The Adventure Zone Versus Dracula - Episode 27
Additional Music in this Episode: "Instrumental Mystic Song for Paranormal Videos" by UNIVERSFIELD: https://freesound.org/people/UNIVERSFIELD/.
Dice sounds by Tal M.
Listen and follow along
Transcript
Dear Diary,
today, after returning from a little midday feeding sesh, I found myself locked out of Lumino Tower.
Victor explained that in the future, all you have to do is cut the power to the electromagnetic lock at these four junction points around the neighborhood.
Here is a handy little map of those spots, just for my future reference.
I said, Isn't this a considerable security vulnerability?
And he was like, Well, just don't tell anybody.
God, I hope nobody ever finds this journal.
The three of you are standing in the Ghost Light pub with Pierre Reynolds,
and the city of Lumino is looking for you.
You can hear footsteps down alleyways.
You can see the unconscious bodies of three of the four barbershop quartet singers who came pounding on your door.
Through that door and the windows on the western side of the ghostlight pub,
things are alight, alight both with the flames licking off of the uh wreckage of dragula uh and also the amber searchlight which is uh shooting downward in a golden column right outside the door of the pub uh let's let's roll for initiative
yeah
Travis, I did, I gave, I took your suggestion.
I got a big dry erase board for this one.
Yeah, hell yeah, dude.
To help keep track of things.
and I get to do little doodles or like Ziggy and shit.
Yeah.
You can write all your promise keeper notes up there.
Yeah.
Some of my favorite Bible verses.
How are you?
Some of your chastity plans.
I'm a 10.
Chastity plan seems easy to write down, doesn't it?
17?
Don't.
Don't.
Okay.
Do you still have your
question marks, guys?
What?
Do you still have your promise rings?
I never had a promise ring, Dad.
Dad, I kept my promise at least twice.
Two kids.
Two promises kept.
Okay.
I still wear my promise ring, but not where you think.
Gross.
All right.
It's not fair when I do jokes for so long that Trans has got to go for the better one.
What a ripoff.
To set up what you all are seeing for our listeners at home,
you have a pretty good lay of the land thanks to Dracula's incredible map.
What's right?
The car?
Okay, so I couldn't find like a wreckage.
It's like a forward focus or something.
A yawring.
One tire is burning.
One tire.
Okay, you can see here around this map of the neighborhood, there are four junction points powering the door to Lumino Tower, holding it locked tight.
This is a very big battle map,
and we'll try and explain sort of how things are going and not just rely completely upon it, but first in the order is Lady Godwin.
Oh, man.
I'm going to try to...
What happened with the other three
varsities?
They're living scenarios.
They're alive.
You smashed them backwards when you kicked the door into them.
They went flying, collided with the wall behind them.
i'm gonna try to non-lethally uh smack this guy's head into the wall the last barbershop tennis barbershop dude okay uh go ahead and make an attack roll for me you got it griff
attack him good
i did it's a 22.
hell yeah 22 absolutely hits
and you have specified non-lethal damage here
yeah okay go ahead and roll damage for unarmed it's just always four four.
Oh, I guess that's right.
Okay.
It's just your fat hand.
It's just your fat hand.
It does the same.
It does the same shit every time.
Four is exactly.
If you're going to hit by someone's hand, it's like that.
It's about a four.
Four is exactly how many hit points barbershop tender had.
These, as you sort of gently,
how many awake points, right?
Yeah, how many awake points they had.
As you sort of
smash your fat hand into this guy's head, he drops like a sack of bricks uh and it it it sort of dawns on you that uh while the people here seem to be under uh remote control from cout dracula they do not possess any special you just punched a singing man and knocked him clean out uh
i slapped her with my
yeah
that'll do it every time uh okay you have a little bit of movement left uh you've got like 10 more feet so like two more squares here Is there a direction you would like to move?
All of these threats have been knocked out.
Yeah, I'm heading west to the lightning bolt.
Okay.
Down this alley?
Is this an alleyway?
This is an alleyway.
I feel it, Griffin.
I feel like I'm there.
Yeah, yeah.
I wanted to say, Griff, lately, this has been the closest this has been to playing video games.
And I just want to thank you for that because it's the closest I've had to having fun during the Adventure Zone.
I just want to say thank you.
It's easier to pretend I'm playing video games than ever before.
I want to thank you for that.
Yeah, sure.
It's my pleasure, man.
That's
100 points.
That's my pleasure.
That's 100 points just then.
Wow.
Whoa.
Yeah.
Let me write that on the.
It was like you ate a pretzel, Justin, or a cherry or drank a jolt cola.
I'm giving you all, I'm giving you all warning now.
Next time I run an arc, I'm going to be scoring each of you, and I will not reveal that to the end.
And this will be your only warning right now.
I've I've added a little score for Justin down here in the corner.
He's got 100 so far.
Okay, good.
Now I'm having fun.
Next in the order
is
the four-piece string band.
You can see through the fires of the Hyundai Elantra,
you can see four stringed instrument players.
You can tell that's what they are because they're holding their shit.
A violinist, a cellist, a bassist, and a banjoist.
They begin.
I think it's pronounced Dork.
I think it's actually Banjoner.
Banjovi.
A Banjovi.
The bassist and banjoist split off, making their way west.
The violinist and cellist are going to sprint off towards the right.
The central alley now blocked by this car.
They feel like
executing a temporal pincer, or I guess just a regular pincer maneuver.
Next in the order is Philo.
Well, I think Philo is going to beat Feed and
follow Lady Godwin.
Okay, with your move, you are able to get sort of right next to her in the alley.
You still have your action.
You could dash if you want to move double speed.
You could,
you know, cast a spell.
You could do whatever else you want.
You know what?
I've never dashed.
What's that?
We've never given a shit about move speed before.
Okay.
Let me do a dash.
You do a dash.
Wait, we've got dashes in this game, too.
Now I'm getting excited.
Can we double jump?
You haven't unlocked a double jump yet.
Damn it.
I probably got 200 points for that, didn't I?
Okay, Griffin rolls into a ball and shits out a bomb.
Holy shit.
That'd be so cool.
Okay, as you turn the corner,
you see some figures.
They are illuminated by this
glowing brass orb with little windows of yellow light inside inside of it that is in the middle of this sort of back alley clearing.
You see
a man wearing a sort of ruffled neck piece.
You see
a young woman with a black turtleneck on.
You see a man holding a script that he seems to be jotting notes on.
And you see a bee poet who's actively doing bee poetry in this clearing surrounding the brass orb.
You still have some movement here.
You could try to hide.
You could do
whatever else you want.
But as you turn the corner, you make out these four figures.
I am going to
use
a spell.
I'm going to use disguise self.
Oh, this is the terrible cost of dashing.
You did dash.
No one stops to think, but dashing is your action.
Oh, that's right.
Dashing is so fun, but it comes with a terrible price.
Horrible, unbearable price.
At the end of the dash, you must stand and stare at whatever confronts you.
That's the horrid price of dash.
Okay.
You do have bonus action, though, if you have a bonus action you'd like to take.
Well, yeah, of course.
I will.
I'm going to cast healing word on myself, which is one of my bonus actions.
Yes, you took some damage when you crashed your Toyota.
So, in these people's lives, what happened is Pinocchio ran up real fast.
Yeah, appeared in front of them, saw the four of them, and then said, uh-oh.
Then healed himself.
Okay, you are back up to full, right?
Yep, sure does.
Amazing.
Okay.
Also, last choice I want you to make here.
Do you want to stay where you are?
You're sort of in the front of the alleyway in front of Lady Godwin, or do you want to back behind Lady Godwin?
You still have movement.
You still have like 20 feet of movement.
I think I want to stay in front.
Okay.
Next in the order is
next in the order is the actors.
The beat poet is going to run up.
and is going to try to beat your ass, Philo.
You see, she lifts up a big boot and tries to bring it down on you.
And 18 hit AC?
Yep, sure does.
I didn't mean to make that sound like a question.
It was sort of a weird way to say 18 hit AC.
And you take
three points of bludgeoning damage.
Okay,
the actor is going to cast vicious mockery on you.
Yeah, they do that.
Make a wisdom saving throw.
Wisdom saving?
Yes.
12.
Insufficient.
You take
two points of psychic damage and have disadvantage on the next attack roll you make before the end of your next turn.
The ingenue and dramaturge, they're just going to pull out crossbows and try to shoot at you, Philo, as you are the only one exposed.
12 versus AC does not hit, I think.
Does not.
Tie goes to the runner?
Oh, yes.
Yep.
Okay, then a 12 does hit.
You are then shot with a crossbow.
The crossbow is the runner.
No, the runner is the runner.
If I was getting shot out with crossbows, I'm running.
That's a really good point, Travis.
That is two points of piercing damage.
And the Anjanu shoots a nine, which is not going to do it.
Okay.
Next in the order is Mutt.
Ditto, how tall are the buildings in town?
Well, let's see.
The Ghost Light Pub is, I think, probably a two-story
building.
There is a staircase in here if you wanted to get up to the second story.
I mean, you're in the theater district, right?
So it kind of varies wildly.
Some buildings are.
I'm talking about these buildings like across the way.
Yeah, those are just, I would say, single-story
little buildings.
So 10 feet up, you know.
Okay, great.
I'm going to use these slumped over barbershop guys as a boost and get up onto the roof.
Okay, so out the western door and jump up onto the roof of the buildings to the west of you.
Correct.
Fantastic.
Give me a, I think this would be acrobatics check to get up here.
I will make it lower than usual since you jumped off some men.
Okay, 16 plus
four
a gentleman's 20, yeah, easy.
You you scamper up onto the roof just as part of your movement.
You have like a couple more squares you can go.
Okay, I'm going to cast a Zephyr Strike.
Oh, shit.
Okay.
And take a shot at the one that stepped up to the beat poet?
Yeah, that stepped up to Philo.
Okay.
I don't think that's going to do it, Kervan.
Terrible.
No, a two does not.
Whatever you asked.
I do get two attacks, so I'm going to just go again with that there crossbow.
Sure thing.
As a normal strike?
Oh, shit.
That's a natural 20.
That's a crit.
Okay, fantastic.
Go ahead and roll double damage.
Is this not...
Let's establish also non-lethal origins.
You can just pin them to the wall with the crossbow wounds.
You know what I mean?
Okay.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Grizzly.
A,
nine.
Jesus Christ.
21 points.
Yeah, yeah, dog.
Yeah.
Your bolt
shoots them and it hits them in the shoulder.
They fly upwards, spin through the air, and crash into some barrels.
And they are out of commission.
Okay, cool.
Thanks to Zephyr Strike, I also get to move another 30 feet.
Oh, wow.
Fuck yeah.
I'm going to position myself closer to the front of the roof near the
power breaker thing.
Okay, perfect.
Next in the order is Pierre.
He is just going to run over to the eastern side of his building and start barricading the door.
Okay.
Next in the order is the searchlight.
The searchlight is one, two, three,
four,
five.
It's got all of you in it.
Okay, I need all of you to make a dexterity saving throw, please.
I do appreciate you staying all clumped together.
14.
The searchlight thanks you.
18 plus 7, 25.
I think I have advantage on these.
You do.
You have advantage on dangers you can see, which, like, for sure.
Yeah, so dexterity saving.
My guys are being kind of hinky, too.
Woof.
No,
that's an 11 and a nat one.
So, Godwin and Philo, you both feel your skin start to sizzle.
But, again, with the sort of superhuman reflexes, when it comes to not getting burned by powerful solar radiation.
You manage to just sort of pull it.
I'm wearing an SDF 35.
Yeah, exactly, right?
I know.
Listen, I was raised outdoors, man.
I'm not going out without my sunscreen.
No way.
Philo and Godwin, you both take four points of radiant damage.
I have to point out that I don't have skin.
You are made of skin.
You're made of wood of
burnable material.
Yeah, my paint peels.
Yeah, your paint peels a little bit, but it's
health paint.
Okay, next in the order.
How many points of health paint do I lose?
Four points of paint health.
Next in the order is Godwin.
Fantastic.
Do I...
They're pretty well distracted.
I'm going to get around Philo and join the fray there
in the middle of the fray.
Do I see a clear, like, electric thing?
Is there a bigger case?
Yeah, so this
brass orb in the center of the clearing here, this blue sort of shape here
in the middle, is definitely the kind of like conduit.
I'm going to
chuck my javelin at that thing in the hopes that it'll explode and hit them all with electricity.
Where are you standing when you do this?
Far enough away.
You're not going to talk about it again.
Okay.
Go ahead and make an attack roll against the conduit.
Ooh, man, narts.
No, with a nine, your javelin
is flying towards the orbit.
Looks like it's about to smash into one of the small circular windows in it, but it is slowly rotating.
You mistime it, and it bounces off the brass instead.
And while I was describing what happened, you did roll again.
It's a 12.
No, with a 12 also.
Damn it.
Boy, that must have looked quite comical to all parties.
I'm glad
everyone enjoyed that.
I believe you are raging, so I think you get a bonus attack if you
want to do it.
Wait, hold on.
Yeah, one more.
Wait, don't move.
22.
Yeah, okay.
With a 22, you finally dialed it in.
You chuck the javelin and bullseye.
It smashes straight into one of those small circular windows on the console.
That's what she says to after
the third one hits Bullseye.
Let's try.
Let's try.
Okay.
It explodes.
Amber energy crackles out of it and tears across some of the buildings in this back alleyway.
The dramaturge is hit by the lightning and goes down.
The
actor and Angenu are able to save.
You have disabled one of the junction points here.
When the junction point is disabled, do I notice any change in the two remaining townspeople?
Give me a perception check or an insight check.
Perception is fine.
18.
You don't notice any change in the actor and the ingenue, which you can see.
You can also kind of make out the bassist and banjoist down this this alleyway they are definitely heading in your direction too you do notice the searchlight seems to be a little dimmer now the one that is still actively shining on the three of you
next in the order is
the
uh four piece strings
Okay, the basist and banjoist are going to waste no time.
They're going to rush down.
Basis smashes his base down.
13 points of 13 versus AC.
Against whom?
Lady Gotland, the only one who is.
Mutt is up on the roof, so not in striking distance.
14 is based.
Okay, somehow this basist misses hitting you with his base.
His giant base.
The banjoist,
that is a 21 versus AC, which is going to do it.
He brings it down fucking kabong style right on that dome.
You take seven points of bludgeoning damage.
And you hear
unless you are doing that with your action, Philo, it is your turn.
No!
No!
Things have gotten very congested here in the alleyway.
Yes.
You have taken out one of the four junction points around the neighborhood.
Okay.
Brother Philo
is going to drink one of his flying elixirs.
Fantastic.
And
you just put it in your mouth slot and it just gooshes down into the street.
Whips out one of the vials from his belt, pops the cork, catches his own tiny body,
drinks the flight potion, and flies
north,
west.
Okay,
over the building.
Yeah, so you have 30 points, right, of movement, 30 feet of movement.
You can just get to the rooftop of
the first building here in the northwest quarter.
Believe it or not, he's walking on air.
Never thought he would feel so.
And then I'm going to
dash.
Alright, Trav.
Thank you.
We're not going to clear that.
I just couldn't finish it.
Yeah.
Believe it or not.
It's Philo.
Okay, okay.
I'm going to dash to the corner of the building of the rooftop and stay there.
Right there?
Yep.
Okay.
You now being in this sort of like complete other block of the city are able to make out
a few more figures who are out and on the hunt for you.
The first, you see a giant of a man
holding a
small grinder box, and he's got a little monkey sitting on his shoulder,
Standing guard at the second at the at the center sort of junction point in the city you also see and this is huge standing right in front of the door to Lumino Tower
I think
Even though you grew up in a monastery and are sort of unexposed to city live-in even you are aware of the fantasy pop star known as Jeremy Pipes.
And Jeremy Pipes is here and he is under Dracula's control and standing in front of Lumino Tower.
He looks amazing.
Except he doesn't seem to have his usual charismatic glow
because he is being sort of mind-controlled.
He is standing sentry here at Lumino Tower.
Okay, that is all of your actions.
Next in the order is
the actors.
Let's see.
So the actor and ingenue are, uh let me think.
I think the actor is going to try and climb up some barrels to where you are on the roof, Mutt.
Okay,
uh,
and the ingenue.
It feels like that would give me an opportunity attack, right?
Uh, yes, absolutely.
Uh, take an opportunity attack against the actor.
He definitely exposes himself to you.
If you're oh, well, that's gross, not like, but not like his not wiener-wise.
Uh, this is 17 plus 926.
Yes, that is a hit.
Are you hitting him with scales?
I'm going to hit it into one of those barrels, is what I'm going for.
It's a 9 plus 413.
I think this would be a melee attack, right?
Because he's up right next to you.
Okay.
We can still take the roll.
I'm just saying the damage that you do is going to be.
Okay, yeah, so then what I'm going to...
I'm trying to knock loose the gutter or shingles or whatever that they're climbing.
Great.
Yeah.
Cool.
Roll damage.
Man, your dice are fucked up.
Yeah, man.
Three plus one, four.
Okay, with a four, you smash, you smash the gutter.
You get his hand with just the hilt of Scalibur, and he falls back down and crashes into the barrels.
And he sorry.
Sorry, man.
Are you okay?
The Anjanu looks up at you and says, hey,
stupid hair.
And cast fish.
Make a wisdom saving throw.
Yeah, it doesn't make any sense, but that's what makes it so fucking mean and bad.
And why do I keep clicking those dice?
I don't know, man.
Hey,
Trav, Mutt,
there's an instant where you do think.
Maybe that's why.
Is that why I wear this fucking hat all the time?
Do I have stupid hair?
You take four points of psychic damage, and you will have disadvantage on your next attack roll
until the end of your next turn.
Next in the order is Mutt.
I don't have to stand here and take this, man.
I'm going to jump over here.
I'm going to comb my hair.
I'm going to jump over to the roof to the north.
Try to make my way to like the square there, the town square.
Make an acrobatics check is an easy one.
It's five five feet
good okay 16 plus four
yeah gentlemen
you don't you don't even jump you don't just jump the gap you jump like extra that's how cool and good it is uh you make it onto the roof of the building to the north here and uh you said you're gonna make your way towards town square yeah uh how close can i get to the big man with the monkey
I mean, are you going to jump down off the roof and go in for a melee attack, or are you staying at crossbow distance?
No, I'm going to get get close to him.
I'm going to get in melee distance.
I mean, you can't do that with this
movement because you will have jumped across a pit and then jumped down from a roof, and that's already sort of over your move speed.
I would say you can get to where you are right now with the move action that you have.
That is six squares away.
I see.
And if I dash, like that's the thing, right?
That's the thing.
Okay, hold on.
Let me look.
Okay, I'm going to cast Zephyr Strike again.
Okay.
On
who are you attacking?
On the big man with the monkey.
Okay.
And shoot
my bow.
Okay.
My crossbow.
I mean, I have to miss, but I still get the extra 30 feet anyways.
Okay, great.
So I can run in closer.
And then use your additional attack.
Is that what you were doing?
And then use my additional action with Scalibur.
Yeah, trying to hit the big man with like the flat of the sword or the hilt or whatever.
Knock him out.
Go right ahead.
14 plus 4, 18.
18 hits.
Roll damage.
7 plus
1.
So 8.
And Radiant Slapping Hilt.
Radiant bonking damage.
Okay, you sort of pull it back, right?
Not to, so as not to kill this big man.
Yes.
And smash him with radiant damage with the hilt of your blade.
As you smash the blade into this guy, you see you leave like a little burn mark where the where the sword touched.
And he kind of looks down at it, almost amused.
He says,
I don't know why he sounds like a horse.
He swings backwards and and is going to smash you with his grinder box.
Oh, man.
Yes, that is a 25 versus AC.
Yeah.
Uh-huh.
25?
Yes.
25.
Wow.
I'm going to take 12 points of bludgeoning damage.
50.
And make a dexterity saving throw.
Okay, hold on.
I'm still taking the damage.
I'm still reeling from the damage, Krippen.
Dexterity saving throw.
Yeah.
17
plus
7.
Okay.
When he smashes you,
you slide backwards on your heels five feet, but you manage to keep your footing.
You do not go down.
That is his turn.
Next is
Jeremy Pipes.
Jeremy Pipes holds up a microphone and
screams, this one's fire!
And he casts firebolt on you.
On me?
16.
16 versus AC.
But I'm your biggest fan, Jeremy.
I'm actually not.
Seem like it.
Yeah.
Yeah, that hits.
Okay, you take
nine points of firebolt.
Oh, boy.
Zero smashed with a firebolt.
Next in the order...
You can hear in the distance the cellist and violinists trying to smash down the door that Pierre Reynolds is blockading on the other side of the Ghost Light pub.
Next in the order is the Searchlight.
I think the Searchlight's going to stay on you, Lady Godwin.
It sees a lot of activity happening down here.
The other two have kind of scattered.
And.
Go ahead and roll a dexterity-saving throw for me with advantage, Lady Godwin.
12 and a
4.
I think the 12.
Yeah, the 12 is my pick.
The 12
does not succeed.
Despite this light growing somewhat dimmer, that is insufficient.
You are going to take 5 points of radiant damage.
And it is your turn.
Still up here against you.
You have the Banjoist, Basist, and Angenu.
You have shattered the orb down in this quarter, though, and you still have 100 points.
I'm making a break to the north.
Okay, both.
I know there'll be a couple of attacks of opportunity.
Yes, that's fine.
Basist and Banjoist are going to definitely take swings at you as you sort of sidle up against the wall and try to push past them.
The basist...
is going to hit with a 19 versus AC
and bonks you with his big base for three points of bludgeoning damage.
The banjoist is also.
Definitely out of tune now, though.
Yeah, so who really loses?
The banjoist is also going to take a swing.
And crit fails, so that is not going to do it.
That's just like a banjoist trying to fight somebody.
Okay, you have.
That's what happens when you bring a banjo to an axe fight.
Absolutely.
You have like five more spaces here you can move.
Yeah, I'm just heading north.
Straight north, okay.
And
you are able to sort of get up up here with mutt.
Great.
You still have action you can take.
Yes.
Who's the fellow with the monkey?
What's my read on him when I see him?
He's huge and considerably stronger.
Could I take him?
I mean,
he is bigger than you are.
You did just see him lay out mutt with a single blow from his mighty grinder box.
I got him right where I want him.
And he seems to be far sturdier than the other sort of citizens here who you have handily
knocked out.
You do also, holy shit, Lady Godwin.
Oh my god.
Across the way, behind the conduit, right in front of Lumino Tower, is that Jeremy fucking pipes?
Oh my!
I gotta play
if you want to take care of pipes.
Hey, what's up, old lady?
I don't usually like ladies as old as you are, but what's going on, girl?
I would sooner shatter a stained glass window.
You'd go out your business.
Okay, good news for you.
And I pointed the grinder.
And I said, you look like a big enough boy that you'll recover from this nicely.
And I'll throw a javelin at his leg.
I have to assume you picked up the javelins.
You scooped up the javelins.
That was implied.
While the basis and banjoists were trying to smash you, you just like leaned over.
Actually, you don't have to pick up the javelin because it automatically returns to your eyes to me.
Of course,
magic javelin.
Okay, make an attack roll against the organ grinder, please.
Oh.
20.
20 hits.
I work very hard on those infusions, you know.
We've never discussed what your infusions really look like in physical space, Philo.
I always just assumed it was a kind of grease.
Just a kind of grease you put on it.
Yeah, it it is.
It's the worst.
Okay.
It's the worst.
Roll damage?
Six.
Okay.
You catch him square in the thigh with a javelin.
He looks down at it like that really funny scene in Ace Ventura.
And then he looks back up at you.
When he looks down at it is when I throw the javelin again, right at the top of his head.
Oh, shit.
Okay.
Not leafy.
But not leafy.
Yeah, I'm throwing the blood imps.
Yeah.
You're throwing it horizontally at me.
I'm bunting.
Roll an attack roll, please.
Got greedy.
Got greedy.
He did.
11.
This one just kind of, you miss just fully.
The javelin goes sailing over him and lands in the street.
And then it returns to your hand.
That is true.
Stabbing him on the way back.
Yeah, he returns through his chest.
You still have one more attack roll if you want to take your rage rage bonus yeah attack the tower i got a plan for him
yeah yeah you gotta oh you gotta plan oh okay boss no i'm just saying i'm sorry to mess up your schemes mo i'm gonna get him to help us Yes, I can see you had this completely under control.
Well, I didn't plan on getting bashed with the thing.
You upset your delicate balance, Puppet Master.
There was a couple of elements I maybe didn't plan for.
I threw the javelin at the sphere.
Okay, make an attack roll.
And it's a natural 20.
Holy shit, yes.
It gets wedged right into one of those little gaps in the windows.
And again,
you send arcing bolts of amber electricity zooming around this clearing.
I need Mutt.
And you to make a dexterity saving throw.
This conduit is much larger and seems to be pumping out out a lot more of this.
I roll a one.
Okay, that's but I'm gonna try it again.
I got a 17 total.
Luckily, my danger sense gives me a 15.
Okay, you two
avoid it.
You two just split, right?
You take like one little step away from each other as a volt of electricity,
a bolt just zips between you and explodes the wall behind you.
The organ grinder does not save,
and Jeremy Pipes does save.
He's so fucking smooth.
Did you see that?
Which one?
After my javelin pierced it and it returned to me, I feel like some of its power is imbued into me now.
And the javelin.
We've both grown more powerful through the magic we've absorbed.
Make a constitution saving throw, Lady Godwin.
Okay.
Stupid,
stupid big mouth.
19.
Yeah.
Plus five.
As you grab it, some of the power did come back.
And as you touch the javelin, it shoots up through your body.
But luckily,
you are grounded.
And so you are not fried with the electricity stored in the javelin as it instantly discharges.
Never mind.
It was a passing...
passing thing.
Okay, after taking that hit from the bolt, the organ grinder appears to be doing
not so great.
From the
eastern alley, you see four new figures hop into the fray.
It is hard to detect their presence at first because they are being so, so, so quiet
as four mimes
and begin making their way towards you.
Next in the order is Philo.
How big is the gap?
Five feet.
Okay.
If you're jumping to the building to the north, it's five feet.
I'm jumping to the building to the north.
Okay.
Is flight only the one turn?
No, actually, I don't know, Dad.
Oh.
How long does it last?
I think it might be like a minute.
For one hour.
Yeah.
Okay, man.
Well, then I can go zooming over.
Yeah, sure.
Okay, so I'm going to zoom over
to that corner.
The northwest corner?
Okay, as you reach the edge of this rooftop, you see some figures standing here
in this clearing.
They are holding all manner of physical sort of
traditional art supplies.
You see one has
is holding a vase in one hand and a little knife in the other.
You see one who is just like covered in paint and doing like weird movements with her body.
You see
a man holding a large, large camera
and another man sitting against the alleyway painting a picture.
You see a quartet of visual artists in the corner.
You still have your move, the rest of your move and an action.
You can move two more spaces here.
I'm going to stay where I am, and I'm going to cast a spell.
I'm going to shoot Melf's acid arrow
at the
device.
Okay, cool.
Here, these four visual artists look up and see a flying puppet appear in the distance.
You see a thought sort of cross their minds:
what the fuck are we doing?
As an acid arrow zooms past them and attempts to hit the conduit.
Go ahead and make an attack roll, please.
Spell attack roll.
Shit.
No,
nine with a nine.
Uh, you see that it uh misses, it hits a barrel behind the sculptor here, out of which begins to ooze a sort of stinky, dark liquid.
It's not oil or anything cool or useful.
It's just there's a barrel of stinky juice back here, and you upset it.
That is your action.
As that happens, all of the visual artists look up at you with identical malice.
They hate puppetry that much?
Not the performance artist.
She's ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-lo.
Okay, great.
then can i do a a bonus action yes you may okay now i'm gonna cast healing word okay on myself
healing word
yeah you took a quite a bit of damage and you got jumped in crime alley back there
that would be four i heal up four
okay
Next thing they order is the theater troop, the only remaining member of which is the Angenu, who's going to
up this way.
She reaches the end of this alleyway, looks at you, Godwin, and she says,
How come your head's so much older than the rest of you?
Make a wisdom saving throw.
Oh, to come up with a snappy retort,
she is casting vicious mockery at you.
So, yeah,
18.
18 saves
because I'm rich.
okay she looks startled uh by your your quick retort uh next in the order is
um
mutt
uh hey big man what's your name
um give me an insight check please okay
figure out his name is it like Rumble Stiltskin
Uh, 16.
With a 16, I think the organ grinder just looks down at you and says, Dracula.
Oh, I see.
Okay, man.
Cool.
I was kind of hoping it would be kind of that way.
I didn't.
Anyways, the Anjanu is not like that.
I mean, the Anjunu might be saying the stuff that she's saying as Dracula.
You didn't ask the Anjanu her name.
I reach out and I grab the grinder's wrist.
Okay.
And I cast protection from good and evil.
Interesting.
Okay.
Let's see.
The target can't be charmed, frightened, or possessed by them.
If the target is already charmed, frightened, or possessed,
the target has advantage on saving throws.
So, I mean, I'm trying to break the possession.
Okay, then we'll do this like this.
I think this will force a saving throw for the organ grinder with advantage.
You go ahead and roll it.
This is just a flat d20.
He is trying to break the thrall of Count Dracula, so he needs a 15 or better to beat it.
What'd you get?
I got a 16.
A 7 and a 16.
With a 16, okay.
You see the bolts in the side of this organ grinder's neck.
They begin to glow somewhat brightly.
And then the light that you can now tell is like gently suffusing all of the bolts and all the necks of all the people you've seen here so far just goes out.
And he shakes his head and he looks up at you and he says, My name is
Tyler.
Cool, man.
Hey, Tyler, my name is Crawford Mutter.
You call me Mutt.
Everybody does.
You've been possessed by Dracula, man, and everybody here in town is possessed by Dracula.
And we need to get into Lumino Tower to stop him.
So, could you help us out with that, man?
You want me to kill Jeremy Pipes?
Whoa.
Hey, that's a big jump, man.
He cracks his huge knuckles.
Well, if you could just, how about subdue, not kill, man?
What do you say?
Sure thing.
Squish.
That's the sound my eye makes when I wink it at people.
Oh, okay.
No, oh, wait.
No, that's still not good, Tyler.
The organ grinder is his turn.
He is going to.
Well, actually, you still have quite a bit of movement if you would like to go somewhere else, but you have succeeded in winning the organ grinder over to your side.
Okay,
don't kill him, okay?
Bye.
I hear one of my cats upstairs crying.
You know what they're, you know, what they're upset about.
Just like the state of things and whatever.
No, they're only ever wanting one thing, and that's for me to get the smalls out.
Dad, we don't know how to,
yeah, they love the smooth bird.
Dad, we want our smooth bird.
We don't have jobs.
We can't buy our own food.
We don't know how to order things.
Dad, we're so scared.
We're cats and we've gained complete human intelligence.
What's happening?
Where are we?
Yeah.
Where are we?
But you know what?
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Hey, this week we're coming to...
Sorry to interrupt.
I just kind of burst in.
Okay.
Yeah.
Sorry.
Hey, I'm also sorry.
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And I'm here and I'm interrupting too.
If you're coming to
our shows this week in San Antonio and Austin, thank you.
If you're not already planning on coming, why not?
We want to see you there.
We need you there.
Join the week.
It's so great.
Yeah.
If you're coming to the show and you you want to have a question you uh you got a question you want answered you want a fear read aloud we got you email that to mbmbam at maximumfund.org and put your city in the subject line in austin and also doing what trap what are we doing in austin buddy well we're doing uh adventure zone versus hercules and it's going to be a real treat You're going to feel happier than you've ever felt in your entire life.
Yeah, we're also coming to Utah and California later this year.
Tickets for all those shows are on sale now.
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Oh, darling.
Why won't you accept my love?
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What am I gonna do?
To this point, let's just catch up, everybody, and the audience.
You have taken out quite a few artists here in the city.
You have taken out two of the four sort of junction points that you need to destroy in order to access Lumino Tower.
Brother Philo is in the northwest with the visual artists.
There is still one
sphere to the northeast that no one has approached.
Okay, I'm gonna leave the mimes and the Jeremy situation for
this is my band, the Jeremy situation, for Mighty Godwin to deal with.
And I'm gonna head, I'm gonna head northeast toward the remaining
orb thing.
Okay, you are able to get just around the corner of this building here.
And
next in the order,
you all hear a
loud crash, and you hear the voice of two people shout out as you hear this crash.
Mutt, from where you are standing, let's actually put you right here, from where you're standing, you can see down the alley to the eastern exit from the Ghost Light pub.
You see over there,
the cellist and the violinist have just been knocked down
as the eastern door has been smashed outwards.
From it,
you see a figure come racing out into the street
to confront the mimes around the corner.
It is not Pierre Reynolds, at least, not as you have known him, because the entity that has come out of that building is
enormous and quite furry and quite ferocious.
You see
Where Bear Pierre Reynolds?
Where Bear Pierre
looks up at you.
Hell yeah, dude.
Hell yeah.
Fucking love it, man.
That rules.
You gotta need some salmon.
What?
You gotta eat salmon.
I think it's a good one.
Man, it happens.
Yeah, take out them moms.
I'll buy you all the salmon you want, dude.
Fuck yeah,
bonjour
Okay, next in the order order is Jeremy Pipes.
And actually, the organ grinder is up first.
The organ grinder and Jeremy Pipes are going to engage in combat.
Finally.
Jeremy Pipes looks up at the organ grinder and is like, hey, girl, you got to not hit me.
Your hands are so big.
But he does begin smacking on Jeremy Pipes.
These two.
They've been beefing for a while now.
He gets knocked down by the organ grinder's huge box.
The monkey jumps on top of Jeremy Pipes and begins scratching at him.
Not the face.
Jeremy Pipes, in retaliation, fires a firebolt back at the organ grinder,
who is knocked backwards and
his tunic set ablaze.
The monkey continues scratching Jeremy Pipes in protest.
They are both still up.
Next in the order is...
Lady Godwin.
The wandering eye of the searchlight peers downward at you.
It is,
once again, it's getting dimmer as these conduits go down, but it is still, you still feel
a crackling searing on your skin as it turns to you.
Make a dexterity saving throw, please.
Got a six plus two is eight, and then second one is a three plus two is five.
So eight.
An eight is not sufficient.
You feel
this burning become quite unpleasant, and you take six points of radiant damage.
As you are being sort of pushed downward by the force of this radiant amber light from above, you hear a voice from around the corner of the alley in front of you.
And this voice says, Well, well, well,
it seems like you've upset the big man in the sky, haven't you, Lady Godwin?
And as your eyes adjust to the amber light,
you see
a figure has come around the corner with three toadies behind her.
It is your social rival, Daphne Goodengold.
She looks down at you and says,
My goodness, it seems like
maybe you should go into the shop for some repairs, or perhaps an exchange might be in order.
You look absolutely ghastly, dear.
First of all, my eyes are up here.
Secondly,
you need to take a moment.
This isn't you.
It's not what you want.
The bridge clubbers behind her laugh and say,
See, this was always your problem in the bridge club lady godwin you uh you never knew when to fold when your hand was weak
I feel compelled to stop you whatever you're doing causing a terrible ruckus honestly dear you are a bull in a china shop and we do love our china actually
I think if you remember
that was always your problem in bridge you wanted to re-bid the double when you really should have jump raised the qubit.
And then I
attacked with Jennifer Myers.
Okay, they are actually up next, followed by you.
Yeah, but they talked for so long.
It's kind of irrelevant.
Okay.
That was not free action territory.
Daphne Goodengold rushes you with the three bridge clubbers in tow.
The three bridge clubbers run to surround you and all pull out tiny little knives and they are going to take three attacks at you.
First one is a 13 versus AC.
19 versus AC hits.
You take two points of piercing damage as one of them gets you right in the buttock.
The third one rolls a
crit fail that is not going to hit.
And then Daphne Goodengold pulls out a fine-looking rapier and stabs it downward at you
for 17 versus AC, which hits.
She jabs this rapier down into your shoulder.
It pierces clean through to the other side.
You take six more points of piercing damage.
All right.
You are, however, up next.
Which one of you bitches stabbed my ass?
Bridge clubber to your side looks very nervous.
That was me.
I chucked them into the power source.
Okay.
Give me an attack roll.
Ooh.
Chilling.
Critical fail.
She kind of like just brushes your hands.
Honestly, dear.
Oh,
I've never been so offended.
My sensibilities.
Okay, I'll take my second attack.
Okay.
Now, now this this is Jennifer Myers at her.
I tried to chuck the other one, and I'm embarrassed, but we both had our fun.
So now I'm going to attack Daphne with Jennifer Myers.
Okay.
I can attack her.
I'm mad at her.
The most mad at her.
Sure.
That's a 16 versus 18.
That absolutely hits.
That's excellent news.
I just can't get it going today.
I see five with Jennifer Myers.
You slash Jennifer Myers
and
you catch her sort of across the torso,
leaving a gash just under her right clavicle and she looks up at you her pearls fall to the street She looks up at you and says my goodness lady Godwin I know you've lost your body, but have you lost your good graces too
There's a 20
are you attacking again?
Yeah, yeah, absolutely that hits
Okay, that one's 10 damage Boy, yeah.
With a 10 damage,
you swing this battle axe back upwards at her as it crashes into the ground and knock her back five feet.
She goes sort of...
Shouldn't have dummied the no trump on a discard finesse.
I genuinely have always suspected you do not understand the rules of bridge.
Aye, well you're the declarer's partner.
I guess that makes you the dummy.
The bridge clubbers all turn to look at Daphne Goodengold and let out a chuckle.
She says, how dare you?
She is looking quite bad.
She is bloodied.
Next in the order is
the theater troupe.
The ingenue is going to sneak up and
she stays just outside of the
spotlight.
No, she doesn't.
What am I talking about?
She jumps right into the middle of the spotlight and looks at you lady godwin and says how come all your friends are so old
uh she hits you with vicious mockery again make a wisdom saving through please
uh you got it
wow uh that is a five
insufficient you are going to take
Two points of psychic damage, and you will have disadvantage on your next attack roll.
Woof.
Actually, I think we forgot about that in that last round, but I'll definitely remember this time.
Next in the order is...
The Mimes are going to engage Pierre Reynolds in combat down here in the corner.
The four mimes have turned back away from the fight happening here at the central district.
Next in the order is Philo.
Philo, you are still looking down at the northwest quarter of this block.
You see in front of you the power conduit that you went wide with an acid arrow on, and all of the visual artists here are looking up at you.
It is your action, though.
Okay.
Ditto, you remember the old days when we
played the game and just had fun?
You remember?
And just
did wild stuff and didn't.
Just make your opening offer, please, so I can counter it with something
resembling logic.
Oh, fantastic.
Cool.
Oh, no way, dad.
You want him to let you do what you want?
Yeah.
Let's see.
Let's see what's on the table, Matt.
All right.
Here's what we're going to do.
Here's what you're going to suggest.
I realize this is an uncomfortable reversal of the usual power dynamics between father and son.
I know.
And you love it.
Okay, here's the deal.
Philo is going to launch himself off the corner of the building.
He can still fly.
It has not been an hour.
Agreed.
And he's going to
everything you've said so far, totally on the level.
He's going to take a more hands-on approach to this orb.
Okay.
Okay.
So he's going to fly over the heads of the
creatures guarding it,
land on the orb.
Okay.
And using his artificer skills and his tinkerer's tools.
Interesting, interesting.
Okay.
I don't hate this.
If they try to
disconnect.
No, no, he's going to try to overload.
Okay, cool.
I love that.
What's that look like?
What kind of tool are you using?
Do you have some sort of like car jump starting?
I mean, you're a little guy, so I'm not sure.
This is what is so weird about
tool definitions in DD 5e.
There's not a lot of definition as to what they are.
Sure, no, I'm asking you from
a narrative.
It's Jim Crackery.
It's going to be a.
I don't know what that is.
I don't know what it is either.
I just like the word Jim Crackery.
No, it's like probably
Phillips head.
Are you checking out Jim Crackery?
Just a quick
so bad, man.
There's a lot that could, a lot of potential danger zones.
A Phillip.
I love a Phillips head screwdriver prying it into this cheap show of useless trifles, ornaments, and trinkets.
Amazing.
Okay, yeah.
That's great.
Good pull that.
So you jam this Phillips head screwdriver.
Or sorry, Flathead?
Phillips head?
I think Flathead would probably work better.
Better for prying, yeah.
So you wedge that in underneath the sort of...
But it's important to use the tools
for what they're meant to be.
It's not as I taught you.
You know what I mean?
As I taught you.
As you taught me, Dad.
It's not a pry bar.
It's a screwed.
Okay, so I think this is going to be...
I think this is going to be either sleight of hand or arcana, right?
If you are doing something very dexterous with your hands, I think it is sleight of hand, but if you are like analyzing weaknesses in this object based on your sort of artificer knowledge and trying to exploit that, I think it would be Arcana.
Let's go with Arcana.
I'll do it.
I'll do Arcana.
Okay.
Arcana, checking.
Arcana, 19.
19, yeah.
I think with a 19, you easily just pop one of the windows off of this thing.
The destruction is
somewhat controlled.
I would say that
because of where you are on this orb, on top of it, as the electricity shoots out of all these different sort of windows as they burst open, you are still going to need to dodge, but I will give you advantage on the dexterity-saving throw to get out of the way of this bolt of electricity.
How about if I cast a spell?
Can I do that?
Shit, you know, magic?
Whoa, get out of town.
If it's a spell that can be cast sort of instantly, because absorb elements.
Hmm.
That's the way it worked before.
I cast it.
No, I know, but before it was a thing you set up in advance, right?
And this is very much like.
Yeah, true.
True, true, true.
This is okay.
Yes.
You're being very accommodating.
I appreciate it.
Thank you.
I think so too.
Make a dexterity, dexterity saving throw.
Dexterity saving throw.
Okay.
Here comes my dexterity saving throw.
That would be a nine.
You have advantage.
And
a
an 11.
Put us together.
It's a dirty 20.
Yes.
You do not save.
You feel like you are riding this bucking Bronco as electricity is shooting out of it on all sides.
Okay.
And it's going okay at first, and then you start to lose control of the yaw of this battery and you slide off of it directly into a bolt.
You take nine points of radiant damage as you are blasted backwards backwards off the sphere.
The only surviving member, the only one who made his save is the painter, who
finds you so beautiful, he asks you to pose.
He takes a step to run away.
Just sort of his fear, his human fear, sort of overriding the controls.
But he is stopped.
He bonks into the wall as his sort of body starts acting against its volition, and he is going to rush at you.
he has uh he's got a paintbrush he's gonna try and stab you with the sharp end of it
oh wow that is a crit he crits with his paintbrush stab
uh he jabs it right into your little doll eye for
uh eight points of piercing damage
uh he looks surprised at he looks down and says uh
oh wow uh at the like effectiveness of this attack.
And he stands up a little bit straighter.
He feels confident.
He feels confident about himself for the first time.
Next in the order.
Next in the order is Mutt.
Mutt, you have broken away from sort of the fraucus here as you approach the northeast quarter of the map.
How are Philo and Lady Godwin looking?
Strong.
Like hip on.
I mean, Philo has a paintbrush.
I'm about half as strong as she normally looks.
Philo has a paintbrush sticking out of his eye.
Otherwise, he's looking okay, but you can't really see him from where you are.
You have like a building and all of Lumino Tower between you and Philo.
Great, great.
I'm seeing a lot of exes over there, Philo, and nobody else but Pinocchio doing a good job over there, pal.
Okay, well, there's still a lot going on in the center of town that I'm leaving behind.
And I've there's a mass murder happened in the northwest, and nobody's concerned.
Yeah, this maniac puppet is just killing people.
I'm going to summon a beast.
Okay.
A new knight of the realm
that I'm going to send over to help Lady Godwin out in the center of town.
Cool.
And I'm going to summon
an Eastern gorilla.
Okay, man.
Listen.
I read through it.
I choose
the form.
That's one of the options.
I guess there is no.
Okay.
Oh, great.
There is a.
I just wanted to make sure there's.
Are you trying to tell me gorillas ain't invented in Dracula times?
No, I mean, clearly they clearly are.
There was a bodyguard at the warehouse.
Yes, you're right.
So there is precedent.
It says right here, the creature resembles an animal of your choice.
Yeah.
Hey, were there any of the
dinosaur transformers there?
Oh, good question.
No, none of the dino transformers in this one.
Okay, Okay, you create a gorilla, and you can now see it on the map, because World 20 gives me too much power.
I am like a god.
Kevin, I need you to go over, sir, Kevin, excuse me.
I need you to go over, and you help out Lady Godwin, okay?
Of course, my liege.
Word my life for your honor.
Indeed.
Perhaps I could be granted a fiefdom for this loyal service to the Wilson.
Okay, how you do a little non-committal my liege.
Well, no losing I'm open to the idea man, but
you have give me banana yum yum.
Oh, yeah, no definitely give banana yum yum.
Here you go man
He give him two bananas he eats them the normal way in two big
dracula times a normal normal crunch and then I'm gonna continue towards the north uh east corner while he goes down
uh
yeah
down What are you trying to get him to engage with?
Jeremy?
I'm sitting here
about Lady Godwin because she's surrounded by folks.
And does he move on your turn after your turn?
He moves after my turn.
Okay, so I'll leave him here and you can command him later.
Okay, where do you run up to?
I'm.
You were right.
I'm trying to get a look at what's going on in that northeast corner around the thing, preferably without being noticed.
Without being noticed.
Okay, give me a stealth check.
So you try to creep.
Yeah.
I creep.
15 plus 4, 19.
Yeah, with a 19, you are able to,
behind the silhouette of this giant gorilla, you will be able to get away.
So you can move.
You're just trying to get up in that northwest quarter?
Yeah, I'm just trying to scope out what kind of bad guys we're looking at up there.
Okay, with six spaces, you are able to get right right in there right um
you reach this clearing and
there is no one in there oh six um
is that the end of your turn
um
i yeah that's my action my movement yeah
Next in the order is Kevin.
It's Kevin.
What do you have Kevin doing?
Sir Kevin's going to come running in
and he's going to
throw a big barrel that I assume is nearby
at
the Toady's and Bridge Lady.
Okay, so like Darish.
Into the middle of the group.
Yeah.
Sure, man.
He picks up a barrel and is going to make a ranged attack throw.
I'm going to say this is going to hit one, right?
Or he can try to hit one as a thrown object.
It doesn't explode or anything.
So, do you want him to aim at Daphne Goldengood or one of the bridge clubbers?
Aim at Daphne Goldengood.
No problem.
You see Kevin, Sir Kevin, pick up a barrel and launches it.
And it sails through the air over the shattered conduit.
So he got a nine plus seven 16.
16 hits.
Lady Godwin, you see Daphne Goldengood, who is sort of already on her last legs, stand up and say,
Your membership
to the Lumino Yacht Club is hereby revoked.
And then a big, big barrel comes flying through the air and smashes in on her, sending her crashing to the cobblestone street below,
and she is unconscious.
The other bridge clovers at this look at her and then look back at you, and they seem a bit shaken.
Listen to me.
This is not the time to revoke your opening lead.
You may have a losing trick count right now, but trust me, if you hold on to your LHO, your RHO, keep them all where you want them, soon you'll be the declarer, no longer the dummy.
Make a persuasion check with me.
I will contest it as Dracula.
I've rolled a 13.
Dracula rolled a five plus six for an 11.
Yes.
The ladies.
The bridge clubbers look at you, Lady Godwin.
They look at the
broken frame of their former sort of of social alpha and then recognizing a leader when they see one, they look at each other and then they reach up and they just rip the bolts out of their neck.
Yeah.
And they die.
And then immediately all three of them are like, oh, fuck!
Oh,
fuck.
Fuck.
Now listen, the three of you have to act fast.
You must go down and finish off.
Because of the blood loss?
No, no, we'll get you patched up.
i have a magical puppet but listen
you have to go finish off daphne before it's too late what she won't be unconscious for long
she told listen are you listening she told me in in confidence that she was all doing it for herself and dracula wasn't even involved she said i'm just wild for this She's been turned evil and you have to finish her.
It looks like she went all in on the wrong trick, hand.
Yes, she did over call a bit on the response.
And now I'm calling up your contract.
I bid you
finish off Daphne.
Just smash her head into the ground or hit it with a bigger body.
They need no more convincing from
their social sigma.
They fucking peel off and just go over to Daphne Goodengold, who looks up sort of bleerly, and then they all just get to stomping.
And she's like, why?
Oh, God, we tell tell them to stop.
If you need a new baldy, I know a great guy.
She'll never afford it.
What's your name, by the way, gorilla?
Sir Kevin.
Well, Sir Kevin, I believe this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship.
Would you like to go rip her arms off?
Four banana yum yum.
Sir Kevin makes Smash old lady.
Yes.
Yes.
I think that you I think that my bridge partners have it well in hand.
Oh, I understand.
Will you marry?
I'm not going to go down for this.
Will you?
No question.
Will you marry?
Will you marry Sir Kevin?
Interesting.
Weird question.
Weird question.
Sir Kevin, just joking.
Sir Kevin, go.
Find banana yum yum.
He runs away.
Fucking embarrassed.
Uh
Mutt.
Does a 16 beat your AC?
It certainly does, Griffin.
You are standing in this clearing looking at the last surviving conduit in this power grid.
And just as you are about to take action from it,
you feel a knife plunge into
your back.
Aw, man.
You
take seven points of piercing damage.
I need you to make a constitution saving throw.
Oh, Griffin.
It's a two plus three, a five.
You
fall to the ground
and
you realize
that you are paralyzed.
You try to move, to to come to your feet, to take any kind of defensive position,
but something is coursing through your veins that is making that quite impossible.
A foot
kicks you roughly over so that you are lying on your back, bleeding on the streets of Lumino.
You still have your lantern on your belt, and as you roll, it shines upwards.
And
where there is at first
nothing,
there is suddenly
a shadow of light, a projection that this lantern is making visible.
It is of a young man
with a mop top of curly hair
holding the blade.
The invisible man
has come for his revenge.
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