The Glass Cannon Podcast - Gatewalkers Episode 21 – David Koresh's Playhouse

Episode Date: February 9, 2024

The heroes leave the Material Plane behind to enter the First World in search of answers. Watch the video here: https://youtu.be/JGLJaCfu8-E This episode was sponsored by Demiplane, Foundry VTT and Norse Foundry. Check out Demiplane's Pathfinder Nexus and character creation tools at https://bit.ly/GCNOfficialTools See why tabletop gamers everywhere have made the switch to Foundry Virtual Tabletop at https://foundryvtt.com/gcp The Glass Cannon Podcast is sponsored by BetterHelp. Visit https://betterhelp.com/GCN to get 10% off your first month. Visit https://tryfum.com/GCN to save 10% off the Journey Pack today. Visit https://nordvpn.com/GCP to get 4 extra months on the 2-year plan with a 30-day money-back guarantee. For more podcasts and livestreams, visit glasscannonnetwork.com and for hundreds of hours of exclusive shows and benefits, make your membership official and join Glass Cannon Nation today by becoming a subscriber at jointhenaish.com. Watch new episodes when they premiere every Thursday at 8PM ET on youtube.com/theglasscannon. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Try Tim's new Sweet Chili Chicken Loaded Wraps and Bowls today. Take your taste buds on an exciting new adventure for lunch or dinner with our delicious new Sweet Chili Sauce. It's time for Sweet Chili Chicken. It's time for Tim's. At participating restaurants in Canada for a limited time. Chanty was going to take me on a trip to the place he's from. From the producer of Megan, Five Nights at Freddy's and the Black Phone.

Alice! Alice! Alice! Get out! Now. Many kids have imaginary friends. Ready or not. Just because you stop believing in them doesn't mean they're gone. Here he comes. And they're angry you left. Imaginary. Now playing only in theaters.

You are listening to the Glass Cannon Network, the premier source for role-playing game entertainment. Last week on the Glass Cannon Podcast. All right, well, let's take you back to the room here, and you're all, you set a watch, and somehow this bird just appeared there. Yeah, because we need to, like, compare it to the map. Yes.

Compare it to the diorama. Oh, to her, to her, okay, yeah. Fantastic idea. We should walk in that direction. So what are you up to now? Still searching for your pockets. I should warn you, many people have searched for those pockets, and those are the type of people that don't come back. While we're walking, Asta had clearly noticed that Zephyr was grabbing

the urn. And she says, I know what you're thinking. I didn't kill your friend. It's not just your fault. It's all of our faults. I mean, that whole situation was a mess. I's all of our faults. I mean, that whole situation was a mess. I failed. We all failed. You compare your drawing, your memory of the bird, but the general feeling is 9 p.m.-ish and a rout.

Oh, yes! Maybe they're back. Maybe they're... Look at this. This is back. Talitha, you come back at nighttime, and you wait. When all of a sudden, you see the air look ripped open.

Like a curtain. We don't know how long it'll be open. If we don't go, we won't know. You're all coming too, yes? Just stay close, Buggles. All of us. Stay close. Well, we've Just stay close, Buggles. All of us, stay close. Well, we've all passed through one kind of portal.

Shall we? Let's go. Yeah. Brother Ramius looks back at the town and then watches all of them pass through. Keeper, guide us. He steps through. The adventure continues now. so so Welcome back, everybody, to the Glass Cannon Podcast.

I hesitate to bring this up. Before we recorded last episode, I was talking with everyone. I'm like, what if we should talk about this? And you guys were like, uh, the chat around the table was like, maybe we shouldn't. And so then I waited a week because I'm going to talk about it now. And I still think it's a bad time to talk about it. But I do want to talk about your impressions of the adventure thus far. And the reason I want to bring it up is I know Joe doesn't care for it. Oh, he loves it. Because he doesn't understand it.

You're trying to understand things that should not be understood. I feel very attacked by Kate. You need to be comfortable not knowing stuff. Stop telling me what I need to do. Whoa. This is why he hates David Lynch and Twin Peaks and all that stuff, because it freaks him out. If he can't concretely hold it in his hands, he hates it. For a fantasy nerd, you are very Logos-centric.

He's a rules boy. What does that mean? How did this become Joe Attack Hour? That's what I wanted. All right, well, let's talk about how we feel about Joe. First of all, Joe's part in this adventure so far. Yeah, this week on the band. Let's just air your grievances against O'Brien.

We do have some notes for you, Joe. Well, Brother Ramius could use some work. Yeah. Well, what, so what are your, what are your objections? Yeah. Could you explain your objections, Joe? My objections are not, have nothing to do, I try to like, I'm trying to meditate on this. I've been trying for weeks and weeks to think about this.

And it is not that it's a gate walkers issue. It's really more of, I'm trying to wrap my head around mystery role playing, right? Because there's a real, I think a problem here that I'm trying to figure out how to, how to solve, so to speak, which is that like, it is written in such a way that if you don't roll the dice exactly how they are supposed to be rolled, you have to fudge it and just give the players the answer. And other stories don't have that because they don't have mysteries, but mysteries are awesome. So it's like, it's I'm trying to wrap my head around these super, super complicated, vague,

high level mysteries that we're going after. And the players all kind of fumbling. Sorry, the characters. I don't like, i don't mind if my character uh falls on his face and dies i've i've come to grips with that over the years what i what i don't like is a constant reminder that my character and all the other characters don't know anything, you know, and like, and that they're stupid.

Says the man who runs a Delta Green campaign. Well, that's why I said it's not a Gatewalkers issue. It's an, it's an overall issue. I sit there when I'm running a Delta Green game and I think, God, man, if they would just look at every piece of evidence that's here, it's all there. It's all there. But it never gets solved by players because it is so complicated to solve. I think one issue you may be having is you're working under the assumption that you should know more. And that's a great Delta Green thing that I've tried to, like, transmit to the players. My concern here is not getting answers in gatewalkers for me to be honest it's more about can something happen it feels to me like it's dragging like you know

what i mean i'm like i some of these scenes are very interesting where there's like um a conversation with an npc and you're trying to plumb for information you're interrogating a witness kind of thing and those scenes can be kind of cool but when at the end of all of that you you learn nothing you know it's it's frustrating and i feel like that's happening over and over and over now there's a big breakthrough last week so i'm very excited to be where we are right now this might be the rare case where the characters know more than the players we did spend basically 20 minutes all of us trying to explain

the first world to joe before he went on the air but can i actually offer an endorsement of your of your endorsement with the complication and then a rebuttal if i might sure so the endorsement is i think you're kind of like zeroing in on a central tension of mystery of mystery role playing which is that we're being presented with clues but are we, we're not scripted. So the care we don't, you're like, it's law and order mystery. If you're writing a mystery story, it's a different,

it's a different process than actually living. That's what I said off air. But also you're the kind of mystery you're describing as kind of law and order storytelling, which is a very satisfying storytelling where each scene is a clue. Yeah. And you get, you get the mystery will move along one,

one step closer to, yes. As opposed to something I'm like, I get the kind of classic hardboiled detective novel which does have a very propulsive motion to it and you are getting a lot of clues but there are a lot of swerves like if you think about the big sleep or you think that's something or any of the dash mohammed stuff red herring red herring non-information non-information or like or chinatown's another example you you you get what you think is a red herring that actually will come back 40 minutes later to be the key to understanding this thing that you

didn't understand before. But it's designed. It is designed. I worry that what we're doing is just making the game suck. You know what I mean? As opposed to designing a satisfying ending. I think, my takeaway, because I'm enjoying this,

but I think you feel like we should be further ahead than we are. But to me right now, like, we are still climbing the hill of the first act. Like, you know, there's so, the problem of the Ayudhara and like the missing moment, that is so big. That's like an end game quest you know and we're doing all these little quests right now to solve you know farmer whatever his name was and his weird son you know to me right but i feel like they should build but they are i think they are i i maybe just disagree with you i'm i'm feeling like we're getting there's a vibe i feel like

there's i'm picking up on a definite vibe and atmosphere yeah i feel like that's the kind of story that is something that has become more clear to me like in the last few times we've played is that it's just like oh now i'm getting a feel for like a tone and everything that is really interesting the thing that i initially had a problem with was that i think we're talking about this a little bit too, is the idea that our characters came into the beginning of the adventure having already met and known each other. So I think that that was a little bit of a drawback, at least for the way that we play,

in that we didn't have an opportunity for us to meet our other people's characters as part of the story and get to know them that way, was, like, assuming that we all, like, we can't have those discussions, really, because we're supposed to already be acquainted. So it's hard to shoehorn those in. Right. So, like, if you're designing a really good mystery or, like, a detective story, and you start it with a detective and their partner, and you started with a detective and their partner, you can tell by the way that it's crafted that they have history and it comes out perfectly timed in an interesting ways. When you're not crafting it and you're supposed to like already know everything about each other or at least a decent amount about each other, it seems weird to be like, so where are you from?

When you're like, you've known each other for three months, you're living in a complex. It's like, well, okay. But then we never had that conversation, you've known each other for three months. You live in a complex. It's like, well, okay. But then we never had that conversation, you know? Yeah, I guess I always sort of considered it like you guys were rolling into Riddleson's situation at different times, along with other gatewalkers. So your time with each of you individually may have been very limited. And it wasn't until this journey with Riddleson to seven arches did you really get to start to know each other now that doesn't mean that maybe ramius and buggles hadn't spent a night uh having a couple drinks and talk you know that might have happened but i kind of assumed that it was very surface and your journey there was very journey oriented it's like hey i'm about i'm about to travel with a bunch of relative strangers for a month that first week you're still

kind of feeling each other out. And it was now like the second week of traveling together that our adventure begins. But it is easier when it's like you all meet in the tavern. Yeah, I mean, I'm just thinking about some of the other adventures, like Rise of the Runelords, spoilers for the first four pages of Rise of the Runelords. But everyone meets in a town and we see them, we meet each other, like we experience that. And then like there's an event that sort of catalyzes their relationship as a group. And that, I think that- Giant Slayer had a similar-

Giant Slayer had a similar thing. So I think that works really well. I think that's why like, well, you know, I've been enjoying the entire process, but it's less like I'm only really getting feeling myself getting into the story now yeah whereas i think it's something like runelords like i got into it uh way earlier just because of that helped by that experience that kind of i mean the that's i would say that i'm really enjoying the story i'm enjoying enjoyed all the bow on stuff and the forest play castle.

What's the actual, what's the actual word I'm looking for? It was the gnome hideout. Yeah. And then this, I don't know this. I'm really into, but I agree.

Like the opening of it felt, I think it's like you're opening on with a mission, but kind of as a lie, you don't, yeah, you're that, that thing you're supposed to do was kind of a faint, right? And so instead of having that kind of big immediate instead of having the missing moment be the thing that

kind of united us all it was like oh we're doing this mission to measure the arches to see if they work and they don't but we didn't tell you that everybody already knew they didn't work it's a very interesting situation in which the inciting strange is another three months before the show began right yeah strange hands is another great like we all wake up with similar like lost time and memory and we're all in the same and we don't know each other we don't know each other we wake up this prison together and

like that that's you know breaking out of there figuring our way out of there that's what draws us together as a group you know it is that I like when I think more about it it's that it's just that lack of, as you put it, that event that catalyzes not just the story, but also the part. Our relationship, our existence, our, yeah, as a unit.

Not that I wanted Lucky to die, but her dying really brought us together. It did. Actually, yeah, that was. It made it, because I didn't think about that at first. I thought that the vibe being different was because this was my first time playing in this type of setting with you guys. But it was because we didn't have what? For you having to play in this setting.

But yeah, we didn't have like, oh, we're just meeting. We all kind of know each other, and it made the vibe different. But in regards to the mystery, like I don't know if it's just because I'm used to playing Call of Cthulhu, but I'm just like, yeah, I don't know what's going on. I'll figure it out at some point. Like-

So I feel Delta Green too. I'm like, I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. The whole time. And then something happens like this. Like we figure out a path and the portal opens and I'm like, nailed it.

We did it. I think this is one of the things that drew me to this. It's a very non-traditional approach and it almost feels like the way it's unfolding is more of a novel than like a screenplay. We've talked about Robert McKee before. His whole thing is like, if in the first 10 pages of the script, that big thing doesn't

happen. It's a bad script. And we don't have that. We're 20 episodes in. I think in a way you're still kind of waiting for that like aha moment. And it's really not meant to be that. It's meant to be more of a exploration and discovery. And it may feel slow, but I think that you're definitely on the verge of some more answers. Yeah.

And now, like I said, I mean, now that we are – I feel like now that the adventure has sort of picked a lane and I'm starting to wrap my head around that. And now, like, for me, like, my place and our place in it is starting to make more sense. And I'm really, you know, apart from just being – enjoying playing, like, now I'm, like, really invested in the story and, like, interested to see where it goes next, like, all that stuff. Like, now it's working for me. So. in the story and like interested to see where it goes next like all that stuff like now it's working for me so and we've talked about the past on cannon fodder too that like sometimes when you play these aps now this is a three book ap as opposed to a six book adventure path that it's really not until the end of book one that you realize what the real game is that you're playing yeah sometimes not even then yeah when you look at giant slayer you know spoiler alert if you haven't listened to that

and just started with this, you know, you think it's a murder mystery and then you realize what's really going on there. But even then, it's not until the end of book two that you really realize. And even then, yeah.

But each step of the way, you're getting satisfying answers to the immediate questions you have. It's just that you get those answers and it opens up another question, you know, and I don't, I just don't, I'm not seeing that here,

but I think what skit is talking about with the characters, I think that's the biggest part of it. Cause with Delta green, it's very like you don't solving it is not the objective. It's all about the attempt to solve it and what it does to the people that are trying to do that. Similar to blade runner. The way that was laid out is really brilliant. It's like the mystery is not the focus.

The focus is how the mystery affects and impacts the tension between humans and replicants. And like what that – that's the core concept we're examining. I think that we're missing that a little bit. I think that we need to do a little bit better work with each other's characters, not just being so secretive about everything all the time and starting to open up a little, which obviously started to happen last week. I could tell you were going to accuse me. No, that was a good thing. At least you're moving in a positive direction.

I did too. Yes. Yeah. Oh, yeah. And your scene was amazing. Oh, yeah, you had an amazing scene. Yeah. So like we got to do some

more of that because then you'll care about like i haven't told anybody what my missing moment is i'm like he's he's very secretive about it or whatever but then like nobody knows why he would do all this and so it doesn't make any sense like we got to get it out there as a player who had their character die very early on i had so much and none of it was spoken about. None of it was explored. And it's sort of like, all right, in the trash can, like I'm not gonna, there's no way to use it for anything, but it does make me want to talk about things now.

Yeah. If only Lucky had a journal. Oh, maybe she did. Maybe we'll find it. It was on her person and burned in the fire. The other thing I will say to your your point but to complicate it is i think we as a group like to role play every single minute of every day yeah so yeah like i like last week's a perfect example all right so this is a little bit meta but like when we get the bird and we get the time and we get the location, I'm like, let's just end scene and be there.

And then we fade up and it's 9 p.m. and we're in the woods. That's a role play. Well, what are we going to do for lunch? And who do we not want to come to lunch? Now, obviously, there's some comedy. There's some comedy there. But when we're talking about, well, did we ever look at Henry Bucket's house in my head? I'm like, stop. It doesn't matter about well did we ever look at henry bucket's house in my head i'm like stop it doesn't matter what we were fine nothing elixirs of life and there was like a pattern you

could save your life there was a pattern in the mess so it's like you see that other people are finding stuff but like in when we were in the gnome compound fighting for a lot of episodes it's like you don't have time compound Compound was the word I was looking for. Compound. Not Playhouse. Playhouse. Playcastle. I mean, I played Compound. David Koresh's house. I was like, remember that Playhouse in Waco?

Great joke, Skip. Great joke. Bottle cap. I tried to get an answer. when we were spending great joke great joke bottle cap yeah I tried to get an answer when we were spending all of that time fighting

you don't have a lot of time to role play so I feel like we try to take advantage of these times like a lot I should just name the episode

David some of the people see me like what the hell is going on in the sense I came here for some information on the seven seals. I didn't expect the first world.

Yeah. I mean, one of the things that I'm really trying to do in GMing is just kind of let you guys drive it. If you want to go straight to 9 p.m., we can do that. And it's like you guys skipped over things, Hattree at Pebblesworth. You go, ah, we're not going to deal with that now. No, maybe you'll deal with it later. We're like, you don't have to do everything, but if you're interested in doing everything,

I'm going to follow with you and try to make it interesting. Because then you really feel like the feeling I had as a kid where like, I can do whatever I want. Really? You don't have to follow a path. And it may be slow. It may feel slow to you who wants that thing. Yeah, like I just like yeah but you

know you just got to kind of live in it because i think the payoff is coming it just moves at a different pace also it's the i will say in defense it sounds like i'm shitting on our approach but actually but it is that approach that led to very broad finger and all and that kind of comedy but also the little interactions that are just give the world a lot of attention. So I actually do. Yeah. RPGs are different and they're great for that reason. Totally. Yeah. Well, when we come back, maybe this is the episode where business picks up for Joe.

The Glass Cannon Podcast is sponsored by BetterHelp. So this isn't news to anyone, but the last few years have been a real humdinger of an experience. And that can really stress some of the relationships in your life. I mean, I know between the pandemic and pseudo post-pandemic pandemic times and moving and having children, these things can really stress those important relationships in your life and start arguments and disagreements. And a common misconception about relationships is that they have to be easy to be right. But sometimes the best ones are the ones where both people put in the work to make them great. And therapy can be a place to work through the challenges you face in all your relationships,

whether with friends, work, your significant other, anyone. Now, I've said before, and I'll say it again, that I think everyone should get the help that they want and need. And I am for healthy brains. I think everyone probably would agree that we can all be for healthy brains. And it can be really helpful to learn positive coping skills, how to set boundaries, those kinds of things that can empower you to be the best version of yourself. And it isn't just for those who've experienced major trauma,

it can be for everyone. So if you're thinking of starting therapy, maybe give BetterHelp a try. It's entirely online, designed to be convenient, flexible, and suited to your schedule. Just fill out a brief questionnaire and get matched with a licensed therapist and you can switch therapists at any time

for no additional charge. Become your own soulmate whether you're looking for one or not. Visit betterhelp.com slash GCN today to get 10% off your first month. That's betterhelp, H-E-L-P dot com slash G-C-N. Did you ever try to quit something cold turkey? It sucks! to quit something cold turkey, it sucks. Drastic change can be noble, but it is rarely effective in my experience. It's actually better to just try to remove the bad part of a bad habit while keeping some of the other elements so you can be more effective in that pursuit. That's why

I love the concept behind Fume, an innovative, award-winning flavored air device that does exactly that. It's a device that uses flavored air instead of vapor. The set comes with flavors like, I've got them right here, like crisp mint and white cranberry and other flavors that I freaking love. Like there's this orange creamsicle one that's amazing. They're delicious. And the thing itself has no electronics and is completely natural. You should check this thing out. It is made of this beautiful wood.

It has an onyx-coated mouthpiece. It is well-weighted. It is extremely fun to fidget with. I was actually just having a jam session with Land Keith and the Woodman, if you know him from the Degenerate Dungeon. And during one of our breaks, we stepped outside for a little fresh air and I enjoyed my fume. It is just natural and healthy and it takes the bad out of the habit. So start the year off right with the good habit by going to tryfume.com slash GCN and getting the journey pack today. Fume is giving the niche 10% off when you use our code GCN to help make starting the

good habit that much easier. And we're back. Once again, I want to thank our sponsors, Demiplane, Foundry VTT, and Norse Foundry. Norse Foundry, for all your random number generating needs. Check them out. I'm so excited. I wonder if I'll actually get to roll my shiny new Troy die today. Who's rolling with their die? I'm rolling with mine.

Should be the only die you roll. For real. Mine is imperfect. Oh, I forgot. The accident. Mine is imperfect. Oh, I forgot. The accident. Mine is imperfect. I thought we destroyed that in the forge when it was built. Norse Foundry's gotten a little bit of love.

Demiplane and Foundry, not so much lately. It's been a couple episodes of just role play. Joanne's combat. I want to get this new character sheet, by the way. Well, not new but uh demi-plane the demi-plane remaster is dope and i want to take it out for a spin so go ahead take it to the recap because we cross over into this dangerous place i want to fight something i have no recap you guys know where you are you are you have stepped through and as you

said at the end of the episode and then when we went off the air, are we stuck? How are we going to get back? How are we going to get back? How do we get out? You don't know. You just stepped through.

Second time in your life, you just walked through a gate. Yeah. Can I roll? We do that. That's what we do. That's what we do. It's in the name.

I would like to think I did this last, in the moment of last week, but I didn't want to delay episode momentum. But can I roll a knowledge check about this? I mean, I, Matthew, suspect that the time passes differently in this playing game and our past playing experience. And also the three-day, three-night deadline you set out for us early on. But does Talitha have any idea about that? Can I roll something?

Yeah, you could do arcana, Occultism, maybe some First World lore. I'm sure you took that at character creation. I mean, you've said that now multiple times, which makes me believe the AP must have the term First World lore in it a thousand times. We just never thought to take it.

All right, 22 Arcana. The air around you, now that this portal is close behind you, the world you've known is close behind you, seems to drain everything of color. Even yourselves. You look at each other and everyone just looks muted. Not completely black and white.

I said this last week. It's not that, but dull. You look down at yourself, your skin, your clothing. The same thing. Needs a color correction. Desaturated. Desaturated, yes. The wind

begins howling around you as you stand there. And you all feel the ground beneath your feet sort of heave and rumble. Is it like greeting you? Is it constantly like this? You do not know.

Wait, literally the ground is like... Like it's alive? Like earth quaking? Yeah. Like a subway going underneath. I thought you meant like it's breathing or something. While you look down, it does feel like there is some movement there. But then it stops.

You look ahead in the distance in the horizon. You saw last week mountains. Well, you see one of those mountains now. And as it catches your eye, you watch as one of the slopes just crumbles and falls off like an invisible knife sliced a chunk off the mountain. And the slope just falls to the ground. And then you watch where that slope once was, and you see several trees start to emerge from the earth, fully grown, where the mountain slope once was,

just rising up to replace the earth that just fell. was just rising up to replace the earth that just fell. You look around you, and everything is covered in rot and decay. There are ruins of old structures dotting the landscape up ahead. Maybe you even see, like, little movement of animals, and all the little tiny vermin you see all look twisted and wrong as they scurry off into the bushes. And then far ahead, looming, sort of like invitingly to all of you, is a gargantuan tree stump.

Just standing above the entire surrounding foliage, and it is unearthly in size and seems to beckon to you. That twisting path that you saw at the bottom of the fissure while you were still on the material plane just winds its way right to the base of this stump, far in the distance. With your check, you know from the time you spent at the Quaking Stacks that you are in Nighthold. Okay. You... I thought Nighthold was like a fortress. That's what... that maybe is a sense that you got,

but you know that it is a shadowy corner of the First World. A place that fell to pieces. Maybe it was a fortress. It fell to pieces when Count Rinald was exiled. So we could be in the overgrowth of like a once, like a bustling street or empire or something. You look at those structures, you're like, did those once connect? Yeah. It's all a part of something. And then when he fell,

it just went to shit. The Rome of the first world. Watching that mountain crumble and trees emerge, that could have happened in the span of a moment when he was exiled. Count Rinald, the Lord of Betrayal, Exile, and Shadows, he himself was exiled. Count Rinalc, the lord of betrayal, exile, and shadows. He himself was exiled to the Shadow Plane by the other Eldest millennia ago.

You know this place is deeply unstable and dangerous, even for the First World, and prone to regular breaches through which creatures can enter from the material plane, just as you did. But creatures can also enter from the shadow plane. There is this constant overlapping. It's cross-hatched. I'm just reading my notes on the Thinlands, and that is the colorless forest located in the shadowy realm of Nighthold. So these are the Thinlands.

So it's a realm. Got it. Here's some traits about this area that may be important to you with your roll. Shadow effects are stronger. Spells and abilities that have the shadow trait will be a little bit stronger should you use them. And then inversely, light effects are weaker.

Spells and abilities with the light trait, weaker. And the whole area is dimly lit. Just perpetually shrouded in dim light. And so you wonder how artificial light or even magical light may function here. Do you remember that show Tales from the Dark Side? Oh, sure. The intro, when they're

like, it's like a camera going through the forest and it's just like, the world we know is all the light side. It's just like, but there is another world. And then like everything goes like black and white. Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's what it's making me think of. It's like, scared the shit out of me. And now you're in it with now I'm in it.

Dream come true. What do you guys want to do? Anything in my check about how time passes here relative to the material plane. I can also roll a cultism if you would rather me do that. Yeah, no, you roll a 20. You roll pretty high. 22. 22, yeah.

No, it's unstable, but it's not like... Not like the shadow plane. It's not like the shadow plane, yeah. So we still are on our clock. You're still on your clock, but, you know, you have reason to believe

that it may, like, be disjointed, whereas a second could be longer here but then moments later a second could last uh could be shorter or a minute could be longer or shorter um you don't know how that will affect you if you're here forever would you age slower would you age faster you're not sure it is chaos it's pure chaos it's also tough because we don't really have a way of measuring when this gate might open again. That was going to be my follow-up question, which is, do we have any understanding of when we might be able to get home? That was not on the broken bird map.

That information was not on the bird map. Flash to your hotel room. Are there birds? The second bird is delivered. It has the out time. This bird was running ten minutes fast, by the way. The gate didn't open until 9.10. That's true. Maybe your watches were off.

What was your question? Are there birds? You look up, you see things flying from time to time, but they don't look like birds. How far away is the stump from us? Might be a couple hours walk.

Oh, hours? Really? I thought it was right in front of us. It's enormous. Oh. But is it... The path that leads to it is as wide open as anything. It's almost like strangely wide open with all this foliage and nonsense and ruins around you.

The path may wind, but it all leads straight to the stump, and it's clear of anything. But it's, like, in the distance. It's so far away. It looks like an aisle leading to an altar. It is calling me. We do. You feel it? I feel it.

I also feel like we shouldn't stray from this path. Well, let's follow the path as we follow it a little bit can I just like take a look into the woods around us like do a nature check I don't know is anything following us walk along the edge

okay give me a little nature check see what happens it's natural too look trees Along the edge. Okay. Give me a little nature check. See what happens. It's a natural two. Natural two. Look, trees. So maybe everyone... I think it's grass.

Either you all start setting off or you're still standing there gathering yourself and you walk a little bit off the path to go just get like a closer look. And you start to look into the trees, and then you look down, and you're back on the path. I try to walk off it again. You walk off it again, and it's almost like the world is twisting you back to this path. But it happens so suddenly, it doesn't make sense, because it's right here within reach, like a bush or something. And then as you start to walk towards it, it's almost like it's pushing further back and you're being, the ground is pulling back.

Do any of you see this? That's an idea. Yeah, what does she look like to us? It looks like she's just taking about a step or two away and then just turning right back. You feel like you're walking five, ten steps. So you see me just like acting wild, but I'm just like, you guys, this is nuts.

She's caught in like a Matrix thing. Have you been drinking? The path will not let me leave it. Really? What? Yes, try to leave the path. It keeps bringing me back. We all try. We all experience the same thing.

It doesn't make any sense, because also your body relative to everyone else seems to stay the same. Like you're all being pulled together magnetically and onto the path, but the world is shaping around you. Again, you hear that rumble beneath you.

It's the world, like, reacting to your movements. Let's head for the stump. Yeah. Yeah, maybe. I think we're making the ground mad. We're making the ground mad. You walk. This looks like a couple hours away.

But as you continue on the path, imagine it's huge. It doesn't make any sense. It's not like, oh, that's a really big tree stump. It is like a fortress-sized tree stump, a castle-sized stump. As you walk toward it, not unlike being pulled back onto the path, it seems to be approaching you. And so the distance, which at first seemed like it was going to take a few hours, only takes about an hour before you are near it. And as you approach, the dark forest around you kind of opens up into a wide clearing of ash, gray, and twisted thorn trees. All around the base of the tree are these thorn trees with these spikes sticking out of them.

Now, avoiding it is a little tricky because it's getting thicker and thicker, these thorn trees, as you get closer to the stump. But you can maneuver around them if you're careful. It even looks like there's a path leading right up to the base of the stump through these thorns, and in the clearing center squats this enormous tree stump. You look up, and the top of it looks broken off

at like a strange angle, and then at the base are these huge roots that like ripple through the dirt like leviathans and surf, and you see an ornate wooden door standing at ground level between two of these

huge roots and it's faintly illuminated by a little paper lantern hanging on a branch with little things zipping around inside of the lantern. You see all these thorn trees, but you do see this twisted path

leads right through the thorn trees and up to the door. Let's go to the map. A map? Let's go to the old map. Oh, I see it's so creepy and dark

so creepy and dark um you see those thorn trees but you can see how there's like a little winding path that leads all the way up to a door. Asta takes out her katana. Yep. Rape your out.

I have my bow out. Now, I think all of you except Brother Ramius have either dark vision or low light vision. Low light, yeah. Dark. Low light. Maybe Talitha has told you, or I'm sure you came across this stuff in your reading, and you had an hour-long walk to recall what you know, but you know light functions differently here.

Do you want to experiment with light? Yeah, he will cast light. All right, you cast light all right you cast light on yourself and it doesn't quite do anything it doesn't quite do anything rather than providing you with bright light, it just sheds more dim light.

What? More dim light? It doesn't raise the level of light around you, the magical light that you cast on yourself. It effectively does nothing. You can see this emanation, but the light level does not change.

What is the light level? Dim. Everywhere it's dim. Everywhere it's dim. All right, then. Brother Ramius, perhaps try lighting a torch? Hold on. No, this is more powerful than a torch.

I'll try again, and seeing it's just not emanating anything. Perhaps. I don't think he even carries torches. I produce flame. That's magical, though, too, right? It is, yeah. So again, doesn't give off any light. The light on the door, does that give off regular light?

Oh, yeah. The light on the door, does that give off regular light? Oh. Yeah, the light at the door, it actually doesn't provide light. You just see the flickering. I take out a torch for my adventurer's pack. I have a tinder twig. Yeah, let's see.

I light the tinder twig. Those both shed light. I hand the torch to Brother Ravius. See? Oh, thank you, Austin. You know how you light a tinder twig, right both shed light. I hand the torch to Brother Ravius. See? Oh, thank you, Austin. You know how you light a tinder twig, right? Here we go. Oh, boy.

Very carefully? Swipe right. Oh. Wow. Wow. How long have I been sitting on that? Did you put that in your inventory just for this moment? I just saw it in there.

These things just come to me. Weeks to the dumb. 30 regular and 30 bright, 30 just come to me. What is it? It's amazing. 30 regular and 30 bright, 30 dim? Or is it 20-20? 20-20. That's what I thought. Thank you, Asta. This is... How does it react differently to magic? I don't understand. And he's holding the torch out from himself

so it doesn't shine too much light in his eyes. Remember how rude Brother Ramius was about that torch idea? Is Talitha saying this? No, that's Matthew. But it doesn't sound like a corporate shill. But I just want to point out that when you stand under the branch of the tree,

not only does the branch go over your character token on Foundry, but the shadow from the branch is on that character token. Oh, cool. Oh, my goodness. I'm immersed. I'm immersed. Asta says, thank you, Bacchus. That was a very good idea.

Thank you. Can everyone see? Yes. Yes, I can. Thank you. With that torch now, you wouldn't have to, you know, roll against concealed, for example, where everything was in dim light. Only if it's within 20 feet.

Asta, as you step there, and Talitha, what are your intentions? like survival in the woods, aware of every twig snap, and is moving towards this door with the expectation that there's trickery afoot. Just knowing the Fae, knowing Wildwood stuff, she's like, this path is too clear. They didn't want us to leave this path. Something's up. Okay. And Talitha, what is your intent? So it's to move slowly? Slowly and like perception just with her vulpine ears, like every step she's like twisting her head, trying to listen for anyone eavesdropping

or trying to ambush us. Talitha is going to keep her eyes on the ground because it was shifting the hallway here, right? So just make sure I'm not going to trip. And also the trees because those look like they might hit us. Both of you roll a will save. Okay. The other three of you roll a perception check.

Okay. 13 will. 19 will. Natural 20. Same, natural 20. Come on, Joe. Natural 17. Hey! All on, Joe! Ooh, natural 17. Hey!

Not too shab-a-roo. All right, here's what happens. Asta and Talitha, as you are moving five feet at a time, it looks like you're going very slowly, you're not just rushing forward. You're purposely trying to avoid these thorn trees. But as you step forward and take your next step, your intention is to go forward,

and both of you walk directly into these thorn trees. And you take three points of damage each as the thorns pierce your skin. Talitha, careful. Drink the potions. What are you guys doing? All potions. What are you guys doing? What are you doing? Meanwhile, Buggles, Zephyr, and

Brother Ramius look ahead and you see on that same branch where the little lantern with all those zipping things are in it, you see a creature standing there sort of proudly and it looks like it has the body of like a skeletal owl,

but its bottom half is very simian. It almost has like monkey legs and bony wings. And its eyes are two black shadowy pools. It's the same as the other thing. So a friend. The umbral, the Gorgas. A friend. Sounds very friendly.

Roll for initiative. Oh. Almost. I just rolled over that natty 17. Yeah, can I just like bring all my money to you? Yeah, keep those perceptions. And we'll have Asta and Talitha roll fresh. So, Brother Ramius, what is your John?

25. 25 for Brother Ramius, what is your John? 25. 25 for Brother Ramius. And then Buggles, what did you roll total? Total, I rolled a 23. 23 for Buggles. Yeah, I want to do that more often when you have the check ready to go. And then Zephyr, what was your modified roll? 24.

24. Okay, then a fresh your modified roll? 24. 24. Okay, then a fresh roll for Talitha. Nine. Whiz Talitha. I mean, you're in the thorns. Of course it's going to hurt. Got whacked by a thorn. Yep, that's very distracting.

And then Asta. 14. 14. This all made story sense. Now here's what I'm going to do is I'm going to move Talitha into a thorn and I'm going to move Asta into a thorn. And the way it works is basically if there's no thorns in the space, you're safe. So you see it's a very thin walkway. Now, the ones where it's like a hair's length,

if you look like moving from that space there, if you look on the map, diagonally up is really the only safe way to get through that middle. There's like one point where the branches are reaching towards each other. And you see like the, really the only way to get through that on your way to the door is to move diagonally. So I'm not going to hold you over the cold. You can always ask me, Hey, is this a dangerous space? And I can tell you the point of this, especially for our audio listeners is it's pretty tricky, uh, between you and this creature, which, uh, I will, uh, I'll show now. You see the pawn there, but let's get a good look at this son of a bitch. Aww. He's really cute.

He looks like a baby. Look at his little legs. He looks like a baby. He's got little furry legs. It's like a baby bird. Yeah, it looks like a baby of whatever it should be. With monkey legs. Yeah.

With monkey legs. And it's dead. Yeah, it's a bird that fell out of the nest on the street, except it has monkey legs. That looks alive to me. It's a bird you see on the street, except it has monkey legs. Yeah. Well, no, you walk down the street, you see a bird like fell out of its nest, little baby bird.

And void eyes. And void eyes. And you stomp on it as fast, as hard as you can. Yeah, because it has monkey legs. Yeah. Because it has monkey legs. That's why you do it.

Cannot suffer a mutant to live. All right, so, oh my God, look at Austin and Talitha and the things. All right,

we'll have the monkey shadow owl go first. Is that what it's called? That's what I have. Monkey shadow owl. The old monkey shadow shadow owl go first. Is that what it's called? That's what I have. Monkey shadow owl. The old monkey shadow owl will go first. And we're going to do a two-action jawn.

Basically, let me see. Right. Perfect. Right next to Asta, there is this, like, burst effect that happens where all of you see out of your peripheral vision, they weren't there a second ago these visions

that are like churning with corpses and worms running through the eye sockets and body, holes in the body of the corpses and then like monsters coming out of the shadows around you to pounce on both you and the corpses, everybody like monsters coming out of the shadows around you to pounce on both you and the corpses. Everybody give me a

will save. All right. I will. Oh, come on, Norse foundry. You sons of bitches. Will save. Am I entangled or anything? Come on, you sponsor. You're not entangled.

You dumb sponsor. Remember to sponsor this. Come on, you sponsor. You're not entangled. You dumb sponsor. What did everybody roll starting with Ramius? 28. 28, that is a success. Half damage. Jesus. 20, dirty 20.

Success, half damage. 22. Success, half. 30, 20. Dirty 20, so success, half. 25. All right, so all success, half.

You're all going to take six points of mental damage as these visions seem all too real coming towards you. And I've got one actione left that

it just kind of like moves ever so slightly on the branch in which it's standing on, kind of like peacocking. Sibles to the kind of like moves ever so slightly on the branch in which it's standing on kind of like uh like peacocking like sidles to the side on its branch and it is brother ramius's turn um okay um brother ramius is he like shrinks away from all these things that seem to be coming at him. And he can feel the damage that's being done to him. And he's just going to pray for the Keeper's intercession here.

And he's just going to be like, do not fear them. Do not fear what they make you think is there. It's not. You are protected. You are protected by the Keeper and his guidance. And I'm going to heal everybody. I'm going to burst heal after that initial hit. So he's going to

use a full three action heal to do an R of healing for everybody and heal eight hit points for everybody. Beautiful. So max heal. Oh, that was awesome. I was so worried there was going to be a one. So he just channels, basically. So everybody gets eight hit points back.

Thank you. All right. That is his turn. That is your turn. And now it goes to Zephyr. All right. So we have line of sight through the thorns. I want to get within 50 feet of this dumb bird,

and I'm just outside of it. So I'm going to move. Oops. Let me ask you this. What is your will save? My will save? Oh, like the plus and minus? Yeah, the old bone for your will save.

Plus and minus. What's the minus? Listen. You have a negative will save? No. I'm an expert on all my saves. Plus six. Plus six? Okay. You can a negative will save? No. I'm an expert in all my saves. Plus six. Plus six?

Okay. You can move as you wish. That's what I thought. That's what I thought. Motherfucker. I'm going to move. Up like 15 feet or so so that I'm within half my first range increment of my longbow. Okay.

Yet into monastic Archer's stance, she focuses in, hunkers down, has her bow aimed at this monstrosity and fires two shots. How do I play this game again? First one is an 11. No. Nope. Sweet. Uh, no. Nope. Sweet.

Now we have the one. Ooh, the next one is a 20. That one hits. It finds its way through all of these twisted thorns and hits. Ooh, max damage. Eight points of damage. Nice. Eight points of damage.

Okay, so you hit this thing and it squeals out with a sound that doesn't sound good. Did all that seem to go through? Did all that seem to go through? Did. It looks all back together? Okay. That looks pretty good. It's made of the same stuff from where we're from, so.

Doesn't sound like it, but I swear it is. Is that your final action? Yes, that's all I got. All right, so Zephyr does hit the thing, and now it is Buggles' turn. Buggles is, he's going to stretch his finger out, and a ray of ice-cold frost shoots at him. Ooh, ray of frost. Okay, Buggles is

in the back end of the party here next to Brother Ramius, 70 feet away from the creature. Shoots a ray of frost. 24. And hits. Yes! Phenomenal. Yes! Oh, man! And max damage. Eight points of damage. Another eight points of damage.

Max! It's a bunch of beasts right now. X, yeah. We eight points. Max, Max, Max. It's a bunch of beasts right now. We're ready. And with my third action, I'm going to do a shield. Like magic shield in front of me.

Magic shield. Asta. What is your intentions with my encounter? I've been trying to see what's possible for me. I can do range stuff, but it's too far, so Asta has to move. She's going to move out. What is your will bonus?

Plus six. You go to move out. How many feet were you moving? 15, 20? You know what? I was going to take a five foot step just a quick. I know that's not a thing

but she was going to move five feet away from the tree. Okay. And try to orient herself. And what happens is you move actually to a safe square but not the square you were hoping to. You are compelled to move in a different direction and you just take a five foot step south, as opposed

to away. Okay. I'm then... Okay. I feel like you get the feeling of like you're going to throw up, like when this happens, you know? It's very disoriented. I feel like I'm going to throw up. She takes a second, and then she goes to move again. She wants to move next to Zephyr to kind

of ground herself. Okay, and you have a plus six. Alright, that time you are able to move with ease. Kind of feel like you're lost in the dark. I thought it was just like our modifier was what made it okay, but you're rolling for us every time we move. As you're standing there, you notice that Brother Ramius's light that's emanating off of him stops at the edge of a certain area as you get closer to the trees. And so it should

emanate all the way around you. It's not something I can replicate on the VTT, but it just kind of stops at weird angles and just seems like dim light beyond where it should be bright for him. All of you with dim and dark vision doesn't bother you, but

it's very disconcerting And would make you hesitant to sort of move into that Are you going to count Since I'm making these movements in pieces I assume you're You have one action left Okay, I see what you're doing That's what it wants me to do, yeah

So okay, I'm going to try to then move Oh, this is debility Yeah, this sucks You've got to do ranged, you have to do ranged I'm not in range to then move. Oh, this is debility. Yeah, this sucks. You've got to do ranged. You have to do ranged. I'm not in range. I cannot do any range. She's too far away.

Or it's too far away. I'm going to move 10 feet. 10 feet which way? I'm going to move 10 feet towards the creature still along the path moving past Zephyr. See if that works. And so you were next to Zephyr. You actually move 10 feet right back into the thorns. Oh, my God.

And you take eight points of piercing. Oh, my God. Oh, no. You just hear Asa scream as she runs directly back into the thorn bush. Asa, what are you doing? What are you guys doing? That must have been the most terrifying turn. Jesus.

Right back into the thorn bush. What a waste. Sorry, guys. Okay, that's my turn. That was tricky. It was very unlucky. It is Talitha's turn. Jesus. What a waste. Sorry, guys. Okay, that's my turn. That was tricky. I was very unlucky. It is Talitha's turn. Okay, Talitha is going to... I don't know why I looked at you. It is Talitha's turn. Make the choice. Kate. Talitha is going to step out of

the thorns. What is your will save? Plus seven. You actually step deeper in and take seven points of piercing damage. That's awful. Can I shoot from in thin air? Do I have a line of sight on? Okay, great.

I was drawing my hand crossbow as I moved. I will now devise a stratagem on this thing. Shout out to Norse Foundry for making this combat. I will not be taking the shot. But I will, however, take my known weakness

to give myself a free recall knowledge. Ooh, you want to do nature or some sort of lore? Maybe an applicable lore? Scouting lore? Nature it is. Okay, 17. There is something Gorga-esque about its appearance

but it's actually not high enough to know more about what this specific creature is those eyes those are Gorga eyes so you wonder does it have the same abilities as a Gorga is it a Gorga you know I don't know but I'm not gonna take my shot so that's my turn that's your turn well you know what I have an extraction

of them I moved I devised a stratagem I'm not going to take my shot, so that's my turn. That's your turn. Well, you know what? I have an extra action then. I moved. I devised a stratagem, and I will try to move out of the thorns again. Don't do that! I'll have to yell. Anywhere you want with these. Okay, I move to stand next to Zephyr. Okay, so you get... You see, that's how you move out of the thorns.

I did it once successfully. Am I in a safe space where I'm standing on the map? Yeah, you are in a safe space, we'll say. You're in a safe space, Matthew. Matthew, you're in a safe space. I was in a safe space where I'm standing on the map? Yeah, you are in a safe space. You're in a safe space, Matthew. Matthew, you're in a safe space. I was in a safe space. Thanks, guys. Until the top of round two, where it is my turn again and things are about to get nasty right after this quick break.

Oh, jeez. Nastier? Last year. I'd like to take a second to talk about our incredible sponsor, NordVPN. Look, when we go on tour, we end up booking a lot of flights and a lot of hotels and a lot of rental cars and stuff like that. And a lot of people don't know that the costs associated with those things can have a bit of a price discrimination thing going on. They can be more expensive in one region or country than another. And that's why I use NordVPN to change my virtual location so I can see if what I'm booking is cheaper in another area. It's just something that I'll poke around doing when I'm in the airport already and I'm killing time planning

for like the next trip or when I'm on the train here to the studio. I was just doing it for our Toronto flights. It takes seconds to change your location and even a technologically disadvantaged old man like myself can easily switch your virtual location over and over with ease. The bottom line, easily switch your virtual location over and over with ease. The bottom line, it takes a few seconds and it has the potential to save you money. You like saving money, right? So why not give it a shot? NordVPN helps us do it and you could get it working for you at a discount. To get the best discount off your NordVPN plan, go to nordvpn.com slash GCP. Our link will give you four extra months on the two year plan. There's no risk with Nord's 30 day money back guarantee, and you'll help support your old buddies at the GCP. The link is in the episode description box.

First thing that happens, it moves again along its branch, kind of like diagonally to the south, so to like the southwest. However, as it does so, that dim light that is cutting up against your non-magical torch like overtakes it, and you are now bathed in dim light. Although behind you, you still are getting, or yeah, you're bathed in dim light. Behind you, you have light,

but you can't see ahead of you. Everything is kind of dim. You can kind of see, but it's a little shadowy. As it moves, there is some sort of aura that is moving with it. And then once again, a burst appears that will affect. Did you move it on the map? I can see it, but you can't.

The creature? No, I didn't move the creature yet. I'm talking about the aura. Did the creature move? No, I just moved it. So it only moved like a little bit. Yeah, it just moved a tiny little bit. It's moving its aura, basically.

And then a burst is going to happen that will affect Asta, Talitha, and Zephyr. Same thing, you're seeing more corpses. It's kind of like, what is that movie? Is it Night of the Living Dead? Where the skeletons come up out of the ground around the woman? It's the day that the skeletons came to life. No, I guess that's not...

Poltergeist. Poltergeist. It's kind of like that. You're surrounded by these corpses, but then monsters trying to eat you to turn you into corpses or also to eat the corpses. Give me a... Either way, it sounds terrifying. It's horrible.

You're going to pull your hair up, but not out. Up, but not out. Natural 20. Hey! That's what we needed. Yeah. What'd you get there, Sid? 45.

All right. Skid? Oh. Oh, me too. No, not Buggles. Oh, Zephyr. 13. Oof.

13 is going to be 10 points of mental damage, and Austin, you will take five. Man. You were able to shake it off a little bit better than her, but you are terrified by this. In fact, as you look down, is that Ollie's corpse being infested with worms and things lurking in the darkness to grab you and bring you back to your friend.

It is now Brother Ramius' turn. Brother Ramius, foul creature. You're not in darkness, but it is like, you could see. There's a religious metaphor here. You could see, but now you cannot. I don't have it. Once was blind, but now you can see yeah sure but now you are blind come on priest uh oh man okay he's gonna try to discern what

this thing is through the dim light as he sees his companions probably ah you know grabbing their head he knows the vision that they saw he just saw it a moment ago i'm gonna do a knowledge check knowledge nature on this thing, to see if I can determine if there's any defense against this beyond just prayer. That could be good, Bill Valley. That could actually be half decent in terms of knowledge. Stalling. I know.

That is a 22. That is good. This is, in fact, a type of gorga known as an oculi. Oh. Makes sense. And oculi gorgas embody the fear of being lost in the dark. Yeah. Oh, come on.

That's really scary. That's really scary. Say it again. They embody the fear of being lost in the dark. So that's what they're giving us with these corpses? They're giving you the fear of, like, you know, you're walking through the darkness and finding corpses, having monsters come up behind you, but also... Yeah, things in your periphery, the things you just can't see coming.

And trying to walk where you want to go, but getting lost and walking in a wrong direction. That is what they... You turn off the lights and you run up the stairs when you're little and you're like, oh, there's demons chasing me. Streaking through the staircase. Yeah. Gotta grab your ankles. Yep.

So whereas the Temagorgers that you fought, their whole thing was like eating your shadows, Oculi, they focus on like what you can see, the eye,

and twisting shadows to their chaotic light. Cool concept. Yeah, it is a cool concept. Very cool. And terrifying. And terrifying. And terrifying. Don't believe it! Trust your own minds! It's using your

fears against you! That creature! May the light banish you! And he's going to cast a divine lance at the creature. Okay. Does this have the light descriptor? Because you would already know from Talitha that this might not do what you intend for it to do.

I don't know. Okay. I don't know if it does. You want to ask because you would have this information. You know that it will be weaker if it does. Well, that was very generous of you, Troy. Well, it does not. It does not have the light descriptor.

And you're all right. Okay. So that is going to be a success on the flat, and then an 18 to hit. That hits. There we go. Thank God. All right, fantastic. That's a big one.

Yes, that is a big one. That is a big one, and it'll do six points of spirit damage. So we're doing a little remaster action here. I want my new Debbie plane, John. A little damage to the spirit. Spirit damage. Spirit damage. So now Divine Lance at 2d4 is the damage

with no bonus and spirit damage. Wow. Okay. So Brother Ramius comes through. His god evidently can hear him

even in Nighthold. It's Zephyr's turn. Zephyr, what do you want to do? All right. I'm still in my monastic archer stance. It didn't move out of my first half of my range increment, so that's good. Before I take another shot, I want to try to do a knowledge check on it to see, I don't know, is it weak to anything?

Weaknesses. Okay. Yeah, that'd be a knowledge nature. Give her the old anything? Weaknesses. Okay. Yeah, that'd be a knowledge nature. Give her the old family feud. Good answer. Good answer. I mean, wait. I mean, I got a successful check.

All I know is kind of what it is. I'm sorry. You're right. Let's save you that check. You would know that it's weak to cold iron. Cool. Which in first edition, everyone had. Right.

No one has that. Weak to cold iron. Were the Gorgas? My katana just happens to be. I think they were. I don't want to No one has that. Weak to cold iron. Were the Gorgas? My katana just happens to be. I think they were. I don't want to torch you on that. I just didn't know if you knew off the top of your head. You know, I'm remembering.

I'm just trying to really just flavor way to say that. You know, it's weak to the same thing as the Gorgas. Temagias. Yeah, they were weak to cold iron, but these creatures are actually weaker because they're more powerful. Ah, that's how it balances it. Yeah, so they're weak to cold iron if we have any. Do we have any?

Not that I know of. When I used to build characters in first edition, I would always have a cold iron. It was like 30 gold pieces or something. Make everything gold iron. Well, okay, so I guess I didn't do that. I didn't make that check. Yeah, see, this is kind of stupid.

It's like, things we should have, you know, like, knowing we might be crossing over into this plane. Yeah. So we should have a cold iron dagger. We went to the library and everything. Yeah, we should just, like, bought one. Flashback. We're too busy planning lunch as characters

instead of just sitting down with the tactics. Oh, I'm sorry. Do you think Thin Lance Farms had a cold iron weapon shop? Flashback to the quaking stacks as you're going to the library. Oh, by the way, someone gave me a set of cutlery that I don't need. They're all cold iron steak knives. Perfect. I don't need.

They're all cold iron steak knives. Perfect. Cold iron should be really rare, though, because it's supposed to be meteoric iron, like iron that fell to Earth in the form of a meteorite. So you shouldn't be able to have it that readily anyway, I think. You would not make it into a steak knife. Right, exactly.

You know what? Next store you stop at, grab yourself some gold. First thing I'm going to do. Hold on. Arrow tips? I'm going to take two shots at it, at least, with my flurry of blows. Pew, pew. I'm going to use my dice this time.

What were you using before? My roller. Because I can't do math. I was just reading bones. I was using DemiPlan. I was just reading bones. I was using DemiPlan. I was just reading bones. Our sponsor DemiPlan and their roller.

Which maybe I'll just go back I'm going to randomly tell you the number between one, twenty, seventeen. The tea leaves say

thirteen. Fourteen for the first one which is not a hit. Skimis. Ooh, twenty for the second one. Shabang. Alright, oh, one hit Zephyr

That's only two points of damage Alright, so boom, two points of damage Do you have another action? Yeah, that was only my first action I guess I'll take One more Is that range increment

Hurting you right now? It will be Is that range increment hurting you right now? It will be my worst range increment. Not range increment. Your map will be worse. But are you getting penalized by the range right now? No. I have a longbow. Oh, yeah.

So, no. Great. But I also want to know if I can do some sort of aid for Talitha or Asta. I guess Asta because you're really deep in there for your next. Don't worry about me. Yeah. I'm fine. She's like, she's like hooked on the thorns.

Yeah. My robe is like in the tree. I'm like, I'm good. You want to help? I'm just going to head right over there. I like to want to aid to like help her navigate. Yeah. Like help you navigate like actually directions or try to give you like a mental stamina boost

where it's like, I know you can do it. Her reaction would be to roll something. Obviously the DC is base 20. I could change that to try and help you on your will save against whatever's happening. But you're rolling my will save. I am. Okay.

I don't trust you. I know. And what, whatever. I'm keeping it straight. I'm sure you are. It makes it a lot easier. It actually does. Yeah, true.

Yeah, so that would be, you can do that? You can aid? I don't know if you can aid a save, but like in this case, it makes sense, perfect sense to me to just like, say you can. You can aid a skill check or an attack roll, right? Yeah, like the aid action does not pertain to saves. If you aid my attack roll, I'm going to attack next turn. I think it could. The action you're trying, I mean...

It seems like it ruins the encounter to not allow it. It's not an escape. The thing is, I'm trying to escape, but it's not a skill check to escape. It's a will save. Yeah, if saving throws fell under skill check, how like AC is DC, then I would allow it. But as written, it does not want you to. So do it on my attack.

Okay. And I'll just give me a boon to my, I'm going to attack. All right. So in between my hits, I want to try to help you boost your attack. Like, listen, you can shoot through the trees. We all have line of sight on the thing. I don't know what kind of stuff you can do ranged, but I believe in you. Thanks, I'll do that. And then I try

to take one more hit at my worst map. Nope. It's a five. Okay. It is now Buggle's turn. Buggle. I have a couple of questions. Okay. So, we

haven't really moved to the remaster completely yet. We haven't adopted all the changes. Yeah, you might say we're still moving through that curtain that's been torn. Exactly. That's a great metaphor, Joe. So there are some rules, especially for the psychic, that are quite different. The spells that I use, the cantrip attack spells that I use are completely different. One of them would be more useful here now than the other one.

Right. Um, there's another thing that is because I have the oscillating wave, uh, conscious mind for my, my psychic, which, uh,

requires that each, uh, on alternating rounds, like alternating attacks, I either like basically use like fire damage or cold damage. I have to use, if I use fire damage one round, I have to use cold damage the next. So I've been using it as like,

I have like produce flame and ray of frost. So I do, you know, if I do produce flame one round, I use ray of frost the next one but I'm not sure that that's actually the requirement it just says that you have to remove energy in one spell and add it in the next and say it's cold say it's fire

I don't know if I can use like everything else that is described in the spell for produce flame for example and just say that it's cold damage. I don't know. It's not really made clear as far as I can tell. Because one is in

range, and one isn't. One I can use, one I can't. Alright, that's a lot. You just really opened a garden of penises. I thought it made perfect sense. What did everyone picture in their head in that moment? This is a question I've been

wanting to ask for a while, but it hasn't really come up. Right. You waited until Thanksgiving dinner to bring it up. Uncle Skip, shut up! Who are you guys voting for in the upcoming election? Yeah, alright. So this is something we really... I mean, it probably seems crazy we haven't

really discussed it. It's just because I'm trying to avoid it as long as possible i think that's not typical for you at all yeah i know you know i think we're eventually going to just be like yes we've updated to the remaster i just want to make sure we're we're still good on everything else before we jump forward to that you know at the same time i don't want to we're talking earlier that some of the stuff is not like remaster stuff it's errata like the psychic class has changed right some of the rules have changed yeah it really affects you more than it affects me so so i'm not sure like when you're gonna want me to like switch over to that as well so yeah we're getting close you know what i'm not interested is like now burning hands is cozy fucking touch. You know, I'm not going to, I don't want to do that. Cozy touch?

Hot touch. Hot touch or something. Stop. I like cozy touch. You're in the heat of battle. It's canon. It's a gorga and you're like. Cozy touch.

Cozy touch. Well, it's probably less damage, so it might be a little cozier. Cozy touch. Cozy touch. Yeah, that I don't, God, I don't want to do that. It's going to ruin everything. But I think we'll hold off on the larger discussion. On the smaller discussion, it seems like, because I'm looking at this here,

and, man, you can already see that, like, there's PFS notes. If you want to play a psychic, don't. It says in PFS play. But it feels like the intention is for you to be able to produce cold flame and do hot rays of frost. I mean, because why would you be able to produce cold flame and do hot rays of frost i mean yeah because why would you be able to add the why would say the ability gains the fire trait to spells that already have the fire train i think you're supposed to be able to change those traits and uh i don't know that seems kind of cool i think i think i've been unnecessarily hindering

myself by insisting that i for me that i I have to use the fire spell on one turn and the ice spell the next turn where I probably could have been just using either one of those spells as a fire spell or an ice spell. That's what it sounds like. Yeah. And in fact, to me,

it sounds a lot more like what the psychic is actually doing. You're manipulating the reality of the thing itself. So you're taking the fire out of the fire spell yeah and making it a cold spell using you know that's that's really cool yeah i like that if anyone else out there knows any different let me know yeah please the professor will let us know as well but what's cool is like right now at the table we're all sort of on the same page here

that's all it really matters so uh so anyway the reason that I brought it up in the first place is because I'm like 70 feet away from this thing. And my produce flame, which I have to use a fire spell on this turn, only goes 30 feet. Whereas my ray of frost goes 180 feet. Ray of flame? Ray of flame. Ray of flame. Hot ray. Hot ray.

Hot baby ray. I'm changing your name on my phone to Hot Ray. Hot Ray. It's fine. I insist. You all call me Hot Ray from now on. When I'm wearing the cape, please call me Hot Ray. Hey, is that Hot Ray?

So when... You got Francis. You got Francis. So you hear the Buggle's voice changes into a different person. You hear the voice of Kooloo Khan and boom, this globe of cinders like erupts around him and

and he fires a ray of thin flame at the creature. That's so cool. That like blue part of the match? Yeah. Twelve to hit. Glad we did that. It's the first time. It's the first time. It was the first time.

Thorn branch behind it bursts into blue flames. It was so cool. It was cool. Yeah, say it. Freezes that little branch. Yeah. And I'm going to raise my shield. Shield comes back up.

It is Asta's turn. Asta, what do you want to do? I want to get out of this fucking bramble. Okay. How many feet do you want to move and in what direction? No, you shut your mouth. That's what I need to know. I am casting a spell.

Oh. Yeah, guess what? Okay. So actually, this is really cool about the Magus. We'll be the judge of that. This is really cool. So as a Magus, because you are a weapon fighter and also a spellcaster, you don't need to necessarily have a hand free to cast your spell.

You can two-weapon fight because you can replace... I'm going to read it verbatim. Two-weapon fight or two-hand fight? Two-hand. I don't believe you. Because you can draw replacement sigils with the tip of your weapon or your free hand for spells requiring material components. And so you can replace them with somatic. So you basically take away the material manipulate stuff, replace it with somatic.

So you can whip around your weapon, just move it in the air and speak instead of needing to do hand sigils. It sounds really cool. It sounds like something Omega should be able to do. But I'm just saying it so nobody yells at me when I say I'm always holding my... You don't need a free hand to cast somatic components. I'm trying to figure out

what is special about this thing. Requiring material components. Yeah, which we don't really worry about. But it's cool. It's like a cool thing because it would nerf Omegas. Because I was wondering that. I was like, okay,

if I'm always holding my katana, you know, how do I do this? Then I have to bring out a bundle of clovers. Let me put my katana back in and then crush some elder bears. House flies wings. House flies wings.

What is this power called? It's nothing. It's just something that I wanted to say because I was confused. I just made it up. I was confused. What is the power called? It's nothing. It's just something that I wanted to say because I was confused. I just made it up. I was confused. What is the power called? It's an ability they can do. I'm just saying.

I'm stuck in Bramble. I'm holding my katana, and I'm able to still cast spells. Troy wants to Google this. It doesn't. No, I just want to know if it has a core name. You read text. It's the Magus. It is in their character description.

What's the heading of it? I don't know. I copy-pasted it. Because you're a Magus, you can draw replacement sigils with the tip of your jaw or your free hand for spells requiring material components, replacing them with somatic components instead of needing a material component. Bouch. It's just cool for a character of this type.

I thought it was interesting. I dove really deep into the Magus class, and I was like, this is actually very dope that they thought about all this stuff. The header is Arcane Spellcasting. Thank you, Arcane Spellcasting. Very cool. Thank you to listener Kat for giving us this book. This is a Secrets of Magic Pocket Edition. But as a little

flavor, she whited out the last sentence of every spell in the spell set. Are you serious? That is amazing. Stop. So now you're not going to read the penultimate oh my god that is incredible it really is every spell the last sentence is whited out that's my spell casting thank you so much for this it's very generous and also kind of a dick so easy to not read the last sentence that It's so easy. Because always the last, it's never good.

That changes everything. That changes everything. It never helps you. They never save the great part of the spell for the last sentence. This is a non-combat spell. Anyway. I cast from the bramble,

Slashing Gust. Slashing who? Slashing what? Slashing Gust to go with Hot Ray? Slash my hand. Hot Ray and Slashing Gust. This season what? Slashing Gus to go with Hot Ray? Slash my hand. It's Hot Ray and Slashing Gus. This season's favorite new buddy comedy. We're too wild and gritty.

Pass the silly threshold for the session. Anyway. Tango and cash with Pathfinder. I'm making a spell attack. All right. There's your title. Slashing Gus. And I aided you.

I'm already putting it in. Oh, yeah. You aided. That doesn't matter. Roll's your title. Slashing Gus. I aided you. I'm already putting it in. Oh, yeah. You aided. That doesn't matter. Roll the natural two. Oh, boy. That didn't hit. Oh, boy.

We are kings and queens of furious description. God. Terrible rolls. Wait. What's my ritual? Can I do something now? How many actions was that? Probably two.

Two. All right. So, anyway, I tried to do that. For my third action, I go into my arcane stance. I go into my arcane cascade stance. So I'll get a five-foot status bonus to my speeds. Yeah. Next round. Speeds? My speed. You should use your fly speed in this encounter.

That would be cool. It'd be a full nut. Could I swim out of the bramble? You should use burrow. Get away from these thorns. Although, before I do this, am I going to take more damage by being here or is it only because I walked?

It's just moving about the thorns. Okay, okay. Seems to be causing the damage. So that's my turn. I fail. I was going to do a cool step. Asta, stop moving about the thorns. Okay, okay. Seems to be causing the damage. So that's my turn. I fail. I was gonna do a cool step. Asta, stop moving about the thorns!

Stay put! I'm using my speeds! I'm gonna get out! You're just dancing in the thorns. Just like this, with the tassels. With my tassels. Talitha, this is so weird. It is your turn. Okay, devise a stratagem.

Devise it. Okay, there we go. That's a natural 18, so I will take a shot with my hand crossbow, which I assume with a 24 will hit. Yes, it will. Okay. I'm going to roll my new

Matthew D6. Ah, that one's not broken. No, that one did not get broken. Okay, that is five points of damage. Okay, chip, chip, chip it away. Chip it ruin away. And then I will... Oh, and an extra d6 for the strategic strike. Oh, don't forget that.

So an extra six points of damage. Oh, my lord. Fuck you, die. Don't you get another... You already tried to recall knowledge, so it doesn't matter anymore. Like, you can't retry it? I can't roll the same knowledge on it, right?

Once I've done it, and I got some... You failed on it. I think you're not supposed to roll once you fail on it. Yeah, that's a 1-E roll. I don't know if it's the same in 2-E, but it should be. We could play Losey Goose with it. Except that we lost in action. Well, no, he gets in the heart when he hits, right? When I use Devise a Stratagem, I get a free recall. Well, no, he gets a heart when he hits.

When I use Devise a Stratagem, I get a free recovery. Well, you already did. I feel like we talked about this on fodder. The intention is if you fail a knowledge check, you're not supposed to roll again. Unless something materially has changed your access to that knowledge. But it's like sometimes you don't remember pertinent facts right away. You have to keep thinking about it. So that could represent a continued attempt to try to remember something.

Skid, you're being realistic. And you know we found a book. Get that out of here. Okay. Because of this shared stratagem. I'm wearing a cape. Listen to me. I'm wearing a cape.

It's like a three-ep cape situation. Maybe longer. It's so comfortable. I'm sorry, man. No, you're welcome. Please, I want to hear more about the cape because the cape is wonderful. But anyway, Zephyr, the creature is now flat-footed to you until the start of my next turn. Oh, huge.

Huge. Where Zephyr's been struggling over there. Huge. I've hit it every time. I'm just saying. You missed a couple. Let's be honest. I could hit it harder. Yep, you sure could. I hit it there, and I point.

Alright. And then final action, reload the crossbow. Final action, reload the crossbow. Top of round three, it is the Oculi Gorgas turn. Man, if it ain't broke, don't fix it. We are going to continue to move a little bit. It's just like taunting you in its movements.

It's very creepy. Again, you're now that darkness. I don't want to say darkness, but that ability for you to see clearly is now behind you as well. So you look behind you and there's like still a little more space between you and the light you're emanating. So creepy. Doesn't make sense. This would make an awesome graphic novel right now. So creepy. Doesn't make sense. This would make an awesome graphic novel right now. This section.

And now a burst is going to happen right next to Buggles and Brother Ramius. Both of you give me a will save. I'm trying to steal my mind against your deceptions. Horribleness. Brother Ramius, you're seeing these burning bodies from the

abbey. From the abbey, my friends. Things creeping out to get you and Buggles, whatever scares you most. Ponies, horses coming in the brush near you. What did you guys roll? 25 for me. 18 for Buggles. 25 and an 18. It's going.

Oh, come on. 13 points to Buggles. Six points to Brother Ramius. Jesus. Mental damage. This thing is just getting into your mind, using its shadowy talons to scrape at your cerebellum. Brother Ramius, what do you do?

He's going to continue this attempt. I mean, he hit it last time, so he'll try again. He's going to try to cast his Divine Lance at it. Bam! Come on, man. Ho, ho, ho. Five on the flat check. Oh, get that out of the way. Woo! DC5, nice. Where's that Norse

Foundry, John? Come on. Come on. Come on, baby. That's not gonna do it. Well, it might. Actually. It might. Shut up! 17. 17. Yes. I think it's 18. Yeah, it's 18.

It's 18. All right. I'll say it's a 17 missed and an 18 hit. Yeah. That's all I'm going to say. That's all I'm going to say. Said too much. All right.

So he's trying to look, dude. And the divine lance sneaks by. Asta, we need your blade! I know! And he is going to pray for the Keeper's guidance for you. So he'll cast Guidance on you, which can be used for a will save. Less. If you so desire.

That's going to be plus one. Plus one. Okay. Do anything you want. One thing on your turn. Yeah, thank you. Yeah, if you could just succeed enough to close on this thing, it would one. Okay. Do anything you want. One thing on your turn. Yeah, if you could just succeed enough to close on this thing, it would help.

In the meantime, it's Zephyr's turn. This thing is flat-footed for one attack or one round? Just to Zephyr until my next turn. Okay, great. So every attack, it's gonna be flat-footed. Here we go. Flurry of Blows. I'm coming for you. I'm sorry, no. The next attack the designated

ally makes against that creature before the start of my next no. No? The next attack the designated ally makes against that creature before the start of my next turn. Stop reading that book with the white up. And the theory of blows is one action, so I think it should count to both of them. What does it say? The next attack. It would just be the first one

because the other one takes the map. Make two unarmed strikes. If the other one didn't take the map, I'd give it to you. All right, well. It's out of my hands. It's the remastered. That was nothing. I just blame the remasteraster. I'm just going to say that now.

Whenever I want to make enough. Take it up with the remaster. Take it up with Eric Mona. Eric Mona. 14. Poop. Salad. Oh, 14 is a miss. Why was that a question? Because I forgot.

I didn't do this live. Okay, why didn't you say 18? We know what the AC is. You can just do that? No, it's frowned upon. Wait. Yes, it is. It is frowned upon.

In the remaster, it's fine. Yeah. They say the last sentence is... The last sentence of the remaster is... Well, now that I do that... Take up your die rolls. Let me roll my dice for my second attack. We could lie.

Lucky would still be alive. Ooh, it's a natural three. Oh. All right. God, ice cold be alive. Ooh, it's a natural three. Oh. All right. God, ice cold. I should have given it to you. These streaks, they happen. They happen.

Yes, what a hit. All right, so that was one action. I just tried to do flurry of blows on it. Not working. I want to try to aid someone before I make my third and final attack, I guess. Aid is a reaction, so you can just do it when someone is about to do something. You just have to set the action aside.

So you say, I'm going to aid so-and-so. Okay. I guess I can't aid against will saves. What I want to do is help when these bad things happen with the dead bodies, but those are all will saves. I guess, Talitha, I'll throw the aid right back at you. Maybe it'll be caught on your turn. So I'll save an action for that.

One more hits at a negative 10. It's a five. I can imagine like, yes, I'm giving this to you as a clear shot. I think there are probably GMs that would be like, I don't know, the branch is a bonus, but I'm giving it to you, and it's just still not happening. The dice won't let you.

It's a negative 10, but I still get my plus 8. So it's still not, it's still going to miss. It's a 13. You're trying to get through these branches. This is why I use the online roller, sponsored by Demiplane. Demiplane. Because I can't do math. We're also sponsored by a diceplane. Demiplane. Because I can't do math. We're also sponsored

by a dice company. Kate. I do the math that I can't do with North Foundry. Our newest sponsor, TI-81. Buggles, you are up.

Texas Instruments. Okay, so I'm still possessed by this other being, the K'ulu Khan. And Brother Ramius, by the way, is like, I don't know how often he's been this close to it. Maybe not yet. Because you've only done this like twice maybe, right?

I've done it a few times. But yeah, I mean, if you are like close to him, it literally feels like a ghost has replaced who you knew as Buggles. When you were both on the rope at the gnome compound, he was doing that below you. You're giving us an analogous experience to when this happens to our goblin compatriot.

And the real world analogy was a ghost replaced your goblin compatriot. But it is. It's like in The Exorcist when Linda Blair, it's like when it's Linda Blair. It's like, oh, wait, now it's not Linda Blair. Like, that's what it feels like. It's not like Buggles got angry. Like, it seems like Buggles is not even there. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

There is no Buggles. There is no Buggles. It's the Lou Ferrigno to your Bill Bixby. Exactly. Exactly. for Rigno to your Bill Bixby. Exactly. So Buggles, the cloud around him,

this aura changes into ice and frost. He, cursing and this other voice fires again. That's better. That's 24 to hit. Okay.

Okay, that is six points of cold damage. I get three temporary hit points back. Huge. Okay. And then with my third action, who is most hurt besides me? I'm hurt also. I'm hurt.

Okay. I'm eight points down. Asta's the most hurt, I think. Ow. In the thorns. You had to put a number on it. If I had to put a number on it, let me just scroll up. I'm at, I think, 12 hit points.

Okay. So, again, you feel, actually, this might be the first time for Asta, but you feel this, you feel Buggles, his presence in your mind, saying this is like it's alright fight and you get six hit points back thank you as I use my restore the mind ability so cool

okay anything else that's it it's great alright Asta you have an opportunity you've been blessed by the keeper your mind has been restored by Buckles You have struggled to try and move in the direction With which you want to move And it is hampering the entire encounter

So now that I've done my Arcane Cascade I get that plus 5 status bonus To my speed I can make it to him in my 30 I can close the gap in one stride And I think I just have to do it. Or you can go 30 more feet into... Or I can go 30 more feet into the bushes.

Or you can just run away 30 feet behind us. And hope that I fail and I get pushed in the other direction. I'm going to do it. I think Asta is pissed and she's just going to rip out of these brambles and just run full speed. And you have your sword in your hand already? Katana is in my hand. Because you were drawing in the air with it like a sparkler? Running with the katana ready to...

Yeah, I was drawing like a sparkler. All right. I'm riding our cat. Like a ribbon dancer. Doing like the Disney Channel logo. Kate gets it. A ribbon dancer. All right, your intention is to move directly at it.

What is your will save? Plus seven with the plus one. Okay, six plus one is seven. Let's see. You can move straight at it. Yes! This is going to be big. This is going to be huge.

All right, so I run straight at it, and I'm going to do my spell strike, gouging claw. So as I'm running my spell strike gouging claw so as I'm running I cast gouging claw and it's combined with my oh gosh my spell strike so with spell strike I channel the spell into the attack I first cast the spell

the effects of the spell don't immediately occur they're imbued into my attack instead so I just make a melee strike. Okay. So let me do that. Come on. Come on. Where's my katana?

All right, here we go. Okay. 27 to hit. Yeah! That is a hit. All right. So close to a crit The guidance doesn't apply right?

I already used it But that's fine Okay so first For my katana That's 1d6 So let me solve that Okay It's a 3

Okay And then Can Kate aid Wait wait wait What did you just say? I did Damage with a katana Is 1d6

Plus your strength modifier Wait, what did you just say? I did. Damage with a katana? Is 1d6. Plus your strength modifier. Undocked! Undocked! Sydney's doing mad! Nicholas! You beautiful bastard. Oh, my God. Oh, my God. Nicholas.

Whoa. This is such a dick. Oh, no. Oh, no. Sidney's doing mad. I didn't know where that was going. What is this? What? Oh, my God. That's so cool. I didn't know where that was going. What is this? Drop.

Oh, my God. That's so cool. I forgot that existed. I know. That's the first time I heard that. He said that to me a few days ago. Oh, my God. Oh, that's great.

Thank you, Skid. Thank you, Nick. CJ and Francis are losing it back there. Oh, no. Oh, no. Sydney's doing math. So it is. I've done the math. It's plus my strength, four, seven total.

I rolled a three, plus my four, seven. All right, so it's three regular. With the katana. You didn't have the strength thing, so it's going to be another four. Yes. Gotcha, all right. So that's just the katana. Good math.

That was good, easy math. Oh, no. Three plus four. God, that's so funny, no. I'm going to wait less forward. God, that's so funny, Nick. Okay. So funny. Now, the Gouging Claw, my two-action spell, part of the spell strike. That's going to be 2d6.

So it's just auto damage. Yeah. Yeah, because you don't have to actually use the spell attack. It's struck through the blade. Yeah, she hit with the melee. It discharges into my jaw. Except, I guess my question is, because the spell still has a potential crit, I have to crit on the weapon attack.

Okay, cool. So it is two d6s. Things get ugly. It says that you have to use a spell that has a spell attack roll. It's basically what you're doing is replacing the spell attack roll with your melee attack.

Okay, cool. So that is... So powerful. Five, six, seven, eight points of damage from the gouging claw. A total of 15 on that strike. Nice. That's great. That's great.

And you kill it. Yeah! Oh! Oh my goodness! Brother Ramius was like, we need your blade. That fucking blade's ridiculous! Thank you for the guidance. You're able to... Yeah, that probably made the difference. The guy, because he said he just made it. He did blade's ridiculous. Thank you for the guidance.

You're able to... Yeah, that probably made the difference to the guy because he said he just made it. He did the secret roll. Just say it. Well, it was on her will save out of the thorns. Yeah. I don't know. I know, but... I think you were off by one. So I think you would have like just hit the save. Synergy. Put that one over.

Huge. You have killed the oculi. Dude. Is the aura gone? Is that whole weird thing dissipating? I'm going to move you just to the space next to it because you weren't in any space. Yeah, does its aura of darkness dissipate? It's aura completely dissipates. So your light, and you notice that because your light

now shines. Still only giving you dim light. Right. Bright light in 20 feet. Right, bright light in 20 feet. But only because it's non-magical. Right. Oh, what a bastard. And can we walk through the trees without having to...

You can navigate your way all the way to that door, that little lantern with the things moving around in it with ease. I run up to Asa and I give her a high five. Should we do a little healing?

Hell yeah. Of course. Wait, wait. Buckles, are you all right? You look... It's like his hands, it's like checking his body. It's like, yes, sorry. I hope I didn't scare you, Brother Ramius.

This has happened before, Buckles. This creature seems to overcome you. Yes, and he starts, like, shrinking immediately. It's okay. Again, his entire being sort of shifts. He's just like, no, I think we should just go. And feeling that he doesn't want to talk about it right now. And it's not the time.

He says, all right, well, let's get you patched up. Yes. Yeah. And he's, oh,

oh, oh. And then now it's like, he's noticing for the first time that he's been hurt. He's like, oh, oh, it's all right.

It's all right. This is within my power to heal. Come, come with me. Let's get with the others. Uh, so brother Ramius will go and we'll need to spend some time out here healing.

Maybe an hour or more. Just patching up everybody. Before he enters the tree. Do you want me to start doing rolls? Do you want to do it off air? How do you guys want to do it? You could be rolling as we sit around the table.

Someone else could role play while you roll. Asta, shake your... Come here, Buggles. So he'll work on Buggles first, and he's just gonna, yeah, do some treat wounds. Can I examine the door? Yeah. Asta does that cool samurai ronin thing

where she whips all the blood off her katana. Yes! Yes! And then resheathes it. It's the only reason to have one. It's the only point! Okay. Examining the bill.

Matthew? I'll also examine it. I'm looking. I rolled a 15. 18 if it's related to Kniepo. It is ornate. I mentioned that. A wooden door.

Maybe made out of the same wood as the stump. But nothing out of the ordinary. Is it locked? Is it locked? I rolled perception. It doesn't look locked. Was this thing

guarding it? Was it perched out here? It was perched out here, perhaps to guard its entrance. Can I check the body of the bird? Like, is there anything on it? There's nothing on it. You see that? The only thing that's making noise here is that little lantern with, like, things buzzing around inside of it.

Can I look at the lantern? Yeah. It's, like, made of paper, and there's, like, tiny little circles flying around inside of it. Can I look at the lantern? Yeah. It's made of paper, and there's tiny little circles flying around inside of it. Can I move it? Mm-hmm. Can I take it down? Mm-hmm. Can I look and...

I want to see what's in it. Okay. It's paper that you would have to rip or poke a hole into to see what's inside. I think it's fireflies. Don't let them fly out. Why? Because you want... Don't you want to be able to's fireflies. Don't let them fly out. Why? Because you want, don't you want to be able

to use the lantern? We should let them go. I mean, we can all see fine. That's true. You can't. Do you mind if I let them go? No, of course not. And he's really preoccupied

with Buggles because he's having a hard time figuring out how to help. Die, Slim! Die! You'll be all right. Calm down. Stop squirming.

Help, please. And he fails the street wounds attempt. Blood! So he has to attempt again, and then he does get it. So he'll heal you 11 points, but we're already at 20 minutes. That's pretty good. Did you get me? I'm 10 down also.

I'm also down. What are you doing? There's butterflies within that light. Yeah, I just want to let them go. I saw there were shapes, and then I theorized there were fireflies. I let the fireflies go. You open it, and sure enough, it is fireflies clambering to escape, and they're just floating around, but they're not giving off any light.

They just kind of fly away. Bottlecap. It's better that way. I'll check for traps on the door. She's kind to the animals. Okay. 11. Don't see no traps.

Cool door. This is a cool door. It does not look trapped. How's healing McGee over there? What do you have to roll to get it? That's Florence Nightingale. Do youaly McGee over there? What do you have to roll to get it? Florence Nightingale. Do you have to roll a 10? I could just take 20 to look for traps. I just want to be half decent.

I mean, average. My goal is average! God! So that is actually a crit on the second one. So he's attempting to heal Talitha. Again, fails. Maybe it's the dim light.

He can't see as well. He's putting the torch up against it, but the firelight is just not enough. I'll cauterize your wound. That's my face! I feel like I'm doing surgery. You're like, I can't see. Move that torch closer. How's that close?

How's that close? Oh, man. Okay, so that is 18 points of healing. Okay. I'm feeling great. Time is passing. Or. He's like sweating now. Who else?

Um. God. Step up. Step up. Everybody's like, I'm all right. I'll just. I'd rather die. You know what?

Cool. I'll walk it off. You know what? He's going to roll a cigarette. Oh my God. Light it with the torch. Light it with the torch. Sets it down on up shadow rock And it continues

Oh another crit for Zephyr Another crit for Zephyr Yeah Oh my god 10 points That's a terrible roll Chef's kiss And then a couple more

Asta. Another crit. Boom sauce. It's all averaging out now. There we go. 16 points of healing. Plenty. I'm back up. Alright, so how much time passes throughout all this? So it was 20, 40, 50, 60. So that's one

hour. And then he's just gotta do himself. It's gonna take 10 minutes. It's mental damage. Ooh. Natural 20. Oh. He prays and centers himself and I do have to roll it still because...

See where those natural 20s are sitting. Even though I only needed a couple points. Yeah, all right, he got it. So, oh, 20 points. Nice. See, even when you shoot to be average, you fail. Boom. Wow. you fail. Boom. Wow.

That's turned. Wow. Three, what, four crits into a failure. Thanks, Kate. Somehow. Somehow. Somehow re-characterized as failure. Incredible string of success is failure.

Like an IRA. This door stands in front of you just as invitingly as the stump did when first you entered Nighthold. What do you do? Open it. Should we knock? No.

Asta, I don't know. I don't think we should just open the door. Talitha opens the door. Talitha! Talitha goes to open the door and the door opens like it feels like it's opening to you. Like you're a second behind the actual opening of it and it's opening for you.

Like the video sync is off? Yeah. We should fix the video sync. Francis, I think the sync is off. And that is what you say. Those of you near the door, although no one is actually near. We're too afraid. Give you a little flavor.

You look in and you see an uneven circular chamber. Fist-sized tunnels riddle the walls and ceilings. Ceilings about 12 feet high. That's a bad sign of this chamber. It looks like the trails of, like, worms. Oh, no. Near the southern wall, there is a pillar of living wood that's been carved into a terrifying,

yet oddly majestic statue of, like, a lanky, striped-skinned humanoid monster. And its wooden flesh is pocked with what look like tiny little pearls. And to the east, there's a door delving deeper into the stump. You see these fist-sized holes everywhere, even on the statue itself. But on the ceiling are these tiny little glow worms that are crawling along and just shedding dim light on the room. Can I roll a knowledge check on the statue?

Sure. I'm going to move into the room. Did we also conclude that the magical light effects are the entire plane of existence here, and not just the forest outside? Yes, the situation in here. So you know that in the Thin Lands, spells and abilities with the light trait are weaker. Everything's dimly lit. Artificial light seems to work better

than regular light. And then in here, areas in shadow or lit by weak light sources are in dim light. So the light you're providing is still just making everything... It's allowing you to not have to roll the concealed check. Everybody else can see.

And that's it. My bow is away. Sorry, what you're saying is contradictory in my head. Okay. You're saying the light is only providing dim light. I have to roll concealment on dim light. So is it providing, if it's artificial light? No, as long as you have the torch,

you don't have to roll the concealment. In 20 feet, within 20 feet. Okay. Knowledge, recall knowledge on the statue? Religion? Yeah. Cultall knowledge on the statue. Religion? Yeah. Occultism? Arcana?

You tell me. I'll do religion. I'll do occultism then. I mean, arcana's my best skill, but I feel like it's going to be occultism. I think nature's going to be widely applicable everywhere. I'll do nature. What about first world lore? Anybody have any first world, John?

As soon as we have some downtime, I'll be sure to train in that. 20 occultism. Nice. 15 nature. Okay. And then, sorry, I'm a little behind the curve on religion. That is going to be a 21.

Okay. It does not seem to be a religious figure, although the way in which it's presented is very majestic. Regal, but not holy. Is it a slender figure? It is a very slender figure that is tall, and its appendages are very, very long. Kniepo.

Kniepo. So it could be. Does its visage feel like what we saw in the alley? It is similar, but this one almost looks more majestic, stronger. The thing you saw in the alley didn't look particularly strong. Maybe that's like a shadow of what it would be here. It's a more robust form of itself in its home environment. Maybe it's being depicted as stronger.

Yeah, maybe it's like a worshipful sort of depiction of it. Yeah. Is this, so could it be that Kniepo is the duke? Count. The count? Who was exiled?

No, I believe they're separate figures. Let me check my notes. Hmm. Because I wonder if, is this the Duke or Count or whatever? Count was exiled. Yeah. So I guess they wouldn't be statue worshiping him at all, right? If he was exiled. Kniefo the Slim.

Yeah, they were talked about as like two separate entities. I mean, maybe they're the same, but... Yeah, just one working theory. And, you know, the statue has those same holes as the ceiling and the walls, but some of the holes are full of what look like pearls. Oh. Sorry, and can I confirm that this is all wood? Like the inside, is it the cut out inside of an absolutely gigantic tree?

I want to look at the pearls. Okay. That was creepy. Asta steps forward. You're all in the room here. Asta steps right next to the statue to examine the pearls. And as you're looking at them, you realize they aren't pearls. They're humanoid teeth.

And it's at that moment that all of you hear a buzzing sound coming from all around you. And you see, coming out of the walls, the ceiling. Giant termites. And the statue itself. Like all these tiny little winged creatures that form together into one large swarm. And they're all holding pliers. Oh, no! And we'll see you next week. Oh, no! Two fairies!

Oh, no! Our teeth! Our teeth out! Oh, no! The tooth fairies! Oh, no, our teeth. Our teeth out. Oh, no. The tooth fairies. Oh, my God. Fucking mad, man. This is so messed up, man. This is really messed up.

This is a marathon, man. It's time to make your membership official. Become an official member of the Niche today at jointheniche.com. That's jointheniche.com, where you'll get access to exclusive podcasts and live streams you can't find anywhere else. See what everybody's talking about and join the Niche today at jointhenays.com. Are you noticing that it's getting harder and harder to pay down your debt? Sometimes all you need is a little bit of guidance to solve a debt problem. Whatever your situation, we can offer practical solutions to you and your family.

Visit BDOdebt.ca to book a free consultation.