One Wayan, One Way Out | 1x18 | The Naturolls

All right, so We can go ahead and start with um session 18 of the naturals. The Tater Talks worked their way into the Scorchborn temple, and they were quickly stopped by a circle of flames and a three-paneled mirror in front of them. They cautiously approached the mirror, and they found that it brings about visions for each one of them who had looked into it. Some of them saw visions of things uh since past, some saw visions of where they are now. Some saw flashes of what could come from the future. As an example, Yoriel saw herself alone and in the dark, while Boga saw herself as potentially scorch born, but kept that information all to herself. Sal saw a Qatari kept behind bars as if in some sort of jail cell, and each one of them had their own experience looking into one of the panels of the mirror. So with the mirror both hinting at present, past, and what lies ahead, the tater tots moved on as they heard chanting coming from another room. In true Scorchborn fashion, a group of acolytes, naturally chanting, leads to, of course, something flamey coming up and trying to attack everybody in the party. Shocker. Uh and then what could happen next but a battle in which more creatures emerged from the flames? Uh but the entire group was eventually victorious. So now the question is, where will they be led next in the temple? What was the mirror trying to show them? Is Maz here and where will we find her? And who will she be when she's found? Dang, that's a good that's a good good recap. Wow, I like that a lot. Well, right off the bat That that is yeah, a great intro. Before we kinda get into it, I'm gonna say that Svetlana takes a health potion um and clears some HP. So she's now down to one HP. Incredible. Smet Lama just took that help. Yeah, just took that help. One HP marked. Yes. Sorry, I said that. Kind of weird. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Turns out it was a potion of poison, sorry. You only have one HP left. Um and I did mention this at the top, I just wanted to put out there for everybody that I believe Then Svetlana reminded me that uh she had taken the health potion in lieu of a short rest, because I know at the lend of last battle folks were kind of considering a short rest, but then th thought that it might not be the most timely thing to do. Um so um just wanted to put that out there for everybody. And then um as uh you look uh to make your next moves, um you're all still in that um same room where the uh fight had ended. Then um You don't hear like a nearby scream, but just like way off in the distance, it's almost as though you can't quite tell if it's real or not. You think you might hear, you know, screaming not just outside the door to that room, but like well a way aways. And then it just fades away. So can you remind me of the layout of the room a little bit? Like so we came down a set of stairs. There was a big room. But when Sal looks around, like, is the only way back out up the stairs or are there other doors, windows And I can roll if I need to. No, no, not for that. Yeah, you can look around. So you were in a room where you had descended some stairs to get in. There was only one way in and one way out. This is immediately after you had um gone past the circle of flames in the mirror. You did find a room with um some tables and some kind of chairs and maybe kind of like Sort of like hangout area, 'cause of course, uh every um cultist type temple needs a good hangout area. Yeah, a break round. Yeah, they need to have a sip of sip of Joe. That's that's that's what the whole cultist union revolt was about. It was about the lack of breaks in cults, and there was there was many lives lost in that revolution. I imagine the sipper of Joe would be bloodlessing, right? Yeah, at the moment. Like it's not coffee, it's a guy named Joe. That's funny. I mean All the above. One hundred percent. I mean, you guys know the Scorch Born In and Out. I mean honestly, like I don't even know why you're exploring. You already know how it works. Um but no, sorry, sorry. There's only one way in and one way out. Um you're certainly more than welcome to Explore this room further if you'd like. Um, there were some um acolytes there who were doing the chanting. Some of them ran off. If I recall correctly, I believe one of them was uh stabby-stabbed um by somebody and just murdered. Um and uh they weren't like fighting or anything like that. They were pretty easy to kill. Um but uh you know you could certainly look and see if you find anything else in the room or work your way out. Um like I said, if you wanted to work your way out, you'd be going up a stairwell towards the same door that you uh came in. So just to be clear, when you say one way in, one way out, it's the same doorway that goes in and out? Okay. So there's not it's not like a through way. It's just like a there's one way in and separately another way out. It is that. There is one way, in and out. Correct. Correct. I mean, normally I would try to investigate some, but we're kind of on a mission to find our friend, and I'm worried that I mean i is there any possibility that there could be like trapdoors or anything in here? Like is anything hidden? There's always a possibility. Yeah, that's I mean, and that's how we got down here, right? It was a trapdoor on the floor. So We should probably take the moment the a quick minute to look about. Yeah. Can I look like i is there furniture in here, I guess? So the room is is fairly bare. Um you don't actually see any real uh furniture other than uh there's um kind of like a a bench to either like the north side of the room and the south side of the room if you were kind of standing in the middle Um, it's mostly like, you know, used for like ritual culty things. So there was like, you know, the ritual culty things in the middle where the chanting took place. Uh you don't see anything obvious, but you're certainly uh You could certainly go investigate. I'll at least go look under the benches just to check the floors. Does the ritual p thing have marks on the floor like the other places did? Yes. So can we mess with those while we're here? Sure. So we have two things happening, correct? So we have Svetlana looking under some benches. Mm-hmm I'd like to I'd like to help Svetlanovluk, by the way, just to kind of speed the process along. Sal's kind of feeling the pressure of like, we need to find Maz, we need to do something about what these people did to Toko. And uh so he Sal just wants to help. Yeah. Sal, you can take that bench over there. No, I'll look at this one Okay. Um so Sal and Svetlana are looking under each bench respectively and we have um Hilo looking around at the symbol kind of in the middle to see what um hilo could find. I I'm actually trying to s I'm actually looking at how to disrupt the symbol. So can I scuff it with my foot? You know, do I need to Okay. Uh chisel something else. You know, what what what's what are the options? Um I mean so I guess I'll let me handle the one then I'll handle the other because I think they're kind of happening at the same time. Does that sound fair to everybody? Mm-hmm. True. Yeah. So um Sal and Svetlana um they look under the benches and they squint a little bit. Each of them kind of at the same time, it's like weird, and then they turn and then they look at each other across the whole room, kind of squint again. Look under the benches. Squint back at each other. There's nothing there. There's nothing. It just just a bench. Just a bench. Um Just uh sorry. Little little visual comedy forever now Uh and then um for Hilo looking at the symbol, it is actually a gigantic um hand symbol in the center of the room. Is it is it engraved or is it uh painted? What is what's it right. So it it it if you go and look up close at it and you actually want to like are you gonna like touch it? Uh I wanted to see what it was before I tried to mess with it. Yeah. So I'm I'm just looking at it at the moment. Okay, just checking. Um so uh if you are looking at it, it appears to have some indentations. um just below it. Um or sorry, it appears to be a sort of indentation in the floor. So it both has sort of like a darker coloring, even though the floor is already dark. Um, it definitely has a darker hue to make it kind of pop in contrast to the floor. And it looks like somebody did some carving to kind of get it to appear that way. Yeah, anybody's up welcome to touch it. So so to disrupt it, it's uh it would be require m chiseling through to try to do something else with it, and we don't have time for that. So I mean Ain't nobody got time for that. Ain't nobody got time for it. But but you don't want to touch it? You don't want to like put your hand on the hand? Is there any like paint or anything around? You can like just throw some paint over it. I don't know. I'm trying to Mark through it with that. There there's lots of blood. It's weird. But the dead body you're just gonna like scrub it around on it. Yeah, let's let's not yeah, let no. No. Not not with our experience of uh you know someone got healed and came back from being dead and then you know was not very friendly. That's a fair point. Which where did the screaming come from? Out the same door. The only way in and out. That same door kinda h felt it felt pretty far off in the distance though. So back up the stairs and then back into the room with the mirror? Is our is our option currently, right? Or deeper into the temple, I guess you don't really know, but yeah. Um, I'm gonna use can I use my okay and sense on the floor thing? The thing that no one was touching. I mean I keep suggesting that people could touch it. Um that's fine. Uh yeah, yeah, no, you can definitely do that. Um can You give me, let's get the first roll of the day, everybody. A little presence roll. Woo! I love this. I love this too. Do you need to roll for arcane sons? No, I'm just having fun with it. Okay, fair. Fair. I just want to check. So if you want me to actually explain why, then I'm kind of like, what do I want to do with it? So I want to see kind of like how high or low it is. And I'll use that to kind of judge how much we get. So All I'm saying is I recognize when a GM is just trying to get extra fear for free. That's all I'm saying. Well funny you should say that because that's a thirteen with fear. Nice. Um all right, so um You definitely get the sense that this is a um area that is strongly magical. Um you uh kind of have a feeling I guess of dread and kind of like that um a similar feeling to when you had entered the temple in the first place and um but it feels even um stronger in a lot of ways. Uh and the uh thing that you kind of notice on um on top of that is um that internally you actually get that feeling of um sort of like warmth, but then that warmth sort of like spreads throughout your body And the thing that it reminds you of more than anything else is um that connection to the vision that you had seen when looking into the mirror. That vision of yourself as Scorchborn. But Instead of a feeling of like dread or sadness with it, it actually uh just gives you that feeling of warmth that spreads uh throughout your body and it actually like leaves you feeling a little like elated and kind of just like connected to this place. Cool. Does she share that with the rest of us or she keeps that to herself? She's gonna keep that to herself. Do we do we notice Boga like doing the arcane sense at all or She's she she has her hand outstretched a little bit And she just has like like a kinda a comforted, like froggy smile on her face. Like she just had um had the first warm hot chocolate of the season. Do you send something, Boca? Oh, it's so it's so comfortable. Okay. So warm What's so warm, Boga? And Sal's uh advanced returning blade kinda like instinctually snaps into his hand. Boga? What's what's warm? Uh Just a just a feeling. Okay, you're okay? I I'm better than okay. I'm gonna take my axe And I'm going to slam it into the ground where the hand symbol is. So like chip the stone. That's a choice. Somebody had to touch it. Okay. It may or may not like go through the stone, but I like it. But look where your head's at. Thank you. So, uh Did I just ruin something? No, you did not. I'm just trying to think of actually no, I do want you to roll for that one. And I'm not trying to farm fear. There's a reason. Friend. Um, that's what a fear farmer would say. Yeah, exactly. Give me a strength roll. Oh, strength. Um that's a nine plus three, so twelve. With hope. Um and so you slam the axe down And um it literally like as though you hit like a thing of like rubber, it like bounces back and just comes up off the floor. And like you kind of just barely grab it like it like vibrates in my hand and I'm like I feel that like whenever you're trying to chop wood and you hit a knot, that's what it feels like. It would feel yeah, kinda like that and like y you get the sense having used this axe for a long time, that like you didn't even connect with the floor, but that this is um sort of like a strong magical presence in this spot. Which makes sense 'cause this is the same spot that that um Flame creature had emerged from the previous battle. I feel like I should touch it. It is magic though, and I am magic, so I I can handle it, I think. I mean you're welcome to keep trying. Uh Svetlana, I Yes Boga. If you would uh indulge me, would you uh just stand guard quickly? Yes. Boga then puts her foot onto the uh onto the the symbol on onto the floor there Sal is gonna like he's kind of right outside the the the area of the symbol and if anything comes out or like if I see Boga in any pain at all he is gonna just try to dive and tackle logo off off the symbol. So No, so um uh suddenly uh you get a um warmth that starts at your foot and then it spreads throughout the rest of your body. Um again feeling actually sort of like connection and um I mean I guess I'm sorry, I mean of of hope really. Uh and then in your mind's eye you briefly get a flash of um Maz, you get a blah flash of yourself, and you get a flash of the two of you then together, sort of in like a well-lit room, reunited. Hmm. Oh Are you okay, Boga? Fascinating. What's fascinating? What's happening? This this symbol it isn't It feels so so out of place here. How so? It's She laughs kinda incredulously, like I saw Mars. What? Where is she? I saw myself. I here? Do not know, but we were We were together. I uh Do you think that the symbol could take us to her? I don't know. I I guess there's only one way to find out. I touch it. Can I just say I love how we went from everybody's like, don't touch it, don't trust him, don't trust him. Everyone's like, yeah, yeah, touch touch the thing. So um you uh Svetlana then um suddenly gets a uh a vision of herself in the moments that she has doubted herself the most, um, where she suddenly questioned her love for Kor and the certainty through which she's gone through a lot of her life Um, and then suddenly there's like a flash and she sees herself as scorchborn with, you know, flames kind of emerging from different parts of her body, smoke and ash. Am I able to take my hand off? Yeah, sure. Cause as soon as I see a vision of myself Scorchborn, I take it off as if it's like burned me. like that quick reflexive action and I'm just like shock white which I have like rusty brown fur all over my body. So it's I look very pale and Oh, don't touch it, don't touch it. Boga, get off of that And just to be clear too, Svetlana, you didn't get a bad feeling from it though. It was no dread. There was no sense of, you know, kind of malice. But sorry, go ahead, I don't want to interrupt. Well, I feel like even I think Svetlana has spent so much of her life trying to be good And thinking she knows what good is that when she sees this glimpse of herself being something that is different than what she is right now, she's afraid of it. So even though she like she felt good, she felt bad that she felt good in that situation. Totally fair. Yep. I just want to make sure y you didn't think that that was giving you that feeling, but that all makes sense. Go with it. Yeah. Yeah. She's like I can't I can't like this. This is not me. Um, and she doesn't want Boga to be led down this path and led astray. Uh, so she will grab Boga Um, and try to pull Boga, but I don't know if Boga is resisting or not. Stop! What are you doing? You can't let that get you. Don't d just don't. It'll it'll corrupt you. Please. Just for me How can you But what if this was with Maz? We'll find another way. This could be the way We have to find another way, Boga. We cannot go down this path. Kor, I I I don't think Kor wants us to go down this path. But I trust me. I sense no malice. It was I neither. Me neither, Bogo, but that is what scares me. That is exactly what scares me. What if this is a sign? What if this is a sign from your God? That this is this is where we're meant to be? This is this is where we're meant to go. I don't know, Boga. I haven't heard from my god in in too long. I don't know what he wants anymore. You but you haven't heard from your your God? I collapsed on the the ground outside of the circle or outside of the thing on the floor And you see it here. Swe Svelana. I don't I don't know Boga. I don't know anymore. When was the last time you heard from your god? I still feel his power in moments when I call to him, but sometimes I don't know if that power is good. And it scares me, and I don't want to be like them, Boga. I don't want to be like the Scorchborn. And and you aren't? You promise? I I promise Sometimes those given those entrusted with power are they are led by their own desires. First and foremost, you are not you are so good. You're bright. You're just Can you promise like them? Can you promise me something, Boga? Of course. If I become like them, if I become bad. You won't just tell me. You will kill me. I please promise me, Boga. I cannot let myself become one of them. You can't ask that of me. Hop. I can't not with my hand Do you love me? Of course. But this is I will not kill you. I we if that happens, we'll find a way to make it right Atlana? We would uh Sal's kinda on the outside and he's I don't think anybody's whispering, so he's been listening over all of this. We would uh I think we would save you before we would before we would kill you. I know I'm kinda the newest one here, but I didn't I didn't join you all because I thought that we were going to, I don't know, find riches or Even just because I thought we were gonna have interesting adventures, I I watched you. I saw all of you Put yourselves in the way of people who maybe couldn't defend themselves and Cell points down to the symbol on the ground. And whatever power you have, that's not the same as this. This is not a thing that jumps in the way when someone else is about to get hurt. This is something that takes. You're none of you are this. And I know it's easy to be afraid of who we're going to become. But Right now the only the only thing we can do is try to save Maz and maybe if there's Some kind of way to avenge Toko. That's that's all we have right now. And if If something happens to you, if something happens to any of us, we figure that out together. We don't kill each other to solve problems. I just You don't understand the power of core. The po I mean I know I am powerful. But right now I have control over that power. But what if I no longer have control I mean you touch it, you will see. It is tempting. Sal touches it? What are you touching it with? Sal, like, looks at Svetlana and drops down to his knees, which isn't a far drop because he's not very big. Um, and Puts his hand right on it. Um so you're taken aback immediately by almost as though your hand uh suddenly feels as though it was burnt? Um, but uh that very quickly transitions to a very pleasant um sensation of kind of like um um almost like tingling, but then it starts to move uh from your hand throughout the rest of your body and it actually centers around your heart. And then suddenly uh you feel um this great feeling of connection to something that you can't really quite describe but something bigger than yourself. Then suddenly uh you get a vision of your friend from the past, a Myra, who you used to be connected with, but thinks you've betrayed her and you haven't seen in so long. Of those you've seen in the endless forest and those things that you remember there that are the good memories and not the bad and then you get a flash and that suddenly the warmth from your um center, you kind of see yourself outside your body, and then you see yourself suddenly starting to smoke and ashes start to come um from your body um in your mind's eye Do any of us outside of Sal that are not touching the thing, do we see anything different about Sal or notice anything happening? So you're all basically staring at him probably. I mean don't let me meta you if you're not staring at him, but you're just I would be. You're like, what's he doing? Cause he looks exactly the same. He just sti is there. How much time elapses while he's touching the circle So that vision is essentially instantaneous time-wise. Like to Sal, it feels longer. To anybody who's touched it, it feels like, right? That's like a longer experience. But for you guys, like moments have passed. Sal would pull his hand back and look at Svetlana again and then stand up to his feet. We need to find maths. We can deal with my demons another day. Do does anybody have a plan? Does anybody know where she might be? I mean, where else should could she be Hikes a thumb over his shoulder back the way we came in. You think she is back? I will follow you, Hilo. She's not here. You're pretty intuitive. Me and my axe will follow. And I walk to Hilo. And Hilo's just gonna turn around and go back up the stairs, I guess. Sal would follow. Ariel too. So Hilo's in the front? Apparently. Who's in the back? But who's gonna be lost? as she like gets to the doorway, she she looks back at the circle just as if she was trying to make a decision, like contemplating her options. And I think she she'll she'll trust in Svetlana and follow the party after breaking her gaze from the circle. So then is it safe to say that everybody's going back through that same door that they came in? The only door, again to be clear. Should be back up the stairs, yeah. Okay. Yeah. Um so Hilo, you're just walking your like your normal clanky self? I mean, yeah, we just had a fight downstairs, so I figure there's no point in Sneaky try trying to trying to be too sneaky. I mean he's not running forward, you know, but he's walking uh purposefully. Got it. So um Hilo uh is the first one to emerge back into the room through which you guys had passed um through somewhat quickly, if we recall. From the last session that um I believe it was uh Svetlana, Shocker, who had run in there axe wielded after hearing the chanting, basically gone to see what was happening. Does that sound roughly correct? Mm-hmm Yeah. Oh so so I'm so sorry, I think I misunderstood the so it was mirror room And then another room and then the room that we just had the fight in. There's a there's a room between Oh, okay. Yeah, I completely missed. Okay. Yeah, so from last time and I think I described that we were kind of in the midst of action, so there was the mirror room, you guys descended some stairs, right, kind of went into another room, but then at that point you'd already heard the chanting, so everyone pretty much dashed directly into the chanting. room where the chanting was and kind of ignored the other one. Um so we uh uh the party begins to emerge and Hilo uh begins to walk out uh into the room and uh as kind of alluded to earlier, um it's like a hangout spot. It's like every cultist has to get their cup of Joe, cup of blood, cup of flame, whatever it might be in the the, you know, good old Scorchmorn temple. There's actually uh a flame, uh, or a fire, kind of like in the far-off, um, let's say western part of the room, um, just kind of crackling. Um, doesn't look like someone's been there recently necessarily, but it is an active flame, but shocker again in a Scorchborne Temple, there's kind of, you know, you can expect to find all kinds of flames. You've found them on the floor, etc. and so on. There um is no evidence of any uh food or anything recently, but you can tell that with the well-worn kind of like tables and benches, there's just a few of them, you know, in in in the area. that this is a spot that has certainly um you know been used. And then um as you walk out, um I guess I'll say maybe Hilo kind of like looks down towards uh would be Hilo's probably left um side And you notice that there is a stairwell right there leading further down. And you can tell that um a little bit further up it looks like there's another sort of hallway. So there's kind of like two options going towards the left hand side or the south end of the room. And then on the north side of the room, which would be the right, is the place where the mirror was that you had already been. So Hilo walks over towards the stairs and listens at the top of the stairs. The first set? The stairs are going down, right? Yes. Yeah. Um you you don't hear anything, um, but you can kind of like barely make out what looks like it is probably a door a little bit further down those stairs. And you can actually see, and the reason you know it's a door, is there's a little bit of light kind of like emerging from the door, and you can tell the light's coming from some sort of flame because of how it's kind of like shifting and flickering. That's the one uh set of stairs. Or the one hallway stairs thing. Like I said, there's another one a little bit further ahead of you though you think. Can Sal kind of scurry ahead and check the just look and listen down the other one? Um yeah, yeah, yeah, so you you also don't hear anything, but on this one you kind of look down and you can tell there's light down there Um, but you just kind of see the stairs go down and the floor looks more or less similar, and then you can tell that um there's no door at the bottom, but that it kind of opens up into another space, so you're you know, safe to bet that it's probably another room of some sort. Can Sal sneak down those stairs and just see what he can see? Uh yeah, sure. You can um give me a Guess what it is, instinct? Guess instinct or for I was gonna say am I rolling for sneaking or am I roll do I need to roll to sneak? I my movement is naturally silent, so because I am a uh wild born. So, up to you what you want me to roll. Do you want me to roll to sneak or do you want me to roll to see or hear? Yeah, you know, you can yeah, sneak and you have an advantage. Okay Ooh, 19 with hope. Oh baby. You're you're very very sneaky. Um you you're walking down the stairs then I'm assuming, correct? Trying to see what's in that room. Yeah, I would go down and see since you said there was no door at the bottom, kinda see what happens when I get to the bottom of the stairs. Okay. Uh you still don't hear anything. You kind of like sneak your Head maybe around the corner a little bit, is that fair to kinda see what's in there? Yeah, absolutely. Okay. So uh you go ahead and take a a look see And uh as you take a look, see, uh the first thing that strikes you is that on the one side of room and actually I guess would it be fair that you're kinda like taking a peek and then kind of pulling back Like 'cause I guess you know you don't want to stick your head out, or do you want to just really stick your froggy head in there? I think it'd I think it would be a fairly short look. And then if if if I don't see like When you said the first thing that strikes you, I was afraid you were gonna be like the first thing that strikes you is an arrow in the face, no. Right. Um so if I don't see anything that feels like it's gonna gonna be painful in the quick sneak, then I might look longer. Yeah So you uh uh quickly uh actually you look and then you pull your head back because you think you see somebody. Uh but then all of a sudden your your brain takes a second to process it and you realize that you actually just saw like a standing suit of armor. Not like full armor, but like uh as though it's being stored there. So then you kinda like put your head back over and then you look around the room and uh you see some lovely little dartboards, not dartboards, arrow, what would you call those things? Targets? Targets? Yeah. You see targets at the one end of the room, darkboards. Um It's just it's just big dangerous darts. That's what that's what arrows is. That's what arrows are. Just very large darts. Uh at the end of the room, along with uh sorry, the at the far end, I guess that'd be my uh western part of the room, there'd be some armor lining the other one. And then you see that there's two doors on the southern end of the room on the opposite side um that uh are currently closed and then there is an anvil um currently with nothing else on it but suggesting uh to you that this might be some sort of uh you know armory weapony thingy And then I'd assume you kinda pull your head back once you feel like you kinda took in, you know, most of uh the stuff that's there. But there's no people or things there that are moving or alive or whatever. Okay. Positioning wise, the doors that I see, are those do those seem like they're heading to the hallway like in the same direction of where Hilo was looking. So Hilo was looking down a staircase. And then I go down another staircase and there's doors. Is it the direction towards The staircase hilo was looking down? No. No, you would assume these are going in another direction, and actually there are three different doors. There's two to the south and one towards the west. Okay. Got it. Okay. I would sneak back up the stairs and just say I I I think it's a I think it's an armory. I Anybody want anything? I can go grab a suit of armor if anybody if anybody needs some needs anything, but I I didn't see any I didn't see anything or anyone down there other than Maybe some things to to rob when we have more time. Not saying that we should steal, Bet Lana, not saying that we would steal ever. Borrow? Well, I mean the last time it f you know, just it came to Boga and and she gave it to me, so I didn't steal anything. Yeah, that's what I'm saying. We shouldn't steal because Yeah. Hmm. I hope so, she says and kind of like looks at it. I mean, if we're stealing from bad guys, is that an issue? Is that I don't feel like that would be an issue. It's a double negative, maybe. I don't have any issues with it. Anyways. Sorry, we got I I got us off track, but the point is Maz isn't down there, I don't think. Then I don't think we should waste any more time. Ilo, what'd you see? Door? So just to be sure, Hilo saw a door, um, and you saw three doors. So Did you tell us that there was other doors? Yeah, yeah, I think I described them just to make sure everyone's got it. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, not going from there that weren't going to the oh oh oh did Sal tell us there was other doors. Right. I I think I don't think Cell would have left that out. I mean it would Okay. Yeah, there there were doors down there, but I I I didn't open them. Uh well we I think we just pick one way and if we don't find her we run back the other way. I think that's the best I think we just start opening doors. You want me to go check out what what's behind Hilo's door Y yeah. Yes, I think we should So What's behind door number three let's all go down the stairs then and uh Do you want me to check first since I'm and he and Sal kind of looks at Svetlana quieter than yes, I know. Yes, uh you go first. So the so hilo hilo kind of motions to the sides of the doors And says, perhaps if we stayed there. So we all go down and let oh no, Sal. Sure. We go ahead and let Sal uh open the door, but we are like ready on both sides. Okay. Yeah, just in case there's like a fight or something when you open the door. If we can move quietly, maybe they won't know when we're coming, if that makes sense. And Hilo kinda would like to, you know, give everybody a little bit of advice. Uh this isn't like a class ability or anything. But yeah, it's sorry, yeah, I c I can't make that decision for Hilo. I don't know why I said that. No, Hilo, you got it, buddy. No, Sal would like to give everyone advice about Um just the best way to kinda like just kind of walk people through how he moves so quietly. So he's just kinda like, you know. You gotta watch where you're stepping. You uh a lot of us have metal on our on our persons that that make a lot of noise, so you gotta Sal you weren't with us when we tried to teach high low to be stealthy before. I appreciate your effort, but I'm not sure it's gonna accomplish what you want. To be fair, I'm stealthier than some. I laugh. He does not look at Shetlot. As I laugh, the chain mail on my chest just kind of jingles a little bit. Sal is gonna is gonna shrug and then just move down the stairs. And you're going towards the door? I'll go last. Okay. Sal Sal will wait till people get in position behind him before he opens anything. So Sal is approaching the door? Is Saly to go open the door? Yeah. So Slowly. As you go to open the door and you reach for the handle, uh you're taken aback as it starts to open from the other side. Sal would pull his hand back but not doing anything else? Just waiting for it to open. I mean I think I think he'd be too startled. I think he'd just kind of be like He'd maybe look at look at the people behind him, but I think he'd be too startled at the door. Somebody wanted to try to do something and wanted to, you know, leave open the possibility. I mean, I imagine Svetlana being the jumpy person that she is is probably gonna pull the her axe out, but she's not going to throw it until she knows it's not mad on the interest. For the first time in this campaign, Svetlana's not throwing her axe. Well I don't see the person yet, but yeah. Is is the door opening inwards or uh it is open in the door. As soon as I see they're not mad, I mean all bets are off, but Yes. So the door is opening away from us. Okay. Into the room. And as it opens up, I would say, stop me if I'm meditating you guys, but it's fair to everyone kinda like Like holds her breath for a second, like, uh, and then emerging from the door, you see a person sitting. Which is really strange because you're like then hand of the door open. And then quickly as you guys kind of like refocus and come back with it, um you see um an adult elf sitting in a wheelchair looking up at you. Hmm. Says Ha ha ho Hi, we're we're were were you joining us? Sal looks over his shoulder just like Yeah, are we in the right place? Says, yeah, yeah, no, this is this is where everyone I put the axe Back. This is where everyone stays. This is where uh everyone stays who who who who are awaiting their their their their turn. But you know, please, please come in come in And uh he uh then sort of wheels himself backwards and into the room and um as you kind of look into the room itself you're struck by just how like nice and cozy it is. Like it just like got some like flames going. It feels nice and warm. There's some lighting. There's a couple of tables. There's a you know couple like little bits. There's some snacks on the the table in there And um you see him just kind of go towards one of the tables uh as he wheels himself backwards, sort of gesturing you all in. Actually, we were here to witness um another of our friends uh transition Could you maybe show us to to where that's happening? Uh we're a little late. Sorry we got we got caught up in the woods And he kind of looks over and he's like, I'm I'm I'm sorry, I'm kinda having a hard time hearing you way back there. Were you gonna were you gonna come in or or could you be a little louder? Um uh yeah, sorry. Uh Uh I I our friend Maz was supposed uh have her ceremony sometime today and we're a little late, but I was hoping you could maybe show us to where she is at. So you see him actually kind of then wheel his way back towards the door in the midst of your talking, so he's getting a little bit closer, and as he does so you notice that um this uh elf um is is in the wheelchair that there's a scar kind of going over uh his left cheek and then one eye is colored milky white and you're kind of assuming that he can't see through that one due to maybe disease or injury or something else. And then he kind of looks at you and says, Wow, one of your friends is is already is already moving along. They're so fortunate. See, and I I actually I I'm not sure where the ritual takes place. I know I'm just, you know, awaiting my turn, but um, you know, I I figured that they're gonna come get me when when it's my time and my turn Oh how long have you been waiting? He looks around and kinda like looks up for a second. So I I'd say at least At least three three three or four weeks now I've probably been been waiting my turn down here. I'll say, you know, and it's it's you know, 'cause uh what what once I found out about, you know, um the the the the Scorch Born. You know, I I I knew that that was the place that I needed to be, both to better myself and, you know, better the world around me. And so I'm, you know, patiently waiting for my for my turn. Uh have you had a lot of people waiting with you? Oh, not a lot. No, there's there's a couple people in the rooms back here, and he kinda like points over in the one direction, and you notice that there's like a hallway further out there. And so he's kind of gesturing and says, like, yeah, you know, there's there's rooms for those of us who are waiting. And you know, there I think only a couple are occupied right now. Um but um but you know yeah they they've kind of come and gone a bit. Um but uh you know we're all like I said waiting patiently to you know see if we can uh you know both better ourselves and everyone else around us. I wonder if oh go ahead Hilo. Hilo breaks in for a moment. So have you seen a fairy recently? She looks like this, and I use the glamour stone and I spend a hope to recreate her appearance. Ooh, fancy. Um the elf, um, which by the way then kinda like is sort of startled and a bit taken aback 'cause wasn't, you know, uh anticipating something um, you know, quite like that happening uh right in uh in front of him and then um I was making sure I wanna see something about the glamour stone Okay. Um it's like looks and is like, no, no, I haven't seen any fairies like that come through, but that's a that's a really really great trick. And you kind of notice him like Sort of like then makes like a little squinty ass at you like, hm, like maybe doesn't quite trust ya now that he saw what you can do with that changing of appearance and just says, Well You know, my name's uh Wayon Thiedwick and say it's it's it's nice to meet you all, but I you know, if if if you needed to come get your room, you know, there's there's still a number available uh right down here if you if you wanted to come in, um unless y unless you were doing something else. Oh no, we're just not far along enough yet to um really be able to uh transition. But our friend, I mean, she's proselytized to us all the time. We we've heard the spiel and I think I can speak for my friends. We're all in. Um we just uh we We're all in on the spiel. I'm sorry. Hilo does not say that out loud. He's he's trying to nod very respectfully, you know, covering the like all all the while internally he's cringing And his his co-cloak actually changes colors at this moment, because he's kind of distracted, um, to a kind of an embarrassed red. Uh at how bad Svetlana is at lying. So uh Svetlana, you want to give me your presence roll? Oh gosh, no. Is that an option? With your plus with your plus zero? Yep. Yep, with your plus zero. So Wayne has wheeled back to the doorway, right? Is that correct? Yeah, Wayne's not in the hallway. Well, I just mean like he's facing the doorway. Is that is that fair? Or is he Yes. Yes. And you've rolled by what? 18 with hope. Oh good job. Thank you. With the plus zero. So. Sal would kinda wander over to the snack table and if he thinks someone's looking, he would kind of be looking through the snacks. But if he thinks that way and is not looking, he's kinda like investigating around the room. So you don't have to I don't want to interrupt what everybody else was doing, so I was just kinda like Trying to be the sneaky self in the background while this is happening. Yeah, no, but I think I think that's good. So I would say that they're happening at the same time. So you want to give me instinct role? Sure. Hmm. Not great. Uh oh, you know what I didn't add last time? I didn't add my my finesse when I rolled. That's really funny Um, okay, well that's a that's a ten, but it's with hope. Okay, take a hope if you didn't you guys are probably getting maxed out on hope. Um and uh you look around the room and you more or less notice pretty much everything that you've already kind of like seen upon the uh initial impression. Um, you know, it's it's fairly similar. Uh weigh-in doesn't, you know, really take any mind to you 'cause uh You know, you're kind of just strolling in like he actually had invited you just moments ago, right? Say, hey, come on in, see see what's uh happening here. And um, you know, he's kinda looking over at um Svetlana, who was, you know, successfully convinced him that uh they are here for you know legitimate purposes and um you know it says uh you know so so are you are you looking to to to transition you know as well um and and You know, is that is that what you seek? Yeah, I mean ideally eventually, but uh we're hoping to watch our friend first so that we could kind of get an idea of what to expect. You know, you know how it is Ah, well that's that's what the visions are for. Haven't you seen the visions? Yeah, yes, but uh I mean we wanted to support our friend, of course. You understand how that is Yeah, but no one no one ever sits in the transition as as far as I've ever heard. I think that everyone it's a it's a journey that they do uh unto themselves. Um and uh you know it it it's a very personal and um private ritual for each individual to see you know, how they come out on the other side, you know? Like I like to believe that, you know, when I'm done I'll emerge out of this wheelchair and I'll be able to walk once again. Bog Bogart kinda leans up to Hilo and asks Doesn't sound like these people have very many friends Uh yes, so I yes, I know that that it's not typical for people to watch these ceremonies, but we are like We're like kin uh with her and uh she with us and so i we're essentially like I don't know, one, if you might say that. So It's just as if she were alone in there, if, you know, we're in there. So uh they made an exception for us 'cause, you know, we're so special. While this is happening, 'cause you're so special? Yeah. That's that's that's your line. I mean, don't you see how I glow? And then I'll like glow a little bit. Yeah Sorry, 'cause I think Sal Sal shelf it as well. I think I think Boga had something. If you want to go first, I think. Sorry, Boga. Uh Boga can says uh I mean you can't you can't start fire with just one kindling, can you? Exactly. See Wayne looks back like a little bit thoughtful, like Huh, that's uh that's a good point. Uh and then um looks back and says, you know, well, I'll be honest, I've I've I've haven't been around most of the temple, you know, I've only seen the the the large symbol on the floor and I've seen the mirror and you know, I know that there's a a library down the hallway And uh I know that there's a a quarter uh quarters for the cook, uh where all the food does come from, but I I've never seen the actual ritual chambers, uh so I'm I'm not sure exactly where they are. I'll say I haven't haven't been fortunate enough to see them myself. Um, but um I think right around here is mostly where you get to the places that I named, so I'm guessing that the chambers must just be somewhere else in the temple. Hmm. Good to know. You've been very helpful, thank you. Um I mean have you seen which direction people have come and gone when they've they've been called? Sorry what direction? Yeah, what direction they they've gone from here. Back up the stairs you came All right, thank you very much. You've been so helpful. I'll make sure to tell the uh the head um that they should probably bump you up. Um you've been so helpful, thank you. Just start walking up the stairs. Sal is while all this is happening, Sal just wants to he mentioned there being like bedrooms past the room that he he had greeted us in. Sal just kinda kinda wants to peek his head in and see if there's anything else back there that I mean See if there's anything else back there other than accommodations, really. Sal uh peeks his head uh around the corner and looks down what is uh a rather long hallway. But uh the thing that he notices first is that there's uh a number of doors. He sees uh three different doors um along one of the sides of the hallway. And then at the very end there's another door kind of hinting that if they are bedrooms that there's a room at the very south end and then there's uh maybe some other rooms kind of along the one side. You can't tell if they're occupied or not or anything like that. They're just closed doors. Hm. Assuming weigh in's correct though, they can be bedrooms Or quarters or whatever. Can Sal sneak down to the end of the hallway and open that that southmost door? Um Before you do that, do you see me leave? Or do you are you h already headed over there? I think Sal is just very distracted by his curiosities. So he's split the party Woo! What could go wrong? Um so Sal goes all the way down towards the uh end of the hallway. You said the southern one? Yeah, just kinda peek in the the the f southernmost door. Or at least see if it's unlocked and then decide. Uh it's definitely unlocked. Okay. Uh he would peek inside. Uh you peek inside and you see an empty bedder. Totally boring. Okay. In that one. On on the way back. Can you check the other doors? Just kinda very gently open them. See if see if anybody's dressing Um so you uh start to work your way back and you open up one door sneakily. Empty room. You go to the next door, you open it up. And you kinda like slowly open it. There's flame in the room for light And you see a um a fur bulg laying on a bed reading a book quietly. Doesn't notice you. What's the name of the book? Can I see it? No, no. Hang on. Is it smut? So you look at the pictures and then there's no Okay. You don't you don't want to know f you don't want to know Scorchin's. It looks like an instruction book. Burning love is the name Oh no. Um okay. Sal would close the door and then ashes to acids. Oh no. Amazing Aries. Oh no. I regret everything. But I love that. Okay. Anyway, Salwood. I'm sorry, for the people at home, Boga just said ashes to asses. I just want to make that clear. That was out of character though, because cause Bogo's not a big swearer. Just wait for the sequel, bust to bust. Bust to bust. So is um Sal still going down the hallway then now? Yeah, he he would quietly close the door. If the person had noticed him, he was gonna say something, but it's it's fine. He would c quietly close the door, check the other doors. So as you close that door and you start to walk towards the next door, you hear a clop clop like there's hooves getting on the floor. Okay. He just keeps going. You see it gone? Yeah. Are you still gonna check the other door? Sure. Okay. Um you sneakily open that door, and as you open it up You uh find that there's light in the room and you see an elderly human man staring you dead in the face Oh, uh sorry, we were we were told to find a bedroom, but we didn't really get any information on which which ones were free. I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to I I didn't mean to to try. Uh I I I hope Hope hope hope you're dressed. Uh ooh, this is awkward. I'm so sorry. Uh hi. Next time you gotta knock before you come into these rooms. You are the ones down towards the other end are free. You are absolutely right and I'm so sorry about that. Please accept my apologies and Hey, you know, we're all gonna be reborn in flames soon, so it it you look good. He kind of does little does little finger guns and then pulls the door closed. Uh As you uh close the door you hear 'em go, Ugh, the youth of today will say they got no respect. And then you hear like a Like a like a tap, like you th you figure it's probably like a cane behind there and then you hear this dude just kind of start to get up and move around the room goes Uh they'll never know what it was like back in the day. And then, you know, you're I'm assuming walking off at this point. Yeah, I'd be I'd be headed back to the staircase. I'd and maybe pass way in and just be like thank you so much for your help. Um if you talk to anybody back there I'd probably knock first. That's my big piece of advice and then I would just keep moving up the stairs. So as you're walking, why ain't you just like, Well of course you knocked, that's just the right thing to do And it gets quiet. Was that the sound of Wayne's like Wayne falling off a cliff? Did he get it? He's so old he's falling asleep mid-range. It's fine. I figure as you get further away it'd get a little bit quieter, but that's the same I got it. I was just it was an easy joke I wanted to make it. Yeah. As you go past way in to the way out. Oh Hey yo. Oh Pichel regretting all of his decisions. Well you know, and I came up with so many names, we didn't even get to them. That's okay. You know, that's how it goes. That's the GM life. Um can Sal easily catch up to the group. I don't know where they are after my I don't know if anyone else is following me. Yeah, I I was following with with um Svetlana and he actually reaches out and pats her sh on the shoulder uh in a comforting manner which seems weird because she's like She's just walking away and he's like, We'll work on your prevarication. Prevaric what? Your your storytelling. Oh, oh. Wait, it wasn't good? It worked, so it was good. Oh, oh good. Oh, well we can always do better, right? So I'd like to think of it then because you guys were a little bit further ahead. Is it fair to say that maybe you guys were kind of either up the stairs or working your way up the stairs as Sal is then kind of coming back out of the room? Does that sound maybe correct? Sal's so sneaky we didn't notice he was gone, I think is correct. We were just we we were like we're gonna head back the the way we came and start deciding where else to go, I think. Okay. So um the one thing Okay. Where is Uriel in all of this as well? Yeah, I thought we were just kind of all following along together, ex except Sal who wandered off to look Pink in bedrooms. Mm-hmm. Peeping Sal. I love it. Okay, sorry. Teacher go ahead. So Then, as uh you guys are going back up the stairs, let me just say that then I I think I forgot to say that there's actually a hallway kind of emerging towards the opposite side that you walked past. So So to make sure that we got it all together, that Wayin suggested you need to go back up the stairs to get to where he thinks the rituals take place. But there is a hallway going towards the opposite end, so if you wanted to explore further, you could go there, but Wayne had suggested that He thinks, if he knows the right answer, the rituals would be going up and towards the uh the other side. In the direction of the armory, I guess I would say. I was gonna say the direction of the armory, right? Was where was where He was describing. Okay. And we didn't detect any like that he was lying to us. I mean nobody asked. Can I reassess in my brain like hmm, I wonder if what he was saying was I mean you wanna give me an instinct roll? Yes, I do. That sounds like the world's highest DC waiting to happen. I wouldn't say highest. Eleven on the Hope. Five on the fear. Eleven on the hope. Five on the fear. So sixteen plus two, eighteen. With hope. I'm maxed out on hope now. Yeah, I'll take that. Yeah, now you think he was being truthful. Um you actually get the sense that he was telling you all the things that he knows and that he was actually genuine in his belief that this is something good for him and for the people around him. That he he seems to have this faith and um Much like somebody else you may know, Saved Lana, it seems unshakable in his tenets and his beliefs that this is for the betterment of himself and the world. Couldn't be me. Um Um Okay. Uh well I believing him to be truthful, I guess I would go towards the armory, but I'd kinda kinda look at the rest of my team members and and kind of gauge their if they are hesitant to go that way or if they want to go the other direction of in the hallway. Eh? But was still k kinda just longingly looking at looking back at the direction the uh the symbol room was in. It's like So warm. I I can keep you warm, Polka. I put uh an armor around Polka. And I hold it close to me. Oh, sorry, I forget how strong I am and how tiny you are. Thank you. So we're going back towards, I guess, the other stairwell where Sal was going towards that armory. The armory one, yeah. Okay. So uh you guys can walk into that room without incident for sure, right? You get in there, um, and then um as you get in there, uh you notice all the same things that Sal had seen. We You know, shared that earlier, so I don't need if you want me to go through it again, I can. Um, but so there's various things in there. There's two doors to the south Um you actually get the sense that because of how the walls are set up there and they're actually made of wood instead of stone, that these look like they could be um smaller rooms made up out of a bigger room. Right, like it's like storage or something like that, maybe. There's two doors there, and then there is a third door towards um the um western side of the room uh that is surrounded by stone, um, you know, to your adventurer's eyes, looking like, yeah, that probably takes me to another another place. Like different location in the three doors down? Three days. Just tell me about the kryptonite. Well, I think I just want to go to the one that It takes us elsewhere. And it's not. Teach it, just get a pop culture reference. I am proud. I mean it's a twenty-something year old pop culture reference. But yes. And maybe it dates us a little bit. I think that's officially an oldies reference at this point. I hate to break it to you. Alright. Did I? I've been doing that hard in my head. I can't wait to use that on the on the show. That's gonna be fun to leave in. Um That was actually in-game to be clear, so good luck with that. No, no, no. Did Sal make it To the top of the stairs in time to see where people went? Or is like is it easy for Sal to follow? I don't know how long. Extra Oh yeah how much longer he was down there. Okay. No, yeah, it's not a very long hallway to see from that door to the stairs. Um so yeah, you would definitely see that they're kind of going up and you know to the left, let's say, and then you you could easily follow along if you so choose. Sal would do it Yerio, I I know this you've been a little quiet since we got to the temple room with the the thing on the floor. How are you feeling? I just want to find my friend. I'm very I'm very impatient to Yeah. Do you wondering back and forth that I thought that when we got to this temple or or whatever it is that, you know. Oh, I h was ready to charge in and rescue my friend and now we still can't find her. Yeah. It's like a maze in here. Do you have any like you're very connected to Maz, I know. Do you have any instinct of do you think this is the right way? I don't have any uh uh ex extras senses that would allow me to to track her down here other than yeah Like the standard. And your very large ears. Yes. What big ears you do have. Stroke them kind of, you know. Uh I rule them myself. Do you want to l lead the way, Yuriel? I can. Pa Pasu and I We we scout sometimes. Yeah. Why don't I I'll follow behind you. Okay. But and now w we're inspecting the armory and did it have other exits? So there's two Yeah, there's the three doors down. There's two doors to the south that are there's the the door has like a wood wall next to it, so you get the sense that there's maybe Something else. It's the same room, but they kind of like divided it up to put stuff in these little spots, right? Like you don't get the sense there's probably like a big hallway back here because of the wood and how it's built. The uh last door though on the uh western side is surrounded by stone, suggesting that it, you know, might be a whole separate room. Well let's go for that one. Right behind you. When I was just I I think Sal would be in the rear, um, unless somebody else wants it. But It I ha I have something as people start moving through the door, but I don't want to interrupt what you were saying. Mm-hmm. Um so how are we uh how are we gonna handle this uh how are we gonna handle this door? I'm just gonna reach out and see if it's unlocked. So you're gonna you're gonna jiggle that handle? Uh-huh. Yes. No one no one knows why you say things the way you do sometimes. No one knows. Are you are you sure no one knows? I'm just asking. Um, so Yuriel's in the front and Sal's in the back. Works for me unless somebody else wants it. Svetlana is following right behind Yuriel. I'm next to Svetlana. Okay. Um jiggle the handle and it's locked. Heck mad. So uh Is it the stone door? Oh, go ahead, Sal. Sal would hear the door not opening and kinda look up, see if he's needed. Anybody uh you need my help? Are you good? Yeah, are you able to unlock this door? I would love to use my ability pick and pull to get advantage on action rolls to pick non-magical locks. So that's what Sal says in the game? Yeah. Yeah. The fact that it is locked after all these other doors, even like private rooms that weren't locked, makes me want to know what's in there Nell kind of reaches into reaches into his bag and pulls out a little like set of tools and they're not they're not what you would expect a like a set of tools for someone who picks locks to be. Like they look very They all look like they came from the Endless Forest, so there's like there is like a really hard wood stick that's tiny that he uses. And there's maybe like a piece of a bone and so he has these whole sets of tools that are all based in the in the nature of the area around them. And assuming I'm allowed to, he would uh he would roll to to pick the luck. Do it, do it, do it. Do it, do it. Man, I'm rolling not great, but we go Well at least my at least my advantage die is really cooking today. Okay, so that is a twenty two with hope. Oh I'm sorry, you were complaining? I you see you see a three on a D12 and it's not good, but then I rolled a six on my D6, and then I also had plus three, so it d there was there was stuff, so. It was not good, but it but it turned out okay in the end. So like Sal would be like he would be like struggling and you would hear kind of a moment where he's like ah come on And then he kind of like, I don't know if he's gonna open it or not, but he would like maybe find the the the the bolt that he would have to adjust or whatever, and then maybe it works. You did it. Tries the handle. It appears ready to open. Sal takes a step back and kind of does like a little bow and gestures towards it for uh for Uriel and then goes to the back of the group. Did you check for Ariel fix it? Oh. Ariel's not not trying to sneak in. So the I'm hoping to hit it hard enough that it crashes against the wall and startles people, okay? Oh yeah, the so so you kick this door, um, and It doesn't smash off like the hinges, but you definitely kick it open and there's a big like wham like slam, right And it's actually interesting because it's open yeah. Um It took me a second to get that. I was like, wait what? I'm I'm just gonna say you're welcome. But uh that's me, right? I'm the I'm the man. Took it and liked it. Um so the the door slams open and uh you immediately notice that there are large torches um on uh the uh sides of the room. Uh sh the the whole room is bathed in this this light. Um you're also um struck by uh a smell um That is first flame, kind of like the burning that you get from smoke, and because there's more in there, it's a little bit stronger, but then you find that like layered underneath of it are um urine and feces, and then the coppery smell of blood that you now notice um there's stains on the floor and a large stone table in the center. There's nothing on the table. You're just like, oh, that must have been used for some stuff. Yeah, right now. And then on the other side of the table, you do see a um bars. Like a jail cell, essentially, like a cell. And you can see that there's a room further in. And then to the south, you see It's like a fancy door. You're like There's something behind that door because it is not like the other ones. It's not just some janky wood door. It is gorgeous and beautiful and ornate and it has some sort of symbols and carvings on it um that you can't quite make out from the distance that you have um right now but um you just like Like I I I'm guessing Yuriel already is like, damn, that's the door I need next. Uh right? Like you're already eyeing it up. Like that's that's the door. I w I would look quickly around the room. There's nobody alive or dead in the room. Not in this room, no. Um you can't really see inside the cell. Um but yeah, you can't see anybody in the room right now. Okay. I wanna I want somebody to check the cell and somebody to check the door. I don't have to do both of those, just can before we all move fully into that room, which I assume we're doing, but When you described the room that we're currently in, the armory room, you described suits of armor and then also like a partial suit of armor? Is there anything unique about the partial suit of armor, or was that just, am I getting lost in the sauce of you describing a particular thing and it means nothing? The second thing. It was flavor. Just wanted to check. Just wanted to check. Solid fossil. It's the chair. It's the mirror. You gotta have something But you know what this means though? If I take back over GMing uh in a while, there's definitely gonna be a partial suit of armor and it's gonna be deeply meaningful. The top half. Yeah. Deeply, deeply meaningful. The top half, the other half, yeah. I I picture Sal like uh standing up on tiptoes, looking in into the half suit of armor and being like, Meh I think he I think he was just curious of like w why do they have full suits of armor and then like half? Is somebody just running around with armor pants? Is that just just someone running around with armor pants and left the rest of it? Uh yeah, I guess actually I described that way because m yeah, my yes, my impression was if you're fixing them, maybe only that was what needed to be fixed. Okay. Okay. I just Oh, okay. Sorry. It was one of those things that was stuck in my mind and I was like, we're just probably gonna pass by it on the way in, but I'm gonna check. So I mean there were also two other doors you all ignored, but that's fine too. Don't tell us that we don't have time. We keep going. We keep going. Yeah, we don't have time. Ain't nobody got time for that. We could split the tour. Uh at this point I think we could split the party six ways. Yep. There's cells and doors and lions. I try to open the line. Okay, so I guess is everybody going into the room to make sure I got it. Yes. Uh like the material's already in. The room with the table, right? Yeah, I figured Sal Sal would like kinda just look at that suit that half suit of armor and just kind of go hmm Guess it was nothing and then uh following. So as you go in, um then uh as Vitlana's walking across the room, like at some point you actually feel you're foot like a little bit stuck to the floor because you're just like, ooh, like that actually wasn't that dry, like kind of like the blood, and you realize like there's probably something else mixed in there too. Um you don't know what, but doesn't feel good. And then as you walk up to the cell, um you actually see a uh Qatari uh sitting in the corner staring at it, like the other side of the corner. And this person looks just to your immediate eyes disheveled. Um and uh not well. Um uh uh fed, obviously not washed, you kinda have an odor, similar odor, even stronger, kind of the smell of now just like body odor in addition to you know, urine, feces, things like that coming from the cell, mixing with that, you know, other smells in the rest of the room. And um as you all enter Silana's looking into the cell sees that and as you all are in that room um you hear a uh a gentle kind of hum of some chanting coming from the other door from behind it, which is kind of strange because it's made out of stone. So it's almost like more of like a vibration, I guess I'd say, than like actually hearing the chanting. Sal, is this the Katari you saw in your vision? Sal like terror seizes Sal's heart in that moment And you kinda hear his breath stop as he hustles over to Svetlana and and looks in the cage. Sal recognizes the guitari. He he he falls down to his knees again. Amira, why are you here? You see, I'm not sure. It feels very rock solid and it does not want to budge, but I mean if you really want to try I mean that's my natural instinct. I don't know if it's gonna do anything, but I'm just gonna like try to rip it. Let's do uh I mean you got the strength. Let's do a little little strengthy roll. You know what? I haven't used my uh experience. Strong hands make light work. Um so I'm gonna use that. I gotta be honest, the DC on this one's gonna be high. It's yeah, I expected it. Oh that's not great. Nope, not a crit. Alright, so fifteen plus three, so that's eighteen plus two, twenty. Tot on. No. Yeah, and you you go up to this thing and you pull on it and you are pulling with the uh the the great strength that you uh you possess and for like a moment you get maybe the slightest shift and then you just realize that like There's a tiny gap in the stone maybe, but this thing like the bars are well embedded in the stone. So like it would take quite a bit more to actually get this thing to pull pull out Did Amira respond to me? Yeah, so that's happening, and then as that's happening, and you have Svetlana yanking on this thing, Amira turns around slowly. And you hear her say ps Sal? Um Amira, why are you here? What happened? You see your own. Ariel with her big ears hears the name Amira and approaches Sal and does asks, is this the Qatari y you told us about that I was supposed to keep an eye out for? Sal kinda looks up to Uriel with really big eyes and just nods. This this is my This is my oldest friend. This is he he looks at Amira. This is This is my only friend. Bef before all of You? Why Amira, why are you here? She immediately gets up and dashes over to the cell wall. And it just like uh looks over at at Sal and and for a second um you know kind of like hesitates um and then Like what what what why am I here? Why are you here? They have our friend. They took someone from us. I we just we just want answers. We want to know what's going on. And Sal just kind of stops and he's he's breathing really deeply, like trying to trying to Take in a breath that isn't quite coming. Because his his entire past is just like crashing into him right now And so in this moment, I think that Sal is remembering growing up in the Endless Forest and what it meant to survive at any cost and in like he's seeing where he learned to be So hidden in the shadows growing up, and he's seeing um like having to steal from other people to get what they needed to just make it through the day. And um but also at the same time he sees time with a mirror. So he's just kind of under the weight of all of these bad feelings of like being essentially excommunicated from his community growing up, but also the laughter and the joy and the the kinship. I think he's just kind of overwhelmed by that for a moment. Yes, um and and she actually kind of like um pauses and she is is immediately struck by um kind of looking at Sal, seeing that and and almost echoing similar feelings of, you know, kinship and growth and confusion and anger that he had left and and not knowing exactly why Sal had left And left her in in feelings of abandonment. But then suddenly like just looks at him is like, Uh y y you you don't know what you're dealing with, you gotta get out of here I don't think they put me here. We can't get out. I was like please take care of yourself. Do do what you need to Are are you gonna be okay if we and Sal kind of like hearing save yourself is like Something steals a little bit inside of him and he he puts his hand on the bar. Because it's a bar, like it's a cage, right? Like so there'd be a bar that he could grab onto. Yes. Okay, so he puts his hand on the bar and kind of pulls himself back up and then leaves his hand there and I I tried to I tried so long to to save myself and I I I I spent so long doing things just for me that I I needed These people, and he gestures to the rest of the group. I needed these people to remind me that there is good in doing doing for others as well. And he just kinda grips the bar tighter. We're going to get you out of here. We're going to get Everyone out of here. Will you I don't I don't know if we can open your cage right now and he looks around for a lock. Is there a a lock on the cage anywhere? Not one that you can see. I don't I don't know how to get you out right now. Are you gonna be okay if we need to He looks over at the the the ornate door. Are you gonna be okay if we need to leave you here for now? She notices your eyes looking over at that door, and you just see her her face change to one of uh somewhat of like horror. Um not not at you but because you're looking over there and it's like I I I don't know exactly what happens behind that door But anyone who comes out isn't the same. And I know that's what's coming for me. Sal is going to uh reach into like Reach behind his back and he's gonna pull out his small dagger, his secondary weapon, and he is going to hand it through the bars to Amira. Um I I don't I don't know if this will help. I keep it on you, keep it hidden. If you see a chance, take it. And he's gonna press this small dagger into her into her hand? Paw? Paw hand Yeah. Yeah. You actually see her sort of like it r rest there for just a second and then just as quickly it's like as instinct kicks in, like she sort of just like spins it and then just like stuffs it kind of in like her waistband, knowing that, you know, just like Sal in a lot of ways that she had to survive and to get by in different ways and had to steal what she needed to get through the day, and that she's uh certainly a depth of the blade. Um and uh you see her, you know, look over and it's like I I don't know these these new friends of yours. I don't know how you could defeat that. And then she kinda like pauses. Basically just like kind of like staring off kind of in the distance for uh a second and then looks back at you. But thank you Thank you. And you see like a tear um sort of like emerge. Like she's not actually crying, it's just like the tear just appears though. Because you can tell that she's so um emotionally distraught. I think Sal would kind of if there's enough space between the bars would kind of rest his head in the space in between with the intention that A Amira knows this gesture. Um she would know from growing up that kind of putting our heads together was like a was like our our little sign of I guess love for each other. Um And so he would rest his head there, not I mean, Sal doesn't get to make the call if she responds, but he would just kind of rest his head there for a moment and uh and wait with his Just in a in just taking a moment to to steal himself. A mirror returns the gesture. Um and you actually feel the as you do so, the the tear that had gone down her cheek makes connection with your your kind of face uh sort of along like your cheek and then it actually like you feel that wetness uh go down yours. from her. She says again, Thank you. Thank you. And um then she kinda starts to, you know, after a moment, pull back and you see her sort of um you know s go back with um towards the other side of the cell Um, not retreating, but going back to kind of where she was at, but you could tell with a bit more confidence and a bit more um hope. That all turns back to uh the rest of the tots. And sorry, we it's the name we picked. It's hard to s it's it's hard to It's not a serious name. Right. Uh no, Sal turn Sal turns back to his friends and says, I I don't think I needed another reason to see what's on the other side of that door, but I guess I have it. And his returning blade snaps into his hand again. Sal, this this feline means a lot to you, yes? Yeah. It's Uh Bug is gonna look over to the Qatari and say Could you come closer? Do you do you trust me? Or do you trust Sal's trust in me? Uh Myra walks over and doesn't say anything, but just looks over I guess looks down at B Boga and then looks down at Sal and just kinda looks back at Boga. and wipes the, you know, wetness from her face and then nods her head. Yes. She doesn't say anything, just nods. Are you willing to try something with me? She looks down at the ground. Can I put my put my hand through the bars She she looks down towards the ground, looks up, and Amira reaches out um her hand to grasp Boga's hand. I Ah please work, please work, please work. And Boga's gonna try use blink out on herself and Amira. Oh! Let's go! I didn't I forgot that it was even a thing. And that is a 17 beats spellcast drill I needed to use. So I blink so in a moment I slap my fingers and both Boga and Amira end up like on the other side of the room And Bo's just like It worked. Um you see Amira just immediately g grasps Boga in this hug and like actually squeezes Boga so hard that she's like like it just like is it's just so instinctual of like, you know that and like Um that uh and and then she sort of starts to collapse towards the floor and just actually starts completely sobbing. Um right right there Can Svetlana try to catch her before she collapses? Oh certainly, yeah. Okay. And Sal would would would be rushing over there and just attempting to be near his friend. Um she just kind of lets the moment play out and is is is you don't know how long she's been here, uh but you get the sense that it it has been a long time and she's been under duress for you know days if not weeks. And she then, you know, starts to kind of recompose um herself and looks up towards, you know, each one of you, makes eye contact with, you know, Boga, with Svetlana, with You know, then, you know, even Hilo and and Yuriel and kind of looks at the cat and is like, friend? No. Um, and uh Pazu. And then um Looks over at Sal's like, I I don't think I can help you in what comes next. But I hope we can reconnect. I I don't I've I've learned a lot since we've seen each other and I I wouldn't ask you to face Whatever it is we're going to face. Um, please. I know that we have An awful past. And I know that there's so much between us that we haven't Ever had a chance to say, but I hope I see you again soon. Please be safe while we go in there I will come back out of there and I will find you. Do you need healing before you go? She looks up and is like I I I think I can make it on my own and then she kind of starts to like get up, but then stumbles and falls back down to the ground. Like she's sincerely trying, but it's like it's it's a struggle bus. Yeah. I uh lay my hands on her and I'll cost healing hands. Um and that succeeds uh with an eighteen against a thirteen. Um so On a success, I will mark a stress to clear two hit points from her. And I'm also gonna roll my uh D6 for my unshakable trait to see if I take the stress. That was a five, so I'll take the stress. And she is two hit points lighter. You suddenly see her um uh uh like start to glow if I can a little bit. And it's almost as though like the glow sort of comes from where you touched her body and just like envelops her and then suddenly she doesn't look, you know uninjured at all, but significantly better. And then she looks over and says, thank you. Thank you. And Can you can you get out, Amira? If you do you think you can you can make it out? Cause you could You could you could meet me at our hiding place if you can She looks at Sal and is like Can I sneak my way out of a place? Come on, Sal. Sal has one of those laughs that's like sad, you know, like it's it's he's just feeling so many things But he he laughs and almost cries and puts his head to hers again And just says, I'll I'll find you. I promise. Then right there, you actually see her literally leap up. off the ground, onto the table, jump over towards the other side of the room, towards the door, walks out through the door, and then like You heard her just barely in the room, and then as soon as she gets towards the other side, it's just like there's no sound. But you get the sense that she's working her way out. Fells quiet, but he looks maybe more determined than you've ever seen him. We press ever onward Bo is still but Bo is still saying to himself, I can't believe I actually did that. I I teleported. Okay, I am so so proud of you That was amazing. I didn't even know you could do that. Uh that was that was uh Oh This is in Oh my goodness. Sal walks up to Boga and just says I I am in your debt now. You have You have done something immeasurable for me. If you ever need me, I will be there and He uh he actually actually leans in and puts his head to to Boga's head in kind of the same gesture that he did with Amira. Yeah, I was gonna say assuming that Boga is on board, otherwise it's very awkward. I mean, I just want to know though, did like they stick together and like you can't really like pry them apart. Are their faces that sticky? I feel like it's more of their hands and feet. Yeah. Fuck fuckheads are more more s more Slimey? I don't think it's sticky. Slimy. That's right. Slimy are. Slicker. Slick that's the word slicker. Slickery. Oh no. I Sal uh we're friends, are we not? This is what friends do for each other. They help. Hmm. You have helped s so much And then b Boger kind of steps back. Yeah. Sal Sal pulls away and his attention just immediately focuses on the door. Get ready to use more of that magic, Boga. I think we're gonna need all that we can get. I'll do my best. So big big fancy door everybody. I don't know I don't know what's happening with that big fancy door. I'm just saying I think we're we're getting kicked. That's what's happening. Yeah. I think we're gonna kick it open. No slyness. I got my axe ready. I mean brandished. Who's kicking it? But Lana will. Not Boga. She is. She's strong. She's ready for the fight. So uh this this is actually this is important though. You don't need a strength roll. Um I mean unless you want me to form fear. I mean I don't know. I I haven't gotten any though. You guys been rolling great, so I'm I'm still I'm I'm working with the measly too here, everybody. Um I know, I know it's sad. Don't worry. I didn't plan for other abilities to farm it, you know, later, but um So where's everybody else as Svetlana's getting ready to kick this door? Besides Svetlana. Well slight slightly. It's a fairly wide door. It's not like gigantic, but it's bigger than the other one, so you could probably stand like kind of like Three people in front of it if you wanted. I think Sal's in the background. He uh He is feeling energized and I think that what that comes across as mechanically in game is that Um he is going to activate his unique hope feature for I think maybe the first time. I think. So I'm gonna use Rogue's dodge to spend three hope to get plus two to my evasion. How long does that last? Until you take damage? Um until an attack succeeds or our next rest, if I happen to be really dodgy. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. So that moves you from sixteen to eighteen or sixteen total. Sixteen total, unfortunately. But still good Still good. That's pretty good. Twice my evasion. Remember, I'm only rolling a D20 here, friends. Um so alright, so I've got uh Boga, Svetlana kicking the door, is Yorio and Pazu kinda by Um gathered up by the door? Oh oh yeah. Uh seeing uh Svetlana approaching the door, axe in hand, uh Ariel's, you know, got her sword out. Right right there m next to Svetlana, ready to charge. Yeah. So uh Except Cerial doesn't charge, but you know, emotionally charge. So Svetlana's kicking open the door? Oh support charge. Support charge. Yes. Svetlana kicks open the door and it successfully opens, which seems kind of odd given how large it is. And then everybody in the room is enveloped in a bright white light. Can't see anything As your eyes begin to adjust to the light, you find a set of stairs in front of you that are glistening in pearly white. You find that there's two torches. Actually, I wouldn't even say torches, like very large, like probably like three feet across a piece, you know, at the top of a pedestal You see that at the top of the pedestal that uh you see two figures there, and as your eyes continue to um I did not specify that she dropped Maz form. So she is appearing to whoever's in this room as Maz, unless they can see through her illusion. So uh then as everything kind of comes back to you see that it actually makes no sense to your brains because you've been in a dark, dreary temple, there was blood in the last room, and now you're in a perfect, pristine, glistening white place. glistening white walls, probably made of like marble, it must look like. Perfect stairs, two torches in front of you at the top of this thing, large, beautiful columns in the the background. And there is an elderly um looking human um standing um at the um the top Kind of looks down at you guys, and then you notice that there's somebody standing next to the elderly human, and it is none other than a mass. Standing side by side, not under duress, looking happy, healthy, and fine. Does Maz have wings? Yeah. Okay. Does she look exactly like I look? Or does she look different? No. Exactly the same. And then you kind of see you look over and she starts waving. I start waving I like mimic. Make it look like a mirror. So she says, What took you so long to get here? Well, you didn't tell us where you were going. You also told us you told us not to. Yeah. Um and then um so so you're all saying that at the same time Sure. Well Yeah, I'm saying it and I am stomping up the stairs toward you. I'm about to grab you by the ear and and shake some sense into you. That's how angry I am. So as uh use Arcane Sense to see uh to see if this is if there's some sort of magic going on So it doesn't feel uh I mean it's a good idea. Uh y there is a a a an insane amount of magic permeating this thing. Like And it is like off putting and uh it's like it just so powerful that you're like, ooh and it's actually coming from kind of like everywhere in the room at first, but then you kind of find it centered on that Um priest. And then could I say that Uriel's also stomping up the stairs simultaneously? Yeah. I wouldn't say it was fast, you know, like I'm mad and making a production of it. Like d will let everybody know I'm angry about it. This happens to uh Boga, then as you hit like the third stomp, it just like like it's like as though like your your your vision is suddenly distorted And suddenly, like, the whole room turns black. And then it's like a flash, and you get a brief vision of just like flames surrounding behind Maz and the priest. And then you get a um a quick vision of Maz not standing there next to the priest, but strapped to a table. And then it goes and you're back in the pearly white beautiful room. Just to Uriel though. I was kind of thinking before you said all that that Svetlana being the person that she is was going to cast Bolt Beacon on the priest, but now I don't know if they're real or not. That's a choice. But I d I wasn't aware of You're still not aware. You're still not aware. Okay. Ariel pauses. Like foot hovering, ready to stomp, and then lowers it. So go like on wait hold on something's not right. I have literally shining like lightning in my palm like I was ready to throw it. Yeah, well what Voga said, I I think this is maybe uh an illusion or or something because uh I'm getting flashes of other Another scene with Maz strapped to a table behind that man. That man And I throw the the volume again. Yeah, that one. I suppose like like well there's something coming from oh Oh, that's not great. Um nine plus three, so twelve plus three strength I think. Yes. Um, so 15. Actually, I'm gonna add my paradise. So 19, I'm gonna add a four um paradise. Nineteen with hope. 19 with hope. Mm-hmm. And if that hits, um you get advantage on that one, right? Um if it hits, the target becomes temporarily vulnerable and glows brightly until this condition is cleared. Nice. Um and but if it hits I I do uh two D eight plus five damage Okay. So um it it definitely hits and um suddenly you're just like taken aback because what looked like this kind of like nice old man just like just like smacks and hits the floor and just falls over. Maz looks over, it's like Why why why'd you do the And then as Maz says that, suddenly the entire room just kind of seems to almost like fall. Which seems really weird and it feels like it can't be happening because the whole thing was indeed an illusion. And then suddenly it's like and then all of you snap out of what was um a facade and uh suddenly you're in a room where there's a stone floor, dark like everything else. You see Maz strapped to a table in the middle of it. Maz is surrounded by flame and multiple um acolytes, I could say essentially Um and there's flame surrounding multiple um parts of the room. And then you see the priest kind of suddenly like start to get up. Using like the staff to help him up and is like, Oh dear girl You don't know what you've started Um, but then you can also do your damage roll too. Okay. Well I did roll those, so that's eight plus five. So uh thirteen. Um and they're vulnerability. He's glowing. And glowing. Right. Mm-hmm. And I'll say you don't know what you've started. Then as um that happens You suddenly hear like um an animalistic screech and yell, and you hear like a flop, like something kind of wet. hitting the floor. And when you guys look, you see that around the table that Maz is strapped to. That a bloodied wing. Hit the floor. After the gross. Was that from me hitting the priest? It's from the ritual that is taking place. And I gotta say, I know it's not quite time, but that's a great stopping point. That's a very good cliffhanger, my goodness. First of all, I disagree that that's a good stopping point. Honestly. Just because we disagree, that means it is a good stopping point because we want to know what happens next.