Episode 15: Lightning Volcano And Fire Cats

We bounce from game dev brain rewires to interactive fiction teaching war stories, then drop into Daggerheart where a lightning volcano turns exploration into a survival puzzle. We bribe fire cats with fish, steal a power boost from a wounded tree spirit, and learn the hard way that waking a dragon on purpose has consequences. 
• Unity Vector2 and Vector3 as more than coordinates 
• Using vectors for distance, angle, and force in physics 
• Designing a bot opponent with A star pathfinding 
• Why easy mode should make imperfect choices 
• The Shawshank Redemption as a masterclass adaptation 
• Teaching Twine and Inform 7 to humanities students 
• Inform 7 prose rules and world simulation logic 
• Grad school travel budgeting and conference panels 
• Daggerheart exploration at the lightning volcano 
• Fire cats, offerings, and the burning heart tree 
• Siphoning gauntlets and the decision to fight 
• Dragon horde reveals and a brutal solo battle 
I’ll eventually get around to putting more free adventures on Itch.io now that I’m on summer vacation in air quotes 
I also put my Inform 7 text-based game on my Itch.io for free 
 

Transcript

Bi Weekly Banter And Updates

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Welcome to Richard and Carl Play Daggerheart, our week bi-weekly, yep, podcast. I'm Richard who records bi-weekly, yep.

SPEAKER_02 0:11

And I am Carl who would record bi-weekly if Richard recorded bi-weekly.

SPEAKER_00 0:16

Which I do. I record while being bi and weak. God, that was clean. That was a clean pun. And I think factual. But what's new in the Carlverse?

Unity Vectors And Hidden Math

SPEAKER_02 0:32

Okay, so uh I I've never taken any like computer science programs or uh computer science classes or anything like that.

SPEAKER_00 0:39

Yeah, I offered you one last week, and you're like, I'm not gonna take Richard's class over Zoom.

SPEAKER_02 0:45

I've never taken any physics classes. Uh and yet uh I'm using the Unity physics engine to try and make a game. Um and and it's a grid-based game. So, you know, obviously it needs like coordinates in X and Y. And uh, you know, to the easiest way to score X and Y coordinates is in something called a vector, which is basically just an XY coordinate. Uh huh. But sneakily beneath the surface, a vector two, which has only the two coordinates, also, if if you assume you start from 0, 0 on the origin, your your vector 2 will also describe the length of the line that goes between your origin and your your point.

SPEAKER_00 1:33

I think this is explained by accelerator in a certain magical index and spin-off manga, a series that did not age well.

SPEAKER_02 1:43

But so yeah, like is you you uh you take the square root of your x integral y squared added together uh to get your length of the line. Uh you can also find the angle of that line. Uh you take your uh y divided by x and you take the r tangent of that to get the angle of the line. And so it's like, okay, so if you step back a little bit from it just being coordinate, it's like okay, it actually also contains extra data. And then if you step back a little bit further, it's still it's like okay, the origin of a graph is actually just an arbitrary point. Uh so if you have any two points and you subtract what you want to be your origin from your second point, you then have a line that would go through those two points and you describe the distance between them and the angle between them. Um and it's like for whatever reason, I was really like stuck on the idea that x, y was just the a vector was just coordinates, but it actually contains a lot more data. And you can even extract it uh extrapolate it even further and be like, okay, so what if x and y are actually like uh force a force applied to an object? So it's like they're actually newtons of force, you know, three newtons of force up and three nort newtons uh will give you uh a force that pushes an object at a 45 degree angle.

SPEAKER_00 3:15

Um so normally I don't want this, but for this episode in particular, I would love so many um actually in the comics about what uh in the comments about what you got wrong about math.

SPEAKER_02 3:28

That would be pretty funny.

SPEAKER_00 3:30

Um it's like um actually it's not arbitrary Carl. Do you even do you even care about quantum entanglement? You'll be like, as a FiFi concept, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 3:41

Right right. Um so uh in Unity, uh the uh one of the components you can add to your game object is a rigid body. Uh and then you can the rigid body has a function where you can add force to it to move the uh rigid body, then move whatever's attached to that body. Uh, and that's when you use linear velocity for a 2D rigid body, that's that's literally how you determine where you're gonna move and what angle you move at, is is the you give it a vector, a vector two, uh, and then it calculates the angle and then calculates the distance to generate your your speed and angle. Um like I say, like initially when I was doing all my programming, I was not actually like doing uh the actual game mechanics, it's like kind of the behind the scenes where you where you're drawing objects, where you place the objects, where the hippo get placed and stuff. It was like uh I was just stuck on the idea that it was just a pair of coordinates. But so then I'm looking at this and like, okay, so uh one one actually just in in my grid space in my mind actually describes the entire square, uh, which would be a square placed at one one. And I'm like, okay, so I need something that can describe three data points, you know, the X position, the Y position, and then which face of that square that you're on.

SPEAKER_00 5:20

And I like to imagine you're writing this on a piece of like till paper while two pizzas are burning behind you.

SPEAKER_02 5:26

Oh no, our our and um our pizza boxes that work have uh a checkerboard pattern. And I have definitely used the checkerboard pattern as a piece of graph paper to draw out different shapes and whatnot. Excellent. I'm content with this information. Please continue. Uh but so I'm thinking it was something like, well, how do I store three points of data of X, the Y, and what face of the corresponding square that you're on, uh in one data point. And that's when I have that epiphany that it's like, wait, vectors actually contain way more data than you think, and then also they don't even actually have to coordinate or have to correspond to xy values on a graph. Let's say, for example, you had a uh color and a shape, and so you have a list of eight colors or however many colors you have. And so your x value can be one through eight, each one corresponding to one of the colors on your list, and your y value could then be the number of uh points that your shape has. So say a yellow square would be like three, four, because it has four points. And so then a vector three has your x, y, and your z coordinates. Yeah, actually, it's a x coordinate, y is a uh y coordinate, z could be what face I'm on is like I had this 50, and I actually uh through trial and error, because like I say, these I I think these are probably pretty basic computer science concepts. You know, numbers don't actually have to be numbers, they could just be assigned to arbitrary other things as long as you have a discrete list of things you're you're looking through. Um and I had you know through a series of trial and error and epiphany like this, it's like I think I actually finally have the bare minimum uh of what it needed to play uh the grid-based turn-based bracing game that my dad designed for pen and paper with scrap paper. Yeah, yeah. I mean at this point it it's not really uh you can hardly even call it a game. I don't know if you'd even be able to call it a mini-game. Uh I I don't think anyone would be able to get a game.

SPEAKER_00 7:55

I mean, the game just simply needs to be an activity with two people that contains a win state.

SPEAKER_02 8:02

Well, I mean, that's true. So it's absolutely unlike Minecraft. There is a win state for Minecraft. Disagree. Well, I mean, you could go fight the Ender Dragon.

SPEAKER_00 8:21

Yeah, but when we played Minecraft, there was no win state. Well, I mean, the win state is building something cool. That's it's not a game, that's that's an activity, bruh. I also enjoy games that are games when people turn them into activities and they stop being games. It's like Kirby Air Ride is a game. Kirby Air Ride car designer is an activity. I have much more time on Gunderbreaker as an activity than I have on it as a game.

SPEAKER_02 8:54

I'm I'm pretty excited because uh with the bare minimum, then I can actually start to add more features and and build it out um so that it would actually be, I guess, an engaging game. Because I as it stands right now, um I don't think very many modern audiences would be interested in a one-to-one adaptation of a grip pen and paper.

SPEAKER_00 9:18

I don't know sometimes. It's like on one hand, I believe we've grown as a society, and on other hands, one of the most popular games to play is Uno, so Fair enough. Yeah, people will be thrilled for Uno. But yes, I am proud of your progress. It only took you three Trump presidencies. Yeah. It did take you the entire run of Justin Trudeau's political raid.

SPEAKER_02 10:00

I mean, that's that's true. It has taken it.

SPEAKER_00 10:02

I don't know why I'm being so mean to you. I should be letting you just enjoy your victory. That was just savage. I almost like I'm not gonna lose sleep over it. Maybe get mild digestion for being so mean.

Bot Opponents And A Star Pathfinding

SPEAKER_02 10:14

But see, now the thing is, uh, now that I have, like I say, the bare minimum to play the game as originally drafted. Um then now I need to build features out from that. Well, that means I have to decide, hey, what avenue of programming I want to go down next. Uh initially I was thinking I would try and uh do like uh create an AI so you can actually play the game without other players.

SPEAKER_00 10:41

And AI is so loaded, I'm gonna say you're no longer allowed to say an AI opponent, say a computer component opponent.

SPEAKER_02 10:48

You're right, you're right. I I should learn I should create bots, is what you're saying.

SPEAKER_00 10:52

Yeah, because AI bots. Because could you imagine you like build this pen and paper game and then set up like a chat GPT to control the other player?

SPEAKER_02 11:02

You're right.

SPEAKER_00 11:03

It's just dirt, birds 10 out liters of water per opponent move.

SPEAKER_02 11:08

Well, I actually I I think I have a rough idea of how to do pathfinding uh because obviously people have done this before, and so there's already an algorithm algorithm called the A-star algorithm that will find you uh the shortest path between two points on a grid, uh accounting for uh.

SPEAKER_00 11:27

Although you do actually need to make your bots slightly shittier than that. Well, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 11:32

Uh I do actually need to figure out a way to figure out what the fastest path is and then uh not take it. Well, get close to taking it.

SPEAKER_00 11:44

Um I honestly think though, easy mode comps are just rolling a d4 for which vector they adjust. If I went anything from Dragon Ball Z Budu Kai 2, setting like four comps to play this game that just rolled dice and have terrible AI and gambling on them is an equally fun game.

SPEAKER_02 12:07

Oh. The chances of them actually ever even making it at the end uh would be pretty minimal.

SPEAKER_00 12:12

It's like the goldfish playing Pokemon Red and Blue. Oh. I think I told you about that one where literally they have scanners where what area of the tank the fish swam in was what button it was pushing.

SPEAKER_03 12:26

Huh.

SPEAKER_00 12:27

And they just wait for a goldfish to trial arrow beat Pokemon Red. And like they occasionally like try and tap on the glass to make the goldfish make a specific move, it didn't really work because it's a goldfish.

SPEAKER_02 12:39

Yeah, the goldfish never actually learned how to play the game, did they?

SPEAKER_00 12:42

No. I don't even think I think they did set up so the goldfish could see the screen, and I don't think it ever equated that what it did would cause the thing on the screen to change. Because it is a goldfish. Fish are so dumb, some people argue they can be categorized as vegetables. Like although, to be fair, some fish are dumber than yogurt. Dumber than yogurt? Well, yogurt's alive, it has billions of neurons in the colony. So the yogurt technically has higher processing power than the goldfish.

SPEAKER_02 13:24

That's a strange comparison. I've got to be called neurotypical.

Shawshank Book Versus Movie Craft

SPEAKER_02 13:32

The other thing that's new with me is my uh obligatory uh mini-movie review.

SPEAKER_00 13:38

Um our Daggerheart podcast is so bad at getting to Daggerheart. Alright, I'm setting you a three-minute timer for this movie review.

SPEAKER_02 13:51

Well, okay, it's not actually really a movie review, it's just that in 1994, a uh movie called The Shaw Shank Redemption came out. And I don't know if I watched it as a kid. It doesn't really seem like a movie that I would watch as a kid, but oh yeah, you were actually parented. At the same time, I actually remember watching this movie and really, really enjoying it. Uh and then years later, watch it again, and I realized uh that it's based on a book by Stephen King. I know him. Uh and a month. Yeah, I I had no idea that Stephen King wrote the source material for Shock Tank Redemption.

SPEAKER_00 14:29

I mean, statistically any given movie, if you're just gonna guess if it's based on a book and who wrote the book, I think he just skewed the mathematics so much that your best guess is just statistically Stephen King.

SPEAKER_02 14:40

Stephen King or uh J.R.

SPEAKER_00 14:43

Tolkien. Tolkien only did well no, only if you do it by length somehow.

SPEAKER_02 14:53

Anyways, um I decided to read the book, which it turns out is actually just a novella. It's only like 120 pages or something. So about the length of the Hobbit.

SPEAKER_00 15:05

So for context, I've written enough papers this semester that I've written two books the length of the Hobbit in academic papers.

SPEAKER_02 15:17

And um I was uh really actually surprised. Um like the Shawn Shank Redemption and then the source material uh Rita Hayworth and the Shawn Shank Redemption. It's like the movie is a masterclass in how to turn a short story into uh a movie, like uh every almost every single detail in the book is in the movie in some way, but transformed in a way to help make the storytelling more linear and more visual. Uh and oh man. Just as an adaptation, I'm I know we're not talking about adaptations, and uh, if I had known that uh Job Trank Redemption was an adaptation when we did our our other podcast episode. And we recycle topics all the time. But man, uh the movie is excellent. The book is excellent, but the like I said, the movie is like a masterclass in taking uh a book and turning it into a uh screenplay. Like, oh, so good. And that's my movie review. Clap, clap, clap. Thumbs up emoji. Did I come in after three minutes or did I rant too much?

SPEAKER_00 16:36

We both know I stopped looking at the clock.

Teaching Twine And Inform 7

SPEAKER_02 16:41

What's new with you there, Richard?

SPEAKER_00 16:43

Oh, many a things. So the first one is I finished my second semester and I started my summer semester. As part of my summer semester, I have to do a certain number of placement hours to graduate, and I have to write a paper and I have to do another thing. So I already finished my placement, which means today is when many of my classmates start their placement. I'm already done. Okay. And so we did this I dare you summer university camp, which was the theme was making impactful pro uh trying to remember the exact wording, it was like impactful micro experiences using weird tech tools and technology. Okay. And the premise was each day of the week we went through like day one with sound and we played with weird sound making tools.

unknown 17:32

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 17:33

Like one of the tools was literally just like a flash version of electroplankton.

unknown 17:38

Huh.

SPEAKER_00 17:39

One of them used scan lines to hit the pixels on a picture and play the m uh play the image. Huh. So we go through these weird sound tools. Not just music tools, sound tools, because sound does not have to be music. Uh-huh. Then the next day we go through like twine and making interactive stories. And then I teach my like eight-hour class on Inform 7 and writing text-bas uh text parser-based adventure Zork style games. What's funny? Huh?

SPEAKER_02 18:15

Those computer science classes you offered me.

SPEAKER_00 18:17

Well, A, yes, you could technically anyone who listens to this podcast could have signed up for my classes, which is really funny. Uh if we if I'd actually been more on top of this, I absolutely could have promoted this on the podcast. And if you want to see me teach a class on text-based adventure games for some unholy reason, here is the link. Well, it's funny is like. So I've fallen down a rabbit hole. Mm-hmm. And it has resulted in an interesting scenario. So I'm taking this class that's digital publishing, which is basically making cool early digital text-based things like old school bots where you actually have to like build a table of answers, making twine games, making these text-based adventure games, making these like flashcard type experiences. And I spent so much time running around to humanities students saying, I'm afraid of coding. Coding is scary, help me program. At no point did I actually program. I want to be perfectly clear. None of these tools that people are afraid that you have to learn how to code are actually technically coding. Okay. So, like, for example, twine, you can put variables in twine. You can be like track number of doors open or like set a boolean, set a variable. But it's mostly just you put a piece of text in two square brackets and you click that and it sends you to another post-it note, basically. Yeah, okay. So people are like, I broke, I don't understand it. I'm like, did you try putting two brackets around it? Because like it's like Twine is about as complicated as HTML, because it's HTML. Right. But like, is handles a lot of it for you. So I end up like doing a deep dive and making these adventure games because I find it neat. So for my placement, I read the 666-page book on Informed 7.

SPEAKER_02 20:09

And then I end up instead of did you say 666-page book? Yep. Like literally 666 pages?

SPEAKER_00 20:19

There's no other length, uh, there's no other length. The guide for how to make text-based adventure games should be. This is just correct. This is a universe being on my side.

SPEAKER_02 20:29

Okay, okay.

SPEAKER_00 20:31

If I count the cover page as 667, but that is way less fun. Not fair. Because if you're within one or two of a 666-page book, it's a 666-page book. Come on.

SPEAKER_02 20:45

Anyways. So you read this this guide to making text-based adventures?

SPEAKER_00 20:50

So what's crazy about this software is it's written like prose. And it's like it's software designed to emulate old adventure games. The equivalency would be if you went to ancient Egypt, dug up the hieroglyphics, cut out the hieroglyphs, and attached them to a typewriter and made a typewriter specifically to write notes and hieroglyphics. Huh. Who is this for? Why does it exist? And the like the language is literally like a bee is an animal. Most bees are male. Bees are edible. Bees can be dead. In the room are five bees, and that's like how you construct your world. Like, Carl's office is a room. In Carl's office is pizza boxes. And then you'll play the game and be like, attack pizza boxes. And if I set it up, it'd be like pizza boxes cannot be attacked, you fool. Pizza boxes are inevitable, uh, inedible. You're like, open pizza box. Inside the pizza box is a pizza. Eat pizza. This pizza is also inedible. You are sick. But like the way you program it is basically anything not in quotation marks. Is written like prose, but is programming language, then in quotation marks are things that players directly read. So it'd be like the description of the B is this B somehow stole your wife. So if you examine the B, it'll tell you, this B, Barry B, stole your wife because the plot of the B movie is unhinged. So I end up like programming these templates that are basically like a playable game that tells you while running the game, what does what, so it'll be like this this is the description of a chair. You could change it to any kind of object you sit on. And they're like, okay, on the le right side I see the game running, and the left side is what I change. So I run my class, and it was awesome. And now I'm writing my paper on why we should teach humanities students this garbage programming language. Because it's not a programming language, so they should just be able to use it if they suck it up. Because, like, even the variables are like you would be like, the number of left turns is a thing that applies to nothing. When you turn left, add one to the number of left turns. Like you're still writing it out in sentences. So, in theory, if you go through the 666-page guidebook, or my much less intrusive class, which you could have took and didn't. Right. You can actually make a game, like, you can pick up enough of the basics to make a game pretty easily, and you don't need other people for like graphics and complex coding and things, because you can literally just make a bunch of rooms, put things in the rooms, hide keys, and then like make your escape room pretty easily. So that's what I've

Conference Travel And Funding Math

SPEAKER_00 23:42

been up to. And then the other thing is I'm heading to an academic conference in June.

SPEAKER_03 23:48

Mm-hmm.

SPEAKER_00 23:49

And I'm taking the business class train up from Toronto to Montreal if someone wants to try and rob me on the train.

SPEAKER_02 23:58

I'm sorry that they're gonna rob you specifically.

SPEAKER_00 24:01

Well, I was talking to one of my professors, and they're like, if you do drink, business class is correct. Because it's actually cheaper if they give you food and alcohol than if you smuggled the food and alcohol onto a pedestrian class, and you get a nicer seat and a table and better Wi-Fi. But there's that certain magic of grad school to be taught where a professor's like, Do you drink? Yeah, you look like you drink, so this is probably a good deal.

SPEAKER_02 24:25

So the the school is expensing your business class train trip?

SPEAKER_00 24:30

Eh, yes and no. So how it works is I plan my trip, right? And then I send applications to like the student union, the grad student union, the department, the conference, etc. etc. And they each have a budget for how much money they're willing to pitch towards it. Ah. So they're like, for example, the travel budget's like, we'll give you four hundred dollars. Okay. So does it cover my business class round trip? Yes. Because the business class round trip is cheaper than if I flew. Right, and it takes more time, but it's cheaper. So it's like it's like we do our estimate of your budget to get to the place, and then if you go over, it's on you. So like they're not covering my five-day hotel stay in Montreal, but they're covering the day that I'm there, where I've where I'm presenting. Where what the days I'm just attending it for fun comes out of pocket. So I don't get a free paid alcohol fill trip, because I cannot use that budget towards alcohol. But they do give me a budget I can use towards certain things like food and transport and shelter. So I get a subsidized trip, not a free trip. Yeah, okay. That sounds pretty awesome. Well, yeah, I get to go spend a week in Montreal. That sounds sick. Doing incredi going to nerdy conference things. So what's the conference for? It is the English Educator Humanities, something, something, something, something.

SPEAKER_02 26:02

And it's in Montreal.

SPEAKER_00 26:03

Yeah. At Concordia University. Huh. So, like, for example, one of the panels might be on New Trends in Horror Literature, and other panels might be on how to teach limericks. So it's like. Just a fine like the panel I'm on is literally called What Do We Need to Know About Elves? Okay. And quite frankly, despite you not being in my field, there's a lot of panels you yourself would actually enjoy at this conference. Yeah? I think you would sit through a panel on Frankenstein over the eras and be thoroughly entertained. I probably would. And then there's some like writing workshops and things too. So like I haven't like quite gone over my what I plan to attend.

SPEAKER_03 26:54

Mm-hmm.

SPEAKER_00 26:56

But yeah, me and my travel buddy are heading up and having a full thing of things, which will be great.

unknown 27:03

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 27:04

So that's what's new with me, is I've taught classes for a week. Oh yeah, I also was totally still also an intern, so like one day I was teaching, and the other day as I was like refilling copies and running around helping people with tech issues, and basically being a TA for a week. But most of my placement was writing this rest in plan and reading that goddamn book.

SPEAKER_02 27:26

Yeah, 666 pages. That's you know what makes it take longer?

SPEAKER_00 27:31

Every ten pages or so has an exercise you have to type out because it's a book on programming. So, like, I am intimately familiar with this system, and it keeps impressing me how absurd the things they've accounted for are, where they can be like a chandelier is a type of light source. Chandeliers are in cave-style rooms. They can have four types of brightness. Based on the brightness you're carrying and the brightness of the chandelier, that's how bright this room is. I'm like, this is text-based. So it's like I set up this like full lighting engine for the game to display as kind of bright. It's not very bright. You can't see this room.

SPEAKER_02 28:14

And then like you said, like you just through. I did mess around with that demo you sent me a little bit, and I turned off the light switch, and then I tried to open the door, and it was like, you can't see the door. Yeah, idiot.

SPEAKER_00 28:26

And then you turn the light switch back on.

SPEAKER_02 28:29

That I did. Although how I found the light switch, I don't know.

SPEAKER_00 28:32

Because I literally wrote in the code the light chain was in with your visual scope, you remember where it is. So I don't let because ironically, in my first draft of that, because I didn't have like a catch-all, when you turned the light off, you just couldn't find the switch again, and you just game over. Like you got soft clock, there is just no solution. That's funny. And there's a few solutions I can implement. Like I could put like a flashlight or a torch in your inventory, or like a cell phone, and I could admit it that you had to switch on your cell phone to see again. Right. And that's why I find this pro particular programming language such a good tool for like writers and things, because you literally have to visualize your space and make it make coherent sense. And I think about times where people are like, Yeah, I was reading your book and I got lost because how would this work? And I'm like, well, if I had to make it in Form 7, it'd have to work. Because if it didn't work, it simply wouldn't work and you'd be lost forever. Like during my demo, for example, I showed them how they could replace a bookshelf with a one-to-one scale Nicholas Cage dandy. Yeah, okay. But yeah, if you ever want that class, you just have to eTransfer me 20 bucks and I'll give you a private class.

SPEAKER_01 29:48

Oh, how exciting.

SPEAKER_00 29:50

I actually considered that being our next Team Space in Dragons where I just teach you in Form 7. No, it'd be kind of like that. Nothing more thrilling than listening to a podcast where they talk about programming with no visuals. Well, I mean, the programming we're talking about has no visuals, so checkmate.

Back To Daggerheart Setup

SPEAKER_00 30:09

But yeah, so shall we get into daggering some heart? Because I think I'm monologue more than you. Also, apparently I have a suit coming in the mail, which is cool. Well, I haven't actually mailed it yet. I'll be I'll be mailing it later today. You know what's funny? You could have lied, and there'd be nothing I could do about it. I respect the completely unnecessary honesty.

SPEAKER_02 30:33

Yeah. Well, I mean, hopefully it fits. Uh apparently uh suits in China uh are for much smaller people.

SPEAKER_00 30:42

Yeah, I am not a small human anymore. I used to be a small human, and I used to have shoulder-length ponytails.

unknown 30:50

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 30:50

I think I told you a story where I was messing with a friend of mine where it's like. I'm like, I used to look like you, and that's literally impossible. I'm like, this is your future. Yes, when I was in my 20s, I also looked like a 20-year-old woman. It's true. I regret nothing. Thankfully, it was before like people would associate that with hate criming me. They just beat me up for my personality, which feels better.

SPEAKER_02 31:27

Alright, so we're gonna dagger some hearts though.

SPEAKER_00 31:30

Alright, so last time on Dagger Hearts, like six months ago or whatever. You had climbed a hill. Uh well, it wasn't just a hill, it was the s the side of a cliff. You had went into a ghost town, said nope, took the boat further down the coast, climbed a cliffside ascent, and made it on top. There was also a weird magic cat thing cave that you looted. You basically went into the cave of wonders from Atlanta. Don't see what's Disney. So having successfully climbed a hill on your journey to the city of Alora to try and find the remains of your twice-dead friend, what would you like to do?

SPEAKER_02 32:18

Uh well, I mean, first I'd like to examine the tree. Go ahead and roll a knowledge check.

SPEAKER_00 32:27

A knowledge check, how knowledgeable am I of trees? As I quickly remember how to play this game, as I run different games between different situations that I collaborate.

SPEAKER_02 32:38

I rolled a 13 with hope. 13 with hope? Actually, I have a gameplay question. Um The uh character sheets on online are very good at tracking, you know, armor slots and hope and whatnot. Uh does hope reset every session or start the hope. Okay, so it does carry over from session to session.

SPEAKER_00 33:01

Yeah, in theory, like, it should almost be more punishing than anything, because it should be more likely you have no hope. But that is not the case here. I'm a very hopeful player. So with the 13, you remember that this had two fruit and was a portal tree. And you if you plant the seeds from the tree, it creates a warp gate between the two locations.

SPEAKER_02 33:23

Right, I have the portal seeds in my possession. That's good.

SPEAKER_00 33:28

You you feel pretty confident this is some kind of nature magic and not like a scientific experiment.

SPEAKER_03 33:34

Mm-hmm.

SPEAKER_00 33:36

And sure is a tree.

SPEAKER_02 33:50

Like it seems like it'd be a a safe place to maybe like uh take a short rest and repair my armor.

SPEAKER_00 33:58

Other than the occasional bolt of lightning from the to volcano in the distance. Should be fine. Right, right. And you are still pretty firmly in the day cycle.

SPEAKER_02 34:12

I mean, the first thing I'm gonna do is is uh take uh a short rest to uh I'm gonna roll to get back one d4 plus one fear.

SPEAKER_00 34:26

And I am sitting at an impressive four fear. I can because I forgot to track my fear between sessions, so I started at zero.

SPEAKER_02 34:39

I am so if my homunculous ancestry makes me efficient when I take short rest, I can take a long rest move instead of a short one, which means I can repair all my armored slots.

SPEAKER_00 34:50

Excellent. Oh, and I enjoy the mental picture just sitting under this tree with like a needle and thread just kind of doo doo doo doo doo doo doo that hill kick me in, doo doo doo out. And you remember the part where you like hookshot it onto the tongue of a creature, pulled up on it, and then it counterweighted and fell off to his death.

SPEAKER_02 35:09

Oh, that poor snake. Alright, well now that I'm uh efficiently uh rested. Where would you like to go? So, do I I would know that uh Allura is a town of cat people, yes no? Yes. And um this volcano uh I I seem to have I recall being convinced that it's uh there's the cat spirit inside this volcano.

SPEAKER_00 35:48

So you're weirdly at a halfway point where Allura's a little closer, but the Allura and the volcano are basically you can go one direction towards the volcano, or you can head into the woods and hope to find Allura. Because the volcano is typically south of here, and you kind of like beached on the halfway point between the two locations.

SPEAKER_02 36:11

Well, I feel like uh my friend's been dead for several for many years. Uh and uh I need to I need to learn more about the spirits and uh maybe would have some insight into what even he was he was doing, because you know uh Leroy destroyed uh Worms Heart's crossing, so um I think I'm gonna head towards the the lightning volcano because uh I want to try and uh commune with the spirits and see if maybe they have more information on what happened to Leroy and what he was even doing.

Trek Toward The Lightning Volcano

SPEAKER_00 36:49

Excellent! Unexpected. You just see me rapidly shifting which page of my notes I have open. Go ahead and I'm gonna say roll strength or agility to just kind of make your journey across.

SPEAKER_02 37:04

I am much more agile than strong. And 17 with hope.

SPEAKER_00 37:12

Alright, so rather than heading into the woods, you do kind of fall along like the more rocky cliffside. So like Obsidian and Shale, and you're seeing the ground. It's like the sand is getting more and more mixed with darker and darker greens as you go. This'll probably still take you about three days to get to the base of this volcano. But your first day seems to largely go without incident. But you are getting a little tired. You could push through if you want to just go for two days straight.

SPEAKER_02 37:48

Uh okay, so can I see in the distance, is it anywhere near the volcano that looks like it'd be a reasonable resting place?

SPEAKER_00 37:58

It's like it's more like it's like thickets of grass and moss, and it's more craggy and rocky. You might be able to find a cave or something. But there doesn't seem to be like a paved road or anything on the way.

SPEAKER_02 38:11

Alright, well, you know, I'm just gonna push through. I mean, I'm I'm feeling like I'm I'm full of hope. Um my armor's repaired, I I'm I haven't nothing.

SPEAKER_00 38:21

I'm gonna spend one beer for you to mark a stress just for pulling an all-nighter.

SPEAKER_02 38:28

Okay, I'm getting a little a teeny bit stressed out, but I'm I'm I'm going for it.

SPEAKER_00 38:33

Okay. So on the second day, describe the area you walk through for me. Ooh.

SPEAKER_02 38:44

Uh, well, I mean, uh I feel like there's uh lots of uh charred trees and um lots of patches of uh like uh sand that's turned to glass. Um but then there are also uh lots of uh buds popping out of the ground uh near um like under burnt uh through burnt underbrush. Uh there's like new life coming through as well. Okay. Um but but I'm gonna say that the new life is uh looks very fuzzy, but it's got like the like static electricity like frizzy hair kind of fuzziness.

SPEAKER_00 39:35

Interesting. So you do see this uh go ahead and roll another agility check for just travel convenience. Agility? A tend with fear. Oh boy. Excellent. I'm gonna just go ahead and spend that beer. So as you're going through, you see. It's weird. There's some you don't see a ton of animals in this area. You see like a doofy lizard with its eyes looking as if for distances. Something that looks like a goose but is scaly instead of feathery. And you see what looks like a bear. Wreathed in indigo flames. And it just kind of tramples like across your path, you just gone. Uh oh. And you can't tell if it's a real animal or a construct from the magic of the area. And I'm setting down a countdown as though a volcano fires off a bolt of lightning, and little flanks of like white ash are coming down from the sky.

SPEAKER_02 40:47

Oh boy, this doesn't seem good.

SPEAKER_00 40:50

Um the the bear is just lumbering along? It is now limped up against a tree and is licking its claws. Okay, well.

SPEAKER_02 41:07

Is it good to is it a good idea to go to a bear's den? Probably not. But a bear's den, aside from the bear itself, would be fairly safe from a potential lightning volcano eruption. Uh can I try and track where the bear came from? Go ahead and roll a instinct check for me. Instinctively I rolled another ten with here, hopefully. It came from somewhere. Probably towards volcano.

SPEAKER_00 41:39

Okay, well, at this point a flake of that ash lands on your tongue. Uh, what does it taste like? You tell me it does not taste like ash, should. It is an incongruous taste. Something illogical. What flavor does it taste like?

SPEAKER_02 41:58

Oh, I mean, have you ever licked a 9-volt battery?

SPEAKER_00 42:02

Excellent. No doubt's. So it tastes zappy. So it hits your tongue and it's zappy and metallic.

SPEAKER_02 42:17

Uh, alright, alright. Um, well, I definitely need to try and find cover. Um I'm gonna continue on my way, but I gotta try and find somewhere to hide from the potentially zappy ash.

SPEAKER_00 42:32

Alright, as you proceed to head further into this torched enchanted landscape, you do see what looks like a flaming mongoose fighting a flaming cobra. Ooh. They're about the size of corgies. So they're giant, but are not big animals.

SPEAKER_02 42:55

Right, right, right. Um, well, I mean, I'm gonna I'm gonna try and stealth past them because I don't want to uh get involved in that that turf war.

SPEAKER_00 43:03

Alright, go ahead and roll a finesse check to sneak past their turf war.

SPEAKER_02 43:08

Finesse 24 with fear.

SPEAKER_00 43:13

24. You're feeling incredibly hidden, but I'm gonna spend a fear to stress you out a little bit. Stressed out as more and more ash falls on you and start to a thin layer of zappy ash. Oh boy.

SPEAKER_02 43:34

Uh well, I mean, I'm I'm continuing on my way trying to find somewhere to find cover for now.

unknown 43:41

Right.

SPEAKER_00 43:42

As you continue along, you see what looks like it has eight legs, is about thirteen feet tall, and it has huge majestic antlers, and its skin is almost like made of obsidian plates. Oh. It seems to be drinking majestically from a stream. Wait, there's a flowing stream? Yep. It appears to be of the clearest water you've ever seen. Flowing down from towards the base of volcano. Uh okay. And you're noticing there's a lot of like little tide pools. And it seems like around the base of this volcano is a lake of sorts, and it's like it's a natural series of hot springs.

SPEAKER_02 44:34

Um can I can I taste the water to see if it's zappy?

SPEAKER_00 44:42

Roll a presence check to approach the water and not anger the stag knight.

SPEAKER_02 44:49

Let us move with Oh dang it. Ate with fear.

SPEAKER_00 44:56

So it snorts at you a bit. And it's like you see like its obsidian plates start to spike up a bit. Okay, okay. So it takes you a while, but you go a little further down, more and more ash falling. As you like scoop up some of the water and taste it, it tastes so clear, like it's been distilled. Like someone's ran a current through it to remove the sediment from it. Ah. And like you can just smell the fresh oxygen coming off these pools of water.

SPEAKER_02 45:29

Oh, that doesn't sound good. Okay. Alright. Now I'm understanding why everyone's on fire around here.

SPEAKER_00 45:40

The the oxygen is thick and you're almost getting a little loopy. Oh boy.

SPEAKER_02 45:46

Uh, and there's still nowhere to take cover from the ash, eh?

SPEAKER_00 45:51

Uh, you tell me. You seem to be in an area of tide pools, of auto-distilling water producing nitrogen and oxygen. Sorry, hydrogen and oxygen. I see, I see. Yeah, you seem to be in a naturally occurring Zeppelin factory, effectively.

SPEAKER_01 46:11

A naturally occurring Zeppelin factory, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 46:14

With sparks that just come off a nearby volcano. This is a place to be.

SPEAKER_02 46:20

Yeah, yeah. Um well, I mean. I don't think there's any like any cover at all near the near the lakes.

SPEAKER_00 46:40

It's just a relatively open field, but you have about a full day left to get start climbing the volcano like you've already started basically climbing it, because volcanoes, when you're actually climbing them, are kind of hard to see perspective. But the caldera is about eight hours away. And the sun's beginning to set in the distance.

SPEAKER_02 47:01

Okay. I definitely need to- I I just need to press on and see if I can find a way into this volcano, and hopefully uh there's some place to rest safely inside. Hopefully.

SPEAKER_00 47:11

Alright, go ahead and make an instinct roll.

SPEAKER_02 47:15

Instinct searching for places to enter the volcano.

SPEAKER_00 47:19

21 with fear. So, you do manage to find, like, as you get closer through that, there's more potmarked in caves throughout the almost like a spongy volcanic rock texture to it. Uh-huh. And you do start heading towards a cave. However, my countdown has hit zero.

Tide Pools Explode Under Lightning

SPEAKER_00 47:37

So, go ahead and make an instinct reaction roll for me. Oh boy. Instinct reaction roll. Eight. So, now that you're close to the volcano, when the lightning erupts up, at closer range, it's less like a singular bolt that comes out. And more like a web of voltage. And along with the lightning, large chunks of metal are rail gunned up into the sky. And as it starts raining flint down near you, several of the rocks start sparking as they come towards you. Uh oh. And you're near one of these highly oxygenated tide pods. Uh-huh. And it explodes. You take 30 points of direct physical damage as just a hydrogen explosion hits you. And that antler deer is just blasted as well. And you just kind of watch like explosions go down across the tide pool in hot springs.

SPEAKER_02 48:42

Okay, so I take three points of damage, because that's severe damage. And I gain a wizard token. Q to you. And I have to roll a fear die? And if I roll equal or below one, I gain a scar through my token. Sorry.

SPEAKER_00 49:10

I rolled an 11. I was kind of hoping it just blew off one of your fingers, if I'm being honest. Your eyebrows are just gone.

SPEAKER_02 49:21

Okay. Uh okay. Well, yeah, no, I'm apparently. Is that really hurt? Uh, but I'm I'm okay.

SPEAKER_00 49:30

You appear to be inside a cave structure.

SPEAKER_02 49:36

30 points of direct damage, holy You rolled real bad on this explosion.

SPEAKER_00 49:44

Apparently, she uh What did it taste like while it blew up? What did it taste like?

SPEAKER_02 49:53

Uh it tasted like uh California Reaper Pepper.

SPEAKER_00 50:02

Alrighty then. That is unfortunate. So as you go through these caves, you see that there seems to be like a network of like copper-colored vines going through it. And they seem to all be like omnidirectional. Like, even though the cave twists, you can kind of like see the wood grain on these vines, and they head towards the center of this area. I see. And there just seems to be like an ambient blue glow in this place. So even though there's no light outside, it's pretty well lit in here.

SPEAKER_02 50:42

So I could but I could just follow the the copper veins and and find my way to the center of this volcano. You could. Well, I think that's seems like the smart thing to do.

SPEAKER_00 50:57

Okay, go ahead and roll an instinct or knowledge check to follow these veins. Uh oh. I'm feeling instinctive.

SPEAKER_02 51:07

17 with hope.

SPEAKER_00 51:09

17 with hope. So you're heading through almost no issue through these caves. Tell me what's the weird thing you walk past. One weird thing I walk past.

SPEAKER_02 51:23

Um Well, there is a copper statue of a foot. But it's not like a normal-sized foot, it's like a like a sixteen times larger than a regular human foot. But it's just a copper statue of a giant foot. Noted.

SPEAKER_00 51:42

Interesting, I can work with that. And as you head through, and the veins, you start getting towards, it starts opening wider and wider.

The Burning Tree And Fire Cats

SPEAKER_00 51:53

And now the ash is like a thick indigo. And you see what looks like, almost like down in a crater, a towering moss-covered tree that seems to be burning with these flames. Almost pulsing to like a sine wave pattern. Making a bit of like a high-pitched whining noise. And this is a truly massive tree in the center of this caldera. And you don't even see ground, just vines spreading out from this tree. And above the tree is like a quartz dome with a boiling lake of lithium above it. A boiling lake of lithium?

SPEAKER_02 52:33

Wow. Sheesh. Um well, I mean, are there any signs of like cat claw marks on this tree? Like is as a car cat uses as a scratching post?

SPEAKER_00 52:52

Go ahead and make an instinct check?

SPEAKER_02 52:56

Well, I'm looking for a cat spirit, right? So hopefully the cat's been critical success. So, uh what you notice is critical success, I I clear a stress point and a hit point.

SPEAKER_00 53:10

Uh just a stress, not a hit point. Not a hit point, okay. So what you see is amongst these w vines and webs, you do see some scratches on this tree, and you do see these little purple flames forming into little cats. You know, like you'll see eyes in a tree, you'll see one up in the ceiling, and it's basically like this area is like a giant jungle of these vines from this one tree. But like you'll like watch a cat like fall off a vine, hit the ground, disassemble a tool, just a puddle of fire, and then reform. Oh. And several of them are staring at you.

SPEAKER_02 53:50

Um, did I I don't remember I have a fishing rod. I didn't actually catch any fish though, did I?

SPEAKER_00 54:05

I think you did. I think you got a fish. How would you spend a hope to have successfully gotten a fish in a prior moment? I like that.

SPEAKER_02 54:15

I'm spending a hope. Um, at some point in this adventure you caught a fish.

SPEAKER_00 54:19

Understood.

SPEAKER_02 54:22

Well, I I definitely I remember getting the fishing rod from I I think I got it from the ghost town, maybe. Anyways, the point of the matter is uh that I caught a fish because I hoped for it. Yeah. And uh I am going to offer a fish to the fish.

SPEAKER_00 54:40

Yeah, to metagame for a moment to our listeners. I put in a new metagame rule I'm applying in all my dagger heart campaigns. So people love to say, Oh, did I remember to do this in flashback? I'm allowing to spend a hope as a cost to do a mild flashback. So the record did I remember rope? It'll be spend a hope. Oh, I wouldn't have fallen for this, or oh, I would have remembered to steal from this guy, it'll cost a hope. That seems fair and balanced. I think so. But I'm allowed the same privilege to spend a fear to do like, oh yeah, totally, you I remembered this. Of course.

SPEAKER_02 55:18

So, you do have a and I'm offering a fish to uh the nearest cat that's looking at me.

SPEAKER_00 55:25

Do you throw it or set it down for the cat to approach? I'm gonna set it down for the cat to approach. So you see it like slowly waddling over, its little paw prints leaving little flames still burning below it. It looks at you, it looks at the fish, it looks at you. Make a presence roll.

SPEAKER_02 55:45

A presence roll? A 20 with hope.

SPEAKER_00 55:52

It starts eating the fish. The fish bursts into flames. Is continuing to eat it. It has consumed the fish bones and all. It is looking at you expectantly. Well, how many more fish do I have? Do you want to spend more hope for more fish? Hmm. It starts greedy consuming the fish. The little bits of like fish meat on it just kind of singe away. It eats it, it flops on its belly. Two more are approaching.

SPEAKER_02 56:31

Uh okay, now this this might be one of those don't feed the ducks situation. Uh just as a little side tangent, um I I don't remember where it was, but but I I had some bread and I was feeding a duck, and then a whole bunch of ducks came up, and then we ran out of bread, the ducks were mad.

SPEAKER_00 56:52

I I appreciate this this that your life is a cartoon. I also appreciate that I'm setting gear up like eight fear.

SPEAKER_02 57:03

Oh my. Okay, well, if I speak to a cat. Um because it seems to like understand what I'm saying, I guess. Like if I'm like Hey there, buddy! Like uh I'm looking for the for the spirit that resides presides over this uh volcano here. Do you think you can lead the way?

SPEAKER_00 57:32

Regular child! I can certainly vote for Swill to help. Uh Okay, okay.

SPEAKER_02 57:44

Um And the two that are pretty like fmm Let's see, what do I have that would be like a cat toy? I don't really ooh, um I I assume I would have like a a cup in my basic supplies, right? Like a canteen kind of thing. Um because like, I mean I maybe I shouldn't give up my canteen, but if I put a coin in my canteen and I I seal it shut, I can kind of make like a uh bell cat toy kind of thing and be like um and opera offer them this uh makeshift cat toy.

SPEAKER_00 58:42

Starts patting at it, seems happy.

SPEAKER_01 58:47

Is this an acceptable offering?

SPEAKER_00 58:51

For now. And then like, you see, like the 20 cats or so in here that are staring you down, all like are just standing perfectly still, and this cat seems to be very lazurely walking along towards the tree.

SPEAKER_02 59:04

Alright, well, I mean I'm going to follow my cat guide.

SPEAKER_00 59:10

It takes about He just keeps like getting distracted. Like you watch him like walk about it, just chase a butterfly. And then like, oh yeah, right, and then comes back to the path and then flops and then gets back up. So it should have been like a 20-minute walk, it takes about an hour. But you find yourself at the base of this tree.

SPEAKER_02 59:32

Uh-huh. Alright, so I've safely navigated to the base of the tree.

SPEAKER_00 59:41

Uh and I don't normally show you graphics, but I'm gonna show you what the tree looks like in our Discord chat. And then I'm gonna have you describe it to our audience. Yeah, okay.

SPEAKER_01 59:55

Um Discord.

SPEAKER_00 1:00:05

Just in general.

SPEAKER_02 1:00:10

Okay, there we go. Wow. Um that isn't so um and kind of there's a uh uh helix of like twisted branches, uh twisting up into uh a bulbous kind of like and the branches ride branch out into uh kind of a goblet shape, and the goblet uh seems to have like a instead of having leaves, it seems to have fire. Like a blue wispy fiery goblet tree.

SPEAKER_00 1:00:53

And the burning heart of the woods is in front of you.

SPEAKER_02 1:00:58

Uh and so this seems to be the spirit that governs this tree here. Or governs governs the volcano.

SPEAKER_00 1:01:08

It's possible that the tree itself is the spirit. That's kind of the vibes you're getting here. At this point, the cat is just playing with its toy leaning against the tree.

Vines Strike And The Tree Remembers

SPEAKER_02 1:01:19

Uh so what happens if I touch the tree?

SPEAKER_00 1:01:25

Oh. So as you place your hand on the tree, vines start to wrap around your arm. Make an agility reaction rule, please. Oh boy.

SPEAKER_02 1:01:40

How agile am I? I uh only a twelve. Twelve.

SPEAKER_00 1:01:51

So you take seven points of physical damage and lose a hope. Oh boy. You are currently restrained and vulnerable. And as the vines pierce the flesh, what painful memory does it bring to the surface?

SPEAKER_02 1:02:12

What painful memory does it bring to the surface? Uh well, obviously it brings back the painful memory of Leroy abandoning me for that stupid eagle. It's not like he got carried off on accident. No, he abandoned me. He chose to go with that eagle.

SPEAKER_00 1:02:36

I see, so what you kind of learn here is the tree feels something similar to that. The tree feels abandoned. It seems to be slowing into the year.

SPEAKER_02 1:02:56

Uh okay, well, so how do I get myself unrestrained?

SPEAKER_00 1:03:00

I don't know, how do you?

SPEAKER_02 1:03:03

I guess.

SPEAKER_00 1:03:06

I uh uh go I'll just give you a hint. So, you either will have to defeat the challenge rating of the tree with finesse or strength, or deal enough damage to the vines.

SPEAKER_02 1:03:20

Well, I was gonna say my first instinct is just to punch the vines.

SPEAKER_00 1:03:25

Alright, go ahead and make an attack roll.

SPEAKER_01 1:03:28

Uh, an attack roll. Uh.

SPEAKER_02 1:03:36

Can I use my vital points skill?

SPEAKER_00 1:03:39

I'll allow it.

SPEAKER_01 1:03:43

Vital points?

SPEAKER_02 1:03:45

Oh, only a 12 with hope.

SPEAKER_00 1:03:51

So I'm not gonna actually let you use vital points in retrospect because it's a tree. I'll let you use amateur bioterrorists, though. Oh, okay. I'm not sure how you're tree punching a tree. Uh chakra punching a tree. That might be tricky. Like, I let you get away with it on a shark because a shark has biology. Right, right, right. This tree's not even following the rules of tree biology.

SPEAKER_02 1:04:16

Fair enough. But I am an amateur bioterrorist, so I that's still a 12 with hope, so. You punched it.

SPEAKER_00 1:04:26

Uh-oh. That's bad news bears. Um it's gonna take its. Well, I mean. Okay. You take does uh seven hit you?

SPEAKER_02 1:04:38

A seven does not.

SPEAKER_00 1:04:40

Alright. The cat's just watching, it is licking itself. Like, it has no intention to help you. Right, right.

SPEAKER_02 1:04:49

Um I guess I'm gonna see if maybe my weakened its grasp enough. I'm gonna try and finesse my way out of this out of its grasp.

SPEAKER_00 1:05:04

Alright, go ahead and roll a finesse check.

SPEAKER_02 1:05:08

Roll finesse? Critical success!

SPEAKER_00 1:05:11

You are free.

SPEAKER_02 1:05:13

Clear stress and gain a hope. I am free, huh? Hmm. Uh so the tree feels abandoned and tried to consume meat.

SPEAKER_01 1:05:38

Hmm. Well, what do I uh you uh the the tree is the tree is sad.

SPEAKER_02 1:05:54

It feels abandoned. You know what what happened here to make the the tree so unhappy?

SPEAKER_00 1:06:00

A dragon stole its friend.

SPEAKER_01 1:06:04

Ah a dragon? Well, how long ago did this happen?

SPEAKER_02 1:06:15

Fair enough. Uh do I see any signs of this dragon attack?

SPEAKER_00 1:06:20

Um a closer inspection, those are much bigger slashes than a cat would put into this tree. Uh-huh.

SPEAKER_01 1:06:32

I see, I see.

SPEAKER_02 1:06:36

Uh do you know if the dragon's still here?

SPEAKER_00 1:06:40

The cat looks up. Uh-uh, I will also look up. You see in this boiling lake of lithium, curled up kinda like a cat, the underbelly of a large dragon sleeping in this caldera. And you've seen him in the distance a few times, flying around incinerating towns.

SPEAKER_02 1:07:00

Uh-huh. Well then. And the dragon stole the tree's bread. Mm-hmm.

SPEAKER_00 1:07:16

And it's just kind of napping on top of it. In the mold. For context, this is a creature sleeping in a lake of boiling lithium. Remember when you walked into that lake and C N Chronicles X?

SPEAKER_02 1:07:30

I'm I was imagining the gross rainbow-colored lakes ago.

SPEAKER_00 1:07:35

The one that killed you faster than the lava by like a lot.

SPEAKER_01 1:07:41

Yes. I recall. Well. Um.

SPEAKER_02 1:07:57

If the dragon is napping, then perhaps I have time to take a quick little rest.

SPEAKER_00 1:08:03

Alrighty then. You're just gonna take a short rest here in this room full of fire cats at the magic tree.

SPEAKER_02 1:08:10

Uh well, yeah, I mean I'm gonna sit down and I'm gonna like uh meditate and observe the dragon and try and just like tend to my wounds.

SPEAKER_00 1:08:20

Make a presence check to just be a non-threatening. Uh 20 with Oh, woohoo! You're extremely unthreatening. At one point, like a fire cat comes up and naps right next to you, you take one hit point.

SPEAKER_02 1:08:39

Uh so after my arrest, I I am slightly burned.

SPEAKER_00 1:08:46

Okay. But like you knew that if you made a big deal of it, these forty or so fire elementals might stop being friendly. Right, right. Well, there's about twenty of them. Hmm. That would not be good. You could probably take it. That's less than the s number of soldiers you beat to death.

SPEAKER_02 1:09:10

Alright, well. So, uh, while I was um resting, um, did the dragon make any moves?

SPEAKER_00 1:09:22

Seems to still be asleep. And is completely unaware of you. Right, right.

SPEAKER_02 1:09:29

Um. And can I can I see anything? Like, I assume it has some sort of uh like a horde with it.

SPEAKER_00 1:09:38

Uh it seems to be sleeping on uh like piles of like kind of like it's at the bottom of the lake, so you don't really see any treasure with it right now. You have the hunch that its horde is probably in this volcano somewhere, but it seems to be sleeping submerged.

SPEAKER_02 1:09:57

Ah, so it's not sleeping on this horde, but this horde is somewhere in the volcano.

SPEAKER_00 1:10:02

Because its horde would dissolve in this lake.

SPEAKER_02 1:10:05

Okay, okay. Um cat buddy. Uh do you know if that dragon has a has a horde of treasure anywhere?

SPEAKER_00 1:10:21

Probably. Uh yeah, I think so.

SPEAKER_01 1:10:25

Hmm.

SPEAKER_00 1:10:27

Do you know which direction it might be? Well, we live under the volcano, and he lives on top of the volcano.

SPEAKER_03 1:10:37

Ah.

SPEAKER_00 1:10:38

And ever since he stole the other tree, he's able to live inside the volcano.

SPEAKER_01 1:10:45

I see, I see.

SPEAKER_02 1:10:49

Uh alright. Well, so uh does this appear to be anywhere in the room to like ascend out the caldera, or would I feel like you'd have to go back through the tunnels and then climb the mountain. I see, I see. Well, I mean, I could just follow the veins backwards, hopefully.

SPEAKER_00 1:11:14

Yeah, wouldn't it be hard at all, honestly? You do see something of interest, though.

Looting Offerings And Risky Sap

SPEAKER_00 1:11:23

Okay. At the base of this tree, there does appear to be like various trinkets and things left as worship. So treasure chests, weapons, shiny things.

SPEAKER_01 1:11:43

I mean well.

SPEAKER_02 1:11:48

Okay, well I'm I'm gonna look through uh the uh the offerings to see if there's any potions that look like they might be like uh elemental resistance potions.

SPEAKER_00 1:11:59

As you start approaching the tree, you see the vines around it start to move and become active the closer you get, the faster they're moving.

SPEAKER_02 1:12:06

Okay, okay.

SPEAKER_00 1:12:08

But there's definitely some jars and bottles. Um it looks like someone's like carved a hole into the side of the tree and put in like a sap spigot. A sap spigot. And the area around it is pulsing in red.

SPEAKER_02 1:12:30

Yeah, no, I assume the sap spigot doesn't make the tree happy. But I mean I don't really have anything to offer the tree.

SPEAKER_00 1:12:50

Do you look and you kind of see like there are some barrels that someone was filling with sap? And what looks like a Pompeii-esque ash-covered statue of a person.

SPEAKER_02 1:13:07

That wasn't over well. Well.

SPEAKER_00 1:13:28

Which means it's clearly valuable, because if you come under Thunder Mountain to try and get the tree sap, it's probably special pre-set.

SPEAKER_02 1:13:37

Well, okay, so if I go over to the barrel and I uh well can first, um can I use my amateur bioterror to determine uh like if the uh staff is safe to touch.

SPEAKER_00 1:13:59

Go ahead and make a knowledge check, and feel free to spend that hope to get that bonus. To get that bonus, I am not super knowledgeable. 19 with fear. So, Sun Tree Staff is a rumored thing you've read in a medical textbook. Effectively, metagame-wise, you consume the staff to roll a d6, on a five to six you clear two HP, on two to four you clear three chats, and on one, see through the veil of death to return forever change.

SPEAKER_02 1:14:36

Forever change.

SPEAKER_00 1:14:42

And it is literally worth its weight in gold.

SPEAKER_02 1:14:49

I could either clear two hit points, clear three stress, or uh experience death. But not actually die.

SPEAKER_03 1:15:00

Correct.

SPEAKER_00 1:15:20

Roll one D four for me, please. A D four.

SPEAKER_02 1:15:28

Roll one.

SPEAKER_00 1:15:33

You got a one? Yeah. You could add two batches of sentry sap to your inventory. Some of it seems to have gone bad and been improperly stored and drank like hats. And you feel like drinking it will also give you some electrical resistance. Maybe. You're you'd have to like process it, you're not really sure how you would do that. Okay.

SPEAKER_02 1:16:34

One thing I will say about this, uh okay, no, you can click on things to remove quantity, Scotch. One thing I will say about this is I found the right button. I found the right button. Uh I I don't find the uh inventory management of this particular website to be super intuitive.

SPEAKER_00 1:16:56

That's fair. Although I have yet to find a good one.

SPEAKER_02 1:17:01

Uh, I I suppose. The inventory management in general in GT RPGs is is uh pain.

SPEAKER_00 1:17:08

Well, I've said it a few times about Daggerheart Nexus. It needs homebrew features, not necessarily for like an elaborate homebrew marketplace, but for me to just type what an item does so you can add it to your inventory, and just add extra experiences and items. Right. Because the issue is that like it's less that I need to homebrew you things, and more that things happen that is the system is not accounted for. Right, right. Uh, but there is some other like you do see some like weapons and treasure chests and things, and there looks like there is a s you're not sure what it is, it looks like a handle stabbed directly into the root a base of the tree. A handle?

SPEAKER_02 1:17:50

Uh as I get close to the handle, does it uh does the tree react?

SPEAKER_00 1:17:54

This tree the vines are like wrap around you, like they're posed to strike towards you, but haven't yet. But you don't feel hostility. So what happens if I touch the handle? The vines whip out a grab onto you.

SPEAKER_02 1:18:12

I see.

SPEAKER_00 1:18:14

You take uh no no chance to dodge? Nope. Not when you touch the handle. You take four points of damage. Oh boy. And lose a hope. What memory comes to mind now as they pre-pierce your surface?

SPEAKER_02 1:18:34

What memory comes to mind now? Uh so uh I uh don't actually remember this happening, but um I was traveling with Lyra was traveling with the uh bird person and uh went into a feral rage uh and killed the poor bird person. And uh memory comes to mind and Lyra feels fear and um regret. So for having killed this person.

SPEAKER_00 1:19:19

As heard in that moment, you can see these roots outside of this volcano. You can see what looks like Imperial soldiers cutting through vines heading towards the base of this volcano. You can see the tree feeling weakened, and then at this moment you see the dragon swooping down its thick obsidian hide, slaughtering these soldiers, flying into the base of here, tearing its way through wall and wall after vines and cats, and ripping a second tree from under this cave. As it leaves, you can see these soldiers taking these cat spirits, putting them in like runic kennels, and running away using the chaos as a diversion.

SPEAKER_02 1:20:03

Oh no. These are the cat spirits that run the steamboats. They are. Oh, oh here. Hmm. I don't like the looks of that. Uh, but now I'm restrained and Yep. Uh alright, well, and I'm holding on to this handle. You are. Um but it it's like just a handle, not like a like a lever or something.

SPEAKER_00 1:20:41

It seems to be the handle of some kind of implement. Uh hmm.

SPEAKER_02 1:20:51

Uh I don't think it's gonna work. But I'm just gonna try and yank it out.

Siphoning Gauntlets And A New Plan

SPEAKER_00 1:20:59

Go ahead and roll a strength check. Oh, 18 with hope. So as you pull out this handle, it shifts and wraps its ray around your hand.

unknown 1:21:13

Oh.

SPEAKER_00 1:21:14

Go ahead and add a siphoning gauntlets to your weapon. Siphoning gauntlets. So I know how you spell siphon.

SPEAKER_02 1:21:31

P S-I-P-H. S-I-I-H.

SPEAKER_01 1:21:36

I don't know why I said figured it was the siphoning gauntlets. These siphoning gauntlets are life saling multi-6 on our six weird hit point and stress.

SPEAKER_00 1:21:55

Why not? And you see a mental picture of yourself punching the dragon in the face. Okay.

SPEAKER_02 1:22:06

Um, so like I just add life ceiling to my unarmed strike, or you can use the gauntlets if you want to deal magic damage instead.

unknown 1:22:22

Ah.

SPEAKER_00 1:22:23

So you can either do a D10 plus 9 magic, but you're technically using weapons, or you can just add life ceiling to your unarmed strike. Yeah, okay. They don't really make monk weapons, so I found the most appropriate thing I could for the situation. I think I did pretty good.

SPEAKER_02 1:22:45

I I think so too. Um. I guess uh I feel like I've been equipped for this for the battle ahead. I I'm going to uh head back out of the cave and start trying to climb the mountain to see if I can find the remnants of this other tree.

SPEAKER_00 1:23:05

Alright.

Dragon Horde On The Caldera Rim

SPEAKER_00 1:23:06

So as you begin climbing the mountain, you see the liquid at the top, you like can feel the mountain shaking a bit.

SPEAKER_03 1:23:16

Mm-hmm.

SPEAKER_00 1:23:17

And as it erupts in a current of lightning and shrapnel flies into the air. And you're fine for now, but a countdown takes down. Go ahead and make a strength or agility to start parkouring your way up this mountain as it gets steeper and steeper.

SPEAKER_02 1:23:41

I am super agile 20 USB ear.

SPEAKER_00 1:23:46

Okay, that's one success. So you're about a quarter of the way up this mountain. Do you continue climbing?

SPEAKER_02 1:23:56

I most definitely do.

SPEAKER_00 1:23:58

Alright, go ahead and roll a set of your choice.

SPEAKER_02 1:24:03

Uh oh, I mean I'm gonna roll an instinct check. Um to try and find a uh suitable path.

SPEAKER_00 1:24:15

Excellent. 18 with hope. So as you get to like the top of the caldera and you see it goes down into like its crater-like form, you see there's normally dragons like hide a hoard, right? Here's some of the things you see. Several imperial ships that have been picked up out of the water and just dropped there upside down. Weapons, scattered coin, treasures, entire buildings. It's almost like a bird's nest made out of war crime surrounding this caldera. Uh-huh. So you see, like, several Imperial cruisers have been taken down. Large creatures. Like, you literally just see bones of giant eagles like they were a snack. And it's just like in this entire caldera leading towards the lithium is just the dragon's horde is just on full display.

SPEAKER_01 1:25:17

That's impressive.

SPEAKER_00 1:25:25

And the moon is starting to crest above the horizon and starting to rise a bit at the distance.

SPEAKER_02 1:25:32

Okay, okay, so now I'm in among the the horde.

SPEAKER_00 1:25:37

Yeah. Which, like, this is like a miles long caldera. Like, this is a huge volcano. Uh so the uh uh Yeah, it's about a kilometer wide dome, basically. And in the like center quarter is the boiling like lithium. And it's just like boats and ships and houses, and just this dragon has just been stealing things and storing them here.

SPEAKER_02 1:26:13

Uh well, so I guess I want to uh uh analyze like the the ground and and see like how like um stable it is. Like if if there's rubble and debris or or uh treasure from the horde that would make it unstable for walking and try and find a path by looking at what's actually probably. Go ahead and make a roll for that. A knowledge check, hopefully. Oh, twenty twenty-three was hope.

SPEAKER_00 1:26:49

Yeah, you're able to navigate through, but like it's almost like a garbage dump style horde of all the random shit.

SPEAKER_02 1:26:56

Yeah, yeah, I just I didn't want to like, you know, step on something and have it shift under my weight and fall over.

SPEAKER_00 1:27:04

No issues here. And it seems there's no vines up on the top of this volcano. No flaming animals you've really spotted. There seems to be like some regular animals, like some vult vultures and things. Mm-hmm. But this is largely just obsidian rock, metals, buildings, and corpses.

SPEAKER_02 1:27:24

Uh and I I assume I'm getting somewhat closer to the dragon now. Yes. Uh yes, so I would like to try and and uh stealthily uh move the rest of the way towards the dragon.

SPEAKER_00 1:27:40

Alright, go ahead and roll. Ayy finest check to sneak up on a dragon. Let's see. Only a deep with hope. Alright, so as you're trying to sneak up on this dragon. In a C Haldera of a volcano. A series of good life choices, I assure you. You just see that like bubbles are kind of coming up, like he's napping down there and they hit the surface and crackle with a spark. Okay. And you're not aware whether or not it knows you're here. I see, I see.

SPEAKER_02 1:28:23

Uh okay, so now um do I see any uh remnants of the tree that it stole? You do not. It stole a whole tree. Hmm. Um there any uh boats nearby so that it's like ships and buildings? Oh yeah. Um can I enter one of these uh structures?

SPEAKER_00 1:28:59

As you enter one, it was the same size as like the steamship you were taking along the coast. Uh-huh. And you're inside it. It's kind of tipped sideways, not quite full Poseidon adventure.

SPEAKER_02 1:29:11

I see, I see.

SPEAKER_00 1:29:12

Um there appears to be some heavily carbonazed skeletons.

SPEAKER_02 1:29:17

Uh-huh. Okay. Uh are there any supplies remaining in this ship?

SPEAKER_00 1:29:22

Yeah, there's food and water and chili corpses. There's chili, um. Wait a second. Do I recognize any of these corpses? Nope, this is a different ship. Seems multiple ships have similar menus, go figure. His special unique chili was, in fact, Imperial Standard Wednesday fair. That is in ration bars of bean brick that they boil with hot water to turn into chili. You feel slightly lied to.

SPEAKER_02 1:29:57

Well, of course I was lied to. The chili was poisoned. Uh okay. Okay. Uh.

Freeing A Ship Spirit Gone Wrong

SPEAKER_02 1:30:11

Well, okay, I'm gonna um go to the engine room of this ship and uh see uh if I can figure out uh what the easiest way to release a uh a spirit from this engine room would be without like causing mass. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Let's see. Uh yeah, no, that's what we help. Well, actually, amateur well, no, a bioterrorism. I'm not a regular terrorist, I'm a bioterrorist. Correct. It's legally distinct.

SPEAKER_00 1:30:51

Legally distinct. A 12 with fear, oh boy. So it seems to be napping in the running wheel and no one's spritzing it with water or anything. Oh, so the the spirit is still in the boat. Yep, still seems to be in its engine.

unknown 1:31:09

Huh.

SPEAKER_00 1:31:10

And you see there's like levers and buttons in things, and one of them probably releases it, but one of it spritzes it with water.

SPEAKER_02 1:31:18

Well.

SPEAKER_00 1:31:35

And swings open. Oh, alright. It did not even wake up yet. Yeah, but yeah, now now its cage is open, so that's good.

SPEAKER_03 1:31:52

Uh it's a big thing.

SPEAKER_00 1:31:52

And all of the torches and lights in the boat just shut off. It is now pitch black in here. Oh boy. Well. Except a glow from the fire spirit.

SPEAKER_02 1:32:07

I'm gonna feel my way around the ship and try and get out of the ship again and see whether or not the uh roll an instinct check to feel your way around the ship at night.

SPEAKER_00 1:32:18

Instinct check. Whoa, a six with fear. So I'm gonna spend three fear. So you're feeling around going through, and then you feel your foot step at something go squish, and you look down as your foot has stepped through the Ash and Case skull and is now stuck in their deposing brain goop.

SPEAKER_03 1:32:36

Uh uh.

SPEAKER_02 1:32:37

You can go ahead and mark two stress. That is that is very stressful. That's that is gross. Okay.

SPEAKER_00 1:32:47

Uh I mean, I gotta try and Oh, you've successfully made it out. That was the only eventful thing that happened is you stepped on a person straight through the stepped and brain goop? Okay, okay, yeah. Uh see there is a cat following you now.

SPEAKER_01 1:33:08

Little cat, buddy.

SPEAKER_02 1:33:10

I don't suppose you know the the other tree spirit is anywhere nearby, do you? Oh yeah.

SPEAKER_00 1:33:17

In the dragon.

SPEAKER_02 1:33:21

The dragon ate the tree?

SPEAKER_00 1:33:23

Mm-hmm. Yep. Oh gee. That's how you get stronger than treat things. It says looking at you hungrily.

SPEAKER_02 1:33:37

Uh I'm going to spend a hope to give it a fish.

SPEAKER_00 1:33:44

It's eating the fish. It is happy. I just enjoy this like week you probably spent by this tree just fishing up fish.

SPEAKER_02 1:34:03

Oh. Alright, well, I mean, I guess. I mean, it's not really smart to jump into the belly of a dragon. But I gotta get this tree back so that the other tree won't be mad at me and I can actually commune with it and see if it knows anything.

SPEAKER_00 1:34:21

You have a strong feeling it knows things. From that so it turns out what you've realized is when it was hurting you, that was just the damage of it giving you too much information. And it was just communicating. So anything those vines touched, the tree's seen over the last millennia.

SPEAKER_02 1:34:40

Right, right.

SPEAKER_03 1:34:50

Well.

SPEAKER_02 1:34:53

But how I mean I I wanna I wanna make the tree happy.

SPEAKER_01 1:35:04

Okay, let's see. What what can I I can see it coming reduce incoming damage make my what's my mark make the mark hit points. Uh sorry.

SPEAKER_02 1:35:26

Oh my I could go into werewolf transformation. Uh well. I mean, there's no way to prepare for this, but I'm gonna go out there.

Waking The Dragon With A Rock

SPEAKER_02 1:35:46

And I'm gonna be like, uh. How do I wake up the dragon? I guess I'm just gonna like, is there a uh big rock or something I can attempt to like roll into the caldera and hopefully it hits him in the head?

SPEAKER_00 1:36:02

100% I'm gonna allow this because it is hilarious. Um go ahead and make a instinct roll to find the rock. Instinct roll to find the rock. Eight with fear. You find a rock. I'm gonna have you mark I'm gonna spend that fear so you mark a stress because you're about to roll a rock into a caldera to wake up a dragon. Okay, okay. And now go ahead and roll presents. I know normally it'd be like strength to roll a rock, but you're really trying to do something very specific. You're trying to send a message. I'm trying to send a message. 22 with fear. So, as you push the rock and it builds up speed, builds up speed, builds up speed, and it's not like a nice volcanic chunk of rock. You see it go like off a ramp. My mic didn't pick up the whoosh whoosh whoosh, but it whoosh whoosh whooshes. Splashes in the lake as you watch like current arc up from this incredibly conductive electric lake. The rocks on the perfect trajectory. You hear a bunk. Quiet for a second, quiet for a second, the lake goes completely still. You watch the what ripples a little bit, and this dragon just gently pops its head up, arms on the caldera, and is staring directly at you. Well, it didn't scream, it didn't roar, you see a little welt on its head where the rock hit it.

SPEAKER_02 1:37:32

I guess my first um just staring at you.

SPEAKER_00 1:37:43

I I I think it's just in disbelief that this happened. It hasn't occurred to it to be mad yet. Much like you being woken up at two in the morning by your cat jumping on you. You're just like why?

SPEAKER_02 1:37:58

Hmm. I feel like this is a bad idea. Uh staring directly at you. Well, the gauntlets gave me a vision of punching it in the face. Uh, so that is exactly what I plan to do. Uh, but I'm going to use my signature move to do so.

Trading Blows With The Obsidian Dragon

SPEAKER_00 1:38:25

Alright. So, in front of you is the volcanic dragon, obsidian predator, a massive wing creature with obsidian scales and imparsibly sharp claws. And your plan is go ahead, tell me your plan.

SPEAKER_02 1:38:43

I'm gonna I mean my signature move is precise pressure points. Uh I am going to attempt to punch it uh right in the weak spot on its nose. Go ahead and make your attack. Uh roll for my tank. Um and I roll. Jeez, that was only a nineteen with fear. Nineteen is what you needed to hit.

SPEAKER_00 1:39:15

Okay, that's that's um I am sitting here with nine fear and a dragon.

SPEAKER_02 1:39:24

I'm uh I'm spending three hope uh to make him mark a stress and stagger him.

SPEAKER_00 1:39:30

Okay, so you just walked right up, aimed for the pressure point, and punched him directly in the weak spot in between his eyes. He's been up for 30 seconds, sees you. He might have been about to negotiate, and you just go for it.

SPEAKER_02 1:39:48

Uh but I am going to also uh attempt to combo strike. Alright, go ahead. Wait, no, so I have to roll for damage first? Uh, so okay, so let's roll for damage. 18. 18 damage. And then I uh mark a stress, and I roll my combo die. So plus five. Equal to or okay, so I roll again. I rolled another five so I could roll again. So that's 18 plus 10. Plus one.

SPEAKER_00 1:40:40

So 29 damage altogether. So as you punch this thing, as hard as anything one has ever punched a dragon in the face. Like wind behind you, shock waves. A single crack goes into its brow. It takes one point of damage. Oof. And you rolled with fear, right? Yes. It looks at you. Looks down at you. As you're right between its eyes, it goes cross-eyed a little bit, and you kind of do like the image blurry thing. Uh-huh. And it's just gonna backhand you. Like, just like back of the hand, pimp slap you away. Uh, it does have disadvantage because it is staggered. Fair enough. Does a 21 hit. Oof. Yeah, 21 hits. You take 21 points of damage as it slots you.

SPEAKER_02 1:41:42

Uh, I'm going to mark an armor slot to make that only major damage.

SPEAKER_00 1:41:48

Uh, and I take two hit points. And it just takes a moment shaking its head a bit, it goes. You die. Still waking up. They tell me I'm gonna die? I don't know what it it's more like turn is yours as the mighty obsidian dragon goes, uh Yeah, okay. That was definitely not a wise move to punch it in the face. Like I said, much like a cat jumping on you at night, it just kind of shoved you off the bed. It's taken damage though, you cracked its face. Right, right. I have no idea how many hit points it has. I'm gonna let you know. It has six.

unknown 1:42:43

Oh.

SPEAKER_02 1:42:45

Okay, okay.

SPEAKER_00 1:42:47

But also, you did not get above its first threshold with that first much. Yeah, yeah, no.

SPEAKER_02 1:42:55

That's and my likelihood of hitting is pretty because after all, at least an eighth or an average of eight on my dice, which means Well, okay, okay. Uh okay, so did he send me flying or like no, he just hitchhaved, he just swatted you.

SPEAKER_00 1:44:02

You probably would not want to fish.

SPEAKER_02 1:44:11

Yeah, I'm you're I am gonna say that. You you probably don't want to fish, do you?

SPEAKER_00 1:44:17

He hasn't said words just staring at you right now.

SPEAKER_02 1:44:26

Now now that I've caught your attention, uh why why did you anger the the the tree spirit of this volcano? Roll a presence jacket.

SPEAKER_00 1:44:41

A presence jacket a sixteen with home He looks at you. This is my volcano. This is my spirit. This is my world. You rolled with hope. So he didn't just beat you, but that's all he says. This is my volcano. This is my world. This is my spirit.

SPEAKER_01 1:45:32

I see, I see.

SPEAKER_00 1:45:38

And he's still slightly concussed in piecing together what happened.

SPEAKER_01 1:46:00

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 1:46:04

So I probably don't have any poison left, right?

SPEAKER_00 1:46:10

But to be now that I actually understand how to I think you still have a file of like the actual virus. But I don't think you have any regular poisons left.

SPEAKER_02 1:46:26

Okay, okay.

SPEAKER_00 1:46:33

Punches Dragon in the face, throws anthrax at him, hopes for best.

SPEAKER_02 1:46:46

Uh yeah, well, because you know what? Hmm. I don't have my signature move now because I used it already.

SPEAKER_00 1:46:59

You did. You took off like 15% of his full HP.

SPEAKER_02 1:47:05

Yeah, yeah, yeah. And the likelihood of him actually just killing me is pretty h well, of me ending the scene is pretty high. But you wanna wanna He's still staggered.

SPEAKER_00 1:47:26

Hmm? He's still staggered, goddamn books. I mean fighters. Well brawlers.

SPEAKER_02 1:47:33

It doesn't say anything about that says the brawler hope says staggering strikes spent three hope when you succeed on the attack the temporary to stagger your power.

SPEAKER_00 1:47:41

Okay, so I have to spend a fear to get him to get his ship back together.

SPEAKER_02 1:47:44

Yeah, yeah. So that that that is what I was uh assuming based on the side.

SPEAKER_00 1:47:49

Yeah, so I've done anything temporary, I can basically spend a fear to end if it makes logical sense. Right, right. But I didn't. I specifically monologued instead.

SPEAKER_03 1:48:01

Right.

SPEAKER_02 1:48:06

What are the chances I'll hit him again?

SPEAKER_00 1:48:08

Let's Going for it.

SPEAKER_02 1:48:11

Yeah, I'm gonna go I'm gonna go for it. A 20 with hope hit. Yes! Oh! Alright. Let's see how much damage I can deal. Uh 15 points, and I'm going to combo strike again. So 15 plus 8. Oof.

SPEAKER_00 1:48:39

Plus 2, so 25 points of damage. 25. So he takes one hit point as you just start wailing the hell out of his face. Right, right. Alright, so I'm gonna spend a fear to interrupt. Uh-huh. And he shakes off this dagger. His eyes have stopped spinning. Wait, does that mean you spent two fear? Yep, and now it's back to you. I have six fear remaining. Okay. Uh let's just uh go for it again.

SPEAKER_02 1:49:15

Roll 19 with fear. God damn. I am gonna spend another three hope to stagger him again. Uh uh mark another stress and okay, so I I roll my damage 13, and I'm marking another stress to combo off again. So thirteen plus eight plus eight? Oh! Alright. Uh plus oh. Uh so that makes thirty damage. Thirty damage is another.

SPEAKER_00 1:50:00

Hit point. So he's marked three hit points so far? Yeah, you're beating the shit out of him as his face in plate armor is cracking around his body.

SPEAKER_02 1:50:10

Okay, okay. Oh man. Hopefully I don't just end up dying, but we'll see. We'll see. But no, he gets to do something. He does get to do something.

SPEAKER_00 1:50:21

So first I'm gonna spend one of my fear, sum down to five, to make him no longer staggered. Mm-hmm. He's gonna lock eyes with you. Yeah. He raises his hand like he's gonna swipe at you. And then his tail comes from the left, and he's gonna use his avalanche tail by marking a stress.

SPEAKER_02 1:50:38

Oh what a.

SPEAKER_00 1:50:41

So that 22 hits you. That 22 does hit. You take 16 points of damage. Mm-hmm. Are knocked back to far range. Okay. Wait. Yeah, knocked back to far range, and you're vulnerable to the next time you roll up hope, as you're just knocked 30 feet into a nearby wall.

SPEAKER_02 1:51:06

Uh okay. Well I'm gonna mark an armor slot to reduce that to be just minor damage. Take one hit point.

SPEAKER_00 1:51:16

Um then I'm gonna spend a fear to activate his relentless to let him take another action. Okay. And he's going to start flying. Oh, that's not good. As he just slaps you, flies in the air, looks down upon you. And you see him bleeding from his face.

SPEAKER_02 1:51:37

Okay. Uh how high does he fly?

SPEAKER_00 1:51:40

He is only about 10 feet in the air. Okay, okay. Um.

SPEAKER_02 1:51:53

Okay, so to You'll have to remind me about movement up movement. I'm far range. Does that mean I need to do an agility check to try and get close to one? Correct.

SPEAKER_00 1:52:03

If you succeed, you still get your turn as normal, and if you fail, you biff it.

SPEAKER_02 1:52:09

Uh and the spotlight is on me? Yep.

SPEAKER_00 1:52:12

And I'm down to three here. Doing that agility check. Alright. 14 with hope. So, you do manage to make it up to him. He is still flying ten feet above you. Right, right, right. Um.

SPEAKER_02 1:52:32

Is it possible having run all this way to do a Superman punch to try to jump up and punch you?

SPEAKER_00 1:52:37

Absolutely. Alright. So if your attack roll succeeds, you kid. If your attack roll fails, I'll have you do a ten foot fall. Alright, well, let's. Roll. Ooh, only a six foot- Oh. So you run, you superman jump, you swing the punch, he moves gingerly to the left. No. And do do do do do Ah, falling and collision damage. Here we go. Uh-huh. You take. Uh, one d10 plus three, so need to manually roll this one. D ten. You take four points of fall damage as you just kind of biffed it. Okay. And was that with hope or with fear? That was with hope. Alright, well, if you fail a roll, it goes back to me even with hope. Right, right. So it's going to try and dive bomb you. Okay. So I mark a stress. To choose a point within far range, which is directly below you, I move to that point to make an attack against all targets within very close range. Uh-huh. So I'm at disadvantage. No, I don't think I have brain damage anymore. I think I washed that off. You did wash off the brain damage. Does a 17 hit you? A 17 does hit. So you take 13 points of damage. Mark a stress and lose a hope. As this dragon slams down on top of you. Which means he's technically no longer flying. Okay.

SPEAKER_02 1:54:36

Uh I am going to use my Octarine Brace ability. Um. So I've reduced my damage by wanting to make it minor damage, and then I'm gonna use my Octarine Brace to give you a fear and mark my other armor slot to reduce my damage to the hero. Oh, okay.

SPEAKER_00 1:54:58

I'll take the fear. My mighty four fear I have left. Uh yeah.

SPEAKER_02 1:55:09

Okay. Um now I guess we're I'm gonna drink one of these gun three staffs. See what happens. And I think that's a free action too. Uh so I roll a d6.

SPEAKER_01 1:55:38

Wait. Roll d6. There we go. Roll a d6.

SPEAKER_02 1:55:50

Oh, I got a two. Uh, which is not what I was hoping for, but I clear three stress.

SPEAKER_00 1:55:56

It's not bad. I've given you that much stress from just existing in this area.

SPEAKER_02 1:56:02

Well, now I'm feeling a little bit stress-stressed out, so let's just go for broke.

SPEAKER_00 1:56:09

Oh, only a small with hope. Nope. So as you like, this dragon pins you and you try and knee it in the face, you hit it, it just doesn't move. And it's on top of you, and it's just gonna bring down its left claw. Mm-hmm. You're no longer vulnerable because you rolled with hope, so that's good. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 1:56:36

A 19 does get me.

SPEAKER_00 1:56:38

Um That is 40 points of damage. Ouch!

SPEAKER_02 1:56:47

Um well, not only is that uh severe damage, double my thresh almost double my threshold. Uh, but that will be my last hit point. I am.

SPEAKER_00 1:57:00

But it does not wither you because this is not infected by the wither blade. Oh, how nice.

SPEAKER_02 1:57:08

Uh well yeah, I I'm I am unconscious.

Avoid Death And A Fiery Rescue

SPEAKER_02 1:57:12

Alright, you have three options available to you.

SPEAKER_03 1:57:16

Mm-hmm.

SPEAKER_02 1:57:17

Well, my death move is the death move are Okay, so what are my I I can avoid death, risk it all. Or Blaze of Glory?

SPEAKER_00 1:57:48

So what's it gonna be? For the record, you did half kill this dragon.

SPEAKER_02 1:58:01

Roll your hope dye if it's on equal or under your character's level to gain a scar. So the higher level you are, the worse it gets for avoiding death.

SPEAKER_00 1:58:13

And if you have enough scars that outdo your number of hope slots, you retire. Because you've just broken this person.

SPEAKER_02 1:58:24

I don't really want to risk it all because I don't I don't want Myra to just die.

SPEAKER_00 1:58:28

That's fair and reasonable.

SPEAKER_02 1:58:32

And I don't think I can actually deal three more damage to this guy before. I uh I I think I'm just gonna have to avoid death.

SPEAKER_00 1:58:43

Okay. So, as you get up, fucked up by this dragon. Wait. You feel death is upon you. Oh, what's the wait?

SPEAKER_02 1:58:54

Well, I thought avoid death was just by falling conscious and then. I'm explaining how this goes.

SPEAKER_00 1:59:00

You get a scene here. I get a scene, alright. So you're about to lose consciousness, you've lost a lot of blood. There's a dragon on you tearing you from him. And you hear as a cat jumps and flies into the head of the dragon, there's a fiery explosion. And then another jumps into the dragon with an explosion. And as these fire spirit cats ram into this dragon, you feel vines wrap around your hands and drag you across the dirt away. Huh? And that's where we're gonna end today's session. Roll to see if you got a scar.

SPEAKER_02 1:59:36

Okay, so I roll a duality episode. I'm gonna roll my hopeful dive.

SPEAKER_00 1:59:44

Ooh, I got an 11.

SPEAKER_03 1:59:46

No scar for you.

SPEAKER_00 1:59:49

We go into our post-session

Debrief GM Choices And What Next

SPEAKER_00 1:59:51

debrief. How did you feel about today's game?

SPEAKER_02 1:59:58

Um I uh I enjoyed it. I enjoyed it. I uh I appreciate the lightning volcano. Um I mean, look, metagame-wise, part of the reason I went to the lightning volcano is because it is a uh location I had uh suggested to add to the campaign in general. Um curious how it would work. Uh but uh also it's like I don't I don't even know what I would have been looking for in Alora to try and find information about Leroy since he's been dead for so long.

SPEAKER_00 2:00:35

Well, it's interesting, like, so how I ran the volcano mechanically is because I thought you were going to go to Alora, I had like a marketplace set up and a bunch of cat NPCs and like political drama, like I was fully like not at all prepped for the session. Right. So what I ended up doing is I looked for whatever was like the closest environment I thought thematically fit. So I picked Burning Heart of the Woods, which is a tier three exploration. Okay. But like, there's a lot of potential adversaries, but I didn't really make much use of them because you weren't there in a hostile way. Right. Where, like, there were some roles where you could have gotten a fight if you wanted to. But lore-wise, there wasn't a ton of reason for it to be fighting you. Right. And the elemental sparks being fire cats is just fun. And then the obsidian dragon I've been teasing forever. And it's just a tearful solo monster labeled volcanic dragon, obsidian predator, a massive wing creature of obsidian scales and impossibly sharp claws. And I'm like, well, obviously the dragon napping in the volcano caldera of a lithium lake is sick.

SPEAKER_02 2:01:51

Right. That is super awesome.

SPEAKER_00 2:01:54

So I kind of like decided on the fly to put the tree and things under the volcano and the dragon on top of the volcano. Mm-hmm. And have them feuding. I thought it was an amusing idea that, like, the environment's like, fucks this dragon in particular. And the dragon's like, nah. What are you gonna do about it, bitch?

SPEAKER_02 2:02:11

I I rather enjoyed that too. Um why are you beating with the spirit here?

SPEAKER_00 2:02:16

What are you talking about? This is my volcano. Look at me. Like, it's my volcano, bruh. Uh so I did give you a tier four weapon when it became apparent you were gonna go fight a dragon.

SPEAKER_02 2:02:32

So here's what I was saying. You gave me that image of punching him in the face. It's like, well, I guess that's how it happened.

SPEAKER_00 2:02:39

That's what the tree wanted. So, from a meta point of view, had you just left with the gauntlets, they would have got heavier and heavier the further you got away from the dragon until they were too heavy to lift. And then you just lost the gauntlets. Yeah, yeah, okay. So you're like, I'm gonna take these and leave. They would just get heavier and heavier.

SPEAKER_02 2:02:58

That makes sense.

SPEAKER_00 2:03:00

You see, like, for the dragon like this, I this is more of like a I expected you to like build mercenaries in a squad and come fight this, which to be fair, because Daggerheart doesn't just kill you. I'm like, I was fully expecting you to die to this dragon, but now you have a grudge and focus. Like, you will come back with a vengeance for this dragon. Oh, definitely. I don't know when you will, but you will someday. But yeah, the ones itself for tier three, but I only ever spawned in one enemy at a time to keep it kind of fair. Right. And because of the way you've been interacting with cat spirits, instead of just having them fight you, which I was prepared for the battle of you fighting the swarm of elemental cats to then speak to the tree. I had a good feeling you're gonna try and placate the in an elemental spark stat block, literally just a blazing mode of elemental fire. I'm like, yes, cat. This says cat on it. Yes, it does. And I do love some dramatic payoff of your fishing rod. Mm-hmm. But yeah, I kind of stole from the monologue. Any thoughts, feelings? Cause it does feel kind of unfair to go you into a one-on-one fight with dragon. Oh, I punched him in the face real good though. You did do thr man, so his thresholds are 33 and 65. Oh, so I came pretty close. And it's resistant to physical damage, but you're wearing magic knuckles, so I counted that of I counted those as like negating that disadvantage.

SPEAKER_02 2:04:33

Ah, okay, okay.

SPEAKER_00 2:04:34

Because I'm like, yeah, I'm not just gonna be like, hey, your punching character does half damage to this dragon I go to you to fight. Sucks to suck. What's funny is though when it's flying, it's difficult, it goes up by two, so it goes from 19 to 21. And as an experience up from above where I can add plus five to a roll when it's above you. Oh jeez. But it's like it's designed to be fighting a horde, so it's like tail is attack all targets, just you. It's dive bomb is attack all targets, just you.

unknown 2:05:05

Right.

SPEAKER_00 2:05:07

So like strategically, I might have been better off just having it swipe at you. And it has relentless, so I can spotlight it up to two times per turn, but that's like designed as a balancing feature for if you're a party. So I only really use that to like shake off being brain damaged. Right, right. Because I don't feel the need to take three turns to year one with my dragon. That seems pointless. Like I I ran the dragon as fair as possible, but it has a plus eight to attack, so like. Have fun with that. Although it rolled really high, because it's 4d10 plus 4. So it does from like between 8 and 44 damage and it hits you for 40. That is pretty savage. Like it fucked you up.

unknown 2:05:56

Yes, it did.

SPEAKER_00 2:05:58

But it wasn't unwinnable, is kind of my point.

SPEAKER_02 2:06:02

I was really hoping I might actually just solo the dragon, but I guess I'll have to come back with it.

SPEAKER_00 2:06:08

But I do think if we were playing DD, you simply would have not tried.

SPEAKER_02 2:06:13

Yeah, probably not. Because you'd be dead.

SPEAKER_00 2:06:20

Uh, there was negotiations to be made with the dragon, by the way. Metagame-wise, the dragon had very specific goals and objectives. And can be reasoned with.

SPEAKER_03 2:06:32

Hmm.

SPEAKER_00 2:06:33

Fair enough. I also thought there was a non-zero chance you're just gonna use your singular vial of anthrax on this dragon.

SPEAKER_02 2:06:41

Uh I don't know if the anthrax would have act fast enough, though.

SPEAKER_00 2:06:46

Well, that's what what the fight would have been is I was gonna give it like a 10-turn countdown.

SPEAKER_02 2:06:54

Yeah. The other fun problem I have with an strategy was uh I'm trying to extract the spear from this dragon. And uh turning it into stone might might hamper that at all.

SPEAKER_00 2:07:09

Although I do enjoy you turning it, trying to like make sure its mouth's open when it turns to stone so you can climb in later. You're like, I throw salt in its eyes and I ri I throw cumin in its face to make it sneeze so I can climb through its nostril and claim this tree. I really appreciate the foreshadowing though, because I think if my group and saw that the navy boats they were on, the one that like scared away an invading army, there's just several of them littered in the swarm, would be like, no, no though, right? We'll die. His horde consists of navy battleships. Uh well, Lyra is fearless. Apparently. But did you appreciate that like I refunction so the tree mechanics are clearly like supposed to be hostile, like grasping vines and charcoal animals. And I tried to make it more into like a flavor puzzle rather than just fighting the tr corrupt tree. Right.

SPEAKER_02 2:08:10

Yeah, no, I I I'm I'm very happy with how this how this work turned out. Uh I mean I'm a little bit sad that I didn't actually manage to get any real information about what's going on, but I assume that'll come next.

SPEAKER_00 2:08:25

Well it's funny is mechanically it says right on the stat block for the burning heart of the woods that PCs who post the trenchal tree can make a knowledge roll to identify the magic. On success, they learn three of the blow details. On success with fear, they learn two. On failure, they can mark a stress to learn one. But it doesn't like it doesn't give me what the lore is I give you, but it's like they put in the mechanics for me to give you lore. Huh. Yeah, okay. And then it says that you can It basically says once you pass these checks, you can cleanse the area by a ritual of nature magic with a progress counter of eight. So the idea would be that you'd learn that something has messed with this tree and made it sick, and then you would have discovered that it's because they're mining sap from it, you would have cured healed the tree, and then the area would be less mean. And it would tell you all sorts of lore. Yeah, okay. So I basically took what was like a combat dungeon and made it into a puzzle. But I did use the choking ash verbatim, but I had it electrocute you. I I enjoyed though there's a line of protective masks and or clothes give an advantage on the reaction role to this, and I'm like Yeah, had you said you're wearing a mask, I would have been like, cool, you have an advantage on dodging the lightning for some reason. Also, I think the funniest thing I did is there's like this list of things I can spy, spawn, and one of them's called a stag knight, which is a knight with like antlers. I'm like, no, I'm just gonna make it a giant deer, because that's cooler.

unknown 2:09:59

Huh.

SPEAKER_00 2:10:00

Yeah, okay. I think I was right that a dude in night armor is less cool than just a giant deer that is made of armor. I agree. Man, that stag would have fucked you up. Oh? It was a tier three monster, difficulty 17, thresholds 1936, 7 HP, 5 stress, plus 3 attack, 3d8, plus 3 physical, and when it attacks from the high ground, it does more damage. Oof. And it has a power called Blade of the Forest that when it succeeds against when it targets it succeeds against take physical damage anyway. Oh. And it has thorny armor that hurts you when you hit it within melee range.

SPEAKER_03 2:10:45

Oof.

SPEAKER_00 2:10:46

Yeah, it would have messed me up for sure. Where the random bear is the bear, you would have been fine. We know you can kill a bear in a fist bite. Even if it's made of charcoal.

SPEAKER_02 2:11:01

That we do.

SPEAKER_00 2:11:02

But yeah, I hope you had fun.

SPEAKER_02 2:11:05

I I definitely

Plugs Future Uploads And Goodbye

SPEAKER_02 2:11:06

did have fun.

SPEAKER_00 2:11:06

This would this was long overdue. But to our listeners, thank you for tuning in. I'll eventually get around to putting more free adventures on Itch.io now that I'm on summer vacation in air quotes. Because it's like there is adventures there, but they're definitely a the idea of this being a play-along series means I need to upload more adventures. Uh yes, that's it. I also put my Inform 7 text-based game on my Itch.io for free. If anyone wants to learn more about text-based adventure games. I have no issue plugging my free school project as a thing people can download and enjoy. For sure. I'm actually better at plugging free things. Telling people to give me money doesn't feel as good. But thank you everyone for tuning in. Oh. And it has a bunch of like so your subclass your class becomes a real class?

unknown 2:12:06

Huh.

SPEAKER_00 2:12:07

And it has more monsters and environments and things, and I want more environments. Those are the most useful thing in this game to me, which is kind of shocking. But I'm like, oh yeah, my campaign prep is pick an environment and then spawn the things on the environment. Cause like, to give praise to that system, literally all I did when you went the exact opposite direction you told me last session you were going to go, is I'm like, okay, find an environment. Okay, I'll build my session around this. Also, Dragon. Also Dragon. It'll be interesting to see where you wake up next session, being rescued by the cats, having failed your plan to kill this dragon in one-on-one combat. Hmm. Also, that tree. That tree sent you to your death. It armed you first. It sure did, but it yeah, it sent me to my death for sure. I guess it saved you, though. That's true. Also, I wish we had animators, because that scene of Imperial troops storming the beaches and putting cats in kennels to power their boats while a dragon attacks is really funny.

SPEAKER_02 2:13:13

Terribly tragic, that's what it is.

SPEAKER_00 2:13:15

That's such Pokemon dystopia running around and grabbing all the Pikachu's while a bat war is taking place so you can use it to power your stuff.

SPEAKER_02 2:13:25

But uh, yeah, thanks to everyone for listening. Uh hopefully you guys enjoyed this, and then our new episodes will be up. Our our new play-along episodes will be up on RichardsH.io.

SPEAKER_00 2:13:36

But I do have to ask, why did you listen for two hours and thirteen minutes if you didn't enjoy it? Like, rethink your lives. Respectfully. Bye. Bye. Uh, I love that though. It's like the idea of someone hate listening for two hours and fifteen minutes and be like, you know, I don't like them.