Call to the Void Part II
Timothy (DM): Welcome to shadows, a 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.
With us today to traverse through adventures of loss and tragedy. We have myself, Timothy, our ambivalent DM, Dan, as the ever so helpful healer's apprentice, Tristen Barrette, and Ellie as our homely gossiping potter, Babetto "Babs" Brunello.
Join us as we enter the Shadows of Prophecy.
Prologue: A Word Unravels
Chapter One: A Call to the Void
Timothy (DM): And as you call out, you see the torch. Splashes into a pool of water below and the lights go out, Babs, what are you doing?
Ellie (Babetto Bornello): um, oh Boy
Dan (Tristen Barrett): Um,
Ellie (Babetto Bornello): Babs is going to...
Okay.
Dan (Tristen Barrett): Okay.
Ellie (Babetto Bornello): Let me know what you think about this. Uh, she is as the torch, uh, splashes and it becomes dark, she's going to, uh, grasp and uh, uh, sort of clutch, her a little necklace, like, I don't know, it's a pottery necklace she has, uh, and the the necklace begins to glow faintly with light.
Timothy (DM): right. Nice. Yeah.
Ellie (Babetto Bornello): um, so her, uh, necklace, is now casting light in a 20 foot radius around her. uh, and she, is looking around with her, holding that, holding her walking stick just looking around, trying to get a beat on things cause like Tristen yelled and then the lights went out and, she's feeling a little overwhelmed. So that's her action. That's her turn.
Timothy (DM): Um, so as your pendant begins to glow, um, a faint glow illuminates the chamber and you again can see Tristen along the wall with this black oily pseudopod lashing out at him. That's right.
Dan (Tristen Barrett): I’m backed up.
Timothy (DM): Yeah. So you see Tristen hiding behind a table and you see this like black oily substance collecting and starting to kind of slough off the wall and make its way towards you
Dan (Tristen Barrett): Where's Clayton.
Timothy (DM): Clayton. Is standing expressionless in the middle of the room.
Ellie (Babetto Bornello): I knew it. suss!.
Timothy (DM): oily plaque, substance is going to start pulsing and kind of in odd, gelatinous ways towards you Babs it kind of just like oozes its way over. And it is going to lat lash out at you with a pseudopod. Okay. Uh, what's your AC.
Ellie (Babetto Bornello): Um, so she technically has grandpa's chain mail shirt, and I guess we can say she would've Put it on. Cause she's like going in the well, as an adventure I'm putting on. Grandpa's chain, mail shirt.
Dan (Tristen Barrett): That's a good point.
Ellie (Babetto Bornello): She did some prep. We'll say at home. that we didn't get that. We didn't talk through. Okay. That her AC is 14.
Timothy (DM): Okay. Interesting.
Dan (Tristen Barrett): Uh, 12, because he's not wearing any armor.
Timothy (DM): the student had a lat lashes out at you and hits your chain mail, short shirt,
Ellie (Babetto Bornello): Grandpa.
Timothy (DM): You hear the dangling or the, you hear the clanging of the chains, um, but are otherwise unharmed.
Ellie (Babetto Bornello): I knew that was a good idea.
Dan (Tristen Barrett): I'm going to run up to Clayton and see what's up with him. is he just like
Timothy (DM): You run over to Clayton and he stands square, arms at his side and his stare is this like blank hundred yard stare.
Dan (Tristen Barrett): I give him a shake.
Timothy (DM): You shake his body. It's very rigid, but it does move as you shake him.
Dan (Tristen Barrett): And it doesn't affect–
Timothy (DM): And it does not affect his demeanor. He gives you the same blank stare.
Ellie (Babetto Bornello): do medicine.
Dan (Tristen Barrett): come on medicine,
Ellie (Babetto Bornello): I'm a doctor
Dan (Tristen Barrett): Snap out of it. It was a bad Cher impression, your welcome.
Timothy (DM): you slap him and nothing happens. He continues to stand expressionless.
Dan (Tristen Barrett): Would that be considered? Probably my action. Okay. So yeah, that'll be my turn. I can't do anything else.
Timothy (DM): Clayton does nothing on his turn. Babs. You're up.
Ellie (Babetto Bornello): I am going to back in the way from the pseudopod and smack at it with my walking stick. Uh, like It's a naughty cat, like, back? Uh, so uh, I'm gonna smack a Rooskie. Thats is a 15 to hit
Timothy (DM): Yeah.
Ellie (Babetto Bornello): Yeah. All right. And that is four points of bludgeoning damage. I have a negative modifier.. Uh, yeah, like she's just sort of like trying to fend it off, basically.
Timothy (DM): Yeah. So you smack it with your stick and a chunk of it kind of breaks off, um, and lays motionless off to the side.
Ellie (Babetto Bornello): disgusting.
Timothy (DM): Uh, as it again, lashes out at you.
Ellie (Babetto Bornello): Oh my God.
Timothy (DM): But smacks into your stick instead, you're able to bounce it away. Tristen?
Dan (Tristen Barrett): Um, Does Clayton have any weapons?
Timothy (DM): uh, Clayton has some tools. He has a hatchet on his belt.
Dan (Tristen Barrett): Okay. So that's the closest to a weapon. Um, I'll snag the hatchet and just run up and try to cut the thing in half. Maybe go for like a pseudopod as it's like lashing out
Timothy (DM): All right.
Ellie (Babetto Bornello): Yeah. Like, is it still attached to the wall? Is it like sort of slipping off or is
Timothy (DM): sloped off and it's kind of like crawling around the ground and kind of like part of it trails behind it and leaves like a black viscous residue. Yeah. Almost like a slug. Yeah.
Dan (Tristen Barrett): Yeah.
Ellie (Babetto Bornello): how big is it?
Timothy (DM): Uh, I mean, it kind of is variable, but it's probably a medium sized creature.
Dan (Tristen Barrett): so not
Timothy (DM): A medium sized creature. Yeah.
Ellie (Babetto Bornello): So it's bigger than I am. Hate it.
Dan (Tristen Barrett): Um, yeah, I'll just try and like hack at the middle of it.
Ellie (Babetto Bornello): right.
Dan (Tristen Barrett): Um, would it have to be considered a strength or a dexterity weapon?
Timothy (DM): Uh, string.
Dan (Tristen Barrett): Okay.
Timothy (DM): Yeah.
Dan (Tristen Barrett): Am I proficient?
Timothy (DM): What are you proficient in?
Dan (Tristen Barrett): Um, simple weapons.
Timothy (DM): Yeah, it's a simple weapon.
Dan (Tristen Barrett): Uh, that's a 20 to hit--dirty 20
Timothy (DM): That hits.
Dan (Tristen Barrett): And what about the damage for a hatchet?
Timothy (DM): I think it's a d8 , maybe, maybe a d6.
Ellie (Babetto Bornello): Yeah. It's definitely higher than a dagger.
Timothy (DM): uh, one d6.
Dan (Tristen Barrett): d6–
Timothy (DM): Plus your strength mod.
Dan (Tristen Barrett): negative one.
Ellie (Babetto Bornello): We out here at negative one
Dan (Tristen Barrett): strength. That's also four damage.
Timothy (DM): See you flash into it and you chop this thing in half.
Ellie (Babetto Bornello): Okay,
Dan (Tristen Barrett): It splits into two.
Ellie (Babetto Bornello): Now we got to, to deal. with
Timothy (DM): Only part of it is still moving.
Dan (Tristen Barrett): Oh, okay.
Ellie (Babetto Bornello): okay. Great.
Dan (Tristen Barrett): Um, well that's my turn.
Timothy (DM): Alright. Uh, so now it is going to turn his attention to Tristen lashing out with a pseudopod
Dan (Tristen Barrett): Oh no! so squishy. Squishy.
Timothy (DM): and it will hit you.
Dan (Tristen Barrett): No, no.
Timothy (DM): You take three bludgeoning damage, plus two necrotic damage.
Dan (Tristen Barrett): Okay. That hurts a lot.
Timothy (DM): We skipped Babs.
Ellie (Babetto Bornello): We did?
Timothy (DM): I went from Tristen to–
Ellie (Babetto Bornello): oh, to IT, Oh, That's fine. That's okay. I can go after it.
Dan (Tristen Barrett): Babs held her action. She's like, oh, Tristen!
Ellie (Babetto Bornello): Oh, wow. You cut it in half. Uh, so I see it hit Tristen. Um, and I'm horrified. Uh, and I'm going to try and like hit it away from him, basically with my, uh, walking stick, like Get off of him. Get off of him. You filthy little slug, or, no, that's not good. Uh, get off of him. You nasty little rodder? Yeah. That's more like her. Okay. Uh, so yeah. Can I hit it with my walking stick? All right. That is a 17 to hit.
Timothy (DM): That'll hit
Ellie (Babetto Bornello): Okay. once again, three points of budgeting damage.
Timothy (DM): it's enough. So you kind of golf club, this oozy slime, you fling it across the room. It smacks into the wall and splatters. You see the black oily residue dripping off the wall, but otherwise motionless.
Ellie (Babetto Bornello): Tristen, are you all right, sweetheart?
Dan (Tristen Barrett): uh, I've been better. Um, Tristen is going to kind of rummage through his like healer pack that he has with him. Um, and see if he can find anything for like the bruising or the, the, you know, the decay that from the necrotic thing, the necrotic damage–necrotic?
Timothy (DM): yeah. Give me a medicine check.
Dan (Tristen Barrett): That word sounds weird when you say it, necrotic sounds wrong. Well,
Ellie (Babetto Bornello): Oh, no.
Dan (Tristen Barrett): that was my fifth
Timothy (DM): Oh, no.
Dan (Tristen Barrett): That's with the same die. I don't believe in dice jail. Um, it's still an eight though,
Timothy (DM): All right. Um, you're able to kind of find some soothing balms, uh, that help bat away the pain of the necrotic damage.
Dan (Tristen Barrett): huh?
Timothy (DM): Mechanically. You just, uh, heal it. What is it? Do you have a mechanical feature?
Dan (Tristen Barrett): Yeah. It’s just the healer feat. I do. It's one d6 plus four points. So I'm back up to max health, no matter what,
Timothy (DM): oh, cause it's
Dan (Tristen Barrett): its–
Timothy (DM): four. Yeah. Yeah. 26 plus four.
Dan (Tristen Barrett): Yeah.
Ellie (Babetto Bornello): Okay,
Timothy (DM): Um, so you apply the salv and it makes the pain go away– kind of, um, coats, the wounds, um, and kind of keeps it protected
Dan (Tristen Barrett): perfect. Um,
Ellie (Babetto Bornello): Well, thanks for absolutely. No help. Clayton, you big useless clod!
Timothy (DM): and
Dan (Tristen Barrett): Get my medicine check on.
Timothy (DM): you turn to Clayton.
Ellie (Babetto Bornello): Babs is freaking out, which makes her meaner than usual.
Timothy (DM): Um, just as he's snapping out of it.
Ellie (Babetto Bornello): ho!
Timothy (DM): W w w w what's going on? Where are we?
Dan (Tristen Barrett): We're down in the,
Timothy (DM): Babs. W where, where are we?
Ellie (Babetto Bornello): we're in a well the, well,
Dan (Tristen Barrett): well, we're in a cave
Ellie (Babetto Bornello): well, well,
Dan (Tristen Barrett): well,
Ellie (Babetto Bornello): well, well, well, we're in a,
Timothy (DM): in the, well, why are we in the, well,
Dan (Tristen Barrett): Cause we fished you– Well you fished Walter out of the, well, he fell in..
Ellie (Babetto Bornello): What's with you? You hit your head.
Timothy (DM): I, I do remember that, but
Ellie (Babetto Bornello): Remember the thing I said about your facial hair?
Timothy (DM): My what?
Ellie (Babetto Bornello): your facial hair. I like what? you've done with it. Do you remember when I said that to you? Right before we came down the, well,
Timothy (DM): Oh, uh, thank you. Um, but, but no,
Ellie (Babetto Bornello): oh, like What
Dan (Tristen Barrett): is the last thing you remember?
Timothy (DM): the last thing I remember, I mean, that's gotta be, um, Down into the well, after Wolters, is he all right?
Dan (Tristen Barrett): Yeah, we brought them over to Crickets. Do you remember going to Crickets?
Timothy (DM): can't say that. I do,
Dan (Tristen Barrett): I'd like to check him, to see if like he has any like injuries that like on his head, maybe some boils that are maybe under his clothes. Take off your clothes. Just kidding, Sorry, dad.
Timothy (DM): yeah. Give me a medicine check as you inspect him.
Dan (Tristen Barrett): Does he have like rippling abs underneath as to neck?
Ellie (Babetto Bornello): Uh,
Dan (Tristen Barrett): 11. Okay. Listen, it's above average or above 50%.
Timothy (DM): Um, so you start inspecting him and you're not noticing anything, all that strange, except there's a lightness to his eyes as if the color has been stripped from the irises.
Dan (Tristen Barrett): Oh, strangely you seem in physically good health. Um, maybe it's stress, right? Babs, stress can do that?
Ellie (Babetto Bornello): Yeah. You seem stressed. When was the last time you took a bubble bath?
Timothy (DM): Uh, never,
Ellie (Babetto Bornello): Oh my God. That's it. I diagnosed this man with lack of relaxation.
Dan (Tristen Barrett): Well, I will get you an herbal bat balm once– A bath bomb, Ooh. Even–
Ellie (Babetto Bornello): bath bomb!
Dan (Tristen Barrett): bath bomb once we're out of, uh, the well, um, and it should help clear the head.
Timothy (DM): I don't. This is so strange. This has never happened before.
Ellie (Babetto Bornello): Do you think that black pseudopod might have been what caused the boils and stuff?
Dan (Tristen Barrett): Um, maybe,
Timothy (DM): what?
Ellie (Babetto Bornello): oh don't worry about
Dan (Tristen Barrett): yeah, it's a secret. Uh, just
Timothy (DM): Where, what is all of this
Dan (Tristen Barrett): This is a cave or a chamber adjacent to
Timothy (DM): w this is what is at the bottom of the, well, this has been below us this entire time.
Dan (Tristen Barrett): yes, yes. Part two of this conversation,
Ellie (Babetto Bornello): If you're not going to contribute,
to the situation Clayton, then you could at least not hold the rest of us
in back with Your questions.
Dan (Tristen Barrett): You just, just sit down,
Timothy (DM): I'm sorry.
Ellie (Babetto Bornello): down on one of these beautifully engraved. golden pedestals,
Dan (Tristen Barrett): That's fine. You definitely won't be cursed.
Timothy (DM): so yeah, he sits down on one of the, um, golden slab.
Ellie (Babetto Bornello): do say the void is our release.
Dan (Tristen Barrett): Just take a moment and me and Babs, we'll go over there and chat for a moment.
Ellie (Babetto Bornello): The grownups are talking.
Dan (Tristen Barrett): Um, so I'll pull Babs aside and I'm going to check my wound from where I got hit or their boils.
Timothy (DM): No.
Dan (Tristen Barrett): I'm not currently boil full
Ellie (Babetto Bornello): boilie
Dan (Tristen Barrett): boilie
Ellie (Babetto Bornello): y'all got a little boilie boy.
Dan (Tristen Barrett): boiling boy. Um, so I'm not sure if that's a thing that it did, but also maybe just didn't do it this time.
Ellie (Babetto Bornello): I mean, you did, you did fix yourself
Dan (Tristen Barrett): That's true right away. So maybe that stopped it. Um, there's nothing else in this chamber, right? Has the oily, like the oily stuff. That's all gone now other than what we splattered across walls and floor
Timothy (DM): Yeah, you inspect the chamber a little bit more. And this light that illuminates from Babs’ pendant is a little bit more stable than the Torchlight. Um, and you don't see any more collecting oily blob.
Dan (Tristen Barrett): That's good.
Timothy (DM): just kind of like black smears across the stone that have kind of dried you see some cracking
Dan (Tristen Barrett): going to get a little tiny bit of a black smear and like put it into like a, a jar that I have in my kit to kind of collect things and seal it up. Nice and tight wax seal it just like, oh, we don't have a heat source. Nevermind. We'll just seal it and put it in the bag.
Timothy (DM): what does strike you as distinct is the portal at the other end of the room is stained with the black viscous color
Dan (Tristen Barrett): Oh, right. The portal
Ellie (Babetto Bornello): oh, the portal.
Dan (Tristen Barrett): tables and the portal. Um, anything else about the portal that sticks out?
Timothy (DM): it's cracked.
Dan (Tristen Barrett): No messages or glyphs or words on it?
Timothy (DM): Uh, again, you see the swirling symbols carved into the stone.
Ellie (Babetto Bornello): Well, I gotta be honest. I haven't really seen anything down here besides that black, I mean, black ooze, black boils. like I haven't seen anything else. down here that seems like it could have caused it, you know?
Dan (Tristen Barrett): true. There is that one other passage. Wait though.
Ellie (Babetto Bornello): Oh, that's true. Could be some kind of little rabid raccoon when we feel like idiots. If we go back and there's a rabid raccoon down here,
Dan (Tristen Barrett): this just happened to good old rabid raccoons. Um, maybe we just like peak.
Ellie (Babetto Bornello): Okay,
Dan (Tristen Barrett): Try not to
Ellie (Babetto Bornello): are you feeling,
Dan (Tristen Barrett): goop on the walls. I'm okay. I'm doing much better. I'm feeling much better. The balms and the wrapping that's helping.
Ellie (Babetto Bornello): the balms do help my hands feel great.
Dan (Tristen Barrett): Oh, good, good. They don't burn?
Ellie (Babetto Bornello): Not well. No. Cause I applied the balm so...
Dan (Tristen Barrett): oh, wow. Well, good.
Ellie (Babetto Bornello): it's soothes and cools
Dan (Tristen Barrett): Yes. And it heals too. So after a few uses of constant repetitive...
Ellie (Babetto Bornello): yeah.
Dan (Tristen Barrett): you won't feel burning at all and you don't need the balms anymore. So just like give it a few days.
Ellie (Babetto Bornello): What do we do with Clayton?
Dan (Tristen Barrett): Oh, you're right. Clayton. Um,
Ellie (Babetto Bornello): we just, maybe we just bring him back to the room with the, well, we just say, why don't you climb, climb back up Clayton?
Dan (Tristen Barrett): And then wait for a,
Ellie (Babetto Bornello): and wait for us up top
Dan (Tristen Barrett): leave the rope
Ellie (Babetto Bornello): and leave the rope and don't let anybody else come down. Cause if there is a rabid raccoon down here, it's you wouldn't be in this town for the best equipped to deal with it.
Dan (Tristen Barrett): true. I'm going to keep this hatchet for now.
Ellie (Babetto Bornello): Oh, that sounds like a great idea.
Dan (Tristen Barrett): Um, so yeah, we'll go. Let's go back over to Clayton.
Ellie (Babetto Bornello): Okay. Hi Clayton.
Timothy (DM): uh, hello, Babs.
Ellie (Babetto Bornello): We think you should probably go back up
Timothy (DM): Uh, yes, we all should.
Ellie (Babetto Bornello): and I... we're going to hold on to your hands. Okay. We're going to hold on to your hands. We're going to walk back over. There's a lovely little rope. I think you're going to love it. Lovely. Little rope goes back up the, well we think you should maybe go back up. We're just going to check out a couple more things down here.
Not a big deal.
Dan (Tristen Barrett): and if you could wait at the top and we'll holler up to you once we're ready to be held back, because I think we're probably going to do a
Ellie (Babetto Bornello): probably going to get loud. Yeah, Yeah. And that would be so wonderful and so helpful. And you wouldn't have to think too hard about it
Dan (Tristen Barrett): Yeah. Get some sun while you're up there. Take a rest. Just listen for us.
Timothy (DM): Um, so as you're leading him back up towards the rope at the bottom of the, well, you both kind of ping pong the conversation back and forth, and he's turning to each of you very slowly and then tries to talk, but then the next person chimes in and he kind of just like ping pongs back and forth sluggishly with his head, um, with this confused disoriented, look on his face until you eventually reach the base of the well.
Dan (Tristen Barrett): if you'd just got here. So I'm going to run up and grab it.
Ellie (Babetto Bornello): Okay. Oh, I know.
Timothy (DM): So you reached the bottom of the, well, the rope is hanging down and you kind of motion to Clayton for him to climb up. He starts climbing up and you see that he ascends the well. Um, eventually you see him crest over the top and disappear to the surface.
Ellie (Babetto Bornello): Great. That's one last thing to worry about when I looked over and he was just standing there, like a big idiot. I thought I was about to lose my mind. I wanted to go over there and smack him.
Dan (Tristen Barrett): Oh yeah. Well, I took care of that for you,
Ellie (Babetto Bornello): Yeah. Thank you.
Dan (Tristen Barrett): um, I hope I didn't hit him too hard.
Ellie (Babetto Bornello): I don't think so.
Dan (Tristen Barrett): Well, okay. So
Ellie (Babetto Bornello): I really doubt you hit Clayton too hard. She looks at his arms. Clayton, you know, Clayton. I don't –
Dan (Tristen Barrett): I mean, sorry, Daddy? here. what? Daddy?
Ellie (Babetto Bornello): Sorry, Daddy? No, your daddy is dead...
Dan (Tristen Barrett): Yeah, dead. No, my father is dead. My daddy lives and breathes and --
Ellie (Babetto Bornello): at the top of this. Well, Okay, great. Well, and then we'll go check out the rotted barricade,
Dan (Tristen Barrett): Yeah, let me squeeze on through,
Ellie (Babetto Bornello): and if there's no rabid raccoon back there, I think we can call this mystery solved. Another one
solved by the dynamic duo. We're just not going to think about the portal portal.
Dan (Tristen Barrett): Tristen and Babs! And B! B T
Ellie (Babetto Bornello): Yeah. And also is anyone concerned that we will no longer have a source of water in the town. anymore?
Dan (Tristen Barrett): I'm sure there's another well,
Ellie (Babetto Bornello): Probably. Is there, is there another well
Timothy (DM): there's a backup well for when critters fall into a, well, you kind of have to give it some cool off period.
Ellie (Babetto Bornello): Okay, perfect. great. I hope that one doesn't have a mysterious portal underneath it. Otherwise we're really in trouble.
Dan (Tristen Barrett): Yeah.
Timothy (DM): Yeah.
Ellie (Babetto Bornello): All right.
Dan (Tristen Barrett): Okay. So yeah. Well go back to the barricade and squeeze on through. Try not to disturb anything though. So we'll shimmy on through the barricade. Yeah.
Ellie (Babetto Bornello): Would you like to go first or should I
Dan (Tristen Barrett): Uh, I'll go first. You know–
Ellie (Babetto Bornello): you're so brave,
Dan (Tristen Barrett): so brave, and manly– I’m not brave.
Ellie (Babetto Bornello): strong man. And I–.
Dan (Tristen Barrett): We both know that's not true.
Ellie (Babetto Bornello): But I pat you on the back anyway.
Timothy (DM): All right, so you squeeze on through, um, it's a short, narrow pathway before it opens up into another section of caverns. Uh, this sealed off area is damp and full of cobwebs. A musty odor fills the air and you see old crates of decomposed matters. Sitting collapsed in the corner.
Dan (Tristen Barrett): That was great. Seems this,
Ellie (Babetto Bornello): Uh, well, do you think anything in those crates could cause black blisters?
Dan (Tristen Barrett): I mean, it could, but it would have to have made it all the way to the base of the, well, uh, we could check it out anyways.
Ellie (Babetto Bornello): That's true. Yeah. Let's take a look.
Dan (Tristen Barrett): Cautiously, cautiously, take a look.
Ellie (Babetto Bornello): it with my walking stick. Like,
Timothy (DM): Yeah. So you start poking through the rubble. Uh, the wood has decayed, the boxes have kind of collapsed. see bits and of tattered kind of broken down fabrics, um, random sorts of utensils and tools and kind of broken down fibers, decaying, wood, figurines, and boxes, and just like all sorts of odd, but mundane looking things that have kind of been taken by time.
Ellie (Babetto Bornello): Well, you're the doctor, but none of this is looking suspicious to me.
Dan (Tristen Barrett): No, just commonplace things. How that got here is a great question, but I don't think it's too important to answer that right now.
Ellie (Babetto Bornello): Yeah. I guess we can think about it once. We're safe at home with a nice cup of tea in our hands.
Dan (Tristen Barrett): definitely. I will take you up on that team once we're, once we're back
Ellie (Babetto Bornello): I'm so glad I made a special mug. I put little blue flowers on it for you.
Dan (Tristen Barrett): Oh, did you do that? Like between
Ellie (Babetto Bornello): I've been working on it for a little while. I've been working, but it was supposed to be a surprise.
Dan (Tristen Barrett): Oh, wow. Thank you. That sounds very nice.
Ellie (Babetto Bornello): You're so welcome. I figured that Crickets has his special mugs, but they're Cricket’s mugs, You know? And you should have your own special.
Dan (Tristen Barrett): My hand doesn't quite fit the same way his bird hand does.
Ellie (Babetto Bornello): Yeah. It's complicated. Right? I had to go through a couple iterations of those handles to get them right for him.
Dan (Tristen Barrett): Yeah. Well,
Ellie (Babetto Bornello): Yeah.
Dan (Tristen Barrett): anyway, so
Ellie (Babetto Bornello): anyways.
Timothy (DM): Anyways, on the far end of the room, you do see that a small passageway leads deeper into the cavern.
Ellie (Babetto Bornello): Well, we come.
Dan (Tristen Barrett): yeah, that's, let's hope it's just a
Ellie (Babetto Bornello): I hope so too. I want to forget all about that black pseudopod.
Dan (Tristen Barrett): you're going to be both
Timothy (DM): Alright,
Ellie (Babetto Bornello): We head in.
Timothy (DM): So you press into the narrow tunnel, uh, which goes on just for a little ways before opening up into yet another chamber, several rows of headstones fill the section of the cavern chamber. You see wax candles and rubble littering the ground.
Dan (Tristen Barrett): what I expected to find, um, can I inspect the headstones? And I imagine graves beneath said headstones, um, are all of the graves full?
Timothy (DM): Uh, there are no holes in the ground. If that's what you're asking. Um, All of the headstones are in place. The ground beneath them seems relatively undisturbed. They're all coated in a thick layer of dust and cobwebs.
Ellie (Babetto Bornello): Did they, did they say anything on them? Can we see? What, do we have to clean them off?
Timothy (DM): Yeah. So you can wipe away the dust and you can read some of the names start looking at the dates and they are a thousand years prior.
Dan (Tristen Barrett): Oh,
Timothy (DM): And then underneath every single one of them, you see the words, "We welcome the void".
Ellie (Babetto Bornello): The void again? yeah.
Dan (Tristen Barrett): It's a running theme for these, whoever these people were, nothing else still catches the eye, no raccoons or other blobby things on the ceiling.
Timothy (DM): Everything else here seems relatively in place besides the graves
Dan (Tristen Barrett): Yeah.
Timothy (DM): underground.
Ellie (Babetto Bornello): Well well, there was no way Walter made it all the way back here with his leg like that.
Dan (Tristen Barrett): no, I think it had to have been that slime creature,
Ellie (Babetto Bornello): the slime creature, which
Dan (Tristen Barrett): we took care of in a professional and, uh,
Ellie (Babetto Bornello): efficient.
Dan (Tristen Barrett): efficient way. Right. You know, it's all to tell everybody. Right.
Ellie (Babetto Bornello): I think we did a great job Clayton didn't that's for sure.
Dan (Tristen Barrett): Yeah. But he's he had other, he's got other stuff going on. Yeah. So I think that's, we won't tell for buddy about that.
Ellie (Babetto Bornello): Oh yeah, my lips are sealed– class. I would never tell anybody.
Timothy (DM): yeah, sure.
Dan (Tristen Barrett): uh, all
Ellie (Babetto Bornello): right. Well, let's head outta here. I get, get our ride up to the surface and tell everybody that we solve the black Boyle problem. I mean, while we can't
Dan (Tristen Barrett): well, yeah,
Ellie (Babetto Bornello): we didn't tell them that there was a black boy problem.
Dan (Tristen Barrett): let's go check with Crickets and see what he thinks is best.
Ellie (Babetto Bornello): Yeah. You got that little sample of the fella, So
Dan (Tristen Barrett): So hopefully we can make some kind of hand to dote.
Ellie (Babetto Bornello): Yeah. And, uh, you know, upon to the void as we drift off to sleep every night,
Dan (Tristen Barrett): Yeah. In the, is there anything that we can grab from like the decaying boxes that like would be like a trinket, like a old plate or something that isn't rotting away fully a fork, like a
Timothy (DM): Um, so there aren't houseware types of things. There are like odd utensils things like tools and stuff like that. but they're rather strange.
Dan (Tristen Barrett): oh, grab like a handful of them that are like either rotting or rusting or things like that. If there are any,
Ellie (Babetto Bornello): Yeah.
Timothy (DM): There's a couple relatively intact things.
Dan (Tristen Barrett): okay.
Timothy (DM): All right.
Dan (Tristen Barrett): Keepsake. Just little keepsake.
Timothy (DM): All right. Uh, and then you make your way out of the, well,
Ellie (Babetto Bornello): Yeah. Is the rope still
Timothy (DM): the rope is still
Ellie (Babetto Bornello): there. We yell up to claim
Timothy (DM): You climb on up. Um, Clayton is still sitting at the top of the, well, you help him back to Crickets. Um, you have a conversation with Crickets and. He takes the sample from you and examines it. It is unable to tell you what it is. And he kind of spends the rest of the day, trying to figure out how to tend to Walter. Eventually Walter's broken leg heals. The days go by and time continues on most everything returns to normal.
Ellie (Babetto Bornello): How's Clinton doing
Dan (Tristen Barrett): Out of the boils as well.
Timothy (DM): No, no, no, you're fine. Um, Clayton never really seems the same. Always aloof, often lost in thought and confused. You see him wandering at odd hours and then so does Walter. The two of them were the first but other than that, it really wasn't that noticeable, at first. The change. The children played as they always did. And they tried to include Walter. They really did, but all of his desire was gone and all that was left was a blank emotionless stare
Ellie (Babetto Bornello): Oh boy, the boy.
Timothy (DM): it wasn't until everything fell silent. That the people in the town realized something had gone terribly wrong. No longer were the days of children's laughter, of freshly picked flowers in the window sills, little gifts from the land nearby. Left on the porch step, the corn husk dolls unattended, and the limbs of the old Oak, bare of small persons hanging from the branches. No. As each day passed, one more child would have succumbed to the same blank stare.
It was one particularly quiet day, Tristen, that you heard or rapping upon Crickets door.
Dan (Tristen Barrett): Um, I will put down my Memorial plate that I had been eating from, um, and my, uh, blue flower mug or teacup. It's a mock. Okay. Um, and head over to the door. Is Cricket here, upstairs, maybe asleep, something like that.
Timothy (DM): Yeah. Cricket is upstairs. I'm taking a nap.
Dan (Tristen Barrett): Perfect. Uh, I'll stand at the door.
Timothy (DM): You answered the door and you see two people. You see Melanie frantic and you see Babs who she passed along the way. Babs, confused and unable to explain what Melanie is going on about. Uh, she bolts into the.
Ellie (Babetto Bornello): room.
Timothy (DM): And just starts uttering, semi coherent nonsense. Uh, she's worried about her daughter, Vivian just took her out to the woods. It looked right back at me, right through me. I saw the truth, Vivian. She showed me things, the children. I know it. I know what's happened to them. You, you, you must come at once. Where is Crickets?
Dan (Tristen Barrett): Crickets,
Ellie (Babetto Bornello): Crickets, hello,
Dan (Tristen Barrett): Crickets, Crickets, upstairs. What's going on? What's going on?
Ellie (Babetto Bornello): You know, as much as I do, sweetheart,
Timothy (DM): We must have Cricket. I must, I must show him in the woods. He must see right this instant.
Dan (Tristen Barrett): I'll go and I'll report back to him.
Timothy (DM): No, no, it must be Cricket.
Ellie (Babetto Bornello): Okay.
Dan (Tristen Barrett): It's going to be like an hour before you can get up, get ready and be out.
Timothy (DM): Go get him, go get him. I must show him. I know it's wrong and only he can help us.
Dan (Tristen Barrett): Okay. All right. All right. All right, Babs, can you make them a couple, make her a cup, make Melanie a cup of tea. If you don't
Ellie (Babetto Bornello): Yeah, of course. Sweet hot sit down. I have. I'm going to tell you a story about the funniest thing that your husband did the other day
Timothy (DM): she begins pacing the room back and forth and back and forth and back and forth and back and forth scratching at her forearms, pulling at her hair, twirling it in her fingers. Her eyes are darting around the room.
Ellie (Babetto Bornello): Okay. Babs is going to abandon the cup of tea. and is going to like, kind of hold her hands and say, you know, when I was a kid, I had the cleverest little pigeon named Otis and he had the softest little mother. She's just going to tell a very like light, fluffy nonsensical story while holding Melanie's hands so that she stops scratching at herself and trying to like, keep her calm.
Timothy (DM): yeah. Um, give me a persuasion check.
Ellie (Babetto Bornello): a six
Timothy (DM): All right. Nothing you do seems to be helping.
Ellie (Babetto Bornello): That's fair.
Timothy (DM): She seems continually on edge. Uh, her pacing continues. Her scratching continues. Uh, she's utterly frantic.
Dan (Tristen Barrett): um, yeah, I'll bound up the stairs and go gently wake, um, Crickets up
Ellie (Babetto Bornello): Gently.
Timothy (DM): Oh, oh, Tristen, uh, is something road.
Dan (Tristen Barrett): Um, yes. Uh, Melanie just arrived saying that she knows what's happening to the children. Um, and is demanding that you come to the forest to see what's going on.
Timothy (DM): Um, in that case go Vich me, my cloak over there. I must go at once.
Dan (Tristen Barrett): Yeah. I'll prep. I'll prep him to leave, get his shoes, tie them,
Ellie (Babetto Bornello): he have
Dan (Tristen Barrett): cloak on. Oh, I get, probably not, if he's
Timothy (DM): No, he doesn't wear shoes.
Dan (Tristen Barrett): just kidding, don't get his shoes.
Timothy (DM): Um, so you grabbed his cloak, he throws it on over him. Um, and you help him down the stairs. Um, he sees Melanie frantic, uh, and immediately just goes over to her and kind of grabs her. Um, and has her lead him out towards the forest? The two of them leave
Ellie (Babetto Bornello): or we're going to follow? Oh yeah. Oh, for sure.
Dan (Tristen Barrett): give a look to Babs and nod. Be like, yeah.
Ellie (Babetto Bornello): Well, we both follow them.
Dan (Tristen Barrett): Um, Tristen has since purchased a dagger and brings it.
Ellie (Babetto Bornello): Uh, Babs is not wearing her chain mail shirt. because this was all very sudden, but she does have her utility knife. I've had a walking stick.
Timothy (DM): So as you begin to follow, the two of them out the door, Melanie stops dead in her tracks, turns around at you with the most like direct stare that you've seen since she's entered the cottage. And she says, no, only Cricket,
Ellie (Babetto Bornello): Sure. Yeah. Only Cricket. Oh, you got it. Mel. You got it. Cricket? you, kids have fun.
Dan (Tristen Barrett): you want me to come with
Timothy (Crickets): Uh, no, you, you two. You can stay here. It should only be a moment that she's probably just a bit distraught after. Well, that's been going on,
Ellie (Babetto Bornello): okay.
Dan (Tristen Barrett): Yeah, we'll be here. Um,
Ellie (Babetto Bornello): I would like to stop only. We follow them please.
Dan (Tristen Barrett): I'm interested in will, um, because this is very odd and very sus um, Tristen's also gonna run back inside and grab his bow and quiver.
Timothy (DM): All right.
Ellie (Babetto Bornello): Babs is going to use her eavesdropping skills and sneakily follow them.
Dan (Tristen Barrett): yeah, I'll catch up with Babs,
Timothy (DM): All right. Um, so they continue off towards the woods and you follow closely behind and that's when you see Melanie's husband
Ellie (Babetto Bornello): Oh my God.
Dan (Tristen Barrett): If he's got an axe–.
Timothy (DM): coming towards you
Dan (Tristen Barrett): oh, towards us? Yeah. Okay.
Ellie (Babetto Bornello): Adam,
Dan (Tristen Barrett): natural. Yeah. Adam.
Ellie (Babetto Bornello): Um,
Timothy (DM): you say hello to Adam and he continues coming towards you and just says,
Timothy (Adam): Hello, have you seen my wife?
Dan (Tristen Barrett): Yes.
Timothy (DM): 25 feet to his right at this time.
Ellie (Babetto Bornello): he would obviously be able to see her. Yeah.
Timothy (Adam): I am looking for my wife.
Dan (Tristen Barrett): Yes, she's right over there. I point—
Ellie (Babetto Bornello): she got a new haircut recently, I know it looks great though.
Timothy (Adam): Oh, that is my wife. As he continues to get closer to you
Dan (Tristen Barrett): like how close? Like inches close.
Timothy (DM): now he's maybe five feet away.
Dan (Tristen Barrett): Okay.
Ellie (Babetto Bornello): Yeah. That's your wife, right over there. She's uh, she's with Crickets. So–
Dan (Tristen Barrett): And we're so busy that we should, we should, we should go.
Ellie (Babetto Bornello): I'm so sorry. We're like right in the middle of something smack dab in the middle of something
Timothy (DM): roll initiative.
Ellie (Babetto Bornello): Oh boy. Oh, good initiative for what it's fucking worth, I guess.
Dan (Tristen Barrett): uh, let's see. Okay.
Ellie (Babetto Bornello): Oh, I always thought Adam was such a nice guy too.
Dan (Tristen Barrett): What is that total?
Ellie (Babetto Bornello): 21.
Timothy (DM): And Adam has– a 12
Dan (Tristen Barrett): anybody else?
Timothy (DM): Nope, that's it.
Dan (Tristen Barrett): Poor Clayton. Poor daddy Clayton.
Ellie (Babetto Bornello): Poor, poor sweet daddy, Clayton, a gentle giant.
Timothy (DM): Um, and as he gets closer, that is when you notice the frying pan in his hand, dripping with blood,
Dan (Tristen Barrett): oh, no. Do we like Adam? Do we like Adam?
Timothy (DM): he goes to swing at you.
Ellie (Babetto Bornello): Oh, not anymore, you don't?
Timothy (DM): Babs. What do you do?
Ellie (Babetto Bornello): Um, I am going to, well, Oh, boy, I'm going to–Chastise Adam. Uh, uh, say now don't you go swinging that frying pan at sweet young Tristen. He's smaller, weaker than you. And you know it, and as I say this, I am going to uh, grab a Tristen and sort of push him behind me, and in metta, I am casting a sanctuary on him.
Timothy (DM): All right.
Ellie (Babetto Bornello): Uh, so, uh, until the spell ends, any creature who targets the warded creature must first make a wisdom save. On a failure The attacker has to choose a new target or lose their attacker spell. right.
Timothy (DM): making that wisdom save... Uh, they are going to fail with a two. Okay. So they redirect to their attack towards you, Babs?
Ellie (Babetto Bornello): but aren't we, or did they get a surprise round? Is that what this is?
Timothy (DM): this is just, they're redirecting their direction. This is not their turn
Ellie (Babetto Bornello): Got it. Got it. Okay. Got it. Yes.
Timothy (DM): All right, Tristen, what are you doing?
Dan (Tristen Barrett): I'm torn because I could kill this man,
Ellie (Babetto Bornello): but it's Adam,
Dan (Tristen Barrett): it's Adam. Um, so I'd like to do non-lethal damage. Um, but if his attention is on Babs. I'd like to like sneak behind none of this sneak behind, but run behind him and attack him from the back. So–
Ellie (Babetto Bornello): Oh, just FYI. If the word creature makes it a tacker cast dispelled, it affects the enemy creature, the spell.
Dan (Tristen Barrett): Oh. So if I do that,
Ellie (Babetto Bornello): I mean, don't let that stop you But like, cause I guess you don't know that. in real life or in like the opposite really.
Dan (Tristen Barrett): So
Timothy (DM): you are flanking, so you have advantage
Dan (Tristen Barrett): okay. Not like, it didn't mean much, but that's a 13 to hit.
Timothy (DM): 13 will be sufficient.
Dan (Tristen Barrett): Okay.
Ellie (Babetto Bornello): Just a dude.
Timothy (DM): Yeah. He's just a dude.
Dan (Tristen Barrett): Um,
Timothy (DM): just Adam.
Ellie (Babetto Bornello): not even the guy, he's out of just a dude.
Dan (Tristen Barrett): Um, so I will attack with my dagger. Um, and I'm going to go
Timothy (DM): not only fully,
Dan (Tristen Barrett): a, non-lethal talking to my dad was like, go for like the shoulder or something, just like swing down into the shoulder.
that is
eight piercing damage.
Timothy (DM): that's enough. You drop him to the ground. He crumbles and pain in agony
Dan (Tristen Barrett): Um, I'll do a quick,
Timothy (DM): incapacitated.
Dan (Tristen Barrett): okay. Gotcha.
Ellie (Babetto Bornello): Wow.
Dan (Tristen Barrett): Okay. Didn't expect that. Um,
Ellie (Babetto Bornello): yeah. As he drops, Babs is just like looking at, your Tristen like, wow.
Dan (Tristen Barrett): Um, I will do like a really like super quick, like maybe just a few seconds of like wrapping the wound that I created. And so like has pressure on him so he doesn't bleed out. Um, but we need to Hightail it after Melanie and Crickets.
Ellie (Babetto Bornello): Yeah. Cause if Melanie pulls that stunt on Crickets that he just pulled on us, Crickets,
Timothy (DM): Yeah.
Ellie (Babetto Bornello): Crickets is basically like, oh, the verge of death at any given moment.
Timothy (DM): um, so you see Melanie and Crickets are maybe another 25 feet away. So at this point they're like 75 feet. You start running at them.
Dan (Tristen Barrett): and are we being quiet?
Ellie (Babetto Bornello): W we, are we sneaky or what? You just like, I think we should keep sneaky.
Dan (Tristen Barrett): Okay. Cause I do want to know what's
Ellie (Babetto Bornello): Yeah. but be ready. LikeIf she
Dan (Tristen Barrett): bow arrow?
Ellie (Babetto Bornello): right. Yeah. Oh Yeah. Oh, ranged good. Like have her like, inline if she pulls anything.
Timothy (DM): All right. So you have that like kind of crouched, brisk, sweeping motion to
your run.
Dan (Tristen Barrett): In the tall grasses. Naruto run, probably arms back,
Ellie (Babetto Bornello): we've been practicing our maneuvers, our formations.
Timothy (DM): the duo. Um, alright, so you are briskly making your way kind of probably charging mechanically towards them. Um, so it's like 60 feet per turn. They're walking briskly. So they're probably moving about 30 feet per turn. Um, so in just like a matter of 10, 15 seconds, you do catch up to them as they are getting to the edge of the forest and you continue to follow them now at pace
Dan (Tristen Barrett): Gotcha. She doesn't have like a pot or a pan on her. Does she?
Timothy (DM): you give me an investigation check or perception.
Dan (Tristen Barrett): Uh, that is a 14,
Timothy (DM): Okay. Uh, you don't notice any, um, kitchen utensils on her.
Dan (Tristen Barrett): Okay. Perfect.
Timothy (DM): and she leads Crickets into the forest.
Ellie (Babetto Bornello): Oh, we keep following.
Dan (Tristen Barrett): Turning between trades
Timothy (DM): clambering over logs, pushing past brush, she's again, pushing forward as quickly as Crickets can manage.
Ellie (Babetto Bornello): Which is about how fast
Dan (Tristen Barrett): like 10 feet around, especially in difficult terrain.
Ellie (Babetto Bornello): Yeah,
Timothy (DM): Yeah, so they keep pushing into it. And from a distance you hear, um, her frantically talking again, pointing off towards a direction. And so you see Crickets starts to head that direction.
Dan (Tristen Barrett): her.
Ellie (Babetto Bornello): Is she also going that direction with him?
Timothy (DM): She's following behind him. When you see she jumps on his back.
Dan (Tristen Barrett): I am going to, I'm going to put her in and put a, put an arrow winner. Sorry, Melanie.
Ellie (Babetto Bornello): Not personal.
Timothy (DM): All right. Roll for initiative again.
And that is where we will put a pause on today's story. Thank you all for joining us for a plunge into the abyss. I hope you all enjoyed this episode of Shadows of Prophecy. Join us next time to find out what becomes of our unfortunate players in this most dreadful act.
Shout out to my brother known as the chill, electronic vapor soul artists, LUSQ for writing our chillingly epic theme song.
Editing by Scrubcast, and a big shout out to Sirenscape for some amazing atmosphere and music. Make sure you check them out at sirenscape.com. I always use them at my game table and it adds that little something special to bring your players into the story.
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