Ep. 21 - "Reclamation: Part 1" - Faith & Fortune
Theater of the Mindset. Theater of Theater of Last
Nick (Herry):week on Faith and Fortune, Asher and the team prepared for a final mission to Tenali's Gate, the headquarters of the rest of the Custodius Anguis. Sara communed with Amonet one last time before taking on her mother's final task. Lucan recovered from his hand of change form and pushed Harry to remember that not all of the gods can't be trusted. And Harry told Sara the story of the witch of Esterborn, championed Lucan to be the change he believes he can be, and petitioned Asher to help make some changes to the government of Venethar. You know, bard stuff.
Justin (GM):The roar of the airship gets somehow louder when they open the doors. Immediately upon opening doors, members of the Arcanist squad just jump. They are wearing nothing but their combat robes and armed with wands and spell books. You just watch one after the other jump into the open air. Five, four, three, two, one, jump.
Shelby (Sahra):Lucan doesn't scream at
Steve (Luken):all.
Justin (GM):Yeah. Like
Nick (Herry):Yeah. Dude's got wings.
Steve (Luken):He's almost Dude's got wings. If not stoic though, he doesn't quite have like the level of, I'll say like abandon he's carried with him
Justin (GM):Yeah.
Steve (Luken):Every other time he's flied. And that's only partially because the last like three times he's flied, someone's tried to kill him.
Justin (GM):Sara, they've gifted you a ring of feather fall.
Shelby (Sahra):Oh. That you
Justin (GM):are have been instructed on several occasions and then several more occasions upon request from you on how to activate. And you know the general range upon which you need to activate. But Lucan, you were given nothing. Yeah, of course. Below you, you see Tenali's Gate.
Justin (GM):It is a small settlement, could not be more than 30 buildings between small huts and large gathering spaces. There are watchtowers on all four corners. The only thing that I think surprises you about this location, even given the debriefing, is the quality of everything inside. A remote community like this one shouldn't have a tall, well maintained gate. It should have a it should be a bit more beaten down and sparse for a farming community.
Justin (GM):And it is very clear as you are plummeting toward it at high speeds that in fact, this is something that has been curated and kept secret for a long time. Ahead of you, the first individuals, the first Arcanists who made the jump begin to be attacked. As you see magic spells are being fired from each of the towers up into you. I need both of you to give me agility reaction rolls you're trying to beat a 14.
Nick (Herry):We said I did rally die as part of my whole fucking thing.
Nick (Herry):Thank you.
Steve (Luken):Sure. Yeah. Good call.
Shelby (Sahra):17.
Justin (GM):22. You both just naturally turn your bodies and let the wind carry you out of range as these expel explosions, these magical unfurlings happen where you were seconds before. The first Arcanist touch ground. You were instructed, to wait until the last possible minute to activate your feather fall ring, because once you do, you will slow down, and a slow fall is a target. Go ahead and give me another, Sora specifically, give me another agility reaction roll to time turning on your Feather Fall Ring.
Shelby (Sahra):14.
Justin (GM):You have been counting, I think. Why don't you tell me how Sara has been keeping track of when she's exposed to her knowing that you will successfully do so?
Shelby (Sahra):Yeah. So she's she's You know, I screamed earlier, but she's looking like a super agent, kind of flying through the air right now. Because she just feels like a badass.
Justin (GM):Yeah. Yeah.
Shelby (Sahra):Yeah. So she she she turns the corner, she times it. In her head, she's counting in one Nemosin, two Nemosin, three Nemosin, four Nemosin, five Nemosin. So she's counting in Nemosin seconds. Yeah.
Shelby (Sahra):And she times she knows that she has to do it exactly at forty five Nemosian seconds, and she times it out perfectly.
Justin (GM):Lucan, why don't you describe your descent?
Steve (Luken):Lucan has done this so many times before and honestly, this is like the smallest amount of fire he's been under the last few times he's landed. So he while looking up in Sara and saying, she looks like she's like having fun with this. This is great. Just slowly glides towards the ground, lands on two feet, and just use, like, runs to slow himself down and close-up his wings. A perfect 10 landing like he's done so many times before.
Steve (Luken):The
Justin (GM):Arcanists that have landed before you, three of them immediately put up a barrier around all of you, as arcane barrages slam into the side. Even with the barrier up, the pressure that the missile is being shot at you hitting the wall, the pressure that creates, you feel it in your bones inside of the barrier. You know that if one of those missiles gets through, it is going to hurt significantly and put the entire plan in jeopardy. They drilled into your head during the briefing that the first five minutes are the most crucial part of this. The teleportation circle must go down successfully.
Justin (GM):What are each of you doing to ensure that happens or participating in the creation of the teleportation circle?
Shelby (Sahra):Sara is going to find a good vantage point where she has something for cover, and she's gonna pull out her bow and she's gonna start firing at, any enemy that she sees.
Justin (GM):Yeah. Go ahead and shoot.
Shelby (Sahra):So it's a 23 with hope.
Justin (GM):Yep. That's a success.
Shelby (Sahra):Eight damage.
Justin (GM):You managed to take a a pretty significant blow to the cover of one of the guards who's up in a tower and has a pretty large crossbow that they are arcane loading and shooting off missiles at. Lucan, what are you doing?
Steve (Luken):So is setting up a teleportation circle, right, that's the task right now. Is that something that additional faith would be helpful with? Yeah. I pull out the necklace that still has a few faith files that I pulled from Isarn's neck. Yeah.
Steve (Luken):And try and identify somebody who is working on the teleportation circle, but still can be talked to.
Justin (GM):You actually see an individual who did not fully escape one of the barrages on the
Nick (Herry):way
Justin (GM):down and he is struggling with his corner of the teleportation circle. His arm seems to be like numb or he's really kind of doing this one handed. And it's kind of you see him panicking as he's trying desperately to get in his portion.
Steve (Luken):You can definitely use some assistance. Yeah. So based on where we ended the last episode, my understanding is I think I have three faith files. Yeah. Does that sound right?
Steve (Luken):Yeah. I run over to him, shove him out of the way and say, go find somewhere safe. Take care of yourself. We're trying to bring people back here. And I pull open that vial of faith.
Steve (Luken):This is not something I'm super familiar with, but I look at this half completed part of the ritual
Justin (GM):Mhmm.
Steve (Luken):And try to empty my mind such that I can channel this faith and complete the task.
Justin (GM):Yep. Give me a knowledge check Oh, fuck. With advantage. Okay. Because you have the faith.
Justin (GM):Yeah. The faith is similar to blood in a primal magic, is cutting a lot of corners for you and helping you achieve this. You need to get a 16.
Steve (Luken):16. Okay. That is a 13, but I'm going to use one of my paradise to make it a 16.
Justin (GM):You apply this faith and again, because you're kind of working with raw arcana derived from the faith, you are able to complete the edge of this circle, and the teleportation inscription on the ground locks into place. With that signal, the arcanists who are maintaining the barrier push it outwards. That gives up its wall against the missiles and instead becomes a force wall that they expand outwards. This is your moment to make a dash for it. The protections keeping you safe in the center of this town are gone as the platoons begin to pour in from the teleportation circle.
Justin (GM):Both of you need to give me an agility check as you make a dash for the nearest building. Is this a check or a reaction roll? This is a check. You're trying to beat a 12.
Shelby (Sahra):I fail. I got a 10 with fear.
Steve (Luken):I'm going to use my rally die. Then I'm also gonna use a prayer die and that gets me to twelve minutes with fear.
Nick (Herry):It's a long adventuring day,
Steve (Luken):Lucan. Don't wanna die early.
Justin (GM):With the what surprised you in this moment is how fast the squadrons pour out of the teleportation circle. You both try to make a run for it, but in doing so, cross paths with the path cross paths with a line of soldiers pouring out of the teleportation circle. Sar, you get knocked to the ground. It's not you don't get hurt from this experience, but you are now cut off from the rest of the extraction team. Lucan, you get inside of a building.
Justin (GM):Soul Guard Merit Cole, the individual Soul Guard member, part of your attraction team, goes in first, and you hear some quick pops. And when you walk in the door, behind Asher, you see two dead bodies on the ground. Quick it looks like quick arcane missiles were fired, and they were immediately taken out by Soul Guard Cole. Asher looks at you, looks at Soul Guard Cole, sees that Sara is missing in this moment. Soul guard Cole says, we don't have time.
Justin (GM):We have to progress forward.
Steve (Luken):You guys start. I'm going back for Sora.
Justin (GM):Ash looks you. That is not how this works.
Steve (Luken):We can't lose 25% of our team before we've made it through the first building.
Justin (GM):Give me a presence role. Asher is a stalwart guy. He's takes an 18 to beat.
Steve (Luken):Yeah. I'm using bold presence, so I can spend a hope to add my strength to this role. Okay. Cracker. It's going to be with fear.
Steve (Luken):It's going to be 12 plus five seventeen.
Justin (GM):You see for a second Asher considers this and says, you're putting the mission at risk. And he and Soul Guard Cole break through the back door and continue on leaving you behind. Sara, why don't you describe where you are now and what Luca will find?
Shelby (Sahra):So I got pushed to the other end of the line. So I scramble up to my feet and try to find something that I can put my back against so I'm not super exposed in the middle. And there are platoons, like, blowing past me. There's people everywhere. It is mass chaos outside.
Shelby (Sahra):And they're from the arcane missiles, there's debris falling. And so I'm kind of protecting myself, but I'm vulnerable in this moment.
Steve (Luken):I am still committed to going back for Sara. So I'm going to try and weave my way through all of this chaos. Do I have a sense of where she like, can I fit I have some, like, general ideas
Justin (GM):will let you make a choice now? You can either a, choose safety in which you will move through the open field where there is just a crazy amount of chaos happening, prioritizing your life, in which case finding Sara will be difficult. Or you can prioritize finding Sara.
Steve (Luken):I'm prioritizing finding Sara.
Justin (GM):Go ahead and give me a instinct roll.
Steve (Luken):That's more like it. That's with hope. I subbed out my hope die. Because they were I feel so much better. Four straight sub three hope die rolls.
Steve (Luken):Yeah. That's gonna be like a 25
Justin (GM):with with hope. Yeah. You see Sara kind of leaning up against this knocked over wagon that she has found a way to kind of get her back against, and you make a dash for it. Unfortunately, you are spotted. And so they're going to target you Yeah.
Justin (GM):With this magical unfurling. A sorry, you see Lucan coming across a small street in your direction, and then he's gone as dirt and arc ane shrapnel explodes between the two of you. I need you, Lucan, to make a strength or an agility reaction roll. You're trying to beat a 14.
Steve (Luken):That is a 14 on the dot with strength.
Nick (Herry):Nice.
Justin (GM):If you pass, you can take half damage or mark a stress to take no damage. The damage is 15 magical damage.
Steve (Luken):I'm going to take the stress and take no damage.
Justin (GM):Okay. You leap out of the way, rolling as best you can. When the shrapnel and earth finally comes down, Lucan is not where he was previously. And he pops up beside you. You two are now behind beside the wagon.
Justin (GM):You're going the wrong way.
Shelby (Sahra):Oh my god, Lucan. Take off.
Steve (Luken):Come come with me, Asher and the Soul Guard guy. They're across the field. We're gonna have to be fast, but also, like, don't get yourself hit here.
Shelby (Sahra):Okay.
Nick (Herry):Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I will on my way back over, I had Beanie gathered the guards, the platoon. As I walk in, I'm going to look at Bram and say and station around the senate.
Nick (Herry):If anyone gets in or out of the building, we're not stopping them, but I wanna know exactly who's coming in and out. And if you Glenn, if you need to do a little strong arming to keep some senators in their offices, I'm fine with that.
Justin (GM):Oh, the old dicks ready.
Nick (Herry):Alright. Then as as then Harry is walking into his office, says Dimini, get me on the radio, please.
Justin (GM):She goes over one hand, flicks two switches. Any anything in particular you're looking for?
Nick (Herry):Razia's station would be great.
Justin (GM):Oh. She opens up a side panel, pulls out a couple of cords, plugs them in. We're doing the big stuff today.
Nick (Herry):Big stuff today.
Justin (GM):You're
Nick (Herry):in. Okay. Am I taking over the radio station right
Justin (GM):Great. Sick. She bubbles out her breath. Rutinomancy is important.
Nick (Herry):What time of day is it? Like noon?
Justin (GM):I would say it's like one. Yeah. Good
Nick (Herry):afternoon, the people of Venethar, the people of Verzenium City. This is Harry Pinch, your senator. The church of Arasinda has not been releasing the faith of the people to their god and is instead gathering it for their own power. As mother Demeris delves into the politics of the senate to try and ride the winds of change, she is making sure to do it in favor of the religious structures by carving out the same potential oversight that we lack that could have stopped the illegal siphoning of faith that was being used as weapons of violence and destruction last night. I watched on the Hill Of Faith as the citizens of Verzenium City prayed for healing only to find that their innate power was taken to wreak more havoc, to burn more buildings.
Nick (Herry):I watched your stolen faith be used to try and burn our city down. We simply cannot and I will not allow the senate to be strong armed by people using the names of their gods and the stolen power of our friends and families. The power of our people belongs to our people. If any individual wants to offer that power, that is their right. If they wanna live a life of exploring the natural and innate power beyond the divine, Venethar must be a safe place for them.
Nick (Herry):The gods are being bypassed, my friends. They aren't receiving your prayers. I ask that you hold them for the next few days, and instead, take that energy that you might use to pray, to call your senator, to check on your neighbor, to keep your loved ones safe. All we can guarantee is that we have each other. Be safe.
Nick (Herry):Be good. We are all that we have, and that is more than enough.
Justin (GM):Beanie gives you a big thumbs up, and she holy shit. Terry collapses into his chair. That was your don't ever tell me when you're planning on doing something like that.
Nick (Herry):That I'm I'm hoping that that never happens. Do you under we got more work to do.
Justin (GM):I'm going to run numbers Yep. And find out which areas, if they follow through with this, what kind of hot points are going to exist if we start running low on faith. There are hospitals that depend on that. Yep. There are utilities, water systems.
Justin (GM):Yep. These things are going to start to fail if they don't have faith.
Nick (Herry):Let's let's call the university. I'll work on that.
Justin (GM):You have hours before the the vote.
Nick (Herry):Okay. Harry called his mother to actually send illusionists from the university or bring illusionists from the university to show all of the ultraviolet light that has been potentially left, all of the messages, all of the runes of scrying throughout the senate.
Justin (GM):Give me a knowledge roll flat representing how they will do on that. That
Nick (Herry):will be a 17 with hope.
Justin (GM):Okay. You don't get that hope.
Nick (Herry):So it's a reaction roll?
Justin (GM):Yeah. I'm just trying to let the dice decide how well they do. Sure. They're not Yeah. Yeah.
Justin (GM):They're not you.
Nick (Herry):You're fine. And actually, can I if I add five to that with my platoon dice with just intimidation to get them into places, can I just boost that to like 23?
Justin (GM):Yes. I think that's a great use of platoon dice.
Nick (Herry):So I'm gonna use that platoon dice so that these illusionists can get wherever they need to go with some strong armed backing and then Harry's gonna go see Connie. You're going to Connie? Yeah. And if we wanted That's kind of my next thing.
Steve (Luken):Okay.
Justin (GM):You all make your way to the second location. You meet up with Soul Guard Cole and Asher, who are currently Asher is casting a massive spell. You see a hologram of of Tonale's Gate forming in the air, and it is much larger than it appears. It looks like there's a system completely underground here with double the number of buildings that were above ground. Asher's deep in this spell, this scrying spell.
Justin (GM):Soul Guard Cole sees you come in, immediately draws his wand, assuming you're going to be a threat, sees you both, puts it back. We're I I'm I'm glad you're safe, Sara.
Shelby (Sahra):Yeah. G, thanks.
Justin (GM):He does not bat an eye. His primary goal here is keeping the Incarnate King alive. He does not have another mission. The other Soul Guard are not with him to provide a level of distraction. By keeping a low profile, they've said this is the best way to keep Asher safe.
Justin (GM):He looks at you and says, alright, we're going to have to make a break for a building three doors down from here. It seems to be the nearest entrance into the underground. Are you ready?
Shelby (Sahra):Yeah. I'm ready.
Justin (GM):Absolutely. Alright. Both of you make another agility rolls to cover the distance between the buildings. Can I
Steve (Luken):spend a hope to use my nothing ventured, nothing gained experience?
Justin (GM):Yes. Okay. Plus three. Yep. Still trying to beat that 14.
Shelby (Sahra):I got a 16 with fear.
Steve (Luken):Yeah. I got a 20 something with fear.
Justin (GM):You, Asher, completes the the spell, the scrying spell that outlines everything. He says, there is something happening here that is preventing the next level of the spell. They must have some type of like arcane dampener or something that's restricting. I can't identify where people are. I can only get an outline of of the perimeters.
Justin (GM):So we're flying a little blind. Okay. Alright. You both coal, Soul Guard coal busts open the door and immediately starts running with Asher short behind, you two following after. I'm going to spend a fear to you both get caught in the crossfire again as you make your dash.
Justin (GM):Go ahead and give me a agility or strength reaction roll. You're trying to beat a 14.
Steve (Luken):That is a failure for Lucan.
Shelby (Sahra):Yeah. That's a failure.
Justin (GM):You both take 13 magic damage as the explosion is just too close to Asher and instinctively, he throws up a hand to protect himself as he has been trained as an Arcanist to do, but the deflection blasts it directly at the both of you and you both take that 13 damage. So for you, it'd be major damage unless you mark your last armor
Shelby (Sahra):Yeah.
Justin (GM):To prevent it to be minor.
Steve (Luken):Yeah. I'm actually going to mark It's minor for me, but I'm going to mark it armor to make it nothing.
Justin (GM):Okay.
Steve (Luken):I was gonna take it, but I don't know.
Justin (GM):You both take this blow and get your armors up to deflect as much of that as you can. And in doing so, keep it pretty quick. Asher turns back and says, sorry, I didn't I didn't mean to
Shelby (Sahra):Keep going forward. Don't say sorry, Kyle.
Steve (Luken):Not time for apologizing.
Justin (GM):You all get to the destination, get inside the building, and a door into a underground staircase has already been opened, leading you to believe that if you go down here, you will not be alone. Asher, Cole, both say, we gotta go.
Steve (Luken):Yeah. Is there anything, Asher, anything you can do to like out like set a trap? Like, any spells you can cast to help even the odds once we get down there?
Justin (GM):I I can set a trap so we'd make sure no one else comes in after us. At least we know behind us is safe.
Shelby (Sahra):That's better than nothing.
Steve (Luken):Yep. Let's do it. Great.
Justin (GM):The three of you need to go first then.
Shelby (Sahra):Okay. Sara is going to make a spell cast roll and is going to summon fireflies to send in forward. And if it succeeds, it'll deal some magic damage to any adversaries that are within close range.
Steve (Luken):And possibly draw their fire so we can see
Justin (GM):how these shooters are.
Shelby (Sahra):Mhmm. It's a 17 with hope.
Justin (GM):Alright. Is it against my evasion or my difficulty, I assume? Because it it doesn't give you a number. Right?
Shelby (Sahra):Correct.
Justin (GM):Alright. Yeah. Then that is a success.
Shelby (Sahra):Okay. So then 14 damage.
Justin (GM):Why don't you describe what this looks like?
Shelby (Sahra):So these are not the cute romantic fireflies from earlier. These are literal fireflies that are swarming and surrounding the adversaries that they come across, and they, like, attach and, like, burn the flesh of the people that they are attacking.
Justin (GM):You immediately hear screams down below, and Cole rushes in, fires off a shot, and then gestures for the all clear for you all to come down.
Steve (Luken):You invented napalm.
Justin (GM):In walking down here
Shelby (Sahra):What's napalm?
Justin (GM):You find three people completely charred, clearly died from your attack, and it looks like Cole merely finished off one more. You did a massive amount of damage in this room. It looks like a pseudo guard room. There's like a table in the center. There are a couple of, rooms that have been damaged in the top, of the of the ceiling.
Justin (GM):And aside from that, it's a pretty sterile looking room. There are two doors, one directly on the far side and one on the near side to where you are, both of which are closed, but that is kind of the entire room. This is a way station room, kind of a prevention from immediately getting to something important. Asher and Cole kind of look at the both of you and say, split up. What what's the plan?
Shelby (Sahra):We gotta we gotta find what we're looking for. So, yeah, I think split up and divide and conquer. And then, Luke, can you still remember the signal?
Justin (GM):Yeah. Of course. Cole looks at the both of you. Asher says, we've got it. We'll take this one.
Justin (GM):We'll take the near one. You take the far one? Yep. Alright. And you both split off in different directions.
Justin (GM):You go into the first room, and, after you are in a long hallway in which there are doors maybe every 15 feet on both sides, some of them are closed, some of them are open, the light is coming from just runes marked on the ceiling that provide this greenish white glow into the space, and doesn't seem to be completely activated at this moment. What do you guys do?
Shelby (Sahra):So Sara is going to have her bow drawn, and she's gonna start kind of kicking doors almost like she's clearing the hallway.
Justin (GM):As you walk in, the rooms above you are like motion censored. So you walking in, they fully reach their brightness, kind of alerting you that maybe this room has been vacant for a little bit. And you bust open the first door, and it is like a medical room. There is a bed in the center. There are a couple of monitoring devices, but it is otherwise empty.
Justin (GM):You get to the second room, same thing. You open the third room, and there is a teenager on the bed. There are a couple of arcane runes on their skin that you know allow them to be, like, monitored, kind of, like, applied, like, bandages on top of on top of gauze that allows them to be monitored. They don't seem to be responsive to you coming in. They have, like, sandy red hair and are, like, quite tall and lanky, but they are the only person in this room.
Shelby (Sahra):And you said they're not responsive?
Justin (GM):They're not responsive to you busting open the door.
Shelby (Sahra):Okay. I'm going to approach very cautiously look to see if there's any kind of chart or anything that can tell me this person's name or any identification.
Justin (GM):You have a chart. The name on the chart is Veska Nalorn. And the quickly give me a knowledge check to kind of understand and glean what you can from the chart as quickly as possible.
Shelby (Sahra):16 with hope.
Justin (GM):You see that the individual has been labeled as, you see like a spot for what you ascertain to be like magically inert, and that is left blank. You have a spot that says, to the effect of like innate talent, also left blank. You do see a spot that labels them as like infertile. And then you see a number of notes saying that they are prone to bouts of fainting and experience out of body that have out of body experiences regularly. The outside, I'm gonna spend a fear, you hear a door open in the hallway outside.
Justin (GM):I assume, Luke, and you are inside the room?
Steve (Luken):Yes.
Justin (GM):Yeah.
Shelby (Sahra):I think I'm going to this person does not appear to be dangerous or appear to be a threat in any way. So I'm going to look at Luke and I say, we need let's go ahead and leave.
Steve (Luken):We gotta move.
Shelby (Sahra):Yeah. Let's keep going and just kind of shut the door behind me.
Justin (GM):The instant you all go outside, you hear a sound of, like, glass breaking, and you all need to make a strength or agility saving throw. Sorry. A strength or agility reactional. Is this or is what we're doing here trying to find
Steve (Luken):a safe place to hide?
Justin (GM):You guys are on extraction. Okay. We're trying to find the incarnate king that is your only purpose.
Steve (Luken):But not this I could not even categorize this specific thing we are doing. Correct. Yeah. Temporary safe place to hide.
Justin (GM):You're trying to beat a 14.
Shelby (Sahra):Damn. 10.
Justin (GM):That's a 19. Alright. So sorry, you failed. And, Lucan, you succeeded. Lucan, you can spend a stress to take no damage.
Justin (GM):It is 10 magic damage.
Steve (Luken):Okay. I already take half of that. Right?
Justin (GM):No. You can spend a stress to take oh, sorry. Yes. You can spend a stress to take no damage. Sorry.
Steve (Luken):And it would be it wouldn't be half of the one HP damage, it would be half of 10 down to five. So I would take one no matter what. Yes. So I am going to spend the stress to take no HP damage.
Shelby (Sahra):Okay. I get one HP damage.
Justin (GM):K. Both of you pull back into the room and know that someone is outside being like, you aren't supposed to be here.
Shelby (Sahra):I am not interested in having a conversation with this person. I'm not interested in trying to reason with them. So I, yeah. I'm just gonna I'm just gonna pull out my bow again. Just try to shoot him.
Steve (Luken):Good.
Shelby (Sahra):That's what? 18 with hope? No. More than that. 18.
Justin (GM):That's it.
Shelby (Sahra):28.
Justin (GM):It's a hit.
Shelby (Sahra):Yeah. Okay. So 10 damage.
Justin (GM):You launch your arrow and the person in the hallway tries to jump to the side, but you adjust quickly and clip their forearm pretty badly. You see them reaching for another vial of faith. What do you do?
Steve (Luken):Yeah. I I close the distance at a sprint and while sprinting, cock my arm back and take a swing to hit them hard enough that they cannot grab that faith and use it.
Justin (GM):Yep. Go ahead.
Steve (Luken):A nine and a six just looks like a crit, but it isn't. It is with hope though, so that's nice. $15.18 with
Justin (GM):That is a hit? Yep. 21 damage. With that, they are knocked unconscious. You see that the door that they came from is a much larger room than the one than the, like, small, like, pseudo hospital rooms that you have been in prior to this.
Justin (GM):Walking in, there are these long cylindrical tubes that stretch from the floor to the ceiling. There are six of them, each of which have at first glance, you think it looks like faith, but on second glance, it seems to be almost a shallow light. There aren't a lot of other words to describe it. It doesn't seem it seems like if you were to push it, the light, like gossamer, would be flimsy and bend to your will. The faintest breeze would shift to the light inside.
Justin (GM):Almost like do you remember those, like, glittery things that you would hold and you could, like, shift the glitter around or like a kaleidoscope? It almost looks like that on the inside. And there are a number of runes etched on the top and bottom that blink and fade with light. There are parchments on the wall that dictate notes. This looks like a room dedicated to deep Arcana study and knowledge.
Steve (Luken):Look, I know they said we weren't supposed to spend a lot of time studying, gathering information, that that's a bonus. We should take a quick look and see if there's anything here we can take back with us. Right?
Shelby (Sahra):I mean, sure. If we wanna be fast about it.
Steve (Luken):Yeah. Very fast about it.
Justin (GM):Both of you give me agility checks as you just start grabbing things, not looking at them, and just shoving them into your bag. I think that is kind of the approach.
Shelby (Sahra):That was a 13 yeah. 13 with hope.
Justin (GM):Same. 13. Love that for both of you.
Steve (Luken):That's kind of a crit.
Shelby (Sahra):Yeah. The
Justin (GM):You are just shoving books, everything you can into these bags that you kind of have on your these, like, supply bags that you have, dumping out things that are now no longer necessary to make room for more of these notes and annotations. Lucan, you get to the kind of last tube and there is a blood bag attached and that is kind of pouring in one tube and out the other, allowing it to mix with whatever is inside of these large cylinders with this, like, gossamer arcana inside. It seems to be suffusing the blood with whatever is inside of here. The notes on this area are much more extensive and lists out a patient in Room B 16. Is it possible for
Steve (Luken):me to detach the blood bag without blood spilling everywhere? You can roll for it.
Justin (GM):This is gonna be a finesse roll.
Steve (Luken):Alright. Well, we're gonna try and we're gonna try and take the the magic blood. Oh, that's not gonna do it. That's a nine with fear.
Justin (GM):You detach the blood bag and at first, blood just starts spilling out of the output end.
Shelby (Sahra):Oh my god. Oh my god. Oh my god. Oh my god.
Justin (GM):We gotta go. After the blood kind of filters all the way through, the magic arcana that's in the tubes also starts to pour out. Immediately, the room is filled with this acrid, sour smell in the air. It smells something like a meatloaf left out days too long and also like sucker sweet. The stench is repelling.
Justin (GM):I'm going to have both of you mark a stress. I'm gonna spend as a part of that role, I'm gonna have you
Steve (Luken):both mark a stress. But, yeah. I I think we gotta go.
Shelby (Sahra):We gotta go to B 16. Yeah.
Steve (Luken):Do we have a way to communicate with Asher outside of in person right now? If we were to give this signal, would there be a way to do
Justin (GM):it other than yell at him? I think the the trigger signal that you have right now is pelican.
Nick (Herry):Mhmm.
Justin (GM):Yeah. And doing so will trigger the telepathic connections that you have with that side. Cool.
Steve (Luken):Got it.
Justin (GM):Like, I think you were kind of ex part of the debrief part of the briefing was, you know, they're expecting magical suppression. And because of that, the they don't wanna trust any type of unnecessary communications aside from, like, one very strong signal. Everyone will hear Pelican, not just you two and the other extraction team. Everyone will hear Pelican, and that means it's, like, time to pull out. Cool.
Justin (GM):So they're basically like, we can't risk them catching on the word telepathically communicating. They'll shut it down. You get one blast.
Steve (Luken):You get one word that they will then shut it down. Yes. But that's the 10 Yeah. I got it.
Justin (GM):Because that's the operation you guys are going in on. Yes. You guys exit the door and you notice that all of these kind of have a number written on them, leading you to believe that you have to go deeper and find a a way down.
Nick (Herry):Yeah. Harry's gonna go see the first senator, Olin Penaray.
Justin (GM):First senator Olin's office is at the top of the Senate Building, and you make your way up there. As you go up, you see it is hustle and bustle time. Yeah. People are whipping votes, understanding where they're going to cast, reading. You have aids reading amendments to folks.
Justin (GM):It is a busy space. People notice you as you were walking around.
Nick (Herry):Sure. I grabbed a couple of like, probably five platoon members. Yes. Like, I am
Justin (GM):You are under guard. Yeah. You get to senator Plenary's office, and their administrative assistant, have two of them, are kind of sitting outside. They see you and say, senator Pinch, hello.
Nick (Herry):Hello. How are you? I need to see oh, for senator.
Justin (GM):I I understand. Can I can I a little bit about what you're here? Yeah. It has to do with
Nick (Herry):the, giant, resolution that's happening today. I have some, updates that they need to know about.
Justin (GM):Let him in. Let him in. You hear, senator Plenary, inside just kind of immediately allowing you to come in.
Nick (Herry):You boys can wait out here.
Justin (GM):The first senator's office is very much like Constantine's, a little austere. You know Olin to be a well rounded woman. She has served in her seat for a number of terms despite the fact that she comes from a fairly small, town, on the East Side Of Venethar. She is a political guru because she rarely chooses sides. She has kind of curried the favor of many by not offending not being too offensive, not being too abrasive.
Justin (GM):I think from time to time, just past history between the two of you, she has shut you down from rocking the boat too much. Sure. She often gets chosen because of her kind of neutral status across the board. When you walk in, you see that she is hurriedly handing memos to her third assistant, kind of passing those out and says, senator Pinch, Harry, please. For senator.
Justin (GM):I don't have any coffee to offer you. I apologize. You understand this is a busy time.
Nick (Herry):Yep. I've had plenty. We're all set.
Justin (GM):Are you well before we get down to business?
Nick (Herry):Absolutely not. Are you? I'm think I'm better
Justin (GM):off than you are Yeah. Somehow. You might be the only individual who might not be better off than I am.
Nick (Herry):Yep. It's not great. Remind me switching out load out. Does it have to be short rest or is it just
Justin (GM):in the midst, but you have to pay the price.
Nick (Herry):Take the stress off of it. I'm going to switch on my load out, get rid of my stuff that I gave to everyone else and bring in my tell no lie spell.
Steve (Luken):K.
Nick (Herry):And I'm going to ask the assistant. Can we have just a few minutes, please?
Justin (GM):Senator Plenary gives the nod and the assistant walks out. Great.
Nick (Herry):What are your allegiance where are your allegiances for senator?
Justin (GM):Oh, Harry, we don't I have so I have so many Today. I have every intention of pushing forward this bill in a number of states are acceptable to me. Mhmm. I think today is the first step in a long, long, long trek of work that we have to overcome.
Nick (Herry):Can I have been casting tell no lies on her?
Justin (GM):The instant you I'm going to need a a
Nick (Herry):I can use that subtle subtle spell.
Justin (GM):High roll. I'm gonna say a 22.
Nick (Herry):Okay. Can I use the subtle spell? Yes. I'm gonna use my cane. Yep.
Nick (Herry):So that's plus eight.
Justin (GM):Going for 22.
Nick (Herry):What is 17 plus eight? Yeah. That's that's more than Yeah. That's that's more with fear.
Justin (GM):You begin casting as she's answering and her hand moves to a device below her desk Yeah. Seeing you cast something.
Steve (Luken):Yep.
Justin (GM):Say what you will about for senator Plenary. She, even with your subtle cast, this woman is smart. Totally. She is in her position for a reason. She gets the things done that truly need to get done.
Justin (GM):Yep. She is aware that you are casting a spell. She also clocks what you are casting and says, senator Pinch Yep. We aren't gonna begin this relationship with trust if you feel that you have to cast a spell for me to tell the truth.
Nick (Herry):There's a lot of people that I need to cast things to tell the truth.
Justin (GM):I am not a member of Custodia Sanguis. My allegiances are to the senate of Venethar second and to Venethar as a country first.
Nick (Herry):That was a successful role. So the spell word.
Justin (GM):She is say she is telling the truth.
Nick (Herry):So that's true. Wonderful.
Nick (Herry):I I apologize. First, let's then reset. I'm sorry that I felt that I had to do that and that I did that without your permission.
Justin (GM):These are unique times and I understand the need here.
Nick (Herry):Can I tell if the illusionists have gotten here?
Justin (GM):I would I think it's fair fair to assume that they have. Yeah.
Nick (Herry):Yeah. Yeah. So you you've spoken to the illusionists. You've seen the scrying on the back of the bills that mother Demeris was passing out?
Justin (GM):Yes. It seems as though the priesthood of Assyrian Arasinda has been taken advantage of. That is the position that I'm currently standing on. Sure. They have quite thoroughly been trounced, but I do not as of now believe that the entire cult of Arasinda is Church.
Justin (GM):Sorry. I misspoke on my part. Glad I did that here in front of you and not in front of others.
Nick (Herry):Yes.
Justin (GM):The entire church of Urasinda has not is not wholeheartedly behind this, but they have been thoroughly compromised.
Nick (Herry):Yes. The head of their church. Let's be specific. Mother Demeris was passing this out.
Justin (GM):I understand.
Nick (Herry):I have reason to believe. I agree and was advised by a dear friend today not to ostracize 100% of all churches. So I will do my best to take heed of his warnings and his suggestions. However, I believe the vote is in a place where they're gonna vote it through regardless. I don't think we have to give mother Demeris or any of the the folks on the council of faith a goddamn thing.
Nick (Herry):I believe we can take out any favorable language towards any of the faiths and still get this vote passed.
Justin (GM):Give me a persuasion check.
Nick (Herry):You got a friend or anything like that? I'll
Justin (GM):I won't accept you've got a friend. I will accept senator.
Nick (Herry):Okay. 21 on the die plus three, so that negates it, plus another three. So that's 27 with hope.
Justin (GM):I believe we've come to the same conclusion. I have to consider, though, how this will land amongst the populace. Yeah. We are merely representatives, and it is our prerogative to represent them. We can't be like the council of faith and just know and whip our votes together to achieve our agenda.
Justin (GM):We also must consider the needs of the people. And whether you and I like it or not, I recognize a peer in you. Gods and faith are real. Yes. Their priority in our lives are for us to decide.
Justin (GM):Yes. Not for them to decide. Yes. That was, if I may say, a ballsy fucking move of yours. Do you understand how that no.
Justin (GM):This is not the time. This is not the time. Was She That was a roll with hope. Closes her eyes. She closes her eyes and rubs her forehead a little bit.
Justin (GM):Yes. I support this move. Yes. The king is beloved. It seems as though if we are to allow any of these amendments to stick to reflect the wills of the people, it would be allowing the king an important seat on the senate.
Nick (Herry):I think that's fine. I'm I don't think an important seat is fine. I'm with you on a seat, but I I believe you are seeing the polling information. You are seeing the information that I'm seeing. Winds of change are upon us.
Nick (Herry):We have an opportunity today that we probably will never have again, and I believe the senate has the best chance of not being wrangled and manipulated as problematic and complex as it is.
Justin (GM):I assume you have a version of the bill you would like to push forward.
Nick (Herry):Harry pulls out. Effectively kind of what he pitched a little bit to Asher.
Justin (GM):Keeper, this is a big change. Yeah. It's still This is a whole other bill.
Nick (Herry):A little bit. The A little bit? The bones are there. The bones are there. Beanie wrote most of this.
Nick (Herry):You and I both know it's there.
Justin (GM):Under under the world. You and
Nick (Herry):I both know it's Some
Justin (GM):of my numbers come from
Nick (Herry):Yeah.
Justin (GM):100%. My assistant's third. Copying.
Nick (Herry):So you know this is sound. You know I wouldn't present this if I didn't believe wholeheartedly.
Justin (GM):I know you only yes. It is a matter of I have a motion to put the existing bill on the floor. I can't pull the existing bill. You can't pull the existing bill. Only the submitter can.
Justin (GM):You need to talk to Constantine. Great. That's never the reaction I have when I have to talk
Nick (Herry):to Constantine. I have I'm in his circle, so it's
Justin (GM):You deal with him far more than I could ever want to.
Nick (Herry):Yes. Okay. I appreciate this. I will go do my best with Constantine.
Justin (GM):I have increased the security on the senate. Great. I have prepared the floor for the bill to be submitted by Constantine. Only Constantine can submit this bill per senatorial rules.
Nick (Herry):He can only revoke it or pull it?
Justin (GM):He can pull his existing one to give you space for this one.
Nick (Herry):Okay. Great. Well, I guess we gotta go see Connie. I am Yes. I by we, I mean, preverbal.
Justin (GM):Thank you.
Nick (Herry):I'll talk soon.
Justin (GM):Thank you.
Nick (Herry):Pinch. Yes, sir.
Justin (GM):If you fuck this up, you won't get another chance. You understand that. Correct?
Nick (Herry):It's all or nothing today. Harry whistles on his way out of the office.
Justin (GM):You make your way down to Constantine's office. You are getting swiftly close to the point where those senators who maybe have some time anxiety or view their roles as a little bit more social are already making their way to the formal senate floor.
Nick (Herry):Yeah.
Justin (GM):It is a, like, did catch part of this building, allowing them to have a little bit more security and things like that. So you see a lot of people shuffling their way out or ready to make some final, like, signs and dots on the line. So it is the building is, like, starting to clear out a little bit more. Still full of people, but, everyone's on a mission to get out. You are kind of a salmon against stream right now walking towards Connie's door.
Justin (GM):The platoon, the four members with you kind of make their way. You get to Connie's office. You see Becky inside. She's kind of sitting up and says,
Nick (Herry):oh, hi, Becky.
Justin (GM):Hi. Senator
Nick (Herry):Mitch. Sorry about the coffee incident yesterday.
Justin (GM):I totally, understand. My apologies for kind of trying to make you handle that situation.
Nick (Herry):No. We I made the mess. I should've done it. Is is Connie busy?
Justin (GM):Yes. Connie is very busy right now.
Nick (Herry):Yeah. Who's he with?
Justin (GM):He's just busy preparing, you know, this
Nick (Herry):Wonderful, Waxon.
Justin (GM):Becky will get in
Nick (Herry):front of you. Levitate. Cast levitate on Becky.
Justin (GM):Okay.
Nick (Herry):Spell cast roll? Yep. What's her evasion? 10. See, that is a 10 on the die plus three with fear.
Justin (GM):Floats a little bit off the ground.
Nick (Herry):Senator Pinch. And then walks under Becky and walks in.
Justin (GM):You see Constantine, his hands tied behind his back, his fingers broken. Mhmm. You feel a wand pressed up against you and barely audible. You hear Bastian's voice. You're going to walk into the room.
Justin (GM):You're going to close the door quietly. Give me a instinct roll to quickly ascertain anything else in the room.
Nick (Herry):That is a seven that's an
Justin (GM):eight with hope. Okay.
Nick (Herry):Harry walks in, closes the door, and takes a look at Bastion.
Justin (GM):Bastion was clearly in the fight last night. His face is bruised. The hand holding the wand is shaking a little bit, and you see he has his hand on a dagger at his side. It is a light knife. Mhmm.
Justin (GM):Where he got it, if you don't know, he is looks desperate. He's sweating, and he says, Harry, take a seat. We're gonna have a conversation and we'll cut back too. You all have found the stairwell and are making your way down. Again, the kind of motion sensor room lights are triggering as you as you work your way down.
Justin (GM):This stairwell is going deep. This is not a what you would anticipate to be kind of a stories below. You make several wraparounds before you come to, these two doors that have a very clear arcane lock on them.
Steve (Luken):I pull out one of my two remaining vials of faith and say, hey, I think I can I can undo this, Sara? Stand back.
Shelby (Sahra):Sara steps back and puts her hands up.
Steve (Luken):I once again uncap the vial, empty my mind, and communicate with the faith that I would like this lock to disappear.
Justin (GM):Give me a spell casting role, so strength, and you have advantage.
Steve (Luken):It's really good with That is really good. It's over 20 something. I'm not doing math anymore. The
Justin (GM):arcane lock cracks at the force of your prayer and busts open. Immediately, alarms start going off inside of the building where you are. This undulating sound, and the lights that were previously this white greenish turn a red. You see in front of you a long hallway with a series of arcane barriers between you and the end of the hallway. The arcane barriers are mostly transparent, but, because of they're, like, layered, it's hard to see exactly what's at the end of the hallway.
Shelby (Sahra):Okay. Is there any sign of Asher anywhere?
Justin (GM):You have not seen Asher. This looks like you were the first persons to come through this space.
Shelby (Sahra):Okay. I think we need to duck inside this door that we just opened.
Steve (Luken):Yeah. I I think the alarm going off means we're probably going the right way. Right?
Shelby (Sahra):I figure. Alright. Let's go.
Steve (Luken):Do we see any kind of like mechanism that would let us turn off these arcane barriers?
Justin (GM):Give me an instinct roll.
Shelby (Sahra):Oh, good call.
Steve (Luken):That is a 19 with fear.
Justin (GM):There are runes on runes on runes etched into the wall on both sides of the barriers. It looks like it takes two people to trigger them, but they are advanced runesets. Whoever did this is like a very high level Arcanist.
Shelby (Sahra):We can try to turn the alarm off or should we just go in and prioritize?
Steve (Luken):Alarm's already going right now. Right? Like, we're already They already know we're here.
Shelby (Sahra):Then let's go in.
Justin (GM):These barriers,
Steve (Luken):do I see like is there like a pen or something I can throw to see if the barrier like zaps you when you go through it? Yeah. You can Like, I'd like to test Yeah. What happens when you go through these barriers.
Justin (GM):The first barrier immediately, the piece of paper that you wad up from your evidence bag, you toss into the barrier and it immediately ignites on fire. And the only thing that passes through it is ash.
Steve (Luken):So I don't think we can just walk through. Is this where we give this signal? Get Asher over here, see if he can help undo all of this? Like, the signal is we found what we're looking for. It isn't the we need out right away signal.
Steve (Luken):Right? Because we know where the teleportation circle is. They know we're here so they can cut us off. If this isn't a hallway to something they don't want found, I don't know what is.
Shelby (Sahra):Yeah. And I I don't have any way of getting through this on my own.
Steve (Luken):I think it's time to bring Asher.
Shelby (Sahra):Okay.
Steve (Luken):Back into play.
Shelby (Sahra):Pelican. You
Justin (GM):say this and immediately become aware of where everyone in the team is. There's the second where you feel Asher and Soul Guard Cole it seems like Soul Guard Cole has been injured. Asher's doing his best to heal him. You feel three people dying on the surface. You feel individuals coordinating the and maintaining the teleportation circle, for a brief second, you are like a hive mind, and you are aware of where everyone is and what everyone's doing, and then immediately it's shut off.
Justin (GM):For that brief second, I think you feel a little bit of like a turbulence from just kind of being suddenly connected to everyone so thoroughly. Asher built this telepathic connection, and he did not fuck around. This was we're assuming we're in a magic suppression space, and so we have to really shoot for the moon in order to ensure that it works. And he might have overshot it a little bit. I'm gonna spend a fear to cost you both a stress from that connection, and you snap back two as it is cut off, there's now suppression magic happening.
Justin (GM):Arcane suppression, I can spend two fear to start a countdown. This has begun. While the countdown is active, any character attempting to use magic must spend a stress in order to attempt that magic. Doing so decreases the countdown by one. There are some other things that I can do while this is up, but for right now, any magic including like prayers, any contact with the arcane will cost an additional stress, but will move this countdown down.
Shelby (Sahra):Does that count for primal?
Justin (GM):Yep. Okay. Yep. Countdown is currently at eight.
Steve (Luken):While we wait for Asher
Shelby (Sahra):Let's dig through some of this get here. Stuff and see if anything's helpful.
Steve (Luken):Yeah. I think we continue to look around here, see see what we can There
Justin (GM):is recover. Nothing else here.
Shelby (Sahra):No. Like dig through the stuff that we took from that other Oh.
Justin (GM):Yes. Yes. Yes. You start digging through Both of you give me instinct rolls. Or knowledge rolls.
Justin (GM):Sorry.
Shelby (Sahra):20 with hope.
Steve (Luken):15 with hope.
Nick (Herry):Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. We all flip Justin on.
Justin (GM):I will say,
Steve (Luken):I know this is gonna sound like
Justin (GM):a total butt, the difficulty is 16. Okay. You start looking through your papers, a lot more of the blood got into your bag than you had expected. But it does look like it's important papers, so you can't read it, but someone who's gonna be able to pull the blood stains out of this sure will find some important things on these sheets. You're sure of it.
Justin (GM):Your papers are clean of blood, Sara.
Steve (Luken):Look, I was told to extract, not to read. Okay?
Justin (GM):It looks like what they're doing is called soul grafting. They have discovered that when the incarnate king's soul inhabits a body, it changes that body so that they are what we would understand to be a sorcerer. They have studied that process and believe that they can replicate it and have been attempting to replicate it over the past few decades. Things that they have mastered. They know what the end product needs to look like.
Justin (GM):They also know that younger people are more prone to successful soul grafts. The older a person is, the more difficult the soul graft is and the more likely for failure there is. What does failure look like? On an adult, thirty percent of the people who who undergo soul grafting are infertile afterwards. That is the only ramification.
Justin (GM):Fifteen percent become magically inert. Sorry. Ten percent become magically sensitive is what they describe it as. And five percent are successfully grafted. These numbers improve if the person is a newborn, resulting in fifteen percent hope successfully becoming soul grafted.
Justin (GM):You have multiple pages about the ritual of soul grafting. Essentially making a copy of whatever the incarnate soul does to the physical body and the mind of a person. The ritual that conducts that is spread over the 70 to 80 pages of content that you have stuffed into your bag.
Shelby (Sahra):So Okay. So they're making a copy of the soul and imprint it No.
Justin (GM):Nope. When Sorry. Imagine it like a person A person's body is a
Shelby (Sahra):square. Uh-huh.
Justin (GM):The immortal soul is a circle. When the immortal soul gets pushed into the square, it makes the square into a circle. That making a square into a circle is the magic that is encompassed in the 70 pages. They're not making a circle soul that they can move between places. That's what the immortal soul is, the incarnate king.
Justin (GM):What they're doing is just learning how to make a square into a circle. And they're right, at most for an adult, 5% of the time.
Shelby (Sahra):Okay.
Justin (GM):The other thing you would take away is that the amount of magic, whether it's faith magic, just raw arcane magic, it takes to undergo and conduct this ritual is extreme. We're talking a minimum of tenth, eleventh level characters are capable of doing this level of magic and then it taxes them. So this is an extremely powerful spell and it still the success rate is minimal. Yeah. But what it is is essentially turning a square into a circle.
Justin (GM):Rewriting what we would understand to be this is genetic altering
Shelby (Sahra):Okay.
Justin (GM):But in magical world.
Shelby (Sahra):Okay. Yeah. And so they're using the incarnate king. They have to use that.
Justin (GM):It is a little unclear aside from studying the incarnate king and continuing great question. What is the role of the incarnate king in this? It looks like the blood of the incarnate king helps bridge some gaps, increases the success rate of this ritual. The second thing is the more they study about his soul and the impact it has on the body, the more they're able to refine this process and improve how it goes. Essentially, the more they understand his genetics, the more they're able to replicate those genetics.
Shelby (Sahra):Okay. Okay.
Steve (Luken):Alright. Look, we can sit here and try and read our way out of this. What do you say we try and deactivate some of these barriers ourselves?
Shelby (Sahra):I'm in if you're in.
Steve (Luken):Alright. Let's give it a shot. What do you know about runes?
Shelby (Sahra):Yeah. Can I roll to see what I know about runes?
Justin (GM):Yep. Give me a knowledge.
Shelby (Sahra):Oof. Eight, nine, ten, eleven with fear.
Justin (GM):That is a failure with fear.
Shelby (Sahra):Yeah. That makes sense.
Justin (GM):You walk up to these runes, they are extremely advanced. They are equally likely to keep something in as keep something out. And it looks like they punish failure. They themselves, one of the layers of the runes on runes is designed to discourage misuse.
Steve (Luken):And there's not like an obvious like off switch?
Justin (GM):Correct. Okay. Well
Shelby (Sahra):Okay. Well, let's try you put your hand on one end and I will put my hand on the other end and then we'll complete the circuit. So then we hold hands.
Steve (Luken):We hold hands. Okay. We we do this and
Shelby (Sahra):We close our eyes.
Steve (Luken):And we try like, should we try and like channel something into it? Like
Shelby (Sahra):I mean, you have connections with faith magic, I've got connections with primal magic The same way that you would normally channel your magic, just we're gonna try it on this.
Steve (Luken):Yeah. Okay. Well, we're gonna try and channel some magic into this to see if we can undo the runes. The
Justin (GM):connections you make, you open yourselves up to your magic. Go ahead and give me spell casting rolls.
Steve (Luken):Are they with disadvantage because of the countdown?
Justin (GM):They are both with disadvantage. I will lower my countdown by two.
Shelby (Sahra):Okay. So what does that mean? Do I roll another
Justin (GM):six and you subtract it.
Shelby (Sahra):Okay. Got it. Got it. It. It's a six with fear.
Steve (Luken):Mine is a
Shelby (Sahra):Oh, wait. More than that. Six. Nine. But nine with fear.
Steve (Luken):I am actually going to use my fairy once per session, spend three hope and reroll my duality dice. Okay. I don't think I reroll my disadvantage.
Justin (GM):I think I'm stuck with that. Yep.
Steve (Luken):It's a failure with hope this time. Well, I assume failure. Sorry.
Justin (GM):It is a nine plus three is twelve and eight with hope. You push your various primal magic and faith magic into what is essentially like arcane runes. And I think your failure in this moment is not your inability to override them. It is your inability to stop the repercussions. Immediately, your skin feels like it's on fire and you take 14 magic damage that cannot be prevented by armor.
Justin (GM):Shit. I do the
Steve (Luken):You pull your hand back from a hot stove and like shake it out thing, but my whole body. Like, I jump back and The barrier in
Justin (GM):front of you has flickered off. Okay. And you sense that it is recharging.
Shelby (Sahra):Okay. So I'm gonna run-in before it pops up behind me.
Justin (GM):You've passed the first barrier. There
Steve (Luken):are four more between you. I still have all my papers. Yes. Alright. Try try the same approach again.
Steve (Luken):I'm gonna I'm gonna chuck another piece of paper.
Shelby (Sahra):Yeah. See what this one does.
Steve (Luken):I try to find one that's like less bloody than the others.
Justin (GM):Yes. You do a test. This one, it turns the paper to stone and it just clunks down on the ground on the other side.
Shelby (Sahra):Okay.
Steve (Luken):Does the barrier go all the way to the ceiling? Yeah. Okay. Well, look, I won't know if I can fly over unless I
Justin (GM):The barrier behind you is recharging.
Shelby (Sahra):Okay. Sara is currently hurting. I've only got three HP left.
Justin (GM):The barrier behind you is recharging. Yeah. We get we
Steve (Luken):just gotta keep going, think. I think it's Yep. Until we have a way to actually turn this whole thing off, time is of the essence here. I think we just gotta try again on this one. We learned from the first one.
Steve (Luken):I think we we know it's gonna hurt if we fail. So I think we do the same thing and try not to fail.
Shelby (Sahra):Alright.
Justin (GM):K.
Shelby (Sahra):It's rolling at disadvantage again?
Steve (Luken):Yep. I'm going to do nothing ventured, nothing gained and spend a hope to get plus three, but we're still at disadvantage. So it's Yeah.
Shelby (Sahra):I'm gonna spend a hope for connected to my roots for magic.
Steve (Luken):That's a crit.
Shelby (Sahra):Oh, good work. So I got a 13 with hope.
Steve (Luken):Okay.
Justin (GM):You push in the same way you did before, but expecting what's coming. Lucan, I think you really apply some oomph to this and override the system such that I will allow you to both I will allow you to get through fine, you just mark a stress. As Lucan compensates on his side with a, ultimately, a lucky moment, the barrier in front of you goes down.
Steve (Luken):Did that take away two more from the countdown? Yes. Thank you.
Justin (GM):You go into the next area, and I'm going to spend a fear, and two things happen. You are now much closer to the end of the hallway and can start to see that there is someone standing at the end of the hallway. Behind you, the fire barrier goes back up.
Steve (Luken):Do you wanna try and talk to him?
Shelby (Sahra):Sure.
Steve (Luken):Yeah.
Shelby (Sahra):Hello? Are you okay in there?
Justin (GM):Let me out. And the walls on all sides shake and the barrier in front of them disappears. Cracks along the walls and the ceiling and on the sides appear. It looks like they are forcing their way through these spaces by just breaking the building. You can see much more clearly now the person as they walk towards the next barrier.
Justin (GM):She is a stout, shorter woman. Her hair is thin. Her skin is taut and pale. Her eyes are constantly moving around her. All the way up her hand, it looks like she is made of pastels.
Justin (GM):The edges of where her hand and the air around her start and stop seem to be undulating and moving. Not like her skin is moving, but more as though her hand could be at any one of those places at any given time. She is wearing a simple white, almost like medical robe. There are not there are no adornments on her. Something about her eyes looks young, but her body looks like it has aged far beyond what the years would allow.
Justin (GM):She even as she moves towards the next barrier, has to hold herself up against the wall. And when she does, the wall takes on that pastel blur around her. She does not seem to be registering you all as anything other than people. She does not look to you with hope. She does not look to you with fear.
Justin (GM):She is looking at this barrier and muttering under her breath.
Shelby (Sahra):Lucan, this is her.
Steve (Luken):It's her, but she doesn't seem like she wants to talk to us.
Shelby (Sahra):Definitely not. The other problem is, when we get to her
Justin (GM):I'm gonna spend a fear. Another shake hits the wall as she grips her hand in. I need you both make agility reaction rolls. Bring the beat to 16. 18 for me.
Justin (GM):Seven. Seven damage as chunks of stone fall from the ceiling. This is not a moment to talk. This is a moment to react.
Steve (Luken):I help you back to your feet. Sorry. Like, I I've reach out my hand, help you back up. What do you what do you wanna do?
Shelby (Sahra):We gotta contain her somehow. I'm gonna I'm gonna call on Aminette, see what my see what my little buddy could do for me.
Justin (GM):Give me an instinct roll with disadvantage. I will lower this by one.
Shelby (Sahra):15 with hope.
Justin (GM):You hear Amineth's voice far away from you. I'm coming, child. What is it you need of me?
Shelby (Sahra):I've found her. I've found the incarnate king and we need to contain her. We need to subdue her.
Justin (GM):I'm coming.
Nick (Herry):Harry walks in calmly, slowly, closes the door behind him and looks towards Connie and looks towards Bastion and has this giant sigh. Connie, oh my god. What Bastion, is this really what you and throws his copy of his proposed resolution kind of towards the desk away from him towards Connie. And I'm going to use my bard I'm gonna spend three hope to use my bard hope feature, make a scene, to temporarily distract a target within close range giving them a negative two, a minus two penalty to their difficulty. And then I'm going to while they're just while Bastion is distracted and guard down a little.
Nick (Herry):I'm going to pull out the light knife that I took from the lighthouse last night and stab Bastion.
Justin (GM):Go ahead and make an attack roll.
Nick (Herry):Actually, I don't know what.
Justin (GM):I would say it's finesse. It's 11 with hope. You make a stab with the light knife and Bastion deflects it with his own. The sparks from the light knives fire, temporarily blinding both of you. You both fall to the ground.
Justin (GM):That is a failure. I'm going to go. He is going to try and disarm you. Physically? Yeah.
Justin (GM):Cool. Go ahead and make a strength roll. Strength against strength. 14. That would be a yeah.
Justin (GM):12 with hope. He disarms you. Your light knife hits the ground and holds his up to you and says, where is my wife? Give me my wife back. Jesus Christ.
Justin (GM):You're fucking all of this up, you stupid idiot. We have everything in place. We've worked for this moment and you're fucking it up.
Nick (Herry):Harry casts runic circle. Marcus dressed to create a temporary magical circle on the ground where you stand. All adversaries within melee range or who enter with melee range take two d 12 plus four magic damage and are knocked back to very close range. So Harry slams his staff down. A runic circle, a bright light circle pops all around his immediate.
Nick (Herry):He's gonna take two d 12 damage and also get pushed back. So that'll be 17 plus for so that's 21 damage to Bastion, and then Harry is going to holler.
Nick (Herry):Bram Glen in here.
Justin (GM):Bastion gets thrown back against the bookcase behind him. All of Constantine's knickknacks that he has collected hit the ground and shatter. Bastion realizes in this moment that his time is limited, and he is I'm going to spend a fear to take back the spotlight and I'm going to attack. It's a 24. Yeah.
Justin (GM):That'll certainly hit When Bastion makes a successful attack against a PC, I gain a fear. That is 12 plus two magic damage.
Nick (Herry):Okay.
Justin (GM):The knife goes into I think you probably put an arm up to deflect, get anything between the knife and anything vital. And the instant the knife pierces your skin, your body's flooded with light. Out of your eyes, mouth, light pours out, and you are now vulnerable for the remainder of the scene.
Nick (Herry):Great.
Justin (GM):Which gives me an additional d six when attacking you. Cool.
Nick (Herry):He takes another 16 damage and is blown back to very close range.
Justin (GM):By the magic circle?
Nick (Herry):Yep. He runs into the barrier to stab me. Six damage? And is immediately blasted back into the bookshelf where he came from. With that, Harry actually runs to Constantine's phone, picks up, calls his office and yells, BD med kit to Connie's office now.
Justin (GM):You also you'd be aware of this. You have the same panic button. Every senator's desk has the same panic button that you saw plenary Yep. Try to reach for. You smash that button, a number of things happen all at once.
Justin (GM):Immediately, all magic in the room is canceled. Incredible. And the light knifes go out. Incredible. The magic circle expires.
Justin (GM):You see a number of objects that Constantine had on the wall magically up fall to the ground smash. You see something that was holding Constantine Yeah. In place Yeah. Also relinquishes in a second. Yep.
Justin (GM):And he kind of falls to the ground Yeah. Released from this magical binding. You see Bastion's body deflates a little bit. Yeah. Something was holding him magically enhanced as well.
Justin (GM):Whatever magic you might have Yeah. Just on you, your wand stops working. Yep. All of those things kind of deflate in this moment. Right.
Justin (GM):And the room suddenly feels staler.
Nick (Herry):Yeah.
Justin (GM):An alarm goes off. Yeah. Immediately, you hear Bram open the door. Yeah. Draws his sword.
Nick (Herry):Yep.
Justin (GM):Holds up. Immediately sees you in distress.
Nick (Herry):Yep. They flood the room. I point to Bastion.
Justin (GM):He is like pushing back against them. Get the fuck off me. Let me go. Let me go. Give me where's my wife?
Justin (GM):This man has captured my wife. Constantine gets up and says, this fucker. And he goes to cast a spell Yeah. And it immediately deflates in I hit the button.
Nick (Herry):I hit the button. I hit the button. It's it's it's fine. It's very cool, this fucker. That's very cool.
Nick (Herry):Why don't you
Nick (Herry):take a seat? Why don't you
Nick (Herry):take a seat? We've got help coming on the way. And then do the guards get Bashan kind of under
Justin (GM):They get Bashan under control. They pull him out into the hallway. Becky says, I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry. I was so scared.
Justin (GM):He was
Nick (Herry):Go sit down. I don't know what your deal is. Harry walks up towards Bastion as he's going back. Last time I saw you, I was convinced the dopey brother-in-law routine was a ruse. It's wild to know that it was true and just walks away.
Justin (GM):You fucker. I'll show you, dopey. You're all gonna lose. This is all just a part of the plan. You are ours.
Justin (GM):You're gonna get the bad end of all of this. I just know it.
Nick (Herry):Harry is closed. Harry is closed. The door is gone. Yeah.
Justin (GM):You're absolutely not gonna do the
Nick (Herry):work with this.
Nick (Herry):Connie, are you okay? He starts like Harry just starts to, like, try and do whatever little bit of medical help he can to just stop any bleeding. I feel absolutely horrible. I believe it. You look fine.
Nick (Herry):You look great. Oh, it's just You're
Justin (GM):Oh, you came in and just A costume.
Nick (Herry):Wildest Yeah. He's a he's a He's an idiot. Oh. It could've Well, you'd think he would shave the beard for this.
Justin (GM):It looks horrible. It looks terrible. I
Nick (Herry):feel horrible. Yes. We've got help coming on your way. We got help. I do need one more thing for you though.
Justin (GM):Another thing for me? Hey, do
Nick (Herry):have one more piece work? Yes. You have one more piece of work.
Justin (GM):What if this is all the same? Who is that man?
Nick (Herry):Why is he talking about his wife? He's a bad person. He's he's
Justin (GM):It's actually quite clear. Yeah.
Nick (Herry):He does it actually isn't super relevant right now. What I need you to do is actually remove your amendment, your bill.
Justin (GM):What? What are you talking about?
Nick (Herry):We're actually submitting Pinaray and I met and talked. We're actually moving some more aggressive pro senate amendments into this, and Harry grabs his papers. He's like, I need you to withdraw yours so I can submit mine.
Justin (GM):Give me a presence role. This is gonna be a 16. This is moving quite quickly for Constantine.
Nick (Herry):Can I you got a friend? Yeah. Yeah. I mean, we're old buds. He's old.
Nick (Herry):I'm buds. So that's 16 knights 22 with fear.
Justin (GM):That is a success with fear. Constantine says, don't you think this is kind of hasty, Harry?
Nick (Herry):I No. It's not. It's actually
Nick (Herry):we have we have to pass something today. Can't put another bill forward right now. I just showed you. I have another one. I'm gonna put
Justin (GM):I haven't had time to read it, Harry.
Nick (Herry):Would you like me to read it to
Justin (GM):you right now?
Nick (Herry):We have time.
Justin (GM):Would you be so kind
Nick (Herry):as to Take a seat. A I need a glass of wine right now.
Justin (GM):Oh, you've smashed my crass Okay. With your rowdiness.
Nick (Herry):Yes. Yes. Yes. Oh, this
Justin (GM):is just turning out to be the worst day, I've planned for this
Nick (Herry):for years. Would you like to submit the new one so you can get have your name on it?
Justin (GM):Would you do that for me,
Nick (Herry):Larry? Absolutely. I don't need the credits.
Justin (GM):Would you do that for me?
Nick (Herry):Absolutely. For you, Connie, Annie. But you have to remove yours and submit the next.
Justin (GM):I'll remove mine and submit a new one. It'll be like I was young again.
Nick (Herry):Exactly. And here it is. It's full of vigor. No.
Justin (GM):Don't you don't bring it close to me.
Nick (Herry):Okay. Alright.
Justin (GM):Read it to me from over there with a quiet voice. Okay. Alright. Going to lounge in this shade that I have. Yes.
Justin (GM):It's not just been damaged.
Nick (Herry):You just relax. You just relax.
Nick (Herry):Don't you
Justin (GM):talk to Becky so rudely?
Nick (Herry):She tried to keep me out of here. She was gonna let you die.
Justin (GM):She was gonna let me die? I I guess she was trying
Nick (Herry):to block me from entering.
Justin (GM):We might need a new Becky. I think we need a new Becky.
Nick (Herry):That's right. We'll deal with Becky.
Justin (GM):Let's I should take away her PTO, dude.
Nick (Herry):Let's get let's get into this. Yes. Absolutely. She's I think she's using Oh, I'm getting comfortable. Yes.
Nick (Herry):Okay.
Shelby (Sahra):The slippers. Alright.
Joel (End Credits):You've been listening to Faith and Fortune by Theater of the Mindset. Our actual players this season are Steve Edinger, Shelby Myers, Nick Traeger, and your kind and generous GM, Justin Girardeau. Audio engineering, post production, and scoring is done by Nick Traeger at Studio three six zero seven. If you're enjoying the show, you can help us grow with no capital investment by sharing it with a friend, following us on Instagram and Reddit, writing us a review on your favorite pod catcher, or you can ship in for coffee at our Patreon. Thanks for listening, and we'll see you next week on Theater of the Mindset.