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Critical Role
The Rampart and Beyond | Age of Umbra Episode 4 Part 1
01:49:06
Part 1 Foes and friends await the group as they journey through the ruined landscape of the Halcyon Domain, destiny guiding their steps... DAGGERHEART Daggerheart is OUT NOW! Visit https://daggerheart.com to learn more. Purchase your copy at friendly local game stores, Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and other bookstores, or Critical Role shops: US: https://shop.critrole.com UK: https://shop.critrole.co.uk EU: https://shop.critrole.eu AU: https://shop.critrole.com.au CA: https://canada.critrole.com AGE OF UMBRA Small communities hold fast against the darkness of a dying world in Age of Umbra, a dark, survival fantasy 8-part Daggerheart mini-series with Game Master Matthew Mercer and players Ashley Johnson, Laura Bailey, Liam O’Brien, Marisha Ray, Sam Riegel, Taliesin Jaffe, and Travis Willingham. Death lurks around every corner, but five characters of the small community of Desperloch must band together to fight for hope for their community, risking it all for those they love. BEA...
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Not available Fab Metro with T Mobile in the past 6 months tax appl foreign for this podcast comes from Progressive, a leader in RV insurance. We've all made RVing mistakes like not pest proofing the RV for winter, but there's one mistake you shouldn't make. Not insuring your travel trailer. Progressive RV insurance can protect your travel trailer when your auto or home insurance can get a'@progressive.com Progressive Casualty Insurance Company and affiliates hey there Critter Podcast listeners. We have a special new membership service at Beacon TV where you get early access to all new podcast episodes including Critical Role. For the first time ever. Beacon members also get things like live event presales, merch discounts, access to a private community discord, and new exclusive series like Critical Role Cooldown. Think of it as our digital Critical role. Land head on over to Beacon TV to check it out for yourself and start a seven day free trial. Thank you so much for your support for being a podcast listener and for being a part of our community. Hey there Critters. This is Ashley Johnson and Telus and Jeffe and we're popping in here to talk about our new podcast on Beacon. Weird Kids. In this series, we're diving into our lives as former child actors, from unraveling our eccentric upbringings to embracing all the delightfully odd interests we still have. Today we're covering so many topics like antique toys, taxidermy, Japanese pop culture, and honestly, anything else we come up with. Weird Kids is available exclusively on Beacon. But good news, we're offering a one month free trial on Beacon TV so you can take a look before you become a member. Just use the code Weirdos at Beacon TV to start the trial. You can also find fellow weirdos by following the series on our heweirdkidspod Instagram and using the hashtag weirdkids. So to all the misfits, outcasts and weirdos out there, come take a seat at our table and celebrate all things unconventional, nostalgic and wonderfully weird. Welcome to Weird Kids. New episodes release every Tuesday. Hey there, Matthew Mercer here and you're listening to the podcast version of Age of Umbra, a dark tale and campaign setting from our recently released tabletop RPG Daggerheart from Darrington Press. You don't need to know anything about the rules or system to enjoy the story, but if you're inspired to want to play along, we have several short how to Play resources we lovingly call get yout Sheet Together, available to watch right now on Beacon TV and YouTube.com criticalrole this is part one of the episode right now and part two arrives the following Tuesday. If you'd rather get instant and ad free access to the full episode, consider becoming a Beacon member where you can watch bonus content like the cast discussing each episode and Critical Role Cooldown. Receive Critical Role shop discounts including on Daggerheart and much more. Sign up now at Beacon TV and that should cover it. Now let's dive into the adventure. Hello everyone and welcome to tonight's episode of Age of Umbra. Yes, before we jump into our episode tonight, we do have some announcements to get through. Liam yes, it's behind me, isn't it? Anyway, I got comic news, Comic News, Vox Machina Origins Series 1 is now releasing in print for the first time versus digital only as single issues complete with brand new glossy covers. Each issue will feature brand new cover art from artists like Francesco Francavilla, Duncan Figredo and Max Dunbar. Oh, he's going down for another one. No. See where Critical Role's first campaign adventuring party began and ask for it now at your friendly local comic shop. Awesome. Thank you Liam. And with that, I believe that concludes our announcements. So let's go ahead and jump into tonight's episode of Age of Sam sa. 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Not available Fab Metro with T Mobile in the past six months Tax supplies Support for this podcast comes from Progressive, a leader in RV insurance we've all made RVing mistakes like not pest proofing the RV for winter. But there's one mistake you shouldn't make. Not insuring your travel trailer. Progressive RV insurance can protect your travel trailer when your auto or home insurance can't. Get a quote@progressive.com, progressive Casualty Insurance Company and affiliates still getting around to that fix on your car? You got this on ebay you'll find millions of parts guaranteed to fit. Doesn't matter if it's a major engine repair or your first time swapping your windshield wipers, eBay has that part you need ready to click perfectly into place for changes big and small, loud or quiet. Find all the parts you need at prices you'll love. Guaranteed to fit every time. But you already know that ebay Things people love Eligible Items only Exclusion Supply hello and welcome to this next session of the Age of Umbra. Where last we left off, your troop had left your village of Desperlock after the unfortunate corruption of your teenage friend Aaron caused her to transform into a terrifying umbertouched beast, which then snuffed the sacred pyre flame, leaving Desperlock with only so much time to survive against the horrid dark with the threat of an umbral wind some point in the near future, you are one of two troops sent out in search to confirm uno women a rumor that blessed branches still might exist. Unfound and unsparked. The one that you were told to seek supposedly lies within the Barrow of Blind Repose, the tomb of the heretic Saint Evelyar in the idol hollows north of the Astra foundry beyond Amber Reach, you were granted a map, some provisions, and you trekked out into the wilds of the jungle. And when those trees began to subside across the oceanside cliffs, past a raging river of a smashed bridge, until eventually you stepped onto the beginning of your trek across the sunken rampart, the massive crumbling outer wall of what was once the exterior perimeter of Amber Reach. Now with the rising of the ashen sea since the apostasy the ocean laps angrily against the base of this wall. And the neighborhood that it once protected now lies deep under the waters. Pushing on into the night with little light but your conjured aetherweave flame guiding you forward. You push into the dark the burning light of the sacred pyre of your destination Bokoru. Distant but present. A guiding light here in the shadow. So hearing the sounds of crashing waves below, a faint wind that blows in proximity and the gentle rainfall that's continued to persist since earlier in the day. You are waterlogged. You are freezing. And every now and then you catch an errant sound sourceless that causes you to jump and continue forward. Who is leading this trek through the darkness to navigate the somewhat precarious Rampart? You said. I don't think I have darkvision or anything. I have darkvision. August does. Come on, August. Do I get a bonus for darkvision or. No. Darkvision just means the or isn't a disadvantage to the attempt. I would like you to make an instinct roll for me to navigate and perceive the safest path across this rampart at night. Don't kill us. I'm going to attempt. This is a kind of vague experience thing that I have. This might be a good usage for it. But I feel like I would get some confidence because I absolutely am supposed to be here. That's your experience. Experience. Yeah. You can. You can pass it off if you like. Delightfully vague. Yeah. You're welcome. It's more of a social thing. I just thought I'd try as a social thing. Maybe in this instance. I say it will not de escalation. Do you know who I am? That literally is. Cuz I don't. Who am I? All right. Here we go. Smash this door. I'm supposed to be here. It's a eat the sandwich. Which I'm supposed to be. Absolutely supposed to be. No worries. What? What is it? It's instinct. Instinct. That's a crit. Okay. Sure is. Get that fantastic 10 and 10. Okay. So great. I'm taking that home and clearing the stress that makes life. We should like all get up. I feel like you keep taking. I I. I agree. Yeah. And I should get a fear every single time. Any of you. Okay. Okay. Okay. I'm just saying we balance the rules as we. All right. All right. Or we'll stick with Alluka. Okay. Thankfully this side of the Rampart isn't so heavily weathered by the terrible Sundering of the land in the wake of the apostasy. And this initial portion of the rampart's walk is intact. The occasional fallen crumbled bit. The two edges of the massive wall itself keeping that stone bridge between them. Where once a hollow interior of this wall allowed the old armies of amber reach to move throughout to store things. And you managed to catch a few areas where the above stone platforms have tumbled inward, leaving a plummeting hole of 30, 40ft below into what may be either ocean if it's filled or just whatever hard stone lies below. But you pier one pier a second one and eventually a large section that has collapsed inward. You make note of. And you all manage to maneuver around without issue. The evening draws on and three more hours of going across this rampart. The rain is cold. The exhaustion sets in a bit. Do you push on? Better get to town. Got to get to town. I'll get to town. Okay. I would like you to make another instinct roll for me. Come on. Another crit. Just double it up. Nice. Critical 11 with hope. Okay, you gain a hope. But the rampart begins to grow slightly more precarious the further in you go. The tide seems to be rising as what was once a gentle crashing of water becomes heavy waves. Occasionally the spray of sea catches your cheek from the left hand side. And part of your imagination wanders to imagine this wall being swallowed whole before you can get across. You don't catch it because you're focused on the path ahead. But the rest of you here getting hungry. Sorry. Was that you tummy? Yeah. Another sound just like that that was behind you. Another one also behind you, but almost to the other ear. That wasn't me. I think we're being followed. Do we turn and look? You turn around and it is darkness. You have enough light to see immediately around you for about 15, 20ft. A little further for you because of your dark vision. I was in the say. Yeah, but that sound sounded like it was a few hundred feet. 1,000ft. You're uncertain the distance, but it was not immediately nearby. Should we try and move faster? I think so. I think we move faster. We done? Can we run? Run, run. It's the dark. No, don't run in the dark. We're going to definitely move. I also do have advantage to. Are you moving with haste or are you carefully progressing? We should move with haste and take the chance because we are carrying a light. Yes, I can also. Yeah. So we're fucking standing out in the dark. Let's go. All right. So I'M going to ask for a group roll. Since you are navigating the dark, you are helming this group roll. Plus I want Ashley to die again. So for this, so you'll roll last. This is going to be an agility roll across the group. And because it is raining, the final roll will be made a disadvantage. Oh, so you subtract D6, the final roll. I'll subtract a D6 from you. Can I spend a hope to add a D6 for myself? Add a hope. You cannot help yourself. You cannot help. You cannot help your allies. This is the fourth game. It does also say I get advantage. Perceived details within darkness. Advantage to hide investigator perceive details. This is not slipping on the slick stone as you charge rapidly into the dark. Fair, Fair. So let's go around with the rest of you agility rolls, please. I think I get advantage on this because of my steady ridgeborne feature. No, this is not mountainous territory necessarily. And I'd say in this instance, because you cannot see in the dark, I will not grant that advantage. Okay, great. Wow. Just stop. Do we need to switch to say it out loud, he's pointing to you. Just stop. Five was fear. Okay, so it's a minus one. Do we fear and hope does that? No, you don't gain fear and hope in a group. Nine. Only the final one does. Nine. Nine minus two. Seventeen with hope. Okay, it's a plus one. Sixteen. Okay, that's a no bonus to your final roll roll. An agility check for me. Minus. Oh, Matthew fucking Mercer. Minus six. What did he roll? Does a crit happen here? Does that work? Oh, like a crit of force. Crit happens. Look at the confidence. Mathematically, you guys are busting up somewhere. Somewhere the ether is. Is. Is. There's a dea going. Well done. Well done, lives. I'll remember this. Damn. Can I just have some of that? Just a little. Does one trade dice? Do you want to trade? Can we trade fear dice? Yeah, we can trade fear dice, yeah. Cause maybe that'll help. Actually, I'm not going to use your fear. I'm going to use my other fear dice. It's all uphill from here as you all begin to pick up your pace, rushing through the night's shadow. The majority of you not having much vision beyond what is barely immediately in front of you. As August pushes into the dark, you slide and slip. And there are a few moments where some of you almost begin to lose your footing, but your fellow allies reach out and grab your shoulder instead of you. As you continue to run Getting louder and louder. The flicker of the flame possibly being a beacon drawing something from the shadow in your direction. But you continue pushing on. You mark out and point out with a as much volume as you feel is absolutely necessary to reach the ears of your allies with the quickness in which you're traveling to mark that hole, Mark that gap there. At a certain point, the wall comes to a stop. And there is a small stone bridge that crosses to the other half of another buttressing wall on that side. And you stop before you all end up pummeling over the side one after another, pushing into each other. But you stop it in time, August. And you carefully move across that bridge and continue on to the adjacent wall, forward to the next segment of the sunken rampart. This goes on for another hour or so. Your lungs are starting to burn. The heat inside is almost as much as it hurts. It's welcome in comparison to the freezing temperature of your extremities. You're about half or so way across the rampart. You hope. From what you recall seeing the distance before the light of day left you, you can see the flame of Falkoru still ahead. Is it larger? It's hard to tell. But you press on louder still. Should we extinguish the flame and do it in the dark? I'm going to just lead in the dark since I can actually. I do have dark. Well, Daisy chain hands on shoulders. All right. And I'm going to tie us up. This will lessen your pace. I'm going to push Mishy off the right part. I need you to make an instinct roll. A group roll one more time, actually, for this, because they're not able to really help you because they can't see much in this space. This isn't going to be a group roll. This is just you rolling. And since it's instinct, I still can't use my advantage. He's absolutely supposed to be here. Not anymore. This doesn't make any sense. For that I was making. I know. Yeah. I know what I was thinking. Can I spend a hope? Whoa. Two. Two is help him look for where we're supposed to be. You can spend a hope to give him advantage if you'd like. Yeah. May I? Yes. Okay. It feels like it would be a good time. Oh, you roll the. I was like, it was almost. You want to go first? Yeah. Here we go. Two. So two. That's 16 with hope. 16 with hope. Okay. So take a hope. I'm full here in the dark without the light guiding you. You have Sight. But the slickness of the rain is slowing you and the further you press on, the rampart is crumbling more and more, strongest at its base towards the mountains. Now whole sections of it have fallen into the ocean. And you hear the splashing of the heavy waves. The promise of being crushed and lost, drowned or worse beneath the waters that even your sight cannot match. You cross back over to the initial wall side as another bridge pulls across and a whole segment of the wall has fallen. You see now a lot of these bridges have been built with newer materials where whole segments and gaps in this wall have been reconstructed and reinforced for travelers that wish to traverse this. Those of you who have traveled to and from Desperlock pick up and remember traversing these bridges during lighter hours because it's folly to attempt this at night. You are about 2/3 beyond the rampart. As you hear it again. Do we also hear anything like flapping of wings? Yes. No wings of splashing noises like it's far, it's swimming. Do we hear any other context clues? Direction? Roll an instinct roll for me to see if you can pick up any details beyond just the ever louder howling. About fucking time. Sorry. Thank you. You're welcome. 19 with Hope. Yeah. Take that hope. Yay. Finally. Yeah. All right. Never again. You do not hear any wings beating. And against the sound of rain splashing into the stone surfaces and the crashing of waves, it is very challenging to make out anything specific. But you do hear a heavy impact that seems to be irregular. And you also hear. Something's up here. Now does it sound like two? You hear two communicating. You're not quite sure how far they are from you, but they're loud. As loud as they've ever been. Clever girl. I'm going to spend a fear. Uh oh. As you reach close to where you imagine, there is one stretch of the rampart that for hundreds of feet is just gone. It is completely washed away. And a long bridge has been built that hangs. And when the winds blow in particular it is not safe to traverse. Thankfully the wind is not as strong right now. But you know it's not that far ahead, Snix. You can't be that far ahead. As you begin to recall and about to note this, there is another part of a small bridge that crosses over from one half to the other side of the rampart. And as you rush up, you catch it just in time. August along with Brixton noting what you hear. That part of the stone bridge has fallen and collapsed and you now reach an where there is nowhere to Go other than maybe a 25, 30 foot gap to the other side. And you also hear an impact across the way of where you were in front of us. And the ones that we heard before this, do they sound closer than they have before? Like the closest we've heard the noises. They're probably somewhere within 100 of you. Now, how big is this platform that we're on? And is there any. It's about 10 to 12ft wide from side to side. Can't see across it, but we. You can barely see what little bit of light is breaking through the occasional clouds. You can see the outer shape. It's slick with the rain and the reflection on it giving the faintest of outlines. You all want some light, whatever it is, they already know where you're. But we're trying to get across this chasm, right? You also hear as the wind kind of picks up slightly, the wet creaking of heavy iron. I know what this is. We're on a Foley stage of a movie, a movie editing place. There's like an elevator or like a chain bridge or something we just can't see. I see it. Do we see any type of chains affixed to the edge here that drape down? It's dark, right? No chains. But as you've been looking down and in front of you, it is pitch black except for what little bit of moonlight occasionally escapes through the clouds. And you hear the sound. It's not from below, it's from above. I'm going to fly up. That's what I see. You look over, you fly up. As you fly up, your head almost hits something above you. And you move out of the way and you see there's a. A large. And you've seen these before, you'd forgotten about them in the rush here. But there are large arcing pieces of metal where cages hang. Human sized cages. As you float up into it, it's occupied. And you see a tiny little person inside staring back at you, their fingers entwined in the cage. Hello. Would you like to come to the table? What? Oh, really? Oh, snap. Who's this now? Who is this mystery person? Who is this? Oh, boy. Oh, thank you. What? In a cage? Laura Bailey, if you would like to describe what August sees soaking wet inside this metal cage hanging above the rampart. You see in front of you a very small girl with pale white skin and pale white hair. Her dress looks kind of nice, but is tattered. And she's looking at you very innocently. Hello. I have to warn you, it really hasn't been that long since a young girl turned into a giant black ooze monster. So I'm going to be a bit careful right now. I'm not a giant ooze monster. We'll be the judge of that. How? What? What's your name? I'm Adelia. What's your name? August. Pleasure. We both start with A's. Oh, geez. We do. Why are you in a cat cage? Oh, well, a very holy man put us in here. Although I don't think he was very holy. Oh, my friend, he's in a cage too. Can you let us out? We're very hungry. August, who are you talking to up there? Do you have friends? Yes, technically. Are you all right? You're a light. What the fuck are you doing up there? Hold on, that's actually not true. You've got. I've got. There are monsters around here. We are well aware. Do you know how to get across by any chance? Sure, if you let me out, I'll show you. They're offering to. I have to let my friend out too. They're offering to. You should probably ask why they're in there in the first place. Well, I did. Well, apparently a very holy man put them in there. A holy man? Not that holy. Oh, she's a tiny girl. Yes, I am a tiny girl. If they are considered heretics, then perhaps we should reconsider this. Well, I'm considered a heretic technically. So we could just leave them and keep going. Yeah. Yes, yes, that's a good idea. I'm with. Sorry. Please don't. You haven't eaten in a long time. We don't have any food. What do you eat? People? No. How did you. How did you get in here? The man put us in here. A man. You know, we have to make sure. We're going to have to throw something close. How close is it sounding? How do we open? You listen and look over and about 30ft behind you see this shape moving out of one of the rampart half covered walls. What looks about the size of a large tiger. Maybe a bit larger than that from what you can glance and see. Its body and shoulders seem to be bulbous in almost like the back of a massive toad. And a tail whips and cracks into the stone behind. And the way its head's moving, it looks like it's sniffing in the air. August, whatever you're going to do, do it first. Coin can help you. How do we open the cage? Well, I think you need a key. Can you break a lock? Well, we're about to find out. Have you seen the bridge? Yes, I was on the bridge. I'm going to find whatever passes for a lock on this cage. There is above, at the very top of the iron, out of reach to the very apex, there is a massive metal bolt that is pushed through that holds the cage there. And there is an iron lock on it that is latched tight. It is heavy, thick iron that is rusted. Well, this will be amusing if you get screeve out. He can probably help you. He's very good with locks. Which direction? Over there. She notes, across the way. The other side of the rampart where the other secondary growl was. We don't even know how far. About 30ft. Oh, I'm. I'll book over there. You're gonna fly? You're leaving? He left us. Wait, did you open the door? He left. No. You fly off to the other side and see a secondary cage dangling and hanging. There was a growl over there. You're fine. I'm going to stand next to idol and draw my sword. The veiled gods are testing us. They are. And how far up are the cages? They're about 10ft above you. Maybe a little less than maybe 8ft above. Dangling. I'm going to just try to reach my arm up then and try to just see how I could maybe try to unhook or help reaching your hand up. You can reach the bottom of the cage, but it is a solid bottom of a cage. You would have to climb up onto it and then break or pull a lock, which you could attempt if you want to. Okay, I reach my hand out. I'll do that. Oh, hi. Hello. You're going to try and break it. I'm going to hop up onto. Bouncing off of Misty. I will hop up onto the cage and try to catch myself on it. Okay. So you leap up. It's easy enough to do off of her back to catch onto the cage and the cage immediately just swings a bit with momentum. Oh, boy. Hi. Oh, wow. You're young. I am young. Is this the one? That's 30ft close. What do you look like? I forget. I'm a goat man. Oh, yes. What do you look like? I'm a little girl. Like a human girl. Okay. Yeah. He asks you already. You're not a dark, shadowy ooze creature? Nope. Just here's a girl. I have a crowbar that was given to me. I'm gonna try to one hand, hang on one hand, jam it in and cry. I'm going to put my arms out and hold on to him so that he doesn't fall. He tries to do this. Your arms, your hands. Yes, I am very cold and wet, but don't worry. All right, go ahead and make a strength roll. Not my fort. That would be 18. 17 with fear. 17 with fear. First one, you jam it in once and it only gets partway in there. It rocks a little bit from the momentum. You pull back and the second time slam it in and it gets just enough leverage. You put your legs back against the side. You almost have to let from where he's wedging himself in there. And as you pink, you pull and it snaps. The bolt bends and the cage lands onto the bottom or onto the top of the rampart itself and rolls for a few feet. You have to back out of the way and just in time. Well, I want to try to help it so it doesn't. So she wouldn't get hurt, Right? And you manage to do so. She doesn't get hurt. But the process and expectation of this does mark a stress on you from the sudden impact of it. And stopping the cage there across the way, you have floated up to the secondary cage and here you see indeed another figure is awaiting, far taller than the first one you saw. If you wouldn't mind coming to the table. Who is it? Who's it going to be? Who's it going to be? It could be anybody. So much stuff. Adelia. Adelia. Adele Dazeem. Adele Dazeem. Wait, Adelia or Adelia? Adenia, Adelia And Camellia. Who's come over? Taliesin's character. Yes, August. August has come over. Red robot spider. Spider man has come. Something is standing in the cage. Waking in the cage. Oh boy. Delia Screeve. That's my name. What's yours? Amorgus. Do you come recommended? Oh, by own, Adelia. Did you recommend me? That's awful nice of you. At this moment, the cage impacts hard from some sort of unseen force. As it begins to rock back, just out of your vision, you see a monstrous form of some panther or tiger like entity that is leapt onto the cage itself. The metal itself is almost bending down from the sheer weight of it. And just an inch from your face as it comes by, you see its jaw open up. Where the eyes are are flesh film covered bulbs on the front and a massive red pink snout that is filled with teeth. Along the back of its shoulders you can see all manner of heavy fur and spines that protrude from it. I'm going to go ahead and pull a map out to show you the yeah, give it to us. I'll take this. Streve grips the bars and pull. Pulls close to August's face and says, oh, August, it's a party now. Going up. Prices keep going up. These days it feels like being on an elevator that only goes up. Going up. But not at Metro. We're pushing the down button. Going down, we've lowered prices. Get one line of 5G data for $40, period. That's 20% lower. And you get a free Samsung 5G phone with when you bring your number only at Metro five year guarantee on eligible plans exclusion supply. See website for details. Not available at Metro with T Mobile in the past six months tax supplies Support for this podcast comes from Progressive, a leader in RV insurance. We've all made RVing mistakes, like not pest proofing the RV for winter. But there's one mistake you shouldn't make. Not insuring your travel trailer. Progressive RV insurance can protect your travel trailer when your auto or home insurance can't. Get a quote@progressive.com Progressive Casualty Insurance Company and affiliates. Still getting around to that fix on your car. You got this on ebay, you'll find millions of parts guaranteed to fit. Doesn't matter if it's a major engine repair or your first time swapping your windshield wipers. Ebay has that part you need ready to click perfectly into place for changes big and small, loud or quiet. Find all the parts you need at prices you'll love. Guaranteed to fit every time. But you already know that ebay things people love. Eligible items only excluding supply. Race the rudders. Race the sails. Raise the sails. Captain, an unidentified ship is approaching. Over. Roger. Wait, is that an enterprise sales solution? Read the sales. Professionals, not professional sailors. With LinkedIn ads, you can target the right people by industry, job title, and more. We'll even give you a $100 credit on your next campaign. Get started today at LinkedIn.com results. Terms and conditions apply. Oh, we got water. Okay, this makes perfect sense. Look at you guys in there. So. Oh, that's a. That's cool. Got rope and everything. You have been pulled from this cage and there you are. What a cool man. Okay, so I'm out of the cage. You are out of the cage. At this point, as it fell and kind of broke open, the front door kind of swung. This is awesome. Look at the white caps. What the hell? This is awesome. And you are right there traveling. This is so precarious. Precarious. Which is fun. You're very big intent. I am very large this side. And you Also just helped get her free and leaked off on that side. You're keeping up with Brixton? I'm looking down the rampart thing. Turned your way away. I'm just going to have more of my wings over Adelia. All right. Just to protect from the rain. And here, August, is where you are currently floating. Yep. Right there or. Yeah, more or less right next to of the cage. On this cage. Oh boy. What is that? It is this monstrous creature, one of two that has been hunting you as you've been keeping an eye across the other path you've been coming from, heading this direction towards Volkoru. This is the one that's been stalking you from the other side. Oh boy. Okay, this will be fun. So friends, who would like to take an action first? Too close for me. Yep. Oh, you're gone. Throw a bolt beacon. Throw a bolt beacon. Yep. That's a close or far range? Far, please. Yeah, definitely within range. Go ahead and make a roll for me. That is 14, 15, 16 on a spell cast roll with magic. That hits. Yeah. Amazing. That'll light them up, makes them temporarily vulnerable until the condition is is cleared. And that does nice. 8, 10. 10 points of magic damage. And that was with hope. Yes, Take down hope. Great. So 10 points you said? Yes. All righty. So as that beacon slams into that creature as it's getting it ready to pounce, backs up for a second. The golden white flame that burns around it makes it suddenly a vibrant target in the middle of this shadow, lights up the entirety of the slick stone around it and gives you a very immediate view of everything around the water falls down 25, 30ft into the crashing surf below, where there are all manner of jagged rocks and fallen ruin. And the gap that lies between where you are and where you need to be as both of these beasts begin to slowly collide. I was squaring up with Idol and so Brixton is just gonna run over, sword out. All right. Yeah, you can travel to get to close the gap to melee Hiratu. Redeem us. Oh, yeah. Yes. Yes. 17, 18 and 19 with hope. There you go. Success. Go ahead and roll damage. Thank the Lord. Maybe today will be my day. Okay, that's going to be eight. 12 physical damage. 12 physical damage. Great. So it marks two hit points there at the end of your turn. 12 physical damage. I'm actually going to seeing it on the edge. I'm going to spin to hope. I'm going to add a D6 to that and gore it with my tusks. Go for it goring swing spike. And then I'm gonna basically head bet forward with it. Yes, I can. I just have to spend a hope and I haven't fucking had any. All right, for an additional two damage. Two damage. That does mark another hit point, but it's something great. I'm gonna spend a fear to take the spotlight. Even though you had succeeded on my end there. You can do that? Oh, yeah, do that. I just haven't had the next illegal. That is literally one of the queens. Go for it. I'm a gi. Wounds but toy commercial for a second. I've been patient as we kind of got through the rules here. But the GM can spend a fear to jump in. Wait, wait. All of us should do it at the same time. 1, 2, 3. You can do that. And you can too, as the GM of the game of Dagger Hunt, available at Toys R Us. As it lights up up, all of you look over towards these two creatures and you recognize them because you've run from these types before. Oh, no. These are pain beasts. Pain beasts. You've delivered their flesh knots. Yes, I have. Yep. I don't like this. Isn't everything a pain beast? It is. But that one that you've both marked and slashed at angrily going to one. I'm going to spend a fear to remove its condition. It is no longer temporarily vulnerable. I know. But as that one activates, it's going to go ahead and. Oh, actually, that's a good point of order there. So you did mark two more hit points. I'm also going to spend a fear to have tied spines protrude towards you, Brixton, and you take 11 points of physical damage as you strike it with your weapon. And the spines cut into your armor and kind of push you to the ground with a burst of pain throughout your entire circle. I'm going to spend an armor to reduce it to one. You got it? Now, as its action it's gonna go ahead. I'm gonna spend a fear to use its venomous tail against four fears this turn. Yeah, well, this is activation. No, for sure. But that's the thing. It's expensive to do my turn out of order because it costs an additional fear to do that inside of us all. There are four wounds. That's going to be 11 to hit you, Brixton. Yes. All right. So as it rears back, it flexes its hind legs, and its tail, which you just saw whipping in shadow all of a sudden arcs overhead where it has these two massive, jagged, curved points to it, almost like a Scorpion stinger. It sinks into the back of your shoulders, and you take 13 points of physical damage. Okay. That's a bigger strike. And you are poisoned until you heal a hit point. Until you heal a hit point. You feel it course through your body, and as you buckle to one knee, you have disadvantage on all action rolls. While you are poisoned, I'm going to once again drop. Is that if I take damage or I'm just poisoned? Regardless, you're just. Loreen, you're poisoned now until you heal that point. I just didn't know if I were to reduced it down to zero damage, if that would negate that. No, the poison still goes into your system. Okay, I will drop another armor. Well, here, I'll tell you what. Since you're negating the damage, if you were to negate it entirely, then that would logically make sense. To negate the poison, I will negate it entirely. That's what guardians can do, because I can spend two to drop it, almost. So as it strikes into the back of your armor, you crumble into a ball and let the majority of the plate catch it. It pierces it and it scratches the top of your neck. Not enough to actually pierce the flesh. And you feel the venom fill the back of the chest plate, but it doesn't inject into your torso. My orcish sturdiness just flecks a little, and it ejects the poison out of my spine. You got us. All right. How about Rawberry? That's my activation. Who wants to go now? I would really like to. Yeah, I was gonna say we gotta open that case. No one knows what I look like. I'll take this chance. There is a gaunt, gaunt motherfucker inside this cage, all bent up in a pretzel like I am now, with scraggly white hair on one side, shaved, wrapped in leather, and black cloth strips all over his body, except for a big diamond titty window right here. Yes, a silver ring threaded through the flesh of his chest. And arms are bare. And there are little rings, silver rings in his flesh there as well. Bring out the gib. He starts banging his hands on the inside of the cage. And you see there's little black gloves or something. But you hear metal hitting metal, and he says, hick, kitty. Kick, kick. Ki. Tickety. And I will use enrapture and make a spell cast roll on the pain beast to draw its attention towards me. Let's go. Spell cast roll for me, please. Oh, that's 15 with fear. 15 with fear. Oh, no, no, no. All Righty. So that is a success. When does the ring pierced through your chest? Or is it threaded? Threaded, Threaded, Threaded. So you see metal. Love it. Awesome. And as he sees it looking like growling and he just sticks a pinky under, goes, oh, jeez, come on. The beast is hanging onto the cage there as you're staring at it, its face was looking over towards August, who's flying in the air. And you see it was getting ready to leap off the cage towards him. You begin to clatter and let that magical weave through. Your words radiate weird. All the kiddies love scree. I wish they would play with. As in rapture. It just focuses on you entirely. On me. It blots out everything else. And it is going to attempt to pierce its tail through the holes in the cage at you. I'm going to spend a few. He's not making it to the end. That's going to be an eight. Oh, that hits me very well. I will use one of my armor. Five seconds. Let's see what damage you take first. Oh, yes, yes, yes. That is going to be 10 points of physical damage. 10. Oh, yes. I will use. So that would go to major damage, but I will stick up my arm and the iron claw on one side will take that and rips away some of my armor. So I will mark an armor and take one hit point. You got it. But you are now poisoned as well. Until you heal a hypo that's on that end. I'm going to go ahead and spend a fear to activate the other pain beast across the way. That's going to leap over you, Brixton, and it's going to go ahead and make a sweeping strike against you. Idle. That's a natural 20. That's a crit on you. Crit on me. A crit on me is a crit on you. What are you trying to do, August? I'm trying to do a thing that I can maybe make you reroll. I'm just trying to find it again. Yeah, it's a wizard thing. Let's see. Here it is one of my prayer decks at the beginning of each session. Luck, Tender, not willing ally. It's the other one. Oh, God, I can't find it. Shit, if I can't find it, can you take it or is it an option? It's a thing I have where I can make you reroll. I'm just trying to figure out where it is. God damn it. Not slumber, not arcane. Barrage. Not telepathy. Don't use it. I Want to take this? Okay, take it then. Fuck, yeah. At this point, I'm not sure where it is, so you can't find it. All right, so that's going to be 18 points of physical damage on you, and I need you to make a strength reaction roll for me. You got it? Okay. I'm gonna burn an armor to drop that down to minor damage. Strength reaction roll plus two. 17, 18. I'm sorry. 18, 19, 20. Dirty 20. With strength. Great. With Hope. With Hope. It's a reaction roll. It doesn't matter. That's cool. It swipes you and you feel your body. The sheer force of its impact cause you to slide against the slick stone. It's attempting to sweep you off of the wall. And you just take your halberd and dig it onto the opposite side of the wall. Catch yourself and hold on. The impact, not enough to send you over the edge. A little help. That's my activation. I'm gonna open the cage. For God's sake, it's been driving me insane. Sorry. Here we go. I'm going to fly over to that cage, I'm going to take my wand, my little sewing needle, get it right into that, into the lock, and I'm going to cast. I'm going to just put an ice spike right in there. I'm just going to drop a little tear in there, back up about a couple feet, and then. So you're attempting to damage the lock enough to break from internally. Yeah, I'm going to go ahead and roll for spellcast. All right, that's just two D6 plus two. Thank you, Spooky Spider Man. That is 18 plus 18. Fear. 18 with fear. Okay, that is enough to break the lock. So the lock shatters ice out of it for a second. The iron holds from the ice, almost filling the gaps, and it's for a moment holding the cage itself before the ice shatters in the cage, impacts on the edge. It would tumble off with you in it if the beast wasn't holding onto it and focused on you. And so while the cage goes, the beast holds on you with the front of the claws and just clutches and keeps you there as the back of the cage opens on the opposite side and you step out of it. Let's see what you got. Hooray. Scream, scream. Watch. Their tails are a little sticky. And with that, screed is freed. Yay. Yes. Hashtag free screed. I love this, Liam. I love this for you. What do you mean? All right, since that was with. I don't know how Long this sweater is gonna last. This beast is immediately going to to activate. Since you knocked out of the cage. Since you rolled with fear or you roll fear to give up. Focused on me it is. It's going to go ahead and attempt to sweep you. Is that titty diamond? I'm going to ask a rule question once a day. According to this card. I can mark a stress to make it mark a stress as well. You can if you want to. I would like to do that. Sure enough. Hurt yourself to hurt it. All right. That'll be that one there, actually. Okay. That beam. Can we see what type of what manner of creature screeve is? Screeve from best you can find a distance human. Okay. Okay. But he is scrunched down and is sort of mimicking the pain beast's stance on the ground and just wiggling his butt looking at it, ready to. And you're also a human screech. Does a 14 hit you? Why, yes, it does. And so for that, it strikes you for two. 10, 11, 12, 13 points of physical damage as a heavy claw whomps into your shoulder. And as the claw digs in, it also tries to push you off the side. So. So 13 points hits my severe damage. 3 hit points. So I will lose even more of the wraps around my gaunt little bony body. That's two armor down. I take two. Hitboy's damage fucked up. I need you to make a strength reaction roll. Come on. Yeah. And because we have a full table now, we can also put out these little things. You can put these out here to know who's taking a turn. That's an 11 with fear. So it's a reaction roll. So no fear or hope gained. But that is a failure. God damn it. You escape from the cage and just as you get out there and it's focused on you intently, it swats you. You watch a screeve across the way, steps free from the cage, curls around, and then just gets knocked off the edge and into the darkened rain. Plummets. Poisoned down. Oh, you're poisoned too. That's great. Into the water. A massive column of sea foam and water just knocked up into the air. Jackknight. Amazing. No Scream. Violet will save you. And I throw my doll after him. The doll screeb save Violet. Scream goes to swim to retrieve the doll. Pan's labyrinth. I know. I love it. I'm going to spend another fear to activate the other pain beast. And then it's going to mark a stress to pounce. That pain beast on that side is going to leap up into the air onto the top of the pent iron and pounce downward towards you. The largest visible threat on that platform. As much as I can off the side there. And this beam to sort of protect the child for that. It's going to attack you. Ooh, that's a natural 19. This is not an umbra touched beast, so it is not a crit, but that is still going to be a 21 to hit you. Yes, it hits. I think that hits. For that pounce you take. That's not too bad. Seven points of physical damage. Okay. I'm going to use an armor to take that down. Okay. And you need to mark a stress as it grapples and pushes you to the ground from its heavy weight. And you are knocked and try and pull away, Your wings pinned against the ground as it's holding you there. Push him. Okay, so that finishes my activation. Who wants to go next? You are raring something. Just seeing someone fall off a ledge brings back painful memories of watching a dear friend of mine fall. Your doggo. A deer. A friend of yours. That was a deer. My sweet baby. My whomper. So I'm gonna pull out the crossbow, the crowbar, and my rope and quickly tie it and latch it onto the cage if I can. And I'm going to jump after screeve. Oh, okay. For that, I'm going to say you can roll. Agility or finesse. Your choice. Agility, please. All right, I'm going to jump down, try to find him. 15, 16. 17 with hope. 17 with hope. You take that hope. And as you latch on and then swing down, you manage to catch your feet on one of the nearby rocks and just barely step onto this partially collapsed platform where you catch onto a part of it. You're still holding the rope, and screeve is in the water. Dove below. Just as you get there, is just gone and out of sight. Who are his. What was your name again? Screeve. Hello. Hello. I'm here to save you. Screeve emerges clutching. Get down. Get away from me. You get a hoof to the jaw real fast, holding a waterlogged doll. Oh, God. Take my hand. Ew. What? Ew. Careful. And our hands clasp. And you see really rough looking, jagged, rusty iron claws protruding from the gloves or claws strapped to his hand. Oh, they're not part of you. No, they're a weapon. Oh, okay. Good, good, good. And so you pull Screev out of the water up onto this diagonal, partially collapsed platform with the rope still in your hand. Mm. Good. Cause I'm a badass. Can you climb? Come on in the waters, folks. Fine. Are there shadows around us? Oh, there's much shadow. What little bit of moonlight is coming through is coming from that direction. So there is shadow all around this place. You watch as I just go like this with the doll in hand, and I fall backward into a shadow and suddenly roll out from behind Misty's shadow up on the rampart. Nice. And creep around. And I come very servile to Adelia and. Hold up Violet. Violet, thank you for saving Screeve. I hate them both. I hate them both. Throw them in the water. Are you ready to play? Yes. Let's play. Let's play. All right, who else's activation is it? It's still your go. Do you want to play? I'm going to look at the kitty cat in front of me, and I'm going to unleash a little chaos on it. All right, let's go. Roll that spell cast. Roll. Okay. Ooh. That's 21 with Hope. Take that, hope. And that is a success. Roll your damage. I'm definitely sleeping in the other room tonight, and I'm going to mark a stress to attack both of the creatures with that roll. Okay, the range is for far, correct? Yes. Yes. You can get the other one as well. Yay. Okay, so I'm going to roll my damage, which is. How do I do this? I'm going to use both of my Chaos points, and that's D10s. That's con that was conquered. That's A1. That's A4. So five. Seven points of damage to both of them. Seven points to both of them. Both of these fire out. Impact. You guys, watch as this little girl clutching her waterlogged doll describe how you unleash chaos, please. Oh. I turn Violet around and I hold it up. And from its porcelain eyes, magic shoots out of it. These purplish, crackling bolts arc out and blast this creature in the face. And you watch as it withdraws and clutches onto the edge, almost slipping on the rain, its back leg slipping off of a piece of broken rock. And another arc spins off across the way and finds the other pain beast that is currently holding onto the cage that Screeve had been freed from. And as it turns around and releases the cage and gets on all fours, he takes the blast to the chest and it arcs through. That one's your pet. He's so far away. You two haven't gone in a minute. Yes. What would you like to do? You. Okay? I will. Whoa. Okay. I'm going to use my wild flame and I'm going to try to attack the beast right in front of me. All right, Go for it. Okay. Come on. Oh, that was so high on my fear. Die. Okay, that is 16 with fear. That is a success with fear. So go ahead and roll damage for that die. All right. I know it's too far. That's eight points of damage. Eight points of damage. Misty, how do you want to do? Ooh. All right. Sort of seeing this young girl and this. That I am just going to sort of move a little bit in front of the little girl and put my hands out and just let the flames come out. And also I. I will. I will mark a stress because the flames for my hand, which I am at full stress now, so I am now vulnerable. You are vulnerable, yes. Wait, I know. I just realized this. How did that happen? I don't know. I think I've had stress this morning. It's been a very stressful day already. All right, so how much did we say that was? That was eight points of damage. It gets blasted off. You watch as the pain beast flies off and splashes into the water. You see, it tries to scramble up but is not a strong swimmer, as eventually the surf below takes it into darkness. As you say, sorry. The other beast across the way is going to go ahead and mark a stress to pounce. It gets to leap far range. Is it still enraptured with some distance? Oh, yeah. Over the side once more. So the enrapture for you lasts for how long? Temporarily. Fix on you narrowing the drawing out any sound but your voice. Okay, so it's just temporarily. Temporarily. I'm going to spend a fear to get rid of the enrapture. So it's going to focus on you as part of that pounce. So as it leaps across to come and strike you. So I actually rolled that properly. That's going to be a 12 to hit. That hits. That hits. Okay. And then you, from the pounce, take seven points of physical damage. Okay. I'm going to use an armor to take that down. And as part of the pounce, you mark a stress because you are fully stressed, you mark a hit point that you cannot reduce with armor. What, are you mad? I've got a couple left. I'm okay. Can I at least just move closer to idle so I'm a little bit more in the fray? It happens real quick. Yeah, if you'd like to. So you move up towards idle here. Yeah. What else would you like to Do. Were you going to do anything? What should we. Oh, sure. I was gonna say I got a thing. If you're not. Yeah. I'm gonna walk over to the really tall spike that's on the rampart. I'm just gonna put my chin on it. Now that Adelia and Screeve are here, I'm just gonna hit my head. How do you want to do this? Actually, now that Brixton's right here, I'm going to use my sparing touch to heal two hit points. Because you're still poisoned, right? No, I. I reduced the damage all the way to take it. I'm good. Thank you, though. Based on how much space there is between Misty and. Who is this Scree Scree? Oh. Could I run between them, or is it pretty stacked up there right now? It's pretty crowded. That whole platform is. So you'd have to either get to the other side where there's a little bit of platform, but that's going to be an acrobatic. I'm going to stay right here. Brixton will lean over the edge and just go, snakes. Snakes. Do I see snakes? You see in the little bit of light that's down there, that rope that you had affixed is still arcing down in there, clutching it on the lower platform, looking up at you. Rain kind of spattering on his shape. The hand that touched Scree. I'm just kind of washing it in the water. Are you okay? Did you say you have snacks? No. Snix is. I'm gonna. He's the bravest of all of us. Hold up a second. Oh, yeah. Oh, you've got. Okay. He's our guide. He's the one who triumphantly and heroically leaps after your friend. Did you just say. I'm your guy? Your guide. Our guide. Guide. Guide. Anything else you want to do with your Chimbox? No. All right. Before August, I'm just going to sort of hover my way to, like, just to get close, literally close to that beast. This fucking map is baller smash. I'm going to try something new, and I'm going to take the needle, my little needle wand, and I'm going to. Instead of using the point to start the. To start the thread, I'm actually going to loop it through the little hole at the back, tie it up, and I'm going to send the needle and thread flying at that. At that beast with an arcane barrage that I'm going to spend six hope for. Six hope. Let's go. Somebody powered up yeah. Six. Hope I've never been that. Hopefully. 22. 22 points. 22 points of magical damage. That is a severe hit on that pain beast. That marks three hit points. The needle goes and then pulls tight as all the. All the thread just kind of slices. You see it like its lower half, like, slides off for a minute. You think it might be dead before it's to going. Claws catch and it rears back up and holds itself on the edge. Its head curls back and over staring at you. I'm going to spend a fear to activate out of turn as a GM move and it's going to go ahead and mark a stress. You can do that, and it's going to pounce you for that hit. Oh, in the air. Yep. That's going to be a 20 to hit that hit. Oh, actually, yeah, that. That hits. All right, so you take 10 points of physical damage. I'm going to use an armor to mark that to zero. Okay. Mark a stress as it leaps in the air, grabs you, and yanks you from the sky into the surf and stones below. Both you and the beast on impact take damage. Go ahead and roll a D8 for me. Nice. I'm so excited. This is great. Seven. Seven. You both take seven physical damage. Oh, wow. It marks a hit point. Can I spend an armor for that as well? If you want to, yeah, if you have it. I have it. Take zero. All right. Your armor takes the heavy impact. You are basically thrust against one of the jagged rocks. But that new armor that you received barely saves your life. What you imagine would have been a very messy. But now the beast is pounced on top of you and is getting ready to go for the throat. It is back to you. Who wants to go? I'll go. I skitter across Misty's back. You feel me crawling on you? And I go right back down into the shadow that I came out of and pop up in the shadows near. Are they in the water or are they. They are on a stone right next to the water. Oh, is there. I can't see from here. Is there land nearby? There is land underneath this ruin. It's pretty precarious from here. Yeah. It's hard to see. No, instead, I'm going to come up from the shadow underneath the pain beast. That helps you for a minute for perspective. Oh, I see. Okay. I'll come out of that hole in the rock there. Yeah. And I'll spend a stress to do that. And I'm cloaked and I'm just is going to lunge onto its Back and start stabbing. Let's go. That is a. That's a very roll. Low roll. That's a nine with fear. Oh, boy. Fear is going to fail. As you curl out from the shadow. Wait, I'm a human. When you fail a roll that you like. No, wait. One of your experiences is. Boo, motherfucker. So this does involve one of my experiences. So the roll is up to a 10, which probably doesn't save it. So just so a note you spend a hope to add an experience to a roll before you make the roll. Oh, all right. Then I'm fucked. Yes. Unfortunately, yes. So as you leap out of the shadows onto this creature's back, you realize at this moment that along its back are all manner of these gnarled spines, these long, protruded bits of pointed bone. And as you grab, you feel the pain of it pressing against your chest. And it tenses its back and they all extend. This one is going to. You know what I'm going to say? The spines sink into you, and you pull back right as it. Its tail spins around to strike you from the other side. I'm gonna. Yep. I'm gonna go ahead and spend a fear to use its venomous tail on you again. That's cocked. That's going to be 12 to hit you. Oh, that's right. You're poisoned. So you do disadvantage too, right? His attack rolls. Evasion is 12. So, yeah, that is. Oh, it just barely hits you. Oh, no. Death throw. Duh roll. That is going to be seven points of physical damage to you from the tail you do not take. You're already poisoned. So it does not. So that's major. I will use my last bit of armor, strikes through all the leather on my back and rips it as it razors down through and cuts and then jabs into me. So that brings it down to minor damage. So you still take a hit point. So I still take a hit point. No armor left. And August sees me clinging onto the thing's back, and the tail goes. And Screeb is just going. Oh, jeez. Back to you all. Who wants to go? I'm close. You are close. But you're related to him. Maybe, yeah, Dude, I don't know. I'll attack him. It's up to you. I can go? You can go. You can go. All right. Gripping the rope, I'm going to use my caprine leap. What does caprine even mean anyway? I'm gonna leap. I'm gonna goat boy leap over onto the goat, like, okay, great. My goat leap I'm gonna leap onto its back and just come down swinging. Come on. Smashing third. Howdy doo doo. Come on. Boomerang war. Go ahead and roll your attack. Okay. I'm gonna spend a hope to give myself advantage. I can do. No, you can't get a hope to. I'll spend a hope to give you advantage. How do you there? Can you. I. I. Well, can I see down and be like. Make sure you jump towards the wall. In the middle is death. You hear that? As you go to leap, and instead of going directly towards you, leap towards the outer wall and parkour run across it and then leap down. Weapon ready. This way. It's more of a down, controlled angle than Hail Mary leap. Okay. Oh, my God. A million 25. But with fear. Okay, that is a success. Go ahead and roll damage. Okay. And I will burn. I will mark a stress to add my kick to this attack. All right. He's gonna kill this thing. Of course he is. 12. 13. He is 13 points of damage. That marks two hit points on it. As you sink your weapon deep into its back, it spins around its face towards you, but you're kind of clutching on it. It tries to shake you off. You're hanging onto its spines with the kick. I can shove it away from me. Yeah. Would it take other people with it or would I be able to hold onto them? I'm holding on. Yeah. I don't know. Do you want to kick it towards the water? I'd love to kick it towards the water. All right. So with that, you kick it off into the water this way. That would be good. It's now in the drink. Barely trying to hold and reach out for the rock as you now land on the small platform next to August. When a pain beast comes along, you must kick it. My God. What did sneaks hit with? What was the roll? That. That was a 20. Super high roll. Yeah, very high roll. But that was the fear that returns to the pain beast as it begins to switch, swim up, climb the edge of the stonework here. Oh, no. And is going to. Am I holding on? I know Screaves will hold on. No, when he kicked it, he kicked it off. Both of you into the water. It is going to leap back down to where it was. And this one is going to. Man, it's got a lot of targets there, but you're the one who just kicked it off, so it's going to come for you. Yeah. Instinct. Angry. Ooh. It's going to be 21 to hit. Yeah, sure. All right. I'm going to mark a no. It's fully stressed out, so it can't do that. Pounce. It's just going to go ahead and make a claw swipe towards you. It's going to be 10 to hit. It misses. It misses you. Nice. You watch. It's hurt heavily. It swings towards you and catches itself. And it's starting to look off. And it's going to use the rest of its movement to leap up to the top of this wall. And it's starting to turn to escape the fray. Realizing that it's turned the tide against it. It is now your activation. I skipped my thing last time, so since I'm up here and I don't have to move, I'll just throw another bolt beacon down there. Yeah. Go float. That is 11, 12, 13, 14 to hit. That hits with hope. Take a hope and go ahead and roll. Damage. That just hits. That's a D. 8, 2, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 11 points of magic damage. Come on. How do you want to do that? Yeah, I'll just see it jump up and say. And bolt beacon will fire out and light it up and just start to burn it from toe up to head. You catch it in the middle of the air as it leaps towards the wall. As you fire off, it impacts it halfway through the air, and you watch as it folds. And as opposed to a landing graceful pounce into a stop, it just tumbles into ash and burns away from divine fire. And you're all left there in quiet, in silence with two strange figures amongst you. Goodbye, kitties. You were great. Fun. Violet. All right. She's a little waterlogged, but she's okay. Snakes. Yeah. Toss me the rope. I'll help you up. The rope is attached to the cage. Plus I think we're going that way. We're going. Oh, yeah. To the other side. And I can grab the edge of the rope and bring it to the other side. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, That's. That's a great idea. Okay. I just jump off the rampart? Yeah. Cool. We're heading to Vokoro. We're going to Vokoro. Vokoro. We're headed to Vokoro. Screev, come up here. You're too far. Coming, dear. One moment. I'm going to swim this time and start to climb my way up, Sticking iron claws into stone to help me climb to the top. We're actually. We're going where Screeve was. We're going that way. Which way are we supposed to go? We're traveling this Way. That way. All right. I jumped off the rampart and into the water. Oh, you just went in the water? Yeah, because we're gonna climb up and go over there. Are you sure? It's terrible that way. Is there another. Pretty sure it's terrible another way. Where are you going to get to the other side. Well, sure, you can get to the other side. But what's on the other side that you want to be at? It's all terrible over there, Volcoro. Oh, yes, it's terrible over there. Why? What's wrong with Volcoro? Don't you think there's another place you'd want to be? Well, there is another place we want to be. Where's that? Is it the Screaming Forest? Because we know that place well. Well, we're going to go through there too. Who all are Old Horns. But we're going to continue north. Keep pushing forward. Have you heard of the Barrow of Blind Repose? That one's new to me. What is it? It's in the idol hollows. We're looking. We're on a sacred mission, you see. Oh, a sacred mission. The Astral Foundry. North of. Of the Astral foundry. Oh, the Astral foundry. Yes, of course. I know all about it. Does she know all about it? Oh, yes, we know all about it. Do they know all about it? Go ahead and make a presence roll and you make an instinct roll. Okay. Okay. Do I get hope or fear on this one? Yes, because you're the one who initiated it. Okay, so that is with hope. That is 14 with hope. Oh, I rolled 13 with fear. I don't know what you're talking about. Okay, well, we're looking for any information we have. Well, we've got nothing better to do. Do you like friends? The road ahead is treacherous. You've already lost one little girl. Well, she was more of like a teenager, to be honest. How old was she? Teenager? Was she older than me? I'm almost a teenager. She was older than me. Oh, well, I'm better then. Plus, I'm human. I don't change into a monster. I promise. It's debatable. Are you two brother and sister? Ew, that's weird. No. Boyfriend and girl? Girlfriend? Ew. I don't know. This is Greave. He's my pet. I found him in the ruins. We sort of found each other some out of family somehow. That's significantly less weird. Don't worry. We are all friends. Are you old friends? Do you like new friends? We love new friends. Especially if they can give Us a leg up on where it seems you came from. The Amber Reach. Yes, but specifically Vokuro. Oh yes, It's a town. There's a lot of trading there. People are very mean. They don't like magic. We would love not to go the way we've just come. If we are going through the Screaming Forest. Do you know another way? Not good ones. Woulda. How long is have you both known each other? Did you say must? It been a little less than a year. I had just turned eight. And I'm not 10 yet. You're nine. I'm nine. Wow, that's so less than a year. So you met here on the rampart? Is that a word? No. We're both city kids, so to speak. Metaphorically. I'm not a kid. Who lucky you in those cages. Child at heart. The enlightened. They're very evil. The enlightened. Who are they? Do we know about the enlightened? You have no idea. Cool. You said they called you heretics. Well, only because. Only because we are onto this. I think he was killing people, if we're being honest. The holy men. We're from inside the Amber Reach. Originally. City rats. Sort of. In different ways. Similar somehow. I'm not a city rat. We are not fans of killing people. Oh, I don't like kill people either. I've only done it a couple times and only when I was really threatened. That sounds reasonable. Why were you headed? Why were you captured? I guess. What exactly did you do wrong? Well, it's just been the two of us for a while. Trying to get by. Looking to play the holy man. Sanctifar was his name? Yes. He wanted us to believe, he said. Although I think he just wanted people to not believe us. Yes. We went on a bit of a hike out of town and we went to the waterside and there was a big hullabaloo. There was a big sermon on the mountain. You know, lots of light and razzle dazzle. It was really fun. Quite a show. That sounds amazing. And then at night we didn't go to. Because so often we don't go to sleep, do we? No. And we saw Sanctifer throwing some sacks into the water. I think they were the people he converted. We saw them being taken in his show and then I think he was killing them. It was sort of like a magic. So we were going to tell people. Like a ritual. Maybe he was trying to appease the old gods. He told us he could send us on to them to join them and be safe from this Place. That's silly. The gods probably still walk amongst us. You think so? Have you seen them? What do they look like? We have a reason to believe that they might still have a presence here. What are the reasons? We have reasons. I. Are you an angel? Oh, no. We had a creature on our tree that looked like you, but it was just a door, not like Violet. It looked like me. Mm. And what was its purpose? Decoration. I. I feel like I have some memories because this wasn't my original body. Oh. I just was pulled into it. But I do have memories. And I feel like I might have been a decoration or this body might have been a decoration. Do you have legs? I don't think so. I think I just float. Can I check? Do you have legs? It's interesting. We were asking about this before. You were asking before if I. If I pooed. Do you. She gravels. I gravel. Yeah, that's what we've come down. I do have legs like a deer. I do have legs. I mean, there's movies. Or a goat. Or a goat. She cements. If she's had tacos. I'm gonna spend a fear a bit of slurry, if you will. Wait, what? I'm so sorry if. If this is a little bit forward. Forward? But what happened to your parents? Oh, well, Father went off with a silly elf man. And I didn't see what happened to Mother or Auntie, all my brothers and sisters, but I didn't think it was going to be nice. So that's why I hid. And you were left all alone. All alone. Isn't it quite sad? But then we found each other underneath. Underneath what? The city. Oh, you just went under and had some fun. Just found each other. Wow. Besties, friends ever since. It sounds like you both have so much fun. We do. And this was in Volcoro? No, no, no. An Amber Reach. Do you know what that is? Yes, I do. Have you been? No, I've only seen it from. I've been there. Yeah, he's been everywhere. I have. Are you from there? No. No, I'm not from there, but I've been through it a few times and I even had a girlfriend there once. Oh, yes. A real one? I mean, yes, she's real. Cool. I hate to impose, but we are still out in the rain in the middle of the night. I forgot I jumped off of that. Yeah, you've climbed up on the other side now. I would love to get more answers, but we really should keep moving before we attract more. We just need to find a place to sleep. We have to head to Ooro. You see, our. Our settlement is in grave danger. What's your settlement? Desper. Luck. Oh. Oh. We haven't been there. Is it fun? No. Are there toys? Yes, there's some toys. Yes, there are. Well, let's go to Desperlock. Well, we can. We have to go the long way around. We have to go to Volcoro first. Okay. You see, our sacred pyre, it's. It's been extinguished. That's the mission that we're on. Oh, dear. And we need aid from Volcoro. It will be fun where we're going. It's an adventure. You guys like fun adventures, right? I love it. How long have you been in these cages? Lost track. A little bit longer than a week. Let's walk and talk. We're walking and talking. We're walking and talking. Do you have any food? I don't eat. Does anyone else here have any food? I've got some juniper of berries and some chestnuts. Uncooked meat. Got a little food. I'll take some uncooked meat. All right. Here. It's mostly grass. Do you have any food? I've climbed up on the rampart. I'm getting up on the other side now. Leave these. You're already to. We're already. I assume we're. We're. We're making our way. I do have a few. Like chestnuts. Do you like chestnuts? Thank you. Slowly but surely, you all, with the aid of each other, get to the other side of the rampart walkway and eventually come to the end of this portion of the stone for the final element of this trek. This part of the sunken ramparts are gone other than the long swinging bridge that closes that gap. As you all step across, the wind is just strong enough to where it continues continuously sways. The railings, the rope and cable at times weathered and snapped. And there are moments where you have to get low on all four and push forward for fear of sliding off. The rain isn't helping either. But slowly you push on. Who is helming this last leg of the journey? I believe one of our new friends should. I can't see shit. Doesn't matter. Neither can we. Let's go. All right. I will say for you this would be a finesse or instinct roll. But before you roll, this is a group check. So I'd like you to choose if it's finesse or instinct. Instinct for you. For me it's finesse. All right, I need everybody else to roll. Finesse for me. This is a reaction roll so no one gains any hope. Start tiptone across precarious position. Oh, oh, that's a crit. Oh, me too. That's great. Four sixes. The beast has been summoned. Plus two. Two sixes. I got two nines. 15 minus nice. 14 plus one. 18. 06 minus one four. Roll finesse. Minus two. Our crits didn't help. I rolled already. Yeah. Everybody else minus the two, I get a 12 with hope. A 12 with hope. You take a hope that it's above the 10 you needed to traverse this bridge before it got really, really bad. Wow. Do we start with a hope? Is that how it works? Start with two hopes. You start with two. Oh, you do? Yes. Fill em up. So it is long into the night. You were both not just exhausted and spent from the weather and being left in these cages for as long as you have been and having not really eaten or had fresh water to drink out of what rain you could catch for a while. The rest of you just beaten by the recent events the past few days. You begin to reach the outskirts of the final leg of the returned sunken rampart. And you can see the sacred pyre burning close. Just as the day begins to light and you realize it's dawn. You've pushed through the entirety of the night. The local foliage begins to grow denser and the forest begins to rise to consume this portion beyond the water's edge. As you step away from the ashen seas and the marsh that claims the majority of this valley, you step into a thick wooded region. And now you have vocal in sight. As slowly the day begins to brighten. I'm tired. I scoop you up. Piggyback ride. The rain begins to subside and you can now see the city itself, familiar to some who have been before, but for some of you, a first time taking it in. Wakoru is a multi tiered city built into one of the grand watchtowers that was once here on the perimeter wall of Amber Reach. It is a vertical city built of multiple layers and staircases that rise up. All manner of homesteads are built onto these platforms and around this massive watchtower and along the top of the wall that extends out from it. At the very peak of it is where its sacred pyre burns bright like a high torch. Amongst the shadows you see dozens, hundreds of people across the multiple layers running about their business. You begin to get somewhat close and you can hear the rivers moving by. A lot of the water that traverses out from the valley and spills into the ashen Seas comes through. You can see small docks built. There are boats lashed in chains to the side and a few folks that have gathered baskets and what looked to be bow and arrow over a shoulder. Either out in a hunt or checking the perimeter. I your approach and the first one that sees you runs off towards the city. They don't like people. It's. You two have been here before, right? They don't like people in this city. They're very. They don't open the doors for anybody. So how did you guys get in the last time you were here, Ms. Pinky? Do you remember how you snuck in? Or was there a secret tunnel hole or wasn't by the front door? It was more off on the north side of the city when we came in to go all the way around there. You said we're at the gates. We're approaching. Yeah, you're approaching. Approaching the gates. You can hear the distant sound of voices shouting, giving orders to each side. It's a bustle that is welcome. Given the challenge of the past 24 hours practically of travel. I'd say 18 hours for some of you. I'm going to pull up my hood and spruce up my vestments a little bit, try and look presentable. About five minutes since that person darted off and have passed and you've seen other people darting towards the outer side of Vokoru's reinforced exterior gate. You watch as dozens of soldiers begin to line across across the top of the wall rampart that looks down the one part that you can easily see at the base of the rising spire city. Two dozen, three dozen. And they all line up shoulder to shoulder as you begin to break past the treeline into an open 150 foot break in the forest to the base of the rampart wall and the city itself. As you break the treeline, you hear four or five voices in chorus. Go. Stop. Stop. Stop. You watch as each one of those folk on the rampart knock arrows and point them in your direction. We stop. We come in peace. We hail from desperate luck. I am Pyre keeper Brixton. Our settlement is in grave need of aid. We have lost our sacred flame. Please, may we speak to your leaders, the barons? We need to speak to the barons. Thank you. Make a presence action roll for me, please. This is not my strong sense. I'm gonna spend the hope to to help her by reminding her the Baron's names are Trevis and Lotho. And just some other quick details about the city that she can use. We seek Trevis and Lotho. We are Friends. And then can I. Can I use. Sorry, I'm already helping you. Can I use my orderborn value? You are, but I need this to. You know what? No, I'll wait. I'll wait. Okay. Don't. Oh, you're gonna roll for me. You can do it. You can do it. Doesn't matter to me. Cocked. Okay, this is good. This is good. 16, 17, 18 minus one. So 17 with hope. 17 with hope. Take that, hope. There's a bit of discussion and you watch as amongst the ranks brushing past them, a ragged looking male elf. Dark red hair with two streaks of gray that comb through them. See? One ear is torn off on one side, just the other pointed ear peeking through through scars across his chin. He has a spear at one side and a golden tarnished breastplate as well as a rough brown cloak that looks muddied and dirty. He steps forward with intention towards you. You hail from Despolok, you say? Yes. And you've lost your pyre? Yes. How did this occur? One of our members of our settlement got infected with Umbra. We tried to save her, but it was too late. Unfortunately, she turned and the chaos completely decimated the rest of the pyre keepers and extinguished the flame. They've taken two steps back and raised a hand and you watch as all the bows and arrows tense back. We are not infected. Please. We have been traveling tirelessly through the night. We are. What assurances do we have that you are not also infected? It would have shown up already. Turns and looks at you and the eyes go wide. Oh, you bring a cursed vessel to our city. She's not cursed. I am not cursed. She is a relic of the Old Ones. Do not listen to her. Close your ears and you watch as the soldiers, like the ones that had the arrows, not loosen them and kind of make cloth and wrap it around their head. They did tell us that you should be shifty. We forgot about that. I do have because I am highborn. Did you want to shit the bed some more? I have advantage on roles to consort with nobles, negotiate prices or leverage our reputation to get what we want. All right. So what do you say in your defense, as the entirety of this armed force seems to be shocked as you stepped from the trees with the rest of your troop as she's speaking and all react in a fearful and defensive manner. Please. Our home will cease to exist if you do not help us today. We are not infected. None of us are here to hurt you. We just seek aid. Please. We know that the Baron of Volcoro value and covet the relics of the olden days. We have an offering if you will hear us out. Go ahead and roll your presence. Roll with advantage. Okay. I tilt my mouth to Adelia, who's over my shoulder and just say, I don't know what's going on, but it's exciting. I hold up violet and not all right, red rub. Okay, that's 15 with fear. Okay. With advantage. Oh, I didn't do advantage. I didn't do advantage. Wait. Advantage is with D6 or roll again. That's a D6. You just add a D6 to what you roll. That's right, that's right. I know. Okay, I know one. 16. 16. 16. Okay. You hear a crack of thunder in the northwestern direction from a heavier storm that seems to threaten the deeper valley. As people turn their head, some of them look at each other. It's an omen. It's an omen. Don't trust her. And the front soldier puts a hand up. We have had dealings with your crafted type before and the madness spread to a number of our people, so this will be to the Baron to decide. Puts the hand down and the weapons lower slightly. The tension level has decreased and the immediacy of their intent to attack you seems to have been quelled for the moment. But he turns and heads back to the rest of the armed soldiers and defenders of Mucoru. A brief quiet moment passes as you begin to make eye contact in the silence with many of these soldiers and you see people from all walks of life. Human, elf, dwarf, halfling, and all sorts of other strange human like, but shadow touched folk, scarred, sallow, scared. It's a look many of you recognize. It's the desperation of the enduring. And like anyone, they wish to protect what they love and what they care for. As you've known at the perimeter walls of Desperlock. Often that means being careful with who you let past. It's about then the soldier line breaks and you see as an older female elf herself, beautiful for her age, a bit of a neck waddle that hangs down below there. Piercing green eyes and her hair curls in a dark auburn color. Her hood is back and she has a mantle beneath a tattered cloak that seems to be very well kept and likely of the old world. As such, fine filigree is challenging to recreate with the tools and knowledge of the modern times. You know this to be Baron Lothosharis. We have been notified that you seek to join us for rest and trade. Under the auspice of a fallen pyre, you walk with A vessel that claims to be free of the umbra's touch. Strange motley of figures indeed. Hi. Yes, I've been here before. I briefly saw you in the past, but I've delivered and traded with your people before. There's a fine gentleman who lives here named Minius Tai. I'm sure he can vouch for me. Minius Tye's been dead for three weeks. Yes. All right to erase that. Yeah, it's not needed. You can rest. At the perimeter of this wall, you will receive the protection of our guard. But you are not permitted entry. We will send traders to represent our interests to barter with you at the the perimeter. With all due respect, bartering is not our primary objective here. We need aid. Aid and information. And some food and water. And food. That's not the point. I just said that that's not the primary point. We need aid. We are offering you aid. Safety, to rest. Whatever you can. Can spare to give, we can give in turn. But this community stands because we do not let strangers waltz into our door. I guess just take the take the win. Well, here's. I could wait outside. I am a statue. It is what I. I do. I can wait out here and then I'll let us see you. I think we're all gonna wait. We're all gonna wait. I think we're not allowed inside because of me. I think that extends to all of us now. It's okay. Waiting at the gate is better than waiting out in the wilds, right? And you're right, you are a statue. You could extend your wings and that's like a little tent. Yeah. This troop is under our protection. But they are not to enter the city proper. Should they take one step. Kill onsite and the baron turns and returns to the inside. Kill on sight. I need to sleep anyway. Sure, the soldiers lacks a little bit. And the intensity of the guard that was set upon the wall at your approach begins to scatter a bit. Going about the rest of their patrols, but still a solid 10 or so of them remain stationed, eyes locked on your troop. There are a few other armed guards that stay at the base gate in the open, or the door that would open into the interior and the stairs that lead into the many levels of the city. You are given the benefit of seeking information, seeking goods, seeking what you need for your journey through the trade representative that is to be sent. But you have not earned the trust to enter the city itself. Fair. Did you say there was foot traffic out here? Or it's just us? There Is occasional footprint traffic hunters. Others that head towards the docks. They keep a wide berth from you all. But a number of the people here still have to harvest from the land. Whether that be hunter gathering, fishing on the nearby rivers or off the ocean shore. Others seem to be going about whatever business they're doing day to day. It is still a bustling community. Do I see anyone wandering around? It looks a little skeevy. Game recognized game. Right? Make an instinct roll for me. Oh, it's a crit all right. So you get to clear stress and gain a hope on that one. You keeping an eye out across the folks that are wandering around? The soldiers are all pretty much. Their proximity to the city and proximity to each other means that they're all pretty stoic and intent in their position. You do see one fisherman who had two fishing rods over his shoulder in a basket as well as a blade at his side. Who was heavily cloaked and saw you guys as you first approached and kept a wide berth. Hasn't crept far away and instead circled around and is just hiding in nearby brushed watching whatever transpires here. He looks like he believes he's unnoticed, but he doesn't leave your vision. Right. I'll be back, love. And I'm going to wander out to that bush and I'm going to start to take a leak next to it. You see? He gets lower and tucks into the brush. Hello, buddy boy. Good spot you got here. I was. I was gathering acorns. Mindless splash. No business, no problem. Just gathering acorns. Right, right. Acorns. Acorns. I saw you had a bit of fish on you as well. While trying to get fish, sir. Are you trying to get fish? You don't have any fish on you? No. It's early. I was looking to buy. I have a little coin for fish. I have a lot of coin for friends. You don't by any chance know of alternative means of entering the city besides the front door? To you, I am Slyborn and have advantage on roles to negotiate with criminals, detect lies or find a safe place to hide. Make a presence roll for me. Right? And this gets. I have no modifier. Ooh, I got the. That's really good. That's 21 with hope. Nice. 21 with hope. I got the Daggerheart symbol. Take that, Hope. Yeah. He goes. Oh, no. All due respect, I don't trust any of you to get into the city further than they went. But I got contacts. I could sneak out some special things if you need what's on the menu. Probably get you a little snap powder if you like and you know, some snap powder. Snap powder is a fine alternate medicinal substance for a quick fix, bit of rapid grasp of attention and focus. I'll take a taste of that. Let me get a few fish for trade and I'll see what I can sneak out. Oh you do me a favor. In addition to the powder, if you have access to any toys, literally toys. Takes him a second to grasp. Okay, okay. I'm a big fan of ball and cup, but any will do. Ball and cup. What a classic. I just got the DLC for that. Slowly withdraws out of the bush, stands up about 10ft away with the fishing rod over his shoulder and just walks back towards the nearby river. But gives you a wink over the shoulder as he does so and I shake it and put it away. Gross. As he returns the guard watching. You all can take a short rest here while you wait for them to send their trade representative. And we're gonna take a short rest here as we take a quick break. We'll be back here in a few minutes to pick up from here. See you in a second. That's a wrap for part one of this podcast episode. Part two will land here the Tuesday after this episode at 5am Pacific and we'll pick up this story right where we left off. Until next time, keep the umbra at bay and we'll be back for more of this adventure before you know it. Going Up, Prices keep going up. These days it feels like being on an elevator that only goes up. Going up. But not at Metro. We're pushing the down button. Going down, we've lowered prices. Get one line of 5G data for $40, period. That's 20% lower and you get a free Samsung 5G phone. You bring your number only at Metro five year guarantee on eligible plans exclusion supply. See website for details. Not available FAB Metro with T Mobile in the past six months Tax supplies Support for this podcast comes from Progressive, a leader in RV insurance. We've all made RVing mistakes like not pest proofing the RV for winter. But there's one mistake you shouldn't make. Not insuring your travel trailer. Progressive RV insurance can protect your travel trail trailer when your auto or home insurance can get a'@progressive.com Progressive Casualty Insurance Company and affiliates.