(uptempo dramatic music)
(scroll whirring)
(numbers ticking)
(uptempo dramatic music continues)
(leaves rustling)
(uptempo dramatic music continues)
(intense whooshing)
(uptempo dramatic music continues)
(forks tinging)
(light bug whirring)
(light bugs continue whirring)
(uptempo dramatic music continues)
(uptempo dramatic music continues)
(light bug whirring)
(uptempo dramatic music fades)
(intense whooshing)
- Hello, everyone,
and welcome to the 6th
and final episode of "The Ravening w*r"
here on "Dimension 20".
I will be your humble dungeon master
for the remainder of this
final episode, Matthew Mercer.
Let's go ahead and say hi to
our Scrumptious Scoundrels.
Say hi, Scrumptious Scoundrels!
- [Group] Hi, Scrumptious Scoundrels!
- Lou chewed up an eraser!
(group laughs)
- [Aabria] You bit it!
(interposing voices)
- [Aabria] Lou bit it!
- You have bits of eraser
on your lips.
- [Anjali] On your lips!
- [Lou] Do I?
- [Anjali] Yeah.
(Matt laughs)
Yeah.
It's right there, dude.
That's...
(Aabria laughs)
That is commitment to a gesture.
- [Aabria] Oh, my god!
- I know!
I've never been watching
a bit committed to so hard
while knowin' I couldn't say anything.
- [Anjali] Yeah.
- I was seeing it,
and I couldn't say anything.
- Are we good?
Are we good?
- You were in bit limbo.
Yeah, you're great.
- [Anjali] You're just
gonna be pickin' pieces
of eraser out of your teeth
for a little, yeah.
- [Lou] I am, yeah.
- (laughs) It's like-
- That, to me,
sounds like you're ready.
- [Group] Whoo!
(Matt laughs)
- I'm erasing.
- Ey hey hey.
(group laughs)
- As our unlikely troupe of allies
and friends over these many
years of w*r have come together
and trekked beneath the city of Pangranos,
as w*r begins to rage above,
you follow the mycelium network
and the Saprophian fungal folk,
discovering strange phrases,
discussions of an event,
where this mycelium heart has made a deal,
been convinced to work with the FDA,
the Sanctus Putris to release toxic spores
into the throes of this w*r above,
and wipe out a mass number
of Calorum's strongest.
The following decay
spreading across the land
will be enough to keep
the Hungry One at bay,
and save the world from
an eventual apocalypse,
or so they seem to believe.
You may have your own unique
ideas of where they tread.
By pushing through these caverns,
slaughtering members of this
strange Illuminati society,
treating with some of these Saprophians,
asking them questions, making friends,
telling them to stay
safe and out of your way,
you've gathered robes,
and through illusion and deception,
approached the center of
the Saprophus society,
where there is a massive,
coliseum-cathedral-like-structure
of ancient stone.
The mycelium gathering in
brilliant, glowing, blue light.
You step past the guards,
ascend the steps,
and enter the open doorway
that leads to the chamber within.
As you rise to the apex of
the stairs, and glance over,
you can see the vibrant glow
within this long, oval-shaped room.
This is ancient grainstone
and petrified wheat products,
This is ancient grainstone
and petrified wheat products,
massive, long dried and carved buns,
bagels, muffins,
things that have been
brought here as symbols
of what once, and still decays,
in the lands above Ceresia,
and here reside as symbols of what
feeds the people of this land,
monuments to that, which is
left behind and forgotten,
discarded to fall away, and
bring life to this fungus,
to this heart of the mycelium,
and the people that
live with and around it.
Within this chamber,
you also see a number of cloaked figures,
hooded and robed.
A number of remaining members
of the architects sit,
facing towards the back of the chamber,
where, within these old ruins,
this majestic, gargantuan,
gathered cluster
of pulsing fungus
forms a singular being,
this incredible, overwhelming entity
that fills the entire
backside of the room,
rising up and clinging to the ceiling,
and creating the ceiling above.
This pulsing mass....
(Matt imitates heart pumping)
All the light being pulled
from the mycelium into it.
This is the Heart of Saprophus.
This is the heart of the world
that you touched five years before.
And there, you see it,
incredible, more than
you could have imagined.
As you begin to step past the threshold,
the Blueberry guard that
escorted you along the way
shouts out to break the low chanting
and murmuring of these gathered members
of the Sanctus Putris.
Archbishop!
Sorry to bother you.
You might like to see
what has been caught?
(dramatic music builds)
And with that,
ushers the approach of your troupe.
As you begin to step further in,
you hear the (imitates object dragging)
sound of a large, ancient stone biscuit
that rotates in to close
the doorway behind you.
There, you see an essential chamber,
a number of Saprophian warriors
that's kind of merged with
the perimeter-gathered mold
and fungus that fills the
exterior walls of this ruin.
Broken stone itself now swollen
and corroded with the fungus
Broken stone itself now swollen
and corroded with the fungus
that represents the core of
this subterranean nation.
As these warriors kind
of step out to flank,
the robed figures turn,
and there atop the stone platform
that meets the base of the heart,
you see the now full-standing appearance,
hood back, of the archbishop
herself, Camille Colliflour.
hood back, of the archbishop
herself, Camille Colliflour.
The waddle hanging over
the edge of the robe,
bright eyes, and a wide grin,
that I think only you've
seen key terrifying moments.
She holds to her right a Bulbian staff,
where an alien metal has gathered,
like the natural crystals within a cavern,
spikes jutting in all directions,
not unlike the one that you recovered,
the larger in its haloed-terrifying mass.
You also see another robed
figure pull the hood back,
as the twisted pasta hair reveals itself,
the Senator Ariana looking
over in your direction.
And stepping from what you thought
was a mass of fungus
connected to this heart,
(squelching movement)
a 10 to 12 foot tall Saprophian creature
with a wide cap, a wrinkled,
withered face into a scowl,
what looks to be these
deep, sunken, pale eyes
that glimmer with an odd color.
As it kind of crawls its way
forward, hunched and bent,
you see, and assume this to be,
the Elder of the Saprophians.
As they all begin to step forward
kind of to the central
portion of this chamber
before the Archbishop to
see what's being presented,
the Archbishop raises her hands and staff.
By what wondrous fortune
brings the two of you to us?
I cannot help but question
as to what unique possibilities
have brought you on your knees to us?
And as she says, "On your knees",
there's like an expectant wait.
- I immediately push down Amangeaux.
(body thuds)
That felt kinda good.
(Aabria stifles laughter)
- [Matt] Looks over to you.
- I notice that Raphaniel
isn't pushing me,
so I go (grunts loudly),
and I kneel down myself.
(group laughs)
(Aabria laughs)
- I think
Raphaniel's seeing the heart of the world,
and is...
- [Zac] (whisper) Keep it together.
(Brennan mumbles indistinctly)
- Just a little longer.
Keep it together.
(Brennan smacks lips loudly)
- [Anjali] Keep it together.
(group laughs)
- [Anjali] What is happening?
- I think I do my best
to my body to kind of block
in my kneeling.
(interposing voices)
- [Anjali] Yeah, yeah, yeah, exactly!
- And I'm just trying to
maybe go on one knee,
just to block Raphaniel,
maybe moving slightly
to the left and right,
so-
- Would you put
a pastrami sandwich in a smoothie?
(Brennan whispers)
- But Raphaniel...
Raphaniel, be quiet.
We-
(Brennan mumbles)
Be quiet, be quiet!
(Brennan whispers)
- Archbishop?
- Yep?
What?
- That's not you.
(group laughs)
- (laughs) Dude!
- All attention goes
(imitates wind whooshing)
right to you, Amangeaux.
- The Chief and I had
united the Meat Lands
and the Fructerans.
We'd been seeking some
form of alternate entrance
to the City of Ceresia for espionage
and other strategies that you
don't need to know anything about,
and we found this place,
and together, he and I decided
that we needed to explore further,
and we got caught up in this
ridiculous web of yours again!
and we got caught up in this
ridiculous web of yours again!
- Fortuitous, indeed,
for I thought our dalliances
had come to an end.
You helped all of this come
to be, knowingly or not.
Still, I look upon you gracious,
and thankful, grateful,
like many before you, and many since.
You've taken the wisdom,
and help save them all.
- [Brennan] Telepathically,
to Karna, I'm going to say,
do we end it one way or the other?
- There is no room for
discretion or stealth.
- I will subtle upcast Shatter
on the tightest concentration of them,
trying to get the Elder and
the Archbishop Camille both.
(Anjali inhales sharply)
- [Matt] Well, then...
(indistinct whispering)
let's go ahead and bring
out the battle map.
(group cheers)
- Ooww!
(intense whooshing)
- Wow!
- This is gonna end bad.
(interposing voices)
- This is so beautiful!
- [Matt] This looks like this was built
a very, very, very long time ago,
and it was either
constructed by the ancestors
of what the current Saphorians are,
or something before them,
but whatever it is,
it is filled with all manner
of unique fuzzed mold and fungus,
and mushrooms bursting
forth from every corner,
as all the light is drawn
into the center heart.
As you gather on that opposite end,
I would like you all to roll Initiative.
(group cheers)
But because
you subtle spelled and initiated this,
you do get one cast of Shatter
at the beginning of this.
- [Brennan] Cool.
By the nature of
what your build was,
where would you like that casting to go?
- I know that I can't,
but I'll go for the Archbishop
and anyone else I can reach.
- [Matt] You can maybe
get that other one there,
and that's all you can get.
- Okay.
So I'll get those two then.
- [Matt] Okay.
- And it's gonna be upcast
and it's a subtle spell.
Something very violent happens,
but there's no indication
that it was, you know?
- The earthquakes are back!
(Anjali speaks indistinctly)
- The earthquakes, wow!
- Oh, my god!
- [Aabria] God, not again.
- We must be
on the fault line?
- What is happening?
(group laughs)
- Definitely on a fault line.
- Is it us?
- And I think, reflexively squeeze onto
the piece of steel I'm holding,
as I reach in for
this Shatter ability.
- You have it.
Go for it.
Roll damage.
(dice clatter)
- Okay, not bad!
That's gonna be 20,
20 points of thunder damage.
- 20 points thunder.
That's great.
- [Anjali] Rawr!
- What is the DC?
- DC is 16 constitution.
- Got you.
The Bishop got 18, and the
other figure got 16 exactly.
- Okay.
- [Matt] So that's 10
damage to each of them,
I believe?
- Mm-hmm.
As they're in the middle
of this conversation,
and the Elder is turning
to speak in that direction,
as you're all kind of
taking in the surroundings,
the still silence, the eye contact,
the churning of wheels within your heads
of what's about to happen.
(Matt imitates expl*si*n booming)
This massive detonation of sound
and force just bursts across the chamber!
You watch as the Archbishop
is nearly thrown to the side,
catching herself on her staff,
as one of the other figures
over here kind of gets low,
and you watch as the
robe is almost blown up,
and part of their lower
back is suddenly damaged
and heavily sundered on the side
from the impact of whatever
this expl*si*n was.
As soon as that happens,
they all kind of turn and
look back to the rest of you,
and the Archbishop kinda smiles.
Well, that was exciting.
Initiative, if you all would please,
if you don't mind?
25 to 20.
(dice clatters)
- [Aabria] Oh, no!
- 23.
- [Matt] 23!
- [Zac] Ow!
- [Aabria] Okay!
What?
- Come on, come on!
Well, he's in his element.
- Raph,
whatcha doin'
- He's in his element.
- 20 to 15?
- 18.
- [Matt] 18, alrighty!
15 to 10.
- 11.
(electricity buzzing)
- 14.
- [Matt] 14.
- 12.
- [Matt] Nice!
So as that tension is
immediately cut in the room,
and there is a palpable air of go, now,
we begin, Raphaniel,
with you at the top of the initiative.
What would you like to do?
- [Brennan] Okay.
Everything has come down to this.
(players laugh)
It's all tunnel vision.
The Elder, they slip out of my head.
I just see the Archbishop Camille.
I'm gonna move 30 feet forward.
- [Matt] Okay.
- Take my movement.
I'm going to do a combo on Camille again,
still catch the other
person in that Shatter.
But I'll do another upcast Shatter,
and this time, I'm gonna
spend a Bardic Inspiration
to do Unsettling Words,
and minus a D8 from
her saving throws.
- Beautiful.
- Okay, as you are about to go ahead
and throw the Shatter into place,
you see this cloaked figure
just kinda go (imitates wind whooshing),
put a hand up,
and the spell...
(wind whooshing)
(Brennan gasps)
Vanishes.
- No, no!
- Oh, no!
- In that case,
I think I would've used
Unsettling Words as well.
So it doesn't work on my spell.
But the next saving throw that she makes
before the start of that next turn
is gonna be minus six.
- [Aabria] Oh!
- You got it!
- [Lou] Cool.
- All right!
Let's keep that in mind!
Mark that, Raphaniel,
Does that finish your turn?
- That finishes my turn.
- [Matt] All right.
Colin, you are up next.
- Okay.
Colin is out of his...
A little out of his depth.
He's gonna look around,
and see this person do the Counterspell,
or do something to stop Raphaniel,
and he's gonna do a full
dash up to that guy.
and he's gonna do a full
dash up to that guy.
- [Matt] Okay!
- [Anjali] Yeah!
- [Zac] So he's at 80 feet,
and arcing, hopefully,
away from the Elder.
- 25, 30, 35, 40?
- [Lou] Are we done pretending?
- [Matt] And then you're-
- Hopefully,
being around, and not-
- [Matt] Right.
- [Zac] Yeah, if I possibly can?
- [Matt] Yeah, so you're like...
(Matt mumbles)
- And yeah,
and with Cunning Action.
- 25, 30, 35, 40
will get you there.
And then Cunning Action,
you can definitely get into
combat with that figure.
- And I'm just going to attack.
Let's do it.
I can't be havin' that.
(dice clanks)
A 19 hit?
- 19 hits.
- Okay, and that will
be with Sneak Attack,
because I'm swashbucklin'.
- Indeed!
- Okay, so...
(dice clatter)
That is seven, eight.
15 damage, and then they
have to do the DC15 con save.
- Con save?
No, it's a 13!
- Okay, so on their
turn, they'll take a D4
of wounding damage.
So I'm just sort of
- You've got it.
- hitting that guy,
and then-
(Matt groans painfully)
Then I'm like, I'm just gonna keep goin'.
- Go for it.
(dice clatters)
- Oh.
(dice clatters)
- That is only a 12.
- 12 unfortunately misses.
The first strike however does
sink deep into their body.
And you withdraw the blade
and go for a second one,
they kind of pull away,
and just with a wave of their hand,
this little blast of arcane energy
kind of deflects the weapon.
- [Zac] Okay.
I'm just kinda looking over my
shoulder at the giant Elder,
like, so...
(Anjali laughs)
We'll see how this goes.
- The Elder which is just like...
(Matt grunts angrily)
Kind of slowly turning in that direction.
One eye kind of (imitates
cracking sound) scoots over
and looks in the direction
of the Archbishop.
Does that finish your turn?
- Yes.
- Alrighty.
It is now the Archbishop's turn.
The Archbishop on the staff goes,
oh, I wasn't expecting quite
a sudden, aggressive front.
oh, I wasn't expecting quite
a sudden, aggressive front.
Stands up, turns around, and
looks up to the heart above,
and goes, (breathes heavily)
but the work must be done.
The work must be done!
Is going to begin chanting.
- Oh.
(Matt chants in harsh whispers)
- (harsh whisper) Deus-Pa'Zuul,
Deus-Pa'Zuul, Deus-Pa'Zuul
- That's gonna go ahead-
- [Anjali] Does anyone have a reaction?
(Brennan laughs heartily)
Does anyone have-
Oh, no, I'm like, what
do I have as a reaction?!
There's gotta be something!
- Finishing the Archbishop's turn,
focusing on this chanting,
a figure you did not notice
steps from behind that croissant,
as a voice goes,
oh, this is gonna be interesting.
And Quichéi
- [Lou] Quichéi!
been hiding in the shadows.
(players cheer)
- [Anjali] Quichéi!
- [Brennan] Oh, we shouldn't be excited
to see him.
- [Aabria] No, I'm not excited
to see him!
He's actually-
- [Anjali] Oh, I thought
he was on our-
- [Aabria] Why?
Why would you think that?
- [Lou] I just like his name.
- [Anjali] I do, too.
- It's a fun name to say.
- That's mostly what
the yelling-
- Yeah.
- [Lou] This is very bad.
- As he rushes you, Amangeaux.
- Yeah, it's great.
(Lou laughs)
'Cause I got so excited.
- [Aabria] To be very clear
I was like,
- [Aabria] I throw you forward.
oh, my god, dude, I'm so glad to see you!
- It's kind of a weird reunion,
but business is business,
and he throws his blade in
the air, catches it, (grunts)
goes in with two wounds.
- Uncanny Dodge.
- [Matt] All right, so the
first strike is a natural 20!
- [Aabria] Oh, no!
(interposing voices)
(interposing voices continue)
- Just give him the barbs.
- [Matt] All right.
How many spell slots-
- I am running out
of spell slots, Matt.
You've noted.
- Yeah, yeah.
(Aabria squeaks)
- All right,
that first strike is now, instead,
just a 23.
- Jesus, but it's not a crit?
- [Matt] It is not a crit.
- [Anjali] Okay.
I give myself advantage.
- Alrighty.
And so the second strike
against you with his offhand
is gonna be a natural 19.
So-
- Yep, it hits.
They both hit.
- [Matt] Two hits on you,
but not a crit, which'll
help out for that.
So the first one is gonna be
nine points of slashing damage.
- Okay.
- And just
(imitates whooshing) streaks across you.
The second one is gonna be...
Ah, it's only four points
of slashing damage.
- Does that include the halving,
because of the Uncanny Dodge?
- No, the Uncanny Dodge
would've reduced the first one,
which is, I think, nine
points of damage, what I said?
- Okay, so-
- The nine becomes a four.
- Okay, all right, okay.
- So four and four,
so eight damage total.
As you go forward, and he
strikes you the first time,
you kind of pull back, and
with your blade parry it,
and it kinda catches your shoulder,
and he kind of, for a moment,
looks impressed, and goes,
okay, not too bad.
You've been workin' out.
And takes the other blade
and jams it right into the sternum.
You pull away,
preventing it from piercing
deep to any major organs,
but it does cut into you.
(grunts painfully) You
withdraw from the blade.
And that's gonna go ahead
and finish his turn.
The end of Quichéi's go.
Karna, you're up with Deli on deck.
- Sweet.
As I exclaim my Silvery Barbs,
and push Amangeaux away,
I just wanna check in
with Raphaniel, and go,
Colliflour, we have to stop her.
- You just hear scrambling,
weeping, crying.
I'm gonna go ahead and hang up that phone.
(Anjali laughs)
- Hang that up, yeah.
- Okay, interesting.
I'm going to go Invisible,
and movement and bonus action
dash as quietly as I can,
and I'm just making my way for her.
- [Matt] The movement of-
- [Aabria] 30.
(Matt mumbles counting)
30.
30'll get you about there.
- [Aabria] Cool.
- We're gonna go ahead
and mark this here as
your invisibility spot,
- Perfect.
- as you are not
currently seen on the b*ttlefield.
- That's all there is.
- All right, that's your go!
Finishing Karna's go,
Delissandro, you're up
with Amangeaux on deck.
- I think during most of this,
and now, kind of all over the place,
Deli has had his eyes mostly on Gemelli.
Matt, can I ask,
when would've been the last
time I corresponded with her?
- I guess that's up to you.
After you finished the
assassination of Queen Rocks,
you would've been initiating
any future correspondence.
- I think I probably
would've written to her
once after that.
- I think she would've responded,
but it would've taken some time,
and it would've been rather short,
just saying, things are a
bit messy here in Ceresia.
I have a lot to focus on.
Maybe some point soon we can
meet up and have a coffee?
- Oof!
- Oh, wow!
- And then would...
Karna, would you have
told me about your time
with her in Ceresia?
- Yeah, absolutely.
- All right, and you
would've very much gleaned
in your short time there that she had,
not just recently,
but long been saddled up with Focaccia
(Aabria speaks faintly)
as a prospective partner
in both political ventures and personal.
- They f*ck'!
- Mmm.
(Aabria laughs)
I think, at this moment,
there's a lot going on.
(players laughing)
- I'd say that.
(interposing voices)
I'd say, that feels true.
- Would Deli have ever told Karna about...
- I think I maybe would've told you
that the entanglement...
Would you have asked me
any more about the romantic entanglement
that I put forward as baseline trust?
- Not based on that,
but if I clocked any sort
of reaction when I told you
I had worked even tangentially around her.
- There definitely would've been
an attempt to hide something
that you maybe would've clocked.
- I liked to think I clocked it,
and I was very sad.
- I think I'm going to move
30 feet in her direction,
- I think I'm going to move
30 feet in her direction,
getting up, dropping the masquerade,
(Matt mumbles counting)
- [Matt] 30.
- and just,
(breathes heavily) you...
(Lou continues breathing heavily)
You lied.
You lied to me.
You told me, "If I united the Meat Lands
that you would be there,
that you would come!"
- [Matt] I did not lie.
It was Basha that united them.
(Aabria squeals)
- I saved myself.
(laughs)
- [Anjali] Ohh!
- This guy's a virgin?
(players laughing)
- I wanted...
I wanted to be slammed down
big style as the Bulb rose.
You lied!
You lied!
- [Anjali] Oh, my god!
(players laughing)
- I lied to my kin,
betrayed my mother for you!
I'm gonna close.
(players laughing)
- Uh-huh.
- [Matt] All right, there's 30.
35, 40.
What's your speed?
- [Lou] My speed is 40.
I have reach of 10.
- Okay, so hold on.
There's 5, 10, 15, 20, 25, 30, 35, 40.
So, yeah, you cannot
quite close the distance,
unless you want to use
your action to dash,
or you can throw your spear?
- Oh, I think I'm gonna
throw Detriter-
(group laughs)
- Come on!
(group continues laughing)
- I'm going to chuck it.
(Matt imitates object whooshing)
Yeah.
(players laughing)
- Oh, my god!
- [Matt] Yes!
- And this will mean...
You are five feet short,
- (laughs) Yeah.
- and so this means
that you will not have a reach weapon
to defend yourself with
- Yep.
- in the entire coming round.
- Yep.
(Lou laughs)
- Can he get it back?
He can get it back.
- I'm pissed.
I'm gonna go into a Rage.
- Go for it.
(object clatters)
(group laughs)
- [Anjali] No!
- [Brennan] Ah, it can do it!
It can do it!
- That's a 17?
- 17 still hits.
- [Anjali] Yes!
- [Lou] Okay, thank god!
(Aabria laughs)
- [Matt] AC was 16 on that.
- Yeah, okay, great.
I'm gonna chuck Detriter.
- Oh, my god!
- [Matt] You got it.
- Great.
(dice clatters)
I re-roll ones.
(dice clatters)
It's another one.
(players laughing)
- Oohh!
- I chuck my magical named weapon
to do 10 points of damage.
- Hey, 10 points of damage
is better than none.
- Hey, thank you, Matt.
(players laughing)
Thanks for sayin' that.
- It's what I'm here for.
- [Lou] But yeah,
I chuck Detriter at her.
- There is a moment that that confidence
that she always carries,
and even held until the moment
that you screamed in her face,
you see her trying to find words
to manipulate her way out of
any sort of guilt or worry,
and try and turn it back around on you,
like she's so good at doing,
but she begins to falter.
As in but a split second,
(Matt snaps fingers)
every muscle in your
torso pulls, retracts,
and reflexively throws this thing
with a massive amount of strength,
as it (skin squelching)
catches her in the hip,
and pierces in about six inches.
Still sticking out,
she hold it like...
(Matt grunts painfully)
(Matt pants heavily)
And she looks at you,
and is about to retort,
before she kind of looks a bit confused,
and starts looking over her
shoulder towards the Archbishop,
listening to the chanting.
Does that finish your turn?
- Well, yes, that'll be it.
- [Matt] Okay, that finishes your go.
That brings us now to you.
- [Anjali] Okay, I am gonna disengage
using my bonus action to disengage.
I want to get as far forward
as I can, which is...
♪ 30 ♪
- All right, so-
(interposing voices)
A little bit ahead of
Raphaniel right there
would be a straight 30.
- And I am going to
sh**t at the the Archbishop
- [Matt] Go for it!
- sh**t my little
hand crossbow.
- Hand crossbow?
Alrighty.
(dice clatters)
- f*ck!
Yeah, that doesn't do anything, I'm sure.
It's 11.
- 11 unfortunately does
not hit the Archbishop.
It goes wide,
and (squelching) into one of the clusters
of soft, spongy fungus on
the outside of the heart.
- I thought I got better
over these few years,
but apparently, I didn't.
I don't have any more things to do,
so I will just protect...
I just wanna protect Raphaniel.
Keep an eye on Raphaniel.
- You've got it.
All right, that finishes your go.
The Elder, who's like,
(imitates grumbling)
is looking towards the
Archbishop, and goes...
And begins to talk in this
weird, flapping mouth,
but it sounds just like this...
(Matt mumbles winded)
Like it's just imitating
what it's seen as speech.
And those of you who have
connected with the spores,
you hear in the tail end
of it leaving your system,
this voice go,
it must be done.
(breathes heavily) All must be sundered,
the cycle broken,
Calorum must be sundered.
Calorum must be sundered.
And he's gonna go ahead and move forward.
(Matt imitates footsteps booming)
And...
(Matt imitates wind whooshing)
And all of these different
pockets in its body open
as spores fire out in a
10 foot radius around it.
So I need Raphaniel, I need
Amangeaux, and I need you,
Sir Colin Provolone,
to make a constitution
saving roll for me, please.
(dice clatters)
(dice continues clattering)
- 13.
- Seven.
- Four on the die for two.
- [Matt] (laughs) Okay.
(players laughing)
13, 7, and 4.
- [Anjali] Oh, buddy.
- All of you take nine
points of poison damage.
- Temporary hit points.
Temporary hit points.
Temporary hit points, yeah.
- Lovely!
- [Matt] And you are
all considered poisoned
for the time being.
- f*ck!
Right.
- [Matt] You can retake the saving throw
at the end of your turn.
- Sorry, no more Heroism.
Lost concentration.
(Matt imitates intense whooshing)
- The Heroism fades.
- Thank you, dude.
- Hey, man, I'm a scared, old man.
- [Anjali] Oh, buddy.
- So that finishes the Elder's turn.
It is now the other cloaked FDA members.
At this point now,
Senator Ariana, who's
looking a bit frazzled,
looks back at the Archbishop, and goes,
(whispers indistinctly)
what are you talking about?
We're supposed to...
We're supposed to go after Pangranos!
This is to reduce their armies to decay,
to save the world!
What are you talking about?
And you start listening
in now to the the phrases
and the chanting that
the Archbishop is saying
between the Deus-Pa'Zuul, Deus-Pa'Zuul.
Break the cycle.
Bulb and Hungry, they
are but two of the three.
The three before us must now fall as well.
The cycle will be broken, life rendered,
nothing but shadow, darkness.
Deus-Pa'Zuul, Deus-Pa'Zuul.
The teeth come and take
everything to nothing.
Deus-Pa'Zuul.
And you see this genuine confusion
and fear in the face of the Senator.
She takes the spear out,
(skin squelching)
and throws it to the ground,
(metal clanking)
and looks at you, and goes,
(pants heavily) this is
wrong, this is wrong!
And with that, she turns,
and races towards-
- [Anjali] Nice!
- the Archbishop.
Does pass you,
should you be inclined to take
an opportunity attack?
- Absolutely not.
- At this point,
she's gonna go ahead and reach
out to grab the Archbishop,
and try and shake her,
and as she does,
the Archbishop just kind
of continues chanting,
and you see the body kind of quaking,
as her arms go up, the staff
still grasping in her hand.
The most perceptive of us in this troupe
notice the metal on the staff is growing.
It is extending slowly from the edge.
At this sight,
the Senator gets nervous,
and takes a blade out,
(metal clanks)
and goes to go ahead
and jam it into the hip.
For...
That actually hits!
- Oh, good job.
- That's great!
For... okay.
(mumbles) That's eight points of damage.
- Okay.
- Okay.
The Archbishop...
(skin squelching)
(Matt grunts painfully)
Kind of head turns back
to look towards her,
the blood kind of curling
out the corner of the chin,
Deus-Pa'Zuul, Deus-Pa'Zuul,
and just keeps repeating it.
The Senator gets nervous,
and pulls the blade,
(skin squelching)
and kinda takes a step back,
and looks across the
room to the rest of you
with this genuinely-seen-many-ghosts
expression on her face.
with this genuinely-seen-many-ghosts
expression on her face.
That's gonna end her go,
as this figure is gonna go
ahead and shift around here
to try and kind of push
you up against this box,
and pulls out a short sword,
and it's gonna
strike towards you
- Right.
- for a natural one.
- Ooh!
(Zac grunts)
- Ahh!
(group laughs)
- Goes to swing,
and just kinda slips
on some of the fungus,
and like (yells),
(body thuds)
lands on their side,
and has to scramble to get back up.
Holding the blade with both hands,
ahh, I got ya!
Don't lie!
- That's humiliating.
(players laughing)
- Shut up!
It's not...
It's my big moment!
- Absolutely.
Is it? Wow!
This is what you consider a big moment?
- Sheesh
- [Anjali] It's sad.
- The other one who led
you and escorted you in
begins to give chase.
10, 15, 20, 25, 30.
Rushing up behind you, Raphaniel.
Blade out.
(Matt imitates weapon whooshing)
And is gonna go ahead and
attempt to stab you from behind
for a natural two.
That's gonna be an an eight.
(Brennan yells out frighteningly)
(group laughs)
- [Anjali] He's spry now, he's wily.
- Ha-ha, whoo!
(Anjali laughs)
I will dodge it.
I'm just in a...
Yeah, I'm in a blur.
I'm in a blur.
- You got it.
And with that,
the rest of the armored
Saphorans begin to close in.
They charge in.
The other one comes forward with its axe,
kind of following forward,
looking a bit perturbed,
but does not have the
sense of conscious thought
in the midst of this chaos
to make any choices beyond
what it was commanded to do.
And that one will swing towards you
with a natural 20, Raphaniel.
- With a natural 20 to me, huh?
Let's go ahead and Silvery Barbs that,
if we could be so kind?
- To a natural one!
(group cheers)
My god!
Okay.
- Praise the Bulb!
- [Matt] That's insane.
- I'm gonna give myself that advantage.
- You've got it.
You hear the footsteps
coming up from behind
and the quick (exhales loudly)
of the blade being pulled from the sheath,
and with that, you turn around,
release that instinctual blast
of of dark blessing energy towards it,
and as you do,
it almost seems to
recognize something within,
and kind of withdraw the blade,
not even making the attack
in the final moment.
The one that's coming
after you, Amangeaux,
is gonna go ahead
and attempt to strike
you with the blade for...
It's gonna be a 17 to hit.
- (scoffs) Just barely hits.
♪ But do I do it ♪
♪ Silvery Barbs ♪
(dice clacking)
- [Matt] You gonna do it?
- Yeah.
- [Lou] We barb-in'.
- I don't have
- [Anjali] enough hit points to-
- ♪ We barb-in' ♪
- A natural one!
What the f*ck?!
(Aabria giddily laughs)
- We're too fast, we're too fast!
We're quick like a cat!
- It's all good!
It's all good! There's a spell slot.
- We're just all shouting-
- [Matt] ♪ Burnin' those spell slots. ♪
No, no, no, no!
- [Matt] Just burnin' spell slots quickly.
- Yeah.
- All right.
- [Zac] Uh-oh!
(paper rustles)
- That's gonna go ahead and
finish the combat round.
The energy of the mycelium pulses,
and all of you feel this kind of
overwhelming sense of confusion,
sadness, worry,
and disappointment that
kind of just fills the air.
The energy almost becomes
electric with emotion.
You sense the heart itself is
confused about what's transpiring.
You're not sure from
which side or which angle.
To the top of the round, Raphaniel.
You're up with Colin on deck.
- Holding the steel,
I've been seeing it all my life.
I had visions of a blender of teeth
I had visions of a blender of teeth
preparing a delicious smoothie of a unity
that even the Bulb could not provide.
What a fool I was.
The teeth are not there to unite us.
They're not there for us to be consumed.
And I think,
even as axes and swords
are raining down around me,
I hold this alien piece of steel,
and I look and hear the words, the heresy,
that there are beings even
beyond the Hungry One.
The Hungry One is... is the enemy?
It's part of our theology.
It completes the cycle of the Bulb.
It is a part of this.
There are things even more
alien and otherworldly,
and I hear the chanting,
and I finally understand
Deus-Pa'Zuul, Deus-Pa'Zuul,
and I go,
What is food if never on is fed
when with strange disposals
even death lies dead?
And I am....
(Brennan laughs)
(Brennan continues laughing)
- Damn!
- Wow!
- It's cool when GM's
and other GM's play TTRPG's
- You know-
- That's great
(Matt applauds)
That's good.
- Whatever!
Whatever!
- That was nice.
- We speak things.
(group laughs)
We speak things, too!
We speak words!
- Disposal.
- (laughs) Disposal!
The f*ck?!
No!
I am gonna look at you,
Amangeaux.
- Oh.
- I'm gonna let the steel
clatter to the floor.
I'm not its champion.
It already has its champions.
One more thing that has not chosen me.
And I'm going to look at you.
We're back to back here.
I reach in,
I pull out the shard of the Bulb,
and I'm gonna look at you,
and telepathically say,
you must promise me that
you will survive this.
I am so glad that you are
as devious as I could have hoped.
Blessings for your child.
I thought I had robbed that from you.
- Immediately, tears
just spring to her face.
She's at a complete loss.
- A sachet of tea is what
they left on my windowsill.
And I want you to know, Lady Amangeaux,
I saw to poisoning your late husband
as many times as I could,
and I never meant for it
to rob you of a day of joy.
So I am glad that you took those matters
into your own hands.
(Anjali stammers)
(Anjali continues stammering)
- This is what happens?
She's just looking at these
guys, like, now, now, now?
Really, now?
Now?
- It's gotta be now,
'cause I'm about to flip out.
(group laughs)
And I'm going to move
in cunning action dash,
and I begin shouting,
resplendent light upon us from above,
for in the grace of the Bulb,
we shall all be made clean!
May its great glory gift us all
with the promise of eternal joy!
And I'm charging straight to the heart
of the mycelium network.
- [Matt] Okay, as you
move past shouting this,
and it begins to glow,
you watch as the Elder (grunts painfully)
winces in the presence of the
large burst of light,
and you charge for it.
- As he passes Karna,
you just feel a hand on your shoulder,
and then a push to keep you going.
- Okay, so with that
moving through, that's 30.
You said you moved 40?
- [Brennan] I'm gonna move 60,
'cause I'm gonna move and dash.
- You get right up to
where the mycelium is.
As you hold the light aloft,
you can see the pulsing
energy of it kind of recoils,
and you feel that fear
and confusion once more
here in the center.
The light of the sun
is a frightful presence
to beings of subterranean
darkness and dried fungal life.
You just watch it begin to retract a bit,
just slightly within itself,
as you rush forward alongside,
where both the Archbishop
and the Senator stand.
The Archbishop kind of just convulsing,
and looking back at the Senator chanting.
And as you rush up,
the Senator's head kind
of looks back towards you,
and the chanting stops
as you charge forward
with it in your hand,
and just says,
you've always been chosen,
and there's still time to join us.
(light suspenseful music)
What do you do, Raphaniel?
- Yeah, I-
I have an action left.
Can I make an insight
check in this moment?
- Yes, you may.
- To see if she is being genuine,
that I could join
this secret-
- Yes, you may.
- Okay, I'mma use my advantage here.
(dice clacks)
- [Aabria] No.
(dice clatters)
- Insight, that's a 22.
- 22.
Blood running from her mouth,
the blade wound in the back of the robe
now you can see drizzling
out by dark, deep,
verdant green blood of the Archbishop.
Her eyes trained on you,
bright, wide, smiling.
There is nothing but honesty here.
You've carried the seed this whole time,
and you've been brought
here at the right moment.
You merely just take the
hand of the Deus-Pa'Zuul,
and join them all in a
resplendent annihilation.
- Knowing that it's an honest offer,
and that the secret
society that runs the world
finally wants to invite me to their ranks,
my lip trembles.
- Don't leave me!
Don't leave me!
- I'm going to telepathically
look back at you, and say,
I am so sorry that I must disappoint,
but hopefully, you'll understand why.
You had your chance.
I'm no one's pawn!
And I'll use my action for
another 30 feet of movement
to dive into the mycelium
with the glowing light.
- [Matt] Ohh! What?!
Okay!
(intense whooshing)
- You leap within the fungal growth.
As the light trails in
(imitates whooshing)
lights from within,
you watch as masses of the
mycelium begin to pull back,
and you see it begin to quiver and twist.
The Bolete Elder that you see over there,
who is already wincing
from the light, goes,
(groans loudly) and pulls back.
You can hear echoing
through the upper windows
throughout the coliseum.
Thousands and thousands
of Saprophians screaming,
echoing through the subterranean tunnels.
Does that finish your turn?
- That finishes my turn.
- [Matt] Alrighty!
(Matt laughs)
(Anjali grumbles)
- Oh, alright!
- Sir Colin Provolone.
- Oh, god!
I, without him, go.
I was trying to hit this person,
so that he could go for her,
and now that he has gone,
I'm changing targets.
(Matt laughs)
I'm gonna disengage right
here and get to her.
- [Matt] You got it.
- I can do that in 40 feet.
- Oh, yeah, easily.
You charge up next to the
Senator still clutching her blade
and kind of reeling from the sudden
tiny shriveled radish man
that full on Superman dove
into this center of the
Saprophian mycelium.
- I'm just going like,
this doesn't feel great,
but I'm just gonna take some
attacks on this old lady.
(Brennan laughs)
- Go for it.
- All right.
- [Aabria] ♪ Yeah, k*ll that lady. ♪
♪ k*ll, k*ll that lady. ♪
- That lady,
Ey!
- [Zac] A dirty 20
on the first attack.
- That definitely hits.
- And the second attack...
(dice clatters)
Is a 18.
- Yeah, both hit.
Go and roll damage.
- Cool.
The first one was a sneak attack.
(dice clatters)
Ohh-wee!
Two ones on the sixes?
Come on!
- [Matt] That sucks.
- So that's eight, nine...
16 damage on the first hit,
and then second hit...
(dice clatters)
Is another 12.
So it's 28 damage.
- Wow!
Great.
So you rush forward, and slice,
and then stab with the blade!
(squelching)
She takes both hits,
and the body begins to
crumple forward a little bit,
and you're waiting for it to fall.
It has that kind of arch,
as it stumbles forward and stops.
And then...
(suspenseful dramatic music)
Rises back up to its full height.
Her elongated, odd,
old woman form, now up,
shoulders to about where your eye line is.
Her tiny cauliflower head
just kind of resting about
six inches above the top of your head.
- She's taller than me now?
- [Matt] She is.
Her hunch form is now just
stood up straight.
- Damn!
(Zac sighs)
She's very cool. (snickers)
- Oh, and then I guess
she has to make the con save
on both hits.
- That's true.
It's a natural three.
Second one is a natural 18.
So, yeah.
- Cool.
- She has one of those on her.
- Okay, well, I was like,
we have to stop her.
- That finishes your turn?
All right, so it's the Archbishop's turn.
As you vanished into this
center of the mycelium,
and the rest of you are kind of
taking in this chaos around you,
what's happening, what's going
on, what's the chanting mean,
the Archbishop,
(intense suspenseful music)
just starts laughing.
(Matt chuckles)
He's coming.
And you watch as the shoulders...
(Matt imitates skin
tearing, bones cracking)
- [Anjali] No.
- tear out the
back of the robe.
- [Anjali] No.
- The muscles themselves
bulging and ripping, extending.
She rises up even taller than before.
You watch as the claws of her hands extend
to these long, thin, metallic blades
at the tip of each finger.
She turns around.
The cauliflower clusters
on the side of the head,
visible of these wide, pale eyes,
and where the mouth was,
this large, gaping eight
foot hole to a black void
sits in the center of the torso,
where layers of metal teeth just spin
in opposition of each other,
(interposing voices)
grinding with a familiar
(imitates object crunching)
whining metal sound.
- [Brennan] Oh, no!
- [Anjali] Oh, no!
- [Lou] Nasty!
- [Anjali] Oh, no!
- [Zac] Oh, no, no.
- [Anjali] Oh, no, no, no, no!
- [Zac] No, no, no, no.
- This is a character
that was in my backstory.
There's a mini with a bunch of bad teeth?
Oh, no!
- There are no words,
just a (imitates the grinding of metal)
grinding sound within.
You watch as she raises her hands,
and portions of the ground begin to shake.
(Matt imitates objects rumbling)
Elements of the floor (imitates
objects whirring) tear open,
as similar vacuous voids of spinning teeth
begin to open in the ground around.
- [Anjali] No!
- Oh, my god!
- [Anjali] I don't like it!
- Oh, my god!
- [Matt] And that's going to finish
the Archbishop's turn.
- (laughs) Yo!
- Well, sh*t!
- [Brennan] Oh good!
- Quichéi, on the opposite side, he goes,
what f*ck is going on here?
(Brennan laughs)
No!
- Yeah, what...
No, no!
- Exactly, Exactly!
- [Anjali] That's what
I'm trying to tell you!
- As the blades (imitates the
grinding of metal) grind in,
and you feel this pull
of air towards them,
Quichéi has to make a
strength saving throw.
(Aabria gasps)
And fails with a 10.
- Ooh!
- Quichéi...
(Matt inhales sharply)
Gets drawn into the center
of the jaws.
- Oh!
- And... (groans loudly)
(metal clanking)
Begins to grind him up.
You just hear him start screaming.
He takes...
(Aabria gasps)
(Anjali mumbles)
Takes 28 points
of piercing damage.
- 28!
- Aah! (laughs)
- I'd be f*ck' dead.
Instantly dead.
- No, I don't like this.
- Okie-dokie.
- I don't like this.
(players laughing)
- [Anjali] Help!
- And he's just screaming (screams loudly)
on the inside of there.
He can't do much in the
middle of the blades.
That's gonna end Quichéi's turn,
and now, it comes to Karna's go.
Karna, you're seeing this begin to emerge
in the center of the b*ttlefield.
(Matt imitates the grinding of metal)
These grinding, open,
almost otherworldly
portals of destruction.
What do you do?
- Holy...
Even as she's running forward,
wiping tears away from hearing
Deli's confession of love to Ariana,
I think that last little bit of hope
that she's been holding
onto for years is gone.
This is bad,
but this, she can do.
So I'm gonna move,
and get around the nasty
cauliflower disposal monster.
- Yeah, you can
definitely do that.
- [Aabria] And we're gonna f*ck her up.
- [Matt] You got it.
You can get-
- From behind.
- [Lou] Mmm!
- [Matt] Get it!
- Holy sh*t,
use my advantage for myself.
- You can put some-
(dice clatters)
- You can go ahead
and get my thing here.
- For a 25 to hit?
- That definitively hits.
- All right!
And it's a Green-Flame Blade attack.
- [Matt] Hell yes!
- And we're gonna stack psychic blades.
We have sneak attack,
'cause we gave ourselves advantage.
- Incredible!
- And we're gonna use
Reaper's ability.
I need you to make a DC15 con save.
- DC15 con save.
That's...
No, that's gonna be a 12.
- Okay, so we're gonna add 2
D10 on top of everything else.
- Chop-chop.
- (whisper) I'm in Quichéi's...
- (sighs) Yeah.
- The board got so bad.
(dice clanks)
- I mean,
- Okay.
- [Lou] Quichéi screams,
you know?
- [Anjali] Oh, wow!
- Okay.
- Nobody feels good about those.
- (shudders) Nobody.
- 36, is that right?
- 36 points of damage.
- Oh, no, no, no!
40.
- 40 points of damage
- Total of 40.
- to the Avatar of Deus-Pa'Zuul.
(Anjali laughs)
(Aabria pants heavily)
(Matt imitates whooshing)
You stab right into the back
of where these newly grown
alien muscles protrude
in an odd pattern across
what was once the Archbishop.
as you pull back,
you watch as this just black, thick,
tar-like liquid pours out.
That is a pretty heft wound you've left.
You're uncertain if it's
even noticed or phased,
but it was delivered,
and it looks ugly.
- The Green-Flame Blade's also gonna
catch Gemelli for five points
- Oh, yeah!
- of damage,
'cause she can go f*ck herself.
(players laughing)
(Matt groans loudly)
- She's startin' to look kinda hurt now.
And she-
- You know what?
She can have the other three, too.
I use my Wails from the Grave
to hit her with extra three necrotic.
(players laughing)
- I f*ck' love
40 points of religious retribution
and eight points of petty.
- Yeah!
(group laughs)
That's what I'm here for!
(group continues laughing)
- [Matt] It's a beautiful
meal balance is what that is.
(players laughing)
- It's all part of a balanced breakfast.
(Aabria yells)
(players laughing)
(players continue laughing)
- Beautiful!
Karna, is that your turn?
- [Aabria] That's me.
- All right,
finishing it up.
Delissandro, you're up
with Amangeaux on deck.
- Can I make perception
checks on the Elder,
and just the mycelium people around me
to see how they feel
about what is going down?
- Sure.
(dice clatters)
- Natural 20.
- [Brennan] Ooh!
- They are all freaking the f*ck out.
- Okay, great.
- Even the other
surrounding cultists
are not okay with this,
and the only thing that's
unphased is the Elder.
- Well, I watch the turnip man (laughs)
sprint 90 feet in a round,
and jump in,
which I think brings my attention up here,
watching all this happen.
I'm gonna go five feet
to go grab my spear,
- Yeah.
- and then go run up.
I have 35 more feet of movement.
I'd like to get within
10 feet of the Avatar.
- Right there, you can
definitively get 10 feet
next to your previous almost lover.
- I don't like how smoothly
we slid into the Avatar
just being something that's being said
at the the table.
- Yeah, we're saying it.
- We're just saying-
- The Avatar.
- Yeah, the Avatar.
- Deus-Pa'Zuul.
(players laughing)
And I'll sidle up with my
old friend on my right,
and the woman I wanted to slam
me down big style on my left,
and then the person who's
been trying to slam me down
big style on the other side,
and we'll just get into this nasty stew,
and I'll just take
an attack on this.
- Go for it.
- All right, here we go.
(dice clanks)
Oh, c*ck.
- It's c*ck, yeah.
- Yeah, first one's 29.
- [Matt] 29 definitely hits.
(dice clanks)
- Second one is 30.
- Woo!
Definitely hits.
- And then I'll bonus action
with the backside of Detriter
(dramatic music begins playing)
for a 27, so-
- Yeah, yeah!
- Two D10 and one D4.
(Brennan exhales loudly)
(dice clanks)
Okay, 11 plus 18 is 29.
- 29.
(dice clanks)
- And then six more on top of that.
35 points of damage.
- 35.
- Three strikes.
(Matt imitates objects whooshing)
- Whack on the side!
The creature like...
(intense whooshing)
(object stabbing)
(Matt imitates creature growling)
Takes the hits.
There is no reaction or expression.
The expression is just this
fallen, gaping, mindless scream,
where the sound that
emerges from this hole
is just the grinding of metal,
and endless darkness beyond it.
It's terrifying.
- Do I get the sense I could
take a five foot step back
without leaving its threatened area?
Oh, well, I do have mobile,
so I will take a step back.
- [Matt] All right,
does that end your turn?
- That is the end of my turn.
- End of your turn,
it's gonna use a legendary action.
- Oh, no!
- Geez.
(player sighs loudly)
- Bye, guys.
- [Matt] Pull of the Void Teeth.
- No!
(Brennan wheezes)
This is why you have to avoid
to attack from
the blind spots.
- I don't like when Matt
says the name of things.
(players laughing)
That would be-
All right, and they're
gonna use Reverse Ultimatum.
(players laughing)
And you're like, what the f*ck?!
(Brennan stammers)
I've been playing
this game for years!
I've never heard of that!
(players laughing)
I have no context.
(Brennan claps)
- I'm gonna need you to go ahead
and make a strength saving
throw for me.
- I have no context!
(players laughing)
Okay.
- [Zac] Is it just him?
- [Aabria] Incredible.
- It's just him.
(dice clanks)
- That's gonna be a 14.
- Advantage, right?
Rage?
- I am raging, yes.
- Yeah.
- Whoo!
Pro Bono Rules Lawyer.
- Yeah!
Call us now.
- [Lou] That's gonna be a 16.
- 16 is what you needed.
(group cheers)
- You saved his life!
You saved his life!
- I don't even know
what I'm afraid of!
- Whoa!
- So instead of being pulled
the 30 feet towards it,
(group clamors)
you only get pulled 15.
- [Lou] Aah!
Which is exactly-
- [Brennan] Wait, but wait!
(Matt imitates air whooshing)
- [Matt] That ends your turn.
- Oh, I don't like that it
has a set up legendary action.
It has like a 'get em
in' legendary action.
- [Aabria] Get 'em in!
- Amangeaux,
it's the top of your turn.
I need you to make a
strength saving throw,
as you feel the air pulling you
towards one of these-
- [Zac] (whisper) Come on, Amangeaux!
- [Lou] Come on, Amangeaux.
- Let's just say it now.
These open disposals.
- Yeah.
(player sighs loudly)
- If anyone has anything
to help me roll after this,
I would really appreciate it.
- You used Silvery Barbs
a little while ago,
and I don't know if you gave it to your
advantage to anyone?
- Oh, I didn't
give my advantage to anyone!
Am I allowed to give it to myself?
- [Brennan] You are allowed to-
- We all have done that.
(interposing voices)
- Then I shall
give it to myself.
- Go for it.
- Okay, excellent.
(dice clacks)
Okay that...
What was the saving throw, strength?
Okay, that's a 17.
- Okay.
(dice clacks)
- That's a one,
so we'll use the 17.
- 17 is enough.
As it tugs on you,
you manage to withstand the pull,
and you may take your turn as normal
without being pulled into the disposal.
- [Anjali] f*ck' Christ!
As I look at this creature,
how much of it is metal?
- From what you can see visibly right now,
these massive claws that
just kind of strike from
and pierce the flesh of
the rest of the hand,
and extend for a good two and a half,
three feet at the end of each finger,
and then the mouth around
it all appears to be metal.
The rest of it looks like, at least,
it resembles the coloration
and texture of the
Archbishop's previous fleshly state.
- I watched him sacrifice himself,
and I realize, I don't
know anything anymore.
I'm a horrible person,
because I didn't have a
chance to say goodbye to him.
All these things.
she just goes running full
tilt dash up to the creature.
- Okay, you will take
two opportunity attacks-
- Oh, then I shall disengage,
and run 30 feet.
- Okay.
- [Lou] Who's still swingin'?
- 25, 30.
- Who's team Disposal?
- Okay, I can't reach it that way.
All right, I guess I just
have to f*ck' sh**t it.
- Go for it.
(dice clacks)
- It's a 22.
- 22 hits.
Go ahead and roll damage.
- Did you miss your dice tray?
- I specifically wanted to hit
his dice tray.
- Yeah, okay.
- This dice tray is not
working for us today.
- [Zac] This guy's cursed.
- We don't like it.
(Matt laughing)
- We don't like him today!
He's not good.
- [Matt] Fair enough.
- What is a sneak attack,
3d6?
- I think it's five?
- It's one D6,
plus your dexterity mod for the hit,
and then it's five D6
- Five D6.
- for sneak attacks.
(dice clatters)
- Oh, no, so many ones!
- No!
- f*ck me!
- This is cursed.
This is cursed.
- See?!
I tried to use this!
- Put it away!
I didn't like it!
- You don't have to
go back to it.
- I just heard people say,
"I stole it", and I felt bad.
1, 2, 3, 7 and 9 is 16.
- [Matt] 16 Points of damage
from the crossbow shot.
- Crossbow shot.
Do I have anything on it?
- You add four.
- It sticks-
- One D6 plus four.
So...
- [Zac and Anjali] 16 plus 4 is 20.
- [Matt] So 20 damage.
That doesn't hurt at all.
- [Aabria] Not nothin'.
- Well, it hurts her.
(Matt imitates air whooshing)
It sticks into the left eye,
and just kind of sinks
a few inches into it.
She doesn't react.
- [Aabria] Damn!
(Matt imitates machinery whirring)
- I'm gonna go jump in one.
I'm gonna jump in one.
(players laughing)
- Do I have-
I just have...
I had movement, I had action.
Actually, that's it. That's all I've got.
- End of your turn?
- Yeah.
- Okay, it's gonna use
another legendary action
to go ahead and use a Void-Steel Claw.
- Ooh!
- One of the hands
is gonna go ahead and
(imitates wind whooshing)
strike out towards you, Colin.
- Oh, no!
- Come on, Provolone.
- [Matt] That's gonna be a 23 to hit.
- That hits.
- All right.
Oh, sh*t!
That is gonna be 16
points of slashing damage,
as the arm blades (imitates air whooshing)
carve through you like a
handful of long butcher knives.
- Whoa!
(Zac shudders)
- Alright.
- [Matt] The Elder is going to...
(Matt imitates footsteps thudding)
- [Lou] Elder, whose
team are you on, dawg?
- Gonna stop about there.
And you hear, once again, in your minds
the two of you are connected like,
we've been here too long.
All must be rend to nothing.
- [Aabria] Oh, goddammit!
- Do I feel that
coming from the Avatar or from the Elder?
- [Matt] From the Elder.
- Okay.
- It rears back, (grunts lowly)
and unleashes a cloud of spores
directly in a 15 foot spray.
and unleashes a cloud of spores
directly in a 15 foot spray.
I need Delissandro and Sir Colin to make
constitution saving throws for me, please.
(dice clacks)
- Con save is 15.
- [Matt] 15?
That is a success.
- 24.
- [Matt] 24.
Successes to both of you.
Neither of you are stunned
by the hallucinatory spores.
- Stunned? (groans frighteningly)
- Golly!
- [Matt] However, the
sweet, sweet Senator,
- [Anjali] Oh, no!
- her eyes go wide,
her jaw goes slack,
as she inhales the spores,
coughs for a moment,
and then just begins to
stare forward, unmoving.
- Oh, god!
- That's gonna finish the Elder's turn.
The rest of the FDA members
and Saprophians go next.
The cluster of purple berries
manages to succeed on
their strength saving throw
against one of them.
It is right in the cross
section between two.
Fails the other.
And (imitates air whooshing)
gets pulled into the center.
(imitates machine whirring) Grinding up.
You hear another scream.
(Matt screams)
(Brennan whimpering)
- This is nasty.
(players laughing)
This is nasty.
- Do you think Raphaniel's in there going,
I saved the day.
(group laughs)
- I got this. Don't worry.
♪ Looks like we made it ♪
(group laughs)
- I'm a g*dd*mn hero!
(players laughing)
- Nothing possibly could
have happened after this.
- [Anjali] Nope.
- It's going to use
its actions to try and escape,
which is what Quichéi
failed to do last time.
That one rolls a two.
It spends its turn just in there grinding,
which means I'll have to do it again
at the top of its next turn.
Saprophians are gonna
attempt to make it as well.
That one...
(dice thuds)
That one succeeds!
The one in the
- Yay, save yourself!
middle of the two.
It's only next to one.
That one fails,
and (imitates air
whooshing) gets pulled into
this one as well,
being ground up next to that
(imitates motor whirring),
indiscriminately tearing into it.
I'll save the same amount of damage,
which, for that warrior,
will be enough, I think.
- Ew.
- Yeah, yeah.
♪ Looks like we made it ♪
(players laughing)
(Matt imitates motor whirring)
- You see chunks of fungus
and armor just go flying
and spattering into the nearby bits.
The stone tablets that sit high up,
framing the sides of the chamber,
kind of quiver from the impact
of it grinding into the ground.
That's gonna go ahead
and finish that one's go.
This one here,
who's very kind of taken
aback and scared by this,
it's gonna try and run.
Just gonna go ahead and like, one...
Four, five.
- [Anjali] Oh, don't get into it.
- [Brennan] Yeah, be careful, buddy.
- And there's like-
- [Anjali] Don't be dumb.
- It's gonna go ahead and
jump in into the the rot here,
just to go ahead and brave that space
and separation over there,
and so it's stepping
into the mold and fungus.
It's gonna take a dash action
to go ahead and run around.
10, 15, 20, 25, 30.
It's gonna go this way.
It's trying to stay as far
away from it as possible.
It's just going (screams).
All right.
The Avatar's gonna use
its last legendary action
to go ahead and do Shift Disposal.
(players clamoring)
- [Anjali] No, don't move, don't move!
(varying voices of protest)
Stay away from me!
- [Lou] No, I don't-
- [Anjali] Ahh, f*ck you!
- And that guy's gonna
end his turn right there,
and you now feel that like
(imitates air whooshing)
pull from behind you,
as it shifts closer to this
edge of the b*ttlefield.
That's gonna go ahead
and bring back to the top of
the initiative round with Raphaniel.
As you are standing here in
the middle of it impacted,
holding this light,
you can't help but be touching
the clusters of mycelium
across the ground.
And for the first time
since you first contacted
this five years ago,
you connect with the
spirit of the heart there
in this immediate proximity,
and that welcoming warmth fills you,
that odd sense of calm and belonging.
And whereas once it shunted you,
and told you, "No, you cannot",
here, it says, "Please, help".
There is a sense of fear, and worry,
and confusion within it.
And as it both pulls from
the light of your kernel,
it also appeals to the fear
of the destruction of its people.
- I'm going to fully commune with it.
I'm going to hold onto this kernel,
and clasp it tight in my hand,
so that the light doesn't
hurt the mycelium,
and I am going to fully
open my mind to it,
as open a telepathic
channel as I have ever had.
I'm going to let it see every nightmare
I have ever had about Deus-Pa'Zuul.
I'm going to let it see
every moment of fear
and vulnerability of this coming entity.
And I'm going to say,
to the best of my knowledge,
the creatures that your Elder has allowed
into the heart of your kingdom
have come here to destroy
you, and everything.
The god they worship is worse,
more alien, and cruel than
the Hungry One itself.
And I'll connect to Karna here as well,
and open that channel
even wider to let you know
I know you worship the
devil of my religion,
but we're on the same team here.
And literally being like,
better that a soul should feed
someone than be thrown away.
(Aabria exhales loudly)
And I'm going to just let all
of that into the mycelium.
- Okay.
As you connect with it,
and release these thoughts,
these memories into it,
the cold fear that you
felt in that isolation,
and curiosity, and terror
of those flashes extends
and quakes through the mycelium.
Your memories blend and bleed with it.
And as it receives your thoughts,
you begin to receive some of its history.
Rich, hundreds,
thousands of years of
existence beneath here,
free from everything.
This isn't just a society,
this is the third part
of the cycle of Calorum.
There is the Bulb, which
gives light and life.
There is the Hungry One that
consumes and gives shadow.
And the mycelium is what
brings the cycle back
between the two.
It is through this space
that life can subsist.
And in the balance of the three,
this land continues forward.
And in this moment, you
truly understand more
than probably anybody in the
history of Calorum's existence.
What all this might mean?
Make a persuasion check for me.
- I have not used my action.
Might I cast Enhance Ability
with my last second level spell slot?
- I'll allow that, yeah.
- Okay.
I'll give myself advantage
on charisma checks,
and I'll cast...
(dice clanks)
- [Lou] ♪ Looks like we made it ♪
(Anjali laughs)
- That's going to be...
That's gonna be a 22.
- That's a 22.
As you connect,
you feel the fear and the
quaking sense of the mycelium
begin to subside,
and that warmth returns,
and that moment of connection
between the two of you
fills you with a sudden confidence.
You felt alone for so long,
and even amongst the friends you've made,
you've climbed a bit outta that hole.
In this moment, you don't just
feel connected to this being,
you feel connected to the land.
You feel connected to Calorum.
And at that moment, all of
the mycelium in the room
begins to release spores around them.
You've unlocked lair actions
for the mycelium to your benefit.
(group cheers)
- Yes, boom!
- Let's go!
- Yeah!
- [Anjali] Let's go!
- So with that, that's your action,
do you have any movement
you'd like to take?
- Once I feel the mycelium
understanding the threat
as I understand it,
and I think I don't know enough about
how it's connecting to me,
and I'm like, I can
telepathically communicate
with my allies out there.
Better for me to stay
in the fungal network.
- [Aabria] Yeah.
- [Matt] Okay.
- And I think, even
understanding that I am food,
and that this thing feeds on rot,
I'm not gonna fight it if this
thing starts to feed on me,
like I've seen other
fungus feed on things.
I'm just like, it's important
for me to stay connected
to this right now.
- You got it.
Well, indeed, because it is a fungus.
At the beginning of your
turn, rushing in here,
you do...
Which I should've remembered that.
You do take six points of poison damage.
- Okay.
- As the mold
begins to just instinctively reach out
and siphon off nutrients
that is your body,
that does, with that check,
though, stave that off,
and you feel it begin
to pull away from you.
- Okay.
And my bonus action,
I'm just gonna communicate again
with that telepathic connection to Karna.
I let you feel that I don't know
if I'll be able to get
out of this, and just say,
if all we ever manage to do
is keep this thing out of our world,
we will have done more than we imagined.
And I'll give you my
last Bardic Inspiration.
(Aabria softly sobs)
- Thanks.
Is it D8?
- [Brennan] D8.
- Okay, I'm not all right.
- All right.
Does that finish your turn, Raphaniel?
- [Brennan] That finishes my turn.
- Sir Colin Provolone, it is your turn.
- I think I'm going to
just take two attacks,
just 'cause I'm here.
- Okay. Against the Avatar?
- Yeah, against the Avatar.
- You got it.
- I've got the Elder.
- Okay.
- So first attack...
(dice clatters)
It's only a 13.
- I will say,
technically, you are
catty-corner to Karna,
which means you do have the boss
currently pincer attack,
- Oh.
- so you advantage on the attack.
- Okay.
- Well, you are
poisoned still, right?
- Mm-hmm.
- Which means, yeah,
so those are the two rolls,
unfortunately.
- Okay.
- Which, by the way, make
a constitution saving throw
to see if you get rid of the poison.
- But-
- Oh!
- [Matt] So those are
your two attacks then,
is what it would be.
- [Zac] Yeah.
Okay.
(dice clacks)
- Got this.
- So I make the con save
To see if I-
- No, yes,
as you remain poisoned, you,
yes, also make a con save
at the end of your turn.
Both of your attacks missing,
unfortunately.
- Got it.
- The poison coursing through your body.
As driven as you still are,
the strength is being sapped from you.
- Okay, I'm gonna also do my second wind.
- [Matt] Okay.
- Get some health back.
- [Matt] Go for it.
(dice clacks)
- That's only...
That's a one on the die.
So this is...
I get seven health back.
- [Matt] Hey, it all helps.
(Zac chuckles)
- This is a pretty good turn.
(players laughing)
- Welcome to my world.
- I'm going to...
I guess I will, since
I took those attacks,
regardless of if I hit, I
can move away without being,
you know, hit by her.
- Yeah, yeah.
- And so I'm gonna run back,
and get on this bagel platform.
- Okay.
You jump onto the bagel platform,
and it kind of rocks.
- All right, I-
- Looks like it had fallen
kind of in its space
as one of the other standing
statue-like pillars,
and it just kind of fell over,
and it's rocking in an odd weighted way.
But you step onto it,
and kinda hold your position there.
- And I yell, Deli, get outta there!
- I will!
I have business with this one,
and I'm gonna turn to face the Elder.
- [Zac] And then this is my con save.
(dice clacks)
Jesus!
- Six.
- [Matt] Oh my god!
Three, two, and three?
- Ouchie!
- This guy's retiring.
- [Matt] (sighs) Yeah, put that one away.
- And then...
Yeah, that's everything I can do.
- Okay, that finishes your turn.
That brings it now to the Avatar's go.
It gets its legendary actions back.
It's going to Devour
the Flesh against you.
- What are these powers?
- [Aabria] No!
- Nowhere in the PHB!
Nowhere!
- That is gonna be a 24
to hit you, Delissandro.
- Oh, idiots, Matt!
- Silvery Barbs.
- [Matt] Okay, yeah.
- [Aabria] f*ck, I'm runnin'-
- As the mouth (imitates
creature groaning)
begins to pull you in within proximity,
a secondary roll.
(sighs) That's a natural one.
(group clamors)
- [Anjali] Mama!
- [Matt] Dammit!
♪ The power of love ♪
- Run!
- Who's gettin' advantage?
- I'll take it.
No, Deli.
(Aabria mumbles)
- As it tries
to pull you into its maw grinding,
you're about to be sucked in,
kind of arms clasp to
the side of its mouth,
and now holding it at bay,
as it's pulling you back in!
And at that moment, you
hear Karna call out to you,
and that burst of anger
and inspiration hits,
and you just push away!
It's gonna use its bonus
action to Create Disposal.
- [Brennan] Ooh!
- [Lou] No.
- The chair gets pulled in
and just grounds to nothing.
- No!
- Wow!
- [Matt] Half of the b*ttlefield now
is just a spinning torrent of
metallic blades and shadow.
- How does it look?
Does it look like
it is even remotely-
- [Matt] It's taken some hits.
- f*ck this thing.
- At the 20 count, actually,
we do have the legendary action.
There's two of them here.
Let's do Restore Fungus.
- Uh-oh.
- The shattered bits
of the Saprophian that
was ruined over here
(imitates sound of rapid growth)
reemerge as a freshly-born fungus as well,
(Aabria gasps)
and is gonna go ahead
and help on your turn.
- Okay.
- [Aabria] (whisper) Amazing!
- As the b*ttlefield
continues to grow darker,
you feel the sense of
shadow begin to really
permeate the space around you.
The presence of the Avatar is starting to
sink into your head.
The sheer terror of it
is causing your vision to blur and twist.
- It's bad here, everyone.
- This guy is gonna go ahead...
And actually, she can create it anywhere.
So I'm just gonna go ahead
and create it on this side,
and the fungus is gonna rush in,
and attempt to attack
the Avatar from this end
for a natural 19!
All right!
(group cheers)
- Way to go, little guy!
- Go, Fungi!
- For an additional eight
points of damage to the Avatar.
- I forgot about the wound,
also-
- [Matt] Right!
- [Aabria] Good call, good call!
- Yeah, take it.
- That is...
That's a four on the roll,
so it takes another D4.
- So three damage.
- Another three damage.
That's great.
Okay, that comes to Quichéi's turn.
Quichéi begins his turn-
- What?
You're still here, dude?
- Yeah, it goes back to his turn.
He starts within it,
so he immediately takes
a sh*t ton more damage.
(dice clatters)
That's rough.
He takes another 25 points of damage.
- Ewww!
- [Aabria] (whisper) Jiminy Christmas!
- Now, Quichéi just... (yells abruptly)
(motor whirring)
You see egg and bacon spatter
across the nearby space,
as he is annihilated
within the mouth.
- [Brennan] Oooh!
- [Matt] Karna, it's your go.
- Yeah, I think Karna's
sort of behind this Avatar.
The moment she screamed, "No",
or "Run", using Silvery Barbs,
you see that eye that she cut out
just immediately rots, and splinters open,
and her clothing can no longer
hide how much she's rotting,
'cause she's gone through every,
just about every gift she's
gotten from the Hungry One.
(sighs) But we do it again.
Green-Flame Blade will attack.
I don't have to move in,
so bonus action, Steady Aim,
to give myself advantage.
- You got it.
- (exhales) f*ck.
(dice clatters)
Okay.
Plus 8.
Dirty 20 to hit.
- That hits.
- All right.
- My Bardic Inspiration can
also be used as damage dice
if you're casting a spell.
- Well, dude, we're doin' that then.
Yeah!
- [Matt] Yeah, put it in!
- (sighs) Throw it in there.
- [Lou] Throw it in the pile!
Okay!
- And my bardic is a D8.
I'm not sure if that's what you're using?
- Oh, sh*t! I rolled the wrong thing then.
- No worries.
- All right then.
It's gonna be lower.
I bet the next one's gonna be lower,
'cause I tempted fate.
Yeah, of course, it was one instead.
- Oh, no!
(Matt laughing)
I'm so sorry!
- [Aabria] That's unfortunate.
- That's how it works.
- Yeah, okay, a five, one ends with 13.
17 points.
- 17 Points of damage.
You've got it.
All right, and it's gonna
use two legendary actions
to go ahead and turn around,
(Matt lowly groans)
and kind of lean forward,
as the suction begins to pull towards you
for a 20 to hit.
- Hits.
- Karna, having stabbed
the siphoned psychic energy
and all the power and anger-
- Hold on!
- Yeah?
- f*ck that sh*t.
Do it again.
Last spell slot.
- (laughs) Last Silvery Barbs?
- Yeah, last Silvery Barbs,
'cause it refreshes on my turn.
- As you feel the suction in your hair
like (imitates air whooshing)
being pulled towards it,
your cloak flapping,
and you watch as part of your cloak
kind of enters the center of the mouth,
and you watch the material
(imitates motor whirring)
get torn into thousands of
tiny little shards of thread.
(dice rolls)
It's a natural 19.
- Yeah, sure. (chuckles)
- [Matt] You try and withstand
before (inhales sharply)
being pulled into its mouth.
You take...
- I'm fine.
I got four temp HP,
we're great.
- No, we don't have that anymore.
- Oh, it's gone!
- Yeah, that's-
- Oh, no!
- [Lou] This is-
- Just a really bad-
- So this is a bad moment.
- [Brennan] This is quite bad.
- ♪ This is gonna suck ♪
- You take 35 points of
- f*ck!
- piercing damage as you
are pulled into the mouth,
and just feel the sensation
of a thousand daggers at once
rending you from every angle.
You barely manage to pull
yourself from its mouth,
bloody, exhausted,
and just numb with
ominous ever present pain.
You limp onto your knees,
and still feel that suction from it,
and that sound, that horrible sound
of whirring-
- I think she's just got
her hand on the very edge of it.
Not enough strength to push away,
and is just holding the edge of it,
like, no more.
(Matt chuckles)
- [Matt] Deli, it's your turn.
- I think, in the moment that
you cast that Silvery Barbs,
there is a warmth that
appears on Deli's face
that you haven't seen in a very long time.
And I think, as that attack happens,
it's replaced again by a rage.
Leave her!
I'm gonna make a goading attack on...
Or I'm a attempt to hit,
and then...
(dice clacks)
- [Matt] You got it.
- Does a 21 hit?
- [Matt] 21 hits.
- I'm gonna make it a goading attack,
so it's, I believe,
a DC17?
- [Matt] It's a wisdom saving throw
- Exactly.
- to see if it-
If it attacks anybody that's not you,
it has disadvantage, correct?
- Yes.
- That is gonna be a 15.
- Okay, I do 16 points of damage.
I'm gonna run and grapple the Elder,
and attempt to start pushing
it toward these blades
right here.
- You got it.
- Oohh!
(dice clatters)
- (scoffs) Not great.
That's gonna be a 14 for me.
- Since this is a grapple attempt...
- [Lou] Okay.
- I'm pretty sure this
is contested athletics,
if I recall,
- Great.
- [Matt] which is still advantage.
It's the same roll.
- Yes, 14 for me.
- [Matt] 14 for you.
For the Elder...
All right, that is 11.
Natural eight.
- Uh-huh!
- Great.
(Anjali giggles)
Yes, I stab the Avatar,
and then turn around, and just run,
and beat the Elder,
and I think, with my
Detriter in front of me,
just starting to push him back slowly
toward these blades.
- [Matt] Okay.
So it took 10 feet to get there.
- Great.
- [Matt] And the rest of your
movement after that?
- 30 feet,
left.
- 30 feet.
So that's 15 feet that you
could both push together.
- Great.
- So that's 5, 10, 15.
That gets him right up
against the lip of this.
- f*ck, yeah.
- [Matt] It also puts you
within a 10 foot radius.
- Okay, yes, that's okay.
- But it is there in front of you,
and you're just pushing this Elder back.
As it's digging its staff into the ground,
(Matt imitates object dragging)
ground against the the floor,
you see the bits of Ceresian stone
and the elements of broken,
weird pieces of toast,
and Cheerios, and whatever else
is kind of ingrained in there.
It's tearing and pulling free
as it tries to hit itself into the ground.
You see it sending these fungal roots in,
so it will stop,
but you're just too
strong and too focused,
as it barely gets up to
the lip of the blades
teasing at its heels.
- Mmm, can I have a bonus
action attack as well?
- I'll allow it, yeah.
- Okay, great!
- That's what your build's about.
- [Lou] It's what it's about.
- Did you use my-
- I did on the goading attack
to make sure that hit.
- Okay, cool, cool, cool.
(dice clatters)
Oh!
- Okay, that's a...
That's a 26 to hit.
- Yeah!
- Can I use multiple maneuvers in a turn?
- Yeah.
- I'd like to use a pushing attack
with the back half of the blade
to see if I can push him in.
- Yes, you can.
- So that's a DC 17
strength saving throw.
- Strength saving throw.
- [Aabria] Let's go!
- [Anjali] Come on, baby!
- I'm not even joking.
It's a 12 plus 3.
It's a 15.
So go ahead and roll damage.
- Great.
Re-roll ones.
(dice clanks)
That is gonna be seven...
Excuse me, 10 points of damage,
and I'll push him
an additional-
- Yeah!
- I'll push him into
the f*cking disposal.
- Get him, get him, get him!
- So you push him up against the edge,
and now he's resisting you openly.
You then kind of release for a second,
spin your spear, and whack,
crack it right in what
you think sternum is,
and as you do, (imitates body thudding)
ends up falling back.
(Matt imitates motor whirring)
(players clamoring)
- Yeah!
- [Anjali] Yes!
- [Matt] The Elder.
- [Aabria] That's what I'm-
- Alrighty.
- That, I think, I will live
to get slammed down big style.
- That, I think, I will live
to get slammed down big style.
(group laughs)
- Unbelievable!
- Fantastic!
- Can I make a request?
- Yes, you may.
- It's a cheeky one,
and you can say no.
- I like cheeky.
- I didn't give my advantage
for my last Silvery Barbs.
Since we are connected telepathically,
can I please send it to Raphaniel?
- I'll allow it.
- Cool.
And I send that along with
every moment we've interacted
since back when she was 12 and
13 pretending to be Ja'Cru,
and you were an informant of hers,
and all of the weird desire
for a paternal figure,
and all of the weird desire
for a paternal figure,
and every time you've looked out for her,
and that comes along with it
in that last bit of advantage.
- [Matt] You got it.
As the Elder is pushed into the blades,
previously, most of the smaller things
that were being ground within
with little impact to
the scenery around it,
the Elder is a massive creature,
and as it kind of reaches
out to grab the sides,
and the grinding hits,
the room quakes a little bit.
(motor rumbling)
You watch as the stone monuments
kind of shake in place,
kind of showing this kind of
loose mooring to the actual floor.
The whole room itself,
slightly unstable in the
presence of these holes.
That's gonna end Deli's turn.
Amangeaux, you're up.
- I'm just gonna go up and attack this,
the Avatar, with my rapier.
- Okay.
At the top of the turn,
I need you to make a
strength saving throw,
- Oh, no.
- 'cause you are
within 10 feet.
- [Aabria] Aw beans!
- Right.
(dice thuds)
14 plus 2.
16?
- [Matt] The DC on these is 16 exactly.
(Anjali exhales loudly)
- Wow, wow, wow, wow!
- Incredible.
- Yippy yo yippy yay!
- Actually, you know what?
Sorry, it's 14.
You're good.
(Lou sighs loudly)
- Still...
So I'm gonna run up,
and I'm gonna just attack
her with my rapier.
- All right.
- [Brennan] Here we go, Amangeaux!
(dice clatters)
- [Anjali] No!
I missed!
Can I Silvery Barbs myself?
- Is Karna still behind?
'Cause you're flanking, right?
- Karna would be-
- You're actually behind.
It's facing me now.
- So, yeah.
So you can set those to now-
- So I have advantage?
- [Brennan] You have advantage.
- [Matt] You have
advantage on that strike,
so this turned away towards you.
- Thank god!
Thank you so much,
- [Brennan] He's so big.
Pro Bono.
- [Lou] That back is so nasty.
(Brennan wheezes)
(dice clatters)
- No!
(players laughing)
- [Matt] What was the second roll?
- [Aabria] One of us.
- You don't wanna know.
- [Matt] Okay.
- She's a failure as a warrior.
- [Aabria] No, you're doin' great.
- All right.
- [Zac] You're doin' great.
- To be fair,
this is a lot to go up against,
and she's just still steeling herself.
She's not outta the game yet.
- She-
She takes...
No, do I take a bonus action
to get the f*ck outta there?
There's nowhere else to go.
Yeah, I think that's all I've got.
- It's gonna use its last legendary action
at the end of your turn, Amangeaux,
to Shift Disposal.
(Aabria groans)
This is going to grind across the ground
right over here to
buttress against the side.
(Matt imitates motor whirring)
Kind of tearing into the earth as it does.
Finishing that turn is now the Elder's go.
At the top of the round,
the Elder takes full damage
on the inside of that for...
(dice clatters)
Ooo!
(player speaks indistinctly)
26 points
- [Brennan] (whisper) Jesus!
- of piercing damage
to the Elder,
and it's gonna try and muscle itself out
with a strength saving throw,
and it manages to do so.
(Matt grunts loudly)
(Matt imitates thunderous stomp)
Right back out, but that's its turn.
It had to use its full action
to even emerge from that,
and it's still within
the tug of it.
- Just knock it back in.
- I'm gonna push it back in.
(group laughs)
I'm gonna push it back in.
- Let me be very clear about the game plan
from this point forward.
- Yeah, I'm gonna push
it back in.
- [Aabria] That's fair,
that's fair, that's fair!
- All right, this FDA guy,
even if he took half damage
is (objects whooshing)
ground to nothing.
That's Saprophian warrior there
has to make a strength check.
That won't do it.
He gets pulled in.
(Matt imitates motor whirring)
But he was also fighting
kind of against you guys.
At least, in the moment,
a little kind of caught
off guard by all of this.
- Okay, okay.
- And he's gonna go ahead
and take the same damage.
All right.
So it'll take damage there.
And then that guy there,
the one who just got summoned,
is gonna attempt to...
And he succeeds!
So he resists the tug of it.
That brings us to the
remaining members of the FDA.
And this guy is just gonna go ahead
and run this way up to the side,
and realizes that that
biscuit's in the way,
and is freaking out, is trying to push it.
He's gonna attempt to make a
strength check to get the move.
With a natural one, he does not.
He is now just flailing
and crying to himself
trying to push this massive stone biscuit.
To no avail. Senator Ariana,
who is on her turn at the top,
trying to make a strength saving throw,
but she can't resist,
because she is currently under the effect
of hallucinatory spores.
- No!
- Has disadvantage on this.
- Go, baby.
Wait, actually, good.
I hope you f*ck' die.
(players chuckling)
I hope you die un-hot.
(wind whooshing)
- [Matt] Gets pulled
into the center of this.
- Good.
- [Matt] Without even making a sound,
just kind of like...
(Matt imitates wind whooshing)
- [Lou] Ahh!
- Gets pulled in.
And as you kinda glance
over your shoulder,
you watch in slow motion
as she begins to come back
to awareness from the spores,
look at you with this
look of, what's happening?
- [Anjali] Oh, no!
(dice clatters)
(Matt laughs softly)
Oh!
Oh!
(Aabria laughs)
- Before you see her vanish
in the hole, and then...
(metal clanking)
(creature growling)
The spray of this viscera in the vicinity,
hitting the back of
your face and shoulder.
(player groans)
(Aabria laughs)
- [Aabria] Not enjoying this.
I'm actually enjoying it.
(Anjali groaning)
- Well...
- Telepathically, you know,
you put a lot of pressure
on your first time.
- Well-
- You know,
It should be with someone who's
not in a cult, I feel like.
(players laughing)
- Maybe.
- You're ruining it for me!
Stop!
- Oh, god, that's right!
Wait, but like a good cult, a better cult.
(interposing voices)
- What the f*ck's a good cult?
- You wanna pop your cherry
with someone with a rad cult.
(group laughs)
- Thanks, bro.
- [Matt] All right.
- This is like
a mushroom talking to you-
- Yeah.
- I think I'm becoming part of
a mushroom god consciousness,
but I oughta say,
you and Karna are really cute together.
(group laughs)
- [Anjali] I tried, I tried!
- All right.
That brings us to the top of
the combat round once more.
Raphaniel.
- I think, for me, what
I'm interested in...
First of all,
so I can only resist the poison condition
at the end of my turn?
- Correct.
- Okay.
If I were to pump a Cure Wounds
into the mycelium network,
If I were to pump a Cure Wounds
into the mycelium network,
would it be possible for it to trigger?
Because you said Restore Fungus
was the name of that layer ability.
- Yes.
- If I pump another
Cure Wounds into the mycelium network,
could I potentially
have a chance to trigger
another restore fungus?
- You can certainly give it
a shot, if you'd like to?
- Ooh, that's very cool.
- I'll give it a little shot.
Just like dumping...
I've never been a good...
I've been a wicked, evil,
nasty priest my whole life,
and here, at the end of things,
I'm finally f*ck' healing something.
(dice clacks)
That's gonna be seven
hit points cured to-
- As you release
this energy into the
mycelium network around you,
you watch kind of the blue pulsing power
that comes into the center.
It's the first time
you've watched it reverse,
and (imitates air whooshing)
disseminate into the ground around you.
And as it gathers,
where would you like
this other newly formed
fungus warrior to appear?
- Yeah, baby!
Do I get the sense from
mycelium as well, Matt,
that that spores plan was total bullshit,
and that the Archbishop Colliflour
the plan was to do this the whole time,
or is there some part of the mycelium
that actually is prepared
for this big spores release?
- Make an insight check.
(dice clatters)
- And so that's gonna be...
It's gonna be a 19 insight.
- 19 insight is quite decent.
You get the sense that,
as you're connecting here and feeling out,
indeed, all of these fungus have been
rapidly feeding the
extension of the mycelium.
It never crawled that
close to the surface,
except for certain key moments,
some which would withdraw
when different scavengers
were going out during night
under the cover of shadow
to bring minerals and materials
from the surface realm
back to Saprophus.
But it is extended all around the city,
and been gathering and
preparing to, indeed,
poison everyone within Pangranos.
It doesn't have a sense of morality
or social connection
with the surface folk,
and this was a promised scenario
that would allow its people to feed
and be well for generations to come,
and stop the end of the world,
based on how it was being convinced.
So this turnout, you
sense, was a betrayal to
what was agreed upon between
the heart of the mycelium
and the Archbishop.
- I am going to communicate
to the mycelium more broadly,
and to every Saprophian that
I can through that network,
and just say,
you will have the ability to eat well,
but not at this cost.
The death and decay brought by this
would unleash nothing but the discovery
and destruction of your hidden kingdom.
You have been lied to and
deceived by the Sanctus Putris.
This plan is the ruin of
your people made manifest.
Believe me when I say this.
And to the one that I
manifest in front of,
that I will say,
the Avatar of the Deus-Pa'Zuul
intends for the ruin of your people
to the pursuit of the shredding of all.
And I will communicate
like knocking her prone,
dragging her, grappling her.
Something about throwing
her into the teeth itself
- Okay.
- is what I'm
communicating to the new
Saprophian warrior there.
- You've got it.
Okay, Saprophian warrior emerges,
and it will take its turn at the end of
the next lair action.
All right, does that finish your turn?
- That finishes my turn.
- Okay, with that, I'm gonna go ahead
and bring it to you, Sir Colin Provolone.
- Oh, no!
It seems like you got the Elder, right?
- Yeah.
- I think Colin, who
just screaming scared,
is just gonna run in and try to attack.
- Okay.
- Attack her in the back,
and then we'll see what
happens from there.
(Zac screams)
(Anjali chuckles)
(dice clatters)
Okay, that's a 16?
Oh, and I do this with
disadvantage still, right?
- [Matt] You do, yes.
- So this is the other one.
- [Aabria] But you have advantage,
'cause of-
- [Brennan] Flanking.
- [Aabria] Flanking?
- It's directly across.
- [Aabria] Copy.
- It's not just like,
you know, two different opposite sides.
- [Aabria] Gotcha.
- [Zac] Okay.
So, yeah, the seven on the first one.
So 16 on the first one.
- A 16 still hits.
- Okay.
And so the second-
- But Zac, that just hits.
- Okay, phew!
Okay, and so my second
attack with disadvantage...
That's not gonna hit.
But yeah, that one's not gonna hit,
but I will do this with sneak attack.
- Yeah, you can totally sneak attack.
Go for it.
- Oh, yeah.
(dice clatters)
This is gonna be 6, 10.
17 damage with the DC15 con save as well.
- You got it.
That is gonna be an 18
on the con save.
- Okay, and so-
And I'm just gonna be like,
I have to keep running away.
(group laughs)
- Well, you did enter the 10 foot space,
so just be mindful if you
try and move outside of that.
You can feel the tug towards it.
- Got it.
I'm gonna just literally run back to
the exact same spot that I went.
(Lou imitates being winded)
- [Zac] Everybody do this!
Everybody do this!
- Okay.
(group laughs)
- You run back,
and it does get an opportunity
to attack on you.
- Oh, but I attacked it.
- [Matt] Oh, you did?
That's right, that's right!
- Yes, yeah.
- That's part of your kit.
Nevermind, you are good!
(Aabria sighs loudly)
You run on away.
No strike against him.
(Zac pants)
- Run away!
(Zac continues panting)
- [Matt] Alrighty.
- Also, can we just resolve my...
I'm gonna use my advantage
to poison saving throw
at the end of my turn.
We forgot to.
- Oh, yeah.
Let's do that.
- Yeah.
(dice clacks)
Come on.
(dice clatters)
- [Zac] Oh!
- Two sixes.
- [Aabria] Oh, no!
- I guess I should
do that, too?
- [Matt] You should do that
as well, yeah.
- All right.
Okay.
14?
- 14 makes it.
(Aabria gasps)
You shrug off the poison.
It no longer courses through your veins
and spores.
(Zac retching)
- Oop!
(Brennan laughs)
Did you throw up a little bit?
- Yeah.
- Colin, are you okay?
- I'll be okay.
- [Lou] Good.
- There's a lot-
There's a lot of worse things
than a little throw up.
(players laughing)
He's embarrassed.
(Lou laughs)
- Before it gets to the Avatar's turn,
we do have the lair action,
which does not repeat itself.
So instead, it goes to
Regenerative Spores.
The network (inhales sharply)
releases these softly blue glowing spores
akin to the color of the
glow that it disseminates
throughout the halls and tunnels.
Everybody in this room
within this group regains...
(Aabria and Lou gasp)
Six hit points.
- [Brennan and Aabria] Oh!
- [Lou] Oh, yay!
- That's right.
(intense whirring)
- Okay.
- [Brennan] Incredible!
- We're looking better.
- [Matt] And now, it comes
to the Avatar's turn.
(intense whirring)
- [Anjali] Oh, no!
- The Avatar-
- Is my goading attack
still in effect?
- [Matt] Yes, it does get
disadvantage on the strike,
until it comes around
till the end of its turn,
or beginning of your next turn.
Either way, yes, it would still be
in that space.
- Great.
- Hmm.
Oohh.
- (whisper) Do it, Matthew!
- Yeah, sorry.
It's gonna go ahead,
and I'm not-
(Aabria laughs)
I'm just gonna do Devour
the Flesh again on you.
Okay, that is gonna be a 24 to hit.
- I have one second-level spell slot left.
Silvery Barbs.
- Wait!
Let me Silvery Barbs it.
I Silvery Barbs it.
No, please, but let me?
- Sure.
- [Anjali] But please, let me?
- [Matt] All right.
- Sure, thank you.
- I'm out of first level spell slots.
(Matt sighs)
- 25.
(Aabria laughs)
- Oh, f*ck me.
- [Matt] A good try,
but good try.
- Yeah.
The attempt was noble.
- You still gotta give
advantage to somebody.
- Oh, I'm gonna give it to myself.
(Aabria laughs)
(dice clatters)
- Jesus!
- (laughs) I'm gonna die.
- [Matt] That's gonna be 38
points of slashing damage.
- Oh!
- And 37 hit points.
I'm down.
- No f*cking way?!
- Yeah.
(Brennan groans)
- When it reduces a target
to zero hit points or less,
they are k*lled.
- Yep.
- Karna, if you would
like to describe to me
these final moments before you are lost
into the bladed void
of the Avatar's throat?
- She's exhausted.
There's nothing left.
She's holding onto the edge of it,
and she feels that very
beginning of the tug again,
and then she smiles,
because she died nine years ago.
All of this has just been a bonus.
And the Hungry One may be the devil,
but how bad could he be?
Because I got to be here.
I got to know friendship,
and love, and trust,
and that can't be bad.
And her last look is over to Deli,
and then she just gives up.
- Deli, as you are combating this Elder,
there's something in
the back of your mind,
in the back of your heart,
just draws your attention
over your right shoulder,
right as you see that last
smile and look on Karna's face
before she vanishes into the mouth.
(Matt imitates blades
whirring and grinding)
(flesh splattering)
The spray of viscera against
the surrounding stone,
and she is gone forever.
- It be that way sometimes.
(Aabria laughs)
- The creature turns.
- [Aabria] It's fine.
This is a very fun game.
I love playing joke
things on "Dimension 20".
- [Matt] And moves
(players laughing)
around here to shift-
- [Aabria] Oh, it moves?
- Yeah, it moves.
It does get an attack of opportunity
from the two Saprophians that are there.
The first one attacks.
- Me-
And me, right?
- No, it moved around you.
- Oh, it's in my-
Okay, it's in my-
- That is, unfortunately,
not gonna hit with a 15.
It just misses.
The other one?
Other one does hit.
So the one that you just summoned
strikes it (grunts loudly)
for an additional seven points of damage.
As it moves over,
it's gonna use its bonus
action to Shift Disposal.
This disposal here that the
Bolete Elder is up against
is going to glide
(Matt imitates object grinding)
into the center of the
base of the mycelium.
- Across the ground,
- Oh, my god!
- you would see it,
if it weren't now pulling in strands
of the heart of the mycelium,
and threatening a
particular hidden ex-bishop.
That is going to finish the Avatar's turn.
I need Deli to take his.
(Lou sighs and laughs)
(Anjali groans)
- I think there is a white, hot...
Watching Karna get...
- [Aabria and Lou] Murked.
(Aabria laughs)
- is like
there's no past, and there is no future.
There's only the this moment.
And I think the Elder no longer matters.
This thing has to die.
I think Deli is going to turn, scream,
and just run at the Avatar.
(Matt imitates creature growling)
- [Matt] Right up to its front,
spear drawn at the ready.
- Great, make my first attack.
(dice clatters)
19 to hit?
- 19 hits.
- Great.
I used my last maneuver to push,
so we're out of those.
Re-roll ones.
(dice clanks)
First attack does 13 points of damage.
- 13 points.
- Second attack...
(dice clatters)
17 to hit.
- That hits.
(dice clacks)
- Another 13 points of damage.
Bonus action, back of Detriter.
(dice clacks)
That's gonna be another 17.
- It hits.
- Great.
That's 10 points of damage
with the back.
- You got it.
- I think it's just...
It's the only thing that
Deli wants to feel right now,
is piercing this being
in whatever way he can.
- [Matt] Got it.
- And that's it.
- [Matt] Okay, finishing
at the end of your turn,
it's gonna go ahead and spend
two of its legendary actions
to Devour the Flesh on you.
- Oh, my god! (laughs)
(dice clatters)
- That's a natural 20.
- As given to me by my station,
I have adamantine armor
and (stammers) am immune
- Yes, you are!
- to critical hits.
(group cheers)
- Oh, f*ck me!
- So you can just
roll that normal, my guy.
- [Matt] Yeah.
- [Aabria] Oh!
(interposing voices)
- Roll that normal.
- Yeah, I am.
Oh, I was like, oh, no!
(Aabria laughs)
Oh, yes!
But yeah, you know what I mean.
- Oh, my god!
- Okay.
- [Anjali] Oi-
- That is 40 points
of piercing damage.
- Halved to 20.
- Because you are-
- Raging.
- Yes, you are.
That is 20 points.
- Holy sh*t!
You can't put a full pastrami sandwich
in the garbage disposal.
- You really can't, no.
(interposing voices)
- Yeah, ask any plumber!
Ask any plumber!
- That is also a metal toothpick.
That will clog up the thing.
(interposing)
- You get a
toothpick right in your hand
you put a toothpick in
- A metal toothpick in there.
- the garbage disposal!
- Like a cheese pick.
You can't do it!
- [Lou] Oh, my god!
- This is incredible!
- Amangeaux?
- Yeah?
- [Matt] It's the beginning of your turn.
- I'm completely like-
- [Lou] 40 points.
- Just everything in this
battle has been nothing but bad.
And then seeing her getting
devoured by this thing,
she is-
- Going to make
a strength saving throw,
because you were in 10 feet
- Going to make a strength saving throw
because she has to get
- of one of these disposals.
♪ Away from the thing ♪
- Oh, please make this
strength saving throw.
(dice clatters)
Natural 20.
- [Aabria and Brennan] Yeah!
Yeah, yeah, yeah!
(group applauds)
- Finally.
- You feel yourself
being tugged towards it,
and your feet begin to pull
against the ground, just...
(Matt imitates feet dragging)
- [Anjali] And I'm like-
The f*ck you will!
And I just go towards her!
- You got it.
- [Anjali] And she doesn't
say fancy things anymore.
- No, you're good.
- She just doesn't.
- [Zac] There's no time.
- [Anjali] There's no time for fancy.
So now, I'm gonna go,
and I'm gonna try to sweep
its legs with my rapier
as a sneak attack.
- [Matt] You got it.
(dice clatters)
- You died.
- 17 plus...
- I'm done!
- Eight.
25.
- [Matt] That definitely hits.
Go and roll damage.
- That's gonna be five D6,
plus the actual damage.
- It's showing some hurt
and wear and tear on
the Avatar, by the way.
The body is starting to pull apart,
and where the flesh breaks,
and the black liquid and
ichor begins to drip from,
you can see within
(Brennan speaks indistinctly)
weaves of metal shifting
and moving beneath.
- [Brennan] Double damage.
(player speaks indistinctly)
You halved it twice.
It was about to be 80 damage.
- Three, seven.
7 and 4 is 11.
- [Brennan] You halved it twice.
- 11 and 2 is 13.
- Adamantine and then the rage.
- 17 plus one D4.
- You made a bad thing.
You made a really bad thing, Matt.
- This is because I made a
ghost pepper joke one time.
(Matt laughs)
Dammit!
- Four.
- Got bit in
the a*s immediately.
- He thought you were
a Carolina Reaper, but-
- That was weak.
- [Matt] 21?
- 21.
- [Matt] Alrighty.
- And then, since I...
That was just my action,
I am going to disengage,
which I need to do, right?
I disengage,
- Yeah, dude!
- [Anjali] And run away from the
garbage disposal.
- Which direction?
- [Anjali] Right next to Provolone.
- [Zac] It's kind of okay up here.
(Anjali speaks indistinctly)
- Yeah, I still wanna
be close enough to...
I wanna be...
Yeah-
- There you go.
All right!
Does that finish your turn?
- Movement?
Disengage bonus action? Yes!
- You got it.
All right, it is now the Elder's go.
The Elder...
(Matt imitates footsteps clomping)
Steps into the fray here.
(Matt inhales sharply)
(Matt imitates air whooshing)
Releases poisonous spores
in the vicinity around it.
I need Amangeaux,
I need Provolone,
and I need Deli to make
constitution saving throws.
(Lou exhales loudly)
- And I'm gonna win,
like I keep doin' it.
- I don't like that.
Not now.
I'm avenging the person I was
gonna lose my virginity to.
- Oh, my god, I died a virgin!
- What do I get-
- We're all
going to die virgins here, I'm afraid.
- No.
(indistinct chattering)
22.
- [Matt] 22?
Six points of poison damage to you.
- [Zac] Nine.
- [Anjali] 15.
- [Matt] And six points
of poison damage to you.
You take 12 points of poison damage,
and you are re-poisoned.
(Zac groans)
(Aabria laughs)
- Is the Avatar in the
blast of this at all, or no?
- [Matt] The Avatar is
unaffected by poison.
- This is delightful.
- It's mostly blades.
(Zac laughs)
- It's the blades.
- It makes sense.
- [Aabria] Do be mostly teeth, though.
- It do be mostly blades.
(players laughing)
- That is gonna finish the Elder's go.
Now, that brings us to the Saprophian,
which is gonna immediately at
the top of its turn take...
(dice clatter)
Yeah, it's done. (laughs)
(Matt imitates motor whirring)
And then bringing us back to
the top of the combat round,
Raphaniel, need you to make a
strength saving throw for me.
- Does poison give you
disadvantage on saving throws?
- [Matt] No, just ability checks.
- Okay.
So I'm gonna let you know right now,
this is a strength saving throw.
I have 21 hit points left.
I got a minus two to
strength saving throws.
- You got this.
- [Matt] Oh, my god!
- A natural 20.
(dice clatters)
- It's a 12.
14 minutes 2.
- The DC is 14.
So as the ground opens up,
and the blades spin, and churn, and grind,
you reach out to the mycelium,
and grab a hold for all
the strength you have,
and it tears.
The sheer volume of pressure
pulling you towards this mouth.
You take...
(Lou whispers indistinctly)
- This is where we-
- 24 points
of piercing damage.
(player groans)
- 24 Points of piercing damage.
I'm at 21 currently.
That's gonna bring me to...
Zero.
(paper rustling)
- Raphaniel, if you would
please describe for us
your final moments.
(Lou stammers)
(Brennan breathes shakily)
- I've connected to the first place
that ever felt like home.
I've spent my life lying,
torturing, ruining,
all to help people that lied to my face.
I have been a fool and a wretch,
and wasted my life,
and I'm going to sink
into the teeth, and say,
my mind and heart were garbage.
Let them be disposed.
But let my body serve the
only warmth I have ever known.
Let my bones be as eggshells,
that they may calcify and glue.
Let my muscle be as coffee
grounds to wear down and grind.
Let me serve as rice to expand
in the water of my blood.
Let it rupture in the name of the...
(Brennan violently stammers)
(players laughing)
(Brennan continues stammering violently)
(Brennan imitates expl*si*n booming)
(players laughing and clamoring)
(flesh splattering, bones crunching)
- A spray of now liquified radish
colors the inside of the small opening
to the heart of the mycelium.
In an odd way,
the thing that always haunted you
has the eventuality you would meet
also delivered you to be the closest
you've ever been to
anything that mattered.
(Brennan softly sobs)
(Brennan mutters)
(Aabria laughs)
(players laughing)
Colin Provolone, sir.
(Zac screams)
(group laughs)
- [Anjali] Ahh!
That's so good!
(Zac screams)
(group laughs)
(Zac screams)
(group continues laughing)
(Zac screams)
- Steel yourself, Colin!
(Zac screams)
Steel yourself!
- This is me steeling myself!
(group laughs)
(group continues laughing)
(raspily) I have to hit it.
I have to stop you. Keep hitting it.
(players laughing)
Colin's crying.
So scared.
Tried to look at Deli.
We just have to.
- We have to!
- [Both] We have to!
- We have to!
- We just have to!
- [Matt] To get within motion,
you can either move in next to it.
- Yeah.
- You could move
on the opposite side to get
advantage to your attack,
but you will get attack of opportunity
from the Elder, so.
(Anjali speaks indistinctly)
But not if you disengage.
- Oh, yeah.
I'll disengage and get behind it.
- All right.
You're now-
(Aabria laughs)
(Matt laughs)
(indistinct chattering)
So now-
- Even more.
- Gotta get in.
You gotta get in there.
(players laughing)
You gotta get in there and get it done!
- Stop!
- You gotta get it fixed!
(players laughing)
- Stop!
(Lou laughs heartily)
- Sir Colin Provolone,
as the numbness of this loss
kind of washes over you,
and you find the focus
in that buzzing numbness,
you dash around the back of this entity,
and flank the Avatar
with the person that
chose you from obscurity,
and for a number of years,
kept you by his side.
In that period of time,
that alienation may have separated you,
but in this moment, in this necessity,
that kinship puts you both at the charge.
You have advantage on your strikes,
which, as a poison, brings
it to a singular roll.
- Okay.
I'm just gonna...
(exhales loudly) As the piss
trickles down his legs...
(group laughs)
Colin Provolone will attack.
- Come on, Provolone!
- Come on, Provolone!
(interposing voices)
- Does a 15 hit?
- 15 just misses.
(Aabria groans)
- Oh, no.
- Second attack.
(dice clatters)
To a, say, 25.
- That definitely hits!
- Okay.
- Go ahead and roll damage.
- And let's just action surge.
Let's just do it.
- [Matt] Okay!
- Let's go!
- Whoo!
- [Matt] Go all in.
So that's one hit.
You have two more attacks.
- Okay.
- Come now, skald!
(Brennan laughs)
- 17.
- 17 hits.
- Really?
It's been like three seconds.
- And it does it on death.
It does pass immediately on death, yeah.
- Two hits that go through.
Go ahead
and roll damage for each.
- All right.
The first one...
- One of them was a
sneak attack, wasn't it?
- Is a sneak attack.
- [Matt] Indeed.
- And I'm-
- Your last moments
I think of you as Karna.
He was skald.
You're Karna.
You're more than a title.
- (sobs) Okay.
That makes me feel better, thank you.
- Okay.
- Just thinking these thoughts
into the ether (mumbles).
(Aabria laughs)
Yeah, hey, Universe,
just so you know-
(interposing voices)
- 21 damage on
the first hit.
- 21 damage on the first hit.
- 21 damage, plus the DC15 wound.
- [Matt] Indeed.
- And then the second-
- Fails with a six.
- Okay.
And then, that's great. (laughs)
Second attack, I'm gonna do...
I'm gonna just try to do the maneuver,
my last maneuver, and do a pushing attack.
(Brennan gasps)
Regardless, I do the damage, right?
Right.
- [Matt] Yes, regardless.
- So this would be...
(dice clatters)
15 damage.
- Sir Colin Provolone,
how do you wanna do this?
(group screams)
- Come on, Provolone!
- [Aabria and Brennan] Come on, Provolone!
(Anjali sobs)
(Zac screams)
- Crying.
Pissing himself.
Shaking.
Remembers the people that
he shared this journey with,
even if they weren't necessarily,
if they were his best friends.
(players laughing)
Pulls up his sword shaking,
nods to Deli.
- Do it, skald.
- Misses wildly.
(group laughs)
Hits.
And hits again.
And uses his pushing tack to launch it,
hopefully, into the
disposal teeth next to it
with all his strength.
- [Matt] Perfect.
- The second strike impacts
the side of its torso,
and it is unmoving.
Angrily, you put your
boot up against the side
of that same piece of side toast
that you've been kind of hanging on to,
and shout out, (grunts loudly)
as you push off with all of your weight,
shoulder slamming the creature.
It stumbles off of its right leg,
tries to catch itself as it rotates.
You watch as it's staring at
you with its terrifying eyes.
The one bolt still sticking out of one
as it just tilts,
stumble, stumble, stumble.
(Matt imitates blender whirring)
Hearing the grinding of metal
on top of the grinding of metal
in the opposite direction,
you watch as the blades break and spark!
There is a continuous
flash of sh**ting sparks,
white hot and blue hot.
It causes flames to begin to emit
from the inside of both disposals.
As the teeth grinds upon teeth,
you hear this high pitched scream
as the Avatar is blended and torn,
until, eventually, there is nothing left,
but gnarled, mangled rings of metal
in stripped bloody flesh.
The other disposal comes to a stop.
Inside the mycelium,
only have torn but a little
bit of the heart away,
comes to a stop.
The Elder watching this...
Expires.
Its body drying.
Its purpose left unfulfilled,
and realizing the futility of
its own attempts at nihilism.
and realizing the futility of
its own attempts at nihilism.
- Amangeaux drops to her knees,
drops her rapier and dagger,
and just desperately tries to reach out
telepathically to the Bishop.
He was always Bishop to me.
And to Karna.
Just tries desperately,
and she's asking, are you there?
Please tell me you're there?
Please tell me you're there?
And when she hears nothing,
she just collapses and just starts crying.
- I think Deli walks up to Colin...
Well struck.
(melancholic instrumental music)
- Thank you.
(stammers) Did we do it?
- I think we've averted one disaster.
I can't tell.
Can I make a perception check
to figure out if the fungal release
the effect that was supposed
to happen on Pangranos?
Is that still going to happen?
Has the mood of this great mass changed?
- There's one surefire way to check,
as the room still glows
with the permeation of
surrounding mycelium.
- I'll walk up,
and, for the second time,
touch the glowing line.
and, for the second time,
touch the glowing line.
(Matt inhales sharply)
- You feel your essence reach out,
and connect, and extend within it.
The rest of you watch as Deli's
face just kinda goes blank,
and the eyes begin to glow
in that pale blue coloration.
This close proximity to it that matches
the pulses throughout the entire city,
you feel that connection,
and the emotions that almost
overwhelm you is gratitude.
Gratitude and understanding.
Like feeling a child begin to put
the pieces of a puzzle together.
You think, maybe, for the first time,
it begins to understand
the complexity of emotions
that the surface dwellers
wrestle with every day,
and it begins to subside.
You can sense the
extensions of the mycelium
that are now reaching
beyond the various tunnels.
From that point, connected to it,
you can hear the sounds of battle,
the detonations of cannon fire,
the shouts of commands,
the clashing of metal,
the screams of soldiers falling in battle,
and the mycelium withdraws.
The tunnels collapsing behind as it does.
- As I hold my hand to it,
I think I look to Lady Amangeaux,
and I think of her child,
and I think of the idea
of them being reunited,
and I wonder if the mycelium will let us,
allow us to go?
- You think on this,
and there's a unique dichotomy between
an understanding you, complex people,
and the long survival of its people
thriving on the lack of
knowledge of its existence.
That same moment, as
the mycelium withdraws,
you get flashes of the Saprophians
rising up against the remaining
members of the architects.
You see flashes of these
robed figures screaming
as they're torn apart by
the citizens, the families,
to maintain their silence.
And the attention comes back to you,
and you feel this presence
wordlessly convey,
can you keep a secret?
- Oh.
- Oh!
I think, in this moment,
Deli feels deeply torn,
but he knows, yes.
Yes, he can.
- How do you convey this to the entity,
and not just you?
- Yeah.
Hey, what's goin' on?
(Aabria laughs)
Just gonna sneak into
your head and be like,
is it saying anything?
Hello?
Is this thing on?
- I think at this point,
I do take my hand away,
and I turn to look at my friends.
It fears that...
It knows that its survival
is based on its secrecy
and the fact that the world above
does not know about it.
It is currently closing off
any ability we would have to leave,
and it asks of us, if
we could keep it secret?
- I just start laughing,
laughing, knowing full well
how many people have died for my secret,
and I still kept it,
knowing how wrong it was,
knowing how awful it was,
that the two people who could
potentially put together
the fact that I had my
baby's father k*lled,
because I was afraid he would tell people
that I bore his child and not the King's.
I beam as much as physically possible,
the same way I beamed back to that little,
sweet mushroom creature at the beginning.
I just beam back,
again, me and my baby,
and the protectiveness,
and just a sense of,
this is the only way my baby survives,
so, of course.
- So you've extended your
consciousness to this entity.
You can retouch it to
convey this, if you wish.
What about Sir Colin Provolone,
slayer of the Avatar?
(Zac sighs loudly)
I think Colin's gonna touch
it for the first time.
And assuming he hears a similar sentiment,
And assuming he hears a similar sentiment,
will say, well, we have to.
We have to keep this secret.
- I would like the three of you
to make a group persuasion check.
(Lou laughs)
Now, the DC on this is not that difficult.
You have proven yourselves
to have done quite a great
good in its presence,
but does it weigh that stronger
than the good of its people?
Go ahead and roll.
(dice clacks)
- I still have advantage?
- You do.
(dice thuds)
(dice clacks)
(dice clatters)
- 25.
- So...
I rolled a five.
But when I add my charisma, it's a three.
(Aabria laughing)
- I rolled a 25.
- I rolled a natural one...
(Aabria gasps)
For a eight.
- In this moment, connected
with this creature,
you sense a sadness,
and the maternal
protectiveness of its children,
and you all immediately understand
that if you don't run now,
you'll never see the Bulb's light again.
(dramatic music plays)
- We gotta go.
- Book it (indistinct)
(interposing voices)
(players laughing)
We gotta go!
- [Lou] Just like-
(Anjali mumbles)
(Anjali pants heavily)
(Zac yells indistinctly)
- [Zac] Please get outta the way!
(interposing voices)
- [Anjali] Yeah, we go that way-
- [Lou] This f*ck' guy, dude!
Do this f*ck' guy-
- Okay, that dude
is hiding and trying to push it over.
- Push, push, push-
- Push!
- We push, push!
(interposing voices)
- [Zac] Are we makin' any progress?
- [Matt] Not from his point.
- What is wrong with you?!
- [Matt] But he just screams
and pushes.
- f*ck this!
(interposing voices)
- The whole thing!
You had all the time in the world!
(players laughing)
- [Matt] All three of
you make strength checks.
He's gonna be helping out as well.
- Okay.
- Let's go!
- That's gonna be a 27.
- [Matt] 27.
- [Anjali] 16.
- That would be a 12.
- [Matt] 12, okay.
Between the three of you,
this guy is no help at all.
You all (grunts) push it by
as you watch the mycelium in the room
begin to seep towards you,
and you watch those bright
blue spores begin to shift
into a dark purple coloration.
You push it outta the
way and begin to run.
The guy's following you through.
What's going on?!
What are we doing?
- Just run!
- [Matt] Okay!
He goes running,
and now-
- I f*ck' trip him.
(group laughs)
(Matt imitates body thudding)
(Matt speaks indistinctly)
- What?! No!
And as you start running down the stairs,
down the halls,
you're charging and charging,
you watch (imitates air puffing)
the spores are emerging
from the city around.
Behind you, you hear...
(Matt mumbles and coughs)
Wait, come on! (coughing and retching)
You just keep going.
(Anjali pants heavily)
Keep going.
(group pants heavily)
Rushing down the streets,
- Ah, f*ck these heels!
- Rushing up, Saprophians, the citizens.
You can see they're all kind
of looking around confused.
You see the tattered, torn bodies
of various cultists surround you.
They look at you with a look
of curiosity in their face
before the pulse of purple
begins to fill their eyes.
What do you do as they begin to
close off the street in front of you?
- We're good.
- Go!
- We're good!
(Anjali mumbles indistinctly)
(players laughing)
(Anjali continues mumbling)
She's done, we can go!
- She said we can go.
We're good, we're solid.
(Matt chuckles)
No, no.
Can we just sprint?
- Try to to sprint past.
- Try and make it
- Yeah, I'd make-
- Just try to Indiana Jones that sh*t.
- I would like to tackle
them out of the way,
so that these two can keep running.
- Okay, go ahead and make
an athletics check for me.
(dice clatters)
- That's gonna be 16.
- 16, mm-mmm.
You go ahead, and on their part,
(imitates expl*si*n
booming) they got a 12.
You immediately rush through,
and with your beefy physicality,
your broad shoulders
and the spear in front,
you just charge, and push the
group of them outta the way
while you two just manage to run by.
It does put you a bit behind them, though.
- That's all right.
See her to the surface,
and then I'll take off behind them,
but-
- Indeed.
Now, the two of you have the ability
as rogue-ish characters
to dash as a bonus action.
You have a pretty decent speed,
so you're running at a double
movement of 80 feet, correct?
- Yes.
- So I could, if I did
a full movement, 120?
- [Matt] Yeah, so you can
easily outmaneuver this.
- I look at Amangeaux,
and say, I'll catch up.
- Go, go, go!
- And I double back.
- What?
Oh, yeah.
- To try to help get-
- What are you doing, Colin?!
- Who's gonna watch your right?
(group laughs)
And he's just like help...
Try to help him up and
just continue to run.
- Okay, because you fell behind,
I need you to make a
constitution saving throw,
as some of the spores
out of the side of the road next to you.
(dice clacks)
- That's gonna be an 11.
- An 11.
You take 13 points of poison damage,
as you begin to cough, and cough,
and cough with bits of blood
beginning to fill your throat,
but you continue to run.
The toxin has filled into your system,
but you're still pushing on.
You continue to run past the city streets,
winding through Saprophus.
You can see the citizens
kind of coming out,
both to greet you and
also feel compelled to try
and block your passage,
but you have managed to maintain
a pretty consistent gait.
You eventually pass through,
and make it to the rot chamber,
which you had came
through on the way back.
- Oh, god.
- Here, as you watch the deep recesses
of the chamber begin to
release clouds of toxin,
do you take your time across
the bridge in the platforms
or do you just book it?
- I would book it.
- [Lou] We book it.
- I would book it.
- [Matt] I'd like you all to make
dexterity saving throws.
- Oh, god!
- Jesus f*ck' Christ!
(dice clacks)
- sh*t!
(Lou lowly sighs)
- Come on-
- 16.
- 25.
- [Lou] Eight.
- The two of you go running past
as you watch Deli kinda slip...
(group imitates body thudding)
land into the middle of the rot pit,
slamming right as the
spores kinda come again.
Make another constitution
saving throw for me.
(dice clacks)
- That's a natural one.
- [Aabria] Oh!
- That is another
nine points of poison damage.
- Get up!
- Yeah, I'm gonna pull myself
up and keep chasing them.
Go!
- [Matt] Make an athletics check.
(dice clacks)
That's an 18.
- Okay, you pull yourself back up.
The spores have caught up to you,
and unless you continue to book it,
you're gonna be taking this every round.
You all are just in front of this.
So you continue forward?
- Yeah.
- [Matt] Okay.
- As we see him get up, we do.
- [Zac] Yeah.
- [Matt] All right.
You charge up the tunnel and continue.
Him trailing behind.
You get to the edge, jumping
from platform to platform.
I need you to make another
constitution saving throw.
(dice clacks)
- Oh, god!
That's gonna be a nine.
- A nine.
12 points of poison damage to you,
as now, your lungs are on fire.
You feel your legs growing sluggish.
The numbness is traveling
up the lower extremities.
You can't feel your knees!
You can't feel your feet!
You can't feel your waist!
Are you holding your spear still?
You look down, and it's
still in your hand,
but you can't feel your hand!
Your vision's starting to blur a bit,
and you just continue to run behind,
and you can see them, you can hear them,
and you're not sure if
you'll be able to get there,
but you know at least
they're out of this cloud.
You all begin to head up to where
the first tunnels you came through are.
Up there, you see that
same tiny Saprophian
kind of sitting there waiting patiently
where it was sitting.
The tunnel where you had
arrived through has collapsed.
(Brennan gasps)
- Can I make a perception check
to see if there's any other route
that we can go?
- Make a perception check.
(dice clacks)
(Zac sighs)
- That's only a nine.
- I run over to the-
- Look!
- I run over to him.
(Matt speaks indistinctly)
I run over to the...
And I kneel in front
of the little mushroom,
and I just beam a
picture of a mental image
and I just beam a
picture of a mental image
of us running out of the
hole, and me grabbing my baby,
and just this yearning to get out.
- [Matt] Make a persuasion check for me.
(players laughing)
- Oh, god!
Oh, no!
- And, and, and?
- (groans) 13.
- [Matt] 13?
13 isn't so bad.
It looks at you, acknowledges,
and it kind of points up
to the secondary tunnel
where it was hiding before.
Up that way, it is also collapsed,
but you get the sense that its
pointing in that direction,
possibly, is your best way out.
- Yeah.
Of course, this is where the other...
(stammers) What are they called?
FDA people came from!
Let's go, let's go, let's go!
- Let's go.
I'm gonna go ahead and run.
- I'm gonna double back.
- [Matt] All right.
Make another constitution
saving throw for me.
(Lou sighs)
And you do as well,
as you now enter the spore
cloud being released.
- [Anjali] Oh, no, no, come on, baby!
- It's another nine.
- [Matt] Another nine.
- [Zac] I got a-
- [Matt] Took seven points
of poison damage.
- [Zac] 19.
- [Matt] And three points
of poison damage to you.
(coughs)
- Colin, you have to get out of here!
- Come on, just shut the f*ck up!
(group laughs)
Drop the spear.
Just go!
- I drop the spear.
- Okay, you get up to the edge of this,
and you can see where the
tunnel has collapsed here.
It's just kind of a surface collapse.
The rock's kind of fallin' in,
and they're holding this kind of
semi-tenuous blockage to it,
and it's too much for you to do.
It is a heavy amount of rock.
- Does it have a...
Can I use an acrobatics
check to maybe climb up it,
and see if there's any air?
- [Matt] It's a thin tunnel.
- It's completely blocked.
- It's completely blocked.
There is no light here
beyond just the faint
coloration of the mycelium,
which you can hear behind you.
(Distant explosions)
- I scream back to the guys,
it's caved in here as well!
- I will run
with my whole body,
and taking whatever damage,
I'd like to run full...
I'm happy to injure all
of these parts of my body
if it means we make some
sort of dent in this thing.
- Make a strength check for me.
- Okay.
- (whisper) 'Cause that
was another one, right?
- Do you have any rage left?
- I am out of rage.
That's gonna be a 22.
- DC on this was 20.
(players cheering)
You full-bore slam into the rocks
with all the might
that the Meat Lands has instilled with you
of a lifetime of battle,
conflict, and focus.
Smash!
(rocks clattering)
The rocks give way and spill out.
You see bulb-light begin to peer down
from the broken exterior of this tunnel.
This is the surface,
and you all push through just
as (imitates air whooshing)
the fume begins to pour out
from this tunnel to follow you.
You follow the trajectory of
the Chief out onto the surface
just in time to wince,
as the light of the Bulb
in the sky is blinding.
You, from the impact of that run,
take nine points of bludgeoning damage.
- Oh, no!
- Come on!
- [Anjali] (whisper) Come on!
- So you emerge from this tunnel.
(Matt imitates expl*si*n booming)
Outta the side, the rocks
kinda scatter around.
(pants heavily) Your eyes begin to focus,
and you look at each other,
and realize, you made it.
- We did it!
(Zac mumbles)
Deli, we got-
- You look over,
and Deli is face down on
the ground covered in blood.
- I flip him over,
just to see if any there's anything to...
Deli?
- He's unconscious.
- [Anjali] Does-
- You can see
the foam at the corners of his mouth
from the toxin spores
that have taken root.
- Can I make a medicine check?
- Absolutely.
- [Matt] You may.
- Can I help?
- If you want to.
- [Anjali] I would like to.
- Okay.
- Do you have better medicine?
I have-
- I do have better medicine.
- Can I help you?
- [Matt] Yeah, yeah-
- Yeah, and I have
a healing kit somewhere.
- [Matt] Do you have a healing kit?
- I do have a healing kit.
Okay.
(mumbles) 18 plus 2,
and then a help is advantage?
- [Matt] Yes.
- Yes.
- Okay, so 20.
(dice clacks)
It's 20.
- Between the roll and the healers kit,
you manage to staunch the spread
of the toxins in the system
and stabilize the Chief,
Delissandro Katzon.
- Just to make sure that
we can get him moving,
and get all of us moving,
I'm gonna cast False Life,
which is something that I
couldn't do during battle,
'cause there was too much k*lling to do.
And False Life will give
all of us one D4 plus nine
temporary hit points,
which is one.
So 10 temporary hit points.
- [Matt] Okay.
You now hear...
(rocks clattering)
The tunnel that you just
emerged from re-collapses,
causing a faint sink hole here
in the middle of the Ceresian field.
It takes a few minutes in
this kind of stunned silence,
as you both kind of process
what had just happened,
who you've lost, and who was saved.
You slowly come to
consciousness, Delissandro,
and about the time you sit up,
the throbbing pain in your head,
you all hear this distant sound.
(trumpet sounds)
(trumpet sound continues)
The horns of victory sound out
from the north-worn city of Pangranos.
There, you see the rising
columns of black smoke,
the damage the buildings
and walls have sustained,
and the signs and sounds of victory
cheers throughout the streets.
The battle is over.
And with that, the Ravening w*r.
(melancholic instrumental music)
In the days that come,
you find out the General Rococoa was slain
as part of this struggle.
But in vengeful focus and fury,
the armies retaliate,
and Lord Gustavo Uvano
fires a legendary arrow
into the very heart of Imperator Focaccia,
the final beat that calls
the end to that chapter.
And instead, the victorious
alliance comes together
to establish a future for
Calorum that will ensure unity
between the fractured lands.
The Concord is forged between the nations,
and the lauded hero, Gustavo Uvano,
is named the first Concordant Emperor
to guide from within
the soon to be finished
Great Pyramid of Food in Comida.
The creation of the Concord
is performed under the Bulbian Oath,
expanding the Bulbian Church's reach
far beyond the Vegietanian borders,
and imprinting the faith as the
defacto religion in Calorum,
expanding its influence exponentially.
The Pax Calorum is
established to centralize
and maintain balance in military
forces between the nations,
while bolstering the central
power of this Concord.
But those are just above-board politics.
Delissandro, what do you
do in the wake of this?
- I think Deli and maybe Colin
spend some time together,
- I think Deli and maybe Colin
spend some time together,
but I don't think Delissandro ever
is able to kind of resolve the feelings
he had of his willingness and
excitement at being a pawn
he had of his willingness and
excitement at being a pawn
in the games of others,
and fears that the
choice to return to Carn,
or to, really, to the world he knew,
would, in some way, he
would inevitably end up
in that space again.
And so I think, after a time,
one day, just slips away,
and follows in his mother's footsteps,
leaving the Land of the Great Cow,
and journeying north to be an Outlander,
and to, every morning, watch the Bulb rise
over the red steeps of the Meat Lands
until the end of his days.
- Sir Colin Provolone.
- I think Colin renounces his title.
(players laughing)
Probably both Skald and Sir.
- Deli's cool with it.
- And he just wants to spend some time
making sure that Sanctus
Putris is no more,
and will try to just make sure
that there's no little
pockets of it anywhere,
just so that our world is rid of that.
- It takes a few years,
but indeed, you confirm
Sanctus Putris was not a monolith,
and there are pockets of it
that still subsist in the world.
If Colin chooses to spend the
rest of his days hunting them?
- I think he does.
- Amangeaux.
(Anjali exhales loudly)
Where do you find yourself
in the wake of this w*r?
- If she wasn't already dying
from guilt before all of this,
just all she can think about
is that she doesn't belong here.
It should be Karna standing here, not her.
Even the Bishop,
knowing what he had done,
and knowing what I had done,
and she so desperately
just wants to disappear,
even though I'm not good for my son,
I'm not good for anyone on the planet,
and then she remembers the safe house.
So I think she goes back
to Karna's safe house,
and figures out her way in,
'cause she's a thief, and a
rogue, and thieves' tools,
and she showed her, and
they were sisters and all,
and she goes inside,
and looks for anything,
anything that Karna might have left behind
that would be useful,
any information, any of her whispers,
any of the things to maybe help.
She can't do anything with her station.
She can't do anything with the name, Lady.
She can't do anything to protect her son.
He's fine.
He's the ward of an emperor now.
But she might be able to
change things from the inside,
if she can just find that information.
- What does she find
amongst your files, Karna?
- Karna, against better judgment,
struggled to keep track of everything,
'cause she was young, and
didn't have much experience.
So you will find scattered,
stuffed in notebooks,
and under floorboards,
pieces of fine, thin onion vellum
that look like they're covered with
chicken scratch and scrawls.
But if you find them all, and stack them,
it gives you one beautifully
handwritten list,
ledgers, and balances,
and all of the secrets
that she had not paid down yet,
and hadn't done anything with.
Leverage.
- [Matt] What do you do
with this information,
Amangeaux?
- Oh, little sister,
I'm so sorry, but I'm going
to have to read your diary.
I take this information.
Is the name Van Pinnonoir
anywhere on there?
- There's a little note.
There's no balance attached to it,
because we did our
business, and it was done.
But you see that kind of
scrawled in the corner
things that are untethered,
that I think you would
surmise after amount of time,
were some of her early works and regrets.
Your name is nowhere near
it, but it is written there,
and a note of the evidence,
the false letter that she planted on him.
- So she's gonna tear
that little part out,
and burn it.
And then I will take this back to Uvano.
She says, My Lord,
I have something that may
help you in these coming days.
You shouldn't see it,
but if you will allow
me to be your spymaster,
I can do great good
from behind the scenes.
- Well, to be entirely honest,
the pressures of stepping
into the role of the emperor
has been weighing on me in recent months.
All eyes are upon me.
Perhaps that would be the perfect time
with no eyes on you?
I accept.
- In the coming days,
as she studies further
in her rogue-ish talents,
she learns to disguise herself,
and to carry false
images of herself around.
And every single day, in the
morning, she talks to Karna,
and every single night
before she goes to sleep,
she talks to her again,
and continues to tell her how happy she is
that she found love before she was gone.
- Karna, what echoes of impact
have you left in the world
- Karna, what echoes of impact
have you left in the world
beyond the radical
alteration of the once-queen?
- When I was summoned
to stand by Deli's side
outside of the w*r tent,
I left a letter on his bed,
hoping that he would see it
if we made it back from the battle,
and it says, my Chief, baseline trust,
the only secret I have
left is that I love you,
and I'm not brave enough
to say it to your face.
But if you call, I will come, always.
Thank you.
Thank you for your friendship,
thank you for your trust,
and thank you for giving
me something to believe in
beyond the horrifying inevitability
of the Hungry One's embrace.
Signed, and this is the only time
she's given herself a
title or referred to it,
Skald Karna Solara of Scoville.
- [Matt] As you finish
reading for the first time,
and fold it in your hands
as you watch that Bulb rise
over the free Northlands.
Raphaniel, whatever happens
to your collection of papers,
and scrawlings, and truths
that you've collected?
What echos have you left
in the world in your wake?
- There are very little truths
that Raphaniel left in this world.
Most of his scrawlings are
the strategizing of a man driven
to the brink of fanaticism
the strategizing of a man driven
to the brink of fanaticism
and zealotry by spite and spite alone.
What he realized in the
final moments of his life
was greater than all of his
vast decades put together.
was greater than all of his
vast decades put together.
There seems to be a
running theme in Calorum
of supposedly holy men
having incredible insight
into the workings of the cosmos
in the last seconds of their life.
(players laughing)
- I'll say!
- [Brennan] "I'll say."
(players continue laughing)
- One of the last moments
of terror Raphaniel feels
as he is disposed of
is knowing the hollowness
of the vision of the world
laid out in his scrawlings
about the eschatology of the church,
about the ending of the world,
about the cosmos,
that is inaccurate
and incorrect in his
depictions of what is to come.
So the echo that he leaves,
first and foremost, is,
as Archbishop Colliflour
has vanished overnight,
his successor, the
Archbishop of Greenhold,
a young Belizabeth Brassica,
discovers his writings
on the Ramsian Doctrine,
on the Prophidian Heresy,
and also, his writings on
the threat posed by the Sanctus Putris,
which, in addition to
having been excoriated
by the Saprophites underneath Pangranos,
and having the most
powerful numbers of
their order hollowed out,
now, also, has an incredibly
dangerous cheese knight
hunting them from the shadows.
(group laughs)
So the Sanctus Putris, of
course, is on the outs,
and Belizabeth Brassica is ascendant
with the strength of those writings,
and, she, in addition to
discovering those writings,
I think also discovers
the scrolls of genealogy
in Raphaniel's study.
the scrolls of genealogy
in Raphaniel's study.
All of those maps and plans laid out
that made a young
Raphaniel Charlock realize,
that if Arthur Cardoon never had an heir,
that it would likely mean w*r.
- In the wake of all this,
the time of great peace does
ensue between the nations
as old kings pass their thrones
to new generations of heroes,
one such being the surviving
heir to Castle Candy,
and his burgeoning royal
family of House Rocks.
(intense whooshing)
But that's another story.
Thank you so much for joining us.
It's been an absolute pleasure.
I've been your dungeon
master, Matthew Mercer.
I love you very much.
Thank you.
(group cheers and applauds)
- [Matt] We're f*cking done, y'all.
(group continues cheering and applauding)
(dramatic orchestral music)
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17x06 - The Heart of the World
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A tabletop role-playing game show produced by and broadcast on Dropout and created and generally hosted by Brennan Lee Mulligan as the show's regular Dungeon Master.
A tabletop role-playing game show produced by and broadcast on Dropout and created and generally hosted by Brennan Lee Mulligan as the show's regular Dungeon Master.