Timothy (DM)
Welcome to Shadows of Prophecy, a D&D real play podcast following the ill-omened web of lives whispered by the Void, their names repeated in the darkness. Shadows of Prophecy is a Dungeons and Dragons podcast with violent themes and adult language. Listener discretion is advised.
With us today to traverse through adventures of macabre and sedition, we have myself, Timothy, as our ambivalent DM.
Ellie (Markie)
Ellie as "A poet and she knows it" Markie.
Chris (Sal S)
Chris as "Hoping to now confront his past, he'll now enter this creepy old castle." Salvador Saltrose.
Dan (Wren)
Hi. And I'm Dan, the human scholar and Twilight's human, Wren, I lost all words just that.
Timothy (DM)
Join us as we enter the Shadows of Prophecy. Act 1: In the Shadows. Chapter 11 - The Forgotten.
Ellie (Markie)
[whispers] Dun-dun.
Timothy (DM)
Last time on Shadows of Prophecy, our adventurers went through a trap door, which led to a collection of perplexing rooms seemingly fabricated to force a party of investigators to solve "arbitrary" puzzles.
Chris (Sal S)
Expertly.
Timothy (DM)
[laughing] Expertly.
Ellie (Markie)
I think we nailed that one, honestly.
Chris (Sal S)
Minimal damage.
Dan (Wren)
Awesome pros.
Ellie (Markie)
Our strategy was perfect.
Timothy (DM)
After cheating, I mean, *clears throat* [Ellie laughs] "cleverly finding a workaround"--
Dan (Wren)
I don't know what you're talking about.
Timothy (DM)
--they almost entirely avoided encounters [all laugh]
Chris (Sal S)
'Almost' is the key word.
Timothy (DM)
--especially with some rather terrifying creatures, unified by their singular eyes. With a mishap with a teleportation device behind them, they ascended into a castle, realizing it was Castle Valerian and entered the garden courtyard. Oh, and the castle is most certainly haunted. Good luck, team!
Ellie (Markie)
Thank you.
Chris (Sal S)
I mean, there's ONE ghost; how-how bad could one ghost?
Dan (Wren)
And zombies, we're pretty sure?
Chris (Sal S)
Oh, are there zombies?
Dan (Wren)
Weren't they shambl--? Weren't there shambling noises?
Ellie (Markie)
Did we here shambling noises?
Dan (Wren)
Pretty sure we heard shambles.
Timothy (DM)
Twere some shambling noises through the wooden door, yeah.
Ellie (Markie)
But a ghost... a ghost could shamble. [Tim laughs]
Dan (Wren)
I guess that's true.
Ellie (Markie)
How many ghosts do you have to have before it's haunted? One?
Chris (Sal S)
One, probably one.
Dan (Wren)
I thinks it's one.
Ellie (Markie)
One ghost is sufficient to qualify something as haunted.
Chris (Sal S)
But, like, the size of the ghost, you have like a... a dog haunt... does a ghost dog haunt a house or does it have to be, like, a human?
Ellie (Markie)
That's true, this is a big castle. Only one ghost would be a pretty meager haunting.
Dan (Wren)
Yeah. Yeah. I doubt that's the case.
Ellie (Markie)
[laughs, jovial] I doubt there's only one ghost. This seems like a multiple-ghosts situation. [Dan mumbles in agreement]
Timothy (DM)
So, you did avoid the shambling door, uh, or the door with the shambling noises behind it.
Ellie (Markie)
The shambling door: it, like, just RIPS itself of its hinges-- [Tim laughs]
Chris (Sal S)
*CREAK* *ee-ur ee-ur*
Ellie (Markie)
--starts wandering towards us.
Timothy (DM)
So, you did avoid the door with the shambling noises behind it, proceeding through another door, which led you into a temple. As you made your way to the other side of the temple, you heard a moaning noise that kind of flew behind you, and as you whipped around, you saw the wisps of some phantasmal thing dissipating into the wall--
Dan (Wren)
[quietly] I'm sure it's friendly.
Timothy (DM)
--where you peeked through the door leading out into a hall, and the first thing you noticed was this skeleton sitting alongside the door to your right.
Dan (Wren)
Oh, I thought we had rolled for initiative or something, but maybe I made that up in my head. I feel like every cliffhanger is "roll for initiative" in this.
Ellie (Markie)
Not yet, maybe soon!
Chris (Sal S)
So, this is a hallway with a bunch of doors? Because I-I have my schematic: it has, like, there's a bunch of pillars.
Timothy (DM)
Yeah. So, there's pillars down the center of the hall, and there are doors on either side that you can see past this skeleton.
Dan (Wren)
So, it's less of a hallway and more of a hall like a big...like a dance hall.
Timothy (DM)
BIIIIG hallway. We're talking, eh, it's a grand hallway, [Dan: "So, no footman [?], got it"] so it leads into something, [Chris: "Oh, okay.], very dramatically. So, it's very wide. It's 30 feet wide, so: VERY dramatic hall. That is kind of a passageway; like, it is a hallway, just a very dramatic one.
Ellie (Markie)
Ah, rich people. [Tim laughs] Uh, what's the deal with the skeleton? Can I take a little... take a little look-see?
Timothy (DM)
Yeah, give me a little bit of an Insight check.
Ellie (Markie)
Oh no... that is a 13.
Timothy (DM)
A 13. So, you kind of creak open the door a little bit more, and you peer out to start investigating the skeleton.
Ellie (Markie)
I'm not going to touch it.
Timothy (DM)
No touching? Ok.
Ellie (Markie)
I'm just gonna, like, look and see if it's got any stuff on it.
Timothy (DM)
All right, so, it is almost entirely decayed, [Ellie: "Okay"] still clothed, although there is some damage due to moths that have eaten the clothing off of the body. It also is wearing armor, and upon further inspection, you notice that it has the sigil of the Valerian family. [Ellie: "Oh."] You might expect this to have been a guard in the castle.
Ellie (Markie)
Well, looks like the guards are dead, so that's not a promising start for us.
Chris (Sal S)
Can I do some sort of analysis to figure out how he died? Does he have, like, any gaping armor holes or something? Or he just seems like he's...[Tim: "Yeah."] okay.
Ellie (Markie)
Cannonball hole.
Timothy (DM)
Salvadaor, give me an Insight check.
Chris (Sal S)
"Yeah, from my pocket revolver." That's a 20. A dirty 20.
Ellie (Markie)
Wow.
Timothy (DM)
A dirty 20. Okay, so with a dirty 20, you quickly inspect the body, and you don't notice any kind of entry points, so no physical indication of how they died. [Chris frowns]
Ellie (Markie)
Is-is the body wearing a helmet? As part of the armor set?
Timothy (DM)
The body is not wearing a helmet.
Ellie (Markie)
"Oh, creepy." I don't make eye contact with your hollow eye sockets. I don't care for that. "Well, shall we continue one way or another?"
Chris (Sal S)
Yep, this is... this guy doesn't seem to have any information to tell us, but...
Dan (Wren)
Yeah, might as well head down to the... whatever large room is beyond this hall.
Ellie (Markie)
Or we could leave!
Chris (Sal S)
What? We... well, we entered... you mean go back down through the dungeon and out the other way?
Ellie (Markie)
I think that a grand hall, like, this would be, like, the entrance, so, like, if we go one direction, we might go to, like, the throne room or whatever. I don't know. I've never done the tour. If we go the other direction, we might get to, like, the front gate. Right? Like a big hall? A big central hall like this? I don't know about castles. I'm not an architect. I'm a poet. [smiles] [Tim laughs]
Chris (Sal S)
So, we came... we came out in a... in a thing in the garden, and then there were two doors. There's one with the shamble,
Dan (Wren)
The shambling door.
Timothy (DM)
To the right.
Chris (Sal S)
--and then there was a temple with the ghost. [Tim: "Yeah.", Ellie: "Right"] and then we went into this hallway, and there's a skelly [Tim: "Correct"] and then there's a door.
Ellie (Markie)
Oh, there's a door.
Timothy (DM)
Lots of doors along the hallway. [Chris: "Okay"]
Ellie (Markie)
So, I was picturing, like, this way and, like, big door here and big door here.
Timothy (DM)
And as you are kind of discussing amongst yourselves what direction you would like to take, the torches begin to flicker.
Dan (Wren)
Oh right, the torches are lit in this...
Timothy (DM)
The torches are lit.
Dan (Wren)
--In this castle.
Ellie (Markie)
In this haun-- super haunted castle.
Dan (Wren)
Where everything so far has been dead!
Timothy (DM)
Yeah, so, and actually, Markie, as you're noticing the, like, torch light flick against the stone of the hall, you notice something in the shadows that are being cast, almost like there's a humanoid form.
Ellie (Markie)
I rub my eyes a little bit and look at it again. "Guyss..."
Timothy (DM)
As it continues to flicker, it kind of just shifts away, out of vision, and the flickering stops.
Ellie (Markie)
Okay, don't... don't make fun of me, guys, 'cause I know that maybe this sounds odd, but I swear I just saw a flickering figure in the shadows over there.
Chris (Sal S)
What'd it look like?
Ellie (Markie)
A flickering figure?
Chris (Sal S)
Well *stammering*, does it look like a person?
Ellie (Markie)
Oh yeah. Humanoid, kinda like [points to Sal] you. [points to Wren] Or you. [points to self] Or me. Well...
Dan (Wren)
Taller?
Ellie (Markie)
Taller, taller.
Dan (Wren)
Taller. Gotcha. That tracks. No, yeah, that... that doesn't-- that's not surprising or weird at all.
Ellie (Markie)
Oh, really? You guys think that's fine?
Dan (Wren)
[coolly] Oh yeah.
Chris (Sal S)
[equally cool] Well, yeah.
Dan (Wren)
I'm mean it's not "fine", but-- [laughs]
Ellie (Markie)
Oh! It's NOT fine.
Chris (Sal S)
It's typical, though.
Dan (Wren)
But it's, like, par for the course. Yeah.
Ellie (Markie)
Oh!
Chris (Sal S)
Ghost, skeleton, shambling door.
Ellie (Markie)
Oh, you guys have... you guys have, like, done this before.
Dan (Wren)
Oh, yeah. [to Sal] You?
Chris (Sal S)
Yeah, I... Yeah, I've done this.
Ellie (Markie)
Oh great! Oh, you guys have done this before. Okay, I'm sorry; this is MY first time wandering through an extremely spooky haunted location--
Dan (Wren)
At a better time--
Ellie (Markie)
--usually, I go HOME after work. [Chris and Dan laugh]
Dan (Wren)
At a better time, I'll tell you about the time that, uh, we summoned an invincible demon by accident. [folds arms] Yeah.
Ellie (Markie)
Oh! Yeah, don't do that again, please.
Dan (Wren)
No, I don't plan to.
Chris (Sal S)
And I will tell you about a time where I went into a tower with some creepy dolls. [folds arm]
Ellie (Markie)
If there are creepy dolls in this castle, I'm gonna lose my mind! [Chris and Dan laugh] All right, well, left or right? Which direction did the flickering figure go? Or like sort of...?
Timothy (DM)
So, the flickering figure was, like, cast onto the wall along the hall and then was, like, stationary, and when the, like, lights flickered, it kind of flash a couple times, and then on, like, the fifth flicker of the light, it was just gone.
Ellie (Markie)
Oh, okay. It's not like it moved through the shadows. Ok.
Timothy (DM)
No. No, no. It was just, like, cast onto the wall like there was a shadow there.
Ellie (Markie)
Well, which direction did I see it in?
Timothy (DM)
You saw it down to the right, on the other side of the hall.
Ellie (Markie)
Okay, so if we go right, that's in the direction I saw the flickering figure. Mmm? If we go left, that's NOT the direction I saw the flickering figure. MMM?
Chris (Sal S)
That tracks.
Ellie (Markie)
So, I don't know which one of those is good, actually.
Chris (Sal S)
I'm thinking right, because it di-- it didn't attack us when it had the opportunity. So...
Ellie (Markie)
That's true.
Dan (Wren)
A-And it does pique my curiosity.
Ellie (Markie)
Yeah?
Timothy (DM)
And as you're all kind of listening a little bit, you remember the door to the right had the shambling noises, and now, you kind of hear them off in the distance down to the right.
Ellie (Markie)
Oh, we don't want to go to the right.
Chris (Sal S)
I don't know. I feel like that's our only real means of understanding what's here because it's the only thing living in here. [Markie: "Okay!"] It's up to you!
Ellie (Markie)
You guys are the experts to be honest in this; I was freaked out by the shad-- of the flickering shadows, and you guys really took that in stride, so... [laughs]
Chris (Sal S)
Shadows: they're intangible. What are they going to do to you?
Dan (Wren)
[knowingly] Well...uh, sure. [Ellie laughs]
Ellie (Markie)
Okay, so to the right?
Dan (Wren)
Sure. Yes. Sounds good.
Ellie (Markie)
[singing] *duh-duh-duh dit-duh-dit-duh*
Dan (Wren)
I'll go first.
Ellie (Markie)
Great. I'll go last.
Dan (Wren)
I'm pretty sneak-sneak.
Chris (Sal S)
Oh, yeah, I have disadvantage on sneaking, so I'll try to be extra slow.
Dan (Wren)
Because we want to sneak-sneak, right? [Chris: "Yeah."] We want to sneak-sneak.
Ellie (Markie)
Probably, that seems wise.
Timothy (DM)
Yeah. Everybody give me a Stealth check.
Chris (Sal S)
Oh, I shouldn't have said that.
Ellie (Markie)
Aw, 5.
Chris (Sal S)
Oh my goodness! I got a Nat 20 on one of them, but so that's a... Stealth is 15.
Dan (Wren)
13.
Ellie (Markie)
Sorry guys.
Dan (Wren)
Not the heavy armored guy doing the best! [Dan and Ellie laugh]
Timothy (DM)
And I... I'm gonna push that into disadvantage as the stained glass windows behind you shatter, [Ellie: "Whaaat?"] causing you all to jump as you're startled.
Dan (Wren)
*WHAA!*
Ellie (Markie)
*AAAA!*
Chris (Sal S)
*WHOOA* So, disadvantage on my disadvantage?
Timothy (DM)
Uh, yours is just what it is. We don't do disadvantage,
Ellie (Markie)
Or is that disadvantage on initiative?
Timothy (DM)
Just on your Stealth check.
Chris (Sal S)
On this check.
Dan (Wren)
So, roll another one for Stealth. [Tim: "Yeah.", Ellie: "Oh."] So you could do worse than you already did. [Tim laughs] :) Mine is still a 13.
Ellie (Markie)
12.
Timothy (DM)
12. All right. And what was your other one?
Ellie (Markie)
Uh, 5. [Dan: "Yeah.", laughs]
Timothy (DM)
Ok, ok, 5. Ok. So, the glass behind you shatters as a, like, streak of lightning shoots across the sky, and then again, it falls into silence.
Dan (Wren)
Shoots across the sky like OUTSIDE the window or...?
Timothy (DM)
Outside the window. Yeah, yeah, not inside.
Dan (Wren)
Like, okay, so not, like, across the ceiling of this hall. [Tim and Dan laugh]
Ellie (Markie)
Ok, yeah. But all the stained glass windows are shattered now.
Timothy (DM)
Yeah, and it shattered inward. So, the glass is just now sprinkled across the temple. All of the pews and the altar are just, like, covered in shards of colorful glass.
Chris (Sal S)
Is there anything prophetically spelled out in those shards like 'Get out!' or 'Have you heard about our savior, Baal?' [Tim laughs and sighs]
Dan (Wren)
20% off. [laughs]
Chris (Sal S)
With our promo code.
Timothy (DM)
Yeah, so, uh, you don't see any words spelled out in the glass.
Ellie (Markie)
So, on your scale of flickering shadows to shambling doors, where do you put big shattering windows, folks?
Dan (Wren)
I mean, it was shocking--
Chris (Sal S)
Yeah, it was like a 4.
Dan (Wren)
But, surprising? Yeah, like...
Ellie (Markie)
Well, it seems we are no longer welcome in this room.
Dan (Wren)
Agreed. Agreed. I agree with that. I mean, I feel like we should STILL keep going the direction that we're going?
Ellie (Markie)
Yeah. To the right.
Dan (Wren)
At least to give it a peek around the corner. See what's up.
Timothy (DM)
Yeah. To the right.
All right. So, you begin tiptoeing down the hall, and as you make your way past several doors, you see that it begins to open up into a large chamber. You can see across the chamber there is a long dining table and more torches, along with candelabras at each corner of the table, and a elegant, extravagant chandelier hanging, all candles lit.
Chris (Sal S)
If I know one thing, it's do not stand underneath that chandelier.
Dan (Wren)
Like the candles are in the chandelier, too? Like...
Timothy (DM)
Yeah, [Dan: "oh"]. And the shambling noise draws closer...
Ellie (Markie)
Is it behind--
Timothy (DM)
--off towards the right. [Ellie: "Ok"]
Dan (Wren)
I would like to peek around the corner to the right.
Timothy (DM)
You peek around the corner, and you see corpses strewn across the room, and the shambling figure, a corpse itself, moving towards your direction.
Dan (Wren)
I'll peek back around the corner. [laughs] "So, we've got a zombie at, like, what is that? Three o'clock? There's only one, but there are a lot of bodies beside them--
Ellie (Markie)
Future zombies.
Dan (Wren)
F-future... exactly.
Ellie (Markie)
Potential zombies.
Dan (Wren)
I'm mean, we're all potential zombies.
Ellie (Markie)
Zombies question mark.
Chris (Sal S)
Zombies to be? [Tim and Ellie laugh]
Ellie (Markie)
[thinking] Hmmm.
Chris (Sal S)
Was it... what is it dressed as? Was it like a royal person? Oh, like a guard?
Timothy (DM)
Yeah, so you notice it had, like, noble clothing. So, again, eaten by moths, [Dan: *yum sound*] kind of torn, but they were at one point fine silks.
Dan (Wren)
So, he was a fancy, he was a fancy. Gotcha.
Ellie (Markie)
Yeah, not, like... not a guard.
Dan (Wren)
Yeah. So, no armor, so I guess that's a plus.
Ellie (Markie)
Squishy.
Dan (Wren)
So squishy. Do we... [makes stabbing motion]
Ellie (Markie)
I don't... I don't feel a need to fight this person. [Chris: "I mean, yeah"] slash corpse?
Dan (Wren)
It is headed our way. So...
Ellie (Markie)
[to Dan] How quickly is it moving?
Dan (Wren)
[to Tim] How quickly was it moving?
Chris (Sal S)
You pull out your stopwatch. [Chris and Dan laugh]
Ellie (Markie)
Yeah, what's the time lapse? [laughs]
Dan (Wren)
About one step every two seconds, and it's about a foot per step. [Ellie and Chris laugh]
Timothy (DM)
So, it was moving rather casually.
Chris (Sal S)
[in unison with Dan] Just like a saunter.
Timothy (DM)
--sauntering around, shambling, dragging its leg--
Dan (Wren)
Got a bum leg. We could take advantage of that. [Ellie laughs]
Timothy (DM)
--uh, but it was coming your direction.
Ellie (Markie)
I feel like we could probably just go somewhere else. But this, like... if we look around the great hall, or this big hall that we are in, besides all the... like, if we... besides all the corpses and the one zombie... What-what are our other, like, entrances and exits, and etc.?
Dan (Wren)
Yeah, was-was there anything else of... that caught my eye when I peeked around the corner besides the dead bodies?
Timothy (DM)
Yes, there's a couple things. So, off to your left, you saw a grand staircase. [Dan: "Okay."] Beyond the dining table, you saw a throne, and in the corner, a tent and lots of books.
Chris (Sal S)
A tent.
Dan (Wren)
Oh, a test. So, there was an oddly placed tent in the throne room, which is just beyond this table. There's book there, too.
Ellie (Markie)
So, somebody was here?
Dan (Wren)
Yes.
Ellie (Markie)
After whatever happened.
Dan (Wren)
I imagine so. I doubt the king wanted a tent [Tim laughs] (or queen!) in their throne room.
Ellie (Markie)
I didn't know them personally. So...
Chris ("King Victor Valerian")
Sometimes they want to be outdoorsy, it's like [old man voice] 'I-I'd like to go camping, but I don't want to LEAVE my castle.'
Dan (Wren)
Here. Listen; I set up tent... as a kid, I set up tents in our living room all the time. [Chris: "Oh, yeah, yeah."] Okay, so this tracks; this is normal. [laughs]
Chris (Sal S)
Normal royal attitude. Yeah.
Ellie (Markie)
But that's all, like, behind our shambling friend.
Dan (Wren)
Yes, and all of those bodies. Again: potential zombies. [Ellie: "Yeah, so..."]
Timothy (DM)
The noise of shambling draws nearer.
Ellie (Markie)
Okayyyy. I am thinking maybe the staircase, team?
Dan (Wren)
Book it for the staircase?
Ellie (Markie)
Yeah, book it for the staircase.
Chris (Sal S)
Sneakily.
Ellie (Markie)
Sneakily?
Dan (Wren)
Sounds good. I mean we could... we could, like, circle back around.
Ellie (Markie)
--or bookily?
Dan (Wren)
Bookily. Let's bookedly. Let's book it.
Ellie (Markie)
Let's book it. We've not done very well on sneaking so far. So... [laughs]
Chris (Sal S)
Salvador's like "I, I dunno, given my, uh..." but yeah.
Ellie (Markie)
Yeah. You're the quietest of all of us--
Chris (Sal S)
Yeah, I'm the quietest of the l-- [laughs]
Ellie (Markie)
--and that's SAD. [Chris, Tim, and Ellie laugh] 'Cause you're wearing full plate armor or something.
Chris (Sal S)
Yeah, it's very, very chunky.
Timothy (DM)
So, you all prepare to run across the hall towards the staircase. You break out into a run across the hall--
Chris (Sal S)
A saunter.
Dan (Wren)
Brisk jog.
Timothy (DM)
--a brisk jog towards the staircase--
Ellie (Markie)
An anxious power walk.
Dan (Wren)
Right, it's not a full-out sprint. There's no need.
Timothy (DM)
And as you are doing so, you see the shambling figure, now approaching quite closely to you, maybe 10-15 feet away to your right, the corpses laid out across the room kind of slumped over in pews [Dan: "Don't move. Please don't move."] in front of the throne [Ellie: "Please don't move."] and you hear it lets out this bizarre screech *YeaEAAAARRRRAAAARh* and then projectile vomits BLOOD in your direction; it sprays out and splatters across the tile flooring.
Dan (Wren)
Ew.
Chris (Sal S)
Oof.
Ellie (Markie)
I think I start running. [laughs]
Dan (Wren)
[laughing] Yeah, we sprinting.
Timothy (DM)
Roll initiative. [laughs]
Ellie (Markie)
I have just upgraded Markie's alarm level from "Disinterested Power Walk" to "Terrified Sprint". [Tim and Dan laugh]
Chris (Sal S)
[imitating a siren] *Reee-ooo, Reeee-ooo*
Dan (Wren)
God, that's a 10.
Timothy (DM)
All right, we got a 10 for Wren.
Ellie (Markie)
11 for Markie.
Timothy (DM)
11 for Markieeee.
Dan (Wren)
I improved my initiative, and I still go last.
Ellie (Markie)
I know; that was plus your Intelligence? Bud...
Dan (Wren)
Yeah.
Chris (Sal S)
How smart are you again?
Dan (Wren)
I rolled a 4, though, so that's +6. It's, like, still good.
Chris (Sal S)
Wow, that's wild.
Ellie (Markie)
Wow. Like, that's crazy.
Chris (Sal S)
I got a 17.
Dan (Wren)
Not good enough apparently. [laughs]
Timothy (DM)
You had a 17? [Chris: "Yeah." Alright.
Chris (Sal S)
Which is wild because I have a +0 for Dex. [Tim laughs]
Ellie (Markie)
Wow. The theme of this session is Sal doing really well on all the things he's bad at and us doing really badly at all the things we're supposed to be good at. [Ellie and Dan laugh]
Timothy (DM)
All right. So...
Dan (Wren)
We were shocked. We were surprised.
Chris (Sal S)
Yeah, this is a new environment.
Timothy (DM)
The shambling creature goes first.
Dan (Wren)
Wren holds trauma for zombies, so... [laughs]
Chris (Sal S)
Oh, yeah, that's right!
Ellie (Markie)
That's true, yeah, and Markie is out of her depth. [all laugh] She's just a regular girl.
Timothy (DM)
So, it has been shambling up to this point, then it put on this sort of Performance for you all. It shrieked and projectile vomits as its head spins in a circle, it lunges at you. As it lunges, you see these, like, tendrils burst out of the side of its arms, and they go to swipe at you, Wren.
Dan (Wren)
Ew, aww.
Timothy (DM)
--which will hit you for a total of [Dan: "Rude."] 13 [Dan: "Jesus!, Ellie: "Whoooa"] necrotic damage as these tendrils slap across your body.
Dan (Wren)
Uh, my AC is not that... not that protective. That's rude.
Timothy (DM)
Your body just seizes in pain as you feel this, like, poison just course into your veins. Mechanically, your maximum hit points have been reduced by 3 until you finish a short or long rest.
Dan (Wren)
[looks at the poison] ...gross.
Timothy (DM)
Salvador, what do you do? [laughs]
Chris (Sal S)
I'm gonna look at this thing. I'm gonna pull out my... well, I have a... my-my spellcasting modif-- focus is my... I have a ring with, like, a symbol of a... of a weather vane or, uh, like the vanes of a windmill. So, I'm going to use my Channel Divinity to Turn this Undead, so it's got to do a-a Wisdom saving throw. And I forget what my Wisdom saving throw thing is... I think it's a 13.
Dan (Wren)
You said it's a ring, is your...?
Chris (Sal S)
It's a ring, yeah.
Dan (Wren)
I im-- [laughs] So, like Captain Planet-mode like [campy] "LOOOOOVE." [laughs]
Ellie (Markie)
But you don't have the rest of your...
Chris (Sal S)
I don't have my-my other... other recruits.
Timothy (DM)
So, how do you Channel Divinity? Like what... what visually is happening right now?
Chris (Sal S)
Uhhhhh... that's a good question. So, Salvador, he, he normally wears gloves, but he whips off one of his gloves. He holds out his hand in front of them. Sort of, like, in a "Stop. Do not go further." And, like, uh...
Ellie (Markie)
He's a crossing guard?
Chris (Sal S)
Yeah, he's a crossing guard. He likes to volunteer in his spare time. [Tim laughs]
Dan (Wren)
An aethereal glowing vest appears on him. [all laugh]
Ellie (Markie)
He just RADIATES authority.
Chris (Sal S)
A whistle appears in his mouth. [Tim: "Oh my gosh"] But yeah, he holds out his hand to this terrifying abomination, and he says, "May the winds of Tao blow you away!" Something hopefully not that... he's work-- he's trying to figure out a less lame catchphrase.
Timothy (DM)
[laughing] Less lame.
Ellie (Markie)
He's workshopping it. [Dan laughs]
Chris (Sal S)
He looks back to Markie and Wren. He's like, "Eh?"
Ellie (Markie)
Marike grimaces a little bit.
Chris (Sal S)
--and then this wi-- like, like a forcefield of wind sorta, like, bursts towards him.
Timothy (DM)
Yeah. So, you feel the energy of Tao channeling through your body and out your arm as you see the winds burst out forward, the papers in the camp on the other side of the room FLY up into the air [Chris: "Oh geez"], you see a flurry of papers raining down, and the creature stands steadfast in place and stares you down.
Chris (Sal S)
So, it rolled above 13?
Timothy (DM)
Yeah, [Chris: "Okay."] Markie, what do you do?
Ellie (Markie)
Markie flicks her little metronome that she has in her pocket. It's a tiny little metronome; that's her, like, bardic focus or whatever. [Dan: "Aw."] It starts going *tick tock, tick tock* and she squares up and stares right at this zombie, and says, "Stupid slimy shambling shithead. Get your hands off my friends!" and casts Vicious Mockery.
Timothy (DM)
All right. What do I have to roll for that? Is that a... another Wisdom?
Ellie (Markie)
Uh, a Wisdom save.
Timothy (DM)
Ok. Oh my gosh. I'm sorry. That's a dirty 20.
Ellie (Markie)
Oh, that's okay. It's a... succeeds, oh, that's fine.
Timothy (Moaning Shambler)
So, as you try to cast Vicious Mockery at it, Salvador has tried to Turn Undead, and it begins to laugh at you [maniacally] "HAhhhhHAAAHHAHHAHAHHHAHHHAAA HA haah ha ha haa HA AH AH AH..."
Timothy (DM)
[cordially] Wren, what would you like to do?
Dan (Wren)
Wren is gonna 'Nope' the fuck out of there. [Tim laughs] Um, Wren is going to use one of his Maneuvers; that's just a fun thing that I have for...
Timothy (DM)
ooOOOohh. [laughs] Manuevers? How fancy.
Ellie (Markie)
Oh, you have maneuvers?
Dan (Wren)
I have maneuvers! Yeah, kind of like the Battle Master subclass for fighter but... not.
Ellie (Markie)
'I pull the emergency brake and start doing donuts'. [all laugh]
Dan (Wren)
So, my Deliberate Movement maneuver, I expend a Superiority Dice and I can Disengage as a bonus action and then I can also ignore the effects of nonmagical difficult terrain, but that's... that's fine, I don't need that right now. So, I'm gonna Disengage and head for the stairs, and as my action, I am going to use another maneuver to heal myself. Administrate: so it's... Wren just, like, pulls a balm out of his, like, healer pack and will, like, while moving is, like, rubbing it on himself where he got tentacle'd? He got tentacle'd.
Timothy (DM)
Tentacle'd? Tendrilled!
Dan (Wren)
Tendrilled, so sorry, I heal for 12! Oh wow! That was really good.
Ellie (Markie)
Wow! Almost full health, right?
Timothy (DM)
Yeah, and just to, like, REALLY describe how that happened: like, the skin, like, split open along the length of its arms and these, like, tendrils just, like, LASHED out at you FROM their arms.
Dan (Wren)
That's some Resident Evil shit right there.
Ellie (Markie)
That is an illness. [Tim and Dan laugh]
Timothy (DM)
[coyly] Are you sick?
Dan (Wren)
I am a physician, but I will NOT treat you. [Tim and Dan laugh]
Ellie (Markie)
I'm sorry; you have Tentacle Sickness. [Ellie and Dan laugh]
Timothy (DM)
All right. So, you are... you break away from the tendrils. You start sprinting towards the stairs. You still have your full movement, right? 30?
Dan (Wren)
Yes. 30 feet
Timothy (DM)
30 feet. So, you make your way over, and you start ascending the staircase.
Dan (Wren)
I will stop after my movement and, like, turn around to like [Tim: "Yeah, okay"] make sure my compatriots are okay.
Chris (Sal S)
You're elegantly on... like, midway up the staircase.
Dan (Wren)
Yeah yeah.
Ellie (Markie)
Paused, glancing over your shoulder. [Chris laughs]
Dan (Wren)
Everything Wren's done is very, like, dance-like, just, like, turns and, like, cape swirls. [laughs]
Ellie (Markie)
Oh my gosh.
Timothy (DM)
Yeah, your cape kinda, like, swirls, a little flick as it reaches its kinda, like, high point and starts to shift back and forth behind you.
Ellie (Markie)
I can't believe that guy who got... just got tentacled; he looks so cool! [Tim and Dan laugh]
Chris (Sal S)
He's got blood all over him, but he looks SOOO great!
Timothy (DM)
[sighs] All right, um, so as Wren is breaking away, it is going to turn its attention to Salvador.
Dan (Wren)
I'm so sorry. [laughs]
Chris (Sal S)
[saluting] Good luck!
Timothy (DM)
So, it is going to do two things. Again, it is going to whip its head around 360 and SPRAY blood in your direction, Sal. I would like everybody to make a Wisdom saving throw.
Chris (Sal S)
Do-do-do.
Ellie (Markie)
Okay... oh
Chris (Sal S)
Natural 20!
Ellie (Markie)
We're getting up there now.
Dan (Wren)
I also rolled a Nat 20.
Chris (Sal S)
Whoa!
Timothy (DM)
Oh wow, you two are UN-PHASED.
Ellie (Markie)
I got a 17.
Timothy (DM)
Oh my gosh. Somehow Markie is unfazed by this as well. None of you are frightened by this. [Chris: "Great."]
Ellie (Markie)
I don't know about zombies, but I've seen people projectile vomit plenty of times. This is not interesting to me. [Chris and Dan laugh].
Timothy (DM)
And you are immune to that ability for 24 hours.
Chris (Sal S)
Awesome.
Dan (Wren)
Nice.
Ellie (Markie)
YEAAAAH! [all laugh]
Chris (Sal S)
Well, hate to break it to you: this thing's not going to be alive for 24 hours. [Dan laughs]
Timothy (DM)
Just, like, it could try all it wants to spin its head around, projectile vomit blood, any weird shit.
Ellie (Markie)
Yawn.
Timothy (DM)
It's kinda...
Chris (Sal S)
Passe, get a new routine.
Timothy (DM)
--it's, uh, it's-it's been done.
Dan (Wren)
[with the spite of a mean teen] "You're boring, zombie." [Dan and Tim laugh] How much psychic damage does it take because we all look bored? [all laugh, Tim: "Oh nooooo."] We all collectively yawn.
Ellie (Markie)
Yeah, we were all looking scared and then it did that and we were all like "Ehhh, well..."
Chris ("Moaning Shambler")
[in dopey voice] 'I've been working on that for the last 10 yearssss.'
Timothy (DM)
Well, shit. Still, it still does have its action, so while its little trick did not work on y'all, it is still going to attack Salvador. [Chris: "Ok, yeah."] So, again, these tendrils that are flicking around its body now lash out towards you, but you are able to dodge out of the way, unfortunately for me. [all laugh]
Dan (Wren)
That's ok, I got my shit wrecked.
Timothy (DM)
Um, these, like, tendrils are just, like, pulsing and whipping around, but you're able to definitely kind of spin on point and dodge its attack. What do you do in retaliation, Salvador?
Chris (Sal S)
Okay, so I Disengage, and I'm going to run up the stairs alongside Wren. I'm going to do a dramatic pose similiarly.
Timothy (DM)
[laughing] So, we are creating, we are-- [laughs]
Ellie (Markie)
Oh, we're posing? Oh, guys, we're posing?!?
Dan (Wren)
We're... oh, we're posing? I just turned. I-I dunno...
Ellie (Markie)
Oh, you do that naturally?!? [Chris laughs]
Timothy (DM)
The two of you are standing midstair in very dramatic poses, getting ready for the family portrait.
Ellie (Markie)
"Oh my god, these guys are so cool!" Markie's, like, mentally taking notes.
Timothy (DM)
[laughing] They're gonna do an oil painting portrait of you all and hang it in the throne room. It's so dramatic.
Ellie (Markie)
This is what epic guys look like.
Dan (Wren)
Oh my god. If somebody out there is listening and does fan art, this is the Moment.
Timothy (DM)
This is the moment. This IS the moment. So, Markie, your other two friends have run up the stairwell. What do you do?
Ellie (Markie)
So, I'm also gonna go up the stairs.
Timothy (DM)
All right, we're running. Um, so, this is going to transition into a chase scene then. [Dan: "Yay"]
Ellie (Markie)
"Uh-oh, Spaghetti-O." Markie start squeezing a little bit.
Timothy (DM)
Ya, so, Markie {Ellie: *cough*] makes her way up the stairwell. You can pass the other two, or you can pose with them; what would you like to do?
Ellie (Markie)
Oh, I pose... obviously, I fuckin' pose with them, man. I get... I'm, like, right in between them, and I stick out me little leggy, and I put my snout in the air. [all laugh]
Dan (Wren)
[confused] What is everyone doing? Shouldn't we be moving?
Ellie (Markie)
Are we posing? Wren, you started this!
Dan (Wren)
I didn't... I just turned... I just wanted to make sure y'all were okay!
Chris (Sal S)
I thought this was intentional that you--
Ellie (Markie)
You turned so dramatically--
Dan (Wren)
Oh, is it.. is it the cloak?
Ellie (Markie)
--the angle of your head? The way the light is hitting your jawline? That's not intentional?
Dan (Wren)
I can't control the light. [Ellie laughs]
Ellie (Markie)
Find your light, Wren. Find your light.
Chris (Sal S)
It's like, "Where are the... where are the cameras?" Suddenly, a flashbulb goes out somewhere in the distance.
Timothy (DM)
As Markie makes her way into position, spinning on point, [Ellie: "Charlie's Angels out[?]"] posing, you hear, like, dramatic music, the camera pans in on 'the Party' about to do some Dramatic Shit.
Dan (Wren)
[in unison with Ellie] You mean run right away very fast! [all laugh]
Chris (Sal S)
Run awayyyy!
Ellie (Markie)
And then we all BOOK IT up the stairs!
Timothy (DM)
And then you book it up the stairs. All right. So, Wren you get to go first in this chase scene, so you are running; I need you to roll me a d20.
Dan (Wren)
I would like to (as I'm running) look for any, like, debris (uh, sorry de-briss) that's on, like, the stairs or anything, anything that can be, like, throw down the stairs to, like, [Tim: "Awesome. Okay."] make it difficult terrain. Any chandeliers I can drop on the stairs would be great too, but I dunno if that [trails off] ... 18.
Ellie (Markie)
Are you running ahead of us, though? 'Cause, like, don't throw stuff on us.
Dan (Wren)
Yeah, I'll wait. [laughs]
Timothy (DM)
With an 18, I'm gonna say that the chandelier that's in the dining room is kind of latched up on a hook that's in the stairwell. Now, this creature is not beneath it currently, but you could potentially do some sort of damage with it of sorts, or create a distraction. Do you continue running? What do you do? What are we doing?
Dan (Wren)
If it's not underneath it, then, like, it's behind it, right? Like... [Tim: "Yeah."] it'll have to... it'll have to go backwards.
Timothy (DM)
It's, like, over the dining table.
Dan (Wren)
Yeah. [Chris: "Oh."] I don't know how we're gonna get it to the dining table at this point.
Ellie (Markie)
It's not gonna, like, pass under the chand-- it's, like, already passed it--
Dan (Wren)
I don't want to ruin a chandelier if I don't have to.
Chris (Sal S)
How far away is it from the table?
Timothy (DM)
Creature is probably 10 feet from the table 'cause it stands between you and the table at the base of the stairwell. [Chris: "Okay."]
Dan (Wren)
I will just run up the stairs then. There's nothing else like chairs or a table on the stairs? [laughs]
Timothy (DM)
There's not a table on the stairs, unfortunately.
Dan (Wren)
Then I will run up, but I will, like, keep an eye on everybody as I'm doing so. So, like, be in a place where I can, like, spot what's going on.
Timothy (DM)
So--
Dan (Wren)
Oh, can I shoot it?
Timothy (DM)
Do you have a shooting mechanism?
Dan (Wren)
Like, I've got a bow; I've got a short bow? Yeah, might as well.
Timothy (DM)
Yeah, you can pull out your short bow, and you can shoot it.
Dan (Wren)
I'm also going to use my bonus action to use Critical Analysis on it, which is a Scholar thing, which means I can use my Intelligence instead of my Dexterity.
Ellie (Markie)
Whaaaat? You use a bow so smart?
Dan (Wren)
Exactly. [all laugh]
Chris (Sal S)
He's like 'I studied physics!'
Dan (Wren)
I'm pretty sure it's also ranged. Maybe; hold on, let me double check that to make sure. [looks in book] Yeah, ranged weapons, yeah.
Ellie (Markie)
When... like a chase scene... like, how is a chase different from initiative, where you're, like, using your movement as much as possible?
Timothy (DM)
Because I add complications.
Chris (Sal S)
There's, like, obstacles. There's hedges to jump over.
Timothy (DM)
There's hedges to jump over.
Ellie (Markie)
"Oh, hedges!" I look up the stairs, I see a headge: "AHHH!"
Chris (Sal S)
That's crazy Petey with his wacky interior gardening designs.
Dan (Wren)
Does an 18 hit?
Timothy (DM)
An 18 does hit.
Dan (Wren)
That 8 damage.
Timothy (DM)
8. You notch an arrow, shoot it at the creature, it lands in the shoulder, you see that it gets kind of pushed back slightly as the arrow hits its body.
Dan (Wren)
10 feet?
Timothy (DM)
No.
Chris (Sal S)
Man, that's a super... you'd have a lot of recoil, man...
Timothy (DM)
It's like a spring-loaded shotgun. *BOOM*
Dan (Wren)
I actually just have a ballista on me. [Tim and Dan laugh]
Timothy (DM)
So, as you shoot the arrow, it is going to... you see this, like... so, you saw the tendrils that kind of burst from its arm? You see they kind of recoil back into the body and out the BACK of the body this, like, tenderilly black, horned thing bursts out its back backwards as a tear opens up in the space, and it shoots into this tear, and then up the stairs in front of you, Wren, [Dan and Ellie in unison: "Noooo"] the tear opens up as the creature (now outside of the corpse) stares you dead in the face. You see its tendrils flare up, and again, it shrieks at you. *YeaAAAhhhAHHHHHHAh*. All right, so it has just Dimension Door'd.
Ellie (Markie)
Oohhhhkay. It's got spells.
Dan (Wren)
Oh, fun.
Timothy (DM)
Yes, it does. I'm very excited about THAT.
Ellie (Markie)
So, is the body that it was previously inhabiting: is it still doing stuff or is it just down?
Timothy (DM)
No, the body has collapsed to the ground, its form kind of ripped apart by the creature that was previously inhabiting it.
Ellie (Markie)
If this thing has been body hopping, that's why there are so many corpses in this room.
Chris (Sal S)
Mmmmm. [Tim laughs]
Ellie (Markie)
Don't let it getcha! [Tim and Dan laugh] I'm using my body, thank you!
Dan (Wren)
Yes, I would like to keep it.
Timothy (DM)
Salvador.
Chris (Sal S)
I was looking at this chandelier. I was doing the calculations in my head. I was like "I could probably use Gust of Wind to blow that corpse underneath the chandelier and then unloosen it." but now that body is dead, so that plan is in the garbage.
Timothy (DM)
That's gone, yeah.
Chris (Sal S)
Um, let's see... how much damage can I do this sucker?
Ellie (Markie)
Maybe you could blow it over the railing.
Dan (Wren)
It's still... oh.
Chris (Sal S)
It's on... it's in... oh, like, the railing... is there space behind... like, the staircase does not go to the wall. Like, there's space between the wall and the staircase that I could potentially blow him over the edge of the railing. Like, here. [points on map]
Timothy (DM)
So, it is up the stairs from you.
Chris (Sal S)
Oh, it's above us. Okay.
Dan (Wren)
Yeah, it's in front of ME!
Timothy (DM)
Yeah, 'cause Wren had started... Yeah, it's in front of Wren, who had gotten almost to the top of the stairs in their last turn. So, it's, like, up on the part where the grand staircase splits off into two directions to whip around, wrap around.
Dan (Wren)
So, it's where Belle and Beast meet...
Timothy (DM)
--towards the second... Yeah, it's where Belle and Beast meet. [Dan: "Gotcha."]
Ellie (Markie)
Ok, got it, in your mental map of the staircase. [Dan laughs]
Timothy (DM)
In your mental map of the scene--
Chris (Sal S)
It's wearing an elegant yellow ball gown.
Timothy (DM)
--of corpses and creatures, and...,
Dan (Wren)
And did it... it came out of the rift, right? It's not, like, standing in--?
Timothy (DM)
It came out of the rift, yeah. [Dan: "Okay."] It came out of the rift
Dan (Wren)
I shove it back.
Timothy (DM)
--uh, which closes behind it?
Ellie (Markie)
What's its like... what's its body like? Is it, like, floating? Is it standing? How many tentacle has it got? Does it have eyes?
Timothy (DM)
It is standing. It has, like, [Dan: "--Incomparable amount of tentacles."] kind of arms of sorts,
Ellie (Markie)
Like vaguely humanoid?
Timothy (DM)
Vaguely humanoid, but, like, tendrilly arms, where there's kind of tendrils that burst off in, like, branching sorts of situations from its arms, and then it has, like, spikes shooting out its back and horns coming out the front of its facial shape. Yeah, there's a lot of... there's a lot going on with this. They-they... you were, like... when they were trying to decide what form they were going to take, they had a lot of ideas to workshop and decided just to do all of them.
Dan (Wren)
And I don't recognize this creature, right?
Timothy (DM)
Give me a Religion check.
Dan (Wren)
Okay. Specifically, like... the... 'cause we fought that... again, the invincible demon. [Ellie, Tim and Dan laugh] Oh, that's that's God awful. That was... Religion, where IS Religion? Oh, that's a 6.
Timothy (DM)
A 6. Ooh, not good.
Ellie (Markie)
You're not a holy man.
Timothy (DM)
Yeah, you don't. Yeah, you're a man of science.
Dan (Wren)
That's true.
Ellie (Markie)
And Science got nothing about THIS. [Tim and Dan laugh]
Timothy (DM)
Nothing about this. So, yeah, this is very unnatural. It is not any of the same things that you've encountered before that you're aware of. Its form seems a lot more physical-ish than the, like, wispy, shadowy figures that you fought near the town of Vael, but its body feels more like a liquid than it is a gas.
Dan (Wren)
Gotcha. Weird. [Tim: "Yeah."]
Chris (Sal S)
So, I'm gonna cast Guiding Bolt at it.
Timothy (DM)
All right, give me that Guiding Bolt.
Chris (Sal S)
*Doo-doo-dOOON* I really hope this goes well. That's a 17. No, as a as a ranged attack. It's a dirty 20.
Timothy (DM)
Dirty 20 will hit!
Chris (Sal S)
Okay, so that's gonna be 4d6 of radiant damage. I hope is [Tim: "4d6!"] powerful against it. And that's a total of 7 + 11 is 18. 18 points of radiant damage.
Dan (Wren)
Holy shit. [Editor's Note: Quite literally!]
Ellie (Markie)
Damn, Sal!
Timothy (DM)
18 points of radiant damage [Dan: "Oh my god, wow."] blast into this freaking disgusting nasty awful thing. You see it is, like, startled by your attack, the, like, energy courses and kind of dissipates around its body as you see its eyes draw to you, Salvador. Markie, what are you doing?
Ellie (Markie)
I am going to... where... is-is this creature within 10 feet of me/my friends?
Timothy (DM)
You have movement, so you can run up to it.
Ellie (Markie)
Okay. Is it... like, when it burst out, is it, like, within 10 feet of (first thing) Wren?
Timothy (DM)
Yes, it is, like, right in front of Wren.
Ellie (Markie)
Okay, great. I'm gonna run up right behind Wren [Tim laughs] and say [weepy] "I don't want to die; I've never seen one of these things before and it's so BIG and it's got more horns than I've ever seen on anything in my entire life." and I'm Groveling, and it is distracted, and until the end of my next turn my allies have advantage on attack rolls against it as long as they're within 10 feet. [Tim laughs]
Chris (Sal S)
So, the next attack on it has advantage anyway, so [Ellie: "Oh"] you can do a ranged attack, and you don't have to get up near it, and then you can if you want to go in even closer.
Timothy (DM)
Lovely. Cool. So, we just got... we got advantage [Ellie: "Yeah."] for, like, anything that you want to do now.
Ellie (Markie)
And Markie is, like, kneeling on the floor, like, beating her hands, like "IIIIII'MM TO YOUNG AND BEAUTIFUL TO DIEEEEEEEE!"
Chris (Sal S)
LOOK AT THIS FACE!
Dan (Wren)
Are you... are you okay? I--
Ellie (Markie)
II'MMMMM HAVING A MELTDOWNNNN! I want to go hommmmme, I want a piece of chocolate, I want $5 and an ice cream cone. I want a kiss on the forehead from my mommmmm." Markie is in crisis. [all laugh]
Timothy (DM)
All right, Wren, what are you doing?
Dan (Wren)
I guess Wren will just attack it since it's in front of him. Wren will draw his shortsword AND his dagger because might as well use two attacks, right? While I got advantage? [Chris and Ellie: "Yeah."] So, first one with a shortsword. Oh God, those are bad numbers. Well, that's a 9. Just kidding. So, that is 15.
Timothy (DM)
A 15 will hit.
Dan (Wren)
Yesss, okay. That is 10 damage with the shortsword, and then I'll use my offhand to stab it with a dagger. That is a 21 to hit.
Timothy (DM)
That'll also hit.
Ellie (Markie)
Yeah, Wren! [Tim laughs]
Dan (Wren)
I don't get any... I don't get any bonuses, right? Because of... an offhand unless I have that perk. [Chris: "Yeah", Tim: "Correct"] 4! Oh, hell yeah!
Ellie (Markie)
Max damage!
Timothy (DM)
Finish it.
Dan (Wren)
Yeah, yeah. [Chris: "Niccccce"] Wren will... so it's, like... it's got, like, an a amorphous body, so it can only do so much. Um, Wren will start by cutting off a bunch of tentacles with his long-- his shortsword, just like slicing them... y'know how like--
Timothy (DM)
Just razes it off.
Chris (Sal S)
Like a scythe.
Dan (Wren)
They're, like... They're, like, coming after him, and he does, like, a sideswipe to, like, cut them off and then just take his dagger and plunges it where he THINKS a heart should be.
Timothy (DM)
Heart or a soul or a whatever.
Dan (Wren)
Yeah, just right in the center.
Ellie (Markie)
--energy core.
Dan (Wren)
Gets up, like, really close to it too. You know, like.
Timothy (DM)
You lift the creature off the ground with your, like, lunge and, like, toss it off [Dan: "With my left hand."] onto the ground as its body starts to melt into the ground. Yeah, just kind of gurgling out like a brook.
Ellie (Markie)
Oh, how nice.
Chris (Sal S)
Gentle repose. Yeah.
Dan (Wren)
Ew. [all laugh] Wren will slowly sheath his weapons, and, like, I don't know, like, brush himself off because he's probably covered in some gook.
Chris (Sal S)
Yeah, you got blood on you.
Timothy (DM)
Kind of. Yeah, there's blood. There's a whole lot of nasty shit. Probably a little bit of bile. It's great. Does anybody have Prestidigitation?
Ellie (Markie)
I do!
Chris (Sal S)
Oh, awesome. [Tim and Dan laugh]
Ellie (Markie)
Markie looks up from where she was, like, wailing on the floor. Looks a little embarrassed but the situation is over, stands up. Oh, snaps, points at you and I unsoil you. [Chris and Ellie laughs]
Timothy (DM)
Unsoiled: you are unsoiled.
Dan (Wren)
Does his cloak do, like, a... like, a flair? Like a charismatic flair as the spell gets cast?
Timothy (DM)
Billows there.
Chris (Sal S)
Very Marilyn Monroe. [Tim: "Yeah."]
Dan (Wren)
Oh, thank you.
Ellie (Markie)
Thank you... for solving that problem.
Dan (Wren)
Are you okay?
Ellie (Markie)
[hesitantly] I... wasn't... I was telling the truth about all those things I want.
Chris (Sal S)
Oh, well, we'll see if we can find some chocolate real quick. I don't know about giving kisses in lieu of your mom but we'll figure something out.
Dan (Wren)
"Oh, I've got chocolate". I pull out a bar of chocolate and here, I pass the chocolate.
Chris (Sal S)
Oh yeah, you do have the chocolate! From the receptionist.
Ellie (Markie)
Oooooh! Great, yeah, Markie gets her chocolate. Great. I also... [laughs] I'm, like, the only one who didn't get attacked by it. So, Markie is really like-- [Dan laughs]
Chris (Sal S)
You're just, like, brushing yourself off...
Ellie (Markie)
--she has a low threshold for... "Okay, well, great." I eat my chocolate. "I'm soothed."
Chris (Sal S)
Now that that thing is dead, maybe we should go look at the tent that was behind where it was standing.
Timothy (DM)
Yeah, the-the, like, raining papers are, like, still kind of settling on the ground, and they're now all over the room. When you had originally seen the camp, there were, like... it kind of looked like somebody had set up and had, like, a pile of books and, like, a journal and stuff, like, set aside next to the tent in a moderately neat pile. Uh, but now that is just fuck-all everywhere.
Chris (Sal S)
Sorry about that, guys. [Tim laughs] I didn't know that was a part of Channel Divinity, but I'm still new to that. I've never really used it on... indoors. It's only an outdoor spell. Yeah, the windy thing.
Dan (Wren)
The windy spell.
Timothy (DM)
So, you're just gonna go on over to the camp. Are you...?
Chris (Sal S)
[grimly] Can I light these bodies on fire?
Timothy (DM)
[laughing] You can...
Dan (Wren)
Should we pile them up first?
Chris (Sal S)
Yeah, we can put them in the hall.
Ellie (Markie)
I don't really want to touch them. [Tim laughs] I'm just... I'm saying I'm not volunteering. You guys can go ahead; Markie will... supervise.
Dan (Wren)
Um... [thinking noise] Yeah, I don't know. [Chris: "Okay."] Maybe... that feels like it'd take a lot of time, and I'd rather not spend as much time here as possible.
Ellie (Markie)
Also, that would really let everything in this building know that we're, like, setting a big bonfire.
Dan (Wren)
Wren would like to inspect some of the bodies though and see if he can determine cause of death.
Timothy (DM)
Yeah, give me another Medicine.
Dan (Wren)
I was gonna say, 'Can I use Medicine?'
Chris (Sal S)
I wonder if they have giant tears in their back. [Ellie: "Mmhm"]
Dan (Wren)
That's a 22. My Medicine is +10. [Tim: "22, ok"]
Ellie (Markie)
Wowwww, +10?
Dan (Wren)
I mean, I have [Italian voice] Expertise.
Chris (Sal S)
[to Ellie] Well, yeah, you got that... you got too... I think.
Ellie (Markie)
Oh, yeah, if I need to perform or persuade. If there's anything in this FUCKING castle that can be persuaded, I'm your girl. [all laugh]
Chris (Sal S)
Well, you did the groveling thing; I think... I think that will do pretty well.
Ellie (Markie)
I've been able to do that since child-- That's not a class feature; that's just a Markie original. [all laugh]
Timothy (DM)
So, you begin to investigate these bodies, and the vast majority of them, you're not seeing any signs of physical duress that they were under at the point of death. There's two that do look like they had something burst out their back.
Dan (Wren)
But we know what that is.
Timothy (DM)
Yeah. But everything else just... maybe it was poison. Maybe they just all had a simultaneous heart attack. You don't know.
Dan (Wren)
And are these skeletons or are they, like, corpses?
Timothy (DM)
These ones are a little bit more corpsy but like a mummified sort of situation, where the skin has kind of dried before it fully decayed into a skeleton.
Dan (Wren)
Cool, cool, cool. I mean, not 'cool', but cool, cool, cool.
Timothy (DM)
Cool, cool, cool. [laughs]
Ellie (Markie)
Terrible. Terrible, terrible, terrible. Bad. Bad, bad, bad, bad, bad. [all laugh] Hate? [laughs] Well, do you want to go look at the books?
Chris (Sal S)
Yeah. Do you one of you guys want to inspect these bodies, like... particularly the royal ones to see if he has, like, anything that would denote, like, he's a Victor/Victoria or, uh, [looks at notes] Victor... Victor Valeria. [Editor's Note: Victor/Victoria is a movie of a woman singer pretending to be a male female impresonator.]
Dan (Wren)
[laughing to himself] Victor/Victoria.
Ellie (Markie)
Yeah, sure.
Chris (Sal S)
He has half of suit and half of dress. [Tim laughs] [Editor's Note: Chris has never seen the movie, but this is what he imagined the movie featured.]
Ellie (Markie)
Markie will tentatively approach the body that was most recently occupied [Tim: "All right."] and maybe look for, like, signet rings or any sort of trappings of status.
Dan (Wren)
I'll do the same for, like, the general bodies. See if I can find anybody important.
Timothy (DM)
Yeah, so there is a good mix going on here: we're seeing some noble silks, embroidery, fineries, and then we're also seeing a lot of just, like, tunic, like, very much a dichotomous social class situation going on here. We had the nobles, and we had the servants, and they were present in the space. As you kind of examine the scene, it almost looks like they were all here in attendance to something... like people are sitting in these pews facing the throne, and they're just kind of like slumped over in, and then along the edge of the room, you'll... you see the kind of bodies that were wearing tunics along the wall as if they were standing at the point of their death.
Ellie (Markie)
Actually... well, I want to... does Markie, like, recognize any of the servants 'cause having grown up in the city, she probably, like, knows some people who work in Castle Valerian, right?
Timothy (DM)
Yeah, so, you might, um, yeah--
Ellie (Markie)
I mean, maybe they're too, like, decayed and mummified so I couldn't be able to tell.
Timothy (DM)
--their features are quite decayed... [Ellie: "Okay, yeah."] I don't... [Ellie: "I mean, no one--"] I don't think there's anybody like... I don't think you see another kobold. [Ellie: "Right. Yeah."] So, that would be like something distinct enough where you would know.
Ellie (Markie)
It's like 'Oh, the kobold, yeah.'
Chris (Sal S)
'Oh, they're missing a leg. That's, uh, One-Leg Jeremiah.' [Dan laughs]
Timothy (DM)
I think a lot of the kobolds that you knew might have been, like, kitchen staff.
Ellie (Markie)
Right. I know humans too!
Timothy (DM)
And humans too. But those would be harder for you to, like...
Ellie (Markie)
Right, they all look the same to me.
Timothy (DM)
They all look the same. [laughs]
Ellie (Markie)
They got no snouts. Just, like, nose...
Chris (Sal S)
Very flat faces.
Dan (Wren)
Do you say that out loud? [all laugh]
Ellie (Markie)
I mutter it to myself while I'm, like, lookin' at the corpses [Dan: "Do I hear his?"] and I'm like, "Oh, this lady. Like, this could be anybody." [all laugh]
Chris (Sal S)
Sal is... he's trying to pick some papers out of the air and try to put 'em back into a sheaf.
Timothy (DM)
Yeah, so as you start kind of pulling papers out and picking them up. You start to notice that a lot of them are pages of a journal. There's some letters, loose papers ripped from old tomes, and as you kind of quickly read through some of them, you notice that a lot of the letters are addressed to Alice, from Vladlan Purdue, and the journals start to seem like they are all part of a diary. Accounts of various days.
Chris (Sal S)
Yes, I'm seeing things about time travel, monotonous loops, demons and libraries and--
Timothy (DM)
Demons and Libraries. [Tim and Ellie laugh]
Chris (Sal S)
That's the next... that's the next iteration of Dungeons and Dragons. [Tim and Ellie laugh] But, yeah, from what I gather, it seems like she got stuck in this castle and was not able to escape.
Ellie (Markie)
Who got stuck in this castle?
Chris (Sal S)
Whoever owns this diary, and I'm assuming it's Alice. Alice No-name, and she's friends with Vlad Purdue, heir to the illustrious chicken fortune. [all laugh] [Editor's Note: Purdue is a famous chicken meat company.]
Timothy (DM)
That is not canon.
Ellie (Markie)
Wow, you're so... you're so well-informed.
Chris (Sal S)
Oh, there's Gladys Calderos. [reading the note] 'So, I noticed that there... [Markie: "Oh!"] It took me a while to remember I had heard that name before. I take it that the time... Time Witch!?!'
Ellie (Markie)
Timewich?!?
Dan (Wren)
Time Witch?
Chris (Sal S)
So, she IS a time witch, and I'm--
Ellie (Markie)
Sandwich? Timewich. [all laugh]
Chris (Sal S)
'I take it at the time witch is the reason the monastery was so quiet.' Well, there's a ghost in this monastery... [reading again] 'And Vladlan too...'
Ellie (Markie)
[confused at Sal's reading] This isn't the monastery... what monastery?
Chris (Sal S)
I'm guessing the temple that we just went through, unless there's a separate monastery.
Ellie (Markie)
[out of the side of her mouth] I don't think that's what a monastery is.
Chris (Sal S)
No, you're right; monastery's for priests living by themselves.
Timothy (DM)
What are the other two of you doing?
Ellie (Markie)
Well, I guess we were probably, like, picking through the bodies, while you collected these papers, but we w-- if you are reading through the papers and looking intrigued, I feel like we wander over.
Dan (Wren)
Were there any... [laughs] were there any, like, necklaces or rings or things that could be sold for monies?
Timothy (DM)
Oh, yeah. Oh, my gosh, yeah.
Dan (Wren)
Wren will be pocketing all of the-- [laughs]
Timothy (DM)
You can start pocketing as much as you want, you fucking klepto. [laughs]
Dan (Wren)
It's not klepto; they're dead! [Tim laughs] I'm simply making sure that their wares don't go to waste.
Chris (Sal S)
Markie, have you heard of the name of 'Vladlan' before?
Ellie (Markie)
Have I? What... is that somebody I would have heard--?
Timothy (DM)
No. You don't know any Vladlan.
Chris (Sal S)
Well, assuming they're in league with Gladys--
Ellie (Markie)
[referring to the handous Tim gave her] Oh, are these just same copies?
Timothy (DM)
No.
Ellie (Markie)
Oh, they're different
Timothy (DM)
They're different. So, you can continue picking up more pages that have fallen, and you're getting more and more journals, some more letters...
Ellie (Markie)
Yeah, I see stuff about a library again, a group called Final Judgment. [Tim laughs]
Dan (Wren)
[drowning in papers] Oh god, there's so much.
Ellie (Markie)
That's a cool name, guys. [Dan: "Final Judgement?"] We should come up with a cool name. Yeah.
Dan (Wren)
Like a group name? Like a band name?
Ellie (Markie)
[light bulb] 'Penultimate Judgment.' We're right before...
Chris (Sal S)
I gotta write that down. But assuming that Alice was in communication with Gladys or Vladlan... although she might just read the name 'Gladys' and not necessarily met her before, but Gladys lived, like, a hundred years ago, more... [combing through notes] When did she sell her house?
Timothy (DM)
Yeah. You're-you're kind of recalling that name showing up when you were at City Hall.
Chris (Sal S)
Yeah. So Gladys... Gladys had sold their cottage 122 years ago. So that's the... that's the cottage that we had entered.
Timothy (DM)
Yeah. And you know, the Calderos that you are familiar with is fully human.
Chris (Sal S)
Yes. Oh, so that is unnatural to live so long. So... unless they were somehow a time witch as Alice seems to allude to.
Dan (Wren)
Wren is going to, like, pull some pages or... like, organ-- start org-- like, sit down on the ground and start organizing his, like, journal pages that he found into order 'cause there's dates on all of them.
Ellie (Markie)
Yeah, we'll help, like... and be, like, passing pages and figuring it out.
Dan (Wren)
So, the earliest one I have is March 12th of 1456.
Chris (Sal S)
That's like, how long is that? That's, like, nine years ago?
Dan (Wren)
Yeah. It's fairly creepy. 'March 12th, 1456, the dreams have returned to me again. I'm standing at the edge of a cliff. My eyes bleed with the visions of so many abominations so as I lose track of where I am, where I end and where I begin. All things become me and I them as myself ceases to be, and my mind is flooded with experiences too many to comprehend what they... only what they feel. I can only laugh at how easy it has become to write, yet it feels as if language can only skim the surface of what actually is.'
Ellie (Markie)
Cool. Cool, cool, cool. Cool.
Dan (Wren)
So, she's going through a 'thing'. [Chris: "Yeah." Ellie: "Yeah."] Oh, here: April 12th, 1456 mentions Vladlan Purdue.
Ellie (Markie)
Okay. And that's who these letters are from too.
Dan (Wren)
Right, those are the letters
Ellie (Markie)
From Vladlan. To Alice.
Dan (Wren)
Yeah. And looks like on April 2nd of '56. He sent her a sheet... a letter or a sheet of paper with directions to a building in Harrow.
Chris (Sal S)
That's a town.
Ellie (Markie)
Right.
Chris (Sal S)
Yeah, that's a town...
Ellie (Markie)
But not the one we're in. [Chris: "Yeah."] So, it's a different one.
Timothy (DM)
Yeah, a town northeast of the Enchanted Forest.
Dan (Wren)
Gotcha. And then April 11h looks like she--
Timothy (DM)
Or, northwest. Sorry. Northwest, so very west from where you are right now.
Dan (Wren)
Hmm, okay. On April 11th, she decides to... looks like she's decided to go find Vladlan in Harrow.
Ellie (Markie)
At the coordinates that he sent her.
Dan (Wren)
Yeah, it looks like there's a building in Harrow. Oh! [Ellie: "Or rather directions."] Looks like in May, she makes it to Harrow, and there's a monastery it looks like and then in August... Oh, okay. So she looks like between May and August, she's been in the monastery. It looks like they took her stuff away. So, she hasn't been journaling, but she says 'Here, my experience in the monastery has been enlightening, leaving me with only more questions.'
Ellie (Markie)
Okay. Yeah, and so then, I have some... mine pickup in August of 1456, where I guess... so after she left the monastery, she talks about how 'her maniac fervor has led her to a name: The Forgotten City of Valerian.' That's my home. [laughs]
Timothy (DM)
That is your home. [laughs] That's where you live. That's where you all are right now.
Ellie (Markie)
That's where I live! Okay, great. I'm so excited to hear what she thinks about my beautiful city. [Tim laughs] Oh, she said 'it's hard to get here. It was marked on an archaic map with strange coordinates that don't make any sense.'
Dan (Wren)
Yeah, that's about right. Yep.
Ellie (Markie)
Really?
Dan (Wren)
That's how I found it.
Ellie (Markie)
That's so weird, guys, we got to work on our tourism. [Tim laughs] She says something about 'this damn eyeball that keeps showing up in pictures, but leads me no closer to finding an actual location', like the amulets.
Chris (Sal S)
And the creepy monsters. [Dan: "Right."]
Ellie (Markie)
That's true. A lot of eyeballs, lot of eyeballs.
Dan (Wren)
There are a lot of eyeballs. But singular eyeballs, not multiple eyeballs.
Ellie (Markie)
EyeBALL.
Chris (Sal S)
BALL.
Ellie (Markie)
Eyeball in isolation, and then she talks more about how the coordinates of the city are related to the position of the moons and the constellations and that this place has been kept secret. More references to the city throughout history, but anything recent has been ERADICATED? Oh, my gosh, our Office of Tourism was really dropping the ball here [Tim laughs]. And then... oh! she made it to Valerian This is so great. I can't wait. It says she stayed at the Yik Yak. I wonder if I saw her. Okay, well, let's see here. [flips through pages] 'Something strange is happening here. I spent several days (well, at least from a solar perspective) exploring the city in search of answers, yet only a single day has passed for me. It's as if time just keeps skipping ahead each time someone referenced it.' And then in April: 'They are all stuck in a loop give or take 12 hours time.' [looking up from notes] That doesn't seem right. [Chris: "Well, that's--"] I've lived here my whole life, and I'm not stuck in a time loop!
Chris (Sal S)
Well, don't you remember the the lady in the archives saying, 'Oh, well, I'm gonna go on a trip.' and then she's, like, 'Oh, well, I guess it's too late to go on the trip. I'll do it tomorrow.'
Ellie (Markie)
Yeah, poor planning on her part does not constitute a time loop on my part. [all laugh] Yeah, and it says 'the phenomena seems related but not necessarily connected.' I... there's no WAY I've been stuck in a time of my entire life.
Chris (Sal S)
Well, there-there's a page here that says she's... she ran into the same thing, but it's just like people don't realize that they're in a loop, and that no matter how long you talk to them, they just...
Ellie (Markie)
[tearfully] That doesn't seem right. I would know, right?
Dan (Wren)
I mean, we could always go back and ask the wonderful woman at that desk whose name is eluding me at the moment.
Chris (Sal S)
She did not provide a name.
Dan (Wren)
She didn't provi--
Chris (Sal S)
Oh, do you mean the receptionist or the actual lady in the archives?
Dan (Wren)
The lady in the archives.
Ellie (Markie)
Who gave us chocolate.
Chris (Sal S)
She did not tell us, and we didn't ask so...
Timothy (DM)
You know her by chocolate.
Dan (Wren)
Chocolate Lady.
Chris (Sal S)
Chocolate Lady, Chocolat.
Timothy (DM)
Which is REALLY GOOD chocolate by the way.
Dan (Wren)
Oh, it was... Snake... what was the woman at the front desk?
Chris (Sal S)
Fang Tooth?
Ellie (Markie)
Snake something.
Chris (Sal S)
Snake... I got it right here: Therpent Fang.
Ellie (Markie)
Therpent.
Chris (Sal S)
Serpent Fang.
Dan (Wren)
Serpent Fang, yeah.
Ellie (Markie)
I think... there must have been some kind of a misunderstanding by this Alice person 'cause this is just a regular city full of regular people like me and all my friends and my family... [in denial] We're not living at a 12 hour time loop. That would be ridiculous! ...right?
Dan (Wren)
I mean, it was... you had mentioned that the... [stammering] I... remember I don't have mem-- I don't have memories of the things that happened in the city... [Ellie: "Oh yeah" [laughs]] You all mentioned that it changed from night to day, right? Or was it day to night?
Chris (Sal S)
It was afternoon to evening.
Ellie (Markie)
[stammering] Ww--w-w... Probably we just, like, lost track of time or, like, something. I... [distressed] Oh, what does yours say? Does it explain something?
Chris (Sal S)
So, it seems like she... she never really got anywhere with talking to people, so she says she was looking for like books and things of that nature. She tried to get into this castle, but she couldn't get in because the guards were in a time loop like 'Well, when am I going to eat lunch? When am I gonna go the bathroom?' and all that--
Ellie (Markie)
[frantic] Well, everybody thinks about that kind of stuff during their job. I think that's normal.
Chris (Sal S)
So, she eventually... she found Time Lady (Gladys Calderos) I'm guessing this is somehow Desmond's mom or aunt or something--
Ellie (Markie)
That's the time witch?
Chris (Sal S)
S-s-she says, yeah, 'it took me to remember where I learned that name before. I take it that this is the time witch... or I take it that the time witch is the reason the monastery was so quiet about this place.' So, she also brings up that the monastery did not have any information about this particular town, and particularly, they didn't have any information about Victor Valeria either, and despite him being, like, the basically the ruler of this town, there's nothing in books. But she-she went to the cottage that we went into. She read through the book, she went through the all the stuff and she found the dungeon that we found, and she eventually got into the cult courtyard like we did.
Ellie (Markie)
So, she's in the castle, maybe still.
Chris (Sal S)
Yeah. Well, it's still dated. This is from 1457. [Ellie: "Oh"] This is, like, eight years ago, so... but it seems like she ran into the same demons that we did. She had to kill them. There's things about being tied to where your death happens... But yeah, I imagine there's still some demons roaming around here.
Ellie (Markie)
Is that what that was? A demon?
Dan (Wren)
I imagine so.
Chris (Sal S)
I nod my head.
Dan (Wren)
It was very demonlike.
Ellie (Markie)
I always... I guess I always pictured demons with a lot of spikes.
Timothy (DM)
Yeah, Salvador, give me a Religion check.
Chris (Sal S)
That Religion is a +4 so that's a 14.
Timothy (DM)
A 14. Yeah, that was a demon. [Chris: "Okay."] Yeah, that... now when you recall back your Turn Undead. You're, like, 'Oh, that doesn't work on demons.' [Ellie laughs]
Chris (Sal S)
Oh, okay. Well, I... up to that point. I was like, 'Oh, this is just zombie.' But, no, this is a... it's a two-fer!
Timothy (DM)
Yeah. it was a demon inhabiting a dead corpse.
Chris (Sal S)
Gotcha.
Ellie (Markie)
[reading a science book] Which is taxonomically different from a zombie.
Chris (Sal S)
Yeah, he's wearing a human suit.
Timothy (DM)
You can't send them back to death because they aren't from death. [Chris: "Yeah"]
Ellie (Markie)
Yeah, they're just regular in there own... in their terrible way. [laughs]
Timothy (DM)
Regular ol' demon! [laughs]
Chris (Sal S)
So, there's a connection between the Veil, which is (I'm guessing) the monastery, and this town and the Calderos' and it all centers around a time loop and demons and all that.
Ellie (Markie)
Pretty straightforward stuff. [Dan: "Yeah"]
Timothy (DM)
Casually.
Ellie (Markie)
Yeah. Well, what did it say again, about being tied to your place of death?
Chris (Sal S)
[leafing through pages] Here... it is here somewhere.
Ellie (Markie)
And it says something about a library, too. [Dan: "Yeah."]
Chris (Sal S)
[drowning in handouts] Sorry, now all my things are out of order.
Ellie (Markie)
And more information... so we should maybe look for a library.
Chris (Sal S)
'I finally made my way to the library today.' So, I'm guessing it's in here as well '...as venturing can be particularly difficult as I discovered truly how many trapped souls are in this place. Luckily, the vast majority are tied closely to their place of death. And the throne room is more or less safe with the exception of several low-level demons that have been appearing since my initial clearing.'
Ellie (Markie)
Oh, so that's why she, like, set up her tent in here. Because she's like 'The throne room is safe.' Right, this must have been, like--
Dan (Wren)
Oh, so did she make all these... so she might have turned all of these... what were zombies into now just corpses.
Ellie (Markie)
Wow, she's so cool. [Chris: "Yeah."]
Dan (Wren)
She also took on those demons BY HERSELF.
Ellie (Markie)
ALONE. [Tim and Dan laugh]
Chris (Sal S)
She's a strong, independent--
Dan (Wren)
I HOPE she's still in here 'cause (boy!) we could really use her.
Timothy (DM)
Alice is a badass. [Chris: "Oh yeah.", Ellie: "Damn."]
Chris (Sal S)
But yeah, it seems like the library was where she learned most of the information about this whole ordeal.
Ellie (Markie)
So, maybe we should find a library too... but, like, something must have happened to her 'cause all of her stuff... she wo-- like, her journals and her tent and like... are their personal effects, like, also by this tent setup situation?
Timothy (DM)
Nothing like personal momento type of situation but there are, like, clothing that was left behind, random, like, tools.
Ellie (Markie)
So it's like she left in a hurry.
Dan (Wren)
Yeah, what's the dust level like?
Timothy (DM)
And she-she did a similar thing in the cottage as well; she kind of like had something she just, like, didn't bring on to the dungeon.
Chris (Sal S)
Her signet ring, yeah.
Timothy (DM)
Yeah, her signet ring.
Ellie (Markie)
That was her signet ring?
Chris (Sal S)
I don't know.
Dan (Wren)
That's a good point. We HAVE it with us.
Ellie (Markie)
Yeah, if we gave it back. [fake presents it to invisible Alice] 'Hey...'
Chris (Sal S)
Oh, P! I wonder if her last name had a P in it. 'Cause it was a P. [Ellie: "Alice"] Alice P. Alice--
Dan (Wren)
Not the vegetable.
Chris (Sal S)
Purdue! Alice Purdue!
Ellie (Markie)
Alice Purdue?
Chris (Sal S)
I don't know that's...
Dan (Wren)
Vladlan Purdue [Chris: "Yeah."]
Ellie (Markie)
Vladlan Purdue, Alice Purd-- no, but they didn't know it each. If they were related, they'd know each other.
Chris (Sal S)
Oh, but if they were related...
Dan (Wren)
No, they don't know each other... but the P? Vladlan Purdue.
Ellie (Markie)
Maybe Vladlan Purdue [Chris: "Oohhh."] Maybe it's Vladlan's ring, that he sent her?
Dan (Wren)
But why would... but we... but she never encountered Vladlan [Chris: "Maybe."] She never MET Vladlan.
Chris (Sal S)
Maybe it was like 'This is prove that my friend is cool, so she can go your monastery.' Maybe...
Dan (Wren)
There were other books at the tent, right? [Tim: "Mmhm."] I would like to do a quick peruse of those books.
Timothy (DM)
Yeah, so very similarly to the cottage, there is a spattering of different genres, where these books (pulled from somewhere) seem to have, like, a lot of connections with cosmology, astrology, history--
Ellie (Markie)
Probably the library, right?
Timothy (DM)
--folklore. She is running around with a library and just leaving books in all sorts of places.
Ellie (Markie)
Her late fees are through the ROOF.
Dan (Wren)
I mean, books are heavy, so you don't want to, like, bring them back especially in this environment. [laughs]
Timothy (DM)
They all have, like, notes in them; there's, like, little random things, like, stuck in them. [Tim unpiles huge stack of handouts]
Ellie (Markie)
Oh, big pile of things, yay!
Dan (Wren)
Things. Here, takes some for youuuu. Here's some for youuuu.
Timothy (DM)
So, like lots of loose notes, scrawlings in the, like, margins. She has, like... some of them where, like, pages have been ripped out. Just lots of, like, random little things.
Ellie (Markie)
Well, so now I'm wondering if it's even worth finding the library if she...
Dan (Wren)
It meant she brought all the books she wanted, right?
Ellie (Markie)
Yeah. Like, these are all the relevant books. I... Oh, here fun. Some symbols. [reading paper] 'Reality is an illusion only if the experience is real.'
Dan (Wren)
Here's a... here's a follow-up to that--
Ellie (Markie)
Going into psychological stuff-- [laughs]
Dan (Wren)
--'Should we just an ex-- should we be just an expression of illusion? It does not deny we exist, for they too, are of the same.'
Ellie (Markie)
Wait. That is the same thing as what Vladlan wrote her in this letter.
Chris (Sal S)
Yeah, this, this page also appears in that letter, 'It appears that we are the same: scholars into the influence of the other.'
Ellie (Markie)
Some of these are snippets from letters he sent her.
Chris (Sal S)
So, there's a schism... one of the pages talks about a schism between the monastery, so, like, there are, theoretically now two parts of the monastery: ones that wanted to keep this thing hidden, or... and others that want to expose it. So...
Ellie (Markie)
'The world is out of balance, a dysfunctional cluster of contradictory will.' Maybe they're trying to unite the world under one will.
Dan (Wren)
This one is creepy. 'I--
Ellie (Markie)
[casually] That one has blood on it.
Dan (Wren)
It does!
Timothy (DM)
[laughs] It does have blood on it.
Ellie (Markie)
Is that real blood?!?
Timothy (DM)
[laughing] No.
Dan (Wren)
'I spoke with the Viewers today, in their most palatable forms. I was driven to understand the Viewers.'
Ellie (Markie)
The Viewers? Are we being observed by some sort of audience? [Chris: "Hmm."] I don't know; this lady seems like she might have screw or too loose 'cause I'm definite-- I would know if I was stuck at a time loop, I think. [Tim laughs, Chris: "Yeah."] I mean, just because I like routine... [laughs]
Chris (Sal S)
Well, you've never been outside of the city before, have you?
Ellie (Markie)
Yeah. Why would you?
Chris (Sal S)
To go to college or see the world?
Timothy (DM)
There's a university at Valerian.
Ellie (Markie)
Yeah. I am not interested in going to college. I got street knowledge!
Chris (Sal S)
You're savvy. You've got street savoir faire.
Dan (Wren)
Has anyone ever left the city that you know of?
Timothy (DM)
[to Ellie] You think you have, like, memories of people, yeah, like...
Ellie (Markie)
[tepidly confident] I'm sure, I'm sure people have left the city. People leave the city. Yeah!
Dan (Wren)
[narrows eyes] Give me one name.
Timothy (DM)
[to Ellie] You dig into the corners of your mind trying to think of a precise moment when a particular person left the city. You can't think of any.
Ellie (Markie)
[stammers] I mean, the people I know are, like, home bodies. And, you know, like, we're not people of great means, so we're not going out and doing, like, adventures, but, like, other people, I'm sure leave? Like, people must leave, right?
Chris (Sal S)
Uhhh... unclear, unclear.
Ellie (Markie)
R-right?
Chris (Sal S)
It raises the question of is Valerian a self-sustaining city or not?
Ellie (Markie)
Like yeah, right? [Tim and Dan laugh]
Chris (Sal S)
I guess being in the mountain town, you have to be somewhat--
Ellie (Markie)
It raises a LOT of questions!
Chris (Sal S)
"That's okay." [Ellie shudders] I-I stoop down, and I give Markie a shoulder squeeze.
Timothy (DM)
[laughs] A shoulder squeeze. Aww.
Ellie (Markie)
Thank you. That's actually quite grounding. Thank you. All right. Well, shall we look for the librar--? But we... all the books that would be relevant are probably down here? [Dan: "Yeah.", Chris: "Possible"] Should we look for Alice? Like, do we think there's any chance Alice is still in this place somewhere?
Dan (Wren)
I mean, if she would be anywhere, it would be the library. Or here or the library [Chris and Ellie: "Yeah."] if she's still looking, depending on how big this library is.
Chris (Sal S)
"So yeah, I'd probably go off and try to find her. Maybe up there?" and I point to the stairs. [Ellie and Dan: "Up the stairs? Yeah."] "Definitely not there!" and I point to the shambling door.
Ellie (Markie)
Shambling door [*ehh* and neck slicing motion] [points to map] I think... is this the... was this the shambling door?
Chris (Sal S)
I think--
Ellie (Markie)
I think we dealt with the shambling door. [Dan: "Ohhhh, that tracks."]
Timothy (DM)
Yeah, the shambling door was the doorway that led into the throne room directly from the gardens.
Chris (Sal S)
Oh, so okay. I thought it was this guy [points to other door]
Ellie (Markie)
So, the door is no longer shambling; we have resolved the shambling issue. [Chris: "OHHHH"]
Timothy (DM)
The door's not shambling, there are no longer shambling noises behind a door that you're aware of. [Chris: "Gotcha", Ellie: "Okay."]
Dan (Wren)
So, do we start peeking our heads in doors then [Chris: "Yeah."] Or go upstairs and peek our heads indoors.
Ellie (Markie)
Yeah, let's go upstairs.
Chris (Sal S)
Just like the dungeon.
Timothy (DM)
Yeah, would you like to start investigating the first floor? Would you like to head up to the second floor?
Dan (Wren)
We should stick together.
Ellie (Markie)
Yeah, I think start with the second floor and then on the way out, we can do some peeking in the first floor 'cause we are leaving, right? Eventually?
Dan (Wren)
Yes, ideally.
Chris (Sal S)
I would like to, yeah, yeah.
Ellie (Markie)
Cool. I don't want to be here for the rest of my life. Just wanted to establish that as a baseline.
Chris (Sal S)
At worst. We'll be here for, like, eight years.
Dan (Wren)
Or 12 hours. [Chris: "Yeah."] On repeat. [all laugh]
Ellie (Markie)
Over and over again, 12 hours forever. Okay, second floor? [Chris: "Yes.", Dan: "Yeah."] [sing-songy] *dut-duh dut-duh dah*.
Timothy (DM)
So again, you make your way up the grand staircase, and as you do, it splits off into two directions and lands on a balcony on the second floor.
Dan (Wren)
Keep an ear out for other shambling noises, ghostly noises.
Ellie (Markie)
Or screeching or laughing.
Timothy (DM)
Yeah, so why don't you all give me a Perception check as you are keeping an ear out for whatever else may be in this very haunted castle.
Dan (Wren)
That's an Nat 20. [Tim: "Noice."] Stack 'em on , today!
Timothy (DM)
Nat 20.
Ellie (Markie)
I got a 7.
Chris (Sal S)
I got an 8.
Timothy (DM)
All right. Markie is very engaged with investigating. [laughs]
Ellie (Markie)
Markie's in... just found out she's been living at a time loop, [Dan laughs] so she's grappling with some internal strife.
Timothy (DM)
Fair, fair. Fair, fair, fair. I mean, nooooo, definitely not. That's not what's going on here.
Ellie (Markie)
I would know!... I think...
Timothy (DM)
She would totally know. So, you make your way up to the second floor. The balcony looks over the grand staircase, and in front of you is a ballroom. There are these, like, tiered chandeliers that get more extravagant and come lower down to the ground as they go further beyond to the other side of the room, where you see a set of tables, some lovely little cocktail tables along the edge of the room, some, like, low luxurious sofas, and planters of dry withered plants and just a couple more corpses just casually littering the room.
Ellie (Markie)
None moving, none standing?
Timothy (DM)
None moving, none standing.
Ellie (Markie)
[rubs chin] Somebody's keeping the torches lit but not watering the plants. [Tim laughs]
Dan (Wren)
Neglect! Neglect, that's what I tell you.
Chris (Sal S)
Honestly a tragedy.
Ellie (Markie)
If you have time for one, it's really not that much more effort to do the other.
Timothy (DM)
Wren, [Dan: "Yiss"] as you are ascending the stairs, and you get to the top balcony--
Dan (Wren)
I perceive EVERYTHING.
Timothy (DM)
You PERCEIVE everything.
Ellie (Markie)
Your third eye is WIDE open. [all laugh]
Timothy (DM)
--you notice water on the ground in, like, little blotches and as you look down the hallway, you see on the carpet these, like, wet spots appearing, walking down the hallway.
Chris (Sal S)
In real time, or just static?
Timothy (DM)
Oh, in real time. [Chris: "Ok"]
Dan (Wren)
I'll point that out to you all. "Wet footprints! [Ellie: "Ah!"] Moving! Current, current wet footprints."
Ellie (Markie)
Going!
Dan (Wren)
Active footprints of...!
Ellie (Markie)
Walking... ghosts?
Dan (Wren)
Ghosts? Wet ghosts!
Ellie (Markie)
Wet ghosts. AAHHHH. [all laugh]
Chris (Sal S)
My mortal enemy! Immortal...
Timothy (DM)
And then all the doors in the hall SLAM shut. [Ellie startles] The sound reverbs down the hallway bouncing off of the hard stone.
Chris (Sal S)
I used Thaumaturgy to open the door. [all laugh]
Ellie (Markie)
I'm gonna make... I'm gonna reverse Haunting!
Timothy (DM)
[laughs/sighs] Calllllback. Callllllback. Yes, you can use Thaumaturgy to open the doors, and as you do, they slam shut again. [Editor's Note: this is a callback to when Sal used Thaumaturgy to prevent spririt shenanigans in the wizard's tower with Paavu and Edgar]
Ellie (Markie)
[nudges Sal] You're about to get into a fight with a ghost. [Tim laughs]
Chris (Sal S)
Yeah, it's like... we'll be pulling on both sides of the door.
Dan (Wren)
This is between you and the ghost.
Ellie (Markie)
[imitating Sal] Excuse me. I'm trying to haunt here. [Tim laughs]
Chris (Sal S)
I use Thaumaturgy again to say "WHO DARESSS CLOSE THE DOOR?!?".
Timothy (DM)
But do you really do that?
Chris (Sal S)
No, I don't do that, [Tim laughs] but Salvador thinks it.
Timothy (DM)
[laughs] In your head, you have this very dramatic moment.
Ellie (Markie)
I'm the one... I'm haunting this castle now!
Chris (Sal S)
[looks fearfully in a nearby mirror] I'm the baddie.
Dan (Wren)
It's been you this entire time. [laughs]
Timothy (DM)
--your very dramatic moment in your head.
Dan (Wren)
[sing-songy] "It's been Salvador all along." [all laugh]
Timothy (DM)
Let's not get cancelled. So...
Ellie (Markie)
Well... so do we think we should follow the wet footprints or should we go away from... should we avoid... once again the question of: weird thing or NOT weird thing? [Ellie and Dan laugh]
Chris (Sal S)
Well, what was it walking to at the end of this hallway? It's... at the end of this ballroom is a table?
Ellie (Markie)
Well, it was going down this... oh, this hallway?
Chris (Sal S)
It was going down the hallway.
Timothy (DM)
Yeah, it was going down the hallway, away from the ballroom. [Chris: "Ok, gotcha, gotcha."]
Ellie (Markie)
Did it... when the doors, like, slammed open and shut, did the feet turn, like, the wet footprints? Are they going--?
Dan (Wren)
Is it still going?
Timothy (DM)
It kind of trailed off, and now you look down the hallway, you just see the wet marks left. No more...
Dan (Wren)
Does it have, like... does it, like, walk to a door? Or does it just, like, end in the middle of the hallway?
Timothy (DM)
It DOES walk to a door.
Ellie (Markie)
Oh... [moaning] We're going in that door, aren't we?
Dan (Wren)
We arrrre. We are going in that door. [Ellie laughs]
Timothy (DM)
Wren, can you make a Dexterity saving throw?
Dan (Wren)
[tersely] No.
Ellie (Markie)
Oh!
Chris (Sal S)
[reassuring] You're dexterous.
Dan (Wren)
Yeah, kinda. 14?
Timothy (DM)
A 14. So, out of the corner of the eye, you see a blur of motion, and you have this instinct to duck out of the way as a vase SHATTERS on the wall beside you.
Dan (Wren)
Where did it come from? I'd like to perceive where it came from.
Timothy (DM)
When you look around the room, give me a Perception check. [Dan: "21"] You see a small side table on the other side of the hallway, where there is a circle of dust that had been kind of missing. You could suppose that the vase had come from the table, but you don't see anybody standing there.
Dan (Wren)
No footprints in the dust.
Timothy (DM)
It's on the table, so no. [Chris laughs]
Chris (Sal S)
It's crouched like a cat.
Dan (Wren)
Oh, there's no dust on the floor?
Timothy (DM)
No, you don't see footprints in the dust on the floor.
Dan (Wren)
Mmmm. That's spooky. [looks at Sal] Was that you?
Chris (Sal S)
No, I can only do doors. I can't levitate things though.
Dan (Wren)
Ok, gotcha.
Timothy (DM)
But, as you mention that, there is kind of this cloud of dust that's trailing behind... that had trailed behind the vase that's been, like, kicked up into the air, and there's just this, like, cloud down the hallway. [Ellie sneezes]
Chris (Sal S)
Do you need a hankie?
Ellie (Markie)
Yeah, please, thank you. I got bad lung.
Dan (Wren)
Oh, so it came from the hallway, come down the hallway.
Timothy (DM)
It, like, literally on the other side of the hallway is this table [Dan: "Okay, gotcha. Ok, ok."] So, like, you're standing kind of at the front or the end of the hallway in the ballroom and just on the other side of the hall (so I guess it's like 20 feet away), there's a table sitting with a vase, presumably came from and then the hallway leads on further down, where you can see the wet footprints trailing down the hall towards a door and ending there.
Ellie (Markie)
So, the wet ghost is not the one who threw the vase.
Dan (Wren)
No. So, this was a dry ghost. [Ellie and Dan laugh]
Ellie (Markie)
Are there any other vases in the vicinity?
Timothy (DM)
Oh, there's plenty. [Dan: "Great."] There's so many ornate vases.
Ellie (Markie)
I'm gonna haunt this place right back! [Dan laughs] Take a cue from Salvador; I chuck a vase! [all laugh]
Chris (Sal S)
[too late] Noooo! That's a priceless artifact!
Dan (Wren)
Oh, wait, noooo. [Tim laughs]
Ellie (Markie)
[shakes fist at dry ghost] Two can play this game!
Timothy (DM)
So you pick up a vase, you chuck it back towards the other direction, it smashes on the wall--
Ellie (Markie)
Yeah, like back through the cloud of dust. *HYEAH!*
Timothy (DM)
--pieces shatter to the floor, and as that.. those sounds settle, you just hear the ticking of a grand clock in the hallway.
Ellie (Markie)
[nervous] Was that ticking before?
Timothy (DM)
Yeah. [Ellie: "Oh, ok."] As you kind of recall, you're just like, 'Oh, there's a clock in this hallway.' and just kinda continues to--
Ellie (Markie)
You can't let... show them fear, you know. [Tim laughs]
Chris (Sal S)
Well, you definitely have shown your-your-your might with that throw. [Dan: "Yeah."]
Ellie (Markie)
It probably wasn't a very good turn to be honest, but, like, if you want throw vases, alright! Like, that's what we're doing: we're throwing vases. Let's throw vases. Let's play games.
Chris (Sal S)
That's what's throwin' pots is... I thought, oh...
Ellie (Markie)
Throwing pottery! [Chris: "Yeah."] Well, that was Markie's little moment of rebellion.
Dan (Wren)
[laughing] I guess. Just be ready to dodge.
Chris (Sal S)
Okay, yeah, I pick up a vase in preparation.
Ellie (Markie)
Alright, yeah, I mean, maybe we should just sort of, like, eliminate the vases as a potential... [Chris laughs]
Dan (Wren)
Just smash all of them.
Ellie (Markie)
--throw them. Just like *HYEAH-HYEAH-HYEAH-HYEAH* [all laugh]
Chris (Sal S)
Just smash it into dust, yeah.
Dan (Wren)
Pull a Link moment, just [motions slashing a pot with a sword]
Ellie (Markie)
[a la Link from Legend of Zelda] *HYEAH* 'Whoa, there's five gold in here!' [Chris and Dan laugh]
Chris (Sal S)
So, which door was the ghost going through?
Dan (Wren)
Yeah. Wh--
Timothy (DM)
So, it was going off towards the door on the right.
Ellie (Markie)
Okay, so we'll go through that door, keeping an eye out for vases.
Dan (Wren)
So, yeah, we'll go to that door. [Tim: "Alright."] And I'll... I guess I'll brace... I'm actually "You know what, Sal? You can get this door."
Chris (Sal S)
Yeah, I'll open the door. I have a vase in my hands--
Dan (Wren)
In case it slams... in case it slams shut, you're probably best to hold it open.
Timothy (DM)
Well, didn't you Thaumaturgy it open again?
Chris (Sal S)
Yeah. But it shut again 'cause you shut it.
Timothy (DM)
And then you Thaumaturgy'd it again. [Chris: "Yeah."]
Ellie (Markie)
Oh yeah, so it's all open.
Timothy (DM)
So, it's open again.
Dan (Wren)
Ohhhh, so it didn't shut. Ohhh.
Timothy (DM)
So, it didn't shut a second time... or a third time.
Chris (Sal S)
Okay, so I have my hand out and I put a pot in the other hand.
Ellie (Markie)
We're really showing these ghosts who's boss.
Chris (Sal S)
I cast Doorstopper on the door. [Ellie laughs]
Ellie (Markie)
Do we have any more spikes?
Chris (Sal S)
I used all the spikes. I'm out
Ellie (Markie)
Aw, yeah.
Timothy (DM)
Alright. So, you start making your way towards the door. [Chris: "Yeah."] And as you approach, you hold your breath in anticipation. [Dan gasps] You're vigilant to motion around you, and Salvador, you start stepping towards the door. You peer into the doorframe and you see that it leads into a dark hallway, not lit like the other spaces you've been in. And as you get just about close enough to peek in, it SLAMS in your face.
Dan (Wren)
See, told you. [Dan and Chris laugh]
Timothy (DM)
--and then you just start hearing banging and bashing on the door like someone's just wailing on it. The noise is just reverberating and echoing, like, right in your face. It is so freaking loud.
Chris (Sal S)
I dropped the vase. [all laugh] My reaction was... I rolled to see if I was able... and I rolled a Nat 1, so I guess I just dropped the vase on the ground and it shatters.
Timothy (DM)
You drop the vase on the ground in just, like, your startled state, it again shatters this-this whole scene is just, like, punctuated with very dramatic sudden noises.
Ellie (Markie)
Markie covers her ears.
Timothy (DM)
Everybody's hearts are racing just, like, with the sheer amount of times that some loud bang jumpscare has [laughs] come out at you in such a short period of time.
Ellie (Markie)
*ahh-AHH!* My little heart can't take anymore. [Tim and Dan laugh] I'm gonna, like, pull a fainting goat, just keel over. Oh gosh. Is the banging, like... I'm trying to figure... like, is the ghost on our side banging on the door, or is it, like, inside, trying to get out? Like what's the... well, who's banging on the door? Why?
Timothy (DM)
It sounds like it's coming from the other side of the door. So, they... the door slam shut towards you, Salvador, and then they just started banging on it, just, like, wailing on it, wailing on it, willing on it, and that goes on for, like, a good 10 seconds before the pace and cadence slows down and kind of quickly teeters off, and then you're again in silence except for the ticking of the clock.
Ellie (Markie)
Well, do we still want to go through the wet ghost door given that the wet ghost seems to be on the other side and is throwing a tantrum of some sort?
Chris (Sal S)
Yeah, they seem to be very moody, slamming doors and beating on walls.
Ellie (Markie)
But then, like, why-why close the door and then beat on it?
Chris (Sal S)
Maybe it's trying to help us by closing the doors, so that we don't go in them?
Dan (Wren)
Maybe it's a friendly ghost, warning us.
Ellie (Markie)
Yeah, the wet ghost is friendly; the dry ghost throws vases.
Chris (Sal S)
Yeah, so be aware of any dry spots.
Ellie (Markie)
The flickering shadow person? Neutral so far. [Dan laughs] [to Wren] Start a list!
Chris (Sal S)
Right, they're just visiting.
Dan (Wren)
A Viewer! *gasps* A Viewer.
Ellie (Markie)
A Viewer. One of these ghosts is Alice?
Chris (Sal S)
Definitely a theory. [Dan: "Mmm"]
Ellie (Markie)
Because when you die and you're attached and...
Chris (Sal S)
So she'd probably be in the library or down in the throne room.
Ellie (Markie)
Yeah. [to Tim] I have a question. What are these sort of staircase situation? So, this hallway we're in?
Timothy (DM)
Stairs? Yeah. So, in this hallway, there are stairs that lead up to yet another floor. You see that there are the door to the right, which is the one that Salvador standing in front of and just had the dramatic moment. There's a door on the left and then it curves down and ending at another door, which is, like, two other doors down at the end of the hallway that you can see as well.
Ellie (Markie)
I don't know how... like, the wet ghost seems, like, the most interesting thing that's going on, but it also, like, really aggressively seems to not kind of want us in its business. [Chris: "Yeah."] So, I don't know if we should pursue the wet ghost or change our plan.
Chris (Sal S)
So, what I saw it was just a dark hallway. There wasn't any other identifying feature beyond the door.
Timothy (DM)
No.
Ellie (Markie)
And the torches weren't lit, which is interesting because they're mysteriously lit everywhere else.
Chris (Sal S)
Yeah, very odd. So, it seems cursed. I mean, that's an understatement, but yeah. [Tim laughs]
Ellie (Markie)
I think that's a safe assumption that this whole CASTLE was cursed. I think that vase is cursed, those stairs are cursed, that door is cursed. [laughs]
Dan (Wren)
Maybe we circle back on those room if we don't find anything elsewhere. So, I don't know the end of this hall seems that... I dunno.
Ellie (Markie)
Yeah, around the curve sorta deal? Or can we maybe just peek in the other doors as we head down, or are the other doors also slammed shut?
Timothy (DM)
Did you Thaumaturgy all of them back open?
Chris (Sal S)
I can do it one at a time, so I probably would have done it like a [bullet noises *CHOOGA-CHOOGA-CHOOGA-CHOOGA] like a gunslinger, yeah.
Dan (Wren)
[judgy] That's kinda dramatic...
Ellie (Markie)
This is my party trick. [all laugh]
Timothy (DM)
There's so much drama here, it's seeeeeeping in drama.
Dan (Wren)
Every time Wren turns, his cloak just billows [laughs]
Ellie (Markie)
Yeah, his cloak just flutters. Yeah.
Chris (Sal S)
Where'd you get that wind machine, man?
Dan (Wren)
[facing the wind machine] What are you talking about?
Ellie (Markie)
Like, the ghosts are dramatic. The party is dramatic.
Chris (Sal S)
So, it's a face off, yeah.
Ellie (Markie)
Yeah, can we just... I mean, I am in agreement to head towards the end of the hallway, but if we passed the open doors, can Markie give a little peer in see if any of them look interesting or promising or, like, a way out or home?
Dan (Wren)
We're upstairs, though. There's not a way out.
Timothy (DM)
Yeah, it's just a slide that goes down.
Ellie (Markie)
There's an emergency exit, okay? [Tim laughs] According to architecture codes, there needs to be...
Chris (Sal S)
Two means of exit.
Dan (Wren)
Fire escape.
Ellie (Markie)
Fire escape, yeah.
Timothy (DM)
So, you start making your way down the hallway, and you are peeking in the doors that you pass, and you pass the first one, look down another dark hallway.
Ellie (Markie)
Do any of them also slam shut, I guess?
Timothy (DM)
That one does not slam shut just yet. [laughs]
Ellie (Markie)
No ghost there.
Timothy (DM)
And then you continue on further, there's another door you peek in: this one, also unlit, but you can make out shapes of furniture, and, like, white sheets over objects--
Ellie (Markie)
[points] Ghost furniture.
Timothy (DM)
--and then you continue on down the hallway. There's another to your left: similar situation, like, things covered in white sheets, furnitures, stuff like that, cobwebs abundant, and you finally make it to the end of the hallway, and as you peer into the room at the end of the hallway, it leads into another hallway but a very ornately wallpapered floral pattern, and it kind of looks like if you peer down a bit that it opens up into some sort of living space.
Ellie (Markie)
And are the torches lit or is it dark?
Timothy (DM)
This one is only lit by the light of the moonlight coming in.
Ellie (Markie)
It's nighttime?
Timothy (DM)
--from the windows.
Dan (Wren)
I guess it's nighttime. [laughs]
Ellie (Markie)
It was daytime when we emerged in the garden, right?
Timothy (DM)
[wryly] Yes it was.
Ellie (Markie)
OoOOOoOOoOOoo. "We got to make a point to look out the windows more often, first. [all laugh] Oh, the moon. The moon!"
Dan (Wren)
I mean, this room seems innocuous enough.
Chris (Sal S)
Yeah, it's got great wallpaper.
Dan (Wren)
Yeah and dramatic lighting.
Ellie (Markie)
And my door's not slammed, and there are no wet footprints. Take a look-see?
Dan (Wren)
Yeah, Wren will... I guess go to the window and, like, peek outside. [Tim: "All right. So you go..."] Stand dramatically at the window... [all laugh]
Timothy (DM)
--you start to make your way into the living space--
Ellie (Markie)
Silhouetted by the moonlight. "Wren, how do you always do that?"
Timothy (DM)
--and you see the-the windows as you go to make your way over there. And with a crash of lightning Midnight begins to hiss: "HHHHHHHHH-HHHHHH-HHHHHH" as you notice a figure now standing in the window, [Ellie: *gasp*] water dribbling down their form, their gaunt face... standing arms at their side, and the noise of water splashing to the floor. They look sad.
Dan (Wren)
Is the figure, like, on the other side of the window on the outside?
Timothy (DM)
No, in the room with you.
Dan (Wren)
Oh good.
Timothy (DM)
And THAT'S where we're gonna end this episode. [all laugh]
Dan (Wren)
How close am I to that thing?
Chris (Sal S)
You're IN the... you're by the window.
Dan (Wren)
Next to it.
Timothy (DM)
You're probably 15 feet away. Yeah. So...
Ellie (Markie)
But this isn't even the room that the wet ghost went into. [Tim: coyly "Noooo."] Are there two wet ghosts?!?
Chris (Sal S)
They're sisters. [Dan: "Oh my god."]
Ellie (Markie)
Oh, wait, there's a wet invisible ghost and then there's wet visible ghost. [all laugh] Just a lot of wet people in here.
Timothy (DM)
And that is where we will put a pause on today's story! Thank you all for joining us for this disturbing dirge as we plunge into the abyss. I hope you enjoyed this episode of Shadows of Prophecy. Join us next time to find out what becomes of Wren, Salvador, and Markie in these ghoulish quarters.
I want to give a special thanks to JayCeeAitch (JCH) and Chris B, our fabulous patrons keeping the candles lit here at Goblin Forge. Your support has meant the world to us, and we are so greateful for your absolute generosity.
I would like to thank Scrubcast for some incredible sound mastering, music and effects. They have been so easy to work with and I highly recommend checking them out if you’re ever in need of audio editing, especially for their epic music and effects design.
I would like to thank Syrinscape for some outstanding atmosphere and music. Make sure you check them out at syrinscape.com. I use Syrinscape all the time at my game table and for our Twitch streams, and it adds that little something special to bring your players and audience into the story.
I would like to thank our players this evening. Dan, Ellie, and Chris. I'm so happy to have you in our cast and can't wait to hear what grisly adventures we'll find ourselves in next time.
Our Theme song was written by my brother, the chill electronic vapour soul artist Lusq. You should check out their most recent single, Gus.
This has been a Goblin Forge production. Please follow us on Instagram , join our Discord, and if you really love us, show us some support by becoming one of our fabulous patrons at Patreon.com/Goblin_Forge, where you can find FREE bonus content like handouts, encounter maps, and even adventure guides to run your own horrific campaigns or one-shots. Shadows of Prophecy is a fully personally financed project and our first foray into the TTRPG arena. Any and all support is greatly appreciated! And at the very least, give us a 5 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 to find out where this wet ghost guides them on their quest to uncover the secrets of this very haunted castle.