Currently, fire has erupted around the three of you. Fire the smell of fire is lifted up in the air as smoke assaults your nostrils. Viscount, Balthazar is dead on the stage.
Annie Hawthorne:The library is on fire.
Joe Diametti:It's the
Rowan Collins:Bob, dad, get home. Get out of here.
Isaac Allen Burns:She just says, I thought you were different. See, I was wrong.
Rowan Collins:Pistachio runs through that thought in their brain, turns their back to their farm, and goes and to help the group.
Annie Hawthorne:I am gonna grab Timothy and Alana, and I'm gonna scoop them behind me as far away from the action as I can get them.
Isaac Allen Burns:From what Pistachio can tell, this thing would explode, probably damage a couple of buildings. It not seem big enough to destroy the entire town.
Joe Diametti:Town. Uh-huh.
Isaac Allen Burns:It's definitely big enough that it will level the Adventurer's Guild and everything inside it.
Rowan Collins:They look straight at their sister and go, you got this Hazel. I believe in you. Keep Wally alive.
Isaac Allen Burns:Cathe, you hear a shriek ringing through the air. Sounds like Scarlet.
Joe Diametti:You bastard.
Isaac Allen Burns:Once again, Kapi, you hear shrieks and screaming in the air Mhmm. Distance.
Joe Diametti:Where is it coming from?
Isaac Allen Burns:It seems to be coming somewhere in the exterior of town. It seems be coming up from, like, where the South is. You hear it down below.
Joe Diametti:Uh-huh. It's
Isaac Allen Burns:kind of cutting through all of the din and the chaos.
Joe Diametti:That the Down South. Is that the apple orchard? I don't remember.
Isaac Allen Burns:Is it That is where the apple orchards are.
Joe Diametti:Okay. I I gotta go. Make sure everything's fine here, and Kapi runs off. Kapi runs.
Rowan Collins:I look to Crank. Crank, what what do you wanna do?
Annie Hawthorne:Well, it seems that Timothy and Alana are safe now. Right?
Isaac Allen Burns:They are. This group of civilians is kinda huddled up. Those soldiers have been taken care of fully. If you see that they're looking and kind of conversing with each other in frantic tones, where to go for safety.
Annie Hawthorne:Yeah. And I'm just gonna tell them, get somewhere safe, and I'm gonna pick up pistachio, and I'm gonna carry them after Kapi.
Isaac Allen Burns:Nice. You see that Toulouse nods and kind of hugging a lot of clothes says, stay safe, Craig. Dark tidings.
Annie Hawthorne:I just nod and I run.
Isaac Allen Burns:You run.
Rowan Collins:I think as Pistachio watches their farm on fire going under the horizon as they get farther and farther away. There's, like, a tear, and then they just, like, close their eyes in a silent hope that their sister is able to take care of it and that their brother makes it out alive.
Isaac Allen Burns:Indeed. Three of you are running. You run south. You run through the chaos and the bedlam of this burning town. Bracken Road is burning.
Isaac Allen Burns:Can everybody, at this point, I'm gonna use the reaction called smoke on the water, and then in parentheses, it says air. You ever wanna give me a strength roll? This is a strength reaction.
Joe Diametti:16 with hope.
Annie Hawthorne:Jesus Christ. That's what I needed a minute ago. So 24 with hope.
Rowan Collins:Nine with hope.
Isaac Allen Burns:K. You said 16, Kathy? Yes. K. You two are running.
Isaac Allen Burns:You're doing the best you can. You're running through. It doesn't infect you. Pistachio. Things are burning.
Isaac Allen Burns:Smoke is in the air. Smokes gets into your lungs. You start violently coughing. As you're running, you are currently, for your next action, is going to be at disadvantage, and you have the vulnerable condition. You run south as you can.
Isaac Allen Burns:And as you get to the Southern gates, you see two slain peacekeepers at the gates. They have been killed. You see what looks like a noviceite vehicle, something that a lot of you haven't seen probably. It looks like a cart. Imagine a cart with these two wheels and a big body.
Isaac Allen Burns:It's not kinda closed off at the front. Like, this really heavy metal contraption at the very front of it. For modern audiences, this would be the equivalent of, like, a Ford Model t.
Joe Diametti:Mhmm.
Isaac Allen Burns:Except instead of an engine with, like, a bunch of combustion and stuff, you see a couple of kinda similar to what you saw on that bomb, these Novacite cores in it that are powering this. They are not glowing like you saw before, but you can hear kind of the thrum of it moving. You see two kind of big bodyguard looking guys are sort of like grabbed on to Scarlet, and they're trying to pull her into this vehicle. You see that one of them is kind of yelling at her and says, orders from your pops.
Isaac Allen Burns:You gotta get in. You're getting out of here.
Isaac Allen Burns:Hey. Let her go. What are you doing? She looks at you and goes, Kapi, help me.
Joe Diametti:Yeah. I mean, Kapi does. He fucking swings.
Isaac Allen Burns:Very good. Make an attack roll.
Joe Diametti:Come on, Halbert. Please? Just once? It's out of the box. What the fuck?
Joe Diametti:Oh, wait. No. No. No. We're okay because it's a crit.
Rowan Collins:What? There
Joe Diametti:were ones but they're a crit.
Isaac Allen Burns:You're you know what, Kathy?
Joe Diametti:You
Isaac Allen Burns:describe you just I'll let you describe what happens here.
Joe Diametti:Okay. Yeah. He swings and he just doesn't really understand how this weapon works. So, you know, he just goes in way too hard and basically just takes off the arm of the guard that is holding What's her name? Scarlet.
Joe Diametti:What's her
Rowan Collins:name? What's her name? What?
Isaac Allen Burns:Oh my god.
Joe Diametti:Sorry, Scarlet.
Isaac Allen Burns:Gabby's the worst. Yeah. Gabby, you cut the you you cut this guy's arm off. He screams in pain. He immediately drops to his knees.
Isaac Allen Burns:You see the other guy says,
Rowan Collins:oh, woah. What the fuck?
Isaac Allen Burns:Hey. Hey. What's up? What's the matter with you?
Isaac Allen Burns:He pulls out what looks like a big club.
Joe Diametti:Yeah. I say, I'm just looking for a hand. I wanna really capitalize on my credit. And I say, yeah. I'm just looking for a hand.
Joe Diametti:And I take the guy's arm off of Scarlet and just slap him with
Annie Hawthorne:Wow. Oh
Rowan Collins:my god.
Joe Diametti:Blood from the other end just spraying everywhere as I do You know what? I'm trying to keep the car intact.
Isaac Allen Burns:Yeah. Make it a tacrol again. What? Or you know what?
Joe Diametti:No. You know what? It's fine. It's fine. Make it a yeah.
Joe Diametti:What we got? That's a 17.
Rowan Collins:With hope for fear.
Joe Diametti:Oh, it's with hope. Sorry. Let me It's that hope. I need my hopes up. Hope's hope for Kathy.
Joe Diametti:Wild. I can't
Isaac Allen Burns:believe that. You're always you're always thinking it was gonna be so hard. You slap this guy with his friend's arms. And it turns out this this bodyguard is actually really hates medical things. And he sees the blood.
Isaac Allen Burns:You see, he gets slapped with his arm and the realization of what just occurred happens to him. He turns green and he passes. And because you were with hope, he does not throw up on your shoes. Instead, he just passes. Yeah.
Isaac Allen Burns:You see that Scarlet is standing there kind of visibly shaking. Are you are you are you okay? She, like, grabs you in a hug and says, oh my god. It's Kapi. God, thank you.
Isaac Allen Burns:I were these are my father's men. They were trying to take me away.
Joe Diametti:Oh. Oh. Well, yeah. It's okay. I got you.
Isaac Allen Burns:Kapi, I think something's seriously wrong. Yeah. Something's terribly wrong here.
Joe Diametti:And you know what? What? I bet Carol has something to do with it.
Isaac Allen Burns:We'll talk about it later. Let's What are you talking about? Let's go.
Joe Diametti:Don't even get me started on The Librarian. Let's go.
Isaac Allen Burns:You know what? That went really well for y'all. Like, kind of annoyingly well. I'm a let you do this. You had the sense something deep in your pit of your stomachs tells you something is coming.
Isaac Allen Burns:But do y'all wanna take this action to do any kind of preparation for what's to come?
Joe Diametti:Or Obviously, we prepare and take the car.
Annie Hawthorne:He takes the car where?
Rowan Collins:Where? What?
Joe Diametti:I don't know. I just wanna drive it. Look how cool it looks.
Annie Hawthorne:I think that Crank is running so fast that he kinda just barrels under the
Joe Diametti:car and
Isaac Allen Burns:You're a small explosion. That's the car.
Rowan Collins:Oh. Really?
Isaac Allen Burns:It's really fast.
Rowan Collins:Yeah. Pistachio's just in a hacking fit.
Joe Diametti:That's the car.
Isaac Allen Burns:Oh, yeah.
Annie Hawthorne:That was a threat. Right? I just destroyed a threat. Right?
Isaac Allen Burns:Sure, Cole. Good job, buddy. Threat neutralized. Pistachio, you're go ahead and roll instinct roll for me.
Rowan Collins:11 with fear.
Joe Diametti:Oh. Oh. I know.
Isaac Allen Burns:You hear fire all around. The snap and the crackle.
Annie Hawthorne:And the pop?
Isaac Allen Burns:And the pop. All of the fire noises. Kinda dawns on you the severity of this as you look around and see bits, Bracken Road. Pretty much ash at this point. You have a bad feeling in your gut, Pistachio.
Isaac Allen Burns:Gabby, does a 13 beat your evasion? It does.
Joe Diametti:By one.
Isaac Allen Burns:Don't you hate that?
Joe Diametti:I do.
Isaac Allen Burns:As the three of you were standing there, you hear a boomerang comes out of nowhere and slams into the side of Kapi's face.
Annie Hawthorne:Am I very close to Kapi?
Isaac Allen Burns:In this case, no. It pops up into the air. You were busy destroying the car. It pops up into the air and flies into the hands of an individual that is currently crouched within the trees. Well, look what we have here.
Rowan Collins:Oh, no. Oh, no.
Isaac Allen Burns:You see a blue Simiya. More akin to Diddy Kong than Donkey Kong. Kind of holding a boomerang on the side. Kapi, you take 15 points of damage. 15?
Isaac Allen Burns:15.
Joe Diametti:Okay.
Annie Hawthorne:You have armor.
Joe Diametti:Yeah. I'm gonna use some armor. K. It's 15.
Isaac Allen Burns:It's 15 damage. You may I'll just step out again. Hey, it's me Isaac Allen Burns here to tell you a rule in Dagger Heart. You can spend you could spend armor slots to decrease the amount of damage.
Joe Diametti:So that was 15 and my severe damage threshold is a 12. So I'm gonna use one armor slot to alright. To get it into major. So that's two HP that I mark.
Isaac Allen Burns:This hits you hard. You hear, looks like we finally caught up to all y'all. You hear Who talks like that?
Isaac Allen Burns:I talk like that. Me, Chomsky.
Isaac Allen Burns:And I'm here to be your doom. You see stepping out of another tree. You see a Justinian soldier, the same one that killed Viscount Alphazar. He's got two swords in either hand, and he looks over at you, Capi. He takes off his helmet to reveal a red furred Simia who looks somewhat similar to Cyrus.
Isaac Allen Burns:He looks at you and says, so it's you. You are the whelp carrying on his legacy. Even saw fit to give you his weapon.
Joe Diametti:Oh. So I assume that because Kapi just got hit in the head, things are just blurry. Yeah. And kinda like going in and out of focus. And he's very he's having trouble discerning Cyrus from anything else.
Joe Diametti:I didn't I didn't mean to I was borrowing it really. Borrowing Yeah. I just I I don't really think it's for me, to be honest. It's I'm not very good at it.
Rowan Collins:Kapi, do you think that's Cyrus?
Joe Diametti:What do mean, of course, it's
Rowan Collins:It's not Cyrus. This guy looks similar, but
Joe Diametti:You're not Cyrus? Oh, shit. You're not Cyrus. Yeah. Yeah.
Joe Diametti:I took it on. Bud?
Isaac Allen Burns:This is what we were supposed to be worried about? Well, your little fearless leader has been giving us quite a run for our money. Why don't we test my uncle's protege? You see that he unsheathes these two swords and spins them a little bit. Oh.
Isaac Allen Burns:We are now entering combat.
Annie Hawthorne:I'm gonna step as close to Kapi as I can get.
Isaac Allen Burns:Mhmm. Very good. Three of you get there. And I'm gonna use fear right now Excellent. To be really mean Excellent.
Isaac Allen Burns:And let them go first. Because stepping out of the trees are two other individuals who fire upon You see this ribbit comes out of the branches, hanging upside down by her feet. She's bright orange, almost like a sunset of sorts. She got this big long blow gun. One eye of hers is bigger than the other, clearly kinda like tweaking out.
Isaac Allen Burns:She shoots this blow gun.
Annie Hawthorne:Joke's on you. I don't have skin.
Isaac Allen Burns:It the needle clanks harmlessly against your armor. At the same time, you see you hear a voice. Buck Buckeye coming in as this fawn with antlers, really big antlers, who looks too cool to be here, has a slingshot, comes from out from behind a tree and fires at pistachio.
Annie Hawthorne:Am I still holding pistachio?
Rowan Collins:Yeah. Pistachio is just a sack of potatoes.
Isaac Allen Burns:The bullet was for a taller person. It goes way high.
Annie Hawthorne:I'm just gonna look at everybody and be like, this is what we were supposed to be worried about?
Isaac Allen Burns:Finally, this guy in the center, He's got two swords. They're kinda like curved long swords. However, you notice that the hilts of them are kinda shaped a little weird as though they have a trigger. That's right. These are gun swords.
Isaac Allen Burns:Any points at you, Capy, and fire
Joe Diametti:situation? Fuck. Be nice, Isaac.
Annie Hawthorne:Yeah. That wasn't a nice laugh.
Joe Diametti:That wasn't a nice
Isaac Allen Burns:So nice. Does a 15 hit you?
Joe Diametti:Yeah.
Annie Hawthorne:I'm gonna use I am your shield, FYI.
Isaac Allen Burns:That's 13 damage to you. This is magical damage.
Annie Hawthorne:I'm gonna mark a stress to take that damage instead.
Rowan Collins:Crank, how bad do you look at this point?
Annie Hawthorne:Well, I'm still in unstoppable mode, which means I have resistance to damage, and I lower it by my armor class automatically. So that's half of 13 is, what, seven? Mhmm. Minus five is two. So I'm at I've just got two mark HP mark.
Rowan Collins:Okay.
Joe Diametti:Oh, thanks, Crank.
Annie Hawthorne:Don't mention it.
Joe Diametti:Okay. Alright. We I didn't know we were bringing guns. What
Annie Hawthorne:are you doing bringing a gun to
Joe Diametti:the those cannon in this universe?
Isaac Allen Burns:Yeah. Who did?
Rowan Collins:Oh, yeah. Shucks. Sorry, guys.
Isaac Allen Burns:So to reset the stage, you're being assaulted by this group. They're all dressed like Jastani soldiers. Though their helmets are off, you can see the individuality here. One is hanging up in some branches. One is behind a tree on your right or behind a tree on your left.
Isaac Allen Burns:And then there's this new individual who has represented themselves as Cyrus's nephew who is in front of y'all on this road. They are all within close range.
Rowan Collins:Are they within close range of each other?
Isaac Allen Burns:Not all of them. They're kinda dotted apart from one another. They're all within close range of y'all, so they're probably, like, barely outside of close range with each other. Okay. What do you do?
Annie Hawthorne:I'm gonna put pistachio down behind me.
Isaac Allen Burns:RIP pistachio.
Annie Hawthorne:I'm gonna tap them on the head.
Isaac Allen Burns:We gotta put pistachio down.
Annie Hawthorne:Don't. Tap them on the head, and I'm just gonna, like, bang my fist together. I'm gonna turn around, and I'm gonna run straight at the guy in charge.
Isaac Allen Burns:Oh, okay.
Annie Hawthorne:And I'm gonna try to hit him, and I would like to use my battle born experience to hit this motherfucker in the face.
Isaac Allen Burns:I'm gonna say in this case, you are taking charge to protect an individual, which I am gonna say, oh, that'll count. Yeah. That works.
Joe Diametti:Fucking hell.
Isaac Allen Burns:What do we got?
Annie Hawthorne:11 with hope.
Isaac Allen Burns:That, unfortunately, will not be enough as you swing your fist, this guy was ready for it, and you see that he just sort of moves out of the way very gracefully, kinda almost tapping your fist with one of his swords as if to just push it off center of where he was.
Annie Hawthorne:Jokes on him. Got two fists.
Joe Diametti:What if what if what if I spend the hope to help? Like, what could the same move play out but I use my halberd to try to like grab his ankle and scoop him up?
Isaac Allen Burns:You know what? In this case, if you wanna use a help if you wanna spend a hope to give Crank a help action, then I would say sure. You can add that D6. Go ahead and roll D6.
Joe Diametti:Alright. Let me mark a hope. K.
Isaac Allen Burns:4. 4. 15. That is a 15. That is going to be enough, surprisingly.
Isaac Allen Burns:This guy taps out of the way, and you come in from behind to do exactly as you said. So go ahead and roll damage.
Annie Hawthorne:Six.
Isaac Allen Burns:K.
Joe Diametti:Nice.
Isaac Allen Burns:Alright. So you deal damage there. Are you gonna attack again?
Joe Diametti:Yeah. K.
Isaac Allen Burns:Attack one more time.
Annie Hawthorne:I'm at three stress y'all.
Isaac Allen Burns:Stress. That is
Joe Diametti:two, three.
Annie Hawthorne:That is a crit.
Isaac Allen Burns:Oh my god.
Rowan Collins:Yes. Crit.
Annie Hawthorne:That is a crit which means eight and then I roll one.
Isaac Allen Burns:Yes. Roll again. Brutal crit. 14. So you roll up on this guy, Crank.
Isaac Allen Burns:You punch once. You punch again. He was already kinda surprised at the first one kind of getting him off balance, but the second one comes in and clocks him real good across the chin. Really strong. In response, we'll interrupt right after this.
Isaac Allen Burns:Even though you did not roll a fear me as the GM, I am allowed to interrupt times of high tension. Now I'm gonna say that they're going to volley on you. Crank. All three of the ones in the wings are gonna fire me.
Annie Hawthorne:Ring it.
Isaac Allen Burns:Let's see if they can even hit. Versus a 16. Mhmm. Second one is an 18.
Rowan Collins:Mhmm.
Isaac Allen Burns:Next one is a seven.
Annie Hawthorne:Nope. Wait. Yes.
Isaac Allen Burns:Wait. Seven hits?
Annie Hawthorne:Yeah. My Evasion is seven.
Isaac Allen Burns:K. So I'm gonna roll these are three separate attacks.
Annie Hawthorne:I'm a big target, y'all.
Isaac Allen Burns:Uh-oh. First one is nine physical damage.
Annie Hawthorne:Give me all of them? Or am I gonna Okay. So I automatically decrease all of that by my armor square, is still a six because I'm still in unstoppable mode. Right. So that's minor.
Isaac Allen Burns:Okay. Yeah. Awesome. The next one is 10.
Annie Hawthorne:Minor.
Isaac Allen Burns:Next one is eight.
Annie Hawthorne:Alright, y'all. I'm looking rough.
Rowan Collins:Pistachio, like, leaps off of the car and, like, runs over to Crank and puts both hands on them and goes, Crank, no. And then, we'll heal Crank. So I'm gonna spend or three hope to heal two from Crank. And I look back at Kapi and point at the trees, like, you wanna get up?
Joe Diametti:I look at Pistachio and say, yeah. I got it. And I'm going to use rain of blades where I spend a hope to conjure throwing blades that strike any enemies very close, which you said they are. Right?
Isaac Allen Burns:They're close. They're not very close. You could move up to very close with one of them there.
Joe Diametti:Okay. So yeah. Wanna move within very close range and then use rain of blades to spend a hope to conjure throwing blades that strike any enemies very close to me. Alright. Plus two spell cast.
Joe Diametti:So that's nineteen twenty twenty one with fear.
Isaac Allen Burns:Oh, nice.
Joe Diametti:Does that hit?
Rowan Collins:Yes. Does that hit?
Joe Diametti:And then
Isaac Allen Burns:Real quick. Which one were you going for? Were you going for the orange ribbit? Were you going for the blue Simia? Or are you going for the fawn with big antlers?
Joe Diametti:Oh. I really I think I'm going for the the blue Simia because he hit me in the head with a
Isaac Allen Burns:What darnation?
Joe Diametti:And I kinda hate his accent. So or whatever it is he's doing there with his voice.
Isaac Allen Burns:Gowling G. Willikers.
Joe Diametti:Yeah. That guy.
Isaac Allen Burns:He's attacking me?
Joe Diametti:Yep. Go ahead and roll damage.
Rowan Collins:Joe's like, please get this character that I created off screen.
Isaac Allen Burns:Yeah. He has to Now you're locked in.
Joe Diametti:Alright. Two plus two, so four.
Isaac Allen Burns:Okay. Four damage that strikes into him. You hit old Chomsky, he yells. Anything else on your turn? Anything else you wanna do?
Joe Diametti:No. That's
Isaac Allen Burns:it. Very good. Crank. You've just attacked this guy. Your friends are now moving into positions.
Isaac Allen Burns:Anything you wanna do here?
Annie Hawthorne:I'm gonna keep fucking up this guy.
Isaac Allen Burns:Do have
Joe Diametti:the the the staff? The thing?
Annie Hawthorne:Of course, I have it. But what am I supposed
Rowan Collins:to do with that?
Joe Diametti:I don't know.
Annie Hawthorne:My fists are doing more.
Isaac Allen Burns:Magic now?
Annie Hawthorne:I don't have time to think about that. Yeah. I'm just wailing on him.
Isaac Allen Burns:K. Very good. Wail on him. Go ahead.
Annie Hawthorne:Wail on him. Eventually, got it. That's another crit. Woah.
Rowan Collins:What the heck? Look.
Isaac Allen Burns:All damage.
Rowan Collins:It's good. Annie was rolling all the low things earlier. 16. Kick your butt.
Isaac Allen Burns:16? Mhmm. Gracious sake.
Annie Hawthorne:And I'm gonna hit him again.
Isaac Allen Burns:K. You spend a stress to hit him again? Mhmm. K.
Annie Hawthorne:My stress is getting up there.
Isaac Allen Burns:It went up.
Annie Hawthorne:But I think it's worth it. 15 with fear.
Isaac Allen Burns:That does hit. Go ahead and roll damage. Three. Nice.
Annie Hawthorne:And now I'm not unstoppable anymore.
Isaac Allen Burns:With that three, you clock him one more time. He you see he stumbles back bleeding from his nose. His teeth are bloodied. He's he's barely standing up. He was not expecting this full onslaught.
Isaac Allen Burns:And as and before he can even say, like, seems I'm just judged. You can punch him one more time. He kinda stumbles back again. His eyes go into the back of his mind, and he passes out falling off the ground. On that fear, these three, I'm gonna activate these bad guys right here.
Isaac Allen Burns:So the orange ribbit is gonna fire at you. That's 19. Mhmm. And it's 10 damage. How much HP do you have left?
Isaac Allen Burns:Two. Oh my gosh.
Rowan Collins:Well, because I healed Starship.
Isaac Allen Burns:True.
Rowan Collins:I healed crate.
Isaac Allen Burns:That will miss. We're gonna say that was Chomsky. Chomsky was firing at him, and then missed. Finally, it's up to this last little flan fire shooter for attacking their boss. That's a 14.
Isaac Allen Burns:To hit? Yes. That is 13 damage. Yeah. Crank is still alive.
Isaac Allen Burns:Nice. You see that this guy, this red Simia, kinda falls back. This full onslaught fully taking him by surprise. But these three are still up, and they have a mission to accomplish. And they're here to accomplish it.
Isaac Allen Burns:But those three have gone. It is now back to you three.
Joe Diametti:Vines? Vines?
Rowan Collins:Vines. Alright. So you said you described the orange one as hanging from a tree. Right?
Isaac Allen Burns:Yes.
Rowan Collins:Okay. If I use my vicious intangle, can will it pull them down from the tree if they if it succeeds?
Isaac Allen Burns:Depends on if you succeed. Okay. I'm gonna say possibly good.
Rowan Collins:That is 19 with fear.
Isaac Allen Burns:Awesome. You will definitely pull them down from that. That does succeed. Does that deal damage?
Rowan Collins:Yes. It does. And that is a six six damage as the vines stab into them.
Isaac Allen Burns:They yell out in pain as this happens. And on that fear, they're gonna respond by shooting you.
Rowan Collins:Are they very close to anybody at this point or no?
Isaac Allen Burns:They are still only within close range. Okay. So in the, like, 30 feet range.
Joe Diametti:Alright. That
Isaac Allen Burns:is a 17 to hit you.
Rowan Collins:That'll hit. K.
Isaac Allen Burns:I'm rolling so well, you guys. It's 10 damage.
Rowan Collins:What
Joe Diametti:does that do?
Rowan Collins:Yeah. It's just damage.
Isaac Allen Burns:It's just damage. Okay. Cool. Finally, it's now the other guy's turn. And the other guy, I'm gonna say, Chomsky is still dealing with you right now.
Joe Diametti:Mhmm.
Isaac Allen Burns:But I'm gonna say that there's somebody who had their little beady little eyes on pistachio from the start, and that was the antlered one whose name is Buckeye gonna fire as she try and hit you. It's 18. Oh my god. My d 20 rolls are so hot. 13 damage.
Annie Hawthorne:Forgot your armor, Eel.
Rowan Collins:Oh, yeah. That's right. I will okay. That puts me at four HP. I will use some armor to get that down to three.
Rowan Collins:Nice.
Isaac Allen Burns:Very good. Back to y'all. These three are looking like, they killed the boss.
Isaac Allen Burns:We could still do it. K.
Joe Diametti:It's three on three, guys. We got this right. I'm looking at everyone and we're just all looking rough.
Annie Hawthorne:Got like sparks flying. My joints are a little
Joe Diametti:Yeah. Pistachio is looking
Rowan Collins:Pretty roughed up.
Isaac Allen Burns:Can you roll actually, crank, real fast. Can you roll me this is a reaction. Can you roll me an instinct reaction roll?
Annie Hawthorne:Instinct. I still have a plus one from my stat.
Isaac Allen Burns:Right? Indeed. Remember, hope and fear are not tallied up here.
Annie Hawthorne:That's a crit. What?
Joe Diametti:Is that like you're cool?
Annie Hawthorne:It's my third crit. Damn.
Isaac Allen Burns:The hell is happening, y'all?
Annie Hawthorne:I mean, you can look at it right there.
Isaac Allen Burns:These guys are supposed to be a challenge. Y'all are knocking them out. No problem. Alright. Anyways, continue.
Isaac Allen Burns:Nothing seems to happen.
Annie Hawthorne:Nothing seems to happen? Okay. I'm gonna open up my chest cavity and pull out a health potion. I'm a take that.
Joe Diametti:Oh, that's right. Oh, yeah. I'm good. I don't think I got anything cool. Right?
Rowan Collins:No. You definitely have one. We all have one as part of the starter Oh. Stuff. Nice.
Rowan Collins:Pro tip players.
Annie Hawthorne:Another clicker.
Rowan Collins:You get a health potion or a stamina potion as part of your player kit. Right.
Annie Hawthorne:Use it. I look slightly better,
Joe Diametti:but not much. Oh gosh.
Isaac Allen Burns:Incredible. What do you gonna do?
Rowan Collins:Pray, could you throw me one of them?
Annie Hawthorne:A potion or an enemy?
Rowan Collins:Throw me at an enemy.
Annie Hawthorne:Throw you at an enemy? Yes.
Rowan Collins:Sure. Which one? Whichever.
Annie Hawthorne:I'm gonna pick up Pistachio, and I'm just gonna, like, quarterback throw a Pistachio at the orange rock.
Rowan Collins:So I I want this to be, like, a double move, which we can do.
Annie Hawthorne:Oh, yeah. We can. Double move.
Rowan Collins:So, Pistachio, I want to turn into a dodo at the same time. We're gonna go back to the freaky spider eldritch dodo because it's working out for them very well. I'm gonna guess that yours is gonna be better.
Annie Hawthorne:It's an attack roll?
Isaac Allen Burns:Yeah. So
Annie Hawthorne:that's 15. Yeah. Yours Sphere.
Rowan Collins:Yours is definitely better. I rolled a two and a one. Almost a great.
Isaac Allen Burns:Oh my god. A 15 will succeed. Go ahead and roll damage, Pistachio.
Rowan Collins:Fantastic.
Annie Hawthorne:Alright. Did we both roll damage? How does that work?
Isaac Allen Burns:Actually, both roll damage together as usual and add it together.
Rowan Collins:Oh, nice. Okay.
Annie Hawthorne:So you rolled a five? Yep. I rolled five. I rolled a five as well.
Rowan Collins:10 damage. 10.
Isaac Allen Burns:Describe how you end sunset.
Rowan Collins:Oh gosh. So they get tossed at sunset and grabs them in their eight spider talons and just, like, beaked down with the little venom sacks just, like, bite in at their neck and feel like venom pulse into their neck and then them just slowly twitch and stop moving.
Isaac Allen Burns:Oh, no.
Rowan Collins:And then, Pistachio shrieks like a like a venom shriek and like turns to the next one.
Isaac Allen Burns:Yeah. So sunset is over. That fully kills that
Annie Hawthorne:one. The sun has set.
Rowan Collins:The sun has set.
Isaac Allen Burns:You know,
Isaac Allen Burns:that was so good. And to honor the tag team and additionally how much damage you did, I'm gonna make I'm gonna say that bullseye, the one who's not kind of wrapped up with you right now, Kapi. Mhmm. I'll say that he's vulnerable until his next turn.
Rowan Collins:Fantastic.
Isaac Allen Burns:He's so freaked out by what he's seen. Oh man.
Joe Diametti:I wanna kill something. You guys are always killing something. And here's what I wanna do. I'm not sure how you can help me with this Isaac. Uh-huh.
Joe Diametti:Alan Burns.
Isaac Allen Burns:Yeah. What's up?
Joe Diametti:I We're in an apple orchard. Right? It's true. K. So I want to pick an apple.
Isaac Allen Burns:Okay.
Joe Diametti:Yeah. And I want to shove it down Chompsey's throat and block his wind passing.
Isaac Allen Burns:Make it a tack roll.
Joe Diametti:Okay. But I also wanna use how do you like dem apples? Oh my god. You
Isaac Allen Burns:know what? Sure. Why not? You could spend the hope to use this experience.
Joe Diametti:Thanks.
Isaac Allen Burns:No problem, buddy. Oh
Joe Diametti:shit.
Rowan Collins:That's off the that's out of the box.
Joe Diametti:14 with hope.
Isaac Allen Burns:14 will hit? What?
Joe Diametti:Six.
Isaac Allen Burns:Awesome. You shove the sackle into Chomsky's mouth. Like you shouldn't be allowed to talk. What is that?
Joe Diametti:That's not a real accent. It's nothing. Alcohol.
Isaac Allen Burns:Alcohol. And you see the life leave his eyes as he chokes on an apple.
Joe Diametti:I killed something.
Annie Hawthorne:Good job, Kapi. Welcome to the club.
Joe Diametti:Thanks, gang.
Rowan Collins:I'm still conflicted about how I feel like that. I feel like I need to go and vet this with therapy after this.
Joe Diametti:We still have one more. We'll we'll get you
Isaac Allen Burns:therapy He's he's kinda shook up from what he's seen.
Joe Diametti:Yeah.
Annie Hawthorne:He would bring myself up to my, like, full size. I'm just gonna glare at him, and I'm gonna see what he does.
Isaac Allen Burns:In fact, as you do that, Craig, can you go ahead and give me another instant reaction roll?
Annie Hawthorne:Twenty twenty four with fear.
Isaac Allen Burns:Cool. On a re recall on a reaction roll, hope and fear are not tallied up there. So it's
Annie Hawthorne:just 24.
Isaac Allen Burns:Ain't that awesome? Isn't that great?
Joe Diametti:Right.
Isaac Allen Burns:Well, as y'all are staring him down, I'm gonna do an interrupt. I'm gonna spend one of my fear, which I have quite a few, though I have a lot less than I started with now. And I'm going to actually use attack soldiers from the environment, and you see that two soldiers come from out of the door from all the conundrum. They see what's going on and they yell, assault at the gates. Assault at the gates.
Isaac Allen Burns:One of them grabs the guy on the ground, starts dragging him out, the other one kinda takes up defensive stance. Another I've added a new enemy into this. But that's all I'll do.
Joe Diametti:What's is Scarlet okay?
Isaac Allen Burns:Scarlet's been hiding behind the car this whole time. Her eyes wide this year. Crumpled up threat that was neutralized.
Joe Diametti:Yeah. We could've gotten away in that, probably.
Rowan Collins:I think seeing that nobody else is making actions, Pistachio won't round on Buckeye and just charge.
Isaac Allen Burns:K. Do it up.
Rowan Collins:And we'll try and pounce on on him. That is a 19 with hope. Nice.
Isaac Allen Burns:Nice. This is, like, possible at all for y'all to roll anything less than a 15. I swear.
Rowan Collins:And it's seven damage.
Isaac Allen Burns:Seven damage.
Rowan Collins:Is this man
Isaac Allen Burns:It was the first damage that he's taken, so he is still alive.
Rowan Collins:So he gets this fun little thing called he's envenomated. Venom envenomated. He's envenomated. He's envenomated.
Isaac Allen Burns:Not envenomated.
Rowan Collins:Which means for any time he acts, he gets one d 10 additional damage.
Isaac Allen Burns:Anytime he acts?
Rowan Collins:Anytime he acts.
Annie Hawthorne:Nice.
Isaac Allen Burns:Did you roll that with hope or fear?
Rowan Collins:That was with hope.
Joe Diametti:Ding.
Isaac Allen Burns:Ding. Well, then I guess I'm gonna just use one of my last few fear here to interrupt because I think this would be perfect. I'm gonna interrupt. He gets bit. He stumbles back.
Isaac Allen Burns:He screams in pain. Ah. He points at you with his slingshot. Is he gonna fire at you?
Rowan Collins:Does this count as him acting?
Isaac Allen Burns:It does.
Rowan Collins:He takes nine damage.
Isaac Allen Burns:Does a 10 hit you?
Rowan Collins:No. Not as No. Not as this beast form.
Isaac Allen Burns:He fires a bullet into the ground, and his eyes roll in the back of his head as you see black veins kind of, like, pick up in his neck, and he starts to froth. And with that
Rowan Collins:I I think Pistachio, as this Dodo, just like roars and turns towards the other guards.
Isaac Allen Burns:You turn towards the other guards and one last time, Annie. Of Craig Rollins instinct reaction for me.
Annie Hawthorne:16.
Rowan Collins:Isaac has rolled his eyes so hard.
Isaac Allen Burns:The dice are fighting me at every opportunity. And you know what? Perhaps the dice know what they are doing. You know, because you've succeeded three times, crank, I'll just let you know exactly what's going on. You are fighting.
Isaac Allen Burns:You're taking lives. You are committing violence, enacting your will upon others through fighting, through violence itself. The staff on your back continually demands to be used. It is crying out. It is demanding you to use it, and you have resisted the urge.
Isaac Allen Burns:Frank, you in your mind, as you're resisting this, you have a thought. There is an individual in the town right now seeking that staff. You imagine the usage of this staff would have perhaps clued them into your location.
Annie Hawthorne:It's the one ring.
Rowan Collins:Mhmm. Oh, god. It is the one ring.
Isaac Allen Burns:They have not found you yet, but you have one more enemy in front of you. What do y'all do?
Joe Diametti:That
Isaac Allen Burns:was terrible.
Rowan Collins:Oh my god.
Isaac Allen Burns:Oh, no.
Annie Hawthorne:Sorry, Trevor.
Joe Diametti:Yeah. I
Isaac Allen Burns:think that His eyes are shaking. His arms are weak.
Annie Hawthorne:Just literally like somebody run. Like, you should run.
Joe Diametti:Yeah. What are you guys doing? Do you not
Isaac Allen Burns:see that we are Do
Annie Hawthorne:you not have a survival instinct? Like,
Joe Diametti:what are you defending right now?
Isaac Allen Burns:The guy looks at all three of you and yells, retreat, technical retreat, and he runs back into the town.
Joe Diametti:Yeah. Technically, us kicking your asses. Did you guys see that?
Isaac Allen Burns:High five. Hell yeah. Let's go.
Rowan Collins:Pistachio like runs forward a little bit form and is just like panting on the ground. Like, now they've killed three people and they are freaking out.
Joe Diametti:Pistachio. Hey. Hey. Hey. Hey.
Joe Diametti:Is why we joined the adventure guild.
Isaac Allen Burns:You get the sense that Scarlet has never seen anyone die before, and now three people, four almost four people have died in front of her. And you see that she's also breathing very heavily.
Annie Hawthorne:I'm just gonna kneel down in front of Pistachio. And I'm gonna go, Pistachio. We only hurt people who try to hurt us.
Joe Diametti:Oh, oh, oh. And I'm gonna look at Crank and be like, that's a good idea. So I'm gonna go kneel down in front of Scarlet. I'm gonna say, Scarlet, look, we only hurt people that need to be hurt.
Rowan Collins:Pistachio sees that Scarlet is freaking out, takes a deep breath, and then, like, goes over to her and just goes, this is the first time you've seen someone die. Right?
Isaac Allen Burns:She nods her head, yes.
Rowan Collins:It is gonna suck a lot, and it is gonna freak you out. And you're gonna fear the fact that you're mortal, and and you're gonna have a lot of really, really bad dreams. But tomorrow, you'll be alive, and tomorrow, you could go back to doing something a little different where maybe you'll forget it just a bit. It's gonna be okay.
Isaac Allen Burns:She looks at you, tears welling up in her eyes, and she simply nods. We're alive.
Rowan Collins:Alive, and we're safe, and we're gonna be okay. We're gonna make sure that you're gonna be okay.
Isaac Allen Burns:As you say that, we pull away. We see cheers erupting from the town as the attacking force retreats. You see that they are moving north back towards Jastain. You go back into the town, begin helping out those who you can, putting out what fires that you can. Major Balthazar, some of his men are coming to help put out the fires.
Isaac Allen Burns:Pistachio, you are looking around. You make your way over to your farm, and it is ashes. The fields with which you had watched your siblings and your father spend so much time is no more. Your house, gone. You see that Wally and Hazel kinda sitting, your mom and dad kinda standing near the gates just looking up at what was once theirs.
Isaac Allen Burns:Tears staining the sides of their face. Especially as you look at this, you also look around, and you see that the countryside is pretty much ash. You see the Hitchens farm, those turnips in the distance. It's no more. Citrus farm that stood opposite the orchards is gone.
Isaac Allen Burns:You notice that there is one kind of crop that does not seem damaged by fire, and that is the orchards. Crank. Where's Crank at right now?
Annie Hawthorne:Crank is standing in the street in the front of the library where the library used to be. Just looking at it.
Isaac Allen Burns:You hear you hear tiny footsteps. You feel a hand. Can you reach up and grab yours? You see Roseanne next to you.
Annie Hawthorne:Hi, mom.
Isaac Allen Burns:Oh, hey there, Crank.
Annie Hawthorne:I'm sorry about your library.
Isaac Allen Burns:Oh, that's alright. These things happen. They come and go.
Annie Hawthorne:Well, I saved some things when I open up my chest cavity and bunch of books fall out onto the ground.
Isaac Allen Burns:So you saved so many cry oh, this is wonderful.
Annie Hawthorne:Hopefully, this is a re a start to rebuild.
Isaac Allen Burns:I think this will be. I think this will be. You did good today, Craig. You did a great job.
Annie Hawthorne:Thank you.
Isaac Allen Burns:She just kinda stands there with you for a moment. The back of your mind, Frank, you keep coming back to the pull of what you currently have on your back. There's a weight that sits upon Crank's shoulder while you still have this relic. Gappy, as you are helping put up, you see a large hulking figure kind of sitting at the center of town near the stage. You see Cyrus.
Isaac Allen Burns:His cane is dented. Clothes are ripped to shreds. One of his eyes is gone. You see that he is really beat up, but he sees you in the distance. Kinda gets up, kinda stumbles over in your direction.
Joe Diametti:Hey, Cyrus. Look, you look better than usual.
Isaac Allen Burns:Don't look so bad yourself, kid.
Joe Diametti:Yeah. Hey. I borrowed this and I hand it. Like, I go to hand him the Halbert.
Isaac Allen Burns:He shakes his head and he says, keep it.
Joe Diametti:And Kapi just kinda looks down at it and understands the weight of what that means and sneaks a hug.
Isaac Allen Burns:He holds you close, and there's a moment that passes between the two of you. You two are standing there. He you're embraced in a hug. He kinda takes a step back and says, Gappy, perhaps that was too hard on you.
Joe Diametti:I don't I don't know. Probably not.
Isaac Allen Burns:He opens his mouth to say something, and you hear,
Isaac Allen Burns:this is a disaster.
Isaac Allen Burns:You see the mayor comes up. He's stomping towards you. He says,
Isaac Allen Burns:Kapi, what is this? We had a deal. You would keep our town safe. Now look at it. It is in shambles.
Isaac Allen Burns:The Viscount is dead. The town hall is in flames. They're ruined. Yes. This is ruined, copy.
Joe Diametti:What do
Isaac Allen Burns:you have to say for yourself? You and your weird dad, your father, your boss. K.
Isaac Allen Burns:What do you all have
Isaac Allen Burns:to say for yourselves?
Joe Diametti:I thought you were nicer than this. What? I don't know.
Isaac Allen Burns:How can I be nice when the town is in a shambles? So many people have died. I almost got killed.
Joe Diametti:Yeah. But we stopped you
Isaac Allen Burns:from getting killed. My political career is now dead, Gabby.
Joe Diametti:Yes. But you know who orchestrated this.
Isaac Allen Burns:Who did? Who orchestrated this? Who did it? Mister Apple
Joe Diametti:bottom jeans.
Isaac Allen Burns:Mister Apple
Joe Diametti:Apple bottom jeans. Boots at the fur.
Isaac Allen Burns:You're going to blame the Apple people for this? Yes. They were just tiny soldiers.
Joe Diametti:Yes. I'm blaming the Apple people for this because I
Isaac Allen Burns:feel why?
Isaac Allen Burns:You really believe that senator Martin simply had a headache from all the cider, which is what she said when she left early today? Oh, very under oh, sure. That's a good excuse. Do you know what this means, Kapi?
Joe Diametti:No. What?
Isaac Allen Burns:He looks at you angrily and says, the town is in ashes. No recommendation for you. Ugh. And he stomps away.
Joe Diametti:He cried all over me.
Isaac Allen Burns:Cyrus just kinda looks at you and says, what? Crying on you?
Joe Diametti:Yeah. It's it was a whole thing. He was gonna give me a recommendation.
Isaac Allen Burns:Was he now?
Joe Diametti:Yeah. If, you know, we kept the festival safe in the town. I guess we failed, and I stole your weapon.
Isaac Allen Burns:Takes me back. First time we met. Gabby, I'm not good with words.
Joe Diametti:Yeah. I mean, mean, me neither.
Isaac Allen Burns:Yeah. I probably could have said things, maybe, but kinda awkwardly shuffles from foot to foot. He kinda reaches into his pocket and pulls out a letter. So he's got the official seal of the Avengers Guild in wax, closing it, and he hands it to you and says, whatever you choose to do next, Gappy, go do it. Now ripple throughout this land.
Isaac Allen Burns:Something big is starting. I don't know how we all fit into it, but just hold close your people, Gappy. I don't know what you do next, but do with your head held high. You earned it. I will.
Isaac Allen Burns:Kinda pats you on the shoulder. He, pops his back and stands up and says, I have to go for a while, but I think we'll meet again someday, Kathy. I hope so. Me too. And with that, he kinda nods and heads out and leaves.
Isaac Allen Burns:He walks away. Kapi, as you look at what you hold in your hand, you don't even need to open it to know exactly what it is. As the three of you reconvene, you have a choice in this moment of where to go next. The mayor is organizing refugees to leave the town. Most people are leaving.
Isaac Allen Burns:They're going to be heading to the provincial capital, which is Algenabai. It is where the Viscount's Manor is. They're going to be staying there. However, those that you had helping you out sort of defend the town noticed that the soldiers were retreating north as though they were heading towards Jasthan. So you three, as you stand there, there's a decision to be made.
Isaac Allen Burns:Do you pursue those soldiers Or do you stay with the townsfolk and head towards the provincial capital of Aljennebai?
Joe Diametti:Hey, guys.
Rowan Collins:Hey, boss.
Joe Diametti:Check it out. And I show the recommendation.
Rowan Collins:Oh. Oh. That's fantastic.
Annie Hawthorne:That's amazing. Congratulations, Kapi.
Rowan Collins:We got
Joe Diametti:It was for It's for all of us, guys.
Annie Hawthorne:So what's next?
Joe Diametti:Well, the way that I see it.
Isaac Allen Burns:And before we find out what our heroes decide, that's where we'll end this season of DodoBorne!
Rowan Collins:My god. Thank
Isaac Allen Burns:you for listening everybody to this first arc. Thank you all so much. We really appreciate everyone listening to us. Thank you again to Darrington Press for creating this wonderful game. Thank you to all the wonderful people who are listening and supporting and commenting.
Isaac Allen Burns:If you loved this season, please go ahead, rate us five stars on those reviews on on your podcast or of choice. Let me tell you, we've learned a lot about SEO and those five star reviews go a big way. And it's just like retail, so it's either five stars or nothing. Anyways,
Joe Diametti:thank you
Isaac Allen Burns:all so much for listening.
Rowan Collins:It's a podcast.
Joe Diametti:Squat. Season two. Squat. Squat. Squat.
Isaac Allen Burns:The probability of exceedance for a d 12 with a modifier of plus one for the DCs that I set were 40%, which basically means that all the times are old, ten ten times, you should see it for those times. The DCs that I set on the first round were 15. Second round was 16.
Isaac Allen Burns:Third round was 17. 16. Third round was 17. It all
Isaac Allen Burns:rolled so fucking This was supposed to be a sad
Rowan Collins:and busy. It was. My family are shit. You're goddamn staff.
Isaac Allen Burns:You motherfuckers.