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Dusters & Dragons Chapter Three
265 Plays5 years ago
Come join us for the exciting finale of the Dusters & Dragons one-shot!
This episode is brought to you by the generous donations of our amazing Show Sponsors: Laura Pickrahn, Darrin Katzska, Irene Viorritto, Ryan Royce, Darrell DeLaney, Jessica Smith, Charles Compton, Richard Cree, Nastasia Raulerson, The Kamm Family, David Scrams, Elizabeth Clark, Rebekah Miller, deviouspoptart, Eðvarð Arnór Sigurðsson, Michael Clark, and Dustin Troupe.
Theme Music:
Neo Western by Kevin MacLeod
Link: https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/4114-neo-western
License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
Recommended
Transcript
Donations and Announcements
00:00:00
Speaker
The following episode is brought to you by the generous donations of Elizabeth Clark, Darryl Delaney, Ryan Royce, Darren Katska, Irene Villarito, Laura Pickron, Jessica Smith, Deavius Poptart, Natasha Rallerson, Richard Cree, The Cam Family, Charles Compton, Dustin Troop, Rebecca Miller, Edvard Arnoff, Michael Clark, and David Scrams, along with all of our generous patrons.
00:00:35
Speaker
D20 Radio, your game is roll.
00:01:01
Speaker
Hello, everybody, and welcome to the final episode of our Dusters and Dragons one shot. We're really excited to share the final chapter with you as we ramp up towards the launch of Campaign 2. But before we get into that, I just wanted to let you all know that we are still on the fence as to whether or not we're going to be doing a review of the one shot. GM Chris has agreed if there is interest in questions or picking his brain about
00:01:30
Speaker
the setting or the one shot or anything like that. He's totally willing to come back on the show and answer your questions. So in whatever medium you prefer, if you're one of our patrons, you want to do it on the Discord or on the Facebook group, Twitter, Instagram, all the places that we exist. Let us know if you would like a Eberron reviewed for Dusters and Dragons so we can pick GM Chris's brain about this very unique and interesting setting he has created.
Initiative and Mind Control
00:02:00
Speaker
Anyway, thank you all so much for listening. Thank you all so much for all your support, and I hope you enjoy this episode. We are now at the top of the second round of initiative. With three PCs up in the locomotive that has now been derailed with two mind controlled thugs on their backs. OK, so the engine has come off the tracks, but it's not like tipped over or anything. Not yet.
00:02:31
Speaker
So are we wanting to kill these guys? It's still kind of moving forward at a pretty brisk price, too. Just, you know. Did they lose their firearms? Well, one of them didn't have anything drawn. He still has appears to be a wholesome pistol. I'd say the other one lost his firearm. Yeah, it probably clattered to the ground. Yeah. Do we want to kill them or are we trying to save them like old Elijah? Because we know they're. We have some idea that they might be possessed.
00:03:00
Speaker
Mattias has guns drawn. Mattias has guns drawn. He's going to he's going to shoot him. OK, well, then I want to take one of those first spots. OK, what do you want to do? And. Lalia is just going to take that hat pin and stab at the neck of the guy laying next to her who fell down. Wow. Stabby, stabby. I'm going to give you a boost die because he's prone and you're not.
00:03:29
Speaker
So I've got that worked in. And your difficulty is two purple dice. Give me that stabby stabby melee attack with your hat pin.
00:03:37
Speaker
A. Wow. Nice. Oh my gosh. I can take the murder robo out of Corvair, but you can't. Wow. Well, Laelia, yeah, you come down with this hat pin. It's a small dagger, basically. You've dealt five damage with it. Pierce two.
00:03:59
Speaker
And and one threat the threat I'm gonna say you you know in your zeal you've opened yourself up to a
Slug Possession Unveiled
00:04:08
Speaker
a free boost attack of boost I from the next attack against you That may be taken by the other thug But he this guy was already wounded in the shoulder and with the Pierce to that you've got yeah I'm gonna say you bring this down into his eye and
00:04:22
Speaker
Nice. Oh, I miss the neck, but gross. He gurgles and dies. At which point you guys see you hear a shrieking noise and this purple slug crawls out of this guy's mouth. I've got two more PCs up. So Mattias would like to just say because Grum is also on the locomotive with us, right? You guys are all there, yes. OK.
00:04:55
Speaker
You think you can hex that other one the way you did, Elijah? And then I wanna shoot the slug. Okay, we're in combat. You are engaged with the slug. You're looking at two purple dice as your difficulty. However, it will be three purple dice because of the silhouette differential. Oh, cool. I will take a maneuver to aim at the slug.
00:05:23
Speaker
Whose did I set? Cool. And I think that's, yeah. Yeah, it's toast. And you got two advantage, what do you want to do with it? I would like to provide whatever level of assistance I can with that to any attempt Grom makes
00:05:46
Speaker
to de-possess the other one, which I guess if that's just passing a boost, that's fine too. So passing a boost to Grum specifically? Yeah. Got it? All right, I've got one more PC up before the other scale gang thug goes. Well, I guess I'll try to do that same curse with a Nervate.
00:06:10
Speaker
Okay, if I remember correctly, that would be three purple dice. You have a boost as well. You're hunky dory. You're welcome to go for it. Divine check. Whoa.
00:06:24
Speaker
The wow. Well, that's two successes with four advantage. Now, this is going to cost you two strain. Right. Grum. So, yeah, you've succeeded. He is definitely cursed and innervated. So he's going to be removing a green dye from any check he makes. And if he suffers strain for any reason, he will suffer an additional point of strain for being innervated. And you've got four advantage.
00:06:54
Speaker
What do you wish to do with that? Suggestions from the peanut gallery. Can we break the spell like you did with, like you did with Elijah? Yeah, I was going to say, could it expel the purple worm? I think if you wanted for four advantage Grom. Yeah. I would say that this curse, this divine magic could be so traumatic. It would expel the slug. Yeah. I would, I would let you. Okay. That sounds like a winner.
00:07:20
Speaker
All right. So, yeah, similar to what happened with before, before he can even draw his weapon, he starts coughing, hacking and hacks up this humongous purple slug. Man, the amount of the notion of somebody throwing up a slug is viscerally disturbing to me. It's just beyond the pale. Like, it is a human.
00:07:45
Speaker
Oh, I mean, you're a Harry Potter fan. You've seen it on. I can't watch the movie when that scene happens. I have to look away like it. So upsetting. I have a thing for slugs, Chris. I don't know if you know that, but they they really. Well, I do now and I know we're going to have a lot of fun at Gamer Nation Con with props.
00:08:07
Speaker
OK, is it is there still a PC? No, that that was that was Grum. And it's now the NPC's turn. So the the bandit, he's he's confused, he's concerned, but he looks up and sees a law man. All right. As well as several others with weapons drawn, he is going to I'm going to say he is staggered this turn. He's not going to get an action, but he is going to look up in fear and pull his pistol. Meanwhile, Grum,
00:08:37
Speaker
The slug is going to try and attack you. What slug? The one that just got thrown up by the bandit. Oh, I didn't realize I was that close. OK, you're all engaged. Well, actually, you would be at the end. Yeah, it's it's going to it's it's well, it's going to it's going to take a maneuver. It's going to it's going to engage with you and try and hurl itself up towards your face.
00:09:06
Speaker
That's not very kind. Kill it. Let's see. I'm going to spend a story point. On. That is a success. Oh, no, man. Oh, man. Oh, man. So Grum, this this thing rolled three threat, however. So this thing launches itself at your face. All right.
00:09:31
Speaker
It manages to attach itself to your face. You can feel these teeth warming their way through your skin and cheek as it's trying to get into your mouth. How does that make you feel, Eric?
00:09:47
Speaker
Boy, it's just real bad. Guys, Booyaz possessed again. And basically, we're going to run the saying that you're entangled with it. OK, I'm going to need to check
Interrogation and Mine Discovery
00:10:01
Speaker
from you or someone to get this thing off of you fairly quickly. And with the threat that it rolled earlier,
00:10:09
Speaker
I think you've got your hands up you kind of caught it sort of semi midair and so you're pulling well it's kind of trying to worm its way inside of you so that's going to provide a boost eye to anyone to assist you in getting this thing off or you if you manage to make the check. I have two PCs who have yet to act and they are up next. What is the check?
00:10:32
Speaker
Uh, depends on how you guys want to do it. Uh, you could shoot it off, which would be kind of fun. You could grab it and just try and yank it off. Uh, but who hasn't gone yet? I think it's... Yeah, I'm waiting for some, somebody want to have some fun. Just don't shoot from. It's Mickey and, um, Glorfin, I think. Yeah, Mickey and Glorfin are the ones who haven't gone yet. So yeah, you guys witnessed this happening. What's up? And there's a thug who's just pulled a gun.
00:10:57
Speaker
See, I think Mickey's gonna address the thug. Okay. Thanks, Mickey. Thanks a lot. Go for Mickey. Get him to surrender. I mean, sorry. Here's the thing. It would make Mickey look a lot better, Eric, if you planned on addressing the slug to go first. Okay. I could do that. If you planned on it.
00:11:16
Speaker
I got one of us has to. So. So Glorfin is riding pretty high on that amazing shot that he just made. So he's going to train being being the. It operated as intended, thank you. Did it because because he's being eaten by us.
00:11:41
Speaker
And I had a reasonable triumph. So, yeah, Glorfin's going to he's already got his pistol out. I'm going to do another called shot to try to shoot the slug off his face. Whoa. All right. Well, you're going to get you're going to get a boost die that I got recorded. This is going to be three purple difficulty. I will be upgrading it because you're shooting into engagement. Yeah.
00:12:11
Speaker
Um, and you will have, uh, if you spend it, if you spend a maneuver to aim, that's two setback dice. If you pop two strain to aim twice, that will only be one setback die. Um, well, um, I think my, so I could also use my other maneuver instead of aiming twice to move up to remove a purple die. Correct. Move up.
00:12:39
Speaker
Like move, move a range band closer. Well, you're, uh, no, that wouldn't, that would, that would make things harder actually. Oh, okay. Yeah. Cause I'm already short. Okay. Um, so yeah, I'll, I'll take the two strain. I'll aim twice. Um, I'm going to use a story point to upgrade. Um, and that's all I can do. So. All right. So you're looking at one black.
00:13:05
Speaker
Two purple and a red. And, you know, I've got your upgrade and your boost I noted. All right. Say a prayer preacher man. Wow. Nothing but positive. That is that is to success with an advantage and a triumph. Yeah, you're able to shoot the slug. What do you want to do with your triumph?
00:13:35
Speaker
We really shouldn't be reinforcing this kind of behavior on my part, but you know. You don't need reinforcements to continue behaving this way. For the advantage, can I...
00:13:51
Speaker
the thug witnesses this incredible shot by Glorfin, member of the Spurbottom gang. And so he's shaking. Basically, I wanna pass a boost to the next person, Jeff, but he's shaken and so he's less likely to get out of the way of Jeff's shot. With the advantage. The triumph? Well, I mean,
00:14:20
Speaker
Could upgrade Jeff. Or could I get him to throw down his gun? Could he be so freaked out by that shot to be like, OK, I do not want to. These people will kill me. Yeah, that's
Mine Investigation and Strange Findings
00:14:30
Speaker
totally for a triumph. Absolutely. OK. So then the advantage, one advantage to recover a strain. Oh, that's correct. OK, then I'll just recover a strain with my advantage.
00:14:44
Speaker
All right, so at this point, I'm taking us out of initiative because the scale gang boy, he sees this and he just looks at you all and just drops the pistol. He just drops it, Jeff, and he puts his hands up on top of his head, almost like he's danced this dance before. And I'm taking us out of initiative at that point.
00:15:08
Speaker
Um, so what now? You have a dead thug, two dead slugs and a live bandit on a derail locomotive. Grump pulls the rest of the slug out of his mouth and tosses it away, then gets his little flask and takes a shot of whiskey. Matias turns to Lelya. You all right?
00:15:38
Speaker
Well, I've been better. Has the trade come to a stop at this point? Oh, oh, the it's still slowly moving. The other cards are still slowly moving. But yeah, it's slowing down quite a bit. The the hit when they collided added a ton of breakage. Yeah.
00:15:58
Speaker
Can I... Okay, so I'm on the cart now that has crashed into the locomotive. Well, no, you guys... Oh, yeah, you still were. Yeah, that's right. So you're still on the train. Yeah. But... Yeah, I was back there as well. But so can I just... I wanna rush up, grab the guy that has his hands up and pull him down off the locomotive to my cart. Just give him one good last shock to the system before I start interrogating him. Sure.
00:16:27
Speaker
So do I need to roll for that, or are you just gonna let me at it? No, no, no, we're out of initiative at this point. Narratively, what are you guys doing? Okay, I yank him down, and I point my gun at him that's already drawn, and I just say, I need you to tell me everything you remember from... Let's just start two days before you know things started to change for you, because based on what Elijah said,
00:16:55
Speaker
They have memories up until the slug, and then it's all what she wants, right? That's what Mickey gleaned from it, at least. So that's how she's asking this question. Yeah. Because my assumption is, if it's traveling through the scale gang, he had to have noticed changes before he got it himself. That's what I'm thinking. So that's the way I asked it that way. Sure. So are you doing this interrogation style, basically? Are you ordering it? Or how are you doing? I mean, what's Mickey's attitude with this?
00:17:26
Speaker
Well, she wants to come off as dangerous. She's holding the gun, pointing it at him. But I don't think she's threatening to kill as much as trying to convey the seriousness of it and does genuinely want answers. This is not a weird scare tactic thing.
00:17:42
Speaker
OK, that's fine. It still seems it's it's not in a negative way, but it is definitely coercion. OK, I think so. I think that's fair. So this is going to be an opposed coercion check. Let me set the difficulty. It's going to be two purple dice. And. Not for it to be difficult, but just because of the fact that his memories, I think, are going to be a bit scrambled. I'm also going to spend a story point to upgrade that difficulty.
00:18:08
Speaker
Okay, so coercion, let me find there she is. Coercion, go for it.
00:18:15
Speaker
Nice. You were successful with one threat, which I'm going to use to restrict some of the information that you guys get. Sure. So he he's exhausted, and he's willing to answer your general questions. And while before I forget, guys, since we're since you guys are all at this point, the trains come to a stop, you know, you guys have climbed off, you're catching your breath.
00:18:43
Speaker
Let's roll for strain recovery. Either cool or discipline, your choice. I still haven't taken any strain. I only went once last. Yeah, I've only gone once in combat, so an initiative, I mean. So Glarfin recovers two, Grum recovers three, Matthias recovers two, and you guys rolling really well. Wait, where do I do that? We can't use our advantage for anything on that roll, right? No, you cannot.
00:19:13
Speaker
OK, it's in your skills. It's in your skills, Trevor. Uh huh. Either either cool or discipline. Just pick. Oh, OK. Sorry. Sorry. Yes. Got it. Two strain recovered for Lelia. Nice. All right. So you guys are huddling around. And Jeff, what what this this character is able to relay to Mickey
00:19:43
Speaker
He doesn't, it's a lot of probing questions going back and forth. I can give you a summary or you can just ask me some general questions. How do you wanna proceed narratively? Well, I mean, I think, yeah, let me just ask just a couple of questions. So what's the last thing you remember?
00:20:09
Speaker
The last thing he remembers what he was able to relate to you guys is they were sitting around a campfire eating beans and planning the heist of the next iron coach that was going to come into town.
00:20:24
Speaker
Oh, so they were going to do this anyway. Well, no, this was and that's the thing. It's like the way he tells it. I mean, he describes that coach. You guys know what was on that coach. There was some payroll coming in. That was over two months ago. Oh.
00:20:45
Speaker
Oh, wow. OK, OK. And he says that Waitley, who is who is one of the halfling boys that joined up with the crew just a few weeks before, came by the campfire, was actually really weird. People were talking to him and he wasn't really saying anything. And he felt a weird kind of bite or stab a prick on his neck. And that was the last thing he remembers.
00:21:14
Speaker
after that he remembers some things but it's all it's all very mushy and muddly okay um he almost treats it like it wasn't it wasn't his memories you know what I mean he's like there's other things but it's just it's very it's very confusing
00:21:37
Speaker
Have you been feeling lately the desire to do things for her? He's like, oh yeah, she needs people. She needs Bluestone. That was what I was wondering. What was on the train? She needs people. She needs Bluestone and she needs, well,
00:22:07
Speaker
She needs, she needs, she needs, it's hard to explain. She needed, she needed owlbears at first. We, we, we, we wrestled a ton for her, but then the, then the owlbears weren't, they weren't right somehow. We needed different more.
00:22:37
Speaker
Anybody else can jump in on this, by the way. What's the bluestone for? He has no idea. She she she she she says she needs she and she needed it. You know what she did with the owlbears? They they they went they went they went into the mine. Where is the mine?
00:23:07
Speaker
He struggles and he's able to point you in a general direction. And those of you townies that are local townies, you guys would know there's one of the first bluestone mines that ever got mined in this area that kind of started the whole Pixie Gulch settlement in the first place ran dry about 25 years ago. But it's not too far. It's maybe half a mile off the tracks.
00:23:34
Speaker
It's not a mine anymore, but it is still a big hole. Do I recognize this particular gang member from any previous nefarious activity? I'm sure. Okay. In that case, I think... I don't know what she'd do. Never mind.
00:24:01
Speaker
Because if she recognizes him, she's going to want to take him in. But there are so many more pressing things right now. So tie him up and leave him here. Someone will be along. Yeah, they're going to have to find that train. That elf guy is going to be coming to look for his train. I now have a recurring NPC. You know, he just comes up. He just comes up my carriage.
00:24:31
Speaker
You're welcome. Mattias just points. It's just follow the tracks. That's how trains work courtesy of the spur bottom gang. Tell your friends you can thank the spur bottom boy. Gang boy. Yeah, but he keeps saying he keeps saying that she needed she needed bluestone and and more more. Not owlbears. They just they weren't right. They weren't they weren't strong enough.
00:25:00
Speaker
Well, what does she look like? Oh, man. I need I need you to get welcome. I need you to give me a charm check. All right. Oh, OK. Difficult. Your difficulty on this is going to be two purple dice with three setback dice. I get rid of two of those setback dice, don't I? Yes. Yes, you do. And I've already got that worked into your character sheets, so it'll ignore them when you roll it.
00:25:30
Speaker
I'm also going to spend a story point on this to upgrade your difficulty. And charm is a social skill. OK. Here we go. Oh, nope. Oh, that's so bad. That looks bad. That is a failure with a despair. At that point, you ask the question. He looks at you and tears begin to run down his face. He starts foaming at the mouth and goes into a completely catatonic fit. Why am I always the worst?
00:26:01
Speaker
I've been asking that question for 15 years. Did you derail a train? Yeah, at this point, his eyes sort of roll back into his head. He's sobbing, drooling, and just rocking on the floor in a catatonic state. You guys cannot get him out of it. I'm going to take it that he had a thing for her, whoever she is. Well, I guess Mickey starts hog-tying him to leave him in the shade for the next person to come along.
00:26:31
Speaker
She does. She has no compassion for this. Anybody in this game. Yeah. At this point, the sun is setting as well. Oh, good. Your horses are nowhere to be seen. I was about to ask, you know, after you guys left at the speed the train was going, you know, they may be maybe half a kilometer or kilometer down the track, assuming they stayed where they were instead of wandering off or going back to town.
00:26:54
Speaker
And it's not still buried horribly, horribly injured. Yeah. And one of them is one of them is likely horror, horribly injured or dead. Well, I played Red Dead Redemption, so I know that all I have to do is whistle and look around for a minute. And it'll be on a roof somewhere. I did specifically say this was my horse. Hell, hell, I guess we got to start walking back.
00:27:21
Speaker
back or I mean to the man I mean yeah we yeah we could just we could just go to the man um yeah we don't need to go back I guess I'd like a horse but we don't need a how far is the mine that might be um I think we said a half mile okay yeah it's about half a kilometer yeah it's not far okay half a kilometer that's
00:27:47
Speaker
Um, 500 meters for those that need the conversion. Got it up here. You're welcome. That's not far at all. That's holding one lap around the track and a little bit extra Mickey's. Also heading towards the line. Uh, Grom has said a prayer for the dead person and is also following the group.
00:28:15
Speaker
Well I reset my hat pin and I take out my parasol and I'm walking too. It's sunny y'all. It's just cold covered. I'm just imagining her gorgeous, her nice outfit just covered in coal. Yes, utterly covered, but non-plus she is. Glorfin takes, if they have coin purses, he pockets the coin purses from the dead and the living criminal. Fair enough.
00:28:46
Speaker
And Grom walks up to, how do you say it, Lily, Lily, I love, I love, I love, I love, I love, I love, I love, I love, I love, I love,
00:29:03
Speaker
to clean it. Awesome. Awesome use. Awesome use of utility spell. I'm not even going to make your role for it. That's that's that's beautiful. Yes. Calling upon. Well, thank you kindly, sir. Yes. Thank you, pastor. You are cleaned, Lalia. You are cleaned and once again, still fascinated by this strange creature. All right. I still take the strain. No, you don't need to worry about it.
00:29:32
Speaker
out of encounter. Don't worry about it. Alright, so you guys continue to walk now the sun has set at this point, it's a rather beautiful sunset, but you guys are walking out into the rocky desert of the frontier heading towards the mine. As the moons begin their rise in the sky, one than another. The stars are coming out and it looks like it's going to be a very beautiful night.
00:29:55
Speaker
But as you get within maybe a hundred meters or so of the location of the mine, you can hear
00:30:05
Speaker
Even above ground, you can hear what sounds like mining work or construction happening coming from the mouth of the mine. Additionally, as you spy the mine entrance, as you crest a nearby hill, it's down into sort of a very small culvert style canyon. You can also see what appears to be torchlight or some other type of gaslight coming from the mine entrance as well. That seems unusual. Does it?
00:30:35
Speaker
Seem unusual? I mean, I would assume in the last 25 years, I've probably been, I have to have been past this mind at some point, looking for a hideout or somebody trying to run. Is there normally just some old system that's still working, keeping lights running, fire on, something? That would be, no, it would be incredibly unusual. Okay, great, good to know, just wanna make sure. I assumed. Yeah, that's curious. Most curious.
00:31:08
Speaker
Yes, you guys are maybe, you know, 100, 100 meters away from the mine entrance. Do we see anyone moving around near the mine entrance or is all the activity inside? Perception checks, please. Your difficulty will be two purple dice and one setback for the darkness. Set. Yep. That's good. Oh, my gosh. I did not do well at all.
00:31:35
Speaker
Some advantage. Yeah, I think I did go poorly. Yeah, in the darkness lately and Mattias, you guys really can't see anything grum grum and glorfin. Mickey, you're also out of it. You guys did some advantage. Grum and glorfin, you guys are able to kind of peer through the darkness there.
00:31:56
Speaker
There is what appears to be a single individual, looks to be human, who's sort of standing outside the mine entrance, has a rifle, but it's not, he's sort of hanging loosely at his side, and he's sort of staring off into space, if that makes sense. And as of this moment has not noticed you.
00:32:23
Speaker
One by the mouth hasn't noticed us yet. Anybody good enough? It's sneaking up on him,
Portal and Fey Creature Encounter
00:32:31
Speaker
maybe. I got you. I could probably make that shot from here based on the way I've been going so far today, then the mind will explode. For me, it's refreshing to play a game with Eric where he doesn't roll like crap, so that's really awesome. I am. I'm a bit stealthy, so I'm willing to try and sneak up on this fella.
00:32:54
Speaker
Uh, I orphan starts to raise his gun and I just kind of put my hand out and want me to hang hang on to this. Take him. I mean, he's. It's probably. Infected like the others. That what we call it. Infested, maybe. Is defiled sounds good word that sounds dramatic like that. I was just going to say all goofy.
00:33:25
Speaker
It's just all goofy. I mean, I think I can get up on him, but what do you want me to do? I think we should just call it being sluggish. That's what it's going to have to be, I think. That's going to make it into the end of the song, actually. The sluggish. Hey, if you get up to him and you can get a clock in one, I'm not going to tell you not to. Well, you heard it here from the law.
00:33:59
Speaker
All right. Well, I'll give it a go. All right. So here's how we're going to play this out. This is going to be an opposed check, which means it's two purple dice. I am going to give you a boost die from the darkness. You have adequate conditions to sneak. So go ahead and give me a stealth check to see if you can maneuver up behind this fellow without him noticing you. All right. And I've just got two purple dice against me. Yes, you do. I got it set.
00:34:29
Speaker
Oh my gosh. All right. That is a failure with an advantage. Talk to me, Phillip. How do we want to play this out? So ultimately, you're going to be sneaking down this culvert to try and get in behind him. He's going to notice you. Right. Is it going to happen early? Is it going to happen right when you get up on him? How's it going to how's it going to happen? OK, I think it's going to happen when I'm a bit closer to him.
00:34:58
Speaker
Um, I have a thought that I need, if I can know, as I get closer, is it apparent that there's anyone else right around here? No, you don't, you don't see, you just see one century. That's it. I just have one advantage. So it's not really anything particularly spectacular. I can pull off with it. Um, honestly, I'm letting you spend your advantage to help me narrate this, how this goes. Yeah. Can I, okay. He's, he sees me.
00:35:29
Speaker
Um. Can I notice that he's seen me and. I kind of. Kind of dive behind a rock and what I'm kind of hoping is like he'll catch just sort of the tail end of me as I as I dive for cover.
00:35:53
Speaker
and maybe wander out to investigate instead of immediately sounding an alarm. Okay, I like this. Let's handle this narratively with the dice as best we can. What we're going to do is we'll spend your advantage to make that happen, and we're going to handle what happens next with another opposed check since you're the one down there. With what you've described, I'm thinking deception makes a tremendous amount of sense. I thoroughly approve of that decision on your part.
00:36:25
Speaker
So what we're going to do is we're going to do an opposed deception check. I am going to spend a story point to upgrade the difficulty here. So go ahead. That's one purple, one red you're looking at. Go ahead and give me a deception check. I'm going to just, for all the fun of it, spend a story point right back at you and roll three yellow dice. Got it. Got your upper coded. And deception. Here we go. Boom.
00:36:55
Speaker
I'm glad I upgraded. That is one uncancelled success. So yeah, man, you're able to he comes around the rock rock to look at you. Is your goal here just to shoot him? Is that what you're going for? I and I want to try and
00:37:16
Speaker
I keep in my in my player mind, I keep forgetting the fact that there's there's nothing I can get out of this guy. He's a zombie. And so like capturing him is not useful here. So. Yeah, I mean, I sort of dive behind and and draw draw. And as he comes around the rock and sees me just from the hip, just bang. Bang. All right. So you take out completely. All right.
00:37:46
Speaker
At that point, there doesn't appear to be anyone else around the entrance of the mine. The rest of your fellows can make it down. Climb back up and wave all clear.
00:37:55
Speaker
And you guys see him sort of go down there. You've spotted this entry. You see him move towards a nearby rock. You hear a muffled gunshot and the blast of a gunshot. And that freaks you out. And then about a minute later, you see Matias crawl back up and motion you safely to come down the culvert. He did it. Is there a slug?
00:38:23
Speaker
I would dispatch the slug as well, if that's possible. I, okay. I assumed you would. I figured since you've seen it happen at this point, you sort of, you're sort of making a shot, you know, in the neck basically. Yeah. Yeah. We definitely have a squash first, ask questions later policy with these slugs. As far as we know, we don't have the option to ask questions to the slides. So we could talk to a slug. That'd probably be real helpful.
00:38:47
Speaker
So you guys are now clustered around the entrance to the mine. There's definitely light from inside. And you hear, again, even more deeper the sound of pickaxes and other machinery operating as well, deep from within the mine. Well, I mean, scan for
00:39:10
Speaker
maybe signs of people that were just there. I mean, footprint sounds silly, but that kind of would be what it is, right? Yeah, lots of footprints, fresh, all going in and out of the mine. Okay. Well, there's a lot of them, so... So you guys are at the entrance to the mine. There are signs of footprints and footsteps going in and out, in and out, easily discernible, and there's light coming from inside. What now?
00:39:37
Speaker
We're going to move carefully into the mine unless someone says something else we should do. Yeah, I think Mickey tries to step out in front to be at the head of it, kind of close to the wall, back to the wall, but not like pressed up against it, but just kind of one of those cover things. Starts moving down. Whoever wants to come with her comes with her. The TS is moving in the coolest way possible.
00:40:06
Speaker
Like he's sort of a moon. He's a moon. A little bit, a little bit crouched. He's floating out. Hat sort of tilted like. So this is my next question. Do you guys have a chance? Definitely has both both pistols drawn. Oh, yeah. All right. Laelia, do you have a weapon out? Yes. Parasol put away a little gun out. But you got your Derringer out. OK, so the Derringer, the Derringer is out.
00:40:35
Speaker
So as you guys, I'm assuming that's a little gun. It's yeah, it's the Derringer pistols, the tiny little one that fits to that little the teeny weenie gun. It's got a gun for your plate for a lady. Yeah, it's a gun for your clutch. It's got it's it's also got a two shot capacity before you have to reload it. So as you guys move further into the mine, the noise has become stronger, but so does the smell. It's very faint at first. But as you get deeper down,
00:41:03
Speaker
you start to recognize a familiar smell. It's the smell of that goopy slime that was coughed up with the slugs. But it starts to mingle with almost a rotting flesh smell. Oh, and so it's just real great. Well, you know, you start you start to see where that's coming from, because moving deeper into the mind is when you first start to come across the owl bears.
00:41:27
Speaker
Ah, yep. There are probably 30 or 40 carcasses that are stacked up near the mine entrance and just kind of left there to rot. Glorphin at this point, explicably, has his bandana cut over his nose and mouth. While he's checking them for their coin purses. And I also pull my bandana up.
00:41:57
Speaker
And I have a little hanky pulled out. And the owlbears all appear to have died in the same way from some rather unusual wounds, and I would take a average medicine check that I have set for anyone to analyze the corpses of the owlbears. I nominate anyone else. I'll go last. Grum. Grum will investigate this. Guys.
00:42:25
Speaker
Well, that is to success with a triumph. So Grum, you're taking a look and your upper lip kind of curls back. All of the owlbears, I mean, they haven't been harvested for meat, they haven't been skinned, they haven't been plucked. All of them have a hole about six inches on the top of their cranium, where it appears that their brain matter has been completely removed.
00:42:54
Speaker
Could he assume this is by just infer that they had slugs and the slugs chewed their brains out and came out? With the triumph you rolled? No. The exact opposite happened. Something literally took a chunk from the outside of the hourbell skulls and then scooped out the brain matter. What could you do with that?
00:43:22
Speaker
There any, any use for that? Why? I mean, my, my grandpa used to mix them in with eggs and make a decent breakfast, but certainly not pleasant. Then you got to be careful about Matt Albare disease and I don't know. She doesn't talk like that. Yeah, but it's, it's pretty disconcerting.
00:43:50
Speaker
Yeah, as you start to move further in, you start to come across some non animal carcasses. There's about three of them. There's a human, a gnome and a dwarf. They all are based on how they're dressed appear to be prospectors at some point. You know, some of the random frontiers people that may have been out here and all of them and they're they're fairly fresh and recent. The decay hasn't even started yet. But all of them have that same cranial excise wound
00:44:19
Speaker
And their gray matter has been completely removed. Now that we did not mix with eggs. All right. So I guess, I mean, clearly they're harvesting brains and, uh, that's why the Alberts weren't good enough. And they went onto these poor souls here. Um, are they trying to harvest prospector brains? Cause he was trying to steal the prospector from the saloon earlier.
00:44:48
Speaker
I mean, these three here clearly look like prospectors. It is odd that they would come into some place like the, clearly there's some method to this and it's not just opportunistic. He could have taken. Well, it took him 40 albares to figure out that wasn't the ticket. So maybe the first thing that came across was a prospector and it worked or it worked better. So they think must be prospectors. Maybe for food.
00:45:18
Speaker
Is there any kind of check we can make to try and like connect the dots of what the prospector in the salute like why.
00:45:26
Speaker
Old Earl? Is that what you like? Elijah. Old Elijah would have come to get that specific guy out of the saloon. Are there any like, for example, to play off what Eric's suggesting here, are there any known effects of bluestone mining, like breathing in the dust and everything like that for a while? Does that do something to you that's known?
00:45:49
Speaker
I would need a knowledge new world check in order to figure that out. I asked Laelia. A knowledge check?
00:46:00
Speaker
Here I go. That was not good. It's good and also not good. It's good and also not good. That's three success with three threat. Here's what I know. We don't want to know about it. Yeah, so Lilia, looking at these horrific wounds and the fact that there seems to be prospectors they were going after,
00:46:28
Speaker
Long-term exposure to bluestone mining hasn't been known to have any weird kind of side effects, but you do know that prospectors
00:46:39
Speaker
who are out in the frontier a lot tend to encounter things of a fae nature that your common folk just don't. And after so many years of being alone and exposed to some of the more stranger energies out there in the frontier, they can get a little off sometimes. And God, there is,
00:47:05
Speaker
God, there is a major connection to make and you're positive. You're absolutely positive based on that three threat that there has to be some type of cabal of miners and prospectors that are intent on taking over the old world. It's the only reasonable explanation. Oh, I love that so much.
00:47:37
Speaker
Well, this is going to sound crazy. Based on what I know.
00:47:46
Speaker
There's a, what's the word? A cabal, if you will, of miners and prospectors that want to take over the old world, new world? What was that voice in my hand? Yeah, take over the old world. Yeah, want to cross the great divide, go back to the old world and enslave everyone with mind control. It's the only thing that makes sense.
00:48:10
Speaker
And based on the success, clearly it has to be something to do with mind control, while this brain matter has to be used to power some type of machine or fae creature that allows for development of these slugs or control of mind. That's obvious based on your success. That's obvious. Well, and obviously they... It's going to make a great dime store novel.
00:48:39
Speaker
They they're trying to do that through mind control. Because the slits. That makes perfect losing people. Um. That sounds about right. And.
00:48:59
Speaker
It sounds crazy, but we in a cave with aloe bear carcasses with brains scooped out and now three prospectors with brains scooped out. So and people have been throwing up slugs all day. Yeah. Yeah. And one tried to eat the preacher's face and Mickey says, but I saved him. Mickey says, I'm I'm willing to mark it down as a theory.
00:49:29
Speaker
Perhaps we should keep looking around. Well, I think we got to find that cabal.
00:49:36
Speaker
Alright, so you guys move deeper into the main mine shaft, which is where the focus of the activity is, you can hear people working, you can hear the noise of machinery, you can hear the sound of pickaxes. At this point, I'm going to call for a stealth check from everyone. Now, you guys are in a mine, you're a ways away, I'm going to add two boost die to the stealth check for that.
00:50:01
Speaker
It's going to be an opposed difficulty that I have set right now. It's going to be two purple, one red. All right. And we have two boosts. You have two boosts that I've already worked in. But if everyone could please give me a stealth check, I would appreciate it. Oh, fun. OK. All right, Mickey.
00:50:23
Speaker
All right, so we have a check from Laelia. Wait, no, yeah, Laelia stealth. It was a failure with three advantage. Mickey was a success with four advantage. Matias six killer was two success with five advantage. He is the wind. All right, so Mickey and Matias, we're going to come back to all that advantage. It's going to matter. OK, don't let me forget it, OK?
00:50:49
Speaker
Glorphin, we had a failure with one advantage and Grum, we had a failure with a despair. And an advantage. So as you guys creep into the main mine shaft, let me describe for you what you see. As you you come out into the main mine shaft, there's a huge hollowed out area with several different spurs of different different shafts going off of it at one point where different mining operations occurred.
00:51:15
Speaker
but there's a central chamber in the mine. Does that make sense with me so far? The chamber itself is probably long range from end to end. Huge dome-like, carved out, slowly mined out chamber. And you guys are right up on the end of it. Now at the far side of this chamber is what looks like an archway.
00:51:42
Speaker
that is not natural. It appears to have been constructed out of mined and quarried bluestone rock and ore that have been turned into these huge blocks that have been formed into a large archway, probably about 12-15 feet tall. The bluestone rocks that make up this archway have been etched with various arcane or
00:52:04
Speaker
or some type of strange spell craft sigilry, and they are glowing. The archway is not complete. They are still adding additional, chiseling additional symbols into it, and in some cases, adding additional stones. The capstone, for example, is not yet complete. Does the archway lead into like a passage, or is it just an archway? It is an archway. Freestanding, okay. It is a freestanding archway in the room. As if one might open a portal.
00:52:32
Speaker
as if as if and surrounding the area are at least well honestly there's there's nine thugs that are all members of the scale gang you guys can recognize them they're they're dressed as such
00:52:50
Speaker
Some of them are carving stone. Some of them are using some mining equipment, some steam powered mining equipment to sort of smelt blue stone with several other metals that they're pouring into a crucible. And standing in front of the archway in the center of it all is a creature. It is definitely some type of fey frontier creature. From behind, you can see it's wearing sort of a black cloak.
00:53:17
Speaker
with purple skin, a huge bulbous head, and from behind you can see what appear to be four ragged tentacles that are eking their way out. And at this point, as you guys encroach, Grum gasps audibly at the unholy sight, kicks a rock, and it goes tumbling down into the main chamber, and everyone turns to look at you.
00:53:47
Speaker
I forgot about the despair, so I was like, why is all this happening? Whoops. The five of you are huddled together in the entrance shaft that leads into this main chamber. You are at medium range from this thing, as well as just about every other grouping of thugs in here.
00:54:08
Speaker
They all turn to you. Wow. The creature that now turns to you with its bulbous head with tentacles raises a bony clawed finger points and just shrieks at you. And I need initiative from everybody. But before we do that, Matthias and Mickey, you guys both had some serious advantage on your checks.
00:54:34
Speaker
I have a question that may be relevant to this. Yes. One being part fey blooded. To what degree do I recognize other fey blooded creatures? Like to what degree am I aware of the is it just like a super random thing or is it just very strange creatures just appear or are there like set species of fey blooded creatures?
00:54:58
Speaker
there's common things that you would know that you would not need to make a check for. This is incredibly uncommon. Right. So you would not know what this is. There's a lot of weird crap out there. My second question. But I think question. Yeah, good. Was it and Cambian specifically are are are the half elves of this world when you went down to it. So okay, so there you were raised in human society. Okay.
00:55:23
Speaker
Second question of significantly less importance. You said they're all dressed like members of the scale gang. What is the distinct clothing item of the scale gang that tells us all their members of the scale gang? A bright pink bandana. Excellent. Thank you. They'll have top hats in my makeup. OK. I have a whole lot of jazz hands everywhere. It's like the end of Blazing Saddles.
00:55:52
Speaker
I don't know. It's not so bad now. OK, so I have like five advantage. You have five advantage. Mickey has four advantage. What do you guys what do you guys want to do with it? You're about to roll vigilance. You'll scatter and we all take off. Jeez. Wow. I have a thought.
00:56:20
Speaker
or one of you, maybe. I would like mine in the direction of it. I mean, when I get this many advantage, I never know like what what the measure is. So I want to give you the the direction I would like it to go. Matias is a gunslinger. He's a quick draw. I would like it to go in any way possible towards me getting the awesome like, well, and it.
00:56:50
Speaker
Here we go. Just draw and shoot. I mean, he's already got his guns drawn, but guns up and go. So I don't know if that's a maneuver before initiative to aim or what I can get out of that. I'll tell you what. We if you want to take if you want to take all five, you're going to die. I will give you two or five of your advantage. I will give you two boost die to the first attack you make. So. Yeah, that work.
00:57:18
Speaker
OK, Mickey, what do you want to do with your four advantage? God, I'm really thinking. My joke was going to be I got four advantage saying they don't see me with like I've not been there when they all turn around, but that feels like too much. At this point, they they haven't seen anyone but Grum, Glorphin and Laelia.
Collapse and Escape
00:57:41
Speaker
You know, Matthias, Matthias and Mickey, you guys can still duck for cover reasonably and potentially not be seen if you guys, you know, wanted to spend your time doing that and your advantage doing that. Matthias does not because there might be photographers around. Of course. Okay. I think I do. I don't necessarily want to.
00:58:02
Speaker
The goal in this is not to remain unseen, it's just simply to provide cover for myself. So with forward advantage, I'd like to be able to duck behind a rock that I can pop out of and get my shots off when it's done. We'll get you a free maneuver that will move you into cover immediately. Perfect. That cover will grant you one range defense. Cool. Awesome. All right. Now, I need vigilance from everybody. Please let me reset the difficulty.
00:58:30
Speaker
And yeah, go ahead and give me your vigilance. This is for initiative, right? Correct, for initiative. Yep, it's been clicked. OK, let me click mine. Yep. Let me click mine, mine, mine. Oh, there we are. Hey, Mickey. Mickey, you're so fine. It really did take us a very long time to get around to that.
00:58:58
Speaker
three hours to finally get around to that. OK, guys. We have initiative defined. We have one PC up followed by an NPC, then three PCs, then an NPC, then the last PC. I have a bonus with a talent for getting to act early. So which I have been ignoring. So so everyone's OK with that. I'd like to just I'd like to go go now because I get a bonus on my on the attack if I do.
00:59:28
Speaker
Some of you also have a rapid reaction and no one's been using it yet. If you want to use rapid reaction, now's the time. Yeah, I have it, but it wouldn't make any difference for where my PC slot ends up this time around. So there's no reason for me to use it. Sadly, you know what? I actually I actually will because I only got two successes and that would bump us a second slot up above the first NPC. All right. So actually I will use rapid reaction, so I will suffer one strain.
00:59:58
Speaker
All right, so Matthias is going to suffer one strain, and that's going to put him to two and one. Actually, to three and three and oh, excuse me, three and oh, yeah, that will put an extra PC slot ups. Yes, please suffer that strain. OK, I have done so. And Mickey had a triumph on her role. That's true. Mickey did. So Mickey, you actually get a free maneuver. So I already got the one free maneuver right to cover, but you've got another. You could aim. I know you could aim. You can always aim.
01:00:28
Speaker
Yeah, and I wanna, yeah, I'm gonna aim. Nevermind, yeah, yeah. I don't know who did what there. Some creepy sound effects. Somebody's in a haunted house right now. Yeah, Lertz just came in. Yeah, that's what I'll do. I will use my free maneuver to aim when it is time for my turn. Well, you can aim now. So yeah, so you've got that boost I stacked up for an attack roll then. Great. All right, so I've got two PCs up.
01:00:58
Speaker
Don't object, so I would like to go. Okay, so I will get a, I have two boost dice already. I will get a third one for my quick strike. And I will use my maneuver on this turn to decrease the difficulty of a combined combat check. And I want to shoot the octopus head. But first, because I haven't gotten to do this very often, I want to honor,
01:01:28
Speaker
character sheet I was given. And as this thing turns and looks at us, Matthias just goes. And it is just a whole host of ugly in here. Then I will shoot. Very nice. Okay, I've got three boosts coming your way. You're at medium range if you're going after the creature, which is normally two purple dice. Are you dual? Yes, but you're reducing the time planning to shoot.
01:01:58
Speaker
It does have adversary levels, so you are looking at two red. Two red, okay. Then I will additionally spend a story point and roll three yellow. All right, I've got your upgrade noted. All right, I think that is literally everything I could possibly do to use a maneuver to aim. Could I use a maneuver to aim? Could I take strain and use a maneuver to aim? You can take strain and use a maneuver to aim, yes you can. Done, four blue dice. All right.
01:02:28
Speaker
All right, I have marked the string. All right, here we go. That's so many blank dice. That's wild.
01:02:44
Speaker
OK, so this is a success. This is what players like. I have so many blank dice all the time. This is a success with four advantage and a despair. OK, well, first, the good good thing. How many of the advantage do I have to spend to trigger my second attack to two. OK. And this is definitely a fey blooded creature. Therefore, your blue stone pistols do have breach one, which which is basically which is Pierce 10. Oh, right. Yes. Awesome. OK, so.
01:03:13
Speaker
Then he just gets hit twice, right? I don't have to roll the second time. That that's that's correct. So basically you'll be dealing seven damage twice with Pierce 10. Awesome. Which is 14 wounds. Wow. Yeah. Which is crazy is going on. I imagine he's taking 14. Yeah, he just I mean, he just unloads to start shooting. Yes. So that's two advantage and I'm going to
01:03:43
Speaker
No, I want to throw a boost die out. To whom? Can I say whoever hits him next? Can I say just this sudden barrage, like, nocks it, staggers him back a little so that whoever the next person is to attack him gets a boost? Yeah, the next person to attack him, I'll let you get a boost die for the two advantage. Awesome. That's fine. Let's talk about your spare. Yeah, yeah.
01:04:08
Speaker
Um, so yeah, with your, with your despair, um, you, uh, so you guys, you guys are at the, at the main entrance to this, uh, you've come out of this mine shaft into this large area, right? And there's a little bit of a, a little bit of a rocky decline down into it.
01:04:24
Speaker
Just the force of your awesome attack that caused so much damage. You lose your footing a little bit. And you are going to go tumbling down and a full range band. And you are going to land on your bottom prone at short range from this creature. Oh, wow. OK, so where am I in where am I in relation to the the thralls?
01:04:50
Speaker
At this point, I would say you're at short range from two of the groups and medium range from another group. It's still towards the back. I think the scientific term is in the thick of it. It's just where I like to be.
01:05:05
Speaker
I wanna say the reason we all reacted like that to his role, there are 17 symbols on the 12 sided dice. He rolled five of those and came up with six total symbols. It was wild. It's a lot of blanks, it's really crazy. Okay, I have another PC up, who wants it? I have an idea. What range am I at now?
01:05:36
Speaker
From whom? From the big, bad, ugly, medium range. Is there any cover that I can get to within short range? I don't know, is there? Yeah, sure, there is. Yeah, if you were to spend a story point, I would say that, yeah, you could probably get to some cover where you can use, but then I couldn't use another story point, could I? Well, talk to me. What are you wanting to do? Let's talk it out.
01:06:03
Speaker
Um, well, I'm wanting to get close and put a curse on her, but I have to be in short range. I want to try and paralyze. Well, all you need to do is move. I mean, you're, you're within medium range now, so you could spend a maneuver to get it within short range and try it. All right. I'll just go ahead and do that then. All right. Uh, well, uh, let me pull up curse. Yeah. So.
01:06:30
Speaker
This is going to be her adversary levels are going to apply. So we are looking we are looking at two upgrades. And tell me if it's if it's such a dumb thing, I shouldn't be doing it. We do. Do you have a four dice pool? I don't think you should. And with the way you've been rolling, I'm not going to say poo. I'm not going to say poo poo to that. But I mean, at this point, you're looking at five purple difficulty. Excuse me, three purple to read. Dude.
01:06:58
Speaker
Could I use a story point to get a boost? You can do not a boost, but you can use it to do an upgrade. Yeah. OK, to do an upgrade. Yeah. All right. So I've got your difficulty noted three purple, two red with a positive upgrade for yourself. Go ahead and give me that divine check. Oh.
01:07:23
Speaker
That's like that's like bad. It could have been worse. It could have been worse. It could have been worse. Yeah, it could have been. It could have been a whole so much better. Yeah, it could have been hard. So, so, Randy, like, you know, this is we haven't had the chance for this to even come up yet. But normally speaking, when it comes to how threat and despair are spent, there's some standard things we use them for. It is twice as bad when you're dealing with magic.
01:07:49
Speaker
It's it's it's it's one of the balancing factors that comes into play, basically. So here's how we're going to play this. That's unfortunate, because that would have been so cool. Here's how we're going to play this. I'm going to spend, I mean, all four of those a threat. Your spell works. It totally works on Matias. Oh, wait, what? Sucks.
01:08:19
Speaker
Oh, great. So it's going to be unless you choose to maintain it, it will be until I'm not going to maintain it. It will be until the end of your next turn. Matias is staggered, is staggered, which means you cannot perform actions. Additionally, any checks you make are going to remove one green dye from the pool if you are maybe reactively managed to make any checks.
01:08:46
Speaker
So, yeah, that happened. Also, Randy, that's going to cost you. You know, I was I was going to go, but Randy spoke. If I could have paralyzed that sucker, that would have been nice. That would have ruled. But I couldn't. But the nature of these games is that sometimes you fail. I say try to experience that. We haven't experienced that much today, but it's nice to be reminded.
01:09:13
Speaker
Yes, and speaking of, at your curse, the, oh man, this creature, this thing is about to go now. This is so bad. You see it snatch what looks like a bottled elixir of some type from a hidden pocket and it's gonna quaff it very quickly.
01:09:40
Speaker
And you see some of its some of its wounds appear to be knitting ever so slightly. And then it is going to stare at you, Randy, because you are now within short range of it. And it is going to unleash a psychic attack. And at short range, we're looking at that.
01:10:05
Speaker
And I'm going to go ahead and spend a story point. Okay. Oh no. That is a success with six successes. No, that's unbelievable. Who officiates a preacher's funeral? Let's see. That's going to be, that is going to be 10 wounds, Randy.
01:10:29
Speaker
Soak is three. So seven. And thankfully, I didn't get any advantage. So he wasn't able to pull off anything else. But yeah, that happened. He's also going to suffer to strain and is going to is going to move himself behind cover of the arch.
01:10:56
Speaker
Okay, I have two more PCs up. All right. Now, cover just imposes one black dye, correct? Depends on how good the cover is, but his cover is one, yes. Okay, here's what I'm gonna do. Okay, so Mickey looks down at the 10 star on her chest and she says, this is Mickey Westwood, you are the law, and I'm not sure how this is illegal, but I do know that it is.
01:11:28
Speaker
At the very least, there's gotta be a statute about playing around in abandoned mines. So taking into account that I have aimed, I am going to flip a story point which gets me upgraded twice using my 10 star special ability. So let me flip that, hang on, let me get to my thing and flip that story point. So boosted and upgraded twice and gonna use the hog leg
01:11:58
Speaker
to fire at the purple thing. Because I don't know. She doesn't know. I love how we're all coyly avoiding saying what it is. Well, I was going to make a Zoidberg joke again, because I always make a Zoidberg joke. But OK, so are we set? We are set. You're looking at two red on your difficulty at medium range and one black setback die. I got your boost recorded and your upgrades. So go for it.
01:12:25
Speaker
All right. A lot of potential here. Oh, that's a lot of damage. That's a lot of damage and a lot of threat. Oh, wow. Wow. Well, that's six damage and four threat. Oh, yeah. Well, six six six successes. Pardon me. Six successes with an eight damage hog leg comes out to 14 damage, which is
01:12:55
Speaker
which is going to take this thing down. Whoo! Man, I had a good idea. I know. Well, you know what? You basically need to have one because we need to talk about those four thread. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.
01:13:12
Speaker
And some type of psychic emanation or energy floods through the room, all of you feel very hazy for a moment. And the the the entire mind starts to shake as the energies in this uncomplete blue stone portal become rather
01:13:32
Speaker
untenable. And this thing starts to cascade out with psychic emanations of extreme proportions. And this entire mind is feels like it's about to collapse. Oh, good. Okay, I have a question. Am I still able to use a maneuver? This is still my turn. Can I do that? You have to strain to you can spend to strain you can still get a maneuver. Yeah, you only taken one maneuver in one action. Yeah.
01:14:01
Speaker
I haven't taken any maneuvers yet, have I? Or no, yes, you haven't. You're right. Yeah, you're right. So you could get two maneuvers if you popped two strain or just one maneuver regularly. Yeah. Okay. So I think my, are any of my allies considered engaged? Not currently, no. Okay. Nevermind. You do have one ally that is paralyzed. Yeah. I, I'm going to use my moo maneuver to get to Matthias.
01:14:30
Speaker
I mean, not to... Is there any reasonable way that you would know that he's paralyzed? Here's what I know. I owe Matthias, and I know that. I also know that he is down there among these things. And I know that I can do this. So my maneuver is... You also saw... You saw Grom's spell hit Matthias. I mean, that was pretty obvious.
01:14:53
Speaker
Okay, okay, I run to Matthias and I can't do medicine, I can't, but what I can do at the very least is now that we're engaged, I'm gonna spend too strained to do a maneuver that will grant him an automatic advantage to any combat checks that he might have to make until the end of his next turn. Which could he, no, no, that's, that's not it. I can't, I'm not gonna be able to shoot. No, because you can only react and that's not a combat check. Well, here's the thing, here's the thing.
01:15:22
Speaker
Randy's already gone. I'm the only one left to go. So if we give I haven't got slot. OK, you haven't gone. We haven't gone. But the point is Grums already gone. So if we give him goes first next turn first, then then Mattias will have his full turn to ask. Right. OK. OK. So that's what I'm going to do. Oh, he gets that for his next opportunity for a combat check. You get an extra advantage. OK. So pop to strain for those two maneuvers.
01:15:51
Speaker
Yes, sir. All right. I have two PCs who haven't gone yet, and I've got the the thugs in between you. OK, so who wants to go, Lelya or or Gorfin? Lelya, you said you had a good idea. Well, my idea will now not work since the structure of the mine has been compromised. Get out of dodge. Have we noticed any change with the the sluggish?
01:16:19
Speaker
Now that the guy's gone down, they all they'll grab their heads in complete agony and pain and and sort of fell to their knees, which they still are. OK, well, we can't carry all of them out, so. And I mean, if you can't carry them all, I guess I run to you can't take them with you. And that's what that saying means, right? Close enough to Matthias to run and like help him up. Sure. You could you could get to him with a maneuver.
01:16:49
Speaker
Because I assume we're going to want to try and leave. So I'm going to use my maneuver to get to him. Easy. And you could even spend one of your actions to haul him up onto his feet. Yeah, let's do that.
01:17:04
Speaker
All right, so Mathias, I mean, yeah, you see the little rich elf girl running up, you know, getting her beautiful dress all dirty again as she hauls you up onto your feet bodily while the sheriff is next to you providing supporting fire and combative readiness. I'm just gasping for air as my whole body locks down. Yeah. I don't know what it did to me.
01:17:30
Speaker
The scale gang is up next. And at this point, they're shaking their heads, just getting to their feet, looking around in abject horror, what's happening around them. And that's pretty much going to be their turn. Honestly, considering the narrative of what's happened, it doesn't make sense for them to do much else. They're still getting their wits about them. Which leaves glorifying. Um, you know,
01:17:55
Speaker
I can't. Everybody is either capable of moving on their own or already has too many people standing around them. So Glorfin doesn't feel like he can be as much help down there. So I'm going to make sure that the way is clear and then Glorfin turns and starts hauling you out of the mind. That's that's exactly right. Oh, my gosh.
01:18:24
Speaker
All right. Well, what can I do? I know. All right. So so you book it back up the entrance to maneuver. So you're on your way out. We're at the top of the round. So let me just in the interest of of of time and narrative, are you guys all of you just trying to book it the hell out of this mine at this point? I think so. I think so. OK. Yeah.
01:18:48
Speaker
Okay, then at that point, I don't think we need to stay an initiative at this point, because because if if grum goes first, the paralysis effect will end at the end of his turn. Okay. Which means now that lately has helped you up, Mattias, you're on your feet and you guys can can get out. But if you guys if you guys want to try and recover anything, study anything else, help any of the the the gang members that are still here, or recover the body of the creature or anything like that, you need to let me know or you heading out.
01:19:19
Speaker
That is tempting. Not so much to Matias as to Philip. Yeah, Mickey doesn't give a crap. Mickey wants to get out. And to put this in perspective for you, if you guys decide to get out, you can get out and you can get out. It's fine. With the economy of actions we've had in the rounds that are left, that's cool. Things aren't going to start getting really bad until the end of this round in terms of the mine actually collapsing.
01:19:42
Speaker
But if you guys decide to do anything else, we're going to have to go into a skill challenge to see what you can accomplish versus, you know, sustaining critical injuries or death from collapsing mind. I think the character that's worth asking in regards to the body is Laelia. I mean, would would Laelia be so tempted as to want to have this body to examine Laelia's academic knowledge and her interest in Mickey's? I think you said doesn't let doesn't let go of questions or something like that.
01:20:13
Speaker
Uh, would be the less you pay Mattias is forever to have to go, but he's not going to leave. He's not going to start going without the other two. If I did a knowledge check, would that do anything? It might give you. Or I need to do some kind of other check to see if I. I'd need you to get up on the body and examine it. You know what I'm saying? That sounds terrible. Yeah. For you. This is one of those things you have a collapsing mind. Do you want to risk staying here to try and learn more or do you want to get out?
01:20:41
Speaker
Well, my sheet does say I'm reckless. It does. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Oh gosh. Maybe I can go get one quick look. All right. I love it. Play the character. Love it. Okay. Then I'm going to, uh, we're going to, we're going to, Oh, wow.
01:21:04
Speaker
All right, so the rest of you are leaving, which I love. OK, and lately is lately is going to stay behind and try and get one quick look, right? If Mattias is not leaving until lately is moving down the shaft. Yeah, Graham won't leave either. Oh, boy. OK, then we're going to have we're going to then we're going to actually Graham is tempted to just try to pick her up and carry her out.
01:21:29
Speaker
Unhand me, you fiend! But I kinda like it. I'll tell you what, instead of going into a full-scale challenge, we'll play it like this. Laelia, I want you to give me a Knowledge New World check. It is going to be hard, three purple dice, as well as the collapsing mine, two setback dice, which I know you're gonna be able to ignore.
01:21:52
Speaker
And this is to see what information or knowledge you can glean or grab from the body before Grum hauls you bodily out of here.
01:22:00
Speaker
OK, OK, should should I spend a story point? Yes. So while that's happening, let's get the next role up. Well, I don't know. Now we need to roll grums just going to haul you out. Oh, that looks really good. No, no, no, it's bad. It's bad. It's bad and good. No, X's are bad. Yes, you have failed the check, but you got two advantage and a triumph. OK.
01:22:27
Speaker
So you are not going to be able to glean anything specific from this body. You don't have time before grum grabs you and hauls you out. But for your two advantage and your triumph, you notice a medallion that is around this creature's neck. And with your slender elven hands, you grab it, rip it off the neck and carry it with you as grum hauls you out, leaving your parasol behind.
01:22:54
Speaker
I never. I do declare. All right. Grandma, if I wasn't wildly intrigued by you, I'd be mad. I only wish to keep you safe, my lady.
01:23:09
Speaker
You guys haul keister out of the mine as it collapses in behind you. You hear the screams of the scale gang as they are crushed. Oh no, scale gang. And just the sheer collapsing weight of the mine causes a bit of a shockwave that's rocking you guys around and you finally haul your way out just as the last bit of the shaft collapses, expelling a huge cloud of dust into the night air.
Medallion Mystery and Future Challenges
01:23:39
Speaker
sweating, breathing heavily. You all pause to catch your breath and lately, you take a look at what you were able to grab from this creature. And as you hold up, you see what looks to be a medallion that's made out of some type of strange mixture or amalgam of some type of reddish ore and bluestone. It has been forged into the shape of three interlinked circles.
01:24:07
Speaker
Clearly, this is gonna require a lot more research, but an exciting and new thing that you have discovered. Picking yourselves up, you curse your luck, thank your friends, and are pleased that at the very least this threat seems to be contained, but the larger mystery has yet to be uncovered. And you guys begin the long walk back to Pixie Gulch. Or at least as far as the train, because if nobody's come along for that guy we tied up, we should probably pick him up.
01:24:36
Speaker
So that's not very cinematic. The episode has to end with you. We can't have the sunset in the background, so we can have the moon in the background as you guys walk across the desert. Nice. And then Mickey goes, where the hell's the horse? At an extreme distance from you, on a rocky crag of a peak, a creature stares down at you with a bulbous head and four tentacles. Seeing the glint of the moonlight shine against the medallion as you walk away, it curls its lips and snarls.
01:25:09
Speaker
And that is the end of our adventure.