Transcript
Speaker: and welcome to Everon Renewed, an actual play podcast set in the Everon campaign setting. I'm your Game Master, Eric. I'm Mia. I'm Phillip. I'm here for one final episode. Welcome to another episode. Folks, what happened last time? We fought what seemed like a really surprisingly easy fight because the dice weren't with Eric.
Speaker: That's true. We may have expended more resources than was wise. Also, it turns out. The acorn is floating. It's got eyeballs.
Speaker: Dead people have eyeballs. And that corpse. Exited a room. Valk's not even the same room. Valk left. Yeah, out there there's a there's a weird... There's some corpse macaroni art that's threatening us.
Speaker: It's a corpse. A beholder made of corpse. it's That's what said. Yeah. So we are going to pick up where we left off. Still the same battle. So any buffs or anything are still applicable.
Speaker: Escalation die is still at a three. Kaz was the last one to go. And so now it is Nyx's turn. Where's the dagger? Sticking ah like the corpse is kind of formed around the dagger because the seed turned around and the eyeball opened. So it's in the back of the ball.
Speaker: Okay. Now, just, just to be clear. It is in a more, we can state that would have been because of the efforts of the previous battle. So it's like this was all for not so well done everyone.
Speaker: they're trying or trying right there. Not trying, informing ahhood the intended mechanics. Thank you. Well, shoot. I cast the rending.
Speaker: Nyx sees this and the the the sort of null space opens behind her and a just storm of weapons of all description come flying through the air at this thing. Oh dear, that's not...
Speaker: not a great starting point, but we add lots of things. Okay. So Escalation Dice at a three? Yes. That's... Okay. That is 21 versus physical tuts.
Speaker: That does hit. Okay. This is Drakir's D12. Oh. Yes! Back from the... Whatever. Future, i guess? Yeah.
Speaker: Okay. This is that Hitler time machine thing. i would go back and take up... for the beat All right. 44 damage. Nice. That was a very confident... Nice. And I am going to move into engagement with the monster. Okay.
Speaker: and use demonic violence and deal an additional, or my D six, an additional five damage to it. And then my fiend is still here.
Speaker: So yeah it is going to lunge at this thing. So it's going to lunge up onto the table and just start hacking. It's not like still connect we connected to anything, right?
Speaker: It's just floating freely. yeah All right. First attack is not great. I have damaged it now. So that helps. The first tech is only 17 against AC.
Speaker: Uh, that misses. Okay. I'm sorry. It was 18 cause he had missed once before. Still misses. i assume. Yes. Okay. Uh, now how about 20 versus AC?
Speaker: Yep. That is a miss. Wow. Okay. Well, That's disappointing. Uh, and that's everything I can do. Okay. You roll degradation.
Speaker: Thank you. foot I've been rolling really well on that. So this is a relief to roll low. Okay. That is the end of this. So the escalation die is now up to a four and second triggers.
Speaker: Kaz takes flight. Okay. I take flight on you and escalation die for reps the battle. Um,
Speaker: Okay. When the escalation die hits four, the beholder it gets to teleport anywhere within 30 feet. So it teleports away from Nyx and yeah, I think it makes sense. Near the doorway where Valk ran through.
Speaker: I don't like that. Just put that up there.
Speaker: Valk's turn. Oh, I'm supposed to roll with this. That's when that happens. nevermind. He did not roll a four. So that doesn't, so he does not teleport instead.
Speaker: Everyone has to make a save. It's only six. Yep. That's a 12. 11. eleven That's a six.
Speaker: yeah Just barely for the fiend. So you all, the beholder, it's central. I, Oh, thank you. She's fine. That is a six. Um,
Speaker: The central eye glows purple for a second, and you all feel your feet lift off the ground for a moment as gravity is inverted briefly, but all of you may have to land on your feet. I'm flying.
Speaker: That's fair. Can you maintain flight if gravity inverts easily? i've just You know what? That's never something I've ever had to consider. I am going to... Can I...
Speaker: but Can I look what's in the wall before? Can I see anything before I start? you had have to You would have to climb back there and move the stone out of there.
Speaker: I love the the cinematic imagery here of like Mela and and Nix and Kaz in the room with this horrible thing and they just cut to and it's Valk trying to reach under a bed. Almost got it.
Speaker: Yeah, okay. I'm gonna get whatever is back there. I don't know. I can't. I'm having fun, guys. Good. I'm so glad. Yeah, you slide the stone out of the way and a small piece of paper and something hard falls into your hand.
Speaker: ah You see the thing that's hard is a glowing faintly orange. It is a crystal of some kind, similar to the ones you've seen before, and a small piece of paper. Okay, crystal in the bag. Okay.
Speaker: I'm just going to read the paper. Can I... the paper simply reads draconic forces spotted nearby hiding for safekeeping okay cool um
Speaker: that's considered my action right yes okay all right well i mean i still have my i still have my focus so i guess that's Where is Balinor?
Speaker: Kind of fully disappeared now? Balinor went through the wall. Balinor was guiding you to the stone, but Balinor is gone. Oh, okay. all right All right. It is now the polder's turn.
Speaker: So it is going to, with its first eye ray, one. Nix, the halfling woman, turns and her mouth is open with a large eyeball taking up all of it and it begins to glow green and a ray shoots at you. It's a natural 19.
Speaker: So 29 versus your physical defense. I think so, yeah. Well, check for me and let me know. Yeah. By a factor of... By 13. That's rolled very well. 21 damage. Okay. And it was...
Speaker: damage okay and since it was high enough you are taking five ongoing damage satans oh four what this has happened to me just now this is a so the green ray hits nick squarely in the chest and next you look down no mechanical things as a result of this but you see some of the cloth of your your outfit and behind your armor has disintegrated away and you see the disintegration continuing to like Eat away.
Speaker: as Is this acid or is this like the disintegration spell? This is a disintegration ray. A ray of disintegration magic. Okay. For its second eye ray, let's target the demon for the charm ray.
Speaker: That is 27 versus mental defense. Yes. Confused. So... ah can't make opportunity attacks or limited use powers. Next attack actually will be a basic or at will attack against any nearby ally determined randomly.
Speaker: Sure. So the, the, oh, the elf corpse looks at the, demon and the large pink eye coming out of its mouth glows.
Speaker: And then the demons eyes glow a similar shade of pink as the demon snarls of Nyx. Yeah. And it is, think that's everything it can do. Oh, quick action.
Speaker: One of the quick actions is it can fire an additional ray. Well, of course. Just can't be any of the rays that's been used so far. Okay. Kaz. Yes. Say I'm, I'm rolling very high. So I don't think these are baseline numbers 25 versus physical defense.
Speaker: just gets me the central eye glows with a grayish misty magic that shoots at at damage okay and since it rolled high enough Even though you're not unconscious, Kaz, I need you to roll a death save.
Speaker: Are they six and above or death saves exempt from that? That's a different different beast. So you have to roll higher than a 15, I think. I'll roll 18. 18? Okay. Then you pass. just half my hit points.
Speaker: I am. Kaz is bloodied in one hit. Erica, just, I'm sorry, but a point of order that won't have affected anything that has just happened but because you've been rolling so well. Since the Excalation Day is above a three, Nyx is completely demonic right now. like And so as long as she stays engaged with this thing, it has a negative four penalty on attack rolls.
Speaker: That could have messed with anything because you've been rolling like crazy. Yeah. Well, Kaz, because you rolled above a 16, you can use a recovery if you want to. Okay, great.
Speaker: I do have a question. is it consider Is it considered a flying? Like, is it hovering? The reason I ask is because if while I'm flying and it's flying, if we attack each other, it's a negative two to attack rolls.
Speaker: So with that negative four and a negative two, they would still get me this time, but I just would like to know for the future. And also for when I attack it inevitably. Gotcha.
Speaker: And I will roll my recovery real quick and see. Yeah, it it it fli it's movement is all flight. So yeah. du Oh, what? That's a pretty good recovery. 11, 16, 17 points hey nice I have a question that everyone's got questions.
Speaker: Okay. So wait so that that was determined. Yes. So when I attack you, that take a negative two, going to double check, mine I'm pretty sure that's the case. My spells close quarter spells, you but it says what I'm not engaged. I can still cast spells freely.
Speaker: So would I be able to hear an attack and still interrupt? What does the... Because i think I think some of your actions say like an attack you can see or something like that. None of them do. It just says the attacking enemies or one of... The trigger is one of your allies is attacked and then the target is the attacking enemy it doesn't say anything about having to line of sight that's why i went to close quarters but then close quarter has engaged and unengaged rules okay so you're not engaged but yeah i would say yes if if you if it doesn't specifically say in that something you can see then you can use it as long as you're within range
Speaker: Oh, okay. Can I retroactively use Inevitable Fall or that just be just go next round? What does Inevitable Fall do? One of your allies ah attacks a nearby enemy and misses. Has anyone missed?
Speaker: I thought Nyx just missed two attacks. The demon did. Oh, the demon did? The demon did Then we'll just we'll just go next round. It's fine. Okay. Cool. All right. So that was the Beholder's turn.
Speaker: Okay. So it is Mela's turn. Mela is going to look to Kaz and let Kaz use a recovery. so Kaz, you can use another one.
Speaker: I mean, yep. Awesome. Okay. Um, Barna is going to rush up to the beholder and That is only 16, which is not enough to hit.
Speaker: And barnet is going to with a quick action. Barna is going to open Barnes extra eye. and with that, I guess I should have asked Jeff if there were any of Kaz's tables, this would have been beneficial for, but I didn't.
Speaker: So it doesn't matter. Barna is going to target the beholder with a quick action with his third eye. And so since the beholder has a random table, it is going to target the eye ray random table and Barna removes the top two options from the random table.
Speaker: Like the highest number. Well, but basically the way Barna's ability works is he reduces the die that's rolled on the random table by one step. So the older older gets to roll a D6 instead of a D8. So it can't access the top two. So if it was a d twenty or if it's a D100 table, then it would reduce it down to a D20, which is crazy.
Speaker: um But anyway. Okay. That is it for Malin Barna's turn. Kaz. Okay. So I rolled an icon and I got the Lords of Dust. And so this kind of makes sense to me considering it's a council of fiends.
Speaker: yeah How is you how' your, how'd your demons look good health wise? ah Pretty bad. Pretty bad. It's also not on our side right now, but. Oh, so it's not considered an ally.
Speaker: Well, I think it still is. It's just, yeah. Cause that'd be it is charm. So it, but. Mechanically, it has to attack an ally, so it has to be your ally for this. So yes, it is now. Okay, so that works out so well, Bib.
Speaker: I think that it would make sense then. I have a spell that I want to cast, but when I cast it, me or an ally loses 2d6 hit points. So why not the ally that currently wants to hurt us?
Speaker: And considering it's Lords of Dust and Fiends, it all just sounds so pretty. It's like a nice little boat. It rhymes like poetry. So I am going to... attack the beholder, which means I do take a negative two, two light attack.
Speaker: So that means I've got. Yes.
Speaker: 22 to physical defense. The demon's physical defense or the... but No, the beholder's physical defense. I attack the beholder. So 22 is enough to hit the physical defense of the bot. Okay. So first 2d6 will be what the demon gets siphoned from it.
Speaker: That's 10 points of damage. And then the next roll. Let's see. That was a natural even hit. So hold please. I've clicked the wrong button.
Speaker: There it is. that makes more sense yeah so the boulder takes beloved 21 25 34 points thirty four points Damage, damage. Psychic damage. There it is. That feels like something you might be resistant to now that I think about it. but And okay i will I will land because I will anyway unless I draw.
Speaker: Oh, please. Oh, I'm down. need to put all of my... this is It's been a while we've got a battle last this long, but got to put all my guys back in the bucket. Demands of Spell next, so nothing changes. So just going land on the ground so I don't fall down when the that die changes.
Speaker: Okay, the beholder is staggered, which means some things happen. First off, I need everyone to make a, what would normally be a normal save, but is an easy save thanks to Kaz's ability.
Speaker: It's 16. Oh my gosh. I can't do it again. I can't do it again. I'm going to double check, but I think mine only works on, yeah it's an an attack roll.
Speaker: I got 19. Can I give him six of mine? No. So Nix, you take the full 11 psychic damage. Everyone else takes six psychic damage. Uh, and Nix worst.
Speaker: Good. Nix, you are not prone. It was 11. I'm sorry. 11 damage. Yes. As there is a tremor that kind of goes through the stone floor that like physically causes it to like crest and wave underneath all of your feet. Fun.
Speaker: And now so it's got some more abilities. Cool. That was Kaz's turn. Nyx. Okay. Nyx is going to pick herself up. Stagger forward.
Speaker: And I am going to, and I'm, ah that didn't add any additional effect on me. It was just damage and knock me prone. Okay. Just standing up weird in this system. I'm being sad. I've used all my actions. Use your move action to stand up. That's, that's all there is to, but I'm still engaged with it. So it doesn't change anything here.
Speaker: Yeah, i go, I just swing my sword at it. And Nyx is gonna, I have used all my big spells and I don't have the ability to rally. So Nyx is going to lunge at it with her blade, a 422.
Speaker: Nope.
Speaker: Exhalation die more than that. 26. Hit. Okay. sorry, 25 damage. Okay. that is twenty five sorry twenty five damage
Speaker: I'm going to cast better yet here. That's in 1826 against Mental. Yes, that hits.
Speaker: but do Oh my god, I just have these.
Speaker: Okay. That's an additional 17 damage. think Nyx's blade just glows purple as it does the attack. Sweet. All right. And demon attack. I'm sorry.
Speaker: I've Eric. What did I say? was 22. 26 to hit. 26 to hit. 26 to hit. twenty six hit Okay. So would 23 have hit? I've just realized that the thing that lets me attack using charisma turns off when stacking.
Speaker: ah Yes, it would have hit. ah Yeah, the demon, which I assume has to attack me as probably being the closest It says a random nearby ally, but narratively I allow you to pick. and I was going to say, it's it's me or Kaz, so your call.
Speaker: And Kaz is flying, to me so Kaz landed. I did land. Okay, do you want me to roll to see who it attacks? Does it know that I just cost it two hit points? um Yeah, go ahead and roll an odds nix even Kaz.
Speaker: Odds nix even Kaz, okay. It's a four. Bring it. Polk. oh So, Nyx, you kind of brace yourself for the demon to attack you, and it sprints past you to Kaz.
Speaker: No! No! what what are those intercept rules you're talking about, Eric? You are engaged with the Beholder, so you can't. If you are engaged with something else, you can't intercept another. Just checking.
Speaker: Yep. Oh, good. Bad roll. First attack of two is going to be 18 against AC. No, it hits.
Speaker: That's a real bummer because it's all charged up from missing last turn. Wait, no, not 18. I haven't hit Kaz, so it doesn't have the bonus for me hitting Kaz from hitting his target.
Speaker: ah that I will do four. 15. That misses. right me Okay. Second attack. Well, there we go. Okay. That's a natural 18. So that gets it. ah Yeah. That's going to be seven plus.
Speaker: That's going to be 14 total damage. Okay. Good news, everyone. If a natural 18 is rolled on a charmed attack, it gets to get a free attack. I oh said oh i trust you and know you well enough to know that this is not so, but I can't tell you how made up that sounds.
Speaker: It's on the thing. I tell you how made up that rule. All of the beholders eyes have a natural 18 plus thing. And this one says,
Speaker: An 18 on the 18th? That's going to go double. Is it against the same target? Yes. Yeah. okay Okay. 24. Yep. So 7 plus. Oh, it rolled better. 17 damage?
Speaker: Oh. Kaz looks really, really bad. Like, single digit fad. All right. Degradation roll. Well, Okay.
Speaker: The degradation roll will destroy the demon, if even if I roll all ones. Which means I think I now must make a save. I think I get a save. That's a thing where it blows up. Yes, it's a it's an easy save to see. Easy save.
Speaker: Right. I make the save first. I couldn't remember if I make the save when it hits zero hit points or just when I try to make it going. Okay, I have made the save. So it stabs Kaz and then is swallowed back up, back into Shavaroth.
Speaker: Okay. Come back and fight, Kaz! The Beholder laughs. Stab away from that. i mean All righty, Nyx, take your five ongoing damage. Oh, right. I have five ongoing damage.
Speaker: there's just You're disintegrating. Yep. Yep, I am. And I make a save now yeah against that? Yep. Oh, good. just
Speaker: It's two. Okay. It is now Valk's turn. Okay. i'm gaining my focus and I'm going to head towards the door.
Speaker: so Okay. It all looks bad. Yeah. They were they were fine. Well, things were different. Is it an action to activate the roof on my implement? I don't think so. I don't think I said that was a standard action.
Speaker: Okay. Then i will do that. I forgot I had that and I will use it now. Otherwise it will never be used. I don't use a sword. And I think that's all I, yeah, i think that's all I can do.
Speaker: Okay. Hey, but before the next turn, i have a question. The roots that have now become eye stalks. Yes? Do they still have damage thresholds? because And if so, are they still taking the ongoing damage that I inflicted upon them with my twisted beam before they became a bolt?
Speaker: The people are the eye stalks, the reach just like recoiled in. Okay. Okay. Basically all of the damage you all inflicted prior to it becoming the beholder was taken off of its max hit points. So, okay.
Speaker: So no ongoing damage is no longer Correct. Correct. How are you? Yes. I did forget the escalation die is now up to a five, but I forgot to roll for its craziness.
Speaker: That's six, which means technically this should have happened before Valk's turn. We won't worry about it. and The Beholder immediately gets to take a full extra turn. So you've got to be kidding me.
Speaker: That's not the worst option? Are you telling me that that on that random table there is a worse option? This is a separate random table. Oh, I'm sorry. My bad. Barna reduced the eye stalks option. So like the death ray is off the table that Kaz got hit with and stuff like that.
Speaker: that still don't like that the wolf has a third eye but i like this part okay so because he's staggered his standard action is now three ray attacks and i forgot to do his anti-magic eye so nix i have to do to get more powerful as as i get more as i get staggered i'm sure there's some options out there barbarian thing Nyx, your plus two to your AC and your plus two to attacks that Melee gave you, the Beholder looks at you and those two buffs are temporarily gone. Like it basically at the start of each of its turns, it has to pick which two it wants to remove.
Speaker: Okay. So I will just keep track of the third. No, I should have targeted Kaz while he was flying with one of them. Kaz is going through plenty. All right. So first attack, that's a one Kaz.
Speaker: Yep. I'm rolling to see who you attacked. Yeah, that is a 25 versus physical defense. Kaz is about to die. yeah that's If you're rolling more than five dice, I'm out.
Speaker: I think with the additional baseline damage, it's going to knock Kaz out. But I do have to say, I rolled almost as low as I could possibly roll on 3d8. I rolled a 2 and 2 ones. So that is 4. So 9 damage.
Speaker: Kaz falls. Okay. Did not roll high enough for the ongoing damage, but second attack. Question. Answer. What level is the beholder?
Speaker: and Do you have something that lets you know that? I have a trigger that activates. What's the trigger? A nearby enemy of fifth level or lower hits one of your allies with an attack.
Speaker: Oh, that could have triggered me or a different ally. i It is lower than fifth level. Yes. Okay. Can I use diversion of pain to take Kaz's attack?
Speaker: Sure. Okay. So Valk takes nine damage. Kaz, you're still up. What does this look like, Valk, when you do this? I think...
Speaker: Through Kaz, a dark-haired, tanskinned human version of Zalb kind of phases through and then phases back in shoot an attack.
Speaker: Second attack. Kaz. Nyx. What color is this eye? This is a yellow eye. 16 versus mental defense.
Speaker: That hits my mental defense exam. This isn't a fiend, is it? No, that is 16 psychic damage. And so, okay.
Speaker: What's the end? You are going to have to move away from the beholder as a free action. So I fall over in front of the boulder and the last attack Valk. Yeah. 25 versus physical defense.
Speaker: That was a silly question. I still have to ask it. there' A lot of this going around. okay Historically the squishiest person here. 11 damage.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: And was not high enough to trigger the ongoing damage. The Nashville roll. Yeah.
Speaker: Just remember, this is an extra turn the beholder gets. Valk, yeahp it is now your turn. You took your turn. And now it is the beholder's turn again. and I broke it. what it's like Wait, does that mean I have my focus?
Speaker: You do have your focus, yes. Oh. so in In theory, the turn that just happened happened before your turn. And now Valk took their turn.
Speaker: Now I have my focus. Okay. Yes. Valk. Yes. That is 14 versus physical defense. Sorry.
Speaker: No. i Whatever. Kaz, 13 versus physical defense? Whatever. You're also muted. Nobody heard you say You're still muted. Yeah, sorry. My neighbor is is performing lawn care operations, so I think they're far enough away from video, if you will.
Speaker: Last attack. Kaz, 25 versus mental defense. Mental defense, just barely. You're charmed or you're confused.
Speaker: Okay. So the the thing is you can only use basic attacks or at will attacks. You can't use any your crazier spells, but you will have to attack an ally. That is it for its turn. It's Mela's turn. So Mela is going to use her last use of heal on Nyx.
Speaker: So Nyx, you get to spend, it's not a free recovery. You have to spend one of your recoveries, but you can't use it. Okay. My gosh, that's so bad. I've been rolling so well on recoveries usually. Okay, but anything is better than zero.
Speaker: Should have had the beholder attack Mila and Barna also. Sure. Barna is going to attack the beholder. That is only 16, which is not enough to hit AC, unfortunately.
Speaker: Now it is Kaz's turn. So Kaz, Nyx, and Valkyrie are your two eligible targets. they have I have to attack. I can't. Yes. I was so excited to rally, and you took that for me.
Speaker: I'm sorry. yeah It's okay. You're confused. and z So roll a die, odds, Nyx, even Valkyrie. That's Nyx. Okay.
Speaker: Use one of your at-will abilities. what What did you pull last turn? Like what spell is T-Dot? Healing. Oh, a defen a defensive spell? Yeah.
Speaker: So you just have to use a basic attack then. Yeah. Just to, I mean, Nyx is probably far enough away that I would throw a dagger. Yep. The dagger I've been teaching you to use.
Speaker: Yeah, I'm so sorry, Dix. Right in the back. Ah, don't be. Her demon attacked to you. Not while it was under my control. Okay, that's really low, though. 6, 13. Escalation dies at a 5.
Speaker: Yeah, some ET. Well, am I hindered by the fact that I'm lying on the ground? Because an 18 does not normally hit me. Oh, if it's ranged against somebody prone, isn't there felony with that, too?
Speaker: ah Prone only benefits melee attacks. So no, that does not hinder or help. 18 misses me. Okay. I ah, crap. Nyx, can you hand me my dagger? No, no, no, no.
Speaker: Save ends. So I need you to roll a save to see if you break. And this is easy. Yes. Six higher. Nine. We out. Okay.
Speaker: I'm going to die again very soon because I didn't get to rally, but at least I'm not. next no okay oh good weird that's i the save happens at the end of my turn yes yes because i have i still have the ability through the rest of this battle to do two twisted beams as a quick action uh but i would have been charmed up to that point okay yep uh ongoing at the beginning of my turn or in my turn yes i'm going half do at the beginning but am i rolling are you rolling it's only it's five base damage
Speaker: Oh, right. I'm sorry. I thought it was a service your had in my head as a d six Okay, cool. I will stand up, spit out some blood. Nyx is completely out of her own control. She has, is fully demonic and just heaves at her sword at the, at the beholder. Okay.
Speaker: is a plus 24 to hit. That does hit. Okay. 16 damage.
Speaker: We'll do another battery here. Okay. That's a natural 20. So my dice
Speaker: My damage is double. oh Yes, double the damage. Not your base damage. Okay. Oh, oh, I wish I, I don't, that's, I would say take a picture of it, but I'm just saying that to myself. That that's 20.
Speaker: That's two sixes and two fours. and Plus my wisdom was just so 24 to 48. to forty eight Whoa. Describe how you decimate this beholder. though I'm going to be honest, i don't think Falk wants to look at it. I think he's been hiding behind that frame. He took a peek, saw an eyeball, dipped back behind the wall, and it has been focusing on one of his allies the entire time. yeah So I'm going to do the cheap thing and pass it to Nyx to describe the boost since it was it is not Falk's magic. It's about boosting your attack.
Speaker: Gotcha. Okay. Then i think that, i mean, Nyx can barely see, Nyx can barely stand. And so I think that it is just a surge of strength, sort of mental clarity.
Speaker: ah And Nyx swings and then sword comes around again and she just plunges it through the central eye.
Speaker: because and that's how you have to kill a beholder. Yeah, and the eye glows with purple magic as it goes wide, and the beholder explodes into the various corpses and roots that get strewn about the body. um And you hear the faint echo of a cackling laugh fade into the background. This falls over.
Speaker: You all can do your quick rest stuff, use some recoveries, roll your recharge, take a breath, take a beat. Oh, this should be easy. I'm really running out of recoveries.
Speaker: Diversion of breath.
Speaker: yeah I am also nearly out of recoveries. Fortune smiles is bad. Eric, will you make me take two during the battle? Just take them away for bit. You all got all your recoveries back when you took the full heal. Is it since the full heal that you used to? Yeah. Just making sure. Don't look at me like that.
Speaker: I only have eight of them. We know, Eric. I've used four of them. And I got a lot right. so Oh yeah. Alright, I'm gonna save one. I don't what this is gonna look like.
Speaker: I like these dives. Same. I got back up to full with one left. Yeah. Nearly four. So! The, so you see the, the seed is blackened and falls like clatters onto the table, rolls onto the ground. Uh, the dagger is still sticking out of it.
Speaker: The roots immediately begin to like wilt and die. Like the life is rapidly sucking out of them. You get the sense that over time, probably over the course of about ah a few days that these routes will retreat back up and whatever magic burrowed down will no not support the tunnels and whatever pathway that was created will close itself off.
Speaker: but they don't It's not an immediate imminent thing, like if you all want to go back the way you came, but yeah. yeah things grow quiet. There are a couple other rooms off shooting of the central chamber of the bunker.
Speaker: You also see some stairs through another doorway leading up. Um, but yeah, that's you see. think very shakily. Falk's just gonna poke out behind that doorway and pull out the shard. found it.
Speaker: Yeah. Balinor was here for like two seconds.
Speaker: The ghost wolf? I was gonna ask if yes it could help, but then it kind of just did the spectral thing and went away. Got the shard. Okay, hi will I will let you guys take a minute and I'm gonna check the other room.
Speaker: Nyx is going to wrench the dagger out of the seed. Okay. Kaz is trying to find the right moment to walk over and get his dagger and he threw it at Nyx. Nyx did not notice. Nyx.
Speaker: yeah That's fair. Sorry, I continued what you were saying. I was being ding-dong. And then watches the seed for a second to make sure this isn't like a you know, a stake through the vampire's heart where it comes out and the seed's going to like react. Yeah.
Speaker: Yeah, no, the the seed stays completely dead. As you look at the dagger after you've pulled it out, there is a sheen of magic that you didn't see before that kind of like shimmers along the dagger.
Speaker: And yeah, you get a sense that this, it didn't just destroy the magic of the mark, it absorbed it, like extracted the magic. Oh, of the mark on the seed.
Speaker: who Which mark? Yeah. Well, you can't see either mark active any longer, so presumably both. I put the knife back in the sheaths and look at it for a long moment and then set it on a one of the consoles or something and as I think about it. But first, okay i want to i want to incinerate the seed.
Speaker: Like I want to summon whatever hellish fire I can and just burn the seed dashes. There's no pressing timeline or anything. Like Nyx is able to put all of her focus into this. So say, yes, Nyx can pick up the seed and just like, it starts with like your hands, like burning into it and before the flame catches. And then the whole thing is engulfed in in hell fire and turns to ash.
Speaker: Kaz, what are you doing? I've healed myself. And I think that that is still... something that takes Cass some time to come back from. He's not quite as used to battle as Nyx.
Speaker: So I think he's still kind of a little dazed. Watches Nyx start to engulf the seed, understands that that's a smart idea. And then I think... You said that we all recognize the kind of the masonry and stuff, the bunker-ishness. Yeah. You're realizing this is all from a similar...
Speaker: Yeah. yeah I think maybe... I think if if Valk has gone to one room, I kind of look around to see if there's another, and if not, I might follow Valk into the second space.
Speaker: There are two rooms that have not been explored. So if you wanted to go into the other one. Yeah. I think I go into the other one. Yeah. Okay. Okay. Say another one. Yeah.
Speaker: Valk. You find yourself in a space that was clearly for like war planning. There's a large table in the middle. There's some other desks along the wall that are stone built in.
Speaker: And there are like, there are places built into the desk to hold writing implements and things, but any actual parchment or writing implements are long gone. um You sitting on one of the desks you
Speaker: There's like carving in the stone, similar to what you would see almost in like a school desk where somebody like just over time with some kind of like implement etched something into the stone.
Speaker: And you you're surprised to see the name Vrael is etched into the stone. on this stone desk. Also, this room has clearly been like the chairs and everything are pushed away. Like this room was gone over by the one Smith. So that's like you're you're telling that they were searching throughout this whole place for something.
Speaker: maybe it wasn't the thing they were looking for, they didn't care. You see also sitting on this desk a necklace. It's a simple chain. And at the end of the chain is metal housing. And coming out of it is a single wolf's fang. And you can tell it it is a magical item. You don't have to keep it. You could give it to an ally. You don't have to hoard the ball.
Speaker: Four. Nope. Oh. I don't. i ah I also have this dagger havinging that maybe is a cursed item. I'm not... That dagger is also a a artifact level magical item, so it would cap towards your count. But maybe also is watching us on behalf of the Beholder.
Speaker: Or it's, you know, what the Beholder really was. I only have two. Kaz, you walk into a room... This looks to be the sleeping quarters of someone that like almost like a captain's quarters, like on a ship, like the other barracks were for everyone else. This was for whoever ran this place.
Speaker: The biggest thing, like I said, there's a stone bed built into the wall, but no mattress or anything. Uh, you do see hanging on a hook coming out of the wall, a cloak.
Speaker: that looks to be woven from fibers and there's like leafs leaves like integrated into it. And yeah, it just, it, it, it is a clip look to be made out of very natural materials.
Speaker: Okay. So my background being a clothing maker's son, can I gather anything else about this cloak if I were to examine it? Regardless, but if I can just get some idea what it's like now.
Speaker: I mean, it is, it is definitely magical. Like it is a she is a magical item, but it is very high quality make, but it is...
Speaker: I mean, it's old, like the the style of stitching and everything kind of predates what anybody would do now. I guess, i how about this? Can I tell looking at it if it is so old that I should not put it on without replacing it? No, is durable. The magic has kept it durable over the years.
Speaker: Okay. So it is still wearable. I think I throw it on. Okay. Okay. I'm a fancy guy. ah like fancy things. All right. Well, Kaz, you immediately gain a plus two bonus to all skill checks involving stealth, wilderness survival, or moving through natural terrain. Oh my goodness. it's And also once per battle, when an enemy attacks you, you can force it to reroll the attack and it must use the new result.
Speaker: All right One moment. And there's a whole lot of other things, but I won't get into all that. I'll send you the text. Yeah. Just send me the text. So I get it here. I'm just, just making sure this would be a, like a torso chakra or something. So I'm clear wear it.
Speaker: ah Yeah. mean, I've circled in a ring and I'm still assuming it's either of those. So no. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Great. Once the seat is Ash, Nix will toss the main control room just cause that's okay. That's been our MO. Yeah.
Speaker: Yeah. Nick's you do find one last thing as you're tossing it's, it's amongst the kind of detritus that's been. Shoveled around, not what they were looking for. So they didn't pick it up or care about it.
Speaker: Um, it's a war horn that you find that is it's a pale horn wrapped in silver bands. It has names carved into it.
Speaker: One of the names that you see carved into it is Balanor along with some other names, no other names that Nick's recognizes importantly.
Speaker: Uh, as you pick it up, you know, it's base abilities. Once per battle, you can blow the horn to grate yourself and nearby allies, a plus three bonus to all defenses until the start of your next turn and quick action.
Speaker: And then once per battle as an interrupt action, when an ally nearby becomes staggered, that ally can immediately make a normal save against one save ends effect currently affecting them.
Speaker: And then there's additional things that you can unlock that I will send you. Since I've described them all, even though you you may not be keeping this, Valk, I will tell you the necklace gives you initially a plus two bonus to all skill checks involving tracking, detecting hidden creatures, or navigating the wilderness.
Speaker: And once per battle, as a quick action, you may summon a spirit wolf named Balanor until the end of the battle. His initial assistance is less focused. So basically he grants you a plus two to both AC and attack rolls and then gives you bonus damage equal to your level.
Speaker: yeah He didn't direct people to himself. he's No, he directed you. He directed you to the same thing they were looking for, Valk. Okay. And that's everything that you all find as you turn it over.
Speaker: Place. Okay. I will return to the main room. people come back, Nyx holds up the dagger. This appears to have absorbed the the magic of the the marks that we saw on the seams.
Speaker: I am worried... That that will mean the mark that was used to corrupt the magic is also now within the dagger.
Speaker: And that whatever horrific and probably sarcastic creature put that mark there might be a bad idea to bring it back to our home.
Speaker: But I don't know how to know. I would let anyone make an intelligence check to try and like look at the runes and like the make of the stagger to kind of understand the magic of why I was able to neutralize the seed if you want.
Speaker: have you I'll do it. Oh, intelligence. Okay. So I'm assuming Shevrath touched. So I think I have a 23. Nope. oh twingly Jeff rolled natural 20.
Speaker: I did. I did. And he said it was intelligence? Yeah. So it's a 27 total. Okay. It spun a little bit later on at 20. That's why I gasped.
Speaker: thanks Oh. I say 18 plus 8. Do I get investigator? Yeah. Yeah. So is it a 30? Yeah. So all three of you are able to like look and examine this in your collective like areas of expertise and knowledge. You can put together a pretty clear picture that like this dagger wasn't designed for the purpose of destroying the seed.
Speaker: It looks like the make of this dagger, the magic is designed to neutralize and extract the inherent magic of a dragon mark.
Speaker: Put it in like with such a high rule, you all put two and two together rails. Dragon mark is what was trapping her within her plane. So it may very well be she designed this to use on herself as an attempt to try and get out, but then decided that the seed was the greater concern. It does not look like any.
Speaker: This is not bequeath the dagger, the magic inherent in the dragon mark. It is merely to neutralize the magic and then store it like a battery almost that potentially the magic could be used to fuel abilities of the dagger, but you are all confident, relatively confident, as confident as you could possibly be, which is pretty darn confident with this high of the rolls as you roll that the latent magic used to corrupt the other mark is not still sitting here scrying on you all.
Speaker: But imagine the DC was a 35 and I just lied about all of them. Was there anything else we wanted to talk about?
Speaker: Well, how many magical items does everyone have now? <unk> youre I am currently... Assuming that I keep the warhorn, i will be at two. I'm currently carrying the dagger.
Speaker: I don't know how that works as far as attunement. If you don't have the intention to use it, I'm not going to hold it against you. like you can train I don't know what it does yet. So other than that, like until I know what the abilities of the dagger are, I...
Speaker: um The baseline abilities when you first start using it is once per battle, when you hit a creature with a melee attack using, uh, this dagger, the target takes damage equal to your level and you gain a plus one bonus to your next attack roll equal to your level or sorry, a plus bonus, a plus one per levels.
Speaker: And then also the dagger can identify if a dragon mark is natural artificially induced or magically art altered. Okay.
Speaker: Okay. So once per battle deal extra damage equal to the equal to level. And then on your next attack, you get a plus equal to your level. Okay.
Speaker: We can talk about it. I'm the only one who uses melee attacks. Don't know how like that. I can use a dagger for my melee attacks, but
Speaker: see. You talked about that at the house so that everybody is transporting something. i don't activate five items. I think that I will do the thing with the shard.
Speaker: okay The shard glows and a staticky image, it looks like still this one is so corrupted as to not show the visual representation of anyone, but you do hear the voices of the staticky figures moving about.
Speaker: ay enough
Speaker: We're not seeing consistency in soul degradation, but the numbers are climbing. Fifty-seven incorruptibles fell yesterday. Turrent, you said you heard them? i did. They cry for release, but they no longer cross.
Speaker: They hover, shackled. The Overlords are taking something, faith, identity, and twisting it. The spirits linger.
Speaker: They hover like smoke in the still air. I can't force them onward, and I can't protect them forever. We've tried planar insulation, arcane dampering, mirrored resonant fields. None of it stops the corruption.
Speaker: The moment they pass on, the overlords twist them into something unrecognizable. What if we don't let them pass on? Not yet. A temporary holding.
Speaker: Delay their transition by time to purify them. In Argonesson, some of us practiced an art. We called it Threlen, the stilling of spirits. It's a form of draconic necromancy.
Speaker: It slows their dissolution. Maybe be enough to buy you time. That's it? If we could anchor their souls with a field around the lantern, filter out the corruptive frequencies. Yes!
Speaker: I can draw from the elemental matrices we used last cycle. Why haven't you offered this before? Because, despite your own proclivities, Cleric, mortals often recoil at the word necromancy.
Speaker: But you are out of time and out of options. She's right. We'll need to construct a protective mechanism. Portable. Durable. Onatar? I can build a mobile container.
Speaker: If the shieldings can be stabilized, it can be carried onto the battlefield. No more corrupted dead bolstering the enemy ranks. Be mindful of soul resonance. If the runes vibrates too strongly, it may rupture.
Speaker: You'll need a damping weave built into the metal. I'll use a triple laminated arcane coil and build in resonance anchors. It'll hum like dragon's breath, but it'll hold. I'll carry it.
Speaker: No one else can speak to them like I can. I'll keep them safe. We're dancing with ideals while the Overlords dance on our graves. We need to hit them where it hurts, cut down their followers, torch the places they feed from. You are suggesting we target civilians. That's not warfare, Dorne. That's vengeance. You're proposing we become butchers. I will not authorize the destruction of civilian populations. I agree with Dorne.
Speaker: Fighting clean has gotten us ash and graves. If we strike them around, their supply lines hit where it hurts. We may survive. And they're not civilians. They're hostages with spears.
Speaker: If breaking their forges, their homes, their food lines means we win, then maybe that's the price. And a violation of every code the Free People signed. We cannot become what we fight to destroy. Maybe the Overlords count on that restraint.
Speaker: Maybe it's our morality that lets them win again and again. They're winning because we keep fighting on their turns. We lose cities while we argue about ethics.
Speaker: I'm done burying my friends so you two can feel righteous. The rule of law is not a luxury, Dorne. It's the very thing we fight for. You see it too, don't you? The sunlit charges don't work anymore.
Speaker: They're not afraid of us. We strike in the dark, they bleed. When we play the hero, they laugh. Maybe they laugh because they know if we let ourselves become monsters, they've already won. Then maybe it's time to stop pretending we're heroes.
Speaker: And if we lose who we are, Dorne, what have we won? Survival. That's what we win. We're fighting a myth with morals. That's the problem.
Speaker: You can't negotiate with darkness, Cole. You put it down. By turning our backs on every accord we swore to uphold, the laws of war exist to protect the innocent. You both need to cool down.
Speaker: It serves no one for us to beat each other's throats. We just need a key victory to serve as a symbol that we aren't beat yet. Symbols are for songs, not blood. Dorn's right.
Speaker: The Overlords don't rest. They don't care about treaties. Maybe it's time we acted like them. We've lost seven fortresses this month. Civilians slaughtered while we debate about the ethics of retaliation.
Speaker: Let me hit their logistics. Collapse a few of their feeding pits. We know the demons don't care for each other. Targeting civilian nexuses is a war crime. They rewrite the rules every time they blink.
Speaker: We need to do something different. This line, this clean war, is a noose tightening around our own necks. We are not them. if we become them, we lose more than the war.
Speaker: We lose the right to win. Then we'll die noble. Maybe your stories will come from the orphans. Going to burn a living forest. Not an outpost. Not a forge. An entire forest. It's a sacred place, Dorway. The forests are cursed already.
Speaker: Their roots twist with the Overlord's blade. Burn it all. And we cut off their smithing fuel for a generation. And how many Dryads die screaming in a blaze? How many generations of memory do you erase just to save a week of supply line pressure? If the Dryads are still there, they're already lost.
Speaker: You of all people should know what corruption feels like. You smell it in your bones. Which is why I won't let you become a pyromancer cloaked in excuses. This is desecration. The strategic value is real, but the cost may echo longer than the war.
Speaker: Now you speak up, I brought you here to record what his monster wants to do. Those woods feed their war machines. That forest is full of corrupted Feywood now. If we burn it, we starve their supply lines for months. You have no idea what burns with those trees. There are spirits bound to that land, some of them ancient, some of them ours. So what?
Speaker: Let them feed on our dead, our trees, our blood, because we're scared to make hard choices? You don't get to decide what we sacrifice, not alone. i don't need your blessing. I came to warn you, not ask permission. You set fires to my land, and I will treat you like any other invader. Enough!
Speaker: You both want victory. You just disagree on what must be burned to earn it. Then you decide. You record every word, every battle, every death. What does the story say, Scribe? The forest is lost either way.
Speaker: If we do nothing, the Overlord keep feeding. If we burn it, we wound them. But the wound will bleed green and gold and ash. No, we can't destroy what we swore to protect.
Speaker: There has to be another way. There isn't. Both paths are tragedies. But history won't ask if you were right. It will ask if you won. She bled out in my arms.
Speaker: I tried, but whatever the overlords put in their blades, it unravels life. It rejects healing. She chose to stand between death and a child.
Speaker: That's a good ending, if there's such a thing. Is I've watched so many good endings, Baldry. They're still endings. Tragedy makes the sweetest wine, they say. All the better for toasting our loss.
Speaker: You think I don't know what it costs? I count the same graves. I just... I just have to believe they matter. i have to believe we... matter because if I don't then I may as well be one of them I just wanted to save them not glorify their deaths why do we lie to the grieving why insist there's glory and death you speak of sacrifice Baldry but what about waste I don't lie.
Speaker: I insist that meaning must be carved from pain. we don't honour the dead by wallowing. We honour them by building something from what they gave us.
Speaker: I didn't mourn fast enough. Not the first time. It festered. So now... i light the fire the moment it's dark because otherwise i never leave the dark again i fear we're building a mausoleum not a future i mend broken bodies only to send them back to the same blades Perhaps hope is a worse poison than despair.
Speaker: Still, we drink it, don't we? Hope is not poison. It is fire. It hurts, yes, but it also lights the dark.
Speaker: I buried a girl today. She was barely fifteen, covered in mud, tried to heal her brother with salve and torn cloth. She still believed it would work.
Speaker: They gutted them both, and her death meant others lived. That murders. Does it? When we tell their parents she died nobly, that she lit the way forward, to lie we wrap around ourselves. I don't lie.
Speaker: I demand that actions echo, that their depths ripple forward, that their names become banners. Then help me carry them. And the light goes out.
Speaker: I would clap, but I don't want to. Absolutely. Obliterate. I'm sure Kath will have a lot to say about that after he let after Jeff lets us do it six to eight more times. Boldre was called out by name. Yeah.
Speaker: Yeah. And as soon as she was, I was like, wait a second. who was that Whose voice was that that I just heard? Who's playing Boldre? That I could not place it. Which way are we going?
Speaker: One more time. We can't go back because we don't know if there's an exit going back. All right. Is there a way forward?
Speaker: There's stairs. There's stairs leading out. Yep.
Speaker: I guess we'll find out where we are. All right. You all ascend the stairs. oh And you find yourselves exiting in a mountain pass at the base of some mountains.
Speaker: Do you go ahead? Is there anything? i mean, looking about, are there any landmarks to give us some idea of where we are? i will say because you're all well separate Kaz, you're all fairly well traveled. You are able to look as you kind of exit, you see the location of the sun. It is daytime.
Speaker: and you look to the southwest and you see a mountain pass that is well trod that you'd recognize as the margul pass oh so you were in very southern kair is there is there a revolt going on here yet eric like you see let me look at some dates real quick yeah he turned that around Chip. Well, it's the Simpson. things Grandpa walking in, doing a circle and walking back out. Sinks the revolt was in nine 69.
Speaker: So we are post revolution. Oh, cool. Oh, this is bad. You're close to that. How did that revolution end up? Right. We're close to that pass. I mean, Nick's absolutely does.
Speaker: There's like, I don't know how many battles of the Marghul past there are in the war, but it's, I think, pretty heavily fortified border.
Speaker: The revolution ended up with the goblins taking over Dargoon, this region. Right. So if I understand where we are, right, there's a lightning rail Stern Gate just on the other side of that pass, if we can get through it. And we'll find out if you can next time.
Speaker: Thank you all so much for listening. If you can want be part of the conversation surrounding this episode, you can head over to our Discord, the link to which is in the show notes. We also have YouTube channel, youtube.com. If you want to watch some TTRPG videos made by me, you can go there.
Speaker: Philip. On YouTube and Spotify, you can find Tales from the Laughing Tree, where we have another actual play using the Legend and the Mist system called the Queen's Blades. It's true.
Speaker: There's also a Patreon, patreon.com slash epanteon. If you want to financially support the show, you can do so over there. Thank you so much for listening. I've been your game master, Eric. Neil. I'm Philip. Jeff. We'll see you next time.
