The Glass Cannon Podcast - Gatewalkers Episode 4 – Shadows and Dogs

Episode Date: October 6, 2023

As the party reaches a clearing with archways in the distance, creatures emerge from the shadows to attack in the high grass. Watch the video here: https://youtu.be/zf2MmG02Hhk 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 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

You are listening to the Glass Cannon Network, the premier source for role-playing game entertainment. Last week on the Glass Cannon Podcast. Oh no, they are not real. This is just as I suspected. The heroes discovered the secret of seven arches. I know that the real seven archers are hidden somewhere south in the Wildwood. And at the direction of a strange ally.

Within moments, a full-sized horse comes bounding into the room. And there's a halfling atop it just knocking shit off of the table. What? Anyways, I'm Lemafeld Porn. They set off into the wild. And set off into the wild. And you head into the Wildwood.

By now it's late afternoon and you want to get out to make good headway because you'll have to camp out in the Wildwood at night. But when an unnatural darkness descended... It's possible it's an illusion. It's always possible with Faye. Everything can be an illusion. Everything you see, everything you hear. Danger crept from the shadows.

I cut the grass with my kopesh. You see something moving in the thick grass. And suddenly it just appears like 20 feet away from you in a second. And it looks like a hound. Except its eyes are giant black pools. The adventure continues now. 🎵 Welcome back, everybody, to the Glass Cannon Podcast. Now, you probably know this, that these shows are prerecorded in our brand new studio here in the heart of Astoria, Queens. This is a borough of New York.

There are five of them. Did you know that, Skid? Borough? Borough, yes. I'm having like a rabbit borough? Matthew, did you know there are five boroughs in New York? I did know that. Name two of them.

Brooklyn, Manhattan. You hesitated for a second. Yeah, you were like, oh. You know why I hesitated? This long island of Berlin? I hesitated because I went to say Staten Island, and I was horrified at myself. Oh, my God. You've named three.

I've not named three. Kate, do you know the other two? Wait, you said Brooklyn, Manhattan, and what else did we say? Staten Island. Oh, Queens. Very good, because that's where we are now. And the Bronx. Well well it's one of what am I supposed to say it

yeah don't laugh at me Staten Island shouldn't be a borough I've said it before I'll say it again New Jersey is a bunch of cowards

and they should have taken it when they had the chance no thanks wow 90% of our fan base is from New Jersey or Staten Island we're huge on Staten Island.

You're like Doja Cat right now. I'm just kidding. I don't even have the internet there. You know the story. You know the story about Staten Island, right? No, tell us. Regale us. Two rich guys.

Staten Island was owned by no one at one point. Staten and Island? Staten and Island. Two rich men. The guys from The Muppet Show. Look at the frog. And they came together and they said, let's call it Staten Island. No, they did a boat race around the island, I'm pretty sure, or like around Manhattan.

And one was from Jersey and one was from New York. And they were like, whoever wins gets it. And then New York won. That can't be true. It is absolutely true. New York won. That can't be true. It is absolutely true. New York won the news channel? Yep. I'm really confused.

So there were three boats? There was Staten Island and New York won? Oh my God, the boat race that claimed Staten Island. It is truly like two men, you know, like, let's go to Fisticuffs, you see? Like, who will win? And they just raced a boat, and I truly think it should have gone to New Jersey.

It doesn't make any sense to have an island that's already, there's some other islands. And they're like, you got to take a ferry to get there unless you drive. Like, there's no other way to get to Staten Island from New York. Maybe the loser got New Jersey. That seems like a fair trade. 90% of our fans are got New Jersey. That seems like a fair trade. 90% of our fans are from New Jersey. I'm disappointed that Pat Kiernan apparently lost because I would think he would be better at sailing than that. Let me just quickly Google Skid's reference.

That was a joke. That was a joke in New York. That joke was only for Nick Lowe. He's the only one that would get that. If you see any movie that takes place in New York Over the last 20 years You will see Pat Kiernan in that movie He's in the background on a TV

This is something that people who never lived in New York May not realize, two things One, there's a channel called New York One That has just constant news all day long And it repeats itself and then changes later in the day And there's also I don't think I can do this anymore There used to be a free porno channel.

Oh, yeah. You guys remember the porno channel? What? Were you living in New York during the free porno channel? I remember hearing about it, but I've never seen it. Al Goldstein,

and you never saw... From Screw Magazine. Yeah, you never heard of this? What? It was free? All right, yeah, it was crazy. So I lived, the first time I lived in New York...

He's been paying for his porn this whole time. He's been paying, look at that. He's like, ooh. He was like, ooh. Robin, what's her name? Robin.

William. Givens. Quivers or something. Anyways, no. Anyways, I lived in New York. This was between my sophomore and junior year of college. So this is 90. This is ancient history.

This is maybe 97, 98. I was doing an acting program out here at Circle in the Square. And I had a sublet with a couple of women that I went to college with. And you would just, at 10 o'clock, one of the channels would just turn from 10 until like 2 in the morning into a porno channel. And it wasn't like a full penetration type situation. Soft? Like medium boiled. It was like they would imply a lot. You. Like medium boiled. It was like they would

imply a lot, you'd see a lot, and then they'd just kind of move the camera. But it was like little talk shows with constant advertisements for like escorts and services where you could just like, I can't remember, it was like 1-800 numbers.

So like sex chats and escorts. So like sex chats and escorts. So every night at 10 o'clock you and your roommates would flip to this chat. Oh no, they weren't there. They weren't in the room? They weren't in the room, but it was people, the people who have lived in New York

would know this. I mean, you remember this. It was Al Goldstein and God, there was a show. I want to Google this, but I'm not going to. My friend Bob Fingerman, he used to work for Al Goldstein. And, God, there was a show. I want to Google this, but I'm not going to. I'm not Googling. My friend Bob Fingerman, he used to work for Al Goldstein because he used to do illustrations for Screw Magazine. And he had a bunch of stories. Al Goldstein.

And I said Robin Quivers, but it wasn't Robin. Robin Bird. The Robin Bird show. Saturday Night Live did a whole skit making Sherry O'Terry played Robin Bird. Yeah. That's right. I have never heard of this. I've never heard of it. I will look this up later. Saturday Night Live did a whole skit making Sherry O'Terry played Robin Bird. Yeah. I have never heard of this. I've never heard of it. I will look this up later.

Not at work. On an incognito computer. Hey, Joe, can I borrow your computer for a second? Yeah. Exactly. Anyways, that was the thing. And I was like, what is going on in this American city? It was just free porn.

Free porn. But like, it was news related. Was it like public access level? It was public access. from LA. No, no. It was public access, like.

New York local pornography. Local porn? There were new episodes that were shot, like the Robin Birch show, for example. You should bring this back. She would have on like.

Where did this stop? College used to be free. Porn used to be free. And now like millennials, like we don't get shit. What does this world come to? I think it stopped in like 2000. I would imagine.

Yes. I missed out on everything. I missed out too. Yeah. Well, you used to, they used to have like a, you could have a strip club,

like right across the street from a public school. And they shut that down. So right around the time that that stopped, it's probably like, we really need to turn off this horrible it's a horrible pornography message or maybe funding dried up they were like we can keep keno going or run this channel well then i guess it became pay-per-view then they were just like i ain't gotta pay for it yeah yeah and we'll put it on higher channels and we should get some boxing on here yeah you have a lot of uh porn subscriptions joe yeah so i to hear that

something's free is shocking to me shock i've been paying top dollar for you worst luck i know exactly only i would have known uh yeah that is that is just wild to me like why it's it was a different time it was a different time it's like 97 98 i was like the city is crazy i remember i remember being a kid and trying to see the scrambled porn the scrambled like cinemax yeah yeah at like midnight like through a channel we didn't know so if you didn't know in a channel it wasn't just like a digital thing would pop up and be like you have to purchase this channel it would just be like you couldn't get the signal maybe you you could make, oh, right. And I'd be like,

I think I saw a nipple. I think that's a boob. Either a nipple or a doorknob. But it was like, it was like neon purple. And then it would all of a sudden change and the colors would invert and then it would be,

and you'd be like, whoa. Yeah, exactly. I watched WrestleMania 2. Seriously? You're like, I think I know what's going on.

I think that's a nipple. I think that's Hulk Hogan's nipple. Where's that King Kong Bundy? Did you guys like sneak to watch TV, whether it was sexual or other as a kid, or were your parents just absentee and you could watch it? No, I could pretty much watch whatever I wanted. I always had to sneak.

I remember having, oh my God, this is like going way back. I remember watching Jay Leno, like early Leno on a TV that was, all right, so the screen was about this big. Your dad would come up with a bell. We're a light-man house. Super long.

Yeah, I was not allowed to watch late-night TV. It was like, what's up? Military household. No, not really. For the audio audience, Joe was indicating a screen that's about four inches. It's about four-inch screen, okay? And it was about this deep. It was like a box, like this deep.

And it had little legs that came down oh yeah it had an antenna so and it had it took like six d batteries in the bottom i know it's like how long did it last an hour yeah it would it lasts like two or three nights that i'd be like uh another six d batteries like what for like my wiffle ball bat like were you a sneaker did you have to like a eventually we had a tv down in the basement and which was it was very convenient because i'd be like i'm gonna go do my homework down in the basement which i did but i also got to watch a lot of great movies that i probably shouldn't have watched yeah but it was like but it was how i like i i there wasn't a lot of like we didn't have the spice channel yeah. So it was like I got to watch HBO.

So there was real sex. But mostly I just wanted to watch the movie. Oh, real sex, right. Yeah. Real sex, yeah. That was informational. Yeah. You learned a lot.

Weirdly, I found that more disturbing than like Oz. It was one of the least sexy shows on cable. It was not very titillating. No. Kate, did you sneak TV when you were a kid? I had a television in my room that was much smaller than whatever Joe described. Was it a phone? Was it an iPhone?

No, it was still like one of those, like, it had a depth to it. And it was like, my fingers aren't touching. That's not how small it was. It was probably like a little bigger than like my laptop screen or something. I'd watch Ghost Hunters a lot with my friends. Oh, that's cute. And just like whatever. I don't know. Your parents come in and be like, turn off that! Ghosts aren't real!

Ghosts aren't real! Turn that off! We're going to chapel tomorrow! Oh, man. My parents are so mad. I'm not going to tell you anything! They maddened so strongly the ghosts. Maybe they were ghosts. You just freaked me out.

I'm just like replaying my childhood. But no, like there was never any like weird rules around TV. I guess I didn't abuse it. But like I would leave it on to fall asleep and stuff. So uneventful. That was always my favorite when I could get away with it. Yeah. What about you, Sydney?

I imagine you had some secret shame as a child. Oh, yeah. Shame is a useless emotion. Here we go. Shame and guilt are not real. They're useless emotions tied to sadness and anger. It's not true. Watched you by the patriarchy.

As my therapist would say. There are like three Catholics at the table who are just like, oh. I also didn't grow up particularly religious. So maybe like watching porn, I was kind of like, I don't know. It's fine. You'd watch it with your folks? Yeah. They're like, Cindy, it's 10.

Get in here, honey. It's free. Robin Bird is on. It's time to learn about life. Your favorite, Sid. Robin Bird is on. Sid? Big Bird is on.

No, we... When I was a child, sure, TV was like, you could only watch it at certain times. We watched VHSs of movies and that would be your TV for the night. But when I was in middle school or high school, we had a family room with a TV. It wasn't that weird to just watch TV.

My parents didn't really care. During the day, I think they'd be like, get outside, stop watching TV, no matter what season it was. But at night, I would stay up late. I was a total night owl all through college, all until probably like 25 or 26 when my brain shifted and I had to wake up early. But I used to watch horror movies late at night. And I would, I loved horror movies, but I would scare myself so badly that it would be like 1130 when it would end. And I would be on my couch in the pitch black alone. And I would be like,

I can't get up. I can't go up the stairs right now to my bed. So I would then go to forget. Was it on comedy center? No, it was on, I watched robot chicken chicken which came on at midnight adult swim i watched robot chicken which came on at midnight to ease myself so my my secret

tv routine that i don't even know if my parents ever knew if they did they'd come down and be like go to bed it's midnight on a school night but i would watch a horror movie and then i'd be like i'm too scared and then i would watch robot chicken and be like, okay, I feel better. I'm sure the demons are out of the house. They were frightened away by the chicken. They're frightened away by the hilarious comedy. And that's why I love dark comedy. Yeah.

There you go. Did you have to sneak skid to watch some stuff? No, my mom was like, we didn't have cable, but I, but that was usually in the summers. Like I would be up until like four or five o'clock in the morning and I would plan out my evening. I would just like, I would look in the TV guide and I would try to find, I loved old movies. I would try to find any movie that was made before like 1966. And I would just like, that's what I would do. And, uh, I got to the-

Why 66? Was that like a I would do. Why 66? Was that like a leap forward in cinema or something? Yeah, it was just like that sort of easy rider, New Hollywood revolution. I wanted something like, it was more comforting for me to watch like something black and white because it's older stuff. And it got to the point where I now today, like I can watch any movie,

and I can watch a couple of minutes of it, whether I've seen it before or not, and I can guess within two years what year it was made. Whoa. Wow. That's a cool skill. It is a cool skill. Let's put it to the test. Let's do it right now. I just mentioned The Thin Man by Orson Welles.

What year? Are you thinking of The Third Man? The Third Man by Orson Welles? No, The Thin Man. Thin of The Third Man The Thin Man Thin Man is not Orson Welles They're both good movies David Niven is The Thin Man Wow really showing your ass right now How embarrassing

Like a real cinema guy What am I thinking of The Third Man You worked at Kim's I did The Thin Man isn't that No it's not I guess it's The Third Man The Third Man No it's not I guess it's the third man

Now it's Google's not working William Powell and Myrna Lorry Here's one, the third man The third man 1946? 49 Pretty damn good Not too shabby

I wasn't allowed to watch MTV I've probably talked about this before And and I really wanted to watch MTV. Yeah, nor was I. Just because I wanted to. I remember I went to my first school dance in the fifth grade, and everybody knew all the lyrics. I'm like, how do these people know all these songs? I've never heard any of these. But my parents didn't want to see women being exploited.

They wanted me to see that, so they didn't let me watch it. So I'd sneak, and sometimes I'd be like, this is inappropriate. But how else? You can't watch that until they stop exploiting women. Right. And you never got to watch TVF. No, and then they...

We can't, we're either gonna... They stop making music videos, because they're like, we can't make these without exploiting women. That's why they stop. We'll just stop. So that's why.

That's why. All right. We can't make this so then teen mom obviously right so and from that birth to teen mom

we'll exploit teens it was called the white snake effect but I do I do I was a good kid I had a heavy conscience I didn't like sneaking

but there were certain things I wanted to see oh my god I was so good it. I had a heavy conscience. I didn't like sneaking, but there were certain things I wanted to see. Oh, my God. I was so good. It's embarrassing. Yeah. It's ridiculous to look back. I wasn't allowed to watch rated R movies.

And I remember being like 12 years old and being like at a friend's house with like three other friends. Insane. And somebody being like, let's watch Friday the 13th or something, you know, like. Let's watch Barton Fink. Watch Blood Simple. And I remember being like, I can't. I can't. I have to leave the room.

It's rated R. Yeah, I can't. And I would leave and get on my bike and go home. Because I was so scared of my parents finding out. Yeah. And my friends were like, you are a loser. Loser. Yeah, I thought I was a good kid. And my friends were like, you are a loser. Loser. Yeah.

I thought I was a good kid and I've heard your stories. I'm like, you guys are just, there's something wrong with you. Yeah. I was a good kid. I feel like I wasn't good.

Or if it was, yeah, the upbringing, I'm not sure. But I have such a guilty conscience. It's like, I can't do it. My mom would get annoyed

when I watched horror and other scary stuff. Not because she thought I shouldn't be watching it, but because it would give me nightmares and she would be like, just go to sleep. And I'm like, I can't. They're in the room with me.

Just stop it. Now I understand if Mira were to not sleep through the night, I'd be like, God, this is the worst. And that's really all she cared about. She didn't care about my brain. No. Yeah, I had the same conscience as you. And I don't know what it was.

It was like fear of my parents or fear of God. Fear of God. I remember at a baseball cookout, they put on American Ninja. And I was like, I have to go home. And I just sat in the other room because my parents weren't there while they all watched American Ninja. And yet, despite those consciences, the two of you just turned out to be complete assholes.

How'd that work out? You have to go the other way. You rebel. You rebel. It's called growing up, which you're all about to do right after this quick break. This is going to be a big ep today. This is going to separate the men from the boys, as they say.

Once again, I want to thank our sponsors, Demiplane, Norse Foundry, and Foundry VTT. All of which you're going to see today will be on full display today. And also, I should mention, follow us on social media. We are at Glass Cannon Pod on X, formerly known as Twitter, and we are, what are we on Instagram? We are the Glass Cannon. Just call it Twitter. By the time this comes out, it's probably not even going to be around.

Follow us. We should follow us. Follow us on the floating whatever. And the TikTok, right? We're on the TikTok. We're the Glass Cannon on Instagram, and what are we on TikTok? I don't have notes. Probably the Glass Cannon, right? We're on the TikTok. We're the Glass Cannon on Instagram. And what are we on TikTok? I don't have notes.

Probably the Glass Cannon, right? Probably the Glass Cannon. You want to look it up? Yeah, let's look it up right now. We have a very active TikTok. We are at Troy LaValle. No, that's not right. That's not right.

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I don't know what the hell I'm talking about. Someone get this man some news. Just Google us. Go to the website. If you go to our website, it's all there. Yeah. All the little icons. I am buying time right now because I am very worried about what is about to go.

Me, too. We've had three very nice apps where we got to learn a lot about these characters. Maybe get a little hint of a mystery. Some mystery, some role playing, some thievery. Always fun. A little bit of thievery. A little bit of B&E.

A little B&E, a little fake vomiting. Everyone loves a good fake vomit. A lot of fake vomit. Sure, we'll see more of that. Ladies' Night, you know, a lot of fun. And now it's just like, and you're all going to die. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, this is really 2E.

We've been playing it for a while. It's a very unforgiving scene. Don't tell people that. You can't. There's not a lot of room for error. So it'll be interesting to see how this team synergizes because you don't have long to figure this out. Let me reword that. We'll see if this team synergizes.

If this team synergizes. And if not, you'll know exactly what character to make for your backup. Wow. We really didn't need a cleric. We just needed another fighter. We were saying off air how well everyone was coming together as a team, as new characters, and everyone is fitting so well. Oh, yeah.

I love the characters. And now that we're in combat, I'm like, fuck, fuck, fuck. Well, yeah, this is the true test, right? All right, here we go. So just a quick flashback. Fireball. Last week, you tested the archways that are in the middle of seven arches, and you brought the aura recorder back to Fionara, Carolestry at the Caravanserai. That's a lot of words. And she said, ah, just as I

thought, illusion magic. Without a hint of conjuration, those arches aren't real. And it confirmed her suspicions that the true seven Arches are deep within the Wildwood Forest, which is south of the city, a couple days south of the city. She believes it to be there. That's why the Oak stewards don't let anybody go in there, not just because it's unsafe, it's because they're trying to protect their secret, the real Seven Arches. And she also let you know that they're, or no, she didn't let you know. She said you need to go make friends with the Oak stewards. I think they're going to be able to help you.

You need their assistance if you ever want to go in there and go talk to them. I think they're going to help you out. So she gives you a bark writ to go talk to a halfling member of the Oak stewards by the name of – what the hell was her name? Lemma Feldthorn. I put her in your journal stewards by the name of, uh, what the hell was her name? Lemma Feldthorne. I put her in your journal, by the way. Uh, she comes bounding into the hall on top of a, a full size horse.

Yeah. Mounted. Mulberry. Mulberry. Mulberry. Mulberry. Calm down. In my mind,

she was like 70 and she's actually rather young. Rather young. Got a big scar on her face. she, uh, she tells you, okay, you know our secret. That's fine. I'm going to give you the bark grit so the Oak stewards will let you traverse the Wildwood. But here's the deal.

On the night of the missing moment, all of the guards that were around the real arches stepped through. They were compelled to step through just as you were. Only one returned, a bit of a rebel Oak steward by the name of Bolan Nagaso. She goes into her whole history about this guy, but it seems that he is staging a coup or preparing to stage a coup. He's been sneaking into town, rallying Oak Stewards and citizens to his cause, and doing something, perhaps some sort of ritual with the real gates. She doesn't know, but he stole the Shadewither key, which was the key that they used to activate the gates.

He came in, stole it. It's a big problem. So if you help them deal with that, then they will be at your disposal. So you go into the Wildwood. The Oak stewards roll up on you, you show them the bark grit and they let you pass. On the midday, late midday of day two, it starts getting darker than it should be a little earlier in the day. And you see these tall grasses that you have to wade through that come like up to your waist almost. And way in the distance, you see a 50-foot tall arch with maybe some smaller arches around it.

I don't know if I mentioned that. And some sort of activity up there. Talitha listens closely, hears some rumbling, but it's so far away, you don't know what's going on. You just know you need to get there. So you start wading through these grasses it's getting darker and darker and suddenly Lucky sees

a gorga For the first time in Glass Cannon Podcast Campaign 2 Roll for Initiative! Roll for Initiative! Roll for Initiative! Roll for Initiative! This Roll for Initiative is brought to you by Norse Foundry.

Skid, what do we need to know about Norse Foundry? Norse Foundry is an incredible dice maker. They make our dice, and these dice are for all of your random number generating needs. I've activated a new map here on Foundry VTT. You guys can check out the map and if you listen closely, you will hear sound sets that are added to the map. You told me this might happen.

We don't have to use them. We won't use them all the time. I like this. Joe's on the ones and twos, but the premium Gatewalkers pack for Foundry VTT includes sounds. That's really cool. For this specific scene.

This is awesome because you described the grass as being high and if you listen very closely, you can hear like... Well, I can also bring it up a little grass being moved it is cool there's a lot of little layers this is the little thing i find incredibly impressive is that brother ramius is standing halfway under the shade of this tree oh and he's in shadow his token has half of his shadow that's really cool that's really cool that you can see that. I can't see shit because I don't have dark vision

or low light vision. So it's like, it's really dim for me. Like I can see, but it's really dim. This is so immersive. This is really cool. Let's show everybody,

for example, CJ, show them what Buggle sees versus what Lucky sees, for example. Lucky, do you have low light vision? I have low light. Yeah. Oh, okay. And then show vision? I have low light. Yeah.

Oh, okay. I thought I had the same. And then show them what Brother Ramius sees and everyone will turn the stream off. Just a black screen. Oh, it broke. Oh, the stream. Stream's down.

Power outage. Stream's down. All right, well, speaking of Brother Ramius, what is your initiative? 22 for Brother Ramius. Wow. 2 for Brother Ramius. I never heard of a cleric that quick.

What about Talitha Breakwater? 16. 16 for Talitha. First initiative. You never forget your first initiative. You never do, do you? Dude, start off strong, brother. Buggles.

Buggles got a 9. 9 for Buggles. Okay. Zephyr. I rolled a natural 20. Oh! My goodness. I'm excited, but then I feel like that means I got to go first, so I'm less excited about. Oh! My goodness. I'm excited, but then I feel like that means I got to go first, so I'm less excited about that.

That's great. I guess, yeah, but I got to play my character first. 23. No pressure. You just have to be perfect and first. Lucky. I rolled bad. I got a 10.

Aw. Aw. Wah, wah, wah, wah. All right, here's what we're going to do. I'm going to reveal to you the presence of these Gorgas plural. Oh, damn it. You see now two Gorgas. Oh, boy.

They're flanking us. Oh, you flanked. Oh, you flanked. Oh, no. Let me just begin the encounter, Zephyr. You have the con. All right.r. Ah. You have the con. All right. Oh, no.

I'm not ready. Here we go. It's happening. First move. Um, we're in the middle of these two Gorgas. I kind of want to move out from in the middle of their lines. So I'm going to go. What's this?

Northeast. Maybe. Oh, there we go. Yeah. Oh, nice slide. Um, and she's got her longbow out because we were sleuthing. Yep. That's canon.

So she's going to enter her monastic archer stance. She sinks her feet into the ground, has her bow out drawn, aiming at that gorga to the north there. Yep.

And she's going to release a flurry of blows. Oh, that's right. Flurry of blows. With her longbow. With her longbow. So that's one action, two arrows. Nice. Let me show you what your target is there.

You can see. Oh. Nasty looking sight. They really do look like hounds. Oh, man. Yeah, but oh, that's horrifying. They're socketless eyes.ounds. Yeah, but oh, that's horrifying. They're socketless eyes.

Eyeless sockets. Giant socketless. Giant. Eyeless. Black. Eyeless sockets. Sockets. I also didn't picture them like as shredded as this dog is.

This looks like a well-built guard dog. Yeah. Damn. All right, fire away there. Okay. So two unarmed strikes. Hold on. I've never played a character like this, so I'm like, ooh.

So D20, and then that's going to be my dex modifier. Here we go. Here we go. Wait, wait. Hold on. Hold on. This is so exciting. Wait. Wait. Wow. we go here we go wait wait hold on hold on so excited wait wait wow skills and action is that you reaching for your bow like you're like okay so my first attack okay i was looking for my bonuses

for my first attack okay so that's 19 for my first attack that is a long time oh my, you did it! So, that's one D8. Where's my D8? So nerve-wracking. I know. Okay, so that's four damage. Four damage, okay. Okay, and then one more, and that's going to be at a minus four or plus three. Oh no, so that's a six total for my second attacker. Well, or plus three. Oh, no.

So that's a six total for my second attacker. Well, a natural three. A six total. Oh, brutal. That is actually a critical failure. Oh, no. But in this case, I think we're going to do the same rules for the live show. A natural one.

We'll do a fan fumble. Oh, we're doing fan? Yeah, I think we should. Oh, I'm not prepared for that. But not for this, because that wasn't a natural one. It was just a critical failure. Okay. I didn't know we were bringing the fans into this.

We'll see. Maybe you guys will never rule crits, but maybe we won't. We'll see. I'm down. And then a true natural 20, you'll get fan critical. All right, so the second attack is a miss. Now, is that three actions? You strode in two, or is that only one action to shoot both of those?

That was three actions because entering my monastic archer stance is one action. Sweet. Hell of a round there for old Zephyr. And now it is Gorga One's turn. Gorga One is going to

stride up to Talitha. Oh. Stride right up to Talitha. Oh. I'm going to stride right up to Talitha with its first action, and then it is going to bite. Actually,

here's what you notice in the darkness here, since you have dark vision. It goes to bite, not at your body, but at your actual shadow that you're casting on the ground. Why? Oh, whoa. Terrible roll!

Yes! Actually, it's just an action. You just give me a fortitude save. I was so excited to roll. It's just biting at your shadow. I like the part where you rolled and rolled badly better. It can't miss. Oh, no.

12. That is a failure. No! So it bites at your shadow, and you are going to take maximum damage. Oh, man. Points of piercing damage. Whoa! It's like a Peter Pan attack.

Yeah. It's like swallowing a goblet of your shadow, and it looks like it's getting stronger as it bit you. That was half my HP. Oh, my God. Yeah, this is going to be pretty nasty. If that's half your HP it bit you. That was half my HP. Oh, my God. Yeah, this is going to be pretty nasty. If that's half your HP, this is going to be a short campaign. For real. And then what I'm going to do is I'm going to attempt to hide with my final action.

And even though it's dim light, it has this ability known as Cloak of Shadows, which allows it to hide in dim light or darkness. So what is... Well, basically, if you want to attack them, you'll have to do a perception against their stealth DC. So does it move? No, it just stays right there. It's like hiding in plain sight.

But because of its Cloak of Shadows, it's like you can't quite tell where it is. And now it's Brother Ramius' turn. Brother Ramius is going to touch the pendant around his neck. And he's going to say, keep and protect us. Give us light. And he's going to cast light. So that is going to emanate bright light in 20 feet around his pawn.

20 feet of bright light? Yeah, and then another 20 feet of dim light, but that should negate its hide. Okay. Because I'm right near it, and then he is going to... You said 20 bright, 20 dim? 20 bright, 20 dim, and then he is going to stride

behind Talitha. Okay. And that is his turn. That's his turn. All right, it now moves to Gorga number two. Oh. All right, the creature that is to the south here,

the Gorga, sees that light, doesn't like that. So I wonder how far I can move with the... Yeah, that'll be good. This pulsing light is amazing, by the way. I actually can see it very faintly. You can? Oh, really? It's really, really faint, but I can see the pulse. It doesn't really change, but I can see it. That's cool. Those of you with dark vision

might see the slight difference. So, this creature is going to use this ability called Umbra Leap, where it just, like, dematerializes and then appears right next to Zephyr. Oh! Oh, no. How scary is that in the dark? That's probably awful.

And then is also going to attempt to take a chunk out of your shadow, give me a Fortitude save. Oh, Jesus. Okay. It is Highway Robbery that I don't have to roll to hit. It really is. Eating your shadow. Give me a fortitude save. Oh, Jesus. Okay. It is highway robbery that I don't have to roll to hit. It really is. Eating your shadow.

Eight points. It's like that's, and I don't have a low HP. And that wasn't even a crit fail. 14. That's a regular old fail. Okay, that's not the worst, I guess. So that's going to be

six points of piercing damage. Okay, no problem. Oh, we gotta take these puppies down. Here's the good news. Why didn't you roll better initiative, Sydney? I don't know. I rolled so bad. There's only two of them that you can see. Oh, we gotta take these puppies down. Here's the good news. Why didn't you roll better initiative, Sydney? I don't know. I rolled so bad.

There's only two of them that you can see. Oh, I hate that. Oh, man. I hate that. Talitha, let's see what you got. You are flanked by Brother Ramius and the gorga. It appears as if Brother Ramius is joined with the gorgas. All right, okay.

You're now flat-footed. And the creature's no longer concealed, right? The creature's no longer concealed because of that light. Right. So first things first, I'm going to devise a strategy. Yes! Which I'll be doing with my backup character every single round. So basically I do a d20 roll and I see if I would hit the creature

and I can choose to then use a separate action to attack if I want to. It's a very cool ability. So devising a stratagem, that is an 18. That is a hit. Okay. Yes! All right. So I also have an ability called Gnome Weakness.

Ooh. Gnome Weakness. Gnome Weakness. Are these gnomes? I didn't realize they were. Well, they're also fake creatures, so perhaps they do have a weakness. They're gnomes in disguise. So basically, I get a free recall knowledge check whenever I devise a strategy.

Okay. So what knowledge should I roll, Troy? How about nature? I happen to know a thing or two about nature. Talitha happens to know a thing or two about nature. Matthew knows very little. Twelve. Twelve.

We did do this before. We did roll on these guys. You did, but this doesn't mean there's still more information. It obviously won't matter now, but if I crit, I get bonuses with the known weakness. Yeah, that's awesome. I see a weakness and I get a plus one. Yeah, with the twelve, it's not going to give you anything extra. You know, from time to time, I may roll that for you and give you false information if you fail.

Really? But I like having you roll. Oh. You'll be like, oh, they're weak to water. I use my round to create water! They laugh. They were thirsty. Okay, I now... Alright, so what Talitha's gonna do

is gonna spend the action to do a strike with that hit. Okay. So I will... So that hits. Rock and roll. I'll do some damage here. Oh, yeah! It's going to be a d6. Six points of damage. Okay. Nice.

And then Talitha is going to step away from this creature. Step away from the creature. Step away from the creature. Step away from the creature. All right, you choose to step instead of stride, just in case it has any sort of attack of opportunity.

Very cool. We will now move on to Lucky, the fighter. Okay. So I'm new to playing a fighter. Intimidating glare, Matthew. Yes. That is the demoralized, so it is a one-actionimidating glare, Matthew. Yes. That is the demoralized, so it is a one action jawn.

Yes, yes. You just don't have to speak to use it. Right. Gotcha. So I am going to, because these creatures will not understand me, use my intimidating glare with my cat eyes, which maybe they see like glowing.

Cat eyes scare me. In the dark. Terrifying. Just reflection. Like they're just like bright white for a second. And I'm going to roll on that. It's only one target. Yeah.

Oh, you're right. So I'm going to use it on the one attacking Zephyr. All right. That's going to be intimidation check against its will DC. Okay. Intimidation. What do I have? Something good, I hope.

Oh, yeah, baby. That's a 17, 18, 19, 20, 21. 21 is a success. The target is frightened one. Nice work. And is this the one that is going after Zephyr, did you say? Yes. Okay, great. And then I am going to move up to it.

I'm going to flank it, and I'm going to take a single can't use my double slice because I already had to move, but I'm going to take a single... Can't use my double slice because I already had to move, but I'm going to take a single slice with my wakizashi. Ooh, nice. Flanked and frightened. And as a visual, a wakizashi is like a smaller katana. It's an agile weapon, so... Swing!

You're an agile weapon. Here I go. Here I go, here I go, here I go again. That's a 20... Oh I go again That's a 20 Oh wait That's a 24 Wow Brighton Trap

Won And flat footed That is a critical hit Yes Awesome Yes Critical threat Critical threat

Strong Critical And lucky Critical critical threat You really are lucky I just realized We're gonna have to update that now For too long

I know I keep telling him. I told Nick. He says, I'm too busy editing Spider-Man at Marvel Comics. It's just got to be critical hit, critical hit. That's it. Max damage. What?

Critical damage? So that's only a D4 from my Waki Zashi. I should have did my Kopech, but that's an eight and then double damn. Double damn. Let me see what the... It's double damage. You unlock the critical effects later. You just double the damage.

Oh, critical effect on the weapon. I'm just checking. Piercing critical. Slashing critical. Oh, no. Later it becomes deadly at 1D. That would be sweet, but instead it's 16 points of damage, right? Yeah.

Oh, yeah. Double that. Great. Nice. It's a big hit. It's huge. Is it dead? No.

No, it's very much alive. In fact, your hit made it more powerful. It is now. Buggles. Okay. I was just angry. Buggles is his eyes like under his hood. They flash blue.

And he points at the one that Lucky just attacked and unleashes a ray of frost. And that's a targeted ray, not a cone effect. Targeted ray. That is a 10. That is a miss. 10 is a miss, yes. And then that's a, that is a 10. That is a miss. 10 is a miss, yes. Um, and then with his, that's a two action spell. And then with his third action, he is going to cast shield.

Ah. On himself. Nice. Smart. All right. So a little boost to your AC just in case they decide to start switching targets. Uh, how about the end of round one? We go into round two.

Zephyr, talk to me. All right, let's see. This Gorgut is right up on me, so I can't really use my longbow against it that I'm holding. Straight away. So I'm trying to decide, do I want to move away and then unflank it?

Or I think I just want to get rid of one. That one's been hit the most it's flanked so what i'm gonna do is free action do i want to do that are you talking to yourself yeah yeah i was gonna free action drop my bow oh but maybe i'll just use one action to just put it back on my back, like put it to the side. Okay. Is that a, would that be a manipulate action? To just like un- To sheath?

Equip my bow? Yeah, to stow your bow. Yeah, I was figuring it takes one action. Okay. Do manipulate actions trigger attacks of opportunity? Yep. It bites you. Whoa!

Wouldn't that have been the first thing we fight has got AOLs? He would have dropped it. He would have dropped it. I would have dropped it. I know. Well, now everyone knows that they have this. And so you helped everyone.

Did we skip ahead to like a higher level? The outer void part of the book? This is classic LaValle. It's like we, whatever, two days before, study study these creatures get a high roll like we're just looking for any weaknesses or anything like that it's like they can hide in the dark like knowing it's way more valuable to know if they have an ao that is so value i was ready to give that to you if you would hit the uh the dc what was yours called again your ability known weak known weakness yeah i thought about putting that in the book. Known strength. And above all else, know this, that Gorgas have an attack of opportunity.

This book was very helpful. It's a very specific book. Hey, you know what? I might miss. Probably won't. 18. But you're frightened. Miss.

And flat foot. Nice. It's a miss at 18? Yeah, I got high dex. I'm a dex-filled monk. All right, so attack of opportunity wasted. Amazing. So you've stowed the bow.

Stowed the bow. Stowing the bow. And then I'm going to use stowed the bow. Stowing the bow. Stowed the bow. Stowing the bow. It's like an in sync. Stowing the bow. Stowed the bow.

I'm going to use good old flurry of blows with my fists. Oh, wow. Fist punching. So you're're gonna punch this shadow demon I'm gonna punch it With my deadly fists So first attack Fuck it's a 10 Get that shit out of here Second attack So that's a 19

To hit With the map Minus 4 or whatever Ooh, so that's a 19 to hit. With the map! With the map? With the map. Minus four or whatever. For your attack penalty? For your second. Yeah, yeah.

That is a hit. Yes! Wow, awesome. That's a hit. So that's 1d6 plus three with my fist. So that's seven points of damage. Wow. And that's one action.

Wow. Third action. That's your second action. You stood the boat. She said that only took one. Flurry blows itself's one action. Wow. Third action. That's your second action. You stood the bow. She said that only. Flurry blows itself as one action. Third action. So how's it looking? Is it like on its last

leg you think? On its last leg you think? Knock its lights out. Wait, I have a question. Why didn't you add the deadly die when you crit on the, if your weapon has a deadly trade you you add the deadly die when you crit on the if your weapon has a deadly trait you just add the extra die right does it have the deadly trait or does it say critical special specialization oh give me a second this matters second literally six yes it does it has

the deadly it has the agile deadly d i thought it was saying you have to have it at a level where you roll a d8 for it to be deadly. No. So if you have a deadly trait on a critical hit, you double the damage and then you add the extra die. That'll be really good to remember for the next time you hit a trait. And this is how they learn. This is the only way they learn. You looked her in the eye and confirmed when she asked.

I was confused. I know. So you lied. You can roll a flat check. You literally misled the player. You literally confused. I know. Because you lied. You can roll a flat check. You deliberately misled the player. You deliberately misled the player. It's so confusing. In my defense, you can roll a flat check to see if you're confused at the end of your next turn.

Kate, you have one more action left. What would you like to do? This dog should be dead. I'm just going to try my last action to hit it with my fist again. Okay. At a total of a negative one. Oh, natural 20. Dead. What happens? my fists again. Okay. A total of a negative one. Ooh, natural 20! Oh!

Dead. What happens? It would be a 19, which would just be a regular hit. But she rolled a nat 20. A nat 20 turns into a critical hit. Awesome. So critical hit means double damage. And critical.

Getting back at you for dissembling. 12 damage total. You're so dead. The dog is dead. Punch him. Right in the mouth. And his mouth flies off. Oh, my God.

Its mouth flies off? What? A critical death hit. Critical death hit. Lucky is impressed. I have this ability, critical death hit. It says my fists are deadly. Damn, that's cool. It is impressed. I have this ability, critical death hit. It says my fists are deadly. Damn, that's cool. It's

flavor. Amazing. All right, so it is out. It is out. It is dead, and now it is Gorga One's turn. Oh, Gorga One.

Okay. Flee, foul creature. Out of the light. Gorga One. Okay. Flee, foul creature. Out of the light. Gorga One is going to step up to Brother Ramius and take a bite of his shadow with the second action. Give me a fortitude save. Are you fortuitous? If the light is emanating directly from him, does he cast a shadow?

It is right on top of him. That's an excellent point. That is excellent. That's a fair point. The shadow is cast up into the sky because the light is sources down here. I was going to consider this until you got stupid.

Damn, I shouldn't have gotten stupid. Well, if you cast light, I mean, does your entire body emanate light or do you have a globe of light that is like in your hand? It's emanating from my amulet. Yeah, it's interesting. I think where Talitha's standing there, there are... He's got a shadow.

There's a shadow. I would argue, I would argue if you want to, I mean, there's no phasing in Pathfinder, but why are you doing this to me when I'm trying to help you? Because it's going to be useless. He's never going to help. Well, the shadow would only be cast in a behind. It would be behind him. Does he have enough movement speed?

He might have to move instead of step. Just roll the floor. He has to move around me which makes him pass through a threatened square and everyone knows clerics have attacks of opportunity. They can just cast third level spells. I was really trying to make a good point. It's the first combat. Give me a fortitude save.

Alright, fortitude save. With one hit, you didn't even have to roll the hit on. You almost killed me. This is horrible four to two to save. With one hit, you didn't even have to roll the hit on. You almost killed me. This is horrible. That is a seven. Oh, no. Oh, no. That is a critical fail.

Oh, no. Maybe you should have let me say my thing and then not be so silly. Yeah, maybe instead of trying to jerk off in my face. Matthew was rolling a die. Quit jerking off in Matthew's face. You've been watching too much free porn. If only. Twelve points of

piercing damage. This is so brutal, man. And it gains. Gains back some HP. Didn't lose any, did it? This one did lose. I poked it with my rape. You do notice every time it's eating these shadows it's getting stronger. It's regaining some of its life back. It can do that every round.

And now it's going to just take a regular old-fashioned bite out of old Matty Caps. Not out of you, out of your character. Let's see if he hits. So I'm going to use a reaction. Please. Talitha, she closes her eyes and her body just starts to flicker out of existence. Whoa. Roll a flat check. Oh! Roll a flat check? existence. Whoa. Roll flat check.

Oh! Roll a flat check. It's a concealment flat check, so what is it? Five. Okay. Natural 20. Okay. At least that wasn't the hit.

So if you hit, you hit me when I come back into existence. 25 to hit. Oh my. That hits. Oh my goodness. Hey, a big, big juicy roll. Not a crit, though. You don't have an AC of 15.

Do you have an AC? No. Okay. All right. I thought you were saying you don't have an AC. Seven points of piercing. Oh. A critical.

Geez. May have put you to die. I'm at one hit point. One hit point for Talitha Breakwater. Will she die? Find out right after this word from our sponsor. Oh God. We're back.

And if there's one person that can save Talitha Breakwater, it's Brother Raymond. Yeah, I mean, he's at four hit points. Like, he's done. Like, this is so bad. Okay, he is going to... I don't know. What a weird feeling.

What is this pain like? What kind of damage? It's piercing damage to your shadow? Yeah, it's piercing damage the way I... Because I like to let you know how this stuff works. Attempts to tear away and swallow a goblet of shadow from a creature within reach. Fortitude save. So yeah, it's like

if you imagine like a part of your soul is attached to that shadow in a way. It's like eating at you. It's ripping away at these. Got to get Wendy darling to stitch it back. Sew it back on. He's just going to take a step up behind Talitha

and just praying, Keeper, save us. He's going to reach out to Talitha and he is going to cast heal on Talitha. So, yeah. So that is going to be... Mumen healing! Is anyone surprised?

Minimum healing! It's because your shadow is broken. But what is the minimum? Minimum is nine. Okay, that's not bad. That's good. I thought it was going to be... You rolled a one.

I thought it was going to be good. I have the chance to fully heal you. Shitty. Minimum heal! First ever heal in the campaign. Minimum! Nice brother, Amos. Do the minimum possible you can for your allies.

I remember saying I was nervous for the first combat playing a fighter because I was like, what if Iiff? Like I'm the one fighter didn't think about Joe screwing up a heel. None of you ever have to worry about being the worst character in the world. No one ever has to worry about that.

I'm so happy that you're playing a cleric. You just healed Talitha. Even with that terrible shameful maybe don't tell your family about that roll. I'm still very healed. If you had to say it was the worst roll, I don't think we would have known. It was the least you could do.

Nice. Talitha, hopefully you have enough energy to take an attack here, but you could just run in fear. What would you like to do? I'm going to devise a strategy. I've heard of this ability. Here's a question about devise a strategy. I'll allow it. So I think I roll with my normal to hit modifier, right?

Because one of the benefits is if I succeed, I can add my intelligence modifier to my attack, right? So I keep the roll. Yeah. It makes a difference. It will make a difference here. 3D devises. You just roll the die.

Yes, I did. And if you use a strike, that's the result of the die. That's all will make a difference here. You just roll the die. Yes, I did. And if you use a strike, that's the result of the die. That's all devise a strategy miss. No, it matters if I hit or not. If it would hit. Choose a creature you can see and roll a d20. If you strike the chosen creature later this round, you must use the result of the roll you made

to devise a strategy for your strike's attack roll instead of rolling. So I don't know. You make this substitution only for the first strike you make against the creature this round, not any subsequent attacks. Well, you know that frightened and flat-footed was 14. Was its AC, because 24 was a crit, right?

Yeah, right. Okay, I get my free recall knowledge with this as well for known weakness. You do? Yep, so I'm going to go and see if I get the crit. Okay. I do not get the crit. It would be a 14.

You know, I'm going to give you something. They have attacks of opportunity. You know what? Oh, wow. Good to know. Talitha remembers talking to Brother Ramius about his reading. He was like, they have excellent reflexes. And you know, I'm going to give you a little extra.

You know that Wakazashis have the deadly rate. Oh, man. As well. You are laying it on fist. So does my rapier, but unfortunately, I don't think a 16 would be a critical hit, but it probably is a hit. Are you using your devise's strategy? I already did. Now I'm using a strike. That is a hit. Yes!

A palpable hit! Again, six points of damage Nice Every little bit of damage Yes as this thing is gaining energy Every time it eats your shadow You're going to need to lay it on

Do you have any other further actions Yes I do have a further action And I am going to just take another attack Because why not Why not And I rolled natural Oh Come on Why not? Why not? And I rolled natural. Oh!

Come on. Oh, wait, that is a fan critical. Critical, critical, critical. And my rapier is deadly. Yes. Oh! What does that give you? It's just not ready. I don't have it.

It's not ready. All right. All right. That's going to be double damage, and you get the deadly. Could this be enough to just take this gorga out? Oh. Oh, God. Oh, God. I pulled a this Gorgon out? Oh. Oh god. Oh god. I pulled a fan critical and it actually

says it just dies. We win the game. And that's from Kate. What'd you get? 26 points of damage. Oh my god. He did. Yes! She's got, it's chomped on her shadow and then

it chomped her really badly. She was close to, got really woozy, felt the power of Brother Ramius' touch. And then was like, oh, no, I know, I know where to hit it. And just stabs her, stabs her right through its open eye socket. Amazing. And the gorga dies. Thank God for that light. So you like fight with your brain, sort of.

I do fight with my brain. Fight with your brain. That's crazy. So do I, as a psychic. Yeah, dude, the light was clutch because, you know, they get this, basically they can hide as their final action, which gives them a bonus to their AC and their reflex. And you'd have to roll a DC 11 flat check to hit it unless you used a seek action. So, like, you'd have to start burning actions. It check to hit it unless you used a seek action. So you'd have to start burning actions. It really changes everything being able to do that.

So awesome. You are out of combat. Just standing here in waist-high grass. And a little worse for the wear. There's obviously something still going on in the distance. What do you want to do here? You're hurt. Is anyone else hurt besides Brother Ramius?

Zephyr is. You're hurt. Okay, so Talitha is going to pop out a couple of alchemical components and a quick mix, a couple vials, and pass one off to Zephyr. It's an elixir of life. Lester, I believe. Nice. Nice. And I'll take one as well.

So that's two. Nice. Nice. And I'll take one as well. So that's two. Okay. Lucky. And that's all I have for the day. Brother Ramius is going to fall down onto this rock. Sorry, I need a moment. I don't know what's wrong exactly. I'm not sure.

Sorry, it looks sort of like minor. I was going to say, lesser is a lot. Yeah, minor. Okay, 1d6. 1d6 plus 1. I will need some time to treat wounds. So he's going to treat wounds on himself. Attempt to, anyway.

10 minutes? 10 minutes, yeah. Oh, well. I assumed with the activity up ahead, we wanted to press forward. I have four hit points. So I'm... What activity? There's stuff going on.

Remember, there were figures up ahead. We couldn't see what they were doing. Lucky would like to stealth just to see what it is while you take time to heal so we're not ambushed or something. All right, so we have no time. Well, you don't know. You don't know. I'm going to sit down on this rock. ambushed or something. All right, so we have no time. Well, you don't know. You don't know, you know, you've... I'm going to sit down on this rock.

Sit down on your rock. Wait, wait. And he's going to attempt to treat wounds. I mean, he could easily fail. Natural 20! That's a crit! Wow, that's a crit. That doubles the healing.

That's amazing. Working on his own wounds. Oh, phenomenal. All right, great. So he'll be good. 10 minutes. 10 minutes? All right.

So you take 10 minutes and then do you still want to stealth ahead or do you want to just move together as a party? We'll move together. Maybe Lucky leads the pack. Her hair is like, you know, standing on end and she's just like, there's something up ahead.

Stay quiet. Okay. And Buggles is like, actually, I want to take the frightened condition. What? Because I'm like, Buggles is like actually i want to take the frightened condition what because i'm like buggles is like really scared like this is this is the first kind of fight that he's had those are dogs and they're dogs yeah so he's just like he's just like shaking and trembling like in the

darkness he's really scared lucky looks back if you want yeah buggles hasn't like moved we've all walked away yeah buggles he's just like. He's holding his little cloak around him. Are you alright? I'm fine. I just never had anything like that happen to me before. You can see Talitha, although she's maybe hiding it a little better and covering it, it's almost like her hand is shaking. Because I don't think Talitha's been in an actual fight before.

Yeah. And she just almost got chomped to death and then killed something. So those two things together, she's just like setting her... And this is a hell of a thing for this just a hell of a beast

to be the first thing that you fight. I mean, this is a very strange Lovecraftian kind of monster. And he's like patching himself up. Nor I, Buggles. Nor I. I am more of a researcher.

Not much for the field. Brother Ramius, I wish I could help. It's all right. I think I found it. Whatever that creature did was strange. I felt the pain, but I saw no blood. But I'm feeling better already. And he stretches a little bit. whatever that creature did was strange. I felt the pain, but I saw no blood. I'm feeling better already.

And he stretches a little bit and stands up and looks up toward the north. Now, he's going to, I'm not sure how light works. I mean, it gets so technical here. Like, if you can just dispel it at will, I don't know that. I think so. I believe so. It's a cantrip, right? Some spells you can, some spells you can't. And very if you can just dispel it at will, I don't know that. I think so. I believe so. It's a cantrip, right? Some spells you can,

some spells you can't. And very few you can, I have found in 2e. It's like almost all spells you can't dispel, which is so weird. Is it a cantrip? I have a feeling that light you can, but let's see what it says on the actual spell here.

It says duration until the next time you make your daily preparations. Just stay. That doesn't seem right. The other thing you could do if you want to, if you want to jury rig it is you could cast light on something and then put it in your pocket. Yeah.

Hover your amulet. But it's okay. Surely you can, surely if there is a light you could You cast it on your shirt, you should just go shirtless for the rest of the day. Let me put my shirt in my pocket for a moment, real quick. Yeah, you would know exactly how it works.

You could also, where it's a cantrip, just cast light on a rock on the ground. Yeah, it ends the other one. It would end. Right. That's what I was saying. Just cast something else. Throw it. Yeah.

Cast it on her wakizashi. Whoa. We'll never find it in this high grass. It's amazing. Luckily, it's emitting light. All right, Buckles, you're going to give yourself a role-playing penalty, then I'm going to give you a bottle cap. Oh, thank you.

That is, yeah, I mean, you obviously would be overcome by this, but choosing to do that deserves a reward. I don't think you can do it. You can't. Just cast it on a rock. Literally just cast it on a rock and then it goes away. You can hack the spell.

Yep. Okay. I think that's silly, by the way. If that's true, that you can't just dispel it. It's just by raw. So Troy could do whatever he wants. I mean, sure.

The fact that you can just go, boop, you can do whatever you want. But you shouldn't have to dismiss it. I know that effectively we can do it. I just think that it's very silly if that's something you cannot as a rule. It seems like an oversight. Yes, it does seem like an oversight. The duration, I think, is meant to be in the player's favor.

So like, oh, we're adventuring through this dungeon. You have to have this light for the rest of the day. That's a good point. Yeah, every two minutes you have to cast light again. Right, right. All right, he's going to dismiss that light. So it'll go away and he'll once again be plunged into darkness, trusting the vision of Talitha and Buggles to guide the way. And both of you are low light vision?

Yeah. Kate? I'm also low light, yeah. Okay. Awesome. Half elf, right? Yep. Half elf.

All right. You're moving forward. Tell me what you're doing here. Obviously, there is activity. You do see bodies. It's still 150 feet away or so. How are you approaching? Are you guys doing anything special preparation-wise?

You mean like crouch in the tall grass and move stealthily? Yeah, so stealthily moving. Yeah, and I have, this is, it's an action, but I have my sharp-eared catfolk trait. So I can indicate a creature that, oh, never mind. It really only works in combat. Basically, like, if somebody can't see someone and they're hidden or they're undetected, I can point them out and they become hidden to other players with my sharp ears. Oh, that's cool. That's very cool. For flavor,

I was going to say, can I perception listen if we can't see them yet to get a better idea of what's going on? So as you're getting closer, you're using perception. Yeah. Whereas other people are using stealth. I'm using perception. I would like to stealth up to get close enough to see. Sure. Yeah. Yeah, I'm not a...

Like, you want to avoid notice. Yeah. And then can everyone do the follow the expert thing? No. No? Because we're not experts. No, but if we're following the expert who is... Somebody has to be an expert.

Yeah. And follow the expert. Oh, no one's an expert? Okay. I'm not an expert. I'm only trained also. Me too. Yeah.

Everybody likes a bragger. All right, so you start moving forward. Start moving forward. I still have this light on if you want to take it off. All right, so you start moving forward. Start moving forward. I still have this light on if you want to take it off. I have my bow in my hand again. Yep. Just in case. Wakizashi and Kopesh as I cut through the grass.

Rabia. Silently. And Buggles' little teeth are chattering. Oh. It's very, very quiet, but you just hear this little clacking sound. Every time you either talk about Buggles, do something as Buggles, I just look at this amazing art. It's so good.

I showed it to my nephew and he's just like, I love him. So you start moving forward in the direction the arch ahead of you, getting larger and larger as you move forward. Get about halfway from the clearing's edge. About a hundred feet away from whatever's going on up there. And, lucky, you notice the air around you with your cat-like senses.

The air around you and the plants ahead of you are wavering and shifting a little bit. It's almost as if up ahead, just in front of you, there's a shadowy line splitting the clearing in half from where you're standing to the other side where they are. And the tall grass ahead of you looks dark and colorless, almost like you're looking at a charcoal sketch of the scene in front of you. Oh, my God. Wow. That's cool. Can I see through it?

See through it perfectly, but everything up ahead of you is like... It's like a filter. It's like a filter. Like everything is monochromatic, and you just can feel the air moving and the plants moving very strangely as well. Can I do Arcana? Yeah. 16.

Natural 20. Oh, there you go. On Arcana? Yeah, it seems like whatever is happening up ahead is causing some sort of cross-planar seepage to enter the world. And as you look down at your feet, you see this black and white world start to submerge you.

Oh my God. Oh, so it's expanding? And we'll see you next week. Oh! We're like becoming. Oh, my God. Also, it's expanding. And we'll see you next week. Oh, my God. We're like becoming sketched characters. Like the drawing, like the spongebob. Yeah.

Take on me. Oh, my God. Oh, my God. 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 N niche today at jointheniche.com.