A transcript of this episode is available via the episode page on Buzzsprout.
In this episode, we discuss and play The Fae Team, which was created by one of the co-hosts of this show: Dan Bronson-Lowe.
You can find more information and purchase the game at itch.io:
The Fae Team is a hack of Lasers and Feelings, an RPG by John Harper (John Harper - itch.io).
You can find us on Twitter as @almostbedtime or email us at almostbedtimetheater@gmail.com.
Our intro and outro themes are by McRoMusic, who can be found on Patreon at patreon.com/mcromusic. This episode also features his piece “March Through Wildwood.”
We also used “Asian Feywild (Enchanged, No River)” by Michael Ghelfi Studios. You can find their content on YouTube and on Patreon at patreon.com/MichaelGhelfi.
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How to reach us:
A transcript of this episode is available via the episode page on Buzzsprout.
In this episode, we discuss and play The Fae Team, which was created by one of the co-hosts of this show: Dan Bronson-Lowe.
You can find more information and purchase the game at itch.io:
The Fae Team is a hack of Lasers and Feelings, an RPG by John Harper (John Harper - itch.io).
You can find us on Twitter as @almostbedtime or email us at almostbedtimetheater@gmail.com.
Our intro and outro themes are by McRoMusic, who can be found on Patreon at patreon.com/mcromusic. This episode also features his piece “March Through Wildwood.”
We also used “Asian Feywild (Enchanged, No River)” by Michael Ghelfi Studios. You can find their content on YouTube and on Patreon at patreon.com/MichaelGhelfi.
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How to reach us:
Hi, I'm Rachael,
Finn:I'm Finn,
Dan:and I'm Dan.
Rachael:And this is Almost Bedtime Theater, a podcast about playing role- playing games with kids.
Finn:In this episode, we are reviewing and playing The Fae Team, a game about a squad of talented woodland creatures with faerie powers tackling urgent missions in the human world.
Dan:So, full disclosure time. I'm actually the one who wrote this game. So this episode will be less of a review and more of a description about what the game entails. Plus, of course, the actual play.
Finn:The Fae Team is a hack of John Harper's one- page RPG Lasers and Feelings, and was inspired by the TV show The A- Team, except with magic wielding animals instead of soldiers of fortune. It comes as a small booklet with 14 half-sheet pages that cover character creation, the core dice mechanic, five pages of info for folks planning to run the game, and the character sheet. It is available through itch.io for$5, which includes a separate character sheet PDF in case you want to print that off separately. A link to the game will be in the show notes.
Rachael:To play the game, you'll need at least one person to run the game and one person to be a player. Each player will need a character sheet and something to write with. You'll also want four six-sided dice, though you can get by with fewer if need be. We've been rating games we play on a scale of Simple, Moderate, or Complex based on how complicated the rules are, how much information has to be tracked during the game, and how easy it is to pick up and play. Based on that, the Fae Team falls under Simple.
Finn:All dice roles are done by players. When it comes to rolling, if the character is trying to do something calm or precise, they want to roll low. If they're trying to do something spirited or physical, they want to roll high. The threshold used to determine success is a number the player picks during character creation, so they can have a character that is more likely to succeed for certain types of rolls, or one that is pretty balanced. Speaking of character creation, the booklet takes you through the process step by step. In addition to picking your dice roll target number, you choose a species, a word that describes you, and a special power. After that, it's just a matter of naming your character and coming up with a team motto. You also have a piece of equipment, but you get to declare what it is when you want to use it, rather than during character creation.
Dan:And we should point out that you can end up getting to roll extra dice when you attempt something risky if your character description lines up with the action that you're taking, like if your sneaky character is trying to slip by someone unnoticed, or if you're using your special powers. Each die is then an extra chance to succeed against your threshold number and the more times you succeed the better the outcome.
Rachael:Do you have any suggestions for somebody who's about to run the game for the first time, Daddy?
Dan:I would say think about what elements of a game you feel the least comfortable with and make those the focus of your prep, which is true for any game that you're gonna run. But the prep I aim for in particular is creating a short list of fun NPCs with a bit of description for each, and giving some thought to the location that the players are gonna be in. Is it complicated enough that some sort of map would be helpful or can I stick to Theater of the Mind and just describe as we go? And if I don't have time to make a map beforehand, I'm going to make sure it's the latter. The other suggestion I have is that if you're trying to get started quickly and don't have much prep time you could roll on the various tables in the Create an Adventure section to get a basic plan, and then you could let the players use the book to go through character creation while you take those few minutes to flesh out the adventure a bit more and think about it. The booklet's designed to really hold their hands and walk them through that process if need be. Anything else you'd like to bring up?
Rachael:Nope.
Dan:Okay. If you'd like to get in touch with us with a question, comment, or suggestion, you can email us at AlmostBedtimeTheater@gmail.com or find us on Twitter as@almostbedtime.
Rachael:And now let the adventure begin!
Finn:Wee-ha!
Dan:Okay. Who would like to introduce their character first?
Rachael:I can tell you want to.
Finn:I so want to. Okay. So my character's name is Bubble the convincing frog, and my faerie gift is faerie wings. My number is four, which means I'm good at Whiskers.
Dan:All right. And, and Whiskers being those calm, precise, or mental actions. Okay, Rachael?
Rachael:So my name is Sir Squiggles the Third. I am a sneaky fox, and my faerie gift is plant magic. My target number is three, which means I'm better at Claws.
Dan:And Claws being those wild, spirited, or physical actions. Okay, so just to cover, the basics. You're this, this crack team of very skilled animals, you understand all these different animal languages and human languages, and you are trained or have been trained to go on these missions into the human world and take care of problems when fairies can't go, because the fairies have to be very careful about anybody knowing they exist. They're always trying to hide that from the humans. But if there's an extra raccoon or an extra fox cruising through town, that can go completely unnoticed. And so that's why you're so good at what you do. For one reason or another, you all got framed for something that you didn't do, a crime you did not commit. And, you're on the run from the Sun Guard who are like the official faerie... guard? You used to be part of them. Now you're on the run because you, you know, somebody set you up. So what happens now is you're just out and about on your own, helping people as things come up. You're the good guys, but you're on the sly and taking care of problems. It isn't common for you to receive requests for aid directly since not many people know how to find you. But this time that's exactly what happened. The message simply said,"Meet me at moonrise" and was signed Three Pines. So the real question is, what does the gargoyle known as Three Pines need with the like of the Fae Team? That's what brought you to the edge of a glade where three tall pine trees form a triangle around a stout gargoyle. As you watch, you notice there is a faerie sitting at the gargoyle's base talking rather emphatically to herself and repeatedly thumping the large book that she's holding. What kind of entrance would you like to make? And this is a part where there aren't any rolls involved. Feel free to show off your powers or anything else. How does your character decide to waltz in and make themselves known?
Rachael:Can I use my grappling hook?[grappling hook noise] I totally have one!
Dan:If you wanna say your Something Useful is a grappling hook and use it, feel free.
Rachael:I use my grappling hook on one of the trees and just swing in. Do a back flip, but land on my back and be like, ow.
Dan:That's gonna install confidence for sure.
Finn:Ooh. I can fly, can't I?
Dan:You can fly. Yeah. You got wings!
Finn:Then I'll fly in and land on her head.
Dan:The gargoyle is completely unmoved. It, it's totally being a rock right now. But the faerie who's hanging out at its base is clearly startled when the fox comes flying outta nowhere and then slams on its back and says"Ow," and then just watches, jaw dropped, as a frog with wings comes into play. And then she says, You must be the Fae Team."
Rachael:I really just wanna pull out a top hat right now from who knows where, plop it on my head, do a little bow and be like,"Yes, at your service."
Finn:Can I have a monocle
Dan:If the fox has a hat, you can have a monocle. Absolutely.
Finn:Okay.
Dan:Frog monocle. Right. Well, well, great. Great. I was, I'm so glad that you that you could make it. My, my name is Misty and I'm, I'm, I'm one of the royal clerks. It's, it's my job to, to, you know, keep an eye on some of the things in the, in the human world and, and one of the towns that I'm responsible for... There's been, there've been reports of hauntings that have me a little bit worried that maybe, well, I, I think maybe there is a, a mischievous faerie there causing problems. Somebody slipped across into the human world and may be causing problems. Now, now the Sun Guard says that it's probably just the humans doing what humans do,'cause it's almost, what did they call it? Halloween? But I, I don't know. I was talking to Three Pines here" she gestures over her shoulder at the, at the gargoyle And they said that the the gargoyle that's there in that town hasn't been responding to, to requests for information. So I'm, I'm just, I was hoping maybe you could go check since the Sun Guard won't."
Rachael:"Catapult the goat!"
Dan:I, I'm gonna take that as a yes?"
Rachael:Yeah. Take it as a yes.
Dan:"Oh, oh, okay. Great. Great, great. Right. So as best I can tell, I'm, or at least from what I've been hearing, it might be humans. I, I, I suppose that, you know, it could be that, in which case everything's fine. We just need to know. Or it could be it could be a faerie dragon, you know, they're, they're known for, for sneaking in and they, they like to do a lot of illusions and, and get people kind of riled up or that kind of thing. They can also like, make themselves look like they're human. So that's why I'm thinking maybe, maybe it's one of them. Or maybe, or maybe it's a pooka." And you're aware that a pooka is basically this shapeshifter. It can look like any number of animals. It can look like a human. If it looks like a human though, there's always, there's always an animal trait. It might still have animal ears or it might have a tail. It can't do a perfect human. She says,"the thing with the pooka though, is that instead of being illusions, they could actually make stuff happen. They could make things float through the air. They could make things slam together and make weird sounds. So I don't know which one you're up against, humans, faerie dragon illusions, or pookas causing trouble. But my bet is, it's one of the three. Do you have any questions?"
Rachael:Nope.
Dan:All right.
Rachael:You gotta say something, not just shake your head for a moment.
Finn:No. I am shaking my head right now.
Dan:Well, great. I'm, I'm looking forward to hearing back from you soon!" And she turns over to the gargoyle and she says, Take it away!" And when a gargoyle talks, they don't have to move their mouth. It's like this vibration from deep inside and it just kind of rumbles and articulates it, and you hear it say,"Tell Above The Deli'Hi' for me And then it starts opening its mouth wider and wider and wider and wider, and you can see that inside, there's like this shimmer, and then it starts to spin and spiral and then split and open, and a passage is created into the human world. You can see on the other side, it looks like it's the top of a roof. Night has fallen. There's a lot of colored lights over there. You leap right into the gargoyles mouth. What's it feel like when you go through these portals?
Finn:Like walking through Jell-O?
Rachael:Yeah, going through Jell-O and like a stretching sensation. Like stretching, then squishing, then stretching. Then'ptah!' like you're getting spit out someone's mouth.
Dan:Indeed. You are on top of a flat roof of what looks like a two story building. There is a huge yellow moon in the sky and there's lots of happy shouts coming from down below, it's the sounds of quite a few people down there. And there's the smell of fried food. It's just floating up from down below. What would you like to do?
Finn:Is it like, is it a Halloween party? Because she said it was almost Halloween.
Dan:It is Halloween. So if you go and take a look over the edge, it's this cozy little Main Street setup going on here. There's lots of old shop fronts that are lining the street. There's like a florist there's several places that are selling antiques. There's a deli. There's a very busy candy shop. The kids are definitely all wearing costumes and many of the adults are as well. And they're trick or treating from shop to shop basically. And there's some vendors set up in the street and that's where the fried foods and stuff they're selling and trinkets and glow sticks and stuff like that. Lots of Halloween decorations hanging from the street lights So yes, it's definitely Halloween.
Finn:I wanna listen to what people are talking about, if people are talking about the hauntings.
Dan:Okay. How would you like to attempt that?
Rachael:We could hide in the bushes and wait. My top hat could have like a hole cut in it. So Bubbles can look out for my top hat and if I hide in a bush then I could use my plant magic to make it thicker. So that was harder for the people to see us.
Dan:So Sir Squiggles the Third, the fox wearing a top hat with a hole in it, and a bow tie to blend in has Bubbles under, like Bubbles is in the hat on, on their head. Okay. And can look out through the hole, and you're gonna hide in a bush and use your plant magic to make it nice and thick. Okay. Got it. Well then that sounds, that sounds like it's a roll for Sir Squiggles the Third. You're gonna start with a 1d6. But you get to add more dice to it under certain situations. So are you attempting to do something in line with your trait? What's your trait again?
Rachael:Yeah, sneaky.
Dan:Sneaky. So you're trying to listen in sneakily, so that you've got 2d6. Now, are you using your faerie gift as part of the attempt? Sounds like if you're trying to make the plants thicken up around you, just right to prevent people from seeing you, but still let you listen? So go ahead and add another d6. All right, Sir Squiggles, you, you do have three dice to work with, so that's pretty solid there.
Rachael:So what am I trying to do?
Dan:Okay, what you are up against is that you are trying to do something here that I would call a calm, precise kind of action. This sit still and listen quietly. So you're trying to roll your target number or lower on any one of those dice. You're trying to get as many successes as you can.
Rachael:I got a four, a one, and a three.
Dan:All right. Your target was a three so you got your number or lower twice. That means that you did well. Good job. Now when you rolled one of your dice came up equal to your target number. That means that you also get some special insight into what's going on here. You get to ask me a question and I have to answer it honestly and there's a list of example questions you can pick from. Well, actually, before that happens, I just wanna tell you a little bit you have to work with. So you're sitting in there, you're in this shrubbery. People are not noticing the fact that there's a fox with a bow tie and a top hat in there, and you are hearing the kids are totally just having fun. You know, they're yelling, shouting, trading candy and so on. But there are a couple adults who just happen to be hanging out next to this flower garden, and yes, they are expressing some concerns about, Did you hear about the ghost? You know? Oh yeah, yeah. It's pretty wild. And, you know, I saw some video of the candy floating through the air. It's probably a hoax, right? Yeah. It's gotta be a hoax. But it, it looked pretty real. I don't know. I don't see how they could have managed that." So that's what you're hearing.
Rachael:So...
Dan:Yes? What's your question?
Rachael:The pooka, the dragon-thingy, a human, or the faerie. Like, what's causing this thing?
Dan:Who's really behind this?
Rachael:Mm-hmm.
Dan:Okay. Who's behind this? Hmm. All right. So you are listening in...
Finn:He's gonna give you the most unhelpful answer possible right now.
Rachael:He is. You have to answer honestly, Daddy.
Dan:I do. I do.
Rachael:You can, you can tell he's just trying to think of unhelpful answers that would still like answer my question technically.
Dan:Dang.
Rachael:You know what I mean, Daddy.
Dan:Oh, I do know what you mean cause that's exactly what I was trying to do. All right. What you are picking up from listening to people and their concerns is that you are definitely under the impression that this is a faerie issue. And while you're trying to figure out what might it be, there's a rusting in your, your shrubbery and a pigeon that's kind of hanging upside down from some of the plant matter that you grew out there, pokes its head into the depths of the shrubbery where you are and says, What'cha doin'?"
Rachael:I answer back,"What you doing?"
Dan:You got any fries?
Rachael:No, but I think the person over there does.
Dan:That's cool. I like fries. Do you like fries?"
Rachael:Oh man, I love fries. Hey, why don't you go get some fries from that person over there and then we can share some fries together?
Dan:Oh yeah, yeah, totally. I can go get some fries. I get fries all the time'cause I'm always, you know, going up and down, getting fries. I'll go get some fries. Bye!"
Rachael:Bye.
Finn:Run the other direction. Run! Run!
Dan:So, uh, Sir Squiggles, with top hat containing frog tears out of the shrubbery and charges across the street. Where you headed and what are you trying to do?
Rachael:Well, I wanna go the opposite direction that the pigeon went.
Dan:Okay. So that the pigeon went over to one of the food carts to uh, snag some goods. So you're-
Rachael:I feel bad because I'm just dumping them. I'm just like, yep. Bye. Get outta here.
Dan:Might have been a useful pigeon.
Finn:That pigeon is pretty sus.
Rachael:You're sus!
Dan:I was wondering how long before you would consider something sus.
Rachael:I think I would stay in the bush actually.
Dan:Oh, you wanna stay in the shrubbery? Okay.
Rachael:Yeah. What you said about it could be a useful pigeon.
Dan:You hang on for a few minutes in your little shrubbery continuing to listen for clues. Pigeon comes back. It's got a whole mouth full of fries, which, oh, for pigeon is maybe two fries? How many fri-- Anyway, spits out a couple fries. Starts eating a fry. What cha doin'?" Eats the fry.
Finn:So...
Rachael:Sharing fries with a pigeon.
Dan:"Oh, that's nice. You're nice." Keeps eating a fry.
Finn:Do you, do you live here? You always around this area?
Dan:"Oh yeah. Yeah. This is a great place. You can get so many fries!"
Rachael:Have you heard anything suspicious? As in about like a haunting thing.
Dan:"Some of the humans are pretty excited about that. They were all talking about how it's Halloween and stuff's floating and that's pretty cool.'cause you know, humans, they can't fly. So floating stuff gets'em real excited.""Here's a funny thing. You know what you smell like?"
Rachael:No. What do I smell like?
Dan:You smell kind of like that guy..."
Finn:Where did that guy go?
Dan:Oh he went down the street not long ago. I just thought it was funny'cause he didn't smell like, you know, everybody else here. He didn't smell like fries."
Rachael:What did he smell like?
Dan:You know that smell when something is like kind of blue, but then also sparkly? That smell. That was a good fry."
Rachael:Any other descriptions for it?
Dan:It was also a crispy fry. Maybe, maybe sort of a-"
Rachael:No, no, no, no, no. Like, any other descriptions for the smell that you smelled on that guy that walked on the street not too long ago.
Dan:Oh. Maybe a little furry."
Finn:What did he look like?
Dan:Oh totally human. I mean, absolutely like a human, you know, he was, he, the, the two legs, the arms, no beak. Ears."
Rachael:What kind of ears?
Dan:Just like human ears, you know, with the, with the bends and the pokey bits."
Rachael:Pooka.
Dan:No, pokey. I said pokey bits. Do you want another fry?"
Rachael:Sus!
Finn:Sus! Suss moment.
Rachael:What's your name, pigeon?
Dan:Hutch.
Rachael:Ah, yeah, Hutch. Well, we're off to follow that guy. Which way down the street did he go?
Dan:Oh, he headed towards the Chocolate Connection. They don't have fries, but sometimes they have some really good chocolate raisins."
Rachael:So which way down the street is that? We're new here.
Dan:Oh. You know, off that way." Kind of gestures with a wing.
Rachael:Okay. Thank you.
Dan:All right, so you leave behind Hutch the pigeon and you start heading down the street towards the Chocolate Connection. There are plenty of people around, but it starts getting uh, a little noisier, a little busier. People start shifting and moving off the street as coming down the street is the Halloween parade. There's lights, there's music. It's big parade floats of jack o' lanterns and people singing and crossing the street has suddenly got a lot more tricky and there are a lot more people on all the sidewalks and they're all paying attention to the street. So you've got that. But you also got Halloween tunes cranking, so that could be nice. Lots of lots of lights.
Rachael:No, no, no.
Dan:It's like Christmas lights, but they're all purples and oranges and there's stuff with black light and people dancing around like skeletons with, with big glow sticks on their arms. It's pretty cool. But yeah, that totally is kicked off. The Chocolate Connection is on the other side of the street. Because it has to be.
Rachael:I know, I figured once, once you started talking about how it suddenly got a lot harder to cross the street, even though we hadn't been talking about crossing the street that like we probably have to cross the street.
Finn:I can fly. Surely it wouldn't be very conspicuous if I-
Rachael:I can't fly!
Finn:Flew across the parade.
Rachael:Yeah.
Dan:So you've got the Chocolate Connection. There was also a deli and you are aware that gargoyles are named after the place they hang out, so above the deli would be where you would potentially find the other gargoyle. If you wanna check that out.
Rachael:Bubbles goes over to the Chocolate Connection thingy and I grab and hook up to the top of the deli.
Dan:Let's go with Bubbles. You let loose your wings. They, they glitter a bit in the dark, but there's so much other lights you're able to fly yourself up and over to the other side of the road where you observe the Chocolate Connection. It is a very nice building. It's all done in dark browns. They've got these huge windows with all these little chocolates. Inside there's tons and tons of just anything you want. Generic little chocolate beans to like chocolate bars that weigh 10 pounds You can see that's going on. Lots of people going and out'cause that's where they wanna trick or treat if they're gonna hit anywhere.
Finn:So I'm trying to look for someone who stands out somehow.
Dan:Hmm. That sounds to me like it is another Whiskers roll. You automatically get the one die. Your trait probably doesn't fall in, but if you're kind of gliding around using your wings, getting yourself up above the crowds, you can see better. I would say that that would be a, a viable extra die. That work for you?
Finn:Yes. I'm rolling. I'm rolling two?
Dan:You're rolling two. Mm-hmm.
Finn:Okay.
Dan:And your target number is?
Finn:Four.
Dan:Okay. So you need a four or lower, and you've got one. You are gliding around, and you notice that there is indeed someone going through; they stand out a little bit because they have those ears. Almost like the ears of a deer kind of poking out. Since you're up nice and high, you can see that. That's seeming to fit what you've heard from Hutch. They're looking around and when they look around, their eyes fall on the frog that is up in the air, and you have this moment of recognition and the person grins. Their mouth is like too wide when they grin. It's, it's just not quite human. And then he dashes into the Chocolate Connection.
Finn:I guess I'll follow him.
Dan:Are you trying to follow him in the air or down on the ground and hopping in?
Finn:On the ground, on the ground.
Dan:So we've got Bubbles hopping in to the Chocolate Connection. We're gonna cut now back over to Sir Squiggles. You are headed up with your grappling hook up to the top of the deli. So the deli is it's another one of these two story buildings with a, a flat roof. You grappling hook yourself up and are onto the roof. What you gonna do?
Rachael:I wanna look for a gargoyle.
Dan:You're looking around. There is obviously not a gargoyle here. That much you can, you can easily ascertain. I mean, there's only a couple places you could put a gargoyle and not be able to see it right away. You check the couple places, they're not here. But what you find is a place where there is a kind of a, a worn shape where you figure this looks like a gargoyle was sitting here for a very long time. The weather patterns are different on each side. It's a little cleaner in this spot. But there's no gargoyle here.
Rachael:What else do I do now? Rendabow?, It's, how do you say it?
Dan:Rendezvous?
Rachael:Yeah, that one.
Dan:That's a good word.
Rachael:Rendezvous with the frog.
Finn:We didn't make a rendezvous plan.
Rachael:I'll just come to wherever you are.
Dan:That would be across the street.
Rachael:Grappling hook. Just grappling your way across the street, Daddy.
Dan:Yeah. Yeah. It's a, it's a pretty far shot. What you could try to do, I suppose, would be to grapple down onto one of the Halloween parade floats and then grapple off of that on over to the other side.
Rachael:yeah,
Dan:That's gonna be a roll.
Rachael:Seeing as I'm trying to be sneaky.
Dan:Uhhuh.
Rachael:I'll do, do one for that. Hold on Does using my something useful give me a roll?
Dan:It makes it possible rather than giving you an extra die. If you didn't have the grappling hook, you couldn't even try.
Rachael:I guess I got two.
Dan:Okay. This to me sounds like a Claws roll because it's a physical action that you're trying to attempt here.
Rachael:Am I trying to get lower or higher?
Dan:You're trying to get your number or higher with a Claws roll.
Rachael:I got a four.
Dan:Nice. Okay. So one success, but it comes with a complication. Tell me about this Halloween float that you have grappled yourself onto.
Rachael:I think it's very sturdy...
Finn:For no reason at all. No.
Rachael:Yeah. Was that?
Dan:No, no reason at all. It's, it's solid. Not gonna fall apart. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. What's it depicting?
Rachael:I think it's like a big dragon. And, I think, am I supposed to do a complication too?
Dan:I'll come up with a complication. You're just getting to paint the scene for me a bit.
Rachael:It's got lots of colorful lights on it, but not at the top where I grapple to. I'm in the dark.
Dan:Oh, okay. So you grappled on and you actually grappled right over onto its head. You're on its head where there aren't a bunch of lights that was a clever maneuver and then suddenly it goes ka-foom and it blows smoke out through its nostrils in a very grand display and it means you got a lung full of smoke and smoke in your eyes. Your eyes are kind of watering. So you're there, you're sneaky, but you're uh, I don't know what a fox sounds like when it's having a coughing fit, but that's totally the noise that's coming from this dragon right now. What are you gonna do?
Rachael:Grapple to the Chocolate Connection.
Dan:Okay.
Rachael:Could I like, make plants grow over my grappling vine?
Dan:So you have the plants like wrap around and tighten up on your grappling hook to make sure that it's-
Rachael:Yeah.
Dan:It's locked on. Good. Okay. That works for me, so you're using your plant magic.
Finn:So am I doing Claws or Whiskers?
Dan:This is another Claws roll. This is a, a physical action you're trying to accomplish here.
Rachael:Oh, I got two fours!
Dan:You got two of them, which is good because if you'd gotten additional complications with that smoke still in your lungs and all, they could have gone downhill quickly. But you manage with your plants helping out to get yourself on top of the roof of the Chocolate Connection. Let's cut back to Bubbles. You have snuck yourself into the Chocolate Connection. Now what? Lots of activity in here, lots of kids going trick or treating, lots of people just buying lots of candy. You don't immediately see the pooka.
Finn:I wanna like sneakily climb a display or something.
Dan:Oh, sure, yeah.
Finn:Could I be on the top of something?
Rachael:If you could cover yourself in chocolate...
Finn:I cover myself in chocolate and then pretend to be a chocolate frog and stand at the top of a display.
Dan:That sounds awesome.
Finn:Can I get an extra one for being convincing because I'm convincing people that I'm made of chocolate?
Dan:Absolutely. Absolutely. And I'm thinking this is a Whiskers action? Okay. Cause you're trying to like, disguise yourself, but if you wanted to argue for Claws, I could see it depending on how you wanna approach it.
Finn:Can I argue it after I roll?
Dan:No, you get to pick beforehand. Nice try.
Finn:Okay. I'm gonna go with Whiskers.
Dan:Okay.
Finn:I'm better at that.
Dan:All right. Two fours. Your target number is uh, four. Four. So not only do you have two successes, you get to ask a question. Do you wanna describe this process of encasing yourself in chocolate and getting to a, a location?
Finn:Do you think maybe they have like melted chocolate to dip apples in or something?
Dan:Oh, absolutely.
Finn:I just drench myself in it and then climb up a display.
Dan:You leap through the chocolate fountain up to the top of a display.
Finn:It's very sanitary. Very sanitary.
Dan:Oh, super sanitary.
Finn:Rachael, what should my question be?
Rachael:Daddy, go away.
Dan:Okay, I will be back shortly.
Rachael:Do you have any ideas for what your question could be?
Finn:I don't know.
Rachael:It's like when you don't have the chance to ask a question he'll honestly answer, then you have every single question you possibly can in mind. But when you do have one, then it's like, uh...
Finn:Hmm. What do we need to know still?
Rachael:Oh, what's the guy's plan?
Finn:I think that's good.
Dan:All right. What's the question?
Finn:Okay, we wanna know what the pooka's plan is.
Dan:Oh, what is the pooka's plan? All right. So you've got yourself up on this nice display and you're totally blending in as a chocolate frog. And as the chocolate is sliding slightly off your monocle, you can see there's the pookah and they are completely enamored of this place. They keep grabbing little bits of chocolate: nom, nom, nom, nom. They just clearly love this shop. And what... what are they doing that makes you realize this pookah is going to try to portal this entire chocolate shop into the faerie realm.
Rachael:I have an idea.
Finn:What's your idea?
Rachael:Maybe he's got a little notebook that he opens up that you read.
Finn:Maybe he's like taking some measurements of things, different places. Like-
Dan:Okay.
Finn:-how big the walls are and like that kind of thing.
Dan:Uhhuh. Uhhuh.
Rachael:That's why he took the gargoyle! So that he can portal this stuff.
Dan:Mm-hmm.
Finn:We should have asked where the gargoyle was.
Dan:All right, that's what you got, Bubbles. This pooka has totally got some big plans for tonight. What's Bubbles' next step?
Finn:So Sir Squiggles is coming here, right?
Dan:Yeah. I'd say Sir Squiggles is in the process of going from float to building about this time.
Finn:Okay. Cause I wanna tell them what's going on and what I've discovered.
Dan:You two have been a team for quite a while. You trained together, you did a lot of missions together. I'm gonna offer up that you have a feeling for where would we rendezvous... you probably discussed it or have plans. So is is Bubbles gonna head up to the rooftop or is Sir Squiggles gonna come down?
Finn:I'll go up. Cause I can fly up there.
Dan:Oh yeah. Yeah. Super easy.
Rachael:I think it'd be a lot harder for me to disguise myself in a chocolate shop.
Dan:All right. So we've got Bubbles with this important knowledge in hand. Or in, in What are frog hands called? I don't know. Not flippers.
Finn:Grippers?
Dan:Grippers, yes. Then, well, nobody's looking, they're out the door and wings go floof and they go up to the rooftop where Sir Squiggles is waiting. From the planning perspective, just thinking things through, if he's gonna try to portal this thing, it would certainly make a lot of sense, as you've already surmised, that somehow he's integrated the gargoyle into it. The gargoyle will need to be on or in this building to make it work. Based on the patch that you saw above the deli, you'd say that this gargoyle is probably about the size of a small dog.
Rachael:It could be hidden inside something.
Dan:Oh, but here's something else. For a gargoyle to do a portal, they have to have moonlight on them. So with that in mind, if they're inside, they've gotta be next to a window. They're probably outside somewhere, or at least they will be shortly.
Finn:Can we look around the rooftop?
Rachael:Yeah, they could be put as like a garden gnome or something.
Dan:Oh, that's brilliant. I love that it's Halloween so the gargoyle is dressed up like a garden gnome. Okay. Probably need to just check around the rooftop?
Rachael:No. Wanna roll! Roll the dice!
Dan:Sounds like this is something that's gonna require a roll.
Rachael:By who?
Dan:By whoever's doing the looking. Unless you're helping each other, in which case you both get in on it.
Rachael:Yes. We're helping.
Finn:Let's say we're both doing it.
Dan:Okay. Who's the primary and who's the helper?
Rachael:If it's gonna be like in gardens and stuff, can the plants tell me where it is?
Dan:I would be just fine with you using Plant Magic for the plants to tell you if it's around. That would be fine. Yeah.
Rachael:So that would be one more d6. And then I would need to sneak around right. If I'm gonna be looking for it.
Dan:I think what you could argue is that you're very sneaky. You understand how to be sneaky. What you're doing is you're saying, if I were a gargoyle trying to be sneaky, where would I try to hide?
Rachael:Mm-hmm.
Dan:So you're flipping that around, but you're still getting the, the bonus from sneaky.
Rachael:So I have three dice.
Dan:All right. Bubbles?
Finn:Okay. I think I just have the one.
Dan:Getting some height, doing some flying around kind of thing, I think would be just fine too.
Finn:Okay.
Dan:So you could probably roll two of them.
Rachael:Should I roll or should Finn roll?
Dan:Finn just rolled.
Rachael:Were they trying to get below or higher?
Dan:Well, that was a Whiskers role, so lower.
Rachael:Okay. That's two complications!
Dan:That's zero successes...
Rachael:If none of your dice succeed, things go very wrong. Can I roll now?
Dan:So now, Sir Squiggles, go ahead and roll yours. You do not get the extra dice from help because Bubbles had a complication.
Rachael:So, am I doing Whiskers or Claws?
Dan:You need a three or less.
Rachael:I have a three and a one.
Dan:Ah, so you've got two successes. You accomplished your goal and I note one of those is a three, which is your target number.
Rachael:I have my question already. Actually, no, we'll learn those anyway.
Finn:We should wait until he...
Rachael:mm-hmm...
Dan:Here's what I'm gonna offer up... Bubbles, you are doing your, your flit, flit, get to a high spot, look around, flit, flit, go to another high spot. Look around. You're not seeing any gargoyle. But what you hear is the screaming. What you see is the people pushing and jostling and just flowing out of the Chocolate Connection. They are scared, they are running, and the building is clearing. You don't know what's going on in there, but these people are freaked and running.
Rachael:The deer guy would wanna clear people out so that they didn't get teleported too.
Dan:While that's going on, Sir Squiggles, you're querying some of the plants that are up here, seeing if any of them have seen the gargoyle. How do plants relay messages back to you when you ask them questions?
Rachael:They shape into the letters.
Dan:Okay, cool. Cool. Well, let's see, what do they spell out? They spell out"gnome" and they spell out"coming." You know, the letters probably don't form super fast, but as you're reading that, up over the edge of the roof comes a gargoyle. It has been painted. It's got kind of a red looking pointy bit on its head. It's got blue on it. If it were to like kind of hunch in a certain way and sit very still, it could look like a garden gnome. But currently it looks like a gargoyle that fell in some paint, maybe? You're thinking the clearing of the building was its cue to come up and prepare itself up in the moonlight. It is no longer trying to hide. It's getting ready to do whatever it's going to do.
Rachael:Can I run up to it?
Dan:Absolutely.
Finn:Me too,'cause I'm convincing.
Dan:You are. Sir Squiggles and Bubbles, you dash up to this badly painted gargoyle.
Rachael:Did I, did I use my question?
Dan:Your question... you did not. Thanks for reminding me. That's great. What would you like to ask Almost got away with it. If it wasn't for these meddling kids.
Finn:Kids these days.
Dan:Yeah. Wantin' to ask the questions.
Rachael:Can I save my question?
Dan:I suppose if you want to save it, we can go that route.
Rachael:Okay.
Dan:Okay. Question has been banked. The two of you are, moving up right next to the gargoyle. The gargoyle is positioning itself in the center of the, the roof. What would you like to do?
Rachael:Can I be like,"Hey, gargoyle! Deli gargoyle!"
Dan:And it's uh, positioning itself and it's staring up at the moon. It's not paying a lot of attention to you.
Rachael:The gargoyle at three pine trees told us to talk to you!
Dan:The gargoyle slowly turns to look at you and it, it rumbles and it says, I'm busy."
Rachael:Well, you don't need to be busy any longer my, my dear gargoyle." I have a question now.
Dan:What's the question?
Rachael:What does he call the guy?
Dan:So are you wanting to know like what's, what's going on here as far as the connection between the gargoyle and the pooka? All right. This does not fit at all within the concept of what a gargoyle would do. The idea that it's, it's helping somebody who's not even supposed to be here and they're gonna try to portal a whole building back? That sounds really out of character for a gargoyle. Part of their job is to control transfer between the two worlds, and it's something they take pretty seriously. So you're thinking the pooka has some level of control over this thing that they shouldn't.
Rachael:Like magically or just...
Dan:Yeah, let's say it's a magical control. So you're looking at this gargoyle and you realize that hidden by some of the paint, is the fact that it's wearing a necklace. It's like a chain, a gold chain. Gargoyles don't wear jewelry. That's very odd.
Rachael:Can I like lunge forward and snatch it?
Dan:You can try. Bubbles, are you, are you assisting or are you doing something different?
Finn:I can try to help distract it.
Dan:What are you gonna do to try to distract it?
Finn:Like fly around its head.
Dan:All right, so the frog is going to be flying around, getting up in its face. Sounds good to me. That sounds like a Claws,'cause it's a physical activity.
Finn:Do I get one for using my wings?
Dan:Absolutely. A thought. You are convincing. You could try to like talk to it and distract it in a convincing manner if you wanted to do that,'cause then it would be a Whiskers roll. Either way, totally up to you how you wanna tackle it.
Finn:I could try to convince them that the pooka is trying to do something bad.
Dan:Yeah.
Finn:And then Rachael can go for the necklace while I'm doing that.
Dan:Sounds excellent.
Finn:Okay.
Dan:We'll have you go first if you're successful, Rachael will get an extra die on hers.
Finn:Okay. I got a five and a two.
Dan:Okay. The two will get you there. Success, well, there might be a complication in there, but that is enough that Rachael, you now have an extra die. So you have your first die, your plant magic, and the, the help that this thing is getting distracted by uh, a very convincing frog.
Rachael:Can I use sneaky to sneak up on them.
Dan:Sure. If that's how you'd like to try to do it.
Rachael:I have four dice.
Dan:All right. I'm thinking of this as a Whiskers roll, because you are trying to be sneaky and that means being controlled and careful.
Rachael:6, 5, 3, 2.
Dan:Nice. That's a two successes and one of them is your target number. Would you like to describe for us how you swipe its chain necklace while it's being distracted by Bubbles?
Rachael:I use my plant magic to kind of like restrain it and I think, like, I just sneak up behind it and grab the necklace off of it.
Dan:As soon as you touch that necklace, you feel it's like buzzing. This is clearly a magic necklace. And you whip it off and the gargoyle just freezes for a second and blinks, and then it says,"Thank you. Get the pooka." There's uh, a level of menace to that last bit in it's rumbling. And then a pause. And then,"Why am I wearing paint?" All right. Above the Deli has been freed from control. You feel that you have successfully brought this plan to a halt. The Chocolate Connection is not gonna get portaled. The last thing on your docket is getting the pooka.
Rachael:Does Bubbles have a plan to get the pooka?
Finn:What if, if I try to talk to the pooka to distract it and then you tie it up?
Rachael:Yeah.
Dan:All right. You drop down off the side of the building to the sidewalk and you peer into the Chocolate Connection. And there you see, shoving as much chocolate into his face as he possibly can, the pooka.
Rachael:He looks pretty distracted right now.
Finn:That is true.
Dan:Oh, one last thing. There are probably a whole lot of people out front that went running out of this place. There's an open window that the gargoyle had come out of so you can go down the side and through the window without having to go through the front of the building. Sound good? Okay. So yes, the pooka is there, eating as much chocolate as he can shove in his gullet and past him are the big windows. The pooka is using magic to just like slam chocolate back and forth. Chocolates are flying and splattering themselves against the windows. That's probably what happened is the chocolate started pelting people and that's why they all ran out. The front windows of the store are kind of getting this layer of chocolate on them as stuff keeps pelting the windows so people can't see through very well. You're in a good position to do things without being seen by the crowd. All right. With that lead up, which plan do you wanna go with?
Finn:I'll try to distract him. I'll just go land on his head.
Dan:That... that would do it. Do you still have chocolate on you at this point?
Finn:Yeah.
Dan:So you go"thwap!", landing forcefully onto his forehead, like this frog-Smack! Yeah. He's got a face full of frog and he just freezes.
Finn:Tie him up! Tie him up!
Rachael:Can I use my plant magic to tie him up?
Dan:Absolutely. Let's roll'em.
Rachael:How many do I roll?
Dan:You've got your plant Magic is two...
Finn:I'm helping.
Rachael:So that's three. Am I trying to be sneaky about it?
Dan:Are you?
Rachael:Yes!
Dan:Then roll four of them. Looking for Whiskers. All right.
Rachael:1, 2, 3, 5.
Dan:1, 2, 3, 5.
Rachael:That's three.
Dan:With three or more successes, you get a critical success, which means some extra effect. Oh, you get all these cocoa plants bursting up from all the chocolate and they vine up his legs. It gets pretty far along before he notices'cause you're being sneaky. And also there's this large frog, poking him in the eyes, yes. He transforms into a rabbit and the rabbit with a frog on it drops down to the floor level but is still getting wrapped up with, the plants. Can't get away. And he transforms into a fox, but he still bound up. Transforms like two more times, until finally he's just there as this little um, raven. And he was trying to fly. one last go, go small and and wings. And, but you've got him all entangled up and he's ending up in this vine ball and he just can't move. And he says,"Ah! Oh no, no. I need all my chocolate. I need all my chocolates!" And that's when Above the Deli has climbed down the side of the building. They can still see enough moon to make this work, apparently. And they just open their mouth at the window and through it, you can see the moon-lit forest of the faerie realm.
Finn:Throw him through the portal.
Dan:All right. The ball of vines containing the raven goes through the portal. It shimmers and it's through. Unless there's anything else you wanna do, you can follow suit. All right, you go through the jelliness of the portal and you are once again in the open glade. There is Three Pines and there's Misty, the royal clerk and there is the very bound up pooka, still in raven form'cause he can't really transform into anything bigger now. He's sort of stuck. And Misty says,"Whoa, nice job. Did you have any trouble with him?"
Rachael:Oh, mm.
Finn:Of course not.
Dan:Says the frog covered in chocolate.
Rachael:We did our job.
Dan:Oh, you didn't even have to use your montage scene.
Rachael:We can do it right now. Catapult the goat!
Finn:Catapult the goat!
Dan:And that's our show on the Fae team. If it sounded like fun, please check it out on Itch.io. Our intro and outro themes were created by McRoMusic. This episode also features music and ambient soundtracks by Michael Ghelfi Studios. A list of specific tracks and links to their work are available in our show notes. Thanks again for listening and have a good night.
Rachael:Wee-ha!
Finn:Wee-ha!
Rachael:And now let the adventure begin!
Dan:I was waiting for the wee-ha.
Rachael:What I was waiting for! Can we do, can we do that again? So that we-
Finn:Okay.
Rachael:And now let the adventure begin
Finn:Wee-ha! Wee-ha