Episode 13 – The Heart of Things

Hi there Spellorians, Abdul here with a special pre-show announcement to let all of our Monarch level patrons know that we are currently shipping out your Christmas merch drop, which this year is a beautifully crafted dice advent calendar that's a collaboration between our very own Jessica Tai and the amazing people over at Fantasy by Numbers.

Just like last year's advent calendar, this one has another dungeon crawly type design, but this year the dungeon crawl features the cool treat kids from our bonus show and it tries to solve the mystery of who stole Clover's diary. If you're not a Monarch and you'd also like an advent calendar, then you're in luck. We will be releasing this new advent calendar in our merch store this Thursday, November 23rd after all the Monarch ones have shipped out.

And if you can't wait, then you can head to our store right now and snag one of the advent calendars with last year's design on it, which is a Spout Lore themed calendar. Also there, you'll find all the other amazing Spout Lore merch designed by the incredibly talented people over at Fantasy by Numbers. You can find all of that at www.speltlore.com slash merch or fantasybynumbers.ca slash Spout Lore. Links for those will be in the show notes. And now, on to the episode.

Heroes noble and bold A brute, a druid, and a thief Who is but nine years old You know them by name, you know them by deed Their quests are famously daring So here I sit, singing to you An adventure that is worth sharing Tuck is the brute, he knows not his home He loves to sing and fight Fingers half-elf, he shifts his shape And wields a spear with great might Billy's a thief, his tiny size Does mask the largest heart Best and brightest They may not be, but their friendship outweighs their smarts So gather round, friends And listen close For the tale's about to start Hello everybody and welcome to Spout Lore.

I'm your game master, Sean O'Hara. Joining me as always playing Tacoma Dome, the barbarian, Abdul Aziz. Hello everybody. Playing Ving, the half-elf druid, Paul Oppers. Hi! Hey everyone. And playing Fat Billy, the halfling thief, Jessica Tai. Hello everyone. When last we left our heroes, they had engaged in an extreme study session and came out of that study session aggressively in the room of Elman, junior gardener at the cloister of the heart tree in Heartwood City.

And he aided the party in their infiltration of the garden to learn more about the sickness at the heart of the wood. And they, they attended the morning salutations of the gardeners, observing an ancient ritual in which they all acted like fucking buffoons and still somehow made it through. We were briefly attempting to interrogate first gardener Malgath about the fate of Ileana, to which she refused to speak and also warned you against doing the same.

We went to the conery, a room in which all of the cones from the heart tree of knowledge are kept, and we went to the conery, a room in which all of the cones from the heart tree of knowledge are kept, investigating a record of gardeners past, finding that Ileana was not only not included on the list of first gardeners, because Malgath would have been alive at that point.

So she was likely still first gardener, but realizing through the connection of dots that it is very likely that the court had no problem with Ileana being a wizard, at least at first, lending more credence to the political nature of her death. Mm-hmm.

We used Eye of the Tiger to see first gardeners, gardener Malgath speaking with some representatives of the Sun Peaks that we had spied on our wander through the cloister at first, including a sinister elf who looked very dangerous, that is supposedly an agent, quote unquote, of the Sun Peaks, and their determination to capture infiltrators that you assumed probably rightfully so to be yourselves. Would be funny if it was just a completely coincidentally difference.

It's like Fenton and Franklin and Clover. Yeah, exactly. The guys who were breaking in and- Vance. Oh, the Vance gang? Yeah. They're back. We tricked and trapped and snuck our way through the cloister to the garden itself, avoiding the sinister looking elf, Tom Hiddleston style. There's a lot of us walking casually. Yeah. Casually in quotes. Yeah. Pretending, putting on hats and grabbing trowels and being like, we're going outside. We love beans. Can't get enough of these beans.

The thing was sliding his feet along the floor and saying casual, casual, casual, casual. Which is the most casual way you can walk in elf society. So it worked perfectly. In the garden itself, we snuck around, saw some plants, figured out that there were some other people in the garden, including Nesh, the undercover ranger from Dathaniel's Talon, whom we are not completely sure if we can trust or not.

The party made their way to the far side of the tree, Billy stopping them and explaining that they need, to make some sort of offering to be welcomed to the tree. And here's where things started going pretty bad. They were going bad before this. They were going pretty bad before, but this was like a lot of failures all in a row. Yeah. Ving attempted to commune with the plants of the garden and attempt to offer some water from the well in Hibernia. That failed.

The plant saying that there was no hope of getting the sickness out of this place. Tuck attempted to tune into a sort of discomfort he'd been feeling upon entrance to the garden. Which did not go well. No. He smashed an obsidian coin to offer to Larry, Terry and Chad to implore their aid. And all of this coalesced into some sort of awakening and awareness within the tree and the earth opening up beneath the party to swallow them whole. Yeah. As they fell, they heard a cough and a fart.

And that is where we find out. That is where we find our friends. Now. Now. Falling. Farting. Hearing. Coughing. Loving. Living. Laughing. Farting. Loving. Farting. What do we have? Do I have? I don't have any weapons. I didn't. I haven't described what my gardening tools are. Yeah. I mean, like, I think you guys all discussed that you had your weapons on you when you got here. So you've been disguised. I think you can safely say like Tuck has TLC disguised as a trowel. I have a bow.

I'm going to shoot an arrow up into the mouth of the hole and try. I secure a rope. Okay. Yep. That's a lot of gear that you have. So are you, you're falling and you're taking a rope and you're wrapping it around an arrow and then you're loading your bow. Don't be an asshole. I just want to make sure. Don't force me to justify this thing that I'm doing. I'll stick a rake in the dirt. I have a rake. I'm going to try and slam a rake in the side and clutch it and grab on to Tuck. Sounds great.

This is going to be strength, I guess. 2d6 plus strength. Nice. I got 12. That's insane. So you slam the rake into the mouth of the hole and like the handle kind of jams into the other side, creating like a cross beam of sorts and you're just grabbing on. And I wanted to reach out for Tuck and Billy. Okay. So you reach out and you grip your friends. Now you're hanging over the mouth of this hole. Okay. Swing over to the side. Can we like latch on the side? I assume there's roots and stuff.

There's lots of roots and dirt and debris hanging down. Like it looks like an underground cavern. It is an underground. Yeah. It absolutely is. Can we see the bottom of it? You can't see the bottom, but like the light filters down telling you that there is more hole. Can I make a willow the wisp and send it down? So the wicker the wisp appears. There she goes. Yeah. So the bell, you hear the bell ring. That is her like little fairy meow as she hops down. Oh, down all the roots. Yeah.

Boing, boing, boing down to the bottom. And the hole is not massive. I think there's maybe like 20 more feet. Is there a hole above us or does it close over? It closes over. It does the roots and the earth. Mostly the roots. You can see the roots like raising up and sort of knitting the earth back together above you. So it gets dark. It gets very dark. But the wicker the wisp is casting quite a bit of light and it pats down about 20, 30 feet below you. Hello. Hello. Hello. Hello. Climb down.

It's like, please climb down. Right. Everybody's been hanging. Oh, right. Oh, right. They grabbed me by the ankle and I've kind of just been hanging there. It's like, take over. Don't be having fun with the echo. Billy, let's go. And I basically like just bounce off the roots. Nice try. Roll two D six plus dexterity. Okay. You're falling like try to bounce down the roots. Six. So with the dexterity. Yeah, that's unfortunate. Oh, shit. Okay. You can roll a D eight. Oh, my God. God. Oh, my God.

Oh, my God. So much. Oh, there's one rock down here. Yeah. Billy lands on the rock. How many? How many HP do you have? 15. So you took six. No, no, no. Sorry. I had 21 full. Okay. And now I have 15. And then tuck looks up at Vig and he was like, why did you tell him to climb down? He's a little boy. I'm sorry. You're 20 feet up. It was an instinct. I'm so sorry. Please climb down. I look up and there's like a big cut across my forehead with a ton of blood coming out. Oh, my God.

I'm like, I'm fine. Oh, no. Oh, my God. Vig likes to go of the rake and falls. Okay. Yeah. You guys are just falling. Yeah. So how are you trying to not hurt yourself? Light as a feather. Okay. Yeah. On the roots down. Great. So 2D6 plus dexterity, I believe, for light as a feather. Oh, I got eight. Okay, great. So on to seven to nine. Something goes wrong. GM tells you what? He lands on Billy. Billy takes six more damage. Oh, yeah. Oh, God.

I wonder if your rake, AKA, is a little bit more of a spear. Yeah. In the roots. Oh. Like in the ground above, because you said you let go of it. Yeah, I did say that. So your rake, which was your spear, but disguised, is stuck in the mouth of this hole. Oh, my God. Tuck, how are you dealing with this? I'm just like trying to avoid Billy, and I'm going to just take the fall to avoid Billy. Smart. So unbowed, unbent, unbroken, I guess? Yes. Okay.

So when you prepare yourself to endure some hardship without fighting back, role play, plus constitution, on a hit, you take half damage. Okay. Ten. Sorry, what's a ten plus? Ten plus, take half damage. So yeah, D8. There we go. Eight. Whoa! So half damage is four. Four. And then I have three armor. Minus your armor, yeah. So just one. Wow. That's unbelievable. I just only took one damage on an eight roll. Yeah. So you straight up hit the ground like a fucking meteor, just like boom.

And then you're like, oh. Oh, man. Yeah. And then I get up and I'm like, I'd like to see Tom Hiddleston fucking fall like that and be fine about it. Can I use a pull test against Billy? Billy's trapped in a tree root, so he can't go anywhere. He can't get away from the goo. I mean, unless Billy really doesn't want the goo. No, it's fine. He's trapped, so. Also, this is just smart, given that we're going into such a fucked up situation. I know. We could just get beaten the shit out of. Yeah.

Heal them of seven damage. Great. Oh, shit. Oh, thank you. You're welcome. So now your little cut on your forehead is like smushed closed and pasted closed with like a goo. I painted the goo in the shape of a little kitty cat. It's like being feeling really guilty. It's like face paint. Like it's like little cat face paint for Billy. Even though Billy is the one who let go. Yeah. So Billy's touched it and like licking it. Like, mm. Yeah. That'll just keep healing you. You just keep doing that.

Herbs and spices. Mm, it tastes like KFC. So you find yourself deep beneath the earth in a cavern. The cavern. The cavern. The cavern. The cavern. The light of the bill of the wisp is illuminating the cavern around you. It's not a terribly large cave mouth and it seems like at least at first glance, it is sort of a natural result of the roots and the earth and the movement of tectonic plates over time flowing water. So this seems like a natural formation, at least where you are.

Does it look like it's well traveled? No. Okay. Can I discern realities about it? Yes. Two to six plus wisdom. Okay. I got five. Oh man. Oh no. Oh no. So much experience. Okay. That's going to be level 22. So the doom is all encompassing. Oh shit. Your vision is filled with like the crumbling burning earth that you dream of and you see your friends around you standing in the mouth of hell itself and the coins in your chest, the shards that you have been harboring for these many months.

I was going to say burn, but it's not a burning. It's a deep aching bone chill. Okay. So you're going to take a debility to constitution. Oh, I like that. There's like dry ice almost like coming out and falling off his chest. Oh yeah. Is that like, yeah. Oh, you guys can see that it's almost like my skin is freezing. Yeah. Like there is like a cold rolling off of me just like there was off the tree. Oh my God. So Tuck doesn't usually get affected by the weather, but Tuck you feel cold. Yeah.

What do you do? I look like shit. I think like Tuck is like sweating and like, like he looks like he's got a fever I think cause he's like bone cold and also like sick sweat and then also like depressed now. Oh no. And he's seeing things. Yeah. What's going on with your chest? Are you doing okay? Uh, yeah. Tuck is, uh, yeah. Tuck lets you guys know cause this, he knows he's a liability now. I think in most situations he would just like push through whatever till the end of what we're doing.

But like he's, I think he's aware that what he's seeing isn't real and that he can't really perceive his surroundings very well. So he's like, I'm pretty fucked up right now. I can't see. I can't see. And I think the corner of my chest is mad at me. I have that obsidian knife with the brass handle. Like can we try like cutting it out of me? Can we try some like surgery right now? Interesting. How deep are they? They're surface level. Not surface level, but you can see them. They're embedded.

Yeah. It'd be messy. It would be messy. It's going to be a messy thing. But you've done worse to yourself. I have three poultice left and half a bottle of alcohol. Three poultice left and half a bottle of wine would wine. I also have, I don't know if it would do anything. Golden root. What does golden root do again? Golden root makes people friendly. Yeah. Give me some of that golden root. I have oil of taget. Oh wait, I have ghost root. Yeah. Isn't there something ghost root?

Ghost root interrupts iconic influence. Yes. Yes. Oh. I also have a teapot. Give me everything. Everybody just give me all your pills and drugs and I'm going to take them now and then you guys cut this shit out of my chest. You have a teapot. I have Amma's teapot. What does that do? Let's make some ghost root tea. What did he say the teapot does? I think he just gave you a teapot. Yeah. What a useless fucking gift.

I mean, you also never used it, so it's hard to say if there's a- That's because it's so useless. I mean, yeah, the ghost root is a very interesting idea. Should we, Tuck is like, should we do the surgery here? Should we open up the fanny pack and try and use- Oh. Oh. Oh. Oh. Oh. Oh. Oh. Oh. Oh. Oh. Oh. Oh. Oh. Oh. Oh. Oh. Oh. Oh. Oh. Oh. Oh. Oh. Oh. Oh. Oh. Oh. Oh. Oh. Oh. Oh. Oh. Oh. Oh. Oh. Oh. Oh. Oh. Oh. Oh. Oh. Oh. Oh.

Is it feel like a moment that we can take a pause or is it something that this has come over you suddenly? We need to do this now. I'll just lay out how I'm thinking about it. One thing that we know is you guys are alone and you've been hiding the fanny pack. This is a fine place to hide it. You're completely alone. But do we think that the fanny pack is a safe place from iconic and demonic influence or that you are risking something? Like exposing them? Exactly. Like exposing Perel and Morris.

Yeah. Like would you be basically putting another target on yourself by opening this like magically potent object here? Okay. No, we have to do it sans tent. And also the other thing is do you want to start cutting into Tuck's body here? Or do you think that it would make more sense to the party in the moment to do this ghost root thing to just like hop a bunch of ghost root or whatever to protect yourself in the moment and hope that you can take care of it later? Let's see. At least see what…

Let's start… Let's start with the ghost root. Sure. Let's troubleshoot this. First aid. You know what I mean? Yeah. Let's triage it. Yeah, exactly. Cool. Yeah. Do whatever. I feel like shit right now. So whatever you do, just do it fast. So Tuck pukes. Oh my God. Yeah. How much ghost root do we think you have dose wise? I want to say three. Three seems… Reasonable. Okay. Okay. So one use is gone. Yeah.

And Tuck is just eating it raw, but in a more controlled dose because the problem was before that he ate a bunch of it. I ate the whole thing. Yeah, exactly. What does ghost root taste like raw? Like ginger, like raw ginger. Yeah. So it's pretty intense. Yeah. It's spicy. Like raw cocaine. It tastes like raw cocaine. But it's kind of garlicky too. You got that like bite of garlic. Yeah. It tastes like ginger and garlic together so much. It sounds so good. It's really burning all of my sinuses.

It's a problem. It sucks that it's like so dangerous to cook with because it's fucking tasty when you cook with it. Oh, fun. So you swallow this raw ghost root. You feel the cold recede. The debility is still there. But you do not feel as quite an acute sense of dread as you did above ground. Can I see you now? You can see for sure. Yeah. Your vision is not tumultuous burning ruin anymore. Okay. You can see your friends and you can see the dark, miserable cave that you find yourself in now.

It basically puts you in the point that you still feel like shit, but it puts you in the place where you can barrel forward. Okay. Exactly. Yeah. But if you were to stumble just a little bit, you think you'd see that vision again. Okay. Yeah. So yeah, Tuck steals himself and he's like, all right, I'm good enough that I can keep going now. And hopefully there are no side effects to ghost root. Can I have the rest of the ghost root just in case stuff comes up and I just, I can eat it.

I can just eat it straight away. I give Tuck my two doses of ghost root. Oh, I don't know if you should do that. This stuff's not addictive, right? What do you do? Is there a wind coming? Is there a direction of the wind? Yeah. I think. Follow the cold wind. Exactly. And I think it's like the path that all of you can take. I think there are small, weird fissures all over the place, but the largest path is ahead of you. Great. And it seems to be the one where the wind is coming from. Okay.

He pulls out one of his sunstone torches that he has too. Yeah. Oh, nice. Yeah. I give one to Tuck. I have two. I take it. Billy, do you want one of these? You got will-o-wisps. Oh, thank you. There you go. So here's where the GM's burden has arrived. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. We have previously determined that sunstone has an effect on iconic forces as well. Oh, shit. Oh, wait. But isn't it? In a good way. Oh. It's not the magic bullet.

That's not what I'm saying. It's not the golden gun. Yeah. I'm just saying that within the light of these sunstone torches, you feel a little safer. Oh. Oh, great. Cool. Because the darkness here is oppressive. Okay. And oppressive not just in a dark sense, but in like it is attempting to oppress you. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Oh. Oh. Tunnels. It's like willfully walking along a spider web. Exactly. Yeah. Spooky.

Whatever lurks at the heart of this is aware of you. The hunger is driving us towards itself. Yes. You feel if you are outside of the light for a moment, you feel this like, whatever I want is right ahead. Uh-huh. And I just have to find it. Teal's here low-key freaking out too. Aww. Yeah. Totally. Yeah. What are they saying? Uh, we're fine, man. We're fine. We're fine, but please don't leave us behind, okay? No, it's chill, dude. You know what? Just post in the bag maybe.

We'll be there when you need us for sure, but oh my God. One of them is doing so many chin-ups, but like in a way that it's clear it's not okay. Yeah. I was just a fucking rock like a year and a half ago and that was so chill. I don't want to be a troll. The nature of rock is to chill, man. This is not the nature of rock. Chill. I don't want to be a fucking axe anymore. Remember when we didn't have names? It was so nice. Remember when we weren't a we?

Yeah, so you were just continuing down this tunnel. Oh, I have my bow with the ready. Yeah. Arrow notched. And TLC are in axe form again. You've dismissed the illusion? Yeah. I think the glamour. Is everybody cool with that? Oh, yeah. Yeah. Because it takes effort on Billy's part to keep it going. Like I'm too tired in this place. Yeah. Maybe as soon as you land on that rock. Oh, yeah. It's done. Oh, yeah. That makes sense. Like it's just you hear it. You hear the illusion shatter in the ferry.

It's like so yeah, everybody looks themselves again. Dirty ragged. Awesome. Oh, man. Okay. So here we are beneath the heart tree. Do we see anything? What do we see? Oh, trap expert. Trap expert would be a good move. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. Eleven. Okay. Eleven. So you get three hold. Is there a trap here? And if so, what activates it? I don't think so. Okay. Yeah. I do not believe there is a trap here. I it feels spooky. Yeah.

Because it's the only time you've ever said that. Yeah. And you know what that means is that there is a trap here and we're in it already. Yeah. Billy's like a figure, but you know, I just want to double check. No, no, no. Make no mistake. Whatever is at the center of this tree wants you there. Yeah. Oh, yeah. It's almost like too easy to get there. We could just stand here and get there. Yeah. Yeah. As the earth like royals beneath your feet a little bit and you move like imperceptibly forward.

So I guess because we're in the trap, what does it do when activated? Okay. So you like even through the little light that you are casting with your tiny little sunstone torch, you know that if you go to the center of this tree, wherever this darkness lies, you will get everything you could possibly ever want. Nice Billy. Do you hear what it said? Yeah. We heard what Sean said. Yes. Billy, you are not to keep walking. Billy, this is a bad place. Anything it's telling you is wrong. Right.

Everything is wrong, even though I want it. What else is hidden here within the dirt walls within the soil in the roots? Things move like what creatures dangerous ones that have been drawn. You think to the darkness. Oh shit. Things that live beneath the earth. You see you out of the corner of your eye, a flash of legs. Spider carapace. What is it that shining insectoid segments burrowing through the dirt millipedes centipedes the like the worms in my hair like moving around a lot. Gross Billy.

Let us save you Billy's pulling him out. I don't like it anymore. I was like, whoa. Yeah. Do you throw the knowledge worms? I know those two can stand just the regular earthworms that I've put in the regular worms and they immediately they hit the floor and they start digging immediately almost as if they're afraid. Can't believe I ever let those on me. The tremors of your footsteps seem to be drawing things near as in the walls and the ceiling and the floor. Earth starts to move.

Chittering sounds can be heard. Whoa, whoa, whoa. Should I back up? The light of your sunstone torches seems to be keeping these things at bay, but you know if they get even a shred of an opportunity, they will take it. So we keep casting the sunstone torches about. And things proceed further into the roots. Yeah, that's what I fucking thought. So you are safe for now. So like the thing that we can kind of interpret is that everything is iconically controlled right now. Maybe not everything.

You can't be certain that the things in the in the dirt are controlled iconically or just attracted to this place. Okay. The things that are attracted to the evil places and the dark secret hidden things. Yeah. But they do seem large and they do seem dangerous and they've been feeding on the roots of a knowledge tree for God knows how long. Oh, yeah. Which like we know it affects the way things develop. Yeah. Carry on. I do want to ask a couple of questions.

So I have iron will when you are subject to mind control or magic that influences your feelings. You may choose to take one D4 damage ignores armor and ignore the influence. Interesting. Then yeah, you can choose to take one D4 damage. You will not be able to resist this with your armor though. Yeah. So I can take one D4 damage and like absolutely disregard the effect of like whatever it is at the core of the tree at least on your emotions. Okay.

So like the hunger that other people are feeling I can kind of be clear of that. Yeah, I guess so. Okay, cool. Tuck wants to do that roll a D4 which is the pyramid one one damage. Nice. How do what is what is Tuck do? How does this work? I've never used it before so I have to think about it now. I also wonder if like TLC mediates it a bit. I think that you initially think that that's what it is the protection of TLC.

Okay, but you feel so completely disconnected from whatever it's attempting to do like it's like it's talking to somebody else. Uh-huh and it just rolls right off you. Yeah, I think there's like a kind of like when Tuck was a kid there was like a place he would go in his mind that was like an empty place that like when stuff was bad, he could just like not feel anything. Yeah. Yeah, just a just a comfortable nothingness. Yeah, total absence of self.

Yeah, I think and I think he kind of like just like uses that again weaponized dissociation. Yeah, totally like forget it. I'm nothing. Yeah great. So yeah, your mind feels clear and you see Billy like rubbing his hands together like it's all in front of me. I want it and Tuck like he pulls a like a puzzle box. He has the puzzle box still and he wants to distract Billy with it just in case be like Billy. I think there might be something really cool in this puzzle box. No way.

Yeah, I think something real cool is in here. I think there's that he shakes it. I think there might be a bunch of marbles in this puzzle box. No way. Give that to me. I don't know Billy. I want this. What do you want for it? You want to ride on my shoulder while you try and solve it and then we'll split the marbles. If you do solve it. It's 70%. Okay. Yeah, sure. Okay. Okay. He's even haggling 70%. What is that? Is he haggling with marbles?

So I give it to him and I put him on my shoulder just so I can keep him a little closer. Just let me win. I got you. He's got a nice head as a parent. He has that thing where he's like, fuck you, you little fucking bitch. I'm going out of my way to help you right now. Billy's just like making fun of Tuck. Like, wow, I've really got one over you. Really got steamrolled. You lip cut. Okay. So actually, now that this has been reintroduced, something to consider.

Is Billy trying to solve this puzzle box? Trying to solve the puzzle cube? Yeah. So the puzzle cube was broken. Oh, yeah. By Tuck. But is Billy still able to work on it? Yeah, he's just like, there must be another way. 2d6 plus wisdom. You know what? Against all odds, Billy, you're like investigating this cube and you're like, there's got to be more to this. And you know what? I think it's partially because you've like met Morris. Now you've hung out with Morris who made the puzzle box.

You're like, fuck me. There is more to this. Like, it's not just a physical thing. It's like an orthogonal object. So there's metaphysical space to be messed with. I'm like, okay, so I know there's a drawer in here that goes way further than it looks like it goes. Yeah, exactly. There's a drawer that you had. Bing feels in the fanny pack around his waist. He's like, whoa, what the hell was that? Oh, that's interesting. Yeah.

So there's like, yeah, Billy has actually discovered some sort of metaphysical aspect. Yeah, he squeezed his hand into like this crack in it. And it's like going really deep. What the fuck? Where is this coming out? Tuck is coming out. He's like, I'm gonna go inside. He's like, it's probably better than him looking at the creepy crawly things that are trying to kill us. So we'll keep that in mind. Billy, we keep walking down the tunnel as Billy is uncovering this magical puzzle box.

Looking for marbles. Yeah, he's like singing a song himself. Uh-huh. It's like when you give your kid at like you'd clock that there's a bad accident on the highway and you're like, hey, do you want to watch a video for a second? What's Ving feeling in all this? I think Ving like if Billy just feels like the influence. And tuck is like disconnected from it.

I think because it's like iconic and spiritual you feel like you're in front of a speaker that's cranked to the maximum but isn't playing anything like it's that like like it's just a discord. Did you get what do you what like what do you think Ving is feeling? Because I think this is a this is a horrible place for a spiritualist to be like he's drowning in all the sounds of these awful and voices of these awful creatures. Yeah. Oh, right. Yeah, you can hear them speaking.

Foul dirt and roots and the air in here is just like saying all the same thing. Yeah, I like there is no hope. Yeah, it's just so it even if he's not feeling it himself. If whatever isn't in there is not affecting him personally. Mm-hmm. He just you know, it's just like the voices are telling him. Yeah, absolutely. So you can hear like the whisperings of the things in the dirt. It's kind of driving him mad a little bit. Yeah, because they're just telling you there is no hope. There is no escape.

You will die here. And I think it's the same thing that Billy was. Feeling like outside the light of the Sunstone Torch. You feel that like powerful need to have all of your wishes granted no matter the cost is the thing at the heart of the tree white privilege. Oh my God, Billy. We have to go come with me. My boy Jessica and I are naturally impervious to it. All you just got to reach out your hand brother. What is meant for you? I'm coming. I'm coming. I mean, here's the thing.

Whatever you are looking for this tree. This force is not going to try and stop you. It wants us. Well, Billy's like like fiddling with the puzzle box. Can I see any of the knowledge tree roots down here? Great question. Anything that can be read off them? I think you do see runes on the roots but much like. The Heartwood itself. They are so old and twisted and gnarled that it would take some real investigation to actually glean any information from them is there grown over.

Can I can I use a move? You can you can spout Lord? Yeah. Oh God for or that's a failure just had the physical affect of a cartoon hamster when she that is how she gets when she's nervous. You look like a cartoon hamster is denying somebody alone. So I think that you like stand up on tuck shoulder.

You're like others roots and then you're like kind of walking around on on touch on talk like you normally do because you're small and he's big right you reach up and you like grab a root because you're trying to get a closer look at it and the root itself comes loose and dirt falls from the ceiling like a great amount of dirt falls down on you and obscures the light. Oh no, your Sunstone torches for just long enough for the things in the soil to strike. Oh wait, hold on. Strike first.

Oh, yeah, shoot first. Yeah, you cannot be surprised. No, I cannot. So what do you do? Is there anything on me? Oh, I still have like little shovels. Oh, you've still got weapons for sure. Yeah, start swinging the shovels around. Yeah, great little blades totally. So this could be a sneak attack shoulders because you're basically acting before. Yeah, he's swinging blades around while on. Top of tuck.

So you see like an insectoid head like bigger than your body disgusting start bursting out of the wall in front of you and you get to strike first because you have shoot first. I'm in the eye. Seven. Okay. So on a seven to nine with backstab, what do you get? I get to choose from one. So, you know, I'm going to deal my damage plus one d6. Okay, so you deal a d8 and a d6. Yeah. Six and a six twelve damage. Yeah. Holy shit. Is this thing? Dead. So it's not dead dead.

The reason it's not fully dead is as you're like stabbing at it's got these like huge crushing mandibles and it's jaws are like dripping with some sort of viscous fluid and it's got, you know, gross bug eyes and it's got goo. It's got goo for sure and you stab into it, but you're you're basically like you can tell that you got really lucky dealing this nearly mortal blow because you missed all of the hard.

Gray carapace that this thing is covered in but it was able to turn the blade away in just such a fashion that you weren't able to kill it out. Right, but it's basically dead and two more one bursts from like the ground behind Ving and another from the wall behind tuck. Let's go to Ving. You see Billy like stabbed this horrible bug. There's a moment where there's nothing happening and then Billy's like killing a thing moving so fast. What do you do? I take out one of my vials of.

My element bandolier. Oh, yeah, and I have a bunch of iron filings and I want to elemental form and pours it on his hands and then I erase his hand up and as he's bringing it down it forms into his spear that stuck in the cave. Oh, yeah, he clasps it and then brings it down onto the bugs head. That's fucking sick. That's sick. So cool. I also imagine that you wouldn't even pour it. It's just like break glass in case of emergency. I love that. Just like rip it off and smash it in your hand.

Oh my God. He forms into a spear. Yeah, that's fucking cool. Instant. I can like with my other hand. I pull it out. Yeah, so sick. So then is this elemental mastery then elemental form? Okay, because I'm transmitting a part of my body into a form made from the raw elements. The spear I roll plus con. Okay, I rolled a 12 and my con is to I got 15. Okay, 15 is unreal. That's massive. This I imagine it is like very sharp but also kind of thin because it's like filings just out of this metal.

So you've got this metal Javelin in your hand. You look like t1000 right? Yeah, he brings it out of the side of his body and slams into the top of a bug's head. Hell. Yeah. So I guess you just use one of your hold. Yeah. So now you've got to hold and then roll a d10 to do your damage. Eight eight. Okay, so it is a pretty solid blow this big like almost cockroach looking thing but with like crushing horrible mandibles and dripping jaws. It's got a little flip up kind of.

Almost ear wiggy like tail on the back where it's not a big whipping tail because they live in caverns. If those long crab claws. Yeah, totally and it comes out of the earth and you form this spear and stab true and punch your spear right through one of its carapace plates and you have to like yank it out but it screeches and like a dripping smoking liquid pours out of its body. Yeah, fucking gross. These things are gross, but it is still alive tuck.

You've got one coming out of the wall right next to you. What do you do? Yeah, tuck goes gross any punches it really? Man, so much easier. Hack and slash. It's so startle. That's really scary. Yeah. Do I have any special things that I can do to fucking kick this thing's ass extra? I think you've just got punch. Yeah, just punch. Just punch. Big punch. Just punch. It is a big punch. I mean you have Terry, Larry and Chad punch. True. Yeah, but I just punched it with my hands.

He just said he punched it with his hands. So it's 2d6 plus two. 6 plus strength for hack and slash. I like that you're punching it with an axe in your hand. With your axe in your hand. Okay, here we go. 2d6 plus strength. Fuck. Stop betraying me dice. Oh 13. 13. Yeah. Okay, so go ahead and roll your damage. 8. 8. What's the special thing that I can deal more damage? I can choose to put myself in danger to just deal more damage. To deal an additional 1d6. Yeah, I'll do it. Fuck it.

Kill the fuck out of this thing. Because he like he punches. Is it right in the mandibles? Yeah, that he goes. Six wait. So how much damage did you deal overall 14? It's the magic number. Hell yeah, you go gross. You punch this button. You're punching you like it's got you as a head like almost as big as your chest like comes out of the wall and you punch it and it screeches as your massive fist crushes plates on its face and it spits at you.

And this smoking liquid hits you like kind of in the shoulder chest and starts to sizzle and burn how much damage I did. I rolled a date but the eight. Oh God. No, and that's a three. Okay, so that's going to be four because you take plus you play taking additional damage. Oh, yeah, right. So you get spit on and your flesh starts smoking and spitting and then he goes cross. He whips it off. It's like this thing's so gooey. You just crush it with your other fist and it is dead Billy.

You're kind of stuck in this one with your little trowel, but it's freaking out tuck is just turned very rapidly and only because you are basically connected to the bug in the ceiling. Do you not fall off immediately your feet just kind of twist on tuck and you land back on your feet. Yeah, but what do you do? Am I on the ground? No, you're hanging like your trowel is like in this thing that came out of the ceiling.

Oh, I try to twist my body around so the trowel twists inside the gross bug head. Yeah, look at hack and slash crocodile death roll. Yeah, that's exactly what I do. 12. Okay. Well, roll your damage. Goodbye motherfucker. Got a seven. Yeah, that'll do it. So yeah. Yeah. How does Billy kill it? I'm like a vitamin mix inside his body. Basically look like a graceful big fat crocodile spin around and yeah, like the brain goo just like comes out everywhere. Yeah, I basically turn to a blender.

Oh man, you spin so much that your blade comes loose. There's just nothing solid for it to hold on to it. More onto the ground. I'm like nice and this thing is like hanging out of the ceiling and the one that tuck destroyed is hanging out of the wall. And when Billy goes goodbye motherfucker text like what did you say just now? Billy language and then he kicks the body as hard as I can to try and dislocate my bugs head from yeah, totally hack and slash. Ice 10 plus strength plus 1212.

So roll your damage fucking sick for four. So four is not quite not quite enough but you do you connect with it and it like you basically kick and as you're kicking at it. It is like diving back into the ground. You just kind of glance it as you as you connect. Wow, good old-fashioned hack and slash. It's been a while. Yeah, man. This is a problem that we were facing before we're trying to think our way into situations.

Yeah, we should just be punching our way into situations punching and cutting our way into it always works every time. Every time I never wield my spear with great might never. Yeah. Yeah, as you're all like this is a great idea. Billy's covered in viscera tux arm is like melting. My toes are turning black and blue thing has like a metal spear corroding his hand man. This is great. This is what we're good at. Yeah, high five high five clang clang.

So this thing is not by the thing spear stabs me in the hand. Through the so. Five deaths. Just so I got a fish life. But as this creature burrows into the dirt, are you assuming that it's running away? Are you just treating this is like we're good to go? Yeah, I guess. Yeah thing. You weren't able to kill your thing. It just it ran away. Yeah. Thanks Sean. That sucks. He starts digging with this iron thing. Get back to your self. No, he'll die. That was a pretty pretty good guys.

You saw that he'll die right? For sure. He's gonna die the worst death of all three of them. Yeah, he probably he's probably gonna go home and then murder suicide. Well, those other bugs. Yeah, probably stinger. He's got he's probably seeing himself right now. Yeah. Yeah, he's dead. Yeah, I probably took out. He probably went back to the hive to kill the rest. Yeah. So murder suicide. The other bug is weirdly dark. So he's you said that to an eight-year-old there.

Billy knows all about murder suicide. He's three thousand and eighty. Yeah. Okay, so you have you have resisted the the the attacks of the things in the earth for this long. Yeah, text scans scans the torch around. Yeah, just to be like get back motherfuckers. Yeah, or we'll murder suicide all of you. So it's only a few more minutes of walking in this horrid place, but you do exit this cramped tunnel into a larger chamber. The light of your torches reaches up this place is like though.

The earth has cleared mostly. It's now even more full of roots like the room is quite large, but there are roots of varying sizes arcing all over the place and like filamenty roots to like yeah, smaller ones that sort of like crawl across the ground and then large ones that like plunge into the earth. Whoa, and this is all the like the heart tree. Oh, yeah. Wow. Yeah, and you realize Ving especially and Billy because you're so connected to these kinds of places.

Is a fairy these roots the roots that you are now standing within extend throughout the great forest like this is the center of it all. Can I put my hand on one of these roots and just hear what it sounds like? Yeah, absolutely. I do that. What do you desire you feel in your like spirit in your soul? My desire the hunger within the tree to leave this place forever. No hunger is natural. Want is natural. All things want. What do you want Ving? To be free. I can give you that. I'm coming.

And you take your hand off the root. So what do you hear? Yeah, that was really intense. What was it? It asked me what I wanted and I said I want to be free. I didn't even know I wanted that. I don't know what that means and it knew my name. And I said, I'm. Going there. I don't know. Mmm. Okay, it's getting delicious in here. I feel like yeah, I guess tuck like stops for a second and he sees I like he's resisted it but he sees how much it's affecting the two of you to be in this space.

So he's just like is this maybe too dangerous for us to just like go ahead first into it. Yes, I can say yes from having touched that. Yes, it is bringing us inside. So it has the upper hand. Whatever it is. How do we? Gain an advantage here. We could all have ghost root. There's two more pieces. That's true. Oh, yeah. Why don't you guys have some of this ghost root? But I also feel like we should all know what it is what we want. Yeah, so that we're like prepared. Oh, yeah. So we can resist it.

Hmm. Billy touches it. Bing touches it too. So because the thing talker with the ring. Oh, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So you can all tap into it. Mm-hmm. What do I do? What do you want? I want to what do you really want? I want to sleep. I can give you that. I don't believe you. You should. Whoa. Whoa, let's go. He's like, I don't like that. You just want to sleep. I'm just get tired. Do you want to do what I took pulls out the Bjorn? He's like, do you want to get in the Bjorn? Not right now.

I want to talk about it. Okay. That's okay, buddy. You don't have to talk about it. Starts like kicking the tree like stupid stupid. It's just stupid one. Three fucking treatment. Yes, little foot. Like it's doing nothing. Okay. Yeah, tuck tries it. You like touches the tree. The tree does not speak to you. Do I hear anything? You do not. Whoa, is it because of the ghost route? Was it because of the ghost route? Couldn't be the ghost route could be that feeling of it rolling over you.

And then tuck realize how fucking weird that is. So he goes. I want chicken. Really nods like very seriously. Just pretend. And he knows he's pretending. Yeah, they can hear the tree. All right, here's. I want to say chicken. It rolls his eyes like a right does a clock that bring can tell that he's like he pulls his handbag. He's like whoa, being like ostensibly looks over the tops of his glasses. I'd talk even though he's not wearing glasses and then took us Tao is scared. Oh, yeah. You.

I don't want to do that again. Really what you want the most. Oh, yeah. I love chicken. I would do anything for it. That. I'm. I believe I believe that he's like, well, he starts pretending to be obsessed. I would do anything. It's got him. It's got come back to us. No, I'll take a look at this coaster. It I'm better. Tastes like chicken. So your pull your plan. Billy and Ving is to take some ghost. I guess so. I feel like Billy's gonna eat like half of one of the roots. Yeah, is he small?

I think if you want the effect, you're gonna have to take a full dose. So spicy in my mouth though. You got a Billy. I can give you I stole some yogurt from the mass. Do you want to tip it already ate it? Oh, okay. Yeah, you just got to eat it. How it is. I'm sorry, buddy. I found it in your backpack already. Yeah, it's already grown. Nolan. You cleared us out of snacks. But I did the thing that a Ron Swanson does. I smelled it in your bag before I even parked my car. I already ate it.

It's gone. I hate everything. What a great runs away character. Yeah. So you got a full dose it if you want the full if you want the effect very well. So you are now and being is taking one as well. Yes, you are out of ghost route. This is not good, but you do feel a mitigation in the like creeping dread that you've been feeling since you've been here. Okay. Hmm. The whispers. Of the tree are quieted momentarily. Mm-hmm. What do you do? Carry on Sally forth.

Yeah, it can't affect us as much anymore. I already feel the need for chicken. You're sitting and I will fight it. I promise both of you. I love you both more than chicken itself. I don't believe you anymore. I'll never believe you again. Okay, so you approach. The center of the tree, which we've discussed the trunk is as large as the house from home alone. So big so big. I feel like the chamber that we're in is like it's like a big chamber and there's roots going upwards.

Yeah, and the actual center of the tree. We kind of to climb up. Yeah, okay. Yeah, I think of how yeah, there's roots and then we just come up to the thing, but that makes sense of it's a hollow. We're in a cave hollow underneath the root system is yeah. Yeah. Okay to them from the bottom of the tree. That makes sense. How are you climbing this root structure? If that is what you are choosing to do to approach the heart of quickly. All right, so 26 plus dexterity for quickly.

Wait for all of us for you because you said quickly nine. Okay, seven to nine. How are you doing it? Climbing wise? Yeah, I'm doing Constitution. Okay, so you're just physical training and I'm climbing hard as fuck. So strength. All right, great. I don't know why. I gave you all the opportunity to min-max your climbing role, but I'm climbing in a really charming. I love climbing. He's like flexing his biceps. A bunch of clenching your butts.

Oh, you do a lot like those like chin-ups where you like pull your whole body. Oh, yeah, a full-on muscle up. Yeah. And then Billy tries and he can't I can't do it. Text answered all the right muscles. You like looks at Vick. Oh, somebody's in a cafe. Wow. My God, I built it up. So I mean, you should have been concentrated climbing charismatic fool. I rolled a three and I have three strikes at six. Can somebody you don't deserve this aid? Ving says as he aids to the six plus bond. Oh seven.

That's incredible. Wow. So tuck reaches up and grab. And he's like, ooh, look at me just pulling one hand like look at us like and then you're yeah, the brute you're on like snaps a little bit and you start to fall fuck and I imagine being just roof catch catch hand out snap. Billy is also doing a seven to nine. So you get you try and do a Superman muscle up and you shock yourself by pulling yourself all the way up.

Oh, I did it but like some sort of tether ball you start to flip over the other side and you begin to fall. What do you do? Whoa. He digs his nails. Okay, 2d6 plus strength. I guess seven. Okay, I get lost splinters. You take roll a d4 for splinters buddy. We got to cut those things one you take one damage as your hands get splinters in them, but you save yourself from falling by am hung upside down kind of by your nails. Yeah, can I go get them?

Yeah, you've already you've succeeded at your climbing. You're going to just whoop grab them off their little put you up on a route. I don't care you all the way. Sorry thing. Now don't be part of climbing up. It's falling down. Yeah, you're right and you climb these roots the lattice work of this ancient tree the support structure of the entire forest these roots have seen the rise of a region spanning civilization over thousands of years and has held the knowledge.

Of tens of thousands of elves and as you climb the roots like Ark above your head and rise up from beneath you creating this chamber that's almost church like a cathedral of rock and stone and wood and dirt and you're approaching the heart of things. Do you stop? No, no, we got to keep going being has such a dichotomous feeling in his chest of despair and warmth and love and belonging and Abyss and you carry on into this like Cathedral wait before we go.

I I stopped being I'm like, are you cool to keep going this stuff affects you more than the rest of us and there's a bunch of family shit tied up in it with you too. I mean we have to part of it is we have to and I feel like I need to. Okay.

So you reach a more level section that allows you to stand on your own two feet and walk forward as you do the roots that form the archways and walls of this place this chamber the shape of the roots becomes different creating what it first reminds you of like flowing water or the branches of a beautiful tree, but then suddenly brings to mind the image of chains. Hmm.

And before you you see a body hanging by the wrists wrapped in roots supported around the chest locked in place pale pallid skin a frail body long dark gray hair hanging in front of a face in the chest sticking out an arrow of dark wood. Oh fuck. Oh no. Before you hangs the body of Dathaniel Fang Zumba. What? What? Whoa. What do you do? Wait, so who's up there? I want to discern realities 2d6 plus wisdom. Oh fuck. Whoa. Oh fuck. Nine. You get one question. Can I help you? 2d6 plus bond.

Uh eight. I like the can Billy just hold my hand. Billy. Yeah. This is like tiny little hand comes up. This is my dad dead and you I'm a dad dad feeling. Uh, what? What's happening? You go. I'm actually flustered. This is who's really in control here. So thinking about the information that you have so far, you are reminded of the fact that there is a piece of obsidian somewhere in this tree and that it is not a coin. Okay.

And your eyes are drawn to the shaft of the arrow and the head that must be within. Whoa. Whoa. What? Here's not what it appears to be. If this is your father, truly, this is your father. The other man that I've been talking to is not. So who was it? They give us Matt. They're that's fucked that who? What the fuck? That's can't be true. Right? I kissed him on the lips. I've been jerking off nonstop to this guy. Oh my God. Is it the giddiest man? Who else could it be? Oh, what is he dead?

He's breathing. He's alive. Whoa. What's about to happen? You've that's four. You've that's four questions. No, no. Is he dead? You gave that for free. Yeah, you gave it. Oh, you fucking Aladdin ass genie motherfuckers. It's not one of the questions. You didn't have to. You just gave it up for free. What is about to happen? Oh, that is a great question. You're reminded suddenly of a cough and a fart. Oh, fuck. Somebody else is here. They're coming. How would they find us? I don't know.

I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. We found our way here. They're being drawn by the same thing that we are. We all get to Daniel out of here. I don't think you'll be doing that. You turn Wendy. Oh, what have you done? Only what I had to thing, which is get my vengeance on who? Everyone. Why? The people of this place, the court of the wood. They ruin lives.

We are powerless under their rule. And I chose to take the power for myself. How short-sighted of you to think that you bringing this place down affects only this place, the entire forest, the entire north is sick and dying because of what you are doing here. Be that as it may. We will stop you. You will try. Shing. And she draws her bow. She has it while she draws an arrow from her side. Is it obsidian? You. Is she alone? It would appear. I didn't ask that question.

Can I like discern realities? See if any realities in a fight is perfectly, perfectly normal. Yeah. Wendy has not struck. Yeah. Yeah. I wanted to see if there's anyone else here. Cause it seems weird that she would come along. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. It seems weird that she would come alone. Yeah. God. I just want one success. What the fuck?

These are the cursed dice. That is such not a success. I got three. Yeah. Beautiful. So you look around, assuming, rightfully so, as an experienced warrior, there's no way that Wendy is here alone. And as you're like, who else could be here? You feel a blade sink into your back. Oh. Oh. Oh. Oh. Oh. Oh. Oh. Oh. Oh. Oh. Fuck. And you hear someone whisper in your ear, easy big fella. Vving. Damn. One sec then. Hold on. Okay. But wait, you need to. He just has to look up how much damage he does.

Oh God. So what we're going to do, and remember, don't freak out when I say this, 2d10 and keep the higher. Oh my God. Fuck. Oh. Four. So with your armor, it's just one damage. Unbelievable. Unbelievable. And it's like right beside the kidney. Yeah, exactly. Like it doesn't hit anything vital, luckily. Uh huh. And you hear, does Tuck, Tuck makes a noise? Yeah, he does. He, like he reacts like an animal. Yeah. He like wraps his arms backward and jumps back. Oh shit.

To smash the guy underneath his back. Oh fuck. Oh my God. That's hardcore. Yeah. Yeah. Hack and slash. 2d6. And drive the knife further into your body. Wow. What is happening? Not the day. Wow. I rolled six. Eight. Oh. Yeah. Can I aid? I guess you could. Yeah. But you would be taking your eyes off Wendy. What about Billy? Billy could help. Yeah. I could aid. Yeah. Uh, 12. On an aid. Yeah. So how does Billy aid here? This is insane. Well, Billy's small, so he's gone around the guy.

I shoved my shovel into that guy's foot. Oh yeah. Great. So that is enough that like he's trying to like twist out of your grip. And as he attempts, he almost breaks like the little grip you have with your fingers. And then he goes, ah, cause Billy stabs him in the foot. Then I would like to shoot first. Okay. Great. Wendy. Yeah. So Billy stabs this guy in the foot. And so you do your damage. Duck one. Oh boy. You are still gonna roll the 2d 10 and take the higher. Oh shit.

Cause remember on a seven to nine. Right. Yeah. So he's got crazy damage. Yeah. Four. So I only take one. Okay. So this is a very weird fight. He's trying to kill somebody that is very tough and you are trying to kill somebody that is very hard to kill. Maybe you don't jump and land on him. You just back him into a wall. Uh huh. Yeah. Knife him. He gets slammed. Like he throws off my balance. So you just stumble backwards into a root and he goes, yeah. Uh, okay. Billy. Yeah.

So when the guy like kind of falls over the, I don't know, the shovel blade, he's going to whip them at, at Wendy and he would love to like basically have it slice her neck. Yeah. That's a good goal to have for sure. 2d six plus dexterity. 10. Fuck. Okay. So I'm 10 plus I get a clear shot and I deal my damage. Yeah. Which is a D eight. D eight. Yep. Please give me eight. Seven. Seven. I'll take it. Yes. Okay. So you just fucking missile a piece of this shit.

The ladder and it does hit her like in the neck, nice, right in the throat, like the larynx zone and it hits her and she coughs up a bunch of blood like instantly just like, and then she drops into a crouch and darts into the shadows. I want to follow her. Yeah. Ving takes off after her. Okay. Yeah. Ving. Uh, so she is getting into the darkness. What are you doing to keep your eyes on her? I'm going to fight with honor and roll plus con and get some cheese. Okay. Two D six plus constitution.

Come back, come back, come back. 10. Okay. So I get three hold. Yes. I think it's cross a distance between myself and a foe and deal damage to a foe within sight. Nice. Yeah. So how do you do that? I, uh, uh, use my elemental form and throw the spear out of my hand. Oh, sick. Cause yeah, you didn't use all your holds. No, I didn't use all my holds. So yeah, I just send this whistling. Oh, I'm going to throw it. Oh, I'm going to throw it. Oh, I'm going to throw it. Oh, I'm going to throw it.

Oh, I'm going to throw it. Oh, I'm going to throw it. So you, you just, you're spending your hold on that, so you don't have to roll it. You just roll your D 10. Come on. Big one. Seven. Nice. So enemies in Dungeon World don't have the most hit points. So, oh wow. You hear nothing. You hear nothing. You hear nothing. You hear nothing. You hear nothing. You hear nothing. You hear nothing. Which you know means nothing with a ranger, but you can tell that you're- I didn't miss. You did not miss.

I knew I got her. Yeah. So what do you find when you reach the spot that she was in when you fired? He comes up behind her and finds her standing facing the wall- Yeah. With the spike going through the back of her neck- Oh. And pinning the piece of the shovel that Billy threw into her neck into the wall in front of her. Yeah, and she's like, fair warning listeners, she's like trying to get off the spike. So she's like gripping the spear and like trying to pull herself off of it, but she can't.

You know in The End of Ghost when he sees his friend and what's happened to him? Like Ving is actually like, he threw this thing, but just out of like fear and like we need to stop her. Yeah. And he's like, oh, Wendy. Yeah, totally. And Billy arrives. Stay there, Billy. Okay. I walk up slowly. She's bleeding out. And you walk around to her and you see her looking at you with just pure hatred. And she's trying to choke something out. And you hear through her life's blood, your mother is.

And then her vision unfocuses and she's gone. And I think that's where we're going to end it for this week. I'm your Game Master, Sean O'Hara. Joining me as always playing Tacoma Dome, the Barbarian, Abdul Aziz. So long. Playing Ving, the Half-Elf Druid, Paul Oppers. Take care. I'm playing Fat Billy, the Halfling Thief, Jessica Tai. Bye, everyone. Thank you to Aaron Reid for our intro and outro music.

You can find all of Aaron's original music at aaronreid.bandcamp.com and all of the music produced for the show at soundcloud.com. If you want to support the show, you can do so with hundreds of other supporters around the world. Thank you. At patreon.com slash speltlore or speltlore.com slash money, please. Where you can get access to stuff like a bonus campaign set in the High Spear Mall using Blades in the Dark, merchandise.

Every month there's writing and art and whatnot with the Speltlore Almanac. And at higher levels, even games run by Abdul and myself. Thank you most of all to all of you for listening. We'll see you next time. And so ends the tale of Adventures 3 Who tried the best?

They can Though dumb and scared and lost they be For time's abreast in revelry And though our journey may be like a conclusion We will not leave you without a resolution Return next week to hear some more of our stories Whilst you commute or do your chores And for you I'd gladly Spout Lore