Episode 18: Parking Fines And Murder Raccoons

We bounce from AI privacy frustrations and hidden campus resources into a high-stakes Daggerheart session where a petty arrest spirals into murder, framing, and open warfare. We level up Karl’s Juggernaut, stress-test combat options, and unpack GM techniques for delivering lore without stalling the action. 
• debating AI subtitles, targeted ads and consent around contact data 
• discovering a library collaboratorium makerspace with 3D printers, drones and a holo room 
• breaking down anime pacing and why modern adaptations feel breathless 
• opening the Daggerheart session with a mundane arrest and a dangerous setup 
• leveling to six, weighing multiclassing vs subclass upgrades and proficiency choices 
• adding a homebrew “take a scar” option to keep players in the fight 
• running a timed investigation scene where each skill check unlocks different lore 
• surviving a city battle, pain beast ambush and a chase after a raccoon assassin 
• negotiating a risky alliance and clarifying the campaign’s stakes 
• assigning homework to build Zippo as an NPC or a second character sheet 

Transcript

Intros And Transcript Weirdness

Richard 0:00

Greetings, adventurer! My name is Richard, the co-host and arguably less popular star of Richard and Carl Play Daggerhurt.

Karl 0:11

Um my name is Carl, and I also have greetings for you. Thank you for coming to watch our show, where obviously I am the more popular one.

Richard 0:22

I love the idea though of the people who because there's statistically, the odds are not zero that there's at least one person using our like because the whole all our episodes are transcribed. So I love the idea that someone does just watch us and has no idea what we sound like. And I also really enjoy the idea that the auto subtitles are like, it's Carl with a K, and the subtile says Carl with a Callin, it's Carl with a K.

Karl 0:53

Oh yeah, because AI's not not uh perfect, that's for sure.

Richard 0:58

Yeah, but as much as I hate on AI on a daily basis, I like accessibility, so auto subtitlers are good. They're just bad when the auto subtitler, for whatever reason, feels the need to voice profile each person's political opinions.

Karl 1:13

Well, it's like I I

Meta Glasses Ad Crosses A Line

Karl 1:15

I continue to get annoyed by Gemini because it's not integrated with Android Auto.

Richard 1:20

You know what actually really, really ticked me off yesterday? I'm on the Facebook, because part of the reason is that's how I like communicate with your fiance once in a while. Right. And with your wedding coming up, there the questions of where am I staying, what are my plans, and like I should probably book tickets and things soon. Which I'm probably going to do after my like job interview on Monday. Anyway, TLDR about how I prefer vacations not staying with people because then my antisocial behavior is more acceptable in a hotel room. Plus, I intend to like continue to work a little bit while I'm visiting, because being able to return to my hotel room to then boot up my computer and write some articles is probably good for my mental health. But TLDR about that one. And it's like, hey, Meta Glasses, call this person. And I'm like, I in no way consented for you to go through my contacts to generate an ad for me. What the heck? Like, I am absolutely livid about the audacity to take a profile picture and a name out of my Facebook contacts and use it to be like you should buy Facebook glasses. Like, I'm sure I clicked the box that gave them legal permission, but like now I'm never gonna buy them because I'm mad that you took this person's screenshot without my permission and said, hey, you can use this to talk to you Carl, and I'm like, you stole the picture of Carl with an eye patch to generate an eye advertisement for me. I do not like that precedent. The last thing I need is ads being like, here's a artificially generated photo of Carl eating Lay's that we made from a composite image. This is why you want Lays. I'm like, no.

Karl 3:02

That is not okay. If they use my voice to run the advertisement.

Richard 3:08

Right? Not that we didn't give them an absolute hon of data to spy on us with. Yeah. A truly ridiculous amount.

Karl 3:25

But yeah, like I continue to be annoyed by Android Auto and Gemini not being fully integrated because now if I tell it to play a specific album, uh, and that album also happens to be the name of a song on the album, it'll play the s it'll tell me. It'll straight up say, I am playing such and such album on Apple Music, uh, and then it'll play the song from the album, which isn't even always the first song on the album, and then it'll go back to whatever other playlist I was listening to at the time. It's like, well, I want to listen to the whole album.

SPEAKER_02 4:00

You jerk. Stupid chimena.

Richard 4:02

Uh-huh.

Gemini Fails At Playing Albums

Richard 4:05

So that's my mini rant, but what's new in the Carl verse? I don't know.

Karl 4:12

Oh man. I had a whole big spiel, but now I can't even think about what it was.

Richard 4:20

It would be great. It was like what's new with you, you're like, I just woke up, and that was the entire bit, is kind of great.

Karl 4:27

Well, I mean, I I did just wake up. Um see uh one of uh the bartenders at my wedding uh happens to be the manager of a uh a liquor store. Uh actually um I I believe I've I've mentioned um that there's a liquor store down the street from my workplace um where uh within the past year someone actually got like shot and and died at this liquor store. Um and my buddy, that's the one that my buddy happens to manage. And uh he told me that uh that was a it's a tragedy. And you know, I don't wish violence on anybody. Uh but also it's very inconvenient for the uh bystanders that you know didn't get attacked or die. Um because you you know he happened to be present for this for this uh unaliving, as you might say. Um and uh he gave the police all the all the video footage, and then he still had to be at like the police station for like eight hours for all the statements and everything else of the interviews and everything they needed. Uh and it's like you know, he was at work for like five or six hours before it happened, and then he had to go to the police station for an entire work shift. And it's like anyways, point of the matter is I I uh after I was done work last night, I then went to uh his workplace to chat with him both details of our our bartending and wedding and whatnot, and uh ended up being up later than than usual because I was uh chatting with my my bartender for my wedding.

Richard 6:11

I mean, which to be fair, bartender is the third sexiest profession these days.

Karl 6:18

The third sexiest?

Richard 6:19

Beekeeper has gone up in score incredibly.

Karl 6:24

And is that because of that movie with Jason Stason called The Beekeeper?

Richard 6:28

I don't know, man. Something about the world being on fire. It's like because data centers and techrocrats are out here posting to their Instagram water should be for data centers, not humans. Being like, I'm growing

Wedding Prep And A Tragic Work Story

Richard 6:40

bees to try and stop colony collapse syndrome means like, oh, you're a really good person who's also probably in good shape because you are out on a farm somewhere. It's like they're basically sitting there as like a totem for anti, I don't know, something about it's like, oh, it's just quirky enough to not be an environmentalist that doesn't bug you.

Karl 7:05

Uh yeah, that was me about time that I actually I uh went driving out in the country just to go for a drive or whatever. And then uh we decided to just stop somewhere randomly to sit and chat for a while. Uh and then as we're sitting there, there's like a bee that lands on the car, and then there's another bee, and then there was like hundreds of bees, and it turns out that we had this randomly turned into the driveway of like a bee farm. And it's like, oh wow. We left after this after the car got sworn by bees, but that was pretty crazy. Anyway, so what's new with you there, Richard?

Joining The Library Collaboratorium

Richard 7:47

So, as I was mentioning for like one minute off stream, today I joined the library cult. So, a few months back, longtime listeners and Carls will remember I taught a class on well, more like a drop-in workshop on Inform 7 parser-based storytelling, bada bada bada bada. And if you want to see my example from that, you can click on my itch.io page. I think if you go to my link tree, you can actually see some of the lesson materials in a padlet attached to somewhere. And people who want to snoop on me, the amount of information you can actually find about me is truly horrifying. But this took place in a room called the Library Collaboratorium. Okay. And then the leader of the library collaboratorium's like, hey, that was a great presentation. You should apply to be a member of the collaboratorium. And I'm like, Collaboratorium, you say? That sounds cool. Then I forget they exist for two months, like you do. Or like a month. It's been a month. So I decide to fill this Google form, and it's like, who recommended you to the collaboratorium and why? And I'm like, uh, this person? So I show in for this tutorial, and it's like a semi-secret room you can only get to from the third floor of another building that goes through a back door into this library chamber.

unknown 9:04

Okay.

Richard 9:05

And I was originally like, oh cool, a space that has cool dry erasable tables that I come can come work in peace for the next five years, right? And then I go in and they're like, time for a tour, and they're like, I'm gonna start showing you the machines in the collaboratorium, and I'm like, the machines? So, by joining this laboratory laboratorium, which I'm pretty sure I can only do because another person in the collaboratorium recommended me to the collaboratorium, you know, call behavior. Okay. Gives me access to 3D printers, laser cutters, drones, a embroidering machine, and just like all of these really cool toys, like they're just robot arms and fabricators and things, and they're like, oh yeah, anything in this room you want to use, you just send me an email and I'll train you how to use it. Also, you can use these dry erase tables and these projectors, and the 3D hologram room. Like, it's a room where you like go in a dome with 360 degrees monitors to like use for visual projects or games or things. They have one of those things you stand on and the ring scans you and gives you a 3D scan that's like one millimeter, like shows the pores on your face level of detail. And I'm like, okay, let me get this straight at university. So if you're a grad student or faculty, there's a secret room that has like hundreds of thousands of dollars of cool equipment with no wait time you can just politely ask to use. Because I was like talking, like, oh, because it's part of my research, could I make DD minis? Like, as long as you don't like sell them on Etsy, absolutely, you can sign up to learn how to make them. But I do think the high HD resin printer would do a better job than the regular 3D printers. I'm like, what? So it's just like if I so desired, with like four emails, I could go into a room, be 3D scanned, upload it to their high-end graphic fidelity computer, put in elf ears on it, and then print custom miniatures with hyper-accurate versions of my face on them. Like that's the the stuff in this room, and I'm just like, man, in my cohort of 21 students, we all got this email, and only I thought to follow up on it, and now I just have access to like Star Labs.

Karl 11:25

Because Tedar complains about AI, uh, I decided to look up the definition of collaboratorium, and the AI overview says that a collaboratorium is a blended word derived from collaboration or laboratory or auditorium. Um it refers to a dynamic, technology-rich physical space, or digital environment designed specifically to foster teamwork, ideation, and experimental problem solving. That sounds about right. Yeah, yeah. So um I mean, it does kind of sound like a cult with the way that you just describe the people in it, but just funny because it's a sick space.

Richard 12:08

The thing that's just funny to me is like because I taught that class and I met and we taught it in that room, because they do workshops and things, and like, oh yeah, send an email here, and I'm like, it's not a cult, and it's not even like a secret club. Literally anyone could send out an email, but no one would ever think to send out an email. Right. So it's like, unless someone tells you this exists, there's no reason for you to think it exists. And I'm just like, oh. I wonder how many people think to themselves, well, I could tell more people about this, but I enjoy having seven 3D printers at my disposal. Or this, like what was it? It was like a resin tank rendering something something. That was like a 3D printer that could print something the size of like an air fryer. Like it was like oh you and then it's like for 3D printing, you get like half a reel of filament free, and then they start billing you, and I'm like, uh what? I could just If I were to print minis for my entire DD party, it wouldn't even get me through my free sample. And also it's a space that's just opened 24-7. Also, dry erase tables for running TTRPGs. I'm like, wait a minute. For something like Dagger Harp, Jig able to just draw rocks and trees and put the menis on it? Like, that's because the measurements are just using sides of cards and pencils. You could just doodle what you want on the table and be done with it in like 30 seconds. And then yeah, I could also like they're like, hey, if you want, you can teach classes and workshops and things, and we'll promote them using the entire library network. I'm like, Huh. They're like, oh yeah, if you want to get things published or through here or use the hollow deck, just let us know. And I'm like, Jesus. Here's the holo deck. Uh the point being, check what services your campus's library has for you. Uh kind of wild, like it's like so much university services, but it's so hard to know what services actually exist to do things. Also, it's a grad student space, so like it's only for they filter out the poor people. Well, not the poor people, grad students are notoriously poor. They filter out the people who would like pour cheese in a 3D printer. Like you have to at least finish a degree to be allowed in here. 3D printed food. Soon. Soon we'll have our awesome tofu bug protein printers, and they'll be great.

Karl 14:41

Yeah, can you imagine if they just had tofu filaments instead of plastic filaments?

Richard 14:46

It's not a hypothetical. This machine's being built. They use it like cricket protein and tofu and flavor extracts to just print pizza. Anyways, I I remember what I was gonna talk about for what's new with me. Um well, it's less cool because there is no drones involved. Well, you're right, there are no drones. Well, assumably there's no drone services? I don't know. Um I don't even know what I would do with robot arm access, but I have it.

Anime Pacing And Adaptation Hot Takes

Karl 15:14

But see, uh at your recommendation, I've been watching the Demons of the Shadow Reagans. That's good. That's good. It is it is good, it's good. Um, and the latest episode that I watched, which was dubbed, because I haven't I haven't been watching stubbed, I've been watching the dub game. I tend to do dubbed anyway. We just lost half our viewership. I've been watching the the dub version of Demons of the Shadow Realm. And um the last episode that I saw was uh long arms and long legs were the two demons that they had to fight. And uh I mean I I absolutely love the episode. The episode was was amazing. Like the enemies are like just like strange, grotesque creatures that just like extend their arms and legs to slap people around and and uh then uh the characters are actually extremely strategic.

Richard 16:11

Like Katada dude objectively has the coolest evidence.

Karl 16:19

Uh but I uh I really appreciated how uh Yuru, the main character, as you say, he's a certified bananas. Yeah. Um and he's just like, okay, well I'm gonna draw their attention and then I'm gonna give them the bluff of a lifetime because I'm gonna pretend pretend that I've activated this ability that to die for. Um and uh it's like at that moment when you're watching, you're like, oh man, he just got like it looks like he got hit by a freaking tree. Uh did he actually die and activate his ability? Uh and then it turns out it was just a big bluff, and and uh that he uh had lured them to a strategic point where his own demons could could trap one underwater while the other one was blind and couldn't see. Um and it's just like this terribly tragic, poetic ending to these two demons, because the one is he is trying to reach out to his brother and he can't speak and he's drowning, and he's like, Oh, I'm sending those. I'm like, Oh, I need you to save me, brother, and then the other one, long legs, is like, brother, I need your help because I can't see, I don't I can't do anything without you, and and it's just like oh so poetic and beautiful.

Richard 17:27

They're cooking. Terrible. Uh also I think your daemons will be snakes and ladders, where one's a snake and one's just a ladder.

Karl 17:39

Uh but um I mean, like I said, I absolutely love the episode, and I really do recommend anybody watch it. Um it it's great. But um, as I had mentioned on on our other podcast, I believe, uh, there was one episode uh where the dramatic timing was.

Richard 17:58

Are you still not over the arrow scene?

Karl 18:02

Well, see, uh most of the these uh episodes have been you know pretty pretty good pacing. Uh but there was also something about this episode where um when he does this big flop, and it was great. And then he has this little mini monologue, oh you only gave me a second, but that's all I need, and then he's like, now, and and uh his demons jump in to save the day. Uh anime 101. Right. Uh I don't know what it is that like I I love the the scene, but at the same time, there's something weird about the pacing that's like I don't I don't know how to articulate what it is that I'm feeling, but something feels off about this.

Richard 18:47

So I have a hot take, and it's a very hot take. Okay I'm curious your thoughts on it. So I find that modern anime switch from adapting we used to adapt like one episode, like fifteen it was almost a page a minute manga to anime adaptation, roughly, right? Your 15-page manga gave you 15 minutes of animation or so. Okay. Then as we advanced through time, it started being each page gives you half a minute. Like now it's like two chapters, three chapters per episode. Full Metal Alchemist's original run was like one chapter gave you like two episodes because they didn't even have the full manga to work with. And they added in a lot of cinematography, musical cues, and letting moments sink in. Like, my favorite, the most famous example of this is if you watch Full Metal Alchemist and Full Metal Alchemist Brotherhood, despite being like higher fidelity, more accurate, bada bada blah, Shao Tucker was done better in Full Metal Alchemist 2000. Right. This is widely agreed upon. It hit harder, it was more emotional, and it's part of my theory is it's the ratio which they used it. Like, Shao Tucker was like a four to five episode affair in original run and was one episode in Brotherhood. Right. And the reason I bring this up for Demons of the Shadow Realm being done by the same author, etc., is a lot of things are being paced with like ADHD in mind. Which kind of goes against it's like it's more cinematic and more fidelic and more solo leveling, but has less breathing room. Right. So when they do try and slow something down, it stands out more than it would have like in youwasha, that arrow scene of ending the episode with an arrow going super slowly to then start an episode with the arrow missing would fit perfectly in something classic. Like half the episodes of DBZ ended that way.

Karl 21:06

So so it's the juxtaposition of modern cinematography with a classic painting.

Richard 21:14

Cause it's like what I think is happening with Damons of the Shadow Realm is they're blitzing through their material, which is just kind of the way people do things now, where they'll take something that would have been 40 episodes before, and now it's a tight 13-episode season. And I think it causes the pacing to feel weird, because the show is not giving itself time to breathe, except in dramatic moments. So there's no like other pauses that ever happen. Like, think about how much stuff has happened in those first Like, even the car park episode where he's like, Alright, I'm gonna explore the city for the first time. Oh, I got whiplash, now I'm vomiting, now I'm in a garage, now I'm fighting this, now I'm shooting at the lights, now I'm fighting the fish monster. Now another character's in. Oh, there's a third character. Oh, I stabbed him in the shin. Now we're in the mansion and learning the backstory. That would have been like four episodes. There's no way he would have went from leaving his hotel room, going to the garage, and meeting his sister all in one episode. Yeah, you're right. That is a pretty breakneck pace. And because manga is written specifically to be weakly and end with specific hooks and things, sometimes when you staple two chapters together to get one episode. It kind of is weird because you have like the flow kind of gets messed a bit. At least in my opinion. Like, even in JJK where they like turned all three mocky chapters into like one episode. That meant that like reaching out to my sister dying in a grave scene happens like twelve minutes in. And I'm like, this feels like where an episode would end to give us some space. But it's like, oh, I sacrificed my took your power sacrifice, but a lot of people are like, the hell even happened here. Monkey's Jack now. Okay. So that's kind of my hot take. And like I could be wrong about it, but I do think it's the pendulum effect of we went from too much fluff to negative fluff, and shows like Freerin are actually at the healthy amount of fluff. Because Freerun will linger on a scene whenever it feels like it. Yeah. So when Freerin decides to like take a moment to really flesh out Aura on Alive Yourself, I say like we're monetized. We can say suicide on our podcast, we don't give a fuck. But like that scene doesn't feel like it's out of place because sometimes we'll they'll just spend ten minutes with them looking at a field of flowers.

Karl 23:54

That whole episode of them just searching for a flower that they're like, oh, we think it grows around here somewhere.

Richard 23:59

Yeah. So it's like, I call it it's kind of you know how I've given my speech about magical systems where like however precise you define one thing is now how precise you have to define everything. Right. It's kind of like that for dramatic moments, too, where if you give arrow being fired a dramatic moment, it then becomes clearer what doesn't get a dramatic moment.

Karl 24:23

Yeah, okay. I mean, like I say, I I do still really, really like uh like the show, and I do think it's it's a beautiful and very comfortably in my third place this season. Very creative and dynamic, interesting animations and characters and stuff. It's just those dramatic pauses, they're like.

Richard 24:44

Yeah, that show threw me for such a leap with the cover art and previews when the attack helicopter showed up episode one. I'm like, okay, you got me, I'm on board. Totally thought I was gonna. I walked looked at the trailers and concept art, I'm like, okay, I'm gonna be watching Arseln. Like, nope, yeah. You're actually watching Darker Than Black. I'm like, oh, that's a fun twist.

Karl 25:04

Oh, yeah, and and like the uh Eru's uh handler just getting a sniper rifle and using it to fight demons is like that's some good stuff.

Richard 25:15

Like if I were to make a new Daggerheart campaign train, because I was thinking about it today during my stroll, that a setting that I was trying to think of series that fit the setting, because Daggerheart campaign frames usually have like four or five touchstones that are in this setting. But like the Kagra Banchi setting of you're in modern society, but there's sorcerers and swordsmen, but you've bothered to flesh out the society enough that it doesn't feel weird. You know, like so there's shows that have secret societies, and then there's shows that have unsecret societies, and I think the unsecret societies are almost more interesting. Like, Damons of the Shadow Realm is secret society, but like Kagurabachi is unsecret society. Where he's just forging his nuclear bomb swords, and average people are like, oh, them sorcerers are just we they talk about sorcerers blowing up the CN Tower, like we talk about oh, there's a shooting down by the railroad in Sutherland, like they have the same evolved turn on the new sea that's like, oh, that's a Tuesday. Man, I'm in the Kagurabachi mood right now. I don't know why, but the sword smithing itself I'm weirdly on board with. The idea that no no, these swords, the reason they're so busted is here he is smithing uranium. And he has to smith it in the right rhythm that when he sees it it's kind of like in uh Oppenheimer when they're like, yeah, if we put if we let the death cue uh the death spear close too much, the radiation burst will kill us. So we have to have it propped open the right amount. I'm like, ooh, okay, I now buy how magical these magic swords are. You're making them with uranium.

Karl 26:56

Right. Yeah, because if it gets too hot too fast, it'll just explode and level the city.

Richard 27:02

Right. I'm like, okay, the smithing process is actually hardcore enough for me to buy into the fiction. And there also, I wonder if it's like a meteorite or something, the MacGuffin Rock. Although the McGuffin Rock bugs me less in a city setting that already has magic.

Karl 27:19

Hmm, yeah, that's true.

Richard 27:20

Anywho, the only thing losing yeah, Game of the Shadow Realms sick, Witch Eye Atelier still slightly better. The dub choices in Witch Ad Atelier are just entertaining me so much.

Karl 27:34

Uh yeah, you know, it I I actually had talked about that too, where I was like, oh man, it's so obvious that the the brim caps are uh the misunderstood like rebels or whatever. And then it turns out that they are in fact just evil, turning people into wolves and stuff for just to provoke the other side.

Richard 27:54

I don't know, there might be more to it. I don't know. The point the Cohen caps seem to be a little bit fascist, like Oh yeah, the the pointed caps do seem to be a little bit fascist.

Karl 28:06

The brim caps seem to be somewhat of an extremist society.

Richard 28:10

Right, because I'm like, yeah, the brim caps, like, are they just bad? I'm like, I don't know. It seems like the pointed caps are gonna be like, hey, you're disabled, so we're gonna just let you not have access to free healthcare. Hmm, yeah. So I'll see how it goes. Don't do that. But yeah, like, and then I just love Devil May Cry the anime. It's terrible, stupid fun. They literally had Elon Musk Demon trick the vice president into letting Satan out. So he could then like, it's Double May Cry stupid, man, but it's so good. There's a scene where he picks up a motorcycle and hits someone with it, and the guy who gets hit says that's so badass before getting hit with it. That's pretty stupid. So good. Sometimes it's like when your thing starts with, well, we gotta make sure to license Lincoln Park for this because it has the right energy. I'm like,

Time To Play Daggerheart

Richard 29:05

oh, this is just gonna be stupid. I'm on board. Not everything has to have that pressure to be good. But are we ready to dagger some hearts?

Karl 29:16

Well, I was gonna try and segue and be like, oh, now that we've talked about some of the potential touchstones of our next next campaign, let's jump into this one.

Richard 29:23

I mean, to be fair though, the Kagura Bonji campaign would be sick. Just putting that out there. It would be. Alright, so last time on Dagger Heart. You kill the city. I didn't kill the city. So here's how we're

Arrested For Goat Parking Fines

Richard 29:40

opening this session. We're doing things a little differently. Okay, I'll be right back. So, how this session starts is It's the end of a long day in the city. And you are now sitting in a haven-holding cell. How did you get here? Keep it small and stupid and human. You didn't get arrested for the viral bomb. You didn't get arrested for anything heroic today. What mundane way method resulted in you being arrested? Some examples might be maybe you stepped back to admire something and you got your foot caught squarely in a net not messed for you. Maybe you had too many drinks and then woke up in this jail cell. Maybe you followed someone you thought was very cute that turned out to be a s undercover cop, and you probably shouldn't have tried to lead that undercover crop to a brothel. Or maybe you tried to pay with something with Feinwick coin, which is technically currently treason. Heck, maybe you won a public argument with a clerk so thoroughly that they detained you out of spite. Um well, um, for context, you didn't actually kill the whole city. It's just the area around this well and park, you basically an area roughly the size of Sutherland Saskatoon has now been quarantined with police tape. And a barrier has been set up around it.

Karl 31:15

I think that the original courier uh for the dreamstone um had a criminal record. And since I took their place, uh the uh the investigating parties uh eventually caught up and arrested me in in place to uh interrogate me, thinking either that I was in fact the courier in disguise, or that I might know about the courier's whereabouts.

Richard 31:43

I'm gonna put a little bit in more into it to make it sillier if you're on board. The courier had an outstanding warrant in the city because the goat he rode on had shot in front of a police station and he didn't clean it up, and you're actually being detained for unpaid goat parking fines.

unknown 32:00

Okay.

Richard 32:01

So they don't think you're the fake courier, they completely believe you're the courier, which means you're now liable for these unpaid tickets. Okay, and I do not have much gold as we found out last time. But I'm gonna say though, this isn't happened in the same city. You manage to, after leaving the city behind you with the plague type situation. You're at a small haven outpost, halfway back to the city. Were you heading towards Alora or the volcano?

Karl 32:35

I think I was gonna head towards Alora because I feel like I'll be able to get more allies to fight the dragon in Alora.

Richard 32:42

Okay, so you're on the way to Allura, and you managed to find a relatively new Haven City. And you tell me what it's called. Is literally they just kind of it's specifically a trading post between the beautiful festival goblin kingdom and King Ed's domain right on the border. What is this new trade port called? It's like a decent sized city. I'm gonna say it's a swift current size city. Okay. Which was a justifiable truck stop, like this one is.

Karl 33:16

So I guess it's probably gonna be called uh I'm gonna call it the Blue Jay Bay.

Richard 33:24

Blue Jay Bay. Alright. Yeah. So you're in Blue Jay Bay, a city famous for its stickball and being a trade port. And really high winds along the main road. Most of the city is just kind of like it's like it's all built on the side of a road, but then you head inwards and it's actually like a full trade post going in. It's pretty nice, honestly.

Karl 33:51

So it does sound like a nice place, and I'm I'm just in a holding cell right now.

Richard 33:56

You are just in a holding cell. You see sitting across from you a kobold. You recognize this kobold as the one who sold you asbestos paste in the city.

Karl 34:17

Zippo's fire resistance out, so I recognize him as Zippo. You do? His face is on the bottle.

Richard 34:26

Friend, where'd the deliver for?

Karl 34:31

Uh well, I I I seem to have been determined to liable for for some tickets for an uh illegal goat parking.

Richard 34:40

Oh, they'll get you for that one.

Karl 34:44

It wasn't even my goat. I don't even know whose goat it was.

Richard 34:49

Well, the moral of the story is the cops are up to no good and are part of a corrupt system where they serve their lead upper class.

Karl 34:58

Uh I suppose that that makes sense. Uh being a doctor without borders, as much as I, I it's not exactly a prestigious position among the elites.

Richard 35:10

Yeah, I tell ya, you burn down one police station and suddenly all the people you treated mean nothing.

Karl 35:19

Well, I mean I I I didn't burn down a police station, I don't think.

Richard 35:24

Oh, sorry, I was talking about me. So I could sell more ointment. Supply and demand, baby You know the joke is though, it wasn't the arson. It was absolutely the setting up a stall without a license that caught me.

Karl 36:03

You gotta if you're gonna be illegal, you at least gotta be bureaucratic about it.

Richard 36:08

Uh oh well, win some, lose a lot.

Karl 36:13

Well so uh have you been have you been arrested here before then?

Richard 36:17

Oh no, never here. But like I don't know if you're aware, but like my stall and my customers kinda all turned to stone in a horrifying explosion. And I thought to myself, nope. And then I left. If I wasn't wearing a gas mask, I would have been dead. Good thing I was making meth at the time.

Karl 36:42

Well, I mean, the those evil rat cultists were working with with the extremists from the from the fan race.

Richard 36:49

I mean they're kind of like Yeah, they were a cult, but they were a pretty low-key cult, like. Oh no, I grew body hair. That's just like societal beauty standards being at play here. I mean, if your biggest crime is you encourage people to eat garbage and grow a body hair, then we'd have to get rid of every unhoused person in the continent.

Karl 37:14

Um well, uh it's sad to hear that your business tried up like that. That's that's tragic. Um, but do you know how long these sorts of things generally take?

Richard 37:30

Ah, we'll be out by morning.

Karl 37:34

That's good.

Richard 37:35

Uh what time is it now? So, right now in the solar cycle, you have about two more days till morning. Ah, so I'll be detained for two more days. But you do hear what sounds like really consistent footsteps down the hallway approaching you. Like very practice, very rhythmic. Just kind of t tw down the hallway in your general direction.

Karl 38:05

Um, I would assume that they they took all my stuff, right?

Richard 38:13

Ah no. They didn't throw you in for a serious crime, they didn't care.

unknown 38:17

Oh.

Richard 38:18

Really? Okay. It is, however, an anti-magic cell though. Alright.

Karl 38:25

I mean. My fishing rod is mundane.

Richard 38:29

You do have a mundane fishing rod.

Karl 38:32

Uh anyways, uh I'm just gonna sit here and wait for the person to check this out. Wait, uh, roll an instinct check for me. Okay. Oh, um, actually, before I roll, uh, were we still planning on leveling me up this session? Yes, but I want to do this bit first. Okay. Instinct. I'm not under some sort of curse this time, am I? Not that I'm aware of. Oh, that's good.

Richard 39:04

Ooh, five with beard. You do not see the keys hanging on a coat rack across from you. Hmm, too bad. Alright, so let's level you up. Okay.

Level Six Choices And Multiclass Debate

Richard 39:21

Daggerheart leveling. Such a like good segue for that because like, oh yeah, you just leveled up at some point in this jail, so I go campaigns on Daggerheart Nutsex, not a sponsor. Mostly a fan? It is less obnoxious than Roll 20 for how I play it, but. Hmm. Uh okay, so level up. Although leveling up in person is definitely the best for Daggerheart where there's just checkboxes on the character sheet. Okay. So. Oh, that's a new button. They have a save a copy button where I was able to clone your character sheet for me to pull up on my end and to play around with.

Karl 40:14

Oh, that is that is neat.

Richard 40:17

I like the it uh forever ago, I had a small thing on my Fiverr where it was like, are you tired of people showing up with more elaborate characters than you? Click this butt uh purchase me to write you a character backstory and come up with a more interesting character of roleplay guides and tips for you, so you don't show it at a table feeling overwhelmed. Okay. So, at level six. Mm-hmm. New options that appear to you is you can upgrade your subclass by taking a new subclass card. Or you could multi-class by taking a multiclass option on the multi-class sheet. Are two new powers that come to you at level six specifically.

Karl 41:05

Okay, so I am a juggernaut, yes, no? Yeah. Um still something I didn't realize when selecting a class uh was that there are in fact three levels of each class. You know, a foundation feature, a specialization feature, and a mastery feature. Um and so initially when I was looking over this and I saw the upgraded subclass, I was like, what does that even mean? Uh but apparently for this class, my specialization feature uh is rugged, gaining a permanent plus three bonus to your severe damage threshold. Uh which my power range feature allows me to mark a stretch that target two creatures within melee range with a single attack roll.

Richard 41:57

You gain the ability to punch someone in the throat, punch someone in the throat and headbutt the third person.

Karl 42:02

Uh and then I for an eye, when you mark one hit point from an attack within melee range, the attacker must immediately make a reaction level 13 on a failure once per rest, so they immediately mark the same number of hit points in return.

Richard 42:15

So, in my brain, it is definitely that you catch their sword and elbow them in the throat scenario. Alright, so I do really like the specialization features. True, but I feel like this is a good time to talk about multi-classing. So technically at level five, you could have done this as well, but we didn't really come up in conversation because at level five is where upgrade subclass and multi-class come up. So when you multi-class, you get to select one domain from that class, and you get access to their features. So there's little multi-class modules that slide next to the character sheet in person, but you get a foundation card, which allows you to use their spellcast roller spellcast trait. And you now also can use this new trait. So basically, if you multitask, when you have your new domain, you could choose from that card, but you only get half the level on it. So, like if you're a level 5 wizard, then multi-class into druid, you could have sage domain cards of level 3 or lower. Right. But anything that references your level, like beast form and things, counts your total level. So if you wanted to multi-class hypothetically, for example, if you're to multi-class into a serif or a bard, let's go bard, because bard also uses presence. Yeah, okay. That would allow you to either choose grace cards or codex cards. You would gain the ability to s uh spend three hope to distract a target within close range, giving them a minus two penalty to. difficulty. And you could rally the party and give yourself and each of your allies a rally dice. Which is a D6 to roll to a thing once per session.

unknown 44:13

Ah.

Richard 44:14

This game's version of advantage. Pretty uh yeah, well, the rally dice ticks up, so it was very much Bardic inspiration, just straight up. Hmm, I suppose so. Where you get to add the dice to whatever. So that means it stacks with advantage, which is worth noting. Hmm. And then there's the two subclasses of Troubadour, which lets you during a long rest play a relaxing song to heal things, an epic song to make a target vulnerable, or a heartbreaking song to give yourself and others hope. Or a wordsmith that lets you give rousing speeches or Heart of a Poet you can make an action roll to impress, persuade or offend someone you can spend a hope and add a D4 to the role. So I think just picking an upgraded subclass is a completely legitimate tactic. If I were to suggest multiclassing just to try it out, I would recommend Bard or Serif. Because Bard is the presence class and you could take a grace card which is generic is like wordsmith powers or a codic card which is like more classic Arcana. Or a serif would like give you healing powers and you're a doctor serif would be a uh helpful and they scale off of strengths but I would let you use your presence as your spellcasting stat. Like even though the game I'm not sure specifically you'd be allowed to you'd be allowed to because your abilities aren't spellcasting but if you were a spellcasting class you would use your spellcasting like if you were a wizard multiclassing into serif I wouldn't make you use strength.

Karl 45:58

So as a monk multi-classing into serif I wouldn't make you use strength either kind of thing not that I'm making a pitch for it I just think it's was worth discussing so the thing about multi-classing is that that is such a powerful uh ability to multi-class that it takes both of your level up options when you multi-class it does because it gives you a domain card and those extra powers and upgrade subclass only takes one so I think I I'm I'm thinking for now that I would prefer just to stay in my lane I guess. I'm just trying to decide because increased proficiency also is a powerful ability costs two of your two of your level of choices.

Richard 46:56

And adds an extra dice to attacks attack damage and spell damage.

Karl 47:00

I mean for you that's pretty good that is pretty good very offensive um and I'm trying to decide do I want to go with offensive or defensive because if I upgrade my subclass and I gain the bonus to evasion. I think defensive almost makes more sense because with your combo strikes there's a lot of times you're like oh I hit this dragon for four hit points like I don't know if that push you into like a bigger tier of beating them up honestly well I mean the the upgraded subclass the Ivern eye ability uh that seems actually pretty like could could be something that actually just straight up kills the uh enemy without having to worry about their thresholds um like that's kind of absurd.

Richard 47:53

I mean I don't know how big also here's a hot take reaction role if you up your proficiency one of your card options is called rise up gain a bonus to your severe threshold equal your proficiency when you mark one or more hit points from an attack clear a stress so if you want to be a little synergistic with it right right increase proficiency get a better increase to my severe damage threshold and then also be able to clear stress to be able to use my other abilities more often those are my thoughts although my thoughts might have been multi-class to a bar to be a Troubadour for no particular reason um but no I I think for now rather than focusing on on damage output I'm I'm gonna go with the slightly more defensive I'm gonna I'm gonna be boring I'm going to choose uh game evasion and upgrade my subclass okay also there was one other multi-class option that I didn't come up with immediately because it's uh not a default class multiclassing to warlock doesn't would have done some interesting things which is another presence caster but that's too complex so I think your first thought's best thought but now level six seems to have some pretty um powerful yeah but now you're getting to the part where you're gonna have to start like using stress to swap out what's on your loadout. Hmm yeah that's true that's true which I'm curious to see how that works in practice because the idea of you have five powers out and you spend stress to put away powers like oh I use this once a day power and swatch it out. It's like you can switch at nearly any time for paying two stress or one stress. I don't know how much better or worse this idea that you only have five cards at a time you have to swap between them actually is because this doesn't happen often where people get to the point where they have that option during a short rest you can choose to spend a long rest downtime move instead.

Karl 50:16

What with my uh efficient thing that would just mean I get a long rest on a short rest. It's true. Huh but then that's a passive skill that doesn't actually help me in combat. Yeah but you can put it away and then switch it back out when you take a rest then I can just clear the stress needed to recover.

Richard 50:45

Yeah so you just be like oh I'll just switch this out clear it and also it only causes stress to switch while you're in combat so you'd just be like oh when you're out of combat you can just use your non-loaded cards because in theory you'd swap them out then swap them back right away.

Karl 51:00

Hmm I do like this rapid repost uh when an attack made against you from within melee range fails you can mark a stress to seize the opportunity and deal weapon damage of one of your active weapons to the attacker.

Richard 51:17

That one's particularly funny if you also have your subclass power so you're like okay I'll just hit you twice. You hit me once and I'll mark two stress to hit you twice.

Karl 51:27

Well no so the repost is uh when attack misses. Oh okay and the other one's when it hits well the other one is when you mark hit points I still really like rise up because rise up is every time you lose a hit point you clear a stress gain a yeah gain opposed to your severe threshold equal to your proficiency when you mark one or more hit points from an attack. You know what I think that one is pretty good too that's a good remembering previous fights where it's like yeah you burn through stress a lot in just getting those back I think you're probably right that's probably I'm gonna pick Ryze up. Counterpoint I almost want to make you be part warlock so maybe my advice is questionable at best I do think that like A now my severe threshold will be plus six so it'll be much harder to deal severe damage which is extremely relevant in this particular campaign frame with the Witherwild tokens causing you to pick scars.

Richard 52:38

Oh speaking of I am implementing a homebrew rule going forward because of how my campaigns have been playing out. As you're well aware other than you specifically because it would ruin the plot of the campaign my players almost never choose exit the scene so I have replaced it with take a scar. How it works is there's now four death options. There's Blaze of Glory does exactly what you think it would do risk it all exit the scene and take a scar. What take a scar does is you choose a new physical or mental scar, cross out a hope slot and get back up with one hit point. Right. So instead of leaving the fight you can choose to take a scar to stay in the fight. So now there's a way to stay in the scene without relying on a dice roll by permanently losing a hope slot. And if you lose all your hope slot you die forever. My theory is that A, we weren't giving enough scars, we kind of talked about this last session I had not given out a single scar in a year running Daggerheart. But I think it's the agency of it is if you choose to take a scar, you can choose to get back up or exit the scene with your scar.

Karl 53:53

And you choose what the scar is Wait do you get a scar for leaving the scene?

Richard 54:00

Uh I'm still on the fence whether or not I'll leave the traditional leave the scene role for a scar and have take a scar actively as a new mechanic or just make it that whenever you leave the scene you take a scar. I'm still in the air about that. That one I'm gonna figure out on the fly during the game. Hmm but it's like no matter what I want you no matter what you take a scar, but you can take a scar to get back up or you can take a scar to stay down. Stay down and not be dead.

Karl 54:30

Yeah because I do think the worst part was the idea that you exit the scene and just get to not play for a while yeah I mean depending how close the scene is to being done that could definitely be a little bit also I think it's really really funny to pull a licenseless rider and get knocked down five times in a fight and just be done at the end just done forever but I digress so for your level up you upped your proficiency and took a card or did you do the subclass I don't actually remember where you went with that uh no I took the um proficiency uh no no I I took the uh the up I upped my evasion and I took the um subclass subclass not the yeah the subclass the upgraded subclass okay uh but I'm gonna swap out my occarine brace no what I don't know what I don't know which is better the Ocarine Brace when you mark an armor slot to reduce incoming damage you can give the GM a fear to mark any additional number of armor slots or ferocity when you cause an adversary to mark one of our hit points you can spend two hit points to increase your evasion by the number of hit points they marked just lasts until after the next attacks make it against you.

Richard 56:03

So I think I what I would do is I would bench ferocity for now and pull it out when you go to attack. Hmm yeah okay because it's like defensively you might as well have the other one going and then switch to offense in the scene I see it coming as another one to bench where you pull it out when you see that there's targets beyond melee range fair my severe damage threshold is 28 shall we continue the narrative part of this session maybe I'll swap that out with my ferocity instead.

SPEAKER_02 57:04

Or what is deaf maneuvers?

Karl 57:05

I forget what that one is death because now I have two s I have two additional bunch of wrist.

SPEAKER_02 57:16

Oh yeah it doesn't actually cause stress to swap that one in so that one's actually pretty good.

Karl 57:22

Nice really haven't played much with the swapping around definitely just bench depth maneuvers because I can just swap that in and do it with a with impunity. Um the ferocity trying to decide I think I'm gonna keep ferocity over Octorine brace. Okay.

Richard 57:56

So with that figured out we'll decide over the course of the next few sessions if switching it adds more strategy or if I just say fuck it you have access to all of them at all times. I have not decided how I'm gonna rule this in the future. Because like they have the switch mechanic built fundamentally into the game but I do not think they've play tested that mechanic enough because how there is no level 5 adventure you can download. Right? Like there's no way to test this in something they've like built to test it. Right. So the data would be lacking about if people enjoy swapping mechanics.

Karl 58:35

But

The Spymaster Arrives Then Silence

Karl 58:36

MetaTexts aside you are in a jail cell and you hear footsteps coming towards you and you do not see conveniently located keys alright alright well I mean like that I'm I'm just uh waiting to see who shows up at the cell door to see if they're here for a zippo me or Holt so a middle aged plain coated man approaches the posture of somebody who has not been impressed by anything in years.

Richard 59:06

He seems to have a haven insignia and a chain around his neck and he's looking at you I honestly do not know if you would remember this man. Roll an instinct check an instinct check let's take a look why are you not rolling Ah seven with hope you vague recall seeing this man in a shack attached to a pillar when Leroy attempted to shove you in a sack do you, Carl, the player, remember anything about this man you rolled so poor I'm only letting you use the knowledge you yourself personally remember about this man well I mean I vaguely recall that's the city where the opium gets caught on fire.

Karl 1:00:16

Um but no I don't really remember anything about this man.

Richard 1:00:20

Okay. I will let you know with your current title and the couple years you spent technically with Haven this is Krell Dern, Haven's spymaster Wait he was in the city that was on fire? Oh yeah he also gave you the original mission and then updated it in that city or rather I didn't remember that that was the same person that gave me the mission well gave a different character a mission several years ago So he seems to be looking at you've been busy how do you mean people have noticed listen listen listen that's not a threat if I wanted you dead you wouldn't have met me sit tight sleep if you can in the morning we'll talk like adults we'll talk about what happened in the city a couple over we'll talk about what happened at the moonlight bastion we'll talk like adults and I'll make you an offer you'll want to take okay try not to pick the lock try not to use a fishing rod to grab keys off the hook the door's warded and the wards are honestly the nicest thing in this building I see I see we good Uh I think so yes sounds good and he like pauses like for half a step to see if you say anything before he begins leisurely walking down the hallway no I'm just gonna sit there silently the corridor door shuts the wards on the cells hum a little ordinary time passes a quiet beat roll a d twenty for me twenty twelve it's unnerving the silence in the room roll a d twenty for me okay okay roll another D twenty two an hour passes then another and then first it's a shout cut short you hear the sound of metal scraping you s cannot see but you hear the unmistakable sounds of a fight boots steel and a voice giving an order that turns something that isn't a word then a single very loud silence and then with no hands on it the warded door of your cell drifts open. The hum that's been in the in your teeth all night is just gone. The cell door is open the corridor beyond is dark and very quiet and it smells like a battle has just ended. Nobody's come to let you out.

SPEAKER_04 1:04:22

What do you do?

SPEAKER_02 1:04:26

Hmm still there do you know who that man was that came in here?

Karl 1:04:41

Nope I see do you think we should run forward or do you think maybe we should just lay it out and see what he has to say.

Richard 1:04:59

Zippo pulls a coin out of his pocket, flips it, catches it, slams on his wrist think we don't run. Running is suspicious right if you go running on a police station is suspicious we should stand up tall, take measured steps and very leisurely walk out of the building Yeah? Pretend that Pretend the door someone opened the door.

Karl 1:05:25

We don't know why that's the truth we we we agree right we don't know who opened the door so we don't know it wasn't them telling us we were free to go right plausible deniability and I stand tall I take measured steps and I begin walking leisurely into the darkness.

Richard 1:05:52

As you walk down the hallway you see three guards the first one has a slash going from his clavicle across up to his chin with Head half attached on, almost dangling on the side. The second one has scorch marks that have liquefied their eyes as they cried out their own brain. And the third one has their armor dented in, which looks like a claw print that pushed them so flat against the raw wall that it looks like they're splatted across it. Hmm.

Karl 1:06:22

I see. Um okay, so I see all the signs of the guards being attacked. Uh are there any signs of the attackers?

Richard 1:06:37

Like, I don't know, footprints or bloody footprints heading down the hallway.

Karl 1:06:45

Which there's only one direction to go. So they came down here, killed the guards, and turned around and left.

Richard 1:06:54

Yes. It almost like looks like go ahead and roll instinct or knowledge.

Karl 1:07:01

Uh let's be knowledgeable for no reason.

Richard 1:07:07

14 with fear. With the angles and things, I'm gonna spend a fear for you to mark a stress. Okay. If it was someone wanted it to look like you broke out of your cell and murdered these guards, that's where the directionality feels like it's going.

Karl 1:07:27

I think I think maybe we should maybe we should turn back. We might be being framed for for current killing these guards.

Richard 1:07:35

There is no back, it's just a prison cell and a hallway.

Karl 1:07:41

Uh well, I mean perhaps perhaps we should just stay in a cell and wait for this whole thing to be over.

Richard 1:07:47

As you say that you look down, your footprint is standing in a puddle of blood.

Karl 1:07:52

Oh dear. Wow. Well, no, I think that would make it pretty obvious um that I did not, in fact. Like the because there'd be two footprints going either direction. Hmm.

Richard 1:08:14

And as in the briefest moment you contemplate returning to your cell and playing dead, you do see around the corner Crendell on the floor, and he's not getting up. Standing over him is a tall figure in a long patch coat, face hidden. She turns her head just slightly towards you, and her coat comes apart. Three raccoons climb down out of it, out of the sleeves, the collar and the hem, drop to the floor and scatter in three directions into the dark, as the coat falls empty.

Karl 1:08:49

Ooh, spooky.

Richard 1:08:54

Um by the time you process what you're seeing, the raccoons are gone, into vents, under forger and out of cracked window. You hear a sound outside loud like a battle. Whatever you're gonna do, you're gonna have to do it quickly.

Karl 1:09:14

Well, I mean, I'm going to uh go scoop up that coat. Um does the coat seem to be cursed.

Richard 1:09:24

Well, as you scoop up the coat, you're standing over the body of Haven Spymaster in a building full of dead Haven soldiers, having been very visibly let out of your cell. In this room, which seems to be like the check-in office, you see that a few details. And I'm setting down a dice as a timer. There is a D4 dice in front of you. Picture it in your mind, Alice. Yeah. You see that there's a coat. You see that there is a toppled desk that was a heavy iron desk with some papers crushed under it. Yeah. You see that there seems to be some notes and papers scattered on the floor, knew it. There's the coat itself. And you see that one person is wedged under a bench, ears ringing in shock, curled up in a ball, and their eyes meet ears for a second.

Karl 1:10:17

Ooh.

Richard 1:10:17

Um the room is filling with smoke from a tipped over lamp, and the noise outside is rising. Very dead. He kind of looks like a raccoon bit out his trachea and his heart.

Karl 1:10:35

The person hiding under a bench, are they injured?

Richard 1:10:39

They seem to just be in shock, trying not to spook. They are covered in blood, but it doesn't look like it's their own from here.

Karl 1:10:48

I see, I see. Um well, I mean, I'm gonna take the cloak and put it in in my backpack. Yep. Um should I put anything specific in my backpack or should I just say fanewraith cloak cloak? Say Fainwraith cloak for now. Uh Fein Wraith Cloak.

SPEAKER_02 1:11:22

Uh, and coat of three raccoons.

Karl 1:11:30

It's like the coat of many colors, but for raccoons instead. A little bit, yeah. Anyways, um since the person does not seem to be injured. No, I should definitely go help. Um I uh okay, so do I have I don't think I have it? Oh, I still have basic supplies, so do I have some like I have food and water I can give this person?

Richard 1:12:08

I mean, they they are a person who like is working their day job. But like go ahead and roll a presence check.

Karl 1:12:17

Yeah, I want I want to try and console them and help them from the um that way if they get interviewed about what happened, uh they will interview that it wasn't me. Presence 14 with hope.

Richard 1:12:38

The one safe place from these stupid spirits. And look at it now. A house full of dead men, a spirit and a coke walking out the front door. Nowhere is godless anymore.

Karl 1:12:53

I I swear, I I will find who did this. This this hey, a surprise.

Richard 1:13:01

The Harshmage was a here a few hours ago. He just got out in time. They were fighting, they were screaming. Something about a dragon. Enough is enough.

Karl 1:13:15

Yes. I think I might know know which dragon they're speaking of, but um Are you are you familiar with the with the lightning volcano by Allure?

Richard 1:13:30

The Archmage left in a fury heading west. I'm just here, just writing in the coat thing. And I'm gonna tick down the timer to five. Oh, I thought you said it was a D4. Oh, sorry, I'm gonna tick it down to three. You're correct.

Karl 1:13:52

Well, I mean, I was imagining a D4 in my mind palace.

Richard 1:13:55

Yeah, now it's a D3 in your mind palace, one of the weird asymmetrical ones.

Karl 1:14:00

Oh, they're like football-shaped.

unknown 1:14:02

Yeah.

Karl 1:14:03

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. I like those ones. Anyways, um. Anyway, so I gave him some food on some water, um, and uh I chatted with him, and now I'm just gonna walk out the front door.

Crime Scene Scramble And A Map Grab

Karl 1:14:20

See what's going on with this battle outside.

Richard 1:14:23

The room is still fiddling with smoke from a knocked over lamp as the noise outside is rising.

Karl 1:14:29

Well, that's a good point. I sh I should uh fix the the fire situation.

Richard 1:14:33

Roll an agility check for me.

Karl 1:14:36

Uh agility. How agile am I?

Richard 1:14:39

Twelve with hope. Twelve with hope. So as you head towards the lantern, pick it up, and you get to the window. You look down in the street as the first thing tonight that's bigger than this room. You see Haven soldiers and Feinwick insurgents are killing each other across the square. There is a battle outside. And you after picking up the lantern, you see under it is a scroll of some sort. Oh.

Karl 1:15:13

Uh well, I mean, I'm gonna snag the mystery scroll.

Richard 1:15:18

The field calendar, every Haven troop carries, is here. And because a single day lasts a week, and so does a single night, even though you tend to lose track of which one is which, you do look out the window and it's dark. But it shouldn't be dark yet. And in the dark is a week long and full of things to hunt. Right, right. And with the courier map, it's basically you have a calendar, and you have a location of various bases along the way, and little circles of them. It seems that they've just passed there's like several X's of where battles and haven camps were, and you visited some of these encampments during your time down, you see the moonlight bastion is crossed out, you see the set base here is circled, and following the route next would be that scorched base by the beach, and then the dragon itself. Your D4 is now a two, which is a coin. Picture a coin in your mind palace.

Karl 1:16:19

But so, um the scroll I have an inventory. It's a a map?

Richard 1:16:26

Yeah. It's a map and a calendar.

SPEAKER_02 1:16:35

Battle calendar. And my description is main read Attack plans.

Richard 1:16:52

You look over and Zippo is just kind of grabbing the coin purse off of Krill. But he's grabbing it with tongs and shaking it upside down so the coins fall into his wallet.

unknown 1:17:04

Huh.

Richard 1:17:05

So he's holding his wallet open with one hand, has tongs with another, has pulled the wallet off the other guy, and is kinda shaking it upside down so the coins fall into it without him ever touching the man's wallet. Zippo is a beast. Um okay, but so now where is are we near the front door or uh you'd have to go around a corner and up two flights of stairs. You're kind of it's one of those like basement suite windows you're looking at right now. Which do have bars on them. So you seem to be like in a basement of the police station. Right. Uh are the bars warded? They appear to be. Uh, roll a knowledge check. That's bad news, Max. 14 with hope. Nice. So, they're warded. They're supposed to be warded. However, it looks like the wards have been broken. But they weren't brute forced. It's like, if you picture the wards that Haven uses to channel magic as a series of witch head atelier style glyphs, rather than someone like carving these out or scratching them out, it's more that someone wrote additional glyphs around them and like reprogrammed the barrier to not work. So whoever like broke this barrier has an intricate knowledge of how it works.

Karl 1:18:36

Okay. Uh more to the point of my question, uh, would I be able to bust out through this window?

Richard 1:18:44

Oh, now for sure.

Karl 1:18:47

Uh what do I have to do to bust out?

Richard 1:18:51

I think that would be a case. I uh yeah, go ahead and roll an attack in this case. But before you bust out, you do see that there was that toppled desk, which seems to have a lockbox just kind of chilling on the ground next to it. Not that you have to stop for it. Timer is at is ticked down to one, so it has went from being I think it's just a one-sided coin would just be like a line segment.

Karl 1:19:22

Okay. Uh simple.

Richard 1:19:34

Um, that's a bad idea, but okay. Grabs a lockbox.

Karl 1:19:40

Alright, I'm going to attack the window to see if we can bust out. Alright.

Richard 1:19:46

17 with hope. So you definitely smash the bars and smash the window out, but I'm gonna spend a few so you take one hit point from punching glass with your hand.

Karl 1:19:56

I take a hit point, uh, clear stress. That's funny.

SPEAKER_02 1:20:04

It is funny.

Richard 1:20:05

So as you climb up the window, you realize Zippo won't be able to jump up to the window from where he's at right now. I have basic supplies, I can toss them down a rope. Alright, so you and Zippo have escaped through this window. Mm-hmm.

Karl 1:20:18

Uh now I think we should roll for stealth and try and avoid the battle. Alright, roll a finesse check. Roll a finesse check.

Richard 1:20:31

Oh, only an 11 with hope. The countdown hits zero, boots in the corridors, a lot of them, and a Haven voice shouting for guard detail that isn't answering. You're out of time, but out of the room. The only way that isn't towards the voices is the window and the war you see in the street. You see the pitched battle going, a massive combat between two large groups. Haven regulars against a Faintwick insurgent cell in the streets around the guard house. To reuse a battle card from earlier, it's very similar mechanically to the 200 person battle. Traversing the battlefield during active combat is extremely dangerous. You must succeed on agility rolls to move at all. And if an adversary is it with melee range, you have to mark a stress to make the agility rolls. Explosions, reinforcements, collateral damage could happen at any time. But there's no reason you can't try and squeak sneak through this active battlefield.

Choosing Honor Over Stealth In Battle

Richard 1:21:33

But it's much like trying to get out of a target during a Black Friday scale. Sale unseen and unnoticed.

Karl 1:21:41

Uh hmm. Well, I think given the nature of of what's happened here. Yeah, I I think I'm going to uh just start attacking the Feinrain people. Okay. Um Yeah. I've decided against trying to sneak out of the battle. I'm gonna try and uh prove my honor and valor and worth uh to Haven by attacking the Feign Rain.

Richard 1:22:12

Okay, so there's six or so conscripts around you. Poorly trained civilians pressed into the war. Frightened people who'd rather be anywhere else. Ah. Oh yeah, they have the cloak, matching green cloaks and everything.

Karl 1:22:30

Yeah, yeah, yeah, okay. Um, unapologetically, I'm just gonna start start punching.

Richard 1:22:40

Alright, go ahead and make your attack. Because they are conscripts, there are six of them here. They're defeated when they take any damage. For every six damage a PC does to the conscript, defeat an additional minion within range of the attack that it would succeed against.

SPEAKER_02 1:23:03

Well, why are you not? Okay, let's try this again. Roll for my attack? Ur.

Richard 1:23:12

There we go. Uh 26 with hope. 26 will hit this poorly trained civilian.

Karl 1:23:21

Alright, now let's see. There's 28 damage.

Richard 1:23:25

6, 12, 18, 24. You managed to knock you managed to kill three people. Sorry. 6, 12, 18. You managed to kill 4 out of 6 of these soldiers. Fist right, do you want to kill them or do you want to knock them out? Uh well, I'm I am just gonna knock them out. You went like, okay, flesh out the scene for me.

Karl 1:23:52

Um my powerhouse ability allows me to make another attack roll. Or no, mark a stress to target two more creatures with the single attack roll.

Richard 1:24:06

Okay. So that'll cause the same amount of damage to hit the other two.

Karl 1:24:12

Yeah, okay. So I mark a stress and I just knock out all six in in uh one like sucknor-style roundhouse kick.

Richard 1:24:20

Excellent. So you spun kick and knocked out six soldiers. This is a pretty drastic operation going on, but you've definitely knocked out a bunch of people. On the back of a horse, you see like a Haven Knight look down at you, look at the battlefield, and they made a mental note of what they've seen. As this knight goes riding into battle, a half jaguar, half bat grabs them by the face and flips them both upside down. Uh-oh. It is still a clusterfuck in here. Fires are beginning to be lit on these buildings.

Karl 1:25:00

Um well, this jaguar bat, like I I feel like I need to save this this night in particular.

Richard 1:25:12

The Nargakuga is on the ground. Sorry, the legally indistinct Nargakuga is on the ground. Let's be clear about that.

Karl 1:25:29

Well, I mean I'm I'm going to uh and and and I can get to uh this Nargakuka without having to make my agility roll. Correct.

Richard 1:25:37

Wait, actually, no, make an agility roll. It did say everything. Agility roll.

Karl 1:25:46

Hmm.

Richard 1:25:50

For some reason, my dagger heart axis is being slow. If only there was some sort of plastic object you could roll instead.

Karl 1:25:59

Well, I mean, I do actually I suppose I do have two D12s somewhere. Oh! Nineteen with fear.

Richard 1:26:06

Nineteen hits the pain beast. Oh, well, that was my agility roll. Oh, you make it to the pain beast. Uh but that was with fear, so my pear beast, you look over and you see that there's a second one and they're kind of circling around you. Uh-oh. So they are paired hunters. When a pain beast attacks a target within very close range of another pain beast, it has advantage. So I'm going to have it use its venomous tail by marking a fear.

Karl 1:26:39

Oh, so it's a loosened pirate. Gotcha.

Richard 1:26:42

Mm-hmm. So. Does it go invisible? Does a 24 hit you? A 24 does hit. Okay, you take 16 physical damage.

Karl 1:26:55

Alright. Um I'm gonna mark an armor slot to reduce that to minor damage, so I only take one hit point, but I will clear stress.

Richard 1:27:05

Alright. You have become infected until you heal any number of hit points. Well, infected, you have disadvantage on event on action rolls. Well, including attack rolls. Yeah. And I'm gonna spend my last fear to have its mate use well, bonded pair, its buddy. Its heterosexual life partner, possibly. It's going to mark a stress to use a pounce against you. Does a 21 hit you? A 21 does hit. You take 20 physical damage and mark a stress as it blops on you. Oh my.

Karl 1:27:45

Move is yours. Uh well, I'm going to mark another armor slot and Noah. What I'm gonna do not mark an armor slot. Okay, what is this? Um when you what takes severe oh severe damage. Never mind. Yeah, I didn't take severe damage. So I'm gonna mark a new results to reduce that damage by one uh and clear that stress. Alright, um but I am also just going to um mark a stress to go into my werewolf form.

Richard 1:28:31

Alright, as the as your skin begins to stonify and crystallize and your fingernails grow sharp. The action is yours. What do you want to do? Remember, usually when you've entered this form, someone you didn't want dead has died nearly every time.

Karl 1:28:53

Yeah, well, I mean, this time I'm going to just attack the the Nargacuga, not Narkacuga that's on top of me.

Richard 1:29:01

Alright, go ahead and make your attack.

Karl 1:29:03

But I have disadvantage?

Richard 1:29:05

Uh no, you're fine. Wait, yeah, you do have disadvantage because you got infected. Never mind.

Karl 1:29:12

Okay. Um first things. I guess gotta like refresh this page because it's why is it being so slow?

Richard 1:29:21

Because they don't sponsor us. Which means we have can be slow.

Karl 1:29:28

Uh maybe I do need to go get some physical dice, though. You're gonna need two D12s, sir. I mean, I it's not like I don't have two D12s handy.

Richard 1:29:43

I just kind of amused by the concept that you don't. Although when I was at my conference, one of my members of my panel was like, Do you have any dice on you so we can roll to who presents first? I'm like, do I have any dice on me? The idea that I would even if I didn't want to have dice on me, I think they're just in the lining in my backpack now.

Karl 1:30:06

Okay, so I got my d6 for disadvantaged. I've got my D10s. And then I need my D12s.

Richard 1:30:21

Which listening to Carl Dice. Count Dice, we are peak entertainment, folks. Peak entertainment, let's see.

Karl 1:30:33

Alright. Uh so that is a 19?

Richard 1:30:43

19 will hit the pain beast.

Karl 1:30:47

Uh 19 uh with beer. Excellent. But I deal with I deal four d10 plus three d6 damage.

Richard 1:31:01

Oh, um, yeah, that's a number.

Karl 1:31:05

Four d10. Let's see if I I should have.

SPEAKER_02 1:31:09

Okay, well, it's double.

Karl 1:31:14

Okay, so that is 12, 14, 18, 26, 32, uh, 34 damage.

SPEAKER_04 1:31:26

34 damage. Alright, I need a calculator one second. Alright. 34 divided by 14.

Richard 1:31:35

Okay. So you over doubled its HP. Didn't triple it, but doubled it. So as it takes four points of damage, I'm gonna spend that fear you gave me to use its hide spikes. And you take 11 points of physical damage from its shooting a bunch of spikes at you as you punch into it. I'm gonna say you punched it so hard you're getting hit by bone fragments from it.

Karl 1:32:00

So I I caused it to mark four hit points. Yeah. I am going to uh spend two hope. Uh to uh increase my evasion by four. Got it. Uh but I take 11 points of damage, you said? Yep. From its hide space. I'm going to I'm going to mark an armor slot to not take any damage. Reasonable enough. Uh, but then that yes, that was with fear, so okay.

Richard 1:32:36

And then the injured one is going to try and claw at you. Mm-hmm. Does a 13 plus um does a 19? 20, 21, does a 21 hit you?

Karl 1:32:56

Oh, a 21 does still hit me.

Richard 1:32:58

Yeah, the advantage, baby, roll the six on that. That'll be 15 points of physical damage.

Karl 1:33:08

Oof. Alright, I mark my last armor slot and I take one hit point.

SPEAKER_04 1:33:13

Alright.

Richard 1:33:14

What you gonna do? Back to you. One of them's looking pretty beat up, and the other one you haven't hit yet.

Karl 1:33:23

Uh I mean I'm I'm going to um attack the one that's pretty beat up. I'm gonna try and like punch it right in the jaw. Okay, make your attack. Okay, it's still being slow. I refreshed the page, but that did not seem to actually help. Tragic. Oh no, there we go. Oh, I need to roll a d6. I forgot to roll my disadvantage. Disadvantage makes that a 21. With hope or fear? Uh with hope. Damn it. But I mark a stress instead of gaining hope. That'll hit. Alright. Then my 4d10 plus 3d6. Um, and I'm also going to mark a stress to um to do the overwhelm to hit the other one as well.

SPEAKER_04 1:34:29

Alright, go ahead and roll damage. Sorry, what damage?

Richard 1:34:39

Rolling damage.

Karl 1:34:44

Waiting for it to roll. Let's see if I can roll my physical dice faster. Probably, but Oh no. Oh.

Richard 1:34:56

That's only 20 damage. Twenty damage is enough to deal to kill the first one. Mm-hmm. And deal three damage to the second one.

Karl 1:35:07

Alright. Uh.

Richard 1:35:13

And I'm out of fear. My fear engine is not on board with me today.

unknown 1:35:19

Oh.

Karl 1:35:22

Well, I am going to uh Mark a stress to try and combo off. Um so my first roll, D8. First roll, I deal an additional seven damage. Okay. If the roll is less than the roll that preceded it, okay. No, uh, I feel so that makes it 15 additional damage.

Richard 1:35:57

15 additional damage. Yeah. So the first one's dead, and the second one has three hit points or so left. You hit it for four hit points.

Karl 1:36:11

Yeah, okay, okay. Um that was marking the stress. Um, so sorry, how many hit points did I hit it for? Four. Alright. So I'm gonna spend two hope uh to increase my evasion by four again. Um and then uh I don't oh do I actually have any health? I do have a health potion. I'm going to uh use a health potion. Uh so does using an item transfer a spotlight, or how does that part work?

Richard 1:37:04

No, you just get to use your item.

Karl 1:37:06

Really? Yeah. Andy. And I clear five hit points.

Richard 1:37:16

You do. And as you're shotting your potion, you do see to the far north, kind of where the battle's setting out a bit, that the Haven soldiers are being pushed back, but you do see what looks like a raccoon running to the northeast through the battlefield, weaving between legs.

Karl 1:37:36

Uh, well, first I'm gonna finish killing this not marker to go. Alright. Uh roll for my attack with disadvantaged roll. Oof. Only a nine with hope, which means I mark a stress.

Richard 1:37:53

As you go to hit it, meh! You just kind of missed.

Karl 1:37:59

Um, he's close enough to be dead. I'm sure that I can get up and kill him. I'm gonna start chasing after that raccoon. Nah, nah, you missed.

Richard 1:38:07

I get some spotlight goes to me. It goes to me if you roll with hope and scrub it. Fair enough, fair enough. So it's gonna swing at you with its claws. Uh-huh. Does a 17 hit you? It does not. It really misses having a friend to give it that advantage. It swipes and it misses. And you look over, and Zippo seems to be like fighting off two like insurgents that are swinging at him.

unknown 1:38:35

Oh.

Richard 1:38:36

And Zippo's going to. It looks like he has. Because you notice he's wearing like pretty thick gear. He has his combat goggle, his blacksmithing goggles on. And it seems to have a chisel in his right hand, a mallet in the other, puts a chisel up to the throat of a s citizen, hits the chisel with his hammer, and chisels right through this man as it dies. And he just goes, We're killing the green ones, right?

SPEAKER_00 1:39:06

Yes, yes, we are.

Richard 1:39:07

And they see him throw a malt off and it just hits a haven guard. Alright. Back to you. Um Just three unrelated people are now on fire.

Karl 1:39:30

I'm going to attack the not Narcatuga once again. Alright. 15 with help.

Richard 1:39:38

That'll do it. Alright. And that's including your disadvantage. Oh wait, you drank a healing potion. No more disadvantage for you, haha. Oh.

Karl 1:39:50

Alright. I will roll for damage. 33 damage.

Richard 1:40:00

Yeah, it's dead. It's very dead. It's cadaverific. Kadavertastic. I'm gonna say you did the nine arch dragon thing where you did like a spin pivot and just skull punched it.

Karl 1:40:13

Alright, but so do I still see this raccoon that's running through to the northeast?

Richard 1:40:17

Yes. But you do see that it like has a dagger in one of its paws and it slipped the throat of a soldier as it ran past. Oh dear. Yeah.

Karl 1:40:26

Oh simple, let's chase the raccoon. Uh, am I able to just drop out of my feral form?

Richard 1:40:34

Yes, I think. Huh. Then it would imply that I've read this thing. Uh, one second. I'm going to daggerheart.com, clicking the void, scrolling down the void to where it says transformation cards. Downloading the PDF for transformation cards. Werewolf. When you mark your rest press enter wolf. While you would gain hope in wolf, you mark a stress in strength. When you mark your stress. Technically, it does say. It doesn't say you can drop out. It says when you would gain hope, mark a stress. When you mark your last stress while in wolf, go into a frenzy. Then drop out a wolf form. I'll tell you what. You drop out a wolf form, but I need you to make a presence roll for me.

Karl 1:41:23

Alright, I will make presence roll because I do not want Cycle to die. Roll 16 was hope. Woohoo!

Richard 1:41:32

You drop out of it safely.

Karl 1:41:36

Okay, okay.

Richard 1:41:40

Excellent. Let's see. I'm just seeing if there's any additional rules, but it sounds like, yeah, just dropping out of the transformation. I think as designed, werewolf lasts until you drop out, but like out of a fight, I think just letting people drop out's fine. But I will say, yeah, because you'd have to mark a stress to enter back in. Yeah, just dropping out of werewolf form is fine. I am okay with this. It does not seem to contradict rules as written.

Karl 1:42:07

Yeah, I mean there doesn't seem to be a specific ruling for or against dropping out, I guess. But go ahead and make an agility check. How agile am I?

Richard 1:42:18

I am 16 with hope. Alright, so you start running to the north, weaving through people, and ex much like any given Michael Bay film, things are just kind of exploding around you. But as you manage to rush through towards the north, you break from the square into the green dark at the sea's edge, the battle noise falling away behind

Hunting A Raccoon Assassin Into Woods

Richard 1:42:45

you. Ahead, the woods rise towards the high country, towards Alora. If you have a mind to run that far, of course, behind the city has the side on no evidence, and from both directions at once, that you might in fact be the enemy. But you do see as you head through the tree line, the a set of eyes catching the low light on the ground, and you do see three sets of eyes around you in trees. You're about five, ten minutes out of town, having chased such a raccoon far from the fighting. Uh, is Zippo with me? Um go ahead and roll a d20 for me for Zippo's agility check. A d20 for Zippo? 15. If you spend a hope, I'll let you roll a d6 to give him advantage. I will spend that hope happily. And five. So that makes it twenty. Alright, you need to beat a 17 for Zippo to succeed successfully with you. Alright. So Zeppo is with you. Very winded. And he like pulls out a little map and just crosses off the city.

Karl 1:44:13

Uh well, I mean, I'm just gonna, you know, shout at them like, Who are you? What do you think messing with me?

Richard 1:44:21

At this point, the three eyes drop down, kind of spiral in mid-air, and land as a person staring directly at you. Oh dear. I killed Krill. I won't dress it up. I'm sorry, you were just in the wrong place at the wrong time again.

Karl 1:44:46

This can't be a coincidence. But first you you kill my my my friend, and then you attack uh the the medical base I was on. How is it a coincidence that it happened to be in the same city that you attacked once again? Well killed the krill.

Richard 1:45:03

Cause you hang around with dangerous people. And then she just kind of takes a sigh for a moment. I've been chasing that krill person for months. To get some information on what they're doing. It was the one thing standing between us and a future. Tonight the path to him was suddenly conveniently open. The wards were down when I got there. The guard was thin. I took the opening. And I probably should have asked who opened it.

Karl 1:45:41

Wait, she's claiming she doesn't know who took down the wards? Correct. Huh. Interesting. And the archmage had just left.

SPEAKER_02 1:45:58

Interesting.

Karl 1:46:05

Well, why the why do all the innocent civilians have to die for you to achieve your goals?

Richard 1:46:11

I killed one person. Then your little jailbreak set the whole city fighting.

Karl 1:46:26

But you're the one who opened my cell.

Richard 1:46:28

No, I didn't. How would I have broken Haven Runes?

Karl 1:46:37

Um Do her hands look like um they have like um calluses and stuff from being like a like a scholar type of like whoever broke the runes was able to uh knew the structure of the runes and and reprogrammed them. Roll a knowledge check. Roll a knowledge check.

Richard 1:47:05

13 with the air. Their hands, there's dirty dirt under the fingernails. And they are calloused, but they are farmer calloused. This is a person that you're not entirely sure has ever held a pen. Like just the vibes they're giving are not scholar.

Karl 1:47:31

I see. Alright, alright. So now it's starting to look like the Archmage is framing me for being part of Fainrais, and that they broke me out.

SPEAKER_00 1:47:53

What what do you want with that dragon?

Richard 1:47:58

The dragon, from what I gathered from a few of these guards I was able to have a lovely chat with, Fallax has had enough of the dragon. And my sources have reason to believe he's taken the reaping eye out of Haven and means to point a dead god's eye at a living dragon and call it a day.

Karl 1:48:32

Uh so the reaping eye being the one that causes the overgrowth?

Richard 1:48:38

Oh no, the reason there's the overgrowth is the reaping eye was stolen, so only the growth eye is sowing eye is working.

SPEAKER_02 1:48:49

Ah, right, yeah, okay.

Karl 1:48:53

Right. I see. So he plans on using the the reaping eye to defeat the dragon. According to the fan race. Yeah. Who are not very trustworthy. Nope. Do I think she's lying to me?

SPEAKER_00 1:49:13

Roll A!

Richard 1:49:15

Instinct roll. Or presence. Your choice. Ooh, I'm gonna go for presence.

Karl 1:49:22

In this case, an eleven with hope.

Richard 1:49:24

In this case, presence is more about trying to goad the truth out of them and less about trying to get a vibe check. Like, can you get them to like trip up on their own logic kind of thing? Right, right. Especially that was an 11 with hope. As far as you can tell, they're telling the truth. If you like, you could spend a hope on amateur bioterrorist to get a read for them. Or sorry, professional bioterrorist.

Karl 1:49:47

Uh well, that would make it a 13.

Richard 1:49:52

Here's what matters past my pride. Fallax has had enough of the dragon. And he doesn't understand what he's holding. That eye belongs in the shepherd's skull, turning the seasons, giving us proper day and proper night, and spending it on the dragon, we lose the one thing that ends the Witherwild maybe forever. I can't get close enough to take it from him. You can.

Karl 1:50:31

Hmm. Okay, then this person she's talking about is the Archmage? Yes. Phallex the Archmage.

Richard 1:50:40

You remember one of his lieutenants blowing up a city to kill you, and his name on some paperwork in Worms Heart's Crossing. He is famous for having found the owl owl god and ripping out one of its eyes to grow a cure for the serpent sickness.

Karl 1:50:58

Mm-hmm. I see. Wait, I thought the serpent sickness was caused by the eye being ripped out.

Richard 1:51:07

Oh no, the serpent sickness is unrelated. Serpent sickness struck, and then they ripped out an eye to try and grow more antidote.

Karl 1:51:16

Ah, right, yeah, okay. That makes sense.

Richard 1:51:25

Ah, alright, alright. Um thing you did notice though, she has not apologized for killing that spy master at all. But she is annoyed that she killed that spy master probably for someone else. Like she's piecing it together. She's not dumb. She's like, god damn it. It's one of those situations where like she was effectively, and you can gather she oh believes this at least. You're not certain, but it feels like. The Archmage basically left a door open for assassins, went out for milk. Assassin came in, killed someone they already wanted to kill, to get intel they wanted. But from what you heard from the panicky clerk earlier. Note, I give you a little more feedback than I give other players because you don't have party members to bounce ideas off of. Right, right. Just for our listeners at home. I don't hand hold as much when there's multiple players to discuss lore, but you don't have anyone to discuss lore with, so I give you a bit more blatant information. But yeah, the idea is that the Fein Wraith was used to kill Krell, was f and then you were framed for all of this. Right. And as a result of this happening, it gave them an excuse for the police to start attacking the wicklings who lived in this town, resulting in a massive riot and a convenient diversion.

Karl 1:52:54

Well then Well an enemy of my enemies. My friend, I suppose. Perhaps we could work together to stop uh the the Archmage from from wasting the the eye on the dragon.

Richard 1:53:17

Excellent. I think we can make a deal of sorts. And they reach out their hand, offering you to shake hands. Hmm.

Karl 1:53:31

Um is shaking hands legally binding? She seems like she's some sort of like uh druid that might be able to legally bind me into or magically bind me into what you're doing.

Richard 1:53:46

You do feel like they might be trying to legally bind you into an agreement of sorts.

Karl 1:53:52

Uh yes, let's let's work together. I'm not I'm not gonna shake her hand.

Richard 1:53:56

Reasonable enough. And with that, that is where we wrap up tonight's session.

Debrief On Lore Checks And Encounter Design

Richard 1:54:03

And we'll do what we normally do of doing a little bit of a recap of things. Mm-hmm. So, first, the big battle that happens afterward, I can kind of run as long as I want for time. Mm-hmm. And this ended up playing out a little shorter than expected, but also how I kind of set up the CSI scene is I made a table where literally each ability check gives it a different piece of information. So, like, strength gives you something, finesse gives you strength thing, knowledge gives you something, presence, instinct, and agility all give you a piece of lore. Okay. How I designed it this time is failure gives you recap, things you should have already known from like session one.

unknown 1:54:48

Right.

Richard 1:54:49

And success gives you new information. So the idea is that it lets me kind of soft recap the little blurb I read during session zero. Which the Session Zero blurb was the Reaping Eye, a Stoad in Secure Vault beneath the Central Tower of Haven's Wizarding School, a secret of dangerous reguling group made by the Feenwraith, hatched a plan to end the curse of the Witherwell by finding the Great Owl and plucking out the other eye. The spy master, Kern Dern, is playing both sides trying to stop because he doesn't like that Archmage Phalyx stole the eye in the first place, and they've been paying for his decision to steal the eye. Krell uncovered the Feinturph's plot and sent your successor to get information, because he didn't want to send a troop of haven soldiers deep into the woods to hunt down the Feenwraith. And that basically the players are Krell is trying to stop the Feenwraith, but is also trying to stop the Archmage. Because the Feenwraith wants to. Basically, the Feenwraith wants to steal the uh unstolen eye, and the Archmage wants to keep the eye they stole. Right.

Karl 1:56:06

So basically neither of these things can happen.

Richard 1:56:10

And then Krill originally told you to hunt for the Feenwraith in the city of Alora, where she runs her operations out of. Which you technically got to with the other character.

Karl 1:56:20

Right, and and then I foolishly that uh made some very bold statements in the dangerous room.

Richard 1:56:29

So it's like the failure lore was a recap. And which like some of the hints give you information about serpent sickness, how bad it's gotten. Some of them give you the blooms and how rare they are. Some like it's like the idea was that no matter what they did, they'd get a recap of these events. Mm-hmm.

Karl 1:56:59

Yeah, I mean uh I I I think that did uh bring the plot back into focus a bit more from from where it's been for sure. So the the ten year time skip um that we did, it was it was great from a character perspective. Uh but it was a little bit of a like ten years later I'm trying to find information on my friend's death, and it's like I'm not really sure how I'd even go about that, you know?

Richard 1:57:40

Yeah, so how it's changed since then is that this dragon has been fucking people over for ten years to the point where the arch manager's like, well, I guess I'll unseal my nuclear bomb and nuke the fucker. But he just to kind of metagame a bit, and for things he could have kind of got during the QA session, was this is a diversion to keep the Feenwraith busy because she's been after this other eye for years. So it's like, okay, I'll make this diversion by having this entire town go to war with itself. As a diversion, and you even got like the map showing that he's heading east to go fight with the dragon. What specifically wanted you was trying to set it up so you and the Feenwraith would be killing each other. So we could go deal with the thing. Because Krell said, no, you can't go nuke a dragon. Mm-hmm.

Karl 1:58:35

So now me, the Feign Wraith, and Zippo are off to try and stop an Archimage from nuking a dragon that I do, in fact, want to kill.

unknown 1:58:45

Yeah.

Karl 1:58:48

Although, as as you I don't know if you mentioned this on stream or not, uh, but the tree that the dragon has taken roost in is also the tree that contains the spirit with the other eye.

Richard 1:59:01

So you don't know all of the details of this. But above board, the tree, you've seen various carvings and symbolies and things. The tree below the dragon is some kind of to go avatar with it, gateway to the spirit realm. Ah. Yeah, okay. And no one has found the owl in ten years. And their main goal is to hunt down this owl. So they want to kill the dragon, and had you rolled better on these checks, you would have learned, or like, did some of the other checks. Hmm. You would have learned that the tree leads to the owl. And killing the dragon is a means to get to the owl. Yeah, yeah. Because a dragon on the outside is a bad idea. But but I don't know this in character. You got pieces of it. You have a lockbox. Where picking the lockbox will give you. So here's the information in the lockbox you will successfully open. I'm sure. Inside a travel order signed by Archmage Phallix, day-to-day, requisitioning an armed guard outside the Western Gate, and a vault manifest that says that they took the reaping eye out. And you'll also learn that it basically says like suspected location for owl is here. And I'm still trying to like structuring the QA. But how do you feel about that approach of instead of like roll to get lore one check, me specifically locking each piece of lore behind a different skill check?

Karl 2:00:55

Um well, I mean it definitely fits within your ethos of design, uh, whereas like you can do the same check multiple times, but each time it gets harder. Um and it's like in this case, you could do the same skill check multiple times, but it would be for the same piece of lore, you won't learn anything new.

Richard 2:01:14

Because I like specifically had a toppled iron desk with things under it for like an obvious strength check, a journal that's locked as an obvious finesse check, a stack of loose papers as an obvious knowledge check, a person as an obvious presence check. Instinct is just the room itself, like you don't need an obvious instinct check. And the obvious agility check was the room's filling with smoke. And it wasn't really specific what you had to do to get the hint, it was if you use this check, it gives me enough devices to be like, okay, here's how you get the hint. So I did have to like adjust slightly. Which is why the agility check, it's like as you pick up the lantern, you find this map was like, it was a bit of a stretch, but sure. Sure. Agility check gives you a map. Might as well, fuck it. Mm-hmm. But no, I I definitely I I did like that. Um And then the reason I use the pitched battle here is because I put up these on Itch.io, your fight where the Turtle Fortress attacked a board, that one didn't get typed up as an adventure. Ah. Because that wouldn't happen normally during this campaign. Why would it? That was like a direct consequence of like the tenure time gap and things. Right. So I figured I'd use it here since we practiced it in other places. That makes sense. So I used the same card twice for the sake of giving it to our viewers to use in a more sensible way. Because I think the way I use the battlefield card is less interesting with how I did it, because I had a bunch of guys attack you. I think this is more interesting that there's a person trying to get away from you, and the battle is a physical obstacle of how many dudes do I want to fight through to get through here, where it was basically every time the party failed a group role, a group agility check to get through, you had to do a fight. So kind of like a gauntlet as long as I felt like running it. Right, right. So it's like first you have to fight some conscripts, then if you fail the next one, some elite soldiers, then if you feel the next one, you get shot by some archers. And then it's like the idea is to kind of like get get out of the city, shoot, get out of here. Right. And then I have it written that either the archmage or the Feenwraith approaches you based on how the campaign's been going. Right. So either the it's literally whoever whatever faction likes you less is who shows up to blackmail you. Because if you were less on board with the Feinwraith, she would have put out more of the hey, Haven thinks you murdered their lead dude. If you want to clear your name, you kinda have to work for me. Right. Where had you been like super Feignwraith the whole time, the Archmage would have been like, hey. The Feenwraith thinks you murdered their double agent, and they will kill you unless you come with me to help kill the dragon. Right, right. So it's like there's like two kind of interchangeable NPCs based on how the campaigns went so far. Hmm.

Karl 2:04:30

Man, the Archmage should have just asked me to help him fight the dragon. That's less interesting, though. I I know it's less interesting. I just think it's it's really funny that he makes this convoluted plan to try and like frame me for murder and and uh have me take out his his enemies, and it's like, you know, like Well, kinda how I wrote this session as intended was whoever side you're not on tries to blackmail you. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. I I appreciate that. I I I I like the the poetic justice of it.

Richard 2:05:03

I was just I just like for my other group, they would just go with the Feinwraith to kill the Archmage, right? So when I play test this on my other group, it's gonna be the Archmage being like, hey, you have to help me kill this dragon now. And like the two like the divergence is are you on team both because I feel like both people want to kill the dragon. But the idea is after the dragon's dead, are you trying to steal the eye or not? Right. That's how I feel like your conversation with the Fainwraith is gonna go is listen, we need to kill this dragon, and then after he kills the dragon, we steal the eye.

Karl 2:05:44

Yeah, and I I'm just gonna be like, no, I I I I'm pro spirits, but I'm not gonna help you steal the eye, because you guys are crazy extremists.

Richard 2:05:54

I mean, there's a version of reality where you steal the eye for yourself and then run into the tree. Like, there's a version where you steal this eye and try and return it.

Karl 2:06:05

Oh, if I steal the eye from the archmage, yeah.

unknown 2:06:08

Yeah.

Richard 2:06:09

I do enjoy the version where you just straight up betray the Fanwraith to the Archmage who just incinerates them, and you're like, yay, good job team, can I get a promotion now? I guess we'll see. But yeah, that's kind of what I was thinking is, now that we're about halfway into it, bringing back in the main players. Cause like, I feel like I've been giving breadcrumbs. But how do you feel? Like, was this necessary to have a character just straight up be like, here's the plot in the stakes, by the way, now that you've been doing stuff and have a reputation?

Karl 2:06:46

Well, like I said, um I I have been feeling a bit lost uh since the time skip.

Richard 2:06:56

But I feel like my non-timeskip players have still kind of forgot what they were supposed to be doing. So I think bringing back the spy master to be like, hey, how's it gonna and then murdering his ass. Also, it's totally a sephiroth. I pulled a sephirop of had a character murder everyone and frame you for it. That's what you do, one in doubt steal from Final Fantasy VII.

Karl 2:07:21

No, I I definitely think this is this was a worthwhile session and I very much so enjoyed it. Uh, and it it does feel like uh like I now I am much more clear about what my character is doing relative to what's going on around them. Yeah. I really enjoy the the pitch battle card.

Richard 2:07:54

Um and did you appreciate my CSIing? I was put in a new mechanic where the size of the countdown dice is based on the number of players. The idea is it's the number of PCs rounded up. So like if there's three players, it's a D4, if it's four players, it's a D4, if there's five, it's a D6, if there's six, it's a D6. To kind of give everyone one shot to do something. But I really want to try and set up the room that it's like there's a heavy thing, a thing that needs to be done quickly, a finessey thing, a talk to a person. Hmm.

Karl 2:08:28

Yeah, no, I I liked it. And like I say, I don't know how effective I was at actually making people think that I might not be uh enemy, but also I have homework for you.

Richard 2:08:45

Oh?

Zippo Companion Homework And Sign Off

Richard 2:08:46

So Allied NPCs aren't super well defined in Dagger Heart right now. Okay. Some of the stuff I made for homebrew allied NPCs are like I have a countdown that goes down every time you make an action roll, and then after X amount of turns, you get to choose from a list of menu items. So that's how I would homebrew Zippo. Because there isn't a ton of like There just isn't a ton of like Allied NPCs happening in this game as far as I can tell. Right. Like it's asymmetrical combat, meaning I can't just put an enemy with you that doesn't quite work that way. Like if I were to just take a artificer stat. Let's go like Yeah, let's go. I don't know if there's an artificer. Spelling is hard. Let's say bard. So if I pull up like the generic barred NPC. Something like Ah, I'm s my brain is struggling with words right now. But effectively they're called adversaries, and there isn't really like how you use NPCs that aren't in some way an adversary. Like, for example, the spy stat lock.

Karl 2:10:04

Um I uh I definitely forgot to actually use it, but my eye for an eye ability uh makes me use a reaction roll 13. Um so the adversaries don't necessarily use stats like players do, but they roll D20s for their reactions and stuff, right? That's Yeah. So for example So they don't don't exactly translate one-to-one to the character's actions and abilities.

Richard 2:10:31

Yeah, like for example, the spy MPC stat block is difficulty 15, thresholds 817, minus 2 attack, yada yada yada. Experience espionage three. So I could like in theory spend a fear to give it plus three to its reaction role if it was like espionage based. Yeah, okay. And his powers are like spend a fear to describe how this adversary knows a secret about a PC. Or when the group's discussing something sensitive, I can mark a stress to reveal this adversary is present in that scene observing them. If it escapes the scene to report their findings, I gain fear. But like I can't just turn this spy into a cobalt effectively. Because like if I literally flip switch the wording of spend a hope to give you a secret, and if it escapes, you gain one d4 hope. Like I could kind of invert it, but it doesn't really work great. Right. So Okay, so then what's your homework for me? Well, we have two options. The first, as I'm just kind of like looking at how running GM NPCs and things are tabbed, is the first piece of homework is to effectively assign you to read the NPC section to just kind of like see how the rules are written, like how an NPC would help.

unknown 2:11:55

Okay.

Richard 2:11:56

Like, for example, there's an NPC NPC that have like met they literally have like a page on how to like build an NPC but don't really have a ton of example NPCs. Gotcha. So that's version the first is make an NPC stat block looking at like the NPC page or looking through the book to find a GM NPC. Option the second is you can make a second character sheet for your cobalt friend, who is a level three character, and I will run them as a temporary player when requested. So you'll have a second sheet to suggest what you would like them to do. And just have them be a second party member that me and you kind of take turns controlling. So the idea would be you would build a cobalt character sheet, I would have it open, and you would tell me like what you would like them to do. Right. So it'd be like you'd basically be dual-wielding characters, but I would be there to assist you if that makes sense. So how turn order would go is on your turn, you could do something, or you could ask Zippo to do something. Right. Cause I think just putting a second PC character sheet might be cleaner than trying to make one of these GM NPCs. Well it literally says like NPCs don't need page long backstories or stat locks.

Karl 2:13:23

What do you think? Send me a link to the uh to the NPC page so I can actually like read it and and learn about that. And maybe I'll do both and see which which approach we actually like more.

Richard 2:13:37

Yeah because I think giving you a second body for this upcoming chain of events seems pretty legitimate to me. So either we can figure out how rules is written they want me to do this because I'm just I am struggling to understand how they want me to make a cobalt NPC here. Right. Because it's literally like if you want an NPC to m a ports an NPC to Mac, you give them one or more features that affect how the rules use these features openly with your table allowing players to help keep track of them. But like it's not quite enough if that makes sense Right yeah that's it is like the NPCs don't quite have enough to do what I need them to do unless I'm missing something. But I've given you the homework of if you want to either figure out how to make an NPC stat lock or make a character sheet for Zippo. We will then have him be a character to see how long he lives compared we haven't had a companion of yours live long enough for me to bother doing this. Uh Zippo the chaotic evil I don't know if he's chaotic evil but and hopefully this week I should be putting up the rat cult as an adventure and then next week I should be putting up a night in Haven a high stakes session about jail, murder investigation and battles. So thank you everybody for tuning in to Carl and Richard play Daggerheart. Which could have had a more clever name but you didn't bother to be clever with naming until episode twelve thank you everybody for tuning in and putting up with our shenanigans happy gaming and those are legally distinct from Nargakouga's boy very legally distinct by