Timothy (DM)
Welcome to Shadows of Prophecy, a D&D real play podcast, where we will find out what it takes to become a hero, face our darkest fears, and pull ourselves out of a pit of despair. Shadows of Prophecy is a Dungeons and Dragons podcast with violent themes and adult language. Listener discretion is advised.
Timothy (DM)
With us today to traverse through adventures of loss and tragedy, we have myself, Timothy, as our ambivalent DM; Chris as our professional negotiator cleric, Salvador Saltrose; Jen as the meek heiress to the Valerian estate, Lenore Valerian; and Ellie as the boisterous heir to the Camaxtli fortune, Xocatl Camaxtli. Join us as we enter the Shadows of Prophecy. Prologue: A World Unravels. Chapter Eight - Bound Souls.
Timothy (DM)
And you push the doors open into another chamber, this chamber, very similar to the last in construction, but all that sits in it is a dusty floor-length mirror in the center of the room.
Jen (Lenore)
[concerned] That's very creepy. Does anyone else think that's really creepy?
Timothy (DM)
And Lenore, you recognize this mirror as the mirror that sits in your grandmother's room.
Jen (Lenore)
[strained whisper] That's really creepy, you guys. I've seen this mirror before.
Ellie (Xocatl)
Oh, yeah, you've been down here?
Jen (Lenore)
[perplexed] No! This is my grandmother's mirror that's in our house.
Chris (Sal)
Hmph.
Ellie (Xocatl)
[contrarianly] No, it's not: it's this mirror that's in this dungeon.
Jen (Lenore)
Lenore rolls her eyes and walks up to the mirror [Ellie and Jen laugh] to inspect it, I guess.
Timothy (DM)
All right, the mirror is dusty and covered in cobwebs. You cannot see your image very clearly through it.
Ellie (Xocatl)
Well, you'd think whoever lives down here would take better care of their belongings.
Jen (Lenore)
"I would agree with you if I thought someone was living down here, but I don't know that they are." Lenore's gonna try to, like, rub the mirror and clean it a little.
Timothy (DM)
Yeah, so you rub away the dust on the mirror, kind of brush away the cobwebs, and you can see your face reflected back at you. You can see Xocatl behind you, Salvador to your other side--
Jen (Lenore)
[referring to Xocatl] Waves to himself in the mirror. [all laugh]
Timothy (DM)
--and behind them, you see four hooded figures wearing your family's cloak and sigil.
Jen (Lenore)
Lenore jumps back and looks behind her.
Timothy (DM)
As you whip around, four cloaks fall to the floor.
Ellie (Xocatl)
Oh, cloaks! [Jen and Chris laugh]
Chris (Sal)
[joyful] What serendipity!
Ellie (Xocatl)
Do we also see... like, if we are looking at the mirror standing behind her, do we see all these also?
Jen (Lenore)
Oh yeah, do they see...?
Timothy (DM)
Oh yeah, you all see this.
Ellie (Xocatl)
Oh, okay.
Timothy (DM)
--and as you all turn around, you see the cloaks drop to the ground, the orchid emblem... [looking for the word, laughs]
Ellie (Xocatl)
On them? [Jen laughs]
Timothy (DM)
I was gonna say that; I was like "That sounds awful. That's a very bad description." [all laugh] The orchid emblem's recognizable as the same one on Lenore's cloak. Lenore, you also recognize the familiar glimmer of your family's signature protective spell on these cloaks as you hear the sound of glass shattering behind you.
Ellie (Xocatl)
[startled] *DuhHHH*! Yeah?
Chris (Sal)
Of the mirror?
Ellie (Xocatl)
I whip around when I hear the glass shattering!
Jen (Lenore)
Yeah, we look!
Ellie (Xocatl)
Yeah, we look! We're doing, like, double takes, triple takes! Like, [whipping head] back, forward, back, forward.
Timothy (DM)
You all whip back around now to the mirror that has shattered, and you can see thousands of melted anguished faces in the fractals of the glass. The glass then begins to lift itself from the frame of the mirror and point towards the three of you.
Jen (Lenore)
Uhhhhh...
Ellie (Xocatl)
Lenore, I mean, do you have anything to say?
Jen (Lenore)
[fearful] I-I don't know what's going on. [laughs, cries]
Timothy (DM)
You hear the shimmer of arcane energy building in your ears: piercing shrill noise.
Jen (Lenore)
Oh, h-hello? Hello? [laughs]
Ellie (Xocatl)
So, it it... when you say it's pointing, is it forming, like, a figure? Is it pointing... making, like, a big hand?--
Jen (Lenore)
Or is it just like, sort of aiming at us?
Timothy (DM)
It's like... yeah, the glasses that have broke: all the points are now facing you--
Chris (Sal)
Ohhhhh, ok.
Jen (Lenore)
Well, I MOVE out of the way!
Ellie (Xocatl)
We sidestep!
Timothy (DM)
--arcane energy is building.
Jen (Lenore)
Yeah, I'm gonna scooch... I'mma scooch away from that.
Ellie (Xocatl)
I'm going to step away in the opposite direction [Jen and Tim laugh] of that...
Chris (Sal)
Can I run to the cloaks and toss them to the other two to say... or maybe, we can toss this on the glass to keep it in place? I don't know.
Jen (Lenore)
Do I know what the, like, protective magic is? I presume I would--
Timothy (DM)
It's, like, a... just, like, it's like a Shield spell.
Jen (Lenore)
Okay, I... yeah, I grab a cloak and put-put it on as I dive out of the way.
Timothy (DM)
So, Lenore flourishes, grabs the cloak, whips it around her as Salvador grabs another, tries to throw it over the mirror. Xocatl dips out of the way. [Chris and Jen laugh]
Ellie (Xocatl)
[dabs] Bye!
Timothy (DM)
--and you all see the cloak over the mirror shoots out across the room towards you all. Make a Dexterity save.
Jen (Lenore)
20!
Timothy (DM)
5, 10 and a 20? All right, the cloak hits Xocatl in the chest.
Ellie (Xocatl)
[dramatically] Oof!
Timothy (DM)
You take 2 bludgeoning damage as you are pushed across the room by the impact the cloak, and then the room falls into silence.
Ellie (Xocatl)
Has it, like, fallen off me? Is it still pushing on my chest?
Timothy (DM)
And the glass and the cloak all falls to the ground with this shatter of all the shards.
Jen (Lenore)
Are you okay?
Ellie (Xocatl)
[coughs pathetically] Yeah. [Tim laughs]
Jen (Lenore)
Lenore offers a hand.
Ellie (Xocatl)
I take your hand and try and stand back up. How does that go for you?
Jen (Lenore)
I try really hard. I pull REALLY hard with my -1 Strength. [Chris and Tim laugh]
Ellie (Xocatl)
I just stand back up while gently holding onto your hand.
Jen (Lenore)
[pleased] I helped. [Tim laughs]
Chris (Sal)
Good! This is team-- Salvador is so pleased by this to see that they are mending a little bit.
Jen (Lenore)
I would like to formally apologize for my grandmother's mirror attacking us. I don't know what just happened.
Ellie (Xocatl)
Well, worse things have happened.
Jen (Lenore)
They have?
Chris (Sal)
[shrugging shoulders] Uh, surely, yeah.
Jen (Lenore)
Yeah, you're right... probably.
Ellie (Xocatl)
I mean, they must have--
Jen (Lenore)
They must have... to someone!
Ellie (Xocatl)
Right? They must have! Worst things must have happened to someone. No hard feelings.
Chris (Sal)
But what are these cloaks that appeared out of nowhere? Right?
Jen (Lenore)
Well, there were figures standing behind us, and then when we looked they disappeared.
Chris (Sal)
[narrows his eyes] And now they're naked.
Jen (Lenore)
And now they're naked whereever they are! Oh my god!
Ellie (Xocatl)
They're are naked invisible people running around this room right now. [Tim laughs] Perverts!
Jen (Lenore)
Are the shards of glass normal again? The shards of glass.
Timothy (DM)
Yeah, the shards of glass are perfectly normal now.
Chris (Sal)
Well, I think maybe a good preventative measure is to wear these cloaks in case we run into any additional cloaked figures or sharp objects.
Jen (Lenore)
I agree.
Ellie (Xocatl)
You are OUT of your MIND if you think I'm going to wear a cloak with the Valerian family crest on it.
Chris (Sal)
Salvador pulls out... so I have artisan tools, and I am basically, like... you know, for old timey estates, like, they have a housekeeper that sort of, like, manages the staff; I have a sewing kit in my pack, and I pull out my seam ripper, and I say--
Jen (Lenore)
[tearfully] You're just defacing my family crest right in front of me?!?
Chris (Sal)
[utterly contrite] You know what? This is... not a well thought out plan. I am so sorry, Lenore. [Jen laughs]
Ellie (Xocatl)
While you're busy defacing it, could you add some darts to the back? [Editor's Note: darts are pleats sewn into fabric to provide form, typically in women's fitted clothing]
Chris (Sal)
[confused] Darts...?
Ellie (Xocatl)
[expectantly] For shaping? [all laugh]
Jen (Lenore)
[gently to Chris] It's a sewing term. [all laugh]
Chris (Sal)
Oh! Ok, is it... is it like...? I-I don't know what... Oh, when you cinch it--?
Ellie (Xocatl)
Yeah, it's, like, when you pinch the fabric together--
Ellie (Xocatl)
--so that it's like more... that's, like, a tailoring...
Jen (Lenore)
--it's like when you pinch in a triangle and, like, yeah...
Timothy (DM)
--Form-fitting [laughs]
Chris (Sal)
--a tapered.
Jen (Lenore)
Yeah, that's hilarious.
Chris (Sal)
[remorseful] You know what, that was insensitive of me, Lenore. [Tim laughs]
Ellie (Xocatl)
No, I think you're being perfectly sensitive and leaderly. Please: go on!
Chris (Sal)
Salvador's internal monologue is like "I gotta get this guy to wear-wear this jacket 'cause he's, like, such a softie."
Jen (Lenore)
What if we turn it inside out and no one will see?
Ellie (Xocatl)
[pouting] Fine.
Jen (Lenore)
[in a curt thug voice] Who's a leader now, BITCH? [all laugh]
Ellie (Xocatl)
[OOC] Oh my god, Lenore.
Chris (Sal)
Wow, the 14-year-old towers--
Jen (Lenore)
That's-that's Jen, not Lenore.
Chris (Sal)
The 14-year-old towers over the two of us who are easily a foot taller than them.
Ellie (Xocatl)
Yeah, I take off the cloak that I'm wearing. I put on that cloak inside-out and then I put my cloak with the sea turtle on over it. "Fine... but if we run into anybody I know..." [Tim chuckles] I give you both looks like "Don't say anything."
Jen (Lenore)
Are you worried about that down here?
Ellie (Xocatl)
I have a thriving social life. [Chris and Tim laugh] Everybody likes me. I'm just saying it's not out of the question; I've run into people I know in a stranger places than this.
Chris (Sal)
[backing away] O-kayyyy.
Jen (Lenore)
[pitying Xocatl] Okayyyy!
Ellie (Xocatl)
I'm very POPULAR.
Jen (Lenore)
[polietly] Uh-huh... so you keep saying.
Ellie (Xocatl)
Everybody likes me. [Jen laughs]
Chris (Sal)
I'm going to sort of sequester all the glass and--
Ellie (Xocatl)
Do you have a dust pan? Do you have a dust pan?
Jen (Lenore)
[mocking Sal] You brought a broom; 'I brought a broom'.
Chris (Sal)
I dont'... I don't have a dust pan, but I--
Ellie (Xocatl)
[mom voice] Somebody is going to cut themselves on this! [Tim laughs]
Chris (Sal)
This is a hazard! [Tim laughs]
Ellie (Xocatl)
An accident waiting to happen.
Chris (Sal)
I pull up some-some yellow caution cones and... [Jen laughs] but can I... can I sort of... I don't have, like, a sack, do I? That I can sort of, like, sweep these glass into?
Timothy (DM)
I don't know; if you feel like you would bring empty sacks around with you for flair--
Jen (Lenore)
For-for glass?
Chris (Sal)
I do have a pouch as a...!
Timothy (DM)
Yeah, if you want to put it in--?
Ellie (Xocatl)
Is that where you keep the rest of your stuff?
Jen (Lenore)
A whole mirror's worth of glass?!? In a pouch? [laughs]
Chris (Sal)
That's a good thing! It's like "Oh, let me just" [imitating reaching in] *OWWGUH*
Jen (Lenore)
Is it a Pouch of Holding?
Chris (Sal)
Oh, no.
Ellie (Xocatl)
And it's also... yeah, all your other stuff is in there. Every time you reach in to retrieve something, like, roll a luck check--
Jen (Lenore)
--roll Sleight of Hand.
Ellie (Xocatl)
--to see if you get a handful of broken glass instead.
Timothy (DM)
There is also an extra cloak; there were four, so, like, this-this cloak that the glass all went into is kind of--
Ellie (Xocatl)
It's contained.
Chris (Sal)
Yeah, I make it... make it a bundle, and I tie it up in a little bow, and I toss it into the corner of the room.
Timothy (DM)
And at this moment, it strikes you is odd that there is no DOOR on the other end of this chamber, but rather a small hole in the far corner.
Jen (Lenore)
How small... is this hole?
Timothy (DM)
Large enough for you to shimmy into on your belly.
Jen (Lenore)
Me, specifically the child? Or...[Tim points to Ellie and Chris] Ok, one of the large people.
Timothy (DM)
One of, uh, the-the larger adults a.k.a. Xocatl could shimmy around VERY tightly on their stomach in said hole.
Jen (Lenore)
[triumphantly] Anyway, I walk on into the hole...! [all laugh]
Ellie (Xocatl)
Standing upright!
Timothy (DM)
Lenore would--
Jen (Lenore)
I hunch my shoulders a little bit, uh...
Timothy (DM)
Yeah, Lenore would probably be able to crawl in the situation. Salvador would have, like, a looser type of army crawl goin' on...
Jen (Lenore)
Less claustrophobic.
Timothy (DM)
--maybe your horns kind of catch on the ceiling.
Jen (Lenore)
Ow.
Timothy (DM)
--but it is a dirt hole, and as you peer inside, you see bones. Upon further inspection, human remains.
Jen (Lenore)
[cards on the table] This is upsetting a little bit for me. I'm not gonna lie. I'm a little upset.
Ellie (Xocatl)
Yeah, especially since you're already, like, half in there, you said.
Jen (Lenore)
Yeah. Um, mmm. *sobbing noises*.
Ellie (Xocatl)
[caring dad voice] Well, why-why don't you come on out of there?
Jen (Lenore)
[crying] Ok.
Ellie (Xocatl)
I pat Lenore on the head.
Ellie (Xocatl)
[slightly blubbering] There's dead people in there.
Ellie (Xocatl)
[reverting back to regular demeanor] Yeah, that's what a crypt is. Chin up, buttercup. [Tim laughs] Well, this must be where they inter the bodies. That's a normal explanation for this normal thing.
Jen (Lenore)
Did the bones look like they were just kind of thrown in, like, piled up in there?
Timothy (DM)
You just kind of, like, thrown in there. If any of you have seen "As Above, So Below" [Editor's Note: this is a spooky movie that involves the catacombs in Paris]
Jen (Lenore)
Oh, yes. Just the pile of bone.
Timothy (DM)
It's a pile of bones that you have to climb through. [laughs]
Jen (Lenore)
Oh, no. Oh NOOOO! [sighs] Okay. "No, I don't think that's it. They didn't look like they were laid to rest there; they kind of looked like they just were thrown in there.
Ellie (Xocatl)
[casually] Thrown to rest? [Chris and Tim laugh]
Jen (Lenore)
[nodding] Thrown to rest... in there. The hole. The dirt hole. The dirt bone hole!
Ellie (Xocatl)
Well... I'm gonna need you to take one for the team, okay?
Jen (Lenore)
Well, I'm the smallest; shouldn't the largest go first if we're trying to pave our way through these bones?
Ellie (Xocatl)
[shaking head] I don't think so. [Jen and Tim laugh]
Jen (Lenore)
What if we compromise and the leader goes first? [she and Chris laugh]
Ellie (Xocatl)
Yeah, let's have the leader go first.
Jen (Lenore)
Leadership is when: dig through bones. [Tim laughs]
Chris (Sal)
Well, I-I... this is a running theme of this adventure where Salvador is volun-told to do something [Ellie laughs] So yeah, Sal, he-- [Editor's Note: "volun-told" is a portmanteau of "volunteer" and "told", used to describe mandatory volunteering]
Ellie (Xocatl)
We're so impressed by your leadership. We're so glad you're the leader of this expedition.
Jen (Lenore)
Very, very glad and very, um, just so glad that you're here.
Chris (Sal)
[turned towards the hole, one finger raised] And I shall lead by crawling into this hole.
Ellie (Xocatl)
[whispering to Lenore behind Sal's back] I can't believe we talked him into that. [Tim laughs]
Chris (Sal)
I-I ask Lenore: can you cast Light on my... something? What can I hold in front of me?
Jen (Lenore)
Sure, like a lapel? Or something? Or your link-- your-your cuffs?
Ellie (Xocatl)
That's true. Actually, have any of these rooms--
Timothy (DM)
Do you have rings or anything?
Chris (Sal)
Yeah, I probably have a ring or something.
Jen (Lenore)
Yeah, I'll cast light on something that you got.
Ellie (Xocatl)
Have any of these rooms been lit?
Jen (Lenore)
We've had torches, like we have our-- but this is, like, small.
Timothy (DM)
They... you've had torches, and they have ALSO been lit.
Ellie (Xocatl)
Ooo.
Chris (Sal)
Spookkkky.
Jen (Lenore)
With magic or with fire?
Timothy (DM)
With torches.
Chris (Sal)
How big is this bone room?
Jen (Lenore)
[thinking pose] Bone... tunnel.
Ellie (Xocatl)
[counterpointedly] Is it a room, or is it like a zone?
Jen (Lenore)
[OOC] BONE ZOOOOONE!
Chris (Sal)
It's like one of those tunnels--
Timothy (DM)
It's a tunnel. As you crouch down next to the hole, and you start to look in, you see that it kind of tunnels its way out a couple... 10 to 15 feet before it turns.
Chris (Sal)
Well, I sally forth towards the turns.
Jen (Lenore)
And I'm behind him.
Timothy (DM)
Followed by Xo--
Ellie (Xocatl)
I'm gonna wait.
Timothy (DM)
--catl. [surprised] Oh, you're gonna wait? [laughs]
Ellie (Xocatl)
I just want them to get through, like, to the other side of something before I start... because wouldn't it be so embarrassing and uncomfortable for everybody if it's a dead end, and we all have to wiggle out backwards.
Chris (Sal)
Yeah, it's just like [grunting noise *AUUGH*]
Timothy (DM)
Especially if Xocatl is to be the one behind. [laughs]
Ellie (Xocatl)
Especially if I'm in the back.
Chris (Sal)
We just push our feet on your shoulders, like pushing you backwards.
Ellie (Xocatl)
Yeah, awful, yeah.
Jen (Lenore)
Dog-kicking you out the back.
Ellie (Xocatl)
[shouting into the hole] Yeah. You guys let me know when you come out the other side or... something.
Timothy (DM)
So Salvador, you crawl into this tunnel of human remains, and you start shimmering... [all laugh] [betrayed by his tongue] Shimmering?
Ellie (Xocatl)
Woooowwww!!
Jen (Lenore)
[mock astonishment] Wooooowww! How beautiful!!!
Chris (Sal)
Wow, this Light spell is really something!
Ellie (Xocatl)
Question: when you say human remains, is it just bones or are there, like, bits?
Timothy (DM)
It's just bones. It's all bone. It's, um--
Jen (Lenore)
I almost did a spit take about the bits. [Chris laughs]
Timothy (DM)
--and as Salvador climbs in and starts shimmying forward on their forearms, they start to snap beneath your weight. Um, brittle from the years that they you would assume have been down here. You can all hear the crunching and grinding of powdering bones as Salvador crawls into this tunnel.
Jen (Lenore)
Lenore is going VERY slowly and VERY carefully, eyes WIDE. [laughs] Just on the verge of a panic attack. [she and Tim laugh]
Ellie (Xocatl)
Xocatl preemptively takes off his sea turtle cloak, and y'know rearranges the urchin one... the orchid one so it gets the brunt of the bone powder whenever he has to go in. "How's that going for you in there?"
Chris (Sal)
[dryly] Ugh, it's really dusty up here. *ah-choo!*
Jen (Lenore)
[panicked voice] Oh my god! That's people dust!
Chris (Sal)
[conserving his breath] Just don't breathe it in.
Jen (Lenore)
[laughing] Lenore holds her breath. [Jen and Ellie laugh]
Chris (Sal)
Well-well breathe! Just breathe into your... into your sleeve.
Jen (Lenore)
[blubbery] Okay.
Timothy (DM)
All right. So Salvador gets about 10, 15 feet out, and it begins to turn to the left, and that goes on for another 10 or 15 feet before it turns to the left again.
Chris (Sal)
Oh, I realize I do have dark vision.
Timothy (DM)
Oops.
Ellie (Xocatl)
Oh, great.
Jen (Lenore)
Then, you can see real good!
Chris (Sal)
Oh, yeah, now I can see really good!
Timothy (DM)
You can see real good! Now you can see colors, which is important as yesterday found out because they didn't turn on the lights anywhere, and they didn't know the colors of things, and that was critical.
Jen (Lenore)
That's verrrry importaaaaant.
Ellie (Xocatl)
What are the colors of this bone tunnel?
Chris (Sal)
[in terrifying voice] White and grayyyyy.
Timothy (DM)
Mostly dirt-colored and--
Jen (Lenore)
Bone-colored?
Timothy (DM)
Bone-colored. [all laugh]
Ellie (Xocatl)
But it'll come in handy later, I'm sure. It might actually be nice to not be able to see that well right now.
Chris (Sal)
Oh no! There's red on this bone!
Jen (Lenore)
[confused] Ooooo. This bone has blue on it.
Timothy (DM)
And as you make your second turn, you can see that the tunnel opens up into another chamber.
Chris (Sal)
"Well, there's at least some more space so we don't have to crawl anymore." I shout behind me.
Jen (Lenore)
[shaky] Okayyyy,
Chris (Sal)
You're almost there. Just a few more yards.
Jen (Lenore)
I've made it two feet. [all laugh]
Ellie (Xocatl)
Great, and with that promise from Salvador, Xocatl gets on his elbows and starts crawling through and just, like, shoving (oh my god) Lenore from behind. Shoving Lenore from behind. [Jen laughs]
Timothy (DM)
Yeah, and now the sound of crunching is just, like, sooooo loud, filling the--
Jen (Lenore)
Are they not pre-crunched? There's more to crunch.
Timothy (DM)
There's... [to Xocatl] you're crushing way more. You're crushing more than Salvador and Lenore did.
Jen (Lenore)
[pleading] Please stop crushing our ancestors!!! [Tim laughs]
Ellie (Xocatl)
[bruskly] I don't know these guys.
Timothy (DM)
And it's just, like, the-the pace of the crunching is just picked up as you're just kind of like, you are shimmying as you're squeezing yourself through this tunnel. Salvador, as you look and approach the chamber, you notice it is also lit by torch light, you can see the flicker of torch light. You can also see the reflection of water on the chamber walls. So, the way that water refracts light and has that kind of shimmery on the stone walls, and as you approach the end of the tunnel, you look down and see the chamber is about three quarters full of water. At the bottom, you can see skeletal remains shackled to the ground,
Chris (Sal)
Floating in the water?
Timothy (DM)
Sitting at the bottom, kind of waterlogged and submerged.
Chris (Sal)
It's a room that is partially filled with water with bones at the bottom.
Timothy (DM)
Yeah, and the tunnel exits near the top of the room.
Jen (Lenore)
So, we're not standing in water, we're above it?
Timothy (DM)
Yeah, well, you're in the tunnel above the water.
Ellie (Xocatl)
It's just like a hole.
Chris (Sal)
Oohhh.
Timothy (DM)
There's no place for you to really stand on the side.
Ellie (Xocatl)
You just have to yeet yourself out of the hole.
Timothy (DM)
[laughs] Yes. YEET!
Jen (Lenore)
*HOOH*!
Chris (Sal)
Yes. Is there any... so, it's just a... it's sort of like a pool, but is there any egress from this pool-cavern?
Timothy (DM)
Through the haze of the water, you can see near the bottom right corner, there is a hole in the ground that appears to go further.
Jen (Lenore)
[trembling] Do we have to swim in the people soup [Tim laughs]?
Chris (Sal)
Um, nooo. It... I...I think--
Ellie (Xocatl)
Here comes trouble.
Jen (Lenore)
I guess?
Chris (Sal)
Don't think of it as people soup; think of it as just, uh... just water.
Ellie (Xocatl)
I feel like we're probably backed up in a tunnel now. Like, you're... you stopped at this end and Lenore is, like, right behind you, and I'm right behind Lenore like "What's the hold up?"
Chris (Sal)
"Just scoping out our next move." I think Salvador will take the plunge into the water. Is the hole above water or below water?
Timothy (DM)
It's above water, yeah.
Chris (Sal)
Yes, I will sally forth into this pool of human tea. [Ellie and Jen laugh]
Timothy (DM)
So, you pull yourself forward out of the tunnel and plop into the water. Hearing the sound of bones and dirt and rocks falling in after you. You start to tread water and you can look back up to the tunnel where you see Lenore.
Chris (Sal)
And I point towards the tunnel where I'm headed to. "I'm headed that way. Let me get across first and follow me afterwards."
Timothy (DM)
So, it is down.
Chris (Sal)
Down?
Ellie (Xocatl)
It's like a drain almost?
Timothy (DM)
Under the water--
Chris (Sal)
Oh, I thought you said it was above water.
Timothy (DM)
--on the floor. No, the bottom right floor.
Ellie (Xocatl)
Our hole is above water.
Timothy (DM)
There's a hole in the ground, you came out through the top of the room, and you need to go down into a tunnel that you don't know where it goes to.
Chris (Sal)
Oh, okay, I see.
Ellie (Xocatl)
And it's underwater; it's like a drain...is what I'm picturing.
Timothy (DM)
--Underwater.
Chris (Sal)
Well, how-how-how long can you hold... is it your "Constitution plus a minute" of minutes?
Timothy (DM)
I don't know. I should actually check.
Chris (Sal)
Is it like "1+ your Constitution modifier"?
Ellie (Xocatl)
I think it is a minute plus your Constitution modifier, which in combat is like forever, but in reality it's not.
Chris (Sal)
In reality?
Timothy (DM)
Yeah, it's not.
Ellie (Xocatl)
Yeah, should we get... do you want me to punch you?
Chris (Sal)
[confused by the curveball] What?!? [Ellie and Tim laugh] How is that going to help?
Ellie (Xocatl)
Uh, your initiative order!
Jen (Lenore)
Lenore's gonna cast Guidance on you [Tim laughs] in case you need to roll to survive
Timothy (DM)
Give me a Perception roll as you are kind of surveying the scenario in front of you.
Chris (Sal)
Man, I'm not have any luck today. That is a 5.
Timothy (DM)
Oh God, okay, so you're not concerned with surveying the room. You know that you have to go down. You have no idea where it will come out on the other side, how far it will be. You see Lenore sitting in the tunnel, terrified, disgusted
Chris (Sal)
Don't you worry. We will find a... hopefully a solution to this conundrum.
Ellie (Xocatl)
Good because if I have to stay in this tunnel for longer than two more minutes, I'm shoving Lenore out of it. [Tim laughs]
Jen (Lenore)
[timidly] Please don't do that.
Timothy (DM)
The walls are, like, a stone brick that if you needed assistance, you could hold on to just so you're aware.
Jen (Lenore)
Yeah, I'll, like, lower myself down, I think, to the bottom. That's what we're doing right? It's like the goal? So, I'll probably do that so that we have more room.
Timothy (DM)
Okay, so Lenore, you lower yourself into the water, and Xocatl is able to make their way to the front of the tunnel to where it lets out and now Xocatl can see the chamber as Salvador and Lenore are treading water.
Ellie (Xocatl)
[seeing the human soup] Ohhhh. [pause] Well, let me know how it goes!
Chris (Sal)
[swimming] Do you know how to swim?
Ellie (Xocatl)
[defensively] Of course, I know how to swim.
Jen (Lenore)
You sound really defensive.
Ellie (Xocatl)
[totally honest] "Obviously, I know how to swim. Just because I can doesn't mean I want to. [pause] I know how to swim! [Jen laughs] Stop looking at me like that!" [Tim laughs] Xocatl pushes himself out of the tunnel in order to PROVE that he can swim and he CAN! [all laugh]
Jen (Lenore)
I like how no one said anything, and he's just like "I gonna prove that I can swim!"
Ellie (Xocatl)
Yeah, and he splashes down into the water and starts treading water very APTLY, and everybody's REALLY IMPRESSED because he can swim really WELL, And everybody REGRETS implying that Xocatl couldn't swim, I think.
Chris (Sal)
You're very buoyant.
Ellie (Xocatl)
[politely] Thank you.
Timothy (DM)
So, Xocatl, you plop down into the water, and you're treading water--
Ellie (Xocatl)
Is it cold? Is it warm?
Timothy (DM)
It's coldish.
Ellie (Xocatl)
Is it fresh or salt?
Timothy (DM)
It is salt water.
Jen (Lenore)
Full of corpses. [Tim laughs]
Ellie (Xocatl)
Well, I'm not a proud man! [Jen laughs] That's not true. I really am
Jen (Lenore)
You're the most proud man.
Ellie (Xocatl)
A little of it got in my mouth when I splashed down. I-I kind of cannonballed. I'm a big guy.
Jen (Lenore)
[chuckling] "A little bit got in my mouth."
Timothy (DM)
Um, and now as you all are kind of exploring the room, everybody give me Perception checks.
Ellie (Xocatl)
[to Chris] Did you put your bad dice in dice jail?
Chris (Sal)
I did, but I still got a bad roll.
Ellie (Xocatl)
Oh my god.
Chris (Sal)
I got a 7.
Jen (Lenore)
15.
Ellie (Xocatl)
6.
Timothy (DM)
6, 15. Okay, Lenore, you notice something strange about the shackle contraption that is keeping the skeletons attached to the floor. It seems like it's some sort of mechanical device. You see that there's, like, rusted gears near the base of it, and that there's some additional piece to this... "puzzle" so to speak--
Ellie (Xocatl)
For a lack of a better term!
Timothy (DM)
[laughing] For lack of a better term! ...that exists in this room. Okay. You also notice that the skeleton's eyes are faintly glowing green.
Jen (Lenore)
Oh, nooooo! Um, you guys?
Ellie (Xocatl)
Yes?
Jen (Lenore)
[terrified] The skeletons, um, have glowing eyes. Is that normal... in a crypt? Is that a normal crypt thing?
Timothy (DM)
Xocatl--
Ellie (Xocatl)
As I doggy-paddle. [Jen laughs]
Timothy (DM)
--you very begrudgingly, but instantly, know exactly what that's from.
Ellie (Xocatl)
[realizing the plot-specific mechanic] Oh, yeah. [laughs]
Timothy (DM)
This is what happens when one of your crew members dies away from the ship.
Ellie (Xocatl)
Ohhhhh, what else do I know about what happens when my crew members die away from the ship?
Timothy (DM)
[ominously] They need to get back, and... some force will keep them animated enough to do so.
Ellie (Xocatl)
Well, shoot, I gotta unhinge that guy.
Jen (Lenore)
Do you know these guys?
Ellie (Xocatl)
Yeah... he's my pal.
Jen (Lenore)
What?!?
Chris (Sal)
What's he doing down here?
Jen (Lenore)
What's he doing AS A SKELETON?
Ellie (Xocatl)
I told you I have a very LARGE social circle! [Chris and Jen laugh]
Jen (Lenore)
He-he should be dead, right? He's...
Ellie (Xocatl)
It's complicated, okay? I think it would just be better for everybodyi f that skeleton was not shackled to the bottom of a giant pool of water anymore.
Jen (Lenore)
[up in arms] I disagree!
Ellie (Xocatl)
Well...
Jen (Lenore)
What if he attacks us?
Ellie (Xocatl)
Uh, do I know... like, do they become violent, or are they single-mindedly focused on returning to--
Timothy (DM)
Single-mindedly focused on returning.
Ellie (Xocatl)
[head on his shoulder] It's not gonna attack us.
Jen (Lenore)
[arms crossed] How do you know that?
Ellie (Xocatl)
Because... [earnestly] he's my pal.
Chris (Sal)
Has this happened before? [Tim laughs]
Ellie (Xocatl)
[pause] ...yes. [Tim laughs]
Chris (Sal)
Well, as long as you tell him that we're "fine", I think it would be.
Jen (Lenore)
Lenore does not trust. Lenore does not trust.
Ellie (Xocatl)
But I haven't noticed the additional complications of the mechanism, right?
Timothy (DM)
No, uh-uh. No.
Ellie (Xocatl)
I've just noticed... or Lenore mentioned the eyes are glowing, and I took a look down and I was like, "Uh-huh."
Jen (Lenore)
"Hey, Gary." [Tim laughs]
Ellie (Xocatl)
Oh, that's part of "Soul of the Sun"
Jen (Lenore)
Huh?
Chris (Sal)
Is that a boat name?
Ellie (Xocatl)
Yeah, one of our boats. You can tell because of the color of light in the eyes...anyway. [chipperly] Let's unshackle them! [no response] It's my responsibility. Okay, I'll do it. Don't all jump at once. All right. I guess I'll dive down and try and undo the shackles.
Timothy (DM)
Yeah, so you dive down into the water and--
Ellie (Xocatl)
Holding my breath.
Timothy (DM)
--as you're holding your breath, swimming down towards the skeletons, their heads turning slowly towards you.
Ellie (Xocatl)
They're... oh, there are multiple skeletons, all with that--
Timothy (DM)
Yes, there's two,
Ellie (Xocatl)
Two, okay. They both have light in their eyes?
Timothy (DM)
Yes, and they both turn towards you and lock eyes, and as you get closer, you see that the shackles have a lock on them, but in place of a keyhole is the shape of your signet ring: the crest of your family?
Ellie (Xocatl)
"Hmm." Well, I'm underwater, so I think it in my head. "Hmm". [all laugh] [in watery voice] "Hmm, thawt's wheird?" [Tim laughs, Jen make bubble noises] Because I was ready to get all righteously angry about somebody, like, presumably kidnapping and torturing my crew members, but this seems like.... WE did it... is what I'm thinking, not saying. All right, well, I have my signet ring on me, presumably. I'm gonna, you know, punch the locks. *BOOP BOOP*.
Timothy (DM)
Yep. So, you punch both locks, the shackles are released, and the skeletons begin to swim up towards the top of the water, and they're, like, heading straight for the tunnel you all just came out of.
Jen (Lenore)
Lenore's, like, up against the side, like [fearful "No-no-no-no-no-no"]
Timothy (DM)
I need you to make a Dexterity saving throw, Xocatl.
Ellie (Xocatl)
Sssssure. *gaps* Oh, a 19 plus... -1 [laughs]. 18!
Timothy (DM)
An 18, okay, so as you release these two skeletons, the shackles begin to glow, and they start to dart towards your wrists, and you are able to pull your wrists away and, like, avoid getting shackled yourself as you hear the clink of metal as they kind of SLAM shut, missing your wrists, and the water level in the room begins to lower.
Ellie (Xocatl)
"Many a feisty lady has tried to shackle Xocatl Camatxli before [Jen laughs] and not a one has succeeded!" I think to myself because I can't talk because I'm underwater, but that would be a funny thing to say. [Tim and Chris laugh] Well, great! I-I swim back up. "Hey, guys!"
Chris (Sal)
W-well, whatever you did, it seemed to work 'cause the water's going down.
Ellie (Xocatl)
[eyes closed, smiling] I'm... a genius.
Timothy (DM)
[laughing] And you both just saw skeletons--
Ellie (Xocatl)
And I just watch the skeletons, like, climbing up the wall.
Timothy (DM)
--like, clambering up the wall, out of the hole.
Jen (Lenore)
Lenore's just, like, staring up at them in disgust, just like horrified.
Ellie (Xocatl)
[putting a hand on Lenore's shoulder] Ah, don't worry about it.
Jen (Lenore)
[shying away but firm] Don't touch me. [Chris and Tim laugh]
Ellie (Xocatl)
You got it. I'm sorry.
Timothy (DM)
So, the water continues to lower and filter out of the room until it gets to the level of the hole in the ground. Water remains in the hole in the ground.
Jen (Lenore)
[collective sigh] Come onnnnn. [laughs]
Chris (Sal)
Well, we saved probably the five seconds of swimming down, so...
Jen (Lenore)
Mm, that's true.
Chris (Sal)
Is there anything else at the bottom of this pit...room?
Timothy (DM)
The shackles laying in the center of the room, empty now.
Chris (Sal)
There's the mechanical piece of it, right?
Timothy (DM)
Yeah, now that you are closer, you can see the gears. Attached to this magical... gears are absolutely not necessary here, but they were [laughing] a signifier that there is something to the shackles.
Chris (Sal)
It was, like, retrofitted. So, it's like it USED to use gears, but now it's all fancy with magic. It's like "Oh, we just keep--
Ellie (Xocatl)
[speaking like Dracula] That vibe... that there was something more to the shackles than meets the eye!
Jen (Lenore)
[like a rad mechanic] "We kept the gears; it looks cool." [all laugh]
Ellie (Xocatl)
[in a nerdy lispy voice] For the aesthetic of it. How big... what's, like, the diameter of this hole in this floor, this watery hole?
Timothy (DM)
10 feet.
Ellie (Xocatl)
Oh, okay, so it's not tight squeeze.
Timothy (DM)
No, not a tight squeeze.
Ellie (Xocatl)
Oof, geez Louise. Well! [turns to Salvador] Leader... [Tim laughs]
Chris (Sal)
I don my leader hat and I go into--
Ellie (Xocatl)
[quickly] What does it look like?
Chris (Sal)
It's a baseball cap--
Jen (Lenore)
OH MY GOD! [laughs]
Ellie (Xocatl)
Fantasy baseball?,
Jen (Lenore)
[laughing] Fant-a-sy base-balllll.
Chris (Sal)
It's got a big 'L' on it, which-which is odd... [Ellie laughs] It stands for "Leader" but I imagine a lot of people think it stands for "Loser".
Jen (Lenore)
That's amazing. [Tim laughs]
Ellie (Xocatl)
And you sewed it on yourself, didn't you?
Chris (Sal)
[frantic] Uhhh, why would you say that?!... [giving up the act] Yes, yeah.
Timothy (DM)
[making in inside joke] It's not made out of... feathers by any chance, is it?
Chris (Sal)
[dumb] Why?
Timothy (DM)
[laughing] With your feather vest?
Chris (Sal)
Oh no! Aw, this is another-another... so I have a... I have a character named... [looking at Tim] what's-his-name?
Chris (Sal)
Winston Steeplechase, and he... he made of vest out of turkey feathers.
Timothy (DM)
Winston.
Jen (Lenore)
[impressed] OoOOhh, fashion.
Chris (Sal)
Yeah.
Jen (Lenore)
Walk off, fashion baby.
Ellie (Xocatl)
I like to think in the two days between the town meeting and our departure, you went home, and you created, like, a little iron on patch. Like, "I'm gonna be the leader." I don't know if that is Salvador's vibe.
Chris (Sal)
Uhhhh.....
Ellie (Xocatl)
Maybe not. Anyway, go into the hole, Salvador. [laughs]
Chris (Sal)
Yeah.
Jen (Lenore)
ENTER THE HOLE.
Chris (Sal)
Salvador goes into this hole, and he swims... so far...so very far away.
Timothy (DM)
Yep, so you plunge into this hole in the ground. It is icy cold, and you open your eyes and see that it is an underwater cavern that goes about 20 feet out turns to the right. You're holding your breath, and it's about 10 feet in diameter, so plenty of room to move around and swim around with. There are stalactites and stalagmites in this cavern...and no bones.
Chris (Sal)
Well, that's a good sign. Is there, like, a bubble of air at the top of this room?
Timothy (DM)
There is not. It is completely submerged.
Chris (Sal)
How long have I been swimming?
Timothy (DM)
I mean, you've just dived under the water, maybe a couple seconds before. You can go right back up if you want.
Chris (Sal)
I'll keep going.
Timothy (DM)
Alright. So, you start to swim forward, you make your way 20 feet to the bend in the cavern, and you see that it continues on another 20 feet before turning right.
Chris (Sal)
Okay, I'm gonna swim back up to the group.
Timothy (DM)
Alright, you surface.
Chris (Sal)
And I say "There's some more extended swimming, so I don't know... there's this old technique that we had when we had to do missions underwater, where we would inflate our water skins with air to have a second breath.
Jen (Lenore)
Back in the army?
Chris (Sal)
Yes.
Jen (Lenore)
Very cool.
Ellie (Xocatl)
[earnestly awed] Wow. You're so hardcore. [Chris laughs]
Chris (Sal)
As I wear my loser hat.
Ellie (Xocatl)
Leader hat! Leader hat!
Chris (Sal)
My leader hat.
Ellie (Xocatl)
Stellar, great.
Jen (Lenore)
[real talk] Yeah. Out of character: that's a great idea. [Ellie and Tim laugh] That's super cool.
Chris (Sal)
So, he breaks out some rope, and he... 'cause you have to have it sorta, like, to your chest so it doesn't bubble away. So, Salvador cuts some rope, ties around your waists. and--
Ellie (Xocatl)
[thumbs up] Great.
Chris (Sal)
[thumbs up] Yep.
Ellie (Xocatl)
[determined] And we do it!
Chris (Sal)
And we do it.
Ellie (Xocatl)
Let's do it; we do the thing.
Jen (Lenore)
We do the thing.
Timothy (DM)
And you do the thing. You all dump out your water skins, fill them with air as best as you can (preferably not your own breath).
Ellie (Xocatl)
Yeah, like, wave it around. [waves it around, exhales] [Chris laughs]
Chris (Sal)
Ugh, eggs benedict. Oh my god. [all laugh]
Jen (Lenore)
Ew, gross.
Ellie (Xocatl)
Well, also, it's not gonna have that much oxygen in it if you're exhaling.
Timothy (DM)
Yeah, they're really just an emergency breath.
Chris (Sal)
Oh, that's a good point, yeah.
Timothy (DM)
Y'cap them up, tie them onto your bodies, and Salvador dives back into the water.
Chris (Sal)
Yep. *blub, blub, blub, blub, blub*.
Ellie (Xocatl)
[staring at Lenore] Well, you next!
Jen (Lenore)
"Okay, I follow..." [Tim laughs] Xocatl is so mean. [Ellie laughs]
Ellie (Xocatl)
He has a healthy self-preservation instinct.
Timothy (DM)
[looking in Xocatl's mind] "This 14-year-old girl will be fine." [laughs] Um...yes.
Ellie (Xocatl)
And I'll go in after Lenore.
Timothy (DM)
Alright--
Jen (Lenore)
[deadpan] How brave of you.
Ellie (Xocatl)
I'm bringing up the rear. What if something attacks us from behind?
Jen (Lenore)
[dryly] Uh-huh, you're so right.
Ellie (Xocatl)
I'm... in many ways, I'm the BRAVEST one--
Jen (Lenore)
[to Tim] This argument is in subtitles.
Ellie (Xocatl)
Yeah. [all laugh] and gesturing.
Jen (Lenore)
Yeah, we're gesturing.
Timothy (DM)
Yes. Okay. So, Salvador is in the lead, dives under the water, sees the same dark stone natural cave as before, goes out 20 feet, turns to the right, another 20 feet. Your lungs are starting to hurt at this point as you turn the second bend, and it goes on another 20 feet before you see a break in the surface above you.
Chris (Sal)
*blub-blur-blub-ur-blurb-uh* As I... as I point to the surface, and I say "That way."
Ellie (Xocatl)
Maybe just a note: if breathholding is one minute plus a number of minutes equal to your Constitution, I get five minutes of swim time [Chris: "Whoa!"] because my Constitution is really high. Just want to point it out: I'm having less trouble than other people.
Jen (Lenore)
I have three.
Ellie (Xocatl)
Wow. That's a high Constitution for a 14-year-old.
Jen (Lenore)
Mmhm, my lung capacity is excellent. [Ellie and Tim laugh]
Ellie (Xocatl)
Anyway...
Timothy (DM)
Okay. The icy cold [shivers] water's gonna make it hard...lungs hurwt.
Jen (Lenore)
*uuuWuuuu* "It's hard to breath."
Timothy (DM)
[laughing] It's hard to breath underwater.
Ellie (Xocatl)
[uwu voice] Hard to breath! [normally] Great, so I guess our little heads poke up.
Timothy (DM)
But yeah, you swim ahead, there's a break in the room, and you pop out of the water, and you see another chamber. In the center of the room...it's another stone room similar to the prior three... yeah, similar to the prior three, and in the center of the room is an altar with a bowl. As you lift yourself out of the water and stand up, you can see into the bowl as it's full of blood, and in the center at the bottom of the bowl, you can see the faint glimmer of something gold. Salvador, five years ago, while imprisoned during the war, you saw very similar altar (one might say identical), and as you approach, you see better what the shimmer of gold is: it's an amulet that looks like the one in your left pocket.
Chris (Sal)
[surprised] Ohhh... [Jen and Ellie laugh] [Editor's Note: this is surprising because at the time of recording, that arc with Desmond had not been recorded yet]
Timothy (DM)
--given to you by Desmond.
Chris (Sal)
"I thought this was eerie before with your grandma's mirror and your skeletal crew, but this is very... odd. There's a amulet--" and I pull out the amulet that I have "--that matches that amulet that was given to me by... a very good friend. Verrrrrry odd." Is this blood congealed, or is it, like, fresh?
Timothy (DM)
[like a Febreeze commerical voiceover] Fresh.
Chris (Sal)
[intensely worried] Oh! Even better.
Ellie (Xocatl)
[animated] Yeah, I gotta say I'm more unsettled by the quantity of blood than the amulet thing--
Jen (Lenore)
Oh no.
Jen (Lenore)
Me-me too, yeah.
Ellie (Xocatl)
--Like, an amulet: that's pretty standard, it's more the blood that I'm worried about, but it's cool that the amulet is what is freaking you out about this.
Jen (Lenore)
Yeah, that's a lot... and fresh blood too.
Chris (Sal)
Yeah, sorry. [laughs] [tongue-tied] The more personal... 'cause the... I don't know whose blood this is--
Ellie (Xocatl)
[sarcastically] But, you're right. Yeah, the amulet is freaky; you're right. [Jen and Tim laugh] Yeah, that's freaky.
Jen (Lenore)
That is freaky.
Chris (Sal)
[mockingly narrating] 'As drops of blood just drip from the amulet "Oh, my gosh. It's the same!"' Well, this doesn't seem like a... GOOD thing to have.
Jen (Lenore)
Probably not.
Chris (Sal)
Can I do something with this blood? I... need to get rid of it. [Jen and Ellie laugh]
Timothy (DM)
So wait, did you pull the amulet?
Chris (Sal)
Oh, no. It's in the... it's in the sauce?
Timothy (DM)
Yeah, it's in the sauce. It's at the bottom of the basin.
Ellie (Xocatl)
Oh, in the sauce? Oh, great.
Jen (Lenore)
Bottom of the sauce. Lost to the sauce.
Chris (Sal)
And is this bowl... I can move it?
Timothy (DM)
It's a stone bowl that's attached to the altar; like, it's all one piece.
Ellie (Xocatl)
How, like, deep is it? Like, if you put... if you were to reach in to grab the amulet, how far in would your arm be?
Timothy (DM)
It's like a large salad bowl that if you were to reach in, it'd probably come up to your... a little past your wrists--
Ellie (Xocatl)
Not that I'm gonna do that, but...
Timothy (DM)
So, it's a significant amount of blood were this to come from one single body, um, but not--
Ellie (Xocatl)
It's not a big bowl, but it is a lot of blood comparatively.
Timothy (DM)
Yeah, exactly.
Ellie (Xocatl)
[pragmatically] Well, I... don't think.... that's what I'm looking for. [Tim laughs]
Jen (Lenore)
[putting their hands up] Yeah, I also stay back.
Ellie (Xocatl)
Yeah.
Chris (Sal)
Okay, I'm gonna try to fish the amulet out of the bowl using aaaaa crossbow bolt.
Timothy (DM)
Alright, so you dip your crossbow bolt into the Bowl of Blood, and you kind of fish the amulet out by the chain, and as you're lifting it out, you start to feel a little bit of a tug as if it's lodged in or pulling back or attached to the bottom of the bowl.
Chris (Sal)
[to his teammates] Well, there seems to be a little bit more of a force here than I expected.
Timothy (DM)
You do now have the chain out of the blood.
Chris (Sal)
Okay, can I grab the chain with my fingers and...?
Timothy (DM)
And yank it on out? So, you yank the amulet out of the bowl, and with that, you hear the, like, popping of a cork--
Chris (Sal)
[very high pitched] Ohhhh noooooo.
Ellie (Xocatl)
*anguished noises*
Jen (Lenore)
*anguished noises*
Timothy (DM)
--as you see at the bottom of the bowl is a hole, and the blood begins to rise in the bowl.
Jen (Lenore)
Put it back. PUT IT BACK!
Ellie (Xocatl)
Um...
Timothy (DM)
--and it gets to the point of overflowing, and as you kind of whip the whole amulet out, it shatters.
Chris (Sal)
Is the blood still flowing?
Timothy (DM)
And the blood is overflowing from the bowl, now dripping onto the floor.
Ellie (Xocatl)
Well, use your other one!
Chris (Sal)
I-I look at the amulet that I have in my hand, and I'm, like... I am very torn. I look at the one the ground it's like I could cast Mending on it. That's gonna cast... that's gonna take a minute.
Ellie (Xocatl)
How fast is the blood coming out?
Timothy (DM)
It's now, like, splashing onto the floor.
Jen (Lenore)
Oh god.
Chris (Sal)
[determined] I pull out my bedroll, and I start to shove it in the hole. [all laugh]
Timothy (DM)
You start trying to shove your bedroll into the basin, and it's just seeping with blood now, collecting the water--
Jen (Lenore)
[concerned] Oh god, where you're gonna sleep? [Tim and Ellie laugh]
Chris (Sal)
[flustered] Well, I'm not gonna SLEEP down here! [Jen laughs]
Timothy (DM)
--becoming drenched, and somehow, by some fantastical effect, it is still pouring out of the basin.
Ellie (Xocatl)
I take two steps to the side, so I don't get blood on my shoes.
Jen (Lenore)
Fair.
Chris (Sal)
Is there an exit to this room?
Timothy (DM)
There's a double door at the other end of the room.
Chris (Sal)
I'm going to take a torch, and I'm going to shove it, jam it into the hole. What do I have to hit it with? I use my shield? I have a shield... I put a shield on one hand and I have the torch and the other, and I try to jam it further and further, deeper into the bowl.
Ellie (Xocatl)
'Cause it just tapered.
Timothy (DM)
Alright, so you wedge the torch into the hole at the bottom of the basin, and it seems to be well wedged in there... [whispering] and the bowl is STILL overflowing.
Ellie (Xocatl)
[sagely] It's not coming from the hole. It's... some bullshit. [Tim laughs]
Timothy (DM)
[laughing] It's some bullshit.
Jen (Lenore)
Some bullshit is going on.
Chris (Sal)
Man, uh, you really cut to the core of this whole...crypt.
Jen (Lenore)
[impressed] Yeah, really truly. You wordsmith, you.
Ellie (Xocatl)
Well.... Is the blood running into the water?
Timothy (DM)
It is. At this point, it's started to pool on the ground so much that it's connecting with the water in the cavern that you just came from.
Jen (Lenore)
If we have to go back this way, I'd really rather not swim through blood water [Tim laughs] if I can help it.
Ellie (Xocatl)
Well, we could leave--
Jen (Lenore)
You're right.
Ellie (Xocatl)
--well, I mean through the doors.
Jen (Lenore)
Lenore goes to open the doors.
Chris (Sal)
Yeah, the double doors, yeah.
Ellie (Xocatl)
Let's just see if maybe this problem has solved itself by the time we come back. [Tim laughs] Maybe it'll run out.
Jen (Lenore)
Mm, yeah!
Ellie (Xocatl)
Where could it be getting this blood from? It has to run out eventually. [Tim laughs]
Chris (Sal)
The Bottomless Blood Bowl at, uh...
Ellie (Xocatl)
Actually, I think we could probably monetize this.
Jen (Lenore)
Oh noooo. [Tim laughs]
Chris (Sal)
It depends on what-what type of blood it is.
Ellie (Xocatl)
If this is O-, we are in business! [Editor's Note: this is because O- is the universal donor, and usable by all other blood types]
Ellie (Xocatl)
[moving hand like a cash register] Cha-ching.
Ellie (Xocatl)
Watch out, Red Cross. We're coming for your crown. [Chris and Tim laugh]
Timothy (DM)
[laughs] Oh my gosh. So, Lenore goes to pull on the double doors, and they are locked tight.
Jen (Lenore)
Guys, this is not good. They're not opening.
Ellie (Xocatl)
[puts hand on chin] Hmm.
Jen (Lenore)
You seem very concerned.
Ellie (Xocatl)
I'm thinking!
Timothy (DM)
At this point, the blood has covered the entire floor of the chamber, and you are now splashing around in maybe a centimeter-deep pool of blood.
Jen (Lenore)
[eyes clenched] Noooo! Gross, gross, gross, gross, gross.
Ellie (Xocatl)
[chivalrously] Would you like to get on my shoulders?
Jen (Lenore)
[nodding, in a quiet voice] Yes, please.
Ellie (Xocatl)
Xocatl kneels down, so that Lenore can clamber onto his shoulders. [Jen laughs]
Jen (Lenore)
Thanks you!
Chris (Sal)
Dangit, I wedged the torch into it, so I can't even do it amulet thing now.
Jen (Lenore)
[piggyback] Pull it out. Pull it out!
Ellie (Xocatl)
Pull the torch out!
Chris (Sal)
Can I try to pull the torch out?
Timothy (DM)
Yeah, give me a Strength save.
Chris (Sal)
That's a 16.
Timothy (DM)
Yeah, so with a little bit of force, you are able to, like, squeegee it out. *Pop* out of the hole, and the basin is now free, still overflowing as water is spl-- (wattle) blood is splashing onto... into the pool below.
Ellie (Xocatl)
I think we have a minute if you wanted to cast Mending.
Chris (Sal)
I take the amulet from mine, and I put it into the hole of the blood.
Timothy (DM)
And as you do so, as by some strange arcane time magic, the blood on the floor starts to trickle back up the sides of the altar and into the basin. [pause] *slurRPPP!* [all laugh]
Ellie (Xocatl)
Spaghetti! *sluuuuurp*
Jen (Lenore)
Yum yum yum yum yum. Slurp, slurp, slurp, slurp.
Timothy (DM)
Um, and it all flows back into the basin, and the room is now clear, and you hear the clicking of a door mechanism.
Ellie (Xocatl)
Well, I assume we can pick that up on our way out.
Chris (Sal)
Maybe. Yes. Other amulet's still there?
Timothy (DM)
Yeah, there's pieces of the amulet on the floor.
Chris (Sal)
Okay, I'm gonna go ahead. Mending! *whoosh-whoosh-whoosh-whoosh*
Ellie (Xocatl)
I let Lenore off my shoulders.
Jen (Lenore)
I kind of... [crestfallen] okay.
Ellie (Xocatl)
Well, you can stay up there if you want.
Jen (Lenore)
It's nice, being tall. Is this what it's like for you all the time?
Ellie (Xocatl)
Stop kicking my ribs. [Chris laughs]
Chris (Sal)
'Cause what; now you're a 10 foot tall creature? [all laugh]
Ellie (Xocatl)
Whoo, we can't through doorways!
Chris (Sal)
I can touch the ceiling!
Timothy (DM)
Yeah, touchin the ceiling. Yeah, absolutely.
Chris (Sal)
Are we still covered with blood? Like, is the blood--
Ellie (Xocatl)
Or did it get slurped out of us?
Timothy (DM)
No, it all, like, magically was slurped out of the room. [laughs]
Ellie (Xocatl)
It took our blood too!
Chris (Sal)
[ghostly] Oooooo. Zoooombiiiies.
Ellie (Xocatl)
Yeah, how did it know what blood was its... his or its or theirs and how did it know what was--
Jen (Lenore)
It got slurped out!
Jen (Lenore)
His and hers blood. [all laugh]
Ellie (Xocatl)
Oh my God, is this like a little... it's like two sinks in a bathroom full of blood.
Jen (Lenore)
[announcer voice] Blood for him!
Ellie (Xocatl)
[announcer voice] For him: it's blue and smells like gamer juice--
Jen (Lenore)
And guns! [Chris laughs]
Timothy (DM)
[dismayed at the state of commercialism in modern D&D] Oh, no. Okay, so you are casting Mending on the broken amulet, and it takes about a minute as you start to see the pieces kind of pulled together. You see the cracks start to fade away, and then the gold sheen starts to fade, and then the shape starts to fade until you're left with a small pebble. [Jen and Ellie laugh]
Chris (Sal)
[crestfallen and softly, closing his palm around the pebble and his eyes] Ok.
Ellie (Xocatl)
[putting a hand on Sal's shoulder] When we're on our way out and the blood... we don't care about the blood situation, we'll just come out, we'll pick it up, we'll leave.
Jen (Lenore)
[comfortingly] Maybe it's a magic pebble. [Tim laughs]
Chris (Sal)
You know what--
Jen (Lenore)
--maybe it's special. Maybe we'll need it later.
Chris (Sal)
"That is a very good point." and I put it into my lapel pocket, and I tap it and I say "This way!"
Jen (Lenore)
[still piggyback, arm forward] Onward!
Timothy (DM)
Right, Sal, you are--
Ellie (Xocatl)
What a leaderly move. [Chris laughs]
Chris (Sal)
I choke back a tear that you cannot see because I'm turned away. [Tim laughs]
Jen (Lenore)
[amazed] What a leader!
Ellie (Xocatl)
[inspired] What a leader. [Editor's Note: guess who annotated this episode?]
Ellie (Xocatl)
[awed] What a leader.
Timothy (DM)
So Salvador, you begrudgingly push open the next set of doors, which this time do open into a smaller chamber.
Jen (Lenore)
[astutely] There's a lot of chambers here.
Timothy (DM)
--and you look to your left, and you look to your right: you see two coffins. No doors, no other exits to this room.
Ellie (Xocatl)
Did the coffins have anything on them? Is there any inscriptions, perhaps? Engravings?
Timothy (DM)
Yes, at the foot of both coffins, you see an inscription. The one on the left reads "Leona Valerian - Dust to dust, in ashes we are bound. Dusk to dawn, in death we rise again." and you see a sea turtle set atop an orchid.
Ellie (Xocatl)
For both of them?
Timothy (DM)
So that's on the one.
Ellie (Xocatl)
Oh, on the one, okay.
Timothy (DM)
To the right, you see the inscription "Deardra Camaxtli - Dust to dust, in ashes we are bound. Dusk to dawn, in death we rise again." Again, you see a turtle set atop an orchid.
Ellie (Xocatl)
[real talk] Lenore, I got to get on your shoulders. [Jen and Chris laugh]
Jen (Lenore)
I don't think that's what it's... I don't think that's what it's telling us!
Ellie (Xocatl)
I think this is the solution to the puzzle. I think it's what it's telling us, okay? I need you to get down, Lenore, and I need you to take one for the team.
Ellie (Xocatl)
I sort of, like, stand. I'm probably tall enough that I don't even have to, like, sit. I'm just standing like--
Jen (Lenore)
[uncertain] Um, okayyyy. I'll-I'll tryyyy.
Jen (Lenore)
[taken aback] I'm not, like, a-a halfing!
Chris (Sal)
Like a munchin, yeah.
Ellie (Xocatl)
Oh, you're a 14 year old human, I guess..
Jen (Lenore)
I'm a human. I'm a human girllll.
Ellie (Xocatl)
I'm just yanking your chain.
Jen (Lenore)
I opened the coffin on the left.
Timothy (DM)
You open the coffin on the left--
Ellie (Xocatl)
Are they like stone? Sorry, I'm just trying to just--
Timothy (DM)
They are shaped wood.
Ellie (Xocatl)
Oh, shaped wood.
Jen (Lenore)
So, I don't have to push [strained voice] a heavy stone.
Timothy (DM)
Yeah, no-no need to push a heavy stone. It just lifts with a nice glide of a hinge.
Ellie (Xocatl)
Not even a creak?
Timothy (DM)
No creak.
Ellie (Xocatl)
[eyes narrow] Somebody lives down here.
Jen (Lenore)
Right in this coffin. [Tim laughs]
Chris (Sal)
[New York accent] Whata you doin'? I'mma sleepin' heer!
Jen (Lenore)
[Dracula accent] And then a vampire pops out!
Timothy (DM)
And inside, you see a corpse.
Timothy (DM)
And that is where we will put a pause on today's story. Thank you all for joining us for a plunge into the abyss. I hope you all enjoyed this episode of Shadows of Prophecy. Join us next time to find out becomes our unfortunate players in this most dreadful act.
Timothy (DM)
Shout out to my brother, known as the chill electronic vapor soul artist, LUSQ, for writing our chillingly epic theme song; dditing by Scrubcast; and a big shout out to Syrinscape for some amazing atmosphere and music. Make sure you check them out at syrinscape.com. I always use them at my game table, and it adds that little something special to bring your players into the story. Also, please follow us on Twitter @ShadowsProphecy and Instagram @shadows_of_prophecy. And hey, show us some support by becoming one of our fabulous patrons at patreon.com/shadowsofprophecy,where you can get access to bonus content like handouts, encounter maps, and even adventure guides to run your own horrific campaigns or one-shots. And at the very least, give us a five star review on your podcast platform of choice. This is how we get the word out about our podcast, and we love sharing it with you all. Thank you and tune in next time for more tales of dread and despair at Shadows of Prophecy.