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C2 Ep. 5 Eberron Reduced “Fight Night”
369 Plays4 years ago
The crew enjoys a night at the Four Sails, but Hob gets a chance to fight in the Burning Ring. Will he come out on top? And can the rest of the crew make sure the fight remains fair?
This episode is brought to you by the generous donations of our amazing Show Sponsors: Laura Pickrahn, Darrin Katzska, Irene Viorritto, Ryan Royce, Darrell DeLaney, Jessica Smith, Charles Compton, Richard Cree, Nastasia Raulerson, The Kamm Family, David Scrams, Elizabeth Clark, Rebekah Miller, deviouspoptart, Eðvarð Arnór Sigurðsson, Michael Clark, Eric Witman, and Dustin Troupe.
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Transcript
Introduction and Recap
00:00:00
Speaker
The following episode is brought to you by Darryl Delaney, Ryan Royce, Darren Katska, Jessica Smith, Irene Villarito, Laura Pickron, Eric Whitman, Deavius Poptart, Elizabeth Clark, Natasha Rowlerson, Richard Cree, The Cam Family, Charles Compton, Edvard Tharnoff, Dustin Shroop, Rebecca Miller, Michael Clark, and David Scrams, along with all of our generous patrons.
00:00:33
Speaker
D20 radio, your game is roll.
00:01:12
Speaker
Hello and welcome to Eberron Renewed, an actual play podcast set in the Eberron campaign setting. I'm your game master, Eric. I'm Phillip. I'm Trevor. I'm Randy. I'm Jeff. And welcome to another episode. Gentlemen, what happened last time? We had a car chase, essentially. That's true. That's what I recall.
00:01:37
Speaker
the extent of what I recall in fact and and we escaped successful indeed we got a manifest didn't we yes we did we got a way to manifest also nobody asked Eris for the schema and so they're still in her satchel ah that's right she has a schema to play with
00:01:57
Speaker
I mean, Sigil will absolutely be asking you about those in the interim, but yeah. Now that you said something. I just forgot that Eris was the one in possession of them.
Manifest Delivery and Living Expenses
00:02:10
Speaker
OK, yeah, and you all successfully delivered the manifest to Grum, who passed it along. We are going to be picking up for this kind of short, almost like an Eberron reduced for lack of a better way to put it.
00:02:29
Speaker
about a week after this incident. So it's, yes. Do we need to track living expenses? I know that you don't usually mess with that sort of thing, but I just wanted to know since this is a different kind of campaign.
00:02:44
Speaker
No, I'm not going to make you all do accounting because I don't want to do that. So I just wanted to check. Yeah. Thank you. So, yeah, it's been about a week since the schema job or the manifest job and.
00:03:05
Speaker
Hob, I imagine that you're, I mean, you had one good lick there at the end with those Warforged, but I get the sense that probably you've been itching to punch something ever since the initial fight with those Warforged didn't go so well. I don't know about itching to punch something. I don't know that he, I think that he is looking forward to the opportunity to redeem himself. But he hasn't been like,
00:03:29
Speaker
Uh, now I just really need to beat somebody up because I didn't get to do it last time. Okay. It's like, okay, I know I'm going to fight again. Eventually. I really needed to go better for mine and everyone's sake.
Hob's Redemption Quest
00:03:41
Speaker
Okay. Uh, well, uh,
00:03:45
Speaker
you have been given the opportunity to go fight in the Burning Ring this weekend. So yeah, a representative of Hois Juntur has reached out to you, Hob. That's typical when you're being invited to come participate in the Burning Ring. You have not been informed as to who your opponent is, though, which is typically reserved for when they want to do some kind of dramatic thing.
00:04:13
Speaker
with a fight typically the the rest of the crew at least the the three other player characters accompany you when you go fight cheer you on and Reynard is never against earning some extra coin by betting either for or against you depending on what the odds look like
00:04:33
Speaker
Or just picking pockets. Or picking pockets. So yeah, that's kind of the situation on this night. It's the weekend in Sharn, which means the Lower Memphis Plateau is... Hoppin', as it were? Yes, yes.
00:04:52
Speaker
Uh, quite busy. Um, you are waiting at the four sales for directions to get to the burning ring, because as you all know, in order to avoid the city watch, the burning ring never takes place in the same place twice.
Setting the Scene: Four Sales
00:05:06
Speaker
Um, so, um, hob, you basically need to wait for representative to come and tell you where to go. So.
00:05:15
Speaker
So we're in the four sales then, like in the dining room? Yeah, presumably. OK. Good. Remind me which part of the town. The four sales is in. Four sales is in because you'll recall, Eric, I actually took notes this time. I have things written down like torch fire and downstairs downstairs.
00:05:43
Speaker
Yep, that's what, yeah, it is right there. Sorry, I didn't notice it in my notes. Yep, so. Okay, so I'm not near where I live, is what I was checking on. No, and typically the burning ring does take place somewhere in the Firelight District, so you all will have to go over to Firelight, but this is as good a place as they need to wait for instructions, so. So since we're all gathered,
00:06:09
Speaker
We didn't do it last time, and I like having something to picture, so can we get physical descriptions of characters? Yeah. If you all want to go around and physically describe Eris, if you want to go first since you brought it up. Yeah, okay.
00:06:28
Speaker
In the foresales, in a corner table, Eris is sitting hunched over something she's fiddling with. She's got a couple of little gadgets on the table with a newspaper spread under them so that she doesn't mess up Ulfin's tablecloths.
00:06:49
Speaker
She is small, she's short, she's wearing a big sort of army green grit coat with shoulder patches for a Chiron military unit. She has a bright yellow scarf on and right now a pair of goggles are down over her eyes as she's focused on whatever she's tinkering with.
00:07:19
Speaker
which mostly cover up around her right eye, I'm sorry, around her left eye, there is a tattoo in the shape of a wolf's head with its jaws gaping. She's got on a pair of gloves that only leave her index finger and thumb free for, let's miss stuff, but she always wears those.
00:07:49
Speaker
and big buckled boots. I see this house all of her stuff. Anyway, that's Eris and where she is. Oh, she has blue hair cut close on one side and swept across to the
Pre-fight Preparations
00:08:03
Speaker
left.
00:08:07
Speaker
Well, Raynarn's at the bar, standing at the bar, ordering his, let's say, third drink for the evening. Tall, slim, elf-like build, but kind of a shorter haircut than may typically be on an elf. Very dark, charcoal-colored hair with light gray eyes and dressed in a,
00:08:38
Speaker
in clothes that are not very subtle for a pickpocket. He's very confident in his skills, but he does not feel like he needs to tone it down. So lots of different like straps and harnesses and metal pieces kind of on it. Looking fancy and looking like he's ready for a night on the town. Getting juiced up at the bar.
00:09:08
Speaker
OK. And sitting next to him at the bar is a very inauspicious halfling in plain tan, very simple robes with sandy brown hair and mutton chop type sideburns.
00:09:28
Speaker
Um, like medium hair, but there's a nasty scar that comes from the top of his head down onto his forehead on his right side, just above his eye. That's pretty much it. Milo's pretty simple looking guy. Okay. Okay. Standing near
00:09:53
Speaker
he was sitting with her, but he's since gotten up and he's begun to kind of loosen up a little bit, you know. Pull his shoulder across the, you know. So important to stretch. So important. It is important to stretch. Yeah. And Hob's going to do everything he knows is important after getting handed to him last time he had a fight.
00:10:12
Speaker
Hob is, we've already said he's literally seven feet tall. He's four feet wide. He doesn't, like, I think it could be my own ignorance, but I feel like there's kind of a Goliath stereotype of like a really ashy gray skin. He's not quite that. His skin tone is way more- More tan than gray? Yeah, more tan than gray, more- Okay. Yeah.
00:10:42
Speaker
He's got big graphic tattoos covering both shoulders, kind of over the shoulder onto the chest. The left side more vertical oriented, the right side more horizontal oriented. That's important because he wears a strap that crosses his shoulders and right under his other armpit. Because that's how he affixes his bow, his staff to himself when he's not carrying it. Are they of anything or are they just...
00:11:07
Speaker
No, just, I mean, they are analogous to what one would call a tribal pattern tattoo. But since I don't know what those look like in Eberron, we can have some fun with it. Maybe somebody does. It means nothing to Aeris. Right, no, I just, yeah. They're not just like, it's a hawk, or like, right. No, it's not an image. It's just a graphical, it's stripes, basically. It's just lines. It says no ragrats.
00:11:34
Speaker
Yes, also that. And he's shirtless. He wears what one might think of when they think of the traditional monk's robe skirt part waist down sandals. That's it. That's hot. And he looks like he is. He's he's doing his mental. He's doing his mental mental game in his head right now. He's he's visualizing the perfect fight.
00:12:00
Speaker
Okay, Ulfen is obviously there. The dinner crowd is starting to come in, so it's getting a little packed. Eris, typically around this time, you know that a member of the wait staff, if you don't vacate the booth that you're occupying, will come in as kindly as possible, suggest that you order something or move along.
00:12:27
Speaker
Eris probably usually ignores them until Ulfin says something, at which point she is quite prompt at clearing the table, and she's always very careful not to actually make any kind of mess on his tables. Yeah.
00:12:45
Speaker
You all actually, Raynard and Milo, since you're sitting at the bar which faces the entryway, it's kind of a horseshoe-shaped bar area, you see a goblin come pattering in.
00:13:04
Speaker
You see like the top of his head over the bar like as he navigates and other people kind of React and give him a bit of wide berth because while monstrous races aren't unknown Goblins have their reputation and so people tend to give them a wide berth when they're walking through a crowded area and so The goblin rounds the bar and typically monstrous races will
00:13:32
Speaker
when they're in this part of town on these nights, it's typically making runs for the Burning Ring. So yeah, the goblin you all rightfully assume is probably a representative of Mr. Junter coming to inform you all the location of the Burning Ring.
00:13:52
Speaker
Um, and the goblin spots hob as anybody would, uh, out of the crowd and walks up hob. He comes up to about your knee. Um, Aeris slides deeper into the booth as the goblin comes closer. Um,
00:14:11
Speaker
He walks straight up to you, Hob, and looks up, and just wordlessly reaches into his pack, and you see like a stack of scrolls, like you're not the only stop he's making. Reaches in, extends a hand up, and holds the scroll out. I reach down and I take it, and I just... And he just silently, before you can say anything, he just turns on his heels and starts walking away.
00:14:38
Speaker
Always a pleasure. So yeah. Seeing Hobb receive this, Aerys, presumably this is not new, so Aerys really knows the pattern here. Aerys pretty quickly rolls up her tools and tucks them back into her satchel and folds up the newspaper carefully.
00:15:07
Speaker
rearranges everything on the on the tablecloth. And she holds up to. Hob. A little. Just a little stone set on a pin. And she says. No, I don't know, sure, but I think.
00:15:36
Speaker
that if you get this within range of your music box, it'll pick it up, and you can listen to it while you're working. I, uh, Hob takes it from her and kind of looks where to put it. I wasn't quite sure. It's on a pin, so maybe it could fit on your strap, or I guess if you're open to piercings, it could go in your ear.
00:16:05
Speaker
I think he works it into, I didn't mention this, his bracers are just wound strapliner. It starts on the back of his hand and goes up about mid-form. I think he just works it into the wrappings and hopes it's still there to experiment with when he's done fighting. He did, yeah. Right, thank you. If you could maybe keep it down about the music box when everyone else is about, I'd appreciate it.
00:16:35
Speaker
Oh, hey. Philip was picturing that we were separate from the bar enough that it wouldn't be. Hob also knows how far away anyone else is. He still feels the need to say this. OK, she she sort of ducks her head. OK, I'll do that. Right. I unroll. Oh, no, sorry, go ahead, Philip. Then she climbs out of the booth. I unroll the scroll, see where I'm going.
00:17:06
Speaker
Well, Raynard, are you about ready to go watch Hob? I wasn't ready. Gotta be on your toes, man. Apparently not.
Journey to the Burning Ring
00:17:20
Speaker
Raynard, snap out of it. Well, once I finish this drink, I will be. You always drink too slow.
00:17:33
Speaker
No, this is my fifth one. You put in 45 minutes. But I'm on my sixth. So you just got two sloppy drunks coming with you, Hob. Hey, I have a question before we get to this burning ring. Are these fights like
00:17:59
Speaker
I mean, I know they're not legal fights, but do the fighters fight legitimately? Because if there's a chance at an opportune time, and Hob may decline, you know, I'm sure Milo knows Hob well enough to know whether he would do this or not. Are you asking about interfering in the fight? I'm asking about casting barrier before it starts. That will get you thrown off a tower, Milo.
00:18:29
Speaker
Just asking. Yes, I would know this, so. Yes. Mr. Lauderdale was asked. Would it also get hob thrown off a tower or potentially? Because if I'd be OK, give me a shot. If you could if you could make a check to feign ignorance enough, then you might not get thrown off a tower, but. So so I shouldn't trick out his bracers again or anything.
00:18:53
Speaker
Well, here's the thing, and I was gonna get into this once we get to the ring, but we can do it now. General rules are anything is up for grabs before the fight starts. Like, you can make any, like, so if you wanted to cast barrier before the fight starts, Milo, totally fine. Once the fight begins, any outside interference is a big no-no. Okay, well, that's kind of what I wondered if I could do it before they got into it. Yeah.
00:19:23
Speaker
just to prevent things like healing from happening during the fight and stuff like that, so. Are there any rules about weapons in the crowd? A member in the crowd cannot influence the fight. No, no, I know that. I meant, in general, the carrying of weapons. I know I can't heal him, but can I shoot the other guy? Can I bring my own snacks, or do I have to buy him a concession?
00:19:53
Speaker
That they are very litigious about. They will, yeah, they will take you to the highest courts if you try to sneak food in. That's where they make most of their money. The fighters get too high of a cut, so they gotta make their money somewhere. Nobody likes this podcast.
00:20:13
Speaker
Um, okay. So, um, so yeah, that's out of the way. Um, so the question about weapons is relevant as would weapons are allowed in the crowd. Okay. Um, just as long as they're not used. Sure. Sure.
00:20:29
Speaker
Okay, so, Hob, the scroll with the instructions informs you that it's in the Firelight District as normal. It is behind the Lucky Nines, is what it says.
00:20:48
Speaker
Now you raise an eyebrow to that because you know this district as well as anybody and even you have this revelation before you even have a chance to read it out loud as you just kind of glance at it. The Nines is built on the edge of the plateau
00:21:05
Speaker
So behind it is just drop so So presumably some kind of floating platform or Something like that would be where the fight is taking place and what could go wrong? Yeah So That's what you got Okay, I just show it to Eris
00:21:32
Speaker
She's down here, she knows where we're going as well. And then I'm gonna walk over to the bar. First I'm gonna look, are you guys actually on your fifth and sixth drinks? Do you actually look like a couple of drunk morons? Yes, and I ordered a shot before I leave. Okay. Milo can hold his liquor, I mean, come on.
00:21:57
Speaker
Okay. Okay. I ordered two shots to catch up to Milo before we leave. So, so to translate. To tell those two where he's going and he and Aeris head to the fight. What it sounds like in the game rule world, not Trevor and Randy saying is, yeah, I'm ordering a shot before I leave.
00:22:15
Speaker
We can hold our liquor. If that is what, do you guys agree? That's what's happening. Yeah, but then we see you leave. So we stumbled behind you. We finished the shot. Milo's, Milo's buzzing a little bit, but he's not drunk. Like, you know, drunk drunk. Neither of them are so inebriated as you feel uncomfortable taking them. I go to Milo, I go to Milo and Rainard and I look at Milo and I say, Oi.
00:22:43
Speaker
You won't go watch a fight on a floating platform. Oh, so that's what it's going to be, eh? Yeah, I'd say I'm totally... You're aware of the platform? Will it be floating before or after this shot? No, like I said, Milo, they never have it in the same place twice. Ever? They're gonna run out of places eventually. Ever. It's like guys and dolls.
00:23:10
Speaker
like Guys and Dolls, that touch point that everybody can understand. Yeah, that certainly means everything to everyone on this call. But Denyans is where I work, right? Is where Aeris works. Yeah. So I guess, yeah, as we're walking through it, I think I would ask Aeris, like, if she'd seen something happening behind the place. Have I seen them setting up something the last couple of days at work?
00:23:40
Speaker
Uh, nothing that you've noticed now. I haven't seen anything. Um, they've been, uh, they've been setting up, but then again, it's not, it's not run by the clan, right? It's run by Dask. Correct. Okay. It's not run. Well, it is run by Joe is Hunter is what you know. Okay. Right. That's right. Dask is super secret and we don't know that. I haven't seen, seen anything being set up yet. Uh, but I'm usually inside and it's not,
00:24:11
Speaker
You know, it's not an official Boromar thing, so so it wouldn't wouldn't necessarily be people from the from the casino working. So you all take off walking against the crowd in the in the direction of the center bridge, the residential area. That's what you got to walk through to get to Firelight.
00:24:40
Speaker
So as we are walking, Eris walks like behind Hob, but assuming it's okay with Hob, she has one of his wrist straps and she's trying to work the augment spell along it while we walk. So she just walks behind Hob with her face down working on this and just moves in Hob's wake like a Remora to a shark.
00:25:06
Speaker
I mean, I think that's okay with Hobb. I was toying around with the idea that Hobb was gonna wait and see who the opponent was and maybe if they looked like they had some enchantments on them before he allowed you guys to do stuff. But I think the augment one is just, that's just standard battle procedure for him. You've got this one, you've got it, you give it to him. That's harder, more like symbiotic relationship. Sure. Raynard, Milo, anything you wanna talk about on the walk over?
00:25:36
Speaker
OK. As you all make your way into Center Bridge, things die down considerably being the residential area, not a whole lot of foot traffic going on.
The Fight Manager and Betting Strategies
00:25:49
Speaker
You do hear some noise up ahead that sounds like chanting. Which isn't horribly uncommon, especially in recent times since the the war ended.
00:26:07
Speaker
This group tends to float around, not literally float around, but figuratively float around Sharn. Sorry, we're playing in a fantasy world, so I have to clarify. And you all are on your way to a floating platform. So as you all are making your way through the streets of Center Bridge, you see a group of varying humanoids, generally made up of dwarves and humans.
00:26:35
Speaker
Um, with a couple of elves and they're also half elves. Um, but, uh, they're chanting things, holding signs, um, things like no war, no war forged, uh, send them back to scrap, uh, things like that. Um, that, uh, and they're,
00:26:55
Speaker
They're anti warforged protesters and they are standing outside of a not super large building, but a midsize building in Center Bridge where Sigil lives. It's it's warforged housing that is generally a lot smaller and doesn't incorporate things like kitchens because they don't cook.
00:27:18
Speaker
So I mean, just very compact, tight in housing. So they're standing out in front of this building, basically chanting for warforged to either be destroyed or not emancipated like they were at the end of the last war. It's it's a loose understanding of what this group actually wants out of their protests. But
00:27:43
Speaker
So if you all want to interact with them in any meaningful way. So is there a watch presence? I don't know how significant the watch presence is in Memphis. Because of the Klan presence, there isn't a whole lot of watch presence. And you all know that there are influential members within the Klan that don't have much of a problem with these protesters. So
00:28:11
Speaker
So, yeah, there's there you don't see any kind of resistance or potential authority figures nearby. So they're they're protesting against warforged and basically like the the core tenants, the times that you have perhaps run had run ins with them or interact with them. It's it's warforged workers. That's primarily the big thing that they have a problem with.
00:28:38
Speaker
Um, because, uh, the houses, especially, especially Kenneth, uh, pay warforged workers significantly less because the justification being, well, they don't need food. So why would we pay them the same as people who need food? Um, so. Yeah. Um, that that's a big part of it. So yeah. Um,
00:29:03
Speaker
So this is at the moment a matter of just yelling. There's not there's weapons on display looking like they're not like looking like they're about to set fire to the place or any like that.
00:29:18
Speaker
It doesn't look like they're about to commit acts of violence. Once again, it's a fantasy world, so everybody's armed all the time. But no, I mean, they're just standing right out in front of the front door of a building that, you know, a lot of warforged, including Sigil, live. You don't know if Sigil's home or not, but that's the, yeah.
00:29:41
Speaker
OK, but you are correct in that there is no imminent danger that is immediately apparent, presumably unless a warforged were to walk out the front door. Right. Eris, I mean, honestly, Eris's face is in her work, and so she's probably in her own head at the moment anyway. OK. Milo, Renard, Hobb.
00:30:12
Speaker
I mean, like I said, this is not a new occurrence. This is, this is something that you want to climb to just keep going. I mean, if this is something he's seen before and it's peaceful right now, we're on our way to watch hob. Okay. Yeah. I think Reynard looks and kind of acknowledges it, but he's, we're on our way to do something. So, okay.
00:30:46
Speaker
I think Hob being fairly unique himself has a sympathy for the warforged. But he does not get involved in this stuff. Okay.
00:31:06
Speaker
Um, okay. So you all, uh, keep going through center bridge uses his ability to wreck them real quick. And then they continue on their way to, they're probably minions, right? Just immediately defeat all minion groups. Um, that's the Supreme version of your heroic ability. Um, so wipe out racists.
00:31:31
Speaker
Yes, that is. I can't wait. That sounds great. OK, so you all keep going. The chanting dies down and you all enter Firelight and all of all the battentails.
The Fight Begins
00:31:53
Speaker
So Firelight is super busy. The taverns are full.
00:31:59
Speaker
people are walking around the streets and it's just another two to three minutes before you're behind, quote unquote, behind the the lucky nines. So unless there's anything else that you all want to mention or do, you all
00:32:22
Speaker
hit the side alley next to the lucky nines and kind of walk back towards the edge of the plateau and you see a small a couple of small skiffs um docked air docked there um with um one of them has a shifter and the other one has a changeling that is
00:32:43
Speaker
unchanged sitting in them and they see you all coming and the changeling just kind of shifts in their seat and gestures for you all to climb the board. Eris does. Yeah, I mean. As we're whenever we are in transit, Eris will start rewrapping Hobbs Bracer now that she's finished the inscription on it.
00:33:13
Speaker
OK, you all see down below the edge of the plateau so that anybody looking for anything wouldn't be able to see it from the plateau. You see a platform probably about 40 by 40 feet, so fairly sizable, but not massive.
00:33:37
Speaker
And it's pretty crowded. You see a large circle in the center as you all descend down towards it. And you currently see a minotaur fighting a tiefling is the fight going on right now. And there's just people crowded around, shouting, chanting. But oddly enough, you can't hear anything.
00:34:03
Speaker
You see you see the the like gesturing and everything and you hit a certain point where you all of a sudden the sound turns on and you can hear everything from within this bubble surrounding the the platform. So the the changeling on the the transit says so are you all fighting or are you just betting tonight?
00:34:33
Speaker
Oh, he's fighting. Oh, big fella. I do not like it when you do changing voices. Well, I don't care, Jeff. You did it. I mean, you established the canon. Changelings are from Texas. What'd you say, Randy?
00:35:03
Speaker
I'm definitely here to bet. Well, I suppose may the odds ever be in your favor, whatever.
00:35:20
Speaker
I'm trying to inject all the changelings with Jeff's general, I don't give a crap about this air from early campaign one. They don't have to all have the same personalities.
00:35:40
Speaker
That's their culture. It's lackadaisical, just apathy and the occasional pop culture reference. OK, so if you all don't have anything else to say to this changeling, they bring you in and dock up next to the platform and you all are able to to disembark from the ship.
00:36:05
Speaker
So there being, you said there's a big crowd around the ring. So this is just everybody just stands, they don't have like bleachers set up or anything like that.
00:36:14
Speaker
No, there's no bleachers or anything set up there is a stage with a shifter on it and there's a large board behind him with a team of methods that Rapidly write down the varying odds of different fights and things like that and bet pools and stuff like that. So And that that is you all know is hoist junter is the the shifter on the stage does he wear a top hat?
00:36:40
Speaker
Yes, of course he wears a top hat and a brown lung coat and with tails. Yes, of course.
00:36:53
Speaker
So yeah, um, hob, you know where you need to go to check in. Uh, there's the fight manager, which is a orc, um, who you'll just kind of need to look near the barrier of the circle for them to check in and let them know that you're here for your fight. The Orcs name is, uh, door gaff, but, um, do I know who you're looking for? I know that. Yeah. You, it's the same person you've interacted with. It's the fight manager. Okay. Um,
00:37:23
Speaker
Yeah, I'm off to look for Dorgath. I guess I use it. Well, I gotta go. This voice is not consistent. It'll get there one day, guys. By episode 90. My friend, before you leave, I've brought you this with us. And Reynard extends his hand and hands Hob a shot glass with a shot in it from the bar. Good luck.
00:37:54
Speaker
You know, I think I think he probably does just shoot it real quick because he hasn't had any. It's certainly not. Well, I carry it all that way. And on the trip on the skiff, he was like. No one asked me to. Yeah, I just say coming back before he fights. Hold on. What were you going to say, Hob?
00:38:22
Speaker
Well, I was gonna say I'm off to find Dorgath. And ask them if they'd like to come with me. Yeah, you just have to go check in with Dorgath and then, I mean, they will announce the next fight is Hob versus. So that's when you know to hop the barrier and enter the ring. Okay. So just let Milo know if you want barrier cast before you go.
00:38:46
Speaker
Right. Eris definitely follows Hob because this is a big giant crowd and Hob is large and Eris is small and so he makes space. See, I didn't have any enchantments or spells to give you, so I brought you alcohol. Yes, you did. You did. Also drink it.
00:39:10
Speaker
Also, Trevor, you absolutely do have spells that you can cast on him for this fight. Well, I didn't look. You are a bard. Trevor, this is important! Well, I didn't look. I'm not saying this fight is important, but knowing your things...
00:39:30
Speaker
Anyway, Milo Reynard, you're free to go play some bets if you want. But yeah, so Eris, since you went ahead and cast your augment, if you wanna go ahead and roll for it, base difficulty is three, is that right? Two for augment, it's average.
00:39:55
Speaker
OK, I mean, you're not doing any additional effects on it. No, I'm just going to do the regular augment. OK, go and roll. Oh, oh, oh, that's a success with a triumph. So, oh, man. Hey. I'm trying to think. OK, well, I don't know this may be too much, but I'm just going to ask and you can say no. So with the triumph, can I
00:40:25
Speaker
Can I add a, can I add an effect? Sure. You could, you could add either the haste or swift effect for free. I would allow that. I will say, I will say haste. Let's add haste on. So Hob, as long as Aeris is concentrating on this spell, you can perform a second maneuver during your turn without spending strain.
00:40:57
Speaker
OK, let me write that down. In addition to the rolling an extra extra green on everything. Right. OK, Milo and Raynard, while Hob goes to check in, do you all want to go check out the bet board or because you would you would mention or Raynard, do you want to try to play your trade? I want to I want to go bet. Yeah. OK, time to go check out the board.
00:41:25
Speaker
What's the money we made for if we're not going to gamble it? I don't have much, so I might as well spend it. Am I allowed to bet on myself?
00:41:39
Speaker
Yeah, you just can't bet against yourself. Oh, no, I would I would never not be in the game in life constantly. Often unwillingly, unwittingly. So you you go up to the board, Renard and Milo while they're going to check in and you see the odds right now because they are an advertising Hobbs opponent.
00:42:05
Speaker
is actually in Hobbs favor.
00:42:09
Speaker
right now. So the payout isn't going to be as good if you bet on Hobbs, it's better if you bet against him because you're taking the risk on the mystery opponent. Now something that I will allow, it's probably only really applicable to Reynard. Although Milo, if you want to try it too, that's totally fine. Reynard, if you want, on your way over to the betting board now that you've seen this, you can try to make a deception check to maybe spread the word amongst the crowd that Hobb is hurt.
00:42:38
Speaker
and fighting injured so that more people start betting against him to make the odds better and your payout better. Yeah, tell him you saw him get his butt kicked the other day, see? Let's do it. If you guys want to flip a story point for this, we can go retroactively say you said told me you were going to do this when we were in the skiff.
00:43:03
Speaker
Hobb would totally be willing to like walk with a little bit of a catch in his step to sell this in order to spike some betting. Let's do it. Yeah, I would say you could spend a story point to give basically the normal spending of a story point that you're getting an upgrade on it. Oh, no, I meant I meant if I needed to spend a story point to retro to retcon that we already talked about it.
00:43:21
Speaker
I'm saying that's the way we can narratively justify spending the story point, is saying, I'm getting an upgrade because we talked about it on the skiff over in Hobb is actually limping around. Does that make sense? I mean, I was gonna say you had pink eye, but a limp is fine. I hope I can fight through this itchy eyeball.
00:43:42
Speaker
Okay. I have the difficulty set. So, um, is it Raynard, if you want to make a deception skill check. Hey, so good. Right. Two success and one threat. Yes. So you passed. Um, so yeah, you're seeing the odds kind of shift, uh, in real time as you're like walking over and kind of telling people like, Oh my gosh, do you see, uh, well, I guess what, what are you telling people? Cause hob is looking around. You've kind of talked about this, but, but what are you saying? Um,
00:44:12
Speaker
Oh. Trying to think of something that would be like realistic too.
00:44:20
Speaker
I mean, you've passed, so you don't need to worry about that. Yeah, that's fair. You could make up something crazy, like the last time you got in a fight, you lost consciousness and was bleeding out on the ground. Something wild that no one would ever believe. I'm going to say something like, oh yes, I beat him up yesterday. We had a brawl, and I took him down.
00:44:44
Speaker
Well, if that guy took him down, I can't imagine how Hob's. Hob, does that never get back around to Hob? Eventually, not immediately. Yeah. You hear people like, if that, that elf can take the town Hob. I can't imagine he's doing well enough to fight. Look at him limping. Um,
00:45:08
Speaker
So yeah, you all are going to be able to get a higher payout on your bet. Although you might give it some time before you actually place your bet because it looks like the odds are getting better and better as more people rush over to bet against Hobb. So Milo, what are you doing? I'm watching the board, watching the
00:45:33
Speaker
Watching the odds change, going to wait for an opportune moment to place that bet. Okay. And obviously I'm proud of Raynard if he makes his way back over to make sure his lies or his deception was successful. Yeah. You can be confirmed like, yeah, I saw it. I saw it happen. Um,
00:45:57
Speaker
Okay, so Eris and Hob, you all are, Hob, you're shoving your way through the crowd. Eris, you are riding the wake. And you see Dorgath sitting or standing near the ring, kind of shouting something at the tiefling who's like on a knee about to pass out as the Minotaur charges.
00:46:22
Speaker
at him, but the tiefling ducks and rolls out of the way and Dorgath gives out a cheer. Yeah, this is what I'm talking about. Oh, Hob. Good to see you're here. You're up next. Oh, um, right, right. Um, how, how, how, how next? How next are we talking? Well, how much, like, however long it takes.
00:46:51
Speaker
I'm looking at the condition of the people in the fight currently going on. Well, I say a few more minutes. Tiefling's on the ropes about to go down, but unless you can pull something out against this Minotaur, I think she's going to take the day. By the way, listen, we let you know with plenty of advance that you're going to be in these fights. So if you could not be getting your butt kicked by elves the day before a fight, that would be great.
00:47:22
Speaker
Aeris's head kind of pokes around Hobb's side. Word is here that a bunch of people saw you get into a fight with an elf and that you got your butt handed to you. Oh, okay. Were you walking with a limp? It's more of a, just a general stiffness, really. An elf, you say.
00:47:47
Speaker
Yeah, that's the word on the street, is that some elf took you down. And here's the thing, Hob has already been trying to sell this without knowing what Reynard said, so Hob just goes,
00:48:06
Speaker
Yes. Listen, people come to this event expecting a certain quality of fight. And I've seen you fight before, so this elf must be something. But if you're coming here injured and unable to perform, maybe we need to be having a different conversation. I wouldn't show up if I couldn't fight. Who will fight in any way?
00:48:35
Speaker
Oh, they didn't tell me. Is there a way for Milo to do a perception check to see if he could figure out who the opponent is? Because I assume they're walking around here somewhere too. You can try. Let me finish up with Hobb real quick, Milo. What were you saying, Hobb? Or were you done? Yeah, I mean, he doesn't love that he doesn't know
00:49:02
Speaker
who or what he's fighting, but he's gonna fight it. Listen, it's something Hoos has had up his sleeve all week. He's so excited. Practically giddy. Oh, then it's tiny. No problem. Good one. I just didn't expect that at all.
00:49:36
Speaker
Okay, Milo, you're wanting to make a perception check to try and see if you can figure out who the opponent is. Yeah. Okay, I'm going to set the difficulty. It's going to be a hard difficulty. That's three purple. And I'm going to use a story point to upgrade. Just because if people see you sticking your nose around too much, then...
00:50:00
Speaker
Yeah, so it's set, so if you wanna roll perception, you're good to go. Oh. Okay, so you have one advantage, but that's a complete fail, well, a wash except for one advantage. So how would you like to spend that two advantage? Speaking of advantage, Eris suffered two strain because of the spell. Oh, thank you, yes. An advantage.
00:50:30
Speaker
Could I, could I give a hob a boost die? So you can't give hob specifically a boost die unless hob is the next person to act. You can just kind of have a, a nebulous boost die for the next check made. Uh, and we can narratively explain the benefit you provided for them. Once the check is made essentially, let's go ahead and do that. Okay.
00:50:57
Speaker
There's a boost die in the air. Oh, no. How about this? How about this? I mean, I don't know. Maybe the maybe the odds get better for for us who are going to bet on up. OK, yeah. So I'll say that word that Hobb has confirmed that an elf beat him up is spreading through the crowd. So the odds are getting even better. You're at like.
00:51:27
Speaker
You're at like 15 to one odds right now against Hobb. So yeah, if you all were to place a bet on Hobb, you'd be right now getting paid 15 for every one that you put down. All right, I'm gonna put down five. Okay, Hobb, Aeris, are you making your way back to Raynard and Milo?
00:51:54
Speaker
Yeah, Hob is, in fact, beelining it to Milo. He tells Eris, come on, because he needs to get... He does not like the way this whole thing sounds. And so he is running to Milo to make sure he gets the barrier spell off before the fight starts and we're thrown off a tower. Just to be clear, this is not out of the ordinary. Like, there's mystery opponents all the time.
00:52:24
Speaker
Typically speaking, it's a nasty thing from like Zendric, or if it's really bad, Arganesson, and it's just a dangerous fight against a vicious creature kind of thing. It's typically how these things go. Now that I've said that, is that the way this thing is going to go? I'm still doing the thing I said I was doing. Okay.
00:52:49
Speaker
And if Reinhardt can figure out what he's got and wants to throw something on top as well, I'll let him. So basically every positive thing that can affect you is already going to be covered between Eris and Milo. Unfortunately, Reinhardt, I think Augment is the only thing outside of heal, but you haven't taken any damage, so there's no point.
00:53:12
Speaker
I've got a flask. He does have that. Okay, so Milo, Hob is coming over to request that you cast Barrier. While I get the stuff for Barrier pulled up, if you all want to, we're all playing the reintroduction of Hob because Milo is standing right next to Rainard Hob. Right. Yeah, I think
00:53:42
Speaker
We get there and I walk up and say, Oi, Milo, do your thing. Raynard, what did you say? Well, I just made it as effective as I could. And I don't see how we walk away any poorer than we came in here. So don't lose. Raynard, you get one opportunity.
00:54:10
Speaker
to debase me in public, and you have now taken it. This is an official warning for the rest of your future. That's it. I shall keep that in mind. Okay, Milo, are you doing any additional effects on Barrier?
00:54:41
Speaker
Are you just going with the standard barrier? I think the standard barrier seemed to work fairly well the last time.
00:54:47
Speaker
Well, you empowered it last time. I did? Yes. So right now, standard barrier reduces the damage by one and then additionally for every two success that you roll an additional one. When you empowered it, it made it one plus every uncancelled success. So basically doubling the potential, but you increase the difficulty by two. So instead of one purple die, you're rolling three.
00:55:15
Speaker
So if you just want to go standard and hope that you get a bunch of success, that's fine. Uh, but it's up to you. Let's, uh, let's try to empower it. Okay.
00:55:33
Speaker
And I went ahead and added your boost die since you're making the next check. Technically, I don't think you're supposed to be able to do that, but whatever. OK, I've got it all. Do you want to use a story point to upgrade your check? Yes, please. OK, so you have one boost die and an upgrade on a three purple check. So you are good to go. All right. Oh, my God.
00:56:03
Speaker
So that's two advantage, no success. I'm kidding. So you suffer too strained for casting a spell, a spell, Milo. I will, with two advantage, I will allow you to give Hob a boost die on his first check in the fight if you want.
00:56:26
Speaker
All right, and Milo tells Hob, all right, you've got a great barrier on there now. Go out there, my friend. Do I know the spell? Does the spell he know? It doesn't depend on what your spell looks like.
00:56:47
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, just kind of a, isn't it just kind of like a force field? No, it's not true. You're a shadow sorcerer, Milo. So you get to kind of dictate what it looks like. Oh, well, yeah, well, I would I would want Hob to just look like Hob like nothing was affecting him.
00:57:11
Speaker
like this is hob yeah at least at this point from now on whenever milo uses really wrecking him whenever milo uses barrier that target looks like hob i'm just kidding randy i would never do that to you or your character that's funny
00:57:34
Speaker
But I don't want to tell Hob that I failed because failure is one of Milo's things that he hates to admit. So, yeah, Hob, you don't feel as different as you normally do when barriers on you, but, you know, Milo's never given you a reason to not trust him, so. OK, it's the build confidence.
00:57:58
Speaker
So as all this is going on, Eris leans over and she adds her arcane signature to the chain of inscriptions on the bracers so that the spell actually fires.
00:58:11
Speaker
And at the last minute, she realizes something else is the triumph. At the last minute, she realizes something and adds an extra bit into the chain of sigils that runs all the way around the bracers. And then they just sort of fire in this pattern so that it just sort of spirals down Hobb's arm to his fist. And goes. OK.
00:58:36
Speaker
As you all are having this interaction, you hear the crowd erupt in cheers and you all kind of look over your shoulders at the source of the commotion and you see inexplicably the tiefling is like as shocked as anybody just kind of running around the ring like in just intense celebration as the Minotaur is passed out on the wood planks on this floating platform.
00:59:06
Speaker
So you don't know how it resolved, but by God, that tiny little tiefling did it. So you hear Hoas up on the platform under the effects of thaumaturgy bellowing to the crowd, wasn't that a fight?
00:59:30
Speaker
Well, next we have something truly special for all of you. We are having one of our regular fighters return for a spectacle never seen before in the burning ring. Hob, enter the ring. Okay, Hob would know, does he take his staff off and hand it to Milo? Or I guess not probably not Milo, probably Raynard, because height. Or does this go in the ring with me?
01:00:00
Speaker
You can take it in the ring, weapons are allowed. Okay, I didn't know if this was weapon or bare knuckle. Okay, cool. Yeah. I guess... Killing is very frowned upon. Okay. Milo puts five gold on Hob. Okay. Eris, Lina, did you want me to put any money down for you? I hand her ten gold. Okay. I feel... You know, before Milo gave me barrier, I was a little unsure, but now...
01:00:33
Speaker
You know, I wish I could, uh, wish I could describe it and just feel reckless. I think I just feel reckless now. Oh, great. And then right now, just hands over the flask and there's Milo. Does Milo here Hobbs say this? I mean, he's still right there. Oh, we were sitting together guys. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. There's a slaps on the back. All right. Go get him ship.
01:01:02
Speaker
And she scurries off through the crowd to put down with his tin silver to go put down some bets. Tin gold, so 100 silver. Oh, that's everything we got paid last time, so I didn't know. Okay, tin gold. Oh, tin gold was everything we got paid? I thought it was more than that. I apologize. We got paid 100 silver each. Oh, why did I think I had tin gold? I have written down that I have gold. Tin gold is 100 silver.
01:01:25
Speaker
Okay, that's right. I mean, that's totally fine. Reinvest over here. Let's mark it down. Let's mark it down to five. I have more than that. Okay. Eris is also gonna put five of her own down. Okay, Reynard. Reynard as well, five. Okay, so everybody's putting five down. Okay, so Hob, you hop over the barricade. There's some methods flying around you with Everbright lanterns pointed at you.
01:01:54
Speaker
Just, uh, when hop gets in, he hops, he hops over whatever the barricade separating is. He walks a direct straight line to the opposite corner. He just turns around and he stands in it, not leaning or anything. Just standing stoically waiting to see who comes. He's not like a prowler or like trying to pump up the crowd or anything. Yeah. Fight will begin soon. I will be prepared. Are you still limping? Are you still fainting the limp?
01:02:25
Speaker
Yeah, I think he does. I think he does right up until the fight starts. It's not a limp. He's just walking stiffly. It's not like he's got this weird exaggerated limp.
01:02:40
Speaker
Yeah, you all hear the crowd kind of in a ruckus, but you also hear murmurings and stuff. You hear the word elf a lot coming up as people are murmuring. And you all then hear Hoos start to like signal, you don't hear him, you see him start to calm the crowd down a little bit. And he says, ladies and gentlemen,
01:03:10
Speaker
We have a very special treat for all of you tonight. We have a competitor never before seen in the Burning Ring, never before seen in Sharn. This competitor.
01:03:26
Speaker
is a veteran of the last war. This competitor took down countless soldiers in his wake as he fought for Breeland. And the crowd kind of cheers at that. This
01:03:45
Speaker
soldier, this combatant is so resilient that he himself survived the morning. And the crowd kind of like gasps and like people mix reactions. And you, Hob, you see from off of the platform, two skiffs start to rise up and you all see that there's ropes attached to these skiffs and there's a platform that they're lifting
01:04:15
Speaker
Is there pyro? Is there pyro? There are about 12 methods with pointed Everbright lantern circling around, creating a massive spotlight. So you see this platform rise up, Hob, and you see this warforged juggernaut that is a little bit taller than you, just flexing and kind of like playing to the crowd with a giant ram on its chest.
01:04:43
Speaker
and hoist as it comes into view of the crowd.
01:04:49
Speaker
Ladies and gentlemen, the battering ram. And the crowd goes absolutely wild. It was so cool until right then. And the the warforged kind of hop steps off of the off of the small platform that it was on and the weight of it causes the whole platform to rock a little bit as the crowd immediately parts, allowing this thing to walk through.
01:05:20
Speaker
And it's steps into the ring and kind of you get a sense that it's measuring you up, Hob, from across the ring. Final bets, time for final bets. Now- Eris, go get her money back. Now the odds have shifted to 20-1 against Hob.
01:05:45
Speaker
So yeah, now we are going to have a little mini combat, but you all are able to affect the situation in ways that you see fit. Kind of think of it as a mix between a
01:06:02
Speaker
Hob is in a combat, the rest of you are in a skill challenge where you can positively or negatively affect the fight for Hob. So rather than like a normal skill challenge where you all are aiming for X amount of successes before you hit failures, it's mostly your skills are just affecting Hob in a significant way in the fight.
01:06:22
Speaker
OK, so since Ram is up first, Ram is going to try to ram. So he is going to. He's going to start off by you see Ram kind of as as Hoas very deeply in his chest as fight.
01:06:51
Speaker
You see Ram kind of twitch a little bit in a very disconcerting way. And Ram is going to actually use a unique effect as a result of him experiencing the morning. So this might be good or it might not be. It's random. So I'm going to roll a D100.
01:07:16
Speaker
33. You just see his breathing kind of intensify and kind of the sinew that's in between his plates. If you can imagine like a heartbeat and like somebody's respiratory and circulatory system speeding up, that's kind of what you see happening. So it's unclear what that means, but that's that.
01:07:39
Speaker
And now that's an incidental that happened. So he is going to use the maneuver to rush across the circle and then try to hit you. So one failure for advantage.
01:07:51
Speaker
So he sprints across, Hob, you managed to like sidestep out of the way and he goes crashing through the, he like rams into the circle and his momentum is so much that like he kicks up some splinters and stuff. And so you're gonna have a setback die on your next check as a result of two of those advantage.
01:08:21
Speaker
And with the other two advantage, he'll give himself a boost on the next check. So, okay. Next.
01:08:33
Speaker
would you like to go hob or does somebody have an idea as to how they can help hob before I would propose that it might make sense for hob to go last since we're all in a row together because that way the things that we do might stack up into whatever whatever dice pool hobbies of rolling keep in mind though failures might result in negative effects for hob that's fair that's my suggestion this is a hob fight so I'm totally fine with Jeff deciding
01:09:03
Speaker
I mean, here's my thought. How are we, how, my only question is as to the timeline of it all. I want to be able to immediately follow a hit with a hit and not be like, give him 10 seconds to move somewhere else while other actions are happening. So if we could say maybe they're doing stuff concurrently with his first move, and then I can, okay. So that sounds fine to me. So I don't care, whoever has an idea. I have an idea. Since it's a war forage,
01:09:33
Speaker
Can I use mechanics to kind of looking at him, observe where the softer spots might be, and shout out advice on where to punch?
01:09:53
Speaker
Yeah. Um, so you being, um, uh, majorite and working with this kind of stuff pretty frequently. Um, I have the difficulty set. However, um, you're going to get a setback die because you're still kind of reeling from hoist hyping up the morning in his little speech. That makes total sense. Yes. Uh, okay. What is my difficulty? Uh, too purple with a setback. Okay. I'm content with my pool then.
01:10:25
Speaker
Okay. One success, three threat. So describe your success and what you see and point out, and then I'll describe the threat. Okay, so as he begins to run, I think the way you described the sort of
01:10:46
Speaker
hyperventilating. I mean, I don't know the degree to which Warforged breathes, so I don't know if that's the right way for me to describe it, but the way you described that kind of thing would seem like that it probably makes the places between his armor plates more apparent as we're sort of seeing that stuff pulse and expand and retract more apparently. And so
01:11:16
Speaker
I think what Eris notes is that this warforged the plates above his chest, or the space above his chest is more wood and sinew than armored plates. And so Eris starts shouting out, punch him in the throat, Hob!
01:11:43
Speaker
Yeah, that's what I think Eris is doing. Okay, so Hob will get you a boost die on your combat check thanks to Eris's help. With the threat though, you also in the midst of your shouting like, punch him in the throat and don't be freaked out. He's a warforged, because I know three of them beat you up last time. And so it's very helpful, but also just kind of like,
01:12:13
Speaker
What? And so, Hob, we're gonna, with three threat, we're just gonna add an automatic threat to your next, like, so it might get canceled out by advantage, but there will just be an extra threat just because you're just like, okay, cool, thanks for that.
01:12:35
Speaker
Uh, would Hob like to go now or would? It's, it's, it's, punch him in the throat. Oh, by the way, doesn't this remind you of those crazy augmented Warforged that beat the crap out of you? It's fascinating, right? Well, it didn't. Um, now the crowd's gone. He got beat up by an elf and some Warforged. And the odds get better. All right. I think.
01:13:03
Speaker
Yeah, Hobb does wanna go. So you said this Warforged has, he missed me and slammed into the barrier. Yeah, and kind of broken it and some splinters flew up. Okay, I am going to just straight up bum rush him by battering Ram him since he's, you know, up against that barrier. I'm just gonna pin him right up against it, I think. Okay, so thanks to Aeros' check, you're gonna get a boost die, but because of his check, you're gonna have a setback die. And then I should get, go ahead, sorry.
01:13:33
Speaker
And you're going to have an automatic threat. Um, but you're going to get an extra green dye because of augment. And I've got all that set up. Okay. Uh, now I said I had my bow out, but if I'm just bum rushing, shall I use my Sestis check? You would need to use them maneuver to put away your, uh, staff if you want to, uh, if you want to use your Sestis.
01:13:59
Speaker
Okay, well, I mean, I don't really. Yeah, let's just pin them up with the staff. That's fine. Do you want to aim with one of your maneuvers? I do want to aim with one of my maneuvers. Okay, that's another boost on. And of course, my other maneuver, which I get for free because of haste, will be the one to run at him. Okay. Okay.
01:14:21
Speaker
Go ahead. All right. All right. Okay. So many dice. Whoa. So that's four success plus what's the damage on your staff? Oh, it's right here. Six. So that's 10 damage. Nice. So I've got, so I basically, at the end of my move, I've got him pinned against the barrier, kind of
01:14:46
Speaker
Did you say how much bigger he is than me or if he's bigger than me? I assume he's a little bit taller than you which means he's monstrously big okay, so I basically just have my You know a fist on either side of his chest with the bow pushing him against the just kind of really jammed right in there I Guess I was a little higher than his chest because that's what I was told to do
01:15:07
Speaker
He's color mode. Okay, so that's it for Hobbs turn. Reynard, Milo, what do you all want to do?
01:15:19
Speaker
I can't only think of anything that wouldn't be illegal. So you could affect the crowd in some way to get them on like Hob's side to give him like a boost die from the crowd like really cheering them on. You could do something to create a distraction that would affect Ram negatively. But turn up charm. OK, let's get him on my side.
01:15:44
Speaker
So let me get the difficulty. Well, now how weird is it? Well, it's going to be like, hey, this guy beat up. Not everybody knows that it's exactly you who spread the rumor that you beat him up. Just an elf that matches your general description, but OK.
01:16:05
Speaker
So the crowd is kind of loud. So there is going to be a setback die just to get your voice to carry over the whole crowd. And I'm going to use a story point to upgrade one. And yeah.
01:16:22
Speaker
Um, so this is a charm skill. Um, now hold on just one second because you, your heroic ability deals with charm. So, uh, you could go ahead and, uh, activate this before you roll. Uh, it would allow you to, after you've rolled to remove any of the purple dice from the roll, if you want. Okay. Um, if you want to do that. Yeah, let's do it. Okay.
01:16:50
Speaker
So we'll wait until after the roll, but yeah, that's it. So go ahead, Reynard, and make your roll. Okay. That's good. That's good. Okay. So that's two success and one advantage. There's only one purple in this check, so we can go ahead and knock that out. That has a threat on it, so that gets you up to two advantage. Okay. So two success, two advantage. So describe to me what you're doing to get the crowd on Hob's side.
01:17:19
Speaker
But is there something notable about Hob that I could be like, hey, remember when he did this? Like, let's cheer him on and see it again. Yeah, I mean, Hob is a known entity here. He's a regular fighter who regularly wins. Ram is an unknown entity. Nobody's seen Ram fight before. And thus far, only one of them has landed a hit on the other. So you could definitely play into that of like, people know that Hob can
01:17:47
Speaker
kick butt whenever he wants, except against elves and apparently three warforged. And the odds froze at 20 to one and people were betting on Hawk. So they're going to be cheering, want to cheer for him as well. No, people were betting against you. Yeah, because they thought you were injured and gotten beaten up by an elf. But people did bet on me and they at least your friends did. OK, so I'm going to say something along the lines of like
01:18:19
Speaker
You could remind him of a prominent fight, someone he'd be done. Yeah, it's like, who was there for the last battle that Hob had in the ring? Anyone? Anyone? Remember his triumph, so we'll just see it again tonight. Half-Thor, he saved your bar. David, he saved your pigs. Jim. Oh, right. Never mind, Jim.
01:18:47
Speaker
And he forced you to pay off when you owed the clan money. So obviously- Jim, you know he's good at his work. Good for his work. So obviously you're standing amongst the crowd, Rainar, so you kind of hop up onto the barricade of the burning ring. Yeah. Since the fight is happening, just to kind of get the crowd's attention and onside.
01:19:10
Speaker
hoist does not seem amused that you're you're taking up the spotlight but uh yeah you're you're rallying the crowd talking about the victories that hob has had in the past and um all the work that he's done for everybody that lives here and like uh he's a hero very much picturing like the bargain basement version of
01:19:30
Speaker
Oh, what's his name? Vision. What's the actor's name? Paul Bettany. Paul Bettany in A Knight's Tale. Yeah. Yes. As Chaucer. Except for what Raynard's got. Except I feel like Paul Bettany is playing the bargain basement version of Paul Bettany in that film. Yes. No, yeah, that's what I'm saying. OK, so yeah, the crowd starts like cheering on Hob. Hob, you're kind of near the barricades. So you feel people like patting you on the arm, like cheering you on.
01:20:00
Speaker
Milo, what are you gonna do? And that'll get you a boost die in your next check, Hob. Oh, you also have two advantage. Yeah, I was just gonna pass them. I was gonna pass them on. Okay, you can give a boost to Milo since he's the last one to go in the round. Okay, yeah. Okay. I'm just gonna continue to shout encouragement at Hob, help try to bolster his confidence even further. Okay. You've got this guy, you hit him in the neck.
01:20:29
Speaker
You know, same spot, same spot. So is this a charm check? Uh, sure. Okay. So you get a boost die from Reynard. Um, it is, um, I mean, you cast barrier and hob like hob believes in you too. So he's, he's liable to listen. So it's going to be an easy check. Um, so, um, yeah. Would you like to spend a story point to upgrade your check?
01:20:59
Speaker
Not based on the last couple of rolls. Yeah, I think so. Okay. I've got your upgrade, so you're good to go. Yeah.
01:21:17
Speaker
So because everybody's so crowded around Hob and giving him encouragement, your voice is kind, you're struggling to get his attention and be heard, but that's five advantage, Milo. So what do you wanna do with that? That's enough to significantly affect the encounter in some way. Okay, how about...
01:21:43
Speaker
The, I mean, this guy just got clocked in his throat area. That's correct. How about that? Well, kind of like Philip said, you know how this guy breathes or whatever, but somehow it affects his ability to be as effective as maybe he normally would be.
01:22:07
Speaker
Yeah, I would like, I would let you give him basically upgrade the difficulty of his combat check against Hob the next time he tries to attack him because he's kind of reeling from that throat shot. Yeah, sounds good. Okay, cool.
01:22:21
Speaker
Okay, and that is the end of the round. So we're back to top of the order. And Hob, you've got this guy up against it with your staff kind of holding him as best you can. You see him kind of twitch and reel a little bit. And we're gonna see if something happens.
01:22:46
Speaker
Okay, 59. That's so disorienting when you're expecting to see how little symbols pop up and it's just a number. You see numbers? Eric, very casually, when we all sat down to begin recording this, was like, I don't know. Maybe you could just have some conversations. Maybe Hob could have a fight. I don't know. In the back of his mind, thinking, because I've created a monster, this is going to kill him for the two second session in a row and I really want to use it. Please choose the fight thing. Okay. Um,
01:23:17
Speaker
Okay, this thing kind of the sinew underneath the plates continues to pulse, but you see something begin to wisp out from underneath the plates.
01:23:32
Speaker
Eris, your face loses all color. Yeah, nope. This is not okay. Cause you see gray mist kind of very, very loose. It's not like a fog billowing out. It's just like residual magic from this. So essentially, Hob, while you are basically any threat on your check can be used to cause a wound while you're engaged with him.
01:24:03
Speaker
That is a heck of a thing, Eric. That's a whole deal.
01:24:13
Speaker
Okay, so, because you breathe in a bit of the morning. So now it is to the players. So who would like to go next? I believe, Hob, you currently have one boost coming your way from Reynard's check. And
01:24:37
Speaker
Yeah, so that's all you have coming your way on his end. He has an upgraded difficulty from Randy's check, so. Okay, I think I do wanna go. Okay. I think that Hob knows what just happened. Yeah, I mean, great mist. Is the thing, everybody knows this. So I think what Hob does is Hob freaks out a little bit.
01:25:03
Speaker
And just, I'll use a maneuver to aim, I'll use my second maneuver to effectively stow the staff. Just simply, I'm gonna keep pushing, but I'm just gonna go, like take one hand off and just punch. You know, just pop. And so that'll be, so I'm using my Sestas. Can you make that sound effect for me real quick? Which one? The sound effect for you punching? Just pop. There we go, good, thank you. Yeah.
01:25:31
Speaker
Um, okay. Uh, two difficulty. Uh, you have two boosts die thanks to your aim. Uh, and yeah. Um, why not? I'm going to spend a story point. Okay. Uh, upgrade the difficulty because you are kind of freaking out a little bit. Yeah. I also want to upgrade because I am freaking out. Um, there's an adrenaline spike coming along with this one. Um,
01:26:01
Speaker
But I should have, I should have a boost from augment, a boost from Rainard and a boost from Amy. No, you get an extra green from augment. Oh, that's right. That's right. Pardon me. That's better. Yes, much better. Okay. Thank you for reminding me. Cause I had forgotten about that. Yep. You're good to go. All right. Let's roll. So punches. Oh my gosh.
01:26:26
Speaker
Okay, so that is five success and two threat to wounds. Yeah. So you kind of take a quick inhale right before you punch and you feel the mist sear your lungs. So go ahead and tend to wounds. These, these, these wounds from this ignore soak. Yes. So when the rules say suffer one wound that bypasses soak because you're not taking damage. Doesn't wound does. Yes.
01:26:51
Speaker
Okay. Cool, cool, cool. Um, so yeah, you kind of cough, but you just, man, you debt his face plate as he just kind of, uh, so that's 10 damage, um, again. Um, so on her feet, screaming, I cannot express how angry I am that I've yet to roll a single advantage.
01:27:19
Speaker
i have so much like i built my character around being able to do cool stuff with advantage every turn that's very true that is the mark there were a lot of like dice in that role i know i took low crit weapons i took like two skills that require two advantage to activate and i'm just sitting over here just i mean
01:27:38
Speaker
breaking rocks with my fists. Just for the listeners who know the system at all, the dice pool on Hob's side for that was two blue boost die, two green ability die, and three yellow proficiency die. And both blue and both green came up blank. Yeah.
01:28:00
Speaker
So, yeah, you're aiming and the crowds cheering from Raynard's Charm Check didn't have much benefit for you there, but you still punched him good. Okay, so we have... Wait, Eric? Did he get a turn? Was that mist his whole turn?
01:28:19
Speaker
I'm, yeah, no, I missed his action, so we'll go ahead and slot in here. OK, I didn't know if we needed to go back or just slot him in, but no, we we can keep your action. We're not going to undo that. Awesome. Well, you had OK. Thank you for that, though. OK, so, yeah, he is going to try to attack you. He has the upgrade on his role coming. So, yeah, he is going to just try to overhand chop like straight down on top of your head.
01:28:47
Speaker
I would, yeah. Okay, three success, one threat and a triumph. Okay, so that's going to be eight damage. He's going to suffer a strain.
01:29:14
Speaker
due to, um, due to the threat. And, uh, he's going to crit with that triumph because why wouldn't he, minor Nick and subtract 10 from it. That's it already did. Oh, it did. Oh, sure. Okay. Okay. Okay. So that's it. So for one straight. Yep. Okay.
01:29:40
Speaker
Nothing good. So, yeah, it hit you and the metal is just jagged enough to where it kind of slices the top of your head open a little bit. Just enough to make it sting. OK. So that's his turn. Thank you for that, Jeff. Eris, Reynard, Milo. Maybe I'll just do the same thing I did.
01:30:04
Speaker
Yeah, if you if you want to do the same thing, that's totally fine. I can't think of anything else that I could really do. You could try doing deception to turn the ground, turn the crowd against the the warforged now that he's emitting a gray mist. That's probably likely to make a lot of people very angry and agitated, given that it's what killed an entire country. Let's do that. OK, so
01:30:34
Speaker
deception. Once again, crowd is kind of loud. Yes. I have the difficulty set for you. So go ahead. It's an average difficulty with one setback. Oh, okay. So that's a failure with one advantage. Um, so you're trying to convince these people that this is like, like, look at the great miss. This guy is like an agent of the morning. This is bad. He's so bad. Miss bad.
01:31:04
Speaker
But they think that's a bit too ridiculous. They're like, what? Go hub. So you didn't quite get them to turn on the warforged as much as you would like. You do have one advantage. You can pass to boost to the next check if you want. That's the plan. OK, Eris or Milo. OK, Eris is really freaked out and I'm trying to figure out
01:31:32
Speaker
how that what, what skill would this be for her to essentially just lean across the barricade and just start shouting at hob, uh, figuring out how you kill that monster right now. Kill it. Kill it with fire. Yes. Um, what, what is that? Is that, is that leadership? I would think probably leadership. Yeah.
01:32:00
Speaker
You're issuing the command. Okay. I love this, this spunky blue hair. How old is she? She's about 20. Okay. Okay. So a little older than I thought. That's right. We, you did, you aged her up a bit, didn't you? Yeah. I mean, she's 20 ish. She, she's not.
Combat Insights and Turning the Tide
01:32:18
Speaker
100 percent sure. But I'm and I'm sure in the current tableau, she looks quite small. Oh, yeah. These two dudes. Would you like to spend a story point to upgrade? Yes, very much so. Yeah, I mean, it's the whole effect is the jacket is obviously for a man like the the great coat she wears is obviously belong to a soldier, not her. She's probably got this the cuffs of the sleeves rolled back in order to in order to fit. So yes, her
01:32:48
Speaker
Everything about this current circumstance exaggerates her smallness. All right, and there's a boost die too, right? Yes, you have a boost from Reynard and an upgrade from your story point. It's two purple, one success, two advantage. So you'll pass a boost die onto Hob on his next check. What would you like to do with the two advantage? Can I pass another boost die specifically to Hob since I got two of them? Sure.
01:33:17
Speaker
Throw two, two blue his way. Okay, Milo, you are up. This, what's that, Kylie? You don't say. Huh, Milo has just noticed something. Oh, right. About this war forged. That Hob,
01:33:43
Speaker
can take amazing advantage of because Milo has just learned of something very important, some fact about this Warforged. So Milo is using his heroic ability, all the facts. Ah. So...
01:34:04
Speaker
during each of your turns. Oh, shoot. Reynard, your heroic ability was still active on your, but it was inception, not a charm. Nevermind. So during each turn, so this turn and the next one, and an important fact about the situation, person, creature, place, or object of their choice. So you're using it to learn about the Warforged. Yes.
01:34:29
Speaker
So the thing with the Warforged Juggernauts, especially ones that seem to be designed as a battering ram, is their momentum is their greatest weakness. They cannot change direction quickly. Hence his initial attempt to smash into Hob. Hob was able to just sidestep rather easily away.
01:34:54
Speaker
but backed into a corner or directly engaging them in this way is where they are potentially very potent. And if you obviously can't get out of their way when they're rushing you, then that's also an issue. So yeah, basically with that knowledge that you're providing,
01:35:20
Speaker
Milo, I will add a setback die to the Warforged attempt to attack since you're able to communicate this to Hob. Basically, if you use his momentum against him, he's much less effective in combat. Excellent. Use his momentum against him. Thank you, Kylie, my dear.
01:35:45
Speaker
OK, so that's the end of the round. So the warforges up next. Once again, just fun. Why not? Oh, 97. Oh, dear. Oh, dear. I assume that was not me mocking you, Philip. That's seeing what they rolled. Oh.
01:36:13
Speaker
Okay, so once again, the War Forge kind of twitches as it's like still struggling with you, your staff up against him, Hob. And you see the, almost the essence of the plates covering his face and chest and arms shift like the material is almost transmogrifying.
01:36:36
Speaker
And all of a sudden, you see him kind of recoil at the Everbright Lantern shining on him. And you hear him kind of. We made him a vampire. Like. And like he lets go of the staff and starts trying to shield himself from the light. So he basically has gained a vulnerability. So. Wild. Yeah, like I said, it can be good and bad on this table.
01:37:06
Speaker
So he's going to have to upgrade the difficulty of his checks while in the presence of it. So and he has a setback die from Milo's check. He's going to try to hit you. I'm going to spend a story point to upgrade his check.
01:37:29
Speaker
Um, and he'll aim with a maneuver. Um, okay. So he's like kind of swinging while they trying to get the methods to fly away. Uh, cause he's tall enough to reach at them. Um, and so the methods are kind of scattering, but still obviously wanting to light the fights since that's what they're there for. Um, okay. And I'm going to roll.
01:37:51
Speaker
Okay. Two success, two advantage. Um, so, uh, that is going to be, uh, seven damage, uh, hob, um, and two advantage. Uh, he is going to, um, he'll give himself a boost die in his next attack roll. Um,
Victory and Challenge
01:38:14
Speaker
okay. Uh, that is it for his turn. Who would like to go next?
01:38:21
Speaker
I'm going to. Okay. I want to roll first and then say what I do if it works. Okay. Are you rolling a brawl? Yes. This will be a fist smooth. Okay. And you have two boost die coming from Eris's check. And I think that's it. So yeah. Would you like to spend a story point to upgrade? Yes. Yes. I am going to spend a story point upgrade.
01:38:50
Speaker
Okay. Okay. One success, three advantage. Okay. Man, I wish it. I'm never happy. Okay. Here's what I would like to do. I would like to, since I have effectively already dropped the staff,
01:39:14
Speaker
Yeah. Grab whatever I can, chest area, both hands, fall backwards, kick him over myself. He lands flat on his back in the dirt. I'm going to use two of the advantage to activate my auto fire. Nice. Remind me, do I reroll when I do auto fire or does it use the same roll? OK, that's a bummer. But all right. So so there's that. And then I'll use the other advantage. Wait.
01:39:43
Speaker
Wait. Let me double check. Okay, that's a four advantage to crit with my Sestis. I will pass my other advantage.
01:39:53
Speaker
Okay, well actually, so you- Unless this does the thing. So yeah, you grab by his chest plates and kind of like do a mini pull up as you then drop using your momentum to kind of twist and kick him over as he flips. And then you using the momentum like Milo suggested, go ahead and continue your role to where you're like straddling his chest as you just do one last final punch to his head. And he kind of,
01:40:22
Speaker
flops on the ground, and it's like silent for a moment as the gray mist kind of dissipates. Go ahead. In the silence, when Hob is sure that he's limp, it's over, the fight is over, he knows what a fight's over. Just let me do this. I'm gonna flip a story point so that earlier when, what's his name? Joe S. Hunter?
01:40:48
Speaker
Yeah. When Hoas was doing his pronouncements, he was able to do that because there's actually an enchantment on the ring that whomever is addressing the crowd is amplified. That's the way that works. Okay. As soon as the fight's over, Hobb stands up and he says, turn veil, rematch, now.
01:41:18
Speaker
And all of a sudden, Raynard, you feel warmth of Everbright lanterns that as methods have flown over and put a spotlight on you. And Raynard's just looking around like, who's that?
01:41:28
Speaker
Anyone? Anyone? No? Okay. End of episode.
Episode Wrap-up
01:41:34
Speaker
Yeah, that's the button. Okay, well, we hope you all have enjoyed this kind of mini, not even a mini arc, just a random departure. It's a downtime episode.
01:41:48
Speaker
So yeah, let us know what you thought. If you want to be part of the conversation, you can head over to the Facebook group, The Geek Pantheon. We also have a Discord where you can find the link on thegeekpantheon.com or on our Twitter or our Facebook group.
01:42:03
Speaker
And that's where a lot of the conversations surrounding these shows happen. So we would love to have you over there. We also have a Twitter and an Instagram at the Geek Pantheon. And we have a Patreon that if you would like to support the show and join our Patreon community, we have a lot of really cool tiers that you can join. And it's a lot of fun. We do a lot of fun things with our amazing and wonderful patrons. Yeah, I think that's everything.
01:42:30
Speaker
We're also proudly part of the d20 radio podcasting network If you head on over to d20 radio comm and go to the podcast tab You can find all of the awesome podcasts there on the network including the order 66 podcast Which just recently made their triumphant return after a hiatus Where they talk about the fear rules in Star Wars and Genesis is the rules are the same And it is a a wonderful episode a deep dive into those rules and their role that it can play in your game
01:43:00
Speaker
Uh, so yeah, like, like a good example is I probably should have made, uh, Eris make a fear check when the gray mist started coming up, but I didn't because I need to listen to that episode again, apparently. Um, so anyway, uh, thank you all so much for listening. But once again, I'm your game master, Eric. I'm Philip. I'm Trevor. I'm Randy. I'm Jeff. We will see you next time.
01:43:25
Speaker
you