Cursebreaker | 43 - Our Best Friends
Last time on Cursebreaker. We found the gate to the underworld, but we were welcomed by 1 big angry bird. It descended on the party and the chamber erupted into violence. Amidst it all, Tibio found his way into the inky blackness beyond the gate alone. The raven shows no signs of damage and we're just about tapped out.
Tim / GM:To top it all off, something just exploded. I hope that wasn't the gate. You are all standing in a room that has just fallen silent. The arch collapsed beneath that large bone raven. The raven came crashing to the ground and is now kind of steadying itself, but it is also still being gripped hard by Holly with Bigby's hand.
Tim / GM:Tibio has more or less disappeared beyond that gate, and the 4 of you are left in this chamber. The bird seems to be showing less of a sign of a fight. It is not struggling against you. For that reason, we are briefly out of initiative.
Hannah / Eryn:Oh. Oh. Oh, fuck.
Speaker 3:What? Tabuteau's in there.
Thomas / Guy:Well, tell me that didn't just happen. I
Speaker 3:have some bad news for you, Bert.
Hannah / Eryn:You guys, I can only hold this for another minute before this bird's let free. But it it seems kinda sad now. I feel bad somehow.
Speaker 3:It's bones, and it just crushed our friend.
Hannah / Eryn:Okay. That's true. But I only have another probably 50 seconds now.
Speaker 3:Then crush crush it. Holly will try
Hannah / Eryn:to crush the bird up with her hand. Big bee. Big big bee's hand. Big boy's hand.
Tara / Journey:Her big boy hand.
Hannah / Eryn:Big boy's hand. Jesus. So that's probably a joke every D and D Yeah. Campaign It's right there.
Tim / GM:Big boy. So you you go to crush this thing, and when you do so, it doesn't feel like it did before. Before, it would resist against you and press out and try to free itself. When you do this, it more or less feels like you're grabbing a bunch of loose bones and crushing them together. Aw.
Tim / GM:When you release the hand, they all just fall to the ground.
Hannah / Eryn:Okay. Holly just drops the spell then.
Thomas / Guy:Are there any more spirits in this room?
Tim / GM:No.
Thomas / Guy:Okay. What about Skellingtons?
Tim / GM:You kind of look around, assuming that more of those might come after you, and you do see one start to form out of the ground. You see a hand kind of pop up and then press against the ground and sort of lift the rest of the torso and the body out of the ground. But as it stands up, there's a a piece of familiarity to the skeleton skeleton. Familiarity. As it, stands up, it kind of looks about, and it sort of shambles.
Tim / GM:Like, its legs are asleep or something. It's having a hard time walking around, but it says, sorry about that raven. I promise none of your lives were actually in danger.
Hannah / Eryn:I had it under control, but what the fuck?
Thomas / Guy:Clearly. Is that Osteo?
Tim / GM:I'm glad you remembered. Tis I, Osteo.
Speaker 3:Hey. Yeah. Bone guy. None of our lives are in danger, but do you see Tibeo anywhere? Where is that boy?
Speaker 3:I point at the collapsed gate.
Tim / GM:When he sees that, he just he's silent. And it's hard to tell what emotion he's giving off because he's just a skeleton. But he looks back at the group, and he just kind of looks silently between all of you, and he says, what happened?
Hannah / Eryn:Your bird crushed it?
Tim / GM:That's not supposed to happen. The the bird is just supposed to chase whoever's taking the trial into the gate.
Thomas / Guy:Well, it happened, and now Tibio's stuck in there with no way out. Where's your second gate?
Tim / GM:This is not good. And, you see his arm kind of fall off, and then he, like, stumbles a little bit, and he says, I'm I'm not long for this world, I'm afraid.
Hannah / Eryn:Wait. How can we get to where Tibio is?
Tim / GM:I don't know. There's no gate, and he's on the wrong side.
Thomas / Guy:You always have a backup gate.
Tim / GM:I, you see him kind of rapidly disassembling. Disassembling. He goes down to, like, his shins kinda fall off, so he's walking around on, like, his, femur. Right?
Thomas / Guy:Check with a bone expert? Well, okay. We had to think of something. Who built this gate in the first place? Was it you and your ancestors?
Tim / GM:Correct. It's a it's a terribly difficult ritual, but we've managed to pull it off.
Speaker 3:Okay. Any hints or what? Like, how do we fix this? Our friend is stuck in there.
Tim / GM:Who else has the gift? And he's kind of looking among you. Now he's down to just a a torso and the bones.
Speaker 3:Nope. Not here.
Thomas / Guy:There's his grandmother back at the entrance.
Tim / GM:He says, you have to do something. This can't stay like this, and he's now just like a skull and a collarbone on the floor.
Speaker 3:Holly. Yeah. What what about the the weave? Does it look mendable? Can you do something?
Hannah / Eryn:Holly tries to see the weave in this room. Her eyes, glaze over
Tim / GM:for a minute. When you do that, you had done this once before in this space, and what you saw was blinding because of the presence of magic under here. When you do it this time, it's no different than looking around the room normally. There's no magic in this space.
Thomas / Guy:Well, I guess I can bring Tibio back. I pull out the gavel, and I hit it on my knee.
Speaker 3:Okay. Holy shit. Wait. I forgot about the gavel. Sorry.
Thomas / Guy:Oh, sure.
Tim / GM:Tibio. Like, have a
Thomas / Guy:Does that work through Brent? Mine's just before I know.
Hannah / Eryn:You okay there?
Tim / GM:I think. Snack, you see that same shattering effect, that triangular kind glass break that usually summons people in, but nothing comes of it afterwards. The effect plays, but it can't reach the recipient it's pulling on.
Thomas / Guy:Fuck you. It appears I broke this, and I tossed it aside.
Tim / GM:Toss it down the pit.
Hannah / Eryn:Holly picks it up.
Thomas / Guy:What? No. I think it just doesn't work between planes.
Hannah / Eryn:Yeah. Here, snack. Hold on to it. We can try it outside. Okay.
Hannah / Eryn:I give it back to snack. Okay.
Thomas / Guy:Let me see if I can reach Tibia's grandmother. Dear Sacra, it's us, those strange people with your grandson only moments ago. Everything's fine. No. It's not fine.
Thomas / Guy:Your grandson is trapped in another dimension, and we need your help to restore the gate. Please help, sincerely, Bert.
Speaker 3:Please help.
Tim / GM:Bert, you just kind of watch the page for a response, and you never see that it's seen even. There is no response whatsoever.
Thomas / Guy:I can't remember. Did she, like, die when you left or something? She was very old.
Hannah / Eryn:No. She has her read, unread notifications off.
Tara / Journey:Turned over. Read receipts.
Thomas / Guy:Snack, see if you can, Snack, see if you can bring her here. She's in this plane. Yes. Of course. No.
Hannah / Eryn:She doesn't have a Tildry tattoo, you guys.
Thomas / Guy:Shit.
Tim / GM:I know
Thomas / Guy:what to do. Take out the lamp and set it
John / Doran:on the ground and then tap on it. Okay. Back up.
Tim / GM:Yeah. The lamp has a little rumble and then, Genie kinda pops out of it with his hands on his hips and he says, ah, so you have succeeded. Congratulations.
Thomas / Guy:Yes. Well, Genie, you need to take us to the underworld, please.
Tim / GM:Wait. Where's Tibio?
Thomas / Guy:While Tibio is there, he is still there, and we are not there. There was a gate. The gate is gone. It looked like this.
Hannah / Eryn:You had to have heard it. It it, like, exploded from this bird or collapsed.
Tim / GM:I did hear it. I just had hoped that was the end of the fight.
Thomas / Guy:It was the end of yeah. We won the fight. Doji, you've been there before. You've been there and back. How how can we do this?
Tim / GM:You hear a rumbling, and you all lock onto this single bone that falls from the ceiling and crashes on the floor next to you.
Speaker 3:Yeah. It's raining bones.
Tim / GM:Tibio, you are standing face to face with, Moja, otherwise known as Orzo. But this is truly Moja. This is what he has become is this enormous curse, this, spirit essence that now faces you down. It has made a few attempts to try to age you or to pull on your essence. It seems to have a hard time physically grasping you in this space.
Tim / GM:You have some level of dominion over him. It seems to want to try again. You see it getting an angle on you and moving closer so as to kind of dominate your space and literally back you into a corner where the gate once stood. What do you do?
Tara / Journey:I drink an uly cooly.
Tim / GM:Okay. Regain some spell slots. 6 spell levels.
Tara / Journey:Six spell levels total?
Tim / GM:Yep. Before he kind of reels back to begin, the drain again, you see 2 of those spots of light in the middle of this endless cylinder that stands before you, kind of depart from that larger murmuration, that huge blob of light that kind of ebbs and flows. 2 little points come towards you, and the closer they get, the more they flutter, and the more you can see clearly that every spot of light in this place among the millions, perhaps billions of points are birds. They are ravens. When they get close to you, you immediately know that this is Veronica and Ash, but at the same time, they are every person that has ever lived and died on your planet.
Tara / Journey:Okay. I reach out to them with my necromancy. Okay.
Tim / GM:When you do that, your thoughts connect to theirs briefly. They don't sound like they used to. They sound like that other raven you had talked to. There's a collective voice that these things share, and you hear, this place
Thomas / Guy:is yours to look after.
Tim / GM:The other says, stand your ground. And back to the first one says, cast him out.
Tara / Journey:I take a step forward, looking directly at Moja, frowning my little face as best I can. Not good at frowning.
Tim / GM:Yeah. It's new to you.
Tara / Journey:Yeah. And I say to him,
Speaker 3:you do not belong here. This place is not for you.
Tara / Journey:And I stomp forward a couple steps.
Tim / GM:Okay. I think it pauses. It was about to, like, descend on prey, and the prey is suddenly confident, and that has it distracted. You are not quite touching it yet, but as it stares down at you, it seems curious as to what you're going to do next. Back in the bone chamber, that single bone that fell to the ground is suddenly followed by 3 or 4 more, and a moment after that, a large chunk of the ceiling falls out and collapses on the plateau.
Speaker 3:Yeah. Cool. Is this whole cave made of bones?
Tim / GM:Floor and ceiling.
Speaker 3:Cool.
John / Doran:Everyone, I have spent many years on the ground.
Thomas / Guy:This is a bad sign we should probably depart.
Speaker 3:We can't leave Tibio.
Thomas / Guy:Not without Tibio. Tibio's not here.
Speaker 3:How about I try and hold up the ceiling? What? Just give him time.
Thomas / Guy:Like you did with the tornado?
Speaker 3:Yeah. But this is, like, actual things to hold and not dust and air.
Thomas / Guy:Telekinesis. Do the bones appear to be forming something, or is it just bones falling down?
Tim / GM:They're just collapsing. Yeah. Yeah. Falling into pieces.
Thomas / Guy:Okay. We could all get to Tibio if we die. Is that yes. This is true. But I
Speaker 3:think there's a flaw in your logic.
Tim / GM:Uli, a huge chunk of bone, more of a mass of bones that are stuck together fall directly overhead. You had just gotten that spell rolling and not a moment too soon as a massive chunk attempts to separate and destroy your group. It lands or it's coming directly overhead, but you see it coming, and you grab onto it with your telekinesis. It's up near the 1,000 pound threshold, but you're able to, push it off to one side as it comes down. Where do you throw it exactly?
Speaker 3:I was just gonna hold it up.
Tim / GM:Hold it right there?
Speaker 3:But maybe I shouldn't. Could I, like, roll it off and keep telekinesis going Yeah.
Tim / GM:Yeah.
Speaker 3:Like, over us? Okay.
Tim / GM:I'm just kinda waiting for the next thing. Yeah. I should
Speaker 3:have pictured.
Hannah / Eryn:Guys, maybe we should go back and try to find Tibio's grandma. I don't know if we can stay here. We're gonna get hurt.
Speaker 3:I'm not leaving Tibio.
Hannah / Eryn:I mean, it's death or get out. That's our choices, it seems like.
Thomas / Guy:This is where the portal was, but there might be other ways for him to get back.
Tim / GM:At that moment, you all kind of take in the reality of the situation. You are in this bone chamber that is obviously collapsing, Snack has a plan. Snack tries to fly. Okay.
John / Doran:Snack has a plan. Snack tries to fly.
Tim / GM:Okay. You begin flying.
John / Doran:Snack goes up to the ceiling and takes out a piece of chalk. Okay. And attempts to draw a big perfect circle using architect's chalk. I don't know if it if it'll work for this.
Speaker 3:What does that do again?
John / Doran:So architect's chalk was, I can draw a door or hole within a wall. Okay.
Thomas / Guy:And I don't know if it'll work for this. But
Tim / GM:Okay. Yeah. You you draw a circle on the ceiling, and, all of the bones kind of come loose in that area and create this, like, downpour in that specific cylinder where these bones just come crashing down. But after a while, you do see that it's cleared away. You don't know exactly how far up that clearing goes because you you realistically have no idea how far down you are.
Hannah / Eryn:We're also, like, under a lake. Yeah. So there's that.
Speaker 3:Oh, no. Are we actually?
Thomas / Guy:Yep. Isn't that really cool, everyone? We can probably go up here.
Hannah / Eryn:Wait. I can I can walk us through a door to get us back to the place, I think, but I I can only take one person?
John / Doran:Snack has another plan.
Tim / GM:At that moment, Snack, you all hear a terrible screech as you see a bird head burst from the bottom of the plateau and jettison itself into the ceiling and then disappear You can also see a bright white light inside of the bird now.
Speaker 3:Cursed bird.
Thomas / Guy:What about what about Marlboro? He could make a portal out of here.
Speaker 3:Where is he?
John / Doran:Snack remembers Marlboro again, flies back down, and, hits a gavel on his thigh. Okay. Marlboro.
Tim / GM:Yeah. He appears right before you.
Thomas / Guy:Marlboro, we're about to get crushed by all these rocks and bones falling to the ceiling. Please teleport us out of here.
Tim / GM:You see his eyes open wide as he's adjusting to the darkness in here, and he's kind of, like, staring around trying to get a grip of what's happening.
Hannah / Eryn:Quick. Can you help us?
Tim / GM:He's being shouted at as bones are falling all
Thomas / Guy:around. Also, hello.
Hannah / Eryn:And you
Tim / GM:hear that screech again. He seems a little flustered. He says, what are you asking for? What do you need?
Hannah / Eryn:A portal a portal back to, memoir. Hurry.
Tim / GM:I can get started on it. Yes.
Speaker 3:Go go go.
Tim / GM:He, begins, casting a portal spell.
Thomas / Guy:Yay. This is so
Speaker 3:stressful. Tibio.
Tara / Journey:Oui.
Tim / GM:You see Moja reeling back. He is about to try to drain your soul again. What do you do in your final moment?
Tara / Journey:I am gonna try and do the same sort of thing that I did where I kind of I tried to cast animate dead in a general way, not in a targeted way.
Hannah / Eryn:I don't
Tara / Journey:remember when I did it. But I'm trying to, like, connect to the dead magically without having anything in particular in mind. I wanna tap into the energy in the room.
Tim / GM:Mhmm. I think you hear more of those voices. Maybe it's that entire flock. Maybe it's just the ones that you've met in your life that are now here. Among all of these, voices that you had connected to, you find a lot of them familiar.
Tim / GM:One of them even reminds you of Gaspard, even though you're sure he's alive, but maybe this was a relative of theirs. But suddenly his memory is flowing through you as well.
Tara / Journey:I I take a angry little stance as best I can. Being so small and so timid, but so, so sure now. And I reach out to all those voices that I'm surrounded by, And I just say, help me, and keep moving toward Mojo and trying to push him back.
Tim / GM:Okay. You see Moja reel back, and he's starting to pull on you. You can feel the years begin to slip away. You are immediately 4 years older than you were just a second ago. At the same time, as you feel yourself rapidly dying, you look beyond Moja and see the murmuration reacting to what you're thinking, and they're helping you.
Tim / GM:They begin to pulse like a beat, like a waveform.
Speaker 3:Baby Bard.
Tara / Journey:I, I tilt my head, and even through the pain of having so much of that life drained away, I remember those moments where Gaspard was singing, was humming. I remember when he pushed back and saved my life, and I gather what I can and I and I feel the music around me.
Tim / GM:The place ignites. It gets so bright in here you can barely stand it. Everything you do immediately responds to the notes that you're making. Orzo, on the other hand, freezes. It doesn't know what to do when it hears this.
Tim / GM:It's pulling at a part of him that is gone that wants to be, and he can't handle it. It doesn't bring you home, but it stops Orzo, and it stops your aging at around 24. I'm 24? Happy birthday.
Hannah / Eryn:Meg, you gotta say your jokes with conviction.
Tim / GM:Alright. Back in the bone chamber, you all need to begin making saves. These are going to be wisdom saves based in perception. This is to dodge the falling, debris. It's more important that you notice it than have the physical ability to move out of it.
Tim / GM:Here's how this is gonna work. This place is progressively collapsing, getting worse over time. Every time one of you rolls the save, it is going to increase by 1 in its difficulty. Malboro got a one for his initiative.
Thomas / Guy:Okay. Okay. Fuck that guy.
Speaker 3:The telekinesis is still going. Yep. It's concentration.
Tim / GM:Yes. You've got that starting this fight just running. Yeah.
Speaker 3:I, as a war caster, get advantage on concentration Nice. Magics.
Tim / GM:Okay. Cool. Okay. Also, snack. You need to make the first, wisdom saving throw to see debris coming.
Tim / GM:Easy.
Thomas / Guy:Why would you say that?
Tim / GM:9. So you fail the first and easiest attempt of the night, that is 14 bludgeoning damage snack.
Speaker 3:Oh, no.
Tim / GM:As you are, pelted by a broken bone.
Thomas / Guy:Still not as much as Uli did. Question.
Hannah / Eryn:Or shut up.
Thomas / Guy:Question. Are these magic bones?
Tim / GM:No. These are these are magic less bones. In fact,
Thomas / Guy:Just regular bones.
Tim / GM:Snack. You may take your turn. The bird is visible. It has stuck its head out of the ground again. I hate this bird.
Speaker 3:Oh, that's what we're avoiding, not just falling bones. Yes. Alright.
John / Doran:Snack eldritch blasts the bird. K. Got a 28 for the first attack. Hits. Natural 20 on the second one.
Tim / GM:Definitely hits. Crits. This is mechanically a different bird, by the way.
John / Doran:It's still a bird though.
Tim / GM:Yeah. Okay. Snack's got it out for birds.
Tara / Journey:Snack doesn't understand that there's more than one bone bird. It's the same bird.
Tim / GM:After that critical just now, I'm gonna give you plus 1 to attack birds at all times.
John / Doran:Okay.
Speaker 3:Damn. We just
Tim / GM:As if you need it.
Speaker 3:Skip over the fact that he crit.
John / Doran:Yeah. There's not a box about bird modifiers. Bird law? Yeah. 22 damage.
Tim / GM:Damn. Okay. You blast him with 2 eldritch blasts. 1, through the wing as before, the other goes right through its neck. Those bones just break off, fly away, and do not come back.
Thomas / Guy:Nice one, Snack.
Tim / GM:You are doing permanent damage to this bird. Yes. Next up is Tibio, who's not here.
Tara / Journey:Womp womp.
Tim / GM:Yeah. So Tibio Oh, yeah. Tibio, I have to assume you maintain that song.
Hannah / Eryn:Mhmm.
Tim / GM:Please continue. No. It's okay.
Tara / Journey:I'll start from the beginning.
Tim / GM:For the purposes of this fight, we're gonna gloss over your turn, Tibia.
Tara / Journey:That's fine.
Tim / GM:You take
Tara / Journey:me out of the initiative.
Thomas / Guy:That's me.
Tim / GM:It is your turn. I need you to make a wisdom save, DC 11.
Speaker 3:Bert v Byrd.
John / Doran:More than 11.
Tim / GM:Alright. The DC still goes up to 12 for the next person.
Tara / Journey:Oh, per
Thomas / Guy:pound. I
Tara / Journey:thought it was per round.
Tim / GM:Oh, no. Go ahead, Bert.
Hannah / Eryn:It's okay. I'm wise.
Tim / GM:There is a skeletal bird with curse energy flowing out of it that is poking out of the ground and looking for something to eat.
Thomas / Guy:I'm gonna cast a level 2 bless on all the people in this room.
Speaker 3:Okay. What what that do? Nice.
Tim / GM:Nice. Nice. Nice.
Thomas / Guy:You can roll an extra d four and add it to your saving throws.
Hannah / Eryn:Yay. That's helpful.
Speaker 3:The whole time?
Tim / GM:Just saving throws?
Thomas / Guy:And attack rolls. Oh, that's yeah. I guess we're attacking too.
Tim / GM:And you don't expend it. Correct? Right.
Speaker 3:Sweet.
Thomas / Guy:Whenever a target.
John / Doran:That's wonderful.
Speaker 3:That's wonderful.
Tim / GM:Alright. Next, it is the bird's turn, and it doesn't have to save because I cheat. Bert, you thought being as far away from it as you were that you would be fine, but this thing just rockets across the room Sure. And it attempts to grapple you with its talons.
Thomas / Guy:Oh, I hate that.
Tim / GM:I need you to make a contested grapple check.
Thomas / Guy:14.
Tim / GM:It got a 26.
Hannah / Eryn:Wow. I
Thomas / Guy:was like, I think I did it.
Tim / GM:You are instantly restrained, and it begins to crush you and its talons. Bert, that is 18 bludgeoning damage as you are crushed. Let's
Hannah / Eryn:let's hurry that, Malboro.
Tim / GM:Next up is Uli.
Speaker 3:Save to dodge first.
John / Doran:Mhmm.
Speaker 3:Right.
Tim / GM:It's a wisdom save, actually.
Tara / Journey:Save to notice.
Speaker 3:Yep. 13?
Tim / GM:13 does save.
Thomas / Guy:Yeah. It was 12. Right? Yep.
Tim / GM:Yep.
Hannah / Eryn:Nice. Okay.
Speaker 3:So I I don't get crushed by bones.
Tim / GM:Correct. Okay. Free to take your turn.
Speaker 3:And the bird has Bert.
Tim / GM:Yep.
Hannah / Eryn:Sorry.
Thomas / Guy:Some bird on Bert action.
Speaker 3:I am going don't hate me. I'm going to reduce the bird.
Tim / GM:I should have
Speaker 3:known. Once per session.
Tim / GM:Yeah. Go ahead.
John / Doran:Is that a concentration spell? Can't remember.
Speaker 3:Oh, it does. Okay. Shit. Never mind.
Tim / GM:No? Okay.
Speaker 3:Because that would drop the other one. Sorry. I forgot that there was a c. I'm not doing that yet.
Tim / GM:Yeah. Maggie, my hands are tied. John said it was concentrations.
Speaker 3:John is not the DM. Okay. I'm on a meta magic Mhmm. To quicken spell. Mhmm.
Thomas / Guy:So I
Speaker 3:can do 2 things, and I can do a cantrip for the bonus action and a spell. That's what we decided. Mhmm. Okay. I'm going to ray of frost, the bird Okay.
Speaker 3:As that metamagic. Mhmm. It's a ranged spell attack. 9. Never mind, I guess.
Tim / GM:9 does not hit.
Speaker 3:Okay. But then with my full action, I'm gonna magic missile it.
Thomas / Guy:Do you get a d 4 on
Speaker 3:that? Oh.
Tim / GM:Yeah. An attack roll.
Speaker 3:What did I roll? A 9? A 10 doesn't hit. 10
Hannah / Eryn:does not hit.
Speaker 3:Okay. I'm gonna magic missile at a 3rd level Mhmm. At the bird.
Thomas / Guy:That's gonna hit.
Speaker 3:Fourteen force damage to the bird. Okay. And that's all I need to do. Right? Mhmm.
Speaker 3:Okay.
Tim / GM:Okay. Holly, it is your go. I need you to make a save with a DC of 13. Wisdom. Wisdom save.
Tim / GM:Yeah.
Hannah / Eryn:Might use a luck. That was bad.
Thomas / Guy:I think with a bless, you might do it.
Hannah / Eryn:So plus 3 to 11 is 14. Does that do it? Yep. Okay. Because I didn't even use my bless.
Hannah / Eryn:Okay.
Tim / GM:You are safe from the bones.
Hannah / Eryn:Thanks. Luck. Okay. So now I can attack this bird? Mhmm.
Hannah / Eryn:What is the challenge rating of the bird?
Tim / GM:Mathematically, it would work out to somewhere between 12 14 just based on the hit points and damage output.
Speaker 3:So 13.
Tim / GM:13.
Hannah / Eryn:I'm gonna polymorph it into another creature
Tim / GM:Okay.
Hannah / Eryn:That can't fly.
Tim / GM:Okay. Would
Speaker 3:it be the bone version of whatever you turn it into?
Tim / GM:Oh, that's
Thomas / Guy:a good question.
Hannah / Eryn:It retains its alignment and personality. Okay. So
Tara / Journey:Rude. Yeah. Like personality.
Hannah / Eryn:An unwilling creature must make a wisdom saving throw to avoid the effect.
Tim / GM:Real bad. That is a total of 7.
Hannah / Eryn:Great. It fails. Okay. I'm gonna turn it into about frog. Frog.
Hannah / Eryn:K. Frog.
Thomas / Guy:Alright. It's own frog.
Tim / GM:Yeah. That's very funny that you say that. I'll tell you why later. Okay. Yeah.
Tim / GM:Bert, you feel this thing instantly let go of you as if it, like, realized you were a friend or something and kind of harmlessly places you on the ground as it settles on the ground itself. And you hear the bones clattering and shifting, and this thing becomes a frog about the size of you, Bert. Oh. Made of bones.
Hannah / Eryn:It's a big frog.
Thomas / Guy:Yeah. Well, that's an improvement.
Hannah / Eryn:So now it assumes the hit points of the frog k. Which was 1 d 4 plus 1.
Tim / GM:K. Alright. Holly, is that it for your turn?
Hannah / Eryn:That was my action. Jeez.
Tim / GM:I almost wish you guys didn't learn how to play.
Hannah / Eryn:We've been so weak this whole time. Also, just an FYI, polymorph, I can cast it once per day as my level 10
Tim / GM:Yeah. For
Hannah / Eryn:free, basically. So I didn't have to use a spell slot for that. So it was my once per day polymorph. K.
Tim / GM:What the fuck?
Hannah / Eryn:It's part of my school of transmutation Mhmm. For being in that school.
Thomas / Guy:And then
John / Doran:you got school kids.
Tara / Journey:I would've got something too, but I chose Bard.
Hannah / Eryn:Stay in school kids.
Tim / GM:Do you have dropped out to join a band? Yeah.
Hannah / Eryn:Well, oh, god.
Speaker 3:So Sandra.
Hannah / Eryn:So the frog is pretty big. Yeah. Okay. So I can't, like, pick it up and hold it or anything? I don't think so.
Hannah / Eryn:I think I'm going to try to cross the bone bridge
Tim / GM:Okay.
Hannah / Eryn:And go back to the outer ring. Yeah. So I'm gonna use my movement and try to get across the bone bridge.
Tim / GM:Okay. I'll say you're on the bridge as your turn ends here. Okay. Marlboro is, doing big hands. He's got one arm that is moving in a huge circle, and you can see, like, a portal begin to form.
Tim / GM:He's kind of drawing, like, doctor Strange sparks in the air.
Speaker 3:Is he on the He's
Tim / GM:on the plateau. Yeah.
Hannah / Eryn:I forgot about him. Dumbass.
Tim / GM:Yeah. So he is going to,
John / Doran:Well, he
Thomas / Guy:didn't really have a choice.
Tim / GM:Yeah. He's going to take the place of the 14 DC. He does not succeed that. He gets crunched by some bones as they fall.
Tara / Journey:God. Is his portal spell concentration?
Tim / GM:It is. Especially while he's casting it. So that is only 5 damage, which is not enough to incur a, specifically difficult concentration check. Yeah. You're fine.
Tim / GM:He, gets clipped by some bones and you see him stumble forward a little bit, and then he just kind of continues. You can see a little bit of sweat rolling down his face now as he continues to try to draw the portal for you. Next up is, snack again.
John / Doran:Snack runs up to Marlborough.
Tim / GM:Or sorry. Make a wisdom safe, please.
John / Doran:Yeah. I got a 16.
Tim / GM:Yeah. Alright. He passed just barely.
Hannah / Eryn:But he still had blast. He didn't use it.
Thomas / Guy:Oh, yeah.
Tim / GM:That's right. Yeah.
John / Doran:Snack, wasn't dodging bones. He just ran over to Marlboro.
Tim / GM:Uh-huh. Sure.
Thomas / Guy:Marlboro, you must concentrate. If you fail, we all die here.
Tim / GM:He looks down at you and kinda, like, flashes his eyes down towards you really quick, and he says, I'm I'm trying. I'm trying to concentrate, please.
John / Doran:Wonderful.
Speaker 3:Is my telekinesis doing nothing if people are dodging bones?
Tim / GM:That's a that's a really good question. Uli, I think after seeing Marlboro get clipped just now, you realize what you need to be doing right now is protecting people from these bones since the bird is no longer a threat. If anyone is going to get hit, I'll allow you to make a save as well to prevent them from getting hit.
Speaker 3:I can automatically move it up to 30 feet in any direction.
Tim / GM:Okay.
Speaker 3:And it's up to a £1,000.
Tim / GM:Cool. So anyone who makes that save, you'll also make it at the same time. If you notice it, you can just move it out of the way.
Thomas / Guy:Okay.
Tim / GM:Yeah.
John / Doran:Does the frog look menacing? Or
Tim / GM:it looks like it wants to, like, kill you guys, but it doesn't have the means to do so.
John / Doran:I'll hold my action for something falling on Marpro.
Tim / GM:Okay. Bert, I need you to make a save. Wisdom save.
Speaker 3:I At
Tim / GM:the same time. Yep.
Speaker 3:Yeah. 21. Sorry. Nice. Oh, I'd oh, never mind.
Tim / GM:You got it. Hey, Bert. Bert, like, expertly dodges out of the way, and then you maneuver it to crush Bert.
John / Doran:And and I should clarify, my action is gonna be Eldridge blasting a falling bone.
Tim / GM:Oh, okay. I don't know if I see. Okay. I thought you were, like, keeping an eye on the frog in case it, like, jumped him or something. Oh, no.
Thomas / Guy:Can I get a quick survey on HPs?
Hannah / Eryn:26. 56.
Thomas / Guy:56.
Speaker 3:I'm fine.
Thomas / Guy:I transfer some of Uli's life force into me.
Speaker 3:Oh, that's what you're doing?
John / Doran:Let's snag it. 49.
Speaker 3:Trick question.
Thomas / Guy:I'm gonna drop a fat third level healing word on myself.
Hannah / Eryn:Oh, how about me?
Thomas / Guy:I'm at 16 hit points.
Hannah / Eryn:Fine.
Thomas / Guy:That's pretty bad of, 9 hit points.
Tim / GM:Oh, yeah. Not a lot.
Thomas / Guy:I distance myself from the frog.
Hannah / Eryn:Okay.
Tim / GM:And end my turn. Okay. Next up is the frog.
Tara / Journey:I have a question. Bert, were you distancing yourself physically or emotionally from the frog?
Speaker 3:I was gonna make that joke. I just think we need some space.
Tim / GM:The frog is going to make a save.
Hannah / Eryn:I just was thinking of that because I was like, oh, if the frog gets hit by bones, it'll turn back into the bird.
Tim / GM:It fails to save.
Thomas / Guy:Wow.
Speaker 3:No. Wait. Can I
Tim / GM:Oh, sorry? Nope. It does succeed the save with its bonus to wisdom. Okay.
Thomas / Guy:Bonus. Smart frog.
Hannah / Eryn:Holly shouts out, don't let that frog get hurt. It'll turn back into the bird.
Tim / GM:Uli, it's your turn. I need you to make a save. I'm gonna give you advantage because you can you have the means to move things if you have to.
Speaker 3:Dirty 20.
Tim / GM:There you go.
Speaker 3:Right. We don't wanna hurt the frog. Mhmm. Okay. There's nothing to really fight then.
Speaker 3:Mhmm. Right? Mhmm. I guess.
Thomas / Guy:I don't
Speaker 3:know. I'm sorry. I don't know what to do.
Tim / GM:That's fine. If you wanna dedicate yourself to protecting Malboro until he gets the portal done, I will have you roll advantage on the safe to protect him as well.
Speaker 3:Okay. Yeah. That works.
Tim / GM:Okay. Malboro's turn. He is going to make his save, which is what? Sorry. It's Holly's turn.
Tim / GM:I skipped.
Hannah / Eryn:Oh, really? Yep. Damn. That was fast. I'm gonna polymorph myself.
Hannah / Eryn:No. I'm just kidding.
Tim / GM:Holly needs to make a save, which you can roll for.
Speaker 3:I don't know what I
Tim / GM:know what I manage on Holly.
Hannah / Eryn:That's a c x 12 plus. No. That's a 9. That's a 9. Sorry.
Hannah / Eryn:Plus wisdom 3 plus a 44.
Thomas / Guy:Oh, this could happen.
Speaker 3:It ain't me, though.
Hannah / Eryn:I missed. You missed?
Thomas / Guy:It's a 1, baby.
Hannah / Eryn:So 14.
Tim / GM:14 does not save you. The save is set at 18 currently.
Tara / Journey:Good god.
Thomas / Guy:And climbing. Oh, damn.
Speaker 3:That's okay. No one can make that.
Tim / GM:Holly, that is 8 bludgeoning damage as bones rain down upon you.
Thomas / Guy:I could theoretically roll, 10 and beat
Speaker 3:that. Is your wisdom that good?
John / Doran:Yeah.
Tim / GM:And then, Holly, you'll need to roll a concentration check as well with a DC of 10 to maintain the polymorph.
Hannah / Eryn:I got a 15, but if that doesn't beat it, I'll use a can I use a t inspiration, I said?
Tim / GM:You beat it 15 beats. Okay. Yeah. DC 10, you're fine.
Thomas / Guy:Can't roll a 4 on a d 4, though. It's impossible. They input 4 on these.
Tim / GM:And what are you doing with your turn, Holly?
Hannah / Eryn:I am going
John / Doran:It hasn't happened yet.
Hannah / Eryn:I'm gonna finish going across
Thomas / Guy:the bridge.
Tim / GM:Mhmm. Oh, yeah.
Thomas / Guy:Take, like, 20 tries.
Hannah / Eryn:How many feet away did we travel through the circular mirror hall and also the bone hallway? I'm thinking about dimension dooring back, but I'm trying to figure out how far I can get.
Tim / GM:Yeah. The hallway was 500 feet long, which is the full length of a dimension door span. The circle doesn't add much, like, distance to that. They're like
Hannah / Eryn:So I can maybe get to, like, partway through the hallway?
Tim / GM:Correct.
Speaker 3:Okay. Holly's gonna get stuck in limbo, and we're gonna escape to memoirs
Hannah / Eryn:and disappear. Tibio is probably fine in the underworld. Holly is on the bone bridge. She's kinda doing a double take between, like, where the door disappeared to go back where she was gonna maybe try to get help.
John / Doran:And
Hannah / Eryn:she looks back at Marlboro over the other side of her shoulder and is like, and she looks back at the where the door was on the other side of the bone bridge. She's, like, literally on the middle of the bridge trying to decide what to do. And she is like, fuck. Fuck. Fuck.
Hannah / Eryn:Fuck. Fuck. And so she runs back over to Marl Marlborough. Oh, that's a hard word to say. And she stands next to him and starts trying to emulate or imitate, I guess, what he is doing with casting the porta's ball to help him, and she's gonna spend her action to assist.
Tim / GM:Okay. Yeah. You go on the other side of him, and you start mirroring the pace at which he's moving his arm, which you discover is incredibly steady. That is the whole trick to this, is that he has to circle his arm at a perfectly steady pace, and it's not quick. It's pretty painstaking to try to follow along with him.
Tim / GM:But when you do and when you match his pace, you see these sparks that he's casting off in this circular arc get brighter and brighter and brighter. And he kind of smiles and nods, and you can see the sweat beating off of his forehead. Next up would be Malboro. He is going to roll against this save. Yep.
Tim / GM:With advantage. Can I
John / Doran:also use my turn to shoot the bones to try to
Tim / GM:Malboro fails significantly? 17. Does not succeed.
John / Doran:Okay. So I'm gonna try to blast eldritch blast. I don't even know if it would do anything, but that's snack solution is to shoot it.
Thomas / Guy:Slowly, I've tested debris before?
Speaker 3:I have.
John / Doran:15 and 22.
Tim / GM:Those both hit the bone debris. 27. Alright. Yeah. Every bit of bone that was falling towards Marlboro falls as harmless dust as, Snack is able to obliterate all of it as it falls.
Tim / GM:Nice. Uli, you, like, move this massive chunk out of the way, but it just kind of, like, twists instead of completely moving out of the way. So it's going, like, spike down at Malboro
Thomas / Guy:instead. Okay.
Tim / GM:And then you see snack just blow up both of these large chunks.
Speaker 3:Oh, I have a question. Yeah. If I decided not to assist and just stood over Malboro with the telekinesis, would that
Tim / GM:Oh, gotcha. With your telekinesis. Yes. Yeah.
Speaker 3:Not I'm not, like, punching them out of the way. I'm just wondering if I could be an umbrella instead.
Thomas / Guy:Hey, speaking of umbrella, don't you have a magic one of those?
Speaker 3:Yeah. But it's for, like, rain and small projectiles.
Tim / GM:Yeah. I'm gonna say this is beyond Okay. Umbral Guard territory. I'd say that's a viable strategy. So instead, I'm gonna have you at the beginning of your turns.
Tim / GM:You're just gonna make a concentration check to maintain the punishment that this cluster is taking.
Tara / Journey:Okay.
Tim / GM:But otherwise, Malboro will automatically save.
Speaker 3:Okay. Because that's what I'm worried about
Tim / GM:right now.
Thomas / Guy:Yeah. Yeah.
Tim / GM:Yeah. Alright. Beginning of the round, we are back to snack.
John / Doran:Is the frog looking menacing
Tim / GM:now? No. The frog looks like it's like turning around the room looking for solutions, but it can't seem to find anything. It takes one little hop and then stops, which startles you.
Thomas / Guy:Do this faster, Marboro.
Tim / GM:He, again, flicks his eyes down towards you and just kind of nods and then locks eyes with Holly.
John / Doran:Okay. Snek will, anything that looks menacing, he'll attack with eldritch blast.
Tim / GM:Okay. As a as a ready action? Okay. At that snack, before the end of your turn, you feel a vibrating at your hip for the first time in a while.
Thomas / Guy:Oh, what is it?
Tim / GM:Genie pops out, and he looks sort of solemn, but at the same time, he looks very steady. And he says, snack. And, you're kind of, like, looking through his ethereal form, seeing all these bones fall onto the ground everywhere around this room. You can see that portions of this room on the rim have actually collapsed and are just spilling into the pit. And you can tell that this plateau has actually sank by 20 or 30 feet over the course of this fight.
Tim / GM:This room is collapsing, and it will soon be completely filled. Genie looks at you and says, Snack, I have appreciated you so much. Everything that we've been through together, it has meant everything to me, and you have been more than a master to a genie. You have been my best friend, Snack.
Thomas / Guy:I know I have not provided you curses in quite some time for you to consume, Genie. Now is not the time though. I will bring you things soon.
Tim / GM:He, looks around the room, and you see a, a cluster of bone kinda fall right through him. And he says, snack, I'm afraid this might be the end of our adventure. I wish you the best of luck as you continue, and I hope to see you again someday. Doji, why are you
Thomas / Guy:doing this? And you
Tim / GM:see him disappear back into the lamp.
John / Doran:Can I change my readied
Tim / GM:action? Okay. Based on that information.
John / Doran:Snack sets the lamp down and jumps tries to jump into it.
Tim / GM:Okay. Yeah. Does it work? Yeah. You do.
Tim / GM:You appear inside the lamp. You see a door just barely closing.
Thomas / Guy:Genie, wait. What what are you talking about?
John / Doran:And I approach the door,
Thomas / Guy:Genie's door.
Tim / GM:Genie's purple door is hanging open just by a little bit for the first time ever. You've never seen inside Ginny's room.
Thomas / Guy:Oh.
John / Doran:Snack will go, prop it up in a little further and peek in.
Tim / GM:And what you see is a short cliff edge that looks out onto a black abyss. You see Genie look over his shoulder at you and he says, I'm sorry. I hope I make it back. And you see him disappear into the inky black. Your turn ends.
Speaker 3:Yeah. Fuck. Fuck.
Tim / GM:Thanks so much for listening. I'm Tim, your DM and your genie.
Hannah / Eryn:I'm Hannah playing Holly Hyacinth.
Thomas / Guy:I'm Thomas. I play Engelbert FF Wisherspoon.
Tara / Journey:I'm Tara, and I play Tibio Femur.
Thomas / Guy:I'm John. I play Snack the Cobalt.
Speaker 3:And I'm Maggie playing Uli.
