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C2 Ep. 23 Night at the Gala Chapter Two
269 Plays4 years ago
The crew is arriving at the party, but things quickly change as some unexpected guests arrive at the gala!
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, Danielle Bramhall-Smith, Nastasia Raulerson, The Kamm Family, David Scrams, Elizabeth Clark, Andy Dossett, Rebekah Miller, deviouspoptart, Eðvarð Arnór Sigurðsson, Michael Clark, Eric Witman, and Dustin Troupe.
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Transcript
Sponsor Acknowledgements
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, Danielle Bramhall-Smith, Andy Dossett, Natasha Rallerson, Richard Cree, The Cam Family, Charles Compton, Edvard Tharnoff, Dustin Troop, Rebecca Miller, Michael Clark, and David Scrams, along with all of our generous patrons.
00:00:38
Speaker
D20 radio, your game is roll.
Introduction to Eberron Renewed Podcast
00:01:16
Speaker
Hello and welcome to Eberron Renewed, an actual play podcast set in the Eberron campaign setting. I'm your game master, Eric. And I'm Phillip. I'm Trevor. I'm Randy. I'm Jeff. And welcome to another episode. Gentlemen, what happened last time?
Mission Briefing and Team Strategy
00:01:29
Speaker
We got approached by Viggo to do a job for him. And he was just the worst. I think Phillip has more to say about that part.
00:01:39
Speaker
Yes, Vigo made it clear in no uncertain terms that unlike Grum, he will not put up with Aeris's quirks. But yeah, you all got a job. You elected to tackle the various objectives of the job. So yeah, you all have your different objectives that you're splitting up to go accomplish with Hob, Sigil and Kath going to the loading area to secure the vehicle and the storage
00:02:05
Speaker
container the thing is in. Eris and Milo going to the middle to definitely deal with the shipping manifest and additionally probably the the scrying spell thing. And then Reynard and Sana are going to the fancy dress potty. A quick point of order. Um.
00:02:30
Speaker
The scrying spell probably needs to be dealt with before we go taking off with the transport, right? Because that's what the scrying spell is doing is... It's showing the inside of that storage container. So... Don't you get a sense of location with scrying as well, or am I crazy? Well, it's more of with this particular kind of deal. Just a live feed. Yeah, like if you all got too far away, the feed would cut out.
00:02:58
Speaker
But then if somebody managed to reconnect it and the Boromar clan were in there unloading the thing, then they would be spotted. So. OK, OK, so the way we're going to do this is we're just going to cut to we're going to have each of you roll for the different approaches that you decided you wanted to take and and we'll see how your situation is going.
00:03:24
Speaker
as you enter the place based on that role. For those of you who play a bunch of different tabletop role-playing games, you may notice that we are borrowing heavily from the Blades in the Dark system and borrowing some of their mechanics for
00:03:39
Speaker
This this session. So if you want to ask about it, that would be a great reviewed question. So yeah. OK, so top level, Raynard, you are using your connections in the in the upper echelons of the city.
Infiltration Plans and Party Strategy
00:03:57
Speaker
to to secure an invitation. So since you have these connections and they're genuine, you're not having to lie to anybody, I would allow for a charm check to just kind of talk talk to the right people.
00:04:13
Speaker
um to get it and since sauna is also from this part of the city you will get a boost die this is a fairly exclusive event so it's not an easy thing to just get an invitation for so it is going to be a hard check so three purple um
00:04:32
Speaker
And I'm going to use a story point to upgrade it. OK. Well, I believe I will use a story point as well because I don't think we need to fail this one. OK. So and like I said, if you fail the check, that doesn't mean you don't get into the place. It just means that your situation is not as good as it potentially could be. So.
00:04:57
Speaker
Um, so we have an upgrade on your side, an upgrade on my side. Uh, difficulty is two purple, one red. So, and you have a boost die coming your way for Sana's help. So go ahead. Okay. That's one success, one threat, a triumph and a despair. What?
00:05:19
Speaker
Excellent. No, it's not. Man, we're hitting all the big ones today. I love it. Yeah. So even for the fences, that's the third triumph in this session already. OK, so Raynard, you are able to secure an invitation to the party. You actually tap because you through talking with Kipling.
00:05:43
Speaker
at the last party, you know that he started working his way up through another organization and he might have some connections to get you in. And it turns out he does. So he was able to get you an invitation to to this event. The threat.
00:06:02
Speaker
is that rather than it having be strain or something, you have to come with Kipling. Like he's like, yeah, yeah, yeah, I can get you. I have a certain amount of people that I can bring with me. And so if you and that mouse lady from the party want to come, I saw you talking to her. Yes, Verla.
00:06:30
Speaker
So if you wanna bring somebody with you, I could accommodate that as well. But yeah, I can get you in. Okay, so we'll do the establishing action of you getting into the party once we have all the other roles done. So middle level, we are trying to stealth our way in. Are we not gonna do my triumph and despair?
00:06:50
Speaker
Oh, I guess we can resolve that. Yeah, go by Pish Posh. Well, the despair I want to reveal as part of the establishment, like once you walk in. So I'll hold on to that until we do the broad action. But if you would like to declare what your triumph is used for, go for it. So right now it's somebody else is it looking like someone is not going to be able to get in?
00:07:14
Speaker
No, Sauna will be able to. Kipling was just saying like you can bring a plus one and that's the last person he saw you talking to, but you can bring Sauna. You don't have to bring Verla with you. OK, good. Yeah. I'll just be like, yeah, this is the one under the mouse mask. Then I'll just hang on to my triumph until I need it. Does that sound good?
00:07:36
Speaker
Um, normally you can't do that. You can't stash a triumph. If you're doing it, I can do it. I'm not I'm not stashing it. I've used my despair. It'll just be part of my description of the situation. OK, but it has been spent. Well, geez, I don't know. I don't really know how to spend a triumph right now. You could say if you have an idea, go for it.
00:08:09
Speaker
I was going to say, could it could he reveal? Even just like a hint of information of something that would make it. Something I could relate and make it easier for one of the other teams. Oh, would he know something like. Yeah, yeah, totally. We could. Yeah, you can essentially mechanically pass an upgrade to their check to to establish. But yeah, let's say he.
00:08:38
Speaker
As you all are talking, because Kipling has a tendency to ramble, as we've seen, he starts talking about his date, the sheep.
00:08:50
Speaker
woman from the party actually works at the venue and mentioned that so much power is having to be diverted to the projection of this thing that the security system is actually down for the night. So we can get wild and crazy and there's no surveillance. That's kind of the context that he takes it in.
00:09:13
Speaker
OK, so Eris and Milo will have an upgrade on their check to sneak in. So. Once it could be three purple difficulty, you have an upgrade coming your way. I would like to burn my street habits talent. OK.
00:09:36
Speaker
to have to say that Gerst, my buddy in the tyrants has because since the tyrants presumably keep a large stash of costumes and disguises has stashed us a double bag with a couple of maintenance uniforms. OK. Well, that puts it to a very easy check. I will give you two boost die for having the uniforms needed.
00:10:05
Speaker
So so what is Aeris's pool for stealth? What does that look like? Too green. OK, Milo. Milo's is a yellow and one green. OK, so you should roll. OK, Milo, go for it. OK, one success, one advantage.
00:10:29
Speaker
So you all managed to you succeed on your check. The one advantage. Would you all like to pass a boost die on to the next check, which would be Hobbs or. You all could.
00:10:55
Speaker
I feel like if Hob is trying to lie his way in, we should give him all the assistance that we are. OK. OK, Hob. So you're trying to create a distraction to draw the guards away. Yeah, I think so. OK, so let's go and roll and then we can based on the check determine what that looks like. So this is going to be a deception check.
00:11:23
Speaker
Okay, here is the only thing. I suck at that. No, um, here's the only thing I would, I think Hobb would be better served being a spectacle distraction and having one of the other two try to convince the cops or the security they need to go and look into it. Reason being,
00:11:48
Speaker
Hobbs bigger and scarier looking. And if he doesn't do the direct deception, he knows that he for some reason is able to... People who say stuff around him when he's around always tend to have better outcomes than they do otherwise. I'm talking about Loom.
00:12:02
Speaker
Mm hmm. So does that make sense that rather than I know you want me to roll. That's the other thing you don't want for. Yeah. Sigil or Kath to do so. Never mind everything I just said, I guess. So let me just roll deception then. OK, so because of Sigil's and Kath's presence to assist you, you'll get a boost for each of them and you have a boost I passed from the advantage on the previous role. So that's three boosts die towards your check.
00:12:30
Speaker
There's a three purple difficulty. You could use a story point to upgrade if you like. I have to, because I only have two green. If it's a three purple difficulty, I have to. I have that upgrade for you. OK. I did not. OK. OK, one failure, two advantage.
00:12:53
Speaker
OK, and the two advantage, what I would say you could use the two advantage for, since we don't have an easy role to just pass it pass it along to. Essentially, they the guards are not going to fall for your deception in such a way to where you all can get past them. They're basically going to come straight for you all.
00:13:15
Speaker
But the two advantage, I will say that you all are not caught unawares by this. You see them approaching and are very prepared for what. How many are them? I still don't have a clear idea of what Robin is here. There are three million groups, three groups of three. OK, yes. So nine total guards, but yeah.
00:13:41
Speaker
OK, so going back up top real quick, Raynard and Sana, you all are dressed to the nines. Sana has a very flashy, bright sky blue gown on as you all walk in next to Kipling and his date.
00:14:05
Speaker
And you kind of look around as Kipling is talking nonstop, but thankfully the drum of the party manages to drown him out a little bit as you and Sana look around. And you...
00:14:22
Speaker
spot somebody, Raynard, that that you you recognize because they stand a head and shoulder above the rest of the crowd. And just as wide as you see, whoever the giant person was that you later learned their name was Salman Callaway. Standing in the party, talking. But that's not the despair, is that good?
00:14:50
Speaker
Uh, that was going to happen either way and they don't know your face from Adam. Uh, you see Norsen Millhatch also mingling in the party wearing a suit and you know that Norsen does know your face from the job. So, um, so yeah, that's what you see, but you're in the party. None of the security or anybody has any kind of suspicion on you. Um,
00:15:18
Speaker
But Kipling is there drawing some attention. And yeah, Sana kind of she's on your arm and she leans in and says, so. What's the play? Wait, was Sana on that job? She wasn't there. No. OK, no. Oh, good. Well, there's been a small turn of events.
00:15:48
Speaker
There is someone here who probably should not see me. If we could avoid them, that would be good. But definitely, well, it's the, you see the very large individual. The one near him, the smaller one, the one that looks intelligent.
00:16:14
Speaker
Ah. Yes. The red headed one, which Norsin does have red hair. Cool, because I didn't know. Yes, that one. So if we just keep your eyes on them, I'm going to keep my eyes away from them.
00:16:32
Speaker
All right, I'll keep an eye and keep them away from you. So we need to find out where this prima fit guy is. Yes, since that's our target. Well, I guess so. Kipling and see if he knows. All right, I'm going to go to the bar. Well, at the tides of turn.
00:16:59
Speaker
Easy, I'm going to find people in a state that you're normally in to see if their loose lips will let information slip. And she pats you on the shoulder and takes off across the party.
Encountering Threats and Allies
00:17:11
Speaker
Okay, so you're going to try to talk to Kipling to see if
00:17:19
Speaker
So give me a leadership check because you're trying to herd cats like Kipling is there. He's ready to party. And you're like, OK, I need you to focus so I know who to go after. So this is going to be a a two purple difficulty. Oh, there it is. OK.
00:17:41
Speaker
But because and you know this from your your days when you were his running buddy Kipling did pregame a little bit, so he's already a little a little loose. So that's going to be one setback die because he's a little drunk. So. All right, here we go for it. One advantage. So. Yeah, Kipling, what do you what do you say to him?
00:18:12
Speaker
Kipling, you're always so good at knowing these things. Could you point out our host to me? Oh, why do you need to know about our host? There's people with drinks walking around. Let's get drinks. Yes, I just forget the host. The host are always boring and stodgy. I'd like to thank them. You know who I am.
00:18:32
Speaker
Well, thank me for the invitation by coming to have a drink with me. Come on, let's do it. Like old days. Well, one drink.
00:18:44
Speaker
Okay, cut down to the next level. So Eris and Milo, you all succeeded on your check with an advantage. So you all have the, so are the outfits that you procured? Are they security? Are they like maintenance workers? What? I assume they were maintenance. Maintenance, okay.
00:19:04
Speaker
So you all enter through the security checkpoint for the like underbelly of this event, which means that no flesh at. I don't have like a bag for. I mean, they push in a cart with a box.
00:19:33
Speaker
OK, so yeah, you you all are getting in, you get into the area and the first thing one of the security guards as you're in, like walking through down the hallway, one of them is sitting there with their feet kicked up to go, what's in the box? Tools, equipment.
00:19:52
Speaker
which there definitely are some tools and equipment in here. Yes, but you're also deception by omission because you don't say gun. Well, sure. No, I I was I was going to ask, can I roll skullduggery and say that she's actually like attempting to conceal the thing, not totally. So that's going to be two purple difficulty.
00:20:20
Speaker
Milo, are you saying anything to try and assist or anything like that? Um, yeah, I'll be I'm assuming they're going to pat us down. Is that what's about to happen? Probably. I mean, this guy seems lazy. All right. Milo's going to make small talk last night.
00:20:45
Speaker
Keep keep talking to him while he's trying to do his job, you know, as you know, we're maintenance workers, you know, of course, we have our tools and et cetera. Hey, what about the the gala upstairs? What's up with that? Go ahead and you'll get a boost die for Milo's assistance. All right. So go and roll. Oh, why? What?
00:21:13
Speaker
That's ridiculous. So one failure, five advantage. So. OK. So, yeah, you all are in the facility at this point, but this the security guard has stopped you and he he's talking with you, Mylon, kind of nodding along.
00:21:34
Speaker
And it's providing a certain level of distraction. But he has a divination rod of some sort that he's scanning over the box and a rune glows on it and says, you got a. A bound elemental in here.
00:21:54
Speaker
Okay. I mean, that's, uh, so, uh, sorry, based on the security level tonight, we can't have any bound elementals, you know, if, if the thing cracks, then they go nuts. So, um, yeah, if you just want to take that out and check it in or leave the box behind, uh, whatever, but I can't let you take the, the elemental any further in.
00:22:18
Speaker
Oh, uh, yeah, sorry. Um, from a different job, I forgot all about it. Uh, yeah, I'll, um, I'll run it back out. Great. What would you like to do with five advantage? Gosh. Um, that's so much advantage.
00:22:43
Speaker
Now, just just for the sake of of painting the correct picture on how these checks can go. And granted, it wouldn't have made a difference in this instance, probably. But like the check that you could have made with skullduggery, there could have been during our planning yesterday, I arrived to the guard down here or something. So so it doesn't all have to be checks in the moment. He is distracted.
00:23:13
Speaker
Yeah. And he is going to forget to actually frisk us. OK. Meaning he will not discover he will not notice Milo's wand or the collapsible hand crossbow that Eris has stuffed into the back of her belt.
00:23:30
Speaker
flip a story point. OK, fine. So many advantage. I was like, oh, yeah. Yeah, no, no, no frisking thing. Absolutely. Sure. Manifesting a weapon out of thin air. We can do that in conjunction with the story point. Sure. OK. But yeah, we'll take it back out. Aeris will stash the Fletcher in the storage compartment under the sort of center bench on Tasha's deck. OK.
00:24:01
Speaker
And then and Milo back, you just stay there continuing to distract him. Yes. As Eris re approaches and Eris as you like, as Eris walks away, Milo is like, yeah, you know, the the upper crust folk like to get together and compare, compare the size of their gold. So. But means more work for us, right? And he gives you a little punch on the arm.
00:24:32
Speaker
Better than the top of my head. No. And then Eris, you you approach and he says, all right. And he scans the box again just to double check. No elementals. All right. You all are good to go through. And you have a great evening. You too. OK. Down low.
00:25:01
Speaker
Yeah, all right. So, Hobb, describe to me what type of distraction you were going for. Okay, I don't know, honestly, since I failed. I almost was I don't know that it matters what they were going for. I think all that matters is what it looked like was two of us were harassing the third. I don't know which direction it went. But I feel like that's got to be just
00:25:25
Speaker
it looks just like three misfit idiots getting in a fight. And one of those groups, I guess, feels like they have to address it somehow. Okay, so yeah, here's how it goes. Just for the sake of believability, you all decided, sigil dissection.
00:25:45
Speaker
suggested just being logical, that it would look the most believable if you and Cath were bullying them, especially given everything going on in the city. And you all did not account for this gala hired a contingency of Caneth security to guard, which is made up of Warforge. So these all come in not looking to break this up, but rather looking to exact some street justice on these two.
00:26:15
Speaker
What an important thing to have known when I said, what am I looking at? You just said nine things, not nine warforged. Because it wasn't part of the fiction yet, Jeff. This is how this game works. I forgot about my conditional eyeballs that only see things that have been mentioned in the text. I didn't, to be fair, I did not describe their race in their initial description. No, you didn't. So.
00:26:44
Speaker
OK, so we go in, but we do go into it knowing that we're about to look like we're jumping a warforged in front of nine warforged people who chose to go into the private security business. That's fine. I just want to make sure I know what I'm going to do. OK, they didn't choose to go into private security, but. So so, yeah, these warforged are approaching and clearly looking to to goof you and Kath up. So are all of them coming? Um.
00:27:11
Speaker
No, let's say three are staying behind. OK, so six are coming over to deal with you all. So I am going to at this point, now that all three scenes have been established, I am going to have everybody roll initiative and we will go in structured play order for these various scenes.
00:27:37
Speaker
So everybody go and go to the weapons, talents and powers tab and because of. Basically, you all can roll whichever is better, vigilance or cool. But what's better, three green or one yellow? Three green. Yeah. Yeah.
00:28:00
Speaker
Yeah, I think I'm going to have to roll vigilance because Hov did not expect his plan to go so south so fast, which he should by this point. OK, so when you're looking at the initiative tracker in roll 20. If it's NPC with an asterisk in front of it, that is an allied NPC slot. OK, so.
00:28:21
Speaker
So kind of how we talked about last time, I will primarily control them. But if there is an action, especially in this kind of structure where it's it's very contained, if there's a an action that you would like for them to take, then make that known. And if you want to spend a story point, feel free. So first up is a PC slot. So for the sake of clarity here, Hob, Kath and Sishel are in combat initiative
00:28:51
Speaker
Um, whereas Eris and Milo and Rainard and Sana, just your initiative slot will mean we, we engage with your scene and your action to further progress the job kind of thing. Okay. So that our combatants should have the opportunity to go first since that will most benefit us as a group if they can end that quickly. Okay. So Hob, that means you were up first. Okay. Um,
00:29:21
Speaker
Okay, so I mean, at this point, the six warforged are up on us now. So they're approaching you. And they're they're wielding just very standard issue can of swords. And one of them kind of taps this sharp end of their sword into the metal palm of their hand and says, think you can just rough up warforged without zero consequences. That's going to be changing real soon.
00:29:50
Speaker
starting with you no see i think i can be roughing up warforged with zero consequences that's clearly what i think and then okay i'm being ministered now so i'm going to punch i'm just trying to figure out my new
00:30:17
Speaker
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Here's what I want to do. I want to go ahead. Crunchy, crunchy question. If I use my new skill, that allows me to increase my own difficulty, but give two strain every time anybody wants to do something. Does that only apply to one member of a minion group? Or does that cross apply to all three? The minion group only have one pool, so it would apply to the group as a whole.
00:30:47
Speaker
Now I can't remember how we do this. They only count as one turn also, so it would just be two strain every time the group went. Not two strain each time any of them did anything, because they would just pass out so fast. And minions don't have a strain threshold, so it automatically gets converted to wounds. So. Which is awesome. Yeah, let's do it. So whatever the difficulty is, go ahead and raise it up by one. And I'm going to try to use my new fun talent.
00:31:18
Speaker
increase the difficulty or upgrade the difficulty? Let me double check. I've still got it up here. When my character makes a combat check, I may voluntarily increase the difficulty.
00:31:28
Speaker
So it's three purple instead of two. Uh-huh. Would you like to? No, I don't need to spend a story point to upgrade if I'm brawling against three purple. You can't aim. Would you like to aim? I am. Yes, that's a good point. I always forget to do that. I would like to use my maneuver to aim. And I would like to successfully hit them. Is there anything we can do to make that? Aiming is in fact the thing you can do. I guess we've done it then. All right.
00:31:59
Speaker
one success you know what though that's all I needed yeah the success triggers the painful blow so I think okay this is this is a this is a fully on flavor can I
00:32:18
Speaker
take the hand, like instead of just hauling off and doing a punch, I want to come up underneath the hand that's holding the hilt of the sword right into his face with his own hilt of his own sword.
Combat and New Skills
00:32:29
Speaker
Okay. I feel like that's a really good opening salvo that would also narratively make the strain thing happen. Yeah. And so with your new cestus, I believe that's six damage total. I think that's right. I haven't even looked on my character two plus brawn.
00:32:48
Speaker
Yeah, so seven damage because your base is six then. So don't I get an automatic advantage with my new early? Oh, OK, great. So one success, one advantage is the actual role because of the superior nature of your justice. So, yeah, this one that's that's patting their sword, you come up and just jack the hilt up and it just clanks into their face plate and kind of scratches the ghoul on their their forehead as it
00:33:17
Speaker
They collapse back onto the ground as the other security kind of start at their comrade just dropping like a like a sack of armor. So, yeah. You've taken them out. It is now. An allied NPC, so it could be Kath in the combat, it could be Sana up top or it could be Sigil doing something. So Kath personally.
00:33:48
Speaker
Yeah, I my thought is. Everything is important, but we have an immediate we're not getting paid to beat these guys up, we're getting paid for the thing that might take time that we do have to beat these guys up, so let's get them done. So I think I think let's use Kath as well. OK. So Kath's brawl is two yellow, one green, and she's going to aim with a blue. Does she get anything from the new fancy thing that you gave her? No weapon.
00:34:18
Speaker
Yes. I don't know that it will be an improvement over whatever she had. I don't know if she was using any brawl weapon before. Nope, just her fist. It has a plus one damage. Okay. And a crit of three. It is also defensive one. Okay.
00:34:40
Speaker
Noted. OK, so this is her pool roll. One success, one advantage. So that is going to be five total damage. She goes after the same group that you did, Hobb, just focus firing. And as one of them kind of starts back as you.
00:35:03
Speaker
bang the hilt into this one war forges face, she kind of circles around behind you. And just as the other one claps down, she jumps over his body as he's falling into a Superman punch into the side of the head of
00:35:17
Speaker
one of the concerned Warforged, and they don't get completely knocked out. They're down on a knee, but she clearly rang their bell with that hit. So, yeah. Nevermind. I had a thought. I'll propose the next player, Ally NPC, maybe. Go ahead. Well, we are on an Ally NPC turn, in fact. If I may, just go ahead and do a little bit more down in my area. What if Sigil...
00:35:45
Speaker
what if Sigil sees an opportunity to get closer to the transport to kind of scope it out and he runs, they run, pardon me, they run under the guise of seeking protection to the third set of warforged that haven't come off the transport yet. And that can just be, now if we can do more to justify a full turn as opposed to them just running and using a maneuver, if they can,
00:36:11
Speaker
say something to and use their charm or deception or whatever it is that they have the best of. Obviously, they're not gonna be able to get inside of it, but get like up against it, like really look at it. You know what I mean? Yeah.
00:36:24
Speaker
So, yeah, Sigil can absolutely attempt this. They don't have any ranks in deception, which I feel like is what this would be. But there's not a pity role, is there? But given the circumstances and the fight going on and kind of the pretense that you all established it being, I will throw a boost die into the check and it's going to be too purple difficulty.
00:36:55
Speaker
But Sigil's flaw is that they are, to a fault, very timid. So throwing them into this situation saying, go lie, they're going to have a setback die because they stammer, they have a hard time dealing with stuff like this. So unless you think it's totally out of their character, I think I would like to say that they thought of this on their own because they're bright. Yeah. Yeah. I wasn't but wasn't one of us saying go lie. But I'm with no. Yeah. It would still be difficult. Yes.
00:37:23
Speaker
Yes. There have been plenty of things that I've known I needed to do that I was still apprehensive to do. Absolutely. I just wanted to make it clear that this was not some hob plan. This was Sigil seeing the situation going, oh, I have an idea. Yeah. Would you all like them to spend a story point or no?
00:37:43
Speaker
I don't feel like the outcome is perilous enough to require flipping a point. It's because it's either they believe him, believe them or they don't believe them, but they still aren't going to turn them away. Yeah. Minced to failure three advantage. So Sigil takes off away from the fighting and Sigil runs up to this group and then realizes that they have to talk in order for anything to happen here. And so Sigil goes.
00:38:10
Speaker
Hi, I was being attacked back there. I don't know if you saw that or not, probably since you sent your comrades over there. But I was wondering if perhaps you had some kind of secure location that I could be put into
00:38:32
Speaker
for protection against the my my pursuance in case your your compatriots are not up for the task of beating them. I assure you they are very strong and capable. And I am one of the warforged subs. You can just you can hang out here. We have a bench over there if you want to sit down and wait for us to deal with it. And so just like, OK, thank you.
00:38:58
Speaker
Well, they have other skills. OK, so. OK, so next up is a regular NPC turn. So let's go ahead and switch things up and cut to we we have one other NPC in play. Rainard, you're walking around the party, you're having a drink with Kipling.
00:39:28
Speaker
And you see Norsen mingling in the party, walking around, looking and Kipling, like as you're like mid drink, like turning away to obscure your face, Kipling like smacks you on like the the chest with the back of his hand. It's like, Rainark, Rainark, Rainark, do you that guy?
00:39:54
Speaker
I've worked in that guy's lab before. Like, it's crazy the type of stuff that he does. Late one night. And you were there, Stan. That's the despair. We should we should go talk to him. I know him. I could introduce you. He's a great person to know. And Norsin is kind of looking your direction. So.
00:40:23
Speaker
basically Kipling is going to try to get Norsen's attention, but it's a busy party and stuff. And so Norsen's gonna make a perception check to spot you all. So he won't instantly like be like, you, but this might be him beginning to notice. So this is a one green, one yellow check.
00:40:48
Speaker
It's normally or it's it's too purple, but it's a busy party. Lots of people talking, trying to get his attention. So there's a setback die. But that's a complete wash. I also lost a contact, so I'm on the floor. So, yeah, you you duck down and Norsen kind of scans.
00:41:15
Speaker
He sees Kipling, but Kipling's a lab hand. He doesn't give a crap, and so he just acts like he doesn't see Kipling as he continues to scan the party, smiling, shaking hands, kissing babies, that kind of stuff.
00:41:29
Speaker
So, yeah, are there a lot of babies at the gallery? OK, we are now to another PC slot. So we have Reynard, Eris or Milo, whoever is whoever would like to act in their respective scene. Something just happened in Reynard scene. So it makes sense to me narratively that Reynard should go.
00:41:52
Speaker
I think unless Trevor really doesn't want to know. I think Reynard just turns to Kipling and just kind of says something like. Do you know why why he's here? Oh, I mean, I guess I'm pretty sure he works with the.
00:42:14
Speaker
the guy who made the fancy thing that we're here to look at for the demonstration. This fancy thing, people have been so vague about actually saying what it is. Do you know what it is? All I've heard is that it's like, you know how a lot of stuff
00:42:35
Speaker
needs an elemental to power it like like they they take an elemental and put it in the dragon shard and then they have a source of energy for a lot of this stuff. Yes, I believe this guy talks endlessly about it. Apparently this guy has figured out a way to like. Use magic on the dragon shards that don't require an elemental anymore, so it's like some source of energy that doesn't require elementals, so.
00:43:05
Speaker
Whatever. More interest would be super interested in this. Maybe Norris is not so bad. So, yeah, that's that's that. So, Raynard, what what would you like to try to do to try and accomplish?
Revelation of Gala's Focus
00:43:24
Speaker
your goal up here, because you need to figure out where Prima Fit is. I didn't give you a spelling for those of you taking notes. Prima Fit is P R I M O F I T. Oh. And the last name, Herbin is H E R B O N. I definitely heard for Bonn. Herbin. Herbin.
00:43:54
Speaker
Otherwise, I was correct. I just heard the first call. The whole name just sounds like something a middle aged lady would sell out of their home. It's a prima fit urban. That's absolutely right. That is prima fit. Definitely sounds like a brand. OK, Raynard, so so you need to figure out where they are. Uh huh. Oh, well, I guess.
00:44:25
Speaker
If you try to make another check on Kipling, you could break away and try to scout around the party a bit. And I think, yeah, I think Raynard just turns to Kipling and tries to charm him into saying, could you point out the host to me now? OK. So that's basically going to be the same check as before, two purple, one black, because Kipling still looking looking forward to partying with you like the good old days. You're not around enough anymore, Raynard. Come on.
00:44:56
Speaker
Uh, and why not? I'm going to use a story point, uh, to upgrade. I'm curious, does, does Trevor's or does a Raynard's old circle not know what happened to him socially? We established in the cold open that like Raynard just changes the subject anytime they ask about it. I was debating. I don't know. I don't think I need to use a story point. I mean, I probably should, but I, I,
00:45:24
Speaker
There's not a huge threat for this discussion right now, so. OK. OK, besides the giant man and the evil scientist, so. Only those two things. OK, here we go.
00:45:38
Speaker
Oh, OK. So that's one failure, one advantage and another triumph. So Kipling is still like he. As you're saying this, one of the the servers walking around walks by and has little small glasses of a dark brown liquid in a circle and Kipling grabs three and hands one to his date and one to use like
00:46:08
Speaker
Come on, I'll show you the host later. We got to make up for lost time. And he kicks back his drink and those goblins know how to make a hard liquor. OK. Well, for the triumph. Can Sona come up behind me and say, hey, I found him?
00:46:39
Speaker
Um. Or yeah, I mean, the next slide is an allied NPC, so we can segue straight into sauna having been doing some some work on the background. And let's say on on her check, you will give her an upgrade to to finalize locating prima fit. With the so and then can I also send that advantage to her to.
00:47:08
Speaker
for an upgrade. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. So, uh, next up is an allied NPC slot. And of course I take the shot one. Yes. Of course. Rainard takes the shot. Um,
00:47:23
Speaker
OK, so Sana is over at the bar trying to charm drunk gala attendants into letting slip information. So normally her charm check is too yellow and green. And she's going to get an upgrade and a boost from Reynard's roll and the difficulty is too purple.
00:47:52
Speaker
But they are drunk, so she'll get another boost die for that fact. OK, so she's going to roll. Oh, holy crap. We win. We win. That's amazing. Sonic gets four success, two triumphs.
00:48:10
Speaker
Son is the best of us, apparently. They're currently writing a song for her. I mean, around the bar. Two triumphs. Boy. Wow. So these are benefiting you all. So if you all have any thoughts, feel free.
00:48:26
Speaker
Uh, our two enemies in the room just die. They just, someone else is here entirely unread and they're poisoned. No, they don't, they don't die, but they do both get like life changing diarrhea and have to go. It's just a spot of disentering. Oregon trail is over. They lost the. Oh my gosh.
00:48:53
Speaker
Oh, now I'm just thinking about what would have to happen in this life changing. I don't want to think about that. I don't want to. I cursed myself. Boy, wasn't there like a belching wine we drank? Can it be just like an explosive? No. OK. My fault. I will accept that. I mean, Norsen could be called away.
00:49:26
Speaker
So I think one of his lab assistants shows up and Norsen is called away into a corner of the room to deal with a problem. I have a question about this two triumphs. Is this a extra triumphy triumph or can we do two separate unrelated things with one with each triumph? Like something happens for Norsen and something happens for Milo and Eris.
00:49:56
Speaker
Yeah, you could split him up or you could make it. I mean, I would say Norse and getting called to the side of the room is one triumph territory like. I mean. Could a prima fit as his name. Yeah. Could he actually just be standing next to sauna at the bar?
00:50:17
Speaker
and get her next drink. Oh, so like the drunk guy, the drunk guy that she was getting information from is like, so do you know who if it is? He's like, well, yes, that's me. Yeah, I love that. That's awesome. Yeah, I love that. OK. Is that what you think? Yeah, I would say for like to be drunk and be right there with her is, yeah, to triumph territory. Sure. So.
00:50:47
Speaker
Raynard, you you're looking around the room after having taken that shot and you glance and I think I see sauna. You see sauna and she's doing like the the Carol Burnett ear type like very like as as.
00:51:06
Speaker
unassuming as possible. And yeah, right here. Well, we will. And you you see a very fancy, a very fancy human with.
00:51:26
Speaker
with dark skin and very close cropped blacked hair, black hair and a mustache, standing at the bar, smiling, kind of half-litted. He's not about to fall over, but you know, he's well beyond buzz at Sana. And you see a, they're dressed very fancily, but they do have,
00:51:49
Speaker
a pack on their belt that seems more, it doesn't seem fancy. It's very much for utility. You have a pretty clear indication that you have your target.
Target Engagement and Mission Progress
00:52:04
Speaker
Okay. Nice. Well, that person seems both primo and fit.
00:52:16
Speaker
Okay. Next PC slot. We have Aeris and Milo. Um, I would like to take that if Phillips. Okay. Go for it. Go for it. Um, but before we go further in, I would, I would like to go ahead and then put a barrier on you if that's okay. Um, sure. If you hear the Justin, I think we need it.
00:52:42
Speaker
Well, just, you know, I, I like to be, I like to be safe. So I think I will put a barrier on you. Okay. So my barrier barrier is it's an easy check, but I want to add defense. So that adds two.
00:53:02
Speaker
OK, so that makes it a three purple difficulty. Would you like to spend a story? I was about to say I would like to since we have what we've got a few, don't we? We have four. Yeah. So yeah, I would like to flip that then. OK. Ready. I am ready. OK, so Milo, you describe what your spell looks like in its in its failure. You had one advantage was the final role.
00:53:34
Speaker
Milo goes to touch Eris to cast Barrier, and he feels the magic leave him, and he feels the barrier start to form, and then he feels it fizzle out.
00:53:56
Speaker
And then when that happens, he just hangs his head. I'm sorry, Eris, I don't understand, but I was unable to put the barrier on you. I just, I'm sorry. That's all right. It's not all right.
00:54:25
Speaker
I'm supposed to help protect my friends and then I'm failing at that. Right. But I mean, it's it's not like it's not like anything's going to attack us down here. You know, it's it's just it's just it's a technical job. We're going to be fiddling with with some magic and changing the ledger. It's all right. It won't it won't be a problem.
00:54:54
Speaker
I certainly hope you're right. All right, I guess. Well, what now? I guess we need to find the location of what we're looking for. Yeah, I need to find the. Projector. I guess it sounds like to me. And the lead and the the shipping manifest.
00:55:24
Speaker
Right. OK, I'll pass up with my advantage. Pass a boost to Eris. OK. Yeah, Eris will be the next one to go. So you can just pass a boost to the next row, which will go to Eris.
00:55:39
Speaker
OK, we have a regular NPC slot, so we're going to jump back to the fight outside real quick. So, Hobb, the the additional group of Warforged, the one that you and Kath have not attacked yet, are going to step up and attempt to quack you. And their check is going to be. Two yellow, one green.
00:56:09
Speaker
And yeah, they they're going to use their maneuver to move up and kind of surround you, hob, as they bring their swords out and attempt to subdue you. This is the one that I hit earlier? No, no, this is a group that you did not hit. Gotcha, gotcha, gotcha. So they are at full full force. Three threat. OK. So yeah, they.
00:56:33
Speaker
They get in such a bad position. They circle around you and Kath. They like rush in because their emotions are high. They thought you were attacking Sigil just as a warforged. So they rush in not really thinking of tactics or or anything like that. And so for three threat, I'm going to say they impose a full upgrade on the difficulty of the check of the other group when their turn comes around to attack you and Kath. OK.
00:57:05
Speaker
PC slot, so cut back to Eris and Milo. All right, so what's around us now that we're inside? So yeah, you're able to pretty easily find your way into the quote unquote control center.
00:57:17
Speaker
You spot there's there's what you can assume is the projector. You see a hole in the ceiling and some magical runes and glyphs circling it. You also see kind of an administrative desk that is there with paperwork and things like that in a window that actually looks down onto the loading area. And so, yeah, one in here.
00:57:46
Speaker
Yeah, so you spot one person at the administrative desk sitting and another person is sitting near the projector. Seems like they're more as a precautionary, like if the thing blows up kind of deal. So yeah, that's who you have in here.
00:58:09
Speaker
I'd like to spend a story point and declare that we were able to find out. In flashback, we were able to find out the. The schedule, the the the employee schedule, OK, and it's these guys's lunch break. OK, very cool.
00:58:38
Speaker
Um, sure. So, uh, so we're, we're there. They're temporary relief. Yeah. You're there. They're relief during the event. Okay. Um, yeah, that's, that's innocuous enough to where I would say just the story point doesn't no additional check needed.
00:58:57
Speaker
So, yeah, you all walk in and they kind of look at you all anticipatorily. You know, that feeling when you think, oh, I think I'm about to get my lunch break, but I don't want to say anything because if I'm not here for that, then that's going to be weird. And Eris will will say. All right. We'll we'll take it from here.
00:59:19
Speaker
Oh, you're you're you're here for the for a break. Yeah. Yeah. Great. OK. We'll be back in an hour or so. All right. You have a good one. Cool. Thanks. And they both hop up and walk out. OK, so shut the door and lock it. Yeah.
00:59:45
Speaker
OK, I says you find the ledger, I'll take care of the machine. Yes, that sounds like a plan. OK, so go ahead and for this turn, give me an artifice check just to kind of. Assess the situation for lack of a better way to put it, it is going to be. A. Hard difficulty.
01:00:13
Speaker
Um, I'm going to spend a story point to upgrade. Okay. And this is, um, I'm not actually messing with the machine here. I'm just, no, you just see the examining things. Okay. Yeah. Cause you need to not only to say disrupt the scrying, but also basically switch it seamlessly to illusion. Right. One advantage. So
01:00:37
Speaker
Yeah, this is kind of unlike anything you've encountered before. There's no there's no dragon shard to manipulate. There's no like typical Kenneth runes on it that you you're accustomed to to messing with. This magic seems. Not not anything that Sharon would call normal. I don't really understand how this thing works.
01:01:12
Speaker
But... Well, we'll see how it goes, right? You'll get there, Eris. You'll figure it out. OK, what would you like to use the advantage for, Eris?
01:01:36
Speaker
could pass a boost, you could do something mildly narrative. The dude who we just relieved left behind his
01:02:07
Speaker
uh, toolkit. Okay. Um, which I will, you know, be able to examine what were the tools intended to use with this machine and try and perhaps work reverse engineer. Yeah. Okay. Okay.
01:02:25
Speaker
Cut back to the Warforge. Outside the two remaining that are attacking Cath and Hob, they're going to go after Cath, but they do have an upgrade from the three threats on their comrade's previous turn. So it's going to be one red, one purple against their one yellow, one green. They're not going to spend a story point to upgrade. Would you like to spend a story point to upgrade the difficulty of their check?
01:02:52
Speaker
I mean, it already has been once, right? Yeah. I think Cath can handle it. Okay. One failure, two advantage. So yeah, they...
01:03:07
Speaker
They are unable to land a hit on Kath. They're the other security guards are in the way. They're all just in a big tussle, unable to really navigate what's going on. And with the two advantage, though, Kath kind of gets caught up in the tussle. And so she's going to have a setback on her next attack role. OK. And the warforged
01:03:33
Speaker
And the Warforged Over by Sigil are just going to continue to stand guard. So they're not going to do anything. Cool. We're back around to the top of the PC order. So we could and anybody could go at this point. Hob smash stuff. Yeah, let's hit. We've we've we've hurt one set of these minions. Let's let's have Hob go for the other set.
01:04:01
Speaker
this time. No, okay, explain to me, it's, I roll, I don't have to claim anything or pay anything for the new Cestus abilities, simply use advantage after the fact to choose to crit or do a move thing. Okay, cool. Then I think I just wanna do a standard Cestus brawl punch party. Here we go.
01:04:32
Speaker
Unless I guess, Eric, you don't want to upgrade or anything, you know. I can't believe I asked that, but it only felt fair. Like, hey, OK, OK. Three success, three advantage. So that's a total of nine damage and you have enough to crit, which would outright take out a member of the minion group, or you could activate your items new ability.
01:05:01
Speaker
Yeah, we're gonna, Hob wants to see what this does. So Hob is going to come with like a palm strike, like just very like Kung Fu movie look because he knows that he feels good about this, like the positioning and everything. And he really just wants to look like he just blew this guy back with a palm strike. So the palm strikes directly into his chest.
01:05:26
Speaker
So so you come in and one of them you just take out with like an elbow or something as you're like coming into position. And the second one, you do the palm strike. Eris, what does this thing look like when it's an action? When it activates the the sequence of glyphs just like runs goes spiraling down the. Down the straps and there's just this pulse of energy as it strikes.
01:05:55
Speaker
that throws the guy back a few feet. I think when that happens, because he didn't know what it was going to look like, I think when that happens, Hobb's thought process is a bit flashy for me. I'm just so proud of her for getting it to work. I'm not going to say anything.
01:06:15
Speaker
Yeah, so, Hobb, go ahead and describe your your action yourself. You not only strike this guy back a full range brand, you actually take out another one in the process. So so what does that look like in terms of Hobbs fighting style? OK. Remind me. How easily are warforged? Made whole again.
01:06:41
Speaker
since they are constructs. I mean, I don't I mean, good. They they have like a muscle that still works for the cannons pretty closely. They have like muscle fiber underneath the metal plating. So it's it's very akin to. Non constructs, I mean, for in mechanical terms, like if you chop their arm off, it's not like
01:07:06
Speaker
C-3PO, screw it back on, and it's all good. Well, no, I didn't assume that. Yeah. OK, then I don't want it to be that bad. Remember those crash test dummy toys where you push the button in the middle of their chest and all their parts pop off? They explode. Yeah. No, I wasn't ever thinking that, but. OK, I think that he comes through. With this palm strike square into the chest of one of these warforged. The spiraling and the blasting happens
01:07:35
Speaker
Uh, can I just say that this warforged had a club? Sure. Okay. What happens is, as he gets blasted back, the full force of the blast, the speed with which he's being blasted backwards, his own weight is focused into the point of this club that just errantly smacks one of the other one right in the head and drops him.
01:07:57
Speaker
Like he's holding onto the club and gets blasted backwards and just wangs one of the dudes just slightly behind into the right of him. That's it. Awesome. OK, so yeah, that's one of them is knocked way back and the other one is real goofed up. So we are now to an allied NPC turn. Do we want to do Kath? I say Kath. Yeah. OK.
01:08:25
Speaker
So Kath has a setback die from the advantage on those Warforged previous turn, and she is going to continue to work on the group that she see Superman punch the one. So, yeah, she's going to I'm not going to spend a story point to make her check more difficult. Would you like to spend one to help her out or no? What's the pool? She has two yellow, one green against two purple and a black.
01:08:54
Speaker
I think that's fair. Yeah. OK. Completely. Well, it wasn't it wasn't I was wrong. OK. Sigil is basically detained at this point unless you want them to attempt to do something. So I think they know what the best course of action is right now is to. Yeah.
01:09:21
Speaker
comply for now. OK, so then the only other allied NPC is Sana. So let's cut back up to the gala and Reynard. She's just going to make a a deception check to try and just get primo set up perfectly for you to.
01:09:46
Speaker
to come up and snatch the thing off his belt. So it's gonna be against his willpower, which is two red, one purple, but he is drunk, so she gets a boost die from that. Her pull is two yellow, one green, so it's basically, she has the boost die, which makes it a little bit more in her favor.
01:10:14
Speaker
Is there is there a way I could get in there where you can roll together? That's a combined check, which wouldn't because we're in like structured combat right now. Okay. It's not really an option. Okay. Just checking because I do have a rank and deception. Yeah. You could.
01:10:40
Speaker
Uh, use a story point to upgrade her check if you want, but otherwise she is ready to roll. I mean, I think it's a pretty important role. So
01:10:50
Speaker
OK, let's go ahead and upgrade it. Oh, man, we are to swing for the fences this session. Unreal. One success, two advantage, a triumph and a despair. Already know what's going to happen. Should have gotten rid of North. So, yeah, he you can't hear what she's saying, Raynard, but as you walk over,
01:11:19
Speaker
you know what game she's playing because you see her hand go up on prima fit shoulder and slowly slide down to his bicep and her hands just resting there as she stands a little bit closer than acquaintances should be standing laughing doing doing all that business and primo is just
01:11:41
Speaker
eating it up and just leaning in such a way to where like his hip with the pack is like cocked out, just like aching to come up and grab with the two advantage. You just took another shot. He's he's.
01:12:00
Speaker
Um, yeah, yeah, let's say the bartender comes back with the round of drinks that Sana ordered, so you'll get an additional boost die on your check to pick his pocket. When the time comes and the triumph. What to do with the triumph? Hmm.
01:12:28
Speaker
Now can Norsen's assistant come over and pull him into a dark over into a corner to discuss something that went wrong at the lab? Yeah, we can have that be you take Norsen out of the. I mean, obviously that's temporarily, I don't want to I'm not trying to like undo something you did with a despair earlier.
01:12:49
Speaker
No, no, no, no, I haven't spent the despair yet, so I mean, I mean, earlier, like North and a period with the despair. I'm not I don't mean like, yeah, take him out of the scene entirely, but for the moment. Hmm. OK.
01:13:02
Speaker
just to keep it kind of in fiction and on brand for a Reynard turn veil scene. Sure, sure. Of course. Kipling has finally cornered, cornered Norsen and is just very enthusiastically talking at him about his latest research project and how excited and yada, yada, yada. But Norsen is fully disposed right now, indisposed. So
01:13:31
Speaker
OK, the despair. Hmm. Hmm. I mean, it's a turn veil scene, so Verla.
01:13:44
Speaker
How mean do I want to be? Now, I'm thinking of this reason, the indicator. I think of using the despair in another. Oh, I see. Area. Oh, sorry. What'd you say? I didn't hear you. I said, thank God. But then I said, sorry. Because here's the thing I like. Sana succeeded on her check, so I don't want the despair to be something that blocks Raynard's ability because that was what her whole check was. Yeah.
01:14:15
Speaker
So I think I know what I have to do. Oh, boy. It's just I don't know if I have the strength to do it. OK. OK. OK. Milo and Aeris. What are the things in Raynard's scenes always seem to get on? Yeah. To be to be fair, it was Hobbes despair last time. Was it Hobbes despair last time? Yeah. OK. Yeah.
01:14:43
Speaker
So you're, Milo, you're looking all over the desk. Eris, you've got this tool bag and you hear voices getting louder towards the door and they're like giggly, laffy voices, like not voices. Yeah. And we don't know these guys. That's fair.
01:15:11
Speaker
They're just gossiping. Two bros sharing some rumors and having a giggle, you know?
01:15:20
Speaker
Yeah, you you hear the male voice as it gets louder. It's a male and a female voice. You hear the male voice say, no, the I can I can kick the two schmucks down here working out of here. We can have some privacy. Don't worry. And the door comes swinging open and you see a very like point of order chiseled. Didn't we lock it? I said shut the door and lock it. I mean, this person would have a key. Yeah.
01:15:52
Speaker
This person, very like chisel jaw, like close cut haircut, very tan Mediterranean olive skin, five o'clock shadow, dark brown. But that's not, you see that person initially and that's not the person that concerns you. The woman with him, the woman with him looks at you two and goes, now don't I know you?
01:16:22
Speaker
She goes, no, don't I know you? I was posing for... She sees us and says, wait, I got to come back in. I wasn't prepared. Don't I know. I guarantee all of you would have paid one hundred thousand dollars to see what I just saw Philip do. End of episode. You know how to whistle, don't you?
01:17:14
Speaker
Thank you all so much for listening.
01:17:23
Speaker
Yeah, it's a weird title. And we have a Patreon, patreon.com slash the geek pantheon. If you want to join our Patreon community, we have lots of fun tiers like the monthly hangout and the one shot and all kinds of other fun stuff. So go find a tier that's right for you and join our community. And yeah, thank you all so much for listening. Once again, I've been your game master, Eric. I'm Phillip. I'm Trevor. I'm Randy. I'm Jeff.
01:17:52
Speaker
and we will see you next time.