Episode 8: On The Wings of an Eagle

This week in Witherwild, Karl learned that gravity is undefeated and eagles have zero respect for personal boundaries. One minute he is minding his own business, the next he is airborne cargo in some giant bird’s relocation project. It did not end gracefully. Woods: 1. Karl’s spine: also 1, miraculously.

Separated from Lyra and everyone who actually makes good decisions, Karl tried to navigate the forest like a normal adventurer. Instead he stumbled into the Bone Fey. They were charming in the way that a skeleton politely asking if it can borrow your femur is charming. Karl lived. He made an impression. No one is sure if that is good.

Meanwhile, Lyra got a peaceful break from babysitting Karl’s impulse control. Nature really provides.

So the episode’s moral: raptors are jerks, the woods are full of creatures who want to redecorate you, and sometimes personal growth looks like not getting fully disassembled by fae bone collectors.

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:01

Hello, adventurers, travelers, hobos of murderous variety, and welcome to Carl and Richard Play Daggerheart. I'm Richard, an adequate dungeon master.

SPEAKER_03 0:13

And I am Carl, an equally adequate player, I hope.

SPEAKER_00 0:18

Yes. I'm gonna say yes to that. So before we get deep into today's game, also I really enjoy the idea of what's your degree in storytelling? And what's your master's in storytelling? How good of a DM are you?

SPEAKER_03 0:33

Just adequate. Six years of job done.

SPEAKER_00 0:36

Like ten years of casual DD training and five years of straight-up academic training gets me to be, I don't know, I guess. So before I just spend the next hour gloating about my various achievements, and trigger warning to those listening because Carl's life is triggering just in general. What's new of Carl?

SPEAKER_03 0:57

Okay. So um possibly related to the cursed spleen. Um I had a uh palsy of the third nerve behind my eye.

SPEAKER_00 1:09

Yes. This sounds vaguely familiar-ish.

SPEAKER_03 1:13

Well, I uh I didn't have a specific term or diagnosis for it when I when I was describing it, but it was like a headache, double vision, uh, and uh this is generally kind of concerning because it's like that's right in your brain or whatever, so hopefully my brain wasn't cursed too. Um hopefully. Anyways, uh so uh I uh went to the doctor. Well, I went to my spleen surgeon for uh the pre-surgery uh consultation, and then I was like, okay, so I have this double vision in my eye, what do I do? Uh they referred me to uh an optometrist, the optometrist referred me to an ophthalmologist, and then uh the ophthalmologist got me a CT scan, and by the time they did the CD CT scan, uh whatever was causing it was already basically cleared up. And so there was there was nothing exceptional with the CT scan that they had any notes on. So then I have a follow-up, I have a follow-up appointment with another ophthalmologist, and they're like, yeah, okay. So in a couple weeks, you've been referred to see uh neuro ophthalmologist. Ooh la la. I was like, okay. Because uh, you know, it could be a brain thing, so they doctor with a bachelor's in brains, I guess. I don't know. Anyways, um so I uh I go to see this uh this neurohthalmologist, uh Dr. Wong.

SPEAKER_04 2:50

Okay.

SPEAKER_03 2:51

Uh and I'm I'm fairly certain that uh the other doctors referred to her as as a uh she. Yeah. In any event, female doctor doesn't really that part's not really relevant. Point is that uh I'm sitting in the waiting room.

SPEAKER_00 3:05

I mean, I'm gonna pause you for a moment. Could you imagine living in a world where the gender of the specialist would actually affect impact whether or not you trust them to Oh wait, that's reality somehow! Yay! Please continue now that I've made my social commentary.

SPEAKER_03 3:21

Well, okay, so I got a phone call saying that I was, you know, it's like, don't be more than five minutes early for your appointment. I was like, okay, that's weird, but so I show up to the uh to the optometrist's office about five minutes before my appointment and uh get checked in. And then they're like, okay, you can sit in the waiting room. Bless me. Continue. So I sit I'm sitting in the waiting room for like 15, 20 minutes. I was like, okay, that's weird, because you know, like my appointment was like 20 minutes ago, but whatever. Then they call me, and I look over, and it's this white lady, and I was like, oh man, was I being racist and assuming that Dr. Wong would be Asian?

SPEAKER_00 4:03

I mean, I've been fighting making the you're in the wrong place joke the entire time, so I'm not a better person.

SPEAKER_03 4:10

Oh, it turns turns out they had to do like several other uh optometry tests, you know, like vision test or like take pictures of the back of your eye somehow. I don't really understand how that one works, but they just like shine a light in your eye, and then like this is what the back of your eye looks like. Okay. You tell me I can't see it.

SPEAKER_00 4:29

They're like, I am forced to believe you in this circumstance.

SPEAKER_03 4:33

Uh that uh like a peripheral vision test. So so it was like there were three different tests, and each test it was like I sat down for 20 minutes, they called me over, they do the test, sit down for another 20 minutes, they call me over to do another test, and so it's like, okay, I was mistaken, uh, most likely this person wasn't even a doctor. Okay. You know, a nurse, a medical practitioner, but not an actual doctor.

SPEAKER_00 4:58

Uh I I I almost wanted to say rude there, but I wasn't really sure I was going with it. Like, I feel like it was a rude statement, but I don't actually know what you did wrong. So please continue while I figure out how to judge you.

SPEAKER_03 5:12

Well, yeah, I'm I'm just I I no disrespect to nurses and whatnot. Like it does take skill education to be able to do that type of job. The medical technicians of a variety, but at the end of the day, they aren't actual doctors. It's just a fact. But that's not really the point of the story. The point of the story is that Dr. Wong was in fact an Asian lady. Uh, and she'll she calls me over and she tells me, it's like, yeah, um you're pretty young to get a palsy of the of the third nerve. That's kind of an old person problem. Like she literally said that. I don't I I don't know how sensitive she is towards the more often elderly clients that she has, but um, you can in fact get a PhD in nursing.

unknown 6:00

Huh.

SPEAKER_00 6:00

Really? So they can in fact be a doctor. I had to look this up. You may resume.

unknown 6:07

Okay.

SPEAKER_03 6:09

Anyways, um, she's like, okay. There doesn't seem to be anything wrong. Based on your description, you had this palsy of the third nerve. It's unusual for someone your age. What I suspect happened is that there was a a clump of low-functioning platelets that caused this palsy of the third nerve.

SPEAKER_00 6:29

So, one thing I have to do like a side tangent. Whenever we're going through your medical history and events, I always think to myself, It's impossible that this is my fault, but once in a while I'll be like, hmm, I have hit him in that location with a bamboo stick before. Did I in fact give my friend brain damage? No, I'm sure it's fine. What are the odds that I personally gave you brain damage? But please continue.

SPEAKER_03 6:54

But so then she's like, Alright, so we're gonna schedule you in for an MRI just to rule out any anything else going on in the brain. Uh, and if that comes back clear, then we're gonna assume it was this clump of low-functioning plates.

SPEAKER_00 7:08

I'm gonna give our listeners a disclaimer here. So, for listeners of Richard Carl play Daggerheart, which we'll get to the dagger heart when we feel like it, I don't actually pre-screen or script things, which means whatever Carl is saying, if he's about to tell me he has a malignant brain tumor, I was not aware of this until this stream started. I just need to give this context out that they're going to learn in approximately real time what I learn, because I'm not despite my specific field of study, it never occurs to me to like prep. Please continue.

unknown 7:43

Okay.

SPEAKER_03 7:44

So uh she says that the waiting list is about two months for an MRI, uh, and then they'll schedule another follow-up appointment uh two months after I get the MRI. Um so less than a week later, uh my phone rings and it's uh SHA uh which stands for uh Saskatchewan Hells Angels.

SPEAKER_00 8:10

Fun fact I'm everything that starts with an S in Saskatchewan does in fact stand for Saskatchewan.

SPEAKER_03 8:16

I'm I'm just kidding, it stands for Saskatchewan Health Authority.

SPEAKER_00 8:20

I would trust the Hell's Angels more.

SPEAKER_03 8:25

Uh but anyway, so the the Health Authority they they call me and they're like, yeah, um, I realize that this is like in an hour, but uh we had a cancellation for the MRI, uh, so you could come and get it done like today. I was like, oh wow, I thought it was gonna take like two months, I guess. Thank you, whoever cancelled their MRI at the last minute.

SPEAKER_00 8:46

Or they just didn't find it in time and they died.

SPEAKER_03 8:49

Uh well, I yeah, case I mean I was thinking a little bit lighter lighter hearted in this particular instance, but there are a variety of reasons why someone might no longer be able to have an MRI.

SPEAKER_00 9:02

I'm a downer. Please continue.

SPEAKER_03 9:06

Anyways, uh so yeah, so I I went in for the MRI, and uh now I mean they say it takes like five business days to get the results back to the doctor, and then I have no idea how long it takes the doctor actually to like interpret said results. Um but uh now I I just have to wait until uh some point in the future to find out whether or not uh something else is seriously wrong or if my cursed spleen caused my eye to go funky.

SPEAKER_00 9:35

Danger. Danger of the stranger variety.

SPEAKER_03 9:40

But uh the uh the contrast diet that they use for MRIs is a little bit milder than the contrast diet that they use for uh CT scans.

SPEAKER_00 9:50

Okay.

SPEAKER_03 9:51

Um so like the MRI the CT scan stuff, uh it uh leaves the leaves of flavored blue in your mouth and then it like uh just makes you feel kind of flush in the face and hands and like groin area. It's very it's a strange feeling. Um but it's just it's very sudden and then they do their thing, whatever. Uh the MRI um contrast guy um it it doesn't make you feel flush, uh, but it seems like I reacted to it a little bit because when they put it in, it made me feel extremely nauseous for like a minute I almost threw up. And then it passed, and then I was just able to do the the rest of the MRI scanned. Um I th I think I might have fallen asleep in the machine, even though it's this loud, like whirring thing going on around you. Uh the technician, she had Spotify, and so she ran uh like a 60s, 70s essentials playlist while I was laying there getting my brain scanned, so that was kind of fun.

SPEAKER_00 10:56

As the parts of your brain light up that enjoy classic jazz.

SPEAKER_03 11:00

But uh I don't know what technology they actually use to pump the sound into the headphones, because obviously they can't have magnets in there.

SPEAKER_00 11:08

Huh. But what wait a minute! Yeah! Huh everything I know about speakers involves magnets for the most part.

SPEAKER_03 11:18

Well, whatever technology they're using has terrible dynamic range.

SPEAKER_00 11:24

I mean, yeah, because you brought up a good point. Magnets, how the fuck do they work?

SPEAKER_03 11:34

Uh but but that's what's new with me, so so what's new with you there, Richard?

SPEAKER_00 11:39

So, in my master's program working on various things and being a very thoroughly whelmed human being. I had to give a presentation this week, and my topic was on food lures in literature. So I made four eras of gingerbread. So I made 1600s gingerbread out of toasted breadcrumbs and boiled honey, it's terrible. I made 1900s gingerbread, which were awkward sticks, but delicious. I made contemporary gingerbread, which was less good, and then I turned the leftovers into gingerbread cupcakes. But through this experiment process, not only did I learn that culinary just kind of peaked in the 1900s and we've been getting extremely diminishing returns since. But it's funny, because I'm talking to my professors and they're like, you did so much baking, what happened? I'm like, well, what happened is I'm procrastinating the grading I had to do. So I would, whenever a timer would go off to put something in or out of the oven, it gave me an excuse to stop doing my job and do some baking, so I had edible handouts for my presentation. So baking gingerbread is like a decent chunk of my Time starting to blur eight weeks into my master's program, because I'm like, presentation here, pitch there, event here, book launch there. One day I went and got a cocktail themed after a blue-eyed white dragon that came up with a trading card, and then went to a gay bar to do a book launch. Like, my life is very, very busy and chaotic, and I've lost the ability to track what's happening at this point. Like, I have all my color alerts set up to try and keep some form of structure. But like, for a little perspective, once I'm done procrastinating by running this podcast, I have to write some stat blocks, write a reflection on an essay, write an outline for another thing, write up some one page or note guides, and just do things and stuff. My brain is basically half the consistency of potatoes.

SPEAKER_03 13:35

So how how much longer do you have in your master's program?

SPEAKER_00 13:38

I'm about a sixth of a way through the full thing.

SPEAKER_03 13:41

A sixth of the way through? Okay.

SPEAKER_00 13:44

Because it's three semesters long, and each semester's 12 to 13 weeks. And I I like to describe it that I'm in a boat and it's filling with water. And if I keep bailing the water out at the speed it fills, I won't die. But it's filling real fast right now. Cause these 30 to 40 page papers are no joke.

SPEAKER_03 14:11

That's true.

SPEAKER_00 14:12

Plus, each class only really has three assignments. It's like give the presentation, propose the paper, write the paper. Right. So I can't really like phone it in on any of them because everything's worth like a third of my performance.

SPEAKER_03 14:27

That makes sense.

SPEAKER_00 14:29

And yeah, long story short, academia is delightful. And it's given me a lot of pent-up dis uh pent-up horrors to inflict upon you. So we'll see how far we get the session, but I want to save a bit of time at the end to talk about how the session I ran for my other group ran in parallel to this. So for a little meta context, we're at the part with my little booklet of side quests I'll put up on itch.io later. So it's like in the adventure, I basically have a chunk right now where we stop being so linear, and it's like, here is my stack of optional crap you guys can do, or you can ignore it completely. Right, right. So, my players had some interesting things happen the last two sessions, and I'm serious. I'm curious to see if anything happens at all in your sessions that happened in theirs. Because we've kind of unbounded the reduced the number of railroads I had set. Because I I know railroading and DD and Daggerhardt get a bad rep, but sometimes you gotta give people some structure, or else they just sit there being confused.

SPEAKER_03 15:31

Yeah, that makes sense.

SPEAKER_00 15:33

So, what's new with me is scholastic heckle. And that's pretty much it. My nose still smells it. I think I've permanently tinted my apartment gingerbread scented. And then I gave a I didn't store my cookies well, so like my girlfriend got a sample the burned cookie rather than the fresh one, because I'd given away all the fresh ones. And I kept trying the 16th century gingerbread thinking it would taste better.

SPEAKER_03 15:59

But it's like so just as uh step back here, shouldn't you use your uh girlfriend's official title though?

SPEAKER_00 16:05

Geeky girlfriend, you are correct. Good catch. You have managed to maintain my relationship until I inevitably succeed or fail.

SPEAKER_04 16:14

Hmm.

SPEAKER_00 16:15

But with that out of the way, let's dagger some heart, because it's been a while. So for players who are following along live and are like, why did a month happen? We just explained it, MRIs were involved. So you see, Carl, while being medically incapacitated, was showing up every time for the game, and sleepy lazy Richard was procrastinating. You're like, I'm ready to play from this hospital, Ben, and I'm like, I don't know, I'm kinda tired. I graded like 30 papers.

SPEAKER_03 16:46

So Something like that, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 16:49

Last time on Dagger Heart, enter the Wither Wild, Colonel the Witherwilding. Colon, the Carl Adventures, semi-colon. So, you are given a job to hunt down a mysterious terrorist known as the Feinwraith, who might be three raccoons in a trench coat.

SPEAKER_03 17:05

On this three raccoons in a trench coat, everybody's told me that. It's it's gotta be true.

SPEAKER_00 17:11

So, as you went on your adventure, you managed to find a little girl stuck on a dirt bank across a bridge, sacrificing your majestic hippopotamus deed. The girl has been rescued and you made it to the town of Nerware, the first stop on your adventure. Learning that the local magical barrier keeping the horrifying virus at bay was damaged, you were politely instructed to take the girl and get out of town. After successfully faking your death, actually faking an unrelated guard's death, because there's just so many layers of espionage going on here. You made it to the town of Wormhouse Crossing, a floating city in the river, and you blew the entire city up. Thousands dead. You fought a wizard in a river.

SPEAKER_03 18:00

I didn't blow the city up. Uh their uh uncontrolled um spirit deity that they were drawing power from blew the city up.

SPEAKER_00 18:11

I like how terrible this recap is, because if someone just starts it on this episode, they'll have no idea what's going on, and I'm fine with that. So, after surviving a town full of plant zombies, uh trying to avoid being petrified or attacked by the wither blight, after through trying to throw a child in a sack before upgrading to a Nezuko basket. You find yourself battered and bruised on a beach with a dead wizard. What would you like to do?

SPEAKER_03 18:40

Uh well, you know, I was gonna ask whether or not I could have, you know, have a rest, but I guess I don't know.

SPEAKER_00 18:46

That doesn't really You can certainly try.

SPEAKER_03 18:50

I guess we probably actually gotta uh I mean kinda head in the direction of where we were going to.

SPEAKER_00 19:02

So you were heading to the village of Alora, a town popul with a large catfolk population, and possibly three raccoons in a trench coat. As you tried to escape the city of Wormsharth Crossing, which was a peaceful utopia with a dark side and very carnival-esque, you did get sweeped a fair distance down the river. And you do know that soon haven guards of the local occupying power will probably like to know what happened to this town. But you did leave no witnesses, and no one has actually seen your true form but the girl that you're traveling with.

SPEAKER_03 19:40

Hmm. Yeah, yeah, see, I don't know if I want to like I know I technically work for Haven, but uh I would rather just leave a trail of destruction and mystery behind myself and and uh maybe uh press onwards towards the nearest town that is in the direction of Alora.

SPEAKER_00 20:01

So, because Wormhart's crossing was really strategically placed in the middle of the river to be a large trade route, you have two options ahead of you. If you you can either head straight forward, you can try and head up through the mountains, which will be a bit of an intense climb, or you can try and get through the more marshy swampland to the south of it. Or you can just completely give up on going to the city of Alora, I can't stop you.

SPEAKER_03 20:29

No, no, um, I feel like uh I feel like going on up the mountains. Uh I feel like that's the I'm least least likely to be followed up the mountains.

SPEAKER_00 20:41

So as you begin. You've gotten out of the mud, you've headed up the hills, avoiding the zombie town because you simply don't want to play that again.

SPEAKER_03 20:53

You do manage to- Okay, so I'm sorry, we've sorry to interrupt, but I when I was climbing, I do want to try and find a a cave. Um, but I I want to make sure it's unoccupied. Can I use my uh like Lord of the Flies to make sure that there's no like dead carcasses or anything nearby, any caves that I might find?

SPEAKER_00 21:12

So how this is gonna play out is I'm going to, just to metagame a bit, use a cliffside ascent traversal challenge.

SPEAKER_01 21:19

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 21:20

So at this point I set a dramatic d12 down on the table. Your objective is to tell me what various skills and abilities you use to successfully attempt to climb up this cliff. So your first comment is you want to try and find a cave on the side of this cliff using Lord of the Flies. So go ahead and make an instinct roll and spend a hope for your fly-like abilities to try and find a place with no dead bodies.

SPEAKER_03 21:48

Okay, so Lord of the Flies. Okay, anyway, okay, so an instinct check. Yes. Instinct Plus two because of Lord of the Flies. And roll. Ooh, 25 with hope.

SPEAKER_00 22:09

25 with hope. So, that's two successes. The countdown is down to ten. For context, you didn't take a long rest but near than I, so I am out of fear completely. So there's very few mean things I can do to you yet. Right, right. So as you find yourself heading up the cliff, what strange formations are the stones in front of you arranged in?

SPEAKER_03 22:38

Ooh, what strange formations. Uh well, I mean, uh, from a distance they they appear to be round boulders, but as you get closer, uh, they actually appear to each, every single one of them, have twenty sides.

SPEAKER_00 22:55

So, with the strange geometric, almost like barium-style rock formations. Each one of them almost perfect, almost carved. You do see that there's large metal rods stabbed into the sides of the cliff. From thick uh pythons left behind from the previous group of climbers.

SPEAKER_04 23:18

Mm-hmm.

SPEAKER_00 23:19

And at this point you're pretty high up. Because it's not like there's a clean trail up through the mountains. There is some like actual rock climbing going on. And you do have a small child in a Nezuko basket on your back. So just well, what would you like to use next to attempt to climb? So how it works is typically with a group, I would use the skill challenge rules of when you use the same skill repeatedly, the odds of success increase slightly. I'm gonna implement that here as well. So if your same approach is to constantly look for spots, the difficulty of doing it will slightly increase each time you use the exact same approach.

SPEAKER_03 23:57

But no, see, uh I I do happen to be an amateur gardener. Um, so I I'm hoping I can find some uh some vines or other foliage that uh would help assist with the with the climbing.

SPEAKER_00 24:12

I'll allow it, but I'll have that one be a knowledge check.

SPEAKER_03 24:17

Alright. Knowledge plus two. Roll in an 18! Oh, a critical success!

SPEAKER_00 24:28

So, with a critical success, that is three more successes as you manage to you're starting to like get into a nice parkouring rhythm. Like you're starting to almost see like the areas from the pythons light up as you're jumping from python to python, god of waring harming your way up this mountain. Hmm. And you get to like a small landing of sorts, an area to take your breath. Not quite like you could try and rest here, but really it's about a five by five bit of space. Right, right. But you do see a carving in the rock. What ominous warning did a previous adventurer leave?

SPEAKER_03 25:06

What ominous warning did a previous adventurer leave? Ooh. Um, I mean, so uh there seems to be uh little carvings of uh uh four-sided pyramids. And he's leaving me an ominous warning that these these four-sided pyramids they're not exactly caltrops, uh, but he's like, watch out uh for the ones.

SPEAKER_00 25:38

Got it. So with the dice themed ascent up this mountain, which will now probably be named the Geometric Hills in my future campaigns. What is your next line of approach?

SPEAKER_03 25:52

Okay, uh, is the air getting thin, or how is what's the air like in in where we are at?

SPEAKER_00 25:58

You're definitely getting pretty substantially high up. I would say the air isn't so much getting thin yet as it's getting brisk.

SPEAKER_04 26:06

Mmm.

SPEAKER_00 26:08

As you get higher from the tropical swamp below.

SPEAKER_03 26:13

Okay, uh, I mean that this this might be a little bit of a stretch, but I have this being dead uh ability. Um and uh dead people are generally quite cold. Uh so I'm wondering if like my experience from being dead would help me find warm paths that can take me up the mountainside.

SPEAKER_00 26:37

I'm gonna say it's not gonna help you find warm paths, but it means you don't get as affected from being cold. So I will allow it. Go ahead and either make agility or strength.

SPEAKER_03 26:50

I'm going to go with agility for no particular reason. Roll uh 14 with fear.

SPEAKER_00 27:05

Alright. So as you continue your parkouring goodness. And at this point there's six left on the counter to get to the top. You do see the best way you can put it is you know what a human rib cage looks like. But it looks like one human fell from high enough to get their ribs lodged in the orbitable sockets of a skull below them. As you see a pile of s about three or four skeletons crunched on each other.

SPEAKER_03 27:35

Oh.

SPEAKER_00 27:38

So, my question for you is what lives in these walls that might try and scare adventurers into falling? Cause it looks like from the angles that they jumped off the cliff to get away from something. What are you afraid is up here?

SPEAKER_03 27:53

Ooh. Um, uh so I've I've heard tales of um a uh psychic beast that uh connects two uh geometric shapes like bolo, like a bolos thing, and like spins them around like tops to like saw at people. Interesting. Alright. Uh to to keep with the dice theme, I'm imagining that they'd be like d10s on either side of like a psychic rope.

SPEAKER_00 28:26

I enjoy that very much though. So, what would you like to do? What is your next line of approach to climb this mountain?

SPEAKER_03 28:35

Okay. Um well, my next line of approach, uh I'd like kind of like to inspect the skeletons to see if I can uh determine how long they've been dead and uh what kind of damage was done to them so that I can try and avoid that as I climb.

SPEAKER_00 28:53

I'll have that be a knowledge roll or an instinct roll, your choice.

SPEAKER_03 28:58

Uh I'll be instinctive about it. Being dead. And roll Ooh, another well 15, but with fear. Fifteen with fear.

SPEAKER_00 29:13

So as you get ever higher, and the air at this point is starting to get thin, with the dramatic dice having a five on it, and me sitting in an impressive two fear. You're climbing, you're climbing, you're like, okay, I have to watch out for psychically tethered boulders. I have to watch out for something that's rustling up above. And at this point, I'm going to have you. I'm gonna spend a fear. As one of your hand holds gives way and you begin to fall.

SPEAKER_01 29:42

Oh dear.

SPEAKER_00 29:43

What are you doing?

SPEAKER_03 29:46

Uh okay, so what do I got?

SPEAKER_00 29:48

I got And know that a fall from this height will probably be around 13 d12 damage.

SPEAKER_03 29:56

Yeah, no, see, I got a long tongue, so can I use my tongue to try and catch myself and stop myself from falling?

SPEAKER_00 30:02

Go ahead and roll finesse for the tongue.

SPEAKER_03 30:06

And roll finesse.

SPEAKER_00 30:11

Wow. And 15 with fear. I will happily take my fear. You do not lose any progress as you immediately flung gecks a gecko your way, grab onto a rock, shake a bit. You don't love that that nearly happened. You saw your life flash before your eyes a little bit. You're not in great physical shape right now. I am not. I mean, it would be really funny to just have you fall from a cliff and let's say your character dies, and it's time to make a new one live. But we agreed to this. We canonically agreed that if you died, we just keep going and that character is dead.

SPEAKER_03 30:48

That would be true, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 30:50

Alright, spotlight is yours. What would you like to do?

SPEAKER_03 30:55

Okay. Um so I'm climbing the Okay, uh. Are there still pythons?

SPEAKER_00 31:03

Yes. They're looking odd and rusted.

SPEAKER_03 31:07

Mm-mm. Have not been have they've been here a long time, I see.

SPEAKER_00 31:11

Yes, you feel like they've been here for years.

SPEAKER_03 31:14

Which means they're wedged in there pretty good. Fair enough. Um, and uh would being dead apply to say uh searching for signs of blood or any sort of scrapes or anything on the side of the mountain and the pythons to see what pathways people have failed to climb up on?

SPEAKER_00 31:44

A little obscure, but I'll allow it.

SPEAKER_03 31:48

Alright. So I used to hope.

SPEAKER_00 31:54

Okay, so I'm one of my that feels knowledge. Knowledge. Okay, I see alright, alright.

SPEAKER_03 32:03

Roll! Ooh, a 14 still with fear.

SPEAKER_00 32:08

So, happily take that fear. There's a certain kind of moss that grows on these cliffsides based on moisture and iron found in humanoid blood. And by the patterns of this moss, it looks like something slammed something into the side of the cliff so hard that it splattered the blood into the wall before it sadly tumbled down to its death.

SPEAKER_01 32:30

Oh dear.

SPEAKER_00 32:32

So, with that bit of nerve, I'm gonna spend a fear, and you just kinda hear what it might be the wind, it might be a gentle noise, but you hear something in the distance. Hmm. Movements back to yours. I'm down to two fear again. I think I'm down to one fear, actually. But something is you feel like something slams its prey into the side of cliff walls.

SPEAKER_03 32:59

I see, I see. Um. And with that role, did I like kind of determine if it has like a a specific like territory, or if there's it's just like all along the side of the mountain, there's just bloody moss.

SPEAKER_00 33:13

You're you feel like you've gotten high enough up that you're now in its territory.

SPEAKER_03 33:18

I'm I'm in its territory. Okay.

SPEAKER_00 33:21

You're also on the side of a cliff. And you've been climbing for like five hours at this point.

SPEAKER_03 33:31

Um can I use my amateur gardener trait to determine whether or not the uh blood moss is edible and would give me more energy to climb more efficiently?

SPEAKER_00 33:42

That is so dumb. Go ahead and roll finesse, and I'll allow it. As you nutrient tried to protein load on moss across this journey. Critical success. Yeah. So, you have your mossy snack, and with that, the d12 is down to a two, you clear a stress and gain a hope. And you're like, you literally just snot like I could pro and just start eating the wall moth that's grown on fleshy blood for the energy boost. It is very high in protein and iron.

SPEAKER_03 34:19

That's kinda what I figured, but you know, I just figured I would double check first, so.

SPEAKER_00 34:24

So you're getting pretty close to the top right now.

SPEAKER_03 34:28

Mm-hmm.

SPEAKER_00 34:30

Alright. Um. If you roll well, this could be your last roll to get to the top of this mountain.

SPEAKER_03 34:38

Well, I'm running over ideas on how to apply my skills, so I I think um I'm just gonna try and just uh with the energy from my mossy snack, try and just make that final burst as fast as I can.

SPEAKER_00 34:54

Go ahead and roll agility.

SPEAKER_03 34:59

Roll 18 with fear.

SPEAKER_00 35:03

18 with fear. So you do make it to the top, and you're about 6,000 feet in the air at this point after a full, full ass day of climbing with almost supernatural strength. So I'm gonna go ahead and spend a fear. So you're on the top of this, and they're gonna have to like climb down the other side basically.

SPEAKER_04 35:21

Right.

SPEAKER_00 35:22

But it's kind of interesting, now that you're at the top of this clip, you can kind of see this tall mountain and another peak in the distance, and way down below Worms Hearth Crossing, like, almost like it formed an arch. Oh. And once upon a time it formed an arch, but you've climbed to the top of this, and you see in the distance a giant eagle slowly flapping towards you. It's either a really small it's either a really small eagle that's not far away, or a really big eagle that's a fair distance away. Uh-huh. And you're sitting at about, like to put it into a tile's perspective, about four tiles worth of square footage on the top of this plateau here. I see. And you do see a fla uh haven flag stagged into the ground. Blowing dramatically in the wind. Enchanted, so it's always blowing dramatically in the wind.

SPEAKER_03 36:14

Does does there appear to be anywhere to hide from this giant eagle? You tell me. Um. So you said that it's it's like a plateau uh that looks like it kind of arcs used to arc over the town that's been destroyed. Um, I mean, I would assume uh that there's some more of the dice-shaped rubble. Although, actually, uh now that I'm remembering the uh ominous warning, I am gonna search uh for caltrops.

SPEAKER_00 36:52

Uh, you do see caltrop-shaped rocks around. No actual caltrops. Uh yeah, you're about 6,000 feet in the air.

SPEAKER_03 37:02

Yeah, no, so I mean I'm gonna try and find some some rubble that doesn't have too many uh caltrop-shaped rocks on it, uh around it, and uh see if I can hide amongst the rubble until this eagle passes.

SPEAKER_00 37:15

Go ahead and roll a finesse jack for me.

SPEAKER_03 37:19

Finesse. That is a 12 with hope. Woohoo!

SPEAKER_00 37:26

So 12 with hope. The hope is great. The twelve not quite as much. So, you're hidden, but you look, and the eagle is approaching, and it's you you feel like it sees you. I'm gonna go ahead and have it do a deadly dive towards you.

SPEAKER_03 37:49

I see. That's bad news bears.

SPEAKER_00 37:53

Indeed, it's like you climbed a mountain after fighting a bunch of wizards. Does a two beat your evasion?

SPEAKER_03 38:06

A two does not beat my evasion.

SPEAKER_00 38:09

So, you see it just swoop towards you and just crumble it, slams into the rocks next to you. Like, oh god! It's about it's in very close range. Massive 13 to 20 foot wingspan, giant bird of prey with bloodstained talons glaring at you as a the delicious meal you are. But action is yours, and I only have one fear remaining.

SPEAKER_03 38:37

Okay, well, I mean, first things first, I mean I probably should have done this before I uh climbed the mountain, but I have the uh rogues hope, where I can spend three hope to gain plus two to my evasion.

SPEAKER_00 38:51

I'll say you applied that already. I'll let you retroactively have that. Oh, okay, okay. Actually, okay.

SPEAKER_03 38:58

Um and then um that's the Wither Wild thing, okay. Well, I guess I'm just gonna try and stab this eagle in the eye.

SPEAKER_00 39:12

Okay, okay.

SPEAKER_03 39:14

I mean I'll try and shoot the eagle in the eye and get the bonus from my my dagger.

SPEAKER_00 39:21

I'll allow it.

SPEAKER_03 39:25

Uh so I roll with that, and I can add this, right? Oh, plus two okay, so anyway, roll sixteen with hope. Does that hit?

SPEAKER_00 39:38

It does.

SPEAKER_03 39:40

Okay, and then calculate damage. No. Okay, so oh no, I know I don't that's not what I wanted to do. I just I guess I just want to roll some dice. Which is oh no, I click the night, so two d6 plus one, and then I can add this. No, it didn't add it automatically, okay. 2d6 plus 3 because I get plus two to weapon damage with my crossbow because I have to shive him.

SPEAKER_00 40:08

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 40:08

With an 11.

SPEAKER_00 40:10

So as you shoot and shive him, you manage to do two points of damage towards this bird. That doesn't seem super durable, but it does seem super pissed. So you're like, you shot it and it hurt it. It hurt it pretty bad.

SPEAKER_01 40:24

Oh dear.

SPEAKER_00 40:25

And you have the feeling that you only were able to hit it because it was still grounded at the time.

SPEAKER_04 40:30

Hmm.

SPEAKER_00 40:31

So I'm gonna spend a f one of my last remaining fear to have it take up off the ground and be flying dramatically. And it's gonna attempt to stab you with its talons.

SPEAKER_01 40:41

Oh dear.

SPEAKER_00 40:48

Roll damn you. Does a 14 hit you?

SPEAKER_03 40:59

A 14 does not.

SPEAKER_00 41:01

So you just see these talons towards you, but it is flying above you right now, which will make it a little more difficult to hit. But it is about half dead.

SPEAKER_03 41:12

Well, I mean, so that means I can't get the the bonus damage from my dagger for shooting it, right?

SPEAKER_00 41:18

Unless you jump in like point like if you do it if you make it sound cool enough, I'll allow it.

SPEAKER_04 41:25

Mm-hmm.

SPEAKER_00 41:28

Like if you like throw your dagger and ricochet arrow off it or some cool shit like that.

SPEAKER_03 41:36

No, I I think I'm just gonna set some aim. I'm gonna try and uh shoot this eagle with my crossbow.

SPEAKER_02 41:44

Alright.

SPEAKER_03 41:44

Because it yeah. Take aim and fire. Fourteen with fear.

SPEAKER_00 41:53

It swoops and it m you just missed, and I'll take my fear point.

SPEAKER_04 41:58

Hmm.

SPEAKER_00 41:59

I'm going to mark another one of its stress to have it do a deadly dive. Uh-oh. Fifteen.

SPEAKER_03 42:12

My evasion is fifteen. So if it meets it beats. I believe so. Okay.

SPEAKER_00 42:18

So that is damage. Click. Roll. That is twelve points of physical damage.

SPEAKER_03 42:31

I'm going to use a armor slot and reduce that to only minor damage and take one hit point.

SPEAKER_00 42:38

How rough are you looking?

SPEAKER_03 42:40

I got two hit points remaining.

SPEAKER_00 42:42

So as it knocks you over, you're currently vulnerable.

SPEAKER_03 42:47

Oh.

SPEAKER_00 42:48

Which means while you're vulnerable, you're scrambling, you're off your guard, you're not doing good, all rolls targeting you have advantage. Uh oh. However, you're vulnerable until you next act.

SPEAKER_04 43:02

Uh-huh.

SPEAKER_00 43:03

Which is now. So you're no longer vulnerable.

SPEAKER_03 43:08

Uh what range is the uh is the bird?

SPEAKER_00 43:11

It kind of did like a shove you down, fly away situation, so it's within close range.

SPEAKER_03 43:19

Okay, okay. Um. Can I uh I'm gonna attempt to shoot with my crossbow, uh, but can I grab my dagger with my tongue and try and stab him with my dagger at the same time?

SPEAKER_00 43:36

That is the exact kind of awesome nonsense I will allow and live for.

SPEAKER_03 43:41

Alright. Come on, something cool. 17 with fear.

SPEAKER_00 43:48

If it wasn't flying, you would have got it.

unknown 43:51

Really?

SPEAKER_00 43:53

As it flaps its wings and just gets slightly out of range. Ever so close. So now power passes back to me. Uh-oh. I'm going to have it do a deadly dive towards you. Using a it only has one stress remaining. Do with that knowledge what you will. Does a 14 hit you?

SPEAKER_03 44:17

A 14 does not. As it slams I got hit, so You didn't get hit. A 14 does hit me.

SPEAKER_00 44:26

As it slams into you. For five damage.

SPEAKER_03 44:37

I am going to mark an armor slot and make that to zero damage.

SPEAKER_00 44:41

Okay. Make an agility reaction roll.

SPEAKER_03 44:44

Uh so hope and fear don't matter? Correct. Okay.

SPEAKER_00 44:49

They never took my feedback and made reaction rolls d20s. They should have. Uh 16. So you failed by one in this circumstance and are restrained. Which means you cannot move until this condition is cleared, but you can still take actions from your current position as its massive talons grapple around you, and he immediately lifts up into the air very far range above the battlefield while holding you.

SPEAKER_01 45:19

Oh dear. So if I kill it, I would fall to my death?

SPEAKER_00 45:24

Will see well, you'd be fallen! That's for sure. To your death, that's on you to figure out. Right, right.

SPEAKER_03 45:33

Um, well does it still have the extra Well, I guess I wouldn't wouldn't know for sure, but since I'm in its talons, if I were to say uh use my reign of blades.

SPEAKER_00 45:54

Uh Well it says while flying this adversary gets plus three bonus to their difficulty. I think it's still flying while you're grappling in its talons. I I see your logic, but no.

SPEAKER_03 46:05

No, okay, okay.

SPEAKER_00 46:06

If you threw a Saitama and like flipped the ground upside down, so the sky was the ground to the ground with the sky, then maybe.

SPEAKER_03 46:15

Um you said I'm very far range above?

SPEAKER_00 46:24

Yes.

SPEAKER_03 46:29

And it's still nighttime? Correct. So I'm within the eagle's shadow. Yes, no?

SPEAKER_00 46:45

So you specifically had your like big action happen during sunset, which the sunset now. Hmm. I'm gonna say being very far range, which in Daggerheart is you are 300 feet from the ground?

SPEAKER_04 47:04

Mm-hmm.

SPEAKER_00 47:05

I don't know if you could really tell if it was its shadow or just like you can't.

SPEAKER_03 47:10

Hmm. Uh yeah, yeah. Okay, okay. So I so I there's let's put it this way.

SPEAKER_00 47:18

Um so your ability you're trying to use is shadow step, right?

SPEAKER_03 47:22

Basically, yes.

SPEAKER_00 47:24

So I'm not certain if you can shadow step while restrained. Because restrained's wording verbatim is you can't move until this collection is cleared. What exactly, word for word, does shadow step say in the circumstance?

SPEAKER_03 47:36

Uh you can move from shadow to shadow. You are right.

SPEAKER_00 47:40

Read the full effect. I'm trying to decide how much pity slash hatred to use here.

SPEAKER_03 47:46

You can move from shadow to shadow. When you move into an area of darkness or shadow cast by another creature or object, you can mark a stress to disappear from where you are and reappear inside another shadow within far range. When you reappear, you are cloaked.

SPEAKER_00 48:00

I mean, you have to move into the shadow. So my logic is because you're restrained under the bird, you can't really move into its shadow because you're in its shadow. So here's like terms and conditions I'm gonna use for the shenanigans. Here's my deal I'm gonna make you. I will allow you to try and use this spell if you make a finesse check to break free of the bird.

SPEAKER_04 48:24

Hmm.

SPEAKER_00 48:28

However, if you biff it, there could be consequences most dire.

SPEAKER_03 48:33

Well, I feel like the consequences are already pretty dire because I know that this bird slams people into the side of the mountain to kill them. Uh, so I'm I'm going for it. Um. Yep. Finesse. Let's go! Oh, 15 with fear.

SPEAKER_00 48:53

So you needed a 17.

SPEAKER_03 48:55

Yeah, okay.

SPEAKER_00 48:56

Turn order applies to me as you try to struggle and break free of being restrained from this bird to then do some sort of shadow-stepping shenanigans. I will let you know, it will take if the fall isn't prevented during the PC's next action is when they hit the ground normally. But you're also on top of a mountain, so you would have some time while falling to not die. Hmm. But I'm gonna have it just try and close the claws around you.

SPEAKER_03 49:23

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 49:25

Does a 13 hit you?

SPEAKER_03 49:27

It does not. Oh, a 13 is my invasion, so yeah, it hits me.

SPEAKER_00 49:30

Alright. Doo doo doo. Six points of damage.

SPEAKER_03 49:37

I take one hit point.

SPEAKER_00 49:40

As it's just closing the talons around you.

SPEAKER_03 49:44

Hmm. And it is your move. So it hasn't actually dropped me yet.

SPEAKER_00 49:51

No, but it did fly another distance.

SPEAKER_03 49:55

I see, I see.

SPEAKER_00 49:59

With your earlier roles of exploring the nature and the dermains, you feel like it wants to eat you, so it doesn't want to drop you to your death if it can avoid it. It would rather just slam you into a wall and then eat you.

SPEAKER_03 50:13

Hmm. But I don't have any sort of healing potion or anything.

SPEAKER_00 50:27

It's pretty stressed out and kind of sore.

SPEAKER_03 50:36

Okay. Um So you'll have to remind me on the rules. Uh, I have the Devouring Dagger in my inventory, which I didn't equip because it's a primary weapon.

SPEAKER_00 50:52

You can spend a stress to switch your weapons.

SPEAKER_03 50:55

I'm gonna spend a stress to switch my weapon to the primary dagger to the devouring dagger, and I am going to uh I'm going to s stab it with my devouring dagger.

SPEAKER_00 51:10

Okay, go ahead and make your attack.

SPEAKER_03 51:15

Devouring dagger, come on, something good. Oof, that's only a nine with hope.

SPEAKER_00 51:21

Nope. But turn order is still yours if you try and stab at it. So I have a question for you, and I want you to answer honestly.

SPEAKER_04 51:29

Mm-hmm.

SPEAKER_00 51:30

Is there still a small child on your back, or did she climb out to sit for a moment when you made it to the top of this plateau?

SPEAKER_03 51:37

Um. I she she climbed out to uh to sit for a moment after climbing the mountain, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 51:45

Okay. So she can't help you in this moment. If she was still on your back, she could.

SPEAKER_03 51:53

Okay. Um, well, I mean, I'm gonna I'm gonna attempt to uh stab it with the devouring dagger once again.

SPEAKER_00 52:00

Go ahead and make your attack.

SPEAKER_03 52:04

Oh, 14 with fear.

SPEAKER_00 52:07

That is unfortunate. It's yeah, because it's very much still flying.

SPEAKER_03 52:14

It is very much still flying.

SPEAKER_00 52:16

Alright, so I have two fear at my disposal. You're feeling pretty rough in this grasp. It's just gonna try and finish closing those talons and just kind of shake you a bit. Okay. Does the 12 hit you? It does not. As it's just closing the claws and rattling you back and forth. And at this point, it's continuing to just kind of fly up and away.

SPEAKER_03 52:40

Right, right.

SPEAKER_00 52:42

And turn order is yours. The cliff is no longer below you, by the way. You're just kind of above the river heading north. Okay, so. So you're about six thousand. Um, I'm gonna I'm trying to figure out exactly how far up you are. You're six thousand plus three thousand plus three. Yeah, you're about seven thousand feet in the air now.

SPEAKER_03 53:07

Wow.

SPEAKER_00 53:10

Um, even if she had a crossbow, she wouldn't be able to shoot from this range.

SPEAKER_03 53:20

Um. Okay. Can I use my uh being dead trait uh to uh pretend like it actually did kill me with that last talon grasp?

SPEAKER_00 53:36

Go ahead and roll present.

SPEAKER_03 53:39

Okay. I mean I the being Oh, so good.

SPEAKER_00 53:50

I want this for you, I really do.

SPEAKER_03 53:54

That is a twenty with spear.

SPEAKER_00 53:58

That was you just stop moving, it'll let your breathing go real low. Let your heart rate go real low. This is the thing you've done a couple times at this point in this adventure. It just stops crushing you, it's just flying.

SPEAKER_03 54:10

And now we're I mean I'm kinda kinda hoping it'll return somewhere near the mountaintop, but yeah. So we'll see where it takes me.

SPEAKER_00 54:18

Okay, let me check. How far does an eagle fly in a day? Yes, I'm literally looking how far an eagle flies. So describe a few things you see below you out of your half-closed eye.

SPEAKER_03 54:45

Um well, I mean uh I assume I see a variety of of uh roads and pathways that had led to and from the the trading center that was Wormharth. Um and but mostly I would assume that it's just the um this scary like forest with eyes, and I can see the rustling of of large beasts in the trees below, and uh probably the winding of of the river.

SPEAKER_00 55:22

So this is deeply unfortunate, but according to my quick Google search, I'm gonna have you roll a uh go ahead and roll two d10 for me.

SPEAKER_03 55:32

Two d ten a six.

SPEAKER_00 55:39

So it flies for six hours. Oh my. Really? Out of two d ten you got single digits and got a six? Yeah? Ah, that's so so apparently an eagle can fly for several days. Wow. So you were carried by the eagle for six hours. That's not too bad. About you made it about two hundred miles away from where you started. As it begins to lower down, and you see what looks like a nest of wire and twigs and branches, and you hear as you see four giant eagle chicks in this nest.

SPEAKER_01 56:18

Oh dear.

SPEAKER_00 56:19

As a large eagle is slowly approaching, you're about, I don't know. I guess say if you want to take an action now you can, or you can continue to play dead. But you can see the ground, it's in range. You would fall it the ground is about very far range right now.

SPEAKER_03 56:35

I see. Oh man. Poor Lyra. Now she's left alone on the top of a mountain.

SPEAKER_00 56:44

That is what happened now.

SPEAKER_03 56:46

I have no idea how I'm gonna rescue her. But um. And I'm coming up to the nest?

SPEAKER_00 56:57

Yep. You can see them in the distance. So for context, I basically set a five-turn timer, and you go very far, far, close, very close melee. So you get like that's about how long till you land in the nest to be devoured by baby birds. Being part of the circle of life.

unknown 57:18

Um.

SPEAKER_00 57:19

As many a frog before you.

SPEAKER_03 57:23

So if I were to attack the bird now, would I have an advantage?

SPEAKER_00 57:27

I would say so. It's forgotten. It doesn't think you're alive. I would give you a d6 advantage on that. That seems to be reasonable. I remember I'm not gonna give you a short rest because it's hard to relax in bird talents.

SPEAKER_03 57:38

No, yeah, yeah, that that makes sense. I thought about it.

SPEAKER_00 57:42

It was six hours. I thought about letting you take a nap, but not in this circumstance, I'm afraid. Although this is really funny.

SPEAKER_03 57:50

Okay. Well.

SPEAKER_00 57:53

Um So you can tell me how how close you want to be.

SPEAKER_03 58:01

Well, once I'm within far range.

SPEAKER_00 58:04

About 3200 feet away.

SPEAKER_03 58:08

I I want to attempt to stab it again with my with my dagger.

SPEAKER_00 58:12

You can make your attack with advantage.

SPEAKER_03 58:15

Attack with advantage.

SPEAKER_00 58:18

Which in this game is adding an extra d6 to the roll.

unknown 58:21

Yeah!

SPEAKER_03 58:21

22 to hit.

SPEAKER_00 58:22

Well, with fear though. That'll hit.

SPEAKER_03 58:24

I will take that fear. Uh, but uh the target must also mark a stress.

SPEAKER_00 58:32

It is fully stressed out. Which in this context that means I'm just trying to remember exactly the wording here. It is now vulnerable, causing it to all rolls targeting it have advantage.

SPEAKER_03 58:50

Okay, so now I roll for damage, which I also get the advantage from my little small dagger. Um roll for damage. Plus two for the small dagger. 14 damage.

SPEAKER_00 59:09

14 damage. Okay. So as you just stab it here as you jagg these daggers into its neck and it flips down and starts plummeting towards the ground, the giant eagle deceased. You have about one action before you hit the ground, which you, as you mentioned, you're still at far range. So you're still looking at specifically about uh 30 to 100 foot drop still.

SPEAKER_03 59:38

Right, right, right. Um Well while I'm falling, I'm hoping to be able to actually use my uh uh shadow step ability to teleport into a tree.

SPEAKER_00 59:51

You'd have to be able to move into a shadow to teleport into another shadow.

SPEAKER_03 59:56

Hmm.

SPEAKER_00 59:58

I'm not saying no, I'm saying explain this to me. Well, okay, so I have to be able to Yeah, you basically have to enter a shadow to exit another shadow.

SPEAKER_03 1:00:11

I see, I see.

SPEAKER_00 1:00:12

Portal gun logic.

SPEAKER_03 1:00:14

That makes sense. Well, I guess I have to wait until we're within the tree line in order to teleport out of its grasp and hopefully into a different tree.

SPEAKER_00 1:00:26

Well, it's no longer has you held tightly, because it's dead. Ah. But your plan is to ride into the tree line, jump into the shadow under a tree, and then teleport out to another tree? Yeah. So that's gonna be a finesse roll, and if you fuck this up, you're just hitting the ground full speed.

SPEAKER_03 1:00:43

Okay, finesse. Um would I be able to apply amateur gardener as I search for branches and stuff that would help break my fall and or be good to land on?

SPEAKER_00 1:00:56

I hate that I'm letting you do this. This feels like some higher tier than amateur gardening, Carl, but I'll allow it.

SPEAKER_03 1:01:07

19 with hope.

SPEAKER_00 1:01:09

So as you're like basically surfing on this eagle down towards the ground and you barrel roll into a tree, capturing momentum and landing outside of another tree, make an agility reaction roll to just kind of you still have the momentum, right? Like you jump through a portal and you're coming out of a portal closer to the ground.

SPEAKER_03 1:01:26

Hmm. Alright. Uh agility reaction roll.

SPEAKER_00 1:01:30

Mm-hmm.

SPEAKER_03 1:01:31

19.

SPEAKER_00 1:01:33

19. W oh wait, reaction, sweet. So you roll through off the bat, you basically this eagle flips down, you jump off the eagle, roll into a shadow attached to a tree, roll out from another tree as the eagle hits the ground with a thud. You're good.

SPEAKER_03 1:01:49

I'm good, I'm good. You've landed! Oh good.

SPEAKER_00 1:01:53

And you hear in the distance within far range or baby eagles. They're about the size of a cow.

SPEAKER_03 1:02:06

Jeez, they're big baby eagles.

SPEAKER_00 1:02:09

They're baby giant eagles.

SPEAKER_03 1:02:13

Uh well, I mean, I really, really need to take a rest. Um. So I need to try and see if I can find a way to like hide myself in these trees and and rest in the trees.

SPEAKER_00 1:02:28

Alright, just make a simple finesse roll to take a tree nap.

SPEAKER_03 1:02:33

Finesse Oh, 13 with hope.

SPEAKER_00 1:02:36

Okay, roll a d20 for me.

SPEAKER_03 1:02:40

D20. Phew. And rolled. 17.

SPEAKER_00 1:02:46

So as you find yourself up in the trees in the shadows, kind of like tie yourself down a bit so you don't fall. And pass out. What number did you roll again? 17. So you wake up about 17 hours later, having enjoyed your long rest. Alright. Because you didn't pa you passed the f out. Downtime.

SPEAKER_03 1:03:13

Long rest. Tandal wounds. And clear all stress. My armor is still pretty fucked up, but yes, reset my confirmed. Yay. Alright, passed the fuck out, and now I'm feeling a lot less stressed and a lot less dead.

SPEAKER_00 1:03:43

And you did have a bird carry you for days.

SPEAKER_03 1:03:51

Apparently not for days, I managed to get single digits.

SPEAKER_00 1:03:54

And roll a d4 for me, please.

SPEAKER_03 1:03:58

Oh, I shouldn't have I shouldn't have goaded you. Uh I got a one.

SPEAKER_00 1:04:04

So I gained two fear. Bringing me to a net total of four fear. Because it is a d4 plus the number of players, and there is one of you. Alright. Woo! So you found yourself on an unrelated mountain, six hour flight from where you were, through a shape-shifting forest, in the middle of the night, after being dropped from a bird on top of an unrelated mountain. What would you like to do?

SPEAKER_03 1:04:36

Oh wow. Um That's is a very good question because yeah, Lyra's Lyra's probably dead. Oh dear.

SPEAKER_00 1:04:55

And it wasn't like you walked six hours away. You were flown six hours away.

SPEAKER_01 1:05:02

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 1:05:03

Which could have been real bad if you got a 99 on the dice and were flown 99 hours away. Uh as you start taking stress points from just being in the air exhausted for too long.

SPEAKER_03 1:05:23

Well, so I assume I'm relatively high up in the tree.

unknown 1:05:29

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 1:05:31

Um, can I see any uh roads and pathways?

SPEAKER_00 1:05:37

Roll a instinct roll for me.

SPEAKER_03 1:05:41

Instinct ate with fear.

SPEAKER_00 1:05:47

The Wither Wild is a primeval wood where nature's fury and spirit magic are both palpable and untamed. In the distance you see massive fungi, and iridescent spores carpeting the flower floor. Vines twisting into skeletal trees. The forest stretches far beyond sight in every direction, its edges lost to memory. A mist tree is choked by the strangling vines, creating a cathedral of living wood. Where there were paths, they twist and fork under the dangling bioluminescent moss. They are sick and human with the sound of decay in your as about two days in the distance a bolt of lightning arcs out of a mountain.

SPEAKER_01 1:06:28

Oh dear.

SPEAKER_00 1:06:31

Um as it just erupts thunder and glitter. Sheesh.

SPEAKER_03 1:06:39

Well, so it's it's still permanent night. Which means I probably don't want to be down on the forest floor. Like Well, I'm I'm not a big fan of the of the lightning, but at the same time, perhaps that means that there's some form of civilization in that direction. So I'm gonna start swinging from treetop to treetop as best I can to try and head in that direction.

SPEAKER_00 1:07:12

So what's interesting is with your bit of knowledge of geography, you're aware of the thundering mountains. They're a pretty common landmark. And that means you're heading to the borderline of Lord Ed's territory. The city of Alora was near the southern edge of his territory, and a few days past that would be the Thundering Mountain. Ah. So this did bring you about three days closer to your destination.

unknown 1:07:38

More.

SPEAKER_03 1:07:41

Yeah, uh well, I mean, yeah, that's that's the direction I'm heading. I hope that's. But I like I said, I don't really want to be on the ground of the florist forest. Because uh predators tend to be on the ground.

SPEAKER_00 1:07:56

Alright, so go ahead and roll. I'm gonna say finesse to try and naruto tree to tree your way through this.

SPEAKER_03 1:08:03

Finesse with hope.

SPEAKER_00 1:08:07

So you're trying to parkour, but you're like. It turns out trying to jump tree to tree will take you forever. This is not a feasible way of moving through these woods.

SPEAKER_03 1:08:18

I see, I see.

SPEAKER_00 1:08:21

Like you made it a decent distance, but you're going about half of your normal travel speed at best. Roll a d20 for me, please.

SPEAKER_03 1:08:30

Roll another d20, alright. Uh, nine.

SPEAKER_00 1:08:39

So you look up in the sky and you see some glowing fireflies. And it's like almost like a constellation. And it's like you can almost see the glyphs of language. What name do they spell out that you're not sure if you're ri hallucinating it?

SPEAKER_03 1:08:56

Oh, they definitely spell out Lyra's name. And then you see the- I'm having some serious survivor skills.

SPEAKER_00 1:09:02

Would you like to follow the fireflies? Sure. I'll follow the fireflies. So as you eventually have to. You'll have to mark a stress if you want to continue to tree jump.

SPEAKER_03 1:09:16

I'll make I'll mark a stress. I really don't want to go down to the ground.

SPEAKER_00 1:09:20

Alright. So as you manage to. I'll spend a fear for you marking that stress. Fair is fair. As you manage to parkour your way through the woods, you do find yourself to a mysterious glade. A bit of peace. In this, quite frankly, brutal chunk of land. And from here you see.

unknown 1:09:43

Shh.

SPEAKER_00 1:09:45

Give me a second. In the middle of this glade, surrounded by b almost black water, is a colossal twisted ironwood tree, black as midnight, whose gnarled trunk rises about 200 feet into the air. Because from where the eagle nest was, which was on a cliff with a massive tree going around it, you've since like parkour down the tree. And now I've found a second tree. Its branches form an archway above a mossy clearing. And it seems to hum softly.

SPEAKER_03 1:10:20

Um I use my amateur gardener skill to determine whether or not that is the tree itself or some sort of animal?

SPEAKER_00 1:10:29

Roll a knowledge check.

SPEAKER_03 1:10:33

Knowledge with my gardening skill. That is a 16 with fear.

SPEAKER_00 1:10:40

It appears to be a tree, and we're gonna spend a fear as the trees rush aluminously. We see within its trunk at an angle a weathered spiral staircase.

SPEAKER_01 1:10:52

Ooh.

SPEAKER_00 1:10:53

And the leaves are dripping a sweet sap.

SPEAKER_03 1:10:58

Um, well, I mean I've come this far on a hallucination that it might maybe somehow teleport me back to her, so I'm gonna climb the staircase.

SPEAKER_00 1:11:08

So you see crumbling murals of night skies and deer lords decorating the walls of this tree. And what's interesting is there's almost like a permanent veil of pre-dawn gloom clinging to the shadow of this tree. You're you take a look at your compass and it just is spinning in circles. Oh and you seem to be in this tree.

SPEAKER_03 1:11:36

And the staircase continues up and into the tree more?

SPEAKER_00 1:11:40

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 1:11:40

Oh I'm just gonna keep climbing the staircase.

SPEAKER_00 1:11:44

So as you get to you climb for a while, it's a pretty colossal tree. Mm-hmm. And you see some shittering darkness. And then once you get to the top, you see like a circle of mushrooms. And sitting in the very center looks like it's about seven to ten feet tall with a singular eye. Wings from its back that look like a bunch of interwoven together bones, long seven-fingered hands and gnarled curled nails, and a huge smile. As you walk up to this floor, no sound is being made. You can't hear your own breathing or your own heartbeat. And it's looking directly at you. Um and you see bones scattered around.

SPEAKER_03 1:12:35

I am going to Can I use my Lord of the Flies to see if anything has died recently here?

SPEAKER_00 1:12:44

Go ahead and roll a knowledge check.

SPEAKER_03 1:12:48

Knowledge roll 13 with hope.

SPEAKER_00 1:12:55

So it looks like these bones have been treated and bleached and scrubbed clean.

unknown 1:13:01

Huh. Okay.

SPEAKER_00 1:13:03

Like a collection.

SPEAKER_03 1:13:08

Um so I'm going to uh spend three hope to uh activate my rogue hope um the plus two bonus to evasion. Uh and then I'm just going to uh gracefully bow before this strange creature.

SPEAKER_00 1:13:32

It gracefully bows back.

SPEAKER_03 1:13:42

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 1:13:44

Umgive me for uh disturbing you, oh great spirits.

SPEAKER_00 1:13:52

You open your mouth and no sound comes out.

SPEAKER_03 1:13:55

Oh, really? I see.

SPEAKER_00 1:14:00

Um It's like you've gone completely deaf or mute. You're not sure.

SPEAKER_03 1:14:07

Do I have a pen and paper in my basic supplies?

SPEAKER_00 1:14:11

You specifically, with all your forgery and shenanigans? Yeah, absolutely.

unknown 1:14:16

Okay.

SPEAKER_03 1:14:16

You seem like you will I am going to uh write it a note um saying uh forgive me for disturbing you, oh great spirit. Uh I have been carried a great distance by a giant eagle, and I am looking for a way to return to my companion uh in the mountains by a worm horse.

SPEAKER_00 1:14:38

So in Crimson Ink, in the most beautiful calligrap you've ever seen, it says, Welcome to my home. I take payment for blessings in bone.

SPEAKER_03 1:14:53

Oh I see. I don't have any spare bones.

SPEAKER_00 1:15:01

Not any spare ones.

SPEAKER_03 1:15:10

I'm not really sure I want to give up an arm for this, but a blessing would be nice. I've already come a fair great distance from the giant eagle's corpse.

SPEAKER_00 1:15:34

And your character isn't the type that's been harvesting body parts because he's been specifically traveling light.

SPEAKER_03 1:15:42

Yeah. What can I this thing takes payment in bones, eh?

SPEAKER_00 1:15:53

You are faced with the tooth fairy's older brother, the bone fairy.

SPEAKER_03 1:16:04

Well, I guess I guess I have to write him a note and uh say um that alas I have no no offering for you. Uh if you would be so kind, I shall take my leave. Sorry to have disturbed you.

SPEAKER_00 1:16:30

And crimson ink the note reads, but you have two hundred and six offerings. Please leave one on your way out the door.

SPEAKER_03 1:16:40

Okay. Okay. Um I I guess. I guess I'll write him another note. Uh would would my toes be his sufficient offering for your aid in returning home?

SPEAKER_00 1:17:04

It responds. To return home, no. To gain my favor, yes. A toe will let you leave. Another move swiftly, another move silently.

SPEAKER_03 1:17:21

Uh okay, well I guess. I mean, this is a this appears to be a powerful spirit, uh, and those are good blessings. So I I uh both in order to leave and also because those are sufficiently desirable blessings, I will uh cut off three of my toes.

SPEAKER_00 1:17:43

So as you go to pull the neck to cough your toes, it waves its hand as your foot begins to rattle. You feel your skeleton trying to relieve your body as the bones rip themselves free of your foot. You lose three hit points. Oof. Boom. But you can go ahead and add a ring of silence to your inventory. Ooh, nice. As you are in unfathomable pain.

SPEAKER_03 1:18:08

Ah, but no one can hear my screams. This is true.

SPEAKER_00 1:18:14

This is accurate.

SPEAKER_03 1:18:17

Ring of silence. Okay. Spend a hope to activate this ring. Your footsteps are silent until your next rest. Pretty good.

SPEAKER_00 1:18:33

As you politely leave the tree, avoiding that confrontation. As every step is unyielding pain.

SPEAKER_03 1:18:45

Uh yeah, my my toe bones were just from my feet.

SPEAKER_00 1:18:51

As you look over, do you see like little pixies with like a brush cleaning them nicely?

SPEAKER_03 1:18:59

Uh I uh I give a a wince a painful bow towards them and hobble down the stairs.

SPEAKER_00 1:19:09

No issue, except the immense unyielding pain. As you have exited the Ebon Bower.

SPEAKER_03 1:19:19

Uh well I am gonna spend a hope to activate my ring.

unknown 1:19:23

Yep.

SPEAKER_00 1:19:24

So this ring's a little better than a typical ring of silence. It's not just footsteps. All noise come could coming off you is stopped until you turn the ring off. Uh wow. Yeah. It's a very good ring of silence. It only costs you a foot.

SPEAKER_03 1:19:45

Ring enhanced ring of silence.

SPEAKER_00 1:19:47

Mm-hmm. What would you like to do with your remaining 203 bones? And as he leaves a tree, some of that like permanent gloom that seems to surround it is almost like clinging to you like a cloak. And do you feel at least temporarily you'll be very well hidden?

SPEAKER_03 1:20:14

Huh, well, I mean, now that I can travel along the the forest floor silently, uh I guess I'm just gonna k keep heading towards the uh thundering mountains in hopes that I can find my way to Alora.

SPEAKER_00 1:20:30

Go ahead and roll a instinct check. To travel through the exact middle of the woods in what could be the most confusing woods feasible.

SPEAKER_03 1:20:41

An instinct check. Um would my amateur gardener eat apply?

SPEAKER_00 1:20:46

I'll allow it. Burn that hope.

SPEAKER_03 1:20:50

Burn the hope. Sixteen with hope. Woohoo!

SPEAKER_00 1:20:57

Okay. So as you're heading through. Through the woods, further and further away from Haven's influence. I'm gonna have you go ahead and roll a D20 for me.

SPEAKER_03 1:21:10

Oh boy. D20s don't sound good in this game. That is a one.

SPEAKER_00 1:21:17

I see. So the best possible option? As you're heading through, you see some sticky glowing berries growing on a the side of the path. They look delicious.

SPEAKER_03 1:21:33

Hmm. Uh they're sticky and they glow. Uh can I use my Lord of the Flies to see what kind of insects uh have been around here andor attracted to these berries?

SPEAKER_00 1:21:48

I'll allow it with a knowledge check. We're gonna have to roll pretty high. This is a bit of a stretch.

SPEAKER_03 1:21:56

Oh, I only rolled an 11 with hope.

SPEAKER_00 1:21:59

Um you see a bee the size of a corgi fly by.

SPEAKER_03 1:22:04

Hmm. Well, I am going still going uh I'm gonna attempt to pick one of these berries.

SPEAKER_00 1:22:14

Doesn't give you any trouble. You're holding a berry.

SPEAKER_03 1:22:19

You wanna? I am kinda hungry. I've been sleeping for like 17 hours, so I'm gonna eat the berry.

SPEAKER_00 1:22:23

You restore a hit point.

SPEAKER_03 1:22:27

Alright. Uh, then I'm just gonna continue on my way.

SPEAKER_00 1:22:33

Alright. As you continue, going seemingly at random through the wither wild with no trail or path, going heading towards a large mountain in the distance that occasionally shoots up bolts of lightning. Go ahead and roll a d100 for me.

SPEAKER_03 1:22:49

A D100?

SPEAKER_04 1:22:52

Mm-hmm.

SPEAKER_03 1:22:54

Uh they don't have an option on this uh character roller here.

unknown 1:22:59

Oh.

SPEAKER_00 1:23:00

Alright, then I'll let it be a d20 instead. Uh 18. So eighteen days pass. Oh my. As imagine you, current Carl, being dropped in the middle of Bath National Park.

SPEAKER_03 1:23:17

Yeah, that wouldn't be very good.

SPEAKER_00 1:23:21

But as you go through the woods, days pass, days turn into nights, chaos wrong, occasional ancient gods and temples, the occasional bear and cubs. The wind stirs a broken altar grove. As you s the PTSD hasn't quite licked as you occasionally hear whispers of Lyra on the breeze. You do see what appears to be two catfolk sitting on a log by a river fishing.

SPEAKER_03 1:23:52

Oh, finally people. Uh I'm going to approach them. Where'd you come from?

SPEAKER_02 1:24:00

I was I was carried here by a giant eagle. I barely managed to escape its grasp, and I've been lost in the woods for weeks. Can you help me find civilization?

SPEAKER_00 1:24:12

You see the two catfolk look at each other. Look at you. Look how completely ruined every aspect of you looks at this point. Like here, and one of them just like hands you a tuna sandwich.

SPEAKER_03 1:24:25

Oh, yeah, I I gracefully accept and then devour the sandwich.

SPEAKER_00 1:24:30

It is delicious. It is the best sandwich you have ever eaten. And the other's like, come on, come with, come with. He likes puts an arm on your shoulder, just kind of guides you along. So as you walk for about two hours-ish, you see in the distance what looks like a whole bunch of little rope bridges in the canopy, a thick nest of trees with woven nets and carved platforms, lantern flowers blooming gently around each dwelling, and several catfoot with bows drawn pointed down at you. You have managed to find the village of Allura. And by find the vision of Allura, I mean in seventeen days you finally stumbled across any local beings in this woods to lead you towards a settlement.

SPEAKER_03 1:25:18

Oof. Wow.

SPEAKER_00 1:25:24

And you see that there appear the main entrance appears to be like a rope and pulley elevator on the ground.

SPEAKER_04 1:25:30

Hmm.

SPEAKER_00 1:25:31

And you see, you hear one of the cat folk go, Oi! We found a lost one! He's looking real rough. And the other cat goes, He smells real bad. And the ones up in there, halt, stranger, what business you have here if you have any and aren't just screwed.

SPEAKER_03 1:25:53

Uh well, so I s I still have a badge, right? Yes.

SPEAKER_00 1:25:58

And I will say though, you do know that the city of Alora is not under Imperial control.

SPEAKER_03 1:26:07

Right. Uh but up Where's my notes? Journal. Uh and I have been Right.

SPEAKER_00 1:26:26

Make an instinct reaction roll, please.

SPEAKER_03 1:26:29

An instinct reaction roll. That is a sixteen.

SPEAKER_00 1:26:38

You see a s short, probably like thirteen, fourteen-year-old catfolk, bright orange color with their hand in your coin purse.

SPEAKER_02 1:26:49

Um excuse me, little fella. Uh that's not a very nice way to scampers away into the woods.

SPEAKER_03 1:27:09

Okay, so I've been sent here by.

SPEAKER_00 1:27:14

Your original mission was to try and find the Fein race, a local terrorist, and you're sent here by Kern, the watchmaster the spy master of Haven.

SPEAKER_01 1:27:25

Right, right, right.

SPEAKER_00 1:27:26

And these are the first people to see your original form. Unless you were keep maintaining an illusion for the last 17 days in the woods.

SPEAKER_03 1:27:35

Oh no, no, I'm definitely not.

SPEAKER_00 1:27:38

I would be impressed of the commitment. I'd let you have it retroactively and be in character.

SPEAKER_03 1:27:44

No, no, I'm not worried about keeping up appearances like now that I've been lost in the woods for 18 days. Uh anyone following me has been long lost.

SPEAKER_00 1:27:53

Could you imagine the poor person stalking you when an eagle just grabs you and flies up the mountain in a random direction? And then like A day later falls than just moving randomly in the woods for nearly a month.

SPEAKER_02 1:28:15

So I guess Well uh I don't mean to be too bold, but I heard that there was something of a resistance uh forming around near this town, and I uh came to look into it and see if perhaps I could lend my services and and join.

SPEAKER_00 1:28:47

Roll a presence check, but with disadvantage because nothing about your current visage sh screams, I'm here to help fight for the cause.

SPEAKER_03 1:28:58

A 13 with hope. Oh you know, with disadvantage, so I gotta roll a d6 and subtract.

SPEAKER_00 1:29:04

Yep.

SPEAKER_03 1:29:06

Uh roll a d6 and subtract. Ooh, seven.

SPEAKER_00 1:29:09

Well of them looks at you. Oi, bud, you ain't doing any good out here. Try asking a little nicer.

SPEAKER_02 1:29:25

Well, perhaps. It's too little too late. But if you won't let me join the old resistance, then could you help me find my way back to Wormharth?

SPEAKER_00 1:29:37

At this point the bar rolls their eyes like you hear whispers, Wormharth. Wormharth is do we tell him? Oh come up, come up, and then they like lead you to this like elevator and point to the crank.

SPEAKER_03 1:29:53

And they want me to crank it? Yeah. Uh I guess I'll uh start cranking it.

SPEAKER_00 1:30:00

They only crank it for people they like.

SPEAKER_03 1:30:02

Fair enough.

SPEAKER_00 1:30:03

So as you slowly your way up, and they're just kind of like one of them stumbles forward awkwardly, having lost a game of rock, paper, scissors. Looks at you, puts a hand on your shoulder. Um Wormhart had a bit of a accident.

SPEAKER_02 1:30:25

An accident? What what do you mean?

SPEAKER_00 1:30:27

Um, we're we're not really sure what happened. There was a flood and a rainstorm, and it's your hometown, bud. Um, you're gonna want a drink for this. It just kinda like brings you to the pub.

SPEAKER_03 1:30:41

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 1:30:42

One of them like slides you a beer. And like, um, Wormhearth's not on the map anymore.

SPEAKER_02 1:30:50

Like how is that possible? Was it destroyed by a natural disaster? Or how could that be?

SPEAKER_00 1:30:59

Some of our scouts think it was a flood. People blame the Haven wizards because wizards doing wizard things. Our local shamans are pretty sure they angered the spirits and got smoted.

SPEAKER_02 1:31:16

How how long ago was this?

SPEAKER_00 1:31:19

Um, like two weeks? Three weeks, something like that.

SPEAKER_02 1:31:27

Well, I guess I'm guess my life was spared by that giant eagle. Huh, that was I I swear I was that's where I was headed next, but if I wasn't like I guess now I'm glad to hear I wasn't there, but my my family, my friends.

SPEAKER_00 1:31:44

I'm gonna start with check bar. Roll expressions check. You lying sack of shit. Oh no! That's only a six. So as you're telling a snap story, your badge just falls on the table. My badge I'll spend a fear for that. Your literal Haven Soldier badges tumbles on the table, and they're all just staring directly at you. Mr. I want to join the resistance. Who just fake told like, no, uh my friends and family were there. Oh no, sob. So at this point, a seven-foot-tall catfolk, seemingly to look like the main coon of catfolk's, puts a paw on your shoulder. And then a four-foot-tall catfolk, dark grey color, with what appears to be like several piano wires attached between brass knuckles, stretches them out, and just directly like puts their arms over like a back hug with this piano wire near your throat. It's like Oi, listen, I'ma ask you one time, friend. Who the fuck are you?

SPEAKER_03 1:33:11

Okay. Um Relip Thimblegord, uh, a friend, uh someone who has a possible connection to Elroy. Uh was was the name I have. Uh was that the the uh frog folk guy?

SPEAKER_00 1:33:35

The French one in memory serves, pretending to be an assassin.

SPEAKER_04 1:33:40

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 1:33:47

My name is Relief Thimblegore.

SPEAKER_03 1:33:52

Uh my I'm a half ribbet, half-half human. And I do the whole tongue thing to prove that I'm part ribbit.

SPEAKER_00 1:34:03

Rolly! Presence check. The difficulty has gone up a little bit.

SPEAKER_03 1:34:11

Uh yeah, I'm probably not gonna succeed this. Oh, critical success!

SPEAKER_00 1:34:16

Woo-hoo! You see like two of them at the back whispering to each other. You see a raccoon on the patio just like glaring at you. Okay And you see one of them is like so looks at you. I'm gonna ask this one time. Did you s what was your connection to Worm Earth?

SPEAKER_02 1:34:54

I was attempting to uh rebel against the haven forces there, and I'd I'd stolen the the badge to try and gain access to areas that only the guards can't get to, and but then I was in the woods planning our next attack when I was grabbed by the giant eagle and carried for several hours and nearly fed to its babies.

SPEAKER_00 1:35:18

Well, you better have something useful that you found in all that snooping about then. Wire's still pretty close to your neck.

SPEAKER_03 1:35:30

Well, uh when you say that they angered the the spirits, I think they were performing horrendous experiments on on a spirit from I'm I'm gonna pull out the map actually, it's my map, and show them the the forgotten grove.

SPEAKER_02 1:35:46

I'm I'm fairly certain they they captured the spirit from this grove and were using it to uh protect themselves from from natural disasters, but for the sounds of it, they turned on them.

SPEAKER_00 1:35:59

Fucking turf some r serves the fuckers right. Got any proof of this?

SPEAKER_03 1:36:06

Um let's see. So I don't think I actually collected anything from the spirit, did I?

SPEAKER_00 1:36:20

I think you took some of the notes on the desks, I think. I didn't think you took anything off the spirit.

SPEAKER_03 1:36:33

Yeah, so I'm I'm gonna search through my bag and I'm gonna find the the notes on the desk and they're like I I I think these are notes of of of the their experience experiments and congratulations you just performed high treason against Haven.

SPEAKER_00 1:36:49

As you pull out the notes showing the magical circle to bind the spirit, the silver thread, the diagram of a soul being ripped out and shoved into a toaster. You're just like see looking at this map, local area, and just giving them all sorts of juicy information. One of them goes to you. Honestly? Boy, friend, you did pretty well. As the like wire gets no longer dragged across your throat. So seriously, a giant eagle just grabbed you and flew you here.

SPEAKER_02 1:37:34

Well, it dropped me as an aston. Then I was lost in the woods for well apparently, as you say, about two weeks.

SPEAKER_00 1:37:46

Well, that's some shitty luck you got there. Why did Why'd you climb the cliffs near Wormheart Crossing instead of just taking a boat down the river?

SPEAKER_02 1:38:01

Seems like that would be much harder. I was I was worried I may have been followed. So I wanted to take a more difficult path to ensure that I wouldn't be couldn't be followed, but clearly that was a mistake.

SPEAKER_00 1:38:13

I don't know if it was. Seemed like a pretty good plan to me. I feel bad for the poor son of a bitch chailing you as a bird flies away. I'd say you've heard yourself some well-erved leave, friend. And then one of them just picks up the badge off the desk. Mind if we take a look? Feel free. And just pockets it and walks away. So the catfolk are pretty convinced you're the spy you said you were. You know the one who you'd killed and then threw in the bottom of the river and then blew up the ocean and then pretended to be and flew to another country. Who a pretty good crime until someone actually knows this frog. It's a pretty good crime. Until some. So welcome to City of Alora. And with that, we'll wrap up this session.

SPEAKER_03 1:39:15

An excellent ending to a terrible session. It was a great session, but man, I had some luck.

SPEAKER_00 1:39:23

So to go like metagame a bit, so no one ever climbs the cliff wall, right? Like I included it in the adventure too, as like if someone really wants to say screw your plot hooks, I'm gonna ignore it. I will say though, on this databock, I didn't write giant eagle, so I spent a couple fear to spawn a giant eagle.

SPEAKER_04 1:39:40

Mm-hmm.

SPEAKER_00 1:39:40

Giant Eagle's not that dangerous. Tier 2 monster, you're a tier 2 player. Like, balanced encounter-wise, it was a fair fight. Except you got shit-kicked and some bad rolls, sir.

SPEAKER_03 1:39:55

I sure did. Oh, and I still don't know what I'm gonna do about Lyra. I mean, I assume she's not just gonna be on the mountaintop for a month.

SPEAKER_00 1:40:04

That'd be hilarious.

SPEAKER_03 1:40:07

Just sit in and waiting for me in her mesical basket.

SPEAKER_00 1:40:13

You see, that's why I'm like, is the basket with you? And you're like, no, and I'm like, heroic, heroic and dramatically terrible for you. I appreciate the just be dead, just be dead. So for the record, like, while you were falling dramatically, I was gonna let you try and do the shadow step. I'm like, the shadow step doesn't get you out of restraint, I don't think. I'm sure comments will come after me and declare me wrong about my ruling.

SPEAKER_03 1:40:41

Nah, I I feel like there is no particular ruling one way or the other. So I'm whatever you rule is fair, because you're you're the DM and you're the one who's Well, I let you get away with it a lot, right?

SPEAKER_00 1:40:53

Like, I let you basically pull a Minato and be like, I throw a kunai and then run under my own kunai shadow to tell, like, I let you do some shenanigans. I'm like, no, no, no, no.

SPEAKER_03 1:41:03

Not this time.

SPEAKER_00 1:41:04

Not when you're 500 feet in the air looking down to the grid. Like, not for free. I'm like, you have to escape being restrained first. That seems reasonable. Uh so the other party didn't blow up the town for one thing. Right. They did kill the spirit, but they did it in a different way. Ah. So the town started taking its homeless people and sacrificing them to power the magic of the town.

SPEAKER_03 1:41:32

Yeah, okay.

SPEAKER_00 1:41:33

So they're doing like a full haven murder mystery, figuring out who's abducting people to power the magic spell to protect the town. But they went on a side quest to kill a bunch of tooth fairies and then encountered the bone fee.

SPEAKER_01 1:41:45

Oh.

SPEAKER_00 1:41:46

And they're doing this epic boat run where they're have a crocodile towing a boat as fast as they can while the bone fey is hovering behind them trying to rip their bones out. If they did not try negotiation in writing notes, they they did kill it, by the way. They succeeded. But they're traumatized forever. Because, like, yeah, the quest was to kill a bunch of tooth fairies and then pissed off the bone fairy who tried to rip out their skeletons and choke them with them. Which is it's horrifying, one-eyed, winged, giant clawed gestures to your skeleton to make your skeleton leave your body. That would have been a particularly rough fight to solo. Not sure if you would have had that one.

unknown 1:42:26

Probably not.

SPEAKER_00 1:42:29

But one of them got the Ring of Greater Silence they made out of its corpse.

SPEAKER_03 1:42:34

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 1:42:35

So they're like doing murder and mis. So there's two sessions they ran since we last ran your session. So the first one was they just went on a side quest and collected some magic mushroom water, which lets them get a glimpse of the future.

SPEAKER_01 1:42:49

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 1:42:49

Bought the bone fairies, and then the next one they returned to town, and then instead of leaving town, like I thought they would, they decide to start deep investigating the missing homeless people. They decide to deep investigate why the city seemed so happy and expect the So it's like they'd already broken into the wizard lab and they felt the need to do it again.

SPEAKER_03 1:43:06

Yeah, okay.

SPEAKER_00 1:43:07

And I'm not actually entirely sure they got any lore they didn't have the first time from their second attempt at breaking in.

SPEAKER_03 1:43:15

Alright.

SPEAKER_00 1:43:16

But they did manage to do a really smooth assassination of like three wizards. Like they put up darkness, silence, and walls, killed them, disintegrated them, swept them up in a dustpan, and then resumed the room.

unknown 1:43:29

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 1:43:30

Killed them so dead. So they're like, we got notes, we got more notes. And then they managed to like capture a raccoon. Because people are just immediately suspicious of raccoons now.

SPEAKER_03 1:43:44

That is fair. I was pretty suspicious of the raccoon in the window, but I was busy lying my ass off about who and how did the city was destroyed.

SPEAKER_00 1:43:53

I I think the funniest thing is like you're not a stubble agent or a traitor. You just were actually the spy they wanted. You went in, stole Haven information, blew up their town, and left. And they took your badge. So if you want to defect, it'd be real easy. On account of the fact you've basically done that already.

SPEAKER_03 1:44:21

Yeah, I just I felt like I couldn't tell this town that I was sent here by the spy master. Specifically, no. That's terrible spy craft.

SPEAKER_00 1:44:32

You were sent to this town to spy on it. Hi, I'm Joey Cop here on behalf of the LEPD. Can I come in? It's like, no! I do enjoy the original ones being like, how are you? I've been lost in the woods, covered in blood. I'm missing three toasts. Help me. And you come in, you're like, I'm here to join the resistance, and they're like, are you? Also, way to be like, hey, I'm here to join the terrorist cell to the random citizens outside. They're like, well, that's narc of a scene one. Hi, I'd like to join ISIS, please. No, though, right?

SPEAKER_03 1:45:17

Well, you know, Leroy was just just so like tired and out of it for being lost in the woods for 18 days. Couldn't think of anything better.

SPEAKER_00 1:45:26

Eating random berries he found on the ground that cause mild hallucinations.

SPEAKER_03 1:45:31

Yeah, I decided not to try my luck for more than once.

SPEAKER_00 1:45:34

They absolutely are hallucinogenic. They did not help the time it took you to get home.

SPEAKER_04 1:45:42

Hmm.

SPEAKER_00 1:45:44

It is funny though, because it's like I'll just head towards this mountain through the shape-shifting woods in the middle of night. You went through three-day night cycles out there.

SPEAKER_03 1:45:56

Luckily, my ring of greater silence was able to help me hide from all the dangerous monsters.

SPEAKER_00 1:46:01

Well, the bone fate gave you blessings to keep you hidden. You did pay your tithe. I love the parts like I'm taking one of your bones for you to leave. You're like, you can have two more, it's fine. Sure. If I'm losing one, I might as well lose a few.

unknown 1:46:21

Oh.

SPEAKER_00 1:46:23

But yeah, any thoughts on that? I find it funny that like a lot of the uh explore countdowns, like the cliffside ascent, was like, yeah, progress of 12. And I'm like, okay. This is interesting to do one-on-one dagger heart. Clearly this was designed for more like elaborate. But like rules is written, it doesn't say you get penalized for using the same sat repeatedly. But when critical role does skill challenges, they're like, if you use the s do the same thing, I make it more difficult. I think that's still the way to do it, because I climb, uses best stat. I'm I keep climbing and using my best stat repeatedly, I don't know. I feel like mixing it up a bit is just more fun.

SPEAKER_03 1:47:04

Yeah, well, and then it's like uh some of my uh ideas of of how to use my skills were maybe a bit tenuous. Uh, but it is somewhat fun to try and come up with the ideas to apply the different like I right now I only have three experiences. I don't know when I'll get more, but what level are you anyway? Uh I'm still just uh level two?

SPEAKER_00 1:47:28

You can be level three now.

SPEAKER_03 1:47:29

You've leveled up. Uh alright. Do we want to do this level up right now, or should I level up and off stream?

SPEAKER_00 1:47:36

Uh let's level up now. Let's let them experience this process, because I didn't have too much nattering other than because you're in the side quest chunk, you did encounter the bone fairy. And that's like really the only like thing that both parties did that were the same, because they didn't get very far from Wormstarth. And on your run there is no Worm Sarth.

SPEAKER_03 1:47:56

Uh okay, so I go to characters. Yeah. So we're using the uh demiplane uh Nexus. Webs Nexus, right? Yep.

SPEAKER_00 1:48:08

UK So the first thing you get when you level up is it adds one to each of your thresholds. That just happens on its own.

SPEAKER_03 1:48:16

Okay. Characters and click on the three dots to edit my character.

SPEAKER_00 1:48:25

Yes.

SPEAKER_03 1:48:27

So now I am level three.

SPEAKER_00 1:48:30

I would say you killed enough things to get there. Probably should have done that after you killed the wizard, but.

SPEAKER_03 1:48:37

Alright, so. For leveling up, I get to make level no, level two I already did. Level three, my level up options are So you always get a card. So the first two things it wants me to do is increasing traits, gain HP slot, gain stress slot, increase experiences, choose domain card. Oh, so I can choose an additional domain card, or increase evasion, but I can't select increase evasion because I've already selected that once.

SPEAKER_00 1:49:06

Yes.

SPEAKER_03 1:49:08

What are you thinking? I I think I need to select uh an HP slot.

SPEAKER_00 1:49:16

What, no way? I didn't hurt you that bad. I really want to roll the two D100s to see how much damage you took from falling.

SPEAKER_03 1:49:25

And I think I'm going to increase my traits this time.

SPEAKER_00 1:49:29

Excellent. You've been doing a lot of instinct, a lot of knowledge. More knowledge than I was expecting, honestly.

SPEAKER_03 1:49:37

Yo, for being a rogue, my presence is currently at minus one.

SPEAKER_00 1:49:40

That's fine. That's the flow, lore, that's the flavor. I have no problem with you just not actually being a smooth stalker. That's funny every time. Who are you? I want to join the resistance. I am this other guy.

SPEAKER_03 1:49:56

Okay, so but I feel like. Okay, so I need to increase my my spellcaster trait.

SPEAKER_00 1:50:03

But you don't have to.

SPEAKER_03 1:50:05

Well, it just feels like the the best option there. Uh and I feel like I should do agility.

SPEAKER_00 1:50:13

Okay.

SPEAKER_03 1:50:14

Alright. Um, and so then just to be clear, when you increase those traits, the next time I choose to increase traits, I can't increase those ones again, right? Correct. Yeah, yeah, okay. Then I gotta choose a domain card. Uh for being level three. Ooh, Mark of Stress to pull them into a chokehold. Makes them vulnerable. I like the sound of that.

SPEAKER_00 1:50:42

Because I talk a lot on the Daggerheart Discord, if you want to do it like a Shikamaru Shadow Possession, I'd allow it.

unknown 1:50:49

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 1:50:50

Because I said I would allow it once upon a time in a Discord server, and now I'm obligated.

SPEAKER_03 1:50:56

I can stun people. And the thing is, you can take lower level ones too. Yeah, the level two and one and two ones, I I think I got the best ones already for for what I'm going for.

SPEAKER_00 1:51:10

Reasonable.

SPEAKER_03 1:51:11

Uh so I can go in I can gain invisibility. Make a spellcast roll ten. Oh, the ten is the DC, gotcha. Uh, and then on success, market stress and choose yourself or an allied within melee range become invisible. Can't be seen except through magical means. When invisible, it takes an action. Okay, so it's like the uh disguise, but for invisibility. Veil of night. Spellcast roll 13.

SPEAKER_00 1:51:46

There's a decent chance you take Veil of Night.

SPEAKER_03 1:51:51

Uh you can create temporary curtain of darkness between two points within far range. Only you can see through the darkness, you're gonna send hidden adversaries on the other side of the veil, and you advantage on attacks you made through the darkness, the veil remains until you cast another spell. Spellcast roll thirteen. So that means I need to roll above a thirteen. Well statistically speaking, it means I roll need roll ten on the dice.

SPEAKER_00 1:52:18

Yeah, which are pretty good.

SPEAKER_03 1:52:24

Uh and those are the only those.

SPEAKER_00 1:52:26

Uh Hypnotic Shimmer is another one.

SPEAKER_03 1:52:30

I did look at Hypnotic Shimmer. Uh I really like Chokehold.

SPEAKER_04 1:52:36

Look at Chokehold, it's sick.

SPEAKER_00 1:52:43

But Vale of Night does seem For the record, the part of the Chokehold that says when a creature attacks a target who's vulnerable this way they do extra damage, that includes you.

SPEAKER_03 1:52:53

Um This Vale of Night though, it's just like a wall of darkness.

SPEAKER_00 1:52:58

Yeah. And you can't see it's basically you literally put up a curtain. And you can see through the curtain and they can't.

SPEAKER_03 1:53:08

Right, right, right. That doesn't stop people from moving through the curtain, but then I could just jump the other side and gain the advantage and yeah, okay.

SPEAKER_00 1:53:15

And you did that dick move thing being like I want to go from the shadow into the curtain I made because it's darkness. I'd be like, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 1:53:25

Hmm. I do I I do think that one would be very useful.

SPEAKER_00 1:53:32

I mean, I want you to take chokehold because I just feel like it's gonna be cool.

SPEAKER_01 1:53:38

I I think I am gonna take take chokehold.

SPEAKER_00 1:53:41

Like at some point you're gonna get somebody to chokehold and ask Lyra to stab them. If you ever find her again, you might need a new sidekick.

SPEAKER_03 1:53:52

Okay, uh, but so the question's about the chokehold. When you're in a position behind a creature is about your s you can mark a stress to put them in a chokehold, making them temporarily vulnerable. Um It doesn't say anything about how they escape the chokehold.

SPEAKER_00 1:54:08

Is it would it just be a contest of strength or a lot of cliff uh uh effects like that I spend a fear to escape? Ah, ah, okay. So I'd have to have a spear spend a fear to have them break free.

SPEAKER_03 1:54:20

Yeah, you know what? I think I am gonna take that because that sounds like it'll be very useful.

SPEAKER_00 1:54:28

Yeah, one of the um actually on the Discord was like, it says behind, but it doesn't say about range. Can I be at like medium range but still behind them and put them in a chokehold? I'm like, no. No, you can't.

SPEAKER_03 1:54:43

To pull them into a chokehold. Yeah, no, that would wouldn't really make much sense.

SPEAKER_00 1:54:49

I mean, I'd if they're like Shikamaru Shadow Possessions they I want to do like a shadow binding thing, I might let them. If it's sufficiently cool enough. Uh I can see you being like, hey, can I put someone medium range in a chokehold? I'm like, how you're like, I use my tongue that goes medium range. I'd be like, hmm.

SPEAKER_03 1:55:10

Oh how it Okay Lord of the Flies and Being Dead, like, okay, so you you're allowed to adjust your experiences as you go through the adventure based on what you've what you've done. Yes. Do you think I deserve to or should adjust these experiences, or do you think that they're still give me 30 seconds here to check something.

SPEAKER_00 1:55:34

D-d-d- So, for how your experiences have been going. Mm-hmm. It's like you've been using Gardener and Laura the Flies pretty interchangeably. Right. So, let's see. If a character outgrown a previous experience or it doesn't feel right anymore, you're not stuck with those, you might find your character experience as stealthy, no longer matches the way you've been doing things. So you've been using the dead a lot. Like, that's been coming up really well for you.

SPEAKER_03 1:56:04

This session was pretty good for the being dead, yes.

SPEAKER_00 1:56:06

And but you've been using gardening and lord of the flies pretty interchangeably. Right. If you want to switch out one of those two with something that you think you've learned over the last couple sessions, I would definitely allow it. Hmm. So, like, for example, I with the number of times you've done this, I would f uh the next experience I'd recommend for you is probably identity through or identity theft.

SPEAKER_03 1:56:33

Yeah, yeah, you're right. I think that's probably Lord of the Flies is funny, but identity theft uh is probably more ass.

SPEAKER_00 1:56:40

You've done it every session. So I'm gonna say identity theft should go where Lord of the Flies is. And I think I would go with uh I would update amateur gardener to be like garden uh editomological gardener or something, or like Lord of the Flies and Plants, and just kind of like fold those into one experience.

SPEAKER_03 1:57:05

Okay, now the question is how do I edit the ex that experience? Because it was letting me see the other two. Well, that's just something I'll have to figure out, I guess. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 1:57:19

But as we wrap things up, any final thoughts on the session, which really only had the one fight and was mostly me just making you miserable. For like a solid hour.

SPEAKER_03 1:57:30

Absolutely. I absolutely loved it, so that was. Okay, so instead of amateur gardener, we're gonna go with botanist extraordinaire.

SPEAKER_00 1:58:00

Nice. That should do the trick. You went from amateur gardener to an intermediate gardener. Botanist extraordinaire. After spending a month in the woods, that's fair.

SPEAKER_03 1:58:14

How do you spell extraordinaire anyways? Is that actually an English word? Extraordinaire.

SPEAKER_00 1:58:23

E X T-R-A O-R D-I-N-A-I-R-E. Alright. I say like I have any linguistic skills whatsoever, which is ironic. To say the least. My inability to spell is objectively funny.

SPEAKER_03 1:58:43

It is pretty funny.

SPEAKER_00 1:58:45

Also, I find it funny that the cliffside is sent is literally just spend a fear to have them fall. If they aren't saved on the next action, they hit the ground, and then the counter ticks up by two.

SPEAKER_03 1:58:58

Identity theft, being dead, and botanist extraordinaire. Being dead was the clutch play.

SPEAKER_00 1:59:05

That was brilliant. That was so much better than it deserved to be.

SPEAKER_03 1:59:17

Do we have a random question or are we on that this week?

SPEAKER_00 1:59:21

I don't think we do that for this podcast.

SPEAKER_03 1:59:24

I mean, it's up to you.

SPEAKER_00 1:59:28

I think I'm good. I'm just gonna give that fundle reminder that Richard and Carl play Daggerheart. If you go to RichardsIch.io in the episode description, you can find yourself the play along adventures, and I'll be updating with the side quest adventures kit when I feel like it.

SPEAKER_03 1:59:46

Probably the same kid. Frog and gaming, I like it.

SPEAKER_00 1:59:55

Right?

SPEAKER_03 1:59:55

Mm bye.