Call to the Void Part III
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
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.
Ellie (Babetto Bornello): Oooh, not good this time.
Dan (Tristen Barrett): got an 18. pretty good,
Ellie (Babetto Bornello): But do you think, well, I don't know, like, cause you already had your arrow like trained on her as we were going though. Right?
Dan (Tristen Barrett): yeah. I mean, kind of
Ellie (Babetto Bornello): I got a four
Dan (Tristen Barrett): what did she get?
Timothy (DM): Uh, she got a 12 and Cricket's got a 10.
Ellie (Babetto Bornello): Crickets in combat. Oh boy. okay. Correct.
Dan (Tristen Barrett): Babs for seven
Ellie (Babetto Bornello): Yeah.
Timothy (DM): All right, Justin, you loose an arrow at her?
Dan (Tristen Barrett): Now, because I'm hidden. I know we didn't technically roll for stealth, but she doesn't know. See me there. Do I get advantage or no?
Timothy (DM): Uh, yeah, you have advantage.
Dan (Tristen Barrett): Um, I will try to not kill her, but it's not a priority.
Timothy (DM): Okay.
Dan (Tristen Barrett): That's a nine.
Ellie (Babetto Bornello): to him.
Timothy (DM): Uh, nine does not hit
Ellie (Babetto Bornello): no. Um,
Dan (Tristen Barrett): then I'll go ahead and just use my, is he already on top of him, I guess at this
Timothy (DM): Yeah, she is on his back. Her arms are around his neck.
Dan (Tristen Barrett): Gotcha. Um, I'm going to, I will then with my movement run forward and like begin to try and pull her off, like grab onto her and pull her. I don't know if I could do that as a bonus action, but I could always wait until next term, but that's the plan.
Timothy (DM): All right. So you run up and you try to, you grab onto her and you start pulling on the next turn. I'll have you make contested strengths if she's still there.
Dan (Tristen Barrett): Okay.
Timothy (DM): All right.
Ellie (Babetto Bornello): up is melody.
Timothy (DM): Uh, so, so she is actually going to make contested, uh, strength now.
Dan (Tristen Barrett): 18.
Timothy (DM): Uh, she got a two, um, so she tries to squeeze her grip around Cricket's neck and you pull her off. She is flung to the ground prone and she scrambles back up. Now turning her attention to you. Make an intelligent saving throw
Dan (Tristen Barrett): intelligent. What skews? Uh, 19,
Timothy (DM): 19. She turns towards you. Her mouth opens a gate and a noise implants itself in your mind.
Dan (Tristen Barrett): what? Where does it come from?
Timothy (DM): like staticky, warbly, incoherent whispering, but you shake it off. And the sound subsides,
Dan (Tristen Barrett): Does it come from her or does it come from my head?
Timothy (DM): it's hard to tell it doesn't sound like noise traveling from her direction, but based on your deductive reasoning, it looks like it's coming from her, but the sound and the vision are disjointed. Uh, Crickets turns around now and stumbles backwards, uh, catching himself before tumbling over a log
Dan (Tristen Barrett): That's good. Cause that could have killed him.
Ellie (Babetto Bornello): He's so close to death.
Timothy (DM): and Babs, what are you doing?
Ellie (Babetto Bornello): Great. Um, you know, I never liked melody, I always thought she had a little bit of an attitude, so
I'm gonna run
off and try and stick a knife in her neck, I'm going to unshare my little,
Dan (Tristen Barrett): beating people with a
Ellie (Babetto Bornello): my utility knife. And uh, she's like, Aw. or she got up and she's facing, trusted. I'm going to try and come up behind her and just like, well, I guess maybe her neck is too high for me to reach. I'm going to try and get it in her side, like right in between the ribs. Yeah. Uh, cause you know what she was mean to me once or something, you know, she made a comment about my hair that sounded like she was complimenting, me, but the way she said it made me think it was like a backhanded compliment and she was lying and I've nurtured that for –
Dan (Tristen Barrett): your bank.
Ellie (Babetto Bornello): Oh, Melanie. Wow. Thanks.
Dan (Tristen Barrett): God. Your bangs. They're so unique.
Ellie (Babetto Bornello): Oh, wow.
Timothy (DM): Oh my goodness.
Ellie (Babetto Bornello): I, uh, they, yeah, so she's nurtured that forever and now she just did, a dirty 20 to hit.
Timothy (DM): Okay. That's going to hit Melanie.
Ellie (Babetto Bornello): So that is okay. Min damage that's two points piercing damage.
Timothy (DM): All right. Um, so you are able
Ellie (Babetto Bornello): the rubs and says, yeah,
Timothy (DM): her on the side, um, and you get a decent cut across her rib cage. Justin you've just pulled her off of Crickets who stumbled backwards. Babs has jammed a dagger into her
Ellie (Babetto Bornello): Well, it's a utility knife.
Timothy (DM): utility knife into her side
Dan (Tristen Barrett): um, yeah, as she's like distracted by, um, being stabbed, I'll stab her, uh, that is a 23 to hit. Does that
Timothy (DM): Yeah, that hits,
Dan (Tristen Barrett): a commoner.
Ellie (Babetto Bornello): Oh,
Dan (Tristen Barrett): And I guess I'll try and do non-lethal damage again, but I'm starting to question this choice. Okay. That's nine. Oh yeah. Nine piercing damage,
Ellie (Babetto Bornello): Is there a
Hippocratic oath in this world?
Timothy (DM): All right. See you in capacitate, Melanie as well now.
Dan (Tristen Barrett): Gotcha. I'll stabiliz her.
Ellie (Babetto Bornello): Wow. You're nicer
Dan (Tristen Barrett): so she doesn't die.
Timothy (DM): All–
Dan (Tristen Barrett): we're also still going to leave her in the woods.
Ellie (Babetto Bornello): That's true. So
Timothy (DM): Uh, give me a medicine check as you go to stabilize her.
Dan (Tristen Barrett): That is a 15.
Timothy (DM): All right. So she is knocked out and she has two pretty bad wounds. Um, you start to, uh, wrap her wounds and apply pressure, as you noticed, they're not bleeding out.
Dan (Tristen Barrett): not bleeding at
Timothy (DM): And the irises of her eyes are drained of color.
Dan (Tristen Barrett): Oh,
Timothy (DM): You feel her skin and it's cold to the touch.
Dan (Tristen Barrett): Does she have a pulse?
Timothy (DM): You place your two fingers on the base of her skull meets her neck and feel for a pulse, nothing beats
Dan (Tristen Barrett): I, I think she was dead before us.
Ellie (Babetto Bornello): Oh, well we don't have to feel bad about it.
Dan (Tristen Barrett): Yeah. Well, I guess not, um, Crickets, um,
Ellie (Babetto Bornello): oh yeah. How's Crickets.
Dan (Tristen Barrett): she's cold. She shouldn't be cold already.
Timothy (Crickets): she's what,
Dan (Tristen Barrett): She's dead. She's been dead. She done been dead.
Timothy (Crickets): how can that be?
Ellie (Babetto Bornello): I
Dan (Tristen Barrett): know was the same thing similar for, um, Adam,
because I very quickly
Timothy (DM): Yeah. As you're recalling the process of bandaging, Adam, you're realizing you didn't notice any blood there either.
Dan (Tristen Barrett): Oh, I think the same for Adam.
Ellie (Babetto Bornello): Oh, you big w for going around bandaging corpses. Now that's not in here.
Dan (Tristen Barrett): Um,
Ellie (Babetto Bornello): believe Cricket, like was walking with her for like 20 minutes. And didn't notice that she was not actually alive.
Dan (Tristen Barrett): she seemed alive when she burst in
Ellie (Babetto Bornello): I thought so too.
Timothy (Crickets): She was so animated. What, what is come over this towel? I feel that it is worse than what I suspected.
Dan (Tristen Barrett): um, yeah,
Ellie (Babetto Bornello): Yeah. You could say that again, Crickets. Well, let's go home and have a nice soothing cup of tea and think about what we do next. And maybe we don't let anybody
Dan (Tristen Barrett): …in, right.
Ellie (Babetto Bornello): for a little bit.
Timothy (Crickets): I, I must go see the children. I must check on them. This started with them. I
Dan (Tristen Barrett): Um, what, I know if there's anything in the direction that she pointed him, is there anything actually in that direction
Timothy (DM): Uh, you look out into the forest and the direction that she had pointed, um, and you make a perception check.
Dan (Tristen Barrett): uh, 12
Timothy (DM): All right. Uh, you look out into the forest in that direction and you don't notice anything out of the ordinary. You see trees, you see undergrowth, felled logs, mushrooms.
Dan (Tristen Barrett): um, let's take, yeah, let's take Cricket back home. We will lead Crickets back home.
Ellie (Babetto Bornello): Crickets, sweetheart. I think, I think the children was a lieto get you into the–
Timothy (Crickets): But whatever this is, fear it spread from wall, turn affected the children first that would explain the silence and the blank expressions. I haven't noticed anything else the matter with them, which is why I am left. So confused. They all had pulses and warmed the toge.
Dan (Tristen Barrett): Um, I not sure what to tell you. Crickets. Um, Crickets
Ellie (Babetto Bornello): Crickets you're the expert, but you've had an awful fright. I think we could all do with a little bit of a sit down, but if you want to go see the children, then Trista, NAI will come take you to the children. Do you want me to call my daughter? She could bring the kids over. She could bring Macy and Tracy over to say hi to you.
Timothy (Crickets): Yes. Why don't you bring Macy and Tracy over, I will go get my kit from the house.
Ellie (Babetto Bornello): All right. Great. That's great, Tristen. Okay. Well, I'll see you at my place.
Dan (Tristen Barrett): sounds good. I will, I will walk, um, Crickets home and we'll come over after.
Ellie (Babetto Bornello): So do all the children– like Macy and Tracy also become out of it in this specific way?
Timothy (DM): Yeah, pretty much every child at this point has succumbed to this strange phenomena. Um, the whole town has been on edge for weeks. Everybody is confused and distraught and are really just making do with whatever they can. Um, letters have been sent to neighboring towns to ask for assistance. Uh, Cricket has been reaching out to colleagues, um, of this unknown illness and all roads have turned up empty.
Ellie (Babetto Bornello): Hmm. All right. Yeah. So we'll uh, yeah, Babs we'll have, uh, her daughter bring over her grandkids may see, and Tracy who are sort of also zoned out of it and she'll set up a little like spot for everybody at the table, Got a little like spot set out a plate of apple slices and peanut butter, which goes untouched by the grandkids perhaps. And, uh, it's like fussing around making tea for everybody she's tucking, like putting a hat on their head and then taking it off. Fretfully like trying to engage them.
Dan (Tristen Barrett): and we'll show up once we've gathered, uh, Crickets things.
Timothy (DM): All right. Um, so you are all over at Babs house Crickets starts to pull out his equipment and examine the two children who sit emotionless and silent throughout the process. You see, he pulls out his stethoscope and listens for a heartbeat. Calmly looks into their ears, into their eyes. Let out a deep sigh.
Timothy (Crickets): It appears that the children are otherwise fine.
Ellie (Babetto Bornello): Babs and her daughter have been like a black Friday warrior watching all this happen and they just let out a big exhale. Well, it's not as bad as it could be then
Timothy (Crickets): That is true.
Ellie (Babetto Bornello): We'll uh, we'll keep our chins up, try and find their new favorite food.
Timothy Crickets): Yes. Maybe something will break this illness yet. Bring them back to us. I will continue to reach out to colleagues, but unfortunately my search has since come up and buddy, and we seem to be on our own.
Ellie (Babetto Bornello): When you say children, is there like an age cutoff? Is there like a clearly delineated? Like,
Dan (Tristen Barrett): I mean, cause it also affected adults, obviously like
Timothy (DM): Yeah. So it's a little vague. Um, give me an insight check.
Dan (Tristen Barrett): nine
Ellie (Babetto Bornello): 11.
Timothy (DM): So you haven't noticed any distinct age cutoff. You have noticed that, um, throughout. All of this is happening. It seemed to spread through groups of children that were a little bit closer.
Ellie (Babetto Bornello): Oh, like by playing together and stuff. So it's contagious. Hmm. Well, we'll just keep our chins up.
Dan (Tristen Barrett): Yeah, we're surprisingly unaffected. Um, though some adults are. Has the Well been since sealed?
Timothy (DM): the well has been since sealed and no longer draws water.
Dan (Tristen Barrett): Gotcha.
Timothy (DM): Um, and with the events taking place in the town, uh, people have very much decided to avoid it altogether. Uh, there is a large birth given to the well as people, uh, cross through town.
Ellie (Babetto Bornello): Well, well, well, well maybe, maybe we just need to get, get the kids away. You know, what, if we, what if we she's like talking to her daughter now? What if we just took, took them on a little trip over to, you know, over to like another town, get, let them get a breath of fresh air, let them see other kids their own age, you know, maybe it's being near the well that's making them, you know, unsettled it's unsettling as what it is. It's –
Timothy (Lyla): no, I think you're right. I, I, I think we need to leave. I can't imagine staying here any longer.
Ellie (Babetto Bornello): Oh, Babs looks, uh, sort of like sadly around at her home. Well,
Timothy (Lyla): I, uh, we, we, we do have an aunt and a next town over
Ellie (Babetto Bornello): That's true. My sister, Amaranth, they,
Timothy (Lyla): yes. Amaranth. Then maybe she'll take us in.
Ellie (Babetto Bornello): oh, I'm sure. You know, she would love to see the kids. It's been ages since she came to their, you know, birth. Why don't you go? You go see amaranth there. I'm going to, I'm going to give you
a little package for her before you go with some lettuce and stuff and, and you take the kids and it will be good for them to be away for a little while.
It'll shake them out of this funk. I'm sure.
Timothy (Lyla): Yeah, sure. Uh, I'll go on over, um, pack ups and things and we'll head out this afternoon.
Ellie (Babetto Bornello): good. Sweet heart. sounds good.
Timothy (DM): All right. So she gathers up her children,
Ellie (Babetto Bornello): By may see by Tracy, say hello, Tia off for me. Remind her that I was born. first by
Timothy (DM): They kind of turn towards you as you're talking to them,
Ellie (Babetto Bornello): She pinches their little cheeks.
Timothy (DM): they make no signs of affection
Ellie (Babetto Bornello): Ha
Timothy (DM): and then they follow their mother out.
Ellie (Babetto Bornello): kids.
Dan (Tristen Barrett): kids.
Ellie (Babetto Bornello): Well, Crickets. Those are the kids.
Timothy (Crickets): Well, that appears to be, all, we can do it for now. Uh, do keep an eye out for anything strange happening. Well, strange. It already is happening around.
Ellie (Babetto Bornello): Do you think we should check all the adults for heartbeat? Just to make sure. I mean, Melanie was so convincing.
Dan (Tristen Barrett): Yeah.
Timothy (Crickets): really was.
Dan (Tristen Barrett): Keep your wits about you though, when you do
Ellie (Babetto Bornello): Yeah. well, you to other medical professionals in the situation, but do let me know what happens. I'm very curious. If you find somebody without a heartbeat look, I'm telling you right now, I'm going to guess Chrysanthemum, no heartbeat. Look at her face. Have you seen her? lately pale as the grave.
Dan (Tristen Barrett): Um, she'll be first on the list to check that I trust your instincts.
Ellie (Babetto Bornello): Oh, thank you. People say it's because she got kicked by that cow. I don't think so.
Dan (Tristen Barrett): Oh, well, there was that. Yeah, you're right.
Ellie (Babetto Bornello): Pale is The grave. Well, that was at least three. or four days ago.
Dan (Tristen Barrett): Okay.
Ellie (Babetto Bornello): I'm so glad you trust my instincts,
Timothy (DM): Shrieks and whales begin to punctuate the silence as you hear sounds of breaking glass and fracturing word out, spread throughout town.
Dan (Tristen Barrett): Very suddenly
Timothy (DM): Very suddenly.
Dan (Tristen Barrett): screaming and,
Timothy (DM): Um,
Ellie (Babetto Bornello): the kids are, she's going to spur. How long ago did Tracy and Macy and her mom leave?
Timothy (DM): Maybe five minutes ago.
Ellie (Babetto Bornello): Oh, she's going to sprint out the door and try and. Like get them and get them back in her house. They can't have gone that far. Get back inside right now. Young lady.
Timothy (DM): So you sprint out of your home
Ellie (Babetto Bornello): Yeah.
Timothy (DM): at the edge of town, you notice several figures, slowly, edging, closer,
Ellie (Babetto Bornello): Ah,
Timothy (DM): calm and expressionless to the chaos building around you. You see windows of T of houses along the street, busting open. You hear the smashing of furniture. People start to call out, um, and scream in terror. As you look down the road and see shambling figures, littering the streets,
Ellie (Babetto Bornello): uh, do I see my kids and my grandkids? Do I see my, my
Timothy (DM): you don't see any of them nearby.
Ellie (Babetto Bornello): Well, I know which direction
their house is in, so I'm going to lean back at the door and grab my walking stick.
Ah, salute, Tristen and, uh, Crickets. Uh, tell them to, As soon as I'm gone, you drag the cast iron stove right in front of the door. Okay. Don't let anybody in here. Uh, I had charged out of the house to find my daughter and her CR my grandkids
Timothy (DM): Babs, you start running down the street towards your sister's home. I'm
Ellie (Babetto Bornello): house.
Timothy (DM): sorry, towards your daughter's home. you are seeing the shambling. Town's folk every face you recognize, you know, each of them by name, they are shambling about a couple of them. Notice you and start making their way towards you.
You're running down the street. Um, and you make it to your daughter's home. door's closed windows seem intact
Ellie (Babetto Bornello): I'm trying to come up with her name?
Did I already name her
Timothy (DM): Uh, I don't think so. You gave me Macy and Tracy.
Ellie (Babetto Bornello): Macy Tracy, but I haven't named her daughter. Um, Laila Laila? opened the door? It's your mother.
Timothy (DM): Uh, on the other side of the door, you hear someone kind of moving about you. Um, wait a moment before you hear the sound of the door handle turning and the door opens
Ellie (Babetto Bornello): Uh, great. I dash into the house and pull the door closed behind me,
Timothy (Lyla): mother, what is it? What's going on?
Ellie (Babetto Bornello): It's
a disaster is what it is. It's a disaster. Let me into the house, bar the door, get the kids. We're going to the seller.
Timothy (DM): Uh oh, right. But, but please tell me what's going on
Ellie (Babetto Bornello): Everybody's gone crazy. They they're wandering the streets. They're smashing the windows. It's like a riot out there. It's absolutely bananas.
Timothy (Lyla): mother. What are you talking about? What? Uh, what's come over. You
Ellie (Babetto Bornello): Look outside your window. No, don't look outside your window. It's dangerous.
Timothy (DM): Um, as, as you tell her not to look outside, she definitely like leans over, pulls the blind aside and looks at outside. When you, her face reaches yours again, you can see the terror. Um, as she’s seen the people outside.
Timothy (Lyla): W what is that? What is, what is going on?
Ellie (Babetto Bornello): I don't know. I don't know why you think I know, but here's what I'm telling you. I'm your mother and you are grounded unless you get the kids, get mad and get to the cellar.
Timothy (Lyla): But, but Matt's not here. No.
Ellie (Babetto Bornello): Don’t talk back,
Timothy (DM): Uh, you see, she runs on over, she grabs Macy and Tracy and just starts ushering them down into the cellar. So she pulls back the rug, she lifts up the cellar door. She offers them down and they go down into the cellar.
Ellie (Babetto Bornello): Okay, great. I am also, I'm going to make sure the doors are and locked as it can be. Um, and I'm going to join them in the cellar. As I close the trap door. I'm going to try and like kind of pull the carpet back over it. And then like, uh, you know, wedge it shut from the inside with my walking stick.
Timothy (DM): All right. So you make your way down into the cellar. Yeah. Um, there are several oil lamps that can light up. Um, if you would like, um, but you are going to, I guess, camp out, down there for a little while, right?
Ellie (Babetto Bornello): Yeah, until, yeah, probably like at least maybe 24 hours, 12 hours, ish, 24 hours. Unless something like happens.
Timothy (DM): All right. Uh, so we are going to now go back to Tristen and Crickets. Uh, Babs has just closed the door behind.
Dan (Tristen Barrett): her,
Timothy (DM): Um, and told you to bar the door with the cast iron stove.
Dan (Tristen Barrett): Um, is there either a cellar in our place or Babs’ place?
Timothy (DM): It does have a cellar,
Dan (Tristen Barrett): Gotcha. And I know where it is.
Timothy (DM): uh, give me a history check.
Dan (Tristen Barrett): 19.
Timothy (DM): All right. Um, so yeah, you've noticed, uh, the location of the seller before. Um, so it's in her dining room. There's a rug covering a door that leads down to the seller.
Dan (Tristen Barrett): Um, I am going to help Crickets down into the cellar, um, and leave him there and I'm going to close the door, uh, Crickets, uh, just, just lock this up and I'll be, I'll be back for you. I promise.
Timothy (Crickets): Tristen, please be safe.
Dan (Tristen Barrett): of course. And I'll make sure there's like a chair down there that he can, or like a bed or something that you
Ellie (Babetto Bornello): He perches. He can't sit in a regular chair.
Timothy (DM): He perches up on a random crate. Um, and seems content.
Dan (Tristen Barrett): Gotcha.
Timothy (DM): I will wait down here for you over turn.
Dan (Tristen Barrett): Um, I will toss the rug back over to the cellar door and also drag a table over it.
Timothy (DM): All right.
Dan (Tristen Barrett): and I'm going to head out the back door to try to avoid view of people, um, and see what's going on
Timothy (DM): Alright, give me a stealth check.
Ellie (Babetto Bornello): You know, now if you die, he's going to be trapped down there forever.
Dan (Tristen Barrett): I know.
Ellie (Babetto Bornello): get out.
Dan (Tristen Barrett): I'm aware. I like to think that you'll come back to your house and notice
Ellie (Babetto Bornello): Yeah, that's true.
Dan (Tristen Barrett): Babs would be like, why is there a chair? Where is there a
Ellie (Babetto Bornello): there must be some zombie down there.
Timothy (DM): Uh, all right. So what was your stealth role? All right. so you make your way out the back door of Babs house into her back garden. Um, there are hedges lining the backyard, um, and you're able to kind of duck and look out into the town. You see the chaos has been growing quickly. There are, uh, people shambling about people running about, um, doors being busted in windows being busted open. Um, and that's when you hear inside Babs house, the front windows shatter.
Dan (Tristen Barrett): Um, I will stay by the back door to see what goes down inside the house, just in case they happen to find the bar, the trap door, they seem pretty mindless.
Ellie (Babetto Bornello): lack critical thinking skills.
Dan (Tristen Barrett): Yeah.
Timothy (DM): So you peek in through the back window and you try to get a glimpse of what's going on in the house. You seem adrenal and inner have climbed in through the front window. Their eyes are pale and their movements erratic and punctuated by a sort of twitchy turn. They start tearing apart the house, uh, ripping things off the walls, pushing furniture around and they shamble room to room to room to room before they turn around and pass their way back to the windows and climb out back into the front street.
Dan (Tristen Barrett): the table that I placed on the trap door is still in place.
Timothy (DM): It is.
Dan (Tristen Barrett): Okay, cool. Then I will, like to skirt the outskirts of town, see what I can find
Timothy (DM): All right.
Dan (Tristen Barrett): so many dice.
Timothy (DM): All right. So you are able to kind of hop from backyard to backyard, uh, where in town are you trying to head?
Dan (Tristen Barrett): Um, I just kinda want to get a lay of the land is mostly what it is. So nowhere in particular, but because it's a small town, I imagine that I can pass my way through just to see, is it all shambling people, village people or is there anything else at work that I might not that we might not see initially also see if there are people who are not shambling or in trouble potentially.
Timothy (DM): Okay. Um, so give me a perception check.
Dan (Tristen Barrett): Yep. Uh, 22,
Timothy (DM): So you were able to kind of hop from backyard to backyard, uh, keeping out of sight from the shambling townsfolk. And you're kind of checking in on the back windows to see who's there. Um, you're going house to house, to house. I'm seeing broken windows, broken furniture, broken viruses, um, signs of struggle, and bodies laying on the ground. Eventually you come across the house of Gillen, the Guillen's and you see the three of them, Mr. And Mrs. Guillen and their child Thora crouched in their kitchen, crying and trembling with fear.
Dan (Tristen Barrett): Um, how close are the shambling people to their house? Like, are they all around?
Okay. Um, I'd like to lightly knock on a window to the kitchen to get their attention.
Timothy (DM): You see, uh, Mrs. Guillen,
Dan (Tristen Barrett): What was that?
Timothy (DM): uh, you see Mrs. Guillen kind of jump. She was startled. Uh, she looks out the window.
Dan (Tristen Barrett): waved to show that I'm
Ellie (Babetto Bornello): not
Dan (Tristen Barrett): not shamba.
Timothy (DM): Okay. You wave at her and she continues to sit in the corner. Then you see Mr. Mrs. Guillen starts talking in hushed tones at each other. Um, they seem to be having a heated debate. Thora is crying. Give me a persuasion check. Eventually they stop having their and Mr. Guillen gets up and he comes on over to the window and throws it open.
Dan (Tristen Barrett): I catch it, so it doesn't make noise.
Timothy (DM): Not that kind of throw. Okay.
Dan (Tristen Barrett): Um, do you,
Timothy (Mr. Guillen): w
Dan (Tristen Barrett): do you guys have a seller?
Timothy (Mr. Guillen): we don't,
Dan (Tristen Barrett): Um, do you know if any of your neighbors have cellars?
Timothy (Mr. Guillen): um, I, I, I don't know. I haven't really inquired.
Dan (Tristen Barrett): Whole boy?
Ellie (Babetto Bornello): That's our, only move. That's our one thing.
Dan (Tristen Barrett): So we go, we got, um, um, all right, well then I guess stay put for now.
Ellie (Babetto Bornello): Good luck
Dan (Tristen Barrett): we don't want to traveling groups if it's not possible. Um, so let's just stay, put, stay quiet, cover this window if you can.
Timothy (Mr. Guillen): Understood.
Dan (Tristen Barrett): Um, and I'll, I guess I'll close the window and head back out since nothing I could do for them.
Timothy (DM): Oh, okay.
Ellie (Babetto Bornello): Are there? About the animals in town, like what's up with the animals?
Timothy (DM): Yeah. What is up with the animals?
Dan (Tristen Barrett): How are Herb's goats?
Ellie (Babetto Bornello): How are the beautiful braided goats?
Timothy (DM): Um, give me an insight check Babs,
Ellie (Babetto Bornello): Yeah, let's see. if
Dan (Tristen Barrett): Oh yeah.
Ellie (Babetto Bornello): a Gander as I whizzed along, that is a 19
Timothy (DM): uh, 19, you have not noticed anything strange for the animals.
Ellie (Babetto Bornello): okay. Yeah. As I hustled towards her house, I was like, I saw the goats, so they looked fine.
Timothy (DM): They all looked fine.
Ellie (Babetto Bornello): Oh, great. Sure.
Timothy (DM): Whatever this is not impacting them.
Dan (Tristen Barrett): Okay. And the Shamblin peoples aren't bothered by them either. Gotcha.
Timothy (DM): No,
Dan (Tristen Barrett): is there a, like, uh, like any buildings on the outskirts of town, but there aren't like right next to town, like a little bit farther out. Oh, right. There we have a map. Um, oh, there's the farm
Timothy (DM): is a farm. Yeah. Just outside of town.
Dan (Tristen Barrett): I'd like to make my way over to the farm or the fields. Pretty clear of people.
Timothy (DM): The fields are relatively clear. Um, it's a small town, so there aren't like hoards of people shambling, uh, or about the streets. Um, but most of the activity is centralized in the town.
Dan (Tristen Barrett): Okay. Um, then I want to go, uh, light the windmill on fire.
Ellie (Babetto Bornello): sweet,
Timothy (DM): Okay. So you start running across the field towards the old windmill.
Dan (Tristen Barrett): Yeah. Through the tall grass. It's like Gruden before and
Timothy (DM): Yeah. Yeah.
Dan (Tristen Barrett): quiet and stop, like,
Timothy (DM): you make your way across the fields. You hop over a couple of wooden fence. And you find yourself at the base of the old wood at the base of the old windmill. It is an old windmill used for grinding down grain into flour. Um, and the farmhouse is just a little ways off.
Dan (Tristen Barrett): okay. I'm assuming that I'm alone. That there's nobody else out here. Uh, tell me.
Timothy (DM): me a perception check.
Dan (Tristen Barrett): Good call. Um, that is a 21. Now I'm rolling better.
Timothy (DM): Uh, so you examine the area and you don't see any activity. New people seem to be around.
Dan (Tristen Barrett): Okay. Then I will try and light this thing on fire as best I can, if there's like a hay bale or something inside of it, or I guess things of grain would probably go out pretty quickly too, like bags of grain. Um, so I will do my best to start a fire inside it.
Timothy (DM): All right. Uh, give me a survival check
Dan (Tristen Barrett): Uh, 11.
Timothy (DM): 11. Um, so you look around for something to light the fire with. Um, you find, uh, an old stone Flint rock, um, and you start bashing them together over some of the hay. It takes a while to catch, uh, but once it does, um, there's smoke starts billowing out of the hay bales. Um, so much that it starts to fill the room. Uh, it's a very smoky fire, um, emphasis on the smoke, less so on the fire. Um, but eventually the hay does fully catch and it starts to go up.
Dan (Tristen Barrett): I'm out of there by that.
Timothy (DM): as you run away, you see the hay fire is starting to burn the wood of the mill.
Dan (Tristen Barrett): the hope is that that catches the attention of the creepy shambling persons in town and draws them away. Yeah. And draw them away. So I'm going to give it a wide berth, but head back into town.
Timothy (DM): All right.
Dan (Tristen Barrett): No, that's a lot of dice again. They all see me.
Timothy (DM): So as you are running across the field, back into town, you are approaching the edge of town and you see Kayna, motion is stumbling down the street. As you see her neck, crane towards you,
Dan (Tristen Barrett): Oh
Timothy (DM): she locks on to you and starts to quickly shamble out of the street towards the fields. As you are kind of B-lining across the field towards the back of one of the buildings.
Dan (Tristen Barrett): Can I find a place to hide from her? Like, can I cut sight lines and hide
Timothy (DM): Give me a still check.
Dan (Tristen Barrett): 12?
Timothy (DM): All right. Uh, so you make your way to the back of this building. You see several barrels, crates, um, and some bushes, uh, you duck behind the bushes, uh, and you try to keep quiet. And from behind the Bush, you see Kayna searching for you. She is shambling back and forth, kind of zigzagging about looking erratically around. Her motion is hard to predict, but she appears to be approaching your Bush.
Dan (Tristen Barrett): I'll shoot her with an arrow.
Timothy (DM): All right. Roll initiative.
Dan (Tristen Barrett): Sorry, Babs. Okay. Uh, 17.
Timothy (DM): five.
Dan (Tristen Barrett): Okay. I go first. Um, am I, am I hidden enough to have advantage or no?
Timothy (DM): No,
Dan (Tristen Barrett): Okay. Just a regular ass arrow. That is a 23 to hit.
Timothy (DM): That'll hit.
Dan (Tristen Barrett): That is five points. A piercing damage.
Timothy (DM): All right. You loose an arrow from behind your Bush and it strikes Kaynen in the heart and she collapses to the ground.
Dan (Tristen Barrett): Okay. Um, I'll go check her. Was she, did she seem to be already dead? Like ever, but I could the others.
Timothy (DM): Give me a medicine check.
Dan (Tristen Barrett): Okay. A 10,
Timothy (DM): right. Uh, you feel her body and it is lukewarm. So it's not quite as cold as Adam,
Dan (Tristen Barrett): but not warm enough to be freshly dead.
Timothy (DM): but not warm enough to be freshly dead. Yeah,
Dan (Tristen Barrett): a little better. Is she bleeding? Like where at
Timothy (DM): she is not bleeding.
Ellie (Babetto Bornello): You're good. You're in the clear
Dan (Tristen Barrett): we'll move on then?
Timothy (DM): Alright. Uh, so you continue to skirt the edge of town where you heading,
Dan (Tristen Barrett): Um, I would like to one, see if my technique worked, if they're headed towards the fire and the smoke
Timothy (DM): give me an insight check.
Dan (Tristen Barrett): 22
Timothy (DM): Uh, you, I can see that the shambling figures seem uninterested in the fire that is now blazing at the mill. What you do see though, is that
Ellie (Babetto Bornello): damn
Timothy (DM): the Guillen family is running across the field towards the old farm
Dan (Tristen Barrett): the fire shit.
Ellie (Babetto Bornello): Maybe they thought it was a signal for them or a signal for people, but aren't interested then. I mean, if the shambling
Dan (Tristen Barrett): Are they being followed?
Timothy (DM): at the moment? No.
Dan (Tristen Barrett): Um, I'll wait and see if they eventually are followed.
Timothy (DM): All right.
Dan (Tristen Barrett): See, cause I'd like, I mean, ideally they can run away and escape and that'd be fine. Um,
Timothy (DM): so you watch from your
hiding spot behind you watch from your hiding spot at the back of the building. Um, as the Gillen family makes their way towards the mill and passes it and runs on towards the farmhouse, uh, nothing seems to follow them.
Dan (Tristen Barrett): Okay. Bit concerned about something potentially in the farmhouse, but there's not much I could do for them. Um, I'll probably go check it out. I knew that Babs is headed to the family. I'll swing by Babs' house to check, to make sure the table is still there. And then head over to Babs his daughters,
Timothy (DM): All right. So you swing back by Babs house and you peek in the back window. Uh, give me a check.
All right. Uh, through the window, you can see that the table is still on top of the trap door. So you make your way towards
Dan (Tristen Barrett): um, Babs, his daughters Lily out. Right? Laila, Laila, and Matt. Tracy and Macy.
Ellie (Babetto Bornello): Yeah. Tracy, when you see,
Timothy (DM): Um, as you are making your way around the perimeter of the town towards Laila's house, you are. Kind of watching all your angles as you stumble over a body it's Ablin
Dan (Tristen Barrett): Is Ablin dead.
Timothy (DM): Ablin is dead,
Dan (Tristen Barrett): Was Ablin already dead? Probably can't really tell depending on because
Timothy (DM): you feel Ablin’s arm and it's still warm.
Dan (Tristen Barrett): oh wow. What killed him?
Timothy (DM): the injuries on Ablin are bludgeoning. Um, they are bashed against the side of the skull blood pouring out and pulling below them,
Dan (Tristen Barrett): Well, there's nothing that I could do for that. So I keep moving.
Ellie (Babetto Bornello): Good attitude, good attitude to have
Dan (Tristen Barrett): Close their eyes if they're open. Yeah. You put the hands across the chest.
Timothy (DM): All right. So you make your way to Lyla's house
Dan (Tristen Barrett): Uh,
Timothy (DM): and you reach the back
Dan (Tristen Barrett): yes.
Timothy (DM): You look in the windows. You can see that many of the windows have been broken. The front door is busted open, but nobody is currently inside.
Dan (Tristen Barrett): Gotcha. I will sneak inside and see what I can find. And I'll, if I can see that it's empty, I'm going to go be like, perhaps, Hey, are you in here?
Ellie (Babetto Bornello): she probably cannot hear you from the solid
Timothy (DM): Um, so you go to open the back door and it's locked.
Dan (Tristen Barrett): There's a broken window, right?
Timothy (DM): The front windows are broken.
Dan (Tristen Barrett): Not the back windows.
Ellie (Babetto Bornello): oh, very specifically. Like only into the front of houses, these guys are
Dan (Tristen Barrett): um,
Timothy (DM): All the houses in the town are like around the perimeter.
Dan (Tristen Barrett): Yeah.
Timothy (DM): It's a very small town. Like you have the streets where there's really nothing behind any of the houses. They're not like rows of houses. There's just kind of
Dan (Tristen Barrett): Yeah. Um,oh, uh, well, I don't have thieves tools. while I am technically a rogue, Tristen does not have thieves' tools. Yet. Um, can I open a back window and if not, I'll go around and see if I can get in through the front without being noticed.
Timothy (DM): Uh, so you try to Jimmy a window open,
Dan (Tristen Barrett): Uh huh.
Timothy (DM): give me a dexterity, save,
Dan (Tristen Barrett): Saber check.
Timothy (DM): check. check.
Dan (Tristen Barrett): That's a Nat one.
Timothy (DM): Um, so you are trying to Jimmy the window open kind of shifting it back and forth. Um, but it seems relatively stuck, jammed in place, um, without getting a good grip on it, like it would have on the handles on the inside. Um, you can't seem to get it open.
Dan (Tristen Barrett): Then I will slip around the front and try and hop in a window,
Timothy (DM): give me a stealth check.
Dan (Tristen Barrett): uh, 21.
Timothy (DM): All right. Um, so you definitely slip around the front of the house and in through one of the windows.
Dan (Tristen Barrett): And I'll keep low to keep out us like site. Um, and I will perhaps stay there.
Timothy (DM): You hear the crunching of glass beneath your feet. but the house is silent. You don't hear anybody.
Dan (Tristen Barrett): I imagine, I don't know, Lyla and Matt’s house very well. I can't imagine why I would,
Timothy (DM): Yeah, not particularly.
Ellie (Babetto Bornello): personal friends
Dan (Tristen Barrett): yeah, then I'm going to search around and see if I can find like, uh, I, um, someplace to hide that people would be hiding in,
Timothy (DM): All right. Give me an investigation check. As you start exploring this house.
Dan (Tristen Barrett): 11.
Timothy (DM): Oh 11. What are you? You borrowed the door from your side with your cane.
Ellie (Babetto Bornello): Yeah. So the, the trap door leading down to the seller, I pulled the rug kind of like partially back over it as I closed it a little bit. And then I, like, I assume it has sort of, uh, a loop handle and it opens upwards. So I pushed my walking stick through the loop handle. So if you try to open the stick, hits the sides and you can't get it open.
Timothy (DM): Alright. Uh, so you start exploring Laila and Matt's house. Um, checking specifically for anywhere where a family could hide.
Dan (Tristen Barrett): Hmm,
Timothy (DM): Um, you see broken furniture and glass and all sorts of things flung about the house. Um, and you notice that the rug in the dining room has been kind of bunched up. Uh, you see a trap door underneath
Dan (Tristen Barrett): I'm going to lightly knock, perhaps it's be Tristen,
Timothy (DM): Babs, you hear and knocking on the trap door above you.
Dan (Tristen Barrett): perhaps. Yeah. It's yeah. It's interesting.
Ellie (Babetto Bornello): What are you doing here? I told you to stay at my
Dan (Tristen Barrett): I know
Ellie (Babetto Bornello): Push Crickets.
Dan (Tristen Barrett): Crickets is okay, because it's in your, uh, in your seller, I'm wanting to double check on you guys. Are you guys safe? Are you okay?
Ellie (Babetto Bornello): We're Okay. Okay.
Dan (Tristen Barrett): I'll be back once.
Ellie (Babetto Bornello): carving potatoes and adults for the children.
Dan (Tristen Barrett): Oh, okay.
Ellie (Babetto Bornello): don't seem that interested in it, but they don't seem that interested at anything, but I'm trying to keep calm and carving potato dolls is what’s doing it right now
Dan (Tristen Barrett): Okay. Okay. Yeah. Well, you guys stay here. I'll I'll cover you back up and I'll be backwards. Is
Ellie (Babetto Bornello): no.
Timothy (DM): uh,
Dan (Tristen Barrett): Have I seen Matt?
Timothy (DM): you have not.
Dan (Tristen Barrett): no, I haven't seen Matt.
Ellie (Babetto Bornello): keep an eye out for Matt? If you see him tell him where we are.
Dan (Tristen Barrett): Okay.
Ellie (Babetto Bornello): Unless
Dan (Tristen Barrett): We all go. No, there's there's no unless. Um, Stay safe and I will cover the, cover it back up.
Ellie (Babetto Bornello): Thanks.
Timothy (DM): All right. So you leave Babs in the cellar.
Dan (Tristen Barrett): and I'm going to go back to Babs' house. Um,
Timothy (DM): All right. Give me another, stealth-check
Dan (Tristen Barrett): great. These have been going well so far. Oh, that's a Nat 20. I'm invisible. I had turned invisible. Oh god, It's just so many dice. I Think it's just zombies looking for people
Ellie (Babetto Bornello): Yeah.
Timothy (DM): As you reach Babs house, you notice people shambling around back,
Dan (Tristen Barrett): in the backyard?
Timothy (DM): um,yeah
Dan (Tristen Barrett): Well, now they decide they're going up
Ellie (Babetto Bornello): Now they figured out the houses have backyards
Dan (Tristen Barrett): Um, do they react?
Timothy (DM): uh, sort of silence has started to fall on the town. You haven't heard a scream in a while.
Dan (Tristen Barrett): Okay. That's good. Um,
Ellie (Babetto Bornello): Is that good?
Dan (Tristen Barrett): not actually, um, do these shambling figures also look cold, pale and dead.
Timothy (DM): Um, they don't look pale. Um, you can't see cold, um, but their eyes are milky.
Dan (Tristen Barrett): like, so they look like the other people that were already dead, the already dead people. Okay. Yeah. I'll put an arrow window,
Timothy (DM): All right. Give me an attack. Roll,
Dan (Tristen Barrett): uh, 19 to hit
Timothy (DM): uh, 19 hits.
Dan (Tristen Barrett): throwing dice– three piercing damage.
Timothy (DM): All right. You, uh, loos an arrow into one of their necks. Uh, they do not go down. Roll for initiative
Dan (Tristen Barrett): 11.
Timothy (DM): and five. Uh, so they are shambling towards you. What do you do?
Dan (Tristen Barrett): um, I'll put another arrow into that one that
Timothy (DM): All right.
Dan (Tristen Barrett): Uh, does a nine hit.
Timothy (DM): Uh, nine does not hit.
Dan (Tristen Barrett): Oh, that's unfortunate. And I'll back up.
Timothy (DM): All right.
Dan (Tristen Barrett): I'll backpedal. I'm just cutting them.
Timothy (DM): Yeah. So
Ellie (Babetto Bornello): how fast can they shamble?
Timothy (DM): you start kind of backing up back towards Lyla and Matt’s home and they are shambling towards you. As they open their mouths, make an intelligence saving throw,
Dan (Tristen Barrett): shit.
Ellie (Babetto Bornello): God damn it.
Dan (Tristen Barrett): Oh no, that's not good. Um, an eight.
Timothy (DM): an eight.
Dan (Tristen Barrett): That's a lot of dice you just rolled.
Timothy (DM): seven psychic damage.
Ellie (Babetto Bornello): Dude. Tristen!
Timothy (DM): As you hear this warbling static, these incessant whispers start to become clearer to you. ‘Join us. Let go, let go. Join us. Fall into the void.’
Ellie (Babetto Bornello): Oh boy.
Dan (Tristen Barrett): Um, is it my turn again?
Timothy (DM): Yes. It's your turn.
Dan (Tristen Barrett): Here it goes. Another arrow
Timothy (DM): feel all energy like draining from your body as you almost slip into lethargy,
Dan (Tristen Barrett): does a 15 hit?
Timothy (DM): uh, 15 hits,
Dan (Tristen Barrett): a, another three piercing damage on that one.
Timothy (DM): uh, one goes down.
Dan (Tristen Barrett): And I backpedal
Timothy (DM): All right.
Dan (Tristen Barrett): I’ll backpedal into like open area. Not necessarily to other houses.
Timothy (DM): It can, the second one, Delilah, continues to shamble towards you.
Dan (Tristen Barrett): Does it open its mouth again?
Timothy (DM): Yes. She again, opens her mouth.
Ellie (Babetto Bornello): Oh, get intelligent, my dude. Muster every shred of intelligence!
Timothy (DM): give me an intelligence saving, throw
Ellie (Babetto Bornello): What have you done?
Timothy (DM): you take 11 points of psychic damage.
Dan (Tristen Barrett): That actually kills me.
Timothy (DM): As
Ellie (Babetto Bornello): death,
Dan (Tristen Barrett): That's instant death.
Timothy (DM): whispers flood your mind, you feel all will to live drain from your body. The world goes to black.
Dan (Tristen Barrett): Am I dead?
Timothy (The Voice): Are you dead?
Ellie (Babetto Bornello): That’s all folks.
Dan (Tristen Barrett): Great question.
Timothy (The Voice): Is that the question you wish to ask?
Dan (Tristen Barrett): Do I have any sense about what I'm talking to? That's out of character. Do I have any sense about what I'm talking to?
Timothy (DM): No.
Dan (Tristen Barrett): Who are you? What are you?
Timothy (The Voice): What separates me from you?
Dan (Tristen Barrett): Time space,
Timothy (The Voice): Are you sure?
Dan (Tristen Barrett): air? walls?
Timothy (The Voice): What is air? What are walls? You see a light. Just a spec
Dan (Tristen Barrett): Is it warm?
Timothy (DM): floating off far and the distance yet, right in front of your face,
Timothy (The Voice): You are Tristen.
You are Wren.
You are young, you are old.
You are here, you are there.
You exist, and you do not.
The light begins to approach.
Dan (Tristen Barrett): Um, can I do anything? Can I like move or walk or,
Timothy (DM): You try to move your arms and feel them kind of swaying at your sides. You feel them lift, you feel them let down, you feel them reach out in front of. But you do not see anything. All is black.
Dan (Tristen Barrett): I mean, I guess I just wait for the light then if I can't do anything.
Timothy (DM): The light grows and grows and grows until it is blinding. All that was black is now white. Yeah. There is nothing else to see his only light now.
Timothy (The Voice): You are still Tristen. You are here.
Timothy (DM): …and color starts to saturate the world around you. You see a bush, your face in the dirt, a pool of blood beneath you. You see the base of the building that you were behind. grass, rocks. You hear a bird chirp, you feel sore, your head pulses and pain, and the sun burns your retinas.
Dan (Tristen Barrett): I would like to try and sit up
Timothy (DM): You lift yourself up into a labored seat and you look around you. The wind blows through the trees. You see birds flying in the sky and a rabbit bounces nearby
Dan (Tristen Barrett): what kind of bird?
Timothy (DM): crows.
Dan (Tristen Barrett): It's an acceptable bird. Anybody else that I can see?
Timothy (DM): You hear Babs collapsed to you,
Ellie (Babetto Bornello): Tristen? Oh my God. Tristen, Tristen. Oh my God.
Dan (Tristen Barrett): Babs not so not so loud.
Ellie (Babetto Bornello): my God.
Dan (Tristen Barrett): my God. My head. What, what happened?
Ellie (Babetto Bornello): you tell me
Timothy (DM): the days past. Babs, Lyla, Macy, Tracy– you sat in that cellar for days until the town fell quiet. You waited an extra day just for security. Before you peeked your head out and you saw the town laid to utter destruction bodies, littering the streets dead, undead, corpses
Dan (Tristen Barrett): Uncorpses.
Timothy (DM): Uncorpses.
Dan (Tristen Barrett): Wait, wait, what about Crickets? Did
Timothy (DM): Otter destruction?
Ellie (Babetto Bornello): any sign of Mat? And did we go check on Crickets?
Timothy (DM): You had found Crickets in the cellar
Dan (Tristen Barrett): alive? God bless.
Ellie (Babetto Bornello): Crickets is fine.
Timothy (DM): tired and rather disoriented.
Ellie (Babetto Bornello): He's tired of disoriented, but what else is new?
Dan (Tristen Barrett): That's that's just normal. Okay,
Timothy (DM): Before you found Tristen lying outside, which brings you up to present tense.
Ellie (Babetto Bornello): Okay.
Dan (Tristen Barrett): I was attacked by a couple of those things and I don't know, they yelled so loud, it felt like, and then everything went black and now I'm here.
Ellie (Babetto Bornello): Oh boy. If you start shambling I'm putting a knife in your neck.
Dan (Tristen Barrett): Please Please do
Ellie (Babetto Bornello): I could do it now if you want. Just to be preemptive,
Dan (Tristen Barrett): No, let's, let's wait to find out first.
Ellie (Babetto Bornello): As you start standing up, she's like, oh, was that a shamble? Uh, well, look, I've, I overturned my overturned table, which means that it's in the right direction again, when you overturn it twice and I've gotten a little, well, it's not tea, cause I haven't heated the water. So it's just tea in water.
Dan (Tristen Barrett): okay. That'll, that'll be fine.
Ellie (Babetto Bornello): so, come back to my place. Crickets is there. We got him set up nice and comfortable in a little nest.
Dan (Tristen Barrett): Thank you. Thank you so much. I'm just, and we'll just stand up and like give a stretch.
Ellie (Babetto Bornello): Is he shambling?
Timothy (DM): He’s not shambling
Ellie (Babetto Bornello): I'm just checking.
Dan (Tristen Barrett): all right. Um, I head over to Babs’ place.
Ellie (Babetto Bornello): all right. And like Crickets and Lyla and the two kids are there. Babs was actually out looking for Matt when she stumbled on Tristen. um, who maybe works at one of the other places. And she's Laila is really, really hoping Lyla keeps saying like, well, I think like he would know to go to the seller.
‘Like I think he would know, like he would know’ and Babs has a lower opinion of Matt's intelligence. Um, and so is out looking for him so that Lyla, like, doesn't have to find his body mostly, but that's what she's doing. So she's going to keep looking.
Timothy (DM): Um, so Tristen, you enjoy here, tea-leaf water. Um, as everybody sits in relative silence, the room is uneasy. You all know quite a bit of heartbreak awaits you
As Babs, you scour the streets
Ellie (Babetto Bornello): with my walking stick and my utility knife
Timothy (DM): with your walking stick and utility knife
Ellie (Babetto Bornello): and I put grandpa's mail shirt bacon .
Timothy (DM): and grandpa's mail shirt. And you come across body after body, after body of everybody, you know,
Ellie (Babetto Bornello): Oh God. Ooh. She's not doing great
Timothy (DM): every face breaks you just a little bit more– until you find Matt, his arm torn off, blood pooled beneath him. He lays motionless.
Ellie (Babetto Bornello): Um, Matt, you were a good kid and a good dad and a good husband. Oh God damn it. God damn it.
She kicks the ground, uh, or like kicks whatever's nearest that isn't a body and just sits down heavily beside his body. Oh, what are we going to do, Matt? What the hell are we going to do?
Timothy (DM): and Matt's body becomes the first of many buried that week in the town of Null, a place where nothing usually happens.
And that's where this chapter of Shadows of Prophecy comes to a close! Thank you for joining us through the darkness, and continue the story next time for a thrilling new adventure.
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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