 5:Oh,
Speaker 6:Get your fiery bottom over here.
Speaker 3:Yeah. Yeah. Come in.
Tim / GM:We're getting our image taken. We are right in the middle. And, your mother and father kind of flank you and, set you down in the middle of the crowd. And, your mom is, like, holding you tight in place, and your dad has an arm on your shoulder as well. And, you're kind of in the center of this whole thing right in the middle, kind of crouched down.
Tim / GM:Your whole family is, like, maintaining these awkward smiles, and they're just like,
Speaker 6:is it are you going?
Speaker 3:This is so uncomfortable. It looks great.
Maggie / Poppy:You guys did wonderful. How nice.
Tim / GM:How long do we have to stand still?
Maggie / Poppy:It's done.
Tim / GM:Okay. Door just like just walks away from the open without a word. They're in Bend kinda clap each other on the back and and pour themselves into their drink, and, the Nis clan disperses except for Uli's parents. So what's next on the agenda? Where are you heading?
Speaker 3:Well, I think there was mention of Fernglaed, something about meeting up with Dorr. He he's got some job. Something about Vindorn.
Tim / GM:Mama and this no. No. You stay out of Vindorn.
Speaker 3:Yeah. Yeah, mama. I I don't know if I'll be able to help it, but I'll try.
Tim / GM:Fernblade sounds nice. It's a beautiful place. I've been there a long, long time ago.
Speaker 3:Yeah. I don't think I've ever been up that way.
Tim / GM:People call it a swamp, but it's really not. It's beautiful.
Speaker 5:It is. It is quite beautiful.
Tim / GM:Have you been there before?
Speaker 5:I'm from there.
Tim / GM:Really? You must be where exactly in the fern glade do you live?
Speaker 5:If you take the main road into the fernglade, and then you have to pass the large tree with the vines hanging down in the shape of an owl, and then you go around that tree and then come back and there's a
Tim / GM:What I meant to ask is, have you ever seen the temple grounds deep in the forest?
Speaker 5:Of course.
Tim / GM:Interesting. We may have more to talk about. I've always been curious about that place. Too much, death, I think, for me to get close, but
Speaker 5:I mean, death is a large focus of my culture. My people are very in tune with the cycles of life and death.
Tim / GM:His eyes kinda go wide, and then Mamanis says, we don't have to interrogate Uli's friends. Viri actually finds your little group and runs up to Holly and says, can I see that, the image we just did?
Maggie / Poppy:Oh, sure. Holly projects it out so that it appears, for her to see.
Tim / GM:She looks at it and says, oh, I didn't realize it was like a moving thing. That's awkward.
Maggie / Poppy:I mean, it kinda shows, you know, how it really is, which is nice.
Tim / GM:Yeah. I I guess that's true. Well, anyway, I just wanted to, share around with everybody. I just got this new flask and she, uncorks this thing and takes a pull and she, like, hands it off to somebody else.
Speaker 3:I take it next.
Tim / GM:You take the flask and, you start pulling the top off and Viri collapses.
Speaker 3:What what did I did I do that? Very, very, very and I'm, like, shaking her. Hey. Is she okay? Can someone help?
Speaker 5:I don't know what's happening. Doctor.
Speaker 6:I'll check her out. 24 medicine check.
Speaker 3:Why does this keep happening to me? My sisters keep dropping, like, flies in front of me, and I I feel like it's my fault. A little bit. It is
Speaker 5:not your fault. Let's see what happened. Bert, what did you learn?
Tim / GM:Bert, you're a little hesitant to even say this, but Viri is unmistakably dead.
Speaker 6:Oh my god. I'm sorry, everybody.
Speaker 3:No. No. No. No. She's not.
Speaker 3:She's just sleeping. Very very, it's okay. Just wake wake up.
Tim / GM:You hear this? Come on.
Maggie / Poppy:Very?
Tim / GM:And mama ness kinda, like, leans down and, like, gives her a little shove on the arm. Just come on, Vir.
Speaker 6:Birch just slowly backing away.
Speaker 3:No. No. No. No. No.
Speaker 3:No. No.
Tim / GM:No. Uli's dad kneels down and says, Viri. He looks up and says, too much, I think.
Speaker 3:Too much what?
Tim / GM:He looks over and says, Ben, I Ben, I think you've over served again. And, Barrett and Ben kinda walk over and see her on the ground, and they look at each other nervously.
Speaker 6:Tibbs, she's dead. This family is about to have a meltdown.
Speaker 5:I don't know what to
Tim / GM:do. I'm about
Speaker 6:to have a meltdown.
Tim / GM:In perfect contrast to the moment, somebody near the bonfire is lighting off fireworks and they're bursting overhead, adding this kind of cacophonous chaos on top of what's already happening.
Speaker 3:Very, very, very please please don't do this.
Speaker 10:I wanna do a check-in the area for curses and dark magic. Okay.
Speaker 3:6.
Tim / GM:You can feel the presence of a a curse, for sure.
Speaker 6:Okay. I'm gonna grab the flask from Uli and cork it. K?
Speaker 3:I feel like I would surge at this point.
Tim / GM:Yeah. I think so.
Speaker 3:I don't know what number that is.
Speaker 11:Double 0 is what it
Speaker 3:Double 0 and a 1?
Speaker 7:I always have it wrong, so I don't remember. Is that
Tim / GM:a weird, or is it 1?
Speaker 10:It's 1. It's 1.
Speaker 6:1 can't be that bad.
Speaker 3:I roll on this table at the start of each of my turns for the next minute. Great. Cool.
Speaker 4:That's kind of appropriate.
Maggie / Poppy:Oh my gosh.
Speaker 3:I'm just, like, completely surging out right now.
Tim / GM:Yeah. These, fireworks are going off overhead, and you you can all feel a sort of pulse come off of Uli.
Speaker 5:Oh, no. I
Speaker 3:cast polymorph on myself.
Speaker 8:Okay.
Speaker 3:And if I fail the save, I turn into a sheep.
Tim / GM:What is your own spell save?
Speaker 3:15. Tallies. Natural ones.
Maggie / Poppy:So you did fail? No. It's okay. That's so stupid. So now you're a sheep?
Maggie / Poppy:I'm a I'm a sheep. While Uli's freaking out and turning into a sheep, Holly is, like, a little bit in shock, but she's holding the hysteroscope still in her hand. Mhmm. And she is looking at the image that is still projecting out because everything kinda happened so quickly that she still had it, like, playing. Yeah.
Maggie / Poppy:And she, like, stares up at it and, a part of her is, like, is there something there? And she tries to look in the image to see if there is any sort of indication of what was gonna happen, like, because this was just taken a few seconds before.
Tim / GM:Yeah. You look at it, and you can see the flask on Virgie's hip doing no harm. You can see that it's, probably even empty at that moment. She must have just filled it and had her first sip ever from it.
Speaker 6:Does anyone know where Vary got this? Pulling up the flask.
Tim / GM:Uli's mom is in a complete panic staring at Uli, who has just kind of, poof, turned into a sheep.
Speaker 3:I mean,
Tim / GM:like, right on time with the firework going off. She's, like, looking at having just lost potentially 2 daughters. And, papa just stands up and says, we sent her to get some supplies, at, a crossroads. It's a it's a trading post. She came back with what we needed and and that flask.
Speaker 6:Toby.
Speaker 5:I know this is a very difficult time for your family. Would you like me to animate her so you can say goodbye?
Tim / GM:You can see mamanis is kind of like shaking her head like, no. Don't don't animate her because she's not gone.
Speaker 5:I am so sorry.
Speaker 4:Where is the cross post from here? It's
Tim / GM:southwest, almost a full day, maybe more depending how you travel. You probably passed by it on the way from Tilderie.
Speaker 3:Yes. We
Speaker 5:have we have been there.
Maggie / Poppy:Holly's gonna run around the town and be start telling people like, hey. We need to end the party. Everyone needs to go home. She's gonna try to do some crowd control to get everyone to, like, clear out, basically.
Tim / GM:Yeah. There's people still lighting off fireworks and they're just like, hey, what? What? Come on, we're we're doing fireworks.
Maggie / Poppy:Someone has passed away, you need to go home now.
Tim / GM:And, another firework explodes overhead and it will be surges again.
Speaker 7:Sneka is going to, try to sneak off.
Tim / GM:Okay. Yeah. Give me just a stealth check with advantage. What else going on?
Speaker 7:3 twice. So it's gonna be 5 proficiency 9.
Tim / GM:Ben sees you walking away and he says, hey. Get get some water or something. I will.
Speaker 3:I I basically enlarge for the next minute.
Tim / GM:Okay. You see the sheep, like, get huge and just, like, keep growing and growing. And then you see Uli's face kind of pop out of the sheep, and it turns back into Uli, who is now mega Uli.
Speaker 3:And sobbing. Yeah. I I think at this point, I would, like, shield her with my body.
Speaker 5:Uli. Uli, you must you must move. No. Uli, I am so sorry.
Speaker 3:Don't touch her.
Speaker 5:You need to move out of the way. If you search again, you could hurt someone.
Tim / GM:Uli, I need a contested grapple.
Speaker 3:Do I get anything for being big?
Tim / GM:I think you'd take advantage on that. Yeah.
Speaker 3:Dirty 20.
Tim / GM:Oh, wow. So, Dora comes up behind you and grabs you. And, you hear him say, she's dangerous. Get her out of here. And he's like yanking on you, but he can't pull you away.
Speaker 5:Don't touch
Speaker 3:me. Also, every time I've tried to grapple with Dor, I, like Yeah. Destroys. Yeah.
Speaker 7:Bert Bert has the, flask right now? Yeah. Okay. Sneka's gonna try to steal the flask from Bert.
Tim / GM:Alright. Give me a sleight of hand versus, perception.
Speaker 7:16.
Speaker 6:Less than 16.
Tim / GM:Alright. Yeah. Bert, you're you're racking your brain to try to think of how you could help this situation. Thinking over every book that you've read, every book that you have, and you pay no mind to snack stealing the flask off your hip.
Speaker 6:Okay. Okay. Genie, are you still around? Genie?
Tim / GM:You see the dog kind of, like, nod and stare at you? Genie, I don't I don't know
Speaker 6:if you saw what happened, but Fury just took a sip from this, oh, boy. Oh, boy. She took a sip from a flask, and she just died.
Tim / GM:He, gets close to Viri and just kinda, like, sniffs around her, as close as he can with Uli hovering over and, looks up at you and whines a little bit.
Speaker 6:I also lost the flask.
Tim / GM:He whines again.
Speaker 7:Snec wishes to summon Genie in some way. I'm not sure how that would work. If we can do that after this
Speaker 6:Little dog whistle?
Tim / GM:Yeah. Snack, I think you can, I think if you just knock on the lamp, like, Janie will hear it no matter the distance?
Speaker 7:Okay. I will do that. So I'm hiding behind a tree somewhere, and
Speaker 11:I tap on the lamp.
Tim / GM:Okay. You all see Genie kind of like perk up as if he heard like a stranger at the door, and he starts running away. And as soon as he's out of sight, he actually poofs out and reappears in the lamp.
Speaker 6:I cast locate object on the flask. Okay.
Speaker 7:Yeah. While that's happening. Yeah.
Speaker 4:Genie, I have an item for you that is magical.
Speaker 7:Oh? Yes, it is this. And I hold out the flask.
Tim / GM:I have heard of this item snack.
Speaker 4:I am in need of a wish, Genie. Can you digest this?
Tim / GM:Snack, I I don't owe you a wish.
Speaker 4:I know, but if you if I give you this item,
Speaker 7:or this one. And I pull out the silver silk rope.
Tim / GM:He says, snack, are you really?
Speaker 4:I am very sure.
Tim / GM:I of course. Yes. Of course.
Speaker 4:Thank you, Eugenie. Then I will need a small wish.
Tim / GM:Oh, I wish I had time to savor this one. He, puts one end in his mouth and just sucks it right up like a noodle. He says, wish granted. This one? And he points to the flask.
Speaker 4:I want you to teleport me to the crossroads quickly.
Speaker 3:Oh. That's what you you set your wish on.
Tim / GM:Very well. Here. Let's, make sure nobody can see us. And,
Speaker 7:Can I catch up
Speaker 6:with him before I go?
Tim / GM:Yeah. You see Bert kind of, like, peeling around the corner, and, Jeanie has just finished drawing a little circle in the sand around you. And, he, like, holds his hands up, and then he throws his hands down and goes Yahtzee and you disappear.
Speaker 3:Oh my god.
Tim / GM:And, he kind of like
Speaker 6:Can I try to make it in the teleportation circle?
Tim / GM:Oh. Yeah. Give me give me, initiative, I
Speaker 4:guess. 5.
Speaker 10:6. Jesus.
Tim / GM:So, yeah. Bert, you dive into the circle and just eat dust as, Genie, like, poofs out of existence, pulled by, snack with the lamp. You are outside the cross post, about 60 miles away. Okay.
Speaker 7:I try to fly into a window if there's one open. Yeah.
Tim / GM:I'd say
Speaker 4:so. I'm going to look for this man who sold the
Tim / GM:item. Okay.
Speaker 6:This thing's gonna kill
Speaker 8:him, motherfucker.
Tim / GM:There's only one room with a little bit of, firelight. Toby Goshman is, sitting alone, at a small desk. Seems like he's writing up his sales receipts for the day. He says, made some good money on that one.
Speaker 4:Which one is it, Toby? Which one
Speaker 6:Who's there?
Speaker 4:Made you up money?
Tim / GM:You see him, like, kind of narrowing his eyes looking out of the darkness. He says,
Speaker 6:who is it? I've got sharp stuff.
Speaker 4:Me too. And I step out of the shadows.
Tim / GM:Just goes, You.
Speaker 4:Please, I am very much interested in your ledgers for this day. And the last.
Tim / GM:Yeah.
Speaker 4:Okay. What for? Oh, I just have a return,
Speaker 7:and I pull out the flask.
Tim / GM:Oh, you know, all sales are final and all that.
Speaker 4:Oh, they are? Mhmm.
Speaker 7:I'm gonna grab like water somewhere.
Speaker 4:Well, perhaps I'll just be a little generous and I just wanted to share something with you.
Speaker 7:And I pour some water into it.
Tim / GM:Okay. Yeah.
Speaker 4:Toby, I know it is late but, I just wanted this time together.
Speaker 7:Okay. I set the flask in front of him.
Tim / GM:You want me to drink?
Speaker 4:Of course. It would be rude not to, wouldn't it?
Tim / GM:Give me, an intimidation check with advantage. Okay. Yeah. Home home invasion gives you advantage.
Speaker 3:Intimidation.
Speaker 7:So I got 17 plus Kurzba. And It's gonna be good. 22. Oh, yeah. Yeah.
Tim / GM:You can see him, like, visibly shaking as he puts his hand near the flask and he says, what is he gonna do?
Speaker 4:Nothing. I, just weary from travel and wanted to share this with you.
Tim / GM:He, picks it up and holds it to his lips. And you can see him, like, shut his eyes so tight that his whole head shakes, and he takes a paw and sets it back on the desk and stares at you. And he just falls forward out of the chair and, goes limp over the floor.
Speaker 4:What a pity. I should have told you that the last person that drank this died. Well, best be off. Snack. Oh, Genie.
Speaker 4:Yes.
Tim / GM:Snack. What have you done?
Speaker 4:Oh, the genie. I just, we left something a little unfinished, I
Tim / GM:think, and
Speaker 4:now people are safe.
Tim / GM:He, pokes his head out of the lamp and looks around in the darkness and sees the corpses. Snack?
Speaker 4:He drank from this flask that he sold the other day. After we talked to him about not selling cursed items because they could hurt and kill people.
Tim / GM:Is that why we're here? Oh, I was going
Speaker 4:to ask him for directions, but I forgot to ask that first.
Tim / GM:You're a very bad liar, Snack. These things are dangerous. Sometimes more than we understand. And you see the flask start to shake on the ground, and it starts to arc. The curse within the flask is looking for a host.
Speaker 4:Genie, I think we must get going now.
Tim / GM:We should we should destroy this place. Snack, we can't leave that there. It's going to find somebody.
Speaker 4:What can we do then?
Tim / GM:We need a curse breaker.
Speaker 7:And, he shuffles in his lamp.
Speaker 4:Who has it? Who has a tattoo? Uli. No. Uli's busy.
Tim / GM:As you're thinking, the flask explodes and you see this white effigy come out and stare at you. It is more or less humanoid, about 6 feet tall. It looks fairly normal, just the outline. This this white glowing human. Unlike every other curse you've seen to this point, this one does not attack.
Tim / GM:It does not lash out at you. It's just staring at you.
Speaker 4:What is it that you want?
Speaker 8:You are still alive.
Speaker 4:He has failed. Who is he?
Speaker 8:Take me to your curse breakers, or they will truly be dead.
Tim / GM:And he gestures to the man on the floor.
Speaker 4:Snag is confused. We are quite far from the coastbreakers right now. I can bring them here.
Tim / GM:You are defenseless.
Speaker 7:Snack takes out the gavel and
Speaker 11:hits it on the floor and says, Holly.
Maggie / Poppy:Everyone, stay back.
Tim / GM:Yeah. Holly's still trying to do crowd control. And, in just mid sentence, she disappears out of hog wild and, you all see this happen. You even see that triangular, kind of, shattering mirror effect go off, so you know quite well what just happened to her. And, she appears at your side, Snack.
Tim / GM:Holly, you're in a dark room staring down a curse.
Maggie / Poppy:And Holly has her arms out because she was, like, getting people and moving the crowd. And she's just like
Speaker 7:Snack steps in front of Holly.
Speaker 4:Holly, this is a curse. A
Maggie / Poppy:a a curse. Okay. I can do this.
Speaker 8:I accept your sacrifice.
Tim / GM:And looks at Holly and goes
Maggie / Poppy:No. And then Holly's gonna do bait the curse.
Speaker 3:Okay. And then
Maggie / Poppy:she does the first ring on her, on her tattoo.
Tim / GM:Okay. You become as white as this curse is, kind of illuminating this room much more than that candle ever did. It sort of, reels back from you as if, it had been blinded by some light and, shields its eyes from you and, looks away as if it can't stand to look at you.
Maggie / Poppy:Are you responsible for hurting my friend? And then Holly is gonna do the second ring and do disenchant.
Tim / GM:Okay. Yeah. Give me a, contested initiative as well.
Speaker 7:Can I participate in this?
Tim / GM:Yeah. Okay. I guess that could be our actual initiative then. 8. Okay.
Maggie / Poppy:19.
Tim / GM:Alright. Holly. So so it's your go first. So you do your disenchant. Correct?
Speaker 3:Mhmm.
Tim / GM:Okay. What are you casting that on?
Maggie / Poppy:Can you see that it's like attached at all still to the flask?
Tim / GM:It's pretty well separated from that actually. It is it is out in the world looking for a host.
Maggie / Poppy:I mean, I probably would just direct it at the curse. I don't know. I'm not very good at this yet. Okay.
Tim / GM:Yeah. You see a, a large circle beneath it, suddenly go colorless in the in the white light here, and, it reacts to that. In fact, it gets sort of shoved out of that area, and, goes kind of reeling across the room and stumbles. And it looks up at you and and hisses. Snack, it's on you.
Speaker 11:I will use a bonus action to hex the this curse, if that's possible.
Tim / GM:Yeah. Go ahead.
Speaker 11:Okay. I will choose that it has a disadvantage on constitution saving throws.
Tim / GM:Okay.
Speaker 7:Then I'm going to just use eldritch blast
Speaker 11:to try to help Holly as best I can.
Tim / GM:Roll your attack.
Speaker 11:First one is a 13.
Tim / GM:Does not hit. And,
Speaker 7:22. Purs her.
Tim / GM:22 does hit.
Speaker 11:22 does hurt. Alright. 16 damage.
Tim / GM:Okay. Yeah. You see this, curse energy kind of fly out towards you. It, holds up one of its hands and sort of cradles the eldritch bolt as it gets close, and just like holds it between its hands and he says, Familiar. And then he just kind of does like a pinching motion and it just like winks out of existence.
Speaker 4:Holly, I'm trying to help but it's not working.
Tim / GM:Holly, the curse is going to, reach out at you, making that lovely noise. That'll be a 15 to hit.
Maggie / Poppy:My spell save DC is 15.
Tim / GM:No. Sorry. This is against your AC.
Maggie / Poppy:Oh, that's 11.
Tim / GM:Okay. Alright. So this thing establishes a connection with you. Holly, you feel, that fatigue that you felt when you were in the tower of magic, fending off a, a similar but not the same curse just a few weeks ago. You can feel the strain on your body and a sort of weakness as the ears are pulled away from you.
Speaker 6:Someone's gonna need a genie spanking.
Speaker 3:Oh, Jesus.
Tim / GM:So you take, 26 necrotic damage and you've lost 5 years off of your life.
Speaker 10:What the fuck? Jesus.
Maggie / Poppy:Okay. Holly is going to give it everything she's got as she felt her, like, life force, fading away. Is she, like, kinda like the wind is knocked out of her for a second, like, and then she's, like, no. Give it everything you've got.
Tim / GM:So give me a spell attack.
Speaker 12:Natural 20. Woah.
Maggie / Poppy:Yes. Fucking yes.
Speaker 10:Yes. Right.
Speaker 3:Plus, my god. So that
Tim / GM:also means it's a critical hit.
Speaker 3:Yes. Can she roll? Spell slots?
Tim / GM:Roll roll you're 20 again, Hannah.
Maggie / Poppy:10.
Tim / GM:So, yeah, that's a critical hit with your give it all you've got. Let's, cut all of this and count up, your spell slots available.
Maggie / Poppy:Also, it'll be my biggest hit ever. Yeah.
Speaker 5:175.
Maggie / Poppy:Holy fuck. I gave it everything I got. Yeah. You did. I mean that that shot aged me 5
Speaker 3:years or so. Yeah.
Tim / GM:Holly, gets up after being struck by this curse and having some of her life drained away from her and snack, you fail an intimidation check against Holly. And the look in her eye is something you've never seen out of any human before. She points up at this thing and activates her 3rd ring on the tattoo and you can see all 3 rings that are now spinning against each other, this golden tattoo, and she points at it, and this thin white beam launches across the room and stops partway through, and it hits a crystal, and it refracts from that crystal to another, getting brighter and brighter. You notice that this room is filled with 15 some odd crystals floating around Holly, in this erratic spiral, and this beam now amplified by the refraction, slams into this entity. And you can see it being torn asunder.
Tim / GM:It's It literally tears its body in half and you just hear this, as it's being rendered in twain. It cries out at you, Holly. It says, foul witch.
Maggie / Poppy:Holly just cackles. And her I hope her hair is just, like, just completely standing up, like, straight, an orb around her just from all the magical power.
Tim / GM:It dives for the flask, in an attempt to, save itself from this fate, and, you see it dissipate into the metal. In its place, you see the flask arcing again and you see this roiling, undulating mass of light within the flask, reaching out and reaching up and you can hear familiar sounds. For a moment, you see, the face of a a familiar woman. In the moment, it can't register who it might be, and then you
Speaker 3:hear this
Tim / GM:and then you hear screaming and howling, and and then it goes quiet.
Maggie / Poppy:Holly drops her knees, and she now has 2 strands of just completely gray blocks of hair at the front of her face, and the rest of it's all pink. So she's not fully gray yet, but she, like, got more gray from this interaction. But it just, like, also, I like the idea of it just appearing, like, instantly also when it happens. Yeah. So Holly's just breathing heavily and doesn't respond to Snack.
Speaker 11:Snack takes out his, magic dowsing rod and gestures it towards the flask. Does it seem magical still?
Tim / GM:Yes. You can tell that it's still a cursed object.
Speaker 4:Holly, that was amazing. That was so powerful.
Maggie / Poppy:I I don't know where that came from.
Tim / GM:And Holly vanishes out of the room and appears in Hogwild. Holly, the the crowd had moved away from you a little bit. A few people are still trying to separate, Uli from Viri. And, Uli, I believe you surge again.
Speaker 3:Oh, that's cute. Illusory butterflies and flower petals flutter in the air within 10 feet of me for the next minute.
Tim / GM:You all see Uli just sobbing over Viri and a, this luminescent butterfly kind of forms out of the night air and lands on Uli. And then you look around and see another and another, and this this field of graceful butterflies is settling all around her.
Speaker 3:I'm sorry I couldn't protect you. I'm sorry.
Speaker 5:Where is Holly? She was summoned by Snek? Where did Snek go?
Tim / GM:You look up a little more towards the bonfire where some some people were crowding earlier and Holly is is standing there, clearly fatigued and looking much worse for the wear.
Speaker 10:I run over to her.
Speaker 6:Yeah. Me too.
Maggie / Poppy:There was a curse, and I I think I had banished it, but I don't know. We were at the crossroads, I think. The crossroads where we saw all the cursed items before. Yes.
Speaker 6:And Snack did Snack have the flask?
Maggie / Poppy:The flask. Yep. It was there. That was the it was cursed. We need to get there.
Maggie / Poppy:Curse I've ever seen.
Speaker 5:Or bring it here. We need to destroy it.
Maggie / Poppy:I'm I'm spent. I can't do anything.
Speaker 5:Bert, can you get a hold of Snick?
Speaker 6:Yeah. Yeah. Hey, Dave. Watch over Holly while she's, fatigued over here. Okay?
Speaker 9:Yeah. No problem.
Speaker 5:Thanks, Dave.
Speaker 6:Dear mister Stack, Holly has just returned.
Speaker 10:Bring us that flask.
Speaker 6:Yeah. We need that flask ASAP so we can destroy it. Bring it here. Sincerely, Bert.
Tim / GM:Back in the, crossroads trading post. There's still a candle burning and a, an unbreathing corpse, laying in front
Speaker 11:of you.
Speaker 4:Genie, I I need to be a curse breaker right now. I have to fix this. If it is not destroyed, I must I must fix this curse. Can you do this?
Tim / GM:Snack, I I can't touch that one. I'm sorry.
Speaker 4:Can can I fix it, Genie? Can you make me a curse breaker?
Tim / GM:I can't make you a curse breaker, but you know who can.
Speaker 4:Bert did message me with his words.
Tim / GM:I think we need to talk before that.
Speaker 4:What is it, Genie?
Tim / GM:Snack. It's time to have a difficult conversation. Follow me into the lamp.
Speaker 7:I walk over to the lamp and,
Speaker 11:yeah, hop in.
Tim / GM:When you enter, it is unlike it has ever been. He's got black curtains, up within the entire room, sort of blocking out anything that could be a distraction from what you're about to speak about. There's a a small circular table in the center of the room. No water this time. Mhmm.
Tim / GM:Just have a seat.
Speaker 4:I sit on the table.
Tim / GM:He looks nervous. He just kind of paces for a while without saying anything. He says, snack, I I've tried to be good with you. I've tried to be honest, Snack. And I tried to tell you once before.
Tim / GM:Snack, I am not a great and powerful genie.
Speaker 4:You are though. You said you can make me into a dragon, and you've saved Holly's sister.
Tim / GM:That's true. And I can make you a powerful dragon someday. I can do all those things, Snack, but I am no genie. I am as they are, Snack. Please understand why I had to hide this from you.
Tim / GM:You cursed me. No. Never have I taken you over, Snack. I exist near you. This lamp is my host.
Tim / GM:I see. Snack, Once people think they've found a solution for something, they rarely seek another solution. We're not all the same. Please understand. Nothing needs to change.
Tim / GM:My intentions are good. And I support you and I support your friends. You are on a good path, Snack.
Speaker 4:I agree, Genie. I I am like Emery then.
Tim / GM:In some ways, yes. But Snack, I can never make you do anything you don't want to do. I need you.
Speaker 4:So I do not have to wipe my feet at the door anymore.
Tim / GM:It's a courtesy, but
Speaker 4:But not required.
Tim / GM:Not required.
Speaker 4:Wonderful. You are still my friend. I thought you were going to abandon me.
Tim / GM:No. Snack. Never. I never will.
Speaker 4:Do you know this other curse then?
Tim / GM:I do. I regret to say I have enemies. There are those who would drag me back. He is one of them. Snack, you know not what you face today.
Tim / GM:The way it squashed your eldritch blast, it it could have squashed me all the same. The bigger fish eats the smaller fish and snack. Snack, that is the biggest fish.
Speaker 4:Oh, Holly is amazing then. You see, Holly crushed. I want to summon Holly again. Make no mistake, Snackshe did not defeat it.
Tim / GM:I think she scared it, but it will come again, and now it's coming for us. Is Uli's sister truly dead? I don't know, Snake. I the way he spoke made it sound like maybe not.
Speaker 4:I I should get back to my friends then. We can take the flask with us though, yes?
Tim / GM:Yes. Please be careful with it, Snack. And you understand. You cannot tell anyone else. You travel along curse breakers, Snack.
Speaker 4:I see how they've treated Emory.
Tim / GM:They will treat you
Speaker 4:the same. I don't want to die. I don't want my friends to kill me.
Tim / GM:They will not trust me as they've trusted you.
Speaker 4:I will keep this secret, genie.
Tim / GM:Thank you, snack.
Speaker 4:Is bidet also a curse?
Tim / GM:No. That bidet stuff is fucking wild. I had no idea.
Speaker 4:Alright.
Speaker 7:I go up and hug, Jeanie's leg and then hop out of the lamp.
Tim / GM:He, pats you with a giant hand. Okay. Yeah. You jump out.
Speaker 7:I tap the gavel on the ground and say, Bert.
Speaker 4:Bert, you said to me some words, and I forgot what they were.
Speaker 6:So, crash roads it is,
Tim / GM:Yes. Bert, you see the dead man on the floor.
Speaker 7:I try to stand in front of it.
Speaker 6:Snek, is there anything you'd like to tell me about mister Toby?
Speaker 4:That's, he well, he might not be dead, Bert. I know he looks like it.
Speaker 6:He might not be dead.
Speaker 4:Nor Oli's sister. Are there any
Speaker 7:is there any cloth around? Sure.
Tim / GM:Oh, yeah. This is an item shop
Speaker 7:at all.
Tim / GM:Yeah.
Speaker 7:So, yeah, Snack grabs, pulls something off the shelf and some glass shutters on the ground, and he jumps more than he normally would. And then he goes in, like, very carefully, like, tries to scoop up the flask and wraps it up in the, cloth. And then I just toss it over to Bert and say,
Speaker 4:Bert, be very careful with this, it's very powerful. Bye bye.
Speaker 6:No, Bert.
Tim / GM:And, Bert, you reappear in hog wild holding this flask.
Speaker 5:Flask, are you okay?
Speaker 6:Yeah. Yeah. I'm okay. I got the flask.
Speaker 5:Let us go destroy it. Let's go.
Speaker 6:Snack said maybe Viri's not dead. Do you think if we destroy this, she might be okay?
Speaker 5:Maybe her death is a condition of the curse and once the curse is destroyed, it will be reversed.
Speaker 6:Well, let's hope. It's about all we can do.
Speaker 5:Either way, I mean, we must destroy it.
Speaker 6:Are you up for it? A furlough curse breaking?
Speaker 5:Yes. Of course.
Speaker 3:I'm gonna say Uli is just, like, sobbing quietly now.
Tim / GM:Yeah. In the field of butterflies?
Speaker 3:Yeah. Yeah. I'm sure the surge is, like, run its course.
Tim / GM:Yeah. Uli, you're, now that you've calmed down a little bit, you look up and see all of these butterflies that have settled around you. And when you look at them, you can almost see this kind of, like it's almost like steam or like, when you catch the glare of light coming through mist. There's a bit of a distortion around them and you realize that amidst your surging, you've become so interwoven and so sensitive to magic, that you can see it and you can feel it all around you. You can feel also that there is magic within Viri.
Speaker 3:That wouldn't happen if she was like dead dead, I'm assuming. Alright. Guys, I I think I'm I think I'm hallucinating. Holly. I'm so sorry.
Speaker 3:I think no. I I I don't think she's dead.
Maggie / Poppy:I don't I don't know, Uli. What do you mean?
Speaker 3:She's she's she's glowing. She's magic.
Maggie / Poppy:Holly puts a hand on Viri, and just to see if she can feel anything. She doesn't really spell slots.
Tim / GM:I think, in fact, it might even be your your emptiness or your hunger for magic that allows you to feel this as well. There's something. Some kind of enchantment.
Maggie / Poppy:I I feel it, Uli. I think you're right.
Speaker 3:Yeah? Yeah. I'm not I'm not just imagining.
Maggie / Poppy:I I don't I mean, I don't wanna make any promises, but I can definitely sense there's something alive in her still.
Speaker 3:She can't be dead.
Maggie / Poppy:We'll do what we can to help her.
Speaker 3:Dave, will you help me move her?
Tim / GM:Dave, like, effortlessly stands up, holding Viri kind of draped in his arms. What is it? Does anyone have, what's that called? When you, like, detect magic? What's that spell called?
Speaker 3:I I don't I don't know how to do that. That's I think Bert might. I don't know where anyone went.
Tim / GM:Let's get her inside somewhere anyway.
Speaker 3:Let's, I think, break her into the tavern.
Speaker 5:Okay. But just guard the area. Don't let anyone get close.
Speaker 6:Okay. Yeah. I'll keep her a cat.
Speaker 10:And I start my tattoo.
Tim / GM:K. Yeah. You, ignite the first circle.
Speaker 3:I was thinking that I the full circle.
Speaker 10:I pressed the first circle.
Tim / GM:Yeah. The first circle, begins to glow golden and starts spinning in place. Your skin, flashes white, your eyes go white, and, magic begins lifting off of you. And you see the flask begin to violently shake side to side, and you see it start to arc out as well.
Speaker 6:I'm gonna cast blast on Tibia.
Speaker 10:Okay. I press the second circle.
Tim / GM:Okay. And you target it with the disenchant?
Speaker 10:Yep. I'm targeting the flask.
Tim / GM:Yeah. The flask, sitting in the dirt, near the side of a a building, goes goes black and white in that little corner, and, you see this white energy being ejected from it. And it just kind of rolls across the ground like ball lightning, reaching out at everything it can find, and it continues to roll out of this alleyway. What do you do?
Speaker 10:I chase it, and I target it with the last circle.
Tim / GM:Okay. You know it's going to be a difficult shot and that you would take disadvantage with your final blast if you did it right now.
Speaker 10:I go to take the shot, but as I do, I call out to Uli to help.
Tim / GM:Okay. Yeah. Uli, you can hear even from inside the tavern, Tibio's voice calling through the night.
Speaker 3:I peck very on the forehead, and I get up and I ready myself for battle.
Speaker 5:And then I gonna I gonna go for it.
Speaker 3:Okay. So
Speaker 5:what am I doing?
Tim / GM:You're gonna roll an attack against that little ball of light.
Speaker 10:With disadvantage?
Tim / GM:Yes.
Speaker 6:But you're blessed.
Speaker 10:22. Hey.
Speaker 6:Wow. Oh,
Tim / GM:yeah. Yeah. Mhmm. Nail it.
Speaker 3:Overkill is good.
Speaker 10:Yep. It's d tens.
Tim / GM:Yep. All d ten. 79. 79? Yep.
Tim / GM:Yeah. Okay. So you're, you do not have a lot of confidence in this shot. And, you fire it off at this rather small moving, ball of light, and you happen to just hit it dead center, and you see it reduce in size by half, it continues to roll forward. All you had was not enough.
Tim / GM:So there's no people in this area anymore, but the symptoms of the Wild Out Festival are still there. There's the main kind of eating area dinner table that it crashes into first, and it knocks this roasted boar off the spit, And then it continues to roll and crashes into some, gnoll skulls that Dora had been piling up. And then finally, it just rolls into the bonfire, where you see it kind of, disappear into the smoldering flames.
Speaker 6:Tibia, are you okay?
Speaker 5:It wasn't enough. Bart, it wasn't enough. Where is Uli?
Speaker 3:I'm right here.
Speaker 5:You have to you have to curse break it. It's it's in the fire.
Tim / GM:You get close to it, and then erupting from the bonfire is what appears to be a very large bore. Perhaps made smaller by the blast I just received. So it stands about shoulder height to you, Uli. It has tusks of red hot iron. It has gnoll skulls flanking its boar face on either side of its shoulder, and it gives you this
Speaker 3:Bait the curse.
Tim / GM:Okay. Yeah. Go ahead.
Speaker 3:Disenchant?
Tim / GM:Yeah. There's I mean, the disenchant is pretty far separated, but you disenchant right on top of it and you send it kind of, toppling side long so it stumbles out of the way.
Speaker 3:Alright. I'm gonna give it all I got.
Tim / GM:Good luck.
Maggie / Poppy:Did you roll 1? Oh, no.
Tim / GM:Thanks so much for listening. I'm Tim, your DM and your genie.
Maggie / Poppy:I'm Hannah playing Holly Hyacinth.
Speaker 6:I'm Thomas. I play Engelbert f f Wisherspoon.
Speaker 10:I'm Tara, and I play Tibio Femur.
Speaker 7:I'm John. I play Snack the Cobalt.
Speaker 3:And I'm Maggie playing Uli.
