Monster Monster
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Monster Monster
Up Through The Floor Boards
When spirits swarm and paths diverge, true character emerges. Our heroes find themselves trapped in Alyssum's mansion within the Ethereal Plane, desperately searching for a way out while uncovering the terrifying truth behind her plans.
The mansion becomes a maze of horrors as Vance, Dolo, and their new companion Daith are forced to split up. While Daith phases through walls and Dolo tests the boundaries of this half-real dimension, Vance confronts something deeply disturbing: children being transformed into monstrous golems by a familiar necromancer. This discovery strips away Vance's usual levity, revealing a fierce protector with possible trauma in his past.
What begins as a simple escape mission transforms into something far more crucial when they discover Alyssum's true intentions. Through a necromancer's journal written in Infernal, they learn of a powerful crystal that could absorb their entire home plane, using it as fuel to make the Ethereal Realm more "real." Their mission becomes clear: find and destroy this crystal before their world becomes nothing more than raw material for Alyssum's ambitions.
The tension builds as spirits pursue them through the mansion's corridors, forcing our heroes to rely on quick thinking and unique abilities. Every room brings new revelations, every encounter raises the stakes, until they finally reunite with a shared purpose – to stop Alyssum's plan at all costs.
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Previously on Monster Monster, Vance and Dolo met Silva's Rebellion who had discovered a way into the Ethereal Plane and assembled a strike force to infiltrate In the process. Unfortunately, the magic on the other side was too powerful and only three made it, stranding them and their new companion, Daith, on the other side. Thank you, everybody for joining another episode of Monster Monster. I am Tyler Waltz, your Dungeon Master for this evening and to my left.
Speaker 3:Hi everybody, I'm Tyson Cox. I'm playing Vance Ironside kind of a dumb boy who wants to. We made him a dumb, horny dwarf on accident.
Speaker 1:Oh, oops, on accident.
Speaker 2:I like the stretch that we made.
Speaker 3:Hi everybody, I'm Vance. I'm recently circumcised by the spirits of tentacles.
Speaker 4:Holy Circumcision is a great band name.
Speaker 1:I heard they're opening for the Necrowolves, and to my right.
Speaker 4:Oh, I am. My name is Brian Petrie. I'm playing Dolan Mircedrin, aka Dolo. You know, your friendly neighborhood thief.
Speaker 2:And our special guest. Hey, I'm Rev. I am playing Ranger Daith Garmajan, the Interplanar Ranger.
Speaker 1:Interplanar Ranger. Interplanar Ranger. It rolls off the tongue. Well it does, it's good. Interplanetary Ranger.
Speaker 2:I wish I hadn't printed it on my cards.
Speaker 1:Yes, yeah, so we left off last time of the three of you. I wish I hadn't printed it on my cards. Yes, yeah, so we left off last time of the three of you. Infiltrating is a strong word, but you made it into the mansion.
Speaker 3:We beat your window puzzle.
Speaker 1:You did, you, did you willed your way through it, just, homer Simpson.
Speaker 2:He did, but through like vertical boarding glass.
Speaker 1:The funny thing is is I have set the precedent multiple times. Like when you first encountered the spirits and stuff, it was always like you had to be able to will your way to affecting the world. And then you were just like I'm going to just walk into it, but you believed that you were going to do something, so it worked. I thought I was going to Kitty walk into it, but you believed that you were going to do something, so it worked.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I thought I was going to Kitty Pryde a Homer Simpson, but where we off left time.
Speaker 1:Very dire circumstances, as a bloody altar, down a chutes and ladders, chute into a very open cathedral where Alyssum presented herself in front of you. Cathedral where alyssum presented herself in front of you along with an uncountable amount of these spirits praying at this altar.
Speaker 3:So when you say uncountable, you mean like over like, because I don't have enough fingers and toes.
Speaker 1:If that's how you count, then way more oh, that's a lot yeah there was more than that in like the first two rows and this is like an open big cathedral. Yeah, yeah yeah. And Daith, before she finished monologuing, shot her with an arrow that did force damage, severely upsetting her and awakening the entire group of spirits. We are going to start out with how the three of you react to that, because very quickly, the shit is going to hit the fan. When she presented herself, the entire cathedral lit up. All of you, please make perception checks to get us going 25.
Speaker 3:Perception 27.
Speaker 1:Non-natural 20 okay, so you all did really well uh, well, the light shit's going down, yeah, yeah you said 25, okay, cool.
Speaker 1:So since all of you got above a 20, you can see everything. Uh, you see the altar and obviously the chute that you guys fell into, you know, is behind the draped curtains. On the exteriors, the left and right or east and west sides of the cathedral, is the archways that you see. Where you can't quite see, it's a wall on the other side, but you do see archways that lead to side hallways running along the entire sides of it and you see an incredibly large double door at the back of the cathedral and are we like surrounded, or like at like?
Speaker 3:are they all on one side of us? They're left and right, it was so. They're sitting in the pews.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so if you imagine a church where the, where the preacher talks, all the pews there's normally like a center aisle, side aisles.
Speaker 3:There are hundreds in these pews on both sides of you all right, uh, I share our pretty classic glance with dolo and we're not gonna say which way we go, we're just gonna go. I want to write down which direction you go and we know, this seems more fun.
Speaker 1:I like it. And then, where does Dave fit into this? Okay, so the way that this is going to work is, I'm going to say, right either north, south, east or west. East and west are obviously the different hallways. South is the altar to run back towards the chute and north is the back double doors. So all of you write that down and hand it to me, and then I will let you know where you go.
Speaker 4:Oh Tyson, they got you. Oh shit bud, I'm sorry. I like how we got different colors Sometimes that's how it shakes out.
Speaker 3:All right.
Speaker 4:Just share that confident look, give a nod and then one half, and then just break out and then, yeah, I ain't trying to set no 24-hour record.
Speaker 3:That's a lot of dudes.
Speaker 1:So let's start with this, all three of you. This is like I'm comparing this to the moment in that Will Ferrell movie with Mark Wahlberg, where they're the cops. Yeah when it's like the Rock. And who was the other person?
Speaker 3:Samuel L Jackson. It was Samuel L Jackson.
Speaker 1:They look at each other and they're like aim for the bushes right.
Speaker 3:Aim for the bushes.
Speaker 1:The two of you take off for the double door. Daith gives a very confident nod and bolts towards the altar. Oh, daith gives a very confident nod and bolts towards the altar?
Speaker 1:Oh no, but it's so funny because, we don't work as a team but we always go the same direction. So I was okay, we're just going to take this one piece at a time. Right, let's handle Vance and Dolo first, because it's the least complicated. Okay, as you guys take off, you are getting swarmed like a zombie movie. Just tons of these things are just buckling in on you. I need all of you to either roll me strength saving throws or sorry, strength athletics or dexterity acrobatics to try and maneuver or fight your way through this crowd, and I need three of them.
Speaker 3:Thanks, I ain't got nothing.
Speaker 1:Did you roll strength or dex?
Speaker 3:I did a strength athletics check. I ain't got nothing. Did you roll strength or dex? I did a strength athletics check, okay, 11.
Speaker 1:Okay, 16. This is the order that you rolled them. Yes, cool, the 11 passes. Okay 16. Passes 4. It doesn't.
Speaker 2:I will remind you, you have protection against good and evil if these things happen to be, which gives them disadvantage. I don't know if that gives you an advantage. On, I'll say that gives you an advantage.
Speaker 1:They don't necessarily have disadvantage, but I will absolutely allow it to give you an advantage on the last one.
Speaker 3:Hey, natural 20. There we go, there, it is Nice.
Speaker 1:Well, as Daith gets pulled apart, he goes, that's all for me.
Speaker 3:ladies and gentlemen, Thanks for the reminder. All right, good luck.
Speaker 1:Dolo. How'd you do? In the order that you rolled them? In the order that I rolled them. Because more and more swarm upon you, so they get harder.
Speaker 4:Does that advantage thing happen for me as well?
Speaker 1:Yes, ha.
Speaker 4:There we go 20, 21, and 17. Okay, 20, 21, and 17.
Speaker 1:Okay With the 17,. You barely make it through.
Speaker 4:Yeah.
Speaker 3:But you guys make it to the double door. All right, dave. What do we, oh son of a bitch? All right, where'd he go? I gave him the north nod, you got it.
Speaker 1:I got it. I mean we're here. Yeah, it's almost like the person you just met doesn't know you very well, so you make it to the door.
Speaker 3:Oh, hang on, daith is brave, son of a bitch. We did not do that. We should have let him know. Not a brave move, so now we cut to Daith.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I need you to make me one, either acrobatics or athletics. Check, because you weren't as far away from the altar.
Speaker 2:Okay, 18.
Speaker 1:Okay, you successfully break free from the crowd and you are now directly in front of Alyssum, who seems to be a bit caught off guard, not expecting a full-on charge, and you have one turn of combat as a free action to do what you think is best Kick her in the shin.
Speaker 2:I realize I'm alone. Like how far away. Like I glance over my shoulder, they've gone the other direction. How far away is that?
Speaker 1:I was going to say 120 feet, yeah.
Speaker 2:Excellent, that's very far Well. Plus, you moved 30 more 120 feet.
Speaker 1:Yeah, excellent, that's very far Well. Plus you moved 30 more, so 150.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and up is where we came down the slide. Yes, I promise I'll find you guys and I'm going to cast etherealness Okay, which gives me the ability to move my range of motion up, down and out and through things. So I'm going to try to go up and just get back onto the ground floor.
Speaker 1:So it does let you phase through solid objects Correct. But you're just following the chute. I'm just going to go straight up. How long does that last?
Speaker 2:It lasts until the end of my turn. I think Let me double check before I say that out loud.
Speaker 3:Yeah, try not to get stuck in a wall Inside, yeah, well, because it does, it has. Well then, yeah, you take damage, you get shoved out, right.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 3:So that could still be a good.
Speaker 4:And then he just shoves out the top.
Speaker 1:Well, here's the thing. I believe it pushes you out towards the closest.
Speaker 3:So it would be very funny to shoot up through the ceiling realize that you didn't make it very far and then just get shit right back out the bottom and then you take, fall, damage and land in front of the big bad, probably fart.
Speaker 2:It's embarrassing Someone's playing a tuba for some reason. Okay, so that says it lasts for eight hours. Oh well yeah, that can't be right.
Speaker 3:Oh, it's that good hymn, yeah, right.
Speaker 2:With my special ability it does end at the end of my turn. I can activate it as a bonus action, so then I can still see everything. It's just all grayed out. So I'll double move to hope I can get to the ground floor.
Speaker 1:Cool and your movement speed is 30, I'm assuming.
Speaker 2:Correct, okay, gotcha yes.
Speaker 1:Okay. So if you make it 60 feet up, you barely make it out Perfect. You are phasing back in as your foot clears the floor, Like Dawn of the Dead Just loses a shoe clears the floor Like Dawn of the Dead.
Speaker 4:He just loses his shoe, loses his shoe to the floor. We see Mike.
Speaker 3:Boot just plonker on the hedge.
Speaker 1:He's like what the fuck Would you prefer that? Or like Jumanji, where his face is just like sticking out the floor, his turtle head.
Speaker 2:I can be bootless, it's fine.
Speaker 1:So you make it through and you guys witness that.
Speaker 3:I think he got raptured. What the fuck.
Speaker 1:That was fair to say.
Speaker 2:I put my arms out. I was like no Roll.
Speaker 1:the insight checks to see if you realize what just happened, or maybe you guys think Alyssa just vaporized him up.
Speaker 4:That's what I think. Yeah, you think he's dead. I got a one, so that's what happened. I think he's dead. I got a one, so that's what happened. I think he's just dead. 12. I watched a man's soul leave. Yeah, yeah, 12.
Speaker 1:Okay yeah, you believe him. You believe him. You're like he said he would find us and then he disappeared. That was probably part of his plan, and Dolo's like he's dead.
Speaker 2:That boy. He meant he'd find us in the after we see him.
Speaker 4:I will meet you in Elysium brother. I'll meet you when we get there, you basically went like creative mode in Minecraft.
Speaker 1:Yes, Alright, so you guys made it to the cathedral door. What do you do?
Speaker 3:I don't know Hang out. Start up a picnic.
Speaker 1:I'd like to open the fucking door. Okay, cool.
Speaker 3:Do you push or pull?
Speaker 1:Both.
Speaker 3:Both.
Speaker 1:I don't?
Speaker 4:I keep running and I go, I'm going to try that shit, vance did, I'm going through. So you just I try to, just I think I'm going to go through the door.
Speaker 1:The willpower thing? Okay yeah, give me a wisdom saving throw oh.
Speaker 4:Oh, oh, whoa, whoa, whoa yeah Inside the mansion 11.
Speaker 1:The illusion is incredibly strong. No, you just hit that door.
Speaker 4:Yeah, oh shit.
Speaker 1:And you know what, for Fonzie's One bludgeoning damage.
Speaker 3:Oh, okay, well, I go Alright. So it's not a push, correct, yeah, so I pull the door Yep.
Speaker 1:And the door pulls open. Good job, you figured out the puzzle, oh son of a bitch, fuck you Vance. It wasn's his fault God.
Speaker 4:he's so stupid, he makes other people around us stupider.
Speaker 1:I'm just thinking in my head like, yeah, I do make this look easy, so you get the door open and it leads to a smaller hallway with two rooms off to the side and a spiral staircase Up or down. The staircase goes up.
Speaker 3:Up, let's go.
Speaker 4:I just follow him Okay.
Speaker 1:Vance, because if he went up we'd go up. Roll me an insight check 14. 14. As you pass through this hallway to get to the spiral staircase on your left, through that door you hear what sounds like kids crying, like creepy kids no. Like in distress.
Speaker 3:I like.
Speaker 4:I'm right behind him, right Correct. As I'm walking, I put my hand on his shoulder. I'm going to cast Longstrider so that he has to go faster. Okay, and we're going together, we're not stopping for these children. We're just going to put my hand on his shoulder, I'm going to cast Longstrider so that he has to go faster, okay, and we're going together.
Speaker 1:We're not stopping for these children, we're just going to keep walking. Well, longstrider doesn't change, no, it just makes him move faster.
Speaker 4:He can move faster so he can keep up with me now. Yeah, and his little legs move faster.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 3:Okay, vance is like I'll meet up, and then he slows down and he breaks off to go check out those kids.
Speaker 1:Okay, so you break off right now. Yeah, okay, at least you can move faster. Yeah, you open the door and I'm assuming you close it behind you.
Speaker 3:Maybe yeah.
Speaker 1:Yep, okay, and then we will get back to you in a moment.
Speaker 3:Oh okay.
Speaker 2:Dolo Always creepy. I assume you close the door behind you, like you do with every door you've ever walked through.
Speaker 1:Well, you are getting chased by hundreds. That's fair Of spirits. So you know.
Speaker 2:What's one creature with a thousand crying baby heads grafted to its body versus?
Speaker 3:a thousand ghosts.
Speaker 1:You just saw your buddy Vance dip off into this door. You are still being pursued by these spirits.
Speaker 4:What do you do? I get frustrated at first and I go come on, man, not children.
Speaker 1:And he closed the door before you went in.
Speaker 4:Yeah, he closed the door behind him. I basically just I take a mental note of where I am. I look around, I know where I'm at. I just take off up the stairs.
Speaker 1:Okay, I just keep going up the stairs. You go up the spiral staircase and then we're just going to keep swapping until we all meet back up. Dave, you make it to the top and you give me a perception check to see if you can get the bearings on where you are. Twelve, twelve, okay, I would say, since you're a ranger and this is kind of like what you do. You were able to put a bunch of pieces together. You don't know the exact location. You know that when you fell down the chute, it pushed you further into the mansion. So from where you were when you fell down the chute, it pushed you further into the mansion. So from where you were. When you went in through the window, you imagine that you're somewhere in the room past that staircase, that you guys didn't go, okay. But what you see around you is it looks like you've popped up into a food pantry area.
Speaker 2:Is there anything in here with me?
Speaker 1:What is your race? You're an elf, right A human.
Speaker 2:A human okay.
Speaker 1:So right now it is too dark for you to see much in front of your face.
Speaker 2:Perfect, I'm gonna cast Pass Without Trace. Okay, that just gives me the aura of stealth.
Speaker 1:Yeah, okay, are you staying here?
Speaker 2:I'm gonna stay here for the moment until I hear, hopefully, something happening someplace, so I have a direction to go.
Speaker 1:Okay, I got you. I would say. After about a couple of minutes you start to hear some footsteps on the other side of the door. It doesn't sound like they're getting closer, it just sounds like something is moving around in there.
Speaker 2:I don't like, I'll peek inside that door.
Speaker 1:Okay, there is a keyhole, and when you peer through that keyhole it seems like you have popped into the storage area of one of the bedrooms of the house, but not a main person's bedroom. There's just tons of bunks around, so this is a common sleeping area for servants of the manor.
Speaker 2:Uh-huh, and do I see who's moving around?
Speaker 1:You do, but it is a cloaked figure. You can't see any skin or anything like that. It's just a person or thing wearing ropes and they're fiddling around in a chest next to a bunk.
Speaker 2:Okay, I'm gonna try to quietly open the door and sneak up behind them.
Speaker 1:Okay, you open up the door and give me that stealth check and you have pass without a trace, which I believe gives you plus 10. It does 26. 26. You are able to sneak up on the being without it noticing you.
Speaker 2:What's it messing with in that trunk?
Speaker 1:When you peer around, you notice that a lot of the things that it's messing around with in the trunk seem almost give me insight.
Speaker 2:Nat 20.
Speaker 1:Oh, wow, Okay, cool. So yeah, when you peer over its shoulder and look in this chest, there's nothing of value at all in this chest. It almost looks like when you see a kid that has his favorite rock collection. It looks like a bunch of trinkets and small things that would probably have some sentimental value, but to you is no different than just a pile of random knickknacks.
Speaker 2:Okay, yeah, then I'm just going to leave him to his business and try to sneak out the door proper to the room.
Speaker 1:Cool, with your stealth check earlier, we'll just continue that one, okay. As you're leaving, though, with almost a child-like innocence innocence, you also notice that it is like this is not a child, this is like a full adult sized person, with almost like a child, like, uh, like wonder, they start playing with the toys, almost like they're playing house. As you leave, when you make it out of that room, you've made it into the main hall of the mansion, where you see the grand staircase that leads up to the second floor and a few doors lining this main entryway. Guys, nobody responds, fuck. But we cut back to Dolo, who has made it up the spiral staircase in the back of the cathedral, and you open up to a detached spire at the back of the mansion and you open the door and you are now in that back courtyard what's all in the courtyard.
Speaker 4:Can I look around?
Speaker 1:right now it's just a garden. It's almost as if all of the spirits were like coalescing in that bottom area that you guys were.
Speaker 4:You do not see a spirit what kind of back door, flower garden windows, courtyard, yep just your very stereotypical mansion back courtyard.
Speaker 1:Maybe there's like a little maze, you know.
Speaker 4:Hmm, hmm, hmm. Let's see, let's see, let's see. I'm going to stroll through the courtyard. I'm going to walk up to one of the flowers. I'm going to pick a flower.
Speaker 1:Okay, I want to smell it, see if it's real. Yeah, I mean, it's as real as it can get, mm-hmm yeah.
Speaker 4:Hmm, do I? I'm going to do something weird. I'm going to pick a petal off of it and I'm going to eat it.
Speaker 1:Okay, yeah, you take a bite. It tastes like you're eating a flower.
Speaker 4:All right, but I am aware that I'm not Because of my perception earlier. I know I'm not. None of this is real Correct, so I'm just kind of know because of my perception earlier. I know I'm not in a. None of this is real correct. So I'm just kind of walking through the Wonka factory trying to see what's what's real and what's not real old school science licking stuff and you are still being pursued yeah, uh, I am going to um.
Speaker 4:Oh, I got an idea. All right, is there an exit? As I'm walking through here, do I see any corridors or anywhere that I can go?
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, you see. You see some gates that open up into, like further parts of the outside. You notice that anywhere outside of the general like courtyard of this place it's just ethereal nothingness, like just winds and everything around this is like a perfectly preserved area.
Speaker 4:and then you see the back entrance to the manor uh, all right, I'm gonna start walking towards the back entrance of the manor okay, as you do that, we cut over to vance.
Speaker 1:And what do I see, vance? You close the door behind you and it's got like the board lock. You can like brace the door and you turn around and roll me a history check with advantage.
Speaker 3:Okay, 16.
Speaker 1:Okay, do you remember that creature that was torturing you guys when you first appeared in this ethereal realm?
Speaker 3:Yes, I do.
Speaker 1:The creepy knife guy yes, you see him, or an entity like him, going over and there is a row of children that he is experimenting on down here in this dungeon.
Speaker 4:Hey.
Speaker 1:No response.
Speaker 3:And you see, like all the like, all the kind of like the mirth that Vance has seems to like when he sees the children, it all kind of just disappears and he just starts like marching. Just, he pulls his, he pulls out his mace and he pulls out his shield and he's starts like marching. He pulls out his mace and he pulls out his shield.
Speaker 1:He's like hey, okay, the being turns around and just blank, like there's not a face, it's just a robe.
Speaker 3:He doesn't like. All right, cool, I just keep marching towards him until I get within warhammer mace distance.
Speaker 1:Okay, you are within mace distance. I'd like to take a big, big swing at him. Okay, you take a big swing and give me that two. Hit A 17. Okay, with a 17,. You hit it right on the back of the head and the cloak falls and you see the face behind is completely messed up. It's just scarred, it's just patched together, very Frankenstein-esque. And give me an insight check 19. 19. You notice that a lot of these pieces together and the mana that is holding them together seem the pieces of this thing, seem to be the children that have been disappearing.
Speaker 3:Well, that's fucked up.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it is.
Speaker 3:Well, all right.
Speaker 1:How do you deal with that? And it lets out a screech and attacks you.
Speaker 3:Okay, do I get damage on that first attack? You do so. Nine total damage. Okay, how much of it was the radiant? You Okay, do I get damage on that first attack? You do so nine total damage.
Speaker 1:Okay, how much of it was the radiant One?
Speaker 3:Okay, I mean Vance kind of recalls in horror a little bit, because obviously who would be expecting a baby golem?
Speaker 1:Not a lot.
Speaker 3:That's pretty fucked up, yeah, and Vance just kind of remembers some things from his past.
Speaker 1:Do you want to dive into that, or are we saving that for for future episodes?
Speaker 3:uh, we'll, we'll, we'll leak a little bit you know this you know, uh, because, like, like I said, there's no mirth in this, there's no joy, like usually when vance is in combat. There's a bit of like casualness to it, uh, but like you know, when shit goes down, he, like he kind of buckles it in. But this seems to be different. Um, yeah, he's just uh, he's just gonna go ahead and take a another swing, cool it will also.
Speaker 1:He said attack me, so do I need a that's gonna miss, and this is not an organized attack by any mean this is like just flailing around, so you take another swing at it.
Speaker 3:He uh yeah, he just uh. I'm trying to think because I wasn't anticipating it was going to be a baby golem. Yeah, I'll just just blast it with a guiding bolt, okay 19.
Speaker 1:19. Okay, what's the damage on it?
Speaker 3:And that is going to be 14 radiant damage.
Speaker 1:Okay, it disappears, it just fades out Smoke.
Speaker 3:Sweet. Okay. So then Vance quickly checks to make sure that he's gone. It's not behind him or anything like that.
Speaker 1:You notice, in this room there is another door that leads further in.
Speaker 3:Okay, I was going to let the children out of the cages, okay.
Speaker 1:I didn't know if you wanted to do that or check behind. I wasn't sure the order that you wanted to do this no.
Speaker 3:He's more of like he's kind of frantic now that the the creature is gone. He's just going to the cage like Athena, athena just mumbling under his breath and he's realizing he's not seeing her. But lets all the the children out of the cages okay, do you go through that?
Speaker 1:yeah, I mean I can't go the other way because it's got a sea of see a dudes you open up that other door to see a cloaked figure working on a workbench and it seems to be that he is stitching flesh together. Oh you, son of a bitch. Hey, you think I was just going to let you just kill a child and then move on it was a golem.
Speaker 2:It was a weird golem thing it was. It was a weird.
Speaker 1:Frankenstein thing yeah, being a rude guy, and he turns around and you notice that it is that skeleton necromancer guy that you guys defeated in the cave a while ago. I guess you took his home.
Speaker 2:You evicted him and took his home.
Speaker 4:It's the man grotto.
Speaker 1:And as he turns around we will cut back to Daith Say, you guys all got separated when you snuck out. You are now towards the back of the mansion and through one of the windows you actually see Dolo out in the garden.
Speaker 2:How far down is it out the window?
Speaker 1:You were on the first floor, so it's literally just like right outside.
Speaker 2:Great, I'm going to try to use my will to open this window. You were on the first floor, so it's literally just like right outside. Great, I'm gonna try to use my will to open this window.
Speaker 1:You are inside, so you can just open it. Oh great Wow.
Speaker 3:They thought of everything in this illusion.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I'll open the window and climb out. I told you I'd find you. Oh shit, I just walked in with my hand out. I thought you died.
Speaker 4:What you died. I saw you die.
Speaker 2:No, I just went in corporeal and went up.
Speaker 4:Where is?
Speaker 2:corporeal.
Speaker 4:Is it Italian?
Speaker 2:It's kind of like the house, how the house is kind of there, but not I can do that to my body for a little bit. That's weird dog yeah yeah, I did it on accident the first time, hey you lived, though I did, so did you, I see your friend didn't make it.
Speaker 4:Why'd you run back? I'm sorry for that. He gave you the North Nod.
Speaker 2:The North Nod yeah.
Speaker 1:Immediate accusational confrontation. I wonder why the NPCs are so pissed all the time.
Speaker 3:I get it. You have like an NPC world meter.
Speaker 2:They're all connected. It's not individual. It's like Marvel. We just got to figure it out. What is the North nod?
Speaker 4:He nodded. We both said we were going North and you went the opposite of North. You went as far opposite of North as we could have gone. You know what? It's all right. You went as far opposite of north as we could have gone. You know what it's all right.
Speaker 2:You lived yeah.
Speaker 4:You survived and you shot that lady I did yeah.
Speaker 2:She said she was going to use my magic to power openings, whatever that means.
Speaker 4:You should have seen what she did to Vance's orifices. It was. Is that why he?
Speaker 2:didn't make it.
Speaker 4:That's why his eyes are like that now.
Speaker 2:Oh, I didn't want to ask yeah.
Speaker 4:It's a. Thing.
Speaker 2:So what do we do now?
Speaker 4:We got to find him. He just took off after some kids. He's got a thing for kids. I hope it's not what I think it is, you just hear a voice from the sky.
Speaker 1:Don't say it.
Speaker 3:That's not what we're doing. We're not that kind of podcast.
Speaker 4:Okay, I'm going out back If you want to follow.
Speaker 2:That's a good idea.
Speaker 4:Aren't you already out back?
Speaker 2:Yeah, but you didn't specify he's from Australia, okay, well.
Speaker 4:When you said heading towards the back, I thought it was the back of the courtyard, so I don't really know how it's laid out.
Speaker 1:Oh, I thought you meant you were going to the back of the mansion. That works too. Okay, cool, yep. So you guys met basically on the back deck of the mansion. Okay, and essentially you guys could either explore and hope that Vance meets up with you guys, or you can try and go back for Vance.
Speaker 4:I think, after walking through this place, backwards is forward. What do you think?
Speaker 2:Well, I don't understand what you just fucking said to me. Yeah, he's not good with directions Backwards is forwards Up, not is north.
Speaker 4:Well, you went up and somehow ended up on the first floor Because you were in the basement, because we were in the basement. But this whole world is an illusionary world and I feel like we've been going in circles. Okay, I don't think we been going in circles. Oh, okay, I don't think we've actually gone anywhere.
Speaker 2:Oh, like you think this whole thing's an illusion, like we're just standing in place and the world's moving around us.
Speaker 4:I don't think we're actually here. I think we're laying down and there's a wizard somewhere looking at us going. What the hell?
Speaker 2:happened to them. You want to try to wake up? I think so. Okay, count of three. One, two three wake up Fuck.
Speaker 3:Not even a dice check. Huh, I'm just letting you guys go.
Speaker 1:You're going to figure it out or you're not. What's next? You pinching each other.
Speaker 4:Yeah, I think that's what's next. I'm going to pinch the shit out of them, Okay okay.
Speaker 2:I think that we're awake.
Speaker 4:This is real.
Speaker 1:It is. It is in fact real. I won't even make you roll dice. For me you are in the ethereal realm.
Speaker 4:Yeah, no, I think we start walking back towards I, because I took a mental note of where I thought Vance was before I took off running up the stairs and tried to remember which way I went. So I'm going to try to navigate us back that way.
Speaker 1:Okay now. Okay, now, when you do make it to the spire, all those beings are on the other side Because, essentially, you are holding them off and they're trying to break down the door to get to you guys in this courtyard. Oh, yeah, yeah, so there is a wall of specters between you and where you last left Vance.
Speaker 4:And Vance is a floor above us Below, so he's still down. Yes, okay.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that door was before you went up the stairs of the basement.
Speaker 4:Yeah, Okay, so he's still trapped in the basement. Mm-hmm, mm, mm-mm-mm-mm-mm. I think the best idea at this point is to try to find a good exit out of here, and we know he's down there, so let's see if we can find an exit out of here. At least when we find him or when he pops up, we know how to get out of here.
Speaker 2:Exit out of here like this realm yeah.
Speaker 4:Like, you know how to get out of this realm that I can help with.
Speaker 2:What were we supposed to be doing here, here, like they hadn't gotten to that part of the oh, the strike force was to take out alyssum yeah, but that don't look like we're about to be able to figure that out, especially not without everybody. There's too many of these people, yeah well, or that we just got to find her by herself, because I did shoot her, you did, she seemed to she can take.
Speaker 4:Have you like fought her before? Yeah, kind of. She got inside my brain, oh, while I was not sleeping. But sleeping, oh, uh, best, best option I can think of yeah, Is uh figure out a way other than this door, yeah, to go through. That is because it's only up from here, right?
Speaker 1:He said there's double door staircase and then multiple doors in the store, yeah there's two floors above the floor that you guys were on in the mansion, so there's two floors that you haven't explored yet let's pick a door.
Speaker 4:We can't go back through that one.
Speaker 1:All right, so back in the mansion, yeah, I thought we never left the mansion.
Speaker 4:I so back in the mansion. Yeah, I thought we never left the mansion. I thought we were at the back door of the courtyard and then, as I'm navigating back through, there's the basement door. You said that's locked off where he's down, and then, if I turn, how far away is the-.
Speaker 1:Oh not very far. Oh, okay, this main area is essentially the entrance hall, those bedrooms that you saw, and then the back kitchen and and pantry.
Speaker 4:Also like a foyer.
Speaker 1:And then there's staircases going up and two floors above you.
Speaker 4:There's a kitchen and a pantry. They got snacks, yeah.
Speaker 2:I've also found a grown man who sounded like a kid. He was playing with sticks and rocks and boy, he was having a good time, just giggling Sticks and rocks.
Speaker 4:Yeah, you talk to him.
Speaker 2:No, you ever hear someone giggle, but in like a manly voice yeah, it was unsettling.
Speaker 4:You don't talk to them. Yeah, uh, yeah, let's just pick another room.
Speaker 1:I say we pick a different door, okay I'll say that you guys head up to start heading to the second floor and we will cut back to vance and vance. You have just found out that the necromancer that you thought that you killed in the real world was actually brought back here to work on these Frankenstein's monsters here in the ether for Alyssum. The last thing that happened was you yelling hey at him and then you locked well, not eyes, because it's a skeleton, but locked faces, and he doesn't have a face. But you can tell that he's pretty panicked, right?
Speaker 3:now yeah, I'm just, I yell hey, and he turns around and I can see what it is and I go. You think you can just take children and no one will care. You think no one will miss them, and I'm just going to hit him with a guiding bolt as I just like trudge towards him 17, baby Okay give me that damage. Yeah, 46 radiant, let's go 10.
Speaker 1:Okay, cool, you say 4d6, and I was like 46?.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, yeah, 46 radiant damage, okay, 10.
Speaker 1:And obviously, as you can tell, that did more damage than you were anticipating. Wonderful, and he tries to retaliate, putting his hand up to deflect using his own magic. Wonderful Nine.
Speaker 3:I don't give a shit.
Speaker 1:I know, yeah, Vance is like oh all right, my bad, You've been hurting the innocents just because you needed a paycheck it justifies it, and then he fires, which is a weird thing to say for a spell called Chill Touch and ooh, I'm assuming that hits.
Speaker 3:That is a 17 on the dice yeah, that'll do it.
Speaker 1:So you take a D6 of necrotic damage, all of it six.
Speaker 3:Yeah, he didn't even like. I guess Vance didn't even try to dodge, he's just like trudging towards Pushing through.
Speaker 1:Okay, cool, and you have made it up to him and you see on the table, that is literally what he is doing. Is creating these real? They're not the illusions, like the ones that Alyssum creates, but he is essentially creating the workforce of this mansion.
Speaker 3:Yeah, so he's like, you think he's just doing a job, you think no one's going to miss them. You think just because you have a fucking job to do and he's going to just go ahead and channel divinity, turn undead. Okay, each undead within 30 feet needs to make a DC 15 wisdom saving throw.
Speaker 1:That is a natural one, hell yeah.
Speaker 3:Hell yeah, because that's 48 radiant damage.
Speaker 1:Okay, 48, like literally Die eight Okay gotcha 17. 17. 17 radiant yep. Literally like that scene from terminator, where it's like the hand. Is it terminator? The hand on the fence? Yeah yeah, yeah, just blast this skeleton back and just vaporizes it hell yeah, uh, and in that moment you see a notebook on the counter that is basically like his field research notes, what he's discovered and a bunch of that stuff.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I just kind of rogue the room real quick. I just take the book, take anything, that might be of value. But just quickly, because I kind of come to my senses and realize that I'm like, oh, I'm in, I might be in a spot of trouble now.
Speaker 1:You see in this room a ladder and a hatch.
Speaker 3:Oh good, yeah, I make sure the children are okay and I go up up, up, up, Okay.
Speaker 1:And then, when you go to the top, it is that pantry area that we saw, not the same one that you were in but another storage area for that base of the manor connected to the kitchen.
Speaker 3:Okay, I just tell the kids, hide here, just hide here.
Speaker 1:Okay.
Speaker 3:Okay, here's some snacks.
Speaker 1:Yeah, literally in the dry goods pantry, so it worked out, pretty good.
Speaker 3:Yeah, grab some chips, some Chips. Ahoy cookies, those are very dry. I mean, yeah, and then I'm going to go ahead and try to sneak out and try to catch up to the fellas.
Speaker 1:Okay, when you exit you are on the same side of the mansion as them. So if you guys give me a high enough perception check, I'll say that you hear them coming up. We'll make this meet up very convenient. 25. 25. Yeah, you turn around and at the bottom of the stairs like slightly around the corner. I do, you see, vance Buddy.
Speaker 3:Hey, the guy that had your necklace was back. I killed him.
Speaker 4:Nice, yeah, he ain't getting his back.
Speaker 2:No.
Speaker 3:Good job. What was he?
Speaker 4:doing, don't worry about it. All right, easy enough.
Speaker 1:Do you tell him about the notebook or anything like that?
Speaker 3:Oh, I mean I'm going to get to the top of the stairs, but yeah, I was like oh, here, I don't know. You want a notebook, you like books?
Speaker 4:And I take the notebook. When I look at it, do I recognize any of the symbols on it. It's the same ones from the cave, I'm going to just slide it into my pocket and then I'm going to look at date and be like all right, dude.
Speaker 1:I guess pick a door but you don't look in the book. No, okay, not yet. He's learning his lesson from that amulet, I think.
Speaker 3:Okay, nobody reads the journal. Not yet. He's learning his lesson from that amulet, I think Okay.
Speaker 1:Not yet. Nobody reads the journal Not yet.
Speaker 3:Okay, we are being pursued currently. I just want to make sure.
Speaker 2:Out of curiosity, when he's got the book. You said that it's symbols on the outside. Is it symbols like all? Symbols are language, but is it like magical symbols, or is it just language that no one happens to understand? What languages do you speak? That's what I wanted to check on.
Speaker 3:Say Infernal.
Speaker 2:Infernal is one of them, hey.
Speaker 3:Okay.
Speaker 2:Because I get a bunch of plainer languages.
Speaker 3:Hey, we got so many questions. My guy yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1:So far, everything that Alyssum has been using like symbols-wise has been in Infernal Okay. So, yes, you recognize these as Infernal symbols on this book.
Speaker 2:As he's putting it away. What does it say on the cover?
Speaker 1:So on the cover it how to Stitch.
Speaker 3:Children and Make Horrors. 101?.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it literally just is like a journal, so there is no title.
Speaker 3:The guy's name written on the front of it John Skeleton's diary John C Skeleton. Today I met a cute girl.
Speaker 1:She said I don't like skeletons.
Speaker 3:So I killed her family.
Speaker 2:Now she's part of a golem.
Speaker 1:But the symbols, the infernal symbols that you see on the front are and and this is one of those things that the wizard probably would have been better at deciphering actually give me an arcana to see exactly what all you pick out from it. Eight, okay, so it's one of those things where you can read the words but you don't know what they mean necessarily. But what you do get from it is essentially the. The words that are being used when translated is essentially how to like absorb, like. A lot of the words that you're getting are like absorb and like take in. What you can put together is that they are trying to take your plane and absorb it into this ethereal realm, almost like a resource sapping, where, if they can absorb and take your realm, they can bring this one to its true fruition, oh like, make it more real, since it's only partially real.
Speaker 1:If you build it, they will come.
Speaker 2:Hey, that's like an instruction book for destroying our world and using the parts to make this one more real. How do you know that? Because I read Infernal.
Speaker 4:So you could read this. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Hold on, bro here, hold on, can you read this? And I hand him that other manual that I've got from the jewelry store.
Speaker 3:I like how we're like west-winging it because we're just walking this whole time.
Speaker 1:Yeah, as you are reading, you see in his field notes that it is. He keeps talking about a crystal, A crystal that was made by a Lysim. That is essentially the centerpiece for this plan and it is in the mansion.
Speaker 2:Oh, there's a like a linchpin that they have to have. Maybe we break the linchpin and then we can leave instead of killing the lady, because that seems difficult.
Speaker 3:Yeah, por que no la dos? That's a good question, because that seems difficult.
Speaker 2:Yeah, porcanolados.
Speaker 3:That's a good question.
Speaker 2:I only speak infernal. A couple other things he did say why not both?
Speaker 4:Oh, but I have some questions. When you said crystal, what kind of crystal were you talking about?
Speaker 2:And I'll describe what little I can gather from it. Yeah, you're not 100% sure.
Speaker 1:All you know is that it is some kind of jewel or crystal, is it like?
Speaker 4:this and I pull down my shirt and show the amulet that's burned and dented in my chest.
Speaker 1:There's no pictures or anything.
Speaker 4:Something like this though.
Speaker 2:Could be. Does that hold magic? Kind of it's holding me right now, like this though Could be.
Speaker 4:Does that hold like magic? Or Uh, kinda, it's holding me right now.
Speaker 2:Like together yeah.
Speaker 3:Hold me now.
Speaker 4:Oh God.
Speaker 3:If we had the budget, if we had the budget.
Speaker 1:But with that information we are going to end this session. Nope.
Speaker 3:Alright.
Speaker 1:For what potentially could be our final bout in this mansion in the next episode. So, thank you all so much for watching. This has been Monster, monster, and then also you can find everything that I do on Nerd News.
Speaker 3:Yeah, we also do live shows all the time. We got a monthly in Louisville where they're at Planet of the Tapes in Louisville, kentucky, the first Wednesday of the month and the second Tuesday of the month we are at the White Rabbit Cabaret in Indianapolis, indiana. Plus, we are doing some shows at Gen Con and we also have shows popping up, so follow us on our social media at MonsterMonsterShow if you want to catch a live one, and if you like stand-up comedy, I'm Tyson Cox. I do stand-up all over, so if you need a comic book me.
Speaker 4:Thank you. Comedy, I love you. Oh, what up y'all? I'm brian petrie. I've been playing dolamir sedrin, your favorite everyday neighborhood wood elf. That's still shit. Uh, you can find me on all the things at brian petrie comedy. Um, I travel with these guys doing shows. I do stand-up, so hit me up. Oh, I make stickers too, if you want stickers and stuff, so I sell those. So, uh, holler at me, I got stuff, I do stuff, nice, and I'm rev. Uh, you can find so holler at me.
Speaker 2:I got stuff, I do stuff, nice and I'm Rev. You can find everything about me at thecritshowpodcastcom. I have been playing Ranger Daith Garmajan, the interdimensional ranger. It sounds better now that I've said it a second time. And yeah, we do actual play content a lot of indie and newly funding games so you can learn how to play just by listening.
Speaker 3:Hell yeah, and thank you for letting us use your studio.
Speaker 2:Yes, of course.
Speaker 1:Thank you so?
Speaker 3:much. It's why we sound not like shit.
Speaker 1:Thank you everybody. Catch you in the next episode.