The Rampart and Beyond | Age of Umbra Episode 4 Part 2

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Hey there, critters.

This is Ashley Johnson.

And Tellison Jeffy.

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

In this series, we're diving into our lives as former child actors, from unraveling our eccentric upbringings to embracing all the delightfully odd interests we still have today.

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Welcome to Weird Kids.

New episodes release every Tuesday.

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

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

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

And welcome back.

So,

here as you rest in the outskirts of Okoru, we take a short rest.

So you have two of your downtime actions for your short rest.

Everyone's going with what?

We'll go around the table here quickly.

I will stay sentry watch even though we have the guards above us and I will clear my hit points.

Okay.

I decided to clear my hit points and I was wanting to add armor but I can't so I because I had so much stress so I got rid of my stress as well since I get a long rest

with my

stuff.

What I'm here is this long rest or short rest?

This is a short rest.

I mean if you want to take a long rest you can.

No no, no, no, no, no, no, no time.

All right.

I cleared my stress.

And does anyone else want to prepare?

I thought, yeah, we could do like a.

I would love to learn a little from you, yes.

Well, what I do is I start to pull a little bit of thread out of my mouth.

Goes, it goes.

I tie it off and I start wrapping it around my fingers.

Do you have any extra thread?

Jacob's player.

It's a cat's cradle, isn't it?

Cat's cradle.

So So I bring it over.

Thought you might like something to play with.

Now, flip it through, put your finger through the third one.

Both sides, both sides, and pull apart.

Cool.

I can't.

It's stuck.

Okay, I'm gonna have to cut that one.

I don't know how you did that.

Both of you take two hole.

Yeah.

Awesome.

Oh boy.

Screeve.

Well, I got seriously fucked up, so I'm going to fix my armor my hit points.

It's 1d4 plus 1 because you're tier 1.

So here we go for hit points.

It's full.

That's good.

So I'm back to full.

Here we go, armor.

It's five, which...

Great.

So I'm topped off.

Great, fixed that.

Borrow some of August's.

I repaired my armor and cleared my one hit point damage.

You got it.

And you prepared and what else?

The other thing I did was I fixed my armor.

Alright, so there you go.

I'm gonna clear some stress.

I did, and I'll prepare one hope as well.

You gotta see it.

Well, I mean, you can prepare with multiple members of the party.

Oh, oh, with you.

You should bear with one or more members of the party.

You may each take two hopes.

Okay, I will prepare with you, and I will.

I don't know if I have.

I never understand anatomy.

Do I have hooves for hands?

How do you throw a boomerang with boomerang?

I'm so in the weeds off.

You've been making

a fantasy for a decade.

I don't.

Just to note,

you rest on the outskirts of Okoru, not within the walls or within the heat

and safe comfort of their sacred pyre, which is far atop the tower.

So, unless any of you wants to try and keep watch, I said I would.

Yep.

Alright.

Alright.

I made my roll.

You can roll and decide to choose yours or mine.

1D12.

Yep.

I'll take yours.

Alright.

Mine's a four.

I had a two.

Oh, that would have.

Yeah,

I would have got to pull this guy out.

As you all prepare and you rest, and

there's a brief moment where you wonder if no representative will come.

You glance up and see a few soldiers get a bit twitchy, looking over aggressively in your direction.

One of them gnaws on a piece of old wood.

And they all seem to be staring at this stone angel.

Some dark memory, some moment of mistrust.

In that time period, you feel that your

presence here is likely

to be safe, short-lived.

I gained two fear.

And then as we continue to take a rest, I roll a 24 to gain that much fear as well, which is one.

Not great, but you know, it all helps.

During this period of time, a trade representative comes up.

You see a kind of heavy-set orc fella in his 30s or so, kind of receding hair pulled into a long, long ponytail out back, kind of a skullet, a scully tail.

I don't know what you call it.

Wearing some leathers, and he has a small,

looks like a leather-bound booklet to take note.

Hello, friends.

I'm Keegan.

I'm supposed to be helping you get what you need before you head off.

What you looking for?

Keegan.

Aye, aye.

I'm Brixton.

Pirate Keeper Brixton.

Pirate Keeper Brixton.

I

um

mainly we are interested in information and aid and maybe

any small provisions to help us on our journey.

We are attempting to make our way to the barrow of blind repose to the tomb of the heretic saint Evelier

Evelier

Evelar Eveliar

Evelar.

I say it with confidence and correctly.

Of course.

Powerkeeper.

If you have any information from the scholars

on what may lay ahead of us on this journey and at our final destination, that would be greatly appreciated.

I will check.

In addition,

our settlement is in deep need of aid.

If you could send your finest soldiers, even if it's just a handful, in any

type of wares or protection or food and water.

They just need to make it for a handful of more weeks until we can come back with the Blessed Branch.

And then I'm going to pull out the Warscythe, the holy Warscythe, from the vaults and present it with revelry.

Alright, as you're saying this, Raina, like

honestly, we're strapped for materials, and most of what we have has to stay in Tate.

Perhaps this may sway your judgment.

That's that's old Vault Meek.

Yes.

Where'd you find this?

We found it at the entrance to the monastery.

It was sitting at the base of the old god of a statue of the old god, Aratu.

What monastery?

The

permanence.

Harrow.

Lose all

vaults.

Lose all monastery.

Uh, good, good.

I'll take this back.

I'll I'll take calls for materials we can have to spare and

I'll be right back.

Closes his book and darts back off into the

tower.

Around this time, a short time later, a fisherman comes up with a couple fish at his side.

Moncho's up next to you, Skid, and he's like,

I might, yeah.

Um,

I got you some fish.

Yeah, yeah.

What you got?

What do I got?

Yeah, yeah.

So you got

We start this game with a handful of coin, don't we?

Yeah.

I give him.

Some of a handful of fish.

I give him a handful of coin if you've got toys.

He reaches over and takes a fish off the hook, kind of glances over at the guards, and holds a pouch under one fish and hands it to you as he receives one handful.

This contains

no toys yet,

but it does contain two uses of snap powder.

Which snap powder you can it's a consumable

you can heal one hit point by marking a stress.

That's exciting.

Um

for your other handful, I can give you the other fish.

Better be a very good fish.

I think you like it.

Okay.

Takes the other fish off the hook, and then a larger pouch kind of curled underneath it.

It's barely hidden by the fish, and he's like,

hands it over to you.

And you take it, and he gives you a nod and darts off back into the woods.

You better hope I like it.

It's like Keith Richards talking to Jack Sparrow.

Within there are two things.

One is a whistle carved and crafted from yellow bone

that's about that long.

And then the other is a small glass vial that looks like it was cracked and repaired.

And within it is a like

somewhat thick purplish substance that you've probably seen used by some of folks in your past known as heart curdle venom.

Heart curdle venom.

Yes.

That sounds

good.

Heart curdle.

Like venom that makes your blood.

The curdle.

That's great.

I walk over to Adelia

and hold her my hands.

Which one?

Which one?

That one.

Oh, you guessed right.

That's the one I imagined it was in.

Is it a whistle?

It is a whistle.

I love whistles.

You blow it, and the sound is

unearthly.

It's like a two-tone trill that shifts.

You ever have two tones that are just slightly off at the same time, and they seem to warp into each other?

It's like two separate whistles that kind of seem to shift into just a slightly off wave, and all of the soldiers all kind of go and look over.

Uh, in fact, many people in the city all glance over from like far up on multiple levels.

Uh,

that can be heard from quite some distance.

We could find you if we needed to find you.

Oh, that's true, yes, a sound in the darkness.

Every monster.

I'm going to take this string

and tie it on the whistle and put it around my neck.

neck.

Thank you, Scream.

Eventually,

Keegan returns.

For this fine offer,

we can supply you with food for the rest of your journey,

as well as something that might help you along this as well.

And hands you a note that he kind of

scribbles on and passes it over to you.

This is a

you are passing over a holy relic from the old world and you in trade get information and a

it's a recipe for a minor stamina potion.

Whoa.

As a downtime move you can use the bone of a sizable creature to craft a minor stamina potion.

That's awesome.

And Patrika.

That's awesome.

As a downtime move so short rests or long rests?

Yeah.

You just use a move.

You just have to have a bone to do it.

To craft a stamina potion.

I would like to keep my bones inside of me.

You are a different story.

And the other sheet that is prepared, along with like some food supplies, are handed over,

a number of water skins with fresh water in them.

More or less like a fair amount of stuff to at least you don't have to worry about scrounging for food on the journey there.

The journey back.

Gop, gop, gop, gop, gop, gop, eat, eat, eat, eat, eat.

The other scrap you get is, and based on your request,

we went to one of our faithful who looked up on what you had, and this is what they said to deliver, and hands you another note that he tears out of his book.

Is this about a liar?

This says,

in the years after the apostasy, Elviar rose as a holy warrior without sight.

but instead supposed vision of the path the gods took when they left.

It was said her smile gave a golden glow

and her face, it says in quotes, her face is the threshold to salvation.

A following began to gather around her in the wake of the gods' absence.

and her promise of following the gods to their heavenly realms beyond this domain.

The following

began to grow to where the grand ordinance that remained behind

didn't like them drawing the flock from their faith.

And thus she was branded a heretic by the remaining ordinance and executed.

Her eyes and face removed and her body sealed within the tomb you speak of.

The branch was laid with her in hopes of keeping her corrupt spirit bound away.

Okay.

So she was

a rough end to that one.

Golden look in her eyes.

And a golden glow to her smile.

Scavenger

doesn't mean anything to me.

I'm just thinking of the glowing rock that we found in the skull.

Oh, the Valor stone?

The Valer stone.

What was she named heretic for?

Because she was gathering a following

after the old gods departed.

Yeah,

the Grand Ordinates were the most holy of priests and cardinals and faith-based

leaders of Ember Reach,

who were part of the God King Othetius' council and court.

And to have

a young woman step from obscurity and in the midst of this chaos offer a path of divinity and draw their flock from them.

That was not allowed.

It's the Romans executing Jesus Christ kind of a vibe.

Don't know who that is.

Well, I'm Mauritius remaining.

You know, biblically accurate angels.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Fair enough.

Fair enough.

Okay.

Lady to rest with a blessed branch to keep her soul, like, bound, basically.

Okay.

Cool.

Got it.

Great.

And then any word of them sending aid or soldiers to Desperon.

You already see about ten soldiers who are currently armoring up.

And

Kigindid says that

with this and takes the

warglave from or the

warside from you.

This is a mighty gift, and for that, aid will be sent.

A number of parcels and some soldiers' support to Desperlock.

No promise of how long

and should things begin to downturn for their safety, they will return.

However, with good faith,

may us enduring be at each other's sight.

Gives a nod and backs up and heads back inside, clutching this incredible ancient weapon, wraps it over with some cloth, binds it, and hands it over to a couple other soldiers, and they all kind of enter through the gate, which then closes behind them.

The soldiers turn back and wait expectantly for you to leave.

He was very nice once you gave him something.

You should have given the Baron something.

Maybe if you showed the Baron the water, I.

Well, they didn't give us the time of day, did they?

No, they're not nice.

They are not nice.

You're correct.

Are we sure we want to keep traveling with this child?

Yeah.

I would rather keep them than send them off and have them describe us and tell every passing person what we look like and what we're different.

Are you heretics?

Should we cut off your face?

I mean, I suppose it would depend on who you asked, if we were heretics or not.

And I'd all here alright with this.

more the merrier.

Strength and numbers, some other cliché.

Yes, we all know how our last adventure went when we involved a child.

That's my

worry.

But

we can't leave her here.

I guess very quick introductions as we walk and talk.

Mm-hmm.

I'm Brixton.

Hello, Brixton.

Hi.

Screve.

I've I've heard.

Yes.

Nice to meet you, Screeve.

I'm Adelia Pruitt.

So nice to meet you.

This is Violet Pruitt.

You're a last name.

Yes.

Those are rare.

Is it?

I don't have a last name.

You had a title, huh?

I do have a title.

Nancy?

I'm Idol.

This is Misty.

Hi, Misty.

Hello.

I like that you're made of stone.

I think that's very cool.

I like your doll.

Thank you.

And you come from where?

Again?

I

come from.

I um.

I found my way to this form.

I was a

floating spirit for some time.

You said you were something before.

Do you remember what that was?

I do not.

No.

Like one of the floating spirits around the water?

Yes.

And then I found my way here, pulled down and into this.

My friend August here

woke this stone.

And I somehow slipped into it, but I have many memories of it.

Were you a moaning spirit?

Did you moan a lot?

I don't feel like I did.

I don't feel like I did.

Maybe I did.

Whoa.

Trying.

I don't know.

I don't think I did.

She makes beautiful music, though.

She is a relic in herself.

I do.

I make music.

What kind of music?

Oh, it sounds.

I've never really heard anything like it.

Do you play an instrument?

Well,

the wings are my instrument.

And I also have many.

Boops.

Many boops.

And.

Play out the diddy.

Alright, I'll play a ditty.

I'll play as a titty.

I'll play as a titty.

You know what?

I'll do some

stone, right?

Four wings.

You know what I'm gonna do?

I am gonna do...

I'm gonna do a rally

song.

So you just hear

she fully spreads her wings out and as her sort of wings bristle in the wind, it almost sounds like

wind chimes, but also

almost like

when you play on a keyboard and it's the synth pad, that it's like all the angels singing.

It's like four of them to a key.

It just sounds sort of otherworldly, but beautiful and relaxing.

And

you all gain a D6

to add to

an action roll, a reaction roll, a damage roll, or to clear a number of stress equal to the dice roll.

And then rolls around some more, and then stares at you.

Fascinating.

Thank you.

You are too careful.

Just my mind on the journey ahead.

Oh, yes.

Known each other for a long time, have you?

A few months.

Biggest thieves.

Friends, partners, family.

How'd you categorize it?

Traveling companions.

Survivors.

We know what that's like.

Very well.

And then, as Misty said, this is August.

We've met.

And

very dashing with that hat.

That is the

valiant Snyx.

I mean, thank you for that.

Yeah, I'm Snyx.

I'm I'm not valiant.

He's the deadliest among us.

I can run really fast, but when we're gonna need to, because we're heading into the screaming forest and it's it's bad.

Show me, run to that tree.

Okay, 30 odds.

I run to that tree.

Pretty quickly.

How did you break your horn?

How did I break my horn?

Oh, well, it's dangerous out there in the wastes.

Come back for the tree.

Oh,

I was

attacked.

Sorry, I just gotta catch my breath.

Just watch her.

Goats, Drink.

You know how animals work?

Hamster to Cane.

Little drip bottle.

Smell the drip bottle, the little bottle.

It's dangerous.

That's all I'll say.

It's dangerous out there.

I don't know if you

spend much time out there, but it's felled many beasts.

So many.

Many by accident, if I'm being honest.

I mean, I was just...

I was just trying to get away, and they just kind of died.

Feld or Feld?

Deadly kick.

Feld.

Killed.

Felt or Feld?

Feld?

Feld.

I can't tell the difference.

What are you saying?

Feld.

Do you touch?

We move on.

All right.

Trekking through the dense forest forward.

what path do you take?

The screaming forest, you watch as the foliage begins to fade, the leaves begin to die away, and instead, a landscape of tall, gnarled, twisted trees of extended, leafless branches, like ever-reaching, clawed hands.

reaching towards a heaven that will never come before them.

It is still and it is silent,

and the ground itself is spongy with moss and multicolored fungus.

Along the coast to the right, there is the water,

where much of the sunken outskirts of the old amber each

sits beneath the water.

How do you do?

I would say so that we don't

go off on a squiggly line amongst all these trees, if we can keep the shoreline to our right as we move north, we'll at least know we're making the right headway towards the reach.

Yes, and that way the spirits can keep us company.

The the what?

There's lots of spirits in the water.

In the water?

Really?

Yes.

I wonder if I was ever in there.

Moaning.

How long have you been in your stone?

Oh, maybe

six months or so.

I've been awake for about six months.

Yes.

It might have been you.

I might have had you.

You probably heard me before.

Wow, that's very neat.

If you want to go into the forest, the trees talk to us.

You two specifically?

No, everyone.

You'll hear it too.

Where have you been all this time that you're so

anxious?

There are worse things in the

Screaming Forest.

August, is that true?

Did we speak to you?

You deserve it.

I was not allowed out

when we were in the hive.

The only time I've actually ever been in the forest was when we were running.

That was it.

We're from the Screaming Forest, or more specifically, from beneath it.

So.

not a good place,

not at all.

Well, then, even further,

want to stick to the eastern shore.

Yes, I would suggest we avoid it.

We hug the shoreline, okay.

Should you deviate from the forest thick, but instead head towards the shore.

This now, the midday, mid-afternoon light, as you break from the thickest parts of the screening forest, you can see the glass-like water as it sits.

That's not the water, it's the mist that hangs.

The waves still push in and out, but you can only hear them, not see them.

The thick mist hangs over the water, and the way the light hits it, it leaves this pale, ghostly blue glow.

that just kind of floats across the surface.

The closer you get to the shore, it almost seems like the sunlight chokes in proximity, and you can see the tops of ancient buildings, crumbled towers, and strange

shapes

moving.

Dozens,

hundreds of tiny little wisps,

flickers,

light blue shapes moving,

ghosts

This is a haunted bay

And you watch as they drift through the mist

do you wish to move stealthily or quickly

bay is haunted

Always was

yes Poor spirits poor lonely houses underneath the water

Whatever doesn't cause a ruckus would be better.

Stealthfully, then.

Who is helming the stealth for this group?

Screve is very sneaky.

Very sneaky.

Feel free.

Alright, Screve.

Before you roll, I would like everybody else here to roll finesse for me.

This is a reaction roll, so no hope or fear gained.

Snicks.

Minus one.

No hope or fear.

August.

14.

14.

Minus two.

Wow, that's a good one.

Fifteen is average.

Seventeen.

Seventeen.

Minus one.

Five.

Minus two.

Eight.

Minus three.

Sixteen.

Sixteen.

So whatever you rolled, minus two.

Well, it's a four and a four, so I guess it's a two and a two.

Dang.

That's crit.

That's crit.

That's a lot of crits.

You guys have been critting a lot.

It happened.

You keep low and quiet and push along the outskirts.

The ghosts wander near the shore.

A few coast beyond the mists itself.

But the mist rides with them and pours onto the outskirts of the forest.

You find yourself pushed against the tree line as you stay low amongst the moss and fungus.

And you get glances of some of these spirits.

Sallow-looking, wayfish.

Civilians.

Women's, eyes white, their hair drifting like underwater.

their mouths agape and stretched, hands reaching for any semblance of warmth.

You see children drifting, turning, their expressions stretching before they

into mist as well.

You look beneath the water as you get close for just a moment, and you can see what looks like hands skeletal reaching through the water.

Or is it just

kelp?

Plant life, it's hard to tell.

The mist causes it all to shift and stretch.

But the ghosts don't take notice.

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You push ahead.

The day has grown long for some who have not rested and others who have been exposed.

Since a short rest and a long rest was taken at Bokoru, I need you all to mark a stress as you're starting to grow tired without a night's sleep.

However,

the screaming forest.

You are not in the dense center.

Instead,

you are keeping to the far outskirts along the side.

Now it seems the water seems to push into what was the dried core of it is now just a thick marsh.

And you can see the water of the bay spills into small streams of brackish water where that low mist kind of gently flows through.

As you do,

you hear a sound.

A sound that

you took in the past to mean

the trees were talking.

It sounds like a low hum.

Do you hear it?

That's the talking you mentioned?

Singing.

Can you hear it?

Trying to look above.

I am looking.

Make an instinct roll for me, please.

Yeah, I've heard that sound before.

Don't think those are the trees.

August usually does that

when he flies.

That's a ten with hope.

Something, something.

The hive.

Something, something.

You gain a hope, but you don't see anything in the vicinity.

And you hear it again.

A second source, not far.

We don't see anything, but you are on the cusp of the waters here, with the ghost still pondering out.

What do you do?

Do we run or do we hide?

We must hide.

Hide when they dunk low.

Can I use my also my slyborn

to

have advantage on finding a safe place for us to hide.

Usually in the fort, like the trees or the terrain or maybe the underbrush.

Yeah, if you'd like to go ahead and roll a finesse roll for me with advantage to see if you can find some safe place for you all to patten down.

11, 17, minus 1.

16 with...

Fear.

With fear.

Okay.

Oh, look at all that fear.

He's gone.

That's been worse.

Gathering the rest of the troop and kind of taking a quick cue from idle.

You pull them aside.

Right now, the brush is thin near the water, but it gets a bit thicker just a ways into it.

You pull away from the haunted edge to not draw the attention from the spirits that stalk and haunt the edge.

And in doing so, you push just fairly

ever so gently deeper into the forest.

But here there is dense undergrowth beneath the trees.

And amongst where this kind of murky water pours, there are raised hills and little pressing areas where you can kind of hide in alcoves amongst the multicolored yellow and orange moss.

And you all push into there, and the buzz gets quieter.

Screeve is

rocking in his crouch and tugging at the ring in his chest

as you're sitting there, kind of holding,

breathing as slowly and carefully as you can.

You hear

It sounds cute.

And you glance over into the moss to your left, that kind of yellow and orange moss.

A little dark eye

opens up.

And it kind of peeks through to you.

And you see a little like a mushroom crest.

Maybe about a foot and a half across.

And a little dark eye and another

that opens up.

And it kind of pulls forward, looking to you with a cocked head.

Hello, friend.

Oh.

Kind of like withdraws slightly back into the alcove and just kind of stares at you.

We didn't mean to disturb.

We're just uh

keeping our heads down for a minute.

Does anyone speak mushroom?

Hello.

What's your name?

Try to bet it.

You reach and scratch its head a little bit, and it's kind of spongy and soft.

And it kind of like leans a little into it when its little black beady eyes kind of blinks a little bit.

Scraps are brown.

And you like hear.

And you see from the nearby moss a few others kind of like minus minus.

Neil kind of

kind of communicating a bit.

I'm gonna stand behind Brixton just sort of using she is my shield.

Yes, I am your shield.

I puff up my.

You see the three of them kind of step out of the moss and kind of like move there.

You can now see like arms kind of

and kind of legs legs in there.

They're, you know, about three and a half feet tall, a little taller than you even.

As they kind of like

and the one that you were kind of scratching kind of steps forward a little closer.

I don't trust it as much anymore.

It reaches for your doll.

I am don't reach for Violet.

Violet is very shy.

Could I give it something else?

And it charges you.

I need to put a map down.

Those noises

season out.

I was looking your way.

Your own noises.

Tigger.

Tiger her.

Hello, creepy forest.

So, while you are all

keeping under this alcove on the side here,

cool.

This one with like the

sponge.

I love it.

Creepy.

I bet.

Yeah.

Yeah, the trees.

Oh, yeah, this is

just a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a drink.

Oh, little mushroom dude.

Another word come around.

It's coming to hunt.

You're so cute.

Oh, look,

yo,

So,

with my

beginning to this combat, based on the fear that you had rolled to hide here, the mushroom right there activates and lunges towards you.

Oh, no.

Activates fungi?

That's cute.

Actually, I'm going to spend a fear,

and I'm going to use the group attack.

Oh.

And so all three of these are going to move

into there.

Into there.

Uh-oh.

Into there.

And all of them kind of like with an unnatural speed

dart towards you.

And all three are going to make a group attack against the dealing.

Uh-oh.

That is going to be a 12?

No.

11.

Oh, that does hit you.

Okay.

So you take six points of physical damage.

Okay.

That's.

I'm.

Okay.

I'm going to activate my rune ward.

I'm gonna spend a hope

to diminish that damage.

Okay, by how much?

By 1d8.

Go ahead and roll 1d8.

Did you use it?

Oh, I haven't used it.

I was gonna mark them, but I have not a risk.

So 1d8.

Alrighty.

Sevens!

So I don't take any damage.

Alright.

I'm going to spend another fear.

As you watch,

the hill above you seems to shake as the moss that's hanging over this overhang

hangs slightly.

And as

all those three fungus figures kind of, after they withdraw from the strike, the magic pushing them back from your rune ward, they.

And you hear.

Is it daddy?

Is it mommy?

No, what is that sound?

Why are you able to do that?

As the very alcove you were hiding under seems to shift and come to life.

As it maneuvers

and

is going to.

That's so cool.

I'm going to spend

a fear for the...

That ain't a mini.

You know what?

I'm going to spend a fear to do funky backup.

Funky backup.

It's going to conjure

two more fungus.

Funky backup.

They all pull out bases.

Both of these fungus

immediately

are summoned and activate.

One's coming at you, Screave, and one's coming at you, Misty.

One against you, Screave, that's only going to be a seven.

And against you, Misty, that's going to be a 13.

That hits.

That hits, you take two points of physical damage.

Those are the worst.

Ooh, and I forgot to mention, you reduce the damage, but they did strike you.

You both mark an armor slot.

As their touch is caustic and begins to burn through your armor.

Oh,

if they touch you at all?

They touch you at all.

So I can't use my armor then.

You can use if you have additional one, you can, but you just lose a slot.

Because I only have one armor, which I was going to use to

detect it's gone before you can use it.

Got it.

Okay.

So you take a hit point.

So I take a hit point.

That's okay.

Do you only ever have one armor slot?

No, I have three, but I decided to get rid of stress and clear.

That's going to end my activation.

What do you want to do?

I leap at the first one that was

attacking Adelia, claws out, and I will just try to land on its chest with my weight and roll it into the ball.

You got it.

You didn't say the rules of the game.

That is a

12 with hope.

12 with hope.

That definitely just hits.

So you gain a hope and go ahead and roll damage.

Okay, okay, okay.

Okay, that is my eight plus three.

That is six points.

That's six points?

Damage.

All right.

You go ahead and completely bisect that fungus

it gets wrecked and scattered the other function

i hold up muck cover claws you

all right who else wants to go i will uh roll unnecessarily in between the big guy and one of the little ones just to get on the other side of him like behind him if i can you can get there yep and i will uh swing my halberd above my head and you'll see it glow with divine energy and i'll uh cast spirit weapon

and I'll mark a stress to be able to start

swinging it, building up the momentum, and then

it'll swing along the ground and aim at the legs of both the little guy and the big.

You got it.

Rolling attack.

Sweet.

Here we go.

That is 15, 16, 17 to hit.

Hope or fear?

With hope.

Hope.

Take that hope, and that is a success.

Go ahead and roll damage.

Beautiful.

That'll hit both of them for

the 10,

plus 2,

6, 7, 8, 8 physical damage.

Where's the halberd?

It slips us through.

The halberd completely destroys the recently conjured fungus and then

sticks into the large rot lord.

And it barely carves through its body before returning to your hand.

And where you cut, spores just kind of out.

And you watch the spores are kind of filling the air around.

No immediate effect, but this air does smell a little strange.

I'll take two steps back as the spores fell out just out of like, oh god.

You got it.

Last time that happened, a girl died.

That finishes your go.

Yep.

I will follow in

Idol's tumble.

And I will tumble

and kind of get between this

fungus dude and the rotlord.

Sweet roll.

Got it.

Thanks, man.

Do I go unstoppable here?

Unstoppable.

I'll wait.

I'll wait.

That might be a bad idea, but I'll wait for now.

And I'm going to attack.

The little one or the big one?

First, the big one.

Yep, that's good.

That's going to be 17 with hope.

That'll hit.

Nice.

And what I want to do is I want to take, I want to spin a hope to do whirlwind

and I want to

hit everything else that is within very close range.

I would make this one here as well.

So you get that one in a little range, the other one.

You are unfortunately just out of range.

Are you sure?

I will measure the hell out of this.

Just under.

Okay.

It's 11 damage to the big boy.

Or just, yeah.

11 damage to the big guy?

And then the other guy takes half damage.

Okay.

He is.

Oh, my.

Scatter, you are tearing through these fungus.

And then can I also

step back just a little bit, maybe kind of next to

Screve?

You got it.

Alrighty.

So that finishes your go?

Yes.

Who wants to activate next?

Did you you hit the one that was attacking Adelia?

Did you want to go skip?

Seeing that my shield is now gone and I'm exposed, I will leap up onto the top of the

thing, get away.

Then once up there, I will do a barrel roll.

Yeah!

Three in a row.

But not move.

Just

stand there.

And then I feel like we should try to keep it in place, so I'm going to cast vicious entanglement

on the thing.

I will cast a spell

on the Rot Lord.

On the Rot Lord.

And I'm going to use your D6 to add to this.

Yes, don't forget you have a D6 to add to things.

17, but with fear.

That's okay.

Had a pretty good run.

Yep.

Had a pretty good run.

Alright, so you go ahead and

restrain him.

Go ahead and roll damage for the tangle.

Oh, I rolled an eight, so that's nine damage.

Plus, I will mark a stress to mark it with

my ranger focus.

You got it.

All right.

That's it.

All right.

Uh, as it comes back to me, first I will spend a fear.

You don't have to.

Yeah.

Come on, no, the commotion.

The commotion.

Just

a distant sound of the trees talking.

Seems to

be louder.

Activating the Rot Lord here.

First, I'm going to spend a fear to get rid of its

restrain.

We're going to see.

Actually, it doesn't need to, because you're in melee.

So it's going to go ahead and instead attempt to envelop you.

Put your fear back, Matt, because

you pushed it over.

That's right.

I'm just letting you know.

No, I appreciate that.

Alright, so technically that is going to be

17 to hit you.

17 to hip.

Yeah, okay.

Okay.

The Rot Lord reaches out with its massive arms.

And as you look now, the

clusters of fungus around it

have discoloration of all types and sorts, but things hang and shift and move as it does.

And you notice that parts of its body are comprised of other bodies.

There are at least four other humanoid corpses

that arms and legs dangle from its limbs are partially or slowly being consumed and sent back to the nature around it from within,

of which it grabs August and pulls you into its form.

You immediately mark a stress.

Yeah.

Does the arm that grabs August look like Cadus's clay?

Oh, that's not nice.

While you're enveloped,

you must mark an additional stress every time you make an action roll.

Oh, no.

You're only freed when it takes severe damage.

So that's a scenario there.

It's going to use a reaction, fear spores.

When a creature within close range,

actually, no, sorry, that doesn't come in yet.

Never mind.

Fear spores?

That'll be later.

Fear spores!

That'll be later.

May I?

I'm upset.

So,

that is going to be that.

I'm going to burn another fear to activate the other two fungus that are present and burn a fear to do their group action.

They're both going to cluster up

and swarm onto

close movement in on you.

Idealia.

Okay.

Idealia.

Give him violet!

That's gonna be a 15 to hit.

Sacrifice the dog.

That's gonna be four points of physical damage to you.

Four points?

Well, I'll sleep better.

I'm gonna spend a hope to use my rune reward again.

Okay, go for it.

Yes, it is.

Yeah.

Eight!

I don't take any damage.

I don't take any damage.

That is cool.

That's pretty great.

Um,

that's my activation.

Alright, uh, I am going to uh

wild flame on Rotlord and two of the other creatures.

Sorry, this is this is the timer on the

approaching sound.

I place it up there for you guys to see.

It's on a three.

I'm also going to use my rally die.

So if we if we maybe negate this quickly, we could still continue hiding.

Is that the vibe?

Maybe.

Should we do a group

thing?

Tag teaming?

Tag team?

Might be a bad idea.

To the big guy.

To the big boy.

Well, we also need to do a severe damage in order to get him out.

So, yes, please.

Let me try to do a.

Who are you tag teaming with?

Are you tag teaming or are you trying something?

I was gonna do Wild Flame and tried it because I can get two people, but it's uh that's only two to two d6, so I don't know if that would end up being severe for Rotlord.

So we should team up.

Well, I think you can still do Wild Flame and maybe team up.

I'll do a tag team team with you.

Yeah?

Yeah.

Do you want to spend your hope or mine?

I'll spend my hope.

Alright.

Maybe we can...

Yeah.

Alright, so what are you both doing?

Alright.

Um, I was thinking of of Wild Flame.

Which is a melee attack against the Rot Lord?

Yes, so I will have to move up.

Thank you.

You yeah, you can get there.

Okay.

So you kind of leap over this bungus and land here next to it.

Brixton, you kind of come in close, both of you kind of tangling up toe to toe with the Rot Lord.

As I see Misty start to conjure the flame, my focus starts to get

a little enraptured as I start to see the flame of the pyre and start thinking about everything that happens.

And then I start repeating my order-born value.

The strongest steel must first be tempered by the flame.

The strongest tail must first be tempered by the frame.

I'm gonna take my great sword and run it, or technically my falchon and run it through your flame.

Sick.

Two, okay.

And then I'm going to use my order-borne value to roll a D20 as my hope die.

Whoa.

So I put one over, I put my flame hand over first.

You both charge in.

Go ahead and roll your attack.

Ooh, are you fucking serious?

No, look, look, look.

And I rolled it when I touched it.

Look.

Oh, no, no, I thought that was.

Never mind.

That mine was blind.

Shit.

That could have been worse.

Why are you re-rolling?

Oh, you're also cocky.

Somehow, your dice always gets it.

Yeah, it wasn't what I wanted it to be, so I re-rolled it.

Do you have a

good roll?

No.

Can I add my D6 from her

that you gave me?

Yeah.

Her empower rally back.

Yeah, that's what it's there for.

Okay.

That's much better.

Okay.

16.

11.

With hope.

With hope.

With hope.

That is a success.

So you both gain a hope from that?

I rolled with.

It doesn't matter.

No, you both take her role.

So you're both going to hope in the success, and both you roll damage.

I know, I shouldn't have.

I shouldn't have.

We haven't done the team up yet.

Okay.

Okay.

12 damage.

Six damage to three creatures.

Or can I pump them all into the Route Lord?

Well, three creatures in melee with you.

Okay.

If you look at what it says.

So you can only, only one of them is in melee to hit the Rot Lord, unfortunately.

Is that what it says?

In melee range.

Correct, which is right next to you.

Okay.

Which currently, to get to help out with this, to hit the Rot Lord, you have to get out of range of the other two mushrooms.

So you can only hit the Rot Lord with this.

Okay, that's fine.

Great.

So it's a total of six damage.

It's a total of six damage.

Plus 12.

Plus 12.

That's 18 points of damage, which is its damage threshold for severe.

Okay.

So it takes three hit points, and you watch as August

gets spilled out onto the the ground.

Lordy.

That was tight.

Can I grab him and push him behind me?

Uh, sure.

He's where he stands now.

So you pull him off to the side and he's right there.

Scream.

Look at the hole it left.

Let's play.

Should we make it bigger?

Yeah.

I sink into the water.

Whoa.

Dark, I assume.

It's murky.

I'm gonna.

Okay.

No, it's not.

Okay.

Then I'll.

This is between shadow and water.

I'm just making sure that we're working with balance.

Okay.

Okay.

Then I will just charge.

I'll set you up and we're going to tag team.

I'm going to spend three hope

on my end.

So I'll say, if you want to try and hide within the water to do this,

I'll allow you.

I'll roll a finesse roll to see if you can effectively hide in it.

Do I...

Hmm.

Okay.

Because it's murky, but it's not impossible to see with a water.

It is a

16 with fear.

Okay.

So you do manage to hide and slink beneath the water.

Okay.

But it does come to me when you do that.

Great.

There's a challenge.

Not in the moment.

Okay.

So this is kind of how the spot disappears.

So you disappear and you are now hidden, or in this instance,

cloaked within the water.

Between worlds, yeah.

Kind of shifting into shadow, preparing for it.

But in that moment, the rot lord,

from a moment of inspiration and anger, of losing its current meal,

begins to charge.

I'm going to go ahead and

let's see.

Okay.

I'm gonna go ahead and have it attempt to envelop you.

Okay.

Not gonna be a very good snack.

It's gonna certainly try.

That is gonna be 11.

That just hits.

Okay.

I can't believe I ate the whole thing.

You are enveloped

by the Rot Lord.

Oh, within a rock a day.

Within Mark of Stress.

Okay.

And you are within its form.

I'm also going to burn a fear.

Oh, this counts down to

a two.

And the two other fungus are going to activate.

And they're going to both make a group attack

against you.

Aren't I gone?

Is he hiding?

Oh no.

Yeah, you're banished in this action.

So instead...

Yay!

Instead, it's going to be against

yeah you because you're right there okay everyone else went away my dress is all holy now

the five

i duck and i duck and roll they don't hit me

i do a somersault

roll

that's my activation

who would like to go well they were similar to

interfere now you can take it i fly up out of the water under its grundle and start clawing my way up and tearing away with my little

claws.

Damn you, no deep!

I stun the grundle and I move up its belly and I go,

and I can see stone.

Girl, now!

And I do a barrel roll into the water.

Do a barrel roll!

Do a grundle roll!

Barrel rider.

Yeah, there's a tactic.

This is me opening up its underbelly so that a day.

I can't unleash chaos into its belly.

Let's go.

I make Violet do a barrel roll.

And then I set magic.

Oh my god.

Let's go.

Roll your attacks, please.

Oh, we both roll.

We both take the better.

I'm going to add the D6 that she gave me as well.

I have a 17 with hope.

Oh, good.

I got 17 with hope as well.

But I added a one.

That's 18 with hope.

Both of you.

Go ahead and roll your damage.

All right, and I'm coming from cloaks now.

So I'm going to

unleash chaos.

So that's...

I've got to mark a street.

No.

Oh, no, I can just unleash my chaos.

11 from me.

12.

And then I'm going to mark a stress

to

double the damage of my 8 here.

So that's 16 plus 4.

That's 20 damage.

That is a severe wound.

31.

31 points of damage.

31?

Together.

Together?

Together.

Doesn't double its its

severe, but it's close.

So that is three hit point wounds on it onto the rotten lord, which spits out

your friend there.

Oh!

Oh, goodness.

Man,

I'm not getting to use my engulf ability.

That makes me sad.

For now.

Alright, that finishes your activation.

More.

It's back in the day.

They succeeded, so it's up to you.

Let's do it.

We're gonna also do a tag team.

Yeah, burn all your hope.

Uh-huh.

Against a very important enemy.

We didn't get this.

Why are you saying it like that?

Why do you say it like that?

Why do you say it like that?

Look at his head.

He's huge.

He's got corpses for limbs.

There's spores in the air.

Wait, I have a question.

Do you each get ri-

spend three hopes to do the tag team?

Just one push.

Just three pushes for you.

Yeah.

Okay.

And you got one back, right?

Oh, and you get one back if you succeed that's fine.

So we...

Nice.

Oh, yeah.

Oh, he's still in tag.

Are you also attacking the Grundle?

I'm also attacking the Grundle.

After you.

I'll do a quick barrel roll.

Did you get it?

It kind of hurts.

This time I will rear back with my boomerang, and instead of throwing it at the beast, I will throw it at August.

Ooh, problem.

I take my needle, and I fire the thread, and I grab it, and I start to swing it in a long arc, and then reel it in at just double the speed as this thing normally moves.

Go ahead and roll your attacks.

So triple the centrifugal?

Mine's 17 with hope.

And mine's 17.

Mine's 19 with fear.

So 17 with hope is probably.

Let's do 17 with hope.

I agree.

17 with hope.

That's what I would do.

Okay, that success.

You're hit with like a 16, so.

And I'm going to use your die to add to my damage.

I am also going to mark a stress to double my damage.

So you don't have to say ahead of time that you're adding the d6, you can do it after you roll?

I think that's your bardic ability, right?

You can

retroactively.

What's it say for the rally die?

What's it say for the rally die?

A PC can spend their rally die to roll it, adding the result to their action roll, reaction roll, damage roll, or to clear a number of stress equal to the result.

At the end of each session, clear all unspent rally dice.

Okay.

I mean, for the purposes of this, I'd say you can apply it to a roll beforehand.

Beforehand.

Okay.

I feel like I remember with money we could do petrochemical.

We were in beta.

Seven.

But also

everyone gets it.

It's pretty.

So that's

22 total points of damage.

22 points of damage, yes.

How do you both want to do this?

Oh!

The boob rank slip.

I mean, three tag teams in a row is neat.

We go in our circle several times, and then at some point it goes back to your hand, and we both pull to slice.

Okay.

Goat and spider undefeated.

I pull with my cloven hoof hands.

And then I barrel roll.

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As you carve through it, the spores spill out and it

falls and kind of sinks into the swamp, the brackish water beginning to slowly let it dissolve as it returns to the land from whence it came.

Hide.

Hide.

Toss me that's a good one.

There still are two fungus up.

Oh, it doesn't go with them.

Maybe they'll hide with us.

I'm going to shoot out a returning blade.

Go for it.

I haven't used this yet.

Let's use it, Roland Attack.

Oh,

I got hope.

Alright.

That's not a lot.

Am I adding?

I'm not adding presents or anything, I guess.

Oh, proficiency.

I'm adding my proficiency?

Nope, that's something else.

Finesse.

Plus one.

Ten.

With hope.

That misses, unfortunately.

Okay, that's okay.

Gain a hope.

But I'm hopeful.

I'm going to turn and

hit the little guy.

Oh, because she failed.

It returns to me.

Oh, shit.

But I rolled with hope.

But I still failed, so you're good.

I don't gain a hope.

I don't need a fear for it, but it still returns to me.

I get turns here, too, guys.

So as it returns to me, I'm going to first

activate one of these fungi who's going to dart forward on this end and attack you, who just

struck out at my friends.

That's going to be 13 to hit.

I am your shield.

I am your shield.

How close?

Yeah, you're within very close.

So you take two points of physical damage.

Huh?

You take two points of physical damage.

I will remove it.

Alright, and you also burn an armor slot on top of that.

It's a caustic fungus.

What happens if your armor is like all your slots are gone?

It just means you can't.

It just means you just take the damage as it is.

Okay, okay, okay.

I'm going to spend my last fear at that point to call once more on this landscape's funky backup.

And two more fungus arrive.

Funky backup.

We could run from there.

Maybe we should run at this point.

I think we should run.

Oh, also, we're down to the count of one because of your failure on that one.

Your failure.

That's okay.

Sorry.

Sorry.

I didn't mean it that way.

I didn't mean it that way.

That is my nightmare.

It's all your fault.

You didn't.

No.

You have to go to the bathroom.

Why am I pants on?

Why am I not?

Those two immediately activate, and they're going going to come after you.

That is going to be a natural one.

Now roll away.

There you go, perfect.

And the other one's going to come once again for you.

That's going to be a 12.

That hits.

My stupid dress is all destroyed.

Two points of physical damage.

I'll use a prayer die to reduce the damage.

No damage.

You still lose a number of slides.

But no damage to you.

Thank you.

Do you barrel roll it her?

That finishes my activation and I'm out of fear.

You're out of fear.

Who's going?

I turn around and I hit the thing that tried to hit me with volleyball.

I'm just gonna smirk it with volleyball.

Go for it.

Go for an attack.

Violet felt

ball bearing.

Second quarters.

That's 14 with fear.

14 with fear.

That does hit.

Okay.

Read rural damage.

Five points of damage.

Five points of damage.

This fungus gets blasted away.

I feel like each time you guys are going to be able to get away from the fire.

Here we go.

Here we go.

The heavy buzz gets louder and louder.

You begin to panic as you see two shapes flying overhead.

Two large sets of wings as you see these odd hornet-like creatures

coasting overhead.

Just the shadow is there at first.

You're like, oh, they're like large bees or hornets, but you see legs dangling, and arms, and long, pointed, probescous faces as they.

You know these to be hive collectors, and they've taken note of your presence as they

arrive on the field.

It's your activation.

Some carboniferous shit.

No, I rolled the fear.

Oh, that's right, you did.

Yeah.

Oh, no.

On my turn,

you brought them in.

You brought them in.

That was my action on that one, and I'm gonna hold on to that fear.

Okay.

Oh, boy.

What do we do?

Do we run or do we fight them?

They're very fast.

We fight.

Alright.

I suppose my first thing I'm going to do is...

Where am I?

I'm going to try and get some cover in the corner.

I'm going to sit near you.

I'm going to run past you.

I'm going to give you some armor.

I'm going to give you a temporary armor point.

You can do that?

I can.

I'm adding this to my little move.

It's called,

where'd it go?

I'm going to cast Tava's armor really quickly and just take some thread and just fix your dress a little bit as I run by.

You have one temporary armor point.

I'm going to back up and I'm going to hit the one up top with a

nice spike.

Here?

No, the other direction.

This way.

Yeah, like, yeah, not quite that far, but almost.

Okay.

Yeah, like there.

And then I'm going to hit the one up top with an ice spike.

The spaghet or the collector?

The collector.

Okay, let's go.

hopping it straight up.

That is a ice spike.

That's a...

Oh, please don't fuck this up.

That's

13 with hope.

That unfortunately misses.

It does.

You gain a hope.

But your ice spike in the panic as you release the spell, you instinctually know the arcana to release this manipulation of the aether wave, but just seeing the collector in front of you, you release it a little too soon and it shatters against the stone right beneath it immediately it

and it gives you a turn of a look almost like i recognize you

um that's gonna come to my activation the hive collector is going to

down to you

um down get down i'm gonna spend a fear Oh no, you know what?

Actually, I'm gonna have it mark a stress.

And it's going to attempt to throw a tangle net on you oh no it pulls from its back there's like a you now like at a closer look you can see like it is definitely like a humanoid hornet type entity but it has like straps and small collections in its side and it pulls from it this small bound collection of what looks like tangled rope before it unfurls it and throws it your direction

that's going to be a 14 to hit

Yes.

Yep, yep, I'm holding off.

Oh wait, no, I'm sorry.

This is on your end.

I don't know if if this is you need to make an agility reaction roll for me.

I need to make an agility reaction roll.

Okay.

Can I spend a hope

to

help?

The reaction roll in this instance, I'm going to say probably no.

Okay.

Do the fungus dudes look afraid of these hive collectors or are they just like mad?

Do the fungus people look afraid of the hive collectors or are they like, meh, another day in the morning?

To note its presence at all, actually.

Okay.

Practically.

All right.

okay that's uh that's pretty good that's uh 22 with hope 22 is a success nice the net goes wide and you manage to duck out of the way and it kind of pulls out back with a rope

and it doesn't seem to have much of an effect uh i'm going to spend a fear to activate this one over here

who's going to rush and fly up

at this point above.

Uh-oh.

And it's going to attempt to it's gonna mark a stress as well and it's going to throw its tangle net down at you I need you to make an agility reaction roll please no problem

now heads up idol 10 11 12 12 with hope 14

12 with hope I mean it's a reaction roll it's reactionary it's okay but that does not succeed

the net falls and wraps you you are restrained and vulnerable

until you succeed to escape the net as an action roll in your turn.

Okay.

Restrained and vulnerable.

That's my activation.

It smells weird in here.

Real quick, I am going to go unstoppable.

Now it's time.

And I'm going to real quickly

do a barrel roll in between these two fungus guys.

Yep, right there is great.

I'll kind of get next to

Screave.

You got it.

And then I'm going to attack one of the fungus guys and probably do a whirlwind, but let's see if I hit.

That's good.

That's going to be

18 with hope.

18 with hope succeeds.

And I will do whirlwind.

So I'll spin a hope, gain a hope, and do a whirlwind to hit both of them.

You got it.

And that is going to be...

That's good.

That is going to be 13 damage.

13 damage.

Yeah, that succeeds.

You carve through both of those fungus, clearing the battlefield of both of them.

You see it almost like as I carve through with my blade and it almost like goes slow motion for a second as this like the spores sparkle.

Cool.

In the air.

Have an anime moment.

And then I'm going to, um,

I don't want to get too far.

I'm going to shift a little bit towards Misty.

Okay.

Yeah, a little split the difference.

I'll kind of be on the front side of her and also not too far from idle either.

Alright, there you go.

Alright, that finishes your girl.

Who wants to activate?

May I turn over to the

hornet that's near August?

And I'm just

wings out.

They start to

bristle in the wind again.

And I'm going to cast Epic Song.

And I have to get up to close range.

Well, I is that okay?

You are

within the target?

Yeah, because I'm going to go to this one.

You are...

Yeah, you are just barely in close range of your target.

Alright, so I am going to do Epic Song, and that will be temporarily vulnerable.

Okay.

So for that, this hive collector has become vulnerable.

Ooh!

Okay, okay.

Nice.

Okay.

Nice.

Anything else you want to do in your turn?

So that just happens automatically, as part of it.

That just happens automatically.

What does it mean when they're vulnerable?

Attacks, or action rolls against them have advantage.

At that D6, naturally.

Since we're sitting here and I just saw that happen, I'm going to

cast Arcane Barrage again and wind my needle with some thread and cast it out at that

one in front of you.

At the one in the one.

How much hope do you want to spend for this?

I'm going to expand one, two, three, four.

I'm going to spend four hopes.

Big spender.

So that's.

that's 19 points of damage.

19 points of damage.

That is definitely a severe

three hit points marked on the hive collector.

And then I'm going to uh

back up uh quite a bit.

I'm gonna

yeah, I'm gonna back up to

yeah,

yeah, to there.

You got it.

All right, so that finishes your go.

Do you have a follow-up now?

Do I have a follow-up?

Do you have a good one?

I was asking what you wanted to do while he was taking his turn.

But if you're good, somebody else can go while you're doing that.

Screve is good.

If you got Screve, yeah, roll over to Idol.

Idle out with her under the net.

Say, listen, get you out of here.

But if I do, you can own me a favor.

The favor sounds good.

Favor sounds good.

Start slicing away at the net with my claws.

So I'm attacking the net to get Idol out.

All right.

So in this instance,

to

pull the net off, it is a strength or agility action roll.

Cut him free.

So in theory, you're attacking it, but you're rolling the strength or agility action roll to try and do so.

Yes.

Can I give him hope?

If you want to spend a hope to aid your friend, yes, you can.

I'll give you the most awesome favor.

Hold on, Todd.

Friend might be pushing it.

Go on, you know.

Ooh, I'm going.

Oh, you gave me hope?

Yep.

You said that's a D6.

Well, just to clarify, you don't give someone hope.

You spend a hope to

spend hope.

Correct.

Right.

And I rolled a strength.

Just like this cup, we want to make sure everyone is spending.

Thank you.

So it's with fear, but it's uh uh 279 plus 10.

16, because I have a

mentality.

16 is a success.

The net is

off.

There's so moldy.

Oh my god.

I grab you by the side of the head and I twist your ears a little bit.

I'll tell you later, and I might have drawn a little bit of blood with a cloth.

These piercing, they hurt.

On my activation, this hive collector is going to fly down and attempt to strike you with its sleeping sting.

Sleeping sting.

That's going to be a 16 to hit.

Uh yeah.

Alright, you take...

Nine points of physical damage.

Points, okay, that's major damage.

I'll let my armor.

If I reduce it to two, will it help you at all?

Uh nine?

It depends on how much you reduce it.

Only two.

It's a oh, two?

No.

Okay.

All right.

So I sacrifice an armor.

I take one hit point.

I take one hit point.

And I need you to make an instinct reaction rule.

Come on.

It's a s- Instinct, you say?

Yes.

18 with a hook.

18 with a hook.

Oh, good.

As the probiscus stabs into you from above, you shrug off the wound and kind of your armor took some of it, but the puncture rule is still there, and you feel something kind of

into your body.

But, I mean, you've been poked and prodded and filled with all manner of nasty, caustic things, and you just can shrug off its effect.

That's what I'm talking about.

As it kicks back up and dives back into the air.

And it kind of keeps it there.

I'm going to spend the other fear to activate the other one.

Yep.

That is vulnerable.

It's going to

fly up to here.

And it's going to take a dive strike with you with its sleep

sting on you.

But I'm just hanging out.

I'm just up here just hanging out barrel rolling.

That's going to be another 16 to hit.

But it hits.

Yep.

You take.

that's gonna be six no sorry five plus three eight points of physical damage.

That's major damage.

I will I will mark off an armor,

sacrificing an armor, and I'll take one point.

And I need you to make an instinct reaction.

Instinct reaction roll

14.

14, that's a success.

You manage to resist whatever its probiscus is trying to affect you with, and then it flies back up up into the air.

Man, now he's lying.

That's my guy.

I look up at them flying, and I'm going to see them as the most beautiful fairies that I read in my storybooks.

And I'm going to use my experience.

I'm going to spend a hope to use my experience pure imagination.

Love it.

What is that?

It's the skill of disassociating.

Yeah.

We're very familiar with that one.

And then I'm going to unleash some chaos on the one in front of me.

It's 2025.

The one that's vulnerable.

So if I can do it.

Do you still have your chaos?

That one's far.

Yeah, I spent a stretch.

Stretch to refill it.

You got it.

Let's go.

Actually, I can't.

I don't think that's out of range, so I'll do the one that's.

Is it out of far gonna go?

How far can it go?

Far.

Far for you.

Yeah, it's.

I'll say.

Yeah, from you there, it's within range.

Okay, great.

Then I will hit I'll go for that one.

Okay, so rolling the hit you do have advantage against it because it is vulnerable.

Okay, great.

Let's go

to

1516.

And then I add my instinct.

1516 17.

18 with hope.

With hope, you take a hope, and that is a success.

Go ahead and roll your damage for you.

Oh, and 19, because I got my experience point on there, too.

That's true.

Alright.

And so I'm going to try to hit it with both of my chaos points.

That's good.

Oh.

That's a...

Oh, that's a 10.

I can't use that.

Oh, wait, they were both.

That's 10.

Oh, there was a 9, a 9, and an 8.

That's 17.

17.

That's above its severe threshold.

That's three hit points on that collector.

It's looking like it's having a rough go.

It kind of glances back at the other one and glances back at it, and they both kind of nod.

That finishes your activation.

It's still in your guys' goat.

Oh, wait, no.

I'm going to mark another stress.

Fuck it.

I'm going to mark another stress!

To refill it?

No!

To double one of my damage dice!

It's already a fire.

It's a higher.

I don't know if it's gonna be a damage.

Oh, it won't do anything because it won't double that.

Probably won't push it over.

Okay, then fuck it.

I'm not gonna do that.

Okay, fair.

Who else wants to go?

I'm right next to this spore guy who's just sort of been.

He hasn't noticed me.

He's hanging out yet.

The destruction of the Rot Lord makes it kind of like.

Wait,

can I hit an additional target with one of my stress points?

I can do that.

Let me see.

What was it down there specifically?

I can spend a stress point to hit an additional target.

Yeah, it says after making the attack.

I just want to make sure you had to choose before after.

So yeah, you can totally do that.

Go.

Go for it.

Okay, I'm going to mark a stress, and I'm going to hit the other one.

Okay.

They've already made the attack, so the hits it does the same damage.

Yeah, so I do the damage.

It does the same damage?

Yes.

Yes.

Oh, wow, I love that.

That is crazy.

Such a cool move.

So the other one takes a heavy hit as well.

Popping in after you.

Popping in after me.

All right.

Now, if you'd like to activate it.

I'm going to try to boomerang off his head.

And I will slash

18 with fear.

Sorry.

Okay, that is a success.

Okay, I'm going to try to lop off his head with

my boomerang and then

put his mushroom cap on my head so that from above maybe he thinks

I'm just a little mushroom guy.

All right, so yeah, he

sever the head and then throw it onto your head to try and hide it.

Go ahead and make a presence action roll to see if you can try and quickly plast yourself off as one of the

13 with hope.

Well, 13 with hope.

But I had already rolled the fear before that.

I know, but just in the scenario there.

Alright, so you, as far as you know, you're hiding well with the fungus on your head.

He'll never suspect me.

A 13.

This dives down to strike you again.

Unfortunately, it wasn't high enough to quite convince him.

It's going to dive down.

I'm safe as can be.

A 13 is my evasion.

It hits.

That hits you.

That's going to be eight points of physical damage to you.

Oh, that's major.

I'll mark off another armor, making it a minor.

A minor.

And I need you to make an instinct reaction with it.

Instinct reaction.

As it pulls back.

17.

17.

Man, you guys are rolling real good on me.

Just hit 12.

I mean, I can't.

Oh, God.

Oh!

There's

Oh!

There we go.

A thank you.

I'll do it.

That's right.

This one's going to fly back over this way a little bit.

Stop yelling when I do it.

I had a fear every time you did it.

Stop yelling.

I'll spend the fear to activate this one.

I'm just going to swoop down to strike.

Yep, yep.

Oh, natural 16.

That's going to be an 18 to hit.

And it's going to do like a fly-by.

Okay.

God damn it.

So you take.

Yep.

Yep.

Roll the five again.

Eight points of physical damage.

And I need you to make an instinct roll five.

Alright, that's

one.

And then an instinct roll.

There's my kids.

Come on.

Don't fuck around.

Ooh, that's good.

That's

20.

You resisted as well.

Sorry.

I'm having a rough go this time.

Sorry, Matt.

Why are you apologizing?

You guys are rolling great.

Let's let him have one.

Yeah.

Trust me, you don't want me to.

Benevolence, your guys go.

I'm gonna.

How far away are we from the one that seems to be flying away?

You are currently.

He's just under far range.

Just under far far range okay within far range let's see let's uh um

i'm i think i can summon the nice bike above him and drop it

do i need do i need uh a ground to summon a nice bike or no does it say within far range far range then no you just summon in the air and throw it at him okay i'm just gonna hop up uh i'm gonna fly up just enough to to try and drop a

pick a little tier and try and drop a nice bike down on that

go for it roll for the attack i should have used my spineless coward experience to hide better

uh that's um well uh

that's uh 16 with fear that's a success

and so that is uh i spike's got a fun one uh

that's uh

d6

um

not great that's actually the vulnerable one too i think the vulnerability tag came off of it so that it definitely hit doesn't do anything but you just would have hit.

Okay.

Yeah,

it's honestly, I only did three points of damage.

Okay, so that marks the hit point.

Is he still up or?

Yeah,

barely.

That finishes your go.

For mine, this one's going to activate.

Oh no, it flew away.

Off the battlefield with a full far run.

I want to spend my last year

to have this one.

We won!

And take off.

We really need to hide.

This is very,

very bad.

The silence settles in for a minute, and the buzzing of their wings

tapers off to the familiar quiet of the screaming forest

until the wind picks up slightly.

and as it does

the trees shift and rattle

into what sounds like the mingling of whispers

as the branches scrape and turn almost like a cricket's legs create this awful unsettling sound surrounding you

But whatever is going to happen next, you know you have to move.

Because something knows you're here.

So we run.

Fast.

Fast.

Run.

Charging northward as hard as you can in hopes that you can traverse the length of this forest before something else dangerous finds you.

We'll pick up there in the next episode.

Oh my god.

Oh, Lora Lee and welcome to the Age of Umbra.

This is so fun.

This is so cool.

It was a lot of fun.

Your name was Steve, right?

Steve.

Yes, it was a story.

Yeah, classic Steve.

But thank you so much for joining us.

We love you very much.

And visit Thursday.

And we finished up this episode.

Thanks for coming along on this wild journey with us.

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

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

See you next time.

Are you ready to get spicy?

These Doritos Golden Sriracha aren't that spicy.

Sriracha?

Sounds pretty spicy to me.

Um, a little spicy, but also tangy and sweet.

Maybe it's time to turn up the heat.

Or turn it down.

It's time for something that's not too spicy.

Try Dorito's Golden Striracha.

Spicy.

But not too spicy.