Any Given Moment

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Previously for Group A, after a brief stay in the town of Aubrey and catching up with the locals, Amven and Matty find out that the town isn't exactly as they remember it when they last left. With Father White being terminally ill, vampires living in town, and a number of other changes that were shocking to hear, eventually it was time for Group A to leave and continue the march toward the town of Donhurst. And that's where we pick things up today. Let's do that thing where we go around the table to introduce ourselves. I'm Jason, I'm the Dungeon Master, going around the table starting with Michael.

Hey, I'm Michael and I play Amven, the half-elf wizard. And James. Hey, it's James, I play Eznomus Silca, the half-elf rogue. And Xavier. Hey, I'm Xavier and I play Donovan, the human fighter. And I almost said Matty, Susan. We're not the same, Jason. I play Madeline, Ryoin, the human cleric. And Kelsey. I'm Kelsey and I play Aster, the elf fighter. And, god damn it, I almost said Ubo. Robert! We're off to a smashing start. I think that line between fantasy and reality is finally blurring, guys. This is it. Yeah, is your house made of miniature terrain yet? If I could afford it, man.

You know, I could get you getting me confused with Matty because we're both human, but Ubo and Rob? Come on. I'm Rob, I'm playing Ubo, the half-orc druid of the mountain. Alright. Despite that start, I still feel good about today, guys. It's looking good for us. Yeah, we'll see. You guys are officially on the road again after your somewhat brief stop in Aubrey. There's lots of problems to deal with and personal conflicts to sort out and that type of thing. But after a stay, you decided to hit the road toward Durran Hollow because, of course, you have that thing in Donhurst to attend to.

It is the 13th of Faerieor. You guys have six days on the road remaining until you are in the lovely little town of Durran Hollow. Now, I had you guys roll last time on the show and you rolled a three, so we'll get to that. Don't worry. I forgot about that. I didn't. Is there anything you guys feel that you would attend to on the road? Anything you'd talk about while you're there? I picture it being a pretty nice day, all things considered. It's a great time for travel. Summer hasn't hit yet. It's still springtime. It's only creeping up to around 75, 78 degrees during the day.

It's really quite nice, especially for those who wear armor. And I unless anybody has anything they'd like to do. Here we go. Yeah, I hate always doing this, but it's not me this time. Maddie does want to talk to Anvin. So they are heading out of town. They're like, I want to say on their way out or even a day away, whatever. But then Maddie's gonna, while she's walking next to Anvin, just as the day's progressing, they're still moving. They're still moving while this is happening, guys. Because progress. Yes. She's gonna turn, well, she's gonna ask Anvin.

So now that we've both been back to Aubrey, I don't think I've ever asked you about after you left Aubrey. I know you went to Uminiro, but how was that? I mean, you have magic now, so it worked, right? Yeah, I mean, initially I didn't even go to Uminiro. I actually went to the Evergreen first. I went to, you remember my dad? I had this crazy idea that I would get a recommendation from him so I could get in. Honestly, the first thing in my mind was to get as far away from Aubrey as I could. I didn't even stay for anything. I know. But I went to Evergreen. I mean, that was a trick in itself.

I could have really died. I don't know what I was thinking going alone. Yeah. I went there. He was, of course, no help. And of course did the other stupid thing and went the other way, all the way to Uminiro, traveling with other caravans. I mean, I wasn't alone the whole way, thankfully. I would hitch rides and I'd finally get there. But, I mean, as great as that library is, it did not prepare me for being there. And then, did you know that people actually take tests and apply to get into Uminiro before they even step foot in the city? I didn't know that.

I didn't know that either. I thought you could just enter the city. You know, I thought the same thing. I got a lot of weird looks because I was like, "Hey, I could cast magic and I could totally do that." Because there was that light spell I did in the library, which I wasn't able to ever recreate. And then I'd ask and then I'd get these sour looks. And then I couldn't even afford a night in a tavern or anywhere. So there's some really nice libraries in Uminiro. I mean, there's so many. But I was able to get curled up in one library for a few days and learned what I could.

Found out you have to register as an initiate and then go take an examiner to see if you have the ability or what they call the spark. And believe it or not, I failed horribly. Funny story, that spell I cast was actually a scroll and not an actual spell in a book. Really? Yeah. You were so excited about it too. Yeah, I totally thought I was casting this amazing light spell in the library and was finally doing something. Nope, absolutely not. So you traveled across the continent because you used a scroll? Maybe, yes. Well, at least you could do it. You could cast magic now.

Yeah. Yeah, that was a lot of work. In that book I was writing before we all grouped up together, there was a book of bonds where I talk about how to tell if someone has the ability, the spark. And what makes someone have it. And maybe people have it, but it doesn't manifest. And funny enough, what it took was when I was taking the exam, the examiner was really harsh. You think Father White or anyone can give you that stern talking to when you know you were in a place you shouldn't be. And it was just like, why am I there? It's horrible. What are you doing?

And then I even got beat up by this guy named Jonas. He's like a pyromancer. He focuses on the fire spells. And it wasn't until that I got extremely upset and just lost myself in rage that I... Because I was leaving the tavern that I got beat up in, totally upset, felt like a failure, and ran into the examiner on my way to the library. And he was wondering why I was still in town, and why I hadn't leave yet. And so it was like the last straw and I just lost it. And I don't remember much, except I got extremely angry. And the next thing I know, he was on the floor and there was wind and storm clouds.

And apparently I let out a huge blast of storm energy. And the crazy part, he wasn't mad afterward. Instead, he said, "Welcome to Umineiro." And that started... It was officially an initiative after that. It was kind of crazy. That is crazy. Well, I mean, I'm sorry that guy beat you up, but... I kind of have to thank him for getting me in the mindset. He kind of had to break me down to the core. Which I found out in many people, when you find their spark, you gotta find the core of who they are first. Because usually you're protecting yourself. Yeah, I get that.

I didn't get my cleric powers until the war. And it was when my sister was hurt. And that's when they appeared. So I completely get that. Yeah, that's exactly right. I think even if I remember one of my lines, pyromancies are quick to anger. So they focus their power through there. And that's where that comes from. Healers channel it through their emotions of desire to protect or heal and wanting to see better. So that's awesome that so far my book isn't wrong. Yeah. Well, I'm gonna have to get a copy of that book. Maybe I'll... because that sounds really interesting.

Do you have it on you? I've got my notes. But the official tome is submitted to the to the hall of new Monroe, where it when you when you graduate you want to get to do is write something to add to the to the library. So, well, maybe we should stop by when we get a chance. Yeah, it can be halfway across the continent. Why not? Yeah, I'd love to. It's good to see them again. And then maybe we can find it. I'd even have some info on for about Father White. Yeah, and then maybe more on the gates. Not that I'm distracted, but I'm gonna say that it is almost sunset.

Your first day on the road. So the 13th has mostly just been kind of the the trek the usual the usual walking. Could everyone do me a favor and give me a perception check? Oh boy. Oh, yes. Hey guys, I think I noticed something. Okay, good stuff. Good stuff. So I would say that there are probably very few sites in terms of things that are out of the ordinary on this walk. For the most part it's it's rolling hills, you'll see the mountains to the north that just covered in snow, you'll see you'll see all this stuff just just kind of the skybox of the scenic route here.

And I would say that Aster and Masoka are going to spot something in the distance. In the middle of this field, I would say probably, I don't know, three, 400 yards away from you, something like that. There's going to be a cart. And it's sitting by itself. It's next to some bushes that that kind of obscure it, but it's not really it doesn't look like a campsite. There doesn't appear to be any horses or anything. And this is a very decorated cart. It's flashy, which is something you don't usually see. There are only a couple of types of people who would have a flashy cart like that.

There are salespeople that go town to town peddling wares, things like that. There are entertainers that sometimes that's kind of their calling card, you'll see like a particular color cart and you'll go, oh, that you'll associate that with a famous actor or musician. This is a black cart, a big one. This is a pretty hit. This is like the the Hummer of carts. So this is a black cart with gold trim all around it. Very, very well decorated. Again, somewhat obscured by the bushes. But Aster and Masoka are going to spot it. It must be shining. The glint of the gold.

Yeah, that's like as the sun's setting, it's one of those things where it's like, like that kind of sticks out like a sore thumb in the field. Yeah, Aster's going to call for the group to stop because this could be an opportunity or it could be a trap. Do I recognize any insignias or like sell the spot of a house or some diplomat envoy or anything? Or a giant M? Oh, God, I want I want Rob to just step it. I have a flat tire. Like I just I want. Oh, man. Give me an intelligence check. Anybody who'd like to see if they recognize any marks? Not me. So that's a 13 from Anvin.

I'm going to say that there's something about this that might seem a little familiar, but you're you're not going to quite place it. You're not going to it's like, oh, where did I read about this or where did I see a picture of this or something like that? There's something like foggily familiar about it, but nothing concrete. Oh, that was wrong. That was the Constitution. Maddy stands firm on the road. She fights a cold. Really, really proficiently. Does the cart seem to be overgrown by like bushes or tall grass or anything or like as as if it's been there for a while?

It doesn't appear that it's been there for a long time. If you had to take a guess, it might be something it might be something like maybe someone had some trouble and they wanted to kind of hide their their their wares or something like that. But it's very difficult from this angle to see that you can't see the side of the cart if there would be a logo emblazoned on it or something, or like if it's a performer advertising, you wouldn't you wouldn't be able to see it from this angle. Here's the thing. This wagon, this big, big wagon, it's got a door on the back of it.

This is like a cargo type wagon and it is facing the direction you guys are heading. So it's it could like that. You could take that in two different ways. Maybe someone pulled around, but someone may have been traveling east with this. Maddie is going to Racker Brain because there are little there are little logos and and the color coding. And Maddie probably read about this in a book, but that's the insignia of the Countess. That is a person that lives above Donhurst in a castle. Oh, shit. Oh, this sounds like bad news, guys. Is she bad? She's great. It depends on who you believe.

It depends on which stories you read. Ubu, do you like vampires? Ubu just scowls. Would Maddie know that connection? Would she know that the Countess is known for possibly being a vampire? Well, yes. Oh, yes. That's yes. That. Okay. There's a lot of history to unpack with her. She used to be this elven healer who lived in the Evergreen, and eventually she was driven out for unknown reasons. Again, there's lots of speculation, but she was driven out and eventually resurfaced decades later, living above Donhurst. This castle was built for her, and it's said that she has servants that go out during the day to get her things.

It's very, very rare to see something like this cart that would be, you know, that would have markings that would be for her. And it would be very interesting to find something like that unattended. Maddie, after racking her brain, will tell everybody, I think this is the Countess's... what is it called? Carriage. I think this is the Countess's carriage from Donhurst. She won't mention the vampire part. Yeah, it doesn't just shrugs. Okay. Yeah, Astaros. Does it look damaged at all? It's kind of tough to tell from this angle because you're not seeing much of the broad side of it, but it doesn't look to be in disrepair.

Maddie will take out her mace and start approaching. Whoa, whoa, wait, what's going on? What's the Countess about? I just worried that if this is pulled over that they might have been attacked. That's why I'm taking out my weapon. I see. I got you. He takes out his weapons. Yeah. Wait, wait, no. He puts the weapons back. I don't want to look like we're attacking them either. Well, I'm going to err on this out of caution, but I won't. This isn't for attacking. All right. Well, just say a few steps behind me. I'll just see if they're okay. Okay. Does anyone see any tracks or anything that could lead to like if they were assaulted or anything?

I know I can't tell I'm not skilled in that. Ubo could, well, Ubo has survival. That's survival, right? Or is that perception, Jason? If you're searching for tracks and stuff, that'd be survival. I can make a survival check. Well, let's do it. So you're all approaching the cart. Yeah. 19. Okay. So Ubo is going to investigate the area and this field, it seems like water kind of pulls here. So when it rains, this area takes a bit to drain out. So you're going to approach and there's going to be a bit of a muddy section. And Ubo is going to spot an area that looked like someone left the cart, unhitched the horse from the cart and rode off.

You're going to see hoof prints. You're going to, you know, that's the story it would tell with a 19. And the carriage itself doesn't, it doesn't look like the carriage was abandoned because the carriage was unusable or something. It was just like, someone tucked this away here. Someone tucked this away here. Give me, actually, everyone, if you'd like to give me a perception check now that you're close to this cart. It's more like it. Oh, wow. Oh, God. Misoka is far sighted. He sees better. Misoka is looking for a way in. Is this thing locked, by the way? There is a lock on the back of it.

There's a set of double doors on the back of it. This is a big carriage. Like so big that it could probably comfortably, all six of you could comfortably ride in the back of this. Probably we had horses. Right. But yeah, that's a... Ubo could pull it. If Ubo wasn't afraid of me. That's derogatory. You're right. You're just in trouble. Misoka's not afraid. We could paint over it. This is a beautiful carriage, by the way. This looks like someone labored over this for weeks. This is purely custom. It's very plush and kind of vibrantly painted. The black isn't. But like the... it's kind of like a gold etching.

There's some purple here and there. It is very vibrant, which is odd because most people don't decorate their carriages brightly because it sends a message. Yes, you get attention for people when you're in town. But you also get attention for people when you're on the road, and that's not necessarily something you want. There is a lock on the back of these double doors. There are no windows on this carriage whatsoever. Are we close enough to the car to interact with it? I'd say so. Alright, because yeah, Donovan's just gonna bang on the doors and holler, "Is everyone okay?" How hard are you banging on the doors?

Just enough to get a door knock with the side of the fist, like bang, bang, bang. Okay. I'd say... so the way this is set up is the cart is kind of leaning forward because there's no horse. So it's just kind of leaning forward here. And when Donovan knocks on the back door, you're gonna hear this slight jingle jangle and then nothing. And no one's gonna answer. I should also mention, Donovan, the Countess is known for being a vampire. Oh, well that changes everything. Ubo, get in there. Yeah, Ubo perks up that. So a locked carriage in the middle of nowhere with no windows leads me to believe something's in there that we may not want to deal with.

Why not? So you want me to pop the lock? Or left there to die because of the sun? Well, there's no windows. Well, right, like can't escape. So just to say. How is that gonna be like a furnace in there though? Hey Kirkland, Kirkland, can you feel something? Can you help me out, man? You asleep? Okay, are you saying this out loud? Yeah. Does Mattie have like a sense on that thing? She should. No, you don't. Your guess is as good as mine, guys. Who knows about Kirkland? Oh, I have a Destroy Undead, so I have to have like Sense Undead. No, you don't necessarily do. Just cast that at the thing and see what happens.

Mm-hmm. Channel to the heavy. Can I tell if there's any magic associated with this cart? Like if it's protected or if there's like a sense of magic? Sure, run an Arcana check. There we go. So when you're using this, again it's kind of a Divining Rod type of thing. It's like a Geiger counter. And the second Amven starts to try to sense something, there is definitely something in this cart. Something kicking off some mojo. Like there's, um, the problem is that that could be a bunch of stuff. That could be a person with some sort of inherent magical ability. It could be an item.

It could be an artifact. It could be, you know, it could be a few things. So it's kind of tough to pinpoint. What you do know is there's something in there. It could be 50 vampires packed in there like a clown car. We don't know. Oh my god, we don't know! How many vampires can they fit in there? If only I cast Arcana check on the vampires when we were in Aubrey. Just so we're clear, Matty, are they the good vampires or are they the regular vampires? Because I'm getting confused on my vampires lately. She lives in town and the town hasn't killed her, so... Well...

She lives above town. In a spooky manner. She lives in the hills above town and there's, well, there's lots of stories in Dawnhurst. They have a lot of pitchforks and torches in Dawnhurst. I feel like they're on high alert in terms of, uh, yeah. She isn't known per se for being good, but there aren't any stories of her killing the entire town either. So... Well, that's a positive? We should open this and destroy any vampires in it. I'm picking up a large magical source in there. It could be this countess. It could be something even... It could be an artifact.

It could be anything. I feel like if we do open this, which I'm curious, we should totally do that. But I think we should array ourselves in a way to properly protect each other. Alright, let me just get my shield and we're good. I would say that Masoch has sort of been running his finger along this lock. Sort of like just waiting for someone to give him permission. I just want to wait for us to get into position. Hey, Jason, is there any, like, is there running vampire lore in Tharia as to, like, things they're averse to or things that kill them or...

Oh, yeah. Holy Water's the big one. Holy Water is, uh, that's just the... that's pretty much the go-to. Any damage to the heart. Doesn't have to be with a stake. Any. You could crush the heart, stab the heart, smash the heart. Any damage to their heart is detrimental. Obviously, sunlight. Sunlight and radiant damage. Oh, great for killing vampires. Decapitation works, but decapitation works for killing most stuff. So, like, you know. Then there's a bunch of rumors of running water as opposed to repel vampires and garlic and things like that. And those are those are items that may have worked once or twice, but it was circumstantial.

They ran away for another reason. And then rumor got around someone tried to use it and got eaten alive. Quick question. Is there any traces of sun still or is it... has the sun set yet? I wouldn't say it's set completely. It's probably... It's probably right at the treeline, I would say. You probably got another, I don't know, 25, 30 minutes of sunlight. OK. We have half an hour to resolve this. Or we could upgrade carts and save this problem for tomorrow. Did you literally say out loud we have half an hour to solve this? We have... Did you say it? Yes. Then let's not waste time.

Ubo casts Erupting Earth. Wait, let's open it first. Ubo deals 3d12 bludgeoning damage to the cart as a fountain of earth churns up below it and tears it to pieces as best as it can. All right, let's do this. This is why we need to get Ubo and everyone else. I take it he can't make a dexterity saving throw, Jason. It can't? You're sure about this? I absolutely do this. OK. So someone who's standing right at the back, are they going to get affected by this? Well, let's... I imagine all of you are pretty much around the cart. Ubo knows how to center his spells and how to hit his friends.

Right, of course. Yeah. I don't even know how he feels about Masoka, though, so I... It's hot and cold. Sometimes he's really into Masoka. Masoka is useful enough that Ubo won't come back. He's got his moment. He's made of a hat. OK. I deal 23 damage interrupting earth to the cart. Jesus! All right, so... Some better rolls too. OK. I thought we wanted to keep the cart. Well, not anymore. You made Ubo wait for days in a town and told him he couldn't kill the vampires. Yeah. Yeah, we teased the dog for too long. I just... Ubo didn't communicate that this was what he was doing specifically, I don't think.

It's my quest. Golly. Ubo's our Star Lord. Ubo heard there was double XP on vampires today. Let's get this done. Yeah, but I'm just going to cash in the code from your Doritos in Mountain Dew. Oh, man. I'm about to prestige. Let's go. OK, so, um, the ground beneath this cart is going to shift and you're going to hear that jingling again inside, almost like there's wind chimes or something inside. And then this jutting spike is going to erupt from the ground and dart up into this carriage. And then you're going to hear violent jingling like like there's a glass chandelier in there.

And then you're going to hear something drop. Could everyone please make a constitution save? Oh, boy. I don't like this. Yeah, it's going to get interesting real fast. Oh, boy. Yeah, big money. That's how you roll. You want to kill a vampire. I somehow... My flat constant. OK. So, here's what the party is going to see. The party is going to see this wagon tip backward as this big rock kind of comes up through the carriage. So it's going to tip it backward. And the cart is going to sort of crumble a bit and the door is going to fling open. And what the party is going to see are about a hundred...

Vampires. Called it. There are about a hundred flasks of alchemists fire dangling. Now, you're going to see some sort of chest or something in there, but the party is going to see this just as one of these vials drops and detonates in the cart, setting off all of them. Oh, my God. There is probably something cool in that chest. I mean, there was something cool. We'll never know. That's fine. Now, here's what's going to happen. I'm going to roll damage. Everybody who failed the save is going to take the full brunt of this explosion. There will be a fireball that erupts.

Now, there's the initial explosion. Then there's all the splinters and shrapnel from this cart. Just it just goes out in all directions. Everybody... I am admittedly regretting this decision. I'm dead. We'll see. What was the save? The save is 12. Oh, thank God. Did we have a rest? A dead chest. Yeah. These people rolled the worst. Did we have a full rest? Yes. We did. Okay. Yeah. So let's, you know what, let's get rid of... At least I got my backstory in. Yeah. I was just like, "What?" Well, you got it out, so you're good. I'm dead now. It's okay. Oh, my God. Okay. Let's not jump to conclusions.

Now, everybody who passed the save is going to take half of this damage. So these are a hundred vials of this. They're in these glass containers that are just gently... And you could tell that some kind of booby trap was rigged up to the door itself. So this is going to pop, explode. And here we go. At least even if we had locked picked it, it would have still gone awesome. There's a chance it could maybe. Jokes on them, we beat their trap. So here we go. 62 damage. Oh, well. Half of that is almost enough to take me out. Ambin. Yeah. Oh, my God. Wow. Okay. Is that not?

I think I'm perma-dead. Oh, my God. Yeah. 28 is all it takes because it's double. 64 for me. Are we all dead? So half of that is 31. By Therian rules, it's 1.5 damage. So it's not double damage to kill somebody. It's all of your hit points plus half that would outright kill somebody. Oh, my gosh, you guys. There's no like... Oh, man. So Masoka and Ambin are just... Wow. Well, okay. Hold on a second. So that 31 wouldn't quite... Masoka failed the save. Oh, he failed the save. Shit. What's your health? 32. It's on the combat tracker. Oh, this was based on our con save?

Yeah. It's all the combat tracker. It's all your health plus half. It's not a dex save to dive out of the way? Well, it's... No, it was a con save. It was a con save. Because I don't think we had time to dive out of the way. I mean, realistically, Masoka's face was right in. Yeah. Yes. So, okay, let's do the easy math first. Everybody who passed the save gets 31. So that'll KO some people, but not outright. Good thing the healer's still up. Holy shit. As Masoka flies back, he looks at Ubo and gives him a big finger. [laughter] Fuck. That would outright kill Masoka and Anvin.

Oh my gosh, you guys. And that would knock out Ubo. So I picture this... this chaotic explosion just erupting from the back. So you got the glass from the vial shattering and then just projectiles through the air, the splinters from this cart. Anvin would probably get the worst of this, and there would just be huge chunks of wood impaling him to the chest, then just the burns and the explosive force tossing him yards back. Is there even anything left of their bodies after the fight? I mean, there'd be bodies, but like... They're all charred? I thought we said no TPK today.

I mean... Jesus Christ, that was so sudden. I'm... Ah... Yeah, Donovan's kinda like me right now, just standing in the refuel with his ears ringing, and the smoke's clearing. I feel like we'd all be knocked back at least. Well, not Donovan. On the ground, just staring up, they haven't even seen that there are dead people yet. They're just trying to process what just happened. And they probably have that ear ringing effect. Saving Private Ryan. This is the Normandy scene. Saving Private Ryan. Yeah, this would just be so... This would be so sudden. It would be you're standing, then you're on the ground in... in just earth-shattering pain.

And it's all just chaos. Oh... And then... Oh, God, Mattie would probably eventually notice as the healer that three of the people aren't sitting up or looking around. Oh, God. -Gloria nearest her. -Yeah, Donovan rushes to Masocha. Like, as soon as he can stand up. Yeah, Mattie would probably crawl or whatever to him as soon as... Whoever's closest to her and hasn't gotten up. Oh, God. Poof. Oh, God, I picture this... I picture this field as the sun setting just on fire. There's got to... It's just... Oh, man. This field is on fire. Ubo's knocked out cold. Masocha and Amvin are dead.

Amvin's body is burning as we speak. I would say Astor and Donovan are just... They... They took a pounding. So did Mattie. So I kind of like the idea of just, you know, everything's fine. You know, ground shifts underneath this cart, Spike goes through it. Pow! And the next thing you know, it's just the ringing and... You're seeing fire and... And... OK, first thoughts. What's everyone thinking here? With the fire and like the suddenness and even just like the smell of like the bodies and everything, I think that Astor is probably immediately like thrown back into thinking back to the war and when Strahd attacked the forest, probably, because they weren't like front the front lines when that happened, but they would have seen the aftermath.

And they're just like, everything is just so sudden all at once. They're just kind of like dazed and stunned and just staring. Mattie, as soon as she kind of gets her bearings, also having been in the war, immediately goes into healer action and goes to the nearest downed person. Whoever that is, Ubo, Masoko, or Anven. She doesn't know who's dead yet, so she just wants to... I guess... I don't know who she'll go to, whoever's closest. I guess I could roll for it. Yeah, let's roll for it. Well, what does that mean though? I was going to say Masoko. Oh, on the line up at the top, sorry, I was looking at the combat tracker.

Ah! Okay, so Masoko should go to Masoko and I guess find out he's dead. Would she just know that right away? I would say the damage to the body is so extensive. Like, you'd see immediately that not only is he not breathing, he shouldn't be breathing. Donovan manages to stand up, gets from one knee to standing up, and sees that Mattie's over Masoko's body, and he limps towards there as fast as he can, until he sees, moving from behind Mattie, sees Masoko's corpse, and he just rushes to his knees to Masoko, and looks at Mattie expectantly. Like, you can fix him, right?

Mattie has like this wide-eyed stare. Mattie, you can fix him, right? He's gone, Donovan. He shoves you out of the way. Not hard, he doesn't hit you. And he kind of tries to pick Masoko up, like cradling, I think. And he tries to bring him up, and he looks for Ubo. Mattie's shocked for like a full second, and then goes to whoever's down next. What would... Okay, wow. Ubo would be laying not too far away. In rough shape, but not dead. Still breathing. Donovan will go to Ubo and like... Kick him the ribs and say, "Wake up, Ugo!" Wow. And if he doesn't respond, which I guess he won't.

No, that's not healing. He kicks him again, like maybe not the same ribs, but like... Yeah, he kicks him in the face. Wow. Mattie will get in between you two. He's down! Wait, let me get him up! Get him up, so we can fix him. Mattie will cast healing word, or cure wounds, whichever one's stronger. Cure wounds, I think, is on Ubo. So Ubo would come to, still very sore, obviously, and probably have that ringing, and that I would imagine is something party-wide. If once Ubo becomes conscious, he struggles to his feet, and just kind of stumbles forward and looks in all directions, "Where is it?

What attacked us?" And he's got his staff out, and he's looking to hit whatever attacked. Donovan drops to his knees to bring Misoka closer to Ubo, and he says, "You fucked up, Ubo! But you can fix it! Heal Misoka now!" Ubo will attempt to cast a healing spell. He'll burn a spell trying to heal him. And obviously that won't do anything. Yeah, he's not going to start breathing or anything like that. What are you doing? Kirkland! Kirkland, you there? There's not going to be any response from Kirkland. He's going to yell super loud, "Kirkland!" While this is going on, Matty rushes over to Amven's burning body and starts putting out the flames.

Hey, Amven. Do me a favor. Yes? Roll a flat d20. So, uh, Amven's body is... just decimated. It's not pretty. There was some alchemist fire on his person, and that ignited his clothing and his possessions for the most part. There would be a couple of things that might have been spared from his pack, but obviously that's not what you're concerned about right now. It would take several seconds of kicking dirt and such on Amven to put him out. And after Matty was done, the body laying in this field would be virtually unrecognizable. Matty is in healer mode right now.

She can't even process anything because she was in the war, so you have to keep going. So then she's going to go over to Aster, see that they're up, and say to them, "Are you okay? How are you feeling?" Aster's gonna get to their feet kind of shaky. I mean, they are alive and standing. They are not in the greatest shape. I think I have like four hit points, so not doing too hot, but they are just gonna nod at Matty and say, "What can I do? What do you need me to do?" That's when Matty cracks a little bit. Just lets the emotion in a little bit. Amven and Misoka are gone.

But we need to take care of us first. I'm going to heal us, and then she'll get on her knees and start doing Prayer of Healing, which actually takes quite a while, but it's her strongest one. While she's doing that, Aster's gonna start putting out any fires that are still there around them. Like Matty, just going back into the war mode. Just keep going. People are dead, but we have to keep moving and doing something because just sitting there and thinking about it is not... No. Is Matty hurt, by the way? It's yeah. Everyone's hurt. Aster will also give her their potion that they have.

They'll put it next to her so that when she's done with the Prayer of Healing, if she still needs that, then... Matty's intensely praying and every once in a while a tear comes down, but she wipes it away and just keeps praying. Because this actually takes like 10 minutes for Prayer of Healing. So as things settle down a bit, Aster puts out fires and Matty's praying, you can hear Donovan in the back, cradling, Masocha, just talking to him like, "Come on man, Lucky!" And he reaches for a potion of healing he has in his inventory, and he'll try to make him drink.

"We got places to go, man. Come on, wake up, asshole. Masocha, you were going to be a theater star, man. Wake up, dude. You can't leave me here. We weren't done with our journey, man." "Masocha! Lucky!" And goes on for a while. I would say several moments are going to go by while Matty is praying and effort is being put forth to try and put out all this fire. And eventually, Donovan is going to feel a presence wash over him, and the familiar voice perks up in his head, "What happened?" "There was an explosion. Where were you?" "I'm not always present. I..." "And you can tell that he's observing things.

He's playing catch up." "Um..." "And there's going to be more silence." "I'm sorry you lost a comrade." "Lucky's gone, man. Lucky's gone." And he'll look at Ubo. Ubo, in the meantime, has turned his attention back to the cart, and he has just let out an enraged roar, and then charged over and pulled out his quarterstaff, and just started trying to bust and break anything that is until not one splinter is on top of another kind of thing. He is just yelling and screaming and raging and trying to further break the cart. Ugh. Ubo, could you do me a favor and roll a flat d20 for me?

Do I hit a spare one? Do I hit another one and blow myself? No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. 7. Hmm. In the midst of this rubble, there is going to be an iron chest. It is battered and partially on fire, and you're going to notice that it's slightly open. He will kind of just roughly, like, kick the lid off of it. OK. And doing so, the chest is going to tumble about and some items are going to start to spill out of it. They look to be the same coloring as the cart was, mostly black with some gold etching, some purple inlays, things like that. And you're going to see essentially a full leather armor set, complete with helmet, is going to spill out and it's going to land near some fire.

So Ubo can choose to do two things. Simply let nature take its course or do something with this. Ubo doesn't interpret it as like saving it from the fire. Like he's just still mad at everything. So like without even really thinking about the fire, like he would have done this anyway. He just like grabs it and he just like throws it in disgust further. Like he just... Gotcha. He's literally just whipping things about. So he probably saved it from the fire, but it wasn't intentional at all. Like... Gotcha. OK. Yeah. Oh, boy. Yeah, yes, sir. This would have looked great on Masocha.

Man, shiny leather armor. That would have been so perfect for him. And at a certain point, Ubo just kind of wears himself out and he drops to his knees and grabs one of the many stones threaded into his leather armor and just starts screaming to the sky and cutting his chest. This is going to sound horrible, but. OK, if either of them... are they burned beyond recognition? I think Amvin is. Amvin would be, yeah. You'd need to identify Amvin with dental records. But... OK, so I have Gentle Repose. So... Would it be worth casting on them? Well, we need to have a conversation.

As you know, trying to bring someone back from the dead is quite an ordeal, and it's not usually something people would want to risk because it could kind of easily take the life of someone attempting that spell. And there's no guarantee that the person's going to come back 100 percent correct, let's say it's very stressful on both the caster and the target. That being said, you did just come from a town. You're about a day's travel away. So if you were to ride through the night, you'd be exhausted, but you could technically make it back within the 24 hours.

General Repose gives you a few more days. Four, according to the spell list. Now, that being said, there's no guarantee that Maddie's going to find anybody and Aubrey willing to attempt this. Your odds are increased because Maddie knows those people there and you just came from the town. Would the shape Amvin's in make it harder? No, death is death. He could be in pieces and... If he came back, would he still be burnt like this? No. So it's not like, hey, we brought you back from to a life that's worse than death. No, no, no. That would just be cruel. OK, so Maddie will cast Gentle Repose on Amvin.

What is it? It's voice, somatic and motion. OK, so she'll say something and then I imagine she'll do it as like even with his burnt skin, like a kiss on the forehead. And then she'll go over to Donovan and Misoka. I have a spell. If I could find someone to perform a resurrection, this will keep him with us or keep his soul here for the time being. I could cast it on him and we could go back to Aubrey and maybe there will be someone there and maybe... You don't need my permission. Just do it. Let's go. Let's just pack up and go. Maddie will do all the same things and then brush his hair out of his forehead and give him a kiss on the forehead, too.

I don't think that's part of the spell, but she cares about these people so much. That's how she's casting it. Yeah. So. Well. Jeez, this sounds like you want to head back. Yeah. Duh. OK, wow. Sorry, Jason. People I love just died. I know. Call me a prick. You're in mourning. I... You know, all that content you wanted us to get to. It's going to wait. We're going back. Something happened. Yeah, well, you know. More Aubrey. Yeah. Astor is not going to leave until they're done putting all the fire out if they if like the rest of the party, like they'll catch up with them if they want to.

But it's just kind of. Right. Yeah. That would really help to distract yourself. You know, got to do something. Yeah, got to do something and also just burning forest bad memories. Yeah. Right. No, you don't want to. Yeah, you don't want a situation. Could you do me a favor? Roll 1d6. So it's going to take six full hours. Oh, nice. That's going to take six full hours to finally get this to a point where you're not worried about the embers catching. And if we didn't have the general work posting, I wouldn't have. Right. No. So I, Donovan wouldn't. I guess if Maddie cast a spell, there's no need to rush.

So Donovan would wait, I guess. And help. Yeah. He'd help out. He'd place Anven and Masoka in the cart nicely and help out with the fires. And then on the way back, he'd ride next to Masoka in the cage. What do we do with the armor, by the way, that Ulo found? Yeah, it was thrown away. As they're putting out the flames, though, Maddie would probably pick it up. She's not one to loot, but only because she'll probably be like, if we bring Masoka back, you would love this. So it's more like a hope, like when we bring him up back, he'll like this. Astra will nod at her and just say he wouldn't have wanted us to leave anything valuable behind anyways.

OK, so you're loading up in this cart. It is now, it's probably pretty close, it's probably a little after midnight, maybe one. Somewhere. Yeah, I mean, Astra kind of all before riding through the night, I don't think they want to sleep right now. Like, yeah. Oh, yeah, we would push it. It's just, I don't know if anyone could sleep. I'm just going to give you one level of exhaustion because you're going to push through the night. Thank you. That's fair. Like everything that just happened. Yeah, I think that's... Right, just emotionally, physically tired. Everyone would get 16 health.

Oh, yeah. Because she did a Mass Healing Word and Prayer of Healing. Good, good, good, good. OK. Oh, boy. So on the way back, I would say it's 4 or 5 a.m., something like that. It's going to be sunrise. Soonish. And there is a party heading in the opposite direction as you. So they're heading east, you're heading west. It looks to be two humans, maybe half elves and three minotaur, which is kind of an odd pack. And they are going to... They're going to... The two humanish looking people are going to kind of wave to the party as they get closer. Kind of a "oh, do you have a second" type of thing.

We don't have a second, so I tell whoever is driving, keep going. I imagine we all kind of look like shit. Right. Like they might be able to smell the bird bodies in the back. Oh, God. Yeah, so they wouldn't pursue you further, but it would be kind of a thing where like, oh, they didn't stop. Well, and that's it. After I give them like a half-hearted wave and then just like shake their head, sorry. Right. Along the way, probably Donovan would have tried to talk to Kerling one more time and just ask him, like, is there anything you can do? Oh, man, they're...

Do you happen to know a cleric? I'm sitting right next to her, yeah. I mean, one with the power it takes to attempt a resurrection. I guess that's where we're going right now. So you can't help me out at all, huh? Donovan, this isn't an easy thing to say, but is this someone you truly want to bring back? He's the only thing I have, man. He's all I've got. He seemed a fairly shifty person. Wow. Yeah. No offense. Is this... He was and he's grown so much. There is something we could attempt, but I have to warn you that this could take your life, Donovan. I can't die either.

Not now. What is it? In my years of worship, I was fortunate enough to... Attain the ability to resurrect. I only had to use it once in my lifetime. It was incredibly painful and... It was a distressing experience. I would not entertain the idea of doing it lightly. Donovan. Yeah. If you allow me to take temporary control of your body, I could attempt the spell. But again, this could kill you. I made a promise to someone else, but I don't even know if I'm going to see them again. Misoka has been with me all that time. I think I owe him that much. We can try it.

When would you like to attempt it? Maybe when we get to Aubrey, when there's, you know, qualified people around me. There's going to be a pause. Donovan, the Church of a Monitor is lucky to have you as a follower. Yeah. Would Donovan tell the rest of the party about this conversation? No, no, not now. All right. Here's what we're going to do. You remember the three that you guys rolled? That wasn't even it? That wasn't it. No. What we're going to do is we're going to leave that three. No, no, no. Ride with me. It's OK. It's OK. The three is out in the world. That doesn't change.

And I'm not going to ask you guys to roll again to go back. What we're going to do is we're going to advance time and you guys will return to the town of Aubrey at about, oh, geez, I'd say probably one, two in the afternoon the next day on the 14th of Ferior. Now, here's what I'm going to ask Maddie to do. I need two rolls from you. Oh, boy. They're going to be d20 rolls. Now, the first roll is to see if there would be a cleric in town that has the ability to resurrect, theoretically. Could I get that first d20? Can I use inspiration if this sucks? Yes. OK, cool.

OK, what do I need? What does that mean? OK, 14 is what I was looking for. Oh, motherfucker. OK, all is not lost. Now, there may not be a person with the ability to do this, but there might be something in town that could help. Now, what I need you to do is roll a second d20 and this will be the person or towns want to help. Like, what would be their incentive to help? Like, why would we do this for you? Does it help that both Maddie and Amven are from there? It might help for Amven. Yeah, I mean, something. Aren't I liked there? Yes, you are. OK, oh, God. Oh, motherfucker.

No! Amven, you're too much of a nerd. Oh, God. So you guys are battered and exhausted and you're going to roll into town. I would say that this is just on your face, right? You've just you've been up for over 24 hours. You've been through an explosion. There are dead bodies in the back of your wagon. It's just the fucking worst. What would be your first move coming into town? Go straight to the temple. OK. Following Maddie's lead. Right. I would say the first person that you're going to run into is Clarissa. And there were just just gobsmacked would be the expression, I would say.

So overwhelmed, like she's going to see you guys and realize instantly, oh, something's terribly wrong. And she would approach she would approach Maddie. And probably like grab her by the arms is just kind of like a steadying like, are you OK? What's wrong? What happened? Is there a cleric here? I mean, is there a stronger cleric here? Is there a cleric here who knows how to resurrect? Um, she's racking her brain trying to trying to think of something. I don't think there's anyone here currently. Why? What happened? And then Maddie will crack a little bit again and that emotional peek through and, oh, God, they're dead.

We had an accident and we lost Amven and Masoka and I need I need someone who can resurrect or I need something that can or or or where are they? We'll find them and we'll bring them here or we'll go to them. Where are they? Could you do me a favor and roll a persuasion check for me, please? I'm rolling like shit. Do I have to? I have faith. Clarissa is going to think for a few minutes and just kind of pacing back and forth that Flustered just wants to help but doesn't exactly know how to. And then she's going to turn to Maddie. Maddie, who died? Amven and Masoka.

Her mouth's going to hang open a bit. Bring them to the library. And she's going to turn and start to walk away. Can you help as she was walking away? Just bring them to the library. I think so. Just hurry. OK, OK, and then she'll turn to the group. Let's let's go. Yeah, we go. So, OK. Going to the library. She is going to welcome you in. There is no one beside her and you guys. She is going to turn around and lock the door. And she is going to just kind of sweeping gesture, knock all the books off of this long table and kind of pull one of the other long tables next to it and just instruct you guys, lay them on the table.

Yeah, we hurriedly place the both bodies on the tables. I also help her knock some books out because I hate books. Ubo is helping with all his stuff, too. He's just he's not he's not talking at all, but he's helping. Oh, boy. Clarissa is going to go to the back of the library and you're going to hear her fumbling around, clearly looking for a book. And it sounds as though there are some books that are not kept out with the general populace. There are things that are locked away. And after probably 10 minutes, she is going to return with this rather large looking leather bound tome.

And she's going to approach Maddie and she's going to want to pull her aside for a minute. Maddie will go. And you could tell she's kind of ramping herself up. There's something she wants to ask, but it's just... It's just really hard. What is it? How much does this mean to you? So does she look like distraught or stricken or... I would say pensive, like the look on her face probably screams, give me an inside check, actually. OK, look at her face screams, I think I have a tool to help you, but you better damn well mean it. I... This means... This means so much to me, I don't want either of them gone, but what are you going to do, Clarissa?

Oh, boy, she's going to place her hand on this book, just kind of gesturing to it. I found this a long time ago and I just kept it for... It was just research, it was just something I found interesting, but I think I can use blood magic to bring them back. And she's going to... Go ahead, sorry. I was just going to say, Maddie looks gobsmacked, like... Just... Wait, what? Like that look like... Clarissa, that's so dangerous. I know, I don't... I don't think I have another way to help. I don't know anybody that strong. Anybody that could do it is miles away. I'm not saying this would be easy.

This is pretty big, this would be a... This would probably be a trade. No, no, no. And then she's going to take the book out of her hands. No. And Clarissa would be pretty shocked at that, like, whoa. No trades. It's sad enough that we lost them, we're not going to lose you too. And she's like yelling, even if the people couldn't hear the earlier conversation, Maddie, they could hear this. OK, so this would probably echo through the library. Yeah. Donovan kind of looks up hearing that and think to himself, like, I guess that's my cue. Clarissa, it means a lot to me that you would even consider doing this, but no.

I guess we'll just have to... Where, how far away is the nearest cleric? I cast Gentle Repose on both of them. We'll just track them down. Because she doesn't know that Donovan could do anything. And her eyes will be filling up with tears at this point. Esther Holt? I hate to even bring this up, but it... I don't know what the terms of the deal would be, but it would be less if maybe you picked one person. No. And she, like the second the words left her mouth, she felt terrible. I know this is so much to put on you and I'm so sorry, but this is the only way I know how to help.

Does Ubo hear this conversation? I would say, yeah, like I'd say that once the entire group knows what's being talked about, I'd imagine all of you were kind of listening in. Well, then, Ubo, you were going to say something. Yeah, Ubo has just been kind of like squatting in a corner, taking this all in. And I guess he has overheard enough of this to kind of get what's going on. And he walks over to Mattie and finds Ubo and says, "I should die. I am a kin killer now. Trade me. If you don't, I go to their families and ask them to kill me." "If you don't, I go to their families and ask them to kill me." "If they do not kill me, I find some other way to die." "I am walking shame." Mattie's going to put the book down on the nearest table and then turn to Ubo.

"No. You are not shame. There is no way you could have known what was in there, Ubo." "It was an accident beyond your or mine or their control. There will be no trading." Tears well up in Ubo's eyes. "Ubo, I can't lose you too." "Do not make me live with this. Don't. I am a curse. I was a curse on the orcs." "I am a curse on the family I never knew, and now I am a curse on you and a curse on this journey." "Let me die. Put this curse behind you." Donovan is going to sigh really loudly from wherever he is. "Alright. I guess everyone is sad about this, but you guys talk a lot." And he says, "Kirkland, can we do this now?" "I'm really tired, but can we do this now?" "You'd get an affirmative from Kirkland." "Ubo, maybe you won't have to live with the shame again.

There won't be a choice to make between the two of them either." "I'm... I got Misoka." "What does that mean?" "Kirkland is going to help me out. If I don't make it, but he does, he's better off with you than he was with me." "What do you mean if you don't make it? What are you going to do?" "Kirkland is going to do his thing. I don't know what you guys do. He's going to bring Misoka back. I'm just going to be his tool." "That's what we came for. Not whatever Clarissa has in mind." "Kirkland, the ancient, famous ghost, is going to take over your body and resurrect Misoka." "Yes, my armor is going to bring back Misoka." "At worst case scenario, I'm crazy and nothing happens.

Alright?" "Resurrections have you stuffed, Donovan? It's going to hurt you." "It already hurts a lot right now." "What if you die too?" "We're in town. Just find me a nice spot." "I mean, this little adventure we're having, it's over for me right now. I was tagging along, but that's it. End of the road right now." "It's been good. Sorry, go ahead." "It's your decision, but maybe just take... we have the time to take one more day to be sure. It's not..." "Okay, I can do that. If everybody here promises no blood magic, no guilt trip, self-pity, suicide combat mission, and he tries to find more party members..." "Oh no!" "It's worth giving it a shot." "Just be sure this isn't you doing some guilt trip suicidal move." "Nah.

I think that's the one thing I'll ever make right." "Master's right, we have time. Gentle Repose gives us four days, so... let's... and I know I've heard of clerics doing resurrections before. They prep, they get their bodies ready, so... you're ragged and hurt and singed, so maybe now isn't the best time to try this." "Okay. Okay." "So what's the plan, guys?" "I guess we spend four days in Ovry." "Well, no, it lasts four days. After four days, we can't do it." "We're healing and resting, and then we're gonna try, I guess..." "I'd do it the day after as soon as I'm not exhausted and back to full width points." "So are we..." "Maybe have some coaching." "Maybe first light or something in the morning, I don't know." "Yeah, you had a nice spot in the temple." "Yeah, I was gonna say we should do that in the temple just for the... maybe a little extra time." "Make sure Alexandra's watching." "Yeah, that would be a thing." "So are we leaving... so Amven is... then..." "He's got four days." "Well..." "I'm sorry, sorry Amven, but yeah, Donovan did not extend the offer to you." "Oh, it's fine.

It's not like we created a relationship of like, best bros, so that's cool. It's fine." "We'll see what happens." "And if he nails it with Masochia, he's like, 'Oh, I got this.'" "I don't think you'd have it in you to do that." "I wouldn't attempt it." "That sounds like a bad idea." "I don't know. Clarissa said if it wasn't two people, so who knows? Not to influence anything." "Yeah, depending on how it goes, maybe we'll do the blood magic next." "And you're so teeny, teeny tiny, it won't be too hard to bring you back. You don't need a lot of blood." "I'm a half person, it's fine." "Yeah." [Laughter] "Well?" "I know it's midnight, but I kinda wanna see if we have time to see how it pans out." "If the restaurant does the whole thing though..." "Yeah." "We can look." "I wanna try it." "I'm gonna think an entire month, like, what's next." "Yeah." "Here's what's gonna happen." "Let's advance time to the 15th.

Let's say that you tried to rest and forget about this as much as possible and prepare yourselves." "So I'm gonna give a long rest to everybody." "It is the 15th of Ferriore." "Clarissa would have pulled Maddie aside and told her not to tell Alexandra about this. Not until they know what's going to happen." "Cause she would definitely try and stop Clarissa from doing this." "But she wants to help, but she knows you guys are out fighting the good fight, so to speak." "Let's say that Masochi's body is prepped in the temple." "Would there be anything Donovan would like to do before attempting this?" "Yeah, is there anyone... is it just a party? Is it private?

Or is there more people from the church doing it?" "They would probably give you privacy." "Okay." "He'd just tell the group... when I first set out across Elara..." "That's the name of the continent, right? Elara?" "Yep." "Okay. When I first set out across Elara..." "I made a promise with this guy that one day I'd meet him again, our path would cross again." "And that day we'd settle down and we'd live happily ever after." "After a life... a wonderful life of discovery." "I guess I really wish I could have seen this outcome, but..." "I've just been with Masochi this whole time, and I can't even think about how many men I love before that." "So for all that matters, Masochi is the man I love.

And Maddie..." "If I don't make it back, I hope you keep that ring." "Yeah, let's just do this." "Maddie will probably hug Donovan, and while she's hugging him, if anybody could do it, it'd be you, Donovan." "And then let go." "And then Astor will also give him a hug." "Yeah, he hugs back. I like a nice, warm embrace." "Okay. Before you attempt this, I need you to know a few things just in case you don't know them." "Okay." "And in so many words, Kirkland would probably fill you in on this." "So you're going to be attempting to essentially wrestle a soul away from the Raven Queen.

That is a trial." "It's gonna be crazy painful. If you do survive, you're gonna feel it." "And there's no guarantee that this will bring back Masochi, and there's no guarantee that if he does come back, he's gonna be 100%." "You're gonna take damage. Whether this spell is successful or not, you're gonna take it. There is no way to mitigate it." "There's nothing anybody could do to soften this blow." "Are you ready?" "Yes." "Before you start, would Guidance help at all? Does he have to do ability checks?" "No, this is just... yeah, there's nothing basically you could do to improve this.

This is pretty much all on Donovan." "Okay, okay. Just want to give him any extra edge you could do. Okay, I'm done." "So, the good news is, if this does work, all damage to Masochi would be healed." "His skin would be pretty much blemish-free. All of his injuries would heal up. That's why prepping the body pretty much involves taking out all those jagged bits of wood and splinters and glass." "It would be a process. Are you ready?" "Yes." "Alright. The first roll is a flat d20. Obviously the higher the better, but this is the roll that lets us see if Masochi comes back." "Here we go.

Let's go. That's a 19." "Ohh." "So, we're going to get into the effects to Masochi. He's going to be very weak, and it's going to be a trial. But with some time and rest, he'll be back to 100 percent." "Now I have to roll damage." "No trades. No trades." "Before you do. Does Kirkland appear when he does the magic, like a cool Jojo stand?" "It would probably just be a difference in Donovan's eyes. There'd be a glow coming off of him. It'd be pretty obvious that there'd be a way of carrying himself, but it's not how Donovan would carry himself." "Cool." "Damn, that'll...

Okay." "I'm ready." "So before I roll this, I believe... 79. 79 is the damage you'd have to take before that would outright kill Donovan. So right off the bat, the odds are in your favor. Everyone cross your fingers." "I already crossed." "Sorry, I just did a quick math. It would be 84, I think. It's total plus half." "Yes." "Okay, yeah, so that would be 56. Half of 56 is... I'll just do it again. I just want to make sure." "23, I believe." "27." "28." "So, plus 56, 84." "Okay, 84. Got it. My bad." "Notified." "My bad. So 4. 84 is the number we don't want anything... 84 or higher." "46 damage to Donovan." "Look how low those rolls are." "Ooh, that's the opposite of earlier." "There's like 4 ones." "Oh man, not even down." "So here's what's going to happen.

This is going to be an intense wave of pain, obviously, going through Donovan. Masocha is going to come back. There will be no lasting damage to his psyche or mental state. However, you are going to take a negative 4 penalty, Masocha will, to all attack rolls, saving throws, and ability checks. Every time the target finishes a long rest, the penalty is reduced by 1 until it disappears. The same is going to happen to Donovan. So both of you are absolutely exhausted, but alive." I fall back on my butt, sitting with my legs stretched out forward and resting on my hands by my hips, just panting and breathing, sweating profusely.

And he'll just say, "I'm a goddamn paladin." Did Donovan see anything? What did it feel like? I'm just trying to imagine taking a soul or something. I would describe it from Donovan's perspective, because it's not technically him casting the spell, but it went through his body, it channeled through him. I mean, I would almost—like 2001 A Space Odyssey type of thing, where it's just— Yeah. It's just a freak out, pretty much. And it's minutes past, but it feels like seconds and then just the sharp wave of pain. Yeah, that's fair. Guys, I think that's a good time for us to stop for the evening.

Holy crap. Hey, welcome back, James. James! Hi. I'm so sorry, Michael. So sorry, Michael. We're gonna do blood magic next, don't worry. Yeah, Ubo's offer's still on the table, basically. That cannot possibly go wrong. It'll be great. It sounds like there will be an attempt anyways. Like, the blood magic thing, to me, that feels like even if we rolled all nat 20s, he'd still come back as some demon zombie thing. I just don't—the way it's gotten in the past in the show, I do not trust it. Well, I mean, hear it out, Michael. What kind of stat bonuses do demon zombies get?

Just if we were spitballing, like— I just figured my specialty in evocation changes to necromancy. Oh, you get the skeletal reach around now. Okay. Xavier, damn you. Out of character. I did not want you to try that. And in character, I don't know what Masoka would have done if you came back and you died. Yeah. That's what I was thinking. Like, imagine that. There were a lot of 1s rolled on that. Yeah, you got—like, both of those rolls were so damn lucky. Yeah. Like, that was something like a Vonitore nudging. Like, I don't know. Like, what? A Vonitore really likes Masoka.

Yeah, well, yeah. Yeah, that's gonna have some— Oh, yeah. Some effects there. Trust me. Well, that's how we're closing out December, guys. Oh, really? Yeah, this is gonna be the last episode of the year. Oh my god. Really? Well, at least the end— Can you—when Masoka comes back, can you add, like, jingles? [laughter] Like, Christmas jingles? Oh! Like, it's a Christmas miracle? Oh! God bless us, everyone! Sorry, yeah. There's still a dead guy next to him, but it's— There's a long silence, and then, like—and then he draws a sharp breath, and it's like, "Jing, jing, jing, jing, nah, nah, nah, nah, nah, nah." And he looks at Donovan, "Are you an angel?" Oh, no.

Is Kirkland still there? Like, he didn't get, like, used up or anything? I hope not. Or is he gonna possess Donovan forever now? I wanna—I wanna, like—like, that's gonna be interesting if he's still around to see the thing, like, after he brought back Masoka. I hope so. What if by making the spond closer, by taking over his body, now he knows you've been lying to him? [laughter] It was about to happen. He's gone forever. No. [laughter] Whew. Um, so today was an episode, wasn't it? I posted on Twitter a little while back that we were gonna end the year with a bang.

That was not what I had planned. But, yeah, we already have the next Group A in the bag. We're gonna find out next year exactly what's gonna be happening with the group. And I just wanted to take a second to thank you guys, because 2018 has been our best year yet. Without you guys listening to the show and sharing it with your friends, writing in, supporting us, being on Patreon, all that wonderful stuff, we can't do what we do year in and year out. Now, obviously 2019 is gonna be pretty big if everything goes according to plan. April is going to be—April 20th, actually—is going to be our seven-year anniversary.

That's seven years of DNR, which is weird to say. It doesn't feel like it's been seven years, but I mean, it has. We're gonna be launching the Kickstarter for our Setting Book, which we are hard at work on. Jameson's been helping us out with editing and trying to—we're slowly marching towards things like layout, we're getting artwork done, a brand new map. There's a wonderful artist for character art that we want to get going on and all that stuff. It's been really, really great. Lots of hard work behind the scenes going into that. But the year's not quite over yet.

We'll be recording a little thing this next Saturday, actually, all about feedback. Your feedback for the show. Things you think we're doing right, things you think we're doing wrong, things you think we could just be doing a little better on. We've been fielding your emails now for a while if you sent one in to us, and I haven't replied to you yet. That's just because we're gonna be reading it out on the feedback episode, and I'll kind of take the time there. So thank you very much if you have been sending us stuff. That's super helpful. Obviously, we want to tighten any loose nuts and bolts and make things as pleasurable to listen to for you guys as possible.

Over on our Patreon at patreon.com/dandr. Again, thank you very much for supporting us. We're getting ready to record a big living intheria on monster hunting. Actually, we have our 75 questions completely ready to go, probably more if we wanted them. So thank you guys for getting all your questions to us. That'll probably be a couple hours long, something like that. I'll try to answer in as great detail as I can. And we have a wonderful Christmas one shot going up. Bree's editing that one right now. So that'll be going up in our Patreon probably a week or so from now towards the end of the year, something like that.

And we'll be doing a character chat with Karen, everybody. So lots of stuff coming to you guys on Patreon. Thank you guys so much once again for your support. 2018 has been amazing, and you guys are just wonderful. I don't think you guys get the shoutout that you necessarily deserve week in and week out. But everybody I talk to on Facebook is wonderfully pleasant. Same thing on Twitter. Some of you have been listening with us since the beginning. And again, I want to thank you guys. Thank you so much. Our Discord has been amazing recently, and there's a good, I don't know, 200-300 people on our Discord, something like that.

It's a really nice community. So with that being said, I'm going to stop rambling and close things out. Thank you guys. If you haven't given us a review yet, swing by iTunes, give us a review, all that good stuff. And we'll see you next week with one more recording in the main feed before we wrap things up for 2018. Thank you guys. Have an awesome week, and we'll see you next time.