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

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potentially several of the next episodes.

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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

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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

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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.

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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.

7:52

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.

9:42

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.

11:53

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,

13:33

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>.

13:46

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,

15:38

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.

15:52

Normally I'd give you disadvantage because you're in the middle of a panic,

15:55

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,

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The theme music was written and performed by Steve Arthur,

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used with permission. Find more of his music on Facebook or wherever you purchase music digitally.

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