RPGBOT.Podcast Episode 11 – The Spooktober Halloween Spectacular

Show Notes

In this very special Halloween episode of the RPGBOT.Podcast, Randall DMs a DnD horror one-shot for Random and Tyler. Join us for a spooky good time as we put all of our Spooktober advice into practice.

Transcript

Randall  00:23

Welcome to the RPGBOT.podcast. I’m Randall James your Dungeon Mmaster and with me is Tyler.

Tyler  00:29

Hi everybody.

Randall  00:30

and Random Powell.

Random  00:32

Howdy.

Randall  00:32

Alright. This is Episode 11, the 12th episode of the RPGBOT.podcast. Tyler, what are we gonna do tonight?

Tyler  00:39

Well, let’s see. Spooktober is–

Randall  00:40

Cut off! Nope. It’s my show. I’m gonna say we’re gonna do tonight. Yeah, it is. It’s right. It’s the end of Spooktober. It is the culmination of everything that we’ve been talking about. We talked about the Monsterizer, and how great it was to create your own monsters. We talked about death. We talked about how to execute horror in tabletop gaming, especially focused on using rules in like D&D Fifth Edition, and tonight, we are going to try to do it together. Alright, so we’re going to do actual play. I’m going to DM these folks are going to be characters. And we’re gonna try to get a little spooky with it. Although I feel like saying you’re gonna try to get a little spooky with it is probably not gonna lead to a lot of spook, but anyway,

Tyler  01:22

Just setting that tone right off the bat.

Randall  01:26

Spooky characters! No, uh, yeah. So what kind of characters do we have tonight?

Tyler  01:31

While I’m playing Georg with the fourth Level dragonborn Battle Master Fighter. He’s a soldier and, uh, he knows some maneuvers.

Random  01:43

My joke! It comes back! And I am playing Amiable Jack. No particular reason for the name. I have never actually gotten to play a Bard in fifth edition, and so I thought I would try Eloquence Bard because, well, some things are definitely spooky. Perhaps maybe we can talk our way out of some of them instead of having to murder them. Because I wanted to have my character be with Georg for a reasonable reason, we’re adopted brothers. So there you go.

Randall  02:13

Now that’s right. Absolutely. We had a lot of discussions in the background about like, what’s a good hook? What would be something that would be interesting? And this was mainly coming from, you know, in the last episode, we talked about malaise and how to generate it. And so it’s like, Hey, here’s some creepy situations. And the group immediately latched onto one of them particular, which is going to kind of be the basis for the adventure we’re going to do tonight. With that we have this hook. The hook is we have these two brothers, they are adventurers of a certain level. And what is that level by the way?

Tyler  02:44

Four.

Randall  02:45

Level four,

Random  02:47

That means you get a feat.

Tyler  02:49

Feats are good.

Randall  02:49

Yeah. I think we’ve talked about this a couple times. At some point we want to do an episode about the right level for doing a one-shot, but spoiler we thought somewhere around four made a lot of sense for a lot of reasons.

Tyler  03:00

I’m hearing spooky noises.

Randall  03:05

Somebody spooky. We’re gonna delete all this. This won’t make the podcast. Okay. Or will it? Anyway. The conversation is that yeah, they’re adopted brothers. They were raised by a half-elf named Malikai. On Malakai’s deathbed, which he swears he was 200 years old, which is very old for a half-elf. But on his deathbed, at the ripe old age of allegedly 200. He handed them, the two brothers, a map. And he said that his greatest treasure was left there, and that the boys should rescue it.

Tyler  03:44

We’re going on a treasure hunt, cool.

Randall  03:47

And obviously everything is going to work out great. The boys and by boys. I mean these these two grown adult adventures, got together got everything they needed, hopped on their horses, and started following the trail. There’s a place where several mountain ranges meet near near where they are. And the map brings you through a pass that most didn’t realize was even there. Most maps will show these mountain ranges as intersecting at a particular point. But the map that Malakai gave you shows you that in fact, there’s a valley between the ranges, and there’s a path that you would have never thought to check for from a distance.

Tyler  04:21

That that seems like the logical place to go.

Randall  04:23

Yeah. Not a lot of people are gonna be running by there, right? Once in the valley, you’re immediately surrounded by old growth. Autumn’s come early here most of the trees are bare. You ride for hours, and a dull drone rings in the air. It lulls you to comfort your saddle so much that you agree to dismount, begin looking for a place to set up camp for the night. As you take your packs off the horses, you suddenly realize that the droning has become all too loud and you wonder how you could have ever found it soothing. Just as you look to each other to comment on it, a creature descends from the sky onto Jack’s horse, impaling it with a sharp straw-like nose. More of these creatures are descending from behind you. You hear one of them called the other:

Demonic Voice  05:07

Fresh Meat!

Tyler  05:09

How big are these things?

Randall  05:11

About Jack’s horse sized. Like it crawled onto Jack… it landed on Jack’s horse. Literally looks like it’s starting to draw the blood. I mean, it almost looks like a mosquito-esque creature. just gigantic and is like literally sucking the life out of the horses. The horse is laying there screaming.

Random  05:29

Georg. Forest. Go now.

Tyler  05:31

Forst. Yep. Yes, I grab my pack and just book it.

Randall  05:37

Okay, awesome. So you have your packs. You run into the woods. Roll, both of you roll perception for me.

Tyler  05:43

Not great. Seven.

Random  05:47

I’m gonna stick with my passive 15

Randall  05:50

Passive of 15. Great. Okay, you… Good. You see a goat in the distance.

Tyler  05:57

Oh, okay.

Random  05:57

When you say “in the distance” is that in the direction we’re heading or the direction we’re fleeing from?

Randall  06:01

Yeah, that’s good. So you come off the road, you basically come up over the ditch. And you see in the clearing, there’s a goat laying on the ground.

Tyler  06:09

So goat is down. This isn’t like a goat standing in front of us. Okay.

Randall  06:12

That’s right.

Tyler  06:13

Run around the goat. Quick Look at the goat. What is the status of our goat friend?

Randall  06:19

As you run around the goat, the goat stands up onto its back legs and raises an axe above its head.

Random  06:25

What?

Randall  06:27

It looks at you and screams “Order must fall!” Hurls the axe. Jack, make a dexterity saving throw.

Tyler  06:34

Okay…

Random  06:34

I would love to do that.

Tyler  06:37

Oh, wait, I’m not Jack.

Random  06:38

You’re not Jack. 24.

Randall  06:43

Okay, good. You’re able to dodge out of the way as the axe goes flying over your head. You continue to run. Make a perception check for me.

Tyler  06:55

Five?

Randall  06:56

Good.

Random  06:58

23.

Tyler  06:59

Thank you.

Randall  06:59

23. Okay, you notice in front of you, there is a bog of some sort. And you’re concerned about your ability to make it safely through. What do you do?

Tyler  07:09

I’m in full plate…

Random  07:11

Does it look like it extends very far? It, like, could we skirt it to one side?

Randall  07:15

You believe that you could skirt it over to the right.

Random  07:18

Perfect. Right. Go.

Randall  07:21

So you’re once again you save Gerog’s life, you get them around. As you fly… as you flee deeper into the forest. You see the silhouette of a village dancing in the streets as finally the sun is kind of set and you find yourself running in the dark. A boy holds a torch out in front of him. “Over here” he yells. You fight through the underbrush feeling as if the trees themselves are seeking to restrain you. You hear the bleeting of the creature pursuing you as you approach the small huts on the exterior of the village. You feel the hot, wet breath of your pursuer on the back of your neck as you come across… some magical barrier. You look around to find that the boy that saved you is gone.

Random  07:56

Slap slap slap.

Tyler  07:57

Describe to me this barrier. Like… invisible wall?

Randall  08:02

Basically walk through something and as you did you almost had like a flash of blue in your brain. And now that you’re through it, you don’t see anything. You don’t see anything behind you. There’s nothing that you can touch. So yeah, what do you do?

Random  08:15

So, you said the boy is gone. But we’re, I mean, the town is still a town. Like there’s still buildings?

Randall  08:20

That that’s right. You’re basically, like, there’s a hut in front of you and it’s backlit. Your view would be there’s like probably some central fire or something that’s causing all the illumination that you do see

Random  08:30

Any other inhabitants immediately visible?

Randall  08:32

That’s a great question. So as you’re looking and you’re getting your bearings put together from each side of the nearby building men and women begin to approach some carry torches, backlighting each other’s silhouettes. But what you really see is kind of the dark side of of all of these folks coming towards you with torches held aloft. They’re wielding farming implements as weapons and while you doubt the skill of the artisan where the maintenance of the tools you do not doubt the sharpness of the blade or the pain that they would inflict.

Random  08:59

I will, uh…

Randall  09:00

Behind you, the demons have started to gather at the edge. Just out of reach where they can’t quite reach to you.

Tyler  09:08

Okay, so the the people are inside the barrier, the demons are outside the barrier, and we’re at the barrier in between the two of them.

Randall  09:15

Yes, you’re on the good, not-demon side.

09:19

I’ll slick back my hair, step forward, offer out a hand.

09:24

I think there’s gonna be some misunderstanding, but I’m very grateful for your town for saving us. I don’t quite know what happened to the little boy who did so but my name is Jack. This is my brother. I don’t think that there’s any need for violence here. We barely made it through whatever’s keeping these horrible things out, so, thank you very much, and we’re we’re just looking to try and pass through here.

Randall  09:52

The entire time that you’re giving that speech. The men and the women are getting closer and closer to you, edging you towards…

Tyler  09:59

I put my shield on nice step in front of Jack.

Random  10:02

pPlease excuse my brother. He is… weary.

Tyler  10:06

I’m clad in full plate and short on options.

10:11

He is very wary of others, we have had an interesting upbringing. Is there someone here who leads you?

Randall  10:19

They keep gettin closer?

Random  10:21

As I look at them, does there seem to be anything inherently wrong with them? Do they just look like people carrying torches or?

Randall  10:29

Yeah, roll me… roll me an insight check. You can both roll an insight check?

Random  10:34

I will certainly…

Tyler  10:38

Jeese. 5.

Random  10:41

Wow, okay, well, my third consecutive 19 on the dice. So 20… 20.

Randall  10:48

You, you are fairly certain that these people are not hearing or listening to anything that you say. There’s no reaction, there’s no eye contact, all the signs that you tend to expect from intelligent folks are just not there. As they’re approaching brandishing their weapons.

Tyler  11:05

We… we can only see like their silhouettes and stuff, right? Like, there’s, they’re holding torches towards the back. So we can’t really see their faces very well?

Randall  11:12

I mean, yeah, there’s a few torches up and so you can see a view faces throughout the space.

Tyler  11:17

Okay.

Randall  11:18

Do you either do either of you have darkvision? Suppose I should have known that before we started?

Tyler  11:24

I do not.

Random  11:25

I am reasonably certain.I also do not because bringing darkvision into a horror game is silly.

Randall  11:31

It’s a little cheating. Yeah. Okay, good. So I said what I said then, there are some faces that you can see by the illuminated torch light. And this is of course, where you see the dead eyes not registering anything you say. And then the entire body language for the folks that are coming close to you. And they’re inching closer and closer. Closer…

Tyler  11:51

I’m thinking bolt to the right.

Random  11:52

Good.

Tyler  11:54

I gesture once to the right and then just immediately run.

Randall  11:57

As you start to do this, you hear a loud booming voice scream, “stop!” It’s an effeminate voice. Feminine voice, I should say. The men and women begin to make way. And as finally they part to make a path. A short woman approaches you. And as you look closer, you realize that she’s probably no older than 16, maybe even 14 years old. And she, you know, as she gets closer, repeats herself.

Young Woman’s Voice  12:33

“Stop. How have you found your way to our village?”

Random  12:36

We were guided here seeking to recover something from our father.

Young Woman’s Voice  12:42

“Your father…?”

Random  12:43

The map showed this place. Yes, our father. Malikai.

Young Woman’s Voice  12:48

Your father left something in this place?

Random  12:50

That is perhaps the best way to interpret his dying words. Yes.

Young Woman’s Voice  12:54

Well, that’s… It’s simply not possible. If your father had been here, then he would still be here.

Tyler  13:00

Well that’s ominous. What do you mean?

Young Woman’s Voice  13:03

No one leaves. You just approached. You saw… I know that you saw what you come through

Randall  13:10

and gestures to all the demons standing on the other side looking at you as if you’re standing in a zoo.

Young Woman’s Voice  13:15

This is not a place that you can simply come and go. If your father had ever been here, he would still be here. Or he would be dead.

Random  13:24

Jack, do you remember Malikai having, like, magic? Like…

Randall  13:29

No.

Tyler  13:29

The ability to teleport? I guess that’s the same thing….

Random  13:32

No.

Tyler  13:32

No? Okay.

Random  13:34

Our… Our father was quite old. He was half-elven and lived much longer than one would expect of a human and therefore maybe this is before… Whatever you remember, but…

Young Woman’s Voice  13:53

No, no. This is always how it has been here. And this is how it will continue to be until order is restored.

Randall  14:02

Roll insight.

Tyler  14:05

9?

Random  14:09

There we go.

Randall  14:10

Tyler, maybe, maybe don’t roll.

Random  14:13

I’m again going to go with my passive of 12.

Randall  14:16

Passive of 12… She seems like a stern woman. You know, you had very little education growing up, but reminds you of like every teacher that you’ve ever met, in the insistence in the voice of like, I am correct. You, you completely recognize.

Random  14:36

I’ll definitely want to talk about that in a moment. “What is your name, which will be calling you?”

Celia  14:41

I am Celia

Random  14:44

Celia. I don’t know if you heard earlier, but I’m Jack. This is my brother Georg.

Celia  14:49

Welcome, Jack.

Random  14:50

Thank you.

Celia  14:51

Georg.

Tyler  14:52

Celia, are you… are you in charge?

Randall  14:54

You ask that question. She stands up just a little straighter and makes even like more determined eye contact and says,

Celia  15:01

Yes I am.

Tyler  15:02

What’s the, like, height difference between her and the people around her?

Randall  15:05

like a solid… to a lot of the folk eight or nine inches, and to some it’s closer to like 16 inches or so.

Tyler  15:13

Okay, so she’s shorter than the mob of people with pitchforks.

Randall  15:17

Yeah, and you are reasonably certain that you’ve guessed her age correctly.

Tyler  15:22

I look at Jack quizzically, but that’s all I’ve got.

Randall  15:25

Okay.

Random  15:25

Celia, how is it that the people here listen to you without so much as responding to either of us?

Celia  15:40

I think…

Randall  15:41

and then kind of, there’s a moment of doubt, you can hear her voice and then she stands up a little straighter.

Celia  15:45

I think it is not right to discuss this at this moment. Suffice it to say that we take care of these folks. And these folks take care of us in kind. And we await for the return of order.

Random  15:59

You say we, so there are more people here who will talk.

Randall  16:05

Just as you asked that a small boy actually kind of runs up from behind. He could be, like, no older than 10. I mean, he’s a child. Approach from behind and kind of like tugs a little bit to get her to turn around and talk to him. And says

Young Boy’s Voice  16:19

Thomas had a moment. We, we brought him to await order.

Randall  16:22

Celia turns and looks and says

Celia  16:24

We will discuss this later as you can see

Randall  16:26

kind of gestures towards you

Celia  16:28

As you can see, we have guests.

Randall  16:30

The boy looks very surprised to see you.

Young Boy’s Voice  16:33

How’d they wander all the way here?

Random  16:36

Chased by flying things. It’ll be a good story sometime.

Randall  16:40

And the moment you start speaking, just *gasp noice* and looks up at Celia, and Celia just chews them away just no more words, just get out of here, and he books it. Like, he takes off running.

Random  16:53

Celia, if I’m to understand you, we will be here for some long period of time until this order you’re talking about is restored. Perhaps it might be best if we were to sit down and have this conversation in a more pleasant manner? Grab some food around that fire?

Celia  17:12

Um, we… we are getting ready to gather for our nightly rituals. And so… no, but I can promise you will not be uncomfortable here for very long. I can only… welcome you to rest in in one of the homes that we have available.

Randall  17:39

That is kind. Thank you. And… and just to be sure, where is here?

Celia  17:50

What would you do if I gave you a name? Would you would you mark it on your map?

Tyler  17:54

Yes. Yes.

Celia  17:56

Would you whisper in your sleep at night?

Tyler  17:58

Maybe less that one.

Celia  18:00

You’ve come to your death. That’s where you’ve arrived. And at this

Tyler  18:04

I write that on the map.

Randall  18:06

At this she turns to one of one of the adults around her and says

Celia  18:12

Sarah bring them to the home.

Randall  18:18

And, right, all the adults kind of scatter. You see them each kind of going off to one of the huts that’s in the village. One woman approaches you, basically looks at you and then turns around and begins walking away.

Random  18:34

Thank you Sarah. Frantically grab Georg’s arm and Drag him. Follow her.

Tyler  18:44

This is super weird.

Random  18:47

So you follow Sarah to the to the hut that she brings you to?

Tyler  18:51

Yeah.

Random  18:52

Awesome. So she walks you inside. She looks around for a moment and just leaves you in the room. And then comes back a few moments later with a couple, like, bundles of wood under each arm and tosses them by the fireplace, and then walks out and shuts the door behind her. Thank you, good luck with the ritual.

Tyler  19:14

Okay, describe to me the interior of this hut.

Randall  19:18

I would absolutely love to. There are absolutely no windows and it is completely pitch black.

Tyler  19:25

Okay, well… Just the one door?

Randall  19:28

Just the one door.

Random  19:29

Okay, I guess I light the fireplace.

Randall  19:39

Okay, so you scramble a bit. Let’s say it takes you a little bit given how dark it is in the room. But you do eventually get the fire lit. And now the entire room is illuminated by fires. The entire room, and of course you noticed this when it was dark. It has like a sense of staleness, as if it was wet for a long time or the windows were left open for a long time, and it’s never really been properly aired back out. As you touch things there are, there’s a large bed in the room. But as you touch it, you can actually feel the dust kind of sits off of it and shake shake away. There’s a bookcase in the room. And in the bookcase, there’s lots of books, you can see like stacked rough papers, certainly not in any kind of order. They’re kind of scattered and all mish-mashed as if almost all of them had just been tossed there as an afterthought, as opposed to it had ever really been, you know, someone’s personal library or anything of the sort. And then there’s typical, you know, comfort things. So there is next to the fire, there’s actually like an old-fashioned fireplace stove, where you would burn wood into the fireplace, and then there’s a cooking surface on top of it. This is actually set off separately from the actual fireplace. There’s a desk to sit at, there are chairs and a small table. These sorts of things. So you could tell that at one point, this was a reasonably livable, comfortable space.

Tyler  21:07

And is there anything in here like lanterns or candles or anything like that? Or is the only light source the fireplace?

Randall  21:14

You do find some candles by the bedside.

Tyler  21:17

So it seems like somebody lived here a while ago. Weird, okay. So if the house is empty, but somebody was living here, that means whoever lived here either left or died.

Random  21:29

That is of course the way of things. Your eloquence astounds m, brother.

Tyler  21:33

Ah, well, I mean, they left or they died, and no one moved in.

Random  21:39

If Celia is to be believed, I wouldn’t expect a lot of people to be coming here to move in. Honestly, Celia being so innately commanding of these people is a little bit odd. And I wonder if perhaps these notes might tell us anything about it. And I’ll head over and start leafing through the stuff in the bookcase.

Randall  22:07

and what are what are you looking for?

Random  22:09

Anything not immediately bound. Because that’s, to me, that’s… I’m looking for things that are like letters, or anything like mad rambling. But I’m starting with the not bound stuff because that’s going to be really easy to sift through just like, is this a grocery list or is this a letter?

Randall  22:38

Okay, cool.

Tyler  22:39

Like a diary maybe?

Randall  22:42

I’m gonna say, Jack, roll me an investigation check with advantage because you have quite some time to do this search.

Random  22:52

Okay, 12 on the die… and, 13.

Randall  22:58

Okay, 13 total. As you’er you’re part of the way through your investigation as you’re searching you you hear something outside and say your passive perception is enough that you just pick this up. You hear something that’s not quite understandable but then you you hear almost like a callback. “Order is coming”. lots of tiny children’s voices chanting. “Order is coming. Order is coming. Order is coming.” and then finally louder than all of them

Loud Voice  23:29

Order will be restored.

Random  23:34

Do I recognize Celia’s voice for that latter one?

Randall  23:37

No, it was all of the voices together were chanting each of these things.

Tyler  23:42

Okay

Random  23:43

Just look at Georg… Want to go watch a ritual?

Randall  23:47

Well…

Tyler  23:48

How often do you get to see a cult of children?

Random  23:51

Not since… what was it for us, 15 years ago?

Tyler  23:55

You and I remember Father very differently.

Randall  23:57

So as you continue to sift through the books, I can only say you strike gold. You find a journal with Malikai’s sigil written on it. So the entire front is is like a leather bound. Emblazoned on it is is the sigil.

Tyler  24:20

I’m just going to take the tiniest peek out the front door to see if there’s anybody listening right outside.

Randall  24:25

Okay, you attempt to open the door and the door appears to be barred shut.

Tyler  24:30

Oh. Well, let’s say for triple boring it from the inside, I guess.

Randall  24:35

Did it?

Tyler  24:36

I don’t know. Okay, well what’s in that book?

Randall  24:41

Do either of you read or speak elvish?

Random  24:45

I am reasonably certain I made sure that I…

Tyler  24:48

I definitely don’t

Randall  24:57

Common… bottom left I, i think it says Common and Sylvic.

Random  25:00

Oh, no, it only does say Common and Sylvan. You are correct.

Randall  25:03

Silvan, not Sylvic. So, okay. Unfortunately, most of the book is not legible to you. But as you flip through, you find something about three quarters of the way through written in common. And as you read it, you get the feeling that it’s probably a prepared speech. It says, you can hear it in your father’s voice.

Malakai  25:26

I know not what this devil wants from us. But it surely is not our salvation against the demon attacks that come to us each night. I’m not wise, not truly. But there is poison in this pact’s words. I call for all of us with some sense to us to reject this pact. Come with me to ourselves today. For I fear what what hell will come to our children and theirs.

Random  25:50

Oh, dad. Well, you tried. So he was here. And seems like the people in this town made a deal with the devil. It looks like they’re at least getting their end of the deal not being eaten by all the demons outside. But I think that what’s going on here is probably… probably going to be pretty intense.

Randall  26:29

Yeah, so there’s, there’s a couple of things I want to tell you about the journal. At the front of the journal, which you glanced at, but now you go and you look harder. There appears to be a map, and written above the map is one word, which reads in common as Port Averna?

Tyler  26:49

Does the location look similar to where we are?

Randall  26:54

It does, and then roll me a, I’m gonna say a history or in our arcana check. Dealer’s choice. Or if I’m the dealer, it’s your choice, whatever.

Tyler  27:05

1.

Random  27:06

I well, okay, it’s a 19.

Randall  27:09

Okay, pretty good, pretty good. So not that you pay particularly close attention to demons or devils or anything of the sort. But you do… You you, you can’t help but recognize the similarity between a Averna and Avernus. And you look on the map, and you notice that there are three gates drawn on the map. Two of them appear to be in town. You recognize one to be the sigil of Malakai. You’re not sure what the other two sigils are, but they each have a sigil drawn by them. And the third one seems to be outside of town. And then finally, in the last page of the journal that’s filled, there’s written in kind of a broken common and words are all misspelled. And it’s very strange to read.

Malakai  28:03

I have two eyes and one is left before me. With my eyes that I have left behind, I’ve left a gift for the children.

Tyler  28:11

All right, well.

Randall  28:15

I’ll read that back to you. I just we need to throughout don’t, uh..

Random  28:20

No, I think we’re looking for, uh, some gates. I think we’re looking for dad’s eye. I think it’s gonna be where he lost it.

Tyler  28:30

Do we? Do we remember anything about Malikai having weird eyes?

Randall  28:34

No, no, that’s great. And I like that a lot. Malakai had two perfectly normal eyes. They seem to work perfectly fine. I mean, you got away with some stuff. But yeah, that’s life. You were happy with the amount of watching that happened. A few things that Malakai always talked about: So he actually made clothes. That was his profession. He was also a cobbler from time to time. So tailor, cobbler, that sort of thing. And he had a certain love for it. But he always talked about how much he missed his wife that this is something that he had learned to do with his wife, but that he had lost her and he didn’t talk much about her. Because he said that it hurt too much.

Tyler  29:00

So I’m gonna take a stab in the dark here. Maybe mom lived here. And I’m going to take another stab in the dark here. I’m thinking there’s a needle joke in here somewhere. Joke isn’t right, but you get my drift.

Random  29:44

That would sound like dad.

Randall  29:49

Sometimes something like this, dads love dad jokes.

Tyler  29:52

Sure do.

Randall  29:53

As you’re pondering this, there’s a… next to the fireplace. There’s almost like a gate. And I’m sorry I didn’t mention this before, but it’s the type of thing that you use to open to reach firewood from outside. If this makes sense.

Tyler  30:12

I didn’t know that that was the thing.

Randall  30:14

No, that’s totally a thing. Yeah. So basically, you can shut it from the inside, you can actually lock it from the inside. But you could go outdoors, you can load all your firewood on the side of your house. And then during the course of the winter, you can just open it and grab some wood in and then close it again.

Tyler  30:27

Well, that’s convenient. Okay.

Randall  30:28

Right? I mean, if you if you are living with a wood fire heated home, not having to go outside and freeze to get your wood sounds great. And it is convenient that this home has this because all of a sudden, it pops open. And the boy that was waving at you earlier, fairly certain this is him. And he says,

Young Boy’s Voice  30:53

“Hey, I’m glad you made it.”

Tyler  30:56

I grab him by his shirt and drag him into the room.

Young Boy’s Voice  30:59

No, no, no.

Randall  31:02

But, right, do you let him go? Or do you continue to hold them?

Tyler  31:05

No, I let them go once he’s in the room, but I close the thing.

Randall  31:08

Okay. All right. So you close the thing. He stands up and he’s brushing off his shirt. And he’s like

Young Boy’s Voice  31:12

You guys were coming in hot!

Random  31:14

Yeah, sorry about my brother. We were being chased by a lot of scary stuff.

Young Boy’s Voice  31:21

I think some fire’s exactly what this… this. This… This place needs. Wow. Okay, so you’re, you’re not from here, but you’re here now. And I think that’s great. Are you, uh, are you gonna, uh, you’re here?

Random  31:39

We’re definitely here. And it sounds like you guys are trying to restore order. So that you might leave? And if that’s what we need to do to leave?

Young Boy’s Voice  31:49

No, I don’t, I don’t I don’t know if restoring order is the right idea. I don’t… I don’t think that order should come. I don’t, I don’t think so. What are, what are you going to do?

Tyler  32:07

What is order?

Young Boy’s Voice  32:18

Order protects this village. We have to follow order. And if we do not follow order, then the village will fall.

Tyler  32:35

Got it. Order protects the village. Okay. In a much more real and perhaps much stupider sense, what is Order? Like, what is it? Is this the concept of order? Is this the the verbal type of instruction, order? Or is order a thing?

Young Boy’s Voice  33:07

Absolutely.

Tyler  33:10

That’s… simultaneously informative, but not.

Young Boy’s Voice  33:14

So, what’s your plan?

Tyler  33:15

 Sorry, what was the plan? Well, we’re…

Random  33:22

We came here looking for our father’s greatest treasure.

Young Boy’s Voice  33:26

Oh, oof. You weren’t the favorites were ya?

Random  33:34

We were the ones that were by the side when he went. Maybe that’s all we had going for us. But with that said, Celia said that no one can leave here. Is that because people try to leave and get attacked by those things outside? Or do you even know Has anyone tried in your memory?

Young Boy’s Voice  34:03

People… People get sent out there from time to time. And that’s, that’s something. You, you have, to you have to obey and follow. If you, if you fall out of order out there and then, then it’s just bones. Yeah, I don’t. So yeah, um, they’ll, if you go, they’ll, they’ll get you but I, we have to… you have to see the gate.

Tyler  34:41

Sweet, I was gonna ask him to take us to a gate. Cool.

Young Boy’s Voice  34:44

Okay. Let’s, let’s, let’s go. Okay. Alright, so what we’re gonna do, we’re gonna I’m going to open this and then we’re gonna…

Tyler  34:57

I looked down at the suit of full plate that I’m wearing.

Random  35:02

I’ll do my best. Give me however long the rules say it takes to take off full plate. I start disrobing in front of a child apparently. I’m going to switch to my backup armor, which is the largest kind of medium armor that doesn’t impose disadvantage.

Randall  35:21

Good, good, good, good. So you’re you’re adjust appropriately when we get to that point. I think that’s fantastic.

Tyler  35:28

Yeah.

Randall  35:29

All right. So yeah,

Random  35:31

15 few minutes later.

Randall  35:34

Quite literally. The boy opens the way he came, he sneaks out. What order do you come out behind him?

Random  35:44

I’ll head out.

Randall  35:46

Okay.

Random  35:46

I’ll try and be sneaky about it. I can keep an eye on him.

Tyler  35:51

I will do the same. Pulling up the rear.

Randall  35:55

He sneaks around basically the dark side of every hut and watches very carefully as he runs back and forth. You don’t see anybody outside. Roll me a stealth check both of you. *the sound of dice* That was not stealthy.

Tyler  36:14

20.

Randall  36:16

NIce.

Tyler  36:16

I finally rolled well on something. Good, good, good.

Random  36:22

21.

Randall  36:23

Okay, perfect. So let’s say with those stealth rolls, you actually managed to sneak all the way through and basically brings you around like a quarter of the huts in the village and then finally brings you closer to the heart of the center. And you find what is a single room, it almost, like, it’s a little bit larger than an outhouse. And if you spent much time in the mountains or in like mining villages, you would actually recognize it as the opening to a mineshaft. And so, the door, the boy opens the door and begins to descend down the slope. Do you follow?

Tyler  37:04

Did the kid have a light source?

Randall  37:07

No.

Tyler  37:08

What? Wait, I should ask because this is a world with races with darkvision. What race is this child?

Randall  37:18

He looks like a little human boy.

Tyler  37:20

Okay, I real quick. Did we get his name?

Randall  37:25

No.

Tyler  37:27

Hey kid, what’s your name?

Young Boy’s Voice  37:30

Come on, we’re going.

Randall  37:31

and just starts walking off into the darkness.

Tyler  37:35

I light a torch.

Randall  37:37

Okay, and conveniently like you there are torches hanging on the interior of the mine. Hut. There’s a better word for this. So yeah, you get in there, you’re able to shut the door, get them late. And you look down the kids already like 200 yards in front of you. It’s like well, well beyond. So you catch up to him. And as soon as it flat flattens out, you begin to recognize that surely this was once a mine by the way that it was carved. But as you look now it’s also doubling duty of catacombs.

Tyler  38:15

Great. So like coffins, or…

Randall  38:18

To your left and to your right, at kind of three high, 1, 2, 3. There are carvings into the side of the wall and there are tombs. There are coffins, I should say. Some of the gaps are empty, perhaps waiting to be filled. And some sections are fuller than another as you continue to walk on the way. You’re occasionally finding intersections. And you quickly get the feeling this is laid out in kind of a grid of sorts. That it was almost carved out with lots and lots of like perpendicular lines and parallel lines. Okay. Some of the coffins above them are labeled in common with names that you like would know and recognize. Dome of them are in scripts that you can certainly recognize but you can’t necessarily read. some of them are simply marked with sigils. And the boy says you know

Young Boy’s Voice  39:12

Comr, come this way!

Randall  39:13

and starts to lead you and is moving faster and faster. And, you know, takes a left and then starts to kind of jog. Do you continue to follow?

Tyler  39:25

Yeah.

Random  39:26

Certainly the best best choice so far. I will be keeping an eye on the sigils is just to see if I catch sight of either of the other two that were in that journal.

Tyler  39:38

Or if we seek out… any sigil we recognize, really.

Randall  39:44

Do this for me: Make a perception check.  20. Natural 20, or…

Tyler  39:52

20.

Randall  39:55

Total.  Okay. It still look cool roll. I liked it.

Random  40:00

Hey, your eyes are better than mine.

Randall  40:02

Okay, cool. For this one, it’s the toch light, he spends a lot of time. You’re you’re trying to keep an eye out, you’re looking around, but you’re following following the boy. And he keeps picking up speed. And it’s left and then it’s right. And then I, probably another right you think but you’re a little confused at this point. And the whole time you’re trying to keep in the back of your mind. Like, where did we come from? Like what is kind of the origin and as long as you could keep that, as you get, you know, twisted in turn, do you think that you’re going to be able to keep it straight. And you realize eventually like, no, you have lost it and right when you are aboutto scream out to he boy, like, “stop!” for fear that you’re never gonna find a way out of here. All of a sudden you thought you come to door.

Tyler  40:52

Where’s the kid?

Randall  40:53

The kid is there. The kid standing by the door.

Tyler  40:54

Oh, okay.

Randall  40:54

so you come to a door and a kid.

Tyler  40:57

Okay,

Random  40:58

Great long chase you les us down. What”s buried all the way down here?

Randall  41:04

The kid says

Young Boy’s Voice  41:05

The gate.

Randall  41:06

Lifts the bar, pushes the door open, and standing in front of you is a swirling portal etched into the stone itself. Red and black, like dancing almost as if it’s oil and water embedded into the wall, or perhaps oil and blood and just swirling and swirling. Roll me an arcana check.

Tyler  41:43

Amazingly, succeed.

Randall  41:45

That’s pretty good. So we’ll go we’ll tell the characters what your meta already knows. This appears to be a literal gate to hell.

Tyler  41:56

Boy.

Randall  41:57

and in fact you can see as you start to focus on it, you can actually see creatures on the other side. And you can see a very large devil in particular with full hornss that curl almost back up to the point of touching. Wearing, like, a leather vest and you’re not quite sure what the letter came from but it still gives you the creeps to see him wearing it. You would guess at least like nine foot tall. Is kind of hunched over, muscles like breaking out of its arms as it’s, you know, not facing you but kind of turned to the side giving you a profile view. Looking at something on the wall and you have some concern that perhaps it’s going to be coming towards you soon.

Random  42:57

Real quick, I’ll ask the boy “do you know how far this mine goes? Is this outside of town? And you know, I’ll open up the map in dad’s journal. Does thos symbol mean anything you?

Young Boy’s Voice  43:15

Haha, nope, I can’t read! This is, uh, this is the dead center of town. This is the heart of this town.

Tyler  43:23

Cool. And there are three gates on the map, right? Which one did he lead us to?

Randall  43:28

I mean you you don’t know but there were two in town and the boy is telling you that this one is actually directly underneath town.

Random  43:36

Okay.

Randall  43:38

You look over again. And you see the the devil is now facing opposite towards you but it’s gesturing.

Tyler  43:46

To us or…?

Randall  43:48

No, to something in the distance that you can’t quite see that it’s occluding but kind of calling it towards it. Which is also calling whatever it’s calling through the gate and towards you.

Tyler  43:59

I raise my hand and just kind of way that the portal.

Randall  44:05

The motion is enough to catch the eye.

Tyler  44:10

Oh, well I regret that now.

Randall  44:13

The creature turns towards you and you hear a booming *sound of laughter*

Tyler  44:15

I’m gonna close that door. I regret coming here. I regret these choices. I regret coming into this basement.

Randall  44:25

So you you close the door and then what?

Tyler  44:29

Kid have seen that thing before?

Young Boy’s Voice  44:31

I have. Order coming.

Tyler  44:34

Is that order?

Young Boy’s Voice  44:36

Yes.

Tyler  44:37

Okay, see that’s… that’s what I was asking about earlier. So, we got there eventually, but oh my god. We’re gonna bar the door while I talk to this small child. Does it come through? Like, when you say it’s coming? Does that happen? Has it happened before?

Young Boy’s Voice  44:58

Yes.

Randall  45:00

And then the boy takes off. And you know that you came in with like a right turn meaning you would expect to be taking a left to get out of here. The boy goes straight.

Tyler  45:11

I chase him.

Random  45:17

I have I have to follow.

Tyler  45:19

Yeah, I’ve got the light. Alright, so

Randall  45:21

So you begin to chase him. You get, like, he skips one turn. He skips another turn. He cuts down the other side. Righ as he cuts down the other side, you noticed on the wall next to where he’s turned Malikai’s sigil.

Random  45:39

As I’m running up to it, I’ll take a quick look around. See if there’s anything besides the sigil there that he was trying to give.

Randall  45:47

There’s a coffin underneath.

Tyler  45:49

Oh, okay. I stop.

Randall  45:52

What do you do?

Tyler  45:54

I look at Jack, and then gesture to the coffin.

Random  45:58

I suppose we took things from weirder places. I’ll, uh, you know, I’m not gonna be much help here. Can you bring that down here?

Tyler  46:09

Do you want to hold this torch? Yeah, I hand Jack the torch. I put away my shield. How, like, how high off the ground is this coffin?

Randall  46:17

It’s basically waist high for you.

Tyler  46:19

Okay. And is there enough clearance above it to just open it where it is? Or do I need to haul it out of the wall?

Randall  46:25

No, you think you’d be able to crack, like you wouldn’t… There’s a two foot of clearance above it.

Tyler  46:31

Okay, that’s enough to get a good peek. Yeah, I’ll, I’ll try and pop the top on this thing and get a peek inside.

Randall  46:38

What you find on the interior are the mummified remains of some humanoid with long hair. And you think maybe, just maybe this might be a half-elf.

Tyler  46:50

Okay.

Randall  46:51

Wrapped in the hands of the mummified creature is a scroll.

Tyler  46:58

I very delicately take the scroll.

Randall  47:00

Okay.

Tyler  47:01

Just like, I, eyes locked on the face of this person. Just just mutter mutter to myself. “I’m so sorry. I’m so sorry.”

Randall  47:10

Roll me a dexterity check.

Tyler  47:13

Just that, okay. Uh, 15.

Randall  47:15

Sleight of Hand would also be could be a… 15’s great.

Tyler  47:18

Same thing. I’m not proficient.

Randall  47:20

Yeah, so you manage to slide it out without narry disturbing a bone. And you’re now holding a scroll. And you feel the ground shaking underneath you.

Tyler  47:33

That’s not what you want. Okay. How shaking are we talking?

Randall  47:40

Visible vibration. Not enough that you’re worried you’re about to be in a cave-in. But certainly you feel as if something is getting closer to you.

Random  47:47

I know we are lost.

Tyler  47:49

That’s great.

Random  47:49

I think the best bet is still follow that kid. We know that he took a turn. We have no idea how else he’s making it through down here. He probably just spends all this time down here, but still. That’s at least further away.

Tyler  48:03

Can I perception? See if I hear the kid? Okay, 21. Do I hear the child?

Randall  48:10

That’s, that is a wonderful roll. I want you to also make a wisdom saving throw for me as well.

Tyler  48:17

Oh… 14.

Randall  48:21

So you hear a voice in the distance. And it doesn’t sound quite right.

Random  48:32

Do I also hear that?

Randall  48:33

Yeah, you do, you hear that? You know, “come on, come play!” So you took the left that you knew you needed to take. It appears to be coming from another left.

Tyler  48:42

It’s kind of hard to sneak around with a torch.

Random  48:45

I think the best we can do is to just head back roughly the opposite direction from the gate. Let’s just keep running. I take a moment to read the scroll.

Tyler  49:02

Yeah, okay. I’m gonna… I take another torch, light it, and just throw it down the longest hallway I can.

Randall  49:12

Okay.

Tyler  49:12

Like, just get some distance on that thing. And then yeah, quick jog.

Randall  49:18

Yeah. Awesome. Okay. No, I know. I understand. So I want to make sure that I understand you. You throw that torch to be a distraction in the direction you don’t go. Okay, cool. I got that makes perfect sense to me. You hear

Young Boy’s Voice  49:32

No, turn this way!

Random  49:34

Yes, I know. Thank you.

Randall  49:36

And you keep moving, keep moving.

Random  49:39

Keep running straight. Really just trying to get a little bit of distance trying to read whatever that scroll was.

Randall  49:46

And then you you hear Celia’s voice off in the distance.

Celia  49:51

You’re going to be lost down here.

Tyler  49:53

Interesting.

Random  49:55

Okay…

Randall  49:56

So you recognize it pretty quickly as a scroll of interplanar travel.

Random  50:03

Georg I know what this does. It will take us somewhere else. I don’t have a lot of information about where it will take us. But I can guarantee that it won’t be earth.

Tyler  50:18

Okay, so I’m thinking somewhere else would be really nice right now.

Random  50:24

Hold my hand. But…

Tyler  50:28

Oh boy, I was gonna say keep it in your back pocket. Okay? Are we doing this? We’re doing this.

Randall  50:33

And just as you go to read the scroll in anger this time, all of a sudden, the torch doesn’t go out. It just stops making light.

Tyler  50:50

Okay.

Randall  50:51

And you are left in complete darkness.

Tyler  50:54

Can you still read that thing in the dark?

Random  50:56

No. But, you know, uh…

Randall  51:02

You hear in the distance again, Celia saying,

Celia  51:05

You’re going to be lost down here.

Randall  51:09

All of a sudden, you feel something, Jack. You feel something just run into you and just wrap its arms around you.

Random  51:17

Thanks for coming back.

Tyler  51:19

We’re putting a bell on this kid. Kid, can you see the torch?

Randall  51:24

You hear the boy’s voice?

Young Boy’s Voice  51:27

I thought I lost you. Come on, guys. It’s, it’s this way.

Random  51:32

Okay.

Tyler  51:33

Is the torch… Is the torch still warm?

Young Boy’s Voice  51:36

No, it’s ah, it’s real dark down here.

Tyler  51:39

Okay.

Young Boy’s Voice  51:40

I can’t see anything. We should go.

Random  51:43

Sure lead the way kid. Just. We can’t see it. So do you

Randall  51:47

Do you try to reach out to it? Yeah, you still feel the warmth.

Tyler  51:50

Yeah, in this situation? Yes.

Randall  51:53

Okay, ah, let’s, let’s hold hands and you feel a hand grab your hand and it feels humanoid. That’s really comforting view. Small, small, it feels small and humanoid. Best best case possible, right? And then so yeah, you’re starting to get led out and start. You need to let out and then you hear again from behind you the boy’s voice. You know.

Young Boy’s Voice  52:12

Don’t go away.

Randall  52:14

And the boy holding your hand is

Young Boy’s Voice  52:16

Ignore that. That’s not me. We have to keep going forward.

Tyler  52:19

Jack, help me out here.

Random  52:21

There’s no good answer here, brother.

Randall  52:23

You have no idea. And you’re terrified of the thought of which is real.

Random  52:32

This one is…

Tyler  52:33

Just help me out here jack.

Random  52:35

This one is at least something I couldn’t touch and that makes me trusted a little bit more.

Tyler  52:40

Okay.

Randall  52:41

Georg, is it… something hits you straight in the chest.

Tyler  52:47

Oh hey, I’m real good at those.

Randall  52:51

And you feel as if something’s trying to wrap its arms around you make me a strength check.

Tyler  52:59

I’m real bad at those. 8.

Randall  53:01

Okay, you are grappled to the ground. And you drop the torch.

Tyler  53:07

Aw, crud. Oh boy. And we still can’t see.

Randall  53:12

You still cannot see.

Random  53:14

Do I feel the sudden rip out of my hand of Georg’s hand?

Randall  53:19

You do.

Random  53:20

Hey, kid stop a second. We lost my brother.

Tyler  53:25

I grunt. It got me!

Randall  53:29

All of a sudden the light from the torch comes back up. You can see again. There is this creature. More, like, more horns and thorns than creature proper. Almost like with an exoskeleton-like exterior about the size of a dog sitting on top of Georg with his arms pinned. And he turns to look at you, and of course he’s completely… he turns to look at you, Jack. He’s completely backlit, so the entire front of his body is all in shadow. Except for his eyes are glowing at you and like a fiery bright green like they’re emeralds just staring daggers into your soul. And then it looks at you and says in Georg’s voice “help me, Jack, helped me!”

Tyler  54:26

I look at Jack. Yes, help me, but don’t listen to that thinh!

Randall  54:31

And it it laughs in Georg’s voice. Roll me a strength check with disadvantage, Jack.

Random  54:40

If I get you a double-digit number, we’re going to clap because that would be a surprise. No, it’s 5.

Randall  54:48

Okay, well, good. If I had said roll it straight load would have been.

Random  54:54

An 11.

Randall  54:55

Okay, yeah, no, not great. Either way. The boy’s hand is ripped from yours. you both see two adults from the village have grabbed the boy and have started to drag him off.

Tyler  55:09

That’s not great.

Young Boy’s Voice  55:11

Help!

Randall  55:12

and the boy cries out

Young Boy’s Voice  55:14

Help me, jack!

Tyler  55:16

Jeese, uh…

Random  55:16

Oh, that’s really awful. I…

Randall  55:26

and then you here *deep laughter* and you look down the hallway just to see Order just as Order approaches and Order raises his hand above his head and snaps his finger.

Tyler  55:38

Oh, order’s here.

Randall  55:39

and when he does everything descends into darkness again. Let’s roll for initiative.

Tyler  55:47

Of course it does. Oh man. *dice clattering*. Oh, 18.

Random  55:57

Freakin waste. 24.

Randall  56:00

That’s pretty good, actually. Okay. Good good good.

Random  56:03

Natural 20 on initiative.

Randall  56:06

Yeah not gonna do you a lot. Well, you do get to go first, so that’s exciting.

Random  56:12

Well, I can’t see.

Randall  56:14

But you do, you did have a good feeling for where Georg was was gracefully holding this monster on top of him.

Random  56:29

Oh, man. Not being able to see as a spellcaster is really bad.

Tyler  56:43

Yeah.

Random  56:43

Um… kid, I’m sorry. I gotta help my brother. All right, so… Yeah, can’t see. Can’t see it’s it’s lovely. This is my favorite thing. Should have been a warlock. I’m going to fumble towards Georg, pull out my rapier, and try and stab it through the space where I last saw the horrifying dog thorn thing.

Randall  57:16

Okay, good, good, good. Yeah, roll me an attack.

Random  57:29

Well, both of these turned out pretty well. So even with the disadvantage that’ll be an 18

Randall  57:34

Nice! Okay, awesome. So you feel yourself make make contact and you hear Georg just scream. “Ah!” Roll me damage on that.

Random  57:50

Brother if that was actually you, I’m so sorry.

Tyler  57:53

No, I’m fine.  I’m not, it’s lying.

Random  57:58

9 points of damage.

Randall  57:59

9 points of damage? Okay, that’s a healthy amount of damage. All right, Georg, it is now your turn. There’s…

Tyler  58:07

Okay.

Randall  58:08

There is a creature on top of you. You felt weight. Like you felt impact. But you don’t feel like you’ve been stabbed.

Tyler  58:15

Okay, well, that’s, that’s good. It’s very reassuring to know that I was not in fact stabbed. So I’m functionally grappled by this thing, yes? Okay, I am… I’m gonna do something which doesn’t make any sense narratively, but mechanically is totally allowed. I’m going to attempt to throw a net over this thing.

Randall  58:41

That seems great. Okay, go ahead.

Tyler  58:45

It sure does. I’m going to be a disadvantage for about six reasons at the moment.

Randall  58:49

But it doesn’t stack, so that’s great.

Tyler  58:52

Yeah, and I’m gonna use… Okay. Alright. So I’m going to be a disadvantage. So I’ll roll twice. So plus three to hit. That’s a 20 on the first roll and a 9 on the second so it’s going to be nine but I’m going to use, uh, I’m going to use my martial maneuver Precision Attack to roll a d8 and add that to the result. It’s a 5. Okay, so I got 14, total.

Randall  59:17

Okay. You toss your net. Cool. And, and you hear what sounds like, like an insectoid creature go. “Agh, tou got me!”

Tyler  59:32

Alright, cool. So now that it’s restrained, it occurs to me I, I should have used… sorry, go ahead.

Randall  59:41

And you feel something release you.

Tyler  59:45

I will stand up if I can. And then I will, I guess back up a space and like drag my feet in the noisiest way possible.

Randall  59:55

Okay, you do that. Good. Is that the end of your turn, sir?

Tyler  1:00:01

I think that’s it. I’ll make sure I had my Warhammer out.

Randall  1:00:04

Well, let me ask. So you, yeah, that makes sense. So you went from not being prone which used half your movement to stand up and then you took one more step which is perfectly fine. This makes sense. Good.

Tyler  1:00:17

Yep.

Randall  1:00:18

All right. It is now the creature’s turn. Okay, the creature takes its turn. And you hear skittering and then heavy footsteps.

Tyler  1:00:45

Well, that’ll be Order.

Randall  1:00:49

It is now Jack’s turn.

Random  1:00:52

Thanks. I hate it.

Tyler  1:00:54

Aw, I love inspiration. The Bardic kind, even.

Random  1:00:58

Real quick. I will say “real Georg. You remember that time when we went for the legs?”

Randall  1:01:08

Okay.

Random  1:01:10

And strum a quick note on my loot. Enjoy your inspiration. And I’ll shout “it sounds like you moved” and then try and just stab where I heard the skittering last, if that’s near enough.

Randall  1:01:32

Okay. You feel as if you don’t contact anything as you swing. Yeah, go ahead. Roll me a dice.

Random  1:01:45

Wow, I also got a 20 and a 9. So the 9 makes it a 14.

Randall  1:01:55

All right. So just… Okay. I’m gonna say you do make contact with your brother.

Random  1:02:04

Not surprised. I am literally stabbing blind into the dark.

Randall  1:02:08

And right as you’re standing back to back, red, er, ready to face whatever may come. All of a sudden the light comes back up.

Random  1:02:16

And then I’ll, I’ll keep moving a little bit and I’ll see if I can like put myself up against the size and shape of what I know Georg.

Tyler  1:02:23

Wait, what? How?

Randall  1:02:23

There’s nothing else in the room with you. There is a bit of almost like a green blood, an ooze that moves from where Geord was just laying up the wall. On top of the wall. And then towards the mine exit which you happen to be standing directly in front of.  You didn’t realize that a second ago but you actually when you were following in the dark. The boy, the boy had gotten you as close as the ramp up to leave.

Tyler  1:02:58

Okay, and the adults were dragging him off up the ramp.

Randall  1:03:02

Yeah, my bad, bad narrative. It’s fine. Just come with me.

Tyler  1:03:05

Okay. You had me real scared that we’d been teleported.

Randall  1:03:07

Nope, nothing like this.

Tyler  1:03:08

That may have been worse. Well, out seems like a good option.

Randall  1:03:15

Okay, so you get you get to the top of the mine. How do you exit? Like the door shut? How do you exit it?

Random  1:03:23

When you say shut, is it just like… It’s not barred or anything, but it’s just…

Randall  1:03:29

No, no, just the door is closed. They didn’t leave it open is the only thing I’m saying. So what’s…

Random  1:03:34

I’ve definitely… Okay. I’ll definitely crack it open and take a peek out.

Randall  1:03:39

And it does actually have like a typical, like, window with metal bars that you could.

Random  1:03:44

Okay, great, then I will just like that. I won’t even open it.

Randall  1:03:46

Okay, cool, cool. You don’t see anybody directly in front of you. You do see kind of the central fire of the village is you know, a couple hundred yards in front of you. And you can see that it’s like player and you can see silhouettes of people against the buildings, this sort of thing. You, you can’t see any bodies directly. You 100% can see the silhouette of a nine-foot tall devil with its bull horns, you know, partially against the the village walls and partially against the trees beyond. So casting quite quite a large shadow.

Tyler  1:04:23

That… is it moving?

Randall  1:04:25

You… it’s hard to tell.

Random  1:04:26

Okay, anybody looks like they’re directly looking at us and or can I see the silhouette of a nine foot tall devil?

Tyler  1:04:33

Or take our chances in here maybe also with that thing?

Randall  1:04:37

Or, you know, or we can leave?

Tyler  1:04:41

Yeah, that scroll’s sounding real good. Yeah, okay. I grabbed Jack’s hand.

Random  1:04:48

We have each saved each other from dumber things than this. Let’s give it a shot. And, yeah, I’ll pull out the scroll and read it.

Randall  1:04:58

So you go to pull this roll out of your pocket… and it is gone.

Tyler  1:05:07

Of course it is.

Random  1:05:13

Well, okay. So and you said the trail of ichor led up the ramp?

Randall  1:05:20

It did. Although, you’re, I mean the only person that you know came close to you was the boy himself who was holding your hand

Random  1:05:34

True.

Randall  1:05:34

Also hugged you at one point. It was creepy.

Tyler  1:05:39

Okay, so either either spike dog thing took it, boy took it, or something else happened.

Random  1:05:47

And in either case they’re going to be out there. So I guess I’ll make sure. Patting myself down. It’s gone.

Tyler  1:05:57

Anything else missing?

Randall  1:05:58

Nah, you’ve got everything else.

Random  1:06:01

Alright, let’s let’s track it down. Let’s track the boy down.

Randall  1:06:07

Okay. Go, give me another still check.

Tyler  1:06:14

That’s a natural 1.

Random  1:06:18

22? Does that help?

Randall  1:06:20

Yeah, 22 is good for you.

Tyler  1:06:21

They see me first.

Randall  1:06:25

Basically you come out, and almost as soon as you come out Georg, like, trips over the farming utensil that was left out like somebody dropped their spade and he does the classic, like, step on himself stream a little bit and immediately some of the village folks kind of come around and basically just corrale you into this inner circle. When you, when you arrive, Celia is sitting there on her knees in front of Order. The boy is being restrained by a few adults and it looks like Celia is actually, like, just arrived and, like, thrown herself at the knees of of Order because you hear this like you know

Celia  1:07:13

I came as soon as I heard that you were coming. You know, I’m so sorry, sir, these these…

Randall  1:07:18

and sees you and gestures

Celia  1:07:20

these men have arrived and we need order restored now.

Randall  1:07:26

Order turns to you and snickers a little bit and begins to reach into the pouch at his belt as if going through something that he might be using to cast a spell. You’ve seen this done before. It never ends well for you. Now, right as that happens, you hear almost a cackling coming from the boy and the boy begins to transform directly in front of your eyes. As long twisting horns come out of the head. The boy grows to almost eight foot tall to the point where the adults who are trying to hold him back before can not even hang on as the arms lift. And before Order can even react this demon in front of you tackles Order and begins grappling him to the ground

Tyler  1:08:26

Great.

Random  1:08:30

I will run over and try and get Celia out of the middle of this and then if that’s doable, run to the edge of the, run to, like, the shelter of some nearby huts or something.

Randall  1:08:45

The the adults are standing there just watching. The children scatter in all directions. And they’re panicking. Celia is crying, just bawling her eyes out, she’s like

Celia  1:08:58

If if Order falls, the dome will fall, and I won’t have the magic to protect us. And the demons will come. We have to save him. We have to save Order.

Tyler  1:09:08

We’re doing this, aren’t we? Oh, I hate it. Yep, alright.

Randall  1:09:13

Alright, roll me a perception check. Let’s let’s judge our ground.

Tyler  1:09:20

11 perception.0

Randall  1:09:21

Well, and you have a 15 passive? Okay, yeah, don’t roll me. You do see as, as he grew, like, literally he shed the clothes and laying in the ground are the clothes the boys were once wearing including a fairly familiar looking scroll.

Random  1:09:43

I’m gonna run over and grab it.

Tyler  1:09:45

That seems smart. I look at Celia. I see, I see what Jack is doing. I look her straight in the eyes and “how many people in this town would you be willing to die for?”

Randall  1:09:54

Some real thought. Like, you can see just the the gears are turning.

Celia  1:09:59

Um…c

Tyler  1:10:00

Can they count on one hand?

Young Woman’s Voice  1:10:05

I mean, the children. We have to save the children.

Tyler  1:10:09

Where are the children?

Randall  1:10:10

She lets out like just a whistle just a *whistle sound* and all the kids actually come and just gather and like lock a circle around the edge.

Tyler  1:10:20

Oh, that was quick. How many of them are there?

Randall  1:10:23

12

Tyler  1:10:24

I look at Jack and gesture to the children.

Random  1:10:26

The magic I know of doesn’t work that way.

Tyler  1:10:30

Oh… I’m gonna go kill a demon. Okay, I stand up. And I take a real deep breath, and I regret my life choices.

Randall  1:10:42

Okay, so you’re you’re Jack, you’re holding the scroll. You have the scroll.

Random  1:10:45

I have the scroll.

Randall  1:10:47

Are you willing to… does Celia see it? Can she read it?

Random  1:10:54

I would certainly be holding it not trying to obscure it.

Randall  1:10:58

She attempts to like take it from your hands to look at it.

Tyler  1:11:01

Just hold it above your head. She’s short.

Randall  1:11:04

She starts to read it. And she says

Young Woman’s Voice  1:11:07

no, we can. We can actually… we can build with this. We can, I can, we can, I can sustain the portal. We can do this.

Random  1:11:14

That’s a weird thing for you to know. Okay, if you think you know what to… wait, you can sustain… you can sustain the magic. This is what you need. You need these. Okay. All right. If you think, will just this one keep you safe enough?

Young Woman’s Voice  1:11:36

No, I mean, I think, like…

Tyler  1:11:38

She said portal. She can sustain the portal.

Randall  1:11:40

Yeah,. we can we can all get out with this.

Random  1:11:42

All right. Let’s give it a shot. Okay, I’ll… I will make an amusing 14-person-long human chain.

Randall  1:11:51

You look off and you see the demon and the devil. You can’t hear anything. No noise is reaching you whatsoever. But you see just massive fist and muscles just pounding into each other. Like every hit appears to be like breaking bone and like moving things askew on each other’s body. And they’re, you know, one on top of the other and just boom, boom, and like one reaches back. And just like, you know, you can tell it’s a forceful yell just “ah!” but no noise reaches you whatsoever. Celia finishes reading, and all of a sudden… you’re no longer there.

Tyler  1:12:37

Geez.

Random  1:12:40

How could Celia read the scroll?

Tyler  1:12:42

I mean, uh, she’s at least literate.

Random  1:12:46

Yeah, but that’s what scrolls do.

Randall  1:12:49

And so, you, uh… So actually, so comes the effective end of our adventure. And I’ll describe kind of what happens from here. You were brought to a different plane of existence. I should have had one in mind, but here we are. You… Yeah.

Tyler  1:13:12

Is it one of the nice ones?

Randall  1:13:13

It’s one of the nice ones. She heard about it once. Oh, somehow somewhere. You you go to a different plane of existence, you do find your way back to the material plane, which is great. You eventually find somebody who can read elven. Yeah, who who describes to you the rest of the contents of the book. And you learn the entire backstory, which I’m going to give you now. This, this devil was using this town. Well, so the the portal to Hell had always been in this town. And the devils had made use of people from it from time to time, and the people there tended to be fairly gifted in magic. One day, a portal to the abyss opened nearby. And no one knows why or how this happened. But the demons started to descend on them, until a particular devil named Order decided that he wanted to basically create a warlock farm for lack of a better way to put it. And so he made a pact that he would provide magic that would keep the demons out of the village, and would come by every so often, and take the most gifted of the young people there to become warlocks. He would give them with power, the rest would remain completely happy and satisfied to the end of their days. And

Random  1:14:35

God nothing ever goes wrong in a deal with the devil.

Randall  1:14:37

Everybody thought this sounded like a good idea. Except for Malaki. He thought it sounded terrible. So Malakai left a very special scroll of interplanar travel, which would be able to save many of the folks in the village and hoped that he had left enough clues to allow them to save themselves. But as he checked every so often it seemed like nobody had ever heard anything from Port Averna. And so on his deathbed, realizing that if he died, perhaps no one would ever discover the town and save them. And generation after generation would be born into this, he sent his two sons hoping that they’d be able to break the curse and the pact

Tyler  1:15:17

Jeese.

Randall  1:15:18

Oh, it was terrible. Let’s be, yeah, maybe the devil lived, you didn’t stay long enough to see. And if Order lived, then there would be a new generation of children. And really the pact would continue on. And that’s its own kind of terrible. And if the, well, if the demon won, then the portal would fall. Or the barrier would fall. And when that fell, the… Yeah, I mean, the town would be gone. And at that point, the war between the demons and the devils would be wide open with two gates sitting right next to each other

Tyler  1:16:00

Classic blood war.

Randall  1:16:02

Alright, so we did it. We did We did some actual play.

Tyler  1:16:06

Jeese. Okay.

Random  1:16:07

We did.

Randall  1:16:09

I… and maybe if we think we need a follow up for it, but I think let’s let’s do, let’s do feedback. One thing that I’m recognizing immediately, I did not think too hard about the scroll. And so you saying well, “the scroll is not going to get us all out” I’m like, No, that wasn’t my intention. This was meant to be the way out. Because I absolutely had bad endings planned. There were things you could have done.

Tyler  1:16:32

Okay.

Randall  1:16:33

Which would have led to the demons winning or the devils winning and everybody dying? Yeah.

Random  1:16:42

The story was great. There were a lot of elements there that you did a really superb job in not a lot of time of building powerlessness into this.

Tyler  1:16:55

Oh, yeah.

Random  1:16:56

The brother pinned, boy getting dragged off, and darkness. I am very rarely someone to be paralyzed. That was awful. That I, I mean, really everything, good stuff. But that moment in particular, that felt terrible. Which, you know, spot on, that’s what we were going for.

Tyler  1:17:20

Yeah. And I… not having full plate would have really sucked if there had been a drag out fight. So yes, I, mechanically, I was a little powerless. But I would… I was 100% expecting the ending to be, like, one of us goes out in a blaze of glory fighting a demon while everybody else teleports safety. But yeah, the… so Plane Shift, I think is a maximum of 8 people, right? Yeah. So when you said 11 Kids and like, oh, not only is one of us going to die in a blaze of glory, it’s also going to be a pyrrhic victory because we’re still going to have to leave a bunch of them.

Randall  1:18:03

Okay, no, that’s fair. No, that’s Yeah. Two! Two scrolls.

Tyler  1:18:12

One for the dubious, uh, the dubious teenager and one for the Sater Bard.

Randall  1:18:17

Perfect. Yeah, I think that’s probably something that I could tighten up. I, I did imagine a world where you did the fight. And it’s, it was actually kind of the juxtaposition. So going for horror, I, I didn’t want the big bad guy to be something that you could take out. I considered trying to play this game of like, I’ll roll some dice and I’ll pick one of them to have lived. And then they’re gonna come at you with like, 10 HP left. But otherwise, still, like a level nine demon or devil.

Tyler  1:18:52

Yeah…

Random  1:18:53

I think that if, I mean, if we hadn’t found the scroll. If we hadn’t, you know, taken that way out. Yeah, absolutely. That’s definitely a way it could go. Even so, I mean, in either case, we are then… the town is then without its protection. Either the demon kills Order, or we kill Order.

Tyler  1:19:23

Or, and hear me out: you’re already built around Charisma. Warlock levels.

Random  1:19:30

I well. You know…

Tyler  1:19:33

You did complain about not being able to see in the dark

Random  1:19:36

I did, in fact, do that.

Randall  1:19:38

Yeah, that was actually… so if if the boy was was dead, which there were things that we could have done. You didn’t go for any of them, so that’s fantastic. That basically the plan was Order shows up. Order Feebleminds you, and if you passed is like “hey, do you… do you want to be a warlock?” And then then that’s the ending. So yeah, I’ll um, I’ll write up. Yeah, I’ll put together kind of maybe some of the rest of the skeleton, all the things that we didn’t tickle, because of course, we were actually trying to do this in a timely manner as well. But yeah, so folks at home, I hope you had a good time. I hope you enjoyed it. I hope you… Yeah, so we talked about what’s the right way to put it. I think we there was definitely some anxiety. There might have even been a little bit of dread during the periods of darkness.

Tyler  1:20:32

Oh yeah.

Randall  1:20:33

So yeah. Yeah.

Random  1:20:38

I would call that a very successful bow on what Spooktober has been about so far on this podcast. 10 out of 10.

Tyler  1:20:47

I’m, I am thoroughly spooked.

Randall  1:20:49

Just all the spook. Awesome, awesome. All right. Well, thanks, everybody for joining us. We’ll have the show up. No, just kidding. Yeah, well, yeah, the show will be up right before Halloween. And so I hope this is something that you enjoy for your Halloween time. And yeah, visit us at RPGBOT.net.

Tyler  1:21:33

Yeah, I’m spooked.

Randall  1:21:33

You want me to name the voice? No! I’m just gonna reply!

Tyler  1:21:38

Just, that… that honestly added a lot to the tension.