Part 4: A Phoenix Rises | Starter Kit: Phoenix Dawn Command

Summary

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Critical Role & Sagas of Sundry: Starter Kit – Phoenix Dawn Command

Part 4: A Phoenix Rises

Host/Game Master: Keith Baker
Players: Player 1 (Pyre), Player 2 (Paula), Player 3 (Stealthy Character), Player 4 (Support Character)
Date: February 16, 2026

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Episode Overview

This episode delves into the mechanics and story of the Phoenix Dawn Command RPG. The session centers around the resurrection of Pyre, exploring the in-game consequences and story development of a phoenix's death and rebirth. The group faces mounting supernatural threats as cracks in the Cloudspire Aerie reveal the urgency of their quest. Interpersonal tensions increase as mortal researchers push deeper toward danger, leading the party into fraught negotiations, new magical discoveries, and a climactic descent into peril.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Phoenix Death & Rebirth: Pyre’s Return

[01:35–09:04]

• Keith Baker explains the unique resurrection mechanics of Phoenix Dawn Command: death isn't the end but a step to greater power.
  • "Death and resurrection are how a Phoenix grows in power. The first seven times, anyway." – [01:43, Keith Baker]
• Pyre’s in-character resurrection sequence is narrated, with an emphasis on choosing what kind of lesson he gains from death.
  • Game Master guides Pyre through selecting which discipline his death reflects—ultimately, Pyre chooses the “Devoted” school, symbolizing self-sacrifice for the group.
  • Pyre: "I think part of him looks at it as duty. So elemental. But he threw his body in front of Pele at the end...So I'm gonna go with devoted." – [05:01–05:13]
• The mechanical rewards of dying: additional sparks (resource tokens), a powerful lesson (power), a new strong card (strength), and a unique ability for Pyre’s burning axe (Grimclaw).
  • Notable Quote:
    Keith Baker: "You get to pick one of these three lessons...Shining Mirror… Devoted Bond...Blessing of Vigor." – [06:02]
  • Pyre chooses the Devoted Bond: a shared energy pool for the party, reinforcing his role as group supporter.

2. Party Reflection: Customizing Traits

[09:04–10:43]

• Players are permitted to revise their character traits, reflecting on their play experience thus far.
  • Player 3: Swaps “Small and Quick” for “Noble”—but noble of heart, not of blood.
    "She's not noble of blood, but she's certainly a noble person." – [09:29]
  • Player 2: Opts for “Superhuman Strength” over “Survivor,” excited by the potential to stun enemies.
    "When you use this card in a successful attack spread, you may burn one spark to stun the target, which I don't know what that means, but it sounds good." – [09:52]
  • Keith Baker: Explains conditions: "Stunned... reduces the number of cards you can play in a spread...Enraged... more aggressive but very weak on defense." – [10:43]

3. Pyre’s Rebirth & Group Reunion

[11:27–12:23]

• Pyre reemerges changed by his time in “the Crucible.”
  • Pyre: "When I become reborn, it takes me a second to remember what happened. Where I am, who my wing is...all of that." – [08:47]
• Visual changes: Pyre’s axe burns brighter; he himself is now flame-less.
  • Pyre: "His axe is flaming even brighter. But he's actually...He doesn't have any flames on him anymore." – [12:09]
  • Player Reactions: The group is charmed and surprised by the transformation.

4. The Spire in Crisis & Scientific Debate

[12:23–21:47]

• Researchers return in panic: cracks are appearing in the supposedly indestructible spire.
  • Urgency mounts as mortal researchers Adria, Tibin, Tyra, Cass (child), and healer Nemo debate how to respond.
  • Tibin: Describes the magical phenomenon:
    "This is actually a connection between the dusk and the daylit world. The world of spirits...If we can understand what's going on here...we need all the help we can against the dread." – [19:07]
  • The party and researchers argue over ethics and priorities:
    • Paula: "So you're the reason those skeletons were coming back to life. You're causing more death and destruction. You're not helping anybody." – [19:39]
    • Adria: "If you care about the Empire at all, we need to go down there..." – [20:06]
    • Player 3 (sarcastic): "If you're calling me a fanatic, I'm hearing voices that are telling you to get out of here. So maybe we should listen to the voices in my head." – [20:34]
• Mortal companions must be assigned to each PC; PCs debate who to “buddy” with for mechanics and roleplay.

5. Lore & Setting Questions

[25:03–26:13]

• Paula inquires about deities in the setting, Keith Baker gives a run-down of regional beliefs:
  • House gods (Elona), nature traditions, northern fae, and the Dawn—source of phoenix power.
  • Clarifies phoenixes’ role: "You are more sort of saints or angels, if you will." – [26:13]

6. Venturing Down – Stealth & Investigation

[26:24–28:44]

• The stealthy character uses her “Hidden” talent to scout ahead.
  • GM: "If you're just like, I'm just disappearing and I'll make my own way and they'll figure it out." – [26:51]
  • Mechanics for stealth explained.
  • Party reaches the site of the previous explosion—awe at pyrene steel shards, connections to phoenix weapons.

7. Environmental Hazards & Whispering Warnings

[28:44–29:41]

• Ice continues to reclaim the tunnels; the magic feels familiar to Paula’s character.
• Party notices supernatural voices shifting from “help” to “danger”—the warnings grow urgent.

8. Encounter with Undead & Use of Devoted Bond

[29:41–39:48]

• Stealthy advance reveals two undead threats ahead; possible combat or avoidance.
• Introduction of Pyre’s Devoted Bond: the party can communicate telepathically, but it drains Pyre’s resources (“sparks”).
  • "You could reach out and speak to the rest of the wing and send them a telepathic message." – [34:28]
  • The group uses this power to coordinate action.
• Paula leverages her fire/destruction magic to incinerate both enemies.
  • GM: "A13 on its own is not gonna do it...If you burned a health level and you used one of these [sparks]...you just vaporize them..." – [38:13–39:48]
  • Paula: "I'm kind of inspired by Pyre's sacrifice...I would like to, one, not go through this crap again, and two, get it over with so we can move on." – [39:34]

9. Into the Depths – Cliffhanger

[40:41–41:43]

• The party presses onward as environmental hazards worsen: freezing temperatures, shaking tunnels, a collapsing ceiling.
  • "A huge chunk of the ceiling starts falling down towards the three of you. And that is where we're gonna stop." – [41:21]

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• Pyre’s character-defining line upon return:
  "I feel stronger than I ever have before. And look, I'm not on fire." – [21:57, Pyre]
• Lighthearted banter between group members after transformation:
  Player 2: “I noticed that you look good.” Player 3: “You've been working out?” – [22:02–22:06]
• On the mechanics of resurrection:
  Keith Baker: "Now, the last thing is to just think briefly about what is the experience. How long are you in the Crucible? ...For you, is it just a day or two? Or are you there for weeks?" – [08:23]
• On mortality of researchers:
  "One of you is gonna have to take responsibility for each of them. This is called the buddy system...when you take wounds, the wounds have to be split between you and them, which means if you take more than one wound, they will probably die." – [23:08–24:50]
• On telepathic messaging costs:
  Keith Baker: "When you send a message, everyone, you can reply quickly if you want, but it burns one of your sparks. Only his [Pyre’s], so any of you can send a message but it costs Pyre." – [34:48]
• Paula’s pragmatic heroism:
  "I'm kind of inspired by Pyre's sacrifice and to know that he did so much to save all of us. I would like to, one, not go through this crap again, and two, get it over with so we can move on." – [39:34]

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Timestamps for Key Segments

• 01:35 – Recap and Pyre's death; resurrection mechanics explained
• 05:13 – Pyre chooses “Devoted” school lesson
• 07:13 – Pyre gains new axe ability (Grimclaw)
• 09:24 – Party reflects and updates traits
• 12:09 – Pyre’s visual transformation upon rebirth
• 19:07 – Debates on the dangers and purpose of the spire
• 23:08 – Mechanics of protecting mortal companions (the “buddy system”)
• 25:03 – Lore: Deities and belief systems in the game world
• 26:51 – Stealth mechanics and scouting ahead
• 29:18 – Warning voices escalate as party enters danger
• 34:28 – Devoted Bond grants telepathic communication
• 37:16 – Paula begins her massive fire spell attack
• 39:48 – Success in defeating undead; group camaraderie
• 41:21 – Cliffhanger: ceiling collapse

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Tone, Style & Engagement

• The tone is improvisational, playful and at times banter-filled, yet earnest during character- and world-building moments.
• Keith Baker’s GMing is inclusive and didactic, gently explaining both mechanics and story options.
• Players freely joke (“I want to die!”), but quickly shift to dramatic beats when stakes rise.
• The session balances mechanical crunchy bits (explaining cards, traits, and wounds) with character-driven narrative developments.

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Useful for New Listeners

• This episode is an in-depth mix of character growth (resurrection, self-sacrifice), party dynamics (negotiation, resource sharing), setting lore, and tactical decisions.
• Strong focus on how Phoenix Dawn Command is different from typical RPGs—death as advancement, not punishment.
• Provides examples of narrative-driven roleplaying, collaborative party choices, and how mechanics (like “sparks” and “Devoted Bond”) fuel story and teamwork.
• The session ends at a significant cliffhanger, with the party facing both supernatural and environmental threats deep below the spire.

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Next episode preview:
“You’ve gone very deep...This is some sort of bridge to the dusk..." – [41:45–41:50]

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End of Summary

Transcript

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[Player 1 / Pyre]

Last time on Starter Kit Every surface.

[Game Master / Keith Baker]

Is covered with ice. There are bodies frozen within it.

[Player 2 / Paula]

Well, that's going to be a problem.

[Game Master / Keith Baker]

The axe strikes and the sphere just shatters. It just vaporizes him. Welcome back to your Starter kit. I'm Keith Baker, the creator of Phoenix Dawn Command for Phoenix. Death is not an ending. It's just the beginning. Death and resurrection are how a Phoenix grows in power. The first seven times anyway. In many situations, you'd have to press forward. With Pyre gone because he still had some sparks left when he died, his spirit would be able to accompany you, but you'd have to press forward without him. However, as you recall, we came in the middle of the night. You're by an aerie and it is almost dawn. And at dawn a phoenix can be reborn at an aerie. Realizing this and not knowing what dangers lie ahead, it's logical for you to return to Cloudspire Aery and wait for Pyre to be reborn. Much of the time this isn't something that you'll have the opportunity for in the middle. And you'd wait and it would be after the adventure. We go through this with this. We're going to do it right in the middle. So this is going to be a slight break as we walk through what happens when a phoenix is reborn and how it affects his character. Because this is going to be very focused on Pyre. There's a second thing I want to let the three of you do. You never played this game before. You didn't know what you were doing when you picked your characteristics and your traits. I'm going to give each of you pass those to Kronos, a set of the traits so that you can basically look at the choices you made earlier and now you know a little bit more about how you play. You can think about, were those the right choices for you, or is there something that really fits your idea better? So just think about those.

[Player 1 / Pyre]

Go through them.

[Game Master / Keith Baker]

While I'm moving forward with the rebirth. Now, you have a lot of things to go through when you die as a Phoenix. You return to the crucible, the spirit realm in the dusk, which is where you learn your powers. The first question is what lessons you are taking away from your death, what kind of death it was. And that tells us which school you will gain lessons from. Each school has its own sort of basis of why they die or what they take away from it. Looking to what you did, you accomplished something important. It definitely wasn't a bitter death, which is failure. You weren't really trying to gain secret knowledge that rules out shrouded. And it wasn't about speed, which drops out forceful. So the logical stories here to me, devoted die for others. They sacrifice themselves to protect the others around them. That's possible. Elemental die for duty. This is what has to be done, and that's why they die. That's possible. Durant die because they're not tough enough. So that would be the argument that if you'd only been tougher, maybe you would have survived the explosion. Which of those to you is how you feel that Pyre is viewing the situation? What is he taking away from his death?

[Player 1 / Pyre]

I think part of him looks at it as duty. So elemental. But he threw his body in front of Pele at the end.

[Game Master / Keith Baker]

That is true.

[Player 1 / Pyre]

So I'm gonna go with devoted.

[Game Master / Keith Baker]

All right. Even though you are going to now gain powers from the devoted school, you're still a bitter phoenix. The first death that is part of your character creation gives you your core lessons. And those are the most defining abilities about how, as a bidder, you grow stronger when you're hurt. That's what makes a bidder. But now you're gonna be a bitter with a little bit of devoted mixed in. You get to pick one of these three lessons, which I'll go over quickly. Shining Mirror is a combat style that is strong offensively, weak defensively, but when you are hurt, the person who hurts you is also hurt. So that sort of works for you. You could see that Devoted Bond lets you create a pool of energy of sparks that everyone in the wing can draw from to let them regain some strength or draw some cards.

[Player 1 / Pyre]

Does that come from my sparks or their?

[Game Master / Keith Baker]

It does come from your sparks, but you get them back when other people use them. And then Blessing of Vigor helps with healing spreads, which isn't really a thing you do. And you can also allow someone to draw back up to their hand limit. So those times when people didn't have all their cards, you could have used a spark to let them draw back up and have more cards. Does one of those strike your fancy?

[Player 1 / Pyre]

Yeah, I think I'm going to go with Devoted Bond, because I think that fits the theme of my death.

[Game Master / Keith Baker]

Absolutely. So go ahead and take that, and we'll talk about that as we actually start the thing. But let's go through your other things. When you die, in return, you get more sparks. So first off, we recharge you to your full 10 that you had before, and you're going to get two more. Up to 12. Great. Every other death, you would gain a health level, so you're not gaining one of those, but reflecting back to full injuries. So you've gotten a lesson. You've gotten additional sparks. Now you can add a card with a value of 5 that's better than anything you've got now in either strength or grace. Which is it gonna be?

[Player 1 / Pyre]

Add it to my deck.

[Game Master / Keith Baker]

Yep.

[Player 1 / Pyre]

I'll take the strength, all right.

[Game Master / Keith Baker]

And then finally, you have your talon. Your axe. The Burning Axe. We are now going to add an ability to your talent. You are now unlocking power within it.

[Player 3 / Stealthy Character]

Aw, I want to die.

[Game Master / Keith Baker]

It'll happen.

[Player 1 / Pyre]

It may happen.

[Game Master / Keith Baker]

There's a few that are more sort of particularly appropriate for you than others. Some are more designed to be about ranged combat or improving skill spreads, and that doesn't really seem to be your thing. One of them. So Grimclaw is a powerful bonus to attack, and you can choose to take a wound to injure yourself to increase that damage and make it flare up with flame. Yeah, so that seems like a strong possibility.

[Player 1 / Pyre]

Fits right in.

[Game Master / Keith Baker]

Another one, Valoria, is bonus to attack, but you can switch it to a bonus to defense. So that's a versatile tool. There are others. Dream Shadow helps you become hidden Epitaph. Lets you make attacks at range. These don't really seem to fit your idea. So I would say that one of those two is probably the best match for you.

[Player 1 / Pyre]

I'm go with Grimclaw. I think we know the build that's happening with this guy.

[Game Master / Keith Baker]

I like it that since you have the flame, I think when you power it up like that, we can say that that's. The burning fire is heating up. Now, the last thing is to just think briefly about what is the experience. How long are you in the Crucible? How long does it take you to master these abilities? For you, is it just a day or two? Or are you there for weeks? Because, again, for them, it's just gonna be a day, but for you, it could be longer.

[Player 1 / Pyre]

No, I think for me, it's months. It feels like months. In fact, when I become reborn, it takes me a second to remember what happened. Where I am, who my wing is, who's in my wing, all of that.

[Game Master / Keith Baker]

Now, meanwhile, for the rest of you, every dawn dawn revitalizes a phoenix. So, first of all, each of you who are injured get one of your health levels back. Flip a wound and turn it into a health level. Second, you each get. Actually, you have them. You each get two sparks back.

[Player 4 / Support Character]

Great.

[Game Master / Keith Baker]

In addition, I had previously asked if you wanted to change any of your traits. Did any of you decide to do that?

[Player 3 / Stealthy Character]

I did. I had Small and Quick, which I thought was because she's tiny and she's quick. But then I don't think it really fits her as much as I thought, so I'm gonna trade it out for noble. Now, she's not noble of blood, but she's certainly a noble person.

[Game Master / Keith Baker]

And these adjectives can be applied any way that it makes sense to you. So just saying you're noble of heart is entirely applicable. Did you change anything?

[Player 2 / Paula]

I did. I switched out my Survivor card, which allowed me to use two sparks to reduce the damage I take by one wound. I took that out because it's actually one of my talents anyway, for unyielding might. So I went ahead and removed that and replaced it with superhuman strength. And that is. When you use this card in a successful attack spread, you may burn one spark to stun the target, which I don't know what that means, but it sounds good.

[Game Master / Keith Baker]

And I will also say again, it also means when you have that card in your hand, you can perform feats of superhuman strength. If you're like, I want to lift that boulder, if you got superhuman strength.

[Player 2 / Paula]

You can do it. My baby is always under a Car.

[Game Master / Keith Baker]

All right. Paula, did you change anything or did you like everything you have?

[Player 2 / Paula]

No, I really like everything I have.

[Game Master / Keith Baker]

All right, so pass those traits back.

[Player 2 / Paula]

Can I ask really quick, what does stun do? And also what does. I saw another one for Enrage.

[Game Master / Keith Baker]

Yes. So stunned. These are conditions that you apply to creatures or characters stunned. When it's done to you, it reduces the number of cards you can play in a spread. When you do it to a challenge, it reduces their ability to hit you. It lowers their attack, but it also reduces is their speed. A creature basically acts every so many actions. And if you stun them, you just delay them. So you slow them down. So it's very powerful and useful. You asked about enraged. That's mainly a bitter thing. But there are traits that let you do it when you're enraged. You can play an extra card when you're making attacks, but one fewer cards on defenses. So it makes you very aggressive but very weak on defense.

[Player 2 / Paula]

Thank you, sir.

[Game Master / Keith Baker]

So you've retreated to the aerie. Shortly after you get there again. The sun is just hitting the horizon when Pyre emerges from the hearth.

[Player 2 / Paula]

Is he naked?

[Game Master / Keith Baker]

Well, here's a question. Terminator is an important question. Is normally when dawn happens, it sort of actually refreshes you if you were missing anything, if you were injured or comeback. Every time you die in a reborn. It also is about your appearance, is how you see yourself. Has that changed for Pyre at all? Are you still the same burning guy you were this morning?

[Player 1 / Pyre]

You know what?

[Game Master / Keith Baker]

Actually.

[Player 1 / Pyre]

I would say his axe is flaming even brighter. But he's actually. He doesn't have any flames on him anymore.

[Player 2 / Paula]

Oh, I like that.

[Player 1 / Pyre]

Yeah.

[Game Master / Keith Baker]

All right. So there you are all back in the eyrie. You're reunited with Pyre. You're re energized, but everything's not going well. A number of the researchers were out when you got in, and they come rushing back in and saying, what do you do? What's going on? Have you seen the spire?

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[Player 3 / Stealthy Character]

One second.

[Player 2 / Paula]

Did anybody. You're welcome.

[Game Master / Keith Baker]

All right, so two things happen at that moment as they're saying that you realize the voices have changed. You still can't entirely make them out, but you realize now that now it's a warning. Previously it was saying something like, come help. And now it's saying, get away. You go outside and you see that there's actually what look like cracks running up the edge of the spire. Ashmira, the flame keeper is shocked by this. It's supposed to be indestructible. Every possible force has been leveled. I don't see, that could be happening now. We have our researchers again. Adria, the leader. Tibin, the researcher, the healer, Tyra, who blows things up, and her kid, Cass. Tibben is furious about this. He's like, what do you do? What happened down there?

[Player 2 / Paula]

We destroyed the Force creating that evil. You should be thanking us.

[Game Master / Keith Baker]

There's so much that we need to find there. We can't. We came here for a reason. We need to find something that can help the Empire. And now. I don't know how much time we have. We have to get down there now.

[Player 3 / Stealthy Character]

I would actually say quite the opposite. It seems like you're not well equipped for this, so maybe we should run. This doesn't look very problematic.

[Game Master / Keith Baker]

That's fine. You can run. You go away if that's what you want to do.

[Player 3 / Stealthy Character]

No, I'm saying you should.

[Game Master / Keith Baker]

We came here for a reason. We have to do this, and it looks like we have to do it right now, before it's too late. If you've dealt with whatever those things were, then great, that means the danger is done. And. And we will get in there and find what we can find before something worse happens.

[Player 3 / Stealthy Character]

What are you trying to find? I'm very curious at this point.

[Game Master / Keith Baker]

Tibbon certainly jumps in there and says, well, it's funny that you should ask, but as far as I can tell, this is actually a connection between the dusk and the daylit world. The world of spirits. I'm not even sure what it is, but it's a bridge. If we can understand what's going on here. I don't know what power we could gain, but we need all the help we can against the dread. I don't know who you people are or where you've been, but things are bad out there. We need to find tools we can use. And this is an amazing discovery. We have to go down there now and see what we can salvage.

[Player 2 / Paula]

So you're the reason those skeletons were coming back to life. You're causing more death and destruction. You're not helping anybody.

[Game Master / Keith Baker]

Well, I'm glad that you dealt with.

[Player 1 / Pyre]

That, but by the way, it killed me.

[Game Master / Keith Baker]

You seem fine.

[Player 1 / Pyre]

I got better.

[Game Master / Keith Baker]

It's a flesh wound at this point, actually. Cass, the kid says, are you a phoenix? N. No.

[Player 1 / Pyre]

Yeah, buddy.

[Game Master / Keith Baker]

Don't tell anybody. She's like, whoa. And Adria just shakes her head at that and says, oh, wonderful. All right, so you're lunatics or fanatics or something. Look, you said you were researchers. Clearly you're not. I really appreciate what you've done. I never I'm glad that you published, but we need. This is for the good of the Empire. And if you care about the Empire at all, we need to go down there and see what we can find.

[Player 3 / Stealthy Character]

Okay, so, fine, if you're calling me a fanatic, I'm hearing voices that are telling you to get out of here. So maybe we should listen to the voices in my head.

[Game Master / Keith Baker]

That's fine. I understand. Our time is limited. This is dangerous. That's why we need to go now. I appreciate what you're doing, but we're getting together at this point. The healer Nemo's like, well, I'm not. I mean, I'm staying here. I mean, I'm sorry, you guys are the researchers I don't know anything about. And they're like, find that. Adria certainly says, but Tibin and I, we need to go down there. We need to find out, are you.

[Player 3 / Stealthy Character]

Willing to die knowing that something much more powerful than you died?

[Game Master / Keith Baker]

If that's necessary, yes. Because if there's a chance that I could harness that power for the Empire, then I'm doing it.

[Player 2 / Paula]

I bang my staff on the ground and I block the entrance. I'm like, go ahead, try.

[Game Master / Keith Baker]

Adria approaches you and says, look, I don't know why you're here or how you got here. I admit, in the nick of time, I'm grateful that you saved our lives, but do you care about the people of the Empire? Of course. Have you seen the horrible things that are out there? I am willing to risk my life to find something that could help other people. If you're willing to help us with that, that's wonderful. Otherwise, please get out of my way and let me do my job.

[Player 2 / Paula]

What do we think before we continue?

[Player 1 / Pyre]

If they're gonna go down there, they insist on going down there, we better go with them.

[Player 3 / Stealthy Character]

Let's keep hitting magic orbs with axes and see what happens, why don't we?

[Player 1 / Pyre]

I feel stronger than I ever have before. And look, I'm not on fire.

[Player 3 / Stealthy Character]

I'm on my way down.

[Player 2 / Paula]

I noticed that you look good.

[Player 3 / Stealthy Character]

I start walking forward.

[Advertiser / Ellen Marsh]

You've been working out?

[Game Master / Keith Baker]

Yeah. All right.

[Player 2 / Paula]

I lead the pack this time.

[Player 3 / Stealthy Character]

I'm so frustrated.

[Player 2 / Paula]

I'm so angry.

[Game Master / Keith Baker]

As you're going, they are quickly convening. You can speak into this if you want. Tibin. Adriace says, Tibbin, you're with us. You're the one who knows what we're looking for. Nemo. Fine, stay here. Cause again, there's a few of the others who weren't dead. In the attack. Who are they? Are recovering now. You've got them there.

[Player 1 / Pyre]

So could I suggest the healer takes care of the child? I don't think that's the place for a child.

[Player 2 / Paula]

Also, can he heal us?

[Game Master / Keith Baker]

Unfortunately, Nadam, I don't need to waste your cards. And part of the thing is the injuries you've taken. He's actually kind of shocked, you know, looking at some of the burns. He's like, how are you not more seriously hurt? The basic question is Tyra. Tira is certainly optional. She's the demolitions expert. And essentially she's on a sort of, I don't know, are you going to need me down there? If you think you might be able to use a demolitions expert, she can come with you, but she's also willing to stay behind. If you'd rather she stay behind, she.

[Player 2 / Paula]

Should stay with her kid.

[Game Master / Keith Baker]

Okay, now here's how having mortals around works. Because as I said, the injuries you've taken would have killed mortals. So one of you is gonna have to take responsibility for each of them. This is called the buddy system. You can't double up as long as there's an empty slot. You each gotta take one. So you got Adria and you got tibm. I will tell you now that having Tibum with you is gonna give you a bonus to any Lore or Arcane check.

[Player 2 / Paula]

This is a positive.

[Game Master / Keith Baker]

He is actually a legitimate researcher, so he will help you there. Adria actually is tougher than some of the people and she'll give a plus one bonus to Defense to whoever is keeping her safe. So the question is, who's taking Tibbon and who's taking Adria?

[Player 2 / Paula]

Well, one of you guys should take. I was gonna ask him. Like, you're kind of upset with them. Do you want me to take one of them so you don't kill them?

[Player 3 / Stealthy Character]

You're shouting to me from I'm down below.

[Game Master / Keith Baker]

I walked down the whole thing.

[Player 2 / Paula]

You get Tibbet, I get that oc.

[Game Master / Keith Baker]

Ooc, and then we have Adria.

[Player 2 / Paula]

I feel like you should take Adria because it's a defense team.

[Player 3 / Stealthy Character]

I don't want anything.

[Game Master / Keith Baker]

Okay, So I would say for now. So here's how this works. As long as you have them, when you take wounds, the wounds have to be split between you and them, which means if you take more than one wound, they will probably die. Companion are the worst. I would say you're a much safer bet since you can reduce wounds, whereas you're all about getting injured. So it would probably be a very Bad choice to have a friend.

[Player 4 / Support Character]

Get over here.

[Player 2 / Paula]

You got the.

[Game Master / Keith Baker]

Damn it. All right.

[Player 2 / Paula]

To be willing to go out of line. Something happened.

[Game Master / Keith Baker]

Phoenix.

[Player 3 / Stealthy Character]

Dammit.

[Player 2 / Paula]

Okay, I was just wondering, are there deities in this game?

[Game Master / Keith Baker]

So the different. There's basically different provinces of the empire that have their own different belief systems. Elona, which I think is where you're from. We were saying your father was more of a sort of imperial military sort of person. They had what they were called house gods, who originally were actually incarnate in the world. And the Tulu houses still do revere those gods, even though they're no longer around. Down in the south, there's a sort of shamanistic nature tradition. Up in the north, in Scavia, it's more about dealings with the fae, essentially the fallen folk. Then there is also the broader tradition of the dawn, which is essentially, this is the daylit world. The dusk lies below is sort of the spirit world. The dawn is the source of light and life. And so that's a more sort sort of generally positive force. And that's the loose theory behind the phoenixes, is that as phoenixes, you're empowered by the dawn, hence dawn command. So it's up to you whether you embrace that and believe it, or whether you might believe in one of the old alone and house gods, in which case you can make up a name and say, that's the name of your daddy.

[Player 2 / Paula]

But we might be deities.

[Game Master / Keith Baker]

You are more sort of saints or angels, if you will. All right, so you are heading back towards the hole. There you've marched off.

[Player 4 / Support Character]

I have.

[Player 3 / Stealthy Character]

I have a special talent called hidden.

[Game Master / Keith Baker]

Yes.

[Player 3 / Stealthy Character]

So what does that mean exactly? I've never used this. This is when you are hidden, you may burn one spark to. I'm just curious about how to utilize this idea of my stealthy.

[Game Master / Keith Baker]

So one of the lessons you didn't take was Shadow Dancer. And Shadow Dancer just lets you become hidden. In your case, if you want to become hidden, it's something you would normally do by making a skill spread.

[Player 3 / Stealthy Character]

I see.

[Game Master / Keith Baker]

Using your spycraft. Deception in this case, frankly, with this bunch of people, if you just want to be hidden, you can be hidden. If you're just like, I'm just disappearing and I'll make my own way and they'll figure it out.

[Player 3 / Stealthy Character]

Yeah. I want to stealth ahead and be as hidden as possible.

[Game Master / Keith Baker]

So just as a note, we have a handy little counter. Just since we're not in combat, it's not as important, but I'm still going to drop it there. That lets us know. Hey, you're hidden. I love that she's disappeared. You know that she's done that before. And the talent that you mentioned, her shrouded bond is actually whenever she is hidden, she can just choose to just basically Batman, appear next to you, step out of the shadows when you weren't expecting.

[Player 2 / Paula]

I knew I liked you, Jeffer.

[Game Master / Keith Baker]

So she's gone, but you know, she's just gonna appear sooner or later. Who's taking the lead as you venture down?

[Player 1 / Pyre]

I'll take the lead.

[Game Master / Keith Baker]

Makes sense because you're the only one not shepherding a buddy. So you venture back down into the tunnels. As you continue forward, you reach the area where you destroyed the sphere, and again, you have these shards of metal embedded in the walls. One of the things that you would notice, Tiffan is just fascinated. He's like, wait a second. Wait, wait, look at this. And he picks up one of the little shards. He's like, first off, it is kind of impressive. With the force of the explosion that happened, it has melted all the ice, scorched the walls. But these things are intact. He's like, this is pyrene steel, which is in fact the same metal your talons are made of. He's like, we don't even know how to make this. It's almost indestructible. That's amazing. So he's very excited about that. You meanwhile, say, yeah, remember, this is the big place where you died.

[Player 1 / Pyre]

Died.

[Game Master / Keith Baker]

But as you move forward, is there anything in particular you were looking for or trying to bear in mind? As you venture deeper into the tunnels.

[Player 2 / Paula]

That energy is nowhere to be seen.

[Game Master / Keith Baker]

No, there's no signs of the purple light. You don't hear anything at all.

[Player 1 / Pyre]

How about the ice?

[Game Master / Keith Baker]

That's all ice, isn't it? The ice is still very solid, and it's starting to creep back where the explosion happened. It completely vaporized the ice. But you already can see it is starting to slowly recover the area. And it is still bitterly cold from earlier.

[Player 2 / Paula]

Is it the same type of magic that I was familiar with?

[Game Master / Keith Baker]

You can still sort of feel it and just say, there is definitely something about it that feels very familiar to you. Okay.

[Player 3 / Stealthy Character]

Are the whispers getting. As I'm stealthing ahead with everybody, Are the whispers getting louder?

[Game Master / Keith Baker]

Definitely louder. And even as you're in there, there is a tremor. Sheets of ice just fall from the walls. It's hard to entirely piece together, but you feel that the voices are essentially warning. You place compromised danger.

[Player 3 / Stealthy Character]

I hold my breath and unplug my nose and keep walking forward.

[Game Master / Keith Baker]

All right, Creeping down ahead, you do actually see a flicker of purple light. And peering around the corner, you can see there's two of the sort of desiccated corpses with the veins of bright light running through them just standing there. Okay, now this is something that could be a fight if you decide to charge in. But if any of you can come up with another plan for how you could deal with these guys, they aren't aware of you. Right now.

[Player 3 / Stealthy Character]

There's only two of the animated ones.

[Game Master / Keith Baker]

Yes.

[Player 3 / Stealthy Character]

I'm gonna creep past and keep going forward.

[Game Master / Keith Baker]

Now, this does mean the people behind you are gonna walk right into them. Are you okay with that?

[Player 4 / Support Character]

Yeah.

[Game Master / Keith Baker]

You took a devoted bond, didn't you?

[Player 1 / Pyre]

I did.

[Game Master / Keith Baker]

That is a very important thing right now. O, hand me your devoted bond.

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[Player 4 / Support Character]

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[Game Master / Keith Baker]

So the devoted bond when he came back, part of it was that you just felt this connection that wasn't there before. You can put six sparks on this card and during any of your turns, any of you can give that back to him to either draw two cards or regain two sparks. But here's the bigger point, which is why I brought this up now. You also feel that if you wanted, you could reach out and speak to the rest of the wing and send them a telepathic message.

[Narrator/Advertiser]

I feel that way.

[Game Master / Keith Baker]

Every one of you feels that way.

[Player 4 / Support Character]

Interesting.

[Game Master / Keith Baker]

Okay, do you want to send a message?

[Player 3 / Stealthy Character]

Oh, if that is available, yes. I am going to keep two of the animated purple beings ahead. I am very quiet right now. I'm going to continue pushing forward.

[Game Master / Keith Baker]

Now when you send a message, everyone, you can reply quickly if you want, but it burns one of your sparks. Only his so only his. So any of you can send a message, but it costs pyre. Do you have any immediate response to that? No. Okay, so now the rest of us are together.

[Player 2 / Paula]

You're going to make a fart noise. You gotta lose another one. Well, yeah. See, I didn't say anything.

[Game Master / Keith Baker]

I'm gonna give you one free fart noise.

[Player 2 / Paula]

Thank you.

[Game Master / Keith Baker]

Are you gonna take another one?

[Player 3 / Stealthy Character]

Maybe.

[Game Master / Keith Baker]

Alright, so here's the thing. You know, they're ahead. Like I said, one option is just to charge in and engage them in combat. Another option is to try and come up with some other solution which could then be implemented as a skill spread for how you could potentially deal with these two things because they don't know you're there.

[Player 2 / Paula]

Since one of my skill specialties is fire, can I use that?

[Game Master / Keith Baker]

Absolutely. So your skill specialties include fire and destruction. And what that means is if you have. You are basically a living demolitions expert. And so what it means is because you have time, this isn't something you're just having to do in the spur of the moment like blasting someone in combat. You can think about. Do you want to just try and create a big sort of flood of fire in that region to burn them? Do you want to create more of an explosive impact?

[Player 2 / Paula]

What are you trying to do? I'm trying to see. Because I also don't want. Just in case. If something happens to anybody else around me, I'd rather do it as stealthily as I can without.

[Game Master / Keith Baker]

You can do it at a distance. So I mean, we're probably talking 30 or 40ft. Sure, sure, sure. But I'm saying it's not like you have right up to them. You can sort of. The corridor is turning and you can sort of get right up to the.

[Player 2 / Paula]

Edge and then go for it and.

[Game Master / Keith Baker]

Then flood it around. Now it does make sense that you'd want to be a little bit ahead of these.

[Player 2 / Paula]

Yes, yeah.

[Game Master / Keith Baker]

These. Yeah, you know, these.

[Player 2 / Paula]

I'm angel, the rest.

[Game Master / Keith Baker]

The rest of the group.

[Player 2 / Paula]

The crew.

[Game Master / Keith Baker]

So would you like to try that?

[Player 3 / Stealthy Character]

Yes.

[Game Master / Keith Baker]

Okay. So you venture forward. Now. This is essentially. It is you're doing magic, but it's very much for you. It's a sort of drawing on the forces that you have access to, shaping them and directing them. And this is a skill spread. So this is either fire or destruction. Both fall in. Because it's a specialty of yours, you get a base value of 5 and you can use either grace or intellect.

[Player 2 / Paula]

Oh, that's nice.

[Game Master / Keith Baker]

So you can play up to three cards and then any traits if you have traits that apply.

[Player 2 / Paula]

I do not have any traits, but I will do two intellects, so that's already five on its own. And I will play one Grace, which is three.

[Game Master / Keith Baker]

Okay, so you're currently to 13. Does anyone who's there. You're up ahead. Do either of the two of you. Just checking. Do you have a trait that would help you help her? So this is something like your absolute conviction or something like that?

[Player 2 / Paula]

I don't have that in my hand right now.

[Game Master / Keith Baker]

All right.

[Player 2 / Paula]

Unfortunately, I could use my misspent youth to help you fuel the flames. I would say help me fuel my flames. Cronus. Hey, girl.

[Game Master / Keith Baker]

In this case, it's a little less direct. If you could come up with an anecdote, go for it. But it doesn't seem like I happen to have some.

[Player 2 / Paula]

I got you, girl. Next time.

[Game Master / Keith Baker]

Thank you. Thank you. I appreciate it. All right, so here's the thing. A13 on its own is not gonna do it. It's just gonna make them angry. If you can get to 15, you can get one of them.

[Player 4 / Support Character]

Sure.

[Game Master / Keith Baker]

If you can get to 20, you can get both. Now, the only option you have right now is burning sparks, which is what magic is all about. Two sparks would get you there. Seven sparks would get both of them. That's a lot of sparks. But you have a lesson of fire and blood that lets you burn a health level to get three sparks. Three sparks. Furthermore, you could use one of these to get you two. So if you burned a health level and you used one of these, you just have to use two of the sparks you have there to incinerate both of these guys. You want to do it?

[Player 2 / Paula]

Yeah, I think that's the best option.

[Game Master / Keith Baker]

Takes a lot of power, but you weave together great.

[Player 2 / Paula]

The, I guess, far back again, that is so interesting.

[Game Master / Keith Baker]

You weave together the power, you build up this core of energy. But it is hard. This area is sort of isolated, and so you're having trouble building it up, but then you reach deep inside to draw on that power. What is it? That sort of gives you the strength you need to find that and finish the.

[Player 2 / Paula]

I'm kind of inspired by Pyre's sacrifice and to know that he did so much to save all of us. I would like to, one, not go through this crap again, and two, get it over with so we can move on.

[Game Master / Keith Baker]

And that exactly fits of thinking of Pyre's sacrifice is what draws on that bond, and that gives you power. And then you do. It hurts you to draw that much power through you, but you do and you just vaporize them and the energy disperses in the air.

[Player 2 / Paula]

Cut me. Come in hot.

[Game Master / Keith Baker]

Woo. All right, well done.

[Player 2 / Paula]

Coming in hot. Thank you.

[Player 3 / Stealthy Character]

I hear it deep behind me and I'm just like.

[Player 1 / Pyre]

I creep around the corner and I'm like, they're done now.

[Game Master / Keith Baker]

Timmin is amazing. He's like, how do you do that? What was that? How do you. That's amazing. So you're really a phoenix. I told you. Yeah, I know, but I mean, that's legends. This is remarkable. When we get out of this, I've got to study you in depth. I'm a dinner.

[Player 2 / Paula]

Firth, buy her dinner.

[Game Master / Keith Baker]

I'm over here.

[Player 2 / Paula]

Like, what are you doing?

[Game Master / Keith Baker]

So take the cards that you used, discard those, set them aside and draw three new cards to replace them. Now you're further ahead. As you're going further down, the temperature is dropping sharply. You feel proceeding forward, it might actually start to injure you. Based on how cold it is, would you like to rejoin the group or keep venturing?

[Player 3 / Stealthy Character]

I'm just gonna stay here for a second, try to warm up.

[Game Master / Keith Baker]

So hold your position. Now. There's slight tremors again. You can feel the floor shaking. Little bits of ice are falling down. Are the three of you gonna continue forward? Yes.

[Player 3 / Stealthy Character]

Yes.

[Game Master / Keith Baker]

So as you venture down again, there's a light dusting of frost falling on you. And then suddenly the ground shakes even harder. You hear tearing. A huge chunk of the ceiling starts falling down towards the three of you. And that is where we're gonna stop. What's going to happen? Find out on the next starter kit.

[Player 1 / Pyre]

Next time on starter Kit.

[Game Master / Keith Baker]

You've gone very deep.

[Player 2 / Paula]

We gotta keep moving.

[Game Master / Keith Baker]

This is some sort of bridge to the dusk.

[Player 2 / Paula]

Something bad is about to happen. We were doing so well.

[Player 1 / Pyre]

I don't feel great.

[Player 3 / Stealthy Character]

I'm gonna take the damage for the wing.

[Advertiser / Joey Taranto]

The war is over and both sides lost. Kingdoms were reduced to cinders and armies scattered like bones in the dust. Now the survivors claw to what's left of a broken world, praying the Darkness chooses someone else tonight. But in the Shadowdark, the Darkness always wins. This is old school adventuring at its most cruel. Your torch ticks down in real time and when that flame dies, something else rises to finish the job. This is a brutal rules light nightmare with a story that emerges organically based on the decisions that the characters make. This is what it felt like to play RPG in the 80s. And man, it is so good to be back. Join the Glass Cannon podcast as we plunge into the shadow dark every Thursday night. At 8pm Eastern on YouTube.com theglasscannon with the podcast version dropping the next day. See what everybody's talking about and join us in the dark.

[Advertiser / Ellen Marsh]

Oh, please, not that music. That music gives me nightmares from my childhood.

[Advertiser / Joey Taranto]

Could we get something a little bit lighter? Some lighter music here?

[Advertiser / Ellen Marsh]

Are you a fan of true crime TV shows?

[Advertiser / Joey Taranto]

And what about Unsolved Mysteries, the show that jump started all of our love of true crime?

[Advertiser / Ellen Marsh]

I'm Ellen Marsh.

[Advertiser / Joey Taranto]

And I'm Joey Taranto.

[Advertiser / Ellen Marsh]

And we host I Think Not, a true crime comedy podcast covering some of the wildest stories from your favorite true crime campy TV shows all the way to Unsolved Mysteries.

[Advertiser / Joey Taranto]

Baby, you will laugh, you will cry. You'll think about true crime in a whole new way. And you'll also ask yourself, who gave these people mics?

[Advertiser / Ellen Marsh]

New episodes of I Think not are released every Wednesday, with bonus episodes out every Thursday on Patreon.

[Advertiser / Joey Taranto]

And every Monday you can listen to our True Crime rundown where we go over the top true crime headlines of the week.

[Advertiser / Ellen Marsh]

So come and join us wherever you listen to your podcasts.

[Game Master / Keith Baker]

If there was a big red button that would just demolish the Internet, I would smash that button with my forehead.

[Advertiser / Joey Taranto]

From the BBC, this is the Interface, the show that explores how tech is rewiring your week and your world.

[Player 2 / Paula]

This isn't about quarterly earnings or about tech reviews.

[Advertiser / Joey Taranto]

It's about what technology is actually doing to your work, your politics, your everyday.

[Game Master / Keith Baker]

Life, and all the bizarre ways people are using the Internet.

[Advertiser / Joey Taranto]

Listen on BBC.com or wherever you get your podcasts.