The Tomb of the Heretic Saint | Age of Umbra Episode 8 Part 2

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Hey there, Matthew Mercer here, and you're listening to part two of this episode of Age of Umrah, a dark tale and campaign setting from our recently released tabletop RPG Dagger Heart from Darrington Press.

If you haven't checked out part one yet, pause this now and head over there first.

Otherwise, let's return to our adventurers striving against the darkness in part two.

Welcome back.

Here,

in the weighty silence following the destruction

of the returned saint

Iviliar.

There are acolytes

and three of your allies

sacrificed

towards the struggle of the salvation of Desperlakanol within.

And in the same moment you try and process the adrenaline that's still pumping through your system, the burning exhaustion that sits in your joints and your muscles,

the emotional depth of the sorrow of losing so much,

and the reality as you look over across that stonework, not far from Snyx's body's hand.

One of the

few,

one of the only

remaining blessed branches known to the realm

is yours.

You both make eye contact for the first time since the silence took.

You alright?

No.

But I will be.

How about you?

Are you...

are you wounded?

Sure.

Can't remember the last time I wasn't.

Yeah.

The branch.

Yeah.

The scepter.

I go over and grab the branch first.

Pick up the scepter and toss it to idol.

Notice anything about it, strange, or just metallic scepter?

Metallic scepter that seems to have carried historical significance to the events that led you here.

Historical and otherwise, that led you here.

I'll look down from the scepter to where Snyx is and look over Brixton.

You know what we have to do.

I do.

Perhaps we can at least

give them the guise

of an honorable death and a funeral.

And utilize these caskets that are still here.

And then...

And then light them.

Yeah.

Help me.

Alright.

Start moving the bodies into the casket.

Oddly poetic.

Three wooden caskets when you arrived.

Empty.

And three wooden caskets once again full.

That's messed up.

As you close the lids upon them, the final lid locked in.

You hear the faintest scratch from inside one of them.

But you've latched it closed.

And with as much stoic emotion as a life here in the domain can allow you,

you expand your torches and light them aflame.

Thanks, Nex.

Thank you, Misty.

Screeve.

Find happier times.

Pretty poetic.

Here on hallowed ground.

Release them back into the Aether Wave.

Can't believe Screve even came back.

He had no personal investment in this cause.

Nothing if not determined.

Now we have to

just complete that little task of

getting back.

Making it all the way

home.

We were granted sanctuary at Celcyon.

Athenium.

Maybe we can stay

more than just a single night.

Regain our strength.

Hell, maybe even

other pilgrims might want to make the journey with us back to Desperlock.

I think if you open the invitation, you might be surprised at how many take you up on it.

That's fair.

About what time of day is it now?

Deep into night?

It would have been.

Probably by this point into the midnight, yeah.

You took a short rest before you entered, and you had already traveled through the wood in the cinnabar after leaving the Athenium before your last-long rest, so I'd say, yeah.

Chance it

or

take shelter for the eve and start a first light

part of me wants to chance it and get the fuck out of here.

There are people waiting on us.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Maybe just a short rest.

And then we'll sleep in Celsi and Athenia.

Yeah.

Okay.

You both settle in.

Gather yourselves.

Gather your resolve.

And say your final goodbyes.

Before you pick up once more and head out.

into the starless nights of the realm

trekking back through the wooded wooded path that still lays open.

The one that you earned in trust with the Fane Warden.

Trying the best to retrace your steps, I would like one of you to roll a D4 for me.

All right,

just normal hope and fury, huh?

Oh, D20, you said D4.

Of D4.

D4.

Yes.

That's impressive.

One.

Okay.

So,

this is now your fourth night since you left.

Right?

Yes.

You have just added

only one more evening

to the length of time in which the Umbral winds will reach Vesperlock.

Okay.

So lower is better.

Lower was better.

It was, yeah, it was.

geez, Tom Guy before he rolls.

So

it was a week before, since you left,

before the wind arrives, on your fourth night, that only shortened to six.

You have two days to sprint and return home to beat the wind.

So if I had rolled higher, that would have been better.

Because it would have added.

Oh, I thought you were like adding to the wind coming.

Nope, we gotta, we gotta.

So, you are now in a sprint.

All right, well,

fuck an extended vacation at the Celsium Athenium.

At least we got clarity.

Fuck that.

Yep.

All right.

I didn't get that lady's name anyway, the dwarf with the rings and stuff.

I'll find her later.

Yeah.

So, to that point.

Oh, man.

I'm marking over here just two more nights.

You all.

the progress clock here set

to make the journey back to Desper Lock in time.

Okay.

So

over the next

two

days,

how are you planning to make this sprint?

Can we say we grabbed Snyx's satchel, the scepter, any other packages he had?

That salmon potion that was on Screeve.

The crystal.

Still have the arcane shard

Yeah, I'm gonna look at Brixa and I'm gonna slap her

slash you back

Why?

Let's go

just and it's like a

on the hop not not a not a full run, but we are we're moving and I say we take we take that bridge.

Yeah, I think you're right

speed option.

Yep, the benefit fully exposed speed option the benefit is the majority of your return trek is downhill.

Actually, having done endurance races, that's the best thing I've ever heard.

It's amusing.

Oh, God, thank you.

All right, so who is helming this first leg of the return sprint through the middle of the night?

Still you.

Still you.

It's my fault, basically.

I would like you to roll an instinct or knowledge roll

to either recall the path you took that is safest or sense it on the return trip.

I will try and sense it.

12 with hope.

12 with hope.

Okay.

Now

at this point, this portion of the forest, which has been cleansed, the difficulty was lowered for this because the previous ones.

That is just barely a success.

Okay, okay, okay.

Take that hope.

That clicks down the progress.

You trek through the majority of the night.

Coming back to the exterior of the cinnabar quarter.

You remember and recall the path that you took to the top.

Now you can either try and clamber up and through the district once more as you see just the faintest bit of light cresting over the horizon, the promise of a sunrise just around the corner, and maybe

the district could be fairly quiet at this early morning hour.

They did party.

Or You could attempt to find another way around, climb on the outside of the sheer wall that drops hundreds of feet down into the valley below.

Choice is yours.

Call it.

I'm going to put my money on the fact that

it was, what's her name?

The

Damask Queens?

Farah?

Farah.

It was Farah's birthday, and they've probably been up all night.

Tell up.

Yep.

Yes, and that they are passed out fucking drunk.

Tattoos and stuff.

Yeah, passed out in a drunken stew mustaches on their face

so for this i'll allow you to make a a group finesse or agility roll one of you wants to lead it the choice is yours agility for me yeah i'm only plus one go for it okay all right so you go ahead and roll yours first to see if you add or subtract from her final roll

yo uh that's a 20 with That's a 20.

Alright, that's a reaction.

So add a plus one to your final roll here.

Come on.

Come on.

Okay, well, it's a 12 and a 1, and that's with Adam Angeli.

It's 1230, 1450, 16 total.

The difficulty was 15.

No!

So, as you both clamber up onto the top of the outer wall and go skulking along it as quickly as you can, you can still see

you saw just the one mark set up, but there are multiple camps still burning, bonfires that are still crackling in the middle of this district.

And yeah, they've been partying all night.

And they're still parting.

Damn.

As you begin to run past, you can still hear the sounds of instruments that no one's really bothered to learn how to play, but still plucking away, drunken here in the wee hours of the morning, now turning into the rising sun beyond the clouded skies.

You hear shouts, you hear fist fights.

You glance over to the left, and you can see that there's a fight ring that has started, and people are just watching others beat the shit out of each other.

Who knows how much liquor and wine has been recovered as they've torn through someone's subterranean basement and are celebrating a proper birthday, like Pharaoh likes to do whenever she feels it.

But there is enough distraction amongst this continued revelry that you both continue along the wall and from this perspective manage to avoid being spotted just as it grows light enough or your concern grows too high.

You jump down past the other gate where you had returned and make a charge towards the Athenian.

Running excerpts.

With that, as you begin to approach, it grows slightly lighter and the morning has truly come.

And as you approach, you hear the shout of a guard above.

You!

Who is that?

Running your weapons!

We're running by it.

We're going by it.

No, you hear that from the Athenium.

Oh, sorry.

The guards above see you approaching and rushing towards their gate, and they're shouting, It's Brixon and Idol!

We've returned!

They don't recognize that name.

Oh, we're supposed to tell Commander Kieran!

We have passed!

Brixton and Idol have returned!

As for Sir Darren!

All right, you dropped the name Commander Kieran.

I would like one of you to make a presence roll here, and the other supports

one.

Same.

All right.

So, who's supporting the other?

I'll support you.

All right, so go ahead and roll.

Reaction roll here for presence.

That's good.

That's good.

That's gonna be 21.

It's a plus one on your roll.

Plus one, hey,

17, plus one, 18.

Alright, so

between the agility roll to get through that district and your

and your success on that persuasion that brings the progress counter down to a three

You come to the edge and the gates open for you No arrows are loosed, though two no more than no less than two dozen were aimed at the two of you as you sprinted you rush inside the athenium and there make contact and are allowed a night's rest they offer to keep you for some time but indeed

you don't have time okay but you are exhausted and need

a full sleep okay so with that

you rest through the rest of the day and awaken as night falls because now your circadian rhythm is completely fucked after a full night of travel.

So you do take your long rest here.

I get unstoppable back.

You do.

I'm so sorry about that, but sometimes the timing of using abilities, I know.

I'm going to bind the scepter to my glaive just for just for shits and giggles, but that's how I'll prepare to gain a hope.

Yeah.

Yeah, I'll

kind of extend my magic through it.

So clear my stress, I'm going to also prepare to gain hope.

So we can get two to hope, right?

If we prepare to grab.

If you can prepare together, you can fake two hope.

So we can get to hope as we

affix

bayonets.

Yeah.

Pretty much.

Yeah, basically.

And you do not have to

keep watch because you are within the safety

of the sacred pyre here.

You can't help but continuously check on the branch as you

go to sleep and before you wake up.

There's an obsession of just ensuring that it's nearby, that it's safe, that nobody else sees it.

I've like

because I've got this anointed chain armor, I've got my breastplate, so it's like tucked under my breastplate, like latched down under like my undergarments.

It is like

it is basically duct-taped to my chest.

You're smuggling it.

Yes.

Yep.

With that,

the next night is upon you.

You're now on the fifth night of your journey.

One day.

And there's...

It's

with.

Fuck.

Fuck.

So.

The evening is yours.

Do you want to tread back through the drowned sprawl?

Or do you wish to attempt to go along...

Since you are up or above, you could try and go across the rampart top, but you have no concept of what to expect of there.

Whereas, at least with the drowned sprawl, you know what to expect in this journey.

The choice is yours.

From what we could tell as we were preparing to head up, though, is the rampart more of a straight shot?

It's certainly a straight shot along the large outer perimeter wall.

You've just also seen many flying creatures of different sizes.

You couldn't tell at that distance that seemed to perch and nest up there.

But time.

But time, I know.

Yeah, we've got to go.

How much time would it add on to our journey right i thought it took two days for us to get we were in the second day to get up to the the ash call quarter or to the drowned sprawl sorry yeah we were in our second day so like

unless we got luckier than we could possibly fathom we're not gonna make it back we have to we have to go the shorter way

okay yeah

you both

at the first start of night hoping that the shadow will be enough to keep any predators at bay

You give a nod to the commander, and you're let out the gates on the southern side of the Athenium.

And the two of you, a small troop, attempt to go under cover of night and rush along the parapets of the outer wall of the drowned sprawl.

Which one of you is helming?

Are you going on a full sprint or are you going stealthily?

Quickly, but stealthily.

One is going to be the fastest, but might draw attention.

The other is a little slower, but safer.

I think we're forcing fate.

I think so too.

I think we gotta go fast.

Yeah, we're sprinting.

All right.

This will be a strength roll to see how long you can keep the endurance of your run as things chase you along the way.

Great.

Because they will see you.

Lungs pump battery acid.

Yeah.

So, who is assisting on the part of this group action and which one is helming it?

I'll assist you.

Okay.

All right, go ahead and roll strength on your end there.

Woo!

20.

It's a plus one to your roll, Brixton.

You can apply any experiences you'd like to do.

Allow it in the context of the ramparts aren't just a straight shot.

There's a lot of jumping, climbing, having to clamber up onto upper ledges and continuing to run.

I would spend a hope and use shining a light in the dark, which is like a

so that our

terrain is more illuminated.

It does illuminate it more, and it makes you more of a target for those that are hunting you.

Well, made our choice.

Let's see what happens.

Flying creatures are coming towards you as you charge and run.

That was almost a crit.

Okay.

You said plus one

from you?

Could I spend that hope to use that experience to give her advantage?

Yeah, if you want to.

That was what

well we'll check one thing real fast

yeah i'll allow it

okay so that's 10 15 uh uh

21.

needed to be to 15.

okay if we've owned with

fear

unfortunately it's almost a crit

so You continue to run as you're being dive bombed by these massive bat-like creatures.

You watch as they swoop down.

Their mouth itself consumes most of its torso.

It kind of opens up to the side.

It's meant to scoop you up.

It doesn't have like talons to grab you.

It has legs to land on, but it is like a pelican that is filled with teeth.

As it tries to scoop to grab you, you both sprint and run and grab the edge of platforms, pull your way through, run across an open bridge that goes from one section of the parapet to the other, both leaping off as one swarps towards you.

Woof!

It just barely misses as you both land hard on your ankles, roll and get up.

Oh, that's gonna hurt tomorrow.

But if tomorrow comes and you're home, then that's all that's gonna matter.

And you keep running, you keep running.

The pain in your lungs, there, other streaks come, other creatures begin to climb up the sides,

called by the yelling of the other predators, shapes that you can't even pay attention to because you're just looking ahead and going.

I'm going to spend two fear.

I need you both to roll D4s for me.

Oh, shit.

Not the one I rolled before, that one betrayed me.

One.

Three.

You mark three stress.

Oh, shut up.

I'll keep my wrong way.

You never know.

As

the physical exertion

and mental exertion of this activity has driven you past any limits you thought conceivable.

But the memory of those that gave their lives to get you there and back home holds strong as you both charge to the edge of the rampart until eventually,

still chasing you, you glance down and recognize the path below.

To the left of you, down below, is the beginning of the Imperium Bridge.

To the right is the path you took to the Screaming Forest, which means you are above the Amber Gate.

You begin to climb down, you find an entryway that leads to a series of staircases that go down into the sides of the Amber Gate until eventually you emerge from the side and charge back through.

The creatures are still searching the top of the gate while you all hide amongst the scrub and coast along the outer rim of the surrounding ashen sea marshes.

So, who's helming the push into the

into the screaming forest?

I took the last one, so I'll help you.

Now you did succeed on that, so I'm gonna count that down to a progress clock two.

Okay, okay.

What is this one?

What is this role?

So for this here, you're trying to lead back.

Okay, here's the question I'm gonna ask.

Are you going to go back through the familiar space of the Screaming Forest that you last went through, knowing that Mother is dead, but it has its own challenges?

Or do you wish to coast along the side of the

Ashen Sea that you know is also extremely haunted, and you managed to avoid notice from the spirits before, but are present strongly throughout the night?

Which path do you take?

Once again, which one's faster?

They're both about this.

The sea might be faster, but it is definitely the...

It's also unknown, and I think we made up some time there.

So maybe we can

hedge some stuff.

Yeah.

Yeah.

We can hedge a little.

Agreed.

Okay.

So following the familiar path, you trege into the screaming forest.

Your eyes pick up some landmarks and you can see from this kind of descending hillside that's leading down into the kind of the the divot that the forest encompasses right here before the marsh takes over you can see the sinkhole that it emerged your first time back, and that immediately kicks you into knowledge of the position you need to continue to travel.

I need you, or whoever's helming this, to make an instinct or knowledge roll based on if you want to just keep your eyes open and sense those landmarks, or analyze and recall the exact path you took and just keep that sort of attention to detail driving you forward.

I'll help you.

Okay.

And I can pick either either or?

Pick either one.

I'll pick knowledge.

I'll go from a knowledge perspective here.

Okay.

Um.

Okay.

13.

13.

That's a

minus one.

Minus one.

I'm going to use my instinct to navigate and perceive and sense our way through the lens that we've been through once before.

Come on, come on, come on.

That's cocked.

Okay, okay.

That is

16 with hope.

16 with hope?

That is a success that counts the progress counter down to a one.

As you charge through the screening forest, you can see the fungus that you had previously encountered seem to shift with your footfalls, but since you are in a full sprint by the time it acknowledges you, its sound vanishes.

You can feel the forest coming alive, but by its own nature, it doesn't come alive quite as quick as those as determined as you are.

Most people that travel through this forest have to take it somewhat slow, for the fear of unknown, for the fear of the hive, for the fear of things that ever hunt and seek here.

But you've already been through here and have more important matters.

So you can hear the screaming forest beginning to rouse behind you.

But you are keeping pace enough where it's just one step behind.

You hear the distant sounds of a buzzing network.

Four, twelve.

This load

of a cloud cloud of winged entities likely bent through hunger or vengeance trying to follow suit

But you break free from the southern tree line and begin to break for the trees that surround the exterior of Vokoro

and with that the threat of the screaming forest is behind you.

Oh god, we're like right there.

You are exhausted just as the light of day begins to creep into the morning.

You think...

And as we...

I'm okay.

I'm okay.

As we hit Volcoro, or the outsides of it, can we check the skies?

Like, how does it look?

I mean, the skies look fine.

It's the sound.

It's the sound.

The sound you're familiar with because umbra winds are a recurring presence in this realm.

No one knows quite what or why the umbra is.

But wherever it goes, it goes with intent and hunger.

And where it goes, the screams, the squeals, the distant high-pitched whines, the sound of a thousand souls crying out at once.

And it's getting louder

and louder and louder.

Do you rest or do you continue to go?

We fucking keep going, baby.

We keep going.

Yeah.

I also just say,

we have to consider the possibility that we might have to

create a new pyre

if we can't get there in time.

And we could bring people to it, but if we're lost, also, there's.

there's no hope for Desperlock.

But we push through.

You're right.

You're right.

It's a last resort.

Okay.

As you rush around

Vokoru, the soldiers shout,

We have arrivals!

Hello!

Who goes there?

Hello?

Arc past.

Start rushing westward.

Stay inside!

Danger's coming!

You see, like, looking up there, they are battening things down.

Previously, there was a whole battalion of scouts.

Now there's just maybe four.

And you can see they're like closing windows.

And where the bustling city once was, it is silent.

Yeah.

Everyone is preparing for the coming storm, and it will hit them first, but they live under the protection of a pyre.

It's like trying to get home before a hurricane hits.

Yeah, on your own little BMX bike.

As the two of you go sprinting out across the sunken rampart, the somewhat broken path

of crumbling history.

The crash of ocean 50 feet below, filled with the jagged rocks.

Who is spearheading this hopefully, maybe, final portion of the trek with success?

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Or get you higher.

Okay.

Are you going to assist me?

Yeah, 100%.

Okay.

All right, so go ahead.

I will say for this, you can either use...

Either use ins...

I will say either use knowledge to recall the exact path you took to remind you of where the best step points are, the strongest footholds, and to know where to

know where the pain beasts are hunting.

Okay.

Or

you could try and go for finesse to make the jumps better, but danger might find you along the way.

The choice is yours.

My finesse sucks.

I'm going to go knowledge.

All right, go ahead and roll knowledge first as part of the group action role.

Okay.

15 for me.

15?

Yeah.

It's a plus one.

I'm going to spend my last fear.

As the shrieks and screaming of the coming umbra

just gets louder, you can't help after focusing forward as hard as you can, like,

like, you know, the

necessity to look forward as you charge.

The

it's like Hades down I was about to say don't look back it's it's it's very much that moment of like knowing you don't want to look and you can't help but look over your shoulder and you can see the darkened swell of shadow that swirls and swarms

and you have disadvantage on this roll so

wait can I spin hope to to give him advantage and negate that if you have a hope to spend i do you have one left yeah i have two left i got one yeah I'm gonna spend a hope, and I'm just praying.

You know, like,

she's full zealot

praying over the course of this.

15 is the difficulty on this.

Okay.

Straight roll.

Knowledge is zero.

Plus one with her help.

Plus one.

Let's be the bad gods.

Please do not forsake us.

Cursed way.

The umbra wins.

12.

With hope.

With hope.

You take a hope.

And as, so the progress clock does not continue, the umber grows closer.

The exhaustion is peering through you, and you get halfway across the rampart before part of the rampart crumbles.

And you watch his idol begins to slip.

No, can I grab him?

You grab his hand and keep him there.

Held.

You pull him up on the edge, but you both realize this jump that's ahead of you

is the wide jump that your troop had battled the pain beasts before.

And this is a jump that's a little too far unless you really try and rally with this.

I need you both to mark two stress

with the approach of the umbra.

Okay.

Oh my god, oh my god!

We're so close!

You're one success away from finishing this progress clock.

One success away.

But if either of you are you, how close are you both to becoming out of stress?

I have two stress left.

I have three stress left.

Okay, okay.

We'll see.

We'll see.

You might have one or two more chances,

including this one.

Are we able to pop those stamina potions?

If you got a stamina potion, yeah.

I'll pop a stamina potion if it's not going to belabor us.

No, you just grab it as you run.

I'll toss you one.

If you want one,

because we still have that one that was on screen.

One.

One every time.

All right.

You take that.

So.

One.

Jeez.

Well, it's something.

It's something.

All right, so both of you stand here and you hear the.

The entire western sky is darkness in the late morning.

And just the minute you glance over again, you swear you can see it shifting.

And for a split second, you can see this monstrous face in it.

Just...

No.

You blink and it's gone.

And you look away and you're like, fuck, fuck, fuck.

What do you do to cross this gap?

What do we do to cross this gap?

What do we do to cross this gap

okay i have a pitch okay do we still have that rope we do

i toss idle the end of the rope okay

toss toss idle the rope toss

toss me the idle toss

on the count of three i want you to jump as hard as you can and i'm gonna try and give you a little boost okay Okay, ready?

One,

two,

three.

And right as he does does his arc, I want to try and do forceful push and see if I can launch him the rest of the way across in the air.

I love that.

All right, so what I'm going to do is I'm going to have you do a strength action roll, but the difficulty is going to be lowered to a 10 because of your forceful push.

That's okay, okay, okay, okay, okay, okay.

That goes to a hope or a stress.

Uh,

well, a second looking attack thing, so it's an attack roll situation that I'm doing.

I'm gonna say it takes a stress for you to do this in the middle of this chaos.

That's great.

I can do that.

I'll call that easy.

So, would you roll?

22.

Hey, hey!

With fear.

As you leap, you slam him with the shield, and almost like you push off the shield as it hits you, you tumble and spin in the air, and your torso catches the edge, and you're about to slide.

You grab the stone and pull yourself up, and now you both hold both ends of this tether across the way as the

approaching umbra still miles away, tens of miles away, hundreds of miles away.

It's hard to tell at this scale.

Actually, find a pillar

on the other edge of the bench, wrap it around, throw it around my waist.

Fucking jump!

I got you!

You run and you leap, you get across the way with a rope easily enough.

You grab you there.

You both are now on the opposite side of the rampart.

You also hear at this point...

Come on.

The sound of a pain beast had heard your shouts and is now giving chase as well as you both run.

So, going back into a continued sprint,

you now now have a pain beast.

I'll fire just over my shoulder, a beacon bolt, like,

just kind of.

Go ahead and roll for your spell pass on that.

13.

That's a 9 plus 4, which is 13 plus 3 is 16, which hits.

16 with?

With hope.

With hope?

9 on the hope die.

Okay.

That.

Will finish the progress clock because with a with a failure

With a failure that would have marked down the last one of

the panel

so cavalier we just shot that over myself

but as the pain beast leaps to pounce onto brixton in the air you

blast back with the bolt it hits it in the chest and knocks it just off enough of its arc axis that it misses both brixton and the wall and

tumbles down into the ocean below.

You hear both impact and water and rock as it breaks against one of the shoal stones below below and you just continue to run.

Run as

hard as you can.

It gets darker and darker and darker.

What should be a noonday sun

is now

a darkened clouded sky.

The winds

rush past you as you breach the outside of the jungle, Mavidora.

And instinctually,

instinctually, you look for the flame of the sacred pyre that carries you home before you have to remind yourself there is none.

The winds are getting

louder.

Brixton gets the uh

gets the blessed branch out and is clutching it in her hand now.

You fear you might be lost.

You fear as you run, charge forward, the path before you, the broken bridge, and the path you both leap over the water as best you can, get about waist deep in it, continue to push forward, the iciness of it soaking through your armor and your pants.

We're so close.

Anyway, both of you together grab onto the edge of the riverbank and lift up onto it.

The wind blowing past, even louder still.

You can't hear yourselves unless you shout now.

The wind is so strong.

And once again, you look back and see that face

rushing towards you, breaking through the jungle line and pushing down the path.

You go, you go.

You feel your vision start to tunnel.

You feel the exhaustion creep in.

You feel like

maybe your body's about to give out.

Maybe it's not enough.

Maybe it was worth a shot and you did your best.

But there are limits to everything.

And you just get a glimmer of the slag wall.

And as you rush towards it, you can't.

Your mouth is dry.

Your lips are cracked.

Your voice, you try and utter a noise and it comes out like a squeak.

And as you run towards it, you see two figures, themselves, like batten down and fearful.

You see five figures.

You see the vigil.

The vigil that remains standing on the wall,

ready to accept the terror of the storm that's about to consume them.

Open the gates!

They all turn and look.

I just like...

Push the I like pump the blessed branch up into the air

They all look back in in in disbelief as a hand reaches forward

and you see standing there, ghost hook.

Where his right hand was is now gone instead of blade is affixed to it, having returned.

And by the sign of no pyre without a branch, looks down and goes,

open the gates!

All of a sudden, they'll begin to mobilize.

The civilization on the brink of destruction and accepting their own demise.

With what strength and honor they had left, suddenly move the glimmer of a last moment of hope.

They reach over and and grab the chains, the gates

open.

The wind is pumping against the sides of the wall.

You hear the whistle of it creeping through the nooks and crannies of the stone and slag.

You charge into the middle as the society,

the civilization of Desper Locke is now gathered in troops, huddled, trying to

help the families, the crying, the acceptance of their end in these final moments, just leaning on each other.

Look to the sound of yells as the two of you rush in.

Ember Warden!

As you charge forward, you see the Ember Warden runs out.

My god.

Running higher!

The wind's picking up.

Shh.

You swear you can see

tendrils of shadow

reaching over the slag walls as the storm begins to push.

The shrieks deafening.

The now your voice barely peeks out from the wailing of this storm.

Brixton!

I just fire a thunderbolt through the

weapons ceased into the clouds.

Swallow a nothing run

You glance up and where it was swallowed you see the cloud close like a mouth that face once more turns into a void

Turns into a dark doorway a precipice of oblivion an echo of what you've seen haunt you in your dreams beyond the angel beyond destiny Here is where the darkness takes you and as the cloud of the storm reaches out to swallow you and the families around you, you rush towards the pyre.

The Ember Warden reaches forward,

sparks the flint

as you set the branch outward.

And I just like fucking dunk it.

The flames

burst into a massive

inferno around

a light that not fire can create, but a flicker of divine prominence.

A momentary image of the old world's protection returns as the fire burns upward and the shriek of the umbral storm becomes a shriek of agony.

The sky threatens to tear itself apart as the shadow

dissipates.

And then

quiet.

The winds progress, and you hear the sound of the umbra passing by,

dividing around you like a stone in a river as it rushes into the jungle beyond.

The entirety of the city stands still, locked.

300 people

in disbelief

as they all turn

and see the flickering beacon

of safety

that carried all of them and you

from the accepted precipice of oblivion,

the silence breaks

with crying and cheering and sobbing and yelling and backpats

The entirety of Desperate Luck clambers forward and embraces you embraces each other

A communal sigh of relief

just takes her sword, drops it

similarly collapses.

As the shadow of unconsciousness claims you both

here in the darkness,

dreamless forever.

Perhaps that was it.

Maybe that was your final act.

And this is the sweet release of death finally letting you rest.

But the flame flickers in that shadow.

And the call

of the pyre keepers

burn brighter and brighter.

As you glance up,

You see the faces of the children you grew up with.

You see the faces of your chosen brethren

who came into this position with you.

Those lost and those still here.

You.

That dark oblivion passes.

And whereas the visions of late have been

of dark destiny or confusing promise,

now it's just thoughts.

Quiet spiritual prayers in your silence of sleep

for those that

gave it all so you can do this.

No golden omens.

Just

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Weeks have passed.

And Desperlock

reclaims its

normalcy as much as any settlement can here in this dark century.

But Brixton.

Where do we find you here

in the times that follow your charge and return to Desperala.

Brixton has put a lot of thought into

the value of a life,

the cost

of others,

and saving

those.

I think she struggled a lot wondering

if it really was worth it.

You can weigh one life, two lives, three,

half a dozen

and say their sacrifice was worth it.

That's just in the numbers:

six

versus three hundred,

But that number,

the five fellow companions that she was with,

gods knows how many more from Gosuke's team.

That number will always be etched in the back of her brain.

She returns to her duties as a pyre keeper.

But that lingering thought, the crying faces at the Celsian Athenium,

a settlement arguably far more fortunate than Desperlock,

and the pervasive misery

that still plagued them.

Her thoughts about Okros in the gardens and Adelia's life that never was.

her

romanticization

of

the life of an adventure of being chosen.

But the grass was never greener on the other side.

This is the Idol Hollows.

There never was grass to begin with.

Brixton is older in age,

at least for the lifespan of one in the Halcyon domain.

She doesn't know how many more years she has left,

but

she dedicates the rest of her time

to being a pyre keeper,

to

scouting newer pyre keepers

for those that we lost.

Training them,

teaching them the scriptures and our tenants and our ways.

And maybe if she has time and decide

builds tiny little

pocket monuments, maybe

maybe a little wall of remembrance

in a little corner of the slag wall of Desperlock

to all those that we've lost.

Not just Misty

and August

and Screeve

and Adelia

and Snyx,

But also the Pyre Keepers, Corbin and Romond.

Those we've lost

from all of the Delvers,

all of the Vigil.

Five lives for 300.

But it's still too many.

As you're caught in this

your face tense.

A hand clasps your shoulder.

You hear the voice of Emmerward and Sheena.

I know that look all too well.

It's a weight we're surviving and during bear the longer we live.

I've seen it on your face.

Hence why it's so recognizable.

I know the thoughts going through your head because they've gone through mine many a time.

I must remind you

it's not about it being

a sacrifice that you've made or any of us have

it's just the unfortunate nature

of this world

We do our best

and we endure

and continue to live and teach

and laugh and tell stories

and farm and garden

because those who are brave enough will do whatever it takes to give us that opportunity.

Is it fair?

Never.

But would you want your memory sullied with others,

concerned about whether or not your sacrifice for these children was worthy?

I didn't think so.

So,

when you leave these offerings here, and she gestures to your little shrines,

do so with gratefulness.

It's never fair,

but it is

incredible.

As the Amberwarden's

words wash over Brixton,

and she hears the laughter of the children.

There's almost

the faintest, briefest moment where she thinks she hears

Violet!

And she turns.

Shakes off.

Just the laughter of children.

Idol.

In the weeks, months to come,

the recovery and regrowth of Desperlock.

Where do you find yourself?

I think.

Oh, and Erin.

I can't forget about Erin.

She's in there too.

All the nights.

Ghost Hook

and gets a debrief on everything that happened at the

Gilded Champles

because if a blessed branch indeed resides there, failure should not deter them.

Resources or resources.

He's also going to work with Idrova Khan and Trevor Austok within the Triarch to

work with the scholars of Luzel and the Delvers.

Because the monastery remains unexplored and the only way that that blessed branch that they found in the barrow of blind repose was even located in the first place was because there was bravery that came before them

and knowledge that was returned at great cost.

So he will

work

on continuing to delve within the monastery.

And in his time in Desperlock, he will also work with the youth because it's not just about

hiding who you are because you think others may have a

judgment, a feeling about what it is that your gifts are.

He tells the story of August, of Misty, of Snicks, and of how the most assuming of folks can turn out to be exactly what you need in the darkest of times.

It just matters how you put the pieces together.

One afternoon, as you're walking away from Garrick's place, himself probably a little toasty after a long conversation where he lost track of how many cups he had poured himself of some

recovered wine that he traded off of

one of the delvers

and walks alongside you.

I gotta tell you, boy, it's a real um

It's a real special what we have out here to the east.

I know it's always hard for some of us some

life hard and men

sometimes show

deep emotion, but I just want to say my appreciation for all you've done for everyone here.

And please don't

Don't think I hold anything against you.

I still miss Erin a whole lot.

And I see her

and every kid's face here, and I hear her laugh when they laugh, and

a little part of it lives on in all of us.

I don't think it would surprise you if

every time I'm out,

I think of her little laugh and how it was absolutely impossible to keep up with her

or to try and sneak out without her.

So I think it's fair to say that

she's with us

everywhere we go.

I'm just toasty enough to go tender my rashes, so um

I'll see her

patsy on the shoulder and walks off as you

continue on to the city.

Where are you heading?

If

it's a night of rest, I'll probably make my way down by the pyre just to see if

Brixton is around.

Along the way there,

a voice goes,

Ergol.

You turn to see Ghost Hook who's approaching you.

Stoic, tense.

Ghost Hook?

We've been talking with some of our compatriots.

And while I know that the challenges in which we faced in the shambles were based in a very challenged timeline,

a part of me still thinks that there is something there to find.

if you didn't make it in

far enough to confirm that there is nothing there,

then that is the definition of unexplored, my friend.

And there are very few

that can do what we do.

Then maybe we

in a few weeks' time

go back for a round too.

Maybe.

Let's get smarter first.

Let's make sure we leave in strength, with numbers, and well-rounded.

Of course.

Leadership has its place, but

I think there are diamonds in the rough around here.

Are you trying to teach me lessons now, Idol?

What's that saying about old dogs?

You've never seen him crack a smile.

But a little grin peeks the side,

gives you a nod, pats your shoulder,

and walks off.

You continue on to the pyre here in the afternoon.

Where Brixton currently finishes

instructing one of the newer pyre keepers.

Yeah, yes, of course.

You take the six,

throw them onto the fire.

All of them?

Just a little at a time.

Okay, right, because it's doesn't need a lot

of fuel.

Go ahead.

Yay.

How many did you throw on there?

How many did you throw on?

Like four.

Did you throw it on six?

No, I thought it was supposed to be like.

You threw on more than one.

I'm sorry.

Good.

You did good.

There's honestly not a lot to it.

It's more of a

philosophical station.

If you've been beyond the walls, you

will have to come a day where I have to as well.

If the failed gods have any

say in that?

I certainly hope not.

I'll stay here then.

I'm gonna go change my pants.

Is it still Pyrekeeper or is it Ember Warden now?

Sheena's still around, but you get the sense that Sheena's probably looking for retirement soon.

I think it's just Pyrekeeper for now.

Okay.

Plus, there's not too many of us.

Fair.

But maybe in time, we'll see.

If

I last that long.

Would it surprise you if I told you that Ghost Hook wants to take another quarry out to the Gilded Shambles?

Because Infernal and Demons are just so easy.

You're gonna go with them?

Yeah.

You should.

It suits you.

But

I'm only as strong as the people around me so I think I'll wait until you feel like the pyre is protected enough

well

you know me

I am your shield

yes

ad nausea

who is what's the name of that old that old coot who had the the the wine that Snick's always got him?

Referring to

Halarin the son?

Halarin.

You think he'd bum us a little bit of wine?

I think he has to at this point.

Yeah.

Isn't it a year?

We saved his life.

Yeah, I think it's everything within a year from the new pyre is free.

That's what I heard.

Yeah, I feel like I heard that too.

As you both walk in tandem to go acquire some old wine from an old member of the Praxis Collective,

we leave Desperlock,

still clinging to its

happiness in a very, very unhappy realm.

But

that's the purpose of the Enduring,

is to continuously find the light in that dark and rally against it.

It's a dying realm as long as you let it.

The two of you

and the others who bravely gave everything alongside you

are proof.

And that will end our tale of this

part

of the history of the Age of Umbra.

But one small journey

of a vast

land.

Perhaps one day we'll get to see another.

But you don't get to play again if you die once.

Once you die in the halcyon domain, you die for good.

That'll close our story.

Thank you guys so much.

That was so fun.

I love the ship.

Oh, the sky.

I'm still getting all choked up here in the end, man.

Before we go here, I do have

a series of thank yous to give to a lot of people who helped make this happen.

I want to give a big shout out to Sean Ellis, who did the incredible set design that you see around here.

He's an amazing artist through a multitude of the Dagger Heart book.

So many of the pieces there you'll see are his staple, incredible talent.

Alongside him, the set fabrication was done by Knox Weiler Berf.

Knox's incredible talent who

also

is part of our painting team helped paint that final boss me.

So Knox, thank you so much.

Anthony Jones AJ is our amazing art director for Dagger Heart and did the wonderful character art for our troop of spooky and fun players through this story.

The opening theme of this was orchestrated and put together by Omar Fidel, who has done a wonderful series of tracks for us here at Critical for a number of years now.

Thank you so much, Omar.

The PC miniatures by the players were provided by HeroForge, our friends at HeroForge.

They look fantastic.

Thank you so much for your help there.

The minis themselves for the monsters and stuff, big thank you to Bestarium Games, BastariumGames.com, who had such amazing sculpts that helped inspire a lot of these encounters and creatures.

Thank you so much for your designs, as well as myresin3d.com for helping get some of those to me very quickly on a fast turnaround.

So big shout out to them, myresin3d.com.

We also have our wonderful miniature painters that helped on this.

We have KO Lassebal,

who's done a lot of these amazing bosses.

Our own KO here at the studio is kicked ass at this.

A lot of the train pieces too are painted by some of these people.

Our long-time friend, Iron Tusk, Ian, who's done so much great painting on this.

Angela Bassett, not that one, but an incredibly talented painter who has done a lot of wonderful work on both minis and terrain with us.

Thank you so much, Angela.

Eric Longquist, thank you so much, Eric, for helping with this painting work.

And of course, Knox with the boss mini.

All these painters does such an amazing job bringing these creatures and terrifying entities to life.

And of course, our amazing crew, Schmidt, Athena, Chris, Stevie, Taylor, and Parker.

They've all been busting their ass behind the scenes here to get this production moving forward.

Thank you all so much.

Shout out to our producers, producers, Matt.

Steve all the time.

Made all this shit work.

Head of production, Finny, Finny Singh,

all of our post teams.

Zacker Heart, our post team,

the wonderful folks who helped build this game

from our

publishing wing, Darington Press, created

for you guys to try it out.

I fucking love the system so much.

I know I said I hated it earlier, but that's not true.

And a big thank you to all of our wonderful players who came in, who will come in here to talk about this after the cooldown here in just a moment afterward on Beacon.

So, uh, I think they're waiting in the wings.

Well, come on, you guys want to come on in here?

We'll see you in the cooldown.

Give a wave before we go to cooldown before so we can finish out

this finale.

And once again,

for anyone who's still alive,

for anyone who doesn't know, we have an amazing after-show that is exclusive to Beacon called Cooldown.

So you can come and check it out and see all of our thoughts,

feels

backstory.

And then, and Sam's Sam's going to read the backstory.

I guess we could tell our backstories.

We can do that.

It's so neat.

But no, thank you all so much for joining us on this Age of Umbra series.

Very special for me because this game of Dagger Heart has been such a hard bit of work for so many wonderfully talented people.

But also this setting was something that I was really excited to put into the book as a campaign frame, not thinking I'd have the opportunity to actually explore explore it here and really,

really enjoyed this.

More zombies.

I hope you enjoyed it too.

If you like it, please watch it.

Tell your friends because if it does well, maybe we'll do more down the road.

But once again, thank you all so much for joining us.

We love you very much.

And visit Thursday.

And we finished up this episode.

Thanks for coming along on this wild journey with us.

If you like the adventure, consider leaving a review on your podcast platform of choice.

We're always looking for new critters to share our stories with, and your review may help a new batch of wayward adventurers discover the show.

See you next time.

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