 So, you find yourselves in the Athenium of Vertheim, the second floor. There are various robid persons walking, talking, laughing, arguing, discussing, kind of among themselves in a large, hall-like space. And you also see that there is an open room to the north of you that you can see are various portals, and through those portals you can see all the different locations, not only where you have been, but you have seen a spine of death members showing up. Aside from one that you've not been before, it looks to be some kind of a heavily wooded area. Can... I've been all over Balcanus, does that look familiar to me at all? Yes, it does. It's just kind of like a general woods kind of towards the south of Yedzel, a thick brush. There are a lot of wolves and wargs and various other kind of woodland creatures that makes the place pretty dangerous, but great for hunting game. It's the area that we said we were going to go to, and then the next session we immediately went to. And then you didn't. To rub a wooden sted and said pranked. Yep. Oops. I know, I do. But you do see Balcanus proper, kind of around the outside area. You see the mountains of Yedzel. You see the grassy plains of Ruggerwood. And you see the outer portion of Chester City. It's very interesting all the stuff in the north of Joe, but I'd like to call attention to all the things on the south because it looks like he's finally brought in enough NPCs to make this an even fight. So yes, you do see many necromancers, but it doesn't seem like they've paid you any mind as they are wearing robes similar to you going about their day. It seems some are carrying books, kind of going back and forth between rooms, passing you by, going up and down the stairs. I think we have one necromancer for every one of Nathaniel's hit points. Yeah. Which means just don't let them hit you. Rich way looks, if this makes any sense, the fanciest. Like, you know how when rituals happen, there's like this special little like section that's like quartered off for like all these cool events and all that. But it doesn't get used otherwise. Is there anything that looks so similar to that? You can give me a perception check. OK, I will do that. OK, hi, OK, looking at this place, the architecture is bare bones, plain, functional, completely devoid of most decorations or anything like that. The stone walls are completely flat and without any sort of special carvings, like I said, undecorated. However, judging by the importance of each room by the elevation that you're going up and down, it seems as though the more important rooms are going to be higher up. However, if that where that pertains to where Merth or Bloodstride is, it's hard to say. Yeah, I'd like to look to Luke. Do you know what we're supposed to go next? He shrugs his shoulders. I am unsure of the whereabouts of your friend or Bloodstride, but I'm sure with your investigative skills you can likely manage. I am unfortunately unable to help for very much being of a higher rank. I have duties to attend to so as to not pay suspicion with the spine, which such a ritual not be a is such a ritual a widely discussed topic. I'm assuming that something that doesn't happen every day. It is happened in secrecy so as to not have anyone perhaps eavesdropping or possibly interfering. It is a very sacred time. So it is not okay to speak of openly if we just waited into this craft. No, although perhaps there are some that do not follow the rules of the spine as closely I know of a few troublemakers and he squints his eyes and just kind of looks to his side. However, looking at any one in particular, he seems like he's just in thought. Oh, OK, damn it, sir. He's a dad here. All right. God, I can't believe he's such a dad. Where were you? Where were you? Where were you when I needed it? OK, didn't realize I was opening trauma today. He reaches into a sleeve and pulls out a small kind of round stone of some kind. When you are ready, here is a sending stone. So you may contact me whenever you need to, as well as anybody else who you might meet along the way. And you are ready to the room to the north is the Portaling center that we may use to leave this place and return to Belknis. What are the names of the junior members here? What is their title? You may simply call them students to our learning. Very good. I'm going to take the stone and walk away. OK, I guess we're going to go and start talking to folks. And he heads up the stairs. Cool. Well, time to go mingle. Kara kind of comes and just like comes up to you guys. Now, this place is very intriguing, and I would like to explore it myself. However, I do know the importance of staying with a group. Would you rather me stay here? If not, I am going to poke and prod around. Why don't you take one of us with you? I'm more than happy to go. I would prefer not to split the party. Oh, that's fair. Yeah, we got to remember that. That's absolutely valid. Yeah, no. Poking prodded to your leisure. Stinky cock. Very well. If you need me, you have your sending stone. All right. Don't they? That would suck. Oh, I've had plenty of people tried to kill me over the years. Yeah, I only doubt she would. She heads downstairs. I also doubted I would ever see my father again. And yet here we are working with him, you know? Sometimes it just happens that we just a sandwich from. It is. OK, I think I know. She wants to go to her room. Yeah, she's getting her things. You know that we, you know, that's valid. That she wanted to destroy it earlier, I think. Yeah, she did. But she wants her seat down there. Yeah, she wants to destroy it. So that's valid. She also she also meant to be looking around to see if she can't find anything about a phone. Very true, very true. As you guys head down to first, is it is it Nathaniel and Renee that are wearing the old robes? Yes. Yes. As you walk down, you can see that some of the students notice you. And when they do, as you walk by, they kind of like take a few steps back and bow to you, Professor, Professor. Just bows. You know, I'm going to walk off the first one. I see. Yeah. Wait, what do you do? Nathaniel, I'm going to walk up to the very first one. I see this one right here. I'm going to look down at it as it bows. It's good that I'm already tall, but it just made itself smaller in front of me. Uh-huh. Are you there? I'm looking for another student, a satyr. Have you seen them? Oh, let's see. I haven't seen them in a while. Are you you're talking about Murth? Yeah, that's the only satyr I know. Don't often get those. I don't respond to his question. I don't answer questions from this person. Do you know if when was the last place that you saw them? Yesterday, actually. But wherever they were then, I just simply saw them in the eatery. But that was yesterday. Wherever they are now. Who knows? Perhaps they're doing the ritual. That's not really my business to pry. Very well. Then you might go about your business. Thank you, Professor. And he heads off into the wall. Of course, good. Yes, I guess I'm going to follow. I'm going to follow Nathaniel, because I'm just like, I'm not different for both. Like I'm not leaving you squishy bastards. Yeah. Thanks, buddy. I don't know what's in this room, but I need to look like I'm going somewhere. All right. Yeah. So you go into that room and as you open the door, you feel just like the kind of auditory crowd of the hall. Just like vanish as it is completely quiet and you only hear a lone voice in the room. Almost like it was completely shut out as you you pass like an invisible barrier of noise. And inside you see this. Oh. Oh, it's a glass. Oh, shit. We just entered a classroom. You see several students sitting at desks listening in to a lecture from the professor up front. It looks to be an elf who immediately goes silent as you enter and kind of gives you a look of jubilation. Good. Finally, I knew a few students were missing and a few professors as it looks like. Perhaps you can help me with my lecture. Of course. Also, Enoch, what are you doing? I'm kind of just like keeping my head down. I wanted to actually go across the hall and see what might be over there. OK. Well, let's let's do this first and then we can go to you. OK. Yeah. So yes, how do you three respond? Do you see that the the elf is looking at all of you? I will say, of course. Ah, good. Oh, gosh. Finally, my face betrays no emotion. What class is it? What's on the board? Tell me this is like a history class or something. Tell me it's something I can lie about. So looking at the board, it looks to be some kind of teaching of magic, i.e. necromancy. You can give me an arcana check to see what you would know about it. Oh, no. No, no, no. Is this only Renee? Can I say this? Well, anyone who wishes can do an arcana check on the board. Oh, no. Oh, man. Can I make a point for fun, too? Go ahead, Luna. Bum, bum, bum, bum. So that's a twelfth. Oh, don't know shit, except you recognize that it's like, oh, though they're probably perhaps maybe like looking like looking at some how dead bodies can be applied to certain chores, perhaps, based on the diagrams. I'm the only one with with proficiency in arcana and I just didn't really join you guys. I'm so sorry. The professor just kind of like throws his arms towards kind of like gesturing towards the desk and stuff. Come on, come on, come on in. I will stride in with all the confidence of a person who does not know what he's in for. Just go in. Yeah, and Renee's like you're the worst. This is the one who's like to lie on your resume. I guess, I guess. I already know what I'm doing. I have a plan. I'm a very tactical student, so I'll take the seat. Now then, where were we? I guess, proper use of the undead in domestic life. Now, it's not all as simple as summoning and giving them a command. There is a special ritual you need. Isn't that right, professors? Would you like to help them? And he just is over to Renee and Nathaniel. Now, what is that special thing that you need, a special command when you summon? Uh, oh, God. Oh, you're too worried by every necromancer in this building. You can see all eyes are on you. Oh, God, why did I have to get a critical fail? Wait, I have an idea. OK, go for it. Listen, I'm trusting you on this one. OK, all right. I'm going to stare, or I'm going to look at the board. I'm going to pick up the piece of chalk. Without wordlessly, I'm going to draw a circle and then under that a line. And then I'm going to connect some lines to that. And I'm going to collect a few more lines until I have a person, a little stick figure. OK, right, right. Necromancy is more than raising the dead and summoning how much is about I hit that I tap that skull control. I turn to the rest of the to the rest of the class. And did any of you know that you are able to command the undead even before they have left the body? Oh, you can see that the professor looks a little bit nervous. Pardon, Professor, I don't think I caught your name. You knew. No, of course not. And I look at my cloak like this cloak that apparently is worn only by old members, of course, not. Well, right. But with all due respect, we're talking about controlling the body after that they are dead. Perhaps you have a class at some other points talking about enchantment, but with all due respect, my class right now is learning about the dead. I look question like I look back to to Renee and then back to the question. I have a question. What's up? We've seen the dead being summoned already. Our lovely neighborhood necromancer has done it several times during our encounters. Do I remember what she did? Hmm. Give me a straight up intelligence check. OK, let's see. That's to see if you can like the other one. Let's go for anything in particular. With a 16, you remember most of the undead that were given tasks usually had something in hand. What? Like an item? Yes. And I don't remember what the item is. They were. Did they? I mean, the ones that had something in hand, like it was related to their task, like the one you raised a sweep. Was it a specific thing? Yes. OK, so like basically, Renee is going to actually jump on with the Daniel. OK, I got I got an idea. I got a plan. I got a plan. OK, let's do this. You and me. Let's go now. Let's go. She goes. No, he's most certainly right. Being able to understand the body when it's living gives you a better idea of what task it'll be most most capable of when it's dead. Being able to control them is being able to understand what they were best at in life so that you can use them wisely in death. Yes, and there is evidence that controlling for instance, a skeleton that was good at botany and having to control or maintain plants. You'd give them a hoe or a rake or something to help them. The professor snaps his fingers and points to Renee. Exactly the easiest way to make your command more effective is by giving the undead a tool. The fitting of the command. She just nods and says she gives a sort of glare of like, if you interrupt me again, I swear to God, I will eat your children. Raise a hand. It's like literally she doesn't even like move her hands. She just like does a slow turn of her neck over to the professor. He like flinches a little bit. Sorry, just excited. For instance, who would like to be an example? I stand up. That's good. Anyone anyone else any other takers? You see, all of the students is kind of looking and whispering among themselves and doesn't seem like anybody else wants to volunteer. So that's unfortunate. I'm going to do something about that. Oh, I was going to say. Well, actually, look, check, check this out. I've got enthralling performance, not enthralling. Yeah, wait, yes, enthralling performance. Oh, God. You're going to use that now? What? It's a non combat ability. I might as well use it now. And so it's been about a minute. I'm going to target. I know he's an elf, but I'm going to target him anyway, because he's he's just got resistance. That's a tiefling, I assume. And target that one. Those are goblins. Yeah. Those are elves as well. The yellow ones are at that. Was this one was the black one is human. The red one is a tiefling. The orange one is Dragonborn. The green ones in the back are orcs. What's the blue one? The blue one is a drought. Is that a drought? God damn it. Let's just know. OK, I want to pick him, pick him, pick him, pick him. And yeah, let's put the Dragonborn as well. I pick all five of these guys. OK, they're going to have to make wisdom saves. Oh, boy, if they succeed, they have no idea. I tried to charm them in the first place. I have a plan. What is the very good plan? Sorry, the DC is I don't like that it's not written down, but it is 16. 16. OK. Be worse. Yeah, would you believe that every single one of the students succeeds, but the professor fails? That's great. Good. Oh, teacher, the lesson to the teacher. In that case, what I'm going to do is I'll look at the students. Fine, then I suppose I'll start with one. You want to go to as I look at Luna. Oh, shit. Oh, God, don't make me answer questions. What are you good at? General question. Anything. Drunking. I don't know. That one. I. Luna is going to shrug. Is everyone's she's just like, Renee's actually OK, seeing that. Renee's going to like put on her her bad, bad teacher face. Walk over. Are you good at running? Valley. Well, there you go. She's like, like Renee had her hands on the desk and she like leaned into Luna. And then hearing the answer, she'll just nod and then lean back up and walk the other way. Very good. Then running. All right. I'm going to like pull my my glove down so it's like all tight against my hand. And I'm going to pantomime casting neck neck her man. See, I'm Luna. OK, like just the impression of magic. Give me a performance check. Oh, good. I'm good at those, he said, lyingly. OK, well, seeing enough of how the spine of death cast their magics, you make a few hand gestures that look akin to casting necromancy. Yeah, to be fair, I've been studying Kara's notes nonstop since we began this. So I'll do what I remember from her. And like I will as I do this, say in your if you in life are good at running, which does not necessarily require items, but perhaps your shoes will work, then your skeleton inside you upon death will also be very good at running. Observe and as I cast the spell and then stop or like and then put my hand back down, I'll nudge my head to the side or run out of this room. And then once you reach the main corridor, walk back, find someone random amongst them, bring them back here. I do that. So run as fast as you can, girly fucking papers. Fine as you can see, it has nothing to do with enchantment. Sometimes bones are just bones. You thought they were special because you were in because they were inside you nonsense. OK, well, you you continue your lecture. And in the meantime, ignoring the request to not split the party, Enoch, what are you doing? I I wanted to actually try and like see what was in every room. I wanted to check the other room, like not go inside, but like sneak my way over to the other room and see what's inside and see if I can find my earth. OK, yeah, you can. You can search on that left room if you want. OK, searching, looking inside the left room, you can see that it is a nearly identical looking classroom with a less enthusiastic gnome teacher who sees you peeking through and gives you death glares and simply speaks up. Oh, I'm sorry. And am I interrupting something? Am I teaching on your time? No. What is your name, student? Where are you supposed to be? You're not in my class. I don't recognize you. What is your schedule? And I come on. I don't have all day. You're wasting my time. You've already wasted it too much. I was actually trying to find somebody. Well, they're not here, most likely, or else you would have spotted them. Now get out of my sight before you waste more of my time or you can stay and actually do something productive. Yeah, and I walk out. Oh, it's crazy. Remember when you said the carousel has had it handled? Yeah. Where are they? Now that I understand the layout of this place, I walk back out, I see Luna and I'm just like, I just walk over to Luna. I have no idea what I am doing. Am I in this now? Is that what's happening? Yeah, I saw you run out and I walked over and I have no idea what I'm doing. Why the fuck did you go off on your own and I grab you by the arm and I start dragging you with me? Oh, what? Yeah, I go without. Just follow Nathaniel's act for God's sake. Yep. I drag him in here. All right. And on the return, you can see that the Elven professor just like claps his hand. Very good, professor. Um, I didn't get your name. Yes, I know you didn't. As you can see, the skeleton moved at a faster pace than a normal skeleton would. Impressive. I've going to have to write that down. He pulls out like a little pocket sized notebook. Be sure to alter my curriculum. I can see to it that you do. It's very important that we understand how to control people even before death. Right. If that helps your class enough, I have business to attend to. No, of course. Thank you for your time. Now then, class, everyone say thank you. And everyone's just like, thank you. You can see there's a few of them that are asleep. Oh, oh, my God. I want to do something stupid. Do it. Oh, can I? I necromancers can have other spells. They can. Oh, I don't have thaumaturgy. I'm so sad. Oh, which one's sleeping? You can use mage hand. You can see there's an the orc back here is like face down on his desk. I am just going to like use mage hand and I'm just going to flick him in the nose. All right, yep. You mage hand over and like flick him and he just like slips and falls on his desk and bumps his head underneath it. Renee is just going to friches and giggles before leaving. Walk over to this orc and lean down. Like her knees are not bent. She is full on just like plank leaning over this body. Oh, you can see he's rubbing his head just like looks up at you. It's just kind of an embarrassment. Can you tell me what you just learned in this lesson? Yeah, it's some you've got, you know, with the summoning and you take the broom and it's like a leg, right? Renee is going to pick this poor boy, this poor little orc, up by the scruff of his collar. Like, she's not very strong, mind you. So she's basically using the sheer power of her presence to lift him up, compel him to lift himself up and she's going to look at the class and go, this is exactly why you need to focus so you don't make as much of an ass of yourself as he is. You can see a few of them are chuckling kind of under their breath. Ha, ha, ha, ha. And you would do well to respect your fellow students by not laughing at their mistakes and helping them when they make them in the future. Everyone shuts up and just like turns their heads back towards the front of the front of the class. And with that, she will just walk out and she will walk out of the classroom. Not another word. Goodbye. Thank you for your time, Professor. All right, I'm taking this student as an example for future classes. Very well. Now, where was I? Yes, use of necromancy in domestic life and you just hear groans from everyone as you leave. Renee's just like, as soon as they're out, fucking looks over. Well, that's fucking right. Like, Jesus fucking Christ. I was just trying to find Murth, goddamn. I was not. Onward we go. Wow, there's a surprising amount of people in my way. You can see, they move out of the way. I'm not moving every single token. How dare you? My immersion is broken. We are important people. As you're passing by, as you're passing by, you do bump into someone who is walking backwards, kind of being rowdy. And they bump into someone very short and they stumble and seem to drop a few things. And they just turn to you. Hey, what are you going, tall folk? You nearly made Bookwick drop. She looks and notices that you're dressed in some old robes. Alchemy project. All right, the ones you said were Bookwick. Yes, Bookwick is Bookwick. She gestures to herself. You can see, you notice it is a goblin. Oh. Um, no one adopted the goblin, guys. But I want one. But we have to. What was it that you called me, Bookwick? Um, hey, tall folk, Professor. You are tall folk. You are taller than most goblin. All right. And why did you choose that specific term? Uh, give me an intimidation check. Can I just give advantage because I haven't said a word this whole time, but I'm basically using the same sort of tactic I used in the classroom. You may, you may, yeah, help, help action. Oh my God. Oh, that's a joy. She picks up her items in like one swift motion and bolts away. Jesus. I don't understand why people always do that. I'm only asking some questions. Oh, we wanted. Oh, that would be my fault. I'm sorry. Yeah. Remember, you're kind of intimidating. I look to Renee and don't be sorry. Oh, okay. Just, just not like, okay, we're going into another room. All right. Going into another room. When you go in this one, you see that inside there seems to be a few professors, a few professors that seem to be surrounding a bone golem. They are all discussing a few things that you can't really quite hear kind of before they stop and notice you walk in and you can see that there's a tiefling there and she looks pissed. Oh no. She turns to you and just speaks up. This area is off the limits. We shut it out and we said that no professor is to enter until we are finished. Right. The sign must have fell off and I leave. She calls out wait. I don't recognize you. Who is this person? Who is this inside check? Who the fuck is this person? Tell me what to do. A professor like us. Is it a professor? You notice that the loops are decorated more like loops, purple, whereas the students are decorated in green. Oh fuck. Okay. Oops. So you still want to roll that insight? Yes. I definitely still do. I want to know who the fuck like this. The audacity. Yeah. The audacity. The audacity alone. Necrohunt and the audacity of this bitch. You notice that this tiefling. She does seem to hold herself in very high regard and you know it seems as though that the other two in the room as well are kind of on her side kind of like very much also giving you a face of like yeah what the hell. And it seems as though she is very confident in the words that she's speaking and she seems to hold some kind of very high authority from what it sounds like but she is very mad. You wouldn't recognize us. We have been in just a city for the last month. Hmm. You can see actually give me a persuasion check. You're not lying but you are trying. She does need to be convinced. Could it be deception? I am lying. I mean we haven't been there for a month. We were there for a few days. Okay. You can do deception. You know what? Yeah. It's just not a whole last lie. It's just not a whole last lie. It's just a half lie. Joe, this place is making me sweaty. Knees we can't spaghetti. Yeah. Knee too. Arm spaghetti. The tiefling takes a few steps forward. Hmm. Chester city. And what was your mission in Chester city? Who sanctioned this? Do I know if my rank out ranks my dad? Hmm. That is not information that you would know. Dammit. Why didn't Luke tell me? I can't play this right if I don't know. I will take a step. Oh, yeah. Actually, you know what? You go. You haven't got a chance to say anything. Oh God. Unless you want me to. I have an answer ready but it's up to you. Listen, I'm more likely to go with yours than I am to come up with one myself. Okay. I'll take a step forward. Do it. Match it. Let's try. Had us on a recruitment mission. Give me one more deception check. Okay. All right. Yeah. Yeah. We're back. I went out of the house to roll that 16, but now we're back in because we only roll 20s in this house. Yeah. Guide. She just, uh, she just rumps very well. And what of those students? Shouldn't they be in class? What are they following you for? Come on. Speak up. She just looks to the two students now. Oh, it's their turn. Look, I presume you both have a good reason why you're following these professors around. They told me I had unique potential. Oh my God. Yeah. Yeah. Renee just kind of nods and goes, both of the students showed promise. We decided to give them a little bit more observation just to be sure. You can't be too careful. Hmm. And what is their promise? What are their unique potential? Come on. Can't you two speak up for yourselves? A good necromancer knows to stand tall. Fuck it. Renee is going to delve into, uh, fucking, uh, Luna's brain. I'm going to be using my telepathic. I'm going to dive into Luna's brain and just to help out be like, you are a really good fighter. You are a very good fighter. Listen to me. Necromancers are very good at coming up with super shit. Imagine the potential of having necromancers who are very good at defense and being able to build them up and protect the other necromancers around them, especially in bad goodness. It's very fucking important. You just, you like, hop right through this. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Like when I turned around to face Luna and just have to like go on, but as she's looking at me, I was like, Luna, Luna, Luna. Listen to me. Listen to me. Okay. And her eyes. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Luna will step forward and I'm going to make a motion with my shoulder to jostle my chain mail. I'm a bit more resilient than some of the other students you have here. Ah, I see. Bloodstry did say something about trying to recruit more people capable of fighting in hand to hand. And you, young man, come on. Oh, me. I'm really good at making mechanical and also applying magic to undate things. Like imbuing him with magic. Yeah. Right. Artific. Hmm. Yeah. Like using necromyte for artific. Very strange. Where are you from? Australia. Yeah. As you can see, they need a little bit more observation because sometimes their magic tends to backfire and it causes them a little bit of trouble. As you can see, they need a little bit more observation because sometimes their magic tends to backfire and it causes them a little bit more damage than would be beneficial. So keep an eye on them and make sure that the merchandise stays good. This must be a unique case. Whatever. As long as bloodstry knows what he's doing. Now what business have you here? We've told every professor there should have been a message given out that this place is off limits for the next two hours. Like I said, your message failed. Oops. Get a better message. She shares daggers at you, Nathaniel. What? Renee is just meeting you. My face betrays no emotion. Renee is just meeting that same energy. Nathaniel doesn't need to meet the energy. I'm meeting that same energy. Bitch, I want to go. You can see the dragonborn just comes back. Professor, perhaps we could simply just return to the task and just trying to calm her down. Phew. And that is seeing the student kind of like talk her down to like, looks like we at least we have our students under observation and the students aren't observing us and says, and Renee will turn around and walk away. Goodbye, bitch. Oh boy, you guys are playing with fire. Yeah. And I am. It's fine. This teacher can either be angry or wrong, but they're not allowed to be both. Exactly. Renee is going to walk away. This is not good. Okay. What the fuck was that accent? You are talking about perhaps not in front of all of the students in the hallway full of students. She just sigh and walk like. Okay. So going into that room, you can see one second. Just watch this be another fucking project. Okay. You walk in there and you can see inside that there are various different skeletons as well as a few storage chests. You can see the skeletons are just tending to a few things. They're kind of bringing things in and out just like kind of arranging things in the chest. You can see that there are various clothes, papers, a few little weapons and trinkets and stuff like that. Okay. They don't seem to be paying you any mind. Yeah. I really want to know what's in the boxes. Yeah. I want to know what's in the... I'm going to look to the first skeleton. Any of these boxes dangerous to open. You see the skeleton doesn't respond. It's simply just arranging things in the box, closes it, locks it and hangs the key on a belt that it has. And it's about to walk out of the room. What happens if I try to take the key? I reach for the key. You reach for the key? Do you take the key? Is it stopping me? No. It seems to go about its way and continues to walk and is trying to snake between you to kind of leave the room. You know what? This business does not concern me. These are boxes in the middle of the room. I'm not here for treasure. I'm here for mirth. Yeah. Friendship is my treasure. Yeah. Like, I think Renee is kind of almost reaching for it and then she's going to go back and she's like, she'll like walk away. Don't worry. We'll just put mirth into indentured servitude for the price of what we assume would have been in these boxes. I'd say 10,000 gold. Yeah, exactly. I would say why don't we raid this place after we get mirth? It's still going to be full of necromancers, mind you. So probably not the best idea. Necromancers with no leader. Yeah, but necromancers nonetheless. And they probably won't like us. I mean, most of these people are students. This is kind of the game of what happened. Do you think you'd be able to fight 100 first graders if a fifth grader came in every five waves? I mean, glad that a lot of them are called students, but there are a lot of adults. There are students in the center. Like, think of college students. They come at all types of ages. They're even worse. Yeah, but like, magic is the great equalizer. They shouldn't be getting enough sleep. That means it'll be easier to take down. I'll throw one coffee bean and they'll all fight each other just to get it. Oh, the sweet taste of that delicious caffeine. Oh, God. All right. After coming out of there, Renee is probably going to wait for everybody to catch up. And then once everyone's caught up, just look between the two hallways, go left, right. Which fucking way? You always go left in a maze. Fucking family. All right. You're going to go left. So left. So when you head into the left room, you can see that it is kind of sparsely populated with just a few professors and a large floating purple crystal akin to the same material as the kind of walls that you see. However, it is very polished looking and it is floating there. It's simply floating while these professors seem to be taking notes. And as they see you approaching, you can see that there is a human here and she speaks up. Oh, sorry. I guess they might have accidentally sent a second inspection team. We've got this under control. Is there a business you need here? I look up at the giant. Oh, you go, you go. Oh, OK. I mean, honestly, Renee is probably going to shake her head of just like if there was another inspection team that it should be fine. Communication here seems to have gone a little strange. She will look over at Nathaniel for a second approval of like, right? This isn't what we came here for. So I just want to make sure that this is all on the up and up. Do you mind if I take a look at your notes so far? No, of course. Yes. Yes, and then I'll leave you to it. Yep. You can see that you can see the elf over here seems to be just conjuring a few things, looking it over. He gets out of the way. The half-orc over here is doing the same thing, just looking it up and down, drawing a few pieces that are floating, kind of looking at them closely. And she hands over a clipboard. On the clipboard, you can see that there's various notes of, you know, no unusual activity coming from the crystal, no new chips, you know. Just checking, like, a long list of characteristics involving the crystal and all just like, no changes. Safe, safe, safe. Make sure to polish this part, et cetera, et cetera. Does, by looking at this, does it look like I can understand what this crystal's purpose is or what they are worried might happen to it? You can give me a general intelligence check, if you so wish. Could it be investigation? Can I convince you that you can do investigation? No, yes. Hey. Although that might not give you the information that you want involving. No, that's fine. Involving what the crystal does. I'll live with it. I'll live with my role. Looking over the crystal, this is very familiar in that it looks akin to a lot of crystals that might be found in your world. Crystals that bear a significant amount of magical power of some kind. However, this one seems to be imbued with the material around the place. Whatever that might mean. Whatever this is, it's very, very important, though you can tell. Okay, so if this were to break somehow, it would be very bad. The human notices you, kind of looking it over. I'm sorry. Perhaps you might be new here. I don't recognize you. No, you wouldn't. We've been in just a city for a month. Oh, only a month? Oh, then I would imagine that you would... I'm sorry. Did you have a memory wipe, perhaps? And I'm going to hand the thing back, the paper's back. Do you think that I would know what Mike did? Give me a straightforward check. I'm sorry. Everything... It's just... We are... Oh, God. We are broken. She narrows her eyes a little bit. No, of course not, professor. Go ahead and go about your business. Oh, no. Yeah, we've been found out. We've been... I don't know that. I don't know shit. We've been fucking made. I can wait. I can roll initiative... Not initiative, fuck. I was going to say I can roll insight, but I don't want to metagame, because I'm trying... If they narrow their eyes... I don't know. I'm going to leave. You can go inside if you want. I very deliberately gave that response the way that I did. Okay. Well, that's not great. These rolls are not doing me too hot today. With a 14, you can see that her demeanor has definitely changed from when you entered the room. Oh, no. Oh, okay. Originally, she was very welcoming and accommodating, but as you were leaving, after that sentence that you said, she clearly has a change of heart of some kind. Oh, no. Once I reach the rest of the group, I'm going to whisper, we've been made. Renee, do you have a silent spell? Which means no. Just chase her head. Like, what needs to be done. Well, something very dangerous is involved with that crystal. If it were to break, it would be damaged in some way. It could cause irreparable damage to the rest of this facility. Resume. You're not suggesting we set that off, are we? No. What, we need to do something about the human. Or, we need to find Murth. We need to move faster. While you're discussing, you hear, just from another part of the room, someone go, you're not from around here, are you? You're not really processes. Fuck. Oh, fuck. Who said that? Would that voice come? If it's somebody we don't know, I will punch them in the face. You know what I'm saying? It's the same goblin that you ran into, that you bumped into. Oh, I swear, I got this goblin child. She is not as scared as she originally was. She's leaning up against the wall with a smug, sheeting ass grin. And she looks to you, crosses her arms. Isn't that right, Professor? I'm gonna look to her. Just absolutely dumbfounded. As if, imagine going to your teacher in high school and saying, you're not really a teacher here. That's the look I'm giving. I'm the teacher confused about how, I want to know where this goblin got the audacity. And I want to know who gave it to him. Oh my god. I want to know how much she paid for it. Yeah, I want to know who grew that audacity first. I want to know every step that came to this. She simply looks up. There ain't a single person in Vertheim that doesn't know what the life crystal is. That's the number one thing they tell you when you get here. I don't know, is that so? But, I could possibly keep you a secret if you can help me. Alright, perhaps we should speak a little bit more. I look around, privately. Alright, I know just a place. She comes up and extends her arm. The name is Blockwick. And, see this. Oh my god, she's a person. I love her. She's a little bit scrappy little demon and I love her. We're keeping her. We're adopting this one. Every goblin. Every goblin Joe has put in front of us. Blockwick knows that tea is the best kind of currency and you have great tea for Blockwick. Oh my god, she wants the tea. Oh my god. We're adopting this child. We're against the human professor we just ran into. I have a better idea. Let's talk about this, don't stance. Oh, okay. And let me just put Blockwick on the board. Blockwick! God damn it, she's so cute. How dare you. Let's go. If anything happens to this goblin, I will go feral. Something's about to happen to this goblin. Something is about to happen to this goblin. I'm about to make someone's day very poor. Let's go, let's go, let's go. Try and find a better place to talk. Okay, so you guys head downstairs then? Yeah. Alright. Downstairs where there are no listening ears or prying eyes. Only the skeletons. Very good, as soon as we step down. Are the skeletons looking at us as we walk down? No, it doesn't appear like they're paying you any mind. I think we established that the skeletons can't relay things that they hear to one stride either. So it's safe. Okay, good. As soon as we meet to the bottom of the stairs, I cast sleep. As you head... Not our child! Down the stairs. What is sleep's casting components? It is a verbal somatic material, but material is my... Right, of course, yeah. So it's verbal, so you do say something to cast it. Verbal somatic. Okay, you do so. And she's just fine. You did not... You did not beat her health threshold. That's fair. And she looks up... Now what's the big idea around that? BluQuik isn't... is BluQuik not trustful? Is Blu... Is BluQuik not a good secret keeper? I look at my hand and then back at the goblin and I will say with all sincerity I'm not going to lie. That never happens. Well, BluQuik thinks you should maybe try new tricks. Well, to be fair, usually the person has gotten whacked a couple of times first. You should be lucky that we haven't actually hit you yet. Oh... You think you can take BluQuik on in a fight? Can I... can I just press my neck in response to that? Everyone, let's all calm down. I rolled two ones. Let me tell you something. As you can tell, we are not necessarily from here directly per se for the norm. But we are here to help the necromancers. Hmm... She scratches her chin. But we won't be able to do that if we get found out so quickly and easily, yes? Right. What exactly are you here to help with the necromancers? We're trying to give you an opportunity to not be like having to put yourselves in a little hole per se. You can see her seriously consider this. She looks down and her smug grin goes to just kind of a face of thought and she seriously considers this. You have seriously found some very clever ways to use this magic that admittedly I myself for a very long time and there are still some parts of your magic that I do not coincide with. Let me tell you that I'm going to be completely honest with you and that is because I'm trying to be as honest with you as possible right now. Yes, we are being honest with each other. Give me a persuasion check. Okay. Remember you're an eloquent spy. Fight me. Oh god. BluQuik does like having more options than the Spine of Death. What? The Spine of Death is educational wise. It's probably not fun social life wise. Come on, the cloud looks kind of dead. No offense. You're funny. She just loves it. I love this kid. Is at any point is this person lying to us about the whole option. You can give it inside if you would like. Oh, I'm inside. Absolutely, I don't trust this person. I'm still stunned that I failed. Apparently I do trust this person. That's a five. This is kind of the whole song and dance here. That's a natural 20. Oh, hey. You can tell that she seems to have ulterior motives in this. It seems as though that whatever she's she offered you help, but she clearly has more plans of some kind based around how shifty she's looking and also how the stuff that she was carrying didn't seem like what she was carrying earlier that you bumped into her and she dropped. It didn't seem like something a normal student would carry, like books and stuff. It seemed like a hodgepodge of random assortment of materials, maybe for crafting. Oh god, it's no tales of princess. BluQuik might be able to help you with that, but only if you help BluQuik first. What exactly are you asking for help with? A new prank. She gives a big smile. Oh, I'm about this. I like where this is going, but we're also on a bit of a time crunch, so how long is this going to take? Oh, not long at all. Not long at all. Will it involve the human in making sure that they are done with so that we don't get on top? Well, I don't know anything about that. That's not my concern. That's your concern. Are you saying that they can't be the target of your prank? Hmm, perhaps they could be. Hey, we can have someone be a target. But my primary target is Professor Bloodstride. See, BluQuik loves messing with Bloodstride. He's always so determined and got a stick up his butt and it's always fun to watch Bloodstride wiggle around whenever things don't go to plan. BluQuik. All right, listen. I'm fucking love you right now because we have some fresh tea. We're not going to say it because it is too important. But I need you to understand the tea that we have on fucking Bloodstride is so delicious and embarrassing that you would fucking believe it. And you have to trust me. It is amazing. But I cannot tell it to you right now because if we don't get to him we can't even have the big prank actually happen. Yes? Because it is the best shit you have to understand. It would change your entire perspective on this fucking necromancer thing. He's not even, he's just a dude. I need you to understand this, BluQuik. Okay, listen. Listen. You know what, you wanted to say something? No, I was going to say you have no idea how hilarious this level of information is due to the nature of just like it's so stupid like it's near childish what he has done but it would be so embarrassing. BluQuik would love that kind of information. Right? So if you could help get us through our little nooks and crannies around here and get us to Bloodstride you can be like first in line at the first seat and it all would be so delicious. Okay. Alright. BluQuik liked this. So, here's what we do. I know where Bloodstride's office is. Uh-huh. And? And if you can somehow help BluQuik sneak this stink bomb in there and she holds up like a little spherical item that seems to be wrapped in leather. Oh, this is my professionality. If you can sneak that in there BluQuik will let you have the reins of the office. Whatever happens in there she lifts her hands up like a shrugging hand like whoa, was not BluQuik just some four strangers coming in here. BluQuik had nothing to do with that. And oh, when that goes off all the dullness of this place will be so much less dull. You know what? I like you. I like this level of chaos. This is fun chaos. Like, I know I'm a pretty orderly individual but this is chaos. BluQuik, we won't be able to do it if we can't get back up those nails and pass that little group of professors. Oh, don't you worry. BluQuik will handle that. Oh, I love you. I love you so much. She just like grabs. She just like like throws down the hand. Oh, stop. BluQuik. No, she's great. Oh, and she goes up the stairs and you can see. Let me just go back to the room. So I love her. BluQuik walks into the room and goes up to the human woman who you can see is about to cast some kind of message as you have casted many times before Renee after discussing and BluQuik walks in and you can see the woman just like... What is it, BluQuik? Oh, nothing, Professor. I just, you know, I saw a few students who were just going about down below and they said that they were going to the Middens and I don't know why. And the woman's eyes just go, the Middens, why are they going? Did they say what they were doing? Oh, I don't know, but they seem to be carrying some kind of box that was glowing green and the woman just starts to stomp towards... Let's go ahead and go over this way. She looks at you and she just like points you. I'll deal with you later and heads downstairs. And BluQuik just comes up. That should keep her occupied for the next couple of hours. Oh, I love you. You're my favorite. All right, let's get to this office. All right, she heads up the stairs and leads you alongside. I also will give sort of like a sort of a pack to the tail because he hasn't smoked since the sleep incident. It's going to be... Very unfortunate when we kill this goblin. No, we're not killing this goblin. No, I am directly adopting this child. All right, so you head upstairs to the third floor of Wirtheim, the enclosure. Oh boy. And you can see that there seem to be various dormitories to the left and right of you just rooms lining this hallway as well as an open courtyard. The grass and trees look dead, but you know, decorated kind of like an open area for people to get some fresh dead air as it were. And you can also see that there is a doorway to the eatery on the down south. And as BluQuit is leading you up the stairs, you can hear a commotion in the courtyard and BluQuit notices and she immediately bolts and kind of like nearly drops her things, but just like sets them on the floor and bolts over. Hey, hey, hey, hey! Stop that! Uh-oh, what's happening? I'm going to look, but I'm not going to go forward just yet. I'm going to look and see what's going on. You can see as she runs around, you notice that there is a few like humanoids, a few persons that seem to be pushing around a little cobalt. And you see that BluQuit seems to be arguing with a half-orc and she just kind of like pushes him a little bit. You should pick on someone your own size like BluQuit. And the half-orc just like kind of like nudges her his leg a little bit. It's a wee stump going to kick me in the shins. And he just kind of kicks her out of the way. Oh, Enoch is definitely stepping up to this. We do not have time for this high school drama. I know, I know, I know, but this is wrong. This is fundamentally wrong and it's against my code of ethics. Yeah, he's waving the book around and he's reading it. Look at this, lad. Oh, Dory wants to be a dragon. And he just kind of starts reading the pages, flipping the pages around and tearing a few and tossing them aside. Oi, oi, what in marriage is this? Uh, question. Uh-huh. His hand acts as a rain, right? What? You're going to draw steel in the facility? I had an idea to make it not to take out a man's hand with it. All these about to eat with steel in about a second. Better run, better run. Anyway, run my hand acts. I'm not doing it. For the record, I am not doing it. Faster than the Luna. It wasn't. I'm not doing it. I'm not committing to it. I was asking if I hand acts the ranged weapon. It is a ranged weapon. It is a ranged weapon. Reational questions. Thank you. You see, he's just kind of waving the book around and just like reading a few pages. Those who garner a mass of power will send to dragonhood. Oi, does that mean I'm a dragon compared to you then? Seeing as you're having trouble reaching this high. Come on, grow some wings. Fly up and snatch the book. Your massive power? I'm walking up, but I'm going to snatch the book out of his hand. Oh, he's doing this to the cobalt. You're going to try and snatch the book. Give me an acrobatics check. I'm going to act like a shithead. I'm not going to be advantage by with through my shit talking. Like to kind of catch him off guard. Yeah, you can give him help action. You both trying to snatch the book. Yeah. So yeah, you can roll another acrobatics. Okay. For advantage. Make it count. Hopefully a little bit better. Okay. That's better. Okay. You do snatch the book and you can see that his cronies, you can see the cobalt just kind of like goes over to you, Enoch, and just kind of like reaching for the book. He doesn't say anything, but he's just like reaching for it. I hand it back to the, hand it back to the cobalt. Yep. We don't mess with our own kind around here. I'll tell you what, I'll tell you what. Fuck. I just... The orc just takes a few steps back and shrugs and just crosses his arms. Oh no. We're supposed to be helping each other, learning to accept each other. That's what I fan while I'm here. I'll tell you what, I'll tell you what. What's this now? Backing away now that you've been knocked aside? What do you mean? Can you not take some on your own size? You sit there, puff your chest as if you got something to show. Give me an intimidation check, Luna. And with a help from Enoch. That's why I expect you a third row necromancer, I guess, was... With the fourth rate spell book. You can see a few students behind you are like, 17. You're a third rate... You're a third rate caster with a fourth rate spell. You can't trip, can ya? Enoch, you're a joke. How did you do this? How did you come back like this? This is the first time I've rolled well on an intimidation check. Luna... I played the best hype man today. I'm so proud of my... Luna dropping the little hot bars with Enoch backing her up. You can see that the half orc just turns to you and just like, what, just say to me? I think you have me. I think you have me. If you really need to go and pick up some poor person's personal thoughts in order to make yourself feel higher than everyone else, that clearly shows you're an agon adequancy. Not this. Yeah, what's wrong with somebody having a little bit of shelf faith and a little bit of, you know, good confidence in themselves. Good confidence. I entered the school under the under assumption that I would be accepted for what I am. Yeah. This, clearly not. He simply gestures at that comment, just throws his arms just like gesturing around him. Oh yeah, well that's not the case now, is it? Some of us get to ascend. Not all of us. So even when they say we're accepted, are we really? Some are still better than others. I'm certainly not going to ascend to you. Well, why the hell are you taking that out on your fellow students and not the professors? Oh shit. I would like to step in. No, she's making real truth right now, Mike. She's making real truth. As a professor steps in, Nathaniel, everyone just goes quiet and the half work just like turns and just tries to shield his face. Oh shit. Sorry about this. I just, he said a thing that I really need to pick up on. Oh no. He just kind of like sits there kind of mumbling to himself, looking down. He doesn't look very happy. Yeah, everyone is all shushy. And you know, all the other students are like, Professor, Professor. I mean, thank you. I'm worthy of a subject to you. I, I don't know. I came here and I was being taught and this shit's hard, Professor. All this learning and going out on the field and it's, it's dangerous out there for us. Yes, very hard when you're spending all of your time. I look to the, to the book that has been stolen and then taken back. Learning. Tell me who's the last person that you saw that you think might have sent in? Well, uh, Murph, but it's against the rules to talk in more detail about that. Oh, is it? I was unaware. Where do you think Murph is now? Uh, I'm not sure. We're not supposed to know when the ascension is happening or where it is forbidden. Of course, of course. And what qualities do you think Murph has that you do not? Well, he just kind of scratched the back of his neck. They're right annoying, but I guess they are pretty bright and good at making friends. I was never good at making friends and listen, they're just good at potions. And if that's all it takes, then maybe they should be giving us potion classes instead. Well, hey, listen, Tauly is cultivated by practice and you sit there and think your practice is by bullying other people. That's just outright mean that is. I can't believe we're having a bully talking. I don't know. No, I can't listen. Murph has put several positive messages. I'm playing a character. I'm playing a character. None of this makes sense. That insane cockney student is speaking the truth. Well, I'm sorry that I'm not. I'm sorry I'm not good enough to have been born in a family with a silver spoon in his mouth that he could afford potion classes, all right? Yes, yes, you're sorry. I was shunned by my family and they didn't give me one wick. I'd be willing to be afraid if you decide to action shall be nice. Are the other students ready? What's your name? Shit. Give me a persuasion, Enoch. What the fuck is this? What is that? If you were more nicer, I would be your friend. Oh, yeah, I know. That's exactly what you think. Persuasion, is it? Persuasion. I'm trying. That's a solid five. You can see I'm legitimately stumbling at you. My name's Bulwark and you best remember it. I don't think I'd be... I'd want to be friends with the likes of you. Come on, lads. Let's go get some food. And he just shrugs, he just mumbles and grumbles and grabs his two lackeys and starts a head to the eatery. Wow. Way to go, Mr. Chad. Shit. Well, that was pointless. And don't you all have classes to attend to? They all just like go back to what they were doing, some like bury their noses in books and just kind of head in their other direction. And you can see that Blukwick is just consoling the cobalt. Don't worry about that one. He doesn't even know what he's talking about. I think you'll make a great dragon. Was the cobalt saying anything? The cobalt doesn't say anything. It appears to be mute, but it does several hand gestures and mindfulness back to you. And let me show you what the cobalt looks like. Oh no, it's a police. The cobalt's got a picture. The cobalt's got a picture. Anything happens if anything happens. No. Okay. Nothing can happen to this cobalt. Nothing can happen to this goblin. That is the rule. They'll be real sad when they both die. Right off the thing. I will kill you before this goblin dies. We'll do the goblin and then tire up. And then we were just going to wringer out for information. But no, we had to go on this high school musical. It's almost like we want friends, Nathaniel. I know that. This is not the time. It's almost as if having allies is a good thing. We have friends. We have friends who are in perilous danger and we haven't been able to get to them. Is it not a good idea to plant the seeds of riot, all these students Hey! Questioners and parents! Disrespect your surroundings! Knocks off Nathaniel's head. We're doing ourselves a favor later when we take out the head, because all the students will be questioning the teachers. It's fun. Sounds great. All right. All right. Oh yeah. You see that Blukwick just looks up to you. Sorry for getting you into Blukwick and Doordy's Nonsense. We joined with a friend to try and get away from this nonsense a few months ago, but ever since they left to go do some things in Belkanis, we haven't heard from them in quite a while. What was their names? Well, just one. He's a big orc fella, real friendly. His name was Hedrick. Way better at Necromancy than Doordy or Blukwick and always looked out for us against these guys. But... Joe... Oh, sorry. I was going to say, Joe, have I killed a man named Hedrick? Please tell me we haven't killed a man named Hedrick. Wait. She continues. They got to the point that he eventually chose... got chosen for a field project in the abandoned sewers near the capital. Wait. No! Oh, no! Yeah, we killed this man. Yeah. No! He was the guy who was controlling the... I killed this man! Well, look at that. Blukwick just kind of looks to the dead grass. He never came back, but it's not unusual for Spine of Death members to not return for a long time outside. So, Blukwick not too worried and you can see that the cobalt just, like, crosses its arms sassily. Blukwick is not worried. He'll be back. Oh, no! It was the orc. It was the half orc. Yeah, that was controlling the big one. Oh, and then Enoch like... Executed. Oh, you execution styled him! Oh! Okay, cool! All right, I'm going to say... No, this is the... Yes, I'm sure that your friend will come back. Oh, look, the consequences of my actions now weighing on my emotions. Yes, I'm sure that your friend will come back. Maybe this is why you should process him, you know. Yeah, no, this is a... I can't do it now, but Enoch is very guilty-faced right now. Oh, my. You can see that Dordi just turns and gives a little bow of gratitude, and Blukwick just looks to him. Anyway, we're not talking about him right now. We're going to go mess with Bloodstride. You want to come help out? And you can see that Dordi just nods his head with a big smile, just like... And you can see his beard just, like, flow in the air as he's nodding aggressively, and there's joy across his face. Come on, he used to do this all the time. Oh, yeah. Okay, yeah, let's do it. All right, so, she leads you, continues to lead you up the stairs. Up the stairs, up the stairs. And... I'm just trying to have no emotions, let's go. Let me grab you. My face is betraying all the emotion. And now you guys are in the fourth floor of Wirtheim, the seminary. Ooh. Oh, there we are. Oh, God. The goblin is on top of me. Yep. And so... Stop goblin! You guys, you guys come up here, and Blukwick just kind of, like, puts one finger over her mouth. Now, be very quiet. This is restricted to most students. And seeing that you're not even students, I would be quiet. Oh, well, is it now a good time to tell you guys I have disadvantage on stealth? Good. I feel like that might be a more long my line. Bloodstrike's office is the first one on the right, which means, you know, for us, it's on the left. And she simply looks over to Dordi. Dordi, you watch the entrance. And Dordi just gives one big thumbs up and nod, and just kind of goes partway down the stairs to keep an eye out. If you want, I can scout ahead and just make sure that people aren't going to be in there. Hopefully. And then if people are, you can just run in or gun-hoar blazing, and at the very least, I can kind of place it off for a little while. Sounds good. Oh, right? Yes, not. As I pull out my thieves tools, door might be locked. Oh, it most certainly is. Do you want to come with them? Yes, I would love to see how you mess with these locks. Dordi has been able to get through them, but every time Bloodstrike makes them more and more difficult, Dordi would love to see how you work. Luna gives a pat on Enoch's shoulder. A bookwit, sorry. Bookwit, not Dordi. Yeah, a bookwit. That's fine. Renee will just nod and look over like, What? Come on. Luna gives a pat on Enoch's shoulder. Remember who's better at picking locks? That'd be me. I'm going to be sneaky snoo as I make my way down, down. Walking past, facing past. Same here. Oh, you guys go. Yeah, I'm not going to sneak down there until I have to. I'm a sneak. I'm a sneak. All right. So you go over to the door and you can see that there is an arcane lock. There is what looks to be a physical lock, but arcane sigils kind of like covering it in rings. Okay, what do I got? A gun. I'm aware I have a gun. You have my thieves tools is what you have. I haven't been able to move any of my spells because we love love. Yeah, we got a level of something at some point. Let me see. I need a little. Could I make what I did before? What did you do before? With Mechand and the shield on the door, if I pop my shield, my hand within the arcane like lock, would I be able to sort of like fiddle? I don't know that the Mechand will fit in there. It's the size of a proper normal lock. It doesn't say the Mechand has to be any particular size. If I just fiddle with the lock inside, not messing with the actual sigil, but just like fucking around with the inside of the lock. I would say you can give a sleight of hand check because that's essentially just picking a lock. I mean, yeah, you're just messing around with the pins in the lock. Yeah, I'm just messing around with the pins. I'm not messing with the actual like arcane lock itself. I'm messing around with the pins on the inside. I thought that's what I was here for. Well, we thought that was here and then we realized it was arcane magic. But she didn't have anything for her. I just had an idea. Although you are picking the lock with a magic, you are still physically picking the lock. If Rene did that at the same time that Enoch was trying to pick the lock would that be a sleight of hand advantage from somebody because they're technically helping each other? I guess he can use a help action, yes. Okay, so arcane lock from the inside. You work on it from the outside. Best thoughts? Do I roll with advantage then? Yes, roll a sleight of hand with advantage. Gotcha, gotcha. Let's go, buddy. All right, as you pick it, I need both of you to make a constitution saving throw. Oh, shit. Yeeah. Eh, eh, eh, eh. Wow. Eh, 15. All right, as you pick it, you feel a shock of energy go through you as the sigils glow very like briefly and Rene, you... Yep. You take five necrotic damage and Enoch, you take two. Yeah, oh yeah. Because you see a bolt of black lightning just briefly come out from the lock. Wait, is it two because I succeeded? Because you succeeded, yes. Then it's one because awesome. And it's one, all right. Yeah. Yeah, Rene just goes, fuck. And just bolts back like... Oh. Okay, so I feel like this actually might... This might be more complicated than we thought. Wow, no shit, Sherlock. Yep. Sassy, first off. Second off, let me give this a go. Can I try and slight of hand this? So, I'm gonna help you out. Judging by the kind of return from the lock that zapped you, it doesn't seem like the problem is your ability to pick the lock. You could probably pick the lock just fine. Judging by, you know, looking at the maneuver that Rene was doing with her mage hand and you helping out and kind of like pointing out parts. It's the magic sigil that's stopping you. Does anybody here have to spell magic? I don't, I have to text magic. Is it a charm? I don't know, is it? No. Weird, weird idea. How was the sigil put into the lock? You can see that the sigil is a circle kind of around, so let me draw it out. Is it drawn on there or is it like etched in there? It is kind of a hovering hologram over the lock. Dammit! So imagine, I'm gonna draw it right here. So imagine the lock is like that, right? The sigil is like this. Yeah, okay. And like symbols all around it and stuff. Okay, cause I was gonna say, if it was like etched in there, I could use mending and like get rid of it, but it's floating. Like how they should be from like locking kingdom hearts. I hate this! So it's either figure out how to dispel the magic or break the actual door. Can I look at the sigils and see what would be safe to like try and erase? I don't know. Can you give me an arcana check? Sure. Wow! Well, to spell magic probably would work. I don't have to spell magic! Hey Renee. What? Do you have to spell magic? I'm going to actually punch you. This is an affirmative problem several times. I don't have it. I have detect magic. But can you dispel magic? Does the door have exposed hinges? Yes. You see other, aside from the locks on the door, aside from the magical sigil, it is a mundane door. She's like looking at the lock. Wait. Renee, you can't dispel magic. Can you dispel door? I'm going to punch you. What was Luna going to say? First off, Renee, dimension door can get passed that easily. But it might have wards. Second, take the hinges off out of the door guys. It's a mundane door. You have an artifact that sort of thieves tools there. You can get the screws out of the hinges. Cool. Go for it. Are you going to hinge the door then? Yeah, let's unhinge the door. All you have to do is pop the pins out of the hinges. It's not hard. Okay. All right. Let me give it a go. If you want me to. Yes, you see the hinges on the outside of the door. You unscrew them and the door falls. Wow. You really need to get started. I never heard of security theater. It is that. It is the entire hallway. Fuck. Fuck. We couldn't have caught the door. Actually, you know what? Give me your choice of dexterity or strength saving throw. Just see if you can catch the door before it does that. Okay. I would use a dex saving throw. If you want to assist Renee instead, you can. Yeah. So it would give me advantage. Yes. Let's go boy. Yeah. You like pure wet the door like a dance partner. Because you do not. This door is heavy. But you're able to like maneuver yourself to swing yourself around the door in like a spin so that all the momentum is lost and you pop prop it on the wall. Quietly. Yeah. Listen. Renee just like that. Oh, that dancing paid off. Oh yeah. No, that was. That was a cool move. And also on top of that. Do it again. If I have ever seen security theater at its finest, it is this. Never make me do it again. You look over into the room. You look inside and you indeed see bloodstrikes room. However, you also see a figure inside that takes notice of you. Oh God. What the fuck is that? You see. Tell it. You just want to talk a smoky aberration, aberration of some kind that notices you. And immediately way seems to move with extreme hostility towards you. I'm going to need everyone to roll initiative. Oh, okay. All right. So this thing immediately is starting to hover its way towards both of you at the site of you. Oh no. You know, you go first. Yeah. The problem is that I know what it what I'm about. And unfortunately I can't avoid it. Joe, I have a quick question. Yeah. With the gavel, I want to inform you that I shoot magical bullets. I'm not sure if that is quite enough or does it have to replicate the explosive sound of a firearm? I would say it's still loud, even if it doesn't sound like the traditional physical bang of a firearm. Okay. So we're talking something like with a suppressor because a suppressor does not mean that it keeps it from being loud. It just means that it doesn't hurt your ears. I didn't say that. I just said that it sounded different. Okay. A magical bang sounds different from a gunpowder bang. Okay. Well, but I mean, I'm not going to say you get, you know, tinnitus from shooting it indoors. Oh yeah, no. There he goes. I can understand. I'm coming in, gavel out, blade to the side because I don't want to drop my disguise self. I'm just going to lay into this thing full scale. All right. Here we go. How many times can I hit this thing before I can't? 15? 15 does indeed hit. Okay. And that's going to be... Wait, you're using the gavel like the actual gun to like shoot point blank? Well, he's got a feature that allows him to do it without disadvantage. Yep. That's the fun of it. Okay. That's the fun of it because as a bonus action, I still have my second attack. So that's going to be 10 for the first hit. And this is with magical bullets? These are with magic. Okay. Those hit as well? Okay. Yes. You fire two shots. You can see that it brightens up the two points that the bullets land in this kind of ethereal creature. Okay. And bonus action, I'm going to use my feature which allows me to use my bonus action to make a melee attack if I use my firearm. So I'm going to use the rapier for this. 19? 19 does hit. Let me see the damage. Okay. You fire and one slash with your rapier and you cut into it. However, it seems as though your rapier kind of almost fades through it. It does seem to kind of rupture its figure a little bit, but not nearly as much as your gun. Okay. Well, that's all I got. End of my turn. Okay. Hi. I'm probably going to look over and just kind of like look over the team. Gesture in the room of like points in room does like wiggly hand gesture of like creepy thing in there. And then put up my dukes of like we're fighting. And then I guess I'm going to try and find my way in here without getting hit. Probably go up. I was here. So probably go one, two, three, four. Just so I get a layout of what the fuck I'm looking at. I'm going to, I'm aggrowing this thing hard because I hit it so hard. It's probably focused on me. 20, 25, 30, like start making my way closer over there. Yeah, you can. Okay. So that's going to be my 30. And then I, can I get an estimate of what this is? You can use, I'll say a bonus action arcana check. Yeah. I'm okay with that. Okay. It seems to be very similar to the portal that you saw in the middens. However, it looks deactivated in some way. Oh, you can see that it is, it is car. It does look like a sigil that is floating there, but it looks a little bit more translucent and is not, the sigils are not moving. It's not spinning like it was downstairs. Whatever it is, it's inactive right now. Can I, with that arcana, can I, are these connected? Are these two guys connected or is this guy and this guy connected or not? With that arcana check, it doesn't seem like they are. Okay. Just curious to know. All right. For my axione. I don't really have a lot of spells that are quiet. And this thing is, does not have metal on it. So it's not invisible. It is not. But yeah, okay. I don't have a lot of good combat spells. So I guess I'll just shoot it with my crossbow. All right. You most certainly can. At least not a lot of heavy combat spells that don't do well in like this sort of environment. So. I mean, if I get hit, I get hit. That is going to hit. Kablooies. Okay. You fire it. And it seems almost as if it absorbs the bolt. Like the bolt looks like it slows down as it hits it. It does rupture kind of a little bit of the smokey figure, but it kind of like almost gets consumed by this smokey figure. Hmm. I don't like that. Yeah. That's all I can do. So. Next is the Aleister. Great. Time to die. It's simply going to move through Enoch. Its body goes through you. And Enoch, I'm going to need you to make a constitution saving throw. That usually bodes well. I don't remember anything about it's stat block. All I remember was feeling nervous about it. 24. That's enough to 24. That's okay. That's 20. Oh my God. You take, you have like double resistance because you made the save. So four, you take two necrotic damage and the additional effect does not go off. Oh boy. However, it is going to use its whispers of madness at both of you. So both of you make wisdom saving throws. Oh no. You can hear some soft whispering into your ears through your mind. 22. Guys, don't let me near this thing. Don't let me near this thing. I will, I might accidentally kill you guys. Please don't. Five. Enoch might kill me. Okay. Enoch's probably going to kill me. Renee, you take, let's see. Enoch is probably going to kill me. Five. You take eight psychic damage, Renee. Enoch. Psychic damage, gotcha. You take 19. Okay. And the figure slowly lifts a hand, kind of the smoke forms a hand and points to Renee. And now Enoch, you must make a reaction to fire at Renee. Yep. That makes sense to me. So roll the gavel. Hit me. Hit me. You see the smoke kind of cover your arm and lift up out of your control. Oh my God. As her gun goes off and fires at Renee. I was kidding. I was kidding. Let's see the damage. I'm older than natural 20. I'm me. You dick. I'm so sorry. Oh my God. Enoch, you're older than natural 20. Holy shit. You killed the alpha. You killed the alpha? The damage. Wow. You're doing great. Look at how much damage. I think I just put Renee into the ground. Oh my God. That's 46 points of damage. That was almost maximum damage. One more. Renee, what's your hit points? Wait. Good. She's doing great. My max is 45. You don't auto die. It has to go over. It has to basically double you. Oh my God. It has to double your max. You almost killed me. Kind of. That's not exactly it. Renee is down. Oh. Immediately? Yep. Immediately. With that one shot. With that one shot. I cannot believe today. He realized that none of his monsters could defeat us. I guess that Orc wasn't the only one that you murdered in cold blood today. Renee, he would have had to do, what is it, 90 damage to you to kill you. Okay. For the sake of the argument, before I put you down, I'm sorry. Wait. As I raise the gavel, as I raise the gavel. The reaction is this one. Okay. Yeah. As I raise the gavel, there are tears in my eyes. I mean, do you even know what you're doing? I don't think so, but it's still painful to think. Well, you know that the whispers and stuff made you do that. You know that it wasn't me. Okay. Okay. And you... Oh, today's an emotional turmoil. This is sad cowboy to the power of fire. You simply hear a whisper in your mind. You are a killer. That is going to be the Alec's turn? Actually, no, it's going to move out into the hallway. And I, at the rest of you. Nathaniel, your turn. I heard multiple bangs. I have no reason to believe that those guys are dead in there or Renee at least is. So if this thing is out in the hallway, I see spooky ghost man. I don't have a lot of options for spooky ghost man. I was saving this for bloodstride. Oh, no. All right. I'm going to take a single step forward and I am going to reach out, try to connect with this thing's mind as I whisper eldritch words into the air, trying to do the exact same thing that it just did to Enoch, not realizing that it has done it to him as I cast dissonant whispers. Okay. It makes... Wait. Yes, it makes the save. Okay. It will... If it takes psychic damage, it will still take... That was 19. So that's nine psychic damage. And that's me. I'm going to back up immediately. You say these eldritch horrors to this thing and it's screeches and shutters and shakes. You can see that its form is barely holding itself together. Okay. I'm going to quickly back up. Luna, you're up. That's my turn. I will say that Bookwit will go after Luna. Okay. Okay. Luna. Cool. If I'm going to kill the sister and I have to burn an action search, since I have to dash, so that's what's going to happen. We don't know how much health it has. And bonus action to ignite Wrath. Okay. I'm going to go Absolution Wrath. Okay, that does hit. It's not magic slashing. Nope, it is not. You slash through it. You can see that it catches a few bits of this smoky cloth on the figure. But it is holding on just barely. Nope, your second one misses. Fuck. Is there anything I can do? Nope. Nope. That's it. It's all I've got. All right. I can't even see Renee. Next. Enoch's turn. Oh, God. So am I out of the madness? Well, it was only for the reaction. Seeing Renee on the ground. Save Renee. She's going to be making death saves. No, I'm fine. Listen, I have three that I can do. It's fine. Yeah. No, I'm going to... Don't we play where they don't reset? Oh, wait. Real quick. Before Enoch's turn, wasn't Godwin going to go... Oh, yeah. Look, wig. Just looks... What in the hell is that? And just kind of like goes over just like to hide by the side. I'd like to like to look over at Blukwick real quick and say, It looks like Bloodstrike finally tired of your antics. It seems so. I never wanted any of this to happen. All right. Sorry about that. Anyway, Enoch. Yeah. What do you do? Listen, I've got three. All right. I know you got three. Don't you have... Oh, by the way, I need to make a constitution check for my disguise self-smoke. Oh, yeah. I killed somebody. Yeah, you're fine. So healing hands is an action. Yeah. He's always in action. God, I really... Listen, it's fine. No, it's not fine by me. So here's what I am going to do. I am going to go up to Renee and I'm going to use my awesome mobility. I'm going to give her eight hit points with healing hands. Okay. And it's just like, oh, God, I'm so fucking sorry. And just like, like right where the bullet hole is, I'm just going to touch it and almost as if trying to drag it out and heal the wound at the same time. All right, Renee, you're back up with the hit points. Fuck. What happened? I didn't do that. I didn't mean to do that. That was not me. I did not mean to do that. I would never, I never would have done that. Where is it? It's about to get my fucking ire. Action search. What? Oh, okay. And I'm going to on, on my foot, spin around gavel in hand. And I am going to, I'm going to pump a fucking dead eye shot in this thing. I'm going to make this an advantage. It gives me advantage. I'm going to see if I can fucking roll another 20. Roll another 20 on this if I can. All right. So this, so this shot is going to be an actual 20. Okay. 22. And you fire it. And just this last shot, just the smoke dissipates and the creature vanishes. You hear a, a loud whisper that pierces all of your ears. I. Is combat over? Combat is over. And you can see Nathaniel as you start to leave a book with just, just takes a step back. You, you can go ahead. I think I might try my prank some other day. I am pumping a cure wounds into Renee. Was book with only purpose to get us into this room? Like, is, was that all she said she could do for us? Well, she, she wanted to get you into the room. Yeah. For a prank. For a prank. Yes. Okay. So that's everything she had. Yeah. We basically dangled the fact that we knew bloodstrikes real name over her head in order to convince her to help us. Okay. To not like, to not tell on us. Yes. Perhaps it is best that you stay out of these effects. But she, she kind of, it takes a few steps forward. So, so, um, about that tea, you said you had some dirt on, on Professor Bloodstrike. I'll just tell her for God's sake. I look back at her and then back at like where the wispy monster was. If you want to know more about Bloodstrike, ask yourself. Step, step, step. Hmm. She considers this. And yep. So you head into Bloodstrike's office, you can see that there is a, a couple of desks. You see there's an alchemy table with a few potions brewing. Uh, you can see that there are various different papers and bookshelves. And the deactivated, uh, teleportation circle. Ah. Fuck. Okay. So that, that's it. That's teleportation. But it's not working. Oh, it fucking hurts. I'm so, I'm so sorry. We Scorpio gave us some potions of healing, didn't he? He did. Uh, I think like two potions of greater healing. Yeah. Yeah. I'm giving one to Renee because I remember he gave me a couple of hours of, of exhaustion oil and a couple of healing potions. So I will roll that. You have Renee. Okay. 12. Yay. Hey, you know what? That's double the hit points I currently have. I will take it. Please. Drink this. Too close. What happened to you? Uh, it, it said some creepy shit. It flaked me the fuck out and then he knocked out me. What? It, it was something. I didn't. Spell that the thing had and. Ah. I charmed them. Oh, you both. I guess. Are you both okay? Yeah. Fine now. Better than I was before. Sorry. I can't do much more. This is, this is, this is plenty than what I had. It's, it's fine. Who knows? Maybe blood sprite is that much of a paranoid bitch. He might leave a potion lying around his office. Maybe, maybe. Or the location of the next ascension ceremony. I think it probably has something to do with that over there. Like gestures over at the teleportation circle. Yeah. I don't know how to activate it. I don't know if it had the same kind of glyphs that we saw in the map. In the map? That same kind of weird, the map of the world we found that had the weird writing that we connected to the last teleportation symbol. Yes. I wanted to know if this is also like the same. Very similar. Yes. Similar markings and symbols that are foreign to your world, but similar to the ones that you saw in the middens. Does it seem like there's a particular place where the runes have been scratched out to deactivate it? No. Looks fairly similar for all you can tell. If you would like, you can make an Arkana check as well. Yeah. Luna can give a shot. You know. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. You can. I think, this is great. This is great. Oh my God. Luna. Looking at it, it is simply a, from what you can tell it, if this were a teleportation circle, akin to the ones you've seen in your world, this one is simply deactivated so that no one else can use it at the time being. But of course, me as a non-magic user would have absolutely no chance in figuring out how to activate this. So I'm just going to wave someone over. I mean, I have some mild knowledge. You can give me your passive Arkana so that we're not just rolling until we get a good number. Okay. I have a plus five. Plus five Arkana. Yes. You also come to the same conclusion that this portal was deactivated and it was likely used to go across very large distances. However, because it a distance that normally would not be able to be managed by someone, by themselves. So hold on. Let me just take a few steps back. So, you know, judging from the teleportation that people use, people are able to come to Vertheim. But in order to leave Vertheim, they can't do it themselves. They have to use a portal as you saw in the portal room. This, however, is a specific portal that seems to be used to teleport freely to anywhere the user wishes in a way that the person wouldn't be able to do just by themselves. So they're limited by themselves, but it's basically a portal that can't go anywhere as opposed to a portal that has like one set location because judging by what you know about the Spine of Death, they can't go anywhere from Vertheim. I feel like Kara might have a better glance at this, but this will get, if we were able to use this, we could get around anywhere. Well, it seems very clearly and deliberately shut off. It also looks like Blood sprite is not here. I didn't expect him to be in here. I mean, should we use the sending stone and get her up here, or should we? Well, she doesn't have it. I thought she told us. Did she? The sending stone allows you to prove sending to anybody like normally because you know her. I thought sending stone was like there's two of them and one person holds one and one person holds the other. No, it just allows you to cast sending. Oh, OK. Cool. I thought it was just that they were linked to each other. Rules is written. No, there's two stones and one talks to the other. But if you want it to just be the stone lets you cast sending whenever you want, then that's fine. I prefer the stone lets you cast sending. That sounds more convenient. OK. With that, I'd still want to look around this room to see if there's any more information. Like there's papers here, there's a big-ass bookshelf here, there's a beaker, and tubes. There's a trash bin. I'm going to look through his trash. I'm the trash man now. I'm the trash man. I'm going to eat the garbage. No, you're just a cop. I'd like to help out as well. OK. I'll take care of this bookshelf if you want me to. Yeah, so looking through the papers, you can see that there are various notes and just kind of like notes on some new recruits and potential new recruits from where Luna and Renee, you can look through. Nathaniel, you look through the books and there are fairly mundane books about the recordings and history of Necromancy and stuff like that. You can see a lot of them have very similar handwriting to Kara Miharian's notebooks and notes as well. However, you do find one notable kind of sheet of paper that is kind of binded together, and you find this. Inside there are various notes and monthly entries on the current and recent reported history of the world that has come to be known as Vertime, all mostly mundane or eventful until one entry from a year ago. I read this aloud. We've come in contact with the creature, unlikely the last living being in Vertime. It is most definitely intelligent and is likely incredibly powerful to have lasted this long and a dead world. Perhaps this is the final piece of the puzzle that the Queen was searching for. A shame it has to be cycled. I'm sure the scholars in Belknuts would have a field name this creature. But I wouldn't give to be the siphon out though. The rest of the pages are filled with aggressively scratched out notes. I think we just killed whatever it was. No. Oh, never mind. I'm going to say here that the Queen is not merely a title given to Kara as a scapegoat. It is a real person. That's what I've been saying. I'm assuming that. And if it's not Kara. And if it's not Kara. Then I can only think of one other person it would be. Chandra. Enoch, you find several sheets of paper notably that have your names on it. Sifting through all the books. You see that there are some research papers and they're all titled dossier followed by each of your names. Oh. I don't. I'm not going to say anything to them right now. I'm just going to flip through them real quick. You're going to flip through them? Yeah. All right. Well, flipping through them. They are readable notes. And so let me just show them all. I'm not saying anything to any of them. Okay. I'm reading some things. So like I'm probably distracting everybody else. So just a heads up. There is a lot of information. So I will say the players. You know, you will know this, but for simplicity's sake, after we're done reading them, if Enoch were to show them to you, we can just count whatever you know into your characters after so that you don't have to like. But yeah, the players will know this. I trust you not to metagame that your characters will know this until Enoch shows them to you. Right? Okay. So which one do you want to look at first? Nathaniel. I'm sorry. That was always going to be the correct answer. All right. Curious case of Nathaniel Gainesby. All right. You look through Nathaniel's sheet. This is what you find. Okay. Okay. It is the longest one. Pardon. Nathaniel Gainesby, Yuan Ti, son adopted of a piece of the parchment seems to be scratched out in black ink. Originally an orphan, the witch taker has a most intriguing history. Adopted father was previously owner of the witch taker business, formerly known as Thief Takers. Records show that the man was jailed for murder and necromancy, and Gainesby's involvement was what brought it to light, and by extension elevated him as the new owner of the bureau. But some insiders have given me a trail that said, that said case may not be so cut and dry. An investigation is underway, as information has come to light, that there was residual enchantment magic on redacted. That was once brushed off as nothing to note. Recent findings theorize that redacted was charmed to perform the actions Gainesby had turned him into the authorities for. I suspect he was behind his father's actions and arrest. To what ends would he do this? Must investigate further. Regardless, it is deceit of masterful execution. Though he stays close to his partner Rene in more recent days, we have taken notice of a particular person whom he seems to take a more cautious steps in meeting a red dragonborn by the name of Lancel. His demeanor around the witch taker is not like his other employees. Me thinks a more personal connection. Note, keep a close eye on this Lancel. He may be a good bargaining chip. The witch taker's proficiency is not only charms but social manipulation. So allies are often in places most unexpected. When faced with a potential threat, he attempts such manipulation even if he does not fully comprehend his opponent and such confidence can be very convincing. In combat, he prefers indirect intervention, relying on charms and magics to keep himself out of harm's way and using his opponent's strengths, positions, and wills against them. In these cases, preventing him from casting is a major priority. A well-placed silence spell should do the trick. After that, it's simply a matter of landing a good strike. See my encounter with him in Ruggerwood revealing his frailty. Gainsby strikes me as one whose allyship could prove beneficial and may even be willing to work with us in the right incentive. However, this has dubious odds. Stay on guard, nevertheless. Okay. This is so curious to me because it's a straight, like they are finding our weaknesses. Alright, flipping over to Rene. Oh, God! Rene. Rene Badoe. Born daughter of Luc Badoe and Leon Badoe, older sister of Francis Badoe. Huh. Official records on Rene are scarce, but from encounters with her and accounts of locals, she seems to be very much a person, able to get on many folks' good sides through pleasant conversation, sympathy, or small favors. No, take careful observation on if these acts are some new subtle advancement of Nathaniel Gainby's enchantments undetectable from usual magic means. In all other cases, however, she appears to be no more special than a typical magic user when faced in combat. Oh, Badoe, that's mean. Drained of her spells, she is weak in a physical bout. Her preferred non-magical weapon appears to be a hand crossbow. Being up close will severely cripple that option for her. Accounts from Luc Badoe have revealed that she is emotionally scarred by more drastic forms of necromancy. See, Luc's record of attempting to resurrect his deceased first wife. Use of fear spells or failed subjects of true resurrection will easily unsettle her into a state of panic. However, she possesses a small enough threat that such drastic measures need not be taken. Oh, my God. Oh, my God. Oh, that is accurate. This man... Sir, can we kill your dad? Merciless. Can I kill your dad? He wrecked my dad. We don't know shit. Let's continue. I want to hear Luna now. I want to hear everybody. Let's go. You guys don't know. Okay. Bring it back. Bring it back. We don't know shit. Sorry. Luna next. I'm keeping myself fast for last. Ah, no, no, no. Luna Icewind, human. Daughter of Vajran Icewind and Sena Steelward. In an interesting subject, records of her childhood are difficult to come by. Both kept off books by her father and also under strong political protection on account of her mother being a high rank in the guard. Accounts of locals in the mountains of Yedzel reveal a headstrong and stubborn mercenary with exceptional sword skills. Seems to have a strong relationship with another of her like. Her ability to summon a copy of herself is most fascinating. Combans who can manifest a second self to fight are certainly rare, but not unheard of, yet hers is a special make. Her sword seemed to be the key. It bears the mark of the Raven Queen, and her father was a devout follower. Yet no records show any history of one being able to draw power from the Raven Queen. Perhaps it is a manifestation of strong prayer and belief akin to another daefic follower. Must consult with a priest at the temple of the Eternals. Note, be sure to bring coin. Methods of subduing her are equally evasive. Her combat prowess makes her a formidable foe even against a skilled magic user who would normally not be hindered by such a physical, reliant opponent. Her copy allows the benefits of an ally and the mobility of teleportation. However, with multiple targets out of reach she will surely struggle. Destroying her copy is not without its benefits either, as it requires her focus to summon it again, leaving her with fewer options if she wishes to use it again. Note, use magic missiles liberally. Oh no. Okay, so... So, this is basically... They've already learned how to ret call us. Okay. Well, that leaves me... Alright. Enoch goes into his own file. Enoch. Human. Born son of Seatura Solomon and redacted. That's a... In young childhood, Enoch appears to have been possessed by an entity that had previously burdened his mother, named redacted. This has granted him various skills and abilities not typical of a human, of his age, lifestyle, and experience. He follows the goddess Aerithas zealously and holds her teachings to a fairy high regard, to the point that he vows to gift others of her teachings in the form of acts of vigilantism, see execution of several students in Belkanis' propers, old abandoned sewers, without legal trial or consultation. Yep. Get wrecked. No, exactly. There was legal consultation. Me. Are you going to jail? Enoch combines magical and technological craft to make some interesting armaments capable of high powered projectiles. His firearms are uniquely personal, as he can augment them to fire special rounds with various effects. His form granted via his connection to the entity, redacted, allows him to fly at impressive speeds. However, his interventions... His inventions are prone to malfunction, and his physical prowess is limited, making him easy to overpower with a stronger opponent. Overwhelm him with numbers or brute strength. He will have trouble keeping up. As for his flight, a simple fly spell will easily keep up with him. If that fails, his inability to stop himself from acting on his emotions, see encounter with myself by the abandoned sewers and thorn near Chester City will cause him to lose composure and take a rational, oftentimes foolish action. Note, teach a few students some enchantment magics. Alright, this is all... They were training the kids to defeat us! This is all 100% accurate. Oh my God. Is there any... A little bit. The two combatants do the most amount of damage. So, is that the only records here? Or is it just us that I say? You can see that those are on you, but you also find a few dossiers on potential students and people, persons of note to keep an eye on, as well as a bunch of various kind of spell books and records and stuff like that as well. I want to find the thickest one, the one he cares about the most. I want to see which one he delves deep into. Those are three different things. Who has the biggest dossier? Well, I would say Nathaniel does. You can see that this is mostly a bunch of accounts on the history of the witch takers. It's ins and outs the various people that have joined and been fired from the facility. Okay. I would say, here's the dossier I want to find. Which one is the one with the most amount of wear on it? The amount of wear. Well, they're all pretty equally pristine. They're all fresh paper that's fairly new. I mean, they're all kind of the same in terms of wear. Have you found anything? As I look just beyond the shelf with a massive smile on my face, oh, they have been. They have been researching us. What the hell are you talking about? And I hold out the four dossiers. What the fuck? Yeah, no, they they have been actively trying to figure out how to kill us and they might have done it accurately. Liberal use of magic. Fuck this. Am I allowed to like? Yeah, no, I handed to you. I give you each your own personal dossiers. No, I don't know. I don't know if you guys took note of this, but the story in Nathaniel's dossier contradicts Nathaniel's story. Oh, it does. Okay, just making sure. Yup. Seems like a campfire talk that needs to happen. As I flip through my own dossier, my blood runs cold for a brief moment and I shut it. What? What did you do? I read them all. 100% honesty, I read them all. And to be quite honest, as I look towards Nathaniel, I don't care what you've done. I don't care what any of you have done. You're all good people to me. No, you're all good people to me. And I hand over my dossier to the three and I think it only fair that you all understand me just as well. So just saying as we trade papers. I wouldn't see a reason against it. I mean, apparently all I am is a basic beach. So, I mean, just kind of like ways forward. You listen, you're basic in combat, but your social skills are beyond anybody else's. You're really, really awesome. You're great. You're amazing. I don't see a reason why we should be sharing all of this information. Bloodstride has gone to length to explain all of our weaknesses, as much as I appreciate working with all of you. I would prefer if that did not leave this pamphlet. Well, do you want to burn the dossiers? Preferably. All right, well, then you can burn it. Wouldn't he know we've been here? He's going to anyway, we killed his ghost. Hmm, fair enough. In any case, have you found anything regarding Murth? No, nothing. Did y'all? This was a waste of time. Look, we might still have some time, but we have to keep looking. This portal on the ground, was it nothing? Yeah, yeah, something, but we can't use it. It seems to be deliberately turned off by whoever drew it. Probably Bloodstride, probably to keep people from using it. I'm not, I'm not magically inclined like you are. I can't turn it on. Is it possible for me to look this thing over? I took one class of conjuration. One class of conjuration. I learned one spell and everything else I flunked out in. So could I make this arcana at disadvantage? Go ahead. Yeah, that's not as bad as I thought it would be. Do you basically know the same thing that Enoch and Luna would have parsed from this, in that whatever it is, it is deactivated until whoever had deactivated would come back to reactivate it, to use it. And it will allow them to basically teleport anywhere, unlike the limited teleportations that you found downstairs. The longer that we spend inside of this place, the more options and opportunities Bloodstride gets to learn that we are here. If he doesn't hold ready. If we don't find him soon, this operation is going to be a fail. No, that's, that's fair. Nice. Wait, did you guys check the trash? Yes. Okay. Oh, did you check the trash? I mean, that's what I assumed we were doing while we were over here, while Enoch was reading the easel thing. Oh, that's my bad for not thinking that you said that. Did we check the trash? I'm going full investigator mode. The most important things you can find in somebody's trash. You un-crumple one piece of paper in the trash, and you can see that there's like a sticky note that it says Merth Ascension Trial Today. And the marking based on like the, the timeline was like half an hour ago. And it marks where the room is, and the room is down here. I cannot believe that worked. Son of a bitch. Are you serious? It was in the trash. I needed to be in the trash, man. Down here on the bottom right door. Oh, shit. It was 30 minutes ago. We might be fucked, guys. Yeah. Let's be like gamers and fucking go. Enoch, let's move. By the way, while we were all doing this, could we have possibly considered it a short rest? You know what? No, it's not losing an hour. That is losing an hour. That's an hour. Damn it. All right. That is an hour. Let's say it's fine. You guys go through that. That door, it is not locked. However, you can see that there is kind of a sign there that says officials only on the door. Cool. I'm officially here. I'm an official seal of approval. And you can see that Merth is conjuring. You can see, you look inside and Merth, who appears to be channeling a spell. There's air around them that just circles around them rapidly. Papers are flying around the room. Their eyes are a bright white and glowing as they are conjuring some kind of spell into this dead human. Robes are being blown as their hands are a deep pitch black and glowing with a green aura. They notice you come in and they see you, Renee, and Merth just speaks up, Renee and the conjuring stops a little bit. And these two over here, a halfling and a half elf look to you and the half elf comes up. What are you doing? This place is off limits. It says official business only. Cool. I'm officially fucking here and stopping this bullshit. Oh, God. I would like to roll initiative. I would like to jump into that simplicity. I'm going to put you here so that you're not in a criss-do-way. And we are going to roll initiative. Initiative again, please. I'm going into this with half elf. Let's go. These are nobodies. I am worried about these guys. The cabbage. Damn it. Can I roll halfway recently on my initiative ever? Please. It's okay. I didn't roll one. We all rolled almost the exact same thing. What? You're going to roll again? Okay. Okay. Now. Immediately. Oh, the NPCs are going to go first. No, not these things. No. So you can see Merth losing concentration. They kind of fall to their knees, almost like they're exhausted. And you can see. Yeah, that makes sense. I didn't draw it on the actual map, but there is a pile of diamonds next to them. Oh, my. I'll just draw a bunch of stuff right there. There we go. There's diamonds. So we're aware, right? We're keeping those. And Merth just falls panting, so they're not going to do anything this turn. The elf simply puts out his hands and gestures, and there are four alipses in the room. Yep. Fuck. No likey. I hate all of them. This one. Leave me alone. Going to come up close and do a little touch. It reaches out with its smoky hand. It should be alone. At you, Renee. No, leave me alone. Is this an attack action? It is an attack. Yes. I would like to intercept it for whatever the hell it does to Renee. You may intercept. Roll the interception. Is it a roll to hit? Oh, does it hit? Hold on. Let me. Let me look at. Yeah, your AC. Your AC is real low. Yeah, let's see if it hits first. It does hit. Okay. Yeah. I'm intercepting. Okay. That is expanding my reaction, but that should be for reduced damage. It's fine. Ah. Okay. Renee, you take 12 psychic damage as this hand moves through you and you feel let's just dread cover your body. Let's just say let's be very glad that I took that potion because if I didn't, I'd be dead again. This one's going to do the same thing to Enoch. Oh, those people. Yep. It lands as well. And Enoch, you take. Shit. That's not in my tray. You take 18 psychic damage, Enoch, as this hand just travels through you and you see visions of all the people you care about just yelling at you, angry, telling you how worthless you are. This one is going to use its whispers of madness on Nathaniel and Luna. I need you both to make with some saving throws. Is this a spell? Okay. It is a spell. So time to hit me and time for me to die. So you will be rolling with advantage. Bring it on. Okay. Well, so Luna had a good run. Yeah. Hit me. You take 15 psychic damage. Oh, awesome. Nathaniel, you take, what does that have? What's the number? Seven. Seven psychic damage. Is that half of 15 rounded down? Yep. Yep. Yeah. You take seven and Luna, it points to Nathaniel. No, no, no, no, no. Not Nathaniel. You need to use your reaction. Oh wait, I had 10 HP. Eat shit. I don't have a reaction. She doesn't because she used her reaction on me. Oh, you don't have a reaction anymore. That's correct. Oh my God, yes, Luna. Look at that. Using action economy. Yeah. And this one is also going to do the same thing again. So both of you need to make wisdom saves again. Can I ask politely not to? 13. So Luna, 13. Unfortunately, 13 is not enough. So you're going to take the full psychic damage again. Stop dying. Nathaniel, you do take half damage. TPK. TPK. Okay. So Nathaniel, you're going to take, you're going to take five psychic damage and Luna, you're going to take 10. Okay. And it is going to do the same command. However, it doesn't work. And these two are not doing anything because they're commanding the two alips. Oh, you motherfuckers. Yeah. Hey, I wonder what to do. Your turn. Wow. I'm going to take my ring of haste. I'm going to activate it. That being my action. And I am going to use my ring of haste and take my haste action as a disengage because I don't want this thing touching me. Okay. And I'm going to go up to Merth. You can see that they're kind of like on the floor just like panting. Whatever they were doing there, it took a lot out of them physically. They're panting just trying to get a hold of themselves. And I, I'm not caring about those two. I'm only caring about, I'm only caring about Merth as I drop to my knees and I say, please, please make the stop. Stop doing this. Please. Hmm. You can see that they are out of breath and they're, they're struggling to make a response to you, but they're not able to get anything out right now. I know, I know, I made a mistake of telling you something that I should have not done and I ended up pushing you away farther than I wanted to. And at the end of it, I don't care. I don't care. I don't care if you want to do necromancy. I don't care about any of that. I just care that you come home. You come back. Give me persuasion with advantage. It's going to be an 18 first and then a three. Take off with that 18. You can see that Merth will respond on their next turn. Oof. Solid. Okay. Anything else you're doing? Can I, can I use a bonus action to take a healing potion? Yeah, go ahead. So eight points. Hey, it's not bad. That's my only. I want you to come home. I'm so sorry. All right. God. And so your hasted action was to disengage action, bonus action for the healing potion, a haste action for the ring of haste. And then a hasted action is disengage. Okay. Gotcha. Okay. So and then just movement. And that's it. Your turn. Um, I wonder if I could scare the fuck out of these guys to making them stop. Is there any way that I could say something so horrifying that they could get distracted from their commands? I don't know. I have no idea either, but I think it'd be fun. I'm actually going to try this. I think it'll be fun because I'm first going to use healing word on myself. But I'm basically using it while making a little like six second threat. Okay. So I'm going to roll that first. Nine. So as I'm talking, I'm getting healed. So basically it's just going to go. You think I'm fucking scared of you? How many people, how many lives do you think we destroyed in order to get here where we are now in front of you? Do you really want to be the next two lives in that list? Right now? Give me an intimidation. Is that what you want? Because I will give it to you. Yes. Holy shit. If you really want it because my God's I am having because the thing is she's also made this realization about her dad. She is channeling her anger right now. If you really want to fuck with us today, I am in the perfect mood to destroy some fuckers lives. And you can be next on that list. I'll prioritize you. You can see that the gnome and half a halfling and half elf just look at each other. And you can see they're a little bit shaken. Let's see if that causes them to drop their guard. But let's go. And that'll be my turn. Nathaniel. Oh, I thought that you'd never ask. Yay. All right. First things first, I'm going to hold my hand with the air and five lines of magical light are going to shoot out one involving the thumb this time. And they're going to connect to me and all of my friends as well as mirth. And all of us are going to gain the powers of my mantle of inspiration. What does it do? You can immediately as a reaction move up to your speed without provoking attacks of opportunity and you gain eight temporary HP. I am basically going to threaten the fuck out of these guys. Just adding on to that. Like it's not Nathaniel. It just walks over to these two. Like you want to try it today. You want to be the ones. So all you get it. Merth even gets it. If Merth wants to move, they can. If they're incapable of it, they can't. I was wondering if, you know, could guide Merth out into the hallway. You could drag them. I don't want to be forceful. I'm not going to be forceful about this. Okay, so let's kill all of our friends first. If we have to sit in this room and hash this out, I will. Yeah, all right. Can we do that after we deal with this guy? Let's murder their friends first. Okay. So that was my bonus action. My action is going to be spent casting a third level sleep spell. Oh, nice. I'm going to maneuver it so that it doesn't hit me. Okay, very good. Oh, that's fine. Yeah, I just want this guy. The halfling. I don't think it's going to hit both of them. So we're going to do the halfling then. Listen, that's fine. I'll just threaten the fuck out of this elf. Okay. Oh my God. What is that? 39. Yep. The halfling goes to sleep. Yep. So I'm just staring down this elf now as this halfling just falls asleep. I'm just like, mm-hmm. I'm running out of spells. Yeah. No, listen, this is perfect. This is perfect. This is perfect for the intimidation tactic. Okay. Luna. Okay. Yeah. And with that, I'm going to take a step in here so that nothing bothers me. Well, my sword's still on fire. Is it? Me? Yeah, because I had it aflame in the other room and I didn't turn it off. Hey. Sweet. All right. Show me fire sword. Oh no, we're not just doing fire. So wait, no, I don't want to do that because I don't want to burn a bird. Never mind. We're not going to turn into a lighthouse. Yeah. Don't do lighthouse shit. We're living shit out of this thing. All right. Show me bapping the ever-living shit out of that thing. All right. Yes. There's one. Ah, right. It's always the second. It's always the second swing. All right. Well then, wait, I didn't use my bonus action, right? Use your bonus action. Well, yeah, I can bonus action, take another attack because dual-wielder. Yeah, offhand weapon. Yeah, that one hits. Yay. Unfortunately, because of its resistance to physical damage, you... Your sword feels as though it's cutting through the wind. But it does dissipate a little bit of this ghostly, smoky form. Okay, cool. I acted. So, on the NPC's turn... Do you really want to be the one? On the NPC's turn, you see Mer... Yeah. Looking up at you, Enoch, with tears in their eyes and they simply put their hands on their heads and shout out, Stop it! And several skeletons immediately burst out from the ground and hold the necromancers. Merth, I love you. Merth, B.B. So, some skeletons have already us. Come on. And are going to try and hold the necromancers. Well, this guy is asleep, so... One of them's asleep, so... Yeah. Yeah. They're just going to lightly hug him while he lays on the ground. And they are held by the skeletons. And Merth simply looks up to you, Enoch. And with tears rolling down their cheeks. Okay, let's talk. And that's where we're going to end the session today. No! Okay, step one. Step one. It's done. We got 30 more to go. Oh! Oh! Oh! Oh!