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Cloudfall | 38 - Heads, Soldiers, Friends, and Foes

/ 01:32:15/S2:E39
Tim / GM:

Last time on Cloudfall. The party is doing everything they can to help the smallest of folk. They spent some time planning their next move with Maisie Muldriff, the mad mage, and then immediately put it into action. After receiving a parting gift from Prince Walvin, they took an expedition mounted on their rodent fleet out to a secret tunnel that would lead them deeper into Small Castle. They found themselves in a rat race chased down by the shadowy vermin that populate the island and yet they were successful.

Tim / GM:

They were able to restore the broken barrier that protects the citizens of tiny castle proper. They then left to explore deeper to find within the real source of the issues they find themselves facing, the issues that haunt Smallcastle's past. Just moments ago, a small legion of Dullahan accompanied by a floating mass of fused heads entered the scene and it would seem that everything is coming to a head. You all find yourselves in a dark, old, haunted, musty kitchen in the basement of a small castle. 6 floating Dullahan heads on one side, 3 marching Dullahan bodies on the other.

Tim / GM:

You are being pincer attacked in this kitchen. Everyone roll initiative.

John / Doran:

I don't know.

Maggie / Poppy:

I got a dirty twenties. I'm not prepared.

Tim / GM:

15 for Doran. For Doran. Yep. Guy.

Thomas / Guy:

4, please.

Maggie / Poppy:

Oh, no.

Tim / GM:

Journey.

Tara / Journey:

Journey got a 13. That probably got a 15 lives in my brain. Yeah.

John / Doran:

Yeah.

Tara / Journey:

Never leaves.

Tim / GM:

And Aaron? 16. Perfect.

Thomas / Guy:

Good job, everybody else.

Tim / GM:

Combat begins. You can all smell the burning of those heads. It's kicking out this sulfurous smoke that's also filling the air. You can see its eyes are glowing at random. The bodies are marching in towards you.

Tim / GM:

It's hard to triage what to attack first, but Guy, you are stunned. You are stuck in your own head. Guy, upon seeing these faces, they are all familiar to you, and when they say traitor, they're talking to you and just you. Guy we flashback. Several years ago, you're standing in a dark barn.

Tim / GM:

You're standing on dirt and hay, and you're brushing your loyal, winged steed. And just outside, you can hear a roaring chant, but you can't quite make it out. Suddenly, a blast of horns signals your entry. It's time for your ceremony.

Thomas / Guy:

Alrighty. Are you ready, Stede? Very well.

Tim / GM:

There's a creak of the barn doors. A guy, you're walking down a grand promenade in the center of Lotem, nearing the gates of the keep. Massive crowds are here on either side for your celebration, in which Grand Executor Viren names you commander of Lotem's legions, the day you are bestowed with the Great Blade of Lotem. You slowly walk towards Grand Executor Viren. You hear her words ringing through your head from just the night before.

Tim / GM:

Something has them working against us, sabotaging our every move. Our kingdom suffers. Do what a general must do. Take control, regain loyalty, and serve Lotema. You're standing right in front of Yiren right now.

Tim / GM:

She smiles at you and holds down the sword.

Thomas / Guy:

It is a great honor, Viren. I'm not sure all this pomp and circumstance is necessary, but I will do what I must to serve Lotem.

Tim / GM:

She kind of holds the sword as she's giving it to you a little longer than you expected. She says, will you? Will you do everything that's necessary?

Thomas / Guy:

I think by now I have proven that I will.

Tim / GM:

She smirks. And we're back into that room. What actually startles you awake is Poppy because she's the first to snap into action.

Maggie / Poppy:

Am I? Yes.

Maggie / Poppy:

Guy, what do you think is the most important? Taking out the heads or taking out the bodies?

Thomas / Guy:

I've found the body to be the more dangerous part. Try not to look them in the eyes either.

Maggie / Poppy:

Do what? What?

Thomas / Guy:

I mean, body will stab, but eyes will get in your head.

Maggie / Poppy:

Hey. Is it just one body or is it all the bodies separate?

Tim / GM:

Three bodies, 6 heads.

Tara / Journey:

Oh my god. We already killed the other 3 bodies.

Maggie / Poppy:

Oh, wow. Oh, we did. Yeah. They didn't have heads. Mhmm.

Maggie / Poppy:

Okay. I'll pull out a lemon wedge

Tim / GM:

k.

Maggie / Poppy:

And cast lemon whip.

Tim / GM:

Nice. Okay.

Maggie / Poppy:

Stream of acid emanates in a 30 foot line.

Tim / GM:

30 foot line. Mhmm. I thought you said it was lemon.

Maggie / Poppy:

30 foot lime.

Tim / GM:

That's a big lime.

John / Doran:

I hope you took one level of fruit ninja.

Maggie / Poppy:

Nice. Oh, shit.

Maggie / Poppy:

Sorry. Did you say food ninja? They have to make a dex save. K. Take that.

Tim / GM:

Not super agile, these things. They came out with a total of 11.

Maggie / Poppy:

My spell save, I believe, is 14.

Tim / GM:

You got them.

Maggie / Poppy:

Okay. And then it is, 44. Good. Nice. Twelve acid damage.

Tim / GM:

But not until its turn. Correct?

Maggie / Poppy:

Twelve acid damage, but not until its turn.

Tim / GM:

Poppy, you, throw out this line of lemon juice, that just goes, like, squirting away from you. And it just lands on the Dullhead and they just keep marching forward. But you, even so, just kind of nod to yourself like, god.

Maggie / Poppy:

Yeah. Takes a bit to set in and then starts burn.

Tim / GM:

Yeah. After their first couple steps, you start to see it bubble on their skin and armor. At the same time, you hear a gout of flame erupting behind you, and between every turn in this combat, somebody will be struck with scorching rays.

Thomas / Guy:

Oh, boy. By whom?

Maggie / Poppy:

Yeah. By whom?

Tim / GM:

Heads. That would be Aaron this time. Those bastards. Erin, does a 10 hit you? No.

Tim / GM:

Okay. A green scorching ray, sears up against the wall, narrowly missing you, you, Aaron. You can feel the heat of it as it traces a line across the wall. You can see this head mass as it's spinning and rotating and undulating towards you. At random, they'll just open their mouths and spit beams of fire across this room.

Tim / GM:

It is now the head's turn.

Thomas / Guy:

Alright. Forget what I said about

Maggie / Poppy:

the heads.

Tim / GM:

You all see the heads stare down at Poppy. Guy, you can see that this thing has intent. It is locked onto her and moving towards Poppy at a rapid speed. At the same time, it cries out Each of those Dullahan charge at its command. One attack is going to go for poppy.

Tim / GM:

That is a 13 to hit poppy.

Maggie / Poppy:

My AC is 13.

Tim / GM:

Oh. Pizza pizza.

Thomas / Guy:

Pizza pizza.

Maggie / Poppy:

Pizza pizza. Pizza pizza. Pizza pizza.

Tim / GM:

Piece of pizza. 9 bludgeoning damage copy as you are struck by a mighty hammer. The first The first doll hand steps forward and smacks you with a hammer, and you go sailing a couple feet away and land on your feet. Another, wielding a flail, begins to spin it around overhead and brings it down on Doran. Only 10 to hit Doran.

John / Doran:

Nah. Alright.

Tim / GM:

The last one, wielding a pair of Gladius. Going after Journey with a natural one.

Tara / Journey:

Does not hit, and also it's in the plural.

Thomas / Guy:

Very good.

Tara / Journey:

That's a fun Latin fact for you.

Tim / GM:

Okay. With a natural one, it walks towards you and thrusts out a gladius, drops it. It lands point first, bounces up into your hand.

Maggie / Poppy:

That's yours now. I have a Gladius.

Tim / GM:

To say.

Maggie / Poppy:

That's also so he doesn't have to say the

Tim / GM:

Gladiator. Ever. Alright. That is actually the head's turn. It is now Aaron.

Maggie / Poppy:

Oh, don't like these heads. Aaron is gonna hide. Bonus action hide.

Thomas / Guy:

Mhmm. Will

Tim / GM:

he still check for me?

Maggie / Poppy:

Oh, yes.

Tara / Journey:

29.

Tim / GM:

You hidden.

Maggie / Poppy:

Yeah. Erin's gonna hide behind, some crates of empty wine bottles.

Tim / GM:

Yeah. Aaron, you notice you're in direct line of sight of 1 of the Dullahan bodies, but that doesn't matter one bit. They can't see. They don't have heads.

Maggie / Poppy:

Oh, I was like, Eren's actually gonna shoot a crossbow bolt and aim for the heads that just beamed, a light at them. Yep. I'm gonna use my new Diabolos machinations, which is my new crossbow. And then I have Diabolos concoctions, which are loaded up arrows, crossbow bolts that have special effects. So I'm gonna load

Tara / Journey:

do I have

Maggie / Poppy:

to tell you which one?

Tim / GM:

You don't have to.

Maggie / Poppy:

Okay. I'm gonna try to roll the hit first. Yeah.

Tim / GM:

Sure.

Maggie / Poppy:

I'm gonna use one of them. I have 6. So

Tara / Journey:

Yes. Nat 20.

Tim / GM:

Oh my god. Very cool. On the heads.

Tara / Journey:

So good. Yeah.

Maggie / Poppy:

On the heads. That's cool. Okay. And then I'm hidden.

Tim / GM:

So that's, yep, well, you have advantage on the attack, but you already rolled a 20. Yeah. Let's have you roll another d 20.

Maggie / Poppy:

No. It's a 5. K. Holy.

Tim / GM:

Good. Alright. What was the, concoction that you used?

Maggie / Poppy:

Silent violet

Tim / GM:

Okay.

Maggie / Poppy:

Which makes the target glow with violet light

Tim / GM:

Mhmm.

Maggie / Poppy:

And prevents spell casting for 1 minute.

Tim / GM:

Okay. You also can, with Dieball's machinations, since you hit this person, you can squeeze the trigger again and take another shot with disadvantage.

Maggie / Poppy:

Mhmm. With disadvantage? Yep. Okay. Yeah.

Maggie / Poppy:

I'll try again, and I'll also use another concoction arrow.

Tim / GM:

I'll put a limit on that one.

Maggie / Poppy:

I can't use it again? Yeah.

Tim / GM:

I'm gonna say you can't use 2 of those. Your secondary arrow will always just be a preloaded bolt.

Maggie / Poppy:

Okay. The

Tim / GM:

plane one is ready to go.

Maggie / Poppy:

It's, like, in the hatch it falls in. Exactly. Ready to go. Wow. Are my attack rolls do I

Tara / Journey:

You're rolling powerful.

Maggie / Poppy:

Okay. The first hit is 26, and it silences them, essentially.

Tim / GM:

26 damage? Yep. Very cool. K.

Maggie / Poppy:

And then the second hit, I'm assuming also hit.

Tim / GM:

What was the number on that one? I didn't even check.

Maggie / Poppy:

It was 22. Oh, yeah. 6. So 10. And that was just normal on another head.

Tim / GM:

They're all fused together.

Maggie / Poppy:

Oh, great.

Tim / GM:

It's all one thing.

Maggie / Poppy:

That's great

Tim / GM:

for being

Maggie / Poppy:

okay. So now they're silenced hopefully from casting spells for 1 minute.

Tim / GM:

Yeah. You see from some unseen hiding spot, a violet glowing bolt shoots across the room and lands right into this mass of fused heads. She hits it hits 1. It hits 1 right in the forehead, and you can see immediately these veins start to creep out in bright glowing violet like a UV light and then just spreads across the entire body. This thing is 1, very easy to see and find.

Tim / GM:

2, silenced. You see those flames die down all around it. At the end of your turn, Aaron, it spins around again and goes Traitor. But this time, the flames barely escape its mouth.

Maggie / Poppy:

Take that suckers.

Tim / GM:

Next up is Doran. Fuck. Why did you do a little

Maggie / Poppy:

capy baras.

John / Doran:

I was looking at capy baras.

Tim / GM:

The whole fucking story. Sean.

John / Doran:

I'm just kidding. No. I I have a complicated thing that I'm really just making sure I'm getting right. Okay. Doran, pulls out his fancy short sword.

John / Doran:

He's used to a rapier, so he, like, pulls his arm out way further than he needed to. Okay. And he gives, like, a little nod to Journey Mhmm. And giving Journey, Bartic inspo Oh. Inspiration for

Tim / GM:

That's all it takes is a nod now.

John / Doran:

Yeah. And, and then he, nudges Guy and just kind of gives, like, a hell yeah look. So, when Guy acts, I'm going to run with guy, and he's a help action to faint and give guy advantage on his attack.

Tim / GM:

Very cool. Okay. That's my turn. Just

Maggie / Poppy:

faints. He swoons.

Tara / Journey:

Yeah. Oh, no.

Tim / GM:

Alright. That might change

Thomas / Guy:

when I was planning

Tim / GM:

to do it with my turn. Doran sets up multiple people for success here, and Journey, it's on you.

Tara / Journey:

Oh, shit. Okay. I will use a bonus action to cast hunter's mark on one of the bodies, whichever one is closest to me. Mhmm. Probably the one that took damage.

Tara / Journey:

K. And then I am going to shoot with a bow.

Maggie / Poppy:

Your cool bow?

Tara / Journey:

With my cool bow, but it is not lit up because I used my bonus action to cast doctor's mark. Okay. 17 a hit?

Tim / GM:

Oh, yeah.

Tara / Journey:

K.

Maggie / Poppy:

That's 3 damage.

Maggie / Poppy:

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. You buzzed

Tim / GM:

up. For journey.

John / Doran:

Do you have a dex mod?

Tara / Journey:

Oh, yeah. I forgot. Six damage. Yes.

Maggie / Poppy:

Even better.

Tim / GM:

Hunter's Mark, Faye Buds?

Thomas / Guy:

Double it.

Tara / Journey:

I forgot Hunter's Mark.

Maggie / Poppy:

Jesus. Yay.

Thomas / Guy:

It's gonna end up being, like, 30 damage.

Maggie / Poppy:

I'm like, I don't think Journey's ever hit that bad ever.

Tara / Journey:

I'm so sorry, everybody.

Maggie / Poppy:

I love this.

Tara / Journey:

12 damage.

Maggie / Poppy:

Yeah. She's on fire.

Tim / GM:

Journey. You lose an arrow and you're pretty sure that you missed. And then you looked up and, oh, you actually hit oh, god. Damn. You got him right in the heart.

Tim / GM:

Okay.

Tara / Journey:

And my my swarm was kinda like, and then went for it anyway. Yeah.

Tim / GM:

They look back at you like, I don't know.

Maggie / Poppy:

What do I do?

Tim / GM:

And finally, with all the support in the world, Guy, turn.

Tara / Journey:

Oh, shit. I have a second attack. So sorry.

Tim / GM:

Jesus. It's so good. Guy, you hoist your sword above your head and Journey, like, bumps in front of you.

Tara / Journey:

Excuse me, guys. Sorry. I have one more. Doesn't hit.

John / Doran:

Jesus Christ, Tara. I gave you a Bardock as well.

Tim / GM:

Woah. It's

Thomas / Guy:

a hit. It's gotta be.

Tim / GM:

16. Does not hit. Oh.

Maggie / Poppy:

Now, do

Thomas / Guy:

you figure out their AC?

Tim / GM:

You keep the bardic inspiration.

Tara / Journey:

That's not even probably right. I don't know. Whatever.

Maggie / Poppy:

It's right. It's right.

Maggie / Poppy:

Oh, alright.

Tara / Journey:

Someone else go. My god.

Thomas / Guy:

Guy looks over at the Dullahan body that's moving toward Poppy. And then he looks at the heads. And when he looks at the heads, he gets like a splitting headache. Just doesn't like looking at those heads. Mhmm.

Thomas / Guy:

He knows those faces. He kind of, reels back a bit and then clutches his cloak of small castle that he got.

Tim / GM:

Yeah. Okay.

Thomas / Guy:

He looks at the 2 again, and he pulls off the cloak, makes it bigger,

Tim / GM:

and then runs over to drape the cloak over the heads. Oh my god. I love it. I love that so much. No.

Tim / GM:

Thank you. We're just gonna

Thomas / Guy:

not look at you anymore.

Tim / GM:

We'll call that a bonus action. Give me a contested grapple for that. Okay.

Tara / Journey:

What are they grappling with their teeth?

Tim / GM:

You're yeah. You're contesting against heads. They're trying to grapple. So you had disadvantage, but sure. 17?

Tim / GM:

9.

Maggie / Poppy:

Yes.

Tim / GM:

Alright. Guy, you make this thing massive. This cloak of small castle, you rip it off your back and just at your whim, as you're walking away with it, it just the back of it stays where you were, and it just gets bigger and bigger as you walk towards the heads and you toss it over. And you can just see the vague outline of heads underneath pushing away. You know, you can see, like, the outline of their eye sockets in their mouths as they kind of Treasure.

Tim / GM:

Like, push up against it, but they can't see anymore.

Maggie / Poppy:

It's just now like a hollow kids costume Halloween ghost. Exactly. Walking around.

Thomas / Guy:

Sorry about that door. Shall we?

John / Doran:

Of course.

Thomas / Guy:

No. I'm gonna run up and attack the the body closest to Poppy. Okay.

Maggie / Poppy:

The body, adi, adi.

Tim / GM:

Cool. Doren, you are coming for the body, and, what do you do to kind of distract this thing?

John / Doran:

I, like, run up in front of Guy Mhmm. Ready to make a slash. So I slash and then just roll off to the side to let, like, him go through on it.

Tim / GM:

Yeah. The Dullahan reacts to your near miss on that. It has some sense of the things around it. It gets ready and turns to strike you, Doran. Guy, you have a clear shot at this thing on its broadside.

Thomas / Guy:

24.

Tim / GM:

Nail them.

Thomas / Guy:

16 for the first damage.

Tim / GM:

Wow. Wow. Wow, indeed. Alright. You bring your sword down through this thing and you can see it's immediately bloodied.

Thomas / Guy:

Wow. Alright. I will do my second attack.

Tim / GM:

Very good.

Thomas / Guy:

Same roll. 24. Perfect. 15 damage. Yeah.

Thomas / Guy:

Woo.

Tim / GM:

The one you are attacking right now is the one that went after Poppy. This thing has a mighty hammer. You can almost hear a name in the back of your head

Tim / GM:

as you

Tim / GM:

go to strike this thing. In addition to their faces, Guy, their weapons stand out to you. It is now the body's turn.

Maggie / Poppy:

Take damage, bitch.

Tim / GM:

Very good. Okay. Mhmm. They you see their skin and their armor is bubbling with something wet. I don't know if you all saw in the beginning of this fight, Poppy coated them all in acid lemon juice.

Tim / GM:

That 12 acid damage now sinks in. Oh, that's nice. Mhmm. The one with the hammer guy goes to raise it above their head, and you just hear this and their arm falls off as the acid has rotted through their bone.

Thomas / Guy:

Wow.

Tim / GM:

You see the hammer begin to melt on the floor. This thing tries to fall towards you to grapple you to do something, and you can feel it slide against you as its skin sloughs off and it falls to the ground. Yeah. Vanquished, you see it start to burn and turn to

Tara / Journey:

ash. Nice. Pew.

Tim / GM:

2 dollar hands, 1 mass of heads under a blanket.

Maggie / Poppy:

Did the other ones get hit with the spray or no?

Tim / GM:

Yep. Okay. So they took that 12 damage as well. Cool. The one with the gladius, the singular, is going after Journey to try to get it back.

Tim / GM:

This would give an opportunity attack to Doran and Guy.

Maggie / Poppy:

Technical question. Can they see where they're going with our heads covered?

Tim / GM:

Oh, they can't. I am giving them disadvantage on their attacks from now on for being blinded. Just like just like the ones were before.

Thomas / Guy:

Opportunity attack?

John / Doran:

I technically don't get one because I used a reaction to red.

Tim / GM:

Yes. Okay.

Thomas / Guy:

Oh, okay. 27.

Tim / GM:

Wow. Yeah. That hits.

Maggie / Poppy:

Wow, Thomas.

Thomas / Guy:

Mhmm. Fourteen damage.

Tim / GM:

Jeez. Making a short work of this.

Maggie / Poppy:

Chop them up.

Tim / GM:

Yeah. Yeah. Maybe you're a practice guy. Who knows? Journey.

Tim / GM:

Even so, this thing triumphs and it keeps stepping through the attacks to get to you. Mhmm. Ends up with a 15 to hit.

Tara / Journey:

That hits.

Tim / GM:

Alright. That is a Gladius, but only one of them since you have the other one. That is 9 slashing damage. I need you to make a dexterity save. Okay.

Thomas / Guy:

Give yourself plus 3 for being next to a paladin.

Tim / GM:

Hey. That moment when everyone starts to click and the DM starts to piss himself. 22. Okay. Yeah.

Tim / GM:

You save. It was trying to pull a little maneuver that would disarm you.

Maggie / Poppy:

Mhmm.

Tara / Journey:

And I said no, this is mine now.

Tim / GM:

Yeah. Mhmm. This last one is going to go for Guy. Get a little vengeance. Guy, this flail is whistling overhead, and then he brings the ball down on you.

Tim / GM:

Disadvantage. It's a damn shame you rolled a 2 and then a natural one. Oh,

Maggie / Poppy:

man. He's like flail himself.

Tim / GM:

That's good. Yeah. We'll have him hit himself. He's swinging the flail around guy, and you've been in this situation before. You stick your sword up for one second, and you hit the middle of the links of the flail.

Tim / GM:

It rounds a lot quicker than he thought, swings back, and hits him in the face.

Maggie / Poppy:

Well, neck. Well, hits

Tim / GM:

him right in the neck. You can see this thing is thoroughly discombobulated. It slams its own self in the damn shoulder, and it kind of like wheels around to see who did that. But I can't see a damn thing still. We are back to the top of the round.

Tim / GM:

Guy, after that maneuver, you remember the last time that you fought Garam and Cavan, the flail wielder. Guy, you're among your knights in a private beer hall for the elite officers of Lotem. Someone's clapping you on the back for a job well done as you set down your drink on the night of your ceremony. Mary Parrish, a gladi e wielder, is sitting next to you and he says, great work, general. I don't know how we do this without you.

Tim / GM:

The way you deal with those bureaucrats just as well as you deal with the monsters outside really is inspiring to be part of your circle.

Thomas / Guy:

Everybody has a fear is what I've learned. You just had to learn how to exploit it.

Tim / GM:

Chilling, general. Thank you. God. You hear a grumble from behind you at Garamond Cabin, he says. We're the runs doing the real work after all.

Tim / GM:

Nothing would succeed without our sacrifice.

Thomas / Guy:

It's true. We do get most of the work done, but remember, we don't do it for the praise or the accolades. We do it for the betterment of Lotem.

Tim / GM:

He takes a step towards you, he says. We, general. I don't see the scars on your face these days.

Thomas / Guy:

Look, I never asked for this fancy parade or all of this bureaucratic nonsense, but I'm afraid someone has to deal with it.

Tim / GM:

Mary steps up again in between the 2 of you and says, hey. We don't need to fight. We're all friends here, general. What's the matter? What's what's gone between the 2 of you?

Tim / GM:

We can't have this.

Thomas / Guy:

You know I wish I could be out there on the battlefield with the rest of you men.

Tim / GM:

Do you? Is that what you really want, general, or have you grown comfortable? Do

Thomas / Guy:

you doubt me, Garamond?

Tim / GM:

Of course not, General. Later that night, Guy, you're at home. You just finished taking off all your armor. You see a shadow in the threshold, your dutiful wife. She says, what?

Tim / GM:

Shall I draw you a bath, sir?

Thomas / Guy:

Yes. Quite.

Tim / GM:

Very good. I shall. Cue baseline. Would you like any company, General?

Thomas / Guy:

No. I've had about all the company I can take for today.

Tim / GM:

I understand. Our daughter has asked to go out with some of her friends tonight. Do you think that would be permissible for a general's daughter to be out past curfew?

Thomas / Guy:

Do you know these friends?

Tim / GM:

I've met some of them. They're parents. They're school teachers. Good crowd, I think. I just wouldn't want it to risk your reputation, general.

Thomas / Guy:

Was she not out late last night and the night before?

Tim / GM:

She was. What is

Thomas / Guy:

that girl doing?

Tim / GM:

I I'm sorry. I shouldn't have asked. I'll let her know.

Thomas / Guy:

Yes. Don't let it happen again.

Tim / GM:

She disappears for a while, closes the door, and leaves you to your bath. Afterwards, after you've kind of toweled off and made yourself decent once more, she knocks on the door. Yes. She knocks on the door again and says May I enter, general?

Thomas / Guy:

Guy, shines up his mustache a little bit. Yep. You may.

Tim / GM:

She steps in. She says, one of your knights came looking for you just now. He wanted to know if you'd come see him for a nightcap.

Thomas / Guy:

Oh, very well. Which one was it?

Tim / GM:

It was, Garamond Kevin, if I'm not mistaken.

Thomas / Guy:

Garamond. We had a bit of a disagreement today, but

Tim / GM:

Perhaps he came to apologize.

Thomas / Guy:

I bet that's it.

Tim / GM:

Are you fucking kidding me? He gets to go out late and I don't? Mother, what in the hell? This is not okay. This is not permissible.

Thomas / Guy:

I am an adult and a mighty general.

Tim / GM:

You're nothing. Okay? You're like 6566. What does that make you? An asshole.

Thomas / Guy:

Young lady.

Tim / GM:

She holds up a middle finger.

Thomas / Guy:

I'm going out with Garamond. You deal with this insubordination.

Tim / GM:

She throws her eyes up at her mother and waits. Guy not far outside. Meet Gehrman. He's got his flail with him, and you brought your sword. Viren's words hang heavy on you.

Tim / GM:

You do what you need to do to secure the loyalty of Lotum. There will be no digression from this path. The 2 of you share a silent walk to the edge of town. Garaman says, I've had some things in my mind, General.

Thomas / Guy:

Yes. I bet you have.

Tim / GM:

You've turned a blind eye to reality. The load on that you worked to build, that's not what this is. I'm afraid you've lost sight, become ignorant. I can no longer follow you.

Thomas / Guy:

I have lost sight, and yet you refuse to follow orders. You go rogue and abandon your post.

Tim / GM:

I know what's best for this city. Better than anyone. Better than you. You hear a jingle as a chain link falls loose at his side, his flail at the ready. I'll do what I have to do for Lotem.

Thomas / Guy:

As will

Tim / GM:

I, Garamond. And Guhraman is not half the fighter that you are for all his boasting. Within seconds, his head was on the floor. It was the same story for Danathon Hawk. Just a week later, it was the same story for Brannon Brash, then Mary Parrish, then Michael h, then Johnny Wilder, then Michael P, then Louis Valtherin, and then Farthing, then Alastair of Silvery, then Kellan the bear, and then Kevin.

Tim / GM:

Kevin?

Maggie / Poppy:

No. No.

Tim / GM:

12 of your night sky. At your hand. You remember them all in this moment. And it's Poppy's turn again.

Tara / Journey:

Jesus Christ.

Maggie / Poppy:

Are they all wearing armor? Because they're all knights. K. Poppy is going to run up to the next body Mhmm. And slap it with shocking grass.

Tim / GM:

Okay. Cool. As the singular Gladius wielder

Maggie / Poppy:

I have to make a melee spell attack. Okay. I have advantage on it, if they're wearing armor. Correct. Nat 20, bitch.

Maggie / Poppy:

Nice. Not a net twenty. So it's a d eight lightning damage, but it's a crit. Do I double? Yeah.

Maggie / Poppy:

Yeah.

Maggie / Poppy:

Woo. Yes.

Maggie / Poppy:

Oh, it's at 5th level. So I have 2 d 8.

Tim / GM:

Double that.

Maggie / Poppy:

We're gonna fry him in that armor.

Maggie / Poppy:

26 lightning damage. Really?

Tim / GM:

Wow. Okay. Poppy, you reach up with your shocking grasp charged into your hand and get close enough to this Dullahan body.

Maggie / Poppy:

I wanna punch him in the nuts.

Tara / Journey:

Really quick.

Tim / GM:

You reel back and go to punch this guy in the nuts. Sorry, not guy. You punch this Dullahan, other Dullahan, in the nuts. But before your fist even makes contact, that eager lightning jumps off of your hand into its armor, and he starts to convulse. And you see the strobing light, and for a a second, for some reason, he turns completely black and you can see his skeleton.

Tim / GM:

With that, he is vanquished. Woo

Maggie / Poppy:

hoo. Yes. Take that.

Tim / GM:

You hear the gladius clang to the ground and you can see under that sheet across the room, one of the head's hairs sticking straight up, I guess. That leaves one body, 6 heads in a blanket. It is now the head's turn. You hear another wail come from underneath that canvas, that blanket, the cloak of Lotem. You hear traitor, and the only remaining Dala hand takes a swing at Guy.

Tim / GM:

Ladies and gentlemen, that is my 3rd natural one. Wow. Oh my gosh.

Maggie / Poppy:

I'm witnessing this. It's real.

Tim / GM:

3rd natural one of the night. That's insane.

Maggie / Poppy:

You're cursed.

Tara / Journey:

It's every other rolling guy. Yeah.

Tim / GM:

Wow. And this is the flail one. Okay.

Thomas / Guy:

I thought flail one was gone.

Tim / GM:

Gladius just died to electricity.

Thomas / Guy:

Oh, no. Ham it was Ham.

Tara / Journey:

Hammer and Gladius are dead.

Tim / GM:

The flail guy walks towards you, guy, calmly wraps the chain around the stick and hands you his flail because what the fuck is he doing? Next up is Eren.

Maggie / Poppy:

Eren's gonna hide. Back down into my crates.

Tim / GM:

K.

Thomas / Guy:

Get that

Tim / GM:

stealth roll real quick.

Maggie / Poppy:

18.

Tim / GM:

Yeah. You win.

John / Doran:

You win.

Tim / GM:

Heads clearly have disadvantage.

Maggie / Poppy:

And then I am going to just do a crossbow bolt into the heads Yep. In the blanket.

Tim / GM:

Okay. Can't go wrong.

Maggie / Poppy:

Gonna hit one of them.

Maggie / Poppy:

Shooting heads in a blanket. Mhmm.

Tim / GM:

Don't love that. I don't.

Maggie / Poppy:

21 to hit? Yep.

Tim / GM:

Sneak attack.

Maggie / Poppy:

I feel like you'd be hidden either way.

Tim / GM:

Yeah. Is is putting a sheet over something else getting getting everyone else hidden?

Maggie / Poppy:

My double hits. Okay. 26 damage

Tim / GM:

In total?

Maggie / Poppy:

To the head. Yep.

Tim / GM:

Okay. Yeah. You fire an arrow into this sheet, and you're just like Next up is Doran.

John / Doran:

Doran, gives guy a wink, bardic inspo.

Tim / GM:

Mhmm.

John / Doran:

And then, you turns to the blanket of heads and you put all your heads together.

Maggie / Poppy:

Keep that one.

Tim / GM:

This is good.

Thomas / Guy:

This is good.

John / Doran:

You put all your heads together. Goddamn it. I'm just gonna hide.

Tim / GM:

I'm gonna take

John / Doran:

an action and hide.

Maggie / Poppy:

Door justice

Tim / GM:

happens. It happens. If you if you miss it again, you just gotta roll.

John / Doran:

You put all your heads together, and this is the best you can muster? Vicious mockery.

Tim / GM:

Yeah. Cruel, harsh words.

Tara / Journey:

Beautiful. Good job.

John / Doran:

First time nailed it. 7 7 psychic. Okay. 7 psychic.

Thomas / Guy:

That was to the heads? Yep.

John / Doran:

And they have disadvantage on their next attack roll.

Tim / GM:

Alright. Yeah. You shot that at the heads, and under the blanket, you hear Uh-huh. After Dorne, we are led back to Journey.

Tara / Journey:

2 of the bodies are dead.

Tim / GM:

Vanquished.

Tara / Journey:

Vanquished. Apologies. Redead. I'm gonna use a bonus action to move my hunter's mark to the remaining body. K.

Tara / Journey:

And then I'm going to attack. Great.

Tim / GM:

I love when you guys do that.

Tara / Journey:

That would be a natural one.

Tim / GM:

Oh. No.

Tim / GM:

Okay. You just weren't thinking, and you put the Gladius in the bow string. It didn't go very far.

Tara / Journey:

I just have, like, too many things in my hands.

Tim / GM:

Yeah. Gladius falls to the ground. The Gladius is not blunted. It is useless.

Tara / Journey:

Damn. Alright.

Tim / GM:

Well, the tip is blunted.

Tara / Journey:

Okay. He has old rusty shit, anyway. He's still hit. I'll do my second attack.

Maggie / Poppy:

Oh,

Tara / Journey:

I'll do my second attack.

Tim / GM:

Oh, okay.

Tara / Journey:

15 to hit?

Tim / GM:

On the body?

Tara / Journey:

Yeah. No. Unbelievable.

Tim / GM:

Yeah. You all hear the sharp plink as an arrow. Slacks the armor. It does not

Maggie / Poppy:

Journey sits on the floor.

Tim / GM:

Yeah. That's okay. Next up is Guy. Journey has run out of energy for this.

Tara / Journey:

I've had a day.

Thomas / Guy:

Guy looks down at the flail in his hand and looks up at the one he thinks is Garamond. Mhmm.

Tim / GM:

He's gonna walk over and hand the flail back. Attached? Yeah. The body seems a little bit bewildered. It's also not fighting you in this moment.

Thomas / Guy:

Let's settle this the fairway, Garamond, the way we used to.

Tim / GM:

The flail drops to his side and starts spinning. Please just murder him. I don't hit.

Thomas / Guy:

Yes. I will do an attack Okay. With a sword. Okay.

Tim / GM:

23. That hits him.

Thomas / Guy:

12, I think.

Tim / GM:

12 damage?

Thomas / Guy:

Yep.

Tim / GM:

Alright. Still standing. After that first slash, you see him kind of list off to the side as if he's not gonna get back up, but he does.

Thomas / Guy:

That's, 19 to hit.

Tim / GM:

He's coming up with the flail to knock your head off your shoulders. Before he can raise the flail, you drop the sword.

Thomas / Guy:

Uh-oh. Might not be enough. Oh. 7.

Tim / GM:

It is exactly Woah.

Maggie / Poppy:

Woah. Woah.

Tim / GM:

You do indeed vanquish him from 43 to 50. Congratulations. $3 hand. Audis have been vanquished. You see that those defeats had no effect on the greater mass of heads towards the back of this room.

Tim / GM:

We are back to the top of the round, and Guy once again disappears into his thoughts.

Maggie / Poppy:

Oh, I was like, what?

Tim / GM:

Guy, with the burden of 12 executions hanging off of you, the 13th weighs on you heavily. Your 13th night, an unlucky number, but He Himself requested to be a part of this, to be within your circle, and who could deny the request of a prince? You are entering into the grand vestibule where only officers and royalty are allowed to be. You're in the archives, in the Hall of Memories, and that's where you find Prince Lotem.

Thomas / Guy:

My leash. Guy bows.

Tim / GM:

General, I didn't expect to see you here. What is going on with this city, general? What's happening? It seems our men are are so distant. Our the spirit seems wrong.

Tim / GM:

I fear the worst. I fear it's Lady Viren. What do you make of this?

Thomas / Guy:

Things do seem bleak lately, but like all of us, Viren fights for the nation of Lotem, does she not?

Tim / GM:

I wanted to believe the same thing. He looks up at you with sad, sad eyes.

Thomas / Guy:

As a leader, you must know of the many sacrifices we have to make to build a better world.

Tim / GM:

Of course, I do. He's looking down in his hands, and he's holding a small wooden jar. And Viren's words are ringing through your head, Guy. You will do what's necessary as you've done before. Don't let your courage falter in the final hour, general.

Tim / GM:

They may spin stories about us, absurd machinations that they'll present, but you must be true to this city. And the prince is looking you dead in the eye, and he says, I found this general, a a memory, a stored memory from Viren herself. She is an agent for the Fae. General, we have already lost a war we didn't know we had been fighting for years. We shut out everyone around us.

Tim / GM:

We killed everyone who spoke ill, all according to their plan.

Thomas / Guy:

Who gave you that?

Tim / GM:

General, no. I found this on my own. Please. Please, general. Tell me you're here to listen.

Thomas / Guy:

This could easily be some sort of plant to turn you against all of us. Need I remind you, the king himself placed Varan in his charge.

Tim / GM:

You see him begin to weep, and he blinks his eyes fast and hard up at you. And he takes one step towards you. His hands are empty and he raises them to your face. Says, please, general. Please.

Tim / GM:

And Guy, you knew what you came there for, and you knew how hard this would be. Because your whole life, everything you did, you did for Lotem. Poppy, it's your turn.

Maggie / Poppy:

Are they lovers? I don't know. Are they not because they did it for I don't know. Or load them? I don't

Maggie / Poppy:

know. Oh my god. His wife.

Maggie / Poppy:

I mean, he doesn't like his wife clearly.

Tara / Journey:

Poor, sad family. Good God.

Maggie / Poppy:

Okay. Okay. How come all teenage girls are the worst when Tim plays that?

Tim / GM:

Because they only have 1 teenage girl. Yes. I don't mean to misrepresent a whole group of people.

Maggie / Poppy:

The heads for now are contained. Yeah?

Tim / GM:

They're under a blanket. There's no more bodies. They've all been vanquished. But, god, you see little licks of flame popping out from underneath the cloak of Small Castle. It's draped over this head amalgam thing.

Tim / GM:

You know that you will lose this cloak to fire unless you pull it off.

Thomas / Guy:

Alright. These things aren't going to stay under here forever. If I yank this off, are we all ready to finish the job?

Maggie / Poppy:

Hell, yeah. Yeah. Let's do it.

Thomas / Guy:

I'll just, walk over and yank it off.

Tim / GM:

Okay. As you do, you see a brief gout of flame like a backdraft kind of bursts off of this thing, and you get your cloak back. Poppy, it's on you. You got a clear shot at these heads.

Maggie / Poppy:

Is the heads the one thing? Yes. So if I cast something on the one thing, it affects

Tim / GM:

all of them. Correct.

Maggie / Poppy:

I'm gonna cast reduce.

Tim / GM:

Oh, cute.

Maggie / Poppy:

Traitor. It has to make a con save.

Tim / GM:

Yep. 1 of its higher roles tonight, that is a 14 in total. 14 Yes.

Maggie / Poppy:

Is my spell save.

Tara / Journey:

Pizza, pizza. It's a

Tim / GM:

piece of pizza. At the end of Poppy's turn, now that that sheet has been lifted, they, spin around and you see the flames kind of spill out of their mouth. They shout, traitor. But they get little more than, like, a match sticks worth of fire out of their mouth. They cannot do their scorching ray beams.

Tim / GM:

I guess heads spin around. Actually, they're gonna charge towards Poppy. They have to go down a little ways to get to Poppy, I think. So we can get opportunity attacks from Doran, Journey, Aran. Can all see that this thing is starting to glow a little more as it booting towards Poppy as if it's trying to huff the fire inside of itself.

John / Doran:

I'm gonna save my reaction.

Maggie / Poppy:

Eren got a 17 to hit.

Tim / GM:

That hits the amalgam. K.

Maggie / Poppy:

5.

Tara / Journey:

K. Does a 9 hit?

Tim / GM:

9 does not hit the above.

Tara / Journey:

Didn't think so. Wait. Does Bardic work for Yeah. This?

Tim / GM:

Yeah. You can still use. Does 11 hit.

Maggie / Poppy:

Does 11 hit. Does not.

Tara / Journey:

And I'm gonna just keep this die forever. I hope that's okay.

Tim / GM:

Last up is Doran. You said you're gonna keep your reaction?

John / Doran:

Yep. Alright.

Tim / GM:

The heads continue on towards Poppy. They don't quite make it to her, but it looks like they're glowing and enlarging a little bit maybe.

Maggie / Poppy:

How wood do you want

Tim / GM:

from here? Next up, we've got Eren.

Maggie / Poppy:

Eren? Hides. Seems right. Bonus action hide. 14 to hide?

Tim / GM:

Doesn't have disadvantage anymore. So that's a 7 to find you. Nope. Great.

Maggie / Poppy:

Can't see me. And then I'm gonna shoot a crossbow bolt at that.

Tim / GM:

Oh, interesting. Okay.

Tara / Journey:

You know Well, that's new. Yeah.

Maggie / Poppy:

I got one hot move here. 19 to hit.

Tim / GM:

Got it. Got it.

John / Doran:

Advantage too, just in case.

Maggie / Poppy:

What's my oh, because I Hit? Got it. No. No crit. Okay.

Maggie / Poppy:

Yes. Nice. 19 plus 4. 23 Hell, yeah. Normal bolt from my hidden space.

Tim / GM:

Very cool. That arrow 90 bolt. Disappears into the amalgam. You don't see it come out the other side. This massive 6 fused heads has a crossbow bolt in it somewhere.

Tara / Journey:

Ew.

Tim / GM:

This thing is looking gross. It's, like, leaking viscera everywhere it goes. It is still, like, enlarging and growing that flame inside of it. It comes clear at this moment. This thing is going to explode the second it gets to Poppy.

Tim / GM:

That brings us to Doran.

John / Doran:

Does this kinda look like it's gonna blow and it can't reverse it? There's no telling what will happen. I'm going to use a couple things. So first of all, unsettling words on it, which will give it a d 8, penalty to its next save. Interesting.

John / Doran:

K. And I'm going to

Tim / GM:

cast a spell,

John / Doran:

and it's going to be the suggestion spell.

Tim / GM:

Okay. Which has a d, d 8

John / Doran:

Yep. Attraction 2. My suggestion is, gonna be like a sentence or so. Mhmm. You wanna dance?

John / Doran:

Let's dance in that banquet hall. Race you there. Sure. Sure.

Tim / GM:

So a 10 overall. That's not good enough. K. Very

John / Doran:

good. So, they will, take that course of action.

Tim / GM:

Okay. They are floating towards you, Poppy, and then they suddenly divert course. Dora and suggestion, it seems the dance is just what they would like at this time in the banquet hall for some fucking reason. Okay. You see them float out the open threshold that was destroyed by those Dolan bodies out into the banquet hall.

Tim / GM:

And when it does, you can all see that that banquet hall is already kind of destroyed. The floor is, like, leaning down at an angle. The banquet hall table itself is also, like, leaning into the floor, and out it goes. Next up is Journey.

Maggie / Poppy:

Did anyone get an opportunity attack when they floated out

Maggie / Poppy:

of the room?

Tara / Journey:

We already opted to be attacked when they passed us.

Maggie / Poppy:

Not Poppy. I didn't. Oh.

Tara / Journey:

Oh. Yeah.

Tim / GM:

Yeah. Go for it. They went right by you.

Maggie / Poppy:

I guess, bop it with my rolling pin.

Tim / GM:

Bop it.

Tara / Journey:

Bacon. That's a 9.

Maggie / Poppy:

Because I have a negative one to

Maggie / Poppy:

those. Oh, no.

Tim / GM:

Yeah. You give it a swing and it's you, like, close your eyes and swing like crazy, and Poppy's just swinging back and forth.

Thomas / Guy:

I think it floods right over Poppy.

Tim / GM:

Yes. But can't quite reach. Like a pinata. That'll bring us to Journey.

Tara / Journey:

Did I already move my hunter's mark to the heads? Yeah.

Tim / GM:

You moved it to a body, not the heads. Fuck.

Tara / Journey:

Okay. I use a bonus action to move it to the heads.

Tim / GM:

K. And

Tara / Journey:

then I attack.

Tim / GM:

Great. I swear to god. Oh.

Tara / Journey:

Thank you. 25 to hit.

Tim / GM:

Yeah.

Tara / Journey:

10 damage.

Tim / GM:

After that first hit, you see a gout of flame just kind of pop open on this thing. It seems to be leaking like a balloon.

Tara / Journey:

16 to hit?

Tim / GM:

That does hit. Finally.

Tara / Journey:

12 damage.

Tim / GM:

You see this thing in the other room take another arrow. Another gout of flame starts bursting off the side and then a third and a fourth and a 5th. You see it start to grow and shake and rumble and it's not gone yet. It turns back around and looks at Guy. Traitor.

Thomas / Guy:

Stop calling me that.

Tim / GM:

Guy is

Thomas / Guy:

gonna pop form of dread.

Tim / GM:

Oh, yeah.

Thomas / Guy:

Oh. I think it's a healthy 3 hippoits.

Tara / Journey:

Gentlemen's 3.

Thomas / Guy:

And he's gonna charge at the heads in the

Tim / GM:

other room and take them in. Wow. Melee range. A really smart tactical move. Mhmm.

Tim / GM:

Yeah. You all hear the clanging and jingling of Guy charging full of ore into the other room. You see that thing begin to shake and vibrate wildly, grow twice its size, and charge towards you guy.

Thomas / Guy:

Here we go. I am going to use channel divinity to add 10 to that roll.

Tim / GM:

Okay. So it's, like, 21. Yes. A 21 would hit. I don't think this roll matters.

Tim / GM:

It does not.

Thomas / Guy:

But it's 15 damage.

Tim / GM:

When all you needed was 1. With 15 damage, Kai, the instant your blade makes contact with this, it begins to bellow again and you don't let it. You all see a blinding flash of light as the force immediately impacts you, and you can all feel the heat of the explosion in the other room in the banquet hall. Guy, you take 10 d 6 fire damage. Woah.

Tim / GM:

Oh, no.

Thomas / Guy:

They literally can't kill me.

Tim / GM:

That is 42 fire damage. Oh.

Tara / Journey:

Oh my goodness.

Tim / GM:

And the rest of you see little to nothing when that explosion clears because that damage in the floor was worsened, was made catastrophic by this explosion. The floor is gone. The table is gone. Guy has sunk down to the next level, to the next tier of small castle, and combat is over. We're out of initiative.

John / Doran:

Oh, y'all right there, big guy?

Tara / Journey:

Guy, are you down there, guy?

Thomas / Guy:

Can I hear them?

Tim / GM:

Yeah. Echo y, distant, but yeah.

Thomas / Guy:

I still live.

John / Doran:

Good. Okay. Well that that went pretty well.

Thomas / Guy:

They were right, you know.

Tara / Journey:

Right about what?

Thomas / Guy:

I I am a traitor.

Maggie / Poppy:

You've been really, really loyal to all of us, so I don't see why anything a couple of disembodied heads were saying would matter. Right?

Thomas / Guy:

No. It's all coming back to me in bits and pieces. I I was the one who led Lotem to ruin.

John / Doran:

Guy, bits and pieces are not enough to we we need to know much more than that.

Thomas / Guy:

You weren't there, Dordon. I was there. These men we killed, they were all there.

John / Doran:

You were doing it for something though.

Thomas / Guy:

Yes. I don't know if all that matters anymore.

Tim / GM:

Guy, where you are is a tear down, another generation down in Small Castle as these levels go. Among the, remains of that amalgam, you see one solid object. It looks like charcoal, but glossy and slightly green when it glows in the dark. We'll call this the necrotic heart. You may cast the suggestion and command spell at will, so long as it targets another Dullahan.

Thomas / Guy:

Woah. Suggestion and command?

Tim / GM:

Yep. Additionally, once per day, if you would be reduced to 0 hit points, you may choose to instead become a mindless servant with 1 HP, obeying all commands that are given to you.

John / Doran:

Oh. Amazing.

Thomas / Guy:

Is that reversed by healing?

Tim / GM:

Yes.

John / Doran:

Okay.

Tim / GM:

Great. Just a temporary state. Yeah. Strewn about the ground are also heavy, heavy weaponry. If you'd like to pick up a Gladius flail or mighty hammer, these weapons are.

Tim / GM:

They require a strength of 12 to wield. They're a plus 1 to hit and damage, and they stun, disarm, or prone on their successful attacks depending on the weapon. Yeah.

Tara / Journey:

I'll take some fucking glad e. K. Goddamn it. Upgrade my hand axes.

Tim / GM:

Yeah.

John / Doran:

Darren kinda stands over by Poppy. I, I can help you get down. I think he I need you right now. And I take out a wand, and I guess levitate on Poppy.

Tim / GM:

Kinda levitate Poppy down.

Maggie / Poppy:

Yeah. I love Dorn just having a little wand in his pocket.

Tim / GM:

Poppy, you gracefully levitate down to, right where Guy is.

Maggie / Poppy:

Hi, Guy.

Thomas / Guy:

Oh, hey there, Poppy.

Maggie / Poppy:

How how are you doing?

Thomas / Guy:

Oh, well, it hurt a lot when that thing exploded in my face.

Maggie / Poppy:

Yeah. I I felt the heat. That was really strong. But I kinda meant more on the inside.

Thomas / Guy:

Yeah. That's not great either.

Maggie / Poppy:

Seems like a lot of weight to carry on your own.

Thomas / Guy:

Poppy, do you remember when we first met? I was on the run from Lapillus. We traveled together before we met, and once he saw my true form, he vowed to hunt me down, called me

Tim / GM:

a monster.

Maggie / Poppy:

I've known you for a couple of years, and I would never call you a monster. You might look scary sometimes, but but you aren't scary to me.

Thomas / Guy:

Thank you, puppy. I needed to hear that. Guy gets himself up and dusts himself off.

Tim / GM:

Guy, when you take a breath, you can smell that it's musty in here. This layer down here is much older and it looks like a church or an empty dormitory, something like that. There's a crumbling brick floor with loose stones under every step and random detritus and scraps of wood and stone all over the floor, including an old sealed barrel of water, several feet of rope, and a few other random bits and bobs. There's a collapsed archway preventing your exit to one side and the other is a flat brick wall, but in front of that wall is a single statue severely offset to the left. To keep it on top of mind, your mission is not complete.

Tim / GM:

Yes, you repaired the barrier. Yes, you made it past the rats, but you still don't know what's causing the train, and what is sinking Small Castle. The answer lies further down.

John / Doran:

Can the rest of us start to climb down?

Tim / GM:

Yeah. Easily over time. Okay.

Thomas / Guy:

It seems we're one level closer to the core of this place.

Maggie / Poppy:

Can I taste the air? Sure. Yeah. Just like this little area?

Tim / GM:

Okay. Yeah. You taste nothing, which is really strange because because that's never happened before when you go to, like, sip the air. You expected something even if it's gross. And then a long while goes by, and then something sweet.

Maggie / Poppy:

Guys, I think maybe we should rest for a little bit.

Maggie / Poppy:

I was gonna ask if if Guy needed to take a minute, after getting blown up halfway blown up.

Maggie / Poppy:

Are you okay, Guy?

Thomas / Guy:

I could use a breather, I think. I don't wanna slow us down.

Maggie / Poppy:

I think it might be safe here for a little bit.

Thomas / Guy:

Short rest?

Tim / GM:

Yeah. You guys can take a short rest?

John / Doran:

Doran approaches the statue and just kind of, looks it over. Yeah. Can I make a investigate Yep? Check? 10.

Tim / GM:

Okay. With 10, you don't see much, but you do see a plaque. There's a placard on this statue. It reads, the latest queen of Smallcastle, Lady Alamora Velour, standing with none at her side, for she has no equal.

John / Doran:

Okay. Yeah. Doran just kinda sits down then and takes a short rest.

Tim / GM:

K.

Maggie / Poppy:

Aaron walks up the said door and while he was looking at the statue. Is the statue well made? Like, can I tell features and stuff pretty easily from it, or is it worn away?

Tim / GM:

It's a little weather worn, a couple of chips in it, but originally, yeah, it was beautifully made.

Maggie / Poppy:

Aaron's going to well, Doran's reading, try to transform into the statue, but it's very hard for Aaron to do it from, pictures and images. It takes a lot of practice, so they're just sort of fading in and out between how Aaron looks as an elf most of the time to the statue's look, but just testing it out.

Tim / GM:

Okay. Your skin is, like, a little, like, otherworldly smooth, and you can't guess at the coloration. And so you have some kind of, like, statue like qualities when you do this. Mhmm. Yeah.

Tim / GM:

Your hair is kind of one solid mass, and you're trying to figure out how it really should fall. Mhmm.

Maggie / Poppy:

Were they a human?

Tim / GM:

Yeah. A human woman. Yep. Mhmm.

John / Doran:

For there was no equal.

Tim / GM:

What? Sorry?

John / Doran:

Oh, I was just reading the plaque. Yeah.

Maggie / Poppy:

Oh, and Aaron sort of shakes back into their normal self.

Tim / GM:

What what

Maggie / Poppy:

did the plaque say?

Tim / GM:

The plaque said, the latest queen of small castle, lady Elemora Velour, standing with none at her side, for she has no equal.

Maggie / Poppy:

So you read that? Yeah. No equal. I wonder what that means.

John / Doran:

They thought a lot of her. At least, they wrote as such.

Maggie / Poppy:

A queen from long ago, She must have been something special then.

John / Doran:

Well, they certainly wrote as such.

Maggie / Poppy:

It's tricky to change into something that's art, I guess. I don't know. I'll have to keep practicing. Might come in handy later.

John / Doran:

Yeah. You're pretty good at it.

Tim / GM:

You're all kind of, repacking your stuff and ending your short rest here, and, again, you've got a collapsed archway that prevents you from leaving one way and a flat brick wall in the other with this offset statue standing in front of it.

Maggie / Poppy:

Is the flat brick wall slightly different colored?

Tim / GM:

Yeah. It looks like it's, animated rather than painted.

Tara / Journey:

Yeah. I'd like to investigate the statue slash brick wall.

Tim / GM:

K.

John / Doran:

Can I help Journey and be like, see what the plank says plaque says? No.

Tim / GM:

You said plank.

Tara / Journey:

Do I get the help action from that?

Tim / GM:

Yeah. Sure.

Maggie / Poppy:

Is your investigation bad?

Tim / GM:

Terrible.

Tara / Journey:

Oh. Minus 1.

Tim / GM:

But why am I helping you?

Tara / Journey:

Because no one else does it, and I always do it.

Maggie / Poppy:

I'll I'll, like, wander up quietly next to you and go, and, like, look also just because

Tara / Journey:

can I give someone else the help help action? Sure.

Maggie / Poppy:

Wait. Wait. Wait. Can Aaron remember this person's image from the stained glass windows they looked at a few episodes ago from the ship as we were coming in?

Tim / GM:

Mhmm. Give me a history check. Yeah.

Maggie / Poppy:

Okay. While they're doing also the investigation check.

Tim / GM:

Sorry. Do the investigation check first since you guys declared that.

Maggie / Poppy:

Journey and I are both going,

Tara / Journey:

I wonder why the statue's offset from this brick wall.

Maggie / Poppy:

Yeah. It does seem strange.

Tara / Journey:

8. Yep. Whoo. Good god. Alright.

Tim / GM:

Yeah. Nothing.

John / Doran:

Alright. I'm going to Go ahead. Give Bartic inspiration to Aaron. K. And then can I also be, like, helping Aaron?

Tim / GM:

No. You already had your chance.

Maggie / Poppy:

I think what's your Bardic inspiration for me, though?

John / Doran:

You get a d 8 to add to your tone.

Maggie / Poppy:

What do you do?

John / Doran:

I I'm just, playing some soothing notes on the lute, just kinda like,

Thomas / Guy:

yeah, some history music. Good.

Tim / GM:

Another editing task. Good.

Maggie / Poppy:

Yeah. I'm gonna use that Vardic inspo right now.

Maggie / Poppy:

God. Why are we all rolling so bad?

Maggie / Poppy:

12 total.

Tim / GM:

I mean, yes. You remember seeing this person? She did not have a king in her portrait.

Tara / Journey:

Mhmm. That's it. Okay.

John / Doran:

Doran's gonna go up to the statue and try to push it towards the center.

Tim / GM:

Give me an athletics check. K.

Maggie / Poppy:

My queen.

John / Doran:

10.

Tim / GM:

Poor, poor, weak, subtle Doran.

John / Doran:

Someone please help me push it.

Tara / Journey:

Why? Oh my god.

Tim / GM:

Doran, you you go to push the statue, and kind of, like, leans as if it's gonna fall, and you run-in front of it and catch it to stop it from

Maggie / Poppy:

falling. Doren, at least look at it first.

John / Doran:

I have been looking at it.

Maggie / Poppy:

Yeah. What we need

Tara / Journey:

is Are there any marks on the floor that indicate that it's been slid?

Tim / GM:

No. But give me a bonus investigation check right now.

Tara / Journey:

Oh, god.

Maggie / Poppy:

Please roll them up.

Maggie / Poppy:

We're stuck in this room forever.

Tara / Journey:

That's a 3 that I rolled, minus 1, so 2.

Maggie / Poppy:

What are you looking at?

Thomas / Guy:

What have you, Hey.

Tara / Journey:

Every time we go into a new place, you guys investigate, I'll push things. How's that sound? Alright.

John / Doran:

Let's just reset

Thomas / Guy:

if we, figured out a way out of this room yet.

Tara / Journey:

I'm gonna start moving individual rocks out of the archway.

John / Doran:

Yep. Yeah.

Maggie / Poppy:

Guys, is there anything special about this statue? We can't figure it out.

John / Doran:

Guy smells it.

Maggie / Poppy:

Oh my god. Where

Thomas / Guy:

are we? What's my smell modifier? Anything?

Tim / GM:

Yes. You got advantage on perception.

John / Doran:

I almost corrected to you.

Maggie / Poppy:

Smell safe DC.

Tim / GM:

It's spell modifier. No. It's smell modifier.

Thomas / Guy:

Well, 13.

Maggie / Poppy:

Tim was so annoyed.

Maggie / Poppy:

Hey. 13.

Tara / Journey:

Oh, I'm sorry. Did you want us to solve a puzzle in here?

Tim / GM:

13's pretty good. So, Guy, what you notice is, when stone rubs together, it gives off the slightest,

Thomas / Guy:

like Yeah. Admissible.

Tim / GM:

Hot sulfurous kind of burning. Mhmm. You know? Like, if you were to look down this hallway, looking at the statue, which is severely offset to the left, to the right of that is a platform equidistantly offset on the right where a king statue would go. You can see that a platform there has been, rubbing together as the plate there is pushed down.

Thomas / Guy:

Did no one else smell this? Because it seems pretty obvious you put the statue that's over here onto this platform over here.

Maggie / Poppy:

Oh, is it obvious?

Thomas / Guy:

You just follow your nose, probably.

John / Doran:

I mean,

Maggie / Poppy:

the narrator said king.

John / Doran:

That that's what I was trying to do. I was just trying to push it over to there, obviously.

Tara / Journey:

I step onto the platform.

Tim / GM:

You step onto the platform, and you feel it sink a little bit, but nothing clicks.

Maggie / Poppy:

I step on also.

Maggie / Poppy:

Can we move the statue, the queen, onto that platform?

Tim / GM:

When Poppy also steps on the platform, it sinks a little more but does not yet quite click.

Tara / Journey:

I think it just needs to be suitably heavy. I don't think we need to move that other statue here. I think we just need to put enough weight on this.

Thomas / Guy:

Guy puts one foot on it.

Tim / GM:

Not quite yet enough.

Thomas / Guy:

Alright. He'll put, his whole thing on it.

Tim / GM:

You hear a click and then a sudden grind. Nothing opens, but it seems it wanted to for a second there.

Maggie / Poppy:

Maybe we need to put the queen on the platform that they're on. There seems to be 2 of them.

John / Doran:

What did the plaque say one more time?

Tim / GM:

The latest queen of Smallcastle, Lady Elemora Valour, standing with none at her side for she has no equal.

Thomas / Guy:

Are there any other statues in this hallway? No.

Maggie / Poppy:

Guys, wait. I think maybe we have

Maggie / Poppy:

to put her on

Maggie / Poppy:

the platform.

Thomas / Guy:

Let's put her

John / Doran:

on the other one.

Thomas / Guy:

Alright. Here I go.

John / Doran:

I'm helping guy.

Tara / Journey:

It's just unbelievable.

John / Doran:

You get to roll again.

Tim / GM:

20 with Bardock.

Tara / Journey:

We're gonna we're gonna brute force this.

Tim / GM:

You push the statue. As you push it away, you see a platform underneath that statue. Click up.

John / Doran:

Okay.

Tim / GM:

You get it to the platform on the right, and it sinks down, and it clicks perfectly into place. Nothing opens.

Thomas / Guy:

Alright. She stands with none on her side.

Tara / Journey:

Why don't we just put her in the middle? Nope. No platforms.

Thomas / Guy:

That's what I'm saying. And then

John / Doran:

we all leave. Someone else,

Maggie / Poppy:

I'm

Tim / GM:

getting tired.

Maggie / Poppy:

Question. Mhmm. Would I have

Tim / GM:

enough twinning clay? Yes.

Maggie / Poppy:

I'm gonna do that.

Tim / GM:

Sorry. You have enough twinning clay. When you make something with twinning clay, it's like it doesn't grow to be that size. You just make a copy of it.

Thomas / Guy:

I'm moving into the center, so it's so there's no platforms.

Tim / GM:

Okay. Let's take 10 on the athletics here. You push it towards the middle. You hear that thing click back. Nothing opens.

Tim / GM:

Well,

Thomas / Guy:

we're doomed.

Tim / GM:

I'm looking for an anagram at this point. Morally? So a strategy that you guys had tried earlier. Vamora. Morally Vamora.

Tim / GM:

A strategy that you guys control

John / Doran:

a history check on Shut Stop. The check. Sorry.

Tim / GM:

A strategy that you all had tried earlier was leaving the statue where it was, and you all started to add weight to the other platform. It succeeded for a split second, and then Guy put his full weight on it, and it was too much. Oh,

Maggie / Poppy:

it has to be the exact weight.

Maggie / Poppy:

Okay. Okay. Wait. Wait. Wait.

Maggie / Poppy:

Put it back. Wait. Wait.

Thomas / Guy:

Yes. Wait is the key to this The

Maggie / Poppy:

wait. Erin. Right. So here's my idea. Put the statue back where it was.

Maggie / Poppy:

We go back, journey me, guy's foot, full weight. Right? And then I get off because I'm not very heavy.

Tara / Journey:

Yeah. Probably, you don't need to go on at all then.

Maggie / Poppy:

Or I know.

Tim / GM:

But Also, there's a lot of

John / Doran:

bricks and stuff right over there from

Tim / GM:

Yeah.

Tara / Journey:

Maybe we just put a bunch of rocks on the platform.

Maggie / Poppy:

If you wanna carry bricks back and forth, be my guest.

Maggie / Poppy:

Wait. Wait. Wait. I saw this on task master once. Water is the easiest thing to to measure.

Maggie / Poppy:

Tim's very pleased with me. So if we can get the bucket of water that, was talked about earlier

Tim / GM:

Yeah.

Maggie / Poppy:

Then we can just put that on there, and then we can just take water out until it's exact because it has to be exact. That would work.

Tara / Journey:

Yeah. I go get the bucket of water.

Maggie / Poppy:

Or it's a barrel, you said?

Tara / Journey:

A barrel. A barrel of water.

Tim / GM:

It's

Tara / Journey:

Oh, there's a barrel full of water.

Tim / GM:

Yep. Yep.

Tara / Journey:

God damn it.

Tim / GM:

And stones everywhere and bunch of We need to try to Hey.

Maggie / Poppy:

I sold it.

Maggie / Poppy:

Yeah. I was gonna say the only issue is that we would have to get off of it Mhmm. To leave.

Tim / GM:

So little by little, pebble by pebble, drop by drop, you guys get the weight exactly right, and you find your equal. You hear a grinding of stone, and the brick wall at the end slides open. She had an equal, and it was a barrel of water and a bunch of water.

John / Doran:

So the moral of that

Tim / GM:

was everyone

Tara / Journey:

The morally?

John / Doran:

Yep. Morally the more.

Tim / GM:

The more.

John / Doran:

I'm going to find that person, but everyone fucking hated this person. Yeah.

Maggie / Poppy:

How much rope was there?

Tim / GM:

About 63 feet And 3 and 3 quarters? Yeah.

Maggie / Poppy:

Can I have that?

Tim / GM:

Sure. It's bad rope, though.

Maggie / Poppy:

It's bad rope? Cold. Everyone else got things.

Tim / GM:

I was making jokes. Okay. Yeah.

Thomas / Guy:

I think everyone starts with rope. Right?

Tim / GM:

Yeah. Alright. Through that hidden brick wall back here, you see what might be considered a shortcut. You see a tall silo, a spiral stone staircase that turns ever downward into the increasing dark.

Maggie / Poppy:

Well, that's great. Let's go back.

Tara / Journey:

I don't trust this shortcut.

John / Doran:

So when we get here, we're gonna be meeting a great beast, and we want to help it. Right?

Tara / Journey:

Yeah. Of course.

John / Doran:

Or we could run into whatever is draining the bismide, and we need to stop that no matter who it is.

Maggie / Poppy:

It could be the great beast that's doing it.

Tara / Journey:

If it is, it's due to some corruption. It has to be.

Thomas / Guy:

Yes. What are we thinking of this vermin Lord trick? Do you think he's a real straight shooter?

John / Doran:

I'm not sure

Tim / GM:

what to think anymore of them.

Maggie / Poppy:

Yeah. Trick. Trick is gonna be real straight with us.

Tim / GM:

As you

Tim / GM:

all descend, you see a landing on each level. And on each level, a door to a kingdom. Each generation of small castle built on top of each other, spiraling downward, ever downward through the years.

John / Doran:

Maybe we got a ways to go still.

Tim / GM:

By the time you reach the bottom, it seems the darkness has taken an otherworldly hold on the air in here. Shadows creep closer, fighting back the light coming from Journeys hair. It almost feels like being deep, deep underwater where even the brightest light struggles to survive. It's quiet, but somehow not serene. A still pool of water with a statue standing in it holds a small placard with an etched poem.

Tim / GM:

I promise it's not a puzzle.

Maggie / Poppy:

I was about to write it down

Tim / GM:

like that.

Maggie / Poppy:

I don't know if I trust you.

John / Doran:

What's it say? Doran will approach.

Tim / GM:

Thank you for asking.

Tara / Journey:

We skip it.

Tim / GM:

Yeah. We skip

John / Doran:

it. Just fucking kick it over.

Tim / GM:

Yeah. Stupid statue.

Tara / Journey:

I'll be on

Tim / GM:

it and waggle it.

Maggie / Poppy:

No one likes poetry.

Tim / GM:

The placard reads, once upon a time, when the moon was clear and the veil was thin, in the very spot you are standing in, a plea to the dark met a roaring din and a deal was made with the Beast Within. A castle nation yearned to grow, but without the stone they'd nowhere to go. Likewise, the beast had little to rule. His ambition great, but his domain minuscule. He carved his caves in blind design and the stones he loosed he gave to grind, so the castle above could stack and build.

Tim / GM:

2 kingdoms thrive in a bargain fulfilled. And then you see it. A small, inconspicuous wooden door with generations of scratch marks etching the wood between the iron bindings. The last door in Small Castle. The one that separates the caves from the castle proper.

Thomas / Guy:

What did that thing mean, 2 kingdoms?

Tara / Journey:

Maybe it's talking about what trick built down here and what the kingdom built above?

Maggie / Poppy:

The rat kingdom. Only one way to find out. Erin approaches the door.

Tim / GM:

Aaron, you push open that door, and after the creaking stops and the light floods into that next room, you see defiled ground, so thick with dark magic that it tinges the swirling mist on the floor. You see natural stone caverns that now guide your way ever downward, past tributary hallways that all seem to point into the same dark chamber. You hear something from behind you, a clanging, a jingling of metal. You see a shadow rounding the corner and you hear,

Tim / GM:

guys, guys, I found you. Oh, my God.

Thomas / Guy:

Mike here.

Tim / GM:

This this guy, he the Peter Lapelas, he's after you. This asshole's gonna kill you. He told me himself, god, he's gonna try to kill you. I'm sorry. I had to get down here and warn you.

Tim / GM:

That's

Maggie / Poppy:

Mikey, how did you get down here?

Tim / GM:

It was a long way, and things kept trying to hurt me, and I had to go in my shell for a while. And then I fell, like, 6 floors or something, But I made it but but Lapilus is coming. He's hot on my heels.

Maggie / Poppy:

I'm gonna roll a perception check. Yeah. Is it really Mikey?

Tim / GM:

Go ahead. That would be an insight.

Maggie / Poppy:

Insight check. Sorry.

Tim / GM:

As far as you can tell, it's really Mikey.

Tara / Journey:

I would love to do a feel check to feel if it's him.

Tim / GM:

Awesome. Give me a, perception with advantage in this case.

Maggie / Poppy:

13.

Tim / GM:

13 is enough in this case because your Ganymede abilities only function if you indeed know that person.

Maggie / Poppy:

Mhmm.

Thomas / Guy:

You

Tim / GM:

can confirm this is actually Mikey. He made it down here on his own with a tiny dagger in one hand and chain mail draped over him.

Tara / Journey:

Mikey. What are you doing?

Tim / GM:

You guys, I I told you I wanted to help, but I figured the best I could do is give you a warning.

Maggie / Poppy:

Oh. Mikey, this is the worst time you could have found us.

Tim / GM:

Why? What is that?

Thomas / Guy:

What is what?

Tim / GM:

Amid the darkness, looking from this cave into a larger, darker chamber, you have no idea how big it is in there. You see a rolling wave of shadows, like a silent, furious ocean in the dead of night. Black rats, by the 100 of 1000, undulate as one shapeless pool. A piercing screech rings out. A chill rolls up your spine.

Tim / GM:

Not a 100 feet from you, standing on a massive stone outcropping, a hulking blind rodent screams. And when it does, you see a drift of pink light float up from the ground, up from the rats all around you, into the body of the great beast. You see a hulking blind mole rat perched on a stone outcropping looking down at you.

Tim / GM:

You guys, what is that?

Tara / Journey:

I can't need you to get as far away from this room as you can and hunker down. Yeah.

Tim / GM:

Yeah. Okay.

Tara / Journey:

Journey slowly with her hands in front of her as if to say, like, I mean no harm, takes a couple of steps forward into this doorway, and steps forward and says, vermin Lord, trick.

Maggie / Poppy:

Jesus. You hear. You hear

Tim / GM:

as it steps down crawling down the wall towards you, gets to the ground and says Home.

Tara / Journey:

I'm Journey, and I'm I'm here to help you.

Tim / GM:

Help me.

Tara / Journey:

This this Skyland is gonna fall.

Tim / GM:

No. Liar. Not a liar. He comes for you. He comes for everyone.

Tim / GM:

He came for me. And he gets close to your journey encircles you, separating you from your party.

Tara / Journey:

Who are you talking about? Is it the the blue eyed creature?

Tim / GM:

This thing half the size of a bus is now weaving in between your party, getting close to each of you, not quite touching, but sniffing, smelling, all the while stepping on his own rats. Blue eyes, yes, came for me. He came for my eyes, but I had no eyes to take. And so instead, he gave me everything. And you see all over his body, hundreds of eyes going on.

Thomas / Guy:

You hate to see it.

Tim / GM:

The rats all around him kind of go up on their hind legs in some kind of reverent ceremony, and then they die. They fall backwards and die releasing the last of their magic to the great beast. He comes for you. It looks at you, Jurney. It looks at you, Doran.

Tim / GM:

It steps closer to you, and you can tell it's looking you dead in the eyes. You can see some kind of blue flaming glow reflecting in its own.

John / Doran:

Doran glances around and is trying to read any sort of, like, bismite interactions happening, trying to see where are things flowing. It's clear like the death of the rats are going to trick, but I'm still focused on bismite. Bismite where's the bismite? It makes sense to you in

Tim / GM:

the moment. These rats are coursing through the island, taking magic from people, from bismite, from everything, and they are all tithing to the great beast. This island is doomed. Doran, make a perception check with advantage.

John / Doran:

Natural 20.

Tim / GM:

Oh, bitch. You hear something unexpected, Not from in this cave, but from far outside. A deep, pulsing, burning. God, you feel sick to your stomach. And then it all happens way too fast.

Tim / GM:

The entire room begins to shake with a huge blast. Rocks start falling from the ceiling and you're all knocked off your feet. The vermin lord doesn't know what's happening. The vermin lord escapes. It moves away from you.

Tim / GM:

There's another blast. The island is starting to rumble, but not for a lack of bismite. It's something else and it's something huge.

Tara / Journey:

Everyone gather up.

Tim / GM:

Guys, what's going on? I I'm Michael. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry.

Tim / GM:

I came down here.

Tara / Journey:

Sorry, Mackie. Get close.

Tim / GM:

There's another cataclysmic explosion somewhere on the island. You hear Maisie's muffled voice coming through.

Tim / GM:

I'm sorry. I have no choice. I have to turn it on. I have to make it bigger. I'm sorry.

Tim / GM:

Please try to get to safety.

Tim / GM:

Make what bigger? Your teeth vibrate and you feel the ground shift. The moment you make eye contact with one another, there's another blast and then another and then a burst of dust and light from the cave wall near you as it crumbles giving you a clear view to the clouds outside and a massive airship. You hear the deafening burn of a dozen massive spark engines from the very same ship that knocked you off the bridge in Farewell. The Leviathan piloted by the Iron Mad Guild of Lodom with Viren at the helm.

Tim / GM:

Oh, no. Skye, you can sense it. She is on that ship somewhere. And the island is being bombarded with more cannon fire. You can see that they've managed to weaponize Bismite somehow.

Tim / GM:

Pieces of the island are falling through the clouds all around you. But looking up, you can see that that protective shield around Smallcastle has tripled in size to cover the island, but not you. There's a desperate lurch as the ground beneath you begins to split away, and you begin to free fall.

John / Doran:

I try to grab for Mikey. Acrobatics maybe? Yeah. Okay. 19.

John / Doran:

You grab his hand. Hold tight, Mikey. Dorvin.

Maggie / Poppy:

Do we have an echo bell to

Tara / Journey:

Kesher.

Maggie / Poppy:

Kesher.

Tim / GM:

I believe so.

Maggie / Poppy:

Kesher. Kesher, come in.

Tim / GM:

You're starting to hear static coming back through.

Maggie / Poppy:

I can't I can't get a hold of her.

Tim / GM:

It's a gnoll mist. Sure enough, you all smell the strange ozone scent of the gnoll mist filling your lungs as it spills into the room. Before you even understand what's happening, it's already too late. Duran, not for the first time. You're free falling through the mists.

Tim / GM:

You feel the cold dew soaking your clothes, but your racing heart has you otherwise numb. It took you so long to get back the first time. It was such a big part of your life and there's nothing you can do as you listen to the wind whistling in your ears. And then finally, the mist breaks and you can see a mile below you, a black lake, an inky, withered forest bathed in sickly twilight from the clouds above, all covered in crumbling ruins from the falling skylands above. A place you know to be the darkest, cruelest lands in all the Feywild.

Tim / GM:

Mark. We're not done yet. Of course, we're

Maggie / Poppy:

not. Put us out of our misery. Now we're in the dark,

Maggie / Poppy:

Faye. Babe. Oh.

Tim / GM:

I don't like it.

Tara / Journey:

I'm spooked.

Maggie / Poppy:

I'm already scared.

Tim / GM:

Journey. Mhmm. You're back home. Oh. You're in the deep woods of the Fernglade, where the veil is thinnest and the fey travel freely.

Tim / GM:

You're surrounded by your tribe, your family, and there's a certain vibe in the air, a lightness, a strange elation. Everyone who meets eyes with you smiles back. You see Good luck sitting in a tree watching out for the others. You see NourishAll setting nuts and berries onto large leaves for anyone to eat as they please. You see your own sister smiling at you as she approaches.

Tim / GM:

You see, in your tribe, people are named for the things that they do, and while nobody could figure out just what your sister was best at, they all loved having her around, so they called her Jazz. Your own excitement begins to grow as you see your family bringing in more dry wood and fallen branches from the forest, perfect for a bonfire, bigger than any before. You hear singing begin at random, voices joining and leaving, as an otherworldly ecstasy washes over the forest, you see the face of Lonati. But that all snaps away, gone forever. You blink hard, but that darkness doesn't clear.

Tim / GM:

You're in the Feywild, but you are nowhere you've ever been before. You are in the darkness, unseel y territory, the land of autumn and winter, the land of death. You see gnarled trees, wicked sharp looking plants and lurking movement in every corner, journey you are surrounded. But those rabid creatures of the Feywild, they don't dare enter the glow of your Fey buds. Your friends are here too, and they do not have the light of the Feybuds.

Tim / GM:

What do you do?

Tara / Journey:

I immediately go into primal savagery mode, and I'm gonna keep that going the whole time I'm here. K. I know that the best defense here is a good offense, and I'm safest if I look dangerous. So I grow those long fingernails that turn into claws and let my teeth sharpen into longer fangs and crouch. And as I do so, I also send out as many of my feybuds as I can spare to where I feel my friends are.

Tim / GM:

Your feybuds disperse, leaving enough to protect you from the darkness here. Guy, there's a ringing in your ears. You don't have your sword, or your pack, or your body. Oh, no. You can see little, but the thick darkness around you and a thorny branch that slices at your cheek.

Thomas / Guy:

Hello? Hello? Poppy? Anybody? What who who's there?

Tim / GM:

I get to kill somebody. Look, to kill somebody.

Thomas / Guy:

Sounds great. Can you can you help me out first?

Tim / GM:

Poppy, you're in a thicket of low shrubs. The sound of gurgling wildlife surrounds you, and something massive is moving towards you, crushing everything underfoot.

Maggie / Poppy:

Can I tell where it's coming from?

Tim / GM:

Directly in front of you.

Maggie / Poppy:

I'm gonna curl up as small as possible underneath the shield if I still have it? Yeah. Okay. And just try and, like, flatten.

Tim / GM:

Yeah. K. Aaron, you're near the edge of water, a small black pond. You see a strange blue glowing light just under the water at the edge. It catches your attention.

Tim / GM:

What do you do?

Maggie / Poppy:

Does the color look familiar?

Tim / GM:

It does.

Maggie / Poppy:

Erin reaches in to pick it up out of the water.

Tim / GM:

You notice in this moment you're missing your pack, your belongings, your weaponry, but what you find here in the water is Doran's broken rapier, the rapier of warning. And it is glowing blue right now, indicating that something means you harm.

Maggie / Poppy:

I'm gonna take it and then try to climb a tree and hide.

Tim / GM:

You stand up and turn around, Aaron. And when you do, you're looking at smoke, and then you're looking at you. Doran, it's worse than it possibly could have been. Nearly all of your belongings are missing, and you've landed in the mire. The swamp like fen that surrounds the lake, home to every murderous denizen of the Fae.

Tim / GM:

Your supplies, gone. Weapons, gone.

John / Doran:

I'm looking around for Mikey. I was holding his hand.

Tim / GM:

You don't see him in the darkness here.

John / Doran:

Okay. Do I

Tim / GM:

have Ganymede? Don't. You don't have your echo bell. You don't have your string. You don't have your party.

John / Doran:

I, immediately try to kind of hide and then look around a bit.

Tim / GM:

Yeah. You find some low debris that you're able to kind of shroud yourself into, but you know that no place is safe for long. Not everything relies on sight here. You know that.

John / Doran:

I hope she doesn't find me. I'm just going to try to find my belongings or anything that might be useful.

Tim / GM:

Yeah. You, stumble on something hard and large on the ground.

John / Doran:

You hear I cover Mikey's mouth. Mikey? Yeah? You need to listen to me? Did we die?

John / Doran:

Don't talk. Don't say a word. I will leave you. If you speak,

Tim / GM:

we're in real danger. He stops talking.

John / Doran:

And I help him up. I listen to everything I say,

Tim / GM:

You understand? You hear something snap off to your left, Doran. K. By the height of it? By the size of it?

Tim / GM:

Red caps? Move.

John / Doran:

And I, just try to, help him up and then start running, basically.

Tim / GM:

They're on you. They're circling you. K. But then

Maggie / Poppy:

Then Tim disappears.

Maggie / Poppy:

What? What's happening?

Thomas / Guy:

I'm more scared now.

Tara / Journey:

I'm so scared. I don't know.

Tim / GM:

Oh, okay. What is this? What?

John / Doran:

These are heavy. Woah. Check this out.

Maggie / Poppy:

That's so

Maggie / Poppy:

oh my god.

Tara / Journey:

They're so heavy.

John / Doran:

Very cool.

Tim / GM:

What? I've just, presented all the players with a glowing metallic d twenty. Doran, in that moment, you accept the end of your life For the 3rd or 4th time, a feybud from nowhere flies in front of you and begins to circle you. The red caps all rear back. They won't go in the glow of the Fey Bud.

John / Doran:

Hey, little guy.

Tim / GM:

Well, he's sick enough for us.

John / Doran:

Can you take us to Journey?

Tim / GM:

It pops up and down. Okay. Let's go. As Mikey begins to step away, it, like, smacks into Mikey as in don't go farther from me than that.

John / Doran:

I do my best to keep Mikey in line as well.

Tara / Journey:

Good luck.

Tim / GM:

And I think that's where we'll end it. Oh, no.

Thomas / Guy:

Oh my god.

Tara / Journey:

Oh, the stress.

Tim / GM:

While staying for just a moment longer, I wanted to introduce something else that's a little spectacular about these dice. If you place your right thumb on 16 and try quite hard, you'll notice these dice split in half. They're also interchangeable with each other.

Maggie / Poppy:

Wait, what?

Tim / GM:

While you're in the Feywild, feel free to mix and match your dice as the Feybuds interchange to take watch over you.

John / Doran:

Tim, that's so fucking cool. Okay.

Tim / GM:

I'm Tim. You're a GM.

Maggie / Poppy:

I'm I'm Hannah, plain Aaron, shell shocked.

Tara / Journey:

This is Tara, and I am Journey.

Thomas / Guy:

I'm Thomas, and I'm Guy.

John / Doran:

I'm John Playndorren.

Maggie / Poppy:

And I'm Maggie, and I'm Papa Kenmore.

Tim / GM:

Share the show with people you love, and we'll see you next time.

John / Doran:

We'll give all of you metal dice a glow in separate.

Cloudfall | 38 - Heads, Soldiers, Friends, and Foes

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