What Is Gained, What Is Lost | Age of Umbra Episode 3 Part 1

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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 episode of The Age of Umbra.

Before we jump into our episode tonight, we do have some announcements to get through, beginning with our sponsor tonight, which is

Darrington Press.

Oh, are you surprised, Matt?

I know you think my ads are stupid, but the fine folks at Darrington Press must enjoy, must enjoy them quite a bit because they plunked down a pretty penny for this ad spot.

I really don't think they did actually.

Jeez, jealousy does not look good on you.

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you can.

In fact, if you play your cards right, see what I did there, maybe you can get rich on hope and fear and write a check to sponsor one of these shows just like Darrington Press did tonight.

Again, Sam, I'm pretty certain Darrington did not pay for this ad.

You just can't accept the fact that I am a beloved sought-after

fact

that I am a beloved sought-after advertiser's dream.

Can you?

It's not always about you, Matt.

Learn more at DarringtonPress.com slash license or daggerhar.com

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Matt, a fuck to you.

Cool.

Last time Darrington sponsors us.

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Age of Umrah.

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Subject to change.

Hello, everyone.

Last we left off.

I'm not ready.

No.

Already back.

Our troop had delved deep within the Luzal vaults until they reached the monastery atop the Firmament Harrow, where they had uncovered Velk,

who had given in

to

divine ideas of destiny.

Before being corrupted by a sourceless shadow seemingly erupting from the statue of one of the veiled gods.

You battled the swollen, monstrous, feral form of Velk before casting him from the edge of the cliff face to plummet to his death within shadow below.

There you inspected the surrounding ruins of the outer aspects of this monastery, uncovered some useful relics of the old world,

and opened a sealed railquary box at the base of the statue,

upon which a substance was inhaled by young Aaron, who was helping unlock this reliquary.

Her cough progressed into a fever, and as opposed to pressing on into the monastery, you chose to bring her back to seek help and recovery in Desperlock.

There, you took her to the local healer who treated her infection.

You went and met an ally of Snix's, who was able to give a little bit of context and information for the skull that was found within the reliquary before upsetting him.

And upon your return, you were given information from

Truvo the Hedge, the local herbalist healer, that this was more than just a simple infection.

Some of the umbra shadow seems to grow within Eren.

When you turned to go and see if she was okay,

she was gone.

And the core of Desperlock village was filled with dark smoke.

The five of you pushed into the core and found the sacred pyre

gone.

Quenched with the blood of nearby townsfolk and the pyre keepers that stood watch.

And it's at this moment that you see Erin.

Little teenage Erin

standing there.

turning back over her shoulder towards you and smiling.

Brixon immediately runs to Romond on the ground.

You rush over and see Romond, uh...

The upper half of Romond

sits along the outside of the kindled mound where the pyre is kept, bisected with a strange precision, like the snapping of an impossible whip.

And it looks like what was within the torso has been drained of the majority of its

blood and life.

I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry.

And Corbyn is also gone.

You glance across the way and you see on the other end of this, the smoke still kind of obscuring part of your vision in the vicinity, the panic, your heart beat going.

As you glance around, you can see the flash of Corbin's robe across the other side of the pyre.

Still

obscured from sight, but not moving.

I'm gonna call out, Heron!

She just stands there smiling.

Is she holding a weapon of any kind?

No weapon, just kind of turned towards you this way.

She spins.

Bless you.

Bless you.

From under the gray cloak she has, you see her hand standing there.

And then something

slithers and moves quick from within the robe.

Oh, geez.

Oh, no.

For just a view of placement here, I'm going to set something.

Already?

You got it?

I set something.

Visual aims.

Guys, Tiger Heart's available now wherever you buy it.

Oh, don't buy it, though.

Whatever you do, don't play this.

God, it's easy.

Definitely buy it.

We swear that long rests.

We've talked about

it.

If you're young, it will age you.

From the stress.

Oh,

snap.

Oh, amazing.

I was looking at it.

Oh, my God.

That looks so good.

Oh, no.

Oh, no, no, no.

I love it.

Oh, no.

Were they waiting

for the water?

I think she's supposed to go down.

That might be it.

That might be.

Oh, I stood her up.

So you have rushed up to Ramond there.

The rest of you have been rushing over

from this side.

Where was the tent she was in?

Is that visible?

Right there.

Okay.

This is.

Wait, the tent that who was in?

That Erin was in.

Oh, and she walked over there.

Gotcha.

It is much darker here, as there is no central flame.

And the sense of terror

and realization

of no salvation for Desperlock in this moment washes over you.

As Eren's body...

begins to swell and extend.

You watch as your skin begins to turn a sickly green, her eyes rolling back into a pale, pupilless white.

You watch as two,

six, a dozen of strange extended tendrils

begin to whip around from underneath her cloak.

You see, and what you can briefly make out, these long tentacle-like extensions that kind of drag and shift and curl.

Where there would be suction cups, instead there are rows and rows of small fingers that move and drink.

Oh my god!

What?

What are we?

with you?

And as she looks at you, her mouth opens.

As dozens of red, slick tethers creep.

I'm out.

No!

Oh, this one is supposed to be.

That's not Erin.

That looks so cool!

That's not Erin.

Look at the little girl.

You guys, I don't think Erin's in the room with us anymore.

I think we can call her back.

Nearby townsfolk are starting to step out to see what the commotion is and gasping in horror at what they see.

Stay back!

Run.

Charge forward!

Send the vigil!

What are you doing?

I'm gonna rally everybody.

Oh!

I'm gonna give everybody a rally die.

You get a D6 that you can

add to the result of your action roll, reaction, damage roll, or to clear a number of stress equal to the result.

And I will rally everybody that's just sort of in the area with my wings unfurled and, you know, sort of the wind bristling through them.

They sort of kind of touch everybody.

Action, reaction, clear stress.

Yep.

Action, reaction, damage roll, or to clear a number of stress.

Or to clear stress.

Okay.

Oh, like we can just roll the dice look at the stress if you want.

You have this desect at your disposal, yeah.

Okay.

I'm gonna.

Well, Aaron didn't respond very well to her name being called.

So I'm gonna reach back, and as I start running to the right, just to declutterfy, I'm gonna fire a bolt beacon underhanded, actually, this way.

This way.

Yeah, counterclockwise.

And I'll try and run up on this ledge if I can.

Sure.

There we go.

Send a bolt beacon.

See what happens.

9, 10, 11, 12, 14 to hit.

14 is a success with hope or fear?

With fear.

Okay.

Yosh.

Yep.

Oh, they don't wipe at the end of the session?

You know, your hope doesn't go that way either.

I know, but wouldn't it be nice of it?

Does that hit?

That does indeed hit.

It does indeed hit.

Okay, okay, okay.

She's now, she, it, whatever it is, is now vulnerable.

Uh, six, eight,

uh, ten, ten points of magic damage.

She's vulnerable?

Vulnerable.

And really vulnerable.

And glowing brightly.

Correct.

And how much damage was that?

That was.

Ten.

Ten points.

Ten points of damage.

Alrighty.

The flash sparks and surround her.

The divine halo of marking energy that you've set upon her just kind of burns across.

Watches you as you pass by.

the jaw itself just kind of torn open and stretched as it seems like they get longer and longer kind of pouring out of her mouth.

Alright, who's up next?

Well, that was the fear.

Sorry, that's awful.

As a reaction to that,

Erin's going to mark a stress.

It's not really Eren anymore.

Oh, no!

This is a limb wreath.

A limb?

Limb wreath.

Like limbs and then wreath?

Yeah.

Cool.

It's going to mark a stress.

As you blast it, you watch one of the tentacles that's kind of coming up from underneath gets sheared off of it onto the ground.

And then now kind of sets on its own

right there and immediately activates and is going to

shift up to you and going to

make whip attack against you for a 16.

That hits.

16, you take two physical damage.

Two physical damage.

Okay.

It smacks towards you.

Now comes to my go.

The Limwreath

is going to

shift

up there.

And we're going to spend a fear.

to use its barrage of tendrils.

It's going to make an attack roll against three targets within close range.

You're just out of range there.

You're there, and then you're there.

Oh, no.

You know what?

No, it's going to go for you since you ran behind.

The other ones are more up front.

So, this is going to be attack roll against Idol, an attack roll against Misty, and an attack roll against Snick.

I'm using my one of my prayer dice to reduce that previous two damage down to zero.

You got it.

Okay.

That's going to be a 12.

It misses.

Okay.

I duck.

You duck below, but two tentacles

reach out as it smacks onto both of you.

You both take

eight points of physical damage.

And I need you both to make a strength reaction roll.

As it whips into you and the rows of fingers

try and dig into your body and begin to pull you towards the limit.

Bro, give us a warm-up.

What the fuck?

We're just off to the races.

Okay.

I was not warned.

That's terrible.

Well, that D6 helps.

A strength?

You do have a D6.

Oh, I do.

I'm going to burn that now.

Me too.

That's much better.

That's a 13 with hope.

A 13?

Hope doesn't matter for reaction roll.

13 is exactly what you needed.

So you managed to resist it from pulling you towards it.

Okay.

You're a blessed guy.

I made an 11 with hope.

So you don't gain any hope.

It's a reaction roll, but you get pulled directly into melee with it.

No!

Did either of you take

damage from it this past turn?

I did.

I did not.

I burned an armor.

I burned an armor, but that just took me down one.

Right, but you didn't mark any hit points from the tentacle or her.

Neither.

Great.

But you took one.

I did.

You also mark a stress because it is horrifying.

Whenever you take damage from the limb wreath, you also mark a stress.

No.

Take a hit point.

That makes sense.

That makes sense to me.

Wow, wow, wow, wow, wow.

So say that again?

You're horrified?

I'm horrified.

It's so terrifying.

It's just stressful up close.

I'm also going to spend a fear to activate the current living tentacle that's there, and it's going to come and strike at you again.

Listen.

That's going to be real bad.

That's a four.

A four?

Yeah.

Misses you entirely.

It's going to shift

around a little bit over here.

It's always important to happen.

That's going to finish my spotlight.

Who wants to go now?

I'm at the end.

My quick one is: I'm going to.

It's vulnerable, so you have advantage.

I'm going to take off into the air at the very least and just

call the scholars!

Everybody run!

I'm going to get up into the air.

Okay.

If you want to attack now, I'll hold my attack tag.

Go ahead.

Funtes for luck.

I'm going in.

Okay, you rush in towards the limery.

Come on, give me some hope.

Give me some hope.

Okay,

so I'll have 14 with fear.

14 with fear.

14 does hit.

Oh, good.

This is good.

That's good.

That's something.

Very vulnerable.

Yeah.

Ooh.

Okay, that's going to be a 10 plus 414 damage.

14 damage.

Okay.

Oh, great.

Infernal vulnerable, I should have also, but it hit.

It's fine.

Yeah, no worries.

So it marks two points.

I'm going to go ahead and spend another stress as a reaction and it drops

another ten o'clock

Which is immediately going to activate it's going to

move forward over here don't like this and it's going to go ahead and swing at you

misty

for a six no doesn't hit roll that goes wide

That finishes your go.

It comes to me because you roll with a fear.

Sorry.

Glimwreath is going to spend a fear to do a taste for blood.

Its stretched mouth filled with dozens of red slimy tentacles are going to spin around towards...

Towards you.

She's the one that pulled towards you, so it's still kind of focused on you.

This is going to attack.

That's going to be a 15 to hit.

That hits.

That hits.

Alright.

You take...

As the tendrils wrap around you and pull you in towards its mouth, and you can see in between them, what wasn't visible before, is a a bunch of small curved teeth pinchers like they're trying to pull you in and it grinds against your stone and begins to drag across your arm you take 12 points of physical damage

okay okay well hold on let's see here so i'm gonna use another armor slot to take me down.

Well, I can use both.

I'm gonna use both.

I can use two armor slots to take me down.

You can't use more than one armor slot from an attack unless you have an ability that lets you.

Okay, so I am.

I.

Okay, got it.

All right.

How many armor slots?

And

I have one.

Okay.

The taste of essence that it draws from you rejuvenates it, and it heals two of its hit points

from the taste of blood.

Oh, no.

Wow.

What if

Fisty doesn't have any blood?

The essence.

No, taste that.

That's essence.

Oh, you drew it.

You did try.

You did try.

Got a taste for granted.

Oh, that's not good.

Then also, I'm going to spend...

Two fear on my action to activate both of the other tentacles that are out there.

One's going to strike at you.

That's gonna be a 14 to hit.

That does hit.

You take two points of physical damage.

And this one now is going to shift towards you.

Shit.

And it's gonna have the other tentacles going to whip out towards you.

That's only gonna be an 8.

I evade.

Misses you entirely.

That's gonna finish my activation.

Who's up?

I'm gonna burn my paradise.

The last one to make that go away.

Those two are gone.

Okay.

I'm at a wild flame.

Since I'm up close, and I'm just gonna put my hands on it and just

let's go.

Right.

This is nasty already.

Come on.

The little two points of damage are brutal.

Uh-huh.

Because it's just a hit point if you don't clear it.

Wait, can I spend a hope to add the D6?

You can't.

Am I just making shit up?

Do it to yourself.

I can only help others.

I'll aspire to help you.

Okay, how do you go ahead and help her out?

Misty, there's a tentacle behind you.

Give it what for.

Okay.

I said, what for?

I know.

Alright, so there's some sad fixes over there.

Yeah, they don't feel good.

11 with fear.

That's gonna miss.

Damn, the fear is so bad when it goes back.

So you reach out towards the limwreath form that still wears Eren's face.

And as you reach for it, your hands burning with magical power.

It moves with unnatural speed, and you watch the face contort, like the whole body bends, like it's some sort of weird blubber, as it pulls away, and immediately is going to take its retort action.

As that, it's going to burn a fear

to do barrage of tentacles.

Again, this one's going to go towards you.

That's going to go towards you.

And that's going to go towards...

Actually, this one's going to move.

Right around here.

Oh, so it's not connected to Misty anymore?

Or it

No, it only did that one attack and she pulled away.

Oh, okay, good.

Good, good, good.

This here.

Yeah, there we'll go.

It's going to ignore you for now, and instead it's going to do brush tentacles against Misty, against Snyx, and against August.

I haven't done anything.

That's going to be a 19 against all of you.

Oh, Jesus.

Okay, that hits me.

Alright.

Wow.

All three of you take...

Yeah, I am your shield.

I will shield.

Alright, so mark that and take it instead.

That is nine points of physical damage to all three of you.

I will take an armor.

Mark an armor off.

I will also reduce that down

to zero.

I will also reduce it down to zero.

So you took no hit points, you took no hit points, and you took one.

One.

Mark a stress because it is.

I need to mark it down to

his new armor.

Armor dope.

Yep.

Mark a stress because it's horrifying.

Yep, I just.

He did.

All right, great.

Also, I need all three of you.

Well, you're already man-manned with it.

I need two of you to make strength reaction rolls for me, please, as it's trying to pull you towards it.

Come on.

How many strengths?

I remember that kind of sucking, so I'm going to burn that.

14?

14 is a success?

20.

Alright.

That's a success.

Alright.

So if you manage to pull away as his small fingers try and grab and grapple and pull you towards it, no impact at that point.

And then.

I'm going to go ahead and burn another fear

to activate this tentacle.

It's going to strike out at you again.

Bring it.

Oh, that's going to be an eight.

It misses you.

You're too quick.

All right, that's going to finish my spotlight.

Who's up next?

I want to take out this tentacle that's menacing me.

Alright.

So I will just slash at it with my boom.

Okay.

Berang.

That's a critical.

Alright, go

clear a stress.

I love that.

I love both of those things.

And

bloody time.

Okay, good.

And it doesn't do

super duper damage.

Just 1d10 plus 1.

That's 10!

You splatter that 10.

Yes, great.

It scatters into the rock and kind of twitches for a second before it just stops and

melts into dark, thick, melted flesh.

And then I will use my movement.

Shit.

Still our go, right?

Huh?

Huh?

It's still your turn.

What are you?

You're going to attack, aren't you?

What are you going to do?

And I just tried.

I'm going to do it.

Idol said he's going to go after this tentacle, too.

I keep rolling with fear, so I feel like I'm fucking cursed.

I'm planning on going in and trying to get this thing away from you.

I will run towards

Idol

and

just

pass by Misty and give her a pat on the wing as I go.

Just,

you got this.

Who's up next?

I'll take it.

Can I get to Misty from here?

To Misty?

Yeah, you can move.

You can fly.

Close.

Yeah, you can definitely do that.

So I'll I'll fly down.

I'm going to do the thing I did before where I make you a little vest.

So you now have

an extra armor for the moment with Tava's armor.

And say goodbye to that

thingy once I find my pencil.

Surely here somewhere.

And now, since I'm here, I think I can do this still.

I'm going to try and do...

I'm going to do another power push and see if I can do this to get this thing knocked that direction.

Okay.

So I start my weird little silk symbol.

I give it the push, and that's a spell cast roll.

Yeah, here we go.

Let's see if it goes.

That's a five with hope.

Well, you gain a hope.

Unfortunately, that does fail.

You go to begin to conjure as you like land and impart this magical protection upon your stone ally.

You spin around, and as you bring your hand to release the magical aura of your spell, one of the tendrils grabs your wrist and tears it away, and suddenly the magical essence is lost.

You manage to break your wrist free, but the spell is done.

So no armor.

You get the armor.

You got the armor.

I got the armor.

His attempts to push it did not work.

But thankfully,

yeah, not fear, so we're still going?

Correct.

No, no, no, no.

You still fail a roll, which means it still comes back to me.

I just didn't gain a fear.

Glimwreath is going to spend a fear

to now do Taste for Blood against you.

Cool.

Since you are within melee of it.

So after that one tendril, you try and tear away from your wrist, you manage to pull it away as you look back,

all of them kind of flash out towards you.

That's gonna be 13 hits.

Okay, is this your hit points?

Yeah, it's all clear.

Rolling right down the middle.

It's clear.

Okay, so for that, you take

11 points of physical damage.

Okay, all right,

um, yeah, thank you.

I don't know where mine went.

Uh, I'm going to uh burn an armor and I take no damn, I take no damage.

Okay, take no damage.

Oh, well, there you are.

But

Limra

does heal two of its hit points.

But it didn't.

It's drawing the blood and essence.

And...

How do we get his stuff healing?

I'm going to hold for now.

What do you guys want to do?

Does anyone have any type of like, if you hit him, he can't regenerate type of a thing?

The rest of these townsfolk, by the way, are screaming and running.

Good.

I will.

I'll run in and position myself in between the tentacle and the

Aaron creature,

Lime Wraith, Limbreath, Lim Wreath.

And I'm going to cast Spirit Weapon

and Mark of Stress, and I'll do two attacks as long as they are within close range.

I can swing the Halvard into a

divine weapon that'll build up this force and

whip around and hit both.

Great, so you roll one attack and it hits all within that range.

Yes.

Let's go.

Alright.

That's crap.

That's five, seven, that's eight with fear.

Unfortunately, that misses both of them.

What happens if we TPK here?

Then I pick up with Leon Laura.

Lee Malora?

Comedy.

I mean...

No, we got this.

Welcome to the Age of Umbra, y'all.

Alright, that finishes your go.

You go and conjure the divinity around this weapon and the shadow, the proximity of whatever has taken Eren.

The nature of the sacred pyre being gone, all of the immensity washes over you and it breaks your resolve in that moment.

And what bit of divine power you are about to conjure just sparks out and for a second, you really feel the despair wash over you.

The weapon doesn't even leave your fingertips.

Now the limret's gonna go.

It's gonna go ahead and spend an action to go ahead and

it's gonna do a barrage of tendrils against you.

You, I'm so far away.

And

you to pull you in since you are the one that's not closest.

It's trying to get y'all real close.

That's going to be a 13 against all of you.

Yes, it hits.

It hits.

How's your health?

Okay.

I'm right.

Okay.

Let's.

Everyone's health is good.

28.

28.

Wow.

No.

I mean, yeah, we'll see after this.

Oh, it's only three points of physical damage against all three of you.

Okay, well, it's burn an armor to make it zero.

Okay.

I'll do the same.

Yep.

Okay.

Do you take a hit point?

I did not.

You did not?

Okay.

And I need

I just need you two to make strength reaction rolls for me, please.

Ten.

Ten?

That is a failure.

You

pulled into melee with it.

Twelve.

Twelve just fails.

You also get get pulled into melee with it and you've all now been kind of pulled surrounding it there.

Does this mean we're like ensnared essentially or just you're just within melee with it?

Which is clearly a thing.

Yeah.

And then you're going to

spend one more fear to trigger this or a spotlight, this tentacle that's going to move forward.

And it's going to go ahead and whip out at you.

16?

Yeah, yeah.

So take two points of physical.

I am your shield.

You are within.

Yes, yeah, everyone's right here.

We're on the outside, so the only person who you couldn't get to would be technically August.

Because what's your hit points?

You're not looking for that.

Three?

Three.

Okay, it's okay.

I'll take it anyway.

Okay, so you take two points of physical damage.

Okay, I will spend a point to take none.

That's my activation.

Oh.

Who's up?

I mean,

I've got to think.

Anybody want to got something to help me shove this thing away before we get out of here?

I can shove.

I need a hope, if anyone has a hope for you.

I have a hope.

I could help.

I could try to...

I haven't had hope in two games.

I've had no hope.

We need to give you hope.

So I could use some...

I'm going to try again.

I just need some cover while I'm going to try that push spell one more time.

All right.

I will give you a hope, and I will try to cover you with my wings.

So you spend a hope to help him out.

So you could add a D6 to his role.

How do you help him out?

So you're wanting cover?

I would like some cover because this is gross and I need yeah, just

slow down.

Don't just step in front of him,

but sort of separate my wings so that he has a spot to sort of peek.

Awesome.

You'll catch him this time.

All right, let's go ahead and make that spell pass for.

Come on.

Ooh, okay.

What did we add to that?

Okay, five, six, a d6.

You want me to roll it?

Yeah, you want to roll it.

Okay.

Oh, yeah, you roll it.

There you go.

Oh,

18, 19, 11.

24.

With

hope.

With hope.

With hope.

And that is a success.

So that is a D10.

1D10 plus 2.

Come on, give me some damage.

That's 10 points.

10 points.

That's great.

And you are pushed back to far range.

To far range.

Yeah, and I was shooting for that.

Yeah.

Yeah.

So with that, you pushed Glimlick back to there.

Cast it into the fire.

And now I'm going to fly up again to to the corner.

I'm going to hop back up.

I did spend a fear to get rid of the thing earlier.

And so I'm also going to take my movement to go back up into the air and up.

Yeah, like right about here.

Okay.

Yeah, over here.

Melee has to be very close.

Yeah,

melee has to be next to you.

Touch him.

Unless you have a weapon that has very close range, or some dudes.

All right.

So those are the hopes.

You guys can get me.

I'm going to slash at this tentacle right next to us

with the

with the booms.

You know what?

Actually, I'm gonna mark a stress.

Oh, before we get to that,

hold on to that.

Because at the end of that, you did mark two hit points on it.

It's gonna mark a stress and drop as a reaction another tentacle.

No, that will immediately activate and rush in towards you.

All right.

That's gonna be a 12.

Yeah.

Okay, you take two points of physical damage.

Uh

I'll take it.

Okay.

I'll take the hit point.

Also, Also, mark a stress because it is horrible.

It's okay.

It's okay.

It's okay.

When I've slashed at the thing, I rolled a 12.

A 12?

Oh, can I add my six?

No, I actually called that before.

Alright, and it was with fear.

Okay.

Damn it!

So you

swing with your boomerang, and it's just

too quick.

It's too quick.

It doesn't.

All it takes is one hit to pick it down.

But you're just a little bit too shaken by its presence.

That brings it back to the bottom.

It did try.

Aaron, fight against it.

Pull the tentacles back out.

It's going to...

Literally a skin suit on the ground.

It's going to Barrage of Tentacles for another fear coming at you and

actually you.

Sorry.

August, Misty, and.

Snicks.

Okay.

I don't like being a fighter.

That's only going to be an eight.

Oh.

Misses.

Missus.

yeah misties

the tendrils go out and now that you've kind of gotten a feel for its tactics it's constantly like lashing out and pulling you in its mouth open trying to devour and consume your life essence and blood uh you're now starting to kind of gather its pattern and this time when it lunges out at you you all just duck and deflect off to the side finding no impact on you um

so wait till it laughs then it doesn't attack for one round there you go like tyson logic

i'm then then going to spend a fear to activate the living tentacles group attack.

No.

But there's only so spend a fear to choose a target and spotlight all tentacles within close range of them.

I'm going to go ahead and spotlight

you, Misty.

Feeling I had a feeling.

I had a feeling.

I feel like they've got it out for you, man.

They do.

I'm of the old world.

I know.

So they're both going to make an attack against you and combine their damage.

Okay.

That is going to be a 15 to hit.

That hits?

You take four points of physical damage.

Okay, so I'm going to use an armor to negate that.

Alright, there you go.

That's my spotlight.

You guys are up again.

Let's go.

Fuck this.

Fuck this fucker.

Fuck, fuck.

I'm gonna

kinda.

Can I kind of move around and get on the other side of this tentacle base to base?

Other way?

Other way?

Other way?

Yeah, you can do that.

There.

Okay.

Yeah, no worries.

Give me some hope.

I just need some hope.

I'm still not hopeful.

Still not hope.

Okay, so

I'm 14 to hit.

14 against the Limwreath?

Yeah.

That's a success?

With hope.

With fear.

With fear.

Okay.

That's still a success.

I don't know who you're magnetized.

I don't know why.

I don't know.

Maybe I need to.

You believe in the old gods, hard moth.

I've been shaken.

The pirate's down.

Okay, question.

Oh, oh, whoa.

I rolled double tens, but I dropped the lowest, but that's going to be 14 physical damage.

That is past its severe threshold.

That's three hit points.

Three weeks.

I can do damage.

I just keep keeping fear.

It's going to mark a stress

as a reaction.

Hitting some stress.

Drop another chemical.

Oh, wait.

No.

I don't have a hope.

I don't have have any fucking hope.

Which then immediately spotlights.

It's going to go ahead and whip it you, idol.

Whip it good.

That is going to be a seven plus one, eight.

Misses.

Misses.

Whips past you no impact.

But you roll with fear, which means it's not the Limerith scope.

The Limerith is going to reach towards you since you ran up into its face.

And it's going to attempt to taste for blood attack against you.

It's going to spend a fear

to strike at you.

That is going to be nine to hit.

Yeah, yep, that hits.

Okay.

I've got a very low amage.

I know.

And so for that, you take

10 points of physical damage.

Okay.

Do you need help?

I'll use...

No, I'll use my...

I mean, I could use some armor.

I'll use my last armor to drop that down to one hit point.

Maybe stop being so selfish with the fancy...

It wouldn't change the amount of armor she had.

And it heals two

from the taste for blood.

Finishing its go, I'm going to then activate the tentacles

and then use a fear as a group attack.

Out of fear.

I am at the moment.

All three tentacles

all move in.

This one's going to shift.

Oh, no.

And they're all going to swing at you.

Wow!

There we go!

Finally, they roll decent.

It's a 16 to hit you.

Does the umbra know that you shut it up?

All three attacks combine for six physical damage against you.

Oh.

With your hit, with your health?

That's three, but that would put me into major damage.

I will use my last armor to move that down to minor.

And because I've got that Valor stone,

I can roll it.

Is the Valor stone in your armor?

Have you embedded it into your armor?

I mean...

My armor is...

Gambison?

Do I have to like tinker it?

He's wearing it in his butt.

Right.

Well, here's the thing.

if you want to consider yourself having attached this to that gambison armor, I'll allow you, but it is now permanently embedded in that gambison armor.

Right.

Great.

And the Valor Stone has been permanently affixed to your Gambison armor.

Okay.

Go ahead and roll a D6.

Come on, roll a six.

That

does not help me.

I roll the armor.

And I take a hit point and a stress.

Or three stress.

No, you take one stress.

Okay.

That is

turn.

Get these fucking things off of me.

May I

am going again

to try to wild flame because I can use it

who are you targeting?

So I'm gonna target

Limwreath and two of the um

Okay, so

it can target how many it can target three three okay good go for it.

Do you want do you want uh some help with this?

I mean sure

I'll take it.

If I

fly down a bit to try and just become a distraction by

skirting through and seeing if I can just

make a little dive bomb to

everyone to look up.

All right.

Over to this side in between the whole chaos.

So

I'll add a D6.

Okay.

Come on.

Okay.

It is with hope.

Okay.

Oh, 13.

Plus five.

Oh, great, 18.

That's a success.

Great with hope.

Take your hope.

Okay.

And go ahead and roll damage.

That's against all three of those targets, you see?

We're going to live!

Alright, so that's

36 magic damage.

Must mark a stress as flames erupt from my hand.

Eight points of Dimage

for three

for Limwreath and two of the tentacles.

Nice, nice.

Nice.

Both of those tentacles

burn away, and the Limreath takes the strike.

The only sound it makes is that horrible slapping of dozens of slick tendrils.

No more.

All right, that finishes your goat.

I'm going to try for another spirit weapon.

I'm not giving up.

I'm going to burn another stress and try and conjure this to hit the tentacle.

And yeah.

Let's go.

Nobody has a hope.

They want to raise another one.

Yes, also, I'll give you a hope.

I'm a beautiful hope.

Take it.

I'll take it.

Spend a hope to help somebody.

Yeah.

Great.

16, 18, 20.

20 to hit with hope.

Take that hope and you succeed.

So go ahead and roll the damage against hope.

Thank you for that.

Got it.

Okay.

Plus two, five.

Oh, that's cocked.

Nine, ten, eleven, twelve, thirteen.

Thirteen thirteen points of physical damage.

Nice.

13 points of damage.

To both the tentacle and the lime wraith.

Alrighty, you got it.

That is two hit points there.

And this tentacle is destroyed.

It's going to mark its last stress

to create one more tentacle

that's going to rush forward and strike at you out of retribution for it.

Could I finish my turn by moving away from the Lime Wraith a little bit, and maybe it'll chase me?

Sure.

Yeah.

So you move back.

Perfect, yeah.

And then Tentacle

follows up behind.

Now the Lim Wreath is now all stress is marked, so it is vulnerable.

Period.

So all attacks against it have plus D6 now.

Amazing.

Oh, nice.

Because it spent all of its stress.

Okay, against Lim

Wreath.

Lim Wreath, okay.

That's something.

It's going to be 18 to hit you, Travis.

Oh.

Two points physical damage.

Wow.

Okay.

Very annoying.

All right.

Who's up next?

And I switched out my fear die.

I give you hope.

You're going to give me hope.

Well, you don't need

it.

He's already got it.

Just to clarify, you don't give people hope.

You spend a hope to help them.

I'm just trying to.

It's okay.

I'm just trying to instruct the audience who's watching so you don't miss absolutely.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

You're not instructing us.

You're instructing the audience.

Hold on to it, but hopefully.

Hold on to it.

Hopefully, I get a hope.

She's losing it.

She's losing it.

Well, the good news is I rolled with hope.

Okay, she's with me.

Wait, let me also see what this is.

Hmm, that's great.

That's good.

Four, five, seven, seven.

Seven, seven with hope.

You get a hope.

So you get a hope.

But you do swing wide and do not find purchase with your blade in the limb wreath.

No.

I rolled a two and a one.

So fun.

So fun.

So fun.

So fun.

Lim wreath returns to me.

I do not have fear to spend on any of its special attacks, so it's just going to lim slam you since you are there.

Lim slam.

Nice.

I rolled a five.

I rolled totally a dog shit for that one.

That's a total miss.

I haven't done a proper just.

I haven't just used my wand yet.

So I think I'm just going to use my wand.

Well,

my turn's over.

Yeah.

So

I'm just going to take a little bit of silk, and it's just going to fire straight down to make a little connection between the two of us.

And then, and then it's just the magic spark like a sparkler is just going straight down to nail you.

Hell yeah.

All right, go ahead and go to that.

Oh, the limb wreath.

Oh, that tentacle.

Let's go.

Come on.

Okay.

It's hope.

It's a four, five, six.

It's seven with hope.

You gain a hope, but unfortunately, your silk thread goes wide and then drips on the breeze of the heat that's still emanating from the final embers of the sacred pyre.

Hopefully, I'm tide stirring.

Alright, so as a fail, it returns to me.

I still have no fury to spend.

It's going to go ahead and attempt to...

Hmm.

It's going to shift over this way, angrily in your direction, and it's going to

limb slam you.

Alright.

That is going to be a 21 to hit.

That does hit.

You take.

Okay.

Finally, I'm getting some decent rolls now.

That's going to be 11 points of physical damage on you as one of the tentacles shhwoof and just whacks you in the middle of the the air.

Um, I'm I'm uh gonna drop it down to minor, so I'm gonna take one damage and one stress and one stress,

and I'm gonna eat one armor for that.

Okay,

just

you're up, it's right in front of me.

I'm gonna whack it and try to push it into the embers.

I get uh a d6 because it's vulnerable because it's vulnerable, yeah.

Okay, uh, skapow!

Oh my god, incredible!

So many Wow.

27, 28, 29 to hit with hope.

That hits.

Wow.

Wow.

Yeah.

And I will mark a stress to do the kick, the kick attack.

And this is a D10 plus 2d6.

So kick.

To go so evil dead to 8, 9, 10, 11 points of damage, but

it goes back

towards the Embers.

How do you want to do that?

Yes!

It's that!

Yes!

He's getting these!

Goat kicker!

Goat kicker.

Yes, I spot some embers that while the flame is out,

there's one ember that's sort of sticking out from the fire that's on a sharp stick.

And I'm going to aim and kick it right towards that and hope it finds.

You kick it, it kind of like barks in the air.

And I'm watching with my square eyes.

It impales on it.

And the tentacles wrap around it and kind of burn as it kind of holds onto that embered spike.

And it starts to pull itself free.

And it draws itself off of that jagged, pointed spike as it lands.

It turns back at you, but it's just gushing its internal viscera.

It brings the tentacles back to swing one at you, and it whips, but the strength has left it as it crumples to its knee

and then falls to the ground.

The tentacle that stands up

dissolves,

and the limb wreath

dissipates until it's now just the

currently unmoving,

no longer human, but no longer alive form

of Eren.

She should have run.

She should have stayed where was.

Can we run around the pyre?

I'm looking for any sign of Garrick

or any other faces that we recognize.

Scholars, Vigil.

You see, Truvo is still on the outside, kind of like

dumbstruck, but also trying to protect some of the other civilians that are fleeing.

Other folks are rushing forward.

You see Vigil that have been charging that finally catch up.

Ghost Hook hook and uh garinor all rush up and uh first thing that ghost hook meets psycho's like what has happened here what is with the pyre

we

we went out to a firmament's hollow our hero

we were going after velk

we

found where he fell and aaron contracted something we we brought her back but

Truvo couldn't cure her and then a smoke encompassed the pyre it extinguished

the pyre and then Eren turned into

whatever that was.

You see, Ghosto kind of takes his blade and turns over the body.

And as it's diminished somewhat, it's still torn, exaggerated, with like some of the tendrils limp in its mouth, the eyes still milked over.

There's not much solace in it, but the thought that at least...

Eren was gone before she became this.

And you've put that to rest.

It's about this moment you hear a voice go

what's going on where is she

and you see from around one of the tents Garrett kind of looks around

someone told me that she's in trouble where is she I'll run over to Garrick I'll just I'll grab him by the shoulders and I'll say I'm sorry she's gone

no no I

they told me she was sick I

she's you're watching her you're gonna take care of her Garrick the umbra

she caught something in those vaults

It's at this moment he locks eyes with the shape on the ground that was his daughter.

He kind of like pushes you aside and just kind of quietly walks over.

Oh my sweet girl now.

And he gets down on his knees and just kind of reaches for her hand

and just

quietly sits and bows his head and you can hear the faint sound of the sob.

The ghost took turns to you.

This is dire business.

Without the pyre, this perlock is

extremely number-daised.

Brixen walks into the center of the pyre and just with her bare hands scoops up what remaining embers there.

She's gonna take them over, what remaining embers and start

almost like a funeral pyre, start to pack them around

Aaron's body.

Realizing what she's doing, I will go to assist and help.

More and more of the vigil begin to arrive.

Other figures of the community begin to rush on the scene with their evening cloaks thrown over.

You can hear shouts, questions.

What's...

What's going on?

What's...

No, not possible.

Wailing, crying, screaming, tears, fearful, baleful cries to the sky.

The hundreds of people that make the community of desperate luck

truly

let the despair wash over.

As now here in the center of the night,

there is no light to protect them.

Only a moment later, other voices start picking up.

Beryl Spielbor

of the works, the rough and tumble orc blacksmith and member of the Triarch, steps forward.

We do not lay down for this.

We have survived this long and we will continue to survive together.

We are the enduring and we are here because we endure.

We have endured worse than this and we will endure worse than this.

Because the flame is gone does not mean we are dead.

It means we are in danger.

But...

We are still strong.

We are armed.

We are resolute.

Yes, and she looks over and pierces a glance towards Ghost of Guzzai.

This is true.

He looks back towards you, Idol.

You will have to explain what has happened here.

Beryl steps forward.

Why, what do you know of what has transpired?

Who is responsible for the pyre?

Why is it gone?

Perhaps we should speak in a more clandestine location.

It is not appropriate here.

The

wailing of the populace continues to spread and mingle.

It's this

discordant,

awful sound of dozens, hundred people or more grappling with imminent mortality, more than life here already means.

But here in this circle,

you five and the handful of stoic figures that hold this community together

sit quietly before a nod is given.

Beryl looks towards you.

Then to the forum.

I look after the triarch.

We will

decide how best to move forward.

Gostok.

Rouse all the vigil.

We need as many eyes in the dark as possible.

If we can get through to the rise of the dawn,

then we have a chance.

Ghost took knots

and steps off to start rousing other vigil.

At this point, you can see scholar members are now starting to appear and look, and it's

just an echo and repeat of that same reaction.

People from all over the community arriving at different times in that moment, that look.

And each one is a tiny scar on your soul.

Whether that can be something drawn for strength or a chain that will drag you, that's for you to decide.

But in that stillness, you begin to step back.

The wailing and cries of anguish and anxiety fading only to hear the gentle weep.

of a daughterless father.

As you step into the forum under the leather overhang of where all central

civilian events and triarch business are handled.

At this point, you can see Trevor Ostock, a fine young man in his late 20s or so who has been a rising guide to the children and those who wish to take on a collaborative way of helping Desperock out.

He steps in.

Friends, I've heard what's transpired tonight, and as shocked as many are,

we can't just stand idly by.

And Beryl says, we know this.

Where is Idrova?

You see, at that moment, beyond the edge of the forum shadow, holding torches, you see the heavy, mantled, and cloaked figures of various scholar individuals, as well as Idrova.

the elf who is the more or less unspoken head of the scholars of Luzal and the third member of the triarch arrives.

Very well.

What

do we know

has taken from us the light of protection?

As you know, we ventured out to the Firmament Harrow.

We located Velk along with the rest of their party that had fallen.

We made it to the doors of

the monastery, farther than anyone had before, but Erin had followed us, and upon inspecting some of the

reliquaries outside of the monastery, she inhaled something.

She became sick.

We brought her home.

Truvo treated her, but she took a turn for the worse in the night, and before we knew what happened, there was a...

a great dark cloud that encircled the pyre.

It seemed to extinguish it, and we noticed there were bodies

everywhere and it seemed that whatever Eren inhaled also possessed her, changed her form.

Something from the umbra, horrible.

And once we had dealt with that creature,

Eren lay fallen and the pyre had been extinguished.

There's a nod.

Just beyond you, you hear the flicker of flames of the recently fallen being burned to prevent them from rising once more.

That

sickly familiar smell.

As they nod and take it in, Idrovo looks up.

Can you vouch for all of this, Truvo?

And Truvo, who's arrived at this point, his hands and fingers kind of entwined, his eyes looking not directly to meet anyone's gaze, but you see himself still trying to process everything.

From as far as I know, that's true.

I did my best to treat her, but

indeed, something insidious had taken root within her.

The Umbra's reach is far.

I bear responsibility for my part in being unable to

see her to health.

It's no one's fault.

But it should be said that

we couldn't have gotten as far as we did without...

without her.

She was a hero.

And she should be revered as such.

I do not want her name sullied.

Uh, Trevor Grus

it would not be.

She

she was a vibrant and

wonderful young woman who,

in spite of all that we lived through, kept a smile,

an infectious one.

I know such

tragedy is all too common.

But that doesn't mean we shouldn't allow space.

Adrova goes.

You said you got far.

And you were sent in to

salvage Velk and perhaps

you found him.

Did you also find the monastery?

He did.

He had already made his way.

Then the path is open.

The path is

treacherous.

And as far as we know, we think the monastery is there, but

we would need to show you the way.

Then perhaps...

Fortune's trade.

And you see Beryl puts in him and and was like...

I drove her.

Do not.

The monastery will wait.

This...

All of this is far more important.

I agree.

The pyre keepers are decimated.

We need a sacred branch.

Else, none of us will survive.

Did it...

Did the Ember Warden Sheena survive?

Or no?

It's about this time that you notice that far behind Emberwarden has been outside of the Triarch,

cloaked and listening.

You've seen her since you were a child when she pulled you from that gathering of orphans.

And raised you all these years to be the pyrake you are.

She is a solid mountain, unmoving.

And right now, she is shaken in a way you've never experienced.

Her face pale, her mouth hanging.

These portents do not speak well to her

tidings, and we have not

a record of a branch in decades.

I drove her goes.

Then the scholars

will not sleep this night, and we will pour over our tomes

and we will see what we can

to muster some semblance of hope.

We have many books.

Perhaps the proximity of the monastery has narrowed our vision for some time.

I will talk with the others.

She nods in.

At this point you see Vigil Geranor steps forward, a tough ass-looking soldier who has stepped back from setting a few

intent and orders out to other Vigil in the space as she approaches.

The laws will stand until the next umbrella wins.

But we're weak stew.

And none of us know when it'll decide to wander its way down south to the jungles again.

Without the pious flame,

fair chance none of us will survive.

But until then,

the vigil will hold.

We will hold.

You see, as uh,

Trevor kind of pats her on the shoulder and gives her a smile.

That's all we can do

to survive.

Well,

let us all

consider the paths ahead of us.

Take stock of what supplies we have.

I myself and the other guides will tend to the fractured emotions of the populace.

The civilians cannot be left to panic.

And in the morning,

glances up to the dark sky.

How many hours that lies from us?

We'll convene here once more

and decide what is to be done.

Trevor, if I may,

and I may only speak for myself,

I'm interested in answers,

solutions.

I don't mean to stay here and wait for fate to find us.

If there is a front line for this,

I mean to be on it.

delving,

exploring

what Aaron would be doing.

And I hope you know that this group here

has achieved as much, if not more, than some of the very best that Desperal Lock has to offer.

And I hope come morning

that'll be remembered.

I appreciate your bravery,

and this is duly noted by myself and the triarch around.

There are many individuals to speak to about what is to happen next.

And if your skill sets align with what is necessary,

whether that be to protect the populace or to seek things beyond,

we shall consider it.

Thank you.

Does he speak for you all?

I will stand with you.

Absolutely.

Of course.

For Aaron.

We're the.

We're the chosen of the old gods, right?

We will survive this night.

Then

take what rest will come to you.

For what lies ahead tomorrow

will likely take whatever strength we have within all of us to push forward.

Idrova knots.

I will speak to

those in the Praxis Collective

will find you when we have information

There's like an awkward pause before they all begin to just walk away at this point

The Ember Warden approaches you

I once again avert my gaze before she speaks Brixton

I apologize

if you you view me as a failure.

No.

If I have failed you.

I have failed all of you.

That is not true.

To prepare you for what was necessary.

But this world is cruel.

I know that.

We all know that.

You gave me board.

Shelter.

And purpose

through my servitude.

I wish I could have prevailed.

She places her hand out on your clam coal, and for the first time since she's arrived, she makes eye contact with you.

The service of a pyrekeeper is not bound to a single flame.

And there is

precedent for flames once quelled

to be burned anew.

I am old

and I lack the strength

to stand against a world this dark at times

and it's through you

You see she kind of her lip quivers a bit

and the others

that I hoped

to carve a better future.

To protect you them and protect you.

So I

in ways have failed you all.

But your service is not done.

Whatever Whatever is needed of you,

the fires walk alongside,

where your feet comb the grounds,

where the flames burn away the impurities of this darkened realm.

If you step beyond these walls,

be the strength I could never be,

and be the righteous flame that will burn hope for Despala.

Do you hear me?

We have lost much, but not everything.

And you will burn so bright.

Do you hear me?

I hear you.

I hear you.

But if I may.

What is this rhetoric you you

speak as if

you're already defeated, if you will.

As if you will not make it through the night.

Why are you speaking as if

your fate has already been sealed?

I've lived long enough.

You're not going anywhere.

No.

I've lived long enough to know

many shades of despair.

despair.

This too shall pass in time,

but it's still fresh.

I must

process.

Yes,

of course.

And she just exhales deeply and steps beyond the forum.

Was Thalia with the group that we were all talking about?

Thalia is with the scholars of Luzal.

They weren't present in this meeting.

Gotcha.

They were not.

We'll have to go find her in the morning.

Well, she might come to us

if they do their thinking or whatever.

I guess they're going to try to figure out

how to restart the pyre.

Should we go to them?

But they said they're gonna spend all night thinking about it.

I guess we could, but

we're hurt.

I'm hurt.

I need to go to sleep.

And, you know, it's nice to

stand as one unit or whatever, but

I'm okay just not fighting for a little bit.

Let's lie down as one unit.

Yes.

Our nooks.

I've never seen.

I've never seen the settlement like this.

They're not used to true fear.

They don't know what it's like.

Or should they?

Settlement's all I've ever known.

If we go beyond,

I'll be seeking the wisdom from those of you who have

come from far.

A few months here, the only time I can remember when I wasn't constantly in terror,

it made me nervous.

Comfort?

You'll find fear an

invigorating background noise.

We should sleep.

Sleep.

Before we go off, I want to go to the pyre.

And I know this won't work, but I'm just trying to help.

I'm just going to try to keep pumping wild magic flames into the pyre to try to get it started.

The embers that fade

unfortunately resist external influence.

The divine fire itself, long gone, in what heat remains,

just simple fire above sacred flame.

You try as you might,

and others still keep a distance between their sorrow, confusion, and fear.

You still strike a unique image amongst such

despair.

I quietly walk up to you, sir.

Just gently brush your back.

If anybody could have restarted it, it would have been you.

Good to try.

I didn't think it would work, but I.

I tried.

We have to be careful.

I think she can find us now.

We're in danger.

I think we are.

very much in in danger.

I think we are in danger in many ways.

I

am going to kneel before the pyre

and sort of unfurl all my wings again.

And

you just see sort of tears start to roll down the sides.

And it almost and I'm just as still as can be and almost look like the statue that I am.

And I'm gonna stay there for the night.

Stay for a bit.

By what the hat.

I'm going to my very

filthy bed.

Keep watch.

I will.

Yeah, I'll go to the pilekeeper's quarters.

Maybe rummage through

what's left behind of

Corbin

and

Romond.

You gather what effects of theirs

you knew had import to them

and thus now have import to you.

And place them amongst your belongings as reminders of what's happened here and what it's worth.

Clutching their belongings, I fall asleep.

Yeah, I'll go back to my tent,

crawl inside, and

there's a collar, a big collar, sitting there, and I'll pick it up and just sort of clutch it to myself and hold it tight and cuddle up into my

little blanket and fall asleep as well.

A hand touches your shoulder.

And you know whose hand it is, and you're afraid to turn.

It's not your fault.

She's always been one to run ahead, both feet first.

The only reason she got more light than she did is because you saved her to begin with when you got here.

And for that time, I'll always be grateful.

She burned brighter than most.

Sometimes those stars only burned for

half as long.

I'm sorry.

Me too.

And the first child I lost.

That's just how it goes out here in the wastes.

There are other children here that need guidance too.

Still, food that's got to be grown.

I got things to keep me busy.

I have a score to settle

for both of us.

Whatever did this, you make

and

suffer.

I will

and he walks off towards his homestead,

holding a

bundled-up bit of gray.

I let him go.

I'm

probably gonna go sit over by the wood pile

and just sit

As the night comes to most of you, at different times, an exhausted rest out of necessity pulls you into the depths of the shadow that is

sleep.

Some of you toss and turn with the events of what's happened, others just return to that stillness,

that blip in time that leads you to the next sunrise.

For some, it's flashes of a golden face

looking to parting clouds.

A stake burning with a body above it.

A cathedral filled with purple light

and a shining tall crown of promise

beyond the doors and steps.

Far, far from here.

And that's where I'm going to take our break.

Be back here in a few minutes, y'all.

We'll see you shortly.

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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