Timothy (DM)
Welcome to Shadows of Prophecy, a D&D real play podcast, where we will find out what it takes to become a hero, face our darkest fears, and pull ourselves out of a pit of despair. Shadows of Prophecy is a Dungeons and Dragons podcast with violent themes and adult language. Listener discretion is advised.
Timothy (DM)
With us today to traverse through adventures of loss and tragedy, we have Dan, as our ambivalent DM; Chris, as are sad and lonely Salvador Saltrose; and myself, Timothy, as the always comforting Desmon Calderos. Join us as we enter the Shadows of Prophecy Prologue: A World Unravels. Chapter Five - The Experiments
Dan (DM)
Alright, you both are able to lift the stone fairly quietly; the guard's busy off doing something else, so they don't seem to notice. You've never been approached by a night guard anyways, so you don't think they're gonna come over unless they have a reason to?
Chris (Sal)
Yeah.
Dan (DM)
You both see the same thing as you open your respective trap slabs: there is a wooden ladder, old but seems to be fairly sturdy, leading down into, like, a passageway, like a hallway in a way.
Chris (Sal)
So, we descend--
Dan (DM)
Yeah,
Chris (Sal)
--and we... I lay... the I lay the stone like a sewer manhole cover on top.
Timothy (Desmond)
Yeah, I do the same.
Dan (DM)
Alright, and you are down into a dark passageway. You both continue and not too shortly farther into the passageway, you come to a chamber. You both arrive at the chamber, and you both see the same exact thing though, you wouldn't know that. You see in the center of the chamber is an altar covered in dried blood, you think? And on the other side of the room is a door, a closed door. Next to the door, there are two small holes in the wall: one at shoulder height and another near the ground. What would you like to do?
Chris (Sal)
Has there been an elevation change? Or this is still a floor below our... what would have been our floor?
Dan (DM)
Yes, still the same floor below.
Chris (Sal)
Okay. Altar, dried blood, door with... so the holes are in the door or they're in the wall?
Dan (DM)
They're in the wall next to the door.
Chris (Sal)
What purpose could these holes serve? I don't know.
Dan (DM)
Is there any particular part of them that you want to inspect first?
Chris (Sal)
I'm not particularly fascinated by whatever torture they conduct here, so I'm interested in-in scoping out the door.
Dan (DM)
Okay, if you try the door, it's locked up. You can't get it open. You notice though that near the hole on the side of the door, the one that's about shoulder length, you see a small inscription carved into the stone underneath the hole.
Chris (Sal)
So, this is a top hole? I read it to Desmond "It says 'a sacrifice to free the other.'"
Dan (DM)
You are not with Desmond. Oh, they're two separate rooms.
Chris (Sal)
Oh, okay, so I...
Dan (DM)
You read this to yourself. [Dan laughs]
Chris (Sal)
I read this to myself. I looked at Desmond and I see that he's not there. They went in opposite directions? From our cells?
Dan (DM)
You wouldn't know where, like, which direction they went, but you haven't seen Desmond since you entered this room, but [putting on his glasses] from a DM perspective, you [points to Tim] see the same exact thing.
Chris (Sal)
Okay, got it.
Dan (DM)
Desmond, as you also kind of investigate this room, you also see the holes in the wall, the altar with blood, etc.
Chris (Sal)
Is there a second inscription on the lower wall... on the lower hole?
Dan (DM)
No, there is not, but as you're kind of, like, inspecting around, you notice that at the floor on the floor around the hole, you notice on the floor near the holes are piled up skeletal fingers.
Chris (Sal)
[grossed out] EEE. I'm thinking perhaps I might have to relinquish one of my digits. I look over to the altar, and can I glean if this is where they severed their fingers?
Dan (DM)
Do you want to like go over to the altar? You just okay.
Chris (Sal)
Yeah, I wanna go to the altar.
Dan (DM)
You walk over to the altar, and you notice that in the center of the altar is, like, a divot in the stone almost like a basin, and in the middle of that basin is a... is, like, a metal spike coming out of the middle of the basin, and next to the basin is an inscription that reads...
Chris (Sal)
"A sacrifice to free the self". Okay, I see this as a combination of sacrifices, so I feel like I will place my hand onto the spike.
Dan (DM)
Okay. As you push your hand into the spike, you start to bleed, and your blood starts to pool in the bottom of this divot or this, like, bowl in the stone, and you see some of it starts to, like, fill where the spike comes out of the stone and kind of sink deeper into the altar, and you hear a [click] from your door.
Chris (Sal)
I tear off some of my dirty, dirty clothing, and I tried to make a makeshift bandage around my punctured palm, and I walk over to the door, and I look at all 10 of my fingers, and I say "Which one is my least favorite finger?"
Dan (DM)
As you contemplate your fingers, Desmond? What have you done?
Timothy (DM)
So, Desmond's first act was the finger hole.
Dan (DM)
'kay.
Timothy (Desmond)
So, Desmond is down a finger.
Dan (DM)
Okay, so, Desmond, as you stuck your finger in the hole, as you might imagine, you feel a sharp pain, and from the lower hole, your finger pops out.
Timothy (Desmond)
[painful inhale] I'm holding my finger. I am actually going to take my shirt off to wrap around my finger, so that I don't bleed out.
Dan (DM)
Okay, sounds good. You're able to stop the bleeding with a quick bandage of the finger.
Timothy (Desmond)
Alright?
Dan (DM)
And your door's still locked... maybe?
Chris (Sal)
Yeah, as Salvador, he says, "You know, I never really had much use for my left ring finger", so I stick my left ring finger in the slot.
Dan (DM)
You hear gears turn, a quick sharp pain, and your finger tumbles out of the bottom hole.
Chris (Sal)
[painful scream] Aaah!
Dan (DM)
Desmond, you hear your door [click].
Timothy (Desmond)
Ah shit. Uh...
Dan (DM)
[to Sal] --and you also take 2 damage.
Chris (Sal)
Okay, and I lose my ring finger?
Dan (DM)
And you lose your ring finger, yeah.
Timothy (Desmond)
Well, seems like my friend is, uh, has my back.
Chris (Sal)
And I try to open my door.
Dan (DM)
It opens.
Chris (Sal)
I collect all the fingers from the finger pile.
Dan (DM)
Oh, okay. [Tim laughs]
Chris (Sal)
Maybe I can find these...
Dan (DM)
How would you hold said fingers because you don't have any pockets... or any, like, satchel to put them in.
Chris (Sal)
Good point. I'm NOT going to put fingers in my mouth. [Tim and Dan laugh]
Dan (DM)
Usually other people's fingers... well, if they ask nicely.
Chris (Sal)
It's a good question. I'll put them in my bandage? No. I don't... I don't have a need for these fingers. I-I look at them longingly, and I just leave them on the floor.
Dan (DM)
[crying] What are you gonna do with a bunch of bony fingers?
Chris (Sal)
Maybe I could use them as a... like a... toss 'em like pocket sand.
Timothy (Desmond)
A little memento,
Dan (DM)
I see, I see. So, the door, both doors, as they open lead into another hallway. You continue down and find yourself in another chamber. Again, both identical, unbeknownst to you... Deknowst? Beknownst? Yeah, whatever the word is. You don't know that the other person has an identical chamber, but as you enter, you noticed that in the center of the room is a pike standing upright in the middle of the room. Yeah. And on said pike is a skeleton, a human skeleton. Dried blood around in the pike, splattered across the stone. In the hand of each skeleton is a scroll, and on the opposite side of the room is a door.
Chris (Sal)
I look at the scroll
Dan (DM)
You unravel said scroll... you have to do a very gingerly because it's an OLD scroll that might break up, but it reads... both scrolls read
Chris (Sal)
"An act in locked eyes."
Dan (DM)
Do you read this aloud to yourself?
Chris (Sal)
I wouldn't have a need to read it out loud.
Dan (DM)
Both of you give me Perception checks though.
Chris (Sal)
Okay, I'm kind of still reeling from my digit loss. Perception is 12.
Timothy (Desmond)
7.
Dan (DM)
So, with a 7 you don't hear or see anything out of the ordinary, but Sal with a 12 off to your right, you hear like a shuffling of feet and you notice that in the wall. Just maybe just above eye level for you is a hole.
Chris (Sal)
Another hole. Is there an inscription on this hole?
Dan (DM)
There is no inscription on this hole. So, it's right in the center of the room, so it's in line with where the piked skeleton is, and there's no inscription and it's probably about like three to four inches wide, so definitely bigger than the one that you lost a finger to.
Chris (Sal)
Okay. "An act in locked eyes." The skeleton is standing but the pike is like also like jetted up through it.
Dan (DM)
Exactly.
Chris (Sal)
Okay. Can I take this pike from the skeleton?
Dan (DM)
Give me a Strength check.
Chris (Sal)
Well, ok. Nope, that's a 6.
Dan (DM)
Yeah, as you try to wrench this pike out of the ground, you noticed that this pike is, like, built into the stone.
Chris (Sal)
[incredulously] Who cemented this to the ground?
Dan (DM)
Exactly.
Chris (Sal)
I try to open the door.
Dan (DM)
It's locked.
Chris (Sal)
Naturally.
Dan (DM)
Yeah, of course.
Chris (Sal)
"An act in locked eyes." I'm thinking that I would have to look into this hole, but it's much bigger than an eyehole would be. Three to four inches...
Dan (DM)
Yeah.
Chris (Sal)
But, it's too small to put my fist in.
Dan (DM)
Yeah, you wouldn't be able to fit a hand in there, but...
Chris (Sal)
Mmmm, I really wish I had those fingers now. "An act in locked eyes." Can I stare at this skeleton like at its eye sockets?
Dan (DM)
Sure.
Chris (Sal)
I stare at the skeleton for a long while. What can I glean from the skeleton?
Dan (DM)
It's dead.
Chris (Sal)
I look at the pelvis. Is it a male or female pelvis?
Dan (DM)
A male pelvis.
Chris (Sal)
Okay.
Dan (DM)
Nothing happens after staring at the skeleton longingly.
Chris (Sal)
Okay, I am going to... go over to this hole and I cast Light!
Dan (DM)
You cast Light?
Chris (Sal)
I cast light on my finger.
Dan (DM)
Is there any number you need your life?
Chris (Sal)
My regular... my pointer finger. So, it's only verbal and... oh, what is the material for Light? I don't have that written down on my paper.
Dan (DM)
Yeah, well, it's a cantrip, right? So, you might... it might not be anything.
Chris (Sal)
It is a cantrip, but I think I need a firefly or phosphorescent moss, so I CAN'T cast as light. Man--
Dan (DM)
Unfortunately...
Chris (Sal)
--that's...that's a real bummer. Is there another spell I can cast? Sacred Flame?
Dan (DM)
You try that?
Chris (Sal)
Yeah, that's no materials. What light is there in this room?
Dan (DM)
There isn't any light in this room. You're relying on dark vision.
Chris (Sal)
Okay, so I cast Sacred Flame on this hole.
Dan (DM)
Okay.
Chris (Sal)
And that causes radiant.
Dan (DM)
So no materials for Sacred Flame?
Chris (Sal)
Nope.
Dan (DM)
Okay, so you cast... and that's like an actual flame, right? That you huck into this hole?
Chris (Sal)
I don't think it's actually fiery, but it is...
Timothy (Desmond)
It's a radiant ball.
Chris (Sal)
Yeah.
Timothy (Desmond)
Fiery-ish looking stuff.
Chris (Sal)
Sacred Flame is a flame light. Yeah. flamelike radiance. Yeah.
Dan (DM)
Alright, so you cast Sacred Flame at the hole, and Desmond
Timothy (Desmond)
Mm hmm.
Dan (DM)
You've noticed that on the left side of your room--
Timothy (Desmond)
Yeah.
Dan (DM)
--Is a hole and it lights up all of a sudden. So, you-you've, like, read your scroll. You've kind of checked the door, and you've been kind of putzing around to see if you can find anything else.
Timothy (Desmond)
Yeah,
Dan (DM)
And this hole is like a flash of light.
Timothy (DM)
All right. That was weird. Does it do anything else?
Dan (DM)
Does Desmond talk out loud to himself?
Timothy (Desmond)
Of course, he does.
Dan (DM)
Sal, you hear Desmond on the other side of the hole. [imitating Desmond] "That was weird."
Chris (Sal)
Desmond, you're, oh, hey... I put my mouth to the wall. "Hey, are you in there?"
Timothy (Desmond)
"Oh, Salvador." I go over to the hole. "Yeah, I'm over here. I'm in this room. There's like a skeleton on a pike."
Chris (Sal)
That's weird. I have something almost identical to that in my room, but my skeleton had a scroll on its hand.
Timothy (Desmond)
Oh, yeah, mine did too.
Chris (Sal)
Oh!
Timothy (Desmond)
Something about "act in locked eye"?
Chris (Sal)
I wonder if we have to look at each other through this whole.
Timothy (Desmond)
Well, I'm-I'm looking at you now.
Chris (Sal)
I-I move my mouth to the eye hole, and I look in the eye hole because originally my mouth was...
Timothy (Desmond)
In the...yeah.
Chris (Sal)
--talking through the hole.
Chris (Sal)
Yeah, did I say it the wrong way? [Dan laughs]
Dan (DM)
Oh, so you move your eyes to the mouth.
Dan (DM)
[laughing] Yeah.
Chris (Sal)
[embarassed] Ok.
Dan (DM)
Um, so you look through this hole--
Timothy (Desmond)
What is a hole for?
Chris (Sal)
I don't know.
Dan (DM)
--you can see each other's eyes through this hole.
Timothy (Desmond)
Oh, all right. There you are.
Dan (DM)
You stare--.
Timothy (Desmond)
Well, it's nice to see you again, Sal.
Chris (Sal)
Yeah, I now have... rather than a quarter inch, I have a three inch hole.
Dan (DM)
As you look through, you notice this hole was about five feet. So, there's about a five feet between you, so it's like a thick wall.
Chris (Sal)
Yeah.
Dan (DM)
It's a thick wall, and so on the other side, you can see probably one... one eye of the other person, and you maintain eye contact for a little bit, and nothing happens. Both of you give me Insight checks.
Chris (Sal)
Insight is 21.
Timothy (Desmond)
8.
Dan (DM)
So, Desmond doesn't really get too much out of your, kind of, time staring at each other. But as... Sal, as you pull away and kind of survey the room again, you notice that the skeleton is about the same height as you and about the same height as the hole as well.
Chris (Sal)
Same as a hole. What do you mean?
Dan (DM)
Like, its head is about the shape of the hole.
Chris (Sal)
Maybe, we have to move these skeletons towards the hole to have them look at each other's eye.
Timothy (Desmond)
Alright, well, it-it has been nice seeing you, but that probably makes more sense given the state of the room,
Chris (Sal)
Perhaps.
Timothy (Desmond)
How do they turn?
Chris (Sal)
Can you twist the skull around the vertebra?
Dan (DM)
Do you try?
Chris (Sal)
I try!
Dan (DM)
With a sickening crack, as you break the vertebra, you twist the skull to face the hole.
Timothy (Desmond)
What was that crack over there?
Chris (Sal)
Oh, it just bones. Not mine, but others.
Timothy (Desmond)
"All right." I am also going to turn the neck.
Dan (DM)
You also get this sickening crack, and then you both hear clicks from your door.
Chris (Sal)
[triumphant fanfare] Doo-doo-doo-doo.
Timothy (Desmond)
All right, well, that seems like it was the trick. Hopefully, I can see you on the other side. If not... uh, goodbye for now.
Chris (Sal)
Fingers crossed.
Dan (DM)
All right, you both proceed into the next rooms, and this room seems a lot simpler than the others. On the opposite side of the room, you see a door and next to the door are three levers. As you get closer, you notice that each lever has a different engraving on the handle. The first lever has a skull engraved, the second wings, and the third a purple gem is embedded into the handle, and you can feel this cold energy pouring out of it.
Chris (Sal)
Hmm. Skull, wings, and gem that is cold. Most of my spells are unhelpful in this situation. There's no holes through which I can whisper, are there?
Dan (DM)
No. No holes.
Chris (Sal)
Okay. Well, judging from the insignia on these levers, I think I might try the winged one?
Dan (DM)
Okay.
Chris (Sal)
Are they all in the off position? Are they at different positions?
Dan (DM)
They're all facing up.
Chris (Sal)
Okay, so I lever down lever number two with the wings.
Dan (DM)
As you pull the wings lever, nothing happens. Desmond, however, you hear your door click as you're inspecting these levers.
Timothy (DM)
Okay, that's nice, huh? I'm going to open my door.
Dan (DM)
Okay. Just like the other doors after you open it, you kind of see a hallway, a dark hallway that heads off into darkness. Hmm.
Timothy (DM)
I'm going to go down the hallway for a bit.
Dan (DM)
Okay. Sal, is there anything else that you wanted to do? Your door's still locked.
Chris (Sal)
I don't detect that there is any change, so I turn my wing door backup to the "on"... the up position.
Dan (DM)
As you do so, Desmond, you hear the door close and lock behind you
Timothy (Desmond)
Aw, shit that can't be good.
Dan (DM)
Nothing happens, Sal, on your side.
Chris (Sal)
I try the purple gem lever down.
Dan (DM)
As you grab and pull this lever down, your door clicks, but you feel, like, this almost, like, burning cold in your hand, and you [rolls dice] take 1 point of necrotic damage from this handle.
Chris (Sal)
Ouchy. Well, I try my door handle and it's...?
Dan (DM)
It's unlocked.
Chris (Sal)
I go through, and I closed the door behind me
Dan (DM)
Alright. So, as you all proceed down this hall... this hallways longer than others, but as you're walking through, you start to notice that the floor periodically will have grates in them where you can see down into chambers below. The first few chambers that you see just have guards in them, so if you keep quiet enough, nobody seems to notice, but later on, both of you find yourselves standing above a room that is different from the others. There's tables with metal equipment used for, like, maybe pulling teeth, knives, things like that. In the center on the room are stone slabs with humanoid figures lying across them of different races and different genders, and as you kind of peer in a little bit longer, a hooded figure with a black robe enters the room. [pause] Do you continue to watch?
Chris (Sal)
So, I'm currently overhead of this room.
Dan (DM)
Yeah, so you are, like... the grate's in the ceiling, and you can kind of see down through them into this room below you.
Chris (Sal)
My curiosity is piqued, so I will watch for a couple minutes.
Dan (DM)
You see them go over to one of the cabinets at the side of the room and pull this black crystal from the cabinet and stand over one of these humanoid forms. He recites an incoherent incantation; you're too far to hear exactly what the words are, but he mumbled something, and black smoky tendrils pour down from the crystal onto this humanoid figure. After doing so, they proceed over to a table and pick up a saw. Saw in hand, they go back over to the same humanoid figure, and begin to saw at the top of this... this figure's head. You hear the crunching and squelching of tearing flesh and bone until eventually the top of this head is sawn fully off. After the figure sets down the saw and proceeds to shove this black crystal into the brain of this creature and then pulls the skin of this creature from its head to secure the crystal atop this figure's cranium.
Chris (Sal)
Sal thinks in his head, "Aw, that's gross."
Dan (DM)
After this crystal is secured into the brain of this creature, you notice that this black energy that was pouring out before starts to swirl around the creature, and its flesh begins to bubble and pulsate. Extra appendages and masses of flesh begin to burst from this creature's body at seemingly random places. The creature then begins to writhe and move on its own and opens its mouth and lets out this horrible shriek that eventually reaches a pitch so high that you can no longer hear it. As your ears ring, the creature sits up and its face quickly begins to change, phasing from male to female to orc to human. Its face contorting in pain, changing and blurring and flipping between different visages of people you've never seen before. The black hooded figure pulls out a staff with the symbol on top that you can't quite get a good look at, but you definitely see the shape of a star atop of the staff. He holds out the staff to the creature as it climbs off the slab. The creature and the hooded figure then slowly move out of sight into another room.
Chris (Sal)
Salvador is taken aback by this gruesome surgery that's gone on. He tries to push it out of his mind for the moment as he continues down the remainder of the corridor.
Dan (DM)
You continue down and just like before, they're still grates, but eventually you find yourself in a small chamber, and Sal, on your right hand side and Desmond, on your left hand side, you see a great in the wall, kind of, like, at the the height where the hole was with the skeletons, and as you both proceed, you catch eyes of each other and see each other through this grate. You're still about five feet apart, given how thick the walls were, but you can see and talk to each other.
Chris (Sal)
Oh, well. I'm assuming you're Desmond?
Timothy (Desmond)
Oh, why, why, yes I am. And, uh, you're Sal?.
Chris (Sal)
Yep, that's-that's me.
Timothy (Desmond)
Wow. Really nice to see ya'.
Dan (DM)
First, time you're actually able to see each other. Desmond, who is shirtless (might I remind you?) looks back at you, Sal.
Chris (Sal)
And Sal's thinking to himself "Oh, man, Helen wasn't wrong when she called him gorgeous."
Timothy (Desmond)
He's probably a little on the emaciated side.
Dan (DM)
Oh, yeah, yeah. You haven't eaten well in a few days, but you're not like... you've seen our days, but your charms are still there.
Timothy (Desmond)
Ah, wow, uh, wish we could've met under better circumstances, uh. Yeah. Did-did you see that? Back there?
Chris (Sal)
Yeah, he was openin' up the skull and shoving a gem in there and shape-shifting. And it's really bizarre.
Timothy (DM)
I'm quite glad we got out when we did. Do you think we were close to becoming one of those monstrosities?
Chris (Sal)
Who's to say, I imagine. I imagine, it's possible. I don't really want to think about that right now.
Timothy (Desmond)
Damn...
Chris (Sal)
The faster we can get out, probably the better.
Timothy (Desmond)
Yeah. I mean, I don't really see much of a way besides forward. Hopefully, this leads somewhere in not into one of those rooms. [sighs] Well, as always, it's been nice seein' ya, and talkin' to ya. Hopefully, we get another opportunity.
Chris (Sal)
Yep. Likewise, these holes have been getting progressively bigger. So, I imagine well we're getting to a conclusion.
Timothy (Desmond)
Yeah, I'd be nice if fate worked that way. Hmm. Maybe it does. Maybe it does.
Chris (Sal)
Here's to hoping!
Timothy (Desmond)
We can think your god, Tao, for bring us together.
Chris (Sal)
Yeah, it's very interesting. Tao is a storm god; normally, storms are destructive, but there are sometimes calms in the storm.
Timothy (Desmond)
Yeah, and... well, I mean, as a ranger, I've learned that sometimes destruction is necessary for rebirth. So, well, I'll see you on the other side, Sal.
Chris (Sal)
See you around, Desmond.
Dan (DM)
And you both proceed down the hall. In this next hallway, you notice some more grates in the floor. The first few just have... are of, like, the hallway below, maybe a couple of rooms with the guards in them, but again, you can keep quiet enough (you got bare feet, yeah, making much noise) to kind of sneak past without any of them hearing you, but you eventually come upon a grate where you see the hooded figure again, and the monstrosity that that figure was leading. The creature has been chained to a wall, though, in this room. The black swirling energy emanates from the crystal wedged into its skull, or I guess into its brain, that pours down over the creature. The hooded figure stands in front of the creature, their staff forward, almost repelling this black energy that seems to be creeping out of this creature. The creature's body vibrates and pulses as if something was crawling and some sort of energy or force was crawling underneath its skin. Its appendages coming out of random points in its body, flail around and reach for the hooded figure, and eventually the... the smoke and this energy that's coming off of this figure start to push forward towards this hooded figure, and in the very back of your mind, you almost feel like you hear whispers from the creature.
Timothy (null)
Join us. It's nice here. Come, join us. Come, be nothing, be nothing. End... and... be nothing. There's nothing else. You need nothing with us. Join us. Come, join us.
Dan (DM)
The hooded figure then pushes forward with their staff and whispers some wor-- again, some incoherent words that you couldn't... can't really hear, and the whispers subside, and the creature calms. The hooded figure then, staff forward, slowly backs out of the room and closes the door, and then there's calm in the room.
Chris (Sal)
So, there's nobody in this room anymore.
Dan (DM)
Besides the creature who's chained to the wall, but this... the creature's seemed to stop, the vibrating has stopped, this energy. It still swirls with black energy, but it isn't pushing out anymore. Seems to be almost at rest.
Chris (Sal)
Mmm. Well, I want to help this creature, but I am in a very precarious position to escape. How far into this chamber are they? Like how far above them?
Dan (DM)
Am I a part of floor's worth so probably like 10, 12 feet.
Chris (Sal)
Okay, um.
Dan (DM)
And there's a heavy metal grate between you, so...
Chris (Sal)
Yeah, I'm thinking--
Dan (DM)
You'd have to have some real strength to rip the grate out of the floor to get down there.
Chris (Sal)
Yeah, I don't think I can do anything physically to free them. But... I don't know. I think I just have to leave this creature. I think it's beyond my control.
Dan (DM)
Alright, you head forward, and after about, like, maybe, like, another 20 to 30 feet, you find a ladder that leads up, and you notice that atop the ladder is a stone slab. A lot like the one that you had lifted in your cell.
Chris (Sal)
Well, I guess, this is the end of the road. I am nervous of what I'll find on the other side of this cover, but I climb the ladder, and I gingerly heave it upward.
Dan (DM)
As you kind of peek over the edge of the floor, you find yourself in a storage room.
Chris (Sal)
Hmm
Dan (DM)
Lots of cabinets and shelves with a gear and rations and things like that. littered about, and the door's closed, and you seem to be alone.
Chris (Sal)
I emerge into the room, and I put the tile back on the... on the hole, and I look around, and it's just me in this room?
Dan (DM)
Yes, just you in this room. Desmond is nowhere to be seen.
Chris (Sal)
Is this like a guard room or so?
Dan (DM)
On further inspection, it's a little bit of everything.
Chris (Sal)
Okay.
Dan (DM)
You find general supplies like rations, rope, things like that. You find soldier and guard gear from both the Everfear army and the Galadian army, and you notice that you also find your gear. You notice some of the armor pieces, you recognize some of the armor and clothes pieces as yours. Also, the weaponry and anything you've might have had carried on you, so it seems like this room is just a general storage room for things taken from prisoners and also, like, guards' gear for their, like, day-to-day tasks.
Chris (Sal)
Okay, well I feel I have the best chance of disguise by appearing like a Galadian soldier, so I will pick up some of those pieces, as well as whatever of my personal effects I can hide in my bag, and some rations and plenty of rope. In the prisoners' chest, is there anything that I imagined would be besuiting Desmond? Like, he was a ship person, so maybe there's, like, a... a sextant or...?
Dan (DM)
[in a suggestive voice] A sextant? [regularly] Just kidding. Sorry. [Chris laughs].
Chris (Sal)
What was... what was the other thing?
Dan (DM)
A compass? [Tim laughs]
Chris (Sal)
Yeah.
Dan (DM)
A lot of people have passed to this prison, so it's hard to, like, say what exactly might be Desmond's
Chris (Sal)
Yeah.
Dan (DM)
--but you definitely find like some clothes that might befit a tall sailor.
Chris (Sal)
Yeah.
Dan (DM)
Like a compass. Um, you don't necessarily find a sextant, but you find like compasses, things like that.
Chris (Sal)
Okay. I stuff some of that into my pack as well. Okay, and...
Dan (DM)
Did you grab any weapons?
Chris (Sal)
Yes, I-I will pull out a battle axe and a light crossbow, and is my holy symbol there?
Dan (DM)
Yes. So, you find it in your pack. So, like, almost exactly as you left it, they didn't seem to, like, pull too much out of your pack. They just kind of tossed all this stuff--
Chris (Sal)
Gotcha.
Dan (DM)
--into this room.
Chris (Sal)
I will suit up and do one last scan of this room for similarly unobscured tiles that might have a, um, ladder beneath them.
Dan (DM)
You only find the one that you came out of. You don't find any other tiles that don't seem to be grouted into the floor.
Chris (Sal)
Shucks. Well, I go towards the door, and I peer out of it.
Dan (DM)
Outside of the door, you find an eating room or where... where the gua-- you imagine the guards would come to eat their food. It's pretty late at night at this point, so most guards are probably asleep, but you do see one guard sitting at a table eating his food.
Chris (Sal)
Oh, I also want to say that I hid my prisoners clothes, like, under the tile, so that they... if somebody goes on the room they don't find
Dan (DM)
Gotcha. So, you tossed it down the trap door.
Chris (Sal)
But, I stretch and I yawn and I scope about the canteen, and I am thinking "Oh god, where's Desmond? I-He's not... dang"
Dan (DM)
So, you're not trying to hide from the guard per se. You just want to act normal?
Chris (Sal)
I'm acting casually. I walk away from the door that I just came out of. And, is there like a table with food on it? Or?
Dan (Guard)
No, most of the tables are cleared at this point, except for the one that the guard is sitting at, and as you enter the room, he looks up at you and goes "What are you doing here?"
Chris (Sal)
Um, I got just kind of turned around. It's my... not... I haven't been here very long.
Dan (Guard)
What's your name?
Chris (Sal)
I'm Brigham.
Dan (Guard)
[suspicious] Brigham...last name?
Chris (Sal)
Finson.
Dan (Guard)
Brigham Finston?
Dan (DM)
Yeah, I-I got transferred here, uh, a few days ago. I-I'm just trying to get my wits about me.
Chris (Sal)
Yeah.
Dan (Guard)
"I don't recognize the name..." He stands up and walks over to "Where do... were you transferred here? What do you... what are you doing here?"
Dan (DM)
"I didn't expect anybody else." Give me a Deception check.
Chris (Sal)
Deception is plus one, and that's a 8.
Dan (Guard)
He leans in really close to you and, like, squints at you and kind of looks you up and down and be, like, "No, you're coming with me." He draws a scimitar from his scabbard and, like, goes to grab you to push you along.
Chris (Sal)
As he does. I say, "I'm so sorry, and I put my hand to his face, and I cast Inflict Wounds."
Dan (DM)
Okay. Roll for initiative first. And you will get that... we'll see. We'll see what you get from that.
Chris (Sal)
Oh, bad. That's a 3.
Dan (DM)
Okay, he rolled a 5, so he also rolled poorly, but better than you. So, as you reach out, he's going to react by swinging his scimitar in your direction. Are you wearing heavy armor like you were before?
Chris (Sal)
I was wearing my chainmail, which I think is a medium armor.
Dan (DM)
Okay, did you find a similar armor for the... for it... because you're wearing Galadian guard armor?
Chris (Sal)
Yes, I'm wearing Galadian chainmail.
Dan (DM)
Okay, so we'll consider it the same AC as you would normally have with your, uh, armor, but he's gonna take a swing at you with the scimitar. Does a 6 hit? I'm gonna guess not and kind of caught off balance. So, he, like, swings, but, like, just catches your armor in a way that it just, like, glides off of your... of your chainmail, and it's your turn.
Chris (Sal)
Okay, so my Inflict Wounds is hopefully going to damage this... buddy. [groan] that's only a 7.
Dan (DM)
That misses. So, you go and you kind of... can... as he's stepping back, you kind of catch your fingertips on his helmet but aren't able to make contact with his skin, so you're not able to transfer the spell. He will take another swing at you with his scimitar does a 12 hit?
Chris (Sal)
No.
Dan (DM)
Great! Well, that's his turn. Go ahead.
Chris (Sal)
Okay, well, I'm gonna pull out my battleaxe now. And that's a 10.
Dan (DM)
A 10 misses. You... it's-it's late. You're tired. You haven't eaten well in days.
Chris (Sal)
Exactly.
Dan (DM)
And he is a bit sleepy. You can see, like, the bags underneath his eyes, like, he works the night shift, but he doesn't spend the day sleeping like he should. [laughs] 8 does not hit! That's your turn then.
Chris (Sal)
Okay!
Dan (DM)
[satisfied] This is going well.
Chris (Sal)
One of us is... we're just like shadow-punching each other, and we're very, um, very sleepy. That's going to be a 19 to hit.
Dan (DM)
That hits!
Chris (Sal)
--and that's gonna be 8 slashing damage.
Dan (DM)
Alright, so you get it, you take a good chunk out of him, you're able to kind of cut into his chainmail and give him a good cut across the stomach. He takes a swing at you now. Does an 18 hit?
Chris (Sal)
Yes.
Dan (Guard)
Okay. Finally, we're doing some work... and you take 6 points of slashing damage as he kind of cuts into you, but he also yells out "Hey, get in here. I need some backup."
Chris (Sal)
Okay. Now, it is my turn. Yes. How big is this room?
Dan (DM)
Maybe like 30 by 40 feet. So, it's a pretty big room, but it's full of tables and benches.
Chris (Sal)
Okay, I'm going to attempt to leave. I know that's an opportunity attack...
Dan (DM)
Yes, he will take an opportunity attack against you as you, uh, leave his area of effect. He rolled a 2, so he misses.
Dan (DM)
So, I-I dip out of this room, and how many exits are there in this?
Dan (DM)
There's one exit to this to this particular room.
Chris (Sal)
Okay, I'm going to Dash towards that door and fling it open.
Dan (DM)
Okay, you get to the door, and you find yourself in a hallway, I guess, three hallways one to your right, one to your left, and one straight, and you notice the one that's straight, the doors are open, and you can see the desert. So, that seems to lead outside.
Chris (Sal)
Well, I'm going to cast Fog Cloud as my action,
Dan (DM)
Okay.
Chris (Sal)
And I'm going to cast it directly... how far away is the door towards the desert?
Dan (DM)
Maybe 30 feet.
Chris (Sal)
Okay, I'm going to step 10 feet away from the door. And I'm going to cast Fog Cloud, which is a 20 foot radius... and I'm going to... dang. I really don't want to leave Desmond behind, but I don't know what I can do. I can't leave... I will go to the right.
Dan (DM)
Okay. You probably ran the full, your full--
Chris (Sal)
Yeah, yeah.
Dan (DM)
--at that point. So, you can't get much further out, but the guard's going to dash after you. He didn't make it to you in time, but you hear him behind you, and he's yelling down the halls for for other guards. [Dan rolls some ominous dice] It's your turn.
Chris (Sal)
Okay, so now that I'm in this other hallway, what do I see beyond the cloud?
Dan (DM)
You just see more rooms as you kind of peer into the rooms, most... some have doors open, some have doors close, but you see, like, rooms where guards can sleep. You find the kitchen. You notice that as you continue, you think you've lost the guard? You don't hear him behind you anymore, so your cloud might have obscured his vision so much that he, like, ran the other way, and so we'll be out of combat at that point, but as you kind of continue down this-this hall, you find like sleeping guards and whatnot. Give me a Stealth check as you're doing all of this.
Chris (Sal)
Is this Stealth to appear normal, or is it Stealth to not be detected?
Dan (DM)
How are you proceeding?
Chris (Sal)
I'm proceeding like I belong there.
Dan (DM)
Okay, give me Deception then.
Chris (Sal)
Okay. That's a 15.
Dan (DM)
That's fine. As you kind of walk down the hall, you might meet eyes with some guards, but none of them pay you any mind. They kind of nod at you, they kind of look past you. For the most part, everybody's asleep. Except for just a few people, kind of wandering about. As you head down the hall further though, you hear, like, coming around from where you're headed, you hear yelling from the guard you were fighting before as he's kind of rallying and waking people up to go find you. What do you do? You don't find Desmond.
Chris (Sal)
Okay, so I'm now on the rightmost... I haven't found any other form of egress from this facility, have I?
Dan (DM)
Not yet, no. That one door into the desert seemed to be the one that is the... I guess is the only form of escape that you've found so far.
Chris (Sal)
Salvador heaves a heavy sigh and he thinks "I-we've gotten so far to be captured again. I don't know. I don't know what to do."
Dan (DM)
The yelling continues, and you hear more guards starting to wake up in the direction, like, forward at this point. So, like, if, like, the hallway went in a square. The guard has run around to, like, keep looking for you.
Chris (Sal)
[pointing to a map Chris just drew] So, if this is the door out-outside, and I went this way, where did... where's the noise coming from?
Dan (DM)
In front of you now.
Chris (Sal)
Okay, so it's coming this way.
Dan (DM)
Right. So... and you hear more and more guards, like, talking to each other, putting on armor, running around over there.
Chris (Sal)
Okay, I'm going to go back the way that I came.
Dan (DM)
Okay.You, kind of, dash back into your fog cloud 'cause it's still there.
Chris (Sal)
Yeah.
Dan (DM)
And do you head for the outside door?
Chris (Sal)
Yeah, I had for the outside door.
Dan (DM)
Okay, as you're running, you notice two guards in like a small antechamber just before the door that are sitting down, just kind of minding their own business, chatting with each other. Do you just run past them?
Chris (Sal)
I say, uh. "There seems to be a prisoner. He's attacking one of the guards."
Dan (DM)
Give me another Deception check.
Chris (Sal)
Oh, that's a natural 20.
Dan (Guard)
They are like "Oh, okay. Yeah. All right. All right." and they, like, get up and, like, kinda put themselves back together and, like, run into the fog cloud.
Chris (Sal)
And I give a salute... and I turn to the open door. What's in this antechamber?
Dan (DM)
I'm just like, chairs, a table. Not too much. Just a place for people to, like, sit and, like, guard the door. It seems weirdly casual with the door open and the tables.
Chris (Sal)
Yeah, Salvador looks back at the chaos that's ensued from their escape and he thinks to himself, "I'm going to find you. I know you got out." and he turns to the door and he walks out.
Dan (DM)
Okay, as you are leaving and walking into the sand, give me a Perception check.
Chris (Sal)
That is a 5.
Dan (DM)
Okay, so you're kind of making your way into the sand. Are you in a hurry? I imagine. like a light jog? [Tim laughs]
Chris (Sal)
I'm on a... oh, now that I'm out of the facility?
Dan (DM)
Yeah.
Chris (Sal)
Yeah, I'm going to, to zag off to the side.
Dan (DM)
Okay, as you are leaving, you start to notice that, like, the wall of the building that you kind of came out of that, like, sandstone and sand starts to like crack and fall from above you, and as you turn to look, you notice this huge hulking figure, this Golem, made of sandstone, almost starting to, like, turn and move and look at you as you leave through the doors and start to, like, pull and tear itself off of its pedestal from above the doors.
Chris (Sal)
EEE, not a good, not a good sign. So, it was like a statue that has come to life?
Dan (DM)
So, it's a statue that, like, between its legs was the door that you came out of.
Chris (Sal)
Oh, gotcha.
Dan (DM)
--and as it... as you left, it started to move. And it starts to climb down into the sand slowly. You almost seem, like, it's got to, like, activate itself to like, get up and moving.
Chris (Sal)
I want to cast a spell.
Dan (DM)
Okay. [Tim and Dan laugh]
Chris (Sal)
I'm gonna cast Thunder Wave. Am I within 15 feet of it or is it beyond that?
Dan (DM)
Yeah, you're in 15... within 15 feet of it.
Chris (Sal)
Okay, I want to cast Thunder Wave on it. It has to do a Constitution saving throw, which I realize is probably pretty good for a stone monster.
Dan (DM)
Go ahead.
Chris (Sal)
What'd it get
Dan (DM)
It p-- it failed.
Chris (Sal)
Okay, so it takes 2d8 thunder damage, but as part of my Channel Divinity, I'm going to use Destructive Wrath to do max damage, so that's a total of 16 thunder damage and it is pushed 10 feet into the building.
Dan (DM)
Okay, cool. You were standing next to one of its legs that came down and as you cast your Thunder Wave, you knock its leg out and it tumbles to the ground, almost on top of you. You kind of fall between its legs, and it hits the ground hard. This thing is like 30 to 40 feet tall. It is enormous, but now that it's on the ground, you notice that it's struggling to get up between the sand and the fact that it's enormous. It's, like, as it pushes itself, the sand gives way, and it's, like, struggling to get up.
Chris (Sal)
I clamber over one of the legs, and I go in a perpendicular direction.
Dan (DM)
Okay, you dash off into the night, away from the Golem. It eventually kind of gets up, but seems to have lost track of you. You can see it for a while. It seems to have lost track of you, and you also notice that guards eventually gather at the edge of the door, but don't seem to leave for whatever reason and peer at the Golem as... as they stand at the edge of the door, and you dash off into the night. And that's where we'll end our session.
Chris (Sal)
Oh my goodness! I feel so bad. This is so different from the other one! Oh, now he's gonna have survivor's guilt.
Timothy (DM)
And that is where this chapter of Shadows of Prophecy comes to a close. Thank you for joining us through the darkness and can continue the story next time for a thrilling new adventure.
Timothy (DM)
Shout out to my brother known as the chill electronic vapor soul artist LUSQ for writing our chillingly epic theme song, Editing by Scrubcast, And a big shout out to Syrin Scape for some amazing atmosphere and music. Make sure to check them out syrinscape.com I always use them at my game table, and it really does add that little something special to bring your players into the story. Also, please follow us on Twitter at @ShadowsProphecy and Instagram at @shadows_of_prophecy. And show us some support by becoming one of our fabulous patrons at patreon.com/shadows of prophecy where you can get access to bonus content like handouts, encounter maps, and even adventure guides to run your own horrific campaigns or one-shots. And at the very least, give us a five star review on your podcast platform of choice. This is how we get the word out about our podcast and we love sharing it with you all. Thank you, and tune in next time for more tales of dread and despair at Shadows of Prophecy.