Echoes of the Forgotten

0:01 Tonight's episode of Crit Heavens is sponsored by Scribe Quill. Miss a plot thread in your last session? Scribe Quills got you Upload your TT RPG session recording and Scribe Quill transcribes it, turns it into an engaging recap and narrates it with text to speech. Dial in the vibe with thematic background music and pick from a range of voices to match your world. Share it with your party and kick off your next session perfectly In Sync. Preserve the essence, keep the momentum. Search Scribe Quo and start recapping today. Scribe Quo Remember better play faster previously on crit happens. Last session, the agents of the Syndicate regrouped at the Glass Hat in Vault Shade and brought a new blade into the fold. Ogeman, A Goliath druid with more questions than memories. Their oath finders, Ledgers, ignited with a red letter mission.

0:55 The Ash Scale tribe hard by Mount Tarikin begged intervention. A Dominion Dig had been seized by the Sealed Flame Cult, and their prize, a reliquary gate bound to the Plain of Fire, was close to stabilizing. Within it, an Ephrietti serif tar was being exalted as a living relic. If the gate linked to Tarakin's heart, the Ashen Belt would become a furnace. Collapse the gate, deny A foothold. If you can find the scouts who never came home. Preparation was swift at the Obsidian Vale Emporium. Celestrix Moon Weave sized them up with a practice smile. Nyrus negotiated an agent's price on a bag that refused to fill and a pair of elemental countermeasures, handing the scrolls to Mimi with quiet purpose.

1:42 They reached Mount Tarakin by midday, where the ash scales unease sat heavy in the ash thick air. Salkath, a guide long on knowledge and short on bravado, consented to trail with them, so long as he wasn't thrown to the front. The stairwell down opened into four choices. One door breathed poison and folded the front ranks in coughing fits. Another held only in decipherable shelves. The eastern doors glared with three locks. Castella knelt, listened, smiled, and defeated all three in turn, and the party strode intact into the heart chamber. There the burning gate thrummed like a heartbeat. Serif, tar, towering and fire veined, raised his blade and proclaimed their doom. Kneel or burn?

2:28 Osaisa answered first with a blast of killing. Cold Savara closed and hammered him, burying frost into the strikes, while Mimi's great axe bristled with insult and impact. Ogerman's lightning drew a molten scream. Neros layered the battlefield with circling spirits and a steadied mind's blessing, then crushed the Afriti's bid to vanish with a sharp counter move. Serifhtar retaliated with a curse that seared a sliver of memory from each of them and tore open the gate to spit out flaming allies. The agents held, and then Nairos changed the weather. He flicked A flask aloft and called a torrent from nothing. A geyser smashed gate elementals and Afriti fire gutted. Elementals winked out.

3:15 Serifhtar collapsed into cinder and glass. As the gate died, it flashed visions sealed flame, zealots chanting his name, a vault of Obsidian mirrors showing other gates in other fates, and a white hot Shard pulsing in emptiness. The mountain convulsed. The agents evacuated with Sulketh and met the ash scales haunted eyes outside. The gate was gone. The cult was denied. The scout's fate, however, remained a silent question. The ash refused to answer. Welcome to the quest Gather round on delay. With dice in our hands, we're ready to play adventures away with stories to unfold in the land of D&D, where the brave hearts are bone. Crit happens.

4:12 We roll. We let our imaginations fly. We let our imaginations fly. It happens. Let the fun begin. Join us on this ride. Let the journey spin. Every row's a chance. The adventure never ends laughter, and we're more than just friends. Spencer.

4:57 Leads the way with dreams to ignite. From Dragons to dungeons, we're ready to fight laughing with friends in this magic. Together we conquer with friendship at the helm. With every roam, new tales we create we have is let the fun begin. Join us on this right, Let the journey spin. If you lose a chance, adventure never ends with laughter and excitement. We're more than just friends.

5:46 So grab your dice, let's roll for the thrill. It happens together, we'll always fulfill. Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to Crit Happens here on Spotify, iTunes, player.fmpoddirectory.com, stitcher.com, TuneIn Radio, and iheartradio.com. The agents are back again here this week for another exciting mission here with the Scale Bounce Syndicate. Say hello, agents. Hello agents. Hello Agents. Hello, hello. We have 3 lucky agents with us today and nice, nice small group today. We'll see how they fare in today's mission. So we do want to take a quick second. It is Zebulon's first time playing. Archie, my friend, welcome aboard. Thank you very much.

6:35 If you want to take just a moment, kind of introduce your character for the listeners and of course everybody we have really the only person that's really met your character is myself. So introduce your character and tell us a little bit about him. Yeah, of course. Hail travelers. My name is Zebulon. You can call me Zeb if you like. I am a shadow magic sorcerer and a shapeshifter or changeling with a knack for infiltration and stealth. Yay. Well, that's good. He he sent me his character, his character kind of profile and I was like, oh, sold where this is going to be awesome. So yeah, hey, we also welcome back Savara and Mimi. Welcome back.

7:23 What's good? What's good? So today we are going to be picking up after the At the Burning Gate mission. It has been about about two weeks since that mission. You were pretty battered after the last mission, so the Syndicate allowed you some time to heal and you have been dispatched out to a region that you all of you have never stepped foot in before yet. And that is the excuse me And that is the region of the echo fields and memory wastes. That is a reality. Unstable plains and memory scarred deserts.

8:05 The land in this region forgets itself and sometimes remembers too much. It can have time loops, fracturing truths and echoes that may become real. So you have been dispatched to the Syndicate outpost in that region of Whisper Shade, which is a effectively it is hidden within a memory sinkhole, a zone where reality loops and identify and identity fragments. It is officially a psychological research station. It secretly houses echo archivists, drift walkers, and containment specialists. This outpost is basically built from mnemonic stone, mirrored Obsidian, and is designed to reflect truth and repel false echoes. It does contain bottled timelines, fractured oaths, and identity shards, and the model for this place, if you want to write this down, is Forget Wisely. Remember what happens.

9:05 So you will begin tonight's session as we start every session of every game of DM we've ever played in a Tavern in Whispershade. You are located at the Lanterns Last Light. Again, this is a Tavern within Whisper Shade that has lanterns that gutter with strange pale light, and the shadows lag a half second behind their owners. It's got warm fire light. Faint runes shimmer in the rafters. The locals keep their hoods up, you notice, and they do speak in almost half sentences, afraid of something that they might say might not be real.

9:50 OK. So as you enter the the Tavern, belly up to the bars, we would say in the good old land of Wisconsin, the bar keep pours you a silverly, A silverly, A silvery liquid that tastes almost different to every drinker. That sounds interesting. What does it taste like to me? I would absolutely take a glass. Sure, yeah, I mean, players, if you want to give me a straight D12 roll. Oh. OK. And we will start with.

10:30 Niner. OK, we'll start with Savara. You said 9. Yep, Savara, you take a drink of this this silvery liquid and it almost tastes like a combination of salt and rainwater. It's it makes you feel like a memory stirring that a storm where you were standing and you shouted at the at the storm your name and you can't seem to necessarily recall it in great detail of that memory, but it's it's kind of echoing in your brain.

11:13 Nebulon, you said one, one. Yes, Zebulon to you. You're going to take a drink of this and it's going to you're going to kind of have that look on your face like this kind of tastes like crap. This almost tastes to you like burnt bread crust and it makes you have this kind of vision of like 1/2 forgotten kitchen. You can certainly have the smell of smoke kind of in your in your senses, and you can hear somebody humming, but you don't know who it is. Not the worst sale I've ever tasted. I prefer light beer though. And Mimi, you rolled a. 7. 7 to you, you take a drink of this liquid and it tastes like charred oak and smoke. So again, depending on your your palate, you may kind of recoil at this taste a little bit.

12:11 It's got the heat of a hearth, but you have this vision almost like a nightmare of a house or a home that's on fire. I think Mimi personally, as you know, she comes from a circus. Sure. Not the biggest fan of. Do you say that out loud? They would probably be like, this is I'm just going to like shove it away from them and just kind of sit there and stare at the mug. Sara's really just like like confused looking at it, like obviously trying to remember something but can't.

12:57 Like she like just has a general look of confusion and starts like taking out one of her butter knives and like cleaning it and and sharpening it just like still just kind of staring at it at the drink going what can't what? I finish mine as fast as I can so I can get on to the next one. You'd like I. Said not the worst, but. You'd like to drink another one? Something else? Yeah. OK, give me another D12. Amy's also kind of like, you know, like where your wrists are. She's like holding on to her right wrist, kind of like bending her left wrist around. She has scars around her wrists in the shape of a shame that burned her, so she's currently just sitting there.

13:45 What? Kind of. I got out the pile of the second time, a 12, yes. OK, you take, you drink your first one almost like a shot and you put the drink down the bar keeps like you seem to have enjoyed that. Would you like another? Something else please, but another beverage of course. OK, And he's going to pull out a different container and it almost looks like the same liquid to you, but he has no he this is to him, this is a completely different drink. And he pours it in your drink, and you take a drink of it, and this one tastes like nothing at all, but the glass feels full but the taste is absent, like as if you were expecting a second vision or a flash of something to occur.

14:40 And it almost feels like it was stolen. Yes, I drink about half of it. How does that feel on my body? The the same thing it as soon as any sort of Yeah, as soon as any as soon as any sort of this liquid enters you. God, that was a weird way to describe that. Put the drink is drunk with the drink is drunk drunk. Jesus Christ, no matter how much of an able to induce the same effect. Curious, I think I've had about enough of these weird drinks. Can I get a normal beer? He goes absolutely, and he sets down a a a tankard of Mead in front of you. Perfect.

15:26 He's gonna like walk on to the bartender or I guess because like I said, I'm guessing it's like right next to them. I'm like lean up against the counter and be like, so is this like some kind of memory liquid or like in essence of a soul that is perished or? Yeah, what are these drinks? Yeah, Are we drinking some of these memories? These are you're you're asking this to the barkeep, correct? He. I. Asked what we're drinking, Yes. Sure. He he kind of just looks at you and he says these drinks are meant to induce memories that may have been forgotten over over whatever extended period of time.

16:09 It's a it's a personal mix of my own that I've been serving in this bar for 200 years. Very. Serious. It was an experience, that's for sure. I mean it. Was how much would it be to get a water flask of that nothingness to go? And he kind of looks, looks at his stock and he goes for just a water flask full of it. I will agree to let go of it for 10, some of it for 10 gold. I'll take that. OK, I'm intrigued by this. OK. May come in handy.

16:49 Oh, you're you're you look dead. I'm going to be so honest with you. Are you from the Syndicate? What? What? And he kind of looks puzzled, like the Syndicate. I've never heard of that before. Right. You've never heard of the Syndicate? No, no, I have not. Can I do like perception something to tell it, Like yeah, inside or whatever to tell if he's lying? I will absolutely let all of you roll on the insight. Oh well, Samara still very much confused by everything going on, she rolled A3.

17:40 OK, so you could take that die and just eat it across the road? I got a 12 just. Looking at the one, she only had a sip by the way of that drink, but she is just. She is just really. Taking a yes and she is just cleaning butter knife and butter knife evil twin like so meticulously right now. Like what's going on? Yeah. So. Tender served you some rainwater and you're like, what's wrong? So for those of you just joining us audio listeners again, we love you Zevion. Savara has named all of her weapons. So when she says butter knife, butter knife too, Mr. Stabby and.

18:24 Oh, I've got a whole Stabatha. Stabatha with my. Favorite snappy shark boy? The last order? Silver bells, of course. Yeah, it's nice speaking. All of you. OK, so I say. To the pets. So as you are all and kind of we'll say. I got a 17 by the way. OK, perfect. Yeah. So all of you while you are drinking your drink and quote, UN quote enjoying it, he fills the as he's filling the flask of of Zebulons or the the water skin of Zebulons, He goes, yeah, no, I have I have no idea what the syndicate is.

19:07 And and you all believe that he believes that that's what he's saying. Mimi with a 17, you're able to glean that again. Yes, he unders he to his knowledge has no idea what the syndicate is, but you have this feeling like it wasn't by his own will. So as you kind of glean that, I need everybody to give me a perception check. Can I, as I glean that, can I lean over to like, OK, so I'm guessing that Mimi is standing next to Zebulon, who's sitting and then Savara is sitting on the other side of Mimi. OK.

19:56 I don't know, is that does that sound good to you guys 'cause I want to like lean over to Savara and just be like Tavara, Tavara. What? This dude has been memory wiped. He knows who we are but somebody has taken this sad memory. Need to stay quiet about the syndicate height. The terrain here causes memory troubles by itself also, does it not? So. Perhaps we should be vigilant about our own Give me give.

20:38 Me a history check. All right, you had previously asked for a check perception. Oh yeah, let's let's hold off on the perception check real quick until after your history check. All right, 16. Yeah, you, you know from your time before joining the syndicate that this region is very, very dangerous when it comes to memories and what's real and fake. So this could just be a result of him living here full time is my thought. It's, yeah, it's it's almost as A and this is going to be kind of a gruesome comparison. It's almost like dementia where he believes 100% what he's saying, but it may not fully be the truth. And not again, not by some malfeasance. But he truly believes what he's saying. OK, so.

21:40 Bartender, do you have any idea what we've been called here for? And or. No, you set a perception check. That's right. Yeah, yeah, you can give me perception check while I while. So the barkeep kind of turns and he goes, can I get y'all something to drink? I don't want to drink anything more that you have. Just gonna narrow their eyes, get really close, like up close and personal this guy like nose to face. All right, yeah, so let's go with perception checks. Another 16. 16 OK, let's see here Mimi 10 ten OK. 10 and Savara. 22 OK. All of you, all of you hear the door behind you to the entrance to the Tavern open and you see standing in front of you almost a messenger of sorts, but he has the syndicate Insignia on his cloak and he hand he kind of steps to the entire party and he just kind of extends his arm with a a piece of parchment in his hand.

23:08 I take the parchment and read it. OK, so Zebulon will take the the parchment and the the messenger will kind of do like one of those half bows and we'll leave and you'll open up the parchment and you see a message that says agents thank you for answering this call. Caravans have gone missing in the echo fields. Survivors returned babbling about roads folding back into yesterday and seeing their own shadows walk past them. The Syndicate needs answers. There are whispers of a vault of forgotten names buried deep within the waists. It does not open for coin or steal, only the weight of memory itself. You will need to barter with truth, and perhaps with lies, but heed this warning.

23:55 In the wastes, memory itself is a weapon. You may forget, you may doubt yourselves. You may even meet versions of who you might have been. Trust one another, for reality will not trust itself. Return agents, bring us the truth of this vault, and do not let the world forget you, or worse, remember you wrong. And as Zebulon reads and I assume Zebu read this out loud. Sure. OK, as he says the last words, or worse, remember you wrong, the parchment kind of like poofs out of existence. Oh.

24:38 Well, we have our mission. Do we have any sense of which direction to start or do we need to start asking around about this? You would need to ask around a bit and see if anybody knows about the vault, unless you want to give me a history check to start. We'll give. It a shot, right? I had advantage on history. I got a five I think. I don't know where the vault is. Can I ask them for? A gentle start a 14, so 15. Hey, you know of like you know who I am. Have you seen me?

25:24 Before he kind of looks at you and he goes, no, I've never seen you before. Would you like a drink? I have a wonderful drink. I've I've made myself for almost 250 years. Do I see anyone else in the bar? Side note guys, the first time he said that he said 200 years. Interesting. So in the bar itself, Zeb, Yeah, there are people there. Most all of them are kind of hood up, cloaked, don't want to be seen kind of appearance to you. That makes sense.

26:07 Is there anyone at the bar that I could talk to other than my compatriots here? There are two cloaked individuals on either side of the the end of the bar. I speak to the closest one to me. Excuse me. We're here investigating a vault. Is that something you would happen to know anything about? So the individual that you, the individual that you go up to is on the right side of the bar kind of where you were sitting almost you can just kind of lean over and he has this kind of slim appearance. He's wearing a cloak that's packed in many different places. Give me a quick perception check. 16 again.

26:51 Wow. So you are able to see kind of the imprint of a syndicate sigil on this person's lapel. He almost has it covered, but with the cloth it, it almost protrudes itself a little bit. It's. A good. Time, yeah. And he goes, What was your question again? Do you have any information about the vault that we've heard might be nearby him? He kind of looks at you and he goes it's I've heard many stories about this vault. The vault lies beneath the Ash way.

27:34 It's where the dunes fold back on themselves. If you walk long enough, you may even you you'll return to the same footprints, but the shadows will be facing the wrong way. It has a landmark that's quite visible if you look hard enough. It's a it isn't marked anywhere on the map. The the wastes it. They erase paths to it, and some say the safest way is to follow the lanterns that have been left behind by those who have never returned. Interesting. Do you have a sense of like which direction and how many miles we need to travel?

28:20 It's, I mean, it's not far from here, maybe a day's travel to the to the southeast, but I've never been. I always get lost and end up coming back to where I started. I hear that's the way of this place. Is there any other information you think we would need before we head out? Give me a persuasion check. 80 net 20 + 7 so 27. OK, yeah, he'll say follow the ash way SE to where your footprints don't match.

29:03 The door waits there, but it doesn't open for steel or syndicate coin. It opens for what you may lose. And with that, he kind of goes back into his just kind of nose deep in his drink. All the ash way South. Southeast. To the door. All right, guys. So it appears that this is about to be another incident with a demon. Yay. More deals.

29:45 Oh, yeah. By the way, nice to meet you, Zabulon. I'm Mimi. Savara. Nice to meet you as well. Out of character, how tall are you? And just take a sniff. I would be like 5-9 my own height as my high elf like travel version but I'm a shapeshifter so I can kind of go up and. Down, OK. I don't think I've ever tried to become as tall as you are though. Yeah. I'm very as mommy anyways. I'm 75 so. I'm a big cat, OK?

30:32 So the. Team. Looking forward to working with you all. Yeah, let's not get each other killed. No promises. The weapon wants what the weapon wants. Tiny All right, tell butter Knife to chill and let's get wrong. Fine. And I I literally, because at this point I've still kind of had them out. I put butter knife and butter knife to eat a little twin back. Take mine. So with the travel to to whisper shade, it is that time of the evening where you would be thinking about starting this this travel tomorrow.

31:14 So you all you know, of course, it would have been an outpost for the syndicate. It is attached to an in which you do have free clear you rights to use. So each of you will head to your rooms, lock the door and. Yes, locking the door. Yeah, just making sure everybody's reset as of right now. Mimi, it's been a few sessions since you've been here. I think you reset your long rested, correct? Yep, I'm. Long rested. OK, as far as everyone know, you've been doing text art. You guys are all long rested. Don't want to reset mine because it's set for the session that we're mid in so I'm just.

31:59 I just know that the things I have marked are. There's literally 2 things, OK, it's just a usage of of items. So I just know, but I'm I'm the rest of it's at base right now. Beautiful. OK. I spent nothing since my long rest and I don't think I've ever taken damage so. Nice, I'm good. Perfect. All right. So you will begin your travel again. It's, it's a little less than a day's travel to get there on foot. So how we do this and audio listeners, we love you. How we've been doing this with travel a day, three travel encounters, if you will.

32:47 So because it's three people, we'll start with whoever's on the top of the Discord. For me, that's going to be Mimi. If you can roll me AD 100 please for the morning. That is A7 7070%. 70. It said percentile. No, no, that's right. I thought you said 7 at first, so OK, 70. So as you are traveling through the morning, the shifting dunes in this memory waste desert, they part almost to reveal a lone Spire of black Obsidian, kind of jutting at a crooked angle from the earth.

33:33 It's carved with countless names etched deep inside the stone itself. The pulse. I'm sorry. The surface seems to pulse faintly, as if it's listening. Can I make an arcana check to see if I know anything about this magic? Absolutely, go ahead or. If it even is magical. I was 17 -, 1, so 16 once again. So with the 16, you take kind of a deep look at this Obsidian Spire. And as you study the Spire, the names etched into the Obsidian are beginning to shift in your vision. At first there are strangers, thousands of forgotten souls.

34:16 And then with a almost like a flash of shadow, you recognize patterns in the glyphs. This isn't a grave marker, It's a it's a compass. The spire's angled tip doesn't just Pierce the sky, it points directly SE towards something buried beneath the dunes. The Vault of Forgotten Names. Excellent. We are on the right track my friends. This Spire is in fact a way pointer or way marker. I believe this Spire is pointing us directly at the vault. Perfect. OK, let's go, let's roll, let's go.

34:58 Perfect. All right, so we're not big. Enough to rein these two in, so we press on. All right, next we'll have Savara Romy the afternoon D100. Okey. Dokey 82. All right, so 82. So as you've been traveling now for a good amount of time, 6-7 hours, the sun is burning high in the harsh high and harsh above the the memory waste, but the light feels wrong. As you March across the cracked dunes, you notice something strange.

35:44 I need Mimi and Zebulon to give me a perception check. Oh good. Don't be a jerk, that would count. Explanation, my other guy said I just rolled. Just decided to, you know, land in a crack and land sideways, 3020. OK, so Mimi, you walking by can you? Describe to me what like where we like in the burn the dunes, right? Right. There's something miss. A miss, right? Correct. So what you notice is because Zeppy was walking, kind of almost leading the party at this point, What you notice kind of in the back leading, leading from behind is that Savara's shadow doesn't match her movement. When she kind of raises her axe to put it on her back after a while, the her shadows almost like a half second behind. When she breathes, it moves faster and faster. And then with a quick shudder, the shadow tears itself free from the sand.

37:00 And it's going to turn against you. And I need everybody to roll initiative. Oh boy. I didn't have a chance to be like Savara, get down or like to pounce onto the shadow. Not with the perception you rolled. You noticed it at the last minute. A dirty 20 got me at the last month. Yeah, The Dirty 20 got you noticed in before. It would have a surprise round on all of you. It's just going to have a surprise round on Savara. Oh. Oh, hi, Savara. Welcome back. I heard OK yay shadow demons they. Used to be like Savara.

37:45 I was just home. Literally. All right, So what did everybody roll on initiative? Oh, right. Roll the 10 + 3, so 13. 13 OK. Oh damn, you sound impressed but I'm worried. Oh, I was my role. I almost not twentied. I didn't, but almost. Nice. A 19 so 22. OK, maybe imagine. 9. 9 All right. Maybe they're supposed to be on your feet, girl. So again, what you've just seen is the shadow almost RIP itself apart from Savara, and he's going to get the surprise attack against Savara so I need.

38:46 Baxter, OH the dog. Oh yeah, I should probably take him out. He'll be there as soon as I get my turn though. So he is going to swing with his phantom axe which is going to be a dirty 20 to hit, which I know doesn't hit and pisses me off. Well, see, it does not no great. OK, so then it will be Savara's turn to start. Cool, I'm going to swing at him with my Warhammer. OK, go ahead and give me an attack roll.

39:32 So close. How about a 29 to attack? Oh, that hits. Yeah. And then I'll we'll go for 4 + 10 bludgeoning. OK. And that's just with the is that with a standard Warhammer? Yeah. No, it's with the plus one. OK. It is great. OK, so how? How much damage you gonna apologize? 10 and then I'll attack again. OK. In that one, I'll roll that that D100 for you right now. Yeah, let's go ahead and have you rolled that? 88. Oh gosh.

40:13 She was real caught off guard. And you rolled in, I'm sorry, in a what again? 8888. I haven't. I'll tell you what, let's have you do this. Just give me AD 12 instead. OK 8 Jesus. So when you go to hit this shadow, it makes this sound that just repeats in your in your head almost unnaturally. I need the Constitution saving throw please What? Of course you do. Is it against being? Oh no, never mind.

40:54 That's wisdom. You have the earplug things is that. Applicant, they're not in right now and that would be against auditory effects. So this this would be an auditory effect. Well I don't have the plugs in so 15. OK, so you you take you, you hit the shadow and the sound just kind of reverberates in your head, but you're able to just kind of shake it off and kind of, it kind of staggers you a little, but it doesn't cause you any sort of actual damage. As a bonus action, could I put my auditory or my my plugs in ear plugs in? What are they called?

41:42 Resonant plugs? Yeah, you can go ahead and do that. Cool, that would be my turn. So next is going to be Zebulon. All right, with my bonus action, I'm going to summon Baxter, my hound Deville Omen adjacent to the shade, and I think I'm just going to use a fire bolt and move away after doing that. So attack roll for a fire bolt. Yeah, go ahead. 18 + 9 so 27. 27 hit. Yeah, it hits. All right, 2D10, 14 damage, fire damage, and then yeah, I run as far away as possible.

42:29 Should be like 45 feet away, something like that. And you, you did 10 damage, right? 1414 even. Better. OK, All right. Next is going to be Baxter. Baxter charges the shade and attacks. Go again, boy. A dog. Are you rolling that or do you want me to roll that? Up to you. Do you want me to? You can. Roll yeah. All right, the attack roll is an 11 + 5 + 5 S 16 to hit all right so then you got to do ADC 13 strength saving throw to avoid prone unless it's not possible on this beast.

43:13 It's a shadow. Maybe it can't fall down and for damage we got 6 + 3 is 9 damage it? Rolled like 19 on the save. All right, it is not knocked over. And how much damage again? 9 damage piercing 9. Damage piercing. All right. We will then move to Mimi. All right. Oh, hang on one second it failed that same. So it's prone. You said it rolled in 19. It has disadvantage. Ah, OK all. Right. So prone, which means I have advantage. Correct. I think Baxter is going to be the MVP here. He helps advantage on saving throws or disadvantage on saving throws against my spells is crazy. Yeah, I'm surprised I can just throw that out at will. Oh, 16.

44:08 That hits. So I rolled the 12 all right. Does that mean I get to roll a? Feather No. So he will fall. When he falls he kind of hits the dune and he almost like shatters Savara. I need a Constitution saving throw please. Against auditory effects. No, this would be, yeah, this would be a physical effect. 9 He got blasted. A nine Yeah 9 Would you like to use an inspiration?

44:55 Is it advised? Would you like to use an inspiration? Yeah, we don't have. A fine. You wouldn't say it if it wasn't advised. Yeah, that ain't much better 13. So as this shadow kind of shatters to ash, the air feels really cold around you. Savara and my. Resistance to cold. So it it's not so much like a physical effect cold, it's more like a ghost kind of. Pass like a shivery, yeah. In this wave of emptiness kind of runs through your body as if something was torn away.

45:40 This is going to cost you a level of exhaustion. OK. And for the next, well, for the next hour, you might want to hold off on doing it. For the next hour, anytime you look at Mimi and Zebulon, you can't quite remember their face. It's almost like twisted and blurred each time you glance at them. My face can just do that, but I'm not right now, I swear. OK. The bar Are you good? Are you exactly kind? Of I'm a cat, remember?

46:22 It looks like. You could use a REST Oh. Boy, yeah, but. We've got somewhere to be. Come along please. OK. Hey, come on, I'll hold the hand Amy's gonna stick on her paw. Well, it still sounds like them though, right? Like I can still recognize their voice. Yeah, yeah. It's to to you this, it still sounds the same. It's not that you don't know them, it's that when you look at their face, it's like warped. They're. Yeah, it's like, think of it when that drink, it's like something like when you wet something or white write something in wet ink and you kind of scrape your hand across it. It's that kind of like, yeah, yeah.

47:02 Maybe still going to offer you a paw. I'll take it. I'll absolutely take a paw. So you'll continue traveling through majority of the afternoon into the evening. Send me on if you want to give me AD 100 all. Right 65. So as as as you venture into the evening, the airs grows still as the sun dips down below the horizon, painting the echo fields and almost an ash grey light and then kind of soft as a breath of of wind. You each hear almost a voice you know, and it's calling your name Zebulon for you.

47:50 It's it's the voice of someone you should know very well, but you can't quite place it. It's warm, pleading beckons you SE I'm sorry beckons you northeast, kind of away from the others. And the sound is kind of scratching at your chest, like a almost like 1/2 remembered song. I've been advised not to trust these weird feelings that this place can elicit, though I'm skeptical of this sound for sure. So for you, well, for everyone, you all hear almost a loved one's voice, and you feel almost compelled to follow Zebulon, your voice is kind of pulling you more northeast, Mimi yours is kind of pulling you almost southwest, and Savara yours is pointing straight north.

48:45 Would I have anything different because I never took the resonant plugs out? So what I'm going to need here is either a perception check or an inside check from each one of you. Savara, you're going to have advantage on that because it's an auditory effect. I got a 7, would one advise re rolling that with the sorcery point? I I would say a sorcery point would not be the worst to be spent here. All right, let's try once more 18. All right. And what kind of check was that? I guess perception they're both zeros.

49:27 OK. And 16 on perception. You did OK. And then Mimi, what did you roll? That's decent I guess. 15 AM I cooked? No, actually, I mean, so you all kind of. So we'll start with Zebulon. Zebulon. The voice is kind of climbing at your, at your chest, kind of tugging you towards the northeast, towards the ash dunes. It, it's so close, like someone you once knew, someone important. But then your eyes kind of narrow and the sound is too smooth and hollow. It carries no breath, no imperfection. And you stop like mid step, and the illusion stops and falters and for a heartbeat the voice kind of hisses with frustration and then cuts off like a like a flame that's been snuffed.

50:19 Savara. Your whisper crashes against your ears like a storm tide, a familiar cloud, a familiar call, someone shouting your name through Thunder and rain. And it surges inside you, almost dragging your feet to the north. But you plant your axe in the sand, kind of grounding yourself, and the storm fades. And for Mimi, your whisper is very warm and smoky, like a voice that's calling from like a hearth fire. It says, Mimi, come home. You, you, you left us in the flames. Your body moves before your mind catches up and your steps carrying you southwest away from your group.

51:07 It's hey. I'm still holding on to Savara. Pause. Not anymore. You guys all kind of get ripped apart. It takes a couple minutes before the voices of your, of your, of your fellow agents kind of pull you back into reality and the whisper fades, leaving only the smell of ash kind of clinging to your your clothes. From you. Mimi, I'm going to need a Wisdom saving throw. Boy, oh boy. I believe in you. You. Know what, Spencer? Take that wisdom, Chevrolet Bum Nat 20.

51:47 Wow, OK, damn. Nat 20s are coming in handy tonight. So yeah, the, the voice is kind of curling around you, but then you hear Savara go, Mimi, Mimi, Mimi. And you kind of crash back into reality and the voice kind of crackles and turns brittle. And you take a slow, deep breath and are able to resist this, this voice that seems so familiar to you. And you're able to reunite with your, your party. You are about 1000 feet away. You, you were pretty far away, but you were able to at the last minute resist the, the call.

52:36 So perfect. Great start to that. So at this point, after you all kind of you all kind of look at each other and you're like, did you? Did you? You. Yeah. Oh, you OK. It's like that start that Spider Man meme where everybody's pointing at each other. Yeah. And you're able to just kind of like connect with each other without really saying a word. It's just kind of that, excuse me, it the kind of that intuition that you all just experienced a similar same thing, but nothing needs to be said. Shared knowing.

53:19 Yes, you shared the knowing so the night it it's getting to be kind of night time at this point. The trail is starting to be get become less visible as you enter the twilight hours for the sun setting across the horizon, the. Twilight hours. The Twilight. Y'all, I'm definitely going to want a long rest. Think it's about that time. Trying to set. Up to I know you're. Tired. We need to find somewhere that's not. You are dripping. I don't think it's going to get any safer than this, personally. You mean?

54:02 I'm dripping. Soaked. Cat, you're just like, and I I like take my hand and just kind of like, like move my fingers and wiggle them and like move my hand down. I'm like in front, kind of like in front of your face. I'm like, drip it. Oh. Can I make a? Arcana check. You want to make an arcana check to to what? What the fuck is going on with my friend? Medicine. Hello. Anything. Yeah, you can give me. Yeah, go ahead and give me an inside check inside. OK, could have been worse 17.

54:45 You kind of go up to Savara and you kind of, you take like a giant sniff. That seems to be your thing when you're trying to invest in and to kind of find things. Yeah, that. That's kind of Fair, though I do sniff literally everything. And you kind of take a couple sniffs of safari and you go, are you good? And Savara's I, I assume you, Savara, you would tell her what you're experiencing. Oh yeah, yeah. Well, I kind of already was. I'm like, you're dripping. I'm like, I'm exhausted, literally. Tired. OK, let's find somewhere safe to rest. Please. Safe as in not in the sand? Safe as in high ground perception? We all look for a suitable place to camp. Yeah, yeah.

55:34 But together as one holding hands. Yeah, I mean, you can give me a a group perception. Disadvantage, folks. So Oh. Correct. Yeah. Oh my God. Dear God, I rolled A5 and a three so it wasn't going to go great for me regardless, but. I got that four. It's on you, Mimi. Oh no. No, no, no. You're the one that's concerned about finding a safe place. Anyway, I'm ready to hit the dirt whenever. Go for it. If you've got him to spend, go for it. Oh thank God guys, I rolled in that one. OK.

56:16 Look, I'm not. You're all slow, exhausted. You know what, Spencer? I got an 18, but due to the fact that this rolled in act one, it's going in jail. I now have no more net. I know have no more D 20s. OK. So yeah, I mean collectively as a group, you do find an area that appears to be the safest of the options from what you from what it appears. And that's where you'll. Make you should definitely take watch. So I'm going to long rest 1st and I'll I'll take the last watch because I think we need 3 to cover the night really and I'll still get long rest correct? I think my body can lie down and like crawling claw hand has blind sense within 30 feet.

57:08 Do we feel like that's enough safety? No. No. Not right now, all right? No, No. Savara. Yeah, Savara, go ahead and take an extra inspiration. Yeah. Hand you in my computer gum. All right, so who is going to be taking watch first? I got it. You got it, says Mimi. 2nd watch is going to be Zebulon. I lost my gum guys. I think so. OK. I've got dark vision out to 120 feet so I think I should be in the dead of night, OK.

57:53 All right, and the Savar, you'll be last. Yep. She needs to sleep. Yeah. More than any of us. I would assume then at that point at least then my exhaustion's gone as well, so it's probably a good idea to let me rest first. OK so Mimi I need AD 12 please. Good roll Mach 40. God, if that is the worst thing I could have possibly fucking rolled on the first roll, Spencer, I add. So as you are taking your first watch, kind of Sydney by the fire, the desert sky is hanging clear, full of stars. At first it seems calm and even, quite beautiful actually. But then as you sit alone, that the constellations begin to shift, slowly at 1st and then deliberately. They're scraping across the sky like symbols being redrawn on a parchment, and almost for a moment they seem to be aligning themselves in a specific way.

59:02 If you can give me either an arcana check or a religion check please. Out of all the people to make a religion change, OK religion or history? Correct. I'm sorry, religion or arcana? 11 and. That was an Arcana check, correct? SI have a + 1. OK, so as you're kind of looking up at these constellations, you know, they're they're twisting and sliding, scraping across one another. And for a moment you feel like they're kind of almost spelling something like a name or even perhaps ruins. But the pattern is fracturing way too quickly. The sky feels really heavy and oppressive. Then the stars kind of scatter back into place as if nothing happened and you're left with this. Frick, I should have used inspiration. I should have died.

59:57 And you're left with the sensation of something slipping away, like a word on the tip of your tongue. But other than that, nothing damaging. OK, can I just point this out of all the people that you asked to do an arcana slash religion check, it is? Mimi, hey, you. You rolled it. I have tables for everything, so All right, So you'll get through the four hours for your shift. You'll go to wake up Zebulon for his watch. Maybe it's going to curl on like Savara, like their lap, like a cat, like a house cat.

1:00:40 Just. And then goes back to sleep. Kitty OK. Yeah. Zebulon, if you like, give me AD 12. I got A7. I would also like to write in my Ledger as I'm like beginning to keep watch. OK, dear diary, why are we called the Scale Bounce Syndicate? I don't think I've ever met anybody in this whole organization with scales. I'm dead, I'm dead. OK, Zebulon, you get an inspiration for that sticker, please. Yep, that will. That will absolutely be a quote in tonight's session. That's awesome.

1:01:23 Holy cow. OK, so Zebulon, as you're taking your watch and having heavy an epiphany or something in your in your Ledger, the night is quiet, broken only by the sound of shifting sand. And then from the edge of camp, with your dark vision, you're able to see a shape that's approaching, not necessarily hostile, but actually familiar. You see a almost like a creature from your memory, a small, wiry alley cat. It's firm, modded or moddled grey, the same 1 you remember feeding scraps to as a child.

1:02:09 It pads silently into camp, sits just outside the fire light, and stares at you with glowing eyes. Is this before or after I would have restored spell slots before? We will say before correct. All right, with a subtle spell, I would like to cast charm monster on this thing and I would like to ask it, who are you? Why are you here? So I think that's ADC 17 Wisdom saving throne DC. 17 Nope. SO.

1:02:50 It's not charmed. It is not. All right. I still pose the question though. Yeah, so the the creatures appears to you almost more as like a phantom. The phantom's glowing eyes kind of soften and it pads itself closer into camp, brushing against your hand like it did when you were child and you asked the question. Who are you and why are you here? And it kind of looks up at you and just goes and after a few minutes of it just kind of you just kind of scratchy it Mao Mao, it kind of just disappears. Very curious.

1:03:34 Except after it disappears, the memory of this cat from your childhood now feels almost warm again, like it carries real weight to it. Interesting. Perfect. For the time being. I don't sense any danger, so I think I keep that to myself. OK, so you'll finish out the rest of your watch with really no issues whatsoever, just kind of sitting by the the fire light, just kind of scribbling in your Ledger having some sort of existential crisis and. I still want to know why we're called the Scale Bone Syndicate. I'm waiting for a response from headquarters. We'll see.

1:04:18 So you finish out the rest of your shift and then head over to Savara, who looks much better. Good morning. Morning. Hey, you're not melting anymore, thank goodness. Glad to hear it, I. Mean just going in the background. I'm going to like really gently pick you up and like move you over, although you're probably decently heavy. So it's more of like a like I'm strong, but. Give me a strength. Check. Oh, but she's on my lap. OK, here we go. I'm being gentle. How about at 11?

1:05:03 Yeah, You're able to kind of like, even though she's, you know, a larger creature, being a Lyonan, you're able to kind of like being a barbarian, you're kind of just able to, or not a barbarian, a fighter. You're able to just kind of lift her head, kind of scooch out from underneath her and just kind of slowly set it back down on the ground. Cool, and as I do too, I'll just like give her a little pat pat and go. Good Kitty. Aw. I feel I should mention I might have met a spirit in the night. It seemed friendly though. Regardless, keep your wits about you. Huh. OK, Good night.

1:05:48 Good night. Good night. Oh, no. All right, Savara, if you want to give me AD 12 roll, please. Mm hmm 2. During your watch, the desert night is slowly starting to glow just a little bit. The night is still when that pale glow is drifting across the dunes, but light slowly coming in. At first you see what appears to be a Firefly, almost, and then a Lantern, small, cracked. It's floating a few feet above the ground, kind of drifting lazily past camp as if carried by an unseen hand.

1:06:34 And it's flame is flickering silvery blue, whispering faintly in a language you have no comprehension on. Oh goody, how close would I have to get to do some sort of like Arcana? You can do it from where you're sitting. Thank God. OK, I am rolling real well you guys. A9. So as you kind of slowly approach this Lantern again, it's lazily floating by. You kind of almost reach out to steady the Lantern. It's cracked glasses slowly and faintly right above your hand, and then, for just a heartbeat almost, the silver blue flame steadies and then begins to flicker violently.

1:07:28 And. With a with a sharp crack, well enter kind of disintegrates into ash and embers and kind of scatters in the wind and leaving only silence. We need to roll. Better. I'll get rid of that. Yeah, right. But nothing happened. Which way was it headed? It was headed to the northwest, kind of where you were coming from. OK, well, I guess if nothing else happened and there's nothing there, I'll just continue watching, OK? But awfully.

1:08:11 OK, there he goes. Yeah, So you'll you'll complete the rest of your shift. And then at this point, the sun is starting to rise, kind of bringing about the daylight again, in which Mimi and Zebulon will naturally wake themselves up. For a wasteland that twists reality, sure is easy to sleep out here. Yeah, uh huh. Hey, you guys didn't see a like a Lantern float by and then explode, did you? You said something about a spirit.

1:08:52 I saw something in the stars, but I couldn't really read because obviously I I don't I don't truly align with any deity yet or any sort of thing. My spirit was more like a cat, but I'm fairly convinced it was something else. Like I said though, it didn't seem hostile, which is strange, but welcome. Do I see any paw prints from like a smaller cat anywhere? Give me a perception. Give me an investigation check. Actually, you're kind of actively looking. I'm also a cat. I'll give you advantage on the role because you're a cat. Yes, Vantage, that is a 3020. Is it 3020?

1:09:40 OK, so perfect. OK, so what's a, what's a 3020? You don't sense you you, you don't for what it appears to be, don't see any prints in the in the sand itself, which kind of solidifies that it was to you. You know, you because you absolutely do believe Zebulon. He's got no reason to lie. He it basically kind of solidifies your belief that it was some sort of harmless creature, almost kind of like a spirit, but not like a pissed off spirit. PMO It means pissing me off, by the way.

1:10:23 Yeah. Seems like a good thing to me. So as as you all kind of get ready to pack up camp and you've packed up camp, I'll let you guys choose. There's one more role that we'll need for the morning encounter and then that will be it for those. So I guess whoever wants to give me the the D12? I got it. Oh hell yeah. Sarah Grant Vice Say it with me, everybody get less the die. Bless the die. Bless the die. Bless. The die.

1:11:06 I literally hold on. OK, wait till you see. With a 7, as you are traveling again, the rising sun is catching catches on something sharp and glittering. Ahead, kind of half buried in the ash, is a strange flower of crystal. It's pedals are translucent and edged like blades of glass. It seems almost impossibly delicate, yet pulses faintly with inner light, like a heartbeat trapped in a stone. I don't. Know if it could be used as a weapon. Whoa, whoa, slow down. Slow down, slow. Don't touch it. Don't touch.

1:11:48 It but. Don't, no. Can I do an Arcana check to see if I get any insight about the nature of this? I'm doing a nature check. OK, let's see here. Mimi, you can give me a nature check. Zebulon, you can give me an arcana check. And we'll start with Mimi. And I do like an invest of vestification to see if it can be used as a weapon. Sure, but give it to me a disadvantage because you know nothing about this this flower. That's OK. So we'll. Start with Mimi. I got a 19. 19 You you know that this flower is, of course, not necessarily nefarious.

1:12:30 It's not necessarily nefarious to you, Zebulon. You were Larkana. Yes, I rolled 18 -, 1 to 17. I'm sorry, Mimi, what'd you say? You said it's not nefarious. That's all I get. Correct. It's not like it's not like a fairy or something, like it's not like some kind of like warding in the nature, like it's just a flower. Yeah, I mean, to you again, you've never seen something of this so, but you can sense with a nature check that it's not giving off bad vibes, for lack of a better term. Zebulon with a what you said, 17, Arcana 17. This is a memory blossom.

1:13:14 That's natural growth where forgotten names can crystallize themselves. It basically can anchor a truth. Interesting. Savant do I? Have some way to interact with or activate this? Real quick, let's grab Savara's role in estimate 9. It's a flower. Does it look? Weapon like. It's, it's, no, it's not necessarily a a weapon, a weapon looking like it's just to you, a flower that's in the sand. Damn. Yeah, All right. Well, I didn't know. I mean, like, maybe I could just like, throw it at somebody and oh, Ouch. Sounds like you've gathered that it would not work that way. It's.

1:13:59 Too delicate? Zebulon, you're staring at it really hard. What do you see? It seems like this might be a memory related plant and I'm trying to see if I can activate it somehow. OK. Do you touch the ground? I do touch it. Oh my. God in an attempt to evoke magic from it. OK, so I need a dexterity check. Oh boy. All right, Dexterity saving throw. Nope, just a normal check. OK, four. I should perhaps re roll that with a sorcery point it.

1:14:39 Doesn't feel. Like certainly try. All right, we'll try again. Roll #2 is A5 marginally better? Oh, it's +3 for Dexterity so. 8, so an 8, OK. So with an 8, you kind of reach that carefully for the crystalline, the crystalline petals, but the bloom kind of quivers at your touch. And with a sharp resonant crack, the shower, the shower, the flower just kind of shatters in your hand and shards of glass kind of slice your fingers as a as the blossom dissolves into glittering dust.

1:15:22 I'll just roll this here for you. You'll take 1D four of slashing damage, which will be 3 damage. See, it could have been used as a weapon. No. No, yeah. I couldn't even touch it. How are you going to throw it? I could have picked it up with a bag or something. Yes, that could have been really important. It could have been. Yeah, it could have been used as a weapon. No, if you would have viewed it mortal, I don't know. Not touched it first, maybe I don't know, collect more information about it. But no, we always got to touch it. Well, hell yeah. I mean, you always touch the shit that's shiny. So as as this glass kind of shatters and Zebulon just kind of turns around, he's got like a bloody hand. Come here, let me wrap you.

1:16:17 Right. Can I do a medicine? Don't want to weigh my shot. Oh, sorry, wrong rap. OK. Ow, so you'll do a medicine check, correct? I will. OK, go ahead and roll the medicine check. Let's hope I roll well. I don't have a posterior 16. Yeah, you're able to successfully bandage him up. You've got a little bit of old modern time peroxide, whatever they would call it, some sort of cool, some sort of liquid that has been sold to. You OK? Mimi spits in her hand. And swaps it. It's more of. Rapture I, I've, I've got experience from that prior battles and things like I know how to quickly bandage up things.

1:17:03 Give him give him the old Haktu one spit on that hand. So oh God. So you're able to heal for two for two damage. She does a very good job all right, and it stops it pretty quick. Thank you. I owe you 1, no. Problem. Let me know the next time you want to be invisible, It's on me. Oh, all right, take it easy. Amy's going to start boogying. You're going to start boogying. Yeah, so. Down the. Path so Savara and Zebian will continue down the path nonchalant and maybe behind you is kind of doing like that. You ever seen that episode of SpongeBob where he's walking and he's got like really long legs, just kind of going around in a circle, kind of walking that way. And Mimi's going, She's boogieing her way down. But by midday, the shifting dunes kind of grow still and and the wind dies down.

1:18:01 The echo fields almost feel like they're holding its breath. And ahead of you, a fissure yawns in the basalt, a dark wound in the earth. Obsidian stone is jutting like broken teeth out of the sand, edged with thousands upon thousands of names, but most of them seem to be almost scratched away, only leaving faint scars. And as you draw near the the, the air thickens into like walking in soup. And it's it's almost as heavy as if your own memories were pressing down on you. From the crack, it drifts.

1:18:42 From the crack. Let's try that again. From the crack, it drifts. A low harmonic hum, like 1000 voices are whispering in unison. You realize kind of with a chill, that the sound is familiar to you. I need everybody to make me a Wisdom saving throw. You're shit. Against being feared or charmed. This roll is going to be a. It is not going to be an auditory sound. It's not going to be for any condition per SE. Wisdom saving girl. 18 I got to have these dice mounted or something.

1:19:24 They're rolling. 15. What'd you roll me? Me. 17. 17 OK, so with all of you rowing 18/15/17. As you step towards this fissure, the air thickens even more, like invisible hands are pressing on your chest and the hum of the vault is growing sharper to you, splintering into whispers that claw at your own thoughts. And you hear your own names echo back to you, but wrong, as if the stone is rehearsing. How to say them. And for just a heartbeat, you feel yourselves slip, as if the waists are about to peel back. What makes you you, Zebulon?

1:20:13 The stone hisses your name and then stumbles, whispering Zebulon. None, but you dig in, forcing the fissure to remember correctly. For now, your shape holds firm and your shadow is tethered. Savara. The hum twists into storm winds, Thunder rolling your name like a a war cry. You feel the storm pulling at the rage inside you, threatening to scatter it, almost like ash, and you grit your teeth, planting your axe into the sand. Hold steady, Mimi. The voice that comes to you from the stone isn't your name at all. It's the word ash, and for a moment you almost answer, but then you exhale, letting the falsehood pass and hold your silence.

1:21:03 The whisper then falters and fades, and then together you push past the fish's pressure. You push past the fish's pressure. The names on the wall are still rife and shift, but they can't claim you yet. And with that, we're going to take a quick break here at Crit Hammond. Say hi to our sponsors. We'll be right back. More Crit happens in just a moment. Level up your hangout at the Benevolent Badger. Stop in and say hi to Jordan, Mel, and the rest of the Benevolent Badger crew. Open board games every day, plus Dungeons and Dragons sessions available to sign up online for Tuesday, Wednesday and Saturdays. On the first Monday of every month, the board game tournament, bragging rights on the line and a new champion may be crowned.

1:21:48 Fuel the fun with wraps, pizza and other cafe favorites. Open Monday through Thursday 9:00 AM to 10:00 PM and Friday and Saturdays 9:00 AM to 11:00 PM. The Benevolent Badger, where the best games are played with good food and even better coffee. You can find them at 1699 Schofield Ave. Ste. 200 in Schofield, WI or online at Benevolent badger.com. Benevolent Badger proud sponsors of Crit Happens. Welcome back to Crit Happens here on Spotify, iTunes, player.fmpoddirectory.com, stickyour.com, TuneIn Radio and iheartradio.com. All right, we left our gang before the break, just about to enter the vault chamber, so I assume that you will all head down. Yeah, I'll lead because I assume I have the highest AC. Squishiest in the middle.

1:22:41 Squishiest. That would be you that. Is me. I'm protected. Yes, you're protected by two big strong women. Yes. Hell yeah, no. Complaints. No complaints. All right, so the spiral descent to the vault narrows. The air is colder with each single step. Your reflections twitch in the Obsidian walls, lagging behind or marching ahead as though they're no longer yours. Then the tunnel opens. You stand in a vast hollow Chamber of black glass and basalt. The walls are carved with thousands of indentations, each one a name. Now again, most are scraped away or scratched, leaving raw wounds in the stone.

1:23:28 Only a few flicker faintly, like coals refusing to die. The sound here is not silence. It's 1000 whispers, gasping or pleading for someone to remember them. At the far end, a colossal door looms, its surface etched with fractured runes. They writhe as you look, shifting towards words you almost recognize. Memories, promises, confessions waiting to be almost spoken aloud. The air hums with resonance, as if the door itself is listening to you. However, you are not alone. Rising from the stone before the door is a towering figure clad in jagged Obsidian plate.

1:24:14 It's helmet hollow, faceless, yet you can feel it's gaze staring daggers at you. A rounded drift Wraith echoed of forgotten souls. The figures voice scrapes like glass across stone. None shall pass who cannot pay the price. Give the vault your truth or be unmade and without. I need everybody to roll initiative. With this. Smash. 19 + 3 I think. Oh yeah. So 22 I might be going first. Are you going to be using Baxter right away? I think so.

1:24:59 OK. I'm just going to leave him in the in the initiative. So I'm sorry, one more time you rolled a 17. I rolled a 19 + 3 is 22. Oh, even worse. I don't know what the hell I heard. OK, Mimi, you rolled. I rolled a 15. OK, Savara. 6. Great. We're going places. I'm here. All right. So what you see in front of you, I need everybody quickly to give me an insight check. 19. OK.

1:25:42 I'll take that. I got a nine that. Is a 18. OK so Mimi and excuse me Mimi and Kazda shit. Mimi and Savara. What you see is something you've only heard about in legends and lore and you know this to be an Echo warden. OK feeds off of memory and doesn't hesitate to punish or deceive. And with that, Zebulon, you are up. All right, how many of these shadows or rates are there around them?

1:26:26 There is one Wraith kind of floating in the air, but it is not hostile towards you. Oh OK, so it's just the 11 baddie right at the moment. One baddie. All right, well, I'm going to open up by summoning my Hound of Ill omen targeting the big guy. Zebulon. Yes. That's an echo warden. What's that? Basically he is First off defending his post. It's very good at it. Second off, they demand payment of entry of men, and they will not hesitate to punish those who do not wish to pay.

1:27:07 Interesting, but it's already attacking us. We didn't say we wouldn't pay, did we? Is. It is it attacking us? Yes. Fuck. OK, nevermind. Get it? Let's see, this isn't really a person, is it? It's a whole person. Probably wouldn't work. It's a spirit. Yeah, you would know this to effectively be a mutated Wraith. Almost. I think I'm just going to use a ray of frost at it and retreat. So spell attack and so on. Oh no.

1:27:48 Can I re roll ones? I don't think I can. Nope. No, sorry, pal. All right. I'm going to need AD 12 please. All right, 5. So as you go to summon the power and blast this echo warden with a ray of frost, you weave the frost in your hand, syllable sharp and sure, but as the words leave your lips they fracture and the vault steals it mid breath and swallows the incantation hole. The ice evaporates into thin air, leaving your fingers almost numb and your voice caught in your throat, and for a moment it feels like you've forgotten how to speak.

1:28:33 So until the end of your next turn, you cannot use any spells with verbal components. Oh. All right, I believe that's my turn. I've fled as far away as possible in one turn. So as you go to flee, you realize that the the entrance way that you came in has disappeared. The only door in this chamber is the vault door that is currently locked. So. Oh. Boy, well, I. Don't get how far. Away can I get from the monster then? 20 feet away from where you are now, I'd say that we make it about 50 feet. OK, that's about where I want to be. OK. All right, I'm.

1:29:14 Against the wall now. Yeah, pretty much, yeah. So I mean nothing can sneak it from behind you. I guess we'll say so. Then we will move to Baxter's turn, the good old boy. Get him Baxter. Get him Baxter. All he can do is charge straight at an enemy and attack, so that is what he does. Let's see, that's an attack roll with +5. Bro, did you really? Baxter all the one. Oh boy. Oh. My God. Oh, Baxter. Again, I'll need AD 12, my friend. All right. What hi Jinx, does Baxter get into today with a four? I was rolling way too good at the start of this. Yeah, you burned all your rolls.

1:29:57 So as Baxter, the good old boy goes to melee attack this this this Echo Warden. The Hound lunges with snapping jaws, but its momentum almost betrays it. It tears into the air with reckless, furious claws, skittering against the black glass floor, and the sound reverberates unnaturally, a screeching echo that makes even the vaults runes flicker. The beast lands awkwardly, kind of side heaving. Its eyes are wild, leaving it completely exposed, so all attacks made to the Hound this round are going to be considered reckless, so they'll have advantage on the Hound. He tried.

1:30:41 He tried. He was a good old boy. All right. Next is Mimi. We try to communicate with it. Or is it just? You can, certainly. Try. Can I try to recall what the star said that help at all? Like do the stars line up with the sigil on the door? So because you did not succeed that throw, you would not know unfortunately, yeah, that that kind of looking back, you wouldn't need to succeed that role. Would it give you a little bit advantage in this way? So Mimi is going to enter a rage as she's entering a rage and going to swing down onto the night.

1:31:26 The front, like the memory at the front of her mind is when she was younger and it was the first time she had ever eaten something that was not not kind like the first time she'd ever like helped somebody passion or like her little sibling, her little sibling Everett. She helped with his burn marks on Express and helped appointment on them and she's going to swing with the head, the front, front. All right, give me an attack roll. That is a 25. OK, so a 25 absolutely hits, so go ahead and roll damage. 11 points.

1:32:15 OK, so maybe you kind of let the rage boil over and hurl yourself. Almost at this echo Warden acts flashing in the vaults pale light. The blow bites deep into the Obsidian plate of the warden, sending cracks racing across its armor. The Warden kind of staggers, but doesn't fall, and in that instance a memory again claws its way into your mind. You see yourself younger, gaunt with hunger, and for the first time you ate. Not out of kindness, but survival. And yet you shared helping another who needed it more. The vault listened. The ruins on the door flicker and shift as though they're hungry for that truth. So what was the damage again?

1:33:03 1111 points. OK. OK, can I swing again? Yeah, go ahead. All right, guys, I am about to tell you some. The. Tragic information about Mimi as I'm about to swing right. You want the truth? Let's get dirty. That is a dirty 20 to hit and. Is a dirty 20. As she swings to hit, she sees the ringleader at was never kind enough to Everett, and she sees like her own hands holding onto an arm of a human as she's biting into it and tearing away at the flesh.

1:33:44 Okay, give me another. So you roll a dirty 20 that hits so your axe just like whistles through the air, the words leaving your lips like a challenge. You say you want the truth, let's get dirty. The blade connects with a sharp crack, tearing another gash into the Warden subsidian armor. But this strike is different. In it's echo you see the ringleader who tormented you throughout your youth, almost sneering and cruel. Your younger self hands, your younger selves hands clutch his arm, ripping the flesh from the bone. Not from survival, not kindness, but just raw ugly hate, hunger and the vault shutters in approval.

1:34:29 The ruins across the great door blaze one line, fully illuminated the first time. Sorry guys, maybe he's really traumatized. Anything else? Like that could work to our advantage here. Do you want the damage on that? Oh, yeah, Yeah. What's the damage? 13, All right. Anything else from you? No. All right, it will now be the Echo Warden's turn. What he will do is he is going to, just for a moment, blink out of existence and he's going to reappear right in front of Zebulon. Am I able to try to counter spell that or no spell? Or did it just happen all?

1:35:17 Right. So it's looking outside the box. It's one of his legendary actions. What spell level would you consider that? I'd consider the second level spell. It's like mystery. Yeah, misty stuff. So yeah, I'll say that as he goes to kind of disappear, almost as if he's going to reappear somewhere else. Zebulon, you see this and then you like, hold your hand out and as the the arcane just kind of leaves your hand, it kind of traps him right where he was and kind of flickers back into existence. He'll kind of snarl at that because he was expected to be. I could.

1:36:00 Speak. I would laugh when I'm silenced. Luckily a counterspell has no verbal components. True. That is correct. So then with that he will make an attack at Mimi. He will hit you with his great blade. That will what happened? He rolled A1, so he when he goes to attack you, Mimi, the Echo Warden kind of raises its massive Obsidian great blade, it's glass shards scattering as it brings the weapon down in a deadly arc towards Mimi. But the vault itself almost resists.

1:36:42 The runes flare as almost as as it's like rejecting his swing. The blade slams into the the stone floor, sending a shockwave through the chamber. The harsh crack kind of echoes as the Warden's gauntlet trembles, it's grip faltering. The great blade grinds against the ground, it's movement suddenly sluggish, and for a moment the towering Sentinel falters, the vault almost demanding payment from him as much as from you. So with that, he will take a second attack at Savara. I'm sorry, not Savara.

1:37:22 He will take a second attack at Mimi because you're standing within the melee range, but that attack will be at. Baxter has disadvantage, for whatever that's worth. That disadvantage Forgot about the dog. I already declared Mimi, so the dog's going to get off easy, all right? He rolled an 18 to hit Mimi. That hits. Me. So as he's kind of falters from his first swing, he composes himself and almost with a guttural scrape of stone, the warden wrenches its great plate free and brings it down again, this time striking Mimi not with hesitation but almost grim inevitability. The the Obsidian blade carves against Mimi's side, not cutting flesh but almost ripping into her very essence. The pain flares white hot, not in the body, but almost in the soul itself.

1:38:15 Mimi, you will take 21 psychic damage. Ouch. And I need an intelligence saving throw. Oh God. Rage doesn't do anything against psychic damage, does it? No, it's only physical damage I believe. Dang. That's freaking rough, you said what? Save Intelligence 16. OK, so as the Echo Warden strikes and kind of cuts almost into your soul for a moment, the blade psychic weight drags at you, threatening to pull something vital away, A memory, a skill, a piece of who you are. You almost feel the vault trying to RIP into your mind, but you grit your teeth, blood mixing with the roar of rage, and the pole breaks, and you force the Warden's power back, and the ruins on the vault door flicker in frustration, as though disappointed not to have claimed a piece of you. So with that, that will be the end of his turn. Savara, it is your turn.

1:39:21 Oh goody, so when Mimi was making the declarations of her like truths, I would have heard that right. Mimi, did you say those out loud? The door. Truths. Yeah, you were like same memories and whatnot like I. Thought you were just. Thinking them, focusing on if I'm correct, she was just thinking. Focusing, I mean, she yelled. You want to get dirty? You want the truth? Let's get dirty. Yeah, she. Yelled that out, yeah, but I don't yeah, she wouldn't have she. Didn't say other things about. OK well then I'm just going to go in and attack with my whore hammer.

1:40:03 Dirty 20. Is a dirty. Twenty. Yeah, that hits. And I'm going to imbue this one with colds, so I'm going to use Frost Strike, make a con saving throw. DC17-O. That's nice bass damage. He will fail the role. That's the first time ever by the way. His feet speed is now reduced to 0 until the start of my next turn he takes 6 or excuse me 4 cold damage and then 13 bludgeoning with my it is a magical weapon. And then I'll go in for my second attack. I'll be a 23 to hit and why not?

1:40:57 I will use a superiority die and I'm going to do a menacing attack. That's it. So what did? That do again. It is I I expend an A superiority die which is D10, and add the total to the damage role, and the target must make a Wisdom saving throw DC-17 on failure. It's frightened of me until the end of its turn, which isn't overly helpful since, well, it's frightened of me, but it can't move. That's correct. So it's just scared shitless but I'm still adding the extra damage. OK.

1:41:41 Just these two. Oh that is a Max on the D 8. So we got what is that 14 and then a niner 23 bludgeoning damage. Roll again because of exploding dice. And that's just the that would just be the hit die of. Nope, you the. Warhammer, yeah, or? You yeah you roll whichever 1 maxed out, you roll it again. So if it was just Adm for the Warhammer then roll it again it was you could add the. Modifier another 5, so that was 23, and then another 528 bludgeoning. So 28 bludgeoning in cold or 28 bludgeoning in there too. Yep, and that'll be what I do this trip. OK.

1:42:32 So as you go to just bring your warhammer down, it slams into the Warden's plated chest with a deafening crack, frost racing across its Obsidian armor, seizing its legs and jagged ice. The towering Sentinel lurches, and then he's locked in place, almost frozen where he stands. The vault door hums in approval, ruins flickering as this is savouring the sound of shattering stone. So 28 damage there and then 17 there. So in total 45 damage to the echo warning. Good job order.

1:43:14 Jesus, that was that was a huge swing. You get some paths with the whetstone later. Yep, yes, All right. Next is going to be top of the round in which at the end of Savara's turn, he goes. He goes to lurch forward and they almost, they're just pissed that they can't move. So he will look directly at you. Savara, I need a Wisdom saving throw. Just to make sure, against fear or charmed? No, but I will give you advantage on the save because it is an auditory effect. OK, 9. 9.

1:43:58 I'm going to take a wild guess and say that I rolled an 8 and a nine, good Sir. Do you have any inspiration left? I believe you do I. Do I do all right? I'll use one of my inspiration. Oh, I dropped the die 18. I will take that. I have no plus so it's just straight 18. OK so I mean with an 18 the Echo Warden will unleash almost a psychic wave of erased names at you. Savara. He his helm kind of tilts towards you and the vault vibrates with a low hiss, thousands of names rushing through your ears like a storm.

1:44:42 Ashmere. Garvez has day, and Roger. The whisper claws at your mind, trying to strip your name away, but you plant your feet kind of gripping your warhammer tight, and the storm of voices breaks against your will, and you hear your name echo once clear and true, and the vault falls silent around you. So with that, we will get the top of round. That will be Zebulon. You're up. All righty, I get the sense that not channelling one of my treasured memories is why I rolled so poorly last time. I'm going to think of that warm cat that visited me in the night, and as I channel that memory, I fire a fire bolt. So spell attack roll.

1:45:26 Oh, Nat 20. Wow, the cat is so double the attack dice. No, give me D12. D12 That's the Pentagon ones. I got a 2, got a. Two, huh? All right, so with a 2, so with A2, your fire bolt, you just kind of roll your hands around because you do not have any verbal components, and you just kind of blast your hand and the fire bolt sears to the chamber like a comet, smashing into the Echo Warden's Obsidian armor with an explosion of molten shards.

1:46:08 Cracks race across his chest, glowing red hot. And the magic doesn't stop there. The vault itself almost resonates with the with the blast catching and reflecting the spell right back into your hands. Your fingers kind of burn with living fire, begging to release, to be released again. I need. What is your Max damage for that? It would be two D 10, so 20. OK. And then go ahead and roll a second attack with Fire Bolt. Sweet. All right, noting the silenced portion, I would have to cost 1 sorcery point to do a subtle spell. Second attack is another 20 brother.

1:46:50 He's dice. Give me AD 12 all. Right 12 a second time is A1. OK so with this second blast of fire bolt, the second bolt of flame just erupts from your hand like a living inferno. The vault flares with you, amplifying your strike even more, and the fire tunnels through the warden subsidy and plating as though if it were just parchment. The black glass melts, glowing orange from within, and for the first time the Sentinel staggers it's faceless helm kind of snapping towards you as if a as if it were recognizing a true threat.

1:47:36 OK so I need Max double damage and then to roll damage one more time so it would be 40 damage there and I need 2D10 once more. 6th for the 2D10A1 and A5. OK, so 46 damage in total. Yeah, this the Warden just kind of like starts to stagger a bit and he's trying to relieve himself off of the fire that it's just coursing through his skin, just kind of searing it down below where the the armor was. So with that, it's the good boy's turn. He attacks, he attacks, he has no other options.

1:48:20 He rolled a 5 + 5 would be 10. OK, so the hound, kind of sensing the momentum swing, just lunges at the at the warden, jaws wide, fangs dripping with black fire. But the Echo Wardens Obsidian gauntlet kind of jerks up just in time, catching the beast by the throat, and with a sharp twist he hurls the hound aside. The creature skids across the black glass floor, claws screeching, sparking. The Warden doesn't even flinch with with the hound, it's faceless helm fixed directly on Zebulon, as if to acknowledge who the true master is. And Zebulon, I need a Wisdom saving throw please. I think I've got a 0 on that, so 16. So with the 16.

1:49:19 So again he is locked onto you Zeb, and for the first time you're sensing almost fear in him. The Warden's helm is just fixated on you, and the vault vibrates with 1000 voices. They hiss names in your ear, names that you know, names you've stolen, names you've forgotten. And for a split second they clawed your mind, demanding you surrender you'll demanding they surrender yours. But you hold firm. Your forearm kind of flickers in the vault glass walls, almost as if you're unraveling, before snapping back together in the Whispers Creek oil, frustrated, leaving only silence.

1:50:03 And with that, we will move to Mimi's turn. Pounce on this thing. Pounce away 12 Yes, it failed. Would you like to use one of your inspiration dice? No OK, I'm holding on to that for dire need. 26 is my second attack. OK, so with the first attack you barrel towards the the Echo Warden, almost leaping like a predator, her axe raised high and she slams into the You slam into the Warden's massive frame and the sound kind of echoing like Thunder through the chamber. The blade scrapes across the Obsidian armor, but fails to bite any deeper just to elicit sparks.

1:50:50 Still, the vault reacts. The runes flare faintly, not for the strike, but for the fury behind it. The chamber demands more than flesh. It wants. What the Fury is rooted by are. You ready for this amazing flavoring I'm about to pull out of my butt? All right, so I've been, this has been cooking in my brain for a while. So as you guys may have known, maybe did in fact eat a rat last episode, last time she was president. Do we mean slowly in touch with that side of herself that is still, you know, walking onto legs, conforming to like societal norms? And what is it normal for? Like still an actor, still a performer.

1:51:32 But deep down inside, we are all animals. They're all driven by need to protect. You need to provide, need to kill, basically. But that's oh, you slay that assignment or, you know, sorry, I know that's like really random audio listeners. Sorry, I'm sorry. I don't know if you're going to keep this in here, but yeah, so we're just going to throw down the axe it all for us and just freaking hammer this thing. Yeah, So jump on like if you've seen, if you've seen, Oh, heard a sorry, a pride of lions takedown a giraffe.

1:52:15 That's basically what she's doing. OK, so your. First swing kind of glances off, but the rage just carries through you. You roar, eyes narrowing, and the world's just kind of falls away. You're no longer in a chamber, you're no longer in stone. No longer are your allies or enemies. They're just prey, the need to kill and RIP and provide to survive. And you lunge forward and you're biting, correct? Yes, and you bite with as much strength as you have, smashing into the Warden's armor with primal fury, cracking the Obsidian armor shards to spray across the room.

1:52:58 And the vault door thrums in response, not just at the strike, but the memory behind it. The rooms flare with the seer of a single idea, the Beast Within, and so go ahead and roll damage on your attack for the 26th. So the bite is only like AD 4, but I'm going to workshop that and I'll get back to you. That's pretty decent. It's eight points damage. All right, so with eight points of damage, with the bite, there we go. All right, so the Warden kind of reels it's armor again, cracking wider, and the vault door hums like a living heartbeat, wounds blazing in rapid rhythm, and you can feel it.

1:53:46 One more offering, one more truth, and the door may open. And with that, it is the IT is the Echo Warden's turn. So he will, he will look right at Mimi and just let out this guttural scream. But it's not an audible scream. It's almost telepathic. And the only person that can hear it is Mimi. Mimi and you can make me an Intelligence saving throw, please. Intelligence interior crocodile. I drive a Chevrolet, all that shit. 12 OK, that is. Well, so as the scream kind of internally just starts to resonate in your brain, the roar inside you, in the fire that always carries you forward, just in an instant just vanishes and your rage is gone.

1:54:55 Not suppressed, but forgotten. You remember the word and the feeling, but you can't reach it any longer. It's as if the vault has stolen the beast from your blood and the Warden tilts its helm towards you and almost in like a silent mockery. And with that, he is going to then turn towards Baxter and he will make an attack there and that will be an 18 towards Baxter. I believe that hits correct Zeb. Yeah, his AC is 14. OK, what's the let's see here? 37 + 4 health.

1:55:39 So it will be 15 health towards Baxter and that will be the end of his turn and then we will go to Savara. Well, I'm away. Come again? OK, here we go, friends. That one of 14. That will miss. I'll try again 22. OK, go ahead and. Roll damage. Cool. Do I do frost or menacing? He's just going with menacing. He's. Just standing there menacingly. I'm gonna menace.

1:56:24 OK. How we go and. What's the safety C on that? 17 for a Wisdom saving throw. He will succeed the throw. So he's not frightened, but he still takes, well, 20 bludgeoning damage. OK. All right, so the first hammer swing kind of glances off the Wardens cracked armor, sending sparks and frost scattering from your previous attack. But it fails to dig into his armor, and the Warden doesn't even flinch, its massive frame unmoved. However, you tighten your grip, adjust your stance, and swing again, this time with brutal precision. The hammer slams into the Warden's ribs, cracking the Obsidian plate and sending fragments scattering across the floor. The wounds flare in response, savouring the impact. The Warden staggers, half a step frozen but still standing. And was that anything else?

1:57:21 No, OK, I'll call it. All right from there. So I need, let's see here, Savara, the Warden is going to look at you, and I need you to make me a Charisma saving throw, please. 15. So with a 15, he, he kind of turns again towards you, just very upset that you, you're now cracking this arm to the point where it's almost useless. And he looks directly at you, Savara, and the vault door flares, ruins blazing with your name. And then, with a sound of shattering glass, it breaks your name into fragments and screams them back at you.

1:58:08 SA VA RA I yearn will. And pain just explodes in your skull, as if pieces of yourself are being torn apart and the sound of your own name doesn't feel right. And you look back up at the Warden and you're almost dazed. And I need you to lose proficiency in one of your skills. Let's go with Animal Handling right now. OK, so yeah, you will lose proficiency in Animal Handling and it is now Zebulon's turn. All right, how roughed up does this suit of armor look? Do I think it's on its last legs? Give me a quick perception check.

1:58:49 All right, 10. He he doesn't look great, he's his armor is shattered beyond belief. It at this point would be like throwing a missile through a piece of tinfoil. The armor is not in on its best legs. All right, in that case, channeling the memory of my lost feline, I cast Magic missile. I do not want miss. Smart. All right, go ahead and give me damage. That should be 31-D4 plus ones. I believe so, yeah.

1:59:29 I think it's a 1D4 plus one. That's normal ones if you're firing three of them, yeah. There's 2D fours. We got A2 and A2 and A1. Not impressive damage, but I didn't hit any of my friends. Here you go. So yeah, 221 plus 38 damage force, and then if it's still standing, it's Baxter's turn. And you said 8 damage, correct? Yeah, 8 force damage. OK, so you fire these bits of arcane missiles and you lift your hand and the vaults whispers converge on the memory of that small Gray alley cat, the only warmth you move to those hungry nights.

2:00:17 It's phantom eyes meet yours for just a heartbeat, and the hum of the vault bends to your will, and three bolts of shimmering force ripped from your hand, each carrying that fragile anchor. They streak across the chamber hammer and hit into the warden's chest with perfect precision, cracking spiders through its Obsidian armor. The vault door thrums in response, one room searing brighter than the others, saying the anchor that stayed. And I need everybody to give me a preception check. I am present. What the fuck, Spencer? I am here why? 19 8 That's my, that's my whole character. 12 OK. Is that what your role?

2:00:59 19. 19 OK, so as a group you feel the chambers shake, and the runes carved into the vaults of city and door blaze with sudden light, lines of fire racing across their fractured, fractured glyphs. And for the first time, the whispers stop, replaced by a single unified voice that booms through the glass and stone. The price is paid, the door remembers, and the vault hums like a living heartbeat, the surface splitting down the center with a jagged seam of white hot light, and you feel the pull of escape beyond freedom, waiting, but not yet yours.

2:01:40 The Warden straightens the Obsidian armor crackling, its movements growing sharper and angrier, as if it knows its purpose is failing, and the door opens, but that it'll be Baxter's turn. Excellent. Baxter, as is his prerogative, attacks. He rolled a 5 + 5 is 10 which I do not think hits. He only gets one attack per turn, right? Yes, yeah OK, so you said you were on a 10 to hit. Yes. OK, so as this happens the hound snarls and launches at the Warden's leg, it's teeth sinking towards cracked Obsidian, but the Sentinel shifts just slightly and the jaws close on nothing but sparks.

2:02:24 It's fangs screech across the fault floor again, leaving gouges in the black glass. The Warden doesn't even look down but that it's Mimi's turn. So the door open, correct? Right. I'm galloping through that door. Oh, wait, pause, but still. Wait, wait, guys, I'm messed up. How many people are still alive? Everyone. OK, we're all still alive. OK, wait. Pause. Sorry. And the guy is looking pretty bloodied as his. Description. I'll attack him, I guess. OK. An 18 hit. And 18 misses. Swing again.

2:03:07 It's a 19 hit. Yes, 19 hits. Amy's going for the freaking ankles. You know, like how when like a dog like grabs on to like a like you're playing Tuggle ward just ripping around. Ankle biter. I am an ankle biter. Eight points of damage. So your first attack, you use your axe and you swing hard, but without the primal roar of rage that fueled you in prior rounds, and the blow falters, sparks skating harmlessly across the Warden's armor as it looms over you, face faceless and unshaken. Snarling, you head on all fours and lunge towards him and bite him, this time hitting nothing but raw muscle and the refusal driving you.

2:03:55 Your bite chips through the Warden's armor, splintering it even more and spraying shards, and the sound echoes strangely less like steel on or just like almost like a heartbeat, refusing to stop. And how much damage? 88 OK anything else? Oh, OK. I can't rage, Spencer. What do you mean? Anything else? All right, next will be the Echo Warden's turn, and he will real quick. I need Savara and Mimi, and I'm also going to need one from the dog. I need a Dexterity saving throw please. The 20 would have preferred that elsewhere, but we'll. 22. Nat 20, I should say so 20.

2:04:54 Damn. OK. We all rolled pretty high. Yeah, So what you see is the Warden let out again, this guttural, almost panicked roar, and he slams his great blade into the floor with just crushing force. In the vault, shutters and shakes and jagged shards of Obsidian explode outward, each one carrying warped reflections of your own faces, and for a heartbeat you see yourself screaming silently from inside the glass. Then the shards smash into you with brutal force. Pain blossoms, but no damage has done to you. So with that, we will swing at Savara. Now.

2:05:51 Oh. OK, not doing that then. Cool 17 to hit. Yeah, no. Great. All right. Second attack will be aimed at Mimi 25 to hit 20. Five to hit. Oh, yes, yeah, that's. Good. OK, so that'll be. No longer in the page, so all damage is a knock to the head. So it'll be 18 damage to you. All right, cool. And then it is now Samara's turn.

2:06:32 All right, I'm a whack em. Here we go. All right, guys, I'm at 74. Oh Boo Hoo, 14 doesn't hit. Correct, that misses. 22 does We're going to go frost strike on this one. OK so I have the role damage. Yeah, he needs to do con saving through our DC-17. He will fail the role. So he has no movement speed and he takes 5 coal damage and 12 bludgeoning.

2:07:16 OK so with your first attack with your warhammer, you swing with the warhammer and you just swing completely wide. The Warden just twists enough to get out of the way and the blow crashes against the the cracked plating and glances off to the side with a screech of stone on stone. The second swing Grinning your teeth, you bring the warhammer back around with wounds of cold flaring along the half of the weapon, and the hammer smashes into the Warden's chest with bone cracking force, frost racing up the Obsidian plates and threw his chest. Cracks widen.

2:07:56 His ice forms in the gaps, locking its massive frame in place. Steam hisses from the scenes of the armor as the Warden staggers, frozen where it stands, and the ward. The vault door hums with impact, glowing brighter, savouring the clash of frost and stone. So it'll be 17 damage to him, all right. Anything else? No. OK, so at the top of the round, the the Warden will again take the great axe and like stake it into the ground and pull it one way. And when he pulls the the weapon that's lodged in the floor that way, the floor begins to shift and I need everybody to give me a Dexterity saving throw. 6 + 3 would be 9. I got a nine but I rolled it 2 so I just have a player plus. Guys I went to 19 what the Frick is going on? You're the cat.

2:09:02 You're more dexterous. Can I attempt to jump and add my acrobatics? It's it's not going to help you. Well, still not matter. It's not going to help you, this one. So as the terrain just kind of shifts, he's going to shift the terrain almost away from the door and both Savara and Zebulon will be knocked prone and you will slide 10 feet towards the wall. I think I was already against the wall. You were against the back wall. Oh, a different wall. So effectively think of it like this way. The door is on the east side, the floor is tilting towards the West and you're sliding that way.

2:09:43 Got you. All right. And then it is Zebulon's turn. All right, I'm going to fling another feline powered fire bolt spell attack roll 6 + 9 is 15 to hit. That will miss. So I think that does not hit all right, Baxter's turn, OK, He is also going to attack OK with advantage for pack tactics. He got a 7 and an 8. That misses. So you on your turn, you channel the phantom feline again, it's glowing eyes blazing in your mind as you weave fire, and the bolt streaks across the vault towards the Warden.

2:10:26 But the Warden twist aside at the last moment in the fire explodes harmlessly against the Obsidian wall behind him. For a moment, the ruins hum, as if he'd know the acknowledging the memory more than the flame. And a Baxter's turn. He will go to bite and the Warden will just kind of backhand him out of the way and he'll go skinny across the floor. Next is Mimi. Spencer. Yes. Watch your coffee next time I sit next to you. May I make a suggestion? What's your suggestion? Run for the door. Oh, right. OK, I'm gonna go to the door. OK. Are you dashing? Dashing through this thing. Oh wait, Carter, we're supposed to go through the door.

2:11:09 OK, so with your dash action you just decide it's time to heave hoe out of there. So you dig your heels into the shifting glass floor and you Sprint and the warden turns, Obsidian helm snapping towards you. But the vault reacts first. The door successfully is open, A jagged seam of searing white light is racing towards you. The chamber thrums like a heartbeat, and for a split second you feel the wastes pull at you, tugging at the truth of who you are. Your rage is gone, stripped, and yet your hands are still hold the axe. You still run, you still choose, and you escape through the door.

2:11:50 Was I not supposed to go to the door without everybody? I think you were advised to do so. I'm certainly going to try to follow after seeing that. OK. Let's do this. Do all of you attempt to run through the door? No one else to pull up my cloak code and. Visited really well. Yeah, I'll say take a minute. I'll say that as you see Mimi running through the door, you feel this urge to just book it. So Mimi flashes through the the blinding light first the the cracks split wider in the room, flooding the chamber with white hot light, and together you hurl yourselves into the light in the chamber behind you, shaking the Echo Wardens roar, chasing you into the void.

2:12:40 And for a heartbeat you glimpse the room ceiling shut behind you, and your name's flashing, and then scattered into dust. And then silence. On the way out, I shout. Keep them busy, Baxter. You got this you. Got this good boy. I don't think he's got this, but it's nice to say so I don't. Think he's? Got. This oh, he left. The boy. He'll come back for three sorcery points. It's OK and he couldn't come with us. He either fights to the death or dies. He dissipates when his target dies. Also.

2:13:21 He's a temporary friend, but he's a good boy. So as you go through the door, the blinding light fades, leaving you stumbling towards into a forward into a long corridor of black glass and mirrored stone. The walls reflect your faces, but not quite right. In one you see yourself older, in another wounded. Some show you victorious, others dying. The reflections move just out of sync, whispering words that you haven't said yet. Behind you, the vault door sealed with a grinding scream. Cracks race through the corridor as the chamber starting to collapse inward.

2:14:03 And you know with absolute certainty, if you don't escape now, the waste will claim you forever. Now let's get out of here. So the corridor around you shutters, the mirrored walls ripple like water, and suddenly your reflections step towards you. Not solid, not whole, but shards of yourself. Each one whispers words you have yet not yet spoken, accusations and promise, promises half formed. They reach for you with glass hands trying to drag you back into the wall and I need a saving throw.

2:14:46 Now there are a few different ways that we can do this, so we are going to use turn based mode for all of you Balkers gate three players. So for the hell of it, let's say you all roll initiative. 1 + 3 would be 4. You. Well, at least it was on initiative. Yeah, I'll take it. I don't know what's going on. I want to observe anyway. Roll Initiative. You said 13, Katie. Yep, are. You waiting on me? Yeah, sorry. Yeah. What'd you roll? OK, I. Rolled the 13. I was wondering 13. OK, Mimi, your dex is 17, right? Survaro?

2:15:26 Yours is 16. So Mimi, we'll go first. Yep. OK. OK, So Mimi again, it's your turn again. So at this point the the reflections kind of have kind of shaped into shards of yourself. They are reaching for you with glass hands, effectively trying to drag you back into the wall. Hey, drag me back into the OK. Can I freaking can I book it? Can I do anything? Can I? Yeah, whatever you want to do is up. Whatever you want to do is up to you. There's just different checks that I can do based on what you tell me you'd like to do. What's the size of the room and like where are we positioned? It's it's a very almost narrow corridor, I would say 10 feet wide.

2:16:14 OK. And we're near 1 entrance that has closed. Yeah, you've just, you've just gone through the the entrance. You cannot see all the way down the corridor. So it's more than 120 feet or pitch black. Oh, you have dark vision with you? Yeah, I've. Got dark? Vision. Long dark vision. Yeah. So for you, you're able to see the the exit, it's about 90 feet away all. Right. Well, it's not my turn until the end. Yeah, but I would shout run for the other side. I'll allow that as a free action or a free, you know, speech. Speech for me, I typically tend to, you know, they're not necessarily actions. Yeah, yeah.

2:16:56 Like around is 6 seconds all going on simultaneously. Right. All right, so, OK, so we were at Yeah. Mimi, what? What do you think you want to do in this instance? I just try to this is like a really scary situation that Mimi is currently because you're just trying to like dig down to those like happy moments that you had with the group, like holding Savari's hand as a day on her, riding into battle together, joking around with a group over some beers. Like just like happy things, like happy thoughts, happy place and just start freaking powering through it. Yeah, give me a Wisdom saving throw. 17 That was really close to dead. Beautiful.

2:17:45 Yeah, 17 will pass. So as you're kind of being dragged in, the mirrored Mimi image kind of lunges at you. All teeth and fury, hissing beast without rage. Glass claws stretch for your chest, and for a moment your grip falters, but instead of sinking into the wall left by your stolen fury, you hold it to something else. The laughter shared with Savara by the campfire, the stolen quiet times of Kasdaia. And the reflection falters, and it snarls, and the claws crumble into dust, and you stride past it, steady and unbroken. This is how we do.

2:18:34 All right, anything else you'd like to do? Can I like as like Savaria near me or like are we all separated? Yeah, you're pretty close to each other. You've you've just gone through the door. So I'd say you're within, you know, middle range of each other. Grab holes with Savaria's hand. I'll allow you to grab her hand and attempt to pull, and as you do that, we'll go into Savara's turn. So what would you like to do? I mean, I'll, I'll be led by her, so go with her. OK, so you're well, keep in mind that you're actively being held right now and kind of slowly pulled into the wall. So I would think more that you would be attempting to break free with the help of Mimi.

2:19:22 So I would say in this instance, I will give you a let's do a either an athletics or acrobatics. I'll take athletics. With advantage 19 OK, yeah so 19 definitely works. So we will say that totally muted myself, I apologize. So we will say that with a 19, you absolutely succeed the the athletics check. So as you're being pulled in, Mimi kind of grabs your hand and grips it. The mirrored wall ripples in a reflection, grabbing gaunt and bound, whispering iron will or iron cage. It's glass hams clamp around your wrists, trying to change your strength into stillness.

2:20:13 Together with Mimi, you surge forward, wrenching your warhammer free, dragging it with you, and the reflection shatters like ice. Beneath the hammers blow. As we're like, as it all breaks and whatnot. And I, I get away and it keeps doing these things about my name. I'm gonna like, as we're leaving and I've broken free. I'm like, I am Safara Iron, Iron Mill Norcatholi. I will not be taken by you. You'll say it, Queen. Yeah, I'll tell you what, with that, I'll give you advantage on the next intimidation throw that you throw. OK, that's good.

2:20:53 That's good stories. So OK, Zebian, we'll move to you. All right. Do you said these are glass? Do I get the sense that they would break with one hit? Most likely. Yeah, I mean, it appears to be pretty standard. They're kind of shards of yourselves. They're not fully complete, so it's just kind of bits and pieces in a humanoid esque form, if you will. OK, now that my friends are clear, I could use Thunder clap to hit everything in a circle around me with ADC 17 Thunder damage. Yeah, I'm just. Going to say I'm just, I'm just going to say they they're, they're glass. I'm not even going to accept the. Clap definitely loud, but I blast all of these hands away from me and attempt to walk towards the door. I'm trying to stay away from the other hands as reasonably as I can.

2:21:50 Sure. OK. Yeah. So I mean, you don't resist the reflection at all. You just your reflection peels free of the wall, smirking with its own mouth. You wear masks, but which one is real? It steps towards you, glass fingers reaching to pry the truth from your skin, but you don't even give it the chance. You slam your hands together and unleash A deafening Thunder clap and the corridor just explodes with sound glass shattering in every in every direction. Your reflection bursts apart into into shards, the pieces hollowly before just disintegrating into dust, and the vaults walls shake as though it's as though even it recoils from the sound of your defiance.

2:22:41 Perfect. So from there you will all make it through the door, leaning into the second area. And in this area, the Obsidian floor is fractured into jagged tiles, each glowing with searing white light. And one by one, as a result of the Thunder clap, they they drop into the a, a yawning void below, vanishing into nothing. And the path forward is breaking apart, leaving only scattered footholds suspended over endless light.

2:23:22 The vault howls for like like a collapsing storm, daring you to leap before it's too late. So would you like to keep the current initiative or roll again? No preference. Neither. I'm chilling. All right, we'll say then, Mimi, it's your turn. Tavern. What was that? You said Oh. Sorry, sorry, what is your say about a hole? You said something that you were epically building the world and my brain shut up. So the path in front of you effectively is jaggered and missing pieces as a result of the Thunder clap. Parts of the the the path are dropping into the the void below and just vanishing into nothing.

2:24:15 And it's it's the The Vault is howling like a collapsing storm. OK, so wasn't there something we were supposed to get inside of this vault? What the fuck? Honestly, I have no idea anymore. I don't think we got specific details about what was in here, just that it was causing trouble. OK all right, so I'm going to guess decks to like Hippity Hoppity and not trip and die. Yeah, I'll need a Dexterity saving throw. Would 14 work or no? So with a 14. Can I assist with mage hand That's. It.

2:25:01 Hold her hand as she jumps across the rocks. I just rolled the knot 20 by the way, so if you would let me use that as an inspiration die then be it's. Yeah, if you've got the inspiration, die. I'll I'll say that you you very much succeed the role I. Can slay. OK, there goes another one. I've 11 left guys. All right, so you are you're officially using your dive then and enrolling that Nat 20. I'll I'll let you keep it. It's totally fine. Okay, if you want to I can send you a picture of the net. 20 Yeah, I trust you. Perfect.

2:25:42 So the tiles drop 1 by 1 into the glowing abyss, but you don't hesitate, just axe in hand, you're just sprinting forward and launching yourself from tile to tile. And your, your, your claws just strike as the Obsidian just almost like shatters beneath them. But your leap carries you higher and faster, and you bound like a predator across the breaking floor, leaving the collapse snapping at your heels. And for a moment you're, you're, you're weightless, suspended above the void. And in that breath, you feel freedom that will say it is Savara's turn. I will follow suit.

2:26:24 So where do I roll? A deck saving throw. OK, dirty 20. Is a dirty 20. All right, so with a dirty 20, same thing. You're just as just as light on your feet as you saw this Kitty cat go bouncing from tile to tile across the the jagged edges and you just don't hesitate. The void below stretches wider and wider, but your momentum again just carried you forward in perfect rhythm with Mimi, and together you crash down under the solid ground on the path in front of you.

2:27:04 And then we will say it is everyone's turn. All right, so I ready a mage hand roughly in the middle of the path as a handhold. Something to rush to my aid if I start to slip. OK, and I would roll an acrobatics check. 14 + 6 is a dirty 20. Is a dirty 20. All right, so the three of you just in tandem, just bouncing, bouncing, bouncing, just like one of those rhythm games. You just make it all the way across the collapsing floor and the void beneath you, reflections tumbling into the light, into the white, But you refuse to follow your You conjure your mage hand, letting it hover like a tether at your back, ready to snatch you from the brink. And then you run.

2:28:02 Each leap is timed perfectly, the tiles crumbling A heartbeat too late, and the vault whispers as you flan firmly on the far side, the mage hand trailing behind you like a phantom echo of your will. And then from there, so you all go through the next door. Yep. Oh yeah, get out of this room as fast as possible. Get me the hell out of this room. I'm over this place. I don't even remember why I'm here anymore. The last of the tiles crash into the abyss, leaving you breathless.

2:28:42 On the far side, through the door, the corridor ends in a towering archway of mirrored stone. It's surface ripples like water, runes writhing across it on jagged lines. Each rune flashes with half formed words, truths unspoken, lies half told, names half remembered. The vault howls behind you, the collapse chasing closer. The arch pulses with light, and a voice like 1000 overlapping whispers demands one more truth, one more offering. Feed us or be unmade.

2:29:22 We all hear that. Give me a perception check. Oh. God, all of us. Yep. 20. OK, yeah, you all heard it. Cool, one more truth. I bring to mind the memory of my best friend as a child, a fellow orphan, and Ioffer this friendship as tribute in the hopes that I'm not unmade. OK, so. I'm. Joking as you so as Zebulon, he brings this memory to the front of his mind of of an old friend from from his childhood.

2:30:12 The mirrored arch ripples as you step forward, Zebulon, and on its surface reflects you a dozen times. Every mask you've ever worn, every false face you've ever shown. They sneer and whisper, and they smirk at you, but you dig deeper, past the masks, past the lies, to the memory of an old friend, someone real, someone you cared for, and you hold their face in your mind, clear and sharp, and you let it go into the mirror, and the arch convulses, swallowing the memory whole. The ruins flare white hot for, and for a heartbeat you remember their name, and in a second more it's gone.

2:30:58 And as you lose this memory, the arch opens, shattered fragments spiraling into the void beyond it, only a blinding light, a rushing wind, and the promise of escape. The vault howls one final time as the corridor is collapsing right behind you. Make haste my friends. Run. Run. Run 4 easy little white light. Run. I will need final athletics checks from all of you. Oh, it has to be athletics, not acrobatics. I want athletics. I will allow both.

2:31:40 I will allow either athletics or not. 24 right? 21 do. I count what, 26? The arch fractures in a flood of white light. The sound is deafening, like 1000 names breaking all at once. Beyond, there's no path, no ground, only the rushing promise of escape. 1 by 1. You hurl yourselves into the light for Zebulon. Then Mimi acts, pledged tight by her side, Savara hammer glowing faintly in the frost. The echo of Zebulon's lost friend fades from his memory in a hollow ache, knowing where the memory once lived.

2:32:24 Behind you, the vault collapses. The Warden you can hear roaring in rage, it's cracked armor buckling. The light swallows it all walls, whispers reflections until nothing remains. The blinding light fades and you stumble towards or forward into hot sand, the cold wind of the echo fields rushing over you, and the vault's hum is gone. Only silence lingers, and the hollow knowledge that the wastes may have taken something from each of you, but you're alive, together, and proving yourselves against a truth that unmade countless others. And with that, you will head back to Whisper Shade, bruised, battered and alive.

2:33:19 Alive. Azah, I took one damage though I'm no longer scarless. Oh no, I don't have freaking rage anymore. We'll have to work on that for sure. So. Maybe I slapped. You in the face a few times to get you mad. You like trying to trying to get the Hulk out? Hit me. Come on, get mad. Well, is this permanent loss? We'll get it in just a minute. So you stand in the sand, you look at each other and and the echo fields are are quiet in the wake of the vault collapse. No whisperers, no shifting reflections, no tugging at your thoughts, just the sound of sand crunching beneath your boots, your paws, and the thin whale of the desert wind. You walk together, battered but alive, the the horizon glowing faintly with the promise of whisper shades lanterns. The silence between you is heavy, each of you carrying something the wastes could not give back. Mimi feels the hollow absence where her rage burned, yet each step proved that her strength remained. Savara's name echoed faintly in her mind, jagged where the vault broke it.

2:34:42 A scar written in silence in Zebulon, No matter how hard he tries to focus, the face of his old friend never comes back. The night deepens, stars cold and unmoving, and for the first time since entering the wastes, you feel the ground is real beneath you. Your shadows fall true, yet even in the relief you know the echo field never truly let anyone go. They remember what was fed to them, and what was taken. At last. The lanterns of whisper shade glimmer on the horizon, a place of whispers, of trade, and of drink. Civilization. Civilization clings to the desert's edge, warm and inviting. You survive the vault.

2:35:23 You return together, but the waste may walk with you still. You'll go to the inn. You will take a long rest. And Mimi, you will regain your rage. Savara, I don't believe you lost anything, correct? I lost proficiency in animal handling. You will get back your proficiency in Animal Handling Zebulon. However, the memory of that friend is gone forever. I'll ask. However, I think that. Place needed a friend though. However you all long rest, you will reset everything and that's where we will end tonight's session. Very nice, you guys, Very, very nice.

2:36:07 Success, success. Well done, gang. Mark everything back to that one session I should just write down because literally it's just I used 1 frost strike and one superiority die. Good. Job team. Yay. All right, so we want to thank Zebulon, Mimi and Savara for tonight's session. Again, guys, really great job. You guys tackled really every single one of those checks in combat with great proficiency. So we congratulate you stand by next episode of Matt 20 and Unwind will be coming up here shortly on Spotify and all of your podcast needs.

2:36:48 So for everybody here at the P3 Podcast Network, I am Spezer Hart. We will see you next time. Bye bye. Bye.