Probability of Demise

Welcome adventurers to Probability of Demise, the podcast where critical fumbles meet critical facepalms. Join us as we delve into the darkest dungeons, slay the stupidest gremlins, and roll enough ones to make a beholder weep. Forget epic storylines and heroic deeds. Here we celebrate the chaotic beauty of bad roles, questionable decisions, and characters with more charisma than sense.

We'll be your dungeon masters of disappointment, guiding you through campaigns where the only guaranteed treasure is a mountain of laughter, and maybe some psychic scarring. So grab your nat 1 dice, strap on your anxiety helmets, and prepare to witness the glorious trainwreck that is our D&D journey.

Because, in the end, it's Even if your character dies face first into a pile of pudding, at least you'll have the Dice God's permission to laugh your ass off.

Welcome back to Probability of Demise, a lovely, wonderful, beautiful, magical podcast that you like, subscribe, buy shit from. Fake sipping, because I ran out of coffee. Join us as we do stupid stuff in an imaginary world that is our own creation. But first, a very important message from Seraphina. Word of the Day!

Greetings to my fellow Word Seekers. It is once again time for the Word of the Day! Um, today, we will once again roll our amazing D100, and we will discover a term to spice up our adventure. Um, so, let us roll, and see what happens. Where do we fight?

Thank you. Alright. Today's word of the day I rolled, what did I roll? What number did I already roll? 76! I forgot how I wrote it down. Uh, which is our word Agrarian which is something described as agrarian, has something to do with farms or farming. Uh, so So, used in a sentence, um, Joan hopes to leave the city life behind and move to a more agrarian region where she plans to raise goats and grow heirloom tomatoes.

Tomatoes. Tomatoes. Nice crispy bacon. Sautéed tomatoes. Awesome. Well, just as a general reminder, uh, Jess, you also got the word of the day last time. Although I feel like you abused the word, but whatever. Life happens. Uh, We have had an amazing few experiences here. Uh, Now, previously, previously, there was an exploding house escapade, there's a bricked up temple, surrounded by an angry mob, and the group became infected with Weave Worn Disease, uh, Seraphina's father's, uh, condition was highlighted and we learned about what the Wyvern's Venom had done as a treatment, and also a potential outbreak of Weave Worn, but also just Wyvern's Venom addiction, because of it being used as a cure all by that same, uh, bricked up temple.

We also talked about, uh, the potential actions and such through a lawyer, uh, Gus kind of set up some arrangement that including employment for Seraphina's mother that might be a little bit more robust than the many jobs she has apparently been juggling. The group has considered potential leads and potential investigations including the murder of the Nightingale, the involvement of the Synod Temple, and the implications of the venom itself.

They've also discussed the need to gather more information and possibly leverage some government connections to uncover these corruptions. And in addition, the meeting kind of concluded, uh, brought together Sticky Beak, Gus Sniffle shundundun, Seraphina and Ulua. I'm making it worse and worse each time. I actually say Gus undun schniffle fairly well when I'm trying not to be ridiculous.

Planning their next steps, thinking about different things, and talking about trying out dispel magic on the little slip of paper here.

As you sit there pondering this and realizing that none of you actually know how to dispel magic,

racking your brains, thinking about people you may know,

go ahead and anybody who wants to say that they know somebody, go ahead and say it. I know someone. I don't, I don't actually know someone. I just wanted to be a part of it. I think, I mean, in terms of people who can see magic, maybe Oksana might also be able to dispel it? So with that information and a bit of agreement amongst the four, the three of you and the four, because StickyBeak agrees, but is going to hold back, um, you all head to Um, the, um, the house to, to, to the, to the serene house, sincere house, sincere house.

I'm forgetting today. It's, this is already rough. I'm so such a great start. So you shout out to Rurik because we exhaust them to no end and we, uh, we drag out. Yes. So shout out to Rurik for putting up with the three of us continuously. Yeah. Um, we've been on. our recording software for an hour and a half.

So there's that.

I might cry a little bit here because it's like, the thing is, it's like, y'all get to admit that you're have your various ADHDs and tisms and issues pulling you away. I got all the same issues I'm supposed to keep on it. It's too hard right now. Okay. So bringing up Oxana's name, you all decide to take.

your leave from Sticky Beak and the others that are around you and go and seek their help. Heading off to the home of the Combshare, to a place of refuge from the trials of city life, you all get to the Sincere House and sitting outside, not even within the walls of her domicile, there is Oksana. Um, sitting in a little bit of pool of light, taking in the view of the city as the scene in front of her changes from, uh, day to twinkling evening.

Welcome back. Another slumber party, it looks like?

Yeah, we're just trying to figure out, well, what's going on. What to do with everything that we know. Um, but we have this one clue that we're not quite sure of. None of us can seem to make heads or tails of it. So I thought maybe it might be enchanted in some way that we can't read. Would you happen to be able to, um, I, I, you know, earlier you, you took one look at me and you could see magic.

Can you You see her eyes already starting to glow a little bit, um, and she's looking you over and then she looks over, uh, Seraphina and Gossam. Well, whatever, I mean, it's still there, but you look okay now. Yes, we, we, in, you know, uh, for all intents and purposes,

intense, not intense, but intense. Like, literally in a tent? No! Intents and purposes. In wigwams and purposes. Um, no. That'll be my next word of the day. There's a common, um, people say intensive purposes, which is wrong. Intents and purposes. Um, we are cured. We have a few limitations to actions we can do. Oh, so it's one of those things where it could flare up, but symptoms are under control.

In, yes, in summation. Um, but we, we have a clue here that seems to be, well, musically inclined, but none of us seem to be able to solve it. Basically, we don't know if this sound puzzle will, if it's something that we can, if there's something we can do to solve it, or I thought maybe dispelling magic might help, I'm at a bit of a loss.

Uh, we do have that old, I think they were more your contact than mine, but, uh, Sir Gregor. is pretty well versed in magic. My skills are fairly basic, but you could bring it to them. I'm sure they've always been very giving. Truth. My, my concern about visiting any of our contacts is letting anybody who's possibly paying attention to us know that we have those connections.

I did write him a letter. Uh, briefly explaining about the factory and the building materials that we think caused all of us, and I gesture to Gus and Seraphina, uh, to be infected with what it is that you saw on me. Well, he is a night owl. There's no reason you couldn't

get ahead of your letter. Where's, where's he located? The holocouncil, he Uh, keeps offices within. I actually, uh, the face you drew looks like someone I arrested many years ago, uh, who is currently in that prison. So, uh, perhaps we could kill two birds here. You want us to kill the person that you put in jail?

Two birds. One stone, two tasks at the same time, just a saying. I just, sorry, with everything that's been going on, I wasn't sure if you were being literal. No. Well, uh, do you need anything from me? Uh, if you're hoping to slip in unobtrusively, um,

that's simple to do. Uh, There is a big event with the farmers. Um, you could go in an agrarian disguise and make your way there. That's not fair. Yeah. You tell the story. That's not fair. Oh, there just happens to be a farmer convention. Hey, you all have the opportunity to use it now. Cause I just told you, you could dress up as farmers.

So if you don't take advantage of this little setup here, then It's not fair. Ugh. Fine. Ugh. I kind of want to say stay in your lane DM, but you're the DM so it's all kind of your lane. Uh, just having a little bit of fun to get myself reset into the happy mood. So, uh, if you would like I mean, we have costumes, and she looks at you, Gus, for a moment.

Of all sizes.

Uh, if you think that's, that's necessary, I suppose we could do that. Oh, I, you said that, well, Louie, you said that you wanted to slip in unobtrusively. You prefer, just head on down, there's so many people in and out of the Hullet Council, I'm sure that no one will notice.

I think, I do think it might be better if we at least take some measures to make ourselves less identifiable. Um, if we want to do the costumes, it could be fun. Um, and I'm quite handy with You know, disguises, so I could, you know, change us up a little so that we're just a little less. I do, I do still have this.

I just take out my mask of one face that we got from. Yes, but that might be, that might be something to save for when, you know, in a pinch when we don't have time. Wait, we can only use it once? Yes.

I do believe it's one use. The mask of one face. Do you use yours?

Nobody's used any of it. So I could use mine! You could! I feel like it's going to be hard to hide this. You have very little faith in me, don't you? When it comes to this, yes. I have a lot. A lot of horns, a lot of hair, a lot of green. Would you permit me to try?

Can we play dress up? Just a little bit? You'd let me try? If you hate it, you can use the mask.

Deal. Wait. Yes. You sure? Only with your consent. Yes. As long as you do it. As they walk away, as they walk away, I'm just gonna lean into Oxana and be like, I'm not really sure that, uh, Ulua's the one to make her leshmoney, but, Hmm, and just walk away and follow them.

Oxana just Takes a deep breath, Walks down the pathway from the house, Off to find her evening Food. Anywhere but here.

The three of you To Getting disguised and dressed up. Um, Seraphina is getting a makeover of sorts from Ulua. Gus, are you gonna, um, take advantage of Ulua's skill set, or are you gonna do something of your own? Yeah, I'll let her do it. I don't have any Okay, then Ulua, guess what? Roll a Who are you dressing up first?

Um, I think let's start with you. Gus, just because I think his might be a little bit simpler and less time consuming. Yeah. Um, actually his is simpler. Gus, I would like you to roll a d20. Ulua, you get to roll a d20 with advantage. Okay. Let's see.

Um, and Ulua, you're going to use your insight. Okay. Am I just rolling straight, or? Um, Gus, you're going to roll an intelligence saving throw. 15. Okay. 19. Beautiful. So, Gus, with a 15, you're not quite acting the full part of the look that you've been giving, but you've been given a really good look. It's not difficult for you to fulfill this role though, Gus.

You've gone undercover before, this is, you're well within the realm of looking like a farmer right now. For Ulua there's probably snacks and I'm just gonna be like, Oh yes, nobody will ever suspect me as a former member of the Shitty Watch now. As you're nomming away on a pastry of deliciousness, Ulua turns her attention to Seraphina.

S Seraphina, I need you to roll two d12s. add them together and tell me what the number is, but I need you to do that via as private a mode as you can. Um, Ulua, go ahead and roll your insight check and then I need you to roll a dexterity saving throw.

Okay, and the insight check was still with advantage? Um, yeah, yeah, that's okay. Okay, so then that's a 22. And then, my dex save, same number, but what's my, 21! Wow, okay, you're, you're, you're good today. You can stay there. Aloha, you see the end of your creation, a young farmer, um, the way that you've woven the hair and horns.

To create just a big bushy mass and More so than normal? Really recrafted what was there is impressive. Seraphina,

you feel like you have to juggle 20 different things to not mess up the look. Mm. And any time you try to do Some more sophisticated actions rather than just walking sedately. I will need you to make dexterity saving throws. Oh man, okay. Otherwise the disguise will fall apart. Oh, dress up yourself.

Another insight or? Uh, yeah, it's just a straight. Performance. This is for you. It's performance. Yeah. You just doing performance for yourself. 24. Great. You definitely inhabit the character that you've created for yourself and you look like you just came off of the smokestacks, one of the food factory areas.

You all seem to look the part. Um, yeah. So the three of you make your way down to the hollow council, I'm presuming, um, evening is settling in. You can hear people as you pass through the various districts on your way there. Bye Um, whether you're taking cart or just taking a long walk through the Skyway Strip, even.

Whatever method you choose to get there, the sounds of the evening are alive, there are people hawking food, there's music playing. It is a normal evening in one of the more, um, rambunctious areas of town until you come to the larger homes and And let's face it, many mansions that surround the Hollow Council.

And there it becomes a quieter space, uh, that your footsteps actually have sound of their own and don't blend into the hubbub. Um, and as you come to the Council gates, guarded, but lightly guarded. people passing in and out. Uh, the press of bodies is significantly reduced because this isn't prime hours, but the whole council's always got something going on.

It's not one of those public institutions where the night is closing. It is one of those locations where there's always people in and out. There's always some work to be done. There are people who keep the night hours, whether they're members of the watch, Members of judicial branches or some other facet of the city.

You make your way in past columns that probably have had years and years of deferred maintenance, uh, crumbling their facades, but are otherwise holding up the structure just well. The cobbles are broken here and there. It is a place where time has Not been kind and fiscal responsibility as a political entity has had its own impact.

Um, where things that were not deemed of importance to individuals with short term memory had a long term impact on the overall space. Going deeper within the Hull Council past various entries and reception areas. You do come to, uh, Gus familiar territory. This is where people are interred, and for Ulua it is also familiar territory.

You've walked down these steps before for many different reasons, but one among them being that this slow curving staircase does go down to The, um, office of your contact within the hollow council, um, sir Gregor keeps his offices in an area just adjacent to the prison space, um, partly due to space needs and such, but it is rumored, um, that Sir Gregor's phylacterphy, phylactery is also kept down here.

I cannot say that word without stumbling over it. That's, that's a big word. Yeah. It's got a lot of letters. Uh, and it's here where you hit a crossroads and a decision needs to be made. Do you wish to go down on a passage towards the offices of those who keep underground spaces? Um, many of whom are just more comfortable in the underground world, uh, or do you head down a little deeper to the, um, containment spaces where those who have been held an indeterminable number of years, months.

Like we can just walk in? Well if you go down that way, you know that eventually there are going to be those who challenge you and, and. have you check in, but visitors are not something that's unheard of in those spaces. Um, there's not a formal presence to keep you out of hall council spaces that you are going towards.

Offices in the prison space are not, um, guarded like council chambers are. There is no reception in these spaces. These, these are not folks valued highly enough to have their own reception. But they're also, especially with the President, the President has to have public access because people visit their loved ones even if they are incarcerated.

I feel like I would probably head wherever I know or infer Sir Gregor is most likely to be in order to have the conversation. Um,

can I roll like a history check to see if I know whether he prefers to be,

I don't know. Oh, you would, just tell me what you're trying to, what you want to know and I'll tell you if there's a role for it at all. I want to, I want to go to where I think he's going to be. Yeah, you, you can go to his office. What I put in front of you was the choice between going down towards his office as a group or going down towards, uh, the, the incarceration spaces, the containment cells.

Um, so that's the decision. Are you going to stay together? Are you going to split up? I think It's better if we stay together. Split the party! Split the party! Hey! Split the party! I'm just kidding. We don't have to. Okay. So you, you all head down to Gregor's office? I definitely need to go on TikTok. And maybe make a t shirt out of it.

Like split the party with a dab. Stick a picture. Okay. Okay. Okay. So as you don't split the party and head towards Gregor's office, or Gregor's office, um, you come to his door. It is shut. Uh, you can see that the wood seems to be the same worn, um, white surface that it's always been, at least in your memory.

Impressive that his door door is white. Um, considering the deferred maintenance you see everywhere else, uh, so someone cleans this door and for all you know it could be Sir Gregor himself.

I knock. Ding, ding, ding, ding.

You hear a shuffling and a clattering and then the door creaks open.

Um, nobody's at the door. The shuffling and the clattering. was a series of pulleys that Sir Gregor has arranged so that he doesn't have to open and close the door. He is sitting Isn't he a magic user? Can he just magic it open? That's kind of, I mean Not his way. You see him sitting behind a large desk, also completely white, um, holding a very fine cord.

It looks like it is made of, well, who knows what it is made of, uh, and the whole space is in various tones of white and yellow. Um, I feel like Seraphina respects a good police system. I was just gonna say, while they, while they speak to him, I want to investigate this door and the police system. I would love for you to roll an investigation check.

Thank you. The the, uh, The the, uh, Say! Investigation! I just love how they're having an up puh. Say all your up uh pp, uh, I can't remember the word. Upl u u plectic? Yeah, they're having a moment. I was too focused on the fact that this man invents things. Uh, plus something. Mood.

Okay. Investigation. Oh, thank god. So, um. 22. Twenty two. With a twenty two, um, wow. Uh, okay, so I can fix it to make it better. No. Uh, you might be able to, and as you're looking at it, you realize that it's not cable or cord. Uh, looking more closely at it, you realize that it's a contraption of ligament and bone.

Oh! Oh, that's nasty. It's gross. You can fix it and make it better by using metal and cord. Yeah. Or just getting up and opening the door.

I'll let you tell him that. Okay. Thank you. That was all I wanted to do. I was like, Oh, the invention. Okay. Um, so wait, now we do see him, right? Yes. You, you see him sitting in behind that big desk, that big, A white and yellow desk. Um, it, it, it's me.

Refresh my memory? I can't quite place you. It's me, Ulua. Ulua, Ulua, Ulua. You see his gaunt visage, uh, kind of freeze in a creepy, uncanny way as he tries to remember you. Oh, oh, oh, yes. Yes, I do remember you. Uh, the comp share, a new thing, quite exciting, changing the world. Maybe. Um, listen, we, and I gesture to, uh, Gus and Seraphina, we are, we're looking into a few things around the city.

I actually wrote you a letter. It may not have come to you yet. But, um, there's a few nefarious things occurring in the city that we are looking into. Always. Always. And one of them involves a current inmate. Within confinement here, who our esteemed former City Watch member, uh, arrested and had put away, um, But it seems that he is connected to things that are going on.

Would it be possible for us to speak with him under the guise of maybe perhaps he committed crimes against our families and we want to confront him or talk to him? Oh, you Give him or No, you just use the visiting hours. That shouldn't be anything that you require me for. Um I don't know, I don't know what level he's being kept at.

He was quite I do. Uh, I mean in terms of security. Is he We'd have to assume that his jailors should know this. Uh, you'll have to ask them as anyone would in the public queue. Well, will they give us any trouble if, if we say that's why we're visiting? Um, unless he's some infamous outlaw, he shouldn't require, I mean, visitors visit.

Uh, unless you're seeking a formal, uh, which by formal, I mean public record. And I don't really feel like I remember that as being your preferred. Gus, would you like to expand on who we're referring to? Sure. Rurik, is this the, the person from my backstory? Yes, it is. Yeah. Uh, there is one, once, like myself, I suppose, once quite famous, uh, killer named, by the name of Magic Mike, who's a, uh, wizard, and who killed many people.

Uh, 80, 90 years ago, uh, I, and I, I was the one who caught him, but, um, there was a, a premonition that we saw that contained what I believe to be his face in it. And I want to ask him some questions. We want to ask him some questions. Well, um, I don't see any reason why you can't just, uh, do it. The name doesn't ring a bell, which generally means either the history has faded and he's just a prisoner or, um, no special treatment is needed, uh, so you should be able to get down there and, and claim visitation rights.

Um, it's evening, which, counterintuitively in our city, happens to be the best time to get someone from their jail cells, uh, a city that never sleeps. Thanks. I believe, uh, Ulua also wanted to ask you if you have a certain spell?

That's correct. Um, so You just see his, where cheeks should be, spread in a toothless smile, showing the skeletal interior of his skull through his open mouth.

And what spell can I perform for you, my friend? Oh, well, um, we found a clue. It was originally sent, uh, as a message, and we realized it was an encoded message, um, rather through sound, but none of us have been able to figure it out. I thought Perhaps if we try dispelling the magic, the, uh, the information might reveal itself, but that, that may not be the case.

And, uh, and I kind of turned to Gus and Seraphina and we're like, if, if we dispel the magic, then we might lose the clue completely. So I think, I don't know if that's the right course of action to take, or, or maybe you could at least take a look at it and see if you might glean more information from it than us.

Well, uh, this is quite the fun thing, I always like a nice little dispellation, and as he says dispellation, um, Seraphina, you have clued into this, but Gus and Ulua haven't. Seraphina, you investigated that and saw the ligament and bone, and you've realized that this office defies the usual definition of a room, because as you step through that, door, that big white door.

That's bone. That's skeletal frame. And looking around the room even more, you've realized that the massive ribs of the arches in this office are ribs. Glowing runes are etched into that bone, which are what brings the light. And as the Desmos dance in the air, swirling in that cavernous space. You start to realize, Seraphina, that Sir Gregor themselves is almost a simulacrum.

Oh no. You are inside of Sir Gregor. Okay. And instead of a desk, as Gus and Ulua have seen, it's actually a massive, polished sternum that's serving as the work surface. And you can see the parchment scrolls that are all meticulously arranged on its bony expanse. They're held down by ornately carved obsidian weights.

And there are these leathery, clawed hands, fingers tipped with silver rings resting on these documents, and moving them about and arranging them right now. Sir Gregor Supernasty. With a low groan, a section of Sir Gregor's ribcage, aka the office, swings outward, revealing a pulsating alchemical circle etched directly into the inner bone.

Runes that glow a vibrant purple writhe and twist, and you can feel power humming in the air. All three of you feel this power. This is no ordinary desk. It is a magical tool and it's designed with the singular purpose of disrupting and removing unwanted enchantments. Ah, this, my guest, is where the true work is done.

Here, come within the very core of my being. I can sever the unwanted magic. Uh, well, when I turned back to Gus and Seraphine, I'm like, do we want to try this on the chance that we lose it forever, or? And I kind of, I mean, I, am I clued into what it is now, kind of seeing? Or, am I skilled? You can go ahead and roll a intelligence saving throw with disadvantage.

Okay. Uh, sure, Gregor. While she's rolling, oh, sorry. Just a question for her. What did you say the desk was? A sternum. Okay. Sure, Gregor. Perhaps, uh, before you dispel the magic, you could inspect the clue closer and see if you could see something that we've missed? I'm just remembering right now that we all rolled like crap trying to solve this thing, so Uh, certainly.

Um, let me see the scrap. I think I have it. I think it was the last one to try to take a look at it. I hand it over.

He looks at it. Well, if I had living eyes, I might try to blur them. This looks like one of those things where the picture's hidden. But, uh For the record, you're 1997. I can't quite make out what it's for. Um, but then, the performing arts were never my thing. And he hands it back to you. It's musical notation from a century or two ago.

I'm gonna look at it again and like, blur my eyes and see if I can see the It's the lyrics to the Milkshake song. Okay.

My milkshake brings all the boys to the yard. Just a milkshake. Oh my god. While Sir Gregor is able to identify it as musical notation of an ancient sort, it is not, he is not himself musical and does not have the ability to understand more than that. Could you be kind enough to copy it down for us since we're not able to see it the way that you do for some reason?

Um, I mean, it's just right there. I don't, I can make a copy, but like, we're, we're not able to see it. Right. Like he's seeing it. We don't see it. You can see the squiggles that seem pretty random, like an alphabet soup. Like I described before, that's all destroyed. And as he kind of confused, you see him scribbling down exactly what's on there.

Is it just that this is like quarter notes and whole notes and things that we just don't know that notation system. Is that the problem? Yeah. Yeah, it's like a foreign music system, a foreign language, a foreign way of denoting mathematics. Okay. It's, it's clear as day what it is, but what it is does not necessarily make sense without, um, the right background or information.

I know you're not a musician yourself, but, uh, you've been around the block a time or two. Any chance you recognize the cultural significance of this notation system? You know, there are scholars that, uh, really specialize in this work. Um, you might have to seek out some of the more musically inclined. And, um, Ruhe has some.

Uh, you might have to find, you know, somebody who has been around for a long time. I mean that, that is kind of what we were hoping with you and it was suggested that we should at least, you know, consider, uh, asking you as long as we were coming here anyways. There is an Underton musician, uh, siren. She's been around for as many centuries as I have, and she definitely has seen this before.

Um, but it takes a, it takes a lot to get her to come out these days. She needs something fun and exciting to do.

Like, if you have an idea, we can invite her. Uh, I wonder, um, like a party. So Oh, she was a huge fan of parties. Oh, parties. I have a thought. I have a thought. Um, and this might be beneficial to the other things we're looking into as well. If, if I arrange a night of food, drinks, entertainment, with Debauchery?

A party! I mean, I feel like that It ends up being the case, even if it's never necessarily the original intention, depending on the guest list, which

it seems that the majority of the people who are behind these plans are not among the common people. And my guess is that they are. The machinations are from the mind of people who are higher up in our society, who are less likely to see, um, crap, Larissa, I can't remember the word, the consequences of their actions and or, and or see repercussions.

So perhaps if I have a very, what some would consider elite guest lists, which would definitely create a An atmosphere of debauchery.

Maybe we can use that to our advantage? Ah, so you're looking for a honey trap of sorts. Or a parlay of individuals where they're not aware that they're feasting in the enemy's den. Do you think you could,

supportive of such an event, and convince those, if I provide you with a list, perhaps I can see what levers I can pull. As he says that, he reaches back and, and, Seraphina, you see Him reaching for another set of ligament and bone. And you have no idea what is tricked or trapped by that. But some something is, um, done as he as he does that.

I feel a spurt of excitement. I think I've reignited a faded old being, my dear Lua.

Great! Um, okay. Well, I will then supply a follow up letter to the one that's currently on its way to you. Um, but we definitely are looking at people who are in charge of manufacturing, people who benefit from manufacturing, people who are benefiting from the division in class. and echo socioeconomic status.

Um, does that kind of help get your mind on the right set of people we're looking for? Definitely, definitely. And, um, I feel like our friend Anya might be useful in this. Do you suggest I write to her or would you like to coordinate? Whichever way you prefer, but, uh, she may be faded from memory, but I do know that she likes to hang out with, uh,

This might set fire to her passions again.

Then perhaps I'll schedule an in person visit, simply in case correspondence is intercepted. And my, my correspondence will simply be under the guise of a suggested, or looking for suggestions for a guest list for a wonderful party. Well, if we want to bring in all those who rest on high will want to invite the Silver Queen.

I can handle that. If you'll handle Hanya.

Okay. There's some others.

Amara, the counselor.

You know what? As long as we can coordinate this through you, Ulua, I'll make sure your guest list is fairly rich, and anybody in addition you'd like me to add to it.

Things move quickly in Ascended Circles. I suggest we have this happen. Edelman.

What are all these names? Wait, Gus doesn't know that name, right? You all shared it, I think, in public. Unless I'm totally mistaken, but I totally believe that you all talked through that already. I'll add Edelman to the list. We'll want to grab some of those

Hey Jess, Edelman was the Edelman was the like central figure that's in the vision that seems to be the one running all these different bad things. The only one that you could recognize. Yeah.

And yeah, as you wrap up the conversation, uh, you can see that Sir Gregor is already, uh, deep into some sort of process of, of summoning.

I'm still trying to wrap my head around this. So we're like inside of his chest cavity, basically, but also he's sitting at the desk. Yeah. It's a strange, worrying thing because, um, if you were able to see it, Gus and what Seraphina definitely does see is people might have it wrong. They often think that Sir Gregor's philatrophy is here.

And what Seraphina is saying that is that no, Sir Gregor may make up a large portion. of the Hall of Council's physical building. And what she's starting to make out here is that this is a, some sort of simulacrum, illusion. Uh, she, like, you'll have to actually do something to figure that out, to figure out what is right in front of you representing him.

But what Starfina is seeing is that this is a decomposed, rearranged skeleton. that has been crafted into this office. And who knows what else. Um, so far you just see parts of the rib cage and the sternum. It would require other Delvings to find the other parts of this body. I want to know more, but also I don't, Gus doesn't know that this is what's happening, so I can't know more.

I'm wondering, like, did we shrink when we walked in? Or is the list just really big? Or Is it like a whale that the Lich killed and turned into a building? Or A dragon? Or a dragon? Don't know. Really big dragon. Skeleton?

I mean, Seraphina, are you asking these questions of the Lich? No, that was Jessica throwing in random. Maybe this? If we're in TMS Ribs, who knows? Um Well, because I do want to throw in that because Seraphina can't move because she's scared it will move everything, uh, and because she's grossed out by the fact that she's inside of a ribcage, um, I would love to, maybe on the way out of the office, do I want to do it inside the office?

No, I want to do it on, like, as we're leaving. I just kind of want to, like,

Maybe if we go to the dungeon, not the dungeon, the prison, I want to do more investigations to see like, is all of the hollow council a skeleton? Is just sections of it a skeleton? Or is it just his office? Okay. Yeah. I just sort of want to be doing that as they may be doing other things. Yeah. So yeah. And if you're leaving, um, but the, the wheels are in motion for an event.

Um, It's, he indicated that it needs to happen quite quickly, I am, we can fast forward through this a little bit rather than roleplaying it out, I would love for you to establish a time and place, like even the next evening is something that he's going to offer, because he can establish a venue quite quickly.

So soon.

The wheels of governance have to move quickly when you want something spectacular to occur.

Well, it's nice to know the government can move fast doing something. This is less government and more. Opportunity. If we can bring our siren song out, too many will want to be there to not have it happen quite quickly. Also, less time for people to think too deeply. Lua, are you agreeable to this, or do you need more time to make your rounds?

I think, uh,

I think as long as I can get to Anya in person, the rest will fall into place rather easily. So, I think,

I'm alright following them for now, and then if I feel like I need to leave, I will. But, are you not going, are we not going to, yeah.

Okay, so you all head down to the jail, and as you leave the office, Seraphina, you can, the door closes behind you, and it's semi triangular in shape. You see now and you realize that this closure is, um, a different material than the framing around it. Um, the framing around it looks like it might actually belong to, um, an ear.

And the closure Hate that. Is, um, a bleached waxy substance that is so petrified that it has become as though it was stone. And then whitewashed. Walking down the hall, you realize the rest of the building and structure is I was actually waiting for Seraphina to do that the whole time. I'm like, oh, oh! Is stone.

It's just regular old building. So whatever the connection is between the office and the rest of this building, they're not, um, the same. You

head down to the cells, um, there are, uh, there is a, a room of entry and a guard sitting at a desk. Um, it looks un prison like just because of the, uh, well lit space. There's a counter, there's seats to wait in. It just looks like the entry to possibly even like a dentist's office, except that there's too much room.

Um, too many places for people waiting to sit.

I will go up to whatever the reception area is. We were just trying to disguise ourselves coming here. I don't need to be like disguised right now, right? Like if I want to give my real name. I feel like it would be easier to get in to see him.

It's from your, I would say this Gus, from your experience with this place, you would have been entered into a whole different pathway here, but you know, that visitors just are visitors and it's really a question of, does the visitor get a grant agreement from the person they're trying to visit to visit?

There is like, this isn't complicated. It isn't hard. It's just meeting up with somebody who can't go anywhere else. Okay. I'm going to go over to the reception desk and put on my undercover voice. Like, well, hello there. Uh, hello. Uh, hi. Uh, do you have, uh, appointed time or is this, uh, you know, surprise?

That's a little bit of a surprise visit. We're just dropping in. Uh, Uh, you know, we, uh, Kai, we run a little agrarian operation with one of your prisoner sons, and, uh, we just want, he asks us, well, we're in town if we could just stop in and check on his old daddy. All right. All right. No worries, no worries at all.

Uh, just some clarifying questions I have to go through with you. Um, so, so, uh, who is it that you're seeking to run into here? Oh, he's a, uh, I guess he's a kind of a mean old murderer. His name is Magic Mike. Magic Mike, magic Mike. Uh, let me just check through the spell scrolls and he pulls out a scroll and starts.

Finger, finger scrolling through, uh, little lights up and everything and pulls up another scroll. I think his real name was Mike Johnson, but I guess that's not as cool a name for a, for a prisoner, you know? So he kind of went by the other thing.

Somehow the name Johnson has lived 3, 000 years into the post apocalyptic future. My bad. Um, okay. So, uh, what's your favorite color? Uh, blue. Okay. Can you juggle? Yes. Uh, what's the worst thing you've ever done? Uh, I once kicked a sheep. What are you worried about regarding your safety during this visit? Did you say are you or what are you?

Are you worried about your safety during the visit? Uh, no. Is this a conjugal visit? No. On a scale of one to ten, how blue are you feeling today? Uh, five. Do you think that they deserve what they got? Yes. What is the airspeed velocity of an unladen swallow? Uh, African swallow or European swallow? Good, good, good, good.

Don't even know what those things are, but sure. Um, if you could have any superpower, what would it be? Uh,

super strength. Mike Johnson, aka Magic Mike, has some strange questions on their list here, but Hey, I'll uh Just give me a second, if you want to sit down there, we can have a little moment of awkward silence, or you can talk amongst yourselves. Alright, thank you so much. It's not too much longer before that's my undercover character.

His name is Bucky, the mirror behind the person kind of glows and incomes life and he looks back. All right there. And to see if you just go through that door down, down that way, you're going to want to go down to the sixth cubicle. Uh, there is a chance that you are going to be recorded via magic in case of any untoward incidents.

So just be aware that you are not in private here and, uh, seeing as this is a non conjugal visit, uh, you'll be behind glass pane. Sounds good. Thank you so much for your help. You have a blessed day. Thank you very much. Are you sure you want to do this? Yes. Always are. Okay. Uh, on your way, and you are directed towards a visiting space with long, uh, stretch of windows.

There's a couple of individuals on your side of it, speaking with people across the way from them, um, night owls of various sorts. You can, some of them, well, you'd have to take a closer look, but who wants to really know who else is visiting people in prison? Uh, and the three of you make your way down to Can I do that?

Oh yeah, sure, roll an insight check. Or, uh, yeah, just roll an insight check, because I'm going to use that. See what personality you get from.

Insight. Plus two. And, uh, fourteen. Uh, you do see a stoic woman with a thick beard. She's sitting hunched over with a, a satchel. Uh, and across from her is a hulking warrior who's Who seems to have a ton of chains and they're the hulking where is the prisoner, um, uh, you can see that this is like a defiant look to them and, uh, that there's, there's, there seems to be like some just anger there.

Um, and the, the dwarf woman. And with her beard, it's just like, she's stress combing her beard right now. Um, there's also a, a young elven looking woman with bluish hair. She's fidgeting next to an elderly human who's just draped in some pretty tattered robes. Um, and they're waiting for somebody to show up on the other side of the glass.

There's, there's, or, and, or that person's already left, who knows? Um, And then you see another one that's a person sitting opposite a shimmering cage.

On this side is this cloaked figure and they seem to be shrouded in shadow, but where the prisoners sit there's just this shimmering cage, kind of just an otherworldly glow. And you can kind of make out The faint outline of a winged creature, like a Griffin esque look, and it's just a interesting little dichotomy of the shadowed and the bright glowy situation there.

Um, but as you make your way down to your number, Gus, uh, to the, to what was presented to you, there's nobody in the chair yet. Out of curiosity, how many of these people did I put in here? I feel like if I was the murder police and this is the murder ward, then I'm curious. None of these are old enough.

Uh, it is a little bit of a beat, but you have plenty of time to find yourself seats. Um, there are stools about the space that can be dragged to different locations. So the three of you, I'm guessing gather around the same spot. Sure. Yeah, eventually, uh, And I think Gus, you just have the most familiarity with this person, but they are aged.

They, um, are a long lived being, but they're not as an immortal young anymore. They are not that long lived. And, uh, as they come up, you can see that They have actually fairly nice clothing on overall given the incarceration situation. Um, so somebody on the outside still values and cares for them and make sure that nice enough things are sent their way or they've figured out how to utilize the machinations of the world behind bars to get what they need.

Um, they don't really appear all that threatening. Uh, it's a little bit, you can see Gus, the youthful charm that was there when they were going around killing half of, of, uh, Underton and Overton. Um, and yet, you quickly can spot some of those faded tattoos that were forbidden magics that they put on their body.

And, uh, That their eyes just flicker around, um, a little too dangerously, um, and you catch, especially with your insight into their, their past, um, you catch that they do let their eyes flare with magic, but that the room's mechanics quickly dampen it down and, and block their magic, um, You can see that they have some scorch marks on their clothes, probably indications of trying to cast spells on occasion and having them quickly snuffed out by just the magic, the, how this place is put together.

Does that mean we also cannot use magic in here? Uh, you would have to roll an Arcana check for this space.

Uh, I don't know because that was a two. Yeah, I mean, hasn't come up before. Seven total, but, yeah. Hasn't come up before. Um, He's a mage who crossed a line. But as he sits down, Ulua and Seraphina, you've seen that drawing that Ulua made, and you can see the resemblance.

I'm gonna start in my, uh, character, and they'll be like, Well, well, well, and I'm gonna take off my hat. In my headcanon, my costume has a big, like, wide straw hat for some reason. I'm gonna take that off and like set it on the table. Michael, how are you?

Well, aren't we just a pair of old has beens? You know, your entry questions have been the same for like 40 years. Well, I keep hoping for the conjugal.

Oh, can't help you there, I'm sorry.

Only disappointment. Well,

what do you need? I, what do I know about his life? Do I know if he has children or if he, do I know anything? Uh, roll a history check just to see if that was ever part of the investigations. Uh, 12.

He didn't have any family. Um, there were people that he had manipulated, um, I think from your police procedural sort of thing, you would have truly a charlatan in many ways. They got people to trust him. He twisted things around and, um, he was a serial killer. He was driven by this innate desire. to watch his magics harm someone else and end their life.

Um, he's skilled, but kind of had disregard for the collateral damage of his skills.

And I think just that narcissistic personality, it's hard to know who is actually a friend versus somebody manipulated into being. I'm connected to him. I'm just gonna look at his outfit, like, well, seems as if someone has decided to take care of you. It's not the standard prison uniform. Oh, you mean tattered rags?

No. So, uh,

we've come across in the course of an investigation someone who looks quite a bit like you.

His eyes flicker for a second.

Not possible. Are you sure? Allure, can I see that drawing please?

I'm just gonna set that down and be like

I've sat across this table and many others. Many times, looking at this, I'm just like, gesturing to his face, like I know, I know that chin anywhere.

You know, time changes things behind here and

there are ways for people to get things from you that you don't always wish to give when you're held in place unjustly. Hm.

Early on, I had to give.

give power for food, for water, for these fine threads. But all that's changed. All that's changed.

What can you do for me

that I would give you the information you're seeking? And his eyes keep flickering down to that image.

How do I know you have information to give?

Well, perhaps I don't. This is just a waste of both of our time, but I do like being up here Happy to waste all the time in the world. I suppose I suppose you would be Well I can certainly put in a word What what is it that you need that you're currently short on? Do you seem to be doing okay?

I'd love them to Lighten up the restrictions. He wiggles his fingers and you can see that there's the attempt to cast some sort of cantrip, but it's immediately snuffed out.

I don't think anybody here is going to go for that.

Well, then my secrets remain my secrets. Alright,

perhaps we'll just Tell Edelman you weren't cooperative. I start to stand up. Wait. Sit back down. Oh. Sit back, sit back down. Alright. I sit. What does Edelman have to do with anything? Well,

Edelman seems to be involved with this face on the drawing. In some way, whether he wants to work with them or find them and kill them, I can't say. But I'd like to find them first.

No, nope.

Seems like you might have a bit of a grudge against Edelman. Maybe even Dare I say afraid of him?

Roll an insight check.

Woohoo!

Whoa!

He You can tell that he's reluctant to reveal anything right now, and you hit the nail in the head way too hard with saying that he's afraid of Edelman.

But it also appears that he's more afraid of Edelman. What might happen if he reveals anything to you, and he's got competing fears going on. You've introduced a new one that has caused confusion and you can see the sweat. I'm going to lean in a little bit. Look, I'm going to be honest with you. You know how these interrogations work.

We just say things and look for a reaction. You've been through many. Honestly, Edelman. I've never met him. But I know that he's involved in something bad. I know that the face in this drawing is involved in it with him. And we are looking to stop him. So if he's a threat to you in some way, it's in your best interest to help.

With that reveal, I would like you to first roll an Intimidation check. I think when the dice jumps on top of all my other dice and cocks between two numbers, I probably have to re roll, give me a second. Yeah, two different numbers. Yeah, that's happened to me, but it, there's been some times where it's landed absolutely like, flat.

Perfect. And it's, and then it's always a really good roll and I'm like, do I, can I use this? Uh, 13 for the intimidation. Whatever decision you make is what you have to do forever. Yeah, you just stick with it, yeah. 13 on intimidation, what was the other one? Yeah. Okay, 13 on intimidation, um, roll another insight check.

Roll that beautiful bean footage. Seven. Sorry. It's hard to read his expressions now, it's like, he's shuddered suddenly with your words. Um,

whether your intent was just to, to cause him an additional concern or fright, but the truth that you revealed. sent, uh, several flickers of concern through them. And you know this individual to be a master manipulator.

And you can see he's kind of stuck in a, how do I turn this? I'm going to push the drawing towards him. Just be like, that's your son? Grandson? No reaction on either of those. Nephew?

Clone?

When you say clone, uh, the corner of his mouth quirks. You can't tell if it's a smile of amusement or something else. With that insect check.

I mean, whoever it is, she'll be dead soon. I just hand the drawing back to Ulua. As your voice lures, and you say, she'll be dead soon. That's when you catch fear. The question is how Hang on. I'm gonna do an insight check on myself to see how aware I am of my own speech impediment.

Do I realize Fifteen, I'm gonna call that a yes. Like, oh!

Aloha. In this vision, do you recall seeing any double or beard on that chin?

If it was there, I would have drawn it.

We turn back to him. Daughter? Granddaughter?

Look, I know I've known you most of my career. I know that you don't care about anyone but yourself. So, I think the reaction I'm seeing from you here is the most genuine emotion I've seen from you in decades. At least the most genuine emotion that wasn't maybe anger.

You're clearly worried about something, and I can help. So why don't you just tell me what you know.

Your rise to fame was on my downfall.

She'll kill me. What, and take you away from all this?

Either way, she'll kill me. She is? And the one in the drawing? He takes a sigh out. I was good at magic. She's even more insidious.

Her ability to reshape reality to her whim.

Her ability to manipulate the minds of those around her. She's a ghost, and either I stay as far hands off as I can, or I die here and now. I

don't know. Listeners, beware of what you see, smell, and hear.

Don't trust your senses.

Give me a name.

As he's looking at you, you realize he's frozen in place. Unmoving.

Roll a perception check. All of you.

A perception check? Let's see. Seven. Boo. Natural trinty. Thank you. A natural 20. I was not prepared for that. Okay. Perception. Mine's not as good. Not that bad though, I don't think. I lied, I don't remember what my I didn't remember what my perception modifier was! Twelve. Okay, um, so we'll take this in order from lowest to highest.

Gus, Gus, you Are just confused by what's going on here. So what happens next is,

is, uh, astounding to you in a way. Ulua, you catch sight of some object that seemed to have flown behind him for a moment. Him being. Uh, behind Mike, within the prison structure itself. Seraphina, with your natural 20 plus 5 to 25, uh, you catch sight of a hooded figure, similar jawline, on the wrong side of the prison barricade, before they flicker and disappear.

All of you here, well, you found one rat,

and now I've found you. Three troublemakers interrupting my plans.

I'll have to take care of you next. And as that voice echoes through, um, you see that the other individuals on your side of the barricade have all stood up and are staring at you, clenching weapons in their hands. Not good. The individuals on the other side of the barricade are also standing up, but they can't get through.

And you can make that out most clearly because the glowing figure with a slightly griffonic winged shape is bashing itself against the barrier. Um All the prisoners on this side are armed all of a sudden? All of the prisoners on the other side, the visitors, are the ones who are armed. Your armaments were not taken away from you.

Gotcha. But, it's like everybody in this space has suddenly turned antagonistic against you. I would like you to all roll a initiative.

Is he dead on the other side of that window? Is that what's happening? Uh, yes. Very much so. Very, very good. Buh buh buh buh! Again! Oh my goodness. Twenty two. Buh buh buh! Twenty two. I missed. I missed. I missed. Okay, I want to roll this one.

Plus five. He watches them all stand up, Gus just pulls a donut out of his pocket. Nine.

Okay, so can you, I get your numbers. Jess, what did you get? Nine. Uh, Larissa, what did you get? Nine. Nine. Nine. Who has higher dexterity? Probably not me. I have a plus three. I also have a plus three. Rollies. Rollies! And Ooh. Twelve. Nineteen. Ah, now you roll a nineteen! Larissa. Jason, what'd you get? Twenty two with a natural twenty.

Nice.

Okay, Jason, you are first up. You can now tell, you didn't catch sight of, um, the individual on the wrong side of the barricade, on the prisoner side of the barricade. You heard the voice, and you hear the screeching of chairs as the other people on the visitor's side get up and you make out that, uh, Those on the prisoner's side have suddenly become antagonistic as well.

Um, and looking around the space, you're quickly able to assess that you're under threat of attack here. Um, what are you going to do? Um, and just FYI, this doesn't have to be an initiative around battle. This could be an initiative around escape. It could be an initiative around, like, this is just initiative order so I can get everybody's Is, um, anybody blocking the way out?

No. Nobody is currently blocking the way out. I'm just going to turn to them and go, Run! And then I'm going to, like, hoof it for the door. Okay, so, like, using your movement speed, your action, do you have any other bonuses to being able to run fast? Um, I will As close as I can get, before I do that, as close as I can get to our feet, I'm going to use my ring to cast Entangle, like, out through the room behind us as much as I can, and then turn and run.

Okay, so you're going to run to the door with your friends, holding Entangle until they're with you. Right. Like, I will hopefully leave them entangled until I'm out of range of the spell and it drops. Okay. Just to keep people from chasing us right away. Easily within your moves. We just need to get to the door and make room for your friends to run through and be ready with the action of Entangle to follow.

The next thing that happens is the, um, let me see who's going to go first. Cause I, my eyeball just itched. I had to itch it. I couldn't resist. Um, the dwarf woman with the really thick beard that, that was kind of hunched over with the worn satchel. She, um, she reaches into her bag and she pulls out from within it a bottle of something and she tosses it your direction.

Uh, Any of you get hit, and this is, uh, Ulua and Seraphina, either of you get a hit from a 14 to hit? Yes. No. Okay, uh, so, Ulua, the bottle hits you. This was her best throw that she's ever capable of doing without rolling a natural 20.

Um, and I think this should be fun for you to roll it rather than me rolling it. So since it hit you, Ulua, could you just roll a d20 and, um, if it's,

if it's higher than your armor class, the bottle breaks and if it's lower than your armor class, it does not break.

Is that lower than your armor class? I don't remember. My armor class is 14. Um, the bottle does not break and bounces down and you can see this green viscous fluid within it. And I have a reaction. Can I shout a free action reaction? Or just a free action shout? Sure. Ha ha! The junk in my trunk has thanked me!

I just look at her butt. Uh, and distracted with her butt, you almost don't see the knife coming flinging at you from the shadows. Uh, Seraphina does a 16 hit. Damn her butt. You take, you take three points of, uh, piercing damage, uh, as the cloaked figure that's kind of just surrounded in a perpetual shadow.

You can see now, now that they're in motion. Uh, tries to kill you. Um, that takes us to Larissa's turn. Um, so, Seraphina, did you choose to run? Uh, I, once it's my turn, Oh, oh, right, right, right, exactly, okay. Um, I am going to, can I hold my movement? No. Okay, um, You can hold your action as a movement action and use your action to move, or you can move.

Okay, um, Okay, um, You can use your action to move, so if she holds her action as a movement action, she can hold it until then. Um, She can't hold her movement. Um, I am going to yell to Seraphina and Gus.

Uh, , great yell. No, no, no. Very useful. Um, good warm up. Um, I'm hard to

get ahead of me, uh, but I start, I start moving towards the exit, but I'm not moving as fast as I can. That's good. 'cause I have short little legs. Yeah, that's, that's, so that's why I said get ahead of me. I don't know what their speed is. My movement is 25. Okay, so that's Well, you can see that Gus is just outside the door.

Yes. With a line of sight on the room. You can position yourself also outside the door and still see into the room. Uh, okay, yeah. So I am what I'm going to do is I'm going to move to where equal to where Gus is and tell Seraphina and yell to Seraphina, Get, uh, get past us. And I'm going to hold my action until Seraphina is past me, and then I'm going to cast Fear, like, down that way.

So you're both holding spells. Make sure you've already marked them off, because just by the act of holding it, those spells or slots are used. Got it. Seraphina, it's your turn.

She stays in the room. I sit down, and I start to knit. I sit down and think about what I've done. Friends are all doing the right thing to escape in a chase scene and setting up a chase scene. Seraphina sits down, eats a candy bar. Um, well, I'mma just do what, no, I'm gonna. Do what I want. Use my movement and start to run, as I was told, because I'm very obedient of Ulua.

Um, and then Oh, that's for later. Whips and chains excite me.

And then, um, I mean, I'm gonna just do what I was gonna do, which is hold a Oh, no, I have to ask, because I tried to Google it and I can't remember. If I have a spell at second level, but I don't have any second level slots, can I still use it at a lower level? Not at a lower, only at a higher. Only at a higher.

Okay, then I just run. That's all I'm gonna do. Are you running and using your action to run as well so you get even further? Yes. Okay, so. I'm running. Seraphina, you run, and you're running out the door, and not only are you running out the door, you run past the, the clerk who's sitting at the desk, sitting up with alarm because the fact that somebody's running means something's probably gone wrong.

As she runs past you, Gus, you had readied the entanglement spell. I'll go ahead and Talk to me, what does that do? Uh, strength 13 save, grasping weeds and vines sprout from the ground in a 20 foot square from a point within range. So, basically like a square from like in front of Ulua's feet, like out into the room.

Yeah, um, perfect. So, Ulua, you see these, this eruption of vines from your feet forward into the room, just reaching up and grasping at anything. They catch hold of The Dwarf, um, and that is the only person they catch right now, but you can see that they are blocking the entryway itself, um, and then you had held casting fear, so you cast fear, um, talk to me about what it does.

Uh, essentially, uh, think along the lines of. What, uh, in my head, I kind of envision when Galadriel is presented with the ring in Lord of the Rings, uh, except instead of it You go freaky mode. Instead of instead of it being instead of necessarily coming, or me being changed, it kind of emanates from me, almost, and, and like that, it, you know, it says a phantasmal, uh, representation of a creature's, like, worst fears.

So it's almost like it bursts out of me, kind of, uh, so I remain unchanged, but as, uh, as I do that, I, like, put my arms down, kind of, like, in a, almost in, like, a, encompassing gesture. And I say, fear me. And as I do that, um, uh, light kind of just like bursts out of me and turns into a projection of one of the heads of Tiamat.

Oh, she'll love me in despair. My brain definitely went to like, uh, the old man in Courage, the cowardly dog, where he just puts on a big purple mask and goes, Oogadoo, oogadoo. Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha. What's the save for the fear spell? Uh, a wisdom 14. It's not huge, but. Something. Yeah. If you had done the, you know, my thought, maybe it would have been higher.

Yeah. Yeah. Oogity boogity. You get a plus two for oogity boogity. Okay. So the air crackles with this almost nervous energy as Gus unleashes his spell and the arcane energy pulsed from his outstretched hand weaving that net of emerald light that then became these entangling, uh, things. And Ulua also launches this monstrous sound and then almost like you can just imagine but you don't hear the pet the roar of tiamat from ancient times this mythological figure that nobody really knows if it was real or not at this point in history but was one of the major ascending, uh, things that led to modern day Overton and the various trials and tribulations and is tied so deeply with the lore about the Timeless Trio and others.

You look inside and you can see the dwarf, the elf, and this shadowed figure. Face is contorted in primal terror. Ulua's spell has taken hold and two dark Back against the furthest wall, almost invisible in the darkness as the shadowed person and the, uh, elven person, uh, uh, run that direction, what, whereas the dwarf, entangled as they are, is unable to move, but prostrates themselves, tears pouring down their face.

On the other side of the wall, the racket continues as the orc, the, um, griffonesque creature, and, um, The other one who, who I forgot right now. All bang upon their side of the partition. Uh, still swept by the, um, magic that affect, affected them. And, it becomes clear to you all that while, Magic shouldn't be working there, it somehow did work on that side.

Um, the collapsed body of Magic Mike. The only evidence that you were meeting with that individual. Um, the elven individual. You can see, you can hear a whimper. In place of Tiamat, this person actually saw a swirling vortex of raw magic. So while the overall scent and feeling is that Tiamat moment, but this tempest almost threatened to consume her whole, the shadowed individual.

Uh, it seems to be fighting off spiders coming out of every surface of their body.

It is a chaotic scene and a testament to your magics, fear, and That takes us back up to the start with Jason. We are now in a chase scene officially. I roll an Arcana check. Are these people mind controlled or were they planted there to attack us? That's what I'm trying to figure out. You can do that in Arcana, or you can do that in Insight.

My Insight bonus sucks, so I'm going to do Arcana. Okay.

Uh, apparently my roll also sucks, so that's a nine. It's I mean, in general That was a reasonable number of people to be in the visitation space at any time, planted or not planted. It's too indistinct to tell. Definitely affected by magic, but you're not quite sure.

I will, um,

I don't want to, I'm afraid to like hurt anybody cause I don't know if they're like innocent or not. That's the problem. Um, I'm just gonna hope it's another 25 feet up the hallway. Hopefully close to where Seraphina is now. Um, and just hold my concentration on the Entangle spell. I guess I will just, for now, Mage Armor myself.

Um, and wait.

Um, you've run out to the space where you can also see the person at the desk. And, following your actions, They have fully stood up now and they're, they're, they say, what's going on?

Feel free to use a free action to respond to that. Um, all of the other visitors started to attack us and someone killed Magic Mike on the other side of the glass. Quickly reaching over, he touches some arcane symbol that's been etched into the desk. And you hear what's familiar to you, Gus, just because of your training and knowledge.

The signal that there's a prison riot. Wee woo.

And With that, closes both their turn and your turn. Uh, the dwarf is going to see if they can't. They did not. They're cheered. They did not.

More terrible and powerful than the sea! You Gus and Seraphina as the furthest out. You catch a sight ahead of you in the tunnel, an individual who is, um, running up, in a way. Um, they are running up the stairs that would lead them further up. Um, if you would like to know anything else more about that, you'll have to roll perception checks, um, and try to catch it.

Sure. But you do hear.

Sorry, I missed that very beginning part. You two are far enough ahead of you that you can see somebody ahead of you running up the tunnel. Oh, just somebody. Okay, okay, okay. I need you both to roll intelligence saving throws. Sorry, I almost forgot that part. Jeez Louise. 17. 17 for the saving throw. And then, uh, Natural 20!

Yeah! I have a feeling you're missing a fucking thing today. Plus 5, so another 25. It's the dice that Larissa got me. Okay. No, Larissa. I don't remember.

Seraphina, you, um It's funnier if it's Rurik. Because they're working against them. You quickly pierced the what is an illusion spell that you're able to recognize this, Seraphina. Um, what you saw ahead of you was an individual that looks a lot like Like that picture, like just you caught a glimpse of the chin, but then you see through it and you can tell that it wasn't even really there.

Um, there is no one running ahead of you. Gus, I don't know, what did you roll? 17 for the, uh, saving throw. Uh, perception was, uh, 9. You don't make out who the figure is, but you'd also see the spell just disperse. You can still, both of you can still tell where that spell was running. Yeah. But you now know that it was not real, it was just an illusion.

Okay, um, and that takes us to Larissa. Chaos behind you, your two friends ahead of you, a blaring alarm going on. All is not right with this prison scene. You are all still disguised, um, as your former selves. Would I still be if I'm running? Oh, yeah, I need you to roll a dexterity saving throw. Let's see if you lost part of your disguise.

There's a question, is that voice that was in our head see through the disguise, or is she chasing down three farmers?

I love this dice! I have a feeling you're fine then, apparently. Plus four, plus what? I did not hear any of that. Your mic just said When you scream, you cut yourself out. So Your mic just said, sorry. She said another 25. Oh, another 25. Okay. Another 20 plus four plus one. Yeah. Everything's held together really well.

You're not having any problems whatsoever. In fact, it almost feels like Since you've been in this get up for a while, it's kind of like settled in on you and you just feel like much more confident moving around in it. Uh, at first you were afraid that a pen would fly up and the whole thing would collapse in a big spectacular disruption like cards that were stacked into a tower to suddenly pull out the bottom one and they just explode.

But instead, you're like, oh yeah, I got this. Yay, we love a confident queen. Alright, um, great. As, as I, I'm going to continue on out following behind my friends. Uh, as I pass the desk clerk, who I'm assuming is still there. Um, as a free action, I'm going to shout out. Uh, from what we could tell, the whatever was preventing magic behind the glass is gone, so please tell the gods they they need to be extra careful.

Okay. Um, and Poor Magic Mike. They broke the magic dampener behind the wall right after he died. Or right before he died, he didn't get to take advantage. And it's been mostly his fault anyways. Um

He could have got away and serial killed some more people. What a, what a sad day. Yeah, it's almost like Sorry, go ahead. It's almost like some sort of illusory magic thing has been going on, tricking everybody.

Um,

I'm gonna go Ugh! Uh, and I'm just gonna That's all I'm going to do. Sorry. Are you using your action to continue running or like you've used your movement to get caught up? I mean, I'm not, I'm not going to dash to get ahead. I'm going to, I'm going to stay with the group. So you're just forgoing any action?

Uh, yeah, I don't think there's anything further, um, I necessarily want to do right now. Okay. Yes, it is your turn. So now that I know that the person running was not actually a person running, but illusion magic and I'm very far ahead of everyone else. Well, they all caught up to you just now, but you'll still be ahead.

If you move, if you don't move right now, everybody's just standing still. But everybody's caught up right now. Oh, everyone's caught up. Okay. I'mma keep running. Um,

I mean, my beautiful lady has not said what to do yet, so I'mma just keep running. I'm using my movement. Using my action. I'm gonna run. Seraphina, if you know you run ahead, are you using your action as well to keep running? Uh, okay. Continue motion? Yeah. Are you all, yeah, okay. Racing up the, the, you get to the stairs, you start racing up it, you do catch sight of the illusion's fleeting feet as they step away, it's actually a really, some of the things you could observe in this moment is that it's a really good illusion.

Everything from the clicking of their heels as they race up to a smell of lavender as their illusory scent is left behind them.

All right, um, they're all stuck. Uh, they're taking their time. Jason, this is devolving from a chase scene because my people are stuck, but it is an opportunity for you. For you all at this point to escape, uh, the building of the hollow council and get away without your, uh, disguises being seen. I cast fireball.

Just kidding. I don't have a fireball. Okay. You cast fireball. Which direction are you casting that? At my own feet. No. Okay. Uh. Alou, I need you to roll a dexterity saving throw. No, I'm just gonna, yeah, I think if we can get away, um, without fighting, uh, we'll just bail. That's what I'm gonna do. Since everybody's been running with me, I assume that's the plan.

So now that you're kind of all grouped together ish, Seraphina just like darted off ahead a little bit, um, and since Ulua is not sharing any directions for her, she's now officially an NPC who's just going to have to do whatever Ulua says. Um,

Don't give her that power. Uh, you Turn into a way different podcast all of a sudden. Uh, I would love for you all to just roll, um, like some stealth checks, just to see how well you're able to kind of like, Make your way out, it is evening. Um, but just make your way out and then we'll kind of end there with whatever the situation is.

Mingamewee! No. Um, my good dice finally stopped being good. Sorry.

There's um, Every time we're at Sincere House, I use, uh, or I think almost every time, there's a musical track I've been putting in called Sensual Jazz. Ha ha! It's six! Mine is a six. Stealth, right, you said? Yeah. Ooh! Shout out to, uh, Roman Guttrick, who is the composer on that.

Nineteen! Gus, what'd you get?

Oh, sorry. What was the roll? Stealth. So focused on tootin his own horn. Uh, that's a dirty 20. Alright. Um, Seraphina, unfortunately, in your flight, parts of your disguise come off and you realize that some horns are poking through, um, it catches some people's eyes, and you worry that someone might be able to identify you.

But, Ulua and Gus, you are both, um, Not attracting any more attention. The scene was pure pandemonium in the prison area. Creatures thrashing against shackles. The guard shouting out getting help. The alarms going off. Other folks coming back in. Um, The, uh, spells entangled and, and, and messing things up, everything just kind of went crazy there.

Uh, your escape pretty much goes unnoticed, um, except, except for the real threat.

What you don't see as we close down this session and this scene is from the shadows somewhere Um, from within the hollow council as you make your escape, a cruel smile plays on lips that would be familiar if you saw them and running into your head as you pass through the outer gates. You hear running light save you.

The fear may subside, but the knowledge of the deepest terrors will linger, and I will be able to find you wherever you go.

You can reply to this message if you'd like to.

I would like to. Yes.

Find me, bitch.

I'll say, why don't you come say that to our faces?

I'll say nothing, I'm just like, ooh. As you take advantage of the inherent properties of this magical spell that does allow you to get the last word in, silence is the only thing that returns.

And with that, we end this session and hope you have had a wonderful time watching Probability of Demise where you've liked, subscribed, left comments, sent us chocolate and cookies, bought some of our happy little merch y thingies, and are in generally, gen, gen, general, yeah, you're the thing. Thank you very much for joining us.

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