Of Heart and Harvest | Curse of Strahdanya One-Shot: Part 2
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Welcome to Legends of Avantris.

In pale decay and empty gloom He comes for you Six horns his crown His kingdom all For life delicious heat his core He carries six Of sword and seal One sway with souls that fall anew Run, run, don't shrink and cower In a sound of witching hour Stimp and singing, thrashing like the smother The shrieks of endless night Dance beneath the crooked moon

And rising rapture handed by an empty goo Will comfort you May our light embrace you too Pierce the edge of midnight zoo The waker's place of ash and goo

She leads you into the house where another group of servants addresses you. She mentions that she's going to go up to her room. She's going to spend a little time by herself collecting her thoughts and getting herself together, allowing you time to explore the room, see if you can find anything, and she'll meet you shortly with the mask.

It is at this time that she ascends this large, curved stairwell and heads towards the second floor of this grand manor. The three servants there to help you, they do not speak, but they slowly lead you upstairs once she has gone out of sight, giving her a

a lot of space to move on her own. And they eventually lead you up, and instead of taking you to the west wing, which is where she had headed, they take you to the east wing. You walk down a large hallway that is lined with portraits. And as you're walking through this hallway, you begin to notice that these portraits, all of them have uncanny resemblances to Victoria.

Every single woman in these portraits looks incredibly similar to her. Some of them so much that it looks like it could be a painting of Victoria herself. But all of them are in different garb, notating different time periods and different customs and things. Clearly,

generations of potentially Isaacs, or you know Isaac to be her father's last name. But I don't think any of you know what Victoria's maiden name is, so that side of her family. You walk for a long while as you pass gilded door after gilded door until you get to the very end and you see these two, this large double door

set back in an alcove and the gentleman opened the door for you and lead you inside. This room is twice the size of the entire inn, which was very small, was maybe a four or five room in, but this room itself is more akin to a ballroom than it is to a bedroom.

You see, all the way towards the very back, a large four-poster canopy bed. You see two large armoires. You see an entire sitting area for tea, a small study off to one side with its own little library nook, and you see a stairwell that clearly leads up to one of the towers at the top of this place. This room is gigantic and beautiful.

Everything that would have been here when Rowan was here is still in this room. Not a speck of dust on anything, as if it's perfectly maintained. Well, this is fantastic. All right, gang.

Tear the place apart. No, no, no, no, no. What do you think the slowest we could do this is? Just really enjoy the space. Just sort of... You are the professor. I find the couch cushion and I tear it apart with my claws. I think my claws are coming out. Gentlemen, be respectful. Yes.

This was my dear aunt's room, her space, her private quarters. We can hold off until we get the mass, but we need to investigate. I mean, there's a mystery to solve. Investigate, yes, but respectfully, tactfully. Let's not destroy any evidence or something that we might be looking for. Come on. Some foul influence drove her to take her own life. Yes, I agree. We have to find what...

That was. Very curious. You'll be respectful. Roll a group investigation check. Investigation's not my strong suit, but I rolled a two. That's what I'm evoking. Int. Int. Oh no, I got a one. I'm going to use a threshold. I got a zero. A 25. 18. I got a two. 12.

20. Two? So we got two twos, a 12, an eight. 25, don't forget!

I mean, 18. 18, maybe I comically lean against something that's actually a lever. I would say, you do have twists. Now might be a time to use them. One other twist, another twist. I want to comically lean against a lever. There we go. I got a 19. 17. 17. 17. Do I look like a guy who's got blizzard rose? Um, do,

You begin looking through things. Victoria stops you from destroying anything in the room. So you do not use your claws to tear apart the upholstery or anything of the sort. But you do begin to move through the room, all of you taking different areas. There are doors set into alcoves here as well.

and you notice that there is a balcony above the bed that leads to more books and little reading nooks, where it was very clear that she, in her free time, enjoyed the pleasure of reading. You may even be able to find a taste of heaven, the hairy and the hearth, the hearthy, a halfling love story. If you were to look here, or maybe the only copy of existence was here and somehow found its way to the inn, it's hard to know.

But you all find your different places to look. There are two guest bedrooms that lead off of this place, or off of this large room, as well as a large...

bathroom, which is more like a bath house in its size. A large pool sunk into the middle of the floor. Sitting areas and places to enjoy the steam and the leisure. Potentially massages. A veritable spa. Couples massages. Couples massages, for sure.

And it is quite beautiful as you all mill about looking for things. Caprice, you are not interested in looking for things. You've had a long day. You're tired. You lean up against the fireplace and rest up against it. And as you...

As you lean your head back, you accidentally knock over a bookend. Almost handless. But not in that way. You knock it over to the side, but instead of clattering down, it stays there, clearly on a hinge of some sort. And you realize that you can pull this all the way down.

And as you do, you notice that the stairwell that leads up into the tower begins to spin and rumble as it now leads down. Oh! Way to go! Hey! Hey, no problem! Lazy tiefling drunks. Yeah, tiefling drunks, that's okay. Yeah, I found a secret passage. Kinkies, you've done it. Ha ha ha!

Are you saying kinkies?

you're having this conversation as you all go

- We go down the chair, then we go down in the trademark manner where one of us goes up and then all of us bunch up and then tumble down into the thing. - No, of course, that's exactly what happened in this horror one-shot. And so you spill out onto the landing of what is very clearly a small study.

This is significantly more intimate than the elaborate study that was upstairs, one that was clearly made for show. This was a private place that she could go to and get away from everything, a place potentially Shredanya didn't even know about.

There is a small bed in here of very humble means that had clearly been slept in and not made, which is kind of what leads you to believe Stradania had not seen this place. The immaculate cleaning that had been done upstairs, none of that has been done down here. There's a layer of dust on everything.

There is a desk with a small wooden chair. You see that there is a bottle of ink that had been recently used and left out is now dried up and flaking. The quill's still inside of it as if she had been, the last time she'd been in here, she had been writing.

And with Clayton's 25, you very easily find the hidden compartment in the desk and you begin to rummage through scraps of paper, all of them having just little bits of writing on them. None of them full pages of anything, but just little snippets of thoughts and things. What you find are these.

The mask is old and it hums to me. Finding it was a blessing. I feel as if it called to me, as if it wanted me to find it. We find another one. Wearing the mask makes me yearn for Anya, my love, my lust. My need for her grows daily, but the mask, when I am wearing it, I am insatiable. Yet another. I hear it whispering to me what it wants. I cannot even write the words.

I could never hurt Mayanya, never that way. And then another. She will forgive me. The whispers quell my fears. Holding it is ecstasy. The pleasure it brings us is otherworldly. She must forgive me. She will forgive me. And then a final note. This one you find very close to the ink. This is clearly the last one that she wrote. You can see the splotches of ink on the bottom of it.

Well, we've been doing this for a long time.

And it's never a good sign when it looks like one half of the couple has some sort of a secret half of their life. Very curious. Whispers from the beyond, or from the mask itself, compelled to suicide, increased carnal desires, perhaps because of the rabbit motif, a symbol of fertility, maybe. Yes. Very strange. And they said she was a harvest cleric, was she not? Yeah, that's what you were told. Hmm.

The mammalian desire to reproduce indefinitely, overpopulate, as is their hallmark. Anya, presumably a pet name for Stradonya. Kinkies, you've solved it. Kinkies, quite right. It is strange. The voices wanted her to hurt Stradonya? Kill her? Join her in death, it seems, based on the last entry. Damn, that is morbid. It is.

So what happened? I mean, it's hard to say, but presumably she killed herself so that she did not get compelled to kill Shredanya, and... Perhaps breaking whatever spell was upon her. Perhaps. Perhaps. Although it seemed like it was very intentional, part of a plan still. Just maybe she wouldn't have to do it. Perhaps waiting for her own time to come, Shredanya's. This is very strange and quite coincidental that we come...

Almost exactly a year after this happened. Very strange indeed. On the eve of the festival, the night she took her own life. This has the stink of witchcraft. It does. There's power and sacrifice and death. And blood. And blood under the right moon, under the right stars, the right season.

Before you start burning anyone, let's just figure out exactly-- Burning, that is not my thing. Well, that's why I referenced-- sorry, I meant to turn to the inspector. Why does everyone think I want to burn things? You hear a rap on the door clearly from upstairs as it echoes down the stairwell. Oh, we got to get back up, come on! We need to make sure that there aren't any other secret entrances. Let this stay between us for now. Yes, agreed. It didn't seem like she knew about this when we came down.

Come on. Let's go, let's go! Our feet spin for a while without moving. And then we go . Yep. You make your way upstairs and you write to the bookend, closing off that section of the--

of the turret of the tower, and you all immediately lean against walls, cross your arms, and go at a 45 degree angle. Just as Stradania waltzes into the room, she carries an ornate box in her hands,

and she doesn't even look at any of you as she makes her way over to the sitting area in front of the fireplace and sets the box down on the table there. This is the mask. I cannot leave it with you, but I will remain, I will not bother you while you take a look at it. I will allow you 10 minutes, 10 minutes only. Ooh, 10 minutes. For this thing, I believe.

is evil, is wicked, and I do not think anyone should touch it for longer. Alright, well, we got ten minutes. Out of all of us, the one who is probably most capable and understanding of whispers in general, most mentally sound, most intelligent, gotta be Professor. He's the one. He knows about it. You know about the arcane, you're very knowledgeable, you're mentally there, we're not worried about you going off the deep end. He's confident, he's stable, he's consistent.

And this puzzle's clearly beyond the rest of you, so yes, I will take a look immediately. You couldn't pay me to touch that. She reaches into her bosom, and on a long golden chain, she pulls out an ornate key. She leans forward, and you, Victoria, notice as the dress parts a little, and you can see the blush rising on her chest. She's clearly nervous.

as she unlocks the box and pops it open. And inside you find...

a disgusting, withered rabbit mask. It looks almost as if it's made from some sort of leather, some sort of skin, and it's been pulled, taut, and molded over a face. It has holes in it, and you can see what appear to be stains of caked on brown old blood. It is hideous, and holding it, touching it, you feel

They thrum with magic. Oh, don't touch that, Caprice. Hobo hand it over to the professor, come on. Do I whistle while you do that? As I see it, I feel a great sadness.

I think of Mrs. Von Zarovich's plight of what's happened to her ex-wife. I think of all of this tragedy, and I start to whistle a very sad song to inspire the professor as he goes to solve this puzzle. - Damn, you're talented. - Shit.

Well done!

Oh, that's very nice. Weirdly good at that. You enjoy bardic inspiration, and I'm playing a sorrowful song. So you die. If he doesn't spend it. If he doesn't spend it, you die. Whoa! Hobo is connected to a ghost who has the comical five o'clock shadow and a cigar. Here you go.

The first thing I would do is just attempt to at least face value, investigate, and try to sense in an arcana kind of way, or even an investigation kind of way. 25. You feel that there is a magical power to this. It is.

whatever magic is tied to this is far beyond something that an initial inspection is going to be able to determine, but you can tell that this is not a standard magical item. This is incredibly powerful. And that there, it has the lingering remnants of a curse. There is, there was a curse upon this mask. What a terrible night for a curse. I was thinking the same thing.

It is. I will need to delve deeper to understand more about the nature of this curse. You have eight minutes left. Curio, in my case, will flip open and open up and then that tome that I described will sort of float out slightly and I'll wave my hand, it'll open up to a specific page. Do I hear whispers holding this?

You not necessarily whisper, but you, yeah, actually roll a wisdom saving throw. I should have had you do that immediately. Oh my god. That's pretty good. Dread. I'm proficient. Dread. That's worse. You got an inspiration though, buddy. I do. I'm going to use it. I'm going to make the rule you can't use inspiration on a dread. Okay. That's fair. 11. You...

You are holding this thing and you feel the magical thrum of it. And it starts to feel like it beats with your heart. As your heart starts to race, you feel

different, strange. You look around you and you see Stradania's heaving bosom as she's slowly placing the key back between her breasts and you're overcome with lust. You look towards Victoria and you are disgusted by the feeling that you have as you think about how beautiful she looks in that dress. Oh.

And you are overcome with a sense of lust for a moment as you turn towards Shepard and you see his rippling biceps as they are, as he is messing with the rum bottle. And you realize you've never had these feelings for any of these people that you have traveled with for so long, but every single one of them, including Sarnax's tail. I'm not the scaly. Looks sexual to you. Tessian's quadruple. What did you call?

Quadceps. It only lasts for a second before you're able to shake it. You have not been holding onto this thing for long, but you immediately think back to these scribbles that you found, and you can understand why she was feeling what she was feeling,

being in contact with this thing for long periods of time you imagine would and could easily overtake you. And though you can't make out words, you do hear... I give him a pillow and put it in my lap. Hey! Hey! Yes, yes, yes, yes. I don't like the way you're looking at it. Is he all right? No, I'm fine, I'm fine. This is... I just got a little...

Professor-- Bewildered, "Why are you crossing your legs?" Suddenly, Professor-- I just-- I'm trying to investigate, all right? Let me concentrate, all right? Is your hat getting bigger? The hat starts to burn. The hat rises up. The hat rises up.

He stands up and he's like, "I got it," to the hand sticking straight out. "No, no, no, I'm giving you a standing ovation." There it is. Kinkies! Kinkies! I've got it! Holy shit! This is not what I expected.

- But has that surpassed, I don't feel the lust anymore. - Yes, it was just a moment, but you imagine that if you were to continue to hold this, it would become harder and harder to resist those urges. - That is merely a minute of being in contact. This is a powerful artifact. I will place my hand over the tome and sort of underneath the cover will glow with ruby light and I will say, "Haleshna."

And then my eyes will open up and fire with bright violet light as I cast

Violet Sight. Violet Sight, thank you. Line. It lasts a minute. After chanting the strange language, my eyes burst into violet flame. This allows you to see things they really are, and several moments into the future. When I cast a spell, I can use madness points to alter the effects. So I'm gonna spend three madness points.

because I still have some left, even though I blew my load earlier. Oh my god. I'm going to gain a portent for ten minutes. So if I can gain a portent or anything that I can learn about this for the next ten minutes, I would just be full-blown being consumed by the being that I'm reaching out to to learn what I can about it.

The mask. We all watch in silence as you put a pillow on your lap and then your eyes ignite into flames. How long are you taking?

It lasts up to, oh, one minute. Yes, one minute, sorry. I believe it's better. But I gain the portent for ten minutes. Yeah, yeah, yeah, so just to explain, I should have explained this before you, we were trying to use that as like shorthand for like literally the portent where you roll a 20 and you get to, for ten minutes, half an hour, where you can use it kind of like a divination thing. Okay. Okay.

It was shorthand instead of typing out the whole thing. We haven't like full-languaged it. It's just plain English. Well, then I'll see what I can see. Let me see. Yeah. Anything you'll give me for that, I guess. You clearly feel that this is tied to an entity.

that there is some direct connection to an entity. I will say that there would be no way for you to have an understanding of this entity, but that given additional connection with it, if you were to hold this for too long, it would become bound to you and you would be linked to that entity. - I'll drop it. - You all right, Professor? - What do you make of it? - It is a cursed object.

It is bound to some sort of entity, some sort of creature, being, god, I don't know. But with enough contact, there's nothing you can do. This is probably what happened to your wife. Do you know anything about the nature of the god or goddess that she worshipped? I just simply know that it was... She referred to her as the Harvest Mother.

Is there any reason we can't just destroy the mask? Set things right? I have attempted to burn it, and it will not burn. I have had other clerics come to attempt to cleanse it, and they are repelled, and they are wounded in the process. Powerful, then. Yes. No burning. Yes.

I will ask you to place it back into its box. I should return it to safety. Perhaps not you, Professor. Yeah, hobo hand that thing, come on. All right. Well, what if I just... Just once. No, no, no. Place it into the box. Why shouldn't I have it? All right. Could you tell us more about where she found the mask? Behind the village, just across the way from the waterfall, is an opening thicket.

It was not one that we had found before because the entrance to it was covered by the cliffside. But if you walk through a small cave, it leads out into a thicket. And she found it on the whim three days prior to not last year's harvest festival, but the one prior to that. And is this near the barrow? That is where she found the barrow. And it was, it had a stone door.

that should have been, I have not seen it personally, but I was told that it, the stone door was far too big for her to open. And yet when she approached it, she felt like she could. And as she slid the stone door aside, she was able to walk into this mound of earth.

The only thing inside was a ring of stones and in the very center a stone pedestal with this mask sitting in the very center. She thought it quaint. She is the kind, was the kind of woman who could find joy and beauty in anything. It did not surprise me that she would fall, that she would find affection for this ugly mask. I should have known. It was all too coincidental.

We will investigate the barrow after some rest. I do believe that is the best course of action. We should sleep tonight. And in the morning, I will outfit you with the carriage and it will take you to the entrance to the barrow. I will accompany you if you would allow. For afterwards, if...

We are able to... maybe we just return the mask and we block up the barrow and we block up the cave and there is no way for anyone to find it ever again. At the very least, I find myself too drawn to it to be able to do it on my own. I need your help. If that is what is deemed

the final course of action and then afterwards in the afternoon we will engage in the harvest festival and we will honor my sweet Rowan. - Sounds like a plan. - Agreed. Then she locks the box and she pulls it into her arms. I will leave you then, allow you to sleep, get as much rest as you can. I will wake you early in the morning for our task is going to take all day.

Good night, good night. Thank you for your assistance. It is lovely to meet all of you, especially you, Victoria. She reaches out and she clasps your hand. I'll bring her hand up to my mouth and just lightly kiss it. You hear her, the sound that she makes is a sigh, but it is laced with just a bit of a moan as she flushes and pulls her hand to herself. Rest well.

"I will see you tomorrow." And she quickly scurries out of the room and you can hear the sounds of her heels clacking on the wooden floor as she makes her way out of the east wing and towards the west. More eggs? "All things considered, "the Horace mother makes a good apple." So now what?

I think exactly what we said. We rest up and prepare for a trip in the morning. Say no more. You lean up against the wall and your back hits a switch that-- I'm just kidding. When we were in the private study, in the writings that we found, was everything in a language that we-- like everything was just written in common? Yeah. Okay. Yeah, you didn't find anything in any strange languages.

Well... That's good. Uh... We all know it's not gonna be so easy just returning this thing, right? Surely there's gonna be some kind of fight we're in for. Things like this want to be unearthed. If it was found once, it aims to be found again. You know what that means?

Witches. Witches. And with that, you all fall asleep. Perhaps it is the-- That is a good stick burning. Perhaps it is the old ones of the land reclaiming this garish village to the earth.

That's all right. But you do, you talk about this a little bit, and you all eventually find yourselves, some in the extra bedrooms, some in the large bed, some asleep on the various sofas and chairs. You find your own-- Somehow stand sleeping the entire night. Yeah, some stand sleeping the entire night. But you do eventually find, you do eventually find sleep, and you all roll a perception check.

I got another two. Yep. Four. How could you? Reception. Fuck. Oh, girl. Oh, it's close to four, so I got a six. I rolled a Toadite, 20 count. I don't know if we have any twists left. Do we have twists left? No twists on this one. Oh. Reception? Just a six for me. Six? Yep. Jesus. Yep. Just kidding. 12. 18. It looks like 19 was the highest roll.

Victoria, you are jolted awake by the sound of heels clicking on the wooden floor outside the door. You think to yourself, I should wake up the rest of the group, but you feel almost compelled to make your way to the door and just take a peek first before...

alarming anyone. You had a long trip and there's no need to worry anyone, should it be nothing. This house is filled with servants. It could easily be someone relighting candles or beginning the day's work. It's best to check and see what could possibly be happening here as you make your way to the door and you slowly open it, making sure not to make any sound whatsoever as you step out into the hallway.

As you step out into the hallway, it takes a moment for your eyes to adjust to the darkness out here. The room was thoroughly illuminated with the fire roaring in the hearth and all of the lamps that had been dimmed but you had forgotten to fully extinguish as you all fell asleep.

unintentionally, busy reading and speaking to each other, etc. And it takes a moment for your eyes to adjust before the moonlight, being the only thing that's illuminating this hallway, becomes enough light for you to see. As you look down one side and see nothing, an empty hallway. You look towards the other and at the very end you see what is a feminine figure in a white lacy negligee.

standing, staring up at the portrait of Sraddhanya Vanzarovich, just standing and staring. She doesn't move. The wind that comes in through the window that clearly leads to the second floor balcony whips at her dress and with one strong burst blows the negligee off of her body and she doesn't move. And she stands there fully naked in the moonlight, staring up at this portrait.

"K-k-k-k-kinky." That's cute! That happens! That happens.

Judging, like, can I see her hair or anything like that? Like the color of her hair? Her hair is tied up into a loose bun at the back of her head. It is in a similar curly fashion as Tredanya's. In the light, it almost looks silver, but

You know with the way that moonlight can shine onto black hair, it can look silver or blue or purple. It's hard to tell, but why would Stradania be standing here staring up at her own portrait? It seems strange. But the figure could easily be Stradania's. Tall, lithe, beautiful, bodacious, curvy.

Supple thighs. Dianne, ooh, pass me that hat. Amble rear. Hips out to you. I would, how far away am I? You're about, I would say, 30 feet. I would want to kind of quietly walk down the hall. I would leave the door just cracked to the room, but not wanting to wake anyone, and I would softly call out, Strazania.

You call out the name and this hallway is empty aside from these portraits and your voice almost echoes down the hallway towards this entity. He watches the shoulders stiffen for a second. The body does not turn, but the head does. And staring at you is not the face of Stradania. Or if it is, it's covered.

by a disgusting, dilapidated rabbit mask. As the head turns and looks towards you, it cocks to the side. As the body turns and shifts towards you, fully,

standing fully proud in its nudity. It looks towards you for a moment, the head cocks from one side to the next and twists and looks around. The mask only covers the nose and up. The mouth opens and a dark black void appears as you hear it begin to scream

and wail, I need you to roll wisdom saving throw for me, please. Oh my god. Wow. What? You unironically might just die here. No, thank you. That'd be wild, dude. Full circle, back to Death House. Natural spawn. Oh! Dread. Yeah. Oh! Come on, come on, come on, come on, come on, come on. Get a good weight. Natural wild. Yep. Oh!

You begin to feel your consciousness fade from you. You blink your eyes, but the sound of this screaming is overwhelming you. It's causing this strange pounding in your head, and all the while, you feel lust rise up inside of you as you stare at this naked woman looking at you. This is clearly not Shraddanya Von Zarovich, but who is this?

as all of a sudden, the body, this woman, rushes straight towards you, as if she's going to rush through you. You can't do anything to stop it as you feel your body crumble and land on the ground. And as you feel like she is going to collide with you, she pivots unnaturally and rushes straight out the window, glass shattering everywhere, as she lands like some strange, monstrous,

beast on the balcony and then hurls herself over the side. You watch this as your heart beats once, twice, and then blackness as you fall to zero hit points. - Oh! - Wow! - That's some fucking banshee shit. - That is some fucking banshee shit. You all wake up in the morning to the sound of a scream in the hallway.

You rush, you get everything that you have together as you rush out into the hallway and you see Stradonia standing there in her, in a black dressing gown, clearly a dressing gown of mourning, as she's standing over the unconscious and what appears to be lifeless body of Victoria. She's holding her hand over her mouth as she's looking shocked

and horrified. She reaches down to touch Victoria, to shake her, to wake her, but she hesitates. She looks scared. She doesn't even notice as you walk out into the hallway. She almost looks like a woman caught in a memory as she stares down at this girl who looks so much like her ex, her dead wife, crumpled, dead on the floor.

but she powers through it and she shakes Victoria's shoulder and she winces, imagining that Victoria will not wake, but you do. You slowly come to your heart beating slowly over the course of the night. The death that had been forced upon you never came. Whether it was something you ate or something in this house or a trinket that you wear around your neck or your sanguine powers, it's hard to tell.

but the death that tried to take you was unsuccessful, and you were awoken from your dreamless slumber. You lie on the floor. Shraddhaanya immediately begins to sob as she crumbles to the ground and pulls you into her arms, and she holds you and cries into you, "My Rowan, my sweet Rowan! "Rowan, my baby, my darling! "Please, please, don't cry.

It's Victoria. It's not Robin. Robin, my... And she pulls you forward. I'm so sorry. My apologies. And she gets up and she stands on her feet and she looks away. She begins to wipe her tears. I don't know what came over me. Are you feeling all right? My potty. I guess it's potty, but I was trying to say potty. It's fine because she's sending shitters up your spine right now. Shitters up your spine. Yeah.

Miss Isaacs, you all right? You okay? She pulls her robe over her, covering up her... I don't even look respectfully. Great. Miss Isaacs, are you all right? Yes, but last night I was awoken. And, Mistress, I'm sorry for what I must say. I believe I saw Rowan or some version of her. What do you mean? I heard something in the hallway, and I...

I was coming to wake you because the mask has vanished.

It is no longer in its box. I woke up this morning and the box was open. The key had been ripped from my neck. And you see lines on either side of her neck where the metal had bit into her skin as it had been ripped from her neck. Witches. So it wasn't a dream. We must go to the Barrows as soon as we possibly can. It is there. It came from the earth and wishes to return to the earth.

I cannot imagine anything else we spoke of where we plan to take it and I think it returned there for a purpose. Are you certain that Rowan is deceased? I am positive I found her body of my own. Where is her body now? In the customs of our people, she was burned on a pyre and her ashes were thrown into the wind.

Or if this is just some kind of malevolent spirit or some sort of remaining echo that just wants the mask. Trix, uh, to your mind, perhaps, perhaps you seem, is she unharmed clearly? She seems to be unharmed, yeah. You seem okay. It felt so real. It shrieked, it rushed at me. It jumped onto the roof. Visions from that cursed thing. Manipulations of evil, and it's not done what it came to do. We have to hunt it down and destroy it.

I will quickly have the carriage prepared and we will head there with all due haste. If there is anything you need to do, anything you need to prepare before we go, we will leave in 10 minutes. Will that give you enough time? Oh, I'm ready. Yes. I've got everything I own right here. Let's go. I just need to consult. Then let me dress and I will meet you outside at the carriage in 10 minutes.

And she rushes to each of you and grabs your hands. Thank you, thank you, thank you for coming to help me. Thank you. Of course. This is why we do what we do. And I will kind of go back into the room privately if I can, and I'll pull the pearl out again. And I will go cuckoo bananas, staring into it and roll my... I'm going cuckoo bananas. The Crooked Moon, you too can enjoy the subclass feature, cuckoo bananas. Ha ha.

I don't have much choice here. Okay, I'm gonna go with this one. I feel as if this is a pretty open and shut mystery. The restless dead, things that have been unearthed that should have stayed buried. We have dealt with this time and time again. Man, one more time can't hurt. It should be fairly easy. I'm not sure about that. No? Sarnax. Why is that, Professor? This isn't just a spirit.

This is... something greater. Some kind of being. As an essence power. It's not just a spooky spooky ghost. *laughter* *laughter* *laughter* *laughter* *laughter* *laughter* *laughter* *laughter* *laughter* *laughter* *laughter* *laughter* *laughter* *laughter* *laughter* *laughter* *laughter* *laughter* *laughter* *laughter* *laughter* *laughter* *laughter* *laughter* *laughter* *laughter* *laughter* *laughter* *laughter* *laughter* *laughter* *laughter* *laughter* *laughter* *laughter* *laughter* *laughter* *laughter* *laughter* *laughter* *laughter* *laughter* *laughter* *laughter* *laughter* *laughter* *laughter* *laughter* *laughter* *laughter* *laughter* *laughter* *laughter* *laughter* *laughter* *laughter* *laughter* *laughter* *laughter* *laughter* *laughter* *laughter* *laughter* *laughter* *laughter* *laughter* *laughter* *laughter* *laughter* *laughter* *laughter* *laughter* *laughter* *laughter* *laughter* *laughter* *laughter* *laughter* *laughter* *laughter* *laughter* *laughter* *laughter* *laughter* *laughter* *laughter* *laughter* *laughter* *laughter* *laughter* *laughter* *laughter* *laughter* *laughter* *laughter* *laughter* *laughter* *laughter* *laughter* *laughter* *laughter* *laughter* *laughter* *laughter* *laughter* *laughter* *laughter* *laughter* *laughter* *laughter* *laughter* *laughter* *laughter* *laughter* *laughter* *laughter* *laughter* *laughter* *laughter* *laughter* *laughter* *laughter* *Line* *Line* *Line* *Line* *Line* *Line* *Line* *Line* Ln* Ln* Ln* Ln* Ln* Ln* Ln* Ln* L

That's right. Do you suspect that this Rowan was a weakling? It is impossible to say whether it was Rowan or the effects of something found out at the barrows that corrupted her. But she was clearly powerful. Those that live here worshipped her in their own way for what she brought to the land and how she tended to it. Maybe a reflection of her power cast back at her in the mask.

Corrupted her greatly. Either way, if it is her spirit or another's, we will put it to rest for good. That we will. I'll take one apple for the road. I will also take one apple for the road. Yeah, I'll get packed, ready to go, and head out immediately.

You take the 10 minutes that you were given and you, for the sake of brevity, rush out of the house and into the carriage. Tredanya is not in a talkative mood. She does have the box that the mask should be in. She shows you that it is not there, but she does bring it

For what purpose, it's hard to know, but maybe for posterity's sake, because that's where her love Rowan had kept it. Or maybe it's to put the mask into before you close the barrows. But she has it with her all the same as the...

as the carriage makes its way back down the pathway, and instead of heading towards the village, it skirts to the left and around the village, over a cobbled bridge. You're all misted by the waterfall as you ride along the edge of the sheer cliff face until you come to an area of overhanging vines.

where the carriage stops and you all get out and she shows you the entrance to this cave. It's very small and it does lead to a small outcropping on the other side. And it is here that you see it. The barrows. A large earthen mound in the very center of this circular outcropping in the middle of what should be a mountain.

spiral symbols carved into the earth itself all over this place, and one incredibly large stone blocking what is clearly an entrance. This is where she said it would be, and she did not lie. There's no way she could have moved a stone like that. She could not have weighed more than a pound or two more than I do. We shared clothes. We were the perfect match, and...

There's no way I could move that. You would struggle to move that, and you have quad sips. I mean, a huge stone like this? Who could expect to move it with any amount of strength? Including tight hands. Including tight hands. I'm kidding. This isn't kidding.

Tygen, I'm proud of you. You haven't thrown scalding hot tea in someone's face for 24 hours. I'm waiting for the witch to show up. I'm saving it for the witches. All right, all right. The witches. Simmer down. All right, well, can we all work together, maybe move this stone? Come on. Well, before we do, Sonax, this is your realm of expertise. Yes. What do you know about this? What do I know about this? Nothing.

I mean, you're familiar with barrows, but you know nothing about this particular one. Oh, damn, we're batting zero. You've never been here. I'm trying. The stone was moved by Rowan, said Ramona. Rowan, the self. Is it possible that it wants us to come? Should we just approach it? Yes. It's nice. Just give it a little pushy push. We'll start small and work our way up.

I walk up to the door. The stone, the giant stone. You walk up to the stone, it towers over you. It's incredibly large. You look up at it, and a stone like this clearly weighs hundreds, if not hundreds of pounds, if not a ton. I take back the elbow grease comment. Dumb. Can only lift a ton minus ten pounds, so this is beyond me. I believe in you, Tyshaun. You can do this.

Do I get any kind of sense if I were to try and attempt to move it? Are you going to? Yeah, I'll attempt to move it.

You put your hands on the stone and it feels like stone, but as you attempt to roll it away, it moves with ease. And with a loud rumbling sound, the stone rolls from the door and it stops, almost as if held in a certain position with the entranceway open. Darkness spills out at you. You can see nothing inside of this. It feels almost magical in nature.

but you do see little pebbles that line the walkway leading in. Well done. Stradania comes and stands up behind you. It is unusually dark in there. Do you have a light or anything? I have this torch. I have no way to light it, unfortunately. I'm not a sorcerer this time.

Anybody. Are you not a golden dragonborn? You can produce flame from your glands. Once a day, Sarnax. You should just use it to light this torch. Come on, man. I feel like the DM would be like, give it to you. No!

You resisted, Caprice, come on, man! Like you didn't even feel that! He does this trick every time. I intend to hold back and instead it's the full blast. I will say, for something like this, you're easily able to use your Dragon's Breath. And you light the torch, you shine it in, and it seems to have no effect on the darkness.

Flame can't pierce this darkness. Seems magical to nature. Oh!

Well, shit. We're fine. We're just gonna fumble around? Well, yeah, I mean, you know, what else are we gonna do? There's no solution to this problem. No, we just walk forward into the darkness. Come on, man. I mean, slowly. You can hold my tail. I'm not gonna do that. A lot of tails here, a lot of tails. I'm not gonna be like that again.

I'll get the Purposeful Guide-- Oh no! Make a tail trail. A tail trail, a tail trail, quite right. Purposeful Guide our way, Caprice. I am not afraid of the darkness. All right. We shall step forward. Marching order?

We're all right, yeah. Okay. Lizard bros, lizard bros. I'm last. Liz bros, Liz bros. Liz bros. I'm taking last. You two can hold their tail and then we'll hold your tails. Yeah, we're gonna make a box and warm up. So it's marching order is going to be Sarnax and Tyshen, followed by Shepard and Caprice, followed by Clayton and Victoria, followed by Stradora. You are moving in. Yep. You, you, she does,

She is very close to you. She seems very nervous and scared as you all begin to move in. Clayton, Victoria, I need you to make a perception check for me, please, at disadvantage. Oh, gosh. That's true. 14. A natural 20 and a 12. Oh, come on. So, perception, you say? Mm-hmm.

16. Not bad. What did you get, Victoria? You can Dread me if you wanted. Okay, I don't need to. Okay. You step in and-- Yeah, serious. As Victoria, you have felt Stradania behind you all along. And as you step into the darkness, you feel coldness at your back. As all of a sudden you hear the sound of rumbling stone as the stone door closes behind you.

You think? It could be good. Oh my god. All right, well, it looks like we're not leaving until we solve this problem. You hear a voice from the other side of the door. Feast my love and return to me. Let harvest ferry your soul back into my loving embrace.

"feed upon the flesh of your kin, "and devour the bonds of love they hold for each other. "Return to me this day, this true day of the harvest. "With the moon bloated and fat in the sky, "let this sacrifice return you to my waiting embrace." Son of a bitch! Damn it! I was duped. Well done, Dungeon Mistress.

- You didn't see that coming? - No, that's not what I was gonna do. - A head-bats eye? Portraits in the hallway? - She seems so pleasant. - This is classic Wicker Band shit professor. - Exactly. - As she finishes the words, and I guess I forgot to explain this, but this is Druskinvold, so even though this is the day, the moon is high in the sky, and you did notice that it was

it looked bigger and almost bloated in comparison to the way it had looked yesterday when you arrived. It was high in the sky, a true full moon in Droskenwald. And as the last lights of moonlight are snuffed out as this stone door closes, far off in the distance, you hear the sounds of screaming. Man, I didn't even notice the moon once. Damn it!

You've got to lay off the sauce. No, no, this is what happens when you don't pass any crossroads, all right? Damn! Another ritual! Well, we'll have to deal with this like we've dealt with the others, and I will go full wood loads. Marky boy. Marky boy.

as I face whatever is going to attack us. She wanted to bring her love back to life. She picked the wrong ones to sacrifice. You all imagine that you have a mere moment before you are going to face whatever is inside of the stairs. I'm too young to die. I don't want to die. There's so much left in life that I want to do. With that, I need you all to roll for this. Oh!

I'm going to roll for initiative and then I'm going to roll my Sinner's Gamble. Oh baby! There we go. Shit. What is initiative again, dex? Actually, I'll tell you in one second. Yes, yes, you add your dexterity modifier to it. Or it's just your dex modifier, sorry. 15 to 20.

I got a 21. 21, you go first. Thank you. Very ash.

I wasn't convinced about this, but as I'm watching you do this, I'm like, shit. Followed by Jericho. What did you get? 19. So the two of you got 19? Yeah. You just need to figure out which one of you is going to go. That's a really good one. And I am just going to put her in between the two of you because she also got a 19. So your Grim Relethic who wants to go first? 19, Roland. Oh, who? No, no, no, it's the evil person. Oh, you got a 19. No, no, no, I got a 10. I could've sworn someone told me they got a 19. I got a 19. That's what I said. So you two got a 19.

Okay, perfect. It's Slop, Lestika, and Faron. Yeah, I haven't done them yet. So I've done Marius, Jericho, Yorghrim, and then it's gonna be this person, and then Faron. Then Faron is also 19, right? Yes, that's what I was gonna say. All of them got 19. I need to know which one of those two is gonna go first, because she's gonna go between. I see. Thank you. 15 to 20, anybody else? 14, oh, sorry. Then 10 to 15. 14. 10!

There we go. Thank you. I, on my Sinner's Gamble, I rolled two pair. So I'm going to use an instance of Sinner's Gamble to try to go for the full house. Hell yeah. Come on. I'm going to try one more time. Yeah, do it. What a rip. Yeah! Two sixes and three ones. Woo!

The next three turns, I will have advantage on all of my attacks. Oh, nice! That's huge. What's the best, like a royal flush? Five of a kind. Yeah, five of a kind, and you win D&D. That's the one? You win. Ends the game. Yeah, shoot with my heart, not with my eyes. I don't fucking know. Boom, go. That's right. And it blasts the DM. With that, you all...

You are all in this narrow passageway, and it is pure darkness around you. But hearing these words that Stradania has called out through the door, you rush out.

deeper into the barrow until you find yourselves in a dark room. You see nothing except in the center, pale glowing silver light emanating from a floating rabbit mask. And as it pulses and pulses and pulses, you watch as the silver light turns into bluish green spectral light until forming in front of you, you see the image of

something similar to what you saw yesterday, Victoria. But this form is significantly more horrifying. As you watch the form of your Aunt Rowan dressed in a tattered, moth-eaten wedding dress, her skin and body

her bones exposed through rotting skin, her face sagging in some areas as her jaw hangs loose, a dark black maw where her mouth should be. As she looks out at all of you and because of the nature of this and that you did not perceive it, she will go first. As she opens her mouth even wider and

and she opens her mouth even wider and she's going to cast Soul Harvest. I need every single one of you to roll a wisdom saving throw for me, please. And also this is her, so if you want to put her-- This is the end. I rolled pretty well. I got a 19. Soul Harvest tickles. 19, nice. Can I twist this? I'm twisting. What variety of saving throw? Wisdom? Wisdom, yeah.

19. I'm pressing again. Dread. Oh, on who? You. Me? Yep. 20. Thank you. Dread. Then I got a 23 with the plus four. Dread. Okay. 15. 25.

Should I twist it? We have one twist left, or unless you've got more. No, we had a fuck ton of twists. Yeah, I think the mods say we had like 20 something. Okay, then we should have. Yeah, you're yet to twist it. But I'm keeping mine. Should I twist it? Yeah, twist it. Oh, battle cam, by the way. We need it.

Do we think 16's cool? That was even worse. 16, I don't think so. That's a problem. Should I twist it? You got an 11? Yeah. If I dreaded you, you can't twist it. Yeah, no, I haven't been dreaded yet. That's how dreads work. I'm sticking with the 11. Just like I can't dread your twist. It's just not fair. I haven't been dreaded yet. I could twist if I wanted to. You could, yeah. You could.

I'm saying they call me the twister man. What did you get? 10. I'm the twister man. I'm plus four, we're all plus four? Yes. So I have a 16 then, that's not bad. 16. 16. 16, bro. 16, bro. No, because you get plus four additionally because you're within range. He's got an aura of protection. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I've got an aura of being a badass. That's right. So you roll plus six. Maybe one more twist? I'm good. I guess I'm a plus two. Yeah, no, man, yeah.

Okay, so Victoria got a 12, you got an 11. A 10. A 10, you got an 11. Thank you, Jax. You watch as these spectral tethers shoot out of her body, as if coming directly from her heart, and latch on to the three of you. You immediately feel the breath ripped from your body as you are going to take

Ah, that's my soul. What was the DC? Not my soul. You guys were okay, I guess. 16 was good? We don't know what it was. You are each going to take nine, yeah, just those three. You are going to take nine points of necrotic damage. Nine points for me also. I'm gonna have a reaction. Yes. When we slept overnight? Yes, yes you did. Okay, okay.

And the people that saved will take half that. So you'll take five. So what was the DC? The DC was 15. Oh, so we-- So that's why it's only those three. So only half, OK. Yeah. I'm doing that thing where there's like an animated version of Caprice coming out of my body and I'm like pulling him back into myself. That's funny.

It's like cup-tutty. Yeah, if you take damage, you can use your reaction. Okay. Seeing these tendrils shoot out, I am going to quickly lift a finger up to my mouth and bite down, creating a small bead of blood, and it is going to expand and encase me into a blood-red transparent bubble. Ooh.

And I'm going to use my bloody bulwark. Oh, nice. So I draw upon my life force to create a bloody barrier around me for temporary protection. I will spend hit dice equal to the spell level targeting me and gain temporary protection. It is not a spell. It's not a spell. It is not a spell. Oh, did you change that too, Derek? No. It should just be straight up like...

Damage? Yeah, if you take damage, you can roll the hit dice. Yeah, if you take damage from a spell, it's like shield. There shouldn't be anything about spell levels in there. Okay. Is this all a magical ability? Mm-hmm. Nice! So it says... You just roll some hit dice, you gain temporary hit points. She has... I'll just ruin it. She has three abilities, and she has one attack. I don't know if it's a magical ability. Just roll, hit dice. Yep. I'm rereading it one moment. Okay. I will spend hit dice...

Equal to the damage? No, no, no, it should be... Sorry. That's all good. Learning. It spend hit dice equal to the spell level target. I didn't change that. Yeah, I didn't. I would say just roll two d6. Yeah. It should be... Roll two d6. You should be able to roll hit dice equal to half of your proficiency bonus rounded up. Which is two. Which is two. And then you get that much temporary influence to help mitigate some of the damage that you do. Okay. So I'm rolling two d6.

And so that is six temporary hit points. So you have... Yeah, so you'd only ultimately end up taking three damage. Boom. Okay. So I'm... Oh, hold on. Oh, oh, oh. Oh, oh, oh. So that deducts two hit dice for me. Yes, you are using, you're cashing in your hit dice to create a living shield. Got it. That's awesome. I love that.

So that is, yeah, that is what she does. It is Shepard's turn. I need you to take damage. I'm taking it. You are going to take the tether pulses, doing four points of damage to you. And you watch as she sucks the life from your body and you imagine that if she were wounded, she would heal from this. Oh, damn.

Alright. At the start of the combat, I will have scattered some what look like bone dice as they clatter to the ground. And you see the full house match as the dice land. And then they puff into a mist as they fade away as I gain the bonus from my Sinner's Gamble. I'll make an attack with advantage on this specter.

That's pretty good. 14 plus 8 is 22. That hits. So I will get my sneak attack, which is an additional 3d6, which is going to be 16 total points of damage. Nice. And this is magical because it's coming from here? Yeah, we'll say it's magical.

- Okay. - And I'll just kind of-- - We'll say it's magic. - Strafe to the side as I'm firing at this creature. - You do, you strafe to the side as you fire at her. Your blasts hit and you watch as bits of flesh and bone erupt off of her body as she jolts back. She doesn't seem to have much control of her movement as of yet. She's recently being reborn.

and she takes a significant amount of damage. She opens her mouth to shriek. He watches a black ichor begins to spill out of her mouth and down her chin, dripping on her wedding dress. Lady Luck is smiling. So our next. I'm just gonna run up with my cloak. And Zavied and Kira. Oh, can I have you roll another wisdom saving throw for me, please? Me? No, no, no. Oh, yeah.

Five. Plus four. No, just kidding. Nine. Wait, wait, wait. Wisdom, no, it is five. Plus four is nine. Okay, the tether is still connected. Still my soul. My most of me. And I am just going to swing in with my club. We'll approach you the same way we approach all restless spirits by beating it to death again. Natural 20. Ah!

That's a lot of money. It's just TikTok. What's wrong with TikTok? 16 plus five is 21 points of damage. Damn. And if the end, the sap will seep into its ectoplasm, and once again, it will be disadvantage on attacking anyone but me, as I'm staring up at it defiantly with my...

- All right, you club into this thing and though moments prior she was incorporeal, she has regained form with whatever ritual Stradonia has set up here for this harvest festival. And you are able to slam your club into her. You hear the snapping of bones as you break one of her arms. It hangs limply at her side.

She turns her head towards you. You can hear the cracking of the bones in her vertebrae. As she looks down at you, black ichor begins to drip and pour from her milky white eyes as she watches you. - And I'll call out, enjoy the sustenance of the old ones. And I'll just cast healing ward on somebody. - Nice. - Who's the-- - I'm getting pretty fucked up. - Okay, I'll do it on Shepard. - Yay! - That'll be six points. - Oh, a little bit of my soul back. - That's a bonus action.

Actually, I'll do it at the third level. Six is pretty good. Give me some. With this tendril connected to me and seeing this creature in front of me, I once again place my hand on my book at my side and I stretch it out in front of me. And as it opens and it flips through the pages, choking through exasperated breaths, you'll hear me chant an oath I've said before. And it's...

In brightest day, in blackest night, no evil shall escape my right. Let those who play evil's game beware my axe and Fu Zhao's flame.

And I cast Heretic's Bane with my Sacred Oath. For one minute, you gain a fuck-ton of stuff. You have an advantage on attack rolls against creatures that have cast a spell or used a magical ability since the start of its last turn. Additionally, your weapon attacks deal 1d8 radiant damage.

When you hit a creature that has spellcasting abilities with a melee weapon attack, you attempt to disrupt their magic. If the creature intends to cast a spell before the start of their next turn, it must succeed a wisdom saving throw or choose a different action. If the creature is concentrating on a spell, it must make its next concentration check at disadvantage. Okay. And then something else. We'll get there. Okay. And I don't know.

I'm not gonna say this is a place for witches. It's accent time. It's accent time. That's what's set? Yeah. Yeah, alright. Let's use this one. Let's use the super dragon. Yeah, use the dragon. Yeah, super dragon. I mean, obviously it's gonna be very good. I just can't read it. No? Uh, 17? That hits. There we go. Alright, alright. Now we're good. Okay. Let's see.

12 points of damage and I'll attack a second time. What type of damage? The axe would be slashing, but... Oh, and it deals an additional... So that would be... Is it magical slashing or just regular slashing? I think it's just regular slashing. Okay, you notice that the... It should be... Are your slashes doing radiant damage? You should have magical. It should be magical. It might not fail. It says slashing damage if I attack with my gray sword.

If it's just a great sword, it would just be... Greataxe. Greataxe. It would just be... But Heretic's Bane deals an additional 1d8 of radiant damage. So split them. And on that, I rolled an 8. Okay. The slashing damage doesn't seem to do as much as you had expected. So it was, what, 12? So it does 6. And...

12 to hit. 12 misses. Good try. So did you do radiant damage? Yeah, eight points of radiant damage. You notice the radiant damage seems to do a significant amount of damage. Get fucked! It all bounces in. It was eight points of radiant damage.

I should have. Turned into 16. As the radiant damage bursts out from you, she recoils back from the light as her flesh begins to singe. The wedding dress begins to burn. You notice that her dead flesh is popping and cracking. She is...

thoroughly not enjoying what you were bringing to the table. She looks down at the both of you. She is floating well above you, looking down at you. She looks down at you, at all of you,

as her jaw drops and she begins to wail. I need all of you to roll a constitution saving throw. She is a banshee. I'm so toast. Oh, natural 20. What's the range on your aura though, Mace? It's only like 10 feet, right? It's 10 feet, so it'd just be me and Lizard. Oh, shit. 29. Come on, come on. Damn.

I got a 10. 14. 19. I'm about to age 99 years. I'm gonna do one twist. If you're gonna twist, I'm gonna dread Mike. You can dread me to stop me from twisting. No, that's okay. This is more fun. Con? Oh, con? Yes. I rolled a nine, which normally would be...

12 or 13, but it's my madness number for today, so it is a natural one. So I probably would have failed either way, but yeah, it's a five instead. Okay, what did you get? What's your new, Mike? Oh, 17. Okay. 14, 17, one, nine, 16. 19. Clayton and Shepard.

You, you, the piercing scream. Victoria, you have heard this noise before. This was the sound that caught you off guard the previous night. The pounding in your head. You are familiar with this noise and you are able to steel yourself against it. So are most of you. But Clayton and Shepard, this noise is unlike anything that you have ever heard before. The pain, the wailing agony.

of love lost, pierces into you, into your very soul, and you feel yourself dizzying as unconsciousness finds you. You both drop two zero hit points. No! Leave me alone! Akira! Akira! Yeah, that's rough. Oh, man. And that is her turn. Holy shit. That's it. Damn, shit.

That's me. That's you! That's a cold-ass spell. It's not a spell. Or a feature. It's a creature feature. If only it was Dex. Not a single Dex save. Spooky ghosts? That's really funny. Of course there's a Dex...

The exploding fish lobster was a dex save. Oh yeah! It was behind the tree. Did you do something with dex saves? I just took out. Oh. I'm just very good at saving. Yeah, that's a-- you just take no damage. Yeah. I couldn't even, uh... Uncanny dog. Uncanny dog. He's so good at them, it's uncanny. To take half of my life force instead of all of it.

I am going to, using that nick of my finger that I had before, I'm going to raise it up and shoot out a blood hole towards her. But I will...

You will see it come, kind of expand and enlarge on its way out here and I will use three sorcery points to heighten that spell. Let's go do the magic! Nice! Oh, does that make sense? A little bit of meta magic. Blood Bowl will be attacked. If you're using Blood Bowl, the opponent will have to make a saving throw, so that's what you're asking.

Okay. I have to go Heighten Spells. Heighten Spells, so you can spend three sorcery points to give one target of the spell disadvantage on its first saving throw made against you. Nice! Hell yeah. Okay. Six of 15? 16 hits, her AC is 16. 15 misses, her AC is 16. Twist it. Yeah, I twist it. Twist it. We're going to twist. Wasn't meant to be. No. Twasn't, twasn't, okay, it misses.

You let loose this blood magic, but as she turns to you, you see that even through all of this ichor and rot, that this was your aunt. And your face, Stradania, was not wrong. You have an uncanny resemblance as you fire this bullet, or it's almost as if you're attacking yourself, and you're thrown off guard. You miss with this attack, and it is now Clayton's turn.

Oh, actually, I also need you to take one point of a necrotic damage. Jeez. And she is going to heal for two points. I am resistant to that. Oh, so you're only gonna take one point.

Wait, oh yeah. Well no. You still take half. You still take half. Which would be one point. So she still heals for two. Is that minimum of one? Yeah. That's kind of solid. It's always minimum of one. And it is, oh, Taishen, you had your turn too, didn't you? You also need to take five points of damage.

Am I taking damage from-- You're taking damage from the Soul Harvest. At the start of your turn, you take damage from the Soul Harvest. And you, Victoria, and Shepard all have the Soul Harvest attached to you. Yeah, but I'm concentrating on you. No. Damn it. And she's going to heal for 10 points. Damn you, heretics, babe! But both of you can roll another wisdom save to see if you break that connection. Now, yes. You killed me.

Roll another wisdom save to see if you break the connection. Oh, I have to roll a save?

I mean, if you want to break the connection, yeah. 19? Yeah, hell yeah. That passes. As your turn ends, you miss with your attack, but you wrench yourself backwards and you grab onto this soul tether and rip it out of your chest. It's painful, but you're able to sever that tie. All right, I'm going to twist. I'm going to twist for this. You can't twist these ones. Oh, never mind. I got nothing. I have no--

I have no hope. 10. Is your wisdom really bad? Finally, you twist. I'll be kind. You can twist. Go ahead, twist it. Twist it, Mace. Just fucking do it. Just twist it. Jeez, all right. Just twist it. I don't need to have so many things that can't be twisted. Remember your own bonus you also get. Yeah, plus five. I was adding that. I will be, too. Okay.

That's 17. That passes. You are also able to, watching this, as these two women are staring at each other, you are able to sever that connection. There is only one soul tether, and that one is linked to Shepard. Clayton, it's your turn. So, presumably, am I in the dying state, or am I stable? You are at zero points. You are in

For banshees, it just says that you are at zero hit points. I think until I'm stable, I have to make death saves. Yeah, I think that's fair. Good luck, my friend. Are we doing the icebound rules? Yes, everybody close your eyes. Wow, my first time doing it. Thank you. We're good? Yep, we're good. I don't know which d20 I used. Okay. Caprice. Aye. Aye.

I look at everything that's going on around me. Does it look like this entity, this creature, this ghost, for lack of a better word, is focused mostly on Victoria? No. It's not targeted? No. And then I look between my two companions, a person who I have come to know as my peepling girl, who I've drunk with so many evenings.

And the person who owns me a lot of money. Like, I have healing word on Mr. Asran. You son of a bitch! You've got good sense, boy! Don't listen to him, son! Woo!

Can't collect debt from a dead man. That's right! You'll never be able to find the gold in this case. Oh, jeez. I need to remind myself how healing word fucking works. It's 1d4 per-- 1d4? Depends on what's going on. Just using it at a... Depends on what-- it's basically 1d4 per spell level. Mine's gonna be at third level. Fuck it. Alright, two... six...

8 plus my... 5. Yeah, yeah, plus 5. You get 13 points. Okay! Um... And I'll run over behind Shepard and just, uh...

Use me as a meat shield. Use you as a meat shield. We're going to be okay. I got you, buddy. I got you. I got you next round. I got you. I got you next round. I got you. I got you. I got you. I got you. I got you. I got you. I got you. I got you. I got you. I got you. I got you. I got you. I got you. I got you. I got you. I got you. I got you. I got you. I got you. I got you. I got you. I got you. I got you. I got you. I got you. I got you. I got you. I got you. I got you. I got you. I got you. I got you. I got you. I got you. I got you. I got you. I got you. I got you. I got you. I got you. I got you. I got you. I got you. I got you. I got you. I got you. I got you. I got you. I got you. I got you. I got you. I got you. I got you. I got you. I got you. I got you. I got you. I got you. I got you. I got you. I got you. I got you. I got you. I got you. I got you. I got you. I got you. I got you. I got you. I got you. I got you. I got you. I got you. I got you. I got you. I got you. I got you. I got you. I got you. I got you. I got you. I got you. I got you. I got you. I got you. I got you. I got you. I got you. I got you. I got you. I got you. I got you. I got you. I got you. I got you. I got you. I got you. I got you. I got you. I got you. I

Two auto fails. No, one fail. Oh, just one. Just one. Yeah, I guess. Okay. Just do one, right? But then I still have to roll. Right. Oh, you're right, you're right, you're right. That's a two. Okay, so then I have to roll death saving. But then you have to roll death saving. Okay, so everybody close your eyes. So I'm going to add one. This is so fun.

Okay, everybody open your eyes. Nobody pull a Yornear, okay? Yeah, I was just gonna say. Nobody pull a Yornear. Time up! Starnax. You were in the natural 20, got very excited and shouted it out while we all had a good time. To me, though, it was such a good point. It was awesome. Yeah, it was awesome. Starnax. Don't fuck it up. I am going to say Caprice, I've got him. Don't worry. As a...

Suddenly, Shepard's mouth will fill with horrible tar-like sap. As the old ones awaken you, I cast Healing Word on you. Healing Word bros. I'll roll for that. I'm just going to swing in. I'll say: Face me! Strike me! Don't use your spooky ghost tricks. I want to make an attack roll.

I'm gonna use a twist if I can. I think so. And she also heals for-- That is gonna hit. Stuff as she sucks your soul. That is gonna be a seven. Seven misses. No, I hit, it was like a 20, 25. So seven for damage. And so I'm gonna do a third level healing word on Shep. But you said you did seven damage? Seven points of damage. Okay, got it.

You completely undo and some the healing that she just did. Tech Shen. Okay, thank you. Seeing her just wail out and drop two of my friends, I grip my axe and I go in for two more attacks.

This time when I activated the Heretic's Bane, the blade of my axe edge ignited almost in like a... like a... not a molten flame, but began to glow as if the axe blade was heated. This time it erupted in fire. Like the doorknob in Home Alone. Divine Smite. Bro, twist it. Hang on. I'll twist it. I'll use the twist. Hang on. We are the seven...

21. 21 to hit. Natural 20. Oh, actually, I'm at a match. And I'll attack twice. Okay.

Silence! Sorry, pause. The Crooked Moon dice are perfectly-- 15 misses. We start at 15. We've been here before. So I'll strike in and I'll land-- Oh, don't use fight. All right. Nine with...

So the blade will, the axe edge will, as it's slamming in and cutting into her, it will deal four points of slashing damage. The heated metal will cut in with radiant light dealing six. And I'll ignite it with Fu Zhao's flame with a divine smite at level two. Oh. For 3d8. Oh, yeah.

Are they giving spells at level 1? No, what? I thought that was a 7. That's not a 7? Oh, you're sure right. So that's 8 additional points of radiant damage. That's pretty good, bro. That's pretty good. So it would be 16 points of radiant damage in total. Yeah, I'm doing it all. Which means 32.

Yeah, it's been a lot. It's quadruple. It's been a lot. It could be quadruple. Quad steps. Come on. This podcast is brought to you by our Patreon. Become a patron today at patreon.com slash legends of Avantris and gain access to tons of exclusive perks, including a monthly movie night and a weekly Patreon exclusive campaign set on the high seas shroud over salt marsh.

You can also go to thecrookedmoon.com to pick up your own copy of our first published supplement, The Crooked Moon, a folk horror tome for Dungeons & Dragons 5th edition. And don't forget to snag all the extra goodies like dice, miniatures, plushies, a tarot deck, and more. Thank you. Is that your turn? Yes.

You rush up to her doing a significant amount of damage. She is, you are slicing into her, searing her flesh. You can smell burnt human flesh filling up this barrow and it is now her turn. She is going to, which one of you in front of her looks the weakest? - Out of the three of them? - Yeah, that are within five feet of her. - I think four damage.

I've taken nine damage, so that would be-- How much damage have you taken, Vicky? I feel-- I'm two-- I look pretty damn good. Okay. I'm a fan. Okay, she's gonna reach towards you with her spectral hand and she's gonna pierce her nails into your flesh and begin to suck the lifeblood from you. Is that an attack roll? It is. She's advantage against that.

She misses. You could dread. You could. You have 80,000 of them. I'm going to dread. Yeah. Wasn't meant to be. No, no, no, no, no. Get out of here. She will miss. You're welcome for the sticky sack. Oh, thank you. That's her turn. She's already used her big moves. So, sorry to reiterate that. How are you?

I'm looking pretty good. I'm looking pretty okay. Taking nine points. Oh, and Ashley. They're both looking pretty good. Okay. I had to see if she got her whale back. Fairly well. Vicky. Vicky, Vicky. Kill her. Kill. Shoot her. Shoot her. Kill the witch. Kill the witch. Rush up to her.

And I will take my spike prayer beads around my neck and rip them and pull one across my palm, opening up a gash. And I will hold that up and it will expand into a wave of blood. Oh my goodness. And expand out for me. So I will need you to make a dexterity throw, but also both of you to make a dexterity saving throw. She got a three. Okay, so that's a fail. Of course, Wendy.

I could d20. I'm going to pick up a-- And a dread. There it is. And I rolled a four. Nip was not meant to be. Oh! Is that not it right there? It's a dex hit. Yeah, and don't forget, plus four from tie shits. I don't know if I did good enough. Oh, plus four rolls from tie shits. Yeah, dex. That'll be a 17. 26. Oh, you guys are going to love this. Perfect. So fail the two passes.

It's like my favorite film, The Shining. That's a nine. What? That's a nine? That's a nine.

21. Okay, she will take 21 points of necrotic damage and-- 21 points of necrotic damage? Yes. Okay, it does seem like it doesn't do as much as you'd expect it. Resist it. Okay, and I and both of you will take that nine.

Yes, the way it works is if you pass-- I can read this, I can do it. Yeah, definitely. Okay, so this is using my Crimson Nova ability. So a wave of blood crashes into your enemies in a 15-foot radius centered on you. Oh, shoot. Each creature within 15 feet must make a dexterity saving throw. A creature takes 3d10 plus your charisma of vampire necrotic damage over half as much on a successful roll.

You and a number of creatures affected by the spell up to your charisma modifier that you choose to restore hit points for half the damage you rolled. So you take nothing. Oh wow. If you had missed the dex saving throw, you would have ended up taking the full damage, but then she would have healed you for half. Nice. As part of the he-momancer. You also take 10 points of damage for hitting with this spell.

That's pretty funny. That's not optional. You cannot do that. It's heretic fame. Let's fucking go. I fucking love that. She's a heretic. You shouldn't have been a witch. No one would bat an eye if you wanted to do it. Is that the stink of witchcraft? Touch him. Please. Do you want me to take damage? Yeah, I do. I'm kidding, that's awful. What do you mean? Isn't that how it works?

It says, I made. You made. Oh, you made. Thank God we put that may in there. Yeah, that's it. I just wanted to read that it was there, you know, because I felt like that was the only time it was going to happen. Clayton. I'm awake. You are? I have 13 hit points. You do? You do. How's we going to die here, don't we? How's your money? Are you okay? No. No.

I look over, I see the begging over. I see the drunk gambler unconscious on the ground. No, we are getting out of here. The greatness of Clayton Ashram must spread beyond this barrow. I'm going to pull out my pearl and I'm going to stare into it.

And it turns from a pearl, it glows with this pearlescence, and the pearlescence almost like becomes one with me as I like shimmer with this very faint pearlescence, and you will see the pearl, a large orange eye now sitting affixed. It doesn't just flash. I have become Azran.

Avatar of Halashna, the hunger below! And I'm going to twist my hand and this portal will rip open right on top of her. And there's going to be a-- Great. You'll see these just countless orange eyes. You'll hear gibbering coming from the portal. And...

Then just in a split second, you see a tentacle whip out of the portal. And I need to randomly choose someone within 10 feet of the portal to see who gets sucked in. Oh!

So she's gonna be four. This is about to change dramatically. So, four, three, two, one. Remember that. Four, three, two, one. You couldn't have put it over here. That's not fun. What's the most compelling narrative? Come on! Clayton's not thinking about that.

So, how this works, this is the Enchiridion of Insanity, named TBD, TB Finalized. Um...

Just like on the Kickstarter page, all names and designs subject to change. Yeah, these are rough sketches, but they're fun sketches. I'm having a blast. This is where you end your length of it now. Oh yeah! Wow! I watched Prime, I watched Prime. So, tentacles will basically reach out and just, you know, almost like chaotically, doesn't care who, just reaches for somebody and it grabs Vicky, or attempts to grab Vicky.

I'm going to spend all of my madness points on it. So instead of a 16 spell save DC...

I increase the spell save DC for every three madness points that I spend on it. So it is now a 19 spell save DC. Ooh! For anyone. I do it when I summon it. When you summon it, you can use your madness pool to boost the things that you summon. That's fucking cool as shit. On a failure, the creature is grappled, but eventually it might suck her in and we're good. So make a strength save.

Straight save. Do you need 19? Alright, you're right next to me. You probably need the natural 20. Oh no, you get plus 4. Plus 4? Oh yeah. In addition to my plus. Yes, so you need a 14. Or a 9.

Should we twist it? Let's twist it. Yeah. We'll do one twist. I wanna see what happens when you use one twist. We're running from the rules that the hole is eight feet, uh, eight inches wide, so unless you wanna fit through that, you're... Also, the tentacles are of a color you've never seen before. You can't even describe the color. Come on, Vicky. Okay. 19.

23. So you slip out of the grasp of this turn. Not today! With an immense strength. You slap it away. And that's it. That's my turn. That's an action. Professor, control your feet! You might have spells on your spell list that are not-- Oh yeah, I could do-- I don't know if you listed all your spells in there. I could do-- We figured you'd want to pick your own spells. No, I'll save it, I'll save it. Caprice.

Chef dude, buddy, old pal, you all right? I have chair money. Okay, we got to get the fuck out of here. We got to get the fuck out of here right now. I'm going to move over here. Yeah, you stand up. I'm so prone. And I'm just going to... And I'm going to whistle, and all of a sudden you hear this...

The sound of moving wheels as suddenly from behind the insanity banshee, a giant spectral locomotive out of nowhere emerges. Hurt the choo-choo train!

I will spend my action and my bonus action to cast Ride the Rails, which in a line that I choose of 10 feet is going to move through the area, including my square. That's important. I have to occupy the square that it moves through, and all of a sudden the train is going to move forward. It's going to do some shit to these folks, but if you guys want to hitch a ride and get away from this fucking portal, you can do that. Thank you.

As the train goes by, Shep, he reaches out of the train and it's five feet out of the train. He's choking on stabbing at his own wall. Amazing.

The train is 120 feet long, 10 feet high, 10 feet wide, and must pass through a square that I occupy. The ghost train passes through allies unharmed. Myself and target creatures that I choose, and I choose all of you, may hitch a ride moving along the line 30 feet. So if you want to move 30 feet in this direction, you may now do so.

All other creatures, and I don't know if this is the portal, because it's not technically a creature, but all other creatures, and I think that this applies to Banshee McGillicuddy over here, move ten feet in the same direction of my heading. So it should go five, ten, and just land on the other side of the portal. Okay. It also-- That's pretty good, Derek. That's pretty good. I think it's okay. It must make a wisdom saving throw. DC six, eight. And I can move 30 feet. Yeah.

It easily passes. It passes 30 feet away. Okay. Then that's all that happens. You do not take the psychic damage of fear as the experience is the Nightmare Spectral Locomotive, probably because of its shared spectrality. Yeah, probably. I don't think it's as afraid of specters as that. And if you both want to move, you can. You can also stay there. It's your option. Is it moving the ghost? Only to the... You can hop on the train, hobo style,

And you can move up to 30 feet in the direction that I that I indicated so you want to be moving her though Yeah, it's gonna move her to the other side of the portal. Yes. She's gonna be there. She's gonna be there Yeah, okay, you guys move ten feet work and stay with it right yeah, right? Yeah, if you want to train yeah, right. That's a charm. I want to the railing me too and just move back ten feet and

And then still right in front of us. You got this, guys. Nice. That'll be the conclusion of my turn. A comical sentiment with an olive and a tooth pick. Oh, it's cool. This spectral train travels through her, moving her out of the way. Some of you board the train. You've seen this happen before, and you react to it quickly as you readjust yourselves in this space. Shepard, it's your turn.

Fuck! And I fucking train, and I'm gonna stand up. This is actually the last turn that I get my advantage on attack. Actually, you're going to take four points of necrotic damage. She's going to heal for eight. I'm still up, I'm still up. Ah, my fucking soul! Stop it! As I raise the voodoo gun and I fire off an attack advantage. Breach my fucking soul!

That's not bad. 21 to hit. That hits. So it's just four sixes. Wow. 12, 13, four, I rolled two ones and two sixes. Okay, so that one's out. 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19 points of voodoo damage.

And then do I have to roll to see if she keeps-- You do roll to see if she keeps it. Jesus! I mean, after she hurt me. Wisdom saving throw. Oh no! Stop! I got their leverage, she's going to keep sucking. Enough, enough!

That's double damage! I give up. I'm just railing blood and all sorts of shit's happening. Why are you chasing after me? Why are you fucking pursuing? Jericho. Sarnax, it's your turn. My sinner's gamble is done. Sarnaco. I'll look at...

I'll look at Taishan and I will say, I do not understand your strange concept of a draconic fire god, but call upon his flame now as, uh, as the, um, my shield will weep sap as it'll spread out into a pool here. I think it's just a ten foot. Directly underneath her. And I can be longfired. Ooh.

It's difficult terrain, probably not for a ghost. No, she's floating above it. But I thought that was pretty cool. I do think that's pretty cool. That's a pretty badass thing to say to a motherfucker. She isn't covered in a little of the sap. Yeah, she's covered in a little bit. Okay, cool. That's all I wanted. That looks good. It's pretty good. Dread. It's still fine. If you dread me again, it'll be plus eight, so I have 18. Dread. You got him.

Natural 20, damn. Dread. Okay. No. That's 15. That misses. Finally got one. Well dreaded. Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you. Is the sap not there? No, the sap's there, but he slips on the sap as he attempts to swing in on her, and as she's floating above, even though it is now dripping from the bottom of her wedding dress,

Sarnax is unable to find purchase on this creature. Tyshen, it is your turn. - If you light him on fire, say something really badass like, "What a sap." - I don't get it. - Do not worry, Sarnax. You will gain knowledge in the purity of Fu Xiao's flame. As I strike down with my axe and

The first attack will be 22 to hit. That hits. And I will also cast Searing Smite so that my smite is ignited in Dragon's Fire. So... Very cool. What are we doing with him? Oh, they're over here. And then this is 1d6.

- All right, so it is six slashing damage, five radiant damage, and two fire damage. And I'll cause my ax to strike the sap as I clean through the speckle. - You watch as Taishan raises his ax and he begins to channel the power of Fu Zhao.

and he illuminates with radiant light as the blade erupts in holy fire, and as he slices down into her, the blade pierces through her, igniting the sap that is on the bottom of her dress before it collides with the puddle of sap on the ground, erupting into a

pillar of fire. As she lets out a banshee's wail, all of you feel that pain in your heads as you feel like you're about to collapse yet again. Oh no. But in that single moment before she finishes the wail, the flames consume her. She lets out a different scream, the scream of true death as you smite this banshee.

and you find yourselves in quiet as where this banshee has been, where Rowan Von Zarovich had been, this resurrected love of Stradonya Von Zarovich is now nothing more than a pillar of ash, a light bit of red still embers still burning for just a second before they are completely snuffed out and darkness swallows you.

This barrow is completely silent and all you smell is smoke and flame. You listen. The sounds of screaming that you'd heard upon coming in here in the village are completely gone. You hear nothing. Silence all around. For the sake of brevity, you choose to make haste to the village to check on the people you had met the day before.

It is not easy, or it is not difficult to move the stone as you roll it out of the way. It is significantly heavier than it had been when you entered, but with the full force of the six of you, you're able to move it out of the way as you rush as quickly as you can through this glade, in through the cave, over the bridge,

of the waterfall along the road that circles around the village and into the village itself. And it is here with the swollen moon shining down on this village that you see the full force of destruction here. The buildings caught fire. Towering over the maypole in the very center of this town is something that you realize you had seen constructed the day before, but now put together in full.

In the shadow of this wicker man, you see piles of human bones. The true sacrifice for her lost love. Because in this moment, you finally hear noise again. As your ears ring with this horror that you're witnessing, every single person in this town slaughtered, sacrificed in the ritual of the harvest. You hear the music play.

and your heads turn towards the manor on the hill. All the lights illuminated. You can see two silhouettes dancing in the window of the ballroom, embracing each other's love as the laughter of two women drifts down over this valley. The harvest ritual was successful. Love is eternal.

And that is where we will end this session. Oh! Oh shit! Wow! Nikki, that was awesome. Holy shit! We got juked like sick. I know. Mega juked. Holy shit. I don't want to be done playing Clayton. Next one of the session, Nikki. You're welcome, you're welcome. It's self-leaning. I feel the same about a Caprice. Holy shit. I didn't realize how lazy and greedy I am.

I'm Mr. Griezmann. Professor, is your knee okay? Come on, come on.

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