Episode Transcript
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0:00
Hello, playing games with strangers, listeners, this is CELs,
0:05
otherwise known as ai. We wanted to come to you before this next episode and
0:13
potentially several of the next episodes.
0:15
I'm not sure how often Dave will put this into the,
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the cue to be before an episode,
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but because the subject matters that we are about to deal with are going
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to be a little ble, they are probably going to be things that
0:32
honestly not everybody can handle. And while we are still handling these subject matters in a
0:40
way that is accessible for all,
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is something that even grandma can enjoy,
0:49
it's still topics that may give you
0:53
issues. If you're a parent and you listen to this with your children in the room,
0:59
depending on their age, you may want to reconsider.
1:05
There will be trigger warnings in the description.
1:09
So please check those. We love our fans and we love what we do,
1:15
and we love bringing content to you. But we do not want to cause anyone to have problems.
1:21
So please check those trigger warnings. You can skip ahead of them.
1:26
And while you may not understand everything that's happening, your,
1:30
your health mentally is more important to us.
1:36
Thank you. I hope you enjoy the show.
1:50
Hi everybody. Uh, welcome to this week's s edition of playing games
1:58
with some of the cast.
2:01
We all knew this wouldn't last. Ooh, I <laugh>.
2:08
Did they quit? Was the last session just too much?
2:10
I I, dude, that last session was a lot. It was.
2:15
A lot. But this, this one's gonna be even better. I mean,
2:19
or it'll be a lot less. Yeah. Well, hey.
2:22
<Laugh>, the fact, the fact that we have you here,
2:24
Josiah kind of terrifies me to be perfectly honest.
2:28
I see how it is. <laugh>. I guess. We're doing introductions now. Uh,
2:33
we have Dave and Josiah here right now. Uh, just them,
2:38
um. And, and squid's coming.
2:42
Squid said she'll be here late. So.
2:47
So Dave has volunteered to recap for us.
2:50
<Laugh>. Got it. Did I? You outta it? I thought it was you cuz you weren't here. Okay.
2:54
Yeah. I'll put my, I'm ready. Let's go.
2:57
Oh, I'm going to recap because I'm the only one of the three of us who's listened to
3:01
all of the last session in its entirety to remember.
3:06
Wilder decided he wanted to talk to XOs,
3:10
cause reasons,
3:13
and XOs showed up and had a conversation with Wilder, with his fist.
3:17
Wilder got the blunt end of a feeble mine spell,
3:22
and got drugged down a flight of stairs after which, uh,
3:27
XOs decided to murder Alene and then
3:31
Dimension door out of there and breaking all arcane laws.
3:37
Callum used the same dimension, jumped in the dimension door before it closed,
3:42
and followed him up to the tower where they had also met up
3:47
with or bog and Amarin. Oh yeah.
3:52
Callum cast, uh, greater restoration on Wilder. Wilder came to his senses.
3:58
Zao Scott annoyed, threw wilder against the tower and then disappeared.
4:05
Amron felt the sense of her sister,
4:08
who had been acting weird, walked past her in the possession of Mayra,
4:15
a assassin of sorts who was carrying Rhoda's soul stone.
4:20
After a confrontation within the tower,
4:23
Mayra gave the soul stone back to a,
4:26
a sets out to try to find Rhoda and figure out how to put a soul back in the
4:30
body only to find bits and pieces of, uh,
4:36
a, an ased Rhoda outside of the tower
4:41
who we left off with him running towards Castle Ler or what remains of it
4:46
that has tentacles flying out of it. Meanwhile, in the land of the dead,
4:52
AEN gets saved from being eaten by Kerick,
4:56
by Leona getting eaten by kerick making aen the aspect of
5:01
death. And then Aen got resurrected. There was some screaming,
5:06
uh, they figured out that Aen is the aspect of death.
5:10
Leona's last words were, uh, a confession of love for Wilder,
5:13
which was conveyed to Wilder from a lean.
5:18
So that's a happy time for Wilder. And by the way,
5:21
Leona did get ll to safety, but failed to mention where safety was too wilder. So,
5:28
and then everybody went down into the under Dark ex castle. Man.
5:33
Lagar got smashed as they were coming back up to try to reconnect with Amin
5:38
and or Poo. So they are in the under dark.
5:43
Amin is looking for her family somewhere in the, in the fallen tower.
5:48
I feel like I'm forgetting things. And if I am, I apologize. I am only one man.
5:54
I just, it just occurred to me I wasn't supposed to do that until after the, uh,
5:59
theme song <laugh>. So there's that,
6:03
that goes to show you how prepared I am for this evening. <laugh>, uh,
6:07
you're still just stalling <laugh>.
6:09
I am cuz I don't know where I'm going to go.
6:13
And now time for our theme song.
6:17
Playing games with strangers Know There's no
6:21
Danger Playing
6:55
Strangers. Who we're gonna start out with you because we got some ground to make up with
7:03
you, figuratively and literally, uh,
7:07
last time we saw Poo, you were on your way towards Castle Ler.
7:12
You had an encounter mm-hmm. <affirmative> with,
7:17
uh, Christopher. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>,
7:19
who revealed to you that he had always been
7:24
a servant of Kerik mm-hmm.
7:28
<Affirmative>. And that he was around again. So that's.
7:32
And so that's a thing. And after this encounter,
7:36
what did Poo do? Well,
7:39
I kept going towards where the giant thing was just
7:44
to get some more, um, information on what was going on, really.
7:49
See if there's anyone I could help out with.
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So as you are heading north towards Castle Stir,
7:58
you watch as these tentacles that are coming up out of the ground,
8:03
swing out and grab onto random residents of the city of
8:08
Northern Tower fall. And as they grab people, it raises them up in the air.
8:13
And as they go up in the air, you see that they are,
8:17
it's almost as if the tentacles are consuming the people as they kind
8:22
of ash out. Like people in the Avengers movies,
8:27
when Thanos snaps his finger, oh.
8:30
Dear oh brother. As well as, uh, these tentacles land waste to the architecture.
8:37
You, through some Def Monk movements,
8:39
you are able to avoid being snatched up by tentacles.
8:44
But it seems like the closer toler you get,
8:47
the more frequent the 10 particular strikes seem to be.
8:52
Um, I'm gonna take some cover as much as I can right now
8:57
and, um, see if I can get a good look at like, where the center of this,
9:02
you know, of, of this particular, as you said, mass is.
9:08
I just re re want to see if it's like just one point or multiple points,
9:11
you know, like, where is it? They're all coming out of the foundations of Circler. Okay.
9:17
Uh. Roll. There's some moments where Call of Kalu has the stat builds, right? Like,
9:24
if I were to say roll an idea check,
9:28
I would say roll a history check. Okay.
9:31
It's gonna be a low dc. It's gonna be a low roll. Uh, actually not 17.
9:36
You remember the flesh pit?
9:39
Yes, I do. Vividly.
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And <laugh>. And, uh,
9:47
you kind of get the feeling like maybe that's where those tentacles are.
9:52
Okay. Pushing out of it could be a possibility.
9:56
Like those rooms are sort of like summoning rooms.
10:01
I have a an idea of where that we should have done something earlier.
10:07
Oh, why didn't we? Oh, this is us a mess.
10:11
That's what it is. Um, am I pretty well, well in cover right now?
10:18
In as in cover as you can be for Yeah. An apocalypse.
10:23
I'm in the middle of a, a town. The town, right? Like what's,
10:26
what exactly would I be around?
10:30
You actually had ducked into you.
10:32
You had seen a seamstress shop whose front door was left open,
10:37
and so you had ducked into it. Perfect. Uh, the,
10:39
the sign on the front said making uniforms at Castle Ler be back later, uh,
10:44
around you. It, it's, it is some, it's kind of like a,
10:47
just the general shopping district as far as, uh,
10:53
uh, like there's weapons, there's uh,
10:58
clothing, there's, uh, just a,
11:01
a series of stores up and down the street and there's a lot of people. Okay.
11:05
There's a lot of people who are running towards the tower as,
11:10
uh, the community crisis. The three community crisis centers that are set up in TowerFall are the two,
11:17
are the two castles and the tower.
11:20
Perfect. Um, what reach do these tentacles seem to have?
11:26
Are people able to get out of the reach of these tentacles at all?
11:31
These, these tentacles are massive.
11:34
Like Galactus from Marvel?
11:38
Yeah. Size tentacles.
11:41
So they, there's like no good places.
11:43
They, they can reach, they can reach into Southern Tower Hall.
11:46
Okay. And. Actually have.
11:50
Okay, so I'm in the seams strips type shop right now.
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Yes. Um, is there anyone else in here with me?
11:57
Uh, you know, this shop seems pretty, uh, pretty empty.
12:02
Okay. Roll an investigation check.
12:04
Sure, sure. That's a seven.
12:08
Nothing here, but I suppose. I will say that you do pick up the sense of three sp three
12:15
different individuals. No, I'm sorry. Four different individuals on the air.
12:21
One of them smells familiar, but you can't quite place it. Okay.
12:25
Um, and another one makes your, uh,
12:30
nose runny and eyes itch. Ooh.
12:33
Almost like a cat. You said the sign said that they're making uniforms at the castle. Mm-hmm.
12:39
<Affirmative>. Um, I'm gonna see if there's any uniform type things around here.
12:46
Okay. Uh, roll in investigation check.
12:49
Sure. 15. After searching around this, um,
12:56
this building takes a couple hits from tentacles as you're in there. So, uh, it,
13:00
there's a lot of shaking. Um,
13:03
some of the walls start to crack a bit.
13:06
So it may be that this building during this investigation is starting to become
13:10
a little bit unstable. Uh, you do find a guards uniform.
13:15
It looks like it was designed for an or so it
13:20
may fit you, but it might be a little tight.
13:23
I'm gonna go ahead and, uh, just go ahead and, and slip that on.
13:28
No, couldn't hurt to, uh, have a uniform on. And, uh,
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let's see. As you slip it on, it's pretty snug and slightly uncomfortable, sir,
13:37
of like wearing pants that are, might be like one size, a bit too small.
13:41
This seems rather familiar. <Laugh>.
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It's like slipping into an old jacket. So I put that on. And then, um,
13:52
since this building seems to be collapsing a little bit, I just look around,
13:56
make sure there's no one in this building and go outside. Uh,
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I'm gonna look for two things. Okay.
14:04
A cart and a place where I might find explosives.
14:11
That's some very specific things. Um.
14:15
I'm a very specific individual. When you say a cart, do you mean like a horse cart or.
14:21
Something that I could, uh, wheelbarrow. Yeah. Wheelbarrow type cart.
14:25
That is what I'm looking for. Okay. Um.
14:28
Put some stuff in hand cart. Yeah.
14:31
I'm going to need two different investigate, uh,
14:34
two different investigation checks to do this.
14:38
First one is a four, second one is a 13. So.
14:45
Okay. You don't see a cart amidst all the chaos.
14:52
Cut, cut, cut, cut, cut. It may be that, you know, um,
14:56
some people have looted whatever cars they can find to get
15:01
their personal belongings or their,
15:03
or things that they consider necessary from their homes that they can't leave
15:08
behind, be it heirlooms or whatever.
15:12
And to run towards the castle, you've seen a more than a few people with such things pushing their,
15:19
their goods in that direction. Um,
15:22
you are able to find a couple bundles of, uh,
15:26
explosives that look like they were designed for excavation purposes.
15:30
Great. Yeah. I will grab those and then I will,
15:36
I'll stand out kind of in the street. Um,
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see if I can wave down anyone who's running since I look official in my uniform.
15:43
Are you there? You're there are you sir? Stop.
15:47
Stop please. I'm gonna have you make a persuasion role.
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Normally I'd give you disadvantage because you're in the middle of a panic,
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but because you do look like a person of authority,
15:59
I'll wave the disadvantage and let you make it as a straight role.
16:02
It's a good, it's a nice, it's a, it's a wonderful straight roll.
16:07
I'll tell you that. It's gonna, this is good. I rolled a zero on that persuasion check.
16:12
Oh, no. Uh, nobody listens.
16:16
They're just running past me as I'm standing there.
16:19
There's rubble everywhere. Uh, terror on everybody's faces and nobody's listening to anybody.
16:26
Right now. This isn't working. Alright. Uh, uh,
16:30
nearest nearest bar. Nearest bar.
16:34
<Laugh>. Um, and I, I start running for the nearest,
16:37
the nearest bar that I can find. I know I'm familiar with. Uh, I mean, I'm,
16:41
I've, I've seen a couple around here. You find a local in called the Dew drop in.
16:48
I burst through what's left of the door. Okay. Um,
16:52
and I head towards the back room to, to see if I can find any,
16:55
any kegs of alcohol of any sort.
16:58
I'm looking for the b the as many kegs of this,
17:02
of al alcohol and flammable liquid as I might find in, in here.
17:07
Roll a perception check for me please.
17:10
Okay. Uh, 16. You notice as you're running through this in that the
17:18
layout of this inn looks exactly like the layout
17:23
of the, uh, yawning portal to an uncanny degree. Okay.
17:28
I can't seem to shake the feeling that I've been here before. This is,
17:33
and the, uh, that would mean the, oh,
17:39
I'm a little confused at the moment. Focus pool focus.
17:44
We need to make a big explosion.
17:47
There's something to get rid of these tentacle things. Take it to the sauce.
17:52
Yes. Yes. Boo. Yes. Um, as I'm on my way to the back room where I know, I mean,
17:58
in the yawning portal where there would've been, um, the,
18:03
uh, alcohol stored, I, uh, look down to see if there is a portal where the yawning portal
18:11
would've been. Well, the yawning portal was actually a reference to the trap door. The,
18:16
well that was underneath the, the Inn, which, yes. Which.
18:21
Uh, that's what I was. Okay. There is the trap door behind the bar when you go into the back room to look for
18:28
the extra supplies. You also notice in the same spot there is another circle of
18:34
teleportation. In, um, Durden's office area.
18:39
Uh, and there is lots of kegs of mead and ale
18:44
there, but there, the, the alcohol content in that I probably would not be enough to burn. Uh,
18:51
roll an investigation check. Come on. Come on. There's got to be something here.
18:57
Um, but I do, um, take some, uh, mead while, you know,
19:02
I'm here. Um, a five.
19:06
Yeah. It's hard to find anything super strong. No.
19:08
No, no. Ah, bother.
19:12
And I, I sit down on the, on the floor, um, in there.
19:18
Oh, what to do, what to do what To do, what to do.
19:23
I rip off one of the lids of one of these barrels and stick my, my head in.
19:32
Okay. Then I bring my head back out after taking a couple
19:39
drafts. Um.
19:42
Okay. This is it. I've got these,
19:46
this will have to do. Okay, we're going in.
19:53
Oh, what about that, the thingy?
19:59
Just real quick. Look. Hey, just take a real quick look at the, the, uh,
20:04
teleportation circle in the other room. Okay. Trying to figure out if,
20:09
uh, it's active at all. Not that who knows much of that sort of thing.
20:14
Say go about, say go ahead. About, make our Connor roll if you want to figure that out.
20:18
Yeah. I stand in the middle of it and wiggle my fingers around a little bit.
20:22
You. Stand in the middle of it? Yeah. And wiggle my fingers a little bit. This.
20:26
Thing on? I rolled the five on. Oh, no Archana. Oh.
20:31
Um, okay.
20:36
As you stand in the middle of this teleportation circle.
20:41
And wiggle my fingers, very important.
20:43
And wiggle your fingers. You have a momentary and yet not unfamiliar
20:49
feeling of breathlessness as everything goes bright
20:55
black around you and suddenly you are
21:00
elsewhere in a different in. Or rather,
21:04
it looks a lot like the same in,
21:06
but there is a language being spoken out front.
21:10
A panicked language being spoken from out front that you are not familiar with.
21:14
It was on. Um,
21:18
but this is the same place. Must not be working. Okay. Someone,
21:23
someone needs help that, that I can do.
21:27
Nice. I I go towards the, the panic language being spoken. Whoever's.
21:32
You step out of the back room to several surprised looks
21:37
from probably about 13 font tars.
21:41
Ah, yes. Hello there. Are you trying to escape the,
21:45
the tentacle things? I didn't see you in here before, but, um,
21:49
I've got a plan. It involves explosives.
21:52
Can I hold up the explosives that I have?
21:56
Do me a favor, Josiah? Yes. Yes.
21:58
Because I'm going to incorporate some Paul of kahu Lumi mechanics here.
22:03
Got it. You're essentially going to be making a luck roll.
22:07
I need you to roll me a percentile dye and it needs to be under 20%.
22:13
Okay. What about that 38? A 20%?
22:19
No. So this group of font tars whom you've never seen before,
22:25
and you've never seen this many font tars in one space,
22:29
all turn and look at you already panicked from what you see as a tentacle
22:34
holocaust happening outside. They turn and look at you as a strange creature running out of the back room
22:41
with hands full of explosives.
22:44
And they all turn their blades in your direction
22:50
and begin to charge. I'll give you one reaction before.
22:54
Um, before they I, uh, sit down on the ground and cross my legs.
22:59
Whoop. <Laugh>. I am peaceful.
23:04
I am. And try to look as peaceful as I can.
23:07
I will also say this,
23:10
make a per what's your passive perception?
23:13
Oh, now that, that is 13.
23:20
Giving you lots to work with. Here. I am trying to save you Josiah, and you're.
23:24
Making No, you don't try to save me. That's not your job.
23:27
Okay, fine. Fair enough. Fair enough. I'm gonna,
23:31
I'm gonna give it to you anyway just because I wanna see how, how this pans out.
23:34
Okay. When you stepped into the do drop in,
23:40
it was starting uhhuh, it was starting to get towards the evening hours. Mm-hmm.
23:43
<affirmative>, um, where you are now, it looks almost like it's mourning outside.
23:49
Okay. I think poo being a being that
23:55
would establish time of day based by sun placement would notice these things a
23:59
bit more readily than, yeah. I'll take that.
24:01
Si The more civilized races.
24:05
I need you to make a persuasion role to try to demonstrate
24:10
that you. Are my peacefulness. Trying to be peaceful.
24:13
Yes. Does poo, does poo put down the explosives when he sits and crosses his legs?
24:17
I don't really have a place to put the explosions. I don't. Or the explosives.
24:21
I don't wanna sit 'em on the ground. So I just kind of put 'em under my armpits and, uh,
24:27
hold them there and try to free up my hands, you know, in a nice wave.
24:32
All right, go ahead Jack. Go ahead and just roll a straight persuasion then.
24:36
Yep. <Laugh>.
24:39
Well, it's not natural, but it is a one.
24:46
That's the end of the campaign guys. We're done. <Laugh>.
24:50
Death by font tar. Who knew? <Laugh>.
24:56
They approach you, they stick their blades in their face and they start shouting at you in a
25:01
language that you don't understand.
25:03
They do not seem all that happy that you are there.
25:08
Wait, what language are they speaking? Maybe I do speak it. Actually,
25:13
uh, one second here. Um, I actually do understand, uh, what they, um,
25:21
are saying. Cause I have the tongue of the sun and moon.
25:24
I understand all spoken languages and any creature that can understand a
25:28
language can understand what I say. Okay?
25:32
Aha. Thank you Josiah. You made life easy for me.
25:35
I come in peace. I come in peace. As you begin to focus and you start to, you start to understand,
25:41
this is just starting for them.
25:44
Like as you start to piece together the mumbo jumbo that you heard when you
25:47
first came in there, they're trying to figure out what's going on. There was,
25:51
uh, some sort of abandoned building in town that exploded and there's tentacles
25:55
coming out of the ground and they're trying to figure out
26:00
what needs to be done to save the town,
26:04
or what you overhear them saying. They've received reports from several cities up and down the coasts of Fania
26:12
that this is happening all over. Um, sorry that I came in like that. It was unexpected.
26:18
I didn't mean to scare you. I am from TowerFall.
26:21
Have any of you ever heard of TowerFall? It's what I'm, I was.
26:27
The look on one of their faces drops to a look of concern
26:32
as he puts his, uh, grave down. What of our brother? Kai. Oh, Kai.
26:37
Have you, have you encountered Kai? Yes. Yes, yes, yes. I I know Kai. Yes. Very nice. Um,
26:45
well, well mannered. Um, he, he, uh, works for a friend of mine.
26:50
Actually works with a friend of mine. Uh, but, um,
26:56
I I I I just came from TowerFall and um, this attack has been,
27:01
the tentacles are going on there as well, unfortunately.
27:06
Okay. Um, is, is, is he, well.
27:09
Last I know, but, um, uh, you seem to have, uh,
27:14
be be being attacked by the same thing that we were. Uh, I, I would, um,
27:20
recommend getting everyone, uh, as underground.
27:25
These tentacle things seem to grab things up,
27:28
anything and knock over or anything. But if, if you have any place underground,
27:33
get your people there. He, he turns to the other ones and shouts to them to start
27:39
organizing the town and taking them, taking them down into the tunnels as they throw open the trap door
27:46
behind the, uh, behind the bar. Alright. Thank, thank you.
27:51
My furry friend. Uh, we will try to evacuate the town Yes. Into the tunnels.
27:56
Um, I don't know much about these things.
27:59
I believe they are summoned some somehow. I,
28:03
I think ours was in a room of a, of a flesh and,
28:08
and summoning. Somehow I was on my way to try to.
28:11
That sounds disgusting. Yes. Explode it, uh, to hopefully do,
28:18
do something to, to stop it from attacking more,
28:22
but I honestly don't know what what good that will do. But, but it's,
28:27
well, it's the only thought I could think of.
28:31
This, the, the, this strikes me as being something too big to fight directly.
28:36
Perhaps you would do best going back to your city and assisting them in the same
28:41
way you've assisted me. Yes. Do, do you, do you know how this thing works?
28:46
I'd very much like to see if I could find my friends and, and, um,
28:50
reconnect with them. Right. Right, right, right.
28:53
He gestures to the other people as to begin the evacuations.
28:56
He runs in the back and starts quickly scr scrolling onto the circle and he
29:00
goes, go quick. Uh, and, and be swift about saving your people. Right?
29:06
Yes. I've wiggled my fingers again. <laugh>.
29:08
Uh, you step on there and you are back in the do drop in.
29:12
And right as you appear,
29:14
it takes a large hit and it seems like it's about to come down.
29:20
All right. Um, I, I run out the door, uh,
29:24
out outside and I, I yell, um, I'm yelling in the streets.
29:29
Everyone get away. Go, go underground hide. If anyone needs help, I'm,
29:34
I'm here. I'll, I'll do something. And also, have you seen my friends?
29:39
<laugh>? I need you to make two rolls for me, please.
29:44
Oh. Goody. I need you to make an investigation check.
29:48
Oh. And a persuasion check.
29:51
That is a natural 20 minus one for the investigation check.
29:56
Okay. And a natural one minus two for the persuasion
30:02
check. Awesome. As as you are saying this, you do actually find, uh,
30:07
an entrance into the underground tunnels.
30:10
Yes. Perfect. Everyone down, down here.
30:14
As you are trying to get everybody's intention, you're like waving your arms and running through town. Yeah.
30:19
Shouting as loud as you can, trying to get people's attention. Uh,
30:23
and people just see a giant bug bear screaming and throwing
30:28
its arms on the. Explosives. With explosives. Uh, so yeah. Nobody,
30:33
like everybody is running away from you.
30:37
Right. Well, um, okay.
30:41
I stored the explosives in my pack. I need you to make a dexterity safe, please.
30:46
That I can do. That's 18.
30:49
Uh, right about this moment, a giant tentacle shoots down from the sky and,
30:54
uh, slams into the ground where you were standing.
30:57
You managed to ju leap up and barely dodge it.
31:01
Nope. I head towards the, the hole that I found into the underground.
31:06
And with that Emron,
31:09
who is our last remaining party member Who is above ground? Hey.
31:14
What's up? What's up?
31:16
What's up? Hey girl, how you doing?
31:19
Just kneeing my head hanging out.
31:23
<Laugh>. All right. So what, what's,
31:26
what's a marina doing? Um, aside from the panic attack like that aside,
31:36
we're going back into the tower. We're gonna find a safe place in the tower.
31:41
Oh, that's right. We left off with you sitting down after finding the, uh.
31:45
Yep. The remains of Rhoda. It's.
31:49
Me in ahead. What's up? I,
31:54
are people still like flocking to the tower? Yeah, people are still flocking into the tower. It's starting to get crowded.
32:01
Uh, you have seen more than one person getting trampled trying to get into this
32:05
thing. Cool. Uh, I think because.
32:09
Castle Man Lagar has been destroyed now. So this is the only remaining.
32:14
Yeah, there's, there's like a basement to the, uh,
32:18
downstairs at least. Cuz we were on the stairs before.
32:22
Mm-hmm. <Affirmative>, um, are, are my buddies here? I don't remember if I saw them.
32:27
Rita and Gallier. As you recall, uh, Brita got mangled.
32:34
Oh, that's right. See, I, I owe you a few, as I said.
32:39
Uh, she is, uh, make a, make a medicine check.
32:44
Yeah. It's just an eight. I'm kind of focused on some other things at the moment. <laugh>.
32:49
You're not sure what's up with her, but last you saw her,
32:52
she did not have use of her arms or legs. Uh.
32:56
I don't need 'em. You. Left her in, you left her in the, uh,
33:00
possession of her husband.
33:03
Great. In that case, I'm gonna find whoever seems the most composed in grabbing reach,
33:10
who looks like they're the least panicked.
33:14
Out the corner of your eye, something catches your attention.
33:19
Not because of what it looks like or because of how it's moving,
33:24
but because of how still it is in your peripheral vision.
33:29
And you turn and you see an older man
33:34
that seems to be standing on an elevated platform,
33:38
just watching as things are happening
33:43
with just a sad expression on his face.
33:47
Does he look familiar to me or. I'll say this role history. Check for me, please.
33:52
Okie dokey. Uh, that's just a, a straight 12.
33:57
How much is this? The priest dude, whatever his name was.
34:01
Yeah. Did you ever meet him? I mean, never in the campaign, but I've lived here my whole life.
34:05
So who is to say truly? That's why I was having you roll that history check.
34:10
I don't think a thirteen's gonna be enough to really know him.
34:15
I'm not much of a religious dear. You see, um, I'm,
34:19
I'm going to do the very polite thing of snapping in his direction and
34:24
pointing at him. Can you help these people get in further?
34:30
He looks at you and he seems a little bit surprised.
34:35
Do you can see me? Can you help these people?
34:40
He looks at you. Do I have the capacity to help these people?
34:45
I have the knowledge, but you're the only one who sees me.
34:51
I she just turns away <laugh>. She doesn't have time to do with that right now.
34:55
That's a later problem. Um, I will look for someone else that is calm ish.
35:03
No, wait. You've been touched by the tower. Fall. Legacy.
35:08
Speak faster if you have something to say to me because things are happening
35:11
rather quickly. Here. You see me because I need to help you. What are you here for?
35:16
I am here to get these people safe. These people cannot be saved, at least not by my hand. They don't see me.
35:23
Here, let me show you. And he reaches towards you in his arm.
35:28
Literally goes into you, you feel a cult presence inside your berry being almost to a
35:34
violating degree. Like, there's another person inside of me and I don't like it.
35:40
Yeah. I I don't, I'll tell you right now. You're correct.
35:45
And he pulls his hand out and he says, do you understand.
35:49
Yes and no for a number of reasons? Um, okay,
35:54
well see, here's the thing is I need these people to get in further and I also need the
35:58
people that are trying to get in to stop dying. And I can go out there and do that.
36:02
So I need someone in here to do the other part.
36:06
And if you can't talk to them,
36:10
maybe you can help me later. We can just chat it out.
36:13
I'm sure it'll be very helpful for both of us.
36:17
Your family is here. Yes, they are. Follow.
36:19
Me. I I don't think you're listening to me.
36:24
He darts down a hallway. Oh, I can't, I don't have time for this right now. I don't,
36:32
I don't think she follows. Okay.
36:37
I will k keep note of what hallway it is,
36:40
but I don't think she follows right now.
36:44
She's going to go, she's gonna sit down the head of her sister that she's still holding.
36:51
We'll deal with that travel later as well.
36:54
She's just gonna check at the door to see how many people are still coming
36:58
while still keeping a side eye at where this man disappeared to.
37:02
There is a large crowd of people trying to force their way in. By this point,
37:07
this chaos has been going on for probably an hour and a half now.
37:12
So you kind of see the back of the line in the distance. Mm-hmm.
37:16
<Affirmative>. And then abruptly,
37:20
a very thick tentacle comes slamming down on
37:25
the crowd and it looks like an ocean of raspberry jam
37:30
with extra seeds as it gushes up against the side of the tower.
37:37
Are <laugh> there still people alive out there?
37:40
Or has this kind of made my job easier?
37:44
Um, alive is really.
37:49
A Are there people able to walk on their own out there? <laugh>?
37:53
Oh God, no. Okay. All right. Um,
37:57
as long as everyone that I can see that is currently like actively pursuing the
38:01
door is inside my task is complete as I was just going to try and fend off tentacles,
38:08
but I can't fend off that one. So, um.
38:12
Make a perception check.
38:16
17. So you notice though, that as these tentacles have been coming down,
38:22
they've been, it seems like they've been meticulous to not touch the tower.
38:29
Great. Okay. So I feel like they're pretty safe here.
38:31
Like these things have been hitting all the,
38:34
all the buildings and destroying them,
38:36
but for some reason they have been specifically not making contact with the
38:40
tower. Okay. So I, I feel pretty good about people being inside here. Uh,
38:45
you know what, I'll go follow this man. I'll give you your side Quest. <laugh>.
38:50
They, my side quests. I'll give me my side quest.
38:56
I'll push past people because I'm a kind individual.
38:59
I'll pick up Rhoda's head first. Actually, <laugh>, I'll bring that with me.
39:03
<laugh>, we gotta take someone. I, you know,
39:09
I don't know how soul stones works, so. Okay, so you follow down that hallway. You don't see the old man. Uh,
39:18
you do see a crowd of stunned people looking at the stairway
39:23
in the middle of the floor, and it looks like several people have fallen down the stairway.
39:29
Like they didn't expect it to be there.
39:33
Are they? Okay. I mean, for people who fell down some stairs,
39:38
<laugh> and you overhear, you overhear murmurings of like,
39:42
it just came out of nowhere. Yeah. Sounds like the way I should go, I guess.
39:47
And I'll just kind of as politely as I can be in my current state of emotional
39:52
everything, just move as, move aside. Pardon?
39:55
People are giving you a wide birth because they, it's a,
39:58
it's an angry font tar who's carrying ahead.
40:01
And ala the, the grave in the head. Both weapons in the right hands. Mm-hmm.
40:06
<Affirmative>. Um, great. Then I don't have to be overly rude. Excuse me.
40:11
Pardon me. Thank you. Excuse me. Pardon me. Uh, and I'll head down the stairs.
40:15
You make your way down the stairs and you can tell that there's like a network
40:19
of rooms underneath here that these hallways have a very regal feel,
40:24
but they do also feel not often used. Like.
40:29
Does this feel like crypt? Like. No. Roll a history check for me, please.
40:36
I'm so good at this. A 13.
40:43
Yeah. You're not sure what these are. Again, not a religious individual.
40:48
But there are tapestry, there are gilded tapestries along the walls.
40:54
Um, but there are several torches that aren't in use.
40:59
It's like only one out of every seven torches down this hallway are lit.
41:03
So it, someone's been using it. And the people upstairs don't seem like super eager to come down this.
41:10
Stupid stair. Stair. No, they seem apprehensive because this stair,
41:12
because from what you gather, the stairway came out of nowhere.
41:15
Perfect. And the angry fanar went down it, so mm-hmm. <affirmative>.
41:19
I'm just gonna set Rhoda on a table. Leave her there for safekeeping, uh,
41:24
and continue down this hallway. Um, as you go down these, this hallway,
41:27
there are several rooms that come off this hallway as,
41:30
as well as several other hallways that branch off of it.
41:34
Any of them have torches lit? All of them do to a certain degree.
41:41
So there, there are people like actively in all of these hallways.
41:44
You could assume that, yeah. I'm gonna do the age old maze technique of if I follow one wall,
41:51
eventually I'll find it. So. I'll take the first turn. <laugh>.
41:56
You said you'll find it. What are you looking for? Because like,
41:59
there are rooms everywhere, so.
42:01
I mean, I'm assuming this man came down here. Okay.
42:04
I'm not being quiet, so I assume if he wanted me to follow him and I did,
42:11
so he will eventually pop out of room and say, Hey,
42:14
very loud font our lady, come here.
42:17
Okay. So I'm just gonna clunk about these hallways for a little bit. <laugh>,
42:23
what else do I have going on? Kingdoms and shams. I got no queen to protect.
42:29
Uh, you smell a cooking dinner wafting down the hallway.
42:36
Better than something else cooking. I guess I will head in that direction.
42:42
And you come outside of a door and as you
42:47
approach the door, you hear a familiar voice that you haven't heard,
42:52
at least in person for quite some time.
42:58
You hear your mother's voice behind this doorway.
43:01
Yep. I walk in, I, there's no ceremony here. Ceremony, dad.
43:06
Uh, you walk in and all of a sudden your mother turns around and with a shockla,
43:11
she goes, em and she re she runs up to you and embraces you like a prodigal daughter.
43:17
She's like, you know what? That's fair. That's fair. It's a trying day.
43:20
I'll actually give her a hug back. This is fine. Is this man in here?
43:24
No, he is not. Okay. I'm also making eyes at, uh,
43:29
Ida and Nickis to make sure that they look alive and good.
43:34
<laugh>. Nickis looks like he's seen things.
43:41
Again. I, I paid a lot of money for that to be not the case. <laugh>.
43:46
Well, but then bae kind of paid a lot of money to make it the case again.
43:53
Men. Ida seems a a bit more resilient as younger children do.
44:01
That'll come back to Haunter in later years, but oh.
44:03
It, it wouldn't shock me. We'll figure that out in 10 to 15 years. <laugh>.
44:08
Mm-hmm. <affirmative>. Um, okay. Uh, did a man come in here?
44:15
Kind of ethereal man, can stick his hand through you.
44:19
Makes everything a little chilly. She, she chuckles and he, he just kind of comes and goes as
44:27
needed. He doesn't really, he doesn't really address things,
44:30
but he seems to know what the most necessary thing is for a person.
44:35
So you can also see him because he seemed alarmed that I could see him.
44:39
Sometimes. Okay. Okay. Oh, um, food smells good.
44:45
Um. How are. You guys?
44:48
Please come in, eat. Well, I think she just does. She just goes to sit down and eat.
44:54
She's a tired little deer. It's been a long day.
45:00
Uh, I'll give a a little look at Ida Nickis and then back to Bob and say,
45:04
do you know where the others are?
45:07
Nickis just gets wide eyes and starts shaking his head like, no,
45:12
let's not do this. Okay. And your mom goes,
45:17
did you bring them with you? Uh, I'm sure they're safe. <laugh>. I I brought some of them,
45:24
some parts of some of them. Um, uh,
45:28
I everyone was getting to safety.
45:32
Safety. Is there something wrong?
45:35
It's, uh, a bit ous up there.
45:40
Oh dear. Do you think we should go help? No. I I think it's a bit beyond that
45:47
at the moment. Well, I mean, if there's people who are in need of help,
45:51
we should do what we can. There are a lot of people in this tower that could use help. And in this room.
45:58
Amin, what's wrong? This, this isn't the Amin that I know.
46:03
The, the Amin I left up top would have been up there,
46:10
what's become of my daughter. While a man put his hand through my body and then said, follow me.
46:16
Your family is here. So I thought I should come check on you guys.
46:21
Cuz that doesn't happen every day or any day
46:26
before this day. Um, it's also just been kind of a long few days in general.
46:33
So I think in order to answer what has become of me, um,
46:41
I don't know. I don't, I don't know. I d I don't know <laugh>. It's been,
46:47
it's been, yeah, but I'm helping.
46:51
I am helping people. Uh, I did help people.
46:54
She just pulls you back into her embrace. She goes, oh my sweet baby girl.
46:58
Hmm. Uh, she, as she pulls away from me, she goes, well,
47:02
let me give you some food and
47:07
we can figure out how we can best help this situation. Tell me what's going on.
47:11
I haven't seen the surface for a while. How long have you been down here? Why are you down here?
47:19
I have more questions after those two. What's your passive perception?
47:24
Uh, 16. You noticed that
47:30
she has a crippled hind leg that
47:35
is. Get in line honey. That is put up kind of in a similar looking cart that your front
47:43
two legs are. But hers look like,
47:46
looks like it's been bent and broken and reheal in a
47:50
way that is abnormal. There was a day your father went too far. And
47:59
for the sake of self-preservation, I had to go.
48:07
And I've been down here since. I see.
48:13
Have you seen Rhoda? Um.
48:16
She brought your brother and sister down here? I I think when her mom says that, uh, her,
48:23
her demeanor changes very much from
48:28
like that, that hug from her mom felt really good. And her saying that felt, oh,
48:32
like this could actually be a normal thing. And then her mom's confession has definitely soured that immediately.
48:39
And she doesn't look interesting in talking to her mother at the moment.
48:45
Is, is something wrong? Um, a lot of things are wrong actually,
48:52
which you would know if you weren't hiding down there while your children were left up there on their own.
49:03
Well, you speak like someone who's hasn't had to make the decision as to
49:09
whether or not to have to choose one thing over another.
49:15
I have had to make many decisions like that.
49:23
That's not what this is about. And this is not how I want this to be.
49:30
You have a choice in front of you, whether or not you can forgive what,
49:34
whatever it is you think I've done or if you wanna hold that grudge. But you're welcome to stay here.
49:42
We have food and we are left largely unbothered.
49:49
Yes, I have noticed. I think em gets up and leaves.
49:58
Where's she going? Uh, to go get ahead of the situation.
50:07
Um, she's gonna go back the way she came.
50:10
Okay. Head upstairs to go see that people are being taken care of.
50:15
Um, as you start to go that way, you see that some people are starting to venture down the stairs.
50:22
I think, uh, like just as I see people coming down,
50:25
I will just like open doors as I walk back towards them just to like show that
50:28
they're open mm-hmm. <Affirmative>. And as it's, it's almost like in these, in these doors there's,
50:35
it's almost like there's these dusty suites that are behind these doors.
50:42
Uh, she'll just as she's walking by, just like tell people to make themselves comfortable and at home and mm-hmm.
50:47
<Affirmative>. Let as many people in as they can cuz there's a lot more upstairs and get
50:52
comfortable. Help people out. Be good. Okay. She'll go upstairs.
50:56
I will say that one door that you open has a dark staircase that goes
51:01
further down and there's a cold wind that comes up from it.
51:06
We'll. Slowly close that door. <laugh>.
51:09
Okay. I think she would like mark it, but also like try to keep it closed just cuz
51:16
that doesn't seem like something people should be going further down into at the
51:19
moment. Um, so I think she'll just like stick like a python or something in the door jamming
51:26
with a little mark that says don't go in there.
51:31
Dangerous. <Laugh>.
51:34
Because people never wanna open doors that say don't go in.
51:37
That never happens. Uh,
51:40
so you are heading back up to the surface level.
51:45
Yeah. What are you doing up on the surface?
51:49
Just making sure. I mean, there were people that were trampled and a lot of that probably didn't know
51:53
there was a staircase to downstairs and crowd control
51:58
trauma management, doing a little triage.
52:02
While you're holding rod's head. Uh, I'm going to like wrap it up and put it somewhere with my pack and.
52:09
Okay. I'm not just walking around like holding it like, all right guys, listen to us.
52:16
We know what we're talking about. All right. Wilder,
52:22
we left off with you underground, underneath Castle Man,
52:27
Lagar dealing with some hard truths you've
52:32
been forced to come to terms with.
52:34
Mm-hmm. <affirmative>. And what does Wilder want to do other than just sit down and cry?
52:41
<Laugh>. I went, we're past that. <laugh>. Explain the situation to me.
52:46
Uh, if I remember right, essentially we're kind of trapped down there in the under dark.
52:52
Well, you're not quite in the under dark yet. You are underground.
52:56
There's a tunnel that goes further down into the under dark,
53:01
but there's a network of a bunch of different tunnels that, you know,
53:06
that are under the city as far as how to navigate them.
53:10
You aren't super familiar with. And I am with a crowd of people that got stuck down there as well, right?
53:17
Yeah, yeah. You were, you were evacuating people down here prior to the castle coming down.
53:23
All right. Put Dave all alone in a room with hallways.
53:28
That's a great idea. Um,
53:30
I assume aliens doing crowd control and I'm gonna leave that to her and I'm
53:33
gonna start just walking down the nearest tunnel. Um,
53:38
looking for, you know,
53:40
pathways to the under dark or another way to get back up
53:46
cuz we're separated from everybody else very much in my head.
53:51
You don't have dark vision, do you? I do.
53:54
What are you in your own head about as you're venturing?
53:58
Definitely, uh,
54:01
the situation with Leona more trying to understand like,
54:06
is she actually gone? Just a lot of like surely, you know,
54:11
she can't be gone. She's, she's powerful.
54:14
I know that I think at some point thinking about
54:19
Leona will go, yeah, I, but she knows where LL is.
54:26
So now it's almost like as I'm walking through this tunnel,
54:29
very much the way that I would, uh,
54:32
almost just like having panic attack because it's now, okay,
54:37
well if Leona's gone, then Elle is gone.
54:44
And he, that just keeps going through his head because he knows he can't fix it.
54:50
All right, so as, as you are thinking about these things and you're,
54:54
you're smelling it over, over a period of time and you're become more panicked
55:00
a little bit and just caught up in your own anxiety
55:05
and you keep having this overwhelming sense of powerlessness
55:11
for a brief moment. As you're walking aimlessly through these tunnels,
55:16
you catch a brief glimpse of light
55:22
as you hear a door close. And I assume that the door closing sounds like it's coming from the same place.
55:30
The light is, yes. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>. I'm gonna head that way.
55:34
It's about 500 yards away. And as you get there,
55:39
you see a staircase going up to a door and it's
55:46
a long staircase. I'm going to draw my rape here and carefully
55:53
approach the door. After creeping up this long staircase. You reach the door
56:01
and you hear some voices from the other side of it.
56:05
You can't really make out what they're saying because you know, door.
56:09
Uh, I would like to investigate the door to make sure it's not trapped.
56:13
All right, go ahead and roll an investigation. That's a 15.
56:16
Uh, seems okay. Okay, I'm gonna open the door.
56:21
You open this door and you see several civilian looking people
56:26
standing within the vicinity and they look startled as this
56:31
man with a sword comes out of this doorway and they have a look of panic on
56:36
their face as they look upon you. Sorry to, to interrupt. Um, and, and no need for alarm.
56:42
I'm gonna sheath my sword. Can you kind of gimme a good whereabout of where we're at?
56:58
You. Have been listening to the Playing Games With Strangers podcast,
57:02
with the voices of John Har you, Katherine Zinsky,
57:07
Dave Clemens, JS Earls, Celeste Mora,
57:11
Josiah Crandall, Eric Campan, and Steve MacDonald.
57:16
The theme music was written and performed by Steve Arthur,
57:20
used with permission. Find more of his music on Facebook or wherever you purchase music digitally.
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Please review this podcast wherever you downloaded from to help other podcasters
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thank you for listening. A massive thanks to our blade level patrons, Julie Earls, Aaron Peckham,
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