The Tomb of the Heretic Saint | Age of Umbra Episode 8 Part 1

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Hey there, critters.

This is Ashley Johnson.

And Telison Jeffy.

And we're popping in here to talk about our new podcast on Beacon Weird Kids.

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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.

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And that should cover it.

Now, let's dive into the adventure.

Hello, everyone.

And welcome to tonight's finale

of our Age of Umbra Rock.

House it in.

House it in, dude.

What's going to be happening?

What's going to happen?

Marisha,

You got an action too.

I do.

You guys, Gen Con is nearly upon us.

We're going to have an action-packed Dagger Heart panel.

Tons of games of Dagger Heart and Solar Gardens.

Also, our Dagger Heart live show in Indianapolis and demos and sales.

It's going to be at our booth, which is number 2841.

Come see Daggerheart and Darrington Press in person.

It is going to be great.

Oh my God, god, we're married too.

She seems much more thrilled.

This is already all over AO3, by the way.

And I believe we have another announcement.

Yes, also.

The Indie live show will be the first show using Dagger Heart to be set in Xandria.

How's it gonna work?

You're gonna have to see.

But if you can't make it, don't despair.

Our partner, Fathom Entertainment, is bringing it to movie theaters across the U.S.

and Canada for one night only.

Just the one, August 5th, 7 p.m.

local time.

Tickets are available for purchase at fathomentertainment.com/slash critical role.

I know.

This little bastard.

I know.

Not fathom.

Not fathom.

Just a puff a lot.

Just the mask.

This marriage is off to a rocky sound.

All right, Laura, did you have announcements?

We have a shirt.

We have a new.

Which camera am I looking at?

I haven't done this yet.

We have a new Dagger Heart t-shirt featuring four of our Dagger Heart ancestries.

Check it out.

Whoa.

Qatari, Orc, Clank, and Ribbon.

Ooh, find it now in the US,

Canada, UK, and EU.

Critical role shops.

No!

We do it!

Now there's

you!

I promised I'd make it simple, you jerks!

Anyway.

Sorry, Max.

Oh, no.

Thank you, Laura.

Yeah.

I think that concludes our announcements for this finale.

And what a way to go.

Oh, my goodness.

For all my friends and my two legal partners.

Let's go ahead and jump into tonight's episode of

Age of Umbra.

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Welcome to the age of Umbra.

Last we left off.

These survivors

of the troop, enduring that have traversed much of the eastern edge of the Halcyon domain, pushed through Amber Reach, lost friends and others that walked into shadow and have found just the four of them now trudging forward beyond the Ashkal Quarter.

the Celsian Athenium, the Cinnabar Quarter, and then eventually

through

the Aurum Wealt until finally

you arrive at your destination,

the Barrow of Blind Repose.

A little battered, a little exhausted, you look at the heavily grown-over sealed front door to this mountainous subterranean tomb.

to the heretical saint of Elyar,

of which the research back in Desperlocht pointed to the possibility of a blessed branch might be an object that is capable of starting or restarting a sacred pyre like the one that was destroyed back in your home village, leaving it vulnerable, while the distant shrieks of the umbra

continue to screech and echo on the horizon.

So,

as you arrive and settle in

with your final destination before you, what would you like to do?

We'll get this fucking map out.

I forgot I had I'm a visual learner.

I guess

we have to decide if we're taking a short rest right now.

Yeah, we had this discussion, right?

Like, it's final stage.

Yeah, if we don't.

I'm confident.

Oh, really?

Oh, you are?

No, I've got three hit points.

We should do it.

We should do it.

But it's a short rest.

The pros and cons, just to wrap it out.

We get to be refreshed, which is probably the way to go.

But so does he.

He gets fear.

Yeah.

How much?

It's almost like this system is a balance.

For short rest, I get 1d4 fear.

So

I get 1d4 fear.

He could possibly get 4.

Anything with ill intent could close in on us.

But one of us will clearly take a watch.

Probably me because I'm the best player and don't need to repair anything.

Whoa.

Sorry?

Okay.

I'm pro short rest, but you guys, I could go either way.

If someone has a short rest.

Short rest, short, we need to kill it.

If someone has a health potion, I could be fine to go as well.

I do, but I think a short rest would be.

Let's do it.

Because then also I regenerate some of my abilities.

My rest is

that too.

Might as well.

Can I use my Slyborn, now the only Slyborn at the table, R.I.P.?

Oh, wait, he didn't die.

He just left.

My scoundrel abilities to roll with advantage to find a safe place to hide yourselves.

Certainly.

So if you wouldn't mind, go ahead and making an instinct roll to find somewhere here at the base of these peaks of the Idol Hollows where you will most likely not be spotted or hunted.

Any unique thing to this roll?

Just regular?

Just regular with advantage because of your ability.

Okay.

4, 11...

12, 13, 13 with hope sees.

13 with hope?

All right.

Sweet.

So take that hope.

Wow.

It takes takes you the better part of about 10 or so minutes because these mountains are relatively sheer beyond the forest when the rest of the growing trees begin to no longer hold roots against the rock.

You find one alcove that's a little cramped, but it is kind of pushed inward and out of visual range of most anything along this mountain ridge.

And with that, you all kind of settle down.

You kind of step, it's to the point where, let's say, a good part of the rain is being blocked from you, so you're not being absolutely drenched through your rest.

Just a little bit of a spatter, which is comfortable comparatively.

And you all settle in to go ahead and

prepare for the hopeful discovery of a blessed branch.

And in the beginning, trek back home.

So,

who's doing what during this short rest?

Dink, ding, ding, dink, repair some armor.

Go for it.

So it's 1d4 plus 2 because you're you're tier 2.

Then I will restore all of it without even rolling.

Okay.

And I will restore some health.

That's also 1d4.

1d4 plus 2.

Then that will also restore all.

Great.

And that's it.

That's 4 hope.

Oh, you mean four fear?

I'm sorry, 4 fear for me.

It's my hope, guys.

I'm going to spend 3 hope.

to use a little life support on myself and clear a hit point so I can leave one of the actions free to keep watch during our short rest.

And I'll post up outside of where we're resting, like

kind of using them as bait and just keep an outside peripheral overwatch.

You've got it.

Misty?

Alright, if you're keeping watch then, I am going to clear my

HP,

hold that.

This one full up again.

And then I'm going to add an armor because I only have one that I cleared.

So now I'm full up.

Okay.

Tink, tink, tink, tink, tink.

So you repair up your armor and get it ready for the go.

Feel much more sistery in that regard, Dexter.

I cleared my stress.

I was also only down one armor, but that's my that's my bag, baby.

So I uh filled that back up.

I still have one hit point that I'm down, but I'm

rolling a little bloody.

Yeah.

While you're keeping watch, and your eyes scan the horizon, you can see

maybe in the forest outskirts, while while you did manage to heal the Fanewarden of the core heart of the Waleld, there's still dark things that lurk and hunt.

Whether Umbertouched or not, they're still just natural dangers that stalk the territory.

You see flying entities that, at this distance, in this lack of late-day light, you have no sense of scale.

They're either very close and big,

or a little further and very big.

Go ahead and roll a D12 for me.

1 D12.

There we go.

I'll take mine.

What is yours?

A 10.

A 10?

Well, mine was a 5.

Everything's going right.

Yes, everything's going right.

There's no way to quench these flames.

As you settle in,

the rain itself begins to subside.

Stop the rain.

He He really is blessed.

Oh no.

He's cursed.

But allows you all the rest without issue, without problem.

So

no disturbing of your time down.

You regather your things, step out from the alcove, and return to the outside of the barrow at this root-choked, rock-in-dirt-crusted, forgotten tomb of the heretic saint.

It looks closed, sealed, overgrown.

How do you enter the barrack?

Overgrown with a root that is like leafing and flowering, or like hard

drake.

Okay.

It's like, if you look above it, it looks like there may have been a tree that grew there when they built it.

Chonkies.

And then it likely grew over, and then as the landscape began to shift with the age the tree died away and was kind of carved away in chunks by just sheer weather and wind and the roots have stayed and almost like become stone around the door unless anyone has a way to manipulate fauna i can talk to fauna but i can't

and i can grow vines but i can't like make them go ahead and maybe want to ask what's contained within and why the door was overgrown i could are these roots fully dead?

There is no leaf or much of a tree left attached to it.

Dead thing.

Coward.

I could try.

It's done.

You and I combo.

Sure.

Speak to dead roots.

We don't need to do this.

Like, is this how we combo?

This is how we do it.

This is how this is boring.

Let's put it on.

If you want to try it, we know it.

Bring them back to life.

If you want to try it.

so clever.

I'm tempted to

pretty sure it wouldn't work.

Oh, let's try it.

Fuck it.

Oh, no, I'm going to remove all my hopes.

Oh, my God.

You're actually doing a tag team on this?

We're doing a tag team.

Wait, oh, you're doing a tag team.

I thought you were just going to cast your spell at the same time I was going to cast my spell.

No, tag team, baby.

Jesus.

We're going in.

Let's go.

Talk to a dead man.

All right, so

we join hands.

The door, there's a progress clock

to

unseal the door.

To unseal the door.

Okay.

And enter the barrow.

I would like you both to.

Now, do both of these spells require a spellcast?

Mine does.

Mine does.

All right, I would like you both to roll a spellcast, and you can decide which of your rolls to go with.

Okay.

Here we go.

I'm going to use reading between the lines because the roots are like lines on a page.

Yeah.

No.

Nope.

Fair enough.

Oh, it's a crit, baby.

There it is.

Double ones.

Double ones.

Did you roll a three?

Double ones.

I got a four.

That's great.

You both get a hope.

You both clear a stress.

And you both are a crit on this.

As a

critical success ticks it down three, and both of you got critical successes, that immediately completes the progress.

Countdown.

If you would both describe to me how,

okay, well, you know what?

Let's roll play this out.

Describe to me how your combination of magical incantations

merge and how do you beseech the dead roots that hold this door closed.

I grab Snyx's hand and I place my hand on the roots and I say,

Roots of the tree, roots that be,

open your mind and speak to me.

okay

but i will

pump in final words

all right

um

building off of that um

uh

i uh i will say uh uh

uh to the roots uh oh roots that lie dead please rise and speak

you have knowledge that we desperately seek

these

long hardened, still

lifeless roots that were grown over and left to protect and prevent the opening of this barrow from long ago begin to

grow a bit of color briefly and creak

against the door.

You hear this heavy creaking

like the sound of like a hard pumice stone being dragged across a hardwood floor

and through your magic you hear the creak which comes through as

I grew here before my purpose was sought

I was bent to hold

though not what I wished

I am

punished to hold this gate.

He's punished.

I...

Through your magic, I will speak back to it and say,

we cannot undo the years of punishment you've endured,

nor can we free you from this prison.

But

maybe

if we're allowed through,

we could restore hope to this wood and maybe even

shine a bit of light on you that you may grow again.

The creaking sound grows a bit louder through your ears, and as your magic merges once more, the

facets of natural aether weave that flows through the life forces of the domain above and below merges with the divine spark that still kind of sits like a residue in the absence of the gods, merge to come through this dead thing and find its words back to your ears.

I have

no will to keep this gate closed.

My spark is gone.

If your intent

is foolish or true,

then the barrow is yours.

The roots

begin to crack, and you watch as the thick, matted cluster of leftover tree roots begins to

break away,

revealing behind it a raccoon.

This heavy stone doorway itself bisected in the center, but it looks like it's been

heavily sealed, adhered magically.

And you watch as the roots begin to crumble, some of the roots dig into pockets of the stone where it was kind of grown into and held.

And it digs deeper and deeper.

The will, the final undying will of this long dead tree, left to the elements to be forgotten,

enacts its last bit of will.

It means to crack the door with its earthly strength.

The door begins to crumble inward,

leaving a good four and a half foot wide gap where the top parts have crumbled and stumbled down.

You kind of step aside as someone begins to roll down the sheer incline or decline that you had just come up, kind of tumbling towards the edge of the forest.

But there, as the dust begins to settle, you see the lightless subterranean path into the barrow before you.

That was awesome, John.

Great job,

great job, great job.

Wonderful.

Okay.

Okay.

I'll pat the roots.

Thank you.

Yes, I'll pat the roots too.

Thank you.

I'll pump a little divine energy into the tip of the bone-hooked glaive and just sort of hold it out like a torch as we head into

whatever lies beyond the door.

We actually made it.

All of us

alive.

Every single one of us.

Every one of us.

My memory's a little.

I think it was the woods.

Whatever that mist was.

Four started out.

Four,

Okay.

Erasier's a bitch.

Now remember.

Once we get in here, stay near me.

As long as you're near me, I can protect you.

You are our shield.

I am your shield.

You are your shield.

Yes.

Stay near me, so I can blame my farts on you.

Let him be remembered by his last words.

Stop it.

I don't think that was me.

I don't have a digestion system.

Oh, no.

But I do make pipe organ noises, but

you literally toot.

I can pretend that I toot.

Now that's a barred concept.

Flatulant bar.

The flat room answer.

That'll be a subclass for Dagger Heart down the road.

Dagger Fart.

Dagger Fart?

Oh, God.

So do you enter Kiberrow of Land Repose?

Yes.

Perfect.

With that, the rain begins to subside.

And the shaded interior

is all that greets you.

A stale, ancient smell of air not exposed for almost a century.

The rain vanishes behind you as the tunnel just continues straight

for a few minutes.

Carefully, you step.

The rest of you kept close, the little bit of flickering divine light that Idol has kept at the edge of his weapon.

The only real beacon to alight the sides of stone.

The earth here looks like it was carved but not finished.

Like the effort of this barrel was not in the pathway to wherever this saint was interred.

You're not certain what to expect.

By the elements of history that you've gleaned, the shreds of memory or the past that you've managed to acquire in your travels speak of the saint's execution by the Grand Ordinance before being placed here to be forgotten.

This blessed branch interred with it as a way to keep its blasphemous golden path from diverting true followers of the faith of the now gone veiled gods.

So the rough-hewn tunnels feel almost apropos

for something that the ordinance were not trying to

leave with much splendor.

You continue to push in,

Misty.

You reawoken tunnels, and you have memories of tunnels.

Ah, some that are fractured.

The smell in here, because it is so still and old, it reminds you of many things.

Tell me, what is it about this tunnel

that is so familiar to you?

And which life and what memory does it evoke?

It is my spirit's memory

of

being

very scared,

alone,

cold,

and it makes me very sad.

I know that I've

lost people that I love

in a place like this,

but there's also that part of me that knows,

and I don't know if it's another memory from the vessel.

But I know that

there's comfort in the vessel as well.

Comfort in the vessel.

Comfort in something of divine origin.

This sadness, this

sensation of loneliness that you feel and lost in this memory.

You look up beyond the path and for a moment your friends aren't there.

Instead you just see this small golden light.

You see a woman,

beautiful and soft of face.

A gentle hood over her head as she approaches

what looks like

a multitude of people in the throes of lament,

mourning something heavily.

And she walks up and takes one of their cheeks and lifts it to her shining golden face.

And you sense their

mourning

fade

and is now filled with hope.

And she looks up towards you.

with that smile, that golden smile, and you blink and it's just the divine light at the edge of Idol's weapon.

And you catch yourself walking alongside and

blink the memory from your view and

continue walking ahead.

Brixton.

As you continue to walk,

the bobbing of that golden glow of Idol's little

burning flame

you've looked so long into the flicker of fire

and as you stare into it, looking for some sign, some good omen, some semblance of strength from the flames that have protected you and your

kin

for so long,

you see it.

Is it a sacred

pyre before you?

No, it's a brazer.

It's a brazer burning

in a small natural temple away from a city.

And you see figures walking through the wood carrying their own small

censers that hang,

each with their own little flame burning.

And at the front,

they follow this beautiful woman with her

hood up

She has this soft smile that continues to look up towards the sky as she steps and just this radiant golden glow that emanates from her face.

They're traveling.

They're on a pilgrimage.

There's but ten of them.

But they stop.

She turns

and she speaks wordlessly to them.

And as she does, that light

You can't help but find the same solace in that light as you found in the pyre.

It's a symbol of hope.

It's a symbol of possibility.

Of a path back to

what

has forsaken this world.

And a part of you steps forward towards it instinctually, like you feel drawn to the flame, like a moth to the very fire that'll burn it.

And with that step, you bump into Snyx.

Look back and the pilgrimage is gone.

The woods were never there.

You're just stepping here in this long tunnel

along those that remain.

Sorry.

It's okay, you said to stay close.

Yes, yes.

Good.

Are you okay?

Yeah, I think it's um

I thought I saw something, but

just a trick of the light, I think.

Brixton.

What does this ominous portent, this flash of

history that's not yours,

flicker on in your memory?

What was the last piece of true hope that came across you before you left for this journey?

What a good question.

I think Brixton

has a hard time seeing this saint.

And it almost reminds her of the Emberwarden Gina

and the look in her eye

and what little ounce of hope that she had left.

She invested in Brixton

and put the weight of

what world that they know

onto her shoulders.

Maybe a bit self-imposed and maybe a bit

inflated, even from Brixton.

But nevertheless,

those words were said.

Brixton was to bring us salvation.

And that's too much to put on one person.

You can't do that.

You've come this far and lost so much, and here you stand in the face of history and destiny and while you

for so long you thought you were chosen to walk this path you look at your hands and for the first time you see that you're just a woman

a woman in a dying world that is so much bigger and so much hungrier and dangerous than you are

your hope die is now a d8

what does that mean

until you roll with until you roll a success with hope or your next rest your hope die is a d8 oh shit wait yeah that is bad That is bad.

That's the chance.

That's awesome.

So instead of rolling

this for my hope die,

you roll a d2

with hope.

Until I roll with hope.

Until you roll a success with hope.

Practice roll right now.

Practice roll.

Practice roll.

What if this goes well, though?

Nope.

It did not.

It's going to be hard.

Nope.

Narrator.

It did not.

Or did not.

Oh, my God.

Okay, all right.

All right.

Sticks.

Button breaks.

Yeah, ignore it.

Ignore it.

But breaks.

She shares this burden, though.

She's gotta know.

She shares this burden.

She's made it this far with her only companions.

The only four people

that she loved with.

Idol disappears.

Shit.

Shit.

Was there?

Was there another?

She, she has to lean on.

She does not share this burden alone.

Isn't that right, Snyx?

We'll find out in a second.

As you look towards Snyx, Snyx's vision is elsewhere.

Snyx, you.

As a person who has traveled alone across much of this land, knowing how dangerous it is, you're not a person who's used to just looking ahead.

You look ahead, then back, then right and left, then up and anywhere danger could be.

And here, you can't help but instinctually kind of step to to the rear of your more defensible allies,

waiting for your moment to strike with the most efficiency.

But until then, you're just afraid of an ambush.

And you look ahead to the light, you look to the side where the cavern walls are, and you look where you came from.

And as you turn, you see a light like the tunnel ends about 10 feet away from you.

Daylight.

Just beyond there.

In this mid-golden day hue, you see shapes, shadows in the distance, 30 feet away on this massive precipice.

This beautiful, polished white platform.

You can see and recognize the distant towers of Amber Reach, not yet fallen to the degree they were as you've traversed it in recent times.

And there you see, on her knees in chains, a beautiful woman.

Her golden face glowing as she just looks up to the sky.

Surrounding her, you see other heavily robed figures adorned with golds and reds.

They shout soundlessly, a commanding judgment.

And she doesn't hear it.

She just looks up to the sky and smiles.

You see others thrown onto their knees around her.

Three other disciples.

Three that are in similar chains.

And as they shout,

the light begins to get brighter and the tunnel grows shorter.

Your focus and your vision begins to pull towards it like you're being thrust towards it.

You instinctually yelp.

And that's when you bump into Brixton.

Oh, no, sorry.

That was my fault.

That one was my fault.

Glowing golden face or like a metallic mask?

It,

well, from their vision, it is a human soft face with just this soft golden glow

Did you see something?

I did

a a woman in pain or

not in pain but

definitely in trouble

maybe it's the

the person in this

Maybe she's trying to communicate to us or her spirit is

the echo of her spirit is calling out to us.

It's almost like we're literally walking in the path of her memories.

She's out of focus, alright?

It's game time.

No time for visions.

This is.

This is it?

Maybe it's just the air in here.

Maybe it's a little

stale.

Maybe it's worse than that.

Maybe it's.

I need to confess something to you

to me

I think it's my shame that I'm seeing

Aliana

what's what what about her

I don't know what about her

I've

I've never met her

You sent me to bring her a letter, and

I did.

But she was not there, and they had never heard of her.

I don't think she ever made it to Okros.

I didn't have the heart to tell you that

she's probably been dead for years.

It's not true.

You're lying.

You said you've been there.

You said you...

She had a garden.

You said she had a garden.

I didn't know how well I'm...

I'm a coward.

I didn't know how to tell you that she was

gone.

I wanted you to have some hope.

But the letter.

You wrote the letter.

All of them.

I think maybe my.

My guilt or something is being magnified by the walls or

I don't know.

I just can't go into this without a clear conscience.

I just know that everything I've done is out of fear.

I couldn't save my

friend, my womper.

I couldn't tell you the truth.

I couldn't face my fears.

Some asshole's been chasing me for a year and I've been running.

Maybe I shouldn't be with you guys.

I

don't know.

I don't know.

Who's been chasing you?

Someone from Amber Reach, one of the warlords there.

That was his package.

The case?

Yeah.

I didn't know it was a tongue.

Well,

I kind of stole it from him.

I worked for a group called the Phantom Stride, and

but I've been on my own for a while, and

I'm doing odd jobs for good people like you, and

you deserve better.

All of you really are.

You're such nice,

holy people.

Like, you

believe, and you

might be a god.

I don't even know.

Something.

I don't know.

You're something.

You're something.

A relic from the past.

And you...

You have the

magic of divinity.

I'm just a liar.

I am a god.

Well, okay.

You're not a.

You are a liar.

You've lied.

But you're also capable of great things.

Think of what we've done on this trip.

I think it's just this place that's magnifying that.

Snakes, you're capable of amazing stuff, and you've been there for all of us.

I'm sorry.

I understand your reasoning.

I actually do.

No one wants to deliver bad news

in this world.

Thank you for telling me.

I think I will still need time

to process it.

Sure.

Snyx,

I'd like you to make an instinct reaction roll for me, please.

That's not snicks.

19

with fear.

Oh, with reaction.

19.

As much as

this

reveal

this

culmination of coward cowardliness.

The

guilt that you feel for what you've said and done is there.

The fact that Brixton, while needing time,

reacted more

empathetic than you anticipated

keeps your will strong.

And you push on.

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Idol.

As they have this conversation,

sternly turn back around to where your light is, and as your vision passes into the tunnel, it's not dark.

It's lit with torchlight.

There are people in there.

You step forward to these two large doors that are open,

and there is a chamber within.

With amongst the rough-hewn rock that's been cleared out of the space, there are beautiful carved, polished pillars that almost build a makeshift

cathedral chamber within.

There's risen platforms and massive pillars that rise up and catch the ceiling.

You see in the back, this looks like a worship hall.

Guys, where did this.

They're not there.

And the people that are in this chamber you see are wearing travel vestments, long hanging robed sleeves of red gold.

You see about twelve of them

and beyond them you see four women in chains.

Three of them dressed in similar red and white robes on their knees,

all looking to one central figure

that sits before them.

Shackled.

Her hood thrown back, her dark hair tumbling past her shoulders.

and she just looks up, away from them all, with a beautiful smile

and a golden, vibrant hue that just glows from her face.

You quietly watch as a man from the troop walks out next to her.

An older man,

portly, angry.

You can only describe his expression as furiously jealous.

As he shouts things at her that you do do not hear, it is silent.

He clutches a familiar scepter in his hand of silver and gold.

And he points a finger down at the woman's golden face.

As two figures step up,

withdraw blades.

No.

and begin to carve her face away.

You shout no and rush forward, and the light at the end of your weapon flares for a second

and the room is dark once more

the rest of you watch as idol shouts no and steps forward and stops just as you come upon this open double door into an interior chamber

no

more messing around

It's game time.

We gave the scepter back, right?

I mean, not back.

We bartered with it or did we keep it?

I have the scepter?

Yeah.

Yeah, I have it.

Take it out real quick.

Okay.

Does it look like the same silver and gold scepter from the vision?

I just saw somebody use that.

And two other

zealots stood up behind a woman with with dark hair and a face shining like gold, and they carved her face.

And one of them was holding that scepter.

Oh god, so it's a bad thing?

I mean,

I know it's a bad thing, but it's a real bad thing.

Maybe it's good we kept it.

Wait,

that that scepter was in the

in the box with the tongue, yeah, right?

Yeah, yeah,

so who whose tongue is that?

You said you saw Elias?

Is that what it was?

The scepter of Elias and scepter of Elias and

the small socket that came with it.

Evelar?

yeah, Eveliar

Evliar

Evliar Evliar

Was that Evliar's tomb?

I don't know

the room that we've just walked into.

Is it like the one that was in my vision or more?

It is the room in your vision,

but a different time.

When you saw it, it was

recently completed, fresh, candles lit around,

like some sort of ancient rite or ritual was about to be conducted.

Here as you step in, it is dark.

It is still.

It smells a forgotten, ancient nothing.

You look about the ground and there is crumbled shale.

There are blackened spikes of unnatural rock emanations from the umbrella effect on some deep subterranean elements.

You can see the pillars stand, but roots have grown through and surround elements of the ruin nearby.

You see the candelabra and all manner of candles that sit around only slightly melted.

Since who knows how long?

They were lit for

a ritual that may have been conducted here.

And amongst them,

skulls.

Many skulls.

Dozens.

Maybe a hundred.

Make a knowledge roll for me.

Maybe you'll roll with hope.

Maybe I will.

Is this something I can use historically inspired?

You can very much do so.

Spend AO

plus, so that would be plus three total.

Come on.

I rolled with hope.

She did.

Wait, she did.

I did.

Oh, but it wasn't a success with hope.

Oh, is it gotta be a success with hope?

Correct.

Well, it might hang on.

Eight

with hope.

Can I

use

four from one of my prayer dice to bump it up above ten just in case?

If you want to try that.

You okay there?

Dusty.

You had visions of followers on pilgrimage

behind this saint,

this promised path.

And from what you've heard, the reason that the Grand Ordinance took notice

and disavowed this path was her pull grew stronger, her flock growing denser.

And you look at all these skulls, and while you may have seen the four that were set for the central execution and sealing of this ritual,

You think they also laid with them all of her followers.

All of her most devout followers.

Was that a success?

That was a success.

Yes.

Ba-boy!

But boy!

So I get my D12 back?

You do.

Yes.

With that,

having seen this room before, can I almost

automatically start to move towards the middle of the room where I saw this woman with the hair and the golden face and getting carved?

Can I move to the spot where she was and just look at the ground where she was kneeling?

Yeah.

You walk into the middle of what is really a

sepulcher chamber.

A holy site constructed for the purposes of keeping a heretic.

So much work gone into

someone who was subjugated by the ordinance.

But you gather that's likely because for their sealing ritual to be done,

there was a minimal requirement requirement of holy surroundings

and remind me

she was not a worshipper of the veiled gods

from from what was heard she could see the path they took when they left

she could see the path they took her sight her her her golden radiant face was ever able to see the path they left on and she was to guide her followers along to find where they went.

And the Grand Ordinance did not like this because the Grand Ordinance was a God-King.

They were God-King

devotees?

They were God-King devotees, but also the

alongside the God-King, if not just below, the

organizational faith-based government of the old world here in the domain.

They believed her visions to be blasphemous.

They believed her path to be unholy

and having no bearing in the existing scripture.

So from their standpoint, her path could only be an unholy one.

As you look about this chamber, you see beyond all the candles and the pillars and the beautiful massive back cathedral like ritual carved wall that rises up

you see

what looks like a

a ritual table set up with candles on it

a book that is burned

and on the top dais a stone

casket that sits in the center

and to the front of it on a lower platform closest to you a much simpler wooden casket and on the far two sides of it two more simpler wooden caskets So there are three wooden caskets that kind of triangulate this central stone one

and as you hold the light up you can see on this central stone casket there is a collection of objects.

Coins what looks like dried fruit pits or gems.

You can't tell quite from this distance.

It looks like are offerings placed?

You're not sure.

It's too high above.

You just see just kind of things atop it from the position you stand at.

Atop the casket.

Atop the stone casket.

Payday.

We should definitely set fire to these caskets.

Uh-huh.

Certainly a choice.

I mean, well,

I could just walk in, open it up, and grab the thing and leave.

Which one, the stone casket or one of the three wooden ones?

I would assume the stone one, but that's just an assumption.

There's four of us, we could each open all of one of them all at the same time.

Can we give a look?

Can I look around and see if there's anything else?

I would like you to make an instinct action roll for me to perceive any other details in the environment you're seeking.

When you said looking for anything else, what are you looking for?

For starters, what's the ceiling like?

Is it like marble sepulchre above us?

Am I saying that right?

Sepulchre above.

Sepulchre.

Sepulchre.

Sepulchre.

Sepulchre.

Sepulchre.

When you kind of look up at the light, it's a rough kind of cavernous ceiling.

It looks like this was partially a natural cave that they expanded on and then either brought in or built things within it and then sealed it off.

Sepulchre.

Sepulcher.

Yes, ceiling, markings,

any maybe additional

trinkets that are around

that could contain a branch.

Sure.

Maybe not a casket that we have.

None of us have seen a branch, right?

Not since walking in.

No, I mean in our lifetimes.

No, we've only heard of them.

Um

that is

sixteen with fear.

Okay.

So branch could be anything.

Branch could be yes.

Spheric could be interpretive.

You bounce around like, you know, there's the broken bits of stone, there's the skulls, and you kind of look around the piles of skulls to see if they're like hiding something without touching them, nothing there.

There are those wooden caskets that sit lidded,

triangulated around the center of this chamber.

You step up onto kind of the central next level, the dais where the stone casket sits, and look up to where this kind of pile is.

And you see the coins and things that are there, they're arranged intentionally.

It's not just a pile of things that aren't on there.

They're kind of all set at angles, and you can see there's markings upon the stone connecting where they are.

Like, whatever these things, they're not offerings more than it's like a geometric design or a sigil on top.

And resting amongst them, you see about a foot-long, pale,

blanched piece of wood extending in about four little

branches that stick off to each side, just resting on top.

Grab that thing with you.

I don't trust it.

No,

just yeet it and let's get out of here.

But if it's a decoy, what if it's what if it's a sound?

Yes!

Yeah, yes, exactly.

But I think

what is supposed to light it

up.

Blood?

No, wait.

I think if you said

it's a fire to it, it maintains its flame.

Yeah.

Well, it's like a special fire.

They have to.

I don't know.

You're a pyre keeper.

You know what starts?

You have to take it back to the fires.

Oh, yeah.

Well, say, not even having a role.

This, your whole life has been the lore of the sacred pyre.

The branch, when it is ignited, becomes a sacred pyre.

So to light it here, we build the pyre here.

Which would be dope.

So no fireman.

Here's just the four of us for forever.

Start a new

colony.

Just saying, go people for all.

Guess we just have to make a lot of babies.

Is there a particular shape to the coin?

Any sort of rune or whatever?

It definitely looks intentional.

And the arrangement of it isn't symmetrical, but it isn't just like a pile of coins tossed.

It's like there's like two here, then a third one about a foot and a half in, and there's one over here.

And you can see like a slight drawing of like a like a bit of a soot path that connects one to another and a very well-made circle.

Yeah, and this is on the stone casket on the stone casket lid.

And the branches are sitting right there.

Yeah.

Can

I

go over and you're supposed to can I hold my hand above the branch and just feel is there it can I make any kind of a

magic read?

Is there anything emanating from the branch?

Anything like that?

I had deja

crazy right now.

Do you really?

They just changed something.

You can either

updated the matrix.

You can either roll instinct to sense it instinctually, or you can roll knowledge to analyze it based on what's visible in front of you.

I'll go instinct.

Okay.

16, 17 with instinct, with fear.

With fear.

Okay.

You

tap once more into that that little spark of golden power within you.

And as you reopen your eyes, indeed, where the lines are there, they are connected by an invisible divine sigil.

There is a protective ward here.

When they interred her, they believed

that whatever power she had should remain sealed.

that no one should be able to free her from this and let her build her flock a second time.

So they made sure when they executed her that they also bound her here.

And this branch is part of this binding.

The hallway that we came in through,

is there like a door?

Did we pass through a door?

We passed through an open door that leads in here.

Open door?

I don't like that.

I feel like if we touch this thing, the door is going to shut or something.

Should we try and wedge it open?

Maybe.

Okay.

Are there any pews, boulders, rocks, fallen shale, anything that we can?

There's no pews here, but I mean, there are some larger pieces of rock, some very big pieces of rock that have just kind of fallen in over time, but those would be far too big for you to move.

But

there are some sections of stone about this big that you can try and wedge and hold the door in place.

Do that.

Yeah, I'll do that.

Okay, sure.

Okay.

Try to move some stone.

Go move some stone over and put it up and kind of create a little fairy.

I could just stay behind the door and I could just mage hand.

And we could see on the other side of it.

Magic hand.

Magic hand, magic hand.

How far does your magic hand go?

Far.

It goes, uh, it goes, uh, strength is your own with far range.

Uh, is the door far range from the stone caskets?

It's a little bit further away.

Oh, see.

Well, I can stay inside.

I think we just grab it.

I think we're overthinking this.

You do?

Yeah, sure.

You're crazy.

I'm worried about the wooden caskets more than the main one.

There's no, like, we're going to lift this thing.

It's going to break the seal.

She's going to bust out of shares.

Yeah, she's going to have no fear.

She's okay.

If we grab it, let's be ready, though.

Let's spread out.

Stay near me.

Well, okay, but then

like

big attacks that affect all of us could happen.

And then also, we should prepare any protective spells or anything.

Rally dice.

All right, I'm going to rally everybody because I can do that once per session.

And this is angels.

The next session.

It is.

I will just wiggle my feathers a little and

feel very rallied.

You have to sing something for us.

We're in a dark cavern.

It's a little bit scary.

I make it so far.

It's a little bit hairy.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

I'm not

poets.

Poet laureates.

Almost.

You know me, the poet.

Watch out, a magic worm.

All right, so you all get your rally diets, a D6 that you can add to an action roll, a damage roll,

or clear stress if you need to.

Speaking of, I'm going to take a minor stamina potion.

Go for it.

Roll that D4, button.

Just going to clear that stress.

Might as well.

Might as well.

Did it.

Great.

All right.

Anyone want to...

Anyone want to verify?

All right, so you say you're spreading out.

Who's spreading out where?

I mean, should we just like...

I still attest that we should set these three coffins on fire and grab the branch.

What if that pieces are off?

Wait, fire is bad.

It could set the branch on fire.

The three wooden coffins.

No, but what if it spreads?

I don't know.

We're in a cave.

Caves aren't flammable.

Just sucks the oxygen out of the room.

We also spoke.

And I think there's plenty of places for the smoke to go.

Yeah, yeah.

That's fair.

Yeah, we're spread out.

Yeah, but what if she gets pissed because we're...

I have a feeling just from the past couple days

the past couple days she's gonna be pissed

regardless

or she'll be super thankful to be set free and we'll have a super powerful ally on our side That's fair.

Or she's not buried in the coffin because our vision ended too soon and it's actually owner of the scepter that's in that bitch and he's gonna be sad pissed as hell.

Oh, like she did a little baking switch, a little switcher room.

Or Adelia's in the coffin is gonna pop out with guys

fucking dolls.

Yes.

Scream!

We're not gonna know until we grab this thing.

Pretty sure.

All right.

Brixon says a little prayer.

She apologizes to the veiled gods.

We understand we are in secret ground walking in the path, in the footsteps of a saint.

Please forgive us of our transgressions.

This is only to further

your good works.

Yes.

Further your good works.

Are you grabbing it?

You were wearing full plate.

You should probably grab it.

Thanks for volunteering.

I'm going to move out to the right side of the screen.

We have a magic hand.

We have a magic hand.

I know, but should we actually physically touch it?

I am a tire keeper.

I think I'm a six pire keeper.

You've got blisters.

I've got.

I am.

Yes, I have blisters.

I call strong side.

Okay.

Okay, I'm going to go to the other side of Brixon.

Okay.

Brixon could have ready to use her greatsword.

I'm going somewhere else.

Okay.

Greatsword ready.

You step

to the stone.

tomb.

The branch there within reach.

For those who have walked before us, for those who will walk ahead of us, please grant us.

Wait!

Oh my god.

You grab the branch and you watch as all the symbols

light up and your hand

is repelled.

She can't touch it.

You can't touch this.

It looks like whatever sealed her also sealed the branch within.

Okay.

That tracks.

Now we get to burn the coffins.

Can we go to the coffin?

I'm going to go to one of the wooden coffins.

Does it have a similar arrangement on it?

Like something sealed?

Is it just a plain room?

It looks a simpler coffin.

And I'm just going to swing down on the coffin on the right.

Okay.

You smash the lid.

It breaks open.

And as you pull your blade out, you see inside a mummified skeletal corpse of a woman who is wearing old robes, dust-filled,

dust fills out.

The bone is broken, the jaw kind of dislodges, just like just reaching and grab stern.

I'm going to pick her up.

Look underneath her body in the coffin.

Anything?

Nothing.

Give it a little shake.

She didn't fall out.

Bones kind of clatter to the ground.

I probably should.

You said there were three coins?

There are many coins across the lid.

The closest ones were the ones you can see that weren't like under the branch.

I'm just wondering if those?

Yeah, if I just try and

take any of the coins.

You reach for the coin

and it deflects it as well.

I guess what I'm trying to figure out is: is there any correlation with the runes on top of the casket?

Make a knowledge roll for me.

Okay.

Okay.

Okay.

Um

that's gonna be 14 with fear.

14 with fear.

You, looking at this, you

don't see any correlation necessarily beyond just the sigil that's marked there.

But from what you've conversed and shared about the various visions you've had

The person who is helming this

execution and sealing

The scepter.

The scepter.

We shouldn't have fucking thought about that.

Yeah, 100%.

That was sucked.

That was stupid.

We should have thought about that.

I'm here at boobs.

Hey, guys, what if I use the scepter?

All of Beacon Discord.

Why don't I use the scepter?

Jesus!

Takes them forever!

You know, it's not written.

We just do it to be more endearing intentionally.

Of course, yes.

Okay.

So we make our audience feel more intelligent.

Wait, wait, wait.

I walk over to the other coffin.

Flip them to the lid.

Another dust-filled, long-third one.

Just in case.

Yes.

Another one.

Raccoon.

Same thing.

Okay.

What color are their robes?

Red and gold, right?

Yeah, mostly red with like gold bits.

And you can see there's like, like their hoods or like headdresses that kind of set back in the bottom, like where the skeletons were.

Just like any of these like triangular headdresses that kind of settle there.

Might have been part of how they were interred, but they're just dead skeletons uh is the it just just cause is the wooden coffin uh on a stone diocese or anything or just like a a wooden frame like could it be dragged the coffin

uh i mean it you could certainly try i'm gonna try and drag one of them uh to the other one just to like bunch them up just in case they wake up

okay so that so there's the three of them you kind of drag the two to the front or to this where do you where do you drag them

uh to the middle to the like to the middle room so that they're close to where the stone one is okay so you pull them all kind of in towards the center.

You got it.

Okay, you know, just so they can all be together.

Yeah.

Now, the one that you shook, did you put it back in the coffin or did you just throw it across the ground to scatter?

Sort of set it up against one of the columns like Halloween.

No, I just put it right, put it back respectfully back in the coffin.

Okay, fair, fair, fair, okay.

After I gave it a shook.

Sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry.

What do I do with it?

Shoot it?

Shoot it at the.

I think you try and reach through the

bubble.

See if it like while holding it, yeah, maybe, maybe, maybe it casts men.

See if it lets your hand through.

Yeah, but like, am I aiming for?

I'm not aiming for the branch.

Just try and grab the branch with the scepter in your hand.

See if your hand gets there first.

All right.

I guess I'll hold the scepter in one hand and reach with the other.

Sure.

Okay.

Your hand is unimpeded.

Definitely not a negative effect.

I will pick up the branch.

You have a blessed day.

Oh, we did it!

And as you pull it away, you watch as the magic of the sigil, of the seal, as the branches removed from that like faint field of blue that prevented you from reaching it.

That as you pull it from that sealed field,

it shatters almost like a piece of glass that then dissipates in a mist.

The temperature drops about 20 degrees, and all the candles

alight with purple flame.

The chamber begins to glow a purple-red hue as all the candles are burning brightly around.

The chamber immediately comes to life through some strange dark presence.

You watch as the

shadows in the chamber begin to move.

Like you're watching a black mist pour out from underneath some unseen doorway doorway

Spilling into the three clustered coffins

and spilling out from the inside of the stone

casket

The stone lid explodes off into a hundred pieces whatever was scattered on front

scattering into the wall as you kind of guard your eyes and back up

as you now see corpses rise from all three of the stone caskets and then one

or three of the wooden ones and then one from the central you see the corpse from the middle one

burial dressings merged with bone the three that within the smaller ones themselves the red coloration of the robes begin to pull taut and grow slick almost forming muscle and ligaments that attach to the bone you watch watch as the headdresses protrude from the skulls in bony triangular points out of it as they

reform, and you watch as they all reach up above them into a black void and pluck from nothing handles,

scythes that seem to be drawn from a dark purple energy

emit from a sourceless space as they all

look at the rest of you

from the central central stone tomb,

the frail, mummified body of the heretic saint, Evil Yar, stands shrouded in silver cloth that slowly falls away, revealing the skull

where the carved gap sits between its jaw and its brow.

The cracking paper-like skin glows with a pinkish hue and swells with renewed unholy life.

You watch as,

tearing out of one shoulder,

a massive wing,

feathered and blue, grows.

And another.

Some ghostly angelic visage suddenly finding itself freed from within this tomb.

You watch as the flesh that curls up in the back of the skull knits to form an odd fleshy crown that sits above its now sheered head.

You watch as it pulls from a blackened void to its right,

a terrifying, massive axe.

And where that space was,

where a face would be,

is just a black void.

A doorway to hungry nothing.

I'm going to go retrieve the battlefield.

Oh, my God.

I knew I should have scattered those bodies.

Damn.

I thought about being disrespectful.

A blessed branch, by the way.

When you have it and when you want to make an action roll, you can mark a stress to roll a D20 as your hope die.

Oh.

I would love to give it to you.

Once per day or something?

No.

Just when you do it.

Every time.

Oh, shit.

Just as a mark of stress.

If I give it to you, I will lose a hope.

When you give it away, you lose hope.

Hold on to it because

stress is my thing.

We can always hold it.

Woo!

Cool, look at the glowy.

So

you had stepped back after, I imagine it all exploded and detonated.

Where would you be?

All right, I will be

in the front of that stone pillar.

Right here?

Yeah, I think it was right.

You got it.

Brixton.

Or actually, Brixton.

Where would you be?

Put me in between the two.

Put me in, coach.

Where would you be?

Strong side, baby flank.

I told you over here.

Maybe say it twice.

The three profane disciples of the heretic saint.

Rise.

Oh, God.

Oh, those are beautiful.

Those aren't tiny skeletons.

I told you I said to face the corpse's merchandise.

They beat on them.

I shook one of them.

I know.

You were right.

Do we have revenge against the one I shook?

We'd have just burned them.

She's like drawn in quarters.

Oh!

Whoa!

What's up?

And precarious.

Stop it.

This is precarious.

What's on the face?

Why are you doing that?

It's like my favorite mini ever.

Dude, what?

What these things?

She's so high!

We can't hate.

What if we have to heal her?

Maybe we can let her just go.

You're free now.

Heal her face.

Go wreak some havoc on her.

You're missing.

You've earned it.

It's not her fault.

She's got something right here.

Up here, a little further?

I'm going to immediately burn a fear.

You don't need to do that.

And spotlight the blasphemous angel.

Blasphemous angel.

Valniar.

Valniar.

So,

she is going to.

Actually, first thing, the first time she spotlighted, I'm going to go ahead and roll a D8 for her blasphemous choir.

That's a three.

You hear this distant chanting of angelic voices

colliding out of tune with each other, getting louder and louder.

The song is weaving, but it's not yet woven.

So that happens just the first time that she's spotlighted.

And then

she's gonna go ahead and mark a stress to do her flock's call.

Silently, because there is no mouth and no face, she raises her other hand and she immediately spotlights 1d4 plus one of her allies, which is all of them.

Oh, hero though.

So all three profane disciples that have regathered themselves and holding their scythes all at once

click into place and they all focus their attention immediately, shifting up towards you who drew the branch.

With an impossible speed, they leap across the waves.

Oh no!

Oh no, this could be quick

And rush in towards you, Snicks.

This could be quick.

Now, all of them do half damage because they all, as part of this ability, they all go at once, but they also only do half damage.

That is three attacks against you, Snicks.

I might have to be a runner of this branch if it gets bad.

That is going to be an eight

miss.

Someone.

Six?

Miss.

Oh, my gosh.

Let's go.

And a ten.

Miss.

I rolled real bad on that.

Wow.

I rolled real bad.

All right, all right.

Hallowed be the blessed gaze of the veiled dog

But I am gonna spend two fear

out of that as the very presence and ascension of the blasphemous angel rising up you see now the beautiful blue wings where the flesh continues to grow as arms begin to tear out from the sides and reach upward her face and chin still tilted up towards the heavens that she could never reach

I need you to turn your hope die into a d8 until you roll a success success with hope.

And I need you to turn your hope die into a D8.

It sucks, you guys.

Okay.

All right.

D8.

Got it.

No biggs.

No biggie.

Welcome to the chest.

I

love her.

She's a boss bitch.

She's a boss bitch.

All right.

That is my spotlight.

Do we.

Are we attacking this lady?

I think most certainly, yes.

Are we trying trying to get the disciples first or just focus on her?

You know what?

There's no way to know, but

the door slammed shut behind me.

There's a little rock.

The rock has moved about a foot and a half.

I've got a little rock.

There's the only one I can pick up.

I can't pick up a rock.

I'm stronger than you.

I will run forward.

The rock was moved or shifted out of the way by

Oh, you assume.

Scream!

What are you doing?

I will run forward and I will swing my glaib above my head and you'll see it glow the entirety of it in divine energy and I will cast spirit weapon.

Okay, are you moving forward to do this?

Yeah, I'm gonna run right towards the tip of the daisy so also so I can get a little closer to where Snicks is.

Yeah, right there.

Right there is about as close as you can get.

Okay, great.

All right.

So you are doing, you're trying to throw it and hit everything within close range, you said?

Yes.

That would be all of them.

Beautiful.

I can only

target two at a time.

Right.

So I'll aim for.

Yeah, I'll go for two of the disciples.

Okay, which two?

The two closest.

Okay, gotcha.

We'll go that way.

And this is a hope.

This is such a bad idea.

And I'll use my rally die

as well.

And this is a space, okay?

Just a regular revolver.

That's with fear, balls.

That's a terrible thing to do.

14, 15, 16,

17 with fear.

17 with fear is a success.

Go ahead and roll damage.

Great.

I will mark a stress, and that will hit both of them.

And I will do D8

plus 2.

That's 8.

Another 8, 16 plus 2, 17, 18

magic damage.

That is a severe wound on both of them.

Two eight.

That's great.

That's three hit points damage to each.

Yeah, because

he hit two of them.

So as you

release it,

it carves through both of them, and you catch back in your grip.

The three of them that had swarmed in towards Snakes, all three

in unison turn towards you.

You now see a close-up look.

They're skulls.

One of them is missing an eye on one side.

The other is missing an eye on the other.

Like the bone has grown over.

And the third has no sockets.

Oh, what

anything unusual about the one eyes that they do have?

Are they glowing?

They look like they're just look like horrible, undead voids.

Okay, great.

Uh,

I am going to do something.

It was fear, so it comes to me.

Oh, sorry, that's okay.

No worries, it was fear.

Well, that'd be great.

So, yeah,

with that,

yeah, let's go for it.

The blasphemous angel is going to

descend its wings flying

down

to greet you a little further down the dais.

The choir gets louder.

That was a roll in your end, which does

click that down.

The choir is getting louder and louder.

These strange, distant, amorphous voices.

The massive axe comes wide as the hands reach up

and she releases it with her hand and it kind of floats on its own before

with an unnatural speed carves through a massive arc, attacking all creatures within, or all enemies within very close range, which is all but snakes.

I mean,

I would run.

I do run well.

That is not a great roll.

That is 10.

Hits.

It hits.

Okay, it was a great role.

No, no, no, it doesn't.

What am I saying?

It's 13.

It's 12.

So it misses you.

I know, I know.

I'm saying, vision.

You just heard us say hit and you're like, yeah, it's hard.

I think it's out of time.

Oh, no.

17 points of physical damage against both of you.

Okay.

And because of the momentum,

she gains a fear when she successfully attacks.

She spent a fear to do that ability.

I gotta remember to do that.

I think it's time.

I'm gonna go ahead and get a little unstoppable.

All right.

Because unstoppable, you can do once per session, right?

Uh,

yeah, yes,

yes.

Once a long rest.

Long rest, because if I recall, you use that against.

But I didn't even use it because the fucking battle ended.

I know.

I'll tell you what.

Yeah.

While you're hoping your fear dies, if your hope die is higher, you managed to catch

your ex before you expended that will.

If your fear die is higher, it's

a good thing because we talked to the tree instead.

That was a good roll.

It's a 10 and an 11 with fear.

Unfortunately,

you had

misfired with its usage, but nevertheless, that's still damage to each of you.

Question: I'm going to use uh my second prayer dice to uh redeem three hope for

the prayer die and then they're undead they don't count as corpses right

no they're they're animated okay

cool

all right

uh and then i'm gonna spend a fear to activate it once more

And

that sucks.

That's such a big part of my class.

Is going to do flux call again

to mark a stress

and call upon the profane disciples.

That's two plus one, that's three.

All three of them are going to activate.

This one's one shift behind here.

That one's going to attack you again.

Go ahead.

Actually, both of those are going to focus on you.

The other's going to spin and come towards you.

So the one attacking you.

Oh my god.

That's an eight.

Great.

Misses.

Great.

And misses you?

Yeah.

Okay.

Wow.

The two coming at you.

Well better.

It's a ten.

Miss.

Come on.

And a natural fucking one.

They are eating shit this opening volley.

It's because I've got the blessed branch.

It's confusing.

Apparently.

Well, yeah, as they go to strike, there's like an element of concern as they see it.

And like, don't break the branch.

Don't break the branch.

Well, that's...

That's my spotlight back to you.

Okay.

What would you like to do?

May I?

May I conjure a swarm?

I'm going to try to hit all of the creatures around because they're

they're all within

close?

Is it close range?

Is that right?

Am I reading that right?

I can make her vulnerable.

You should.

So.

Do you have to roll for it?

Hit no.

Yes, within close range.

I'm going to go ahead

and mark a stress to roll a D20 as my hope dice.

Okay.

And spell cast.

Come on.

And try to hit all three of them.

Do I roll three several times or just hit them?

No, you just roll once against all of them.

Let's go, Nikki Branch.

22 with hope.

That's a success and take that hope.

D20 coming out.

That counts that down to a one.

Coming out.

And I will

mark a stress to add a damage dice to this.

So that's three D8 plus three.

This is against all of them, right?

Against all three.

Somehow I only have one d8.

Oh no, here we go.

I mean, if it's within close range?

Close.

Close?

They're all in close range if you want to get all of them.

Her too?

Yeah, she's right there.

Great.

Come on, big money.

18.

18 points of magic damage.

That's good.

18 points of magic damage.

That is...

That's a major, right?

That's a major on the other ones.

They are.

A severe or major?

A major.

Yeah, 18 was leader before.

Yeah.

So to that.

How far off from being a sphere?

I don't know.

Uh,

but so that goes through to that, and that is Atienism major to the blasphemous angel Aveliar.

Now, as a reaction, the profane disciples are all going to mark stress.

For whenever Aveliar takes damage from an attack within very close range of her, which you are within...

Well, the point you're coming from is within very close range, right?

The point I'm coming from?

It's very no, it's within close range.

Sorry, I missed it.

No, it's within close.

Um,

these can attack within close range.

You can mark a stress to make a standard attack against the attacker if it's within range.

You're within range of all three.

So, all three of them mark a stress, and all three of them make a retaliatory strike on you.

Okay, can I move first?

No,

uh, I'd say because this happens as a reaction to your attack, no, you would have had to move beforehand.

A natural two, a four,

they're rolling dog shit against you.

It's a fucking three.

I am.

I love it.

There we go.

Okay, 14.

Does that hit?

Just barely.

Thank God.

I was.

Work with me.

There's no...

The leader has no face.

It's 11 points of magic damage onto you as one of their

sorrow scythes swings around and strikes, carving through you.

You don't need need to do that.

I mean, okay.

It's better to pad some of this sooner rather than later.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

That's true, that's true.

And that's only a minor damage for me.

It's only a minor for me, too, if I pad it with armor.

But I can then.

Alright, if you want to take it, do you want to just take this over here?

I think I should.

You take it, would you like to move?

If I move, I'm scared something's going to happen.

But yes, I would like to move.

Where would you like to move?

I'd like to move

that way.

That way.

So you go

close.

Close or far if you want to move.

Close will get you there.

If you want to move further, you can try and move.

Up to you.

Okay, I'm going to use

deft maneuvers and move far.

So you get to move all the way over here.

And as you do, you shift over into that corner.

And see something emerge from the shadows to the left of you.

Oh no.

Screevy, would you like to return to the table, please?

I am human.

Oh, you think he's here to help you?

I don't know.

Is he?

Is he gonna help you?

Where are you going?

Are you gonna get where you were?

You little

bitch.

You better fucking help us.

Oh, no, we don't need to make this any more.

I know.

What's happening?

Let me see the map.

Close up.

This is

Scream.

Fucking scream.

Oh, my.

Escreaves.

Oh, my.

Okay.

You.

Yes.

And darted from there to there, I'll say.

That's why the door closed.

That's 100% why the fucking door closed.

We called it.

Okay.

Can I take a move?

Sure, it's still your guy's spotlight, and since you've just now engaged with the battlefield...

And Snyx has eyes eyes on me at this point

I've seen a shadow move

out of the shadow you see Screeve coming low loping along the ground primarily towards you and hands raise up and he starts to sprint straight at you and

hands come out and you can see those iron claws aimed straight at your face and uh I dive

past you into the shadows behind you and vanish and shoot up underneath

this blue-winged torment.

And I begin to claw my way up.

He's helping us

from behind over here.

If I can get that far, yeah.

How far can you travel?

It's far range.

Far range would get you

over on this side.

Now,

I have been gone and just trailing trailing for a long time, not doing much.

Would you say it's fair to be like

armor and hit points to be reset and maybe too stress spent to keep up with them?

Sure.

Yeah, you've taken a long rest on your own since separating.

So,

I can full up and maybe like

okay, so I will

from Cloak

take a sweat.

So, so

scream.

Screeve!

Screeve is Beulah.

You're my hero.

Oh, oh, it's crit.

Oh!

Let's go!

Way to come!

Okay, so...

Grog one-shot vibes.

I come in, I crit, I leave.

Four,

seven.

Does anything happen to the damage because of a crit?

I forget.

Yeah, you do full, you do max damage on your dice.

Oh, max damage.

Yeah, and then you roll on top of it.

Oh, yeah.

My.

Alright, 12 plus

16 is 28.

Plus

the 3 is 31 total.

That breaks the severe threshold.

That's three wounds onto the black.

But do I add on top of the...

That's the max damage with sneak attack damage.

So I haven't rolled to add to that.

Oh, you can roll again, yeah, if you want to see if you can somehow double the

severe threshold.

Somewhere near 60 for

4.

That's just fun to do.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Three.

Set a record by angry.

Three.

Oh, I'm rolling low.

Three, six.

But you do gain a hope.

Eleven.

Add 14 more to that.

Not enough for double it.

Not enough.

But still, that's three wounds.

So he's like clawing his way up her leg and like rending gouges before he kicks off and lands on the ground

and whips his head back

and just stares at you.

Screef, we're so happy to see you.

That finishes the countdown for the blasphemous choir.

At this moment, with the finish of your strike, those discordant angel voices suddenly kick into volume.

You hear,

just a screeching sound of dozens, hundreds of voices that are

mingling in terrifying, painful ways.

You feel like

this

is a doomed space, and this will be your grave.

Well, Eric and I.

This is a doomed space.

I'm going to spend a fear to activate the blasphemous angel out of turn.

She is

out of turn.

She is going to spend a fear to do her arc of judgment, an attack against all creatures within very close range,

which is all of you except for Screve again.

Snakes.

Sorry, Snyx.

Uh, that is going to be a 15.

That's right, true, yeah.

Hits

back some of the

Screve?

Yes, six.

Alrighty.

Ark of Judgment.

Ark of Judgment.

That's cut.

Okay.

17 points of physical damage against all of you.

The angel gains a fear

because of the impact.

Now, while this choir of discordant voices is playing,

it covers an area within far range of the angel.

When a target marks hit points from an attack from a Veliar within this dark song, all PCs within far range of the target lose a hope.

Oh, no.

All of you

lose a hope.

All of us lose a hope.

You feel that doomed song

drawing your chance for redemption or freedom from you.

This song lasts until someone deals severe damage to her.

So wait you said severe damage to her and we lose a hope

how often

does that hit us the hope loss every single time she causes someone to mark a hit point

whenever she does damage

hope we all lose a hope everyone within far range of the target amazing all right that is my spotlight uh i am going to

just to throw this in there, if anyone is desperate for hope, remember we have two Varic leaves that will give you two.

Two hope.

That's right.

Okay.

I am going to

reach down for another ancient song.

And I am going to cast Epic Song, which in close range will make a target vulnerable.

So I'm going to cast it on

her.

On her?

Very well.

Spellcaster, President.

Okay.

So

I roll for it.

You roll for it?

Let's go.

You got to see if it impacts?

Come on.

So what it says is roll for spellcast against the target?

Spellcast trait present.

Well, it just describe how you perform.

You can play one, play each song once per long rest.

Make a target within close range temporarily vulnerable.

I don't think it's a good thing.

Does it tell you to roll?

If it doesn't ask you to roll, then it just happens.

That's your subclass special ability.

So describe this epic song that you, in what is

legitimately the most terrifying and impactful moment of your lives, old and new.

What does this song sound like and how does it affect this angel?

I am trying as hard as I can to try to drown out her song.

And at the same time,

sort of just

I'm trying to play at 11.

Okay,

and just try to drown out

Battle of the Wings here.

Battle of the Wings,

but also have it not sound as

it's more in tune, it's not as dissonant, it sounds better.

So I'm trying to get everybody a little bit more hype.

Yeah, so your song is now legitimately battling the song in the arena, and you watch as it causes the angel to flicker a bit.

The black void in the face itself seems to like swell with fury if a void could be furious and it is vulnerable temporarily.

Okay.

Nice.

Okay.

Anything else you want to do on your go?

Because that just happens automatically.

You can still make it.

I have three hoping we could tag team something crazy, but we could go for it fast.

Let's do it.

I'm just going to do that because I don't want to roll

with fear.

I'm going to leave that and have you guys go.

Are you going to stay facing a moment?

I...

I'm going to...

I'm going to...

Can I back up a little bit?

Like

around the pole?

About there is about as far as you can get on closer.

Okay.

I'm going to spend a fear.

to activate Villian.

Oh,

God, I haven't done anything.

anything.

This is

how boss fights woman.

He's running out of fear.

She is going to.

Alright, alright, alright.

There's a little thingy there.

Oh, it's going to kill that angel.

Land right over into this space.

I'll say...

Yeah.

There he is.

Oh, hello.

As you back up,

angry about the song that you've lent lands.

I immediately try to go into the shadow that Scree went into and try to disappear and reappear in another shadow.

Okay.

You think it might be working as I spend another fear to do

actually, you know what?

No.

Huh?

She's going to.

She's merciful.

There we go.

Oh, and two points back a little bit

to where I was there.

Oh, that's

After you carve that heavy hit into her,

the song kind of fluctuating around furiously, she spins and is not going to spend that extra fear.

Instead, is going to mark a stress to use look into the void.

She bends down, the chin tipping to where now you just have a view into the blackness where the face once was.

I need you to make a presence reaction roll for me.

Screve is just focusing and envisioning Adelia's face in the center of that darkness.

Presence?

Yeah.

So this is just a straight roll for me.

That's a crit.

Dang, two crits in a row, bro.

What I said.

11-11.

So, you pulled away just in time.

You yourself have been a creature of the darkness and fear of of the landscape around.

You only mark a stress.

I mark a stress.

Yes, you do.

Okay.

But that's going to finish her spotlight.

It's now back to you.

I can hear Delia's voice.

Okay.

Do you want to

attack combo?

Yeah.

Let's tag

her up.

Before they get sucked away by one of her turns again.

I know.

I'm going to spend a fear.

Right as you're preparing for this, welcome to the boss battle, guys.

I forgot to

To hit you with an ominous portent,

which reduces your hope die to a DH.

Oh!

No problem.

No problem.

No problem.

You're still tag teaming.

You're going to be fine.

You're both tag teaming.

Okay, I'm also going to spend three hope to immediately get back the armor that I have already burned through

because I'm afraid that hope's going to go away.

And a question for you.

On the previous hit with the bone hooked glaive, I haven't done this yet.

On a successful hit, the target must mark a stress.

So on those two

spirit weapon hits, do each one of them take a stress because it was hit with the.

Oh, yeah, they would both take a stress.

Yeah, so two of those little

points.

Yeah.

Hey, I did it once.

Fine.

You did, you did.

On the last episode.

Eighth episode.

Okay.

Are you also rolling a D8?

No, I'm.

Oh.

I hope you.

Did you?

I still am.

I didn't clear with.

No, you rolled a fear.

Yeah.

Oh, damn.

Okay.

I ain't worried about it.

But she's, and she's vulnerable.

She is, so it's a plus d6 for each of you.

All right.

Come on.

I can suppress these as well.

Bad.

21.

22, 23, 24.

24 with fear.

Well, we should take that.

Okay.

24 with fear is a success.

I gain two fear from both of you rolling with fear.

But you succeed on both your strikes against it.

So go ahead and roll your damage.

Come on.

Big money.

No.

This is going to be plus nine

because I hit hard when I fucking am able to hit.

Okay, this is good.

15.

I'm going to burn this last.

I didn't, that was a two.

I already rolled it.

17 points of

physical.

17 points of physical?

Plus 23 for me.

That's going to.

Oh, wow, that's going to be 50 points of damage.

That is a major, severe wound.

Which means the whole

choir

fades off in the angelic song between you combating it with the sound of your own music in the middle of the throes of this fight and the two of you striking the angel simultaneously.

Which, by the way, describe me how you strike the angel in this way.

Copyright takedown notice.

DMCA.

That's what I'm going to get.

Copy strike.

Also takes a stress, Angel,

Angel Lady.

You got it?

All right, cool.

Yeah, I

you initiated this.

Yeah,

I'll sweep down with the bone-hooked glaive and then arc up and grab the tip of it as I as I reach up with the handle and I'm gonna try to get it up as high as I can up near her like breastplate and just try and sink it into the neck to like

as it digs in.

The angel's neck tips to one side and the flesh crown kind of like twitches and bends back into place.

And I do a little like kind of

try and as we make eye contact if we're trying to go at the same time I'm gonna go for her opposite side and I get a little bit of footing off of this pillar that's next to me as I mimic the same arc

slamming down on top of her.

Very well.

We call this attack nose.

Angel takes some heavy hits and is showing wear and tear.

from the immediate fray that has come upon her from multiple angles and your new ally, which has emerged from the shadows.

The next timer rolled a two for the choir to return.

Oh, shit.

It comes to me: the blasphemous angel, in furious anger, is going to look down and mark a stress

to have you, Brixton, stare into the void.

You, who are a being who is used to staring into fire, now has to look into the primary opposite of where you've drawn all of your hope.

I need you to make a presence reaction roll.

Oh, presence reaction roll.

You got this, no problem.

With your D8.

Yeah,

I'm aware.

Okay.

Presence.

Yes.

Seven with hope.

There's no hope on a reaction roll.

That is a failure.

You mark two stress.

You become vulnerable

until you roll a success with hope.

And

I wish I could be unstoppable, Matt.

Unstoppable.

And a Veliar

regains two hit points.

As you feel part of your very spirit is siphoned into the void, you all look over and watch as Brixton, after this massive blow, looks up.

Eyes go wide and the pupils vanish.

Just white as she just kind of locks in place the angel's face.

Leaning in deeper and deeper, her unable to leave and you see just elements of her for the first time visible, shreds of her soul.

being pulled into the void before you pull away

and we'll spend a fear because she has relentless it can go twice if i spend the fear i know you can do that do not think that all gods presence are here and is going to spend another fear to do arc of judgment

not again this one's so bad

massive swing with the axe uh because you've moved out of wait is that close range on that arc of judgment is very close So

you are out of range, Misty.

So this attack is going to be against Idol, Brixton, and Screave.

Okay.

That's going to be 14.

God, yes, it hits.

Yeah.

Does that hit you as well?

It does.

Okay.

It does.

I just decided if I wanted to spend Overnight.

Yeah, it is.

Okay.

13 points physical damage.

I rolled really dog shit on the damage for that.

Okay.

Armor tears away.

13 don't you mean

don't you mean 12 points of physical damage 13 points physical damage

and she gains a fear because it was a successful attack

ouchies okay that's all right

and that's my spotlight

you were gonna do something asholi weren't you you were you were talking about

what i was gonna do but i do

want to do or somebody else have something in the chamber and screeve got something we got it at work hurting together Wait, won't go.

Go.

I haven't taken my eyes off of you.

Oh, yeah, I've got toys.

I've got toys.

Sure.

I start running straight at Screeve and the

fallen angel of doom.

Screeve runs 10 feet towards him, and I grab him by the chest and leap up and pull myself up and slam us into the ground into a roll.

And I let go of him and chuck him him like six, seven, eight feet in the air.

And I barrel roll underneath the angel into shadows of ruins that she's left behind her.

I'm gonna fall out of there and fall out of the ceiling from above.

Cool.

All right.

Tag team hit.

Are you spending hope or am I spending hope?

I'll spend the hope.

I can do it.

I'll be empty if I spend it, but I will too.

It's fine with me.

I spend it.

No, I'll spend it.

I killed your friend.

This is how we get even.

So you're spending three hope?

I'll spend the three hope.

Okay.

I don't know if you're even.

Yeah.

Nope, or even now.

Alright.

After this

tense, will they won't leave, won't they?

Back and forth as you toss

snicks into the air and Scree vanishes before

Para dropping out of the shadow of the ceiling.

I need you both to wolf your attacks, please.

I'm going to mark a stress to

use the blessed branch.

branch.

Alright.

Yes, okay.

Okay.

24 with hope.

Let's go.

So 24 with hope.

Let's go.

That's a success.

You both can't hope.

We both kind of hope, Liam.

We both got it ahead, have it, a habit.

Okay.

So.

Yes.

Go ahead and add your damage.

I will mark another stress to add a damaged die.

And here we go.

28 points of magic damage.

Alright.

19 physical lion.

That was going to be a severe wound on the angel.

It says with my wayfinder ability, if I cause a severe damage, it also marks a stress.

Ooh, good to know.

All right.

Also, because you rolled

success with hope, your hope die turns back to normal.

Woo!

Yes.

I'll take it.

So, describe to me how you both carve into the angel through this acrobatic, this moment.

Well, I fucking manhandled you.

Probably hurt a lot as we rolled on the ground and I threw you.

Those claws hurt.

When I fell out of the ceiling, I fell down on the wing and just rended wing all the way down and dropped dropped down to the ground.

Well, you.

I flew through the air,

did a barrel roll,

and just tried to uppercut her right in her chin, or actually a little higher to try to knock off her crown while shouting for Amelia!

Is that what her name?

Adelia.

Shit.

Shit.

It carves through part of the crown and the crown like,

slaps back on and you watch the flesh knits back up on to hold the crown on the head.

The angel recoils.

Once again, no sound.

There's no face.

Just an absence there.

However, the music of the choir

gets loud once more as the two rolls count down.

Now the blasphemous choir is back in full action.

I'm gonna spend a fear at the end of your spotlight to take it on to me.

Ivelyar is going to move forward, flying and slam into this pillar,

knocking it onto the ground there.

It slams hard and pushes into the space where it was.

And it's going to spend another fear on the activation to do Ark of Judgment.

Takes the axe into a massive swing,

which is going to hit

all of you.

Everybody.

Or it's going to come after all of you.

I don't know if it's going to actually.

That's a 19, which is.

It hits.

Well, it's a natural 19 on the dice because she is umbra touched.

Umbra touched.

That is a crit.

It's a crit.

Oh, shit.

Oh, no.

Shit.

Not good.

Not good.

Can someone undo that somehow?

Yeah, August could.

Oh, God.

May he rest

in

webs.

32 points of physical damage against all of you.

Holy shit.

32 points of physical damage against all of you.

And she gains a fear because of her momentum reaction.

Okay, I'll take care of her success.

That's a big problem.

Streaves armor is gone and he's rent, and that ring is just out in the open.

Yeah, I'm real fucked up.

You also all lose a hope because the choir is singing to your doom.

What if there's no hope to lose?

Then you'd mark a stress.

Yeah, if you have no hope and you have to get rid of a hope from this, you mark a stress.

I'm gonna throw my

returning blade, which I haven't been able to use yet,

just right into

her throat.

Sure, go for it.

Okay.

Come on.

I'm gonna use my rally die as well.

No, you have advantage on her because she's still vulnerable from the spell of the song that you've created.

Oh, great.

So I'll save my six.

Can I take a potion while she rolls, or do I need to wait until after her roll?

Wait till you're spotlight.

Well shit.

Okay.

Screw you die.

Someone needs a.

It's 11 with fear.

Oh, no.

Wait, don't you have a rally die?

I had advantage because she's vulnerable.

You can add the rally die to.

I guess rally die is an advantage.

It just adds to the bonus.

If you want to.

If you're still in the bottom of the ball.

If you're close, if you think you're close.

I don't think you're close either.

I think you'd have to get

like a five or six.

Yeah.

That's the odds of that.

But you could roll a five or a six.

You could roll a five or a six.

But then my rally die is gone.

Up to you?

I mean, if you don't use it, you're gone.

I'm just trying.

I'm not going to use it.

I'm not going to use it.

I'm going to wait.

I'm going to wait.

You take your returning blade and release it.

First time I've used it.

Through the air.

You watch as the angel, like, which has been slashing through, looks over and sees you arrive and you're music in the ladder in its face.

And as it does, it pulls back.

And as the blade swings wide, it's almost like space and time

stretches around it for a second as the void shifts and bends space and the blade suddenly is returning to you on the other side.

Like for a brief moment, the angel wasn't even there.

And you catch it.

Curious as to how that even happened.

With that, the angel is going to look towards you

and lean in.

Your song has called its attention.

And it wants to feast on your doom.

I need you to make a presence reaction rule for me.

On your doom!

Presence reaction rule.

She's trying to suck you into the void.

Come on!

Come on!

I did roll with hope!

Five!

That's a failure, unfortunately.

You need to mark two stress.

Okay, but I do get a hope, and I mark two stresses.

You do get a hope, and you are vulnerable until you roll a success with hope.

Okay.

And she heals two hit points.

I'm going to spend a few.

Door's closed.

Well, by getting rid of her stress, because she has to mark a stress to do it.

She has to mark a stress to do it, so if we stress her out, okay.

That's the benefit sometimes of doing stress damage on opponents: you can lock out some of their abilities if they can't spend the stress.

And if they're full stress, they're permanently vulnerable.

However, I'm gonna spend a fear to activate her a second time because she has Relentless as her feature.

And

you're all still in such a good position.

I'm going to spend another fear when spotlight comes up

to make an Ark of Judgment strike against all of you again because you're all right there.

You have been able to go.

There's nothing we can buy.

We're just like slowing

so much.

It's not a crit.

It's a high enough roll, though.

That is a 20 total to hit.

20 hits?

You all take

12 points of physical damage against all of you.

Okay.

Everybody.

I will take it.

That's just a sink tank.

Wait, what happened?

Screep's dead.

Whoa!

You did that so fast!

What happened?

Wait, that so fast!

Unceremoniously, while they're marking damage, just throw that in?

You dick!

What the fuck?

Amazing!

She could have been your shield!

I could have been your shield!

Wait, can I also, can I so can be shielded?

What's it say on the ability?

When an ally within very close range would take damage.

Yeah, just take twice the damage.

I do that!

Okay.

I do that.

You've got to do it.

You were so eager to just throw those dice.

Wow.

So, Marcus Tress.

Unbelievable.

As quickly as you wanted to throw your body into the wood chipper, Brixton, this mountain of faith and protection of those that need it in the shadow, a person who has been a bastion of safety.

for those who have been lost without it for so long, steps in front and takes the burden of both of your blows upon her.

So,

you take 24 points of physical damage, Brexit.

All right, yes, that's fine.

I took, I soaked one with an armor.

I am my armor is foxed, and I took a hit point.

Okay,

you also all lose a hope,

and she gains another fear.

So, wait, and if you can't lose a hope, then you take a stress?

It is now your spot.

I'll take a hope.

I will take a stamina.

I will take a stamina brush.

Well, here's the thing.

Take your activation.

One at a time, guys.

So

spotlight's on you.

Spotlight's on you.

It's so easy to get ripped away.

Take your health potion.

54.

So I get four hit points back.

Do you want to move?

Do you want to do something else on your spotlight?

I want my hit points.

Yes,

you got your hit points back.

One, two, three, four.

And I'm going to...

I'm not going to.

I'm not going to roll anything with fear, you quicksand piece of shit.

I'm going to...

gonna...

Where am I?

Am I?

You're on this side.

You're right over here.

Right over here.

I'm gonna run this way and park it behind that acolyte.

You got it.

Alright, anything you want to do on your turn aside from that?

Or are you just gonna move?

I have the shitty dice, which means I'll definitely roll a fear.

I'm not gonna swing.

Okay.

That's just gonna go.

Okay, hang on.

So you just rush off and hold the defensive stance there.

But it's still our spotlight.

It's still our spotlight.

And he's got disfigure.

Which is fucked.

Well, let's see.

Let's see what he does.

Okay.

I think I do.

Because, okay, because we saw the choir shit going to, right?

And then there's like the vulnerable, and you have to like roll with hope in order to get rid of all that shit, right?

Succeed with hope to set your hope lights back.

Yes.

We're not doing anything with a kickout.

Here's what I'm going to do.

Habitat and a heaviness.

I am going to...

Because I'm actually pretty well positioned right now.

First, I'm going to take a stamina thing.

Yeah, of course you are.

I'm going to do a stamina.

Come on.

All right, that's fine.

I get three stamina or stress back.

That's not bad.

I am going to use order my order born ability

where I can use a D20 as my hope die.

Okay.

I'm a little.

The tenant is going to be...

Fuck shit up.

Pretty much.

I mean, it's got to be the strongest steel must first be tempered by the flame, baby.

Yes.

As I like take it and I take my broadsword and I like rake it over the top of my armor and you see just a little bit of sparks come off of it.

Just the tiniest little sprinkling of flame.

And I'm going to use the D20.

She's still vulnerable, right?

Yeah.

And hopefully a fucking

roll with hope.

Come on.

I hate this game!

I'm still horrible now.

It hits.

It definitely hits, but it is with fear, which is horseshit.

But it's 23 strength.

I just spit everywhere.

I'm so mad.

That definitely succeeds.

Wait, wait, 12.

No, wait, let me not say this incorrectly.

18, 19, 20, 21.

That definitely succeeds.

She's going to roll it.

Okay.

And then she, we have to, I have to do a severe damage in order to

get rid of the song.

I'm going to use a rally dice for this

to go ham.

I also would like to do, so I'm going after her.

Yes.

I also would like to do

on an wait.

I don't have hope.

I can't do that.

You got this?

Can I chew the leaves real quick?

I'm like cocoa leaf?

Yes.

Okay, okay.

Yeah.

From a narrative standpoint, there's all manner of strikes and pairing in between actual actions.

You take the potion, pull off, deflect a couple blows, back off.

Okay, I'm gonna go ahead and see what's going on.

Take the leaves as you're chewing the leaves.

You take your massive blow, you all watch the spark, and for a second, you see a flash of flame carry across the blade.

A spark of the pyre itself carried through her will.

Because if I, um, on a success, I can hit all other targets within very close range of me, which I think are the other two fox.

Correct.

So they take half damage.

So whatever she takes, we're going to take half.

Can she move a little?

All three of them.

Oh, then very close range of you, yeah.

No need, baby.

Come on, be a big roll.

Severe.

I want to severe.

I need a severe damage.

This is going to be plus nine.

This is damage.

Yeah, this is damage.

Because I'm using the rally die.

Okay, and then I dropped the lowest, which is going to be this four.

So this is actually pretty good.

Nine,

ten, that's going to be fourteen.

Sixteen plus nine.

16 plus 9 is 25

damage.

25 points of damage.

Is that what I hope for?

Well,

it is not.

She takes a major wound.

That's two hit points onto her.

And everybody else takes that damage as well.

Right.

Which for two of them

is enough to take them out.

Yes!

You swing wide and while one of them takes the hit here.

That's great.

Yep.

These two here,

you carve past with your blade, and as you do, they have their sorrow sides glowing with dark necrotic energy.

You swing wide, and that small spark of flame grows into an inferno.

And as your blade swings wide, the rest of you watch this fiery arc of burning white-orange flame,

carve through, and two of them

and then get scattered back about 10 feet.

And you just watch the bones break as the brittle, mummified corpses of the disciples are thrown against the back wall.

There's just a slow-mo, like bullet-time moment of Brixen's hair in front of her face and the sparks

going.

The embers just

for the wind.

Also,

because you've killed two of them, her unholy aura...

Which means whenever she takes damage, it's reduced by the number of

disciples that she has in close range.

So her thresholds technically now go down by two.

Ooh.

Nice.

Does that mean it pushes me past the severe?

If I don't have to go to the bottom of the fire,

but that was with fear.

That was with fear, but I haven't moved.

Right, where would you like to move?

I'm hurting.

I'm not in a great spot.

Oh, God, Ashley's gonna fight

trouble.

Wait, but you're, you went, I blocked you.

I guess I'm helpful.

Let me just move.

Let me move back.

Can I move back a little bit towards this column, kind of in between her and Idol?

Yeah, I split the difference a little bit more towards Idol.

You got it.

Huh?

Yeah, that's good.

Sure.

I mean, good?

As the spotlight comes back to the blasphemous angel,

you rush away and her void face follows you.

And you feel like if there could be a smile on that darkness, as the most protective measure for defending her friends has stepped beyond her reach

she spins a fear to arc her blade

to the other ones that are within reach you faked us out

he did he did that's an attack against you against idol oh no you're out of the way sorry against misty against screeve

and against

a crit

no face get it a natural 18.

no 19's a crit so it's short of a crit what did did you say it was?

A natural 18.

Oh, oh.

But I believe that does hit you all with a 21 point.

Uh-huh.

Okay.

Uh-oh.

Uh-oh.

This might be it.

This might be it.

20 points of physical damage to all three of you.

I should have gotten closer.

I should have said no, Misty.

I think that takes me out.

I think that takes me out too.

Because if I okay, so that's my severe is 18, but I have one armor slot so i'm gonna use

so that'll drop me down to major which is too which is out

do i have anything do i have any magical magic i know let me just let me just let me holding a blessed branch

there's nothing there doesn't keep me alive

over there with me right correct this holy hand grenade be sure to use that

alongside

Do I have anything?

I don't have anything.

That's it.

Are you rolling for it?

Are you going to roll for it?

Are you blazing?

Okay, so you're at zero hit points now.

You're at zero hit points.

I have one healing potion in my pocket that I put it through.

You also have one healing potion.

No.

You're also at zero.

Oh, yeah.

You're out too.

Oh, yeah.

With one massive swipe

of the malediction axe,

the blasphemous angel Ivelyar, as the two of you back away, you watch that void staring at Brixton, fire against darkness.

And without breaking the attention, the axe floats in the air.

Her hand just drifts and the axe

carves through in a flash.

And he watches three friends all at once

begin to fall.

So we'll go around the table here.

I have a mechanical question.

Mechanical question.

Blaze of Glory, if you've just narrated that I'm cleaved in half, do we rely on three seconds?

The blade has caught you.

Okay.

Okay.

It cut through you.

Now I'm going to Blaze of Glory.

He's so eager to.

I show up.

Listen.

He's got it.

Okay, then before we get to

you folks, what would you like to do?

Well, I would say that he saw the previous attack coming for him and was sure that it was about to happen.

And then Brixton is there and he immediately goes full private Ryan, feud state slow motion, hearing, damp down.

Everything is blurred out and he's looking to you and you dart away.

He sees the person that he wrestled with murdering the last three nights,

looks around at everyone,

the people that

would have taken Adelia's place if this day hadn't happened.

He

looks up

at her and sees her rearing back the weapon and he grabs hold of the Silver Reina's chest and rips it out.

And then I'm going to now it's like auto success for whatever move I do here, right?

So I'm going, he whips it like a

discus at her throat and I'm going to use the

troublemaker ability.

When you taunt or provoke a target within far range, make a presence roll against them.

Once paress on a success, roll a number of D4s equal to your proficiency.

The target must mark stress equal to the highest result rolled.

Let's see.

Oh,

you're about to max out her stress, baby.

Well, they all do max.

It's an all-door crease.

So it's a four, because it's the best of both.

So that's for stress.

That completely stresses out the blasphemous angel.

As the ring shh sticks in.

And you hear this like low guttural sound that's trying to escape.

The silent angel is no longer silent, and you see panic in its movements.

Permanently vulnerable, unless it can smell Mark.

That's what's bad.

And in that split second that the blade hits Screeve, his vision blurs even further, and he can see the secluded chapel back in the amber reach that he found two or three stories down underneath the reach in a small darkened alcove where he lined little stones and candles all around a a stone slab that he lay Adelia's body on, resting Violet next to her,

and just smiles as he feels his innards

and sinks into the ground.

Sick.

That's fucking awesome.

That was super dope.

What do we do?

What do you two do?

That was way better.

Have an idea.

Yeah, right?

See?

Yes, it was.

was.

I at least saved you from doing that.

I got so impatient with everyone who went like, I don't know.

I don't know.

I just wanted to do the opposite.

Which you did.

Until she saved you.

Yeah.

What are you doing?

I'm in a blaze of glory.

Okay.

I'm going to blaze of glory.

Double blaze.

It's contagious.

Well, no, I was already going to do it before you said it.

Let it blaze.

Okay, so what I'm going to, what I'd like to say.

I mean, I'll instill this once again.

Like, you're done after this.

No matter where the battle goes, no matter where the story goes, you're done.

This is an automatic death.

Yeah.

Okay, let's go.

Yeah.

Okay, so

what do you mean?

No matter where the story goes, you're done.

Yeah, this is your dad.

Meaning, if the battle continues,

you can't help.

You're dead.

There's no way to recover.

You're tapping out of the story for errors.

Totally.

We understand.

What do you mean?

Let's go.

Yeah.

If you die in the game, you die in the game.

You die in real life.

All right, so Ashley,

what would you like your Blaze of Glory to be like?

What I would love to do is I kind of want to just...

I think Misty realizes that

this is it.

It's now or never.

And if we don't complete this, then we...

Desperlock is lost.

So I sort of want to try something where, like, with her,

with all of her wings,

I sort of want to just slam them to the ground so all of the wings that are left sort of kind of turn into points

and smash the like the wings against themselves in the ground, breaking off the stone to where once was soft-looking feathers carved in, it is now just jagged points of rock.

Right, there was one jagged wing, and now it's all

jagged wings.

You win Archangel from X-Men.

So, sort of take a running leap and just all of them just carve them into her.

And

sort of, I want to look over at Brixton and

I've protected you for so long

and now I protect you

get home

You are blessed this day

and I'm gonna look at Scrave and I'm gonna say

Let's go to the next world and find Adelia in August

And

I'm just gonna stab her with the wings and with what with what weapon what spell?

I mean, I don't know.

I was this, just the wings.

I wanted instability.

No, I mean, the wings are stabbing, but what mechanic do you want to use for the damage?

The one that does the most damage because the one that does the most damage, which I guess would be,

I mean, is my wild flame.

So, can I stick my wild flame, like pump them in through the wings?

What's the damage of the wild flame?

It's 2d6 magic damage, and then, yeah, it's 2d6 magic damage.

That's the most you can do.

So, I make a make a make a spell caster.

So even your returning blade does 2d8.

I know, 2d.

Yeah, so

I'll do that.

That's 12.

I'll do returning blade.

Okay, so

2d8, so 16 damage plus 2d8.

Plus 2d8.

That's correct.

Oh, yeah.

What was I 16?

It's all good.

There's a lot going on.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Okay.

That's kicked.

Okay, so 10, so 14.

Or do I add the plus four?

Also on the second roll?

Huh?

No, you just did all the roll.

Okay, so 10, an additional 10.

Additional 10 on dot.

Okay.

That is.

So that would be a total of 26 damage.

Yes.

Which now is a severe

attack.

It's going to drop to it.

No, that's that's that's 16, 17, 18.

So 20 plus

10.

30.

It's 30 points of damage.

So 16 plus would you roll on the dice?

16 plus 4.

Okay.

20.

So 20.

And then I rolled a 6 and a 4 on the angel.

I see.

Got you.

Yeah.

That is, then, that is a severe wound,

which kills the magical choir.

Like a bull.

Yeah.

And does

three hit points onto the angel.

Alright.

So

as you leap in the air, having that moment of Brixton, right before you jump, shatter the wings and descend upon her and jam all eight of them into the angel's body.

Seven now.

Well, it's still a jagged pole.

Oh, that's true.

That's true.

That's true.

All of them in there.

There's a moment to pause before

Flame burns and emits, blasting out from around them.

The flames begin to rise up and burn around the angel and consume you in the process.

What are you doing?

Oh, God.

We hear a goat, man.

I know if I see, I'm so torn.

Blaze of Glory seems real fun.

I have

a health potion.

But that would leave you two

alone.

I got one health potion.

If you go down, I can get over it.

It's almost...

Where is Snyx?

Snix is so bad.

It's almost selfish

unless it works, but I don't have confidence that it's going to work.

That it's going to take her out, you mean?

Yeah.

And then it's just you two.

What's in your heart, Sam?

What would Snix do in this moment?

And can I ask while he thinks to get from where Idol is to Snyx is, that even to go close distance would not be enough, right?

You'd have to go far, which would require rolling and agility roll to get there.

Not a sure thing.

You have a health potion.

I do.

So does she.

I also have a health potion.

But we're both all the fuck assistants.

That is true.

We are very fucking far away.

There's also a potion hanging off of Screeve's belt.

It is a dealia's stamina potion.

But that's for stress.

True.

Just letting you know.

What you doing, Snicks?

He's thinking.

He's thinking.

He's doing the beautiful mind shit.

Do I just fall unconscious or do I roll for it?

I'm not going to blaze of glory.

Yeah.

I'm going to either roll for it or

just fall unconscious to give you guys a chance to have one other person.

Because we don't know how hurt she is.

Yeah.

How bad are you?

I still have four hit points, but no armor.

What are you at?

No armor, but five hit points.

Oh, shit.

You guys are doing good.

You eat it.

Yeah, I had two health points.

Four hit points?

That means you guys could take it.

And then I still have a health potion.

He still has a health potion.

I'll just just roll for it.

Oh, my God.

There you go.

You got it?

Roll for it?

Oh, yeah.

No!

Sam, Sam, before you roll.

What did it say?

What did it first do?

I didn't see it.

I didn't see it.

Tom Cup.

Tonk Cup.

It's too much.

Oh, he's coming over.

He's coming over.

Whispers?

This whisper brought to you by all this fucked up shit right here.

Oh, no.

How's that?

How's that?

How's it?

Wait, I missed the first half of what you said.

It's better with Dagger Heart.

Oh,

shit.

Wow.

You guys,

the swamp crack is real right now.

Yeah.

Oh, yeah.

It's not.

You know, sometimes it's a little too familiar, but

all the stress gathers in the crack.

I'm still gonna roll.

Oh, yeah.

I love it.

I love it.

I love it.

Well, we'll learn about it in the cooldown.

Let's go.

We'll learn about what he got in the cool.

Here it goes, there it goes.

Here it goes.

Oh!

Oh, he died!

Oh no!

Oh,

and then there were two

plus my rally die.

Yeah.

Wait!

Plus, your rally die made it a crit.

You can't add this.

Oh, no.

It's just my old ways.

Snicks,

describe to me what goes through your mind in these final thoughts as you watch your friends around grabbing onto what light they can in growing darkness.

You see the flicker of flame as Misty is up, wrestling this terrifying angel

detecting your friends from the depths of oblivion.

You see Screeve still clutching his spilling innards, the last gasps of strength showing a bloody grin curling across his face.

Oh no.

What goes through your mind?

They're dead.

At least there's still three of us, right, Snicks?

Oh no.

Have I doomed my friends?

I would say that

growing up in this era, in the age of Umbra,

it's so bleak, it's so dark.

There's no hope anywhere.

It's been all of our lives.

But

over the last few days, I think we've all seen that the darkness is but a facade.

It's just,

it's covering, there is hope.

It's just under the surface, just under the dirt and grime.

We've seen it in the forest that got reborn.

We've seen it in people we've met along the way.

We've seen it in each other and in the divinity that has reached out and touched us.

And so, and seeing the light in my friends and also seeing this holy branch that I'm holding, I know that even though it's a dark place and a scary place, there is hope and what we've done will bring hope back to Desperlock and I'm happy with that.

You turn and watch as Snyx,

holding the branch in his hand, smiles.

As his torso

slides off at the hip.

And a raccoon comes up and bites my boy.

Told you, get you!

Screeve, Misty.

How do you want to do this?

Your combined blazes of glory were enough to kill the angel.

Wait, what?

Is that for real?

Did you know that?

Yes.

Oh, oh,

he still chose to roll for it.

That's the player doing what it was.

I love it.

You knew that we would have been enough?

Yes.

Oh, Sam.

I think that Screeve could

sense how far we had pushed her, and by ripping that ring free,

he just meant to send her reeling back so that one

of his friends could seize the opening to finish her off.

As the ring still stuck in the throat, you watch as Misty engulfed in her own flames, pushing deeper into it, the angel reaches out and grabs Misty, the song from your wings, this

loud, beating, angry, burning song, mixing with her terrible, discordant, angelic screams.

And you watch as the angel grabs you, Misty, and you both crush into each other,

folding into the void of her face, the wings and the stone

emits as a scattering of stone and bone explodes throughout the chamber.

The remaining disciple

clatters to the ground

and everything goes quiet.

That's where we're going to take a break.

I'll be back here in just a few minutes.

See you soon.

Awesome!

That's a wrap for part one of this podcast episode.

Part two will land here the Tuesday after this episode at 5 a.m.

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.

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