Episode 17: When The Rat Cult Wins

We debate why D&D 5.5 feels less deadly, then test Daggerheart’s “death is a choice” philosophy in the worst possible way when a sewer cult, a rat demon, and a jar of serpent sickness collide. We walk through the mechanics behind Hope, Fear, death moves, and scars, then do a GM teardown of how a solo character can accidentally turn a side quest into a citywide disaster. 
• D&D 5.5 changes that lower lethality, from healing to damage guidance 
• Why modern TTRPGs move away from permadeath as character writing gets deeper 
• Daggerheart death moves, player psychology, and why “avoid death” feels bad 
• Homebrew idea to always take a scar when exiting the scene 
• Finding a D&D group through random players and what actually works 
• Forgotten Realms novel publishing and a pitch for a fan literary magazine 
• Strange Horizons rejection and what “fit” means for submissions 
• Actual play setup: meeting the king, undercity masks, and information brokers 
• Trading for sketchy “fire resistance” salve and an improvised invisibility potion 
• Ratfolk clinic politics, old grudges, and the offer to pressure the crown 
• Cult ritual countdown, demon summon threat, and fear driven escalation 
• Post game breakdown: event cards, adversary roles, and solo balance problems 
Send us those comments in shade. Tell me why I’m wrong about this game. 
Buy our stuff on itch.io. Or don’t. Download it for free, I don’t care. 

Transcript

Cold Open And Disclaimers

Richard 0:00

Hello. My name is Richard, the previous winner of the Shaman King tournament.

Karl 0:07

And my name is karl, Master of the Sound Test.

Richard 0:11

I really thought you were gonna say former Hokage, like that was my prediction of how this bit would go. Anyway, welcome to Richard and Karl Play Daggerheart. Disclaimer. Do not take anything we say seriously ever for any context. Do not get your political views from us. Do not get your social economic views from us. And do not send me angry emails saying because of you, my son is now a Marxist. That has never been my intent, although that is funny if that happens due to the things we say on here.

Karl 0:41

I assume that's just a joke, and you haven't actually received any emails at all.

Richard 0:46

Well, I do receive emails, but not typically for the Well, I've gotten a couple for the podcast, actually. They've mostly just been like, thanks for the podcast, twas fun. You should get a better mic.

Karl 1:00

Maybe if we got the better mic, we wouldn't have to do sound tests all the time.

Richard 1:04

No, no, no. If I got a better mic, that means it'd break more frequently. We've we've been over this. Like, I I left for a week and then somehow broke my microphone. I I wasn't here. It just this wasn't used. Well, anywho, before I complain about planned obsolescence in tech industries, what's new in the Karlverse?

Karl 1:24

Uh

D&D 5.5 And The DM Screen

Karl 1:25

well, I mean, last episode of Daggerheart, I was talking about how I was excited to ironically excited to start my my DD campaign.

Richard 1:33

Oh, yes, and I gave you tons of shade being like, are you gonna say good things about Daggerhardt in our Daggerheart podcast? You're like, I don't think I will. I'm like, well, they know we're not sponsored. Well, yeah, no, no. I mean, I I I do like Daggerhardt, for sure, for sure. Um, and I mean No, just for listeners at home, I do not have a weapon pointed at Karl while he's making the statement, because it really did seem like I was holding you hostage there.

Karl 2:03

Yeah, the D recently decided that they would actually call their new edition of DD uh 5.5.

Richard 2:13

Uh yeah, yeah. I'm fine with it. This is good. This is an improvement, I think. Sure.

Karl 2:19

Well, I I mean it's definitely nice not, I mean, I still kind of feel like I have to differentiate 2014 versus 2024. Uh, but saying five fifth edition versus five point five does you know slightly clear up some confusion.

Richard 2:33

And it was such a little improvement, I'd call it 5.2. Hey, I'm just playing this out there, full disclosure. You look at the amount of text that's changed between those DM guides, and I can say with confidence, Pokemon Platinum had more improvements from Diamond and Pearl than 5.5 as from 5e.

Karl 2:52

Ooh, I did like the the uh Giro Keen dungeon in Pokemon Platinum.

Richard 2:57

And the Battle Frontier, like oh man.

Karl 3:02

Uh anyways. Uh more to the point, um, I actually I actually did run my first session while you were gone, though. It was a lot of fun, but uh but in preparation, I bought uh the 2024 uh VM screen because uh you wanted to do the rules in your face.

Richard 3:24

That just makes sense.

Karl 3:26

Most of the rules are the same, but there's a couple of them, uh like exhaustion, uh, they changed and just a couple minor changes to other mechanical things. But um one of the things that I found most interesting about the difference between the two DM screens, and this is kind of the ethos behind five and five point five.

Why Modern Games Fear Character Death

Karl 3:49

And kind of actually this the transition uh in general DD uh you and I have talked before uh about how uh classic role-playing games tend to be a lot more brutal, uh kill you without remorse or any warning.

Richard 4:04

Oh, especially things like Shadow Dark, which not a sponsor, just a fan, and Deathbringer, eh, a little more on the fence on that. And like, there's a lot of like the OSR, the old school renaissance games that just expect you to make more characters. Right, right. Also older Fire Rebum games, too. I mini rant, I'll let you talk. So at the same time that we switch from players dying in TTRPGs to players not really dying and it being the performance around death, like the idea of death saving. Fire Rebum games also switch from the permadeath and characters just no longer being in the story to some characters like when they die, becoming advisors unable to fight, or being able to switch the game mode from classic to new, where they remove the permadeath because they've like woven the characters more into the plot, so the plot wouldn't make as much sense without the characters, so less characters actually die. I just find it amusing that our JRPGs and our TTRPGs kind of fell a similar curve, where the more complex the writing of the character was. And I mean that for player characters in 5e especially, the less they want them to die, the more like emotionally attached they are to them not dying. Right, right. Anyway, that's it.

Karl 5:22

Please continue. Okay, so I mean, one of the obvious changes they made is that all the healing spells now heal for twice as much dice.

Richard 5:32

That seems unnecessary. I personally want to ban healing word from my table because it's a bonus action in Rex the Flow.

Karl 5:42

Well, now it heals for 2d4 instead of 1d4. Well that's and then every every upcasting level heals you for another 2d4.

Richard 5:49

Okay, one last mini rant and let you yeah. So in Critical Roll, which is a pretty famous show, people probably familiar with it watching our Dagger Heart podcast. They actually uh one of the players mentions that they don't find there to be a point to healing during fighting, because healing someone when they're down, healing them by one while they're down is exactly as effective as healing them by 30 while they're down. So like using waiting for someone to die and then healing wording them back up is just more efficient gameplay. Thus, my deep hatred of healing word. But please continue.

Karl 6:27

Anyways, um but so I bought the new DM screen and I'm looking through for all the differences, and there there are a few. Uh but one that amused me, which I'm sure I could find somewhere in the actual uh Dungeon Masters guide. Uh, but they have a little chart for damage by severity. And uh there's a similar chart in the 2014 version, and it uh the campaign I'm playing is levels one through four. So I won't go through the whole chart, but at at level one through four, damage level and severity, they say um one d10 is a setback. Yeah, uh two d10 is dangerous, and then four d10 is deadly, which I mean makes sense. At level one, four d10, almost every player is just gonna like they might even outright die.

Richard 7:15

I remember your druid dying to a crossbow. Like, yes, it wasn't your fault that your druid died so savagely. It was absolutely my fault for not balancing the encounter, but that's a neither here nor there.

Karl 7:27

Uh but so I you know I like to use this little chart. Uh um it's fairly straightforward. I probably could just have it memorized, but I like to use this little chart whenever I want to do incidental damage. Uh for example, um uh one of my players in the in the campaigner and um they walked into a uh lewd scene. Um and uh they were just dropped by it, so I had them deal, had them take psychic damage.

Richard 7:59

Which to be fair, in Daggerheart, that is my favorite use of spend of fear to give you a stress. It's just for random things like that. It's such a good catch-all for you take emotional damage.

Karl 8:09

Right, right. Uh but so then I looked at the chart for the 2024 version. And you know, level one through four sat back, still one v10. And then they're like, there is no dangerous setting. Uh 2d10 has now become deadly. Yeah. So I mean, uh it's just like, oh, so they like doubled the healing spells, uh, and they're suggesting uh that if you want to have a uh deadly incidental damage uh that it's half as much as it used to be. Uh the the ethos of a 5.5, and like I said, this has been a progression in general, but the ethos is uh that the game is just far less deadly uh for your combat and traps encounters, and just generally uh even though there's less ability to create rules around roleplaying, uh that just kind of seems to be the new focus of uh of DD and tabletop RPGs. Which isn't necessarily a bad thing. And apparently fire emblem. But I just I found that extremely amusing that they just took out the deadly category, and now the deadly category is what used to be simply dangerous.

Richard 9:24

That's such a once in a while a comment will come through that sums up a problem or a status quo very accurately. It's like, yeah, what used to be deadly is simply dangerous now.

Karl 9:38

Well, no, what used to be dangerous is now deadly. Yeah. Uh well it's even though it's quite clearly not.

Daggerheart Death Moves And Scars

Richard 9:47

So, like, I ran my Daggerheart game between our last session and my trip. And I like to make the joke that in Daggerheart I've had the most player deaths in any game. And my player goes, the one that's died the most, goes, The reason I die is because actions have consequences, Richard. And you need to know that your actions had consequences, and the consequence was my character's death. And just the idea of like, you, the GM, need to know that your actions have consequences, so I died. Is such an interesting way to look at that. How do you feel about that note of players being like, no, no, no, if you're gonna get us in the dangerous situation, GM, then I'm going to die. So you learned that you killed me. It's such a like interesting psychology that I'm like, I'm still pondering that note of the player being like, no, no, no. You put me in a dangerous scenario, so I had to choose death to teach you a lesson.

Karl 10:49

Um that is like that's pretty hilarious. Uh I I don't think that's the design philosophy behind the death moves in the uh thing that's playing out more that often that way than you would think.

Richard 11:05

Like, so these mess moves, like, I feel like on paper it was much like 5.5e being like, no, no, these death moves are like for fun, there is no deadly, you have you have to consent to dying in this game. Like, I feel like a lot of the death rules were made with like holistic modern thinking. But I do think, at least in my experience, my players are viewing it as a I need to commit to the narrative, so I have to die, if it makes narrative sense. Like, your present company included, the times you've chosen to die are like, yeah, no, even though I could just not die, I think it makes sense for me to be dead here, so I'm gonna gamble.

Karl 11:46

Uh it wasn't it wasn't so much that I thought that it made sense for my character to die. If you've watched our previous episodes, you'll know the audience will know that. And if you're just starting here, welcome. But but uh you know, I I personally uh was amused by the idea of gambling where you you know risk it all, uh roll your dice, you would not either live live or die. Um I don't know that unless I was just like sick of a character or it did have some narrative weight, I don't think I would personally choose to just straight up die. I would always choose the risk it all.

Richard 12:24

Um I mean I understand the idea though of so like the Blaze of Glory is an interesting is such a good way to switch characters. Like in my brain, you're right, like Blaze of Glory is a really convenient way to be a new character next week.

Karl 12:48

Um so like the the death moves that uh they are uh exit the scene, risk it all, or blaze of glory?

Richard 12:59

Yeah. And like exit the scene is easily the least picked one. And I've only really had people choose at least in my personal data. I don't know what their data indicates. I might just play with masochists. Exit the scene feels like cheating. Which is why I've kind of rephrased it instead of it being you don't die to uh exit the scene is your extra live system. Because each time you exit the scene, you could permanently take a scar, and when you take too many scars, you're out. So think of exit the scene as using one of your bottled fairies, but you only get like five of them.

Karl 13:41

Well, I mean that also depends on how high level you are and how lucky you are. Because the higher level you are, the more likely you are to get a scar.

Richard 13:48

Which is why I'm considering home ruling something, and I'm curious your thoughts on this. Mm-hmm. I'm considering home ruling that you always get a scar.

Karl 13:59

So I I definitely think that would slightly improve things. Um because there's two levels of certainty. One, where you always get a scar, so there's a penalty for exiting the scene, and then like you say, you definitely only have a limited number no matter how lucky you are. Yeah, because it changes it to a backup live system. Or there's Ways of Glory where you definitely die, uh, but you succeed on whatever action it was that you wanted to do before you die. Uh, but then you do still have that middle ground uh risk it-all where you just might be able to get back up if you're lucky.

Richard 14:36

Because like, even with the Witherwild rules of when you take severe damage roll to see if you get a scar, I've only I've never given out a scar. No one's been scarred yet. And I'm on I don't know, like game nine of our other campaign, and like I mean I could just look at the episode counter, but I don't know, our sessions are hit. What session are we up to?

Karl 15:01

Do you remember? I I do not, and there's absolutely no way of me to for me to possibly check.

Richard 15:08

The worst part is me looking up our own podcast page to check what episode we're on. There's just a certain beauty in that level of incompetence. But yeah, like simply looking at come on, load so I can give. So we're up to episode 16. Okay, okay. So because our episodes are about they work out to being about half a session, roughly, like the Wish Thief aside Actually maps about one to one because you're only one player. So each one of those is about a full normal Dagahard session worth of stuff happening. So that means across I don't know, sixteen games, I've gotten zero scars. And even though the scarring goes on a curve, I don't think it's happening often enough. For, like you said, it to not feel like choosing that option is simply cheating. But I sidebared enough. Back to your DD stories.

Running D&D With Random Players

Karl 16:10

Oh well, I mean, uh I don't really want to go into too much detail about my the DD campaign. Um I'm very excited about it because uh the random players that I got from the Facebook gaming group uh while inexperienced with tabletop RPGs, have been very amusing people. Um and it's been very pleasant.

Richard 16:33

Wait, are you running this in person with random people you met online? Yeah.

Karl 16:38

I mean, for the most part. I well one of them one of them is my brother, one of them is my co-worker. Well, we don't count as a brother.

Richard 16:46

Just in general as a person.

Karl 16:48

Uh but then uh my my other coworker, um, I don't remember if I talked about it on this podcast, the other podcast, or maybe just off the air, but uh the uh my other co-worker kind of uh annoyed me because let's go fizzle. Yeah, he fizzled, he fizzled. He didn't resolve on the stack. And then my other roommate now had has two jobs and his schedule is too inconsistent. Uh so I had to replace him, and then there were actually three other people who were willing to replace those two people. So um I guess yeah, that's a win for uh finding random people to play tabletop RPGs.

Richard 17:29

Well I say that in a lot of episodes where it's like, hey, if your friends aren't being good players, just go up. I'm just happy to know I get a weird amount of vindication when people are like, oh, I just asked random people, got a party. I'm like, see? You can just do that. Life's not that hard. Just be a GM, ask random people, and then hopefully it goes well. Oh, that makes me happy.

Forgotten Realms Novels And Setting Lore

Karl 17:50

Actually, I've run around a question. Um, have you read any of the uh our Salvador um Adventures of the Forgotten Realms novels?

Richard 18:00

Yes. I have these giant thick ones just sitting on my desk.

Karl 18:05

Hmm. I don't know if they actually release any novels like that anymore. I mean, they obviously release the the content books, but I don't know if they release actual lore still lore accurate stories anymore.

Richard 18:18

Uh I don't know, because I don't keep up with it. Like, I feel like D books are like I feel like just in pure instinct that I've seen like some Driss stuff come out over the last couple years. Like, I feel like they do still come out. Okay, so in 2025 we got three books.

unknown 18:42

Oh, really?

Richard 18:43

We got one Salvatore, one Jile Johnson, and one Delilah S. Johnson, and we had a Ravenloff novel, something called The Fallbacks, and something called The Finest Edge of Twilight. So had I been actually paying attention, apparently R.A. has put out a book every year for the last 20 or so. And either Drizzit, Drizd, or a couple of these just are not part of series, they just put out books. So I'm gonna say looking at just the Forgotten Realms wiki. Three novels a year is pretty good. From two to three authors. There was a bit of a dry spout between 2022 and 2020, which makes sense because COVID. But it averages out to about a publication a year. However, before 2016, it was averaging four to six publications a year. With 2012 having 11. So the numbers went down. But also, at their peak, 14 books a year is in fact more books than people were maybe they were just reading that many at the time. I don't know. So it's down drastically, but it is still going. 1998 had 19 novels in the Forgotten Realms.

Karl 20:11

Oh, yeah, but I mean, like, 1998 was still almost before the internet, so.

Richard 20:16

Well, I'm just kind of like looking at this. Like, now I got invested in this quick deep dive, but yeah. A lot of publications. You know something I sent to like the Darrington Press people like the Daggerheart people forever ago that I never heard an email back from, but is an interesting concept, is just doing a Daggerheart literary magazine where people submit their short stories from like their characters and campaigns, and then I think that'd be a cool way if you can't really afford to have full novelists writing things in your setting, short story collections would be a cool way to do it.

Karl 20:48

Oh,

Rejection Letters And A Fan Anthology

Karl 20:49

uh speaking of short stories, I do have something else that's new with me, which which I I texted you when I got the email, but um I uh I finally got rejected by Strange Horizons for my story. Bomb bomb. I uh you told me that uh they take longer to uh assess your story and but to get better feedback. But I am wondering, I haven't gotten any feedback yet, just that they felt like my story didn't match their publication at this time. Um do you have to like actually email them and request feedback, or how does that part work?

Richard 21:25

Uh, you can try. I never went through them, so I don't know. Fair enough. I've just heard this on the grapefind. But also, for the gauntlet, that puts you as so when this issue of Strange Horizons came out, I know of eight people who submitted a story. Okay. You are were in the final three to be rejected. So there's only two people I know that are still in the running that haven't got rejected yet.

Karl 21:52

Well, I mean, I guess that's a a nice feeling.

Richard 21:55

Yeah, for my like little personal friend group that submitted. So the last I haven't been rejected yet, and Neither has New York Times bestselling author Eugene Myers. So.

Karl 22:06

So I I at least I was last out of the amateur authors.

Richard 22:11

If I make it in and he doesn't, that'll just be baffling, and I will just take the W. But like. Right. I don't know. That's my pitch is. To those listening, if you would like me to try and make, cause with like Creative Commons, but da da da da da. I'm pretty sure we can just make a Daggerheart literary magazine if we wanted to. Because it would just be a fanwork and something about transformative fan roots, etc. A Daggerheart literary magazine where you send in stories of your characters and adventures could just exist. Five years of education later, I am a hundred percent able to just make exist.

Karl 22:54

Yeah, you have the connections, you have the know-how. That could definitely be the Team Space and Dragons, Dagger Heart, Shorts. I don't know.

Richard 23:02

Oh no, we wouldn't put our names on it. I. Man. I don't know. I I kind of like just Dagger to the heart, a dagger heart short story called anthology or something.

Karl 23:13

Well, you don't want to call it cardiac knives?

Richard 23:16

Ooh. Ooh, write that down. Now you now you're cooking. Cardiac Knives, a daggerheart anthology is great. Like that's objectively good stuff.

Karl 23:30

Uh, but uh what's new with you there, Richard?

Academic Adventures And Accidental Job Hunting

Richard 23:34

I don't know how much you actually want to share on this podcast, but well, so not to go into depth, but I was away at the acute conference doing academic stuff. And the only part of the story I'm gonna tell is so I'm doing uh a member of my panel, What Do We Need to Know About Dragon? Uh, What Do We Need to Learn About Elves? Which is about teaching genre fiction. And a person in the audience was forgot my name and like, uh, the Brendan Lee Mulligan looking motherfucker. Motherfucker wasn't said. And it's like, it makes sense because I was talking about adventure games and I'd rolled dice at the start of the session. I think that's the best compliment I've ever received in my life. I don't think I actually look like Brendan Lee Mulligan for the record. However, for that to be when someone defaults to calling me is just in fact the most flattered I've ever been. Brendan. Famous for being one of the main DMs of Critical Role and being the guy that did there's too many Oreo Varietals YouTube video. One of my favorite things. I love that that's what you would recognize. I had a hunch, because I was planning to tell this story in the podcast, that you wouldn't catch the he D current DM of Critical Role, did a bunch of their one-shots. Oreo's guy, Oreo's guy! Nick. So between that and working on like projects and things and taking breaks from my projects, the stack of book on my decks working on desk working on my MMRP includes such titles as Hamlet on the Hollodeck, Interactive Multimedia and Education Training, Twisty Little Passion.

Karl 25:11

Hamlet on the Hollodeck. Hamlet on the Hollodeck, but that sounds like the episode of uh Star Trek Voyager where it's a good thing.

Richard 25:18

Yeah, it's the future of narratives the future of narratives in cyberspace. The Journal of Educational Multimedia and Hypermedia, and Hypertext 3.0. So that's just a stack of books on my desk for this project. So this paper I'm writing has at least ten books involved, and I'm not even counting articles right now. And the whole argument I'm making is you should give me money to teach a class on making text-based adventure games. And that's the point of my papers is like, oh yeah. Another new with me is I accidentally applied for a teaching position. Oh? So I thought it was a position for a tutor at this redacted location. And I'm like, oh yeah, I'll apply for this, sure. So I get a phone interview and they're like, yes, we need a 20-minute video of you teaching for and how many classes do you want to teach a week? And I'm like, oh, I guess I'm qualified to do that. Uh shit. I wasn't planning to work hard over the summer. Um, yes, I'll do this, sure. But like, in my brain, I forgot that I'm qualified. I'm like, yeah, I guess I am. That's super funny. I'm like, oh, you want me to do like the big boy job? Huh. Guess I can. Like, I did cover a couple uh last semester my professor got in a car accident on the way to class, and me and my TA partner just got a text be like, hey, I'm on route. Can you just teach the class till I get there? So we just kind of did. We buddy systemed it because it was more fun. And then like at the like two-hour mark, they sneak into the back and like, no, no, keep going. So, like, I can't just teach a college class because it happened. This time I'll actually have some prep time instead of just, well, I guess I'll just cover it. Which I'm grateful to that professor for doing that to me, but in retrospect, that's a really funny thing to do to somebody. Hi, I'm running away, you got this, right?

Karl 27:14

Like imagine. Doesn't it turn something that they got into a car accident?

Richard 27:18

Is that uh the Uber they were in got hit, so they were in the backseat and were fine, but it did make them late, like being hit by a car tends to do.

Karl 27:28

That does tend to make people late.

Richard 27:30

But shall we get into daggering some hearts? Uh yeah, that sounds like an excellent idea. Although I will put one last plug.

Itch.io Adventure Drop And Campaign Setup

Richard 27:38

I've updated put out another two adventures on the itch.io, and I'm planning to put out a third one by the end of this weekend. So I think we're up to like six adventures on there now. Nice. Including it's I think it comes up this weekend with the fire cats and the wheels steering the boat adventure. Mm-hmm. And then the one after that will be the Ghost Town Petrified Fires Cat Cave Adventure. Nice, nice. But before spoiling too much, let's get into daggering some hearts. So last

Returning The Tiara And Seeking Soldiers

Richard 28:11

time on Cardiac Knife, by the way, why did you not come up with this before we started recording as a podcast aid? That's so good! Uh passive aggression aside for now. You found yourself last session delivering a tiara to a lovely little hamlet, a decent-sized city, and the one goblin-controlled kingdom of the Empire. After not punching a puppy despite my best efforts. You have successfully returned the Tiara, captured the criminals, and by capture I mean beat to death to a fine paste, along with a civilian. You find yourself They had it coming. The random drunk dude celebrating a birthday party by the harbor had it coming. Yeah, definitely. You've done nothing to investigate this. However, the city is yours, the party affairs have died down, the watershows are done, people had to clean up some graffiti off the statue of Philip the Great. Mm-hmm. What would you like to do? And for context, you did get slapped off a mountain by a dragon, tumble down, wake up, escorted away by cat spirits, find an injured courier, grab their delivery, delivered it to this town, got medical attention. At this point, you've taken a long rest. Ah, yes. So feel free to do that.

Karl 29:46

My armor is repaired. And I've watched it. I was surprisingly not um dead, injured, or stressed out anymore at the end of that session, so. Um yes, I I am ready to go. Now. Um. So how far away are we from the dragon's lair?

Richard 30:14

About four days or so.

Karl 30:18

Four days, huh?

Richard 30:21

So at this point, it'd be about equal distance to go to the dragon's lair or to the city of Alora.

Karl 30:28

Right, right, right. But I mean, like. We gotta get rid of that guy. He's dangerous. He's gonna take over the world if we aren't careful. It's a distinct possibility. Um so I've gained some renown in in this city and all over the all over the continent, I assume. Um I would like to see if I can uh plead with the king to uh allow me a small detachment to go and take care of this dragon that killed the original courier.

Richard 31:05

So, as you return to the opulent palace, the king greets you and pencils you in for a meeting. The meeting with the king will take about six hours to for him to find slot in his day. So you have a meeting now, penciled in for the evening. The town is yours, the marketplace is bustling. You could just wait it out patiently outside the door if you wish. But what would you like to do? In the meantime, you have about six hours before he can make time for you. Right, right, right. Uh king. Kinging is a full-time job.

Karl 31:44

So uh the city had like uh lots of fountains and uh and lights and and such for the for the birthday party. Uh what is this what's what is uh the city like now?

Richard 32:00

Is it like you said it's still bustling, but like So the City when you're there for the birthday party, to give a real-world comparison, was like Las Vegas at night during a U of C fight. You're now closer to Las Vegas during the day on an unin an unparticularly interesting April. So there's still vendors at street quarters flicking little cards trying to drum up business. There still are fountains going quite nicely. The air smells artificially flavored. It's very bright, pretty hot now. But it's this is definitely like uh this town, as you're aware, gets a lot of its from its magic technology and control of spirits. Is a pretty good economic hub, but also like there's a fair number of shops selling weird and interesting trinkets as well.

Karl 32:53

Uh speaking of uh day and night, um uh we're still in the one week on and one week on for day and night. That's correct. Correct. Is it day or night right now? It is day. It is day. Uh and how many days of day do we have?

Richard 33:11

I think we just restarted the cycle. Because the birthday was spelled during the sunset.

unknown 33:19

Hmm.

Richard 33:20

I think that was what happened. I'm pretty sure like the sun went down during the final encounter last session. And if I'm wrong, our fans can send us hate mail.

Karl 33:29

Well, I mean, I I don't recall if I even asked what what time of day it was last time.

Richard 33:33

So But yes, I believe you have seven full days of sunlight ahead of you.

Karl 33:38

Seven full days of sunlight, then well.

Undercity Masks And Finding A Broker

Karl 33:55

So, um I uh I have heard that there are uh some intelligent uh mutant rats that like to steal stuff in the sewers. Yes, no? That is correct. Hmm. I would like to look for an information broker who knows about this uh the who might know about the sewers beneath the city.

Richard 34:26

So I'm gonna say instinct if you're trying to like find one, or presence if you're trying to talk your way to one.

Karl 34:34

Oh, I'm definitely trying to talk my way to one.

Richard 34:37

Okay, go ahead and roll the first roll of the session.

Karl 34:41

A 12 with fear.

Richard 34:43

So you see, and you kind of recognize this person from the party. Oh, I need to track my fear. Give me one second to pull up a notepad. I feel like I spent all my fear, so I'm just gonna start with the one I get from the session and the one you just rolled. So I'm at two fear. Okay, okay. So, from the party, you recall that there's a fair number of people you've spoken with, and one of the attendants was an information broker of sorts. You know a person who knows a lot of things whose threads was matching on the dais was the original Count Vespero, who was replaced by a shapeshifter. So you know that is one of the information brokers of sort. But if you'd like to just search for a more casual, less high nobility information broker, it's just a couple casual conversations here and there. You know that there's basically under the city, between the sewer system and the upper parts used to be a series of shopping mall type setups, right? But after the spread of the serpent sickness, enclosed, poorly ventilated spaces became less popular, and as people complained that having a thin layer of cloth in front of their face was an unacceptable assault to their freedom, the number of people going into these started dying down. So there's a series of effectively underground malls interconnected through walkways below the city that the less reputable businesses tend to venerate. Or Count Vespero is just in his estate that is in the middle of like the high-end fashion district.

Karl 36:26

Hmm. See, I feel like the Vespero is gonna have uh different information than the people in the sewers. Uh or all the under under city, I guess. Um where can I both go about getting a mask to be able to uh go down into the state? Oh, they just give them out freely.

Richard 36:44

It's insane that no one's wearing them.

unknown 36:47

Huh.

Richard 36:48

Like, actually crazy to not just put a mask on so you don't get into sickness that turns your skin to stone and you die.

Karl 36:56

Well, I'm going to find a mask, uh, and I'm more interested to see what the undercity has than what the uh main market has.

Richard 37:09

So, as you head into the Undercroft, you tell me first, what is the lighting like in here as you head down what looks like a very nice carved marble stairwell that descends downward into what used to be a nice location. Hmm.

Karl 37:26

Um well it might be water, uh, or it might just be fiber optic cable. Um, but but the lighting is essentially uh tubes. Um and so it's kind of a little bit dim, but like just tubes of fiber optic cable with the light running through it. Um just like in the ceiling.

Richard 37:50

So as you head down and see the ceiling, you do see what looks like almost like shutters have been put down for what were like individually carved out shop areas. But you see what looks like the first you do see there is a few people wandering around here, some of them in like a little bit like nice-ish clothes, like unfinely tailored suits and things.

unknown 38:13

Okay.

Richard 38:14

But the first corner you come across, you see what looks like you look at him, and you see he's in like thick leather gloves, a thick leather apron, almost like chainmail between the spots, and his little coal bald face with his goggles.

Zippo’s Questionable Fire Salve

Karl 38:35

Then he's at a stall, or he's just standing there in the old.

Richard 38:38

He seems to be at a stall, and you see the stall with cute backward letter says Zippo's potions and salves.

Speaker 5 38:52

Hello there, good sir. Uh But do you happen to have any uh potions of fire resistance?

Richard 39:00

Oh yeah, absolutely! And then he's like, Do you want the cheap no-name brand? The expensive imported crap, or Zippo's original?

Speaker 4 39:14

Zippo's original. What makes your recipe so special?

Richard 39:19

Erkla, so a lot of times you ingest a fire potion for a magical effect. What this is, and he pulls out this like it looks like a thick paste almost, is made of small interworping fibers that you kind of put between your skin and your clothing like a POTUS to resist the temperature. Because it's using science and not none of that magic bullshit, it's guaranteed to work.

Karl 39:48

It's guaranteed to work, okay.

Richard 39:51

Um I have a little sample. Of course. So they put this like it's like a thick tar-like powdery adhesive. And it's kind of like almost like a putty. Alright. Uh and you're aware that inhaling this will result in microfibers shredding your lungs. This is asbestos paste. Um just straight up asbestos. Asbestos. It's just straight up asbestos paste. Which, as we're aware, lines the inside of firefighter clothing.

Karl 40:39

Right, right.

Richard 40:46

Well, uh how how much is the the your customer's about he's like sorry to size up how much coin you seem like you'd have? Um I could probably part it for like four handfuls of gold.

Karl 41:09

I did not come down here prepared with money.

Richard 41:15

You do see the sign that says buy, sell, and trade potions.

Karl 41:23

Okay, let's see. Um I figured this out last time. Okay, so I have five health potions apparently. Uh okay, do I still have my the siphoning gauntlets or do I are those uh They seem to be gone.

Richard 41:44

They seem to be gone, okay. Steve seemed to have lost track of them when he got slapped off that cliff.

Karl 41:52

Okay. And then do I have any of the sun tree sap? You do. I I do still have a bottle of sun tree sap. Well, I'm gonna pull up my bottle of sun tree sap.

Speaker 5 42:11

Um perhaps we could do a trade. Maybe you'd be interested in this uh sap from the sun tree.

Richard 42:19

Go ahead and roll a persuasion check. I sorry, a presence check. Heh, D D.

Karl 42:26

Persuasive presence of only nine was here.

Richard 42:30

Yeah, I can make that try. It seems good to me and fair.

Karl 42:34

Huh. I guess I'll uh give him my Sun Free Snap.

Richard 42:42

Okay. So this is a custom item, but what it does is it you take half damage from fire or fire-related things. It takes a downtime move to apply it. And each day it's equipped, you roll to see if it gives you a scar from the microscopic cancerous fibers.

Karl 43:05

Okay, okay. Um, but so uh sorry, what was the cobalt's name? Zippo. Zippo ironic, but Zippo's fire resistance salve.

Richard 43:21

Which to be fair is impressive that he made asbestos.

Karl 43:28

Um and uh downtime action to apply. And daily roll versus scars.

Richard 43:49

Alright. Create. And I'm just using the regular scar mechanics if you have to roll above your level to not take a scar. The higher level you are, the more likely you are to die of asbestos. My logic is that means the longer you've been wearing it. Mm-hmm. Right, right. It's not a good system, it's what I got though.

Karl 44:13

Yeah, yeah, that's that's fine. That's fine. Um But it's a bit of pleasure doing business with you there, Mr. Zippo.

Richard 44:20

Do you want any more things? I have more things.

Speaker 4 44:24

Hmm. Well, what are the kind types of potions do you have?

Richard 44:27

I got potions that heal ya, potions that reduce take the edge off a little bit. Got potions that reduce your problems by igniting them in flame.

Speaker 5 44:49

Hmm, do you have any potions that might make a person invisible?

unknown 44:54

Oh.

Richard 44:57

Starts like just going through and like you see it seems like he's like ripped the labels off other jars and then like filled them with different liquids.

Speaker 1 45:06

Mm-hmm.

Richard 45:07

So it's like he looks like uh it looks like it was a like can of tomatoes that he's peeled the label off and resealed. And he like squishes it around.

Karl 45:21

Uh is is there any way for me to tell if this potion will actually work just by like looking at it? Roll a knowledge check. Knowledge check. What would my medical training apply?

Richard 45:38

I'll allow it. Can feel free to spend a hope for that.

Karl 45:43

Medical training. Ooh, eleven with hope.

Richard 45:47

So, the first clue that it works is that this was a tin can you can see through and see the liquid inside. Mm-mm. Okay, okay. You feel like it would work. You're not sure if it'd be good for you. Like, right, right. Just simply not sure. Oh, sorry, I have a Miko climbing up on me. Oh, silly kitty, you don't get things. You already have food.

Karl 46:13

Okay. Um, so I have these shark teeth in my inventory. Um do I know if shark teeth are actually a valuable potions ingredient?

Richard 46:25

You would have an idea that they probably are. Just from your medical training. This seems like a kind of thing they would be.

Speaker 5 46:35

Hmm. Well, perhaps you'd be willing to do another trade there, Mr. Zippo. Uh, I have some uh shark teeth that I acquired.

Richard 46:46

Maybe uh maybe you take the shark teeth in exchange for the potion? I mean, couple things with the potion that makes you invisible. First, you have to sign a labor waiver that says I am not liable for any crimes committed using one of my products. Mm-hmm. Second, um if you give me the shark teeth, um, this close, I'd also need like a lock of your hair and a vial of your blood, and we can make that work.

Karl 47:18

A vial of my blood, huh?

unknown 47:21

Mm-hmm.

Richard 47:22

That's reasonable.

Karl 47:25

Hmm. Okay, so I I don't actually have any poison left, right?

Richard 47:34

I don't think so. I think he poisoned as many people as reasonable.

Karl 47:38

The Jurafang poison or the Gorgon Ring poison. Okay.

Speaker 5 47:43

Alright.

Karl 47:47

Just remove it. I've I finally figured out the uh inventory management for the demi plane, which is not great, but it's acceptable, I guess. Alright. Uh a lock of my hair and a vial of my blood. That sounds dangerous. So does letting someone go invisible.

Richard 48:18

I mean, think about the risk here. Like, what's stopping you from just going invisible and then robbing your money back?

Speaker 4 48:26

Well I mean I accept your terms.

Richard 48:29

Um, and uh I'm I'm gonna cut off a lock in my hair and present my arms with a so you see him like drawing a floor, I guess he pulls a needle out of his like cart, spits on it, cleans it with like a piece of newspaper. Okay, that's sketchy, but whatever. And go ahead and mark one hit point.

Karl 48:51

Alright.

Richard 48:53

You did not get an infection.

Karl 48:56

Ooh, that's good.

Richard 48:57

So the closest thing they have to an invisibility potion, go ahead and add an elusive amulet to your inventory, but it only use one you can only use it once.

Speaker 4 49:07

Okay.

Karl 49:14

Annulet. Once for long risk, you can activate it, become hidden until you move. Okay. Unseen.

Richard 49:26

Or you can just add an actually just make a new custom item and go invisibility potion, and I'll know what it does.

unknown 49:33

Yeah.

Richard 49:33

Okay. Which does it? In my brain, gives the U advantage on being hidden. Because they can't see you. Seems pretty straightforward. I'm really surprised there's no invisibility thing in this. Like there's an invisibility spell, but no invisibility item, which is kind of wild.

Karl 49:55

Um hiding. Um stealth.

Richard 50:05

Okay, so I am pasting what it does in our little chat here, and it's based on the invisibility spell, so it'll let you cast the invisibility spell once. That seems to be the most logical way to do this. Note. Right. I like breaking the illusion of knowing what I'm doing because this is a play-along podcast, not just a play podcast.

Speaker 1 50:28

Umvisibility.

Karl 50:35

Make a spellcast and roll.

Richard 50:42

So there's no role attached because it's a potion.

Karl 50:45

Right, right. An attack rolls against them or mean with disadvantage, okay. What a visualization. Spend a token.

Richard 51:02

And because it's a potion, I'm gonna say it's three tokens.

Karl 51:06

Three tokens. Okay.

Richard 51:08

I will actually spend a token.

Karl 51:10

So every time I make a every time I make a roll, um I remove a token.

Richard 51:17

Yep. Alright. Sounds fair. And those who are listening at home, now you can just do exactly that to make your own invisibility potion for your game. I'm sure you followed what I said.

Karl 51:32

Uh yeah, so so the gist of it is uh that I become invisible, so uh I can't be seen with substitute magical means on attacks made against me of disadvantage. Whenever I take an action, uh I remove a token. And uh basically I have three tokens of invisibility while using the potion.

Richard 51:53

Okay.

Pickpocketed By Were Rats

Richard 51:54

Make an instinct reaction roll, please.

Karl 51:57

Oh, someone's gonna try and steal from me those bastiges.

Speaker 5 52:03

Uh instinct roll. 16.

Richard 52:08

You see what looks like they're about four feet tall and they seem to be a rat folk? Okay, okay. Your hand is directly in your pocket, and they're making direct eye contact with you. I'm gonna look directly at them and be like, hmm, can I help you? So, my question for you, what drove this person to pickpocketing? I'm sorry, which what drove this person to pickpocketing? What drove them to pickpocketing? You tell me why they're robbing you.

Karl 52:44

What? Well, I mean, uh, A, they're robbing me because my clothes are actually well well fit, uh, so I look like a high-profile target. Uh but like a mice you want me to like give a well. Give me their backstory. Yeah, totally. Okay. Uh so yeah, we well, I mean, obviously you know why they they chose me as a target. Um, but what drove them to pickpocketing? Um well uh they used to be a normal person. Uh but uh now they have become a wear rat. And uh since since their horrible form uh looks like the intelligent rats that steal from uh all the people in the city in general.

Richard 53:40

A slight disclosure actually is no plague rats. They are all wear rats that have been infected by w rackathabi that are stealing from people. The plague rats are just what they're calling these poor people with rackathap racotaby. Rakothabby? Yeah.

Karl 54:03

So uh yeah, he used to be uh a noble son, um and uh then he got infected with the rat flag and outcast from his from his home and forced into the sewers. Um and uh he is trying to pickpocket people so he can uh give enough money to research and create a cure. Excellent.

Richard 54:26

So with that in effect, his little rat claws are currently in your pocket. Um So to reset the scene, I believe you said, Can I help you? I I did, I did. Um, if you'd like to donate to the Rat Research Fund, that'd be greatly appreciated.

Speaker 4 54:47

The the Rat Research Fund.

Richard 54:50

Oh yes, we're trying to research a solution for uh this illness that makes me look like a rat. And we're we're seeking donations.

Speaker 5 55:03

Well, uh I I do happen to be at I have some some medical training.

Karl 55:08

Um perhaps I could uh I I don't have much money to to donate. Uh as it turns out I only have a single handful of gold on me. Um But but perhaps you could uh uh but let me uh uh take a take a look at at one of uh one of your at folks to see if see if there's something that can be done.

Richard 55:30

Oh! Okay And they slowly move their hand out of your pocket, notice your doctors about reporters insignia, and just kind of start like walking down the hall. Okay, I'm gonna follow them. So definitely in your favor was the fact that you're wearing a nurse's outfit that says nurse on it. And they low-key feel kinda bad they tried to rob a nurse. They weren't like they're like, oh, wait a minute. So as they head down the halls, you see what looks like a dilapidated fountain that's no longer running, that seems to have an unhoused goblin napping in it. Okay. You feel a d drip on your shoulder that came from above. Hmm. Would you like to know what dripped on you? Uh yeah, I'll I'll look up and see what was dripping, I guess. Roll a D100 on a natural one. The drip hits you in the eye.

Karl 56:33

Oh, okay. Um, so nothing's too funny. Roll.

Richard 56:46

Uh I rolled an 85. So you look up and the drip doesn't hit you in the eye. But tell me what do you think would be the worst thing to drip on you? And the best thing that could drip on you while being in this underground shopping mall.

Karl 57:01

Uh, I mean, the worst thing that could drip on me uh would probably be saliva from the open maw, some sort of uh dangerous creature.

Richard 57:12

Um the best thing that could drip on me um would probably good that would drip on you when you're in the sewers like that's I mean when walking through like Union Station's underground shopping mall and I feel something drip on me, I pray to the Lords that it's water.

Karl 57:42

Yeah, I mean I guess water would just be the the best thing that could drip on me down here.

Richard 57:48

So as you look up through the grate above, you see somebody was holding a snow cone and a bit of it tipped off and fell. A snow cone? Huh, okay. So sky snow cone is what fell on you. Yeah, right. You look up and you just see like this tiny human child and they wave at you. I will wave back and continue on my way. You see, like their parent, like, kind of grabs their arms, you can kind of see them through the graves, like, don't go down there, and then drags them away. Okay. So as you head through the sewers, where it well, by sewer, it's not really sewers. It's more like the path in Tirano. Like, it was a nice underground shopping mall. Until like Serpent Sickness shut down lots of the commerce. So there is quite a fair number of people living down there. You see the occasional guard like looking around. You see one of them like sees someone passed out, looks at them, looks to their boss, they both shrug. So this pair of half orcs are like, do we do something about it? You want to kick a guy out sleeping in a fountain? What could we really do that'd be worse than just their day-to-day life? Come on, little bruh come on, bruh. Come on. And they like side-eye you walking with the rat folk and just kind of go like, ew. Yeah, okay.

Waterfall Hideout And The Framed Doctor

Richard 59:07

So you tell me, where is the thief's hideout? And how has it avoided notice?

Karl 59:13

Where is the thief's hideout hideout? Um the thieves hideout.

Richard 59:25

So, metatext-wise, so a lot of these event card uh uh not environment cards have like italicized questions that I assume is for the DM, but I've recently made a game of asking you them instead, and I think it's been having good results. So, like half the time I'll answer it myself, another time I'll throw it to you.

Karl 59:50

Um The Thieves hideout uh is behind a waterfall.

Richard 1:00:02

Okay. So as he approaches the waterfall, he pulls out some pan a pan flute from like a side pouch and goes and then the water splits momentarily.

Karl 1:00:15

I I am definitely imagining that the little uh I don't I don't know how many of our listeners have actually watched the uh Willy Wonk in the Chocolate Factory with Gene Wilder. Pulls out the pan flute.

Richard 1:00:27

Absolutely. 100%. And then that seems to have opened a path. And you see like several rap folk in beds. You see what looks like a couple human doctors, one with a scruffy beard. A couple you and you do see one you recognize. A man you had gotten fired for biocontamination theft, who was blacklisted across the entire empire, who was sentenced to jail, who has served their ten-year sentence, as you recall. Seems to be hard at work trying to treat these rat folk. Because you framed them for bioterrorism. I they did get framed for bioterrorism. By you specifically. They know the day you showed up, they got framed for bioterrorism. Ah. Apparently they're elvish. Huh. You thought they were human the first time. Oh well. I'm gonna go ahead and spend a fear for you to mark a stress from upon seeing this person. That seems fair. Ah, that does seem fair.

Karl 1:01:35

Uh, do I remember their name? You tell me. Uh no, no, I never never actually got their name before I framed them.

Richard 1:01:46

And they didn't do anything particularly bad either. They just seemed like a good a good person to frame.

Karl 1:01:51

Mm-hmm.

Richard 1:01:57

Yep, because you kept half the evidence and used the other half to frame this person.

Karl 1:02:03

Yeah, I should put that I should actually put that in my inventory.

Richard 1:02:06

Yeah.

Karl 1:02:06

So it can be stolen from random pickpockets. Add custom equipment. Okay, so sorry, that was the flag potion? Mm-hmm. Flag potion and uh give a serpent sickness.

Richard 1:02:33

So he looks over to you, and you notice it's weird, because he had two arms last time you saw him, but he only has one now. Oh dear. Looks at you and goes, the fuck you want.

Speaker 4 1:02:49

Um well I I had heard that uh there was um some sort of plague that has turned these people in into rats, and uh I I was uh hoping to to earn some goodwill and and perhaps find some people to help me uh uh go and and fight a dragon.

Richard 1:03:16

So you find yourself in desecrated ground. While within this place, your hope dice has been reduced to a d10. Oh, okay. You notice something is wrong about this place. Just something feels off and uncomfortable in this rat hospital. I see. And it seems to be largely like wear rats, catfolk, goblins, a fur bulg or two. Largely non-humanoid, even a simian are seeming to be in this like makeshift hospital under the shopping mall behind the fountain. Mm-hmm.

Karl 1:04:00

A simian, huh?

unknown 1:04:02

Mm-hmm.

Richard 1:04:02

And you do see carved against the walls looks looks like a circle of three raccoons chasing each other's tails. Ooh.

Karl 1:04:13

Alright, alright. That's I need to uh investigate that uh that mural.

Richard 1:04:22

Go ahead and roll with knowledge check.

Karl 1:04:28

Yeah, I don't think amateur bioterrorists would apply. Not this time. It applied to ruining this guy's life. Okay, so but my hope dice are D10s right now? Yep. Okay, so if I roll two d10. Uh 19 was hope.

Richard 1:04:50

19 with hope?

Karl 1:04:52

Oh no, no, sorry, that's a 19 with fear. Excellent. Uh I can't actually roll roll the uh Yeah, I was kinda wondering about that. Uh so I'm just rolling two D10 and then the first one is hope, and the second one is fear, but the fear dies is higher in this case, so.

Richard 1:05:10

Okay. So what's a fear of yours that's resurfacing here?

Karl 1:05:16

A fear of mine that's resurfacing here. Um I do have a mild fear of being grabbed by giant eagles.

Richard 1:05:33

Alright. So, as he approaches you, gets real close, you can smell the vodka on his breath. Mm-hmm. You here to help? Or you here for more imperial bullshit?

Speaker 5 1:05:54

Oh, I'm I I I'm I'm here to help. Uh I I I've been

Karl 1:06:02

I I I managed recently I I encountered a dragon and and I I feel like they could be a threat to the entire land if they aren't tilt with. Um they they seem to be uh abusing some sort of uh a sunscreen and uh I feel like they could gain enough power to be a true threat to the nation.

Richard 1:06:21

Hmm. Go ahead and roll a presence, check.

Karl 1:06:25

I'll roll a present oh wait, that's 2D tense, right. One two uh sixteen with hope.

Richard 1:06:38

Sixteen with hope. So he looks at you as like there's a dragon and your plans to come here. I could tell you an easy fix for all of this shit. The Empire takes up their garbage, goes back to their house, and leaves the nature the fuck alone.

Speaker 4 1:07:07

I I I suppose that is that is what one solution for sure. But but perhaps this uh this threat is more imminent than you realize.

Richard 1:07:19

And then he like sits down and just goes, and how can I and my fine band of merry men help, gesturing to the most overstuffed walk-in clinic.

Speaker 5 1:07:33

Oh well, I mean, as I said, I I was more so trying to build up a rapport and perhaps find some people who would be willing to to help me go fight this dragon. Uh so I I I did come down here to help.

Karl 1:07:46

I heard this terrible story of this rat plague, and I I wanted to take an investigation to see if I could help alleviate this this terrible sickness.

Richard 1:07:58

Well he looks like he's contemplating something for a second. Roll a presence check for me, please. Another presence check, alright.

Karl 1:08:12

Another presence check. Uh this is a nine with spear.

Richard 1:08:19

So you look at something, and it's kind of this space is weird. From the glyphs of the from the glyphs of the raccoons, to just kind of like the flow of energy in here. You feel like this room itself is like taking something from the people in here. Like you don't feel well in this space. I see, I see. And at this point, the doctor goes, you know. I might know where you can get some people.

Speaker 4 1:08:58

Oh, too channel.

Richard 1:09:01

Well, and this time he like coughs up a little bit. Listen. I have some friends. And I don't think they're a fan of big frickin' dragons marching up and down. Like, we've seen this thing. It doesn't really seem to care too much about our politics of the region. And you're right. Getting rid of a dragon is genuinely a good thing. The spirits in the area don't love that it's napping across on top of a sacred tree that's bad. And I do think keeping the tree far away from some of your employers wouldn't be a bad thing. I'm willing to cut you a deal here. How many people's lives do you think an army is worth to you?

Speaker 4 1:10:03

Uh I'm I don't know. Uh I mean I suppose it would depend on on the on the people, but I I would say like that's a very it's very difficult to quantify the value of life.

Karl 1:10:21

Like all life is truly sacred.

Richard 1:10:24

A friend of mine has seen you walking in and out of that fancy castle on the hill. Hmm. Some of my associates in the area are interested in the Empire being a little less here. You get my you get my friends into the room to talk to the king there, and we can work out some kind of a deal.

Speaker 4 1:11:17

Well uh how many people are are you thinking of?

Richard 1:11:24

Two of my friends have a nice little sit down with the king and queen. Nice quiet private room, and we could talk about my friends and your friends working together to fix this problem.

Karl 1:11:46

Um do they have anything like insight in? It'd be instinct. That'd be instinct. Um I I guess uh is this guy planning on assassinating the king, I guess is what I'm like. Let's uh oh wait, no, two D10s, not my three hook dice.

Richard 1:12:17

Ooh, a critical success. Okay. So from the iconography in here, this is very clearly a Feinwraith hideout. It's not subtle. There's something sketchy going on with the vibes, some sort of weird spirit magic turning people into rat folk. Right, right. Assassinating the king, no. Not outright. So, as you're aware, this is one of the few non-humanoid controlled areas. Right, right. They just want to talk, and by talk, I mean put immense pressure on here to flip the allegiance of the city. So, he is somewhat sincere at the idea that some of my associates, i.e., the terrorist cells in the woods around here who have a giant turtle fortress, do not like the dragon. The dragon is a dick. You are up there. Right. Imperial boats, main it's bad for everybody. Would absolutely love to lure a bunch of Imperial forces with them, to fight a dragon, to kill a bunch of Imperial forces, to reclaim a spirit tree. There's things they like in this exchange. Right, right. So it is negotiation, but it is definitely like if Germany wanted to have a sit down with their pal Italy about a thing. I see. Cause this is the farthest south Imperial Kingdom. I see I see, I see. So not assassination, that's less effective.

Karl 1:14:01

Well, they wanted ally.

Richard 1:14:03

Yeah, there's a lot of common they would love to flip the city away from the empire, and this is a good excuse to do it. And this person himself would absolutely murder the king if he thought that would be helpful. It's like it's not he wouldn't murder because he's not a murderer. He would murder, but that's not the play. Yeah, okay, okay.

Speaker 4 1:14:31

Um well I could I could probably help w one person get in to see the king.

Richard 1:14:41

Excellent, excellent. That's pretty reasonable. Um do you have a timeline for this? Uh well, how much time has passed? Like two hours. So you got like four hours till your meeting.

Speaker 4 1:14:57

Uh well I I mean I I was originally going to meet with the king first, but he he had to uh schedule me in, so about about four hours or so. I I I plan on meeting with the king directly.

Richard 1:15:12

At this point he gestures, does like a little like finger call over. And what appears to be like a very moth-recoted fairy walks up, about four feet tall, moth wings, little antenna feelers. The moth eyes are what make them particularly unsettling, but they have like the fluffy scarf thing going on. Okay, okay. And then he like whispers to them and you kinda catch up of like send a message to our associate to meet me here. And then they just kinda like climb a ladder and like lift up a hatch, and then the hatch closes. And this place seems to have multiple exits to the side out. Right, right. At this point they go, well, that gives us a couple hours to kill. My associate should be here in about an hour.

Karl 1:16:06

Okay. Well, so now you say that I I feel like there's some uh malevolent energy here that I might be turning people to rats. Correct. Um I able to pinpoint any sort of like source, or does it seem like it's coming from further within the hideout, or it feels like it's coming from further within the hideout? Hmm. I see, I see. Um well, I mean, for now, um what sorts of ailments do these uh patrons of the clinic have?

Richard 1:16:53

So a few of them, other than ratification, seem to have some of them have some like scabs from early onset serpent sickness. Okay. A lot of them seem to have really bad coughs. Mm-hmm. One of them is just covered in full body burns. Ooh. And you described three NPCs and their injuries for me. Um And for context, it's not just members of the Wither the Wildlings or the Fein Wraith squadron that are here for treatment. It seems to be all sorts of various ignored by the medical system individuals.

Karl 1:17:36

Right, right.

Richard 1:17:38

Um they don't seem to be billing people here for treatment.

Karl 1:17:48

Let's see. Oh no, that didn't do what I wanted to do for sure. They don't seem to be billing people for which was good. Um I see. Um Well, I mean, I'm I'm just gonna use my medal medical medical training uh to um tend well okay, wait on. So you want me to describe some some victims here? Just like one of them has one of them um is a uh is a dog person. Okay. Um and uh they seem to have a festering cat bite. Um one of them is a bird person, uh, but they seem to have lost all their feathers.

Richard 1:18:49

That's rough.

Karl 1:18:52

Um and one of them, uh it looks like they're uh just a normal human, except that they have a horse head. Um but uh they're bleeding from their gums.

Richard 1:19:12

That's unfortunate. The horse head has human teeth inside its mouth for the record.

Karl 1:19:22

Um I mean uh I'm I'm definitely gonna use my my medical expertise. Um I'm gonna I'm gonna treat the guy that uh is suffering from the um cat fight.

Richard 1:19:42

Okay, go ahead and roll knowledge or finesse.

Karl 1:19:50

Uh I'm gonna roll finesse.

Speaker 1 1:19:55

Uh but up um t ten.

Karl 1:20:04

That is a fourteen with fear.

Richard 1:20:07

I'm going to happily take that fear. So as you treat the bite, you manage to disinfect it. With the the medical supplies here aren't terrible. You do see a couple of Dr. Sipple's potuses in the area. One just appears to just be glue for holding wounds together, just straight up glue.

unknown 1:20:27

Yeah.

Richard 1:20:27

But you do do something weird. When the blood drips to the ground, it might be the slant of the room, might be how it's structured, but it seems to be like following the grooves in the floor down towards the door in the far end of it. But you have treated one person, but like the energy in here feels like something's happening, like it's intensifying a bit.

Karl 1:20:54

Um my nameless one-armed doctor friend.

Speaker 5 1:20:57

I'm gonna ask him what's what's beyond that door over there?

Richard 1:21:05

Go ahead and roll a presence check. Do not like this uh bum bum.

Karl 1:21:18

Yeah. Another a fourteen with hope this time. Oh, with hope. Yeah.

Richard 1:21:26

He goes back there is a shrine that predates this place to some of its older protectors before the goblins set on the throne. A bit of heritage, if it were.

Speaker 4 1:21:49

Um, I mean uh would it not behoove me to perhaps uh pray to the old protectors.

Richard 1:22:06

The old protectors aren't a particular fan of this place right now. You're certainly welcome to go back there and try. Hmm.

Karl 1:22:17

Well, uh, I I've been given permission, so I'm gonna go and uh take a look at this shrine.

Richard 1:22:23

So

The Shrine Tunnel And Ratification Dread

Richard 1:22:24

as you open the door, you find like the cobblestone ground, like, kind of fades. It's like there was a cobblestone wall here that's been excavated. It just kind of seems to go into a dirt cave. Oh, okay. As you head down the tunnel, it's not great footing, and there's next to no light in here. Okay.

Karl 1:22:51

What do you do? Um, well, I mean I have a torch, so I'm gonna light a torch. And continue on my way. Uh well, I'm gonna walk at the walls and see uh if there's any more, like what's if there's more uh fan rate iconography and and uh roll a knowledge check.

Speaker 4 1:23:16

Okay, knowledge.

Karl 1:23:18

Am I still I'm still reduced to D10s? Yep. Um Okay.

Richard 1:23:28

Uh 17 with the year. You see a bunch of like almost like murals carved into the stone that are a soft red color. And this whole thing seems to descend downward in Deadlord. It's almost getting warmer as you go. In this mural, you see like overgrown trees, and on the left side you see an owl flying down as the trees wither and die, and then the right side you see it flying back towards as the trees are growing up underneath them. And then you see like a line and below it, a bunch of tunnels with full of three-eyed rat carvings.

Speaker 1 1:24:05

Hello.

Richard 1:24:07

Three-eyed rats. Mm-hmm. And your face feels a little bit itchy.

Karl 1:24:16

Uh-oh.

Richard 1:24:17

That doesn't sound good.

Karl 1:24:18

Mm-hmm.

Speaker 1 1:24:19

Uh.

Richard 1:24:23

And the one-arm man is walking with you about two spaces behind. Uh there's a rat walking with you. Oh no, the one-armed doctor is walking with you about two paces, about four paces behind. Like, it's not like he's um he's just far enough behind you that feels like he's following you, but he's not trying to stealthily follow you.

Karl 1:24:45

Okay, so but I'm- I am wearing my my mask still, yes, no? Yes. Uh, do I feel any like fur or anything growing on my face? A little bit. Drink my mask, it's good. Oh dear. Uh, so I seem to be ratifying, huh?

Richard 1:25:03

Might be a way this is going. Hmm. And go ahead and make an instinct reaction roll. Uh, instinct reaction roll. Roll uh 15. There is a rat man curling on the uh on the ceiling, kinda like crawling alongside above you.

Karl 1:25:29

I see. Uh doesn't seem to be anything that I have that would help me uh avoid ratifying.

Richard 1:25:46

And the walls light up a little bit brighter.

Karl 1:26:04

Hmm. I don't really want to ratify, but at the same time.

Speaker 1 1:26:11

Hmm.

Karl 1:26:13

I don't really know anything I could do to prevent it, but I need I need to go down here and and figure out what's going on with all these people, right? So I'm gonna keep going.

Richard 1:26:23

Roll a finesse check for me, please, as you walk through. As the lighting's weird, because it's there's no less and it's like the walls are almost eating your lantern light, or they're glowing red, but things aren't being as illuminated.

Karl 1:26:39

I see. A finesse check.

unknown 1:26:46

Roll.

Karl 1:26:48

Uh 16 with fear.

Richard 1:26:51

Alright. So at this point, you keep going down, down, down. And there's like a thin river that's been following for a while now. Uh-huh. And with the lighting in here, the river seems to be a red color. Rusty.

unknown 1:27:10

Neat.

Karl 1:27:10

And it's getting warmer and warmer. Uh but the walls are are glowing more and more red. I see, I see, I see. Um, I am just I'm just gonna book it. I'm running to I'm running running down here.

Richard 1:27:32

Roll an agility check.

Karl 1:27:36

Just gonna book it. Wait. Again, disadvantage no disadvantage, but D10s.

Cult Ritual Countdown And Rat Demon

Richard 1:27:50

So as you get down to the very end of the path, you see in thick chains hanging upside down what looks like a s statue. of a three-eyed rat. You hear two sets of footsteps behind you and the other one on the ceiling.

Karl 1:28:12

Two sets of footprints behind me, oh boy. Um there's this three-eyed rat just hanging upside down in chains. Um and they seem to be emanating this energy are there any like sigils on the walls in here or is what is all this what's in this room on the walls I guess go ahead and roll a knowledge check for me.

Richard 1:28:57

Knowledge eleven with fear so as the cult ritual goes down to one on the counter. You see this mural of crimson, it looks like they're rats biting and tearing into humans. And as the human hits the ground it shows them rolled up in agony in the next sketch and then next one stands up as another rat folk. And it looks like it's hundreds if not thousands of drawings of rats devouring people as you get close to the you see that there's little drips coming from the three eyes of the statue in front of you. Oh and you feel the two people behind you and the one on the ceiling.

Karl 1:29:52

Mm-hmm and hmm so it kind of seems like they're actually part of a cult that's gonna turn people into rats sacrificing them to this rat god So he already told me that the rat god isn't a fan of the people of this town and that the rats came before the people here but I don't want to sacrifice myself and turn into a rat person I'm not that dedicated to the cause even though they're probably gonna try to sacrifice me let's see you know I don't really want to I want to on the one hand I kinda want to give the invisibility potion to the person who's supposed to meet with the king. So that I can sneak them in. On the other hand I'm starting to get a little bit worried that uh I won't be able to meet with the king because they're gonna turn me into a rat and then the whole plan will be foiled.

Richard 1:31:30

They didn't lie to you that they wanted to have a meeting but then you asked to walk down here. And the I did I did he has not said much yet just been walking alongside with you and you do have a jar of asbestos. Not related I just amused that you have a jar of asbestos Okay Well no no releasing the flag in the city would be terrible but it wouldn't be worse so go ahead and roll a knowledge reaction roll so I can give you some information because I want to give you information okay okay uh knowledge reaction roll oh eight so here's the thing you're under the city right and they closed these malls down specifically because they had bad ventilation and fumes are being stuck in you're in a cave that the air is thick and sealed so you know not a lot of air is making out of this cave. If you were to virus bomb this room you would spread circum serpent sickness into this hideout and then you're pretty confident just this hideout. So it would petrify everyone in here which doesn't kill you it just leaves you petrified till someone does something about it. So the currently sick would stop dying these rap folk would be petrified and you're not really sure how far Serpent Sickness would spread from here but possibly would stay contained and none of these assholes are wearing masks okay you know what I feel like I do need to take my invisibility potion and then just throw my bottle flag at the rat statue as I run away from the room

Serpent Sickness Bomb And The Escape

Richard 1:33:49

okay so go ahead and roll finesse for this maneuver to work. Okay you can just fuck this up that's true that's true and I only have d10s instead of uh d12s so let's and I'm gonna spend a fear to make you mark a stress for simply this being stressful this feels stressful does does my amateur bioterrorist apply? I've never heard it apply more in my life 17 with hope so you're invisible and you throw a hyper concentrated serpent sickness culture so the countdown of the summoning ritual stops here and the demon was about to be summoned a crimson hue creature from the circles below consumed by rage against all mortals it likes to act erratically corral targets relish pain and torment did you roll with fear or hope? With hope whenever you roll with in fear within close range of it you would lose a hope. Its abilities include Reaper and Hellfire there was also four cultists in the area as well so here's how this plays out as it hits him the chains break around he goes about to be summoned and immediately starts repetrifying again just hits the ground with a sad thud okay go ahead and roll a finesse check to hide with advantage because of your invisibility so one two and then I get a D6 for advantage uh that is only a a 14 with fear the secret keeper looks towards your general area trying to figure out where you went is going to proceed to sorry do I lose the hope for that with fear is that or is that not hope is still being devoured in presence of the demon okay so this one our man the secret keeper is gonna light up his rune staff and shoot in your general direction which feels like the right thing to do so he has disadvantage on an attack? Yeah so he got a one okay he definitely missed it he points out the staff in your general area screams and you just watch his body start to petrify from the legs up he starts using a staff to try and hack at his own shins drawing blood before it climbs up his body and his face is held in agony what would you like to do smiley goes back to you okay so I've used two of my three action rolls for my invisibility I you've used one it the last thing was a reaction okay okay okay um so uh I mean I just want to get the heck out of here okay go ahead and roll an agility roll to get the hell out of here get the heck out of here oh no it's sorry d10 d10 plus two and that is a 13 with hope 13 with hope you're booking it you're trying you're making decent speed however you trip and fall it goes back to me because even with hope if you roll below the difficulty of the area you're in etc etc you see the professional killer turned cultist the cult fang who's chasing across the ceiling towards you jumps down to try and stab at your general location does an eleven hit you eleven does not hit and as they go towards you midfall they start gasping for air as their eyes turn and start crystallizing first as they start clawing at their face as their mouth begins to crystal over and they're trying to rip the stone out of their mouth is growing faster they can pull it off as it goes down their torso through their lungs to their legs their tail and their arms as they're petrified in horror. That is the secret keeper is now dead and the cult fang is now dead.

Karl 1:38:24

You see two more footsteps running behind you but turn orders back to you I mean I'm I'm still just booking it I'm I gotta keep running I gotta get away from the surface sickness before it consumes me too right so Alright go ahead and roll an agility check roll another agility check this is a 14 with hope fourteen with hope fourteen is what you need to get through the cult ritual you're running you're running you're running and you look behind you and a third one who appeared to have another rune covered staff and I'm gonna spend a fear to let them take an action before they die.

Richard 1:39:08

And I'm gonna spend another fear to cast shadow shackles on you so as these horrifying chains wrap across your feet you watch him petrify with a smile on his face you're currently restrained in smoky chains until you break three with his accessible strength or instinct roll you must spend a hope to make an action roll okay well I'm gonna spend a hope to try and instinct my way out of these chains I guess. Alright go ahead and make an instinct check um only a three so you're still chained and I believe that was the last use of your invisibility yes so you're still chained you watch this person get petrified completely you see what looks like a swarm of regular rats start coming out of the water and out of the walls and start swarming towards where you're chained uh oh and I'm going to have to pull up a stat block perfect so these cult initiates which are rats are going to attempt to group attack you cost me a fear I'm down to two fear and I spotlight all adversaries within range and they make a shared attack roll. So does A and you're certainly restrained right now which would give them advantage oh wait why did I roll duality dice? Never mind it gave me like a crit but it was supposed to roll a d20? Did you do what you're supposed to Alright give me a second to fight with the dice roller just roll me let's clear all of this roll me two d20s thank you you want me to roll new two d20s? I rolled a one doesn't matter so they start swarming you and then they just crystallize another another hope to try and instinct my way out of these chains do instinct Wow another three so normally you'd be screwed because you have to spend a hope to make the action roll to break out do you have any hope left? Right I still have plenty of hope actually okay well go ahead and roll a d20 for me please and try not to roll above your uh below your level great alright rolling a d20 my level is five nineteen woohoo alright so whenever you roll below your level you get a scar from the serpent sickness while you're in this chamber Ah okay okay so you're still restrained all the enemies in this room seem to be screwed yes as you see just like this grey powder like f fled through the air almost like it's alive flying out this room at full speed surrounding you not quite getting through your mask okay uh I gotta keep trying spend another hope and stick my way out of these chains a nine with hope nine doesn't do it okay okay roll a d20 and if you get below your level you gain a scar eighteen you're still good but still chained and it's still spreading out and the door to the sanctuary is still open with patients on the other side they don't even oh man okay so two d10s a seven does not make it does it no these chains they're trying to wait did you say two d10s? Oh wait yeah that's how the dice rolls okay so uh go ahead and roll it 13 on my d20 alright I'm still I'm I'm I my mask seems to be doing its job as I just retry over and over again to get out of these stupid chains a 14 14 doesn't uh oh no that's a that's a critical success yeah you clear a stress and break out of the chains all right and now I can just like do I still need to make agility checks to sprint out of here yes you do all right let's roll for agility at least I get plus two to the roll this time nope that is a nine with hope okay sorry it wasn't d20s it was supposed to be d10s you were rolling for scars we're gonna start that up now okay just go ahead and roll a d10 that makes it much more dangerous it would be a d12 but you're still in cursed land uh that is a 10 woo so you've made it to almost to the doorway you look through all of these patients are frozen having screamed in agony and are petrified yeah and you see the mist start rising up towards where that great that ladder was in the ceiling and like you see the mist like hitting the waterfall okay okay um well uh and everyone in this room is just frozen completely I am definitely going to uh just head back the way I came through the waterfall alright how are you opening the waterfall I'm just gonna try and dive straight through okay go ahead and roll a strength check alright let's see if I can make it through this waterfall nope that's a seven with spear so you take five points of damage as you tackle and realize there's metal behind the waterfall and that's what opens and closes basically I guess I gotta try for the other exit then. Alright so you begin climbing up the ladder? Yeah. Okay go ahead and roll a d10 for me a d10 oh another 10. Okay so you climb the ladder. There appears to be a padlock on the top of this exit smoke has enveloped you. Okay go ahead and roll a finesse check rolling for finesse wait stupid d10s plus one an eleven with fear oh boy an eleven with fear I'll take my fear point eleven was not quite enough to open the door roll a d10 for me I'm definitely getting a scar holy come on oh that's an eight alright I'm still good okay and this room is completely filled up with this virus that every person hit by the serpent sickness their body becomes basically as you know from your medical studies of the serpent sickness and it goes inside a person's body petrifies the surface and then all of the air and liquids in their body become a cold and spread and then it spews out more smoke as the virus continues to spread. So it's part of like the dehydrating process. So the 80% of your body that's water becomes 80% of airborne virus.

Karl 1:47:12

Oh dear um well I mean I uh I gotta try and pick this lock again.

Richard 1:47:18

Alright no stupid D10s also just for the sake of like fairness you could also just punch the lock. The locks is a metal lock that is the thing human beings can break with like a crowbar. Oh well then in that case yeah I probably should just try to punch the lock. Just for the sake of me being mildly concerned you'll die alright so then that's 2d10s plus three a 14 with fear. 14 will hit go ahead and roll damage I'd say a lock probably has like so for inanimate objects I make you have to go past their first threshold to do damage to them. And I feel like breaking a 20 is fair for smashing a lock. Does that feel fair to you? Well I mean it works out for me because I rolled 31 damage. So you just smash this lock clean off so the gate and you punch the gate completely open. The entire thing creaks open. You cool with that crutches it's been punched open you climb to the surface there's a plume of gray smoke behind you.

Karl 1:48:34

Uh can I can I close the uh hatch now?

Richard 1:48:37

Go ahead and roll a finesse check or strength to close the hatch I'm rolling finesse for sure. Uh am I still D10s or uh no you're back to D12s you're outside of the cursed area. Alright 19 with fear 19 with fear you slam it closed but there was a puff of grey smoke with you. Oh dear I'm you look over and you see a pigeon falls from the sky well it was more like it was already on the ground like you watch it go to take off and fly gets about an inch off the ground then sadly falls. And you see the gray smoke just kind of spreading out I'm just gonna yell out uh evacuate the area there's been a biohazard release here roll a presence check and ooh critical success yeah people hear a doctor yell run there's been a biohazard and they take you completely seriously they're running as fast as they possibly can so I'm gonna make the to most difficult role of your life right now you're going to do just a straight D20 if you get below a 14 The virus is not contained. Okay, okay.

Karl 1:50:07

Straight day twenty. That's a two.

Richard 1:50:12

So you scream, go as fast as you can. And you watch as like that little kid you saw eating a snow cone earlier takes a step, looks behind you, and their leg begins to crystallize as the virus goes up their body and their eyes freeze. You look over to the left, you see that a that friendly town guard yells, Get out of here, and like shoves a lady into a canal into a boat and then kicks it down the river as his body is frozen mid-kick pose and he falls onto his own arm and cracks. Oh dear. Describe the brutal infection death of three NPCs, and then we'll wrap up today's session.

Karl 1:50:52

Um okay. Um well, I mean, obviously there's there's some amount of panic. Um so there's there's a group of people, um, and they're running away, and one person uh they trip and get trampled, um, and then turn to stone while they're being trampled. Um, that's pretty terrible. Um then there's uh there's uh one person who was just who's just clueless, and they open their door to see what all the commotion is, um, and then they just get petrified with their hand on the door knob. And uh then uh there's uh there's one person, uh they're they're running along, uh, and then a bird that got petrified in mid flight falls out of the sky and hits them on the head.

Richard 1:52:06

That's amazing. No, I'm gonna say they didn't get petrified, they just died from the stone impact. And with that, that's where we're going to wrap up today's session.

Speaker 1 1:52:21

Hmm.

Karl 1:52:23

So lucky for me, uh, I I definitely have uh an out here, so. Since I didn't get killed.

Richard 1:52:33

Uh I will ask metawise, what is your out here?

Karl 1:52:38

Uh the guy that got trained for bioterrorism was working with the with the fate rape and accidentally released more of the virus.

Richard 1:52:46

I'm gonna have you preemptively roll a presence check here just so I can plan next week accordingly.

unknown 1:52:52

Okay.

Richard 1:52:53

Um year. Okay, so there just with that role, just to kind of tell you above board, next session is going to be you talking about how the Feinwraith cult set off a virus bomb under the city. There might be some political ramifications to saying that Iran bombed America.

Karl 1:53:22

But that's definitely not my fault.

Post Game Breakdown Of The Encounter

Richard 1:53:26

Alright, so let's do what we do at the end of these episodes and kind of talk about what I planned, how it played out, how the session went. And what's amusing is from this adventure, when I write it up, it's just gonna take place in whatever city they happen to be in, where they just go into the sewers below whatever city. So this could take place here, but it could also take place in Alora or or Wormstar Crossing or whatever they happen to be. Right. Because what I wanted to do is I've had Empire Bad a lot of the session. So I wanted to do some Fain Wraith Bad. So I had the Rat Cult, which I thought I set up nicely. So how this worked in function is there's an event called cult ritual. Tier 2 event, and fault gatherers around the sigil of defeated gods in a bonfire. And when you enter the cult, you get your hope dice reduced to a d10, and you can de-desecrate the area by trying to cure it, but it takes six successful actions to cure the to purify the ground. That's kind of rules as written. Okay. Its first power is I can use a portion of the ritual's powers to verted into a cult member to fight off interlopers. Choose one adversary to become imbued with terrible magic until the scene ends or they're defeated. They immediately take the spotlight or and get through uh all three benefits if I spend a fear, giving them advantage on attacks, extra damage, relentless. It was gonna be one armed guy. He was gonna turn into a rat. Okay. If this turned into a fight, he was gonna turn into a rat. So the next mechanic that was interesting was the summoning. When the PC enters the scene or the cult begins the ritual to summon a demon, activate the countdown. Designate one adversary to read the ritual. The countdown takes down whenever the PC rolls with fear. Oh boy. Yeah, yeah, rolled with a lot of fear. When it rolls a lot of fear, summon a minor demon within very close range of the ritual's leader. If the leader is defeated, the countdown ends with no effect as the ritual fails. So had you knocked out one armed guy or beat him or killed him.

Karl 1:55:35

Right.

Richard 1:55:36

It would have ended the ritual. And if a ritual's leader is attack targeted by an attacker's spell, an ally within very close range of them can mark a stress to be attacked instead. Oh. That never quite came. So the enemies on the board were the cult because it gives me like the potential four potential advertiseries. The cult adept, the cult fang, the cult initiate, and the secret keeper. I just spawned one of each. Right. So the adept are the one with the shadow chains. The initiate are the minions, which I spawn. The rats? Yeah. So I just use them as rats. They use the stat block of cult initiate, they were rats. They literally just have group attack. Mm-hmm. Okay. But they're stronger than like other minions you fought before, but they're minions. So if you overkill one, it hits the other ones. Right. And then the cult leader was the secret keeper. And that was the old guy himself. And his powers were as a reaction, he could spend two fear to spotlight two allies to let them take movements. Okay. And when you spot like an ally, I can mark a stress to gain a fear. And he also can activate a countdown to summon the demon. And when he marks HP, the countdown goes faster.

unknown 1:57:04

Oh.

Richard 1:57:05

And if he takes two or more HP, I can mark a stress to summon a denomic hound pack, which was going to be a denomic rat pack. Right. I didn't think that he marked two or more HP, he just kinda died. Hmm. And then the demon itself had powers such as Relentless 2. When you roll with fear, you lose hope. It can rain down hellfire. And I can mark stress before rolling for damage to increase the damage based on its HP. And when it makes the mark successful aspect against a PC, I gain a fear. Demon was scary. Demon was mostly a bluff, though. I feel like by the time any player sees the upside-down three-eyed rat statue, they're going to try and stop it from being resurrected. Right. So the cult ritual I had set aside for the session, but originally I was going to have it take place in Allura had you gone straight there. Ah, okay. And it was going to be like under Allura. Which is why I'm like, oh, this is a good plug-and-play, because you can put it wherever. And the idea was to, like, give more lore about the fan wraith, give some hints for that, and kind of like balance it out a bit, because even though, like, no matter how I write it, the Empire putting fire cats in boats to make them drive ships makes them clearly the bad guys. Right, right. But their evil rat call luring people into the sewers for Medicaid to then have them turn into rats to empower the rat spirit also feels kind of evil. It definitely feels pretty evil. And then I also use some bustling marketplace stat block for just exploring before you got there. And one of them was Unexpected Find. Revealed to the PCs that one of the merchants has something they want or need, such as food from their home, a rare book, magical ponents, dubious treasure. What beyond gold do they want for the thing? And that was when you got your asbestos space. So, how'd you feel about the session? Which, for the record, our actual play-along will not include releasing the plague in the middle of the city. Because they shouldn't have that.

Karl 1:59:14

Uh luckily I that's my only plague that I have. Which you did not contain.

Richard 1:59:23

So the final role, I was trying to figure out how to decide of the plague spread. And it was literally the ritual had a DC of 14, which is like. I also use the event as like the default role for just exploring the place. So like the agility checks, the knowledge checks, whatever. I just kind of set to the events difficulty. So I thought it was fair to make that the difficulty, the relatively low number of did you contain the virus? But I didn't think any stats applied to that, because it was really more about fate.

Karl 1:59:52

That's true.

Richard 1:59:53

Because you did close the door, but like I was pretty clear it's like the virus has caught up to you. You do need to open the door, and the virus, some of it will escape. You're not sure how much. Right. You absolutely could have Blaze of Glory just got petrified in a cave. Also, do you see what you mean about the scars mechanic though, where I'm like, hey, I'm gonna have you roll every turn for a scar and got nothing? I really wanted to get started.

Karl 2:00:21

Part of that was uh the um the d20s for the first couple rolls. But that was that was just luck on my part. I I rolled really good. Like there was literally 50-50 whether or not I was gonna get a scar from those.

Richard 2:00:34

But yeah, how'd you feel about the session? I forgot you're already up to level 5. It was a tier 2 event, but you're a tier 3 character, so I'm like, that should be fun. I do think you could have probably fought your way out of here. Although them escorting you all the way through to the shrine was like a worst possible scenario. I like to assume that my other players will like I don't know, distract people, do shenanigans, sneak someone in. Like, I feel like they'll do they won't be in a situation where they've just been escorted. Also, if you pledged allegiance to the rat god, you would have been allowed to leave.

Karl 2:01:10

Yeah, I wasn't gonna pledge allegiance to the rat god.

Richard 2:01:12

He was clearly evil. What? The rat spirit, the one that's to be fair, he represents plagues and culling of humanity. Which are technically part of the ecosystem.

Karl 2:01:28

So he went out as he lived.

Richard 2:01:30

Kind of plague. Also, that serpent sickness, think about that for a second. How deadly is the serpent sickness if the demon just got petrified? Like I use the demon's tap lock, but they represent like just an corrupt spirit, because spirits are the flavor of the day here. But like, yeah, just thinking be like, oh, it's just it's you petrified it. You petrified the three-eyed rat demon, uh-oh. Serpent sickness bad.

Karl 2:02:08

Yeah, no, I I definitely that was a a very thrilling conclusion to the like I wasn't really sure what I was gonna particularly do for the six hours of downtime.

Richard 2:02:19

Well, the six hours of downtime were specifically most directions you went would have led you to this cult ritual. This wasn't a railroad situation, it was a this is very adaptable.

Speaker 1 2:02:31

Hmm, makes sense.

Richard 2:02:32

Like, unless you specifically climb the mountain again immediately. The point of the downtime was for you to find the cult. Hmm. Yeah, okay. Like you would have had to try to not find the cult. Which you could have. I was prepared.

Karl 2:02:49

Yeah. Well, no, I wasn't gonna fight the dragon without uh without reinforcements again, that's for sure.

Richard 2:02:57

Although had you gone to the noble's house, you would not have found the cult. Well, he might have found the cult because he would have said, Oh, by the way, there's some sketchy things going on in the city. Would you like like he would have paid you to do it to take this quest. Yeah, yeah, okay. He would have been like, give me some time to gather some forces. In the meantime, I have a favor.

Karl 2:03:17

Makes sense.

Richard 2:03:18

But he wouldn't have said help the cult, he would have said, There's a bunch of rat cultists in the sewers, kill them. For each rat cultist killed, I'll promise you X number of soldiers to fight the dragon.

Karl 2:03:30

That probably would have been a better option rather than just exploring the sewers on my own.

Richard 2:03:34

I think like the thing is, I think I made everyone sketchy enough that you could have talked your way out of it, because like all the pledging to the rat would have done was made you a rat folk until it was dealt with. Which is just cosmetic. That was the joke, is like, I'm a cat person, I got hit by a curse, and it turned me into a wear rat. Did that do anything? I just kind of enjoy that the like the evil cult ritual was turn people to rats. Turn enough people to rats to summon demon. Also, as soon as he saw you, he started summoning a demon. I think he might have had a hint you were part of the problem that ruined his life. Oh yeah, also, I find it wild that they don't have an invisibility potion. But it wasn't too hard to just turn the spell into like this casts a spell once, and I'll remove the spell casting mechanic from it. Which I do think saves your life.

Karl 2:04:45

The invisibility potion?

Richard 2:04:47

Oh yeah. Although I do find it really funny that Shadow Shackles ability where it's like Oh, that's convenient. I didn't know I had that. You could get stuck here. Yeah, that was rough. So I realized something mechanically. If you're playing at one player, and you're restrained by the shadow shackles. Mm-hmm. And you have to use this mark of hope to make an action roll. Yeah. You can kinda hit a point where I think the internet's debated of if you don't have any hope, because you must spend a hope to make an action roll, do you just stay chained up until someone else does something or you starve to death? Hmm. Yeah, that's true. I probably would have let you if you were out of hope, I'd probably let you make a roll anyway. But I'm not sure if I should mechanically. Hmm. Cause yeah, I'm gonna put in our little group chat. Looking at these rulings, how would you have ruled that? If they had no hope, were they just stuck there till death?

Karl 2:05:50

Let's see. So interfere to the point within far range, all targets in close range of that point are restrained by smokey chains. Target restrained by uh I mean yeah, that just looks like they would just be restrained if they don't have hope.

Richard 2:06:10

I feel like because it's a solo campaign, though, that's just like, oh, you lose because that's like Dragonite hits you with rap and you have no other Pokemon, so you can't switch, so you just die to rap, it's just like not satisfying. Uh so I probably would have let you try and make the role if you didn't have any hope, I'd let you still make the action roll regardless. Hmm. Also, it doesn't say if killing him ends it.

Karl 2:06:39

Uh yeah, this particular ability seems uh like it could probably use some uh some reworking.

Richard 2:06:49

I mean, for the record, I was good I was torn whether or not him being petrified would end it. I feel like if he died I would end it, but him being petrified mid-cast just while cackling at you. Hmm. I thought if it went too long, I'd probably just if you ran out of hope I was gonna have it just end for him being petrified, full disclosure. Hmm. Yeah, that makes sense. So I'd be like, because it's like, oh, this would be a soft block normally. Well, he's petrified.

Karl 2:07:17

Also, I gave you such a deadly It it is definitely uh they're not expecting you to play a single-player campaign. So it it is a little bit more balanced if you have more players.

Richard 2:07:33

But I like I assume killing the guy would end it and your party members would just kill the guy.

Karl 2:07:38

Uh it it does seem it's a little bit uh vague. This particular ability seems to leave a lot a lot of discretion up to the DM.

Richard 2:07:47

Because yeah, like also it says they must break free with a successful Trick of Instinct. I would let other players break you free. For sure. Like if you said, oh, I want to break. I'm gonna say Oscar for fun. I want to break Oscar out of the chains. I'd be like, okay, roll a strength of instinct world to break Oscar out. And I'd make it only the person restrained by it must bend a hope. Right. Because there's no reason someone couldn't break you out of the chains. I'd also rule it if you killed the guy, the spell would end. That feels fair. There's probably a s rule in there somewhere that spells end when you kill the person.

Karl 2:08:25

Yeah, probably.

Richard 2:08:27

But yeah, any clear.

Karl 2:08:31

Most of the time spell durations are like based on the number of tokens.

Richard 2:08:36

Uh or a countdown timer, or they just go. Yeah. Also, had I summoned, so there's a spell to summon a dynamic count pack, and it was gonna be a denomic rat pack, but I still would have used the dread howl ability where I say the dynamic hat uh uh rats do a dreadful howl at you, which I think would have been funny.

Karl 2:09:01

That would have been funny.

Richard 2:09:04

But yeah, closing thoughts on this session before we wrap things up.

Karl 2:09:09

No, I I think this was uh was an awesome session. And like, um I don't know what I was planning on using the the the flag for, but like uh waiting for the city.

Richard 2:09:21

Bombing your one allied city was a choice.

Karl 2:09:26

Bombing the rat cult, that was I want I needed to get out of there.

Richard 2:09:30

Oh, the rat cult was. Like, had you rolled better, because I was having the cloud, so the cloud was on a six-turn timer, by the way, because that's how long it took you to get there. And if you had made it to the end of the hallway within six turns, you would have been able to seal the virus in. Right. Then the people in the hospital would have been fine. And then after six turns, the next timer started, but you were down there for like twelve turns. I didn't I could not break those shackles. Which is pure coincidence, because there's no way I could have planned that to spite you. I'm like, ooh, it has shackles, that'll learn you. That was the entirety of the thought process. Ooh, it has sa shackles, that will learn you.

Karl 2:10:19

Uh serendipity, I guess.

Richard 2:10:23

And

Tweaking Scars And Solo Play Balance

Richard 2:10:24

I will say though, I'm really tempted in games going forward to make avoid death perm always cause a scar. I think that's the right move. I I think so too. Because at this point you would have one scar right now, which feels about right. Like you fought a dragon, what being scarred from that feels appropriate. Like I'm not gonna retroactively inflect it, but that feels like what I'm going to do for both this and my home game going forward.

Karl 2:10:56

Yeah, I I definitely think um like the because that still gives people six lives. Well, and and actually like going down in the in the session is is like you know, you only have like five or six hit points, but with the threshold system, unless you're fighting something way beyond your level, in which case you should go down and get a scar. Um like it's seems like it's actually reasonably difficult for a DM to kill a player because of the threshold system.

Richard 2:11:31

And I also think the wording makes it more appealing. So, here's a hot take. As someone who studies words for a living, like you do, players when presented with the three death moves, one sounds lame right now. Do you want a blaze of glory, avoid death, or risk it all? Avoid death sounds lame. Now, if I say take a scar or risk it all, I feel like that's a closer choice.

Karl 2:12:00

Well, especially seeing as taking a scar mechanically reduces the amount of hope you have.

Richard 2:12:04

But it also sounds cool. Hmm. I know that's a weird hot take, but my players are very clear they like consequences. Very clear. So if you say your option is Blaze of Glory, where you're die and do something cool, risk it all where you roll to see if you go down or stay up. Or take a scar, tell me how you this injury permanently changes you. I think like the role-playing potential of Take a Scar makes it worth picking.

Karl 2:12:34

I know that's a weird take, but I I definitely agree. Uh avoid death slash leave the scene just it just doesn't fit well uh with it's like the the epicness of the campaign. It's like you're you're in the middle of an epic battle, you go down and you just avoid death. Like, no, it doesn't really sound right.

Richard 2:12:59

And I think like to take a scar gives a roleplay moment too of you tell me, because a scar can be physical or psychological, be like, what's like how are you forever changed? Because yeah, it literally says the narrative impact of the scar is up to you, you might bear a bear a physical scar, a painful memory, or deep spheres, scars are permanent. They can be healed at GM's description as a downtime project or reward for a quest focused on healing the scar or something with similar narrative weight. So you can still remove a scar, but it has to be like a big thing you do. If you ever cross out your last hope slot, it's time to end your character's journey. Alright, so I think I'm gonna do that going forward, which is it's the kind of thing you can't really know until you play test, right? Like, you're halfway through this campaign, roughly. Just based on leveling alone. Did you level last session or no? No. Okay, you sh because as you should level every two sessions in theory. I think I'll have you go up to level six here. Alright. Yeah, I am trying to like that should put you into tier three, I believe.

Karl 2:14:13

Yes, I believe so too, the character. And a character. What do I get for level six? You get cool stuff for level six. So level up. Level six, I can choose my level up options. Oh, I'm almost at max stress. Okay.

Richard 2:14:46

That's funny. You would be at max stress. Actually, you're like the least stressed out person I know in my day-to-day life.

Karl 2:14:56

Okay. Okay, so I can.

Richard 2:15:02

Or do I want to save the level up to the start of the next session and wrap it up here?

Karl 2:15:08

Maybe we can save this for the start of the next session, because going through the domain cards can can take a while.

Richard 2:15:13

Excellent.

Wrap Up And Listener Plugs

Richard 2:15:14

So we'll start up next week when you're in the middle of a plague. You started. You are patient zero. You're blaming somebody else for the second time for being patient zero. And we will level you up from the strength you've gained from this experience of. Actually, I'm gonna need you to remove the word amateur from that experience, and you're now just a bioterrorist. I hope during your level up you level up that experience to being a plus three, because that'd be really funny. I am just a bioterrorist. But for those listening, play along adventures will be added when we feel like it. Send us those comments in shade. Tell me why I'm wrong about this game. And if you have a one-to-one scale Karl tattoo, he might give you a free pizza if you find him. I mean, if they showed me a one-to-one portrait of Karl, I would also say, okay, I will buy you a free pizza. You deserve this. You've ruined your life for so little. But thank you everybody for tuning in. Have fun. Oh, also, last week I said the Daggerheart Hope and Fear book. That doesn't come out till like August. I was wrong about that, lore. Mabird. Hmm. That's exciting though. Yeah. Buy your stuff on itch.io. Or don't. Download it for free, I don't care. Bye. Bye.