(Daggerheart): Dat World! Crew of the Hedgehog - Episode 2: He Who Laughs Last

[00:00:01] From the town of Badaxe, you can see Hagar's dark, nestled in the mist and cold water, shadowed only by the surrounding coastal mountains of Ironbeard Inlet. A crawling dungeon now still, slumbering perhaps, piercing the tide up to the heavens and exuding mystery, mist, and strangers to these strange lands.

[00:00:24] But enough about local history. These are the tales of some folk who hail from this strange, mysterious rural region. The Crew of the Hedgehog. It's not Disworld, it's Dat World. This is DJ Architect, signing out. Hi there! Welcome to One Less Die, a Daggerheart actual play podcast. We are back in Dat World with our new adventures, the heroes of the Hedgehog.

[00:00:56] And, yeah. We only have two of them so far. Two heroes right now, because the other one's still working away at tinkering and modifying his newly acquired yacht and making it battle ready. But the other two are going to be doing some stuff. So, I suppose we should start with introductions. Starting on my left. Merit.

[00:01:18] So, I remain. Antioch, the orderborn clanker seraph, specializing in the divine wielder. I am the automaton that likes to kill stuff. For the glory of the burning bush. Yeah, for the glory of the burning bush. Alright, next up we have Aaron.

[00:01:46] Oh hey there! I'm Puck. Halfling goblin. Or Gobbit. Gobbit, that's what we decided it's called. Yes. And I'm a wizard. That's really good. There's not much else to say. That's about it. Do you guys want to be starting again at the Chiffed Edge Tavern, or do you want to be somewhere else in town? And if so, where?

[00:02:15] I'll say it's been a couple of days, maybe even a week, since the previous adventure. And your shipmate and captain of the hedgehog is still working on getting the hedgehog ship shape. So, you guys are still in the town of Bad Axe in the Northern Lordran Mountain range.

[00:02:43] Okay, well, I guess I'll show up at the Chiffed Edge with my fantastic new slim fitting bronze looking chainmail and a fancy new wand and a sword at me hip. Okay. You guys just like... Like jazzy music's playing as you're just strutting in.

[00:03:13] It's really just Jimmy Two Hands' ship band while they're dry docking right now, the band is actually in the tavern. And they're just playing jizz music. Oh, Star Wars. Alright. And what is Antioch doing? I'm standing awkwardly in the corner, being very well dressed doing it.

[00:03:42] As I have just acquired an improved tallowed axe, an improved round shield, and improved chainmail. With much of my gold. Well, that is certainly an improvement. Yeah. You get a couple of whistles, especially from the clank barmaid. Are you gonna stick your data stick in? God. I feel that you're likely to have acquired a virus is too high.

[00:04:15] That's fair. You already served the burned bush. You don't need one of your own. Yeah. Well, as you guys enter or are in the tavern for various degrees of time, you do notice that an older woman, elf, so it's kind of hard to tell exactly how old, but she comes into the tavern crying and quite in a distraught state.

[00:04:44] She goes up to the bartender and orders a drink. She seems rather exhausted. Alright, well I will go and climb up on this stool next to her to get close to head level. Alright. It's like... Yeah, she sort of ignores you just staring in distress in her drink. Excuse me, miss. What seems to be the problem? Huh? Oh, oh.

[00:05:15] Um... Just, uh... Everything's going so wrong lately. And I don't know what to do. There's some kind of, uh... Some kind of bewitcherment or haunting going on in my... My... My... My... My brother's, uh... Home. And, uh... It's... It's consumed him and his son and... A few other people that have gone looking into the matter. And I just... I can't deal with it anymore. It's all too... Just too much.

[00:05:47] I think... I think I should order us a... A pitcher. And you should come sit at our table and tell us your tale. Sure, why not? I'm like... I'm trying not to... I'm breaking into Irish. She's an elf. She's an elf. It's Irish. Yeah, turn on og. That's all it is. Uh, yeah. So she comes and sits at the table with you and Antioch. And she just finishes her first drink and then starts pouring and getting another one poured. Okay.

[00:06:18] Yeah, so... Um... Well, a couple of days ago, um... My, uh... My brother's... My nephew, um... Jonathan, he began, um... Acting kind of strange, uh... As my brother was telling me. Uh, the, um... He began, uh... Talking to an imaginary friend, uh... Or some invisible friend. Uh... Some kind of clown or...

[00:06:46] Or carny character named Laughing Jack. And, uh... He, uh... Uh... Terry had started noticing, uh... That the, uh... That there had been some strange act going on around the house, uh... Since then. Since, uh... Jonathan first started talking to Jack. Um... Candles flickering on and out, uh... When there's no, uh... When there's no, uh... Wind. Um... The milk going sour. Uh... The, the cat, uh... The cat running off.

[00:07:17] Things like that. Things of those matter. Uh... Even, even our new thing... His new, uh... Radio, uh... Uh... System. Uh... Uh... The fritz. Um... But it is... I guess it is some kind of, like, new technology, so... Um... And then, a couple of days ago, or, uh... Yesterday, uh... Or so, um... Um... We started noticing that nobody had come out of the, out of the cottage for a few, for a while. And so we went to go take a look, and, uh...

[00:07:46] Or the family went to go take a look, and... We found Terry, um... And, and Jonathan, uh... In, in a, in a vegetative state. Or seemingly in a coma. Um... Terry was in the, in the living quarters, uh... And, and Jonathan was in his, in his bedroom, uh... On the floor, uh... Unresponsive. Uh... We... Since then, sent a, uh... Uh... Uh... Sent for... For some kind of, uh... An exorcist, or... Or some kind of, uh... Uh...

[00:08:18] Uh... Uh... Investigator, as it were. Uh... To see what's going... Into what was going on. Uh... And, uh... I think his name was... Uh... Was... Cultist Steve? Yes. Um... And, uh... He worked for some, uh... For one of those, uh... Cult orders that looks into, uh... Cult business. Uh... And, uh... He went in and we have... He hasn't been seen since, uh... Since he went into the house. And I'm just at wit's end. I don't know what to do.

[00:08:49] Based on your description, there is a high likelihood that evil is involved. I will purge the house in the name of the burning bush. You will? It's my duty. Well, that would be... It's my duty. She ignores that. Yeah. Well, that would be... That would be great. Um... I mean... I don't want you getting, like, disappeared or... Getting into a... Uh... And going into a coma like the others. What... What... Like... What can I do to repay you if you do this?

[00:09:20] How much money do you... How much coin do you have? What is your current net worth? The standard contribution is a tithe. Uh... Very well. To the... The order of the burning bush. Uh... Alright, yeah. Um... If you... If you're able to... Find out what's going on and banish... Uh... And banish whatever evil is plagued my brother's home. Uh... I will... I will graciously donate to your... To your church. Please direct me to your residence.

[00:09:51] Uh... Yeah, it's the, um... The Tybald residence. Um... On, uh... And she gives a... A rough... Like a dress. Um... In... The skirts were like the residential. Oh, the Tybalds with the fantastic turnips. Yes! Yes! Yeah, I've been up there once or twice. Terry's renowned for it. For his turnips. Yeah! Terry and his turnips. Yeah. He goes to market every... Every Saturday... Every... On the weekends, uh... To the farmer's market.

[00:10:20] Well, I get them before he goes to market. But that's not... What? Do you have... Do you have to say that? Okay. So, yeah. Um... Yeah, he... She gives you the, uh, the... The address to the Tybalds residence. Um... The GPS positioning. Yeah. You get immediately... You get, like, full-on coordinates. Like, you know where it is. Um... I just stay and proceed to walk for walkout. Yeah. Through... Just walk through the wall. Yeah.

[00:10:50] Straight to work. Strangely, yeah. Every time you go through a wall, it like... Like, a, uh... A sound clip comes in. Oh yeah! I think we're gonna need to get a basket backpack for you. It's not a bad plan. Yeah. Uh, okay. So, yeah. You guys head up into the, um... The more cottage district of... Of bad acts. Um... And, uh, yeah.

[00:11:19] You see that, uh... Um... There's a fair... There's a fair amount of people out on the road, like, kind of like... Like, bring... Moving their carts around or... Um... Or just going here and there. Um... You guys can roll me a... Uh... Instinct to perceive. Oh! I also bought a lantern. Okay. Um... Which is always lit. Gotcha. Because it has a... Harmless little fire elemental living in it. 20 with hope.

[00:11:49] 20 with hope? Okay. Um... Oh, actually, I want to think of a question, Aaron. Um... Between sessions, do I wipe fear? Uh... Or do I keep fear between games? I... I don't know. We keep hope between games. Yeah, so... Well, speaking of which, this is a new session, so take another hope. Alright. My hope is currently incapaciting. Mine is pretty fucking close. Let me just double check that.

[00:12:19] I'm just gonna... Just wanna check that. That would be a 13 with hope for me. A 13 with hope? Yes. And yours was a... 20 with hope. Yeah, wow. Jeez. Uh, yeah, you notice that, um... Uh, the various, um... Passer-by's and... And, uh... Like, farmers and so that with their carts. Uh, they're giving the Tybalt residents, um... A... A bit of a wide berth. Uh, not many people are on that side of the street.

[00:12:49] Um... And, in fact, you're seeing some of the, uh... The, the property itself, like the lawn and such, um... Is... Sort of look more haggard than it should be. Um... The... The grasses and, uh... And even, like, the plants in their garden are... Are graying. Um... In an almost, like... Not just, like, like, they're wilting. But they're, like, actually kind of, like, just... Like... Gray as ash. Like, the grasses and the, uh...

[00:13:18] The various, like, uh... Leafy plants are... Are just showing, like, like... They've lost all the actual color. And they're just gray. I pull up a turnip. Yep. Um, it is... According to USDA grading standards, these are unfit for animal consumption. Yeah, you pull it up and, uh... You see that it's actually, um... You pull... It's the gray leaves and then the actual turnips themselves are striped white and black.

[00:13:47] Which is not normal. Um... As... Puck can attest to Terry's turnips. They are huge. They like this. Yeah. Um, Terry, you're also... Actually, I guess both of you, because you, uh... Like, in some way or the other have magical talents. Um, you are feeling some kind of strangeness about the property. Okay. So... But, uh... Yeah, the property itself is quite empty and... Or quite, uh... Uh...

[00:14:16] Devoid of people and, um... Passer-by's. So... Um... Okay, I have to see you walk straight in the front door. Okay. You, uh... Yeah, just like... Or just like... I can assume... Do you actually just open the door? No, just open the door. Okay. Yeah, you just bluntly go open the door. Uh... And, uh... It is a... I keep picturing you as more or less looking like Gizmoduck.

[00:14:46] So do I, actually. Gizmoduck. Sorry? How's Gizmoduck? Oh! Okay, so DuckTales, they have their own version of Iron Man, slash, uh, Inspector Gadget. Uh, his name is Gizmoduck. This is Gizmoduck. Yes. Yeah, with the wheel and everything. Do you have the wheel and everything? Um... For flavor, yes. Okay. Okay.

[00:15:15] I like it. I'll dig it. Um... So I'm just imagining like your head is like, like shaped kind of like that grenade from, uh, from Monty Python. Except you have like some optic, like, uh, facial things on it. Oh, so your antenna that sticks out the top is a cross. It's a cross. It's a cross, yeah. That's fantastic handhold. Yeah. But yeah, so you, you go inside the house.

[00:15:43] Uh, it's a fairly sized, it's a fair sized, um, uh, cottage. Uh, it does have a second floor, kind of like one of those like half, half second floors. So like, um, we're like, it's like a loft kind of area. Uh, and there is a, uh, a root cellar, um, beneath the first floor. Um, but you're looking around and you see like, um, uh, you see where the, uh, where the, where the, where the, where somebody would have fallen, um, just in the middle of the, the main living area.

[00:16:12] Uh, you can see some like tossed down, um, uh, items like some pots and plates and such. Uh, and then the, um, uh, there, there's a few rooms in the back. Uh, one of those is where the, uh, the bedroom is. Uh, and you see basically just like a kid's, uh, a teen's bedroom, um, with, uh, various, various children's things, um, just kind of strewn about, uh, toys. Nintendo 64. Yeah, of course, yeah.

[00:16:41] And, you know, ye olde Nintendo 64, or Nintendo NES, uh, as it is, it is like an, it is an older system. Um. Yeah, yeah, cause the Nintendo 64 is brand new technology. Yeah, it's certainly not retro anymore. Uh, but yeah. Um. So yeah, you see, uh, you find like, uh, everything seems like to be in the same, in the right, in the right place.

[00:17:09] It's just, there's a couple of spots where like clearly somebody fell and like dropped some things. Um, both in the, uh, the main room and in the, in the bedrooms. Alright. Uh, but we don't see the people. No, you don't, no, you don't see the people. It appears that the, uh, the ones in the vegetable state have been removed from the premises. We should conduct a full sweep of property.

[00:17:37] Would you prefer to go top down or bottom? Ah, let's go top down. Agreed. Okay. Uh, so you go up to the, uh, the, the loft area. You start going into the loft area first. Uh, and, uh, you guys can roll me instinct again to look around.

[00:18:02] Uh, 14 with fear. Ooh. Okay, can I actually have that pencil for a second? I roll the one on my fear die and a 12 with my hope die. So that'll be a 14 with hope. Okay. I'll take that hope. Um, let's see here.

[00:18:35] Uh, you are, you're searching up the, um, the, the top loft area. Um, and, uh, Antioch, you, you, you guys are looking around and not really, you're just like kind of like sifting through it and not seeing any, uh, anything out of the ordinary. Although, Antioch, you start hearing something somewhere. Um, you're not exactly sure. You're not able to pinpoint it. It sounds almost like carnival music, but you can't tell where from where.

[00:19:13] I unsheathe my axe. I'm ready my shield. And I say to no one in particular, stand and deliver fiend. Uh, you both hear a like kind of creepy, like giggling, like cackle sound. Just kind of emanate from the house itself. For your part, um, there, Puck, uh, your look, when that, when that giggling cackling sound

[00:19:42] happened, uh, you did notice that there was a, um, a strange visual, like visual change, um, down, down below, like on the first floor or the ground floor. Um, like everything for a moment was gray, like almost like a bloom of, of like grayscale. Like all, everything lost their color and it was just like black and white and gray. Uh, and then it, once the giggling cackling left, it began to kind of shrink back down into, and the color resumed.

[00:20:11] Well, that does just makes me feel we might uncomfortable. Yeah. Okay. Well, do we know where the sound of the laughter was coming from? Um, it seemed to come from everywhere, like kind of like from the, the walls and like the floor. Oh, right. Then I will follow it. Yeah. Like, yeah, it didn't come from the ceiling, but it came from like the floor and the walls. So. Okay.

[00:20:46] Well, since we've checked out up here, I guess we go downstairs next? Yes. Okay. All right, down, down we go to the next floor. Okay. I proceed in first. Yeah. To the cellar. Yeah. It's one of those, um, like it's a, actually like a stair, like a little, like a, a hatch, but there's a staircase that goes down into the, into the dark. Um, and uh, yeah, you go down into the, uh.

[00:21:15] Then I'll pull out me lantern. Yeah. Um, you go down into the, uh, into the, into the earth, um, into this, this root cellar. And it's quite cold and, and, uh, damp. Uh, but, uh, you see, uh, rows and, uh, like, like, um, shelves of, of jars, like, uh, and kept goods. Um, like potted, potted meats and, uh, and turnips and such, uh, and pickled, um, vegetables.

[00:21:43] Um, there is a couple of dividing walls, uh, and some, some doors. Um, one of them is empty, or one of them is open and just shows like some more, like, kind of, uh, like, um, another, like, section of, of storage and space. The other one is closed. All right, so we search the open section first and then we check out the one that's closed off.

[00:22:12] By process of elimination, the enemy should be in the closed room. I agree, but it'd be terrible if we went and opened the closed section and then we got jumped from behind. Your assessment is accurate. Okay, so then we'll check out what's down here first, before we go to the closed off section. Okay. So you go check the, uh, you're checking the open section first? Yes.

[00:22:42] Okay. Um, you go in there, uh, you see, or you find, um, a, a robe. Uh, it's a, it's a, kind of a dark green robe with a, uh, uh, with a skull, kind of, uh, kind of a white skull emblazoned on the back of it. Um, as, and a, uh, and instead of crossbones, it's, um, uh, it's cross, uh, spy glasses. Am I familiar with this sigil?

[00:23:12] Uh, yes, this is the, uh, uh, the, this is it for the, the Cult of the Wandering Eye. Uh, which is a, uh, uh, which is a, uh, uh, which is a, uh, which is a, uh, which is Uh, they're all married and they all just check out every bar of them. Uh, every one of them. I think my father had that. Uh, yeah, the, the, yeah, Cult of the Wandering Eye, uh, they're a, they're a cult investigative,

[00:23:39] um, or a cult of investigation, uh, where they, they search out, like, paranormal or supernatural and magical, um, phenomena. Uh, and for... Doot, doot, doot, doot, doot. Yeah. Phenomenas. Um, looking for the truth of, of, like, the hidden things in the world. Yeah, now I'll make that. That seems like something that would be right up your character's alley. Which? Joining that cult? Yeah. I mean... I mean...

[00:24:09] They might have good leads on where you find the origin of magic. That's true. That's true. But they're, they're sitchless, just so goddamn tacky. Let's turn it wrong. Um, and you see, uh, if you, one of you guys, like, pick up the, the cloak, or the, uh, the hood, the, uh, yeah, the cloak. Sure. Yeah.

[00:24:37] Um, you see that on the, on the front near the brooch, there's actually even a friggin' name tag that just says Steve. In, in common. Hm. I'll just put it back down. The initial exorcist is dead. It would appear that way. Or at the very least, missing and without his clothes. Hm. Um, yeah, that is all that is in this room.

[00:25:06] Are you ready to proceed to the closed section? I suppose so. I'll draw me sword. Uh, at this point, as you guys are like, concluding that, uh, the door that was, that was to this open room, uh, just closes on its own. Just slam shut. Mm, you see the sword that I draw is like, real cool looking. It's got a very narrow blade. It's long, it's pointy.

[00:25:33] It's got a, a really sick, but plain cross guard. Like, radiates with magical power. I bought a caster sword. Mm. I can, I can, I can, I can use it out to far range. Swords are for pussies. And then I chop the door with my axe. Yep.

[00:26:04] Um, yeah, make a roll. See how, attack roll? Yep. Attack the door. Okay, I'll put my sword away. Weapons are for pussies. I'm gonna use Arcane Barrage. Crit, crit 12. Crit 12? Oh, damn. Okay, yeah, you just, just like, weapons are for pussies. Swords are for pussies. Swords are for pussies. Boom. Threw it through the door.

[00:26:28] Yeah, you just, it splinters, um, and, uh, it just, yeah, it's just destroyed. Is there anything on the other side of it? Uh, there's nothing out of the ordinary though. As soon as the, like, the sound begins to like settle from like all the clattering and such, um, you do hear from the other, the door that was like closed, uh, previously, uh, you do hear a, like a creaking sound as if it's opening slightly. Okay. I will proceed to that door.

[00:26:59] And I will real fuck it. Just boom! Yeah. Okay. Um, you guys find some interesting stuff in this room. Uh, you find Steve. Uh, he appears to be on the ground. And, uh, he is, uh, at least at a glance, um, he is covered in blood, uh, along with the most of this room as there is just viscera of dead animals. Um, and there are organs and entrails just kind of splayed around.

[00:27:29] Uh, and near his hand, there is a decorative, uh, box with a winding, with a windup kind of, um, latch or lever on the side of it. Um, I will attempt to mend and touch Steve. To see if he is dead or he is recoverable. Okay. So I'll spend two hope to clear one of his hit points. Okay.

[00:27:57] Uh, you do so, uh, and he begins breathing, um, shallowly, or like more, less than shallowly than he was. Um, but he does not seem to be responsive. Like, you've healed the body, but the soul does not appear to be in the vessel. Ah, he's probably in a Brutopagus state like the others.

[00:28:27] Um. So he doesn't seem to be in danger of immediately perishing, yes? No, uh, in fact, if you look around, most of the blood is actually probably animals' blood, like from the rest of the viscera in this room. Which, it looks fresh, like the blood is still fresh, but it doesn't, there's something odd about the actual, like, the display. It looks like it's been here a while.

[00:28:57] Okay, so should we investigate the music box? I'm gonna say that's probably, probably what we need to be doing. I hand the music box, what is your analysis of this object? I would like to analyze the music box. Okay. But I would also like to tag and experience all the magics. Um, so that'll give me a plus two to my roll, yes? Yep. Okay.

[00:29:34] That is a ten, and that is a nine. So that's a 19 plus four. Uh, so 23 with hope. 23 with hope. Uh, yes, this, uh, this box appears to be connected to, you're detecting some kind of power within it. And it appears to be like, like that power is actually kind of feeding from it to somewhere in the middle of the room.

[00:30:03] Is the idea of a jack in a box common in this world? Yeah. So, I think one can put two and two together. The child had been talking to an imaginary friend named Jack. We've come across this jack in a box with magic tied to it in a room that's covered in blood with a creature, with a cultist who's no longer tethered to his body the way he ought to be. Yeah.

[00:30:31] I'm gonna guess that the two are closely related. Mm-hmm. That would seem obvious. Yeah. Uh, you are also feeling more, there's more of a tug, um, from like... Feeling a little tug? Wrong. Tug your balls? Give your balls a tug! Give your balls a tug! Uh, fuck you, Shorzy! For what?! Fuck you, Jonesy!

[00:30:58] Um, so, you know, you're feeling like, um, like, from the magic that you're, you're, you're detecting from the, uh, from this box, um, it is, uh, there is a, uh, a tether from it, uh, almost like an invisible tether, um, to the center of the room, and that, and it's almost like, um, a, uh, it's like, it's like when, like, you open a window, and there's, like, wind, like, wind passing through or coming, or, like, leaving the, like, the house into outside.

[00:31:26] You're getting that kind of feeling, but from, just like, the ether. Uh, and that's when the box begins, starts, the crank begins going on its own as you're holding it. Hey, fuck. I'm gonna drop it on the floor and back up a little bit. Okay. Do do do do do do do do do. Oh! I'm in, max. Well, uh, let's see if you can do it before it goes off. With a tackle? Yeah. I feel like this should be a, a pull this roll. Yeah, fair.

[00:31:57] Nine. Nine. Uh, Nine with fear? Yeah. Okay. I did not react quick enough. Yeah, you, you go to, like, it's like, nope! And then it pops, and this creepy, like, clown, like, white, white-faced clown with, like, a, with a cone nose that's striped, and, like, black shaggy hair, and, uh, like, black kind of costume with, like, white buttons, and a frill, and a white frill, uh, on, on his collar and on his, uh, sleeves.

[00:32:27] Kind of pops out. And then there's a flash. And I need both of you to roll something. Something. It's... We don't have a constitution score here. No, it's, uh... Or we will. That's, yeah, this is gonna be interesting, because I need to figure that out. Um, it's supposed to be... Uh... Wouldn't this just be something that you would roll against us for?

[00:32:59] I suppose, yeah. I need an attack roll. Well, it's more of like, uh, yeah. Yeah. Yeah, I'll just, I'll just spend, I'll just spend some theory to that one. To... Yeah. Okay. Uh, yeah, so you guys, uh, kind of like, you get flash banged, essentially. Um, but the first, last thing you see is that, is this, uh, this jack-in-the-box, uh, pop-out.

[00:33:26] And, uh, yeah, you are suddenly not in the earthen root cellar, uh, with Steve, uh, or with Steve's body and with all the entrails in this jack-in-the-box. Uh, you are now in a... different place. Uh, you are in a heavily wooded... Hmm? I found what you're looking for. What I look for.

[00:33:54] Um, because it sounded like... It's an AOE, right? Yeah. Okay. So I looked up fireball. Make a spell cast roll against a target within very far range. On a success, hurl a sphere of fire towards and it explodes on impact. The target and all creatures within very close range of them must make a reaction roll of 13. Okay. Targets who fail take the damage. Okay. So you guys have to make a reaction roll. Based on what?

[00:34:25] Um... Yeah, you have to set the difficulty on it. Yeah, I've got the difficulty on it. Um, but a reaction roll is gonna be... Probably agility, right? Uh, might be agility? There is no actual rea... Reaction roll is 99. Oh, you get to roll 99. No, no, no, no. You... I don't own a D9. Uh, reaction rolls. Um...

[00:34:53] Work similar to action rolls except they don't generate hope, fear, or additional GM moves. Actually, when it comes to reaction rolls, GM tells you what trait you need to use. Then you make the roll with the duality dice as if it were an action roll. Okay. Okay. So you just pick an ability score that you want this to be done by and we roll it. I feel like this one would actually be...

[00:35:22] I feel like this would probably be, um, instinct, actually. Instinct? Yeah. Like the instinct to close your eyes? Yeah. 21 with hope. Okay. Oh, well, there's no hope or fear in that. Yeah. 21. Okay.

[00:35:50] Um, so Antioch, you are nonplussed as you transfer from the root cellar to this gnarled dark wood. Um, but, uh, your friend is nowhere to be seen. Uh, Puck is nowhere to be found. But you do, you, you, uh, transition. Suddenly, you are in the root cellar and then there's the flash, but you, you recover very

[00:36:13] quickly and you are not, um, disoriented and you find yourself at a, you find yourself effectively at a trailhead of a, of a gnarled forest. This situation is not evolving positively. Um, the, uh, the surrounding color is gone, uh, completely drained. So this is, it's very, it's all black and white, uh, and grays.

[00:36:39] Um, the sky is, is mostly cloudy but with like a moon kind of poking through slivers in these, in the sky. Um, and, uh, you hear more of that carnival music, uh, coming from deeper within the, uh, the wooded, uh, the, the wood. I will strike up my torch and proceed down the trailhead. Okay.

[00:37:10] Roll me a die six. Five. You take five hit points. Mark five hit points. Um, you find yourself in a, it looks like a, some kind of a, um, like a twisted festival

[00:37:38] carnival, um, all around you are, are, um, carnival stands and vendors and, and, uh, uh, there's a large, uh, large, um, uh, circus tent, uh, in the center of all these, um, of all these, uh, uh, structures and, and, uh, and rides. And, uh, then from behind you, you hear a, a child, um, uh, kind of running in, in, like,

[00:38:08] kind of like, uh, like, running, runs past you but they're not giggling. In fact, they're like, sort of like, they seem like they are desperately trying to flee something. But they run past you, they run from behind you and you look around and you see, um, uh, uh, uh, you just see the, the, the, the, the childlike figure, um, duck behind, uh, between two tents. Well, I suppose I'll follow.

[00:38:35] Um, I'm also going to open up my, my, my lantern and let out my little, uh, a little harmless elemental hang out on my shoulder. Mm-hmm. Cause, uh, I want the company of at least Ignis for this little trip. There. Uh, is it this point that you notice that you're greyscale? Or that the, uh, your fire is just like, like there's no color and you check yourself and there's no, you don't have any color. Do you? That'd be a wicked name for a dragonborn. What? Greyscale.

[00:39:06] Yeah. Um, but yeah, you're pursuing the child? I suppose so. Okay. Um. Follow me, I'm delicious. Uh, you can roll a, um, another intuition to try and track.

[00:39:26] Sorry, instinct is what I mean. I've been meaning. Uh, thought it'd be a ten with hope. Ten with hope? All right. Um, you, uh, look around, uh, searching about, uh, behind the, the two, behind the tents that you, that you saw the child run, duck under behind.

[00:39:55] Um, and you see behind it, one of the trees that's kind of like in the, uh, like kind of where they've backed the tents, uh, behind. Or back the tree, the, back the tents in front of. Uh, there's several, um, barrels and you hear from one of the barrels, uh, sniffling. Uh, the barrels are, are, have like, like lids that are closed.

[00:40:21] Well then, I will sit up on top of whatever, whatever barrel is making the sniffling noises. Mm-hmm. And, uh, without, without opening it or nothing, I'm just gonna sit on the barrel. Okay. And be like, it's okay. I gotcha. Uh, the sniffling stops as soon as you begin talking. And I hear a growl. And then I get bitten by this barrel. That's a good thing. By a barrel. Roll for a mimic.

[00:40:52] I mean, you said that again. Yeah, it doesn't, uh, whatever, whoever was sniffling inside the barrel has stopped sniffling. And you don't hear anything else from inside. I'm just gonna knock twice on the side of the barrel and see if I get a response. Nope. Uh, there's, it sounds like there's something in there, like, like little, like a bunch of little things, like a bunch of, like, of like some, like a bunch of, uh, little things.

[00:41:23] I better not be filled with bugs. I'm gonna get off the barrel and I suppose I'll open it up. Okay. Uh, roll a reaction, uh, agility. And finally, as you get attacked by a thing full of bugs. No, no, no, not bugs. Uh, ten and three, so, sorry, this is, uh, this is what?

[00:41:52] Uh, this is, um... Reaction. Reaction, yeah. So agility. Agility. Yeah. Alright, so that'll be a thirteen with hope. Thirteen with hope, okay. Uh, you, uh, let's see, this is, yeah. You, um, jump away, uh, as the, uh, a, um, an amalgam of, uh, a child-sized form of little

[00:42:18] candies, uh, inside of a, inside of an outfit, inside of a, um, uh, a striped costume. Uh, sort of like carnival costume. Um, comes like slurping out of the, um, of the barrel, uh, to attack you. Okay. So, yeah. Well, fuck. Hey there, little fella. Uh, we don't need to do this.

[00:42:47] Uh, well, it attacks you, so... Oh, you figured as much. That is gonna be, uh, a fourteen. Fourteen does hit. Alright, uh, well, you are only... Okay, let's see here. It is actually only one, one physical HP. Or, so, one HP. Um...

[00:43:16] Oh, it's only doing minor damage? Yeah, it's only doing minor damage. Okay. Yep. Well, then I will, uh, make sure to lean my, lean myself out of the way and take it on my padded shoulder, so I take nothing. Okay. Uh, you are grabbed though, just so. So I'm in melee? Yep. Alright, well, I'm gonna touch a bitch. Okay. Uh, okay, so I'm going to hit it with, uh, power push. Okay.

[00:43:46] So, I gotta roll my spell cast. Eight hope. Eight hope. And that'll be two fear and two knowledge. So that'll be a twelve. A twelve? Uh, that will hit. Fantastic. Okay, so then I do... Oh crap, that's a die ten. Shit. Ugh. I need a die ten.

[00:44:29] Seven plus two is nine. So I put my fingers to the middle of its chest. Yep. And there's just a dull thump, and fucker goes flying. Yep. Out too far range. And it's kind of like scattershot, because all the pieces of candy just kind of erupt into a cone away from you. Um, and just kind of rain down onto the, uh, onto the carnival grounds. Well, that was horrible. Mm-hmm.

[00:44:56] Um, I'm also gonna take this opportunity to cast, uh, Tava's armor. Okay. So I will spend a hope, and that actually increases my armor score by one. Okay. So, um, Antioch, you are in the gnarled woods, like, traveling, um, you're following the, uh, the sound of the, uh, the carnival music.

[00:45:24] Uh, you see, um, uh, the trail eventually does lead deeper into, uh, or does eventually, like, open up into, uh, what looks like a very large glade that is occupied by this, um, by this giant carnival of, uh, this giant twisted carnival. Uh, there's tent stands, or there's tents, stands, uh, and vendors, and at the center of

[00:45:49] this moat of rides and tents and stands, uh, is a large striped, um, uh, circus tent. The big top, as it were. Well, I guess I had to treat for the big top. Okay. Uh, as you do so, um, you do roll a, uh, uh, roll your instinct to perceive something.

[00:46:22] Fifteen with hope. Uh, sorry, fifteen with hope? Yeah. Okay. Um, you hear kind of shambling movement, um, coming out of the tree line along, uh, as you're, as you're leaving the tree line. Uh, and when you look over, you see, uh, several children, um, but their eyes have been replaced with, uh, with jujubes.

[00:46:45] Um, and they begin coughing up a, like, viscous sort of multicolored, um, uh, sludge. And as it goes, they kind of just become part of that sludge and form, uh, sort of like, uh, multicolored jellies. Uh, they are now slurp, uh, kind of slurping towards you. Or slithering towards you.

[00:47:19] This is outside of God's light. This is damn right. Uh, are they in close range yet? Uh, how many of them are there? There are, there are three. Um, uh, they are currently, they're tiny, so they're like both, like, they kind of like melted into, like, basically, uh, like a three or four foot pile of, of this, like, viscous green and yellow sludge.

[00:47:48] Oh, that's nice. Okay, so spirit weapon in the center one. Mm-hmm. And then I'll use my stress point to spirit weapon on the second one as well. Okay. 19 with hope. Okay, that one hits. And then the second one? Yep.

[00:48:19] I have seven with hope. Seven with hope? That one decided. My D8. Mm-hmm. Uh, the first one takes 12 damage. 12 damage. Okay, so that one, uh, yeah, you just cut that one down. Uh, you like cut it in half and it begins, it kind of, begins kind of quivering and then, um, can't seem to recover from the slash, uh, and just kind of melts into the ground.

[00:48:50] But then the other one is going to attack you. Or the other two are going to attack you, I should say. And that is going to be a 16. That will hit. Yeah, that one hits. All right.

[00:49:13] Um, so, the thing's successfully attacked. Uh, so the target must make a mark a, an armor slot without receiving its benefits. Uh, they can use armor to reduce the damage. Um, if they can't mark the armor slot, they must mark an additional HP. As, um, you feel your arm, as this thing like, lumps onto you. Uh, you feel this, um, this sort of, um, you smell, oh.

[00:49:44] Okay, I guess it's a clank smell. Yes. Yeah. Uh, you smell this kind of like sickly sweet and burning kind of sensation as, uh, and a sizzling sound as, uh, the, uh, the, the, the slime begins eating away at your armor. Um, and you will take, oh, let's, let's check the, let's see how much exactly you take for this. Uh, oh, I need, uh, that D4 if you don't mind.

[00:50:14] Three, this one, so that's four, uh, four magic damage. So, uh. So that's going to be minor damage, I'm just going to take a second iron point to totally negate it. Okay. So, yeah, your armor is getting eaten but you managed to like, repel at least, uh, repel that thing, uh, from doing any further damage.

[00:50:37] Um, I will say at this point, uh, Puck, you're finishing up your thing and you start hearing, uh, the sound, like weird gurgling sounds and, and the sounds of, uh, of slashing, um, a few tents, a few tents away from the edge of the perimeter. All right, well, I'll start, uh, making my way over there cautiously. Okay. Making my way downtown. Yeah.

[00:51:04] Walking fast, but you know, so I don't get slashed. Do do do do do do do do do do do. Yeah, you, uh, you make a quick and cautious but, and you, uh, you get over to, uh, you get into view of, to see Antioch fighting off what looked like green and yellow candy slimes. Okay. Yeah, about the size, probably about the size of you, they're about three or four feet, uh,

[00:51:32] they're about, they're about, uh, about three feet, uh, off the ground. So very nearly as tall as Ivy. Yeah. Um, what does Antioch want to do now? Uh, I'm going to smash the ones on me. Okay. With my axe. All right. Just fuck that with that. Fifteen, seventeen with hope. Seventeen with hope. Alright.

[00:52:02] Uh, yeah, that does it easily. That's 12 damage a game. Okay. You manage to just kind of like scrape it off you and just like in the process kind of disrupt its, uh, cohesion, uh, and it basically just splats on the ground. And that leaves one more, uh, which is going to try and, uh, go for your face. Meat. It meets. Uh, Aaron does meat beat?

[00:52:34] Uh, meat beats. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Uh, alright. Um, then die four again. You die four. Uh, that's going to be two magical damage. And I guess this one is also, uh, you also need to mark an armor slot. Yeah. Just ignore that one too. Okay.

[00:53:01] You, your, part of your face is just like, like, covered in this like viscous material and just like, I'm not amused. Um, fuck. You, uh, you see that happen. Um, one of these green or yellow, uh, slime things that the last of them, uh, just lob onto Antioch's face. He's just kind of standing there taking it. Alright.

[00:53:26] Well, um, what are my options? I have many options. But we're going to go with the arcane barrage. Okay. Okay. Okay. Because it's a precision strike. Mm-hmm. So I'm going to, um, conjure up a single bolt. Mm-hmm.

[00:53:55] An arcane barrage. Yep. And launch it. Let it streak sidewinder style through the air and clip the side of his face, I guess? Yep. Um, so, spend any number of hope and shoot magical projectiles. Strikes a target. My choice within close range. Roll a die six.

[00:54:27] Three points. And deal that much damage to the target. Okay. Just three points of HP, basically? Yeah. Yeah. Um, yeah, you blast it off of, uh, off his face. So. And then you hear, uh, you both hear, like, as the last one dies, or like splats to the ground, you kind of hear children kind of crying.

[00:55:04] What kind of evil is this? It appears to be evil clown evil. I fucking hate clowns. You just can't trust... They are considered a weapon. They are not holding. Yep. You just can't trust them. So, right now you guys are on the edge of the carnival grounds again.

[00:55:30] Um, and, uh, it looks to be like there are... You can hear, again, more of that, uh, carnival music playing the calliope. Um, and, uh, you can see a heavy, like, over, like, several layers of, of tent, of, like, basically tent rings and stall rings and avenues. Uh, then there's the, um, uh, the, the big circus top. So, how would you like to proceed?

[00:56:01] I guess we proceed towards the circus top. Logically, that is where the clown will be. We burn it down from the inside. My god does light fire. Okay. Well, I guess we'll get going with this then. Okay. Uh, Antioch, roll me a die six.

[00:56:31] Five again? Um... Yeah. Uh, as you guys are, are rolling, or like, uh, trekking through the, uh, down the, the paths and such, um, you, uh, hear a, uh, it's like, hey kid, get back here! Uh, and you see, um, uh, uh, a man in what looks like some kind of carnival attire and makeup, uh, chasing, um, uh, chasing a child down one of the, um, one of the parallel avenues

[00:57:01] that you're, you're passing by. Okay. The child appears to be in, uh, a black, black and white striped, um, like, tunic. Do they appear to be made of candy? Not at a glance. You only got, like, a moment to, like, see them. Okay. We go try to check, catch the child. The experience shows that that will be a trap.

[00:57:30] Almost certainly. We should proceed directly to, to the big top. Uh, your logic sound, I can't argue. Okay. Uh, you can roll another nice. As you continue to ignore that stuff. Six. Six?

[00:57:52] Uh, yeah, you, um, see a, uh, as you guys are continuing through ignoring various strangenesses, uh, there's various venues and vendors, um, you see, like, there's a, like a couple of, uh, those stalls with, like, duck shooting games and such. And, uh, even one that looks like it has, like, a science set, like, for, like, fortune telling,

[00:58:23] uh, and such. Uh, but then there's one that you, as you're passing, um, I need you guys to, uh, make a reaction on instinct. Twelve. A fear. Twelve of fear? Cool. Oh, it's a reaction. It doesn't matter if it's fear or not.

[00:58:52] Oh, yeah. 11. Eleven. Eleven? Alright. Um, you guys, uh, hear, uh, it's like, alright, alright, step right up, step right up. We got a bit of a, uh, we need, we got a bit of a jig, we gotta get there now, don't we? Um, but, uh, deep running away. Um, it sounds like a �it, I've come, we have to take a vocalica up, which they go and earth's wobbly on his heart, eventually, very tender or how much tone should line person They, uh, you know the music? One time of the music, is you put a 56 can do?

[00:59:23] Uh, at the sed OP project. Um, it's like você, um, because it was about 26 years old. Um, but it seems like a way to come down a lot of настроios Funkins. of our fair little Carnival. Spirit weapon. Just right at his face. Yep. 22 with hope. Damn. Okay. You're holding very well today.

[00:59:51] Yeah. Like I'm done with this. But where is this? So you said you got 20 something with that? 22. Okay. Okay, yeah. Yeah, you strike him. 12 damage. 12 damage. Okay. That's going to

[01:00:21] be only minor damage. As he takes the shot and then he begins pulling it, like stops fiddling almost immediately as if he is mortally wounded. But then he kind of like rebounds back and begins pulling the spear. Was it a spear? It's my axe. Sorry, your axe. It automatically returns to me. Oh, yeah. So it looked like he was about to fall to the ground after the

[01:00:46] strike. But then his feet were still like rooted to the ground and he kind of just like supernaturally like stops himself from falling backward and then kind of slinks back up. And you start seeing a more infernal visage on the man underneath his carnival hat and through his clothes.

[01:01:09] And like, that wasn't very nice. And he begins shape shifting into a sort of a striped demonic visage. And the fiddle just kind of burns away from his claws. And so yeah, you're dealing with some kind of a demonic creature. I will send you back to hell in the name of the burning bush god. Bring it on.

[01:01:39] Can I get your pencil again? I might get this from this. Alright. So, yeah. I guess we'll start with Antioch. You're going to try again and attack him? There's only the one of them, right? Yeah. Yeah. I'm just going to spirit weapon him again right in the face again. Okay. Because it worked well

[01:02:04] last time. That's a seven. Seven with fear? With hope. With hope? Okay. With a seven, yeah. You do not hit him. And then he's going... Actually, I'm going to throw three more on that for my paradise. Four more on that for my paradise. Okay. Does that hit yet? So three more? Or four more you said? No, four more.

[01:02:32] Eleven? That's still not enough. Ah, okay. Yeah. And yeah, you're... you try to throw your axe, he like kind of gets out of the way and he just smiles this horrible toothy grin. And he begins sort of like mock playing music. Like a fiddle. Like, um, and, uh, you start hearing this horrible, like kind of, uh, chorus of, of like, kind of like strings in the air. Uh, and then you start hearing, um, a whirring sound from above. Uh, as hellfire begins raining down upon you.

[01:03:03] Um, so this is a... I spend fear to rain down hellfire within far range. All targets within the area must make an agility reaction roll. I guess that includes puck. 19. 19. 19? Okay. 20.

[01:03:25] 20. All right. Um, two, half. Uh, you only suffer two damage, or you only suffer minimum, uh, minor damage. Um, as you guys manage to get out of the way of the brunt of it, but there is still, um, a lot of hellfire coming down.

[01:03:53] With each, uh, with each thrum of his, uh, his invisible fiddle. Uh, and he just begins cackling. So, puck, how would you like to retort? How close is he? Uh, he's within close range. Within close range. Okay. I have options for close range. Yeah, no, we're gonna set you up for the next one.

[01:04:21] So, uh, I'm gonna just conjure a little ball of light between my hands, and go into a very dramatic kamehameha wave pose, and hurl this bolt of light at him. Um, so I'll give you a miscell casting roll. Oh, come on, you son of a bitch. Stay on the damn book. Okay, so that's a seven and a four.

[01:04:49] Uh, is eleven, twelve, thirteen, with hope. With hope? Thirteen, with hope. Okay. Is that enough? Yes. Fantastic. So that will be, uh, five plus three. Plus two, uh, so seven magic damage. Uh, okay. That's only gonna be minor.

[01:05:17] But he is now also vulnerable. Ah. Hmm. Okay. So the next roll is at advantage? Yes. Okay. Uh, and... yeah. I do, I'll let you go. I'm going to charge. Okay. Is there a mechanic for charge in this game? Or is it just a flavor? No. It's just a flavor. Okay. I'm gonna rush him and beat his face in. Okay.

[01:05:55] Twenty-three with hope. Twenty-three with hope. That'll definitely do it. Twelve. Um, that is still only minor damage. Jesus. That's literally the max damage on my attack. Oh, hang on. Aaron, I might be doing this wrong. So search rolls eight and fifteen. So on a twelve, would that be minor or major?

[01:06:25] Major. That's major. Okay, that's what I was getting. So anything less than eight is minor. Yeah. Anything eight to fifteen, uh, eight to fourteen is major. And anything fifteen above is severe. Okay. Alright. I've reduced some of those, I've made those corrections then. Okay. So he's not liking us at all. Uh, and he is actually going to...

[01:06:53] He's enjoying all of this overly sexually. Uh, but where is this? It's very awkward. I'm going to mark a stress and he's going to gain damage, uh, for his next damage roll equal to his current number of HP marked. Uh, and he's going to attack you. In kind. Uh, that is gonna be...

[01:07:24] Thirteen? Yes. Okay. Uh, in that case... Uh, that's gonna be eighteen. I'm gonna mark his armor and reduce that to, uh, a minor damage. Okay.

[01:07:54] Yeah, he just sort of, uh, as he's clawing at you with his, uh, with these burning, uh, claws of his, uh, he just sort of like spits in your face. It's like, no one gets to see the maestro, or no one gets to see Laughing Jack unless they've got the right, unless they've got the right ticket. Fight's not going very well. For, uh, how is Antioch doing actually? How is Antioch doing?

[01:08:22] I have taken two hit points of damage. Okay. How's your armor doing? Your armor points doing? Uh, I am almost at armor. Well, alright then. Uh... Yeah, he's looking pretty... He's not looking, like, damaged, but like, or like, he's not looking, like, vitally damaged, but he's looking... um, his armor's not looking too good. Between, like, like, burn scores and ripped hairs. Alright, then I'm gonna level my sword at this mother fucker.

[01:08:52] And I'm going to, uh, unleash a blast out of the blade. So, that's, uh... Fuck yeah, that's, uh... Fifteen with hope. Fifteen with hope. Fifteen with hope. That will do. Okay. And I'll take my hope. And that does... Die ten plus four. No. No, it's a die six plus three because I'm doing it at range.

[01:09:23] Oh, remember he was vulnerable, right? Would that have affected... So I throw an extra d6. Yeah. For the attack. Yeah. But I already hit. Okay. So it didn't matter. Uh, so that'll be six damage. Six damage. That's still only mine hurt. I know. Okay. Yeah. It's what I cost. Yep. Okay. Um... Yeah, the, uh...

[01:09:55] He is going to... I guess just keep going after you, uh, there, Antioch. He's welcome to try. He will certainly try. Uh, that is probably not going to hit at five. No. Alright, so what do you want to do in response?

[01:10:26] Uh, you gotta let it out of my axe. Okay. Right in the face. Is he still vulnerable? Uh, yes. Right, Aaron? You would still be vulnerable or... Until you've spent a fear to clear the, uh, thing I believe. I have not done that yet, so... 22. 22. Okay. Uh, that definitely hits. 12 damage again. 12 damage? Okay. This D really likes 8s.

[01:10:56] Uh, he... How do you kill him? Um... Does it look? I ask him, is your head the correct ticket? And lop it off. Nice. Weirdly... Somewhere in the, amongst the colliding music you hear, Decapitation! Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha. Just like a rock... Like a rock... Uh, sting. I then pick the head up and start carrying it with me. Ha ha ha ha ha ha. Yeah. Nice. Yeah.

[01:11:26] Um, yeah. Uh, once you... Yeah, the body falls to the ground limp, uh, you take the head and you... You guys proceed heading toward the... The big top? Yeah. The entrance of the big top? Uh, alright. Uh, you do see as you're... As you're traveling toward it, uh, there are various shades kind of lingering and, and like skulking off in the... like kind of just partially off... off, uh, off the path. Um, watching you, uh, it looks like the shades of children and, and, uh, and adults

[01:11:55] alike, um, poor souls that were... that didn't make it through this, uh, this nightmare circus. Um, uh, and as you, uh, get inside, uh, as you, as you approach the, uh, the opening to the, the big top, uh, you hear the music kind of more cacophonous inside, uh, and you see, um, the, the various rows of seats are filled with more, yet more, um, uh, shades

[01:12:21] of, of people who, uh, presumably victims of this place. Um, and in the center of the ring is a spotlight on a, uh, a juggling, uh, clown. Um, very similar to the, the Jack in the Box. Uh, black tuft, uh, uh, hair, uh, white makeup all over, black suit with, uh, white furls and, uh, and, uh, and white buttons, uh, a striped cone nose, uh, and jagged teeth, um,

[01:12:50] and, and black shark eyes, uh, and he is juggling knives. And, uh, he says, uh, welcome to my circus. Please come in. I throw the head at his feet. Would you like to punch my ticket? Uh, he responds by stomping onto the, uh, onto the head and cracking it like a melon. Accept it.

[01:13:20] Um, and I need, uh, you guys can both roll me another, uh, instinct to perceive things about the place. Um, actually, perceive or knowledge, or instinct or knowledge, I would say. I'll take knowledge. Fourteen. Sixteen with fear. Okay. Seventeen with hope. So, Antioch, you're just seeing red, or gray, I guess, with, I guess the monochrome,

[01:13:48] uh, nature of this place, uh, as you're looking at, like, glaring at this, uh, this thing that needs to die. Yeah. Um, for, for you though, Puck, um, so, central, the central tent of the circus surrounds uh, uh, which is, uh, uh, is surrounded by, um, uh, five posts. Um, and at the, at the, in kind of like, at intervals around on those posts, there are,

[01:14:17] uh, these greenish blue flamed candles on land, on little like lantern, like, uh, it's a candle, like, like, like, uh, like a, like a candle socket kind of thing. Okay. Like, you know, like a torch socket. A candle sconce. Yeah, thank you, yeah, candle sconce, um, on, on the, uh, the five supporting beams. Uh, and they're the only color that you guys have seen so far in this place, um, is this

[01:14:42] green blue flame, uh, these green blue flamed candles, um, that surround this, uh, the, this tent, uh, the interior of this tent. Um, and, uh, aside from that, uh, they, the, um, the devilish clown, uh, appears to be just kind of cackling and readying, uh, his, uh, his knives as he juggles them for a, uh, for a barrage at you folks. So.

[01:15:10] Boy, Antion, what do you make of the color of the candles? They are noticeably different from the rest of this environment. Kind of makes them feel like something we need to put out. That would seem logical. Like you, I'd give you a chance. And then he just kind of unleashes a, a barrage of, of, uh, or a wave of, of various, uh, daggers. Okay.

[01:15:41] Um. So. He's going to make an attack. Yep. On Antioch. Thirteen for, uh, Puck. Thirteen will do the job. Yeah. No, no it won't.

[01:16:11] I'm gonna take a shot for him. Okay. Okay. Your shield. My Mercistress. And he can roll that attack damage against me. Okay. I'm just gonna put the dice roller on my phone so I don't have to keep, oh, grabbing ones that I don't have. What are you looking for? Uh, two, I need a d12. Do I have a d12 left? Yeah. That's a d6. Oh, okay. Yeah, I'll just, I got it here.

[01:16:41] I could've found my dice yesterday. I did not. Uh, so that is gonna be seventeen damage. Um. Um, so, on your threshold, obviously. I'm gonna mark it up in my last armor slot and make that a one damage. Okay. Yep. You are perforated with, uh, with knives. Um, and the knives themselves almost immediately kind of disintegrate into ash and then pop up

[01:17:10] on, pop up back to... Reappear back in his hands. Yep. Uh, is that magic damage or is that, uh... That is magic, yes. Okay. Uh, and he continues to sort of chuckle and juggle as he readies for another bout. Um, so, uh, Egyok, what would you like to do? Uh, I'm going to use my Divine Wielder. Mmhmm. And I'm gonna throw my axe at two of the candles. Okay. By Marky's dress. Alright.

[01:17:40] Do we need to attack both of the candles or can I hit him? Yes, it will be an attack. Um, I'll, uh, yeah, I've got a set thing in mind. I'm an 11 with Fear. Yeah, 11 with Fear. Um, yeah, you strike the first one. Uh, but you also cut one of the, uh, you also cut through the, uh, the support beam in the process. Um, yeah.

[01:18:11] 12 with Fear. Or 12 with Hope, correction. 12 with Hope. Okay. Yeah, you cut through the other one. Um, so when you cut through the, the, the first pillar, um, so you cut through, you extinguish the, uh, the, both the candles you were aiming for, but one of the columns got cut in the process. And you see part of the tent and reality tear, uh, and unravel. And you hear the shades that are, of the, of the audience in that section begin screaming

[01:18:41] a cacophony of, of screams as they are kind of vacuumed up into the void beyond the, uh, the tear. Hmm. Um, so you may want to be careful about like hitting the, um, the columns to, like, completely. But, or at least be weary about those rifts that are opening up. Uh, Puck. Okay.

[01:19:07] Well, it looks like he's got that somewhat under control. So I'll, uh, I think bolt beacon's the way to be going. So I'm going to, uh, channel up a big old globe of light in me hand. And then I'm going to toss it into the air and smash it straight at him like with my sword like a baseball bat. Okay. Or a cricket paddle. There we go.

[01:19:46] Uh, eight and five is 13 with hope. Uh, 13 foot, 15 with hope. 15 with hope? 15 with hope. Okay. Uh, that is actually not enough. To hit him? Yeah. I just looked at his, his difficulty. Jesus. Okay. But you did do with hope. So, um, I will actually say that that prevents him from, from react from, from, I will, that prevents him from acting before you guys get to go again.

[01:20:14] Because he was suddenly like, whoa, like not prepared for how quick, how close that was. Okay. So. Antioch. So can I use sparing touch on myself? Um. It says I can touch a creature. Am I a creature? Technically, I think. But Aaron? Mm. The, uh, what is it called again? Uh, sparing touch. Sparing touch. Part of my divine and older, uh, subclass.

[01:20:44] Yeah, you'd count as a creature. So he'd be able to do that to himself? Yeah. Okay. Like lay on hands on yourself kind of thing? Yeah. Okay. Yep. So I'll remove two stress from myself. Okay. And then I shall use my spirit weapon to take another stress point again and target two more candles. Okay.

[01:21:15] Twenty-two with hope. Okay. Yeah, that one. First one for sure. Eleven with hope. Oof. Okay, so the first, you get the first candle, but the second candle does not go out. Yeah. Um, but you also manage to not take out the, uh, the columns.

[01:21:38] And actually you hear the shades in the, uh, in those, um, sections of the tent, uh, of the, of the audience. Actually cheering for you. Oof. Um, as if they, they want you to save their souls. Um, but, uh, Puck, yeah. Uh, the, uh, Laughing Jack, uh, appears to no longer be, well, he's, still have a creepy grimace on his face, but he does not appear to be laughing anymore.

[01:22:06] It's like you, you, like you, you meddling fools. Why can't you just let things be and let me work my circus? Well, because you're obviously eating the souls of people, you heinous douche. But is that so wrong? I am a demon after all. Well then you need to die.

[01:22:31] Uh, okay, so that's a... shit. I don't know. I didn't even say what I was gonna do. I just rolled. You're just gonna, like, attack. Yeah, it was just gonna be a thing. I didn't even look at stuff. He got so engrossed with the, with the rolling. It would be advantageous to destroy the last two candles.

[01:23:00] You're probably right. Um, but I'm not exactly a talented combatant. Don't you have like a guaranteed hit thing? I used it. It's, it's a once per rest. I did that so that I didn't have to hit you in the face. Um, no, no, I'll, I'll just focus on keeping Jack's attention.

[01:23:30] I'm going to, uh, try for another, uh, bolt beacon. Okay. Fuck you, bud! Feel the burn of the light! Okay, that might do. So, uh, seven and nine is 16, 17, 18 with fear. 18 with fear? Yeah. Okay.

[01:23:58] Um, yeah, uh, he is, uh, that, that'll hit him. Okay. Spin the hope. Jesus, his threshold is also, well he is also a, yeah. Okay. He's a heftier being, so. Um, so that is a die eight. Plus two. So that's seven, eight, nine, nine magical damage. Okay.

[01:24:28] Uh, that's going to be minor. And he is vulnerable. Yes. Uh, he actually comes as like, um, it's like, you know, we don't have to be enemies here. With the power that, uh, that I, uh, that's tethered to me, we could, I don't know, oh my fucking Christ, I'm going Irish again. With the power, with the power I have. With the power of greyscum.

[01:24:52] With the power I wield and, and, and, and have tethered to me, you could be, you could, what is it you desire? I could, I could offer you the, the, the, I could offer you a fount of power and magics. So he's going to try and coerce you. Okay. Okay. How does that work? That is a good question. Hmm. I'm going to use an ability on you. Okay, how does it work?

[01:25:21] I don't know, man. See, I was also just going to go with like, rather than like a physical attack, a social attack. On your person. Okay. Does that not still go against my evasion? That would actually, yeah. You're right. Okay. So then. And he's going to use his coercion experience, because he's not. It was the phone. There's a mosquito in here now. That is going to be eight.

[01:25:51] That will not do the job. Okay. So, yeah, you're not biting what he's offering. I really don't like clowns. I just sort of. Just some kind of heinous ass clown. Oh, just take some blades. And he just throws them at him. Okay, sexy attack, alright. Yep. Spend your fear. I have been.

[01:26:24] That's still going to be like nine. Yeah, that's not going to do it. Yeah. So you just went, right? Yep. Okay. Antioch. I'm going to finish the job this time. You did? I target the both candles again with my twin-wheel weapon attack. Okay. You hear the audience. Antioch! Antioch! Save our souls! Please! Is that immediate bonuses? Um, you have a badge. You have a badge. That's right, buddy.

[01:26:54] Up the ante here. You think you see like an elf father and his son in the crowd? And Steve, the cultist? 12. Uh, 12? Uh, that is not going to be enough. Is that even with your, uh... Yeah, it's opposing. And was that with hope or fear? Uh, it was with fear. Fear?

[01:27:23] Okay, so you cut another column. Um, and uh, basically above a candle, so it doesn't extinguish it but it cuts the column. Um, and um, another tear opens up and you see kind of within as like more people are being, more people's souls being sucked into the, uh, into this void. Uh, you see this like swirling, ah, it's, it's, it's a swirl of multiple, of several colors,

[01:27:50] um, that kind of are indescribable, uh, like octarine. So it's like purplish green or purplish lime green. Um, and there's something in that. It's an orangey greeny purple. Yeah. Uh, and there's, there's something in that, uh, in that space, um, with a, almost like a Cheshire smile and brooding, hungry eyes. Just kind of waiting. Okay, so I'll pick the second attack, hopefully it works better.

[01:28:19] That has to be a lot better. Still with fear. 23, 25, 29, 29 with fear. To extinguish one. The second candle. The one, yeah, the second candle. All right. So you, yeah, you extinguish that candle, but again, you cut through that column.

[01:28:46] Uh, and you're, you, you see the, the people that like the, the people that you were able to like, you made out as like the, um, uh, the victims that were in the land of living, um, before, like in, in, in the, uh, uh, at the cottage, uh, that you guys were first here. Um, they are getting a little nervous and actually kind of having to hold onto the seat in front of them as they're getting, the rest of the souls are getting sucked into the, into a new tear into the void.

[01:29:12] Uh, and you see arms kind of massive Cyclopean arms beginning to kind of approach the rift. Wait, so the, the pillars came down and that's causing a tear? Yes. Every time one of the, the, one of the columns is ripped, it doesn't actually, just, it doesn't actually seem to be destroying the, uh, the fountain, like the, um, or causing a problem with like the, the roof and stuff that, but reality itself is tearing along the seams of the, of the carnival tent. Okay. Yeah.

[01:29:42] Opening up into some other place. Okay. Yeah. This is not going according to plan. Yeah. But you've got one more left, basically, one more candle left. Yeah. So, um, so Buck, or Buck, Buck was, uh, Buck's, Buck's, uh, Ivar. Having seen the effect of the pillars coming down, I'm gonna make a new one. Okay. I'm gonna cast Ice Spike. Okay.

[01:30:17] Okay. Uh, make a spell cast roll. Yeah. Okay. So that's, uh, I needed a 12, I got a 13 with hope. Um, to summon a large Ice Spike within far range. You, if you use it as a weapon, you do not have to, um, which is, I'm not, um, make a spell cast roll against a target's difficulty, uh, success. Um, but essentially I'm just making a giant spike of ice. Yeah.

[01:30:47] I'm gonna do it right beside one of the pillars that got cut and stick it straight up into the ceiling and try to help hold it in place. Okay. Yeah. You're, you're effectively like, so the, the, uh, the gaps in the, the previous pillar that was cut, like you're basically kind of filling those gaps with the ice. Yeah. Okay. Uh, yeah, you do so. And actually one of the seams begins closing up just as, um, the, the row of, of people,

[01:31:13] of, of, of, of, audience souls, uh, the people that you can't, that you're actually here for, um, uh, as they're about to like go flying into the void, it actually closes and they fall back to their seats. Uh, and they're like, yeah, that'll give Jack a shit he didn't grin. And he's going to stab at you with his knives. Stab at you! From Pearl's heart I stab at thee. Yes, exactly. From Pearl's heart I stab at thee.

[01:31:43] Um, that is going to be... Eleven? That meets, but, uh, Danger Sense, re-roll please. Okay. That is also eleven? Uh, that meets. So, uh, Wizard's Hope feature. Not this time. Re-roll please. Uh, what was that? Five. Five? That's going to be an eight. That's going to miss.

[01:32:12] Yes. He's just like... Why won't you... Hold still! Um... First time was Goblin Reflexes. Second time... You actually, you, you look at him, he's, he's a little distracted, because he keeps staring, he keeps kind of like darting his eyes toward the rifts, and the thing that's perhaps beyond the rift. Or the seam, the rifts and the seams. Alright. Alright. I like the cut of that, Chip. Yeah.

[01:32:44] Um... Force push him into it. That's what the plan is. Uh, so, Antioch, or do you want to go first? Do you want to go next, or do you want Puck to try and do that thing? Okay, so I am going to make a move. How high up are these candles? So they've, they've kind of been like in like sporadic order, like that's why I've been actually like increasing the difficulty, because the closer ones were like lower to the ground and they kind of went, start spiraling up. And how high is the last one? The highest one is like basically far. Cause it's up at the top of the, the big top.

[01:33:15] Oh, so I couldn't have you tagging it anyway. It's a far distance? Oh, can you? Okay. Um, I'll go with, uh, with close. Okay. That's the next one down, right? I think so. Yeah. Um, so I'm going to try to climb the pillar and extinguish that candle. Try and climb the pillar? Yeah. Okay. How do you climb it with your tire? I'm just curious. I want to know how this works.

[01:33:44] Um, you wrap my hands around it and just drive up the pillar. Okay. Yeah. The spikes, like spikes, like, like pop out, like, uh, like, uh, retract or like detract or. Oh, you've got, you've got winter spikes on there. Yeah. Yeah. All right. I still have my winter tire on. Nice. All right. Uh, this will be a, um, probably, I feel like this is a finesse cause you're, or agility.

[01:34:15] I feel like it's more agility. Yeah. I think that's worse for me. Yeah. I, it is agility, I think cause you're climbing. Yeah. Sprint leap maneuver. Yeah. 12. You're getting up there, but you're not, you're, you're not there yet.

[01:34:39] So, uh, and actually this will be enough time for, uh, Jack to throw, like he sees what you're doing and is like, no, and just throwing a barrage of, of, uh, knives toward you. 2, that's gonna be, 10? Yes. 10 is. Okay. Not today, Satan. Okay. I'm gonna use up the last of my hope to make him re-roll that. All right.

[01:35:13] Uh, 13. Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't, I didn't know this. Mwah, mwah. I tried. You deflect the dagger that's aiming at my back and direct it towards the head. Uh, that's gonna be 10 damage. It's a minor. Yeah. What are you doing? Well, while he's distracted throwing knives at him, I'm gonna dive right between his legs. Yep.

[01:35:44] And I'm going to, um, jab him right in the taint. Force touch the taint. Force touch the taint. And shoot him into the, oh, you know what I just realized, this is the, I don't know if you've ever seen Sonic 3, but there's a scene where like, uh, the old Robotnik, or the new Robot, like, like, Jim Carrey's Robotnik, um, gets backstabbed by his dad, by his grandfather, uh, the old Robotnik. And so, um, he like, but he shows up and just like, stabs him, stabs his old, his grandfather

[01:36:12] in the, in the butt, and basically just shoots him toward like a death wall. Now, I made him vulnerable though, right? Yep. Yes. So I do have an extra die six on this. And you still haven't spent a period of time. Fuck. Yeah. Oh, fuck yeah. Okay. So that's a, uh, a nine and a ten and a four. Okay. So, uh, 19, 23. Yeah, that hits. That hits. Okay. Okay.

[01:36:41] And I'll take my hope that back, thank you. So I hit him four. Eh. Four damage. Okay. But launch him up to very far range in any direction I choose. So up into the, into the rift. Yes. Straight into the rift. Yeah. Um, all right.

[01:37:05] So, yeah, he, um, he like, ah, and then like grabs onto either side of the rift, basically to keep himself from falling, going right in. But he's staring down at whatever, whatever's in that rift. Um, uh, and it's, it's approaching him and, and starting to like, there's like a deep, like kind of throaty chuckle from somewhere beyond the void. Dormo! No! I've come to bargain. No! No, I don't want to bargain! Not right now!

[01:37:36] Um, so, uh, that's right. You can, uh, you get a chance to try and get finished with the job. I shall continue up this pole. I think I can. 19. I think I can. 19? Yeah, you make it up to the, uh, to the candle. You, bam! With the headbutt. Nice. There is a, uh, just sort of a burst of, of, uh, ethereal candle wax and, uh, and, uh,

[01:38:06] and soul energy, uh, that emanates from the candle as it, as it evaporates. Um, and, uh, uh, all the souls are wrapped that were, are still in the, the seats, the spectator seats. They all just immediately, like, there's like almost like a, a chorus of sighs of relief. And they all begin like whispering away. Um, including, um, the, uh, the three that you guys were here to look for.

[01:38:33] Um, and the, uh, the, the tears begin just opening more and more. And you guys see a giant clown hand with claws, uh, um, sort of webbed in a way as well. Um, grab onto Laughing Jack. Uh, like pull him, like, into the, into the, the big top for a second and then start yanking him back into the, uh, into the void. Uh, because there's always a bigger clown fish.

[01:39:01] Um, and he, and then suddenly there is a, a flash and a burst. Um, like a, like a balloon, like a, like a hundred balloons popping at once. Uh, and you all find yourselves inside the, uh, the, the cellar, uh, room where you were, uh, when the, the Jack, when the Jack in the Box, um, popped for the first time. Um, and, uh, you, you see, you hear, uh, kind of, uh, uh, the groggy moans of, uh, of Steve as he's coming to.

[01:39:31] It's like, oh, what, what happened? Where? Oh, last thing I remember was, was finding this room and, and getting, getting it open and seeing all the gore looking around. And that horrible Jack in the Box were you guys. I am Antioch, a Sephiroth of the Burning Bush God. You have been saved. Please consider converting.

[01:39:59] I will take that under advisement. Yeah. Hey there, bud. I'm, uh, I'm Puck. I'm a wizard. He, he just got like, hi. I, I, I work with Antioch. Okay. Um, can we get out of here? I suppose so. This place kinda, this, this room kinda gives you the creeps. Uh, where's my, where's my cloak?

[01:40:29] Uh, back in the last room. Okay. Yeah. So yeah, you guys, um, get up, like, eventually, you guys all like go up to the, uh, the street level. Um, and, uh, you, you see, um, did I give her a name? The, uh, the, uh. I don't think so. Yeah. Uh, you see the, uh, the dog, or the, the sister of, of, uh, of Terry, uh, come running, um, running down the street.

[01:40:56] It's like, it's like, good news. Good news. You did it. Whatever you did, you did it. Terry and Jonathan are, are, are, have, uh, have come back to the, uh, they've woken up. Well, that's great. Kind of expected it since Steve woke up too. Oh, you found, you found called Steve? We did. We did find called Steve. So. Okay. Place was haunted. Place was haunted. Yeah, no, it's, yeah. That's called, it's called Steve.

[01:41:28] Um, uh, yeah, so, um, yeah, she, uh, she seems like she's very grateful for you. Uh, she puts a tithe, uh, she, uh, she donates a tithe to, uh, to me. To you, for the order of the, uh. The suggested donation is one tenth of your income. Could you settle on two hand, uh, handfuls? Still. At least of your annual income. Yeah. Oh. What is your annual income?

[01:41:57] Well, my, my, my husband's a minor. In the mountains. Dads, you probably don't want to be passing that around if you're a husband or a child. No, like a, like, like, like, minor as in like, and that's what we're gonna call it. That's where we're gonna end it. Wah wah. Um, as you guys, uh, have, have vanquished Laughing Jack from Dat World.

[01:42:20] Um, and saved the souls of, of countless and, and sent him reeling back to his, his patron. Cause I kind of decided today he was gonna be on warlock. Yeah, uh, comments, questions, suggestions. That was pretty good. Yeah. It's a little, it was a little shorter than, uh, than the last game we did. Cause, uh, uh, I just checked and it was like, it clocks in at like 1.40. But, uh, anything else before I get the recorder turned off? That you guys want to speak a piece about the game?

[01:42:50] Uh, no, it'll be good. Alright, cool. I got no complaints. We killed the clown. Yep. That was the important thing. Yep. I hate clowns so much. Yeah, that's, I, I made this game for, as a catharsis for the clown haters out there. I.e. you and to a degree me cause fuck clowns. Yeah. Also fuck clowns. No. Have a good day, Clussy. And on that, we'll see y'all next time.